#already got 2 mutuals to watch it >:]c

[hypercam2-mp4]

i dont post art on here ever so have this, as a treat

[pollypocketluvr124]

The Kiss Bet part 2 (Charlos One Shot)

The Kiss Bet (Charlos)

summary: Carlos and Charles rush off to their hotel after discovering their mutual feelings for each other.

a/n: Thinking of doing some more with these two, let me know how y'all like it!

w/c: 1.4k

warnings/contents: smut, degrading, leg-riding, bl*w j*b, hair pulling,

wattpad I masterlist

When Carlos and Charles get back to the hotel they can’t get each other's clothes off fast enough. It took everything in Charles not to pull the car over right then and there and let Carlos have it on the side of the road. They showed enough restraint for the past 3 years they’ve been partners, now it was time to let loose.

Carlos barely makes it into the room before Charles pounces on him. His wild fingers tracing the sides of Carlos’ body, pulling his shirt up in one swift movement. Carlos closes the hotel room door with his foot and lifts his arms up for Charles letting the cotton tee breeze over his head. His nipples were already erect and that only made Charles smirk. He traced his finger around the swollen nub and watched eagerly as Carlos moaned. 

“Oh God, sigue así.[keep going]” Carlos groaned. Charles smirked as the little spanish he knew was coming in handy. 

Carlos met his lips with Charles’. It was frenzied, passionate, it was everything. Charles opened his mouth, letting Carlos explore and he took full advantage of his access. Carlos swirled his tongue around Charles’, mixing their hot saliva together. Carlos pulled away letting the clear liquid come out of their mouths and onto Charles’ chin. Carlos leaned in again and licked it off of Charles, stopping to suck Charles’ lower lip. He bit it slightly, sending a wave of pleasure through Charles and Carlos could feel it. 

Carlos wanted, no, Carlos needed to see all of Charles, so we promptly removed his tee shirt too leaving his pale chest out on display. His beautiful chest beckoned for Carlos’ attention and he quickly began planting kisses along his collar bone, working his way down to Charles’ nipples. When he finally got there he sucked on them, making sure not to overstimulate them. Charles quickly felt his pants grow tighter as blood rushed towards his erection. His stomach was fluttering as Carlos flicked and nibbled.

“Carlos~” Charles moaned out Carlos’ name making Carlos feel buzzed. Charles’ voice drove Carlos wild and to hear his name uttered with complete pleasure was like heroine for him. 

Carlos looked up at Charles from his chest with his big brown eyes. Charles could get lost in them for days. There was a certain sadness in them that just made Charles want to be there, to hold him, to love him. Tonight Charles was going to make Carlos feel good, like he’s always wanted to. While still looking at Charles, Carlos slowly slid his hand across Charles’ stomach and under the waistband of his pants. His warm touch made Charles shudder. Carlos finds his prize and rubs lightly on Charles' hardened cock, knowing it would feel so much better in his mouth. 

“Take them off.” Charles said, looking down at Carlos, who wasted no time removing his pants. His hands expertly unzipped the black jeans that hugged Charles in all the right ways and he pulled them down with such force, Charles’ briefs came off too, leaving his length on full display. Carlos let out a gasp at the size of him, making Charles let out a throaty laugh. Charles took Carlos’ chin between his thumb and forefinger, bringing him back to his feet. 

“Kiss me.” Charles commanded and Carlos obeyed, opening his mouth for Charles. This time Charles took control, finding Carlos’ neck to be a good resting place for his right hand and the outside of Carlos jeans a good place for his left. Carlos moaned loudly into Charles mouth as Charles stroked him, his own erection growing. Precum seeped from the tips of Charles dick, begging Carlos to lap it up like a little mutt seeing a puddle of water on a hot day. Desperate and dirty. 

Carlos’ hands had been making their mark on Charles’ back, but he decided it was time to take hold of what he really wanted. He broke away from the kiss and quickly dropped to his knees in front of Charles. 

“Let me take care of you.” Carlos purred as he took Charles in his hands. His neck fell back in pleasure and Carlos swirled his thumb across the tip. 

“Oh~” Charles moaned. “Oh, fuck~” His curse came out in a low groan with an extra emphasis on the -uck. Carlos’ own erection only grew listening to the sinful noises Chalres was making. Carlos spread around the precum that drips over Charles cock and began pumping up and down before finally placing his watering mouth over the tip. He licked Charles from his tip all the way down to his balls, never breaking eye contact. Charles' hand worked its way into the black strand atop Carlos’ head. The smooth locks of hair feeling so perfect on his skin as a fire erupted across his body. Never in his life had Charles felt the need to cum so fast. 

“Did you shave just for me?” Carlos asked before sucking or Charles perfectly bare balls while he continued pumping Charles in his hand. 

“Yes.” Charles breathlessly admitted and Carlos' eyes went wide. “If I won the bet you had to do what you're doing right now, but if you won the bet, it would have been me on my knees right now.” Charles said feeling powerful. The thought of Charles wanting to fuck Carlos all night only turned him on even more. Surely a stain would be starting to form in the front of Carlos’ pants where his precum was seeping through.

Carlos brought Charles back into his mouth and swirled his dick around his tongue, the sudden contact had Charles lurching forward forcing his dick farther into Carlos’ throat, but he took it because he loved it. He loved the taste of Charles dick. 

Carlos switched his position now so that he could create some sort of friction between his cock and his own leg. Charles noticed this and pulled Carlos onto his foot. 

“Ride my leg like the desperate little slut that you are.” Carlos hummed at his words. He never knew how much he liked being degraded until now. It was hot how hard it got Charles when he was in control. And there was something so freeing about giving it all up. 

Carlos obeyed Charles and humped his leg, pushing his cock against the strong calf of Charles. Carlos moaned in pleasure, sounding like he just discovered what sex is for the first time. 

“Oh Charles!” Carlos cried out. His tip started to poke out of his pants and Charles smiled at the glistening head. Carlos timed his head bobs in motion with his grinding. Every time he went up on Charles' leg, Charles’ dick went farther into his mouth. Carlos’ own pleasure was causing him to moan more and more and the vibrations sent through Charles’ cock were too much.

“Oh God- oh fuck Carlos- oh, oh, ahh~” Charle moans out as he cums, gripping Carlos hair tightly, sending a course of pleasure filled pains through Carlos body. Carlos swallowed Charles' load and it came, keeping in rhythm with the twitching or Charles hard length. 

“No pares.[don’t stop]” Charles said in a husky voice to Carlos and he quickened his pace. 

“I love when you speak Spanish to me mon amor.” Carlos gripped Charles' ass as he rode his leg. He hit the right spot over and over again, leading Carlos to see stars. The swell of his climax began building and he shut his eyes tighter and tighter. “Ungh~” Carlos moaned as he kept looking up at Charles who was now giving words of encouragement.

“You look so sexy humping my leg like that. All turned on for me. Desperate and horny. Me encanta cómo te sientes.[i love how you feel]” Carlos felt the itch inside him begin to be scratched as all he had been building towards came crashing around him. He panted as his humps became sporadic, even using his hand for more until eventually he came. His hot cum shot onto Charles leg and Carlos laid limp on top of him. Charles pulled Carlos off the floor and kissed his tear stained cheek, a product of the blowjob he had just given. 

“You did so well baby.” Charles praised Carlos' hard work and Carlos kissed him back.

After cleaning each other up they both walked over to the bed and got under the covers naked. There was nothing sexual about it though. They simply loved the feeling of holding each other in their most bare form. It was pure love. As they laid in each other’s arms they had never felt so at peace. Carlos stroked Charles’ hair as he drifted off to sleep.

“Next time we make a bet, the winner gets to fuck the other one.” Carlos whispered in Charles’ ear and he looked up eagerly. 

“You’re on.”

[yourmommygay]

Faking it all: part 2

Summary: high school au where colby is the popular guy and chloe is the shy good girl, one day colby gets fed up with Amber's constant flirting so he asks chloe to be his fake girlfriend. Will they fall in love im not sure.

Pairings: colby brock x plus size!chloe sanchez (aka you reading this) , sam golbach x Amanda sid (oc) , jake webber x Tara yummy.

THIS IS A SERIES, MDI 18+.

Warnings: explicit language, smut, mutual pinning, bullying, fighting, mentions of abuse, colby being kind of a dick at first (but not to you), Amber being a bully (I love Amber so much, she would never pick on some1 I know but it's just for the story)

Prt 1 here

Most days chloe would sit in Mrs smiths classroom at lunchtime, this was one of those days. Sitting in the seat close to the window she was watching a group beginning to form around Amber and colby. Huffing chloe turned her head downwards and carried on reading a book she recently brought.

Chloe's phone pinged and she picked it up seeing it was a video from Amanda, in the video colby and Amber where standing there. "I don't like you Amber, I'm kindof already seeing someone anyway" colby said Amber quickly questioned who not bothering to cover up her jealousy, "chloe, I'm dating chloe" colby replied. Chloe's eyes widened, she was in fact not dating colby. However, she wishes that she was.

Just after the video she heard the classroom door swing open and slam shut, "I knew you would be in here" colby said walking over making sure the door was locked. "Whyd you lock the door?" Chloe asked colby glancing at him, "everyone is following me and I need to ask you for a favor" colby looked almost desperate.

"Let me guess, you want me to be your fake girlfriend?" Chloe asked him not daring to look up from her book, "wha- how did yo- um.. yeah. Only if your ok with that obviously I'm not gonna push you to do it" colby said rubbing the back of his neck. "I guess I could do that, after all I do kinda owe you for always sticking up for me against the bullies" chloe said putting the bookmark in her book before placing the book into her bag. "So how do you wanna walk outta here? holding hands? Linked arms? Arm around my shoulders?" Chloe asked colby standing up right infront of him looking up at him as she was only 5'2, chloe thought.

Curse colby and his tallness.

Colby immediately answered. "What ever your comfortable with" chloe nodded in thought before putting on her bag and grabbing colbys face, kissing his cheek. "To make them think there was another reason for the door being locked, you want them to really buy into this don't you?" Chloe grabbed Colby's hand and pulled him over to the door, unlocking it and opening it to see Amber being up front of the crowd. "Can I help you Amber?" Chloe said.

"Yeah you stole my man" Amber scoffed. Chloe hummed in agreement for a second before turning to colby. "Ok, baby if you want to date Amber go to her, if you want to stay with me then come to me" chloe walked over to Amber standing slightly to her right. Colby started walking towards Amber before moving completely over to chloe laughing, pulling chloe into a hug burying his face in her neck. "I guess it decided Amber, he can date whoever he wants. Oh, he wasn't your man. Never was" chloe grabbed colbys hand again pulling him away from the crowd of people.

"You did good back there, with the faking" colby said chuckling. In all honesty chloe forgot she was faking, or at least was meant to be faking. She really did want colby to chose her, she always had.

"Can we just get out of here I got 2 free periods next" colby asked chloe walking towards the school parking lot towards his car, chloe just nodded before saying. "Can we go to our spot please?" Colby nodded, as he got into the drivers seat and chloe climbed into the passengers seat.

A/n I know these are short chapters but I'm a night owl and well it's 4:24am for me in England and I'm still awake haha. Anyway hope you liked this short chapter.

[grojrockss]

about me!

my name is laney/lanez! ☀︎ 17 ☀︎ enby ☀︎ asian american ☀︎

programs: ibispaintX

¡¡ i post a lot of CORNEY (corey x laney) artwork + general grojband/newman stuff !!

♪ i watched grojband when it first came out in 2013 and got back into it around july 2024! this show is something i truly cherish and have considered to have a major impact on me :)

♪ i promise i dont bite!

♪ my favorite grojband songs are together its true, no i won’t play, and i’m giving it all!

♪ i do animation, and i play a few instruments such as viola, piano, and electric guitar.

other interests: pucca, gorillaz, the walten files, south park, petscop

♪ basic dni criteria: proshippers, pedos, anti-lgbtq, etc. you know the drill (be kind plz!)

D I S C L A I M E R S :

-i use slang such as dude/bro/girly, etc. gender neutrally. if a specific term makes you uncomfy, please let me know.

-credit me (WITH username) if you happen to use/post my art for whatever reason.

-for moots: i LOVE interacting but i tend to struggle with conversation and i get nervous REAL easily. pls don’t take anything i say or do the wrong way or anything! i also sometimes end convos on accident — mostly bc i don’t want to bother anyone — but don’t be afraid to send a text hehe.

-the “talk 2 me” is also open to everyone who has anything they want to say/request/ask!

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆

other socialz:

instagram: ????? discord: ask (mutuals only)

tumblr: u’re already here! youtube (non-groj): chiliey

[vibratingskull]

The trial part 1 : Get set

Part1, 2, 3

Thrawnxf!reader

It is the start of your exam and you're dropped with your team on a planet’s moon and must fend for yourself and fight the other teams to succeed the trial, but that won’t be so easy...

You're frozen in place, unmoving, eyes wide open and silent under the warm body of Thrawn. Eyes fixed on a point away, you’re pressed against his chest where you can hear his steady heartbeat and your heart could sing if only you were fully aware of your surroundings and not terrified at the same time. You start contemplating on how you ended up in this position…

_____________________________________________________________________

“... and after you took note of your last test’s scores we will follow on with the Final Exam of Simulation.”

A rumor spread around the amphitheater, some students laugh with excitement, others shudder in disbelief and some shrug their shoulders, uninterested.

“Quiet!” Barks the professor.

You don’t miss a beat and dive into the file to find your notes with a loud heartbeat. You hold your breath as you discover the results… And sigh with relief immediately, all positive. You turn towards Eli with hope, he doesn’t say a thing, he nods with a smile and you clap your hands as mutual congratulation. You bend over a little to see Thrawn and his scores, as per usual he’s revising his datapad with an olympian calm, nothing could disturb him ever. No need to talk to know he nailed his exams, he’s the most experienced after all. You tap his shoulder.

“I owe you a beer Sir!” You murmur.

“Thank you, I do not drink Cadet.”

“Well I owe you a drink anyway” You say slouching back on your seat, it’s the least you could do after he helped you with your course.

You look back at your scores: strategic, battle simulation, rifles… All the arts of war revealed under your eyes each with satisfactory numbers, those evenings with Thrawn and this weird tension definitively paid up!

You place back your datapad with a smile focusing on the ballet on the platform; your professor just gets joined by several other professors and persons you’ve never seen. Some take their seats while some discuss matters with low voices, others stare at the room with harsh eyes. You recognise the uniform of a commander of the navy with a gruffly face, a strikingly beautiful junior lieutenant is speaking with an equally handsome governor giving side eyes to the first row students. Why are those two so familiar to you? You’ve never heard their name but you could swear you’ve already seen them somewhere! But where? You focus on those two, this lieutenant woman with green eyes and raven black hair is whispering something to the ear of the wavy blondie ponytail guy with gray eyes, hiding an air of surprise behind a fan. Those two are weirdly out of place between those adults worn out by the years by their beauty and more strongly by their youthfulness here, they are much younger than their counterparts in the room. But where did you see them?

“You alright J-C? You're red…” Eli asks.

You blink in surprise, touching your cheeks heated by your blood. He looks in the same direction and a laugh like a snarl comes and shakes his shoulders.

“Okay! I Got you.”

You nudge him for teasing you.

“Listen up!” A professor shouted, starting a slideshow. “We’re gonna reveal to you the modalities of the trial. As you already know it will happen on one of the moons of the planet Athulla, more exactly the third one, and spread across seven days maximum. Your exam will consist of a regular spying mission where you will extract information from a subject. You will receive specific uniforms, motorized means and weapons for this particular occasion-”

“Ha!” You exclam yourself as a flash of realization touches you.

You know where you’ve seen these two fellows: they posed for the posters of the Empire for the navy and the bureaucracy for years where you lived. You grew up watching them incarnate the values of the regime.That’s why you feel they were familiar. You had such a crush on them when you were younger!

“Yes, Cadet? Anything interesting to add?” The professor asks, annoyed.

You realize you were not especially discreet and now everyone is turned towards you, wondering why you spoke up.

“No sir, sorry sir.” You immediately respond.

The governor hides a laugh behind his fan, while the lieutenant sighs irritated. Oops. Learn to shut up next time, you think to yourself.

“Each team will receive a cylinder of data. Protect it. Your objective will be to recover the data of an adverse team assigned to you. You will be tested.on your aptitude to adapt, on working as a team, your capacity to follow standardized protocol procedures and your final time. You are free to retrieve the data as you wish but remember this is a spying mission, the way to retrieve your objective will be scrutinized and evaluated as such so make the good choice. You will be parachuted to an area of 62 miles2 cut down in 7 zones, each day a new zone will become off-limit and everyone in this zone will be gassed and eliminated. Question?"

"What happens if we get badly injured?"

"The moon has been stuffed with cameras, if you find yourself incapacitated or unable to pursuit the exam a corvette will be send to take you back. Anything else?"

The classroom is deadly silent, so much you could hear a fly fly.

"Good. This year will be supervised by the Commander Marttilf and the junior commandant Hugtan," they respectively snort and nod at the mention of their name. "This exam is also sponsored by the Governor Satlove here present, he too will attend your trial with the other examiners."

The denominated Satlove straightens his back and slams shut his fan, making it resonate in the room. He displays a satisfied smile. You feel your heart pinch once again at this sight. His look and attitude clearly contrast with what is expected of an official member of the imperial government, whoever he is he has enough power or relations to be atop of all this.

Strangely, this thought makes you shudder on your seat.

“Remember this is an eliminatory trial. I will now give you your teams. Team A…”

Fixating on Satlove, you let your mind wander its way, thinking ahead about the exam you wonder how it will unfold, if you’re gonna get wounded or with whom you will go too. You remember the ball is right after that, you hope it’s gonna be okay.

“Team K : cadet Eli Vanto, cadet (Y/n) (Y/l/n), Lieutenant Thrawn,...”

You internally shout a yes and high five Eli, luck must be on your side to be with your friends. You bend over to high five Thrawn but squints at you, he nods his head in your direction and you lower your arm, feeling a bit alone suddenly.

“... and cadet Jamwest Cosblo.”

You choke hearing that. No! Between all your comrades, why this guy? You hear a shuffled yelp behind you, Cosblo looks at you, equally horrified. Maybe luck isn’t on your side…

___________________________________________

You clench your hand on your weapon, shaken by the ship you observe your comrades in their curious attire, silent, nobody dares raise their head too focused on what’s ahead. The uniforms lended for this exam consist of a black combination with weird solid globes on the limbs and vital parts of the body, a metal spine snake all the way on your back to your neck. Curious you poke the orb and are met with a hollow sound but can you feel the tension dilute on all your biceps, not sure what to think of all of it. Your weapons are not conventional either, they mimic a DLT-20A Blaster Rifle but the cooling vents are missing and the barrel is slightly thinner and longer, the weight is similar to any rifle but it seems empty, like some inner parts were missing… You’re stopped in your contemplation when a man in all gear just landed, to the surprise of most students.

“Alright, you’re on your way to Athulla’s moon and I’m here to brief you on those babies and your new pajamas.” He said, presenting his weapon. “You’re wearing a new prototype of simulation uniforms and armed with the special weapons that go with them.You’re the lucky few who will serve as guinea pigs, isn't it exciting?” He asks with a smile too large to be reassuring.

Nobody answers, uneased. He doesn’t appear high ranked, but sure seem excited to derust the rookies.

“Those bad boys use a specific non-lethal laser, if I do like this-” He just starts pressing the trigger randomly on the face of several students that dodge by reflex, scared to have a gun pressed onto their face carelessly. Loud clacks ring but no ammunition seems to be fired.”It doesn't do anything. You will need to aim at one of those orbs to get any result.”

A guy raises his hand.

“What does it do exactly?”

“Thanks for volunteering!” And like that, shoots him. The guy lets a scream escape as his arm drops immediately, inert, the globe flash red and flattened out with a sudden snap sound like all air has been sucked out. A gasp spread through the class. He ports a hand to his biceps with a yelp of pain.

“You will feel the same pain as a regular wound and it has the bad tendency to cut blood circulation with compression, I advise you don’t get shot in the neck.” He turns back to the guy. “You should have known better than interrupting me.”

The student does not respond, fold in two with pain he can just articulate a whine.

“Someone bring this wimpy kid to one of the other instructors to unlock the combination.”

Embarrassed, two of your comrades help him stand up and guide him with comforting words leaving you and the rest of the class in a shocked silence, none of you expected to get shot by an instructor during the trial’s travel.

You gulp, what a way to start! You didn’t need that with your current stress level, you just clench your hands harder on your weapon.

“Anyone else as a question?” He asks, opening his arms wide.

Silently, Thrawn raises his hand and waits patiently to be given the right to speak, at this sight some student hesitantly imitates him raising their arms. The instructor takes all the questions, ostensibly keeping Thrawn for last.

“What is it, blueface?”

“What is it about the chips you have pegged in our nape?” He asks calmly, visibly not bothered.

You frown your eyebrow and put your hand to the back of your neck, here you can feel a little rectangular object shot into your skin.

“Well observed blueface! It’s the control ship for the combination; it will lock it if aimed and you’ll blackout instantly, careful cause it’s fragile. We can activate it by distance so don’t try anything smart or break the rules. Anything else?”

Nobody moves.

“Good. We will arrive shortly!”

_____________________________________________________

“Team k go! Go! Go! Go!”

You blink, blinded by the sun as the footbridge opens to let you go. The sound of motors and wind is deafening, and the scent suffocates you for an instant. For an hour the corvette was parachuting students to their assigned starting point and now it’s your team's turn. You adjust your package on your back and start running toward the edge of the footbridge, you jump and land heavily on your feets in what appears to be a jungle, you feel it spread through your legs. You hear your teammates lend next to you with more or less facility. You raise your eyes to the sky and observe the corvette disappearing towards the next landing point. The trial officially began for you.

“So here we go! What do we do now?” Cosblo asks.

You concentrate but don’t seem to hear any sarcasm in his voice.

“For starters we should find shadows then inspect our respective packages.” Thrawn points.

You didn’t pick it up sooner but now that the wind doesn’t scream in your ear anymore you notice the temperature is hot and moist, water will be a problem if the weather doesn’t change. You feel sweat already building up and wipe your forehead with your hand. You follow them under a large unknown tree and remove your bag to examine it; you search and take out what’s usually not present in a standardized package.

“We have the data cylinder, medpacs, a datapad, food ration for 3 days, flashlights, climbing gears, a disassembled sniper rifle, and … knives?” Eli enumerates.

He takes one of these weird black handles and tinkers with it. Suddenly a red shiny triangle shaped blade shot out with a gasp from his part.

“A laser knife… Not to play with.” He says, putting it back. “That’s what we got among other things.”

“Who’s gonna keep the cylinder?” You ask.

Nobody’s really enthusiastic about that, having the cylinder is practically a target on the back.

“If everyone agrees, I will take it.” Thrawn says.

You shrug. Why not? It’s surely your best shot; he’s the most experienced of all of you.

“I agree.” You conclude.

“I’ve nothing against that.” Eli concurs.

Cosblo, on the other hand, stays silent, eyes focused on Thrawn with an indecipherable expression.

“Cadet Cosblo? I want the opinion of everyone.”Thrawn tries.

Cosblo pouts but concede.

“Sure. Take it.”

You exhale a breath you didn’t notice you were holding, you thought he would have been more difficult than that.

Holding his chin Thrawn examines the datapad in silence before putting it down and assessing the situation.

“First thing we should determine where we are located, then we could start to instigate a plan for the rest of the day.” He rises up and examines the tree. “Cadet (y/n), if you get on my shoulders, could you climb up that tree?”

You stop everything to look at the enormous tree with an incredulous look.

“Huh, can’t Eli do it? I’m sure he’s lighter than me.” You try.

“Doubt it. Plus the closer I am to the ground the merrier I am.” Eli counters.

You look once again to the tree and your eyes cross Thrawn’s and you see something akin to impatience growing in them.

“Alright, I’ll do it…” You wrinkle your nose; you don’t like that.

Thrawn kneels against the tree, and you climb atop, careful not to hurt him. You’re suddenly very conscious of your weight and try to keep it balanced between your two legs.

“Is it okay? I’m not too heavy?” You ask with a low voice, embarrassed.

“Focus on your grips.” He answers with a commanding tone.

You raise your head, tiptoes, and seize a branch to lift yourself.

“J.C. wait!” You frown at Cosblo shouting. “Take that to record what you see.” And like that, throws the datapad in the air. You catch it just in time and continue your ascension with a single hand.

Attaining the top of the tree, you start looking around and record the best you can without losing your balance. In the distance you could see metallic arches that delimited the area of the trial you speculate, here and there you could see smoke and the corvette still dropping students but more importantly in what seems like the middle of the area was a giant structure, between a network of caves and a building, and between you and this structure a forest, cliffs and rivers and no straight way. You sigh in front of the immense task ahead of you and the enormous passage in front of you, you put down the datapad and take a moment to appreciate the spectacle in front of you.

“Is everything okay up there?” You hear Eli shout.

“Yes! I’m coming down!”

You drop the datapad for Eli to catch and start going down.

“Someone catches me!” You warn once you get to the last branches.

You release the branch and let you fall, you feel like flying for a second when a couple of strong arms circle your waist and catch you mid-air. Thrawn then let you down delicately without a word. You nod at him thankfully, silencing your singing heart and join the rest of the group to analyze what you saw. The group watches the record in religious silence, before Thrawn takes the floor.

“This structure must be the point of rendez-vous for once we gathered the data.”

“What makes you say that?” Cosblo asks.

“This trial would need a huge center of control to function and unless they built it underground it is the only place large enough to contain it.”

“Before all that we will need to cross different swamp and cliffs and find the team we were assigned. This won’t be easy…” Recalls Eli.

“How do we know which team we will need to find in the first place?” You inquire.

“It is the B team” Thrawn points on the screen.

You gasp as the sound of riffles bangs in the air suddenly. A group of birds flies away from the trees far away ahead of you.

“It looks like two teams already found each other.” Thrawn notes monotonously. “We should go, we are too exposed here.”

You all gather your stuff and start to walk through the jungle in silence. You don’t like that you’re heading towards the shots, but you don’t verbalize it, on the other hand you keep turning your head behind you to keep a close eye on Cosblo. You still didn’t digest the fact that he’s in your team, and his relationship with each of the members is mediocre at best. He, on the other hand, clearly didn’t digest what happened at the school cantina, and you can’t say if he intends to act on it, you’d rather not be taken by surprise.

You walk in single file for the rest of the day until you reach a flat zone covered by trees, you collectively decide to camp here for the night and gather energy for the next few days. You raise the tents and go gather wood for the fire, as you come back under the moon you see Thrawn sitting sharpening a branch of his own.

“What are you doing?” You ask, putting down your wood to nourish the fire. You sit in front of him. He answers without raising his eyes from his hands.

“I’m fashioning a harpoon cadet. Those rations won’t last until the end of the trial; we will need to fend for ourselves.”

You didn’t add anything else knowing that he is right; you just sat and looked at him carving the wood, weighing up the shaft and trying some moves. The combination let you guess his musculature, so you didn’t complain, appreciating the spectacle in front of you. He reminds you of the antique athletes of your world that you’ve seen countless times in statues and pottery. You mind-absently eat, enthralled by what you see.

You hear Eli and Cosblo coming back behind you.

“You could have waited for us to come back to eat (y/n), where are your manners?” Eli berates you with a friendly push of the shoulder.

“You were taking too much time and I didn’t want to let Lieutenant Thrawn all alone like that, who knows what could have happened.” You laugh.

“The comeback of J.C the heroine…” Cosblo snarls.

You frown your eyebrows. It goes immediately under your skin.

“What’s up with you?!”

“Nothing, why?” He responds with a honeyed voice.

You open your mouth to retort but Thrawn beats you to it.

“We do not know where the other teams are, keep your volume down.”

You’re cut down in your movement but don’t add anything, nobody says anything and you all eat in a weird silence where everyone seems uncomfortable except Thrawn who is imperturbable. Irritated, you finish your meal and go straight to bed without a word for your teammates. You curl yourself into your sleeping bag, a hand on your rifle, and try to sleep.

You wake up in a snap, your weapon pulled out of your duvet towards the head of the mass present in your tent, looming silently over you, but it manages to catch the cannon of your rifle.

“Good reflex.” Says a low familiar voice.

You blink to see the eyes of Thrawn glowing at you with silent praises. You raise up, rubbing your eyes, the dark around you indicating you it’s not yet morning.

“Thrawn? Maker what is wrong with you? I’ve almost had a heart attack…”

“My apologies. It is your turn to watch, Eli will take his turn after you.”

You rub your temples, nodding your head with a grumble.

“I also wanted to talk to you about Cosblo…”

You raise back up your head, did he notice something? Did Cosblo attempt anything?

“I know your relationship is shaky, but he is a member of this team and I expect everyone to work as such. I wish your misdemeanor from earlier does not happen again. It is a luxury we can not afford at this time.”

You open your mouth to protest, but he cuts you by raising his hands.

“I know you were not at the root of the problem, I have already talked about it with him. I am asking you to be a reasonable person. Can I count on you?” He asks, his flamboyant eyes on you.

You clench your teeth, you can not promise anything.

“Yes…”

“Good. So I will wish you a good shift for the rest of the night.”

He stands up to get out and the sight of him departing sparks of panic in your heart.

“Wait, Sir!”

He stops in his marks and turns back to you with a curious gaze. You didn’t think this through, a lot of things jostle inside your head, a lot of things you would like to say to him, about Cosblo and other matters, but nothing comes out.

“Yes?” He asks with a soft voice.

“Nothing, goodnight sire…”

He nods his head.

“Goodnight cadet.”

You let a big sigh escape you after he leaves, you shake your head to energize you for your shift, it’s gonna be long if hopefully nothing happens. You stretch to crack your spine and leave out your tent with your rifle.

The night temperature is more clement than during the day and a gentle breeze is caressing your face’s skin, the other moons are full and high in the sky resulting in a vision almost as clear as day. You patrol across your camp in silence focusing on your surroundings, listening to any suspicious sounds but you could only hear grasshoppers singing in the wind and the sound of a small stream nearby. You tap the center of the fire with the tip of your foot to ensure the ashes are extinguished and circle aimlessly. You hear animals several times and this prospect sends shivers down your spine, you would rather stand against a predator with a real rifle than these laser toys, you retract your path to take up the lance Thrawn was carving earlier to reassure you.

As nothing happened you’re reduced to doing push-ups to pass time, when loud serial clacks strike in the silence of the night, you immediately jump on your feet, aiming in this general direction where cries could now be heard. You stand immobile debating if you should wake up your team before realizing it is too far away to be any kind of menace for the moment. Curious, as you climb up a nearby hill and try to localize the incident, you quickly notice the flash of colors distinctive of laser weapons approximately 10 miles ahead of you, it seems like chaos with people shouting in every direction. You keep watching, hypnotized by the lightning effects you don’t immediately feel that something is buzzing in your pocket. Surprised you reach for it and take out your comlink vibrating like you’re receiving a transmission. Weird, you thought most of the frequencies greater than 16 miles were cut off for the trial? You open it but only hear static. You try meddling with it but nothing comes of it. Whoever was trying to reach you would need to retry later.

You come back to the camp and wake up Eli to take his shift, he more or less reacts the same way you did with Thrawn but takes his turn with more enthusiasm than you.

You gratefully go back to your sleeping bag and sleep without dreams.

You wake up with the sun and get out of your tent still wrapped up in your duvet, blink several times to focus your vision and notice Thrawn laying on a rock with the now assembled sniper rifle. With eyes still full of sleep you join him and lay beside him putting the duvet on both of you, he doesn’t even move his face aside the gun sights.

“Good morning cadet.”

“Good morning Sir, what do we have this morning?”

“We have a team down by the river.”

He hands you the gun and you put your eyes on the sights. Through it you could see the adverse team enjoying its breakfast. You observe as they go around their tents eating and stretching their muscles, a silly idea crosses your mind as you wonder if you could shoot them at this distance.

“We could make a detour to avoid them.” He announces.

You decide that yes, you could shoot them at this distance without too much difficulty, you're almost tempted as your finger grazes the trigger, but you hold yourself back.

“I take it you don’t want to start a confrontation?”

“Not at this point at least, it is unnecessary.”

“Where are we heading toward anyway?” You ask.

He takes out the datapad and opens a map of the zone.

“We are here.” He points on the screen “I calculated team B must have been dropped here, and counting on the fact that every team must head toward the giant structure at some point, I intend to find them in this zone. But we will need to be quick.”

You give him back the rifle and he stands up.

“We should get ahead while they're occupied.” And he goes.

You take a last look at the river where your adversaries are and you get up too to join him and start packing your stuff. It is early in the morning but the heat is already rising and once all your packages are done you would trade anything for a dry t-shirt.

Eli is not thrilled at the idea of walking a hike without eating something before, in fact nobody is but Thrawn presses the group to hurry up and soon enough you’re back on the road. Alternating between jogging and running you try to cover the most distance possible with the least amount of break. It’s tiring and the heat and the weight of your packs doesn’t help.

It is past noon when Cosblo had enough.

“Stop! I can’t go further, I need a break…”

He stops and drops his bag on the ground right then and there.

“Come on Cadet! The Academy taught you to continue past the pain, did it not?” Thrawn asks, retracing his steps.

Cosblo takes a breath.

“They did! They also taught me that intense physical effort without nourishment is an unnecessary hazard.” He retorts, dropping to his knees with a relieved sigh.

“I will concur with him on this one.” Eli confessed. You nod in approvement.

Thrawn doesn't respond, looking at you and Eli then takes a look all around you.

“15 minute break, then we will go back.”

Oh thank the Maker! You think. You drop your bag and go towards the river to apply water on your neck and head. Finally a break! You resist the idea of throwing yourself in the river altogether, as delicious as it sounds it’s a guarantee for a cold. Thrawn comes next to you, soaking a piece of cloth to cool down his head. You notice him sweating profusely and panting but remains stoic.

“Everything good, sir?”

“I am okay, cadet.” He simply answers.

You remember he comes from an ice planet, these temperatures must really take a toll on him but he doesn’t complain or slow the pace, there is a real gap between your two self-discipline. Suddenly you feel shameful for demanding a break, you feel weak.

Once you’ve swallowed your ration it is already time to set off again. You cross the river and continue further north through the dense and exotic vegetation. You didn’t have time to admire it but the flora is very rich with translucent leaves and shiny veins, red and purple bushes and prismatic plants that color your path, between creepers and tall grasses it is difficult to advance without hacking through them. It’s with this slowed pace that suddenly you’re stopped in your tracks hearing shouts and rifles right in front of you. The group stops like one man and you take refuge in the thickets, weapons drawn.

You rose ever so slightly to observe what is happening and sure enough, two teams are facing each other although it is impossible to identify which one at this distance. You frown, trying to focus on what's ahead, it looks like one team has the upper hand, searching the packages with the opposite team on their knees and their hands on the back of their neck. One of them is lying still headfirst in the dirt with all its combination glowing red, this one is definitively down! You hold your breath as someone brandishes the data cylinder and summons the rest of its group.

“This is where it gets interesting.” Thrawn comments with a low voice.

They analyze it, it takes a minute and you hear a new shout of exasperation this time. Wrong pick. It is not the team they searched for. Clearly they are not pleased and one of them kicks one of the bags to the ground. At the moment you thought they would allow the other group to go, they take out their knife and stab the cylinder on several occasions, destroying it for good. You gawk at this sight. The defeated team tries to protest but are threatened with the rifles to stay in place.

“It’s over for them…” Mutters Eli.

“But are they allowed to do that?” Cosblo choke on his own words

“Since the examiners don’t activate their attire, we can deduce it is authorized.” Thrawn concludes.

“But that’s terrible!” You protest.

With this rule you will have to fear for your cylinder and team’s B at each and every encounter. It is but a matter of time before they cross paths with another team and risk losing the data. The stakes are suddenly way higher than what you have anticipated.

“I supposed it was an option this morning, this is why I did not want to confront the other team.” Thrawn explains, his eyes darted on the scene in front of him.

Angry, the winners pack their bags and shoot the losers for good measures, then head west.

“No need to stay any longer, a corvette will come collect them soon.” Thrawn parts away without looking back.

Crouching you follow your teammates until you're far enough to run again, with a new spike of adrenaline with those news. It severely alters the ways of the trial, it is much more challenging than anticipated. You can hear the shuttle coming for the team you left behind.

You travel again for two or three hours until you stumble around a lake of pure water. You collectively decide to stay here for the night and set up the camp. Once everything is set the only thing on your mind is to take a dip in this magnificent water. You take advantage that they’re all three occupied and you head towards the lake, unzipping your combination to your underwear and entering the water, it is deliciously cool and fresh, you immerse yourself totally, getting rid of all this sweat and filth. What a thrill. You swim slowly, looking at the pebbles and the trouts scattering away from you.

You’re observing a shell when two hands seize your waist, lift you and throw you away without a warning. You cough, water in your lungs, to Eli who’s folded in half laughing.

“You need to be more on your guard (y/n)! You won’t make it with a light head like that!”

“I will show you a light head!” You respond, throwing yourself at him to drown him.

You jostle yourself for a moment until you hear someone cry.

“Clear!”

And an enormous splash of water splatters you and Eli, Cosblo emerges with a big smile like a tyke.

“You almost knocked us out!” You accuse, laughing.

“Almost, not quite.”

“Where is Thrawn?” Eli asks.

“He’s finishing his patrol of the perimeter, I didn’t find anything on my own so we are safe here for now.” Cosblo responds.

You hope he will join you. You refuse to admit it to yourself but you would like to see how it is under his shirt. He must be carved from marble you like to imagine, he appears so athletic he doesn’t take too much to guess how it must be. You blush at this thought, it is neither the time nor the place. You immerse yourself once more to chill down your burning body and mind, you gulp to humidify your mouth dried at those indecent thoughts.

As you emerge once again you spot Thrawn on the rock beside the lake, his back to you. As he turns his head towards you, you wave at him.

“Come down with us!” Cosblo shouts, mincing his words as always.

You look at him surprised, you didn’t expect him to be this… Cordial.

“Thank you cadet, but I must decline the offer.”

“Oh come on! Have some team spirit!”

Thrawn simply shakes his head.

“No, I will continue my inspection of the surroundings. I will come back to you if I find anything.” And like that disappear behind the rocks.

“What’s up with him?” Cosblo asks.

“Maybe he doesn't want to enjoy a bath with the younglings.” Eli answers, letting himself get carried away by the water.

“He’s a big shy, yes! Under that stoic demeanor he’s a scared child!” Cosblo scowls.

You don’t say a thing, fixing pensively where he was standing one minute earlier. You would lie if you said you were not a bit disappointed. Too bad, you will feast your eyes another time.

Twenty minutes later you get out the water to dry by the fire, you are not exactly sure how but Cosblo managed to catch fish and start roasting them. The air is surprisingly light tonight, you suppose some of the tension and stress melted away in the water, and you intend to enjoy it. You redress yourself and wait for your fish to be ready; this is the moment Thrawn chooses to reappear. He sat down with you and partook in the discussion with the rest of the group but you feel an uneasy sentiment emanate from him, but you can’t put your finger on it so you don’t pry on him.

Later that night Eli comes waking you up for your shift, and you’re back to doing push ups and burpees cause you’re bored and nothing’s happening until you hear rustling in the bushes near you. Without letting the fear get to you, you seize your rifle and the spear and crouch towards the sound, ready to wake up your squad if need be. But you first wanted to know what you were up to.

You slowly approach as silently as possible, you pass the bushes down the lake a little far ahead, you continue until a mass passes in front of you. You hold back a scream of surprise as you curl up even more. You crawl into the dirt to a nice hiding spot and observe.

In front of you, illuminated by the golden fireflies, stands the shadow identifiable by its flamboyant red eyes. Thrawn is washing his hair under the cascade unaware of your presence, the water glistening under the silvery moons on his skin, sparkling like diamonds, enhancing the definition of its carved muscles. You blink at this sight, you expected enemies and you're graced with this sublime scene straight up of a fairy tail albeit a lecherous one.

You watch him bathe unknowingly, blood rushing to your cheeks. Your heartbeat accelerates as your eyes open larger to take the measure of the picture. You gulp as you follow his hands slowly caressing his body, you admire every flexion of the muscles and a light moan escapes you. He takes his time, appreciates the sensation of the water on his body, and you're on the verge of combusting, your core neglected by your studies awakens of a long dormancy, tingles and contracts on the void, protesting to have been ignored for so long and demanding attention now. Given the situation you refuse to give up to your lowest instinct and refrain from acting on it but you find yourself unable to detach your gaze from him, you dare not to move, worrying that he may spot you in the undergrowth.

Taking a deep breath you detail him from head to toes, his luscious hair, his thick neck on his broad shoulders extended by strong arms and end with mighty hands.

Oh those hands.

Those soft hands. You’ve felt them in yours but now you want them all over your body, sneaking their way up every cranny of your flesh grabbing and kneading your mounds while he kisses you with his delectable lips, biting and licking yours.

You put one hand over your pulsating knot hoping it would ease its stretching and yearning. To no avail. You breathe hard, hot and bothered, your gaze keeps traveling on his form, wide and kissable chest, his gropable waist and traceable abdominals.

It’s only now that it dawns on you that he is actually naked and not in his underwear as you first thought.

You take one guilty look.

But the shadows make it invisible as to taunt you.

You pants and gulp, your mouth is drier than the desert and you feel thirst growing inside you as the same time your core pulses with forces.

It takes you a superhuman effort to detach yourself from this scene and to go back to the camp.

This trial is a roller coaster of emotions, and it gets you on your nerves.

A little panicked you try to get your mind off of things but your sex refuses to be ignored in such a way. Without thinking about it you enter the tent of Eli, in hopes he could be of some help.

He raises his head with eyes full of sleep.

“(y/n)? Is there a problem?” He yawns.

“No, I… I just wanted some company…” You lay beside him, using your hands as a pillow.

“You look like you just saw an apparition.”

“Maybe I did…”

You gulp, trying to relax but you're tense like a bow string.

“So? What brings you here?” He asks with sweetness in the voice.

“I was just thinking about the trial and this situation as a whole and can’t sleep.” You lie, or not totally, those questions plagues your mind from the beginning.

“You sure it’s not Cosblo snoring that keeps you awake?”

You laugh slightly.

“No but having to sleep next to him might.”

“You don’t trust him.” He murmurs

You shake your head.

“I don’t know. I’ve rarely seen his good side, he seemed genuine tonight but….”

He rolls on his back, his hands under his head, contemplating the roof of his tent.

“I’ve chosen to trust the guy, we’re in this together and I trust he’s intelligent enough to act like it.”

You don’t respond, your instinct tells you to be on your toes around him, but maybe Eli’s right? Maybe you could give him a chance?

“Well, to answer your former worries, hopefully if Thrawn gets better he may guide us through this exam successfully. We can rely on his experience and our strengths, don’t worry.”

“You think he was strange this evening too?” You ask, relieved your mind was not playing tricks on you.

He stays silent as he looks into your eyes like he’s searching for his words.

“I think… He misses his people.”

It’s your turn to be silent. You explore this idea a second.

“Does he?”

“I think the moment at the lake threw him back in time, when he was with his friends and he will never admit it but I think it’s one of the things that can get to him.”

“But he could have that! He could have all that here with us if he would let his guard down!” You protest.

Eli shakes his head.

“Can you blame him? Being exiled and thrown into an unknown and hostile system must not encourage him to open up.”

You frown, you clearly see the logic but are displeased by the results.

“It’s not only that, it’s more profound than that…” You whisper through your teeth.

“Maybe… What we can do is to be there for him, so he knows he can rely on us.”

You pout, your mind in bulk.

“Sleep here tonight, your ideas will be clearer by morning.” He proposes.

You nod silently, getting up to wake Cosblo and coming back rapidly to the security and the intimacy of this small piece of hessian.

You sleep soundly, again without dreams to disturb your rest. You don’t even feel your comlink vibrating once again.

@bluechiss, @exoplorationn

[period-dramallama]

Becoming Elizabeth: the autopsy

I just realised I never did a review of episode 8. Lol. Lmao even. This isn't an episode review but rather a discussion of the show upon rewatch.

Basically this is a show where the whole is not equal to the sum of its parts.

When I talk about the problems with the writing, I generally mean the narrative choices. The literal writing itself is good. Particularly for Tommy S, because those funny and witty/endearing lines explain his charm and why he is able to win over people and make them think he's a nice guy he's a funny guy he's a lovable rogue he's an adventurer. Tommy S does need to have some charm/charisma in order to be an effective villain. He can't go around being obviously evil.

There are still too many F words, but i was pleasantly surprised that there weren't as many as I remembered. And some F words I couldn't bear to part with: "The fuck is that?" And "what the fuck is wrong with you?!" In episode 5 for example.

I've seen some people say that the quality of the writing dropped in the episodes that aren't Anya Reiss but.... I think the quality of the writing was consistent. The iconic "I wish to take my c***ing bath" was not in an Anya episode, and neither was one of my favourite scenes in the whole show (yes it's the Dudley swordfighting training scene but it's an objectively good scene and not just because it's cute boys in fencing gear).

I initially thought episode 7 was my least favourite episode, but looking back there isn't really a good episode or a bad episode. Every episode has something I like and a bunch of stuff I'd change. If I had to pick 2 favourite episodes I'd pick 1 and 6. But because the problems are with narrative choices they're spread across the series. Even in episode 1, we have Elizabeth "I said at 9 i didn't want to marry so a lot would need to happen to change my mind" Tudor suddenly deciding she wants to marry a man she barely knows because hormones and they had a nice conversation one time. The rot set in quickly.

After the first four episodes I started skipping Mary and Tommy S scenes. I won't say any more on Katherine Parr because I've already said all I have to say on her characterisation. I did do some soul searching because I wondered if my dislike of her was subconscious internalised misogyny, given my affection for morally ambiguous male characters. But no, she really does lack both charm and depth.

So why is Becoming Elizabeth so narratively unsatisfying? Aside from Elizabeth being OOC, I think it's that the story feels like it's going around in circles.

Jane and Elizabeth clash. They make up. Then in episode 7 they fall out again. Mary and Edward fight, make up, fight, make up, fight again. Elizabeth realises Tommy S is dangerous, then she forgets, then she realises again. Mary scolds this character and they don't listen and then this character and they don't listen.

Yes character development isn't linear but it isn't circular either. It GOES somewhere. Setup and payoff are mutually reinforcing. It's fun to watch the setup because you know what's coming as a result of it. Payoff is fun because you saw how we got here. But it isn't satisfying to watch something that you know won't result in anything permanent. I don't feel anything watching Jane be tactless to Elizabeth in episode 1 because I know she'll be even MORE tactless in episode 7. And I don't feel anything seeing Elizabeth reach out the hand of friendship to Jane after the recital fiasco because I know in episode 7 they'll just fall out again. Whereas with Mary and Elizabeth they at least end the series with their relationship in a different place (hell).

And I have every sympathy with the writers because I'm up to my eyeballs at editing and I know what it's like to take historical events and try and make a plot and character arcs out of them. But the letter subplot and the Danish marriage subplot were largely fictional anyway. And they kinda went nowhere.

I understand that the showrunners wanted a complex villain in Tommy S. I get it. My favourite characters in this show are people capable of great love and also great harm. But to humanise him you only really needed that conversation with Elizabeth in episode 1 establishing his uncertainty and confusion, and the excellent "goshawk hatching out of a goose egg" scene with Jane. That establishes that he has the ability to be good he just chooses to be awful. So yes, the show really did give him too much screen time. He's not the main character, Elizabeth is! He should not have screen time comparable with her and her siblings! This wasn't supposed to be the Tommy S show! Nobody asked for that!

Gardiner is another problem IMHO. Setting aside the fact he's way too young to be the real Gardiner. He really shouldn't be here. He spent Edward's reign in the Tower. I know he shows up as a result of the fictional plots... so why write those fictional plots to the point you have to bring him in?? Cranmer IS important. You could have had Cranmer pushing Edward to be radical, Ed pushing him to be more lenient, and Daddy Dudley balancing the two. Voila, a dynamic!

And I get that Elizabeth wasn't doing much politically 1550-3 but you could still show her reacting and learning from events around her rather than warping Edward's reign completely out of shape AND making her a side character in her own story.

[inkforhumanhands]

fandom asks: 1 2 8 11 12 17 23 24 25

list 3 positive things about your current fandom(s)

a) I love that the Daredevil fandom has been kept healthy with several events over the years: shout out to @daredevilexchange for all the work they've done! b) My mattfoggy buddies are all so sweet and supportive; I know I can always count on someone to leave a comment on my fics even if they're occasionally a bit niche! c) I'm currently loving the surge in podficcing! We've not only got longtime veterans doing podfics for other people's work, but several of us have dipped our toes into the waters and have begun to podfic our own work. Not only a neat part of fandom but a step toward some more enjoyable reading for our friends who primarily use screen readers.

2. a headcanon you weren't sure about at first but have come to like!

I think at first I wasn't super big on the whole "Mike is in love with Foggy and obnoxious about it" thing, but as anyone familiar with my fics knows I've since come to embrace it.

8. you hope more people will come to appreciate ___ (a ship, a trope, an episode, etc)

Honestly I'd just like people to write more fics and draw more art directly inspired by comics storylines, especially some of the older stuff! That's what I'm hoping to get people to do with my upcoming DD comics bingo event. :D

11. if you're a writer or artist, what fic or piece of art are you proud of making?

At the moment I'm really proud of Hearsay, which is a comics volume 1 wip. I just think it's very tightly written.

12. compliment someone else in your fandom

@mutuallyprime is as lovely and supportive as it gets! You can count on her to boost you up if you need it 🥺 and she's written some truly great fics! The DD 2003!Matt/Milla fic is never leaving my brain.

17. the thing in canon that everyone loves and that you also love

Already answered this one with Matt and Foggy's friendship, but I suppose I also love their frequent divorces. 😌 Great source of drama, I think we can all agree about that.

23. the fandom you're curious about because of a mutual

lol sorry this is a boring answer but at the moment... none! I have in the past however been influenced to watch things, including Hannibal (loved it), Interview with the Vampire (loved it), and BBC Merlin (hated it lmao).

24. how has fandom positively impacted your life?

I've made so many friends!! It's lovely to wake up in the morning and be able to go and say hi and chat about this thing we're all obsessed with. Far less lonely. :D

25. a piece of advice for taking care of yourself in fandom spaces

literally don't listen to anybody telling you you're doing fandom wrong because you do/don't do x, y, or z. it's your life and anybody espousing these opinions has a very narrow and limited view of other people's interiority. get the hell out of there if you see a post like this. you deserve better.

[bobnewbie]

15 questions for 15 mutuals

Tagged by so many lovely folks!!

1. Are you named after anyone?

bahahaha, my father and my mother. they literally said ctrl-c ctrl-v

2. When was the last time you cried?

Ooof it has been a minute. I am going to watch my bestie get married soon so i have a feeling it'll happen very soon

3. Do you have any kids?

i have two adorable fur babies because i like to live up to all the millennial stereotypes.

4. Do you use sarcasm a lot?

me? no! i would never...

5. What sports do you play/Have you played?

i played basketball badly in middle school hahaha. i do lift weights and enjoy walking/jogging but have been kinda limited cause of my back recently.

6. What’s the first thing you notice about other people?

i love curly hair? so if you've got a cute curl pattern or curly do then i am immediately entranced. that or nice booty, i am a booty kinda bro 😅

7. Eye colour?

light brown, they be pretending to be hazel when the light hits em just right tho 😂

8. Scary movies or happy endings?

hmm, scary movies but im talking jordan peele thriller not a fucking ari aster acid trip. also if the characters are queer of any sort then i want a happy ending, tired of the bury your gays* bs

9. Any special talents?

i have finally admitted to myself that i am a rather competent writer. also i am not too shabby in the singing dept.

10. Where were you born?

houston, tx. i am currently very far from home and i missing my bbq and tacos....

11. What are your hobbies?

blogging (obvs), gaming, and writing flicks i hope folks will see someday

12. Do you have any pets?

my children would feel very disrespected if i called them that

13. How tall are you?

5'5". average height club, baby!

14. Fave subject in school?

loved me some english and history

15. Dream job?

screenwriting and all my stories feature queer people of color cause we crave representation and are still barely receiving it.

thank you for thinking of me ❤️❤️!! @softerhaze @nigmos @nucrests @fizzytoo @maelfe @piupiowa

tagging: @sforzinda @ladybugsimblr, @therichantsim , @simmenycricket , @simmerstellar , @non-sims , @ellcrze (feel free to ignore if you've already done it or don't feel comf!)

[kit-teung]

bad buddy fandom getting-to-know-you meme ):)

template by @fiercynn, tagged by @hereforlou! this is exciting, thank you so much for tagging me <3

name and whatever you want to share about yourself

i'm (na)tasha, a freelance artist from eastern europe, i really love mountains, lemons, teal colour and when it's hot as hell outside. you might know me from c-drama/novel fandoms - that's what i mostly draw on my main blog (which i'm being weirdly secretive about, but if you want to know the url you can message me about it off anon)

when did you watch bad buddy/join the fandom?

episode 5 was trending on here and a mutual who abandoned tumblr almost completely suddenly came back to reblog like 15 rooftop kiss gifsets in a row, scream in tags and then disappear again which made me go huh. what's all this then. lemme check out the first episode. and then by the time episode 6 aired a few days later i'd been already all caught up (can't remember exactly but since i have a tendency towards binge-watching i have a suspicion i watched all five episodes nearly in one sitting). for some personal reasons i'd rather not get into i never got a chance to create anything back then when it was airing and after, and so here i am finally joining the fandom more than a year later!

favorite ship(s)

(apart from the obvious) 📢📢📢TONGYOD📢📢📢 !!! also i was never big on crossover ships but then our skyy 2 happened and altered my brain chemistry

favorite character(s)

sometimes it's pran, sometimes it's pat. i don't control the part of my brain that decides which one of them to hyperfixate on out of the blue

favorite episode(s)

(again, apart from the obvious) i really love episodes 2-4 where they get to reunite and just hang out with each other. i love you bus stop shenanigans. also episode 11 because i'm a sucker for beach episodes, especially when they are mellow and bittersweet

favorite scene(s)

episode 8 balcony scene my beloved. inkpa darkroom confession scene and the way love's voice was trembling as she was on the verge of crying. also that bit in episode 11 where pat wakes up alone, goes out and sees pran playing the guitar outside and pran turns to greet him and SMILES SO SO BIG ugh my heart is doing somersaults as i'm typing this

one thing you would change about the show if you could

put pat in crop tops. cmon

what are your some of your favorite fanworks made by other people? 

any of the artworks by @thatgothsamurai, but especially this one

any of the artworks by @shikanji, but especially this one

any of the artworks by @hereforlou, but especially this one

any of the artworks by @kornswasianguyswag, but especially this one

this fanvid, the best fanvid ever that i've accidentally stumbled upon when searching up "bad buddy same page" (i think i was looking for the mock trailer lol)

this fic by @oldlace

this fic by @aroceu

and a special shoutout to all the wonderful gifmakers and meta writers, you guys are the real mvps <3

(if you create fanworks) what are your favorite fanworks that you’ve made?

well, i haven't drawn much bbs fanart yet, but from the ones i've done so far i especially love this inkpa

also pls look at this korn i drew in the bbs discord server

a song that makes you think of bbs (the ones in the show don’t count lol)

does same page count if it technically wasn't in the show ah no wait pat sang it in episode 12 damn it ok this one i guess

idk anything else you want us to know?

this show's name in my native language is a pun that i can't explain

unfortunately i don't really know anyone in this fandom yet (unless.. @aroceu have you done this thing?), so i'm not tagging anyone, but if you're reading this and you really want to do this, you can say i tagged you!

[thephantomcasebook]

Finally someone says Alicent and Aegon's incestuous vibes out loud

It is almost an open secret, but many of the green side do not want to say it so as not to tarnish the image of Alicent

But I think it's very obvious, I mean, most of his scenes are when Aegon is naked, Alicent watches him masturbate (which is already weird)

One of the things that I rescue from the things that Olivia said is that she made it clear that Alicent loves Aegon more than all things "I love even to the bones of you" I think she said… I mean, that can be transmitted and demonstrated in ways not so "mothering"

Which makes me wonder if B&C is going to happen almost by the season finale, then how will they write Alicent being almost the replacement for Queen Consort Helaena? because as far as I remember Alicent assumes almost all the functions of Helaena … she becomes more "intimate" with Aegon II until the Rhaenys battle

But the strange thing is that, in the show they are already more "intimate" in a fuck-sexual wau, I mean, how will they write it?

About Daeron, I doubt very much that they give them a semi-incestuous dynamic but rather one similar to that of Aemond-Alicent but more affectionate, being the youngest of their sons

I think there is definitely a sexual element to Alicent and Aegon's relationship. But like I said, I don't think Alicent is turned on or is attracted to Aegon. However, I think that Alicent is so deeply sexually repressed that she is darkly fascinated by Aegon's deviancy - ashamed of him and it - but still drawn to it.

I think a lot of Aegon's darker sexual impulses come from Alicent. I'm not a big fan of Olivia Cooke's take on the character, and generally don't take her nor her opinions seriously. But the one thing I actually do agree with her on is that Alicent has a darker sexual side that is deeply repressed and that she is probably into and would let people do some deviant and dark stuff to her and she'd be really into it.

I'm sure I'll be hung for saying it, cause I'm an unashamed Alicent simp and squarely a Team Green Fanatic ... but I think Alicent is genuinely on the cusp of giving Aegon a "Helping Hand" if it furthered her agenda or want. She might even use it as a "Nuclear Option" power move to position him in the direction she wants him. I think her relationship with Larys is a perfect example of her doing things of the like for her own agenda. And I think that Alicent could be pressured by Aegon into doing things, though she'd be glaring the entire time ... perhaps even look away.

But she'd still do it.

There was someone on twitter who was at GOT Con and they had a conversation with Tom Glynn-Carney and they were discussing Aegon in Season 2 and going forward. And apparently - according to them - Tom discussed, in terms of his relationship with Alicent - that Aegon for the first time feels powerful and in charge and he is going to use that to get even with Alicent and all the years of her 'disappointment' with him. And a quote that was going around was "I'll make you love me." Which hints to me that Aegon is going to be very domineering or dominating with Alicent and possibly Helaena which would bring him into conflict with Aemond which is a rumored main plot of Season 2.

I think you're right about "Blood & Cheese" being the catalyst for Alicent taking on more power and basically becoming the queen again. It would be a nice way of getting Show!Alicent on the level that Book!Alicent was. Because, in the Book, it was Criston that convinced Alicent and Aegon to take the crown. In the book Criston Cole is extremely cunning and intelligent and is the brains behind Alicent's ambitions - Alicent dreams it and Criston makes it happen. Also, in the book, it's hinted that Alicent was wrapped around Criston's finger ... but that Criston never abused or exploited that, and he was mutually devoted and loyal to her to the very end. But in the show the Green Council kinda sprang the plot on Alicent and Criston unawares.

I mean, from the way Glenn-Carney was talking in early December I don't think Alicent is gonna have a choice in the matter, she's gonna be forced to be by Aegon's side whether she likes it or not. So I'm not entirely sure that their's will be a mutual relationship as it will be Alicent being submissive to Aegon. Which to a certain degree fascinates me and on the other hand, I'm really not interested in Aegon becoming a monster ... that's so easy. But at this point it is undeniable there is a darker connection between them that is a fundamental part of their relationship.

As for Daeron .... I don't know, even before all the changes, in the first edition book and in the GOT blu-ray extras, Daeron's motivations were shaped exclusively around Alicent. And Alicent was very longing for Daeron - especially after Criston dies. Everything leading to the Brothel Queens is motivated by her burning desire to be reunited with Daeron. I mean she almost completely writes off Aemond - like, yeah, she wants him to run the Riverlands with Alys, but she basically tries to convince Rhaenyra to let her and Daeron run away together to Oldtown.

Like I said, I'm an Alicent and Daeron fanboy ... but that ain't normal behavior.

Alicent and Daeron were a bit too much revolved around one another's world, yeah?

[angels-heap]

*raises hand* I want to know about the barney/Lauren fic!

OKAY SO. In late 2019/early 2020 while I was writing The Ghost in You, I was also writing a companion fic in my brain that followed Lauren, Barney, and Gordon pre-rescas, from the time they all met until the day after the Incident. Working title was “Every Breath You Take” because (1) I suck at titles, (2) I’d already titled two fics in that series after 80s songs and wanted to stick to the pattern, and (3) the whole concept was that Lauren thought she was successfully spying on Black Mesa and uncovering conspiracies – which she was, to be clear – but the G-man was also watching her.

I kept telling myself not to start earnestly drafting the fic until The Ghost in You was closer to done, both because I didn’t want to manage two longfics at once and because I felt the prequel would hit harder after readers learned more about Lauren through post-HL2 Barney and Gordon’s recollections. Then, of course, the 2020 fandom bullshit happened and I basically scrapped the idea, though it lives on in my head and in a handful of drafts and phone notes scattered across my devices.

It’s highly unlikely that I’ll write the fic at this point, despite my renewed interest in the fandom, mostly because my 9-5 job (which is really more of an 8-10 job) won’t allow me the time or flexibility to take on another project that big. So, for anyone who’s curious about what could have been…

Context: Lauren is a food service/cafeteria worker at Black Mesa, assigned to the cafeteria near Sector C at the time of the story. This is how and where she met Barney (as explained in The Ghost in You). A running theme of the prequel was to be how service workers (especially female service workers) were essentially invisible at Black Mesa due to the various -isms and prejudices of the time, which meant Lauren could get away with a lot with a little stealth and social engineering.

I’ve forgotten and/or never got around to drafting a lot of the connective tissue between the major plot points, but here’s a rundown of all the important beats I can find/remember:

Story opens with Barney telling Lauren about “ponytail guy” (Gordon), the new AnMat scientist who always eats alone and never seems to talk to anyone. Lauren challenges Barney to approach ponytail guy and to her surprise, they hit it off. Barney won’t shut up about how nice and interesting his new friend is all night, and the next day, when Barney shows up to help her move her stuff into his apartment, he brings ponytail guy with him! Lauren’s wary of him at first, due to a general distrust of scientists, but eventually warms up to him through dunking on Barney and a mutual interest in sci-fi.

Lauren’s team caters a working lunch for Dr. Breen and other higher-ups. She inadvertently overhears something she shouldn’t have about the Lambda Complex’s unacceptably high casualty rate. She recalls hearing rumors and noticing that some of those scientists have gone missing recently, but had assumed they quit/moved/retired. Now she’s not so sure. She vows to keep closer tabs on Lambda Complex scientists in the future and decides not to mention any of this to fellow conspiracy nut Barney—at least, not yet. Not until she has proof.

Interlude: Lauren and Barney have a conversation about who they’d want a “hall pass” to sleep with, no questions asked, without it affecting their relationship. After some back-and-forth, they decide to write their choices down on scrap paper and swap them. Lauren picks Leonardo DiCaprio. Barney picks Gordon. He instantly protests that he didn’t understand the game, but Lauren knows better. She’s also not surprised, and she likes Gordon well enough, and she feels secure enough in their relationship that she doesn’t exactly feel threatened that Barney’s also attracted to Gordon. In fact, she finds the whole thing kind of hot, but she’s not inclined to tell Barney that yet. It’s more fun to let him squirm and see where things go.

Over a span of several weeks, Lauren hears rumors that several more Lambda Complex scientists have suddenly disappeared. She starts casually asking around and gets stonewalled at every turn, which only raises further suspicions. She asks Gordon what he thinks and he shrugs the whole thing off as a rumor. On her way home from Gordon’s apartment, she sees a pale man in a blue suit watching her from a distance. He makes eye contact with her, straightens his tie, and walks away.

Lauren picks up extra shifts as a custodian to gain access to Sector E facilities, based on a hunch. She pretends to get lost and strategically “stumbles across” one of the specimen labs, where she discovers Xen fauna in various stages of dissection and skims some unsecured lab notes. When she's caught by a condescending scientist who's clearly in a hurry, she simply plays dumb and gets escorted back to her work area with a warning. After that shift, she returns to her and Barney’s shared apartment to find that he and Gordon are celebrating the news that Gordon’s up for a promotion to the Lambda Complex team, pending a letter of recommendation from Dr. Kleiner. Lauren instantly knows that this cannot be allowed to happen and starts scheming.

Next time the three of them get together, Lauren casually asks Gordon if he knows about Xen, to which he replies, “Zen? I’ve never relaxed a day in my life.” (This conversation is also referenced in TGIY). This confirms that he has no idea what he’s about to be sent off to do, so she resolves to set her plan into action. After Barney and Gordon conk out on the couch, she steals Gordon’s swipe card and manages to convince the guard in Sector C (a friend of Barney’s) that Gordon asked her to drop something off in Kleiner’s office. He escorts her in and looks away long enough for her to steal Gordon’s letter of rec out of Kleiner’s outgoing mail tray. She smuggles it out, rips it to shreds, and flushes it down the toilet. G-man watches her leave.

(Somewhere in here, Barney and Gordon attend the infamous Christmas Party referenced in The Ghost in You, where they get super drunk and end up making out with each other while Lauren is out of town. Barney calls Lauren the next day and she just knows something happened between them, but she’s not mad. Barney hands Gordon the phone, and she gives him a minor heart attack by saying something along the lines of “Next time you decide to make out with my boyfriend, can you at least invite me?” This whole debacle could’ve been—and almost was—its own fic.)

Gordon’s transfer never goes through. Everything goes back to normal. Lauren continues to snoop around and becomes increasingly paranoid that the blue-suited bureaucrat is following her around (because he is). She mentions this to Barney, who shrugs it off (“Black Mesa’s crawling with suits”) and suggests that maybe she’s seeing things because she hasn’t been sleeping well. Lauren realizes he’s right, and maybe there’s more to her nightmares and restless sleep and constant body aches than the stress of uncovering an interdimensional conspiracy that she can’t talk about with anyone. She takes a pregnancy test. It's positive.

(Insert a scene referenced in The Ghost in You: Either the one where Lauren tells Barney about the pregnancy and he freaks the fuck out, or the post-Galaxy Quest conversation where Lauren asks Gordon if he thinks Barney would be a good father, from Lauren’s POV.)

Flash forward to the day of the incident. Lauren’s in New York when she hears news that something’s happened at Black Mesa. She starts calling Barney’s apartment phone (no answer, no answering machine) and Gordon’s (no answer, and she discovers that Barney recorded a goofy message on Gordon’s answering machine without his knowledge). Hours drag on with no news, and the rest of her family eventually goes out to dinner, leaving her alone, dialing Gordon’s number over and over, even after she knows in her heart that he’s never going to answer, just to hear Barney’s voice. Eventually, the line is disconnected mid-call.

(If you’ve read The Ghost in You, you probably have your suspicions as to how everything ends. I’m intentionally leaving this vague for now, just to preserve the ambiguity, but suffice to say that Lauren’s experience of her last phone call with Barney was a bit different than his. If anyone’s actually read this far, I welcome your theories.)

So, that's the fic! I'm sure its final form would've been much more interesting and cohesive than this outline, but I was proud of it as a starting point and it gave rise to so many of my cherished headcanons. Make of it what you will.

[tristandelarkadien]

On Clive & Maurice, pt. 1

Let me try to write out my thoughts on one of my favourite novels, and explain why the casting changes the implications of the movie.

I watched Maurice a while back. The film, not the novel. I had looked forward to seeing Hugh Grant, as I thought him a good choice for the main character. Needless to say, I was surprised and confused to see him playing Clive. Even more surprised and confused to see a small blond actor playing Maurice, and not Clive.

The blond guy was not a bad choice. I am sure he was a good actor. But he came across as more emotional than expected. The fact that he seemed a bit smaller than Clive's actor gave them a different dynamic than the one I had come to expect from the book.

I will lay out my ideas here. If this has already been touched upon in some prior essay, I apologise, but the sadly now ephemeral nature of Tumblr's search function makes it hard to locate.

(I also do not wish to turn this into an 'X is better than Y' debate. Both the film and movie are lovely stories, and they both deserve attention from their respective/shared devotees.)

I would love to cite or review the books involved, but unfortunately, they are outside of my reach due to reasons of money & location. I have endeavoured to cite what I am able to, in hopes of one day being able to afford scholarly literature written on the subject.

Introduction to Romantic friendships

In the early-to-mid 19th century, muscular christianity crossed over with ideals of manliness to create ideas about intense friendship between same-sex people being a precursor to romantic love with individuals of the opposite sex.

This friendship was meant to be mutually enriching. After the embers of passion had given way to mutual companionship, the two were to have a strong, but ultimately ‘normal’ friendship, less passionate than that of youth, as that emotion was now to be directed towards women.

These friendships were depicted in didactic children’s novels, as well as bildungsromans / Coming-of-age tales. We can see this in Tom Brown’s Schooldays, where a school matron puts the unruly, boisterous Tom together with meek, religious Arthur who looks younger than his years.

"Oh, Master Brown," went on the little matron, when the rest had gone, "you're to have Gray's study, Mrs. Arnold says. And she wants you to take in this young gentleman. He's a new boy, and thirteen years old, though he don't look it. He's very delicate, and has never been from home before. And I told Mrs. Arnold I thought you'd be kind to him, and see that they don't bully him at first. He's put into your form, and I've given him the bed next to yours in Number 4; so East can't sleep there this half."

Tom was rather put about by this speech. He had got the double study which he coveted, but here were conditions attached which greatly moderated his joy. He looked across the room, and in the far corner of the sofa was aware of a slight, pale boy, with large, blue eyes and light, fair hair, who seemed ready to shrink through the floor. He saw at a glance that the little stranger was just the boy whose first half-year at a public school would be misery to himself if he were left alone, or constant anxiety to any one who meant to see him through his troubles. (Tom Brown, pt 2, c. 1)

It doesn’t take long for the two to get better acquainted, in a way that enriches both of them, according to the dominating ideology of the age. Tom instructs Arthur in how to ‘fit in’ and not get singled out for bullying, while Arthur makes Tom’s fighting instincts kick in to protect Arthur, rather than roughhouse.

"What a queer chum for Tom Brown," was the comment at the fire; and it must be confessed so thought Tom himself, as he lighted his candle, and surveyed the new green-baize curtains and the carpet and sofa with much satisfaction.

"I say, Arthur, what a brick your mother is to make us so cozy. But look here now, you must answer straight up when the fellows speak to you, and don't be afraid. If you're afraid, you'll get bullied. And don't you say you can sing; and don't you ever talk about home, or your mother and sisters."

Poor little Arthur looked ready to cry.

"But please," said he, "mayn't I talk about—about home to you?"

"Oh yes, I like it. But don't talk to boys you don't know, or they'll call you homesick, or mamma's darling, or some such stuff. What a jolly desk! Is that yours? And what stunning binding! Why, your school-books look like novels!"

And Tom was soon deep in Arthur's goods and chattels, all new and good enough for a fifth-form boy, and hardly thought of his friends outside, till the prayer-bell rang. (Tom Brown, pt 2, c. 1)

Seeing Arthur set a good example by praying leads Tom to remember his own religion, which he has forsaken by refusing to pray before bed.

Tom was sitting at the bottom of his bed unlacing his boots, so that his back was toward Arthur, and he didn't see what had happened, and looked up in wonder at the sudden silence. Then two or three boys laughed and sneered, and a big, brutal fellow, who was standing in the middle of the room, picked up a slipper, and shied it at the kneeling boy, calling him a snivelling young shaver. Then Tom saw the whole, and the next moment the boot he had just pulled off flew straight at the head of the bully, who had just time to throw up his arm and catch it on his elbow.

"Confound you, Brown, what's that for?" roared he, stamping with pain.

"Never mind what I mean," said Tom, stepping onto the floor, every drop of blood in his body tingling; "if any fellow wants the other boot, he knows how to get it."

What would have been the result is doubtful, for at this moment the sixth-form boy came in, and not another word could be said. Tom and the rest rushed into bed and finished their unrobing there, and the old verger, as punctual as the clock, had put out the candle in another minute, and toddled on to the next room, shutting their door with his usual "Good-night, gen'l'm'n."

There were many boys in the room by whom that little scene was taken to heart before they slept. But sleep seemed to have deserted the pillow of poor Tom. For some time his excitement, and the flood of memories which chased one another through his brain, kept him from thinking or resolving. His head throbbed, his heart leapt, and he could hardly keep himself from springing out of bed and rushing about the room. Then the thought of his own mother came across him, and the promise he had made at her knee, years ago, never to forget to kneel by his bedside, and give himself up to his Father, before he laid his head on the pillow, from which it might never rise; and he lay down gently and cried as if his heart would break. He was only fourteen years old. (Tom Brown, pt 2, c. 1)

It is also evident in David Copperfield, where David moons after a boy named ‘Steerforth’ who eventually forsakes him. (Notably, asking if the ‘vulnerable’ boy has a sister is done in Tom Brown as well.)

‘Good night, young Copperfield,’ said Steerforth. ‘I’ll take care of you.’ ‘You’re very kind,’ I gratefully returned. ‘I am very much obliged to you.’

‘You haven’t got a sister, have you?’ said Steerforth, yawning.

‘No,’ I answered.

‘That’s a pity,’ said Steerforth. ‘If you had had one, I should think she would have been a pretty, timid, little, bright-eyed sort of girl. I should have liked to know her. Good night, young Copperfield.’

‘Good night, sir,’ I replied.

I thought of him very much after I went to bed, and raised myself, I recollect, to look at him where he lay in the moonlight, with his handsome face turned up, and his head reclining easily on his arm. He was a person of great power in my eyes; that was, of course, the reason of my mind running on him. No veiled future dimly glanced upon him in the moonbeams. There was no shadowy picture of his footsteps, in the garden that I dreamed of walking in all night. (David Copperfield, Chapter 7)

They reunite as adults, the 90’s miniseries has Steerforth kiss David’s head at that point. David still looks up to Steerforth at this point, which eventually leads to Steerforth forsaking him. The point here is that these friendships were not supposed to go on for too long.

And yes, depending on children to raise children in a milieu without adult supervision can definitely go wrong. Even the writers of the age knew it, both Vachell (The Hill) and Hughes (Tom Brown) mention abuse in their novels. Talbot Baines Reed (The Fifth Form at St: Dominic) mentions a clear cut example of grooming. I mention this, because it will be relevant later on.

From the above passages, we can extract the following framework: An ‘inexperienced’, vulnerable boy, is shielded and educated by an ‘experienced’ boy. I can write multiple essays on the topic (And I just might), but at the end of the day, this is what we need in order to move on to part 2.

[sroloc--elbisivni]

So do you feel like talking about a Transformers AU you’re writing? Any AU.

asjgjdh one i am writing no unless you mean one that's partway published because turtles is still kind of eating my brain so right now in transformers i am writing 1. mushroomverse 2. fathomless 3. that's it. fathomless is currently either self-explanatory or spoilers and i never know where to start with mushroomverse.

oh i guess technically i have the romance novel TFA au! that's started. haven't worked on it in earnest for a while but it exists! it's plotted out in my head as a series of four shipfics in a cybertronian high society divided not on gender lines but on 'land management' vs 'military'. autobot and decepticon affiliation has nothing to do with it. the decepticons are like. Scottish nobility.

so we go from JazzProwl friends to lovers mutual pining to MegOp 'love and hate tension 'you profited off my family's ruin and ugh now you're HOT' to one that's just a comedy of errors involving BlitzBee and ShockBlurr (one of those chained idiot plots where person c is helping person b, who c has a crush on, help person a, who b has a crush on--a=shockwave b=bumblebee c=blitzwing) and in the background the chaperones are distracted from this mess by Bulkhead getting seduced by married couple Strika and Lugnut who love him for his brain and his body.

jazzprowl side of this au is Mutual Restrained Longing and Respectful Intellectual Exchange. jazz is a sea captain prowl collects fossils and they go to lectures together. megop is Belligerent Sexual Tension and Good Things One-Upsmanship. optimus was supposed to go to military school but his family lost all their money and so he's back for his second season after he left his first very early to help blackarachnia, so he's no longer a shy young thing and he's very over these fawning young military officers who can't even beat him in a strategy game.

Ratchet and Arcee are chaperoning the canon autobot team. they have their work cut out for them. i may or may not ever write this more than the one scene i already have (start of Jazzprowl one, below the cut) but if i do it will be so much fun.

“...and of course, for embellishments, our establishment is up to date on all of the latest trends, my lord. Circuit boards are especially popular right now—one may arrange them to convey any and all manner of messages, with of course varying levels of discretion depending on their placement.”

Prowl was barely listening. He turned in front of the mirror as the modiste prattled on to Ratchet about current fashions, skirt held up in one servo so he could better watch the dark swish of the fabric. He had been skeptical of the merits of clothing, but he supposed he could see the decorative value. The dark fabric flowed like oil. Like the ocean.

“Prowl?” Ratchet sounded annoyed, but that wasn’t a sign he’d let them leave yet. He’d sounded annoyed ever since he’d found Bulkhead and Bumblebee in Prowl’s kitchen, and that hadn’t stopped him from shepherding Prowl off of Yoketron’s derelict estate and through all the forms and fancies that preceded a season in Metroplex. “You got an idea on the stenciling?”

“The point of this is that I present myself as a suitable candidate for conjugation, isn’t it?” Prowl asked. He didn’t look away from the mirror, turning again to watch the swirl of mesh floating around his plating. “Whatever is fashionable will be fine.”

Ratchet sighed. “If all I needed was an assembly-line opinion, I would’ve brought your measurements and not you,” he grumbled. “The point is that you find someone who can tolerate your personality. You have to show a little of it for that to happen. Primus knows you’ve got plenty to spare.”

“I don’t have time for—” Prowl clenched the fabric tighter, catching himself before he could turn in a temper. Ratchet was trying to help him. Prowl needed his expertise.

Seeking harmony with the universe, Prowl released the fabric, smoothing his servo over the wrinkles in the mesh. It did smooth beautifully. Like sand washed by the tide, before the sheen of the water faded.

“Ammonites,” Prowl said, into the silence that neither the modiste nor Ratchet had broken. “You can pattern it with ammonites. I’ll send you a design if you require one.”

[hipster--kitten]

Got tagged by @davetheovercastmoose for this and I'm definitely happy to answer :D

Last song I listened to: MUST DIE! - LOL OK (Habstrakt remix), it was the last song I played while listening to music during and after my shower :3 I recently got a new speaker with excellent bass so I've been listening to lots of really bassy tunes when I've been showering lately (moreso than before, i mean)

Currently watching: Honestly nothing right now? At least in terms of TV shows, I have been watching YouTube still of my usual channels though (most notably Tom Scott, Extra Credits/History, and Half as Interesting). The last show I've watched (that I'm actually not entirely finished yet) is Hamtaro, my gf showed it to me and we've so far gone through most of the episodes, its become a bit of a comfort show for me now c:

Currently reading: uhhh nothing honestly, I have a fairly short webnovel I've been needing to finish but haven't read in like a year >.> and I wanna get around to reading the Guild Wars novels since I got them for my gf and she quite enjoyed them, and I'm also already very interested in the stories/lore for reasons mentioned below xD

Current obsession: Guild Wars Guild Wars Guild Wars Guild Wars!!!! It has absolutely been my obsession for over a year now, I genuinely can't get enough of it and I could talk about it all day xD Guild Wars 2 is seriously an amazing game and an amazing MMO with a really interesting and well written world/universe and story, it also has tons of well done cannonical queer character including at least 3 main characters (along with a fairly prominent agender character in the newest expansion). Just, the game has brought me so much joy, I've loved making OCs out of my game characters, playing through the story with my gf, absorbing every last bit of lore I can, and going through the awesome achievements and side-stories. The last things I'll say about it are: the community is extremely kind and helpful, the game even incentivizes helping one another, and the base game is free so I strongly recommend all my followers check it out, even if you don't generally like MMOs because it's doesn't have a lot of the typical MMO trappings and can be played entirely solo (it also doesn't have any subscriptions and is instead buy-to-play, unlike most MMOs). If any of my mutuals do get into the game please let me know as I'd love to add you as a friend in game!

Thanks for tagging me in this Dave, I dont know if I've ever actually done one of these on tumblr before so it was a lot of fun to do and get tagged in :D I'll tag @sdrowie, @spacetai, @electricplants, @colorful-starry-sky, and anyone else who may see this and feel up for it, no pressure at all if you don't want to though :)

[moonchild-in-blue]

▪️Ask Game▪️

I was tagged by @a-s-levynn and @venomousiiserpent (thank you guys!!) and thought it was pretty fun, so let's go 💖

(i love this cute ask games, sue me)

Last Song:

Atlantic by Sleep Token (I've been oh so very normal about it lately. I made it my wallpaper 😬).

Last Film:

Pride and Prejudice (2005). It's my number 1 comfort movie, and I've been feeling super hormonal and sad so. Hand Flex™ to the rescue. I love you Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen 🥺.

Currently Watching:

Adventure Time. One thing about me is that I love cartoons, and you can pry them off my cold dead hands. I'm just waiting for October 1st to start my 🎃 Halloween 🎃 watchlist (starting with Over The Garden Wall).

Currently Reading:

The Pleasures of The Dammed by C. Bukowski (one of my all time favourite authors - I'm a poetry whore) and I guess Dracula by Bram Stoker (both the Dracula Daily emails and the @re-dracula podcast). I'm almost 2 weeks late though, I've only now got to Van Helsing. Gotta catch up this week! I've been meaning to start a new book, but I can't decide.

Current Obsession:

Sleep Token 100%, please and thank you. I MEAN, have you seen my blog? This US tour is not doing me any favours.

Aside from them, I've been playing a LOT of LoZ: Tears of The Kingdom and I can't get enough of it. I've finally got used to the new mechanics and have enough hp to do cool stuff (I died too many times early game, it was ridiculous). The fan art is so very beautiful, I've been super into it!

I am tagging @dearscone @ardengrey @vesselsscarlet @kaddyssammlung @murderofcrow @arasdawn and whoever else that wants to do it! (super no pressure though). I'm pretty sure all of my other mutuals have done this already - i don't really talk with that many people 😬. (If you've been tagged already sorry!!).

[trolleytracksmoved]

Hey so, did you have any theories about the Chairman's identity before TTO went offline?

I had two, mutually exclusive, theories:

He's Pete (from the Mickey Mouse Cartoons).

He's a supercomputer.

(Sorry about the flood of Asks, it's been a while since I've been able to talk about Toontown to someone who's actually a fan of Toontown.)

i don't mind! ^^ it makes me really happy seeing others interested in the game as well. i don't know if it's just a problem on my end, but the toontag is usually pretty quiet, so any toontown related asks are welcomed.

as for your question... i can't exactly say i have theories on his *identity* because we were technically already shown who he was early on in the game's lifespan. in the early days of tto, there was a short animated video that played while waiting for the game to install that shows us backstory on how cogs were created. i can't link the video bc i'm on mobile but the gist of what happens is that scrooge visits gyro's lab one night and finds one if his inventions which is a giant robot (the chairman), messes around with the wiring which causes it to go haywire, and, after witnessing the robot create cogs gets captured. if you search up "Toontown Online - 2003 Installer Video" on youtube, you can watch it for yourself.

at some point, disney got rid of the installer video. i can't tell you when they did or a definitive reason why, bc googling yields no results and i would've been way too young to remember anyways, but it's a piece of toontown's lore that's pretty unknown.

i believe the reasons why they MIGHT'VE taken down the video is... a) the chairman had a redesign. kind of flimsy reasoning but.. before i knew about the installer video's existence, i thought the big head you see when you walk into the sellbot factory was a statue of the chairman bc the head mesh wasn't found anywhere. taking down the video to avoid confusion in the sudden design change would make sense but it'd also be incredibly early since sellbot hq was released the same year tto was created (7 months apart!). i know that early draft sellbot hq was different than the one we know now, (re: it was harder, there was going to be an arm factory, a leg factory, etc. you would lose a suit part if you lost a vp battle iirc) but i have no idea if that og design was actually in-game for a period of time before it went through a redesign later. regardless, it's something!

b) they decided to save the chairman reveal for the second game in the works. did you know there were plans for a 2nd toontown game? well now you do! only issue with this theory is the plans for a 2nd game weren't until '10. bossbot hq was released in '08 and is the only other time the chairman was mentioned. unless it was foreshadowing, why wait an extra 2 years? why not get rid of the line? additionally, 7 years to get rid of the video seems too long esp considering it's not as well known but that's just me. ahg, i wish google or the wiki said when the installer video was taken down. it makes things easier 😞

c) due to budget constraints, they decided to completely drop the ball in developing toontown's story. pretty self-explanatory. at some point, the business model toontown was running on became ineffective and they weren't raking as much money as before. i believe it was during '09 where things started going downhill bc there was a worsening hacker issue and club penguin was getting more memberships while toontown was getting less. an unfortunate coincidence if true, bc bossbot hq was only released for a year that time.

so yeah! these are my thoughts. i'm sorry if you were expecting a different, shorter answer. when you mentioned the chairman it reminded me of that video and it spiraled into this chaotic mess of a timeline. i hope it was a good read nonetheless? characterization-wise i do view chairman as a supercomputer or AI of sorts that got corrupted due to crossed wires and became progressively worse as time went on but i feel that's less of a theory and more of a headcanon, hence why i put this in the end.