#and i'm not sure i love the ending

[rocknrollsalad]

steddimas prompt fill - vacation destination

🍍 eddie tries to give steve a tropical vacation, thinking he needs a break, but it doesn't really go to plan.

🥥 content/trigger warnings: couples fighting, (harmless) threats from wayne

🌴 word count: 2260

Winter isn’t all grand snowstorms and huddling together for warmth. Usually, it’s just really cold and dark and miserable. Sometimes it snows, maybe enough to cancel school but never enough to cancel work, and then everything turns into this gray, slushy mess. No one bothers to clean it. They carve out a path to whatever they need and carry on with blinders. Waiting for spring to do the rest. 

No season was more depressing and Eddie had never figured himself one for sun and tropics. As he dragged his feet through the slush, making the shortest path from his van to the door, he really thought laying on a white sandy beach sounded good right now. 

As tough as Eddie was finding, his only-thrives-in-the-sun boyfriend was shriveling up and dying slowly. Steve lacked the energy to get up and do much of anything and his fuse was shorter than when he woke in the morning. Eddie knew he could take the man in a fight but didn’t think it’d be good for their relationship if they found out for sure. 

So he did what he did best and hatched a dumb and overly elaborate plan. 

In something he almost didn’t want an explanation for, both Gareth and Dustin’s parents had thrown tiki parties in the last year. They both had leftover directions that had the kitsch meter exploding. Part of Eddie wanted to be a fly on the wall of these gatherings. They were either absolutely insane or so lame they needed to be witnessed. 

Both Dustin and Gareth were willing to lend leis, thatched placemats, and grass skirts for everything. Dustin threw in far too many tiki masks. Eddie needed exactly zero, he didn’t know what to do with three dozen. Gareth put in those bobble hula girls, coconut cups, and paper palm fronds. His character was going to win so many battles. 

Nancy came in clutch with a bunch of blue sheets and comforters. Apparently, the Wheelers have some gender issues they need to work out and Mike goes through a lot of bedsheets. Eddie didn’t ask any further questions and plugged his ears when she tried to offer details. Though he was able to return the favor tenfold since Nancy kept insisting this was all for “some sort of sex thing”. 

It was prudish of her in a way that didn’t match anything Eddie had heard her say. Maybe it had something to do with that cutesy pastel room of hers that also didn’t match. No matter how much Eddie insisted it wasn’t, she did the same, plugged her ears, and sang a song to not hear. 

Robin offered nothing because Eddie didn’t ask. She’d spill every last bean and then make up some more stuff. He did, however, tell her all about the “sex thing” Nancy thought he was up to. Making her gag and retch as he made up kinks. “Do you think Steve would prefer a green sheet situation?” It didn’t mean anything but the girls of Hawkins must have some code Eddie wasn’t hip to. That was fine by him because Eddie could have made Robin actually throw up if he’d gone into real detail. 

A next-door neighbor, who later had a conversation with Wayne about Eddie’s mental stability, lent him a kiddie pool. Foolishly, Eddie asked Lucas if he had any portable heaters without cluing him into the whole plan. His parents bought Eddie two and Mrs. Sinclair added a few scarves she’d knitted. A gift Eddie wasn’t going to turn away and he vowed to shovel their walkway every day this winter. He promised to give one of the heaters to Max when he was done with this event.

After days of begging for (and hiding) all this stuff, Eddie took it one step further and went to the grocery store. Picking out fresh pineapples, a mango, and some real coconuts. He stocked up on lime Jell-o at Claudia Henderson’s recommendation. Gareth’s mom talked a lot about ham but Eddie didn’t have the first clue what to do with that, so he figured hamburgers were close enough. A couple of bottles of rum rounded out the food part of things and Eddie felt he was all set. 

Waiting for Steve to work a late shift on a day Wayne also worked was the hardest part of this and out of Eddie’s control. Though he was getting impatient enough he almost called everyone’s bosses. He needed to give Steve a vacation but this was the best their budget allowed for. But if the man didn’t “get away” soon, everyone was going to pay. 

Eddie wasn’t just doing this for him. It was for them too!! And they were making it very, very hard. Plus, there were only so many ways Eddie could keep Steve out of the closet where everything was hiding. It was starting to get too stressful but finally, the day came. 

Hallelujah and praise satan! 

The miserable, disgusting snow on the ground was being washed away by torrential rains. Nothing about the outdoors said good things and Eddie was about to sing around his porch like a nanny in the Alps. His time had come. Of course, he had to sit on his hands for four hours and wait for Wayne to leave but after that, it was all Metallica and thoughts of something tropical. 

This wasn’t any real destination. Eddie wasn’t looking to mimic a real place here. He wanted to give the illusion of warmth, of the beach and water, and show he was trying. He’d noticed Steve’s crummy mood and wanted to do something to help. Not to look like he cared but because he cared. 

Wayne would spontaneously combust if he saw Eddie putting a kiddie pool in the middle of the living room, regardless of the season. It proved that no matter how grown up he got, he was always going to be a little bit afraid of Wayne as Eddie kept an eye on the door. 

Once it was half filled, Eddie filled four of the largest pans they had and left them on the stove to wait. No tropical beach had cold water. 

The rest of the decorations were hung and rehung as Eddie stood in a pile of blue sheets, taking in everything and making sure it was all just right. As the hours ticked down to minutes, Eddie got burgers cooking. In the oven because he couldn’t handle the stress of explaining the grill to Wayne too and the burner was all trying to boil water. No one would care where they were cooked, as long as Eddie remembered to turn the oven off it’d be okay. 

In Steve’s eight-hour shift (plus travel time), Eddie had done everything he could to turn the trailer into a tropical oasis. He spent the last few minutes admiring his work and debating if he should put on a grass skirt or not, Steve was so lucky to have him. 

Barely remembering to turn the music off, Eddie made a mad dash to Wayne’s closet and dug down deep. Way, way in the back were a couple of god-awful Hawaiian shirts, Eddie grabbed them and was able to get back to the living room before Steve pulled into the driveway. 

As Eddie ping-ponged around the room, careful not to disturb anything, to find the “right place” to stand, Steve came in the door with a welcome everyone wanted to hear. 

“What the hell is this?” 

It was impossible not to deflate, frozen in mid-climb, Eddie’s shoulders dropped and he looked at Steve. “Ta-da?” 

“What?” he repeated, the disgust too thick. 

Eddie slipped down off the chair, two feet on the ground, tiptoeing over to Steve. Approaching the wild animal who’d already shown claws and teeth, Eddie sighed and tried to remember the speech he’d prepared. 

“Look,” he started, a little too defensive for his liking. “You’ve been miserable lately and I can’t exactly take you on vacation. It’s, like, really fucking expensive, man. So I did the best I could.”

Steve took his shoes off and put his lunch and jacket on the table, same as every day. Leaving Eddie to wonder if it was okay to flip your boyfriend off behind his back in the middle of trying to do something nice for him. The consensus was yes and Steve was given the double salute. 

“Okay but why? This isn’t the beach, I mean, there isn’t even sand.” 

“No shit there isn’t sand, Steven. Wayne would kill me if he saw all this, I wasn’t going to put sand in the living room.” 

“So what was the point?” 

“Great…fucking question,” Eddie said, gritting his teeth and moving to the kitchen. 

If he didn’t start doing something he was going to explode. And if he did, Steve certainly wasn’t going to clean up this mess so Wayne would kill him. Eddie was mad but he didn’t want the guy murdered. 

He clicked all the burners off to let the boiling water cool down. Moving to the drawer of lids, Eddie tried to find something to put all the fruit away before it attracted bugs. If it even could in this weather. The whole time biting his tongue to stop from saying anything. 

Steve disappeared for a bit, coming back in house clothes. By that point, Eddie was standing in the living room folding towels. He’d turned the music back on but kept it at a reasonable volume. 

“There’s burgers in the oven and all the fixings on the counter. Unless you’ve gone vegetarian since I saw you this morning.” 

“Why would I do-” 

“Not a fucking clue,” Eddie snapped. He couldn’t hold it in anymore and Steve’s shitty mood was ruining the coolest thing Eddie had done in a while. 

“What has gotten into you?” 

“Yeah because I’ve been a real problem before now.” 

“And what do you mean by that?” 

“You’ve been unbearable. Like you know I love when you’re kind of an asshole but it’s gone a little far. I did the dumb thing and tried to do something nice for you. It was weird, yeah, I know. That’s sort of my fucking thing but you walked in and turned your nose up at it.” 

“Okay, sure. You put a pool in the living room.” 

“Surrounded by blue sheets! It was a fake ocean. I got all this beach stuff and made you dinner, there were tropical drinks for later. I didn’t just put a pool in the living room, you're just being a dick.” 

“I’m looking at it, you did.” 

“Jesus Christ. Yeah, well once I get it out of the living room I’m going to bed. Fuck it and fuck you.” 

The rest of the mess was going to be a lot to explain to Wayne but Eddie didn’t care. He couldn’t be in this situation any longer. So he dropped the sheet to the couch and focused on dragging the pool out the front door. Which took more work and feet shuffling than dragging it in did. 

Eventually, though, he got it dumped out and stashed back under the porch. Tomorrow he’d return it. Perhaps with a thank you pineapple. From there he made good on his promise and went to his room. Not fully able to kick Steve out of the house but was confused as to why he was still there. 

Eddie read until he fell asleep. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d fallen asleep angry like this. Hell, it probably had something to do with one of Steve’s stupid jock friends. There was something here about a leopard not changing his spots that Eddie really didn’t want to believe. They were too many months into this, he’d been too vulnerable. He thought Steve was doing the same but maybe he was still just some asshole jock. 

The next morning Steve woke Eddie with a shake. “Wayne’s pissed and he wants you to clean all this shit up.” 

“You fucking clean it,” Eddie grumbled, trying to wake up enough to even know who was talking to him. 

“I’ll help but I don't know what half of this stuff is or where it goes. Wayne doesn’t even know where it came from.” 

Bolting up in bed, Eddie glared at Steve. Sleep weakened the bit he wanted it to have but he tried to burn a hole through the man who had the nerve to perch on the end of Eddie’s bed after last night. 

“Look who’s bright and cheery and helpful this morning,” Eddie said, trying to deepen the glare. 

Steve pointed his thumb over his shoulder toward the open door. “Your uncle is out there, ready to toss us both to the curb. Can this wait?” 

“No. It kind of can’t. Gimme the quick version.” 

“You’re right. I was being an asshole and you were trying to do something nice.” 

“And?” 

“There’s no-what ‘and’?” Steve hissed, his head bobbing back and forth. 

“Boy!” Wayne hollered. 

“And…I wish I’d given it a chance?” Steve tried. 

“You don’t,” Eddie deflated. “We can talk about that later, I guess.” 

He’d really missed the mark on this. Steve couldn’t even lie…at gunpoint basically. Eddie needed to talk to Steve and find out why it didn’t work and maybe get a few ideas of what would work in the future. They’d have to do a lot of talking but first, they had to clean. There’d be nothing to sort out if they didn’t get Wayne his living room back in order.

[nellasbookplanet]

An interesting aspect of Laudna and Imogen's relationship and how it has developed is the fact that they got together early in their campaign, long before either of them had any chance to work through their respective issues. Vax confessed his feelings for Keyleth early on (relatively so; c1 had been going for a while before it started streaming), but she explicitly turned him down at the time, and they didn't actually get together until she felt she was ready, later in the campaign. Percy and Vex didn't get together until after Percy had worked through his figurative and literal inner demons. Jester and Fjord didn't get together until he had moved away from Uk'otoa and his self-worth issues, and she from her romanticized ideas of romance. Yasha and Beau didn't become a couple until both of them had moved away from their self-destructive tendencies and Yasha had let go of Zuala and Beau of Jester. Caleb and Essek didn't get together until the epilogue, when Caleb finally let go of the past and embraced the future.

When Laudna and Imogen got together, Laudna was at one of her lowest points (and has since started digging), having just invited Delilah back in, and Imogen was (is) still struggling against the temptation of Predathos. While Imogen has since gone great strides in growing, Laudna has regressed, using her feelings for Imogen as an excuse to further give in to Delilah to protect her. She's too bogged down by her own self-worth issues to uphold a healthy relationship, and keeps hurting Imogen by hurting herself, not realizing how or why this upsets Imogen.

And I can't help but wonder, would Percy and Vex's relationship have been as destructive had they gotten together before or during the Briarwoods arc? Jester and Fjord if they got together during the pirates arc? Yasha and Beau if they got together before or just after Obann, when they were both self-destructing massively? Caleb and Essek if they got together while they were still low-key manipulating and honeypotting each other for information?

But even without the romance, Laudna and Imogen likely wouldn't have escaped the situation they're now in. They started out already kind of co-dependent, and remind me of Vax & Vex and Caleb & Nott in that way. But whereas the twins and Caleb and Nott's arcs had them learn to question each other and embrace love for other people rather than isolate themselves, Imogen and Laudna has only gotten more entrenched in each other's issues, and more unwilling to push each other to grow.

[guardian-of-soho]

Aziraphale is a guardian.

We left him at the end of s1 with the knowledge that apocalypse was still coming. He'd saved the world for that day, but Heaven was still bent on destroying it. The ones with the power to burn everything were still inescapably loveless. It really looked like he and Crowley alone of all the Earth-walking beings would fight for the world.

And he loves the world so much. The opening scenes of him in the record shop, buying his Shostakovich 78s? The warmth toward Maggie and her music and her heart? The generosity, and the delight in the shared understanding, and the pleasure in the discovery that he could make her life better? That he could spare her pain, give her a little more time with her joys? He knows how fragile those are.

He wants to give that to the whole world.

He wants to believe he can lift the doom hanging over them all, banish it permanently. He is desperate to believe it. Even if he wasn't longing so fervently to be seen, approved, affirmed by God's word (I was so undone by his jealousy as he watched Job speak to her) -- even without that I can't imagine him not wavering at Heaven's offer, faced with the chance that he could use all Heaven's might to guard the world again and get it right this time.

And then he's offered that power with apparent warmth, and feigned approval, and the shameless claim that at last they understand. They hear what he's been trying desperately to tell them as long as he's lived in the world. They're telling him that he's finally made his point -- that they are proud he's tried so hard for so long.

So -- the ending is shattering. It is maddening. It's utterly unfair on Crowley. And I didn't see it coming, and yet.

Aziraphale is a guardian. He really will have to see for himself that power won't love what's good; there is no way to make the world safe forever.

[chalkrub]

thank you for a great art fight! here's some of my final attacks. had a blast, already missing it - see you next year!

[thebramblewood]

Hot off the presses, it's the first (and probably only) issue of Vatore Magazine! Pick up your copy now to see all 22 (!) looks in detail, shop the must-have CC, and - most importantly - collect some new scraps of coveted Vatore lore. 👀

READ VATORE MAGAZINE (PDF)

So, yeah, guess who thought they were going to do a straightforward decades lookbook and ended up making things entirely too complicated? 🙋‍♀️ The visual side of my brain is always tickled when CC creators put together little catalogs for their collections. That was my initial inspiration. Then I did a half-baked magazine cover concept and wanted to make a better one. I used this template as a base, and the headlines ended up being the most fun part. Anyway, I don't know how many people will click the link let alone scroll through the entire thing, but you'll be rewarded with several paragraphs of Vatore history if you do. I did this more to properly establish their timeline for myself than anything else, but I put a lot of care and time into it, so I appreciate anyone who reads. ❤️

[syn0vial]

my gun-loving, car guy, "i'm the straightest man i know" brother who just finished baldur's gate 3 talking about astarion:

[revvethasmythh]

On the topic of FCG potentially being reincarnated--it makes sense as an option the party might organically consider attempting, but, as we saw with Laudna's death (and even Percy's way back when), input from the player is a really operative aspect of whether a character will be resurrected. Marisha clearly did not want to let Laudna go, so they pursued a long road to bring her back. Alternatively, Taliesin was totally willing to let Percy go if he thought the ritual offerings wouldn't be enough (shoutout to Vex's nat 20 persuasion check for this one).

And Sam? Well, Sam, as a player, loves to fail. Because failing is interesting, usually far more interesting than succeeding. We're talking about a guy who openly derides luck points and fervently refused to use the halfling luck feature except in the ONE instance where succeeding the roll would have had a worse outcome than failing. Regardless of how I or anyone else feels about losing FCG and/or wanting them back, Sam does not strike me as the kind of player who would want to bring FCG back after going out like this, available reincarnation or not. I would both suspect and anticipate that this will be FCG's final showing, just based on what I know of Sam as a player

[artist-rat]

realised i haven't really posted a proper pic of my durge. so here's Tavis/Noon :} she fluctuates between being a menace of macabre whimsy and a menace with hubris burning like a thousand suns

[thesmokinpossum]

If My Body Could Speak, Blythe Baird | The Godfather, Mario Puzo | My Father's House, Sylvia Fraser | To The Daughter Who Secretly Longs For Her Mother’s Affection, Lynne Shako | Storms from Jupiter, Wanda Deglane | DO NOT REPLY, @filmnoirsbian

[cdrama-action]

🍉SIGNUPS FOR CDRAMA GOTCHA FOR GAZA CREATORS NOW OPEN!🍉

We are a fundraiser event dedicated to creating fanworks in exchange for donations to the people of Palestine. Creator signup is now open for fanfic authors, fanartists, vid makers, and graphics/gif creators.

Once creator signups close, for small donations of at least 5.00-8.00 USD to Palestinian direct aid organizations, you will be able to receive a fanwork from one of these talented creators

CREATOR SIGNUPS OPEN: March 30th, 2024 to April 14, 2024

All creators welcome! Whether you can create for three or one hundred fandoms, we'd love to see you on board. Fanartists, fic writers, fanvid creators, and gif/graphic creators can sign up.

Please visit our CARRD HERE for more information on both how to create and how to donate.

Then, if you are a creator, go sign up here.

You can also follow our twitter here.

Inspiration is @SVSSSAction, @TGCFAction , and @MDZSaction on twitter.

We greatly appreciate you promoting our project, even if you can't participate yourself. As this is a multi-fandom event, we need all the plugging we can get. Thank you!!

-Cdrama Action Team

[gummi-ships]

Kingdom Hearts 3 - San Fransokyo

[zishuge]

watching xianxia is so fun because usually when i'm halfway through a drama and i want to reblog things, i have to be really careful when going through the tag and not look too closely at anything to try not to accidentally spoil stuff that happens later

but when i watch a xianxia drama and go through the tag i'm totally fine even if i look at everything because absolutely none of it makes any goddamn sense out of context. like i find gifsets of the main characters getting married. in one they're getting married to other people and in another they're getting married to each other. twice. then i find gifsets of those same characters dying in five different ways. in one scene one is dying in the other’s arms. in the next scene they’re dying together. someone straight up disintegrates into glitter. and i still have no idea if any of them end up alive or dead or married or alone or what on earth happens at the end

[saradiation]

Feferi 💖🌺🫧

[galactaknightyaoi]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GALACTA KNIGHT!!!! And congratulations to Meta Knight for experiencing the Cain Instinct for the first time.

Galacta Knight, as you might've been able to tell already, is one of my favorite characters, and KSSU is one of my favorite games (the original SS was my introduction to Kirby!) so I wanted to go all out. Happy day, old man. I pray for at least 20 more years.

Oh, and don't worry! He's not upset about the cake smash, he thinks it's funny. And he got back at him.

As for the in-universe explanation for there being 16 candles in his cake?

... 500+ didn't fit in safely.

The birthday boy and his family were just a bit too flammable.

[khaotunq]

shitty Sand appreciation

[canisalbus]

Machete and Vasco are so pomegranate-and-the-hand-that-slices coded. To me.

Pomegranates are seen as messy, bloody, inconvenient fruits. You slice or tear or bite and in return for your effort you come away underwhelmed, disgusted, and stained too deep to wash. The consumption of a pomegranate is a violent act of defilement, for both the fruit and the eater.

But that is because most do not understand how to open a pomegranate. They have little patience for the precise carving. They see no point in coreing the fruit gently, no reason to be reverent as they pull the quarters apart. When done correctly, opening a pomegranate leaves little mess. Your fingers will still stain, your knife will still slick, but there will be no pool of crimson drowning both you and the fruit.

The seeds are only sweet to those who understand the merit of a light hand and intricate slicing. Why put in so much effort for a food so bitter and clearly armored against consumption? Surely it must not yearn to be eaten.

(^insane about silly catholic dogs)

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