#and jims Still Orange but he gives a little

[dykecassidy]

again dont mistake this for complaining but its always normie jim and for once id like to see normie dustin

[rhysdarbinizedarby]

‘Our Flag Means Death’: How Blackbeard & Stede’s Fantastical Underwater Reunion Came Together

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Our Flag Means Death, Season 2, Episodes 1-3.]

It doesn’t take more than a single second to recognize Kate Bush‘s haunting and heartbreaking tune “This Woman’s Work,” as Blackbeard, a.k.a. Ed (Taika Waititi), is pushed from a clifftop to plunge into the ocean’s depths below in Our Flag Means Death‘s Season 2 installment, “The Innkeeper.” But how did the pirate heartbroken over Stede Bonnet (Rhys Darby) wind up in this position? It’s a delicate and winding path that starts with the infamous pirate’s unraveling over the course of the latest season’s first two episodes.

Believing Stede intentionally abandoned him after planning to run away together at the end of Season 1, Blackbeard embraces the version of himself so many have conjured up in their minds as he leads the Revenge’s “new” crew to pillage and plunder on the high seas. His unhinged behavior eventually forces Jim (Vico Ortiz), Izzy (Con O’Neill), Frenchie (Joel Fry), Archie (Madeleine Sami), and Fang (David Fane) to violently take control of the ship and neutralize Blackbeard — or so they think — after he steers them directly into a storm.

When Zheng Yi Sao’s (Ruibo Qian) Red Flag happens across an eerie-looking Revenge on the ocean, Stede dives overboard in his excitement over the possibility of seeing Ed, only to be told various excuses for his absence by the crew aboard. When Stede directly addresses Izzy regarding Blackbeard’s lack of presence, the now peg-legged pirate claims the Revenge crew dropped Ed on a beach.

This seems to ring true as we see Blackbeard wash ashore and cared for by his own former captain Hornigold (Mark Mitchinson). While together, Blackbeard and Hornigold discuss the mutiny that took place and Blackbeard’s hopes for the future. When a role-playing scenario testing Blackbeard’s ability to be an Innkeeper, a profession he’s interested in, goes awry, he attacks Hornigold, killing the tarp-clad pirate. But when Hornigold rises again, Blackbeard realizes something is off.

Aboard the Revenge, Ed’s body is uncovered below deck. Believing him dead, Zheng Yi Sao is forced to consider killing the Revenge crew for mutiny after initially welcoming them aboard the Red Flag. And Stede has to cope with the idea that his love may be gone forever.

After hatching an escape plan for the Revenge team, Stede and pals return to their former ship, leaving Zheng stranded without a wheel. Going to sit with Ed’s body, Stede wonders why he had to go and get himself killed. Meanwhile, Blackbeard begins to realize he’s stuck somewhere between life and death, a place this Hornigold manifestation calls a “gravy basket.”

As the two men banter about the pros and cons of choosing life over death, Hornigold ties a boulder around Ed’s waist and throws it from the cliff they’re standing on, pushing Blackbeard into the ocean. Just as it seems as though he’ll succumb to the waves, Blackbeard proves Bush’s song right: Perhaps there’s a little life in him yet. When Stede lifts the cloth from his face on the Revenge, underwater Ed reacts to the change. Peering into the water, he sees a light from which a fantastical mermaid version of Stede emerges.

In the real world, Stede reacts to Blackbeard’s twitching hand, taking it in his and pleading for him to live as a montage of their moments together rolls alongside Bush’s still-playing song. The final seconds of the episode see Ed’s eyes open, giving Stede hope.

So, how did this moving turn of events come to pass? A team full of creatives was responsible for bringing the captivating and satisfying reunion.

Stede’s Mermaid Tail

“It’s a huge process,” putting together Stede’s practical mermaid look, according to costume designer Gypsy Taylor. She says “it started with me begging everybody” to avoid visual FX and make a tail for the sequence. The orange and glittering look could have followed several different styles, but ultimately, Taylor notes, “I thought if Stede is going to turn into a mermaid, and it’s in Blackbeard’s dream, it’s sort of his vision of a mermaid.”

Considering this, in Taylor’s mind, Blackbeard wouldn’t envision some epic fantastical creature; instead, Stede would “just be like a goldfish. He’d just be like a sweet harmless goldfish.” In putting sketches together of the ensemble, Taylor acknowledges the symbolism of the goldfish motif: “There’s a huge Chinese element that we have coming through, and goldfish in Chinese culture is considered lucky.” As this vision of Stede was responsible for helping bring Ed back to life, that luck was certainly there.

“I thought that was a pretty beautiful thing, that they meet each other under the ocean and then they find each other,” Taylor gushes. “And so I went a little deep on that, but really he’s just a goldfish.” In order to achieve the goldfish mermaid look, Taylor teamed up with props master Hayley Egan, who’s based out of Australia. “She happens to excel at making mermaid tails,” Taylor shares.

After securing Egan’s involvement, Taylor says, “We fit Rhys in a jumbo stretch long skirt and made sure it was really tight so he could still sort of do this dolphin [swimming] action. And then we bought these mono fins, which you can purchase online and put your feet in.” Safety was key, though. “He had to swim really deep and for a really far distance, and he’d never done anything like that before,” Taylor explains. “So it had to be really safe and doable.”

Once that was figured out, Taylor says Egan “cast something like 3,000 hand-sculpted silicon scales. There’s something like five kilograms of glitter in the whole thing. And then we hand-dyed pleated chiffon for all the fins, so that when he was swimming through the water, it would have this magic feel.”

While the scene may play as emotional and romantic, the story behind getting Stede’s mermaid look from Australia to New Zealand was actually quite comical. “[Egan] sliced two suitcases in half, filled [them with the mermaid tail], and then when it went through customs, the customs guy said to her, ‘Are you bringing fish into this country?’ And she’s like, ‘Yes, yes I am.'”

In total, there were four tails, including “a practice tail, a stunt tail, because Rhys had to do quite a few lessons before we got the real one on. And the real one was super precious, and chlorine’s very strong, it eats fabrics away, so we wanted to save the hero one for the hero shot,” Taylor reveals. When it came time to film, “We put him in [the tail], and it was just amazing.” In order to get Darby into the pool, Taylor says a ramp had to be built and the actor was placed in a wheelchair while costumed “and pushed in.” As unglamorous as it sounds, she adds, “it was like Rhys’s dream come true.”

How Kate Bush Entered the Music Mix

It’s safe to say Kate Bush has been having a moment on TV since last year’s “Running Up That Hill” needle drop on Stranger Things, but music supervisor Maggie Phillips says, “This Woman’s Work” was selected before Netflix‘s hit made headlines with their use of the aforementioned song. “When we were placing [the song in the season lineup],” Phillips says, “it was maybe weeks after Stranger Things, and I was worried that we would look like copycats.”

Phillips maintains that the song was in the mix before, but it ultimately “doesn’t matter because really what matters is that Kate Bush is a queen and more and more people need to know her music.”

She says, “From what I heard from David [Jenkins], it was a song that Taika was attached to.” At first, Phillips was reluctant to go with the song due to its prior uses, but “David told me not to worry about [that], that people have short-term memory when it comes to music.”

While she debated with the team over cutting it, “[David] has the visuals in his mind. I don’t. I’m just hearing it with a script and I had no clue how it was going to work until I saw the first cut, and it was beautiful and they picked a part of the song that worked really well with the visuals, so they sort of made it their own,” Phillips explains. “They added a different context to the song that I wouldn’t have been able to imagine myself. So they proved me wrong for sure.”

It’s hard to imagine the scene without Bush’s song. “It changes the way you listen to the song,” Phillips notes. “I got chills watching it and I know that song so well and haven’t gotten chills like that in a long time.” With all of the buildup, “You’re waiting for them to have their romantic moment. You’re waiting for three episodes for that to happen. And so it’s so cathartic when that song comes on, and you see them come together in this fantasy world under the sea. It’s just perfect.” This led her to email Jenkins. “I was like, ‘You were right. I was wrong. But this was beautiful, and thank you so much.'”

Blackbeard’s Wet Wig Woes

Anyone watching the scene unfold would have to notice Blackbeard’s silver tresses weaving through the water, a feat much more difficult behind the scenes than the seemingly simple sequence onscreen. “We filmed that quite late in the season, and so we were really planning and thinking about that all the way through [filming]. I was a bit nervous,” hair and makeup designer Nancy Hennah admits. “I knew that he was going to have to be under the water with his wig on for quite a long time.”

Even with high-quality wig glue, Hennah says, “You can do everything you can to make that wig stay on, but there’s a limited amount of time that the glue will last. So we had to use different products than we would normally use to get the wig down.” Because the product Hennah normally uses to keep hair back in a wig is water soluble, “it melts, and the hair starts coming out from the lace, and it can ruin the whole look of the wig.” She had to come up with a creative fix.

“I glued his own hair back, and then we glued the lace on top of that, and wildly, it lasted right until the very last shot when they were dragging him through the water by the ankles,” Hennah reveals. “The wig just came off completely after they’d finished shooting. And so he came up out of the water, and the wig was off to the side, [and he goes], ‘I think my wig came off.'” She calls the success of the wig “incredible” and “just a fluke really.”

When it came to capturing Darby’s underwater look, it was all about blending the mermaid tail with his skin. “With Stede, Gypsy had a beautiful mermaid tail made, and we did a whole lot of practice with different types of silicon and things that we had to blend that piece between his skin and the tail. We made these pieces of silicon with glitter and things in them that we individually stuck over the top of the mermaid tail,” Hennah details.

Again, there were concerns about getting “things to stick underwater,” but watching the scene come together from behind the camera eased those. “[When] we were standing there on the set that day and watching the monitor, it just was so beautiful that we were all blown away by it, and that tank that they were filming in was a couple of stories deep, and to be out there in that water, it was challenging, and they both did so well. It just went off without a hitch. It was one of those great days where it just worked for everybody.”

Don’t miss what else is in store for the season. Stay tuned for additional interviews and content as the second season of Our Flag Means Death unfolds.

Our Flag Means Death, New Episodes, Thursdays, Max

Source: TV Insider

[steviewashere]

To Be So Mundane

Rating: General CW: Brief mention of Covid-19 (as this is set in 2021) Tags: Post-Canon, Post Vecna, Future Fic, Set in 2021, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Older Steddie, Domestic Steve Harrington/Eddie Munson, Teacher Steve Harrington, The Intimacy in a Bowl of Soup, Emotional Steve Harrington, Eddie Munson is a Sweetheart, Steve Harrington is a Sweetheart, Soft Eddie Munson, Soft Steve Harrington

Thought about finishing up the fourth chapter of my merman Steve fic. And then I got sidetracked, so here's this. Also, I don't know where they live or what Eddie does for work (maybe mechanic, if you feel so inclined to imagine him that way). Pick your flavor <3

🥣—————🥣 At the end of the day, Steve realizes it’s not the horror he’s experienced that will linger. Sure, they persist and he is frightened and he shakes sweating from it all. But when he comes home, exhausted to his core and sluggish to the soles of his feet, it’ll never be the agony he finds in his kitchen. It’s the warmth.

The sweet musk of vanilla bourbon candles bought from the home aisle of the neighborhood Walmart. A singular orange bulb in a second-hand floor lamp, tucked cozy by the couch, in the corner between the back door and the right armrest. Bookshelves of knick knacks and framed photos from 2003—when he finally tried the college route and graduated. The sprawl of mini-figure painting equipment on the coffee table: half-open paint jars that he closes up tight, still drying clean paint brushes, paper towels and yellowed newspaper, and magnifying goggles.

It’s to music. Soft crooning through the—now considered ancient—record player from 1988. Sometimes Jim Croce. Sometimes John Prine. Sometimes the goddess, Dolly Parton. Something familiar and nearly worn out from playing the records over and over and over. Tonight, it’s Jim. It’s coming back to the floating husking rasp of Eddie Munson’s fifty-five year old voice, not all that great but always sweet from by the stovetop.

To where Steve migrates, shoeless and briefcase free and his teacher’s badge hung up. Where soup simmers on the low heat—smelling of paprika and roasted carrots and chicken bouillon. The oven heating up a loaf of French bread, basted in garlic butter, sprinkled with shredded mozzarella cheese. Where Eddie stands, stirring and singing—his now silver hair pulled up into a bun, dressed down in a plain white t-shirt and black sweatpants, and his scruff not shaved—he must’ve had a lazy day. Steve wraps his arms around Eddie’s waist, his body warm and his tummy a little pudgier. Eddie hums, reaching down with a free hand to cover the back of Steve’s, squeezing. And Steve’ll never be used to their wedding rings clinking together.

“Long day?” Eddie murmurs low.

Steve grunts. Digs his chin into Eddie’s left shoulder. His glasses going crooked from the angle. Peers down at the bubbling pot of dinner. “Kids kept threatening to take their masks off. Nearly started a coughing fight,” he answers at the same volume. He sighs, long and genuine. “They’ve officially turned Covid-19 into classroom warfare. Whatever happened to spitballs and globs of food?”

Eddie chuckles deep in his chest. “Don’t give ‘em ideas, Stevie.” He smiles softly down at his cooking, dimples deep and smile lines deeper. Steve kisses under his left ear just because. Because he can. Because this is what the world is when it doesn’t end, thank god. The soup is stirred slowly for a few more beats. He scoops up a spoonful in their beat up ladle. It’s got a few char scars from when they first learned to cook meals for one another—Steve believes it’s from the time he forgot to turn off the stovetop when making macaroni and cheese. Lesson learned.

“Here, taste this for me, baby?” Eddie gently requests, holding the ladle to Steve’s face over his shoulder. Hand cupping the underside. Face turned slightly to try and make eye contact, he’ll give himself a knot if he does it too long. Steve knows, having given many massages over the last decade.

He leans forward slightly, accepting the soup as Eddie tilts the ladle. Makes an obnoxious slurp that Eddie snorts at. Smacks his lips and hums. “Ooo, that’s good,” Steve mutters close to Eddie’s ear. “Got a little kick to it. You put a little bit of that new chili oil?”

“Mm and chili flakes,” Eddie hums. “Thought it would pair nicely. Remember that chicken I began marinating last night?”

“The chicken you told me I couldn’t make for my lunch today?”

Eddie rolls his eyes, turning back to the soup pot, shutting the burner off. “I told you not to take it all,” he points out with pleasant tease. “Because you’ll do that if I don’t stop you. And then you come home and complain that your stomach hurts because you ate too much. And then I have to put you on bed rest for the night.”

“I’m not that bad—“

“Anyway,” Eddie cuts in. “I marinated it in this ginger, coconut sauce that I saw a few nights ago on uh…What’s that app that Robin’s always sending videos from?”

“The…The TickTick app?” Steve guesses.

Eddie snaps his fingers together. “Yeah! That app!” He exclaims softly. (They’ll learn later it’s definitely not that, but it doesn’t matter.) He shrugs Steve off to grab the bread from the oven. Steve just moves around to their bar countertop, not a complaint on his tongue. Eddie continues, “I also added a little bit of coconut milk to the base broth. So, hopefully, this’ll be good. With the leftovers, I was thinking you could make your cauliflower rice for lunch and put the soup on top? Only if it’s good, though. If this sucks, I’ll pay for pizza tonight.”

Steve laughs from his belly. “If you do, make sure to get the gluten free crust. Stupid stomach has been acting up again,” he says softly.

Standing up, Eddie hisses. “You’re lucky that the bakery section at the grocery store only had gluten free baguettes then,” he teases gently once more. He sets the finished bread on the countertop, grabs the bottle of chili oil from by the pot of soup, and drizzles it lightly overtop the cheesy, garlic goodness. When he finally dishes up their dinner, he settles next to Steve at the counter. Bowls and small plates of bread in front of them. Glasses of crappy Barefoot red wine, because this is what they can afford—and it doesn't really suck, not when it's served thoughtfully like it is tonight.

“Thank you, baby,” Steve murmurs. He leans in close to Eddie’s side, presses a chaste kiss to his cheek, and then promptly digs in.

And it’s good. Everything’s so good. Jim Croce is singing about time in a bottle. The soup is warm and fresh and homemade. Every light is a careful amber. He’s tired and happy and…complete.

Eddie’s got soup in the scruff under his lip. But Steve doesn’t say anything. Just admires the fine wrinkles and lines to his face, where they’ve begun to really deepen. Admires how his eyes are just as big and soft and expressive as they were thirty-five years ago after Vecna. Where his body is soft. His endearingly white hair.

How he’s alive.

“Hey, Eds?”

Immediately, Eddie looks onto him. Eyes wide with trepidation. The corners of his mouth pinched downward. “Is it not good? I can go get my wallet if it’s—“

Steve lays his hand on the back of Eddie’s forearm. The right one, closest to him, where scars swamp the bats. And that says something, too, he’s sure. About how Eddie fought the bats and came out victorious anyway. His thumb runs soothingly over Eddie’s malleable, aged, warm skin. And his eyes prickle with tears—it would’ve been embarrassing if he were nineteen still, but what a wonderful thing to be alive and cry at all.

“I’m so fucking happy you’re here with me,” Steve breathes out all at once. He sighs through his mouth, a gentle sob escaping.

Eddie drops his spoon into his bowl of slowly cooling soup. And he reaches up, dislodging Steve’s hand on his arm completely, cupping his face between his hands instead. “Oh, baby,” he coos. “Baby, are you alright? Where’s this coming from?”

Steve shrugs because he doesn’t know. Not really. But it’s here. And he’s got a therapist in the aftermath of everything, and feelings deserved to be felt—so they’ve said. “I just—“ He wetly exhales, leaning into Eddie’s soft hands. “—I don’t know. It’s so fucking…I’m so happy to just be boring. To do the same mundane things every single day. To just come home.”

“Oh,” Eddie coos again. He tugs Steve closer, burying his face into his shoulder. Pets a hand through Steve’s own white hair. A hand between his shoulders. Letting him dissolve safely. “I am, too, Steve,” he states like a promise. “You have no idea how my heart just soars in the morning when I look over and you’re…God, you’re drooling all over your own forearm and snuffling deep into the pillow and your hair is all spiky and you’ve got creases all over your face from going to war with the top sheet.” Steve chuckles just as Eddie pulls him back. Hands back on his cheeks, thumbs soothing tear tracks. “You have no idea how relieved I am to look over and see you at peace, sweetheart. Every day—I don’t know how you do it—but every day you let me discover a new part of you to love.”

They smile at one another, softly, eyes shiny with tears. Their soup is going cold, but it doesn’t matter. They’ve got all the time in the world to reheat it.

“I love you,” Steve breathes, states. Just because he can.

“I love you, too,” Eddie says immediately. Because it’s that easy.

It’s easy when life is nothing more than this.

🥣—————🥣

[thesherrinfordfacility]

timeline rundown

tbh this is mainly just for my reference and i will probably come back to it at a later date; a lot of other much cleverer people are spotting some scenes that appear to be out of order, and before deep-diving into scrutinising each scene and frame, i decided to (for the first run, anyway - im sure others have gotten much further ahead, but i personally like to do my own research) just go with a surface-level, basic approach of looking for time indicators.

edit 02/01: additions!!!✨

couple of notes:

this is initially going with the assumption that no fuckery is going on, and only highlights where things appear to be consistent or inconsistent

on the clockhands, and which way round to read them, this caused me no end of headache. for example, reading the ornate hand as the hour makes ep6 sensical, but then makes ep1 gibberish (and vice versa). so, im doing both! and colour coding them!

blue: ornate hand is the hour, other hand is the minute

orange: ornate hand is the minute, other hand is the hour

green: a timestamp that isn't shown by the clock, or has been surmised/hypothesised.

you can make your own conclusion as to which reads make the most sense, but i'll be adding commentary anyway!!!✨

episode 1:

aziraphale gets maggie's letter: the only thing we know is that the bookshop is closed which, given aziraphale's stunning opening hours policy, doesn't mean a whole lot but for the most part, he seems on average to open the shop between 9.30-10am, and close at 3.30pm

shostakovich: aziraphale gets the records and heads off to listen to them, saying that he will be doing so for the next 21 minutes. i know there have been theories out there stemming from mismatched serial number on the record - but for my money, the explanation is a bit more watsonian than that; that aziraphale has a certain amount of free time to chill out to some music before something else happens (ie., to me, before crowley arrives to the shop). therefore, i would say that it logically follows that the previous scene, and this one, is late afternoon after the shop closes.

crowley in st james' park: as the camera sweeps past buckingham palace, you can hear bell chimes in the background, likely posed as coming from big ben. it starts with the cambridge chimes melody, falls silent, and then rings the number of tolls for the hour. when the agent joins crowley on the bench, i can hear a count of five tolls, for 5pm. example of the 5pm toll here.

gabriel/jim arrives: when aziraphale pauses the record, it appears to be 4.20pm.

when jim is handed the hot chocolate, the main bookshop clock reads as 5.20pm, or 4.25pm. seems odd that there would be such a gap for the former, (albeit plausible given that aziraphale gets jim settled and fitted with a blanket etc.), but the latter is more likely.

- capture of the two preceding timestamps

shax and crowley again: crowley's phone reads as 10.35am which, needless to say, does not fit in the above and below timeline at all.

jim and aziraphale conversation continues: the main bookshop clock reads as 6.20pm, or 4.30pm. again, given that aziraphale immediately looks in the box after retrieving it from outside, makes the latter more likely. it also makes sense taking into account the following hypothesised timestamps.

aziraphale calls crowley: not time-stamped, but crowley notes that he is 'two minutes' away when aziraphale calls. jim doesn't appear to have moved, so presumably the call is made soon after the last scene, and when they are both in the café, it still seems to be fully open and running. if we accept that the start of ep1 is most likely around 4pm, and the aziraphale/jim conversation wraps up around 4.30pm-ish, this would make sense - that crowley arrives to the café around 4.40pm. they then obviously leave, and it cuts to:

maggie gives nina the record: same as the above; maggie remarks that she wants a little something "for the end of the day", and nina says she has to finish closing up. nina has cleared away the dishes from the boys' table, the café is has just emptied, and nina's colleague is getting ready to leave. if we treat this scene as concurrent with the "ah! gabriel!" scene, probably around 4.45pm.

crowley lightning strike: maggie is chucking away her tea bag, and nina is upending chairs. if we say that the "ah! gabriel!" and "so did i!" scenes together take maybe 5-10 minutes in-universe, could hazard that the lightning strike is around 4.50pm - 4.55pm.

interlude, where we then return to crowley getting back to his bentley, and it's nighttime. then gets abducted by beelzebub, before squealing off at 110mph+ back to the bookshop. there isn't a timestamp until:

from @katalina27ua (thank you!), crowley restores power: nina's phone reads as 9:02. this would suggest the morning, but i would suggest that given phones can be set to either the 12- or 24-hour clock, and coupled with darkness and emptiness outside, it's 9:02pm.

the dance: the main bookshop clock reads 1.45am, or 9.05pm.

episode 2:

"what comes after 'K'?": when aziraphale gets startled by jim, the main bookshop clock reads as around 6.53am, or 10.35am.

archangels arrive: the main bookshop clock reads as 09.55am, or 11.45am.

aziraphale starts playing the record: as has been pointed out by @canarybell, this scene is so clearly cut in half from the muriel-arrival scene* in ep3. possibly for timing issues, but still out of sequence of the above; im very tentatively putting the time of the main bookshop clock as somewhere around 11.40am or 8am... only the former could work in the ep2 timeline, but again, it is reasonably certain that this is cut from the beginning of ep3 where, in the context of that scene, it is most likely 8am*, and this scene's place in ep2 is just a continuity issue/post-filming to make up timings.

dirty donkey: no time-stamp, but going on face value of how packed the pub is, seems to be at least mid-late afternoon, or post-lunch weekend. im erring towards the former - that people have come in post-work, and it's somewhere around 3.30pm onwards.

jim remembers: the above makes sense with this scene in context, as the main bookshop clock reads 5.20pm or 4.28pm.

post-job flashback: when we return to aziraphale in modern day, and he calls for crowley, the main bookshop clock reads as 6.30pm.

crowley/nina conversation: the record store is still be open in this scene, which would be odd for 6.30pm onwards, albeit not impossible. the café is definitely closed (it's empty and you can see chairs on tables), and nina is only just leaving/finishing up the close. in which case, it makes sense that aziraphale dozed off for a couple of hours, crowley to have wandered off, and nina to have closed up (if her café closing time is, say, 6pm). so, im going with this being around 6.30pm also.

episode 3:

note: i miss out a fair few scenes in this episode and ep4, because a lot is so flimsy in the speculation. with scenes in the bookshop, we can help gauge time with the shops/crowds around it etc, but in ep3 - eg. when aziraphale is in the bentley - i don't think i have enough surrounding data to make a reliable estimate on when it is... so essentially, im just going on what timestamps we do have.

returning to *the muriel arrival scene from ep2: if we accept that this is meant to be joined with the ep2 scene, the main bookshop clock reads as, most likely, 8am (but reminder: could also be 11.40am) when he sits down to start going through the articles and drawn gabriel, which seems to take some time (given the next timestamp):

however, when muriel turns up at the door, and aziraphale pauses the record, the clock reads as what i think is 7.50am or 9.35am (quality is such that i can't quite tell which hand is which, but i think it's this way round). i think, however, given the continuation of the scene, the latter is the most likely:

cupperty: when aziraphale enters the main room with the teacups, the main bookshop clocks reads as 9.50am.

crowley enters: clock still reading as 9.50am.

- capture of all three preceding timestamps

a hefty jump forward to the gravity conversation: the main bookshop clock reads as 6.17pm, or 3.30pm.

another jump forward, when aziraphale gets to the graveyard, and borrows the phone: clock on the phone reads as 5.30pm.

crowley picks up the call: the main bookshop clock shows as around 5.25pm - 5.28pm - so a couple of minutes' difference, but still fairly reliable.

episode 4:

frankly this episode is anyone's guess, given that there's only two main scenes in modern day. but to start, aziraphale is obviously driving back during the night, so possibly late evening/very early morning. he says that he is late, and so presumably he was meant to get back to london before nightfall/at least, before its very late in the evening.

aziraphale parks up: nina's phone in the café reads as 6.47am. this is supported by the background crashing sounds; with lots of restaurants around, likely bin lorries emptying the bottlebanks/bins.

episode 5:

the opening, when aziraphale leaves to go invite the other shopkeepers, shows that the bookshop is closed but the café and marguerite's is open; the former doesn't really mean jack shit, but i reckon marguerite's is likely to be a lunch/dinner joint. so, with that in mind, likely to be sometime in the afternoon.

crowley has his 'oh' moment, and whistles aziraphale over: we obviously don't know how long crowley has been sat there, but long enough that the patrons have swapped over - so let's say maybe an hour, and again still likely afternoon.

crowley then leaves to go confront gabriel, and aziraphale presumably follows up behind him shortly after. when crowley returns downstairs, and aziraphale is sprucing up the shop: quality is once again dogshite so i can't be sure which way round the hands are, but fairly certain the main bookshop clock reads as 12.30pm or 6pm. the latter seems the most likely, given the following scenes/dialogue:

aziraphale sends out crowley to find nina and maggie, and make sure "they are on their way" - it indicates that the party, set to start at 6.30pm, is soon. rightly enough, crowley pops round to the record store and it's closed, but maggie is inside - and nina has closed up the café and set to leave also.

mrs sandwich and then mr brown arrive: the main bookshop clock reads as around 6.20pm - 6.30pm, but we then don't get a clear shot of the clock for the rest of the episode. we know it suddenly gets really dark as soon as nina flies into the bookshop, but given the demon raid going on outside it's not really a reliable indicator of time.

so up until now, ive been pretty certain that the orange timestamps are the more correct, as they seem to flow the most with the general in-universe happenings of the story, and correlate most with the external green timestamps of the eps. however, ep6 goes very screwy in this respect, and it seems that the blue timestamps suddenly become the more accurate.

episode 6:

demons enter, attack, and the bookcase falls/maggie and nina hold them off with fire extinguishers: the main bookshop clock reads as 2.30am or 6.12am.

crowley comes back from heaven, and the demons arrive: the main bookshop clock reads as 6.02am or 12.30am/pm.

just before the gabriel/beelzebub flashbacks: the clock still reads as just gone past 6am or 12.30am/pm.

gabriel returns: the main bookshop clock, over maggie's shoulder, is out of focus so i can't quite see which way round the hands are, but i think reads as either 7am or 8am, or 11.37am, just before they're ushered out by crowley. either one of the two blue timestamps seems the most likely.

crowley drops off nina and maggie: nina remarks that she should have been open "half an hour ago", which if she normally turns up to open up the shop anywhere between 6.30am - 7am (as per her phone from the end of ep4 - 6.47am), makes 8am more likely - that she turns up at around 6.45am, ready to open at 7.30am.

angels and demons arguing: the main bookshop clock reads, just behind dagon's head, as approximately 08.25am or 4.40am/pm.

michael threatens aziraphale, and metatron arrives: the main bookshop clocks reads as 8am (9am?) or 12.43pm.

"extremely alcoholic breakfast at the ritz": reliably informs, for the avoidance of any doubt, that this scene is in the morning. indeed, when crowley gets out of the armchair, the clock shows again that its around 09.02am, or 12.45pm.

crowley tidies up the bookshop: the main bookshop clocks reads as 09.23am, or 4.47am/pm.

"id better start talking": the main bookshop clock reads as 09.25am or 5.45am/pm. it remains this time for the whole first half of the feral domestic, right up until the kiss.

crowley leaves, and metatron returns: the main bookshop clock now reads as approximately 09.40am or 8.47am. we are shown the scene in pretty close, tight-knit order, with no conceivable gaps in the scene where 20 minutes could have gone missing.

aziraphale leaves the bookshop: the clock remains at 09.40am or 08.47am

again from @katalina27ua! crowley at the bentley: the time on his watch reads as, at least (from what i can tell at the quality i have), within the ninth hour. however, the linked promo shot shows clearer - if we accept this to be taken directly from live filming etc - that the clockface reads ~09:15am. edit 03/01: however, there is a different promo photo where it appears that the minute hand is pointing just between the 4-5, reading at 09:25am (i have hit the photo limit but will add to the rb!)

so. couple of things to talk about here.

for the most part between eps 1-5, the clock has been pretty consistent with not only keeping track of time as scenes have developed etc., but also matching up with other instances of where a timestamp is given to us outside of the bookshop. with that in mind, it is highly likely that the clock is a reliable source of marking the in-narrative time of the story. this, for me, is evident with the orange timestamps - where the ornate hand is the minute hand, and other marks minutes.

however, when we hit ep6, it goes to shit. the orange timestamps (providing that ive tracked this all correctly - but error on my part is a very high possibility, i couldn't be bothered to go get pen and paper) suddenly go screwy, and it's the blue ones that make more sense.

we'll revisit that second point in a minute, but returning to the first point - this tells me a crucial thing (imo). first, that the clock can be accepted as the constant in the equation upon which to compare the variables. therefore, for example, crowley's bell tolls in st james' park, and his phone clock, are immediately apparent as 'out of sequence'. the same goes for the part in ep2 where aziraphale starts drawing gabriel - this of course could just be down to a non/extra-diegetic we-need-to-cut-ep3-but-plump-out-ep2 reason (and i think that's probably the case), but crowley's phone is so purposefully and blatantly (and arguably needlessly - could have just answered straightaway and achieved the same result) displayed with the 'wrong' time, that it doesn't feel accidental.

so if the timeline more likely follows the orange, why does it go completely bonkers in ep6, and instead start to follow the blue? god knows, i really don't have much of an answer beyond the "freaky-deaky time shit is going on", and maybe "the demon incursion/crowley going to heaven/the angel and demon stand-off/unreliable narratorship all round might be something to do with it." but to my mind, it is the blue timeline that suddenly makes narrative sense - it's likely morning, crowley supports this with "breakfast at the ritz", etc.

similarly, what is interesting to note is that despite neil's answer that the 20-minute skip during the kiss was a continuity error (and i will say, full disclaimer - perfectly prepared to still accept this as the truth), the crew/team seem to have been fairly hot on keeping the clock otherwise within continuity for the whole show. for a scene of this magnitude, where they know it's going to be emotionally upheaving for fans, leaving them gasping for an Explanation for how it all went down, and therefore scrutinise it for every little detail? sorry, im personally not buying that it wasn't deliberate... will probably end up eating my words, but there we are.

my brain has melted out of my ears trying to wrap my head around this, but i'll probably come back to it at some point with, no doubt, some corrections - and some further thoughts✨

[gibbysoup]

Birds of a feather

Reader x the tornado wranglers (platonic)

(This takes place pre movie)

“I knew you in another life.”

Description: When you first met Tyler owes, you thought it was just gonna be another camera tech gig you’d had done several times in your life. The last thing you expected was to become a critical member of his wrangling squad.

Warnings: slight innuendos

A/n: this is the first time I’m writing for twisters so I’m still getting used to it, but I wanna get into it more! Specifically I wanna write more for Boone bc he deserves it

“Boone, what bagel do you want?” You shouted at him as you, lily and Dani were about to get some breakfast for the rest of the crew. The whole entire team had been on the road super early and people were starting to get hungry and a bit crappy. So everyone made the executive choice to stop at a rest stop and get some food, along with some other snacks.

“Plan with cream cheese!” Boone shouted back, not even looking up at you due to him messing with some of his materials he used to make his rockets. He said he had something big planned for today’s stream, and what that meant could literally mean anything. You just hoped he didn’t blow his hand off in the process.

“Borning..” you said back. He looked up from his supplies and flipped you off, which you immediately reciprocated.

Dani and lily both laughed at the interaction before you three headed into the little shop to retrieve the food. “I like how you said he was boring but you’re literally about to get the same thing as him.” Dani pointed out.

“Hey I have to mess with him a little bit..” you said, opening the door and letting Dani and lily go in before you.

“Yeah but not when he has explosives in his hand.” Lily said, causing you to chuckle a bit.

Once all the orders were placed, you paid with Tyler’s card. he always insisted on paying for food for all of you, and you were complaining. Tyler took good care of all of his crew and it always showed.

Well you waited, Dani pulled out a camera to start filming some footage for the behind the scenes vlog that would be posted on the channel later that week. “Y/n, you excited about today?” She asked you.

You looked at the camera. “Of course I am, I’m about to get a bagel.” You replied, knowing that’s obviously not what she meant.

She playfully rolled her eyes. “No like, about chasing today.” She said, trying to get some good content to put in the vlog.

“Oh yeah, I guess that’s cool too.” You said, taking a sip of your orange juice that you had gotten. Dani panned the camera over to Lily and she said. “It’s hard to get anything out of her this early in the morning.” She said.

Once all the food was done, you grabbed the bag and headed back out to the trucks that were parked and being filled up with gas. “The girlies are back!!” You said, holding the bags and heading back over to Boone and Dexter, who were sitting on the back of the truck.

“Finally..” Boone said, reaching into the bag, but quickly swatted his hand away.

“I’m handing them out..” you told him sternly, Boone put his hands up in defense as he took his hand away.

You handed Dexter his order, then Lily, then Dani, and last but not least Boone. Tyler was still pumping gas so you would give him his breakfast later. “Here I also got you a slim Jim.” You said, reaching into the bag and throwing it at Boone.

He flinched at the snack hitting him. In retaliation, he picked it up and threw it at you. You picked it up off the ground. “Boone stop throwing your meat stick at me!” You said to him, throwing it back at him, hitting his chest this time. And just then Tyler walked over, clearly confused as to what was happening.

“Boones doing what?!” Tyler raised his eyebrow, looking between you and Boone.

Tyler’s confusion and question make the whole crew laugh. “Oh my god I’m so glad Dani was filming that..” you said in between laugh, holding your stomach.

Once the laughed died down, Tyler spoke. “Alright we got a big storm headed east so we gotta get on the road, so pack it up team!” He said, clapping his hands together. The crew packed up and got in their respective vehicles.

Although sometimes chasing tornados was a stressful job, the people around you made it much easier one.

[gentlebeardsbarngrill]

05/04/2024 Daily OFMD Recap

TLDR; Rhys & TheCryptidFactor; Kristian Nairn; Samba Schutte BTS + Samba Schutte May the 4th; Vico Ortiz; Nathan Foad; Alex Sherman; Watch Party Reminders; AdoptOurCrew; Articles; MerMay Bingo / MerMay Daily Prompts; Love Notes; Daily Darby / Today's Taika.

Sorry for being extremely late friends...I had 99% done last night and then I went to bed to get some sleep and then my son woke me up 1 hour later and I didnt sleep at all, so I just woke up from a nap. Weeeeeeeee!

= Rhys Darby =

The Cryptid Factor we got yesterday will soon have a video version on The Cryptid Factor Patreon! Here's a sneak peek from Rhys! (It says its on Patreon but I couldn't find it even though I have the right tier? Could be a delay on Patreon's side).

Source: Rhys Darby's IG stories

= Kristian Nairn =

Kristian's been in Stockholm at Comic Con Nordics! Seems to be having a great time!

Source: Kristian Nairn's IG

= Samba Schutte=

As usual, Samba continues to grace us with BTS, this time Fang and Roach themed! And also as usual-- multiple videos means multiple posts, please check out the links below to watch the cut footage!

Pre Spa Day BTS Video

Post Spa Day BTS Video

and then he also included some May 4th themed behind the scenes for Jedi: Fallen Order!

Source: Samba Schutte's Instagram

= Vico Ortiz =

Vico's movie Spark is heading to the Toronto 2SLGBTQ+ Film Festival!

More info: Spark

Sources: Vico Ortiz' Instagram

= Nathan Foad =

Nathan still going strong in Loves Labour's Lost!

Src: Nathan's IG and Lauren Carse's IG

= Alex Sherman =

Alex added this older picture to his IG Stories, what a blast from the past! May the Fourth Be With you Alex!

Source: Alex Sherman's IG

== Watch Party Reminders ==

Palm Royale WP May 9 via @LCWebsXOXO with the lovely @ dominicburgess approx. 4pm EDT/9pm BST/1pm PST! Available on Apple TV

Wrecked S2 WP May 6-May 10 3:30pm PT / 6:30pm ET / 11:30pm BST! If you need access feel free to dm me here at @gentlebeardsbarngrill or @aspirantabby42 on twitter.

== Adopt Our Crew ==

Our darling crewmates over at @adoptourcrew gave us a brief snyopsis of what's been going on at WBD. Article Link

Source: @adoptourcrew's Twitter

== Fan Spotlight ==

= Cast Cards =

Today's cast card is Mother Bonnet, Rosalyn Gentle! Thank you @melvisik for completing the Bonnet parents!

Source: @melvisik's Twitter

= OFMD Colouring Pages =

Today's colouring pages feature some pointy objects! Thank you @patchworkpiratebear for including Jim's family knife <3

== Stede & Ed (Calvin & Hobbes Redraws) ==

Our dear @blakbonnet has even more Stede & Ed (Calvin & Hobbes Redraws to show!

== MerMay Bingo ==

Lots of submissions coming through for @bizarrelittlemew ‘s OFMD Mermay Bingo!

== MerryFinches ==

Please oh please go see Kylie @merryfinches and give her all the love, her work makes the fandom go round <3

Source: @merryfinches Tumblr

== MeanieZucchini ==

Another submission to both Ida's lovely MerMay Bingo prompts as well as the SaveOFMD daily prompts was @meaniezuchinni! You can check them out over at their blog. You can also visit them over at their KO-FI - MeanieZucchini!

== SaveOFMD MerMay Submissions ==

Today's prompt is "Treasure!" and there's new submissions for it! Looking to participate in the daily prompts? Check out @saveofmdcrewmates's prompt list here.

= Blueberreads =

Our friend @blueberreads is at it again, this time with a treasure hunt, pixel Ed and Pixel Stede taking a snake snack break! Be sure to head on over to their blog for more pixel art content!

= Snejpowa =

@Snejpowa has been keeping up everyday with new prompts! Check out their rendition Stede and his petrified orange!

== Love Notes ==

Happy Weekend Lovelies! We're finally at the end of the week-- tomorrow starts a new day, with new chances and new hopes, and new dreams-- maybe this week will be a little better than last week. I hope it is -- even if last week was good for you <3

You know what I really loved about our little gay pirate show (you know, aside from everything)? It showed us that we don't have to be what we are today if we don't want to. That doesn't mean it'll be a quick change, in fact, it'll be a pretty long journey depending on what it is, but it showed us that things CAN change. It gave us just that little bit of hope, that things don't have to stay the way they are, and that little bit of hope is the spark of so much possibility. It's gonna be a journey luvs, and its gonna take a lot of work and healing, but we'll all get to where we want to be <3 Sending love.

== Daily Darby / Today's Taika ==

Yeah, idk these two just seemed to go together today. If you can think of the theme please let me know xD Gifs Courtesy of the prodigious @celluloidbroomcloset and the sensational @agaywithcoffee! <3

[bomberqueen17]

followup: countertops

OK pictures under the cut but before you judge me, understand that i went into this remodel saying "i don't want everything white and gray!!!!" and then one at a time we considered our options and realized the best options were... whites... and grays...

but! the white countertop has SPARKLES in it, and as I tell the saga I will tell you the inside scoop the countertop installer gave me, as to WHAT THE SPARKLES ARE MADE OF.

i would put in a little video of the sparkle but i can't figure out how to upload videos anywhere so just imagine it. you can kind of see it in some of the still images.

[image description: a young man in a gray hoodie and orange gloves rests my not-yet-installed stainless-steel sink on the top of the cabinets in front of my windows, which don't yet have countertops.] These guys rolled up at 8:15 and politely introduced themselves, Devin and Isaac. My buddy Max had already rolled in, but Jim had planned on arriving at 8:30 and was running late.

Devin said to me, excitedly, "Did they tell you? We did it seamless!" There had been discussion of whether the corner section would have to be fabricated in two sections or whether they'd be able to do it in one.

They asked Max about some technical details, but Max demurred, "Jim knows about it, I'm just here to help," and they said "ah we'll wait for Jim" but then they were like "well we can just get started" and as it happens they'd just about finished before Jim finally rolled up, LOL.

They installed the sink first, as it's an undermount and so way easier to do before the counter goes in.

But the counters-- they just-- set them down, checked the level, checked the measurements everywhere, and then just put silicone around the edges underneath and on top. That's literally it. I asked if it was ever more complicated and Devin was like ah yeah if we have to level it there's a whole thing, but. I mean. Jim did this so I knew it'd be this easy, that's why you're first for us today.

[image description: an expanse of speckled white countertop, with reflections from the lights. You can kind of see a speck here and there of the sparkles. the color is somethingorother-snow, because it does glitter like snow.]

I admired the glitter, and Devin said, "Guess what the sparkle's made of!"

"Glass," I hazarded.

"Close," he said, "but no." When nobody else had another guess, he said, "CDs! It's made of CDs." This is a quartz-like-composite kinda thing, which means it kinda looks like stone and is shiny like stone (instead of matte like Corian etc) but won't shatter your plates quite like stone and is easier to maintain.

I texted this to the family groupchat, and VegMan said (my sister must have read it aloud to him, he's not on the family groupchat) "Oh, AOL CDs?" and I texted it to Dude separately and he wrote back "That's like 750000 free minutes of AOL!" and when I repeated these jokes to Devin, Isaac, and Max, they all kind of looked politely blank. "Oh no," I said, "you're too young."

"I was born in 2001," Devin volunteered, and Max laughed and said "same". (I do not think Isaac is any older.) "They used to give me video game CDs in my Happy Meals though so I know what you mean."

I've lived in this house since both of you were four years old, I thought, but did not say. "In 2001 I was..." "Adulting," Devin said helpfully. "You... could call it that," I said, thinking back to my senior year of college.

They brought in the little chunk of counter that's going over next to the fridge, and then the bigger chunk that's the sink counter. Then they brought in the big one they'd managed to do seamless, the L-shaped chunk that goes from the stove around the corner to the expanse in front of the bay window that will be our dining area. Devin and Isaac planned out where they'd go and how they'd get it in the door, because they knew it was heavy. Then they got in the door and Devin said "Max! Max I know I don't know you but I need you to help me!" and Max hustled over and grabbed the heavy end, because it really was too heavy for Devin, and Isaac had the other end so he couldn't help.

It was a strain for both of them, but they carefully got it up onto the cabinets, and slid it painstakingly into place, and Devin took a moment to recover.

[image description: a person in a gray hoodie is sitting on the cardboard-covered floor of a white room with gray cabinets, applying silicone from a tube to the underside of the white countertop]

They checked the levels and measurements and made sure there were no gaps and then they just... glued it. Like not even really glued it they just applied a bead of silicone around all the edges, and that's that.

"Is it really that easy?" I asked, and Devin laughed and said "if it's not perfectly level we have to shim it, and there's a whole lot of complicated stuff we gotta do then, but the reason I put this job first is I know Jim put these cabinets in so I know they're level. And if they're level then yeah this is all that's gotta happen."

They look so good. They sparkle like snow. The room is a sea of neutrals.

[image description: from my living room looking into my kitchen, with the stove pulled out awkwardly into the middle of the floor, one man is standing to work on the counter near the sink and another man is sitting on the floor checking the underside of the counter in front of the window.]

Jim showed up as they were finishing, checked on a few things, signed off on the job, and then he and Max set to tiling the backsplash. Which I will cover in a separate post because this is enough for right now. But.

The counters!!! I wish I could figure out how to make a gif out of a little video on my phone because the SPARKLE. Yeah the white countertops and white walls and white ceilings are a bit much but understand two of the walls and all of the window trim are getting painted some bright color or other, so it won't be like this forever.

[bluejaysandblackbats]

Eyes and Ears

Fandom: DC Comics, Batfam

Summary: An AU where Barbara finds Jason instead of Bruce.

Chapters: 2/?

Characters: Jason Todd, Barbara Gordon, Jim Gordon, Dick Grayson, Bruce Wayne, Sheila Haywood, Original Character(s)

Relationship(s): Jason Todd/Original Character(s), Past Barbara Gordon/Dick Grayson

Additional Tags: Canon Divergent AU, Older SIbling Barbara Gordon, Jason Todd-centric, Barbara Gordon is Oracle, Jason Todd is NOT Robin, Jason Todd Has Issues, Jason Todd Has a Crush, Adopted Siblings

Chapter Two: The Dewey Decimal System

Jason got out of bed early in the morning, looking for Jim. After a few minutes of looking around, he knocked on Barbara's bedroom door. Barbara opened her door and put on her glasses. "Where's your dad?" Jason asked.

"Good morning," Barbara mumbled. Jason stood there for a while, trying to figure out what he wanted. "He didn't change his mind. You can still stay here... But I think you should come into work with me."

"On the motorcycle?" Jason asked. Barbara laughed and shook her head.

"We're taking a cab," Barbara explained. Jason pushed a hand through his hair, and Barbara noticed a few circular-shaped burns on the back of Jason's hand and on his arms. Some were old, some were new. "Hey, where'd you get those burns?"

Jason shoved his hand into the pocket of his pajama pants. "Don't worry about it," Jason mumbled as he turned and rushed back to his room and shut the door. Barbara's shoulders dropped, and she cursed under her breath. Barbara was hoping that he'd just tell her. She took her shower and got dressed for work, and by the time she was ready, Jason was in the kitchen making breakfast as if nothing happened.

Jason poured himself a glass of orange juice. "Your dad is gonna lose it when he finds out how many days of school I've missed," Jason mumbled.

"Well, that gives you something to do this summer while I'm at work. You'll get caught up soon enough," Barbara replied. Jason put half of his bagel on her plate. "Thanks."

"It's the last one. I just didn't want to be a jerk," Jason replied. Barbara took a bite and smiled at him. He wore a striped sweatshirt that he found in the closet. It was far too big, but he liked it.

After Barbara finished eating breakfast, she went through the fridge and prepared lunch for both of them. Jason washed his hands and sat on the couch. "Want some eggs?" Barbara asked. Jason shook his head and turned the tv on. "So, just half of a bagel?"

"I'm full. Hey, what do I call you? Do I just call you Babs?" Jason asked.

"Or Barbara. You can call me Barbara," she answered, and Jason nodded.

"Barbara," Jason repeated to himself. She plopped down next to him on the couch, and Jason glanced over at her. He could still see glimpses of his mother in her, and it made him a little bit sad. He took a deep breath and lay his head on her shoulder.

"Did you sleep?" Barbara asked, her voice soft.

"Nope," Jason mumbled. She looked over at him.

"You know it's okay for you to go to sleep here," Barbara whispered. Jason nodded. "I'm serious, Jason."

"Yeah... It's one thing to say that. I've tried staying with people before, and it just doesn't work," Jason whispered.

"Well, you've never stayed with us... It'll be different," Barbara reassured him, "Come on, I'll call a cab when we get outside."

Barbara put her shoes on and grabbed their lunches. Jason followed her outside, and by the time they got to the library, Jason was half-asleep. Barbara nudged him.

"Do you know how the Dewey decimal system works?" Barbara asked. Jason shrugged, and Barbara went behind the desk and wrote a list. "Do you have a library card?"

"Nuh-uh..." Jason answered. Barbara shook her head and clocked in. She got him signed up for a library card and gave him a login for the computers. "Barbara?"

"When you find those books, you can come back here and read down here," Barbara whispered. Jason cocked his head. "There's a bean bag chair down here."

Jason nodded and waved before wandering the library. Jason hated to admit it, but he liked having someone care about him. He found the books in a short amount of time and joined Barbara behind the counter. As people came in and asked questions, Jason would playfully nudge her. Barbara kept her composure, only allowing herself to laugh when it was just the two of them. "Jason, stop," she chuckled as she playfully kicked at him.

Jason grinned and went back to reading. After a while, Jason grew silent, and Barbara almost forgot that he was there. She nearly tripped over him on her way to the book chute. Barbara opened her mouth to apologize, and he lay fast asleep in the bean bag chair. She took off her sweater and draped it over him. She continued to work as Jason slept, and when lunchtime came around, she crouched down and nudged Jason. He covered his mouth and yawned. "What happened?" Jason mumbled.

Barbara took her sweater and helped him up. "You fell asleep. It's time for lunch. Wanna come outside with me?" she asked. He nodded and let her lead him outside. Barbara carried their lunches in her other hand.

They sat on the benches behind the library, and Jason started eating his sandwich. "Barbara?" Jason asked.

"Hm?" she replied as she took a bite of her boiled egg. "What's wrong?"

Jason didn't say anything. Barbara chewed her lip. He finished eating the first half of his sandwich, and he sighed. "They're cigarette burns," Jason mumbled, "So, yeah."

"Did your parents do—?"

"My mom would never—." Jason paused to lower his voice. "My mom would never hurt me... I don't want to talk about that. I just didn't want you making stuff up in your head."

"It must be hard to talk about people who've hurt you—."

"It's not just—. It's not—. I did some of them," Jason whispered, "I don't want you to think I'm weird."

"I don't think you're weird. I mean, I look at you and I just sort of see a kid... I don't really know you yet. I do know that there's something special about you," Barbara answered, "I don't know what it is, and I don't really care at this point. Just know that I like you... And that I'm gonna look after you." She reached to touch Jason's wrist, and he pulled away.

"People promise things all the time, Barbara... But, it doesn't mean you'll keep your word. People change their minds," Jason whispered. Barbara didn't argue with him. She just nodded and went back to eating.

Jason put his food away and went back inside. She didn't follow him. After Barbara finished eating, she went back inside to look for him. Barbara nudged her coworker and asked, "Max, have you seen a little boy with dark hair and blue eyes?"

"YA. Are you babysitting?" Max questioned in return. Barbara shook her head and went back to looking for Jason.

He sat on the floor reading, and she looked down at him. "Mad at me?" Barbara asked. Jason shook his head. "I hope you stick around long enough for me to make good on my promise."

Jason wanted to smile, and he wanted to believe her, but he just couldn't. He wouldn't look at her. Barbara crouched down in front of him and tapped him on the nose. She knew it'd take a while to earn his trust, but she was willing to wait. "Thank you for telling me. You didn't have to, but I'm glad you did," she softly thanked him, opening her arms. Jason embraced her, and she sat across from him.

Jason showed her the inside of the book in an attempt to change the subject. "The Statue of Liberty was a gift from the French?" Jason asked.

"Cool, huh?" Barbara replied.

"It's all ancient history to me," he joked. Barbara shook her head and messed up his hair.

"Wanna come back behind the desk? Max is harmless," Barbara offered. Jason hesitated before joining Barbara on her way back to the desk. "Max, this is Jason. Jason, this is Max... No personal questions Max, just know that he'll be coming to work with me sometimes." Jason shook Max's hand and plopped back down on the bean bag chair.

Barbara clocked back in and worked the front desk while Max put books back. Jason tugged her pant leg and asked her for a bookmark. "Going back to sleep?" Barbara asked. Jason nodded.

"I mean... if that's okay," Jason mumbled. Barbara nodded.

Jason drifted off to sleep quickly after their conversation ended, and he slept until the end of her shift. "Do you want me—?"

"Don't wake him up yet. I'm just gonna check out his books, and I'll get him. Don't worry," Barbara whispered, "Um, Max... Remember you told me about your girlfriend's little brother?"

"Is that who this is? Dick doesn't have a little brother, though. Unless," Max turned around to look at Jason, and Jason took a sharp inhale of breath and woke up.

"He's not Dick's little brother... He's um... He's my—. Jason, do you wanna check out your books so we can go?" Barbara asked just as her cellphone vibrated in her pocket. "Sorry, Max, I gotta take this. It's my dad." She told Jason she'd be out front, and she stepped outside to answer her phone. "Hey, Dad."

"Is Jason with you?" Jim asked.

"Uh... Yeah, he went to work with me. I just didn't want to leave him alone. Why? Is something wrong?" Barbara responded.

"To get guardianship of him, I would have to notify his parents—."

"His parents aren't alive. He told me himself last night—."

"But that's just it. I think Jason believes that. I did a little digging, and I found out I did take his father in a few times, and during that time, Jason was in the care of Catherine Todd. She legally adopted him when he was an infant, but his birth mother's been missing since shortly after he was born," Jim explained.

"What do you mean birth mother?" Barbara asked. Jason came outside carrying a stack of books. "Dad, we'll be home in a little bit. I'll talk to you then... Bye." She hung up and took a few of Jason's books from him.

"Is he mad at me?" Jason asked. Barbara shook her head. "I can't stay there anymore, can I?"

"Jason, you can stay with us as long as you want," Barbara reassured, "It's nothing like that..."

[tryfonpeixes]

Joel was utterly helpless. He had fallen for Jimmy so hard and so fast it made his head spin.

Joel was sitting on a campsite, feet in the dirt. In his hand, a beer sweating. The water drips down his hand and falls onto the grass. There's music playing distantly out of a small speaker. Joel had it shuffled on a classical rock playlist, and honestly, he wasn't paying attention to it at all despite loving classical rock. What he was paying attention to was the man sitting next to him.

Jimmy. Beautiful, endearing, funny, sweet, idiotic Jimmy. Jimmy was also holding a beer, but it was much more full. He was a social drinker, so Joel wasn't surprised that he hadn't drank that much of it. His other hand was in the dirt, helping him stay propped up while he was leaning back a little. He was laughing at a joke Joel had made. Joel doesn't even remember what he had said. He was too busy staring at Jimmy.

Jimmy looked so beautiful with the yellow and the orange lights of the campfire flames bouncing off his face. It made his eyes look so beautiful, more orange than brown. It made Joel stare at Jimmy's lips, highlighted by the flames. He looked so kissable.

Maybe it was the beer talking, making Joel want to kiss his best friend, but he didn't think so. Joel could last a while on beer, and he was only a drink and a half in. He's thought about it a few times, kissing Jimmy. This time he was serious. He was fully set on the fact that he wanted this man in front of him.

Jimmy sighs and looks to the flames.

"I'm glad we got this going now that it's dark. What is it, like eleven? It's getting damn cold out."

Joel smiles and takes another sip of his beer. His eyes don't leave Jimmy.

"Yeah- yeah it is getting a little cold. It'll be fine though." He replies.

Jimmy nods softly. His eyes are still fixed on the fire, glowing.

"I'm glad we decided to bring extra blankets for the tent. I think I'd freeze to death without them, since I'm always cold." He giggles at himself when he mentions how he's always got goosebumps.

Joel giggles with him.

"Yeah. If you ever get too cold we can share body warmth or some other shit."

He throws the offer out there hoping Jimmy would want it. Hoping that he'd want to hold hands, cuddle, or even just sit a little closer together. Joel doesn't even know why he was thinking this- it wasn't like he felt this way about Jimmy a month ago. Or maybe- maybe he did. Maybe had fallen for Jimmy like this earlier than he thought and he'd just never noticed. Joel's head was spinning thinking about this.

Jimmy scoffs and rolls his eyes. It doesn't play off the little bit of pink on his face. Joel catches it- he sees how Jimmy reacts to that. Maybe Jimmy was just blushing cause he was embarrassed, or maybe, just maybe, it was something else. Joel hung onto that.

"Well if it ever comes down to that I'm sure I'll let you know."

Joel blinks.

"Comes down to it?" He repeats. "Surely cuddling with your favourite person ever means more to you than that. Honestly? I'm sooo offended. You've hurt my feelings, Tim. I'm hurt."

Jimmy takes a sip of his drink and snorts.

"I lied, I love cuddling with you. You're very warm an' shit. It's nice."

Joel almost freezes, but immediately realises that yeah, they do cuddle and all that stuff pretty often. They have once they've known each other and that's just how they were. Joel teases Jimmy for it anyways.

"Wow Tim. If I didn't know any better I'd think you have a crush on me."

Jimmy looks at him and immediately looks away. He takes another sip of his beer and bites the bottom of his lip lightly. The way he always did when he was thinking too hard. He chuckles slowly, nervous suddenly.

"Well- I mean- not that that'd be a bad thing. I mean, I wouldn't mind havin-" Jimmy stops himself before what he could say even happened.

Joel stares. Not in the lovestruck way this time. Sort of confused, but also humored. Joel raises his eyebrow slowly, giving him that look that begged him to continue. Jimmy frowns, but sort of wobbly. Like he was nervous and not actually upset, and that's just how his face forms that emotion.

"Joel-"

"Do you.. have a crush on me? Like- are you in love with me, Jim." Joel relaxes his face a bunch so Jimmy doesn't feel afraid to tell him, since he was skittish and all.

He knew if he looked anything other than calm then Jimmy would back out immediately and.. Joel was in love with him. He wanted to know if Jimmy felt the same. Jimmy actually frowns this time. His voice is very very quiet, like a mouse. Or at least, Joel thinks he sounds like a mouse.

"Yeah. A whole lot. I- I love you like- like a lover a lot. I uhm- I'm sorry if-"

Jimmy is cut off from whatever uncalled for self degrading shit he was going to spew because Joel had gotten so excited at Jimmy saying that he loved him like that, that Joel had tossed his drink aside and pressed his lips to the other. Jimmy squeaks very loudly in surprise, and turns stiff as stone. After a few beats, he relaxes. He lets Joel kiss him, and he lets go of his drink carefully. Jimmy starts to kiss back, obviously, as you do when you kiss.

Joel pulls back moments after, but not that far from Jimmy. Their faces were still inches apart.

"Woah." Jimmy whispers.

His face looks even more red than he's ever seen it, and his eyes are wide like dinner plates. He looks even more red with the flames of the campfire making his face glow. Camping truly did make the world seem a lot more beautiful, and Jimmy was Joel's world.

[munson-blurbs]

Thankful (Dad!Eddie x Mom!Reader)

You and Eddie celebrate Melody’s first Thanksgiving with the Hawkins crew.

Warnings: none

WC: 1.7k

Part I | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

Taglist: @dylanmunson @tayhar811 @princess-eddie​ @briasnow-blog @eddielives1986 @lost-in-contingency @eddiesprincess86​

--

“Are you ready?” You hear Eddie whisper through the bedroom door; the man was never good at keeping his voice low. “C’mon, let’s go surprise Mommy!”

The record store is closed on holidays, which means Eddie’s home, which also means that you can sleep in. Motherhood is more exhausting than you had anticipated. It’s one thing to pull an all-nighter once in awhile to finish some work or have a movie marathon; it’s another to wake up every two hours to feed, change, or rock a screaming baby.

Your husband has been nothing short of an angel: balancing work, a newborn baby, and a wife who feels like she’s falling apart physically and emotionally. You take care of Melody while he’s at the store, but he’s holding her as soon as he gets home so you can take time to rest. 

You open one eye as the door opens and slip on your glasses. Eddie’s still in his pajamas, but he’s got Melody in an outfit you haven’t seen before.

“Hi, my loves,” you greet them sleepily. “Happy Thanksgiving.”

“Happy Thanksgiving, Mama Munson,” Eddie replies, carefully shuffling towards you. “Mel wants to show you something.”

“I hope it’s not another diaper explosion,” you give a small laugh, sitting up to get a better look at your little family.

“Nope. Had one of those already this morning, but Super Dad took care of it,” he grins proudly. “This is much better.”

He hands you your little baby, her dark blond curls tickling your chin as you pull her close for cuddles. She’s wearing an orange onesie with a cartoon turkey on it, and the text below it reads “My First Thanksgiving.”

“This is the most precious thing I’ve ever seen!” you exclaim as she takes your finger in her tiny fist. “Eds, where did you get this?”

“What are you talking about? You gave birth to her!” he teases, kissing your forehead.

“You know what I mean!”

“Ohhh, her Thanksgiving outfit,” Eddie says, making you smile even wider. “One of my regulars gave it to me last week. Been hiding so we could surprise you.”

“I swear, every time I think this kid couldn’t get any cuter,” you kiss her little fingernails, and she looks up at you with her wide eyes. “Right? Every time Mommy thinks you couldn’t be a more adorable little baby, you prove her wrong!”

Eddie’s heart leaps watching you be a mom. The last few weeks have been hard on you, but he’s so impressed with how naturally you fell into motherhood. On more than one occasion you’ve questioned whether or not you can do this, but he reassures you that the feeling is normal, especially when sleep deprived. And while you’ve had no shortage of visitors, you haven’t really left the house.

Today, however, the three of you are going to the Hopper-Byers house to celebrate with everyone—and you mean everyone: Jim Hopper, Joyce, Will, Jonathan, and Eleven will obviously be there, as well as Steve, Nancy, Andy, Robin, Mike, Dustin, Lucas, and Max. A full house.

Eddie crouches down so he’s eye-level with his daughter. “What’s that, Melly Bean?” he asks, cocking his head towards her. “You want Mommy to come out to the living room so we can watch the parade together?”

You roll your eyes and laugh. “Only for my little turkey,” you place her back in his waiting arms so you can stretch. “And because I have to get up anyway and make a casserole to bring to Joyce’s.”

“I thought Joyce said not to bring anything?” He furrows his brows.

“Well, I’m not going over empty-handed,” you reply. “Besides, it’ll feel good to cook something again.” Your friends and neighbors had brought food to you after Melody was born, and you’d been subsisting on that and take-out since you got home from the hospital.

Eddie nods. “Okay. Just take it easy.” You give him a warm smile, appreciating his concern without being overbearing. God, you love him.

~

You wrap the hot casserole dish in tinfoil just as Santa Claus makes his way down 34th Street, signaling the end of the parade.

“Look, Melly!” Eddie coos, though she’s sound asleep against his chest. “That’s Santa! He’s gonna come to our house next month and bring you so many gifts.” He looks over at you sheepishly. “Speaking of which, I should probably pick up some extra shifts.”

You feign ignorance for your own amusement. “Whatever for? I thought Santa was bringing everything for her.”

“You’re so lucky I’m holding her, or I’d throw a pillow at your head.” Instead, he opts to stick out his tongue, making you giggle.

“C’mon, let’s bundle her up and…Eddie!” you cry out when you see that he’s still in his pajamas, with his hair mussed and his face unshaven. “How are you not ready yet?”

“I think a better question is, how are you ready?” he gawps.

“I showered and got dressed while the casserole was in the oven,” you explain. “Just need to throw on some makeup, cover up these bags under my eyes, and I’m good to go.”

“Fuckin’ Wonder Woman, I’m tellin’ you, babe. That’s what you are,” he muses, standing slowly and putting Melody in her bassinet next to the couch. He walks back to the kitchen and presses a sloppy kiss to your temple. “I love you so much.”

“I love you too, stinky man,” you wrinkle your nose dramatically as you pretend to lean in for a kiss but lick his lips instead. He retaliates quickly, pulling you close to him and licking your ear.

“You’re gross,” you mumble as his jaw drops.

“Me? You started this!” he retorts.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, babe. Now go get ready.”

~

You pull up to the house half an hour later than you’d hoped, but considering you had a four-week-old baby, you were impressed that you weren’t tardier. Eddie throws the car in park and shuts off the engine, and immediately you hear a voice call, “They’re here!”, followed by a parade of people vying to be the first to hold Melody.

“Whoa! Hey, guys!” Eddie calls as he steps out and opens the rear door to get the baby. “Just give us a sec to get settled in and then you can fight to the death for her.”

You sling the diaper bag over your shoulder as Eddie unhooks the car seat. Melody stirs slightly and lets out a cry.

“Sorry,” you mutter as you make a beeline for the front door, “she might be hungry.”

Joyce pushes through the crowd to get to you. “Breathe. It’s okay. Babies cry,” she rubs your back gently. “You’ll feed her, and she’ll be good as new.”

You take a deep breath, in through the nose and out through the mouth, and nod. “Thank you.”

There’s a soft tap on your shoulder as you walk in the house. “Uh, Y/N?” Mike Wheeler says. “I can give her a bottle, i-if you want. I used to help my mom when Holly was a baby.”

You’re reluctant to accept help, for the sake of your own pride, but you relinquish some control and smile. “That would be amazing, Mike.” The boy visibly relaxes as you bring him over to the kitchen so you can prepare the bottle.

Eddie places Melody in Mike’s arms, and she takes the bottle immediately. “She’s so cute,” Mike remarks, making silly faces at her while she drinks.

“Once that bottle is done, give her to me,” Dustin demands, and Max scoffs at him.

“You already got to meet her when she was born!” she argues, pushing him out of the way.

“Not my fault I’m a better friend than any of you are!”

“Hey, who says I’m giving her up?” Mike calls back from the sofa.

“Sheep!” Eddie’s voice stops their bickering immediately. “Here’s the deal: Wheeler’s gonna finish feeding her, then we’ll go in alphabetical order by people who haven’t met her yet,” he emphasizes, earning a glare from Dustin. “That means Eleven, then Jonathan, Lucas, Max, Robin, and Will.”

“So not fair,” Dustin mutters, but doesn’t put up more of a fight.

“Also, there’s a rule,” you add teasingly. “If she poops while you’re holding her, you have to change her diaper.” Surprisingly, no one seems fazed.

~

For the first time in nearly a month, you’re able to have adult conversations and eat a meal without having to tend to Melody. It feels strange, like a piece of you is missing, but you learn to enjoy the moments of freedom.

It’s Hopper’s turn to hold her, and he’s standing next to Eddie, who’s eating a slice of pie. You overhear a part of their conversation:

“Having a daughter is the best feeling, isn’t it?” Hopper asks him, waving a finger at Melody. She’s so good, you think with a smile.

Eddie nods vigorously. “I can’t believe that I get to be her dad. I feel like I don’t deserve it,” he admits.

Hopper glances over at Eleven before replying. “I know the feeling,” he agrees, “but trust me when I say that if anyone deserves this, it’s you.” You blink back tears, half because you don’t want to be crying at Thanksgiving, and half because you don’t want to get caught eavesdropping.

Joyce uses her hip to gently bump yours. “Look at our guys,” she says. “Almost hate to steal her away from them. Almost.” She marches over and motions for her husband to hand her the baby, heart melting the instant she holds her.

Eddie makes his way over to you, placing his empty plate on a nearby table. He brings his arm around your waist, and you rest your head on his chest.

“You good, baby?” he murmurs into your hair.

“Mhm,” you say. “I’m just really happy.”

He squeezes you even closer and brings his gaze back to his daughter, cooing in Joyce’s arms. “We made the cutest kid ever, didn’t we?”

“Oh, absolutely,” you agree. “Makes every other baby look bad.” You look up at him and he bends down slightly to kiss you.

Instead, you lick from his lower lip to the tip of his nose.

“Gotcha.”

[mynameis-noe-body]

I have in idea for a hopper story where you wake up early in the morning while hopper is still peacefully sleeping so you decide prepare breakfast and when the breakfast is ready you go in the bedroom and to wake up hopper in the best way so you get under the cover and start giving him a special kisses =) and when hopper wakes up from the pleasure you continue until he can't help it anymore and after that you look into his eyes full of love and pleasure and say I just wanted to say to you that breakfast is ready.

A sweet and spicy story idea, if you like this idea i know you would make a very good story🫶🏻

Can I just say there aren't enough Jim's gifs? Gif artists, please provide.

Sunday morning: pancakes and...

Chief Jim Hopper × you (F)

Rating: Explicit

Status: Complete (one shot)

The table was set. His favorite breakfast displayed on a checkered table cloth, together with hot, bitter, black coffee, orange juice and milk. Everything he could ever desire. It was, indeed, Sunday morning, and after the hard week he had to endure at the Police Station, you wanted to make him feel loved — he always had a sweet thoot, and food was a part of his love language. You cooking for him? It was paradise on earth, you were aware. At almost nine thirty you thought it was time for him to wake up; when you entered, however, you couldn't help stopping a while to just look at him. You eyes gliding up and down on his body. Jim was sleeping, lightly snoring, his delicious dad bod all naked with an arm above his head, his eyes peacefully closed in a deep rest. Around the hips he was still covered with the white sheets, but underneath... you knew — you could see how naked he was. His morning hard wood was right there, you could see the outline of his lovely cock getting hard from a sweet dream he was enjoying in the first hours of the morning. Jim was too beautiful, and too delicious, there was no way you'd find the strength to fight that visceral desire to touch him, kiss him, taste him and — overall — worship him.

That's why you slipped on the bed, moving the sheets with just a couple of fingers to not wake him up, and took a moment to revel in the breathtaking vision of his naked body. Jim was all hard, and all man. His soft belly, his muscular arms, his massive legs, his thick mustache and — god — his big, hard cock.

You rest your cheek on his tight, wondering what to do and admiring his form. Jim exhaled a little breath, and kept snoring slowly, widening his legs a little. You chuckled — he was just asking for it, wasn't he? With one hand, you started caressing the soft skin of his left tight, just right between his legs... he didn't move, which was a good sign. Still asleep. He didn't move either when the palm of your hand came to palm his balls, weighting them gently, caressing his soft skin and his rough hair, just cuddling his intimacy. Poor baby, you thought, so tired. I'll take care of you.

The tip of your middle finger traveled north on his hard lenght, always astonished by his girth, and his tickness — such a delicious dick, it was always so lovely and arousing to pleasure him with your hand and mouth. When you reached his head, spreading the precum with the fingertip, Jim whimpered, just a second, before falling again in what appeared to be a nice rest. But it had been enough to spark your desire; you couldn't help but reach for his cock, taking him in your hand and raising above him in the middle of his legs to put him in your mouth. You licked him, initially, with exasperating slowness, tasting the sweet liquid that came from him. But then, completely taken by that desperate longing, you opened your lips wide, and took him all in your throat. Jim gasped and groaned softly, his thick eyebrows furrowing. The hand above his head gripped the pillow tightly. His legs opened a little more.

Good, you thought. More. You started bobbing your head, your soft tongue kept licking and wetting his lenght with saliva, and your mouth felt so warm, so wet, so tight. It was a challenge to take him all down to your troath, and soon you were gagging and milking his cock with both hands, your lips and tongue worshipping the purple head of his hard dick.

That's when he woke up.

"What the — o-oh, fuck" he moaned, barely opening his eyes to see you blowing him with such passion. "Jesus Christ, baby, don't stop."

His hand found your hair. It was lovely to have him sleeping, but this — this was fire. Still foggy from sleep, he gripped your hair tighter than usual, desperately pushing on your head down.

"Holy shit — that's so good, good girl, take it all. A-ah — just like that, oh god."

His incoherent babbling turned into deep, muffled moans, slowly moving his hips, fucking your lips and throat with a desperate heat. He was close, you could feel it in the tension that ran through his entire body.

"Baby, I'm gonna come — fuck, I'm coming, I'm coming in your mouth baby, keep going, keep—" with a last, guttural moan, he painted your throat with his white load, coming deep inside your mouth and on your tongue, as you swallowed him all. In the end, he was sweaty, and happy — with that silly smile on his lips. He urged you to his side, hugging you tight against his warm chest, as you listened to his deep breathing and the beating of his heart.

You kissed his neck as he smiled wider. "Breakfast's ready. I made pancakes."

He kissed your forehead, running a hand through your hair. "And I love you."

[not-a-space-alien]

K&J x MMSS 4: Valen & Jim Part 12

Part twelve of the fourth crossover with @whumpsday!

Call me a silverware drawer the way I have all these spoons for writing rn

K&J masterlist

MMSS masterlist

K&J x MMSS crossover masterlist

To be added to the taglist, contact @whumpsday

Warnings: Aftermath of torture

In this chapter:

Valen checks what time it is when they wake up.  Close to morning, and sunrise.   He slips back into bed and plants light kisses up Jim's neck.  "Good morning, sleepy peepy."

Jim jolts almost violently at the feeling of a mouth on his neck, then relaxes when he realizes it's just Valen.

"Shit. Sorry." He's been able to enjoy neck kisses from Valen for the last couple years without issue, but he's been extra jumpy lately with Kane's return. He kisses Valen on the cheek. "Just got a little startled." He's definitely not a sleepy peepy anymore.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking."  He runs his fingers through Jim's hair.  "How's your hangover?"

"Bleh. I've had worse, though." He snuggles against Valen. "You're going tonight?"

"Yes, I missed my window to go last night, but we should be fine to wait.  What about you, are you still going to the shops?"

"Yeah, I am." Jim's stomach turns at the thought of being left alone with Kane again, even with their positions reversed. His fingers brush over the side of Valen's neck. "Just, just make sure you come back okay. Like always."

"I will.  I'll go straight there and come right back."  He stretches and yawns.  "Kane is locked in the basement if you'd like to check in on him.  Want me to start breakfast for you?"  Valen occasionally tries to cook human food, and he enjoys doing it, and it inevitably comes out tasting very weird each time.  He's not as bad at cooking as he is at driving, but it's close.

Jim likes Valen's weird cooking even when it sucks. It's the thought that counts. He's sometimes better than Liz, though that's not saying much. And besides, interacting with Kane without Valen always there is something he'll have to get used to if they're living together again.

"Yeah, thanks, that'd be great. Surprise me." Jim gives Valen a kiss before getting out of bed to let Kane up.

Valen goes to the kitchen and starts making an omelet.  He cracks a few eggs into the pan, but then can't quite remember what all goes in an omelet.  Try as he might, no matter how many times he watches Jim cook, he just can't remember which ingredients go together.  Cooking seems to require an innate sense of human taste that he just does not have.  He would have thought that just through sheer rote memorization he would have been able to do it, and yet...

He puts in a bell pepper (stem and seeds and all), some cheese, and some bacon in with the eggs.  He's fairly certain about those ones, as well as garlic and black pepper, which seem to go on everything.  He then gets some bread, before remembering the bread just gets heated up and served on the side of eggs, not in them.  He pops two slices in the microwave.  What else?  Pickles and condiments go on sandwiches sometimes, so he throws the pickles in the pan, folds the omelet closed, and then squirts ketchup and mustard on top before putting it on a plate.  He then takes the bread out of the microwave, which is at this point slightly soggy and limp and steaming, and puts it next to the eggs.  There, it has protein, carbohydrates, fiber.  That seems like a good mix.  He puts an orange on the plate as well, then sets it on the kitchen table.  "All right, Jim, you can come eat when you're ready!"

Jim comes up with Kane shuffling behind. Kane's starting to get a little less scared: while he's still having trouble wrapping his mind around the idea that Jim wouldn't want revenge, he hasn't been hurt so far, and Valen seems willing to protect him. Kane also looks a lot better, hardly a sign of injury left on him. He smiles at Valen when he sees him, sitting at the kitchen table. "Good morning."

Jim sits too, examining the omelet. He takes a bite. It's interesting, weird but not that bad. "Thanks, I love it."

Valen beams, clapping his hands.  "Wonderful, I'm so glad.  Kane, you look well this morning.  Have you ever cooked human food before?  It's one of the trickier things I've done.  I would have thought my background in the sciences would aid me, but it appears relatively useless."

"Oh god." Jim comments. He does not think Kane would do very well at it.

"I haven't. You made that? And it's good?" Kane asks. He would like to feed Jim. It feels... appropriate. "Can I learn?"

"Well, I can't speak for Jim, but I can show you how I do it.  Which is probably not exactly correct, but appears close enough."  His eyes flick over to Jim as the human bites into a piece of omelet that has bell pepper stem in it.  "It's probably about as passable as human food as the blood I make is as passable as blood."  He smirks.  "Given the right equipment, I can manufacture substandard yet sufficient meals for either a human or vampire.  I should be featured on some sort of cooking program!"

Jim laughs through his mouthful. "That would be amazing. You're so right." He spits the stem out like an olive pit. "Kane, you could use a cookbook before you start experimenting, if you really wanna learn. Prolly best to get the basics down first."  Jim finishes his omelet and orange happily, and his bread with a little less enthusiasm.

"Alright. Kane, I'm gonna grab you some clothes, a toothbrush, basic stuff. Anything specific you need?" Jim asks.

"No, that's, that's great. Thank you."

"Okay, later." Jim gives Valen a kiss on the cheek before heading out.  Before Jim leaves, Valen pulls him aside and politely tells him that although Kane loathes to ask for anything out of fear, Valen has noticed that he seems to prefer long-sleeves and long pants, to cover his skin up.

Once they’re finally alone, Kane tentatively asks, "You're really... together? With a human?"

Valen smiles at the question, blushing.  "Yes, I am.  Most vampires already consider me a sexual deviant, so I figure, might as well go all in."

"Huh." The concept is still a little odd to Kane, though not as odd as he supposes it should seem. "I suppose there's a little hope for us all, then. If a vampire and a human can fall in love."

Valen smiles so, so wide.  That's such a romantic notion, and Valen didn't even have to say it himself and then be embarrassed about it.  "I suppose so.  Have you ever fallen in love?"

"No, I'm not the romantic type." It's better this way. No one would ever possibly like him back, he'd only experience heartbreak if he were to fall in love with someone. "What's it like?"

Valen's eyes go distant, his expression warm, his mind fuzzy and elsewhere.  "It feels warm.  It's difficult to describe without resorting to meaningless fluffy metaphors, but it feels like someone is finally on your side.  Like you've discovered something rare and precious and all you can think about is how to keep it safe for as long as you can, and how lucky you are that the stars aligned in such a way that you get to enjoy a little corner of life that you've made for a while, in the huge vastness of the cosmos.  It's on your mind all the time, like a worry, but it makes you feel better instead of worse."

"It sounds beautiful. I'm glad you've found that with him. As long as you can." Kane says softly. Valen has to be aware of humans' short lifespans. He's probably thought about it a lot. There is no spending your life together with a human. He's a ticking time bomb to heartbreak. Jim has to be, what, a third of the way through his life? More? He can't help but pity Valen.

Valen nods.  "Yes, for however long it lasts.  I'm quite reminded of how heartbroken I was when my first cat died.  It will surely be painful in the end, but that doesn't make the happiness and love we share while we have it worth less.  I'm sure love is not so rare that Jim is the only person I can experience it with, nor me with him.'

"Yes, I'm sure." Kane decides to change the bleak subject, picking absentmindedly at the padding on his cuffs. "You're going to vampire territory tonight?"  He's glad there will be more blood available, but nervous to be away from Valen's protection.

"Yes, I'm planning on going straight there and back. I'm going to advise Jim to simply keep you in the basement unbothered until I return, as I think that will be safest for all of us."

"Yes, that, that sounds good." Kane can't fuck up if he's just left alone. In his wonderful blanket nest in the nice, sunless basement. His new favorite place on earth.

Valen can just go home, back to vampire territory, anytime he wants. It's strange to be captive in the presence of a free vampire.

Jim comes home with a week's worth of clothes, all long sleeves and pants that Kane can use to cover himself, and a few other basic items. Kane is overwhelmed by the gift, clutching the bag to his chest.

It's so nice here. If Kane could live like this forever, he could be happy, captive or not. He's fed and unhurt. That's all he needs.

"Thank you. Thank you so much. I know it's still... undecided, what the two of you would like to do with me. Um, I would do anything to stay here. Anything. Please."

Valen looks unsurely to Jim. "Well," he says hesitantly. "I don't think Jim has plans to send you away or anything.  We're not going to let you go, on account of the risk, no matter how small....and we're certainly not going to give you back to those dreadful hunters. I'd count myself lucky if none of us ever saw them again."

Kane is immensely relieved by Valen's words. He looks to Jim for confirmation.

"Yeah. You're staying. And no matter what, never going back there."

Kane puts his face in his hands. "Thank you. I don't know how I could ever repay you."

"Just keep bein' nice is all." Jim says.

"What they did to you was wrong," Valen says firmly. "To be clear. It would have been wrong no matter who you were. Under no circumstances would it be right to leave you there, knowing what they were doing to you. Even if you weren't 'nice.' It's nice of you to want to 'repay' us, but it's just basic decency. Same as how I had to save Jim, when he was out alone and vulnerable."

"Exactly. Even if you started being a shithead again, we wouldn't send you back there." Jim agrees.

Kane doesn't really get it. He did deserve it, didn't he? They're just kind enough to save him anyway.

"Yes. Decency." he agrees.  Maybe he'll understand one day.

***

@barebarb

@cc1010foxy

@emcscared-whumps

@gt-daboss

@hurtpluscomfort

@jakersdaboss

@lolrpop

@melancholy-in-the-morning

@pigeonwhumps

@secretwhumplair

@some-thrilling-heroics

@starfields08000

@t0rture-me

@thecyrulik

@thejinglingcourtjester

@vehan-tikkun-olam-and-stuff

@whuarri

@whump-cravings

@whump-my-heart-away

@whumpycries

@wolfeyedwitch

@whump-addict

@why-not-ask-me-a-better-question

[possumsarenice]

Mutant Mashup HCs

Mutant Mashup AU by me and @sillyandquest

Simoni convinces Casey Jr. to play Minecraft. Home boy was so confused about everything at first. But now they do it on weekends regularly. Jr. has made statues for the future turtles in all the worlds he play in

All of the turtles love Jupiter Jim, even if Sanzio tries to deny it. Although only DaVinci and Blue are huge fans of Space Heroes. It’s their thing

Yoshi trained all the turtles, including the Rise kids. Lou (due to his mental state and Yoshi considering him a disgrace) wasn’t too involved with the training, but showed them all his movies so they all have picked up some things from those movies

Simoni has an electric based nippō

Purple and Sanzio are secretly running a bunch of cons in the hidden city

May (2012 April) managed to tame a kraang dog and the beginning of the apocalypse, so Casey Jr. grew up with a kraang dog. When he gets sent back, May manages to tame it again and it stays alive after the Rise kraang leave. So Casey Jr. gets his pet back :D

I imagine there’s plots that didn’t exist in either Rise or 2012 solely because characters now exist in the same world. (Example: The 2012 Purple Dragons somehow get into Big Mama’s debt, Meatsweats attacks Mr. Murakami because “nO ONe’s AlLOwEd To MAkE bETTeR FOod tHEn ME *crying baby auto tune*”, or Foot Recruit and Miwa/2012 Karai being girlbosses together, etc)

Of course we have Medic Blue, but I haven’t seen too much on the general fanon on who’s the medic in 2012. So my personal HC is that it’s Raph. Source: He literally gives Donnie a tourniquet in that one ep. Anyways Blue and Sanzio are ✨the medic duo✨ Yoshi is both the hardest on Blue because he’s afraid of him turning out like Lou, and joke with him the most because they’re both trolls and play around like that. Sanzio will absolutely kill bitch if they touch Purple’s shell without permission. The fact that’s so vulnerable compared to everyone else’s freaks him out a bit. Why is it so easy to break???

On a related note: Sanzio physically fights Purple the lest due to his Soft-Shell Privileges. Does Not stop him from verbal attacks at all, which they do the most out of everyone

Lou holds resentment to Yoshi for seemingly being unaffected by their mother leaving them. He also lost contact with Shredder before he gots too bad and is still a little in shock about his turn.

Baron Draxum created the ooze that mutated Yoshi and the 2012 turtles, so they all get the Draxum Clutch™️ as well.

Hueso went to Mr. Murakami‘s restaurant as per the turtles request, and now he’s a regular. Mr. Murakami knows he’s a skeleton but just casually accepts he’s serving to a bunch of creatures. As long as they behave he doesn’t mind

Casey Jr. was very close to his uncle Casey (2012) but doesn’t really know how to approach him in the present. He’s so different. At least the kraang dog is more or less the same.

Yoshi forbade all the turtles from going outside, but they all snuck out around the time Orange was 3-4ish. Lou know but has been letting them do it in a “haha don’t tell your dad/uncle or we’re all in trouble” move

[averagetmntfan]

Portals gone wrong!

(“The 4 servants Au” & “time beats a dead man Au” ((collab w/ @mikey-rottmnt)) Crossover fic!)

1/???

tbadm universe, 11:38 am.

“Well, shit. We’re screwed.” Bendy slumped, watching koi pace back and fourth in the tent.

“I CANT BELIEVE I FORGOT! I SWEAR I WROTE IT ON MY PHONE!!” Koi panicked, running his hand through his fluffy hair.

“well I mean, shouldn’t you know this kind of stuff? Since ur Mugs boyfri-“

“SHSHSH!!” He put a firm grip on bendys shoulders.

“Keep your voice down, dude!”

“Ok, ok! Jeez! js let go of me, please.”

Koi Immediately retracted his hands away. his face looked strained, as his body shook ever so slightly. He had no idea what to get his partner for his birthday. Which was today.

clearly, he wasn’t great at hiding it either. Because as soon as bendy got a look at him, he knew immediately.

“Look, if you’re so worried on what to get him. Why not ask cup?”

Bendy suggested

“HE’LL JUST LAUGH AT ME! OR GET MAD AT ME!!” Sweat was pouring down his face, making him look like he just got out of a pool.

“Okay, okay!! Fine!! just, chill. I’ll ask him for ya-“ He hopped of the cot, walking out of the tent. As koi watched in horror, he lays on his sleeping bag, getting lost in his thoughts.

As he stared as the ceiling of the tent. He saw an orange spark. Immediately, he blinked. And the spark was gone.

‘I must me imagining things.’

———————————————————————

T4S Universe, 11:38 am.

Mikey groans, laying flat on the couch. His whole head pounding with pain.

His mouth throbbed, his teeth hurt, and his tongue was sore. All because of those stupid braces.

he couldn’t even eat anything! That’s how bad his mouth hurt. He still didn’t understand why he needed braces in the first place. His teeth looked okay to him, anyway.

He wanted to just..scream and cry. But his eyes were dry, and his voice was weak. He had no idea how to even feel right now.

“you okay, Angie?” Leo asked, slowly leaning on his baby brother.

..riiiight, his brothers came home early to “comfort him”

“No, my mouth hurts like shit.”

He said, slumping even further in his sweater.

“Leo, ur not making it better.” Donnie commented, smirking ever so slightly at his phone.

Leo gave him an annoyed glare, before turning his attention back to Mikey.

they all go silent, js watching another Jupiter Jim movie. When suddenly..

“Mikey..W-Why’re you glowing?”

Raph jolts up, looking at his lightbulb of a brother.

The twins turn their attention to their little brother. Leo stares at Mikey in disbelief. Sure, it wasn’t an impossible event, but he never expected it from his own brother!!

Suddenly, a glowing orange spark awoken from the floor. Soon getting bigger, and bigger. And within seconds..

The portal had swallowed them whole.

_________________________________________

Tbadm universe, 12:30 pm.

ah yes, the sound of a peaceful brunch. The birds chirped, the sun shined. It was almost perfect!!! “GIVE IT BACK!!!”

“NO!! I FOUND IT FIRST!!!! I WANNA EXAMINE IT!!”

“YOU’RE GONNA HURT IT!!”

..almost, perfect. The chipmunks siblings were fighting again. Typical siblings, battling over what seemed to be a rare species of caterpillar? Interesting. But one thing was for sure…

This was giving vins a serious question about her life choices. Are her and cup doing the right thing? should they..not? What would everyone think? As if on que, a thump had hit the ground. Actually, it was Multiple thumps. Repeatedly!! Mugs was the first to react. Well, if u call screaming and jumping to Koi’s arms a reaction…

“ughhhh..” The strange creature groaned, starling nearly everyone.

“WHAT ARE THOSE?!?” Mugs yelped, holding onto koi tightly.

“Excuse you, teakettle!! We are turtles, clearly.” One of the other creatures said. As raph was getting himself up, he was shown down by a tall figure. Taller them him, that’s for sure. “Alright, buddy. Start explainin’, who you, and your little goons are.” Cup demanded, Looking dead serious. (As usual, I guess-)

“Look uh..sir? We don’t want any trouble-“

“YES WE DO!! FIGHT ME YOU COWARD!!” Mikey shouted, raising a fist in the air

The crew awkwardly stare at the littlest one. Bendy snickers ever so slightly. I think these 2 would get along just fine!!..if Boris let him get closer then 18 feet away.

“wait- soo, how’d you all get here?? No one rlly just..comes to the middle of the forest..” koi gently placed his love down, now resting a hand on his hip.

the brothers proceed to look at eachother, then all their eyes fall upon mikey.

“great question, why don’t we ask the damn lightbulb, eh mike?” Leo stood up, crossing his arms in disappointment and blame. Starring daggers at his lil bro.

“OH, SO ITS MY FAULT I MAGICALLY STARTED GLOWING?!” Mikey shouted, making this nearly more awkward for our beloved crew of cartoons. “Ok, how about we all just..calm down, okay?” Vinnie suggested, standing between the 2 turtles.

“whaaaaat is even happening right now??” Donnie whispered, moving ever so slightly to his older bro.

“honestly? I have no idea, don.” He whispered back. This one definitely in top 5 weirdest shit any Of them have ever been in. And ohoho boy, was it just gonna get weirder and weirder from here…

MASTERPOST NEXT

You have no idea how long this took to make..

I was gonna put drawings in here too, but I couldn’t draw one thing and then another, then…I ran out of motivation.

But maybe eventually, I’ll go back and add drawings :]

[respectthepetty]

A throw back ask if I may. I myself have only just fallen down the BL rabbit hole ( what was life before this?) and currently watching 1000 stars with Earth and Mix. ( Mix is adorable, is that adorableness even legal?)

And I wanted to know if you did a Color theory for this show? Because I know Tian seems to be a Blue boy but the others are confusing me ALOT! and I know there is something very telling with these torches and fire lanterns but I’m sure you have/can put it into much better wording than I ever could!

Yours faithfully,

A watcher who could watch any show in peace before I found your tumblr and color knowledge!!!

Dear a watcher who could watch any show in peace before you found my tumblr,

Short answer - I got nothing for ya!

Long answer - I got something for ya!

Let me start with some of my nothing-to-do-with-colors items:

Tian's growing heart is on full display when the waitress spills red wine on his suit right where his new heart is beating.

And while filming the scene where Phupha gives Tian his heart (the ring), Mix actually passed out from stress and the weather. In the BTS for the episode, Earth, in character, yells at Tian to stop counting the stars, then Mix's body goes limp, and immediately Earth begins to yell Mix's name. Aof, the director, called cut, and everyone rushed to Mix, while people had to console Earth because he was upset and crying.

So in the sake of transparency, it was hard to focus on the colors in A Tale of Thousand Stars knowing the issues the crew faced working during a pandemic to bring us such a masterpiece.

But also, the cinematographer for the series was Rath Roongrueangtantisook who tends to rely more on lighting the situation rather than wardrobe to color code the characters (although the colors still mean something on the clothing).

For example, the distance (coldness) Jim and Wen had at the beginning of Moonlight Chicken versus the love (warmth) they had at the end, which was seen with the other characters as well.

Or how angry and pained Nueng was until Palm showed up and subdued his color in Never Let Me Go

It even happened when Nueng left Palm in the hotel. He stepped back into red from the purple.

Rath documents some of these instances on his Instagram and usually writes about trying to catch the natural light for the perfect effect.

The most color coding he has done based on a characters' personality rather than the situation was in Dark Blue Kiss.

But even then he still used lighting to reflect the merging of feelings.

So what *I* noticed more in A Tale of Thousand Stars was the lighting of situations which was reinforced by the fire from the torches and lanterns (you're about to get a lot of innuendos).

Like in episode three, when the heat starts rising between Tian and Phupha

Only for Tian to turn away, so both end up awkward and distant in the blue, with some heat coming from Phupha and most of the coldness coming from Tian (notice their shirts' colors)

The clothing supported the narrative, so Tian putting a red blanket over both of them in an attempt to "warm up" (to) Phupha reinforced the situation

And we immediately get an exterior shot of the house lit up

The more we see Tian warm up to Phupha, the more we see him in warm colors compared to his normal cool colors, while Phupha was always a solid earth boy with greens and browns due to his uniform.

Like when Phupha outs Tian to the entire village, we see Tian back in his blues as he returns Torfun's orange journal (the source of his heartbeat and a wearer of warm colors) to Phupha

I'm not claiming Tian and Phupha were the reason for the school going down in flames, but Tian asking Phupha if he wanted Tian to stay longer all while EarthMix eye-fucked each other in that specific way they can only do which concluded with Tian giving Phupha his pouch did make the temperature rise in my house, so I can't imagine what it did to that little wooden school.

But look at the difference in the lighting and clothing between Tian realizing his feelings for Phupha versus Phupha denying his feelings for Tian:

Even when Tian leaves to go home in the same shirt he arrived in, instead of seeing the blue sleeves, they are covered by Phupha's green.

However Tian returns, and this time, Phupha literally and figuratively steps up and admits his feelings for Tian by asking him to stay.

And Phupha and Tian's world is once again lit up as Phupha begs Tian to sleep in the bed with Tian.

But they get "blue-balled" by Yod

So we just have to remember the moments that brought the 🔥🔥🔥

And the moments when their love for each other lit up the screen

Team Let EarthMix Kiss Before the Finale!

[darkshrimpemotions]

People who say Stede doesn't care about the crew in season 2 or is uniquely careless with them in season 2 compared to season 1 baffle me.

Stede in season 1 can be thoughtless and a little selfish, and often is! But that's tempered by genuine care and a desire to be kind to others as well. Small but pertinent example from season 1? The petrified orange.

Stede outright SAYS he didn't want to give it up, but he still offered it to Jim without hesitation, because he felt it was right as it came from their childhood home. I don't think him admitting he didn't want to give it up after they gave it back undermines that, either. If anything, he did something he REALLY DIDN'T WANT TO DO in an attempt to be fair and kind to a member of his crew.

There are a ton of examples like this throughout season 1, where Stede is oblivious to others' needs or feelings until he isn't, until he makes the conscious effort to stop and think and choose to exercise care.

And season 2 shows that this is still very true of Stede. If anything, he puts his needs aside MORE often and faster, with even less hesitation than he did in season 1. Especially when it really matters.

If he didn't care, would Stede have gone straight to Zheng Yi Sao to ask for mercy for the crew's mutiny against Ed? Would he have postponed allowing himself to grieve for Ed in order to RESCUE the very people he thought had killed him?

Like...we moved past that little fact SO fast because of the merman of it all, but genuinely. Let that sink in a bit. STEDE THOUGHT ED'S CREW HAD VIOLENTLY MURDERED HIM. And he still cared enough to see that they were acting out of desperation, and offered no recriminations or condemnation even when Izzy literally asked him for it. He put his grief on hold and came up with a plan to help them all escape execution.

He was also initially willing to go along with exiling Ed from the ship to make the crew feel safe! Even though he clearly didn't want to, at all. All season, all he wanted was Ed back, and yet he put the crew's needs first again. He only asked them to reconsider once he realized Ed would be sleeping alone in the woods, and worked with Ed to make sure all their stipulations were met when they agreed.

He is literally the ONLY person to express direct and obvious concern about Izzy's drinking all season, even when he and Izzy still weren't on the best of terms. He went to Izzy for help becoming a better pirate captain, and I genuinely think that was as much for the crew as it was for Stede himself. After his talk with Ed about how he could repair some of the damage he'd done, Stede immediately sought out someone he thought could help him overcome his own inadequacies and avoid doing more damage there.

He also got rid of the suit despite not believing it was cursed, just to make the crew feel better. He encouraged Ed to find ways to be helpful and rebuild trust with the crew. Convinced him to go along with Calypso's Birthday to help the crew de-stress and have some fun. When he killed Ned Low his first stated reason for that, what was it? "You tortured my crew."

(And his last was "you fucked Calypso's birthday," which we know he knows was just an excuse for the crew to have some fun.)

How does anyone watch all that and think Stede doesn't CARE enough?!

Thinking of others before himself may not be his first instinct all the time, but whose is? And in his case, how the hell would it be? When you've spent your entire life--prior to the last few months at most--never being thought of and being mocked or rejected for your every attempt at reaching out to other people, is it any surprise you'd withdraw into yourself and stop bothering?

So it isn't a skill Stede has built, and it isn't something that comes naturally to him, but it's still one he makes an effort to use. It may not be his first instinct, but it's still what he DOES when he stops and thinks about his actions. That's so important! He cares! On purpose!