#and remember thinking about this specific shot while the other movie was happening... that's how much I loved it I just... love it so much

[chaos0pikachu]

4 Minutes and the Cinematography of Nipples

I said before that I thought 4 Minutes was pretty instantaneously the best looking BL on the market for 2024 after one episode. Which, not gonna lie, is a pretty big fucking claim. There’s been a lot of BL that’s come out that’s looked good, and I do think there’s been a steady improvement overall in the market in the last few years. Personally I think Japanese and Korean BL have a stronger production quality over a majority of Thai BL but like, if that’s a hot take I guess I prefer my food spicy. 

The point being~ if I’m gonna make such a hyperbolic statement, well I better back it up right? 

So I’m gonna break down a few scenes from the first episode, what I liked about them, why they worked for me, and why on a technical level I think 4 Minutes has just got it going on.

For better readability you can also check out this essay here.

Sidenote: my google docs kept trying to autocorrect “Bible” to “the Bible” and idk how to teach google I mean the hot Thai actor and not the book of Jesus. 

To start, I’m going to break down this scene featuring Great and his nepo baby cat: 

I thought starting with this scene would be good because it’s such a low-key scene and honestly making these simplistic scenes visually interesting is very difficult! But if you have the basics down, the foundations of cinematography and film making, these simpler scenes can be really memorable. 

Like yeah we’re all gonna remember this scene because shirtless Bible and oh my god Akira!? - I have only recently learned who Akira is; why is this cat getting a bigger bag than me? - but beyond that, what makes it cool to watch? What makes it interesting? What information does it showcase to the audience? 

One thing I added to the video was a grid for the rule of thirds. 

Rule of thirds is a shot composition technique applied to both film and photography. It’s the grid you see if you film a homevideo and helps a Director and Cinematographer figure out where to place the subject or subjects of the shot. The idea is the gridlines show you where you “should” place the subject(s) of said shot. 

Like everything, the rule of thirds is a guideline in filmmaking, not a hard and fast unbreakable rule. Filmmakers like Wes Anderson like to play more with central composition shots, rather than ROT. 

Anyway on to the opening shot, right after our credits and we’re moving into the shot. 

To start, the first thing I notice is the scene’s color grading. Color grading in film is the manipulation of raw film footage to create specific color tones throughout a project. Sometimes this grading is more pointed and obvious, think The Matrix, while in other films it’s not as obvious but still very prominent, think Killers of the Flower Moon. 

It’s not that the before credits scene looks entirely, jarringly different from the opening scene, but the hospital scene is surrounded by whites and blue tones, it’s darker, and only a single source of light exists. It gives the entire scene a much more frantic, uneasy aesthetic but it’s not so far off from the darker muted tones of the next scene that it feels jarring or out of place. 

The second big thing I noticed in the episode is the use of aspect ratio. I’m not 100% sure what aspect ratio the production used exactly, but the use of widescreen as opposed to full screen in my opinion, gives the episode a more cinematic feel to it in comparison to other Thai BLs. 

Example, if you look at Century of Love (2024) it appears to be filmed in the standard full screen - which I believe is 16:9? - while 4 Minutes is widescreen (thus the black bars at the top and bottom). Widescreen can give a show a more “movie like” quality to it which is part of the vibes I get from 4 Minutes. 

(source)

Onto Great’s actual introduction scene.

We’re not starting the shot with static movement, but with a camera panning right. I’ve talked about camera panning and such in BL before and it’s something I’ve found doesn’t happen as often as it should. Which is a shame! It’s such a simple technique but it adds so much. 

Imagine if we entered the frame with a static center shot, and then a cut to Great sleeping and turning off his alarm clock, and then another cut to above the bed. Think about how much more boring that could be visually. 

Instead, we enter the scene with movement, panning over and creating some interesting visual framing. 

So here’s our opening shot, do you notice anything interesting? To start, what I like about this shot other than the panning movement in, is that we don’t see Great’s face yet. In fact we don’t see his face in full until about 30 seconds into the scene. This builds anticipation, yeah we all know what Bible looks like, but for the audience who doesn’t this helps build anticipation. 

Who is this character? What does he look like? What’s his deal? 

It also engages the audience more, if you notice part of the composition of the shot has Great in the mid-ground slightly blurred out, while the foreground emphasizes the things on his desk. He’s distant from us, the audience, sleeping off his hangover not yet ready to “join” the world yet. 

Here’s another two more things I like about this shot:

Lines. 

Using lines and shapes can make a scene more visually interesting and invoke different feelings to the viewer. In this shot, I get a sense of symmetry, the camera panning right, lightly drags across the screen alongside the lines below and above Great, almost creating a frame within a frame effect. As if Great is boxed into a clock in and of itself. 

You can also see the use of balance in the scene as well, connecting back to that visual theme of symmetry as well as blocking our view of Great’s face. The lava lamb and champagne bottle are almost the same height, which helps create balance in the shot. The champagne bottle informs us Great has been drinking or does drink since it’s positioned so close to his bed, whilst also continuing to hide his face away from the viewer. 

I also like that the lava lamp is a bright spot of color. The tone of the scene is mostly muted greens, and gray, but the bright orange lava lamp and even the pink champagne bottle draw our attention but don’t overwhelm us either. It provides the scene with some warmth but doesn’t offset the overall tone of the color grading. 

And then, the last bit of this shot:

We have Great knocking over the champagne bottom, and turning off his alarm clock. Notice that the alarm clock and the champagne bottle hit those ROT dots almost exactly. There’s also the use of lines by the length of Great’s arm - I just forgot to add a line I’m a failure, a fake, fml - we see him knock over the bottle, and then we follow the line of his arm directly to the alarm clock which is also a shape, a circle. 

I like that they used a clock with a specific notable shape, since by the end of this scene the clock is relevant to the story as a whole. Using a shape makes the clock more visually noticeable and memorable to the audience. 

So in the next cut we’re above Great - just like Great’s gonna be above Tyme, fuckin hell I’m corny - in a medium-full shot and there’s a couple things I really like here. 

I really like the use of lines here with the bed going in one direction but Great’s body going another. It’s disconcerting, and off kilter a bit. 

The use of patterns plus the opposing symmetry, whereas in the previous shot the lava lamp and champagne bottle were providing balance, here one side of the bed is patterned, while the other isn’t. This creates a sense of imbalance and makes the shot more visually interesting.

This medium-full shot at a high angle makes Great smaller, and continues to showcase his dishevelment, keeping him distant from the world itself. Also notice the lack of color here as well. 

What could this say about Great as a character? Or his story? 

So this next cut is the one that actually inspired me to write this essay to begin with and know what I’ma eat some crow here. I originally said it was a great ROT shot but I was wrooooooong. It’s definitely a center composition shot. 

Notice as well, the bed itself is its own shape - rectangle - center in the frame, and yet the shot almost looks unbalanced again because of that singular patterned rug. It’s the only pattern in the entire shot, not even Great’s pillows have noticeable patterns on them. 

The above view camera angle in a full shot creates almost an omnipresent feel, as if the audience - or something else? - were looking down upon Great. Whose face we still haven’t seen! It makes him smaller, less powerful, and almost vulnerable. Shots like this are often used in horror films like James Wan’s Malignant (2021) where the horror spector will be looking down above the would-be victim. 

Another thing I like about this scene though is we have Great moving. It would be simpler and easier to have his phone just by his alarm clock, or under his pillow, but think about how much more visually interesting it is that he has to move down the bed and reach for his phone. It creates action in an actionless low stakes scene. 

And now, 30 whole seconds in and we’ve finally seen Great’s face! 

Fun fact, with the ROT grid the gridlines fall right across Bible’s nipples. That’s not a film analysis, just something I noticed entirely intentionally. Thanks Madam Director Ning Bhanbhassa Dhubthien.

The actual shot is in center composition again, as Great rolls over and reveals his face the camera begins to zoom in. 

This creates movement in the scene instead of leaving the camera to statically observe it’s now, finally, inviting the audience to meet Great. Pulling us in towards him whereas before we were kept at a distance. Great’s awake and, well as ready to meet the world as somebody with a raging hangover can be. 

I also like how Bible is moving constantly in this scene; he rubs his eyes and nose, he twitches his fingers, titles his head back and forth, etc it’s nothing revolutionary but it’s appreciated. 

When the scene cuts, we get this shot: 

I didn’t put the red dot on his nipple, it just landed there. This is all Madam Director Ning chepie. 

But you can see how Great’s body is landing on all those gridlines pretty solidly. Also in the background we see his alarm clock again, a bright blurred circle in the distance. I also like the angle of this shot, as it creates depth in the frame, with Great’s head being in the foreground his lower body in the mid-ground and the background blurred out. 

What follows is Akira appearing in frame. Which was really difficult to capture so I don’t have a screenshot. But what I really like is Akira entering the frame out of focus. They could have just cut to Akira, but instead they opted for Akira to enter the frame which is more interesting. 

When we do cut, Akira is firmly on one of those dots so we don’t miss them in the frame. I think it’s also interesting that we’ve pulled out again, into a mid-full shot, hanging above Great, and we see that clear symmetry line again between the patterned rug and the regular carpet. 

I also really love that when we got to Great sweet-talking Akira and feeding them we’re not just doing a cut, we’re panning downwards which continues to add movement to the scene. And we get that moneyed sponsor shot! 

Durex can’t pay for everything okay?

So in the final bit of this scene we get focus on Great, who’s in focus, before he gets up and leaves the frame where the camera then focuses on the clock behind him. 

See how in the first frame the background is all blurred out, but once Great walks out of the frame - again, great that he walks out, movement!! Y’all don’t understand how boring 1000 Stars was for me to watch because of the lack of this stuff okay? - and then the focus shifts to the clock. Which is round. 

God I know that sounds so dumb, but imagine the clock without that ring light bit on it, it’s just a tiny little rectangle. Not as fun or interesting to look at right? Or as noticeable especially from a distance? 

This shift in focus also tells us “this is important” whatever “this” is. The subject of the shot goes from Great to the alarm clock but they are positioned as equally important. We’re meant to pay attention to this seemingly innocuous item, which we learn later in the episode is time. We’re meant to remember and note that time will be important to the story - I know with a title like 4 Minutes you’d fucking hope time would be important but have y’all ever read Youtube comments? It’s rough out there for visual comprehension okay? 

So all in all this scene is only 1 minute and 40 seconds give or take. It’s very short, but I don’t think it was boring at all. I think it’s a really solid introduction to a main character. Think, Korn didn’t get this much time to showcase his introduction, his scene is shorter - though also well done - which showcases which character is more of a story priority. 

This scene eases the audience into the story, inviting us to wake up into the world like Great is. It uses techniques like lines, shapes, symmetry, color and focus to make what could be a very boring scene into an interesting one. 

There’s so so much I probably and certainly missed, I’m far from an expert, but I hope I was able to articulate what I liked about this scene, and why I think it looks good. 

Stay tuned for more if I can manage to focus long enough to breakdown more scenes lol

Also red dots on Bible’s nipples are just funny to me it be what it be. 

Further Reading: 

Composition in Cinematography / THE LAST OF US

Center-Framing vs Chaos-Cinema: Mad Max vs Transformers

Camera Framing: Shot Composition & Cinematography Techniques Explained [The Shot List, Ep 2]

The Ultimate Guide to Camera Shots (50+ Types of Shots and Angles in Film)

Color Grading 101 - Everything You Need to Know

Mixing Film And Digital Footage: Killers Of The Flower Moon

In Praise of Subtle Cinematography

[missrosiesworld]

Starlight Flutters

Here are some cute headcanons for Billy Kid when he has a crush:

Starlight Hero Persona: Billy adopts a more heroic persona around his crush, often quoting lines from "Starlight Knight" and trying to emulate the show's protagonists.

Billy: "In the name of justice, I vow to protect you! No harm shall come your way while I'm around!"

Crush: "Are you quoting Starlight Knights again?"

Billy: "Maybe, but I mean every word!"

Over-the-Top Gestures: He tends to make grand, dramatic gestures to show his affection, like showing up with a bouquet or performing a flashy stunt to grab their attention.

Billy, arrives with a dramatic flourish, bowing slightly: "For you, a token of my admiration!" hands over a bouquet of holographic flowers.

Crush, laughs, clearly amused and touched: "You didn't have to go all out, but thank you!"

Billy, his voice warm and sincere: "Anything for my favorite person."

Nervous Energy: Despite his confident exterior, Billy gets nervous around his crush. He fidgets with his hands and his voice may rise a notch higher when he's excited or flustered.

Billy, fidgeting with his hands: "So, um, do you... like movies? I mean, of course you do, who doesn't, right?"

Crush, smiling: "Yeah, I do. Got any recommendations?"

Billy: "Oh, totally! I've got a list! Uh, maybe we could watch one together sometime?"

Show-Off Moments: Billy loves to showcase his skills, especially with his custom-made revolvers, "the girls." He might challenge others to friendly duels or display impressive marksmanship to catch his crush's eye.

Billy, pulls off a perfect trick shot: "Not bad, huh? Just a little something I picked up from Starlight Knight."

Crush: "Wow, that's impressive! You're really good."

Billy, trying to act casual: "Oh, it's nothing. Just, you know, a hobby."

Special Attention: He gives special attention to his crush, remembering small details about their likes and dislikes. Whether it's their favorite snack or a specific hobby, Billy tries to incorporate these into his interactions with them.

Billy: "I remember you mentioned liking spicy food, so I brought you this hot sauce. It's got a kick, just like you!"

Crush, surprised: "You remembered? That's so sweet. Thank you, Billy."

Billy: "Of course! Anything to see you smile."

Protective Stance: Billy becomes protective of his crush, always positioning himself in a way that he can keep an eye on them. He wants to ensure they're safe and will step in if he senses any danger.

Billy steps in front of his crush: "Hey, stay close. I’ve got this covered. No one's getting past me."

Crush: "You don't have to do this, Billy."

Billy: "I know, but I want to. It's my job to keep you safe."

Clumsy Sweetness: When Billy gets flustered, he can become adorably clumsy, sometimes tripping over his own feet or dropping things. He laughs it off, hoping his crush finds it endearing rather than awkward.

Billy, stumbles slightly, almost dropping a package: "Whoops! That was... not supposed to happen."

Crush, giggles: "Are you okay?"

Billy, laughing nervously: "Yeah, just distracted by... something, or someone."

Secret Glances: He often steals glances at his crush when he thinks they’re not looking. 

Crush, catches Billy staring: "What is it? Something on my face?"

Billy, his voice faltering slightly with a hint of nervousness: "No, no! Just... admiring the view."

Crush, teasingly: "Smooth."

Confiding in Nicole: Billy confides in Nicole, seeking her advice on how to approach his crush. 

Billy: "Nicole, what do I do? I can't stop thinking about them, but what if I mess it up?"

Nicole, smirking: "Just be yourself, Billy. And maybe tone down the Starlight Knight lines a bit."

Acts of Service: He goes out of his way to do small, helpful things for his crush. Whether it's fixing a malfunctioning gadget or finding something they’ve misplaced, Billy is always eager to lend a hand.

Billy: "Hey, I noticed your bike was making a weird noise, so I tightened the chain and oiled the gears."

Crush: "You did that for me? Wow, thank you so much!"

Billy, rubbing the back of his neck: "It's no big deal, really. I just wanted to help."

[th3-c0rps3-r0gu3]

Ravens

pairings: Natasha X fem!reader. Established relationship.

Summary: y/n always feeds the ravens. People bully her for it. But what happens when her kindness pays off.

Warnings: swearing (minor).

y/n always fed the ravens outside the compound. None of the other Avengers knew why and some made fun if her for it. Specifically Tony. This was one such day.

Y/n was on the rooftop feeding the ravens again. It was a habit. Y/n had always been a bit if an outcast to the Avengers. But she never minded. And then she had gotten close with one. Natasha Romanoff. And one thing led to another and now she had an amazing girlfriend. Y/n smiled as the raven closest to her grabbed sed from her open palm. Out of all of the birds this one was bravest. And y/n could always tell which it was due to the fact this particular raven had a white beak. Y/n had even taken the liberty to name the raven. The name in question was nyx. She had chosen it because of the fact nyx was the same name as the goddess and personification of night.

"feeding the crows again y/n? Really?"

Tony stark said coming up behind her scaring the ravens away.

"not crows, ravens tony."

Y/n corrected.

"like there's a difference."

Tony snarked. Y/n sighed before responding.

"ravens are bigger than a crow is. They have a larger bill and tail shape and flight pattern."

Tony scoffed.

"I should nickname you bird nerd. Who cares about the difference between them."

"you asked."

Tony once again scoffed. Tony loved to scoff.

"it was hypothetical y/n"

Y/n turned around and glared at Tony while he just grinned at her.

"leave her alone stark"

A commanding voice rang out as Natasha came to view. Tony sighed.

"aww c'mon rushman you've got to admit your girlfriend's habit is weird."

He said. Tony had never stopped calling Natasha her Alias name as he knew she hated it.

"it's Romanoff stark. And her habit is fine. There's nothing wrong with it."

Natasha defended. Y/n shot her a grateful look. Tony scoffed again before leaving. Natasha walked over to y/n and gave her a hug.

"just so you know I love the fact you feed the ravens. I think it's sweet of you."

Y/n was quick to reciprocate the hug and she smiled at her girlfriends words.

"thanks nat. I'm also proud of you for remembering their ravens and not crows."

Y/n said smiling.

"well I would be a pretty shit girlfriend if I can't even remember the type of bird my girlfriend feeds."

Natasha joked. Y/n smiled again.

"let's head inside and grab some snacks and we can watch some movies."

Natasha suggested taking y/ns hand in hers. Y/n smiled and nodded before tossing the remaining seed for the ravens to eat. Unsurprisingly the first of the black birds to approach was nyx. The two women disappeared into the compound but y/n saw nyx just before they vanished into the building.

Y/n still fed the ravens. Despite Tony's constant teasing she still fed the ravens. "I feed them and they keep me company" y/n always reasoned. Nyx had gotten to the point of eating out if y/ns palm and was even starting to sit in her hand to eat. Something y/n was really proud of. And despite everything Natasha still supported her girlfriends hobby no matter how curious.

The day had started normal for y/n and Natasha. Natasha woke up first had coffee, dragged y/n out of bed and then they had breakfast together before Natasha went to train and y/n went to feed the ravens. But today the ravens weren't there. Y/n spread the seed but no bird came. Disappointed y/n went back into the compound. The next day was the same. As was the next. It would be a week before y/n saw any raven near the compound.

Natasha and y/n stood on the rooftop. Natasha had noticed how y/n was a little down after the ravens stopped appearing. It didn't help that Tony kept making jokes about how they abandoned her. Y/n was sitting cross legged in the roof throwing the seed around the roof hoping that maybe, just maybe, the ravens would return. Her hopes were low but still. Natasha was just about to call her girlfriend back into the compound when suddenly a familiar raven swooped down and landed Infront of y/n.

Y/n held out her hand with seed and smiled. Nyx was back. And that meant alot. The black bird however had other plans then eating. Nyx hopped onto y/ns hand but completely ignored the seed.

"someone plots against you my lady."

Nyx said almost excitedly. Y/n stares at nyx in shock.

"I have the other ravens watching them as we speak but from what we've gathered over the past week they plan to attack you and your roomates."

Nyx spoke again.

"you... you can talk?"

Y/n asked shocked.

"to you. You are kind and feed us. You aren't cruel to us."

Nyx answered. Y/n took a deep breath.

"do you know who is planning to attack?"

She asked the bird.

"a place called HYDRA"

Nyx responded. Y/n nodded but concern crosses her features.

"do you.. do you have a name or can I keep calling you nyx?"

Y/n asked.

"nyx. My name is nyx. It is what my lady deemed me so it is my name. You feed us even during tough times. Us ravens owe you."

Nyx stayed confidently.

"I owe you nothing. But... thank you for the warning."

Y/n looked down at nyx as she spoke. The raven nodded.

"then let us aid you as a thanks for your aid."

Nyx seemed as though she wouldn't take no for an answer. Y/n nodded and nyx hopped onto her shoulder.

"I will be your main advisor of ravens and will monitor and translate the others for you as I am the only raven to have picked up on human language."

Nyx stated. Y/n nodded taking in this information surprisingly calmly.

"I'll keep my window open for you."

Y/n said. Nyx bobbed her head before y/n turned to a shocked Natasha.

"you heard nyx we need to prepare for an attack. Let's go warn the others."

She said shaking Natasha out of her shell shocked state. Natasha nodded eyeing the raven but she went into the compound to warn the avengers.

"can I please rub this in Tony's face."

Y/n whispered to nyx.

"god yes. He is a nuisance and to annoy him would be a great relief to me."

Nyx replied. Y/n smiled and waltzed into the compound with nyx on her shoulder after Natasha.

A/n: no idea what I think if it. Lmk if it's shit or not.

[renren-006]

ADMIRATION

Bakugo Katsuki x fem reader (AGED UP)

✴︎✴︎✴︎✴︎✴︎✴︎✴︎✴︎✴︎✴︎✴︎✴︎✴︎✴︎✴︎✴︎✴︎✴︎✴︎✴︎✴︎✴︎✴︎✴︎✴︎✴︎✴︎✴︎✴︎✴︎✴︎✴︎✴︎✴︎✴︎✴︎✴︎✴︎✴︎

plot: Katsuki was someone to be admired

a/n: I just watched Ep 149 and omg! anyways kinda inspired by it

NOT manga canon. For this story, no specific quirk is mentioned for the reader

You always admired Katsuki. When you were young and joined UA, of course, you ended up in Class 2A. You watched everyone in Class A become stronger, and soon you stood by them. Katsuki never noticed your presence in class or in training for a very long time. Once he finally did it was hard to know where he stood in regards to liking you or thinking you were a dumbass. Mina had to drag him over and apologize to you before the blond-haired boy told you he thought you were pretty and walked away. You remember Mina stood there for a solid five minutes before screaming towards the older boy about how that wasn't what they had planned. 

“SHUT UP PINKY. I can confesse how I want” while he continued to walk further and further away. You two didn't talk for three days before you cornered  him after practices.

“If you wanted to take me on a date you should have asked” you had told him. 

“I thought that was implied dumbass”

You two had a lot to work on communication-wise, seeing as he held a lot of emotions close to the chest. Gradually he opened up and gradually he wanted to show you off to his friends. 

“Look here. I've got a girlfriend and you dont” he would joke when he would sit down and toss you into his lap in front of his squad. 

“It's not fair Baku-bro” Kaminari would sing, “If I had the confidence you had I'm sure I would”

“In your dreams” Bakugou shot back. You held in a laugh.

“You should just tell Jiro how you feel kami”

“Don't encourage him” Bakugo would say, never truly meaning it. You knew he cared about them. 

“I cant” Kaminari said, Kirishima patted the poor boy on the back consoling him. Sero just looked down in the dumps about not having anyone. 

As the years went by the entire squad soon had significant others and soon they were all graduating and moving on to become pro heroes. 

You took one of the lower ranks, being content with keeping the work small and community-based, as well as doing your hardest to help with disaster zones. Bakugo made it to one of the top spots, his personality made it harder for him to exceed the Number 5 spot he sat at. 

You loved watching him continue to grow and work alongside his friends in those high-ranking spots. You were watching one of the news channels doing their nightly debrief on what had happened that day when Bakugo had entered your shared home. His face popped up on the TV before he entered the living room. 

“Why are you watching this shit?” he asked, giving a small kiss to your head.

“Because I like admiring you: you told him, he froze. 

“You..admire me?”

“Of course I do. I've admired you since UA, since you battled with everything you had. You're amazing.”

“You never told me that,” he said softly

“I didn't think I had too,” you said, turning to face him now. “I've always admired you, regardless of being together, you're an amazing hero katsuki. I can't wait to watch you continue to grow”

That night was spent cuddled up in bed with a movie in the background, neither of you paying attention. You were too busy telling Bakugou everything you admired about him, and he was too busy looking at you with love.

[ewanmitchellconnoisseur]

"𝑭𝒖𝒄𝒌 𝑳𝒐𝒗𝒆" - 𝑷𝒂𝒓𝒕３ 𝑬𝒕𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒙 𝑹𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒆𝒓

A/N: This is part three of the Anti-Love Ettore on-shot.

Summary: You and Ettore decided to give the love thing a shot only it's not what either of you expected it to be which forces you to make some choices that would end up haunting you.

TW: spitting, edgning, choking, smut, orgasm denial, nipple play, cuffing, degredation, sexual assault, blood

Word Count: 4.2k

← Previous Part • Next Chapter →

I cant remember who made the X Banner. If you know please tell me.

Everything had been going pretty well.

You and Ettore decided to give being in an actual relationship a shot. It was odd at first Ettore didn't know how to act or what to say, he felt off referring to you as his girlfriend and you could tell he wasn't fully into it.

For Ettore, he knew he was only doing it to keep you around. You wouldn't stay with him otherwise in his mind. If being your boyfriend was what he had to do so that you wouldn't leave him that's what he would do.

He tried his best and even did research about what normal boyfriends would do. He took you out on movie dates which would just end up being awkward as he sat next to you rigid. He tried to be sweet to you but it just came off cold for some reason. The only time he showed the smallest amount of intimacy and care was during sex and afterwards.

A part of you just wanted to end it. Go back to the way you were. But you were also scared, what if he decided none of it was worth the trouble? In a matter of seconds Ettore can find someone new and leave you in the dust. This thought scared you and wracked your brain. He could grow tired of you and find a new plaything in a matter of seconds.

So to make him think it was ok you acted like everything was just that. You tried not to show any discomfort when he was acting odd or pretended that the dates were amazing.

But as time went on you noticed his behaviour changing. Ettore insisted you moved in with him saying that that's what normal couples do after a while. You expressed that typically that doesn't happen for some time but he said you both wouldn't need to wait long.

Somehow without you ever physically saying yes you ended up leaving your old apartment and moving in with him. From there it got even worse. Ettore became specific about the clothes you would wear or when you would leave.

The issue is Ettore didn't think anything of the way he was behaving. Considering he was getting most of his information on relationships online and probably on the wrong side of it he was sure that what he was doing was working. And deep down it was helping him too. Every time you left in a revealing outfit he worried about another guy seeing you and you falling in love with him. Not to mention this was also how he saw the men his mom would date behave. Is this not how he was supposed to be?

When you were out too long he imagined you were on a date or secretly with some guy rather than coming home to him. He's scared that you want a softer love than he can offer. The worry tires him down just like his dark and possessiveness do the same for you. You're both on edge with eachother worrying about what the other would do if you were honest. It's become all too complicated and you regret ever agreeing to this.

You think back to the first and only time he has ever said "I love you". Although that he said he meant it you don't think he did. Ettore isn't capable of real love if anything he is against it. In his mind, the only thing that happens between men and women is purely physical.

So after 3 months of giving this a shot...you are ready to give up. But you know you can't do it like normal people. You know Ettore can kill people considering the one time you helped him get rid of a body. Would he kill you? If you tried to break up with him like everybody else on this planet would Ettore murder you right where you stand?

You had spent weeks thinking of what you should do...and finally, you think you found a solution...one you knew Ettore wouldn't like but could free you both of this mess.

Your mind was made up. You'd enjoy this last night with him and leave the next day while he was out.

You both had planned to stay home that night and just watch movies.

You lay on top of him as you both stared at the screen. You could tell he had fallen asleep as his breathing had gone from being controlled to relaxed. You took this moment to take him in for the last time. To truly get a look at him.

You slowly sat up so you were straddling him. You brushed some hair out of his face smiling as you remember the small argument you had when you tried to convince him to let you give him a haircut. He made it very clear he didn't trust your barber skills.

Ettore started mumbling in his sleep, something he does often. He shifts in his sleep his cock brushing against you in the best way.

Even in his sleep his a horny little man. His hips start moving more as his breathing gets deeper. You smirk lean down and kiss him gently. You get an idea in your head that you know he will hate you for but you can't resist. If this was going to be your last time fucking him you might as well make it good.

You get up to retrieve something as you walk away you hear shuffling and worry he got up but then you don't hear anything else. You get what you need and walk back over to the couch seeing he had flipped onto his stomach.

This works better for you as you gently grab one of his hands and cuff it before bringing the other behind his back to cuff it. Just as it clicks close you see him slowly open his eyes.

His brows furrow as he tries to move his hands. He calls your name with a tired and annoyed tone. You duck behind the couch covering your mouth to stop you from laughing out loud.

Ettore sits up rolling his eyes as he feels the cuffs around his wrist.

"This isn't funny." You get up and walk around the couch so you're standing in front of him. He looks up at you with a straight face. "Take 'em off."

You shake your head and get on his lap straddling his waist. He groans as you slowly grind down on him. He leans forward running his nose up your neck, something about your scent had him going crazy every time.

"If you wanted me to fuck you all you had to do was ask." He whispers in your ear as he lifts his hips up so you can feel more of him.

You yank his head back by his hair. He winces as he smirks.

You had never taken control before. When it came to Ettore there was no room for you to be dominant he liked to control everything. So this? This was an opportunity you could not pass up.

You tilted his head to the side as you kissed your way up his neck still grinding down on him. You listened as he gently panted in your ear. He tried to lift his hips but anytime he did you lifted yourself so he couldn't feel you.

"No moving." You switched to the other side of his neck. You gently bite down on his ear lobe before leaning back and sitting up to take off your shirt.

You move slowly as take the fabric off freeing your breasts. Ettore tries to lean forward but you push him back roughly. He gives you an annoyed look.

You lean back and gently rub your nipples in front of him. He calls your name in annoyance but you keep going. You stand up and slowly take off your shorts and then help him out of his sweatpants before getting back on his lap.

He was so hard that it almost looked painful. He again tried moving his hips and you once again sat up higher so he couldn't reach you.

"This is evil." He leans his head back. You lifted his head back up.

"Spit." He rolled his eyes to which you reached and pinched one of his nipples. He winced in pain as his eyes snapped back to yours. "I said" You lifted your hand to his mouth. "Spit." His jaw clenched.

But he gave in and did as you said and spat in your hand. You reached down and stroked him ever so slowly, gently running your thumb over the slit on his tip each time your hand came up. His head leaned back against the couch as he closed his eyes.

Ettore did his best not to move but it was so hard, you were going far too slow for him. Involuntarily his hips bucked forward as you squeezed him harder.

You quickly let go of him.

"I said no moving." You reach down in between your own legs and gather some of your wetness bringing it to your clit rubbing tight circles.

"Please." You could barely hear the words come out of his mouth. He looked down watching you as you slid a finger inside.

"Please what?" You started to slowly move your fingers in and out of you. You could never reach the same places he can but you could pretend it feels just as good to simply piss him off.

"Fuck baby- pl..please fuck me." He was so pent up at this point that all he wanted to was be buried deep inside you. You smirked as you removed your fingers and lined him up. You ran him through your folds repeatedly, and for the first time, you heard a genuine whimper come out of him. "Please please please."

Pride swells in your chest as you slowly sink down on him the second you're filled to the hilt he groans throwing his head back, mouth agape. An idea comes into your mind and...well since you were leaving anyway you might as well go all the way.

Ettore's eyes widened as he felt you spit in his mouth. You grasped his cheeks in one hand.

"Swallow." He stared at you for a moment before a smirk crept on his face. He would get payback later but for now, he'll play along. He swallowed before leaning forward to kiss you. You gave his tongue access to your mouth.

You lifted your hips just till his tip was in and sat down quickly. You moaned into each other's mouths as you repeated the same movement. Wrapping your arms around his neck you started going faster. Deep in your pleasure, Ettore lifts his hips to meet your pace.

You could feel him twitching inside of you as he got closer and closer. He knew you were close to him as he felt your pussy clenching down on him.

"F-fuck." groaned deeply and you knew he was just there. As he was about to finish you get off him quickly. "What the fuck!?"

You reached down circling your clit as you used your other hand to sink two fingers inside of you. You finished yourself off as Ettore watched. When you opened your eyes and looked at him he was absolutely livid and still horribly hard.

"You have to uncuff me eventually baby." He lifted his knees quickly so you fell against his chest. He licked a bead of sweat off your neck savouring the taste. You brought the same fingers that were just inside you to his lips. He opened his mouth as he sucked them clean.

You reached over to the side table and grabbed the key. You eye him before helping him to lean forward so you can uncuff him. You only got one hand free before he flipped you onto your stomach and shoved himself back inside you.

One of his hands held your head down against the couch cushion as the other pressed down on your back deepening your arch. He wasted no time slamming into you over and over chasing back the high you robbed him of. The only sounds in the room were your whimpers and the sound of his hips meeting your ass.

Ettore watched as his cock started glistening with how wet you were getting. His hips and your ass becoming a sticky mess.

He pulled you up by your hair the same way you had done to him and wrapped his hand around your throat from behind.

"Is this what you wanted?" The angle had him hitting that lovely spot inside you over and over. Your eyes were rolled back and all he got as a response were moans. "Such a dirty fucking slut." He squeezed your throat harder. "Fucking answer me."

"Y-yes!" His other hand let go of your waist as he reached in between your legs and pinched your clit. Tears fell down your cheeks.

"Yes? Yes, your a dirty fucking slut?" All you can do is wince as you try to squirm away from him but he has you tight by the throat. He turns your head and licks one of your tears. "Yeah, I know you are. Come on then. Cum for me baby. Soak my fucking cock." He let go of you and grabbed your hips with both hands.

Ettore watched as your body shook as you came. Your pussy squeezing him so hard, begging him for his cum. "There you go. So pretty when you cum." He started breathing quicker as he felt himself about to finish. He came deep inside you still fucking you slowly even after you both came, fucking his cum back into you as it spilled out. You whimpered as he didn't stop.

"Shhh shh." He soothed you running his hands up your back. He moved you to the side not pulling out as he got comfortable behind you. His arm was under your head as his other hand ran up and down your sides. He kissed your neck and nestled himself in its crook, you could feel his breath fanning over your neck. "Go to sleep."

Ettore opens the door closing it behind him. He places a box on the floor before taking off his shoes and jacket,

Ettore notices how quiet it is which is odd considering whenever you home there's always some noise in the house. He checks the bathroom but you're clearly not in there. He has a gut-wrenching feeling and walks over to his dresser opening the drawers he had emptied to make space for you and your clothes.

His blood runs cold as he sees them empty. No clothes inside. He walks over to the closet by the front door and opens it. Your shoes are gone and your jackets are all gone too. Panicking he takes out his phone sending you multiple messages in a row demanding to know where you were and why your stuff was gone.

He paces around his apartment waiting for a response. No matter how many times she attempts to call you you never pick up. He leaves voicemail after voicemail but you never respond.

30 minutes later his phone dings. He almost falls as he runs to it hoping to see a message from with a lame excuse that will explain everything. But what he finds only breaks his heart. Though you tried to give him a heartfelt message it all went over his head.

His mind only focuses on the fact that you left him. You actually left him.

Ettore wasted no time getting his shoes and jacket back on as he left his house. He spent hours going to all your favourite places and where he would think you would. He didn't stop texting or calling and as he walked out of the last place he could think of he pulled out his phone and sent another text.

He waited a couple seconds before the message had an exclamation mark beside it and said it could not be sent. He tried again and again. He then tried to call you but it immediately went to voicemail.

"No no no." He kept trying and soon realized you had blocked him.

Just like that, he had lost you. The little light he thought he had found was gone and there wasn't anything he could do about it. There was no way he could get you back or track you down.

It sent him in a spiral. He starts searching for you in other women. Trying to see if he can get the same reaction. Two of them were dull, and two others fought back and were too dry for him. There were three others who he had been too rough with and he had managed to clean up their bodies well.

One day he thinks he finally finds one. She looks like you, dresses like you, heck she even talks like you. He was in the same bar as her watching from the corner. When she was finally leaving he followed her. She drunkenly walked home and made the mistake of heading into the park. Ettore made his move then.

He was rough and didn't even try to prepare her. He had hit her multiple times to get her to stop fighting back. When he was finished his dick was soaked in her blood and she was passed out. He sighed as it pissed him off that she wasn't anything like you. She didn't clench around him or cry in pleasure, just pain.

Considering he had some drinks in the bar, he made a drunk error...he had left her there...and that would be his biggest mistake.

Two more days had gone by before there was a knock at his door. He opened it not checking who it was and was met by police tackling him to the ground and arresting him.

The girl had woken up in that park and went immediately to the hospital without showering any evidence off. His DNA was all over her and inside her and that was all they needed to catch him. They tied him to the other three that had died recently and even got him to confess to two more he killed before he had met you.

Ettore knew he was going to jail forever. He would never get out. But that didn't bother him, it was the idea that he would never have a woman again that had him fucking livid.

By the time his trial was over he had been there for two months. He almost assaulted one of the nurses, just itching to be deep inside the poor unsuspecting girl, but he was being watched like a hawk.

There was no death penalty in the UK, so Ettore assumed he would spend the rest of his life in jail surrounded by disgusting men.

That was until he was called into a room where he was told he would be joining a mission. Ettore would head into space and do whatever fucking thing the guy said. He would never return to earth and would die up there. The idea wasn't appealing to him, he could give less of a fuck about stars and shit and didn't even want to entertain the idea. Until the lawyer with pants too tight mentioned it was co-ed.

His eyes lit up and he said yes immediately. Being on that ship was a better fate than being in jail. The chance to be around women again after months of testosterone was so appealing he felt his mouth pool with saliva.

He had never cummed by his own hand so hard in the past few months as he did that night. His brain came up with new material as he imagined the different women that could be on the ship. Surely some of them would be aching for the same thing. They had also been without sex for months just like him. At least one of them would be willing to give it up. And even if none of them were Ettore had no problem resorting to his old tactics.

When the morning finally came for him to leave this shit-hole prison he couldn't have been happier. For the first time in months, he smiled and laughed. The euphoria was all too much for him to contain silently.

That feeling died quick as he watched other inmates board the ship. And across from him sat someone he never thought he'd see again.

Leaving was one of the hardest things you did. For the first two weeks, you kept contemplating going back to him but you knew that wasn't a good idea. You cursed yourself for not staying but then patted yourself on the back for being able to leave.

It was tough for a very long time. You started stealing way more than before. Your new apartment was filled with stuff you never even wanted but just felt the need to take. But it wasn't enough. None of it was enough to fill the new void.

You made some new friends. Delinquents just like you. They too had a fond for stealing and grabbing whatever they could. Although you had become a more quiet person they enjoyed your presence and your experience in stealing. So they eventually invited you in on their more serious adventures.

It started small. Robbing people at ATMs, breaking into cars, even robbing houses when the owners were gone. You had no interest in stealing money but being out all the time gave you less time to think about him.

The group had grown over time what was once four of you became thirteen. With this new large group the self-appointed "leader", Jarvis, came up with a plan for an actual heist.

You would rob one of the banks in your town. You told him you had no care for money and that you weren't interested in this. Unlike the other members, he didn't have anything on you. Nothing to blackmail you with. So he used his other assets. As he continued to plan the heist he would spend time with just you alone. He could tell you were lonely, he didn't care why but knew he could use it to his advantage.

It had been so long since someone had touched you and you were quick to give in. It wasn't the same as when you were with Ettore. Jarvis finished too quickly and did too little to get you to your peak. You often had to fake it simply because you didn't want to hurt his feelings.

But one thing was different. Jarvis wasn't scared to take you into public. He was able to give you the soft love you wanted from Ettore. He wasn't awkward on dates and didn't hesitate to hold your hand or wrap his arms around you. He even kissed you often.

So how could you deny him when he came to you and asked you to take someone's place in the heist. He made promises that with the money the two of you would leave this shit country and go somewhere tropical.

You believed him and you should have. Jarvis was sincere though you'd always think looking back that he had lied to you, he didn't.

When the day of the heist came you were prepared. He had spent the last week teaching you how to shoot a gun and running over all the plans with you.

But when shit went south and the police managed to get in the building without any of you noticing Jarvis ran and didn't take you with him.

Out of the thirteen of you, four of you died of gunshot wounds, three of you escaped and six of you were arrested.

Some hostages had died and after the trial, it looked like you would end up spending the rest of your life behind bars.

Jail was cold and boring. Your fingers were still sticky and you often got in trouble for it. But you never stopped, occasionally stealing other inmates' commissaries.

You had built a bad rep for yourself and people were starting to get sick and tired of you. So you were also quick to take the offer to get off this planet.

You didn't care if it meant you would never come back. You had given so much to this planet and never got anything in return but heartbreak, pain and fucking depression. You'd much rather die staring at the beauty of space than the faces of women who want you dead.

Getting on that ship felt like confirmation of what you're doing. There was no turning back and even if you wanted to you didn't really have a choice. This was the only version of the death penalty they could give you so thats what you were getting.

You were sat in a chair as the man in front of you started strapping you in. Once he was done he moved on to the next person who was sitting next to you.

As you looked up in front of you your heart dropped to your damn toenails. Ettore sat in front of you with the same shocked expression. You watched as that expression went from something of a shock to happiness to anger then to lust.

You both sat there staring at each other as the rest of the inmates were brought on board and strapped in.

Your name was then called a couple of times but you were too focused on Ettore to even hear anything.

You felt a hand touch your thigh and turned your head to see who it was. Clearly whatever higher power there was wanted to torment the fuck out of you.

Jarvis sat next to you with a smile on his face. You looked back over to Ettore who now wore a look of pure rage.

"Shit..."

A/N: Heyy!!! Sorry this took me so long. I kind of had writers block and then I also had school assignments but im back now!!

There's only one more chapter of this series and im super excited!!

Gen Taglist : @thought--bubble, @valeskafics

"Fuck Love" Taglist: @scarletbedlam @fan-goddess @qyburnsghost @hi-eleonora

*Bold means I couldn't tag you. If you want to be tagged let me know in the comments.

[thefrogdalorian]

I think on this fine Saturday afternoon it's a good opportunity to take a breather and remember that there are really no ethical paparazzi pictures. Every single one is inherently exploitative.

Just because photos were taken on a movie set, when someone is 'working,' does not make the practice any less invasive and creepy. Imagine just going about your day, doing your job and having some weirdo snapping pictures of you to sell without your consent for others to endlessly repost online.

There are thousands of pictures of your favourite actor online already. Plenty taken with his knowledge and consent. I'd really like to see more of them on my dash, rather than the creeper shots.

And don't get me started how disseminating these pictures directly leads to people going to said sets. What starts off as admiring how good someone looks has real world implications.

No, hanging around a movie set and disrupting people doing their jobs is not harmless fun or a way to show your appreciation.

If you hang around a movie set, you are a stalker.

Don't tell me that it's okay to take your online admiration for someone offline. You may admire him but he does not, and will never, personally know you. He will never be your friend/boyfriend/daddy. He is a stranger.

The only way meeting your favourite actor is going to happen is at a convention or maaaaaybe a movie premiere if you're incredibly fortunate. You know, places they appear specifically to meet fans (or not in the case of premieres, where the purpose is to promote a movie. Which is also completely understandable if actors don't stop. You are not owed an interaction).

Of course, you cannot help it if you randomly run into someone you admire in the wild. Even then, consider that they probably won't be all too thrilled to be approached in public by a complete stranger. It's up to you to gauge the situation, but remember there is a person at the heart of all of this.

Boundaries and respect are a kindness which deserves to be extended to each and every human being regardless of their looks/talent/fame/wealth.

Fandoms blur those lines a little too often for my liking and I think just scrutinising what you're interacting with, or what behaviour you could be possibly falling down that slippery slope towards is nice to do every once in a while.

I mean no malice with this post and it is not directed at anyone in particular. It's something I cannot help but feel strongly about because I've seen this destructive cycle time and again in fandoms over the years. It's not healthy and it makes us all a little bit more disconnected from our humanity for it...

[clarcced]

An Analysis of the Good Omens 2 Title Sequence and Trailer / S2 Theories

•

(Edit: Almost all of these theories about S2 turned out to be wrong, but some deductions can pave the way to S3. I added edits so certain parts are clearer after watching S2. If you're still curious, let's jump right into it.)

•

I have some theories I would like to share. This is going to be a long one, so buckle up.

The title sequence starts off simple: Crowley climbs his way up and Aziraphale flies down to earth, meeting each other.

On this shot two tombstones can be seen: "HERE LIES THE FORMER SHELL OF BEELZEBUB" and "Here lies... ADAM" ... so hold up. We know that there is going to be a timeskip between GO1 and GO2... But Adam died? The antichrist who singlehandedly beat the devil by shouting at him that he's not his dad, is dead already? Something's definitely up.

[Edit: I have been informed that Adam on the tombstone is not Adam Young, so, no.]

In this shot Aziraphale and Crowley are in what seems to be Hell by the pentagram on a cave wall on the top right side of the shot, with people (presumably dead, since this is hell) following them, also a desk with an old monitor by a chair on narrow rocks stacked on top of each other... Let's come back to this later.

While a reenactment of the Blitz plays out in the sequence, a big poster can be seen on the right side. The upper left side of the poster which includes one of the seeming love interests is... shot? Broken?The poster belongs to a 1946 movie by the title "Stairway To Heaven". Here's a part of the synopsis wirtten on the showtimes.com website: "A World War II RAF pilot who is forced to bail out of his crippled plane without a parachute. He wakes up to find he has landed on Earth utterly unharmed...which wasn't supposed to happen according to the rules of Heaven. A celestial court argues over whether or not to claim Carter's life or to let him survive to wed his American sweetheart." If I were to theorize "anything" based on the plot of the movie, I'd say after Crowley disguised as Aziraphale leaves heaven unharmed by the hellfire heaven is confused but keeps tabs on him, as we see Muriel visiting Aziraphale's shop in the trailer. Remember in the trailer when Aziraphale asks Gabriel why he's come to his shop and Gabriel answers "You know when it's like you don't know anything at all and that you're totally certain that everything would be better if you were near just one particular reason." well it is in my opinion %99 right before the beginning of the sneak peek and the sneak peek begins with "...So anyway, that's how I felt that so long as I came here, that something terrible might not happen to me." It was shown in the trailer as if while Gabriel was giving the before mentioned speech almost Aziraphale was thinking about Crowley - well Gabriel may somehow (coming back to this later) think of Aziraphale the same way by how he felt safe coming to his bookshop.

[Edit: Carter is Gabriel, the American sweetheart is Beelzebub.]

Crowley being Crowley possibly having watched this movie after whatever happens the Blitz between him and Aziraphale, he's gonna spiral to compare the American sweetheart in the Stairway To Heaven (1946) movie to Gabriel. Thus the lashing out.

Oh and Blitz in German means lightning, so this theory could make sense with Crowley producing lightning or Blitz. Not sure about this specific lashing out theory, but I thought I'd just throw it out there.

Moving on!

First screenshot is from the title sequence with two posters "The Fabulous Ladies Of Camelot" written on them. In the latter screenshot we can see the Ladies Of Camelot and one other person standing behind Aziraphale.

In this scene in the title sequence Crowley and Aziraphale on stage - Aziraphale being in his Ladies Of Camelot stage costume. The curtains unveil.

In the title sequence right after the curtains unveil Aziraphale and Crowley fly around each other - which is quite romantic, two hypothetical worlds with a bridge is seen - then the bridge breaks in half and the camera spirals sideways. In the background a type of space phenomenon is seen, which I interpreted with some doubt as a reconstruction by the Good Omens animators/graphic designers of the Hubble Space Telescope's photograph of The Pillars of Creation (Source: NASA). Or it could be a space photograph of something else entirely, but let's entertain this idea.

[Edit: Turns out this specific space phenomenon used in the title sequence is called "Elephant's Trunk Nebula". Pillars of Creation also consist of Elephant's Trunk nebulae, but alas, I was wrong. Thanks to @burbuur for the info!]

If we take this interpretation and make it into a theory, with the bridge between Crowley and Aziraphale's worlds torn, which are heaven and hell, and what bridges these two worlds is death - who can't be killed (or can they?) as we've seen in the first season - with the metaphorical pillars of creation also being present in the scene, death... dies? Or vanishes? And creation gets out of control? Let us examine this theory.

In the title sequence after the scene where Crowley and Aziraphale enter a cave, a delivery man with either grey or white wings can be seen carrying a box (0:10).

Next time we see this exact box is when Crowley and Aziraphale are leading everyone to an old movie theater - the box is reflected on the screen. The only remaining Horseman of the apocalypse - which these boxes were delivered to - is death, so why hasn't it been opened? We saw the winged person carrying the package (presumably after their death, again) but couldn't deliver it maybe? I say not possible, since The International Express Man can deliver anything anywhere anytime, so the reason the package hasn't been opened is because the recipient is either dead or doesn't want to be found.

Then the audience is transported from two dimensional third person perspective to a third dimentional first person perspective, the screen rips and we the audience walk the bridge through statues left and right - on the left side are winged statues with a warm yellow light barely shining on them, on the right side also stands a winged figure, but a colder white-ish/blue-ish light shining brightly on the statue. This imagery of warm and cold is represented in Good Omens as angels and demons. If we take the "everything is falling apart because one of the pillars of creation is gone" arc and apply it to this shot, it can be said that not even heaven and hell and heaven breaks, but the fourth wall breaks as well - which could be what Gabriel was meant to warn Aziraphale about.

Remember the computer and the chair in hell? Who would have a computer and a chair in hell? Well...

Also remember Death playing an arcade game in season one? By their style choices regarding clothing, motorbike and games it seems likely that Death is an old fashioned entity, which suggests that old monitor could also be his. In an unreachable spot, the stones stacked on top of each other barely hanging on the verge of falling apart, no one would bother them. A perfect spot, which is now empty.

Also have to point out something I hadn't realized before, but on the left arcade the player with the highest score is Sir Terry Pratchett and even Death couldn't beat his score. Rest in peace legend.

So Death goes missing. Heaven and hell don't care since they're immortal supernatural beings. To make them care, because he wants war, Gabriel goes to Earth to "warn" Aziraphale.

By his eyes changing color it is safe to assume that his amnesia is controlled by someone or some angels in heaven. Aziraphale and Crowley realize this eventually and lock him up in his own angelic grave.

Angels coming down in their elevators, demons being thrown off into the sky in the shoots, "It's a getting closer" being thrown out in the trailer a lot (newspaper held by Aziraphale and the song playing in the background)... What does all this mean? Well fellow reader, I'm glad you asked. See that tiny little poster?

It's Armageddon vol. 2 baby! (Though it can be argued that this poster is a reference to this being the second season.)

[Edit: I have been informed of what The Second Coming actually is. In the following paragraphs, the mention of "Armageddon vol. 2" should be taken as the Second Coming, as I didn't know what it was and used the nane Armageddon 2 in its place.]

Adam is dead, remember? So who is to stop another armageddon? We know that in the Good Omens universe one can be ressurected (Aziraphale after the birthday party reviving the dove in his pocket) so Satan could have been resurrected by Death themselves, which is why they have been missing. [Edit: Satan isn't dead. He was simply beaten in battle. My bad!]

Gabriel is a messenger angel in Christian theology - so his original purpose could be to warn Aziraphale of Satan's revival [Edit: return] but the amnesia factor plays in this case. How would an amnesiac angel warn them? Well he couldn't, so they keep Gabriel away. Heaven teams up with hell (who have no idea what Gabriel wanted to warn Aziraphale about) to find Gabriel. Which heaven knows exactly where he is, but keeps that knowledge to themselves as to stir up the war. Since Death is gone and no one ever dies anymore, Armageddon vol. 2 would be much more destructive.

Heaven could have much more up their sleeves, such as literally making love rain on humanity. With the world's population rapidly increasing making people fall in love with each other could lead to chaos, since there are too many people to love. Coming back to Gabriel "somehow" feeling safe by Aziraphale, when he arrives at the bookshop his eyes are humanly, which suggests that some angelic knowledge is present in his amnesiac mind, but his body is human. Heaven could have made his human body love and feel comfortable around Aziraphale, but not his mind.

To summarize this theory: Death is gone, population is increasing. Love, which is what makes humanity human, is going to destroy humanist values and bring about the downfall of heaven, hell and earth. A second Armageddon.

Thank you for reading this far, I hope you enjoyed reading!

[Edited August 2023]

[vodika-vibes]

Round 6 *ding ding ding*

(This is where I stopped last time...)

Tup and "No one's ever going to hurt you again. I promise you that on everything I believe in."

Please and thank you, my love 💚💚💚

Never Again

Summary: You make a promise to Tup that he never asked for.

Pairing: Clone Trooper Tup x Reader

Word Count: 1745

Warnings: Reader is shot, Tup is Angry/worried, reader celebrates Diwali though I don't attach any specific ethnicity to them

Tagging: @trixie2023

A/N: I have an AU problem, I can't not make AUs they're so fun. Anyway, this was fun to write, and I think I'm happy with it. Also, I kept my description of Diwali very vague since I researched for five minutes rather than a deep dive.

Divider by Saradika

Alright, let’s do this one more time.

10 years ago, when you were just a little teeny-bopper from Manhattan, you were bitten by a radioactive spider, and you became the one, and only, Arachne. You saved some people, like your adoptive mom and your grandma, but you weren’t able to save others, like your adoptive dad and your brother.

The most important thing you learned in 10 years as Arachne is to always, always get up. No matter how hard you get hit. No matter how much pain you’re in. Staying down means death.

Three years ago, while in the middle of a fight with Kingpin, something weird happened.

Well, weirder than usual for New York.

A portal opened beneath you, and you fell. And when you landed, you weren’t in New York anymore.

Hell, you weren’t on Earth anymore.

It took you three months to determine where you were (Coruscant), and another two months after that to determine that there was likely no way to return to New York. 

You’ve always been pretty good at adapting to new situations, so within a year of arriving on Coruscant, you had a new identity (well, the same identity, just all your documents claim you’re from Coruscant now, rather than New York) as well as a pretty good job (ironically, the tech in your world is more high tech then the tech here, which is so, so depressing-), the the friendly neighborhood Arachne is officially retired.

After all, Coruscant has the Jedi, it doesn’t need a web-slinging superhero.

And then the war starts.

And at first you weren’t going to get involved. Not your monkeys, not your circus. Plus, you’ve read enough science fiction about tampering with things that are supposed to happen, and the last thing you want to do is make things worse for people-

And then you met Tup.

Sweet Tup. Kind Tup. Gentle Tup.

Tup, who smiles at you like you confuse him a little, but laughs at your bad jokes. 

Tup, who you teach to bake cookies in your too small apartment with your side pressed against his.

Tup, who’s destined to die.

You remember the day when you realized you had to get involved like it was yesterday. It was Diwali, and it wasn’t your first time celebrating it here, in Coruscant, but you invited Tup because, well, celebrating Diwali alone is just depressing.

You cooked all of your favorite foods, or, well, as close as you could with the food available to you on Coruscant, and you sat across from Tup and you watched him try all of the food, while you regaled him with the stories you grew up with, the stories your mother and grandparents told so enthusiastically-

And he grinned at you, a lopsided smile, and asked if he could invite some of his brothers next year. He asked if you minded if the Clones adopted this holiday for themselves-

And you remembered that Tup was meant to be dead within a year.

So you smiled at him, and told him that of course he could, and that you’d be more than happy to share other holidays from your culture. And by the time Tup left at the end of the night, with an entire tote filled with leftover food, you had come to a decision. 

Tup will not die. You won’t allow it.

And, well, you’re from a world where all of this stuff was a movie. You know what’s supposed to happen. You know when it’s supposed to happen. And you have the ability to stop it.

So you pull your suit on, and strap your web slingers to wrist, and you pull your hood on, and for the first time ever, Coruscant meets the one, and only, Arachne. 

Of course, back on earth you had a team of people who helped you. And the people of New York loved their spider person.

You don’t have that support network here.

And it only took a few days before you were listed as a threat to the people of Coruscant. 

It takes three months. 

Three months of hard work. Three months of skipping sleep in favor of investigating to find proof that Palpatine is as evil as you know he is. Three months of anxiety that you don’t have enough time to save Tup.

And then you have it. The proof of the chips. The proof of Palpatine’s plan.

And then you’re shot with a slugthrower.

Not your first time getting shot, but it’s not like you develop an immunity to bullets. You use a web to stop the bleeding, and you make your retreat. You stick to the shadows, clinging to walls and only swinging from building to building when you know it’s safe.

And you eventually make it back to your apartment.

You zip through the open window, and land on the ceiling, your hand pressed over your side, where the bullet ripped a hole in you, and then your spidey sense pings.

You lift your head and your gaze locks with Tup’s.

“Oh. Shit.” You breathe out under your breath.

Tup grabs his blaster and immediately takes aim, and you swear, “Wait! Waitwaitwait!” You say quickly, and then you rip your mask off, “It’s just me, Tup.” You say, “Please don’t shoot me. I’m already holy.” You giggle at your own joke, “Get it, because I was shot?”

Tup’s jaw is slack, “What the actual hell, cyare?”

“Because I have a hole in my sid-”

“Not about that! What is this?” He gestures to you and the ceiling and the suit, “Are you wearing spandex?”

You look down at your black and purple suit, and then look back at him, “I look amazing.”

“You…” Tup takes a deep breath, and folds his hands in front of his face, “Cyare. Get off the ceiling. Now. Please.”

You flip off the ceiling, and land lightly on your feet, “Ta-dah?”

“You realize that every single member of the GAR is hunting you, right?” Tup demands.

“Yeahhh-”

“There’s a shoot on sight order!”

“That does explain why the Corries shot me-”

“Cyare! What’s going on? What is all of this?”

You fold your hands in front of your face, “Uh…okay.” You smile brightly, “Chancellor Palpatine is a Sith Lord who is orchestrating this entire war from behind the scenes. You and your brothers have biochips in your brains that are designed to overwrite your free will. Palpatine’s plan is to use those chips to order the clones to murder all of the Jedi, including the babies, and create an empire where he’s the absolute ruler.” You say, very quickly, “I have proof.”

“...what.”

“Oh, also,” You add, “Your chip is degrading. You’ll get decommissioned for the murder of a jedi, and I refuse to let that happen, so I got involved.”

Tup’s complexion has gone a little gray, “What?”

“I spent the last three months looking for the evidence I needed. And I was worried that I was going to run out of time, so I asked Rex to keep an eye on you-”

“Is that why my brothers have been hovering around me so much recently?” Tup demands.

“Yeah. Sorry.”

Tup closes his eyes, and sighs again, “You said you have proof?”

“I’m bringing it to the Jedi as soon as I finish stitching myself up.” You reply.

Tup stares at you, “You’ve lived on Coruscant for over a year, but you only recently got involved…why?”

You hesitate, and then you flash a small smile, “No one’s ever going to hurt you like this. I promise you that on everything that I believe.”

“You’re doing all of this…for me? Why?”

You meet his gaze evenly, “Because I love you.”

Tup’s hand falls to his side, “Oh.”

“And I want you to be alive more than anything else.” You continue, “Even if you don’t feel the same. Even if you hate me because of the whole…Arachne thing. That’s what it means to love someone.”

He stares at you for a long minute, and then he laughs, “You’re so…stupid.”

“Yeah…I’ve heard that before.”

He crosses the room in several large strides, and he brings his hands up to cup your face, “You could have asked for help.”

“Didn’t want to get you involved.” You admit as you close your eyes and lean into his touch. “Didn’t want you to get hurt.”

“Well,” He replies, “I am involved, and I don’t want to see you get hurt either.” Tup gently strokes your cheeks, “You said you were shot?”

“Yeah,” You gesture to your web coated side.

“Let me call Kix-”

“I have a fully stocked first aid kit in my bedroom, Tup. I can stitch myself up. I can’t…he’ll recognize a bullet wound, Tup. I can’t risk that. Not when I’m so close.”

“...fine. But I’m helping.”

“Deal.”

You allow him to help you into the bedroom, and you gratefully sit on the bed as he vanishes into the bathroom to grab your first aid kit. You strip the top part of your costume off, and you grimace as you poke the hole in your side. 

“Cyare-” Tup pauses when he sees you sitting on the bed without your top on, “This is a full trauma kit,” He continues.

“Yeah, I know. There should be a sterile needle and thread at the bottom.” You reply.

Tup sets the box next to you, his gaze darting from scar to scar on your torso, “Cyare…some of these injuries-”

You smile at him as you dig the needle out of the crate, “At some other point in time, I’ll tell you about some of my greatest foes.”

“Including the one that tried to skewer you?”

“Which one?” You ask with an amused smile.

“Babe-”

“Sorry, sorry. Not funny, I know.” Your smile becomes soft and warm, “Thank you for staying, Tup.”

“Yeah, well…” He takes the needle and moves behind you, “I’m still angry. This is stupid and reckless, but…well, you do what you have to when you love someone, right.”

“Yeah…wait-” You crane your head to look at him, “Tup?”

“Hold still, I'm trying to give you stitches.”

“Yeah, I get that, can we talk about-”

“Absolutely not.”

“But-” You stop when you feel his lips, warm and soft against the back of your neck, and you feel your entire body heat with sudden embarrassment. 

“Later.” Tup promises with a small laugh, “Now. Hold still, this is probably going to hurt.”

[velvetshirtnumber3]

Predictions for DFF:

Por is already dead.

Fluke’s paranoia is gonna get him killed.

White is going to save himself (heavy final girl vibes)

Tee gets killed in an act of bravery to make up for his transgressions.

Top gets killed while possessed.

Tan and Phee were not involved in Non’s diss appearance. One of them is collateral damage, or the other one is the second killer.

Jin is being haunted by Non’s spirit who had a crush on him. He will probably have to make a sacrifice in some way to be free from it.

These are great predictions, and having watched episode 4 its really interesting to see how they've panned out!

Poor Por....he's certainly dead now. Though I will not entirely rule out Non's spirit possessing his body and using it to try to kill the others, because I think that would be equally interesting and disturbing.

Fluke's paranoia definitely will hurt him at some point...I don't think he fully trusts anyone anymore, and separating himself in any way from the rest of the group won't end well for him. I thought that with Por's death he might change his behavior, but nope. He might care about his friends, but it seems not more than saving himself and his future.

You know, I really hope White does save himself. I think he's definitely capable of it, plus he seems like a genuinely nice person and I don't want anything to happen to him.

I really think Tee would be willing to die to save White, at least. Over the course of the series so far, he has become less and less likable, with his implied actions in the past. His only redeeming trait is that he seems like a decent boyfriend. Those I think it would be more meaningful for his character to sacrifice himself to save his friends or because he was truly remorseful. I think the sole reason I kind of want him to survive (at least for the moment) is because him dying would really hurt White. Plus at this point in the story, I think White's grief would make him more susceptible to getting killed (as anyone's would) and I really don't want that.

So you seem to be right on the mark about Top! Possessed ✔, Shot (apparently) ✔. Honestly the fact that they cut right before seeing if Fluke shot him doesn't give me confidence that he actually killed him but that is next week's episode so for now that is what happened and there is no evidence to the contrary.

I think you are correct about Tan and Phee not being involved in the disappearance of Non. I don't think either of them has really been targeted specifically. The only times the figure has gone after them has been when they were with someone else (I think). As for the other part, I feel like Tan just gives off collateral damage vibes...like you just look at him and think, "There's a good chance that you would not survive in a horror movie" and that is essentially what they are in. I have definitely seen a lot of posts about some of Phee's suspicious behavior so he definitely could be the second killer. He is at the least hiding something that is causing him to act weird. I kind of feel like if he is the second killer that there will be some people who survive. He just seems like he wouldn't kill people who don't deserve it (like White), at least to me.

One think I really wonder about Jin is his place in all this, which I think will become more clear as we see more about the past. Jin was part of the group in the past involved in something happening to Non, so depending on his part in it, he could be one of the targets. But it does seem like Non had a crush on him, so he might not be a target. I don't how much Jin cared about him; Jin was one of the people in the beginning insisting on not watching the old tape so he definitely knows something about what happened to Non, and it hasn't really stopped him being friends with the group. Though Jin leaving to go the U.S. (if I remember correctly) could be him trying to leave them behind. As for a sacrifice, I wonder what it would be....

Thank you so much for the ask!

[heyyesimtrash-whatofit]

More Gatsby Reincarnation AU bullshit while I work on a piece for the show I’m in rn:

It’s a long ahh list so here’s a cut to save ur dash :)

Gatsby and Daisy absolutely love Grease. Yes the movie. Yes they force everyone to watch it at least once every four-or-so months during group movie night, yes they sing the whole thing

Everyone begrudgingly has their song in Grease. Jordan’s is Danny’s part in summer nights (with Gatsby as Sandy funny enough), Tom’s is Greased Lightning, Jay’s is Raining on Prom Night (although Daisy joins him 90% of the time), Daisy’s is There Are Worse Things I Could Do, and Nick’s is Beauty School Dropout!

Nick has the voice of an angel. Literally. First time he really sang Beauty School Dropout left everyone floored

For my fellow Natsby Shippers: Already was Jay entranced by Nick’s voice, but things got worse when Nick turned his performance of said song above on him during their obligatory watch. Dude bluescreened hard and it took a minute before they could continue the movie

Speaking of movie nights, the gang does movie nights! With how available it is nowadays why not? Sometimes it’s twice a month, sometimes it’s once, sometimes it’s every other month. Really just depends on how often they can

Meyer is here too everyone! He’s a teacher at a nearby high school (although you’re a fool to think that’s his only job). While he originally taught economics, he got roped into using his double major to teach English. Specifically Junior Year. The Great Gatsby unit is always awkward

Nick has a Tumblr! He’s flat out said multiple times on said blog that he is Nick Carraway reincarnate. Through some simple proofs his followers have accepted that yup, that’s Nick Carraway back from the grave. It’s like how we have Neil Gaiman here, but with Nick.

Jordan has a blog too, but only to fuck with Nick. That’s it, that’s the only reason. Their followers love watching them fight online lmao

Nick uses his blog to update everyone on the gang and answer questions. Yes, TGG was gay. So is he. He’s answered this a million times can we get a new question please??

One of Meyer’s students showed him said blog, at which point his student teacher George Willows (Wilson) pointed out that he knew Nick back in high school and offers to set up a meeting

That meeting was awkward as fuck. Nick and George just stared at each other, both knowing, until George ran out of the room, at which point Meyer took to testing Nick. The two shot references back and forth until Nick cracked

Nick has a therapist. He was pushed to get one after a rather bad crack in his own mind after Jay remembered (I’ll explain in a minute). He tiptoed around his real problem for ages, not wanting to be seen as insane (again), until his therapist asked him one day about a book. See its uncut pages? Do you know what that means, Nick?

Boy was it a relief to be able to actually talk about his struggles with reincarnation after that

(TW: Derealization, just in case) Nick’s Mental Crack, as mentioned above, happened on his first birthday after Jay remembered everything. He vanished for a few days, only to be found unresponsive by his friends. When he finally did respond, it was only to repeat that they (the gang) weren’t real, something drilled into him from his time at the sanatorium and his last 60-ish years of isolation in his first life. For a few more days he did little more than stare into the bathroom mirror, repeat that phrase, or gently touch at his eyes. When he finally did come to, the first thing he did was turn to Jay and ask “Is this real?” There was. A lot of crying from all parties following. And therapy.

Listen, dealing with grief in the 20s already sucked. He got sent to a sanatorium for Christ’s sake! That, paired with what I imagine to have been spending the last 60+ years of his life in self isolation AND being the first to remember their past lives? That ain’t easy man. He could use a little help

He does get better tho. Things get easier. Maybe a little too easy because one day, when a mutual friend(s) of all of theirs outright stops them and asks if they’re the reincarnated cast of Gatsby, he just says yes. Straight up. “Yup. Took you that long?”

Meanwhile everyone else (except for Jordan honestly) is trying to deny it and failing miserably

Back to movies and film! Nick likes Sci-fi things alongside historical stuff that he can laugh at being wrong, Jay enjoys romance (specifically shit like the Bachelor tell me I’m wrong-), Jordan is a fan of of mysteries, Daisy enjoys horror films purely because of the kickass final girl most of them have alongside a fair share of musicals, and Tom likes Sports films like Happy Gilmore and Benchwarmers

To my fellow Natsby ppl again: Gatsby is shorter than Nick. Was back in the 20s and is now! When hugging or cuddling, Nick could absolutely smother Jay. He is a small fella, very holdable

Every time they rewatch the 2013 Gatsby, Jordan has a tendency to say either “that’s gay” or “that’s homophobic” at respective times. Nick keeps a tally on how many times she says each every watch

And that’s all I think I have again for now. Thanks again for @writerinconstantcrisis for helping with most of these and this AU as a whole really. Until next time nerds!

[agirlandherquill]

your novels look so interesting.. i wish i could write a whole novel without getting all distracted but ADHD is NOT fair to me unless its 4am and i've got coffee dbehbeudhb. do you have any tips for how to pace yourself and write more than a oneshot before getting bored and/or annoyed with the work? i want to write more than oneshots but it's difficult T T

this is such a good question, thank you for asking it!

okay i'll tackle this in two parts, first, pacing - it's taken me a long time to understand how my brain works, so believe me when i say i've tried many different things to help with pacing (I've had days where I've written nothing at all, or 8,000 words in one day (my personal record, god knows how)), but here's a few things that help me pace my writing:

this may be a little too obvious, but music, anything and everything, try something that fits your mood or the mood of what you're wanting to write and let it be the background to you while you work

write little bits at a time - i call these snippets, and over time the snippets i have for a scene/chapter build up until i have something I'm fairly happy using and then I work to join them together; some days are purely snippet days, or purely snippet hours, where i write until my attention-span or interest in that specific scene/chapter wears out, it often varies, but little bits build up, they are just as equally important to the story/novel/whatever it is that you want to write, so remember that

if you find yourself with a spare moment, or you're struggling to write something - try to plan it instead, make a bullet point list of what you want to happen, even if its just a conversation between characters, a small scene, literally whatever it is that you're doing - forming some kind of structure helps MASSIVELY (it took me forever to realise this, so if the idea of planning is daunting at first - trust me, I know - i've always been torn between being a planner and a pantser when it comes to writing)

movies. pace yourself when writing, take breaks, and watch MOVIES. it's surprised me how many times i've been watching something and been inspired to write, so the second the movie's over i get to work, or i make notes on my laptop/phone/whatever while i'm watching something to deal with it later on

okay now for the next part, writing more than a one shot before getting bored or annoyed with the work - i think every writer has their moments where words anger them, a certain scene, the way something plays out, bugs them, so i wouldn't worry about getting annoyed too much, it happens to us all; as for being bored - I'd say open a second document or something, split the screen between the bit of writing that's boring you, and try to rewrite it, do that until you have something you're fairly happy with (it sounds tedious, i know, but sometimes it really does help - or even switching a scene to a different character's POV)

as for the one-shot part of the question - i tend to treat the chapters of my novel as sort-of one shots within a wider story, each one follows the other in tandem (or if you're up for challenging yourself, separate timelines (I only WISH I had the courage to undertake something like that, maybe I will one day)) so if you know where you want the story to go, treat each chapter as though it is a one-shot if that's what you're comfortable/used to writing, and follow the story and its structure through, piece by piece, sentence by sentence; writing is beautifully challenging and so, so worth it, and you're right, it is difficult - but if you find a way to make the story flow right for your brain, it gets easier over time and you can create a much larger, more detailed, even more eventful story - aka, a novel, or at least what my personal perception of a novel is - of course it varies, and that's what is so wonderful about stories, they're yours, and only you can tell them - so remember that, always - that's what gets me through the roughest patches when i'm struggling with writing,

(emphasis on much larger for me - my current draft is sitting at 212k words and counting, i shock myself every time i open the doc, but that's just how my story ended up growing - it took a long, long time to get where it is now)

i hope this answer helps you, even a little, and if you have any more questions please ask away - this made me think and consider my own writing process, which is super helpful!

p. s. i know you're anonymous, whoever you are, but if you ever want someone to read anything you're writing, anything at all, let me know! i love getting to see what other people write - it also inspires me to write more, and share more of my work too!

once again, thank you so much for asking, I've really enjoyed writing this letter (cough, post, whatever you like to call it, i like the idea of a letter, but that's just me)

~ A Girl And Her Quill

[chloecherrysip]

Now that I've had a few hours of sleep and am marginally a human being again, let's talk about the mario movie some more! SPOILERS ALL THROUGHOUT THIS POST UNDER THE CUT (if you want to see my non-spoilery thoughts and the first part of my spoiler talk as well, here's that post from last night! Be warned that it's pretty all over the place because it was 4:30 in the morning and I was really tired lolol)

After thinking about it more, I truly do have some PROBLEMS with this movie (will talk more about some of that below and I covered a lot of the issues in my first post too) and I do wish it was better overall and not so painfully surface-level with all the character interactions - I can understand why some people REALLY don't like it while others love it! It's joyful and energetic and BEAUTIFUL but if you spent months and months theorizing and speculating about deep character interactions and a very emotional story, it does really sting to finally see how there is virtually NONE of that and the plot feels kinda empty as a result. :(

But! I'm definitely not upset or anything like that, and I'm still gonna see it two more times in theaters with a smile on my face! TRUTHFULLY (and if you've seen my blog before, you know this about me) what I cared about most in this movie was getting to see Mario and Luigi be adorable onscreen and have a good, healthy, loving relationship, and you do get that to some degree, even if it's nowhere near enough. I can make my peace (and write a lot of fanfic, LOL) regarding the rest. :)

Here is a list of moments between Mario & Luigi that made me happy:

FIRST OF ALL, SOMETHING THAT I'M NOT ACTUALLY SURE I LIKED BUT WAS CERTAINLY A CHOICE: Mario's nickname for Luigi is Lu????? He calls him that 3-4 times and at big moments, too. It started to be cute to me, even if I wish they'd gone with "Weegie" or something similar, but it's a little jarring at the beginning for sure.

In general, they are just very physically affectionate with each other! There are one or two quick hugs in the beginning scenes before we even get to the reunion. Also, I can't remember the specifics but the very last scene is them basically teasing/poking each other before running off into the day together and it's cute. :)

Mario is SO protective of Luigi in the Brooklyn scenes and let me tell you, as someone who cares DEEPLY about that, i was LIVING. He gets mad at Spike and tries to pick a fight only when he insults Luigi, and there is also a silly scene with an angry dog and Mario just instinctively puts his arm up in front of Luigi when things get a little scary/focuses on making sure he doesn't get hurt, and I was just having the BEST time. Honestly, I loved the Brooklyn stuff so much that I sincerely wanted the whole movie to just be about that, and things took a downhill turn for sure when the separation happened. :(

Someone definitely predicted this before the movie but Mario hates mushrooms as a food and Luigi likes them. During a dinner scene, Mario is slyly separating mushrooms from his food and putting them onto Luigi's plate in a way that suggests he's done that a LOT. Such a quick shot but I just liked the detail!

THE RUNNING THROUGH THE CONSTRUCTION SITE AND MARIO DOING RIDICULOUS PARKOUR BUT ALSO STOPPING TWICE TO MAKE SURE TO TURN BACK AND OPEN THE GATES SO LUIGI COULD COME THROUGH NORMALLY. There was just something SO funny and sweet about [crazy jumping and leaping] [quiet, thoughtful pause to open the gate] [MORE CRAZY JUMPING AND LEAPING, WHAT ARE YOU EVEN DOING, SIR] [another quiet, thoughtful pause to open the 2nd gate], I loveeeeee

Once again, just gotta be obnoxious about being right that the dialogue in the warp zone was "nothing can hurt us as long as we're together!" I HEARD THE LINE AS THIS IN THAT PREVIEW FOOTAGE AND EVERYONE CONVINCED ME IT WAS DIFFERENT BUT LOOK WHO'S LAUGHING NOW (i'm sorry, just let me have this win haha)

There is a sad moment where Mario and Luigi's dad clearly doesn't believe in their business and he even says to Mario something like "the worst part is that you're dragging your brother down with you" which is clearly upsetting to Mario so he leaves the dinner table - but then Luigi leaves the table too to come and sit with him and reassures him that he's not dragging him down and it's just a sweet, comfortable moment between them that I very much wish went on a little longer (the theme of the whole movie lol)

(Also, Mario and Luigi still live with their parents and share a room, they're clearly pretty young and are treated like the "babies" of the family. I wish we had seen more of their room other than a very extremely brief shots!!)

Luigi DOES immediately sell out Mario when Bowser goes for the serious mustache damage, LOL, but the way it's done is honestly so cute and once again, just reemphasizes how much Luigi loves Mario XD He's basically like "YES, I know him, he's my brother Mario and he's the best guy ever!" (And then Bowser, who is preoccupied with Mario = romantic rival for Peach's affections, is like "would a princess find him attractive???" and Luigi is like "if she has any common sense, she should!" (lol, that line could be TOTALLY wrong, I don't remember, but that's the gist of it, I promise) or something like that - just hyping Mario up when he's not even there, LOL

in Mario and DK's "darkest moment" scene where things seem hopeless and they're arguing, Mario says something like "well, at least your brother's not going to die because of you!" and noooo, bb, it's not your fault ;; (this scene could have been done SO MUCH BETTER with a few tweaks, btw, but I will get into that)

Luigi bringing coffee for Mario at the end of the movie in their respective cups :) :) :) So simple but I am a very simple person who just wanted to see little moments like this :) :) :)

I have GRIPES with the final battle scene but seeing Mario and Luigi work together and take care of Bowser as a duo was still good!!! Nothing can hurt them when they're together!!!

Also, already talked about this at length in my first post, but one more time: Mario saving Luigi from falling into the lava and their reunion hug is just my favorite moment of the movie, no contest, it goes by so fast and I wish it was longer but I can be happy with that alone and I can't wait for the screenshots/gifsets where I can see all the details of it more clearly and don't have to rely on my awful memory. Literally just going to think about that split-second of Mario holding Luigi's face with both hands in an unbearably sweet, gentle way forever. These brothers love each other very much, your honor ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

ALSO ALMOST FORGOT: FLASHBACK TO THEM BEING BABIES (AND THEY LOOK SO FAITHFUL TO THE ORIGINAL DESIGNS TOO!) AND MARIO PROTECTING LUIGI FROM A BULLY (lol I very much wish it was a longer and/or more creative flashback, but STILL sweet)

AND NOW THAT I AM DONE WITH BEING POSITIVE ABOUT MY FAVORITE BOYS, LET'S ~*~COMPLAIN~*~

First of all, still CANNOT BELIEVE that "I'm not afraid! I'll do anything for my brother" didn't make it into the movie, are you SERIOUS, it would have been perfect in SO MANY PARTS, they recorded it and everything, why???? IS THERE A DELETED SCENE??? ARE THERE SEVERAL DELETED SCENES??? I DEMAND JUSTICE FOR THAT PERFECT LINE, I WILL MOURN IT FOREVER

The editing in general is a little odd sometimes and it really DOES feel like a lot of scenes should be there that are missing. Another VERY weird cut is in the scene where Peach, Toad, and Mario are crossing the bridge with the Cheep-Cheeps and they just immediately cut the scene when one latches onto Mario's face and don't even include the cute stuff from the trailer with Peach trying to help him??? Like, WHY???? WHY DID THOSE FEW SECONDS NEED TO BE CUT??? I DON'T UNDERSTAND

I think one of the most painful things about this movie is that, as a writer/creative person, I can see SO many small opportunities throughout the movie where a couple of extra minutes and some tweaks in the writing would have made SO much difference. An unbelievable amount of difference! The overall structure of the story and the plot is good! The story of Mario wanting to reunite with his brother and Peach wanting to protect her kingdom (that took her in and cared for her when she was all alone in the world) is solid! But they never give the EMOTIONS surrounding these things ANY space to breathe beyond one line here or there, and that is SUCH a mistake and I can't believe no one thought to do something differently here.

FOR INSTANCE: The "darkest moment" scene with DK and Mario! It goes by so fast, but there is some good stuff there that, if the movie took a MOMENT and really let their pain/fear for their loved ones and their shared complex of unsupportive fathers BREATHE, would work SO MUCH BETTER. Like, I can easily imagine a rewritten version of that scene with very similar dialogue but just MORE of it (more pauses, more emotion, more reactions to one another's problems, more recognition of their similarities, etc) would have made it like a DAGGER in the heart. SUCH a missed opportunity. I am itching to rewrite it, LOL. (I am itching to rewrite a LOT of scenes!)

ALSO: Luigi is my LOVE and he is adorable throughout this, but I'm gonna be the first to admit that his scrap of an arc in this movie (if you can even call it that) is so lackluster and his heroic moment at the end genuinely doesn't feel that earned! AND ONCE AGAIN, WITH A LITTLE EXTRA WRITING/ROOM IN THE RUNTIME, IT'S A VERY SOLVABLE PROBLEM

And the solution is: build out the prison scenes and have Luigi actually talking to someone else who is locked up!!!!! Other than a couple of lines and jokes, the prisoners don't TALK TO EACH OTHER and Luigi just spends a lot of time looking sad. We don't get ANYTHING about his thought processes while he's captured other than he is thinking of Mario and hoping his brother comes to save him like he's always done.

WHEN CRANKY KONG AND THE OTHER KONGS SHOW UP, HAVE THEM SHARE INFO ABOUT MARIO'S APPARENT DEMISE WITH LUIGI!!! HAVE LUIGI TALK TO HIM (OR THE PENGUIN KING, OR SOMEONE) ABOUT HOW HIS BROTHER'S ALWAYS LOOKED OUT FOR HIM BUT MAYBE SOMETIMES, HIS BROTHER MIGHT NEED SOME SUPPORT TOO AND HE'S GOTTA BE STRONG FOR HIM TOO

It doesn't have to be a long or especially deep conversation, but some lines of dialogue like this would make that moment where Luigi realizes that Mario is right, nothing CAN hurt them if they're together and he's gotta be strong for his older brother too and he jumps in to protect him from Bowser hit SO much harder. That's all it would take!!!

I HAVE ACTUAL WORK TO DO TODAY AND CANNOT GO ON AND ON ABOUT THE MARIO MOVIE FOREVER BUT LAST THOUGHT FOR NOW: the more I think about the final battle, the more I'm conflicted, haha. The twist of everyone from the Mushroom Kingdom ending up in Brooklyn is definitely SHOCKING in the moment and pretty creative but I don't know, I had my heart set on a more classic version of Mario VS Bowser. It just doesn't hit as hard as it could in the end because of how silly the setting is. :( (But the Mario and Luigi teamup with the power star is great, and the music IS fire) (Also LOL at myself for thinking "Luigi won't fight at the end, that wouldn't make sense since Mario had to train" - he just knows how to fight, the movie goes with what's cool over what's logical and that's fair XD)

Also, the end of the movie is a tad confusing and has some pretty huge repercussions for this version of canon? ARE THE MUSHROOM KINGDOM AND THE REAL WORLD PERMANENTLY MERGED TOGETHER BECAUSE OF WHAT HAPPENED??? That's definitely what it seems to imply with Mario and Luigi waking up in their Brooklyn room and then walking out straight into the Mushroom Kingdom! It's pretty bizarre! (Honestly, what I was expecting was that the Bill would destroy the warp pipes and Mario and Luigi wouldn't be able to go home, which I might have preferred, as sad as that would be.)

That's all I got for now! I'm sure I will have more thoughts in the future, haha.

[moonlitempty]

Hot Fuzz (2007), Dir. Edgar Wright, Starring Simon Pegg, and Nick Frost.

Big cops. Small town. Moderate Violence.

And here is the next entry in the Cornetto Trilogy Journal Entries series (C. T. J. E.’s for short), and this time (a little predictably), it’s the phenomenal and timeless Hot Fuzz!

For this entry, you can see I went all in with the b&w with one specific colour highlight visual motif, but for this one, instead of using weird halo-ish shadows like I did for Shaun, here I used a bunch of little lines, not only to imitate cross-stitching (which I think is lovely) but to also, admittedly a bit shittily, imitate the look of action comics, the ones where cops always fight the bad guys. I didn’t quite succeed but it isn’t hideous.

I’m honestly very happy with how this one turned out! Not quite the same charisma as Shaun, but still on theme and it’s cute.

Shaun was the birth of my fascination for everything Cornetto related, and Hot Fuzz was the consolidation.

While I was already excited to watch Shaun and had heard a fair deal about it, before finding out about the Cornetto Trilogy, I had NO idea hot fuzz existed, so when I did watch it, it had no reputation to precede it, I watched it entirely blind.

So, it actually surprised me how immediately I was captivated by it, the opening sequence where the narrator describes the sleuth of qualifications and achievements by Nic’s hand had me glued to the screen! And the scene where Nic is transferred to the countryside, man. I must have rewinded that scene so many times that I lost count!

I loved Hot Fuzz to death and I hadn’t even gotten to half of the halfway point.

Simon as Nic was nothing short of amazing, despite him being incredibly uptight and strictly law-abiding, I never once found him tiresome or arrogant, hell, the scene where Nic age checks all the minor patrons in the bar was one of my favourite in the entire film. And that scene where Nic is riding the train out of London and we constantly cut to “WELCOME” signs for various towns and Nic’s phone signal decreasing with each cut, that IS true filmmaking.

And then of course, Nic’s shenanigans once he arrives in town are incredibly entertaining, there’s a certain charm to him taking everything way too seriously while being offered cake, and being screamed at about how long the precinct will have ice cream for. And there’s even more magic when you realise that amidst all that quirk and tomfoolery, Nic and Danny are already starting to build something together.

I was absolutely enchanted by Danny asking Nic all those funny little questions about what it felt like to be stabbed, or if there really was a spot in the head where if you got shot your head would blow up, like a child would with his parents, and that immediately set me on the Butterangel train ngl.

(and then, oh my god, the quirky little side quests Nic got sent to with Danny, like the old man with the bomb in his shed, that Nic couldn’t understand due to his heavy country accent, or the bit with the goose, which obviously is immortal to this day).

Hot Fuzz obviously has a plot of its own, and that plot is absolutely amazing and the twists keep you on the edge of your seat, but it also is mainly about the relationship between Nic and Danny. And I found every single step of it charming and heartwarming! I remember actually squealing with excitement at every little step forward they each took towards opening up to each other, like Nic staying up all night with Danny to watch his favourite movies, or Nic winning Danny that plushie at the town fair, or the fucking FLOWER SHOP SCENEEEEE, I have truly never felt so touched by an *action* film before, even just remembering all those little details makes me smile :)

Hot Fuzz may be about a big town cop getting sent and adjusted to live in a small countryside town where nothing *appears* to happen, but it’s also about finding the little silver linings in those moments of life where you feel betrayed or let down, and maybe you’ll find more than a silver lining, you’ll find a little nugget of gold, like Nic found Danny, and like I found this movie.

Hot Fuzz!

10/10. Obviously

[inkrabbit]

request idea; Sodo wanting to smooch the reader but the readers a little busy

no you see, this wasn't supposed to be this long. like this was originally gonna be like.. less than 1k words, little fluff. and then I went overboard with it, so enjoy

It’s not terribly uncommon for siblings and ghouls to occasionally… interact. Sure, everyone is given the warning “beware of the ghouls, or they might eat you!” but not everyone listened to that. Luckily, you were one of the siblings who didn’t care for the warning.

He wouldn’t lie, you had caught his interest early on. Just something about you had pulled him in. And for the longest time, he had tried to ignore your existence. In the beginning, you steered clear of the ghouls. Whether it was because the warning scared you or you just didn’t care for them was never made clear. But he saw how you warmed up to Aether first, then Cumulus; Cirrus and Swiss before Mountain and Sunshine, and then finally Rain.

Supposed you saved the best for last, right? Or had you just heard all of those horrible tales about him? He could admit some of them were true, while others had been spun out of such a small and insignificant incident it made his head dizzy. Still, he was pleasantly surprised when you didn’t turn tail and run away screaming when he first introduced himself to you. He loved how polite you were and how you indulged him in conversation.

He started including himself into your life after that. He couldn’t rid himself of the pull he felt with you. Wherever you were, he just so happened to be there, totally by coincidence. Hiding among the books in the library or having so graciously offered to help in the kitchen. He sat next to you during morning mass, his knee brushing against yours. He knew it messed with you, your heart picking up as your whole body would heat up. He loved it.

The flirting started a couple weeks after you two had gotten more used to each other and he nearly jumped for joy when he found out you didn’t mind the gentle touches he laid on you. A soft caress here, maybe a little hand squeeze there. You two spent every evening together in the dens more often than not. He played the perfect gentleman, never pushing any boundaries. He didn’t need to. He knew he had you in the palm of his hand and he was just waiting for the right moment.

But then it started, much to his dismay.

“Sorry, Sodo, but I can’t talk right now. Sister wants me to do something.”

“Oh, sorry! Papa needs me to get something for him.”

“I’m sorry, but I can’t right now. If I don’t get this finished, Sister will have my head.”

Followed by a small bow or an apologetic smile. Did you really change your tune with him that quick?

For the past week, Sodo had been trying to spend more time with you, always trying to flag you down whenever he saw you in passing. Have lunch with him, take a stroll in the garden with him, watch a movie or two. You had shot all of them down with some lame excuse before scurrying off. What the hell? He had been so close! He knew you had feelings for him. He could tell by how you acted the last time you two were in the dens, watching shows on his laptop.

He remembers the moment he missed. How you two had been joking and your eyes met. Your lips had been parted and he remembered how much he had wanted to lean in then and there. He’s still kicking himself for not taking the chance, that desire still choking him. Were you upset he didn’t act on that one moment? Did he miss his chance?

Or was this all a game to you? String him along and make him feel like a fool? You weren’t with any of the other ghouls, he knew that. You never had anyone else’s scent on you, save for the time Cumulus had let you borrow one of her jackets when it was freezing out. But what if you had wanted to play with him specifically? Had he ever crossed you in the past that would make you want to do this? He didn’t think so.

Okay, you know what? Fuck it. He’s tired of waiting for you to be available. He’s gonna explode if he doesn’t act on some sort of feeling for you. You plagued his mind long enough and he’s had it. All of those thoughts and dreams, and all of your flirting with him back and forth, it all ends tonight. No more excuses. No more “maybe next time!”

The sun was already starting to set when he finally left the dens, head lifted up slightly so he could sniff the air. He can smell your scent, tired but calm and slightly agitated. He follows it past the churchyard and beyond the chapter house. Were you… still in the garden? That’s a lot better for him. A nice setting, no one’s really around, especially at this time. You still had a few hours before curfew. You could spend them with him.

He pushes open the old gate, cringing when he hears that loud creak from the old metal hinges. Maybe Papa could get around to having one of the other ghouls try to fix it so it wasn’t as annoying. But that would all come later. Right now, he could tell you were close, your scent intense and intoxicating. His tail sways behind him as he moves further into the garden.

There you are, kneeling before the edge of the stone path, your hands shoved into thick gloves as you tug at the weeds.

“Havin’ fun, sweetheart?” He’d feel bad for scaring you if your horrified face hadn’t been so funny.

“Sodo!” He moves when you throw the weeds in his direction, letting out a soft chuckle. “What are you doing here?”

“Ain’t it obvious?” He walks forward, crouching down beside you. “’m here to see you.”

“Well, I’m not doing anything particularly fun,” you huff, gesturing to the mess before you. “Unless you also wanna pull weeds?”

“Yeah, I’ll pass.” Your smile makes his heart flutter and he thanks Lucifer you can’t tell. Still, he watches you for a bit as you tug at one of the weeds. When your third attempt doesn’t work, he shoos your hands away, grabbing it himself and jerking it out of the ground with the roots still attached. He loves the look in your eyes when you stare at him in awe.

“Maybe you should be the one doing this,” you tease. “Seems like it’s no problem for you.”

“Shut up.” But he doesn’t want you to shut up. He never wants you to. “How about you take a break? Just for a little bit.”

“I’m almost done.”

“Well, you can be “almost done” after a break.”

He can only grin when you let out a huff, tail flicking when he notices you pull your gloves off.

“Just for a few minutes,” you tell him. “Then I gotta finish before curfew.”

“Sure, sure.” He stands up first, offering his hand for you. He tugs softly to help you up, but he doesn’t let go. Instead, he keeps his hold on your hand as you two start walking through the garden.

“You haven’t been hanging out with me much lately,” he starts slowly. “What? You got tired of ol’ Sodo?”

“Oh, don’t even start!” you laugh, hitting his chest. “Yeah, I’m totally avoiding you by having everyone and anyone coming to me with problems that only I can fix.”

“I knew it!” You two share a laugh and he only realizes now how much he’s missed this. Sure, he knew something was missing whenever you two weren’t together, poking fun at one another. But to bask in it again just hits him hard.

“You haven’t watched those new episodes without me, have you?” He knows what you’re talking about. In less than three days, you two had binged almost an entire series, staying up late nearly every night just to see what would happen next. He barks out a laugh at your question.

“Of course not!” He shoots you a playful smile. “But I dunno how long I’ll be able to wait before I decide to continue without you.”

“You wouldn’t!” Another smack to his chest and you two are laughing again. You’ve made a couple laps around the garden by now, still hand-in-hand. It’s almost dark now; the very end of twilight. He finally slows to a stop, looking at you. That night comes back to him.

“Why didn’t you kiss me when we last hung out?” And apparently, it came back to you.

“I-… I dunno. I wasn’t thinking?” Your hand drops his as your arms snake around his neck, his own securing themselves around your waist.

“And what are you thinking about now?”

“How much I want that chance back.”

“Well, you got it.” The second you finish your sentence, his lips are on yours. You’re tugged against his body as he holds you close to him. The kiss isn’t as slow or as innocent as he had originally planned, but he wouldn’t have it any other way. There’s just the right amount of tongue and teeth and you two move perfectly together.

He hates that you finally pull back, but he loves seeing those puffy lips of yours. He can feel your heart hammering against your chest – Lucifer, he can hear it. But he’d be lying if he said he didn’t feel the same way.

“Wish you would’ve done that sooner,” you mumble softly.

“Better late than never, right?” Another kiss, this one softer and shorter.

“As much as I love this, I gotta finish with these weeds.” You give him a sly smile. “If you help me, I’ll be done faster.”

“Hmm… and what’s in it for me?”

“Literally I get done sooner so we can go back to your room and watch the rest of that series.”

“Done.”

[teencopandthesourwolf]

FIAT LUX

written for @sterekdrabblesgonelong using the @sterekdrabbles 23/11/22 challenge words that were: PART, MATTER and SPOT with the end-of-month theme of HONESTY.

sterek fic, MATURE, 2245 words, post-nogitsune stiles, stiles stilinski has PTSD, heavy angst, imagined body horror, healing, getting together, falling in love, POV stiles.

READ IT HERE ON AO3

.

"Hey, you good?"

Somebody spoke. Stiles remembers that. He also remembers thinking, at the time, how it sounded a lot like Derek's voice.

He'd been right. Of fucking course he'd been right. 

Stiles was scrambling to process what had been said to him, alongside trying to figure out what exactly was happening to his still-wobbly sense of self.

"Stiles? Are you okay?" 

Stiles couldn't answer. Couldn't get any sounds out of his strangled throat, nor force his suddenly arid mouth to move and make the right shapes needed for words.

Everything was muddying all over again, his mind and body becoming a wasteland in a heartbeat. He was barren, a damned apocalypse. Truth be told, since his possession, Stiles was just an empty shell, only pretending to be human. And now his memories were flashing before his eyes, having once again become a trailer for his fucked-up, one-man indie zombie movie. Although—no, actually. No, that wasn't right. This wasn't a trailer. The Horrors were back in full, movie-length, and were now playing out their incredibly specific brand of Existential Dread right before Stiles' glassy eyes in all of their glorious, terrible technicolour.

Spawn of the Dead: Double Feature!

Grab yourself an extra large bucket of Salty'n'Sweet and settle in for the midnight showing.

How, though?

How the hell could the parasitic evil which they'd ended—it absolutely had gone, it had!—be so inexplicably here? Like, right here and now, delightedly wrapping one crooked hand around Stiles's stringy neck while using the other to dig into Stiles's already bent-way-out-of-shape psyche, sinking its dirty claws in all the way again until Stiles couldn't think or see straight or even speak.

How could the thing they'd destroyed still have him so very firmly in its clutches?

In his peripheral there were now only blurred-out, bony digits where his fingers were supposed to be; Stiles couldn't stop the violent shaking as he looked down at his hands and felt bile rise in his throat that tasted of reams and reams of filthy bandages rapidly climbing his esophagus, in a far too-real scene from some disgusting, stop-animation nightmare.

onetwothreefourfivesixseveneightnineten! 

Oh, fuck no. 

It was here. Even if it wasn't really; it was. Here, crippling each of his faculties, one by one with a sickening sort of ease, the ghost of it shutting down his capacity to process his surroundings, to operate his body correctly, to function as a human being, even if only a pretend one. It was too quickly obliterating his ability to just be.

To be Stiles.

Void.

Oh, God. 

No! No! No! No! No! No! No! 

Breath became cement in his lungs. 

onetwothreefourfivesixseveneightnineten! 

Re-appeared and yet not, the spectral memory of the Nogitsune was once more burrowing its way beneath pale skin and fragile bone, digging a six-foot deep grave ready to bury Stiles's power to answer a simple question and say No, no, I'm not okay and I really need some help here, and so very easily quashing his in-vain attempts at doing anything at all about this runaway train of a shit-show situation.

Chaos.

He'd lost control again. 

This time it was aftermath. Or aftershocks. Or afterburn or afterbirth or some other after-metaphor for absolute guilt.

onetwothreefourfivesixseveneightnineten! 

"Can you hear me, Stiles?"

Stiles wasn't really there anymore.

Stiles was spiralling, fast, due to that broken part of his soul ripping apart all over again and gaping open, a casm, a disgraced depiction of his abject shame for his past actions that now flowed out from the ghoulish wound like spilled wine. He looked down to see invisible gut-shot viscera tumbling out of him, staining his shirt and shoes like claret on crisp white sheets and instantly soaking into his skin and muscles and right through to the marrow of his bones, infiltrating his forever-infected anatomy in a strange sort of self-perpetuating vicious cycle. His heart, full of holes, was leaking its last vestiges of goodness, draining right out of him, his body now just a humanoid estuary. Other Stiles Juices added to the polluted mix—tears and adrenaline and cortisol, all becoming a veritable hurricane in his brain and chest and belly, swirling around viciously, dangerously—until it had drowned out his voice and drenched his autonomy in a chorus of non-existent Let me in! Until he'd lost his will completely to a bottomless whirlpool of contempt.

onetwothreefourfivesixseveneightnineten! 

Oh, Void had truly left its mark. 

And so there he was. Just a stricken, hyperventilating five-foot-ten jagged fissure wearing his clothes and his face. A mask was all that was left of Mieczysław Stilinski: Stiles, just a stupid boy in the body of a not-quite man, who was suffocating in the mould and the rot of himself.

The intangible had brimmed over and drip-drip-dripped until it was gushing freely and spilling right out of him and onto the floor, becoming an epic tidal wave of oblivion that would splash and tarnish and permanently stain everything and everybody around Stiles, all that he loved. 

Again. 

Only this insanity wasn't invisible, not to him. It was a vivid Hieronymus Bosch knock-off. A never-ending bloodbath painted in brushstrokes of the richest of colours. Stiles was an oily waking nightmare, a moving tapestry of his own creation that was playing over and over and over on the glitched-out loop that was his faulty VHS mind.

onetwothreefourfivesixseveneightnineten! 

"Don't step in it," he'd whispered. 

He doesn't remember if Derek had answered. He doesn't remember much of anything after that. 

Derek, just like everybody else, was poisoned by Stiles's toxicity. Forever marked, just as Stiles had been—because of Stiles.

Stiles, with his bony hands that hid those undetectable tattoos in blacks and blues and mauves that were the inky Rorschach contusions of all his loved one's cuts and bruises; Stiles, with his immortal pattern of dead leaves that twisted along the gnarled branches of his inner Lichtenberg tree; Stiles, with his fear-induced awful decisions that had lead to the lives of so many being taken; Stiles, with his murderous intent—borrowed or not, it made no fucking difference in the end; Stiles, with all of this horror; Stiles, with his blackened soul that was now only recognisable as death.

Yet, in stark contrast, his haemoglobin-bright red ravaged veins were very much not dead. He felt them, now, itching beneath the surface of his skin, unreal yet so real and becoming vine-like, pulsating and stretching out their long creepy creeper-fingers to reach down inside of him, clawing their way back home to the black hole that was his centre. And they were growing. He could feel them swelling in his arms and his legs and his face. Alive. Becoming stronger and stronger, they traversed alongside his nervous system like a road map, journeying through what was left of his tattered existence and getting so big and so fat they too were branches and were somehow both choking him and splitting him clean open—Stiles, roots and all—his thoughts and actions reduced to nothing more than a fractured glass pane in an already damaged photo frame which threatened to crack and turn him into thousands of thousand-year-old shards of nothing but absolute destruction.

onetwothreefourfivesixseveneightnineten! 

Out, damned spot. 

Maybe Derek had said more words. Begged and pleaded for Stiles to talk to him, to make sense of things for him. For Stiles to tell him what the hell was going on.

onetwothreefourfivesixseveneightnineten! 

onetwothreefourfivesixseveneightnineten! 

onetwothreefourfivesixseveneightnine—

ten? 

Or was it eleven, or twelve that time? 

Too late. 

Rip. Tear. Shatter. 

Stiles had collapsed under the weight of his own mistakes.

*

When something in his brain managed to press the pause button on the horror show, there was only numbness.

Nothing. 

Then remorse had once more seeped through his pores like a poisonous gas, a hazy mist of it eventually filling him and triumphing over delirium because, after some time—minutes, hours, days, maybe—Stiles was finally able to communicate again.

Well, sort of.

There were four words he had to offer.

"It's all my fault." 

And as he'd made frantic attempts to once again count his uncontrollably shaking fingers, he'd whimpered those words on repeat, for an indeterminate amount of time and in a thousand different voices, none of which sounded like his own.

"It's all my fault."

onetwothree—start again.

"It's all my fault."

onetwothreefourfivesixseven—shit.

"It's all my fault."

onetwothreefourfivesixseveneightnine—

"Hey, I've got you."

Derek?

If he wasn't dreaming, it meant Derek hadn't left him. He should have. Stiles was to blame for so very many terrible, terrible things.

But Derek had stayed and minded him, regardless.

He took Stiles in, after that. Fed him. Forced him to wash. Watched him as closely as he ended up holding him, in a way that he shouldn't. In a way that nobody ever should because Stiles was a travesty. Undeserving. But Derek? Derek was good and so Derek did it anyway. And those big arms folding around Stiles broke Stiles all over again, broke him impossibly more. Only it was a different kind of break this time around. Maybe not gentle so much as it was firm and necessary. A resetting of bones.

Then, somehow, slowly, painfully, Derek helped to put Stiles back together again, which was nothing short of a Herculean feat.

That Humpty Dumpty Stiles, he'd spent weeks sobbing and going mute, sobbing and going mute, and sobbing and sobbing and shouting and shrieking and screaming the loft down, bringing his feral nightmares back to life and out into the open and into the here and now, into Derek's already too-difficult world.

Stiles was just a transparent bag of those reset bones. Fused with fear and sorrow and so much sin, glued up all wrong, and held together with tears and snot and guilt and shame—and an ancient, evil-tainted love; a love possessed. 

Until he wasn't. Until there were hints of a new kind of love shimmering around the edges of their lives. Something quiet. Something lighter.

A love made up of Stay here with me and Stay another night and consistently screaming into the dawn but never any pity nor judgement and whole days of silence and then communication via eyebrows and heartbroken Fuck Yous and last-minute notes left on the refrigerator door and second and third and fourth, fifth, sixth chances and just being there and Shut Ups with no real heat behind them and listening and listening and listening some more and sandwiches left untouched until there were sandwiches half-eaten and finally sandwiches scarfed down at the speed of light again and conversations with thumbs-up and thumbs-down and Don't Call Me Dude and comfortable silences and unexpected classical music afternoons and awfully bad puns and quality time spent alone together and Wanna watch the Discovery channel? and smiling eyes and crappy paper planes and precarious mountains of hot buttered toast and stolen borrowed too-big Henley's and thrifted old sci-fi novels and English to Latin dictionaries and games of PSYCH! from opposite sides of the same room and eyes being rolled into the backs of thick skulls and gallons and gallons of Dirty Chai Lattes and a far too-kind and outstandingly stubborn asshole's absolute forgiveness and furtively holding hands in the dark and weighted long looks that said I know, it's okay—I'm broken too and the silent question of Do you want me? and the tactile answer being Of course I do, you idiot. Of fucking course I do. 

It was a love that made Nogitsune love never, ever love. A real love that shook its head softly at such dreadful affection.

Werewolf trumps Demon, every damn time.

* 

Stiles might not be able to laugh—at least not properly, not yet. He's getting there, though. The quirk of his lips today is bigger than yesterday's meagre twitch. And who knows, tomorrow could even bring a grin. Stranger things, right? 

There's still pain. Stigma. Suffering. Still so, so much work to do. Only now it's manageable. A touch easier.

Derek's touch.

There are many more hard days and nights to come, Stiles knows that, but he is nothing if not single-minded and he's making steady progress. Every day, he's mending. Thanks to Derek and Stiles's determination, the fissure that he'd become is closing up and he is no longer infected with quite so much self-doubt. There's scar tissue, sure. How could there not be?

But Stiles is healing.

He's being replenished and renewed, little by little, bit by bit, and at long last he's finally finding his voice again. The right tone, a familiar pitch—and it's strongest in those times he utters a particular word. It's a name, actually, so often spoken as a mantra, or mouthed delicately like a prayer.

"Derek?" 

Of fucking course. 

"I'm here."

No more counting fingers. 

As it happens, Stiles Stilinski is finding his way back to his life and to himself with the help of Derek Hale, sometimes stumbling and yes, often having to crawl from the oppressive blackness, dragging himself through it using only his non-existent fingernails and stubborn will, barely making it out alive by the skin of his teeth.

Yet he knows, now, that he'll conquer that darkness. Because he's not alone anymore. There's help at hand, in his hand, where Stiles holds a candle that burns just as brightly as the Sun, the Moon and the Truth, and won't ever blow out—not while shielded by the shape of the 'wolf.

Fiat Lux. 

Let there be light.

[kvetchinglyneurotic]

hello terrifying talented friend! i come bearing more ask game numbers than is reasonable so feel free to pick and choose!

2, 11, 13, 17, 35, 73, 81

💚💚💚

Thank you my friend!

2. talk about a notable time a narrative or character has looked you dead in the eyes and said “fuck your plan, here’s what we’re actually doing.”

This was what happened with most of the back half of The Hedgehog’s Dilemma! I intended for Ted to have a fairly minor role, but I wrote his conversation with Jamie in chapter 3 and there was so much of his own baggage with his dad lurking under the surface that it promoted him to one of the main characters. James Tartt also unexpectedly invited himself to practice while I was writing the scene where Jamie picks him up from the train station in chapter 5, and the fallout of that ended up being most of the plot for the rest of the chapter. 

11. what’s something neat you’ve learned while doing research for something you were writing? also, how much do you worry about doing research in general?

I know so much about reality dating shows now, including a bunch of research into American shows that I probably didn’t need to do. Apparently after someone gets eliminated from The Bachelor, they have to ride around in the back of a limo with one of the producers until they could get a shot of them crying, even if it takes a very long time (which is maybe more sad than neat). 

How much research I do for my fics depends on how much research I have to do in my academic life — when my life was consumed by thesis research over the summer, I hardly did any, but now that I’m mostly onto the writing/editing portions, I do it more often.

13. talk about a writing experience that has pleasantly surprised you.

Writing fanfic! I think I’ve mentioned before that I started off writing original fic, and for some reason I was convinced that fanfic would be way more difficult. It isn’t, and furthermore is a lot of fun. 

17. what is your favorite line you’ve ever written?

Damn you, inability to remember any line I’ve written after I’ve written it! I’ll go with: 

They’d got stuck to each other, these past days, like those little birds that rode around on top of capybaras but if the capybara saved the bird from his shitty bird dad and promised to take him home to see his bird mum, and in return the bird was so blindingly handsome and good at football that the capybara was honoured to have him riding around on his back, actually, even if he pretended not to be ‘cause he was a grumpy old twat.  

from THD because I got a lot of nice comments about it, so now capybaras are permanently associated in my mind with people being nice to me on the internet, in addition to already being my favourite animal. I love those funky little guys. 

35. tell us about a character who’s very different than you who you love a whole lot

Rebecca! She’s a delightful schemer in season 1, very poised and put together on the outside but kind of earnest and sweet on the inside. I’m also occasionally a schemer, but we’re generally very different people and want very different things out of life — I don’t think anyone would describe me as poised or earnest, and I don’t want a life partner of any kind, and definitely not kids. 

73. how do you visualize scenes? do you see it like a movie in your head, or do the words just flow?

I can picture some scenes very clearly, but more often as static images rather than like a movie, so it’s a mix of trying to describe what I see in my head and just writing. 

81. if you could go back in time and give your younger self a piece of writing advice specific to you, what would it be?

You don’t have to write quickly! It’s okay if you don’t make your word count every day or takes days off or set lower goals. In fact it often works better — it’s easier to be deliberate in your writing when you aren’t pushing to write a chapter a week.