#and the entire cast should be incredibly proud

[carry-on-every-neverland-magic]

The Bent-Neck Lady remains one of the most devastating and exquisite episodes of television ever

[komaniyaexpress]

— is this .. me?! .. ♪

sagau — they find a piece of artwork made by the creator; of .. them.

— featuring furina, wanderer, freminet, and neuvillette .. ♪

cw. none wc. 200-400 ea.

furina

it goes without saying .. furina is ecstatic. i mean.. why wouldn’t she be? she wouldn’t make this known, however, because “of course you’re going to wish to capture my enthralling beauty on paper — it’s only fair when faced with such divine radiance!” inside.. she’s a mess. her widened eyes flit over every tiny detail, every little stroke of the pen or paintbrush. “enthralling beauty”, she says, “divine radiance”, she says — but is she truly talking about herself or the way you interpreted her? never in all the centuries she’d been alive would she admit this, but she couldn’t help but feel as if you had made her look much more ethereal than she truly was. she does make it known that she likes it, though. when you turn away from her and murmur something about how you’re not the most proud of this particular piece, she scoffs indignantly. “what? how— ugh, how could you ever say such a thing? do you dare question my judgement?!” she leans back against the couch, hardly able to focus on the taste of the small pastry half-eaten in her hand. she’s incredibly grateful it’s only you two alone, because she has an entirely embarrassing blush upon her face as she chews.

wanderer

“.. seriously?” he kind of just.. glares at it. i’m sorry, but i don’t really know what you were expecting. depending on the kind of mood he’s in, he’ll either simply cast it aside without a second glance or attempt to mockingly chew you out over it. it doesn’t matter whether he actually likes it or not; he is not going to let you live it down. he’s not amused, but i can’t really imagine him actually getting upset about it either. he’ll scoff, maybe roll his eyes if he’s feeling generous enough, then go about his day without another thought to it. even with his nonchalant, near-annoyed demeanor over the whole thing, when you’ve left and he’s alone — he looks for it again and stares at it like he didn’t get to before. as his eyes travel the lines that form a quite accurate depiction of his visage — implying you spent a lot of time looking at him — he can’t help but wonder why, of all people, you chose him as your muse. he does.. appreciate the sentiment, though, even if he’ll never voice it. he catches himself before he spirals. it doesn’t matter, he reminds himself. with a huff, he sets it down again and crosses his arms, trying to ignore the fact it does indeed make him feel.

freminet

if you were expecting anything other than freminet being an absolute mess.. you’d be sorely mistaken. of course, he’s not upset at all. he’s just.. very, very embarrassed. he loves your art, he does. he doesn’t want you to misconstrue this, and makes sure you know it’s not your problem, but his own. make sure to reassure him. the moment he lays his eyes upon it, it’s evident; his eyes widen almost comically, and, suddenly, he has the surely inexplicable urge to run for his life. that wouldn’t be fair to you, though, so he bites it back and forces himself to stay put. the gears whir in his mind like he’s a piece of the machinery he holds so dear. he doesn’t know how to thank you — should he thank you? he doesn’t know what to say at all, more like. he clears his throat, unable to get any words out; his mouth goes dry and his heart practically beats out of his chest, all the while he’s looking just as frozen in time as your rendition of him. he lets out an audible sigh of relief when you reassure him that he doesn’t need to speak. he can’t handle you when you stare at him like this, and asks if you’d be okay with him putting on his diving helmet. once you’ve given him your permission — which you reiterate he doesn’t need — he quickly places it over his head, letting out a soft sigh of relief when you can no longer see his face. his gaze doesn’t leave the art, not for a moment. he stands still and stares at it, unable to tear his eyes away from the lines that, somehow, paints a clear picture of.. him. that you made. he still does not make any move to talk, and he’s very glad that you’re so understanding. eventually, he murmurs an apology, and through the lump in his throat, reassures you that (if there was ever any doubt), he likes it.

neuvillette

it was raining. it had been raining all day. naturally, this worried you, and your first thought was to check up on neuvillette. exhausted yet unchanging, neuvillette sifted through his paperwork without taking a single break to rest. however, all things must, and eventually, his tire overcame him — letting out a sigh, he placed his palm upon his forehead and leaned into it, his eyes fluttering closed. it took him a moment to open them again, but when he finally did.. after such a long day, eyes sore with the strain of reading fine print jammed together so thickly the pages looked more inky than ivory, the last thing he expected was to see was a piece of blank paper on his desk. curious, he picks it up and flips it over, assuming it to be more writing on the other side — only to be met with.. himself, staring right back at him. the neuvillette now is slightly slouched over, eyes drooping with the weight of an unrelenting week. he’s unable to see his true reflection — in a mirror or water, not a near-perfect version of him on paper — so he couldn’t really tell, but even so, he can’t help but feel as if this version of him must appear much more composed. he pushes the thought away, stares at the piece a bit closer, and he eases a bit. not only was it a splendid break to the monotony of monochromatic paperwork, it was made by you. it’s now that you walk into the room. in a split second, you realize what he’s holding. you blink. he smiles, gentle and soft. the rain stops pouring.

[the-californicationist]

Good Fences (Fluffuary #13)

FEB13: Night Out

“Did she book out the whole place, then?” John asked, pulling his pearl buttons through their starched holes as he dressed into his shirt.

“Yep, very fancy,” you told him, fixing his tie and feeling the silk slip through your manicured fingers.

Your best friend, Cana, had just graduated from her master’s program, and she had invited you to her graduation party. When you mentioned that you were housing three additional British soldiers, she had extended the invitation to include them most enthusiastically.  

The boys had dressed up nice. Cana had indeed booked out an entire rooftop bar, and as a woman who liked to party, she was really pulling out all the stops tonight. 

She was dressed all in black, surrounded by her classmates and a few of your mutual friends, but when she saw you coming through the doors with your literal army squad, she made a bee-line straight for you. Her bejeweled arms were spread wide, her perfectly set curls bounced as she ran, flinging herself into your arms and squealing her hellos. 

“Cana!” You laughed, holding her as she spun around you with glee, “Congratulations! I’m so proud of you.”

“Goddamn, babe. Me too,” she huffed, exasperated and sarcastically funny. 

You watched her roll her eyes and smile, 

“Thank fuck grad school is done. Now, introduce me! You brought dinner, I see.”

“Oh, God, Cana. You can’t say that!” You protested. 

But, Kyle heard her comment and brushed you aside, reaching for her hand and taking it in his,

“Let the woman speak, babes. She looks hungry.”

Cana giggled, high pitched and joyful, letting Kyle lead her back to her table. You looked at John and mouthed an apology. 

“Dinnae fash, bonnie. Gaz is in his own version of heaven,” Johnny chuckled, “He never could turn down a curvy lass.”

“She’s a wild one, but I love her,” you explained, trying to dismiss your friend’s audacious behavior.

“She’s grand, love. Let me buy you a drink,” John wrapped his hand around your waist and pulled you in to his body. His soft clothes crumpled against your side, and you noticed John’s palm sliding lower and lower down your back. 

“Speaking of blokes in heaven,” Simon quipped, taking a long drag from his cigarette. He cast a long gaze at his captain, and you thought you saw the hint of a smirk on his lips.

“Aye,” John puffed up a little, defensively, “And what of it?”

“Heaven looks good on you, Cap’n,” Johnny clapped him on the shoulder and pointed to the bar, “You were sayin’ somethin’ about a wee drink?”

You talked and drank and laughed all night with John and his friends. Cana couldn’t keep her hands off of Kyle, and he seemed to be loving every moment of it. By the end of the evening, your feet were aching, but you had heard story after story of John being the hero and even more stories of him being the victim of his men’s pranks. They seemed to have an incredible bond together that made you admire John even more. 

“Are you havin’ fun tonight, love?” John asked, whispering in your ear, letting the whiskers of his beard tickle your neck and sensitive lobe as he did. 

You turned your head to him, smiling, whispering just as low,

“Yes, I am. But, I can’t stop staring at you in that suit.”

“And you in that dress. Mmm…” John ran a long finger up your thigh, pushing the dress’s hem higher and higher until it was truly scandalous. 

“Maybe you should take me home,” you suggested, your eyes full of lust, “So, you can take it off.”

“Grab your purse. Now.”

Check out the schedule here.

AO3 Link

[dootdootwriting]

♡ PRIDE with the HSR cast ♡

featuring: jing yuan; bronya; dan heng; gepard landau; himeko; march 7th; natasha; sampo; seele; serval landau; welt yang tw: none type: fluff, pride month, hcs, a lil bit silly pronouns used: none a/n: cishets dni with this post <3 it's not for you <3 (normally you are welcome on my blog! just not this post) queer ppl PLEASE interact. idc what ur identity is if you're lgbtq+ in some way this post is for you <3 i love you (YES this includes trans straight people and bi people with crushes on characters of the opposite gender. you are loved and included)

ERM sorry this is a day late i got really tired and had to finish it today!! utc for length as usual

DAN HENG

kind of forgets about it until it's june first and he goes "oh wait. it's the gay month now isnt it"

anyway he's happy he gets to celebrate it with you. otherwise he wouldn't really see the point in doing anything special

probably gets you some kind of gift with your flag on it <3 whether it be a plushie or a banner or just a flag!

if you like going to the parades and celebrations, he'll go with you. he's not a huge fan of all the crowds of people there, but it doesn't bother him too much and he likes seeing you happy, so the net value is positive

buys something for himself if the two of you go shopping this month

he'll see a t-shirt with a little rainbow on the chest and he smiles a bit and buys it to sleep in

you also get him obnoxiously rainbow sweatpants. at first he is incredibly offended, but eventually they grow on him and he starts wearing them around the astral express. march lives for them and was visibly upset that she did not get a pair.

MARCH 7TH

WOW!!! ALL GAY PEOPLES' BIRTHDAY!!! NO WAY!!!

march is the most excited for pride month out of everyone on the astral express. she stays up until midnight on june 1st like it's new year's eve

AGGRESSIVE with all her pride merch. she gets you so much shit too. pride shirt. pride sweatshirt. pride socks. a million pride bracelets.

if the two of you go out together in june, she makes sure you're also dressed to the nines in various flags and rainbow colors

drags you to the pride parades. march convinces the crew of the express to let her make a train float for the parade of whatever planet you're on and she goes TO THE MAX with it.

speaking of the express, when everyone wakes up and enters the main train car, they find march putting up streamers and blasting lady gaga at full volume

tldr she's fucking excited

HIMEKO

ohh pride month! so blowing homophobes up is legal this month?

well, i wish. sorry himeko

she's one for more subtle pride merch. maybe a hair-tie or a bracelet, but she has at least one little flag on her at all times.

also has some pride pajamas. hey, they're comfy.

if you're comfortable, she'll take you to the pride parades. if not, no problem, the two of you can celebrate from home.

also probably gifts you something! she gets matching pins for the two of you so you can be proud... together!!

if any of the other express crew comments on her little pride ornaments, she goes "yeah? and what about it?" like a queen. this is completely ineffective however because the entire crew is queer in some way

WELT YANG

oh, it's june again. alright.

doesn't really see the need to celebrate, but will allow you to adorn him with various pride baubles if you so desire

thinks it's very cute if you get excited about pride... like yeah, yeah you should be proud.

while he doesn't outwardly show much excitement about the occasion, you notice welt gets more affectionate with you

there are more little forehead kisses when he passes you, more reaching for your hand when he walks beside you, and you swear you can feel him hold you just a little bit tighter when you go to sleep

when march proposes the idea of decorating the express, he gives a slight but genuine smile and shoots you a knowing look.

even though he could celebrate himself this month if he chose to, for welt, it's more about celebrating you and the relationship he has with you.

he's more proud of that than anything else.

BRONYA

exhausted by pride month before it even begins LOL

being the head of the city, she's in charge of sanctioning and scheduling and planning all the official pride parades and celebrations happening around belobog, and, well... wow, are people in belobog really fucking gay

also deigns to go give some speeches at a couple of the rallies. she's a cool supreme guardian

cocolia allowed pride parades during her reign, but she never encouraged them. both to celebrate her own identity and yours and completely spite her mother, bronya encourages the people of belobog to go all out

and they do!

she gets a couple of gifts for you. not anything super huge or out there, but a flag or a shirt or a hair pin to match with one of hers.

bronya also gets premium seats to any pride parade she goes to, and she definitely takes advantage of this. kind of the best dates ever.

and when she's exhausted by the day's events and the two of you lay down to bed, you can hear her quietly wish you happy pride.

GEPARD LANDAU

gets really excited about pride, but doesn't really know what to do with it

and also, as captain of the silvermane guards, he's tasked with making sure all the official belobog pride parades are safe and orderly

this is quite the task given how passionate belobog's gay community is

on days where he doesn't bring you, he comes back covered in fans and stickers and streamers and confetti in the colors of pretty much any queer flag you can think of.

he has you deck out his armor for him. you grab your paint and stickers and washi tape and decorate the hell out of him

he's so happy when you do this. it's a very sweet moment full of fun and laughter and intimacy

no cops at pride! only gepard landau and his exuberant rainbow armor

SERVAL LANDAU

YOU LOOK AT HER AND TELL ME SHE DOESN'T BOOK SO MANY PRIDE PARADE GIGS

lord. it's so sexy. she performs her music on as many pride floats as she can, and every single time, she either takes you with her or looks at you in the crowd and blows you a kiss after her big number

SERVAL CAN I HAVE A KISSIE KISS PLS <3333

also aggressively proud. she paints her cheeks with her flag(s) and roams around yelling happy pride at anyone she sees in the streets wearing rainbows

the two of you go to a café and the guy taking your order is wearing a trans wristband and she gets so excited she starts yelling by accident and ends up giving him a 30% tip and a free concert ticket

you stare at her and shes like what??? it's pride month

girl get a grip.....?

probably takes you to a couple of raves too

you paint so many flags on each other that it looks like your skin is rainbow and stay out until the early hours of the morning

SEELE

only knows what pride month is because you explain it to her

while there's a normal sized lgbtq+ population in the underground, chances are pride celebrations every year are short and not very big

she learns about it and is so excited

seele wants to go to a pride parade in the overworld with you, but even more than that she wants to set up a parade for the people in the underground so they can really celebrate themselves

it takes a few weeks of planning and execution, but it's successful and it pays off. it's a huge amount of fun for everyone in the underground who wants to participate, and a welcome distration from the lingering effects of the stellaron

part of the planning for this of course involves taking out to attend pride parades up in belobog

the first few minutes of being in the crowd, seele is a little nervous about all the people and the fact she can't move around too easily. but she gets used to it pretty quickly

she has the best reflexes out of everyone in the crowd and manages to catch every single freebie thrown off of the floats. she brings them back to distribute among the kids in the underground.

NATASHA

natasha is reasonably excited for pride month

possibly the most normal out of everyone on jarilo VI

she puts little rainbow flag posters up on the walls of her clinic to make sure that queer kids know they're safe there year round, but they double during june

YOU CANNOT convince me natasha isn't the biggest giver of hrt treatment on jarilo VI you cannot

she wishes all her trans and otherwise queer patients happy pride when they come in, and hands out little rainbow stickers to kids she has to give shots to

her work takes up most of her day, and she regrets this during this month the most because she can't spend time with you

she's able to take the day off for your birthday and other important occasions, but patients need care

to make it up to you, the month of june is full of extra late-night dates once she's gotten home from the clinic and candlelit dinners.

SAMPO

i've said it before and i'll say it again: sampo runs an overpriced pride merch stall

and you look sooooo cute modeling all those pins and buttons and shirts and socks and hats and

has you stand around waving your flags decked out in all things rainbow, to attract customers

a couple of people rightfully accuse him of ripping them off, but sampo just blinks up at them innocently. they'd really accuse him of such a thing? during pride month of all times? have they no shame?

sampo has no shame. those customers were reacting reasonably.

when he's not conducting business, he's even more affectionate than usual, which, frankly, is difficult to do since he's usually glued to your side

"it's pride month!! we should kiss all the time obnoxiously in public to show people what queer love and joy look like"

babe....

JING YUAN

the general... has almost no time to spare for pride month

which, honestly, is such a disappointment to him. he was so looking forward to june and spending extra time with you

so instead, he has you accompany him to his work and keep him company and chat with him and sit on his lap on occasion and give him kisses when he's tired and

his coworkers are staring.

"do i detect homophobia in the room? during pride month? get back to work." (he's joking)

the lion gets a RAINBOW BOW TIE COLLAR and he is WORKING IT!!

he looks so dapper. he struts around like he's the handsomest man in the world

and he is, second to your jing yuan, of course

to show support for his community, the general flies a rainbow flag from the building

the gay is visible throughout the entire luofu

[kenposting]

You're Protesting the Air?

Summary: The tension between Holland and his client had been building for weeks. You were proud of yourself for keeping your cool - until Healy left you under the care of his partner.

WC: 1.4k

AN: i am sorry but holland is so [redacted] i just want to [redacted] ARGHHHHH!!!!!!!! n e ways thank u for enjoying all my silly little stories!!!!! life has been insane lately but i plan to write more now that im settled again :3

𓈒⠀𓂃⠀⠀˖⠀⋆˚🍸˖°⠀˖⠀⠀𓂃⠀𓈒

“And keep the girl safe!” 

“The girl?! I’m a fucking P.I.!” 

The air grew thick with the slam of the door. Holland stood beside you, disheveled as always, but almost different this time. He wasn’t cool or collected and he wasn’t drunk either. He was nervous, which was odd, given that this is maybe the first time this week he wasn’t caught in an active shooting or laid next to a dead pornstar. 

Half of you regretted ever even contacting these guys. You called the number listed on their ad when the last guy that hired you expected something… more than what you agreed to. You were dismissive, figuring he was just some creep. And he was! Until he started following you around. 

Even though you were widely renowned as one of the best (and toughest) private investigators this side of town, your reputation as a young, attractive, easily-kidnappable female was often undeniable – and now, inescapable. Being on your own was no longer enough. 

He watched you carefully, entirely missing his usual cue to quip back following your sigh of frustration. You needed protection from that guy, not from doing your job. You fully intended on letting him have it. 

“This is all your fault, you know!” 

An accusatory finger pointed up in his direction. 

“My fault?!” 

“Yes, hello! Why didn’t you stop him?!” 

“Stop him – you hired him! Hy didn’t you stop him?!” 

“I tried! You watched me try, what, did you miss that too? Just like the numerous times we’ve asked you to stay put, follow this car, pick us up from this spot, don’t fall off the fucking roof, listen to this story about when I shot a guy in a diner – should I continue?” 

“Hey, that’s not fair, he approached me at a time when he should’ve known I wouldn’t be listening, that’s just bad discernment.” 

You watched as his stature towered over you, his hand placed dramatically against his hip (the other in a cast, of course). Even at this volume, stuck in this situation, he wasn’t hostile or threatening at all. He was charming, actually. 

“Oh, good grief, when are you listening?” 

“Right now!” 

If looks could kill he'd be dead right now. You were fucking furious.. He looked good! And it was incredibly annoying. 

“You know what, I can’t take you, March. You stand around all day pretending like you’re doing your job when in reality, if you’d care to join us, you’re just staring at me.” “I am doing my job! Staring at you is my job!” 

“No it’s not, you halfwit! That’s why Healy gave you this stupid fucking task of watching over me – that’s the one thing you can’t possibly fuck up.” 

“Oh yeah? I bet I could!” 

He hesitated after speaking, realizing he wasn’t defending himself any longer and instead proved your point greatly. A gently raised (and very broken) arm buffered the silence as he searched for something else to say. 

“You know what, that’s not fair. You make me nervous and I can’t be quick-witted when I’m nervous. Everyone knows that.” 

“I make you nervous? Is that why you both still treat me like I’m your kid that needs looking after?! You’re only five years older than me, Holland! All I do is worry about you not getting shot to death while you’re busy getting drunk all the time.” 

Pinching the bridge of your nose and taking a deep breath, you realized it was a little absurd to be upset that they were watching you. That is in fact what you paid them to do. 

“Well, maybe I wouldn���t be drunk all the time if you weren’t around to distract me!” 

“Distract you?!” 

“Yeah, distract me! You’re all I can think about and it’s driving me fucking insane!” 

He paused. He did not mean to say that. 

“Is that right?! Well, I’d say it's much more fitting to state the facts here – you’re the one distracting me!” 

“Oh, now I’m distracting you?” 

“Of course you are!” 

He paused, sighing. He was not prepped for this response. 

“Look, I’m just trying to do my job. And I can’t do it with all of–” 

He gestured between the two of you,

“This bullshit! The air is palpable and I won't stand for it!” 

“Well me neither!” 

The two of you were face to face now. He was doubled over to match your height. 

He truly had been distracting you since the second you met him. It wasn’t fair. You hired him to watch your back and all you both did was watch each other, leaving Healy to do all the jobs himself. It wasn’t fair, but he started it! 

He was handsome, though. You didn’t mind paying him to stand there and look pretty. And he really was good at his job when he tried, but that’s not the point. All logic was thrown out the window here, he was on your last fucking nerve and you just had to tell him all about it. 

“So, Holland, since you’re so good at your job, what do you suggest we do about it then?!” 

“Maybe we should just get it over with! There’s clearly pining here of… of the sexual kind and it’s distracting both of us from doing our jobs.” 

“Fine!” 

“Fine!” 

A brief pause, brows furrowed and jaws clenched, sweat beading on his forehead, before the two of you moved towards each other in one swift motion. His hands were large and moved confidently, resting at the small of your back like he’d been mapping it out all day long. Truth be told, he had been. 

His (one good) hand moved, coming up to rest on the right of your face, the precursor to a kiss that had been building for weeks now. It was rushed and intense, but neither of you were complaining. After all, you preferred for this not to take ages, as who knows when his (and your) partner would be returning. 

He was back to his old self almost immediately, like all that had been missing was the confirmation that you wanted this too. He could’ve sworn he caught you looking at him a handful of times. Now he knew for sure, and it filled him up with the same cockiness that had been ever-present long before you hired him. 

Perhaps this was a violation of proper workplace relationship boundaries, but then again, so was the rest of your job. The things the both of you had done were enough to send you straight six feet under, but he fought so hard for the girls that were being killed and exploited on his last case. You read about him in the paper – the same paper that had been clipped and stuck to the fridge he now had you pinned against. 

You grabbed at him, clinging towards anything that could keep you grounded. His shirt was unbuttoned already, his chest heaving against your hand, lips following as you moved to reposition yourself. With one swoop of his (one good) arm, he lifted you up and sat you on the counter. Even placed way high up, he still stood taller than you. 

“You know,” 

He mustered everything within himself to pause for a moment, stepping back from you, blinking. His ears and cheeks were flushed pink and he was eager to continue, but thought it polite to stop and listen. 

“I was never even mad at you I don’t think.” 

He blinked at you again, thinking it so absurd you were trying to actually have a constructive conversation right now. 

“Uh-huh.” 

His lips found your neck. 

“I just wanted to say that. So you don’t think I’m mad at you or anything. Also, I’ve been thinking about this for so long and I just wanted it to be right and–” 

“Sweetheart?” 

Your heart fluttered as you hummed in response. 

“Be quiet. I know.” 

You opened your mouth to protest but were rudely interrupted by the clicking of a lock. Heavy footsteps followed the sound and you were met with Healy stood right there in Holland’s living room. 

“Seriously?” 

You looked at Holland. Holland looked at you. “You guys aren’t done yet? I thought it’d take him, like, five minutes, tops.” 

It occurred to you that the three of you had actually completed your tasks for the day, but that all seemed much less important earlier. You landed on a playful slap of the shoulder towards Holland who had clearly set this all up. 

“You asked him to leave just so you could argue with me?!” 

“What?! No! You really think I would do that!?” 

The two of you were at it again, missing Healy’s eye roll as he stepped back outside, locking the door behind him. 

𓈒⠀𓂃⠀⠀˖⠀⋆˚🍸˖°⠀˖⠀⠀𓂃⠀𓈒

[tiredassmage]

giggling and kicking my feet. oh i lOVE THESE!! thamk you for the tag @eorzeashan! <3

BOLD the FACTS

bothering the man, the myth, the legend, the og~ this will not stop me from wanting to do more blorbo. nor verses of blorbo.

PERSONAL

Financial: wealthy / moderate / poor / in poverty

Medical: fit / moderate / sickly / disabled / disadvantaged / non-applicable

Twenty-some years (and counting) of intelligence work has its moments. While largely still ready for field work at a moment's notice, history with the Castellans and then Valkorian's influence don't play well with his habit of being a workaholic, nor his... equally bad habit of trying to work through headaches and occasional bouts of insomnia.

Class or Caste: upper / middle / working / unsure / other

Education: qualified / unqualified / studying / other

Criminal Record: yes, for major crimes / yes, for minor crimes / no / has committed crimes, but not caught yet / yes, but charges were dismissed

Nebulously, 'Cipher Nine' may or may not be connected to some of his work, but the fact that he's still among the Republic's 'most wanted' does imply a slight lack of proof. Or ability to actually bring him in. (And maybe there's still a part of him that's amused by it and maybe just a smidgen proud about it, okay?) We're also not talking about the implied treason. If the Empire ever caught his, ah. Affiliations. :))

FAMILY

Children: had a child or children / has no children / wants children

The slightly shorter answer is he hasn't. thought about it a lot, but he'd like to, when it crosses his mind. It's the Shelter Dog Rizz (TM) and also that this man has a mentor streak a country mile wide and just doesn't have a lot of opportunities to realize it. Ough, which version of events? xD When this idiot finally retires, there are two daughters whom he will definitely build blanket forts with and "accidentally" teach Huttese swears and insults to because they argued Hyroh didn't know, etc. etc. [Sunasa grows up too fast and will always be his baby girl and Kas is going to be taller than him and completely capable of breaking arms by herself and he's going to worry about both of them. Forever.]

Relationship with Family: close with sibling(s) / not close with sibling(s) / has no siblings / sibling(s) is deceased

Tyr, your complicated family ties. Tyr has no biological siblings, but his adopted sister, Mavis, and him haven't spoken since before his time in the Academy and they were almost always more antagonistic than not. I wouldn't be surprised if they never referred to each other as siblings. They more so just. happened to grow up in the same household.

Affiliation: orphaned / abandoned / adopted / disowned / raised by birth parent(s) / not applicable

Again, complicated, lmao. The official story is orphaned and adopted. The actual story is... given up in an effort to protect him from the trappings of life as an intelligence operative. [Sorry, Keeper. You tried.]

TRAITS & TENDENCIES

♦ extroverted / introverted / in-between

♦ disorganized / organized / in-between

♦ close-minded / open-minded / in-between

♦ calm / anxious / in-between / highly contextual

♦ disagreeable / agreeable / in-between

Tyr has. always flirted with the line between respectful and 'with all due respect, which is none' blatancy. He knows he can't outright bite the hands on the leash. Doesn't usually mean he's entirely pleased with complacency.

♦ cautious / reckless / in-between / highly contextual

I was going to give him cautious, but this man is incredibly ride or die. When he says, I'll do anything for you, try not to test. how far he'll go about that. It's damn pretty far.

♦ patient / impatient / in-between

♦ outspoken / reserved / in-between / highly contextual

Again, he. flirts with the edge. Depends on who he's around.

♦ leader / follower / in-between

♦ empathetic / vicious bastard / in-between

♦ optimistic / pessimistic / in-between

♦ traditional / modern / in-between

His taste on how intelligence work should be handled - with field operatives trusted to do their job has historically gotten him in, ah. arguments. He's of an older guard in that way and he knows it and he's not keen to let anyone forget it. But as far as Imperial policy is concerned... Well, that's what a little treason can be good for the soul for. Maybe. You didn't hear that from him.

♦ hard-working / lazy / in-between

♦ cultured / uncultured / in-between / unknown

♦ loyal / disloyal / in-between / unknown

Loyal like a fucking dog - to actual ride or die levels. To people more than anything else. And, yes, to that... slightly more idealistic streak in him that's there no matter how much he tries to mask it in realism.

♦ faithful / unfaithful / in-between / unknown

In the spiritual sense? Not particularly. Again, loyal like a dog. Faithful to his found family pack His People to the bitter end.

BELIEFS

Faith: monotheist / polytheist / atheist / agnostic

Belief in Ghosts or Spirits: yes / no / don’t know / don’t care / in a manner of speaking

(Unfortunately, verified by experience.)

Belief in an Afterlife: yes / no / don’t know / don’t care / in a manner of speaking

Something about the persistence of spirits would suggest it, but he's got plenty enough to wrangle with the living. That bridge can be crossed when or if they arrive upon it.

Belief in Reincarnation: yes / no / don’t know / don’t care / in a manner of speaking

Belief in Aliens: yes / no / don’t know / don’t care

free giggle in star wars here

Religious: orthodox / liberal / in between / not religious

Philosophical: yes / no / highly contextual

In a manner of speaking? While perhaps not a readily apparent trait, Tyr tends to enjoy learning. It's a heart or core of what he'd describe of his work as an intelligence operative: learning about people, places, beliefs as big as how to organize society and as small as that merchant is a rip-off. Ideals are far more important to him than I believe he realizes.

SEXUALITY & ROMANCE

Sexuality: heterosexual / homosexual / bisexual / asexual / pansexual

Sex: sex-repulsed / sex neutral / sex favorable / naive and clueless

Romance: romance repulsed / romance neutral / romance favorable / naive and clueless / romance suspicious

Sexually: adventurous / experienced / naive / inexperienced / curious

A skill in an intelligence toolkit has offered him experience, but he's a bit less experienced in pinpointing exactly what he genuinely likes - experiments he is... rather favorable to exploring.

Potential Sexual Partners: male / female / agender / other / none / all

Potential Romantic Partners: male / female / agender / other / none / all

ABILITIES

Combat Skills: excellent / good / moderate / poor / none

Literacy Skills: excellent / good / moderate / poor / none

Artistic Skills: excellent / good / moderate / poor / none

Technical Skills: excellent / good / moderate / poor / none

HABITS

Drinking Alcohol: never / special occasions / rarely / sometimes / frequently / alcoholic

Smoking: tried it / trying to quit / quit / never / rarely / sometimes / frequently / chain-smoker

Recreational Drugs: tried some / never / special occasions / sometimes / frequently / addict / former addict

Medicinal Drugs: never / no longer needs medication / some medication needed / frequently / to excess

Unhealthy Food: never / special occasions / rarely / sometimes / frequently / binge eater

Splurge Spending: never / sometimes / frequently / shopaholic

Gambling: never / rarely / sometimes / frequently / compulsive gamble

I will. almost certainly return to do more blorbos. I love these things kdfnlsadfn

No pressure tags as always/I am so sorry if you have already gotten one and I have not seen it/open invitation to join in if you like etc etc thank you for coming to my TED talk @captainderyn @commander-krios @fatewalker-phoenix

[sophiasharp]

Magic Headcanons with the Papas

Part 4: Copia

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

Glow-up of the century. Buckle up cause I have too many thoughts.

Had a very rough relationship with magic the majority of his life. It was clear early on that he had the same incredible power inside of him that his brothers have. If he had been given the same tutelage that they’d had, he would have been a fearsome caster indeed.

Unfortunately, since Imperator was still hiding his existence from his father, he was NOT given that same tutelage early on and, as a result, when he did eventually gain access to magic classes, he was a bit… stunted.

What should have come naturally to him instead came out awkward and disjointed. The majority of the time, his spells didn’t hold for very long or weren’t very strong. Where most of his peers could hold a fire in the palm of their hand, he could barely light a candle.

Every once in a while, though, a spell would come out too strong. To continue that candle analogy, for every 9 times that Copia couldn’t light a wick to safe his life, he would set a classroom on fire. That totally didn’t happen once and didn’t earn him the nickname Little Sparkie Sideburns, idk what you’re talking about.

As you can imagine, this led Copia to developing a sort of performance anxiety when it came to casting, which made his casting worse, which gave him more anxiety, and yeah it just kinda spiraled from there.

This did not stop his overall study of magic, however! Still having quite the fancy with it as a concept, he took to studying each type as much as he physically could in the form of books; just cause you can’t do it yourself doesn’t mean you have to give up entirely!

Became a walking encyclopedia for anything magic. Whenever Terzo had trouble understanding a certain aspect of a spell or ritual, Copia would be able to clear it up for him and help him practice. In return, Terzo helped him improve his own relationship with magic, away from judging eyes.

Over the years, he found a loophole to his skill issue: while his standalone manipulation of magic still fluctuated out of his control, casting spells as rituals would stable it out- something about having a set of clear instructions to follow in an exact order helped him focus.

As he got more confident in rituals, his standalone casting got better as well. It wasn’t quite where he wanted to be, but it was a vast improvement from where he was and he was proud of that. He was comfortable with himself.

Now, hypothetically, let’s say something drastic happened that could completely throw Copia’s carefully curated balance off. Say, oh I don’t know, the death of a loved one? Or three?

Yeah the sudden “passing” of all three of his brothers kinda sorta fucked him up a bit. Dude was completely incapable of casting a spell without causing massive damage for, like, the first three months after. Even his ritual casting was more unstable than it had ever been.

Lucky for him, he wasn’t asked to perform much magic since he was busy touring and writing a new album. The only real magic he was charged with was the summoning of the new ghouls for Ghost. Imperator and Nihil should consider themselves lucky that the only fuck-ups were a multi-ghoul and an extra air ghoulette, that could have gone a lot worse!

As luck would have it, however, his relationship with the band ghouls would be the best thing to happen to him. They all helped him reconnect with and handle his magic in a whole new way, giving him newfound confidence not only in his capabilities but in himself.

It was still a rocky road so to speak, especially with Nihil “#1 Copia Hater” Emeritus with them. Things came to a head while on the last leg and GOD I’d love to write that out but this is getting too long so long story short Copia snapped and for a second there he was right back where he started. However, again, he had his ghouls by his side to put him back together stronger than he’d been before.

Copia’s ascension as Papa was the final boost he needed to truly cement his newfound relationship with his magic. It was like a door that had been closed his entire life was finally opened. What used to be a struggle now came as easy as breathing. What’s more, all those years of studying in books translated astonishingly well once he had a handle on himself. As a result, while all of his brothers had one or maybe two types of magic that they specialized in, he’s equally good at all of them.

Having said that, he has found Abjuration and Transmutation to be the most satisfying to cast. Does he have much reason to use either of these magic types? No. Is it fun to turn Swiss into a speed demon and set him loose on the abbey to scare the daylights out of Nihil’s ghost? Fuck yeah it is.

Before his sudden power-up, his magic had the sound of crackling fire to it and looked like red dust or silt suspended in the air. After his spat with Nihil, however, his magic took on a completely different sensory quality. The crackling of fire was replaced with the the sound of shattering glass; the stronger the spell, the louder and longer the sound resonates. The aesthetic has changed to look like two metallic wires swirling around him: one gold and one blue.

[asgardian--angels]

I've been seeing a lot of mixed emotions and frustration surrounding what we heard today from Samba on Wee John Wondays, regarding the immense amount of deleted scenes, cut material, original episode concepts etc, from season 2. And I just wanted to give my two cents here.

Look, it is absolutely valid to be pissed at HBO Max right now. They slashed OFMD's budget, cut their runtime on a per episode and a season basis. This resulted in plotlines having to be reworked, character & relationship development compressed, and some minutiae & connective scenes omitted. The thought of that sucks! It would have been nice to see the polycule shown more directly onscreen, and to see Ed & Stede dance, have a longer goodbye to Izzy, and maybe work through Ed and Stede's relationship rollercoaster a little more gradually. I'm sure this hurt no one more than David himself, who's had a clear vision of all three seasons from the start - who's now had to deal with not only a truncated s2 but a cancellation soon after to boot.

But I think it does a great disservice to the entire cast and crew who worked immensely hard on season 2 to dwell overlong on what we could or 'should' have gotten. They worked their asses off to bring us something phenomenal! Season 2 was incredible - and your mileage may vary, but all analytics indicate season 2 was even more popular and well-received than season 1 by audiences and critics alike. There was a whole team of writers who worked deftly and skillfully to crunch ten episodes into eight without compromising the core elements, themes, and plotlines they wanted to include to tell this story, plus a talented cast who brought their own improvisation to set every day and gave us some of the season's most iconic moments. Everyone on the OFMD crew is proud of what they made, as they rightly should be. It was beautiful television.

Expressing dissatisfaction with what was cut is fine to an extent, but let's not let it take away from our enjoyment and appreciation of the final product we did get, or give the crew the impression that what they worked so hard to give us wasn't good enough. They want more than anyone to have had those extra scenes in there to show off the hard work of the whole team! I'm seeing this a lot especially with the talk about the early draft of Calypso's birthday (and this info is not new, Samba spoke at length about it during his baking class back in November). Regardless of your opinion on whether you think that would have been a 'better' version of the episode, it was just that - an early draft, that never came close to being filmed. David and the writers revised this concept because, apart from time constraints on the season, ultimately they felt that the concept they ended up going with best served the narrative. Even Samba agreed that he preferred the final version. There's no secret footage of this other version, we didn't 'lose' anything - this is one of the dangers of scripts getting released for any piece of media, because the mind runs astray dreaming of the possibilities of what may have been, when the reality is all shows go through moderate to sometimes heavy editing before the final version, and the audience probably doesn't need to see that process!

The fact that season 2 turned out so beautifully, with some of the most moving and iconic sequences television's seen in quite a while, and a love story that has touched so many, is truly a testament to the passion, dedication, and skill of the entire cast and crew. They have achieved the status of cultural phenomenon, season 2 was the 5th most watched series in the entire world on streaming services, outperforming shows like Loki. They've got several dozen articles with glowing praise from major media outlets, a 95% on Rotten Tomatoes, multiple award nominations, and more than anything a loyal fanbase who's in it for the long haul to fight for a season 3. They have succeeded to this level despite all the stumbling blocks HBO Max has thrown in their path. If season 2 was OFMD held back from its full potential, then I think they should be damn fucking proud of what they've made.

Samba pitched an official bts documentary for both season 1 and season 2 and was turned down. This show deserved better than HBO Max was ever going to give them. He's going to try and post deleted scenes and a blooper reel if he can (not all heroes wear capes, folks). And it's very likely none of these things will ever be officially released (though, we can make a stink about it!). Be angry about it, absolutely. But we need to channel that energy into the fight for renewal. Double down on efforts to get the attention of Netflix, Prime, Apple TV, and FX, get more signatures on the petition (87k as of this writing!), and just keep talking positively about the show on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook with our hashtags. We need to show the crew that we're upset for them, but so grateful for the beautiful season we got too.

So let's not bicker and wallow about what was 'stolen' from us - the final canon product is ultimately the final canon product, and any other tidbits are fun but neither owed nor necessary. They trusted that we could put the pieces together, that we'd be able to read between the lines when scenes that would have made things more explicit, or developed them further, had to be shortened or cut. And that trust was well placed! We sussed it out. Celebrate the ofmd fandom for all the excellent meta, art, fic, we've gotten, and celebrate season 2 for its joy, its profoundness, its nuance, its enduring hope and how much it's given to so many. Air your grievances respectfully, and then get back to fighting to give OFMD the well-funded third season it deserves!

[mochiwrites]

“The plan has changed. I’ve hired someone to do what you couldn’t do the first time.”

NONONONONONONONONO GRIAN PLEASE GRIAN NO GRIAN PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE GRIAN NONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONNONONONONONO

THAT TEASER YOU POSTED SOME TIME AGO MAKES THIS SO MUCH WORSE NONONONONONONONONONONONO

He knows what he has to do, what he’s meant to do. It’s the role he’s been cast to play. 

Secret life parallels oh lordy lord. i am SO UNWELL. no. NOOOOOOO. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH i legitimately dont have any words. the only way i can properly express how im feeling right now is just AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

He’s not naive and hopeful like Grian is, or as kind as Mumbo can be. He’s selfish and cruel, and his loyalty is fickle. 

this is legitimately one of my favorite parts of scar's character actually. i don't have the brain power to properly analyze this, but something about how honest he is about this is so. augh. this trait is what's ultimately going to be his demise (at least, he thinks so). he'll lose grian and mumbo (possibly through death) because he chooses tubbo over mumbo and grian. he knows and he's not proud of it but it's vital to his survival anyways so he does nothing to fight it.

i dont think i make sense at all and theres a great possibility ive mischaracterized him entirely (it wouldnt be the first time, sadly) but i love it regardless. i love how flawed he is. how flawed they all are. i love how tragic their stories are. grian with his unwavering hope and optimism that gets constantly tested (and possibly crushed at some point) and scar with his insistence to not get close that eventually stabs him in the back and mumbo with his guarded but oh so big heart that he's tentatively given out only to get hurt in some way. please correct me if any of this is wrong, btw, id rather be corrected than live in ignorance of the truth

No amount of rope can pull him out. It’ll snap apart under the weight of his actions, so why try? There’s no real point in it. 

this is why you need a grian, scar. sigh.

He needs to stop being Scar and start being the Grim Reaper. He sucks in a breath, throwing Scar away.

oh this is fantastic because scar cares so deeply for them and would do just about anything to protect them, because as much as he tries not to, scar cares and loves. but that's exactly the problem because he cares for and loves tubbo so much he'd do just about anything to protect him, including sacrificing grian and mumbo. but scar couldn't possibly do that when he cares for them so much. so he weaponizes the grim reaper, who doesn't care for anyone or anything besides getting the job done.

im genuinely just rambling here there's zero coherence to be found in any of this

“We figured we should take advantage of the peace while we can,"

wow youre really just pulling out all the stops to make this hurt as much as possible arent you

But even then… surely it wouldn’t take this long to heal. 

this is SOOOOO CONCERNING are you KIDDING ME???? MUMBO PLEASEEEEEEEEE YOU CANT DO THIS TO ME MAN😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

“Maybe we can come back tomorrow earlier.” 

i have you say you are incredible at setting the mood. having an idea of what's about to happen as a third party, watching it all unfold. grian and mumbo being right there and nearly getting to the truth, but not quite getting it because they trust scar. BECAUSE THEY TRUST SCAR!! grum and jrum being there adding to the innocence of it all and amplifying how unsettling scar's actions are. "maybe we can come back tomorrow" when there's not going to BE a tomorrow for them (assuming scar succeeds). it's so tense. it's so anxiety-inducing. it's such an intense sense of foreboding and it has my heart rate genuinely going up. infinite props to you.

He aims for Mumbo’s shoulder.

might be overthinking this but i hate that this implies the possibility that scar informed this assassin with ways to make the killing easier

He grits his teeth as he pulls another glyph from his pocket. He slams it between his hands, vines wrapping up around his arms.

GRIAN'S GLYPHS LETS GOOOOOOOOOOOO!! IT'S EVEN COOLER THAN ID IMAGINED HEHE

“Did you get hit at all?” He does a quick scan of the changeling for any injuries.

you're really making this hurt

“Dad!” the two boys cry, the word not registering to any of them in the moment. 

AAAAAAAAAA YOURE GONNA MAKE ME CRY STOP IT NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Blood splatters on the ground in thick drops, spilling in the grooves of the cobble path. 

i havent read ahead and i swear to god if this is grian sacrificing himself for mumbo and he turns around and sees grian's body on the pavement and screams "GRIAN!" and that's what the teaser was and that's how it ends my brain is going to be filled with unspeakable screaming until it gets confirmation that he's okay.

“GRIAN!”

I WASNT SUPPOSED TO BE RIGHT. I WASNT SUPPOSED TO HAVE GUESSED CORRECTLY. I WASNT. THAT WASNT. IM. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

IM. I HAVE NO WORDS. I HAVEN'T A SINGLE COHERENT SENTENCE. I AM JUST. WOW. IM. WHAT. NO. NO?????? NO. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

HFGJFHKFHGJFK WELL. HI LMAO

reading through all of this with a big grin because excitement and Also knowing what happens next >:3c I'd apologize about the teaser thing but I am Not sorry WHEEZE

but in regards to the scar stuff, you're 100% right, yeah, along with grian and mumbo. they're all flawed characters just trying to do the right thing with the cards they've been dealt. their best qualities are Easily their greatest weaknesses. and none of them realize it but y'know. that's what being human is all about! :D

aND THE GRIM REAPER YEAHHHH. I talk about it all the time but I genuinely love scar being the grim reaper. weaponizing it in this chapter. he's such an interesting character to both study and write

but !!!! very glad to see that the first bomb of three has landed appropriately! :D

[missyourflight]

some stuff i read and watched in december:

the buccanneers: never really hit the heights i wanted it to and most of the cast was not great! but kristine froseth is always watchable and kate winslet's daughter is darling, most importantly scotland doubling for cornwall was beaut. as ever god bless apple for spending money on nonsense

slow horses (s3): i don't know when river cartwright became my shit friend i'm unreasonably fond of but here we are! jack lowden v funny this season and i don't think it's just because i've decided he should be lymond in the billion dollar apple tv series that isn't happening and probably shouldn't bc who else is even blonde (harris dickinson?? i haven't seen the iron claw yet)

monarch: legacy of monsters: i started this and then due to my bad personality decided i had to watch all of the ~monsterverse for context, therefore godzilla december. strong threesome energy in the flashbacks, can't argue with wyatt and kurt russell playing the same character decades apart etc, love a disaster lesbian in crisis etc

~monsterverse interlude: most of these were silly, godzilla: king of the monsters was actively bad, godzilla vs. kong somehow my favourite due to the askars/rebecca hall (long beloved) combo plus all the neon. hollow earth let's go baby!

tokyo godfathers: loved this! love miracles in the city during the holiday season, love to listen to three different podcasts talking about the nuances of trans rep in subtitle translation etc

godzilla minus one: godzilla december! this one made me cryyy, the godzilla theme goes so unbelievably hard, cutest sweetest baby in the world, was incredibly happy to be emotionally manipulated by the endings etc

not going to get into all the christmas film rewatches but: coward's edit of the family stone (repeat the sounding joy!), crying at both little women 94 and little women 19 as per, moonstruck forever, bridget jones' diary colin firth the most sexually appealing colin firth 2 me etc

the wind rises: catching up with miyazaki before the boy and the heron and straight into my ghibli top 3, the love story stuff absolutely floored me

how to have sex: absolutely devastating god

the boy and the heron: very weird and beautiful and sad - saw the dub (robert pattinson you wonderful freak), seeing again with subs this week

jon krakauer, into thin air: a personal account of the everest disaster: i got about halfway through the first chapter and had to stop and ask my dad what the hell he was up to trekking to base camp on his own in the seventies. gripping, chilling, tragic

rose lerner, sailor's delight: rose lerner one of my favourite romance authors (true pretenses i love you forever etc), m/m age of sail romance set around the jewish high holidays with SO much longing and yearning my god

lizzie huxley-jones, make you mine this christmas: fun christmas romance - fake dating but she falls in love with the guy's sister! - that made me burst into tears like five pages in for reasons entirely unrelated to romance or christmas. a 2024 project for soph etc

barbra streisand, my name is barbra: did the audio version so even sped up i reckon i spent at least a full day and a half with barbra. as ever the parts about making things and artistic choices were the best parts, i respect her energy re: including every nice letter or compliment she ever received (my version of this would be reproducing nice ao3 comments etc). wild to me that she spent like 3 decades beefing with larry kramer trying to adapt the normal heart (with bradley cooper at one point lol) but i have to disagree with her impulse to tone down the gay sex to avoid alienating straight people!!

i am not here really but i was proud i managed to keep these little roundups going through the year so. happy new year friends

[galkyrie]

Jaytim at the beach maybe? :3c

Ooh practice for jaytim week, love it. This turned out...a bit hornier than I'd planned but WHATEVER here you go!

"Wow, the view is incredible today." Tim glanced up from his book briefly, trying not to radiate annoyance at the women setting up so close to his canopy on a private beach at an all-inclusive resort. If it was close enough that he had to hear them gossiping- it was too close.

He and Jason had wrapped up their undercover case two days early- he’d earned the right to be lounging on a stupidly plush daybed under a canopy without interruption from anyone but room service and his boyfriend. Not that his boyfriend had been interrupting much. He'd dragged them out early that morning to surf- apparently yet another hidden talent the man possessed- and had been out in the water the entire time. Tim had bowed out after their second break to reapply sunscreen- because he was not going to deal with a sunburn in the Red Robin suit, thank you- and had spent the rest of the morning picking at an exorbitantly expensive picnic spread and getting slightly tipsy on diluted bellinis. Bruce had already paid for the rest of the week, he might as well not let the money go to waste.

So four women plopping down beach loungers and cackling over mimosas loud enough to distract him from his best attempt at relaxation in years? Yeah, he was a little bit irked. He tried to find his place on the page again, popping a bite of melon into his mouth.

"That is some prime cut beefcake, right there." That caught his attention enough to get him glancing up to see what the big deal was- and promptly trying not to choke as he caught sight of Jason propping up his board further down the shore.

Well. It's not like they were wrong. Not when he was gently squeezing the saltwater from his curls, his arms flexing with the movement and glistening in the sun. He should probably put on more sunscreen. Tim would be more than happy to help.

“Think he’s an instructor?”

"I hope so. I could use some private lessons."

“I’d certainly let him tell me what to do.”

"Tell me what to do? I'd let him drown me." He laughed, unable to stop himself and earned a pointed look from the group openly ogling his boyfriend. It took him a moment to get a grasp on whatever threads of his composure remained after that.

"There a problem, sweetheart?" The blonde with a scathing southern accent asked with a raised brow.

"Nope- no problem. Enjoy the, uh…beefcake." She shot a baffled look back at him when he gave a thumbs up and returned to his book. Frankly, they could've sat further away from the canopy- though now he suspected they'd picked their spot for the view rather than privacy- if they didn't want him to hear them.

And hear them he did. He gave up on his book, opting instead to embrace eavesdropping and eating fruit. The conversation was a strange mix of a high school clique and a bachelorette party, evaluating every man that got within range of their viewing party and rating them against one another. It was gross, but Jason was winning. Some dumb part of him was proud of that. A larger part of him agreed wholeheartedly.

Jason looked good, his skin a sun-kissed hue that made the light smattering of freckles over his nose stand out. The salt water brought volume to those curls as they dried. Tim's fingers itched to run through them as he watched them lift in a light breeze. He moved with easy grace over the sand, muscles shifting and pulling in a tantalizing suggestion of power. He could absolutely understand the desire to lick the droplets of seawater off his pecs- even if he didn’t necessarily get the bonding experience of talking about doing such a thing to a stranger with his friends- and filed the more interesting comments away for later to take as suggestions.

The ladies fell quiet as Jason jogged up to the canopy, casting them a brief glance on his way before landing heavily on the daybed. Tim yelped as he was lifted off the cushion from the force of it, laughing as a strong arm wound around his waist and tugged him close. It wasn't exactly the greeting the petty, competitive part of him had been hoping for, but the brief glance at the surprised expressions was still satisfying.

"Babe- gross, you're wet!" Tim smacked at the damp arm trapping him against Jason’s still mostly wet chest- struggling both insincerely and futilely as a second arm snakes around his chest and hauls him closer. “Jay-”

“Shh Prettybird, I missed you.” Tim snorted, attempting to turn enough in his place to give Jason an unimpressed look.

“It's been a couple hours-"”

“-far too long for our honeymoon, in my opinion.” He did not need to have this conversation while strong-armed into being the little spoon. Especially since it currently gave him a view of the surreptitious glances being cast their way from a suddenly quiet group of women. Tim rolled his eyes and finally managed to wriggle to the point where he was laying on his back. Jason had been milking the cover- and the way the word alone made Tim flustered- for all it was worth. Tim had spent the week discovering he'd trip over himself to give Jason whatever he wanted when the words 'honeymoon' or 'husband' passed his lips- something Jason had caught onto quickly and used ruthlessly to his advantage.

“You’re the one who dragged us from bed at the ass-crack of dawn to surf instead of making use of that honeymoon suite.” Jason only hummed, leaning over him and plucking a grape from the tray. Tim rolled his eyes again at the unsurprising press of said grape against his lips, acquiescing with a sigh.

“You know- this tray looks like it was designed to be eaten after being in the ocean-” He murmured, ignoring Tim’s grumping as he picked up a sliced mango and repeated the process, this time letting his thumb linger against his bottom lip, “-tastes better with a little extra salt.” Tim flushed under the implication, tongue darting out to swipe at the pad of his thumb. His mind was suddenly very, very far away from the group sitting too close to their place or whatever conversation might be occurring as Jason repeated the process with each of his fingers on his free hand. Tim gave in to every unspoken request, watching Jason's eyes darken with rapt attention.

"You should eat something, too." He tried to regain some composure, grasping blindly at the tray, "you were out there twice as long as me-" Jason grabbed his wrist and dragged his hand into his field of vision, maintaining eye contact as he swiped the cut pineapple from his fingertips with a curl of his tongue. Tim's attempt at calm died a strangled noise in the back of his throat.

"I've got something in mind-" and he was hauling him up into his arms, abandoning the picnic and the scene behind them in favor of carrying him to their suite's beachfront door. Tim could hear the burst of chatter as they were deemed a safe subject of conversation- but couldn't bring himself to care as Jason pulled him into a kiss. He'd have to tell him about his popularity, Tim noted idly as he licked the tang of pineapple juice from the seam of his lips. Jason'd get a kick out of it- especially after he put all those creative ideas to good use.

[stormyoceans]

Did you see the cast's reaction to the trailer? Did you see how emotional they got? (cause same). Did you see backaof saying they're not gonna get together easily? (crying screaming throwing up) Did you see mark saying that backaof loves making us cry? (wbk mark-- we're already crying)

I am vibrating with EXCITEMENT. Also i keep thinking of the OST and i can't wait for it to be released! Aside from how beautiful it is-- i can already imagine myself putting it on repeat for months, i hope it gives us more scenes to dissect and analyze and obsess over lmao. I think it'll come out by next Wednesday? I hope sooner tho!

I DID SEE IT!!!!!!! AND TBH IM STILL TRYING TO COME TO TERMS WITH THE FACT THAT LIKE. WE'RE GETTING CONTENT??? WITH ALREADY AVAILABLE SUBTITLES??? AND THERE'S MORE TO COME WITH THE OST AND OTHER KIND OF PROMOTION??? IM SO NOT USED TO IT BUT WE'RE REALLY LIVING IN THE LAST TWILIGHT ERA NOW AND I COULD NOT BE HAPPIER

also i would love to comment the entire video but i feel like i still can't put any coherent thought together so here are some random considerations:

1) jimmysea are always so serious every time they have to watch the trailer for one of their series, we really never get much of a reaction out of them and for some reason i find that pretty endearing???? like they always put everything they have in what they do so of course they would concentrate on what they're watching so intently that they actually forget to comment or react;

2) WE LOVE MARK PARKIN NR. 1 JIMMYSEA SPOKESPERSON AND HYPE MAN;

3) i guess we could have imagined that morkday wouldn't get to be together so easily but actually hearing p'aof saying it....... MAIMING BITING GNAWING GNASHING KICKING SCREAMING. i love what mark said tho, that "despite all the drama, those two hold on tight to each other's hands and love". it makes me believe that, no matter the pain and the hardships, they will never let go, and that's what matters the most;

4) NAMTAN'S GOWN SUSPICIOUSLY LOOKS LIKE A WEDDING ONE SO I NEED TO REVISE MY ENTIRE THEORY ABOUT THE AIRPORT SCENE;

5) i have been waiting for doctor jimmy “unhinged method actor who is all about the process” jitaraphol potiwihok to make a come back and HE DID NOT DISAPPOINT

GUESS HE HAD SOME RESIDUAL ACTS OF SERVICE FROM MORK IN HIM. HE WAS SO PROUD OF SURPRISING SEA WITH THE ONE PALM DISTANCE AT THE END TOO

OKAY SORRY this is already so long and incredibly messy but GOD YES I CAN'T WAIT FOR THE OST TO BE RELEASED!!!!!!! i get chills every single time the song starts and it really contributed turning the trailer into the masterpiece that it is!!!!! idk if i should make any predictions at this point but one last clownery for old time's sake (i say as if i won't be clowning with theories every single week from now on): OST COMING OUT ON MONDAY LET'S GO!!!!!!!!

[actual-bill-potts]

hi! i just wanted to drop by and say, i think your last prompt fic rewired the chemistry in my brain. i've been rotating that interaction between finarfin and olwe in my mind for hours now. that's probably the best take i saw on them & and on why finarfin didn't return immediately after the first kinslaying. that was amazing and your writing is wonderful

also i'm in love with your "and all our towers cast down" fic, with your portrayal of finrod and his trauma, it's honestly fascinating

hope you're having a good day/night <3

omg tysm for this incredibly kind message!!!! it literally made my entire day. tbh i didn't expect much of a response to that ficlet bc it was such a struggle to write - Aegnor and Angrod are not characters I think about often and Alqualondë is so odd narratively to me bc it feels like it should be a major turning point for everyone but it kind of...isn't? So this was my best attempt at making it make sense in my own mind. I need to write a full meta post on the subject soon haha to put my thoughts in order. I'm so glad you liked it!! Though I don't really write about them much, Olwë and Finarfin are such interesting characters to me so I'm glad they came through properly.

And thank u so so much!! i have absolutely adored writing towers, it's so much fun to explore the character dynamics and really dive into leithian and make everyone's choices make more sense in my own brain. in my mind finrod's death is really what sealed the doom of nirnaeth, cuz politically fingon lost so much with finrod. so i am really looking forward to exploring the ramifications of his survival and how the events of tol-in-gaurhoth affected him. i really see his role in leithian as him finally snapping and being like I'm going to help this person I love no matter the cost. I've always headcanoned that a big part of the reason he went to middle earth was to support both the nolofinwions and his own people who loved feanor. and in middle-earth he's had to make the hard pragmatic choice so many times, between splitting from turgon pretty much forever, letting his brothers go to the front lines, sending balan's people to the front lines, constantly smoothing things over between the Fëanorions, the nolofinwions, the doriathrim, the bëorians, and the laiquendi, and at the point of leithian he's just seen so much of that work burst into flames around him and he basically pulls a fingolfin. he's like fuck what happens to me, fuck what happens to my kingdom: thingol is insane, two of my brothers are dead, pretty much all of balan's people that i worked so hard to help are dead except this one guy who is determined to go on a suicide mission. so im gonna help balan's descendant and no one can stop me.

But now he's survived and he's going to have to reckon with...all of that...with fingon who just lost his father to a similar impulse, and with orodreth, and with himself. and of course sauron's mind games didn't help him any. so he's in a pretty bad headspace right now and is going to have to deal with a lot of the losses he's just been shoving away and not looking at up until now.

Anyway sorry for the ramble! I'm just very passionate abt this project lol.

Also, I know you like Finarfin, and this ask made literally my whole entire day, so here's a Finarfin+Finrod snippet for you! I hope you enjoy <3

That morning, Arafinwë's eldest son does not so much walk into the dining room as swim. He is encased in layers upon layers of swishing fabric that billow before and after him, making it necessary to sway carefully to avoid tripping; his hair, loosed and straightened, falls nearly to his feet, and keeps tangling about his knees; and he looks inordinately proud of himself.

Arafinwë glances at Eärwen in bewilderment, wondering if wardrobe-related madness is a symptom among the Returned that he has forgotten about. She looks just as confused as he feels, if significantly more amused.

"Good morning, Finrod!" he says aloud. "Er - is there a special occasion?"

Finrod moves carefully to his chair, then sweeps his massive skirts behind him, swiftly moves the chair out, and sinks into it with a whoosh. He looks up cheerfully.

"Good morning, Atya, Ammë!" he says, beaming. "No special occasion - this is cultural. It is the latest in Vanyarin fashion!"

"Is it?" Arafinwë asks weakly. "It seems - difficult to move in."

"Oh, yes," Finrod responds, grinning even wider. The effect, in conjunction with the sparkling, billowing skirts and tangled hair, is nearly blinding. "That's the point, you see! It is intended to emulate the care with which the Valar must move, encased in the forms they take to walk among us. I thought the idea was fascinating. And the fabrics they use are so beautiful!"

"Ah - that is indeed interesting," Arafinwë responds, wondering who among his mother's people he will have to take aside later for a quick word on not telling Finrod about Vanyar fads. "Surely it is not intended to go out in...?"

"Oh, but of course it is!" Finrod says. "I plan to go out to market as soon as we are done breakfasting, to experience the full effect. Would you like to come? It could be quite interesting."

"Alas, your mother and I must hold court soon after breakfast, and cannot join," Arafinwë says without much regret.

"You must tell us about the experience, though!" Eärwen chimes in, sounding as if she is suppressing laughter.

"Ah, very well," Finrod says cheerfully; and after he has breakfasted he does indeed rise carefully - barely snatching his garment away from the remnants of jelly on his plate before it can be stained - and swim out of the room.

Eärwen and Arafinwë look at each other and burst into laughter.

"The skirts!" Eärwen gasps, "The folds! It will take him an hour to exit the palace!"

"Oh dear," Arafinwë says at last, wiping his eyes. "Oh dear. Was he like this before?"

"He was!" Eärwen exclaims. "Do you remember, he used to creep into your father's closet and try on his best robes? Then he would swan about the halls, trying not to trip."

"I had forgotten," Arafinwë admits, a smile curving his lips, "but you are quite right. He always did love beautiful clothing. I only hope that his pursuit of high Vanyarin fashion will not send him home with a broken collarbone."

"It is so good to have our son home," Eärwen says abruptly. "Our children gave me such joy. I had nearly forgotten."

Arafinwë reaches across the table to take her hand. "It is," he agrees. The image of Finrod leaving the room, having to angle his hips to fit through the door and bundling his hair about himself so as not to trip, floats across his mind and he chuckles again. "Do you remember when bustles were all the rage, and Artanis got caught on a turn of the stairway? She was furious."

Eärwen's laughter is a welcome peal, more light of heart than he had heard in years. "As I recall, it was Finrod who convinced her of their merits in the first place."

"She did not take his advice on fashion again, after that!" Arafinwë agrees. He cannot stop smiling as he begins to gather up the breakfast things and neaten his own robes. It feels as if his heart is singing within him: Our son is home. He is home. He is home!

[gaeasun]

Ok I have watched both episodes of Ahsoka so gonna make a list of pros and cons. will be much more serious cons than serious pros. Not spoiler free!

pros first:

there is a very cute loth-cat. adorable. stole my heart. best live action tooka creature so far.

All or most of the human casting and portrayal was very spot on. Ryder was great and so nice to hear a familiar voice, Sabine was good, also chopper was spot on in everything.

actually all of the droids carried the humor for the episodes. very funny.

the lightsabers look and sound cool.

the non-lightsaber fight was good (and by that i mean sabine kicking around those droids)

SABINE DOES NOT HAVE THE FORCE THANK GOODNESS WAS REALLY WORRIED THERE

sabines art skills are relevant. love it.

yeah thats it i think. sry if you were here as an optimist.

Cons:

NO REX WHERE IS HE

they've got to stop stabbing people with lightsabers without killing them. star wars medicine was already inconsistent, this is pushing it.

where is jacen syndulla. If ahsoka is going to take an apprentice why not him? WHY SABINE THAT MAKES SO LITTLE SENSE.

yeah going on that again. she was training to be a jedi without force. BUT WHY. Sabine has always been a Mandalorian, shes been so proud and happy to be a Mandalorian. she literally threw that away to be a jedi. she hid her armor and grew out her hair and there was no mention of her Mandalorian family? the one she reconciled with?

the casting for hera and ahsoka is not good, the makeup and prosthetics are worse than that, but worst of all they do not actually sound like the characters at all! going into those in detail:

ahsoka and hera just do not have the face shape of their counterparts. i do get that it can be difficult since no one has anime eyes that big. but the face shapes look wrong and every time i look at them it doesnt look or feel like im watching beloved characters brought to life

the prosthetics and the makeup on hera and ahsoka look like either that department got a pittance or they just didnt care that much. even simple details that wouldn't effect stuntwork. like the circle patterns on Hera's lekku, or like how Hera's lips are much too dark and Ahsoka's are much too light. Ahsoka and heras head-tails are way to short as well. if you want to explain it with stunt reasons, than why are heras so short as well? also somehow there is zero texture on hera's lekku, but Ahsoka's look like an old rubber hose that shriveled up? and her montrals are so short and point backwards. if the people making this show are going to take such beloved characters and put them in irrevocable media, these details should have been figured out! if it wasnt feasible than they should never have made it live action in the first place.

the actors for ahsoka and hera do not sound like them. i dont mean their voices sound the exact same, but i mean the inflection and the wordings sound nothing like the animation. a good actor should try to mimic that but it wasnt done. ahsoka especially had such emphatic and varying tone in clone wars and rebels, while live action ahsoka sounds like shes trying to win the stoic master of the year award.

ahsoka apparently learned an entire new lightsaber style! because she only held her lightsabers in reverse grip one. time. and also when she was a kid she was flipping circles and cartwheeling and handspringing and theres none of that here. if yoda can do it in 2008 they can figure out a way for her to do it too

listen. ahsoka has gone through way too much character development to be constantly looking like she doesnt know what shes doing. shes struggling too much in fights, and she doesnt seem to understand sabine at all. she has been a very strong character in the past, and this is because she has gone through many experiences that gave her incredible development.

the plot does not make sense. how on earth does an ancient device know where thrawn went? why is this connected to the dathomirians? are they going to bother explaining this? probably not.

[aurumacadicus]

Sincerely, Yours (Chapter 10)

No under the cut we die like men. Blacklist long post if you don’t want to see it. Enjoy!

--

Steve hadn’t left much of a mess from cooking, which Tony privately thought didn’t bode well for him. He hadn’t quite gotten the hang of cleaning as he went while Jarvis was teaching him. Jarvis had assured him that once he got more confident at timing how long it took to prepare things and got a sense of how long they cooked that he’d be able to get dishes scrubbed in between. Tony wasn’t so sure. He hadn’t gotten to practice as much as he would have liked, especially since Jarvis just sort of naturally started cleaning up after him like he’d always done. He was worried about showing Steve how messy he was when he cooked. Steve had said he would be patient as Tony learned the new territory, but Tony wasn’t too keen on showing just how skilled he wasn’t in the kitchen.

Tony pushed the worry to the back of his mind. He was here. They were married. Steve was stuck with him, if he allowed himself to be uncharitable about it. He decided not to be uncharitable, though, because Steve had been incredibly welcoming, gracious almost to a fault, and he’d said they should be patient with each other as they learned how to live together. Besides, Steve’s stove looked a lot different from the one that Tony had done all his practicing on. He bent down next to it and reached out for the latch on the oven door, pausing when he felt warmth against his fingers. Cast iron retained heat for a long time, he remembered suddenly. Steve had used it to cook, and it was still warm. He wondered if Steve kept a fire going the entire time that he was home. It reminded him of the potbelly stove that Ana had talked about when reminiscing about her past, that had warmed her whole house during the winter back in Hungary.

Tony continued on to the deep sink, setting his plate in and then setting his hands on the earthenware edge. It was a simple sink, flat, no decoration. It was charming, though, in its own way—nothing like the copper one back at the mansion. He looked at the pump, considering, then reached out and carefully gave it two hard pumps.

Nothing happened. Tony wondered if it would be too dramatic to panic about breaking the pump Steve had been so proud of.

“You need to pump it a few more times before the water starts coming out,” Steve said behind him.

Tony spun around with a squeak, leaning back against the sink. “Steve!”

“Sorry,” Steve said, and he sounded sincere, but there was a smile tugging at his lips.

Tony was used to sneers, though, or mean smiles that didn’t reach judgmental eyes. At least from alphas. Steve’s smile reminded him of Ana’s, when she was teasing him, or Jarvis, when he was trying to keep from fondly rolling his eyes. Tony found himself relaxing before he realized it, his own mouth spreading into a hesitant smile.

“I put the pump in later,” Steve added, motioning at the pump. “Didn’t think I’d be able to get it to work by myself. So, I built the house how I wanted. If I’d planned the pump, I would’ve put the kitchen closer to the well. It’s a ways off though, so it takes a few more pumps than you’d expect to get water.” He waved at the pump. “Give it another go.”

“Okay,” Tony said, turning back to the pump. He pumped the lever four, five, six times, and then water poured out the spout. He couldn’t help the smile it brought to his face as it splashed over his plate at the bottom of the sink. It was charming, in a way. “It’ll help me get an arm workout, if nothing else,” he offered, turning back to Steve. He blinked when he saw Steve was empty-handed. “Didn’t you say you were going to milk a cow?”

Steve opened his mouth, then closed it again, tilting his head. “I didn’t—oh, my note,” he remembered belatedly. “Yeah, I went to milk the cow.”

Tony stared at him, wondering how to ask his question without sounding like an asshole. Finally, he figured he’d just go for it. “Where’s the milk?”

Steve opened and closed his mouth again, then rubbed the back of his head, eyes darting to the window over the sink before they returned to meet Tony’s. “There was… an incident.”

“…An incident,” Tony repeated slowly.

Steve coughed, crossed his arms, then let them drop again, as if realizing it could be seen as threatening. “Well, there—there was a hoof.”

Tony raised his eyebrows, bewildered. “Okay?”

Steve crossed his arms again, shoulders sagging with a long, defeated sigh. “I didn’t give her my full attention, so she took the chance to kick at me, and I lost the whole bucket of milk. She’s a handful even on the best of days. She’s especially ornery because she’s running dry.”

“Running dry?” Tony repeated faintly, frowning. He’d never heard of such a thing. Then again, he’d never thought much about cows. Still didn’t, now that he knew most of Steve’s herd was off for sale. He’d figured he’d have plenty of time to learn more over the winter.

Steve tilted his head, squinting a little. “Um, bare bones explanation… Cows produce milk when they calf. After the calf is weaned, they’ll still produce for a while, but eventually the milk runs dry.”

“Forever?” Tony asked, then paused, wondering if he should feel stupid. He found himself bracing for an eyeroll or sigh, like the alphas back home would respond with when he tried to ask questions about their work.

“Well, until the next calf,” Steve replied with a shrug, which didn’t make him feel stupid at all. “Then she’ll produce milk again. Some people keep multiple cows to keep a steady supply, but I don’t use much milk. She’s an old gal that I foolishly named.”

Tony tilted his head. “Why is naming her foolish?”

“If you name a cow, you get attached to the cow,” Steve sighed. It sounded like he was repeating someone. “And if you get attached to the cow, you can’t bring yourself to butcher the cow.” He looked at Tony for a moment, then quietly added, “Her name’s Peggy because she kicked me as a calf, and it reminded me of a gal back in New York who punched me when she thought I was gettin’ fresh with her.”

The laugh passed through Tony’s lips before he even registered it was going to happen. Steve didn’t look upset about it, though—resigned, maybe. A little amused, too. He found himself relaxing. He hadn’t even realized he’d been winding tighter with anxiety, remembering all of the times Obadiah and Ezekiel had dismissed him as an idiot. Steve made him feel at ease. He made him feel like he wasn’t stupid for asking, just curious, like Jarvis and Ana and Jan.

Steve was kind, and patient, and had a sense of humor that didn’t come at the expense of others. It made him feel hopeful.

“Maybe Peggy needs an omega’s touch,” Tony said, turning to begin pumping water again.

“Well, I’ll show you how to milk her,” Steve offered, even though he sounded unenthused. “But I think she’s just mean. One time she chased me out of the barn.”

“I can’t imagine you being chased out of anywhere,” Tony mused. Steve was tall, and broad. Sturdy, they would have politely called him back home.

“She bit a hole in the seat of my pants,” Steve said morosely, and Tony let out another bark of laughter.

.-.

Steve took him back out to the barn at Tony’s insistence after showing him how he did the dishes. He’d done most everything already—the horses were ‘pasture horses,’ apparently, and he’d only kept them in the barn overnight to keep an eye on them after the ride out of town yesterday, since they weren’t usually used to pull wagons. He’d fed them a bucket of grain, sent them out to pasture, then turned his attention to Peggy, who was still in a stall.

“Maybe she doesn’t need an omega’s touch,” Tony agreed as Steve led him over to her. She stamped her front hooves and snorted in a way that made him slow to a stop behind Steve before he reached her. “She looks angry.”

“That’s just her face,” Steve said cheerfully, reaching over the door to pat her on her forehead.

Tony watched him yank his hand back when she snapped her teeth at it. “If you say so,” he answered. He didn’t believe him, but it would be impolite to say it to Steve’s face, he figured. “She has a baby somewhere?”

“A calf, yeah,” Steve replied, walking over to grab a pitchfork. “It’s about eight months old. I put it out to pasture with the other cows.”

“Eight months? That’s still a baby,” Tony said, following him. “What are we doing?”

“I am mucking the stalls Brownie and Pokey were in. You are sitting and asking me questions,” Steve answered.

Tony scowled. “I can help!”

“You’ll have plenty of time to help later,” Steve told him patiently. “In fact, I’ll put Brownie and Pokey up in the barn again tonight so we can go out riding tomorrow, so you can muck them then. I haven’t fed the chickens yet though, and the ladies get cranky when I’m late, so I’d like to hurry through this today.”

Tony opened his mouth, then closed it again. He fidgeted for a few seconds, then hesitantly asked, “That’s all?”

Steve paused, pitchfork full of used hay halfway to the wheelbarrow he’d set up beside the stall doors. For a moment, he just looked at Tony, considering. Finally, though, he answered, “That’s all. Tony, I’m not gonna tell you no just for the sake of saying no.”

Tony flushed against his will, dropping his eyes to the ground. He didn’t know why he felt embarrassed, other than that it wasn’t Steve’s fault he’d been conditioned to believe that every alpha thought he was weak and stupid back home and treated him according to that expectation, regardless of whether he tried to insist that he wasn’t either of those things. It was wrong to push those expectations onto Steve. Steve had done nothing to deserve it—had been nothing but kind, accommodating, and concerned for his comfort on the ranch. He was the one being pushy.

“Tony,” Steve said gently, and he must have set the pitchfork aside, because his hands were coming up to rest on Tony’s shoulders. “Will you look at me?”

He hadn’t even heard Steve approach. Tony couldn’t bring himself to look up at him, though. He felt too embarrassed. Too ashamed. He couldn’t have looked up at Steve even if Jarvis had been there telling him to. He turned his head, attempting to shake it, but lost the will halfway through.

“That’s okay,” Steve said, voice softening. “You don’t have to look at me. I’ll just talk, okay?” He waited, but Tony couldn’t bring himself to do anything to answer, too scared he wouldn’t be able to swallow down the lump in his throat. “Okay,” Steve repeated quietly. “Tony, I know you want to learn about your new life here. You want to be able to help. But Tony… it’s your second day here. Your first one, if we’re counting full daylight. You don’t hafta learn everything in one day. You have plenty of time.”

Tony swallowed thickly, trying to figure out how to respond in a way that wouldn’t come across as selfish. Finally, he whispered, “I don’t want to be a burden to you.”

“Tony, you’re not going to be a burden,” Steve answered immediately. He paused for a moment, then quietly added, “I don’t want you to ever feel like you are. You’re not a burden for not knowing things.”

“I had so many things I wanted to learn before I came here,” Tony said, finally looking back up at him. He blinked back the heat in his eyes with a sniff. “I wanted to be prepared, but I ruined all of it because I couldn’t keep my mouth shut. Steve,” he added, voice cracking. “I didn’t even get to learn how to make pound cake for you.”

“Oh,” Steve gasped, like it had been punched out of him. He lifted a hand to cover his mouth, stricken, then dropped it back to Tony’s shoulder, pulling him in closer, not quite chest-to-chest, but enough that Tony could feel the warmth radiating off of him. “Oh, Tony. I’m so sorry.”

“Why?” Tony croaked, because he honestly had no idea why Steve would be. He was the one having to teach him everything, not the other way around.

Steve’s fingers tightened around his shoulders before he let his hands drop, curling his arms around Tony’s back until he could pull him into an embrace. It was loose. Tony could have broken free of it if he really wanted to. He doubted Steve would have forced him to stay in his arms even if he held tighter, though.

Tony leaned in, burying his face in Steve’s shoulder with a hitch of breath he refused to call a sob. His hands came up to clench the back of Steve’s shirt in shaking fingers, too afraid to embrace him back fully. Too afraid Steve would push him away.

“I’m sorry,” Steve repeated into his hair, soft, as if Tony might shove him away if he was too loud, run and never look back. “Oh, Tony. I keep talking about how brave you’ve been, how brave you are. You’ve done everything you could to get here safely and in one piece. Sweetheart, now you get a chance to rest.”

Tony’s breath hitched again, and this time he allowed himself to call it what it was—a sob. “What?”

“You’re safe now, Tony,” Steve told him, louder, voice firm with conviction. “I’m not gonna let anyone hurt you or take you away. You’re not running away from someone who’s going to hurt you anymore, because I’m gonna protect you.” He leaned back, hand coming up to brush the backs of his fingers along Tony’s chin, urging him to lift his head to look at him again. “Take a breath, sweetheart,” Steve told him gently. “You’ve been carrying such a heavy load, all by yourself, for such a long time. Please let me help you carry it.” He paused, then added, “Please. Let your husband help you carry it.”

Tony stared up at him, struck speechless. Maybe that was for the best, though, because the lump in his throat had become unbearable. He couldn’t possibly swallow it down anymore. Steve was right—he’d been so afraid, so anxious, for such a long time. He didn’t think he knew how not to be, anymore. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d slept through the night without fear that Obadiah would be announcing his marriage to Ezekiel the next day, or that he’d be told he was penniless, and he’d need to move out of his parents’ mansion and depend on his friends for support. He couldn’t remember not feeling ashamed when he had to ask for help, feeling like a burden despite all his friends telling him he wasn’t one, that he’d do the same for them if the situations were reversed.

“I don’t know how,” Tony whispered, ashamed.

“I’ll help you,” Steve promised, and somehow it seemed more tender and reverent than any of their wedding vows. He smiled a little, stroking the backs of his fingers over Tony’s jaw before he added, “And I’ll start… by telling you to take a long, deep breath.”

Tony sucked in a breath, uncertain how ‘long’ or ‘deep’ it really was. It felt shaky, more than anything, and while he did feel the lump in his throat shrink with it, he felt his eyes burn more. He almost choked. He held his breath for a moment, feeling nauseous.

“Let it out, sweetheart,” Steve said gently, and Tony exhaled in a puff of air followed by a choked off cough, then a sob, and another. Steve pulled him into his chest again, holding him tight. “There you go. There you go, Tony.”

Tony buried his face in Steve’s shirt, each sob feeling like it was loosening something hard and sharp in his chest. His grip on Steve’s shirt tightened until his fingers were sore; he was certain his knuckles would be white, if he looked at them. His knees were shaking, and he couldn’t help but lean more of his weight on Steve, feeling like he was falling apart.

“I’ve got you,” Steve said, like a promise—like a certainty. “I’ve got you, Tony. You’re safe now, and I’m never gonna let anything happen to you. You’ve gone through enough.”

“Steve,” Tony murmured, feeling hollowed out. But he also felt like he could be filled with something better, now, like he was making more room inside himself for the hope he’d been feeling all the way from New York.

All the way to Steve.

Tony let out another sob, and Steve tightened his arms around him, and held him until even after the roosters started crowing irritably.

.-.

Steve sent him back up to the house once he finished crying. He did it gently, with so much care that Tony figured he looked as bad as he felt—wrung out, exhausted, and surprisingly sore. Tony couldn’t bring himself to argue, too tired. But… not a bad kind of tired, he thought. Like he’d cried out everything that had been wearing on him, from the day his parents had died to the day he stepped off the train in Chicago and received Steve’s telegram that welcomed him with open arms, ‘come at once, I’ll be waiting.’

Tony found himself sagging onto one of the easy chairs, too tired to go up the stairs back to his room. He felt like he should be there when Steve came in, too, like sequestering himself away would be giving the wrong impression. He wanted to see Steve, to talk to him. He… wasn’t embarrassed for having cried, like he thought he might be.

He could still hear Steve’s words ringing in his ears. Let me help you. I’ve got you. You’re safe now. He couldn’t… remember the last time someone had said that to him. Or at least, the last time someone had said it and meant it. He let his eyes slide across the wall, taking in the framed sketches, the shelves full of knickknacks he hadn’t yet gotten a chance to examine closely.

Then his eyes landed on the portrait of Sarah Rogers. He stared at her, taking in her soft smile, the wrinkles at the corners of her eyes. She had raised an amazing child into an amazing man, he decided. He wished desperately that he’d gotten the chance to meet her. Her portrait made her look approachable. Kind. Patient. Just like Steve.

Tony stood again, walking over to look up at her properly. She looked so small in the picture. He wondered if that was because of her illness, or if she was just petite. He tried to imagine her forcing someone as big as Steve to put a bar of soap in his mouth and couldn’t help a giggle at the image it drew up, especially with the knowledge that he was still apparently haunted by the specter of a mother who would beat him with a wooden spoon if he brought his intended omega he hadn’t wed into his house. He felt a pang of homesickness—his parents had had one portrait done together, when he was a baby. It had been hung in the library. He wondered if he’d ever see it again. At least Sarah Roger’s kind smile was here to bring him comfort, though. It made him feel at ease, a little.

It was a pity that Steve didn’t want to paint anymore, he thought. He had a fine hand at it. But, he supposed he could understand losing passion after a parent died—he’d been unable to leave his bed for weeks after his own parents’ funeral, never mind going out to buy the latest science journals to read or tinkering in his father’s lab. At least Steve still had it in him to sketch things.

Tony heard a throat clearing and turned, surprised, to find Steve standing in the door of the kitchen. “Steve?”

“I thought you might be resting, so I didn’t want to disturb you,” Steve admitted, rubbing the back of his head as he stepped further into the dining room. “I, um. I fed the chickens. And gathered the eggs. I thought you might… like that time to yourself. How are you feeling?”

Tony opened his mouth, then closed it again, really thinking about how he felt. “I don’t know,” he finally said, shrugging a little. “Empty, mostly.”

“Well, you cried hard enough I’m surprised you have any moisture left in your body at all,” Steve mused. He came closer, assured, at least, that Tony wasn’t going to fall to pieces again in the next few minutes. “Normally around this time, I’d grab a quick lunch and pack a snack, then I’d go out on the range, check for signs of people riding through or the cows acting strange, but I think we should stick close to home for the day instead. That sound alright to you?”

“You don’t have to stay on my account,” Tony rushed to assure him. “I can stay here by myself! Don’t let me stop you from doing what you need to.”

Steve coughed and lifted his hand to rub the back of his head, looking a little embarrassed. “I, uh, I mostly did it to get away from the house. I mean, I can go, if you want more time to yourself, of course!”

Tony remembered what Steve had said in his letter—It’s lonely out here. It would be nice to come home to someone. And those words, crossed out, that Tony had held up to the light to see when he was alone—I get very lonesome. I’m almost certain that this solitude is killing me. How sad, that he had this lovely house, that he’d built with his own two hands, and no one to share it with.

“Well,” he said carefully. “We could… stay in. Surely, we should get used to the other’s company.” He paused, then added, “And… maybe we can make lunch together.”

“Yes,” Steve rushed to say, then blushed. He rubbed the back of his head again, then seemed to realize just how long his arm had been in the air and dropped it, eyes falling to the floor as he let out a nervous little hum. “That sounds good. Great! I meant it sounds great. I can teach you how to use the stove and oven.”

“Oh, good,” Tony said, expertly ignoring his fumble. He began toward the kitchen. “It’s much different than the one I learned on. Am I meant to keep the wood burning all day?”

“It’s not such a big deal if you don’t during the summer. Just bank fire back up and it should get hot enough in no time,” Steve answered, turning to following him. His hand came to hover at the small of Tony’s back, then lifted to push the door open ahead of him instead. “In the winter, though, we’ll wanna keep the fires going. We don’t get a lot of snow, but it gets cold. I’ll be here to help, though.” His voice took on a more amused tone. “Winters are the easiest part of ranching. We just wait for the cows to birth the next herd.”

“Oh,” Tony said, coming to a stop in the middle of the kitchen. “I suppose that makes sense. What should we make for lunch?”

Steve came to a stop beside him. He crossed his arms, giving a low hum of thought. Finally, he glanced down at Tony, a glint in his eye that Tony recognized from every time Jan had had an idea that got them into just enough mischief that they earned a light scolding if they were caught and not a real boxing of ears. “What would your Jarvis have to say about eating dessert before lunch?”

Tony couldn’t help the thrill that went through him at the idea of breaking a rule, even though he was an adult and there was no way Jarvis would ever know about it. A smile came to his lips that he couldn’t have hoped to bite back. “He’d certainly never allow it.”

“I fear my mother would say the same. Luckily, neither of them are here. So, what do you say we wait for lunch… and instead we make a pound cake?”

Tony blinked up at him in surprise. Then what Steve said actually registered, and he couldn’t help but brighten up, excited at the prospect. “Okay!”

.-.

Pound cake was an astoundingly simple recipe—a pound each of flour, sugar, eggs, and butter. It was mostly the oven that Tony had trouble with, but Steve had assured him that the more he used it, the more he would get a feel for it.

The cake had turned out nice. Nothing like the sponge cakes Jarvis made back home, or the delicate chiffon cakes that were served at parties. It didn’t set heavy in his gut, though, especially with the strawberries Steve had cut up and spread on top of each slice. ‘This is my favorite dessert because you can top it with any fruit in season,’ Steve had explained as he’d grabbed an extra slice to sop up the juices on his plate. Tony had taken that as permission to take a second piece and do the same. It was kind of a plain cake, once all the fruit was gone, but he liked the bits along the edge that were brown and crunchy.

Steve had gone out to try and get Brownie and Pokey back in the barn, so that they could just saddle them up after taking care of the chores in the morning. He said it might take a while, though; apparently Pokey was a very obstinate horse, which was why Steve would be riding him. It was also why Steve had said it could take him a while to round them up, so there was no reason to wait up for him. He’d probably have to take a bath after, anyway, and he’d be going straight from the stream to his room.

Tony took the time to do the dishes. He’d watched the way that Steve had cleaned as he went as they made the cake, and it gave him an idea of how to do so himself. It probably wouldn’t be perfect until he figured out the best way to work the oven and stove, but it would be a start. Steve still wasn’t back by the time he was drying the last plate and putting it away, though, so he nosed around until he found a linen closet. He dug through it until he found a towel, because he hadn’t seen Steve take one with him. Come to think of it, he hadn’t seen Steve take a change of clothes with him either.

“…Well, maybe he has spares in the barn,” Tony decided. It wasn’t implausible. He didn’t know a lot about the ranch yet. Maybe he even had a spare towel in the barn. Tony stared at the one he’d grabbed for a moment, then shrugged, instead walking over to hang it on the doorknob outside. If Steve didn’t use it, he’d just put it back, wouldn’t he?

Tony turned to head upstairs to bed, deciding not to bother with a bath when they were going out riding tomorrow. He’d just use the wash basin again to freshen up; he hadn’t done anything strenuous that day except cry, and he’d fixed that with a quick splash of water from the pump in the kitchen. He paused when he noticed the paper and pen still sitting out on the little table of a secretaire near Steve’s room. That must have been where he wrote his letter that morning, Tony thought fondly. He took a step up the stairs, then paused again.

Well. Steve hadn’t said how long he’d be gone. Tony wasn’t quite ready to sleep. And Steve had said he could use any of his stationery for correspondence. If Steve came in while he was writing his letter, he could always just hand it right to him and hurry up to bed. He came back down the stairs and turned the nearest lamp up a little, then walked over to the secretaire, carefully pulling the chair sitting nearby to the table.

Tony couldn’t help but smile a little at the thought that Steve must have done this too, when he’d been writing his correspondence to him. He remembered what Steve had said, baskets full of scratched out attempts at letters. He imagined Steve bent over the table of his secretaire, balled-up pieces of paper surrounding him as he worked on his best version of his newest letter, late into the night, as he tried to find the perfect words.

He hadn’t, not really. He’d had to cross out swears, and struggled through keeping a conversation going when he wasn’t necessarily good at it, and had tiptoed around the reason for their correspondence until Tony had come out and asked outright what his intentions were. But he’d also sent him sketches that Tony would have framed if he could without Obadiah asking about them, and had sent him a little card with a smear of light yellow on it as his favorite color, and had told him the type of soap his mother had used to wash his mouth out as a child. Tony couldn’t imagine Steve writing anything else, and he loved the letters he’d received, faults and all.

Tony pulled a piece of paper close and looked at Steve’s pen, surprised to find that it was the old-fashioned kind, the ones that had to be dipped in an inkpot. For a moment, he worried he wouldn’t be able to write with it, and he should hurry and get his fountain pen out of his bag. However, after a nervous ‘dear,’ he found himself getting the hang of it, and his ‘Steve’ looked quite normal. Hopefully, Steve would be willing to overlook it.

Dear Steve,

    I’d like to apologize for being pushy, today. I understand now that I was trying to do too much, too soon. I’m pretty sure you won’t accept my apology, though, so I guess I’ll just say… thank you for understanding. A lot has happened to me in a short amount of time, and I think I’m just now coming to terms with all of it. I think I have a few good cries in me left to go, honestly. I think I’ll do those in private, though. It’s not that I don’t trust you, of course, it’s just that there’s only so much embarrassment a person can take at once, you know? Especially when you’ve spent so long being told you’re overreacting, or hysterical, or stupid. You were the first alpha who didn’t treat me like I was being any of those things. You’re the first alpha who made me feel truly safe in a long time.

    Aside from that, today was really nice. Breakfast was good, and I loved making the pound cake together. I wish I’d thought to grab my book of notes so I could write down some of your tips, though. Perhaps we can make another pound cake together soon, and I’d remember to bring my notebook down. Maybe we could go through it together, and you could pick a recipe for me to make for you. Or, maybe we could make it together, too? It was fun, being in the kitchen together. I’ll miss that when you have to take more work on again. Hopefully I’ll be more confident in the kitchen then, though, and I’ll have plenty of good meals for you to come home to.

    I’m looking forward to tomorrow, too. I’ll try to do better and listen to you when you want me to slow down. I can’t promise I’ll always be good at it. It will be a learning experience for both of us. Maybe you can wake me so we can make breakfast together? I’ll need to learn how to use that stove to cook eggs eventually. Maybe we can even make a picnic lunch to eat on our ride. Perhaps the pound cake will travel well.

    I’ll see you in the morning, Steve. Rest well. I hope Pokey didn’t cause you too much trouble.

Sincerely,

Tony

Tony found an envelope and slipped the letter inside of it, then looked around, wondering where to put it where Steve would be sure to see. Eventually, he decided on just setting it carefully on top of the doorknob to his room. It took some finagling, but eventually he got it pretty secure. Pleased, he turned down some of the lamps, leaving just enough light that Steve could see to relight them if he wanted, then went upstairs. He wondered if he’d sleep as well that night as he had before. A lot had happened that day, after all.

He heard the door open and paused, wondering if he should go back and say goodnight to Steve. Then he heard the sound of bare feet hurrying across the floor, and he couldn’t help but back up a few steps and look down the stairs.

Steve was rushing across the room in nothing but the towel Tony had left for him. Tony found himself staring against his will, mouth dropping open. Somehow, he’d never considered how muscular Steve must have looked under his clothes, having simply stopped himself at acknowledging Steve had muscular arms and he liked holding them. It looked like his muscles had muscles. He was truly built like a triangle. He was also still a little damp. He watched a bead of water roll down Steve’s back as he stopped to snatch up the letter Tony had left for him.

He let go of the towel to rip the letter open. Tony saw the way it hung loose around Steve’s hips without his hand holding it up and turned to throw himself into his room with a muffled squawk, hoping Steve was too focused on the letter to hear it.

[auditect]

Hey Three things

I love that you do older Star Wars comic dubs! I only have these comics in digital because no matter how hard I look I can’t find the paper comics. I’ve had people from three separate comic book stores say that Star Wars and marvel fans refuse to part with their comics so that’s why 😂

Dude the voice dubs you do are great! I listened to Sings dub first that’s how I found your channel the one with Torgo Tahn and the anzati school

I just watched the Quinlan Vos one with Aayla also with Volfe Karkoo! Great voice acting! From a great cast. Now this is just me putting my opinion, I still loved what you did. However Volfe Karkko threw me off. Because knowing that anzati have spent their lives tailoring themselves for the hunt I mean they have minor shape shifting abilities to change facial features and eye color for crying out loud which is cool 😂 I’ve just always imagined Volfe with being so old that he’s tailored his voice and it being anything other than smooth, almost like the deceiving calm before the storm messed with me. I’ve always thought like Lion King original Scars voice, Loki, or Bram stokers Dracula without the accent. But like I said even with the voice throwing me off it was great, I could tell the work and dedication you and the other voice actors put in and even if Volfe’s voice didn’t line up with what I thought the voice actor still did an amazing job and I hope you all are proud of your work!😄 I hope my input wasn’t offensive and if it was I really do apologize 😓

Hello, thank you for the message! I'm so glad you enjoy the hard work of my team and I!

Depending on what language you want to read the comics in, there might be reprints availible to you. If you want them in english, most of the comics I dub can be found in the "Star Wars Legends Epic Collection" by Marvel.

The one with Aurra Sing and her days in the Anzati School is one I'm especially proud of because I did compose a whole new soundtrack for that one. I've also been hired to compose new music for a different Star Wars project recently, and I intend to reuse that one for my dubs as well.

It's alright you disagree with me on Volfe's voice, and you're entitled to your own headcanon as to what he should sound like. Nontheless, his voice is still one of my favourite parts of the dub and it might still make for an interesting discussion to explain how he ended up with the voice he has now.

As I haven't watched either the Lion King, Brian Stoker's Dracula or anything from the MCU, I am afraid I might not entirely understand your imagination for how he should sound, but if you are saying he should have a calmer and more harmless voice, I respectfully disagre. That sort of voice is what I gave the villians who make more of a secret about their evil intents, such as the Gran Protectorate, or villians who are more outwardly charismatic such as Iaco Stark (who hasn't appeared yet but all of his dialogue has been recorded already).

When it comes to villiany, Volfe Karkko does not beat around the bush, he's an ancient vampiristic alien with a lightsaber, the ability to shoot lightning and a thirst for brains. He's pure evil and I wanted him to have a voice that makes him as terrifying as he needs to be.

Now, one of my favourite voiceover jobs that I did for someone else was in 2017 when I joined the cast of the YouTube webseries known as Dragon Ball Absalon. There, I had the incredible honor of voicing alongside an actor named Roy Bunales, who performed the voice of my character's boss; Captain Horenzo, and I was immediately amazed by the deep, commanding presence his voice brought to his character. In other words, this is a voice actor I've been a fan of even before I did comic dubs.

So you can imagine my exitement when Roy did agree to join the cast of my comic dub series! Originally I wanted him to play Even Piell, but he fell ill and wasn't able to record when we went around to do Emissaries to Malastare. His audition lines can still be heard here, though:

Thankfully, he had recovered from his ailment by the time Darkness rolled around, and I thought, and still do, that he and the role of Volfe Karkko were a match made in heaven. As inspiration for Karkko's performance, I sent him this video of the Lieutenant in Fallout, originally performed by the late Tony Jay, who is another voice actor who gave the exact sort of voice I pictured Karkko having.

I don't know if any of this will change your perception of Karkko's voice in the Darkness dub, but it still was fun for me to go over, and I hope you enjoyed learning about it. Your input wasn't offensive at all, in fact, strongly I appreciate it, and I'm happy to learn about different viewpoints in such great detail.

Feel free to message me again anytime!