#but i’ve had both rattling around my brain for a while now

[gregmarriage]

me reading fight club and the talented mr ripley, back to back: “getting a lot of weird toxic gay vibes from this.”

[whirlwindofcomplications]

on brocedes, rosquez, and a secret third thing (sebschumi)

I’ve heard many a comparison between rosquez and brocedes, which is fair given that they’re both divorces with butterfly effects in their respective motorsport category (they're always gonna haunt the narrative). It’s also fun that both sides of each divorce has a side in the other one that they’ve taken, pre-conflict (I’m taking pre-conflict to mean pre-that presscon and pre-2016, though of course the silver war started far earlier), so Marc Marquez and Nico Rosberg vs. Valentino Rossi and Lewis Hamilton.

I have a feeling the intense rivalry and atomic fallout is the only thing they have in common though, since the crux of brocedes is a brutus/judas type betrayal on both sides as far as they’re concerned, with brutus/judas being someone you’ve known for more than half your life, cosigned on your dreams with, and found solace in when the rest of the sport kept their distance.

On the other hand, Valentino is Marc’s hero and idol, and Marc is the upcoming hotshot that Vale takes an interest in because of his talent, and from there they get closer. From what I’ve seen, the rosquez fallout was a one sided thing from Vale, wherein he thought Marc was doing something dubious (he wasn’t), publicly discredited his ability as a rider and said he had no respect for him, in front of Marc and the world. To hear something like that from your idol is crushing, and I would never ever want to be Marc in that press conference.

Personally, I’ve always thought of rosquez as sebschumi gone horribly wrong. Both Marc and Sebastian Vettel have publicly expressed their admiration of Vale and Michael Schumacher respectively, and everyone knows that it’s mainly because of their idols that they race (love of racing and bikes/cars aside). Now, where rosquez ‘went wrong’ and sebschumi ‘went right’, in my opinion, is that Sebastian became Michael’s specialest little boy while also not fighting him for the championship.

While I don’t think that Michael would truly pull his punches, there’s certainly a difference in the way he treated his championship rivals. Seb was on the rise when he was arguably in his decline, and so Michael was able to maintain a friendly mentor relationship with him. If Seb had been older (and therefore entered F1 earlier), or if Michael was fighting for his eighth in 2010, which is a lot of ifs I’ll admit, I have a feeling their relationship wouldn’t really be the same, and may have faced the exact same trajectory as rosquez.

Speaking of the way Michael treats championship rivals though (I’m not an expert on his rivals so I’m missing out a huge chunk of his history as a pilot, but I suppose it also makes more sense to compare Kimi to his contemporaries), we all know how he fought with Fernando, and considering the first person you always have to beat is your teammate, we all know how he treated Nico. It’s funny how his battles with Kimi never seem to reach that level of intensity or dare I say, rancidity. I often think of Nico being Mika’s protégé, and the way that might have affected his relationship with Michael, but that never seemed to influence his treatment of Kimi. Not really relevant to my original point, but I thought it was interesting.

Anyways, given my lack of expert knowledge in the rosquez lore, vs. sebschumi brainrot, forgive me if I’m making assumptions, but I also think Seb meant more to Michael than Marc ever did to Vale. The phrase ‘everyone knows Michael would pick Sebastian’ rattles around my brain more often than I’d like to admit, and what Seb is to Mick is another thing entirely, but as far as I can tell, out of the whole grid, it wouldn’t be Marc that Vale went to first. To me, it’s because fighting him for that top spot at the same time, as well as, I’ve been led to believe, certain whispers in his ear, meant Valentino couldn’t ever really be comfortable being that close with someone he ultimately wanted to destroy, and it wouldn’t have taken much to tip him the other way (the other way being suspicion and hostility).

This may be where the connection between rosquez and brocedes comes into play again. Lewis and Nico’s friendship, while technically stronger than the other two pairings combined, was deeply affected by the experiences they’d had in F1 prior to being teammates. The suspicion, paranoia, and games they’d learnt over the years destroyed what could have been one of the strongest pairings formula one has had. It’s quite easy to argue that had they become teammates earlier, say in Mclaren or Williams, they may not have met the fate they did (not having a championship winning car tends to help, though god knows what’s going on in Alpine).

Of course, the shared nationality aspect helps sebschumi in a way that doesn’t exist for rosquez, and that tension may have played a hand in rosquez’s unbecoming. Although everyone knows that being german definitely didn’t help Nico any. If rosquez were teammates, I actually don’t think they would have been very different from Michael and Nico, except that perhaps they’d be worse.

The original intention of this is getting away from me, but essentially, while rosquez and brocedes is all well and good, rosquez and sebschumi are two different paths the idol/successful fan relationship can take, so I thought the comparison obvious, and that I'd give it some attention!

[clock-06]

Some more PM thoughts cause they’re rattling round my brain at hyper speed now that people know about them

PM! Ford and Canon Bill would fucking destroy the universe fighting each other. Battle of two giant egos. There would be homosexual overtones of course, but they both have a craving for power and enough power to leave a trail of destruction anywhere they interacted

Canon Ford would be very weirded out and like? Not scared but primal instinct of wrong about PM!Bill, who is nice to him off the bat. c!Ford would bring up weirdmaggedon and trickery and PM!Bill would just be like “oh yeah. I was gonna do that, but I’ve honestly had a lot of fun with my Ford just traveling dimensions and helping him research. I may get back to that eventually” and c!Ford is dumbstruck and suffering from emotional whiplash. Eventually neither of them would really talk to each other and sit in silence.

c!Bill thinks PM!Bill is pathetic and a failure, and by his standards, he is technically right in both of those opinions. PM!Bill thinks c!Bill is an idiot for sabotaging the one good thing he had, but is very light around the topic. It’s very c!Bill as a kind of annoyed as fuck third wheel. He holds a lot of hate for both PM!Bill and PM!Ford, mainly hating the latter for not being the Ford of his universe, as he loves the violence and lust for power PM!Ford holds (he’d never admit it out loud though).

c!Ford is convinced PM!Ford is possessed by Bill somehow. Convinced there’s no way any route could lead to him acting like that, or be that successful. Basically 100% sure that PM!Ford sold his soul in a deal with Bill and being soulless is why he’s like that.

PM!Ford and PM!Bill have a lot of deals laid out, most of which are for Ford’s benefit and a few at Bill’s deficit (but he’s too in love to realize that). They are technically married, moreso in the legal contract sense than a ceremonial sense. Ford spurred this on, getting Bill enamored with the idea of them being together forever and explaining the human tradition of marriage in a mostly accurate way. They have matching rings, gold with a triangle surrounding a circular gem (probably something rarer than diamonds that they found while traveling) and Bill’s acts as a binding magical artifact while Ford’s is entirely mundane. Bill is unaware of the effects of his ring, and probably wouldn’t take it off knowing them (y’all don’t get to know yet sorry).

Ford can defend himself pretty well due to his tech as well as some physical enhancements from deals with Bill, so he does go on solo missions without Bill, especially if it’s to keep Bill in his loyal arsenal. A few characters try to join them, and they even have a run in with the axolotl (who is mainly concerned for Bill and despises Ford), but Bill and Ford are a very exclusive duo and the intentionally created co-dependency means no one travels with them for long. There is a point where they run into Fiddleford for reasons it’s….. gonna be fun to write and draw let’s just say that.

Ford does come back through the portal after 30 years, mainly because through Bill’s surveillance, he’s been gaining interest in this generation of pines twins, especially Dipper’s potential as a researcher.

And that’s where I’m gonna leave my infodumping for now because my lunch is ready and I have to get my mail

<3 toxic old man triangle yaoi keeps me awake at night

[champagnepodiums]

Some Early(ish) Thoughts on the whole Alex Palou Contract Situation™️

I am dumping the thoughts that have been percolating in my head all weekend about the situation here, hopefully it’ll all make sense but cohesiveness is not generally my strong suit but these are the things that have stuck out most to me so far about the whole situation:

The Inciting Incident: I think it’s REALLY interesting that an internal e-mail from Zak Brown somehow just magically managed to make its way to Jenna Fryer who ofc did her due diligence and wrote about it. The telling? thing to me though was that Nathan Brown from IndyStar was very quickly (like I think it was within an hour or two) able to confirm the story. On a Friday evening 🙃. Like it doesn’t seem like a far stretch to assume that McLaren wanted to establish this story to reflect favorably for them.

The Concept of Loyalty in Motorsports: This whole situation has sparked lots of discourse and it is interesting (and frustrating) that people on Twitter at least, already seem to be siding with McLaren and slamming Alex Palou for not being loyal but really — why should he? He is the hottest prospect in motorsports right now and if McLaren has failed to provide things they have allegedly promised (F1 opportunities and a comparable IndyCar program), why does Alex owe them his loyalty? (I am talking specifically about loyalty here). If teams can break contracts, why can’t drivers?

The babygirlification of Alex Palou and why I admire him through this: okay like it is very humorous that the smiliest driver on the grid is the one causing trouble but people are acting like just because he’s outwardly smiley, there’s no way that he can actually be apart of this and make no mistake, both can exist at once. I think all racing drivers at the top level have to be a certain degree of ruthless and I think Alex Palou is just willing to bet on himself and ruffle feathers in the process to get the best deal for himself. I personally think that it’s admirable, I mean, he is the one strapping himself into a deathmobile so like why should he be stuck with Zak Brown’s promises that I don’t think he really had much intention on completely following through with (see Pato’s F1 deal lmao)

Chip Ganassi Issued the Statement Against McLaren because He Saw An Opportunity to Be Petty and He Couldn’t Resist: The Race published an article that basically was like “Is it fair to McLaren that Chip Ganassi called them out but didn’t call Alex Palou out because this is his fault” and that’s stupid for so many reasons. Like did Chip really have to make a statement? Probably not. But was he going to pass up an opportunity to say some mean shit about his nemesis? No lol. But also it makes absolutely no sense for CGR to slam Alex Palou, especially if all of this means that he will stay?

We Actually Don’t Know What is Going On: There was a lot of speculation and opinions from everybody over the weekend about the situation (most of which I cover above) and I think something we should keep it mind is that all we know at this moment is Zak Brown’s version of events (the ex-management company too but uh, I don’t trust anything they say so). There is still so much that we don’t know so while speculation is fine, I think completely writing off Alex Palou should be avoided — it’s honestly probably what Zak Brown wants everybody to do.

I think that sums up what I’ve had rattling around in my brain. I’m up for discussing this whole situation so feel free to send your thoughts my way 🫶🫶🫶

[aquarius-stories-and-story-ideas]

(Here's another screenshot edit I commissioned from @paimaniagalaxia. This is from 'The VVV' episode. Right now, that one is my favorite because we get to see a lot of Black Hat. As you can see, there are stark differences in Esther and Black Hat's facial expressions. Even though she loves her Uncle, she doesn't always condone his actions. For example, making Flug fight Mascara Macabra while he was controlling Dementia. Here's how I think this scene would play out with Esther.)

Dementia straightened up as the mask finally took full control of her. "Yes, yes." She said as she turned back around. Her voice was synthesized and sounded like both her voice and a mans were talking at the same time. "This host is so much stronger. Esto es increíble! This girl is a real monster." She flexed and felt her biceps. She glared up at the screen with a big grin on her face. "Well, Charrito? How many more do I break for you to come down?"

Black Hat merely cocked his eyebrows at her and Esther looked up at him. Everyone else in the arena turned to Flug, who now had a spotlight shining on him. The scientist made some terrified noises as he realized that he was going to have to go up against Dementia. Everyone started laughing.

Dementia briefly look of disbelief on her face. "What? You're kidding me? That lunch bag?" She started laughing as well.

Black Hat threw down his glass of 'wine' and laughed as well. Esther had a look of fear and worry on her face. They couldn't really expect Flug to fight her, right? When she felt her Uncle wrap his free hand around her to hold her in place she knew he ment it. She leaned against her Uncles chest and tried to find some form of comfort in his heaving form.

Black Hat spoke when he was done laughing. "Doctor, be a lad and bring her back."

He gave his boss a nervous look. "Uh, sir. Wouldn't it be easier to put a job posting online instead?"

Black Hat gently nudged Esther off of his lap and she moved to stand beside his throne. He literally phased through the screens with a terrifying look on his face. He glared at Flug and drooled a bit. "OBEY!"

Flug was transformed into a luchador uniform. A purple mask with red accents around the eyes appeared on his paper bag. He now sported a purple tank top with red accents on the straps. A sandwich picture was plastered right in the middle of the tank top. A white elbow-length fingerless glove covered his left arm. Instead of a glove on his right arm, there was a gold-colored wrist cuff. His shorts were also purple with red on the bottom. His shoes were red as well and he hand on white knee braces.

"Sorry, sir." Stammered Flug. "Just getting rattling, sir."

He made his way to the wrestling ring. "Of course, it had to be me." He fumed to himself. "I don't get paid enough to clean up after this lizard brain mess everytime-" He cut himself off when he tried to climb into the ring and briefly got tangled in the rubber wires.

Dementia laughed when he fell flat on his face. "I’ve had tacos with more spice than-"

Flug stood up and brushed himself off. "Shut up, you uncreative parasite!"

"Let's find out if your whole body fits inside that little bag!" She then charged at him on all fours.

Flug flinched. "That must be a metaphor, right?"

The announcer popped in behind him. "No. No, it's not."

He gained a hard look on his face. "Is that so?" He struck a pose. "Hat bots, attack!"

Two huge hat bots landed in the ring. One had on a leopard print luchador uniform and the other had on a green and pink one.

"What a twist, ladies and gentlemen!" Exclaimed the announcer. "Will El Alebrije be able to defeat that pair of mechanical grills?" Flug turned to leave but was stopped when the announcer spoke again. "Aaaand, they're junk."

The scientist turned back around in disbelief. "But, how?"

Dementia laughed on top of the now ruined robots, their heads in her hands. "You're next, bolsa!" She literally ran her tongue over her sharp teeth.

Esther glanced at her Uncle and noticed he was completely engrossed in the fight. She quietly took a few steps back and teleported herself next to the ring. Summoning a small glass platform, she hopped on it and peeked into the ring. She looked just in time to see Flug starting to panic. He turned to the crowd and quickly found 505. "Quickly, 505! Hand me the Tranquilizator!"

The bear turned to him and shrugged. It looked like Flug was trying to not lose it. "What do you mean you don't have it?! I thought we brought it!"

He turned around to see Dementia wrap her hair around him and toss him across the ring. When he sat up she was looming over him.

"What's wrong, chico holgado? Are you scared?" She said mockingly.

Esther couldn't take it anymore. She climbed into the ring and ran straight for Dementia.

"Dementia," Said Flug. "stop this at once."

She wagged a finger at him. “There is no more Dementia. Just Mascara MacabraAAAAHHH!”

She yelled when Esther pulled on her long hair. Flug jumped and his sights immediately went to the small preteen. “Esther?!”

“Esther!” Thundered Black Hat. Fear could be heard seeping into his words. “What do you think you are doing, young lady?!”

“Saving Dementia!” She answered.

Dementia yanked her hair out of her hands and turned to her. “Kid, get out of here. I don't fight children. They’re too easy to beat.”

Esther glared at her and kicked her in the shin. The older woman merely grunted. “Let Dementia go right now!” She made an attempt to punch her, but the older woman grabbed her by the back of the shirt. When she was lifted at eye level with her she took the opportunity to kick her in the chin. “I said let her go, right now!”

Dementia rubbed her chin as Esther tried to reach for the mask. “Okay. I’ll make an exception for you.”

The small preteen was about to say something, but Dementia threw her out of the ring before she could even make a sound. Before she hit the ground black shadows swallowed her and she was dropped onto someones lap. She looked up to see her Uncle.

“That was idiotic and dangerous, young lady.” He scolded as he wrapped his arms around her. “Let the adults handle this. You’re much too young to be getting directly involved with advanced villains like Mascara Macabra.”

Esther sighed as guilt gripped her. “I know. I just wanted to help. I’m afraid for Dr. Flug and Dementia.”

Black Hat briefly petted her head. “I know, baby.”

“Am I in trouble?”

“Not this time. I’m not going to punish you for trying to help someone. But, I except you to stay with me until this is over. Understand? You gave me quite the scare”

“Yes, sir and I’m sorry”

“Good.” He shifted so she would be more comfortable and kissed her on the head. “It’s okay. Now, let’s see how Flug handles this, shall we?”

[arieslost]

So I read your Biker!Oscar fic and whooo that was delicious 😋. I was kinda wondering if you could do a Biker!Lando fic, I didn’t know he was into the moto scene before f1 until recently, and was hoping you might have some ideas to play around with.

-🏎️ (could I be the 🏎️anon for you, please 🥺)

omg i’m so glad you liked it, i had such a blast writing it!! and of course you can be 🏎️ anon!! <33

you must be in my walls or something because i have a note on my phone full of future fic ideas and one of them is, and i quote, “BIKER!LANDO BIKER!LANDO BIKER!LANDO” 😭

i’m definitely gonna be writing a fic for him at some point in the near future after i finish writing requests and my current wips, but for now here are a few thoughts i’ve had about him… (i got carried away as usual, so i had to put a cut in 💀)

while oscar is, i guess you could say, more of your “traditional” biker (like he grew up around motorcycles and first got on one at the age of four and stuff like that), lando is crazy on two legs and started riding in the name of rebellion. his family is loaded, same with all his friends’ families. his friends all drive nice cars. sure, he could have that too, but he wants to stand out. he wants to be more than just another rich kid.

so instead of buying a fancy car when he turns 16, he buys a motorcycle. does he know how to ride? no! does he even have a license to ride? hell no!! this man damages the hell out of like three bikes before he finally gets the hang of it, much less gets his license. but i can see him just living for the thrill of it, so i feel like he’d have a motorcycle like you see on the road and a motocross bike and he treats them both like his own children. being on a motorcycle also makes him feel free, and he can’t get enough.

he gets pulled over a few times for speeding but that doesn’t even bother him because he’s an adrenaline junkie. his parents don’t like that though, so when he turns 18 he gets kicked out. the only help he gets is the money from his trust fund, and while it’s a solid chunk of change it’s not gonna last forever. so he strays away from that traditional biker vibe, gets more into the motocross scene and gets really good at it. but he’s just all competition all the time now, and he never gets to kick back on his motorcycle and just go for a drive or anything like that anymore. and that’s where i picture reader coming in with the goal to get him to just chill the hell out and get back to his roots.

i apologize for the possibility of my thoughts being incoherent as i am only half awake at the moment. thank you for letting me ramble about biker!lando because until now all of these thoughts have just been rattling around aimlessly in my brain <33

[sinterblackwell]

Hi! I read your tags on the aro!LQG post and I wanna talk about it a little if you don't mind? (Disclaimer I'm rlly awkward so if anything sounds rude pls know I don't mean it to be.)

Okay so I feel like when Madam Meiyin talked about SQQ's fated person LQG did think that it was him, because I'm pretty sure no one else knew LBH was still alive by then (cmiiw)? To be fair the traits could be used to describe LQG which is hilarious so it's probably deliberate for comedic effect. When I read about LQG getting more aggravated by Madam Meiyin's prediction, I deadass thought he was just baffled like "why is this random demon telling that I'm SQQ's soulmate??? this is definitely bullshit we shouldn't continue listen to her." and so the rest is history hahah. I had thought it was really funny for LQG to be self-conscious about the prediction and so unhappy about it.

Anyway yeah that's it. Sorry for bothering you I just want to talk :')

first things first, you didn’t bother me at all!! this ask actually made me smile because i don’t engage a lot with the svsss fandom…or just any fandom in general, in discussions so i was happy to see someone reach out to me to just get to talk. second of all, i did a reread of that scene purely to see from a better pov than i did when i first read it and it truly is something.

**what is even more something is how much i write, hence why i put this “keep reading” sign.

hopefully any of it is salvageable :’)

the laughable thing about all this is that i genuinely feel like sqq regarding that scene in that … it just did not occur to me that lqg could possibly have been who madam meiyin was talking about. there was not a single brain-cell that considered lqg was thinking along those lines as you said where he was like “what the hell, is this stranger insinuating i’m sqq’s soulmate?”. while sqq didn’t consider any guys at all, in my case, i think i was very biased bc of how much i love bingqiu that any other character who may have an infatuation with our mc just wasn’t in the cards for me.

reading your own interpretation of that scene, i feel dumb now because it just seems so obvious. i said in my tags of that post you mentioned that that prediction can go both ways and madam meiyin’s words can apply to both lqg & lbh, i think.

“Your fated person has very little interest in others,” Madam Meiyin went on. “But once they find someone, their devotion is absolute.”

“A first-class beauty, peerless among all humans.” Madam Meiyin said with certainty.

i would also say this one below but i’m not too sure, since if we’re applying it to lbh, that “first meeting” would have been when he met sj!sqq, not sy!sqq so idk if the lines are just blurred there.

“Your first meeting was unhappy, and there might even have been loathing involved,” said Madam Meiyin. “But after a critical moment, that all began to change, and thoroughly so.”

but i can definitely understand now why the fandom are so rattled when it comes to lqg and his feelings for sqq, whatever they are. it now makes me curious to see fics that explore that, but i’ve also just been very wary of reading any svsss fic that isn’t centered around bingqiu as the main pairing😅

thank you for giving me your thoughts on that scene!! it honestly makes a lot of sense in reflection, and i feel like it definitely hits hard because whoever this “fated soulmate” this madam was talking about was, for both lqg & lbh, it reveals a certain depth in the impact that sqq has had on these two characters that they just end up sort of blurring the lines in this prediction.

which makes what happens during those years where lbh held onto sqq’s corpse and lqg constantly chased after him so much more heavy to think about…..

[raventroll80]

Troll Doomguy Fic

The Marauder

I had an idea, and it wouldn’t stop rattling around my brain so here we go! Also, Seth’s back! Also heads this gets a little violent towards the end, but I’ve toned it down. I’ll do my best to label accordingly in the tags, but feel free to let me know if I missed any.

When the Intern Seth heard that the Slayer was coming he was both excited and terrified. He was excited to actually be meeting the fabled Doom Slayer sure, but the thought of a massive inhuman eviscerator of demons being in the same room as him was absolutely terrifying to think about. Even Dr. Hayden was afraid of them.

Everyone froze when the elevator blast doors opened, he was here. The Slayer had to almost crawl out of the elevator, one of his massive hands gripped the frame of the door. He stepped out and walked towards the the Demonic Crucible, a long tail tipped with a mace dragged across the floor.

“My god… it’s him,” Seth said aloud as the Slayer passed him.

“Uh, Dr. Hayden said you’d probably want this” he said gesturing towards the Demonic Crucible, his heart pounding in his chest.

The Slayer reached out with one hand and took it, it was barely the size of one of his fingers. The Slayer put it in a pouch on his belt before continuing towards the next room.

“holy shit…” the Intern whispered to himself before following him.

“I’d just like to say that it is an honour to meet you sir, I don’t think anyone has said this to you yet but, I think you’re a good person and thank you for well, everything,” he continued at the top of the stairs.

The Slayer stopped when he heard this and looked at the Intern. The Intern looked to be of average height, he wore an ARC uniform and had a clean shaven head. He also wore a pair of glasses that somewhat magnified his brown eyes. The Slayer tilted his head to the side and made a soft rumbling noise.

Seth was slightly worried when the Slayer had made a deep rumbling noise while staring at him but calmed down when he continued through the door.

In the next room was Dr. Hayden… or what’s left of him to be honest.

“ We were uh- getting ready to move him out, but we’re having trouble since he’s like this. It’s all alien to us and we have to be careful not to-” Seth was cut off by the Slayer reaching into the housing chamber and ripping Dr. Hayden out.

Dr. Hayden was limp in the Slayers hand. The Intern was about to say something when a portal opened behind him and the Slayer. The Slayer turned to the portal and began to growl as a Marauder exited the portal.

Another portal opened next to the Slayer and he hucked Dr. Hayden’s body through it. Seth rushed to the door but it was already shut, he turned his back to it as the demon began to speak.

“You were never one of us Beast, you were nothing but a false idol, a usurper… but now my eyes have been opened. I see now that you’re no better than the demons who’s flesh you feast upon. But I can help you Slayer, I can open your eyes…” it growled as it opened its axe.

The Slayer had positioned himself between the Intern and the demon and held his shotgun.

“Unfortunately this fight is far from fair, don’t you think? Let’s even the playing field then shall we?” The demon continued as it lifted what appeared to be an Argent energy cell, but something was off about it…

Suddenly the Slayer began to charge the demon but he was too late. The demon crushed the cell in his hand, the room was bathed in a red glow. When the light died down the Marauder now stood eye to eye with the Slayer.

The Slayer readied his shotgun and roared before charging the giant demon. The Intern could only watch as the two giants fought. Whenever the Slayer would fire, the Marauder would raise its shield and block it.

The Marauder raised its hand and summoned a massive flaming wolf. The wolf jumped towards the Slayer who slashed one of its eyes. The wolf yowled in pain as it hit the floor. As the creature got up it it saw Seth.

It locked eyes with him and snarled before charging towards him. The Slayer saw this and swung his tail and launched the mace towards the infernal wolf. The mace connected with the beast as it leapt and crushed its head.

The Marauder took the opportunity to fire its own shotgun at the Slayer. The Slayer roared in pain and grabbed his arm. The Marauder dashed towards the Slayer and raised its axe, eyes ablaze with green light. The Slayer took the chance and fired two rounds into the demon.

The Marauder staggered back before the mace collided with it, sending it across the room. The Slayer tried to fire two more rounds into the Marauder but they were once again blocked by the shield.

Seth ran to the other side of the room as the Marauder returned fire. The Slayer ducked behind a pillar when he heard something metal hit the floor near him, it was a grenade. He ran behind another pillar before it exploded.

The explosion shook the entire building and Seth lost his balance falling to the floor. He barely had time to dodge some falling debris when the Marauder fired a round at him. Luckily the spread was too big and missed him by a hair.

A loud roar shook the room as the Slayer barrelled towards the Marauder with his arm blade extended.

He slammed into the demon and sunk the blade into its shoulder. The Marauder howled in pain before punching the Slayer and grappling him. The two threw themselves onto the floor before the Marauder pushed itself away and lobbed another grenade.

The Slayer ducked and the grenade landed behind him before exploding. The building shook once more and the roof came down in places. The Slayer swung his tail towards the Marauder but hit another pillar instead causing the ceiling to cave in around it.

The Marauder went to grab his shotgun only to find it wasn’t there. He looked around and saw it lying behind the Slayer, out of the corner of his eye he saw Seth trying to find cover. He lunged towards him and grabbed the small man.

“Surrender Slayer, or else this human becomes dinner” the demon said hoping he could get the Slayer to back down. But he was sorely mistaken.

The Slayer let out a primal roar before charging at the Marauder faster than it could react. He slammed into the demon causing it to drop Seth. The Marauder was slammed into a pillar before the Slayer reared back and readied a punch. It barely had time to roll out of the way before the fist shattered the pillar like glass.

The Slayer let out another roar and charged into the Marauder again this time sending them both out of a large window and into the courtyard outside. The Slayer had the Marauder pinned to the ground but was kicked away by the demon.

He collided with the wall behind him cracking it. The Marauder threw a few grenades towards the Slayer. The exploded and the building came down.

The Marauder sighed in relief thinking he won until the Slayer launched out of the dust and onto the Marauder. Using his axe handle it was able to stop the Slayer from biting him.

A look of fear overtook the demons face as he could now clearly see his opponents face as the visor of the helmet had been shattered.

The once green eyes were now black orbs in a barely human face. The face was twisted into an inhuman snarl, exposing large teeth ready to rip into him. Blood covered his face and wisps of argent smoke rose from his wounds.

The Marauder struggled to keep the Slayer back and to his horror the Slayer bit through the axe handle as if it were a brittle twig. A scream had barely left the Marauder before his throat was torn apart. The demon let out a few gurgling noises before going still, eyes cold and lightless.

Seth watched in horror as the Slayer had turned into an inhuman creature and ripped out the Marauders throat. He was lucky to have survived the collapse but was starting to regret it. As he watched the Slayer stand up thoughts of its teeth tearing him apart filled his mind and Seth began to whimper.

——————————————————————————

As the rage left him, the Slayer looked in disgust at the Marauders corpse. Its blood began to pool in its neck and spill onto the ground. He never liked how messy things got when he’d go Berserk.

He touched the side of his helmet to call VEGA but nothing happened.

“Shit” he thought to himself “comm’s broken, guess I’ll have to wait for one of the drones to find me”

Suddenly he remembered about the Intern and a pit formed in his stomach as he turned and looked at the destroyed building behind him.

“Shit, shit shit shit! Please don’t be dead, please don’t be dead,” he thought as he rushed towards the rubble.

As he was searching he heard a whimpering to his left. He turned and saw the Intern staring at him in fear. He quickly reached towards the Intern but stopped as they shrieked in terror. The Slayer froze immediately, oh no…

They saw him go Berserk, they saw him go Berserk and now they’re terrified of him. What was once a look of amazement was now one of fear. The Marauder was right, he wasn’t any better then the demons he fought.

He quickly removed the rubble from around the Intern. Seth immediately tried to run but he fell and screamed in pain. The Intern curled in on himself and began to softly cry.

The Slayer slowly backed backed away from the frightened man. He sat down on a large piece of rubble and removed his helmet. Looking at it he could see that the visor was completely shattered.

In one of the shards still attached he could see that his face was still covered in the demons blood. He did his best to wipe it off, but he mostly ended up smearing it across his face more.

The Slayer sighed to himself and walked back towards the Intern. Seth was still still crying when he fell something wrap around him. He kept his eyes shut and continued to whimper as he was picked up by the Slayer.

He was waiting for the Slayer to tear into him, but he didn’t. Instead he could hear a deep rumbling not unlike when he was talking to the Slayer. He forced himself to open his eyes and look at the Slayer.

The Slayer had picked up the frightened man in an attempt to comfort them. The Intern was shaking like a leaf in his hands. He began to let out a deep rumble. It wasn’t a growl, no it was something softer.

He didn’t do it often, in fact the only times he could recall doing it was when VEGA would start talking about his plants in the greenhouse.

To his surprise the Intern looked at him, a part of him wished he didn’t. His heart ached when he saw the state they were in. Their glasses were broken and tears were streaming down his face.

The Slayers pain must have been visible because the Interns face slowly changed from fearful to a mix of confusion and sympathy. His confusion only grew as the Slayer pressed his forehead into his chest.

The Slayer began to cry himself as he set Seth back down on the ground. Seth stared at the Slayer who balled his right fist and began to rotate it clockwise on his chest.

Seth recognized it as sign language. The Slayer was apologizing to him.

Seth tentatively reached out and placed him hand on the Slayers. The Slayer stopped moving his hand and looked at Seth. He leaned towards the human and tilted his head.

The Slayers left ear perked up and he turned his head. A large drone flew up to the two and made a happy beeping noise before spinning around and flying out into the courtyard. A large portal opened behind it and it flew in.

Seth gave a small yelp as he was picked up once more by the massive man. The Slayer had Seth cradled in one of his arms as he walked towards the portal. The Slayer paused briefly before walking through.

Cold air washed over Seth as the two entered the Fortress. He looked around in amazement as the Slayer walked through the Fortress, the massive walls were intricately decorated with carvings and statues.

The Slayer had brought Seth to what appeared to be a medical bay of sorts. He was set down on a table and the Slayer went and grabbed some medical supplies from a nearby cabinet.

The Slayer began to sign something to Seth when a voice spoke.

“The Slayer said he is going to go wash off, I will be attending your injuries” the voice said.

“Ok, um who are you?” Seth asked looking around.

“I am VEGA, I am the one who operates the Fortress,” VEGA said.

Some time had passed and VEGA had patched Seth up. One of his legs had been broken during the building collapse and a few of his ribs had been cracked as well.

Seth and VEGA had been chatting when the Slayer had returned. This time instead of his Praetor Suit he wore a patchwork tank-top and pants. He walked into the room and bent down to Seth’s level.

He patted Seth on the head and turned to one of the VEGA drone and began to sign something to it.

“I agree, it has been a long day for the both of you,” VEGA responded.

The Slayer slowly reached for Seth half expecting the human to protest, but was surprised when he barely even squeaked. He carried Seth back to his workshop.

Most of the Fortress was quite cold actually, but the rooms closest to the bridge were warmer due to them being used more frequently. It would take a while for the other rooms to warm up and the Slayer wanted to keep a close eye on his new guest.

By the time they had reached the workshop Seth had already began to drift off.

The Slayer sat down with his back against the wall and rested his free arm on a crate next to him. He yawned and looked down at his guest who was now fast asleep. A warm feeling grew in his chest and a soft deep rumble resonated from him.

A few minutes later VEGA had checked on the two. He found the both of them fast asleep. He dimmed the lights in the room and let the two rest.

[trashlie]

FP 215 and 216 + some shippy commentary

Whew boy! It has, yet again, been a while since my last one, and I’ve had SO MANY thoughts rattling around my brain, but I’m so bad at juggling my multiple hobbies. I’ve recently gotten back into learning watercolor painting and having so much fun with it, but there’s such a limited number of hours in a day and I lose hours while I’m painting, aaaaaaahhhh! 

Anyway, I really want to try to gather some thoughts before this week’s ILY update, because my GOD I have LOVED where we’ve been with the story. I know as readers we collectively have looked forward to this never-ending night lol but I feel like there’s so many things I was personally waiting for that are finally coming to fruition and my GOSH it feels so rewarding and so exciting! 

Now, you guys know that I have been chomping at the bit re: Kousuke, but I’m going to save him for a separate post. I’ve been yelling about him a LOT lately and I want to take a break, hehe, and dig into some other aspects, so we’ll be covering FP eps 215 and 216 in this post, but I swear I’m going to try to get my Kousuke thoughts out this week before the next episode drops ;_____; I have... so many thoughts about him and especially Kousuke + Nol as family and enemies aaahhhhhh. But for that - LATER! 

I mean, okay, I guess I do have to touch a little on Kousuke lol and how we got here, since I never really dropped my thoughts about the episodes leading up to this hhhh I’m really behind! Kousuke being his own worst enemy all these years and thus bringing about his own downfall (of sorts) is just sooo poetic. And don’t get me wrong - I have a lot of deep feelings about this because, as we know, while Kousuke has been on a shitty path, there are reasons he ended up there, and the dramatic tragedy of him fighting something that never really existed feels like such a sucker punch. He has spent so long making an enemy of someone who only wanted alliance, and in his quest for Rand’s affection - for his father’s LOVE - he has brought the utmost of disappointment to him. I think it’s worth acknowledging that this was not Kousuke’s intention. He had no intention of punching Nol and fell to his knees when Nol pushed him and jeered so there’s only so much of this I’m willing to pin on him, because I doubt he expected his punch to land so much damage, you know? Nol goaded him and he got more than he bargained for. It’s not so very black and white. 

But regardless of intention, we arrive at a hospital - mercifully not Hirahara Memorial - with Nol in a really, really bad shape, and to no surprise, it is Shinae (and Lil Buddy!) waiting on him to wake. 

I love everything about this for so many reasons! It’s very much a sort of parallel to the night Shinae was in the hospital, with Nol sitting outside the door, except now we so much more friendship between them since then, and shinae doesn’t sit outside his door but is dozing off on the side of his bed. When you think about everything that has happened since that scene, it feels surreal! Nol and Shinae both have been through so much beginning with that harrowing night of the gala. and though Nol has tried to run away, all of it has only brought them closer, whether or not he’s able to admit it. 

And this is actually something that I love so much about these episodes! In the episodes leading to this, at Minhyuk’s party, Nol was so cagey and edgy, all sharp edges and dangerous shadows, as if he was daring her, as if he was trying to see how far he could push. It’s not that he dropped away the Yeonggi mask entirely and revealed who he really is as much as he adopted his Nol persona and pushed it forth. After all, Yeonggi is just as much a part of who he really is, as much as his sharp edges he tried to soften by pushing Yeonggi forward. That’s what we get to see in this episode: he is as much the boy who initially approached Shinae as he is the man who’s tried to push her away, whether or not he’s willing to accept it. Even after confirming their mutual care and respect for each other, Nol (inebriated at that) pointedly shared his darkest, hidden side - and it didn’t scare Shinae off. 

Certainly Shinae was exposed to the most private side of Nol - the darkness and sharp edges he uses to push back against the world, the part of him that he was so desperate to hide - but in these episodes, we see the most authentic aspect of him. Where all the alcohol he drank earlier in the night brought out what some might consider the “worst” of him, I think the morphine drip brings out a more authentic take on Nol. No inhibitions, but no edges, no sharp bites, and just enough honestly that he may regret it later. 

And I love it! I loved seeing how Shinae dealt with such a dark, edgy version of the friend she was so desperate to catch, but I REALLY love getting to see Nol and Shinae return to their roots in these episodes, in terms of their rhythm, their beats, their chemistry. I think they play off each other in such a surprisingly natural way - Nol certainly has been taken by surprise by it before, but I don’t think Shinae is as aware of it. The way she responds to his prank (which is, admittedly, such a dark, cruel prank lol) and turns her own despair around to prank him back was just beautiful, absolute art lol. He’s always had the upperhand, but since climbing up to join her on the rooftop, they stand toe to toe on equal footing. 

But honestly, it’s so nice? To see Nol laugh again? Even if it came to him via a mean prank, even if it’s because he’s so at ease on morphine. Isn’t that so weirdly twisted - this is what it’s taken to bring him a well-deserved moment of peace, for the waters to become placid, even if temporarily. He came so close to dying! And only then has he found his peace. (Very similar to the pool fall at the black and white formal, where he denied himself a different sense of peace.) 

I love their rhythm! How they go back and forth so easily (with Lil Buddy’s assistance heh,.. Nol can’t catch a break!) and they just feel so NATURAL. It’s almost hard to believe that just a few months ago, Shinae wanted nothing to do with him, and now she has been exposed to the most raw and vulnerable parts of who he is, has become acquainted with him in a way that no one else yet has. 

I love it, I love them! There’s a sense of intimacy woven into the episodes, with Nol allowing himself what he’s never before, resting on her should. He is metaphorically as much as literally allowing himself to lean on her, finally, after all the struggles he’s endured alone. After everything he has faced alone, he is allowing himself to share a moment with someone, even if he can’t admit it fully out loud. Would he have done the same if not for the morphine? I guess it’s pretty much a moot question, because we only get to have this moment because of how much he’s endured, finally hitting that limit. He nearly DIED - and he would have, had Kousuke not gone out after him. How far would he have gotten before he collapsed and bled out in the snow, perhaps Rand wouldn’t have even seen him. It’s scary just how close he came to no longer existing. 

So I suppose there may not be a scenario where Nol would allow himself to lean on a friend. He doesn’t say it, but I expect it’s at the back of his mind - his fear. Is he relieved? Would he rather have been left there in the snow? I suspect as much as he’s been suicidal in the past, that’s not how he wanted to go. Idk, I have a lot of quiet thoughts about this - about how painful recovery will be and would he rather have let his flame go out like that? Or does Shinae’s presence make him rethink those ideations? Is the presence of someone who cares - who has seen his darkness and still cared about him, who has been hurt by him and still cares about him - enough to make him feel relieved that he is still here? He’s so weary, so exhausted, and look at what extremes he went through before he allowed himself any reprieve.

In a really weird way, this reminds me of the phone call in episode 73 while Shinae is in the hospital with her dad and Rika, which is funny, because Nol spends that whole phone call deflecting and lying about his condition. But it still carried that sense of tender intimacy - the two people alone while the world around them is at rest, just a stolen moment of comfort in their sea of storms (although during the phone call the solace is definitely more so for Shinae’s benefit than his own). Here we have a similar scenario - two people alone while the world around them is asleep, the snow blanketing the city around them, no one aware of this moment transpiring, except this time Nol allows himself to benefit from the solace and the comfort. How many times has he reached out only to deny himself whatever it is he seeks? How many times has he made himself prop himself up, unable to allow himself to take comfort (denying that he deserves comfort)? 

“I thought you didn’t like the silence?” “I don’t.. but I like THIS silence.” 

Perhaps it’s just the morphine, but there’s something about that exchange that just GETS to me - that silence is otherwise so constricting, so claustrophobic, so unbearable, except this one. This one is special. This one is nice. This one is comforting. Again, that layer of tragedy underlines it - that this wouldn’t be happening had he not nearly died. That he’s in so much pain but it is, for now, masked by something that can take it away. Isn’t that what he’s wanted? Something that softens the blow, that little moment to catch his breath? 

And GOD the way Shinae reacts! So many times this evening she’s found herself flustered, found herself feeling something unusual in response to him - whether it’s his honesty or his dark edges or this - whatever this may be. Nestling her face against his shoulder as she relays the way they found him, the way they barely managed to get him in in time (losing blood so fast there was truly NO minute to spare!) and how he seems to take comfort in knowing it’s not the family’s hospital when he turns his head and buries it against her. I love it, I love them! I keep saying that but aaahhhhh I always love their intimate moments, these little moments stolen in the stillness of the night, when no one else is around to mind them. A song shared during her lunch break, a phone call in the night, a passing moment when she puts his earbud back in his ear, a moment of banter before work. And just like every time, no matter how Nol tries to resist her, to turn away, to place a barrier between her, it always fails. He’s SO drawn to her, whether it’s because she’s the only person who shows him concern, the only person who notices him, who pays attention to him - or something more - he has only once been able to push her away. 

I also really love how quimchee plays with the rhythm here -  the comedy feels so organic, spliced between little moments of tenderness that is reminiscent of the earlier episodes’ comedy. It’s so light and playful in those ways - everything has been so heavy as everyone has struggled through their own plights, but Nol’s sneezing, Shinae sneaking in Lil Buddy, her impression of Rand and his laughter, it’s all so playful and light, such a delightful contrast to the moments preceding ad following. Again, they just have this way of being with each other that is so comfortable and wonderful to read. To be fair, I think Shinae has wonderful chemistry with a lot of characters - she’s always fun to read with Soushi, Minhyuk, and even sometimes Kousuke - but what’s really good about this is how Nol falls in line with her, the ways they play off each other. Everything about their collective panic over the machine beeping is so comical and feels so much like Yeonggi and Shinae! It just feels... idk, authentic. This is him, no fronts, no masks, nothing played up, just a lack of inhibitions and their shared rhythm. 

I usually try to read these scenes without a romantic lens - is this just friendship? Is this platonic? We know they’re soulmates but where do they fall on each other’s radar? Is it just that this feels like such a secretive thing? How do they affect each other? But I cannot deny how SHIPABLE these moments feel - how Shinae has spent this whole evening so affected by him! It’s so hard to read Nol, because he hides things so well. Does he, too, feel affected by the intimacy of their stolen moments? I’ve always felt he’s so caught up in what he’s running from and what he’s hiding from that he probably has never allowed himself to be honest about his feelings. Numerous times we’ve seen surprise on his face when Shinae shows him concern but is it just surprise that she sees through him or is he ever delighted (or scared) by her ability to do that? It’s so hard to tell! I’ve been of the mind lately that she’s the one feeling something - or at least showing it, but I wish I could get a better read on him. I feel like Nol allowing himself that moment on her shoulder is something, maybe? It feels a little reminiscent of their hug in 151 - one of the only times he was able to create the distance between them, and also one of the only times he allowed himself that moment - but the emotions of it are incredibly different. 

This is where I’ll allow myself to get into the shippier thoughts, though. Like I said, it’s just so difficult to get a read on Nol - I feel like on some level we’ve barely scratched the surface of him, even though I also think we’ve seen some of his most raw angles. But as far as shipping stuff goes, there’s still so many questions. The way he talked about Alyssa never really indicated that there were ever feelings as much as him trying - and failing - to keep her out of Yui’s reach. I still wonder what their friendship was like. Is he just blinded by futility? He can only look back on it this way, because all of the good times - when they were friends - have been overshadowed by her need for Yui’s approval? I bring this up because it’s the only real comparison we have as an indicator of Nol’s feelings. He never even mentioned Alyssa when he was in the alley with Lil Buddy - and I guess there could be a couple reasons why. After all, he was speaking of the friends he was leaving behind, the ones who he didn’t want to let go of, and Alyssa wasn’t part of that group. But it could just as easily be that he thinks it’s a lost cause - Alyssa has chosen her path and there’s no point in trying to fight her. 

At any rate, we’ve always been shown the different ways that Nol and Shinae interact and behave, especially contrasted to Alyssa. I wonder how much of Nol she’s met - does she only know happy-go-lucky Yeonggi who has never put his own needs ahead of anyone else’s? That’s what I assume, based on the way she talks about him and how “easy” their relationship was - that he is someone who never made a fuss and had no issue with her doing whatever she wanted without him. But again, I think it’s safe to assume that Nol is the most himself we’ve seen with Shinae, which makes sense given that he struggles so much to draw that distance between them. She just brings something out of him, and it certainly has a lot to do with the fact that she pays attention to him, she notices the little things he got used to people not noticing, she showed him the kind of friendship he was denying himself. 

And, damnit, I can’t help but ship them, when they have these moments. This is why I find myself shipping them, rather than enjoying the possibility of platonic soulmates - because how do you develop this bond, this kind of relationship, and then move in different directions? How do you share this kind of tender intimacy without it feeling like something Else? I am a big fan of intimacy =/= romance and there are ways it could have played out between them, but I also think that so much of their intimacy has been these little pockets of calm shared together in the shadows that have changed who they are as people. And just like intimacy does not necessarily always equate to romance, attraction doesn’t always indicate romance, either. We’ve seen that Shinae is definitely attracted to Dieter, but I think the way she’s drawn to Nol is different. That intimacy is there - Shinae has been able to share things with Dieter that she couldn’t easily share with others at first - but idk, it just feels DIFFERENT in a way that’s so difficult to articulate. 

Because of their shared and similar experiences, Nol and Shinae have this rather innate understanding of each other. Shinae is both understanding of why Nol is the way he is, but also pushes him and doesn’t allow him to make those excuses - look at the way she verbally assaulted him when he feigned forgetting his memory lol. I think it would be difficult (although not impossible) for anyone else to feel that with him. In fact, in general, it makes me wonder who Nol will be in the future - will he ever be able to forge other, genuine relationships outside Shinae, Dieter, and Soushi? 

Shinae has made it abundantly clear how important Nol is to her, both to him and to others. Is she as important to Nol? Does it scare him that someone now knows so many of the things he’s hid and tried to mask, or does he find comfort in it? 

The thing about romance is that there’s not an easy before and after - it’s the kind of thing that happens over time, little by little, sometimes moments more noticeable than others. The night of the black and white formal, Nol spent so much of his time and energy looking out for Shinae, taking care of her, trying to keep her safe, and since that night she has returned the favor, doing just as he did - reaching out and opening herself up and making a point to be there for him. What is that to him? Is it friendship? Is it something that blurs the line? I don’t expect them to figure it out any time soon, if there’s something, if it means anything, but in the same way I just wonder how he sees it. Like I said, I think it’s more evident with Shinae - she’s had the signs more frequently, but what about Nol? 

I genuinely just love watching them play out and develop, the way their experiences bump into each other and their lives merge. Whatever path Nol is on, I hope he’s realize that Shinae is a part of it, too, in whatever form he wants her to be. I hope he realizes that there is someone who has his back completely, who can accept him at even his darkest, his lowest, his absolute worst, and will continue not only to just root for him, but assist him. It’s one thing to cheer someone on, it’s another to assist with the heavy lifting. That’s what it is about them that just GETS to me; they have found in each other something they denied themselves. Shinae built her walls tall, so afraid of being hurt again, and lied to herself about not craving that companionship. Nol forged fake friendships because he didn’t think he deserved real ones. In each other they have found someone who unconditionally accepts who they are, who pushes them to be better, who has their backs. It’s hard not to ship that! 

All I ever hoped of this night was that Nol would go back to his friends, that they’d find a way to make up - or begin to make up - and now look what we’ve got! And we’re left with Shinae discovering that this whole arduous terrible night was his birthday! RIGHT after he pointedly evade it, too. There’s been so many opportunities for him to tell her - she invited him to the very party! lol like!!!! To discover his birthdate as he pointedly avoided answering to the nurse - is she going to call him out on it? I think given everything she’s learned, she’ll probably understand why it was something he didn’t share, that it was part of the secrets he carried but I still want to see what she does with this knowledge. Because it’s not the fact that he never divulged it but rather the fact that a. he’s still hiding things which is much more likely because b. he has endured the absolute worst shit on this very night. On his birthday. No one told him Happy Birthday - instead he just nearly died. ;________; Isn’t that so fucking SAD?! 

In very different ways, Shinae and Nol have both had the same goal in mind: to make each other happy. Just like earlier in the night she offered to help him relive one of his last, happy moments about Christmas, I’m sure she will once again offer to give him at least one happy memory about this birthday. Something worth celebrating, if it’s only that he’s alive and loved and that people care about him and he is worthy of his love. ;~;

IDK i feel very incoherent at this point so I think I’m going to end it here lol JUST KNOW THAT I HAVE SO VERY MANY FEELINGS that I have been rereading these episodes in awe of the tenderness and the intimacy. I’m such a fan of Nol and Shinae’s Stolen Moments of Calm aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh 

[wixelt]

Main thing aside from procrastination stopping me getting on with Hermitphibia is False’s lore. Feel like I need to wait things out before I write more for her & Anne.

...that said, i’ve had this one rattling about my brain for weeks, & recent revelations in the HC-Empires crossover have added to it:

Picture a time in mid-Season 1, before meeting Sasha & Scar, or even Grian. When False is the only Hermit Anne’s met, but definitely after the Snow Day incident.

False’s training of Anne is progressing well. Anne’s natural ability is impressing False, & the teen’s enthusiasm’s keeping things moving. False has even been trying to curb Anne’s less healthy tendencies, though doesn’t yet know their full extent & won’t for some time.

However, one thing False has noticed that’s really getting under her skin is Anne’s growing hero worship of her.

It was subtle at first in a “cool big sis” way, but its becoming clear Anne Boonchuy’s starting to see “Badass False Symmetry” as something to strive for. Comments made on Snow Day about how she would “never leave anyone to die” aren’t helping at all.

And putting aside False’s personal feelings, Anne’s done things that False recognizes as some of her own shortcomings. Things that have in past & present only caused problems.

And one evening, in the middle of Anne going on about how awesome her teacher is... False snaps.

She rather sharply exclaims that she isn’t some ideal to be looked up to. She might try to do the right thing & she knows her way around combat as if she were born to it, but she’s done things in the past. Bad things.

Things she can’t take back even if they were done with noble intentions, that were Anne to know the full extent of them would erase any ideas she has about False being a good person (i’m thinking both leaving Gem behind in S8 & the whole Empires!False debacle).

This completely throws Anne off as False is basically calling Anne a fool for liking her, & the blonde storms off before she can form a response. Cue an episode’s worth of shenanigans stemming from a crisis happening (maybe Night at the Inn) while both Anne & False are emotionally preoccupied, that’s largely resolved by Anne learning when to do what she views as right rather than following someone else’s moral compass, as well as teaming up with False & proving to the blonde that despite past mistakes, she is a good person at heart.

After this there’s an emotional talk, & False opens up a bit more to Anne about her past & the Hermits. At some point, Anne comments that the Hermits sound like one big dysfunctional but happy family & admits to being an only child. Sprig’s also a part of this conversation for a non-only child’s perspective, & gets a tad too invasive with questions:

“...Soooo, do you have any siblings, False? Um, actual ones, I mean.”

“Sprig!” Anne hissed.

“...One.” False replied quietly, suprising girl and frog alike. “A sister, but...”

False trails off, pulling an almost pained expression, & Anne gets the feeling this is a tricky subject that False isn’t quite ready to talk about with her, so lets it go for now.

Or in IRL terms, i’m waiting for the Twins!False arc to wrap so I can avoid contradictions, though i’m going to assume for clarity’s sake that by the time of the AU the other Hermits have long since discovered pre-S9 False was twin sisters living under one twin’s name, though i’ll avoid outright stating that in case False’s final lore proves to be a little different.

For now, though, the air’s been cleared between teacher & pupil, at least until the next crisis rears its ugly head.

And that’s more or less all i’ve got in the tank, for now. As always, i’ll happily answer any asks should anyone have any off the back of this. :)

[airyairyaucontraire]

Afterthoughts about the main story of Pokémon Scarlet (spoilers obviously):

At various points in the game I felt that things had been half-assed, probably due to time crunch and insufficient staffing, like the lack of fun NPC interactions, poor town planning and shopping options. The plot which culminates in “The Way Home,” however, my word, they whole-assed that. This was my best experience yet in terms of feeling like I got to be in the anime, either the climax of a season or one of the movies, and that was super cool and satisfying.

I know now why I love Arven so much, he’s a blend of the grumpy but caring big brother (eg Piers) and the traumatised character you are there to help heal through your journey together (eg Lillie). I like this SO much better than a rivals plotline where you’re supposed to crush some other kid’s dreams to achieve yours (eg Hau, Hop). They even addressed this with Nemona, the most conventional rival, by having Paldea’s Pokémon League structured differently so that Champion is a rank multiple people can hold at the same time. You don’t have to knock Nemona off her perch to succeed and she’s just absolutely thrilled to have you rise to join her.

Is Penny so sarcastic and unpleasant because she was bullied and it’s made her defensive, or did people take against her because she’s sarcastic and unpleasant? No kid deserves to be bullied but some kids are disliked for a reason. Anyway Penny, you have cool hair and a cosy hoodie but you’re coming off as a bit of a dick, maybe work on that.

Nemona, you are one of nature’s sunbeams and if I shook you I would hear your brain cell rattling around like a bead. I loved it when Koraidon was nervous and she petted its nose.

The dynamic in the crater of everyone wanting to claim me as their BFF was pretty amusing. For the record, Arven is my bestie (we shared a life-changing field trip after all), I like Nemona very much and I am taking care of Penny because Clavell asked me to.

The team-getting-to-know-each-other dialogue text as we moved down through the crater went by a bit too quickly and without pausing to let me press A when I was ready to advance, which was strange.

Also strange was the apparent last-minute attempt to give Nemona some backstory. She’s… posh. Well shit, I’ve seen her house, I could have told you that - and it has no bearing on what she wants or how she behaves at all. Not even “I want to earn my own achievements and not be treated differently based on my family’s status.”

While I thought that the storyline about Arven and his parent (mother in Scarlet, father in Violet) was really good emotional stuff, I was struck by how - well, S/V are interesting with regards to gender. There’s been a deliberate if flawed attempt to make the player character customisation gender-neutral (but in the “unisex means everyone wears boys’ clothes” way rather than providing a skirt version of the uniforms that anyone could wear - at least they didn’t limit the hairstyles) and there are characters who are distinctly unconventional in their gender presentation - Rika with her dapper butch style, Grusha who many people mistook at first sight for a pretty girl, Mr Saguaro in general (although he seems a bit more like the incongruous comedy option). You can also see the two professors option as an effort at balance, but it has the side effect that while both characters are neglectful parents to Arven, a neglectful mother tends to be perceived more harshly than a neglectful father, particularly if she prioritises a high-powered career over her child. I may have missed something but I caught only a glancing reference to who Arven’s other parent might be and Arven makes no reference to feeling let down by that person. Thus, playing Scarlet, I sometimes felt a bit uncomfortable about the impression a child who only played Scarlet and didn’t know about Violet would be getting.

It’s interesting to look at Sada alongside Lusamine. We get a much clearer impression in S/M that Lusamine is narcissistic - that she’s built up this idea of how great she is being so loving and caring to all those rescued Pokémon, and she thinks of her love as this fabulous blessing and gift, rather than something Lillie and Gladion should be able to expect. (I won’t say “take for granted” because children should appreciate their parents’ love and care, but not with a sense of obligation or unworthiness for it.) Sada doesn’t really have the same kind of dialogue getting that point across, although you can infer she’s a similar kind of person. I appreciated the exchange between AI Sada and Arven when she speaks to him apparently from the real Sada’s memories and emotions, and apologises and Arven says that she can’t just say something like that now. It doesn’t really make things better for him and it would take more time and effort than a few loving words, however sincere, to make the necessary difference.

Of course, then she almost immediately peaces out to go back to the Stone Age rather than stick around to try to make it up to him. (Complicated, to be sure, by the fact she isn’t his actual mother, she’s a robot who’s kind of trashed and riddled with weird crystals and frankly probably won’t survive long where she’s going, but still, she chooses to leave him.)

I was a bit saddened by the fact that part of Arven’s acceptance of what happened seems to be a belief that it was understandable for his mother to be more interested in a time machine than in him. No it wasn’t! You’re a good boy! Evidently his little buddy is going to have to stick close and encourage him to think better of himself. And maybe we can go on an Adventour with Peony, I think that would really cheer him up.

Also, unbelievably awful that Sada or Turo made him responsible for Koraidon or Miraidon when he was just a kid, gave him no help to look after a Pokémon no one alive has any experience with, and made him feel like it was his fault when he lost control of the situation. What bloody useless parents. No wonder Arven resents Koraidon or Miraidon, and it’s a sign of his good character that despite feeling that way he’s still basically kind to it.

Anyway, I’m glad we healed his dog.

And all that said, “the Professor is the Big Bad” was a really fun twist and also kind of economical character-wise. Chairman Rose was an absolute dud of a Big Bad, particularly after a batshit powerhouse like Lusamine, so I was pleased to see he was an anomaly rather than typical for the games going forward.

[uozlulu]

As always, I’m a messy bastard so I’ve been keeping track of AMC’s IwtV even though I’m not watching it anymore and thus my brain is throwing a fic at me.

Which is inconvenient because 1) I don’t think I actually know the characters well enough to write anything for this series, 2) I am of a certain age and know better, 3) this is basically an AU with no ending and I don’t have time for something long and involved, and 4) wtfffff brain what

So I’m just sitting here with a handful of scenes running through my head going “Why? “

Anyway, I’m going to empty my brain of this fic I never plan to write and then watch the finale for Atlanta

Around the time Daniel develops a headache, he begins to truly note the set up around him, how Louis has restricted access to both books and nature. Daniel now knows that Rashid is Amand and while Louis hasn’t started talking about Europe, there’s a lot to be gleaned from memory and what’s going on in front of Daniel’s own eyes.

But this is a dangerous game because Amand can read both of their minds. [How this is handled is a little ??? because like I said, I’m not super confident in writing these characters]. Anyway, Daniel begins to wonder if Amand is controlling part of the narrative, if perhaps it was Amand who ripped the pages from the diary, etc... When he thinks these thoughts, Louis interrupts them.

Something happens but I’m not sure what but eventually it leads to Daniel out on the streets of Dubai as the sunsets. The coughs rattle his body and he feels like he’s on fire like one does when their whole entire system is inflamed. His eyes close but he feels someone catch him.

When Daniel wakes, he’s in another fancy apartment somewhere in a different high rise in Dubai. At first he thinks he’s hallucinating a popular singer from the 80′s but after a long moment, he realizes his headache, fever, and inflammation are gone along with the tremors in his hands and other Parkinson’s symptoms. He’s also wearing new clothes and feels better no wthan he ever had in life. He realizes he’s staring at Lestat.

Lestat heard Daniel’s thoughts and couldn’t help but appear. He knows that Daniel is the reporter from the book decades ago.

And that’s kind of where the fic idea falls apart. There’s a vague sense of helping Louis but also I waffle about because open relationships, etc...

Kind of want at some point  for Lestat to point out to Louis that it’d be weird if they hadn’t tried to murder him.

Idek. Like I said, I don’t think I’m the person to write this, I barely know what AU I’ve got here, let alone how it’s supposed to end. I just needed to let it out of my system.

[itsbrandy]

Burnout Chapter 8

Summary: Bee and Claire become friends while prepping for Bee's audition.

Word Count: 7k

End of Episode song: Easier Said Than Done - Thee Sacred Souls

Chapter 8: Champagne and Shrimp Pasta

“It’s a deal,” Bee said with a smile. “After work today and tomorrow, audition on Saturday.”

“Audition on Saturday,” Mark confirmed.

“For Netflix,” Bee repeated, just to speak it out into existence one more time.

“For Netflix!” Claire shouted.

The exchange rattled Bee’s brain, leaving her feeling dizzy even after she had left her new agent’s office. They had done some activities that sounded like a standard procedure –signed paperwork and discussed their lives, dreams, and ambitions. With the minor work that Bee had done in the past, Mark felt confident that she wouldn’t totally embarrass him at the audition on Saturday. Well, that and the help that Claire had offered.

Bee hadn’t been able to work properly for the rest of the day. She stuck to icing cupcakes, cookies, and other goodies but didn’t cross anything major off of her to-do list. Around 4 p.m., she snuck to the bathroom to text her partner that she wouldn’t be home until 8 or 9 p.m. She was meeting with her acting mentor, Claire.

She made sure to tell him her name so that he wouldn’t get suspicious that she was cheating on him or anything unsavory. Another argument with her partner was the last thing that she needed. If it wasn’t for the happy distractions of this week – with Dieter Bravo visiting her at her work, to filming with Dieter Bravo, talking to Dieter Bravo, flirting with? Dieter? Bravo?...and now this Netflix audition.

To be honest with herself, she didn’t really believe that Mark and Claire weren’t just trying to boost her confidence with the whole “you’re the only one Netflix could ever decide to pick!” schtick. There had to be other Asian women out there in their 30s just waiting for the perfect opportunity.

And even more, there would be other Asian women who had been trying at this for longer, auditioning for other things with more practice. She didn’t think that she could compare to those other women, and despite the connections that Mark and Claire both had, she didn’t fully trust that they had the inside scoop on what the showrunners were expecting. Everything just seemed too good to be true.

[Partner]: That’s okay, just drive home safe after. 🙂

Bee breathed a deep sigh of relief. The text had come through nearly 30 minutes after she sent it, which made her suspect that he had questioned how to respond to it for a while before finally deciding to be levelheaded about it. He had the tendency to respond to things reactively, especially when there were lapses in his routine. She looked down at her hands, encrusted in frosting from decorating cupcakes, and typed the reply back anyway.

[Bee]: Thanks, babe! &lt;3

She shoved her phone back in her pocket and walked to the handwashing station, lost in thought, and she bumped into someone. Tall, blonde, and dressed in a bright pink button-down shirt, Bee instantly knew that it was her boss that she had walked right into.

“Oof!” Bee said, stumbling backward. “Oh, sorry, Amy, I didn’t see you there.”

Her supervisor looked at her disapprovingly, at first, before softening her expression. “Hey! I was just coming to check on you. Someone told me you seemed a little off today,” Amy said with a smile. “Are you doing alright? Is there anything that I can do to help?”

Bee stiffened, upset at the intrusion. Her thoughts went wild with annoyance. Who had spilled to Amy? I was doing the best I could today, constantly doing things all day. Maybe they weren’t the “important” tasks, but I’ve been baking my ass off.

“Yeah, I’m okay,” Bee said with a shrug. “I’ve just been doing some more decor tasks today. I was feeling like my frosting technique is a little rusty.”

The lies spiled smoothly from her lips as she stepped into her acting self. She was good at this, at convincing people that everything was okay. She had done it in her first serious relationship, and she did it constantly in the one that she was in now. It wasn’t that difficult to convince other people that nothing was the matter, at least for Bee.Maybe that’s what Mark and Claire saw in her. And maybe that is what Netflix would see in her too…

“Oh,” Amy said. “Okay, well, I just wanted to check in on you. I know you took that late lunch, so I just wanted to make sure you didn’t get any like devastating news or anything.”

Bee bit her tongue. There were a series of responses that she felt in her mouth, but none that she felt comfortable with delivering to her supervisor. She wanted to tell her that it was inappropriate to inquire about her personal life. If she wanted to write her up for not doing any design work today, she was well within her rights.

“Nope,” Bee said instead, popping her lips on the ‘p.’ “Everything is great with me. I’ll submit that PTO request after I clock out for my timesheet so that you have it for payroll.”

“Thank you,” Amy replied, looking a bit startled by Bee’s casual demeanor. Whoever must’ve told her that she was seeming upset or different must have really talked it up dramatically.

“No problem!” Bee said, walking toward the hand washing station behind Amy. “Is there anything else that I can do for you?”

“Nope!” Amy responded, similarly to how Bee had said it earlier.

“Okay, thank you, Amy."

“Thanks, Bee,” Amy grinned as Bee turned the sink on and started to wash her hands. “I heard that Dieter Bravo was calling you that during filming. It’s a cute nickname. I think it suits you really well.”

Bee felt her face flush deep, hot red. “He did. I forgot how much I loved that nickname.”

“If you want to change your nametag around here for it, I can take care of the change,” Amy said, pointing to the Disney nametag on Bee’s chest.

“I-I’d love that,” Bee stammered, though she didn’t know how much longer she would be working for Disney after this audition.

“I’ll add it to my to-do list for tomorrow!” Amy said, walking back out of the kitchen with a slight wave. “Have a good rest of your night, Bee.”

“Thank you!” Bee said, waving a soap-covered hand at her.

The rest of the day finished smoothly, and with a whole batch of cupcakes for a Disneyland Hotel event frosted, decorated, and put into the cooler, she headed to the office to quickly fill out her extra lunch length slip. She had only gone about 20 minutes over, but it was better to document and eat into her PTO than sneak around her supervisors in order to go to auditions. If this Netflix audition was unsuccessful, she would still need a job to hold her over until she got the role of her dreams.

Claire had texted her the address of her condo while they were still at Mark’s office, and Bee clicked on the address in iMessage to pull up Apple Maps.

The drive to Claire’s condo was a bit longer than expected, but she supposed it was normal that Claire commuted around Los Angeles for various workshops. It was one of the major perks of living in the city, having access to so many other small towns, cities, and areas that you wouldn’t otherwise.

She could teach that workshop every day for the rest of her life, and people would still sign up, hopeful to learn more about the world of acting from her.

Claire’s neighborhood was nice – it was a newer development, which meant that it was especially expensive, even though it looked to be a studio condo. There were luxury cars parked on the street, and there didn’t seem to be a piece of litter in sight. Bee double-checked the address just to make sure that she was at the right condo, and her phone verified that she was.

“What the fuck else do you do for work?” Bee asked herself out loud after parking on the street out front of Claire’s condo.

The workshop she had attended had been so cheap, there was no way that Claire was able to afford to purchase a luxury condo in this part of L.A. on like $200 a day, tops. The salary was nothing to scoff at, but it was not luxury Los Angeles condo money.

Regardless, Bee grabbed her bag from the front seat and walked up the stairs that led to Claire’s condo. It was just after 6 p.m., after the time that Bee had spent driving and in traffic, but she was on time, according to what they had agreed to in Mark’s office. She knocked on the door, and Claire answered as if she had been standing there, waiting for her to knock after spying her car on the street down below.

“Welcome!” Claire shouted, swinging the door open wide. The interior of her apartment was trendy, stark white, and decorated with at least one hundred lush green plants. She held a bottle of wine in her right hand and a spatula in her left. “Ready for dinner?”

“Um, yeah, actually,” Bee said. She hadn’t eaten anything except for a cookie at work around 3 p.m. – a perk of being a baker. “I’m starving. Thank you, Claire. You didn’t have to cook anything. I could’ve just dealt with it.”

“No way!” Claire said. “You should be practicing on a full stomach, and I love to cook. I made champagne shrimp and pasta – is that okay with you?”

Bee’s eyes widened. “That is 100% okay with me. Please cook for me every day of my life, Claire.”

Claire laughed and ushered Bee in. “Come on! Set your stuff down. I’ll serve you a plate, and then we’ll get started on the sides.”

“The sides? Like side dishes?” Bee asked incredulously.

“No, silly. The sides that Netflix sent Mark,” Claire said, gesturing to a packet of paper on the countertop. “We’ve got to get those memorized and firmly in your noggin before Saturday.”

Bee stared at how thick the packet was. “Okay.”

“But dinner first. You can’t learn anything on an empty stomach. Would you rather sit at the bar or the table?”

Bee set her bag down by the front door and took her sneakers off as Claire closed the door behind her. “Um, whatever works best for you. I’m not sure where you prefer to eat.”

“Let’s be fancy and sit at the table,” Claire said. She skipped to the kitchen with her spatula in hand and grabbed two large plates which she piled high with pasta and grilled shrimp. The bottle of wine was still in her hand as she served them, completely unopened, so she did each step of plating them one-handed.

Bee walked over to the table and took a seat. It was a small, round table that had a tiled top. It was an obvious thrift flip, which was extremely popular in Los Angeles homes. The table was probably $10 at Goodwill, and Claire likely paid $200 or more for it. Claire set her plate of pasta down with a fork and returned to the kitchen to grab her own plate. Still, with the bottle of wine in her hand, she finally set out to uncork it.

“Sorry, I’m so rude. Do you want some? I didn’t know if you drank or not,” Claire said, pouring herself a glass.

“Sure, I’ll have a glass. I’ll be here for a bit, too, right?” Bee clarified.

“Yeah, like an hour or two. Are you that much of a lightweight?” Claire asked, pouring Bee a generous glass of white wine.

Bee laughed. “What are the stereotypes about Asians again?”

Claire brought both glasses over to the table and shrugged. “You said it, not me. So how was your day?”

“It was a day,” Bee said, blowing her breath out of her mouth. “I mean, the headshots and the meeting with Mark you know about. That was amazing, and I don’t even know if I have the words to describe how cool that was.”

“And the rest of it?” Claire asked, twirling her pasta with her fork. “I want to know all about it. What does Bee do every day?”

“Well, I went back to work, and I was a little bit shellshocked,” Bee admitted. “My boss was even super weird about it and came and checked on me. I was doing maybe not the most important task that I could be doing, but I was still doing stuff that needed to be done.”

“That’s fucking annoying. What was her problem?” Claire asked. “Did she catch you on your phone or something?”

“No – well, maybe, actually. But I literally used it once to text my partner back. “But she said that someone was concerned about me and reported to her about it. I’m not sure who would do that, but it’s definitely possible that there are girls at the bakery that are jealous of me right now.”

“Did you tell anyone about the Netflix audition? Girl, that’s a no-no,” Claire looked dumbfounded.

“What? No, I didn’t tell anyone about that. It was the Dieter filming session that I did,” Bee shrugged and dug into her pasta. It had been ages since she had eaten food that looked this good, and she knew how to cook.

“The who what?” Claire asked, her pink mouth open in shock. “The Dieter what? Dieter, as in Bravo?”

Bee felt her cheeks flush. “Um, yeah. Dieter Bravo came and did a special tour of my work, and I got to do a tasting with him that was filmed. I was chosen for it, though, and it made sense. It was me and my friend Staci who were chosen to do the gig. And we film all the time at work, honestly. Little YouTube videos and stuff for Instagram all the time.”

“But not with Dieter Bravo,” Claire gasped. “The little stuff isn’t with Dieter Bravo, bitch, I would be jealous too. I would tell on your ass if I saw you slacking off if you got to hang out with Dieter Bravo for work!”

Bee nodded with a mouthful of food. “Oh my god, Claire, this is incredible.”

“I don’t care about the food. Tell me more about Dieter! What was he like? I’ve never filmed with him before!”

“Okay, wait, that’s a question that I have for you,” Bee said. “What exactly do you do all day, Claire? This place is incredible. My partner and I have a double income, and there is no way that we could afford a condo this nice in this area.”

Claire looked a little dejected at the conversation change. “Um, well, I used to be a lot more successful than I am now. I had really big roles like 10-15 years ago, and at the time, people thought that I was going to be a big star, so I was getting paid way over what was expected for the roles I was getting because people were trying to form relationships with me.”

“Oh,” Bee said, feeling sorry that she had asked. “I’m sorry for prying. It’s just gorgeous.”

“It’s okay. I just kind of fell out of the spotlight. I fell into the early 2000s pain pills scene a little too hard to be attractive to many directors. I’m starting to get it back now, though, but I know how the industry works, and I know how auditions work. I just don’t get many roles because of my reputation. It’s no big deal.” Claire shrugged and drank more of her wine.

“I’m sorry, Claire. I’m glad you’re doing better now,” Bee said, cringing at her own stupidity for prying. She had felt brave enough to ask her the question because of how kind and hospitable Claire had been, but that clearly bit her in the ass.

“It’s fine,” Claire shrugged. “I’ve lived a very comfortable life and helped a lot of young actresses and actors make it big in Hollywood in the meantime. Besides, I’m sure you’ll see me in something big sometime soon.”

Bee raised both her eyebrows and looked down at her plate. She didn’t want to press Claire for more information after already blundering so badly. “Dieter was great. I haven’t met a kinder celebrity, and I’ve interacted with plenty in filming. He was so kind to me, and he was so cute. Like even cuter in person than I ever could’ve imagined.”

Claire looked more than slightly jealous but she continued to poke at her shrimp andpasta. “Well, I’m glad you liked him.”

Her words were cryptic, and Bee could feel her heart rate increase. She was assuming things that she probably shouldn’t be assuming, but it was hard not to. With all of the wrenches that had been thrown into how she thought her life was going to go just in the past week, there was not much more that could actually surprise her.

“And what else did you do today?” Claire asked, with her mouth full of pasta.

Bee shrugged. “Drove here, and now we’re eating dinner.”

“Nice,” Claire said with a smile. “I taught a morning workshop, met up with Mark at his office, and then came back to relax and cook dinner.”

“That sounds like a solid day,” Bee said.

“So, you have a boyfriend, right?” Claire asked, pouring herself some more wine.

Bee nodded. “Yeah, I do.”

“How is he taking this news?”

“He’s not,” Bee shrugged. “I haven’t told him yet.”

Claire winced, baring her teeth. “Bee.”

“What?” Bee looked up at her. “I know, I have to tell him at some point, but I’m just not ready yet.”

“Well, is he a bad guy?” Claire asked expectantly.

Bee shook her head. “No, he’s not a bad guy, but he would disapprove of me being so ‘flippant with our financials."

“So he’s controlling,” Claire said, taking another sip of wine.

“I mean, yeah, a bit?” Bee wasn’t sure how to answer. “But it’s more that I let him do it, more than he actually controls me.”

“It’s the same thing, babe,” Claire said with her brows raised. “It doesn’t matter, really. But you’re going to have to tell him eventually, so why not now?”

Bee thought about this for a moment but then decided not to respond except with a shrug of her shoulders.

They were both nearly done with their pasta, and the dull bubbling feeling of a buzz had started to light up her brain. She felt more relaxed from the alcohol but more on edge from the line of questioning she had received from Claire.

“Ready to get started?” Claire asked, setting her fork down. “I’m ready whenever you are.”

“Yeah,” Bee said. “I’m so ready.”

****

The entire day of Friday passed by in a blur. Bee made a point to work mostly on creative throughout the day, sketching up new ideas in her notebooks, passing them on to their designated artist to mockup, and doing test bakes of them to prototype and taste them. It was a busy day, with an upcoming Disney Pixar film about to be released, and early preparations for Halloween and the holidays had begun.

By the end of the day, her fingers were cramping from sketching and adding minute details to a prototype that she knew would get declined. It was just too intricate to be replicated on a mass scale, but it was gorgeous and reflected the new movie so well.

As she worked, she ran lines in her head. With Claire, she had spent 3 hours runninglines, practicing the scenes, and working through the beats of them. She knew how her face was supposed to move as she moved through the scene.

Now, she also knew the show. It was based on a popular romance series, as Mark and Claire had both alluded to. However, it wasn’t exactly based directly on a book. Instead, it was a spinoff series to – one of a few that were planned out to be derivatives of the main series – Bridgerton.

There was an accent – of course – for these lines, but Bee had done some accent classes in her 20s that were helpful in perfecting it. A simple RP, nothing too fancy… but it was still an added element that stressed her out.

The clock in her workroom was just 10 minutes to 5 p.m. when Amy walked in to check on her. She resisted the urge to roll her eyes, anticipating that someone else had complained about her today.

What gives? I worked on creative all day. What could you really say I did this time?

“Hey, Bee,” Amy said. “I’ve got that new name tag for you.”

She held up the new name tag that was bright and shiny and said BEE in bold blue lettering.

“Oh thanks, Amy!” she said excitedly. “I’m excited to wear it on Monday.”

“Perfect!” Amy said, crossing the distance between them to deliver the name tag. “About Monday, I was wondering if you would be interested in filming a follow-up segment to the Star Wars treats? We had some interest from higher-ups and the cast in returning to catch up with you guys and discuss the desserts all together all as one big group?”

The breath caught in Bee’s throat – there were so many questions that came to her mind that she wanted to ask in one hurried rush. She would if it had been Staci who broke the news, but this was her direct supervisor. Amy was nice and all, but she would not be in favor of any unprofessional thoughts toward the actors that they would be working with.

“Yeah, I would love to! That group was a lot of fun,” Bee said, playing it off completely. “Same kind of schedule as the other day?”

“Yep! Makeup first thing in the morning, and if you could try to wear the same, like earrings or little things,” Amy said. “We want to make it seem like it’s the same day, and then Dieter can give you the ‘Bee’ name tag because he encouraged you to choose it and play with it.”

A planned interaction between her and Dieter. If she was with Staci, she would shriek. Like, actually squeal like a girl out loud.

“Oh, I love that idea,” she said, once again hiding her true feelings. “That was a really great moment during filming, so it will be great to make that connection for an ending segment. I love that idea.”

“Me too! It was Staci that came up with it, actually. She’s a genius,” Amy laughed. “But she might have ulterior motives, though I won’t comment on those.”

Bee flushed. “Oh, I might have to kill Staci.”

Amy luckily picked up on her joke and laughed with her. She handed her the nametag and smiled.

“Have a good weekend, Bee! Thank you for all of your hard work this week,” Amy said. “I don’t know what we’d do without you!”

****

The revelation that she would get more time with Dieter Bravo next week made Bee want to hurry through the weekend. Still, she had too much planned to sleep through the weekend in anticipation of what was to come.

She had told her partner that she once again had a planned session with her instructor. He was understanding and supportive of her trying to get auditions. She had also let slip that she had talked to her instructor’s agent and gotten headshots that were taken free of charge.

He was also surprisingly calm with these revelations, although hurt that she had been keeping some things from him during the week. Bee responded by blaming the distance on him, which in retrospect, was not the best thing to do.

Bee saw the hurt on his face when she said it, but his acceptance of his apparent faults made her feel a bit more comfortable. He seemed like he was willing to change at least a little bit, and he promised to be more attentive to her and her needs.

Once again, she worked with Claire on the lines at Claire’s house after being made an amazing dinner. The script was pretty manageable, and it was filled with angst and dramatic flair.

The character was interesting, and it was equally interesting that the lead was going to be Asian in a traditional, British high-society setting.

Claire was playing the role of the male love interest, who talked smoothly in a posh British accent. The characters were somewhat similar to Season 2 of Bridgerton, where the woman played hard to get and the man was a little abrasive, but definitely interested.

“Okay, let’s run that one again?” Claire asked, still talking in a posh accent.

Bee nodded. “Can I get some water?”

“Not if you don’t say it in character,” she scolded.

Bee laughed. “Can I get some water?”

This time, she repeated it in the accent of the character.

“Perfect!” Claire said. “Go get a glass, they’re in the cupboard. On the left.”

Bee jogged over to the kitchen and grabbed herself an empty glass to fill with water from the fancy fridge. She was feeling confident and like she had made a friend in Claire. This was an activity that didn’t seem like one that a mentor and a mentee would engage in. They felt like friends, best friends.

“I’m going to your audition tomorrow, by the way,” Claire said from the living room. “I want to be there for you to do some pre-audition work.” She said it with a wink that left Bee feeling a little unsettled – like there was something that Claire wasn’t quite telling her about the audition.

When she left Claire’s condo that night, she felt like she was ready for the audition and prepared to give this audition her best try. And maybe, just maybe, Claire and Mark had been right about the fact that they would want her to star in this project.

She got home around 10 p.m., and Bee set her stuff down and walked into the living room, where her partner was once again watching the news, as he always did. But riding on the high of her day and with the anticipation for the audition the next day, she thought that it would be the perfect time to drop the news of the audition on her partner.

“So, I have an audition,” she said. “And it’s with a big television company.”

“For tv?” he asked. “Like actual tv?”

Bee grinned. “I mean, kind of. It’s actually for Netflix. A Netflix original.”

He grabbed her around the waist and squeezed her tightly. “Oh my god, no way, babe! No fucking way!”

She laughed and tilted her head back as he jokingly shook her. “I know, I know!”

“You’re amazing! I knew you could do it. You’re amazing! Are you going to call your mom?”

“I don’t know,” Bee said, pondering the question. “Should I?”

“Yeah!” he almost yelled, still shaking her slightly with excitement. “You need to tell her. She’s going to be so proud of you!”

“Okay,” Bee said, her excitement kind of getting worn down from how overdramatic his reaction was. “I’ll call her.”

She disentangled her limbs from his and pulled her cell phone out of her back pocket. She didn’t want to call her mom, not now, but the excuse was a little better than having to deal with him. His neediness was an immediate turnoff for her, but she couldn’t put a finger on why.

Taking a step away from him, she tapped into her contacts to find where her mom was listed in order to give her a quick phone call. He looked at her eagerly, anticipating how she would share the news with her mom. The phone dialed, and he kind of bounced on his heels in excitement.

She tried to reframe his excitement as a good thing, but it felt weird. It didn’t feel genuine. He was too excited. It was fully out of character.

****

When she woke up, Claire was already spam calling her. It was half past eight, but her phone had rung three separate times from her mentor.

“Hello?” Bee asked sleepily. “What do you want so early?”

“Where are you?” Claire asked. “Hello??”

“I’m in bed? The audition doesn’t start until like 11 am? It’s 8:30?” Bee groaned. “What’s the matter?”

“Well, you need to get ready so you should be out of bed at 8:30 and getting ready so you can get to the audition 30 minutes early at 10:30, which means you now only have an hour to get ready because you must account for traffic. Didn’t we go over this last night? I thought I walked you through each and every step of this audition process for the morning,” Claire said, the words passing her lips at a mile a minute.

“Okay, slow down, please,” Bee begged. “What do I need to be doing right now?”

“Get out of bed and go take a shower!” Claire instructed. “And when you’re out of the shower, start on hair and makeup immediately. Come on now, get to it!”

“Okay, okay,” Bee said, throwing the covers off of her body. She got up and started following Claire’s pushy but probably correct instructions. This was Netflix, after all, and if there was any opportunity for her, it was this one. She was going to get this role if it was the last thing she did.

As she got ready, she realized just how right Claire probably was that she should’ve been getting ready sooner. She was having trouble with just about every step of her morning routine. It was like fate itself was trying to tell her that she shouldn’t be doing this, and she started to doubt herself along the way.

She was out of body wash, she got a huge dollop of mascara right on her cheek, and she couldn’t find a lint roller to get the dog hair off of her clothes for the life of her.

Adding to these troubles interfering with her getting ready for her big audition, her partner had gone back to his usual ways and he was immediately complaining that she was leaving so early in the morning and refusing to make him breakfast.

Bee almost shouted at him before deciding that it would be better if she avoided a conflict with him on the morning of her big day. If she got this role well…things would be different.

There was no way she could picture herself living her life with him if she was a celebrity, and that was that.

She left without giving him a kiss – something that she was sure to answer for when she got home. He could tell that she was pissed off with him. He just wasn’t saying anything about it.

The drive to the production company’s studio was relatively short, and she had left the house at 10 a.m., which made her adequately early in Claire’s eyes. The parking lot was guarded by security, who by some sort of miracle, accepted her explanation that she was there for an audition.

It was 10:30 a.m. on the dot when she parked her car next to Claire’s Lexus. Bee could see her squeal through their car windows, and Claire exited her own car to come and sit in Bee’s before they went into the studio.

“Okay, so there are three executive producers in there,” Claire said as she slid into the passenger seat. “And the director, and the main writer. I already went in and introduced myself, and Mark is going to be here too.”

Bee nodded, the full force of the nerves starting to really affect her now.

“Okay…wouldn’t it be better if I didn’t know exactly who was going to be in there?” Bee asked.

“Well, I just don’t want you to have any surprises because it’s a bigger casting call than I thought,” Claire explained. “There’s a lot of people auditioning today, and there are a lot of people making this decision. It’s not as lowkey as we were originally told.”

“Oh,” Bee said, a little disappointed that Mark and Claire had been wrong about the apparent lack of competition for the lead role she was going for.

“Stop it,” Claire playfully smacked Bee’s leg. “I meant this entire casting call. There is more than just one role being cast today. So chill out, and relax. Breathe. So, three executive producers, the director, the main writer, and three of the roles that are already cast in the show.”

“Okay,” Bee said, taking a deep breath in and blowing it back out. “And are all of these names publicly available? Do you know who they are? Do you know what they like?”

“Well, I mean, I know, but I don’t think it would help you to know who they are,” Claire said cryptically. “Besides, the three people who are cast aren’t there to help decide. They are just there for screen testing and compatibility testing.”

“Are they good? What background do they have?” Bee asked. She wanted to gauge how much experience the other “unknown” actors had so she could compare herself to them. Maybe if there were others who had only really done commercials 10 years ago, she would have a better shot.

Claire let out a sigh. Bee looked at her, thoroughly confused at how erratic she was being.

“Spit it out, Claire,” Bee said.

“One of them is someone that you know.”

“You?” Bee gasped. “Did you get a role?”

Claire looked sheepish and then nodded. “I have a supporting role. I’m really excited about it.”

“That’s incredible, Claire!” Bee said, grabbing her hand and squeezing it. “When did you find that out?”

“The day before I taught your workshop, actually,” Claire confessed. “I knew I was getting back into it. I told you so the other night.”

“That’s amazing, but you’re not unknown. You have experience,” Bee pointed out.

“I’m pretty much unknown completely to the younger generation. The producers think that this will be a good way to give me a fresh start,” Claire said with a smile.

“Absolutely! Well, now I really really want to get in, so we can work together. Who else is already signed on?” Bee asked.

“I guess I should’ve said two people you already know,” Claire said, once again sounding mysterious.

“Who do I know that acts?” Bee asked. She wracked her brain, trying to see if she remembered any of the other actors from the workshop. None of them struck her as someone that she would “know.” “Is it someone named Jason?”

“Who is Jason?” Claire asked.

“No one,” Bee said quickly. Whole Foods guy.

“He’s someone you met recently….” Claire continued.

“So, it’s a man. Mark?” Bee tried again.

“Okay, fine. I’m just going to say it,” Claire said, so offended by her guess that she rolled her eyes. “It’s Dieter Bravo, Bee. Dieter Bravo signed on.”

Bee stopped breathing for a moment, and she swore her vision went fully fuzzy. “What?” Bee whispered, finding it suddenly hard to breathe.

“I know,” was all Claire replied.

“Claire,” Bee said, deadly serious. “I thought you said that they wanted unknowns for this project.” Claire smiled a devilish smile. “I meant for the female lead.”

“Stop it, you’re joking,” Bee accused, pointing her finger at Claire. “You’re just messing with me to get me excited for the audition.”

Claire shrugged. “Maybe I am, maybe I’m not. You will just have to go inside and see for yourself, I guess.”

“I guess I will,” Bee said confidently, though on the inside, she felt like her heart was exploding out of her chest with nerves. “But I think you’re lying just to hype me up, and you're going to be wrong.”

“Mmhm, okay, Bee,” Claire said. “Whatever you think. It’s 10:45.”

“Okay, shit,” Bee said, turning the keys in the ignition to turn off her car. “Let’s go then.”

“Do you need anything from me?” Claire asked, opening her door.

Bee shrugged. “For you to stop lying to me would be nice.”

She was joking, but it would be nice to have a fair warning about whether or not she was about to be in the same room as Dieter Bravo for a second time this week.

“No comment,” Claire said, closing the car door behind her.

Bee followed her lead as she walked into the production company’s studio. It was pretty bare bones, which surprised her. The lobby was nice, but the set itself was nearly completely blank, with a bunch of cameras set up and trained on a white background. There were wires everywhere, and the whole production setup seemed like it was in a bit of a rush.

“They’re on a deadline,” Claire whispered behind her. “If they don’t find people this week and announce casting, they might get dropped.”

So, it’s today or nothing then, she thought. Bee liked those odds.

“Check in over here,” Claire instructed, showing her where the clipboards were for sign-ins. There were drawn lines on a blank white sheet of paper for each of the roles.

The audition had been invite-only, meaning that each person there knew the role they were auditioning for. Her character’s name was Celine, and she quickly wrote her name under the three other girls that had signed in for earlier time slots. She tried not to read too much into it, but there were only two lines available for time slots after hers.

1 out of 5 was also odds that she didn’t hate.

She checked the time on her phone, and it was nearing 11. There were no executives or cast members in the seats, which made sense to Bee since she had Claire with her. They apparently had been on a break.

Claire disappeared around 10:50, back behind a series of curtains, and she could hear her laugh from all the way across the studio. This left Bee to stand awkwardly with a production assistant by the sign-in sheets. She was supposed to be the first to go after the end of the break.

Then, in response to Claire’s laugh, was another laugh there that Bee also thought was familiar. It was masculine, deep, and so sexy it made her take pause.

“Quiet, everyone!” the production assistant yelled. “It’s time to start round two of auditions, starting with the role of Celine!”

The group behind the curtains quieted and trailed out to sit in front of the white backdrop in their empty chairs. Bee tried not to look at them as they walked to their assigned seats. She didn’t want to recognize a director, or worse, Dieter. This was just a normal audition. She was just auditioning for a cereal commercial, simple as that.

Next to her, the assistant turned on their walkie-talkie and said clear as day into the receiver. “Can someone make sure Dieter knows we’re doing a compatibility test on this one?”

Her heart thundered in her chest even faster than it had before. Impossibly fast, beating in her ears, blood rushing to her head.

Then, the assistant tapped her on the shoulder. “Are you Bee?”

Bee blinked back to reality and nodded. “Yes, I’m Bee.”

“Okay, you’re up first. They’ll tell you what to do.”

“Thank you,” Bee said to them.

“Good luck!”

Bee walked as confidently as she could toward the white backdrop. There was an X on the floor right in front of it that designated where she was supposed to stand, and that X was her guide.

She stood in front of the group of elite executives, Claire and … Dieter Bravo, and gave a slight wave.

“Hello, everyone, my name is Bee, and I am auditioning for the role of Celine. I am currently represented by Mark Carter,” she said, as instructed by Claire.

“Thank you, Bee,” the director said. “We are going to start with the third side for you. Claire will read for the part of Willa.”

Bee nodded and conjured up the memory of her and Claire practicing that very scene. Now that she thought about it, Claire had gotten extra involved in her accent in that scene.

Bee took a deep breath in and waited for Claire to begin the scene from her seat.

“You cannot marry him, Celine,” Claire said in character.

Bee laughed. “I don’t want to marry him, Willa. It’s just that everyone is suggesting that I do that you are even thinking of it as an option. It isn’t an option. He isn’t an option. Not for me.”

“You are so frustrating. You make me want to pull my hair out,” Claire said.

“And you make me want to scream! Sometimes I look at you, and I just want to shout at the top of my lungs. Why can’t you just mind your own business and stay out of mine?” Bee said passionately. Her accent was good today, and she was running off the energy of the scene. They had given her a good one to start with.

“I didn’t know that,” Claire said softly. “I thought I was looking out for you. It’s what friends do, what companions do for each other.”

Bee shook her head and rolled her eyes. “You’re selfish, Willa. You want me to believe I can’t marry him so that you can instead. Well, you can have him.”

“Thank you, ladies,” the director said – interrupting the scene midway through. Bee’s stomach sank to her shoes. They usually only did that when they didn’t like what they saw. “Can we move to the next side, please? Number 4?”

“They weren’t asked to prepare for that one,” one of the producers piped up.

“Well, can someone get me two scripts, please?” the director asked, snapping her fingers.

“One for Bee and one for Dieter. I need to see them both in this scene.”

Chapter 9 | Series Masterlist

[kurts-world-101]

you’re full of so many good, twisted, sinister ideas baby, i can’t wait to get my hands on you. to ruin both your body and the possibility of you wanting anyone else besides me.

maybe i’d take you in front of the whole parish. give these god fearing prudes something to look at. would you be shy with so many eyes in you while i pound my cock into you? or would you thrive off the attention like a little whore?

i wonder if you’re the kind of person with a religious kink where it stems from unpleasant experiences as a practicing christian or as a simple fetishization of it all. did your mom bring you to church every sunday as a child? i bet if she did she’d be horrified to know what gets you off now

that is you’re little secret but i do have some doubts as to if you know who i am. just a little hunch. i could very well be wrong but my intuition has been known to be good

he wants to know if i’m jealous. how cute. i bet you’d like that wouldn’t you? thinking about me seething at my screen at the words you type to others. of all the ways i’d punish you for shoring yourself out to anyone who comes in your inbox. i bet you’d like to get a rise out of me

unfortunately for you it doesn’t particularly bother me. how could it when i know once i really got my hands on you youd forget about anyone but me. i’ll let you have your fun with the cock hungry anons in your inbox until you’re ready to commit to your real and true god

nice try though baby, better luck next time trying to make me angry 🖤 just know if it’s games you want to play i will always win

-⛓️🔪

I want you to ruin my body and my soul. Want my cock to only get hard for you. Want to get off to the thought of you doing nasty, vile disgusting things to me. Whatever came to your head. However you want to use me. I’m yours. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. I’m a hole for you.

I would be shy at first, not lying. Having all their eyes on me, judging me. Disgusting looks plastered across their face as they watch me open myself to you. Spreading my self open for you. My chest across the alter, hands gripping the sides as you split me open. After a while I wouldn’t care who watched or who saw you take me. My mother did take me to church, every Sunday. If you can imagine little Kurt dressed up in his best outfit. Until I was around 12 or so, I went every Sunday. Bowed my head praying to a false god. Not knowing the one on my screen was the only one I really wanted to bend my knees for.

If my mom knew the thoughts I had as a teen, touching myself to the thought of getting on my knees for the pastor. The blonde haired boy, the new appointed church pastor. The thoughts I would have, as he stuffed the cross in my hole. As he forced me to take his cock, while reading from the Bible. If I told my mom I wanted to let an Angel ruin me, she would simply pass away. If she knew the things that got my dick hard….

You’re right, I don’t know. My brain is rattled trying to figure out just who you could be. The minute I think I know. It goes away. Your intuition is very good.

I thought, for a spilt second I could get that ride out of you, seeing all the filthy things people say to me. But now I’m just upset. I want to make you jealous. I want you to fuck me, letting all your anger out on me. I want you to tell me how hard it makes me you. How do I make you jealous? Tell me… give me a crumb please…fuck. I’ll take anything at this point.

[artistfingers]

There’s one ~silver lining~ of my iPad being broken: I’ve had loads of time to think about my many half-formed undercover phantom au ideas! Since I have no idea when or what will make it to comic form, here’s the lowdown…. AKA, everything that’s been rattling around my brain recently :P

For context: Danny, Sam and Tucker have never met, and nobody knows Danny is Phantom. When Vlad’s newest bit of tech gets Danny stuck in ghost mode (with the rest of his powers on the fritz to boot), he meets Tucker and Sam—who instantly see through his disguise and lend a helping hand. (Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4!!)

So. After that, Danny—no, Phantom—becomes friends with them. It’s exciting! He was invisible at school even before the ghost powers; he was pretty isolated and lonely and being Phantom for the last year hasn’t exactly been a social boon. Kid’s lonely, ok?

But now… two human friends? Who’re his age & share his interests? It’s like a dream come true! If only they weren’t exclusively friends with his ghost self… and if only they didn’t wanna be so involved in his dangerous ghost hunting things…Uhhh. Hm. Could be a problem.

Danny angsts about the danger he’s putting his new friends in, and about not being able to befriend them as a human. He plays with the idea of telling them Everything but that’s… risky to say the least. He’s only known them a few weeks! ugh….!! it’s too much. maybe he should just throw the towel in.

Buuut Sam & Tucker don’t take no for an answer. Especially after they rescue him a third time.

Thus… Phantom friendship shenanigans!!

Sam filched some parts from the Fentonworks Lab when Phantom took them there, and later convinced Tucker to help her build a custom mini ectogun in case of emergency. They didn’t tell Phantom.

Danny is really sentimental about that DP hat he wore when he first met Sam & Tucker. He wore it as Phantom for a while but it got singed in a fight. He still wears it when he hangs out with Tucker & Sam but otherwise keeps it squirreled away for Sentimental Reasons.

“So Phantom, how old are you?” “I’m 15.” “15 now? Or 15 when you died?” “Yes.”

Tucker has a bunch of awful 90s button up shirts, and gives one to Phantom

They aren’t able to convince Sam to wear one too, but they sure do try.

Phantom won’t tell them when he died, so once he starts wearing 90s shirts they start using terrible 90s slang with him

“I am NOT from the 90s!!! They didn’t even SAY that then!!!” “methinks the lady doth protest too much…..home slice” “NOOO!!!”

“Phantom I have an extremely important question. Like, life or death. SHIT is on the LINE here. Are you listening?? I really need to know…. Do ghosts play video games”

The answer may surprise you (no it won’t)

Sam is completely convinced they can ACTUALLY get a good working guess of when Phantom lived and died based on the fact he liked Nasty Burger when he was alive, since NB’s a regional chain with a not-so-distant past. Tucker meanwhile thinks Phantom probably has a good reason for keeping them at arm’s length—but regardless of method, they can agree: they want to break down Phantom’s walls.

The next arc is less “Undercover Phantom” and more “Undercover Fenton” because the juxtaposition of him having to do hidden identities squared (squared again) is too good for me to pass up. It boils down to this: during a ghost attack at school, Danny finds himself stuck being “protected” by Sam and Tucker.

Sam and Tucker take their new jobs as Phantom’s ghost hunting companions too seriously to let this skinny stranger they just met run TOWARDS the danger. WHY does he keep trying to run TOWARDS the danger

NO YOU CANNOT GO TO THE BATHROOM THE SCHOOL IS ON G H O S T L O C K D O W N

Sam pulls out her ectogun.

Danny: WHERE DID YOU GET THAT?!

Sam does not tell him.

“Wait, your last name’s Fenton? Like Fentonworks Fenton?” “No, the other Fenton.” “Oh… well, that’s too bad…” “YES LIKE FENTONWORKS FENTON”

Sam is initially wary of Danny because of his parents’ super strong anti-ecto views. Danny is clueless as to why she isn’t very friendly to him-as-a-human when she’s great with him-as-a-ghost. but she warms up after he helps resolve the ghost issue in a way that shows he doesn’t subscribe to his parents’ views.

afterwards you get this excellent situation where Danny is now friends with Sam and Tucker as Phantom and as Fenton, and they’re not connecting the dots as quickly as they did when it was just “that’s Phantom wearing a hoodie and a cap with his own logo on it”.

the potential here? *chefs kiss* here’s a few things but honestly? the possibilities are limitless

Danny pretending to not have a cell phone because he already gave them his number as Phantom

Tucker: *dials Phantom*

Danny, standing directly next to him: *frantically attempting to silence his phone*

Sam & Tucker try to introduce Danny and Phantom. Danny has to make excuses to avoid this happening in both forms.

Danny takes Sam & Tucker down to the Fentonworks Lab to get them some real equipment. Sam & Tucker pretend (very badly) that they’ve never been there before

Rooftop chill sessions as Phantom, late night teenage hijinks as Fenton, plus school AND fighting ghosts does not do any favors for Danny’s sleep deprivation. Tucker introduces him to caffeine pills with… mixed results.

Tucker and Sam teach Phantom some sign language. Later Danny slips up and uses it casually with them as Fenton

…. And many other silly mixups that I’ve yet to think of because I live for that shit

Sam & Tucker have theories about the Fenton-Phantom connection and they’re all wrong but somehow also plausible and that freaks Danny out just a little bit if he ever overhears them

Ultimately, I see this AU having a final arc where a New Situation occurs in which Danny-as-Phantom has to—once again—pretend to be human. This time, he’s with Sam & Tucker as Phantom from the get go, and can’t disappear or transform, even if being Phantom is extremely dangerous at that moment. Somehow this scenario would lead to the Fenton-is-Phantom (or, in this case, Phantom-is-Fenton) reveal…. But the details still escape me :P

so in short………… I really like hidden identities

[girl-of-many-fandoms]

Could you write an imagine for Deacon Kay, please. You have full creative freedom for plot.

Sweet Angel

Pairing: Deacon Kay x Reader

Summary: Losing things in life is never easy

Warnings: mention of blood, miscarriage TW, grief

Please don't ever give me creative freedom again 🥺

MASTERLIST

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“Honey, have you seen Leo’s favourite rattle?” gripping onto the kitchen sink I doubled over in pain, unable to make a sound from the stabbing pain in my abdomen. Deacon’s large hand rested on the small of my back as he caught me before I could hit the deck.

“Babe, what is it, what’s hurting?” his calm nature was completely changed into a state of panic as he tried to assess me. I couldn’t speak from the intense pain I’m experiencing. Hot liquid ran down the inside of my thighs and since I’m wearing a dress, it got on the kitchen floor.

“Babe you’re bleeding, we have to take you to a hospital.”

I didn’t register him moving me from the kitchen to helping me into the car as I was only focused on the baby that I’m miscarrying with each passing second. My heart feels like it’s been torn out of my chest and then chopped into millions of pieces.

This isn’t supposed to happen, why is this happening?

“Mommy, why you sad?” my five year old boy asked as his father buckled him into his booster seat. I tried to force a smile with the tears running down my face as I turned to look at him.

“Mommy’s okay, I just have a really bad tummy ache.”

Thank God he’s young and doesn’t know what’s happening. Deacon and I were planning on telling him about his baby brother or sister tonight before we start watching movies but life has other plans I guess.

What he doesn’t know won’t hurt him right?

Deacon got us to the hospital in record time, he got out of the car and came over to my side, taking me into his arms. He told Leo to stay put before walking towards the entrance with me, a nurse immediately came over with a wheelchair and I zoned out while he did all the talking.

“Hey Deac, looks like we’re going to be a family of four.” grinning like an idiot I held up the positive pregnancy test for him to see as I sat on his lap.

“We’re having another one?” still in denial he took the test from my hand to get a better look at it himself, his grin matching mine as the news fully registers in his brain. He dropped the test and cupped either side of my face, leaning forward to kiss me.

“You’re really pregnant.”

“Yeah, I hope you’re ready to get back to changing diapers and late night feedings.”

“Bring it on.”

Before I had gotten lucky with Leo, Deacon and I had struggled to conceive so I guess after I gave birth to him I thought that maybe, just maybe, I wouldn’t have had that struggle again. So when I got those two lines on the pregnancy test, we both were overjoyed, ready for our little family to grow.

The medical team did their respective jobs and after an exam the doctor officially declared that I lost my baby ten weeks into the pregnancy. He also went on to say other things but I just rolled onto my side and cuddled into my little boy who was oblivious to what’s happening around him.

I just listened to him singing a nursery rhyme while he played with my hair and face. Deacon gently rubbed my back that’s facing him, trying to comfort me now more than ever. The doctor left and that’s when I broke down into tears.

In this very moment I hated my body for not being able to do the one thing it was meant to do, I hated the fact that I couldn’t get to meet my baby, I hated myself for thinking that I’d be able to have another after Leo.

My husband hugged me as best as he could and kissed the back of my cheek, his teardrops hitting my skin.

“It’s alright baby, I’ve got you.”

I don't know how I'm going to cope with this but as long as I have my husband I'll pull through, correction, we'll pull through this together.

Doesn't mean we'll ever forget out sweet angel.

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S.W.A.T. Taglist:

@dorks2022 @mirabee @blackcat420