#especially if he continues doing marketing work with them (which seems likely as of now)

[livesworthlivingau]

Lives Worth Living Chapter 26-28

ISAT/Two Hats Spoilers below! CW: Outbursts, Mentions of stabbing/killing, unhealthy obsessing.

"So how you holding up Sif?" (You suddenly snap back to reality and look over to Isa, now left alone as the other three had left for the market.)

"What do you mean?" (You ask, confused by the sudden question.)

"You looked a little zoned out there, and getting to see Vale again, and Nille, it's just a lot right now, even if it's good stuff. So... Just wanted to check in with you!" (He gives his trademark bright smile, and you can't help but smile back.)

"It is a lot... but it's good, the family's back together again, even L-Vale now... I just... I really hope it works out this time."

"This time?" (CRAB!!)

"Y-You know! Like, having them around... I want them to fit in is all!" (A more serious look appears on his face. There's no way he bought that...)

"Sif... You know you can tell me anything, right?"

"I do! I know! I... I'm sorry, but it involves them a lot too, and I can't talk about it without them." (Your voice falters a bit, the topic making you uncomfortable as you start to scratch absentmindedly at your arms. His large, gentle hand meet yours after a moment, trying to calm you down.)

"Hey, it's okay, I understand. I just worry, y'know? But if you're sure it's okay for now then I can wait!" (He smiles at you again. You place your head on his shoulder, closing your eye with a relieved sigh.)

"I love you Isa."

"I love you too Sif."

----------------------------------------------------

"Excuse me for a moment, I need to use the restroom~." (Vale explains before leaving the table and conversation. They seemed especially uneasy since Nille left to help Bonbon in the kitchen a few minutes ago, probably still struggling being around everyone else...)

"Siffrin, is there, uhm… Is Vale uncomfortable around us?" (Mira asks, it seems you weren't the only one to notice.)

"They're… just shy, you know? Not used to new people! That's all!" (You try to smile convincingly.)

"Right…" (Crab.)

"They just need some time to warm up is all!" (Isa to the rescue, as always. Thank the stars.)

"They were stuck in the loops too afterall! Sif was the only one they really interacted with, right?"

"No wonder they're so on edge." (Odile chimes in with a little tease, not even looking up from her book.)

"H-Hey!?" (Mira and Isa can't help but snort and snicker at your expense. It WAS a pretty good joke you guess…)

"Though we should discuss what our next course of action is, now that Nille has found us. I assume we'll still head to Bambouche for their sakes, then continue our little reunion tour? I imagine you'd like to return to Jouvente at some point Isabeau?" (Odile begins to plan aloud to get us all on the same page.)

"Eventually, sure, I'm in no rush! But what about you, M'dame? Don't you want to go back to Ka Bue too?" (Odile pauses for a moment, glancing over at you. You must have been making some kind of face considering how she raises a brow at you.)

"I believe our little time traveler here already knows the answer to that question." (You look away nervously.)

"It's uhh... complicated? I don't think Odile cares about returning anytime soon." (You try to keep it vague, to which she nods. Her eyes casually return to her book before she speaks up again.)

"Very astute of you, Siffrin. If I do happen to return, it will likely be out of obligation more than anything else. I believe we have more pressing matters to attend to, like the fact you're still looping."

"I wouldn't exactly call that pressing..."

"Th-This isn't something you should just put off Siffrin! What if it just keeps getting out on the back burner and suddenly you're right back where you started again?!" (Mira chimes in in a panic.)

"I'm not saying we just ignore it forever! Just... we have some time at least, and Odile stopped me from looping once already! If anyone's gonna know what to do, it'll be her, right?"

"I stopped it in the moment, preventing you from looping ever again is a whole ordeal in and of itself. It will take a lot of research on a subject that no one knows anything about, and another that is purely theoretical. I may be good at what I do but I'm not a miracle worker."

"You might not think so." (You chuckle a bit. No matter how many times it happens, she still managed to surprise you over the years with new breakthroughs and theories on craft, sadnesses, and otherwise. She smirks a bit as her eyes remain on her book.)

"While your confidence in my is flattering, I'd still like to tackle this subject sooner rather than later."

"Alright, we'll get to Bambouche and go from there, okay? For now I'm just glad we're all together again..." (Your expression falls to a bittersweet one. You feel Isa's hand on your shoulder, giving a light squeeze and smiling brightly at you. You lay your head against his side and close your eye, savoring the embrace.)

"Dinner'll be ready in a few!... Hey, where'd Vale go?" (Nille asks, stepping back in from the kitchen.)

"Oh! They went to the restroom! B-But it's been a while, hasn't it? should someone check on them?"

"I better do it, y'all sit tight!" (Nille quickly takes the offer to ensure no one else would, heading off to find them.)

----------------------------------------------------

"Before I explain this, it's not their fault, please don't blame them, they were going through a lot and I didn't notice how it was affecting them and I told their secret an-" (You start to explain at a million miles a minute, too frantic to be processed properly even as Nille lightly grabs your shoulders to snap you out of it.)

"Hey, easy, just start at the beginning okay?" (She tries to comfort you, to which you nod and take a deep breath.)

"... When I first looped back all those years, I was... frozen? I was panicking, stuck in my head, I thought it must be a dream or something, there's no way this was really happening, right?... And then I heard their voice... and all of that just went away." (You glance over at Vale. They look... confused? Shocked maybe? You guess you never got the chance to tell them this part.)

"I ran to find them right after, as fast as I could, and... I was just so happy to see them, I didn't think about how they were feeling... forced to be back, I'd been through so much and they were just left behind... and then I dragged them along back here to force them into a family they didn't want any part in."

"Stardust... That's..."

"It's true Vale, and I'm sorry. I really don't blame you for what happened." (Vale just looks away, clearly not agreeing, but they can tell they won't change your mind. Nille still looks very confused, waiting for the story to continue.)

"So things seemed fine for a little while, but then Odile noticed I was doing a little too well, and I told her about everything... including their secret, which they made me promise not to tell." (You really were hamming up how awful you had been, even if you didn't realize it. It was your fault after all, Vale can't be punished for that.)

"Vale found out what I did, they were already on the verge of snapping and that pushed them over the edge, so... they had to go back, before I dragged them to the party... They had to make us all loop back..." (Nille takes a second to process all of this, before her eyes widen, realizing what you were implying.)

"Frin, tell me what happened, please." (She asks, her eyes looking almost desperate, as if asking you to assure her it's not what she thinks.)

"Vale... They..."

"I STABBED HIM! I SHOVED HIS OWN DAGGER INTO HIS HEART AND FORCED HIM BACK, OKAY?! I'M A MONSTER AND A MURDERER!!!" (You jump back as they suddenly start screaming out. You look back to the door, thankful no one else was there at the moment. Nille pulls herself away from their outburst. Looking scared, confused, conflicted.)

"N-No! You're not Vale, you knew I'd be fine! You knew I'd loop!"

"And what if you didn't?!?! What if it all ended right there?!? How could I do such a thing?! How could I take that risk?! How could I hurt you like that?!" (Their eyes were wide and crazed, they gripped their hair painfully tight. They looked ready to snap again. Before you could try to comfort them, Nille was already holding their face to try and snap their out of it.)

"Hey hey hey! Vale, Calm down please." (They stopped suddenly, tears flowing from their eyes and staring back at Nille, surprised they weren't being treated like the monster they thought they were.)

"You made a mistake... a big one, sure, but a mistake none the less. Frin's okay now, right?"

"B-But... I killed them... H-how could anyone forgive me for that?..."

"Well, Frin did, and that's the most important person to do so I'd say... It's a lot to take in alright, still not really sure how I feel about it right now... but I'm not just gonna hate you for it, especially after everything." (Vale stares up at her, they look confused, their eyes darting about as they try to piece something together.)

"I doubt you want to go back in there tonight. Maybe you should stay at the Inn for tonight, cool off a little..."

"Y-Yes... that sounds like it's for the best..." (Before Vale can get too far, Nille lightly grabs their arm to keep them from going too far.)

"This doesn't give you permission to run away though! Remember... you made a promise." (She smiles softly then lets go.)

"... Right... I promise." (Vale can't hold eye contact with either of you for more than a second, slowly starting to walk off again.)

"We'll see you tomorrow, Vale?..." (You plead. They nod back at you before fully turning away. The both of you watch as they slowly vanish from view towards the town center.)

"... Hey, Frin? Are you sure you're okay?" (Nille starts to speak again, now that Vale was safely out of earshot.)

"... It's not that bad, I promise."

"But they killed you Frin... I know they've got issues but... I didn't think they'd be capable of doing that." (Nille holds her arms, gripping them a bit too tightly.)

"They're not! They knew I'd be okay! I'm still looping, it's fine! They would never have done it if they knew it wouldn't happen, like when-" (You cut yourself off, quickly slapping your hand over your mouth.)

"... When what?"

"... After the loops 'ended' the first time, I went to find them... That's when they admitted who they were, and they kinda... snapped. They attacked me, they were ranting and raving, they spent all that time just watching me do it and have an easier time than they ever did, everything they went through and my loops were practically a walk in the park in comparison... But when they had me beaten they couldn't do it! They wouldn't! They're not capable of that I swear!!!" (You do your best to convince her... and possibly yourself in the process. You still blame yourself for what happened, you just don't want Vale to suffer for it.)

"Frin... I'm not saying we should just send them on their merry way or anything but... they still attacked you, they still stabbed you... I don't know if you should just act like that's fine and forget it ever happened..."

"Nille... I've had a very long time to think about this. I've missed them for decades, and now they're finally back... I'm not going to do anything to mess that up, so please don't do so either." (You don't realize it until it's already happened, your face turning to a colder, darker expression. It felt vaguely familiar, likely similar to how you looked in those later loops... Nille looks a bit unnerved by it.)

"Siffrin, that's not healthy! Don't you think you're being a bit obsessive about thi-"

"I don't care!" (Nille jolts in shock, stepping back at your outburst. You stop before you lose it too much, taking a deep breath to compose yourself.)

"I just want them back... I just want them to be happy... I had 30 years of a wonderful life with all of you while they got nothing... Isn't that unfair? Isn't that a tragedy? They go through all the pain and suffering and I just come in and replace them?!"

"Frin! That's no-"

"NO! They're the only reason I'm here! They're the only reason I got to be happy for all this time! So don't you dare get in the way of me making it up to them!" (You snap. Nille stares down at you in a mix of shock and nerves. She looks over you a bit, as if trying to work out the best way to deal with this situation. You sigh and take a step back, making yourself smaller as you duck into your cloak a little.)

"I'm sorry... but please, don't... don't ruin this for me... I need this. I need them... Good night Nille." (You excuse yourself before you say anything else you may regret. You head back inside, ignoring anything she or anyone else may be saying to you as you pass. You reach your room and settle in for bed, not wanting to deal with this day any longer.)

[danthropologie]

https://youtu.be/GG418tWpq9c

babes i think you’d like this one, he’s feeding my delusion even more

unfinished business babyyyy!!!! if it was up to them, daniel never would have left in the first place!!! of course they're gonna bring him back!!!!

no but seriously this is really interesting, thank you. obviously it's a lot of the same stuff we've been talking about in regards to daniel, but i hadn't really thought about the pr angle to bringing in checo in the first place. obviously he was probably the best option at the time so it made sense from a logistical standpoint, but pr side of it....capturing a previously untapped market.... and i think even beyond what he's saying in this video, when you look at the way checo fans are turning on the team, filling the comments with all sorts of hateful bullshit and straight up going full conspiracy to explain away why he's not performing to the level they think he should be, it's easy to start to see how red bull might be ready to start distancing themselves from that, especially when there's a marketing slam dunk waiting in the wings

[fancyfeathers]

lol it'd be funnier if author!darling ACTUALLY disappears for a few days after marrying william. like the whole incident lol. also i can always see him wanting her to put more romance in her books. she'll probably relent, making messed up lovers who don't end up together out of spite. what i'm thinking is in "and then there were none" darling would be writing, dropping clues, hoping a certain someone (*cough* sherlock *cough*) would be able to piece things together soon

(Again for some reason @istgtumlrifyoudothisonemoretime your question is not showing up in my inbox, huh)

(Anyway a continuation of William with an author!darling)

But I have an idea with these…

During the engagement she writes two books, both with hidden clues within them for hopefully Sherlock to find. One of them is similar to the story of Veronica and JD from Heathers, which if you don’t know is kinda like Bonnie and Clyde but Veronica is almost forced into killing these people with him. So the first book is trying to tell of her current situation, forced into all of this and people are dying because of this. Since Heathers is set in an 80s high school, it would change to England high society, the aristocracy, to hint at what the Lord of Crime is doing. Then Veronica’s faking of ending herself would not be fake, she actually does it, hitting at what she would do if she cannot get out of there. But in the epilogue she would have a detective finding her body in an investigation, the detective’s name being an anagram for the name of Sherlock Holmes, perhaps something like Mr Celle Oshkosh, but not abbreviating Mr to hint at the fact that it is an anagram for the detective to find.

The second book would be very similar to And Then There Were None, but a few details would change. The dolls would be replaced with books, books with titles of her books which would point to the murders that happen in the real world, the ones that are based on her books. Then the judge/killer would be replaced with a professor to hint at it being William.

Now some of these hints William would pick up on, namely the ending of oneself in the the first book but not the hint in the epilogue, then the second book would have nothing William would not pick up on, after all it’s about him. He’s not upset about it actually, he’s almost flattered even, to be portrayed in on of her masterpieces, one of the best of her works. He would wait to read it until it has gone through her editor and gets published, reading it with a smile on his face and he would buy two copies, one of them for his shelves and the other to mark up and to make notes of the clues within.

But that aside, her intentions do not go forgiven, especially the last one in the first of her works.

So with that said he keeps her under constant watch and Louis takes the initiative to practically baby proof the house. When she has to be left alone she is kept in her room, not even able to write because of the fear she would stab herself with the pen or pencil.

But that was not her plan, at least not the killing herself fault…

Her plan to get them thinking that she is wanting to die before the wedding and once the wedding comes and she shares a room with William that the threat of her death is gone.

After the honeymoon is when her actual plan is sent into motion. William is off on a mission with most of the others but Louis and she had formed a bit of a friendship with her brother in law, but not without her own motivation. When they were at the market, she snags a few flowers, daffodils, flowers that seem harmless but if ingested can cause nausea, vomiting, and can even knock someone unconscious.

In the evening the two having tea after dinner and Louis’ mistake is letting her brew the tea because then he didn’t notice is her slipping the flower within. Within the hour Louis is sick, and slipping into unconsciousness, hot able to stop her as she snags the keys off of him…

When the others return in the morning they find Louis unconscious on the drawing room floor and front door locked, just to catch them off guard. They search for her but to no avail, no one has seen her, not even Scotland Yard or the neighbors have spotted her.

She has disappeared.

William goes back to her books, looking for clues and then he finally pays attention to the epilogue, the detective’s name is an anagram.

By this, she is already sitting in the drawing room of 221B Baker Street, watching the detective finally piece together the clues she left within her books.

[helluvabossrewrite45]

Hazbin Hotel Rewrite; Opening up at the Bar

From what I seen from hh with how it handles sa topics, it's very...questionable. Now the show hasn't still come out yet so I won't go into detail about it, but with how they use the song 'poison' and behind the scenes of it (viv making a sex joke as marketing the song and the lead storyboard shipping val x angel despite what it's meant to portray in canon) makes it understandable for people to critque the show's portrayal of it. So for here, I want to approach Angel's truama as respectfully as I can with Angel opening up to Husk as it seems to be the same episode where both of them improve their relationship. I hope I'm able to address sa well because I know it's a very delicate topic that shouldn't be written lightly (especially for truama responses like hypersexuality) so if you have any problems with how I written it and how I should change it, please let me know. I will rewrite it until I portray this topic properly and credit you for your critque/help (unless you don't want to)

Content Warning; SA and mention of drug/alcohol addiction

A bar full of bottles and boozes sitting there in windless silence, aching for their next customer. Its emptiness is numbing, the stranded desert of this hotel. Husk, tapping his fingers in rhythm, halts it as though the ticking of a clock stops and sighs in relief, grateful that his work is now done. He takes a bottle of booze, fulfilling its fate as he opens the lid to drain it all down, until he hears the door creaking. 

He groans “Oh it’s you,” as Angel Dust drags himself towards the bar, collapsing his face to the poseur table. “What do you want now? Bar’s gonna close soon. So hurry up.” 

Angel’s face tilts up. “A drink, please.” His voice is soft yet hoarse.

Husk rolls his eyes, wishing for that sweet graveness to enter this bar once again. He goes through his bottles. “Which one?” He asks with a hostile glare.

“Any.”

Angel Dust slowly lifts himself up from the table, staring in discomfort at Husk grabbing a random bottle from his shelf, a sense of dread lingers onto him. 

“Husk…” His voice grows quiet.

“What?”

“I’m…sorry.” His eyes not meeting Husk’s gaze. 

“For what?” He responds snappily, placing one hand to his hip.

“For earlier…” Angel answers, his eyes still refusing to see Husks. “For saying and doing all those weird things to you, I'm sorry.”

His grouchy face still remains. “Whatever,” firmly placing the bottle to the table and swishing it towards Angel. “Don’t do that again.”

“Yeah,” his body tenses, “I hope so…”

Husk brows raised. “Hope so? What do you mean?”

The question hangs on as Angel Dust fiddles their hands, looking down at the wooden dry floor. The room has been fogged in silence as Husk finds himself repeatedly tapping his fingers, wondering when the clock will finally end its grating tick. 

“Well…” His voice quivers, tracing his eyes back to Husks. “I don’t know…”

Husk’s face turned puzzled. “The hell you mean you don't know?!” 

“I-” Angel pauses himself for a moment, “I don't know. I just don’t know.” His face bangs on the table as his arms come to cover.

“Ah well, might just be a you problem then.” He cackles at his own joke, with hollow applause. 

Angel huffs, “That’s what you all think.” His voice became more irritated. 

Husk’s laughter abrupt into cold stillness, his voice freezes with the rest of his body. 

Angel continues, “All of you think i’m just some dirty sex pest, huh? A running sex joke?” Anger starts to rise through his voice, “Even Charlie thinks what I do is just who I am- like I chose this!” He cuts himself off, facing down to the lifeless floor again. “Like I chose this…”

Husk words vanished, his voice having trouble coming out of his mouth. All he could do is stand there, watching Angel Dust ponder through his thoughts. 

“You know I don’t actually like being sexual twenty-four seven? Crazy right?” He formed a smile, though not by sweetness, but by bitterness. “I don’t actually like making endless sex jokes or dirty talk, I don’t actually like to constantly fantasise or masturbate or sleep around with a bunch of nobodies,” bitterness starts to spread through his voice, “and I especially don’t like working in that place!” He holds his breath, exhaling to serene air. “But I do it anyway, no matter how hard I try.” His finger scratched the table harshly with a melancholic frown. “I don’t know what is wrong with me, I didn’t used to be like this, it was only after-” Angel cuts himself off as his body starts trembling. He places a heart on his hand, feeling the rapid sounds of his heartbeat. “After…” He slows himself, unable to muster anything else to speak of. 

His eyes lift to Husk, seeing the statue that he became, his widened pupils not even taking one blink. Angel’s face rose with worry, “Oh uh…sorry.” He murmurs. “Sorry, I’ll just take the booze or-”

“Go on.” Husk's voice comes back again.

“W-what?” He quivers, taken aback by what he heard.

“Go on…” Husk's voice trails off, still a statue of himself.

Angel Dust pursed his lips, facing down once more. “There was a time back then, when I sneaked into a bar for some alcohol, the thing that helped me most when I was alive. There was a really fancy bottle, porcelain white shimmering with bubbles, I couldn’t help myself. I had to have it. Then he caught me, I thought he would kill me. Instead, he made a deal; that if I work in his business, I won’t need to steal anything or even need a place to stay…” He breaks off, his fingers scraping themselves to a shell. “So I worked as one of his sex workers; a stripper for his bars, an actor for his films, anything to do with sex, really. It wasn’t what I was always interested in, but it felt…better? Being more open and honest about myself that I never got to do on earth. That is, until I came back to his home…He told me he wanted to show me something, my ‘reward’...” He holds back on his words, wrapping his arms around in a warm embrace. “After that, I…I don't know, I guess that’s where I started becoming more sexual. It’s like a switch where my mind now constantly thinks about sex, even if it’s not what I want. It’s my poison.” He holds onto his words again, reflecting his thoughts. “Maybe it’s a way of control, to take back what he did to me, not letting him hurt me…but is it any good if you can’t control it yourself?” He finds himself eyeing at the bottle of toxicated liquid. “That’s why I came here, I couldn’t find any drugs. So alcohol will just have to do.”

Husk exhales a quiet breath, with Angel’s words stalling through his mind. He saw Angel reaching for the bottle. “Wait!” He alerts, taking the bottle before Angel could have the chance. Angel looks at him, confound. “Why?” Husk fell silent, wavering on his memory like a lightning struck in a bottle. He places the bottle back to its fateless place and starts rummaging through the tea bags until one reads ‘Black Caravan Tea’. He places the tea bag in a muggy cup and clicks the kettle to brew. Minutes go by as the kettle finally makes its thump, breaking Husks trance as he pours the steamy water onto the cup and gently pushes it over to Angel. “Here” He says softly. “Careful, it’s hot.” Angel slowly directs his eyes to the hot tea, then back to Husk, his mouth making a quiet gasp. “I know it’s not much,” He adds. “But for you, I hope it can be enough.”

Angel dust calmly blows the steam off his tea and takes a sip, warm smoky sweetness filling his mouth in peaceful bliss. He continues sipping it at a slow pace, enjoying each moment with him and his magical tea, transforming his mind to ocean waves, hearing its soothing whooshes and the pleasant echoes of bird’s chirping. After taking one last sip, he notices Husk with his own muggy cup, cooling off the steam before slurping down the whole tea to an empty cup. His grouchy face disappeared, replacing it with a genial smile; friendly and relaxed. Like warming his face with radiant golden sunlight. 

“What’s this?” Angel asks as soon as Husk tastes his last drop.

“Black Caravan.” Husk replies, licking his lips. “My Babushka always makes this tea, saying ‘If you get upset, don’t waste your mouth with vodka, relish it with Caravan.’” He glimpses away from Angel dust, shining a little star in his eyes before glaring at the shelves of bottles and boozes. “Heh, no wonder I hadn’t remembered…” 

Angel snickers. “My Nonno says something similar. He said; ‘You don’t stuff your mouth with alcohol, you stuff it with Frittelie!’” They both chuckle with each other, reminiscing of their old lives before the room went to silence. Both eyes looking away from each other as Angel proceeds to fiddle with his hands and Husk tapping his table, now only slow and with no rhythm. A clock’s final strikes till midnight. “You know,” He spoke solemnly. “After you're done with work and all, instead of finding drugs, you can come straight here to talk or have some tea. Either one or both to get off some steam.” 

Angel glances back to Husk’s sentimental gaze, his eyes lit up. “You’ll…You’ll do that?”

“Yeah.” He responds, keeping his gaze to Angel Dusts. “I’d do. For you…”

Their eyes locked in their gazes, their beating hearts twined to one another. Angel’s eyes turn away from the burning faint shades of pink of his face, looking steadily at the cup. “Yeah,” a small line shaped to a tender smile, “I’d like that.”

[jungkook97]

crush on you;; jjk

pairing: jungkook x staff!reader

word count: ~2k

rating: e for everyone HAHAHHA

genre/warnings: fluff, canon!idol jungkook with marketing!director reader, cheesy confessions, mutual respect and love, just overall FLUFF

summary: jungkook always had the biggest crush on people who are good at their jobs. y/n always had the biggest crush on the youngest member of bts.

y/n wins an award. jungkook is in attendance.

© jungkook97 2023. do not repost or modify. please ask for permission to translate.

“Shouldn’t you tell her that we’re coming to see her accept the Clio?” Jimin leaned over, glancing over at the youngest.

They were getting their makeup done for the award ceremony with the cameras rolling for content. They were used to it at this point, knowing full well that the editors would simply and mysteriously delete all evidence of such compromising information. 

Jungkook wasn’t paying attention to Jimin. In fact, he had been freaking out. Surely, the announcement of them showing up was unexpected, and he wasn’t the type to pay attention to object. It was normal to run into you from time to time as he loved your company. In fact, they would spend a couple of hours having lunch or coffee together, just catching up on work related things. 

However, it had been a week since The Incident, the holiday work party that the two don’t want to talk about. It was when they got a bit frisky, making out drunkenly under the mistletoe in the view of Bang PD himself.

It wasn’t that it was in front of The Boss (in fact, he always encouraged to date within the company to avoid paying more to paparazzi to not follow them around); it was the fact that Jungkook had planned to confess in a sober manner first. The fact that they just made out with not much context pissed Jungkook off. He was still so immature, he thought. You didn’t deserve that side of him, especially since it came off as him not giving a single fuck and a big fuckboy.

Yeah, Jungkook was a fuckboy…once. It was when he was in his early twenties and one can’t really blame him. Besides that, Jungkook was a better guy now. It took a heartbreak or two to get him to be serious, and for once, he wanted to be serious with you. 

After realizing that the golden maknae wasn’t paying attention, Jimin laughed, pointing at him.

“Yah, you’re still thinking about the Christmas party, huh?”

Jungkook flushed red.

“NO,” his voice cracked, revealing his true feelings. Of course, Jimin would know exactly what he was feeling. After all, he was the one he cried to when he realized what he had done.

Jimin leaned over, patting Jungkook on the shoulder, leading to both of their makeup artists giggling at the gossip.

“It’s okay, dude. We all make mistakes, like making out with our coworkers at a Christmas party.”

Everyone on their side of the room started laughing heartily, with a few clapping in excitement. The Incident had been great work gossip fodder for the past week, which only deepened Jungkook’s embarrassment towards the entire ordeal. It had been a while since such gossip had occurred, and this one seemed rather innocuous compared to the other ones.  

“S-stop it,” Jungkook stuttered, burying his face into his jacket. The makeup artist sighed deeply, knowing she just finished touching him up. 

“Come on, it’s cute!” Jimin egged on, his arms extended out in grandiosity as he clapped thunderously. “When was the last time since Jeon Jungkook had the biggest crush on a girl before, hmm?”

“Shut up,” Jungkook pressed, suddenly standing up. Their makeup artist frowned, getting frustrated at the youngest’s movements. They were already running late. 

“Come on, this is going to be photographed,” she urged, gesturing for him to sit down. 

Jungkook merely pouted while she sighed, continuing to put a gloss over his lips. 

“Noona, tell Jimin to stop teasing me because I don’t like it,” he emphasized at the end in a cutesy singsong tone. 

She just laughed. 

“Whatever you wish for, Jungkook-ah.”

It was no secret that you and Jungkook had the biggest crushes on each other, nor was it a secret that you two both knew deep down that the feelings were mutual. In fact, it had been a long time since the feelings began, give or take a few years. 

It began when you started working at HYBE as the marketing associate to provide ad campaigns for the group’s endorsements. You were an outside hire, something that was unheard of at the time. After all, HYBE was fiercely protective over their groups in an attempt to curb the amount of stalker fans in the company. This past year was stressful for everyone, as it turned out that most of the leaked information about their whereabouts had been some of your coworkers, leading to a massive layoff in exchange of not pressing charges on breach of privacy.

And so, you were promptly and almost abruptly promoted from your position, a position that you were barely getting comfortable in, to the director of marketing. It was a swift but not careless decision, as you had been responsible for their most successful campaigns, particularly with the company’s new group, NewJeans. Despite the rocky start of their young age, you were able to market them in a safe, non-exploitative manner, something that was laudable by everyone in the company.

Jungkook was the first, and perhaps, the most important person that you cared highly about. You two had met during one of those boring conference meetings to go over his solo endorsement schedule. After exchanging entertaining quips with one another, Jungkook took an interest in you immediately, suddenly wanting to be in every meeting in relation to his endorsements. (Because of course, he couldn’t sit through quite literally everything because 1) that would be too obvious and 2) he couldn’t do it if he wanted to). 

He admired your tact and your ability to problem solve in a drop of a hat. To you, ad campaigns were like a puzzle that could be solved in the matter of seconds, and with Jungkook not knowing a single thing about the ad world, he found it fascinating. Fascination turned into romance real quick as he began to notice your features a bit more, and soon, his cheeks began flushing every time you two would glance at each other, anticipating each other’s responses. 

You, on the other hand, had been a quiet fan of BTS for quite some time. While you weren’t necessarily the type to fangirl over anybody, you also admired Jungkook’s ability to be good at quite literally everything. You took a great liking to his charisma and his genius ability to understand music and melodies quite immediately. In fact, the first time you flushed red was when he hummed a jingle, which led to you pitching for NewJeans’ cell phone jingle for the app HYBE was developing for them. 

It was from that jingle that led to your first Clio, an achievement that HYBE’s ad team had been waiting for to put on their wall of achievements. After all, the Grammy looked rather alone at the top.

And so, you, the board and the girls went to the Big Apple to accept the award. 

What you didn’t know was Jungkook would be there as well. 

You were nervous as hell. In fact, it was the first prestigious award you ever received, and it was even more nerve-wracking now that you found out literally two minutes ago that Jimin and Jungkook would be in attendance. 

Jungkook…you had a bit of an incident with him. Mutual and consensual of course (otherwise, it would be a major HR issue of epic proportions), and you had been meaning to tell him that you liked him as well, probably asking him out on a date. 

Surely, it was traditional of him being the guy to ask the girl out, but you were the exact opposite of traditional, something that you’re sure that Jungkook was interested in. In fact, it was the first thing that Jungkook found fascinating about you, how you could keep the longest and passionate conversations with Namjoon and Yoongi about topics that Jungkook could not keep himself. Sometimes, he wondered if he was smart enough to have a conversation with you, but he also knew you weren’t that pretentious. After all, you two wouldn’t have developed feelings if he felt like you were out of his league.

However, you felt like Jungkook was out of your league. Surely, it came from insecurities that you didn’t want to surface, but it was due to the fact that Jungkook had access to quite literally everyone at his disposal. The idea that he chose to kiss you for more than just a peck, drunk, at a work Christmas party was rather, well…something that you didn’t think would happen, only you could dream of. 

Or maybe it was a dream. It all felt like a blur at that point. 

And so, you came to greet Bang PD and your boss, followed by the two members of the biggest boyband in the world. To celebrate you. Little old you. 

You saw him. 

He smiled and looked away immediately, flushing.

You blushed furiously as Bang PD cleared his throat to somehow clear the awkwardness between you two. 

“Let’s sit down, shall we?”

Jungkook’s heart felt like it was about to thump out his chest. He could hear his heartbeat in his eardrums as Jimin kept nudging him, teasing him.

“She looks gorgeous coming up there, huh?” he laughed, covering his mouth as he did so. 

“S-shut up,” was all Jungkook could muster, his face getting redder by the second. 

The man needed to take a breather of course because well, you were beautiful in your gown. Smiling your charismatic smile, you accepted whatever the award it was. As flashy as it seemed from where Jungkook was at, it wasn’t anywhere near as beautiful as you were, the yellow diamond in Jungkook’s little doe eyes of wonder.

You went through your list of people to thank, the usuals: your boss, your boss’ boss, and then of course, Bang PD. Somehow, for some strange, perhaps a little selfish reason, Jungkook wanted him to be addressed in your speech. After all, he was the one who gave the idea that led to you getting the Clio, kind of a Peggy Olson move done by Don Draper in Mad Men. 

Come on, Jungkook thought. Say my name. I’d be in love with you if you did. 

Not that he needed to be anymore in love with you. 

“And lastly…” 

Jungkook snapped out of his daydreaming phase to listen in again. Yes, he thought. Maybe this is it. 

You were freaking out. You didn’t prepare a speech at all, and in fact, you were just winging it, naming everyone you could think of at the top of your head. 

There was a part of you that you wanted to thank one particular person, a person who gave you the idea. You gulped, wondering what everyone would think if you just mentioned him right now. Perhaps people would wonder the nature of your guys’ relationship, or maybe it could be just seen as platonic.

It was happening all too fast to where you didn’t have enough time to think other than to check his reaction. Maybe you could determine then. 

You glanced up, looking past all the lights and the sea of faces. It was then you locked eyes with Jungkook.

There he was, already staring at you with such admiration. You had only seen him look like that with Namjoon, with eyes that told how much he admired and adored the person. It only was caught a few times from you, and the fact that his eyes were on you…

You felt like you were at the top of the world. 

Perhaps it seemed like you stared at him for too long, perhaps also exchanging the same energy. You liked Jungkook so much…and you owed this Clio to him…

If I could just tell you how I feel right now…

Blinking furiously, you cleared your throat to snap back to reality. 

“I’m sorry, I just blanked out. Thank you again.”

Fuck. 

Jungkook’s heart skipped a beat as you two made eye contact. Your eyes were soft and inviting, just less glazed over compared to the way you were looking into his eyes at that Christmas party. It was the look that he had seen before with you, but he wasn’t sure if he was dreaming and imagining things. 

God, I could kiss you again right now.

He could feel his cheek turned more red as he looked away awkwardly, clearing his throat and taking a sip of champagne. He felt a nudge to his right. Jimin again.

“You’re so obvious,” he whispered after he leaned in, giggling. 

“Stop it.”

“Jungkook, I really like you. Like a lot.”

There was the confession. Jungkook was dizzy from hearing it with his own ears. 

You two had a couple of drinks after the ceremony. He had swung over to your hotel room for a celebratory drink, and you accepted immediately. 

For some reason, every time you two drank, it seemed like you two were remembering each other and your guys’ feelings towards one another. Cheesy, a little overplayed, but it was the truth. Jungkook always seemed to remember the people he loved whenever he’s drunk. So you did you. 

Surely, you two didn’t want to be drunk again to be in one’s feelings, but alas, both of you were again. 

“I wish we weren’t drunk to confess to each other like this, but…” Jungkook smiled and blinked slowly, “I do too. Maybe even…” he swirled his champagne in the plastic cups from the bathroom. “Maybe even….in…” he chuckled, inhaling slowly and making a moan. “Ah, I don’t want to say it.”

“Eh, are you in love with me, Jeon?” you teased, pushing him playfully. You two were intertwined with each other despite sitting across from each other, his legs locked between yours. 

Jungkook grew quiet for a bit, putting his fingers up to his chin and cupping it. 

“Deeply.”

You laughed, leaning in closer to kiss him on the lips. 

“Me too.” 

END.

[mine-fujiko]

A possible timeline for the original manga and Lupin Zero (both set in the 60s), part 1 and the Koikeverse (both set in the 70s).

First of all let me say that imo for certain characters the less we know about them the better, because a bit of mystery always adds layers to a character while knowing *everything* or even a specific background would only be detrimental to the character itself. That’s why after watching TWCFM we know about Fujiko nothing more than what we already knew before. She remains a mystery and that’s how it should be. These characters have been around for many years and their files have consistently been like age: unknown, nationality: unknown, etc.

Having said that there are certain things that can be considered, more or less, canonical, especially in a franchise that goes back to almost 60 years now where a continuity work is made possible by the original material being easily accessible.

What I like best in Lupin Zero, for instance, is that they basically lifted entire chapters from the manga, confirmed Lupin and Jigen being friends since a long time and set their age as peers. To note that Lupin often calls his friend “Jigen-kun”, which would suggest either them being the same age or Jigen being younger than Lupin. Imo they as friends go back even further (“we grew up together”) but obviously making them kids on the verge of adolescence instead of say 6 years old brats was for a more interesting and better storytelling.

So they met at a young age at school, became friends, then they parted ways because they’re still kids and have families who decide for them. At least Jigen has since apparently he has a father, a brother and a sister. So let’s say they go back to the States and Lupin and Jigen lose touch as it often happens in real life. Meanwhile Lupin stays in Japan, finishes school, gets into University and starts being active in the family business.

More or less around the time when Jigen joins the mercenaries still at a very young age following his father. Then his professional curriculum seems to go from mercenary to sniper, then to professional killer for the underground criminality, but since I guess he didn’t particularly like the killing business or obeying orders either he decided to get away from that by taking up bodyguard jobs, thinking that would entail less killing people and less troubles. * So now he’s a bodyguard but still in the criminal world, he hoped for no troubles but then people like Cicciolina happen and troubles keep following wherever he goes. He finds himself being hunted down by the mafia, by old enemies who want revenge or simply to eliminate him just to prove they’re the best hit on the market. He says a big FU all and decides for a change of life again by doing something different for a living and becomes a thief.

* That’s where the Koikeverse insert itself in the timeline, meaning between Lupin Zero and prior to/alongside Part 1.

The ‘first’ meeting between Lupin and Jigen that happens in the 5th episode of TWCFM could easily be their first meeting ever but it could also be two old friends who haven’t seen each other for let’s say 10 years. They’re adult now and their aspect has changed and they meet under a pyramid in the dark. So it’s very likely that they don’t recognise each other at all. Nothing prevents them though to have an epiphany later on, sort of going like “wait, you’re that Lupin/that Jigen I was at school with?” and so on… and from then I can see them rekindling their old friendship. That is if you want the Koikeverse to match the timeline, being it set in the 70s.

As far as Goemon introduction goes we have what happens in Part 1 that is exactly what happened in the original manga, so I don’t know how fitting the Koikeverse could be in this case. It has to be said though that their first meeting in TWCFM is a fight between Jigen and Goemon when they both are under the influence of a hallucinogen drug so they don’t see each other’s face (they see the silly owls!) while Goemon’s Bloodspray could be set right after they just met in part 1 and Goemon is still a killer as his master trained him to be.

[thepastisalreadywritten]

(CNN) — Jack Latham was on a mission to photograph farms in Vietnam — not the country’s sprawling plantations or rice terraces but its “click farms.”

Last year, the British photographer spent a month in the capital Hanoi documenting some of the shadowy enterprises that help clients artificially boost online traffic and social media engagement in the hope of manipulating algorithms and user perceptions.

The resulting images, which feature in his new book “Beggar’s Honey,” provide rare insight into the workshops that hire low-paid workers to cultivate likes, comments and shares for businesses and individuals globally.

“When most people are on social media, they want nothing but attention — they’re begging for it,” Latham said in a phone interview, explaining his book’s title.

“With social media, our attention is a product for advertisers and marketers.”

In the 2000s, the growing popularity of social media sites — including Facebook and Twitter, now called X — created a new market for well-curated digital profiles, with companies and brands vying to maximize visibility and influence.

Though it is unclear when click farms began proliferating, tech experts warned about “virtual gang masters” operating them from low-income countries as early as 2007.

In the following decades, click farms exploded in number — particularly in Asia, where they can be found across India, Bangladesh, Indonesia, the Philippines, and beyond.

Regulations have often failed to keep pace: While some countries, like China, have attempted to crack down on operations (the China Advertising Association banned the use of click farms for commercial gain in 2020), they continue to flourish around the continent, especially in places where low labor and electricity costs make it affordable to power hundreds of devices simultaneously.

‘Like Silicon Valley startups’

Latham’s project took him to five click farms in Vietnam.

(The click farmers he hoped to photograph in Hong Kong “got cold feet,” he said, and pandemic-related travel restrictions dashed his plans to document the practice in mainland China).

On the outskirts of Hanoi, Latham visited workshops operating from residential properties and hotels.

Some had a traditional setup with hundreds of manually operated phones, while others used a newer, compact method called “box farming” — a phrase used by the click farmers Latham visited — where several phones, without screens and batteries, are wired together and linked to a computer interface.

Latham said one of the click farms he visited was a family-run business, though the others appeared more like a tech companies.

Most workers were in their 20s and 30s, he added.

“They all looked like Silicon Valley startups,” he said. “There was a tremendous amount of hardware … whole walls of phones.”

Some of Latham’s photos depict — albeit anonymously — workers tasked with harvesting clicks.

In one image, a man is seen stationed amid a sea of gadgets in what appears to be a lonely and monotonous task.

“It only takes one person to control large amounts of phones,” Latham said. “One person can very quickly (do the work of) 10,000. It’s both solitary and crowded.”

At the farms Lathan visited, individuals were usually in charge of a particular social media platforms.

For instance, one “farmer” would be responsible for mass posting and commenting on Facebook accounts, or setting up YouTube platforms where they post and watch videos on loop.

The photographer added that TikTok is now the most popular platform at the click farms he visited.

The click farmers Latham spoke to mostly advertised their services online for less than one cent per click, view or interaction.

And despite the fraudulent nature of their tasks, they seemed to treat it like just another job, the photographer said.

‘There was an understanding they were just providing a service,” he added. “There wasn’t a shadiness. What they’re offering is shortcuts.”

Deceptive perception

Across its 134 pages, “Beggar’s Honey” includes a collection of abstract photographs — some seductive, others contemplative — depicting videos that appeared on Latham’s TikTok feed.

He included them in the book to represent the kind of content he saw being boosted by click farms.

But many of his photos focus on the hardware used to manipulate social media —webs of wires, phones and computers.

“A lot of my work is about conspiracies,” Latham said. ” Trying to ‘document the machines used to spread disinformation’ is the tagline of the project. The bigger picture is often the thing we don’t see.”

Click farms around the world are also used to amplify political messages and spread disinformation during elections.

In 2016, Cambodia’s then-prime minister Hun Sen was accused of buying Facebook friends and likes, which according to the BBC he denied, while shadowy operations in North Macedonia were found to have spread pro-Donald Trump posts and articles during that year’s US presidential election.

While researching, Latham said he found that algorithms — a topic of his previous book, “Latent Bloom” — often recommended videos that he said got increasingly “extreme” with each click.

“If you only digest a diet of that, it’s a matter of time you become diabetically conspiratorial,” he said.

“The spreading of disinformation is the worst thing. It happens in your pocket, not newspapers, and it’s terrifying that it’s tailored to your kind of neurosis.”

Hoping to raise awareness of the phenomenon and its dangers, Latham is planning to exhibit his own home version of a click farm — a small box with several phones attached to a computer interface — at the 2024 Images Vevey Festival in Switzerland.

He bought the gadget in Vietnam for the equivalent of about $1,000 and has occasionally experimented with it on his social media accounts.

On Instagram, Latham’s photos usually attract anywhere from a few dozen to couple hundred likes.

But when he deployed his personal click farm to announce his latest book, the post generated more than 6,600 likes.

The photographer wants people to realize that there’s more to what they see on social media — and that metrics aren’t a measurement of authenticity.

“When people are better equipped with knowledge of how things work, they can make more informed decisions,” he said.

“Beggar’s Honey,” co-published by Here Press and Images Vevey, is available now.

[scoops-aboy86]

What are your thoughts on Steve’s chronic migraines getting worse so Eddie and Robin convince him to go to the doctor. The medication he is given helps but perhaps it starts to cause weight gain #chubby Steve Harrington

To be honest, I don’t know if I know enough about migraines to go too deeply into that part of it. My brother gets them, and I briefly thought I was getting them in college but that turned out to be just my sinuses trying very hard to murder me on a seasonal basis. The campus health center had me keep a food journal for a while in case it was a dietary trigger, though, which I kind of want to foist on Steve. Like, what if…

(This got away from me, what else is new, please either enjoy or suffer for the next 3k words. The meds definitely kicked off Steve’s weight gain, partly because meds do that and partly because he doesn’t end up puking his guts out as often anymore, but the combo of the food journal and the stress reduction of he finds in eating definitely awakens something that keeps it going.)

Hawkins Memorial Hospital and all its patient records were obliterated over the course of defeating Vecna. So now that the Upside Down is gone and the older teens have moved out of Hawkins, Robin and Steve got into college somewhere (Steve by the skin of his teeth, if only because I’m not sure if community colleges have health services for their students), and Eddie lives with them too while he works at an auto shop and tries to scrape a new band together.

Between the migraines and the campus nurse “what if”ing him about shit, because he no longer has the medical history on his whopping total of four concussions in three years, Steve has very little patience for being instructed to write down everything he eats for a week or two on the off chance his headaches are triggered by something he’s eating. He’s sure that’s not it. Robin and Eddie bully him into actually doing it, basically resulting in a communal journal where they all take notes on Steve’s meals. 

So Eddie is uniquely tuned in to Steve’s eating habits, even for a trauma-bonded roommate with a big gay crush. He doesn’t think much of it, but does have a lot of fun being all “You deserve a treat for finishing that homework on time, I’ll pencil you in for a donut and we’ll hit the corner market!” and whatever. Just a little bit of friendly teasing on the days Steve decides to be lazy and eats mostly junk. 

By the time Steve finally gets medication and a routine that actually helps keep the migraines at bay more often than not, the food journal is long done but Eddie still notices that stuff and is vaguely aware that Steve has started snacking more often, taking a little extra at dinner, doubling up on his usual bowl of cereal for breakfast. He also notices the way all of his jeans start to hug his ass more, the faintest suggestion of a future muffin top starting to bunch over waistbands when his shirts are tucked in, how he starts moving a little slower when taking the stairs up to their apartment two at a time (or, eventually, one at a time like what Eddie considers a normal person). 

He casually brings it up at one point, something offhand like, “Extra hungry today, Harrington? Or are you carb loading before a hot date, or whatever it is you jocks get up to before strenuous activity?” But Steve just laughs and helps himself to more pasta or whatever’s for dinner, his third serving, and says he’s pretty sure it’s the new meds are doing something to his appetite. So no, not just today. 

And Eddie doesn’t push, because Steve seems fine with it. The extra weight looks good on him, in Eddie’s opinion—anything would look good on Steve, but especially the contentment that comes with indulging the whims of his appetite. He’s quickly developing a snacking-while-studying habit, and Eddie learns that when Steve gets frustrated and tries to blow off doing the work, he can be both placated and bribed to continue with donuts. His grades are steadily improving, and that’s not the only thing on the upswing; he eventually consults both Robin and Eddie on how to size up his closet on a budget, too. 

The only thing Steve complains about is the dating dry spell he’s on, grumbling about shallow girls who don’t want to take the time to get to know him. Robin comments that he’s like a broken record, she heard all of this before when his parents cut him off and he didn’t have the money to plan lavish dates anymore… and Eddie feels like he’s been knocked over the head by the comparison. He can’t imagine not wanting to date Steve just because his money doesn’t grow on trees or he’s put on weight, what is wrong with those women?!

Because, call a spade a spade: if Steve were into guys, Eddie would ask him out in a heartbeat. Even if it could potentially torpedo their friendship. He puts so much energy every day into not flirting with Steve, and to be honest these days he’s mostly redirecting it towards bringing him treats. Steve has this unfortunate habit of licking his fingers (even when it doesn’t seem like he should need to!); Eddie is developing a staring problem. A worse staring problem. Whatever. 

Sometimes the three of them smoke up on Friday and Saturday nights when they have nothing better to do. (Read: don’t have dates. Eddie is used to being a dateless loser, but he feels bad for Steve and Robin. Indignant on their behalf. Secretly pleased whenever Robin has plans and relieved when Steve doesn’t, and guilty about both.) They pick out a tub each of ice cream in advance and order too much pizza and watch movies they barely pay attention to while bickering and giggling like idiots, and if it’s a double lame day weekend none of them bat an eye when Steve starts getting two tubs for himself so he doesn’t run out part way through. Goads one or both of them to bet on whether he can finish it in one sitting before it completely melts, leaving Eddie to have to hide a boner whenever the challenge devolves into messily slurping of whatever’s left at the bottom. 

It’s at the end of one of those nights where it’s just Steve and Eddie; they turn in for the night (or the pre-dawn hours at least), Steve taking a little longer to shuffle into his room because he offered to put the leftovers in the fridge. Eddie gets back up because his mouth is dry as hell, and opens the fridge for light while he hunts for a clean cup… only to realize the leftovers aren’t there. He checks the freezer, and his own mostly empty ice cream carton is missing too. Turns out, they’re in the trash, scraped clean. Steve must have finished everything. When he goes back to his room he can hear Steve moving restlessly through the thin shared wall, soft grunts and moans and muffled burps and—

Usually, Eddie tries to be a good roommate and put his headphones on when he realizes that Steve is having some alone time. But he’s sleepy and still stoned and doesn’t feel like getting up again, so he stays prone and closes his eyes, telling himself that he’s not listening, really he’s not, he’s just trying to sleep. The hand he’s palming himself through his pajama pants begs to differ, though. And if he thinks he hears choked moans of “more, give me more” and “please, I need it” and “yeah, give it to me, Eddie,” no he absolutely does not. He obviously just nodded off into a wet dream, because while Steve often joins him at Robin at the local gay establishments for nights on the town, he only ever hooks up with girls. 

The next weekend it happens again. Eddie has no idea if Steve is eating up all the extras in the kitchen or taking some of it back to his room, but it’s obvious where it’s all going. And either way the end result always seems to be the same: Steve eats and jerks off afterwards, and Eddie listens in and does the same. He feels like a creep for doing it, but the shame doesn’t hit until after he’s done biting his pillow to keep quiet and pumping into his fist until his toes feel permanently curled. 

But, he rationalizes, it’s not that weird that they each have their own guilty pleasures. Everybody’s got to have something at the end of the day, right? And at least pinning after Steve this way keeps him from doing anything stupid, like spending his weekend cruising for one night stands and STDs. It happens enough already on the rare occasions that Steve does have a date, he doesn’t need to up his risk factor for catching anything. 

This goes on until Robin and Steve graduate. Like, actual years. Eddie would feel like a monk by now if he wasn’t secretly indulging himself while imagining Steve on a regular basis, which is… it’s fine. At least it goes a long way towards keeping lingering nightmares about demon bats and evil veiny wizards at bay. 

They have two different ‘Congrats Grads’ parties in their cramped apartments, one with all their friends from school and around the city, and one for everyone who knows about the Upside Down. Eddie buys two huge sheet cakes for both, but is puzzled when there’s way too much left—and Steve doesn’t seem to have touched them. 

After the last round of guests has gone, including Robin who had announced out of nowhere that she was going to crash with Nancy in the latter’s hotel room and wake up early to do touristy things in the city while Nancy is visiting from Boston, Steve calmly gets both platters of remaining cake out. Without explaining himself, he also produces a gallon tub of ice cream and lays everything out on the coffee table in front of their second hand couch. His thighs and arms have grown thicker over the years, cheeks fuller, jawline softer. His belly rounds out before him, spilling over in front and a litte to either side even while empty, and he has this way of kind of holding it as he shifts further back on the couch to get comfortable, like he doesn’t want to jostle it or maybe, maybe just needs it a little out of the way to better move around. 

Eddie pretends not to watch but the second he glances up realizes he’s been caught out, because Steve meets his gaze, staring right back. 

“I wanted to show you something,” Steve says, and holds out the old food journal, abandoned many semesters and a whole diploma ago once it had been determined that Steve’s triggers were mostly bright lights and stress-related. 

Except… it wasn’t abandoned, apparently. Notes fill it up from cover to cover, post-its sticking out more and more towards the back pages where Steve’s increasingly squashed handwriting had run out of space for that day. Everything Steve had eaten, carefully recorded quantities. Some entries, Eddie notices, have a small ‘e’ written and circled next to them, and he’s about to ask when Steve sees where he’s looking and says, “That’s all the food you gave me.”

And Eddie hadn’t even realized how much he’d been doing that, because Steve had always just taken everything he’d offered without comment. It had become normal, like a reflex. And, okay, maybe he’d noticed that on days Steve ate more he tended to be a little more audible through the wall at night as he worked his way to completion, and maybe it had become Eddie’s favorite soundtrack to fall asleep too. 

He doesn’t realize that his jaw has dropped until Steve sits forward with a grunt—a series of them really, because Eddie is on the bean bag chair on the other side of the coffee table and that was a bit of a reach even before Steve had started adding pound after pound to his own frame—and nudges it closed with a finger under his chin. Your move, Steve’s eyes seem to say as he sits back, resettles his ass and then his belly all over again. 

“I’m bisexual,” Steve announces bluntly. “Figured I should just come out and say it, since I’m either really bad at hinting or you haven’t picked up on the fact I’ve been trying to for… a while now. Robin says it’s pretty painful to watch me fail so hard and you still act so oblivious. I think she’s sad for both of us. And,” he adds, laying a hand over the crest of his belly, “while I’m doing the open and honest communication thing—I like this. I like to eat, and I like how I look. And either you like it too or you’ve got this… codependent blind spot, Robin called it? Which I guess means you just give me things that you know I want without really thinking about it. But she also said that you might just think of me as off limits because we’re friends and we live together and I’ve never actually, like, told you that I like both, which… I don’t really have a good excuse for, other than being kind of a moron. So.” He gives his belly a double pat, which Eddie’s dazed brain can only liken to a judge banging a gavel, but whatever it’s supposed to mean is kind of drowned out by the way it wobbles and fills said brain with silent fizz. “This is me telling you. And asking, uh, if you’ve noticed, or have… any interest in me at all. If giving me food means anything, because—at the risk of making things incredibly weird between us—it makes me feel really good when you do.”

For a moment Eddie just gapes at him. He doesn’t even know when his mouth fell back open. His brain is still the equivalent of a shaken can of Coke that Steve’s just popped the top of, metaphorically foaming out his goddamn ears. And then when he tries to say something, it’s too many different sentences at once and just comes out as as a garbled, “Stehuhyuhwha…?”

Steve just huffs and says, “Stop trying to cheat at Scrabble, Eds.” Which is what Robin always says when Steve’s dyslexia or Eddie’s abuse of creativity in regards to spelling rears up during important moments. Like when she’s tricked them into playing Scrabble. 

Eddie tries again. “Steve, what are you talking about? What do you mean you’ve been trying, to… to what? Both? Picked up on—What?!”

Immediately, Steve’s face flushes. “Shit, you really didn’t know? Any of it?”

“I knew about the eating,” Eddie says, and he feels like his voice has gone unusually high but can’t focus enough on that to decide if it’s actually true. “I mean, I knew you seemed okay with it, but you said your meds make you hungrier or something—How like is much, I mean, is like, I mean—” He slaps a hand over his own mouth to stop that runaway train of a sentence before it goes over a cliff any more than it already has, then tries to rephrase. “What do you mean by you like it?”

“Eddie. Have you noticed how often I put my fingers in my mouth when you’re around? Haven’t you heard me through the wall?”

Eddie’s face feels hotter than the sun. “Y-yeah…” He wonders if it’s really possible to die of spontaneous combustion, but confronted directly like this he can’t find it in himself to lie. “You… you touch yourself after you…”

“Eat a lot,” Steve finishes. “It feels good, getting so full like that. I sleep better after, especially if I, uh, come.” He flushes a little at the admission, too, so at least Eddie isn’t completely alone. “I say things sometimes, hoping you’ll hear.”

“I thought I was dreaming most of that,” Eddie admits, which makes Steve perk up a little. 

“You dream about me?”

“I…” Letting out an embarrassed whine, Eddie brings a hand to his hair, dragging a clump of it down over his mouth in a ludicrous attempt to hide. “Shit, yeah. I do. I…” And, okay, if he’s going to admit this he’s not going to do it by halves, because if Steve can just say things that would get him labeled a freak in most circles, then so can Eddie, the official Freak of Hawkins, Indiana. “I listen and I picture what you might be doing in there, and I get off to it, man. I thought I was being a huge creep for doing that, but I couldn’t help it because it’s you, alright? At the risk of making things incredibly weird between us, Steve, I’ve been fucking gone on you for a mortifyingly long time and it’s only ever gotten worse, and I’m pretty sure that you saying any of what you’re saying now means I’ve finally lost my mind and I want you to be my padded cell. I don’t even know what that means, Steve, but I want it.”

Steve tilts his head slightly. “It’s gotten worse? In a bad way?”

“Oh my god,” Eddie groans, and drops his flaming face into his sweaty palms. “It’s gotten bigger. It’s gotten… more. What do you want from m—”

“Eddie,” Steve interrupts, cutting through his Freudian slips like a knife through butter. “Come here.”

When Eddie lifts his head, he sees that Steve is patting the section of couch next to him. Feeling dazed and like this might as well happen, Eddie climbs his feet and ambles around the laden coffee table on rickety Bambi legs. Jesus H Christ, is this what having a stroke feels like?

He sits. Steve lays a hand on his thigh and Eddie feels like it’s leaving a mark straight through the ripped denim. 

“I want to show you something,” Steve says. “Try something, I guess. You can say no, but… I’m hoping you won’t. Because I’ve been thinking about this ever since you started writing things in that stupid journal for me. I want you to feed me cake and ice cream, and when the cake runs out I want you to pour the melted ice cream down my throat. Okay?”

“Should,” Eddie starts, and then has to clear his throat a few times because holy shit, his voice is rough and all the blood in his body just rushed south. “Should we do this on a communal couch, or… your room…?”

Steve’s eyes go hooded and dark, bedroom eyes if Eddie’s ever seen them. The goddamn Harrington Charm. “You wanna see where all the magic happens, baby? Finally get the visual to go with the audio?”

And well, that kind of answers the question of whether Steve was wolfing down leftovers in the kitchen or in bed, doesn’t it?

The next day, Robin gravely thanks them for not doing “hungry penis stuff” on shared furniture, a phrase which they vehemently beg her never to use again with varying degrees of dismayed wailing and hysterical laughter. And then she whacks them both upside their heads with a heartfelt, “Took you long enough, you dingi!”

[thecurrator]

𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡 𝐮𝐩 𝐟𝐨𝐫 @lapsthings

Your ideal match is…Mikage Reo!

You kin Nagi, and I can obviously see why. However, I don't think matching you with someone passive like him will be good for either of you in the long run, so. Here you have someone who's almost the opposite of you. Reo has already signed himself up to caring for Nagi, what's one more just like him?

Once Reo has decided that he would like to talk to someone, he's talks to them. He's not deterred by your struggle to continue the conversation, and will bring up new topics every time conversation dies out. To bystanders, Reo looks like he's rambling to himself rather than talking to you, but he makes an effort to ask you questions now and then to prompt you to speak.

After getting to know you for a few months, he prides himself in knowing you really well. Even though you may have trouble putting your thoughts into words, Reo will try to guess what you mean or what you're trying to say almost as if it's a game. Sometimes he anticipates your needs before you realise you have them, like bringing you a snack just as you begin to feel hungry. Together, he and your brother (which we'll get to in a while) do their best to make sure you have some sort of consistent schedule.

Reo is also a victim of impulse buying, especially when it comes to gifts for his friends, except that he has the money to sustain his lifestyle. Once you both start dating, he won't let you pay for a thing as long as you're with him. He's got the money, why wouldn't he use it to spoil you? Also gift giving was his parents' main way of showing they kinda care about him so that's how he's used to showing affection as well. Which may come off like he's flaunting his wealth. But he means well. He does. He also doesn't know limits or overconsumption. You can't choose between- He's buying them.

Speaking of gifts, he's also the type to be happy to receive love in any form, but he's most familiar with gift giving so it's easy for him to tell that you're showing affection when you buy him a lunch pack when you both visit convenience stores. He'd really appreciate handmade gifts as they're more personal. An origami crane is enough to have him giggling for the whole day.

Despite being rich, Reo is also always looking for ways to make money so he won't have to work in the future. The both of you often spend afternoons brainstorming new schemes to make money, ranging from investing in the stock market to robbing a bank (you both wouldn't actually do it, it's just a fun hypothetical).

Casual but romantic dates are totally Reo's thing! He'll bring you to cafes where you both will spend the next few hours just talking over a cup of coffee. Afterwards, he'd be happy to just stroll around, maybe pet any cats or dogs you both meet along the way.

Runner-up: Niko Ikki (He came to mind due to your shared love of otaku stuff, but I figured he'd be too introverted to get to know you well enough to establish a relationship.)

Your sibling is…Isagi Yoichi!

Given that you are a thinker, I thought pairing you with a feeler brother would be good for you. Next to you, Isagi seems like the more disciplined younger brother taking care of you. He did say after all that My neighbor Totoro makes him wish he had a sister.

If he's willing to do laundry and wake up his teammates whom he's known for a few months, he's willing to do it for you whom he's known his whole life. He's always reminding you to do your homework earlier so you don't stress too much about it later and making you eat with him at a reasonable time. Because of this, your extended family forget that you're the older one.

He likes to read manga in his free time, so he tends to read/watch whatever you're reading/watching and talk to you about it to bond with you. He'll follow you to anime stores and act as your impulse control so you'll buy as less merch as possible. But if you really want two figurines and can't decide he'll buy one for you and you can pay for the other one. Spending half an hour trying to decide only to buy them both is too much...

He's also the type to yap when it comes to his interests, so you both likely take turns infodumping on each other. You about your manga he hasn't read yet, him about soccer. Isagi is usually the one listening to people in social settings, so he's happy to be able to ramble about soccer sometimes. Maybe he'll tell you about his Ego type theory someday (something in the latest manga chapters!).

He likes it when he's given sweets so I can imagine that's something you did when he was younger. Every weekend you both would walk to the nearby convenience store and you would let him pick out a kind of candy, sometimes more if he got a good grade for his test. His happy smile is heart-warming, even now.

This sounds so mean but have you seen his casual outfits with fluorescent green? It's not his colour but who's gonna tell him that? You both have bad fashion sense. Who knows, maybe he even got his misguided fashion sense from you.

Overall, a kind and caring brother that only wants the best for you. He often tries to make you follow him on his walks so you'll get out of your room once in a while. He's especially pushy in autumn.

[softguarnere]

I've never participated in the lovely @blind-dates-fest before, so we're actually trying two new things this weekend: a new writing challenge, and writing for The Pacific for the first time. This OC has been banging around in my head for months now, so this seemed like a good time to introduce her - especially since she'll be making a cameo or two in one of my ongoing BOB fics. Without further ado, I hope y'all will enjoy Samantha "Mandy" Majors ♥️

The Deception of Appearances

Realistically, Mandy is aware that these are the men who are fighting for their country. The heroes of Guadalcanal can do as they please. But as MacDonald pushes his way through the bar’s crowd of wild, drinking men and boisterous women, dragging her along behind him, only one thought runs through her mind: What the hell am I doing here?

She knows, of course. She’s making money. She’s carving out a little space in journalism because, as her publisher always so kindly reminds her, the market is always changing, and fantasy stories will not be in fashion forever.

With that pleasant reminder, she lifts her chin and continues her walk into the unknown.

MacDonald struts ahead of her, openly ogling the men as if they’re an attraction at the zoo. There’s something distinctly unprofessional about the wide-eyed look that he’s always giving his subjects, like he’s got them trapped under a microscope and is poking around in their thoughts. He doesn’t seem to realize that he has a habit of making other people feel utterly invaded. Which, if Mandy had to guess, is probably why the Metropolitan Express has had her acting as his assistant for so many months. Well, that and, if she’s being honest, the fact that Duncan MacDonald cannot write to save his life.

As if reading her mind, MacDonald grabs her arm and hisses loudly in her ear to be heard over the celebrations, “Look at them! We’re bound to get a good story out of them.” Then, quietly, more urgently, “And quickly, too, because I don’t like the looks of this place.”

For once, Mandy finds herself agreeing with him. But, as is the way of the world, these things are easier said than done.

They manage to find a small table that’s miraculously unoccupied to set up shop at. Despite the look that MacDonald gives her when she orders a drink, Mandy settles in. Her boss might not want to spend any longer in this place than he has to, but that’s only because he’s not a real writer, and he doesn’t understand that the best stories come to those who are patient. These things can’t be forced, no matter how intent he seems on bending them to his will.

Besides his writing – or lack thereof – there’s the small matter of MacDonald himself. He’s too forthright, strutting up to the men and asking them bold questions with no sense of boundaries. Most respond by giving him a blank stare instead of a quote, and those who are willing to share any thoughts only give them the kind that cannot be put into print.

“Well I never,” MacDonald splutters as dark haired man with a wide smile answers his question – a completely tone deaf What’s been your favorite part of the war so far? – with a curt Wouldn’t you like to know, jackass? and a wink thrown at Mandy. MacDonald uselessly swabs his face with his handkerchief before sighing, “I don’t think this place agrees with me.” He mutters, perhaps thinking Mandy can’t hear him over the noise of the bar. “I should have stuck to vaudeville.”

I’ll drink to that, she thinks to herself as she surveys the man who’s supposed to be a war correspondent.

“He seemed to like you, though,” MacDonald says. He gives Mandy a curious look that she’s all too familiar with – one that suggests that she do all the work while he rests his delicate little mind. “Maybe you should try talking to them, without me.”

He’s throwing her to the wolves – or, more accurately, the Marines. But strangely, she finds that she doesn’t mind this time. After all, she came here to write about the war. Write about it accurately, honestly. People back home need to know what’s being fought for. And if she can lend her pen, her camera, and her typewriter to the cause, then by golly, she will. 

She nods. “Not such a bad idea.” And then she leaves him there, alone at the table, before he can change his mind.

Looking for a good story is not so different from hunting, if you think about it. At the edge of the room, Mandy surveys the scene before her. The Marines may be wild, but most of them are also intoxicated, which means their lips will be loose. She can use that to her advantage. Especially now that she’s free of MacDonald.

There. From across the bar, her eyes land on the dark-haired man who winked at her earlier. He’s one of the few men not entertaining one of the bar’s local Australian girls. An easy target.

As if to prove her point about patience, someone taps her on the shoulder just as she’s about to march through the fray to reach her intended target.

A different man, this one with blond hair, blushes slightly when she turns to him. “Um, excuse me, Miss,” he says, his thick accent taking her by surprise. For just a second, she mistakes him for one of the locals before she realizes that he’s wearing an American uniform with the name Phillips on his chest.

Maybe getting a quote will be easier than she thought it would be. “Yes?” 

Phillips nods across the bar to the man that was her original target. “My friend over there said you were a reporter, looking for quotes?”

Mandy nods, smiles, trying to make herself as bright and warm and trustworthy as possible. “That I am.” She holds up her notepad and taps it with a red fingernail. “You don’t happen to have one for me, do you Phillips?”

He’s not blushing anymore. He only smiles and shakes his head. “I’m afraid not. I don’t think I’m good enough with words for that kind of thing. But my friend is,” he adds before she can lose interest.

“Oh?” Mandy raises an eyebrow. “Do you think he would give me an interview?”

“I’m sure he would,” Phillips replies. “In fact, he was writing the entire time we were on Guadalcanal. He’ll probably give you some of his original notes.”

Mandy has to take a breath, remind herself not to get her hopes up. This could all be a rouse, after all, by some stranger.

But then again, even though she doesn’t know this Phillips, he doesn’t give off the energy of someone trying to pull a fast one on her. Maybe it’s just his southern charm, but she’s tempted to trust him right away.

“That would be great. Mind taking me to him?”

“Sure thing.” Phillips starts to weave through the crowd, leading her through the bar. He looks back and extends a hand part of the way through their walk. “I’m Sid Phillips, by the way.”

She accepts his hand. He’s got a firm shake. More of that southern charm, perhaps. “Samantha Majors. But my friends call me Mandy.”

As they push deeper into the bar, several men call out greetings to Phillips, slapping him on the back and palling around as they pass. Phillips returns their handshakes and smiles, only stopping to ask if anyone has seen the Professor. Most men shrug off the question, but one man finally points toward the farthest part of the bar and announces over all the noise, “Lucky is over there! Guess he needed a place to think.”

Lucky. The Professor. She’ll have to remember to ask about these nicknames during their interview. No doubt there’s a good story behind them both.

She slips her notebook out of her pocket as they walk, readies her pen as she turns to Phillips, ideas already churning in her head. “What’s your friend’s name?”

“There he is!” Phillips nods to a table in the bar’s far corner, where a small group of men sit drinking, partly obscured by shadow. “That’s him in the middle, with the curly hair. Robert Leckie.”

At the same moment that Phillips says his name, the man in question leans forward, throwing his face into light so that Mandy catches a glimpse of him for the first time. The sight makes her heart drop, and she freezes as if she’s just been caught red-handed.

“No,” she whispers. Then, in her head. It can’t be.

For a split second, she thinks that maybe her luck will be good, that she’s changed so much since their school days that he won’t recognize her. They’re not kids anymore. Maybe he’s forgotten her.

But the second that his eyes land on her, she knows that it’s no good. His expression changes quickly as he drops the thread of conversation with his friends to stare at her in confusion, then recognition. A small smile crosses his face and he stands, not frozen the way that she is.

“Sammy Majors?!” He calls, voice slightly too loud with the excitement of someone who has been drinking.

Phillips’ brow furrows as he glances between them. “You two know each other?”

“Yes,” Mandy whispers at the same time that Leckie announces, “We grew up down the street from each other!”

“Well, that’s good, right?” Phillips turns to her when he asks. “No awkward introductions to hold back your interview.”

Mandy has to force the words out of her mouth; they feel like they’re stuck to her tongue with paste. “Yeah. I guess so.”

Leckie, as usual, seems undaunted by everything before him. He shoves the man sitting next to him over and uses a grand gesture to indicate the vacated seat to Mandy. “Come join us!”

The confident demeanor that she’s worked so hard to build up all these years is slipping. With every step she takes towards him, Mandy feels like she’s clinging to it for dear life. She has to remind herself that she’s no longer Sammy Majors, the little girl who sits by the window writing fairytales because she couldn’t go out to play. She’s no longer Sammy Majors, who entered every writing competition their school hosted in vain, always losing out to lucky Robert Leckie, whose stories and poems were always so much better than hers. Robert Leckie, who had a job at the local newspaper before they had even finished high school.

As she takes the seat he offers her, one of the other men at the table laughs when he asks, “Hey, Lucky, does Vera know about this?”

Robert Leckie, who always so obviously had a crush on Vera Keller from across the street. Robert Leckie, who never seemed to realize that she existed . . . but who recognized her at first sight after all these years, and on the other side of the world, to boot.

Leckie smiles at her, so warm and open, as if his success in writing didn’t come so easily to him that it always crushed Mandy’s heart, her hopes, and her dreams. “What are you doing here?”

In response, Mandy raises her notepad and purses her lips, resetting her usual, casual demeanor that she has spent so many years working on. “I’m with the Metro Express, and my source tells me that you might be good for a quote.”

Several of his friends ooh and aah like a Greek chorus, jostling him as they laugh.

“He’s got more than just a quote for you!” One of them hoots.

“Yeah,” another man adds. “Try a whole novel!”

Mandy raises an eyebrow. “Is that so?” When Leckie shrugs in response, she allows herself to smile, to be friendly, even though it goes against her better instincts. “Robert Leckie, ever the writer.”

“Fight by day, write by night.”

She makes a small scribble on her notepad to make sure her pen still works. “Well, Private Leckie. Do you have time for a quick interview?”

Leckie leans back in his seat and takes a drag off his cigarette. A smirk plays at the corners of his mouth as he exhales the smoke, nods. “Fire when ready, Miss Majors.”

[f0point5]

To the anon who wrote an essay about how Lando and Charles won’t be a WDC, do not fear, there are many people with that opinion who normally can’t bring it to light because mclaren fans are psychotic. I find that there is a gap between the driver mclaren portrays Lando as, and the driver Lando actually is, and is visible from his racing data. Mclaren consistently boosts Lando’s ego to make it seem like he is a champion contender and he can fight with drivers who are used to being at the front, which makes his media and fans believe that, when we know he crumbles and bottles under any pressure. All mclaren have done is boost Lando’s ego, but not his skill set and it is beginning to show, especially with Oscar. I also find that mclaren infantilises Lando and discuss his mistakes as “he’s a young driver, he’s young, all young people make mistakes” or “it’s not his fault, is everybody else’s fault” when he isn’t a rookie anymore, hasn’t been since 2019 and shouldn’t be making the mistakes he continually does. It also really irks me that Lando is allowed to make “typically rookie” mistakes and get away with it while rookies such as Max and Alex were absolutely slandered and destroyed for making mistakes and acting like typical teenagers. I have never understood why Lando was allowed to behave like a teenager and make mistakes both on and off the track, while Max was ruthlessly targeted and criticised for the same mistakes.

Sorry about my max rant, but his treatment from his early f1 years by heavy f1 hitters really really annoys me, because he was a child, and I wish he was able to behave his age and be a child, because we knew he had the skills.

I don’t think I’ve come across a crazy McLaren fan but maybe that’s luck idk lol.

I think the thing about Lando is, he’s very fast, and When you’re a rookie that’s what people look at. They assume that your racing acumen will just catch up to the speed, and in Lando’s case I don’t think it has, and maybe it never will. His bottling it for me is more an example of how much he panics under pressure, and I don’t think any amount of experience will iron that out I think he needs to do the work on his head, it’s not about his driving.

McLaren, I have to give them a pass because they have to sell their team and their drivers. They can’t exactly be like “he’s good, but he’s no Max Verstappen…but still buy the shirt”. Again, I think they market him based on this “raw” talent he has, which I agree is a bit stale at this point, but it’s kind of all they’ve got. The last person to win a race for McLaren was Daniel…let that sink in. And it’s the same with building him up…they have to. Because right now he’s the best driver they’ve got and for years he’s the been the best driver they’ve had access to, they have to make him feel like a superstar, make him feel that the team believes in him, and get him to emotionally invest in his place there so that he essentially can’t leave because the treatment is so preferential. And they’ve done it, because he wouldn’t go to Red Bull while he is the darling at McLaren (all about to change imo but that’s another story). So I don’t begrudge McLaren building him up because he is a sought-after driver. It’s sort of the opposite of what Merc is doing with George and we will see how that works for them in the long run.

For me, I feel like a lot of the reason Lando gets babied is because he kind of acts like one. He’s hotheaded, overly expressive, and petulant on the radio, he acts like a 14 year old, so when he makes a mistake you think, kids will be kids. It takes a conscious effort to remember that he’s one year younger than Max, that he’s nowhere near the youngest on the grid anymore.

No one will ever have me believing that the reason Max got so lampooned for his behaviour as a kid was that the bitches were scared. I do think some of the criticism was warranted, because at the end of the day if you are going to be in adult environment, you need to be held to those standards. There’s series for children to race, that series is not F1. I think where it became unfair was his racing style being blamed on his age, where he’s just an aggressive driver and that shouldn’t be something that scares racers unless they’re afraid to race.

Tbh I feel like the goodwill for Lando is going to evaporate once Oscar comes into his own. Because Oscar is already proving that the McLaren is capable of results in the right circumstances if you have the head for it, and he’s also showing a maturity level in his rookie season that is very impressive. I’m very interested to see what happens with Lando’s contract negotiations…

[serendertothesquad]

OKAY LET ME TALK ABOUT THE ARTICLE NOW.

There is...there is so much to discuss. How do I even start this post, honestly? Current stays winnin' with their long-ass articles but stays bitchin' in the worst way with their shitty-ass paywalls. Fuck paywalls, all my homies hate paywalls.

Anyway, look below the break.

casting calls ended on october 17th they just finished filming

Look, for 12 episodes, that's a hell of a crunch. Proud of 'em, really.

Also, I think we all know what it's gonna be marketed as in the States. If you don't then I'll give you the money to go to college so you can attend my Odd Squad class. It's only fair.

So I guess this explains why Netflix wasn't part of the deal. Either that or those articles I read were wildly incorrect on Netflix being a contributing helper.

...I mean okay, granted they could still be handed off to Netflix, just not in the US because...well, it's Fred Rogers Productions. They'll be damned if they plop their IPs into the hands of any streaming service that isn't named Prime Video.

This also means that maybe FRP will have a lesser hand in this than I thought, which isn't really all that surprising if one looks through their social media pages. Odd Squad was barely promoted on Twitter even before that account went near-radio-silent.

Okay, this is actually kinda interesting. Makes me feel like I should move to the UK just to see what, exactly, appeals to the British there. I mean outside of the comedy, of course.

Also, I know the pandemic affected a load of things about the franchise, but for it to birth an entire-ass new series is just downright insane. Not that insane, because that's how Lockdown was born, but yeah, pretty fucking insane!

...

Wait, Season 4 has 12 episodes? Like an anime? When Odd Squad already has anime elements?

Oh I'm gonna be an insufferable bitch when this comes out. Y'all have been warned.

Hey, hey, does anyone remember when Fred Rogers Productions got in trouble for not meeting grant requirements when it came to Odd Squad? Along with failing in accounting when it came to other IPs?

Pepperidge Farm remembers. I remember. No one else in the fandom remembers, but oh do I remember.

(Odd Squad cost $18 million for Season 1. Sit on that for a minute. Really think about how much that shit would be worth now, especially with inflation as bad as it is. It was a lot back then and it still is for some but it seems like mere pennies now, huh?)

I point this out because the fact that they had to seek out funding from outside sources that were not part of the hellshow of circus freaks that is the US government is absolutely hilarious to me.

You guys are married to TVO too, but you apparently don't like to talk about that. Shit's for people in all of those states that border Canada. Everyone else can go fuck themselves, not my quote.

That aside, though, I do like how PBS airing British media has finally implored them to do a "what if" scenario with their cartoons. It's been, what...decades? That's like swinging the bat long after everyone's left the stadium. Except for the audience, they're sticking around for some reason.

Look, Tim McKeon said the same thing about Season 3 and we all know how that turned out. I pray derivativeness is a virtue that will be buried deep into the ground by the time Odd Squad UK rolls around because we really can't afford to pick 12/24 episodes at random across 100+ of them to pry and copy plots from. And believe you me, I will know the difference between a simple harmless continuity nod and sheer derivativeness.

To put it simply: Sinking Ship and I have very different takes on "the same but also different".

Damn, RIP to Mark. I'm glad he's still working on the show, though for him to step down as showrunner for Odd Squad UK is...well, it's probably the best move looking at what we ended up with.

...I'm probably misinterpreting that. And/or it's journalism being journalism. C'est la vie.

I guess them sending over wardrobes is why Orli and Ozzie aren't decked to the nines in...uh...well, British versions of the Investigation agent uniform. Whatever those look like.

Again, you could say the same thing about Season 3 and we all know how that shit turned out.

I still have optimism, but there's a real damn pessimist side of me waiting to break free.

I'm choosing to believe "socioeconomic diversity" was how they picked about half to 3/4 of the writers for Season 3, because a majority of them either have very small resumes, have never worked on anything with a kid demo, or both.

The difference between them and the kids in this spinoff/new season, however, is that one group sucks and the other one likely doesn't.

(Yeah yeah, I'm making a lot of Season 3 jabs. But it's easy to make comparisons to that versus Season 1 and Season 2. Bite me.)

To maintain continuity with the original series' Canadian cast

Or "we need to have at least one Canadian thing to qualify for all those Canadian tax breaks and subsidies, and also uhhhhhh we're no lawbreakers".

There you go. I fixed it. Thank me later.

Also, they don't mention it, and it probably won't be mentioned until some article pops up in 2024 about it, but rest assured they're talking about Orli here. While I dig her backstory, I'm not so sure if I'm so keen on another audience surrogate after how badly they flubbed Osmerelda within 13 episodes. Granted, this is a different kind of audience surrogate -- Orli's not a "haha relatable funy thing for kids and the 'rents" surrogate, she's an "I'm a Canadian idiot who has never been to this country, please teach me" surrogate -- but still, I'm not so hopeful about them being able to write her well. Worst case scenario, we end up with a character who drinks maple syrup by the bottle, loves hockey, and drops an "eh?" every other sentence.

Oh I'm sensing a load of "tube" puns are gonna be made this season, lemme tell ya.

Okay okay, but real talk, this is actually kinda neat. Gonna be a little weird to see, but neat. The hell needs the lil' kiddie cars when you got trains to ride?!

Hey, hey, you guys remember when Odd Squad first premiered and PBS Kids put out a whole ton of new stuff for it? They had games at the ready and everything? They were so hyped for this shit they poured everything they had into it?

Pepperidge Farm remembers. I remember. No one else in the fandom remembers, but oh do I remember.

Needless to say, they don't really do that anymore for new shows. It's all the same cookie-cutter pre-release formula. When they did it for Odd Squad it was special. When they did it for Alma's Way and Elinor Wonders Why...not so much.

...Oh yeah, and the math stuff, the math stuff is cool, I like that. Here's hoping they can put new concepts into play instead of rehashing old ones.

"just 10-year-olds" the show is aimed at a 2-5 demographic

Now, see, this is where the funny irony comes in. Everyone laugh at the funny irony here. Now everyone cry because this seems more like a fitting comment for if GO! still existed and the show was on it.

Ahhh, now, see, this is where things get interesting.

Those of you keeping up with PBS Kids news might be aware of the network shifting to more short-form content as a way to nab viewers while also cutting costs significantly, hence why we're getting new podcasts and other short-form content in addition to full-length shows. PBS Kids has been in the short-form game since the late 2000s with the WordGirl shorts but they never truly dipped their toes into the short-form format until Elinor Wonders Why's That's So Interesting shorts and the Odd Squadcast came out. Those were the true floodgate-openers right there, paving the way for a host of old IPs being refreshed in addition to new IPs.

I remember when they dropped eight new shorts of two different series and thinking it was an April Fools joke because they were published on April 1st with absolutely no forewarning. I found out the news from someone else who had put the images up on the Wiki and I laughed my ass off at just how ridiculous it was. And then I found out they were real, and I sobbed.

...No wait, not the Meeting. Scratch that. I forgot it's changed dramatically since the days of yore. Moving on!

Whether this comment means we'll be getting Season 2 of the Odd Squadcast (which, y'know, is unlikely now), Season 3 of OddTube (ah, now that seems more likely), or more shorts outside of the two series we already have (Gadget Testers and Book of Games) is unknown at this point. But if anything, news is gonna break during upfronts like the TCA Press Tour and the PBS Annual Meeting.

It'll air in a year and they're already milking it for all it's worth. Byootiful. Clearly they have not learned from the last time they did a dramatic franchise shift and it paid off. AHEM MOBILE UNIT AHEM.

If they wanted to, they could grow some balls and go for broke. Do 28 more to be on par with Season 1.

No but seriously, I love how the fate of Odd Squad UK is so contingent on ratings. Let's not forget how Ready Jet Go and Let's Go Luna got unfairly sniped with no reason given (and then they brought back RJG with a movie like they still cared...lol get rekt) and let's not forget that they could easily do the same with Odd Squad at any time in spite of its ratings. They revived Super Why back from the dead, they revived Clifford back from the dead...they did it with Odd Squad and it's only been a wee bit over a year.

------------------------------

I'm not really opposed to Odd Squad being set in other regions -- it probably does better internationally than it does in the States, but we have no way to know that for sure -- but they're acting very sus with this portion specifically. I've got my eye on them.

All in all, this article has me pretty excited for the new spinoff/Season 4/how the fuck am I supposed to market this. Shame it's supposed to air in late 2024 (though maybe it'll air on CBBC in the spring because of that casting call...holy fuck I just thought of that as I was typing this post, real shit, lemme get my poker chips and bet on this RN) but I'm hyped for it either way and will happily lap up any and all press coverage on it until it airs. 2024's gonna be a big year.

If you guys reading this find any news on it, send it to me through an ask or a submission! We've got one more month before we launch into 2024 and if my theory about CBBC airing it earlier is true then we'll have to really be on the lookout for it as soon as January.

[madame-mortician]

Mark Hoffman under a Psychoanalytical Lens

Wanted to discuss Hoffman's characerisation in Saw and how bad it got, so here we are.

I'm one of those people who doesn't like Hoffman that much however the truth is I didn't mind him in Saw 4 (which says a lot because Hoffman was only revealed to be an apprentice in the last 5 minutes.)

In Saw 4, Hoffman's entire thing was that he was trying to recruit his friend and partner Rigg to join him in his vigilante ways. He'd chosen Rigg because they were already friends and Hoffman had saved his badge before so he saw it as kind of a "You owe me" situation, but also Rigg was mentally vulnerable because all of his friends were dying and/or being kidnapped so he would've been easier to manipulate, especially when Hoffman faked his own kidnapping which set Rigg off the edge. The thing is, this plan didn't work since Rigg was shot and also failed his game, killing Matthews and Art, would Hoffman have recruited him if he wasn't shot? I don't think he would've, I think the only reason he didn't recruit him was because he realised then and there that Rigg wouldn't join him, even after that entire game where he literally made Rigg put a victim into a trap, using a Pig mask. I like this whole relationship dynamic between Rigg and Hoffman but it gets better on Hoffman's end.

Before I explain that let me go through each apprentice and their modus operandi's. John targets people who don't appreciate life, people who are suicidal or just self-sabotaging and people he views as "wasting their lives." Whether he is right or not is usually glossed over, but he is a hypocrite and also completely self-righteous about his tests, claiming they help people when in all certainty most people either don't survive his traps due to them being unfair, or do survive but their lives are ruined further. Amanda is the latter, somebody who survived his trap and it gave her a change of heart, no longer did she want to waste her life doing drugs, now she wanted to help her "saviour" and stay by his side no matter what.

Amanda doesn't really get to pick her targets, she dies before John does so there's never really a point where she gets to host her own game with the closest being the Nerve Gas House in Saw 2. The only people that Amanda seems to have chosen herself are Troy and possibly Allison Kerry, where she rigged both traps so that they had no chance of survival. Her MO seems to have been to just kidnap whoever John asked her to, however she rigged the traps because she felt like people couldn't change, not really. This was likely because of her own worsening mental state and she believed if she couldn't be saved, nobody could.

Lawrence Gordon doesn't really get shown much, but the two people we know he targeted (Lynn Denlon and Bobby Dagen) have different circumstances surrounding them. He chose Lynn because he knew of her recent tragedy, and had seen her vulnerable state and perhaps knew about the cheating somehow. Bobby was chosen because he lied about being in a trap and profited off of this lie and used real-life victims as props for his marketing campaign. He likely chose Bobby because he was pissed off at this exploitation, especially since he himself survived a traumatic Jigsaw trap, so Bobby touched a nerve.

Then there's Hoffman.

The thing is, Hoffman is the only apprentice who really gets to choose his own targets, because he continued to operate after John and Amanda's deaths, Lawrence wasn't really shown to do much except for the Bobby trap and killing Hoffman. Hoffman got to enact his own form of vigilantism similar but different to John's vigilantism. John tested mentally ill people who he believed could be "cured" through the trauma of surviving this sorta situation, whilst Hoffman's vigilantism was through targeting people who were genuinely bad, and he wanted to either kill them or traumatise them because they're just that bad. At least in Saw 4 he was like that.

In Saw 4, all of the victims presented to Rigg are predators, specifically predators that target women. Brenda manipulated young girls into prostitution, Ivan was a rapist, Rex was abusive towards his wife and daughter and Art saved multiple predators from facing justice by defending them in court. All of these people were abusive and predatory especially towards women, which was Hoffman's motive. He used the Jigsaw tests to try and convince Rigg to join him, whilst also using them to reenact his revenge fantasy of killing Seth Baxter, the man who murdered his sister. His entire reason for joining Jigsaw was because he'd gotten revenge for his sister, making him emotionally vulnerable when seeing women getting abused like his sister was, the entire reason these people are here is because he hates women abusers, and wants to show Rigg this.

"See as I see. Feel what I feel. Save as I save. Judge as I judge."

Of course it doesn't lead anywhere since Rigg fails his test, so he leaves him to die, but the point isn't Rigg, it's his motive.

The thing though, after Saw 4, Hoffman changes completely. In Saw 5, the main victims the Fatal Five are just kinda people John asked Hoffman to test, and he did so. Saw 5 and 6 were just kinda Hoffman finishing off John's tests, doing the ones that John never got up to, none of them are really personal to him. Hoffman doesn't give a single shit about who survives the Fatal Five's trial, he doesn't care if Easton is killed or saved, he's just finishing off John's final requests, which okay that's fine I guess, if you want a more personal, vigilante Hoffman that's Saw 4 but then...

Saw 3D.

Oh god, Saw 3D.

In Saw 3D, Hoffman is mainly targeting Jill Tuck, this being because she tried to kill him in a Reverse Bear Trap at the request of her late husband. Like, I get it, she tried to kill him, he's going to try and kill her but like... It's framed kinda misogynstic. Like I'm not saying Hoffman is a misogynist, he's far from it in Saw 4, but here he just aggresively beats the shit out of Jill before putting her in a Reverse Bear Trap, and he watches her die. He also does that entire terminator massacre through the police station, which is just stupid, but idk, making the guy who's first film was about killing female predators and then making his last film about him targeting a defenceless woman is kinda odd. The first trap in Saw 3D is literally a random woman who was cheating on two boyfriends, with the woman portrayed as the villain implying he is biased and wants her dead. This trap always struck me as odd because not only is it weird for a Jigsaw trap to target a cheater when usually it’s deeper than that, but this was entirely Hoffman’s trap. He planned and chose these victims himself with no input from John and it’s just like… why? The only thing I can think of is it’s supposed to be him venting his frustration about Jill. Jill is the cheating woman and the two men are John Kramer and Mark Hoffman “killing her” because she was cheating by secretly seeing both of them but this is a stretch. It’s more likely they just character assassinated Mark and forgot he was supposed to be a feminist that targeted female predators and just made him this guy running around killing everything in his path like a Terminator.

So there you have it, Hoffman went from a vigilante who targeted people who reminded him of his sisters killer, to a guy just finishing off his mentors unfinished business and then to a guy doing everything to kill this woman. It's one of the reasons I don't like Hoffman that much compared to Amanda, I like the emotional mental states of Amanda and even Lawrence to a point, Hoffman only gets that in Saw 4, the film where he's barely even fucking shown.

[honeylikesyanderes]

Howdy hon~! It’s been awhile sorry >_<, but if anything I’m kinda wanna know if you have any fun little facts about your ocs that you’ve sent dying to tell us about?

Orrr… tell us what would happen if they all has their eyes on the same darling? (You don’t have to do all of them but your, like, ones that would have an interesting dynamic)

I’ll think up some more I wanna know about your characters, but for now I hope this is enough!

Anyhoo, please remember to take care of yours and have a lovely day/night!

-🍒

yan corp members pining after the same darling

(unedited)

knox:

will play dirty.

he wouldn't even try to hide it or anything

he would make it absolutely clear to the others that he wants you and anyone that's willing to go up against him for your heart, should be prepared for his dirty games.

knox rarely falls for anyone so when he realises that its you that he wants, he absolutely goes all out.

he will buy you gifts and spoil you while making himself look like the best possible option among the yan corp bosses

he also doesn't mind poisoning your thoughts against the other corp members.

he wants you and he'll have you by all means.

his biggest rival would be florence, because she can predict his behaviour fairly well.

biggest weakness: he can be a bit materialistic, so his tactics wouldn't work well with a darling that doesn't like being spoilt.

florence:

similar to knox, florence might have the tendency to play dirty

but unlike knox, she's more tactical about it.

she'll play the 'misunderstood victim' card

in this instance, she'll make it seem like she isnt really mean or a 'tough boss'

that all the staff just dont like her cause they misunderstand her a lot

as she does this, she simultaneously acts very nicely towards you so that it seems more believable.

by using this angle, she's making herself look good while subtly diminishing your opinions about the other corp bosses.

this method would work especially well on a very empathetic darling.

her biggest rival would be angel because of her natural charm and kindness.

biggest weakness: she's a bit impatient so she cant play the 'long game', which wouldn't work well for a darling that gets overwhelmed easily.

angel:

tbh, angel wouldn't have to do much

she's already known as the office sweetheart so she has a nice reputation

however, she may just play it up a little bit

angel would act extra nice to staff and especially towards you

she'd be extremely nice to people in the same department as you, so that they can continue to gush about how nice she is.

if this doesn't work and you continue to remain indifferent to her advances, angel doesn't mind playing damsel in distress.

tripping on the stairs and into your arms, falling over with a stack of papers in your hallway (what is she using all that paper for anyway?), the buttons on her shirt randomly popping off when you're the only person in the room, her ''forgetting'' an umbrella when wearing a white shirt and needing to borrow the extra sweater you brought to work-

the list goes on tbh

and out of everyone in the corp, you're most likely to fall for angel.

mostly because she's so good at what she does

her biggest rival would be her brother, priest, because he's a fast thinker and can quickly think of ways to counter her 'pining methods'

biggest weakness: a shy/introverted darling wouldn't appreciate angel intruding into their personal bubble so often, unless they've become close.

priest:

priest would easily win against all the corp members

as head of marketing, he's extremely good at predicting human behaviour

therefore he's always one step ahead of everyone else

for example, knox could have set up a surprise at your desk at work, addressing it from your 'secret admirer'

since knox has a tendency to act suspiciously when he's planning something as well as having the tendency to spoil love interests with gifts, priest would expect that he was planning a surprise for you

and priest would counteract that by sending you on field work that day, or asking you to take it easy and work from home that day, so you would never get to see the surprise.

priest would constantly work hard to counteract every single thing that the other corps members could do to woo you.

his biggest rival would be bennett, because bennett has a tendency to be unpredictable and to think outside the box.

biggest weakness: if a corp member or darling doesn't act according to his prediction, then it can make him look bad and jeopardise his chances with darling

quinn:

quinn's tactic to winning over darling is an unusual one, yet very smart.

their plan is to do nothing.

act uninterested, tell the other corps members that they are uninterested and act friendly to you in a semi-platonic way.

quinn will quietly wait in the shadows and let the corps members fight amongst each other over you, and when everyone least expects, they'll strike and snatch you up.

they'll have lunch with you everyday, and grow close to you, slowly but surely.

they dont mind even playing double agent, in which a corp members asks quinn to play wingman, and help them out

quinn agrees obviously, and uses that excuse to spend more time with you.

under the guise of 'helping out'

when in fact, they're trying to win you over to themselves.

their biggest rivals would be bennett (because he has more access to information) and angel (because she's more friendly and easy to talk to)

biggest weakness: darling may not like the friends to lovers trope and may end up just friendzoning quinn.

bennett:

finally, bennett.

bennett's tactic is to become the man of your dreams.

he will stalk all your social media to find out what you like, the kind of people you follow, the type of people you dislike, your ideologies-

he'll find out everything

hell, he'll even find out about all your exes and find out what they had in common so he can adopt that attribute into his personality

any kind of man you want, that's what he'll be.

and the thing about bennett is that, he's so discrete about things, so you'd never imagine that he's basing his personality off of what you like

he makes it seem natural

bennett wouldn't actively compete or hate on the other members-

he'd just try to drastically improve his chances.

his biggest rival would probably be angel and quinn, due to the fact that they're both easily approachable and easy to talk to.

biggest weakness: if darling is the type to change their mind/opinion quickly, then bennett may not always be kept updated on their new interest or ideology, therefore rendering his tactic useless.

[local-redhead-bookworm]

I think it'd be neat to see Angel negotiating with Valentino to get out of his contract, no violence involved. Hear me out (sorry in advance for the length).

Angel is in Hell due to his mafia dealings where (assumedly) he has either murdered and/or violently harmed people before (especially if he is "made" and a full member of the family). Part of his arc so far has been getting back in touch with "Anthony" his true self, and in that he will likely need to address the harm he caused while alive if he wants to continue on with his redemption.

I think it would be interesting to see him, after already having this S1 development, adamant about not killing someone (not even Valentino) just to get what he wants. It could be something that puts him at odds with the others, like Husk, who maybe suggests it. Instead, Angel wants to negotiate with Valentino. Typically (and I say typically but this is a complex and multi-faceted topic) when a girl wants to leave her pimp, the pimp comes up with an exorbitant fee to do so (often this fee is so high they will be unable to leave, but some do - it's also extremely rare, but some pimps do let their girls leave when they want out of the business). But for Valentino, I mostly see him trying to maintain the upper hand initially and refusing to negotiate in good faith which is then where you can introduce or tie in other S2 plotlines that serve to develop all the characters, protagonists and antagonists alike.

Porn is an industry with extremely high turnover. There is a very good chance that Angel's popularity is or will begin waning because that is the very nature of the industry - there is always someone new, someone better on the horizon. If the Vees being the antagonists of S2 ties in here, you could have Vox (who may be losing whatever battle he is waging due to the work of the protagonists) argue in favor of letting Angel go. We see that Valentino does for the most part respect his partners and Vox and Velvette seem far more invested in making money than anything else. To them, cutting a porn star who might not even be popular in the next fiscal year would be sound business if it helped them accomplish their other goals in Hell's multimedia market with less continued interference from Charlie/Alastor.

Perhaps there is also a background connection Valentino and Angel share where they're really not too different from one another. This could be deeply uncomfortable for both of them (and I think it would be challenging for the audience too, in a good way). In my analysis, Valentino does not give classic pimp vibes at all, in fact, he often portrays a caricature of a pimp more than anything else and it makes me think this is all an act. We also know that he does his own shows, there are many posters about him performing live, etc. I am personally a subscriber to the idea that Valentino was a sex worker while alive and, after he died, he eventually clawed his way to the top and began to perpetuate the cycle of abuse once he "made it" in Hell's crushing gauntlet. This is a real world phenomenon and adds more complexity to the show's narrative. What happens when the abuser was also once a victim? Valentino could serve as a character to really challenge Charlie's main premise (and by extension the audience's). He could point out that he never had anyone fighting for him, he didn't have friends in high places like Angel does now, and he just made it work. He's still wrong and he is still perpetuating the abuse now which needs to stop, but it adds a layer of complication and, for me, opens up the door to the Vees eventually being redeemed which, again, for me, is an important idea in a story centered on redemption.

This way, you have Angel showing that he is learning from his violent past (that was ultimately what brought him to Hell in the first place), vehemently against the idea of continuing to kill (character development), and you also present Valentino as this complicated case of someone who was forgotten by the system and has unhealthy/broken perceptions and thought patterns because of it. Critically, Angel needs to be freed from his contract and taken out of harms way first and foremost, but Charlie's central thesis is that every sinner has a chance at redemption... after ensuring Angel's safety, you can lay the groundwork for challenging Valentino and his past/how that has colored his views of the world going forward. If we're not going to permadeath Alastor for owning and abusing Husk alongside his other heinous machinations/being a serial killer (I HIGHLY doubt any permanent harm will ever come to Alastor) then it seems disingenuous to the show's main themes not to explore what healing eventually looks like for the Vees.

Also, long-term, porn will always exist. It always has in some fashion and it always will. Sex work is real work and I think that message is important. Charlie, rather than focusing on getting sinners into Heaven which she still isn't 100% certain is possible at the end of S1, could shift her focus to helping sinner's repair their present in Hell and make it a better experience for all. Since Valentino is the current leader of the porn industry, it could be beneficial to her mission to help him change the way it operates systemically and, in assisting him in getting the healing/closure he needs from his past, make it a safer and more empowering environment for sex workers. Valentino is obviously not the only abuser in Hell nor is he the only one taking advantage of the sex trade/industry. Other potential overlords would immediately emerge to fill his shoes and continue the cycle if he was "taken out" and then who does that really benefit in the long run?

I do think it's more likely that your ideas will be what we end up seeing. While I don't agree with it personally, I've seen a lot of fans who seem to want Husk to rush in and "save" Angel by killing Valentino. I don't find that satisfying, especially as it removes Angel's agency, but I can see it being a very simple way for the show to address the problem in a way that most of the audience would be content with.

With these relationships, however, there's just so much potential to dive deeper than that and still remain true to the main theme of everyone being capable of redemption. Angel has to work on himself, that includes getting clean and getting away from Valentino's harm, and then he needs to address what brought him to Hell in the first place (his mafia ties). Redemption should be long and hard, some steps along that journey will be easier than others. Valentino's very first baby steps could be willingly letting Angel go due to the circumstances S2 sets up for the Vees. I think being presented with the idea that he was once in Angel's shoes (maybe not with a pimp himself, rather just being in that lifestyle and knowing what comes with it or other past experiences with abuse) and is now in the same category as the people who brought him harm, would eventually get to him. He would naturally go through a cycle of denial, anger, etc, but they're all simply human beings underneath their demon forms/power. I think over time he could get the healing he never received on his own while alive/in Hell and work to make amends. He would not be redeemed just by letting Angel go, but it would be a significant start as his character begins to develop in later seasons. You can tie the other Vees into that journey as well, I really enjoy them as this little found family that has their a dash of dysfunction and I think they do genuinely care about each other/would help one another heal if the circumstances for that development was properly fleshed out/set up (and I think it can be!).

I liked reading through your thoughts and ideas, it's interesting to consider. I'm a very big fan of Charlie's concept of redemption and I believe the only thing that makes someone irredeemable is themselves and not wanting to be redeemed. Of course, everyone has very different beliefs when it comes to morality. This focus on redemption through compassion and grace, though, is what initially drew me to the show and I would like to see it explored in every character even (and almost especially) with the antagonists. :)

I think you’re getting at some very interesting ideas, and I like a lot of the themes you’re bringing up. I find that backstory idea for Val very interesting; I don’t know if I ascribe to that backstory, but to be fair I don’t really have a concrete theory on how Val died. And I would like to see Angel re-negotiate the contract, as I agree that would be a good way for him to maintain his agency. However, I disagree with your theory for a few reasons.

Canon-typical TWs for abuse and rape apply

Angel thus far has shown no likeliness to change in his views on killing. I do think he needs to work through his mafia backstory, as it was very likely a contributing factor as to why he wound up in hell, but I don’t personally see him as the one who’s going to be arguing for no killing, and I definitely don’t see him advocating for Val. That’s just my read on his character. However, I wouldn’t be opposed to that changing, and if the show decides to unpack his mafia connections more, though, we might see that later.

I don’t think the show has enough time to delve into Val’s backstory that deeply, especially if the rumors I’ve heard are true. If the show were longer like Helluva Boss, I think we might get some more explanation of Val’s character and past, but with only the projected two seasons, there simply won’t be enough time. I also think that while the Vees do care about each other to an extent, I think the show would have to do a LOT of heavy lifting to get them as a unit to the place that they all want to heal, which again there isn’t time for. The only time they intervene with Val’s behavior is when it’s threatening either their image or their business operation.

Angel isn’t just an employee to Val (I realize that’s a gross oversimplification of how pimps work, but that isn’t an area I’m educated enough to speak on). If that were all that was between them, I’d be inclined to agree that Val might let Angel go for business reasons, but Val has the soul contract, and it’s also implied that he and Angel dated prior to this whole thing. Furthermore, overlords in general seem to be control freaks. Alastor tries to maintain control with his constant smile and never letting others see him rattled, as well as trying to seem much more powerful than he is. Husk gambled souls for the thrill and the power trip. Vox controls the media and uses hypnosis, Velvette and Val collaborated on the “love potion.” The stipulation of the contract between Angel and Val is that Val can do whatever he likes to Angel in the studio. Val enjoys his power, he likes feeling strong and in control of Angel. I don’t see him willingly giving up control over his favorite toy, given that over a six-month period he never changes his actions.

Unlike Alastor, Val isn’t a character that people are going to root for. I do think Alastor’s treatment of Husk is unacceptable, but I also think there is a big difference between Alastor’s abuse and threats of violence, versus the violence we see Val enact upon Angel, of verbal, emotional, physical, and sexual varieties. In my mind and the mind of many other fans, some acts are less forgivable than others, and Val’s treatment of Angel falls into something that very few people will be willing to move on from. Furthermore, we’ve seen Alastor slowly come to care more about the rest of the Hotel, even though he tries not to show it (see his King Roach scene with Niffty, referring to the Hotel gang in Hell’s Greatest Dad as “the family you choose”). Val, however, shows no signs of change at all during the season. To not mince words, people won’t want to see a rapist be redeemed.

I don’t think Val is a character Vivzie is interested in portraying as sympathetic. If you’ve watched Helluva Boss, you likely noticed the similarity between the Angel-Valentino dynamic and the dynamic between Fizzarolli and Mammon. Mammon is almost a caricature of greed, he is the worst of greed dialed up to 100%, and he is constantly exploiting and verbally abusing Fizz, making him feel trapped. There is very little evidence that Mammon will be developed to be more sympathetic. Val is a similar character. His reason for being in hell is unclear, but he’s clearly very possessive over Angel. Angel is his cash cow, his favorite. There is also the fact that Val is horrible to everyone he employs, such as when he and Vox decide to shoot his lowest earners.

There’s a big difference in the two contract dynamics. Husk isn’t afraid to sass and push back at Alastor 90% of the time, and the one time we see Alastor go absolutely out of line is when Husk pushes a very sensitive button. Angel spends half the season terrified to go against Val in any way, and even in the latter half of the season, we see that while he’s able to go against Val and push back, he still knows what any act of defiance costs him.

I agree that I’d like to see Charlie push Hell away from punishment and toward healing, more of a purgatory idea, and I think Season two is going to really interrogate the idea that any sinner can be redeemed, and what that means for people like the Vees. However, I don’t think the show is going to extend such a sympathetic angle to Val. More than likely, I expect we will see him and several other overlords reject the idea of redemption as foolish or pathetic. Pull in that “Better to reign in hell than serve in heaven” idea from Paradise Lost, and have the Vees question why they’d ever want to be redeemed and go to heaven when they’re so strong in hell.

I’m not trying to come across as harsh, and I think you raise some fascinating points. However, I don’t think that your perspective for Val is something we’re going to see in canon. I do find it very interesting though, and it would be something I think a long-form fic could explore very well. However, as Hazbin is now, I don’t think Val would just let Angel go.

For clarity’s sake, I am not critiquing Angel as a sex worker, nor am I intending to disrespect irl sex workers. I do think Charlie doesn’t understand his job very well (although she’s better now than she was at the start of the season) and I think Vaggie has some kink-negativity she needs to work through, but again, due to time allotment, I don’t think the show will get to that.

I don’t want someone else, especially Husk, to just swoop in and rescue Angel, I agree that’s unsatisfying, robs him of some crucial agency, and I also think it doesn’t showcase any of his character strengths we’ve seen so far. That being said, I do think Angel is going to need some level of help to escape his contract. I do think there’s a possibility we’ll see Angel try to renegotiate, because he’s very emotionally intelligent and I think he could play the right angles, and we might see more of his mafia past. I do enjoy the show’s focus on redemption through compassion and grace, but quite frankly I doubt that all the fans who felt seen by Angel’s story are going to want to see his abuser get redeemed. Quite frankly, I don’t think that we need a story where a rapist goes to heaven.

[mrs-monaghan]

First off I absolutely LOVE your content, we need more jikookers like you! I found you from a jikook YT and I've binged like hell down the rabbit hole that is Park Jimin and Jeon Jungkook. Thank you for all that you do!

Tae's recent behavior has been the most confusing thing cause its gotten alot worse and and I believe it WILL get alot worse with the upcoming album releases. I always trusted that jm and jk would cut that off if they minded and I know we don't see what happens off camera, but it seems like jimin has been pulling away from him?...atleast according to Tae. Could we take that as them now loosing patience with him? Hybe will push JK cause he's their "golden goose" but they must also know how popular Tk is, especially with media companies using taekook to market cause ofc it trends well and certain ppl *cough cough* eat it up. So do you think they'll try to go extra hard on this TK agenda during promos ( like yoonmin ) and if so how would JK /JM react cause idkk if bargaining to trade off TK content with equal jikook content will work..you mentioned before this is most likely what JK does already. And god why does Tae not just confirm his relationship...I really want to judge him as a friend buttt jikook like, care for him, and know him, soooo I'm dearly trying to stay neutral that this will all redeem itself in the long run...in terms of the absolute vileness that gets thrown at jimin on the daily...I really hate armytwitter😑

Me? On YT? How tf did I get there?!?!

Hybe are stupid. They refuse to utilise Jimin who would bring it all the mulah, and now a possible pushing of Taekook. I am still so bitter about them using Yoonmin to promote Busan. Twice! That shit made no fucking sense.

Again, if hybe do anything with Taekook for Taekookers they are dumb as hell. JJKs and Jkkrs are the ones who are gonna carry the whole thing. I never know whether to count true ot7 Army coz I ain't sure if there's that many left. But tkkrs aren't gonna do dick!

I already talked here about how they never sell out V's shit. They yap all fucking day but never put their money where their mouths are. And some people mad at V's current behaviour think even he knows this.

I am hopeful that if JK is doing his shit now, that means his and V's will not entwine. Which is awesome! So that's all I'm crossing my fingers for anon.

As for how Jikook will deal with this they won't really have a choice. Well, Jimin won't. He's not the one being asked to do stuff with V. Its JK we should be wondering how he will handle this. I think he's gonna have to work really hard on his poker face.

I will say this one thing though. It really is up to V whether or not he wants to confirm his rlship. The fact that they even gave us Paris was a miracle. It should be their call really. I know people are frustrated but he don't owe us dick just coz tkkrs are mental cases.

That being said I will pull out my fucking hair if we get continuous content about Taekook. I swear. I'm gonna go crazy. So Lord please have mercy. Don't let them do this to us.

Amen