#funny how i knew that logically from the moment i got the news but seeing Son Seok Ku and Jung Woo Sung post their little

[theinfinitedivides]

he's gone.

[alwaysonf1]

leak?

Pairing: Charles LeClerc x Hamilton!OC

Genre: Slice of Life; Fluff

Word Count: 740

Warning: N/A

Rating: PG-13

Author's Note: Dates and times don't matter.

“Calm down.”

“Don’t tell me to calm down. Do you see what’s trending right now?”

There’s a sigh over the phone and Iman feels bad, but not enough that her anxiety is subsiding or that she can apologize in the moment.

“Mon ange, it’s not even a good picture of us. Plus, would it be so bad?”

Yes, is on the tip of her tongue, but it wasn’t the truth. Iman had just hoped there would be more time before the world knew. She’s adept at handling the media frenzy because of how it was when the world found out she existed. But this was something so fresh and new. She didn’t want to have to share it with anyone.

“No, I just…” 

There are no words that come to mind. Logic is returning to her brain and she knows she’s being dramatic. Next to K-Pop stans, Formula 1 fans are creepy good at detective work. And one is always going to be around no matter where they are.

Also, she wasn’t completely bothered. There was a part of her that took joy in speculating that they were together. That he was her’s. It just isn’t strong enough to make the biggest impact in her head.

Iman sighs.

“Let them speculate. We don’t have to confirm anything.”

Another sigh.

She knows that he’s right, but she’d deluded herself into thinking that things could be chill. For at least a month. Or a week. But she’d found herself attached to Charles’ hip no matter how in public they were. There was some hope that if anything were to leak it would be her getting her ass handed to her in volleyball by Logan. It was ego bruising because she’s the one who played it through high school, but it was better than this.

“I know.”

“Then why all of this? You knew it would come eventually.”

“Not this quickly,” she mumbles.

There is a sound on the other end that sounds like a scoff. Iman has picked up when Charles is calling her out on her bullshit.

“I mean I could post that video of you falling on your face on the beach. That would get everyone’s attention,” Logan chimes in.

Iman’s eyes narrow as she turns to look at him leaning against her door frame snacking on popcorn. Lewis stands behind him with the bowl of popcorn that he’s been eating from.

Both idiots think her reaction is funny and have been watching her as she fights not to go into a spiral. Lewis has made comments about how she wasn’t even this bad when things got intense with the media after their episode. 

The urge to cuss them out presents itself, but Iman simply raises her hand with only one finger extended. Both of them react in faux shock and offense before falling into a giggling fit.

What she’d done to have this life she wasn’t sure, but goodness did it sometimes test her. 

“Mon ange…”

“Huh?”

Charles laughs. “I asked what you wanted to do. I want what makes you happy.”

For a second, she sits with her lips pursed as she thinks about it. They could get it out of the way, but it is much too soon to be making those kinds of announcements. Even if they’re both sure about this, it feels much too fast. Though Iman has to be honest in admitting that sometimes things move at a different pace when you’ve had years of friendship. And there are a few recent thoughts she’s had that are much faster than admitting to dating Charles Leclerc.

“Nothing.”

“Nothing?”

“For now, at least. If they catch something else and it goes crazy, we’ll just admit it. Or after like a month.”

“Okay, but mon ange, I’m not going to change my mind about you.”

Breathing becomes hard and Iman is barely able to tell him bye as they hang up the phone. Her phone drops from her hand and she falls back to fully lay on her bed. Butterflies are how she’d describe what she feels.

Laughter starts. At a speed that could give whiplash she turns her head and glares at the two pains in her ass.

“Get out!”

A pillow sails through the air and hits Lewis square in the face. Logan is gone before the other one can leave her hand and Lewis isn’t far behind him.

“Lord help me,” she says, sighing.

liked by lewishamilton, alex_albon, and 45,628 others

logansargeant 2x national champ my ass.

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[twisted-wonderland-shenanigans]

Okay, either the scientist knew she was preggo or they just thought she was going through hormonal changes or whatever, there is NO WAY CROWLEY DOESNT KNOW THE HUMAN IS PREGGO.

Also, how much should I bet that Cater is just going to keep the whole world updated with every single DETAIL.

Oh, Lilia is going to have a FIELD DAY WHEN THE BABY IS BORN, same for Trein, he’s probably going to love it.

Referring to this fic snippet here:

Okay, to be fair, I forgot to mention that the events take place shortly after Yuu's arrival. Probably between chapter 2 and 3 given the timeline we have, which puts it at about...two, three weeks after the prologue and shortly after Riddle and Leona overblot.

As for the scientists/researchers, while logically speaking they would immediately jump at the chance to come to the island to start their studies, they first had to make sure these pictures circulating on Cater’s Magicam posts were legit first. Once it is established through a video or two that was posted, that's when they reach out to Crowley to make the arrangements!

And they actually arrive a week after the pregnancy announcement, so you can bet that they are very eager to get some studying done as quick as possible! 😂

As for the staff not realizing that fem!Yuu is pregnant, they are aware of what a pregnant monster's scent is like for sure. But because there hadn't been a human in centuries, even if Crowley was old enough to have been around humans, it's not like he remembers the scent off the top of his head! The staff would all essentially be like those confused cats and dogs trying to figure out what this strange bump is and why their human smells funny before instinctively feeling protective.

Can you just imagine Crowley building a nest for Yuu without realizing just *why* he was doing it in the first place? Or the blank stare he'd give the moment someone asked him like, "...why am I doing this??" and it only becomes clear shortly after the announcement, in which he tries to pretend he knew all along 😂

I'm also reminded of this one post where OP's cat had had multiple litters in the past and was so excited when OP got pregnant that the kitty kept trying to show her to the nest she made for OP's "kitten", and it was the sweetest thing I'd ever read 🥹

Anyway, you can bet your bottom madol that Cater will absolutely be keeping EVERYONE updated on Magicam throughout the whole process, and he is getting flooded with baby picture requests 🤣 It's also sweet how mothers come across the posts and try to offer advice that they'd learned on raising their kids, which is nice, though not all of the advice would really be practical based on species 😅 But at least they're sweet enough to offer that and words of encouragement! I can even see some inviting Yuu to a mother's support group meeting ;;v;;

You can also bet that Yuu will be receiving a lot of baby shower gifts and such from Cater’s followers. At least they don't have to worry about needing to buy diapers for a while! 🤣

Ooooooh yes, Lilia is going to be ecstatic to be able to hold and care for a baby again! He will offer to help watch over the little one (hadn't decided on a gender or name yet for the new baby) so Yuu can take a break, though don't worry about him trying to feed the baby his cooking. He learned and knows that milk is important for the baby, so he makes sure to have the bottles readily available even at Diasomnia~ (though Silver and the others make sure to keep an eye on him when it comes to feeding time just to be on the safe side)

Trein has already raised two daughters, and while he may not be interested in raising another, that's not to say he won't wind up spoiling the little human baby like any grandparent would! He'll also offer a shoulder for fem!Yuu to lean on and reassure her that she's doing a great job as a mother ;;v;;

[atalana]

so i've been doing a doctor who rewatch with my flatmate, which is giving me whole new avenues to think about doctor who meta from

and i wanna talk about this moment

the dalek emperor asks "so prove yourself, doctor. what are you, coward or killer?"

and i think the full context of his response goes a little underappreciated

because especially if you know a lot about doctor who, this line seems fairly obvious. still poignant as hell, but we know the doctor, and we know he's the man who'd always make that choice, it's built into his very mythology

except this is nine

and the choice he's being offered is whether or not to use a weapon that will kill every living thing in its radius - it'll wipe out the daleks, but the range of it also includes the entire earth. you can finally stop the war, but you have to sacrifice a planet you've come to call home, and all of its people, in order to do so. and you'd better act fast, because the daleks are waging war right now, people are already dying - if you don't do something, they're going to wipe out the human race anyway

logically, he should. logically, he has to.

but this is a doctor who is fresh of the heels of making that same choice! he already did it! not too long ago, with his own world in the balance, he proved himself killer, once and for all. what's one more planet, compared to all that? one more planet, to prove it wasn't all worthless? if you let them go now, you killed your own people for nothing

i don't think he knew, until he got his hands on that trigger, what choice he would make. he was certainly planning to be able to do it. and it's not like he stopped being a soldier after the war, when he met that one lone dalek he did everything in his power to kill it, to make the war finally over, to make it worth it. nine doesn't want to be a killer, but he knows that he is. and he's proven it many times this season

until right now. staring down his worst enemy, his worst nightmare, knowing that if he acts with mercy here he'll condemn the universe to destruction, he does it anyway. throws everything aside to give the devil itself the kindness neither of them deserve

this isn't just the moment he declared himself the man who never would. this is the moment he became the man who never would

and time lord regeneration's a funny thing. same man, new man. same memories, new personality, new goals, new ideals. and sure, some aspects of that are random, but there's still a chain of connection. each new incarnation becomes who they are in response to how the last one ended. the 50th enjoyed going into the differences between ten and eleven, how eleven ran away from everything that the doctor was before, played up the childish and the trickster and never fully looked at all the horrors in their past, because ten couldn't help but take responsibility. he considered responsibility the only moral option, but at the end was still so angry that this weight never stopped dragging him down, that he could never make the selfish decision. the world isn't fair and i don't want it to end like this, i see so much of that in eleven

and that defining moment of nine's that birthed ten, that's right here

the man who never would is a line stolen directly from the doctor's daughter. ten is the doctor who holds up genocide as the worst crime someone can commit, no matter the circumstances. ten who will let a dalek go just to avoid causing another. ten who won't touch a weapon of any kind unless absolutely necessary. who doesn't even want to be in the same room as a gun. it all comes down to this moment, with nine against the end of everything, in the final hours of his life

handed an identical choice to the one that changed his life forever and saying never again.

[lunar-wandering]

i'm so obsessed with my "reaper that's scared of ghosts" oc that it's not even funny like it's starting to become an actual problem

“Hey, kid.”

The voice made Annette look up. Before her was a man, who was bending over slightly to be at her eye level.

“My name is Rocky.” He said, glancing off to the side as he did so, “And I'm going to be your reaper for the day.”

Now, Annette had already known she was dead. This did not come to a shock to her. She had been dead for about a week after all. That was totally enough time to become accustomed to her new state of being. Totally.

The reaper was a surprise though. After seven whole days of nothing she had begun to think that this was going to be how the rest of her 'life' was going to play out.A lifetime spent living alone, all by herself, with nobody able to see her, and no one to talk to.

“You're late.” She decided to say, as the reaper tilted the pole end of his scythe towards her, indicating for her to grab it, waiting until after she'd done so before turning around and starting to walk, with her trailing behind him.

“I know, I know.” Rocky said, looking forwards, “But there was a lot of evil spirits on the way between your location and the nearest entrance to the Otherworld, and I figured it'd be better to get rid of them first before leading you there. Easier to wait a little bit instead of having to fight while protecting someone, right?”

Annette supposed she could see the logic behind that.

“I still would've liked to have known that there was going to be a reaper though.” She said, “Couldn't you have come and talked to me first?”

Rocky didn't respond. Annette kept her eyes firmly on the reaper's back as they turned a corner.

“...And why are you having me hold the scythe anyways?” She asked, “Most of the times when people talk about a reaper leading someone to the afterlife, the reaper holds the person's hand.”

Still no answer. Hm. Maybe she only got to get one question answered after death, and she'd wasted it.

Well.

No.

Actually.

Her first statement hadn't been a question, had it? So that couldn't be it. Maybe this reaper in particular was just rude. That would be just her luck, getting stuck with a rude reaper.

Either way it was clear this guy wasn't going to answer any more of her questions, so she decided to shut up, focusing on the area around her as she walked. This was a path that she herself had taken many times on her way to school when she was alive- was there really a path to the afterlife this way?

Suddenly, Rocky stopped, Annette only having seconds to stop herself from running into him. And then, he turned, down a side street- one that Annette knew for a fact looped back around to the street they were already on. Still, she remained quiet. Maybe the entrance was somewhere down this way?

Except it wasn't. Except, a few minutes later, they were back on the same street they had started on, just a little bit further down.

Annette blinked for a moment, glancing behind her, and then glancing back at Rocky.

To hell with staying quiet.

“Why'd we do that?” She asked, “It would've been faster if we just stayed on this street.”

“...Evil spirit.” Rocky muttered. Ah, so he could answer her, he just was choosing not to.

“I don't see anything.” Annette glanced back at the street behind her again. “Also, didn't you say earlier that you'd already gotten rid of all the evil spirits? What, was there just something about that street in particular that you didn't like?”

From the way Rocky's back tensed, she must've been right on the money. Once again she looked back, trying to spot anything on that part of the street in particular that could make a reaper want to avoid it. As far as she could tell, it was just the same as the part she was currently on.

Or well, it was the same... if you ignored the Halloween shop that had opened up there a few days prior to her death. A little funny of her, she supposed, to die in October, but-

“Not a fan of Halloween?” Annette smirked a little as Rocky did a whole body twitch, like he had winced. “What, is it offensive to reapers or something?”

“No... m-most of the others actually like that sort of thing.” Oh, his voice had trembled for a moment there. He suddenly started to walk faster, and Annette had to swap to a light jog in order to keep up.

“So? Why don't you like it?” No response. Well, Annette wasn't one to let a mystery just go unsolved. She wracked her brain for a moment... “What, do you not like the horror movie type stuff? Are you scared of it?”

Rocky froze midstep, and this time Annette did run into him. Rocky awkwardly jerked when she did so, like his body had tried to jump away from her and he had done everything in his power to keep it from doing so.

And, thinking about it, now that she had brought it up…

“You're scared of me too, aren't you?” She asked, “I mean, you haven't looked at me once this whole time.”

“No I'm n-not.” Ah, his voice had trembled again.

“You so are.”

“Not.”

“Turn around and look at me then.” She let go of the scythe to put her hands on her hips, tapping her foot as she waited. Slowly, Rocky turned around, and after a few seconds of simply staring at some space above her head, looked down at her for the first time.

A cat chose that exact moment to walk straight through her. It was an odd sensation, to have things walk through you, but she was starting to grow used to it.

However, it seemed to have some kind of effect on Rocky, who suddenly listed a bit to the side, stumbled, and then crumbled to the ground.

“Ah.” Annette said, rather calmly, turning to the cat that was now sitting innocently beside her. “He died.”

He'd actually just passed out, but sudden death was much more dramatic.

Rocky shifted, before slowly starting to push himself off the pavement. Annette crouched down beside him as though she were watching a rather interesting ant.

“Hey, Mr. Reaper?” She said, “Y'know what? Being scared of ghosts cannot be all that good for your health. I think you need a paid vacation.”

“I w-wish.” Rocky muttered, “I don't even get paid.”

[extasiswings]

i really loved how pepa was all "marriage, who said anything about marriage?" when that was immediately where eddie's head went about one fix-up. and pepa was basically like "i just want you to have someone to run errands with on your saturdays". lol (i wonder who that could be eddie)

anyway, i love hearing your thoughts so i was wondering what you thought about eddie immediately connecting dating to marriage and kind of panicking about it? where's his head at with that?

Oh, I love this question, I'm kissing you on the forehead for asking this, nonny.

So, as with all things Eddie Diaz, because he is a funny funny repressed queer little man who should be studied under a microscope, the answer is: it's complicated, and there are Layers.

On the absolute most surface level, I don't think it's an unreasonable logical leap in cultural context to assume if your family is setting you up it's not so you can have a casual fling, it's with an end goal of getting you married off.

Diving a little deeper, I think he also jumps to marriage because Serial Monogamist Eddie Diaz simply has zero conception of or experience with casual dating and non-serious relationships. And also, I think in his heart of hearts, what he wants (but is afraid of having) is a serious relationship. He wants a great grand forever love with a real romantic life partner! And "marriage" is the state that's traditionally emblematic of that, a serious, legally-binding commitment to share your life with someone. (And his heart already knows there's a specific person he wants as his partner, even if it's a little unclear what his head knows at the moment, so at least some of the kneejerk reaction against letting in anyone new is that he's taken).

But. Again, it's complicated. Because "marriage" for Eddie is...fraught.

On a still deeper level, that leap for me ties back to Christopher. It has to. Because all of the what-ifs of Eddie's life, the FOMO, the unanswered questions about who he is or could be...they all lead back to him. (Catch me screaming forever about Christopher's "the things that make you sad, am I one of them?"). And it's pointed that we know so very little about Eddie's life before Christopher, about his hopes and dreams, the kind of life he wanted for himself, the kind of man he wanted to be, but at the same time the little we do know, especially in the context of this arc is loud.

Because the only thing we know about Eddie and relationships pre-Christopher is Shannon. And while we don't know how Eddie and Shannon's relationship was before everything fell apart, while we never got to see it, it's implied at least that before she got pregnant, before they got married too young and too soon, their relationship worked, they were happy, they were in love. One of the few things Eddie says explicitly, unequivocally, about her/them/his feelings from back then, is "I knew I loved her, but I didn't think I was ready to get married." But he did. Because of Christopher.

For Eddie, being a husband and being a father are two sides of the same coin. They're states that were inherently connected in his early life, they're roles that carry so much weight, so many responsibilities, expectations, pressure to perform. They're roles that he was forced to take on before he was ready, and his fear of failure, his performance anxiety, became a self-fulfilling prophecy.

There's really something to the idea that Eddie and Shannon both lost themselves when she got pregnant. That both of them fell into the trap of letting the people they were be erased, so that he could no longer be Eddie, but Christopher's dad and Shannon's husband, and she became Christopher's mom and Eddie's wife, and because they lost themselves, they also lost what they had together before, and hurt each other. He ran away, and then she did, and where once they had uncomplicated young love, they were left with broken hearts, broken trust, guilt, shame, grief...and all of that is connected with Marriage. Doubly-so for Eddie, because he came back and learned how to be a father, how to get comfortable with that so he was no longer just playing a role he wasn't ready for, but when he decided that he was ready to step in and open himself up again and be a husband for real...Shannon was the one who asked for a divorce. And her entire point was that she needed to do exactly what he did, she needed to get comfortable with being a mother before she could also be a wife, lest she risk failing at both, but all Eddie took away from that was that she was rejecting him as a romantic partner, as a husband specifically, that there was something wrong with him, and because she died so soon after that, he never got the chance to get clarification, to realize that he was capable.

Eddie + Fear is the big theme swirling around his development in general, but his love life in particular (similar to Buck + Death). He's allowed fear to control his whole life. Fear of not fitting what he thought he had to be leading him to smother his individuality when he became a husband and father. Fear of failure leading him to join the military and run to the other side of the world. Fear of being hurt again leading him to keep Shannon at arm's length. Fear of not giving Christopher what he needed leading him to get involved with Ana even though he knew he wasn't ready (and literally said as much!). And now fear of the unknown and also fear of the same rejection and heartbreak and pain he felt with Shannon (both within their relationship and because of her death) keeping him from admitting what and who his heart really wants now...

Anyway, this massively got away from me, but...yeah...Eddie + Love, Eddie + Fear, Eddie + Marriage, all tying together in one lovely journey of queer adult self-discovery. It's Something.

[zuleyhasposts]

Stand By Your Man (Negan/Reader)

Chapter Thirteen - Fight.

Simon slammed Negan’s door, catching immediately the attention of the man in front of him. His hand was nervously touching his own mustache, as if he was trying to find the right words instead of lashing out towards his boss. He never thought of himself as an honest man, in reality, but when it was about one of his friends, he didn’t think twice.

“What the hell are you doing, Simon?” His tone was dry, like it always has been in these past few days. Negan was uninterested in everything that wasn’t something about you and this was something that made Simon even angrier. He couldn’t understand his behavior and the way he was acting around; if he was so interested and worried about you, why did he think it was necessary to fuck someone new?

“I told you not to fuck with me! I thought you were fucking honest.” His finger pointed at Negan, with the full intention to sound like an accusation.

“Are you out of your mind?” Negan was smiling, not because his reaction was funny, but because he was speechless about Simon’s reaction.

“I walked back and forth for you, telling everything she was going through, only to discover you’re fucking someone else?! I was a fucking blind fool!”

Negan stood up, facing Simon. “I’m doing all this shit because I want her to fucking hate me. Don’t you see how she’s suffering because I’m a piece of shit?! Only in this way she can fucking move on.”

Simon felt the sadness in his tone, hidden behind the superficial anger. He put his hands on his hips, walking around the room and trying to find the logic in what Negan just said.

“Do you really think she will hate you? She came to me fifteen minutes ago crying about how she felt stupid crying for you while you were fucking some whore!”

On another occasion, Negan wouldn’t have thought twice to put Simon in his place, but this time was different: it was about you. He wasn’t happy when he did and was doing all of this, it was a mask that Negan decided to put on.

“I need to talk to her.” Negan was heading for the door when he was stopped by Simon.

“No, you won’t,” he said while he let go the grip on his shoulder, “you need to get this shit fixed first. If you go right now, you will make things only worse.”

For a moment Negan couldn’t stop himself from feeling a sort of jealousy towards Simon. It was as if only now he was realizing that, during his “absence”, he got closer to you. He became more protective, and the reaction he had at that moment was clear evidence of it.

Simon recognized the look on Negan’s face, thanks to all the time they spent together. “I don’t know what you’re fucking thinking, but it’s wrong.”

“Do you really want to piss me off now? What am I thinking to make you say I’m wrong?” Simon sighed, thinking it was useless to keep having a conversation about it. He knew how much Negan could be selfish about stuff he really cared about, you were becoming one of them.

“You think I want to do something with her, I’m fucking not. She’s my friend.”

Negan laughed. “I know you fucking won’t.”

When he suspected a possible crush between him and you, Negan sent a random worker here to join the first time you and Simon went out. He understood it, but still he didn’t say anything about it, until now.

“Do you think I don’t know that you sent someone the first time me and her went out? I’m not a fucking fool.”

Now, he didn’t understand why he was so upset about a possible closeness when he was the one to step away from you. He wanted to leave Negan alone before the atmosphere between them could get worse than it was already, but not before Negan’s warning.

“Don’t fucking try me, Simon. This business is between me and her, not yours.” He said, while Lucille was pointing at Simon. “Now get the fuck out.”

He didn’t say anything more, trying would have been just a waste of their time. It was also useless talking with you about what just happened, it could only make your mood drop even lower. Simon thought it was time for Negan to stop acting like a moron and to put himself aside from this high school drama because he didn’t want to risk his own life for it. Of course, he would have still helped you, but helping Negan again when he had personal troubles? The fuck not.

In a clearer state of mind and after putting his jealousy away, Negan actually thought that Simon was right: he couldn’t get back to you until he didn’t fix the mess with the new girl. He wasn’t even interested in her and never called her in his room, but in a way or another she was always around him like a fucking mosquito.

Negan needed to see her and to tell her to leave him alone, once and for all.

────────────────────

Sherry pulled Marika, the new girl, in one of the disused rooms in the Sanctuary by the arm, telling her that they needed to talk urgently. Marika understood that the conversation was obviously about Negan; they always talked about him as if they didn’t have anything more to talk about.

Sherry turned on the light, showing that the inside of the room was full of junk and broken things. The dime light made it creepier in some aspects, but they decided to not pay attention to it.

When the door was finally locked - to avoid someone from entering, even by mistake - Sherry started to talk. “So, did you and him…slept together?” Marika felt almost embarrassed to answer. “I actually…didn’t even see his bed. I’m always the one who takes the initiative to spend time together and he doesn’t seem really happy about it.”

Negan’s wife put both of her hands between her hair, with an expression of surrender. “I bet that you didn’t even tell him about wanting to be one of us.”

Marika scoffed. “How could I? if I told him, he would have definitely told me to fuck off.”

“Did you talk about her? Did he say something about her?”

Marika had her head in the clouds for a moment, not understanding who she was referring to. “Who?”

Sherry rolled her eyes. “You know who, I’m talking about (Y/N).”

“Oooh!” Her expression changed from a surprised one to a not very happy one, “No, we didn’t. But something happened a few hours ago.”

“What happened?”

“While I was talking with Negan, she walked past us. You had to see her, she didn’t even look at us,” Marika looked up, wanting to remember more details, “like if we didn’t exist. But Negan, of course, stared at her until she didn’t disappear in one of the corners. I had to call him back to reality.”

“We have to do something,” Sherry said, thinking of a solution, “he still wants her.”

“But didn’t you say that the night between you and him went well?” She asked.

Sherry’s cheeks became pink at the question, exposed by the light in the room. “In reality…I lied.”

“What do you mean you lied?” Marika’s eyes went wider, not believing what the woman in front of her just told.

She bit her lip. “It wasn’t only me and him, there was Dwight too. I went there with the excuse to bring him dinner and try to apologize for what I told him, even if it’s what I really think.”

“And you found Dwight there too.” Marika continued.

She nodded. “Negan was joking around like he always did, probably didn’t want Dwight to lose the other part of his face…but that’s what happened.”

“I don’t get what I should do, because convincing him doesn’t work and you see it too.”

Sherry looked around, until an eureka moment hit her. “Put her in a spot where she will be the bad guy. even if you’re the one provoking her. When Negan asks you what happened, you will tell him that she’s one who started.”

Marika tilted her head to one side. “Do you want me to have a fight with her?”

“Do you have a better idea?”

Marika let a long sigh out. For a moment it seemed from her point of view that she was doing all of this for Sherry more than herself. The older woman promised her that only in this way she could have a normal life, probably even better than her old life. Marika doubted it, but she didn’t lie to herself that Negan was really handsome. She always wanted a man like him: strong, reckless, handsome…and when she thought she could have a chance with him, there was you to get in her way.

Sure, she didn’t really like the thought of being violent to someone, especially if she had to lie about it too. Marika did, though, prioritize her life, before and after the apocalypse. She knew that if she wanted that life, she had to accept what Sherry asked her to do.

────────────────────

The cafeteria was full at that hour, but it was normal because it was dinner time. You decided to step out of your room, you thought that you could give it a try again. You looked around, as you hoped to find Simon in one of the tables, but he wasn’t here. After what happened in the afternoon, you thought it was your fault his absence. You wished that he and Negan didn’t have any discussion, but you knew how Simon was impulsive and how Negan had short patience; it was a dangerous combo to think about.

By looking around, you saw Edward waving at you with his hand, indicating the empty spot in front of him. He was inviting you to eat with him, you thought. You turned your eyes away from him, the only thing you needed that night was some creep flirting with you.

You decided to go back to your room, thinking that it was not worthy to stay in the cafeteria without Simon to at least talk to. By walking in the long corridors, the voices became low and lower, until it became only a background noise. When you reached the door of your room, you raised an eyebrow to see someone standing in front of it, waiting for you.

“Oh!” Marika’s tone was higher pitched than ever, you almost wanted to cover your ears. “I was waiting for you, you know?”

You raised an eyebrow, confused about why she wanted to see you. “Do I need to remind you of the sounds you made when I walked past you this afternoon?”

She cleared her throat, probably because she forgot her reactions. It was stupid to go to you like if she wanted to be one of your friends as soon as she was with you.

“We are a little bit unpleasant tonight, are we?” She smiled again. “You didn't ask me why I’m here.”

As much as you wanted to finish this conversation, you couldn’t stop your jealousy from showing up. “Why should I care about what you want from me? We have nothing to share, you need to leave.”

“In reality we have something to share,” the smile on her face became more mischievous, “or more like something you shared.”

“Just tell me what you want, and be fast because I don’t want to waste my time with you.”

“Well, I discovered that Negan is really good at satisfying girls, you know?” Her finger was playing with a lock of her hair, “and I thought that you could really help me by giving me advice.”

You breathed deeply, still trying to maintain the patience inside your body. “Why am I supposed to be good at giving you advice about him?”

She laughed. “Because you were one of his whores, weren’t you?”

It would have been a lie if you told yourself that you didn’t know what came over you in a few seconds you stopped yourself from doing her any harm. Jealousy and anger, especially anger; something that consumed you as soon she called you whore. As soon as the few seconds were up, you didn’t think twice to lunge over her and to hit every part of her body.

She reacted too, trying to hit you the same you were hitting her. You didn’t know how many seconds passed before they stopped you both. You could feel the blood on your lip, knowing that Marika hit you on the face, but at least you were grateful that you gave her a black eye.

As soon as you both retired from each other to breathe, you finally could see how you both stopped.

Behind you, by grabbing you from your waist, there was Simon and Dwight was the one who grabbed Marika from her arm. Only when you looked better around you saw Negan staring at both of you.

“What the hell you were fucking doing?!” He was angry and you could see his eyes glued on you, but especially on Simon’s hands over your body. It only poured gasoline over fire and made him angrier.

Marika didn’t have the strength to talk but she pointed her finger to you.

“It wasn’t me! She’s lying!” You tried to move away, but it was no use because Simon's grip was much stronger.

“We are gonna fucking see that,” he moved Lucille around like if he was ready to use it, “Dwight, take Marika in my room.”

You could feel your face red because of the rage.

Negan kept talking, this time leaning closer to you. “We'll see what the fuck we have to do about you, instead.”

───────────────────────────────────────────

AO3 Link:

[putonmyfavoriteshow]

Life With Luca thoughts/reactions

WOW, I really enjoyed that way more than I expected to!

OK, so timeline wise the math isn't really mathing for me lmao. Like how do they both have 14 yr olds and Simon being in college already?? The show only ended in 2009/2010 which was 13/14 years ago?? What year is it in this universe??? They both had children the year they went off to college lmao??

But I'm happy to ignore logic since I actually enjoyed the newbies a lot.

I liked that Luca/Skylar weren't just a repeat Casey/Derek dynamic and weren't rivals who full on hated each other but just grew up differently and had some jealousy/hostility toward the other because of that, but actually were a lot sweeter together during more serious moments. I think their personalities perfectly reflected how they were raised - Luca is a bit of a rebel, but he's very much Casey's son, he's trained in First Aid! and has a granola bar in his pocket at all times, albeit stale AF, and takes care of his siblings even if he can be lazy about it sometimes. Skylar is more mature minded but she has the freedom of Derek's parenting so she's not nearly as high strung as Casey is, but she is more organized and put together to make up for Derek's lackadaisical way of living.

I LOVED SIMON!!! He was easily my favorite new character. I can't believe I went from forgetting he even existing to absolutely adoring him. He was so lovable and silly and he must have such a wild childhood being the Venturi-McDonald baby, I would love more backstory on him!

Molly/Kai were adorable and the perfect little chaotic kiddos to round out the ensemble :3

George/Nora - although I wasn't as invested in them, their relationship is so adorable and they're just as dorky and sweet as they were in the series.

The random jewelry heist B-plot was so random, but kinda funny. I'm down for some chaotic hijinx, and I love how it ended with that theif falling through the ceiling XD

The return of Lassiter and Sam were great. It would've been great to see any of the show regulars honestly but I'm glad we got some. I think the return of D-Rock really got me. When they started singing the song I had tears in my eyes. And Ralph as a surgeon was such a great way to explain his absense lmao.

I missed Edwin/Lizzie/Marti. I think that was my only real let down with the movie. They didn't need to be in the whole thing but even a video call would have been nice :/

Career-wise I'm glad they went with Derek as a rock star and Casey as a lawyer. Even though Derek was the hockey guy, seeing him roam around as a rock star with his daughter really just fits his vibe. And I'm so glad the movie course corrected VWD Casey because I was never a fan of her dropping out of college to dance in NY like ?? sure Casey loves to dance but she loves to use her big brain even more!!! Plus fighting for justice?? THAT'S SO CASEY DASEY!!! So it was taboo then, I feel like it's even more taboo now, but had you lived it you would get it! These two always had way too much tension and never quite fell into a sibling-like relationship. They were insanely obsessed with each other making everyone around them uncomfortable, so they were destined to be messed up soulmates <3 It may be an ick for some and that's valid, but for me they'll always be "the exception the the rule" ;) Also Ashley and Mike were always pushing the limit on them, they knew what they were doing! Ok, so now that that's out of the way, I knew that we weren't going to get canon Dasey out of this, but I'm so glad the writers delivered on giving us some great Dasey content regardless. The fact that both Skylar's mom and Casey's hockey husband were both entirely absent and no love interest was given was wise. We basically got to see Derek and Casey play house and be the married vibes that they are which is honestly what us hardcore LWD/Dasey fans want anyway. Mike & Ash didn't miss a beat! That was really Casey and Derek back on my screen and it made me really emotional <3 Maybe the movie didn't have a whole lot of just them, since their children were the focal point but the way it ended, it just made me want more and feel like we were being set up for ...possible canon Dasey? But even if not canon, I think that if the show does get picked up, we can get so much fun Dasey content from it to build from anyway (canon is overrated sometimes lbr) Plus I genuinely enjoy seeing Derek and Casey in parental roles so that would be awesome. And SIMON MORE SIMON PLEASE!!!! <3

[imthepunchlord]

Ao3

Raph

April was excited and oh so nervous.

Today, the kind and funny giant rat called her over to their hidden home in the sewers. Her. April O'Neil, the first human to be welcomed into the home of the oddest and coolest family she ever had a chance to meet.

She could NOT mess this up.

This was her chance to be welcomed in the human-turtle home and really be their friends. And that would be the COOLEST THING EVER.

How many kids could even say they were friends with human-turtles? Not many, that's for sure.

And Kendra said she was a weirdness magnet.

There was nothing cooler than talking turtles!

So with a confident march and a straight back, she marched up to the smiling rat, saluting him. "April O'Neil reporting for duty, sir!"

Only to falter when the rat shushed. "I welcome you, Miss April, but you'll need to keep your voice down."

"They sleeping?" April asked, surprised.

"Yes!" the rat confirmed. "It's one of the colder days of winter and they get very sleepy for a few days."

"Oooooh," April uttered. She knew about this, they taught it in science class. Turtles bru... brumate? "Why am I here then?"

"When they wake up, they'll be hungry! So I need to go get food, but I don't want to leave them unsupervised. No good it they get too cold. I was hoping you may monitor them, see if they shiver, then bring them more blankets."

"I can do that!" April promised.

"Excellent! But, really, just see if they're shivering. Red, Blue, and Orange would grab you and not let you go if you touch them!"

April didn't want that, especially if they were going to sleep for a few days straight.

Then she frowned. "And uh, Donnie?"

"You must not go near Purple," the rat forewarned, "he won't trap cuddle you, he'd bite you!"

April gasped.

She definitely didn't want that.

"So just see if they shiver, and if they are, throw blanket on them."

"Ok."

“I'll be back in an hour. Here's the uh, VHS player, if you get bored. Bathroom over there. Uh, here are some of the boys’ toys. Um, any questions before I go?”

“Um,” April pondered a moment before immediately asking, “what do I do if I do get caught by one of the boys?”

“Wait until I’m back. I’ll see if I can free you.”

April had no more questions. The rat set her up with a Lou Jitsu film and she sat amongst pillows and blankets and had a timer set to go check on the boys.

The first chime went off, she paused the film, and hurried to each room to peek in.

She didn't see any shivering.

April went back to her designated spot, reset that timer, and resumed her movie.

.

At this time, something April didn’t know was that turtles had a great sense of smell. As soon as she had peeked into the room to check on them, even in their sleepy state, they got a small whiff of her, her new scent familiar enough that they knew she was there and felt no alarm to her small pop in.

It sparked off a sense of warmth through them, happy that their new friend was near and they settled even more comfortably in their beds.

Except for one who locked on that scent.

One who wasn’t quite used to it, not that the source was unwelcomed. What was welcoming was the clear fact that the source was a naturally warm body, one that generated heat. Heat that may be warmer than the blankets piled around him, unable to trap the small amount of heat his own body produced.

Logically, what was best was to go to the greater heat source, one that wasn’t going to just shove him back into the blankets, grumbling that he may bite.

With a blanket wrapped around him, he arose and stumbled out of his room, following his nose to the source.

The girl, April, turned to him as he came to her, looming over her and squinting at her.

She stared up at him with wide eyes.

“Donnie?” she asked.

Like some odd prompt, he flopped right on her, sending her to the ground as he lay on her, and started to soak in as much warmth as he could from her much warmer frame.

April for her part didn’t panic when the turtle child flopped on her, though she was nervous that he may bite her as Splinter warned. But after a minute of laying still, she slowly got up and Donnie just shuffled and semi laid in her lap, as curled up as possible.

April stared down at him a little starry eyed, feeling like she just got honored with something very rare and special. A happy warmth rushing through her, she pulled the blankets close around them, beaming away as Donnie pressed against her and allowed her to cover him.

For a turtle that seemed the most distant with her out of the four, she was happy to know he liked her enough to cuddle.

Though when Splinter came back carrying a lot of food, he had a start to find the mutated soft shell turtle came out on his own to cuddle up to April. Of his sons, Purple disliked being touched the most, yet here he practically in the child’s lap, not minding her arm set on his soft shell. He actually looked quite content. One of the reasons Splinter got nipped was a lack of being comfortable cuddling with him.

Setting the food down on a near table, Splinter came to stand over them, April tilting her head back to peer up at him, watching him rub his chin.

“I might have you come by more often during winter. Until the boys can handle the cold better, you can at least help Donnie keep warm.”

April gaped up at him. “I would love to.”

“Excellent! Now, do you know the number to your parents? You might as well spend the night. Or few. I don’t think Donnie’s going to let you go. Unless the cold eases up...” As Splinter mumbled to himself, he wandered away, leaving April alone with the turtle.

She glanced down at him, that happy, special feeling now replaced with one big concern. If she was going to be staying here keeping Donnie warm, what about going to the bathroom?

[writingf3]

Did you know that years repeat themselves at a weird pattern, but one of those loops is Every 6 Years? 6 years ago my friend hung herself on Monday the 23th, died on Wednesday the 25th, and I saw her body before organ transplant on Friday the 27th. I always thought that the days of the week just progress by one day each year, like, Halloween sometimes is on Thursday, the next year it'd be on Friday, and so on. But somehow it syncs up every 6 years. This year Monday is the 23rd again and I feel particularly close to her-- find myself wondering if she knew she was going to do it now but 6 years ago, on only the 14th.

There are many things I could say about the ordeal, how a few hours before seeing her body I had to go to the orthodontist because I needed to get my braces off before college and it was very hard to reschedule with him. I remember telling him I was in a hurry and he asked if I had any fun plans and I thought about saying "I have to go see my friends dead body" but I ended up saying nothing. I could talk about how none of our parents drove us two hours to the hospital so we crammed in our rich friend's new Mercedes that she could barely drive, and on the way home we were so in shock and so distraught that she drove on the wrong side of the freeway and we almost got in a head on collision. Even at the time it was funny-- we were starving, hadn't eaten in a week and decided to go to a buffet instead of arguing about different types of food-- and we sat at the table and picked at the soups and salads and laughed about the imaginary headlines: "5 friends dead driving home from seeing their friend's dead body."

There's an incredible rawness in these moments, us laughing a the table when only an hour previously we were holding her dead hand, our eyes swollen, no way to grasp at all that this was the situation we were in except to simply bare it. There were so many weird, cheesy-highschool-movie scenes that year. Me, sitting in english class the morning after hearing the news, the popular girls whispering that they wish they knew what happened, me practically feeling the camera zoom in, the dramatic lighting, an acknowledgement that I knew exactly what had happened and they didn't. Being excited that I found my funeral dress for $5 on sale at Holister, being revolted by the outfit they had decided she'd wear in the coffin. The pastor saying people who commit suicide don't necessarily all go to hell, and laughing because I had never even heard that myth before. Watching 13 Reasons Why, which had just come out, because I was too numb to feel the plot that I had basically just lived through. Visiting her grave on prom night, long silhouettes of dresses against the grass, getting back in the car and resuming the dance music.

It's easy to wallow in the misery of grief and less easy to talk about the other emotions-- the laughter and anger-- though they're certainly experienced in tandem. My last conversation with her was about using bandaids as pasties, and now I think about her every time I do that. I wore that $5 dress to my high school graduation and to my college graduation because she was the only reason I got good grades to begin with, we were horribly competitive, but she killed herself the day before her Princeton Admissions interview. I have to love her yet simultaneously live with the fact that she ruined all of my important milestones, prom, both graduations, and that I can blame her yet can't in any logical sense, this was something she never could have foreseen, her 17 year old brain clearly not working correctly to begin with. I don't feel guilty about this anger, though. She was my friend and not a saint, and I find myself feeling angry at her as if she was yelling at me in track practice (which she often did-- "I'm going to die" "No you're not, you need to go faster.") The guilt I did develop was a sense of survivors guilt. She was only the second of my three friends who killed themselves, and I often wonder why I haven't done it myself, wonder how I survived whatever was happening in my town socioeconomically. When people bring up their high school jobs I have to fight the urge to tell them that the only person I knew with a job in high school killed herself, that all of us were so focused on grades and internships and clubs and sports that when she added that last element it was too much, she had gone too fast.

6 years later, I guess, a perfect daily match, though there is an invisible threshold I'll never know, the turning point of when it switched from suicidal ideation to active suicidality. I can live in the 23rd-27th but I can't live in the present moment, can't know when or what she thought about right now, just 6 years prior. And I'm angry about this, angry about the 23rd-27th, angry that any of this had to happen at all, wish she would have spoken up, wish an adult had noticed, wish everything had been different entirely.

[temunitu]

John Bishop, 2012 Irma, Rise Karai, 1987 Donatello

ooh, a bunch!

John Bishop (i assume you mean 2003?)

First impression: woag. cool government guy :] tryna slice my boi D:

Impression now: oh my god holy shit. he’s the coolest guy ever and the most intimidating (sorry shredder)

Favorite moment: uhhh the train one. y’know. or like the battle over splinter. just. wow. love that guy. y’know what i don’t HAVE a favorite moment all of his moments are good

Idea for a story: hhhhhhngf i would like to know more about his past so. i’d probably do that. OR i would do the concept of the canceled FF episode where he teams up with turtle titan. if done right, their dynamic would be hilarious

Unpopular opinion: i have mixed feelings on his redemption. on the one hand, it feels natural for him to become President, but on the other hand, i don’t really like it how one of the coolest villains got redeemed??? he seems so set in his ways and i get that it’s possible he’d have a change of heart, but it would have to be BIG and i don’t really feel like it was in FF, y’know?

Favorite relationship: he’s kinda a lone wolf so there’s not many options…? the gay little look he and stockman give each other in fast forward was GREAT though

Favorite headcanon: body horror body horror body horror boDY HORROR. i mean it’s canon but it’s so good

-

2012 Irma

First impression: oh cool! another iteration of irma!! :] (please don’t be a love interest, please don’t be a love interest…)

Impression now: fine, i guess? good that she’s not a love interest. the utrom council take was new, which was kinda a cool concept.

Favorite moment: probably the reveal for kraang subprime. i love his VA and the panic of Irma’s head swiveling was funny.

Idea for a story: human irma moves to town. shenanigans ensue

Unpopular opinion: i liked evil irma more than “rook” or whatever the utrom council’s codename/rank was.

Favorite relationship: there’s not really many options... it was nice for april to have a normal friend for once i guess

Favorite headcanon: what. what headcanons? does anyone have any???

-

Rise Karai

First impression: whoa!! could it be???????? my queen my darling the light of my life?????? IT IS :D

Impression now:

Favorite moment: ALL OF THEM SHUT UP but especially when mikey gives her the drawing 🥹

Idea for a story: i need to be honest. i had an idea for a story BEFORE we knew about karai in rise - i made a version of her that was heavily based off 2003 karai. except she was part of a prophesy and said to wield the armor. this was back when season one hadn’t even completely aired. ANYWAY now i would do just about anything to get the canceled episodes we were PROMISED BY NICKELODEON of the boys bonding with gam-gam karai

Unpopular opinion: my only complaint is that we didn’t see more of her. i know that’s not unpopular but it’s all i’ve got

Favorite relationship: hm…

Favorite headcanon: i think she should slay at air hockey idc if she was trapped for years she’s just that good

-

1987 Donatello

First impression: haha NERD

Impression now: oh wait he’s. Unhinged

Favorite moment: in the ninja sword of nowhere, they’re in battle with shredder and donnie tries to bat a watermelon at shredder with his bo. he just ends up covered in watermelon bits fjsjfhs why did he think that would woRK (maybe not my fav moment but it’s the first that comes to mind that sticks out)

Idea for a story: heard a tidbit from the show where donatello has a monologue about how they’re “outcasts from society” so i’d either do an angsty thing like that OR put that kid in the theatre he was killing it with the drama

Unpopular opinion: 87 in general gets a lot of complaints cuz people don’t wanna sit through 10 seasons (which tbf i’m still tryna get through) but like. it’s SO entertaining. i am a little disappointed that turtles forever took the route of making fun of 87 :/ donatello is no less smart just cuz his world’s logic is cheesier than other iterations

Favorite relationship: donnie and raph in 87 are like. so fun together

Favorite headcanon: i’m not well versed in the 87 side of the tmnt fandom but i think donatello is a theatre kid and no one can tel lie otherwise. put him in a lil costume and send him out on stage ok he has a LOT of pent-up drama and sass

[feciousreasoning]

random scene, free to good home

(after a lovely evening reading Greek myths) After a pleasant moment’s silence, from absolutely nowhere that Ed could discern, Stede asked “What would you do if I died?” “Hrmm,” Ed took a long pull from his simple clay pipe.  He didn’t smoke as much lately as he once did (perhaps due to an over-all reduction in brooding), so he hadn’t bothered to look for pipes during raids and nick a nice one.  For all he knew, his old pipe was still at the bottom of Blind Man’s Cove, with a little hermit crab living in the bowl.  “Well...you’re a pirate-” “Thank you,” Stede interjected. “You’re welcome, but that does mean you’re going to Hell.” “Oh.”  Stede’s face dropped a little -- this wasn’t really where he thought the conversation might go. “So the first thing I would do is raise a fleet.” “Oh?” “And fast.  More ships and more men in less time than the world has ever seen.  It would fill the sea from Curacao to Ocracoke, like locusts on the water.  Then the real work begins.  We take every ship we see, every ship with more than three iron nails to steal.  Only fools resist us and we don’t suffer fools long.”  He paused again for another draw and, for Stede, an agonizingly long and leisurely exhalation. “And then?” “Then, when no ships dare to try to cross these waters, I guess we go Viking and start sacking all the ports and towns.” “Okay, but why, exactly?  I mean, we each mourn in our own way but-” “Need the loot.”  Ed crossed to the cold fireplace to tap out his pipe.  His old habit of tapping it out on the heel of his boot, regardless of what carpet might be beneath him, had been a tough reflex to catch, but he’d managed.  “All of it.  So I can pay the Devil twice the price of your soul to get you back.” Stede’s face beamed with a smile at once beatific and not at little quirky and altogether just Stede.  “The devil thinks my soul is worth half the money and material goods in the New World?” “No,” Ed traced Stede’s jaw with his fingertips, smiling as Stede lifted his resplendent face, “but he knows it’s worth that much to me, and more.”  He leaned down and married his lips to Stede’s, desire beginning to warm beneath his skin.  “He can’t have you.  You’re mine.” “Willingly, gladly, gratefully.”  Stede returned the kiss ardently.  Ed smelled of rich smoke, leather, and salt, which somehow mingled perfectly with the way Stede smelled of herbs and flowers.  After a breathless moment, he pulled back.   “There’s just one thing about your plan I can’t quite get past.  Outside of being dead, which would defeat the purpose of the whole exercise, how will you reach Beelzebub to broker your deal?” “I expect by the time I’ve got even half the money, Ol’ Scratch’ll come find me.” “Well, I can’t fault that logic.” Stede gave him a quick peck on the lips and another glowing smile.  “It’s flawless.”

“How about you?  What would you do if I died?” “Oh, probably cry a lot,” Stede with a funny little toss of his head that just made Ed love him more.

[moonbeam-dragon]

Light of Our Lives Part 4

Moonrise! Here’s more of this. Enjoy some legitimate development of character. This will be a little more filler than anything. But whatever. Tw: Child consuming chemicals.

It had been about two weeks since Paris-Jaide had been adopted. She’d officially taken board in the lighthouse, as it had a room on the second floor she could use. She’d made herself quite comfortable there. There was a small window with a shelf under it. She could look out and see the rolling waves of the Audubon Bay and part of St. Canard’s shore. It was a gorgeous view, even if it was restricted. The shelf held a number of pretty rocks she’d taken from the beach. They were all different sizes, shapes, and colors. She often spoke to them when her parents were gone, or when she was bored. It was almost like how Elmo talked to his lightbulb friends. There was a dresser, which Bud had stolen, next to the window. It was full of pretty clothes Jackie had given her. He apparently had a doll collection of different sizes, and she was perfectly fitting for part of the wardrobe. Most everything in there was a shade of green, blue, or yellow, with the occasional orange. She definitely had a preference. Her bed was on old one that had been there since the lighthouse was built. The wood itself was sturdy enough, but the blankets had been moth-eaten and dusty. The only logical thing to do was for Bud to go out and steal a new comforter set and pillows. The best part was confusing Darkwing Duck as to why he’d do that!

Paris-Jaide sat on her blue-green sheets as she played with a rock. She hummed as she flipped it over in her hand and flipped it on her bed. This rock was particularly playful. It didn’t at all mind being flipped and tossed about, as long as it didn’t get cracked. She wasn’t sure when Bud would be back. He was planning a heist or something with their boss. Elmo was in town, saying something about neutralizing stuff. Whatever that meant.

Paris-Jaide got up and slipped her rock into the pocket of her dress. She walked up to the top room, which served as a lot of things. Part led out onto the balcony. Joined to that was the area with the couch and a stained coffee table. The far end was a sort of kitchen, thought it was really just a fridge, a stove, a sink, and a counter. A huge portion was littered in tools and appliances of sorts. The small desk by the wall had papers and coffee cups all over and around it.

There was an area with a curtain around it. She knew this was where her parents slept. It wasn’t a proper bedroom. Bud had to sleep in an inflatable pool because he couldn’t keep his shape. Elmo just had a twin-sized bed next to it. Paris-Jaide had learned the hard way that they had to be very careful touching each other, even while asleep.

She noticed something on the counter of the kitchen, in a little dish. She walked over to it and inspected the crusty, blue-white substance. It didn’t look much like sugar or anything yummy. But.. Paris-Jaide had the urge to eat it. She reached her fingers out and took a good pinch of it, then put it in her mouth and sucked off the residue. She hummed. It tasted like fizzy rocks. The ones so sugary they were almost explosive. The feeling of something so sour it was sweet intrigued her. She swallowed and looked at the dish again. Whatever that stuff was, it was good. She took another pinch of it and put in in her mouth again. She giggled at the funny feeling it gave her mouth. She didn’t even notice as her brown hair shimmered green for a moment. Before she knew it, the candy powder was gone and her hair was a neon green color, glowing softly.

“Hey, kiddo,” Elmo said, walking up the stairs and entering the main area.

“Hi, Dad,” Paris-Jaide responded, the title feeling natural off her tongue. “What’s up?”

The rat huffed, pulling off his battery and plug cap. “Nothing. Can you believe they don’t have a proper neutralizing chemical for battery acid?” he asked exasperatedly. “Really, do I have to use vinegar and basic stuff?”

Paris-Jaide walked over to him. “Come on, it can’t be that bad. Besides, Dorkwing and Quiverwimp might have a problem with that,” she sneered. “Why would they? It’s not like it’s their problem how you fix the, uh, stuff.”

“Exactly!” Elmo said, throwing his hands out. “I thought you’d- Hey, is your hair green?”

“Hm?” Paris-Jaide tucked her braid over his shoulder to see it. Yep. It was neon green and shimmering. “Oh, yeah! It wasn’t a little bit ago, so that’s weird.”

Elmo took off his gloves and pulled her braid through one hand. “Did you do anything to make your powers act up?” he asked. It was very possible. After all, she hadn’t gotten much of a chance to activate her abilities. There were still a lot of unanswered question from that.

“I don’t think so,” she told him.

Elmo let go of her hair and shrugged. “Oh well. We’ll have to remember to have Bud remember to remind us to remember about that.” He walked over to the counter. “No where did I put that acid?” Paris-Jaide walked over to the couch, pulling her rock out of her dress and starting to toss it from hand to hand. Elmo started searching through the boxes in the kitchen. “I could have sworn I cleaned it up. Unless I still have crusty batteries around here…” He stood up and looked at the empty dish on the counter. “Hey, maybe I did put it here. Then where is it?”

“What does it look like?” the child offered, wondering if she’d seen it and could help.

“Uh.. kinda powdery? Blueish white,” he said.

Paris-Jaide nodded in understanding. “Like the candy powder?” she asked.

“Uh, did we have candy powder?” he asked.

She nodded, pointing at the dish. “Yeah, the candy powder on the counter.”

Elmo looked again at the dish. “Oh, that’s weird. But yeah, the battery acid does look a lot like that. And I thought I left it on the-” He froze mid-sentence, looking at his daughter and connecting the dots. “Did you eat battery acid?!”

“That was battery acid?” she asked calmly. Then it hit her. “That was battery acid!”’

Elmo took a few strides and was by the couch. He grabbed her shoulders. “Do you feel any burning? Are you having trouble breathing?” He put one finger on her chin and opened her mouth to inspect it. “Are your teeth eroding?” he asked.

Paris-Jaide gasped, pushing back and feeling her own teeth. “I- I don’ know-” she said, muffled by her fingers in her mouth. “It- It doesn’t feel like it.” She started breathing heavily, beginning to panic. Her ears and nose twitched in her fear. “I don’t burn. I-” She was having trouble breathing now, but that was more her sudden panic. “Am I gonna die?”

Elmo stared at her. Maybe he should get help? But she was being hidden and he was a villain. Was there some cure he could use? “I don’t- No. No, you’re not gonna die,” he told her, not sure if he was lying or not.

“Why would she be dying?” Bud asked, flowing up the top of the spiral stairs.

Paris-Jaide whined and looked at him. “Pops! I ate the battery acid and I’m gonna die!”

Bud was surprised as she ran to him, and he gave his form surface tension to hold her. He looked up at Elmo. “Surveyors want to know how you got a hold of battery acid.”

“I had some lying around,” Elmo admitted nervously. “I didn’t think she’d eat it!”

Bud groaned, lowering his body to look his daughter in the eyes. “How bad does it hurt?” he asked, seriously contemplating whether or not they should take her to a hospital.

“It… It doesn’t,” she said quietly. “It actually doesn’t hurt.”

Bud felt relieved at that. Actually he was unsettled. Why didn’t battery acid hurt her? Well, drowning didn’t hurt him. Actually, nothing hurt the Liquidator physically. Elmo wasn’t harmed by an electric chair. Maybe Paris-Jaide was impervious to things as well. “It seems, my dear, you just have an original, Paris-Jaide Brand Immunity™!”

“Really?” she asked, letting Bud wipe her tears and take them into his hand. “I can eat battery acid?!” Her face lit up, literally taking on a soft green glow. She was way too excited about that.

“It seems you can. With no side-effects,” the water dog noted, then noticing her hair, which was neon green. “Maybe a few.”

Paris-Jaide gasped. “I bet it makes my powers get stronger!” she beamed. “I wonder what else I can do…” She suddenly remembered the rock she’d been playing with, and saw that it had a bit of a green glow to it. She smiled and left her father’s arms, taking it and holding it in her hand. She held her other hand above it and tensed them up a bit, staring at the rock. “Glow,” she said, “Come on, just let me try this out. I promise I won’t hurt you.” The rock started to turn green and from it came a light. Megavolt snapped and the lights to the lighthouse went out, leaving only the sunset, rock, and Paris-Jaide’s hair as the only lights.

“No way,” she whispered, turning the rock over in her hand. She focused in on herself, bringing her excitement to the surface. Her fur turned light green and her eyes became dark green voids. “I need to try everything!”

I’m cutting this part short. The next chapter will probably be a compilation of drabbles. I hope you’re enjoying so far. Remember to like and comment so I know what you think. Seeing notes really helps me out. Farewell, best of luck, avoid roasted cabbages, don’t eat earwax, and look on the bright side of life! Moonset!

[akkrosu]

My Favorite Books of 2023

After seeing everyone’s end-of-the-year QL posts and having a look at my meticulous list of books I read this year, I was a little inspired to write up something myself, just not about QLs but books. I’ve been trying to be more vocal about things I like, and post things for myself, and only myself. So I don’t even care how long this is, and just have fun with it.

In terms of literature, this year was pretty slow for me (with only 48 finished books, about half of what it used to be, probably because I’ve been watching so many QLs) and fairly limited to the YA genre because I got stuck with high-school and college stories and haven’t really moved on since. But still I managed to put together the 10 I enjoyed most. Books (like shows) are very subjective to me in that it takes the right one at the right time for me to fall in love with it, so take every one of these with a grain of salt, I guess.

I’m not including any danmei I’m reading because they are so separate from other books to me in what they are and how they work that I can’t be objective with them. Also, I don’t care when any of these books came out, all that matters to me is that I read them for the first time this year.

1. The Inexplicable Logic of my Life by Benjamin Alire Sáenz

This might be my favorite book out of those on this list. I knew I loved Benjamin Alire Sáenz’s poetic and reflective writing after I read Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, but this one hit all the right spots for me in a way I can’t compare to any other book I’ve read. It tells the story of a 17-year-old boy named Salvador, his close friends, and his gay father, who go through a million setbacks and tragedies and learn the meaning of life—in its essence, it’s a book about growing up and grieving and living. This author has a way of being painfully real while also wrapping everything in a beautiful language that makes it all even more real and touching. Two of my favorite quotes:

“I wanted to tell (my father) that all the awful things that happened in the old world were dead. And the new world, the world we lived in now, the world we were creating, that world would be better. But I didn’t say it, because I wasn’t sure it was true.”

“I realized that Sam wasn’t angry at all. She was hurt. At that moment I heard all the hurt she’d ever held. And it seemed to me that the whole house had quieted down to listen to her pain.”

2. If You Could See the Sun by Ann Liang

I read this around the beginning of the year, so my memory isn’t the best, but I still love it like I did back then. In the story, Alice, the only scholarship student at a Chinese school for the Rich and Powerful, suddenly starts turning invisible and, due to financial and other pressures on her, decides to turn these new ‘powers’ into profit by obtaining information for classmates and selling it to them. The whole thing starts out pretty innocent, but the requests become more and more severe and dangerous, and Alice essentially has to decide where she draws the line and caves in to all the pressures surrounding her. It’s essentially critical commentary about Chinese society while taking a look at the blurry lines between good and bad, all wrapped in a modern story with fantastical elements.

3. Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao

I finished this book only a few days ago, so I’m still in my feels about it. Even though it’s a little sci-fi and not at all like the books I usually read—what with the army of powerful heroes using giant transforming robots to fight a war against mechatron aliens that eerily remind me of insects—, it absolutely grabbed me with its narration full of incredibly precise and succinct descriptions, balanced out by lines so funny that they had me cackling, and incredible character depth (which, to me, is often the most important thing). Wu Zetian as a main character was compelling to follow, because she is so strong and true to what she wants, rising to power while killing everyone in her path. And the poly storyline brought a lot of joy to my heart, because we get so little of it in YA literature. Plus, it was really nice to read a book examining gender roles without feeling dysphoric even once, which I think was only possible because it was written by a fellow enby person. Some more favorite quotes:

“Where does jealousy come from, if not an insecurity that I’ll lose you because of him? But that’s not how it works, no matter how many people believe it so. You’re not something to be kept or taken, and love isn’t some scarce resource to battle over. Love can be infinite, as much as your heart can be open.”

“Perks of refusing to play by the rules: you don’t have to choose between the boy who’d torture a man to death with you and the boy who’d welcome you back with pastries after.”

“It’s as if I’ve got a cocoon shriveled too tightly around my whole being. If I had my way, I’d exist like that butterfly, giving onlookers no easy way to bind me with a simple label.”

4. Imogen, Obviously by Becky Albertalli

I hit this phase around the middle of the year where I was craving some sapphic romance novels, and this one fell right into my hands. I remember I started this on the 12-hour flight back from China, and it gripped me so hard I finished it in about a day, even though I guess nothing about it is super unique. It’s just a love story about a soon-to-be college student falling for her childhood friend’s new college friend while visiting campus, even though said childhood friend told everyone they are exes. I guess what I really liked about it is the exploration of community, especially queer community, because the protagonist often feels at war between starting to have feelings for a girl and not thinking she fits into what she believes queer people are or should be, causing her to repeatedly deny the possibility of her being queer. Plus, I love deeper thoughts and reflections under the guise of a simple romance plot, and this book is quintessential Becky Albertalli in that regard.

5. El fabuloso mundo de las letras [The Fabulous World of the Letters] by Jordi Sierra i Fabra

Okay, so this is technically a children’s book written by a well-known Spanish author that was given to me while staying with a friend’s family in Spain, but regardless of the target group, I still absolutely loved it and ate it up. It’s a wonderful look at language and writing and creatively tries to spark enthusiasm for reading in children through fun little games, stories in which letters coming alive and form things like huge forests, crossword puzzles, and more. The frame for it is a story about a boy who hates reading sucked into the world of letters, where he gets to know them and how they work and learns how beautiful language is, which is 100% my thing as a linguist. I will forever grieve all the H’s in the hospital.

6. Tokioregen [Tokyo Rain] by Yasmin Shakarami

One of the few German books I still read, English has just taken over by now. It’s about a German high school student who spends a semester abroad in Japan, falls in love with the country and a classmate who shows her the hidden parts of Tokyo, and has to witness an earthquake that destroys most of the city. Somehow the author managed to convey Tokyo’s magic in a way I never expected, even though I’ve never been all that interested in Japan, so it sucked me in.

7. When We Were Infinite by Kelly Loy Gilbert

Oof, this one challenged my mental health, but I guess that’s exactly what it was trying to do. We have here a story about a group of close friends who are the most important people to each other, but when they find out one of them, Jason, is abused at home and he tries to kill himself, they all spiral and friendships start to fall apart. It basically takes you along for the ride as the protagonist Beth’s mental health and her friendships go through one of the most terrible experiences of their lives, and that makes you think about a lot of things in your life.

8. I Kissed Shara Wheeler by Casey McQuiston

I’ve been a huge fan of Casey McQuiston since Red, White & Royal Blue, because they write incredible queer stories with some of the best characterization I’ve ever seen. In this one, Chloe, held hostage by a Southern Christian small town with her moms, has made it her mission to beat child prodigy and good girl Shara as valedictorian, but instead Shara ends up kissing her (and two other classmates) before disappearing, leaving behind only a series of clues for the three to follow. Let’s just say I didn’t expect the plot to unfold like it did at all: it turns everything upside down and, once again, in the way Casey McQuiston does, ends up with the most compelling characters I’ve ever read about.

9. A Magic Steeped in Poison by Judy I. Lin

Ugh, I love fantasy stories based on Chinese culture and mythology (see Iron Widow and If You Could See the Sun). This one makes use of the art of tea-brewing, which the protagonist Ning uses to create fantastical illusions and to participate in a competition looking for the new palace tea master, hoping to save her sister’s life by winning. The writing was great, and I really liked Ning, the protagonist. But to quote from my little book diary: “I’m rooting for the straights with the tea-induced magical connection, but I might be rooting a lot more for the princess-and-her-ferocious-handmaiden side couple.”

10. XOXO by Axie Oh

Okay, the last one, which I never expected to be good or original at all, and it’s a bit cliché even for me. But something about the story stuck with me, and so it made this list. It’s a bit of a typical k-pop (which is a genre I don’t even listen to) idol romance, in which Jenny, a cello player, spends an evening with (unbenownst to her) k-pop star Jaewoo in LA, only to reunite with him at a music conservatory in Seoul a few months later when Jenny moves to Korea. I guess you can sort of figure out the plot from there, but the characters are written very well (I think you can see the pattern here), and it’s a really nice read when you want something simple and sweet.

[liopleurodean]

The Road So Far: Season 7

I'm back with another season review! If you miraculously found this with no context, I'm watching through all of Supernatural, and this is my recap/reflection of season 7. You can find my season reviews and episode notes under the "ashla chick flick moments" tag.

So. Favorite episode? Hard to say! 7x08 "Season 7, Time for a Wedding" was pretty funny (and had Leslie Odom Jr. as the presiding villain), 7x10 "Death's Door" was absolutely heart-wrenching in the best way, 7x12 "Time After Time" was a treat for movie buffs, and 7x13 "The Slice Girls" was a mixture of fun and heartbreaking. 7x18 "Party On, Garth" gets an honorable mention, but I'd say my favorite is 7x20 "The Girl with the Dungeons and Dragons Tattoo". Charlie is every bit as amazing as I expected her to be, and her budding relationship with Dean is great to watch. The entire episode is full of nerdy references and Charlie's natural charisma draws you in from the start (helped by her personal soundtrack, featuring Walking On Sunshine by Katrina and the Waves).

This season introduced a bunch of new characters, including Charlie, Garth, Kevin, and the ever-paranoid Frank, but it also brought back some classics! Becky was fun to watch, even if the whole situation was aggravating. Although we didn't actually see Pamela or Missouri on screen, it was nice to hear that the boys still remembered them. Meg featured a lot this season (I still can't believe she was allowed to drive Baby) and it seems like Cas is slowly coming back around, something that'll maybe help Dean's blood pressure.

Speaking of Dean and Cas, let's talk about that ending! They're currently stuck in Purgatory, which should theoretically be a breeze for Cas, but Dean's a little out of his league. I'm a little annoyed that Cas ditched him, but if anyone can survive the monster afterlife, it's Dean Winchester. Although, from the few seconds I've seen, he's gonna have a run for his money on this one. I'm excited to see how it plays out.

The season 7 storyline was fairly cut-and-dry, which is refreshing compared to the last few seasons. Of course, the Leviathans kept their secrets, but we knew who to kill from the very start. Dick Roman was a fun villain to watch, with his cutthroat policies, sound logic, and oozing charisma. Truly, he embodies everything that makes a politician dangerous.

We also got a tease for the plot of the next season, which involves Metatron, the scribe of God (not Megatron, the transformer). Incidentally, I'm kind of surprised that Sam made that mistake. Of course Dean would know the difference (at the very least he knew that Megatron was the transformer's name), but I expected Sam to know about Metatron. At the very least, Good Omens came out well before Supernatural, if there's no actual lore on the subject.

Watching Sam fall apart was the cherry on top of the cake (or pie) in the latest of Winchester Suffering. Not only was it hard for him to participate in hunts, but Dean really couldn't afford to worry about Sam more than he already did, for multiple reasons. As of the finale, both Dean and Sam are completely, truly alone, and I'm worried about both of their mental states.

I saw someone mention that, if Dean didn't trust Cas as much as he did during seasons 4 and 5, then no one would've trusted him during 6-8, and they're absolutely right. I might've mentioned it in my season 6 recap, but Dean was Not Having It™ with Cas and if it weren't for his previous friendship, I don't think Sam and Bobby would've cared as much as they did. Now, it looks like Cas is shaping back up, but I'm pretty sure Naomi turns up in season 8, and that'll screw Cas over again.

Well, we're nearly halfway through, and I don't intend to stop now. Watch out for the next episode. Carry On!

[leowritesshit]

OK so I know this isn't my usual content but I want to show Y'all the angst I wrote for my dnd Character after our last session (Which was yesterday)

The Funny Thing About Grief

TW/// MCD - Mentions (Breif) of Torture Word Count: 625

Tempest sat in the Tavern in Durgami. They only got there a few hours ago, still soaked from the shark attack. The new person who joined their party, Achilles Black, gave them a dry shirt. But they were still soaked. It pissed them off slightly but at least they had ale. The tavern doors opened and Tempest turned, seeing their party, they were about to greet them but they noticed something. The air turned heavy, and solemn. They looked over the party, mentally counting them. Someone was missing. They continued counting, over and over again. They got up hurriedly. Maybe it was the alcohol in their system, maybe they were counting wrong. Fuck, fuck fuck fuck FUCK. Min was gone. Everything was a blur in that moment. They asked where he was. No one answered, and that when they knew. That’s when they knew he was dead. They stood frozen. Not knowing how to feel. Their emotional side sobbed, threatening to open the waterworks and cause them to cry right there and then, threatening to have them collapse on the floor and sob. But their logical side said that this was expected. Everyone died. Plus why get so worked up. They’ll find another Barbarian. They stood there frozen for who knows how long. Because Tempest sure as hell didn’t. Soon they walked out. Not acknowledging the rest of the group, not even saying a word, they just walked out. They needed air.

They walked on the dock. Breathing in the ocean air. They always hated the ocean. Didn't like the smell. But they assumed it was calming enough for now. They didnt know how to react. They felt almost… Numb to it. It was odd. It wasn't like what they did to… No. That was 10 years ago. No point in thinking about it. They cried a lot that day. It hurt to cry that day. Soon their tear ducts dried up and they just sobbed. Soon their voice hurt and they just sat there. Sat through everything that happened. Sat through the whipping. Sat through the burning sensation in their arm. Ignored the glares. Ignored all of it until they were out of Chlys. Until they were out of Verna. Then… they broke down. In the middle of a forest. They didn't know where they were. They were exiled from their home for 5 years. Banned from seeing their mentor, the only person they trusted, for 5. Fucking. Years. It hurt. It hurt so much. That's when they realized that they were in their head, they came back to the present. They were in a forest. Replicating that day they broke. They leaned against a tree. That's when they sobbed. That's when they screamed. That's when they got angry at the world and the gods. Everything hurt. They almost pulled out their hair. They pulled out a few strands of beautiful iridescent white hair. So thin and delicate. Why were the gods cruel, that’s what they thought naïvely. They knew why. Because the gods represented how people act. People took people away… Forever. Death was cruel. But isn't everything like that? Roses were oh so beautiful, but they prick you when you try to pick them. Love is beautiful, but it can rip you apart from the inside. Tempest hated it. They hated it all. So they just cried. They mourned their lost friend. They mourned everything that they lost up to this point. And… For the first time in a while… they felt okay. After their tears dried, for the first time in 10 years… they felt free. Free of the pain that has been welling up in them. Maybe crying really does help. Maybe the party is a good thing for Tempest.