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waynes-multiverse · 5 months

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Polaris – Chapter 2

Series Summary: When Beau Arlen moved to Montana, he left behind a past he wasn’t proud of. But when a series of murders requires the FBI’s help, Sheriff Arlen‘s ghosts come back to haunt him one by one. With a wrong turn waiting at every crossroads, it’s hard to make the right choices and find his way back home – back to you.

Pairing: Beau Arlen x FBI Agent!Reader

Warnings: 18+, flashbacks to past relationships, awkwardness, mentions of cheating

Word Count: 6.1k

A/N: Jenny and Cassie should come with their own warning 😂 Probably the lightest chapter of this series. Just some getting-to-know fun (& tons of awkwardness on all sides). Enjoy the peace while it lasts 😉

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Chapter 2: No Signs, No Compasses

Motel coffee sucked. It was a well-known, globally accepted fact.

You had tasted enough of those in your career to know it wasn’t even worth a try at this point. Thus, finding a good source of caffeine became sort of an adventurous challenge on every work trip. Back in Houston, you had your spot and the server knew your order by heart. Here, in Helena, you were new and still had to navigate your way around.

In search of a decent cup, you passed a sign on the highway and entered the Blue Fox Diner. It was a bit on the outskirts of town, but, frankly, you had no idea where the border truly ended. Everything was damn far apart from one another, the only houses which adjoined were the ones on Main Street USA. That was it.

The diner was bright and comfy, giving you an immediate welcoming feeling of home-cooked food and a good roast. Your first sip of black, delicious liquid confirmed it – this was your spot.

“Special Agent Y/L/N?”

Your head snapped up from your cup of joe to a female voice, recognizing the blonde deputy from the Sheriff’s Department yesterday.

“Deputy Jenny Hoyt, right?” You gave her and her friend a smile as the two women sat across from each other in a booth by the big window. You could tell by their curious and mischievous looks that your spectacular entrance wasn’t lost on them.

Great…

“Uh, yeah. You wanna sit with us? Heard you’re staying for that serial killer case,” Jenny said and offered you a seat next to her.

“Sure.” You accepted her invitation without hesitance, knowing you had to get over the awkwardness at some point. After all, you had to work together, and you wanted to get it out of the way rather sooner than later. How did you so gloriously fuck this up in the first place? You usually were professionalism personified – someone J. Edgar Hoover would’ve been proud of.

Right. Beau. There was your answer.

“Cassie Dewell,” the other woman introduced herself and shook your hand as you slid into the leather seat next to Jenny. “I’m a private investigator in town. Special Agent Y/L/N, was it?”

“Oh, yeah, I’ve passed by your agency. Nice to meet you,” you said, smiling. “And Y/N is fine.”

“So, how do you like Helena so far?” Cassie asked curiously, although you caught the underlying question between the polite smiles. ‘How do you like our sheriff so far?’

However, you weren’t going to make this easy for them. “Well, uhm, not seen much aside from my motel, the Sheriff’s Department, and this diner. Coffee’s great, though.”

“Leave it to Donno to brew a decent pot,” Jenny muttered with a bitter huff and rolled her eyes.

You threw her an inquisitive look, partially amused. “You don’t seem to be a fan.”

“Oh, it’s about the owner, Tonya. Jenny doesn’t like her,” Cassie explained.

“Then, why exactly are you here?” You were happy the conversation steered clear of you. For now. You knew this bliss and peace wouldn’t last forever. They were just warming you up for the Spanish Inquisition.

“To keep an eye on her. She used to work for a cartel,” Jenny replied.

“Before she went legit and became a real estate agent,” Cassie added.

“Legit my ass,” the blonde huffed. “Pretty sure she stole those fifteen million…”

“She did help us with Gigi,” Cassie countered, which didn’t seem to convince the blonde too much. “And that whole Avery situation.”

“Well, you know, you could always tip off a rivaling cartel. Might get rid of your problem,” you suggested jokingly. “I have a few contacts.”

Jenny’s lips curved into a delighted grin. “I like that idea.”

Cassie snorted, laughing. “Yeah, nice.”

“So… you and Beau are… dating?” Jenny questioned quite forward.

And there it was. The one you’d been waiting for. You sighed internally.

“Jenny!” Cassie chided and threw her friend a look over her directness as the blonde mouthed back an innocent “What?”

Your cheeks blushed slightly, but you were all about being direct as well. You cleared your throat, tapping your nails on the table. “It’s fine. After my more than embarrassing entrance, I deserve the third degree.”

“Good answer.” Jenny smiled encouragingly, making you feel a little more at ease. They weren’t aiming to claw your eyes out; they were just curious about you. If the roles were reversed, you’d be as well.

“And it wasn’t that embarrassing,” Cassie placated your nerves. “Trust us, me and Jenny had our fair share of drama. You’re good.”

“Well, I’m glad, I guess…” You let out a relieved chuckle, hoping you wouldn’t stay the small town gossip for long. “And, uh, to answer your question: No, we’re not dating. He’s a nice guy, but it’s nothing like that. We just go way back, and I guess old habits die hard.”

And boy, was that true. Beau and you had once been inseparable. It still felt weird to think about that now you weren’t and hadn’t been for a while. Your heart still ached and longed all the same. That stupid, useless feeling of missing him. He was cut out of your soul, but the phantom pain remained.

Jenny nodded and shared a look with Cassie. “Honest. I like it.”

“Me too.” Cassie’s mouth formed a smile of agreement and reassurance. “So, how long have you guys known each other?”

That was when the cop portion of your chat started. You hadn’t expected anything less, but you were determined to keep it professional and, most of all, shallow. Chitchat and oversharing were more Beau’s territory, but it certainly wasn’t yours.

“About ten years.”

Jenny nodded pensively, thinking about her next question. “You worked a cartel case together, right?”

“Oh, a few cases over the years, actually. I’m stationed at the FBI field office in Houston. Used to work Narcotics before switching to Major Crimes,” you said.

“Hence the serial killer here,” Jenny filled in.

“Can’t believe we’ve got another one,” Cassie remarked with a huff, shaking her head into her coffee cup.

“Oh yeah, right! Heard about the Bleeding Hearts Killer at that campsite.”

You remembered a newspaper article about it. Occasionally, you did still check up on your ex like every sane person would. You even followed him on Social Media, although all he ever posted about was fucking trout fishing. But that same news article had also informed you about Beau leaving his early retirement in the rearview mirror, being referenced as the acting sheriff on the case. It almost seemed like a weird coincidence that one of your active cases would lead you right to him not long after. Cosmic jokes and such.

“Yeah, Sunny and Buck Barnes,” Cassie provided.

“Cassie is actually dating their son,” Jenny told you, smirking at her friend.

“Yeah, we’re not that official yet,” Cassie deflected but noticeably blushed. “You guys need any help with your serial killer?”

Jenny looked at you, knowing you were the one who called the shots now.

Nodding, you twitched your shoulders. “Sure. The more the merrier. More female eyes might even help, considering we’re probably dealing with a woman.”

Jenny cocked a brow. “A female serial killer?”

“It’s rare, but our profiler sure thinks so. As do I,” you confirmed.

“Oh, this just got interesting.” Cassie grinned, intrigued. “We sure never had that one before.”

“No, we did not,” Jenny reiterated, chuckling.

“What didn’t we have?”

Beau’s gravelly voice startled you from behind, but you tried not to let it show. Of course, you’d run into him. It was a small town, after all, and this diner was probably the only place to get good coffee. Avoiding him was not only improbable, but it was an impossibility.

Beau was a good man. But the truth was that he was more than the Southern-charming, bad-dad-jokes, never-shutting-up sheriff everyone had grown to love in Montana. There was another side to him. A side that defied authority, broke rules, and caused trouble. A side you knew better than anyone.

“Female serial killer,” Jenny supplied with a grin.

“Really? A woman?” Baffled, the green-eyed sheriff lifted a brow and looked at you.

“Why, you think a woman can’t do it?” Cassie challenged him with a teasing grin. You knew there was a reason why you immediately took a liking to her.

You watched Beau purse his lips as he struggled for an answer. You had a feeling he had to do that a lot with these two. It almost seemed unfair.

“No, women can do murder just fine. Especially you three,” Beau retorted and then circled the booth with his finger, sipping his coffee. “The three of you bonding is my nightmare.”

“Oh, c‘ mon.” Jenny snorted in amusement.

“Yeah, we’re harmless,” Cassie added.

“Right… Who are you tryna fool here, huh?” Beau chuckled and scratched his beard. “Mind if I sit down?”

“Sure, hop in,” Cassie said and offered up the seat next to her.

“Yeah, I was about to head out anyway. Have to call my supervisor with an update,” you excused quickly and stood up before Beau even sat down. “By the way, I have eight boxes of files in my trunk. It’s gonna be a fun afternoon for us.”

“Well, I’m looking forward to it,” Beau said, trying to remain professional, even though you could tell he was bothered by your abrupt exit.

You, however, weren’t ready to face him yet and spend a whole afternoon with him. You needed more time… and space. Which was hard, considering you two had to work a case together.

Hard but not impossible.

“Oh, uh, Beau, that’s not necessary. Cassie offered to help, so we have enough hands on deck for now,” you said innocently and tried to hide your astute smile as best as possible. “I don’t wanna keep you from your sheriff duties. I saw the giant pile of files on your desk. But I’ll let you know when we need you.”

Admittedly, that was a little mean. You knew how much that man hated paperwork.

Defeatedly, Beau pursed his lips and overplayed his loss with a sour smile. “Yup, alright… thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” You grinned and didn’t care he knew exactly what you were doing.

“Hey, Y/N, you know, uh… it’s kind of a tradition to buy a round of tequila when you first arrive in town,” Cassie noted with a smug smile.

You matched it, amused, although you could smell an ambush from a mile away. “Oh, yeah? Well, that’s a tradition I can get behind. Where and when?”

“Tonight? Bar called Boot Heel around eight o’clock?”

“I’ll be there,” you accepted the invitation. “But just a heads-up, pouring tequila into me isn’t going to make me open up more.”

“Really isn’t,” Beau confirmed wryly.

“Dammit,” Cassie sighed in feigned disappointment but grinned nevertheless.

Jenny coolly shrugged it off. “Was worth a shot.”

Beau watched you leave with dread in his heart. As soon as the glass door fell closed behind you, he let out a longing sigh.

“Alright, what did you do?” Jenny’s voice ripped him from his thoughts. The blonde crossed her arms over her chest and arched a brow.

He had almost forgotten they were here, too.

“Yeah, she’s been barely here twenty-four hours. That’s fast, even for you,” Cassie chimed in with a teasing smile.

“Okay, I didn’t do anything, alright?” Beau defended with a creased brow and a bark in his voice, but his curiosity soon got the best of him. He leaned in closer, resting his elbows on the table. “Why? Did she say somethin’?”

“Yeah, he stepped in it,” Cassie commented dryly and looked straight at Jenny, taking his question as a confirmation of their theory.

“Yup.”

Beau rolled his green eyes, his patience already thin after the sleepless night he had. “Alright, did she say something to you guys or not?”

Cassie sighed. “No, she was very… courteous.”

Jenny nodded in agreement and shrugged one shoulder. “Yeah, she kept it professional. Said you were nice.”

Beau felt a surge of relief. “Well, that’s good, right?” he asked but watched both women shake their heads with pursed lips. “It’s not-… it’s not good?”

“Nope.”

“Nuh-uh,” Jenny retorted, “You don’t wanna be called nice. Not in that way, at least.”

“I don’t?” Beau cocked his eyebrow at the two, feeling rather confused at this point. “So, what’s the verdict?”

“Depends on what you did there, cowboy,” Cassie taunted him with a grin, which was mirrored by Jenny.

“Oh, I’m not telling you guys,” Beau huffed, shaking his head. Contrary to popular belief, he knew when to keep his mouth shut.

“You’re not talking for once?” Teasingly, Cassie popped an eyebrow at him.

“Must be bad then,” Jenny finished the thought. “Did you-, you know… cheat with her on Carla?”

Perplexed and slightly offended, Beau furrowed his brow. “What? No! Nothing like that. Carla and I were already separated. As in papers served and signed… I’m a very loyal-commitment kinda guy, alright?”

Beau didn’t want to admit his answer might have been a slight overcompensation on his part. While it’s true that he never cheated and would’ve never even considered it, he wasn’t without faults, either. There had been certain feelings towards you fermenting in his stomach, slowly but surely festering in his heart before he even knew what was happening and could put an end to it.

“That sounds like she was your rebound,” Jenny pointed out.

“Yeah, and casual,” Cassie threw in.

“No, it was nothing casual, alright? And she wasn’t my rebound,” Beau replied with an exhaustive breath. Jesus, did you get the third degree as well? At this rate, he should consider himself lucky if you were still in town by tomorrow. His head was spinning. “I mean, if she was my rebound, I was hers, too.”

Dammit, he said too much. He knew the two women would take that piece of information and run with it over the mountains of Montana, probably even making it over the border to goddamn Canada.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Jenny questioned as expected. “Is she married? I saw the ring on her finger.”

“Yeah, looked like a wedding band,” Cassie mused.

“Okay, Sherlock and Watson, enough, alright? She’s not married,” Beau replied, but only to save both your reputations. “It’s a sentimental thing. There’s a lot of history there.”

“What kinda history?” Jenny’s knitted brow practically stared at him.

Beau grew tired of their interrogation and dragged a palm over his face, leaning back in his seat. “It’s complicated.”

The two women then shared an inquiring look that held an entire conversation, knowing their interview had run its course. Beau wouldn’t answer any more of their questions.

“Want our advice?” Cassie offered.

Beau hesitated for a moment, puckering his lips in thought. He was desperate, and they could smell it like coyotes. “Alright, lay it on me. What d’you got?”

“Nothing.” Cassie twitched her shoulders and met his annoyed glare with a pleased smile.

“Yeah, see, you actually have to tell us first what happened before we can help you,” Jenny elaborated.

“Alright, I’m done,” Beau said frustratedly, tapping his knuckles on the table once as he rose from his seat.

“Oh, Beau, c’mon, we’re just messing with you.” Cassie chuckled softly and looked at him apologetically. “Fine, you want our advice? Apologize.”

“For whatever you’ve done,” Jenny added.

Pensively, Beau nodded and clicked his tongue. “What if I’ve done that already?”

“Do it again,” Jenny advised simply. “Until she hears you.”

“Yeah, get down on your knees, you know,” Cassie deadpanned. But as Beau suspiciously eyed her at the particular word choice, she burst into laughter.

“Nice.“ Jenny joined in, tears stinging the corners of her eyes as the two clinked their coffee mugs together for a toast to their cleverness.

Beau chuckled out of sheer uncomfortableness, his cheeks flushing embarrassingly red. “Oh, you two are hilarious… I’m heading to work,” he grumbled. “You know, you might wanna join me if you wanna keep your job, Hoyt.”

With a sigh that resembled a yawn, you stretched your shoulders and spine as you got up from the uncomfortable wooden chair in the Sheriff’s Department. You checked your watch and noticed it was already past 2pm.

“Alright… you guys want something for lunch? I’m buying.”

Technically, the government was buying, but you would take any chance you could get to make yourself a little more popular with your colleagues. Jenny, Cassie, and Deputy Poppernak (who told you to call him Mo and started looking you in the eyes again after you brought him a sandwich and a coffee this morning) then gave you their lunch orders, and most importantly, where to get it. What you didn’t expect, though, was Beau appearing behind you out of nowhere after he had locked himself (pun intended) in his office all day and had given you your requested space.

That courtesy apparently was over.

“I’ll come with you,” Beau announced. And although his facial expression resembled a friendly, soft Golden Retriever, you detected the stern bite in his voice. He wasn’t going to be cast aside again.

Stubborn as you were, you still had to try.

“Oh, you don’t hav–,” you tried to interject, but he swiftly waved you off.

“Nonsense. You can’t carry all that alone. I’ll help. Part of the sheriff duties,” he said in his most neighborly tone and grinned triumphantly at you, beaming with Southern chivalry.

You huffed a sigh. Great…

Ignoring Beau Arlen was like trying to avoid air – it was impossible unless you planned on suffocating. Not even a fast pace could get him out of breath enough to stop pestering you. His voice trickled like slow poison into your mind. One of these days, it would infect your heart and destroy your defenses.

“Y/N, hey, can you slow down a little? I didn’t bring my marathon shoes to work, alright? Don’t make me write you a ticket for speeding!” Beau huffed behind you in a half-joking tone, chuckling at his own wit. “C’mon, I just wanna talk. Lord knows you already had your fun today.”

With a heavy sigh, you stopped in your tracks and turned to face him on the sidewalk, Beau almost crashing into you. He clearly hadn’t expected you to actually listen to him.

With a fierce glare in your eyes, you crossed your arms over your chest. “Look, I’ve got nothing left to say to you, okay? Can we just keep this civil?”

Beau pursed his lips but quickly recovered, offering you a charmingly desperate smile. “Well, lucky for you, you would just have to listen.”

You rolled your eyes and started marching ahead again, feeling Beau hot on your trail.

“Y/N, c’mon!”

“Dad?”

At that, both you and Beau spun around, recognizing the voice in an instant as Emily walked out of a shop.

Beau’s face immediately lit up. He gave her a tight hug, kissing her temple. “Hey, kid.”

“Aunt Y/N?” Emily’s face tilted in surprise, brow knitting as she noticed you and left her father’s arms. She greeted you with a bright sunshine smile.

“Hey, Em,” you said and happily mirrored her smile. You had always loved that girl since she was little. Something she wasn’t anymore. It had been a while since you’d last seen her. “Wow, look at you. You’re all grown. You look like you’re about ready to head off to college.”

“Don’t remind me,” Beau mumbled with a sigh next to you.

“Yes, please don’t make him cry,” Emily begged you, chuckling, but her look was still pleadingly serious. It made you laugh. You remembered how protective Beau was of her. It was endearingly sweet, which made it a little harder to be furious with him. “What are you doing in Montana? Are you visiting Dad?”

“Oh, uh, I’m here for a case, actually,” you replied, swallowing, and shot Beau a quick glance to check how much you were allowed to share.

“What kinda case?” Her brow furrowed as she looked at her dad with concern. It broke your heart a little to know that, whenever you were involved, Emily thought her father was in danger.

“Em,” Beau warned her softly.

You had figured he still refrained from talking about work with his family, not wanting them to worry unnecessarily. After what his daughter had been through this summer, you couldn’t really blame him.

“Right, sorry,” she said meekly and bit the inside of her lip.

“Beau?”

Every molecule in your body shuddered at the sound of that voice. God, you so didn’t want to do this right now. The last time you’d seen Carla, it didn’t end well. If you could, you’d teleport yourself somewhere else – preferably Hawaii.

Beam me up, Scotty!

Beau flashed you a glance over his shoulder that said pretty much the same thing – shit. With a thick swallow, he angled his face toward his ex-wife and forced an awkward smile to his lips.

“Hey,” he rasped, his throat drier than the Death Valley.

“Y/N?” As soon as Carla spied you, her brow arched and her features turned sinister. The unhappy surprise of finding you here was written all over her face. And if it hadn’t been, her words soon made her feelings for you abundantly clear. “What are you doing here? Wrecking more homes? At least you’re wearing clothes this time that don’t belong to my ex-husband.”

Yup. You hadn’t expected a warm welcome, but that even exceeded your expectations. You gaped at her, a bit speechless. Even Beau seemed temporarily at a loss for words and was taken aback. Only Emily looked the most upset and voiced it, too.

“Mom! Really?!”

Carla then looked apologetically at her daughter, aware of her inappropriate comment, her mouth falling open in shame. You knew it was a knee-jerk reaction.

“And that’s my cue to leave,” you retorted. As you spun around, you glanced up at Beau and touched his shoulder comfortingly, letting him know you were still here, even when you were mad as hell at him. “Call me when you’re finished here. Or if you need an alibi…” you muttered into his ear in passing.

“I’m coming with you,” Emily announced with a scowl over her shoulder at her mother. She hopped next to you and looped her arm through yours, following you inside the restaurant.

As soon as you and his daughter were out of sight, Beau glowered at his ex-wife and shook his head. “Really, Carla? Was that necessary? You know nothing ever happened when we were married.”

“I know, I know,” Carla agreed and sighed, clasping her temples. “I’m sorry. I really am… It just came out. I guess it’s just old wounds, you know? I was surprised to see her here.”

“Yeah, I get that.” Beau bobbed his head in understanding, smacking his lips. He hated everything about this and knew he could only blame himself for it. “I mean, c’mon, you two used to be friends once, right? What happened? You’d think after what you went through with Avery, you’d have a little more compassion for what she’s gone through.”

Carla pursed her lips and bit the insides of her cheeks, surely stifling a fiery comment. “You wanna know what happened between us? You did, Beau,” she snapped, but before he could open his mouth to respond, she heaved a sigh and shot him a remorseful look. “But you’re right. I’ll apologize to her later.”

“Thank you,” he said graciously as his shoulders deflated and passed the tension.

“What’s she doing here? Everything okay?” Carla asked, lines of worry etching her brow. It told Beau that she still cared about him, even if it was just a smidge.

“Uh, yeah. Just work. Serial killer,” he replied. Since their eventful summer, Beau tried to be more open and honest, keeping a clear line of communication with his ex. It was a step forward. “Three victims so far.”

“Serial killer? Again?” Carla raised her brow and scoffed. “I guess it’s good I’m bringing Emily back to Houston, then.”

“You still wanna do that?”

A part of him hoped they’d stay because he wanted to stay here. Montana had given him a fresh start. One that was much needed. Houston, on the other hand, was haunted and full of ghosts he didn’t want to face. He had been running from them for a while now, although they were slowly catching up to him.

But he also needed his family, his daughter. He wanted to be a constant in her life, not just a variable.

“Honestly, I don’t know,” Carla sighed and looked a bit torn and helpless, which was rare for her. But Avery’s secrecy and death had done quite a number on her, and Beau supposed she was still working through a lot. “What d’you think?”

Beau thought it was ironic she was suddenly asking for his input, considering she didn’t ask for his advice the first time she took their daughter and moved several states away. But he knew better than to say that out loud, especially since he was partially at fault.

Rubbing his beard, your earlier words reverberated in his head. His daughter wasn’t a little kid anymore and would fly the nest soon, as much as he didn’t want to admit it.

“Maybe we should ask Em what she wants. I mean, she’s almost seventeen. If your work isn’t a factor, then maybe we should let her decide.”

Carla nodded pensively as if she was actually considering it. “Yeah, okay,” she agreed and let out a sentimental sigh. “She’s growing up.”

Beau’s smile carried a drop of sadness. “Yeah, she is.”

Surprisingly, his talk with his ex-wife went better than expected. He just wished things would be as easy with you. All he wanted was just a chance to make it right. He couldn’t screw up another relationship.

“Beau… For the record, I want you to be happy, okay? No matter how, where, or with… who,” Carla told him and gifted him a cordial smile that showed her sincerity.

He appreciated her words. There’d been bad blood between them. Divorce made people bitter, he supposed. But old wounds had to heal eventually, too.

As you stepped outside the restaurant with Emily, you flashed an insecure glance at Carla. You averted your gaze to Beau, holding up a big brown paper bag. “You ready? Got the food.”

Beau checked quickly with his ex-wife, who nodded, letting him know that they were done here.

Carla then turned to you and cleared her throat, and you were sure it took a lot for her to even look at you. “Y/N, I’m sorry about earlier.”

You nodded, accepting her apology. You’d never done anything wrong, but the situation was complicated. It was hard on all of you.

“It’s fine. We’re good,” you assured her and gave her a half smile. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry, too. I heard about your husband.”

“Thank you,” she replied courtly and motioned for Emily to follow her. “C’mon, honey. Let’s go.”

“Bye, Dad.” Emily waved at her father.

Beau quietly watched his family saunter down the street before he glanced at you and offered you a clumsy smile. “Well, this went better than expected, right?”

You didn’t share his humor, however, and threw him a dark glare. You spun on your heel and trudged back to the Sheriff’s Department. “I have to get back to work.”

Beau exhaled heavily. This wasn’t how he had imagined his outing with you, wishing for a sign or at least a damn compass to show him the way.

March 2014

“Maybe it was the courier?” Beau suggested as he caught the pigskin before throwing it back to his partner across the desk. Passing the ball had become a ritual, helping them work through their case theories one by one.

“Nah, I don’t think so.” Randy shook his head when it was his turn. “What about the maid? She certainly had motive.”

A few more exchanges and tosses back and forth happened before you waltzed into the police station. Randy missed his catch, the football almost flying through the Captain’s window, but you gracefully caught it just in time and placed it securely down on the desk.

“Nice catch,” Beau complimented you, impressed.

“Hi, honey,” your husband greeted you and found your lips, kissing you deeply. You giggled and locked your arms around his neck as he pressed you into the edge of his desk.

“Geez, really? Get a room you two,” Beau huffed jokingly, making both of you laugh enough to stop your make-out session but not enough to detangle yourselves from each other.

“We’re newlyweds. We’re supposed to make you sick and scratch your eyes out,” Randy quipped with a grin.

Smiling warmly, Beau shook his head at the two of you. “You got married eight months ago. When’s that honeymoon phase ending, huh?”

“Never,” both of you replied in unison and started kissing again, causing Beau’s eyes to roll back.

“God help me…” He sighed dramatically.

His sigh of exhaustion was soon joined by a second one. “Ugh, again?” Carla asked as she stepped into the station and tilted her head at you and your husband.

“Yeah,” Beau confirmed, amused, and kissed his wife’s cheek. “How did that court case go?”

Carla exhaled a breath of fatigued annoyance. “Y/N’s buying drinks tonight. Thanks to her Oscar-worthy performance on the stand,” she replied as you grinned winningly at her. The two of you had a deal – whoever won a court case was inviting the other for consolation drinks. “You know, I’ve never seen someone so convincingly fake-cry during cross.”

“You’re welcome.” You smirked slyly. “My high school drama teacher taught me that. I think he would’ve been proud of me today. Those were real tears, you know?”

“Oh, the jury certainly thought so.” Carla laughed bitterly.

“So you lost?” Beau glanced at his wife. “I’m sorry, darlin’.”

Carla arched an eyebrow and knowingly crossed her arms over her chest. “Are you, Beau?”

“Nah, not really.” He laughed and said, “You did defend a tweaker who killed three people over a little bag of meth, so…”

“Well, I know better than to argue with two cops and a federal agent over the rights of American citizens,” Carla fired back.

Beau snorted in amusement. “Wow, okay. Y/N really pissed you off, huh?”

“Again, you’re welcome.” You beamed with self-satisfaction.

“Oh, you both are pissing me off,” Carla retorted jokingly and then looked at you, smiling. “I gotta get back to the office. I’ll see you at the bar.” She then turned to her husband, pointing a finger at him. “And I’ll see you at home.”

Beau leaned in to kiss his wife goodbye, but Carla already rushed out of the station before he got a chance. He heaved a small sigh, his eyes drifting to Randy and you as you giggled like two lovesick teenagers.

“I gotta get back to work, too,” you said as you withdrew from your husband’s lips. But then you noticed an opened case folder on Randy’s desk. Curiously, you tiptoed up and spied over his shoulder to get a better look at it. “Unless you two got something fun here…”

“Ay, hands off! That ain’t your jurisdiction,” Beau warned you playfully and stopped short of batting your hand away.

“C’mon, we’re stuck. She might be able to help,” Randy interjected with an innocent shrug and a puppy dog look.

Beau heaved an exasperated sigh and then smiled challengingly at you. “Alright, what d’you think, Special Agent Y/L/N?”

Grabbing the file, you leafed through it for a moment and then mused, “Hmm, couldn’t have been the maid. Her schedule doesn’t match time of death. But maybe it was the courier? There’s a theft ring hitting several states. They use bike couriers.”

Beau’s smile widened to a triumphant grin as he pointed a finger at his partner. “Ha! That’s what I said.”

“Alright.” Your husband groaned defeatedly. “Let’s check it out.”

“Oh, now you suddenly want to, huh? After the wife said it? That hurts, man,” Beau teased.

Randy shrugged smugly. “Yeah, well, she’s a lot smarter than you.”

Beau pursed his lips and nodded, hiding his smirk of amusement. “Yeah, I guess that’s true.”

“Well, you guys have fun with this,” you said and kissed your husband’s lips one last time. “I have to get back to work. The tweaker Carla defended gave up his supplier in Brownsville. The DEA wants me to come down to Matamoros with them tomorrow. They think the guy is Gulf Cartel.”

Randy furrowed his brow, and you could see the concern shimmering in his eyes. “How long will you be gone?”

“Two weeks maybe?” You shrugged, not knowing exactly how long assignments sometimes could last. Worst case, you could even be undercover for a couple of months, and your husband knew that.

“So, we’re gonna have fun tonight?” Randy smirked and wiggled his eyebrows, resting his palms on your hips as he pulled you closer.

You grinned smugly. “You bet we are, baby. Bring the handcuffs home.”

“Guys, c’mon, I’m standing right here,” Beau complained and threw his arms up, making both of you laugh and blush.

“Alright, be careful,” Randy reminded you with a peck on your lips.

You nodded and then turned to Beau. “You’re gonna protect my boy here while I’m gone, Arlen? Have his back?”

“Yes, ma’am. With my life. Promise,” Beau said and smiled at you reassuringly, putting you at ease before you walked out of the station.

Randy let out a worried sigh as he watched you leave. He looked up when Beau patted his shoulder in comfort.

“She’ll be fine. She’s a tough one,” Beau said in an attempt to calm his partner’s nerves.

“Yeah, she is,” Randy agreed quietly before his teasing nature returned. He grinned up at him and quipped, “You couldn’t handle her.”

“Sure, I could! Have you met Carla?” Beau retorted as both of them fell back into a brotherly banter. “Trust me, once your sickening honeymoon phase wears off, you’re gonna be right where I am.”

“What, happily unhappy?” Randy sassed and cocked an eyebrow.

“Exactly,” Beau replied wryly, clicking his tongue.

“Nah, man, that’s not me and Y/N,” Randy stated with a surefire grin.

“Alright, lover boy, let’s put our courier in the hot seat. C’mon,” Beau grunted with a roll of his eyes and brushed off his feelings on the subject, although he began to doubt his own statement. He was admittedly a bit jealous of his partner’s relationship.

Maybe some couples were just happier than him and Carla.

Beau tossed the old football into the air and caught it again. With a thoughtful sigh, he placed it on his desk and sunk back into his chair, his palm still resting on the ball.

“You were right, man. Who would’ve thought…” The sheriff clicked his tongue. A knock on the door ripped him from his trance, his green eyes darting to the visitor.

Jenny carefully peeked her head inside and checked on him, “You okay there?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” he assured her. He didn’t bother to form a smile, though.

She pursed her lips, clearly not believing him, but nodded her acceptance. “You wanna join us at the bar? Might give you a chance to talk?”

“Uh, yeah, but you girls go ahead. Still have a few things to finish up here,” Beau said.

“Alright.” Jenny gave him a small smile, but she didn’t leave yet, her hand resting on the doorknob. “You know, when I first saw you with Carla, I thought I had it right. But this-… this is an entirely new look.”

Beau grimaced. “Shut up.”

Jenny laughed lightly. “If you love her, you should tell her.” Beau only shot her a deadpan glare, to which the blonde raised her hands in capitulation. “Alright, just sayin’…” With that, she closed the door behind her again.

Beau’s eyes then landed back on the football on his desk, smacking his lips in thought. Sometimes the guilt was eating him alive, burning him from the inside out like acid.

“You’d be okay with this, right? I know you’d want her to be happy,” he verbalized his thoughts out loud, hoping it would give him some clarity. He wasn’t sure, however, if he was just saying it to alleviate his own guilty conscience and justify his actions.

“I think I could really make her happy, you know? At least, I’d try,” Beau said. Two fingers rubbed his mouth as he spun on his chair and glanced out the window to the dark sky and the stars above. “C’mon, man, I just need one small sign…”

Chapter 3: Pour The Whiskey

More glimpses into the past and maybe some much needed talking coming next week! Let me know all your thoughts in the comments, loves 🤍

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moonstruckme · 1 year

Note

IN a week - what I’ve never seen in a Steve 80’s pop star AU!!! his hair? joes actual voice? THE FACE? He’s always giving pop star to me

Yessss thanks sm for requesting honey!

join the party

popstar!Steve x fem!reader ♡ 705 words

“Oh wow.” You swipe a magazine from the rack by the checkout. “The sexual exploits of heartthrob Steve Harringon? Inside source tells all?” You raise an eyebrow at your boyfriend. “Stevie, is there anything you’d like to tell me? Has Robin sold you out?”

“She would,” Steve allows, not even looking at the magazine as he sets your groceries on the conveyor belt. Nancy has told him a million times to not risk being out in public like this, but he says he misses the mundanity of it. I just want to go to the mall and shit like that with my girlfriend, that shouldn’t be a big ask. So they’d compromised; Steve sacrifices the volume of his hair every time he goes out by squishing it under a baseball cap, and Nancy gets the peace of mind knowing that there’s no chance of her most big-time client being recognized while his hair (practically trademarked, at this point) is covered. “But she has even more fun with feeding them ridiculous stories. She says my real life is too boring.” He wraps his arm around you, drawing you away from the magazine rack. “Monogamy, you know?”

“Such a drag,” you agree, gratified when he presses a kiss to the top of your head. “Wanna see what she told them?”

Steve makes a noncommittal humming sound, but he leans over to watch as you leaf through to find his page. “Ooh, this is a good picture of you, babe.” Steve winks at you from the page, skin glossy and laminate. “Okay, so you slept with every single girl at Hawkins High while you were there, you…apparently had a very passionate fling with an heiress on vacation in Bora Bora, and you were found in a closet, completely naked with two girls at a party…in uptown?” You gawp at him, feigning betrayal. “Stevie, was that the party last week? When did you slip away?”

He jostles you by the shoulder. “Shut up.”

“You’re so sweet to me. Hey, look—” you pick up another magazine, reading off the cover, “The seven-step regiment Steve ‘The Hair’ Harrington doesn’t want you to know.”

“You’re joking.” He scrambles to see over your shoulder, and you laugh, showing it to him.

“I am,” you confess, and Steve actually sighs in relief. “It says five steps.”

“Suckers,” he scoffs. “Don’t fuck with me like that, babe, that’s my income you’re joking about.”

You laugh again, reaching up to take his hand where it’s slung over your shoulder. “Don’t sell yourself short,” you say, intertwining your fingers. “It’s only like, ninety percent of your income. You’ve got some talent.”

Steve looks at you, eyebrows rising nearly to the brim of his hat. “Oh yeah? Changing our tune from the car this morning, are we?”

You scoff, but he only wrestles you closer, pulling you tight against his side. “I didn’t say you were a bad singer, I said you couldn’t hit the same notes as Madonna.”

“But I did,” he says smugly, taking out his wallet as you approach the checkout.

“Well, you tried.”

Steve hums disappointedly. “M’gonna have to rethink all these free, private concerts if my audience doesn’t appreciate them,” he says.

You smother a laugh, pressing a hand to your chest in a show of dismay. “What? No, please, Mr. Harrington, you can’t do that. I’m your biggest fan!”

“Harrington?” The cashier, a man not much older than you or Steve, looks up from the groceries. “Like, Steve Harrington?”

Steve tenses, and you feel instantly guilty for your dramatics. “Yup,” you say quickly. “I’m a big fan of his.”

The man nods. “Me too. Heard he’s back in town for a bit.”

“You don’t say.”

“Yeah, but I mean, we probably won’t be seeing him around much,” he says matter-of-factly, shrugging his shoulders. Steve looks down as subtly as he can, hiding his face under the brim of his cap. “When you get that famous, you can’t just be going out in public like the rest of us. Poor dude would probably get mobbed.”

“Probably,” you agree, smiling as you squeeze Steve’s hand in your grip. He sneaks his other hand to your waist where the cashier can’t see, pinching scoldingly at your side. “Wouldn’t want that.”

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lacyscabinet · 9 months

Note

mean!dom!lottienat x bratty reader with aftercare, you can choose the plot!!

A/N: dear anon, this is definitely not what you asked for im sorry, don't come at me, or at least not ONLY at me because in fact, this is a collab with @lottienatswife:) go follow her lolllll, craziest collab ever. We are not smut writers and this is personally my first smut ever lol, we just decided to have fun with it!!!

Also this is pretty long :)

THIS IS SATIRE (maybe)

hope you'll enjoy either way :) (Marina if you see this go away this is not for you, this post is Marina DNI)

TW: smut, lots weird stuff, quirky seggs, tentacles are mentioned, dildo attacks girl's face, toys and ropes :)

Night at Lottie's

“Where are you parents again? On a business trip” Nat asked from Lottie’s bed, Wannabe by the Spice Girls played in the bedroom, Natalie didn’t exactly enjoy that but whatever made her princess happy.

“They are at a funeral actually” Lottie answered from her spot in a rocking chair near the bed, lately she has been getting into reading, the current book she’s reading? Poems of Sappho, she told you and Nat multiple times that she would’ve loved to join a book club, if only those were real…

Nat frowned but before she could say anything Lottie continued “Uncle Joe passed away last night”.

After her affirmation Nat moved from the bed and got closer to Lottie, placing a hand on her knee “I’m so sorry Lottie…was it a peaceful death at least?”

“He was actually eaten alive by a dolphin-” Lottie couldn’t even finish her sentence, suddenly interrupted by the door slamming open, you were running for no apparent reason, maybe the writers just need a narrative expedient to make you end up sprawled on the bed…or maybe not…who knows? I definitely don’t.

Either way, Nat’s backpack, which was conventionally thrown on the floor, made you trip and not so gracefully fall on the bed, face planted in the mattress, bum in the air, emitting a little groan.

“Eager aren’t you?” Nat exclaims and without missing a bit she gets closer to you and just like you landed on the bed her hand lands on your ass, giving it a smack.

Lottie gasps still sitting comfortably on her chair, looking intensively at your interaction with Natalie “Little sapphics” she whispers with a hint of amusement.

“Hey!” you yell at the contact of Nat’s palm with your skin, but Nat doesn’t really seem to care since she has her hands already placed on your hips, flipping you around and manhandling you until your back was against the headboard, her body straddling yours and keeping your hands in hers. And even though you felt like a barbie being tossed around by a three year old kid you actually didn’t mind at all, and while you and Nat were clearly having the time of your life Lottie opened a package of organic rice cakes and munched on it while watching attentively “It’s just like national geographic” she mumbled to herself while chewing.

Nat leaned in for a kiss and who were you to comply after all, and as the smooching got more and more heated your bodies grew sweatier and sweatier, especially your hands, making Nat falter, causing your foreheads to collide in a painful crash.

“STOP STOP STOP!!!! CUT OFF THE CAMERAS CHAD! NATALIE, Y/N ARE YOU GUYS OKAY?”

“NO!”

“OH DAMN, MHHH, 20 MINUTE BREAK EVERYONE!”

*some time later*

As Natalie straddled you, with her hands on the wooden headboard this time, Lottie, finally may I add, got up from the rocking chair placing her rice cakes on in and walking to the bed sitting down on it next to Nat who was already aiming at your shirt pulling it off with ease, revealing your bra. Natalie shifts over to look for something in the drawer, rummaging through it and pulling out a quite peculiar object out of it.

“Is it a unicorn horn?” Lottie wonders as soon as she looks at it

“I’m pretty sure it’s a dildo Lottie” you said, still laying under Natalie, your affirmation made Lottie’s eyes squint “Then why is it rainbow?”

“I don’t know maybe it’s gay” you shrugged as Natalie kissed your neck not really caring about whatever conversation was going on between the two of you, raging hormones they say.

Slowly realising the destination of the gay allegated sparkly rainbow toy Lottie’s eyes widened "NAT! NO.... IT'S NOT BIG ENOUGH!!" Lottie yanks it out of Nat's hand, and gets out her purple- "it's not purple its heliotrope, damn I’ve told this to the production so many times and nobody listens"... heliotrope dildo... it was bigger than the rainbow one “It kinda reminds me of an octopus” you said as you looked down at the thing “Did you know that one of the tentacles of an octopus is actually it’s dick?”

“Not now Lottie please” Nat brushed her off as she started undoing your pants, pulling them off she smirked at the sight of your undies...Peppa Pig printed underwear was really something...Natalie bit her lip she took off her own pants, as did Lottie. Nat was wearing her super special underwear, pink Hello kitty underwear, Lottie on the other end showed off her spiderman (writers care to specify it’s PS game spiderman) panties.

"So…my little gold digger…”

“Lottie, leave the dirty talk to me please-”

“SHUT UP...can I tie you up??" You look at Lottie... and shake your head, you already knew what was going to happen, she did it all the time, and you needed money for that one dinosaur pillow. As expected Lottie groaned and pulled out her wallet which was conventionally already on the bed "I'll pay you"

"deal..!" You happily take the money shoving it inside Nat’s bra “Keep it safe baby” you gave her breasts a pat pat “Since when are my knockers a piggy bank” she mumbled but neither you or Lottie paid too much attention to that.

Lottie had already taken out the purple…no wait…heliotrope ropes she kept stored in a small box and tied your wrists up to the bedpost. So now that you’re stuck like a worm on a hook Nat and Lottie exchange a knowing look, as Natalie adjusts a harness to her hips

“Kinda looks like a bricklayer's belt”

“Shut up”

Then she immediately pulls off your panties and once they are discarded she lays her chin on the mattress to see your core "....mmph…" Nat hums in satisfaction once she sees the faucet was left running “While Lottie’s parents cry at the funeral I make this pussy cry”

“HEY UNCLE JOE WAS-” “DON’T THINK ABOUT UNCLE JOE RIGHT NOW LOTTIE”

Suddenly Lottie shoves Nat away, taking her turn to stare at you. Determined, Nat pushed Lottie down the bed, gracefully slapping her face with the glittery gay dildo, and just like that, after she regained her spot on top of you, the object found its home…once again.

After a couple of small thrusts Natalie really started going at it and you started moaning, in that exact moment, jealousy creeped inside Lottie and once again Nat was shoved away, this time ruthlessly shoved down the bed and onto the floor. Taking Nat’s out of you so she could insert the heliotrope toy. Your faucet kept running, until it broke and Lottie cheered, she broke it first.. and Natalie groaned still on the floor, annoyed.

Lottie carefully unties your wrists, placing little kisses on the small bruises the ropes caused. "You want shoulder rubs?" Lottie asked, while pulling you on her chest to let you rest your back against her breasts "What about pussy rubs?" Nat smirked.

Before you could answer, Lottie shoved a rice cake in your mouth as Nat just groaned, unbuckling her harness and throwing it aside.

Lottie pampered you with little kisses on the top of your head while she rubbed both your shoulders and neck, slowly, Nat crawled back on the bed, giving a kiss to both you and Lottie, hugging the two of you and laying her head on your shoulder.

*later that night*

“Y/N? Are you still awake?”

“Yeah”

"I never got to fiddle with your riddle”

“Technically you-”

“LOTTIE ROBBED THE GLORY!!!"

If you've reached the end, here's your throphy 🏆

#natalie scatorccio #yellowjackets #natalie scatorccio x reader #nat scatorccio #yellowjackets x reader #nat scatorccio x reader #yellowjackets x you #nat scatorccio x #natalie scatorccio x y/n #lottienat #lottie matthews #lottie mathews x reader #lottienat x reader

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hongtiddiez · 5 months

Text

my stand in ep 2 thoughts, feelings, etc.

alright i wanted to write this up nicely but it took me... two hours to get through the episode bc i kept stopping to write notes, so i'll do my best i guess.

weird thing about me is when i watch shows and write notes for these posts i always write the notes on napkins? i have like 5 different notebooks in arms reach at all times but i really like scribbling on a napkin for the true unhinged effect.

anyway blah blah reminder i'm just a silly dude on the internet, idk shit about dick, i just like to say shit, don't take me too seriously.

also please DO NOT leave novel spoilers in my reblogs, tags, or replies without some kind of warning label. please? it seems to happen with every show i write meta for and i LOVE that people get hyped but there's no way for me to avoid it when it's in my notifications like that.

some before the actual episode stuff; after learning last week that some of the kinnporsche people worked on this it really becomes apparent, especially in the style of the intro.

the music choices also seem a bit reminiscent of kinnporsche (and a little bit of not me) which i really enjoy. it feels kind of familiar and comforting.

immediately i loved how soft this episode started, the slight stubble on each of them, the way joe speaks so softly as if afraid to shatter their little bubble of peace, etc. i also love that the show doesn't skirt around the topic of sex and the fact that sometimes sex is awkward and clumsy, especially with a new partner and doubly so when it's your first queer partner.

and then the peace was shattered with ming kissing his back yet again. ouchies.

"will tong be at the set?" he's just not even trying to hide it. he basically said 'yeah ur great and all but tong????' but DAMN if poom isn't the absolute king of microexpressions.

at this point i can't really tell if tong is being a spoiled prince (derogatory) or if he's tired of acting in general? judgement withheld until a later date.

and then we jump into this actress being a parallel to ming and OOF OUCHIES MY ORGANS. she's a fan of tong but has to "settle" for joe - just like ming. and yet joe takes the time to be kind, to soothe her worries and put her at ease, because he has a heart of absolute gold. "it's her first movie but she was left to drown by the male lead." it's ming's first love and he has been left to drown in it.

mek's acting is really endearing. this is my first exposure to him (ive seen some of his social media and really like what he stands for as a person) and i'm instantly drawn to his performance. he also pulls off a great balance of adorable/sexy.

OOH THE SHOW SAID BISEXUAL OUT LOUD. A WIN FOR THE BI'S WE LOVE TO SEE IT.

i personally find ming's jealously hilarious. what a little caricature of toxicity.

anyway, it seems to me that if ming could get over his feelings and enjoy what he has in front of him he could be part of and enjoy a very sweet family, as it does seem tong IS giving him love, just not the exact flavor he craves.

the cut to joe's training made me laugh. little oat lore dump but my bio dad was actually a stunt man for movies (which is another part of why i was so excited for this show) and i can promise you nothing like this was part of it. what do i know, though, maybe things have changed since the early 2000s lol.

(no, they're probably not any movies you know, aside from maybe wild wild west [1999]. he mostly did westerns, historical docudramas, and historical fiction.)

ANYWAY AGAIN. with this little glimpse into ming's home life we get to see that he's very accustomed to doing what he wants and getting what he wants, which makes a lot of sense when applied to his almost obsessive behavior regarding tong - and now joe. i did absolutely LOVE linin and her sassy independence (minus the 'i can buy anything i need'.)

but... girl... did you just spray perfume in your mouth?

your actions are strange and unsettling. i like that in a woman.

ugh getting into ming venting his frustrations on joe's body. listen. liiiisten. while toxic without prior discussion... i'm into it. it may or may not be one of my favorite tropes in fanfic. toxic and unhealthy as fuck and i'm here for it.

AND THEN DAMN POOM THOSE NOISES. ACTING FOR YOUR LIFE BBY -- and the SNEEZE AT ORGASM LMAAAO oh i hope that's a running bit for some comedic relief.

because we then make a SHARP pivot into "then stop me" and there's so much potential for pain and self loathing there, for joe to think "i can't blame ming, i didn't stop any of it." i'm sat.

a little side bar, but i'm enjoying the fact that while there is discussion of topping and bottoming as a narrative device there really aren't any stereotypes here. i think on a surface level people would think "oh joe is the top" (pit babe style) and the show said no actually he isn't. love that for us.

"you can even move in haha jk" but the thing is, not jk, because joe would do that for ming - for anyone - bc that's the type of person he is.

[i had to stop and have a lil snack here]

hold up is this wut out drinking with them? OH SHIT IT IS. OKAY. it didn't give us much but at least it's a little connection to him finally. we knew joe knew him from his first life, just didn't really know how.

"i missed you" and when was the last time someone missed joe? not who he's replacing or the space he's filling, but HIM?

love ming's goofy ass locking the door and going inside just so he can make a dramatic ass appearance like he's 'the other woman' or some shit LMAO.

"what's in you to make me jealous?" quite possibly the worst dialogue tree choice ming could've picked.

[joe's emotional well being -45]

[everyone hated that]

"don't be so full of yourself" something joe has never been a day in his life. "you're just a stand-in." he knows. it's not something he ever forgets.

but after all that toxicity we have ming back home, seeking out joe's food for comfort, and we finally get to see him interact with his sister. i LOVE that she knows the importance of being a little silly as a treat, one of my biggest life mottos. we also get to see more of how ming is surrounded by love that he misses out on bc of his own wallowing and self sabotage.

oh, the homoeroticism of sparring with your bestie.

[everyone liked that]

oop- joe is wearing the shirt ming borrowed while sol is wearing a shirt with the word 'fantasy.' i'm good, i'm fine, gwenchana, gwenchana.

ough. sol with too many eyes on him and none of them sincere and joe with nothing but sincerity to offer but remains invisible. oof ouch.

enter ming with more religious imagery to match last week's cross scene. something something the sin of greed? confessing your sins? coveting - idk man, i don't have any religious trauma, my family let me just do my own thing.

but with ming knowing joe's true feeling every toxic thing he does is going to be 1000x more painful and i'm here for it. bring it you fucked up little guy.

"we can't mess with each other's privacy" don't mess with MY privacy. "you can't mess around with anyone else" emphasis on YOU, not we.

and then it's driven home what a romantic joe is, both with his workout heartbreak poetry and this little lady and the tramp noodle moment. this man, again much like pit babe, wants to be domesticated so bad.

and i know we all have hated on ming, that's the point, he's been a caricature of a toxic relationship spelled out in neon letters --

but when was the last time ming laughed with someone like this?

ok im exhausted, i'm falling into bed to read fanfic, but i'm absolutely in love with everything this is doing so far. i haven't written anything as in depth as this since last twilight (pre-betrayal) so it's really nice to feel insane again.

#oat meta #my stand in #my stand in the series #poom phuripan #up poompat #mingjoe #mek jirakit #clairedaring #usersasa #<- again let me know if you want to be added to my tag list - if you don't have a tracked tag i'm happy to ping you in the replies

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gotham-ruaidh · 8 months

Text

Little Bit Better Than I Used To Be

Catch up: Chapter 1 (Starry Eyes) || Chapter 2 (Save Our Souls) || Chapter 3 (Dancing On Glass)|| Chapter 4 (Merry-Go-Round)|| Backstage (1) || Backstage (2) || Chapter 5 (Danger)|| Backstage (3) || Chapter 6A (Love Walked In) || Chapter 6B (Without You) || Backstage (4) || Chapter 7 (Stick To Your Guns) || Chapter 8 (Time For Change) || Backstage (5) || Chapter 9 (Take Me To The Top) || Backstage (6) || Chapter 10 (Home Sweet Home) || Backstage (7) || Chapter 11a (Nightrain) || Chapter 11b (Nothing Else Matters) || Chapter 12a (Handle With Care) || Chapter 12b (I’m So Tired of Being Lonely) || Chapter 13a (Angel) || Chapter 13b (She’s My Addiction) || Chapter 13c (Patience) Chapter 14a (Where Do We Go Now?) || Chapter 14b (Where Do We Go Now?) || Chapter 14c (Where Do We Go Now?) || Chapter 15a (Dreams) || Chapter 15b: I Sing A Song of Love ||| Also posted at AO3

Chapter 15C: You Can Do This If You Try

Wilmington, North Carolina

Labor Day Weekend, 1988

Oh, take your time, don't live too fast Troubles will come and they will pass You'll find a woman, and you'll find love And don't forget, son, there is someone up above…

- “Simple Man”, Lynyrd Skynyrd (1973) [click here to listen]

“I really appreciate you helping me with this.”

Jamie shrugged, and took a long drink from the thermos of Gillian’s sweet tea. “It’s the least I can do. You gave me and Claire a place to stay this weekend. Away from everything. That’s a true gift.”

Dougal set his toolbox on a stump. “Thought you could use a bit of peace and quiet, here in the back country.”

Jamie nodded, and pulled his t-shirt over his head. “I think I’d forgotten what trees look like. Or the inside of a building that wasn’t an arena or a hotel.” He draped the t-shirt over the unbroken part of the fence, and bent to pick up one of the boards he’d hauled across the field in Dougal’s battered wheelbarrow. “The last time we were at a house was for our wedding – and it was Joe’s house, and we didn’t even stay there overnight.”

“I’m sure you’re staying in top of the line hotels, in their biggest suites. My guest room must be too normal for you and your bride.”

Jamie smiled, just a bit sadly. “I don’t know what normal is anymore, Dougal.”

Dougal fished in his pocket for a nail. “I won’t even pretend to understand what your life is like right now.” Carefully, methodically he hammered the nail, fastening the board to the fence post. “But I have to tell you, I’m so impressed you’re still sober.”

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

Dougal rolled his eyes. “Oh, I can think of some reasons. Like, every single thing you were addicted to, is front and center of your life on the road. We talked about this a lot last year when you were with us at The Ridge. You’re back on the road – meaning, that all that shit is in front of you all the time again.”

Jamie nodded. “I remember. You said it wasn’t me you were worried about – it was everybody around me. That I was surrounded by people who enabled me.”

“Exactly.”

“Well – things are different now. I fired the bloodsucker that was my manager. I found Colum. I had some very honest conversations with him, and now all of those people and all the shit they used to put in front of me are out of my life. Plus, one very important new person is now in it.”

“And what does she make of everything?”

Jamie held up another board, and Dougal hammered it into place.

Giving him space.

“I thought I was ready to be back on the road,” Jamie added, after a while. “I really did. But I had no idea just how fucking hard it would be.”

He set the board against the fence post. Dougal began hammering another nail.

“And?”

“And…this time, I decided to just be open about it with everyone. It’s definitely gotten easier to talk about it – addiction, and sobriety, and recovery. And people do respect what I ask. They keep the substances and the groupies away from me. Obviously it’s still there – I just can’t see it.” He paused, thinking. “On the one hand I think they understand why I can’t be around that anymore, and they understand how terrible addiction is, and how fucking difficult sobriety is. But on the other hand – let’s be real, they know they have to listen to me and do what I ask. I’m the star of the show. I get what I want.”

Dougal took a nail out of his mouth, and hammered the other side of the board. “You didn’t answer my question.”

Jamie leaned against the fence post. “I think about it all the time. Drinking. Cocaine. Being in my dressing room with three girls at once.”

Dougal stood up straight, stretching. Squinting in the harsh midday sun.

“I don’t want to do any of that shit anymore, of course. But that doesn’t mean I don’t think about it.”

“And what exactly does that have to do with your wife?” Dougal asked patiently.

Jamie’s eyes were inscrutable behind his aviators.

“Because I flash back to the shit I used to do, and then I blink and she’s there with me, in the same rooms where I used to get really fucked up. And she holds my hand, and tells me she loves me, and then I tell her everything.” He jammed his hands into the back pockets of his jeans. “I can be straight with her, and she doesn’t care. She wants to know all of this shit about me, especially the shit I’m really not proud of. Because it helps her understand what I’m working on, and why I don’t want to be that guy anymore.” He cleared his throat. “Why I’m not that guy anymore.”

“What does she say when you bring up all the shit you used to do?”

Jamie pursed his lips. “I know it hurts her. The last thing I ever want to do is hurt her. But I’d hurt her more by not telling her the truth.” He ran his fingers through his hair – almost back to shoulder length. “And every time I tell her something, she tells me something. What it was like to go through high school without parents. Or one time when her miserable excuse for an ex-husband hit her and she fixed her own busted lip in the bathroom. How she’d do surgery while high. How she destroyed pretty much all of her friendships when the pills became the most important thing in her life.”

A blue jay settled on the fence, chirping.

“I didn’t want to tell her all the shit about me, and what I’d do when I was using. The man I was. I don’t want that to…to trigger her or anything, and compromise her sobriety. But because we share it, and we talk about it, it makes us accountable to each other to not fuck it up.”

“So as much as you depend on her for sobriety, she depends on you for hers.”

Jamie nodded. “We’re tied together in so many ways, it’s insane. We are addicts. We were at the top of our professions and we were miserable. We’re terrified that one day we’ll wake up and the other person will be gone. And…” he swallowed. “When we’re together, when we love, it’s…I can’t find the words, Dougal. We waited for intimacy until our wedding night. And I’m so fucking glad we did. Because if I knew what kind of magic we can create, there’s no way I would have ever agreed to go on tour and spend even a few hours every day away from her.”

Dougal leaned against the fence post. “You never think that this could all be too much for her? It’s a tremendous amount of pressure. And both of you being in recovery just complicates things.”

Jamie pursed his lips.

“It’s like I told you last night – she’s my high. Knowing she’s there. Touching her. Sleeping beside her. Loving her…all of that keeps me grounded and focused. I wrote a song about it, and it’s the fucking title track of the new album. She’s my addiction.”

“But is that asking too much of her?” Dougal pointed to the tattoo above Jamie’s heart. “You don’t want to develop too much of a dependency. She’s not a drug. I know that love is intense, Jamie – you know my story with Gillian. But neither of you should completely lose yourself.”

Jamie shifted uncomfortably. “If you’re asking if I have other ways to cope with the stress – I have my guitar, and I have my wife. And I have a few people like you, who I trust. Right now I don’t have much time for anything else.”

Dougal crossed his arms. “You need to make the time. If not for you, for her. Especially if you’ll be touring next year. Going all around the world, far from home – your stress levels will be off the charts.”

Jamie sighed. “They already are. I’ve been having panic attacks.”

Dougal sat next to Jamie on the fence. “Has that happened to you before?”

Jamie shook his head. “Not until this tour. And not every day. We’re in early September, and we’ve been on the road since May…maybe fifteen times since then.”

“Is there one particular thing that triggers it?”

“Not that we can tell. Thank God Claire’s a doctor – she’s helped me figure out when it’s starting, and she helps me get to a quiet place away from everyone.” He swiped his eyes beneath his sunglasses. “I usually end up not being able to breathe, and crying, and freaking the fuck out, and my wife is the only thing that physically holds me together. It’s fucking scary, Dougal, and it’s so not fair to her. It’s yet another thing that stresses her out. She has had so much shit in her life these last few years, I can’t fucking stand that she has to see me like that. Deal with yet another level of my bullshit.”

Dougal turned back towards the house. Watched Claire and Gillian on the porch, shaded from the sunshine, enjoying the rocking chairs. Watched William chase around their dog Bram, knowing it would exhaust them both before lunchtime.

“I’ll be straight with you, Jamie, because it’s what you deserve. Claire told Gillian about the panic attacks, and that you were considering bringing a therapist with you on tour next year.”

Jamie crossed his arms. The flames and flowers of his tattoos flexed.

“Gillian and I – let us help you find someone. Someone you can trust implicitly. With the panic attacks, and with your sobriety, and in managing all of the stress. Someone who can help Claire, too. Because the last thing you want, Jamie, is to be in some random city in some random country and it’s two AM after a show and Claire is somewhere else and some asshole backstage has left a baggie of cocaine on your chair and you have a panic attack. And you’re all alone, or with people who you don’t want to see you like that.”

Jamie scuffed his boots in the grass.

“More importantly, you don’t want Claire to start resenting you, for being the person to hold you together.”

Jamie, surprised, whirled to face Dougal. “I don’t think – ”

Dougal raised a hand. “I’m not saying she ever would. I’ve seen you two together. What you have…it can’t be described. But don’t you agree, that you don’t ever want to do anything to fuck that up?”

Jamie pursed his lips. “I promise her every day that I won’t.”

Dougal stepped closer to Jamie. Grabbed his sweaty shoulder. “Then let me help you. Please.”

Jamie slipped off his sunglasses to meet Dougal’s eye. “OK. Thank you.”

Dougal smiled. “Consider it our wedding present. Now come on – just a few more boards.”

#outlander #outlander fanfic #jamie and claire #little bit better than i used to be

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moonlight-prose · 9 months

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Hello!! Could I request Tommy Miller with the prompt "my god, you're fun to kiss." from the f. scott fitzgerald sentence starters for the dream within a dream activity? I love you're writing!! No rush friend, have fun with it!! :D

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐎𝐅 𝐆𝐋𝐀𝐒𝐒

a/n: i am not responsible for how heartbreaking this came out. i aimed for fluffy tommy and i think i managed some of that, but the angst kinda got away from me. tommy is one of those characters that just fit angst so well, so i had to.

summary: you could remember his smile most of all. how it shone brighter than the sun on most days. how his curls nearly always fell into his eyes. but most of all...you remembered how he loved you.

word count: 0.8k+

pairing: tommy miller x reader

warnings: not explicit, angst, grief, fluff and romance, tommy being happy for a time, is reader dead? is tommy dead? who knows, heartbreak, the pain of living through the apocalypse, angst provided by listening to vera lynn's we'll meet again.

The woods were silent. No crickets, no echoes of animals in the distance, not even the fire you two built made noise. As if the world ceased to spin for a few hours, time stopping to give you the haven you’d been searching for. His jacket was draped over your shoulders, hands clasped together to seal in some warmth, as he threw another log on the pit. Nothing too big, but certainly not small enough to keep it going all night.

Eventually morning would come and the two of you would be forced to keep moving. Keep searching for that undeniable peace you ached for.

But until then…this was perfect enough.

“Tell me about your favorite movies,” you said softly, breaking through the wall of silence that fell over both of you.

He smiled. “Alright.” He shuffled closer, hands clasping over yours. “Tell me about yours too.”

“Okay…” You pursed your lips, eyes focusing on the way his hands were so much larger than yours. “Meet Joe Black.”

A soft chuckle left his lips. “The movie about death?”

You nodded. “It’s really sweet.”

“Oh I bet.”

“Okay fine then what’s yours?” you asked, nudging him as he broke out into laughter, the slight crinkles around his eyes growing deeper by the day. You noticed a slight hint of gray at his temple, his curls longer than when you first saw him. They were down to his ears, a constant irritation as they fell into his face.

You couldn’t remember the last time you helped him cut them.

“Star Wars.”

You snorted. “Of course.”

“Don’t make fun!”

“I wasn’t.”

His eyes narrowed, moving to cup your chin. “Yeah uh huh. Sure.”

The loud echo of the wood snapping in half filled the air, sparking flying up and turning to ash. And while you would have turned to look, fascinated by the orange glow of the flames, Tommy held your attention entirely. He inched closer, his eyes falling to your parted lips now chapped by the cold. Neither of you cared though. Not with what was going on all around you.

“You forgot to ask me my favorite thing,” he breathed, nose dragging along your cheek.

You let out a stuttered breath. “W-What’s your favorite thing?”

He smiled, eyes meeting yours—his breath creating a cloud in the air. “You.”

A gasp tore from your throat when his lips found yours, his tongue delving into your mouth with a soft breathy moan. And the sound obliterated you. It clawed at your insides, dragged into your throat, and made a home right in your body. A searing reminder that Tommy Miller was the love of your fucking life. The man you’d die for. He was your sun, your moon, and everything in between.

“Tommy,” you panted, eyes falling shut when his mouth dragged along yours, tongue licking at your bottom lip, dragging you into another fervent kiss you felt down your spine.

“Fuck.” He bit at your jaw, hands grasping to tug you closer and feel the way his body burned for you. “You’re fun to kiss.”

You smiled as your hands delved into his curls, pushing them away from his face. “You’re not so bad either.”

“Better not be,” he muttered, biting down on your lip and sucking it into his mouth. He released it with a soft pop. “I plan to kiss you for a long time honey.”

Tugging on his hair, you felt his groan vibrate through his chest and into yours. “What are you waiting for then?”

A screech echoed in the distance, ugly and distorted, and shattering the memory in your mind like glass, and you ignored it. Even as another crackle went through the fire, even as sparks continued to fill the night sky. You simply sat there, hands clasped together, his jacket over your shoulders, and eyes trained on the flames. How they licked at the wood dangerously, breaking it a part with each shift and sway.

Your breath formed in the night air, a cloud of grief that followed you wherever you went. Yet even that remained a comfort on nights like this. When you placed your life in the hands of the universe, or maybe even him. If you concentrated hard enough you could still hear his laugh. See his smile and feel the softness of his curls between your fingers. If you focused…you might even get to pretend that he still sat beside you, asking you nonsensical questions that held no real meaning.

If only to pass the time.

“I ain’t waitin’,” he had whispered against your lips, fingers already delving beneath your shirt. “Not anymore.”

You grinned, another screech echoing in the night air, even closer than the last, and felt a tear slip down your cheek. “No waiting,” you whispered, eyes dragging up to the treeline of the clearing—catching sight of something in the distance.

“Not anymore.”

#tommy miller x reader #tommy miller x you #tommy miller x y/n #tommy miller #tommy miller angst #tommy miller fic #the last of us fic #my writing #a dream within a dream week🍷

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altrodent · 1 year

Text

Kiss me on my mouth!

Pairing: Joe ‘Coop’ Cooper x Reader

Genre/Warnings: First kiss trope, friends/teammates to lovers, a tiny bit spicy, fluff, lots of flirting friendly tension 💕✨

Summary: After planning the perfect psyche out for your next Baseketball game, you need to figure out how to not waste your first kiss with Squeak Scolari.

“Shit!” You stop for a second, once you’re fully changed you only have 10 minutes until you have to run out to the benches with the rest of the team. The problem? You had planned the perfect game winning psyche out but, it would involve you kissing Squeak Scolari. Now, you don’t mind Squeak, he’s cute and he looks funny when he’s pissed off but, you’ve never kissed anyone before. Now you are honestly too far gone for a high-school based dream to really matter, though to you it still does. You walk around the locker room trying to find someone- scratch that anyone who you’d actually want to kiss.

You frantically walk around until someone grabs your arm “Hey, are you okay?” You turn to see your forever crush, Joe Cooper. Yes, maybe you grew too attached to Coop when you met him, but can you blame yourself? He’s cute, funny and god, his smile makes your heart melt. “Coop! Yeah, I’m okay, I have a uh- a favor to ask?” Smooth. “oh, sure, what’s up?” You inhale deeply “So I have a sick psyche out planned, and without giving too much detail I uhm…” This is a lot harder than you thought it’d be. “Yeah, what is it?” You exhale “I’veneverkissedanyonebeforebutIcan’tletmyfirstkissbewithsomeoneIdontwantittobeifthatmakessense?” He stands there blinking “…What?” You groan and rub your eyes with your palms “Coop, I need you to kiss me on my mouth!”

His eyes widen as you cover your mouth. You said that way to loudly, everyone is looking at you. You smile awkwardly before coop slides an arm around your lower back and guides you to the cleaner, empty part of the locker room. “Coop, I’m so sorry, just please let me explain-“ you were about to ramble again, and as much as you hate it, he’s growing tired of just looking at your lips. With very little hesitation he cups your face in his hands and presses his lips against yours. Your eyes shoot open in shock, before you let out an approving hum. You relax into the kiss as your hands make their way to his chest, just as his right hand lowers to your neck. Before you know it he pulls away, “God, I’ve waited way to damn long to do that.” He purses his lips as his eyes travel across your face to see how you feel. Instead of replying, you wrap your arms around his shoulders and pull him into a tight embrace. “Thanks coop.”

He looks deeply into your eyes and before he has another chance to steal one last kiss- “Ew dudes, we’re going out hurry up or I’m telling the rest of the team!” Remer groans as Coop rolls his eyes “Maybe later?” He smiles at me, god his smile… “I’d like that.” You shake his hair before jogging out. Sure you have to kiss Squeak Scolari… but you’re winning right now, so it doesn’t matter.

(A/N): Sorry I’ve been writing a lot of smaller stories recently but I’ve found that they do better. If you would like a series or reader insert I’d always be up for it, to help my inner child find peace 😌

Word count: 550

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venus-of-the-hrdsell · 2 years

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I want to get into Zatanna comics but I’m not sure where to start. What series do you recommend?

Hello! Don't worry, I can give you a short starting guide + some recommendations on this post so you can read without having to dive fully into thousands of issues (unless you want a detailed guide of more appearances).

The usual go to for any beginner is Zatanna (2010) by Paul Dini. It's her longest solo comic (16 issues) and it fits as a stand alone.

If you are interested, I'm currently working in a masterlist reading guide of her appearances. Zatanna is a very old character, so a lot of her appearances are scattered as cameo and team books, so often finding what to read is hard. If you want to get a little further into her character, these options I'm about to mention are good as well. More under the cut because this is a long post.

- Secret Origins (1988) (volume 2) #27

Offers a summary about of Zatanna's origin in the DC universe. A bit old, so the scans can be blurry, but still a nice read.

- Zatanna Special (1987) by Gerry Conway & Gray Morrow

Zatanna gets contacted by the ghost of her mother Sindella, which leads her to travel to secret city of the Homo Magi with her manager. A lot of details about her background are revealed her, it's one of my favourite comics for her.

Zatanna: Come Together (1993) by Lee Mars & Esteban Maroto

Four issue mini in which Zatanna tries to get a fresh new start in San Francisco, temporally retiring from her superhero career. Unfortunately, she doesn't expect to find her stay disrupted by a supernatural threat infesting the city. Still one of my favourite comics of her and the art is amazing too. It also explores her background from her mother's side of the family, which is always good and underrated.

Zatanna: Everyday Magic (2003) by Paul Dini & Rick Mays (one shot)

We see Zatanna in her best moment as a famous stage magician in a long tour. She seems to be doing great, but she still fights to have an ordinary personal life. Things get complicated when her former partner, John Constantine, shows up on her life once again.

This is a fun story! It's Zatanna only Vertigo solo book. There are some poorly aged jokes and the art is not everyone's cup of tea, but it's a fun light hearted read for everyone.

Zatanna: Seven Soldiers (2007) by Grant Morrison & Ryan Sook

Zatanna attends a superhero support group. Her powers are weak and she finds herself in a low spot in her life, but the arrival of a mysterious girl pushes her to go on a tripe to find her father's missing journals.

This mini series is part of a bigger event written by Morrison called Seven Soldiers of Victory, but it can be read as a stand alone. If you want further context, I recommend reading the event, though.

I really like this comic, though. I wish we got to see more of Zatanna's mentorship role.

Black Canary & Zatanna: Bloodspell (2015) by Paul Dini & Joe Quinones.

A fun team up comic! It's an original graphic novel. I love Zee and Dinah's friendship.

Wonder Woman: Agent of Peace (2020) #15

A fun team up issue with Diana and Zee spending quality time together.

Justice League Dark (2011) (New52) & Justice League Dark (2018) (Rebirth)

Now, to clarify. I don't necessarily recommend the Justice League Dark books, but I'm incluiding them since most of Zee post new 52 appearances are in these two books which are...a mixed bag. Justice League Dark (new 52) wasn't of my liking with the exception of the last third of the whole book (Dematteis did a good job, probably the best out of the three writers heading the book). Earlier writers didn't know how to handle Zatanna, her personality is very watered down just as well as her abilities, and she isn't really given spotlight, leadership and full potential of her abilities until Dematteis takes the pen. I also don't enjoy how off was the characterisation of other characters of the book and the overall writing quality and pace, but that's a story for another post.

Justice League Dark (Rebirth) is a step up in quality from New52, but unfortunately it continues with the weird personality shift in Zatanna's personality and the a lackuster character design. As much as I love Diana, who is part of this team line up, I think Zatanna should have been given the leader role and the spotlight. Out of this book, I sincerely enjoyed Ram V's stage on the later half on this run, who deserved to stay longer on this title.

That said, you can take a look on these titles, but you know, at least you know what to expect.

Bonus: Graphic novels, webtoons and stand alone stories

DC's new talent showcase (2018)

Truth and Justice (2020) #7 - 9

Zatannna & the Ripper (Available for Free in Webtoon, still ongoing)

Zatannna & House of Secrets (Kids graphic novel)

Batman: Urban Legends (#11-16)

Johnny Constantine & Mystery of the Meanest Teacher (she's a co protagonist here)

#long post #zatanna zatara #zatanna #reading guide #answered #dc comics #i hope this helps! it took me a while but i think this makes sense #okay to reblog btw

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terresdebrume · 8 months

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More fic covers | More fic recs

I mentioned I made fic cover in a recent post and it reminded me that I'd meant to make one for SJTrinity's Band of Brothers fic: Under Thunder and Rain which is THE Webgott fic, as far as I'm concerned. I've reread it something like five time in the past three months, it's ridiculous. You should read it to.

More about my thought process under the cut, with some spoilers.

So, the entire fic is amazing, of course, but the scene that keeps standing up in my mind is the one in chapter 4, where David is about to sail away on the Tusitala and Joe tries to convince him not to. I love this scene, the vulnerability in both of them, the fact that they find each other, the fact that Joe doesn't realize that it's him David was looking for in the sea. (I know David compares himself to the Shark from the Frisco chapter, but to me his fight to catch said shark is also an excellent parallel of the way he constantly has to reel Joe in and then give him some slack before he breaks the line in his struggle.)

All this to say: I had to have the Tusitala on the cover, if only because if this boat could talk it would be able to tell the tale of how Joe and David finally stop struggling and come together for good. The rain, of course, is a reference to the title and the poem David writes Joe in chapter 5, but I still wanted a bright blue sky as the background because I feel like the vivid and peaceful color are a good contrast to the way they struggle to find their way to one another (and also it reminds me of Episode 10 of BOB, where the color is back in the world and it feels like everything should be alright, but Easy is still losing men and none of them is free of the weight of the war.

The title and author name being on pieces of paper is, of course, a nod to Joe's box full of David's letters and notes, which is also featured against the title card. I wanted watercolor of a bag of groceries for the upper left corner, to further reference that first note and the fact that we don't know how significant it is until the end of the story, because Joe keeps all his cards fucking close to the chest, even if he also betrays himself in his struggle.

(Full disclosure, on my latest rereads the bits that caught my brain were

the time David asks Joe if his future wife does have a smile to die for and Joe says "yeah, it's a great smile. Drives me nuts." While running a finger over David's lips

"He wouldn't add or take away a single thing, and the people who read that book would know how fucking lucky he had been, how he had fought against it and gotten it anyways, this symphony of a life.")

Unfortunately, I couldn't find any graphic on Canva that fit the style of the rest of the cover, so I got a pastry instead. I picked the croissant because, while not extremely sweet for a delicatessen, it's very buttery, and, well: "Copious amounts of sugar and butter clearly loosened him in a way even sex couldn't achieve, because when David came and stood beside him by the stove, Joe threw an arm around his shoulder and bumped their heads together, then playfully tried to wrestle him off his feet." which I feel is also a delightfully deep insight into Joe in general.

And last but not least: the transparent text is the last note David writes Joe in the fic, standing in as the last page of Joe's unwritten book of them.

#Band of Brothers #Band of Brothers fic #Webgott #Joe Liebgott #David Webster #HBO War fic #HBO War #Matt makes stuff #Fic cover #Fic rec #15n #20n

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lil-melody-moon · 3 months

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Melody, my dear? Tell us 10 songs that remind you of 10 different people in your life 🤍

10 songs that remind me of 10 different people... I hope you don't mean people I know personally, because I will mention someone I don't know, dear Anon <3

Love Ain't for Keeping by The Who - I hear it and I think of Keith Moon right away. Could be because that was the song that made me listen to The Who or it might be because of the lyrics that I associate with my feelings to him or maybe both, it's hard to tell.

Total Eclipse of The Heart by Bonnie Tyler - I associate this one with my mom. She's a big fan of Bonnie, heck we both are, but this is the first song I heard by Bonnie and the first song that mom played for me when I was tiny. So that's my mom's song <3

Tea For One by Led Zeppelin - dad's favorite, he goes bonkers when he hears it, as in the volume goes up and there's no way somebody will turn it lower. Also the first song by Led Zeppelin dad wanted to show me and he kind of did. I just wasn't swayed by it until I grew up enough to let this masterpiece carry me with its notes.

Hysteria by Def Leppard - song I associate with @jimmysdragonsuit13 She brought me into Def Leppard and this one just makes me think of her each time I hear it. I love this song btw, but shhh...

Hey Joe by Jimi Hendrix or any other song by him - makes me think of Anja. She loved Jimi to death, actually the last fic that I wrote for her was with him, she loved it a lot. One big happiness for her in the last few weeks <3

Lazy by Deep Purple - this is @fiammee song. Whenever I hear Jon Lord playing I think of her and her amazing drawings I've seen published here. She's really talented, go check her blog out!

Tangerine by Led Zeppelin - I associate this with @groovyysav Not only for her deep love to Robert Plant, but the vibe of it I somehow associate with the vibe she gives. Country peacefulness with a lot of love and yapping <3

Boris The Spider by The Who - this is a stupid association, but our friendship is stupid as well, so @juliearchery107 that's the song that makes me think of you because of your arachnophobia XD

Love Never Dies by Julian Lennon or any other song by him - @peaceloveandstarrs is such a big fan of him that it's difficult for me to not think about her when I hear his songs.

Girl's Eyes by The Who - and maybe that's a bit not by the rules of the ask, but I can't help it. This song hit me like a train when I heard it and so, this is the me song, as in, I think about myself when I hear it. Simple lyrics, nothing too big of a song for this band, but I've never felt so called out by a song. So it gets a spot here <3

#there you have it dear!#ask corner

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tobiasdrake · 4 months

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Digimon Adventure 01x08 - The Messenger of Darkness, Devimon! / Evil Shows His Face

Previously on Digimon Adventure: Jou threw a fit because he's boring about eggs and then decided to climb a mountain. It made his week much worse.

Now the rest of the group joins Jou's group at the peak of Infinity Mountain, to see the despairful truth for themselves.

(This one's a biggie, folks. The plot officially begins today. There is a lot of talking and a lot of dialogue revisions to go over.)

At Infinity Mountain's peak, Jou breaks down at this revelation.

Jou: I don't believe this... This place really was an island! What do we do now? WHAT DO WE DO!?!?!?

Of course, this level of hopelessness is a bit dark for the dub, so - as with the end of last episode - they lighten it up.

Joe: This place could really use a good bus system. Matt: Yeah, but it looks like we're at the end of the line. Joe: Ohhh, we're doomed. Trapped on an island. We'll never get out of here alive! I knew I wouldn't like camp, but would my folks listen to me? No! I wanted to go to summer school!

They still hit the important part, but encase it between two points of comedy to keep things from feeling too tense. Though it's nice to know Joe's a proponent of public transit.

Also that he's telepathic. That first line from him is delivered while Matt and the others are still climbing the cliff, but then Matt responds as they approach Joe as if they've been holding a conversation. Also it's delivered in a completely different, much more casual tone than the freaking out at the peak.

I wonder if they recorded that bit to dub over the dialogue-free section of the footage later and didn't realize the error?

Elsewhere on Infinity Mountain, Leomon witnesses a Black Gear flying by and resolves to do something about this. Before he can follow that train of thought, however, he's attacked by Ogremon.

In the dub, rather than saying he wants to do something about the Gear, he simply says "I sense danger!" as he passes under Ogremon's impending ambush.

Leomon is an Adult-stage Vaccine-type Digimon, while Ogremon is an Adult-stage Virus-type Digimon. The narrator quickly gives us their rundown.

Narrator: Leomon. A proud Beast Man Digimon with a deep sense of justice. His special attack is Juuouken! Narrator: Ogremon. An evil Digimon whose anger gives him destructive power.

What, not going to tell us that Ogremon's attack is Haouken? So inconsistent, Narrator. We're going for symmetry here!

In the dub, Leomon and Ogremon deliver each other's rundowns, which I really like; For the dub's determination to make the rundowns diegetic, that's a good way of doing it.

Ogremon: Leomon, you may be mighty but now you face me! Your kindhearted leadership is unimpressive! Leomon: Ogremon, you are truly the most evil of the bad Digimon! There is no limit to your ruthlessness!

"Most evil of the bad Digimon!" is a little cringey. Was that qualifier necessary, Leomon? Are there good Digimon who are way more evil than the worst that the bad Digimon have to offer?

But this does a good job of conveying the rivalry that exists between the pair, which will become important throughout the series. It gets the idea across that these guys are a classic Hero and Villain duo.

We miss out on learning that Leomon's attack is Juuouken but. Like. We're going to find that out when he uses it. That's not useful background information. Plus it's written on the screen.

Anyways, Ogremon orders Leomon to leave because he's not wanted up here. Leomon refuses; The Black Gears descending from Infinity Mountain are driving good, peaceful Digimon into violent frenzies. Leomon's determined to put an end to it.

Ogremon attacks suddenly with his signature Haouken, a burst of dark purple energy he fires from his fist. The name means Tyrant Fist or Overlord Fist or Emperor Fist... The literal translation is "Conqueror King Fist" so there's a few different words for that.

Leomon counters with his signature Juuouken, a burst of orange energy in the shape of a lion's head. The name means "Beast King Fist". The twin techniques are another point of symmetry between the two characters.

The dub doesn't call either of these moves by name.

Suddenly, a voice calls out, instructing them to stop. In Japanese, this voice is eerily calm, speaking matter-of-factly to the confused Leomon and Ogremon as if he owned them.

Devimon: Stop fighting. From now on, you two will cooperate with each other. Leomon: That voice.... Ogremon: ...Devimon?

The English voice goes for a more emotional and aggressive Bad Guy voice.

Devimon: Both of you, stop! Cease this foolishness! I command that the two of you work together for me, not fight! You will work for me! Leomon: I'll never do that! Ogremon: Neither will I!

Two very different approaches to a villain introduction. In the English version, Devimon starts a verbal fight that he'll ultimately win in a moment, while Japanese Devimon comes off as more untouchably superior.

As they look around for the source of his voice, Devimon suddenly reveals himself.

Devimon, an Adult-stage Virus-type Digimon. The narrator gives us his rundown.

Narrator: Devimon. A sly and cruel devil of the Digimon World. With his Death Claw, he takes hold of his enemy's hearts.

See, that's much more useful information about his signature attack than just saying what the name is.

In the dub, Devimon handles his own rundown.

Devimon: Be silent! For I am Devimon, ultimate ruler of the demon underworld! You must obey my every command!

On the one hand, this makes for a stark contrast against Leomon and Ogremon's rundowns, singling out Devimon as his own entity in contrast to their bitter rivalry.

On the other hand, citation needed on "ultimate ruler of the demon underworld"; There are way bigger forces of darkness than this guy. We get to meet some of them in this show! Then again, he could be blowing smoke to look tough.

From here, Devimon explains himself.

Ogremon: Oh come on! Why do I have to work with this guy!? Devimon: The Chosen Children have arrived. Leomon: The Children!? Impossible! Devimon: It's taking a long time to kill them. Leomon: The one I'm going to kill is you, Devimon!

The English conversation is pretty similar.

Ogremon: Sir, you don't need that joker. I can handle whatever you want done without anyone's assistance. Devimon: I think NOT! It is the DigiDestined kids we'll be fighting! Leomon: The DigiDestined!? Where are they? Devimon: They're already here on Infinity Mountain. Now find them and destroy the entire group! Leomon: Destroy them!? I'll destroy you for having threatened the DigiDestined!

There are two main things we lose here. First is Leomon's reluctance to believe the Chosen are even here. Dub Leomon's like, "Yeah, that sounds right," as if he were already in the know.

The second is Devimon stating in no uncertain terms that the Black Gear conflicts of previous episodes were attempts by him to kill these children.

(Information that recontextualizes a bit of previous information, particularly Meramon's attack on the Pyocomon village. The implication that he wasn't going through the kids to get at the Pyocomon; He was going through the Pyocomon to get at the kids. They were the target the whole time.)

However, that information can probably be put together from inference so I don't think it's a major loss to lose that admission. Still, the way he's like, "We're going to fight the DigiDestined! They're already here on the mountain!" kinda makes it sound like he's noticing them for the first time but maybe that's just me.

Leomon refuses to be part of this and attacks Devimon with his Juuouken

It does not go well. The Juuouken phases through Devimon. Devimon vanishes as if he were a hologram, while his Death Claw rises from the ground behind Leomon and digs into his back, seizing his heart as the narrator said. While Leomon screams in pain, Devimon pulls himself up from the ground and corrupts Leomon.

Devimon: Naive. You thought you could defeat me so easily? Death Claw. Accept your baptism of evil.

Obviously, the American version wasn't going to translate "baptism of evil" in a children's cartoon in the 1990's. XD They also don't like to put "death" in cartoons so that attack's getting a name change for sure.

Devimon: Oh please, Leomon. I am not requesting your cooperation; I am demanding it! Prepare for the Touch of Evil! Now you will obey my every command! Leomon: Yes... I will... obey....

Leomon doesn't speak in the original either; He simply slumps his shoulders, then stands up with his eyes glazed over.

These two portrayals of Devimon are interesting because they speak to different cultural ideas of villainy seen in American and Japanese media: The bad guy who makes you do what he wants vs. the bad guy you never could have resisted in the first place. American Devimon is Cobra Commander or Megatron; Japanese Devimon is Frieza.

Returning to the kids on the peak, Taichi takes advantage of this opportunity to map out File Island. This will be really useful while we figure out what to do and where to go from here.

It. Uh.

It does not go well. Sora, Yamato, and Koushiro all call him out on how useless this map is, but Taichi insists that he can read it so it's fine!

While they're fretting over Taichi's map, however, Jou's despair-induced crisis continues.

Jou: It's useless to make a map. Everything's hopeless. Mimi: Why did things have to turn out like this?

The dub doesn't want to talk about this dready topic anymore so they replace it with banter.

Joe: We don't need a map to know we're totally lost; I figured that out a long time ago. Mimi: I just figured out that these gloves really don't go with this dress!

You can feel a localizer in an office somewhere like "Okay Joe's already being depressing, we don't need Mimi to start that shit too!"

Suddenly, the kids hear an explosion nearby. They race down the mountain to find that the path has been destroyed. On the other side of the gap, they find Leomon.

(I should probably specify that even more path has been destroyed because Unimon took out a couple chunks of it too.)

Gabumon and Patamon exclaim that he's a good Digimon who stands for justice, which he instantly undercuts by exclaiming, "Kill the children!"

(Every time. Every single time. "He's a good guy OH GOD HE'S ATTACKING!" never stops being funny. It's not even their fault; Their assessment is correct, it's just that the guy is always corrupted every time they deliver it. Meanwhile, as Jou asserted last episode, the kids now think the Digimon are full of shit when it comes to judging character.)

In the dub, Gabumon calls him a "just leader" which... between that and Ogremon's remark about "kindhearted leadership" it sorta sounds like they're implying that he's the Digimon's king or something? This may be a misunderstanding brought on by attack names like his "Beast King Fist".

Dub Leomon also just says, "I want the children," rather than announcing intent to kill.

The kids run for their lives from Leomon, but the wind picks up Taichi's map and blows it back towards him. As Taichi goes for the map, Agumon provides covering fire with a Baby Flame.

Leomon blocks the shot, but that hideous abomination of scribbles is caught in the crossfire and destroyed so I call this a win nonetheless. Agumon apologizes, giving Dub Tai this killer line, "That's okay; At least it didn't fall into the hands of the enemy!" XD Completely absurd for so many different reasons....

The kids race down the mountain to get away from Leomon, but find themselves pincered by Ogremon.

The sight of another assailant provokes a hilariously cynical question from Takeru.

Patamon: Ogremon! Takeru: Is he supposed to be a good Digimon too? Gomamon: He's a genuinely bad guy!

Holy shit, for once we get to fight a Digimon who's evil on purpose! The dub cuts the running gag and replaces it with banter.

Patamon: He look hungry to you? T.K.: We're too small to eat and I'm full of junk food! Gomamon: Well, he's not against a little snack.

Gomamon, why are you taking his side in this conversation?

With the kids pinned down between Ogremon and Leomon, Koushiro assesses the trap they've found themselves in.

Leomon: Chosen Children. Kill them! Yamato: Damn it! We're trapped between them! Koushiro: They had this planned from the start! Piyomon: That can't be; Leomon and Ogremon are mortal enemies!

The dub kids seem a little more relaxed about this.

Leomon: Make it easy on yourselves. Give up now or else! Matt: I don't see an exit door! Izzy: This proves the theory that well-executed teamwork is efficient even for bad guys. Biyomon: But Leomon's always been Ogremon's worst enemy; What's happened to him?

The dub conversation's a bit quippier and less urgent. Also, this is a small thing but Biyomon's actress flubs her line and pronounces Ogremon as "Argumon", and I guess they didn't do another take of that. Huh.

As Ogremon and Leomon lunge for the kids, they call attack names for their swings even though those are not their signature attacks. Ogremon calls Hone Konbou which means "Bone Club", while Leomon calls Shishiohmaru which means "Lion King's Sword".

(Again, this may be where the dub got the idea that Leomon is some sort of Digimon ruler?)

Oh, they picked a bad day for this; We have 6 out of 7 Adult-stage evolutions unlocked. Shockingly early in the episode, the battle theme "Show Me Your Brave Heart" roars in. Greymon, Togemon, and Garurumon take Leomon while Birdramon, Kabuterimon, and Ikkakumon take Ogremon.

While the Chosen's Digimon make short work of Leomon and Ogremon, Devimon watches curiously from the clifftop above, making observations.

Devimon: They evolved. ... Even though they're tired, fighting against six at once is severe.

Dub Devimon makes a couple more observations.

Devimon: They've all Digivolved! ... They have learned the secret of teamwork! This group of six attacking together is quite dangerous. But why hasn't the Patamon Digivolved?

He still notes that fighting six at once is hard, but he also expresses interest in Patamon that the original doesn't show.

Also, "They have learned the secret of teamwork!" is a hilarious exclamation, given the way it follows up on Leomon and Ogremon's pincer move. English Devimon's like "Aha, I will attack them 2-on-6; They will be powerless against such a maneuver-- OH NO, they've figured out how to fight 6-on-2!"

Absolute clown show, dub Devimon is. XD

He closes the fight by setting off a rockslide, forcing the Digimon to turn their attacks on the debris to protect the kids. This exhausts the kids' Partner Digimon and buys Leomon and Ogremon the chance to retreat.

Having to evolve twice in one day is really taking it out of them.

(Ironically, now would be a great time to press the attack rather than retreat.)

The kids assume that Leomon and Ogremon were taken out by the rockslide. Since neither of them can fly, they were probably both killed in the fall. The freak nature of the rockslide is bugging Taichi, however.

Taichi: I was wondering why the rocks suddenly fell. Koushiro: When the path was destroyed earlier, it could have created a crack in the rocks. Taichi: Maybe....

In the dub, Izzy offers a different suggestion.

Tai: It's that avalanche. I can't figure out what set it off. Izzy: Stress accumulates until a crack develops, and with excess weight the terra firma suddenly isn't so firma. Tai: You think so? It looked to me like something blasted it loose.

I think Izzy's suggesting that the weight of the evolved Digimon destabilized the cliffside. Honestly, either theory is plausible and neither is correct.

As the kids get moving again, Devimon watches from above, plotting. The Chosen Children are more powerful than he anticipated, but now that they're exhausted, he has an opportunity to kill them.

As the kids return to the forest, they discuss what happened and question how the Digimon could evolve twice in one day. Sora suggests they're getting stronger; Nothing to it but that. Either way, they're wiped out.

(It's weird that all six are wiped out. Only Piyomon, Agumon, and Gomamon have evolved twice today. Garurumon, Kabuterimon, and Togemon weren't part of the Unimon fight earlier.)

Whatever the reason, they need to stop and rest. The Digimon can barely walk. Then they spot the perfect place to take a break.

A whole-ass mansion sitting out here in the woods!? As they approach the mansion, for once the others are cautious while Jou can't help himself.

Jou: It's a normal building! There must be humans living in it this time! Yamato: Wait! It's dangerous to run in there!

But, as usual, Jou's determination to find humans doesn't make it into the dub.

Joe: A mansion! Tai: Or maybe it's a hotel! Come on! Izzy: We may have found other lifeforms. Look at the grounds! I mean, somebody had to have mowed the lawn. Tai: What a place! I can't believe my eyes! It's just too good to be true! Joe: I hope they have a hot tub. Just as long as it's not too hot. Tai: Wait, you guys! Don't just go charging in there! It might be dangerous!

There is a lot of extra dialogue added to sweeping shots of the mansion and path leading up to it. Joe's desire for human contact is replaced by a desire for a lukewarm tub. Tai lightswitches from over the moon to cautious and uncertain unbelievably fast.

But the funniest part about the dub version is that when Jou races for the door, Yamato runs after him to stop him. The dub reframes this as Joe and Matt recklessly running for the door, with Tai calling after to stop them both.

Jou was so overeager that he got poor Yamato in trouble with the Americans.

While Yamato argues with Jou at the door, Taichi explains his hesitation to Agumon.

Agumon: What's wrong, Taichi? Taichi: This building... I don't remember seeing it from up above. Agumon: Didn't you draw it on your map? Taichi: ...well...? Agumon: Did you lose it? Taichi: You burned it up! Agumon: Oh, yeah.

As with Jou's reaction to seeing the extent of File Island, Taichi's concern is still present but downplayed in the dub.

Agumon: Hey, was this on your map? Tai: Hmm... Somehow, I don't think so. Matt: Come on, Joe; Open the door! Joe: Maybe we should knock first. Matt: Joe, nobody knocks on the door at a hotel. Agumon: This place should be on your map. Tai: Agumon, if you recall, you burned up my map. Agumon: Oh, yeah.

Taichi's struck with the eerie sensation of realizing you're being gaslit, while Tai needs Agumon to even point out that something's weird and doesn't seem particularly bothered by it.

Yamato and Jou reach an agreement and open the doors. Despite visibly being in Count Dracula's summer home, the kids agree that nothing seems weird... but they are getting an eerie vibe.

Their hesitance upsets Jou, who snaps at the others for even considering bailing when we've finally found a place like this! For once, they relent and agree with Senpai.

Right away, Takeru and Mimi are struck by a gorgeous painting hanging on the wall.

Jou makes the point that an evil Digimon wouldn't have angel pictures on the wall. Checkmate, worrywarts! Sora admits that making camp is getting harder, so they agree to stay here.

The dub adds in an answer from T.K. to Patamon's question. When Patamon asks what an angel is, Takeru can't think of a way to explain. T.K. offers, "Something special that watches over you, kinda like you guys!"

Before the kids can start exploring the mansion, Gabumon suddenly smells something and everyone takes off running.

A whole feast has been laid out for them! Yamato and Sora immediately get their hackles up; This is suspicious as hell. But the Digimon don't even hang back and talk about it; They dive right in without a second's hesitation.

This sets off a chain reaction. Seeing the Digimon eating so ravenously, Jou dives in next. The others hesitate, watching Jou and the Digimon for a moment, and then they join the feast as well. Before long, everyone's eating.

Following dinner, they split up into boys' and girls' shared baths. The dub censors out a few shots where Taichi and Yamato leap out of the bath to physically force Jou to remove the modesty towel from his waist; Not hard to see why those got snipped.

It also edits out a moment where Tentomon, soaking in the tub with the rest of the boys, almost murders everyone.

Koushiro: Really! Who'd have thought this place had a bathtub? I can feel the tension draining from me. Tentomon: Would you like some electricity to help things along? Koushiro: Uhh, no....

Which gets replaced by

Izzy: Warm water is perfect for removing soil and epidermis. You know, dirt and dead skin! Tentomon: Whenever my skin gets dirty, I just shed it. Izzy: That would be difficult for me.

Japanese version's got the better joke this time around.

Meanwhile, in the girls' bath, Sora, Mimi, Piyomon, Gomamon, and Palmon try to enjoy their soak while listening to Jou's shrieks of embarrassment from the other-- Wait, Gomamon?

Palmon chucks his ass right over the wall. Gomamon lands on Jou, clonking heads together and knocking them both out. Poor Jou.

Since the dub removed the part where Taichi and Yamato violently assault Jou in a fit of masculinity, it has a knock-on effect for the rest of the bit. Sora still complains about the noise from the boys' side but it's just Joe rambling things like, "I'll get in [the bath] but I won't guarantee I'll like it! ...okay, I like it."

They also can't use the punchline shot of Gomamon landing on Jou because of exposed boy butts, but they do their best to make it work. Palmon tosses Gomamon and we linger on the partition she threw him over, while we hear an impact sound. This is followed by,

Joe: Hey, watch it, Gomamon! Matt: Where'd you come from!?

It's not quite as funny because we don't have the cruel comedy of this scene absolutely terrorizing Jou for no reason which then compounds with Gomamon's arrival. But the audible collision, startlement, and confusion on the boys' side still works pretty well as a punchline.

Finally, it's time for bed. The kids are ecstatic to have real beds to sleep in for the first time since their arrival on File Island. Jou accidentally triggers a despair spiral in the group again.

Mimi: This feels like camping school! Jou: What do you mean, "feels like"? We were supposed to be in summer camp to begin with so.... (long uncomfortable silence as everyone looks depressed) Jou: I'm sorry. Taichi: No, you're right. We all left thinking we were just going to camp. Yamato: Today's the fifth day since we came to File Island. The school and PTA must be in an uproar. Mimi: (teary-eyed) Papa... (voice breaking) Mama.... Sora: Let's get some sleep. The Digimon are tired too.

As with the previous episode, Sora is the one to puncture the despair spiral and move everyone away from the topic after Jou accidentally sets us on it. With no time to spare, either, as Mimi was audibly about to start bawling.

Mimi: How I've missed sleeping on soft, silky sheets! Joe: I'll tell you what I don't miss: I don't miss hiking through the blazing hot desert. And another thing I really don't miss is starving in the jungle. ...whoa, we are a long way from home! (long uncomfortable silence as everyone looks depressed) Joe: Sorry. Tai: That's okay, Joe. We all miss being home and I'm sure that we're all wondering if we'll ever get back there. Matt: I'll bet our disappearance caused a big fuss at school and all over town! But we've been gone so long, everybody must have given up looking for us by now. T.K.: Mom and Dad wouldn't stop. Mimi: (teary-eyed) I'm homesick, aren't you? Sora: We'll find our way back; Don't worry, Mimi. Mimi: Let's just go to sleep and try to have nice dreams.

In the dub, Mimi doesn't sound nearly as torn up as her Japanese counterpart. It takes a bit of a linguistic stretch to get them to the spiral, too.

Though I do like Matt adding the heartbreaking point that by now, everyone's probably given up hope of finding these missing kids alive. They've been claimed by the wilderness.

As night falls, the Fallen Angel Devimon emerges from the angel painting, mocking the kids for falling into his trap. "What children... falling for such an obvious ploy...."

(I love that line. He honestly sounds disgusted that this even worked. Devimon openly admits that this trap is stupid and obvious but you don't need complex chess gambits to trick an 11-year-old. Children will fall for anything; Ask Team Rocket.)

Ogremon and Leomon join him in the mansion, but before they can set to work killing the children, they hear a noise from upstairs. Agumon needs to use the bathroom, so Taichi grumpily gets out of bed and escorts him.

The villains hide, but Ogremon stows away in the stall next to Agumon and is driven out by his flatulence, revealing the ruse.

(There is a really gross piece of foreshadowing here that warrants noting. Agumon's having so much trouble on the toilet because he feels really strongly like he needs to go, but nothing's coming out. This is a hint to the fact that even though the kids feel like they just ate a massive feast, they're actually still starving.)

In the dub, it's Tai that needs to use the restroom, with Agumon insisting on coming along to protect him... Only for Agumon to be the one taking forever in a stall while still denying that he needs to use it.

The bit about Ogremon being inadvertently smoked out by Agumon's flatulence is removed entirely. Instead, shots of him struggling to breathe are repurposed to him trying not to laugh while they're talking about him.

Agumon: I don't know if that ugly green guy scared you, but he really scared me; Who knows where he is now?

So I guess Dub Ogremon ruined the ambush, exploding from the stall to reveal himself, because he thought the timing would be super funny. Who hasn't screwed themselves over to land a joke they probably shouldn't have delivered? It's a universal experience.

Taichi and Agumon flee from Ogremon, screaming a warning at the top of their lungs to the other kids. Leomon is waiting for them in the hall, pincering them.

Then Devimon reveals himself, telling Taichi it would have been better to remain asleep. Agumon identifies him as Devimon, the "strongest evil Digimon!"

(This may be where the dub got the "ultimate ruler of the demon underworld" line from. Devimon is not, in fact, the strongest evil Digimon. This is basically the local chapter of a global evil organization. He is, however, the strongest evil Digimon on File Island. The regional lord of evil, not so much evil emperor; A distinction that Devimon would be aware of but Agumon would not.)

Since the quiet assassination failed, Devimon goes loud. He fractures the mansion, revealing the entire place to have been a ruin manifested into the illusion of a mansion by his powers.

The kids wake up startled to find the mansion in ruins around them. Devimon levitates their beds, separating them from each other. Worse, the Digimon are still weak and starving. Now that the illusion of the food they ate is gone, the strength they thought they had is gone with it.

Taichi demands an explanation. Now that he's directly engaging the Children, Devimon even lets excitement slip into his voice.

Taichi: Why are you doing this to us!? Devimon: Because you... are the Chosen Children. Taichi: The Chosen... Children? Devimon: Yes. You are nuisances to me. Me, who plans to take over this world with my Black Gears!

At that, he uses the gears embedded in the island itself to split it into pieces. The Children, trapped in their levitating beds, can only watch in shock and horror as these huge chunks of landmass break apart from one another and begin sailing across the sea.

As the pieces break apart, we see each of the Children looking down on familiar places from this journey: Seadramon's lake, the Pyocomon Village, the Factory of Redundancy Factory, and Toy Town. All isolated on separate chunks of what used to be File Island, moving across the ocean under the Black Gears' power, spreading out in every direction to cross the Digimon World - with Infinity Mountain remaining stationary at the center.

Devimon: File Island has already been taken over by the Black Gears. The other side of the ocean is next! Taichi: The other side of the ocean? You mean there's more to this world than this island? Devimon: You won't be seeing it. This place will be your graves.

The dub skips out on this infodump, with Tai instead arguing with Devimon about his friends.

Tai: Listen, you! If you don't bring back my friends, you're going to be in really big trouble! Devimon: That's amusing. My concerns are much more important than your friends! Tai: That's my only concern! You bring them back now! Devimon: Bring them back!? You impudent brat, you dare to order me!? Allow me to show you who's really in control here! You see, I have discovered the secret of the Black Gears from below! I call them forth to do my bidding!

Dude forgot to explain vital plot information because he got caught up in a bickering match with an 11-year-old. That's okay, there's plenty of shots of the island breaking apart to insert new dialogue over.

Devimon: You and your friends happened upon this tiny island, which is just one of the fragments of the Old World scattered across an enormous ocean! You pretend you are strangers who know nothing of this, but I am aware that you are the DigiDestined who were sent to rescue this world from my domination! Tai: You got us all wrong! We were just some kids at summer camp who somehow got sucked into your world! Devimon: Your little act no longer amuses me. It's time to bring an end to the DigiDestined!

Dub Devimon is super convinced that the kids are here voluntarily and are plotting against him. Original flavor doesn't care how much they know; They're the Chosen Children, so they die. That's all there is to it.

Between squabbling with Tai and "You're secretly plotting against me, I know it!" the dub version of Devimon comes off a lot more insecure than the suave and confident original.

(One of the fragments of the Old World? Honestly can't remember if that's a plot point from later in the series or if the dub made that up.)

In any case, this place will be the Children's graves. That's a problem.

Agumon tries to defend Taichi with Baby Flame, but can barely work up a spark. Leomon knocks him aside with Juuouken and rushes Taichi, pressing him against the wall. The other kids can do nothing but watch in horror as Leomon draws his sword.

Just then, Taichi's bed crashes into the ground next to them and his Digivice falls out, hitting the ground by Leomon's foot and glowing with purifying energy.

The Digivice drives out the corruption from Devimon's Death Claw. In the dub, Agumon exclaims, "The Black Gear! The light drove it out!" but we see no Gear because there isn't one. Devimon's Death Claw corruption is a different metaphysic.

(Though he seems to have created the Black Gears so it's likely their functionality is based on his Death Claw.)

Dub Tai also has inappropriately timed questions about the lore.

Tai: (picking up his Digivice) Leomon, do you know what this thing is? Leomon: I can tell you that, for me, it is proof that you are one of the DigiDestined! The Digivices are powerless in the hands of anyone else. Devimon: That's right!

Guys there are six children suspended in the air right now, we can chat about this later.

Realizing things are turning against him, Devimon conjures the beds the other children are on to fly straight down and crash into the ground, attempting to kill them on impact. Leomon fiires off a Juuouken at Devimon, chasing him from his perch; For some reason, this stops the beds from falling and they resume their previous levitation loops.

Before Leomon can attack Devimon any further, Ogremon leaps in to face him. For lack of options, Leomon breaks off the island chunk Taichi's on and sends him falling onto a floating bit of landmass to get him out of here, while Leomon stays back to hold the line.

Leomon calls out to Taichi that the children are the only hope for this world and they must survive, and that he hopes to meet them again. Then he throws himself into the fight with Ogremon and Devimon.

As Taichi floats away, Devimon attacks Leomon with his Death Claw. The last we hear of him is a roaring scream from the island, too far away now for him to be in view.

We close on Devimon lamenting the Children's escape and making plans for next steps.

Devimon: Oh well. I'll kill them off slowly, one by one. Leomon: Kill... the children....

Leomon gets the last word of the episode; A distressing but not unexpected return to the Death Claw corruption of before.

Dub Devimon's taking this a bit harder.

Devimon: The DigiDestined survived our first encounter but it won't be the last, I can promise them that! They must not interfere with my plans! They MUST be destroyed!!! Will you do this for me, Leomon? Leomon: Your every order, I shall obey.

Dub Devimon has mad Saturday Morning Cartoon villain energy here. And, like, they were releasing this as a cartoon so it fits. I love how he has to prompt Leomon to talk though, 'cause Leomon doesn't have a frequently-repeated madness mantra he can just intone.

(Ogremon over there like, "Fuck am I, chopped sushi?")

Assessment: Strong introduction for our villain. Arguably too strong, as there's multiple points where it only feels like we survived by authorial fiat. Especially the part where he tries to crash the beds into the ground.

I do like his plan here, though. We're already seeing that Devimon is a man of contingencies. He planned to stab them all in their sleep; They'd go to bed tonight and just never wake up. But if that failed then as long as he got them before they got out of bed then he could separate them in the sky and bring them down one at a time for assembly-line murder. But if that failed then he can Hail Mary and just hurl them as fast and hard as possible into the earth.

That's a good set of fallbacks. I like it. Devimon's got a good head for, uh, child murder.

It probably goes without saying that I prefer Original Devimon to Dub. I see what they're going for with the dub version of the character, but I like the quiet dignity of the original.

That bedroom talk really got to me, though. Watching this as a kid, I just saw a bunch of kids on an adventure; I didn't really comprehend the danger they were in. But as an adult now, any time the show dwells on the fact that these are lost, scared, hungry children being hunted for sport, every parenting instinct in my body seizes up.

Watching Digimon at 10+ and watching it at 30+ are vastly different experiences.

#digimon #digimon adventure #revisiting digimon #revisiting digimon adventure

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pocket-deer-boy · 3 months

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So i was crolling and saw a post about you answearing this anons question

"Dutch? You mean like the former colonial empire? If you think colonisers have to kill themselves, bad news..."

And you saying you are in favor of deconolasation (sorry if i wrote it like shit inglish isnt my first lenguage)

And i been hearing this word eversinse the beggining of the palestinian genocide

And maybe i missunderstanding the idea but, dont peopole live in the now colonised bits of the land? Does decolonasation inteal that the New people in those bits be removed from them?

Again its extremly probable that im just missunderstanding the idea but i wanted to know if you can either asnwear my quetion or just point me to some resources about the topic

Thanks for your time

no, decolonization does not necessitate settlers being forced out of their land. that being said there are israelis living in houses which less than a few years ago belonged to Palestinians who just had to leave town to visit family or something. I would say "stealing houses" does entail giving those houses back to the people who lived there, probably.

In Palestine's case however, they literally live in an apartheid state where different groups of people are given different rights, with the rights of Palestinians being subject to the whims of israelis. It is for example, completely legal for an israeli citizen to occupy the house of a Palestinian. That israeli person now legally owns that house even if they had to break in to get there. In Palestine's case, Palestinians have had so much land stolen that so many of them of them were living in Gaza simply because they'd been forced out everywhere else. Israel created one of the most densely populated cities on earth by corralling Palestinians into it.

Creating the situation in Palestine required conditions so unfair and so dehumanizing to Palestinians, and so much violence was necessary to create those conditions that decolonizing Palestine is not going to be a clean and peaceful process. Ending a genocide is never going to be a clean and peaceful process to the people committing and complicit in that genocide.

That being said the united states of america could have at literally any moment in the last uhhhh. Almost a year? had a sitdown with the president of israel, maybe a couple of phone calls to get him to stop killing Palestinians. Like, joe biden if you're reading this you could make a couple phone calls to just tell weapons manufacturers to stop handing weapons to israel. you know if confronting the president of israel is just too difficult for you and you want to ghost him for some reason? like, joe biden babygirl you could get off your ass and form a coherent sentence that could've ended this genocide at literally any moment

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littlemissheavenonearth · 5 months

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Hey there again! Your last fic was amazing, so I was wondering if you do a more challenging one , which is enemies to lovers! (Joe fic)

Can't wait to see it!! ✨

thx for this request! Here it is:

Love Don’t Lie (Joe Elliot X Reader)

a/n: I wrote this with my bestie @elliotts-personal-property! She’s so talented ❤️

Joe Elliott. There were many words I’d use to describe him. He was a loudmouth, a know it all, a bit cocky, and overall just irritating. I got a headache just thinking about him. It was as if he got a kick out of seeing me get all riled up over him. Of course luck would have it that I’d be his next door neighbor. I had the absolute joy of knowing him since I was seven, when my family first moved into the neighborhood. My luck didn’t seem to want to end, because it turned out both our fathers went way back, from when they were in primary school. Those two thought it was the greatest thing that we lived next door to each other. They would always go on and on about how we’d “carry on the family tradition and best best friends.” That couldn’t have been any further from the truth. From the beginning we got off on the wrong foot, which didn’t help. “Do you like football?” he asked with clear excitement laced in his voice. “It’s alright, but I much prefer netball.” “That game’s for sissies.” I couldn’t help but roll my eyes at him. From then on there was always one little offhand comment or another from him. He always felt the need to voice any and all of his opinions to me. That got old, and fast. We disagreed on just about everything. Constantly fighting like cats and dogs from the moment we met at seven up until we turned sixteen.

Every time he’d come over he either bother the hell out of me or give me the silent treatment, which I actually preferred. I couldn’t even escape him in the comfort of my own home when he wasn’t hanging around. Being next door neighbors in a terraced house there was never any peace. His bedroom was situated right next to mine, and I swear it was his life's mission to make as much noise as humanly possible. I couldn’t count the number of times I had banged my hand against my bedroom wall, hoping he would turn his music off or down at the very least. In school he was a bit better and we ignored each other the best we could, considering we had multiple classes together. He did try to strike up a few conversations every once in a while, which I for the most part would shut down. Without looking away from the teacher he half whispered to me, “We’ve got a test today?” “Yeah, I thought you knew. Since you seem to know everything else.” “Oh don’t even start with me Y/N.” “Is there a problem you two?” Our English teacher asked. “No-” “Yes.” “Sorry sir,” I said with a fake smile, “Everything’s alright,” I added, getting the final word in after he had tried to cut me off.

Throughout the years our parents would always have us hang out, since they were convinced we were best buds. As we got older, anytime our parents wanted us to hang out we’d make an agreement to pretend to go out, only to immediately abandon each other to go on our own separate ways until we had to go back to our respective families. There was one day though that was different. I watched as my fathers car took off down the street and out of sight. “You can go now,” I told him. I glanced over at him to see that he hadn’t moved from his spot on the couch. “Eh, I don’t really feel like it,” Joe said, kicking his feet up and resting his hands behind his head, making himself more comfortable. “Since when?” He replied with a smile, “Since now I guess.” I sighed in defeat, knowing there was no point in trying to get him to leave now. “Fine. I don’t want you bothering me though.” I eventually headed upstairs to my room, which he quickly followed behind. I couldn’t tell if he was following me around just so he could be a nuisance or not. He stayed there in my room with me for the whole duration of our hang out. We both mostly kept to ourselves, but every now and again he’d ask me different questions. Joe looked through my records before asking, “You like Queen?” Barely glancing up from my book I nodded, “Yeah, who doesn't?” He held out my copy of Sheer Heart Attack to see, “Can I put it on?” My demeanor towards him slightly changed as I flashed him a quick smile,“Sure.” That was one of the very first days I felt like we actually got somewhat along. I didn’t seem to mind having him around. For once I didn’t feel like ripping my hair out by the time he had left. It felt a bit weird after that, knowing in the back of my mind how normally I couldn’t stand him.

But there are some exceptions. Over the years I’ve noticed Joe getting bullied for his personality. Now don’t get me wrong, I hate the guy, but a guy in our art class one day made fun of Joe’s band posters. I think it might have been a Thursday afternoon, like the second to last class of the day. I was sitting in the back of the class sketching humans. I wasn’t good at drawing, but it was a fun thing to do. Joe loved music, rock n’ roll specifically and he wanted to make something related to that as an art project for class. He made band posters of famous bands and one band I hadn’t heard of before, “Deaf Leopard” I think it was. I’m not gonna lie, that band name did not sound bad.

That Thursday afternoon, Joe was finishing up his “Deaf Leopard” poster, like final touches or something, I try my best to not pay attention to him.

“Your music posters are lame,” I heard someone say. The Joe I know would respond quickly with a retort, but this Joe remained quiet. He was looking down at his poster.

“What? Are you gonna cry?” Teased a friend of the guy. This was getting on my nerves, so I stood up.

“Hey!” I yelled from the back of the classroom, yeah, it got the attention of everybody, they all turned their heads, “What’s your problem?”

“You’re really gonna let a girl stand up for you?” Joe just watched what I was gonna do.

“And you’re really just gonna stand here making fun of my boyfriend’s drawings? ‘Cause that’s lame of you.” I honestly did not care that I called Joe my boyfriend, I didn’t try any other ways, but this seemed like the only way to get the arsehole to piss off.

I definitely think that the guy had other things to say, but instead of saying them, he and his friends just walked away. And by then, class had ended, Joe and I decided to walk to our next class together.

“Hey, thanks for stickin’ up for me,”

“No need to thank me, Joe. I’m only stickin’ up for ya ‘cause you’re an incredible artist. They’re jealous. Honestly, I’m jealous too.”

“Nah, I’ve seen your art. It’s incredible.”

“Thanks.”

We made it to our next class, science. Joe sat in the second to last row and I sat behind him in the last row.

“Welcome, children.” Said Mr. Smith, our science teacher,, “We are gonna be doing a lab today.” As usual, the students groaned. Mr. Smith began telling us which groups we were gonna be in.

“Joe, Y/N, you two will be a group.” Of course we are. We got up and went to our lab. I poured water into one of the graduated cylinders and then put it on the scale.

“Joe, could you tell me how much the water weighs?”

“Uh, according to the scale, it weighs about 10 grams.” I nodded and wrote it down in my notebook.

What we did most of the class was observe how the temperature of the water changed depending on the type of salt that was put in it. It wasn’t all that interesting, I prefer biology over chemistry.

“Alright, thanks everyone for today’s class. See you all tomorrow.” I usually walked out of the classroom to leave the school as fast as I could so that I could get away from Joe. Something in me made me stop this time, I stopped to wait for Joe and I have no clue why.

“Are you waiting for me?” He asked.

“Yeahâ€¦” I hesitated, supposedly embarrassed by this. He had a knowing smirk on his face, but how could he possibly know, if I don’t know why I waited for him.

We walked out of the school and in the direction of our houses. I usually walk on the sidewalk, but Joe wanted to take this path in the forest that rarely anyone ever goes on.

“I got a question for you, y/n.”

“Yes?”

“Why did you call me your boyfriend in art class today?” Heat rushed to my cheeks quickly and I wanted to hide.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I tried, but Joe saw right through me.

“Y/N, don’t lie to me.”

“I wasn’t lying, I had no idea what came over me.” Joe frowned at my response, like he wanted to hear something else.

“Are you sure? The Y/N know would never call me her boyfriend. In fact, Y/N hates me. Do I hate her?” He paused and looked into my eyes, I looked back at him too, waiting for an answer to the question, “No, no I do not. In fact, I never have. We were just so different and it was so difficult for us to get along that I managed to convince myself that we hated each other.” The way he said those words was so powerful. It really got me thinking.

“I hated you because I thought you hated meâ€¦” ” He stepped closer to me and took my hands in his, “Joe, I felt an emotion for you that is actually the opposite of hate. And for a very long time too.”

He leaned down a little bit so he was closer to my height, “What if I told you that I feel the same way?”

“Can you prove it to me?” I smirked, he nodded and lifted me up. My legs wrapped around his waist and my arms wrapped around his neck. Then, we both leaned in at the same time and kissed.

After years of convincing ourselves that we were enemies, it all comes down to this. I won’t deny that Joe is the love of my life, except when our parents ask, then we’ll both deny it, but I don’t mind holding his hand while walking to class or lightly kissing on our walks back home. I love you, Joseph.

#Love don’t lie #joe elliott fanfic #def leppard #joe elliott fanfiction #joe elliott #joe elliott x reader #rocksy and Kris’s writing

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