#i don't want to say I singlehandedly did that but uh

[dollopheadsandclotpoles]

There are people on the tag who are like 'omg merlin is trending!! haven't thought about merlin in ages, I should rewatch' meanwhile merlin is trending because it's being removed from netflix

[indigo-casson]

something that i've been thinking about lately is the parallels between star wars: andor/rogue one and tamora pierce's trickster's queen duology. primarily because the star wars brainrot is real and the tamora pierce obsession is forever, but also because they are kind of both tonal and thematic departures from their main 'verses in some similar ways?

in both the star wars verse and the tortall verse, the majority of the media has focused on one individual (or a small group of individuals) who make a profound difference in the world. Whether that's alanna singlehandedly finding the dominion jewel/becoming king's champion/making way for female knights, or luke skywalker blowing up the death star, or daine and numair going to the divine realms during the immortals war, or anakin skywalker becoming a sith and dooming the republic, most of the original material has seen battle and political change as something that is affected by either an actual chosen one or simply a single very plucky and well-placed individual.

trickster's queen and andor, however, really look at rebellion as something that has to be done by a diverse group of flawed people who work together despite their differences. mon mothma knows that her role is raising money. ulasim, chenaol, and the other members of the raka conspiracy each take their individual roles in the rebellion, and recognize that even though they might not want to work with aly or the luarin nobility, they need their skills and influence to make it happen.

both stories also show rebellion as extremely costly and something that requires making tough calls. nobody has their hands clean by the end of a civil war. notably, trickster's queen explicitly narrowly avoids having the protagonists kill a group of 5 year olds. luthen is ready to kill cassian when he becomes a liability, and cassian does kill lots of people, including some allies whose only "crime" is being susceptible to giving up rebellion secrets.

in rogue one, we don't like davits draven because he orders jyn's father killed, and that just feels wrong. jyn is our heroine and it upsets her, so emotionally it's distressing. but of course, draven and cassian and jyn are all working towards the same goal. draven did what he had to--galen erso is a liability as long as he's alive. dove and sarai's little brother elsren has to die because he's a direct heir to the throne, ahead of his sisters. it doesn't matter that he's five and totally innocent. as long as he lives, a luarin has a greater claim to the throne than a raka, and as long as that's true, the rebellion can't succeed.

in the star wars original trilogy, people for sure die! i'm not trying to say that they don't, but it's definitely not something that's shown affecting our protagonists on a deep, emotional level. they're all side characters, or else they come back as force ghosts. the prequels are uh. fucking tragic, but at the end of it, almost all of our heroes make it out. even the casualties of the war are droids vs clones, which is to say, totally interchangeable cannon fodder on both sides!

the number of character deaths in the tortall 'verse is fewer, probably because it's primarily created for middle grades, but even when people do die, they're either demonstrably bad people or minor enough characters that the emotional resonance isn't the same.

by contrast, at the end of trickster's queen, almost the majority of the main conspirators die in battle, not to mention those who don't even make it to the final conflict. at the end of rogue one, all of our heroes are dead, and people aren't exactly making it out of andor s1 in good shape either. more than half of the aldhani team dies on that mission.

I could go on further, but I think my main takeaway is that once you've invested a lot of time and attention and fandom into a 'verse, you have a lot more leeway to tell different kinds of stories. tamora pierce could not have written trickster's choice until after the values and world of tortall were so clearly established, and if she had, it wouldn't have had the impact that it did. similarly, part of what makes rogue one/andor so striking is the fact that it is such a departure from the preexisting values and story format of star wars.

for every chosen one we see in media, there are hundreds of people working behind the scenes to make their big, death star destroying moment possible. the only way to improve society is through collective action, and part of that is that everyone's hands are going to get dirty. i think lots of people want to imagine that they could be like luke skywalker and swoop in 2 weeks before the battle of yavin and become a hero, but the fact of the matter is that that's not how the world works! war requires us to do things that would ordinarily go against our values, but in the context of a drawn out, bloody, thankless battle, maybe we decide the ends justify the means.

[booze-hats]

Job Interview

"I thought you hated everything."

The words kept echoing through Spades Slick's head. I thought you hated everything. He didn't hate the whiskey sour in front of him and he didn't hate the table in front of the booth he liked to sit at, even if he hated the cushion he'd singlehandedly worn down since the last time he remodeled the club. He didn't hate the club, either. He didn't know if he hated the guy on the other cushion, though. He did hate that it was probably more comfortable to sit on the other side, sure, but that had nothing to do with his complicated feelings surrounding Problem Sleuth.

A hand crossed his vision and Slick looked up. "Hey, Earth to Spades, buddy. Can you hear me over there? I said I thought you hated everything."

Slick scowled at the hand, batting at it angrily. "I don't hate everything. How the hell would you know what I'm in the business of hating anyway?"

"I don't. I'm just getting my ducks in a row." The detective flashed one of those award-winning shit-eating grins in Slick's direction. He could've stabbed the stupid son of a bitch over it, too. Instead of reaching for the knife in his pocket, though, he picked up his drink and shook his head. And Sleuth, ever-aware, mirrored the motion strategically, at least, that what Slick thought. Lawmen did it to him before, acting all natural and coping comfortable gestures for the sake of rapport and intel. "Figuring out the business you wanted with me. Usually you're not telling me to sit down."

"Yeah, well, some fish ain't big enough for me to fry, I figure if rumors're true and you're lookin' for a job, you can finally do something useful in this city."

As expected, that knocked the smarmy look off the bastard's face. It fell kind of slowly and a light left his eyes, which cut across the bar. It made Slick tilt his head and raise his eyebrows in fascination. He'd seen it a thousand times before, but this time, it was interesting. Sleuth paused for a second before getting his next line out.

"Didn't know it was a rumor." "Mhm."

For maybe a solid ninety seconds, the affirmative hum hung in the air between them. It felt like Slick waited, and waited, and kept waiting for the guy to say anything. He could ponder the public state of his finances all he wanted, he wasn't going to make any more money sitting there looking stupid. If Sleuth wanted to waste time looking stupid, he could, at least until the end of his ninety seconds, when Slick got bored of waiting. That's how it usually went, anyway. He didn't usually study the guy's facial expressions either, though.

Slick sighed dramatically after a hundred seconds this go around, reaching across the table. He patted Sleuth on the face condescendingly, a little too rough. The detective pulled away from his hand, looking... Surprised. Slick was surprised to see him look surprised. It was better than when he looked all snarky, with those stupid green eyes blown all wide, it was almost funny. Sleuth cleared his throat. "What was that?"

"Makin' sure you was still with me. You want the job or not?" "What's the job?"

That's what Slick hoped to hear. He sat back against his booth, digging in his pockets before sliding a folding and crumpled piece of paper across the table. Sleuth wasted no time in opening it up and examining the contents. The map was crudely drawn and the handwriting was barely legible, exactly what was expected of the esteemed Spades Slick, but it was certainly a map. He's able to discern the docks and identify a few labels on the warehouses, which Sleuth determined, was probably sufficient. One of those warehouses were marked, distinguished from the others by a star drawn across it.

"I got a bug problem." "A bug problem?" "Mhm. Infestation. Sons of bitches won't get outta my fuckin' warehouse."

Sleuth looked at the map incredulously, then back at Slick. "I wear a lot of hats, Spades, but uh, I'm not an exterminator. I've fixed roach infestations in my own apartment but-"

"Not... Literally, fuckin' twit." "Then I'm going to need you to clarify what, exactly, you expect me to do here." "I was gettin' there before you started talkin' about hats. I want you to go clear 'em out. Spook 'em. Make 'em think the law's on their asses. Just run 'em out, ring the number on the back, and you're done. Easy work."

Sleuth sighed, looking back at the map in front of him. He'd lived in Midnight City for some years now, he'd worked briefly on the city's police force, and for more than that, he'd been chasing down Spades Slick. If he knew anything, he knew that there was no such thing as easy work in Midnight City, and Slick certainly didn't have a habit of sharing the easy parts of work with anyone but himself. He flipped the page to look at the phone number before looking back at the mobster in front of him and weighing his options.

"Fine."

Slick reached out for a handshake and Sleuth returned it, folding the paper and sliding it into his pocket. "Great. I'll be waitin'."

Sleuth stood up. "Mhm."

==>

[moorishflower]

hi!! im absolutely astounded at the amount of depth and heart thats in all your fics, and im also very floored at the amount at which you write—im at a cross between admiration and maybe jealously lol!! I wanted to ask, are there any fic of yours (sandman or not) that you think are underrated/deserves more attention?? super excited for everything you ever write!!

asdfg anon thank you <3 So I have a Problem where I have a lot of anxiety about what I create, and when that's writing, if I am not writing The Next Great Novel, then I need to sate the brain demons SOMEHOW, and writing a LOT is the easiest way to do that. I want very badly to please people, and fortunately it's not a hardship for me to write the amount that i do, though I AM trying to consciously like. Take breaks if I need? Take a night off? Keep it healthy looool. But that I'm able to write things that people are consistently finding value and meaning in is a continuous and beautiful marvel to me so thank you, thank you very much!!!

So I read your second part of the ask wrong at first and had gathered uh several fics which I think are underrated that are NOT mine

One Half of a Whole by @violetequus8 - Absolutely REMARKABLE post-apocalyptic literature. Equus captures an entire world and history in 4000 words. There are sentences in this fic that rewrote my brain chemistry.

The entire like this slumber that creeps to me series by @tobrokenstone - THIS. This is survival the way I fucking LOVE IT. Bleak, stark, hard decisions, lasting consequences, surprisingly tender cannibalism (this last may be...specific to me and a few select others lol)

Once again repping the point-set-triangulation series by therm0dynamics, which is singlehandedly the series that got me into Hob/The Corinthian (it's about MIRRORS it's about PARALLELS)

And at this point I realized that you'd asked about which of MY fics I think are underrated, and I was just so caught up in the thought of repping my friends that I lived in a world where I did not write for a moment loool

Salt and Rye is the result of a prompt on tumblr. I wanted to try and capture that feeling of recreating a parent or grandparent's recipe and failing, because it's SUCH a disheartening moment, but I wanted to make it lighter, because Hob has someone there to share the comedy of it with him.

Here there be dragons is my latest fic in the Siren AU and I do think that people who aren't into scifi in general will be more likely to give it a pass, but I'm very proud of it, and very proud of the emotions it evoked in ME, and I promise it's not hard scifi like The Martian or even really pervasive scifi like Star Trek! I just tried to think realistically about what our planet would look like and feel like in 1500 years, and how we might need to leave it. Also, Dream's still a carnivorous octopus man.

an act of faith is the vampire fever dream that struck me at like 3pm on a Saturday and I blacked out for like two hours and this was what I'd written during that time. I enjoy writing obscene levels of devotion and you can't really get much more obscene than "willing to tempt death year after year even though no one's asked you to in order to prove to YOURSELF that your lover loves you"

Honestly I don't think many of my fics are underrated! They're all written at different points in my development and my understanding of myself as a writer, and they range pretty widely in terms of theme and genre sometimes, so some, statistically, are going to be kind of niche! And that's okay! I guess the only thing I'd say is that even if you think something isn't your jam, unless the tags are specifically triggering you give it a try! The worst thing that'll happen is you get a paragraph in and then back out again. An extremely smart person (it was @xx-vergil-xx <3) recently said something along the lines that part of healthy interacting with art is also knowing when to put it down, but it's also important to give different things a chance so that you learn more about yourself and your preferences. I myself am trying to expose myself to and write more angst? Because it makes me deeply uncomfortable to do so! But that's a valuable feeling to know and recognize! Idk i just think we all get different stuff out of writing and it's just nice that I've been able to provide something to so many people <3

[placegrenette]

Who are wives of ZaQ and Alem? Like do you know anything about them more than their name? Thank you :)!

Why yes, anon! Admittedly some of this stuff I'm not very well informed on, and I will kick you over to the lovely Sara (@bbcblackjack) for more detailed explanations. But I will also thank you, for giving me the the opportunity to say nice things about Veronika and Zhadra!

So, first up: Veronika Zhangalova and Alem started dating in... I want to say, 2019? I'm not sure. And then very quietly got married in 2021. I don't know her birthday or hometown but I'm pretty certain she, like a lot of Kazakhstanis, is ethnically Russian, and she may only speak Russian and not Kazakh but don't quote me on that. Anyway. She was, and is, a working model (here she is modeling some of Bibotta's clothes, for example) and was working in some kind of management capacity for Juz when she and Alem started dating. I don't know if she has an official position at Ninety One's company, but given how active she is on IG / TikTok, it wouldn't surprise me if she did some kind of social-media content management for them. (It would also not surprise me if she were the one to suggest that the absolutely epic face she pulls at about 3:50 of last year's Aqtobe tour stop video be kept in final edits, and thus preserved for Eaglez' enjoyment forever.)

Also, by the way, the story I have heard is that Veronika is singlehandedly responsible for the Irina Kairatovna / Ninety One bromance, as she was in an IK video and then introduced the two groups to each other. So if you liked "Taboo," you now know who to thank.

If you go through the Veronika tag on @ninetyonekz you'll figure out pretty quickly that she's an unabashed Ninety One fangirl and also very dedicated to promoting herself and Alem as True Love. I do think there's a bit of calculation in this: promoting the two of them as True Love enhances their individual respective brands, to give it the most crudely materialistic spin. But I also think that the calculation is in the social-media posting and not the love itself: that she's genuinely crazy about him and he about her, and they like to hang out together and have shared hobbies. Q-Eaglez apparently gave her some grief when it was first revealed that they were dating (which was, IIRC, an Eaglez asking at a fanmeeting, "There's something going on between you and Veronika, right?" and Alem bashfully replying, "Uh, yeah"), because a lot of Q-Eaglez are immature teenagers, but hopefully that's died down by now and everyone can just enjoy good-hearted people being publicly happy with each other.

Speaking of which:

ZaQ's wife's name is Zhadra Abdulzhapparova, and I honestly know even less about her background than I do Veronika's, although given her name I strongly suspect she's ethnically Kazakh. She may also speak Russian only? I'm not sure. Anyway, she has been Ninety One's primary hair and makeup artist since at least 2017, as she has sole MUA credit for "Su Asty," but she and ZaQ didn't get together right away, I think they didn't become a couple until 2018 or 2019.

(Yeah, Ninety One are apparently kings of office romance, which has worked out beautifully in two cases and still leaves me a little nervous. You can start to understand why Bibotta at one point had to devote a whole series of Instagram Stories to shooting down rumors that she and Ace were an item. Like brother and sister, she said. I'm pretty much hoping that's the case for all the other women working for Ninety One at this point, with regards to Ace and Bala.)

I don't follow Zhadra on IG, so I've missed a lot, but my impression from following the guys is that ZaQ kept things pretty quiet until the split from Juz and then posted this pic with the caption "Wife," in April of last year. Which of course set off some speculation, which turned out to be unnecessary, because in July THEY GOT MARRIED and it was WONDERFUL, Boss Yerbolat gave a toast and sweet Nurs Bazarbay danced all night and Bala did the Macarena and everybody Instastoried the heck out of the event and I just had a big smile on my face all morning watching the live updates roll in. And now that they're married, ZaQ makes no secret of finding his wife super cute. I think Zhadra's less outgoing on social media than Veronika (and generally less interested in being a celebrity in her own right), but they did do one professional photoshoot together, from which the above photo was taken.

(Also see here for a ramble on my part on why it's particularly adorable that ZaQ, of all the members, married the group's makeup artist.)

Also the cats are originally Zhadra's, which is why you may now refer to ZaQ as Cute Cat Stepdaddy. Their names are Flerken and Vivian and I don't know which is which.

One thing I've noticed (and I've referred to this before) is that ZaQ & Zhadra + Alem & Veronika seem to work well together; last year they traveled as a foursome to the UAE to see 50 Cent perform, for example. Which is a good thing, if I'm right. I also think that the natural outgrowth of ZaQ and Alem spending more time with their wives is that Ace and Bala have been bro-ing around with each other more than either of them have with the other two (hence Space Season 4 Episode 4, 75% of the footage of which is Bala beating up his hyungs and Ace videotaping it). I mention this to shoot down the hasty conclusion that Zhadra and Veronika, separately or together, might be sowing dissension within the group; I think the individual friendships between the members can (and should) change over time, as they age and grow and confront new challenges, but "change" doesn't equal "become worse." I prefer to hope that everyone gets along with everyone else and Zhadra and Veronika are universally valued parts of the whole Ninety One enterprise.

Finally, anon, I have not the slightest wisp of a clue who Ace or Bala (or AZ) might be dating. If you hear anything credible, feel free to report back!

[starlightshadowsworld]

Danganronpa 3 Future Arc episode 8

Thonks.

Oh shit time rewind.

So we're back in the past seeing former teachers fight the Remnants.

Cool.

I guess this is the recruiter guys backstory? Koichi.

... Well at least we know the bloods red.

Back to the present and yup yikes Hiro is still on the roof being shot at.

Say what you will about Hiro but man has managed to singlehandedly avoid being shot while being fired at from all sides.

That's impressive.

And the cavalry is here!

Byakuya my dude, great entrance.

You wouldn't leave him you caaareee you can't deny it Byakuya you carreee.

"Somebodies gonna die because of me"... Oh yeah, straight back to Makoto having a crisis.

Fun.

Awwh shut up no, he promised Komaru he'd come back.

I know Makoto's not one to go back on his word but given he started this whole arc about to be arrested for life and or executed.... He erm... Wasn't gonna be keeping his word.

Well I doubt Kyoko or the others would let it happen so there's that but yeah.

It's sweet seeing Komaru give Makoto a words of encouragement, a hope speech if you will.

He needs one.

And the smile.

I forgot no one told em Gekkogahara was a robot, probably should've lead with that.

Confirmation that Makoto can run in classrooms.

.... Annnd straight into Munakata standing ominously with one eye.

Oh no.

Okay but the stabbing the sheath into the ground, pulling the sword out and in it's reflection is Asahina and Makoto.

So cool.

Words I don't usually use for Munakata.

And Gekkogahara is still functioning and just fighting Munakata.

Oh we're finally gonna find Kyoko, heck yes.

Speaking off, right back to her trying to investigate who killed Izayoi, aka the knife guy.

You know, I appreciate Kyoko for her dedication to her craft. There are no class trials but she knows how this games work.

Everyone wants to leave cos they might get murdered, nope they'll leave when she's done.

I admire her for that.

Idk if Ruruka tripping on some stuff means anything but Koichi says he's glad she just tripped and isn't trying to mess up the crime scene.

So, making a note of that.

Ah fuck Juzo's here.

Man I didn't care about Izayoi either but wow how flippant you are about his death.

Especially in front of his girlfriend.

Byakuya giving off the vibes of a man who's just so tired but he's got a job too while Hiro annoys him.

So they're stashing boxes with a danger sign on them.

"Don't you dare die before I have a chance to rescue you."

He totally cares.

Uh huh yeah sure like you're gonna be able to kill Kyoko Kirigiri, Juzo.

You can pretend to be a main character all you want, you sir are just a loud ass side character.

Koichi throwing something at him should've have made me laugh but here we are.

Oh! Oh he figured out his forbidden action, damn Koichi really pulling his weight this episode.

So Juzo can't throw a bunch, that's why he's fighting with a knife.

Despite being the former ultimate boxer.

That is quite interesting. And I love the idea that someone who talks down to people without a ultimate talent is now prohibited from using his.

Making him just no better than a talentless normal person.

Koichi is just ripping into this man that punching is probably the only thing he's good at.

Ah I love this, good shit.

Koichi sharing his forbidden action, which is opening his left hand.

Sure why not, makes for an interesting fight which I think is coming given how he's egging on Juzo who has the temperament of first game Byakuya.

"You are not even worthy of speaking that man's name."

... Munakata, Munakata, Munakata, Kyosuke Munakata.

Man you and Chisa have like 0 self respect, it's kinda concerning.

WAIT what was that, flashback for like a second of Junko on him and he's on the ground... Did Junko beat him?

That's a story, can't wait for that.

Nice, Koichi used the booby trap to get him. I don't think he's dead though. I love that it was just an accident too that's amazing.

Dumb luck man, never underestimate it.

AH HECK! Ruruka did mess shit up, fuck Kyokos going down.

Oh no... Koichi had to open his hand to save her... Fuck, that's good that's so good. Awh and he was bring poisoned and still got her to safety.

Man... Dude really honoured his promise to her father.

Aww baby Kyoko is so cute.

And she'll never know why he saved her.

Devastating.

Oh no Juzo got an energy boost from sweets.. Ruruka I know your doing a bit but I never needed to hear Juzo get called big boy.

I don't think she's the spy even if she's helping him rn, it just doesn't feel that satisfying.

Monaca being Gekkogahara, amazing twist didn't see that coming.

But Ruruka's been sus from the start, I feel like this is just so she can survive and get on Juzo's good side so he doesn't kill him.

Maybe?

Watch me be completely wrong.

... If that chocolate can actually mind control people I am suddenly very concerned for Izayoi and glad Seiko couldn't have any.

I don't think it can but weirder shit has happened in this franchise and Juzo has lost it.

Nevermind.

"I'm no ones puppet"

He really just said that didn't he?

I guess he isn't because he is very happy to be Munakata's bitch.... I mean, henchmen? Friend?... No I think I was right with bitch.

I love that Kyoko is just like why murder, when you can solve the mystery.

So true.

Ayy we unveiling cause of deaths, finally some investigation in my killing game.

Confirmation Seiko's dead, sad I liked Seiko.

Izayoi was stabbed after he died to make it look like that was what killed him, clever.

I love that Juzo is just unnerved by her Detective skills that he's just like... Okay explain..

Shouldn't be surprised to be honest, unless I'm remembering incorrectly the Kirigiri's are known for being a detective family.

Even than, you guys still worked together and would know each other's talents.

... Kyoko did you... Did she just lick Izayoi's saliva off her hand, for evidence?

... She did...

Man Kyoko don't mess around.

Reveal of the door!

Rukura killing Izayoi is a lot more satisfying of an answer, brutal.

I mean killing your boyfriend/childhood friend is a lot.

"Wow you really are cold."

Ryota, shut up.

Do not diss Kyoko for trying to move the plot along and saving all your asses.

Besides, you think this is Kyoko being cold?

"I know. I have to be, because I'm a detective."

Badass, and while true you have grown and you care and that's alright.

Ooooo post credit scene.

Byakuya and the gang breaking into the building.

And the buildings coming down..

... What on earth...

[tsui-no-sora]

yes i can and will call you out out, im stealing the revive book i am singlehandedly reviving cringe culture /j

i mean. cdream is a caffeine addict, it's basically canon if you ask me, i am now having a very vivid image of cdream sat in a heap of books and note papers drinking coffee straight from the pot as punz anxiously hovers at the edge of said pile, clutching a bag of steadily cooling McPuffNuggets.

yeah the odds for a full 100% happy ending for cfiances are Slim, especially since they're all at uh. very different lore wrap up stages. the lnv finale is very likely going to be the end of quackity's character. the odds for cdream dying or /p dreamnap somehow reconciling in that stream are even lower than the fiances wedding so it's definitely not gonna be the narrative end for sapnap. and im not even touching ckarl with a ten feet pole. i saw the ghost post btw, i am very much hoping that ccq isn't just gonna kill his character off entirely. atleast he's gonna wrap his story up, which is something which i've only heard a few ccs talk about. rip cranboo i guess. literally.

honestly, if we're looking at the scene from a doylist perspective the most likely interpretation is proabably just that ccsapnap wasn't prepared to rp a mental flip on his fiance And his murderhobo bestie. in character he probably he just filed it away for later when he wasn't actively preparing to fight dream.

don't worry finn, we all have our c!diskduo demons hidden away in the tumblr drafts. mine probably are the polar opposite of yours but the point still stands.

i mean you don't have to agree obviously, but i think inconsolable established firmly that wilbur had no fucking clue that dream had gotten out of prison. even if you consider the possibility of him lying to tommy, the fantasy sequence made it pretty clear that he still expected dream to be locked inside the prison. so it's either train talk or prison visit. i still haven't gotten around to rewatching that scene, i'll let you know what i think once i do.

csam has to make the ultimate decision between stopping the collapse of las nevadas and bringing cdream a bacon and cheese sandwich as quackity watches in despair. take a guess what he chooses. i wonder if csam has any plans to end his character.

i mean especially cdteam is also a complicated, tangled and angry mess, but yeah q and sam had care but also this very business like and scary.y vibe to them. i would genuinely kill to see a confrontation between them during that stream now that both underwent very drastic changes in mentality (for the worse or for the bettter.

im genuinely trying to keep my expectations low and simple, even though i fear that the first is probably a disservice to ccquackity's work and i literally cant help the second.

I'm not depressed" TikTok audio which I mean pretty fitting for them

I really wonder if that's actually going to be the ending of the character I have the feeling like the most lore based ccs are trying to wrap up their lore already which I don't know if it's in preparation for the second season because Foolish did say he was getting near his last streams for the first season but he called it that directly implying that whatever the world altering event is will lead to the second season and well Wilbur had said that while the lore will be done with his character he would still be around so maybe Quackity will still be around just with less serious lore which a ghost character could work pretty well for that

C!Ranboo is so dead he's just so dead but I really wanted to know what his deal with c!Dream was c'mon at least tell me that man

I really am so confused on what direction the dsmp is going to go

Yeah that's probably pretty true but now I don't know when to really chuck things up to eh it's just the streamers improving because not everything is that serious because after seeing how specific their scripts got at points during the tribute video I think I may have severly underestimated that point in the past

The latest one I had was like a 5 page essay on c!Dream c!Tommy and obsession that I was so close to posting but that I held back on because maybe society just isn't ready for it just yet and the other one was c!Dream c!Ranboo c!Tommy and The Plan that was pretty much just me crying because c!Tommy c!Ranboo friendship matters to me but so does c!Endersmile

So yeah I bet they are complete opposites on almost every regard to ironically I feel like we agree the most on c!Tommy himself

I guess I didn't see it as what he was expecting the most just as what he was one more used to and what made more sense because well in a real setting if c!Dream wanted to kill c!Wilbur it wouldn't really be a difficult task for him to do so therefore what made more sense in my brain is yeah his fantasy takes place here because it's the only possible place it could occur in c!Wilbur killing c!Dream like that and c!Quackity and c!Sam torturing him like that are things that could only happen there makes it all the more imperative that he stays there

But on that case train talk it's what makes more sense because c!Sam didn't really let other people visit c!Dream c!Sapnap did say that getting past him for any visit at all was incredibly difficult so I don't think he would have left c!Wilbur in

Honestly if that did happen in lore I would just be cheering on for c!Dream getting his cool moment of revenge I think he's earned it by now and I don't think he does whenever he brings up c!Sam or any of his other dsmp oriented proyects it's only to talk about what more things he wants to do to my knowledge he hasn't really spoken ever about putting an end to the server or to any of his characters and I don't really think he wants to he seems to have a lot of fun in it and he's part of the members who have been on it the longest after all

C!Dteam are everything to me and also have so many issues that I just don't know how their happy ending could go but I'm still holding onto for hope okay

C!Sam and c!Quackity confrontation just really calls to me because look at all the awful things they did together they both know the other is capable on some pretty inhumane things a business relationship like that is dangerous and seeing how different they are now than when they first met it would just be cool to hear them talk about it

[willowedwisteria]

i know that i should be saying this to pink but after what shes been through i ought to give her some space since shes got a busy life but like-

so i decided to uh look for her source of inspo which is you-

can we talk about the many achievements she did during her time in tumblr like how she singlehandedly manage to revive the cookie run fandom with her SACRK AU

how she manage to get popular writers look at her genshin works on her previous account

how she made fanart and submitted them to you despite her artstyle not being on the anime side which the hate anons like to shit on

how her quotev story breaks the norms of the genshin quotev cliche stories by getting your villain darling au to quotev cause she wasnt comfortable writing a long story on tumblr

and dont forget her latest work of having her only pokemon post at the top of the pokemon x reader page that one time

and of course her biggest achievement...

her sending you the ask that birthed the villain au when she was an anon.

like i said, i know i should be saying this to pink, but given her posts about how she was not going to write anymore HERE due to feeling like a 9-5 worker and the hate anons shes been having months and even on her previous blogs, i was surprised that despite all that, she still hadnt given up on writing completely. and i thought, wow, wisteria mustve have motivated pink that much despite being younger than her.

but this also should be a lesson to everyone else >:(((

you shouldnt treat writers like they're just workers in a retail shop! they're writers that have a passion on making imaginations come true! not only that, they have lives outside of tumblr.

if they say they're going to delay/go on a hiatus/etc, be understanding! dont demand for more content when they got 100+ asks in their inbox! dont rush them when some of them have school and college to deal with!

thank you for coming to my ted talk and im sorry for clogging your inbox

-long time lurker anon am sorry

Oh my gosh, I genuinely cried reading this.

@byulla-ponk <3

I have a few things I wanted to say about each paragraph.

1. I'm glad you're thinking about her space and probably the ridiculous amounts of asks that are in her inbox. I'm grateful to people like you and I'm sure there are many out there who feel the same way.

2. I'm very happy and even proud of Byu-byu's (Pink's) achievements. She was very aware of what she was writing, she knew when to stop the moment CRK started getting involved with NFTs. Reviving the CRK fandom in Tumblr isn't an easy task and I'm so happy about her getting the attention she deserves.

3. Normally, as a writer myself, I don't actually read much. The fact that other writers actually read Pink's works is an amazing feat on its own, not to mention that I wouldn't be surprised if someone mentioned that they were inspired by Pink.

4. I was always happy to receive fanart and I personally have no right to judge someone's art style because I don't draw myself and I have no idea how to. Plus, every artist has their own style. Even if it isn't too appealing to the eye, everyone can still appreciate art.

5. I was definitely surprised to find out that someone went all the way to quotev and STILL CREDITED AND MENTIONED THAT THEY WERE INSPIRED BY ME. It wouldn't a shocker to me if anyone just took my ideas without crediting me at all, especially on another website.

6. Having your works at the top of a page is certainly remarkable. I know this might sound weird coming from someone who is younger than Pink, but I knew she had potential and, with practice, she could be an amazing writer.

7. Her biggest achievement, her sending me the ask that lead to the creation of what's now the most, if not, one of the most popular AUs in the SAGAU genshin plot hole. It might have been ultimately a misinterpretation on my side, but it was a blessing in disguise.

8. I understand and I'm extremely grateful for Pink's sake that there are anons and fans out there caring for her wellbeing. According to Pink, she's currently focusing on real-life things. I was surprised about her not giving up, but I would totally understand if she decided to go on a hiatus due to the unreasonable hate being thrown at her.

As a fellow writer and Pink's inspiration, I feel like I should look out for her and understand the pressure she might be going through. My encouragement can't compare to how resilient she has been facing against hate anons.

MASSIVE NOTE: If I give you motivation, that doesn't sum up to a reason why you shouldn't quit doing a specific action if you genuinely are tired of it or you just don't like it. Just because I might be your main source of joy and inspiration, that does not mean you shouldn't quit writing when I offer you encouragement IF WRITING IS TAKING A TOLL ON YOUR MENTAL HEALTH, WELL BEING, AND ENERGY.

In my humble opinion, treat writers as human. Some writers will always have this feeling that they should always write out whatever someone had requested to them. Please be considerate about what kind of updates they've been giving, their rules and regulations, your attitude towards the writers, and their mental health.

Thank you anon for sending this ask to me.

-Wisteria

[hyperfixationspam]

fantasy high characters as things i've heard at school (from teachers and students)

Fig: Yeah, I used to be a hoe back in the day.

Fabian: All the girls want me for my money. I take you on a date, I buy you a gumball.

Fig: Kristen's a big lesbian, I'm a big bi, Fabian's a big... uh... whore?

Adaine: It's horrible here. Everyone's gay and it smells bad.

Goldenhoard: You're going to detention. | Fig: Oooh, cute!

Riz: On a scale from one to ten, ten being the dumbest a person can possibly look, I'm a nineteen.

Fig: Just because anal is my catchphrase doesn't mean I like to do it.

Kristen: Hey, you want a condom? | Fabian: (through tears) Yeah.

Tracker: Kristen jokes about wanting to lose her virginity in a Walmart but she says it so much that it's kind of worrying.

Gorgug: I asked what a bukkake was and Jawbone came up and explained it to me.

Fabian: I thought you got an Apple and I was really proud of you but then I realized it was an Android and you're poor.

Bill: Hey! No sex in this household if you're not wearing full armor!

Fabian: There's no one here that I like. | Riz: I am sitting RIGHT next to you.

Ragh: I punch furries and minorities, and you're a double whammy.

Fig: Principal Aguefort lowkey has a handsome energy.

Fabian: I was in the middle of beating my meat and my battery died. | Riz: The battery in your dick??

Fig: If this school burns down, I'll be over here roasting marshmallows.

Gorgug: What would happen I call girls oatmeal? | Kristen: You'd get all the girls.

Fabian: If the vice principal's in prison, we're legally allowed to leave.

Riz: Aguefort is NOT a twink, he's a twunk at best.

Fig: (winks) That was a threat!

Gorgug: You won't find anything dirty in my search history, all you'll find is Japanese dubs of Phineas and Ferb.

Torek: I fucking hate this school. So many fake skaters.

Kristen: Riz! Stop biting the condom box!

Fabian: I can only listen to Oh No! by Marina and the Diamonds, any other music makes me physically sick.

Riz: My mom asked me what I want for my birthday and I don't know how to tell her I want a Spiderman costume.

Fig: I drew fanart of Coach Daybreak as a long furby and he threatened to kill me.

Gilear: People judge me for drinking too much diet soda but at least I don't do meth.

Kristen: He's not hot, he just has a leather jacket.

Fig: Everyone's first crush was on a Creepypasta character. | Adaine: Your experiences are NOT universal.

Gorgug: Oh, my single brain cell is TWEAKING right now.

Kristen: The answer is 69 but Biz wouldn't know that because virginity rocks.

Fig: My teacher kicked me out of class because he couldn't handle my energy.

Kristen: (chanting) KILL THE CHURCH! KILL THE CHURCH! KILL THE CHURCH!

Fig: Tieflings are a gateway drug to more tieflings.

Riz: I drink protein drinks! | Fabian: Oh, cool, what kind? | Riz: Um. Nesquik.

Adaine: I did bad on my test so now I have to listen to the entire Steven Universe soundtrack.

Fabian: (coughs up blood) That's from all the bad vibes at this school.

Riz: Hey, if I ate this rock, what diseases would I get?

Fig: Sometimes I forget how white Kristen is and then she does that little wave at me.

Kristen: I fuck Helioic girls until they're not Helioic anymore.

Fig: I just wish I could see Satan's face.

Fabian: I think we should restart the trend of shoving nerds in lockers, starting with Riz.

Riz: Stop staring at me and do your work. I'm not an attraction. I'm just a kid eating paper.

Aguefort: Don't wander around the hallways or the drug dealers will get you!

Fig: I'm having a crisis! No, I will not elaborate!

Ragh: Freshie is a slur.

Riz: If I had magic I would probably set my balls on fire.

Adaine: This class is singlehandedly making my hair go gray.

Ragh: Hey, do you mind if I beat your ass?

Kristen: Lift your head up, queen, your strap is falling.

Riz: Ew, I don't want your lice. My lice are fine on their own, thank you very much.

Kristen: God blocked me on Facebook.

Gorgug: Wait, pineapples are real?

Kristen: I'm trying to convert her to lesbianism. She's already a liberal so it shouldn't be hard.

Gorgug: Do you ever just wanna like... kill people? | Kristen: ...No?

Fig: Dude, are you watching porn? | Fabian: No! It's hentai!

Adaine: My sister asked me if she should get a tattoo of baby Yoda?

Riz: Someone offered to give me a stick and poke and I was too scared to say no so I have a tattoo now, I guess.

Gilear: I just don't understand why people are attracted to foxes.

Adaine: Well, I'm traumatized. | Jawbone: Noooo, don't do that!

Fabian: Good news, everyone! My fish died.

Ragh: It's like when you level up in a mobile game, except I leveled up to homosexuality.

Gorgug: The door's locked. | Riz: Only if you don't believe in yourself!

Sklonda: I'm concerned for your health and safety. | Riz: I don't have health or safety.

Adaine: Capitalism isn't a cult. | Fig: Money cult. | Adaine: Hm. Good point.

Fig: Ugh, I want her to crush my skull like a watermelon. | Adaine: Ayda would never do that! | Fig: Exactly, that's the best part!

Gorgug: Hey, Zelda, you wanna go see the Sonic movie together? We can hold hands during the scary parts.

Fabian: They're old enough to have sex, they're like 10.

Gorgug: I have a science question. How do the fish in Spongebob have a swimming pool if they live underwater? | Adaine: Spongebob's not real.

Adaine: And guess what lives in my backpack? My computer. | Ayda: Aww, I thought you were gonna say a small frog.

Fig: Someone needs to tell Aguefort that his teachers are wilin.

Gilear: I might be hungover on Wednesday but we'll power through it.

Kristen: I hate gay people because all my problems were caused by a gay person. It's me, but still.

Gorgug: I can't wait to go back to real school and get bullied.

Fig: Ooh, you practice Satanism? That's so poggers.

Fabian: You're all just Rally's fry crumbs to me.

Fig: If you have chemistry class, just leave. You don't need that kind of toxicity in your life.

Jawbone: Nooo, you don't suck! Unless you want to.

Adaine: It is shocking that people are still ignorant to racism just because they don't experience it firsthand. | Fabian: Yeah, anyway, y'all hear about Kanye cheating on Kim with Jeffree Star?

Aguefort: When I was your age, we attacked each other in person like civilized people!

Riz: Oh my god. The school is selling students on the dark web!

Fig: You should go to Build-a-bear! | Gilear: I think if I went to Build-a-bear alone I would get put on an FBI watchlist.

Riz: I forgot to take my antidepressants but I've had a coffee and two donuts so that's almost the same thing!

Fig: Goldenrod is my poor little meow meow.

Riz: Someone called me kawaii, I hate it here.

Adaine: Our lives aren't interesting enough for Aguefort to be in the mafia.

Kristen: Gilear is only slightly dilfy.

Gilear: Can you stop talking about the Aguefort hoes? I'm not interested.

Adaine: I like your egg earrings! | Ayda: THANKS THEY'RE EGGCELLENT. (exhale) Oh thank god, I've been waiting to say that all day.

Adaine: WHY WOULD YOU ERASE THE FROG YOU MURDERER??

Gilear: This yogurt tastes like my desire to kill myself.

Fabian: I'm NOT on crack, I'm just in sports mode.

Ragh: I'm gonna go home and do manly stuff. Like cower in pain.

Fig: Everyone here is bad at their job but I still respect them.

Gorgug: I'm a gamer! I play rock paper scissors.

Kristen: Uh oh, my lesbian's getting out of control. I might have to neuter her.

Jawbone: You're only tired because of capitalism. | Fabian: Could you elaborate on that? | Jawbone: I could.

Kristen: That wasn't very gender sexuality alliance of you.

Gorgug: I don't like insulting people. If I want to hurt someone, I'll just murder them.

Ragh: I have so much brawling to do.

Fabian: It's not that I don't hit women, I just don't hit lesbians because I know they'll beat the shit out of me.

Adaine: Forgiveness is not an option, but death is.

Riz: You called my mom a milf! | Fig: Well, what was I supposed to do? Lie?

Helio: That is an excellent question which I will not be answering.

Adaine: The librarian scares me. I feel like she would punch me without remorse.

Fabian: He's the Jack to my Rose but in a bromance way.

Kristen: If God loves me, I'll do good on this test.

Adaine: I'm not a big fan of trespassing. | Fig: Why not? It's so much fun!

Goldenhoard: Trust me, if I was racist, I would have called you a slur a long time ago.

Gorgug: Wow, this song is... bonkers.

Fig: I could never work in customer service. Like "oh have a nice day!" Gross. I could never.

[milkybonya]

corner store (part i)

order 039, anon: large milk tea with taro balls for ptg's Changgu

warnings: mentions of killing, gunfire, smoking, suggestive content

summary: Changgu, your local corner store worker. oh, did i mention he works for the mafia?

barista 🥛's 💌: ty to monsta x for singlehandedly giving me enough motivation to write this shitE OKAY goodnight <3

[x]

ever since you moved out into an apartment of your own, you've had terrible nightmares. someone's always watching over you in your house and it always feels so real. but ever since you met a certain someone just below your apartment, everything faded away.

who knew the pretty boy in the black turtleneck who sold you crappy iced coffee at the local corner store was actually one of the most skilled killers in the city? you certainly didn't.

you garnered your crush for him privately, rushing down to the corner store every day of the week even if you didn't need anything.

i need a coffee right now.

i'm running low on shampoo.

i'm craving apples.

any excuse you came up with lead you to that pretty boy behind the counter

Changgu, his name tag read. his fluffy hair and delicate smile were enough to make you weak and have you holding onto the counter as he cashed you out. he made you melt.

"at 5:32am, police received a report from locals that gunshots were being fired. after arriving at the scene, they were met with dead bodies sprawled around the area. the bodies were identified as members of a local gang, and the group behind the crime are thought to be none other than the mafia.

the mafia often leaves a symbol behind when they commit crimes. it takes the form of a simple 'x'. if you see this symbol on anyone or in any location, please contact the local police at--"

"ah, how silly. crime is crime. it's always happening, right?" Changgu told you after switching off the old TV in the corner store.

he cashed out your items for you and placed them in a bag, sliding them towards you and wishing you well. you turned away from him after watching him roll up his sleeves and reach for a hidden pack of cigarettes just under the counter.

-

a few days pass and Changgu's replaced by someone else in the corner store. you ask the new person what happened to Changgu, and he replies saying he'll be back soon after taking care of some business. the newbie's nametag reads 'Hyunggu'.

-

"hey, someone was asking about you in the corner store today," Hyunggu tells Changgu as he checks the ammunition in his gun.

"ah, it must've been the regular. you did tell them i'd be back, right?" Changgu asked Hyunggu, scanning his friend's expression.

Hyunggu nodded and smirked, saying, "you've never cared about anyone like this before."

Changgu scoffs but knows Hyunggu hit the nail on the head. there's something about you that makes you so unforgettable in Changgu's mind.

-

when Changgu's back at the corner store, you race to the counter with empty hands.

"how've you been?" you ask.

he throws you the same, sweet smile he always does and tells you he's been just fine.

"not buying anything today?" he asks, raising his eyebrows at your empty hands.

"oh! no, uh... i just forgot to pick anything up--" you start to explain, but Changgu cuts you off.

"it's fine, i'm just playing! you don't have to buy anything if you don't want to. want a coffee, on the house?" he asks, already grabbing a cup before you can even agree.

he slides you the cup after he's done pouring it for you, watching you take a sip with a smile.

"how've you been, sweetie?" he asks.

"m-me, i--"

it's only then, when he slightly leans his head back and his bangs shift slightly that the deep bruise on his forehead is revealed. he knows, right away, that your cut-off sentence is because of his bruised skin.

"ah, don't worry about this, it's--"

he leans his neck away from you and the fabric of his turtleneck struggles to stay in place, reveal two thin, black lines that seem to be travelling towards each other.

X.

Changgu notices where your eyes are and he quickly pulls up his turtleneck, pretending to organize something under the counter.

"it's getting dark, you should probably head home," Changgu says, and you take that as your cue to leave. but you don't forget the mark you saw on his neck.

-

"what would it take to get you to remove that turtleneck?"

Changgu laughs hearing you speak the words that you didn't even realize the double meaning of until after you spoke.

"maybe in the right mood, back at my place," he flirts, and you shake your head at him, trying to hide your red-stained cheeks.

"you're hiding something," you say.

"everyone's hiding a lot of things," he retorts, scanning your snacks and adding up the total cost.

"no, i--"

"i can tell you more about it if you wait until the end of my shift tonight," Changgu cuts you off as he tightly grips the counter, the outline of his knuckles clearly showing.

he's holding on for dear life, trying to ground himself as he feels himself falling deeper for you.

"i'll go for a walk and come back later, then," you say, grabbing your snacks.

Changgu's cold hand reaches for your wrist.

"it's dark out, don't leave," he says.

"what do i do, then?" you ask, turning back to face him.

his eyes flit from side-to-side as he thinks, then he throws you a smile.

"keep me company? there's a chair here, behind me."

"your manager won't get mad?"

"the manager's my best friend; you met him before."

you throw him a confused look, and he tells you that Hyunggu is the manager of this corner store.

"i'd expect someone older to manage this place," you say, stepping behind the counter and sitting on a beanbag somewhere next to Changgu.

"people often expect older people to do a lot of things, but you'll be surprised to find out how many young people get all the dirty work done."

-

unsurprisingly, you end up in Changgu's bed, tracing the mark on his neck that was indeed an 'X', the mark of a mafia member. he turns his head to look at you, shifting from his back to his side and drowning his neck tattoo in his pillow.

"are you glad now you know?" he asks, his voice raspy.

"i'm just glad, point-blank glad," you respond and he smiles--that soft smile that first captured your heart.

"how could someone with a smile like yours and soft, fluffy hair be a killer?" you ask, running your fingers through his locks.

"maybe 'cause i made a deal with the devil and somehow ended up in this mess?"

the way you cock your head at him each time you're confused drives Changgu just a little insane. he has to squeeze his eyes shut to avoid kissing the life out of you.

"the nightmares you had, dear, they were real. since you moved here, someone's been keeping tabs on you 'cause you moved into the flat of a mafia enemy."

"Changgu... how do you know about my nightmares?" you ask.

"you don't remember telling me?" he asks.

you watch his bicep flex as he shifts his arm. you definitely don't remember...

"i just ran petty errands for the mafia before. Hyunggu told me to keep charge of this corner store for him and keep an eye on you to make sure the mafia didn't step out of line when watching you. they almost did a few times, but i made sure it never happened."

"Hyunggu told you?"

"he's a few levels above me in the mafia hierarchy."

"he's in the mafia?"

"yes, dear. is this too much? should i stop?" Changgu asks, cupping one of your cheeks in his hand. his touch is cool.

"no, it's okay. go ahead," you reassure.

"the mafia got mad at me for meddling in their business. i told them to stop being so nosy and meddling in your life, and they told me they would keep that promise if i joined as a hitman--"

"you're a hitman?"

"i'm sorry, am i making you anxious?" Changgu asks, a worried expression on his face.

"you became a hitman just to protect me? did i even know you back then?"

"you came by the corner store quite a bit," Changgu recalls, smiling fondly at the memory.

"you realize none of this makes sense, right?" you ask him.

Changgu nods, pulling you towards his chest.

"isn't it more beautiful because it's so chaotic?" he asks you and you can't help but agree.

what a mess you've gotten yourself into.

part ii

[kaydeefalls]

For the ask meme: The Conspirator's Gift

3, 19, 25

(Also: this got me into Cadfael!)

OH AWESOME! I'm so thrilled to have lured you into my fave comfy mystery series! <3 So: The Conspirator's Gift - my incredibly niche X-Men fusion AU.

3. Any deleted scenes that didn't make it into the fic?

This fucker is over 80k words, does it LOOK like I deleted anything? 🤣In all honesty, though, I don't tend to delete entire scenes once I've written them -- it happens, but it's VERY rare -- mostly because I edit so continuously as I write that I rarely get to a point where a scene needs to be excised wholesale. It just gets reworked. For this fic, the biggest edit I made was swapping an entire character out of the story and replacing her. Moira, in this fic, started out as Rogue (with Moira in a very minor role as her maidservent). I was well over 10k into writing it when I realized that her character just wasn't working the way I wanted, and the subplot of her hiding her own mutation was going to needlessly complicate an already twisty plot (originally, the climactic fight scene was going to end up in Rogue's hands, quite literally). Fortunately, that character had only made a couple of appearances at that point, so it wasn't too difficult to rewrite those scenes, but it did involve a serious tonal shift -- Rogue was a teenager terrified of her own powers, so changing her to be the much more mature, level-headed, nonpowered Moira did make a significant difference. But I think the story worked better for it in the end. It places the responsibility for the villain's downfall squarely on Erik, who is in fact our primary POV character, rather than the Deus Ex Machina of a relatively minor secondary character swooping in at the last minute. (Hilariously, though, the entire reason I chose Remy LeBeau as a central character was due to the Rogue/Gambit comicsverse relationship. But by then I'd worked the whole plot around him, so he stayed.)

19. Did you make any major changes to your fic compared to your original idea?

LOL I answered the last question before reading this one! So, uh, yes, yes I did. I'm still sorry to have lost Rogue as a character, I do love her. That was the only significant change I made while in progress. Um, originally I think I had Sean (Banshee) as the villain, too, because I was trying to stick with XMFC characters, but he just didn't suit the role, he was nixed before I started actually writing anything. Armando's role grew significantly over the course of the fic, to the point where I went back and added in scenes with him earlier on. And while it wasn't a change, exactly, I didn't decide what would happen with Hank/Raven until pretty close to the end of writing it -- there was a good chance he could have ridden off into the sunset with her in the end.

25. Favorite thing about the fic - this is your permission to brag!

Look, writing this fic singlehandedly dragged me out of a 3-year fannish hiatus and I genuinely love it to bits even if only a handful of folks read it. Because when you haven't written anything beyond a handful of short Yuletide fics in three years, you really wanna dive back in with an 80k epic. But seriously, this is one of my favorite fics I've written, it was an enormously fun jigsaw puzzle to combine the X-Men characters with the Cadfael setting/plot, and I'm super happy with how it all turned out. In a very nerdy way, my single favorite thing about the fic is that in 80k words of ensemble cast and multiple POVs, Charles Xavier -- the secondary lead and half of the main damn pairing -- only gets one POV scene in the entire fucking fic, and it's right near the end (the climactic villain reveal). Hard to sustain a mystery when your POV character is a telepath, is what I'm saying. He possesses way too much info to be allowed to narrate. ;)

[thankskenpenders]

i feel like that bunnie on ken pender's most recent drawing is a trace of some steven butler art but i don't know well enough to be sure, so i thought i'd ask the bunnie expert

So as usual, Penders didn’t directly trace the art. But he sure did copy somebody else’s drawing 1:1

Not only are the Butler proportions instantly recognizable, but he also chose to copy a big action pose from a pretty iconic scene in Sonic #133. The one where Bunnie singlehandedly destroys an aircraft carrier. This is like the second thing we see her do after the timeskip and it’s literally one of her most memorable scenes. The only major changes are her expression, the position of her right arm, the movement of her jacket (which no longer emphasizes the line of action, making the pose feel less dynamic), and the look of her holster

And I think I know where he got this specific panel from, because uh

It’s on Bunnie’s page on the wiki

I also want to point out that this is a commission. Someone paid him for this and he couldn’t even be assed to draw something original. This isn’t even the first time he’s done this! And he posted this preview alongside a comment saying he was really taking his time with this one because he didn’t want to disappoint

Nice work as always, Ken. Yeah, keep telling people how lazy you think some of the IDW covers are while you’re pulling shit like this

[hayleysstark]

Title: Better You than Me  Words: 1462 Warnings: Mild swearing Summary: "Oh, my god. Branch, my parents are parenting YOU." / Or the one where Cloud Guy calls Branch out, and Branch has a few dozen revelations. All extremely uncomfortable. Tag to 5x02. Slightly AU. Very silly, zero substance. Notes:  ~ slightly AU, Cloud Guy's parents don't actually move in, just drop by a lot ~  y'all should know this bitch had the working title "shameless self-indulgent garbage" b/c there is literally no point to this except Cloud Guy's mom just,,,,,,, quietly adopted Branch in S5 and that is,,,,,,,,,,, Objectively Beautiful. tbh.

Read on Fanfiction or AO3 

"You," Cloud Guy says, proudly, like a little kid who's finally figured out how one plus one equals two, and wants to share it with everyone in the vicinity, "you like this. Don't you?"

"Um." Branch is not, exactly, one-hundred-percent sure what's going on right now, or even how he wound up here in the first place, but objectively speaking, he's pretty positive that is not something he wants Cloud Guy to say to him, ever, especially when the stupid goofball has got him pinned to the bed. He shifts slightly, and the springs creak loudly beneath his back. "What?"

"You like them." And maybe Cloud Guy realizes the uncomfortable position he's put Branch in, because he leans back a little. "My parents."

"Oh." Okay, there it is—it's still not clear why the guy felt he couldn't say this until he dragged Branch into the bedroom and bolted the door behind them, but at least he's gotten to the point. Small miracles, and all of that. "Well." Branch has to think about it for a minute. A few months ago, he probably would have denied it to his dying breath because he had a reputation back then to keep up with, and that reputation had not included liking much of anyone, especially not two cheery little clouds who'd quite literally taken his bunker and his entire life by storm. But. Well. Things are different now. He can say it. If he wants to. "They—they mean well," he says, and leaves it at that.

Cloud Guy snorts. He rolls sideways off Branch, and down onto the mattress, his puffy, feather-light body barely making a dent in the soft covers. "You like them," he says, for what's got to be the millionth time since he hauled Branch in here.

Branch flicks his eyes heavenward. Okay, we're done with this. "Yes, thank you, we've established that, now can you—?"

"You like them," Cloud Guy spirals over onto his stomach to look at Branch in a strange and searching kind of way, like he's seeing absolutely everything, "parenting you."

"I—" he doesn't remember, he doesn't know anymore what he was about to say, but it kind of doesn't even matter because the inside of his mouth has gone suddenly bone-dry and he can't seem to swallow and his tongue feels heavy and awkward and clumsy and he's about ninety-percent sure his face is about to catch fire, which is really stupid and makes no sense because this is—this is just—that is not—

"I don't—" he falters, noticeably, and Cloud Guy's mouth quirks up in one of his stupid, triumphant little smirks, and oh, God, everything is awful and he just wants to die. "—I d-don't—" he tries, again, and flounders just as spectacularly the second time. "I-I don't know," he manages, finally, and sits up on the bed, and puts on his best don't-mess-with-me glare, even though it's never, ever worked on Cloud Guy, ever, and it's also rapidly losing its effect on Poppy, too, which is unfortunate, "I don't know what you're talking about."

Cloud Guy raises his eyebrows, the picture of politely bewildered incredulity. "Your face says otherwise."

Branch tries to scoff—he really, really tries, but the furious blush has gone all the way to the tips of his ears at this point, and he knows the stupid sapphire flush is probably a damned beacon right now, even in the low light of the bunker, and all he can really manage is a small, shaky breath. It's about the farthest thing from a scoff. Ever. And he hates it. "Don't be ridiculous. They aren't—they aren't p-parenting me, or whatever," no, he does not stutter, he does not trip over the word, and that is just the beginning and the end of it, "they're—they're—"

But.

See.

Here's the thing.

They kind of are.

And there is no getting it past Cloud Guy. "Branch," he doesn't even bother with one of his annoying-but-admittedly-creative nicknames, "yesterday, Mom pulled me aside, and begged me to make sure you had a second helping of that casserole she brought over for dinner last night because she says you're too thin and she's worried you're not taking care of yourself."

And damn it all to hell, but the first thing Branch feels is not absolute and unremitting indignation at the thought that he, utterly independent for a good ten years or so at this point, is somehow incapable of looking after himself, no, it's not that at all, it's—

Well.

It's.

It's kind of the complete and total opposite, because there's something suddenly warm and bright growing up inside his chest, this golden little glow, like the miniature flame on the end of a lit match, but the heat of it goes all the way through him, and that's. Okay. That's not good. That is—that is not good, because he is not supposed to feel good about this, at all, ever, he's just—he's just not, because it's ridiculous, it's unbelievable, it's infuriating, for God's sake, he can mind his own damn self and he doesn't need anyone else and that's who he is, isn't it, someone who is alone, someone who wants to be alone, someone who doesn't know how to be anything but alone, and it's not right and it's not fair for Cloud Guy's parents, of all people, to just come crashing into his life and make him think any different.

"And!" Cloud Guy sits up, too, and jabs a finger, hard, into Branch's chest. "You. Like. It."

At least he expects the accusation this time—without the sting of shock and humiliation it initially carried, he's able to put up a half-decent defense. He even manages a proper scoff now, and he smacks Cloud Guy's hand away. "No. I don't."

Cloud Guy has the nerve to laugh. "Pretty nice fib, puffalo rib, but you can't hide nothin' from me. Just do yourself a favor, and don't ever, ever let Mom in on it. She already thinks you're lonely, has a good cry 'bout you every time she comes over."

Branch stops dead. "What?"

"Uh-huh. Yeah." Cloud Guy flops back on the bed again, arms clasped comfortably behind his head. "Practically had kittens about you when I told her you've been down here since you were twelve. Thought it was best not to mention the whys and hows after that."

"I—" Branch can't even speak for the sheer mortification of this moment, his mouth working furiously as he struggles to find the words. Oh, God, Cloud Guy's mother feels bad for him. He literally cannot think of anything worse. Death would honestly be kinder.

"She'd—" Cloud Guy breaks off to let out a low chuckle. "She'd probably adopt you if I did."

Yeah. Okay. No. Branch shuts his mouth. There really is absolutely nothing to say to that.

"Anywhoozle," Cloud Guy pushes himself back up, and rolls right off the side of the bed—Branch waits for the telltale thump of his body hitting the floor, and hopes it really, really hurts, but it never comes—he tucks up his legs and catches himself an inch from the ground, floating up to the ceiling. "You want my advice?"

"Uh—" Branch's brain finally decides to work again, grinding back into gear. "No. Not in the slightest."

Cloud Guy laughs again. "There's the sauce I've been missing. As I was sayin', just try to look a little less lost-boy 'round Mom, 'kay? She'll lay off eventually. Although," he pauses, like he's just singlehandedly had the world's greatest idea, "now that I think of it, well," he shrugs, and floats toward the door, extending an arm to slide the heavy metal bolt back. He flicks the door open, and tosses one last glance at Branch over his shoulder, "better you than me."

[marveloustiming]

Look at the Stars (Part 7/?)

"Show time, a-holes! He'll be here any minute." Peter said.

"Which will be its last." Gamora said as she pumped the gun in her hand.

"I thought your thing was a sword?" Peter questioned.

"We've been hired to stop an inter dimensional beast from feeding on those batteries and I'm going to stop it with a sword?" Gamora looked at him with one of 'are you serious' looks.

"Its just that swords were your thing and guns were mine, but I guess we're both doing guns now. I just didn't know that." Peter shook his head and gave in.

"Drax! Why aren't you wearing one of Rockets Arrowraise?" Gamora asked him.

"It hurts." He replies

"It hurts?"

"I have sensitive nipples." I could hear Rocket cackling beside me. I smiled with him. "My nippled hurt, oh goodness me!" Rocket cackled again. "Quit that! What's he doing?" Drax demanded. "I'm finishing this so we can listen to tunes while we work!" "How is that a priority?" "Blame Quill and Marris! They're the ones who love music so much!"

"No, we actually agree with Drax. That's hardly important right now." I nodded along to Peters words.

"Oh okay. Sure Quill." Rocket replied, and winked weirdly at us. He's always been bad at winking. Its gotten us into trouble many times.

"Seriously. We side with Drax." I said.

"No, I understand that. You're being very serious right now." Rocket kept on horribly winking, not knowing that Drax could very well see what he was doing.

"I can clearly see you winking!" Drax exclaims.

"Dammit. I'm using my left eye?" He said and turned to me.

"Yeah, but you'll get it right one day I'm sure." I said to him. While Groot tried to fight the lizard things that were running around Gamora turned to me.

"Arva? Why don't you have any weapons on you?" She asked and looked me over.

"I am the weapon. But if it makes you feel any better I have a knife in my boot." I smiled at her innocently. She didn't have any to to respond because a giant explosion rocked the sky. A giant hole appeared in the sky and a worm like thing came through. It had giant tentacles on its backside and its head consisted of its eyes and its mouth. The really disturbing thing was that its mouth was a gaping hole and it had hundreds of teeth lining it. "That's intense." I said. And then we all charged forward.

I flew up into the sky and shot streams of fire at at it. Using the earth wasn't an option as the stupid Sovereign didn't want us to damage their property. Water would just make a mess and I didn't want to clean that up. So I stuck to electricity and fire. The thing let out a roar and slammed its tentacle into my stomach. I hit my back onto the ground and rolled back onto my knees. I could see Groot dancing around to the song Mr. Blue Sky by the Electric Light Orchestra.

"Groot, get out of the way! You're going to get hurt!" I boomed at him. He simply waved at me in response. "Hi!" I flew off to the fight again. A few minutes later I could see Groot putting something in his mouth. I was about to go over there and tell him off when Rocket landed behind him. He had that covered.

"Such a violent child." I shouted when I passed Rocket. I saw him grin before he flew off again. I managed to land on the monsters back and shoot dozens of streams of electricity onto its body. It let out a roar, but this one was different. It was one of pain instead of fury. I wasn't able to do it again due to the fact that the thing flung me off, but I would stick that in my brain for later. I landed next to Drax and Gamora. "The beasts hide is to thick to be pierced from the outside! I must cut through it from the inside." Drax said before running off. "Drax no! Wait a minute! Drax!" Both me and Gamora screamed. And then I could see him leap right into the jaws of that horrifying beast.

"What is he doing?" Peter yelled.

"He said that the skin is to thick to be pierced from the outside." Gamora informed him. "What that doesn't make any sense!"

"We know, we tried to tell him that!" I screamed.

"The skin is the same level of thickness from the inside as it is on the outside!" Peter shouted.

"We realize that." Gamora said impatiently.

"There's a cut on its neck! Rocket! Get it to look up!" Peter yelled.

As they made the beast look up I could see the tiny scratch on its neck. As Gamora aimed and tried to shoot, her gun only made a clicking sound, but didn't fire. We looked at each other for a second.

"So, you or me?" I asked. She thought for a second before saying

"Me. You look tired." She said before getting out her sword. She was right of course. My entire body felt sore and I just needed to lay down. I saw her sprint towards the monster and use it's legs as a way up. Her sword hit the beasts wound and her body was dragged back down to the earth, yellow liquid spurting out of the wound. The beast slowed down and eventually landed on to it's side. We all gathered around as Drax's body fell out of the carcass, laughing all the way.

"Yes! I have singlehandedly vanquished the beast!" He shouted and kept laughing. I'm sure he would have gone on longer but Groot threw something at him and hit the side of his head. "What?" He asked.

We all stood by the containment area as we cleaned ourselves up. We took our fancy jet packs off and Drax cleaned all the slime off of him. "What are they called again?" Drax asked.

"Anulax batteries." I responded.

"Harbulary batteries." He said back.

"That is nothing like what she just said. But they're worth thousands of units a piece so the Sovereign hired us to protect them. Careful with what you say around these folks, they're easily offended. The cost of transgression is death." Peter said. And with that warning we all started to walk back down to the throne room.

"We thank you, Guardians, for putting your lives on the line. We could not risk the lives of our own Sovereign citizens. Every citizen is born exactly as designed by the community. Impeccable both physically and mentally. We control the DNA of our by determining them in birthing pods." The high priestess says. She was so stuck up that I almost threw up. Not literally of course.

"I guess I prefer to make people the old fashioned way." Peter says. I suppressed a groan and instead went for rolling my eyes.

"Well, perhaps someday you can give me a history lesson in the archaic ways of our ancestors. For academic purposes." I set my eyes straight forward and hoped this would be over soon.

"I would be honored, yes, in the name of research. I think that could be pretty, uh, repulsive,I'm not into that kind of casual -" With a glare from me he had changed his sentence until Gamora, amazing, wonderful Gamora, had interrupted him.

"Oh please. Your people promised something in exchange for our services. Bring it and we shall gladly be on our way." The High Priestess motioned for her people to bring something. Two people came out of a different part of the palace and one was shoved harshly onto the ground. The person's hood was yanked off to reveal Nebula, Gamora's sister and the one I had fought when we took down Ronan.

"Family reunion! Yay!" Peter said. I smiled a little bit at that.

"I understand she is your sister." The High Priestess says.

"She is worth no more to me than the bounty for her on Xandar." Gamora yanked her sister up by the arm.

"Our soldiers apprehended her attending to steal the batteries. Do with her as you please." The High Priestess says. As Gamora and Nebula walked off, Peter started to speak.

"We thank you High Priestess Iasha."

"What is your heritage Mr. Quill?" She stopped him.

"My mother is from earth." Peter replied.

"And your father?"

"Came from Missouri! That's all I know."

"I see within you an unorthodox genealogy. A hybrid that seems particularly... reckless." "You know, they told me that you people were conceited douchebags, but that isn't true at all!" Rockets voice piped up. I looked down to see him winking. With the wrong eye. I heard everybody in the room gasp. "Oh, shit I'm using my wrong eye again aren't I? I'm sorry that was meant to be behind your back." I grabbed his collar and lifted him up before walking out of the room. "You're going to get yourself killed." I scolded. He only snorted before whispering,

"You wanna buy some batteries?" He opened up his bag to reveal Anulax batteries that he stole. My eyes widened before a grin took over my face and Drax laughed loudly.

"Oh yeah, cause I totally have the units for that." I whispered back. Rocket tried to shush Drax as we walked towards to the ship.

We turned on some music and started up the ship. "Alright! Let's get to Xandar and collect that bounty!" Rocket said. We flew away from the Soveriegn in a peaceful bubble. The sun was setting, the beautiful city was to our back, and good music was playing.

"That stuff about my father. Who does she think she is?" Peter said to me.

"I'm sorry. I know you don't like talking about that." I replied

"I mean, I'm fine with talking about him, I just don't know who he is. Sorry if it seemed like I was flirting with the High Priestess. I wasn't."

" I don't care if you are. You can flirt with whoever you want."

"Well I feel like you do care. That's why I'm apologizing."

"Arva! I need your help with something." Rocket said as he stood in the doorway of the room. I got up and passed Drax on my way out. Little did I know Rocket and Peter were having a glare off behind me.

"You coming Rocket?" I called back as I didn't hear his footsteps behind me. "Yep."

As we were walking though the alarms started to ring. "This is weird. We got a Soveriegn fleet approaching from the rear." Peter said. "Why would they do that?" Gamora questioned. "Oh, because Rocket stole some of their batteries." Drax said. "Dude!" Came Rockets protest. "Right. He didn't steal some of those. I don't know why they're after us. What a mystery this is." Drax tried to recover. I let out a yelp as they started to fire. "What were you thinking?" Peter yells. "Dude, they were really easy to steal!" "That's your defense?" Gamora says. "Come on! You saw how that High Priestess talked down to us. I'm teaching her a lesson!" I listened to their conversation idly as I played with a rubber band. "Did you know about this Arva?" I looked up fearfully as Gamora snapped at me. "Please don't drag me into this." I whispered. My body jerked as the ship was hit. "What's the the nearest habitable planet?" Peter asks quickly. "Its called Berhert." Gamora informs him. "How many jumps." "Only one. But the access point is 47 clicks away. And you have to go through that quantum asteroid field." Peter takes a sharp turn into the asteroid field, the whole sovereign fleet following us. Ignoring Rocket and Peters arguing, I watched the asteroids flying around us. "Stop it." I snapped at them. "Quill, later on tonight, you're gonna be laying down in your bed and there's going to be something squishy in your pillow case. And you're gonna be like 'What's this?' And its gonna be because I put a turd in there!" Rocket snarls. "You put your turd in my bed, I shave you." Peter threatens back. "It wont be my turd. It'll be Drax's." Rocket states. Drax burst out laughing at this before saying, "I have famously huge turds."

I rolled my eyes at them. As Rocket and Peter fought for control over the ship, an asteroid hit the wing of the ship and sent us reeling. As they fought to regain control of the ship, Groot went flying before Peter caught him and sent Groot back to me. "Hey buddy." I said as I set him on my shoulder. "Idiots!" I heard Nebula scream from the back of the ship. "Well, that's what you get when Quill flies." Rocket says in response. "Rocket!" I snarled as Gamora threw something at him. "We still have a Sovereign craft behind us." Gamora says. "Our weapons are down!" Said Quill a second later. "Twenty clicks to the jump!" Gamora called out. Drax tapped my shoulder as a signal to move over. I complied and watched as he kneeled between Rocket and Peter. He grabbed something and walked to the back of the ship. "Arva?" Gamora said and gave me a pleading look. I sighed and got up as well. "I'll make sure he doesn't do anything dumb." I said. "...alone." I muttered as I walked off, knowing that I probably wouldn't be able to stop him, as stubborn as he was. "What are we doing?" I asked as walked in. "We're going to destroy that ship." He replied, knowing he wasn't going to be able to stop me either. I didn't bother putting a suit on, as it would just get in the way.

We both jumped out of the ship at the same time. We were quickly met by the ship firing at us. At the same time as Drax yells "Die, spaceship!" We fired our weapons. Before his gun exploded the ship, I had managed to tear it apart. I had been working on being able to control metals instead of just dirt and plants. And I have to say, it was coming along pretty damn nicely. But just as felt relief course through me hundreds of ships appeared on either did of us. That relief turned into absolute fear. I started pushing out electricity from my body to create a shield around me and Drax to protect us from heavy fire. I kept pushing after that, trying to make it expand all around the ship. Before I could get more then halfway, though, all of the ships around us exploded. Finally we made it jump point and made it through. The ship gave a jerk as it caught on fire. I could hear Drax yelling beside me as we were flung about. I limited our shield to just me and Drax as parts of the ship were torn away by the wind. For a second I felt the cable that tied me to the ship snap and I let put a scream. Just at last second Gamora snatched the end of the cord and pulled me back. The weight of both me and the cord became to much for her and she was tugged out of the ship, but not before grabbing the edge of it. I expanded my shield to her just as we hit the trees. The ship cleared the way for us, but it didn't stop me and Drax from hitting each and every tree we passed. Although it felt strange, it didn't actually hurt us the way it should have. Finally the ship came to a stop, and its lights sputtered out. The wing of the ship fell of and scared off some birds as I lay there, exhausted.

Drax was laughing beside me, seemingly unfazed. I didn't know how. I felt drained, although that might have just been from me using my powers. Although I was getting better, I had never expanded my shield that much or torn apart that much metal. Putting those two things together and you could see why that exhausted me. It had taken years for me to master everything else. "That was awesome!" Drax shouts "Yes!" He pounded his fist on the ground while laughing. "Look at this! Where's the other half of our ship?" Gamora snarled. We were all standing in a circle while Gamora yells at us. Everybody seemed all right, tired, but all right. "My ship." Peter said unnecessarily. "Either one of you could have gotten us through that field... Had you flown with what's between your ears instead of what's between between your legs!" She finished before walking off. "If what's between my legs had a hand on it, I guarantee this ship with it." Peter said. "Peter, we almost died because of your arrogance." I continued for Gamora. "More like because he stole the Anulax batteries!" Peter pointed a finger at Rocket. "They're called Harbulary batteries." Drax corrected. I drew in a breath and closed my eyes for a second. "No they're not!" Peter yelled. "Do you know why I did it, Star-Munch?" Rocket asked. "I'm not going to answer to Star-Munch." Peter mumbles back. "I did it because I wanted to!"

"Dick."

"What are we even talking about this for?" Rocket demands "We just had a little man save us by blowing up fifty ships!"

"How little?" Drax asks him. "Well, I don't know, like this?" Rocket made a gesture with his hands to show us how little and then I felt tired all over again. "A little one inch man saved us?" I questioned as I put my hands on my hips. "Well if he got closer, I'm sure he would be much larger." Rocket replies. "That's how eyesight works, you stupid raccoon." Peter says. "Peter!" I turned to him as Rocket yelled at him.

"Don't call me a raccoon!" Rocket snarls.

"I'm sorry. I took it to far. I meant trash panda." I bit back a grin as Rocket turns to me.

"Is that better?"

I shook my head softly as Peter says "Its worse, its so much worse!"

"You son of a..." Rocket snarls before leaping at Peter.

"Hey!" "I've had it with you!" "No, back up!"

I ignored their bickering for a second to look up at the sky as I noticed Nebula doing the same. I saw a ship flying towards us. "Someone followed us through the jump point." Everybody immediately got their weapons ready. We formed a back to back circle formation as the ship landed, which in all honesty, looked like an egg. I could see two shadowy figures through one of the windows. As the window opened and two people walked out, I leveled my hands at them.

"After all these years, I've found you." The man said.

"And who the hell are you?" Peter replied.

"I figured my rugged looks would make that obvious. I'm your dad Peter."

[haipain]

i have a good one.. tho its a bit long. erm.. mafia au where (any character in haikyuu, surprise me because i can't think of one) and his s/o is in a mafia and they don't know that they're supposed to be enemies until the mafia leader demands the s/o to kill him then she realises whats going on... end it however you want

ooo interesting! this was fun to write, with the right music, it was just a blast, so i hope you enjoy reading this as much as i enjoyed writing this!

oh and a mini note: i’m still working on the boosting event requests, just in case you think i haven’t! i’m kind of a slow poke and this week has been pretty packed and messy for me, so i haven’t really gotten the time to make huge progress with them… please bear with me! thank you╰(*´︶`*)╯

You remember the day you first met Iwaizumi.

With the bug of a wandering eye falling upon you, you had selected that day to stray away from your mission, just for a little, seeing how your subordinates seemed to have everything under control.

The warmth of the sun rays remained etched in your mind — every single detail sharpened and magnified; not one detail was left out of your memory, and if you had to draw a comparison, it was like how a camera is blurred until it focuses on its intended target. It feels as though your world was muffled, with his presence suddenly sharpening everything around you, pushing you to break past the surface of the water. 

You weren’t a believer of love at first sight; it was an absurd idea, it just wasn’t possible. Those things took time, and you remained true to your beliefs. Besides, along with the loss of your innocence the moment you joined the mafia, came the resignation that love was simply not meant to be in your life.  

Iwaizumi had somehow managed to singlehandedly, make you waver slightly in your beliefs. There was something different about him that made you want to approach him. You remember bounding up to him, accidentally spilling the coffee in your hands, onto the neatly pressed dress shirt of his. Even a mafia member like you, weren’t exempt from the typical methods used to strike up a conversation. 

“Ah shit,” you cursed, immediately righting yourself in front of him, pulling out the small packet of tissues tucked into the back pocket of your pants, before frantically dabbing at his shirt.

“I’m so sorry!” you say. “Let me help you clean up,” you offer, your voice taking on a slightly mischievous tone, an impish grin fighting to slide onto your face.

“Ah… uh, it’s alright,” he responds, pinching at the shirt and pulling it away from his body. “No, I insist.” Without waiting for his reply, you led him to a nearby bench, to resume the blotting of the coffee, though you were sure it was going to stain pretty badly.

“I don’t think it’s coming off,” you frown, your next move ready in your mind. “Let’s try this instead — I’ll buy you a new shirt.” Stopping your hands, you pull out your wallet, thick with wads of bills. A raised brow, but he doesn’t say anything about your wealth, instead, he tries to protest, only to be shot down.

“…Alright, but if it’s too expensive, I’ll be footing the bill,” he replies with no room for argument.

“Fine,” you grin, boldly slipping your fingers around his wrist, tugging him to the nearest clothing store.

Bingo.

On hindsight, you knew there had to be a reason why you were attracted to him — people in general, weren’t your cup of tea. Or rather, ordinary people were too much of a bore for you. It was just that, no reason you could come up with would come close to the actual reason why. Whatever part about you that came up with judgements against people clearly misjudged Iwaizumi, landing you into your current situation.

Iwaizumi’s picture sits right in front, the words ‘target’ scrawled across his face messily, in a bold red. Along with the picture, came details of him. One of them catches your eye. The next successor, it reads, and a shiver crawls up your spine. Of all people he could be, he just had to be the next successor of your rivals, a group your boss has been trying to eliminate since its establishment. 

 A simple command is delivered to you, and you couldn’t help but shudder when you heard it.

“Your next target. I expect you to do a good job.”

Short and simple — there was no room for rejection, no room for failure. You quiver at the thought of failing; death was one thing, but it didn’t scare you more than the thought of betraying your boss, the one who saved your life. Yet at the same time, losing Iwaizumi… It wasn’t something fathomable. You were on a beam balance, reluctant to fall to either side, because it would mean losing the other.

What… do you do?

That night, you laid in Iwaizumi’s arms, body and mind a mess, yet still hoping that his presence would somehow soothe your heart. He had the capability to do that, you realise, and tonight you needed it more than ever.

But peace fails to find its way to you — the familiar curve of the dagger pressing against your thigh, a constant reminder of the duty you were supposed to fulfil. 

Iwaizumi’s steady breaths fanned your cheek, the warmth lingering faintly after each breath. His sleeping face was really a sight to behold, one that looked so at ease that it causes your heart to squeeze in pain. With a gentle caress of the cheek, he stirs, his arms wounding tighter around you, and it was at that moment you realise how full your heart was; full of love for him, a fact that never seemed to really resonate with you.

But now it did. There was something ironic about the sequence of events — it was as though some entity was playing a cruel joke, the absurdity of everything weighing down on you, heavy and brooding.

Anguished sobs slip out uncontrollably, your body trembling as they wracked your body, coherence in thoughts now completely lost. A frown manages its way onto his face, and even in rest, he places his forehead against your back — an action he’s done countless times whenever you were upset. “It’s okay,” He’d say. “I’m always here for you, supporting you, always behind your back.”

You slide your hand towards the dagger at your thigh, tracing the outline of the sheathed dagger, the meaning behind it looming over you like a threat. What was once a source of comfort now turned into one of confusion and pain.

“Tell me, Hajime,” you whisper with glassy eyes fixated on Iwaizumi’s relaxed face, “what should I do?”

[fyeahfantasticfour]

Do you think the Fantastic Four should be stronger? They used to be a dangerous force that could challenge the Avengers and X-Men while only having four members. Now they aren't a threat without Reed's intelligence. I personally believe they've become too reliant on Reed to save the day. The villains they face have gotten stronger but the team stagnated, especially poor Ben. I don't need them to be the strongest team, but they should be more powerful than they were when we left them.

The idea that the FF aren’t powerful is a misconception. I get that the Avengers and the X-Men are both more popular nowadays, but in-universe the Fantastic Four are widely acknowledged as the strongest, most experienced, and most powerful superteam around -- the “toughest superbeings on the planet,” according to Frank Castle, the Punisher, and multiversal badasses you never want to mess with in any reality according to the Exiles. They certainly are extremely effective even when Reed’s not around – he’s quit the team to be with his family on several occasions, you know, and even died for a while in the 1990s, and the team did just fine with Sue in charge. And also you are seriously underestimating how powerful, capable, and experienced Sue, Ben, and Johnny are. They are all, by far, the most experienced superheroes in the Marvel Universe – they do predate the Avengers and the X-Men by two years, you know. For a long while, they were the only superteam around. And they don’t rely too much on Reed’s intelligence – for one thing, Sue’s plenty smart on her own, and so is Valeria, who is smarter than her father. (Her hobbies include plotting world domination via the metric system (when she was two) and how to conquer the Kree Empire in her spare time as a 3yo. She can be a scary child.) And then there’s the Future Foundation, composed of Reed and Sue’s ~12 supergenius children, who together cured Ben when Reed had failed. The FF don’t need to rely on Reed’s intelligence, really they don’t. 

And just…Sue, who is indisputably the most powerful member of the FF, can, on her own, take out the Avengers in approximately thirty seconds without breaking a sweat – and she’s done it more than once. She’s taken on Doom and the armies of Latveria singlehandedly – and won. She’s defeated Titania, Crusher Creel, and a mind-controlled Ben and Jen all at the same time, all on her own. Her forcefields are strong enough to withstand Thor’s thunder, and she’s held her own for a few moments against a Celestial, and they are colossally powerful. She’s defeated Wolverine – and easily at that. She’s knocked Namor, one of the strongest beings on the planet, to the floor with a single blow, and that was after maintaining a force field over an entire city for a day to stave off a war. She’s brought down an entire building on a tentacle monster that was trying to eat her daughter, and killed a member of the Brood who threatened her family with a sword she constructed from one of her forcefields. She’s been extensively trained in hand-to-hand by Iron Fist and she’s given even him a run for his money, so she can hold her own even without her powers – but, frankly, she’s always been capable of that. She can punch a hole through the Baxter Building. Supervillains throughout the Marvel U are terrified of her – she even made the Wizard, a seasoned supervillain, faint from sheer terror. She moonlights as a SHIELD agent because she’s great at infiltration and espionage. There’s also that universe (Marvel Adventures), where Sue became the leader of both the FF and the Avengers, let me just point out. She really doesn’t need Reed telling her what to do. She’s more than smart enough to figure it out on her own – in The Pine Barrens, actually, Reed is captured by some aliens, and he just knows that Sue will figure it out and rescue him, even though she has no idea he was captured or even that there are aliens in the woods. And she does. Don’t underestimate Sue’s intelligence or her abilities. Honestly, if you aren’t terrified of Sue and what she is capable of, you really haven’t been paying attention. She can be ruthless and she is powerful as hell and she saves the day more often than she doesn’t. And can I just point out -- someone’s in charge of the FF, but it isn’t Reed:

And then there’s Johnny – his Nova flame, for the record, is powerful enough to take out a small moon, just on its own. He’s taken out a significant chunk of the Annihilation Wave with a single Nova burst, and later – without Reed’s help or input, might I add – survived two years on his own in a Negative Zone prison, rallied the Light Brigade to his side, defeated Annihilus, took control of the Cosmic Control Rod, and became the leader of the Annihilation Wave himself. He also was instrumental in saving the Earth from Galactus at ~18 when the Watcher sent him on a dangerous mission through space to retrieve the Ultimate Nullifier, without which the Earth would have been destroyed. He nearly died saving Glenville from an exploding nuclear bomb when he was 16 years old, and in Strange Tales has many adventures without any of the FF backing him up. He’s a very experienced, capable hero – he might joke around a lot, but he knows what he’s doing, he’s smart and capable, and he takes it seriously when people’s lives are on the line. He’s currently around 30, and he’s been a superhero since he was 15. He’s been a superhero longer than Spider-Man, Iron Man, Dr. Strange, Ant Man, She-Hulk, Luke Cage, Daredevil…Johnny’s more experienced than any of them.

Ben, despite being less strong than the Hulk, is still one of the heaviest hitters on Earth, and you shouldn’t underestimate him. He’s progressed from nearly dying after a rocket crash to being able to jump out of a spaceship in low orbit without even feeling it. He’s plenty powerful – although granted Sue is more so nowadays, but I’m fine with that.

Reed, of course, could do one hell of a lot of damage if he ever wanted to – his intelligence is what makes him extremely dangerous. 

But, uh…have you never heard of Franklin Richards? He is a mutant who is beyond Omega level and one of the most powerful beings – not humans, mind you, but beings – in the Marvel Universe. He’s at least as powerful as the Celestials, who are space gods. He is a reality bender who is so powerful he can create entire universes (he keeps one in his closet so he can play in it with Leech, his best friend, and is currently off recreating the multiverse with his dad -- he and Reed jointly created the entire Marvel Multiverse that exists today, which means that every Marvel character is now the in-universe creation of Reed and Franklin Richards). Franklin is also immortal and will survive the death of the universe. Fixing a sun for him is as easy as wishing it so, and he can turn off Black Bolt’s powers just by willing it. He’s defeated not one but THREE Celestials on his own -- which he did to save his father from being killed by them. When he was a 5yo boy, he was already powerful enough to defeat the devil Mephisto, who is the living embodiment of all evil and who even Doom had never been able to beat, and Franklin just vaporized Mephisto with a single sentence. Also…you know that he’s going to make Galactus, the biggest bad in the MU, who is a stand-in for God, his herald someday, yes? Franklin is extremely powerful, is what I’m saying. Almost absurdly so. There is little he cannot do. 

I don’t know what comics you’ve been reading, but the FF are more than powerful enough, even without Reed in the mix. Franklin by himself is enough to make the FF the most powerful team there is, and you should never underestimate how smart and powerful his mom is.