#i had like three different versions and this was definitely not the final one. oh well

[mizartz]

The man with his rucksack raises the gun. Danny looks at him, really looks at him, sees his wide eyes and trembling hands and thinks that it serves him right. Danny’s own eyes glow green and bright, blood dripping down his face. “Better make it count,” he snarls.

fanart for close enough to be whole again by @hailsatanacab <3 i am obsessed with this fic!!!

[apomaro-mellow]

based on this

It was supposed to be a joke. A laugh. A funny story to tell later. But five questions in and things were different.

It was a normal barbecue. Everyone was there at Hopper’s cabin and generally having a great time. Good food and good company tended to guarantee that. But then someone had pulled out a home version of the Newly Wed Game. It was clearly well-used and probably missing some parts, but still playable. The most important parts were the questions anyway.

Mike, definitely not compensating for anything, adamantly exclaimed that he and El could win in a heartbeat. And because he couldn’t help his annoying little brother tendencies, challenged Nancy and Jonathan. And because Nancy couldn’t stomp down the big sister urge to put her brother in his place, she accepted. So they already had two couples but Mike got it in his head that they needed a third. He vetoed Hopper and Joyce, saying that they didn’t count as newly weds.

Lucas and Max were still figuring out what they wanted and hadn’t officially come back as a couple even though Max wasn’t actively avoiding him anymore. Dustin proclaimed he’d kick their asses if Suzie was there, but alas.

“We’ll be your thirds”, Eddie said, putting an arm around Steve’s shoulders.

“You?”, Mike’s face and voice was so incredulous and while Steve was confused as well, Mike’s offense offended him on principle.

“You’ve got two couples who are absolutely made for each other. You need an obvious dud couple”, Eddie reasoned, then winked at Steve and oh.

This was another one of those attempts at getting him back with Nancy. Because he and Eddie wouldn’t get any of the questions right, but he’d know things about Nancy and she’d know things about him. A sound plan.

If only Steve wanted Nancy back.

Steve meant to tell Eddie as such but it was hard to fight against that blind optimism. 

And so the three couples sat down, with Argyle being their show host and asking the questions. The first few were easy. Steve got asked “What’s their favorite type of music?” Eddie got asked “Favorite sport?” Steve got asked “Favorite kind of weather?” Eddie got asked “Do they prefer the beach or the pool?” Steve got asked “Night in or night out?”

All easy. He knew those almost immediately. And it seemed Eddie did too by the quick way he answered. But while they were 5 for 5, Nancy and Jonathan had only gotten three and Mike and El had only gotten two. And Steve had to admit, he was at a loss for some of the answers for Nancy.

“You guys are on a roll my dudes”, Argyle said. “Next one: Crust on or off the sandwich?”

“Crusts off”, Mike answered.

El showed her response and Mike was correct.

“Crusts on”, Nancy answered.

Jonathan bit his lip. “Actually, I prefer them off.”

“Heh, yeah he does”, Argyle said. “He said crusts were crusty and it was like, profound man. Eddie?”

“Trick question, he’ll eat anything I make for him. Wontcha, big boy?”

Steve grinned. “I never turn down free food. Even when it’s one of your Scooby Doo specials.”

“His what?”, Mike asked.

“Moving on”, Argyle continued. “Your spouse can take one thing on a deserted island. What is it?”

El guessed a book, which turned out to be wrong. Jonathan replied with a gun, which turned out to be wrong. Argyle’s eyes turned to the third couple.

Steve bit his lip before answering. “My first instinct was to say his guitar, but I gotta go with a copy of Lord of the Rings.”

Argyle looked to Eddie. “Is this correct?”

“This man knows me like the back of his hand”, Eddie said, clapping Steve’s back. At some point he had forgotten his own plan and was just having fun.

“Okay, this is bullshit”, Mike finally broke. “How are you guys getting all of these right.”

Steve didn’t have an answer. And neither did Eddie. They shared a look without words and once again they came up with the same answer but neither of them wanted to admit it.

“Just admit you lost, Mike”, Nancy said.

“You lost too.”

“Second’s better than third.”

“God you’re so-”

“Hey guys! There’s more hot dogs!”, Lucas called out.

The game ended there, the other two couples going about their business. Whereas Steve and Eddie were left with the question that already had an answer. How did they know all of those things about each other?

Part 2

[vertigoed]

tinder 3.0 || fuckboy!satoru gojo

synopsis : in which you match with satoru gojo, tokyos most seeked after bachelor

summary: fem!reader, toxic!satoru

Part 1 | Part 2

Masterlist

it is mandatory to imagine this version of gojo when reading this part :) thank u hehe

you wake up to an empty bed, feeling hungover as your groggy eyes try to adjust to the bright sunlight shining through the french windows. you look around at your surroundings as you feel the soft silk sheets underneath you. the room was opulent with plush carpeting and decorated with expensive looking artwork, some of which you recognised as takashi murakami's.

you wondered where satoru was as you check your phone to see the time- it was almost mid day. "fuck," you groaned, not realising you slept in so much.

you swing your legs over to the side of the bed and tread your way to the ensuite. you couldn't help but gasp at the extravagance of the space. the bathroom was adorned with gold fixtures, marbled floors and sparkling chandelier hanging over the huge sunken bathtub in the middle.

"he must have rich fucking parents," you muttered.

once you've freshened up, you make your way downstairs in search of your clothes from last night. you had the fright of your life when you walked into a small framed suited man sitting in the lounge room, reading a newspaper.

he looked equally as shocked and hastily stood up from his seat, giving you a bow.

"nice to meet you y/n, i'm kiyotaka ichiji. gojo asked me to drop you off home."

"oh!" you said awkwardly, "are you his chauffeur?"

the man chuckled flatly at your question and shook his head, "i'm his co-worker but i can see why you may get that impression. are you ready to leave?"

you look down at satoru's shirt and pants you were wearing, shifting your weight from one foot to another. "i'm definitely missing clothes but i don't want to waste your time any further so yeah i'm ready to go!"

as much as you could appreciate satoru's gesture of arranging a ride, you wished he would've given you a heads up that a stranger will be waiting for you in his apartment.

after a painfully long car ride, you thank ichiji and sprint out, taking the stairs instead of the elevator as you didn't want to risk running into any of your neighbours.

once you get into the comfort of your four walls, you throw yourself onto your bed and let out a sigh, feeling like you can finally breathe.

the past 24 hours felt like a crazy whirlwind of experiences and you felt like you came back from another universe. you take a look around at your humble abode and couldn't help but compare the contrast of your lifestyle to his.

you knew you were helplessly falling for someone who was on a whole different class from you and you drift off to sleep with pessimistic thoughts and a fatigued body.

you wake up 15 hours later with a headache, feeling like absolute shit from sleeping half the day. you don't check your phone until you've showered and scoffed down a hot meal. you then open up satoru's tinder messages.

gojo: i can't stop thinking about last night

gojo: give me your number

you notice he sent this at 2pm and you look at the current time which was 2am. you quickly text him back your digits, tightly clutching your glass of water as you watch the bubbles pop up showing that he was typing.

gojo: u take a whole day to reply to me

gojo: what could u possibly be doing that made u too busy for me 🤣

you narrow your eyes and take a sip, he was acting uncalled for. the toxic part of you wanted to play games with him. he didn't have to know you were actually passed out from being fucked out too hard by him.

you: i dont have my tinder notifications on

satoru didn't reply to that and this time round, you don't hear back from him for a very long time.

three months later

you feel your phone ring and pull it out to see who was calling you during class. you frown at the unknown number and press the decline button, thinking it was a scam call.

once your lecture has finished, nobara dragged you off to a mixer, ignoring your protests as per usual.

"i told you to dress nice today," she tuts at your outfit as you made your way to the bar.

"i hate going to mixers and you know that," you rolled your eyes, looking down at your sweater and pants.

you enter the bar and nobara waves at the two college guys that were arranged for the mixer. only one of them had an enthusiastic smile on their faces.

"i dibs the pink hair guy," nobara whispered to you.

"hey guys!" the pink haired boy beams at both of you as you sit yourself across from the dark haired one, "i'm yuji and this is megumi."

the megumi guy gives a curt nod, barely smiling. he didn't seem too interested in this gathering as well.

"i'm nobara and this is y/n," your friend greets him back and you give a small smile.

nobara and yuji instantly hit it off, passionately raving to each other about some show they both watch. you sigh in boredom, watching the bubbles in your beer pop as you tune in and out of their conversation.

megumi was dead silent, his position mirroring yours with his arms tightly crossed against his chest and his eyes staring into blank space.

"what's up with you guys?"

your head shoots to yuji who was gesturing at you and megumi.

"what do you mean?" you straighten your back.

"you guys look dead," nobara chimed in, taking a sip of her drink, she clicks her fingers at you "come on, i want to see some talking."

you and megumi meet eyes for a brief second before he looks away. you turn back to the other two with a forced smile, but your eyes were begging them to stop.

"we're comfortable with the silence," you shrugged, "you can't force a conversation between us, what if we just don't feel like chatting?"

"don't you want to get to know megumi?" yuji sounded almost hurt.

"she's hooked on this old rich dude who ghosted her two months ago," nobara speaks up. you noticed megumi raise his brows, causing you to kick her under the table and she hastily added, "i mean, not like super old, just older. besides the point, that's why i dragged her along to this mixer, hoping we can find a replacement for her."

"i see," yuji nodded and suddenly perked up, "well i like your honesty nobara!"

thankfully the food came to the rescue, saving you from this uncomfortable conversation. you busy yourself by stuffing your mouth with the karage and takoyaki, washing down every bite with beer and lemon sours.

eventually, you're on your third pint of beer and nobara and yuji were both passed out in their seats, refusing to wake up, leaving poor megumi to put up with your drunken rants.

"honestly," you drawl, slamming your fist onto the table and leaning into megumi, who looked bored out of his mind, "i really do hate him megumi, i do. i just wish he'd fuck off and i wish i never met him."

"he did fuck off," he stated. his cheeks were flushed pink from alcohol but he was the most sober one out of everyone.

"that's true," you nodded, resting your head against your palms, feeling pathetic for sulking over a one night stand. your head was aching from it constantly pounding.

"how are we going to take care of these two?" megumi changed the subject, gesturing at the bodies.

"well, i definitely can't carry any of them."

"i should've just stayed home," he closed his eyes while tilting his head back to stare at the ceiling.

you miserably nodded in agreement. you reach for your phone in your pocket and your heart drops when you find it to be empty.

"fuck! where's my phone?"

"when did you last have it?" megumi rolled his eyes, clearly not caring about your newfound dilemma.

you think back and realise you must have left it in the lecture room. you bury your head in the table, feeling even worse and begin slamming your forehead.

"i'm so fucking stupid," you said in between hits.

"okay, you're way too drunk right now, relax, just get it tomorrow," megumi placed his hand in between your head and the table.

you raise your head and his gaze softens at the sight of your tears. he tosses some tissues at you, his voice noticeably lighter, "come outside for a smoke, fresh air will sober you up a bit."

you follow him out, wiping away at your eyes. megumi offered you a cigarette which you accepted. you let him light the end for you.

you don't notice his dark eyes staring into you as he leaned up against the wall, his cigarette mingling in the warm summer breeze.

"you smoke often?" he asked.

"only when drunk, but-"

"gojo sensei?"

you tense at the name and slowly turned to where megumi was looking at. your breath hitches when you see the white haired man you were moping over standing right before your eyes.

his hair was shorter and messier with a new undercut. he looked like he had been working out with his tight-fitting shirt accentuating his bulging biceps and broad shoulders even further.

your eyes trail over to the beautiful, dark haired girl hanging onto his arms. you quickly looked away from the pair when the girl caught you staring.

"megumi!" satoru smiled, taking his hand away from the woman to give him a wave, his eyes flickered to your cigarette in your hand before he flashed a smile at you, "and y/n! what are you two doing here?"

"wait, how do you know gojo?" megumi turned to you with a bewildered expression.

your mouth opened and closed and you look over at satoru, hoping he'd say something, but of course, he enjoyed watching you squirm under pressure.

"we don't really know each other, i think we met once at a family event," you lied, glaring at the man who was trying to stifle his laugh.

megumi blinked at you with a blank face but didn't say anything. fuck does he know i'm lying? you think to yourself.

the girl was eyeing you up and down with her lips tightly pursed, suspecting something was off from the way satoru kept shamelessly focusing checking you out.

she nudges satoru to introduce her. he quickly clears his throat with a smile and said, "excuse my manners guy, i forgot to introduce my date, this is julia-"

"julie."

"that's what i said," satoru continued and wrapped his hand around the girl's hip in the exact same way he held onto you and her scowl instantly softened into a smile.

you and julie were no different from each other.

"anyway, catch me up with what's going on with you two. how on earth do you guys know each other?"

you sighed under your breath realising the juxtaposition and take a long draw from your cigarette. your night couldn't get any worse than this.

"yuji dragged me to a mixer and i met her there," megumi replied with a shrug, glancing at you, "okay, well, have fun on your date."

"i'm just going to go back in as well," you announced and turn to walk in.

"okay-"

"i'm calling a taxi for julie now, any of you guys need a ride home?" satoru cuts megumi off. his blue eyes looking straight at you.

"i'm going to taxi with nobara," you answered, avoiding satoru's burning gaze.

you glance over at satoru's date who looked appalled at the current situation and felt a pang of guilt.

"i got my car," megumi replied dryly, "we're going back in, see you around sensei."

you don't look back at the couple and quickly follow megumi back into the bar. your blood was pumping at this point. it was infuriating that satoru was offering you a ride home when he was on another date as if he had no respect for either of you or julie.

does he really think you're that low?

you knew you had to down another pint of beer to wash away the frustration burning inside of you. megumi watched you throw back the drink in one chug, letting out a burp. he grimaced in disgust at your lack of manners.

"so what's the relationship between you two? you guys seem pretty close," you asked, wiping your mouth.

"he was my high school teacher but he looked after me when i was a kid," megumi answered, "are you into him?"

"no," you lied with a scoff but you knew your cheeks were flushed from that question.

"well you should probably drop all interest now. during the 12 years i've known him, he's never been tied down," said megumi before adding, "unless you're into the one night stands and being treated with no respect."

his words felt like a blade digging into your heart, bruising your ego and shattering the little hope you had. you don't answer for a bit and play with the hair tie around your wrist.

"well, good thing i'm not interested in your teacher."

"you are a terrible liar," megumi gives a small smirk, "let me guess, gojo is the guy you've been crying over. he fucked you and now you can't get over him?"

your jaw dropped, shocked that megumi could be so blunt when he seemed like such a reserved guy. your shoulders fall and you let out a dramatic sigh. you knew there was no point in denying the truth.

so you reveal everything to the guy who was raised by satoru gojo. one of those drunken moments that your sober self will soon enough come to regret.

----------

you check the missed calls and messages when you find your phone the next morning. your eyes widen at the string of messages from the same unknown number that was calling you.

2:09PM it's me satoru pick up my call, im free tonight wanna hang?

11:00PM u like fucking little boys like megumi?

1:00am: he cant fuck u like i do

you scoffed at the nerve of this man to be acting jealous when he was the one who ghosted you for three months.

9:00am: don't worry he wasn't little

you sent the message without thinking, then instantly regret it as soon as it delivered. you pray satoru doesn't bring you up to megumi, otherwise you would have some very awkward explaining to do.

you brush off the jittery feeling and bite back a grin, placing your screen down so you can focus on your studying. couple of minutes later, your phone buzzes again.

9:10am: are you angry at me love?

9:11am: if it makes u feel better ur mouth and pussy feels better than hers . its unfair how good u feel .

9:12am: i know you've been thinking about me too

you bite the inside of your cheek until you taste metal and you hastily put your phone on do not disturb, ignoring the warm fuzziness building up inside you. you squeeze your thighs to relieve some tension and strain your eyes onto the words but your brain was processing no information.

you had your mid term exams coming up and you had no time to be playing into his games but, your mind kept on drifting onto that particular night and like an annoying itch, you were desperate to scratch it for some relief.

as if your body had its mind of its own, your fingers begin to type out a message despite nobara's voice ringing in your head.

"ugh, he hasn't been texting you because he's busy fucking his other matches, get over it."

"you fucked him once. it was a one night stand. have some self respect and get yourself a boy our age, you're better than this!"

but nobara was wrong, you weren't better than this.

in fact, you don't think you've even been this low in your life before.

11am: ur right, i've been thinking about you

-

ok so nobara isnt a sorcerer in this but megumi and yuji are . this is set after the culling games and lets just be delusional and pretend nobody died, gojo won and its all sunshine and rainbows

TAGLIST: @mc-reborn @cherrymoon4 @creolequeen11210

lmk if you'd to be added to the taglist!!!! ❤️

[im-totally-not-an-alien-2]

"Baba!"

Danny smiled as he toweled his hair dry. He loved hearing his little one yell from the living room of his-now thier- lair.

The circumstances of his conception were irrelevant. He loved his kiddo very much, hence the abundance of photo albums and home videos chalked full of his kid doing random stuff. The one with him in his high chair stuffing cheerios into his mouth is his favorite solely for the fact it caught him trying to stuff them up his nose a few times. Definitely something to show future dates when he's older.

His smile fell when he heard anothers voice. No one should have access to his lair. They were in the Infinite Realms for stars sake.

Rushing out of the bathroom in only his sweatpants he charged into the living room to find it filled with capes. More specifically different (largely in costume) versions of Tim Drake. Uh oh.

How did this happen?

"Baba!" He looked down at thier child who was smiling up at him from the arms of one of the younger Tims, showing off his brand new baby fang and bloody hand. Danny rushed into the kitchen to get some alcohol pads and some bravery badges, walking past the summoning circle he had on his wall and taking note of the tiny bloody handprints near the bottom of it.

Crap. That was meant to summon friends and family into the lair. His little star must have tried summoning his father.

After bandaging his kid up and kissing the area he smiled and said, "all better!" Which earned him a giggle from the one year old and an odd look from the child still holding him.

"Tim?" The vigilante looked startled, but Danny didn't give him a chance to recover, "How about you take the little one into the living room and wait with the others? I need to make myself decent before I come explain things."

The kid looked skeptical but agreed and left in that direction.

Danny made his way to his room, and after chasing out two teenage birds who somehow snuck past him into there, he finally got dressed and chased more out of his toddlers room before making it to the living room.

Feeling a room full of eyes on him he sighed and conjured more couches from the ectoplasm in his lair, ignoring some startled shouts as he sat down.

There were a lot of different Tims here. Three adults all in gear, one good two evil, about seven teens, three in gear while four in civvies. Two of the civilian ones were the boys he had caught snooping in his room for clues.

Lastly there were three boys, two in gear with one in a civilian outfit.

Thats a total of thirteen (13) Tims.

"Okay, to start off id like to apologize on behalf of my son. We didn't mean to summon any of you."

The Robin holding Danny son chimed in, "How did he summon us?"

"Kiddo is too small to properly pronounce things yet. Hence why his calling you "baba" instead of "papa"."

He ignored the surprised sounds and questions and just let that sink in before adding, "To clarify, no. None of you are actually the father."

Danny waited patiently for them to calm down and ignored more questions, "I was with an alternate version of you who turned out to be evil-ish and wanted to eliminate all superpowers from existence or something, a fact I didn't know at the time."

"Anyway, he purposely sabotaged my birth control to get me pregnant knowing I wouldn't abort. He did this knowing that when his plan started to come to fruition I'd be too far along to stop him. He had a counter to everything, even things we never told him about. I ended up having to sever the connection between this place- the Infinite Realms- and my home dimension, trapping him there with no way for him to get out and leaving me with no way to ever see my friends or family again. Questions?"

There were many.

[aureliaporter]

family dinner

summary: ayato ropes his long term partner into meeting his family

a/n: he would so do this and i would so slap him for it >:(

cw: gn!reader, like one curse word, meeting the family (ayaka, thoma), mention of yeeting ayato off the cliff his estate is on, clingy!ayato

OF ALL THE ways you were expecting today to go, it was most definitely not like this. but of course, part of ayato’s schedule had finally cleared up, so you suppose it couldn’t be helped.

“(y/n)? could i implore you to be a dear and pass me the salt?”

you shot a scowl at your partner, passing him the salt with a sarcastic, “but of course, my lord. would you like the pepper as well?”

“that would be much appreciated, darling.”

you stared at him, trying to convey how very frustrated you were with him at this moment, but he merely smiled cheerily at you. unbelievable. you passed the pepper as well with a sigh, quickly schooling your features into pleasant indifference as ayaka’s gaze passed to you, her asking about you and her brother’s relationship.

that’s right. instead of taking you on a date to celebrate his night off, or even a stroll or just a quiet dinner together, he had decided it was time you met his sister. which would’ve been completely fine, if he’d just told you beforehand.

so now, you were in awkward conversation with your boyfriend’s sister and his best friend, who had also been invited - but of course ayato had told him just what kind of dinner this was. a half fancy, half casual, completely awkward and stifling dinner. or maybe you were the only one feeling the nerves.

“so, how long have you two been dating?” thoma asked, eager to escape the silence. ayato glanced at you expectantly, as if to tell you to respond.

“oh? did you happen to forget?” you asked ayato, leaning your chin on your hand. “it hasn’t been that long, really-”

“we’ve been dating for a year and four months,” he cut off, pouting at you. his eyes were pleading, as if asking you to punish him for this later on instead of now. you sighed, relenting.

“yeah, a year and four - nearly five, actually - months. he asked me out during the irodori festival,” you said, offering your partner a small smile at the memory. you may want to toss him off the cliff his family estate sat on at the moment, but you still loved him.

“oh, that’s so sweet! how’d he do it?” ayaka asked, leaning forward a bit. you exchanged a glance with ayato, wondering if he wanted to tell the full story. he had ended up embarrassing himself quite badly during it, if you recalled correctly.

“well, i took them on a stroll away from the city, and we watched the star shower that happened on the last night, remember?” he said, smiling at you. “and then i asked them, and they said yes. and they haven’t gotten sick of me yet,” he added, chuckling and nudging you with his shoulder.

you pursed your lips to hold back a laugh, recalling a slightly different version of events. thoma noticed, raising his eyebrows. “oh? is lord kamisato withholding information?” he asked, an amused smile tugging his lips up.

a glare from ayato made thoma cover his smile with his hand, but you plowed on through. “of course he is. have you ever known him to give the full story?” you asked, chuckling softly. ayato’s eyes widened, realizing what you were about to do.

“(y/n), if you have any love for me, you won’t tell them,” he pleaded, holding your hand between both of his. “i’ll buy you boba for three weeks straight. i’ll cancel all my meetings for the next week.”

ayaka and thoma both started laughing lightly at his blatant attempt of bribery. you smirked at your boyfriend, taking one of his hands to kiss his knuckles teasingly.

“i don’t know, hun. i feel like thoma and ayaka deserve the truth, don’t you?” you asked, pressing your lips together to hold back a grin.

he groaned, thudding his head on your shoulder. “please, (y/n), don’t you love me? you can’t go around telling people about that.”

you merely giggled softly, patting his back. “well, your servants already know, don’t they? what’s the harm if two more people find out?”

“my ego will be harmed.”

“it’s far too big to begin with, dear brother,” ayaka chimed in, an amused smile tugging at her lips. “it could do with deflating.”

he shook his head, holding you tighter. “no, it doesn’t need that. my ego is perfect,” he grumbled. you saw thoma and ayaka shared a glance. the head of the kamisato clan is practically a child.

“alright, then i won’t tell them,” you said, trying to tug ayato off of you. “your secrets are safe with me, milord. happy?”

he perked up, pulling back from your shoulder only to tug you into a hug. if he had a tail, you swear you’d see it wagging. “very much so, my dearest. in fact, i think it’s time we retire, hm?” he said, pulling you up from the table - most likely not wanting to give you any chance to change your mind.

ayaka and thoma waved at you two as you left, ayato leading you outside to the garden. he didn’t say anything at first, but he slumped against you, leaning on you from behind and making you stagger underneath his weight.

“did you have to tease me like that?” he asked, his arms wrapped around your shoulders. you could hear the pout in his voice, biting your lip to keep yourself from smiling.

“i don’t know, did you have to keep the fact that i was officially meeting your sister a secret?”

he kept silent, his hold around your shoulders slipping to around your torso. “.. no. i’m sorry,” he said softly, his breath tickling your neck.

you sighed, raising a hand to pat his head. he practically melted into your touch, enjoying the feeling as your fingers danced over his hair. “it’s fine. but next time you pull shit like this, i’m going straight to miko and publishing the story of how exactly you asked me out.”

he whined, clinging tighter to you. “fine, fine. i won’t do it again. just don’t go to miko, please.”

you chuckled, tugging at his hair to get him to whine again, this time in slight pain. “i won’t, alright? truce?” you asked, offering your hand to shake his. he ignored it, nodding and squeezing you tighter. “alright, let go before you manage to cut off my circulation,” you said, attempting to wiggle out of his hold. he grumbled but released you in favor of looping your arm through his.

“shall we go for that stroll you wanted?” he offered, smiling softly at you. you nodded, letting him lead you out of the estate grounds and along the path, lit only by the moonlight.

---

extra:

your combined laughter wound through the air as ayato tugged you along, a smile on his handsome face and his hair a mess from the wind. you tried to reach up to fix it for him, but he caught your hands, not caring for his current appearance and preferring to pull you along the beach. you both stumbled along, too caught up in each other and the star shower. then he was wrapping his arm around your shoulder, pointing to the sky. a gasp left your lips as you watched the millions of lights that whizzed through the sky towards the ground, mimicking rain. you didn’t even notice ayato moving behind you, stepping into the shallow water.

“(y/n),” he said softly, his voice calling your attention. you turned around, surprised to see him holding a small bouquet of flowers - small enough to fit in his sleeves.

“ayato?” you said, tone curious. what was with the flowers?

before he could say anything, he took a step forward, foot landing on a slippery rock and stumbling. you reached forward to help him, but before you could, he was landing in the water with a splash, clothes soaked, flowers hanging limply, and expression shocked.

“i..” he started, an embarrassed flush covering his face. you couldn’t help but chuckle, reaching down to help him up.

“ayato, i know you’ve a hydro vision, but that doesn’t mean you won’t get a cold. c’mon, let’s get you home,” you said, pulling him up and hurrying him back to the kamisato estate. when you attempted to leave, wanting him to rest and then to see him tomorrow, he merely clung to your wrist, pleading with you to stay. so you stayed until he was dry and in his nightclothes, the pair of you sitting on the edge of his bed.

“ayato, i should get going. you need to sleep, and there’s a lot of work with closing the irodori festival tomorrow,” you reasoned, looking up at him. he had been looking rather deep in thought ever since he’d fallen into the water, eyebrows constantly knit together. “ayato?”

he looked up, his expression now determined. “(y/n), i.. have something i’d like to ask. that i couldn’t ask earlier.”

you tilted your head at him, curiosity piquing. “alright. what’s up?”

he reached for your hands, holding them in his and brushing his thumbs over your knuckles. “(y/n), i.. i understand this may seem a bit.. out of the blue, but i have been thinking of this for a while. and i had it planned perfectly, to be honest. earlier, with the star shower, and the flowers, and the beach, and you.. and i was the only thing that wasn’t working right,” he said, sounding oddly self-depreciating for a moment.

“ayato..?” you started, worry painting your tone. “what are you getting at?”

he sighed, squeezing your hands. “(y/n), i.. i would be very happy if you’d do me the honor of courting me.”

silence wrapped around you two for a few seconds, you blinking at ayato as you attempted to form a response. eventually; “you do realize you could’ve just asked me on a date like anybody else.”

he shook his head, squeezing your hands again. “i wanted to be better than anybody else. but i messed that up, too.”

you sighed, tugging one of your hands out of his hold to cradle his cheek. “you’re an idiot,” you said, kissing his cheek. “i would’ve dated you if you sent thoma to ask me in your stead.”

“.. would you actually have?”

“no.”

“.. so we’re official?”

“yes. now go to bed. i don’t want you whining to me about how tired you are tomorrow.”

nevertheless, the pair of you ended up staying awake late into the night, talking until you both passed out. and when ayato whined to you the next morning, you merely passed him a cup of coffee, patting his head gently. who could hate a cutie like him?

ayato is my baby so i am implored to right fanfic about him. however its a slight crime i wrote for him before xiao since xiao is my forever bby but its okay its okay

anyways! hope you guys enjoyed once again! also holy shit im shocked at the love my last two got :0 thank you guys so much!! <3

[recurring-polynya]

Izakaya Kamenoya

I am re-watching the Captain Amagai arc, which I love because it has just a shit-ton of Seireitei slice-of-life worldbuilding. Early in the arc, Kira goes to the bar with Renji and Iba to sob about how his new Third Seat is better than him, and it made me wonder-- do the lieutenants always go to the same bar, or does the anime just make up a new one every time? Episode 172 had a nice shot of the exterior:

I immediately went to Episode 355 (the second New Year's episode), because I'm always thinking about Rukia shotgunning that beer while Renji gazes on lovingly, and it certainly *looks* like same place, but again, maybe that's just a very standard-looking izakaya.

I decided that trying to translate the kanji might help. They're more visible in the first image. The ones on the paper lantern, 酒処 were easy, because they just say izakaya (literally, "alcohol" and "place"). That just supported the idea that this was just some generic bar. For the kanji on the wooden lantern, which appeared to be the same as the ones on the sign above the door, I managed to puzzle out the bottommost one, 屋, which means "shop" or "restaurant." Hmm.

At this point, I was feeling a little stumped, so I went looking for other screen shots.

Other bar scenes I could remember took place in: Episode 179 (Ukitake and Kyouraku try to angle Amagai into a threesome). This had a clearer shot of the sign, and it's definitely the same as the lantern.

Ep 305 (Kira and Hisagi go for drinks after work and run into Unohana having "Ladies' Night" with Soi Fon, the Kotetsu sisters, and Yachiru ????)

And finally, Episode 265 (the end of the Sword Beasts arc, Ladies' Night again, I guess, this time with zanpakutou)

and bingo, they actually translated it for me, this time!!

In, the only one that didn't turn out to take place at Izakaya Kamenoya was from Ep. 303, the first New Year's episode. The SWA holds their holiday luncheon here (the sign says 茶屋, or "tea house") .

It is also not the place where Rukia and Renji announce their engagement in WDKALY, that place is called Safflower, and it's fancier and it's specifically mentioned that it's way classier than everyone's usual digs.

That's neither here nor there, let's get back to Izakaya Kamenoya!

Later on, like when I was 90% of the way through writing this post, I realized there was an earlier shot of the sign in episode 172 that was also translated (which I thought I remembered and then assumed I had hallucinated when I couldn't find it, but it was from a separate trip to bar with Kibune and Kira's shitty subordinates). Conveniently, it's also probably the most readable out of all of them. EDIT: I didn't notice when I pasted this in here, but they translate it as Kamegameya here, which seems like a mistake? B3 suggests they might have read the second character as a repetition (with the k turning into a g, which I don't know all the details of, but I assume it's that thing that happens in Japanese when a word is in the interior of another word and it gets a harder consonant, the same way the s in "sakura" in Senbonzakura becomes a z). Google also tells me that the name of Yugi's grandfather's game shop in Yu-Gi-Oh is called Kame Game, so I wonder if the subtitler here was just working on muscle memory 😂. I'm sticking with Kamenoya, although Turtle Turtle Bar has its own charm)

The three characters in the upper left are 居酒屋, which is just a different way to spell izakaya.

"Kame" was easy to translate, it's the leftmost large character on the sign, 亀. It means "turtle", but the second meaning is "heavy drinker," so I'm guessing this might be a bit of a pun. Unfortunately, googling didn't turn up any further detail on this.

I puzzled a little over the middle character, until I realized that it might be 之, which is an older version of の. Oh, says me, who only speaks the Japanese I picked up from anime, it's Kame no ya, the way all the inns in Kakuriyo end in "ya." It just means "House of the Turtle", or "Turtle's Pub."

Turtle's Pub. Can we just take a moment to reflect on the fact that the lieutenants (and sometimes captains) like to hang out at someplace called Turtle's? I am so charmed by this. I have not been so excited since the time I realized that Renji was wearing the koi hoodie in the Bount Arc OP.

It's possible that it was just named by a guy who has "kame" as part of his name or who likes turtles, or as I said, maybe it's a pun, but there are two other possibilities I thought of:

In line with this post on the naming scheme for the Seireitei Gates, perhaps it's in the north part of the city, and named after Genbu the Black Tortoise-Snake

When I am making up business names in my fanfic, I often like to associate them with the squads they are near-- dragons for stuff near Squad 10, fish for 13, firebirds for things that are more city-wide. It's partially trying to tap into squad solidarity, and partially so people have a clue where your place is located in this stupid maze city. I love the idea of some former captain with a turtle-themed zanpakutou, whose is fondly remembered because someone happened to name a good bar after them.

I looked up that extremely questionable Blood War era Seireitei map, wondering if maybe Squad 3 was near the north gate:

It turns out it is not (assuming the unlabeled squads just go in order), but you know what is? Squad 10. So if Kamenoya is named after the North Gate, I assume everyone drinks there because it's close to Matsumoto.

(thank you very much to @kaicko for checking my work)

[lunar-years]

i hope this isn't too weird to join the discussion as a random follower but i've been very stuck on the trend you mentioned where prior to s3, fics often had jamie join established roykeeley after a lot of pining and self-recrimination. and i thought hmm i haven't really seen much of that for keeley joining established royjamie post s3, even though it would make a lot more sense given where they all are at the end of s3!

(cont.) i would love to read (or write) a fic about royjamie being on (but on the downlow due to their careers and the homophobia in football) and somehow keeley finds out about them so she has to keep things secret but is also like, oh god, this is it, this was the missing ingredient and i've MISSED MY CHANCE and angsting about whether she made the right decision in the end. it'd all come good in the end but let keeley feel insecure in fic! she's too self-assured in fanon imo.

YES!! You know funnily enough, despite this scenario being like, THE way I most think the ot3 actually gets together after the finale, I haven't written it and it's not in any of my current wips, either, lol. My friends with benefits fic is sort of going to include a similar dynamic (at least in terms of Keeley being like, fuck I've missed my chance and now they're going to get together without me and its my own fault yada yada). Except it's a slightly different flavor of it because they're fwb and Keeley is still participating as often as she pleases and neither roy nor jamie have yet realized how the dynamic has shifted from fwb into something else/more between them. so it's really just Keeley panicking on her own that they're going to realize at any second how they feel about one another and ditch her altogether.

but anyway, YES i want to read your exact version, and YEAH Keeley definitely is too self-assured in fanon, especially for a character who was basically continually in a self crisis spiral for 75% of season 3, lol.

If I had to pick a single headcanoned way I think they get together after canon events, I think Roy & Jamie apologize to Keeley and she kindly tells them she isn't currently in the place for a relationship with either of them, but she cares about both of them deeply and wants them to all be friends (with an implied 'my thoughts on being together romantically might very well change in the future, I'm just not ready for that now.') Which honestly is the right call for her personal growth and self care, because I think Keeley deserves & needs a hot single girl self-love era.

Only, Keeley hasn't actually realized how close royjamie have gotten as she's been having her various s3 crises, and even though she obviously knows they're not obligated to wait around for her to make a decision, I think there's probably a part of her (that she refuses to acknowledge of course) that is like, 'well they've both simped over me this long, of course that door is always going to be open. I can just return to that decision when I'm ready.'

...Color-her-surprised when Jamie and Roy do not just wait around, they get together. And as they all three continue to hang out as friends, she catches on to the relationship and at first it's like okay this is hot, all good fun. But then she realizes just how close they are, and has a full blown crisis because holy shit this is serious, and how did that happen right when she wasn't looking? They're in love, and she's missed out because she was too busy tasking time for herself, and that just isn't fair, is it, she's the one who helped make both of them better!! SHE put in the work and now they're getting the payoff??

Cue angst and irrational thinking patterns and Keeley loneliness that of course ends with a frank conversation and a threesome that turns into canon throuple. amen.

ironically the fic I've read closest to this concept was written prior to s3, Robocop by wildwren. it was part of a roykeeley breakup series, but basically there's lingering sexual tension between all three of them, then Keeley decides she's ready to sleep with Jamie, only to go over to his and find him and Roy already fucking in the car 🫢 and then she thinks she's missed her chance etc. The series wasn't finished (if there was going to be more to it, idk) but the whole thing was BRILLIANT and like. spot on to the dynamics set up in s3, because wildwren is a wizard.

[terry-perry]

44 from the Little One prompt list with the Moon Knights boys please 🥺

Choosing little one’s name together.

“So, we’re having a girl,” you said.

You just came back from your latest doctor appointment. All things were good, baby was healthy. And you also found out you were having a daughter.

“You called it,” Steven said, mumbling into your stomach.

 Out of all the three, he was the one who loved resting against it the most. The other two may find any excuse to have their hands on it, but Steven was the one who had no shame. And now that your baby bump was becoming more prominent, he loved it even more. Anytime he was around you, his hands would find their way to it. If not his hands, then his head. At least his lips.  

“I’m happy,” you said, caressing his hair as he kept his head on you. “You guys came up with a lot of cute girl names.”

Since the start of your pregnancy, the boys would text you different names for the baby. It basically become part of your routine to expect a text with a name suggestion. You could tell right away who would be coming up with something based on the choices.

Steven would come up with names that were fancier and/or from literature like Charlotte, Theodore, Emily, Darcy.

Marc liked simpler names that had one or two syllables like James, Amy, Eric, John.

Jake gravitated towards ones that sounded nice in both English and Spanish like Emma, Oscar, Felix, Anna.

“Well, we agreed you’d have the final say, love,” Steven said, now mindlessly tracing shapes along your belly. “Any of them stand out for you?”

“I really like Marceline,” you said. “It sounds pretty. That’s also the name of that poet you really like, right?”

“Marceline Desbordes-Valmore, yes,” he clarified. “The French translation for it also translates to ‘little warrior.’”

“Definitely appropriate for our daughter. It also sounds like the female version of Marc, don’t you think?”

“Yeah, it does,” he peered down to talk directly to your unborn child. “Marceline it is then?”

He felt a small kick just then, getting the both of you to gasp and laugh in disbelief.

“Marceline it is then,” you confirmed. “And what about a middle name?”

“Well, the three of us really liked one name. Mostly because of its meaning behind it.”

“Oh?” You tried your best to remember which one all three of them suggested.

“Abigail,” Steven answered, smiling more fondly than ever. “In Hebrew, it means ‘father’s joy.’”

Hearing that brought out your own elated smile. “It’s perfect,”

So, it was settled.

Five more months, and you’d be welcoming your little warrior that was your father’s joy.

[allister-1903929]

Hi I love the NSR Welcome Home AU so much! Question: are there any fun facts related to the character designs? Thank you!

Hi sweetheart! It warms my heart so much to hear that you love it, thank you so much😭

I work on each design a lot and I’m very very very excited to share some more info about them!

For now, I’ve posted only three designs and I don’t want to spoiler other members of the crew just yet, but I’ll update this post or make extra for each of the next characters that will be introduced !

I have to state one important thing:

All the genres that the characters are presenting were popular or were even created either in the early or late 70s

Julie and Frank are representing the late 70s genres, but it’s a much more important fact for Frank

He became a NSR charter way earlier than Julie. Furthermore, Frank was one of the judges on Julie’s first NSR audition

If we’ll make parallels with our world’s music history, the fact that his genre appeared in the moment when it probably wouldn’t exist in the exact kind of way Frank presented it, is the exact reason why he refreshed peoples view on music so much

The gray strands of hair, white contours in his design and the yellow butterfly are a huge tribute to Andy Warhol, who was the founder of the group "The velvet underground". This group partly belongs to the New Wave direction, but it mainly inspired me with the philosophy and the viewpoint on art that Andy Warhol had

That’s the first version of his design, I didn‘t change it much but still it didn‘t feel right and i was very upset about that:

The one, THE ONLY, WITH WHOM I HAD NO IDEA WHAT TO DO BECAUSE I HAD TOO MUCH IDEAS… I was very concerned about saving details from Julie’s original design because I wanted to keep the charm of the canonical character

Julie’s design has some details that are inspired by Donna Summer, who gave a start to the genre Julie performs.

The main thing is that without the jacket her top quite literally blooms like a flower, the jacket just hold it while she’s rollerskating

She takes off the jacket when she’s wandering or playing around her "castle"

I can’t help but also show the first drafts of her design. The skirt is my favourite even after I’ve made the final decision different bc the way how fluffy it is would be a little unpractical 😭

Aaand the last, but not the least is Wally!

Honestly, his design is not as complex as the others. Mainly his design is based of disco fashion trends in the 70s that were portrayed in magazines or movies, and it doesn’t say much about his character. It shouldn’t though, as even in Welcome home there isn’t much information about him, but still he makes an impression of a kind, even comforting person. But when he’ll appear in the story of this AU for the second time, I’ll probably make his design more complex (Not saying he’ll be completely redesigned, but I’ll definitely think of other options of how he would look)

Oh! And also the red jacket he is wearing is the only jacket of his that isn’t stained with paint. He wears this particular one only on special events or auditions, because his friends made it for him and he will actually be freaking out if anything happens with this jacket

I’m very sorry if I got slightly carried away while answering the question, but I’m very grateful for your interest in my au!

Have a nice day and be kind to yourselves!

Byeeeee~✨

[alexanderlightweight]

For writing prompt could we perhaps get a little more of the marriage of inconvenience? It’s a wonderful fic! If not no worries, married at first sight/meeting/date is my favorite trope!

Yeah! Thanks for the ask I really loved this fic so I was happy to finally finish it but I’m not burned out

Hope you enjoy!

—

Alec starts to wake up and he squints, because he’s definitely not in his own room.

He’s not in any room he’s seen before and it smells different but more like home than Alec’s ever had.

Something rustles next to him and Alec can’t help the small yelp when a strong arm wraps around his waist and he’s hauled back.

Back against firm muscles that are hard and smooth against the line of Alec’s back and there’s stubble, scratchy against his neck and he burrows back into the chafe of it.

“Magnus.” He gasps out in a sob of pure relief even as lips are being pressed to his shoulder. N

Alec is sore and pleasantly aching, his body tingling from the inside out and he has everything he’s never let himself dream about.

“Yes, sweetheart?” He’s asked, a dark chuckle against his nape and teeth are scraping over the bruise that is Alec’s deflect rune. “Good morning.”

And Alec whimpers when he finally rolls himself over and stares at Magnus.

Magnus who looks so very incredible, with his sleep-mussed hair and his makeup gone.

And he’s still just as devastatingly beautiful as the first time Alec saw him.

Which was the night before.

“We got married, we got married right?”

“Yes, we did.” Magnus is rumbling, pulling Alec closer and Alec lets himself be manhandled, limp with relief.

Magnus himself sounds very pleased and smug but the tightness of his fingers on Alec’s hip belay his sudden tension.

“Oh thank fuck.” Alec mutters because Maia swears like a mundane and he’s picked up on it. And Alec certainly isn’t going to be thanking any angels when this whole thing is an angelic problem. “The wedding is supposed to be in three days.”

“That’s cutting it a little close.” Magnus tells him and his grip has only tightened but the rest of his body is relaxed now.

His fingers are proprietary and knowing as they pet up and down Alec’s skin. And Alec has to wonder, how much did Magnus touch him while he slept, trying to memorize Alec’s body.

The way Magnus touches him, it’s like he already knows Alec and is familiar with him.

He acts like touching Alec is a natural extension of Magnus moving, because his fingers belong on Alec’s skin.

“If I let myself get poisoned by a demon can I just conveniently stay unconscious until after that?” He asks without any real thought and there is a sharp inhale and then Magnus rolls them from their sides over. He’s pinning Alec down and staring down at him and Alec gets the distinct impression that he’s said something wrong.

“If you get yourself poisoned by a demon, darling Alexander. Especially if it’s on purpose, I will be putting you to bed and I will be withholding myself.”

Alec can’t help the way he lurches up, arms winding tightly around Magnus.

“No poison.” He promises because avoiding the clave isn’t worth any loss of Magnus’ attention.

Magnus chuckles and it’s a comforting rumble, the promise of a predator's protection.

“Well, not for you at least.” Magnus murmurs against his lips, “though we could always plan a little poison for our wedding favors.”

Alec fights the grin because duty is still important to him but Alec is so tired of being the sensible and strong one when he’s been the one caught in a storm and dashed against a reef.

“You might not like how they react.” Magnus warns him, reminding Alec of the consequences.

The price that may be his freedom.

And Alec, maybe that would have scared him before.

But he has a powerful, magical, amazing husband who holds Alec like he’s a flash of frozen starlight about to vanish forever.

And Alec finds that he can live with this version of himself.

This version of himself that chooses happiness over a slow death.

Because Alec was never going to stay married to Clary if he even made it to the altar.

One of them would have ended up dead, one way or another.

Alec would have made it so.

So he kisses Magnus in answer.

A little hesitant because it’s new and there’s a little flare of magic where he tastes mint instead of morning and then his mouth is being claimed much more skillfully than his own attempt.

“I’ll have you, right? No matter what happens?” Alec pants when Magnus finally takes agonizing mercy and lets him breathe.

“We’re bound to each other, Alexander. As tightly as Jonathan Shadowhunter was to Raziel, if not much more intimately.” Magnus kisses him again and then his brow and the bridges of his cheeks.

Alec knows that his family won’t understand. Especially when he’s been trained to let them break and crush him into a mold of their own making that doesn’t fit for him.

And Alec knows he could have done it. He could have held on till he was at least forty and then if it got too much, well accidents happen.

Clary is the spark that set off the inferno.

Because Alec has considered willingly giving up his runes rather than marry her but somehow saying no to his family was harder.

“I think I lost them a while ago.” Alec admits and it’s hard, “and no one is asking me how I feel. Just that I’ll have Clary and Jace to help me run the Institute—“

— like Jace who is a soldier but not a leader and Clary who is a little girl who knows nothing and refuses to learn can help —

“I think I’m tired.” Alec finishes lamely, a quiet admittance and he means so much more than just simple exhaustion. “And I’m glad you found me last night. I’m glad you took a chance on me.”

Because Alec’s not sure what would have been left of him in three days.

“Even if I don’t want to let you go back?” Magnus asks and he’s testing the water, and Alec who has spent his entire life denying himself for other people is done.

“Okay.” He agrees, because Jocelyn is in the council and

Alec blinks his eyes open, “hey the downworld knows Valentine’s alive, right? I didn’t find out until recently but you guys know right? It’s why people are being more careful right?”

“Oh darling,” Magnus says and Alec’s being kissed again and he’s not complaining but he’d like to know how to make it happen on purpose. “I did know, but thank you for telling me.”

Alec nods and then he realizes and he’s shocked.

“I’m your husband.” Alec says. “You married a shadowhunter knowing the shadowworld was about to implode.” And Alec can’t help it, he’s impressed by Magnus’ sheer arrogance. “Dealing with the Fairchild’s was worth this outcome.” He decides and it’s a testament to how much he already adores Magnus that he’s making the concession.

“ Fairchild? Clary? Was your fiancé Clarissa Fairchild?” And Alec nods even though he’s not sure what her actual first name is.

“They were going to marry you off to a mundane-raised, memory-wiped, sight-hidden unbloodied child?” Magnus is seething above him, his muscles bunching and his magic coiling in the air.

“Memory-wiped?” Alec asks, because that hasn’t come up. He would know, memory wipes are serious and he could have used it as an excuse. Not that he’s unhappy with where he’s at.

“I wiped them for a fee.” Magnus tells him dryly and Alec decides then and there that Magnus is quite obviously his soulmate.

“Can we make sure she never gets them back?” Alec asks, and it’s petty and cruel and Magnus grins at him and croons gently, like he’s absolutely delighted by the prospect.

“Yes, I think that can be arranged.” And then Magnus is scowling at the wall like he can set it on fire with the force of his glower and he probably can. “How should we do this?”

Alec blinks and then shrugs, “send enough fire messages to let them know I’m still alive and show up as freshly married to my own wedding?”

“Sounds splendid, I’ll pick our outfits, a united front?” Magnus asks and Alec smiles at him, charmed. “It’s likely you’ll be disowned on the spot.”

“Well it’s a good thing I can just take your last name.” Alec mutters because he knows what he’s doing. Alec knew the minute Magnus kissed him what he’d be losing.

He also got a glimpse of everything he’d be gaining.

The choice had been easy, it still is.

[seahorsepencils]

london/manchester adventures: part 1

Vague spoilers below for anyone who hasn't seen Octopolis.

A few weeks ago I went to see Octopolis and Great Expectations with the Berena group of @batnbreakfast @ktlsyrtis @elphiessolsikke @iordio @starfleetwitch @ariverandasong and @akaanonymouth.

I have a lot of feelings/thoughts! For the sake of brevity I'm going to try to keep the focus narrow.

octopolis

Anyone who's not able to see the production, I highly recommend buying a copy of the script online if you can. It's very beautiful and strange, and I think it's a satisfying read if you want to get a sense of some of the funnier and more vulnerable moments, and imagine Jemma in those moments.

I saw the play three times in total (twice on Thursday and once on Friday night), and each performance was very different. Because the show is a two-hander and both actors do such an amazing job listening to each other and taking in each other's (and the audience's) energy, there's a lot of variable space for the mood/vibes to shift between performances.

The Thursday matinee got lots of laughs in the first half and then felt really sad at the end. The evening show got almost no laughs at the beginning and felt sort of tense? In a way that I don't think was intentional, but made for an interesting experience watching it. Also the director, Ed Madden, was at that performance - my eyes kept flicking over toward his area of the audience to try to gauge how he was reacting.

Friday was definitely my favorite performance of the three. Ewan Miller's comic timing is pretty great in general, but in this production it was perfect - and everything he said felt very honest and vulnerable, not like a punchline. And the chemistry between both actors was definitely at its best in this version. I will say that I found the chemistry to be a bit unsatisfying in general - they have a lot of fun together, but I never quite believed that either one had fallen for the other, so it didn't quite click for me as a romantic chemistry. But thinking of the two as curious and vulnerable friends and intellectual partners, I definitely found that chemistry to be most palpable in the Friday show.

Additionally, Jemma hit a different level of anger in the Friday show, which I loved. I think the ending of the play really depends on the sense that her character feels incredibly betrayed, and on Friday, I could really feel the depth of that betrayal in her reaction to it.

And if I'm not misremembering, the final dance between the characters was a little different in that version - not the choreography itself, but how they initiated physical contact at the start of it. It had a bit more of a loving/vulnerable quality, which was very sweet and sad.

Oh, also: Jemma snort laughed the most times in the Friday performance. Very important data.

My favorite difference between the three was the bows at the end of the Friday night performance - Jemma and Ewan did a little cute shoulder bump during each bow, like they were happy about how well it went and what they'd created together this time around.

It was really lovely being able to see the show with friends the third time around, and to spend time talking about bits of the production that broke our brains, and parts where her intonation was similar to a specific Bernie moment, etc. It was also great being able to chat with Jemma after the performance - I'm not good at writing about that sort of thing so I'm going to refrain, but @ktlsyrtis's post covers it pretty nicely.

[powdermelonkeg]

Tears of the Kingdom: Final Trailer Analysis (Part 2)

Part 1 is here!

In our next scene, we have our new horned bokoblins mining, while Lizalfos keep guard.

THIS scene gave me chills. The atmosphere is terrifying.

Blue flames dance along the ground.

Pools of malice are spattered everywhere.

Trees are dead, or dying, as spores rain down.

Curly fern and mushroom trees grow, seemingly with no end.

There's this big glowing root in the center, giving off light, surrounding something—an egg? A crystal?

The grass is purple, and stalks reach toward the sky like hands.

Where is this? Underground? A parallel dimension? A corrupted Hyrule? It has no features I can place.

The monsters here are all coated in malice. They look possessed.

The mining operation looks like standard rare ore chunks from Breath of the Wild, but the stone it's set in has weird, circular shapes cut into it.

There are old ruins in the back that look to be just a set of shelves. What was their purpose?

At a slightly different angle as the camera pans around, we can see stalactites, so this seems to be at least partially underground.

There's also another far-off egg tree, so we can rule out the glowing light being a trapped Zelda, at least.

Fittingly, in this eerie area, Ganondorf starts to speak.

This clip is very important, because of some context we got as Tears of the Kingdom was developing. It took a long, long time for the title to drop, because the Zeldevs claimed it "had major plot spoilers."

We all laughed about that at the time, but this clip puts that into perspective.

"Sweep over Hyrule. Eliminate this kingdom and her allies."

Ganondorf calls Hyrule "her." Hyrule is a she.

If "Tears of the Kingdom" is a plot spoiler, then maybe it's a call to the kingdom being able to cry in the first place.

Next, we see Lake Hylia. The water level is the same as it was in BotW, so that's been untouched.

Oh, hello dragon.

It's unclear yet whether this is a one-off boss, like the kind we'd have in previous generations, or if this is something we'll find around the world like Hinoxes and Lynels. But it's still really cool, and a big threat.

However, by advancing it a few frames...

We can see three distinct heads.

Breath of the Wild brought Lynels in, which were most prevalent in the original Legend of Zelda. I wouldn't be surprised at all if this was BotW's Gleeok.

In the distance, we can see Hyrule Castle, raised off of the ground. The malice here looks much less like smoke and FAR more like writhing tentacles.

The splotch of green, I believe, is the spiral that surrounds the locked down Sheikah shrines.

Next we have Hateno. Fairly standard at first glance, with the exception of the spiral surrounding Myahm Agna Shrine. However, it's worth noting that Purah's blue flames have been put out, and the torches along the path to it are completely missing.

And then you look closer.

Those weren't there before, and there's a splotch of malice nearby them. The start of the egg trees?

There's more malice on the side of the Dueling Peaks.

And then, off in the distance, either a blue Sheikah tower—confirming that they're still around—or a blue version of the new towers, which makes them Sheikah tech unto themselves. It's also in the same position, given the angle we're viewing Hateno, as Faron Tower; if it IS one of the new structures, that means they replace the old towers 1:1.

The Blood Moon rises once again over Link's head-

-with an island visible in the distance.

We can see the ocean line from here, so this is somewhere near the southern coast.

A shot of the Blood Moon over Hyrule Castle. Moon Big.

The castle's cliff is absolutely COVERED in malice.

The Blood Moon shoots out even more of it.

A point of impact that looks vaguely like someone reaching for the sky; there's definitely SOMETHING in there that's being transformed.

Lava-streaked rocks fall to the ground.

Parts of the palace crumble to bits.

And this'll be continued in Part 3. Image limit strikes again.

Edit: Part 3 here!

[prototypesteve]

I saw this post on threads and decided to explore my own version of it a little.

Death has had a crush on me for years.

We met at a summer camp at the bottom of a pool where I played a pirate thrown overboard, and a costuming mistake started drowning me.

2003

“Oh! Hi…”

“Hello.”

“Are we…? I’ve heard all about…”

A lifeguard broke us up, but I’d definitely caught Death’s eye.

Death learned I was a volunteer at the summer camp where I was working for two of their friends, Faith and Eternity, and I think that sealed the deal for them. Death knew I was their type. Someone who was open to them, but waiting for the right moment.

~

We ran into each other a few more times. They once tried to sneak me out of a bad relationship, but I got myself out of that, and started eating again.

We keep crossing paths, usually out in the mountains, or at sea, but they’ve been giving me a bit more space, lately.

2023

“You seem happy. Are you seeing Purpose.”

“Yeah. Sorry.”

“No, that’s… good. Purpose is good.”

I feel bad. I feel like I’ve been leading Death on for years, now. Like every time they feel as though we finally have a chance, I go and find something to be happy about, or a cause to serve, or something.

~

But Death knows that when the time is right, it’ll be a special moment. As one of the rare ones born asexual and aromantic I never had the usual flirtations with the popular entities, like Love, Legacy, or Connection. The three of them often try to teach people to hate and resent Death and even Eternity.

My only serious encounters with Love, Legacy and Connection were were the times they decided to play a prank, and disguise Friendship as Love and toyed with me for a while. Those were the only times I called death and asked them for a lift home, and I knew they wanted that, but knew the time wasn’t right:

2008

“Fuck it, let’s do this. Is Eternity back at your place?”

“Are you serious?”

“I feel serious. No. I feel like I feel serious. I don’t know if I’ve ever really felt what I thought I was feeling, okay? Fuck. Why did that happen?”

“What happened was terrible and wrong, but Love and Connection and Friendship just get that way sometimes. They can be complete dicks. Sometimes I think they don’t know any better, because they spend so much time not knowing what people want from them either. People aren’t easy to read, anymore. Anyway, I’m still sorry you got caught up in their special bullshit. Let’s go home.”

“Really?”

“No, not Home home, your home. Eternity knows you’re not really ready, and Faith would be pissed if we let you rush things.”

“I’m just… tired of always getting people wrong. Especially myself. I feel like someone tore the first 20 pages out of my instruction booklet.”

“There you are. You’re going to be okay. I have a friend I want you to meet, their name is Answers.”

~

Answers moves at a different pace, and speaks very slowly, often from a distance. But over the years, between 2008 and 2022, Answers helped me recover, and reintroduced me to Purpose, and all the while Death has kept a respectful distance.

[vivwritesfics]

Working Nine to Five

(Part two is called What a Way to Make a Living)

1040 words

EDDIE MUNSON X FEMALE READER

Dramatised version on true events, themes of stalking and foul language used in these

Having a nine to five in a rarely visited record store was... exhausting.

With the lack of customers there was nothing to do but sit behind the counter all day. The moment somebody came in and actually bought something, the shelf it came from would be restocked in three seconds flat.

Y/N sat in the chair behind the counter. The chair was taller than most, allowing her to easily see over the counter she should have been stood behind. A pen was in her hand as she tried to remember what stock they needed for the coming month. As always, it wasn't a lot.

This happened to be the day that Eddie Munson came into the store. He'd been to every record store in Indianna, if felt like, bar from this one. This one was dimly lit and always empty. Eddie had gone past it a few times in the past, only noticing it when he saw a girl outside, putting up a poster.

It wasn't the record store that caught his attention, it was her.

When Eddie went into the store, he wasn't noticed. The only employee was too busy scribbling something down on a piece of paper. As he browsed through the collection, he wasn't noticed. It was only when he found something he vaguely recognised and took it up to the counter was he finally noticed.

"Oh, shit, sorry," she said and pushed away her piece of paper. Picking up the record, the girl looked at it for a minute before looking at Eddie.

There was slight judgement in her expression. "What?"

"Nothing, you just don't look like a Queen guy, that's all."

In truth, Eddie wasn't a Queen guy. He just knew everybody and their gran seemed to love them. They were a safe option to take up to the pretty girl at the counter.

"Don't get me wrong, it's a good album, definitely worth a listen," she said and Eddie paid for it. He left the record store that day with a red face.

That wasn't the last time Eddie went to the store. Only a few days later he went back in. It was the same bored, pretty girl sat behind the counter. This time she noticed him, perking up when he came through the door.

"So," she began as he strolled towards the counter, "how did you find that album?"

Slowly, Eddie nodded. "Listened to and enjoyed," he said, but his face told a different story.

Y/N grinned at him. "Do you want help finding something a bit more you?"

Visibly, Eddie deflated. "Yes," he cried in a rather dramatic fashion. He straightened himself up before saying, "yes please."

The two searched through the shelves. At points Y/N would pull out a record and show it to Eddie. But he either owned it already or knew he hated it. This guy had specific taste and, as much as he didn't want to admit it to the gorgeous sales assistant, they probably wouldn't find what he was looking for.

It had been close to an hour when they found a Metallica album. Eddie already had the record, of course, but he bought it anyway. "Thank you... Y/N," he said, reading across her name badge. "Huh, pretty name."

That definitely wasn't supposed to come out. He went red and looked down at his new records. "What's your name?" Y/N asked, playing it cool. But, inside, she was freaking out.

"Eddie."

They shook hands, like they were in some business meeting.

Eddie took that as his leave. Things were already uncomfortable, he didn't want to make them any worse.

But he came back. This time, though, Y/N was nowhere to be seen.

Eddie strolled into the shop with a beaming smile on his face. He looked to the counter, waiting for his eyes to adjust to the light. But, when he saw who it was, he stopped.

This guy was maybe in his late 40's, early 50's. He had shitty tattoos up his arms, pierced ears and dyed black spiky hair. He held a cigarette in his hands as he stared blankly at Eddie.

"Can I help you, Sir?" He asked, too excited to be doing his job.

Eddie stepped back when the other guy went to move out from behind the counter. "Uh, I'm looking for Y/N?" He questioned.

"All right then," the guy said quietly, clearly unhappy as he moved back behind the counter.

A moment later, Y/N appeared from the back room. Balancing on her hip she had a box of records. "Eddie," she beamed, excitement lacing her voice.

He rushed over, taking the box from her.

It was clear as they restocked together that Eddie wasn't there as a customer. They talked and laughed as they restocked the shelves. When the other employee in the shop came over, Y/N went quiet, her face like stone. "Can you please just alphabetise the pop section," she said to him, still looking at Eddie.

When he was gone, they went right back to talking and laughing. At one point Eddie got real close. For some it was probably too close for comfort but for Y/N, it was perfect. "So, what's the deal with that guy?" He asked, his voice a hushed whisper.

Y/N rolled her eyes. "The old manager let him do whatever he wanted and never told him how to do the job properly. Every time he made a mistake we'd just fix it without telling him. The new manager is trying to get him fired because of how shitty he's been since he started," she confessed. Her eyes were always on the other employee.

When they were done restocking together, Eddie knew it was time to take his leave. "Come to the counter really quickly," Y/N said when he tried to go. She pulled out a bit of paper from the register and quickly wrote down her number. "I get off at six."

"Then I will be calling you, Madame, at six thirty." Eddie even added a bow as he walked out of the shop. But, at the way she was grinning and laughing at him, he'd definitely won her over.

[alpinefrsh]

So do the turtles just assume that the world Tommy came from is another version of normal modern day earth? I mean I think Tommy’s dropped enough information about the SMP that it’s pretty clear by now that his world is definitely a completely different universe than the one the turtles know, not having things like malls and money makes a very big difference. Not mentioning the diamonds. But I can kinda imagine the turtles subconsciously thinking Tommy was a normal human teenager who did stuff like go to high school and go to concerts or whatever they think human teenagers do, and then Tommy does or says something particularly weird and they suddenly remember he’s not just quirky, he’s literally from another dimension.

Personally I think Raph is the type to just constantly forget and is just thrown through a loop on the regular with Tom xD! Mikey’s def gonna be thinking about Tommy’s otherworldly habits a LOT more now after the last fic, I’m actually surprised Donnie isn’t already always thinking about it too lol. Leo’s all diligent and stuff as the leader so I don’t think he’s ever gonna really forget for more than a couple hours at most, especially bc he has that golden information of Tommy’s past deaths. Ohoho, the day Mikey finds out Tommy died in that war he may or may not have been apart of!! Not to mention twice, and all the other wars! God, the angst potential with these two worlds combined!!

Have a good day/night! <3

They definitely assumed that was the case at first, but yeah, as you said, they've gathered more than enough hints to know otherwise at this point.

Okay, to be fair, I'm pretty sure the only turtle with an interest in school is Donnie lol. But, oh my god, imagine him saying something like "Man, if only I had a water bucket, I could totally clutch this." While standing at the edge of a way too tall building to be safely jumping off of, even for animated turtle standards.

And the just, "I'm sorry, what? Please clarify what you mean by 'clutch this.'"

Like, boy, please, a bucket of water will not save you from the pull of gravity.

Ha, Raph asking Tommy about some human thing he heard April mention and getting either complete confusion or a wildly absurd response from Tom.

Oh, Mikey is going to overthink so many things Tommy does or says now that he's pretty sure he engaged in literal warfare at some point.

Donnie was pretty reluctant to engage with Tommy at all unless it was to exchange barbs in the beginning, but now that he's finally accepting him as part of the household, Donnie's definitely going to start taking note of a few things, especially with reviewing audio recordings (because, as seen in the Clothes Don't Make the Turtle episode, Donnie records everything). Nothing too crazy, just enough for him to put a few things together. That being said, he did already put Tommy through a light interrogation about his old world, so he's very aware of things like the weird block gravity and redstone at this point (even if Tommy definitely didn't explain that last one in any kind of detail thanks to not knowing much about it himself)

Oh yeah, Leo's got tons of information at this point, Tommy's let all sorts of stuff slip around him. And yeah, he doesn't really let that stuff go or shrug it off.

And not only that Tommy died three times- but that every death was at the hands of a certain masked fellow.

Ah, if only they would think to bring their puzzle pieces of information together, the turtles would probably be able to put together so much of his backstory at this point.

Oh well, they'll figure it out eventually, whether Tommy wants them to or not :D 👍

Thank you, hope you have a good day/night as well! <3

[askthemysterkids]

If they had superpowers what would they be?

Oh heck yeah! Super powers!

Dipper: I am thinking Doctor Strange or Zatanna-esque where he just straight up uses magic.

Mabel: For some reason due to Mabel Juice, I am thinking of Mabel doing something like Honey Lemon from Big Hero 6 where she has concoctions that do different things. Glitter smoke bomb is totally one of them.

Coraline: Leaning right into the water witch sort of idea. (Trying not to think Spider-man.)

Wybie: He is more like Batman where he makes gadgets and such to use!

Norman: The fact that he is a seer works very well. Now maybe being able to call on the ghosts to help him, that would step that power up a bit. Of course he hangs out with the ghosts when he’s not calling upon them. You need to keep the ghosts happy.

Neil: I’ve been trying to think, and the best I can think of is a sort of Danny Phantom sort of ordeal. He does use this power to play with his dog too.

I do probably have to come back for Neil though since Danny Phantom can be an MK.

Raz: He can already be a hero if he wanted to to be honest. If we wanted to step away from his normal powers though, I can see three options:

.Goggalor

.Water hero

.Something relating to his telekinetic ball.

And of course he is also like Dick Grayson where he has his acrobatics.

Lili: She has a similar situation to Raz where she can straight up be a hero but, doing the same thing as Raz:

.Plant hero

.Fire hero (very likely)

She also has her animal sidekick Herald.

Wirt: I’ve thought of several ideas for him (a My Hero Academia version with all of those limitations and a normal one.) and the idea I liked best is a plant based hero. He uses seeds to grow things and can talk to plants.

The My Hero Academia sort of one involves him using poetry to control the weather and plants. To do what he wants to do, the poem needs to mention it.

Greg: Definitely shapeshifting into different animals. He can now be the tiger he wanted to be.

Luz: Honestly her rune gig would be a pretty good power. An alternative idea would be where she is similar to the Hulk or Wolverine where she can turn into her demon form from the finale.

The Calamity Trio: They technically already have their anime hero forms as said in the show. If it was used again it might need to be dumbed down but yeah, crystal prophecy girls and I love them.

I apologize for the formatting in the middle around Raz and Lili. Phone formatting sucks lol.