#i love the dynamics they would have with each other you have a four fighters and then one lil singer

[tyttamarzh]

CONGRATULATIONS DEATH FAMILY!!! This is a megapost for celebration. 💗

Today marks one year since the arrival of Chayanne and the birth of the Death Family! And I have prepared a series of gifts to celebrate!!

First in the list… well, I wanted make a special something, so, I decided reunites all the arte that I made about them and create a commemorative video… I thinks isn't a big deal but… I hope you can enjoy it! Really I love this family, really I love them, and I make this whit all the love in my heart. 💕

It was incredible to realize that by putting all this together I could tell a small story, I really feel bad for not drawing more moments with Phil and the children, I think it is very noticeable that my main is Missa, so the song and everything seems to be from its perspective (but that's okay, because there really is very little material focused on him and his perspective).

Now a little remembrance:

That day… the adoption day… when the destiniy unite Phil and Missa with the "D" tickets.

They had to choose an egg to adopt. Missa left the decision to Phil (who initially wanted chose Dapper), who finally, at the crows' insistence, opted for that nice guy with the ducky floatie.

So they had to give him a name, this time, Missa was the one who decided and at the insistence of the Missaurios, he chose the name "Chayanne"

At that moment our little warrior was born, at the same time that a loving, protective and warm family was formed that did not know that it would have to go through a thousand obstacles in their life in the island.

From the beginning, Chayanne was encouraged to become a great warrior by his parents. His father Missa encouraged him to be a protective hero and his father Philza's stories about the legendary Technoblade inspired him to become an invincible fighter. Chayanne has been through great dangers and has had to make difficult decisions despite his young age. That has helped him become what he is now, someone very strong who was able to stand up to his father, Phil, being possessed by Enderking, to save him.

Chayanne has managed to combine his role as a warrior with his love for cooking, a hobby he acquired after spending an afternoon baking desserts with Missa (who taught him how to cook from the first days). His great passion was always encouraged by Philza, who always helped him obtain materials and encouraged him to create various dishes when necessary for a task. Despite still being a child, Chayanne has become the best chef on the Island.

From the first days Death Family became one of the most loving and functional families on the island. Phil and Missa built something beautiful, all thanks to his warm heart and tender, protective fatherly attitude. I know that there have been several bumps in the road, things cannot be perfect, but it has been thanks to the love that they have for each other that they have managed to move forward despite everything and have managed to overcome the obstacles. Thanks to that, I now know that no matter what happens or what problems arise, they will be okay, because it is the four of them against the world.

But that's not all I have to say. I can't celebrate this union without talking about the incredible relationship between Phil and Missa.

When this family started, I never thought it would become an important part of my life and it has all been thanks to the incredible chemistry that the two of them had from the beginning.

No one would have imagined pairing Philza, being one of the most experienced Minecraft players, with Missasinfonia, probably one of the least experienced on the island (but in my opinion the one with the biggest heart), would create this unique, loving and angst dynamic at once. Circumstances have created a panorama that has turned them into the sun and the moon, being a couple that longs for each other for not being able to be together, a couple that constantly demonstrates their love for each other in different ways, who always keep in mind to the other, who fight to defend what they have and who make the most of the few moments they can be together, giving us adorable and incredible moments that are capable of driving us crazy and feeding us well enough to keep us alive, desperately waiting for the next eclipse.

However you want to see it, romantic or platonic, whatever they are doesn't matter. What difference does it make if they have been able to give us moments that have managed to steal our hearts? What they both have is very special and labels don't really matter, the only thing that matters is being able to see them together once again creating unique and fun moments together and with their children.

Today I want to celebrate the birthday Chayanne and the Death Family, but I also want to celebrate Phil and Missa as a couple. THEM, simply THEM. Because their dynamic and their strong feelings for each other have managed to create a beautiful community and have brought us all together here, to toast them and wait for their reunion. Thank You! 💖

[modernday-orpheus]

Okay, hear me out. If Tim idolized Batman instead of Robin, Bruce would be dead.

Disclaimer: I am not perfect and don't know everything there is to know about comics! Some shit here may be accidentally based on fanon rather than canon! Please be nice!

Tim, of course, respects and looks up to Batman. Bruce is his mentor and his father, so it's safe to assume he loves him as well. But his Hero™ is and always has been Robin, Dick at first but especially Jason judging by the timeline. Most people in Gotham view Robin as an addendum, an extra, nothing more than a kid sidekick. They’re disappointed if her shows up without Batman, and question his abilities. Tim’s hero worship combined with his knowledge of their identities, in this case, allows him to see things as they truly are. For Tim, Robin is a light in the dark, a balancing act with Batman, not his sidekick but his partner. He’s a necessary part of the Dynamic Duo because while Batman represents Justice, Robin represents this Hope for a better future. Sure, he’s just a kid; by all accounts he shouldn’t even be out there fighting, but maybe, if he is, no other kids won’t have to fight as hard just to survive. He represents the soul of Gotham, underneath the criminality and corruption; a city full of people, tough-as-nails, saying “No, fuck you, this is our city” despite the constant danger. He represents the people who come together in times of crisis, who help out their neighbors when each new disaster strikes. He’s trained in martial arts, of course, and he’s a skilled fighter, but Robin’s primary job is always the safety of civilians. He’s the one that gets scared little kids out of a burning building while Batman keeps the villain of the week busy, the one who stays behind with SA victims walks them home because Batman is too much for those things. He uses fear where Robin uses kindness, compassion, and love.

Tim sees this. So, when Robin dies and Batman is getting rougher, more violent, more careless, he notices. He notices that Bruce is picking bigger fights than he can handle, taking hits he could dodge, breaking four ribs instead of two, barely making it back to the manor each night. If he idolized Bruce, at this point, he would trust him the way the rest of Gotham does. He would assume it was a rough patch, and Bruce would recover, and that Batman would always save the day. He would see a solitary hero, the way Batman wants to be seen. He wouldn’t think it necessary to reach out to Dick for help, and even if he did he would think Nightwing would be enough help. He wouldn’t understand the importance of the Robin mantle, the specific role that needs to be filled. Nightwing can represent a lot of things; fluidity, positive change, and freedom come to mind immediately, but there's no world where Nightwing represents Gotham and Hope the same way Robin does. He can’t serve the same purpose anymore, not in that uniform. Bruce would die at Two-Face’s hands in that very first arc, I have not a single doubt in my mind.

Then, as Tim comes back to Gotham post-training and actually starts to help out, it’s common for him to be the conscience. He falls easily into the role of Robin, the role that makes him protector of the innocent. He’s not like Jason, raised by these streets in a very different way, though I wouldn’t say either is better or worse. Where Jason struggled and had to fight, out there each night pre-Bruce out of necessity rather than choice. He knows all the best hiding spots and back-alleys because it kept him alive. He chooses to be Robin because he needed a hero and wants to be that for other people. Tim chose those streets, and he chose them for Robin. He knows the best hiding spots because they put him closer to the action, because he raised himself on all those cold nights alone on rooftops with his camera. He knows the back-alleys because they made him faster, made it so his little kid legs could keep up with his hero so he wouldn’t miss a moment. He lives for Gotham nights, for the thrill of seeing everything, getting to know everything. He chooses to be Robin because where his parents failed to teach him how to be a good person, Robin stepped up. He bases his morals off of watching Robin help people, and because he’s a kid he assumes that it’s normal to behave with altruistic intentions and prioritize others.

There’s a point to be made here, briefly, about how this lends itself to Tim’s self-worth issues and insecurities. If his job is to assist, supplement, guide, and fill in the blanks when Batman fails, he doesn’t have the option of failure. He expects that how he does his job, as long as the job gets done, doesn’t matter because he doesn’t view himself as the hero. He never views himself as a main character in his own story; he truly thinks he’s doing what anyone else in his position would gladly do. This is why he overworks himself, why he’s known for living, for lack of a better term “like a goddamn ninja turtle”. It’s why he’s always Robin or Red Robin or even his public persona Timothy Drake-Wayne but rarely Just Tim. Very few people get to see Just Tim, normal Tim, because if they’re seeing that then he’s not doing his job.

All of these factors lead to Tim’s conclusion that if no one else can get Batman out of this state, least of all Batman himself, of course the next logical conclusion is that it’s his responsibility to step up and do the job. Furthermore, it’s only because he idolized Robin that he can fill the role properly because his relationship to Bruce, especially in the beginning, is nothing like Dick and Jason’s relationships with Bruce. He’s not his kid, doesn’t bring Robin’s joy and hope home, so instead he has to work twice as hard in the field to keep Bruce away from the edge. He’s the first of the Robins to view himself as Batman’s protector rather than the other way around, and he’s the only one who Bruce acknowledges when he tries to fill that role. Bruce accepts it when Tim manages him, reorganizes his files, forces him into the medbay, even when he very occasionally goes as far as to outright scold him rather than just pressure him to make the right choices. He’s given an inch and takes a mile, because he believes (rightfully, in my opinion) that if he doesn't then all hope is lost. And Bruce allows him to help, to guide, as much as he’s willing to because he’s not his kid first. He’s Robin first.

This mentality carries over to the Red Robin arc, where Tim spends an entire year chasing after Bruce to save him. He does it alone, and although he asks for help he doesn’t actually expect it. Furthermore, because his morals are based off of Robin in his infinite altruism rather than Batman with his rigid rules, he doesn’t mind working with Ra’s al Ghul. He doesn’t mind betraying Ra’s by killing his men, by blowing up his bases. He doesn’t tell Bruce about it to protect Bruce from having another murderer under his roof, and because he doesn’t think it matters enough. Bruce isn’t surprised when Tim is the one to save him. I believe he would have been if any other Robin had shown up. He and Dick have had a strained relationship for years, he and Jason aren’t even on speaking terms, Stephanie was so often full of rage at him throughout her run as Robin and is dead at the time, and he doesn’t even really have a relationship with Damian. Aside from all of that, he’s assumed dead. He can’t assume the Justice League will spend their time saving a dead man. And yet, despite all of that, he isn’t surprised when Tim is the one to pull him out of the time stream. He’s disoriented, sure, and a little surprised it was possible for him to be saved at all, and he even wants to hear about how he figured it out, but his doubt is never placed on the fact that Tim would be the one to understand and tear the world apart to bring him home.

I believe this also helps to explain Tim’s struggle with letting go of the Robin mantle, outside of the fact that he was the first to have the choice to move on taken away from him. If he’s always been Robin first, always felt the weight of that on his shoulders, what is he supposed to do when his very identity is stripped away right as he loses everyone who got to really know him as Just Tim? How is he supposed to cope with having to reconstruct his own idea of who he is with no one around to remind him? Humans are social creatures. We learn and grow with and because of each other. He’s encouraged by Dick to grow quickly out of Robin to fill a new role, which is a nice sentiment from Dick’s own point of view, but he’s lacking a sturdy foundation. Not because it’s not actually there, or because he lacks personality or morals, but because he truly views himself and all of his good decisions as just what anybody would do and what Robin is supposed to do. He doesn’t consider that following these morals makes them his, makes them the building blocks for wherever he goes next, he considers them to be traits of a character he no longer plays; a purpose he no longer serves.

(This is the second time I've posted this, so if you see another version that's why!)

[mariiilume]

Hello! I love your art! :) What are everyone’s dynamics like in your iteration!

HI OH MY GOSH IM SO SORRY I NEVER SAW THIS!!! AND THANK YOU SO MUCH!! I’m glad you like my art oh me gosh :[[ 💞💞💞

I’ll try and explain their relationships the best I can!

Their relationships between each other develop ALOT over the course of the story, as I’d like to note They did NOT know each other originally just recently they met each other! They all grew up in separate Sectors of the world (The zodiac sectors). Despite all being related they had no knowledge of each other, and hence it took them a bit to become more like found family siblings!

I’m gonna list the fours relationships with each other!

LEOS REALTIONSHIPS

Mikey: Leo views Mikey as her little brother, despite him being the oldest and she is in fact the youngest. He was the first she trusted out of Donnie and Mikey, and she instantly became over protective and controlling of him. Once matters were sorted out, she became a lot more tame, and more of just making sure he doesn’t over dose on cupcakes /ref, Leo loves giving noogies to Mikey just to torment how short it is (She’s the tallest)

Donnie: Leo was very suspicious of Donnie at first, especially with what she knew of him, and even went as far as to accuse her of a certain betrayal, which was partially true. After they made amends Leo was more nervous around Donnie, not because she didn’t trust them anymore, but simply because she felt guilty or her bad judgement, over time they put a great deal of trust in each other, and have a silly Donnie tries to get Leo out of her shell and Leo ends up going to crazy and Donnie has to drag her out of trouble dynamic.

Raph: Raph was last to join the group, so Leo was ALOT more open to him then Donnie, as she had already experienced the whip lash that could come from jumping to conclusions. However this doesn’t stop her from being cautious! After all, Raph has a criminal record. But she’s quick to try and make him feel welcomed, they tend to butt heads /lh often and tease each other with their sassy comebacks, often entering the ‘ultimate sass pass battele’ as Mikey would say.

RAPHS RELATIONSHIPS:

Leo: Leo was the one he trusted first, despite Mikey’s attempts to be welcoming, Leo just has the discipline and sass to get him out of his shell. He was pretty snarky and rude at first, purely following along with them for the benefit of protection, but he slowly began to come to the realization they were right, and became a strong defendant and protector of the group. Leo and him like to spare, as the strongest (raph) and second strongest (Leo) fighters.

Donnie: Raph opened up to Donnie when he became close with Leo, And started finding cool tech for them to use. Raph likes to listen to her ramble, he finds it relaxing when he’s settling down. He has strict protection over Donnie, as the weakest fighter in the group, he will often launch secret ‘attacks’ to test Donnie’s reactions, Esch time Donnie seems to be more and more prepared with the squirty water bottle

Mikey: Mikey was very welcoming to Raph, which was off putting for the turtle, he struggled to accept someone so opening and was very mistrustful of it. He was very touch averse (when it comes to gentle touch, it’s stressful for him, he feels he might lash out or freak out and hurt someone during it, so he generally avoids it) But over time one day Raph hugged mikey! And they’ve been besties ever since, they are constantly chilling near each other, Raph is strong and likes to hold the taller turtle on his shoulders during his work outs, Mikey is his lil cheerleader!

DONNIES RELATIONSHIPS

Mikey: Donnie was the very fascinated by Mikey’s display of magic, and took an immediate interest in him. At first it was simply for a rise in the ranks, but it soon turned to affection when her original plans to turn Mikey in were changed to do anything to keep Mikey from getting taken. They like to take recommendations from Mikey on their newest tech, Mikey likes to do drawings for Donnie’s inventions, and Donnie hangs them on his wall! The two are very close, Donnie would protect Mikey with his life.

Leo: Donnie was triggered by Leo’s arrival, but didn’t show it. Not wanting to mess up Mikey’s chance at change. He only really started stepping in when Leo’s controlling behavior became to much, she stood up to leo, which sadly made it worse (for a moment). After getting over the initial tension, the two clicked, realizing how much they had in common with each other. Donnie likes to help leo out of her shell, and sometimes has to drag her back into it, Donnie you unleashed the chaos in her, let her flourish with it!

Raph: Donnie and Raph both are more cold and closed off, so it’s expected they’d have a similar mine set, Donnie was often making teasing remarks to Raph who’d challenge him to a battle and Donnie would quickly surrender. They have a very fun rivalry, often Donnie has their squirty bottle loaded and ready to fire when ever Raph decides to sneak attack. Donnie often asks Raph to help her with his Tech, to help with Raphs emotional regulation with handling fragile tech.

MIKEYS RELATIONSHIPS

Donnie: Donnie came into Mikey’s life at a very hard time, and offered a good amount of comfort that Mikey instantly clinged too. It was distraught with all that went down with Donnie and Leo, and was only more worried to find more of Donnie’s past when Casey came into the picture. But they worked through it together, and Donnie became more open with her feelings and Mikey learned to give space

Leo: Mikey was very welcoming to Leo and was filled with hope at the fact they might have a chance of changing things if they already got 2 people on their team! Mikey quickly became more stressed and withdrawn when Leo became over protective and controlling, it was very intense on his freshly traumatized brain, As his father was very similar. When Donnie tries to stand up to Leo to protect Mikey he tries to undo the stress put on all of them. And eventually it works! Leo becomes more of a big sister figure (not older sister though) and he likes to spook her /lh of course with his silly chaos

Raph: Raph wasn’t very fond of Mikey at first, due to his bubbly and warm nature it confused the turtle. But with Mikey’s stress levels going up, he became more and more breakable, and one day could handle it, as bad as it was, it was also the first day Raph hugged it first. Mikey and Raph have been inseparable ever since, and Mikey is Raphs ultimate cheer bud!

EEE I HAD SO MUCH TYPING THIS! It really helped me develop their relationships more having to write it all down,,, thank you for helping!! Sorry if it’s a lot BAHAHA!!!

[thenightling]

*SPOILERS!* My review of The Witcher season 3 (first half) with mid-season finale spoilers

In general I actually loved The Witcher season 3 so far.

I like how the writers more or less fixed the harm to the character dynamic they caused with Yennefer's behavior in Season 2. I absolutely love the new music by Percival Schuttenbach. It really sets the mood. They should have called upon that Polish band that did the video game music sooner. They really know what they're doing. I love that they no longer tiptoed around Jaskier's sexuality and allowed him to have a romance (even if his lover probably should not be trusted.) I'm dreading the conclusion of the season (to be released July 29th) because I have a bad feeling Geralt might be replaced with an alternate universe version of himself to explain the change in actors. I don't like that. I imagine it going like "Well, since I'm stuck here, I might as well protect you, other Ciri." I hope I'm wrong. Having an alternate universe version of Quin take over the lead role in Sliders helped kill that series. I'd rather something happen to Geralt where his soul ends up in a new body or he's badly disfigured so a new body has to be made for him somehow. That I'd be okay with. I wish they wouldn't bother with an in-show explanation for the change of actors. A glamour spell was the explanation for the change in Robin Hood actor in Once Upon a Time and it was completely unnecessary. The change had happened years earlier. It didn't need a season 4 explanation. Anyway, most of The Witcher Season 3 has been excellent. The four main characters of Geralt of Rivia (the Witcher), Yennefer (The sorceress), Ciri (Geralt's adopted daughter), and Jaskier (The bard freedom fighter) have all had their chances to shine. My only disappointment really is the mid-season finale. There's a song sung at a ball. The performer is Valdo Marx, a rival bard to Jaskier. The song is catchy and bears a striking resemblance (in it's refrain and rhythm) to Queen's Radio Gaga. I heard the song out of context before I saw the episode and liked it but... The episode kind of ruined it for me. I read articles where people behind the scenes compared the episode to The Red Wedding from Game of Thrones so I expected a coup and some major character deaths. No. Instead I got a fifteen minute story played over, and over, and over again. Each time more details or hidden agendas revealed. And it would have been clever if the schemes weren't so obvious. But what made it worse is with each variation of the flashback there was a "Tok, tok, tok" sound (often used in modern video games) followed by The first verse of "All is not as it seems." By the time the episode was over I felt that I might hate the song. Imagine if Disney's Frozen replayed the crescendo of Let it Go thirteen times, back to back while other stuff happened in the foreground. That's how it felt. And just as annoying as you might think. "All is not" *clap clap* "as it seems! All is not" *clap clap" "as it seems!" SHUT UP ALREADY! Or at least get to the next verse! I need to use the actual Queen song Radio Gaga as brain bleach. Also I was kind of relieved that the so-called cliffhanger is just someone holding a knife to Geralt's throat. Ooooh, he totally can't get out of that. Oooh. But whose doing it? Does it matter? Pretty much everyone except Ciri, Yennefer, and Jaskier are his enemies. I wish they had just released the whole season all at once. There was really no need to break it up like this. I had also hoped to hear Jaskier's "Ride of The Witcher" in context but that probably won't be until the July season finale. Disclaimer for my Witcher season 3 part 1 review: I actually really like the song Let it go From Frozen. Just not played over and over and over again.

[kindlystrawberry]

Yes pls I would like d&d turtles

Happy to provide!! Here are my thoughts and my best attempt to explain each one. I feel like most of these are pretty obvious but I’m still proud of my choices. I’ve also got 2012 thoughts (pretty similar classes but different subclasses!) so let me know if you guys want to hear those!

Raph: Ancestral Guardian Barbarian. Barbarian is an obvious choice, considering how tanky his fighting style is— especially with his mystic powers in Rise. In particular in Rise he’s the embodiment of the protective mama hen big brother, so this subclass that focuses on keeping attention on you and less damage on your squishy teammates is perfect for him. Raph: Barbarian class! They’re the strong angry ones who’s main thing is going into a “rage” that makes them extra tough (but also a little out of their mind). The subclass’s flavor about connecting with spirits of your ancestors fits the whole Hamato Clan connection they show near the end of Rise.

Leo: Echo Knight Fighter. This one took me a WHILE to figure out because I was also really leaning towards a college of swords bard, for him. What really kept me from choosing a multiclass though is that fighter’s get SO many ASIs that he can easily have a super high charisma to be the face of the party, and even take skill expert to put more weight in those CHA-based skills. So, in the end, the versatility of the fighter and the movement/teleportation heavy, melee-based fighting style of this subclass really suits him, in my eyes.

Donnie: Armorer Artificer. Donnie loves to tinker and hold his intelligence over everyone else lmao. However he also loves to build things for others to assist his teammates in battle. His purple shell armor is so versatile in the same way this class is with its armor feature, and also the idea of a scientist with tech in an otherwise magical world like standard D&D fits him very well. With the way artificer’s utility-heavy spells work too, this class is very “fight smarter not harder” which is quite Donnie. Not to mention, he’s a bit squishy without his armor.

Mikey: Elemental Monk. Mikey is definitely the most agile and acrobatic of the four of them, which fits monk very well. And since he’s also the one that retracts in his shell way more often than the others, that is very squishy monk energy to me. But I can see his mystic powers translating to ki point mechanics, which fits with how dynamic, versatile, and surprisingly heavy-hitting of a fighter he is because of them, and specifically with elemental because of his fiery stuff. Not to mention, monks negating fall damage remind me a lot of how aerial Mikey is in his fighting. And most of all, to quote the goddess Marisha Ray, Mikey sprinting across a harbor to chuck a freight ship at an enemy sounds like very “dope monk shit.”

April: Inquisitive Rogue. I was back and forth on her for a while, before I remembered the Inquisitive subclass. Then, the more I thought about it, the better I felt a rogue fit her. She does a lot of sneaking and running around, a lot of investigating/questioning (working for her school paper, finding out what’s wrong with Hypno’s app, finding Sunita’s brooch, etc.), and she’s very versatile in her fighting. Where the turtles rely on their weapons a bit more, we’ve seen April can pick up anything (Lou Jitsu’s special move, or her baseball bat suddenly becoming magical) and get out of anything, like the Girl Scout scene with the acorn. She also tends to rely on movement a lot in fights, like running in and out of melee.

Splinter: Drunken Master Monk. I almost went Battlemaster Fighter for him, and I could certainly see that too, but thinking on Splinter’s main battles in the show (Mrs. Cuddles, against the turtles in the halfway point of s1, Draxum in the s1 finale, etc.) he does a lot of really fluid movements in his attacks, including a lot of feinting techniques to throw his opponents off balance. There’s also the fact that Splinter, as opposed to Lou Jitsu, is often looked down on in fights (we even see this in the fight where the turtles don’t realize who he is) and uses that to his advantage, which fits this subclass. There’s also the fact that he’s good at barehanded fighting, on top of a variety of other weapons (like Leo’s sword near the s2 finale).

[madammayh3m]

I'm just going to spray you with a bunch of questions for Thais from the slightly obscure question list and you can answer as many or as few as you like, just whatever takes your fancy:

4, 8, 20, 25, 32, 39, 50, 53, 59

4. If your character was a work of art, how would you describe them?

That's a hell of a question lmao. I'm thinking something from a classically trained horror artist - uncomfortable to look at, with subject matter that's designed to be horrifying, but beautifully rendered. You have to be able to look past how initially off putting she is to notice what's underneath.

8. What is something they cannot resist?

I know this is probably supposed to be referring to like... an object, or a vice or something, but truly the only correct answer is "her fiance."

20. Can your character flirt? Are they aware they’re flirting? How do they do it?

Yes, but only with her fiance. Thais is demi-aroace, and she has literally never been interested in anyone aside from Yeska. So she can flirt and is aware she's flirting provided it's with him (because after knowing each other for thirty years, they're pretty familiar with how the other operates). Her flirting so far is a lot more body language and expressions rather than outright words. If she's going to use her words, she's going to be direct about what she wants, especially if she's speaking in Dwarvish (which, for some reason, is the only language other than Common that she and Yeska can both speak), because she knows damn well they're the only two that can understand what she's saying, and she's absolutely going to use that to fluster him a little.

25. How does your character feel about spending money?

It depends on what she's spending money on. When they've come across unmarked graves and altars while wandering the woods, Thais has frequently left offerings of a couple gold pieces as a sign of respect for the dead. But I don't think she really sees that as 'spending money.' She and her fiance both grew up pretty poor, and so she's used to having to save up, and she's not a big spender when it comes to herself. For example, she really likes nice dresses and shiny jewelry, but it's not practical for her everyday life and it's expensive, so she won't spend money on that kind of stuff. She will absolutely drop a fuck ton of money for her fiance to be able to get whatever the hell he wants tho, lmao

32. Does your character daydream? What do they usually keep their mind occupied with?

She's not much of a daydreamer, so when she needed to keep her mind occupied, she'd usually ponder over what she remembered of her past or things she needed to keep track of, like where she and Ferrin needed to go next, or how much money and rations they had and if it was enough to get them from one town/job to the next. So, fairly logistical. The major exception was after she realized she was in love with (and wanted to bone) her fiance, but before she and her fiance got together. Then she was playing catch-up with all the bullshit her friends learned how to cope with during puberty lmao. Lots of spicy daydreams.

39. What does your character believe their party lacks?

Well, up until recently, she and Ferrin were getting their asses beat pretty bad because the two-person party dynamic and the relatively strong (or just numerous) enemies they were facing made it hard for her specifically to actually do shit from a distance like she's meant to. So, taking a lot of damage and neither of them really knowing how to heal (or having the resources to seek out a healer) meant we ended up not really being able to approach combat efficiently. Now that we've had four (possibly five if Ferrin can swing things in the right direction next session) NPCs join the party, our bases are a little bit better covered. Ireena and Parpol can both help Ferrin as close range fighters, Vasilka and Yeska can help Thais from long-distance and then with Yeska being a cleric, he can buff and heal.

50. What is their native language? If they know multiple languages, how do they speak/act differently?

I headcanon that her first language was Elvish, but the language she speaks the most in her day-to-day life is just Common. She technically knows four, although Thieves' Cant isn't so much a spoken language on it's own, so I'm not counting it for this question. I think when she speaks in Common, she's a lot more straightforward and to the point than she would be when she speaks Elvish. She kind of uses Elvish as a way to say the shit she'd be embarrassed to say otherwise, since she's the only person in the party that can speak it (as far as both of us are aware). Meanwhile, she and Yeska can both speak Dwarven, so while she hasn't utilized this yet, it'd be handy to tell him things she doesn't want the other party members to know. So her speaking to him in Dwarven is either purely practical, or downright filthy, and there's no in-between lmao

53. What does freedom mean to them?

Before she died, it meant being able to marry the man she loved without the fear of Strahd getting in the way. Now, I don't think she really knows. Her being a revenant is, in a twisted sort of way, a second lease on life, but it only lasts until she kills Strahd. She doesn't really see a way out of that, so I don't think she sees herself as being able to be free. The best she can hope for is securing a better future for her loved ones.

59. What’s something your character has realized?

Well, she's realized a lot of things over her first week back in Barovia! Number one, she's actually a person with thoughts, feelings, opinions, and a past, as opposed to being this hollow, undead thing that exists solely for the purpose of seeking revenge on the one who killed her. She's also realizing that her divine purpose and what she wants are pretty at odds (not because she doesn't want to kill Strahd, but because killing him means she'll die and she doesn't want to put Yeska through that again). She's realized that Strahd has sunk his hooks deeper into Ferrin than she initially thought, which is fucking horrifying and something she's worried about trying to navigate going forward. But mostly, I think she's realizing that, despite everything, she still has the capacity to be gentle, and kind, and to love (and be loved in return).

[lsdunesarchive]

L.S. Dunes: Travis Stever’s yang to Frank Iero’s yin

Words by Ellie Robinson Photo by Mark Beemer November 17, 2022

Travis Stever talks a lot.

That’s not an insult – the 43-year-old New Jerseyan just has a lot to say, and virtually all of it is fantastic. He’s impressively storied: most would know him as the lead guitarist in Coheed And Cambria, but he’s popped his head through many a musical window over some three decades: side-projects include Fire Deuce, The English Panther, Davenport Cabinet and Zero Trust (per Wikipedia, but I’m certain there’s more out there), and he also played lap-steel on My Brother’s Blood Machine, the 2006 debut from The Prize Fighter Inferno, the solo folktronica project of Coheed frontman Claudio Sanchez.

Stever’s latest project is L.S. Dunes, a post-hardcore supergroup* I can only accurately describe as “every mid-to-late 2000s emo fan’s wildest pipe-dream come true”. Stever plays guitar alongside Frank Iero (of My Chemical Romance, and his own mountain of side-projects), while Anthony Green (Circa Survive, Saosin) sings, Tim Payne (Thursday) plays bass, and Tucker Rule (also Thursday, but for a short time, Yellowcard too) plays drums. I write “supergroup” with an asterisk because although L.S. Dunes are a supergroup, etymologically, when I interviewed Stever for Australian Guitar #151, he fucking hated that I called them one. 

Nevertheless, we got along like a house on fire, and I had a blast chatting with him about his new band and their debut album, Past Lives (out now on Fantasy Records). It was hard not to be engaged with everything he said: watching him wax lyrical about his impenetrable love for music, even over Zoom with our video link presenting him at approximately three pixels per inch, the glimmer in his eyes and wideness of his smile made it clear, Stever is living his dream. He’s just a kid that fell in love with rock ‘n’ roll, started jamming out for the hell of it – not to make bank, but simply because it was fun – and somewhere along the way, wound up turning it into his full-time gig (no pun intended). 

It doesn’t seem to have gotten any less fun for him since then, either. Usually artists with careers as weighty as his appear at least a little burnt out on the music industry. You can tell when someone’s passion is genuine, and Stever’s certainly is.

The proof in the pudding, for me, was just how goddamn much Stever had to say about any and every topic. Our interview in Australian Guitar #151, spanning five questions across a hair over 1,000 words, was cut down from a transcript about four times as long. His unedited answers to those questions ran a solid 600-850 words apiece – well over 1,000 for the first – and there were still a few topics that we had to shave off for page space. One of those was actually my favourite from the entire chat: the creative chemistry that L.S. Dunes unlocked between Stever and Iero.

I opted not to run with that in the printed story because what did make it to the page is a lot more relevant to the origin story of L.S. Dunes and how that led to Past Lives shaping up in the way it did – which is ultimately the story I wanted to centre. But I think what Stever said about his creative dynamic with Iero – and how they each pushed the other to venture outside their comfort zones – adds a lot to the narrative surrounding L.S. Dunes. It also adds a twinge of contextual colour to songs like ‘Blender’ and ‘Sleep Cult’, which makes for a more gratifying listen when you really stop to soak in and digest Past Lives.

Ultimately, I think one of the coolest things about the “supergroup” concept is how idiosyncrasy can germinate when two artists of similar mind collaborate. Both Stever and Iero come from backgrounds of punk, rock and post-hardcore – even if their writing and playing styles are quite dissimilar – but when they joined forces to form L.S. Dunes, they started writing music that neither ever thought they would. And that’s so fucking cool.

So below is Stever’s commentary on his chemistry with Iero, as well as a couple of other offcuts from my interview with him. I’ve included those as well because at a base level, as a fan of music at the end of the day, I love reading about my favourite artists’ plans for the future – even if they never come to fruition – and about how they feel in the lead-up to a major release. I know that latter topic is now entirely irrelevant, because Past Lives came out a week ago, but, like, fuck it, it’s my blog, I make the rules.

You should read the Australian Guitar piece before you hit the jump, because it offers some solid context on exactly what L.S. Dunes is, how their collective ethos plays into everything, and why Stever and I were even talking to each other in the first place – and because the latter two of the three questions here were asked after the ones printed in AG, and some lines might be a bit confusing without that context.

So we’re about a month away from getting our hands on Past Lives. How does it feel to be here in the home stretch? You know, you’re always going to feel a little on edge when you’re about to release something that you poured your heart and soul into, no matter how much you believe in it. It’s exciting, but at the same time, you can feel the the vibes of danger – the danger of exposing the art that you created with your brothers, you know? And knowing that people are going to judge it. But that’s the gig, right. That’s the game. You know people are going to receive it however they choose to – but I’ve gotten nothing but positive feedback from everybody I’ve showed it to, so that’s a good sign!

Being the two guitarists in L.S. Dunes, how did you and Frank coalesce in the creative process? It goes back to what I was saying before, how there was no expectation. It’s really intriguing, because we communicate with each other through the guitars. And we were doing it over streams, online, through email [and] text – and we just knew, as soon as we started sending each other ideas, that it was going to work. And then, you know, it was just as relieving to get into an actual room together and be able to know that the spark was there [in real life], too.

I’ve got to be honest, after working with Frank [on this record], I had to go back and revisit a lot of the things he did in My Chem, and even a lot of his solo stuff – not that I didn’t fully respect everything he does before, but you know, after you see a person in a new light, you understand their musical language more. And I am so honoured to be in this band with him. He comes up with these riffs that are completely different from anything I’ve ever heard before. They’re all over the map – because you can say, “Oh, he comes up with these, really awesome, like, edgy punk riffs,” but that’s not true. 

There’s a song at the end of the album that he wrote, ‘Sleep Cult’, where Anthony’s vocals almost have a doo-wop kind of feel. Frank had written that chord progression – that fingerpicking kind of thing – and I heard it while I was working on other guitars; we were in pre-production, getting ready to go over to Will Yip’s, and it was at the end of the session, we’d been working all day, and all of a sudden, he started playing this really beautiful chord progression. And so we recorded that, just as a rough little idea, but we wound up rolling with it. I just added some lap steel and some really delicate chords to it, just to give it a little nuance. 

There are numerous parts on the album like that, which I think are probably the best parts of it. Another one that started out with Frank – which is probably my favourite [track] on the album right now – is ‘Blender’. I don’t want to get too dorky about it, but you know, that song is a really good example of what it was like to work with him. I sent him the guitar parts, and he really liked them – I think he was already fine and excited with everything I’d laid down… Because you know, that can always be a touchy thing. I mean, he pretty much had a hole-in-one with the ideas I would send him, and I always loved what he was playing – but I was open to him switching whatever he wanted.

In this case, I had written all the guitars that I was going to play, which was based on what he was playing and what Tim was playing. There were no vocals yet. And I’m so glad that we took our time with that song, because at the very last minute, I just switched it up completely, and I wound up harmonising a lot of the guitars [Frank] was playing instead. It was a completely different approach. That’s one of the things I loved about working on this record – the amount of time we were able to take to really think about it.

I’m not going to speak for Frank, but I think he was probably able to step out of his comfort zone [on this record]. Because there’s things he played on it where someone would probably be like, “Wow, I’ve never heard him play like that!” And for me, that feels really special because I got to [work with him] on those songs. And the same goes for me – there are a lot of [parts] on the record that are very different to [the parts] I would usually write.

We’ve already gone way over time, but I want to wrap up by looking to the future: what are your plans for Australia, and what’s the vibe on a second L.S. Dunes album? Believe me, we want to tour everywhere we can. I can only hope that we’re able to bring [L.S. Dunes] over to Australia – that would be amazing. As for other material… I mean, like I said, there’s just been an endless flow of material. There’s no shortage of stuff that we’ve been sending back and forth, and we already have a lot of surprises up our sleeves. But I just want to pay my respects to the album we’ve already created before we move on to the next thing, you know? I think it’s important that we get out there and show people what we can do on the live end… When everybody’s able to! And if we were able to bring that over there to Australia… I mean, yeah, of course we will!

Past Lives by L.S. Dunes is out now via Fantasy Records – click here to check it out. The print edition of Australian Guitar #151 is out on November 28th – keep an eye out for that here.

[ficauthor]

Im watching gravity falls for the first time but i have some knowledge. (ie im reckless and look at tags knowing there is spoilers lol)

I know there are two grunkles both possibly named some variation of stan. One with six fingers and that one fucked a triangle. i also tjink theyre exes? Or like theres a book that says they are. Either way ?

I know theres books and the other stan(?) wrote them? There is... A portal? And it somehow facilitated the situationship betwixt man and angle.

Bearded man also fucked stans twin? the picture i have of stan 2 the squeakwel is just of a messy messy man who has alot to clean up from his ho era.

I also know that things are about to go very very wrong. It hasnt yet cause im only up to fight fighters but like i feel in my bones something more than the 8.5th president is going to occure

anyways I've had thoughts.

One: robbie is fucking hilarious. Hes 15 deeply deeply insecure and beefing with a Twelve yearold. Like you won. You got wendy to say yes to a date theres negative reason to challenge a child to a fight. Hilarious cant wait for him to lay awake at night and cringe at that memory. especially bc dipper giving her a black eye was his wingmanning! Funny dude cant wait to see what happens with his disaster of an ass. (also during the time travel ep i was like damn robbie can suck a little but hes not that bad. Timing was strange but him asking out wendy was kinda sweet. Then fight fighters happened lol. Man is so wrapped up in making a child feel bad he ignored his gf. Terrible give me five more.)

Two: holy shit the wax figure thing mustve been so upsetting for grunkle stan. Like he shrieked upon seeing it! He crawled away backwards. I might be reading to far into that but he seemed scared (?). I love how quick he recovered for mabels sake tho their dynamic is so sweet. Shes a little weird girls and hes like taking her under his wing. the definition of dad who didnt want a pet. I love how they understand each other.

Did he wonder, even for a moment, if it was his dead/missing brother??? Like i have brothers if we still looked alike enough to be twin levels of similar and someone made a statue of me id also scream. Also like his investment in having the "murder" solved feels so weird knowing he has a mysterious disapeared twin. his investment feels heavier. Like hes projecting his grief.

Does watching Mabel and Dipper interact happily make him miss other stan? also how do other family members feel about this diapearance? Clearly bad since they never told dipper and mabel. But them being the grunkles implies they have at least on more sibling. Howd they feel about the disappearance?

I cant wait to get more details on those two. i feel like their relationship has to be all levels of fucked for him to never mention having a twin. Like no matter how mad i was with my bros id fucken mention them at least once even by accident to their nibblings.

Three: i like how often mabels outfit changes i love her silly themed sweaters and fun earrings. The cross fingers gag on the back of her sweater after lying to her grunkle stan made me laugh. Shes so weird and fun and loud and i love her. Dispite now being a guy i see myself in weird little girl characters. Like yeah i too would've glued a hot glue gun tomyself and wore chips as earrings. I too would have lost my mind over losing my pig. delightful i adore her randomness.

Four: dipper is equally relatable but in a way that makes me scream lol. His anxietys are so familiar to me hope he sees someone for that. And that book cannot be helping. The author was clearly paranoid and while dipper wrote that he trusts mabel i worry that he wont always.

I dont have a five but i might reblog in a few eps and rambke further

[thehappiestgolucky]

Sometimes I think about them. Your honour I would like to say: I care them very much thank you

[leslie-lyman]

Euclidean Geometry

Summary: They make no attempt to define what this is, who they are to each other. All they know is that now they are together.

Pairing: Modern!Pero x Frankie x Jack x f!reader (sort of, this is in the third person, reader is referred to only as she/her)

Rating: E 🚨 absolutely no minors

Word count: 1.4k

Warnings: smut, M/M and M/M/F; some implied D/s dynamics; allusions to the lingering trauma of military service

A/n: I don’t know what this is (other than absurdly self-indulgent nonsense), but this idea hooked its claws into me and this is what resulted. It’s just kind of a series of snapshots, really. No plot, just vibes. There may be more after this, we’ll see.

Masterlist.

———

They don’t meet each other until after their time in the service.

Thank god, Pero tells them. I surely would have otherwise murdered you both long before now.

Stop me if you’ve heard this one: three veterans walk into group therapy…

A Delta Force pilot in recovery. A surly Field Artillery officer. A cocky Air Force fighter pilot with a name as ridiculous as his skills in a jet. All here because they are each too full of anger with nowhere to put it.

Talking at therapy turns into talking at a bar after each session. They circle each other, like a pod of killer whales, or maybe like galaxies, pulling closer and closer together over bottles of beer and games of pool.

None of them can say the exact moment it became more. Was it the first time Jack accidentally brushed a hand across the small of Frankie’s back as they walked out of the bar one night, and he felt the shiver that went up the other man’s spine? Was it the night Pero finally spoke about the loss of his first love, his description of William and his death on a desert battlefield making all three men shed silent tears in the privacy of a dark corner booth? Surely it had to have been long before they found themselves in Jack’s bed that first time, letting their bodies say what they could not yet find words for: I want you, I trust you, I know you, I see you.

They make no attempt to define what this is, who they are to each other. All they know is that now they are together.

They each crack the others open, the process of healing as painful and beautiful as filling in their scars with gold.

And then there is her.

The relationship between the three men had not been a closed loop, not at first. There had been times where one of them (Jack, more often than the others) had gone off and for a one- or two- or (never more than) three-night stand with another person. And there had been other times where two or even all three of them had shared a temporary partner. But with her, it clicks, it solidifies. They stop searching for more, for new, for other.

If three’s a crowd, what is four? A square, a shape beautiful in its simple perfection, a shape that can only be composed of equals - each line and each angle taking up equivalent space, none more or less important than any of the others, and each one essential.

It’s her, Frankie says. I never thought I could need or want more than the two of you, but it’s her. Now we fit. Now we are complete. Now I understand.

It’s a push and pull.

She worries, at first, about being the outsider, the civilian. These men have known too much, seen too much, lost too much. They may not have served together, but they have a connection to each other in a way she knows she will never share. Isn’t she selfish for wanting all of them? What if she’s intruding?

Never, darlin’, Jack promises her.

They always worry about it being too much, of them being too much, in her life and especially in her bed. What woman would accept any one of them, with their still-open wounds and their ghosts and their raw, ragged edges, let alone all three of them? But with her there is light and warmth and laughter and quiet reassurance. And the way she cries and begs for them when they have her naked against cool sheets - needy and eager and so, so wet - means they always give in to her.

———

To the extent that there is an alpha, it’s Frankie, his quiet, unassuming manner giving way to something both commanding and depraved when given an appropriate outlet.

She comes home one day to find Frankie on the edge of the bed, Jack in his lap with Frankie’s cock buried inside him and Jack’s hands tied behind his back with his own whip. She can’t see from the doorway to know for sure, but from the way Frankie’s arm moves and the slick repetitive sound she suspects he has his palm wrapped around Jack’s cock.

I think Pero’s about to have dinner ready, she says. Frankie doesn’t look away from Jack’s face.

Thanks, baby, Frankie murmurs. We’ll be done here in a minute.

Jack says nothing. Frankie is the only man capable of rendering him speechless.

———

Some things linger from their time in the military. They rise early without fail and without alarms. They note the exits of any room they enter. They are a unit.

She introduces a necessary messiness into their lives. They can’t make the bed the way years of routine make them itch to when she’s still fast asleep in it long after they’ve woken up. And that’s okay - the rigidity of the Army, the Air Force, isn’t their lives anymore. Not if they don’t want it to be. Slowly, first through therapy and then through each other, they learn how to let certain things go.

They are, the four of them, deeply loyal and fiercely protective of one another. But Pero, more than any of the others, is possessive. He feels it like a dark, smouldering ember in his heart that flares hot and angry at any perceived threat. He worries, sometimes, not wanting it to fester into something unhealthy and poisonous. It manifests in the marks he leaves on their skin, the outline of his teeth sunk into the meat of Frankie’s shoulder and Jack’s chest, purple bruises sucked into their girl’s throat, her breasts, her thighs…

There are moments where he allows it out of its cage, this need to lay claim. Moments where the others are tangled together and Pero sits apart, content to observe. Moments where their girl writhes between Frankie and Jack, stretched wide on both their cocks, all three of them panting with that heady mix of exertion and pleasure.

Another, Pero growls from his place in the corner armchair. Make her come again.

She lets out a breathy whine as Jack reaches around her to rub at her clit with one hand, the other pulling Frankie close for a lazy kiss. Pero slowly strokes his own hard length, that feeling of possession now shot through with pride. She turns her head in his direction and reaches for him, their girl (his girl) full to the brim and still needing him.

He indulges her, coming close and planting one knee on the bed beside them. He threads his fingers through Jack’s hair and tugs, just the way he knows the other man likes, and trails his other hand down Frankie’s sweat-slicked back to tease between his cheeks.

You’re doing so well, my loves, he rumbles quietly to each of them.

Some things simply are, and they are his.

———

It was Jack who had first approached her, timing his trip up to the bar for another round at the same time as hers.

She’d caught the attention of all three of them, an unprecedented feat. Something in the way she’d laughed at something one of her friends had said, perhaps, or maybe they were all just tipsy enough to find the fluid grace with which she maneuvered herself into and out of the booth she was sitting in unusually compelling. Whatever the explanation, they could not look away.

Go on, cowboy, Frankie had nudged Jack. Shoot your shot.

Jack had sauntered up to the bar, an odd fluttering of nerves taking up residence in his rib cage.

A greeting, a grin, a wink.

You know what they say about fighter pilots, darlin’?

A smile.

They play a lot of beach volleyball?

———

And now he has her, now he has them, this thing he never thought he’d get to have again.

Jack, more than Frankie or Pero, craves softness. His head resting in one of their laps as they rest on the couch. Cradling their girl in his lap while she reads. A comforting touch. A soothing word. The others reaching straight through the facade of bluster and bravado to his heart and saying easy now.

They stand, the four of them, as sentinels, watching over one another.

What do you need, three will ask one.

You, they always reply. You, you, you.

[unicyclehippo]

Delighted that you wrote a session zero with Eddie checking in on Robin before they started. Even more in love with this group dynamic now, thank you for writing. Hope you have a lovely day. 😊

‘okay so—the numbers in each of these boxes are a value of how good the character is in relation to these attributes—strength, speed -‘

‘it’s dexterity, robin.’

‘it’s shut your face,’ she says in an expert counterpoint that he cannot refute and doesn’t try, instead throwing up his hands and leaning back in his chair until it teeters on just two legs. she nudges his foot and he yelps, grabbing for the table before he topples over. ‘dexterity. constitution—which is how much health i have?’

‘and useful for various feats of fortitude. resisting poison, carrying something for a long time, continuing to travel without taking time to rest,’ eddie elaborates.

he’s bent over the book beside her, long hair occasionally falling onto the pages, and he flicks it out of the way with a toss of his head about a hundred times before nancy wordlessly offers him a hairtie from her big bag of literally everything. robin admires that about her. she’s like a deadly mary poppins. he ties his hair up high on the side like a pigtail and nancy goes digging for a second tie so he can do the same on the other side of his head.

steve tilts back in his chair, an odd look on his face. contemplative. when he sees robin looking, he clears his throat and says, ‘enough of the numbers game—what does your character look like?’

‘uh…’

‘i’ll tell you about my guy,’ he says, magnanimously, and the chair thumps back down onto all fours and he sweeps up the page that robin had watched eddie write out for him. clears his throat again. so obnoxious. ‘his highness bambi tallhair—okay ha ha, very funny, eddie,’ steve grumbles, and grabs for the eraser.

robin gets there first. ‘i think he wrote it in pen,’ she teases, grin sharp. ‘nice to meet you, sir tallhair.’

‘that’s not going to be my name. eddie, c’mon man, you’re the game master or whatever, make her give me the eras—ouch!’ steve jumps, the eraser pelting him in the shoulder. ‘thanks. thanks a lot, robin.’

‘you’re welcome.’

‘now now,’ eddie interjects, and he looks between them a few times so his pigtails wiggle. ‘no violence at the table that doesn’t involve dice.’

robin holds out a hand. nancy drops a surprisingly sharp little die into it. steve slithers out of his seat and is beneath the table faster than she can close her hand around it and the speed of it has her laughing until she can’t breathe. steve’s hair peeks up over the side of the table, and then his forehead wrinkled with fake fear, and then his eyes and he sets his nose on the table top like he’s emerging from underwater and glances around fearfully, until he breaks and starts laughing too.

‘are they always like this?’ eddie asks over robin.

nancy takes a moment to answer. ‘i…don’t know,’ she admits, words tinged with a little good humour and a lot of confusion. ‘we haven’t been friends for all that long.’

eddie nods. raps his knuckles to call robin and steve back from their distraction. ‘steve—name your character. robin—keep looking through the races guide. nancy—as most experienced, save for myself,’ he says, hand to his chest in a way that would look noble but his pigtails away with every little tilt of his head, ‘why don’t you go ahead and describe your character and show these dipshits how it’s done.’

he hasn’t known nancy long but robin thinks he’s got her number; there seems to be very little else that nancy likes better than being the best.

‘fitz, half-brother of lord scorn. he’s a half-elf fighter—‘

‘you’re playing a guy?’ steve interrupts.

nancy favours him with a cool look. ‘yes. problem?’

‘no, no. that’s cool,’ he says, and robin can tell from the way her eyes narrow that nancy isn’t convinced but she can also tell that steve is sincere, just surprised.

‘does gender give different values?’ she asks to draw attention, and flips back through the rules to see if there’s anything written about it.

‘no.’

‘surprisingly progressive,’ she murmurs, even though she suspects it has more to do with the fact that everything has been written like they clear forgot that girls exist. ‘so fitz, half-elf fighter,’ she says and scrawls that down on the first page of her notebook. ‘brother…lord scorn…’

‘you don’t have to write it all down,’ nancy says, but when robin looks over, she’s smiling.

‘should i play as a chick?’ steve wonders. ‘what are you gonna pick, robin? we should have a girl on the team so if you don’t want to,’ he shrugs.

‘we could be friends,’ robin suggests. ‘or sisters?’ steve’s eyes light up. ‘you to be the princess and i went out into the wilderness—‘

‘because i was always better with people,’ steve adds, getting into the story she’s making.

robin nods, clicks her fingers. ‘exactly! and i learned all this—‘ she peeks at his skills list, ‘—survival and how to make friends with animals? and you learned history or whatever.’

‘are we estranged?’ steve frowns. ‘that’s kind of sad. maybe you’re my bodyguard.’

‘uh, no. i’m not your servant.’

‘no but you know the royal forest—maybe you’re like, uh—what is it?’ he grimaces, stares at her like she’s supposed to be able to read his mind. ‘that thing where the queen in snow white has her guy who goes out and tries to find the girl?’

‘royal huntsman,’ eddie supplies.

‘yes! maybe that’s what you are for me.’

‘and you have to be someone too not just a princess. like, you’re religious right? a cleric? maybe you’ve been studying in the church forever and you’re going on a pilgrimage.’

‘and you’re my bodyguard,’ steve says again, and this time robin just allows it, though not without rolling her eyes. ‘okay. your name is—‘

‘i get to name you if you name me,’ robin warns him and he looks immediately more cautious.

‘basil.’

‘no.’

‘chuck.’

‘no.’

‘okay, okay, what about—guinevere?’

robin nods slowly. ‘gwen for short. you can be juliet.’

‘sick.’ steve kicks back in his chair again with the biggest grin. it only shrinks a little when he sees that eddie and nancy are staring at the two of them. ‘what?’ he demands, defensive.

nancy shakes her head. ‘no, nothing.’

eddie, meanwhile, looks delighted. he rubs his hands together, gleeful. ‘i was hoping you would be close. makes it easier to hurt both of you at the same time,’ he cackles and steve starts yelling at him to stay away from them and leave his sister alone.

‘you two are pretty close,’ nancy says softly, to just robin.

‘uh, yeah, i mean we’ve been working together for a year. and he would drive me to school and stuff. he’s a good guy. a good friend,’ robin says, emphasising the word so nancy cannot possibly misunderstand.

the look it earns her is assessing. shrewd but, robin is glad to note, with none of the anger or bitterness she gets from some of steve’s other ex-girlfriends.

‘i’ll get us some more soda,’ nancy announces, and stands. she fixes robin with a prim, expectant smile. ‘robin, help me?’

‘uh. sure, yeah.’

eddie slides her sheet toward him, brandishes his pencil. ‘i’ll fill in your skills,’ he offers.

steve looks wide eyed and mouths be careful. he’s joking of course but he almost shouldn’t be; sweat prickles down her back as she slinks after nancy, like her body senses a danger her brain hasn’t registered yet. and it’s right.

nancy whirls on her when they’re out of sight. in a low voice, she says, half-accusing,

‘you like him.’

‘what? who? steve? no, i don’t. like, i really don’t.’

nancy flaps a hand. ‘i don’t mean you want to date him. you really do think he’s a good guy.’

‘uh yeah? because he is?’ she softens a little when nancy just looks thoughtful and maybe a bit pleased and a bit sad, the expression bitter-sweet. robin adds, ‘he’s grown up a lot, if that helps. or explains anything. or makes you feel better.’

‘you say it like you care.’

robin clears her throat with an awkward cough. scratches at her neck. ‘yeah, well, we fought together and i know we haven’t - i’m not in your clique or anything but i- you mean a lot to steve and he’s my best friend and so i have to hear him whine about if you’re upset or something so it’s in my best interest to, uh, be your friend too. if that’s something you want, i know we talked about it briefly but it was life or death so that’s an easy thing to agree to when there’s a chance we wouldn’t live to act on it and—‘

‘robin.’

‘thank god. yes?’

‘we are friends,’ nancy agrees, and reaches out to squeeze her wrist in a quick, fond little press. ‘i guess i just was struggling to see how you and steve…work.’

robin considers the question. ‘he saved my life,’ she tells nancy. ‘he’s brave and also stupid. like, totally without charm. and he makes me laugh. and listens when i ramble, which is really important because i do that a lot.’

nancy’s eyes glint and the corner of her mouth tips up, sharp and small, and robin knows she wants to tease robin for doing exactly that. it’s a bolt out of the clear blue that robin knows the look, and another bolt to realise that she really likes the look on nancy—and not just because the girl looks like she hasn’t had reason to smile for, like, forever.

‘i wish i knew him like you do,’ is all nancy says.

‘well. maybe the game will help with that?’

‘yeah. yeah, maybe.’

robin rocks back on her heels. shoved her hands deep into the pockets of her jacket and fiddles with a paper clip she finds in there. ‘you could be friends with him. i think he’d like that. really friends, i mean, not just the yeah we’ll totally be friends thing that people do when they break up.’

nancy’s eyes go distant but there’s a light in them that had been missing. her sharp chin softens, the tiny lines around her eyes fade, and a general sense of stress just…lifts. ‘you think?’

‘yeah. definitely.’

from the next room, steve yells, ‘did you guys get lost?’

nancy rolls her eyes. grabs robin by the elbow. she drags her with her to the kitchen and laughs when robin trips over her own feet.

[modernday-orpheus]

Okay, hear me out. If Tim idolized Batman instead of Robin, Bruce would be dead.

(long post under the cut!)

Disclaimer: I am not perfect and don't know everything there is to know about comics! Some shit here may be accidentally based on fanon rather than canon! Please be nice!

Tim, of course, respects and looks up to Batman. Bruce is his mentor and his father, so it's safe to assume he loves him as well. But his Hero™ is and always has been Robin, Dick at first but especially Jason judging by the timeline. Most people in Gotham view Robin as an addendum, an extra, nothing more than a kid sidekick. They’re disappointed if her shows up without Batman, and question his abilities. Tim’s hero worship combined with his knowledge of their identities, in this case, allows him to see things as they truly are. For Tim, Robin is a light in the dark, a balancing act with Batman, not his sidekick but his partner. He’s a necessary part of the Dynamic Duo because while Batman represents Justice, Robin represents this Hope for a better future. Sure, he’s just a kid; by all accounts he shouldn’t even be out there fighting, but maybe, if he is, no other kids won’t have to fight as hard just to survive. He represents the soul of Gotham, underneath the criminality and corruption; a city full of people, tough-as-nails, saying “No, fuck you, this is our city” despite the constant danger. He represents the people who come together in times of crisis, who help out their neighbors when each new disaster strikes. He’s trained in martial arts, of course, and he’s a skilled fighter, but Robin’s primary job is always the safety of civilians. He’s the one that gets scared little kids out of a burning building while Batman keeps the villain of the week busy, the one who stays behind with SA victims walks them home because Batman is too much for those things. He uses fear where Robin uses kindness, compassion, and love.

Tim sees this. So, when Robin dies and Batman is getting rougher, more violent, more careless, he notices. He notices that Bruce is picking bigger fights than he can handle, taking hits he could dodge, breaking four ribs instead of two, barely making it back to the manor each night. If he idolized Bruce, at this point, he would trust him the way the rest of Gotham does. He would assume it was a rough patch, and Bruce would recover, and that Batman would always save the day. He would see a solitary hero, the way Batman wants to be seen. He wouldn’t think it necessary to reach out to Dick for help, and even if he did he would think Nightwing would be enough help. He wouldn’t understand the importance of the Robin mantle, the specific role that needs to be filled. Nightwing can represent a lot of things; fluidity, positive change, and freedom come to mind immediately, but there's no world where Nightwing represents Gotham and Hope the same way Robin does. He can’t serve the same purpose anymore, not in that uniform. Bruce would die at Two-Face’s hands in that very first arc, I have not a single doubt in my mind.

Then, as Tim comes back to Gotham post-training and actually starts to help out, it’s common for him to be the conscience. He falls easily into the role of Robin, the role that makes him protector of the innocent. He’s not like Jason, raised by these streets in a very different way, though I wouldn’t say either is better or worse. Where Jason struggled and had to fight, out there each night pre-Bruce out of necessity rather than choice. He knows all the best hiding spots and back-alleys because it kept him alive. He chooses to be Robin because he needed a hero and wants to be that for other people. Tim chose those streets, and he chose them for Robin. He knows the best hiding spots because they put him closer to the action, because he raised himself on all those cold nights alone on rooftops with his camera. He knows the back-alleys because they made him faster, made it so his little kid legs could keep up with his hero so he wouldn’t miss a moment. He lives for Gotham nights, for the thrill of seeing everything, getting to know everything. He chooses to be Robin because where his parents failed to teach him how to be a good person, Robin stepped up. He bases his morals off of watching Robin help people, and because he’s a kid he assumes that it’s normal to behave with altruistic intentions and prioritize others.

There’s a point to be made here, briefly, about how this lends itself to Tim’s self-worth issues and insecurities. If his job is to assist, supplement, guide, and fill in the blanks when Batman fails, he doesn’t have the option of failure. He expects that how he does his job, as long as the job gets done, doesn’t matter because he doesn’t view himself as the hero. He never views himself as a main character in his own story; he truly thinks he’s doing what anyone else in his position would gladly do. This is why he overworks himself, why he’s known for living, for lack of a better term “like a goddamn ninja turtle”. It’s why he’s always Robin or Red Robin or even his public persona Timothy Drake-Wayne but rarely Just Tim. Very few people get to see Just Tim, normal Tim, because if they’re seeing that then he’s not doing his job.

All of these factors lead to Tim’s conclusion that if no one else can get Batman out of this state, least of all Batman himself, of course the next logical conclusion is that it’s his responsibility to step up and do the job. Furthermore, it’s only because he idolized Robin that he can fill the role properly because his relationship to Bruce, especially in the beginning, is nothing like Dick and Jason’s relationships with Bruce. He’s not his kid, doesn’t bring Robin’s joy and hope home, so instead he has to work twice as hard in the field to keep Bruce away from the edge. He’s the first of the Robins to view himself as Batman’s protector rather than the other way around, and he’s the only one who Bruce acknowledges when he tries to fill that role. Bruce accepts it when Tim manages him, reorganizes his files, forces him into the medbay, even when he very occasionally goes as far as to outright scold him rather than just pressure him to make the right choices. He’s given an inch and takes a mile, because he believes (rightfully, in my opinion) that if he doesn't then all hope is lost. And Bruce allows him to help, to guide, as much as he’s willing to because he’s not his kid first. He’s Robin first.

This mentality carries over to the Red Robin arc, where Tim spends an entire year chasing after Bruce to save him. He does it alone, and although he asks for help he doesn’t actually expect it. Furthermore, because his morals are based off of Robin in his infinite altruism rather than Batman with his rigid rules, he doesn’t mind working with Ra’s al Ghul. He doesn’t mind betraying Ra’s by killing his men, by blowing up his bases. He doesn’t tell Bruce about it to protect Bruce from having another murderer under his roof, and because he doesn’t think it matters enough. Bruce isn’t surprised when Tim is the one to save him. I believe he would have been if any other Robin had shown up. He and Dick have had a strained relationship for years, he and Jason aren’t even on speaking terms, Stephanie was so often full of rage at him throughout her run as Robin and is dead at the time, and he doesn’t even really have a relationship with Damian. Aside from all of that, he’s assumed dead. He can’t assume the Justice League will spend their time saving a dead man. And yet, despite all of that, he isn’t surprised when Tim is the one to pull him out of the time stream. He’s disoriented, sure, and a little surprised it was possible for him to be saved at all, and he even wants to hear about how he figured it out, but his doubt is never placed on the fact that Tim would be the one to understand and tear the world apart to bring him home.

I believe this also helps to explain Tim’s struggle with letting go of the Robin mantle, outside of the fact that he was the first to have the choice to move on taken away from him. If he’s always been Robin first, always felt the weight of that on his shoulders, what is he supposed to do when his very identity is stripped away right as he loses everyone who got to really know him as Just Tim? How is he supposed to cope with having to reconstruct his own idea of who he is with no one around to remind him? Humans are social creatures. We learn and grow with and because of each other. He’s encouraged by Dick to grow quickly out of Robin to fill a new role, which is a nice sentiment from Dick’s own point of view, but he’s lacking a sturdy foundation. Not because it’s not actually there, or because he lacks personality or morals, but because he truly views himself and all of his good decisions as just what anybody would do and what Robin is supposed to do. He doesn’t consider that following these morals makes them his, makes them the building blocks for wherever he goes next, he considers them to be traits of a character he no longer plays; a purpose he no longer serves.

[allwaswell16]

~A Dramatic Louis Fic Rec~

A very special fic rec of dramatic Louis fics as requested in this ask where I get roasted in my own inbox lol. You can find my other fic recs here! Happy reading!

-Larry-

You You You by @isthatyoularry (M, 137k)

“Infamous boybander leaves club together with unknown,” read the headline. Underneath were pictures of a boy with dark curls, green eyes and very tight pants. They both studied the article for a moment, reading it through quickly. “Is that…?” Louis frowned. That guy almost looked exactly like... "HOLY FUCKING SHIT!" "Louis," Niall said, looking absolutely fucked over. "You just fucked the most wanted guy on earth. You just fucked Harry Styles of One Direction."

Or, the one where Harry and Louis meet at a club and Louis takes Harry home, only for him to realize that the boy who just made him breakfast half naked is Harry Styles from One Direction.

An Amazing Race Around the World (And to my Heart) by Thingssicant / @sunflowervolh (E, 89k)

“This year marks our thirtieth race around the world, thirty seasons of teams bound by friendship, family, and even some people who just band together for the chance at the prize. But this year, we want to remove that dynamic,” Phil said, rubbing his hands together gently.

The cameras were whirring around them, trying to get every shocked face and gasp from the teams. Louis could feel a ringing in his ears, a new nervousness he hadn’t felt during the entire journey to this competition.

He was sweating more now, more than he could blame on the California sun, as Phil started to read the names of the new teams, the members hugging their loved ones before joining a complete stranger in their new allotted spot.

Or an Amazing race Hate to Lovers au

Sometimes You Just Know by @2tiedships2 (M, 33k)

“Dear diary. Today is going to be a good day, and here’s why...”

“What are you doing?” Louis mumbled as he bit into a piece of toast.

“It’s been almost two years and today Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson reunite. Louis is very excited about…”

Louis’ chair screeched along the kitchen floor as he flew up out of his seat, quickly grabbing the paper from Niall’s grasp. As he scanned the page he found it amounted to lines of nothing.

“What is this?” Louis asked again. “We’ve discussed how Harry Styles will never be spoken of in this flat. I don’t care how long it’s been.”

Niall snatched the paper from Louis and proceeded to draw a line across the page before writing.

“Today is the day that he-who-shall-not-be-named is coming to dinner.”

Or the one where Harry and Louis don’t believe in soulmates… until they do.

A Cuddle Guide, courtesy of Louis by MyEnglishRose / @lwtisloved (T, 23k)

Louis is someone who’s pretty needy and, without being dramatic, would probably die if he didn’t get enough attention during the day, that much he is aware of. Moving in with four boys whose personalities seem to clash with each other and who don’t seem too keen on being affectionate with each other appeared to be a bad move on Louis’ part. He sets a plan, and a guide for himself for this to change.

He just wanted cuddles and for that to become normal. He didn’t really expect to somehow make everyone in the flat so co-dependent on each other and end up with a boyfriend either. But maybe he should have, really.

OR: Platonic Louis-centric OT5 fluff with side Larry and a lot of cuddles and platonic fun

it would take a miracle by bravefortheboys (E, 23k)

In which Niall is the world's greatest sword fighter who's after the son-of-a-bitch that killed his father, Liam is a misunderstood fighter with a heart of gold, Prince Zayn doesn't want to hurt a soul, Harry is the most patient Farm Boy to ever walk the earth, Louis just wants to live a simple life, and somehow everything works out in the end because we're dealing with true love. You think this happens every day?

(AU based on The Princess Bride with the same amount of cheesiness and action but a significantly higher amount of curse words and penis jokes)

i'm a captain on a jealous sea by devilinmybrain / @thedevilinmybrain (E, 15k)

It’s not that Louis doesn’t like Nick. He is, if he’s being honest, kind of indifferent. Louis gets that Nick is just doing his job most of the time, being loud and prying, not having boundaries. But it’s just a little too much for Louis’ taste. Louis, who has learned over the years, when to be loud and when to know that coy is the game. But, it doesn’t matter really. He’s not required to like everyone, doesn’t have to make nice with them outside of having a camera shoved in his face. He can let Nick be Nick and it shouldn’t affect Louis at all.

Except.

What Louis actually has a problem with is the way Nick Grimshaw looks at Harry.

This Play Between The Sheets by Harriet1dfan (E, 15k)

Louis: I'm on the bus to meet Harry, if I haven't texted you back in three hours I'm either dead or I've been sold into a sex-trade ring xxHarry: Hi, this is Harry so I'm pretty sure that message wasn’t meant for me. And don't worry, I have no current plans to kill or sell you. See you in five minutes.

Or the totally gratuitous BDSM fic where Louis' is a drama queen and gets far too excited to pay attention to who he's texting.

Like a Walk in the Park by @helloamhere (T, 11k)

Louis needs a million dollars, needs a full redo and apology for Mass Effect 3, needs to redeem his birthday massage certificate. Louis does not need to sit exposed under an open sky and control his facial muscles for hours on end in front of his horrible helpless crush and three most merciless (best) friends. But Zayn is running out to the living room to hide all the controllers, so he’s got no freaking choice.

//or, OT5 has a park day. Louis will probably survive.

baby we’re the new romantics (come on, come along with me) by loustyles2828 (T, 6k)

Louis keeps getting cakes, and he’s certainly not in love with his best mate.

Three Hundred Cupcakes Later by Larry_you_know / @larryyouknow (G, 5k)

Louis finds Christmas parties usually too boring or too rowdy. Nothing in between. And this one was definitely bordering on lame... Until he spotted the most handsome man watching him.

I'll Be There by @allwaswell16 (E, 5k)

Louis is less than thrilled to find out his roommate has coerced his nemesis to check on him whilst he's sick in bed. However, Harry seems to take great pleasure in taking care of Louis. Maybe this green smoothie drinking, hot yoga instructing, hair in a bun wearing, pretentious art history studying wanker isn’t so bad after all.

On Monday, Louis thinks Harry's a twat. By Friday, he's thinking of reasons for him to stay.

Love on the b(rain) by TeamLouis (G, 4k)

During a stormy night, when Louis realizes that his precious dog has escaped the house, he has no other choice than calling his ex-husband. Well, ex-husband may be a little too much and maybe Louis is a little dramatic. But stormy nights always get people closer, right?

The Kids Aren't All Right by EmmyLouWho (G, 3k)

Two university students. One left-handed desk.

ft: Louis being very dramatic, muffins, and Shakespeare.

Neapolitan by foxandbee (NR, 3k)

It’s as he’s lying there on the hard, sticky tiles that it dawns on Louis that maybe this wasn’t the best course of action. He could’ve just left the store before the boy came back. But then he’d never be able to show his face in here again and the pretty boy would be left for all eternity thinking that Louis is a weirdo. Louis pouts at that idea. He could’ve just waited for the boy, apologised, and explained that choosing just one ice-cream was so hard, what with their bountiful array of flavours. But no. Louis always has to go for the most dramatic option doesn’t he? He just can’t be a normal human.

Or the story where Harry's a pretty boy in an ice-cream parlour and Louis embarrasses himself.

If I Can't Have You by Janie_17 (T, 2k)

After Harry turns him down, going out for Karaoke is the last thing Louis wants to do, but his friends are persuasive. When Harry shows up with Nick Grimshaw in tow, his evening goes from bad to worse. But will his choice of song manage to turn things around?

-Rare Pairs-

 Pretty Little Plaything by Phillipa19 (Zayn/Louis, E, 55k)

Louis is Zayn's little toy, his precious pet, to play with and keep safe. Zayn is a millionaire and has a lot of work to do he can't always be around to entertain his young lover. Louis's insecurity about losing Zayn's interest means he ends up lying to the older man. How will Zayn react?

driver's license by wordsnnotes / @quelsentiment (Zayn/Louis, T, 6k)

“I said to turn left.” “No, you said to turn right.” Louis has no idea what he actually said, but who cares? He’s tired of this superior tone. “Are you seriously arguing with your examiner right now?” See, that’s exactly what Louis is talking about. The guy—Zayn, or whatever—pointedly waits for an answer, and Louis scoffs. “Doesn’t matter who you are, does it? I still know what I heard, and you said ‘right’.” Or: Louis is taking the exam to get his driver’s licence for the 3rd time (okay, sue him), and the examiner keeps getting under his skin. When they suddenly get stranded in the middle of a snow storm, they have to learn to cooperate.

[ssadumba55]

Love Finds A Way (Ian Malcolm X Reader)

Request: Hello!! I love your Ian malcolm x reader so far and I was just wondering if you could do another one (either set in the first or second movie) where ian and the reader get separated and it freaks Ian out until they find each other again and ian decides to confess his feelings maybe? Thanks!

A/N: Let's go! I've never written anything set in the first movie but that movie moves a lot faster so forgive me cutting through to get to the good bits. I spared you every dinosaur chase scene, you're welcome. Enjoy!

This trip was a mistake, you realized that now covered in mud and sitting in a tree.

Come along, Ian had suggested, it’ll be fun. It wasn’t fun now, you’d be sure to remind him of that… if you ever saw him again. Even though you had wanted to stay behind with Ian, Alan had convinced you to join him and the kids.

Now, the other three were getting some shuteye. How they could sleep with all of this around them, you would never know. You watched the Brachiosaurs eat from the safety of your vantage point. All the joy and wonder you had felt earlier on the tour was now gone, replaced with a feeling of dread deep in the pit of your stomach.

There was no way you were getting out of this alive, even with the help of the amazing Dr. Alan Grant. You had never been a fearless fighter or particularly intelligent.

“You’re still awake?” Dr. Grant asked softly. You had thought he was asleep but it appeared he’d just been resting eyes. He didn’t even look like the man you’d met earlier that day, each of his arms wrapped around one of the children he had despised.

You shrugged your shoulders. “I’m worried about Dr. Malcolm, that’s all.”

It was a fair worry, he was your friend and mentor. The two of you had spent a lot of time together both in the workplace and out. You liked to think there was an inseparable bond between the two of you, something that rarely anyone else had. No matter how many wives or girlfriends he went through, what was between you both would never change.

“He’s fine. As long as he stays still, even if the T. Rex circles back, he’ll live.”

Realistically, you knew he was right but still. Nobody but the four of you knew where he was and you had no idea how to get to the others. Worst vacation ever, Ian owed you one if the two of you got off this stinking island alive.

Meanwhile, Dr. Ian Malcolm was in a panic himself. His leg was in pain, but it was dull compared to his worry for you. Now that he wasn’t being chased by a giant meat eating dinosaur, he could think properly and he had noticed your absence.

There were two options; you were laying out there dead somewhere (which he hated to think about, that couldn’t be the one) or you were wherever Dr. Grant and Hammond’s grandchildren were.

“We should be out there looking for them,” he tried to shift but his leg was in worse shape than he thought. Ellie hurried forward, scolding him for moving and putting himself in pain. She was obviously worried for Alan as well, they had issues, the two of them.

Was being in love with a workplace friend a common occurrence because it seemed like they were in the exact same department and- Oh god, if you and Alan died they would never get to tell them. More importantly he would never get to tell you.

At some point, Gennaro and Ellie leave to go look for Arnold, leaving him and Hammond to guide them to where they needed to go. He tried to keep his head in the game as much as possible, his survival and the others depended on it but he was too worried about you.

This had to be some sick twisted joke the universe had decided to play on him, he didn’t tell the one he loved he loved them when he had the chance, he fooled around with so many people... and this was his sick and twisted comeuppance.

He supposed if that was what was going on he deserved it, but damn it if he didn’t wish his leg was better so he could be out there looking for you.

How many adults did it take to hold a door shut against one Velociraptor? Apparently, three. You, Alan and Ellie leaned against the door, trying your best to keep it shut while Lex and Tim figured out the computer system.

“This is where we die,” you muttered under your breath as Ellie tried desperately to reach for the shotgun that was just out of her grasp.

“You did it!” Tim shouted and just like that the locks were on the doors.

The relief was short lived, but such is life when you’re on a dinosaur infested island. The five of you escaped through the vents, making your way back to the main entrance of the visitors building. It was a race against time (and Velociraptors), but in the end, you all made it safely back to the ground and the T. Rex took care of the raptors.

“Come on,” Alan ushered the kids, you and Ellie out the front door. You felt like you were going to pass out just from the adrenaline. Hammond and Ian were waiting outside in the jeep but you couldn’t bring yourself to say anything to either of them as you climbed in. Alan said something but you leaned back in the jeep seat, releasing a breath you didn’t even know you’d been holding.

You weren’t home safe yet but it sure felt like it.

After that, everything was a blur. The helicopter ride home was silent, everyone contemplating everything they had just witnessed on the island. For once, even the great Ian Malcolm had nothing to say.

You leaned against him and he let you, clearly just as happy as you were to be in the same vicinity once again.

Upon landing in Costa Rica, the group went their separate ways. Hammond went off with his grandchildren, Ellie needed medical care and Alan went with her, Ian needed his own care so you went with him. You wondered if you’d ever get to see those people again. It was a strange thing to bond over, but you felt like you were all that much closer now that you’d been through this together.

Ian was out for a while so you pulled up a chair and slept beside the hospital bed.

“(Y/n)?” You awoke to someone saying your name, visions of giant lizard monsters danced in your vision for a few moments longer as you blinked awake.

You would surely be having nightmares of that for a long time.

Ian was awake, he had shifted himself into a sitting position, his hand on yours. You met his eyes, there was a lot that needed to be said. You wanted to tell him everything that had happened, with Alan and the kids and the raptors and-

You hugged him instead, it was strange, even though the two of you were fairly close, neither of you had ever been huge fans of physical contact.

He hugged you back though.

“That was the worst vacation ever…” You whispered, pulling away slightly to look into his eyes.

He chuckled. “Next time you can pick, no more dinosaur islands. I promise.”

You suddenly became aware of the very little space between the two of you. This was the closest the two of you had ever been in a non joking manner. It felt like being separated from each other on a dinosaur infested island had changed something in your dynamic, though you weren’t sure what it was. The smile on his face faded slightly and he reached up, closing the distance between the two of you, hand gently pressed to your cheek.

That’s what it was. The dynamic between you two had DEFINITELY changed.

“I’ve, uh, always wanted to do that.” He sounded slightly guilty, pulling away.

There were butterflies in your stomach and somehow the world seemed to be spinning. You laughed nervously, something about experiencing this so soon after a near death experience was hilarious to you.

"Funnily enough, me too," you admit, pressing your forehead to his. It's really too soon to know what this really means or if this is all just a crazy reaction to being separated and not able to see each other but you don't even care.

You could put a label on it later, he would agree. For now the two of you had each other and you were never letting go. And if Ian asked you to sleep with him later that night and if the two of you awoke each other from nightmares screaming only to comfort each other, nobody else needed to know.

You'd always had a special bond. This just made it stronger.

[kevin-the-bruyne]

(znn/jent/hockey nonny) i am so glad you're not a bruins fan because I'm a leafs fan 😂 but Sidney Crosby is my hero so maybe we still can't be friends 😂

KAT-TUN/Akame were my faves back then (I was most unhinged over them) but drama-free those boys were not 😅 I used to lowkey love Sho from Arashi tho

(please continue to be unhinged about ZNN and do more posts like when did they seal the deal 🤭)

Ah dont worry its more geography than anything else so we can be friends - also i cannot tell hockey players apart so....

AKAME!!!! You really picked the messiest fucking bitches on the planet to stan didn't you. I did not envy what Kattun and Akame fans went through. I stuck to simpler pairs: Ohmiya, Sakuraiba, MatsuJun x Ikuta Toma (+ Oguri Shun), RyoShige

But ugh I love the ZNN+Joss OT3 so much SPECIFICALLY because they give off such MatsJun x Ikuta Toma (+ Oguri Shun) vibes. Zee needs to let up and let Joss play with New a little bit so I can get more OT3 content

It honestly tickles me that you guys like the Fuck Point Analysis I made only because people in my country are so obsessed with figuring out when a married couple first Do The Deed. I'm not joking there really is a term for the night the married couple loses their virginity HAHAHAHAHAHA

okay anon im taking notes about what the masses (😂😂) want. I am obsessed with what @ambruises has so eloquently coined as the ever shifting power dynamics between ZNN

I've been doing this thing that I can share a little bit here is compiling a timeline for them to understand what the major arcs in their relationship were. I originally started this as research to dictate the major arcs in the 'canonverse' ZNN fic I'm writing (this is a long term project so you won't see it for maybe another six months but I am happy to share scenes if anyone is interested)

DISCLAIMER: these are my personal views and meant to be just harmless fun. its just tedious to keep writing 'i think' in front of every sentence but I am very acutely aware that this is totally just in my head.

I can identify four arcs somewhat dileneated around the Fuck Point and the Feelings Point (they've obviously had feelings for each other before the Feelings Point but I had to call it something) which the boys have identified themselves. New has said - i think more than once even - that things changed for them after their First Date. I would stipulate that the Feelings Point is the First Date AND the separation they went through soon after for New Year's when Zee went back to Chiang Rai (its always Chiang Rai isn't it)

My guess is that Zee put so much thought and effort into the First Date MOSTLY subconsciously and once it happened it triggered a 'oh no what is this' moment for him specifically. I am convinced New straight up came in with a crush on Zee (someone please write me fic where New jerks off to Fighter) so the Feelings Point did two very different things to Zee and New:

Zee went into a 'oh shit oh shit this is a thing' and New had a 'oh my god this could ACTUALLY be a Thing(tm) thing'

Anyway here is my timeline:

[ravenkinnie]

curious about your thoughts with jinx's relationship with vander. some say he means a lot to her and she loves him like vi does and some say that either they're not actually that close or powder herself didn't feel very close with vander. because if she was then how could she be so attached to silco especially since in ep9 its revealed she knew that silco's responsible for his death?

I feel like vander gets too much bad rep, not to be a dilf apologist but act 1 happens over like 2-3 days - my man had a lot of shit going on, he has four kids, a business to run, and charges to escape

but also because he's a single mom working two jobs with a heart of a fighter I think the youngest kid who's quiet and doesn't cause too much shit on her own can slip by easily so like, there was probably love and care there but they might not have been as close as him and vi, that's literally something we just don't know. I do think it's clear that she did or does care about him bc he is one of her hallucinations, like there's clearly grief and guilt there

but also jinx spent years learning vander through silcos eyes so it would probably have an impact on her mental image of him too. tbh the whole act 2 and 3 there was no doubt in my mind jinx knows silco killed vander bdbdndnj but she carries so much guilt for killing mylo claggor and her and silco identify with each other so much that I think it would only push her closer to him because he's the one person who somewhat understands what she's going through - like in ep4 when she says "I keep seeing them" or sth like that she doesn't have to explain what she means so it's clearly something that has come up between them before. and when you take that understanding and projection they have going on and also mix it with the fact that she's just been abandoned by vi (we know she wasn't but jinx doesn't yk), this caregiver figure that was her whole world, I feel like it's understandable how she would cling onto silco so quick (or maybe it is to me bc I also have attachment issues jdbdbdbdjs)

but also on another level - these are characters and this is a story, from a storytelling perspective having powder be more removed from vander in act 1 creates sharper contrast to how codependent her and silco are later, it also makes the relationships vi and vander vs jinx and silco have stand out more so it works for the parallel the show sets up. I think it also works well with the time jump - we don't see silco and jinx develop this dynamic they have, we work with whatever the show sets up in ep4 while driving the story forward so it works well if that mental jump from powder and vander to silco and jinx isn't too much of a leap