#i need to actually work on the prequel and get a better idea for how long its gonna be

[illuminatedferret]

Crack fic updates: im at 16k words but theyre all disjointed 2k scenes so god knows when any of them will be completed. Chapter 1 of the prequel is still missing one scene because ive been writing more of the actual crack fic instead. Ive basically got the ~first chapter and a half of both fics done rn. My hopes and dreams are so high right now. Im gonna be so mad if i dont finish this

[rorywritesjunk]

I can’t tell where the journey will end But I know where to start

Prequel to my Kid Buggy fic, set about 11-ish years before that story.

Buggy meets you by chance when he needs his buttons sewn back onto his jacket. He’s young, up and coming, and he thinks everyone should cower before him wherever he goes, but all you do is smile at him.

Rating: PG-13ish just for some swearing. Warning: Buggy’s in his early 20s. He’s an asshole. He just is because I wanted to write him loud, demanding, everything. Also, I'm not nice to Buggy when he tries to flirt. I definitely write him as a bit of a disaster when it happens. It's just going to get a bit worse from here. There's a storm mentioned in this chapter and a love confession. A/N: I have no idea when Buggy became a Captain, so he’s a fresh faced captain in this. No clue how long this fic will be. A shoutout to @lavalampskyy for telling me about the song "Warm" by Montcrieff because that song definitely influenced me to actually write this chapter and rework some things, so thank you friend! I've listened to it way too much in the last 24 hours.

Title comes from “Wake Me Up” by Avicii.

TAGLIST: @lostfirefly @ane5e @kingofthemfingpirates @the-angriest-angel @tiredemomama @valen-yamyam16 @i-reblog-fics-i-like @plethora-of-fickleness @uhnanix Chapter 1 + Chapter 2 + Chapter 3 + Chapter 4 + Chapter 5 + Chapter 6 + Chapter 7 + Chapter 8 + Chapter 9 + Chapter 10 + Chapter 11 + Chapter 12 + Chapter 13 + Chapter 14 + Chapter 15 + Chapter 16 + Chapter 17 + Chapter 18 + Epilogue

Chapter 9

Buggy realized he was truly in love with you when you hugged him that day but he didn’t say anything, not yet. He wanted it to be perfect when he told you. He wasn’t quite ready to propose marriage yet either, and the two of you only had one date, sort of, which ended in him embarrassing himself, but the fact that you brushed off the spill and took care of him made him realize that he wanted that all the time with you. There was no one else for him after that.

He just needed the right time to tell you. 

The best time, he decided, was when he brought his coat to you once again one afternoon, a few weeks after the hug. Benji was at the counter, looking unimpressed when he saw Buggy. He looked the pirate up and down before rolling his eyes.

“What do you want now?” The teen asked, sounding bored.

“Benji.” You warned as you came from the backroom. You were trying to get him to be a little nicer to the clients. Your eyes lit up when you saw Buggy and you smiled; he straightened up and held his coat out.

“Sorry.” Benji grumbled. “How can I help you today, sir?”

“Better.” You took the coat from Buggy. “Mm, what’s wrong with it now, Buggy?”

“None of the threads holding the buttons match.” He told you as you hung it up. Benji made a face and went to look it over with you. The thread looked fine to him and he nudged you gently.

“I think he’s losing his eyesight.” He whispered as he glanced back at Buggy. “They look fine to me.”

You shook your head and chuckled. “No, no, he’s right. The shades are just different enough that it can be noticeable.” You turned back to Buggy. “Can I keep it for a few hours to work on it?”

“Only if I can take you out to dinner afterwards.” He said with a grin. You looked a little surprised by that but you smiled and nodded.

“After you pay for the services, of course.”

“I-I was going to pay!” He exclaimed, looking flustered now. “Why wouldn’t I pay?!”

“I’m teasing, of course you’ll pay.” You chuckled as you smoothed the front of the coat out. “I’ll have it ready for our date then.”

Ha! You called it a date. That was perfect. Buggy couldn’t help but feel smug as he winked at you and turned to leave the shop. He shut the door behind him, hoping you didn’t notice several of his fingers got caught in the door jamb and popped off, falling to the floor. He hastily opened the door and collected them before shutting it again. You and Benji watched the whole thing; Benji seemed a little horrified but you just shook your head.

“You’re going out with him?” Benji asked, sounding disgusted. “Why?!”

“I like him.” You told him as you went to go find some thread and a needle. “And he’s very sweet to me.”

“Lots of guys are sweet to you.” Benji pointed out as he returned to the counter. “I don’t get why you like it coming from him though.”

“He’s not like the others.” You shrugged as you set your tools down on the table and collected his jacket. “Now, I’m going to have you help with this, so you have to do it correctly, understand? You can’t mess it up on purpose because you don’t like Buggy.”

“Fine.” He grumbled as he went to help you.

~

Buggy arrived three hours later. He made sure to look his best. His face was clean, his hair was brushed, and he wore some of his best clothes to take you out. He had a bouquet of flowers for you and a basket in one hand. He felt a picnic dinner at the lake would be a good spot. He wouldn’t be an asshole this time, you could see the ducks, and he could tell you that he was in love with you and everything would be perfect. 

He entered the shop and saw Benji and Miss Pins first. They looked up at him; Benji rolled his eyes but Miss Pins looked quite amused to see him.

“So, another date?” She asked. Buggy glared at her as his face reddened.

“What if it is?” He shot back as he set the basket down. 

Miss Pins shrugged, a smirk on her face as looked him up and down. “And dressed up for it as well. You really like our Sunny, don’t you?”

“Listen, you-”

He didn’t get to finish the sentence because you came down the stairs at that moment, catching his attention. He turned to look and his eyes widened. You had a new dress on, one he hadn’t seen before, a pretty light green color with cap sleeves. It fell at mid-calf, the skirt had a nice swoosh to it, and the neckline didn’t dip down too far. There was embroidery around the hem of the skirt, colorful flowers with twisty stems and leaves. Did you make this yourself?

“Your coat is ready.” You told him as you went right past him to grab it from the back. He was just staring at you, speechless for a moment as his brain registered that you dressed nice for him. Benji waved his hand in front of Buggy’s face to get his attention while Miss Pins snapped her fingers. You came back out with it and took it off the hanger, holding it out for him. He let you put it on him, face burning bright red as you smoothed it over his shoulders. He turned around to face you and you tugged on one of the buttons. “All matching threads for you, Buggy.”

He said nothing as he slammed the payment onto the counter and then held the bouquet out to you. Words were escaping him right then because he didn’t know what to say to you. You took the bouquet from him and kissed his cheek before taking them to the backroom to find them a vase.

“Why isn’t he saying anything?” Benji whispered to Miss Pins. She shrugged.

“No clue.”

“S-Shut it, you two!” Buggy managed to hiss as he glared at them. “I’m fine!”

“Are you though?” Benji grinned. Before Buggy could respond you came back out, setting the vase on the table. He picked the basket up and held his hand out to you, which you took before he led you out of the shop and down the road. 

~

Buggy didn’t want to jinx it because so far everything was going perfectly. He had put a blanket down, pulled the food out (something he got from the little cafe you had your first date at), and he even had a bag of seed for you to throw to the ducks. He still didn’t quite get the enjoyment in that, but if it meant seeing how your eyes lit up and the little squeals of joy you emitted every time one quacked at you, then he would make sure to always bring you a giant bag of seeds for the ducks. 

It was perfect until clouds started to roll in. Buggy tried to ignore them, hoping they would just move along to somewhere else so the two of you could keep enjoying the nice weather. 

He cleared his throat and took your hand in his. “I… have something to say.”

“Okay.” You turned to look at him, giving his hand a squeeze. “What is it?”

There was a rumbling of thunder in the distance. No, no, it needed to wait until he could tell you. 

“Sunny, I’m in lo-”

The clouds opened up and the rain came down, catching the two of you by surprise. You gathered everything into the basket before grabbing his hand and dragging him over to a nearby structure to get out of the wet. You couldn’t help but laugh at the sudden downpour but Buggy didn’t find it funny.

“Why is it every time I try…” He grumbled as he crossed his arms, glaring outwards. You didn’t hear him as you walked over to him, tapping him on the shoulder. He turned to look at you, still glaring, but you weren’t bothered by it.

“What were you about to say to me before the downpour?” You asked. 

He hesitated. If he said anything else something could happen, like a flash flood or the structure collapsing. And if he said it, how would you react to it? He was in love with you but what if you weren’t in love with him? What if you just laughed at him, patted him on the cheek and sent him on his way? He was starting to wonder if you were just tolerating him at this point.

“I didn’t…” He hesitated, maybe this was a bad idea.

You frowned as you pulled him into a hug. He allowed this, letting his head rest on your shoulder as you pressed a kiss to his temple. This is what he wanted. He just wanted to be in your arms forever and if he wanted that he needed to tell you how he felt before someone else came along and you decided they were better for you. 

The two of you stayed like that for a moment before Buggy finally spoke. 

“I’m in love with you.” He mumbled against your shoulder. You didn’t quite catch that and pulled back from him. 

“Can you repeat that?” You asked kindly. “I didn’t understand.”

He lifted his head off your shoulder and quickly said, “Iminlovewithyou.”

“I… didn’t understand that, Buggy.” You told him, smiling as you shook your head. “Can you say it again?”

He hated that he was hesitant. This was supposed to be some grand proclamation he was about to make, but given his track record of trying to do anything for you, he was convinced something horrible was about to happen. Lightning could strike him before he could speak, or that stupid handsome swordsman would appear and take you away, or what if the ducks suddenly attacked him? 

You touched his cheek, snapping him back to his senses. “Buggy?”

It had to be now or never, ducks be damned. 

He took both of your hands in his and took a deep breath. “I’m in love with you.”

There, he said it. 

Lightning didn’t strike either of you. No one else showed up to take you away from him. And he glanced over your shoulder to see the ducks still in the lake, not charging toward him in an angry horde. You, however, were quiet. That was starting to worry him, but he had to deal with this. You probably didn’t feel the same way. It was stupid of him to even think you would. He let go of your hands, trying to think of a joke to get him out of this now because why would you ever want someone like him? He just needed to tell you he was kidding, that it wasn’t true, just wanted to see what you’d do, but before he could do anything, you grabbed the front of his coat and pulled him close, leaning up to kiss him.

He stiffened, not expecting that reaction. He expected you to push him away, telling him to stop making jokes, that you didn’t feel the same way. Those scenarios played through in his head as you kissed him, not letting him leave yet. Were you waiting to tell him to leave you alone, that you didn’t want to see him ever again after this?

When you finally pulled back from the kiss, you still held onto the front of his coat, not letting him bolt. Your cheeks were pink, you were smiling up at him, and he didn’t know what to make of the twinkle in your eye. He was just waiting for the inevitable.

“I like you a lot, Buggy.” You told him. “And I’m starting to fall in love with you.” There was a crack of thunder nearby and you laughed. “Let’s go back to the shop before we get washed away. I’ll make you a hot drink.”

He nodded fast, head almost dislodging from his body at the speed of the movement. You were starting to fall in love, that meant you were going to eventually. That was better than what he was anticipating happening.

[narbevoguel]

AoC deserves better.

I think enough time has passed for me to rant about the current status of BotW, AoC and TotK.

I'll start by saying TotK is a really fun game, I enjoy playing it way more than I ever did a portion of BotW, they actually found a good balance between old dungeon design and trying to revamp it somewhat, it still needs work but defo a step in the right direction; but the reason I believe people feel BotW was better for them, is because of multiple factors:

1.- The novelty of exploring wore off. First, you get to explore the same Hyrule from BotW, and while the overly needed addition of caves was a thing, the depths and skies added little to no substance, contrary to what the trailers made you believe.

2.- While the story, standalone at least, is not that bad, it isn't a big of a deal either, and while I believe the premise for it is better than BotW's, at least BotW bothered sticking to it with a strong foundation, whereas TotK story is glued together with nothing but tape and tears (no pun intended).

3.- The characters. BotW gave us amazing characters that sadly the plot didn't let shine (which is where AoC comes in, but that's for later), TotK gave us characters that are just... there. Even if BotW did little to nothing with its cast, at least they had their moments in the cutscenes; what do the likes of Rauru, or Sonia, or the past Sages have? Nothing. It's almost like they left out important plot points out on purpose and somehow thought not elaborating on them was a good idea? I bet not a lot of people know about Rauru's sneaking out antics, or Mineru not getting enough sleep because of her research, or Zelda liking to help Mineru with her research because that's just the kind of nerd she is, or the fact that Rauru and Mineru would perform together in the form of song and dance respectively. These are things that would have been cute to see in the form of cutscenes like we did with the Champions in BotW. You can summarize plot and characters to an extent in BotW, but not in TotK, sadly. That said, I don't mind Ganondorf being evil for the sake of being evil, but them choosing to make him less of bound to the curse and more the curse itself can get disappointing at times. What's the point in making him sexy with zero substance? (Yes, they made him sexy on purpose, they said in an interview). But back to the Champions, can I mention how little respect they had in TotK? Like, I understand passing on the veil of destiny to the now sages, but disregarding them almost completely like that was a decision I can't understand, you take the best of BotW and almost discard it completely in the sequel?

AoC, on the other hand, took everything BotW and just added the "what if" fanfic 'fix' where everyone lives and it's a much better, happier outcome, but as a result, it lets the best part of BotW (the characters) properly shine and be fleshed out, it's a game that was clearly developed with care towards the source. The hate it gets it's because it was marketed as a prequel to BotW, yet it wasn't (and tbh, I'm sorry but thinking a musou game was gonna have perma character death was kind of a naive thought), and thus has no place in the timeline, but we are somehow okay with TotK liking to play the game of "Let's pretend BotW didn't happen"? Where do we draw the line then?

If you think there's nothing wrong with how TotK handled BotW's retcon, but don't like the premise of AoC, you owe AoC an apology.

That said, if I were to recommend someone who really enjoyed BotW what to play next, I would recommend AoC 100%, as much fun I have with TotK, AoC is more respectful.

I don't want to hate on TotK entirely, because I stand by what I said, I still have lots of fun with it, I never enjoyed playing BotW, but I do TotK, but it's being praised for things that people used to justify hatred towards AoC, and I won't allow it.

[schro4444]

Ohh the idea of them pooling their skills together to create better disguises together is brilliant! the mimicking voices was probably Chikage (I imagine you'd have to have been training your voice constantly for a looooooong time to get the huge vocal range needed for that...I wonder how she became a thief actually, iirc she targeted corrupt corporations) but I bet it was Toichi who could do all kinds of interesting things with it - throwing his voice so it seems he's speaking from somewhere he isn't, making it seem as though it's far away or right behind you or simply making it carry (to his audience!), and yeah the acting through body language and reading ppl bc he needs to act like it was all part of the plan if a trick goes wrong and needed to improvise, and be able to read his audience to control where their attention goes and pull off misdirection. Also he probably does have very good spatial awareness, I cannot beLIEVE he went through LASER NET with a CAPE AND TOP HAT, he's RIDICULOUS

"as long as you're feeling agile enough" Chikage is, in fact, the one who was good at acrobatics while Toichi did a lame little side shuffle, she probably knew parkour too. Also ik it's not realistic but I was suddenly assaulted w the image of Chikage teaching Kaito and Toichi parkour and acrobatics together at the same time and Kaito being better at it than Toichi jhdgjsgf. bby Kaito probably used his parents as a jungle gym tbh, imagine talking to THE Kuroba Toichi, best magician in Japan (best magician in the WORLD Kaito corrects vehemently), all the while a 6 yo is doing a handstand on his shoulders or smth

Also I'm not surprised in the least that talking his way out was his plan, his advice to Kaito was "turn your critics into your fans" and THESE critics were out to ARREST THEM yet it STILL WORKED. absolute madlads

YESSSS perfect!! the ultimate combination of skills!!! I wonder how she became a thief too. like. was she raised in it? was it circumstances? revenge turned vigilantism? IDK!!! clearly she was tired of it by the end, but she also clearly was having fun. pls I need the prequel so bad

I think about the hat a lot actually. it’s so tall. between the hat & cape and the bandages OVER THE EYES you have to admire the kurobas’ commitment to the aesthetic

LAME LITTLE SIDE SHUFFLE SHFHDHD poor man. but you’re absolutely right. LISTEN I’m absolutely certain that chikage taught kaito parkour by pretending it was gymnastics practice or obstacle courses or something similar, so it’s not a huge stretch At All to include toichi in those lessons. that stuff is so hard to learn as an adult, too… cue 6yo kaito doing full trapeze acrobat moves with chikage while toichi does his absolute BEST to learn a back handspring before his next heist

toichi turned “fake it til you make it” into a successful international phantom thief career, it’s a magician’s Greatest ability. now kaito can do it too but Also with the help of Actual Crime Skills (everyone say thank you chikage)

ventriloquism TOTALLY has practical use in magic. okok I’ve actually thought abt this before—for toichi to be the best magician ever, his shows would need to be WILD. bc irl magicians can do some insane things. I think he totally just did the most bamboozling acts where he’d make himself disappear and then have his voice appear from 5 directions at once, or use ventriloquism + magic to convince people that inanimate objects were alive and talking, stuff like that. worldwide magic sensation kuroba toichi disguises himself as you in real time and then he calls your mom using your voice while escaping from a straightjacket. etc.

WHICH OF COURSE leads DIRECTLY to kaito using this nonsense to become the most chaotic little nightmare child EVER (beloved). he is a terror to his classmates and his parents are actively part of the problem. aoko comes into the house like “kaito where are you” and she hears “I’m coming!” from upstairs and then he appears directly behind her. she screams and goes to tell on him to toichi but toichi does the same thing to her. chikage apologizes for both of them using their own voices. this is just what it’s like in the kuroba household. when kaito gets in trouble at school they’re 100% the kind of parents to be more disappointed that he got caught, not about the fact that he was building a confetti cannon at his desk

[0perfectimperfections0]

What if, instead of being punished by the washer, the robots dragged Lou to a pipe that leads to the factory. Because he was a "rogue prototype," but the best model they had, they erased his memory. Now the all the dolls see Lou when he was kinder and sweeter, like Lou in Ox's flashbacks, but in the present.

I had to go ahead and write this because I love everything about this idea.

Okay, so for background, there are ideas that @natalie-the-writer and I have tossed back and forth regarding what Lou was like during his initial creation. You'll see what those ideas were in this story.

I'm also adding onto that with how I made Lou in the prequel of the movie I'm working on called "Basting Stitch" which is on Wattpad.

<><><><><>

"He will be fixed."

That was all one of the robots had told them as two other ones drug the prototype toward the far end of the Institute. Ox's memory was well enough to remember that being the direction of the pipe Lou had led him to years ago. His gut wrenched at the thought of Lou being recycled. What could even become of a prototype? Or a Perfect Doll? The recycling was designed for dolls like Ox or even ones like Nolan who needed to be rearranged into something acceptable for a child.

But, even with all of that, Lou still wasn't considered acceptable for a child. Perhaps there was no coming back for a recycled prototype. You can't get better than perfect and if that still wasn't enough to go to the Big World, then there was no use for him.

It made Ox sick.

More so did the dolls who were smugly grinning in the direction in which Lou had been dragged off to. This was a victory for them. The "dictatorship" Lou had subjected them to was finally over.

But then it suddenly wasn't.

Those same two robots (but they all looked the same, so who could be sure?) rolled back into the Institute a few days later. The Uglies were in the process of renovating the whole expanse of the area with the help of the rebelling Pretty Dolls. For dolls that had so fervently aspired to go be with a kid, it was a wonder they decided to come back at all. Maybe the Big World wasn't as wonderful as they thought it would be.

Nonetheless, most of them were present in the center of the Institute when two robots escorted a familiar doll back into their presence. Babo turned, giving a small heart attack to the toppling tower of Moxy, Wage, LuckyBat, and Ox that were grasping onto each other's shoulders. They had been trying to paint the Gauntlet an array of different colors before the octopus doll would eventually toss it into the water for the heck of it.

"He's back!" One Ugly panicked and bolted it toward some random direction. Pretty Dolls murmured amongst themselves and, despite already being a good distance, continued to step further away from Lou as he approached. The robots kept an even pace in front of him.

Ox scrambled down from the tower of dolls he was on and eventually slowed to a stop before the robots. "Prototype Model 12 has been fixed." They announced.

Again, the details of what being fixed entailed were lost to them.

The robots parted to give a full view of the blond. It didn't look like anything had changed. Perfect hair. Perfect body. Perfect suit. It wasn't as if Lou had any outward imperfections before, but what exactly did the robots fix? His attitude?

A little more than that, actually.

Those blue eyes looked different. But only to Ox. They reminded him of some part of Lou that had been long gone since Moxy's little rendevous. They were wide, open, and full. His pupils were dilated in a way that made him look younger. Mentally younger. The kind of innocent look that would provoke you to use a soft voice and bend at the knees to speak to him.

And then Lou spoke. "Hello. Welcome to the Institute of Perfection. My name is Louis. And you are?"

Ox's ear twitched as he eyed Lou up and down. His friends walked up behind him. Wage had a disdainful look in her eyes. "It's the Institute of Imperfection now--"

"H-Hold on," Ox waved a hand behind him to quiet her. He looked up at Lou curiously. He'd heard those exact words before. From Lou, too. But...had Lou not been recycled? "You're Lou, right?"

The doll tilted his head, arms folded behind his back. "Louis. My name is Louis."

"But Lou is your nickname," Ox clarified.

Lou blinked at the foreign term. Instead, he looked evenly at Ox. "What is your name?"

Mandy leaned toward Moxy. "What's wrong with him?" She whispered. Moxy was too perplexed to even shrug.

"You remember me, Lou. I'm Ox." The bunny put a hand on his chest.

"Ox," Lou repeated. "Your name is Ox. Welcome, Ox, to the Institute of Perf--"

"Alright, what's going on?" Wage interrupted as she stormed up to Lou. "What's wrong with you, huh? You're acting weird." She put a finger to his forehead, tapping it roughly. Lou squinted against the action, leaning back to try and put distance between them.

"Your voice has gone higher," Lou noted, rubbing his forehead. "Why?"

"Why? Why? Because you're acting weird and stupid and it's frustrating!" Wage screamed. "What did those robots do to you?"

One of them wheeled forward to offer some form of explanation. "Prototype Model 12 has been fixed. His memory has been erased and he is now reset to factory default."

That was it! That was where Ox had seen that look and heard those words. It had been when he had first arrived at the Institute and Lou had said those exact words to him. Lou couldn't have been but maybe two or three years into existence at the time.

And now, he had started all over again.

Wage glared at the blond. "That still doesn't explain why you're acting weird."

Lou seemed to shrink under her gaze. "I...do not know what you mean."

"You! The way you're talking! Your whole attitude!"

"Your voice is rising again," Lou noted. Wage looked about ready to strangle him if Ox hadn't eased her back.

"He don't know what you mean when you say weird. He ain't learned that word, yet."

"What are you talking about?" Wage narrowed in on Ox now.

The bunny ignored her and instead looked up at Lou. "What she means is that she isn't used to you. We know a different Lou--I mean Louis."

"I am Louis," Lou's brows pinched in confusion.

"You are," Ox assured, "but not...you're not the same anymore. You don't remember anything."

Moxy hummed and seized the opportunity to bound up to Lou and catch his attention. "Maybe that's a good thing! Hey, Lou--"

"Louis," he corrected.

"Whatever. Do you think I'm ugly?" She asked, arms crossed.

His eyes blinked and he looked at Ox. "It means not pretty."

"Oh," Lou straightened again and took this definition into consideration. "You are not a model 12. A Pretty Doll."

"Yeah, duh, but am I ugly?" She pressed.

"I...do not understand what you are asking," Lou tilted his head again.

Moxy groaned. "He's really stupid without his memory."

Ox swatted her. "Don't say that! He ain't stupid. This is just how he was when I first met 'im. He just ain't learned all of those words yet."

Mandy finally walked up to this new, wide-eyed Lou. She scrutinized him for a moment. Lou blinked at her, head tilting again. "What is on your face?" He asked.

She idly touched her fingertips to the rim of her glasses. "Glasses. They help me see."

"Glasses," Lou repeated the word. He looked her up and down. "You are a Pretty Doll. Model 12."

"Yeah?" Mandy squinted.

"Yes." Lou didn't understand the rhetorical nature of her question. "Pretty Dolls have ideal hair and bodies. You fit both of those standards." Mandy flushed but continued scrutinizing him. Lou caught on to that. "Your cheeks are pink. Why?"

Luckily, Moxy spoke up again so Mandy wouldn't have to figure out an answer to that question. "Do you think she's ugly?"

"I do not know what that means."

"Not perfect," Moxy stressed. "What other definitions are there? Not pretty. Not good-looking. Not up to your standards. Pick one, I don't care!"

Ugly: To not be perfect.

Lou hummed and looked back at Mandy. "You look perfect to me. You are a Pretty Doll. Pretty Dolls are made to be as close to perfect as possible. So, you are perfect."

Ignoring the heat coming to her face (because surely he didn't understand how his words were coming across) Mandy raised an interesting question. "Wait...so, if Lou never knew what the word ugly meant, then who taught it to him?"

They went quiet.

That...was a good question.

[anincompletelist]

2023 year in review :D

THANK YOU @kiwiana-writes for always including me <3 I adore you and it was so much fun to see all that you've accomplished this year!

Rules: Feel free to show whatever stats you have. Only want to show Ao3 stats? Rock on. Want to include some quantitative info instead of stats? Please do this. Want to change how yours is presented? Absolutely do that. There are no rules!

233, 369 words published to ao3 (+ like another 80k depending on when bridesmaids is posted hehe)

2 published fandoms: Red White & Royal Blue (book), One Direction (soldouthaz)

most recent work: this guy, the prequel to this dude <3

longest published fic: (for rwrb) praying our bridges don't make waves (82k)

longest published oneshot: Sure As the Stars in the Sky (20k)

bridesmaids is currently at 75k

hitman au is currently at 15k

speak easy / poet henry is currently at 20k

diabetic alex au is currently at 7k

part two of this fic (dom!alex) is currently at 5k

+ about another 60k of random drabbles and unfinished snippets

but if you could see us from a distance, you'd know I've always been so close to you (E, 10k, 743 kudos)

Objectively, standing half-soaked from rainwater with a stitch in his side and an uncomfortable, raging hard-on outside his worst enemy’s door is not Henry’s finest moment. It’s not even on the list. [or, henry is afflicted with a curse-gone-wrong that stipulates that only his sworn enemy, alex claremont-diaz, can touch him.]

praying our bridges don't make waves (E, 82k, 642 kudos)

When June gets sick, Alex knows he'll do whatever it takes to make sure she gets the care that she needs. Even if that means convincing his nemesis/sexuality-crisis-inducing/clandestine hook-up partner/somewhat of an actual friend to pretend to be his soulmate in order to pull it off. It's both more and less complicated than it sounds.

I'll bet it all on me and you, I'll bet it all you're bulletproof (M, 11k, 527 kudos)

“Let’s do this,” he says. “Let’s,” Alex agrees, pushing down on the handle until the door swings open. “After you, boyfriend.” This is most definitely not his finest idea. Henry usually practices much better self preservation skills. Much better common senseskills. He steps over the threshold of Alex’s room and it feels like sealing his fate. They’re doing this for Alex to win over their bosses in a lighthearted game with a harmless lie, but Henry can’t fight off the bitter knowledge that, regardless of how tonight goes, Alex will be fine, but Henry has so much to lose.

total kudos: 4,495

total comment threads: 449

total bookmarks: 1,922

total subscriptions: 292

total word count: 223, 369.

total hits: 53, 676

firstprince first kisses (6 works, 57k, incomplete/ongoing)

the place lightning hits ground (1 work, 12k, incomplete)

everybody needs someone (2 works, 24k, completed)

current wips that have word counts:

bridesmaids au

hitman alex

poet henry

diabetic alex au

truman show au

boxer alex au

soft dom henry for this series

part 2 of soft dom alex for this series too

current wips that are on the to-do list:

happiest season au

rival wineries au

alex is medusa, henry is midas

museum guide henry / substitute teacher alex

+ sooooo many little unrelated one shot and drabble ideas and more for this series

I just posted this fic earlier today:

take my hand if you can take me as i am (E, 14k)

It would hurt less, Alex guesses, if he wasn’t head over heels for the guy he’s supposed to be fucking through an ancient one-sided sex curse with that was partially — a lot, actually — his own fault. But. It’s not like there’s a fucking handbook. Alex has looked.

and bridesmaids is in the final stretch and will most likely begin posting early january, if not the end of this month!

my ao3

my spotify

tags:

general fic recs + reblogs

my rec lists

fic rec fridays

my wips + updates/snippets

my edits

oh boy okay first off PLEASE DO NOT FEEL OBLIGATED TO DO THIS but also I would LOVE to give all of ya'll a chance to brag on yourselves if you're up for it!

so consider this an OPEN TAG but also @affectionatelyrs @hgejfmw-hgejhsf @inexplicablymine @daisymae-12 @read-and-write- @happiness-of-the-pursuit @raysletters @heybuddy-drabbles @rockyroadkylers @sparklepocalypse @zwiazdziarka @littlemisskittentoes @getmehighonmagic @magicandarchery and anyone else who would like to do this! pls tag me so I can come scream at you (affectionately!)

I'm so ridiculously grateful for you guys and for this space to create and connect in, and I can't wait to take all of this lovely energy into next year as well. I'm so excited for everything we all have coming! :D

I hope you guys are all doing well!

-sarah / anincompletelist

xx

[alesyira]

'tis but a scratch

this spoilery bit of content happens much later on in villain, and by the time we actually get there, that whole story will have been revised a ton to correctly align with the prequel content i've been working on lately.

I'm quite mad that i cannot figure out how to format this like i want to, so extra spaces it is.

With all the destruction i'm writing this week with Mirio's prequel oneshots, there was a joke about how he'd need to retire and run off to hawaii when he eventually gets rid of OfA, and I made the offhanded comment that he'd better run before Hitoshi catches him after Mirio hurts Izuku ...

look if you've seen half of the painful content i've been shoving at the server you'd totally understand why people were like OH NO IZUKU

look, here, he's fine(ish)

The beginning of the end, for Izuku, occurs on a sunny afternoon. 

Or is it the end of the beginning?

With his hand tucked into the crook of Hitoshi's elbow, he hangs on with a quiet sort of joy at being escorted to the market for groceries. The tail end of his capture weapon clings to the back of his neck and trails beneath his shirt, smoothing over his skin in a slow pattern that never stills. They are in the middle of a quiet discussion about what they might make for dinner when Izuku notices the scent of ozone. 

And then,

nothing.

He isn't usually lucid for these strange daydreams. 

snips of screaming

 

blankness

overlapping voices

hey, look

come with us

warm 

cold 

wet 

nothing

home

destiny

When he rouses from his moment, it turns out it wasn't a moment. He aches from head to toe. His mouth is like a desert, parched and dry. There's a vague coppery taste in the back of his throat. His eyes feel like they've been glued shut.

He has no idea where he is. Things are fuzzy around the edges. There's a quiet beeping from his left, and on his right...

the warm slide of Hitoshi's capture weapon drifts along his arm. His hand twitches, wanting to grasp something that he knows is safe. If that's here, then-

"Izuku," Hitoshi whispers. 

The knot of stress in his chest loosens minutely. He's here. 

"Stay still. I've got you."

He'd really like to know where he is and what's going on, but Hitoshi's fingers pressing against his palm will suffice for now. 

"You were nearly crushed by a hero crash-landing right next to you."

He quirks an eyebrow. Hitoshi correctly interprets it as a request for more information. "Hero's okay, probably. At least, they're fine from that impact. Whatever's wrong with them otherwise is a different story."

His brows scrunch low. His lips twitch into a frown. 

"Lemillion."

The word is enough to make him choke on his next breath. The last time he'd seen that hero in person had been a terrifying day. 

Twice now, though.  Twice he'd had an encounter with the hero, and twice he'd had - well... apparently a rough day. 

His lips part. He wants to ask for water, but no sound escapes. 

What the hell happened to me?

An ice chip sweeps slowly across his lower lip.

"Ah, don't cry," he hears Hitoshi gently admonish. "You're already dehydrated enough." 

Water drips between his lips, terribly slow. He wants to suck down an entire gallon of water, but he doesn't think he'd be able to lift a cup, let alone swallow right now.

"You've got an IV in with some fluids. It should help."

Where the hell am I?

He manages to crack open his right eye, but his vision is blurry. 

Gentle whispers echo in the farthest corners of the room, so vague he's not sure he's understanding the words.

homesafehereours

[genesisxlivia]

Here's an interesting thought. How did the CY au versions of Xenophanes and Sonic start out when they began living together? What was it like for Sonic?

LENGTHY RESPONSE I GET TO TALK ABOUT MY AUS YIPPEEE okay

Xen originally stayed with Sonic because Tails lived with him, and he wanted to run studies on Xen to figure out what he was. Because of this Sonic was basically tasked with taking care of him, and at the time Xen was completely new to Earth and had no idea of what anything was. Needed Sonic to show him how to eat, how clothes work, how to wash himself, everything. Dude was just a feral little alien so Sonic had to train him like a dog 😭Sonic never found this annoying or as a hinderance though, he was happy to show someone new to Earth how beautiful it is!

For Xen when he first started out he definitely wasn't intending on playing nice either, he was curious thus was docile with Sonic and Tails at first but he eventually just wanted Sonic's soul. Except he had no idea how to control a soul as powerful as Sonic's so any attempts at "attack" were him just standing and staring at Sonic (or poking him/grabbing him/shaking him which didn't get him far either) most of the time and it freaked him out 💀 So anytime Xen did that Sonic assumed he was bored and tried to teach him how to do something (like play a game or read or take him somewhere).

Over time Sonic's personality and kindness rubbed off on Xen, and he either started mimicking things Sonic did or just choosing to follow him around for comfort and company. Also started actually getting interested in what Sonic was showing him and grew to start learning things on his own. Then the curiousity he had turned towards Sonic specifically (he learned he likes men specifically that blue hedgehog guy). Sonic grew an attachment back and was the one to explain to Xen what falling in love feels like ❣️

SHORT RESPONSE/tldr

Xen started out living with Sonic so Sonic taught him everything he needed to know about Earth. For the first few months it was dealing with a goofy clueless alien who didn't know a thing about how to person, and Sonic was happy to help even though Xen definitely was off. Eventually his kindness was paid back and Xen's priorities shifted from getting souls to companionship ❤️

bonuses heres 2 comics i made of new-to-earth cy!xen (note these use his original design before i made my own but theyre still canon) that better show what he and sonic were like!

When Sonic first brought Xen back to Tails (and a prequel to that if ur interested), and then after the two started falling in love

Another bonus, when Xen's mind changed he still very much had doubts about how safe he was to be around others

[eluxcastar]

Sorry I just came out of nowhere, but I found you through your sequel to 'One of Reputation' and then went scavenging for more of your arlecchino scraps and I am literally so in love with the way you write Arlecchino, platonically and romantically. I feel like a mouse that found the treasure trove of cheese. Um, warning for the huge rant because I'm fangirling so hard.

'One of Reputation' and its sequel(the arlecchino x Harbinger reader) makes me so happy? I love the lore behind reader, and although I never particularly cared about Il Capitone before, I am wondering on what his and reader's relationship was like. I also love especially how much thought and effort was placed into writing reader's thoughts and emotions in 'One of Reputation.' It's very easy to visualize and sympathize with reader. And the idea of sharing the food with Arlecchino and her begrudgingly accepting it? This is so inexplicably cute. I do want to know what Arlecchino and reader are like after reader decides to follow Arlecchino.

Among the scenarios/headcannons my personal favorite are 'arlecchino relationship headcanons' (awkward and cuddly arlecchino? are you kidding me? I'm so in love),

'arlecchino bring comforted by her s/o' (the idea of affection being so foreign to arlecchino and she doubts her reality sometimes hurts me in such delicious ways I cannot explain, and just how effortlessly reader is like 'yeah, and?' when Arlecchino asks if shes enough makes me want to combust in joy),

and 'the little sisterfication of arlecchino' (I love reader's protectiveness of arlecchino so much. It's incredibly sweet. It cannot stop me from thinking, what if reader is no longer there anymore? If reader dies on a mission she's sent for the Knave or she gets punished for protecting arlecchino, what will that do to arlecchino? I imagine that it would be the breaking point for arlecchino, and the catalyst to her overthrowing the Knave).

Anyways, I really like your Arlecchino works as a fellow Arlecchino simp. Looking forward to more 🧎‍♀️🧎‍♀️🧎‍♀️Your work is hella scrumptious 😫🤤

NO don't be sorry I love asks like this they make me explode (good thing) thank you I'm glad you enjoy her ♡( ◡‿◡ )

I had sm fun plotting lore for One of Repetition (⁀ᗢ⁀) and their relationship. At the time, I wrote Capitano in in such a manner because I liked the idea of her bringing back an abyss creature like a stray dog and going "Mom look what I found can we keep it" and because I wrote it before Arlecchino was introduced and I didn't know where else to fit reader in (￣▽￣*)ゞ (admittedly, the turn of events of Capitano likely being the First Harbinger fits my plans much better than Fourth, though I had an explanation for the alternative as well)

When I get around to making it into a proper fic (which I am actually doing, at last), I plan to expand on their relationship (and her friendship with Columbina if you can call it that (。。 ) )because very likely he'll be important and it'll be necessary to understand why he's so attached to her in that case. It was also going to be something I threw into the prequel oneshot I threw together, but I only ended up throwing in tidbits (￣ヘ￣)

I love love love Arlecchino combined with being awkward and cuddly and her being lowkey unsure of herself because I just MELT at how much it draws back to living under the previous Knave in the orphanage and her being much crueller to the children (⁄ ⁄>⁄ ▽ ⁄<⁄ ⁄) She would have known love once, if that, through her parents and I explode at how cute it is to be overwhelmed by this new thing she loves so much

THE VISION FOR OLDER SIBLINGS READER ⸜(*ˊᗜˋ*)⸝ I had that thought in the middle of writing it, but I was like "this is sad enough, I don't need to kill reader off too (・_・;)ゞ" and let them live but not without keeping the part where the Knave kills them and is killed by Arle in retaliation in my drafts (possibly an idea to be used in One of Repetition)

I'm sorry that is a whole ass ramble of a response of random information (/▿＼ ) I get very excited to get to ramble about it thank you for reading and enjoying my works

[rainbow-nijisaki]

How about 13 and 16 for the TWEWY ask game?

13. what would you like to see in the future of the series?

First and foremost, my wish is that the series continues to be beloved and thus kept relevant by its fanbase, even if we don't receive anything new. I'm not incredibly hopeful for new entries, but that's not entirely a bad thing (and considering NEO's 14-year gap, anything could happen, so I won't say the chance is zero!). That said, I feel generally the same way about any potential sequels as I did when the "new 7 days" was first announced - I don't really want a sequel for sequel's sake, but if the team has an idea they want realized, I'd love to see it. That's one of the reasons I so wanted NEO to happen - because I had a distinct feeling the original "new 7days" project had been cancelled, and I'd always wondered about that idea that never saw light.

As for more specific and self-indulgent answers, the things I'd want most if I had infinite money and could fund the team myself:

TWEWY Prequel: This was my number one want before NEO. The original game concluded nicely, so most of its loose ends lie in the past. Joshua's rise to Composerhood is a fascinating topic, along with Kariya's hints about a previous long game occurring in the past and his familiarity with taboo noise. There's just enough information there to suggest the team knew more about all this than what they ultimately chose to share, and it kills me a little that we'll likely never know what exactly they were thinking when they wrote that. In all honesty, I still want this game, but it faces some competition from -

The Shinjuku Story: This one I mostly want because I feel like most of the story has to exist already somewhere - it almost feels like a missing entry in the series. I think I'd like to see this as a "Neku's adventures with Coco as they investigate Shinjuku and uncover the story of what led to its destruction" game, but a split timeline would also be nice. My guess is you'd play as Tsugumi during the pre-inversion sections in that case. I really, really would like a twewy prequel, but between this and that, I feel this one is in more dire need of telling. Part of the reason NEO is so convoluted is because they're trying to allude to an entire game's worth of backstory that doesn't actually exist in any other format. (On a side note, in an alternate universe I'd have liked NEO to be split between Neku in Shinjuku w/ Coco and Tsugumi, and Rindo's group working with Beat in Shibuya. Minamimoto could be on either side depending on what role Coco has for him. It'd feel a bit more relevant to AND that way, and be able to tell the Shinjuku story without losing the Shubuya tie that the team deemed necessary.)

Should they determine they're never going to make any new entries in the series, I really want a data book. I'd love to see all the plot bits that never made it into writing (which I assume they won't share now on the off-chance they do use the IP again). Novelizations of the two aforementioned plotlines would also be very welcome as an alternative to full games.

This is less of an actual want and more of a pipe dream, but I think it'd be neat to see the original remade in the style of NEO. I don't think it's quite possible to replicate what made the original's gameplay special on systems that aren't the DS / 3DS, so that ship has sailed - so a re-invention of the battle system to work in a single-screen 3D space could be a lot of fun and very stylish. Would it be as good as the original? I don't know. But it sure would look cool.

Please, please let Sora make good on his promise to see Neku in Shibuya in KH4, I'll actually buy the game if you do SE. Even better if it's NEO Neku. And let Neku bring his friends so I can finally have a 3D NEO Joshua model to spin around and get a reference for that hairstyle facing right I'm begging you SE

16. any pet peeves – gameplay mechanics, story details, missed pun opportunities, etc?

The original game is absolutely perfect except in one regard.

Where are my threads macros???

I'm willing to forgive it for the original DS version but I really would have liked to have them added to Final. We have four pin sets, but for a game heavy on fashion (especially with the brand chart mechanic) we have to manually change threads piece-by-piece. And read through all the descriptions again and again looking for that one effect...again. I think I played with equipment sets a lot less than I would have otherwise because of this.

But fine, Final is an enhanced port so I'll forgive it too.

But then we get NEO, a brand new, modern RPG in the year 2021...

And we still. Do not. Have. Threads macros.

Ugh.

-

Another big one for me (but probably more personal) is the total loss of ground-Joshua in Solo and Final remix once you unlock levitation. I understand that, unfortunately, switching mid-combat wouldn't really work anymore, but I would have at least liked a toggle in a menu somewhere.

"But Yoshaiya," you say, "why do you need that? What insane person would actually use ground combat Joshua once you unlock the vastly superior god-powers-angel-beam-flinging-levitating-actually can kill things Joshua-"

I would. I do not need to elaborate.

-

I'm not going to get into story details pet peeves since surely you're tired of reading this by now and wondering when I'm finally going to shut up - I'll just quietly note that while I do love both games, I do have some story nitpicks regarding NEO. But that's not something I want to get into right now. I'd rather not discuss my misgivings without also going into what I like about it, and most likely, neither you nor I have time for that essay right now. (Also, before I say anything about what I like / don't like regarding NEO's writing, I'd definitely want to give it another replay.)

As a minor one though...I would have liked to see more familiar faces among NEO's minor cast. Shibuya's a big town and always changing, but it's almost sad how the old faces are just...gone, three years later. Off the top of my head, I remember Eiji Oji and Ken Doi, and K-1 Okada from J of the M...and that's it. I'm actually kind of hoping I overlooked someone at this point. This isn't actually a pet peeve, mind, just...a missed opportunity I'm a little bummed about.

[sophiainspace]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

Thanks for tagging me, @crestfallercanyon !

How many works do you have on AO3? 82.

What’s your total A03 word count? 648,300 (quite pleased with that - a lot of words of fic in six years!)

What fandoms do you write for? In terms of what I've published - Mostly Arrowverse, with a little bit of Buffy and the Good Place (and I'm currently dipping my toe into Star Trek: Strange New Worlds for a fandom event). In terms of what I have not published - so many fandoms. Way too much Star Trek and, again, Buffy.

What are your top five fics by kudos? - Can’t Take That Away From Me (Coldflash identity porn). - Better Latte Than Never (the meet-cute prequel to the above Coldflash, and I actually hope to finish that series soon!) - [A fic that I'm embarrassed to have as 3rd highest kudos so eh] - The Bed (The Good Place, Chidi/Eleanor/Tahani). I'm really pleased that's still high on the list, because I think it's for the writing as much as the ship. - Unspeakable (DCTV Coldwave). I think the high kudos is mainly because it's been published so long - I wrote it years ago.

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? Always. And I say so at the end of every fic. I adore comments, so I feel like I should acknowledge them. Even if my thanks are really boring some days!

What’s the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? So many to choose from! But in terms of angsty endings, probably First Time (Westhallen time travel post-Eddie's death).

What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? It might be the Stealing Time/Saving Time series (Coldwestallen, Len with Oculus powers), where Barry, Len and Iris kind of get everything they want, in a way I think makes sense for this version of them.

Do you get hate on your fic? Only once, and I don't know if it even counts as hate, but it was someone who got mad about one of my neurodivergent headcanons - which was more of a surprise than anything, as those usually get great comments. I got so much support from my fandom friends about it that I felt much better. :D

Do you write smut? On occasion, but I try not to. No one needs to read my grey ace ass trying to write sex in a vaguely convincing way (and failing).

Do you write crossovers? Not yet... but let's say I've been working on a Faith Lehane/Leonard Snart fic for ages, that will probably never see the light of day at this point. It's fun though!

Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not that I know of, but I can't imagine anyone bothering with my fics!

Have you ever had a fic translated? I don't think so, but I've had podfic made <3 The awesome @litrapod turned Fireworks (Coldwave) into a great podfic, which made me so happy.

Have you ever co-written a fic? A few times! Including with @achangeinpriorities. Top tip, beta readers can make great co-writers!

What‘s your all-time favourite ship? That question is too hard and I will never answer it but also it's Coldwave. Or Faith/Buffy. Or... Nope I'm not starting down this road :D

What’s the WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? I *really* wish I'd been able to finish Take The Keys (And Drive Forever) - Lisa Snart/Caitlin Snow, spooky fic - but I just ran out of ideas for it. Maybe one day...

What’s your writing strengths? Questions about my strengths are a challenge! I've had some nice comments about my writing of character dynamics.

What’s your writing weaknesses? I really struggle with dialogue. You'll see me try out many different ways of writing it, throughout my fic back catalogue, as I attempt to make it work. I think I'm getting better, but slowly!

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? If it was a good fit for a character - like if Hartley Rathaway was being snarky in Latin - I might give it a go, but I wouldn't try it very often. Too easy to get wrong, in too many ways.

First fandom you wrote for? Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but I never shared those early fics anywhere. It's for the best!

Favourite fic you’ve ever written? I've written 82 fics this is very difficult! This answer would probably change if you asked me another time, but I think it might still be the Retired Rogues series, in which Coldwave retire and hijinks ensue. Both were early fics, so my style has changed a lot since then, but they stick in my mind as being a lot of fun to write. I'm not sure who's done this already, so sorry if I tag you and you already have... Tagging (totally obligation-free, of course) @habibialkaysani @coldflasher @kittsfics @joanthangroff @sugar-haus @strangebrainrot @achangeinpriorities @blueelvewithwings

[rorywritesjunk]

I can’t tell where the journey will end But I know where to start

Prequel to my Kid Buggy fic, set about 11-ish years before that story.

Buggy meets you by chance when he needs his buttons sewn back onto his jacket. He’s young, up and coming, and he thinks everyone should cower before him wherever he goes, but all you do is smile at him.

Rating: PG-13ish just for some swearing. Warning: Buggy’s in his early 20s. He’s an asshole. He just is because I wanted to write him loud, demanding, everything. Chapter warning has drinking, a drunk and all over the place Buggy, and Sunny just quietly being "what the fuck". Also it's Buggy's birthday. A/N: I have no idea when Buggy became a Captain, so he’s a fresh faced captain in this. No clue how long this fic will be. I actually have started rewriting it after chapter 5 because I realized I wanted to change some things up.

Title comes from “Wake Me Up” by Avicii.

TAGLIST: @lostfirefly @ane5e @kingofthemfingpirates @the-angriest-angel @tiredemomama @valen-yamyam16 @i-reblog-fics-i-like @plethora-of-fickleness @uhnanix

Chapter 1 + Chapter 2 + Chapter 3 + Chapter 4 + Chapter 5 + Chapter 6 + Chapter 7 + Chapter 8 + Chapter 9 + Chapter 10 + Chapter 11 + Chapter 12 + Chapter 13 + Chapter 14 + Chapter 15 + Chapter 16 + Chapter 17 + Chapter 18 + Epilogue

Chapter 6

“I think she’s heartbroken.” Benji said as he and Miss Pins watched you stumble around the shop, looking through stacks of fabric and spools of thread looking for your tailor’s chalk that was tucked up in behind your ear. You had been acting… odd since you told Buggy to leave the shop three weeks ago. You managed to sew a customer’s order to your lap, sewed cuffs inside out on another one, and just now you spent the last hour looking for the blue piece of tailor’s chalk that you tucked behind your ear. 

“Oh?” Miss Pins replied, head resting in her hand as she watched you look through the same stack of fabric again. “You’re a kid, how do you know about heartbreak?”

“I was in love with a girl and she broke my heart.” Benji told her as you finally found the chalk and set it on the table. “We were 12. She told me she wanted someone nicer, which was dumb. I am nice. I just voice my opinions.”

“Well, don’t get hung up on that young romance. Someone else will come around.” The old woman said as you started looking for your scissors next. They were in a cup in front of you along with other tools. “This is really sad. Did she like the idiot that much?”

“I think so.” Benji frowned. “I didn’t like him.”

“Neither did I.” Miss Pins sighed. “So of course Sunny would.”

“Why did she like him?” Benji asked. Miss Pins shrugged.

“She’s always been kind, ever since she showed up here all those years ago.” Your boss replied. “No matter who someone was or how awful they were, she would just be nice to them.”

You finally found the scissors and held them up triumphantly before pausing and staring down at your work. It took you so long to find the tailor’s chalk that you forgot why you needed it and the scissors. You were distracted, half expecting Buggy to come bursting into the shop any moment now with some silly little thing to fix on his jacket, but you were quite firm when you told him to leave that one day, so he must have taken it to heart. You weren’t going to see him again.

Was it fair you got upset because he couldn’t remember your name? But at the same time, the way he reacted was more hurtful. Something stupid like your name. It repeated in your head nonstop and you wished it wouldn’t. He was just so mean about it. Sure, he had been rude and a bit of an ass since you met him, but it was never mean. 

You remembered what you were working on. A customer wanted his jacket to have reinforced stitches in the sleeves but more room in the shoulders to allow him better movement when he used his sword. He had come into the shop and while you even thought he was handsome, you didn’t hide your disappointment that it wasn’t Buggy. Miss Pins gave the job to you and the man paid ahead of time, so you immediately started working. 

Maybe Buggy would show back up.

~

You had been fast asleep until you were woken up by someone yelling outside the shop. You heard your boss shouting from her bedroom window at whoever it was, but you got up to see what was going on. You heard her shout Dammit Buggy! So you headed downstairs to the shop and opened the door. 

Sure enough, Buggy was standing there, glaring upwards at Miss Pins’ window. He swayed where he stood, a bottle clutched in his hand before he raised it up.

“You’re loud too, Miss Pins!” He shot back before shrieking and jumping out of the way. Miss Pins had dumped a cup of water on him. “Hey!”

“Buggy?” You stepped out of the shop and closed the door behind you. His eyes lit up when he saw you and he had a big smile on his face. His face was flushed and he looked so happy to see you.

“Su-Sunny! You’re still here!” He slurred, grinning as he dropped the bottle and threw his arms around you, catching you off guard. “I thought maybe… maybe you left and never wanted to see me again!”

Oh, this was a happy and drunk Buggy. You could smell the alcohol on his breath as well coming off of his clothes. You wondered how much he had already. It was best to send him on his way, to not get involved, but you worried what sort of trouble he would get into if you left him alone, so you called up to your boss’s window that you’d be back later, you wanted to make sure he got back to his ship safely. You picked up the bottle and put your arm around his waist, keeping a firm hold on him to keep him from wandering off.

“‘S my birrrrthday!” He announced as he slung an arm over your shoulder, laughing loudly as you made your way down the road and toward the docks. “I’m… I’m two months… After you. I’m younger.”

“You definitely are.” You mused as you tightened your arm around him. He looked at you with a smirk.

“You’re touching me.” He lifted his arm to have another drink and realized he didn’t have his bottle. “Where-”

“I have it, Buggy.” You told him, holding it up to show him. “No more, okay?”

He looked grumpy until his hand popped off and grabbed it from you, bringing it back to himself. Smirking triumphantly, he raised the bottle to his lips and continued drinking. You weren’t opposed to drinking at all, but you also didn’t want to be around a drunk pirate right now. You wanted to be home and sleeping.

“Which one is your ship?” You asked when you came to the docks. He lowered the bottle and frowned as he looked at them before pointing to one furthest to the right. You hoped he was right as you walked with him to the ship, still keeping a hold on him. Once you dropped him off you’d head back home, but he turned to you with bright and excited eyes.

“Have a drink with me!” He pleaded. “It’s… it’s my birthday.”

“I know it’s your birthday, you told me.” You reminded him. “And I don’t want a drink, Buggy. I need to get home.”

“Please?” He asked as he stopped in his tracks. You kept your arm around him and looked over at him. The happy and bouncy Buggy was gone, replaced with someone different. He looked unsure of himself right then as he asked you, turning his gaze to his feet. You were going to regret this but you sighed and nodded.

“One drink.” You told him, and before you knew it, he was smiling again and taking hold of your hand, leading you up to his ship with his chest puffed out proudly, looking quite happy once more. You followed after him, shaking your head as he led you to what you figured was the captain’s quarters. One drink, that was it, then you’d head home.

He finally finished the bottle and tossed it aside before stumbling over to a cabinet for more. You took a seat on his bed, watching him as he rummaged around before pulling out two glasses and a bottle. He grinned at you, wagging his eyebrows as he brought you a glass and opened the bottle, but you took it from him.

“The birthday boy shouldn’t be pouring his own drink.” You told him as he plopped down beside you. You didn’t trust him to not spill it everywhere so you poured him a glass before your own, setting the bottle out of his immediate reach (which was silly because he could still grab it with his Devil Fruit powers). “Cheers, Buggy.”

He smiled brightly and let his head rest on your shoulder as he gripped his glass tightly. “You’re nice.” 

“I’ve been told that.” You chuckled. “Thanks.” 

“No, no, no, you’re so nice.” He continued gushing. “And… y’know, I’m gonna marry you. You’re so nice, Sunny, and I’m not married, y’know, so we should get married.”

You choked on your drink and set the glass aside, coughing a bit before clearing your throat. Oh, he was so drunk. You reached up to pat his cheek gently. “You’re not going to remember any of this tomorrow, so don’t propose marriage to me yet.”

He tossed his drink back before giving you his glass. You put it beside yours, not wanting to fill it back up. The moment your hand was free he took it in his own, entwining his fingers with yours as he continued his drunken rambles.

“We’ll get married, because you’re so nice to me, and I’ll be so happy.” He continued as he turned to look up at you. “I want to be happy with you, Sunny.”

“Buggy, I want you to be happy too.” You told him. “I don’t know if marrying someone will make you happy, however.”

“Is it because I was an asshole on your birthday? Is… is that why you won’t marry me?” Buggy asked with a frown. “I’m sorry… I’m sorry I was mean. I was an asshole. I like you a lot and got scared ‘cause I couldn’t remember your name, and you have a nice name, and I didn’t get you a present.” He suddenly dropped your hand and stood up, marching back over to his cabinet. “Wait, I wanna sh-show you somethin’!”

Oh, Drunk Buggy was just a bit everywhere. Happy, excited, emotional, and apologetic. It was kind of fun to see in a way. He rummaged through the cabinet before hurrying back over to you, tripping over his own feet before falling onto his bed beside you. He held up something and you took it. They were photographs of two young boys, one with a straw hat and red hair, and the other had to be Buggy going by the bright red nose and scowl. 

“That’s me,” He pointed to himself in the photo. “Wasn’t sure if you knew. And that’s Shanks. We… we were best friends on a ship together and then we weren’t.” He frowned. “Haven’t been for a few years.” He sat up on the bed and leaned into you again. “You’re really nice.”

“Thank you for apologizing for my birthday, Buggy.” You told him as you looked through the photos. There weren't many, and they were old, showing their age in their wrinkles and fading color. Buggy certainly was a cute little kid. “I’m sorry I was rude to you.”

He straightened up and put both of his hands on your cheeks, turning your head so you faced him. He glared at you and you wondered what was about to happen, but his gaze suddenly softened and he looked down at his lap, his hands still on your cheeks. “Don’t you ever apologize because you’re perfect and have done nothing wrong ever.”

You put both of your hands on his and moved them off your face. “Buggy, I think you need to go to bed.”

He turned red suddenly and pulled away from you, looking down at his lap as you got to your feet and removed his hat, setting it down on a nearby trunk. You noticed he went quiet but decided not to say anything as you looked for some kind of sleep clothes for him, or did he just sleep in his everyday clothes? When you looked back over at him he was struggling to remove his shirt. You sighed and went to help him get free of it. When you saw his face again, he looked away once more.

“What’s wrong?” You asked as you knelt in front of him to help take his boots off. You didn’t trust him to do it himself, afraid he’d topple over and hit his head. 

“I never… with… with anyone before.” He mumbled as he gestured between the two of you. For a solid minute you stared at him as you tried to process what he was thinking, and when it hit you, your face burned as you set his boots aside. “So um…”

“Neither have I, Buggy, but that’s not what I said.” You told him firmly. “I told you it’s time for bed. For you, not me. You need to get some sleep.”

“Canyoustaythenight?” He blurted out. “Please? I don’t… want to be alone.”

You stared at him for a moment, trying to wrap your mind around this. You didn’t intend for any of this to happen. You were just going to bring him home before going back to your place to crawl into your bed, but he managed to get you to stay for a drink (that you didn’t finish) and now he wanted you to spend the night. 

He was looking at you like you were the only thing that mattered in his world right then. It was a little hard to say no, but you did want to make sure he would be okay, so you removed your own shoes before putting your hands on your hips. “Where are your pajamas?”

He shrugged as he fell back on his bed, stretching out across it. His entire body separated for a moment before snapping back together and honestly, it was momentarily horrifying to see it all happen at once. You needed him to explain this but not when he was drunk. You sighed and nudged him to get under the blankets, which he did, watching you once more with bright, excited eyes as you got into bed beside him. Almost immediately he wrapped himself around you, resting his head against your chest as he closed his eyes and sighed happily. 

“So nice, so soft, warm.” He mumbled quietly. You took the chance to remove his bandana, pleasantly surprised to see how long his hair was. Why did he keep it all hidden? You ran your fingers through it as he made himself comfortable against you. “I don’t wanna be away from you again, please, ‘msorry.”

“Get some sleep, Buggy.” You told him as you pressed a kiss to the top of his head. “Okay? No more talking.”

“Imma marry you.” He sighed. You rolled your eyes and wondered what you needed to expect the next morning.

[duhragonball]

I know this is probably the bare minimum to ask for, but one thing I kind of wish the 3-chapter prequel mini-story gave to Goten was to have him be far more successful with the ladies compared to Trunks. It would have served as a bit of interesting irony (to me, at least). Trunks, a member of the wealthy Briefs family, having issues getting a date while Goten, a farm boy from the mountains, could pick up dates like it's second-nature to him.

I mean, that's a nice gag, I suppose, but the Mai business would get in the way. It's impossible to tell how much game Trunks has with the ladies while he's constantly pining for Mai (and Cleangod, apparently). Goten kind of has him beat by default, simply because he isn't wasting his time on someone who clearly has no interest in him.

The thing is, I feel like there's too much focus on Big Goten as a romantic deal. All I ever hear of is who he's dating or who he should be dating. In Z he's got a date on the day of the tournament. In GT he's dating Palace and he teaches her how to eat. In fanworks it's always a question of which ship he's plugged into. He's with Marron, he's with Bulla, he's with Trunks, he's with Palace, etc. etc.

And that's fine, but I think it sidesteps the matter of who Teen/Adult Goten is as a character. Take away the love interests. Take away Trunks, take away Goku and Gohan. What have you got left? What's the hook? Why do we care about a grown-up version of Goten? What's the draw?

I'm not saying there isn't one, or that there can't be one, but the official material has never really cracked that nut. Toriyama could do it, because he did it with Goku and Gohan. He just hasn't had any motivation to give Goten the same treatment. I'll even go as far as to say Toyotaro could do it, but he hasn't done it yet. His big idea for Goten was to have him go to high school and be a super hero, which is just a Xerox of his older brother's exploits. Maybe Goten can go into entomology too...

To give you an idea of what I'm talking about, let's use Launch as an example. She's a sorely underutilized character, and the fanbase has always wanted to see more done with her, just like Goten. The difference is that Launch has this core concept that's really easy to latch onto. She changes personality when she sneezes. Sometimes she's a violent criminal, and other times she's mild and unassuming.

And it's not a lot compared to major characters like Goku and Bulma, but it's still enough to figure out how to write a standalone Launch story. You can have her date Tien or Raditz or anyone else you want, but you can also just do Launch all by herself, living her life and dealing with her dual personalities.

You can get some mileage out of Goten being a ladies' man, but it needs a little more. Yamcha was a hopeless romantic, but he was terrified of women, and when he finally got over his fear, he still struggled to figure out how to balance relationships with martial arts. Bulma's always been boy-crazy, but instead of just picking out a boyfriend she invented a radar to track down a magic dragon to get an ideal boyfriend. That says a lot about the character, regardless of whether she actually gets a love interest or not.

To be fair, I imagine this is something Goten fic authors contend with all the time. Each of them probably has their own approach to the character, some working better than others. But when DBS Chapter 88 came out, all I saw were people going "Oh boy, he can date Chok and Fayra now!" and that sounds like it's just sidestepping the fundamental problem with the character.

[sharpestasp]

Star Wars IV: A New Hope liveblog transcript

Thread for Star Wars IV: A New Hope

"There will be no escape for the Princess this time." Someone give me ALL the almost-captureds she had prior to this movie?!

The marrieds are arguing.

Threepio&Artoo.gif

Ya know, given Threepio's way of thinking, the fact he saw the transport and had hope implies to me that Alderaan treats their droids better than we see in so many examples elsewhere.

TELL ME ARTOO ISN'T FORCE SENSITIVE! He knew there was danger ahead. But he HAD TO GET TO BEN. And his way was through.

(Those Jawas would have been in for it if he'd had his boosters)

Okay, that must be the MOST observant Stormtrooper in the Empire. ("Look, sir, droids!")

I have a conundrum: Did Captain Antilles/Senator Organa instill a protocol that if Leia was captured, Threepio forgot what she looked like/could lie about her? Or was Threepio only aware the Princess traveled on the Tantive IV but somehow had no idea who she actually was? I think it is a 'if this/then that' protocol to explain that 'I don't know who she is'

"What about my theme?" "Mark, the main title is your theme"

Oh right, forgot to interject: When Threepio calls him Sir Luke, that is the most heavy-handed foreshadowing ever.

"C'mon, let's go have a look" IS NOT YOUR BEST IDEA. Gods, you are so Anakin's kid in this movie.

I know it's because of retconning, but wow this whole opening with Ben reads so HYSTERICALLY with Prequel and Clone Wars canon in place.

Alec's face as he's asked if he's related to Obi-Wan Kenobi.

"I don't seem to remember ever owning a droid" is TRUE! Jedi did not own things. And Artoo was not OWNED anyway after TPM

brain inserts: and highly flammable after the "cunning warrior" comment

Ahh, Yularen.

Canon divergence moment - if Beru had managed to hide somewhere the Troopers missed.

wow such a heavy handed Force Compulsion use there. And then Mr Wanted in 12 systems is immune to the Kenobi Charm.

"Should I have?"

ALSO, LOL, Chewie is back there going "General Kenobi Got Old"

So thankful I have the Han Shot First edition

Tarkin - fierce and terrifying me - he's wearing fuzzy slippers Kinda like the scene in RotJ and knowing McDiarmid was having to scooch his chair around with tiny movements of his feet

Han reports it was totally blown away… and then argues the whole Fleet couldn't do that. This is why I love Han. He embodies contradictions

Fool or the fool that follows him? Ahsoka, GIGGLING HER HEAD off as she remembers her Master(s)

Also, Chewie is going oh shit, Luke figured out how to manipulate his cub

the detention center scene is a chaos fest worthy of Domino Squad

intothegarbagechute.gif

Also, Han's "he's the brains"

Threepio was SMOOTH

okay, but honestly, I am glad my suspension of disbelief is strong. Have worked with cardboard balers and trash compactors, I actually said 'all they needed was stay on top; there was enough waste that the compactor would not have been able to squish fully'.

Luke's FACE when Han is chastising Chewie. I bet that was ad-libbed

youcameinthatthing.gif

Han's CHARGE!

The stormtroopers: why are we running from one man?

"There's no lock." "That'll hold them for a while." "Find the controls" "I think I just blasted them."

This is SUCH a level 3-6 D&D campaign

Oh Luke. He's lost his family, he's lost his home, now he's lost the teacher he bonded with who KNEW ABOUT HIS DAD

Okay, but Artoo. He'd never been wiped. And while he might not have KNOWN the black suit menace was HIS JEDI, he likely did suspect it more than a little. So that scene was just as traumatic for him.

"Don't get cocky" LOL

You know, Leia hugging Chewie in the cockpit goes a long way to making up for her earlier trauma-induced insult to him. Because she initiated the hug

ya know, I actually LOVE all of the computer screen displays in this; it's nostalgic in the best ways

"Or they'd have a tighter defense" OR MAYBE they had a Saboteur designing it. (I do approve of the logic behind Rogue One 'explaining' that design)

Chewie: he's got a point Han: ain't having it Chewie: fine I will argue with you on the ship

hello first Folger's Kiss (on the cheek, but still). Given Luke had been wondering earlier if maybe…

I so very much LOVE the X-Wings

And the dog-fighting is so good

His former best friend (boyfriend?) and his future best friend as his wingmen is just… perfect

Oh Han

All the hugging

And Threepio being so worried

Big Gay Wedding now

First fandom forever. I still love this canon.

[mywingsareonwheels]

It's funny how much interpretations can vary. I saw another post where someone felt Lewis was too soft on Thursday by showing us what happened and therefore making us know that how it played out wasn't quite as bad as what Morse was probably imagining.

Although I disagree with you re: Thursday, I sympathize with the mixed feelings. I think there's a few factors with Endeavour which will influence how you feel about it. There's people who will know Morse through the books, people who know him from Inspector Morse, and then fans like me who were introduced to him as the young man in Endeavour. Fans of each of these versions seem to have wanted different things, and I reckon the problem Lewis ran into was trying to make everybody happy.

Like me for instance, I honestly feel he would've been better off pretending Inspector Morse didn't exist because then he wouldn't have been limited to twisting the story towards it and could take Morse and the other characters in a more organic direction. Endeavour might be a prequel, but it was made in such a different era of television, and I think it's ok for it to do something new. However, fans of Inspector Morse hoping to see how he became his older self would be disappointed if he did that. While watching the series I read old reviews from when each season aired and was surprised by the number of people impatient for the Thursday plotline to end to make way for McNutt. Then you have someone like Shaun Evans who read the books but didn't see the show, and that's perhaps why his interpretation of Morse and his future was darker.

At the same time that openness of how the character can be perceived is part of the joy and does allow you to get more out of what the ending means.

I actually really liked what they did with Thursday and how they connected it to Big Pete because I felt it went along with the recurring theme throughout the series that no matter how much these characters want to do good, as policemen they are still part of a messed up system causing harm, and they're not immune to protecting their own over doing what's right for the public they serve. That includes Morse. The whole tragedy of Big Pete and Blenheim Vale is an indictment of the police and remains so.

My takeaway regarding the Morse/Thursday ending is that it wasn't so much about Thursday being a bad person and Morse regretting the relationship because of it, as it was him being confronted with the reality that he had put him on a pedestal. He needed to let go of his naivety. I don't agree with the above point that Lewis was too soft on Thursday, but I do find it interesting that there is a distinction between Morse's perspective and ours. We saw parts of Thursday he didn't and we saw parts of Morse which Thursday didn't. They never truly knew each other because of being suppressed 20th century British men, and maybe that's the real tragedy of Endeavour.

Nonetheless, Morse still credits him with being the best mentor and loves him enough to protect him and his family. I think that's why he ultimately feels he has to close himself up. Because getting too close to the Thursdays put him in a position where he had to compromise his principles and couldn't get justice for Jakes, Big Pete, and the others. THAT'S what really hurt him imo. I also feel like the connection to Inspector Morse can work in that IM is him opening himself back up and Lewis bringing back a side of him which had been missing. I like the idea of Morse being a character constantly learning and changing.

Sorry, I didn't mean for this to turn into a whole essay. lmao

Hee, never apologies for writing a thoughtful essay about "Endeavour". :D

And yeah, as you say you and I don't fully agree about the show (esp. Thursday) but I found your thoughts so interesting and I really enjoyed reading them! Thank you. :)

Also that's a darn good point about Shaun. I've only read a couple of the books and I've seen I think about 1/3 of Inspector Morse (I mean, I watched a bit when I was a kid (I was 9 when it first started) but never got into it fully until I'd seen Endeavour and am meaning to catch up on more v soon), and Thaw's Morse is definitely different from Dexter's original Morse. So... yeah, it makes sense that Shaun had a different trajectory from the one I'm more familiar with. :) (And, well, then you have Roger who likes to play as much drama and emotional intensity as possible, so... ;-) )

Morse constantly learning and changing: yes, definitely. I like that. :D

[canonicallysoulmates]

Jared made his third appearance on Michael Rosenbaum’s podcast. 

The interview was done through Zoom and filmed on March 17th. More of a general conversation if you’re looking for something like info about what’s coming up in what’s left of this season of Walker you won’t find it but it did have some interesting and important tidbits so I do suggest checking it out. As always a link is provided at the end of this post. 

Also as always, Rosenbaum going forward will be referred to as MR. 

They jump right into conversation with MR asking Jared about how far away from home he films. Jared says they go all over the place but usually he’s only around 20mins to an hour away. Asked if it’s easier to have his whole life there or if there’s more distractions, Jared says it’s so much harder because when he would wrap up SPN and get home tired he could just get a beer and head to bed but now when he gets home he has the kids all wanting his attention. x

He once again shares the story about how Walker came to be, and how the idea came to him when he read an anonymous op ed about a law enforcement official who handed in his badge. And he went to Anna Fricke, who he knew as a friend through her marriage to Jeremy Carver, and asked if she’d be available. x

He says that when he was originally thinking about Walker- when it was in the early stages of development his pitch, unbeknownst to Jensen, was that Jensen would be Walker. Because he (Jared) was on his way out of acting; he thought he would be on as an EP but didn’t really want to be on camera. And that actually, he doesn’t want to be on camera, that he sort of wants to retire, he doesn’t want to do fittings or have pictures taken of him. *thinking about G’s instagram* Jared, hon, if you wanna stop feeling like a showpony you should think more about divorce than retirement. 

And he tried to almost negotiate himself out of a deal; when he pitched the idea, Pedowitz told him that if he wanted to come back in the fold let him know and Jared said it would have to be in Austin, and he would need creative involvement, and a day or two off every episode and Pedowitz ended up being okay with all of it.  But he says, he’s now so proud of his show and he’s all in. x

MR mentions he saw Katherine McNamara is gonna be involved in the prequel, and says she's gonna be on the podcast.  In case anyone doesn’t know she’s gonna be playing Abby Walker, and is gonna be one of the leads of the show. Jared mentions he doesn’t know her well yet but that they did their research and background checks to see if the people they were considering were decent and Katherine has a great reputation so he looks forward to getting to know her better. x

What made him decide Walker was the thing for him after SPN? Did he have offers to lead on other shows? Jared says, no that he’s sure he had auditions available but what he loved about SPN is that they were the little engine that could. It was more a word of mouth fandom rather than billboards everywhere, and with Walker it became sort of like ‘let’s give it a shot’. And his initial motivation for filming was that he wanted his fellow Texans to be able to pay their mortgage because they started filming amidst the pandemic at a time where a lot of the world wasn’t shooting yet because of it; they didn’t know where the world was going, he compares it to when in the Titanic the band keeps playing even though the ship is sinking. So they were working not knowing if they were gonna get phone calls shutting them down, which they did get, but they wanted to provide entertainment and tell stories and provide joy and they created a season that he couldn’t be more proud of; says he’s his biggest critic but he’s so proud of Walker. 

A small thing but he and MR think his first appearance on the podcast was being the one he did in 2020 when he was in quarantine before wrapping up SPN but that’s incorrect; his first appearance was actually in 2019. It’s not on Youtube because at the time this podcast was not on video but it is on Spotify. x

MR knows how overwhelming a first season can be so, did Jared cater to his needs so he wouldn’t feel overworked on set? Is that a conversation that was had? It was. Jared says they take great care of him, that his line producer and set producer fight to make sure his days are condensed so he won’t be first up and last up and having to spend his whole day in a trailer. That he’s being treated like a king (as he should be 🥰) and he’s so grateful. And I’m grateful too because this is the kind of respect and support that he deserves, and it makes me so happy that he has a crew that appreciates him❤️

The number of script pages he has to learn vary by day. He goes on a sort of ramble about how he bristles when people assume he’s a great liar because he’s an actor, and I swear for a second I thought he was gonna talk about himself as in his personal life because he starts to say “I’m not lying, I’m going through some-” and then redirects and says his job as an actor is to tell his characters truth so he does a lot of work outside of the set. That he wants to read his scripts over and over again until he gets to the point that when he gets on set he’s telling the truth. I don’t know if what he meant to say before he cut himself off is that he’s not lying when he’s acting because the brain can’t tell the difference between real and fake when you’re let’s say acting like you’re in pain, or if he was actually going to go in another direction and then his brain caught up and swerved. x

MR mentions he saw an article on twitter about the time that Jared almost missed a day of work on Gilmore Girls. For those that don’t know the story, what happened is that he was not scheduled to film for several days but Lauren Graham got sick and they had to do a last minute schedule change that Jared was not aware of; so he and his friends had stayed up late playing video games and filling up on beer and pizza, and Sadie who was a puppy at the time, he with the help of his dad had made her a little pee place on his balcony cause he lived on the third floor so he just left his balcony door open and crashed. He was woken up at like 8am by his friend telling him that his (Jared’s) manager had called him because Jared was needed on the set and he couldn’t reach him, and that’s when Jared looks at his phone and sees that he has a ton of missed calls and messages.

He says that it was more than uncomfortable, he found it scarring and it stays with him to this day. Because even though everyone on set was very nice and gracious he felt like an asshole, like he let everyone down for wasting their valuable time. And it formed who he is now, it’s part of why he goes over scripts again and again and again; the way he sees it is that if he doesn’t do a good job or he messes up a scene it’s not because he hasn’t done the work it’s because he doesn’t have the talent.

MR asks if he’s not the kind of actor that can just walk on set and learn lines in the trailer and Jared replies he’s never tried. When he walks on a set, he knows everybody else’s lines. And he shares about how when he was in highschool he used to take pride in just reading the cliffnotes and still getting a good grade but then at one point realized he was only hurting himself in the long run by trying to shortcut his way to an A, that he was just taking away from his experience and that’s the same way he thinks about learning his scenes; he’s sure he could go on set, read his scene for the first time and do a decent job but he’d just be stealing from himself. And he likes to go on set and have a good time, so he puts in the work so when he gets to set he’s ready to play and have a good time. 

Sidenote: When Jared mentioned Sadie he also mentioned that Koda had surgery. Don’t know what for but I hope the doggy is okay. x

He doesn’t run lines with anyone. Says he’s a loner, that he always says that if he weren’t an actor he’d wanna be like a wildlife photographer or something in Africa (is that something you always say?🤨). That he doesn’t go out (I guess UFC fights don’t count), he doesn’t like people but he loves good people, doesn’t like being in crowds that he’s wired to be alone and beat himself up a little bit- Jared baby are you okay? 

Says he’s competitive with himself - he compares himself to other versions of himself, and if he feels he hasn’t done his best, he dwells on it. x

MR: Can you/do you watch yourself and can you appreciate it or are you too critical? He answers that he didn't watch the new SPN eps when they were airing live unless he was on set with Jensen and they’d go to his trailer and live tweet or something but with Walker he does because of his capacity as EP. He has to give notes so when he watches it it's very mathematical. And he mentions he watches it with his kids which is great because he couldn’t show SPN to his kids. x

MR mentions how Jensen is the type to just go on set and learns his lines in the trailer, and Jared goes to say they have opposite methods but he pauses as he tries to remember the word method so MR says work ethics and I love Jared’s instant reaction of “no,no,no, he works hard af”; a little peak of protective Jared not allowing the implication that Jensen doesn’t work hard. 

MR has to clarify that he's not saying Jensen doesn’t work hard but that Jared just talked about how he dissects everything and the work he puts in at home. Jared replies that what he and Jensen have is polar opposite methods but Jensen’s work ethic is legendary, he works as hard as somebody can on something, he just does it in a different way. Jensen would say he likes to get there and be fresh and Jared guesses that something he figured out through his own hundreds of episodes of tv is that he feels he’s giving his best when he keeps it fresh. That frankly he wishes he had more Jensen in him (*snort* I’m sure you do) because he’s setting his alarm at 4:30am getting out of bed to get on his treadmill and read, and he wishes he could find a better way to go about it. x

When Jared was talking about how him and Jensen have different methods he brought up the saying ‘don’t yuck my yum’ which means what it sounds like basically if somebody has something they like or that they’re good at don’t ruin it aka don’t yuck their yum and the reason I’m mentioning it is because MR makes the joke “I’m sure a lot of fans would like to yuck your yum” which makes Jared laugh and reach for his kombucha. He says he started drinking it because he heard about the health benefits and how it's supposed to be good for you. That the first time he tasted it, he found it disgusting but powered through it and now he kinda likes it. 

Birthdays come up, MR says he’s turning 50 this year not gonna lie that caught me by surprise. x

MR asks him about a comment Jared had made where he said SPN almost didn’t cast him because he felt they thought he was too stupid. This is a storyJared told in the spn podcast for anyone who’s curious where it comes from; in the early 2000’s what casting directors were looking for were brooding, James Dean types so the name of the game was that if you went to auditions and acted like that you were likely to get the role so that’s what he did but that’s not what Kripke was looking for and the feedback they gave to Jared’s manager is that they were looking for an intellectual; so his manager proceeded to tell them about his academic achievement and they decided to give him a second chance. So the second time he goes in and proceeds to talk about literature. 

He also mentions how he was in a holding deal with WB. What a holding deal is that when they liked somebody they’d get them for one show but they’d want the right to have them at their disposal for their next series of Pilots and he’d have a pre negotiated episodic pay for the next year on that show. And both him and Jensen had holding deals.  

One of the academic achievements his manager mentioned is that Jared only missed one math question on his SAT’s. His SAT score was around 1490 which leaves MR very impressed but Jared’s really humble about it and says he just does well on tests but that the smartest, most interesting people he knows don’t do well in tests because their brains work on a different angle. 

His SAT scores are something to be proud of and I love how humble he is about it but what I love even more is his acknowledgement that the smartest people sometimes don’t do well in tests. Because it’s true. A test is not an accurate representation of how smart someone is there are people who can cram an entire textbook into their head for an exam but the moment they put their pencil down they’ve forgotten all of it just like there are people who freeze and go blank at exam time but at any other moment could give a dissertation on a subject. x

Asked how he’s dealing with his mental health, he says he’s in maintenance right now; shares that he went to see a psychiatrist in Costa Mesa in November who did some brain scans and found his brain only has around 60% of the oxygen that it should. That his brain looked like swiss cheese and it scared him, and he broke down into tears but the doctor calmed him down told him he’s not dying, and this is something fixable, he can get better and that if he’s doing everything he’s doing now with only 60% then when he gets better the sky’s the limit. 

So he’s been doing treatments in a hyperbaric chamber. For those that don’t know a hyperbaric chamber is a medical device, a more commonly known use of them is as a treatment for compression sickness which is what you get when you rise too fast when scuba diving or deep diving. And it’s a pressurized environment where you breathe in pure oxygen. 

MR asks him if it actually works and Jared is honest and says he has no idea. MR asks how often he has done it, Jared replies that he had done it everyday that week, confesses he has one in his house, and it’s not cheap. He looks so cute when MR asks him about the hyperbaric chamber, he’s so reluctant to admit he has one and how expensive it is. 

He’s the only one that uses the chamber because G has a thing that makes it less than ideal. For some reason, he also randomly throws in there that G’s brain is beautiful with blood going everywhere and perfect. Sure. 

I can’t imagine how scary finding that out was for him, our brains are arguably the most important organ we have and I’m just glad this is something he can heal from 💛

For anyone who wants more details about hyperbaric oxygen therapy you can find more info about what it can help with and how it works here and here.

This took place on the birthday of Jared’s old stand in Matt who passed away a couple years ago due to suicide. MR asks if there’s anything he wants to say or insight he wants to share; Jared says you gotta be open. That Matt was the best dude, the smiliest guy who was going through a lot of stuff; that if you got something going on just be open. He’s goine through tough times where he’s thought if he just pushes it down further it’ll go away but it didn’t, and that he’s had a few friends who are no longer around due to suicide. That it’s tough cause it’s never the person who’s telling you how bummed they are, it’s the person who's acting normal and asking how you are, and then the next day you get the call or text that they’re no longer here. 

MR: So usually the signs are tough because there are no signs a lot of times. 

Jared says a lot of people who are going through really difficult times have been to places in their head that they don’t want others to go to so they just hide it. x

Does he still have Baby? Yes, she’s in his garage. He drives it but it has a leak right now. Says he has one and so does Jensen. Baby 1 went to Jensen which is the one with the big block engine that makes a lot of noise but he got Baby number 2 which is the one they used more because it’s quiet and they wouldn’t get noise complaints. x

MR asks about Jensen directing Walker. Man probably just expected a simple answer instead he got Jared talking for 5mins about how much he loves him. 

Jared says that since he wasn’t in every scene he had two days off of principal production and he purposely scheduled them so they would be the first two days. Because he wanted his cast and crew to know that Jensen wasn’t there because he’s Jared’s friend, he was there because he’s a savvy and talented director. That he’s their director, not for them to think of him as Jared’s buddy tagging along to direct an episode. And because I can feel it in my soul that somebody is gonna try to twist this, this was done to ensure that the crew and cast gave Jensen the respect he deserved as the director. 

So Jensen did the first two days without him on set and then he showed up on the 3rd day which was Jensen’s birthday and he was able to tell the crew that this wouldn't have existed without the work that he and Jensen put forth on Supernatural. I know I’ve talked about how much I love that he gave a whole speech but the fact that he purposely scheduled things out to be this way- that’s love people, that’s love. 

Then Jared says that he doesn’t think there’s anybody on the planet that believes in Jensen to the degree he believes in Jensen 😭❤️

Which is beautiful but also may I point out how funny MR’s reaction to this is because he literally just goes ‘wow’. 

But Jared doesn’t stop there, he continues saying that he has no doubt that there’s people in Jensen’s life who know he walks on water the difference is he’s seen him walk on water. Day in and day out for 15 and a half years he’s seen him with a cold, getting bad news and going back to set, a pipe bursting at their house and going back to set (and yes he said their house [“our house”] don’t believe me listen to it yourself). That he loves him dearly, always will and it’s one thing to know somebody you like is a hero, it’s another to see them and know why they’re a hero.

At which point MR says again, wow; I don’t think he expected Jared to speak with such devotion. 

He continues saying that on Walker a lot of their crew say friends of theirs from other show will call and ask how's Disneyland; they have a great set but as EP and lead he has a heavy hand in setting that tone and he had the chance to tell everybody, with Jensen there, that that wouldn’t have happened if it wasn’t for the blood, sweet and tears of Jensen for 15 and a half years as well; and for his crew to kinda honor him as well because they hadn’t had the chance to meet him yet. 

And then it sounds like he says that if it wasn’t for covid Jensen would have gone by the set many times but it’s not too clear because MR interrupts him. Goddangit, Rosenbaum I get you gotta keep it moving and you gotta be feeling like you’re a third wheel in a two person conversation but just let the man gush about his husband for 20 mins. 

MR says it’s amazing cause usually the last person you wanna see is the one you saw every day for 15yrs. Jared says Jensen’s a phenomenal director, actor, everything, he can do whatever he wants and do it with ease. x

For an extra punch in the feels let me go ahead and remind y’all about Jensen’s birthday message to Jared last year where he said Jared can walk on water ❤️

There’s a weird transition with MR asking about any new fights. Guess he had to come up with something to change the tone after Jared just gushed about Jensen.

Rapid fire questions from Patreon: 

How was it with Jensen directing, any tricks or pranks played? It was awesome. Being able to show off his buddy, his partner in crime, his brother of many years; they had a bunch of pranks planned, some had to get kinda shelved because of covid restrictions, but they had different chair back names for each of his days. x

Fav thing about doing conventions? His favorite thing is catching up with people he’s known for a long time and some brand new people about something he’s really passionate about; it’s like walking into a restaurant and finding out someone is a fan of your fav football team or band- it’s a connection and it’s like catching up with old friends.That as he’s getting older it’s those small connections between people that really excite him. What excites him the most about cons is a. seeing a lot of the fandom, some new, some long standing and b. seeing people he’s worked with and talking about a scene they filmed back in 2008. x

Would he go back and do another Gilmore Girls show like Netflix did a few years ago? He says yes. And also shows off his gray beard hairs 😍

MR mentions he’s thinking of lightening his hair, and Jared shares the story about how one day it was just him and O in the hottub, and she was giving him a hug and she likes to scratch at his beard and he was thinking this is the most amazing thing until she pointed out the white hair patch on his beard and mentally he just went ‘ah fuck’ 😂

Advice he would give his younger self? Live life as if life is long. Meaning enjoy it, let relationships grow, let yourself grow. x

Both j2 keep talking about how the book isn’t closed on spn, how unclosed is it? 

The book is not closed on SPN, obviously there’s a prequel coming up but beyond that as far as Jared playing Sam and Jensen playing Dean, if a new book is released he thinks he would be excited to help tell that story. x

There is talk about the prequel. MR asks if the dust has settled about it. Did they talk and have a laugh about it?

Jared says they had a laugh and a cry. They linked up and talked on the phone. That he loves Jensen and he has no doubt Jensen loves him back. They both rather things had gone down a different way but they didn’t and it’s not productive to say whose to blame and what happened that when you’re in a relationship with somebody it’s once you go through a hardship and your instinct goes I want to make this right or I wanna say goodbye to this and they both figured the former, they wanted to make it right. x

This is pretty much the same thing Jared said at a con a couple years ago, and it’s advice he gives to couples, that when your relationship is tested that’s when you find out if it’s worth it or not.

Jared also wants to be really abundantly clear, because he sees the twitter trolls, that nobody believes in Jensen more than he does. x

I know some people aren’t going to listen but Jared is sending a very clear message there. 

To wrap it up MR asks what’s next? Jared replies: a nap. Those were his plans after this call finished to take a nap. Small conversation ensues about preferred napping clothing he says he naps in like the under armour sweats, the ones that are alleged to help with circulation. He likes being cozy so he doesn’t sleep or nap naked, he wants his shell. x

And that is the conclusion of Jared’s third appearance on Rosenbaum’s podcast! I love all the j2 content it provided 🥰

This post is really long. If you made it this far, go get yourself something to eat, drink some water, stretch, I’m gonna do all three. And if you wanna check out the podcast yourself, which I recommend, you can do so through the link below; it’s also available on Spotify and Apple podcasts if you prefer an audio only version. 

Jared on Inside of You May 24th, 2022.