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iliaclwrites · 2 years

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everybody’s talkin’ up a storm (act like they don’t notice)

summary: The one where the boys don’t know that Eddie Munson is dating the pretty assistant librarian that always helps them out. Dustin has a crush on her. Mike thinks it’s fake. Erica just wants to get home to watch Thundercats.

“Uh, Eddie?” Lucas started, voice small. “Do you have someone over?”

Eddie blinked. “Uh. Just my girlfriend,” he said flippantly, tossing himself onto the sofa and taking a slow drag of his cigarette. “Keep it down for a while, would ya? She had a long night.”

There was silence.

“Your what?”

warnings: none! wholesome fluff here lmao. a lot of d&d references -- curse of strahd is a banger

“You kids okay?” you asked, setting down the collection of Tolkien books they’d recalled from the front desk. “Fresh out of the returns bin, I thought I’d better bring them over here before I reshelved.”

“Thanks,” Lucas breathed, grabbing the top one from the pile and hauling it open. He’d always liked you. You’d started as assistant librarian two years ago, and had always had a soft spot for them, wheeling them straight to the fantasy section when they’d stumbled in as wide-eyed kids on their first day.

“Now, what’s all this about?” you asked, leaning over to read Dustin’s notes. “Book report? I didn’t think Fellowship was on the syllabus.” You pressed one manicured nail to the paper. “You’ve spelled Lothlorien wrong, honey.”

“You’ve read The Lord of the Rings?” Dustin demanded, his hair flouncing as he peered up at you from his book cavern. “Really? What’s your favourite book? Favourite character?”

You laughed. “The Two Towers, and Faramir,” you said, and chewed on the edge of your thumb. “Pippin is a close second, though. Are you guys just in a book club?” Your eyes lit up as you took a seat next to them, leaning forward conspiratorially. “Can I join?”

“It’s not a book club,” Mike said, and chewed his mouth a moment, obviously debating admitting something. “We’re doing research for a Dungeons and Dragons campaign.”

You stared at them. “You’re in Hellfire?” you asked, and then pulled their notes over to you, nodding at the numbers you saw. “Ah. That makes sense then. Yikes. Five charisma, Lucas, really?”

Lucas yanked his notes back as Dustin’s mouth fell open a little bit more. If that were possible. “You play D&D?” he asked, voice going shrill.

“Dustin, honey, this is a library,” you said, pressing your index finger to your mouth.

“I’m sorry,” he said sarcastically, and lowered his voice to a stage whisper. “You play D&D? You know about Hellfire?”

You snorted, and twisted in the seat, looking very unlike the prim and proper librarian you had been moments ago. The way you were lounging sparked something in Lucas’ brain, something familiar, but he pushed it down. “Do I know about Hellfire,” you muttered, shaking your head. “My brother was the first DM.”

That caused an absolute uproar. Their pencils flew about the room, papers shoving, and you tried to no avail to calm them down. You could feel the gaze of Mrs. Leibniz, head librarian, burning into the back of your skull.

“Boys, boys,” you said, waving your hands. “Okay, Jesus Chr– yikes,” you corrected lamely. “One at a time, one at a time.”

“What did you play?” Mike asked.

“Do you still play?” That was Lucas.

“Do you want to come to Hellfire?” Dustin, sweetly, hopefully.

You smiled at them, twirling a pencil as you cast your mind back. “God, back in the day? I think my character in my Hellfire days, before I was a DM, was an Elven rogue,” you said, nodding as it came back to you. “Tinuviel, of the Woodland Realm. She was such a knockoff Eowyn it’s kind of a wonder Tolkien never sued. I do still play, a little, when my brother has the time to do a oneshot. I can’t come to Hellfire, it clashes with my shifts. Satisfied?”

The boys nodded, and you smiled at them firmly, glancing down at a sheet of paper. There was a beat of silence, and then –

“Wait, sorry, did you say you DM?” Mike said, twisting in his seat to look at you.

You shrugged. “We had a rotating DM base back then,” you said, scratching the back of your head. Again, the motion pinged something in Lucas’ skull, but he wasn’t sure what. “Once my brother left, I shared the year with Eddie Munson – you guys must know Eddie, right?”

They nodded. You leaned forward conspiratorially.

“I made him cry when he faced down Strahd.”

“No way,” Lucas said, rocking back in his chair. Your hand shot out, slamming it back onto four feet before he would tumble. “Shit, I mean, dang. Sorry. But you made him cry?”

You grinned, remembering it fondly. “Yeah,” you said, and Mike saw your librarian persona totally slip away in exchange for a totally feral smile. “He didn’t speak to me for a weak after he died. God. Good times.”

“You’re crazy,” Dustin said, pointing a pencil at you, “and you’re everything we need.”

You blinked. “Huh?”

“It’s simple,” he said, pointing at the paper. “You can help us outwit Eddie. Run circles around him. You’ve almost definitely played Rahasia before. He won’t know what hit him!”

You wrinkled your nose. “Dustin, honey, doesn’t that defeat the whole purpose of D&D?” you asked, and he shrugged. “You’re better off without me, kids. Just–” You stopped, looking up at them from under your eyelashes. “Does Eddie still do that thing when he DMs, where he, like,” you chewed your bottom lip, “starts singing?”

“I hate the singing,” Mike groaned, and Lucas nodded in agreement. “He writes all these songs! And then he sings them! Sometimes with guitar!”

“It’s great for worldbuilding,” Lucas said quickly, “but. It does go on for a bit.”

You bit back a smile. “Some things never change.”

Dustin shot you a quick grin. “We’re actually going to Hellfire after school today,” he said, “if you want to come with us? Break out that old Elf rogue.”

You shook your head. “I’m a Halfling now,” you said, quirking up a smile. “Rindi, of the Shire. Master thief. Besides, it’d clash with my shifts. And then where would I be? You don’t think you guys are my only kids, do you?”

With that, you stood up, leaning over to whisper, “If you’re playing Rahasia, make sure you’ve got a bone dagger on you,” before moving back to the reshelving trolley. “Good luck, boys! Tell Eddie I say hi!”

“Hey Eddie,” Dustin chirped as he headed into Hellfire. “We bumped into an old friend of yours at lunch.”

He quirked an eyebrow, munching on a sandwich from his backpack. “Uh-huh?” Eddie said, not really listening to him. “And?”

Dustin shrugged, and looked at Eddie slyly. “Tinuviel says hi.”

Eddie blinked, and swung his leg down from where he was sprawled across the chair. “You met my girl!” he crowed, throwing the sandwich down onto the table, sending bits of lettuce careening across the minifigures. “She’s a spitfire, that one.”

“She’s the assistant librarian,” Mike supplied helpfully, and Eddie shot him a weird look.

“I know,” he responded, furrowing his brows. “We’re literally on the same campus, like, all the time.”

Mike flushed. That much was obvious.

“Anyway, enough chitty-chatty,” Eddie said, and leant over the gameboard. “You last left Rahasia in the dark of the night, exhausted and weary from a skirmish…”

“Hi,” Dustin said to you, meekly. You peered over at him from the books you were checking back in, locked up in a cavernous stack of AP Calculus texts and editions of Hamlet. “This is. This is kind of a weird question. You don’t have to say yes.”

You shoved some of the books out of the way to look at him, and pressed your glasses up your nose. “Hey, everything okay?” you asked, gesturing for him to take a seat. “Take deep breaths, Dustin.”

He shook his hair out. “Well,” he said, taking his hat off and holding it in front of him like a Regency era gentleman. “It’s my birthday next Saturday–”

“Happy birthday,” you said automatically, and he shot you a nervous smile.

“I was wondering. Well, we were wondering. Mike, Lucas, and me,” he clarified, “if you’d like to come over and play a oneshot campaign with us? I’m DMing for my birthday, and it’s my first time, and I’m kind of nervous. It’d be really cool to have more people in the party.”

You winced. “Dustin, honey,” you said, and pulled another returned copy of Hamlet toward you. “That’s not really appropriate. I’m a teacher here.”

He rolled his eyes. “You’re an assistant librarian,” he countered. “Plus, you know what you’re doing! It’ll be fun!”

You scratched the side of your nose, glancing down and away from him. “Sweetie, I’m sorry. It’s against policy, I can’t just show up. I could get into a lot of trouble.” You shot him a smile, unhappy with how crushed he seemed to be. “Look, look, tell you what,” you said, pressing your thumb to your mouth and chewing at the nail as you scrawled out your shift timings. “If you meet me in the library on the days you don’t have Hellfire, I’ll help you with your oneshot, okay?”

He brightened. “I get to hang out with you?”

You blinked stupidly. “Uh. Yeah, I guess,” you offered, and shoved the paper toward him. “I’m kind of rusty, but I’ll see what I can do. How many are in the party?”

“The usual Hellfire guys,” he said, “so four. Oh, and Lucas’ sister. So five,” Dustin said, and you nodded, wheels in your brain turning as you tried to think of a good campaign for them that’d be finished in time. “You’d really help me with this?”

You grinned, and nudged his elbow with your pen. “Once in Hellfire, always in Hellfire, kiddo,” you said, and he shoved his bookbag down on the table. “Hey!”

“You’re free now,” he said, pointing at the sheet, and started pulling reams of paper from his bag. “I was thinking, like, a desert campaign. You know. Caravans and camels, that sort of thing.”

You bit back a fond smile, and watched as he laid out the bare bones of his first ever Dungeon Master session.

“There you are,” said a voice, after nearly half an hour of you helping Dustin build the stats of his Lizardfolk NPC, and you grinned at the sight of Eddie Munson standing near the desk. “Dude, we thought you died. You’re gonna miss lunch. Heya, teech,” he added, winking at you.

You smiled up at him beatifically, and pushed Dustin’s papers back toward him. “Hey, honey,” you said to Eddie, and glanced back at your desk. “You’re gonna do great, Dustin. Don’t worry about it, okay? You’re a natural.”

“Can I come back?” Dustin said quickly, and Eddie glanced down at him in surprise. “Like. To work on the campaign. With you. Here. Or other places. So it’s perfect. You know.” He smiled again, and you sighed, rubbing your temples.

“Of course you can, Dustin,” you said, and looked up at Eddie above Dustin’s head. “He wants me to help build out his birthday campaign.”

Eddie grinned, and clapped his hands on Dustin’s shoulders. “And you’re enlisting my girl Tinuviel?” he asked, and Dustin smiled nervously up at him. “There have never been safer hands, my friend. This will be a campaign to remember.”

With one hand on Dustin’s head, Eddie wheeled him out of the room, before turning around surreptitiously to blow a kiss at you. You jumped up from the desk slightly to catch it, nuzzling it softly, before biting down viciously at the fake kiss. Eddie gasped in horror, and shielded his eyes, parting his hands slightly to shoot you a wink before he vanished out the door.

It was a few days of this, of Dustin appearing in the library at lunch with an apple for you in one hand and a binder in the other, as the deadline of his birthday loomed. You helped him take detailed note of his characters – who did what voices, where did people stay, what was a catchphrase you could use to slip into character. He was sweet. You understood why Eddie was so fond of him.

“You’re gonna do great,” you told Dustin on the Friday, as he was packing his things up. “Seriously. I wasn’t this prepared for my first campaign. Just remember to keep your character sheets–”

“Right where I can find them,” Dustin agreed, zipping up his backpack. “Thank you. I’m really sorry you can’t come.”

You shrugged. “Policy is policy,” you said, and ruffled his hair. “Knock ‘em dead, champ.”

“What do you mean we can’t use the room?” Dustin demanded, staring up at the custodian. “I booked it today! I need it!”

The custodian shrugged, grimacing as he turned back to the door. “Pipe’s faulty in there,” he said, scratching under his chin. “We need to seal the area. Should be fine in the morning.” He paused. “You got stuff in there? We can get it out before it gets too wet.”

Dustin groaned. “Party’s off,” he said, crossing his arms across his chest. “Unless you want to play an underwater level.”

Mike sighed. The rest of Hellfire were gathered around the door, looking at it despondently. After a long moment of silence, Eddie turned to them, looking more serious than he ever had before.

“Okay,” he said. “We can use my trailer–” They chorused a cheer, but he held up a hand. “Best behaviour, okay? We spent all week cleaning that thing up, and I can actually see my reflection in the countertops now, so if any of you fuck my hard work up I’ll rip your tiny little balls off.” He paused, and looked at Erica. “Or, uh. Lady balls.”

“Freak,” said Erica.

They piled into Eddie’s van, Dustin calling shotgun, as they careened down the road to Eddie’s trailer park. The windows were open to the trailer, and laundry was hung on the line, Eddie snatching a shirt from it as they walked in. Lucas stared at the pairs of bras dangling from the line. Hold the fucking phone.

“Yeesh, yeesh, keep it down,” Eddie said, settling the kids down at his trestle table. “God, I never should’ve let you guys drink all that Coke. Sugar is bad for you, you know?”

“You’re smoking,” Erica said bluntly, and Eddie nodded sagely.

“That’s because I’m grown,” he told her. “I can do what I like.”

Inside the trailer, Lucas froze. There was a pair of shoes by the door, heeled, small. He blinked. He knew those shoes from somewhere. “Uh, Eddie?” he started, voice small. “Do you have someone over?”

Eddie blinked. “Uh. Just my girlfriend,” he said flippantly, tossing himself onto the sofa and taking a slow drag of his cigarette. “Keep it down for a while, would ya? She had a long night.”

There was silence.

“Your what?” Mike practically yelled, Dustin and Lucas joining. “Since when have you had a girlfriend? Why have you never brought her to Hellfire? What the hell–”

“What the hell is going on?”

Their heads snapped up to see you, standing blearily in Eddie’s doorway and rubbing at one eye with the cuff of Eddie’s shirt, hanging loose over your frame. Dustin screamed. You flinched, before pulling your hand from your face to stare at the group. “Uh.”

There was a long pause.

“You’re not wearing pants,” Erica said, helpfully, and you vanished back into the room with a squeak, before reappearing in a pair of shorts.

“Eddie,” you hissed, and your boyfriend looked at you askance. “Why in the goddamn – cover your ears,” you barked at the kids, “everloving fuck are the kids in the house?”

“That’s not the important question,” Dustin hissed. “What are you doing in Eddie’s trailer?”

Eddie froze, his head darting between the two of you like a lost puppy. “Dude,” Eddie said, looking at Dustin in confusion. “She lives here.”

“She’s your girlfriend?!” Mike demanded, staring at you in shock. You blinked the sleep blearily from your eyes, and head over to the counter, pouring instant coffee into a mug while shooting daggers at Eddie – he was mouthing, sorry sorry sorry. “The assistant librarian?”

“Uh. Yeah?” Eddie said, his eyes jumping from each of the kids’ expressions. “You guys didn’t know?”

“No, we did not know!” Dustin snapped, and you swallowed a tentative sip of coffee, coming out from the kitchen to stand by Eddie. “You never mentioned having a girlfriend!”

“I’m pretty sure I did,” Eddie said, turning around to look at you. You were unimpressed. “I’m literally always saying, I gotta go see my girl, or hey that’s my girl.”

“Oh,” Lucas said dumbly. “I thought that was about your guitar.”

You snorted so hard you felt the coffee shoot up your nose. Dustin looked crushed.

“My gui– You guys seriously think that looking like this, I hadn’t snatched up the prettiest girl in Hawkins High in my time?” Eddie demanded, tugging you by the beltloop of your shorts to come closer to him. “Guys. Come on. I was beating them off with a stick.”

Your hand settled in Eddie’s hair, sleep still making you hazy. “You asked me out fifteen times, Munson,” you muttered, and he swatted at your scratching fingers. “One time you even wrote me a song.”

“Shut up,” Eddie hissed.

“But– we never see you guys together,” Dustin said, voice going slightly shrill at the end. He was alternating between staring at you, and then at Eddie, and then at you, over and over that you thought he’d get motion sickness.

“I’m a librarian,” you said, not unkindly, coming to perch on the arm of the sofa as Eddie’s hand settling lazily across your thighs. “I can’t exactly come sit at the lunch table, Dustin.”

“That checks out,” Lucas muttered to Mike, who was still taking in the scene. “Like. Damn. Uh. Congrats, I guess?”

“Thank you,” Eddie said, sending you a genuinely happy smile before squeezing your thigh. “Sorry for the wakeup, Tinuviel. Hellfire flooded.”

You hissed sympathetically. “Yikes.”

“I’m sorry, this is great and all,” Erica said, and put her hands on her hips. “But are we ever gonna play this campaign? Because there’s an episode of Thundercats tonight, and I never miss Thundercats.”

You bite back a laugh, and disentangle yourself from Eddie. “You guys set up. I’ll –” You glanced back at the kitchen thoughtfully. “Dustin, sweetie, do you like cake?”

“Um.” Dustin blinked a few times. “Yeah?”

“Then happy birthday. I’ll bake you one.” You smiled sweetly as you headed into the kitchen portion of the trailer, sipping your coffee thoughtfully as you heard the boys start to interrogate Eddie about the relationship. “Oh, and Dustin?”

His head snapped up, sheepishly pulling away from where he was furtively whispering with your boyfriend. “Yes?”

You winked. “Save me a seat. Tinuviel’s coming out of the woodwork.”

(You and Eddie had met in middleschool, with his hair buzzed short and yours long enough to reach the small of your back. There was a copy of the Lord of the Rings that was two weeks overdue, after a lot of begging and pleading with Mrs Leibniz (Miss Franks, back then), she had finally released the culprit’s name to you.

You shoved Eddie in the playground and demanded he return the book, standing on top of the sandpit in a blaze of righteous fury.

Eddie asked you to be his girlfriend there and then.

It took three years, ten campaigns, and one drunken proposal after prom night for you to finally say yes.)

#eddie munson fic #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson x female character #eddie munson x female original character #stranger things #guys something i wrong with me

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owlf45 · 5 months

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romance me with mosquito facts

mosquitoes, when in a condensed enough space, sound like gentle rain.

i work with a specific mosquito species, called the aedes agypti, which carries diseases like dengue virus, west niles virus, and yellow fever. the males are generally smaller than the females, though emerge into adults sooner. you can tell the difference between males and females by the fluffy antennas of the males.

gay mosquitoes everywhere.

mosquitoes tend to be social, if stupid creatures. if you stick two mosquitoes alone in a cage, they probably wont chill (and wont mate). it's just not their style. this is especially frustrating when trying to set up specific genetic crosses.

although i never met them, there used to be a researcher at the lab who did the most batshit stuff. we keep our mosquitoes in mesh cages, so they can't escape but they can feed through the mesh (so we don't have to reach in and out of the cages and potentially let some loose). this old researcher used to grab the morning newspaper, roll up his pants, collapse in a chair and settle his calves over the mesh cages for literal thousands of mosquitoes to feed from him. for hours. i want to meet this man so bad.

mosquitoes are stupid and annoying and prone to killing themselves akin to a goldfish constantly getting stuck in a filter. but strangely enough, you grow to love them. they are simultaneously fragile and durable, easily discernible and difficult to hunt. you can tear their hind legs off and put them through shock a few times and they'll be fine, but a single finger will smush them (quite inconveniently, when you know that bitch could've moved!).

directly after bloodfeeding a female mosquito, if you kill her—often by clapping her directly between your hands (female mosquitoes are the only ones to bloodfeed)—the blood will still be warm.

although i dont screen larvae for traits as often as I used to (I tend to do more database/mosquito caretaking work now), certain gene-linked traits can be found physically in the larvae and pupae stages—sometimes they glow bright blue/green under fluorescent lighting, for example.

like I said though, i mostly work with caretaking. i do the bloodfeeding, i replace their food and water, and i make sure they're in good health and can lay eggs on a proper surface. the mosquitoes under my care live for about a month and a half, though if they're still alive by the time we need to hatch the next generation, we simply fridge them and kill them off. put mosquitoes in the fridge for a few minutes and they'll go to sleep. put them in for a few hours, and they'll usually die— we keep them in for 24 hours to make sure, though.

mosquitoes are difficult to contain. compared to other biochemistry departments, you have tiny creatures that are mobile and can fly, and can't always be seen by the average person unless they're specifically looking for it. I've worked in microbiology labs before, but if there was contamination, it was solely on the researcher. contamination from a loose mosquito is hard to track. this is all to say that I work in a bunker—double doors, minimal vents, no windows.

mosquitoes are the deadliest animals in the world. mosquitoes kill over a million people a year (hence my research). i sit in the back of the bunker sometimes, in the side warm room where we keep our cages of mosquitoes, hundreds of different genetically modified lines in progress at a time, and I have blood on my palms— blood that I fed to my subjects before I squashed them because they escaped from their cages, and I think about the fact that for over 200 lines of this species, I grow them from eggs to adults to death and hatch their offspring again and again and again. i think of lovecraftian horror and I hear gentle rain and remember images of war that keep me up late at night, and I wonder what's the point, for a few numbers in my bank account, and then another mosquito has gotten loose and lands on my arm and doesn't bite me, because it's already full; because i already fed it; because it's just looking for a small, dark place to rest in the folds of my jacket.

mosquitoes love to hide on black surfaces.

#my asks #ego cryptid tree

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bleedingoptimism · 1 year

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You Are Mine part 2

The call time for the first day is ass o’clock in the morning.

Lounging in the green room and drinking coffee sleepily, the band and the siblings wait to be called for wardrobe and makeup.

They had their proper introductions the day before after signing the contract, so now they are all just yawning their way through small talk. Eddie and the boys are called first because their wardrobe is a little more involved today since it's mostly scenes of the band performing.

They usually don’t wear a lot of makeup when they play, mostly eyeliner and sometimes lipstick if someone is feeling particularly ‘bonita’ that day.

After being artfully made to look like he’s dirty, wet, and hot and in the middle of a performance Eddie is walking back to the set when he sees Robin and Steve walking out of their respective changing rooms.

They look good, both of them wearing similar outfits, black comfortable-looking pants, and black shirts, Robin has her hair up in a ponytail with loose hairs framing her face and Steve’s hair looks carefully tousled like he had been running his hands through it all day.

“You look beautiful” he hears Steve tell Robin and not for the first time thinks their relationship is really stinking cute.

“You look hot,” Robin says teasingly and she pinches Steve’s stomach, “That shirt is way too tight, dude”

Eddie thinks the shirt is perfect, but what the hell does he know?

Steve snorts, “Yeah. Hey, what does my shirt say?” he asks her smiling playfully. He does a half-turn and shows her his back,

“Crew,” she says chuckling and turning, “And mine?”

“Crew” he answers laughing “And mine?”

“Crew, and mine?”

Eddie has a feeling this could go on for a while if he doesn't stop it, ‘Who the hell does ‘Dude, where is my car?’ references in this day and age?’ He wonders charmed.

He coughs startling them and outright laughing at their abashed expressions, “Ready to set foot in the extravagant world of mediocre music videos?”

♫

The first scenes they shoot are of the band playing on a stage, with a bunch of extras below them to make it look like the place is packed.

They play their instruments without the sound plugged in and the song is overheard over the speakers so they can coordinate and make it look authentic.

They do a lot of different takes, with changes in angles and wardrobes, and at one point Argyle has Robin and Steve standing on the sidelines like they are watching the band from backstage,

“Look happy and excited, nod to the music. Just pretend you like the song or something” he indicates jokingly.

Robin chuckles and Steve whispers, “But I do like the song.”

Eddie snorts delighted, he really hopes Steve still likes the song after they wrap up because he’s going to be hearing it /a lot/ in the next couple of days.

Once they are done with their part the band takes a breather while they watch Robin and Steve shoot a few scenes of them running around the stage, moving the instruments, and setting up things. They both laugh and talk a lot while ‘working’, high-fiving when they cross paths. Argyle barely gives them any directions and looks extremely pleased, keeps telling them he loves their energy.

It’s a long, tiring day but it’s incredibly fun, he can’t remember a time when he’s had this much fun shooting.

The last scene they do is one where the band is sitting in the background while Robin and Steve are working in the foreground, Argyle is squinting at the set, lifting his fingers to frame the scene in his head, planning it all out,

“Steve, can you lift a bit of weight?”

Gareth laughs and says “Hey Steve! Do you even lift?”

Robin and Steve get along wonderfully with the band and over the course of the day they’ve gotten really familiar and jokey with each other. Steve laughs and rolls his eyes when he answers Argyle,

“Yeah, I’m good up to about 180? Why?”

Frank, the asshole, snorts, and whispers to Eddie, “Hey, isn’t that more than your weight? He can totally lift you up with no effort” Eddie lets out a little wheeze and hides it with a cough, punching Frank’s shoulder lightly when he laughs.

“Cool, cool, cool. I want you to lift that speaker and move it on top of that one, think you can handle it?” Argyle is telling Steve, who nods and smiles.

“Guys, just chat quietly among yourselves, Eddie, you just… you know sneak a few glances at them, look horny about it.” Argyle directs.

Looking at Steve, with his too-tight black shirt that shows all the muscles on his back moving when he lifts the speaker, Eddie thinks looking lustfully is not going to be hard at all.

They do the scene once but Argyle calls ‘cut’ before it’s done, “Ok, ok, ok. Makeup! Can you make my boy here look a bit more sweaty, please?”

Steve blushes a little and asks Argyle if he did something wrong but Argyle smiles at him and just asks him,

“Could you make it look… not so easy? Maybe, wipe your forehead after you lift it or something?”

Steve blushes harder and nods.

They go again and this time Steve makes it look like the speaker is heavier and shakes his hair out of his face, running a hand through it when he’s done and it's such a good move, he looks so good.

Eddie completely forgets they were part of the scene but when Argyle yells cut and happily tells them they are done for the day, Eddie realizes he doesn't even need to act enamored by Steve, he totally is.

‘Oh shit, Steve is gonna eat me alive.’

to be continued

part 1: ♫

part 2: is this

part 3: ♫

part 4: ♫

☕ cafecito?

#steddie #stranger things #steve harrington #eddie munson #corroded coffin #i wrote something #im excited to post the rest ngl

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harrysfolklore · 11 months

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grammy at wembley - bandmate!yn blurb

gif by @londonharry <3

BANDMATE!YN MASTERLIST | MY PATREON

Wembley Stadium buzzed with excitement as the crowd eagerly waited for the big night to start. Feather boas, cowboy hats, pride flags and colorful signs were everywhere in sight in typical Love on Tour fashion.

Tonight was one for the history books. Harry was closing out a successful run of 4 sold out nights at Wembley Stadium, and his family, friends, colleagues and all kinds of loved ones came together to support him.

To celebrate said shows, Harry had a lot of surprises in store, including letting each of his bandmates be an opening act for a different show; and even though it took a lot of convincing, his girlfriend agreed to take part for the final night.

"I'm not sure, lovie. I mean people like what I do as your bassist but my own work? I don't know if they would like to hear that." YN said when Harry brought up the proposal.

"They would, because you're insanely talented and everyone deserves to see it."

And with a few more kisses and sweet words, YN accepted to perform and delivered an impeccable set that was loved by everyone in the stadium, specially Harry who greeted her as soon as she was off the stage and held her as he said how proud he felt.

Now, the band was getting ready to hit the stage together one final time, gathering around in a circle as they always did.

"Okay, I'm not trying to get sentimental over here," Harry spoke to his bandmates, "But these past shows wouldn't had been possible without you, so let's do it one last time for London."

"Let's go!" Pauli cheered hyping everyone, and then they were off to perform.

The evening went on filled with music, excitement and love. Harry charmed the crowd as usual and the band gave their best playing their instruments.

"I'd like to take a few second, no, not a quick second, a brief moment to introduce you to my wonderful band." Harry said into the mic and proceeded to introduce each of his bandmates, leaving his girlfriend last as usual.

"And finally, in bass and vocals, YN!" she waved out to the crowd, but surprise filled her face when instead of moving on with the next song, Harry continued speaking about her, "YN, you're not just my bandmate, you're also my girlfriend, my musical soulmate and my partner in crime," Harry said, putting a hand into his heart and making the entire audience become emotional, "Tonight is a very special night, and I want to give you something that is just as special, and celebrate with everyone here."

A trace of confusion flickered across YN's face, not sure about what Harry was about to do, she leaned closer and her voice came out in barely a whisper, "Harry what's going on? Don't tell me you're proposing becau-"

"I'm not proposing, yet," Harry interrupted her with a wink, "Just wait here."

He walked towards the side of the stage where a crew member handed her the a shinny item that YN and the rest of the crowd was yet to identify, it was when she took a proper look at the golden trophy that a wave of realization hit her body.

"No way, Harry. Is that?" YN said off the mic to him when he was next to her.

"It's your Grammy, baby. Came in the mail the other day and I decided this was the best way to give it to you," Harry shrugged, pulling her into his arms in hug, "Congratulations, bandmate."

YN pulled back to look at him, she was aware of the thousands of fans watching them but she still pulled him in for a quick kiss before speaking, "Thank you, this is magical."

Harry only pecked her forehead before speaking to the crowd again, "Give it up for YN! Grammy Award winner for her collaboration as a songwriter and producer in Harry's House!"

The audience broke down in cheers and screams as YN held her award up, and as the crowd continued to celebrate, she thought that the award not only symbolized a musical achievement, but also the strong bond she shared with Harry, one she wishes would last forever.

taglist: @lightsoutstyles @waitingroomharry @willowpains @straightontilmornin @sleutherclaw @gimsaysay @hazzassmirk @platinumbarbie143 @musicforcinemas @celesteblack08 @scntfrhs @eleanordaisy @lomlolivia @iceebabies

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mypoisonedvine · 2 years

Text

𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿 • eddie munson x reader

sequel to 𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗲 and 𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴

𝘀𝘂𝗺𝗺𝗮𝗿𝘆 • another album, another tour, this time with a stop in Indianapolis featuring a local opener that proves to be more familiar than you expected.

𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁 • 5.4k

𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 • smut (18+ only), semi-public sex, extreme fluff, jealous reader, cocky eddie, hatefucking (at first), emotions!!

Objectively, Eddie was never the best you ever had. Considering your long and storied history included a lot of very talented people— sometimes multiple at a time— it was hard to compete. He didn't make you come the hardest, or the fastest, or the most.

But for some reason, he was always your favorite.

Even if he wasn't a sex god, he managed to keep up with you and he was just the right balance of everything: sweet but not too grovelling; good-looking but not too self-obsessed; young but not too naive.

Truth be told, every time you thought about it, you wondered if you should've taken him on tour with you. You imagined a life where you had this little boytoy to keep you company, where he held you close at night in that big empty bed while the bus was on its way to the next stop; where you finished your sets and walked just off stage to find him waiting, and he'd give you a big kiss and tell you how amazing you were.

But it was just a fantasy, something to get you through especially lonely nights. You’d been thinking about him leading up to your tour stop in Indiana, wondering if you should find some way to reach out— all you had was an old phone number, and that was nearly a year ago now that you found out he graduated and moved away. After considering looking him up a few times (and realizing you didn’t actually know if Eddie was short for Edward or Edmond or Edgar or… not short for anything), you decided it was best left alone. After all, your presence in Indiana was pretty heavily anticipated, it’s not like he couldn’t figure it out if he wanted to find some way to see you.

Danny nodded at you from behind the drums as you walked onstage for soundcheck.

“Okay, we’re just gonna tune and run the first song on the setlist,” the sound technician announced over the speakers as you put in your earpiece.

“Great,” you answered into the microphone, slinging your guitar on over your shoulder and starting to pick at it to get it perfectly in tune— yes, most big stars have the venue techs or their roadies tune instruments for them, but you preferred doing it yourself. It was like… well, it was sort of like foreplay. You preferred warming up your guitar yourself.

“Hey, you heard of this band that’s opening for us?” Jerome, your second guitarist, asked you as an assistant adjusted his mic stand. “I was talking to the venue manager— he said a ton of people are here to see them. They’re local legends or something.”

“I didn’t even read who’s opening for us,” you admitted. “I haven’t slept since Louisville.”

“They’re called Corroded Coffin,” he said. “Real grungy stuff.”

“Well, it’s a decent name,” you offered. “I’ll have to watch their set and see if they’re any good.”

When soundcheck ended, you retired to the green room for a drink and a rest, the closest thing you had to a pre-show ritual. This venue was nice enough that you had a TV by the vanity, meaning you totally zoned out and lost track of time watching National Geographic; you didn’t even realize the show had started until you heard loud, echoing guitars from outside.

Turning the volume down, you listened to the muffled sound for a couple minutes, nodding to yourself. Hey, they’re not bad.

Deciding to venture out and get a proper listen, you navigated the crowded backstage— roadies, assistants, and for some reason a crowd of kids in matching t-shirts?— so you could peer in from-offstage to see the band. The first thing you saw was the pit; it was full of girls. Screaming, desperate girls. Shit, who is this guy? You figured you weren’t likely to get the same reception from that section of the crowd, unless there was a bisexual convention in town.

Leaning further in, you finally saw the back of the guitarist’s head. Any other context, and that mess of long, curly brown hair would give it away— but this was the metal scene, after all, and most of the guys looked like that.

He took a step back, disappointing the girls who had been climbing over each other to try to touch his ankle, and shook his head to get his hair out of his face. That was when you got a proper glimpse of him for the first time, and your breath caught.

No, it’s not…

He was too far away for you to be sure, and if you leaned forward any more, you’d be visible to the crowd which was not worth the trouble. Spinning around, you saw the group of kids behind you, and narrowed your eyes at their shirts. “Hey,” you yelled over the music to get the attention of one of them, “what do those shirts mean?”

“They’re for our D&D club!” he answered emphatically. “That’s our Dungeon Master!”

As he pointed to the frontman again, you spun around. Fuck.

“EDDIE, WE LOVE YOUUU!!!” a girl with braces screamed from the front row, literally sobbing, and you wondered how you could physically fit in your body every emotion you were feeling in this one moment.

Euphoria, confusion, devastation, excitement, anxiety— he was here, he was opening for you, he really made it. But was he too good for you now? He was the next big thing— you could already tell, hearing him play, that he was the real deal— and you were… well, you were the last big thing. He was Van Halen, you were Black Sabbath; he was video, you were the radio star. He was the nineties, coming around the corner faster than you were ready for— wasn’t it 1979, like, an hour ago?

It didn’t hurt from a stardom standpoint— the record sales didn’t bother you, even when there were less of them. You didn’t need to be famous, half the time you didn’t even like it, you just loved the music whether it was yours or someone else’s.

But it hurt seeing Eddie, because it made you realize how long it had really been. It hurt wondering if tonight was the beginning of the end— but you had hope that you wouldn’t be facing the end alone.

As he focused on playing a complex solo, his tongue curled up over his lip. Be careful, Ed, I dunno if these girls can handle that…

Looking out over his crowd again, your gut burned as you saw the girls fawning over him, even if you couldn’t blame them.

You watched the rest of his set from the best seat in the house, which was actually standing up just behind the curtain, until you heard Eddie speak into the microphone: “You guys have been great! We would stay forever if we could, but this is our last song…”

Heart pumping, you stumbled back and out of the way, retreating to your green room— you weren’t ready for him to walk by, you weren’t ready for him to ignore you, or kiss you, or slap you, or whatever he was going to do.

He was probably over it; he probably didn’t even care, so casually flaunting his one-that-got-away-ness in front of you. You slammed your door shut behind you, pouring yourself a quick drink and tossing it back in a second. It dulled your nerves but only worsened the sickness gathering in your stomach. This was everything you’d been waiting for since 1985, but it was so terrifying now that it was here. Everything could go wrong.

But of course he still wanted you, right? He had to, he was one of your biggest fans just a few years ago. But wow, time can change so much— and you had no idea he could play like that. It only made you more attracted to him, right when you were trying to play it cool.

You heard the crowd going wild, you heard the music come to a halt, and you knew you were supposed to be getting ready for your own set. Right now, you weren’t sure if you could even name one of your own songs…

Well, probably just one— the one about him. In your mind, it was sort of a graduation present from you to Eddie— but you weren’t even a hundred percent sure he ever heard it.

You waited a few minutes, hoping maybe Corroded Coffin would be gone when you stepped out— yet praying that they wouldn’t be— but when you entered the hallway again, you found a typical scene between the opener and headliner: musicians and their most privileged fans everywhere, getting in the way of crew trying desperately to set up between acts, and Eddie right there in the middle of all of it.

He was sitting on an amp, fiddling around on his acoustic, girls hanging off of his arm and sitting in a circle around him. Christ.

Hesitantly, you walked up to the group, crossing your arms and watching for a moment. "Guess you made it out of your garage phase," you smirked.

He looked up at you, his strumming coming to a halt, as he gave you a knowing smile. "Yeah," he offered; his voice was eerily familiar yet different, and you wondered if things were too different now. If you and him were basically strangers, and you'd just have to wave hello and leave all that history behind.

After all, you'd only met once before, technically. But to you, it felt like your story wasn't over yet.

“Oh my god,” one of the girls jumped up to you, “I— I’m such a huge fan!”

“Oh? That’s nice to hear,” you offered her, glancing between her eyes and Eddie’s a few times. “I— do you want me to sign anything?”

“That would be amazing,” she beamed, “I’ve— I’ve got one of your CDs right here.”

“Ah, a CD,” you nodded as she pulled it out of her purse and you got your trusty metallic Sharpie from your back pocket, “that’s how I know you’re one of the new kids.”

“You can make it out to Pearl,” she decided as you took the album from her, “that’s me.”

“Will do,” you agreed, uncapping the pen with your teeth and writing over the cover.

“I actually wanted to ask you something,” she said.

“Yeah?” you prompted, mostly focused on writing.

“My favorite song of yours is Pretty Boy,” she explained, “from your new album? I wanted to ask you who it’s about.”

You glanced at Eddie again, finding him still smiling at you. Of course he knew, he barely had to listen to the verse to figure it out, it wasn’t exactly cryptic. Can’t take you home when there’s no home to go to, still remember you with all the guys that I go through, it was pretty obvious. “Uh,” you stalled, voice slurred a bit from talking with a pen cap in your mouth, “it’s… not really about anyone. It’s just about the idea of someone.”

You handed her back the CD and put your marker away. “Wow,” she smiled when you gave it back, reading the message to herself. Pearl— don’t be a slut, with your signature across the bottom. Her smile faltered slightly, but she thanked you weakly.

“That’s good advice,” you informed her sternly as she sat back down.

“You know,” Eddie piped up, making your heart beat faster, “I wanted you to sign something of mine, too.”

You smirked at him, summoning some confidence from deep within yourself. “Kid, you’ve already got my name written all over you.”

A few of the girls started whispering to each other, and Eddie glanced down— he didn’t seem too caught off-guard, but his cheeks did flush. “Then maybe you can make my guitar match,” he suggested.

“Sure,” you agreed, and he stood up, lifting the guitar’s strap over his shoulder so he could hold it out for you and your re-uncapped marker.

Your hands were almost shaking, at the worst possible time, as he stood so close, staring at you with those eyes. You thought about what you might write, and decided as you made contact with the glossy wood.

Eddie,

I’m still waiting for you.

As you put your signature at the bottom, you were startled slightly by a flash; you turned to see one of the girls had taken an instant photo, and she pulled it out and shook it as it developed. “Sorry,” she mumbled sheepishly, “just a little piece of rock and roll history. Legends meeting for the first time!”

You didn’t correct her; Eddie just nodded. “You’ll have to send that to Rolling Stone,” he decided.

“There you go,” you announced as you finished the signature, watching him read what you’d written.

“Thanks,” he smiled, turning the guitar and holding it forward so he could look at it better before looking at you again. “Any chance I could bum a smoke?”

One of the girls started to reach into her bag, but without even looking at her, Eddie held his hand out and she froze. “Actually, I—” quit, you were about to say, but then you met his gaze. He really was still that boy you found waiting outside the back of a smaller stadium nearly four years ago— his eyes were the same: tender, pleading, hopeful. You knew the feeling well. “I… have a pack in my dressing room,” you offered.

“Great,” he smiled.

“Aw, don’t go!” one of the girls whined, the rest joining in a chorus of moping.

“Uh— hey! There’s Gareth!” Eddie pointed. “Will you girls go cheer him up? He, uh, just broke up with his girlfriend.”

Eddie gave his best sympathetic sigh as the girls’ eyes lit up; and while the cloud of adorers descended on the drummer, you guided Eddie back with you across the backstage tunnel, tumbling through the green room door with him.

When you were both on the other side and the door shut, he didn’t even give you a chance to offer him a drink, now that he was definitely old enough— he just kissed you, with every ounce of passion he’d been saving for you all this time. You whimpered and grabbed his face, holding him close, letting his tongue roam wherever and tasting his smile in return.

He pushed you back against the wall, pulling your hips against his, pressing all of himself against you; he tried to break the kiss to say something, but you pulled his face towards you again, you just needed a little more.

He hummed against your lips, and you let him go so he could kiss your neck instead. Your back was already arching up off the wall, and you felt his hands slide up the back of your shirt, tickling the dip of your spine, finding the clasp of your bra and undoing it in a moment so he could bring his hands around to the front and grope your chest.

You grinned as his fingers toyed with your nipples and squeezed your sensitive skin; there was more experience behind his movements than before, yet the same boyish eagerness under it all.

That said, your grin faded when he pulled your shirt and bra up, exposing you to the air, indulging himself in a glance and a sigh at your breasts before he put his mouth on them. “Fuck,” you whined. “Eddie, fuck.”

Your hands reached up and tangled in his hair, and he moaned around your skin, moving to the other nipple while his fingers gently pinched the first. “Say my name again,” he demanded.

“Make me,” you countered.

He stopped right away, spinning you around as you held your hands against the wall to keep yourself upright. He pressed his back up to yours, letting his hips rock so you could feel his erection against you and you purred. The way his fingers quickly unbuttoned your jeans reminded you a bit of the way he fingered his guitar on stage; the way he pushed your pants and underwear down and grabbed a handful of your ass before giving it a sudden spank reminded you of someone totally different from Eddie. I guess a lot can change in a few years…

“You gonna fuck me or what?” you sighed. “I’ve gotta be on stage any minute now.”

“I’m gonna fuck you,” he promised— or maybe it was a warning. "But I'm not your groupie anymore, sweetheart, I'm a star, and I fuck like one. All those girls wanted me to do to them what you did to me— but all I want is to be buried in you."

You hummed proudly turning around and facing him so you could start working on his belt for him. “Did you miss me?” you wondered, taunting with your question, but he wasn’t fazed.

“‘Course I did,” he smiled. "I wasn't a virgin when we met, but I still think you made a man outta me that night. You even let me come in you, you remember that? So dirty," he smirked, a hint of a snarl on his smile as he scrunched up his nose for a second. "You just want this cunt bred, huh?"

"Damn," you sighed, "you’re all grown up— and you got nasty."

He laughed breathlessly, looking down. "Guess I did. You haven't changed, though."

He guided you across the room, to the vanity, where he spun you around and bent you over quickly— not too rough, but definitely hurried— yanking your head up by your hair so you had to look in the mirror.

"Want you to see how pretty you are taking my cock."

He was inside you a moment later, and your eyes rolled back. “Fuck,” you groaned, legs quivering as he started off right away; he gave you long, deep strokes that made your walls clench.

"I remember how you like it," he purred. "Deep, and rough— and you like being in control. But right now, I wanna see you lose control."

Well, that was the plan if he kept talking like that…

“I wanna see you come for me,” he continued, “exactly when I tell you to.”

“Yeah?” you chuckled breathlessly. “If you wanted obedience you should’ve snagged one of those little tarts from the pit.”

“If you wanted me to play nice you should’ve taken me with you when we first met,” he shot back, fucking you harder as anger tinted his voice and his movements. “Back when I was still an impressionable kid.”

“That’s— that’s exactly why I didn’t,” you explained through your teeth. “I was trying to do right by you.”

“Do you regret it?”

“Yes!” you admitted. “Yes, I wish I wasn’t such a damn good person, okay? Now just fuck me, damn it!”

He laughed a little, but finally did as he was told, taking hold of your hips and setting a brutal pace.

“S’this… this how you fuck your groupies?” you choked out.

He laughed as he shook his head. “No, I take my time with them.”

Fuck. “I liked you better when you were nice.”

He smacked your ass again, making you whimper. “Don’t lie to me.”

Touche… “Did you like me better when I was just your fantasy?” you managed to get out.

“No,” he sighed, leaning down and laying his body over yours, holding you tighter. “No, I like you best like this— here, with me. Real.”

You whined and dropped your head down, hoping to hide your watering eyes, but he cooed as he pet your hair before grabbing it pulling you up again.

“Look, baby,” he insisted, “I want you to see it— god, you’re so beautiful. Look how beautiful you are.”

“Y-you’re beautiful, too,” you blurted out as you watched his face in the reflection, still a bit red as he panted behind you, and he gave you a breathless smile

"Tell me how good it feels,” he instructed.

"So good, Eddie, your cock is so good," you groaned.

“Y’love it, huh?” he taunted, but his eyebrows knitted together when you shook your head.

“No, Ed— I hate this… I hate that I’m the one that made you bitter,” you admitted. “You were so sweet before…”

He slowed down a bit, one hand brushing your hair out of your face as the other held your hips— tight, but not painfully so. “I’m still yours,” he whispered by your ear, making you bite your lip to hold back a sob. “Baby, I’m still yours.”

“Then why are you angry?”

“Because you’re not mine.”

You laughed— you actually laughed, and he hissed as it made you tighten on him. “Damn, you got older, but you didn’t get much smarter, huh?” you noticed. “I was yours from the start, Eddie.”

He fucked you harder— but not exactly in the rough way. In a patient, but needy, way; and you felt him smile as he kissed your neck again. “You’re just saying that,” he presumed teasingly.

“No— god, it’s real, it’s not just ‘cause we’re fucking,” you promised. “I’m yours.”

He pulled out and dropped to his knees, suddenly colliding his mouth with your sopping cunt. You whined as your legs quivered. "Fuck, Ed—!"

He growled as he lapped at you hungrily. "So sweet,” you could barely make out his mumbled groan when it was spoken right against your wet skin.

You were amazed he had the patience to stop fucking you in the middle of that— amazed and slightly pissed. “Fuck me,” you begged, “c’mon, I said I’m yours— I meant it.”

“You’re gonna make me come too fast if you keep saying you’re mine,” he explained. “I don’t want it to end yet.”

“Well, we’re already out of time,” you noticed as you glanced at the clock, “I should be on by now… they’re probably looking for me.”

“Well, let’s help them find you,” he encouraged with one more lick up the seam of your cunt before he stood up and shoved his cock inside you roughly. His pace was faster after that, careless to the way he hit the end of you every time— except it wasn’t careless, it was intentional. "Uh huh, scream for my cock, it'll get your voice warmed up,” he encouraged with a smile.

“God, I’m way too close,” you groaned, toes curling inside your boots, back arching deeper even as he held your hips steady. “Don’t make fun of me for coming so fast… I’ve been waiting a long time for this.”

“I’m— Christ, I’m not in any place to judge, am I? M’gonna come too,” he promised, “inside you. Gonna let it all drip out of you while you’re playing your set.”

Imagining that was what pushed you over the edge, actually. “Eddie, I’m coming,” you sobbed, “fuck, I— don’t stop, don’t stop—”

“I’ll never stop, I’ll never fucking stop, I swear,” he grunted— and even though he stopped barely ten seconds later as his own orgasm hit him, you knew exactly what he meant.

You both caught your breath, and he held you close as his legs gave out— which meant you both fell onto the floor, but you hardly noticed; you just let him pull you closer as your eyes fluttered shut.

It was a beautiful, peaceful moment for exactly two seconds before someone banged on the door. “WE NEED YOU TO SET UP!!” a crew member bellowed through the wood.

“GIMME A MINUTE!” you screamed back, making Eddie laugh behind you— and you followed suit. “Not so romantic, huh?”

“Nah, it’s perfect,” he assured softly, running his fingers down your back. “I’m sorry I was mean.”

“I deserved it,” you sighed, “I’m sorry I left you in Indiana in 1985.”

He scoffed. “I deserved that, too.”

You relaxed as he pulled your back into his chest, kissing along your neck. “I’ve gotta get up and get myself together,” you reminded him.

“Okay,” he sighed, letting you go so you could awkwardly climb up and start pulling your pants back on.

He just laid on the floor and watched you for a second, before shoving his cock back in his own jeans and standing up to correct his button and fly.

You bent down to look in the vanity again, wiping under your eye to carefully remove the evidence of an eyeliner-stained tear.

"I fell in love with you back then," he said suddenly, and you smiled, though you didn’t turn around.

"When we met?" you assumed.

"Before that," he replied. You stood up this time and faced him, heart beating so hard it made you wonder if he could see your chest moving. "Before you even knew me, before I really knew you, I loved you. I worshiped you. And before you even took me for yourself, I was yours. I still am, baby— I'm still yours, and I always was."

“Do you still love me?” you asked hesitantly— only because you knew you were ready for a no.

“Yes,” he smiled, stepping closer to you, “of course.”

"I never stopped thinking about you," you promised quietly. "I never forgot you."

He grabbed your hands suddenly, holding them up with his between the two of you, and you stared at them before you looked up at his eyes instead, brimming with optimism just like you’d dreamed of him for years. "I'm not letting you leave me again," he insisted. "You know how good we are together. You know I'll always love you. C'mon and let me be yours, angel— I'm gonna love you so much you won't know what to do with yourself."

You smirked. "I think you're always mine, whether I let you or not."

"I think you wanna marry me."

You nearly choked, and you felt your cheeks burn but you tried to keep your cool. "Bold claim."

"What if I ask you now?"

"You got a ring?"

"Do I?" he snorted, pulling a skull off of his right middle finger and getting down on one knee as he brandished it for you. "I don't want anyone else. You don't need anyone else. No more of this ships in the night crap— us, forever."

"A skull? Not the most romantic."

"Oh, but it is," he grinned, "til death do us part, babe. It was almost four years ago I said I'd follow you anywhere, I meant it, and I'll follow you to the grave."

The sound tech banged loudly on the door again. "YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE ON TEN MINUTES AGO, THE CROWD'S GONNA REVOLT," he bellowed.

"I need to play my set, Eddie," you reminded the man on his knee before you.

"Then play," he agreed, "and give me your answer after the encore."

You leaned down and kissed him, more gently than you’d allowed yourself before. “I will,” you promised.

You dashed out of the dressing room and towards the stage, a thousand people swarming around you to put your earpiece in, fling your guitar around your shoulder, brush powder over your face— and in a whirlwind of a few seconds, you were right there in front of the crowd, your band surrounding you. The crowd cheered, and your heart swelled; I’ve still got it.

“Good evening, Indianapolis!” you greeted through the microphone, and the roar grew. “Are we having fun tonight?”

It was easy, but it worked, and they applauded and whooped excitedly.

“How was that opener?” you prompted, and they cheered again. “Is it just me or was that frontman kinda cute?”

A more feminine cheer answered as if to say, it’s not just you.

“Hope you like this first song,” was your simple introduction before the drummer counted you off and you all began to play.

All in all, it was a great show. Crowd was good, band killed it (as always), and aside from a moment of feedback from one of the speakers, it all went pretty much perfectly. And that was all in spite of your mind being totally overwhelmed with thoughts of Eddie. Normally, music cleared your head, but nothing could keep your thoughts from everything that had just happened— and not even just that! You were thinking about that first night, about how young he was then; about when you called him and he stayed on with you until you fell asleep so you wouldn’t have to spend another night alone; about when he first looked at you backstage half an hour ago, holding onto his guitar, surrounded by girls but looking at you like you were the only woman in the world.

Shows always went by fast, especially when they went this well, but this one seemed to go by in a moment— and there you were, waiting in the dark, hearing them chant.

Encore, encore, encore!

You were about to go back out, but you smiled to yourself as you grabbed a stage manager by the sleeve. "Get me the lead guitarist for Corroded Coffin— bring him out on stage."

"Now?"

"Now."

He ran off to search for Eddie, and you turned to your bassist, Alex: “Think we’ve made ‘em wait long enough?”

Jerome answered instead. “Everybody knows you like to tease,” he smirked.

True, but not as true as it used to be. “Let’s go back,” you announced, hearing a roar of applause wash onto the stage as the musicians took the stage once more.

"We missed you," you offered into the mic, hearing the crowd cheer. "Want us to play one more?"

They screamed again, almost deafeningly, and you laughed. You glanced over at the side of the stage and felt your heart melt just at the sight of Eddie there, the stage manager getting him ready to go out.

"I've got someone I want you guys to meet first," you explained. "An old friend of mine. You know him best as the guy who rocked the fuck out of this place before I came on…"

As they figured out who you were talking about, their applause restored.

"If you don't mind, I'd like him to come out and play this song with me."

Of course, that only made them more excited. I’ll show you rock and roll history, boys and girls.

You motioned for him to come out, and he walked on with a smile and a wave to the encouraging crowd. "But I want you to know something else about him,” you continued as he grabbed one of your guitars and put it on, fiddling with it for a second to make sure he knew the sound and feel of the instrument. “He's not just the hottest new sound in metal, and he's not just a heartthrob—"

The girls cheered louder at that.

"He's also—" you glanced at him, standing beside you at the other microphone, smiling back at you with slight confusion. You took a deep breath in and out, surprised at how shaky it was. You didn't think you got nervous anymore. "He's also my fiancé."

You expected a huge reaction to that, but there was a pause first— a stillness that said, did we just hear that right?

Time seemed to slow down as you stepped up to him. The crowd was frozen, and silent, and then they were gone. Your band was gone, the crew was gone, it was just you and him in an empty stadium.

When you were in front of him, his eyes blinking at you, his smile soft and patient, you reached up and held his cheek. "I promised I wouldn't forget you, Eddie," you whispered. "Believe it or not, I tried. But I couldn’t— because I love you."

He smiled back wider. "I love you too," he returned. "Wanna get married?"

You laughed a bit. "Okay," you answered flippantly, and he pulled you into a sudden, powerful kiss.

Then the crowd was back, and louder than ever. You felt Eddie's hand take yours, squeezing it before gently slipping the skull ring on your finger. Yes, it was a little big, but it would do for now.

You returned to the mic with a smile as you addressed the crowd again. "We're gonna play a song for you all, it's called Pretty Boy. Do you know that one, Eddie?"

"I think I can keep up," he answered into his own microphone with a smirk.

"Then let's show 'em how good we are together," you decided, turning over your shoulder to make eye contact with the drummer as you counted off: "one, two, three, four!"

#eddie munson x reader #eddie munson smut #eddie munson fic #eddie munson x female reader #eddie munson x you

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ponett · 5 months

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Bobby's 2023 Media Wrap-Up

So! Like I said before, this past year I kept a running list of everything I watched, every game I finished, every new album I listened to, etc., and wrote one-paragraph blurbs with my thoughts on every single one. Please enjoy this journey through everything I liked, or didn't like, in 2023, with my favorites of the year listed at the bottom.

(Yes! This is long!!)

Some notes:

I mainly only included things I finished. Exceptions are marked with an asterisk.

I included some YouTube stuff as "TV shows" - mostly particularly long, high effort video essays and documentaries.

I was a bit less adventurous than I'd like to have been this year. Part of this was just that I felt like I was constantly playing catch-up with Big Releases I felt obligated to check out, and part of this was just executive dysfunction from burnout. Wait until you see how long it took me to beat Mario Wonder lmao

Yes, I need to read more books. I don't read a lot of books these days. I need to get back to Discworld.

COLOR KEY

Video Games • TV / Web Video • Movies • Comics • Music

January

1/15: Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn (MSQ) - Very slow at times, the Primal shit is generally extremely lame to me outside of the boss fights themselves, but god if the quality of life improvements over WoW, the JRPG energy, and the fact that it Actually Has A Story carry it pretty hard.

1/18: Sonic the Hedgehog: Scrapnik Island miniseries - One of the most creative and compelling uses of the Sonic IP… ever? Fantastic little self-contained arc about the struggles of Eggman’s abandoned creations that gracefully weaves between heartfelt optimism and moody horror with some of the best art ever seen in a Sonic comic.

1/18: Mega Man X4 - Glad I finally actually beat this after never even beating any of the Mavericks as a kid! I can see why it’s a lot of peoples’ favorites. The gameplay has very little of that X series bloat and is just fun, especially after getting X’s armor upgrades. (But the story really is a long series of missed opportunities.)

February

2/2: Donks - Felix Colgrave continues to be an exceptional artist. The sound design on this is fantastic and really sells this short as something unique. Had to go back and watch his older stuff again after this.

2/4: Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward (3.0 - 3.3 MSQ) - I get it now. I get why people say this is just a proper mainline Final Fantasy game built into the framework of an MMO. That shit ruled. Not even walking back the drama in Ul’Dah from the end of ARR can sour me on it because the main storyline was so strong.

2/8: Disneyland's Forgotten Sci-Fi Rock Band - Live From the Space Stage - A nice and honest tribute to a group of artists who could have easily been forgotten. In hindsight this feels like a precursor to Kevin’s Disney Channel jingle video, a tribute to the unsung artists pouring their hearts into “lesser” art for a megacorporation, art that was designed to be transient but sticks with people nonetheless.

2/9: Metroid Prime Remastered* - Not gonna finish because I just played through the Wii version in 2021, but still. Very, very pretty remaster.

2/16: Theatrhythm Final Bar Line - It’s more Theatrhythm. What more could I want

2/17: JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean (anime) - Probably the best part of the anime so far (assuming they continue on to SBR). A near perfect mix of the more structured plot of part 5 with the goofiness of parts 3 and 4 that crescendos into a fantastic, bombastic, emotional, bittersweet ending. The use of footage from the original opening and the new ending set to Roundabout in the finale were perfect, and made me intensely nostalgic for the early days of my JoJo fandom between seasons 1 and 2 of the anime.

2/22: Aggretsuko Season 5 - I don’t really know what to make of this one. Once you get past the agonizing initial arc all about Haida where Retsuko has to be his overbearing mommy GF who flips out and starts spying on him when she’s left on read and chides him when he misbehaves, it feels like an improvement over the previous seasons. But I don’t know how much of that is due to the extremely low bar set by season 4. And then the ending is extremely rushed and anticlimactic. They got legally married and the only acknowledgement was a shot of them signing the paperwork in a montage partway through the final episode?????????

2/24: Double Fine PsychOdyssey - God, what a journey the making of this game was. I already loved 2 Player’s past efforts at documenting Double Fine’s process, but this takes it to a whole new level. This feels culturally significant. The depth and honesty with which they depict not just the nitty gritty of making a game, but also the inherent struggles of working on a collaborative creative work for years at a time, is astounding. Not to mention that they were there to capture the shift from office life to remote work as COVID hit. So much of this would have been nightmarishly stressful to watch if I didn’t already know how successful the game was, but that’s just because they really didn’t sugarcoat it. And yet even after all that, it leaves me feeling optimistic about video games as an art form in a way that the constant headlines about cynical live service games don’t. There are still people out there pouring their hearts into making real art, and this is their story. Everyone who plays video games should watch this.

2/25: Cracker Island (Gorillaz) - New Gorillaz albums feel like less of an event these days, but after Humanz it feels like they’re just more chill with the project and their ambitions with it. Every couple years we get some more laid back jams from Damon along with some fun new collabs. Hard to complain. Favorite track: New Gold

2/25: Pool Kids (Pool Kids) - I discovered this band because Derek knows them and was excited when they got a song added to Fortnite through the Bandcamp collab. Always down to find more cool indie rock bands I can vibe with. The mix of dreamy vocals and energetic riffs on some of the tracks here almost fill the Crying-shaped hole in my heart. Almost… Favorite track: Conscious Uncoupling

2/25: Insane in the Rain (insaneintherainmusic) - I thought it was really funny timing when Carlos announced that his first original project would be a jazz fusion album inspired by acts like T-Square and Casiopea right as I was getting into those two specific bands. The final product does not disappoint. Favorite track: Insane in the Rain

2/26: Get Up Sequences Part Two (The Go! Team) - I’ve never been one to believe that a band’s sound has to remain exactly the same forever, but it really does hit you hard that the first two tracks here sound like classic The Go! Team. Their more recent cleaner sound is still here too, though, for a nice mix of old and new. Favorite track: Divebomb

2/28: Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury (Season 1) - Oh my god. Oh my god. I got distracted around the time I was finishing SLARPG, but finally catching up now, wow. My assumption that the seemingly lighter tone of the series compared to the prologue was there to lull us into a false sense of security before twisting the knife when war finally breaks out was spot on. This is peak Gundam.

March

3/4: Pizza Tower - One of the best platformers I’ve played in a long time. It transcends its blatant Wario Land inspirations with the sheer speed at which Peppino can move and the way things like the level design, his wall running, and even the hidden ability to do a second lap around the level reward getting into a flow state where you’re just constantly moving. This is the type of game that wants to turn you into a speedrunner. My only real complaint is a few iffy enemy designs that I wish would get patched.

3/6: Bloons TD 6 * - I bought this before bed one night on a nostalgic whim and then the next morning woke up and saw the Steam receipt email on my phone in one of the most “what did I do last night” moments of my life. I like when the monkeys pop the balloons.

3/7: The Book of Boba Fett - I put off finishing this show for a very long time but finally caved upon the release of The Mandalorian season 3. This show spends four episodes failing to make me give a shit about Boba Fett trying to be “the daimyo” and drive the drug trade off of Tatooine, then just gives up and becomes season 2.5 of Mando, which in turn feels like it undercuts the main series. It fails as both its own story and as a spinoff. I know that finishing this after Andor did it no favors, but WHOOF.

3/12: Obi-Wan Kenobi - Some interesting ideas in the first half hinting at a more introspective show, but it’s mostly swept aside in the back half so it can become a generic Star Wars adventure remixing things from A New Hope and Rebels (and apparently Jedi: Fallen Order). Action scenes have zero stakes because you know nothing can happen to any of the returning characters and none of the new ones are particularly interesting. Why there’s a second climax hinging on a Luke Skywalker death fakeout eludes me. Obi-Wan throwing the rocks at Vader is one of the funniest things in Star Wars history. But it was still better than Book of Boba Fett, I guess.

3/19: The King of Braves GaoGaiGar - Wow, cool robot indeed… GaoGaiGar isn’t going to blow anyone away with its writing, but sometimes you just need a really fun monster of the week mecha show with great action and lovably goofy characters. This is a show where like 20% of every episode consists of recycled transformation, combination, and signature attack sequences and I ate it up every time because they look fucking cool as hell. I don’t care. I’d watch Final Fusion another 49 times.

3/21: The Last of Us (HBO) * - Watched the first two episodes out of curiosity, but I’m not sure if I’ll continue because I don’t give a shit about The Last of Us. It’s definitely a well done adaptation, though, even if I know it’s inevitably going to devolve into miserable torture porn with questionable politics if they adapt Part II faithfully. The ending of episode 2 also lines up perfectly with where I stopped in the game in 2013 lmao

3/27: The Future is a Dead Mall - Decentraland and the Metaverse (Folding Ideas) - Another banger from Dan Olson. This time the premise inherently gives him more time to just show off a bunch of stupid ugly bullshit made by crypto guys, which is fun. My main complaint was that I wished he would’ve brought up Second Life more as a point of comparison (a thing I basically always want out of discussion of “the metaverse”), but he at least did touch on it in the last section.

3/31: The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog - I can’t believe after years of begging for the supporting cast to get more and better material in a Sonic game I got my wish in the form of a freeware murder mystery VN released for April Fools. This kicked ass.

April

4/7: Berserk - Completed Miura’s run and caught up on the chapters that have been released posthumously. It’s hard to say anything that hasn’t been said about Berserk, universally agreed upon as one of the greats of manga and fantasy fiction as a whole. What begins in its first few volumes as a nihilistic and edgy action comic built to facilitate as much sex and gore as possible quickly evolves into something deeply human and vulnerable and beautiful, both figuratively and in terms of its lavish art. The world sucks and is immeasurably cruel, and you will see that cruelty illustrated in graphic, sickening detail repeatedly throughout the series. (Perhaps a little too often throughout the Golden Age, where it feels like Miura never misses an opportunity to threaten Casca with sexual assault mid-battle.) But the point isn’t to wallow in that misery. It’s the story of a victim of horrific abuse learning to slowly open up to others, having those people he cares about torn away from him in the worst night of his life, hardening himself into a cold killing machine, and then slowly learning to open back up again, even if it means leaving himself vulnerable to more hurt. Anyone who says that the series peaked with the eclipse and went downhill in the “Guts’ JRPG Party” era is missing the point. Guts needed to find new people in his life to care about, to begin to find happiness again. Because no matter what unspeakable things Guts has gone through, it’s still possible for him to heal and to be loved. It takes time, but eventually you stop and realize that life has moved on.

4/8: Dedede’s Drum Dash Deluxe - Skipped it upon release because I didn’t particularly care for the minigame in Triple Deluxe, and I didn’t miss much. It’s fine as a little distraction, but not as a standalone rhythm game with only seven songs. If you don’t bother with the hard modes or chase after high scores this game is 15 minutes long. Oh how I yearn for Kirby to get the Theatrhythm treatment.

4/10: The King of Braves: GaoGaiGar FINAL - Eh… It was okay. Lots of cool robot fights, but said fights are stitched together with a mediocre plot that tries too hard to be more “mature” than its unabashedly schlocky kids’ show predecessor. Not crazy about the ending, either, which tries to be a bittersweet farewell closing off the series once and for all while also teasing that maybe there’ll be ANOTHER sequel after the OVA series they literally called “FINAL.” Ah well.

4/11: The Owl House - Sad to see this one go, but it’s hard to imagine them doing a better finale than this, even if they had gotten the six seasons they deserved. I’m not as obsessed with The Owl House as I probably would’ve been had it come out when I was, like, 20, but it’s a really fantastic show for all the reasons people always say. Great characters, great world, great story. I love that this starry-eyed fantasy story about a teenager finding love and a place where she belongs is also set on the rotting corpse of a titan with Hieronymous Bosch-inspired scenery and freaky monsters everywhere. What a great mix. If anything, I just wish I would’ve watched the first season as it aired so I could’ve had more time with it.

4/29: Mega Man Battle Network 3: Blue Version - FINALLY beat this via the new collection, 20 years after playing it as my first Mega Man game. (Technically my first was White, not Blue, but whatever.) There are more annoyances than I remember - lots of really really bad forced backtracking sections where you have to revisit every previous part of the internet, low chip drop rates, some really aggravating bosses like BubbleMan and KingMan, etc. But it’s still a great time overall. It’s Battle Network. In the back half the story gets surprisingly emotional, too. I was always under the assumption that the Hub stuff never came back up much in the story after 1, so I was pleasantly surprised with how relevant it was to the emotional arc of 3.

4/30: Mega Man Battle Network 4: Red Sun * - Yeah I’m not playing through the whole thing lmao. I just wanted to play the first couple hours for nostalgia’s sake, and as a baseline for how much better the rest are. Even before getting deep in the game and having to deal with all the shit gated between doing two new game+ playthroughs, it’s immediately obvious how much of a downgrade this one is. Tons of glaring errors and typos all over the script, blander music, a way more boring aesthetic for the internet, and a premise that mostly just recycles the tournament idea from 3.

May

5/14: The Venture Bros. - Glad I finally sat down and watched all of this with Anthony after having seen one (1) episode as a teenager and a bunch of random clips in the years since. Great show. Some jokes in the early seasons haven’t aged gracefully, but what the show grows into over time... man. Hank and Dean go from being the butt of the joke to being characters you actually sympathize with - while still also being funny little goofballs. And the journey Henchman 21 goes on throughout the show. Man. Amazing that a comedy like this could run for 20 years and maintain its level of quality. Can’t wait for the movie.

5/18: Future Me Hates Me (The Beths) - Okay yeah I’m now just discovering bands through Fortnite lmao. I can’t complain really, they pick some really great indie artists for the in-game radio stations. Anyway: It’s very easy to win me over with a combination of energetic power pop, catchy guitar riffs, and earnest lyrics like this. One of those albums where three or four tracks in I know I have to buy it. Favorite track: Not Running

5/18: Jump Rope Gazers (The Beths) - Ditto. Favorite track: Dying to Believe

5/18: Expert In A Dying Field (The Beths) - Another good album. (I’m listening to these in release order.) I’ve been a bit slower to warm up to this one, initially thinking it was a little too mellow overall, but it might be my favorite after a few listens. Some real high highs. Interestingly, the lead singer’s New Zealand accent is also coming out more in her singing? Favorite track: Your Side (or maybe Head in the Clouds)

5/19: The Super Mario Bros. Movie - As a Mario fan, I think I enjoyed it? As a movie, less so? It was decent, in spite of feeling like they came up with a list of fun action setpieces first and then wrote the absolute bare minimum possible for the story scenes tying it all together. Full thoughts here. (This is the first movie I’ve seen this year, huh? I really don’t watch a lot of movies.)

5/23: Don't Know What You're In Until You're Out (Gladie) - I feel like I don’t like Gladie as much as I should. Their style of noisy indie rock is very much in my wheelhouse, and I do enjoy listening to them, but I dunno. Maybe it’s that the particular style of vocals makes it more monotonous to me. A good album nonetheless, if not 100% my thing. Favorite track: Nothing

5/24: City Slicker (Ginger Root) - Yes I am still making my way through Bandcamp artists I heard on Fortnite don’t @ me. Any excuse to get me to listen to some cool city pop-inspired funk like this is a good excuse. Favorite track: Loretta

5/24: Rikki (Ginger Root) - Favorite track: Why Try

5/25: Spotlight People (Ginger Root) - Favorite track: The Classic

5/29: Succession - A good dramedy series that increasingly focuses more on the drama than the comedy as it progresses, but it’s hard to complain about that since the drama is so compellingly produced. I enjoyed it. That being said, I kind of rankle at the claims that it’s The Greatest TV Show Of All Time. It’s great, don’t get me wrong. Amazing performances all around. But the show LOVES to spin its wheels, to repeat itself, and to let most of its interesting dramatic developments fizzle out before anything really comes of them, almost as if the show is constantly getting bored with its own ideas. To some extent this is intentional - Logan Roy is the untouchable billionaire, his kids fail at everything (but will nonetheless remain billionaires), and in the long run none of them really give a shit about anything other than their own status. But it’s not like things tend to visibly impact anyone else, either, be they supporting characters or the world at large. Even the Big Scary Election, where the Roy siblings are directly responsible for plunging the nation into chaos, ultimately has zero impact on the finale a mere two episodes later. Certain Other Things do have an impact in the last season, though, allowing things to meaningfully change for the cast and for the show to sit with the ensuing drama, which has stopped me from souring on Succession more. There was finally a payoff for something. But it does still kind of feel like a show that goes in circles until it’s ready to call it quits, even if those circles did contain a lot of great acting and music along the way.

5/29: Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts - I’d watched the first 12 episodes when they originally released, but I guess the Netflix binge release and the fact that all three “seasons” came out in one year led to me waiting until it finished… and then I just never got around to finishing it. Glad I fixed that! Really fun and stylish cartoon with an art style reminiscent of Teen Titans, a hip hop-filled soundtrack, dynamic fight scenes, and a colorful post-apocalyptic world filled with mutant (mostly anthropomorphic) animals. I’ll admit that at times I do kinda roll my eyes at Kipo’s unshakeable belief that everyone can be friends in a way that I don’t necessarily with similar shows like Steven Universe, and not every joke lands, but I dunno. It’s a kids’ show. That’s to be expected. It doesn’t detract from the overall package for me.

June

6/1: Craig of the Creek (Season 4) - It’s been years and I’m still processing the fact that kids can turn on Cartoon Network and hear Jeff Rosenstock. Anyway! Craig continues to be one of the best cartoons on TV, consistently funny and creative and way more engaging than a show about a bunch of kids LARPing in the woods has any right to be. This season turned into One Piece with the gang effectively hunting down the Poneglyphs in search of a legendary treasure. The kids think it’ll be magic. It isn't. An increasing number of cartoon logic gags aside, this show is firmly set in the real world. Does that make it any less interesting? Hell no. Season 3 turned a game of capture the flag into an all-out five episode war between the heroes and villains, filled with dramatic turnabouts and a climactic guest appearance from Del the Funky Homosapien. I’m sure however they wrap things up in the (sadly shortened) final season, it’ll be great. (Also? I would watch a whole show based on that “what if” episode that jumped forward to everyone’s 20s.)

6/6: Barry - Holy shit, what a show. I ended up binging it in less than a week in a cycle of “okay, just one more episode.” The way this show is able to swing between tones and genres while still feeling like a cohesive whole is truly masterful. It’s a layered character drama, a tragic crime thriller, a farcical comedy, an understated action series, a surrealist morality play, and a scathing satire of Hollywood, all in one. Even within the criminal underworld subplots the show ranges in tone from Breaking Bad to Paddington 2. And it works! While the show naturally gets bleaker over time as it confronts the repercussions of Barry’s murders, it never completely loses sight of its comedic roots. My favorite episode was easily season 2’s “ronny/lily,” a mostly self-contained episode that somehow manages to keep throwing the perfect curveballs to escalate its dark comedy.

6/12: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (Extended Edition) - Y’all heard of this movie? Pretty good, it turns out. (I’d seen the theatrical cut before, but this was my first time watching the extended edition. I’ve also only seen parts of the other two movies, so it’s time I finally watch all the extended cuts. The Gollum game pushed me to this.)

6/13: The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (Extended Edition) - give it to us RAW and WRIGGLING

6/17: The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Extended Edition) - I’m not crying YOU’RE crying

6/22: Clone High (Season 2) - While the first episode being about “cancel culture” (or, more accurately, a teenager from 2003 being transported to 2023 and putting his foot in his mouth a lot) put a lot of people off, I ended up enjoying the new season of Clone High. The new clones grew on me as the season went on and their roles in the web of teen romance melodrama crystalized, and it made me laugh a lot, and Cleo/Frida is galaxy brained. Also they played one of my favorite Antarctigo Vespucci songs like a minute into the first episode. I don’t think I could really ask for much more.

6/28: The Mandalorian (Season 3) - I'd been watching this weekly but put off the last episode for no real reason. Responses to this season have been all over the place, but my blistering hot take is… it was fine. Is it as good as the first season? Probably not. But Mando no longer needs to carry the whole franchise on its shoulders and set the bar for how good the live action Disney Star Wars shows can be, because Andor exists, and it’s never gonna top Andor. The Mandalorian is free to just be a pulpy space adventure show where Giancarlo Esposito plays a scenery-chewing cartoon villain and a little puppet does wire stunts. These are things Andor cannot and should not do, but that’s Star Wars, baby. It’s delightful. I could watch Grogu get underhand tossed like a sack of flour all day.

July

7/2: Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury (Season 2) - LOVE WINS. (More nuanced take from way later: It definitely feels like a lot of the more messy political conflicts in this show got swept aside by the big final battle where some more easily resolved family conflicts take center stage. I’m not sure the ending is the most satisfying. But also this show only got half the episode count that damn near every other Gundam show ever made got, so that might be a factor here. Idk. Still one of my favorite Gundams.)

7/4: Final Fantasy XVI (watched Anthony play) - I had to write my longest Medium article ever about this one because I was so frustrated

7/10: Home Movies - “Things I like that I’ve never seen in full” has certainly been a recurring theme this year. Home Movies remains an all-time classic of animated comedy that went out on a high note before things got stale or the characters became parodies of themselves. While it’s mostly known for its funny improvised banter, throughout the last season you can really see the arc where Brendon no longer enjoys making movies, yet he feels obligated to keep using them to escape from the real world. In that light, the ending where the nature of their dysfunctional makeshift family is cemented, Brendon’s camera suddenly breaks, and life moves on really does feel like the perfect note to end on. Truly one of the best to ever do it.

7/15: The Legend of Zelda - Tears of the Kingdom - Wow. Just… wow. I had serious doubts about TotK in the months leading up to release due to how close Nintendo was playing their cards to their chest. I didn’t want this to be a Saints Row IV, where the game is fun enough but the recycled map makes it feel like a rehash. Instead, I found a game that made me look at BotW’s map in a whole new light, brimming with so many more things to do and people to meet. Add on a better, more versatile set of tools, more varied dungeons and bosses, and a story that I felt was told somewhat better and we’ve got a real contender for my new favorite Zelda game. It was hard to tear myself away, but as this list shows, it’s been basically the only game I’ve played since it came out.

7/16: Sonic Prime (Season 2) - I liked the parts with Shadow and Chaos Sonic, but I’ve come to the sad conclusion that most of this show is just mediocre. More thoughts here.

7/18: We ♥ Katamari Reroll + Royal Reverie - “I’m a dog, but I love Katamari Damacy.” Truer words have never been spoken.

7/19: Transformers: Rise of the Beasts - Pretty good! It didn’t blow me away, but after how bad the Bay movies got I’m just thankful to have a decently cohesive Transformers movie where the human story is okay and I like the bots (although half of them needed more screen time), even if it is just another Hollywood blockbuster about two sides fighting over a macguffin that devolves into a big CGI battle against an army of nameless monsters in the third act. This is basically a mid-tier MCU movie but with Transformers, which won’t do much for most people, but again: the bar was underground.

7/22: The Venture Bros.: Radiant is the Blood of the Baboon Heart - God DAMN. A phenomenal ending for the series. While I would have loved to see a full final season to get some more one-off episodes in there, this doesn’t feel creatively compromised in any way–either due to the time constraints, or due to a desire to make it more marketable as a movie. It really does feel like they just took their outlines for the canceled final season and gently massaged them into the shape of an 84-minute movie, and I mean that in the best possible way. It’s completely on par with the previous seasons. A hilarious and fitting sendoff for one of the greats of adult animation.

7/23: Beautiful Katamari - This was one of my first Xbox 360 games, but a frustrating temperature-based level made me put it down for 16 years. “Maybe it won’t be as bad now that I’ve beaten the first two games and am better at Katamari,” I thought. Nope! Still an absolutely dogshit level. But also, turns out the whole game is only like two hours long lmao. It’s still Katamari, so it’s still fun - the final level in particular, which seamlessly takes you from ground level all the way to space, feels like a logical endpoint for the series - but beyond that it just doesn't have the same soul without Keita Takahashi's input.

August

8/4: Doom Singer (Chris Farren) - I’ve been waiting so long for Chris and Jeff to do another Antarctigo Vespucci album, but god damn. This is the best of Chris’s solo work, and a contender for his best record, period. Every track’s a banger, with more energy than some of his previous solo work but also a good deal of variety. Favorite tracks: First Place, Cosmic Leash

8/4: Transformers Earthspark (Season 1) - This show had a bit of an uneven start, unsure if it wanted to have the emotional maturity of a more serious action cartoon or a preschool cartoon where the characters have little kid mood swings and outbursts and learn basic lessons. It also felt like it was speedrunning its Wholesome Found Family Dynamic with characters who just met, which didn’t feel earned. While these problems never completely go away (see: the cheap and corny way the otherwise very dark season finale suddenly resolves), the show improves quickly, and the positives outweigh the negatives. It’s so great to have a Transformers cartoon that feels fresh, giving us a post-war setting with a bunch of new characters and new dynamics between the Cybertronians and the humans. The returning characters are also uniformly great as the old veterans overseeing the new generation. (Reformed Megatron! Danny Pudi as Bumblebee! Steve Blum returning as Starscream! Keith David as Grimlock!!!) And those super dynamic action scenes! I can nitpick, but Earthspark’s a ton of fun, and easily the best new Transformers cartoon since Prime and Animated.

8/5: Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective (remaster) - Everyone who told me this game was a masterpiece was right. I had played the first chapter when it dropped as the demo for the iOS version years ago, but never went further than that until now. What a game. Absolutely incredible through and through. Great story, great twists, great characters, great puzzles, great art direction. Everything comes together so perfectly to form a totally unique, unforgettable package, a top tier video game murder mystery. Everyone should play this, preferably going in as blind as possible.

8/15: It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (Season 16) - Wow! Recent seasons of Sunny have been kind of up and down, with some interesting experiments (Mac Finds His Pride, the Ireland arc, etc.) paired with some comedic duds. Most of this latest season is standard fare for the series with fewer big creative swings, but it’s just hit after hit in terms of comedy. Not a single dud, whether we’re seeing Mac and Dennis try to start a rental business for inflatable furniture or watching the gang meet Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul, believing the entire time that the latter is Malcolm from Malcolm in the Middle. Even the attempts at topical comedy landed better. Easily the funniest season in years.

8/16: One Piece Film Gold - It’s easy to see why this one has kind of been forgotten in the wake of Stampede and Film Red, which revolve around established fan favorite characters, but this was still pretty fun. Perhaps a little too long, but it’s fun to see the Straw Hats fool around in a giant casino and do a heist. They definitely cranked the fanservice up even more than usual in this one, though, as I probably should have expected for a movie made alongside the anime’s adaptation of Dressrosa.

8/17: One Piece: Stampede - This one goes for a different kind of fanservice. While most One Piece movies are isolated from the ongoing plot and its expanded cast of characters, Stampede instead asks “What if we just put damn near every active character on the same island and had them fight?” The answer: a fun time! It would get old if all of the movies were like this, but after a bunch of movies that are just like “the Straw Hats are gonna land on another new island and fight some more weird guys” it’s fun to see characters like Law and Buggy and Smoker get in on the fun. It’s also nice to get a movie with the Wano era art style, and Usopp surprisingly gets some really good character moments in here.

8/18: One Piece Film Red - This really is the best of the One Piece movies, huh? (Baron Omatsuri is a close second.) It really feels like a change of pace after the last four with the most interesting and emotionally engaging story out of any of them. And even if the events of these movies are never canon, it still feels significant in my understanding of Shanks as a character as we move into the final phase of the manga.

8/21: Pikmin 4 - The opening hour of the game made me really question if they’d changed too much, with all the focus on your new dog unit over your Pikmin and the extremely dull, drawn out dialogue scenes with your new companions back at the base. But once I got into the swing of things I had a blast. This is probably my new favorite Pikmin game. There’s a great mix of activities here to keep things fresh. I also really ended up liking Oatchi’s role as basically your second captain who can also serve as your tank or a rideable mount. The Dandori stuff and nighttime missions in particular show off how useful Oatchi is for your multitasking without necessarily overshadowing the Pikmin.

8/22: Never Get Tired: The Bomb the Music Industry! Story - I literally backed this on Kickstarter eight years ago (my name is in the credits!) and then never got around to watching it for no reason. It’s on YouTube now, and Jeff’s got a new album out next week, so now feels like the perfect time to watch it. And man… what a great documentary. Obviously I’m just a fan of the band, but this also really spoke to me as an artist. Jeff wanting to stick to his principles and give out his music for free and play cheap all ages shows, his discomfort over the idea of selling merch, and the struggles that come with not playing the game like that… It's hard. They readily admit that Jeff is an idealist, that people fight him on this stuff, that he’s missed out on some big opportunities because of these stances, and that he’s had to compromise a bit on some of these things over time. But that incredible climax with their final show, including a full opening performance of the slowly building “Campaign for a Better Next Weekend” and the closing performance of “Future 86” where the whole audience is singing along as the members of the band are hugging and crying… it’s beautiful. This may have been a band where the members had to go back to their shitty day jobs after every tour because they weren’t selling out arenas, but their art meant something to people, and that makes it all worth it.

8/25: Nimona - I haven’t read the original comic (yet), so I can’t compare them too much, but it’s nonetheless pretty apparent that some things were softened and easy kids’ movie jokes were added by the studio to squeeze this graphic novel for teens into a PG animated movie. Regardless, the emotional throughline hits REALLY hard, particularly the very blatant trans allegory and the climax. (It’s no wonder Disney was afraid of this movie seeing the light of day lmao.) The animation is also very squishy and fun to watch throughout. Great movie.

8/26: Puss in Boots: The Last Wish - Spider-Verse really has done so much for animation, huh? This one was as good as everyone said. Beautiful use of stylized color and lighting throughout, and every time this movie very conspicuously shifted to different framerates for a flashy fight scene it owned. Very cute and heartwarming story, too, which thankfully gave its second act plenty of time to explore the cast and let them go on their journey, unlike a certain plumber movie that came out a few months later. Also I would let Death [redacted]

8/28: Holocure: Save the Fans! - This isn't really something I can beat, but I've been addicted to Holocure lately. I don't even watch VTubers aside from maybe seeing a funny Korone animation every now and then, this is just a really, really good freeware Vampire Survivors clone with a huge roster of varied characters to pick from.

8/31: HELLMODE (Jeff Rosenstock) - A new album from Jeff is always a major event for me. If there were any worries that he was starting to go soft at 40 (because one of the three singles off this album was a gentle acoustic piece), the frantic opening of this album put those worries to rest. The first two tracks are Jeff screaming out for help as he’s pulled in a million directions by the chaotic state of the world, a theme that becomes the thesis of the album. I’d say it lags slightly in the middle, but overall this is another extremely well-rounded record full of bangers that’s unapologetically Jeff, with possibly my favorite closing track he’s ever done. Favorite tracks: I WANNA BE WRONG, 3 SUMMERS

September

9/3: One Piece (live action, Season 1) - They did it. I can’t believe it, but they did it. While I have my nitpicks (Usopp and Sanji don’t get enough big moments to shine), this is an extremely solid and faithful adaptation of the first few arcs of One Piece with a great cast. For the most part the changes feel smart and logical, and the big emotional beats of the story are all there and executed very well. I doubted it a little in episodes 2-4, where the Orange Town and Syrup Village arcs saw some major changes to shift the action indoors, and the increased focus on the drama in favor of repeating every gag and battle from the manga 1:1 took a bit of getting used to, but by the end I was having a blast. It’s a different take on One Piece, but it still feels like One Piece. Genuinely very excited for season 2.

9/4: Pseudoregalia - A great little N64-style 3D Metroidvania focused on platforming and very satisfying movement. I always love entries in the genre that are less prescriptive in what order you have to tackle areas in, a la Symphony of the Night or Hollow Knight, and this one’s great in that regard. While there are a number of new moves to find, most of the map is open to you very early in the game, and smart use of your moveset can allow you to “sequence break” without even realizing it. (You would not believe how long I went without getting the wall run.) I do wish it had a map, but that’s already being patched in.

9/6: Bomb Rush Cyberfunk * - Not a bad game at all, but I quickly remembered how bad I am at skating games, so like… eh? Not sure I have much desire to play past chapter 2. Also the soundtrack is sadly kinda hit or miss for me outside of the obvious Naganuma tunes.

9/9: The History of the Minnesota Vikings (Dorktown) - Jon Bois never misses. Even as someone who doesn’t actively follow sports, Jon Bois is a master storyteller, using graphs and statistics and funny anecdotes to explore these deeply human stories. He can convey why people care so much about these teams, these people, and sports in general, and how our popular sports reflect on American culture. He could tell the story of just about any team or player in any sport and I just know I’ll come out the other side a misty-eyed fan. And what a fascinating cast of characters we have this time, with origin stories for everything from the Hail Mary pass to a Minnesota state supreme court judge to the Griddy. Nine hours well spent.

9/10: Timespinner - A fun and highly polished Metroidvania that maybe doesn’t quite have enough of its own identity in its quest to replicate Symphony of the Night…but also, like, this was pitched as a Symphony throwback on KickStarter in a pre-Bloodstained, pre-Hollow Knight world, so I can’t really blame ‘em! Stopping time to avoid boss attacks is fun, the pixel art is gorgeous, and I liked the dark science fantasy story about warring empires and meddling with time a lot more than I thought I would - lore journal text dumps and all.

9/14: The Decay of Sam & Cat (Quinton Reviews) - All the stuff at the end with Matt Bennett (the actor who played Robbie on Victorious and Sam & Cat) in this was really good and sweet. It’s that kind of thing that makes these videos feel like they’re still worthwhile on some level. But the padding and the things Quinton chooses to spend the colossal runtime on does drive me more and more insane with each passing Nick sitcom video. I don’t know how much longer he can keep this schtick up. I hope he’s able to move on to other things before too terribly long instead of continuing to extend this “miniseries.”

9/19: Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales - AKA Insomniac’s Marvel’s Spider-Man 1.5. It’s fun for the same reasons Peter’s first game was fun. I had a good time swinging around New York again in preparation for the sequel, and there’s a lot of cute stuff with Miles becoming Harlem’s neighborhood hero, but WOW did the Underground v. Roxxon conflict fall flat for me.

9/20: I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson - I understand so many posts now.

9/25: Spider-Man (2002) (rewatch) - It’s you who’s out, Gobby! OUT OF YOUR MIND!

9/25: Futurama (Season 8) - I was ready to be a hater, recalling the fact that Futurama has already had three “perfect endings” with the show getting a little weaker with every revival. Then I watched the first new episode on a whim and thought it wasn’t bad, so I was like, eh, sure, I’ll watch the rest. Overall Hulurama is hit or miss. There are chuckles to be had, and it sure as hell beats modern Simpsons, but almost every episode is either a belated take on an overplayed Topical Issue (the pandemic, Amazon, cancel culture, etc.) or a direct sequel to an old episode people liked. Or both! It’s also really noticeable that certain voice actors sound way older - Billy West is struggling with the Fry voice in particular, and it hurts his comedic timing. But just when all hope seemed lost after the nigh-incomprehensible toy-themed anthology episode, possibly the worst episode of the entire series… the last episode, where the Planet Express crew explores whether or not the universe could be a simulation, was really, really solid. Great note to end on to make me not regret my time with this season as a whole.

9/26: Spider-Man 2 (2004) (rewatch) - Once the GOAT, always the GOAT.

9/27: Spider-Man 3 (rewatch) - Revisiting this movie for the first time since I saw it in theaters… it’s not bad. It’s fine! It continues to have the heart and sincerity that make the first two movies work. It’s just not as concise with three villains vying for the spotlight, but I also wouldn’t cut any of them, necessarily. I guess Eddie/Venom would be the easiest, but Peter getting the black suit and giving in to his resentment feels too central to cut. (Yes, even with Emo Peter becoming a meme.)

9/28: Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake - I wasn’t really sure what to expect with this one, especially since I was never really a fan of the genderbend episodes in the original show. (At the time they mostly just felt like an excuse to crank up the teen romance stuff to 11.) But MAN. This was a fantastic coda to the original series. It made me care about Fionna and Cake and their friends as their own characters separate from their original counterparts, it gave the Simon/Betty arc a much more satisfying (if no less bittersweet) resolution than the original finale had time to do, and it even managed to be a multiverse story that didn’t make me roll my eyes in 2023. A+ all around. Makes me wanna rewatch the original show again. [spoiler: I did]

9/29: Meanwhile (aivi & surasshu) - It’s been a whole decade–they were busy with, you know, all the music in Steven Universe, among other things–but we finally have a new aivi & surasshu album! Their chiptune/piano fusion style is familiar, but they’ve definitely grown as composers in subtle ways. Favorite track: Time Travel

October

10/1: This is Financial Advice (Folding Ideas) - A lot of the nitty gritty finance law stuff turned into white noise for me, but still, great video. I had no idea that the GameStop stock craze devolved into this bizarre cult that thinks they’re going to crash the global economy and rise from the ashes as the new kings with the value of their GME stocks. Glad this video exists to try and balance out the narrative.

10/5: Sonic Frontiers: The Final Horizon DLC - Good ideas, absurdly frustrating and tedious execution. Full thoughts here.

10/10: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (rewatch) - I didn’t plan this, but very fitting that I would end up rewatching this on 10/10.

10/12: Half-Life Alyx but the Gnome is Self-Aware (wayneradiotv) - ha he! (Seriously though, that finale was a fucking masterpiece. The RTVS crew has an incredible knack for using the framing device of video game livestreams to blur the lines between comedy and horror, or ironic anti-humor and complete sincerity. I’ve never seen anything else like this.)

10/15: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse - Not sure how much I can say that hasn’t already been said. The most visually creative movie I’ve ever seen, grounded by some really excellent storytelling about Miles (and now Gwen) that’s probably better than his actual comics. But it also does feel like it’s about to end and then the movie just keeps going like ten times over lmao. Can’t wait to watch this a second time on a better TV.

10/20: Sonic Superstars - A mostly really solid and fun 2D Sonic game that’s unfortunately dragged down by an extremely hodgepodge soundtrack and some overly drawn out boss fights. I spent HOURS trying to beat the final boss of the bonus scenario (which is required for the true ending in this one) before giving up. Really a shame that that’s the note I’m leaving the game on, because I otherwise enjoyed it, but ah well. More thoughts here.

10/27: Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 - Another good Spider-Man game from Insomniac. Liked the story more than the one in Miles Morales, but maybe not as much as the first game. Extensive thoughts here.

10/28: Venom - Was in the mood for more Venom after the game. As expected this was not a very good movie, but the dynamic between Eddie and Venom made it a fun watch. Tom Hardy is constantly about to shit his pants in this movie. It’s great.

10/28: Venom: Let There Be Carnage - I had a way better time with this one. Is this a good movie? No. But it cranks the insanity of the first movie up to 11. Goofy as fuck in an extremely watchable way.

November

11/5: Pluto - An absolutely masterful series that anyone interested in sci-fi needs to watch. The anime adaptation was great, and I immediately understand why people who’ve read the manga speak so highly of it. Really makes me want to get into Astro Boy more, and also read some of Urasawa’s other works.

11/18: Scott Pilgrim Takes Off - Wow, just wow. When news of a Scott Pilgrim anime broke I was cautiously curious to see if we’d get a more direct adaptation of the comics, and instead it veered off in the exact opposite direction in the best way possible. This is almost entirely a different story, one that’s in conversation with the previous versions (sometimes in very meta ways), and I think it’s really valuable to see O’Malley revisiting these characters with new things to say about them. The major story divergence gives us a chance to examine the characters from a new angle - particularly Ramona, who’s the real protagonist of this version, and the evil exes, who completely steal the show. This was a great reminder of why I fell in love with this series as a teenager. I now genuinely hope we get more Scott Pilgrim.

11/22: Void Rivals (Issues #1 - #6) - The first arc of the new Robert Kirkman series that kicked off Skybound’s new “Energon Universe” is now complete, and I’m left thinking Void Rivals is… okay? I thought the first issue was a decent (if not particularly original) sci-fi comic with an appealing art style, which just so happens to also briefly have a Transformer in it so there can be a Big Surprise. And the series still hasn’t quite shaken that feeling to me. It’s an okay sci-fi series that arbitrarily dedicates a couple of pages of every issue to something from Transformers, but I’m not really sure what the shared universe stuff adds to Void Rivals, or what Void Rivals adds to Transformers and GI Joe. I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

11/22: Journey to EPCOT Center: A Symphonic History (Defunctland) - Yeah, gotta be honest, I only got halfway through this one. It seems like Kevin just 1) really wanted to push himself creatively and 2) make a love letter to Epcot, and while I respect that, I think it suffers as a historical documentary. It’s Fantasia but for the creation of Epcot. That might be very impressive on a technical level, but it feels more like a piece of Disney propaganda than prior Defunctland videos due to a lack of context and nuance.

11/24: Aperture Desk Job - A short, sweet, and funny little tech demo for my new Steam Deck set in the Portal universe. More effort was definitely put into this than was strictly necessary.

11/26: ESCHATOS - I am not good at bullet hell games, but I enjoy them from time to time and I really love this one’s FM synth soundtrack, so I picked it up on a whim in the Steam sale. I only beat it on Easy, but still, I had a lot of fun with it! It’s straightforward but very flashy, with the camera dynamically zooming around from set piece to set piece at ridiculous speeds and each level segueing directly into the next. The lack of a powerup system on the main mode in favor of just needing to know when to use your different shot types makes it feel very approachable.

11/27: Lunistice - A great little 3D platformer with a good soundtrack that I had fun hunting down all the secrets in. This is an easy recommendation for fans of games like Kirby or Klonoa - whimsical games set in colorful dream worlds where the underlying story can get a bit more somber. (Although the story in this one is mostly told through mildly cryptic lore dumps, so your mileage there may vary.)

11/28: Spark the Electric Jester 2 - The leap from 2D to 3D here is impressive, but this is very clearly a rough draft for Spark 3. Very, very fun Sonic-style 3D platforming, but the combat is lacking and the storytelling is just kinda bad. More extensive thoughts on this and the above two games here.

December

12/2: Fortnite (Chapter 4) - This was my first full chapter of Fortnite, after having been roped into the game by the siren songs of Zero Build mode and Goku during Chapter 3. This means it’s harder for me to compare this chapter to previous ones, but still, Fortnite remains a genuinely very well made Battle Royale shooter that’s a blast with friends. If I have any complaint about this Chapter, it’s that they would regularly introduce zany ideas and then slowly reel them back in, whether it was the Augment system or the increasingly mundane movement items. It also felt like it was a little too easy to get the perfect loadout in every match, meaning the final showdown would almost always be against players with Slurp Juice and gold shotguns. And I missed the smaller mid-season map updates of Chapter 3. But overall I still had a really good time, and look forward to playing more for the foreseeable future.

12/4: Plagiarism and You(Tube) (HBomberguy) - This will get written off by many as “YouTuber drama,” but this really is an excellent video essay that feels like the kick in the pants that YouTube needs. If video essayists are gonna be a major source of information for so many, then they gotta have standards. I also think it does a good job of highlighting the people that have been plagiarized and trying to drive more attention their way in an attempt to right those wrongs.

12/6: Transformers (Skybound comic) - We only got the first three issues of this in 2023, but I just HAVE to say something about how incredible this series is here. Daniel Warren Johnson is knocking it out of the park. This is the new bar for Transformers. The hand-inked art is extremely dynamic and full of character, and the story is using the familiar beats of G1 Transformers but doing very new things with them. You can tell this from the very first page, but the emotional scene of Optimus accidentally crushing a deer in the forest and realizing how fragile life is on Earth sealed the deal for me. And yet in the very same comics Optimus can do suplexes and clotheslines and lord knows how many other wrestling moves on Decepticons, and it doesn’t feel like tonal whiplash? These comics just fucking rule, and anyone with even the slightest interest in Transformers should be reading them.

12/8: What We Do in the Shadows (Season 5) - [spoilers] WWDITS has very much settled into being a status quo show. Every season has its own little arc where one or two things change to keep things interesting, but then everything returns to normal by the end. Guillermo finally becoming a vampire, only to become a human again in the end, might just be the most egregious example of this yet. But also… the show’s still really funny? And I continue to be happy that Kristen Schaal has stuck around as a series regular as the Guide. So it’s hard to complain. I could see the show running out of steam over the next few seasons, but it’s still hitting for me right now.

12/12: Pony Island - Finally got around to this since the trailer for the sequel dropped. I feel like playing this years later in a post-Inscryption world where Pony Island is a known quantity kind of lessens its impact, but still, it’s a fun and funny puzzle game where you try to hack your way out of a possessed arcade machine. I’m not sure I found it particularly scary, but I’m not sure it’s supposed to be? The way the game messes with you during the Asmodeus “boss fight” was probably the highlight for me. I also like being able to say things like “The part where you have to not kill Jesus was so hard. I kept getting terrible butterfly patterns.”

12/16: Breaking Bad VR but the AI is Self-Aware (wayneradiotv) - As always, Wayne and co.’s commitment to the bit is unrivaled. This kind of got interpreted as just a way to troll HLVRAI fans, but so many moments in this genuinely made me laugh out loud.

12/18: Soul of Sovereignty Prelude - As someone who would list Cucumber Quest as a big creative influence, I was naturally very excited for this first chapter of GGDG’s new visual novel. Their mentality of both scaling things back in terms of labor while also going more shamelessly self-indulgent in terms of storytelling after burning out on making webcomics has really spoken to me, and WOW, the end result of that new process of theirs is shaping up to be something really special. The art and music are sparse but extremely evocative, giving you the rough sketch of the world and letting your mind fill in the rest. The story blends literary high fantasy vibes with the style of fantasy seen in ‘90s JRPGs (you can definitely tell this came from an idea for an RPG), but rather than constantly winking at the audience and making self-aware video game references it plays these storytelling ideas extremely sincerely, giving them real dramatic weight while still indulging in fun tropes to their fullest extent. While it’s a far cry from their most famous work with much more mature content, GGDG always excels at creating characters and worlds that immediately grab me. I can’t wait for the rest.

12/18: Barbie - I’m only… what, five months late for the whole Barbenheimer thing? Perfect timing. Anyway! On the one hand, I get the critiques saying that this movie is just a major corporation funding a self-aware feminist critique of their own product as a marketing ploy. And I kinda agree with that. And the movie is a little too long, and I don’t really know what to think of the way the Barbie/Ken conflict plays out. Anthony asked me to summarize what the story ended up being about, and I had no idea what to even say. But also… I did still like the movie? We don’t get a lot of cartoonish, absurdist, fourth wall breaking comedies like this anymore, and this is a good one of those. Also the whole cast is great, the set design is kind of stunning, and the cinematography is consistently appealing. I wouldn’t say it’s a revolutionary work of feminist filmmaking by any stretch, but it’s a good comedy movie.

12/21: Dr. Stone: New World - Man, Dr. Stone is great. I’ve said this many times, but I just love that this series uses all the trappings of shounen that would normally be used to hype up the protagonist learning a new move to instead hype up things like the protagonist building a loom or a hot air balloon. It’s shounen Bill Nye. I didn’t completely love everything about the Treasure Island arc this season, but it all built towards a really fun climax with a lot of satisfying turnabouts where the heroes use their ingenuity to just barely win.

12/23: The History of Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out World Records (Summoning Salt) - Truly one of my favorite Summoning Salt videos ever, even with how repetitive Punch-Out can get to watch. It’s just so hard to beat “and that runner… was me.”

12/24: Super Mario Bros. Wonder - What more can be said that hasn’t already been said? It’s the best and most creative 2D Mario game since the ‘90s. The only real flaws are that it’s a little easy, the Search Party stages are annoying in singleplayer, and I wish that every boss prior to the final boss wasn’t just some form of Bowser Jr. fight. But those aren’t nearly enough to drag the whole experience down. It was a blast.

12/24: Do a Powerbomb! - Got this from Anthony as a birthday present. This is the previous series by the creative team currently doing the new Transformers comics I was gushing about a few entries ago. Even with the high bar set by those comics, Do a Powerbomb! exceeded my expectations. Holy shit. An absolutely entrancing fantasy wrestling miniseries full of dynamic, energetic action and tons of heart. These comics where a guy wrestles a giant talking orangutan almost made me cry. Twice. An instant favorite.

12/25: Adventure Time (rewatch) - We ended up finishing our rewatch of Adventure Time (the main series, anyway) on my 30th birthday, which feels appropriate. I already kinda knew this, but this rewatch has truly confirmed that Adventure Time is my favorite TV series of all time. The entire show is even better on a full series rewatch. In hindsight, even parts that annoyed me when they aired end up being important parts of the beautiful tapestry that is this series. The many low points of Finn’s adolescent love life are important stepping stones in his growth as a person, which leaves him in an extremely satisfying place by the end. Jake having kids didn’t get to be a huge status quo change because they grew up instantly, but then they did a bunch of fun episodes about Jake’s relationships with his adult children that deepened him as a character. And most of the big lore questions they kept teasing over the years (“Where’d the humans go?” “Who are Finn’s parents?” “When’s Finn gonna get a robot arm?” etc.) ended up getting satisfying and creative answers, because the show left itself the room to figure those things out later. This is a truly special, one-of-a-kind series, one that lasted nearly 300 episodes and yet still seems like it was over too soon. And yes, I did in fact cry during the final montage, like I knew I would. I will always cherish this show with all of my heart.

12/25: Olive the Other Reindeer (rewatch) - Haven’t seen this one since I was a kid! It was a favorite of mine back then, and while it might not be quite as funny as I remember it’s still very cute, with a 2D/3D hybrid art style that remains very unique and appealing. As an adult I can also appreciate the cast they got for this, with like half the cast of Futurama bolstered by guests like Michael Stipe from REM and The Sopranos’ Joe Pantoliano.

12/26: Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio - Anthony and I capped off our Christmas with the most jolly and festive stop motion movie of all! Jokes aside, man, what a beautiful movie. The animation is immaculate, and we really just don’t get children’s animated films like this anymore. Ones that overtly feature real world politics and religion and so many other dark themes in a way that doesn’t talk down to kids or sugarcoat things. This one hits hard. We need more movies like this.

12/31: Oppenheimer - This was an interesting one. Despite being three hours, the way that first hour jumps around in time makes it feel like Oppenheimer is constantly being propelled forward through life at a breakneck pace, swept up by the rising tide of nationalism in spite of his personal left wing politics, never really reflecting on what he’s doing until it’s too late. Then when he’s no longer useful to the empire, he’s chewed up and spat out, only to eventually be honored as a national hero as a symbolic gesture. It’s a compelling story. However, I’m a little torn on how certain aspects of history were framed. Does the abstraction of the bombings detract from the true weight of those events, in favor of sympathizing with the man who built the bomb? Or is it clever a way to show how the realities of the war were compartmentalized away by people who were complicit in its most heinous acts of violence? One minute a bunch of physicists are talking theory, thousands of miles away from the theaters of war, and the next they’ve killed 200,000 people. So which is it? Eh, probably somewhere in the middle, I guess. But I liked it overall.

12/31: Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe - I’ve been really surprised by how good this rerelease is. It kind of flew under the radar for me. I liked the original game, but at the time it also almost felt like the New Super Mario Bros. of Kirby. It was a straightforward throwback game where you went through a grass world, then a desert world, then a water world, etc., and also they added four player co-op. But returning to this one after the kinda mid Star Allies has made me appreciate just how solid RtDL is as a Kirby game. I really like the updated graphics, too - yes, even the new cel shaded outlines around the characters - even though I didn’t think it looked that great in screenshots. Also the two new copy abilities (Sand and Mecha) are fun, the minigame collection is shockingly fleshed out to the point that they could’ve sold it as a standalone eShop game, the collectible character masks are fun, and the new epilogue mode where you play as Magolor is one of the coolest bonus modes they’ve ever done. This is a top tier Kirby remake any fan of the series should check out.

Ongoing things I followed in 2023 that don't have a blurb:

Halo Infinite multiplayer

IDW Sonic the Hedgehog (main series + specials)

One Piece

Chainsaw Man

My Hero Academia (not caught up)

The JOJOlands (not caught up)

Things I started in 2023 that I still need to finish:

Freedom Planet 2

Hi-Fi Rush

Live A Live

Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order

Picross 3D Round 2

Rhythm Heaven MegaMix

Mega Man Battle Network 5: Team ProtoMan

Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart

Spark the Electric Jester 3

Sonic Dream Team

One Piece (Wano arc, anime)

Jujutsu Kaisen season 2 (I’ve already read the Shibuya arc already in the manga, though)

Astro Boy (2003 anime)

Futurama (original run rewatch)

One Piece (manga reread)

The Amazing Spider-Man (Lee/Ditko era)

Scott Pilgrim series (reread)

And finally... my favorites of 2023!!!

Overall favorite game: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

Favorite indie game: Pseudoregalia

Games remastered in 2023 that are now among my all-time faves: Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective, We Love Katamari

Most pleasant surprise in gaming: The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog

Favorite film: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

Favorite live action show: Barry

Favorite anime: Pluto

Favorite anime written by a Canadian guy and an American guy based on the Canadian guy's old graphic novel series: Scott PIlgrim Takes Off

Favorite live action adaptation of an anime that I still can't believe they didn't fuck up: One Piece

Favorite Western cartoon: Adventure Time: Fionna & Cake

Favorite older cartoon I only got around to watching in its entirety this year: The Venture Bros.

Favorite documentary: Double Fine PsychOdyssey

Favorite semi-improvised semi-scripted absurdist comedy/horror/tragedy Twitch livestream performance art thing: Half-Life Alyx but the Gnome is Self-Aware finale (wayneradiotv)

Favorite manga: Chainsaw Man

Favorite older manga that I only read this year: Berserk

Favorite Western comic book: Daniel Warren Johnson's Transformers

Favorite album: HELLMODE (Jeff Rosenstock)

And that's a wrap!!!!! Happy new year, everyone! Here's to me maybe actually reading a goddamn book this year

#bobby writes #i don't have a writing tag so i'm making one now to save this and other things

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tadc-ragatha · 7 months

Note

Could you do the gang with a stage magician reader

Circus Crew x Stage Magician Reader

TW: Mentions of sawing people in half (painless), drowning (magic trick), bullying

Type: Headcanons; platonic.

A/N: "Caine, Bubble, and the digital six's reactions to a stage magician reader." I combined the two asks because they were very similar.

Caine

He's so happy. A real stage magician in the digital circus? Incredible! Immediately upon arrival and finding out who you were, he sets you to work showing off all your skills. He just wants to see what level you're at so he can help you to be the best magician in the whole circus!

However, it'll come at the cost of you having to actually do real magic instead of just illusions. The sawing people in half one definitely is traumatising the first time you do it (Kinger assures you he'll be fine). Once you get used to using somewhat-real magic, you actually get to do some pretty mind-bending stuff.

"A human? With skills in circus work? What a wonder!"

Bubble

Bubble doesn't really mind. You were a stage magician? That's good! You must be able to help Caine out then. To be honest, I don't know enough about bubble to say its (or she's? He's? They're?) anything more than just an AI assistant to Caine that is really, really annoying to him.

Either way, it helps out in traumatising you (see: sawing people mentioned in Caine's section).

"Cool!"

Pomni

If you join when Pomni's first there, she's too focused on the exit to care as much. You were a stage magician? That's great! Good for you, genuinely! But would there be any way that could help her get to the exit somehow? Do you know any magic tricks or something? No? Just illusions? Oh, okay.

But if you join when she's started to give up, she does treat you a lot more like a friend. She does admire your tricks a lot either way and is quite impressed by them, she's just too sidetracked with her crisis to focus on you that much. Once she calms down, however, she compliments you on your skills and is interested in learning some herself. She still freaks out when you have to "drown" yourself, though.

"Hey, hey, wait! Get them out of there! Hey!"

Ragatha

Ragatha thinks it's fun that there's a proper circus performer in the circus. Well, maybe you didn't work in circuses exactly, but it's close enough. Ragatha's long given up on finding the exit, and just tries to enjoy her time in the digital world as much as possible. She compliments you on your skills.

She also helps you out when Caine is pushing for you to "run" an activity. Because let's be honest, he'd totally force you to be the lead star of some stuff due to your skills. She also reassures you everything will be fine when your profession forced you to do some less-than-pleasant, honestly traumatising things.

"Don't worry, new stuff. Everything going to be just fine! Kinger won't feel a thing!"

Jax

Jax is absolutely using this to his advantage. Well, when you're friends, of course. When he first meets you, he's really just focused on being a jerk. He'll make fun of you for choosing to try and do "magic" and how you must just miss childhood wonder. He's not that dumb, and can work out (or at least he thinks he can work out) the "deeper meaning" to why you chose your profession.

Once you're friends though, he tries to use it to his advantage. You two will prank the other circus members by getting Ragatha to pull a centipede out of the magician's hat instead of a rabbit, or having an aggressive rabbit be pulled out by Gangle. It's all very fun for him.

"So, you're a magician, hm? Still clinging onto your childhood? To bad you can't go back there--or back home!"

Kinger

He's the "victim" to all your tricks. He's the type to go "no" when asked if he will be the assistant/person performed on when he goes up on stage anyway. In reality, yeah, he doesn't want to do it, but he also knows nobody else will and just does it anyway. He knows it won't hurt.

Outside of shows, Kinger is pretty entranced by some of your tricks. He's very impressed with your never-ending handkerchief one in particular. He asks you to teach him some tricks, perhaps to help fortify his impenetrable fortress or for his acting shows.

"No, I don't really want to do this."

Gangle

Gangle really likes your magic tricks. I imagine she's someone to have two diaries in her room at all times. She writes the day's happenings in one, and keeps a log of everything about herself she remembers in the other. Gangle would happily get a diary for you so you could write down all your tricks!

Your magic tricks always bring a smile to her face. Whenever she's got her comedy mask on, of course. When the tragedy mask is in use, she usually resorts to crying about how much she misses seeing magic shows in the real world. Best to keep it to just the comedy mask times, when she'll thoroughly enjoy it.

"I can feel my memories of the comedy show slipping!"

Zooble

Zooble's cool with it. They know it's all just pretend in the real world, so he's initially not to phased about it. Still, she's impressed with the level of your skill. And when the wacky reality-warping nature of the circus comes into play, you really can do some cool stuff that he enjoys.

To me, Zooble doesn't seem like one that would be very interested in learning all too much about doing magic tricks themself. However, they do enjoy hearing about your shows. It comes with a lot of exciting stories and also gossip, which makes him feel closer connected with the real world.

"So, you're a stage magician? That's cool."

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secondhandsorrows · 2 months

Text

Keys to Crafting Characters Readers Will Root For (w/ some examples)

As a writer and while making up this blog, I’m quite adamant that characters are just as important (if not more) as plot. In the grand scheme of things, an active, relatable, and engaging main character is crucial for a novel's success. But how exactly do we make a character all these things? There’s many ways, in fact. It is up to us as authors to keep track and manage the developmental arc of our protagonist: primarily, who they are on the inside, and how they grow or change / adapt to the situations or people around them.

Here are some examples and tips to help you develop a compelling protagonist (or all kinds of characters). Keep in mind these tips are at their most basic, essential level (there’s just so much that can be explored in each one), so I hope to go further into each point sometime in the future.

~`* They have clear goals and motivations.

First things first: you’d want to clearly define your character's goals and motivations — and the sooner, the better. Proper and well-set goals and motivations provide a sense of direction to the narrative. They should be specific, measurable, and achievable — or perhaps, not achievable, at least to its fullest extent. This would ultimately depend on the type of arc or ending you intend to write for your story, but there should at least be some main goal the character is vying for, and a motivation that dictates how much they want or need it.

For example: An aspiring actress hoping to make it to the stage and audition for the lead role in her favorite play. —> Why does she want to be an actress so badly? What does it mean to her to act in her favorite performance? What does she have to prove, to herself or others?

~`* They are flawed, yet relatable:

I’m sure you’ve all heard this before… but I’m still going to reiterate:

Your character should have relatable flaws that readers can sympathize with. It’s no secret that flaws make characters human and relatable. Flawed characters help us remember that nobody’s perfect, and that we’re not alone in our struggles and in our plights (stay back, Mary Sues!). These flaws can be anything, from fears, limitations, biases, misbeliefs, quirks, shortcomings, or behaviors. It’s useful two have at least two: a minor flaw and a major flaw, where the former affects only the only character and nothing else, and the latter hinders the character and affects the plot.

For example: A highly-knowledgeable yet socially awkward and oblivious professor who can hold a bar of soap better than a conversation. —> Does this flaw make him out to be charming or weird to others? How can his social-awkwardness affect the plot… does it hinder him from connecting to his students or colleagues?

~`* They have unique talents or interests.

Sometimes I read a story, and personally I have a hard time connecting with a character if all they care about from beginning to end is what’s happening in the plot. It’s like they exist for the sole purpose of the plot, and are nothing but a shell to see through the events or its challenges. This is understandable, especially when it’s an action-packed story or thriller.

Personally, I can’t help but wonder what its main character does for fun. What they’re like before the events of the novel.

I think it can be useful your character skills or interests that set them apart. This not only makes them interesting, but can drive the plot in unexpected ways. *Bonus points if they have a particular skill or hobby that conflicts with the way they present themselves to others, or if they hide it well if they are embarrassed by it or afraid of getting judged. Essentially, this is all to clue-in on the reader to the character’s backstory, their personality. It helps them seem more individualistic, like humans with their own sets of interests or ideas that give them more complexity and uniqueness. This can also be useful in creating parallels or connections to your story’s themes or your character’s arc.

For example: A brave warrior with an aptitude for gardening and flower arranging. —> Seems random, right? But what if this warrior had workin in their relative’s flower shop, and has kept the skill alive in their days of battle to see pieces of beauty around them, hope from fear and danger? They might dig graves of their fallen friends and leave behind flowers in remembrance. Just an obscure example, but see all the possibilities something like this can open up?

~`* They have deep, complex relationships.

Sometimes we can get a better idea of a character when we see them interact with the people around them. It’s like showing vs. telling, where we get a firsthand look at how the main character treats his family members, how he accepts or refuses help from those he’s close with, what he appreciates most about his significant other, how he feels about the annoying neighbor next door. Who’s the one person they most admire and never want to let down? Who’s the one person they despise with all their body and soul? Whether it's friends, family, enemies, or romantic entanglements, complex interactions and relationships add layers to your character and in how they showcase themselves to the world.

For example: An excellent, compassionate therapist with a strained relationship with his own family member. —> How does this character feel about this kind of relationship? Does it stem out of shared family troubles, or something deeper? Is there a glimmer of possibility the therapist might reconcile with this relative, or are they dashed because of mutual pride or distrust?

~`* They often face moral dilemmas.

It’s time to get philosophical. Human nature is full of paradoxes and tough moral questions, and so characters with conflicting qualities can be intriguing and relatable. Introduce moral dilemmas and conflicting values that force your character to make tough choices and confront their conflicting values. Do they have a friend with conflicting beliefs that challenge their own? Are they forced to act a certain way because of external pressures? Are they forced to choose between saving one person while destroying another?

No matter how serious this dilemma is, you can also add a moment of clarity or self-awareness for your character. This can be a turning point where they acknowledge and confront the conflict within themselves, thus becoming face-to-face with their internal crisis and how they decide to go from there. Do they weigh the pros and cons considerably, do they fumble because they’re hesitant, or do they embrace the new changes?

Despite conflicting values, make sure your character's behavior is consistent with their established personality. Consistency helps maintain authenticity and keeps the character grounded.

For example: A scientist torn between protecting humanity and the pressure of making a groundbreaking discovery. —> How does making this discovery very important to this character? What do they stand to lose… what do they stand to gain? Are they at the risk of becoming something completely opposite of who they were at the beginning of the story, losing their sense of morality or forced to choose a side?

~`* They show their quirks and habits.

Introduce quirks or habits that make your character memorable. These little details can make the character more relatable and interesting, because just like talents or hobbies, this can also give a clearer sense to the reader of what kind of personality the character has and what they’re like. Not to forget, it also helps them to stand out from other characters on the page, giving them a unique voice with their kind of dialogue, their behaviors, style, and mannerisms.

For example: A scholar who can focus only if she’s chewing gum or wearing her lucky ring. —> How might’ve this character started this habit or tradition? Does it actually work? Does it not work, but they still do it anyways because it’s comforting for them? Also, where did they get this quirk from?

~`* They have a backstory.

Most of what we’ve been discussing in this post already leaves some framework for the character’s backstory. It’s important to have a meaningful backstory in mind that influences the character's present actions and explains why they are they way that they are. This adds depth and helps readers understand their fears, desires, and motivations better; not shallow and two-dimensional as cardboard cut-outs.

Sometimes we don’t get a backstory for our character right away. Backstories takes time to brainstorm and shape — let alone into a complex or compelling one — but its helpful to trust the process. What you can do if you’re still looking for the right one, is to ask yourself questions on things that matter to you most. This pertains to your story’s themes and other main ideas you may like writing about, such as grief or family matters. It all boils down to who your character is (the present), and where it stemmed from (the past). If we take this a step further: does this backstory guide them or force them to make changes within themselves, thus leading to their changed self at the end of the novel/series (the future)?

For example: A woman with a fear of marriage because she’s seen firsthand its faults, including her own parents’. —> Is her parents’ divorce still something she’s struggling to come to terms with? Is her misbelief equating marriage to constant conflict? Does she have a secret desire to get married, yet it put off by its pressures? Does she make up for this fear by focusing on other matters? Will this fear later be disproven?

~`* They are often vulnerable.

Every hero needs vulnerabilities. Imperfections. Weaknesses. We’ve talked about strengths and flaws before, but giving them that dent in their armor, any little opening someone or something might get through, leaves a reminder that no one, especially our hero, is invincible. Nobody’s perfect, after all (side-eyeing you, Mary Sues…). Make your characters messy: adding vulnerabilities helps makes them more authentic and genuine, opening up chances for them to learn and evolve as the story moves along.

It can also add a layer of suspense to the story, especially in conflict and tension. How will the character handle someone breaking their walls down, or a bad experience threatening to make them crumble and fall back to old habits? How do they handle their insecurities? How well do they hide their fears, and will they ever admit them?

For example: An old woman with bad eyesight and lives alone can’t tell that the reluctant robber breaking into her home is not her grandson. —> This is a fun little example that opens up many possibilities. Her bad eyesight is a physical vulnerability, and so is her soft spot for her supposed grandson. The robber notices this, and he too may have a soft spot for any old woman who treats him kindly. Does he use this to his advantage to rob the house, or does he humor her for a while?

I’d definitely like to expand on these tips sometime. If there’s anything you’d like to share or add, please do so! I’d love to hear y’alls thoughts. Hope this helped!

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tcfactory · 2 months

Text

I'm thinking about the timeline others have puzzled out for SVSSS/PIDW and about how 30-something is staggeringly young for sect leaders/masters in a setting where cultivation/golden core formation leads to immortality. Especially with the handwavy fantasy timelines, you can easily make a master hundreds if not thousands of years old, depending on how high you go with cultivation/how wild your setting is.

Not to mention that, while golden core formation is somewhere in the middle of the list of stages (there are variations, can be different names and number of stages, but here's one I kind of like: Qi Gathering, Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, Nascent Soul, Deity Transformation, Body Unity, Void Boundary and Mahayana and then you can ascend to proper godhood), the stages are supposed to be exponentially more difficult and time consuming. The peak lords forming their golden cores in their twenties-thirties is plausible, if they are a generation of prodigies, but it would still make them lower-tier cultivators in the grand scheme of things.

But then again the setting does seem to be pretty lacking in higher tiers of cultivation - everyone relevant seems to be Core Formation stage (that is, they have successfully formed their golden core) with maybe the Old Palace Master as a Nascent Soul cultivator - so maybe this specific setting just cuts out the higher stages and allows ascension at the end of Nascent Soul or Deity Transformation? It's still strange that we have some of the most powerful cultivators (YQY) be this young, because 30-something is bizarrely early for even Nascent Soul level, unless there's reincarnation shenanigans afoot and he carried over his cultivation level from a previous life.

Anyway, it makes me wonder if something happened to one or more of the previous generation in the fight against TLJ that forced an early ascension. Maybe someone got severely injured (or potentially even killed) so they decided to ditch the Qing generation before they could start losing (more of) their members.

Kudos to the current peak lords if so, because managing to keep the sect running competently and maintaining CQMP's standing among the other sects is quite the accomplishment, especially if their training had to be cut short. Imagine starting an internship and then getting fast-tracked to CEO before you could even finish the orientation course.

#svsss #shut up tc #does this count as a meta post? eeeeh probably not #it could just be Airplane's lazy world building #but that's not as fun

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daisydamed · 2 years

Text

Joseph Quinn x Actress!Reader

GENRE : kinda fluffy tbh

WARNINGS (?) : alcohol, mention of boobies

WORD COUNT : 3478

Honestly I thought this was going to be a short imagine and this is what happened, I hope it’s not as horrendous as I’ve convinced myself it is lmao

-----

“So Y/N, you and Joe here have actually worked together before, right?” The woman conducting your interview asked with a smile. She was nice enough, but it had been a long day for you all and it was getting more noticeable in your responses.

“Yeah, back when I was like twenty or something for a short film,” you responded politely. “It was terrifying, to be quite honest!”

The group, made up of Gaten, Maya and Joe himself chuckled and the mood lifted a little.

“You were scared of me?” Joe asked incredulously, brow furrowed slightly and his mouth open in mock shock. You giggled a little.

“I mean yeah, Dickensian had just been released, I’d binged the whole thing as soon as I could and developed this weird, like, ‘this man will never know I exist’ kind of crush! How is that not scary? It was my first proper role and everything!” The interviewer laughed along with you as you spoke and Gaten turned to you in surprise.

“I didn’t know you guys had worked together?” He said, his eyes boring into your own. “How did I never know that?”

“I knew that, I listen when people speak.” Maya had quipped, sending you into laughs again.

You shrugged in response to Gaten, and glanced toward Joe. His eyes were matching your gaze almost instantly, a smile creasing his face and the tiniest blush hinted on his cheeks. You could get lost in his eyes so quickly, and you had, on multiple occasions. The hot lights in the room didn’t show it well, but you’d seen how the sunlight on set would highlight the different shades of brown within them, on a good day, they’d sparkle with flecks of varying shades of chocolate and deep honey.

“It actually made it a lot easier to be friendly on set for this show-” He spoke, pulling his gaze from yours to face back to the camera. It had only been a second or so, but you felt you’d been swimming in his sights for minutes. “Having the kind of connection you can only get from the intimacy that comes with the sort of scenes we’d shared previously really does wonders for the relationship our characters had with each other.”

“Intimacy?” Gaten spun to Joe this time, eyebrows raised. “What do you mean? Oh my god, this is like finding out your sister had a secret boyfriend-” Your face flushed, remembering back to the way Joe’s hands had rested on your bare skin during your previous filming together and you tried to push down the knot tightening in your stomach.

“Morning!” You’d called with a false confidence as you walked onto set. The bed was lit by warm stage lights and there were set dressers bouncing around, laying down empty cans of beer.

The brief for the scene had been just that, brief.

‘Sam and Rory fall into bed together, hands desperate and kissing deeply. Sam removes her shirt and Rory gazes longingly, eyes roaming her now bare chest.’

With it being your first scene of intimacy, you were understandably pretty nervous. You’d stayed in your trailer that morning until the last possible second before making your way to set, anxious to interact with Joe. You knew full well he’d be sweet about it, make it lighthearted and take your mind away from the anxiety, but even after being around him on set for the past month you couldn’t shake the tension it brought to your mind. You were both professionals here, this wasn’t going to mess anything up between you, and he’d done this before, but the rock in your chest hadn’t budged since you’d woken that morning.

After prepping was complete and the shot was angled, you were both ushered onto set with a call of ‘rolling’. After working with Joe for a couple of weeks, your director had good understanding of your chemistry together and had begun to trust your work, she had been able to gradually decrease the amount of blocking and rehearsal between the two of you, especially for short scenes such as this.

The pair of you had taken your first positions in the doorway, Joe having already lost his shirt and your hands resting against his bare chest.

“Sorry if they’re cold.” You had joked, looking up at him. His skin was soft and warm beneath your palms and he’d chuckled lightly.

“I can manage. You’ll soon warm up.” His voice was low as you waited on ‘action’, and once it was called, it was like there was never tension to begin with. His lips crashed into your own and you moved together in synchronicity. His legs hit the edge of the bed frame as the camera moved around you, and his hands danced across your chest, moving around your body until he grabbed a fistful of the back of your shirt. You pulled back, breathing heavily and eyes full of lust, some of which wasn’t even acting at this point. You gazed down at him, a silent conversation passing between you both before he pulled your shirt over your head. Your bare chest was on display before him and his gaze darkened, eyes roaming across your body.

“You’re fucking stunning.” He murmured, and though it was unscripted, it fit the moment beautifully. Oh how you had wished it was just the two of you alone with the emotions genuine. His hands dragged across your bare skin, and he looked up at you as you sat straddling him on the bed.

“Touch me.” You’d whispered down to him, and his hands were on your breasts as your lips met again. His fingertips left trails of fire across your skin and you ground your hips against his, eliciting a moan from him. You felt the rumble of the noise with your hand resting against the side of his neck, thumb on his cheek. He had a few days of stubble and it prickled against the pad of your thumb.

“Cut there!” Came the call, and someone swooped in with a jacket for you. The mood changed instantly and his hands had lifted from where he’d been pulling you close to him. It left you feeling empty and almost vaguely disappointed at the time, but thinking back on it, you were glad it had been stopped where it had. You weren’t convinced it could've gone any further without becoming some kind of pornography.

“Fantastic you guys,” The director had spoken, watching the scene back on the small screen in her hands. “I think we got it in one!” You smiled, breathing steadying and you shoved your hands into the pockets of the jacket you'd been given. With a quick glance toward Joe, you saw he’d put his shirt back on and was speaking quietly to one of the ADs. You opened your mouth to speak, but after sharing a small laugh with the man, he’d left the room by the time you’d taken a breath.

“Dude relax, it was just a job!” You’d laughed at Gaten. “Please do change the subject, I think he’s getting flustered.”

The interviewer let out a laugh and nodded.

“So Joe, what was the weirdest thing for you with playing Eddie this season?”

He blew out a breath, considering his answer. “Probably trying to get the balance right between this kind of cocky, goofy, metal guy and this almost smitten sort of teenager. He’s still in school and hasn’t held any kind of relationship outside of that, it’s difficult for him to act his age when he’s surrounded by these kids.” He nudged Gaten’s chair with his foot and stretched out a little, his shirt lifting. You found yourself hoping for a peek of skin between the hem of his shirt and his jeans, but you were disappointed to find it wasn’t there. You moved your eyes away quickly.

“And Maya, how do you think Robin feels about having new female friends this time around? Y/N’s character Sophia seems pretty into her!” Maya shared a laugh with you and cleared her throat a little before speaking.

“Yeah I bet she’s pretty stoked at having Sophia around now. They have this kind of flirty thing going on, but of course, Vicky is still the main attraction for her. I think she just likes to have support in that respect.”

The interview continued on and you found your tired mind wandering. Luckily the rest of the questions were directed more towards Maya and Gaten, taking pressure off you. You commented here and there, shared a laugh every now and then, and before you knew it, you were all saying goodbye. The group of you reconvened in the corridor and you sighed at the relief of being out from under the lights.

“I think I’m gonna go back to my room,” You began, catching the attention of the others. “I fancy a nice long bath, and a nice long drink. Gaten, you obviously cannot partake, sorry bud-” He shrugged. “-But if you guys fancy a drink or whatever let me know? The bath can wait if it’s for alcohol.”

Joe’s arm brushed against your own as you walked down the corridor to the lifts. With the both of you in short sleeves, the sensation felt borderline electric to you and you shoved your hands into your jean pockets, pulling your arm away.

“I could go for a drink.” He replied. You turned to look at him, a small smile on your lips.

“My room or yours then? Maya? You in?” She mumbled something about a headache, eyeing you both ahead of her and waiting for the lift. She nudged Gaten with her elbow as they joined you and muttered something in his direction, they laughed and you blushed again.

“You’re on the fifth floor, yeah?” Joe’s voice pulled your attention and you realised the lift had arrived. You nodded, following him into the small space and he hit the button with his thumb. The doors began to slide shut, leaving Gaten and Maya behind in the corridor and you called out to them before they closed.

“See you guys in the morning then?”

“You will,” Maya called back. “Enjoy your ‘intimacy’!” She added, and you heard Gaten bark out a laugh as the doors bumped shut.

There was a beat of silence before Joe cleared his throat to speak.

“Are we being bullied? Is that bullying?” He joked lightly, but there was a tension in his words that you couldn’t put your finger on.

“At this point, I’m not sure with those two.” You joked back, and you saw him smile in the mirrored doors. It made you feel warm inside and you savoured the feeling as the lift pinged through the levels. It came to a stop on five, and you waited for the doors to open.

“Come on then, Joseph, I have vodka!” You chirped, breezing out of the doors and over to your door. He waited patiently for you to retrieve your key card, and you could feel that tense energy returning. “Sorry, I know it’s here-” You said, a little flustered and rooting through your purse. “I threw it in on my way down this morning- Ha!” You pulled it out victoriously and swiped it across the pad, door clicking as it unlocked.

Joe reached out and took the handle, pushing the door open and holding it for you to enter before him.

“Coke or lemonade?” You had asked after thanking him gently and stepping through the door.

“Uh-”

“It's vodka, so you want lemonade.”

“Lemonade then, please?”

“It was a trick question.”

“You’re just as sneaky as you used to be, you know?”

“Damn, I thought I’d gotten sneakier.”

The energy between you eased slightly and you pulled off your jacket, dropping it over the back of a chair as you entered the kitchenette. You poured two drinks, definitely too strong for the time of day, added ice and turned to hand him one. He was stood closer than you thought and you jumped back a little in surprise, accidentally sloshing your own glass and the liquid seeped down across your top.

“Christ, Joe!” You cried, the liquid making you shiver involuntarily as it made its way down your chest. His eyes widened a little as your black bra came into view through your thin, and now wet, shirt.

“Shit, I’m sorry Y/N, I didn’t mean to scare you I-”

You put your drink down on the side and squeezed past him as he stuttered his apology.

“You scared the shit out of me!”

“I’m sorry!” He laughed, though it turned into a cough as you peeled your shirt off in front of him. Balling it up, you used the dryer side to wipe the spilt drink from your chest. Noticing his silence, you looked up to see him eyeing you from where he stood, transfixed.

“It’s nothing you haven’t seen before.” You pointed out, throwing your shirt in the direction of the bathroom. Grabbing a plain tee from your suitcase, you made your way back to the kitchen side and swiped your drink, taking a gulp and wincing slightly as it burned on the way down. Definitely too strong. You held it out to him.

“Hold this for me?” He nodded, grabbing the drink. There was a mixture of emotions on his face. Surprise, embarrassment, and something you couldn’t quite place. You pulled your shirt over your head and took your drink back gently, your fingers brushing his.

“Are you ok?” You asked, and he nodded. It was like he’d broken a trance, and he shrugged a little, scooping his own glass from the counter and brushing past you to flop onto the couch.

You took a seat on your bed and took another sip, the alcohol warming your chest.

“I was kind of a dick that day.” Joe blurted, and you blinked.

“What?”

“The day we made out, I was a dick.”

“Were you?” You frowned, trying to play it off like nothing, but you knew exactly what he meant.

“Yeah, I panicked a bit actually. It was a good take, a really good take. You were fantastic, I just panicked because it felt like a lot.” He spoke slowly, considering his words. There was a faint blush on his cheeks again and you sat up a little, turning your body to face him. His arm rested across the back of the cushions, the other casually across his knee. Your eyes fixed on his hand, holding his glass. His hands were so soft that day, and you found yourself wondering if they still were.

“I’m sorry if it was bad,” You began, but he quickly cut you off.

“It wasn’t bad, Y/N. That was kind of the issue, I think.”

“Issue?” Confusion was evident in your tone and he looked over at you, dragging his eyes from the carpet to fix on your own.

He laughed a little, though it wasn’t totally genuine. The noise that escaped his lips had been for another reason. To cover his embarrassment.

“I had to leave, that day, and I know I seemed like a total bastard for just walking out… It was just that it- You had-” He sighed, frustrated, and took a drink. “I wasn’t decent.” He finished, laughing again. The chuckle fell from his lips, and he ran his free hand over his face. “You got to me and I didn’t know how else to deal with the uh, situation.”

You remembered back to his low conversation with the AD, their shared laughter before he'd walked out. Oh. OH.

The laugh bubbled out of you before you could stop it, and before you knew it, the pair of you were laughing together, properly laughing, the emotion welling up and spilling over.

“I’m- I’m so sorry!” You laughed, and he had to put his drink down to stop it from sloshing over the edge of the glass.

“I never knew that, oh my god.” You’d managed, and he gestured dramatically.

“I couldn’t control it! You just got to me, it was some magical bullshit you pulled.” He sighed, the giggles fading. The tone in the room was lighter now, a slight buzz between the both of you as you continued sipping your drinks. A small wave of courage overtook you and you blurted the words before you thought about how they’d sound.

“I was a bit sad we only got one take of it.” The words came out lightly, the implications going over your head. “I would've happily gone for round two, you know.”

There was a pause before he responded.

“I think I would’ve liked that.”

Another pause.

“I wish Sophia and Eddie could’ve made out.” You said, and the words suddenly felt heavy once they were out. You held your breath, and it felt like hours before his reply came. You flopped back onto the bed, your eyes fixed on the ceiling, heart beating hard in your chest.

“They still could.”

“The script isn’t even finished. It’ll be ages before we film again. What if I lose my ‘magic bullshit’?”

You heard him chuckle a little.

“I’m pretty sure it’s still there, Y/N.”

“I could still get you?”

“Y/N, you already have me.”

His voice was quiet now, and you frowned. What? Sitting up, you looked over to the couch, seeing him sitting forward, elbows resting on his knees and head dropped down. His eyes were fixed on the carpet again. There was a very faint smile on his lips.

“I do?” You asked quietly, and he nodded slowly. He still wouldn't look at you.

“I used to think about it a lot, how your lips felt against mine… I couldn’t figure out afterwards whether it had just been acting or if you’d felt it too. Drove me crazy. Then after, we’d had scenes apart from each other, wrapped a week later and then didn’t see you for ages. I just pushed it out of my mind. Auditioned for this, got cast, came over for filming and then there you were again. It was like being hit by a car.” He blew out a breath.

“Like, a Smart car? Or like a taxi?” You tried to joke.

“It was like being hit by a fucking bus.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

A few minutes passed by quietly as Joe’s confession stayed in the air. You breathed in deeply, holding it for a second before releasing, and pushed yourself up off the bed. Your feet were quiet against the carpeted floor as you made your way over to the sofa, stopping to stand in front of him.

“We could always just… pick up where we left off..?” The proposal hung between you. He looked up at you and you just about melted. A small curl had come loose and hung down over his forehead and his eyes met yours.

“Where we left off?”

You nodded, reaching a hand out towards him. He hesitated for a second before his skin met yours. The tips of his fingers brushed against your own before he took your hand and stood. He swallowed thickly, now looking down a little from his height to keep his eyes on yours.

“I think I’d need a refresher of the scene…” He smiled as though he was joking, but his eyes had darkened and his tongue darted out to wet his lips. You looked up at him, pulling his hand round and placing it against your lower back.

“Well, I’m fairly sure you didn’t have this on.” Your voice was quiet but strong as you pulled at his shirt. He smiled down at you before removing his hand and pulling his shirt off over his head, dropping it to the floor. His hands, both this time, went back to pull you closer by your waist and he chuckled.

“You next?”

“That was your job.”

A single heartbeat passed before his lips met yours, hungry and searching. You moaned in surprise and want, your hands wrapping around his back and pressing against his skin, just as soft and beautiful as you had remembered. He pulled back a little, but stayed close enough that his nose was brushing yours as he spoke against your lips.

“Tell me if this stops being ok, ok?” He asked, eyes searching yours for even a hint of concern.

“Joe, this is more than ok.” You said, before crashing your lips against his again. His hands roamed your body and he backed up a little.

His legs hit the edge of the bed and he fell onto his back. You moved to straddle him as his hands searched for the hem of your shirt, and he found it. He broke the kiss to pull it up and over your head…

#joe quinn #joseph quinn #joe quinn imagine #eddie munson

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marimayscarlett · 3 months

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Another list of unrealistic wishes for the 2024 tour

Back at it again with the delusional takes and here to make it everyone elses problem - a very warm welcome to volume 2 of our wishes for the upcoming Rammstein tour ✨ This time again carefully put together by @wizzardclown @gothtoast and me, with additional wonderful influences by my dear @m---e---l. Thank you ladies 🤍

(Read our first list here and please consider checking out the great suggestions in the notes!)

Set list and concert organisation in general

first up, the question of the supporting act: -> either not happening in general, since none of us actually want to endure another round of the piano tinkling, so we though about this concept:

This way, we get an even longer concert with no distraction from the pure Rammstein sound.

-> or, another idea which came to mind: to celebrate the literary-genius Flake, he could give us a reading of one of his books before the concert, lighten up the mood and feeding the masses with entertaining facts. Additionally, Richard could play some piano in the background during it, for dramatic effect (like the piano accompaniment during silent movies back in the old days).

Opener for the concert this year: 'Haifisch'. Would be an amazing and appreciative nod towards the fans in regards to the support the band was shown last year.

'Zwitter': a banger to set the sexual ambiguous mood for the evening.

'Mein Land': Not sure if they every played this one live, but it would be a fitting song to get some summer vibes going.

for sunset rather fittingly 'Sonne'.

Off to the first proper segment, welcome to the 👻haunting hour👻: fitting for the upcoming night time, a creepy conglomerate consisting of: -> 'Wilder Wein' (I could write a whole chapter about this song, it's so captivating), followed by 'Spieluhr' -> 'Hilf mir': perfect for some new haunting stage show (maybe as a replacement for 'Puppe'; or to quote @wizzardclown: 'When in doubt, set Flake on fire') -> 'Heirate mich': preferably with some 'sliding on his knees/a rolling board'-Till -> to end this phase with a classic: 'Du riechst so gut' is an absolute MUST.

following: 'Rein Raus', some relaxing ASMR to lighten the mood.

Welcome to the next section: 🔥Some like it hot🔥, consisting of: -> 'Wollt ihr das Bett in Flammen sehen': camera focus has to be on Schneider. -> 'Asche zu Asche' with burning mics (!). -> 'Du hast' with its fire rockets (my favourite pyro in the whole concert) because no Rammstein concert can exist without this song, that's a physical law, and additionally Richard would be sad if he couldn't play it. -> 'Engel' preferably with the iconic wings (poor Till really has to go all in during this concert).

as a moment to take a breather: Mutter.

'Deutschland': a song we all wait for, with a huge meaning, just overall a perfect piece - yet no remix this time, since we need the time to slide right into the next phase of the concert:

💗questionable on-stage actions and homoerotica galore💗, consisting of: -> 'Mein Teil', with dilf dad-dance moves AND several guitarist kisses (what better moment than the dick eating song for it) -> 'Zick Zack' with at least some sort of elaborate costumes, -> 'Feuerräder', for the perfect vibe with Flake riding on Till's back, neon tube ready to knock seven bells out of his tormentor (justice for Flake), additionally maybe Oliver skating with his roller skates which emit flames in the background and more guitarist kisses

after this breathtaking segment, how about some 'Anna'-sing along! Scream the name of your fave on the top of your lungs and show your love for him 💘

finally some unrealistic (as if the whole list isn't a fever dream already) wishes : 'Eifersucht' and 'Fellfrosch'. To finally give Olli's sick bass lines the stage they deserve 😤

2. some more outfit ideas

long hair Schneider with his handband, because this was a look:

leg belts for Richard 🖤

and last but not least, this is a PSA: If Frau Schneider makes an appearance and decides to grace us with her presence, consider everything on this list to be obsolete. Seeing the mother again would be the greatest joy of all, we don't need anything more 🙇🏼‍♀️🙏🏼

#rammstein #rammstein tour 2024 #maybe i should turn this post in a pdf and send it to the r+ managment. maybe we'd have some luck with our improvement suggestions #this post was brought to you by Lesben für Rammstein e.V.#delusional take but ha. watch me i say anything on this site #what a weekend with david lynch lemonade too much pasta and wonderful company can bring

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gentlebeardsbarngrill · 2 months

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03/19/2024 Daily OFMD Recap

TLDR; Rhys Darby; Cryptid Factor; World Exclusive; Rosie; Kristian; Vico; SaveOFMDCrew billboard results; Watch Parties; Newark Newark; Wrecked; Adopt Our Crew Rhys Radness; Fan Spotlight; Podcasts; Radio; Cast Cards; Trends; Articles; Uproar; Love Notes + 1; Daily Darby Tonight's Taika

= Rhys Darby =

Cryptid factor - World Exclusive

So Rhys, Dan, and Buttons revealed never before seen footage by Tchie Kellys from back in 2018 of the Lochness Cryptid!

You can see footage on their Patreon (the full 2hr+ episode)

Edited version of the podcast on Spotify

Short version on Youtube

And of course Rosie's gotta pop in with some snark, I love that woman.

= Kristian Nairn =

Episode 065 of Kristian's music show Spektrum is up on Mixcloud! Mixcloud Link

= Vico Ortiz =

Lots of footage of Vico posted today! I couldnt get the videos to download for some reason-- find them here on their instagram.

Source: Vico Ortiz Instagram

== Stretch Goal Billboard Survey Results ==

The Final Stretch Goal Survey is in...

Hey, crew! The results from the survey on the final stage of our London Ads campaign are in. 🗳️ Almost 94% voted to split the remaining funds between the three billboard fundraiser charities: Mermaids UK, RainbowYOUTH (AoNZ), and Point Foundation (US). 🧜‍♂️🌈

Read the rest here

== Watch Parties ==

= Newark, Newark =

When: Saturday 23rd March @ 7 pm GMT / 3pm EST / 12 pm PST Where: BBC iPlayer, Now TV

Hosted by @lamentus1

Extra Note: The Rhys Darby Faction Discord will be streaming it as well at 5pm GMT / 1 pm EST / 12 pm PST

Watch Party Hashtags:

#NewarkThePlank

#OurFlagMeansDeath

== Wrecked ==

Season 3 watch from March 18th to March 22nd.

Times will be 10pm GMT / 5pm EST / 4pm CST / 2pm PST. Watch two episodes per day. Episodes are 21-22 minutes each. Use the following Saturday for the tags/watch if interested but not able to make this time.

Hashtags:

#WreckedPirates

#SaveOFMD

#RhysDarbyFaction

== Adopt Our Crew Rhys Radness ==

Another day of the Rhys Radness brackets by @adoptourcrew on twitter! Some tough decisions to be made.

Yesterday Jemaine decided to share the Steve vs Murray vote! Sorry Jemaine! Steve won out.

Today Luke Higginson (Writer, Director, and Editor of 'Relax I'm From The Future' ) also tried to campaign for Casper!!

Then even @bluefox_enterainment (the distributor of Relax I'm From The Future and Uproar!) also campaigned for Casper! We'll see what happens tonight!

== Fan Spotlight ==

Never Left - Podcast

Another episode of Never Left - an Our Flag Means Death Podcast is out! -- featuring one of our lovely #RhysDarbyFaction members, @TazManiaZania! Part 2 to Beautiful Princess Disorder.

Our Flag Means Fanfiction - Podcast

Our lovely friends over at @OurFlagMeansFanficion have another episode out! 'For this week’s episode, LoopyDangerFrog, also known as Katie, has granted us permission to share her narration of The Thoroughly and Entirely (Im)Proper Cuddling of Edward Teach by queenbee42. Katie’s narration is just SO GOOD. The emotion. The feeling… This is why she’s one of the best narrators out there.' - @OurFlagMeansFanfiction

= Amanda Beezer =

Tomorrow, our crewmate Amanda (Beezer Bee) will be chatting about #OurFlagMeansDeath on a local radio station 88.9 FM WMCX (March 20) at 2:30pm EST/6pm GMT! Check out Her Twitter for more info! You can listen here: https://www.radio.net/s/wmcx

= Cast Cards =

Our crewmate @melvisik is really hitting all the cast members! Today is Tim Heidecker aka Doug!

== Trends ==

Thank you @indarltonitrust on twitter for catching this!

== Articles ==

Really wonderful article that actually talks a bit about being on set with OFMD. Please give it a read!

= Uproar =

Your requests are working (maybe? Idk if they were gonna do this anyway, but I'm claiming it as us, whatever)! Sounds like there are some additional locations coming soon 👀

== YouWear50Well ==

Early reminder! The 21st is Rhys' Birthday! Since it'll be the 21st for some crew members earlier than others, @yronnia was kind enough to give us information early regarding the 50th birthday news!Please be sure to Post your birthday wishes to Rhys and show him your appreciation! Send your fanart and other creations using #YouWear50Well. Please Note: Please do not tag Rhys repeatedly! He's going to be getting a lot of notifications. Even just having notifications under #YouWear50Well will help keep everything visible :)

== Kudoboards closing soon =

Last chance! Thank you to @sharpenyersword on Twitter for setting up ALL THE KUDOBOARDS! Rhys' birthday kudoboard will close on the 20th, the rest will close on the 22nd.

Go send the cast and crew some love folks!

Rhys Darby's Birthday

David Jenkins

Nathan Foad

Con O'Neill

Ruibo Qian

Leslie F*cking Jones!

Matthew Maher

Vico Ortiz

Samson Kayo

Alex "Ass Tonight" Sherman!

David Fane

Kristian "Wee John Wednesdays" Nairn!

Samba "BTS and Baking King" Schutte!

Fellow OFMD Fan Crew!

= Love Notes =

Hey Lovelies. Been a lot of excitement today, certainly a lot going on! Rhys' birthday week, actual footage of something in Lochness, podcasts, billboards and movies, oh my! I know some of us are struggling a bit with some personal stuff, it's a hard time out there. It hits harder too when you get all this fun dopamine from the internet, then you turn around and look back at normal life and things are tough. Remember to be kind to yourself lovelies. Things aren't always going to go the way you plan or want. It's okay if you can't get out of bed today. It's okay if you scroll on your phone and get your dopamine from goofy ass pictures of celebrities. It's okay if you get up and you brush your teeth, but just can't make your breakfast. Eat something simple. Drink some water, lay down for a while. Little things build to big things. If you can't do laundry today because you don't have the spoons/motivation, then don't do laundry today. Just remember to change your underwear if you have some clean ones cause you don't wanna get a UTI. If all you can do today is exist, you're doing great. You're doing better than great, you're fantastic. Tomorrow you can do a little bit more, or a little less, depending on what you need. Just be kind to yourself and give yourself grace; the world is hard enough as it is, you don't need to beat yourself up for struggling with very real issues. Thank you all for making the past few weeks tolerable, I appreciate that so much. It's keeping my brain chemistry in a spot that's healthier than is used to be. I hope you all know just how wonderful you truly are, and that me and the rest of the crew are rooting for you every day. We're here, we love you <3 Stay well.

= Love Notes Cont'd =

= Daily Darby / Tonight's Taika =

Tonight's theme is these two being goofy MFs.

Darby Courtesy of @kiwistede

Taika Courtesy of I don't actually know I'm sorry (I found it in my taika folder and normally I name them but this didnt have one)! Please claim it!

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roosterbruiser · 1 year

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𝐕𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐞𝐳-𝐕𝐨𝐮𝐬 ☿ 𝟓

☿ 𝐁𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐥𝐞𝐲 "𝐑𝐨𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫" 𝐁𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐰 𝐱 𝐘𝐨𝐮 (𝐏𝐨𝐫𝐧 𝐍𝐚𝐦𝐞: 𝐂𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐀𝐫𝐬𝐚𝐧) ☿ 𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲: You film your first scene. Jake wants to celebrate at the disco. ☿ 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐬: 7.5k ☿ 𝐕𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐞𝐳-𝐕𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐒𝐩𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐲 ☿ 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐕𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐞𝐳-𝐕𝐨𝐮𝐬 ☿ 𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐛𝐫𝐮𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐫'𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭 ☿ 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐥𝐲 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐭. 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐨𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐝𝐨 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭--𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝟏𝟖+. 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐲 𝐛𝐞 𝐮𝐩𝐬𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜 𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬. 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐦𝐞 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬. 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐚 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐝𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝟕𝟎𝐬--𝐚 𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐞𝐫𝐚.

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐅𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐉𝐚𝐧𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝟑𝐫𝐝, 𝟏𝟗𝟕𝟗 𝐒𝐚𝐧 𝐅𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐨 𝐕𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐲, 𝐂𝐀

Expansions by Lonnie Liston Smith is playing while Rooster fucks you in front of a camera for the first time.

You’re bracing yourself on a flimsy school desk, panties and plaid skirt at your ankles and white button-down entirely undone and exposing your torso. Rooster’s naked all except for a pair of thick framed glasses and a tie, which is Dennis’ attempt to make Rooster look like a schoolteacher.

At the very least, the set is clean and small. You’re inside a warehouse of sorts outside of LA, on a proper sound stage. It’s warm--not as warm as it is outside, but warm enough that they keep having to throw your hair back out of your face. You’re not sure if it’s the lights or the amount of people crowding the room or the smoke or the excitement that’s making it so warm--you don’t really have time to think about it.

This sex doesn’t feel very different for you--not entirely. Yes, there is a camera and there is a crew. People are smoking cigarettes and cigars and sipping on bourbon while they watch Rooster fuck you. There are bright lights above you and you’re wearing just about the ugliest school girl uniform you can imagine--which you would never wear. You’ve been going at this for hours now, only stopping to eat tuna salad and rehydrate. But otherwise, the sex feels fucking good. It feels really fucking good.

You’re turned on--you are always kind of turned on--but this time it feels especially gratifying. Hours of cunnilingus and handjobs and fingering and position switches and now you’re finally able to close Rooster inside of you, hold him against you as he fucks you. You were aching for it before he sunk into you. He could tell how bad you really wanted it, that you weren’t acting, that you weren’t like the other girls with the faux fuck-me eyes he usually shot with. And honestly, it made him all the more harder. Even if he knows that he’s going home with you, that you’re going to be living with him, he can’t get enough of you. He’ll seize any opportunity to fuck you.

“Gonna have to earn that -A, baby,” Rooster says, gripping the bend of your hips as he pounds himself into you. He watches your entire body jolt as you take every thrust, watches your eyelashes flutter and your pigtails quiver. “Think I just give out grades for free, huh?”

“No, Mr. Bates--oh, fuck--I’m gonna be a good girl and-and earn it,” you moan out, pushing yourself against Rooster’s body.

“Perfect,” Dennis grunts from his spot beside the camera, shaking his head in wonder as Rooster drives his cock into you over and over again. “Why don’t we spank a few times? Nothing serious,” Dennis says.

Rooster pauses momentarily, gasping when you clench around him and glance at him over your shoulder. Your sweet face is adorned with minimal makeup, which is supposed to aid in you looking young. And you do look young--because you are young.

“That okay, kid?”

It’s a courtesy Rooster gives all his scene partners, but he doesn’t call the rest of them kid.

You nod, swallowing hard.

“More than okay,” you answer, biting your lip.

You’ve never been spanked before, not sexually. But you’re not going to let that show: you’re a professional now. Dennis loves you, has been fawning over you and bragging about you all fucking day, and you’re gonna show him that you’re fucking down. You’re down for anything. You’re Cherry fucking Arsan and you don’t say no

“Told you she’s got a beautiful mouth,” Dennis mutters to the cameraman, cutting a cigar and striking a match. “Tell her she’s being punished, Rooster. She’s been bad.”

This is when Rooster is usually on autopilot. He thrusts, kisses, curls, pumps, pants, licks, spits, pinches, grabs, gropes while thinking about what he’s going to have to drink when he gets home or if the Bills are gonna be in the Superbowl this year. But he can’t go on autopilot with you--which is something he discovered only a few hours ago. He is achingly inside of his own body when he’s with you, feeling every single bit of your flesh and muscle and wetness, filling you up.

What’s peculiar is that while he’s thoroughly enjoying fucking you, he’s looking forward to when this is all said and done. He’s gonna take you to In-N-Out and buy you a burger, take the long way home through the winding palm tree-lined valley, take a shower with you, invite some friends over, light up some cigars, and just spend the night talking. You’re a conversationalist, someone who seems to know a little bit about everything, someone who is always listening with wide eyes and a bitten lip.

“Won’t be too rough,” Rooster tells you through grit teeth, squeezing your hip.

You don’t really mind if he is, though--but you smile all the same, humming.

“I’ve been so bad, Mr. Bates,” you moan out, throwing your head back. “Are you gonna hit me with your paddle?”

“I broke my paddle on another student,” Rooster answers and you pretend to gasp. You’re doing very well--better than anyone could’ve expected. “I’ve gotta use my hand on you, girl.”

When his hand first comes down, it’s at the same time he delivers a particularly deep thrust. The shock sends you forward, jolts the desk. The pain is there--a sting, heat pooling in your cheek. But then he smooths his hand over the spot, very subtly so that only you can detect it, and grips your hip again.

“Oh, that’s so good,” you whimper, which is entirely true and real. You like it. You like being spanked. “Fuck, Mr. Bates. Please, do it again.”

Rooster bites down hard on his lip, glancing at Dennis, who nods rapidly at Rooster and motions for him to do it again. You’re a moaning mess beneath him, your knees just about ready to buckle, when he spanks you again. The slap is loud--its bark worse than its bite--and again, he smooths his hand over the spot and gives you a delicious relief.

“Fuck,” you whine, panting. You feel like this is getting you close, a heat rising up from your toes and spreading all across your skin. “Fuck.”

Rooster’s throat is tight with arousal. You sound fucking pitiful, like you need release, like you want something that only he can give. He knows that sound, has become acquainted with it.

So, he reaches down and presses his hand between your legs, letting his pointer and middle finger circle your clit. You jolt again, but then press yourself into him further and arch your back.

“Just like that,” Dennis encourages, eyes widening at the breath caught in your mouth and the way your hips buck to meet Rooster’s thrusts. “Keep doing her like that, Rooster. Just like that.”

Rooster wants to talk to you the way he does when you’re fucking at home--wants to say your name and tell you that he wants you to cum. He wants to be closer to you, wants to let his body rest over yours. He wishes that you were facing him, that he could take your nipple in his mouth. But this is okay for now--he’s okay with watching your knuckles turn white and listening to those beautiful sounds falling from your parted lips.

“Shit, you gonna make her cum?” Dennis laughs jovially, shaking his head in wonder. “Tell him how close you are, Cherry.”

“I’m so close, Mr. Bates,” you pant, chest heaving. You want to reach back and hold him, but something keeps your fingers firmly curled around the desk instead.

Rooster is still steadily pounding into you, eyes trained on that red handprint on your cheek, fingers circling your clit as you clench around him and cry out desperately.

“Fuckin Hell,” Dennis mumbles to his assistant. “How good do they look, huh? Fucking perfect.”

When Rooster cums, letting his chest rest against your delicate back as he pulses and spills inside of you, you’re grinning and gasping. He’s holding onto you tightly, his hands sore from coming down on your rear so relentlessly at the direction of Dennis. You’re sore, too--but you don’t mind it.

Everyone starts to clap for you, Dennis releasing an ear-piercing wolf-whistle that makes the hair on the back of your neck stand to attention.

“How was I?” you whisper to Rooster, catching his gaze. His glasses are sliding down his nose, his tie loose around his flushed throat. He swallows hard, laughing, then presses a kiss to the middle of your shoulder blades. “Was I outta sight?”

“You were fab, baby,” Rooster tells you. He pulls away from you just enough to let his cock slide out and then holds your waist as you straighten up. “Really somethin’.”

When you stand up and look out at all the men in front of you, all the mustaches and sideburns and corduroy and hairy chests and glassy eyes, something tingles in your belly. It’s like moving into a new home, understanding that things are unfamiliar now but will soon become a common fixture in your life. And as they all clap for you, grinning, you know this is something you’re going to see often.

So, with cum dripping down your legs, you take a bow.

Rooster’s still holding onto your waist, shaking his head softly as your pigtails swing wildly. He’s seen that grin of yours before--he likes it. It’s toothy and real, very wide and sweet. But something in his chest feels heavy when he realizes that you’re giving it to all of these jackoffs.

“She’s my new moneymaker!” Dennis calls gleefully, hobbling over to you and holding your naked waist with his beefy hand. “Cherry, you’re a fucking goddess, baby!”

When Dennis’ hand lands on your rear, where he gives a few lewd squeezes, you don’t pull away from him. You don’t do anything except grin and laugh. But Rooster sees it--sees him groping you.

“Stellar,” Rooster says softly, nudging himself against you and away from Dennis. Dennis pretends not to notice and you just beam up at Rooster. “Let’s rock and roll, Cherry.”

You feel like you’re on top of the fucking world.

Rooster drives home with the top down and lets the warm air kiss your face and throat as you throw your arms in the air and cry out your name: I’m Cherry fucking Arsan! Every single nerve in your body is alight with excitement, with pleasure. Dennis handed you a check for $1700 and it’s tucked in your bra now--you swear even the paper is hot, burning your skin.

“Oh, I feel fucking amazing right now!” You shout, pushing the straps of your tank-top down so your perfect tan won’t be broken up by thin straps of pale skin. “Oh, God, baby! This is the life you’ve been living since you were eighteen? Goddamn! I missed the fucking memo! I just wanna--ugh, I wanna fucking scream!”

Rooster, with his shades and another expensive turtleneck intact now, chuckles with a grin adorning his lips. He has a hand on your thigh, where he’s rubbing circles there with his thumb, and Joni Mitchell on the radio.

“Scream, then!” He tells you.

You look at him--all that beautiful man in this beautiful car under the beautiful sky. You think about the check in your bra. You think about opening up your own bank account. You think about taking another bump of coke. You think about fucking Rooster whenever you want to.

And then you fucking scream. Arms up, chest tight, throat open, mouth wide, eyes shut--you scream into the wide open air all around you. Rooster’s in stitches, his ears ringing, as your holler echoes all along the valley.

“Christ, kid!” Rooster laughs, squeezing your thigh. “You’ve got a set of lungs on you!”

Your entire body feels loose now as you lean over to rest your head on Rooster’s shoulder. You smell like sweat and sex, which is a scent that Rooster is so accustomed to now that he hardly even realizes it.

“Oh, I know,” you giggle, plucking the shades off his face and putting them on to shield you from the sun overhead. “I’m a screamer.”

Rooster smirks.

“Oh, I know,” he teases. He’s squinting at the sun now, but you look too darling in his oversized glasses to take them back. “Thought we could grab some burgers and have some company tonight. How’s that sound?”

You know that by company he means the usual crowd--which means Jake, which means another bump if he’s feeling generous. At the very thought of it, saliva pools under your tongue.

“Sounds groovy to me, baby!”

Rooster’s happy--he’s really, really happy. You’re snuggled up right beside him, singing along to Joni Mitchell, wearing his sunglasses, blinking at the sun, his scent thick on your skin. You’re happy, too--you’ve got more money in your bra than your daddy’s ever seen all at once, you’ve just been fucked, you’re gonna do a bump with Jake, and the sun is shining.

It’s a perfect day. It feels like the makings of a perfect life.

Jake is already waiting for you and Rooster in the living room. He let himself in a few hours ago, helped himself to a couple beers, turned on a record, and has been laying out on the couch waiting to hear that front door open.

And when he hears those familiar sounds, he sits straight up with a grin on his face, searching for you. There you are, just beside Rooster, dressed in a little pink tank top and a pair of clogs. Your hair is wild--Jake can tell Rooster rode home with the top down--and your cheeks are pink with delight. You’re carrying an In-N-Out cup, which you’re still slurping from, and you’re laughing at something Rooster said.

“Where’s mine?” Jake asks, eyebrows raised.

Both you and Rooster’s gazes snap in his direction immediately, Rooter taking a subtle step in front of you and puffing out his chest before he realizes oh, it’s just Jake.

“Jake!” You call out, dropping the milkshake on the tile as you skitter towards the couch with your arms wide open.

You’ve grown very fond of Jake since you’ve met him--he’s clicked into your life just as easily and quickly as Rooster has. And Jake has grown just as fond of you, stopping by Rooster’s pad more often than before.

Something stings Rooster’s cheek watching you skip over to Jake like you are.

But then he bites his lip hard and looks at the tile, shaking his head.

“Cherry, you spilled your milkshake!” Rooster whines, grabbing the discarded cup.

Strawberry clops onto the tile that Rooster just had cleaned, but when he looks up and sees you grinning apologetically over your shoulder as your clogs echo throughout the house, he knows he won’t stay mad.

“Get your pretty little ass over here, girl!” Jake insists, opening his arms for you.

Jake assists in holding onto your waist and hoisting you over the back of the couch and on top of his body, where you fall into a fit of giggles as you kiss his face and tangle your hands in his hair. He’s warm and soft--he smells like weed and patchouli.

Rooster crosses the house to throw the shake away, grabbing some paper towels as you and Jake kiss each other hello fervently.

“Did you miss me or something, baby?” Jake asks.

He watches the column of your throat as you laugh and sigh happily, your head tipped back. There’s a spot of shake just by the corner of your mouth and before you can answer him, he leans up and licks it off.

“Strawberry?” He asks, smacking his tongue.

“Mhm,” you tell him. “Want some more, baby?”

You offer him the little bit of your hair that dripped in the shake and he sucks it clean while you bite your lip.

“You two are gnarly,” Rooster sighs, slumping down on the sofa behind you.

He wishes that he was under you--but he knows that he’s being selfish. He gets you all of the time. Hell, he just got you for four hours. He got all of you for four fucking hours. And, somehow, he got paid for it.

“Perfect for each other,” you tease, squeezing Jake’s pecs. “How’d you get in?”

“Rooster never locks the back door,” Jake says, nudging Rooster. “Not even after all that freaky deaky East Area Rapist shit.”

Rooster rolls his eyes, shaking his head.

“Do you know how far away Sacramento is, man? A whole fucking plane ride away. And we’re in one of the wealthiest suburbs in Los Angeles,” Rooster retorts. “Of course I never lock the backdoor.”

Jake pretends to mock Rooster and you laugh, sinking your weight onto him.

“How was it, baby? Gimme the skinny,” Jake says, pushing your hair behind your ears as you situate yourself on his lap, hands on his chest. “Don’t spare any details.”

“It was fucking groovy! Just, like, hours of fucking and then a round of applause and a paycheck at the end of it,” you tell Jake, sinking your teeth into your bottom lip. “Look at this.”

You reach into your bra, grab the check, then wave it in front of Jake’s face with a flush over your chest and throat. Jake feigns impression, letting a low whistle fill the room as he reads the paper.

“You’re a rich lady!” He grins.

“Won’t need us to buy your threads anymore,” Rooster sighs, kicking his feet up on the coffee table. “Gonna get rid of us?”

You scoff, letting yourself fall back until your head is on Rooster’s lap with your hips still planted over Jake’s.

“Nah,” you tell Rooster, tracing the smile that’s biting his lips with a careful finger. “Need you to show me how to open a bank account. And someone to buy me caviar.”

Rooster bites down softly on your finger and you laugh, kissing his arms and chest.

“Was it just you two?” Jake asks, drifting his finger from your belly button up your chest.

You shiver at his touch--you don’t know if you’ll ever get used to being touched so much all the time. You love it. It makes you feel like you’re living in a dream, something wrapped in cotton and confetti.

“Yeah, man,” Rooster answers. “It was her first gig. Dennis wouldn’t throw her to the wolves like that.”

He’s not telling the truth--Dennis would throw you to the wolves like that and very easily, too. Dennis tossed around the idea of today’s shoot featuring Rooster and three other men--all of which would run a train on you. But Rooster carefully coaxed Dennis away from the idea over coffee a few days ago, convincing Dennis that just you and Rooster would sell just as much as a gang-bang.

He doesn’t want to scare you, though--not when you’re already diving head first into this industry and his life. He’s guilty, almost, knowing that he isn’t telling the full truth. But he figures that as long as he’s around, you’ll be okay. You’ll be good. He’s too fond of you to let anything bad happen. And, anyway, wasn’t he the one that sat behind you and let you sign that contract?

Jake knows Rooster is bullshitting, at least a little bit. But it isn’t his prerogative to shed light on his friend’s discrepancy.

“Well, we’ve gotta celebrate somehow,” Jake tells you, squeezing your hips.

“I already had my first In-N-Out burger,” you grin, patting your belly. “What else could I possibly want?”

Rooster pinches your cheek and you grin up at him. You’re teasing him--he loves that you’re always teasing him.

“Let’s go to Bell Bottoms!” Jake says suddenly, a grin devouring his face. When you perch a brow at him, when Rooster sighs, he continues, “It’s the best disco joint in LA.”

At the sheer notion of going to the disco, your body is on fire. You’ve always wanted to go to the disco: dancing, drinking, sweating, singing, fucking. It all sounds so fucking glamorous. Your toes are numb just thinking about stepping into that foggy joint, just thinking about grinding yourself between Jake and Rooster.

But Rooster doesn’t like the disco.

He’s frowning, watching your body tense with excitement, watching Jake grin at you and twirl your hair around his fingers.

“Oh,” Jake suddenly says, catching Rooster’s less-than-enthused gaze. He glances at you and then nods to Rooster’s frown. “Forgot the old man doesn’t like the disco.”

Fuck.

You shoot around, bottom lip puckered and eyes wide. You scramble to move yourself onto Rooster’s lap, straddling him, sinking your fingers into his hair. Helplessly, he holds onto your hips and lets your weight sway him.

“C’mon, Daddy Warbucks,” you whine, nudging your nose against his, “take your little orphan out for a spin! C’mon! I’ve got boogie shoes now!”

“We’ll make it worth your while,” Jake adds from behind you, smiling at Rooster. “And by that I mean the first round is on Cherry!”

You nod vehemently--you have the money now and you intend to spend it on the people that you love. And you love Jake and Rooster; you love them so much that your heart could burst.

Rooster contemplates for a moment, still frowning. You’re kissing all over his face now like a puppy, muttering out little please’s as you cuddle up against his warm form.

“C’mon,” Jake encourages, smoothing his mustache. “She’s never been to the disco! Take this girl dancing!”

Rooster looks at you, pouting and smiling all at the same time, and then sighs. How could he ever say no to you? This might be an issue.

“Alright,” Rooster relents, rolling his eyes. “I’ll take you dancing, kid.”

Just as you finish shimmying your mascara on your lashes, Rooster appears in the mirror behind you. He’s wearing a suede jacket and a tight-knit sweater, his shades low on his nose and his curls gelled.

“Well, well, well,” you tease, smiling at him through your reflection, “you clean up mighty nice, Rooster.”

He crosses his arms, leaning against the door. He would tease you back if he could get his voice to work--but he can’t, not when you look as fucking beautiful as you do right now. Your eyes are glittery and big, your cheeks are pink, your chest is glimmering, your heels are high, and your hair is perfectly straight. You look much older right now than you did earlier on set--thank God. Rooster doesn’t like it when you look like such a young thing.

“So I’ve been told,” he finally breathes, letting his eyes drag down your body. “You look dynamite, baby.”

You shake your ass at him a bit, grinning. You’re so excited that your nerves are vibrating. It was difficult to apply your eyeshadow with the tremble in your hands, but you did it. And now you’re almost bouncing.

“Thanks,” you tell him, carefully applying lip gloss. “Like the dress?”

Your dress is the color of a tangerine, made entirely of sequins. The neckline dips low and the hem stops short on your thighs. But the sleeves--the sleeves fan out elegantly into bells. It’s a perfect dress, one that you bought without even trying on because you just knew.

“Shit yeah,” Rooster grunts, smoothing his fingers down your arm.

You grin.

He watches you silently, just breathing you in. Everybody’s gonna want you at Bell Bottoms. Everybody already wants you anywhere, everywhere. And he knows that you aren’t his to keep--you’re not anyone’s to keep--but he wants to keep you here, in his house, close to him.

“How many times’ve we fucked now?” Rooster asks softly.

Humming, you scrunch your brows.

“Well, what do you classify as fucking?”

“Full penetration,” Rooster answers.

You laugh.

“Hmm,” you start, tutting. “Well, there was the first time in the office--you know, with Dennis. And then, what, about a dozen times since? Twice on New Years. Once today, right? So, like, I don’t know. A steady fifteen? Twenty?”

He hums, swallowing. He can hear Jake in the living room, rummaging through the bar and making himself some cocktail that he shouldn’t be mixing with all the cocaine he’s ingested.

“Right,” Rooster nods. He steadies himself on his feet, clearing his throat. “So, you like fucking me then, right?”

He hasn’t ever asked anyone that in his life because he’s always just known. And, really, he knows that you do enjoy fucking him. He’s asking because of earlier. He’s asking because you dropped everything in your hands to run to Jake, to kiss Jake, to love on Jake. And it isn’t necessarily that he’s jealous--but envious. He’s envious. You haven't truly gotten the opportunity to miss Rooster yet and he knows that. But his heart is heavy now and he wants to hear you say it: you like fucking him.

You pause immediately, letting your eyes fall to his in the mirror. He’s looking at you completely earnestly, maybe even a bit sheepishly. But he isn’t letting his gaze falter, isn’t letting his eyes fall from your pretty ones.

“Roo,” you start softly, finally facing him and letting your back rest against the sink, “I don’t like fucking you. I love fucking you.”

His cheeks grow warm with delight. But you’re looking at him very seriously, your brows knit and your head tilted. You’re very serious about what you’ve just said--because you’re very serious about sex.

“Just had to make sure I was going your speed,” Rooster says, trying to sound casual. He doesn’t, though. “Don’t want you to have to fuck, you know, an old man.”

You feel it then--guilt. It’s like a warm glass of water being poured down the front of your dress and settling in a puddle at your heels.

“Oh, baby,” you sigh, wrapping your arms around his neck. He’s still blinking sheepishly, his heart sitting in his throat, as you stroke his face gently. “I don’t have to fuck anyone. Not outside of work, right? I want to fuck you. I always want to fuck you, baby.”

You’re telling the truth. Rooster is the best sex you’ve ever had in your life and it doesn’t really come close. Sure, you like fucking Jake and you liked fucking all those other men back home. But with Rooster it’s different--he’s attentive and driven, almost gentlemanly in his insistence that you cum before he does.

Rooster is searching your face: your knit brows, your pouty lips, your glassy eyes. He knows you’re telling the truth. He’s embarrassed for a moment that he even asked and gave himself away, but then you’re pressing your lips against his, curling your fingers in his hair.

“You’re the fucking man,” you whisper against his lips, your breath hot and sultry against his mouth.

He moans without even meaning to, his fingers digging into the rough sequins on your hips. Jesus fucking Christ--just to hear it fall from your lips, it makes his spine tingle. You recognize the chill, you see the way his eyes flutter shut, you see the way his breathing stutters. He likes it. What man wouldn’t like his ego stroked just a little bit?

“Oh, Cherry,” he mutters against your lips, smiling softly. His mustache rubs against your Cupid’s bow just right, getting mucked with gloss. “Fuck.”

He doesn’t want to ask you to say it again--but he wants to hear it again. Just the notion that the coolest fucking girl he knows thinks so highly of him makes his entire lower half go practically numb.

“You’re the fucking man, Bradley,” you tell him, really meaning it. You’ve used his real name very sparingly since he gave it to you a couple days ago--you just think Rooster suits him. But when he hears you say it, his head tips back and his jaw goes slack. “I mean it, baby, I’m not fucking with you.”

You can feel his hardening cock pressing against your dress now and it makes you smile. Just your words, just your breath, just this dress and it’s enough to make him hard. And that thought makes you wet again, makes your thighs press together.

Maybe you’re aroused, too, because of how fervently you mean it. You don’t like to stroke men’s egos if you think you’re not going to get anything from them. You like being fucked by men and you like penises, but you don’t necessarily like men. But Rooster--God, he might be one of the best people you’ve ever met. You know already, just like you know every day that California is where you’re supposed to be, that you’re going to know him for a long time. And he’s the fucking man.

“Jesus fucking Christ,” Bradley mutters, pressing your body against his. He’s thinking about the very first night you were here, when he picked your name, when you told him to imagine you were having sex again, when you got him started and left him out to dry. “You’re a fucking minx.”

“You’re not an old man,” you tell him, kissing his lips gently. His mouth is warm and wet and your gloss is transferring to his lips now. “But you’re my old man, right?”

You don’t know what you mean other than this is how you’re asking him if he’ll take care of you. You want him to take care of you--you want it more than anything in the world, you think.

He isn’t sure what you’re asking. But he nods, pulling you tight against his body.

“I’m whatever you want me to be,” he says against your lips.

You like to hear men say that to you--but Rooster might be the first. Now you’re the one with a quivering chin, with a tingle running up your spine. Fuck.

By the time Jake comes round to your room, his hair freshly combed and his nose freshly blown, you’re pressing lingering kisses all along Bradley’s bare thighs and swallowing his thick ropes of cum. He’s leaning back against the door, his hands tangled in your hair, his Adam’s apple bobbing with every thick breath he takes.

“I leave for a couple minutes and the two of you go at it again?” Jake asks, grinning at you and leaning against the doorframe.

You press your face against Bradley’s warm thigh and sigh into all his expansive skin covering all that hard muscle. Even just blowing him, even just letting the head of his cock press into the back of your throat, even just swallowing his cum--it makes you feel closer to him. It makes you feel good.

Rooster still has blood rushing past his ears from cumming so hard. It happened quickly, which isn’t something that happens often. You’re good with your mouth, though--too good almost.

“Fuck off,” Rooster grunts, panting still. He’s stroking your hair now as you just rest against his thigh. “Make yourself useful and get the car started, huh?”

At that, Rooster tosses Hangman the keys. Hangman looks down at you, waiting for you to grin up at him or invite him on his knees beside you--but your eyes are shut. You’re just resting against the bare skin of Bradley’s thigh like it’s where you belong. You don’t even mind that you’re on your knees.

Then it’s quiet again. It’s just you and Rooster and your lip gloss is smeared and he’s almost naked before you. There’s no hurry, there’s no rush. Things are just calm. He’s petting your hair, smoothing his palm over your silky hair over and over again.

“Thank you,” you mumble to him, glancing up at him.

Your eyes are heavy-lidded and sweet.

Rooster’s throat is tight.

“Kid, why are you thanking me?” He laughs, swiping his thumb across your jaw. “I should be thanking you.”

No one has ever thanked you for blowing them before. Your heart feels fuzzy, fuzzy and warm. You don’t know why you do it--why you wrap your arms around his leg and hug him close to your body, but you do. He doesn’t say anything about the sequins digging into his thighs and doesn’t think it’s strange that you’re hugging him.

But when he’s all the way up there and you’re all the way down there, you look smaller than you ever have in his eyes before. A small and beautiful thing, holding him against you, relishing in the feeling of his leg hair against your soft cheek.

You’ve hugged a man’s leg like this before. Just one time, not very long ago. Except he was not naked and you did not have a pretty dress on. You were crying and he was, too. It doesn’t matter now, though, because with each day that flits past, you’re certain that you’ll never see that man again. Your daddy will stay in Nebraska and you’ll stay here.

“Roo,” you whisper, “I wanna die in California.”

His breath catches between his teeth. You say it with such calmness--you aren’t sad, you aren’t mourning. You’re just telling him something.

“You will,” he says softly. “Eighty years from now.”

You hum for a moment. Eighty years of this. Eighty years of his skin against yours. Eighty years of falling in love and getting fucked and eating burgers and getting paychecks.

You sit back finally, lean your cheek into his palm. His eyes are soft, swimming with fondness. But he’s trying to read that strange serene expression all over your face.

Softly, he wipes the wet mascara from under your eyes. When you kiss his fingers, rubbing your face against his hand like a loving cat, he nearly weeps at the softness that overwhelms his being.

“You’ll stay with me, won’t you?” You ask, lashes battering against your cheeks.

Men don’t stay with you forever. Not usually. Not before.

“Where else would I go, kid?” He whispers.

That’s a good enough answer for now. You’re the one that pulls his pants up, you’re the one that fastens his belt and zips his zipper. You’re the one that helps him tuck his sweater back into his pants.

“You know earlier, when I said thank you?” You ask as he helps you to your feet. He pulls you against his body, nodding gently as you cup his cheek. “I mean it. Thank you. For, you know…everything.”

“It’s all gravy, baby,” he says, his breath fanning out over your face.

Your thumb is rubbing the rough skin of his cheek soothingly like you’ve always been doing this.

“Good. Because I don’t think you can get rid of me.”

Bell Bottoms is busy. Wall to wall, floor to mirrored ceiling, there are people dancing. It’s a sea of sweaty bodies dressed in corduroy and suede and silk and satin. It’s too dark to make out anyone’s face, too dark to differentiate one person from the other.

It’s a smaller building--which Jake tells you makes it more exclusive. The bouncer, a big hulking man with a big hulking beard, claps Jake on the shoulder and lets all three of you past the velvet rope. And inside, everything is purple, red, green, yellow, blue, pink. It’s a kaleidoscope of neon, dazzling the velvet walls and the silver mirror balls on the ceiling.

Get Down Tonight by KC & The Sunshine Band is pulsing through the speakers. It’s so loud that you can feel every single word in your chest, in the soles of your feet.

“I’ll grab us some drinks,” Rooster yells into your ear, manually stuffing your hand into Jake’s as Jake looks around excitedly, bobbing on his feet. Then he comes close to Jake’s ear and shouts, “Don’t let her go, man, alright?”

And then Rooster is gone, shuffling through the sweaty bodies and hair and stepping in puddles of tequila that have been sloshed onto the floor.

“Alright, baby,” Jake calls to you, holding both your hands in his and pulling your body against his. He’s high--excited, jittery. You look fucking beautiful in the dim glow of the room, like you’re a sculpture they had made for this exact spot. “You wanna bump?”

Sinking your teeth into your lip, you nod excitedly. You’ve been waiting for him to ask.

Honey, honey, me and you / And do the things / Ah, do the things / That we like to do

He shuffles the two of you against the wall and cages you in with his body. You’re grinning, kissing his face and sneaking peeks over his shoulder at the hustling crowd, the very lining of your stomach vibrating with excitement.

Jake’s happy that you want another bump--Bradley won’t ever get high with him and neither will any of the other friends. Maybe they’re all too old--or they think they’re too old--but you seem to be just the right age. Excited, young, new.

He tangles with the buttermints canister for a moment before he dabs his finger inside of it and then brings it to your lips. You’re already ready, grinning, barring your teeth for him.

“You’re so fucking foxy,” he mutters, pressing his finger against your gums.

There’s some sort of blissful relief in the movement of his finger in your mouth. The familiar taste of his skin and the new taste of flower petals on your tongue--you love it. You aren’t sure if you love it because it gets you high or if it’s because Jake is touching you.

“There you go, baby,” he mutters to you, eyes heavy-lidded. “That’s gonna feel real nice when you’re dancing, huh?”

Oh, do a little dance / Make a little love / Get down tonight, get down tonight

When Bradley wanders back to the spot he left you, holding three glasses in his big hands, he can’t find you or Jake. But it only takes a moment or two before he sees you on the dance floor: you’re easy to spot when you’re the life of the party.

And boy, are you the life of the party.

You’re in the middle of the neon dance floor, your dress reflecting every bit of technicolor that shines on you sporadically. You’re dancing like your life depends on it, throwing your hair back, leaving your throat open and your face serious. Every single swing of your hips, sway of your shoulders, bounce of your breasts--it’s enchanting.

Jake’s right there with you, hands on your waist as you two grind against each other and everyone around you. He’s fucking high--he feels great and he knows you do, too. You’re a good dancer and he knows he is, too. He feels like the two of you are made for each other.

Do a little dance / Make a little love / Get down tonight (Whoo), get down tonight (Baby)

And again, Rooster gets that feeling when he looks at you. You look tougher than everyone here--more beautiful, too. He thinks about you saying you want to die in California and his toes grow cold. He sits in a booth, leaves your drink close to his, and starts sipping on his Tom Collins.

“I feel so fucking good,” you call to Jake, hands over his shoulders. Your heart is pounding and you’re sweating, but you feel like you can do anything right now. “Do I look so fucking good?”

Jake grins, nodding fervently.

“You’re the hottest fucking thing this dance floor’s ever seen!”

You laugh loudly, tipping your head back.

Everyone is singing along and grooving, jiving. Everyone is touching you seemingly, the entire crowd moving in tandem. And when people touch you, you feel like they love you. Everybody loves Cherry Arsan. And Cherry Arsan loves everybody, too.

“Let’s never leave each other,” you tell Jake, all the affection sitting hot in your chest suddenly spilling out of your mouth. Your eyes are teary as you hold his cheeks in your hands, still moving your shoulders along with the song. “Let’s just always be like this, alright?”

“I wouldn’t leave you,” Jake says, his heart racing. “I fucking love you, Cherry!”

A certain pleasure prickles your skin at the words.

He loves you--he means it. You know that.

“Say it again,” you moan, biting your lip.

“I fucking love you,” Jake grins, peppering your face with kisses.

It’s all you’ve really ever wanted--to be loved, adored.

And because he’s high and he feels invincible and because you’re high and anything goes, you let him lift you. He wraps his arms around your thighs and you laugh wildly, bracing yourself against his shoulders. And then you’re up above everyone else, spinning, your head tipped back.

You can see your reflection in the disco ball above you, all one thousand little squares of you. You’re fucking beautiful. Jake sinks his face into your belly and inhales you, grinning. He feels you flex with delighted laughter and holds you tighter.

Then your head lulls at the perfect moment--you see Rooster sitting at a booth by himself, three glasses before him. He’s watching you, a smile tugging at his lips. You wave at him wildly, blowing him kisses and throwing your hair behind you.

“I love you!” You call to Rooster, but it’s lost in the sound of the music. He doesn’t hear you. But you keep calling it to him. “I fucking love you!”

It’s well past three in the morning when Rooster carries you inside the house, Jake trailing behind him with a broken Elvis song falling from his lips. No one is entirely sober, least of all you and Jake.

Almost all your makeup has melted off and your hair is matted to your face where you sweated from dancing all night. Jake’s holding your shoes and you’re softly scratching the back of Rooster’s neck, head on his shoulder, with your legs wrapped around his hips.

“Wanna another drink?” Jake asks you, slurring slightly, as he toes his shoes off and closes the front door behind him.

Rooster scoffs.

“Man, you need to sleep it off,” Rooster says, frowning when you nod at Jake. “You, too, Saturday Night Fever.”

“S’Wednesday,” you retort brokenly, yawning.

Rooster rolls his eyes, carrying you to the couch as you kiss his neck.

“It’s Thursday, baby,” he corrects.

Jake is already rummaging around the bar, still singing to himself. He’s fading fast, he can feel it. But he wants to keep the party going--wants to feel all that life thrumming in his body, pulsing through his veins.

“Got anymore Aperol?” Jake asks, vision bleary as he knocks into a few bottles ineffectively.

Rooster sits on the sofa, expecting you to climb off him and sprawl you--you don’t, though. You just stay connected to him, your breaths hot and damp against his shoulder. He hugs you close to him, humming. You’re gonna have a Hell of a time tomorrow.

“No,” Rooster lies. He wants Jake to just settle in for the night. “Why don’t you go take a shower, man? You’ll sober up.”

“Don’t want to sober up,” Jake sighs, grabbing a glass and pouring the first liquor he can paw in it. “Sobriety’s for squares.”

“I approve this message,” you mutter, blindly throwing a thumbs up in the air.

Rooster scoffs.

You sit up a bit, just enough to press your forehead against Rooster’s. You’re crashing--fading fast, he can tell. Now that the blow has worn off and the alcohol has settled in your belly, you’re almost done for. Your eyes are heavy and your limbs ache and your feet are sore, but you’re still so happy.

“You didn’t dance with me,” you whine, pressing your fingers into Rooster’s cheeks.

“I don’t dance, kid,” Rooster says gently, stroking your flushed cheek.

“But don’t you break all the rules for me?” You pout, tracing his amused smile.

Jake sinks into the sofa beside the two of you, sipping on lukewarm peppermint schnapps. It’s even warmer going down, spreading across his belly.

“Sometimes I do,” Rooster says softly, swiping the smudged lip gloss off your chin.

“Jakey danced with me,” you grin lazily, glancing at Jake, who’s humming with his eyes fallen shut. “He said he loved me, didn’t you?”

“Fuck, yeah,” Jake grins, peeking an eye open to tussle your hair.

Rooster’s heart skitters for a moment.

“See,” you pout, turning back to Rooster. You hold onto his shoulders, rub your nose into his. “Jake dances with me and he loves me. Don’t you love me, baby?”

Rooster swallows thickly.

“Of course I love you, baby,” he answers.

He’s thinking about when the three of you sat on this sofa not long ago--when you and Rooster admitted to never being in love, when Jake talked about Gentry. He’s thinking about the way he watches you lay on Jake, the way you slinked away from him and into his arms. And he holds you tighter now, pressing his lips to yours. You taste like salt and sweat and vodka, your lips plump with sleep.

He isn’t gonna let go of you tonight. He’s gonna stay right here, holding you against him. Because he does--of course he does--love you. He is almost entirely sure of it. Maybe not in the way he thought he would love someone, but in a way that makes his eyes heavy with salt.

“I know it,” you mutter to him, stroking his curls. “I know it.”

☿ 𝐚/𝐧: omg!!! the disco!! in this economy?? it's more likely than you think!!

☿ 𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫

☿ 𝐥𝐢𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐠

☿ 𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐛𝐨𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐕𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐞𝐳-𝐕𝐨𝐮𝐬

@thedroneranger

@fandom-life-12

@avaleineandafryingpan

@popsycles

@guacala

@hotch-meeeeeuppppp

@oliviah-25