#i’ll stay up for other episode releases but i have too much going on this week

[ourflagmeansgayrights]

i reblogged those “one more sleep til ofmd s2” jokes this morning but i made myself a liar but passing out for four hours in the middle of the day

anyway NOW it’s one more sleep til ofmd s2

[lonelym00n]

The Road to Recovery

An epilogue for The Devil Likes the Pirate Series

Tara Carpenter x Reader

Word Count: 3.2k

Summary: Is it worth the effort to repair your relationships, or should you just let your friends go?

Warnings: Talk about injuries, nothing super gory

A/N: The epilogue is here (finally)! I hope it wraps up the series nicely. Thank you all so much for reading <3

The road to recovery, as it’s often said to be, is going to be a long one. You are confined to your hospital bed for a minimum of two weeks, set to undergo observation and a multitude of x-rays until your body has recovered enough for a laparoscopy to ensure that your wounded organs have properly healed. 

You internally groan when the nurse informs you of your long stay. The next two weeks are going to be extremely boring, especially because you've been instructed not to move unless you’re being visited by your physical therapist or it is absolutely necessary to do so.

If it’s not bad enough that you can’t move, as with every other hospital, your only form of entertainment is watching the crappy TV shows provided by the hospital’s very limited cable subscription. 

As much as you want to grumble and complain, all the effort that it’s going to take for you to heal is worth it because it means that you’re still alive. If your traumatic near death experience has taught you anything, it’s that you have to be thankful for life and its hardships even when you are desperately wishing for things to be easier.

In an effort to uplift your mood, you switch on the TV, dig into a cup of jello, and carefully shift into a comfortable position.

***

The two cups of jello that you ate must’ve had the same effects on you as a Thanksgiving feast, because your eyes droop shut during the second episode of Property Brothers. 

It’s darker when you awake, and after blinking away the sleep in your eyes, you notice that you have a visitor.

“Kirby?” 

The FBI Agent turns her head in your direction with a grin, “Hey kid!”

You both take a second to scan the other’s injuries. There’s an array of bandages on her face and you can just barely make out the thick gauze hiding underneath her loose shirt. 

Kirby’s lips curve into a frown at your pale and weak form, “He really did a number on you huh?”

You nod, “But the doctors say I’ll be okay.”

She shuffles over to stand right beside your bed, “I’m glad.”

There’s so much you want to say to Kirby that it takes a good few moments to gather your thoughts together. Ever since Tara told you that Kirby had survived, you haven’t stopped thinking about how grateful you are for the older woman. She trusted you when no one else did. 

“Kirby, I- I really can’t even begin to say how much I appreciate you having my back. I don’t think I would be here if it weren’t for you.”

She shakes her head, “I only did what was right, no need to thank me.”

Tears prick your eyes, “But I do need to thank you. You didn’t even know me but you were still there for me. None of my friends can say the same.”

Kirby sighs and gently grabs your hand. “I’m sorry. Have you talked to any of them about it yet?”

A shakily exhale leaves your chest. Though you’d seen Tara a few times, the two of you still hadn’t talked things through. You were terrified that it would break the honeymoon phase you and she were living in if you approached the topic, so you refused to bring it up. You knew from Tara that Mindy had been released from the hospital, but the Meeks-Martin girl had still made no effort to come see you. You tried your best not to hold it against her, but deep down it made you even more sad to know she was avoiding you all together.

A few tears trail down your cheeks, “No. Mindy’s treating me like I’m the plague and I’m too scared to talk to Tara about it.”

The agent squeezes your hand in an attempt to bring you comfort. “Mindy will come around, to be honest I’m betting that she just feels really bad. And Tara, well, I’ve heard the way that girl talks about you. It’ll make both of you feel better to talk things through and get that extra weight off your chests.”

“You’re right,” your heart feels heavy in your chest. You’ve been doing your best to avoid thinking about your time spent treated like a suspect, the hurt that it brings you is too overwhelming when coupled with the burning stab wounds littered around your abdomen. But now that it’s been breached, you know your feelings are going to come flying out like the contents of Pandora’s Box. 

“God Kirby, it just hurts so much to think that no one even gave me a chance. There was nothing I could say or do. How am I ever supposed to trust them again when they so clearly didn’t trust me?”

A deep frown stretches across Kirby’s face and she moves to carefully wrap her arms around your shoulders in a hug. “You don’t have to trust them. You don’t owe any of them a single thing.” She pulls back to get a better view of your face, “But, I know you still care about your friends even though they hurt you. Just talk to them, and after that, make them earn your trust back. Your relationships are damaged but with time, they’ll heal.”

“Okay,” you nod and lean back in the bed. “That sounds good, thank you Kirby.”

“Anytime. I’m here for you from here on out kid.”

***

Tara comes by two days later, with yet another bouquet of flowers. She’s accompanied by Sam, the older girl refusing to let Tara leave her side.

Under normal circumstances Tara would throw a fit but since they had almost died just last week, she lets her sister’s behavior slide.

The younger girl greets you with a kiss on the forehead and moves to replace the old flowers with the new ones. Sam offers you a smile and a wave before making her way towards the empty bed next to your own.

You scooch yourself over to make room for Tara on the bed with you. Your abdomen screams at you for the small movements, but feeling Tara’s warmth next to you will more than make up for it.

When she’s finished with the flowers, she slides into your bed. Her hands instantly start sweeping across your form, a new habit she picked up to reassure herself that you were still alive and breathing. You melt into the contact, occasionally humming in content. 

You let yourself enjoy the peace for a moment. It’s nice being cared for by Tara, letting her fiddle with your blankets and your hair as she quietly fusses over you. 

But as much as you want to continue living in this heaven with her, the gnaw of leftover hurt and dejection in your chest has grown incessant since your talk with Kirby. You’ve been avoiding rehashing the nightmarish events with Tara because you’re terrified to lose her again, like you have every other time the two of you have had emotional talks. 

Hesitantly, you grab one of her hands to stop its movement and draw her attention to you. Those big brown eyes of hers immediately look up at you, her long eyelashes fluttering slightly. The sight of her has you nervous and bumbling. Whatever you were going to say to approach the topic is stuck in your throat in favor of admiring her.

She tilts her head cutely and entangles the fingers of her trapped hand in yours. “Is everything okay?”

You close your eyes for a second and take a deep breath. When you reopen them, Tara’s eyes are filled with concern.

You swallow thickly, “We um,” you pause briefly, working up the courage, “We need to talk Tara.”

She freezes for a second but quickly finds herself again, “Okay. Yeah, yeah we can talk.”

Sam slides out of her place on the other bed swiftly. She squeezes Tara's uninjured shoulder as she passes by, “I’ll be just outside if you need me.”

The younger Carpenter nods to her sister in thanks. Sam sees the apprehension in Tara’s eyes and offers the girl a small reassuring smile. 

The tension in the room increases when the door closes behind Sam. You and Tara blink at each other for a few long seconds.

You shift your gaze to your waist and pick at the thin scratchy blanket. When you start worrying your bottom lip between your teeth, Tara reaches up with her free hand to cup your check.

“Hey, it’s okay, you can talk to me.”

You look up to meet her eyes and see nothing but care and reassurance. It gives you the push you need to open up to her. “Well, I wanted to talk about everything from last week, and uh, how it made me feel.”

Her eyes widen a bit but she nods quickly, “Okay. I’m listening, go ahead.”

“When I saw you in the police station, god I felt so betrayed Tara. I know that since I was the only one who hadn’t stayed over it made me look bad, but no one even gave me a chance to explain myself. I get why you might’ve given them my name, but it still hurt to know it was you because it meant that you didn’t trust me enough to talk to me yourself.”

Her eyes shine with unshed tears and she slowly trails her thumb down your cheek, “I’m so sorry, about that and about everything. Me and Sam were just so scared and shaken up, and Detective Bailey was asking for everyone’s alibis, and Sam mentioned that you hadn’t stayed over. I tried to tell her not to, but she had to tell him. He was the one who decided to bring you in for questioning, not either of us. I know that doesn’t make anything better, but maybe it helps you to know.”

It did make you feel slightly better. It’s not like she threw him your name and told him to question you. “It does help. When I got to the park, I just felt so judged and alone, like I was some sort of outsider. And then Mindy said all that stuff and it just broke me. It upset me so much that she called me out like that and turned everything I told her in private into a stupid motive.”

The memory of Mindy’s words is particularly painful for you to relive. You’d never felt so exposed and let down. Quietly, a few tears begin to slip down your face.

Tara’s bottom lip trembles with the effort it takes to hold back her own tears, “I hate that we made you feel like that. We’re your friends and that’s never how you should feel around us. And Mindy, god, I was so mad at her for what she said to you. I tried to chase after you when you left but Sam wouldn’t let me.”

The timid look that you give her nearly breaks her heart. “You did?”

A tear escapes her eyes, “Yeah. I didn’t want you to be alone, not when you looked so upset.”

“I was so scared that you were going to hate me, or reject me, and that you thought I was the killer. I had to get away.”

“I could never hate you. And I wouldn’t have rejected you, I really really like you. When I told you I only wanted to be friends, it’s because everything that happened with Amber hurt me so much. I was scared that I could get hurt again, so I pushed my feelings away. And that pushed you away, and I’m so fucking sorry. All the Ghostface stuff happened so fast, and I never got a chance to apologize or to explain myself.”

You’re both crying now. You tug Tara closer to you and she positions herself so her head lays on your shoulder, moving carefully so as not to jostle you or lay on top of any wires.

She looks up at you from her position, “I didn’t think it was you, Y/N. I was just trying to be cautious about trusting anyone. The only person I was sure it wasn’t was Sam. When Wayne had you, I hesitated because of everything Ethan and Quinn were saying. And I was so, so scared that all the Amber stuff was happening again, but I believed what you said. You’re nothing like Amber, you wouldn’t have done something like that. I’m sorry it took me that long to be sure of it.”

You wrap your free arm around her waist and bury your teary face in her hair. You feel infinitely lighter having gotten your feelings out into the open. Part of you has healed from hearing things from her perspective. 

“It makes me feel so much better knowing all of that, thank you Tara.”

“Of course, I’m sorry about how I made you feel.” She looks down at your wrapped abdomen, “And I hate that you got so hurt because of me.”

You tighten your grip on her, “It’s okay.” Then, a bit playfully you add, “And don’t blame yourself, it wasn’t you who stabbed me 17 different times.”

She lifts her head and slaps your shoulder lightly, gasping. “Stop that you know what I mean.”

You laugh heartily and Tara swears she could stay here with you forever. She traces her eyes along your features and finds herself in awe of your soft beauty, as she is everytime she looks at you.

Her hand reaches up to cup your chin and her fingers splay out across your jaw. You’re utterly lovestruck as you stare into her pretty eyes.

She leans forward and gently captures your lips with hers, sighing softly into the kiss. When she pulls back, she smiles sweetly up at you.

“I feel the same way, you know. I really love you too.”

***

Tara, and by extension Sam, visit you practically everyday after that. The younger sister brings her laptop with her so that you three actually have a good selection of movies to watch. 

One night after Tara fell asleep, tucked into your side, Sam offered you an apology too. You forgave her immediately, though she hadn’t really done anything other than be her usual protective self, you appreciate the sentiment all the same.

It’s a quiet day when Mindy finally walks into your room. Sam had to sort out some work stuff, so the two sisters would be heading over a bit later.

“Hey,” she offers shyly. 

“Hi Mindy.”

“Is it okay if I come in and sit?”

“Of course yeah, sit anywhere you like.”

Seeing her here is shocking, but not unwelcome. Tara had informed you that she was trying to convince Mindy to come visit you so that she and you could talk. According to Tara, the short-haired girl was entirely sure that you hated her and would never want to speak to her again.

Mindy shifts around a little and her leg hasn’t stopped bouncing since she’s sat down.

Deciding to reprieve her from her fidgeting, you give her a small smile. “I don’t hate you Mindy.”

Her eyes are wide and they snap up to meet yours, “You don’t?”

“I don’t.”

She breathes out a sigh of relief, but still looks a little apprehensive. “I’m surprised you don’t. I would hate me if I were you.

You had thought long and hard about how you felt about Mindy, and while you were deeply hurt by her words, you could never bring yourself to hate her. You considered her your best friend for a brief moment in time and she was the only person that was there to comfort and support you when you were wallowing in your feelings for Tara.

“I thought about hating you, but I really care about you, Mins. I know that you feel some pressure to follow in your uncle’s footsteps. I just wish that you listened to me, and that you didn’t go so deep on the motive stuff.”

She cringes at the reminder, “I feel, so so stupid about that.” Her hands come up to cover her face for a moment as she groans. “I’m sorry, it was extremely shitty of me.”

“It was pretty shitty of you,” you chuckle, “but it’s okay. I’d probably be more mad if things didn’t end up working out between me and Tara.”

She smiles, “I’m happy for you both.” Her face turns more serious and she leans forward to softly place her hand on your thigh. “Genuinely though, I feel terrible. I was just so sure it was you and I guess it kind of scared me. I’m sorry, I know that’s no excuse. Is there any way I can make it up to you?”

You ponder it for a minute. Bingo. Your face twists into a smirk, “I have an idea.”

***

It’s a few hours later when Sam and Tara arrive. They’re wrapped up in a conversation as they enter, so they don’t notice the current state of your room.

Sam notices first, “What the-”

“Surprise!” you cheer.

Your hospital room has been completely rearranged. The two beds have been pushed together to form a makeshift couch, and the chairs are positioned beside each bed. Fairy lights have been strung around the room and a white sheet hangs across from the sitting area, placed perfectly in the center.

You, Mindy, and Chad (who’d been wheeled in by his sister) grin at the dumbfounded Carpenter sisters.

Sam, ever the mom of the group, raises a singular eyebrow, “What did you three do?”

Your smile stretches even wider. “We’re recreating movie night! Hope you Carpenters don’t mind not hosting for once.”

Sam rolls her eyes good naturedly at your comment. 

Tara walks over and hops up on the bed next to you. You greet her with a kiss to her cheek and she beams at you, pleased. “Baby this is such a nice surprise. But how’d you manage to put all this together?”

You share a secret little glance with Mindy, “I called in a favor from a friend.”

After a good few minutes of cheerful banter, the group settles in to watch the movie. You and Tara are pressed so close together that she’s practically sitting on your lap. 

After a week full of misery, things finally feel right. Your wounds are steadily repairing themselves and your relationships have been mended. Slowly but surely, you are healing.

Tara, the girl who started it all, who stole your heart away with her teasing smiles alone, leans over to whisper in your ear, “When you’re finally out of this hospital, I’m taking you on a date. Just me and you.”

Your eyes shine with the same love that you see reflected in hers. “I’d love nothing more.”

“It’s a date.” She kisses you chastly and quickly pulls back. Her hand reaches towards your face and when she boops your nose softly, you know you’ll be in love with Tara Carpenter for the rest of your life.

Taglist: @thenextdawn @dreifhraniquo29 @fanboy7794 @thelonewriter247 @cartierdreamx @btay3115 @friedryes @bananasplits-world @alexkolax @ordelixx @adaydreamaway08 @youralphawolf72

Note: The last installment for the series will be the alternate ending, which I hope to have finished by the end of this week. I won't be including the series taglist, so leave a comment or send in an ask if you want to be tagged in the alternate ending! Thanks for reading, the angst awaits!

[flight-of-the-sacred-eagle]

So, I’m still yelling about Sonic Prime season 2. It’s. So fucking good?

And not just because someone on the writing team 100% ships Sonadow because, holy crap, so much of that episode feels shippy.

So, full disclosure. Shadow is my favorite Sonic character. Ever since I saw him in Heroes I loved him. As a kid I didn’t notice the real “constantly shifting character” thing. Now, having played almost every major 3d Sonic game (I didn’t play Forces and refused to play Boom), having watched shows like Sonic X and Sonic Prime (again, I stayed away from Boom but I’ve heard it’s amazing), I think it’s obvious that he gets wildly mischaracterized.

He’s angsty, yes. I mean, he watched his child best friend/sister get shot to death in front of him when he was… five (Look, he’s simultaneously Sonic’s age, over 50, and like five- his age is an enigma), that would make anyone angsty. But he’s also genuinely caring, even if he rarely shows it.

Look no further than 06 when he accidentally releases Mephelis because he picks up Rogue to move her away, or when he intercepts Silver so Sonic can go save Elise. He’s actively saved the world three times- SA2, Shadow the Hedgehog, and 06, with him sacrificing his life in his first appearance. And let’s not forget how he genuinely seemed upset in 06 when Sonic died.

Actually, 06 is the best characterization of Shadow since his introduction. And it can basically all be summed up in his own words. “If the whole world chooses to turn against me, then I’ll fight like I always have.”

He’s brooding. He’s harsh. He’s proud and independent. But by god will he fight to the death for what is right. He cares about people, but he uses actions not words.

Now, what does this have to do with Sonic Prime? Well, this is probably the best characterization of Shadow they’ve ever done. He’s still broody and much more reserved, but everything he’s doing is selfless. He’s not beating up Sonic just because.

He’s beating up Sonic because he, rightfully in my mind, sees Sonic as a threat to his world. He isn’t trying to prevent Sonic from saving the world, he’s basically trying to put him in time out for ruining the world.

This is more than proven when he not only realizes that he can’t do something, but he also realizes that the only way to fix everything is to work together. And he actively admit that. Reluctantly, yes, but he says they need to work together.

He’s still angry and is currently furious at Sonic, but… he kind of has the right to be. Interestingly, he actually spoke to Sonic before fighting him (which, side note, was animated amazingly).

And let’s not forget his cockiness. It’s done perfectly. He’s not taking it too far like Sonic tends to do, but him being a smug little shit is great. And I think it really helps to show the dynamic he and Sonic have because he’s just. Not like that around other characters.

Without using words, they managed to show that, despite the fighting that’s happening, there’s a bond between Sonic and Shadow. One that can only be forged by fighting to save the world side by side.

I think it’s also important to mention that Shadow clearly was enjoying his fight with Sonic. Probably because it’s the most normal thing he’s experienced in forever. His friends are gone. Green Hill is gone. The chaos emerald is gone (though I have a suspicion that it’s going to come back at some point. It fell into the void for a reason and that void was shown for a reason. My bet is that they’re going to need to enter the void at some point). He’s trapped in limbo.

Fighting Sonic is a constant. One he desperately needs.

I know I’ve been rambling but for the first time in over a decade, they’ve gotten Shadow’s personality perfectly. Makes me wonder if the writers, or at least some of them, played SA2 growing up. After all… it’s been long enough since he was introduced that the target audience for SA2 when it was released would be old enough to work for the SEGA team.

It also makes me crazy excited for the third Sonic movie. I know they’re different writers, but they have hit the nail on the head with each character, and if a different show can characterize Shadow that well… maybe Sega is relaxing their iron grip on him and allowing him to actively shine.

Also that scene with Shadow falling to the void and Sonic sounding genuinely panicked was amazing. You can tell he was getting SA2 flashbacks. Someone likened the scene to Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man watching MJ fall in No Way Home and catching her when he couldn’t catch Gwen, and yeah. The emotional impact seems to be the same.

Sonic couldn’t save Shadow then, but he can save him now.

Just… go watch Prime if you haven’t. Sonic fans have been treated well these past few years and I can’t wait to see what comes next.

[twompweek]

Hello all and welcome to the twomp week blog! I don’t think this will end up being a big thing, but with a few other people showing interest in participating it will still hopefully be a bit of fun.

I figured I’d put together this introductory post to explain a few things for those unsure, and later include any links to relevant other posts for ease of finding information. Of course, if there’s anything you find unclear or any follow up questions you might have, feel free to drop an ask or dm this blog.

So let’s get into things!

What is twomp week?

Twomp week is a week long, low pressure event for creatives within the twomp fandom. For each day the event runs there will be a list of prompts to help inspire those participating. Don’t feel like using those prompts? No worries! You can create anything you’d like for this event, regardless of the prompts for the day. And, of course, there is no pressure to post one thing for each day. Create as much or as little as you want! This event is only for a bit of fun so do whatever makes you happy :)

Who is running the event?

Me! Hello, I go by Squid. My mainblog is @thatgirlwithasquid but, while I do not enforce an 18+ following because I frankly don’t care enough to investigate who follows me, I do reblog and very rarely post more explicit content within my other fandoms on there. If you are under 18 or that content will bother you, I’d suggest going on my main blog with caution (though the #twomp tags on my blog should be perfectly minor friendly)

I love twomp but don’t create as much for it as I’d like, so I’m putting together this event both as a way to motivate myself and to share in some fun.

Is twomp week minor-friendly?

Hell yeah! I’m aware that there’s plenty of minors within this fandom so I want this event to be open to you to participate too. That means that I won’t be reblogging any nsfw content to this blog and politely ask that participants respect this and help to create an event that is safe and welcoming to all.

What can I make for the event?

Anything! Art, fanfic, music, edits, animation, gifs, character analysis… Anything that you like doing as a way to participate in this fandom is welcome. This isn’t an event tailored towards writers or artists or anyone else in specific. It’s for everyone.

I also intend for this event to be inclusive for all things twomp related. Want to create for a background character? A rare pair? Argos and Mr Plant? The plants? One specific episode? An OC? The voids themself? Our lord and saviour Argos’ Pet Rock? All perfectly acceptable and encouraged. As long as it’s linked to twomp its perfect for twomp week!

When will twomp week be?

Twomp week will take place on the week beginning with the 5th of August and run for 7 days. Prompts will be released ahead of this on July 15th so that anyone who may need/desire time to prepare their work beforehand has the opportunity to do so.

How can I find out more about the event?

I’ll be updating about the plans for twomp week as I work them out and posting about it on this blog, so following the @twompweek blog is the best way to stay updated as I figure things out. You can also just keep an eye on the #twomp and #the world of mr plant tags for anything I post about it, or the #twomp week tag itself which I will also start using.

You can also send an ask to the event blog or send me a dm here and I’ll do my best to get back to you about whatever you want to know!

How do I take part in twomp week?

There’s no sign up process! This is an open event that anyone can join in, no need to ask or feel worried about just jumping on. When the event rolls around, all you need to do is post your work here on tumblr with the #twomp week tag or @ this blog so that I can find and reblog your creations onto the event blog as well.

It would also be nice if you followed the event blog or the #twomp week tag so that you can enjoy and support other participants and all their hard work, but that’s optional and up to your preference.

[bigtittiecomitte]

[Small Rant!]

(Hope this is alright!! Sorry for my ask being so long and all over the place, but I just had so much to say!)

I honestly might leave the fandom, I'm REALLY tempted to at this point. Because, I don't know how much more of this toxicity, the behavior of Envy and V stans (NOT ALL, BTW) and the Nuzi hatedom, I can take..especially knowing that Envy and V stans are doing the same thing they did back when episode 6 released, attacking and harassing Liam Vickers + sending death threats...it's absolutely disgusting and unacceptable and shouldn't be normalized, AT ALL. These individuals who are doing this aren't real fans of the show and don't care about it, they don't give a shit about the love, dedication and care that goes into Murder Drones or all the hard work that goes into the show. They only care about wether their ship becomes canon or not and if they don't get what they want, they start harassing and shitting on the crew behind the show, especially the creator (Liam) and say they don't wanna watch the show anymore and it just proves they were probably NEVER fans in the first place and only cared about shipping and that's just so damn sad, it's especially pathetic and childish how some of these fans act..

I've said it before and I'll say it once more, SHIPPING ISN'T EVERYTHING, STOP MAKING IT A BIG DEAL. There's so much more to love and appreciate about the Murder Drones and there's so much to love about the show and shipping shouldn't be something you should even go into and look forward to when getting into any piece of media, MD isn't even a romance show. I'm overall just so damn tired and sick of this fandom, like REALLY TIRED..it's just so damn draining and exhausting especially when the same arguments are used again and again. The fandom just sucks and I fear it'll only get worse and I really don't know if I can stay for much longer. (I'm seriously missing the pilot-era days when the fandom was small and not that bad) but even though the community isn't the best, I'm glad we have some respectful and caring individuals in the fanbase like you and others, I honestly don't think the fandom isn't as bad here as it is on both TikTok and Twitter, the MD fandom side of things on Tumblr is more tame compared to the other social medias I mentioned.

Overall, MD is such a comfort show for me and has had such a huge impact on me, it's seriously one of my favorite shows, I'm not even joking. I'm incredibly thankful and happy for it's existence and also thankful to Liam, GLITCH, the animators, the VA's and just the entire team as a whole for making such a great and wonderful show! It means so much to me and I'll never stop loving it despite it's ups and downs + the community not being the best at times, I'm truly thankful for this show and those I've met in the fandom. ❤️💞

Hey you Dorky goober

No need to apologise for the long rant. Generally I adore long rants so win win for both of us (if anyone does need to rant about something then I’ll totally be here for you, I know what it feels like to not rant about something but you really do)

With you thinking about leaving the fandom due to the toxicity honestly I would not blame you at all. I’m someone who’s comfort ship is Nuzi so just seeing any hate would make me think about it for the rest of the day

Usually what I do when I see any toxicity is just laugh at it, laugh at how stupid their take is. Recently I had a fight with this Lesslie person and all I did was laugh at how silly it was like bro was getting aggressive bc people preferred Nuzi

I’m trying not to dogpile on toxic V fans + Envy shippers cause I don’t want to seem too obsessive over drama but for some reason it always gets worse

There are toxic Nuzi shippers but there aren’t as many as toxic Envy shippers like never in my life have I seen an Envy shipper getting doxxed because they like Envy. For some reason it’s always the toxic Envy shippers that make this fandom miserable

I don’t think they even know that they’re toxic shippers and desperately need to leave the fandom, most of them are kids but that never excuses any actions that they do because it’s the internet, once you post something it’s there forever

Murder Drones has so much in store than just romance and I’m saying this as someone who mostly posts Nuzi related things although I really do want to post more about the lore and I even planned for a full post on the details (I was pretty busy so I didn’t complete that but it’s in the drafts lol)

Not only the lore but just Murder Drones in general, the romance is great but so is the show, just everything about this show is filled with so much love and you can tell just by all the silly things they put in the backgrounds and the writing by Liam

Like the N x Uzi scenes are just small scenes like they’re put in different places but it works because the show isn’t focused on romance. I do think people forget that the N x Uzi scenes are quite literally important for the plot as well, it’s not just there for fanservice. Liam knows what he’s doing and anyone that tells him otherwise can go fuck off honestly

There are bad people but there are also a lot of good people in this fandom, a lot that do appreciate Murder Drones for even continuing. Screw whatever those 13 year olds on Twitter say, they don’t know crap about respect

[amailboxlemur]

Three years ago today I watched Young Royals for the first time.

Story time/long post incoming. I wasn’t in a great headspace at the time, but let me try to set the scene.

Spring of 2021 was still pretty deep in the pandemic. My province had been on lockdown (number 3) since the beginning of April and I hated working from home. Partly because teaching online piano lessons sucks. But also I live alone, and lockdown is too much alone time no matter how introverted you are. I think that spring I went about 6 weeks without speaking to someone in person who wasn’t like a grocery store cashier.

I decided to go stay with my parents for a few weeks so I could get some human interaction. At the time, I was mooching off my former roommate’s Netflix that was still signed in to our living room TV, so I didn’t have Netflix access.

I also love Red White and Royal Blue, and all of a sudden in early July the fandom got flooded. There were gifs of two unfamiliar teenage boys all over my dash. Fanart of two boys who looked like Alex and Henry captioned “Wilhelm and Simon”. There were a bunch of crossover fics popping up on AO3. I was curious, but mostly I just wanted to get a feel for the characters so I could read said crossover fics.

July 12th was my first day back teaching in person. (Side note: the health precautions we had in place for those lessons were WILD). I came back from my parents place in the morning, taught in the late afternoon/evening and returned home around 8 pm. I made supper and figured I’d try watching an episode of this “Young Royals” thing. I started it and remember groaning when I realized it was in Swedish so I’d have to focus and read subtitles instead of watching mindlessly (I’m too pretentious to watch the dubbed version, but it had been a long day)

“Oh that’s a beautiful boy with a beautiful voice singing… I can keep going…”

“Ohhh they’re about to kiss… wait what? How does episode 1 just end there??? I have to watch another episode!”

“Yay they finally kissed!! But how will Wilhelm react?? It’s not even 11 yet, I think I can watch one more”

“Erik is dead. I knew this was coming because I saw the “beta read but Erik’s still dead” tag on AO3 but totally forgot! How will this affect my boys?? One more episode, just to see if wilhelm pushes Simon away again”

“Ok good, they’re together. August sucks though, I can see where this is going and why there seem to be so many comparisons to rwrb. But it’s past midnight so I’ll have to keep watching tomorrow… wait there’s only two more episodes?? Might as well finish”

Before I knew it, it was 2 am and I was crying on my living room couch. I NEVER get into new shows, I have tons of things I watched 1-3 episodes of and then quit, so I couldn’t believe I binged the entire thing. It was late so I went to sleep.

In the morning I woke up and the rabbit hole began. I read all the fics on AO3, I started following young royals stuff on tumblr. I googled the actor who played Simon and found out he’s an actual Swedish pop star? I think he was among the first artists I followed using my then brand new Spotify account. I followed both Omar and Edvin on instagram, along with Lisa (other actors followed later). I watched all the young royals promo videos on YouTube, including the Hillerska choir performance. That entire summer was spent diving down Omar’s back catalog of Foo vlogs. Some of them are in Swedish, but I remember watching them intensely, as if I would magically understand if I tried hard enough. I started learning Swedish on duolingo.

When season 2 was released, I fully quit all social media for WEEKS to avoid spoilers. I spent 3 days carefully messing up my sleep schedule so I could wake up and watch it at 3 am. When season 3 was released I was such an excited puppy dog that I didn’t sleep at all. I watched it at 3 am and spent the whole rest of the day amped up and on tumblr.

I remember all kinds of fun and significant days in the fandom: Rockbjörnen 2021, musikhjälpan 2021. The lead up and release of Mi Casa Su Casa. The release of OMR. Omar gave me a birthday present in 2022 when he performed “breathe” on Nyhetsmorgon on my birthday. Gay gala 2022 but especially 2023. Both boys have done incredible sommarpratar. So many other galas and performances and photoshoots I’d be here all day listing them all out.

Becoming an Omar fangirl was also surprising. I don’t listen to or follow pop music (my definition of which is incredibly broad so yes, Omar’s music qualifies). Like, I’ve never had a favourite artist before? One who’s work I actively follow and whose releases I know about in advance and look forward to?

Omar announced his concert at Cirkus in November of 2023 and it fell at the end of a semester break from work. I could go without needing to refund or makeup any missed lessons. It felt like a sign. That week was genuinely one of the best in my life, words can’t even describe it. A transatlantic flight, a week in Europe. I got to see Kaggeholm. I met Omar at Lyko. I stood in general admission 3 rows back from the stage and heard Omar sing live and sang along with other fans. It was surreal. Shout out to @yrblogbaby @the-words-we-sung @crownedwille and @omarsimp, wow you’re all amazing. There was a queer joy to hanging out with y’all that weekend that I don’t get too often irl.

Since then, I’ve tried to internalize a little bit more the idea of community in fandom. I’m still not super out there, but I try to interact more. I lurked in this fandom (and so many others) for years. I made this account in something like 2011 and until recently I probably had less than 50 posts.

So yeah… saying this show changed my life feels dramatic but also accurate. Hopefully here’s to more years to come, and more good memories when I head to New York this fall!

[feverishly-kpop]

OT8 - Drunk Ateez

Yeosang had to admit that drinking at work sounded like a whole lot of fun. He knew that Atiny loved seeing them being silly and having a good time so filming a Wanteez drinking episode seemed like the perfect idea. But about half way through filming Yeosang couldn’t help but notice that some of the members were having a little too much fun.

Yeosang decided to slow down a little with his drinking, instead pouring himself some water. It was clear that once the production wrapped for the day he was going to be left with seven very sloppy drunks.

And of course he was right. San could barely stand up at the end and needed to be hauled to his feet by Wooyoung, who was himself stumbling around while releasing a series of ear-shattering cackles as if he’d never seen such a hilarious sight in his life.

Hongjoong and Seonghwa were leaning against one another for support, both smiling blissfully unaware of anything going on around them.

Mingi, meanwhile, was bear hugging a hiccuping Yunho, leaving Yeosang unsure if Mingi needed to hold onto Yunho in order to stay on his feet or if it was the other way around.

And then there was Jongho, the only one besides Yeosang that seemed to be coherent for the most part, but he too was flushed bright red like the rest of his hyungs, letting out some small giggles at their antics.

“Can we get pizza on the way home?” Yunho mumbled into Mingi’s shoulder, not particularly directed toward anybody.

“We just ate, Yunho” Yeosang said softly, trying to lift Yunho’s chin to get a good look at him.

Yunho scoffed, separating from Mingi for the first time since he stood up and looking around for a chair to sit back down in.

“No, no Yunho” Yeosang sighed, putting an arm out to prevent Yunho from sitting down again. “We have to get going, our ride is outside. Please don’t sit down.”

“I want some pizza too, hyung” Jongho piped in with a pout.

“We’ll see” Yeosang responded, knowing full well that nobody was going to be able to stay awake long enough for pizza.

*~*~*~*~*~

The first stop was Seonghwa, San, and Mingi’s apartment. The three got out of the car followed by Wooyoung who was set on spending the night with San.

“Do you need me to come up with you?” Yeosang asked Seonghwa, mostly out of concern that they wouldn’t actually make it upstairs to their apartment.

“No, I’ll take care of them Sang, thank you” Seonghwa replied, stumbling a bit as he did so.

“Okay but who’s going to take care of you, hyung?” Yeosang replied, grabbing hold of Seonghwa’s arm. Seonghwa simply flashed a goofy grin in response before rounding up San, Mingi, and Wooyoung. Yeosang couldn’t help but smile at their resemblance to a mother duck and her ducklings as they headed inside.

The next stop was to drop Hongjoong and Jongho off, but this time Yeosang asked the driver to wait for him while he took the two others to their apartment. Hongjoong was unusually quiet for the entire ride home and his face had taken on a distinct green tinge, so Yeosang didn’t even bother asking if he needed a hand getting in, opting instead to simply wrap an arm around his Hongjoong’s shoulders to guide him inside.

Jongho, for all of his gusto while filming, was out almost immediately upon laying down on the couch, leaving Yeosang to help Hongjoong get ready for bed, preemptively placing a few tablets and a glass of water on his bedside table knowing that he’d likely be in some pain when he woke up.

By the time Yeosang returned to the van Yunho had laid down across the back row of seats and was very much asleep. Yeosang closed the door softly as he entered, not wanting to wake Yunho until they got back to their own apartment.

Yunho was none too pleased about Yeosang softly shaking him awake once they arrived but headed inside anyway, quickly washing his face and brushing his teeth before exiting the washroom with a timid look on his face.

“Are you feeling okay, Yunho-ah?” Yeosang asked tentatively, not sure how to interpret Yunho’s gaze.

Yunho quickly nodded his head before taking a step closer to Yeosang.

“I want to go to bed” he said quietly.

Yeosang smiled and nodded back. “Of course, Yunho, I’ll be quiet. Get some sleep.”

Yunho then took one more small step closer to Yeosang, reminding Yeosang of a shy child in his drunken state.

“I was hoping you’d come lie down with me?” Yunho asked, avoiding eye contact. “But you don’t have to if you don’t want to!”

Yeosang silently agreed, pushing Yunho toward his room and following without another word. Once he had gotten Yunho comfortable, Yeosang laid down next to him. He thought Yunho had fallen asleep until he heard his name being called softly, responding only with a hum.

“What was the verdict on getting pizza?” Yunho asked through a yawn.

“Maybe later” Yeosang responded, rolling his eyes, knowing that there was no way that Yunho was going to wake up again before his alarm went off the following morning and, if he did, it wouldn’t be to get pizza.

*~*~*~*~*~

It was no surprise to Yeosang when the other seven members piled into the van one by one the following morning looking less than their best.

Seonghwa reported being up for most of the evening sitting with Mingi, San, and Wooyoung as they alternated getting violently ill in the washroom until he himself succumbed to his own nausea.

Hongjoong cringed at Seonghwa’s story, having been sick for the better part of the night himself. Jongho’s eyes widened in response, not having heard his hyung even once. But then again he had woken up on the couch that morning in the same place he had been when Yeosang dropped them off.

Yunho seemed very proud of himself, announcing that he was totally fine and not hung over at all, clearly not remembering waking up a few hours after Yeosang had left him alone for the night, begging for Yeosang to order pizza for him, throwing up, then going back to bed for the rest of the night.

Yeosang let it slide, letting Yunho believe that he had indeed made it through completely incident free.

“I think we all learned our lesson” Jongho said firmly from the back of the van. “Our lesson being that we all need to drink more so we aren’t such light weights next time.”

“Next time…?” Hongjoong replied, his face paling at the thought of it. “Uhmm, let’s put a pin in that.”

[aloneinthehellfire]

Chapter 6: A Yellow Whistle

Season One | Season Two | Season Three

[Raining Hellfire: Season Three]

Word Count: 2900 words

Warnings: swearing, mentions of struggle/attacks, mentions of blood, visions, ideas of possession, billy just creeping me tf out in this episode

[A/N: Probably the creepiest chapter I wrote. But, like, Elmax>>>]

A Yellow Whistle

That night, Max and El had ran to you, frantically talking over eachother with an explanation as to the game they had been playing. El’s power allowed her to find people through something the boys would call ‘Shadow Walk’ and they had decided to sneakily see what other people were doing that night. It was all fun and games until they tried it on Billy. The look on El’s face was what had scared you the most.

As the morning came, you joined them in finding out what was really happening to Billy. Hopefully, you’d find Heather too.

“It’s gonna start pouring soon.” Max said, the thunder rumbling above your heads as you walked towards the Mayfield house. “We should be at the mall or, like, watching a movie or something.”

“Look, I’ll drive you to the mall later if you want.” You assure, “But first, I need to know if Billy is okay.”

“You don’t believe me?” El frowned, staring at Max.

“I believe you saw some super weird stuff, totally,” Max nodded, “But… you said Mike has sensed you in there before, right?”

El stays silent but the frown on her face let you know all you needed to. She was spooked.

“So maybe it was just like that.” Max continued, trying to rationalise, “Maybe Billy just… sensed you somehow.”

You shake your head, trying to make sense of it all.

“But the screams.” El stated and Max whipped her head back with a sigh.

“Yeah, I know, but here’s the thing.” Max took a breath and you immediately knew what she was going to say. “When Billy is alone with a girl…”

“Okay, no.” You interrupt, twisting your face.

“But she needs to know!” Max stated even though she wore a disgusted look on her face. “When he’s alone with a girl, they make, like, really crazy noises.”

“They scream?” El looked concerned and you sigh, defeated.

“Not in a bad way.�� You reluctantly say, “I… You’ll understand more when you get older. Or at least let us discuss this some other time.”

“I’m just gonna lend you my mom’s Cosmo.” Max decides and you thank her for it. She grimaces at you, “Sorry.”

“Nope, it wouldn’t be a family gathering if it wasn’t awkward.” You share as soon as you end up facing the house.

Max frowns, “His car isn’t here.”

You look down to see El staring at the house as if it held some kind of monster.

“You don’t have to go in.” You say, a hand on her shoulder. “Max and I can have a look around.”

Max nods, noticing her friend’s expression.

“No. I’ll come.” She finalises and you all make your way into the house.

It was kind of surreal, the fact that you were in the Mayfield house and yet you didn’t live there. You shared the same last name but only one resident of this household was your family. When you had found out you were adopted, you didn’t imagine to feel relieved. Hopper still didn’t have any luck finding your biological parents for you, it was almost as if they never existed. You had told Max about everything but it never changed anything between you; she was still your sister.

Max led you both to Billy’s room, slowly opening the door after knocking multiple times.

“Why do I get the feeling we’re gonna find all kinds of wrong in here?” Max wonders out loud and you practically shudder as you enter the room. It may be a new house, but his room still looked the same.

“Because it’s Billy.” You reply, head turning to the stereo still releasing music.

Max looks around and decides to head to the bedside table, pulling open the drawer.

“Ugh!” She groans, shutting it almost immediately, “Gag me with a spoon.”

“Turns out you were right?” You offered and she grimaced.

“Nothing really seems… off.” You say, looking around, “I mean, it’s pretty much a guy’s room from what I can see.”

“Check the bathroom.” Max suggested and you walked over, fumbling around for a light switch.

As soon as the room was brought out of the dark, your eyes focused on the puddle of water just outside the bathtub. You walk over, careful to avoid the pools of water, and slide back the curtain. There were empty packets of ice floating in the water of the tub.

You freeze.

El joins you, staring down. “Max?”

Max picks up a packet. “Ice. It’s just ice. It’s probably for his muscles or something. He works out like a maniac.”

“I don’t know.” You breathe, looking at your sister. “He has access to that at the pool, why would he do it here? In a house he hates?”

She furrows her brows, staring at the bath. “Then what do you think he’s doing?”

“Trying to stay cold.” You say with a sudden realisation, the memory playing out in your mind.

“He likes it cold.” Joyce finally speaks.

“What?” Hopper asks what’s on everyone’s mind.

“It’s what Will kept saying to me.” Joyce shares, “He likes it cold.”

“What if…” You start until El gasps from behind you. You turn around to see her fixated on the sink.

Following her gaze, you notice drops of red just underneath the handle of a cabinet and your breath hitches. You crouch down, opening the doors. Grabbing the bin, you root through until you come across something that stops your heart.

“Y/n, what is it?” Max asks but you just stand there, frozen.

El comes up to you, looking into the bin. She glances at you first before pulling out the object, holding it out to Max.

“Is that… blood?” Max asks, eyes wide. “Maybe Billy got into a fight and his whistle…”

“It’s not his whistle.” You finally say, staring at the object in El’s hand.

Heather leant close to you, lowering her voice to a whisper. “I saw his car this morning. I had to run back to get my whistle just as he was pulling up.”

She held out her whistle with a small smile. It was her own idea when she started working at the pool; Each of you had different colours, supposedly so no one stole anybody else’s if they lost their own. Heather’s was yellow, a colour she had instantly grabbed when she saw it on the table. It suited her.

You stared at the sunny yellow whistle, eyes stinging. “It’s Heather’s.”

You drove the girls down to the pool, barely speaking as the rain hit hard against your windscreen.

The storm was a surprise to everyone, an unnatural appearance this time of year. You thought it was ironic, an attempt at pathetic fallacy.

Dressed in rain coats, you all ran inside the pool, heading to the front desk and leaving a trail of puddles behind you.

“Excuse me.” Max leant forward to your colleagues as you pulled out Heather’s lost lifeguard bag.

“No one in the water until 30 minutes after the last strike.” Your manager said, too focused on his paper to care. “And don’t try to argue with me. You wanna get electrocuted, go climb a tree.”

“Yeah, we don’t care. We’re not here to swim.” Max shook her head, “Or get electrocuted.”

“We found this.” El said after taking the bag from you, showing it to your boss.

“Oh yeah, that’s Heather’s.” He nodded, “I’ll get it back to her.”

“We could give it back to her.” El insisted.

“You could.” He said, “Except she’s not here. Bailed on me today. Kind of like another worker of mine, Y/n.”

“I’m not even supposed to be working.” You push between the girls, staring down at your manager as wet hair clung to your face.

“Oh, look. She finally shows.”

You bite back your tongue, ignoring the new female employee sat next to him.

“You have her address?” You shake your head when he just stares at you. “Heather.”

“Why would I know that?”

You sigh in frustration as El pulls on your coat, pointing to the board behind her.

“Thanks for nothing.”

You walk away, heading to the community pool board. It held photos of each employee with your names written underneath. Heather’s photo was taken just before yours, her smile bright as she poses in front of the pool, the familiar whistle hung around her neck.

“Heather.” Max repeated and you nodded. She looked to El, “Do you think you can find her?”

“Let’s hope so.” You rip down the photo, your manager too busy flirting to notice, and lead them to the showers for some background noise.

Max turned on all the showers as you sat with El, blacking out a pair of goggles.

“I just need to know where she is, okay?” Your voice was soft as she studied the photo, “You don’t need to get close.”

“I can do it.” She assures you and you help her fix the googles on while Max sits on the floor next to you.

“I know you can.” You sigh as you pull down the goggles to cover her eyes.

El sits in silence for a moment, a sigh leaving her lips to alert you that she was ready.

“What’s in front of you?” You ask, holding her hand.

“A letter box.” She says, “One. Four. Three. Eight.”

You mentally take down the number, already figuring out the route.

“What do you see?” Max asks after a while.

“A door.” El replies and you squeeze her hand. “A red door.”

You close your eyes, trying to imagine it. Hopefully you had passed it on the street.

As you held El’s hand, you could visualise it, the red door in front of you. There was nothing else around it, just pitch black.

And then you saw El in front of you, approaching the door. You snapped your eyes open.

Max looked to you with furrowed brows and you shook your head. You couldn’t say anything to distract El. It was too important.

help me

The voice echoed and you turned around, Max focused on El to notice your sudden action. Goosebumps attacked your skin as El’s grip on your hand tightens. It sounded like Heather.

El suddenly gasps, throwing the goggles off of her and grasping your hand for support. You wiped the hair out of her face.

“What happened?” Max searched her face, worried. “El!”

El pants and you cup her face. “El, look at me. You’re okay.”

She calms down a little, teary eyed. “She…”

“What?” You choked out, not ready to hear the worst.

“She drowned.”

“Is this it?” Max asks as El stares out of the window to the house.

She nods and that’s all you need to get out of the car and run to the door, the rain soaking through your hair.

You try the door, but it’s locked.

“Okay, we’re gonna have to-” Your plan came to a stop when the door swung open, El’s nose running red. “Or we could do that.”

You all cautiously enter the house, the faint noise of string music echoing. The hallway is decorated with family photos, one of Heather and her parents. This was definitely the right place.

“Where is she?” You wonder just as a loud laugh sounded from the other side of the house.

You all glance at eachother before following the sound.

“He’s so funny.” A woman laughed just as you came around the corner, freezing at the sight.

Billy was sat at the table with the parents from the photograph, enjoying dinner. To anyone else, it was a normal sight, a happy one in fact. But your gut was telling you otherwise.

“Y/n.” Billy announces, shifting his gaze to the girl next to you. “Max.”

“We didn’t mean to… barge in.” Max tries, looking to you with a panicked expression. You shake your head, just as confused.

“We tried to knock but the storm was pretty loud.” You lie, eyes never leaving Billy’s.

“I’m sorry,” The man at the end of the table spoke, “who are these girls dripping all over my living room right now?”

Billy chuckles, setting his cutlery down, “I’m sorry. Janet, Tom, this… is my sister, Maxine.”

Max’s face drops and you could almost hear her heart stop. You frown. He never admitted that.

“And…” Billy gets up from the table, walking over to you. “This is Y/n. My childhood friend.”

You just stare at him as he closes the distance, a smile on his lips.

“What are you doing here?” He asks, “Is something wrong?”

“We just wanted to make sure everything was okay.” Max spoke when you didn’t.

“Okay?” He glances down to Max before looking back at you, “Why wouldn’t it be okay?”

It felt like he was testing you.

“Where is she?” El spoke and Billy tore his eyes away from yours.

“I’m sorry,” Billy looked down at the girl, something unrecognisable in his eyes, “Where is who?”

“Heather.” You say, glancing at her parents sat by the table.

Just as Billy opens his mouth, someone emerges from another room, carrying a tray.

“Well, they’re a little burnt, I’m sorry-” Heather stops when she sees you stood there.

“Heather!” Billy exclaims, “This is my sister, Maxine. You know Y/n. And…”

He looks at El, “I’m sorry, I did not quite catch your name.”

“El.” She states.

“El.” He repeats and it sends a chill down your spine. You watch as his body shifts, hands brought forward to clasp together. Goosebumps trail along your skin as your eyes widened. His voice…

“Heather?” You tear your eyes away and look to your friend, “You… you weren’t at work today, we were worried.”

“Heather wasn’t feeling so hot today, so we thought we’d take the day off to nurse her back to health.” Billy answers for her, Heather stood mindlessly smiling. “But you’re feeling just fine right now, aren’t you, Heather?”

“I’m feeling so much better.” She confirms. But you don’t buy it. You don’t buy any of it. “Do you girls want a cookie? They’re fresh out of the oven.”

There was one thing you knew about Heather. One undeniable thing that anyone close to her would know; she hated cooking. In fact, she hated how messy it was. It’s why she invented the colour code system for whistles at the pool; she needed order.

“No, thank you.” Max politely declines, looking at Billy, “We should be heading home, right El?”

El looks reluctant but Max’s frantic nodding persuades her. “Yes.”

“Well, we should get back to this lovely meal!” Billy smiles at the mother who laughs, raising her glass.

Max and El quickly make their way to the door, but you can’t leave. Not until you know for sure.

“Did you need something else, Y/n?” Billy asks and you tighten your lips. That’s when an idea strikes your mind.

“Actually…” You root through your pocket, grabbing onto the familiar object, “I just wanted to return this. For when you feel well enough to come back to work.”

You walk passed Billy and to Heather, holding out a whistle. “I believe this is yours.”

Heather stares at your hand for a moment before setting down the cookies, plucking the whistle from your hand.

“Thank you for returning this to me.” She smiles and you purse your lips, nodding.

“Of course.”

You watch as Heather sets down the whistle on the table, sliding into her seat.

You walk away, knowing that ‘Heather’ had just taken your red whistle as her own.

“Could you walk me to the door?” You ask Billy, smiling back at the table, “I wanted to get his opinion on a few things, if you don’t mind. So sorry for interrupting.”

“Take your time.” Heather’s father permits and Billy smiles.

“I’ll be right back.” He announces, holding his hand out as a gesture of guidance for you to exit the room.

When you reach the door, he opens it for you with a small smile and not his usual boyish smirk. But before you step out, you spin to face him.

“Who are you?” You ask, dropping the facade.

“I’m sorry?” He shakes his head, still smiling. But you noticed his hand twitch.

“You heard me.” You step closer, searching his cold eyes that were hauntingly familiar to you, “Who. Are. You?”

His jaw clenches, smile dropping for just a split second before snapping back into his fake appearance.

“Good night, Y/n.” He says as if it was a pleasantry. But his voice was far from pleasant. “I hope you get home safe. The storm’s not over yet.”

It’s not over yet, Y/n

Your eyes widen at the words, sudden realisation washing over you like a tsunami. The voice. That god damn voice.

You wanted nothing more than to run back into that house, to drag Heather and her family away from Billy. But it wasn’t Billy. And that definitely wasn’t Heather. You were too late.

So, instead, you back away, running to the car and slamming the door shut behind you, panting.

“What happened?” Max asks, poking hear head through the seats in the back. You say nothing as you quickly pull away from the house.

You hated to admit it, to have to drag someone else into a mess you knew would end badly, but you couldn’t do deal with this alone. You were going to need help.

God, you hoped they would help you.

Chapter 7: This Is What We Do For The People We Love ->

taglist: @gnnnne / @beepisbeep / @paintballkid711/ @eddiesbirdie/ @livasaurasrex/ @darktimelegends / @jackierose902109 / @mvrylee / @chervbs/ @eternallyvenus / @nervouscatsuit / @f1nn-wolfhard / @hereiamhereigo / @ladybug0095

[bvannn]

Weekly Update May 10, 2024

Today was a bad day but the rest of the week was decent all things considered. I got an okay amount of work done, but I’m still really exhausted from school. It might take a bit longer to rest but I’m still trying to do stuff because I’m addicted to work.

Main thing this week was comic work, I’d say I’m 14% done, planning to be better and faster once I’m better rested, I’m going to try to do all panels on the same layer as opposed to a billion layers like before, see if it speeds things up. I’m pretty confident in the story and want to get to writing more but that’s not as high a priority as some other projects.

Music video work, OEB is about 30% boarded, it’s very exhausting to do because of adobe’s interface but it still gets done well enough when I’m in a good mood. I wanted to get making a puppet rig this week, hoping it’d go faster now that I know what I’m doing, especially since I’ve gotten basic ones done faster, but again didn’t have time due to body needing to rest and personal problems. I’ll try again next week, since it looks like work is taking longer than expected to get started back up. I’m also a lot better at rig animation in general now so it should be quicker to do too.

Other music projects, I’m very close to done on one of the two lyric batches so I’ll try to get that done this next week. I’d like to finish off the other one too but I’m very slow. Once my body is rested up enough for my brain to really work those will be the priority, then I’d like to do more. I’ll probably do another cover or so before anything else but I’d really like to do songs based around my OC stories, and maybe I will. At the very least attempting will be a nice exercise.

Other general drawings, I’m trying to figure out when I’ll have time to do more. I’m taking a fair amount of time on each of those now, which sucks since I’ll have to up my comm prices, but I don’t want to push for those until I know exactly how much to change the prices by. I’m not a professional so I don’t want to charge like one.

Anime Campaign stuff: writing my own campaign still, got a huge bite of that done, but not the part I would have wanted. Planning on seven ‘Episodes’, 1, 2, 3, and now 5 are done. I might iron out some kinks with episode 1 but I really want to get episode 4 done before anything else. Might still get some tokens done, but I don’t want to post too many, since ideally I’d like to release my campaign as a prewritten module for free, then offer the maps and tokens as a paid optional add on. Maybe. Either way I need to focus on writing more than I have been, I’ll try to use my insomnia for that.

Minor bits and bobs, music writing impulse is coming back so I’d like to make or finish a little smaller tune, but again that relies on time and OEB and comic are taking priority. If I get BMBO or BATB lyrics done I’ll get tuning a VSQX (or whatever they’re called in vocaloid 5/6) and pass that so we can figure out which voice to use and any tweaks that need to be made. If BMBO is done before BATB I might look into typography animation to see if I can throw together a video for that, since that’ll be less effort than a full video. I’m also always tempted to do a bazillion covers, but I’m not really working towards any actively. The ones I’m debating would be called SSCS, ILMC, LIS or S (again going by initials or partial initials to not say too much). I did a basic VSQX for SSCS but mostly just to test how a certain voice tuned, and I know who I want to sing it but I don’t know what to do with the instruments so I’m not planning to work on it unless inspiration really hits. I have so much desire to do things and not enough body power!

Next week priority will be comic again, I have 4 pages done and one sketched, I’ll be maybe staying up late on Sunday again so I can get a big bite done then if I’m somehow unable tomorrow. OEB is next priority, alongside lyric writing, header/newgrounds collab, then AC writing and token practice. Thanks everyone for being so patient with me not posting much, I’m so sorry I’m so slow to work on bigger projects but I really hope they’re worth it.

[greatygreatgreat]

I may or may not have hyperfixated on the plot summary for the Valentine’s Day episode *pulls up research* (I apologize for how long this is going to be, I’m an Aquarius and I love conspiracy theories/theories in general)

So first off, we have the official press release from ABC:

“Valentine’s Day” – On Valentine’s Day, the Abbott teachers discuss their relationships and plans for the holiday. Janine finds out one of her students has a crush on her and when turning to a colleague for advice, she inadvertently learns a secret about another teacher. Elsewhere, Ava sits in on Jacob’s Black History class after receiving a complaint

The most notable parts I took from this were “turning to a colleague for advice” and “about another teacher” since they never mention names. Could this be a red herring? Maybe. 

Plotline A and plotline B normally don’t have that much overlap character wise, besides the cold open or the stinger, since they are usually happening at the same time during the school day. This means we can cross out Ava and Jacob as the person Janine turns to for advice (Jacob would so spill the beans to someone though). This leaves Barbara, Melissa, Gregory, and Mr. Johnson. 

As far as the big secret (Gregory’s crush) goes, Mr. Johnson is the only character who could be involved in plot A who has made direct note of this. Barbara has noticed something budding but hasn’t said anything and Melissa would not get involved. Lisa notes that “[Melissa is] very committed to ‘mind your own business.’ It's not your business, so stay out of it.” which implies she is staying out of it. The press release mentions “another teacher” so Gregory would theoretically not out his own crush. Although we haven’t seen Mr. Johnson as involved with Janine compared to the others, it would not be surprising if he jumped in to help (potential reference to the Olympic village and his many past lives in addition to the fact he was bumped up to series regular this season). 

Side note: Tyler mentioned that he wants Janine and Gregory to have a “unique spin” on the will they won’t they. Sitcoms (and long running tv shows in general) normally have their main couple established in season 2 so it could allude to deviating from that or something else. 

Another theory going around is a secret about Melissa whether that be something with her ex, her current boyfriend, or the possibility of her being queer. Lisa has confirmed that "Yes. You will see [Gary] as well [as Kristen Marie]. And it's great” (EW interview). It would make sense for Gary to make a return whether it be as her date since they mention the teachers talking about their plans or he could return with a lack of V-day plans (his initial date offer to her was Dave & Busters so who knows what he’s like). Lisa has said that:

“there were a couple of interesting romantic moves that happen before the end of the season. I’m not going to say what, but I think the audience is going to be really happy. Also, they’re just gonna be enthusiastic. Last year, when people were saying, ‘What do you want to see happen?’ and I gave a scenario…that’s gonna happen and I can’t tell you what it is, but it’s coming up and I loved the episode. It was a big episode. I think it might be my favorite episode this season […] but I think this one that I’m talking about was probably planned. It was kind of a no brainer. If you tell me three scenarios, I’ll tell you if it’s one of those.”

From what I have seen in various articles, she doesn’t talk too much on other characters and their relationships (i.e. Janine and Gregory) so whether it is in this episode or later episodes, something presumably good is going to happen to Melissa. I don’t have a link to an interview but I believe I saw that she mentioned Joe and Gary will both come up this season. A lot of people have mentioned some of her lines that are really queer coded with the most recent being the “decisive women are hot” line. Lisa loves interacting with fans and has been known to repost work wives content as well as just generally supporting the LGBTQ+ community and their love of her characters which plays into her enthusiasm in the interview. This could start a major plot line for her if Janine were to catch on and bring back her sister since she mentioned Kristen Marie would be coming back this season (EW interview was post Principal’s Office episode for reference).   

The last teacher who could theoretically have a secret would be Barbara. In the fundraising episode, we see her go back and forth with the church ladies about church-like behavior. We haven’t had a multi-episode plot line with Barbara and even though there “isn’t a weird thing about her” we saw her crack at the end of season 1 when she contemplates retiring so we could see a moment of weakness from her this season. We also haven’t seen her husband or daughter in a while so it would be interesting to see either of the two reintroduced since they have connections to Abbott. Although we haven’t seen too many of her weaknesses, she isn’t the type to be direct with the cameras so this could add to the inadvertently part of Janine learning someone’s secret through someone else. 

Apologies for all the word vomit and thank you for reading my silly little 2am thoughts!! If y’all have any other interviews or theories, I’d love to hear them.

[mindyourownbiscuitss]

I’m trying to be completely fair about this. I remember when the Stellaride wedding was about to happen, people wanted a huge scene from Brettsey at their wedding, there was a small part of the Brettsey fandom that even wanted them to get engaged. It was only like a few people on my timeline but I remember thinking “wtf”. Luckily, most of us Brettseys had the common sense to not want Casey to propose during their wedding.

So, I understand your frustration about not getting to see their relationship develop. I wish we go to see it too. But both fandoms have been hypocritical during each others wedding.

I think the only difference is a lot of the Stellaride fans I see wanting major scenes during Brettsey’s wedding/last episode are the same fans that hate Brettsey. I remember seeing the proposal stuff for Brettsey during that time, it was ridiculous. It was never going to happen though. Once that one promo picture was released I think everyone knew Brettsey was done. There’s a very real chance we are going to see a discussion between Stellaride about kids. I just hope it’s not a long drawn out thing. If it’s like Brettsey’s scene, fine. That’s fair. There’s just too much to pack in this episode and anything that can wait for the rest of the season should.

I wasn’t one hoping for a major scene for Brettsey during Stellaride’s wedding, so I’m genuinely not being hypocritical with this. I just wanted to know my couple wasn’t going to break up. We know that’s not happening with Stellaride. They have the rest of the season for couple-y things.

I have nothing against Stellaride as a couple either. I hope it doesn’t come off that way. But we’ve seen almost their whole relationship play out, and will continue to see that as long as Taylor and Miranda stay on the show.

It’s also not just the wedding, it’s Kara’s last episode. She’s been the longest standing female character, and Brett herself deserves an episode that’s focused on her.

But anyway, there’s not anything anyone can do about it, so in the end it doesn’t matter. I’m tired of the One Chicago fandom and need a break. Which I will be taking after 12x06 airs. I’m still curious about Violet and Carver so I’ll probably come back eventually.

[asagi-red-wolf]

Why didn’t AHS: NYC get months of promotion like the other seasons?

Why didn’t AHS: NYC ever get an actual trailer and the teaser trailer was only aired a few WEEKS before it started airing?

Why is AHS: NYC getting this really odd release schedule of airing two episodes a week for five weeks instead of one for ten, and airing at 10 and 11 rather than 10 and, say, 9, to make up for that, for people who can’t stay up past prime time? (working parents for example)

Why did AHS: NYC take a hard left turn away from sensationalism, bizzareness, batshit insanity, and Gays being backgrounded and stereotyped, to an almost jarringly grounded crime serial with an almost 100% queer cast that looks at queerness through- especially for the time period- a realistic and human lens? Why are all the charectors so quiet and down to earth rather than the typical bombasticness that AHS is known for?

Why is this season, in every way, so unlike the others?

Maybe because it’s “too gay”

Like yes AHS has always had queerness as a focus, background or center, but this is the first time when queerness is THE story- it isn’t a flavoring, it isn’t a side story, it isn’t a detail, it’s THE entire focus- and it’s not Gaystreaming- the practice of making gay stories for straight audiences- either, it’s not bombastic or stereotyping or titillating, it’s queer stories based on reality, it’s queer stories based on actual queer experiences and not just what can also be marketed to the cis hets, and it’s also the first time that out of an ensemble cast, there are just zero straight stories, even in Asylum and Cult, where the central charector’s story was heavily involving her lesbianism, there were plenty of other stories going on around it that had just as much focus- if not more- that were entirely straight, but NYC doesn’t have that

It also doesn’t have the inherent weirdness and explosive sensationalism of AHS’s normal seasons- as I mentioned before- it’s just..... realistic? Like even the seasons without supernatural elements to them were just so extreme, it was easy to brush off as fictional, but NYC is toned down to the point that it’s arguably not even horror, but a crime thriller, and that’s a HUGE first for AHS

I wonder if Ryan Murphy did this season without the network’s full support and now they’re stuck with it so they’re just trying to “Get rid of it”, thus the lack of promotion and the minimalized broadcast, they’re airing it the way they would a show with low ratings that they’re trying to dump before the prime season of TV starts

I wonder if, with having two more seasons locked in, Ryan Murphy either insisted on doing this story, or was given carte blanche to do anything he wanted and he said “here” and then the network went “um...” but couldn’t really take it back at that point, so now FX has this Thing they don’t really want or believe in but have to air in some capacity so they’re just doing it in the most minimal way they can

It’s just so strange of these factors to line up if they’re really a coincidence- the type of story and the way it’s being aired/promoted

It’s also worth noting that Ryan Murphy is very driven by current moods/interests/events, that’s why Cult even exists at all, and it doesn’t surprise me that Pose- an equally queer-focused show set in NYC’s gay culture in the 80s/90s, just ended, and the next season of anything he’s able to air is.... also a queer-focused show set in NYC’s gay culture in the 70s/80s... so I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s bothered by the current climate related to queerness in this country and/or missing Pose and felt the need to write this story

I’ll be interested to hear, when his contract with FX eventually ends, how much he had to go through to get AHS: NYC to happen

Ofcourse, there’s always the possibility that I’m being too cynical

There’s always a chance that this toned down approach is just a one-off experimental thing like 1984 was- 1984 also being very toned down in comparison to usual

There’s always a chance that the lack of promotion was more to do with a combination of not having the show ready in time to promote it fully and not being 100% sure when it would be done so not sure when it would air, and the show having such a loyal, dedicated fanbase that at this point they didn’t feel the need to advertise alot- I read an article claiming that to be the cause

There’s always a chance that the double release schedule has more to do with the show coming out so late in the year compared to the last few seasons, wich trended much earlier on, and FX wanting it to be fully finished before TV’s winter breaks began, wich at the 10 week schedule, would be pushing the envelope awfully hard, and AHS hasn’t taken a seasonal break in years, likely for good reason

There’s always the chance that none of this is malicious or intentional and I’m just cynical at the ripe old age of 27 because Networks Hate Gays and I’m used to that, and I really hope that’s what it is

But I tend to believe otherwise

[mikkouille]

BOYS PLANET 1212

From the get go, Boys Planet looked to be a disaster: postponement, changes of plans, and the legacy of Girls Planet 999′s already lukewarm reception and results, plethora of scandals, on top of the history of Mnet survivals not being quite reassuring as for what this one would be. They didn’t even have Yeo Jingoo as their MC anymore so what even was the point for me to watch, right? Well I like bad reality TV, and if the show forewent it’s predecessor’s clunky numbers, it was not merely because they cleaned themselves off the unpromised implication that ‘999′ offered, that being of parity in it’s final lineup’s nationalities- but because had they to pick one to represent the cast of 98 boys (95 by the time of announcement and 93 when the first episode released, once more, a good sign that this was going to be a Very Well Made Show), it’d have to be 1212, for Dozens of Dozens.

A bit of context for newcomers and unknowers as I’ll be mentioning the title a surprisingly low but still relevant amount of time.

From the day the fancams for the ‘Here I Am’ Signal song were uploaded, the word bounced around my brain, with cruel glee: these guys were just not good. At the same time, knowledge of how things were handled with Produce and “Not Produce we swear it’s different” shows did keep me back from immediatly dismissing about 85 boys from being of any respectable skill: if Boys Planet was anything like it’s elders, these guys likely had at most a week to learn a choreography and song, on their own, with little group rehearsals. The mere inability to judge what some steps were meant to look like given how varied the executions were across contestants said it all: they were given no teacher, likely the dance “teacher” and judge responsible for that atrocity of a dance routine showed up once, stayed an hour, and then left them to their own device (and watching episode 2, it is indeed basically what happened. When most of the rehearsal footage is just the kids by themselves teaching each other, the title of “Master” is to put into question: you’re not their masters so much as their executioner).

So I awaited the actual episodes, to see the surprises, or even just the bad dancers who were here as vocalists.

Which to be honest, was a mistake on my part, expecting vocalists was to lobotomise myself, out of the knowledge of the sad state of this industry, the one that we could nearly say this show satirises: Boys Planet isn’t a survival as much as it is a long winded performance art piece meant to criticise 4,5th gen Kpop. And so it was with equality little and great surprise that the Auditions were the same as the Fancams, only this time both eyes AND ears got to suffer the same pains.

(I ran out of embed spots- you only get 5??- so you’ll unfortunately have to click links for most of the video evidence of my claims. Very sorry about that. Prommy I didn’t intend for only the Worse- and Hui’s feast- to be visible but it IS funny).

Where are the standards of casting?

But Signal song fancams aren’t meant to be good. As stated before, they’re a bad metric of talent, or of potential even, as both song and dance are learnt in a hurry, with hardly any mentoring outside of Lim Han Byul disregarding all decency as a human being to instead have his “bullying children” segment. Moreso, a dance focused fancam does not help display the skills of vocalists, so while I did rank all of the Here I Am videos, I was waiting for the audition performances, or Star Level to truly pick out who were the trainees deserving of my attention. Still, the combination of how little candidates truly shone through their fancams, the lukewarm interest sparked by the 1mn PR videos and the trainee profiles, with their citations of way too many symbols of kpop’s downfall as for the standards of performance- not citing names as I do like the state of my life and witness protection would take all of that fun away from me- I had little hopes for what was to come, which did protect me: I was at least not disappointed in expecting nothing.

The performances aired for the first episode were highly enjoyable, in a Schadenfreude kind of way: the ones that were bad were Bad bad, to the point of hilarity: I had legitimate tears in my eyes watching some of these, and couldn’t help share them ahead of our group watching to my co-watcher friend. Things needed to be spoilt; joy to be shared.

Portrayed here, Yang Jun’s most iconic opening of Seventeen’s worst song: mathematically a masterpiece as two negatives make a positive. Also, do know that upon watching Yang Jun’s fancam back before the show started, I claimed him as one of my favourite as I thought dancing that awful must hide incredible singing talents, why else would he be there, right? I’ve had to reassess that statement, but I will not stop my support. He reached public infamy, legend status, and did so much for the show with just these few words.Similarly, team Hyogo gave us a SPLENDID rendition of MANIAC that I view with just as much affection as I do see team Sichuan’s HOT: an enemy of my enemy is my friend, desecrate songs I don’t like and we’ll get along (this is just what the songs sound like to me on regular after all, I think they did amazing).

Many such cases. The full cam footage of the first episode’s performance are overall a feast, a gathering of comically bad stages, put back to back for the heartless public to tear to shreds, only to further humiliate it’s most iconic suckers a week later, in front of Sunmi no less… There is nothing crueler when it comes to reality TV than an Mnet survival.

While a few stages did still look significantly better, and the second week packed overall better performances, the truth is still that the vast majority was mediocre at best, funnily enough, probably would rank 12/20 in my french fashion of rating: not awful enough to be failed but just toeing that line.

And that overall does make sense: why would a company send their best most promising trainees to a shitshow where they can hardly monitor their progress anymore, all for them to get eliminated after two weeks of airtime, but months of recording, alongside half the contestant, and after a combined screen time of about 10 seconds. The investment isn’t good when the winners are already pre-decided, might as well send your newbies, your bottom of the class lineup, avoiding the silent blacklisting of a large TV channel without wasting the time of your talents. As for the viewer, it only makes the experience more entertaining: the mind’s much more rested when all the decent guys are relatively safe for a few episodes when the network first has to weed out the ones who are simply way too incompetent to even get a single pity vote. Instead, you get to laugh at poor youngsters that still probably are doing much better than you would, only they have a roomful of witnesses and large audience to witness them.  I cannot truly cast the stone of ‘this is cruel and uncivilised’ when I myself go back to the Canton China’s team rendition of God’s Menu daily, for reasons that are anything but amazement.

Something that was evident throughout all the stages, including the good and passable ones though, was how little singers were present on set. The show even makes a point of highlighting it: if there is a handful of good performers and dancers, the singing is truly subpar. Only, for the jury to point it out is a bit hypocritical. Comparing the performances and the gradings assigned to each participant show that while the jury- and mainly professional hater Lim Han Byul- lament the lack of good voices, they do not support what little good ones they do have on their hand. Abysmal singers who can dance consistently get better star rankings than good singers with lacklustre dancing. The message is clear: we shall address the issue in words, but only participate in it with our actions.

For Choi Yujin to get four stars with that mid at most line being the only piece of singing we heard from him, while Park Gunwook got assigned three for not being heard singing enough was already quite frustrating. But Gunwook isn’t really a singer either, so the real rage was to see Kim Taerae also get only three stars AFTER the assessment that the show desperately needed SINGERS. If Yujin deserved four stars, then so did Taerae, because his dancing is nowhere near just middle-ground, he’s good enough to blend in the ensemble while carrying a vocal position. But the show does not care for this: they want flashy performers, no matter what their empty claim. But then, it seems Choi Yujin was actually a victim more than an undeserved win, as the show’s true focus seems to now do MY job and use every opportunity to belittle him and call him undeserving of his rank, as if they weren’t the ones putting him there in the first place.

But in all fairness, bad singing makes sense when a good portion of your candidates aren’t done going through puberty: the amount of 2006 to 2008ers present in the lineup should be an indicator as to why we hear so many unstable shaky creaky breaky voices: these are teenagers who should be in school, not in Public Shamings - The Show, no budget edition (because we spent all of it making a Roblox dupe, something the public for certain asked for).

Speaking of things no one asked for: Pentagon Hui’s presence. As enjoyable as it is to get an actual serve in the midst of… Whatever it is others are doing, there’s nothing pleasant about seeing him sit in the middle of all those teens, right out of the army and all out of tears to cry. The misery of every episode 1 reaction shot on him, free this man. At every round, we will have to pretend to carefully examine who exactly is most skilled, as if there wasn’t a guy among the participants who should have been mentoring them, not playing with them. Unlike CLC’s Yujin on Girls Planet, his situation is also nowhere near as dire: while Pentagon hasn’t been in its Shine heydays for a moment, they do not seem to be on the brink of disbandment the way CLC was when Girl’s Planet aired: Hui himself was speaking of comeback plans months before the start of Boys Planet. It seems CUBE ENT just wants to torture a poor guy who only probably wants to go back to his writing studio with his actual group rather than being under the threat of having to spend god knows how long Kep1er’s babybrother group will be active for. At least he provides respite whenever on stage I suppose, but I so desperately want him to get the Produce Camp Lelush treatment: a full time exposure then freedom on the last episode. Make it worth it at least!

Have a little palate cleanser before we carry on.

Sabotage

I love to talk badly about corporations too much to blame only the trainees for their bad performances though. Particularly, Mnet isn’t truly known for either fairness or transparency, and so a lot of what the show displays doesn’t reflect individual potential. When that many stages are bad, the fault is on the network, not only through their casting, but their sabotage. That’s right: here come the delicious speculations of foul play.

Just like fancams of a performance learnt in a few days- with foreign trainees being given one day less to train, by the way- aren’t really indicative of who is talented, the Star Level stages are to be put into question: the showrunners claim that the songs were picked by the teams, but it takes extreme gullibility to take their word when watching some of the stage choices: either those trainees are stupid on top of untalented, or someone isn’t telling the truth.

When I mentioned Canton China’s performance earlier, they are one of the most questionable matchup: why would foreigners who aren’t fluent pick a song as rap-heavy and dense in pronunciation as God’s Menu? Would they really have expected anything but this?

It’s still funny though sorry Canton China. KKAMA HH HH KKAJI.

And how come there just so happens to be such a high percentage of songs that members of the jury worked on, even with their extensive workography, when half the songs are their work, it becomes a tad suspicious, there isn’t just one writer and one choreographer in this industry. The numbers don’t add up. And as iconic as Shine is as a song, it’s still eyebrow-raise worthy to have Just the song to activate the competition’s most famous “trainee”’s backstory and tears. The songs are just too suspicious: fitting neither the skills or style or announced preferences of the participants. In a round where they have to best portray themselves, it’s hard to believe that so many contestants would pick so far out of their comfort zone, just to appeal to one member of the jury. Not to mention the coincidental stage repeats: the two tall and handsome but inexperienced guys just happened to both decide to do My House, in matching outfits too? At least try to be subtle about your script.

And all of those network picks only serve to push forward their favourites, and mostly, the premises of narratives they want to build. As the writers aren’t too original and love to rehash the same storylines, they are pretty easy to spot: the talented guy who did not charm the jury at first but will then sweep them off their feet with one day of practice, great but mean guy who’ll likely be lost by his “oversized ego”, the one who did So Good at first and then never lived up to it… It is much easier to make entertaining situations yourself than to expect them from a crowd of kids who likely wouldn’t start fights with how little time they have to do anything but practice and sleep. Hence, manufactured rivalries- between the Korean and Foreign group notably, something so out of pocket when within those you can find people who belong to one same debuted group split into blue and pink team, and definitely hilarious whenever they prompt a foreigner to say anything negative on the Korean team, taking it to their nationality as root of the issue, when some members of the Global team are themselves part of the Korean diaspora. The choice of Nationalistic War as a plotline is certainly a choice, but only works way less when instead of GP999’s three teams of more or less strictly region locked participants you have one country against the whole rest of the world. But I’d rather pretend this entire decision does not exist, there’s just something uncomfortable about the show trying to become ‘war on Kpop: these foreigners are trying to steal our job’. As if Mnet was even going to pick more than 3 Global trainees for their line up.

Then come my most detested, as I am a hater, the ones who take the limelight when being hardly better than MY picks who are objectively better naturally as I am the voice of truth. I mentioned Choi Yujin, but there are other worsties in the show, some who may get the same sad treatment as their fellow (of being shamed for not living up to expectation built out of nothing), I’m thinking most notably KuanJui from team Taipei whom the show will not manage to convince me is good as an Idol, no matter how much they repeat it: his traditional dancing is very good, but he neither could dance or sing Tiger Inside in a way that I could stomach, and it was neither a matter of awkward lack of confidence nor an issue of assignment that didn’t match his tastes. He may have done better indeed on an elegant song, but when it’s likely the final group will be performing Hip-Hop leaning choreographies, what use is there in lying that he can carry them out? Why are we pretending that he did not just disrespect Ten’s legacy etc etc? As he also carries the fatal flaw of not being a Korean trainee, which, to the Mnet writers’ eyes might as well mean you attempted murder on their families, I am expecting him to be this season’s Cai Bing, suddenly villainized by the community whenever the show needs some drama that doesn’t involve collateral damage for their plan of debutees to be.

Is there no main Slayer?

And how are they even going to make that lineup, you could ask, if everyone is mediocre, if there’s no talent but the 30 years old hag who already has a group at home and enlistment under his belt?

Thankfully, in the mass of Nothing, there still are a few attention grabbers, some I have already shouted out before, some that I keep for this more entertaining section of “lets see some good food”.

Well, good food…

I first want to give a shout-out to my little pity boys, the ones so clearly set up and so thoroughly mocked that you can only feel bad for them. I’d want them in the group just to spite the network. The Houses, as I’ve already mentioned before, have this incredible charm to them (they’re good looking) that makes it hard not to root for their progress (and they’re tall too) especially when the show bestows a montage of them working so hard day and night to escape their reputation (pretty boys should never be sad). Red House Jung Min Gyu is probably the funnier of the two, his awkwardness is in how brazenly he tries, while Blue House Bak Do Ha is the more tragic one, the one desperate with tears, the one who has to carry the burden of being Labelmate with Hui. Neither of them are good, but both seem untrained as hell, and the odds aren’t in their favour when the show cannot acknowledge that even with years of vocal lessons they’d hardly be able to sing Here I Am given their natural pitch. There’s something wholesome in the trauma-bound solidarity between the two as well, my favourite manufactured narrative is the show’s insistence on sliding a reaction shot of one House whenever the other does badly. They are brothers in martyrdom.

The one thing the jury did get right is how much we did need to see them perform together. Power duo.

Another Martyr would be Lee Da Eul: as soon as the fancams dropped he was already the most mocked online, for his sloppy and odd dancing. Just like the Houses, his voice is unfit for the Soprano-ranged songs, and just like them, he has that weirdly endearing thing to him. Unlike the houses though, his bad performance secured him a spot for at least a round, if votes remain the main factor of survival: the hate-views of his fancam alone landed him in the top 9 for two episodes in a row. He’s everyone’s favourite underskilled little guy. And perhaps mine as well. Daeul sweep etc… I hope he makes it to the finale.

He’s hypnotic to be perfectly honest, I’m obsessed with him he’s so woobly he’s so real.

Then come My Dozens. The ones that may not be deserving of the support compared to others, but that I still will support, because it’s my ranking, I get to choose the pretty boys who get in on face alone. Naturally, as the rest of the viewers, I devote myself to the Chiu SweetBlood- sorry I mean Jiwoong Sweep. Is he here and winning just because Bro is Beautiful? Maybe. But if the mass is not good might as well have pretty faces, and the thing is that he’s not completely void of talent, to my surprise and also disappointment, as there was something much funnier in supporting a guy who can legit do nothing but serve face and cleavage. From the get go I could never tell if I thought he was a good dancer or not. His fancam was… Not very good. His footage from his previous group endeavours were not too remarkable but not too bad. But Mirotic seemed to be just the style that best showcased his ability, and he can sustain vocals on top of the dancing, although not the most stunning ones. Still, that’s more than a Dozen needs to be doing, so shoutout to his pretty eyes and bosoms. Was he my favourite of his team? Not even. Did he still kind of Give? To me, certainly. But then I’m not objective towards the one truly handsome guy of the whole competition. Any lacks of his that would get anyone else thwarted from my list of faves is filled out by his mere blinks.

Good dancers who cannot hold a note were aplenty, and if I’m sensitive to guys who can shake it and willing to close my ears for them, I could not just adopt all of them. Some that did still vow me would be, and we’ll do quick name drops, Haruto, whose iconic voice break- cut off at broadcast because Mnet and I sometimes agree on who deserve the Ws- and iconic-er pre-show online presence carry him into my heart at all times, Wang Zi Hao who danced way better in his rehearsal than final stage but did not sound pleasant in either, Cha Woongki, yes he sounds awful no I don’t care he can shake it and threw a fish, and Na Kamden who hasn’t actually shown any singing so who knows maybe he’s good. All of these make it far in my excel sheet only because they aren’t Good dancers but Great ones. In this economy, it’s equivalent to having a minimum of singing skills.

As for singers, they get an automatic pass for me. We have to support what little voices we get.

The first Good singer I heard watching the performances was Jay, Kamden’s singing teammate, and he’s one I have to support double as it seems the public refuses to acknowledge him due to his cringeboy swag. Or perhaps he did something I’m not aware of, but his High School Musical type vocals deserve the acknowledgement: there’s not a lot of other candidates who can do what he does. So what if he’s cringe? What if he has the aura of a guy who posts tiktok thirst traps? What if he’s American? We have a shortage of singers. We need him now more than ever.

I mentioned Kim Taerae earlier, he alongside Lee Hwanhee are the two trainees who give the more Classic Kpop vocals. The former got to have a segment on how ‘he sounds so good but dances so bad’ and the latter is nowhere to be found on the screen. A damn shame, he sounds amazing, but what can we do against the editor’s favouritism except watch the full cam performance and sigh in hopes for a change to come when more group performances happen and they cannot skip him anymore.

Yoo Seungeon mainly, but also Krystian (with a very unique vocal colour, whose uncle possessed him, idk but i fuck with it), Park Gwanyoung (who sounded strained but way tolerable considering) and Winnie (who was mad good given the moves he was doing) aren’t just as good but still have nice vocal potential, and can probably do more, with time or more fitting songs.

Then come the ones that actually caught real attention, to different levels.

My favourite flop with no hopes of surviving, Kim Minhyuk, teammate of Park Gwanyoung, is being snubbed of screen time, of votes, of stars, of everything. Most tortured babygirl. Every day I dump a vote to the trash by giving it to him as if he could make it. First elimination and I know I’ll have to bid him goodbye, but our time together was lovely regardless. I made my peace, I don’t love him to the point of outrage, just to the point of disappointment. 

Lee Ye Dam gave mediocre vocals on his live, but his practice sounded much better, so I do believe he can sing. And mainly, boy he can dance, and he can Slay. Moves AND attitude, it’s maddening given how his PR video had me on the fence about supporting him (made him drop all the way from my top ranks after the fancam, to the Thin Ice section). For my own public image, let’s all look into a spinning spiral and erase it from our minds, and focus on his gambler performance.

Sung Han Bin has me very confused. He’s quite obviously Mnet’s favourite little guy, and he’s surely talented, but he’s got that crazy trait of becoming way less interesting as soon as he’s on stage. His rehearsals and freestyles are way more charming, they film him having a silly little fake competition and suddenly I get the hype, then he does his assignments and I am bored. But well, would I be mad if he won? Absolutely not, he’s solid, he’s safe. He’s just a mystery: how does a guy who look so confident about performing also loses his charisma when he does? A science subject. Perhaps that’ll bewitch me.

Funnily, because they’re besties, the show so badly wants a Sung Hanbin vs Seok Matthew rivalry. They do play it up a tiny bit, but never fully, instead, you get to see Canada boy rave over how good his friend is over and over again, while himself being honestly quite as good. It seems that a lot of people want them to debut together, friendship wins, but also talent wins, because Matthew is a great performer, good dancer, pleasant singer though with room to improve, and seems comfortable and happy on stage, so that’s just nice. Good vibes. Go Canada.

Next one will have people ask, wait, didn’t you have a section for good dancers who can’t sing? And yes, I did, but the thing is to me, Park Gunwook is more than a great dancer. He’s just way too nice to watch dance. Makes me insane levels of “I fuck with this guy’s dance”. So he’s allowed to not sing the best you see. I think he can learn. I think he can be dangerous if he does. Like give him vocals and it’s the end for everyone else because damn. He dance good. That’s it. Sometimes I just need a lil dance guy.

The one sin Jiwoong committed in entrancing everyone with his vampire spell was to take away attention from Jeong Ichan in his team. That guy is kind of crazy if you ask me, and gets no attention for it. Sad! Watch him shake it, hear him sing, he’s quite obviously talented in both aspects. I want him in the final lineup so desperately, but it seems the judges disagree with me. Well, they never had good taste anyway. All he can do now is steal Yoon Jongwoo’s strategy of gaybaiting through Jiwoong to secure his fujogirl’s votes through ship-sweep. I’m begging him to get on this grind. I need him to survive.

For a while I didn’t understand the Keita hype. Not that I thought he was bad: like Hanbin I just thought he was skilled but not that bewitching, at least from his fancam he seemed really skilled, but I just didn’t feel much. I can understand better with his appearances on the two episodes so far. His Conduct Zero stage was fun, and he also did well with Here I Am both in evaluation and in Good Conduct, so go short king! You caught me now, I’m adding you to the ones I look after now. If we have to have a kpop rapper on the team, he can be it.

Kum Junhyeon. That’s about it. I thought he was great in his fancam, I thought he was awesome in Nunu Nana too, like oh he can sing alright? Seems like a fun guy too, let’s twirl our hair and pat ourselves on the back for always knowing he was to look out for, I always knew but now I got the other watchers on my side too. Very satisfying.

Unlike the total disregard for Kim Minseoung. It was to the point I wondered if he was just a known public enemy, he was my favourite from the fancams, and by favourite I mean that Youtube started putting it in my automatic playlists because of how much I watched it-something about the clarity of his moves, so satisfying, so clean, so exactly what I look for, so I pledged allegiance to him forever, and I’m thankful that he did not embarrass me. He’s great. And he’s in the bottom twenty percent with a full four star ranking. Very frustrating. Gives me a superiority complex too: I know what’s up. No one else does. They only like him because he does a flip…

In Conclusion...

The show exactly meets its expectations: bad taste and bad faith from the judges. The public doesn’t know shit. We are short of talent in this industry nowadays. I’m the biggest martyr. Chiu sweep. Ten thousand likes and I drop my list of most hated candidates just to feel something.

[ecargmura]

Dog Signal Episode 6 Review - Niwa's Past

It was really nice learning about Niwa’s past. I really liked learning about why he became a dog trainer and why he became the person he is currently. It is also very heartbreaking. Man, he had it rough. Hopefully, his issues with Fujiwara will get resolved in the future. The entire episode is Ritsuka explaining about Shinichiro’s past to Miyu, but there’s also another flashback from the day he decided to become a dog trainer. Since the flashback scenes are a bit out of order, I’ll talk about them in order.

The reason Niwa became a dog trainer was because of how he couldn’t protect his dog Kuma. As a kid, he has always loved dogs and would always go to Ritsuka’s family pet salon to play and feed the dogs there. He finds Kuma tied to a lamppost one day; Ritsuka finds a note in a bag, showing that it’s abandoned. Shinichiro takes Kuma home, but his mom said no. Fortunately, Mr. Niwa saved the day by telling her that he and Shinichiro would be responsible for it; she caves in, only on the condition that it stays outside. Caring for Kuma and his dad’s love for the dog only fueled Niwa’s love for dogs even more. However, one day, both his dad and Kuma died; his dad died in a construction accident while Kuma died after getting hit by a car at night on his way to search for Mr. Niwa. Kuma had no idea Mr. Niwa died and was very anxious that he wasn’t showing up one day. It turned out that Mrs. Niwa released the dog, which spiraled towards its untimely demise. Because of how he lost his dad and dog in a short amount of time, it caused him to close himself off to people and resolved him to become a dog trainer so that no dogs would get hurt ever again.

Now this childhood flashback was full on bittersweet. Niwa went from a happy boy who loved dogs so much to a traumatized boy who closed off and perceived himself as weak for not being able to protect Kuma. I have to say, I hate Mrs. Niwa so darn much. I usually try not to hate anime moms only if they’re awful; for example, I don’t think the Yuzuki brothers’ mom was that bad of a mom for neglecting Mikoto and focusing too much on Minato because there are times where the mom does focus on Mikoto too, as shown in Episode 8 of the Yuzuki Family’s Four Sons. Mrs. Niwa, on the other hand, sucks. She doesn’t care about her son’s feelings towards Kuma and just released him without his consent. Sure, she made a promise with her son that if he doesn’t train him properly, she’d release it, but the fact that she did without second thoughts was heartless as fuck. Definitely worst mom of this show so far.

As Niwa got older, he decided to work part-time jobs at Ritsuka’s pet salon in order to pay for his tuition for the school of his choice. Because Ritsuka was worried about him, she decided to go to the same school as they have dog grooming certification there too. Attending that school was there they met Dr. Kubo and how Niwa met his teacher Seiji Fujiwara, a professional dog trainer. To Niwa who was tired of his teachers teaching him with textbooks, Fujiwara was his idol, ideal teacher and the kind of trainer he wanted to become. After graduation, Niwa worked under Fujiwara at his dog training center. Fujiwara taught him that bad owners make bad dogs and that a bad dog should never be hurt by human hands. That also became Niwa’s philosophy until he saw he man he looked up to harm the dog that had attacked him.

For this part of the flashback, I get why Niwa became the way he is now. He has always been dogs first, humans second. He hates it when humans hurt dogs; it was a mindset that Fujiwara also shared with him. I understand why Niwa and Fujiwara are on bad terms now. His hero went against his own philosophy and hurt a dog. First off, why have such an aggressive dog? They knew that dog was aggressive, yet they still keep it. Second, I hate seeing animals being harmed too, but in this case, this was necessary. It sucks that he had to witness his master doing this when he had bright hopes for his future—taking over Fujiwara’s dog training center as its new owner once he died.

Fujiwara as a character is like the total opposite of Niwa; he’s like an older, mature version of Miyu in a way. Maybe Miyu will be like Fujiwara in the future. Anyways, he’s not related to Niwa in anyway; he’s just his mentor. He seems to have a laid-back attitude towards everything unless it’s necessary to stand up. I liked the parts where he gets kicked by Ritsuka for calling her Niwa’s wife; he gets kicked three times. He’s almost like a father to Niwa in a way; perhaps, the reason why Niwa was willing to stay with Fujiwara was because of the lingering attachment.

It was nice learning that Ritsuka and Niwa were childhood friends. They seemed quite close. While Ritsuka is wife material, she doesn’t seem to be interested in Niwa and thinks of herself as his mom friend. Dr. Kubo met the two in college and stuck around since. It’s nice to see that their friendship still remained ever since. Though, I do wonder why Dr. Kubo wants to learn about dog grooming; he’s still a freak.

I think learning about Niwa’s past can also help Miyu understand him more. In fact, this whole episode is Miyu learning about Niwa. Hopefully, Miyu will do something about Niwa’s issues either next episode or in a future one. He is Proud Dog’s saving grace, after all. Without Miyu, the whole place is gonna go bankrupt. I do like that Niwa from the past was like Miyu and how Fujiwara and Niwa were mentor and student, Niwa and Miyu became mentor and student too. Although Singe isn’t that important in this episode, I do like how his positions and expressions change every time the episode cuts back to Miyu. There was even one instance where Singe was trying to get his dad’s attention; that was super cute.

I’m surprised with the casting for the new characters. Toshiyuki Morikawa plays Niwa’s dad. From what I know, Morikawa is a huge dog lover; he even named his voice acting agency, Axl-one after his late dog, Axl. Also, he has been playing a lot of dads lately, so I guess this adds into his ever growing list of playing a protagonist’s dad. I didn’t expect Shunsuke Takeuchi to play the aggressive dog Maro. Where are they getting these high quality voice actors from? Do they just find them passing by the recording studio and ask them to come in and record for a minor role or something? Young Niwa is played by Makoto Koichi and young Ritsuka is played by Anna Nagase. I’m not too familiar with them. In fact, I looked up Anna Nagase and I just learned that she’s 18. So young! There’s also a name that rather surprised me when I saw the cast list. Ritsuka’s mom is played by Kumiko Higa. She’s most known for voicing Lan Hikari/Netto Hikari in the Megaman NT Warrior anime (Rockman.EXE). It’s cool that this anime is getting rather known names for their supporting cast.

I’ll end my review here since I feel like it’s getting long (It’s almost 1300 words). I do feel like this is a two-parter. Maybe Miyu will save the day and help Niwa and Fujiwara patch things up as he is good with handling people. It sucks that the original source material is Japanese-only so I can’t really read what’s gonna happen next because I don’t have access to it. If you’re watching this anime and seen this episode, what are your thoughts on Niwa’s past?

[vintage-bentley]

final thoughts words opinions etc before the release in a few hours (so i have something to read before i go cold turkey on social media bc i wont be able to watch for at least 2 weeks and cannot ruin this for myself) GO:

Ahh good luck with going cold turkey! I’m sorry you have to wait 😭💕

I’m excited. At first I was really worried that this would be a classic case of the sequel being a shitty cash grab that shouldn’t exist…but from the clips we’ve seen, it looks good. So I trust that I’ll love it just as much as the first season, if not more because apparently it focuses even more on A/C.

As far as the elephant in the room goes…I really want to believe we aren’t being baited. The “leak” was directly from an Amazon pride promo, it feels weird for it to be included if it wasn’t actually romance. And the marketing is being so heavy-handed on the idea of romance, it would honestly be the stupidest corporate decision ever to do that if it was just bait. There’s also the Sheen “best buddies” comment which gives me a lot of hope, because it’s such an unusual way to put it that it feels like it’s an inside joke. And the recent reviews seem to be implying there’s romance. So, I’ve got my hopes up. As always, I’m staying cautiously optimistic, but on a scale from 0 (cautiously) to 10 (optimistic), I’m a 9.

I’m SUPER excited about there being lesbians. I’m worried about the fact that they’re written by a straight man…and I’m really hoping they’re treated normally and not either over or under sexualised. But I’m optimistic about this too, just because I love Nina so much from what we’ve seen of her. She seems well written and well acted, so I can only assume the same will go for Maggie, and hope that the same goes for their relationship.

Aside from ineffable husbands and The Lesbians (I’ve seen retro wives suggested as a ship name which is adorable), I think the thing I’m looking forward to most is more historical scenes. Season 1 episode 3’s opening is my favourite part of the series and I’ve watched it so many times, I just love seeing all the different costumes and seeing the husband’s relationship develop over time. I’m excited to see more of that. Especially the 40’s scene. I’m most excited about one particular historical scene that people talked about after the screening, I won’t say more than that, if you know you know, if you don’t you’ve probably purposefully avoided that information and I applaud your restraint lol.

Now, if the show ends up not being bait, I won’t hate Neil as much as I’ve grown to, but I still won’t love him. Because I think the way he’s handled concerns about baiting is incredibly insensitive and out of touch. He seems to think that this is the same as teasing a long awaited straight couple, so he can be as secretive and coy as he wants. This line of thinking completely ignores the fact that gaybaiting is a real problem, that viewers have been burned by before and don’t want to be burned by again. As great as it would be if gay couples could be anticipated and teased the same way straight couples are…we just aren’t there yet. We’re still at a point where LGB fans aren’t at ease watching a romance build up between two men or women, because we know there’s a chance it won’t go anywhere. Like I’ve said before, knowing that OFMD was a romance before going into it made the viewing experience much more pleasant for me than it would’ve been going in without that knowledge. Because knowing it was a romance allowed me to enjoy it as such…while not knowing would’ve had me going “I’m crazy, I’m just seeing what I want to see, that won’t happen” the whole time (and it sounds like that was the experience for many people who saw it before hearing about it from others!). That’s something OSA people don’t experience when seeing themselves on screen. So if there’s a whole crowd of LGB viewers basically begging you to save us that frustration and doubt, “wait and see if you’re being baited” isn’t exactly the best attitude to have. Especially when you’re on tumblr, and could easily put a yes or no answer under a read more prefaced with many spoiler warnings. Again, unfortunately, we just aren’t at the point yet where anticipating a gay ship is the same as anticipating a straight ship.

It just feels like Neil doesn’t have any compassion for his LGB viewers who don’t want to be baited yet again, which is really annoying considering he seems to think of himself as an amazing ally.

So, if it ends up being bait, obviously I’ll be angry. If it doesn’t end up being bait, I’ll be happy but also annoyed at how Neil made us feel crazy for even hoping for this outcome.

I think that pretty much sums up what’s going on in my head right now! 😄

[champagnepodiums]

for the file thingy majiggy! 1) WHAT ON EARTH is the funeral au; are they undertakers?? WHO are the undertakers??? 2) scotty/josef; what r the bus bros up to 3) pato/colton; ive never seen this ship before, same with-- 4) illot/rossi ngl all the indy files are very intriguing but these r my top 4

1. OKAY so the funeral home AU was started in 2020 and my way of coping with working in the death industry during the start of COVID so it actually involves F1, IndyCar and NASCAR drivers.

So it’s like The Office but with funeral homes. Each series has their own funeral home — IndyCar is Newgarden-Power & Rossi, NASCAR is Earnhardt Family Funeral Homes and F1 is Prost-Lauda Funeral Home. And it’s meant to raise awareness of death and dying (this fictional documentary show) but in the process of filming, there is a dark secret uncovered. It’s broken into episodes with talking heads which is hard to write but I think it’s funny to read? So like they’re alll funeral directors. I admittedly only work on it like once every six months when I need to work through some work related trauma, eventually I’ll get it done and release it into the world but here’s a snippet:

“You know, the dream always was Prost-Lauda. That’s where every mortuary student in the state wants to end up.” Alex Palou -- another apprentice -- shifted in his seat before he snapped back into his composed, easy-going smile. “But I’ve found a home here at Newgarden-Power & Rossi. I’m not disappointed at all that this is where I’ve ended up. I plan on having a long career here.”

“Yeah, I mean. Newgarden-Power & Rossi is a great place to work, don’t get me wrong. But if an opportunity at Prost-Lauda opened up, I’d jump ship immediately. And Colton and Alex -- they’re lying when they say they wouldn’t. I just know. Because Prost-Lauda, they are elite. And if you get one of those embroidered jackets, you know you’ve made it.” Patricio -- more commonly called Pato -- ran a hand through his hair with a worried smile. “I probably just said way too much.”

“Does it bother me that some of my younger employees have their sights set on Prost-Lauda?” Josef folded his hands. “In short, no. They’re young, optimistic kids who just see the sparkle and shine. They see the prestige but they don’t see the mental toll that working for that funeral home can take. And that’s okay. They learn that the grass isn’t always greener on the other side and they figure out that maybe Newgarden-Power and Rossi might not have the embroidered jackets but we are just as well respected and talented.”

2- THE BUS BROS— teehee this one is a recycled something I worked on years ago so i’m still in the process but the short of it is that Josef goes through a bad break up and doesn’t recover, Scott is new to the US and Liz Power sees an opportunity so she gets Will to suggest to the powers that be at Team Penske to have Scott room with Josef to transition. It’s kind of an rivals to lovers vibe. (I’m not super far into that one so I don’t have any good snippets)

3- YES O’HERTA MY BELOVED. they were teammates in indy lights!! this fic is like set after they won the Rolex 24 together in 2022 and it’s based off the taylor swift song and it’s just angsty Colton wondering if they’ll be able to fight for championships in IndyCar and still stay the same.

4. ROSSI/ILOTT listen, this pairing is made up mostly for mine and @dystini’s entertainment lolol. We’re co-writing this (I’m the worlds slowest writer, very lucky to have the world’s most patient co-writer).

So the premise currently is as follows: Callum is feeling a bit disillusioned so he joins a band that needs a singer. He gives them a fake name because he desperately needs something completely separate from racing.

At his first performance, Alex Rossi is there and he doesn’t recognize him (it begins in the early 2022 season, Callum is a rookie and Callum has makeup on because he’s gotta look the part). They hook up and the story follows them through that (i don’t want to give the whole plot away hehehe).

A snippet (and honestly, this passage might be the best thing I’ve written ever):

The stage lights were so bright.

Callum blinked away a memory, a Bahraini night where all of the lights were on them. Where Callum hadn’t been enough, falling just short. But the way he unbuttoned Callum’s shirt afterward, soft lips on skin made Callum feel like for a fleeting moment that he was actually enough. Limbs tangled under bed sheets, affirmations, and promises exchanged. Everything was perfect and nothing was okay all at once.

The fresh start in Indianapolis had been meant to be a way to heal and Callum had thought he had been doing a good job of that. But Elle had decided the setlist should tell a story -- the story of heartbreak.

He knew she had no idea about what had happened, nobody had known about them. Nobody knew about their rise and fall, of triumph and despair. Nobody knew that Callum had meant his promises, nobody had known that he kept his love like a sacred oath, but Callum’s love was treated like a secret -- a loaded weapon type of secret that could and would ruin everything, and it was handled accordingly.

He was handled accordingly.

Feelings he had thought were gone had returned, and the memories that he had locked away stung his eyes and clogged his throat. Relentless memories that made it hard to sleep at night, hard to not wonder what might’ve been, what could have been, what should have been.

so yeah!! feel free to ask more, ngl talking about them motivates me to actually write them 💀💀💀💀