#i'm also glad it's with donna of all people

[pikechris]

I love that 14 got to stay with donna's family. that he's their weird alien uncle with a tardis at his disposal now. that he's settled down and is happy and can process all the terrible terrible stuff that's happened to him and do some kind of therapy and finally have a family, after he failed with the ponds and lost them anyway. and I'm glad that he didn't just regenerate and die so fast. he's out there. and for once, he stayed 😭

[9hikers]

star beast was fun but i do wish the jokes abt the doctor previously being a woman were less like... "oh stupid male-presenting timelord" and more "the doctor's gender is Alien and their pronouns are fucking/guess"

[astonmartinii]

mamma mia | formula one social media au

drivers: sebastian vettel, jenson button and fernando alonso

what the hell is in the water in greece? why are pregnancy tests so expensive and why does seb name his vehicles like that?

fernandoalo_oficial

liked by maxverstappen1, aussiegrit and 803,450 others

location: greece

fernandoalo_oficial: had a great break in greece recharging the old batteries 🔋

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user1: old man who is this woman?

landonorris: who taught you to soft launch grandpa?

fernandoalo_oficial: hey! respect your elders

landonorris: you just called yourself old? and WHO IS THIS?

fernandoalo_oficial: none of your damn business kid

user2: why is he particularly dilfy lately?

user3: he's approaching silver fox territory i fear

jensonbutton: i see that greece was a popular spot for wold champions this break?

fernandoalo_oficial: i also saw, sad not to bump into you old friend :(

maxverstappen1: where was my invite ???

jensonbutton: cool world champions only

lewishamilton: excuse me?

fernandoalo_oficial: idk what to tell you it wasn't planned, me, jenson and sebastian just have good taste

sebastianvettel: i see mary goodnight was appreciated

fernandoalo_oficial: yes thank you for lending me your boat, huge hit with the ladies

sebastianvettel: very happy with my choice to get it deep cleaned before i got there

fernandoalo_oficial: first of all, i'm not dirty. second of all, thanks for the faith in my game big man

user4: i am so confused by this comment section I DID NOT WANT TO KNOW ALONSO FUCKED ON SEB'S BOAT ???

yourusername

liked by yourbff, oliviarodrigo and 1,340.987 others

tagged: yourbff

yourusername: (sober) brunch with a side of light baby daddy investigation

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user7: only y/n would end up in a mamma mia situation, stay strong

yourusername: omg i didn't even realise, but donna was always a bad bitch, so i will just be the same

user8: i can't believe i am watching a girl investigate her own baby daddies on the internet (i love this place)

yourbff: if we can't find the lucky men, at least they'll have a cool ass aunt

yourusername: all fun and games until you have to change a nappy

user9: i'm enjoying this saga, BUT, why can't we just wait and do a paternity test

yourusernmae: i still need to know them to do that... and being nosey is far more fun

user10: all i'm thinking is this girl has to have GAME for three dilfs in the span of like three days... RESPECT 🫡

user11: i am so invested in this... please be interesting people 🤞

jensonbutton

liked by sebastianvettel, fernandoalo_oficial and 401,330 others

jensonbutton: back on sky duty and bumped into a couple of familiar faces

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user12: who let these old men talk about their sex lives on a live broadcast?

user13: i am entertained tbf

user14: obsessed with both needing to reinforce the fact that they pulled in greece

user15: i need seb to jump in on this conversation ASAP

fernandoalo_oficial: not happy with you pinning all of my success on seb's boat mate

jensonbutton: was it all your charming personality?

fernandoalo_oficial: obviously

sebastianvettel: i can confirm that it's always all the boat

jensonbutton: is that a confession?

sebastianvettel: gentleman don't kiss and tell x

charles_leclerc: jesus christ and we're the generation ruining the sport?

jensonbutton: f1 has always been slutty, you guys are letting us down

maxverstappen1: clearly you guys are still active enough to keep up the reputation yourselves

sebastianvettel

liked by charles_leclerc, jensonbutton and 902,180 others

sebastianvettel: retirement is looking fun, glad to take mary goodnight out for her first spin

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user21: did he just say mary goodnight? SEB WHAT?

user22: omfg he is potential baby daddy two??

charles_leclerc: so seb got a bit too lucky in greece?

user23: CHARLES?

user24: i am losing my mind they were right, they are the baby daddies

user25: i knew as soon as she said a nando with a samurai tattoo

user26: @yourusername he's number two !!!!!

user27: @yourusername we found him, boat and all

landonorris: YOU'RE POTENTIAL BABY DADDY TWO SEB WHAT THE FUCK

sebastianvettel: i don't understand lando

landonorris: check your texts

user28: don't forget the others lando

landonorris: @fernandoalo_oficial check your texts (and forward it to jenson i don't have his number)

fernandoalo_oficial: okay?

yourusername: WHAT THE FUCKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK

user29: i think someone needs to check on her

yourusername

liked by sebastianvettel, fernandoalo_oficial and 1,509,600 others

yourusername: i hot girl summer-ed a bit too close to the sun, what do you mean the three dilfs were f1 world champions?

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sebastianvettel followed yourusername

fernandoalo_oficial followed yourusername

jensonbutton followed yourusername

note: AHHHHHH? idk if i love it or hate it? do i know who i plan on being the dad? no. but do i plan on expanding on this? yes. mamma mia chaos will return.

[team-avia]

as a donna lover i have to ask, what was the process of writing her route like?

were there any alternative ideas for how it could've gone that got scrapped? if so, what were they?

and is there any early concept art of her that's not been posted that we can see?

Originally, there was meant to be a Beneviento Manor sequence during Donna's sick arc, but we scrapped it because it would require another bg for just one chapter in the whole game.

In the Neutral ending, I originally intended on you to be let down gently before being sent away due to the newfound confidence in her religion before deciding that nah it'd be more fun to make yall suffer. As well as that the Cult ending was originally just her killing us but I thought it'd be silly if I tricked people into thinking they got the romantic ending before going PSYCH!

Donna's character was also originally intended to belong in the art major as a split off from a choice I'm sure you're familiar with, but in my writing, I uh. Forgot. So, instead of focusing on the theatre antics, we got lots of flowers! I'm glad I know floriography, lol. As for her route in general, I had planned on it being a lot darker than it turned out, but happy accidents!

As for early art concepts, I believe we've posted them all (Finch, correct me if I'm wrong)

Cinder

[gamerbearmira]

More resident evil 8 Au! I don't think I will ever run out of things to talk about for this AU!

First I'm glad you like my idea for julieta's mutation and I 100% agree that Miranda was trying to get rid of Alma's voice but she didn't directly go for her voice box she was just kind of hoping that it would be a side effect of the experiment so it didn't happen.

The Dimitrescu family does need to chill. They try their best but given their mutation and what I feel like is an ingrained primal/animalistic instincts they have a very hard time reeling in their emotions and with self-control in general. They've gotten a lot better over the years but it is something they still struggle with.

I just realized that we haven't got the families opinion on the other Lords or their first interaction with them besides the Dimitrescu family. As you know with Alcina and her family things were very tense and it took them a little while to be able to get along with each other but they managed The family doesn't have very high opinion of them because of their diet and their overall attitude but they are grateful for the fact that they took Mirabel in and took care of her when she was young. None of them like Monroe mostly because of the smell and the disgust that they feel being near him but also because of the fact that he is constantly trying to trick them into doing things to help him look better in the eyes of Miranda. All of them were creeped out by Donna at first, most of them still are, but Donna and Isabela built an odd little friendship over their special interest in gardening/plants. None of them like karl because of his abrasiveness and the attitude that he takes with Mirabel Plus the fact that his solution to the Miranda problem is to experiment on people and create these horrible monsters although camilo does like/appreciates the chaos that karl brings to certain things.

I feel like when Ethan is in Mirabel's creepy Casita he could go to different sections of the house and find different things. Like when his in the kitchen which is Julieta's area he could find healing items that would randomly regenerate more and could probably buy cheaper food items from Julieta, for weapons and ammo I'm torn about who he could get that from I feel like Luisa would be a good person to get that from because of how much she wants to protect her family. But I also feel like Pepa and Felix would be a better choice because in this Au they go crazy protective over the family plus I just get that type of vibe from them better than I do Luisa because at the end of the day Luisa is a cinnamon-roll sweetheart and I can't really imagine her hurting anyone or dealing with weapons.

Yes Ethan lives! I don't trust the B.S.A.A especially after seeing how they treat Rose. She literally didn't have a childhood in their care, and they were going to shoot her because she had a very reasonable reaction to what that one guard dude said, plus the fact the guy even felt comfortable to say something like that to her when she's visiting her father's grave is just gross. In my version The Madrigal family goes back to their encanto with Ethan and Rose, it's the place they all love and they all miss it very much, There are a couple villagers that are still alive and remember the family but not that many. Casita is still standing. Nobody lives inside because Casita refuses to allow anybody to live in her pushing away anyone who tries to get inside. When they get to Casita they were all basically pushed inside Casita was so happy to see them again! Casita had added a room for Mirabel while they were gone, the family doesn't know why or when. They make Ethan a house near Casita so he can have his own privacy and raise Rose the way he wants to. They of course help him whenever he needs it and spend a lot of time with him and Rose!

But I've been thinking. By the time Ethan happens Mirabel would be fully grown and would have been fully grown for a while before Ethan/Rose happens (all the Lords/experiments seem to stop aging after they reach adulthood) and with how much Miranda likes to experiment do you think it's possible that in between that time Miranda would try and experiment on Mirabel to create a vessel for Eva? In this Au Mirabel is considered the favorite and Miranda does have an unhealthy obsession with her so I wouldn't put it past her to try it but I don't know I would really like your opinion on that.

Any art you would like to make is always appreciated!

PLEASE DON'T STOP TALKING ABOUT IT BECAUSE I LOVE IT❗❗ Honestly, Resident Evil by far like my favorite Video Game Media, and in the top five of my favorite media of all time 😭😭 like if you want my attention just mention resident evil

ANYWAYYYYY yeah, I think it's cool for Julieta <333 makes me also think that since her hands leak mold and infect the food, if someone did eat it to heal, it would more effectively heal people who had some form of black mold or any mutation like that; an idea, maybe Ethan, if he goes to her kitchen for healing items, he can take food (if she offers it to him), and he can use it to help regenerate or repair stuff; it can’t regenerate whole limbs though, not unless he has them, hence why Ethan is still missing fingers <\3333 And anyone without mold or mutations have to eat more in order to heal properly. Or maybe ut doesn't heal at all. Idk 🌚

The opinions are so real 😭😭 like I can see why they don’t like Karl (and even Camilo probably only barely tolerates him), and Moreau, for obvious reasons is disliked. Like I know bro is a victim, all of them are, but he SO manipulative it’s not even funny, and he’s just trying to make himself look better in the end. Alcina and the daughters…yeah. By far, if they had to choose one for Mirabel to be around, they prefer Donna, like yeah, she’s creepy, and yeah her weird dolls are creepy, but she’s otherwise pretty chill, and Angie is really just a vessel for her to speak through. I like how Donna and Isa bond over gardening, that’s cool <333

ALSO ETHAN IN CASITA 💪💪💪 he finds the house and family creepy at first, but honestly, with how much he’s been through, he gets over it when he realizes that they only want to help him. Him raiding Julieta's kitchen is so funny, and like she doesn’t care 💀 also I think Pepa and Félix fit for weapons; maybe Luisa can still have a role, since she’s still strong, she can and will defend herself, especially against Lycans. If she’s not at Casita, she will roam the villages and knows her way around, so maybe Ethan can go to Luisa when he needs to know where to go next or where to find certain items (not the flasks though)??

AND THE B.S.A.A…I haven’t watched gameplay of the Rose DLC yet (I need to lmao), so I was going off the B.S.A.A in previous games like 3/5/6. I’m glad they went back to the encanto, and I’m glad Casita is still standing and was so excited that the family came back 🦈🦈 The Madriagls pretty regularly check on the Winters. No Mia. We don’t talk about Mia 👹👹

As for Miranda trying that, yeah, I think so too. Even with her, and the family getting older, Miranda still treats her like a child, like her child. Arguably, her obsession gets worse, and it affects her both Mirabel and even her family to some extent. Mirabel wants to be herself and live as herself, but Miranda essentially ends up viewing her as nothing but a vessel for her daughter, and treats her as such. She either treats her as she would Eva, or she would treat her like the experiment Miranda will ultimately try and turn her into. Mirabel fully believes she won’t fail this time. She refuses to listen to Mirabel, much less her family.

Mirabel might even be a little happy Miranda doesn't really like her family, becayse at least that way, her family is safe from Miranda's obsession with getting her daughter back. Miranda tolerates them but you know. She's not above brutality and LITERAL ASSAULT AND MURDER 🌚)

ALSO ART❗❗ so fun to draw. Honestly, I'll draw a lot for this au 🤭🤭 LIKE...its insane. I had this idea, but it doesn't work with the timeline of RE8 and Encanto 😭 Anyway, I want to do a snippet, so if you have any ideas or more lore 🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️

[bisexualamy]

ooh im intrigued 👀 go on, what would you change to fix utopia/ sod/ lottl?

I'm so glad you asked!! These changes are in order of importance. I have a few stylistic things that just make the episodes more my taste, but that's not fixing so I'm gonna stick to things structural.

#1: Martha needs the big win

People joke about "tinkerbell Jesus Doctor" but I truly think the resolution of LOTTL is the biggest thing keeping it from being truly great. The special effect really isn't the issue (this is Doctor Who after all). The issue for me is that the final scene on the Valiant, the scene that's concluding the whole plot arc of the serial, falls emotionally flat. Why does the Doctor get Martha's big win? Why was Martha's whole task to tell everyone how great the Doctor is? Every other RTD era companion gets a chance to be the hero by the end of their season. They get to save the Doctor. Rose becomes the Bad Wolf, and later becomes a badass in Pete's World. Donna saves the Doctor in Turn Left and again in Journey's End. Martha saves the Doctor by... talking up how great he is. She keeps morale up by telling stories about him.

This is so so fixable and it wouldn't change basically anything about the plot. The original plan can even stay the same! She uses the countdown to concentrate all that psychic power routing through the existing Archangel satellites. She can even still keep the people of Earth hopeful by telling them fantastic stories about the Doctor. But here's the thing. To them, the Doctor is a mythical figure. Martha is real. Martha walked the Earth, she got out of Japan alive, she has managed to walk through warzones without Toclafane detection. She is a legend of flesh and blood who sits at their dinner tables and around their campfires and tells them how to trick Toclafane and stretch their resources and she's a doctor who can treat their people and keep them alive longer.

The people's faith should be in Martha. That psychic energy should be Martha's. Instead of chanting for the Doctor they're chanting for Martha. It concludes her character arc and the episode's plot arc so well! Martha has spent the whole season feeling like she's second best. The Master kidnapped and tortured Martha's family. Who is the Doctor to forgive the Master? Martha deserves to have the win. Maybe from her time with the Doctor she chooses to spare him, only for Lucy to shoot him later, and everything stays the same. But imagine how Martha's already amazing speech would sound after a scene like this. Martha became the Doctor, only to decide that she'd rather be herself.

#2: Tweaking/nerfing the Master's drums

I used to be in camp "get rid of these completely" but I've come around on them since I saw TWEAT/TDF. The drums need to exist in some capacity to make End of Time work, and now that it's canon (as of s10) that Simm!Master no longer has his drums after they served their purpose, fine. The thing that has always bothered me about the drums is how heavily it's implied (if not explicitly stated) that much of the Master's "madness" comes from the drums. I think that's a big disservice to his character and from all the amazing groundwork previous actors did to build up the Master.

Simm!Master in TWEAT/TDF is still self-destructive, chaotic, and violent. He didn't need any drums to make him that way. I'd revise it in the Utopia arc so that the Master still has his drums, but they're treated more like a migraine disorder or tinnitus. They're painful. They bother the hell out of him. But instead of "he saw the time vortex and they made him lose his mind" it's much more akin to that feeling of losing control when your own body is working against you and there's nothing you can do to stop it. That would certainly make him meaner, more chaotic, more resentful and angry, but now it's just an amplification of what he already is.

(I also think this makes his decision for the subliminal Archangel signal to be his drums a much more telling decision. This sound is weaponized against him, and in turn he's weaponizing it against humanity.)

#3 Tweaking the Master's relationship to Gallifrey/incorporate the Time War in a smoother way

The Master has suffered a major trauma and I think the episodes try, but do not commit, to that. Instead it's more "will the drumming stop." I have always disliked that the Master's ultimate plan was to put "a new Gallifrey in the sky." Historically, the Master has not given a shit about Gallifrey unless he rules it. His rhetoric about the glory of the time lords makes no sense to me... unless it's a response to the Time War.

From the Master's perspective, he has just fled the Battle of the Cruciform to the end of the universe. He was so terrified he fobwatched himself so they'd never find him. The next memory he has as The Master is the end of Utopia, which goes straight into Sound of Drums. He has seen the Cruciform fall days ago. It makes sense he's not acting quite like himself. (I believe this is TV canon, but he was also literally taken out of the matrix to fight in the Time War, so he was quite literally dead -> Time War -> Utopia). I wish his plan, drums, and his relationship with Gallifrey was more pointed in this direction.

These are the big ones. I think this is maybe 15-20% different from what's written and I think it makes the whole arc much stronger. BBC hire me as script editor.

[silverwhittlingknife]

I noticed something in a lot of your Dick and Tim fics. It's probably so obvious, but you always write that Tim is watching Dick. In your newest one, Tim's watching Dick, in The Return Tim's watching Dick, and you even write that Tim is always watching him. Is Tim trying to read Dick? Trying to understand? Or does he understand him by watching? What is he trying to figure out by watching Dick? What does that say about Tim? I really hope this is intentional lmao because I would be embarrassed. Maybe this is just something so obvious that I'm just getting now.

YES IT’S ON PURPOSE <333 Anon. Anon. I'm so sorry this answer took forever, but listen, this was a really delightful ask <333 I think about this a lot.  I really love origin stories—I like stories that resonate through a character’s history. 

And for me, a whole lot of what interests me about Dick and Tim is that theme of watching and being watched. Seeing and being seen.

"Watch me on the trapeze, Tim. I'm going to do my act...'specially for you." | "Timmy, don't look." | "I turned away... I couldn't watch. Then I heard you crying and I turned back... I'm sorry, Dick. I didn't want to hurt you by telling you all this." Dick's watching me. Gauging my reactions. (Tim watching Dick watching Tim!) | "I'm taking off the blindfold." "No!" | "I can't see him. You can't see him. But I know Robin. And Robin's always there when you need him." | I love that kid. Too much to let him see me like this. (But Tim spots him anyway.)

Spotlights and lighthouses and cameras and photographs. Blindness and vision and masks and detective work and trust.

I'm going to try to be coherent about this but it's gonna be incoherent sdfsf BUT I'M GOING TO TRY so. Below the cut, a really long grab-bag of my rambling on vision and watchers and watching.

Tim + watching / Dick + being watched / different dynamics

Tim's origin story

Being watched goes with vulnerability/exposure

Incomplete list of moments with Dick and Tim and vision

Tim + watching

The first time we see Tim's face in LPoD: a close-up on his eyes looking for Dick, a close-up on his eyes at the moment that he sees Dick, a pullback to his face at the moment of recognition, a pullback to his face + his camera (you could maybe even argue that Tim comes into existence at the moment that he sees Dick, like, conceptually. the act of seeing is his defining characteristic. it is the thing that makes his character happen. he is the kid who's watching.)

Tim's a very vision-centric character: he's first introduced as a camera, then as a pair of binoculars, then as a pair of eyes. His whole backstory is about watching: watching Dick's parents die, watching Dick on TV, watching Batman and Robin. I've grabbed a few panels above with Tim watching Dick but there are so many more. His major deductions are all vision-based: he sees Dick-the-acrobat and later recognizes Dick-as-Robin; he sees Bruce-in-the-past and recognizes him as Bruce-of-our-time; the climactic moment in Red Robin is about going into a dark cave with a torch so he can see what's there.

And he's a detective. He pries into secrets. He analyzes people. He's a worrywart and a fusser who always wants to understand what's going on with other people. In a lot of those panels where Tim's watching Dick, his inner monologue is busy deducing Dick's emotions and trying to psychoanalyze him. Tim's caring and watchful and intuitive... but all those qualities also make him very very intrusive.

Dick + being watched

Dick performing acrobatics for Bruce, Donna, and Tim in Detective Comics 38 (his first appearance), New Teen Titans 16, Batman 441, and Nightwing 88 (where he reflects he's glad to be back in the hot glare of the spotlight)

Dick's a detective too, of course - Tim deliberately mirrors Dick, both in-universe and out-of-universe. But also Dick's a performer who loves being watched and also wants to control how he's seen. He gets a kick out of showing off, making puns, kicking ass, taking names, and he gets a kick out of having an appreciative audience. And he's got a kind of yearning for recognition - it hurts, when Bruce won't look at him, and in fights with Bruce, Babs, Roy, he'll often bring up the past, trying to get them to acknowledge a shared history.

At the same time, he's a very private person who withdraws and hides and pushes people away when he's upset. Right before Tim shows up, Dick's just ghosted the Titans because he's having emotional turmoil and doesn't want to have it in front of them, and they're trying to respect his wishes... but that solitude doesn't last long, because then Tim tracks him down. Tim will do this again when Dick's having an emotional crisis and trying to avoid everybody in Nightwing 110.

Possible dynamics

Tim watches Dick in Robin 11, while silently analyzing Dick's anxieties about Two-Face

"The watcher and the person being watched" is a dynamic that really interests me, partly because it can be so complicated?

You can see in Dick and Tim their very first roles: enthusiastic performer and the enthusiastic audience member. Dick likes to perform and show off and entertain; Tim likes to watch; those are roles they both easily slide into and they have a lot of fun together! But also you can look at the harsher side: the crime victim and the voyeur, the amateur photographer and the guy who hates being photographed. Dick's intensely private about his vulnerabilities; Tim's intrusive and watchful and constantly trying to figure out how other people tick. Sometimes Tim's the caring friend who watches Dick closely, reads him well, understands him; sometimes he's the nosy mini-detective who pries into Dick's secrets. And that's just two different ways of describing the same thing!

One of the things that kinda fascinates me about Dick and Tim's relationship is that in a lot of ways it's built on a bunch of low-key boundary violations. A lot of their early relationship is driven by Tim's desire to know more about Dick vs. Dick's reluctance to get close to anyone from Gotham; Tim's often out-of-line, but without his pushiness, it's hard to see how they would've developed a relationship at all. Later on, their friendlier relationship is marked by Dick teasing and low-key bullying Tim; it's pretty obvious that Tim isn't actually bothered by this, but it does involve Dick ignoring whatever Tim's claiming he doesn't like ("Quit it!" "Shh").

And one of the aspects of those boundary-violations is that Tim has a habit of witnessing things that Dick would prefer that nobody see. Tim's a witness to Dick's first and most miserable tragedy; he sees the aftermath of some of Dick's fights with Bruce; he's there when Donna dies. And he's sharp and observant and analytical, and I like to imagine this as being something Dick's not entirely comfortable with.

When Dick first meets Tim, it's before he's learned to wear a mask. And Tim spends a lot of time trying to see through Dick's masks, and he's pretty good at it, and a lot of that prying comes from love and care, because one of the ways that Tim shows love and respect and admiration is by trying to absorb absolutely everything about you, like a little sponge. But there's also something unsparing and even threatening about the search for the truth of someone else. It can be comforting or threatening, to know someone's watching you.

And I love how all that complexity is wrapped up in Tim's origin story? Both the giddy childish "Watch me on the trapeze" and then the awful grim reality of what Tim actually sees as a result and then the difficult connection when Dick and Alfred finally get Tim to explain how he knows their secret identities.

Tim's origin story

Tim (recounting his origin story in LPoD): My parents held me back as the thing moved to you. I cried out to warn you. (Two panels where we see just Tim's eyes, as he watches a crying Dick. He sees Batman approach and start trying to comfort Dick.)

I think fiction sometimes presents "being understood / seen / known" as an uncomplicatedly good thing, and there's nothing wrong with that! But I like complications, and I like the way Tim's origin story frames that moment of witnessing as difficult and fraught. Tim doesn't want to tell Dick how he knows their secret identities because he thinks it'll hurt Dick to know it: I don't want to hurt you, Dick, and I'm really afraid I might. And he's not wrong. It is painful; it does hurt; it's not something Dick's happy to know.

Dick's a very private person, and there's a painful intimacy to Tim's origin story - it's not Tim's fault he was there, but at the same time, it's not like Dick chose to have the most traumatic moment of his life on stage in front of an audience of strangers, you know? It's kind of a violation. In NTT/NT/Nightwing, Dick's pretty violently hostile to photographers, and he's intensely private about trauma in general, and I like to imagine this as partly a reaction to that foundational trauma of losing the most important people in his life and also doing it publicly.

And Tim's part of that audience. And he sees the worst part, the part that Dick can't talk about. He sees the bodies and the blood. He has nightmares about it for years. He hears Dick crying and sees him holding onto his parents' bodies. Not at all the kind of first impression Dick would want to make. Not at all the kind of person he wants to be seen as. And that understanding can be painful, because it's so close to the bone, and when Tim's just a stranger, it's upsetting, because Tim knows things that Dick would never have chosen for him to know. Their few conversations about it are awkward partly because Tim's thirteen and awkward... but at the same time, it's not Tim's fault so much as the situation! There's no way for Tim to talk about what he saw that wouldn't be uncomfortable for Dick.

... And yet, and yet. Tim's also one of the last people to see the Graysons alive. He sees Dick and his parents together; he even takes a picture with them. He remembers the whole thing so vividly he'll recognize Dick's somersault years later. He sees the grief. And so I think of that connection as kind of a metaphor for witnessing. Tim sees these things and they become real; Dick can't hide from them; in the act of being seen he's caught, he's in a spotlight, all the grief made real. You can't hide, that way. And Tim's got this unforgiving memory; he won't ever forget; he won't ever stop knowing.

But then, too: Dick's seen, he's known. Even at the very beginning, when Tim doesn't know enough to understand what he knows, he knows the important things.

So that shared memory is a barrier and a bond between them. It can be a source of discomfort or a source of comfort. And that's how I think about Tim watching Dick in general - it's complicated, and sometimes Dick's glad of it, and sometimes he resents it, and also it just is, it's a fact of Tim, that Tim watches. It's notable when he's not watching, when he's turned away.

Being watched goes with vulnerability/exposure

So I'm going to talk about the fraught feeling of being watched more in a little bit, but first: I think it's fascinating that Dick likes screwing around with games where Tim can't see!

Here's Nightwing 25 - Dick's come up with the idea of trainsurfing while blindfolded:

Tim: Are you sure this is such a good idea? Dick: Shh! Listen. Tune into the changing sounds and - Tim: I'm not so - Dick: JUMP!

Here's Robin 49 - clambering through a tunnel into No Man's Land:

Dick: Hard not to think about the river. All the water above us. And bugs. This tunnels' probably full of 'em. And rats. Big ones. Big blind rats with teeth as long as -

Here's Gotham Knights 9 - ambushing Tim in a sorta game of hide-and-seek:

Dick: Gotcha! Tim: Augh!

I feel like mmm I don't want to emphasize power dynamics too much because it's easy to overplay it BUT when I think about headcanons it's interesting to me to think about how maybe when Tim can't see, Dick's more in charge / in control, and so he feels more comfortable and less vulnerable, and that's often when he's most relaxed and playing around the most?

Whereas the moments when Tim's looking at him are often a bit more fraught, as here in Lonely Place of Dying:

Tim: I'm sorry, Dick. I really am. I didn't want to hurt you by telling you all this. Dick... Dick: It's all right, Tim. No matter how old you are, there are some things you never forget. Or get over. (Silent panel: Tim's watching Dick as Dick turns away and stares into the window.)

Or here in Nightwing 6, when Tim wakes him up from a nightmare:

Dick (internally, imagining a kid falling): He shouts to me. He always shouts to me. I never hear what he says. Tim: Nightwing! Wake up!

Or here in Gotham Knights 26, when Bruce is accused of murder:

(Silent panel where Tim's watching Dick.) Tim: I'm sorry. This must be hard for you. Dick: Me? Why? Tim: Well, I mean, it'd be one thing if we really knew he was innocent, but as it is - Dick: Wait, what? Stop right there. What are you saying, Tim?

Here's Tim spotting him before he can get away in Nightwing 110:

Dick (watching Tim from a distance, internally): Still, Timmy played it through nice and clean. Disarmed the perps, protected and avoided the cops. Kept any civilians from getting shot. God, I love that kid. Too much to let him see me like this. Tim: Hey! (appearing on the roof above him, fake-cheerful) You weren't gonna leave without saying hi, were you? Dick (looking away, very quietly): Hey, Timmy. Tim: Look at you, man! Back on both feet! Think you're done stopping bullets with your body for a while? Dick: Hope springs eternal. (Silent panel with Tim watching Dick, who's turned away.) Tim: You okay, Dick? Dick: I'm fine. Tim: Well, where're you staying these days? Dick: With some people.

Of course, sometimes Tim's watchfulness is frustrating but also a comfort, as in Detective Comics 874:

Tim (watching Dick, who's looking away): Are you listening to me, Batman? I'm saying the gas the Dealer used on you was powerful stuff. Dick: I'm fine, Red Robin. Besides...you're here now. Tim: You're not fine. And with or without me, you shouldn't be out on patrol ye - Dick: Sshhh. Here they come.

(Later in the comic, Dick mentally concedes that Tim's right that he hasn't really recovered from the gas, and Tim saves him from drowning when he's hallucinating. So Dick feels kind of exposed by the scrutiny, but also... he invited Tim along, so there's trust there, too - Tim's perceptiveness can be a good thing, too, when things are serious.)

Incomplete summary of moments with Dick and Tim and vision

I think I already mentioned a lot of these but here is my LIST

almost the first thing that Dick says to Tim is "watch me on the trapeze, Tim" and then Tim does and he basically never stops watching;

Tim watches Dick's parents die and watches Dick sobbing on-stage and watches him on TV and recognizes him by seeing a particular trick because he's dreamed about Dick doing the trick in his recurring nightmares about that night;

in New Titans 65 which is their very first team-up comic after Tim's origin, Dick's training pre-Robin Tim and gives him a test about watching for details and later Tim's takeaway is "I saw how [the Titans] listened to you";

there's a moment in Showcase '93 12 which is just Tim watching Dick and analyzing what's going on with him and there's another moment in Prodigal which is the same thing;

in Nightwing 6 Tim sneaks into Dick's apartment and hides in the dark and Dick spots him and tackles him; one of their most important bonding comics is Nightwing 25, where Dick insists on blindfolding him to get him to rely less on vision; when they sneak into No Man's Land they're in the dark and Tim can't see again and Dick's teasing him;

there are multiple moments when Tim can't see Dick for a bit and panics about his safety, in Nightwing 25, in No Man's Land, in Transference, in Bruce Wayne: Murderer;

Tim's there watching when Dick's wedding to Kory falls apart and he's there watching when Bruce and Dick fight and he's there watching when Donna dies and he's watching when Dick and Bruce swing together on the night before Infinite Crisis, and when Dick goes down and almost dies in Infinite Crisis we cut to Tim watching and seeing it happen and screaming;

there are multiple moments which are just silent panels of them staring at each other trying to figure out what's going on with each other or having a stand-off - in Bruce Wayne: Murderer, in Resurrection, in Red Robin;

in the aftermath of Donna's death there's a panel where Dick's watching Tim from a distance and not approaching;

in the aftermath of Blockbuster Dick spends half the comic just staring at Tim from a distance and hiding himself because "I love that kid - too much to let him see me like this," but Tim sees him anyway and chases him down and then they lie to each other and *ranting* LISTEN TO ME the whole comic is about Dick trying to AVOID being SEEN both literally but also METAPHORICALLY AND --!!!

(the only thing i'm even as halfway obsessive about for them is the heights thing because also there are a bunch of moments involving falling or Tim being anxious about heights and worried that he'll fall or Dick will fall)

In conclusion

Consider the progression in all these moments where Tim's watching an upset Dick and worrying about him!! From reaching out instinctively-but-pointlessly when he's too far away in the LPoD flashback, to almost reaching out in LPoD but hesitating, to putting a hand on Dick's back to walk him back to the Cave in Gotham Knights 10, to physically dragging him clear of the water in Batman: Black Mirror!

In conclusion I don't have a conclusion but basically YES, "watching Dick" is a core Tim characteristic as far as I'm concerned, and Tim watches Dick a lot and that can mean all kinds of things from admiration to nosy intrusiveness to worry to care to gratitude to trying-to-figure-out-what's-going-on-with-him, and sometimes Dick's resentful and sometimes he's relieved and sometimes he's playful and sometimes it's a mix of all those feelings.

And at first it's always Tim watching Dick, but later you've got Dick watching Tim too, and there's that moment where Dick's secretly watching him fight but Tim spots him in Nightwing 110 and there's a silent panel where Dick's watching him in Resurrection and at the very end of Robin there's a scene where Dick's secretly watching him fight but Tim spots him and in the very last issue of Red Robin Dick's watching the end of the confrontation with Boomerang and in Prodigal Dick's the one who notices his face is bruised and aaaaaaah

Anyway I think they're neat <3

[veraynes-blog]

Gotta say, I read through all of your TenSimm fics and I shshsgzjdysixbdh thank you for the meal! 👏🏻 👏🏻 👏🏻

Could you imagine an AU where the Master travels with the Doctor (more akin to a cat on a lead being dragged along) and with Donna. There's him thinking she's just another one of the Doctor's pets when she's matching him and winning during their bickering. Like,

Master: *says something insulting*

Donna: *responds with something equally insulting that would make Chiswick proud*

Master: 😳

Doctor: *watching them bickering in the background like it's a tennis match* you're doing great, Donna 😍👍🏻

I feel like Ten would at first get very stressed as their bickering gets a bit.... vicious? I'm imaging the Master at his performative bitchiest as seen in The Doctor Falls, and Donna just like - being herself? Anyway. Ten is watching these proceedings very upset. Like "Oh no, my fiesty platonic soulmate and this mean raccoon I'm in love with don't get on, this is a disaster!" 😩

It takes him a while to realise this is just basic enrichment for two people who genuinely quite like to fight. Donna calls the Master a dipshit for the first time and the Master just about has an aneurysm and also decides he respects exactly one (1) human.

Ten is very confused by the whole thing. He mostly just tries not to do anything which inspires them both to mock him at the same time; as a united front they're something to be reckoned with... 😬

Thanks for the compliment anon! 🥰 Glad you enjoyed the stories!

[unlikelyjapan]

s2e6 rewatch notes - part 2

OK, jumping back in from the point where Stevie says "Carm, this is a good thing."

Richie passing Tiff the Sprite (inside the bedroom that is totally just the walls of Donna's brain - the Carmela Soprano-esque mom tchotchke's mixed with predatory animal statues and black accents - maybe a bit too on the nose....) and saying "Carmy made this for you - he's a god damn pop machine, this guy. He's a weird little dude!"

Both Richie and Tiff mistake Carmy's kindness for weakness, just like everyone else from his past. It explains why Tiff would gravitate towards someone like Richie - she hates his brashness (see when she wanders into the kitchen scene after throwing up and he's just revving everyone up) but accepts it so long as it's countered with tenderness because that fits with her idea of masculinity and normalcy.

"We're trying to....um....you know, hook him up with Claire Bear -loosen him up a little bit."

Tiff - "With Claire? Why would you do that? She's so nice."

Nice people (shorthand for normal people) deserve archetypical masculine guys who can be romantic - not people who are neurodivergent and kind. Trauma doesn't factor into any of their considerations in setting people up, because they don't reckon with their own.

The subject changes to Richie and Tiff's relationship and future plans/housing - after just discussing how to "turn Carmy into a MAN man" we watch Richie quietly flounder because we know damn well The Beef won't afford the kind of life Tiff envisions for their new family. Tiff shares her dream about the all-green clothes for them/red for the baby (the baby breaking their mold/image) and they wonder aloud if they're going to be good parents and if Eva is going to like them.

It's true that they'll be better - they're present, they don't want to start from a bad place. But when we look at how they were razzing Carmy, it's indicative of the fact that they're not about to shed the baggage of their histories - they are playing roles that were established for them through their pasts, so they're doomed to failure after the glow of new family wares off and life gets in the way. It'll just look a little different, a little better.

Richie utters "I don't want to be at The Beef every day" to Cicero as Mikey is ranting about the Bill Murray story in the background. Richie was exhausted by the patterns in his life 5 whole years ago, and it wasn't just about providing for his family. It's so obvious that he fully regressed during the pandemic/things not working out in his new life the way he hoped. He also knew at that time that "I'm good with people, but I've never really had an outlet for that" and he never gets to prove what he intuits until "Forks" - by the grace of Carmy, no less.

*lights a candle for Natalie Berzatto* All of Natalie's abuse is so straight-forward and targeted. I'm glad they explored her character this season, but she's still too neatly-tied for the type of abuse she endured. Some of that is a celebration of her core female essence/strength, but I feel like some of the veneer still has to crack in future seasons - if they have her reeling from postpartum depression in S3 on top of her initial worries about Donna/motherhood, it's truly going to break my heart.

Taking a moment just to appreciate John Mulaney belittling the Faks, as it's the only scene where I found their presence enjoyable.

Carm grabbing the saltines and asking Mikey about them working together - Mikey saying The Beef is a nightmare is self-explanatory, but the fact that Carmy follows it up with "I don't want you talking to Claire if you don't give a fuck" and Mikey assuring him that he does, convinces Carmy that Mikey loves him through his meddling with Claire. Out of the two things Carmy has yearned for (at this stage in his life) since high school, Mikey only wants him to have one of those things - the one Mikey and co. decide will be good for him.

Mikey saying "I give, like, the biggest fuck" and Carmen looking pacified/accepting of that statement, means that his father brother is telling him that Claire is the most important thing for him to pursue in his life, and he's just asserting his love for his brother by trying to set him up with her. So much damn pressure....

Discussing The Bear drawing outside the pantry

"It's beautiful....",

"Yeah....we could do this"

"Yeah.....let it rip."

I'm pretty sure this is the last one-on-one conversation Mikey and Carmy ever had, matching the suicide note - this scene is a living goodbye, and John Berenthal plays it like he knows it. Expert-level shit, expert-level acting all around.

All hail Sarah Paulson's hot mess of a character (you can take the dysfunctional girl out of the midwest, but you can't take the midwest out of the dysfunctional girl), even if she was just around to narratively offer Carmy a flashing exit sign (knowing that he's talented and cognitively different from the rest of the lot) and dole out the story about how bears grieve.

I think one thing that Richie, the Fak's and other "related by friendship" hangers-on have in common is that they recognize that Mikey and Carmy's familial suffering has made them dynamic in ways that their own suffering has not. Both have their own unique gravitas that separates them from all the other men in their crummy suburban life - these other men are trying to absorb power by proxy.

"Can you just go and get Dad's gun out of my drawer and I think I'm just going to blow my fucking brains out and then you guys can make dinner because I don't think anyone would fucking miss me" - many thanks to @loudlightobservation for pointing out in the part one comments that Donna probably has untreated Borderline and Narcissistic PD. I initially thought this scene was over-the-top, but I burned an hour reading about how severe the reactions to perceived abandonment can be in these cases.

As per my comments about Natalie and her veneer, at least she can do things like ask Stevie "can you hug me?" and select men like Pete who will always be ready to do so. Unlike the boys, she learned how to identify needs and self-soothe early, probably because she was the most neglected of the three.

Didn't know where to put this: Cicero's relationship/flirtation with Donna when she's in the kitchen "do you know how fucking hot you are when you're slurring your words?", Lee's hatred of Cicero, and Lee trying to make inroads with Donna (again) through a work collaboration - the building in Wilmette likely being the property that Cicero mentioned having to offload. Carol (revealed to be Cicero's wife by name in s1e4) yelling at Lee as he enters for his first scene of the show. Again, I didn't know where to put these interconnected notes, but WHAT. THE. FUCK. HAPPENED. HERE.

Also, is Lee a former partner in The Beef (after he presumably replaced the Berzatto patriarch for a stay) and that's part of the resentment towards Mikey - along with sharing Donna for a time? Or is it something else? I've had a hard time piecing together these narratives beyond the obvious psychosexual connection to Donna.

Ugh, the all-hands crucifixion of St. Pete - I morphed from "who is this cuck?" in season 1 to wanting to storm onto the set and carry him out myself like a baby - not unlike how I felt the first time I saw Carmy slapping the donut out of Marcus' hands. Cringe but ultimately minor transgressions in a charged environment wind up being the greater sin than full-on emotional abuse with the Berzattos.

I'm finding there's less to dissect in the second half of the episode - everything is more overt. Cicero is generous. (re: shielding Richie). Natalie and Carmy are emotionally spent from their Donna-duty.

The whole final Donna/Carmy kitchen scene brings up a lot of existential questions I ask myself as a cook about food being a mechanism of control. I love to gather and cook for people - but I also know I'm an anxious person who needs to control the narrative, and sometimes I want people to be somewhat beholden to me through the care I extend to them through food and entertaining. In doing this, I sometimes feel pushy, and know there is always a level of avoidance in hosting/caring for people.

But with Donna, and through that conduit, Carmy - food IS control. Food IS enmeshment. Food IS the forcing function for unruly togetherness (through the restaurant and grand celebrations in the Italian tradition).

I hope that Carmy, through his collaboration with Syd, carves out a healthier narrative of what caring for people through cooking and service means. I don't think he hates cooking, as others have postulated - I think he hates the enmeshment, I think he hates himself for feeling he needs to control people through food. I think he hates feeling forced to do it, because he can't function that highly outside of it. The sooner he can extricate himself from his past, the sooner I think he'll love creating food and sharing it again.

The Lee and Mikey jousting bit is essential to the dinner unravelling, but while it's immaculately acted, it's not really interesting to me since it's such an overt conflict. Poking the bear, fighting to be the patriarchal figure of the house, blah blah blah. It makes for great visuals, but it doesn't reveal any new depth beyond "men=fucked."

And the "cousin, you're scaring the normals" comment - I see no evidence that anyone who would willingly wander into this abattoir fits that description. The best part of the scene is when Lee says "throw another fork at me and you're going to get fucking rocked" and then there's just the pregnant pause, immaculately shot, with the old clock ticking in the background.

Lee's "You're nothing. You're nothing. You're nothing" harkens back to "You're bad at this. You are bullshit. You should be dead" - all of the Berzatto men are capable of being ground to a pulp by other men they perceive to be authorities in some form or another, and I think we're only just beginning to see in this season how women factor into the equation (those in charge and those who are seemingly powerless) after a lifetime ruled by Donna.

Donna, who enters the scene, and everything defers to the power she holds over everyone with her tempestuous illness.

Ha, I missed the line in Stevie's grace where he says "We're healthy, I think? No ones si....no ones physically very sick."

"Natalie Rose Berzatto...." God. If I had turned off subtitles, JLC's delivery in this scene would make anyone hear "Do you know how much I fucking hate you" - because that's what she meant. And God bless Michelle.

It seems like, the moment Carmy looks at the car and the cannoli, it's finally cemented in his mind that Mikey and Donna are intrinsically the same person (but the selective trauma memories he maintains after Mikey's death wipe out the bad, hence his surprise about him using etc). Ending with Natalie's A+ horror film face and the lyrics "Could you ever know how much I care?" was absolutely the right editorial tone to end the episode.

I'm going to be honest....I thought I'd find a lot more in this hour than I actually did.

I'm really looking forward to Bolognese onwards, mostly because I really miss Syd now - the show without her energy (mostly because Natalie still has inadequate development, through no fault of her own) is just male trauma from a male perspective....

[shortstrawberry]

Breaking MY silence, my final thoughts

After this post, I'm moving on to my regular operations, that is writing and memeing.

Alright, first of all, I thank everyone who came to my support. Thank you, it means a lot to me. I feel a lot better now and feel ready to write my fic ideas. Thank you for giving me a safe space.

I also appreciate @isas-bathbombs for her sporting act. We both are now cool 🤝. You should honestly be asking for more pay as PR manager.

I also thank the devs for their personal support and intervention. Your great care and enthusiasm for this fandom is what makes it thrive. Thank you so much for making Resident Lover and giving all of us this space to be free crackheads.

Next, I want to give a timeline from my perspective and clear things up. Don't worry, this isn't a accusatory or blaming post by any means. I have not unfollowed or blocked anyone, even those who don't agree with me.

A lot of people have offered their own take on what happened which were pretty accurate. However, since I was admittedly directly involved in it, I feel I should and deserve to offer things from my perspective as well.

Let's start the bullet points

I did NOT write anything that had questionable consent. Yes, I can write things that lean on darker side, but never did I write CNC or any serious kinky stuff. Like bruh, I'm very new to this fandom. Let me get to the kinky part at least! Also, if I do write any (like I recently did for one of my asks) I will make sure to put trigger warnings (which is what I exactly did).

Here's what I ACTUALLY did: write a post asking why Miranda was so scared of Donna. The discussion it started was frankly quite amazing. The characterisations and character renaissance it created was amazing. However, some people didn't like the darker characterisation that happened in it. Or the "excessive" simping that followed by Donna stans. I've put excessive part in quotes for obvious reasons. Excessive is subjective and depends from individual to individual.

I went to sleep feeling satisfied and happy to see all the Donna love. Come morning, I see posts that were quite passive aggressively attempting to be call outs and police people.

I have never stood up for policing creative content. I've been part of several fandoms. I'm a part of Resident evil Village fandom. It's about evil woman doing evil things. So to see people cribbing about THESE characters being dark who have obvious darker undertones was flabbergasting to watch.

So while I didn't have a major part in creating majority of the darker stuff that happened, I did do one thing. I stood up and told people to take a chill pill. Like daddy chill, we are part of fandom that has cult stuff. And so the drama happened.

I don't regret what I did. I've always stood for freedom in creativity, and I will continue to do so. I saw my fellow Donna and Miranda stans getting indirectly attacked, and I had to speak out. I'm glad I did. Policing is the death of any fandom, and I hope this drama teaches us to let people be and not police people. Have a healthy discussion and tease people? Absolutely! But make personal attacks? Hell no.

I hope this clears up any miscommunication or misconceptions about me. I do not hate anyone, or any characters for that matter. Yes, Donna is my favourite, but I'll happily write for any Resident Lover character. I love the game, never doubt that.

Thank you for reading to the end. Feel free to follow me to be updated with whatever stuff I come up with. I never want anyone to think my blog is a unsafe space. I understand how important mental health is. I have a degree in it. Whatever you say, would be heard with patience. Unconditional positive regard bestie.

Signing off

Shortstrawberry

[cherry--cobbler]

“Ten men stack up at the woman's feet, and she chooses the eleventh, who stands and looks the other way”.

— Michael Weller, "All about life"

~ chapter 1 ~

Dana Scott always knew that Harvey didn't belong to her. Spectrum was a cat walking by himself. Proud, nobody's, independent, rarely given into the hands and then only to selected people. It was enough for Dana Scott to be so chosen.

Good sex, pleasant conversations, exciting battles and negotiations, but more often — the perfect compromise that they found. This synergy between them… Dana cared about it, she liked it, so she was glad to return to New York. Harvey was now the senior partner and aimed higher (to match her). He was still damn good-looking (especially with a new hairstyle). It was supposed to be a pleasant adventure.

Harvey Specter was domesticated while she was building her life in London. Scotty realizes this the moment he gently removes her hand from his face and moves away, drawing a line between them. "Don't get involved, this is someone else's territory," says his whole pose. "Your visa is expired," Scotty sneers to himself, choking on bitterness.

Dana feels almost insulted. She can't do anything about this feeling because she's been special since Harvard. Yes, not a girlfriend or a lover, but someone much closer, bigger. There were so many things that connected them, and sex was just a drop in this sea. The threads stretched and intertwined into a unique pattern. Therefore, Dana can't get rid of the thought that she was deprived of something.

She understands the groundlessness of these claims. They never promised each other anything, but it hurts her to tears. Scotty wanted more. I couldn't escape from it, so I ran away from my fiance.

Dana also understands that it was her choice and she has no right to demand anything from Harvey. But she has a hole the size of Manhattan in her chest, and there's a reason for that.

"Who is she?" Scotty asks on the plane when they are sitting on opposite sides of the cabin because she is being pushed away again, but now insistently and clearly, with words.

Harvey arches an eyebrow and snorts, enjoying her whiskey and not even going to answer. As if she doesn't have enough reminders that he changed the locks, and her name is no longer on the free access list.

"Donna?", randomly beats Scotty, unable to remember another woman close to him.

A woman who could own the heart of Harvey Specter. Voluntarily given away. Never belonging to her!

Spectrum laughs, leaning back in his seat as if he finds the very possibility that he can sleep with the goddess Donna funny.

"There was definitely something between you," Dana shrugs because she's not blind either.

"I'm not stupid enough to have an affair with my super secretary," Harvey finally deigns to answer, finishing his whiskey.

"I'll have to give her your characterization", Scotty teases him without malice, remembering what Donna is capable of when she hears the word secretary.

"The check at the end of the month calls her just super for me," Harvey snorts.

He has become softer, Dana notices and feels a poisonous envy.

"Then Zoey?" Does she still work for you? Dana gets up from her seat and walks over to Harvey.

He gives her his famous grin of the best closer in New York. There is so much falsehood in it that you can draw buckets. It feels like a slap in the face, like the most vile insult.

Harvey Spectrum is now a minefield with a chain-link fence and warning signs through every centimetre. For the first time, Dana learns what politeness is in the Spectrum. When all touches are treated unambiguously, and flirting is a tribute to a beautiful woman.

The proud, independent cat now has a master. And the majestic creature, like a devoted dog, no longer looks at others. Just loses interest.

[being-of-rain]

I thought I'd continue my usual trend of writing my thoughts down on new Doctor Who episodes, by talking about The Star Beast. As usual, I set out to write something quick and concise, but the Wrarth Warriors busted down my door and told me that I legally couldn't.

Apparently I still have the impulse to describe Doctor Who episodes as 'fun', but by and large it's a fun show! And a fun episode! Even if I'm not as obsessed with him as a lot of fans, RTD has a charm which it's hard not to enjoy, especially with lots of little jokes and bits of physical comedy (I love little bits of physical comedy). And it's a funny episode, I was laughing from the moment the Doctor picked up a box, saw Donna, and put the box back again. Well that's not true, I was laughing from the moment I saw David Tennant just standing in green screen space like he was about to tell me the exciting new direction he intended to take the company. I'm glad everyone else seems to find that as funny as I did.

Another word I could use to describe the episode is a bit surreal. Having Beep the Meep and the Wrarth Warriors on screen was a little surreal, but strangely I found it even more so that the Doctor was walking around not knowing who Beep the Meep was. I mean obviously that was always going to be the case, but all Doctor Who mediums just live together inside my head and it was just weird to see him not recognise an iconic enemy. Maybe that was just me. Oh but Beep and the Warriors looked fantastic! It's hard to believe they're all physical effects! I really wasn't too interested in the UNIT gunfight that didn't really do much for the story, but if the new big budget lets aliens look that good then I'm fine with it. Other slightly surreal or strange things involved finally watching Doctor Who again after more than a year's break, watching it on Disney Plus rather than Australia's ABC channel, and seeing Ruth Madeley on-screen as UNIT's scientific advisor when she's also playing a companion of the Sixth Doctor in the audios at the moment.

Oh and, of course, having the Tenth Doctor and Donna back on-screen, and the TV show doing what fanfiction writers have been doing for 15 years. That was really surreal. I definitely like the two of them, but I don't have the same rampant nostalgia for their time on the show like lots of people do. I'm glad lots of people are enjoying the nostalgia aspect, but I'm also glad this is a mini-series rather than a full one. And already there's some aspects back of RTD's writing which I'm not super fond of- like conclusions that try to use technobabble and music-swelling emotional moments to smooth over the fact that some things are just happening without much cause or set-up. RTD's usually pretty good at that too- that's how the whole DoctorDonna thing started in the first place, after all- so Donna and Rose just 'letting go' of the metacrisis did feel like it fell unusually flat. Especially with it being paired with a 'women are better than men' moment which felt more like something from a Moffat script (I say this as a fan of both these writers).

Okay, that was just me trying to get all of my negatives out of the way! On the flip side, Rose inheriting the metacrisis and saving the day was a wonderful revelation, and I love that daughter/mother and loving family relationships were so important on the whole. Seeing Sylvia stumble with pronouns but still try was so lovely, as was Donna being so aggressively supportive of her daughter. And Shaun was a small role but so hilarious.

The chat outside the Tardis was great too, with Shaun dunking on the Doctor, and Donna being genre-savvy enough to stop her daughter getting into the Tardis but not enough to save herself. The new Tardis itself was a little empty to me (I'll always prefer more homely interiors) but was still extremely cool. All I want is for the show to come up with excuses for creative ways to use the mood lights. And I couldn't imagine a better ending to the episode than the console exploding because Donna spilt coffee on it, 10/10 no notes.

I know basically nothing about the next episode, and it seems that's the case for most people, so I'm terribly excited about it! It seems potentially scary spooky 👀 I'm so here for that

[kiseiakhun]

"dating your enemy's sibling" with DickKyle

Thank u for this 100% organic prompt that I definitely did not ask you to send

*

Kyle had exchanged maybe two entire words with Dick Grayson in his life. Which is strange, considering their mutual circle of acquaintances, but somehow they always end up just missing each other. Still, their overlapping friends means that Kyle knows more about Dick than is perhaps warranted for two people who mostly nod at each other from across the room.

If someone were to ask Kyle to explain his thought process, it would go something like this: first, Dick is Wally's best friend, and Kyle and Wally may be friends but Wally is also the second most annoying person Kyle knows, superseded only by his cousin. Thus, annoying Wally back is morally, spiritually, and ethically correct, and Wally would be so peeved if Kyle were to sleep with his best friend, specifically to annoy him.

Second, and most importantly, Dick Grayson is Jason Todd's brother. And just, fuck that guy. Fuck that guy in general.

Which is why, when Kyle sees Dick at Donna's birthday party, he hooks a finger in the collar of his shirt, ostensibly to catch his attention. "Hey," Kyle shouts over the loud music of the club, "shots?"

"What?" Dick yells back.

Kyle tugs him closer, raises his free hand to his mouth and mimes throwing back a shooter. He glances back at the bar, giving Dick a questioning look, and Dick nods, following him through the crowd of writhing dancers.

They stumble to the bar with all the grace of a newborn colt. At least, Kyle does. Dick still looks annoyingly put together, even though Kyle knows he was pre-gaming with the rest of them. When Kyle almost runs into another person, Dick grabs his arm.

"Easy," he says, his voice right next to Kyle's ear. His hand is cool on Kyle's overheated skin, squeezing once before dropping to Kyle's waist.

"I can walk," Kyle complains half heartedly.

"I know," Dick says, his lips almost brushing Kyle's ear with how close he has to lean to be heard over the background noise. "Let's get you your shots." He guides Kyle over to the bar, expertly maneuvering through the crowd of clustered people. "What do you want to drink?"

He's still holding Kyle up like Kyle might collapse any second now, and Kyle doesn't know if he feels patronized or if he's glad for the support. "Um," he says, sluggish brain trying to work through the question, "tequila?"

Dick wrinkles his nose. "Gross."

"What do you mean, gross?" Kyle bumps his shoulder. "Tequila's a classic."

"Don't you want something a little more exciting?" Dick roots around his pockets, pulling out a black card. "I mean, you're an artist, right? Be a little more creative."

Kyle was about to offer to pay, even though Dick is already paying for this whole thing so really, it's a moot point, and Kyle doesn't even know if he brought enough change, but still, it's the done thing to do. Instead, he frowns. "Huh. You're a lot meaner than I thought."

"I heard you liked that," Dick says, drawing the bartender over with a flashy smile.

"Who-" Kyle starts, and then shuts his mouth. "That's a low blow."

"You still want tequila?" Dick asks.

"Get whatever you want." Kyle rolls his eyes, leaning his cheek against the expensive-feeling fabric of Dick's shirt. "Show me how creative you are."

"Hm," Dick says, "alright," and leans over the counter. "Two Irish flags."

"Oh, you're funny," Kyle says, "you're real funny."

"Yup," Dick says cheerfully, with no hint of irony, and holds up the triple layered drink. "Cheers."

They drink the Irish flags. And then a melon ball, tie me to the bedpost, slippery nipple, and, finally, cum in a hot tub.

"I'm not drinking that," Kyle says, eyeing the thick white liquor with no small amount of distrust. His face is burning either from the alcohol or from all the suggestive names.

"It's just Malibu." Dick clinks their glasses together. The corner of his lip is curled up in amusement.

"I'm serious," Kyle insists. "I'll throw up on your shoes."

"Are you going to waste perfectly good liquor? And after I already paid for it, too." Dick picks up a shot glass and looks pointedly at Kyle. "You know they upcharge them here."

"You're rich." Kyle scowls. "That's probably like five cents to you."

"Hm," Dick says, and leans closer to Kyle. He cradles the back of Kyle's head, his fingers sliding into Kyle's hair.

"Um," Kyle says, watching Dick lift the glass. A bit of the white liquor splashes out, dripping between his fingers, and Kyle watches it slide between the grooves of his skin as the cold rim of the shot glass bumps against Kyle's lip, thick cream and sweet, cloying coconut.

"Don't make a mess," Dick tells him, and slowly tips the glass back. And for some reason, Kyle opens his mouth. He opens his mouth and lets the sweet cream drip down his tongue in a thick velvet river, milk and rum and coconut. It's too sweet, pooling at the back of his throat in a thick heavy slog of pure syrup.

The last of the drink empties from the glass, leaving a creamy film. Dick sets it back down on the counter without looking, and Kyle snaps his mouth shut. Dick reaches up again, brushing his thumb through the sticky sugar on Kyle's lips. It comes away white, and he hums, sticking it in his own mouth.

"Do I have to tell you to swallow, too?" He asks, sounding amused, and Kyle feels his face blaze red, throat working as he forces himself to swallow it all at once.

"You," Kyle says, "have shit taste in drinks, and the weirdest way of flirting."

"Is that what we're doing?" Dick asks, and he has the gall to look innocent. "Flirting?"

"You're not cute," Kyle tells him, "and also, I'm going to the smoke pit, because-"

"Seriously, guys?" Wally's loud voice rises above the din of the crowd. They turn to see Wally gawping at them and Donna, draped against his shoulder, looking delighted.

"What are you - you-" Wally rounds on Kyle. "I didn't even do anything to you!"

"Newsflash, West," Kyle pushes away from Dick to face him, "not everything in my life revolves around you."

"You don't even know Dick!" Wally flails his arms in his best approximation of if his arms were suddenly and tragically replaced by those spring loaded jack in the box clown toys.

And really, that opening is too good to pass up. Kyle grins. He leans over, wraps his arm around Dick's waist, and turns, almost nuzzling into his neck. "Oh, Dick and I were getting to know each other quite well," he says, "weren't we?"

For the first time ever since Kyle had met Wally, a miracle happens. Wally falls silent and just stares in abject horror.

Dick laughs quietly into Kyle's hair. He tips his head down and asks, "but really, what did Wally do this time?"

"Nothing," Kyle whispers back. "Actually, I was thinking of how much Jason would hate it if we hooked up."

"Huh," Dick says, and then he reaches into his pocket and hands Donna his card. "Happy birthday, Donna. Sorry I'm going to miss it."

"Don't forget to use protection!" Donna calls after them as Dick drags Kyle away, not sounding the least bit mad. "You two both owe me dinner. I want every detail."

(Donna does eventually get her dinner. With them both. At the same time. Dick and Kyle both vow to never blow her off again.)

[ilwinsgarden]

My thoughts on and impressions of the latest Doctor Who specials and Power of the Doctor

So I finally watched everything so I've thought I could write it down here in case someone would like to read it and... whatever. So let's get into it, shall we?

I watched the Power of the Doctor as the last one (actually just now finished watching it) and I'm really glad I did it but I'll write about it at the end as well (or should I make a separate post?), so first the so-called anniversary specials. First of all, I wasn't happy about that thing with David Tennant (i.e. regenerating into David Tennant). Not that I'd think something like "this couldn't happen" or something like that (honestly with everything that did happen in Doctor Who so far, there's basically nothing that couldn't happen. It's just things that some people would like more and some less), it's just... not fair? Also it feels more like a special episode for Red Nose and not a regular one(s). Anyway, I still watched it (partly because of the fact that the Doctor became Disney princess and I happen to have Disney+ so I could watch Doctor Who as easily as snap of the fingers.) and I enjoyed it more than I expected. No, no excitement, no hopping in joy, but still generally enjoyed watching. However there still were things that bugged me like: -despite the Doctor looking like Tenth Doctor, everyone suddenly magically knew that it's regeneration after Thirteen. How?? -Donna said she forgot again everything that she knew from that TimeLord part in her, but she (and Rose as well) knew that the Doctor was a woman before. How? (by the way this whole thing that the part of Time Lord that was in Donna (and then Rose) all the years was still in connection with the Doctor somehow so it "knew" what was happening to the Doctor... eh. Doesn't sound right to me either, sorry). -moving to second special and Donna's shouting when Tardis abandoned them on the spaceship. (this is something I already complained about in a short post before) She remembered travelling with the Doctor, so she knew what could go wrong (everything) and how often (basically everytime), yet she insisted she would like to go in the Tardis and do the short trip and when something went wrong she immediately went crazy, shouting and demanding she has to go back home. Seriously, Donna? %/ - I mentioned earlier that regenerating Thirteen back into Tenth Doctor (sorry, he's just the same, he's not Fourteenth to me. It would make somewhat sense if he looked the same (except age obviously) but acted differently.) felt unfair to me and even more when he didn't regenerate but divided himself (and the Tardis), like... eh, no, not fair. Which brings us to the special with Celestial Toymaker. I was looking forward to it and curious because Celestial Toymaker is one of my favourite classic who stories so I was curious how he'd be in NuWho. I liked him (though I didn't quite get why he had that sort of a German accent??) and rather enjoyed the episode. Except for that "regeneration" thing at the end of course as I already said. Anyway the biggest complaint I would have about the specials is that for me they didn't feel like anniversary specials. Moreover 70th anniversary. Not even one of them.

Now probably a few words to the Christmas special and first look at the new Doctor. He seems good (like... good for the Doctor. As the Doctor. Doctor-y.) and I think I'll enjoy watching his episodes. As for Ruby... I'm not sure. She somehow seems very similar to other previous Doctor Who companions like Rose (Tyler) or Clara. You know, like... yes, it's a different actor and looks more or less different but somehow doesn't differ that much. I didn't think of it when watching, but when thought of it now I think I figured out why I wasn't excited about her. It's not that I didn't like her, I just... don't care about her. But we'll see when we see her (them both) in more episodes I guess? Probably.

And now I finally got to Thirteenth's regeneration story - Power of the Doctor. I finally gained courage today to watch it (because I love Thirteen, I don't want to see her go, right?) and I'm really, really glad that I watched it after all the specials, because this - to me - felt much more like an anniversary special than all the Tenant specials together. I didn't like to see Thirteen go but otherwise, I LOVED it. Of course I knew there's gonna be Ace and Tegan but didn't know how much. And I didn't avoid spoilers so I caught there's gonna be more "old familiar faces" but didn't search for the details and also partly forgot about it. So seeing the previous old Doctors made me smile (and drop a tear), seeing Tegan and Ace in action was so brilliant, and that therapeutic session at the end? Top-notch. Can we have a spin-off out of this? However that anniversary feeling wasn't because of seeing all the old familiar faces, but how it was put in the story and how it all was done and just... it was great and wonderful and I really really loved it.

And that's probably all I wanted to say. If you read the whole thing, congratulations and you're welcome to leave a comment... no? OK, never mind. Good night! (it's 22.27 here)

[sheepkebby]

Helloooo!!!! I loved Virgil in the latest KVTW chapter, very kind and encouraging guy :) (as someone who’s been on boats a bit these last few years, it can be a pretty big deal for a captain to let you on their deck or in their cabin!). Any fun little tidbits about his character you enjoyed that you couldn’t fit into the story?

And DAVE. Is Dave a carrier as well? You’ve drawn him running and hiding from zombies, but I wasn’t sure if that was “canon.” If he is, where is he in all of this?

THANK YOU LOVE YOUR ART MWAH!!!!!!!!!!!!

WWAAAHGGHHGGHHH THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! I'm so glad people liked Virgil. I've always wanted to give him a design since he's such an underrated gem.

I like to imagine Virgil plays harmonica, and he definitely likes to hum or whistle little tunes. He's for sure takes pride in his moustache and has a special little comb for it. He'd definitely tell a lot of long-winded stories if you let him, similar to Ellis, but he's less hyperactive about it. If you asked him how he met his wife Donna he'd tell you a beautiful story about meeting her on the shore, and he'd tell you what the weather was like, and how he worked his sailor charms on her. Ooh!

I also imagine he's got a bad ankle from some incidents in his youth + the wear and tear of aging, which is why he walks with a cane and keeps spares all around the ship. (You can even see one in the background of the artwork!)

I was really happy to add in a character that could be extremely empathetic towards Keith's disability. I know Keith's strong, but he's still disabled, and he really needed the support. I'd say something like "He'll treasure that cane like nothing else" but let's be real, Keith carries around gifts from every single friend he's met on his travels. He treasures all of them!

Back on topic; I dunno if Virgil and Donna ever had kids, but if they did, those kids were most likely old enough to have moved away from their Cajun parents. Who knows where they are (if they even exist)... I like to think they do, maybe, somewhere far far away :)

As for Dave... He's a carrier! And he's still kicking!... But where is he indeed? How odd! He hasn't shown up at the military base that the other survivors were taken to, because surely Ellis would've mentioned him! And Keith hasn't passed by him on his adventures, either. Weird! Sure hope the little fella hasn't gotten lost!

[nakanotamu]

ShuPro Awards 2023!

Normally I would post this on Twitter but I don't use twitter any more so now you guys get to deal with me instead! ShuPro dropped their awards for 2023 today so here they are in english. Right off the top, note that these are fan voted awards, so yes they're absolutely biased towards larger companies & popularity. To be clear I am not publishing this to be an unbiased news source I am posting this to be a bitch and tell you everything they got wrong bc I am right all of the time and have incredible taste. The numbers are how many votes they got. Anyway here we go.

Pro Wrestling Grand Prize

Hiromu Takahashi - 1748

Tetsuya Naito - 1516

Kenoh - 1269

Sanada - 915

Tam Nakano - 838

Will Ospreay - 301

Jake Lee - 266

Unagi Sayaka - 233

Yuma Aoyagi - 219

Natsupoi - 182

[Three women all being in the top 10 for the overall GP feels really big to me, especially Tam in the top 5. Also Kenoh in 3rd is very cool. I don't remember for sure but I think women have made top 10 before, but I don't think this many. Also all of them being Cosmic Angels? Oh my heart 🥲]

Best Match

Shinsuke Nakamura vs Great Muta - Noah 1.1 - 1258 [😒]

Tam Nakano vs Giulia - Stardom 4.23 - 1046 [should have won]

Tetsuya Naito vs Keiji Muto - Noah 2.21 - 725

Tetsuya Naito vs Will Ospreay - New Japan 8.12 - 566

Hiromu Takahashi vs Hayato "Jr." Fujita - Michinoku Pro 10.15 - 437

Tetsuya Naito vs Kazuchika Okada - New Japan 8.13 - 411

Kenny Omega vs Will Ospreay - New Japan 1.4 - 355

Katsuhiko Nakajima vs Kento Miyahara - Noah 7.15 - 336

Kentoh Miyahara vs Kenoh - Noah 1.1 - 235

Will Ospreay vs Shota Umino - New Japan 11.4 - 204

[Best Match is always kind of a side eye category that is sometimes kind of just the "which match was the G1 Finals" award and once again it proves Japanese fans are also capable of having bad taste but at least Tam & Giulia got 2nd place.]

Joshi Wrestling Grand Prize

Tam Nakano - 2092 [Holy shit that's a lot of votes. They're right but wow]

Giulia - 1192 [Like seriously stunned Tam swept it by that much. Just wow.]

Suzu Suzuki - 823

Unagi Sayaka - 737

Saori Anou - 563

Mizuki - 548

Iyo Sky - 502

Maika - 323

Rina Yamashita - 279

Sareee - 210

[Tam getting it by such a huge margin is crazy but I'm so happy. Also Tam, Una, & Saori all getting in the top 5 is incredible, Cosmic Angels are unstoppable. I'm really surprised Poi didn't get on the list though, especially after getting 10th in the overall category. Anyway clearly this is the most important category and god willing one day soon this and the overall category will both be all women.]

Best Unit

Cosmic Angels - 1973 [So true bestie. This is the 3rd year in a row Cosmic Angels have won this award which is insane, especially given the 2023 they actually had. They are fucking unstoppable. Girlfriend power is unbeatable.]

Los Ingobernables de Japon - 1361

Good Looking Guys - 1149 [I have a few friends who like GLG and mostly I just like seeing anything other than New Japan on these lists so I'm glad.]

House of Torture - 940 [lmao seriously?? did 940 people just not know who else to vote for or like are you guys really huge Sho fans or what]

United Empire - 418 [If you like UE I'd ask you consider growing better taste thanks]

Pheromones - 404 [Should have been way higher smh]

Just 5 Guys - 386

Free WiFi - 385 [SHOULD HAVE BEEN WAY HIGHER SMH]

Queen's Quest - 262 [SHOULD HAVE BEEN WAY HIGHER SMH]

Donna del Mondo - 209 [Hey good for them!]

Okay honestly 4 of these being women's units AND Free WiFi getting on this list owns.

Best Foreign Wrestler

Will Ospreay - 3487 [God really. Are you guys serious. Always with this shit]

Megan Bayne - 1045 [r u kidding me.]

Max The Impaler - 963

Zack Saber Jr. - 627

Chris Brookes - 599 [Should be way higher]

Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. - 548

Mariah May - 420(nice) [SHOULD HAVE BEEN FIRST PLACE]

El Phantasmo - 222

Luis Mante - 106

Jack Morris - 105

Best Rookie

Hanako - 1842 [WOW!! It's not ToSpo's rookie of the year award but still very big for her.]

Oleg Boltin - 1673

Wakana Uehara - 1523

Kizuna Tanaka - 944

Zones - 417

Dark Unagi - 316 [LMAOOOOO]

Ryoya Tanaka - 233

Chi Chi - 218

Yu Owada - 198

Mifu Ashida - 181

[7 women on this list & the win going to Hanako is AWESOME but also LMFAO DARK UNAGI GOT 6TH PLACE ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME Una's power is limitless. Kayfabe is alive and well.]

Favourite Pro Wrestler [I always love they do favourite separate from best]

Tam Nakano - 1542 [HELL YEAH WRESTLING FANS GET ONE RIGHT]

Tetsuya Naito - 1384

Natsupoi - 892 [Poi in 3rd overall as well is HUGE]

Saori Anou - 887 [COSMIC ANGELS SWEEP]

Kenoh - 683

Hiromu Takahashi - 597

Hiroshi Tanahashi - 593 [I remember a lot of times this feeling like the Hiroshi Tanahashi award so Tana down in 7th is surprising]

Wakana Uehara - 577 [Honestly Wakana seems crazy popular and they're pairing her with Yuki Arai now right? God that's like a print money combo]

Kazuchika Okada - 533

Mina Shirakawa - 514

Unagi Sayaka - 461

Starlight Kid - 375 [Wow crazy she got 12th place with how out of shape and lazy she is 🙄 THIS IS SARCASM if you don't know what I'm referring to I envy you. Hope 2024 is the year a certain someone finally gets fired Stardom would be better with no subtitles]

Yuki Arai - 364

Mayu Iwatani - 361

El Desperado - 359

Will Ospreay - 343

Giulia - 341

Kento Miyahara - 316

Maika - 290

Sareee - 283

Minoru Suzuki - 273

Taichi - 248

Sanada - 236

Saya Kamitani - 231

AZM - 198

Katsuhiko Nakajima - 183

Jake Lee - 179

Utami Hayashishita - 172 [Not enough lesbians voting obviously]

Jun Kasai - 170

Yota Tsuji - 164

Naomichi Marufuji - 163

Yuma Aoyagi - 154

Rei Saitou - 148

Hayato "Jr." Fujita - 147

Suzu Suzuki - 145

Arisu Endo - 141

Yuki Kamifuku - 137

Mizuki - 131

Hazuki - 130

EVIL - 128

Saki Kashima - 126 [SAKI SWEEP. TOP 10 NEXT YEAR]

Iyo Sky - 125

Shingo Takagi - 122

Great O-Khan - 121

Kairi Sane - 120

Miyu Yamashita - 119

Shinsuke Nakamura - 118

Kaito Kiyomiya - 115

Syuri - 113

Go Shiozaki - 111

Overall these awards are just popularity contests but I still liked a lot of what I saw. The Favourite Wrestler top 50 actually being half women is great and soon enough it'll be all women and we can finally admit we just don't need men's wrestling any more. I can't believe how insanely popular Cosmic Angels are, especially with the let's say rocky 2023 they had, but I guess some things are just so undeniably great people can't miss it.