#it’s like a baby relearning how to make friends

[virgomooning]

How to make friends as an adult

[azsazz]

Midnight Muse (Part 14)

Azriel x Reader [Art School AU]

Summary: You and your best friend Feyre have just moved into a new apartment for your sophomore year of college at art school. What you didn't know when you signed the lease is that you'd be living next to three rowdy boys.

Warnings: N/A

Word Count: 3,355

[Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3] [Part 4] [Part 5] [Part 6] [Part 7] [Part 8] [Part 9] [Part 10] [Part 11] [Part 12] [Part 13] [Masterlist]

Notes: Okay I'm a lil sad for my baby azzy in this part 😭

_________________________________________

“Listen kid,” the tattoo artist across the table from him sighs, and Azriel already knows what’s going to come out of his mouth.

This interview hadn’t been going well since he stepped through the door to Steppes Ink. The guy who was supposed to be conducting the interview for an apprenticeship at the parlor—a lanky lad tatted up with the worst ink Azriel’s ever seen…is that a clock dripping blood for fucks sake?—had forgotten he was even giving an interview today.

He—Brad? Chad? Something or other, he suspects—hadn’t listened to a word Azriel said when he spoke about his time tattooing. That it was his passion. That he wants to make a career out of it. Instead, the guy had kicked his sneaker clad feet up onto the edge of the table and flipped through his portfolio, not allowing Azriel to speak on his work.

He’d seen the look the fucker had given him when he’d pulled his portfolio out of his bag. The way he stared openly at his latex gloved hands as he held the book out, stuffed full of drawings and pictures of tattoos he’s given both at parties and his art focused study groups.

Azriel thinks it’s an impressive show of skill, but this fucker doesn’t.

He doesn’t even want to apprentice here anyway, not after all of this, but he’s running out of tattoo parlors to apply to in town. He’s not against driving out to the next town over because he has a reliable source of transportation, but driving all the way out after his classes is something he’d rather not have to do.

Azriel sets his jaw. He’s more than ready to pack his things and leave, maybe swing a fist at the fucker on his way out. He had been ready to go when the second comment out of this shithead's mouth was, “Taking cleanliness to a whole new level there, ey kid?” In response to his gloved hands. He’s glad he’d worn them, because he knows if he hadn’t, it would’ve been something much more insulting spewing from his lips instead.

He’s had better interviews with the same result. The fact that he keeps putting himself through this shows his determination, but Azriel would be lying if he said that the plethora of no’s he receives wasn’t disheartening. He feels like he’s come a long way since his accident, when he’d essentially had to relearn how to hold his pencils, charcoal sticks, and tattoo gun.

All of that pride he felt is slowly deteriorating like an ages old painting.

“I think you’re very talented with your sketches, but it’s not translating into your tattoos,” the man starts, scratching his patchy beard. He sucks his teeth, but it doesn’t help get rid of the cluster of food jammed between them that Azriel has been talking to for the past forty minutes. Yeah, he really does not want to work here. Not only is this guy disgusting, he’s seen at least three violations the second he walked into the parlor alone.

Imagine if he had to put up with this shit everyday.

The man continues, because he doesn’t really know how to shut up. “Your lines are all jagged, and we can’t have that. I’d be happy to look at your work again next semester when you have a little more experience.”

No. Fucking. Thanks.

Azriel grinds his teeth because he doesn’t know what else to do. How many times has he heard this line before? He knows, Mother help him he fucking knows that his lines aren’t the straightest, but he’s come a long way, and his more recent tattoos aren’t suffering because of it. 

Why won’t anyone just give him a fucking chance?

“I understand,” Azriel nods, and it takes a lot more effort to keep his tone neutral when he replies.

He’s thankful that the guy can’t see how white-knuckled his fists are under the table.

“What made you want to get into tattooing, anyway?” The man flips his portfolio shut with a harsh snap. The way he says it makes Azriel feel like he’s about to be told that he should find a backup plan. He has one already, but this fucker doesn’t need to know that.

Who does this guy think he is anyway? He has a bleeding clock and a lion head on his arm for fucks sake. It even has a mechanical eye. And he’s sure that if he lifts the sleeves of his cut off flannel, he’ll be showing a plethora of gears forever marked onto his pale skin, too.

“Every tattoo has a story,” Azriel answers, because it’s something he believes with his whole heart, and maybe, just maybe, this fucker can relate to that.

The idiot has the audacity to cock his head, questioningly. “Is that so?”

“The one’s I get do,” Azriel responds stiffly, and he hopes that this interview is over because he can’t bear to sit here a moment longer. What’s with all of the follow up questions? He’s already said no, so why the fuck is he still interrogating him?

Azriel is being looked at like he’s some dumb college kid with no idea what he wants to do with his life, and he fucking hates that. He knows exactly what he wants to do once he graduates, and that’s to be a tattoo artist, hence trying to find an apprenticeship at a local shop. Right now, he’s starting to wonder if all of the shop owners have meetings together where they talk about the kid in black gloves and tell each other not to hire him. 

Either way, he’s beyond fucking annoyed.

“Well, I appreciate you taking the time to meet with me,” Azriel says, gathering his things. The guy looks at his gloved hands again and he knows that the question is on the tip of his tongue so he hurries, shoving his portfolio into his bag and standing from his chair. 

“No problem kid. Like I said, work on it and maybe next semester—” 

“Right,” Azriel forces a smile like he’s never had to before. It feels like cutting steel, and he’s sure it looks more threatening than genuine. “Thanks.”

He dips out of the shop before the fucker can ask anymore questions.

He’s glad he didn’t even care to remember his name.

⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅

The wind against his body and the rumble of his motorcycle makes things slightly better.

Azriel tries to let the interview roll off of his shoulders with the current pressing against his body, but it just isn’t happening. 

Usually, he enjoys the ride. The way taking the curves a little too fast makes his heart stutter in a rapid pace, the smooth asphalt beneath his wheels wiping his worries away, but there’s something about tonight that has him feeling like he’d rather just put on some music, wallow in his bed, and work on his sketches.

He’ll show that fucker.

It had gone shittier than all of the other interviews he’s had. Four, to be specific. Four interviews, where three of them had mentioned his shaky linework, two of them had told him to come back next semester, and one had been conducted by a total fucking idiot.

His hands are shaking now, memories of the accident dredged up from the way the last interviewer was staring at him. He can still feel his beady gaze on his hands, like he was some fucking specimen to be examined under a microscope. Maybe if Azriel had peeled back the latex and showed him the damage of his scars, the guy would’ve left him the fuck alone.

He knows that that’s not how it would’ve gone, though. Guys like him always ask more questions, and Azriel does not want to repeat that story to someone like that.

His gloves are still on, clenched tightly around his handlebars. He can’t ride like this, needs to stop, but he’s two blocks from his apartment now and he just wants to be home.

The fact that he can still feel the phantom touch of your body pressed up close to him every time he rides his bike now helps distract him. It subconsciously eases the trembling in his hands, and Azriel relaxes only slightly. He still doesn’t like you, but the way your thighs had pressed so firmly around his body had felt like being completely doused in warmth. He hadn’t even needed his jacket while the cold rain pounded down on the both of you, because with your chest pressed tightly against his back, your hands around his waist, he was nearly sweating.

He wonders if you had felt the same. Like there was lightning zipping up your rigid spine. If your heart was thundering as loudly as his. If you just wanted to keep going like he did, pass the town up and go on to the next—

Azriel nearly passes the apartment building whilst he’s distracted. Cassian’s big, beat up bronco is a red flag waving at him from its usual spot in front of the building. Literally, the crimson rust bucket is an eyesore, and he’s surprised they haven’t gotten any complaints from the landlord about it bringing the value of the building down.

He jerks to a stop and backs his motorcycle up in front of the truck. Always parking in the closest to the corner, Cassian had said, so that no one can block him in. Azriel hadn’t known if it had been a slight jab from when he’d trapped your and Feyre’s moving truck in on your first day here, but he’d laughed nonetheless.

There are people wandering in and out of the building. Giggling groups of girls and guys carrying racks of beers on their shoulders, hooting and hollering, eye-fucking the girls in their short skirts as they wait for the elevator. There’s parties up and down the building all weekend, and Azriel prays that for once, Cassian has decided to wander down a few floors to find a fuck instead of hosting another party.

His prayers are not answered.

When Azriel shoves through the stairwell out onto the fourth floor, the music hits him like a fucking truck. It’s bass-heavy, blaring down the hall like a goddamn rave. Internally, he groans, shoving his way through the people loitering in the hall, ignoring the more than interested looks he receives from a group of girls, staring him down like a pack of hungry hyenas.

Fuck, he really doesn’t want to deal with this right now.

It’s late enough that the pregame should be finishing soon, but knowing Cassian, it’s only just beginning.

Azriel had stopped off at the local diner for something sweet to take his mind off of the awful interview. It hadn’t helped his shakiness at all, the anger coursing through his veins, not even when his favorite waitress Rita had brought him a small fry on the house and put an extra cherry on top of his shake, then proceeded to sit with him for a bit to check in.

He loves Rita. He, Cassian, and Rhysand used to frequent the diner often during freshman year, when they had no transportation and were broke art students. Rita had always taken care of them, but now, the tradition seems to have dwelled as they’ve gotten older and are able to attend bars and have the money for restaurants that don’t only serve smash burgers and shakes. 

Azriel’s pretty sure he’s the only one that still visits out of the three.

His apartment is packed to the brim. He can smell the alcohol and sweat in the air, the stench of it makes his nose scrunch. He could use a fucking drink right now, he thinks, but he doesn’t do it often because it only makes his hands shake more and that’s the last thing he needs right now.

Upon first glance he doesn’t see either of his roommates, and then Cassian is barrelling through the crowd as if he has a sixth sense for knowing when Azriel enters a room.

“Hey, man,” Cassian grins wildly, throwing his arm around his shoulder. The drink in his cup sloshes precariously close to the rim of his glass, and Azriel grimaces. His roommates eyes are blurry with drink, and he’s swaying a bit, leaning his body weight against him. Hopefully, he hasn’t tripped and crushed anyone with his sheer size, because it wouldn’t bode well for the person trapped beneath the behemoth. “Are you setting up tonight? There’s these two chicks that want to get tatted up. Underboob.” Cassian waggles his eyebrows and grins like he’s just caught a glimpse of heaven. “Matching.”

“Not in the mood,” Azriel grunts, pushing past his roommate. He hates every second of shoving through this crowd, bodies plastered against his own like the ink on his arms. He wonders if the loud music is bothering you on the other side of the thin wall, and then he shoves that thought straight from his mind because he doesn't care.

He does care that it’s bothering him, though.

Azriel digs his keys from his pocket. The lock on his door was added after their first party and he’d found a couple right about about to fuck on his bed.

He’s the only one that gets to do that, even if he hasn’t touched another girl in months. He’s been too much of a surly bastard to even want to pursue a girl, and he knows they wouldn’t want him touching them with his fucked up hands, despite the glowing eyes feeding off of his appearance in the hall. 

Someone bumps into him and he nearly smacks his head into the door. Azriel chokes back the growl threatening to crawl from his throat, and decides against whirling around to bark at whoever’s run into him. His grip on the knob tightens.

There’s a soft light emitting from his room when he opens the door, the lamp beside his bed glowing. Azriel releases an exasperated huff, trying to ease the tension in his shoulders, but it skyrockets when he notices the lump tucked tightly into his covers.

It’s you, and you’re in his bed.

Two thoughts pass through his mind so quickly he can hardly discern one from the other.

One, what the fuck are you doing in his bed?

And two, who the fuck let you in his room?

Okay, so the second question is easier to answer than the first. It’s obvious that Cassian must have let you into his room, because he’s pretty sure the fucker had made a copy of the key the second day he’d put the lock on his door. Azriel hadn’t let him in when he’d been trying to get him to smell four different colognes he got as samples in a magazine, so his roommate took it into his own hands to make sure Azriel could never be in his room in peace.

The first question, however, makes no sense. You live right next door for fucks sakes, so what the fuck are you doing here?

Azriel stares. He can’t help himself, he’s frozen in the doorway until Cassian’s belting voice complaining about the pop song that the playlist has switched to snaps him from his stupor. He ducks inside of his room, shoving the door shut behind him, and flicking the lock.

He doesn’t know what the fuck he’s doing. 

He’s staring at your sleeping form like you’re only pretending to sleep, armed with a weapon and hoping he comes closer. You’ll pop out at him and scare the shit out of him and then Rhys will fall out of the closet laughing and Cassian will burst through the door, falling to his knees in hysterics.

But you’re not moving. You’re curled up on your side, and a metal mixing bowl sits on the table next to his bed, the small stack of books that is normally stacked there spilled haphazardly, one face down on the floor. 

There’s a glass of water next to the bowl, and Azriel doesn’t like that it sits so close to his books, despite it being only half full.

His bag falls from his shoulder and he slings it over the back of his desk chair, all while keeping his eyes pinned to your sleeping form. His dark sheets rise and fall shallowly with each breath you take, your lips parted slightly, unbothered by the intrusion and the loud music shaking the walls.

You must be used to it by now.

This is weird. This is so fucking weird that Azriel doesn’t even know what to do with himself but his feet move him closer to the bed against his better judgement. No, this is fucking beyond creepy now, with him looming over you like this, watching you sleep.

His fingers itch and he rips the gloves off of his hands, tossing the latex into the trash by his desk. His fingers flex, and Azriel gulps down a fresh breath of air now that his sweating hands can breathe. 

Doing so doesn’t stop that feeling, though. The one where he wants to feel that familiar pencil in his hand, charcoal coating his fingers. There’s a blooming in his mind, inspiration swiping the foulness of his interview away. He need to grab his sketchbook and flip it to a clean page and start drawing the curve of your—

No. He scolds himself, shaking his head furiously and backing away. He trips over your shoes, discarded in a pile on the floor, but he doesn’t eat shit. Maybe if he did it would help clear his mind from this. The way your presence has painted over his tainted night, when he should be more angry to see you occupying his space, but instead, he feels more intrigued.

Fuck. He shouldn’t be looking at the way his sheet is draped across your body. You’re still clothed, and Azriel is more than thankful for that. He shouldn’t be admiring your quiet, peaceful side, not when he’s so used to seeing that crease between your brows and frown tugging your lips whenever he’s around. He shouldn’t be brushing the strand of hair falling across your face behind your ear—

Azriel jerks his hand away from you. He hadn’t realized that he’d moved closer, had been leaning in like what? Like he was going to caress that smooth skin of yours? No, that’s not happening. Now or ever.

He bolts from his room, but not before making sure he locks it behind him. He feels frantic again, like his skin is stretched too tight over his bones. He needs to find Rhys because the music is making his head spin and he’s so, so close to spiraling right now.

Stumbling through the living room to the other side of the apartment, Azriel reaches Rhysand’s door. He hopes it’s unlocked, because being alone right now sounds even better than having to be around anyone right now. 

It’s fucking locked.

Azriel pounds on the door. There’s an urgency to it that Rhysand must hear, because he’s cracking the door open a bit and Azriel is met with his glowing violet eyes and naked chest. 

“What’s up Az? I’m a little…busy at the moment.”

He doesn’t need to peek over his shoulder to know that Feyre’s waiting for him in his bed right now.

“I, ah—nothing man. It’s nothing,” he mumbles, turning away from the door. None of his questions are being answered. If everyone's over here, why is no one at your apartment? Why aren’t you in your own bed? “What the fuck,” he grumbles, scanning the crowd of gyrating bodies in the middle of his living room.

He spots Cassian somewhere near the middle, a group of girls rubbing their bodies up against his. They’re so close together they look like a pack of sardines, and Cassian is their king. He’s laughing, making suggestive eyes at at least three of them.

Sometimes, Azriel wishes he was that carefree. 

With nothing else to do, he makes his way to the kitchen. 

He needs a fucking drink.

⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅

Midnight Muse Taglist: @going-through-shit @honeycriess @natashachelsea @thisisew @kennedy-brooke @cat-or-kitten @sourapplex @magical-mischief-makers @reiincarnatiion @ccucumbers @secret-ly-here @throneofsmut @cami26cami @torchbearerkyle @a-frog-with-a-laptop @sevikas-whore @endless-worldss @vellichor01 @bangtans-jagiya @kalulakunundrum @pinksmellslikelove @sakurafrost3-blog @imxnotxhere @bookishbroadwaybish @justdreamstars @i-am-infinite @whichwitchisthebitch @i-am-a-lost-girl16 @sia-r

[rongzhi]

Hi! Love your TikTok translations, they help me learn so much. Sorry if you've answered this before already, but as a language student myself, I was just curious about how you got so good at Chinese - is it a native language for you, or what's your background in using/studying it? Thank you!

I think I answered this a long time ago (like 2021 maybe) so I will just tell it again. It's kind of a longwinded boring post that's very self-centric (😬) and also probably not going to have any helpful advice to the average language learner, so I'm going to put it under a read more!

Background

My family is Chinese so it's my heritage language. I did learn it before English as a baby but then forgot a lot of it. My parents speak Chinese at home but I always replied in English growing up. Part of this is because I have a twin sibling and because we spoke English at school, we also started speaking English to each other at home.

We went to Chinese school on Sundays growing up (this is like a community/cultural school; it included other courses like math, Chinese dance, art, pre-SATs (lol), etc, depending on who in the community was available to teach), but I didn't really pay attention so my Chinese was pretty shit for a long time—like broken conversational level shitty, although I have always had a strong comprehension ability. My dad's side is from Sichuan so I grew up understanding a bit of Sichuanese.

The beginning of my "studying"

I don't actually have much of a background studying Chinese in a formal setting. I took Chinese 101-103 in college as part of a language requirement (specifically chose to start with 101 so I could relearn basics, even though my teachers kept offering to place me in higher levels). I really credit my Chinese 101 prof who was also the college's calligraphy teacher for making us focus on brush stroke order and recognising characters and understanding semantic components, which is something other profs did not emphasise (they were more focused on building conversational skills).

Anyway, that was only my freshman year of college because I ended up changing majors and not having a language requirement anymore (boo). I continued studying a bit of Chinese in the intervening years, but I am not a very disciplined person when it comes to self-study, so much of it was just translating song lyrics for my own amusement. During this time, I also started watching some cdramas, but mostly just Chinese web shows, which maybe helped? (I don't think I was watching enough for it to really make a difference).

Fast forward a couple years to 2020 and I started watching more cdramas during lockdowns, including watching 成化十四年 (The Sleuth of Ming Dynasty), which I was super invested in for about two years (this used to be a fandom blog lol). Basically, hyperfixation led me to rapidly improve my Chinese; I started translating a few behind-the-scenes videos for fandom friends. In order to keep up with Chinese fans and gain access to more material about the show, I started venturing onto Chinese sites such as weibo, bilibili, and eventually, douyin, which I downloaded around October of 2020 (so this was 6 months into my increased interest into Chinese things). At first, I translated a couple of douyins to share with fandom friends as I had done with behind-the-scenes materials, but for whatever reason I felt like some of the videos I wanted to translate would just be annoying to spam into the chat... I couldn't figure out a way to connect them to the blorbos, but I still wanted to translate them, so I started posting them here on tumblr. That's how my douyin translations started out. This was the height of covid-19 related sinophobia, too, so at some point I started realising how important it was to continue translating douyins, and that motivated me to continue even beyond it just being a fun thing to do. On that topic, it was through this blog that I realised how poorly understood China and Chinese people are, specifically on this site. I feel like that has changed a lot, or maybe that's just a comment on insular online spaces, but I have to think not; since I started translating douyins, I've seen a noticeable decrease in sinophobic comments and messages (not that I don't still get them, but it's lessened), and I think that's also thanks in great part to other blogs on here that were posting/have started to post more content from China to help increase exposure to tumblr users.

Improving

In any case, in the beginning, I did a lot of translations mostly by ear rather than reading captions because my Chinese reading wasn't that good.

It's kind of slowly improved with time and repetitive reading, and over the last three years now, I've also gone through periods of taking notes and actively seeking out some vocab lists or grammar explanations... but it usually comes in the process of trying to translate something. My motivations in "studying" (it's more like "figuring out") Chinese is largely based on the simple desire to know what people are talking about... what they're joking about... what they're ranting about and roasting. Related: I also started reading fanfics in Chinese about a year ago. Some fics have been easier to read than others, but some of the best ones I've read were also the ones that challenged me the most, and which I had to take a lot of notes on while reading. I'll admit! There have been times where I just took a fic and dumped that sucker in google translate and have it read the Chinese to me, so I could just listen to it like a podfic. But even so, I would take notes, because I think my improvements in Chinese are heavily connected to my Chinese literacy.

Reading douyin comments and forums on douban or comment sections on bilibili has been one of the main ways that I've picked up on common phrases and characters. I often write things down but I do so more as a muscle memory practice, because I have never really been the sort of person who reads back notes (this was also how I studied in school, iirc). Branching out and translating things that are written in formal or non-colloquial styles is also a way I challenge myself from time to time, and I do like to look up the etymology of Chinese characters from time to time because it helps me pick up patterns of semantics and phonetic hints when I'm reading (this makes it easier to guess what a character might mean or sound like, even if you've never seen it before). Overall, translation has been the great learning tool for me. I think maybe it comes down to learning styles? I have always learned better from trying to teach others, and I feel like translation works a similar muscle in the mind; translation is about figuring out ways to efficiently communicate a message, and in order to do so, you must be able to grasp the essence of what it is you're relaying.

All this said... And to try and return to your original ask after all my usual Wawa rambling... I actually don't think my Chinese is that good, lol. In fact, there's probably people who follow this blog who are studying Chinese in a more conventional and methodical manner whose Chinese is objectively much better than mine 🤷🏻‍♂️ I mean, if you crunch the numbers, I have really only be self-"studying" for three years. Three years of what is really just vibe-based learning. There's a lot of vocab I still don't know (I mean my English vocab is pretty limited too, sooo.... 😭), a lot of areas that I can still improve on, and am improving on, and try to improve on... when the mood strikes. Again, I am not a very disciplined self-study type.

Maybe this will give any other Chinese diaspora hope, though. I feel like it's never too late for us to start learning. There is probably a seed or language foundation within you already which will make it easier for you to start, and then after that, I think it sort of comes down to finding what interests you and will keep you motivated.

Most of the stuff I talk about on here when it comes to culture or folk art or what have you, I did not know even five years ago! I learned about it because I was interested to find out more. (That's another reason I have to laugh when I get some of the asks I do in my inbox... The stuff I don't answer is dumbfounding at times. You translate a couple of funny videos and people think you're some kind of Tripadvisor cultural ambassador guy! I swear...)

The "study" resources I use regularly are the following:

Pleco

Zh-En browser extension

Yellowbridge (usually to check brush stroke order, since I have Pleco)

Baidu etymology pages / Chinese etymology dictionaries such as hanziyuan

[meraxesmoon]

Would you do a platonic yandere young Aemond and Alicent, where the reader defends him from a lord that called him ugly and said “I think he’s pretty” and he was immediately attached to reader and Alicent seeing how happy reader makes Aemond obviously makes her stay as a ward (or prisoner)😄

warnings: yandere, unhealthy relationships, imprisonment, lil aemond having a crush awe, protective mommy alicent

┍━━━━━━━ ˗ˏˋ ꒰ ♡ ꒱ ˎˊ˗━━━━━━━┑

Little Aemond struggled as a young child in many ways. Before claiming Vhagar, he was a dragonless Targaryen, he was mercilessly bullied by his older brother and other children, and at that point in his life felt like no one other than his mother cared about him. This belief that Alicent was the only one to care for him increased tenfold the night he lost his eye.

In the show, we don't get to see what Aemond was like after losing his eye, we just immediately move past six years, but I think he would have developed this dependence on Alicent that was almost unhealthy. He has no one else in his circle other than his mother, and therefore, he is extremely close with Alicent.

I think, though, if he were to get some kind of friend after the incident, they would have to prove themselves to him. Aemond most definitely has trust issues, and just being nice to him isn't going to be enough because he'll automatically assume that they're trying to get something from him. I can't actually imagine some lord doing this because Alicent would most definitely have their head for saying something like that to Aemond, but if it did, Aemond would be so appreciative.

HE'D CRUSH ON THEM SO HARD, TOO!!!

Like, he's never been called pretty a day in his life, and he didn't think he'd like being called pretty, but he definitely did. I think Aemond would keep them around as a sort of therapeutic guide, too. After losing his eye, he had to relearn how to do many things, and he used that as an excuse to keep (Name) in Kings Landing.

I definitely agree that Alicent would catch on and keep his little crush in the Red Keep as a ward or something similar.

Alicent just wants her baby to be happy :(((

he was adorable. I wish we got more of tiny aemond

[fiveredlights]

I saw you mentioned you liked kid fic and had bookmarks— do you have any reccs for maxiel kid fics?❤️❤️

do i ever!!!! one thing about me is that i will eat kid fics up, like i think i’ve read about all the tagged kid fics in the maxiel tag. i love seeing what names authors choose for their children and it just makes me happy. here's a couple and if you want more lmk!

listen to the slow parts by @nobrakesdown [T-7.2k]

Neither Max or Daniel are the one to find the baby. That honor belongs to Christian, and Christian alone.

a lil you, a lil me, a perfect being by 3_33 (@maxcuntstappen) [G-4.8k]

The three of them stand outside, looking at the entrance, August in the middle, clutching tightly onto Max and Daniel’s hands.

“Okay, I need you both to repeat after me.”

“Daniel, we already did this in the car. Can we please just go in?” Max asks, desperately, which only confirms to Daniel the need to remind all of them of the ground rules.

“Baby, please. We need to remember, okay? We are here to meet some new friends and play with them. It is okay if we don’t meet anybody we like. We can always come again. There is no need for us to be upset. Yeah?”

“Yes, Daddy,” August says and drops his hand to give Daniel a mock salute and Daniel really didn’t know he could love someone so much.

“Max,” Daniel implores, knowing that it is as important that his husband acknowledges the plan as much as their kid.

“Yes, yes, Daniel, okay,” Max rolls his eyes but nods in agreement.

“Okay, let’s do this,” Daniel says. The three of them walk in through the doors.

Or: Daniel and Max visit an animal shelter for their son, August's fourth birthday. Daniel is apprehensive. Max and August are vibrating out of their skin.

That's Where I Am by @flawlessassholes [E-47.8k-6/8]

“Her name is Emily,” Daniel says softly. Max’s eyes snap down to the baby, still sleeping on Daniel’s chest. It’s—she’s snoring a little. In that snuffly way that babies snore. “Short for Emilian.” His eyes snap back to Daniel’s face, so serious, and Max knows it’s a joke, of course, but he still opens his mouth to say— Then Daniel’s face breaks into that wide grin, the real one, the one Max hasn’t seen since. Well. In a while. It feels at once so familiar, and also like seeing something rise from the dead.

There’s a month between Melbourne and Baku. A month to convince Daniel to return to racing. A month to learn and relearn how to love. A month for everything to feel right amidst a season that has felt nothing but wrong. A month to create a family, and a month to maybe lose it all.

keep me in the open by Aurelia (Lily_Rizzy) (@lilyrizzy) [E-11.7k]

"Chrissy Baker sounds like a cunt,” Daniel says, then cringes at the pointed look his mum shoots him. “What? It’s not like they’re old enough to repeat that yet.”

Grace laughs, the sound audible now over Livia’s cries, which are quickly fading into miserable whimpers. Of course, she behaves for grandma, and not the dad who dotes on her endlessly, feeds her, cuddles her, and wipes her smelly ass.

“Three words, Daniel,” she says, eyebrows raised. “Cash, money, bitches.”

or, Daniel navigates bed times, bath times and jealousy, while Max races his last season in Formula One

summer sun after the rain by gentleau [T-11.7k]

“Papà? Is Max your friend?” “He used to be.”

then you came by beforemidnight [G-4.5k]

Daniel looks at Max swiftly but pointedly. Smiling, he looks back at the camera. “Marrying him was the easiest decision of my life.”

(don't let) the days go by citydreaming (@thewindowatkirkland) [M-11.3k]

“Hey” Daniel says “thanks for coming over.”

“Is now a good time? If you are busy I can come back later.”

“Now is fine, she’s already asleep so we should be able to talk without being interrupted.”

“Talk about how you have a daughter.”

Daniel bites his lip nervously “yeah, about that.”

OR: single dad daniel returns to the grid for one final year with red bull, max doesn’t plan on falling in love with him and his daughter, but somehow it happens anyway.

[thisbuildinghasfeelings]

After a brief hiatus from fic recs, we are BACK!

To make up for what we've missed, this week we are going to be focusing on fic recs from the first SIX EPISODES of season 3:

3x01 The Big Chill, 3x02 Thin Ice, 3x03 Shock and Thaw, 3x04 Push, 3x05 Child Care, 3x06 The ATX Files.

Here are this week's prompts:

Ice storm arc!

The 126 separated

Marjan being a badass

PUSH--the coma, the wakeup, the "hey baby, breathe," the aftermath that the show didn't have time to give us so our wonderful fic writers had to craft it for themselves, etc.

Detective Carlos Reyes

Tommy coping with her husband's death

Judd becoming a father to Charlie/Judd becoming a father to Wyatt

Rules:

Every week there will be a different prompt, and everyone is encouraged to share a fic (or a few!) recommendation that meets the prompt and tag a few fic-reading friends. The game can be played all week, so no pressure to post right away. Please feel free to use the banner above, to make your own, or to not use one at all!

Finally, please use the tag ‘Rewatch Read-Along Week 17’ and at the end of the week @911lonestarrewatch will post the link to the tag for the comprehensive list of fic recs!

Thanks to @guardian-angle22 for the banner!

Here are my recs:

Chapter 2 of The Center of the Maze by @carlos-in-glasses

Obviously I highly recommend the entire fic, but Chapter 2 is the part that deals specifically with what we're focused on this week. A heartbroken Carlos sobbing on the side of the road...is there a sadder image?? 😭

Seven Ways (Back to You) by @welcometololaland

An amazing series made up of 7 fics that deal with TK and Carlos finding their way back together in far more depth than the show could have ever given us!

Half agony, half hope and Coming and going by @goodways

The first is a wonderful Push coda filled with yearning and love and sweetness and making up and MAKING UP 😏, while the second is a truly delightful fic occurring in the aftermath of TK's coma where, as Shannon so aptly puts it in the summary "TK and Carlos boink so hard that TK passes out." I couldn't choose between the two, so I'm reccing both!

all my blood for the sweetness of his laugh by @alrightbuckaroo

Carlos reflecting on what he missed about TK while they were apart and how much he likes TK's laugh. Carlos' joy at making TK laugh is always one of my favorite things!

My Family, More or Less by @lightningboltreader

Carlos coming home to TK and telling him about his eventful night helping Katie get reunited with her parents...with a little help from his father-in-law more or less!

Learning, relearning by @fallout-mars

A really beautiful little fic a few weeks post-coma, with TK and Carlos so in love and so happy to be back together.

Tagging some fic readers who might have recs to share:

@lemonlyman-dotcom @paperstorm @carlos-in-glasses @reyesstrand @strandnreyes

@vineofroses @bonheur-cafe @alrightbuckaroo @herefortarlos @im-overstimulated-and-im-sad

@heartstringsduet @liminalmemories21 @lightningboltreader @fangirl-paba @reyestrandd

@chicgeekgirl89 @firstprince-history-huh @noxsoulmate @ladytessa74 @sznofthesticks

@literateowl @nancygillianmvp @bonheur-cafe and OPEN TAG for anyone else who wants to share some fic recs!

[blessedarethebinarybreakers]

Do you have any advice for talking to people who aren't well-informed about what is going on in Gaza? One of my really close friends for over 10 years now has really conservative parents and she just :// she just kind of believes a lot of the conservative stuff they say and she hears others around her say. After the attacks of Oct. 7th, I think I remember her saying that the Bible says we should always stand with Israel which is just so :((

I want to inform her but I'm unsure of how to, and if it would even work. I'm scared of her response because I really love her and we've been so close for so long but I don't feel comfortable with her being so uninformed and I'm scared of her response. Do you have any advice and even pray for me to be given wisdom on how to handle this with care and love? Thank you ^^

Hey there! Thank you for your courage in even wanting to start a hard conversation with a friend about this vital topic. I'm going to offer some ideas, but ultimately you know this friend better than I could, so if something I say doesn't seem like it'll work with your situation, adapt or discard it.

I also invite others to add on ideas or encouragement. If you know of resources that are helpful for talking about Palestine with folks who are steeped in pro-Israel propaganda, please share!

___

Before delving into this topic with her, start by asking yourself what you're hoping she'll unlearn and relearn. What's a reasonable goal to move her towards?

Chances are, she's not going to move from unquestioning support of Israel to "Decolonize Palestine" in a day!

Moving her towards a simple agreement that at least some of the things Israel does cannot be supported is a good first step, and even that may take time and patience.

Prepare yourself to be happy about even the smallest baby steps in opening her perspective. "Ceasefire now!" may be the bare minimum in what is ultimately needed for true justice for Palestine, but it is an important step. If you can make progress towards her agreeing with a simple ceasefire, that's worth celebrating.

You'll also want to think in advance about where you're hoping her changed perspective will take her. Do you see her on the front lines of protests and marches? Or will you be satisfied if she makes some changes in where she spends her money (boycotting Starbucks, McDonalds, etc.), doesn't shut down pro-Palestine comments, etc.?

Again, being realistic and celebrating even small changes is helpful to keep from frustrating yourself or her!

So...how do you start a conversation that leads to that?

Wait for a time when you both are fairly relaxed, and have enough time that conversation won't be rushed.

Prepare yourself to hear some resistance and possibly even some really crappy things regurgitated when you first broach the subject. Do your best to remain calm, and not to jump straight into correcting every little thing she says — I know how hard that can be, but if you have hope that she'll be open to changing perspective, you want to establish yourself as a space where she feels safe enough to unpack the bullshit without being shut down at every turn.

For instance, in the scenario where she said "the Bible says we should always stand with Israel," responding immediately with "no it doesn't!!" would shut down conversation.

Instead, you might start with open-ended questions the two of you can explore together: "I wonder what the Bible means when it talks about Israel. Would the biblical authors recognize today's Israel as being the Israel they were talking about? / Is the Israel of today the same as the Israel of the Bible?" "What does it mean to you to 'stand with Israel'?" "Does that have to require sending them extreme military weapons?"

As you ask questions together, focus on finding common ground with her:

Does your friend agree that innocent people should be kept as safe as possible in military conflicts?

Does she agree that people of different faiths and cultures should be able to coexist?

I appreciate this post's advice on utilizing instead of challenging someone's deeply held values to guide them out from their rightwing radicalized views.

If your friend seems unwilling to talk about this...

It's okay to table the conversation if things start to get heated or she's shutting down. Let he know this topic is deeply meaningful to you and that's why you want to talk about it with her, as a friend who means a lot to you as well.

If there have been times in the past where she's realized what her family says about a topic has been anywhere from somewhat misinformed to utter bullshit, you might be able to remind her of that past time.

Do your best to make it clear that you are not judging her for what she currently believes — we can't help what we're raised in! You're just hopeful that, like in those past situations with other topics, the two of you can talk things out.

Did realizing that she didn't have all the information on a topic help in the past? Maybe remind her of that too, and invite her to team up together in finding the missing information on this topic as well — which leads me to...

Come with resources.

For exploring those open-ending questions I brought up before, it'll help for you to be pretty well informed in advance both about current events and recent history, and about how Christian theology's been used to advance Israel's agenda.

...Or, if you think your friend would prefer to learn along the way with you, it'll be good for you to at least know of resources the two of you can look at together!

You don't have to have all the answers; you can tell her, "I don't know enough either yet. I'd love to learn together with you." Framing it as something mutual, rather than you lecturing her or assigning her homework or judging her current ignorance, might cultivate that space for mutual growth that will benefit you both!

So here are some resources I recommend:

For questions about theology, including disconnecting biblical Israel from modern Israel, I highly recommend Decolonizing Palestine: The Land, the People, the Bible (2023) by Christian Palestinian theologian Mitri Raheb. If you don't have time for a whole book, I summarized the thing in an article that takes about 30 minutes to read. .

Another, less academic / more storytelling-formatted book that pulls in perspectives from Jews and Muslims, Palestinians and non-Palestinians, queer folk and more, that I find super valuable in summing up a lot of the fraught history and unpacking propaganda around Israel that so many of us have been taught to take as given, is A Land with a People: Palestinians and Jews Confront Zionism. .

Then there's keeping up with news using media outlets that don't sugarcoat Israel's violence. My personal favorite to listen to daily is Democracy Now!, which you can read/watch online or listen to as a podcast. A whole hour of news every day may be more than your friend can keep up with, however, so... .

...a briefer news option is @ So.informed on Instagram. Their posts sum up the big sweeping picture of what's going on, and help put it in context with accessible language. If your friend has Instagram, this could be a great source for her to start getting another perspective on what's going on. .

Similarly, @ letstalkpalestine is another Instagram account that explores history and current events in a succinct, accessible way.

One last thought: be ready to offer comfort.

It's hard to realize you've been misinformed about something important — especially when it's people close to you who've taught you what you thought was right. It takes a ton of courage and humility to realize where you need to change.

Your friend might become emotional about all this; that might look like grief, or rage, or even dissociating, feeling numb. Be ready to offer comfort, to remind her that what she thought was not her fault — that we're all steeped in things we have to work to unlearn, and you're proud of her for being open to learning.

And again I'll mention that if things start getting intense, it's okay to take a break! You don't want either of you burning out halfway through. You can take this process one small step per day, or even per week.

This struggle for liberation and justice is a long one — it's been decades unfolding, and it'll take a long while more. It's urgent, yes, but at the same time, rushing your friend won't aid the effort. Patience is much more likely to bear fruit that lasts.

___

I hope this helps somewhat! I'll be holding you and your friend in my prayers.

May the Spirit of Justice guide your words and actions; may She guard you from frustration; may she open your friend to hearing you out and entering into conversation with you. <3

[duckapus]

WarioWare(and Waluigi because It's My House) Headcanons

Because I can't stop making it That Deep.

Yoshi's Island DS is canon, specifically the bit of the ending where Baby Wario never actually gets delivered to his parents because he was more interested in stealing Baby Bowser's treasure. Due to that, he grew up in an orphanage after somebody found him on his raft full of gold.

Never actually got adopted because people can be shits and didn't want the weird-looking greedy superpowered fat kid who ate garlic like it was candy, but he's not particularly fussed about it. As far as he's concerned he had a great childhood.

That said it did result in him knowing a lot of other orphans who were significantly and understandably less content with their situations, which is why he's seemingly so drawn to kids with complicated home lives.

He's known Jimmy, 5-Volt and Waluigi (Walter at the time, he picked up "Waluigi" later in life) since they were kids. He met Jimmy their very first day of Kindergarten and never looked back, met Walter in third grade by protecting him from some bullies, and that same summer hired 5-Volt to help him and the guys with their lemonade stand, because He Has Always Been Like This.

Walter had an older sister named Gloria who was just as into science as their dad, and who often ended up supervising/getting dragged into him and his friends' antics

No idea who their mom might've been. Honestly given what Crygor's like he could have made them in his lab a 'la the Membrane family and I wouldn't be surprised.

Waluigi's actually just as ridiculously super-smart as the rest of his family, he just isn't interested in science at all. This, along with several other issues, drove a wedge between him and Crygor early on that slowly got worse as he grew up. He actually moved out and cut off most forms of communication as soon as he graduated high school because they could barely handle being in the same room without arguing by that point.

They didn't talk to each-other at all for a few years after that, until the horrible day they both got calls informing them Gloria and her husband had been in a car accident.

Baby Penny ended up staying with Crygor partly due to Walter's living situation not being entirely stable at the time, and they decided to at least try to relearn how to be around each-other so they could both be part of Penny's life (and because the whole thing had been a wake-up call for Crygor to how badly he'd messed up with Walter and he wanted at least some form of relationship with the kid he still had left)

Also, the Waluigi name and slightly exaggerated personality were mostly a Bit he did for shits and giggles at the first Mushroom Kingdom Tennis Tournament, but he ended up liking the nickname and the audience ate up the act, so he kept going with it afterwards. Crygor and Jimmy's parents are the only ones who still call him Walter in casual conversations anymore, which he doesn't mind since he still likes his real name even if he usually prefers Waluigi.

5-Volt's been dealing with her inexplicable demonic powers her whole life. Her parents have always been really worried about it and convinced it's some kind of horrible curse, meanwhile there's little 5-Volt happy as a clam because she's always got a Player Two.

The shadow thing is...sort-of her spirit but also sort-of its own entity? It's weird and she has trouble explaining it because this is just how it's always been for her.

Also, she does have some anger issues and violent tendencies that are made worse by the whole demonic transformation thing, but being friends with Wario for most of your life gives you a lot of practice at self-restraint

As she got older, she became more aware of how her parents felt about her abilities, their attempts to "cure" her of them, and how they seemed to grow more and more convinced that they were a danger to her and those around her.

This came to a head when they found out she was pregnant with 9-Volt and didn't react well, at which point she decided she was sick of them treating her like both an invalid and a monster and cut them out of her life.

Wario, the Crygors and the Thangs were actually there with her and her husband(who I need to come up with at some point) when 9-Volt was born, which I feel has to have been one of the wildest ways for Wario to meet one of his future employees.

No notes on Jimmy's childhood. We have met his parents and they're freaking awesome.

Since he obviously doesn't remember the events of Yoshi's Island DS since he was a literal baby at the time, the first time Wario met Mario actually was Super Mario Land 2, though he's obviously heard of the guy beforehand. After that and a few other encounters he ended up invited to a Kart racing tournament and that was that.

The first time he met Ashley and Red was during an adventure in his "living in a castle in the woods" era. They were going after the same cursed artifact (Ashley to keep it out of the wrong hands and Wario because in his words "Cursed treasure's the best kind! nothing like a little danger to get the blood pumping"). They probably would've ended that adventure as rivals or even enemies, but the artifact turned out to be a "sentient and wants to kill you with lasers" kind of cursed and Wario took a nasty hit for her and smashed the thing.

At some point he decided that living alone in a huge castle full of treasure with only a pet chicken for company sucked, actually, and packed up to move back to his old hometown, Diamond City.

That's actually how he met Dribble and Spitz. He'd taken a Warp Pipe to the city instead of his car or bike when he was looking at houses for sale because he'd forgotten how big the place was, so after spending half the day pounding pavement with no luck he hailed a cab and got theirs. He wasn't having any more luck than before thanks to his high standards(because his previous house was a freaking castle, sue him) and comically small budget (Wario is Wario, after all), but the company was good and there was far less walking so he was far less miserable than before.

He did end up picking a house that day...because the cab broke down in front of a miserable little abandoned shack on a hill at the edge of town and he basically went "Fuck it! I guess I live here now!"

Mona knew about Wario and was his biggest fan before she met him, seeing as even back than he was sort of a celebrity, but they didn't actually meet until a few weeks after he moved into town, when he and Orbulon, both disheveled and covered in soot and scorch marks from a first encounter they have never and will never elaborate on, walked into the Gelateria and placed the two worst ice-cream orders known to man, which I will not actually come up with for the sake of our stomachs. She was the only one in the room not horrified or even phased by these proceedings, and the three have been friends ever since.

He met Kat and Ana through 9-Volt, who became friends with them during recess their first day of school.

Most of the crew that he met after Mega Microgame$ were just introduced to him through his other friends(or we've outright seen it happen like with Lulu), but Young Cricket and Master Mantis he actually met while helping Mario with one of his own off-screen adventures.

Wario's actually pretty rich thanks to his treasure hunting, his fame, and the fact that he literally owns a Gold Mine and a Ski Resort! All the references to him allegedly being broke all the time are mostly just part of the skits for the games, like the ones for everyone else's levels. That said, his house really is as messed up as it looks, but that's just because he's stingy and a slob.

18-Volt really is the same age as 9-Volt. His unusual size is partially because he's originally from New Donk City.

Wario does, in fact, still have his pet chicken. I have not thought of a name for her

(Edit: I have been informed by @plushietoon that the chicken is canonically named Hen. Which is adorable and hilariously on-brand for Wario)

[euphoniouspandemonium]

Cotton Mendings — a WIP intro by yours truly

finally doing a proper introduction yayy!! who would have foreseen this .

stage: drafting (rip it's been so long and it's going soo slow)

tags: #wip: cotton mendings ; #aes: cotton mendings

genres: historical fiction, literary fiction

themes and tropes: idealisation and romanticisation of people, queer love and toxic queer relationships, friends to lovers, tenderness and love for the world, hope, grief, obsession, mythological and religious imagery, breaking out of other people's perceptions of you, relearning gentleness after having it beaten out of you, being loved as being known

warnings: emotional abuse and implied/mentioned physical abuse, character death and mentioned animal death, period-typical homophobia & transphobia (will add on)

pov: 3rd person past tense

setting: 1920s England

summary: Oscar ignites a relationship with an old friend – charismatic socialite Salvatore – whom he has had repressed love for for years. But despite everything their relationship is haunted by the death of Oscar's brother and a portrait simply called Percy, made by a German artist: a portrait of a red haired man who appears perfect and soft and yet incredibly, beautifully tragic. It makes Oscar question Salvatore and their relationship and wonder about the life and seemingly inherent sorrow of the subject, while Salvatore grows ever more enticed by ruthless, enigmatic Yvonne. Their separate obsessions grow and push them apart, while at the center of everything is Percy, devastatingly alive and spiteful, trapped in a narrative he did not create. Who is Percy, who is Salvatore, who is Oscar in rotation to them? Does he want to know at all?

characters, notes, excerpt & taglist under the cut <33

characters:

Oscar (he/him, bi): world's #1 most pathetic sad boy. romanticises everything to the point of self destruction. scared of acting on his desires but full of soooo much love. obsessive, incredibly sensitive, artistic, melancholy. also sooo autism.

Salvatore (he/him, bi): charismatic, intelligent, flamboyant, philosophical, hedonistic. he sees everything in a very realistic and nihilistic way. emotionally detached yet surprisingly protective and gentle with the people he loves.

Percy (he/him, bi, trans): babyboy !! baby!!!!!!!! full of so much life and love and poetry. he is very sweet and sarcastic and loves going on little adventures. mentally ill & physically disabled. he's suffered more than jesus but his wonder and whimsy are unmatched.

Yvonne (she/her, bi): hot evil woman❤️ ruthless, vicious and cold. her love is almost violent and repugnant. she only cares about few people but if they are in danger she knows no morality or law. also she's mischievous like a little cat <3

notes: Cotton Mendings is my passion project, my Magnum Opus, my baby. I have worked very hard on it and I've developed the character dynamics and symbolism sooooo much I could talk about them for hours. It all started with the song Angie by The Rolling Stones, but it has strayed very far from its original concept (actually Angie isn't even on the playlist — it is now completely a product of my obsession with The Smiths I'm afraid). It has helped me through so much and I will be very happy if people like it :] I love my horrible insane bisexuals. Why is everyone bisexual, you ask? well. I ❤️ bisexuals.

excerpt:

He thought again of Percy, of the way he glowed as if coated in honey and sunlight, the sweet smile on his face. What if Percy had spent his life failing at it, too? Trying to be the perfect picture of a beautiful boy. Turning hazy and translucent, like a ghost, from trying. And those few minutes with him, how the light extended and held Oscar too, how Percy was perfect and beautiful but couldn't possibly be only that. How they were both an image without a body.

(general) taglist: @ribelleribelle @talesofsorrowandofruin @writing-is-a-martial-art @alexwritesfiction @aether-wasteland-s @sculpture-in-a-period-drama @phantomnations @olimpias (ask to be added or removed)

[jovenshires]

hi katie jovenshires im a big fan. if ur ok with sharing, what ships are in the botb au and what are the vibes for each 👀

thank you so much!! <3<3<3

hmm i've been thinking about this and i think i'm only deadset on spommy, ianthony, kolivia, and amangela as far as like. my canon goes. not sure what if any other ships im gonna include... ive gone back and forth with shaymien and shaynse too but not sure!!

but, i will say, for the most part the edits are mostly left up to interpretation so you can all decide whatever ships you want really!! (or if you don't want any ships at all that's cool too <3) like i've said to me the botbau is a little collaborative barbie world that we can all make whatever we want out of. like i told someone the other day - if you wanna write a fic or make an edit or something for this and it doesn't exactly line up with what i might write or think ab the au... PLEASE go for it. it is out there, public domain now, do with it what you will. and i will love and eat it up no matter what!!

as for the vibes in MY head, i will throw them under the cut so this post doesn't get too long KFNLKNKFNF

spommy: i've covered this a little before here so if you want the full version check that out but BASICALLY spommy is kind of rivals-to-friends-to-lovers except tommy has an Extremely one-sided beef and spencer just thinks he's cool and wants to be buds. eventually spencer wins him over and then... uh oh! love! once again skimmin some details that, if i ever Write A Fic for it, will be spoilers. but that’s the idea you know

ianthony: taking this directly from my dms to lilac but basically. ianthony botbau my beloveds....... to relearn how to co-pilot something with someone that should come so second-hand to you but you're both different people now but your feelings carry through anyway for who they were and are and will be........ yeah theyre everything to me. in a way it's a mirror to life/what actually happened to them with smosh (art imitates life) but the divorce era was even MORE famous because they're like a household name so it was a lot more pressure. idk yet if they were together beforehand and then broke up and now they're getting BACK together or if they had unresolved feelings they never dealt with and now they're struggling to reconcile them with their renewed friendship AND reunited band/the fame that comes from that... but either way they are Messy. im obsessed.

kolivia: kolivia in this au fascinates me because in my head keith is kind of known for being a player and fucking around but i think he stopped that Ages ago because. these two are basically dating. like they don't put a label on it and it's not public and i don't even know if THEY know how in love they are. but they live together. they sleep together "just to blow off steam" (come on now). they don't date other people. everyone can see it but them type beat. olivia's like "he's not my boyfriend" and then picks up the phone and is like "hi baby do you want chinese for dinner" NDLFKNANKSFLN like they are exclusive and they have deep feelings for each other but they are both so deeply in denial that they swear they're not dating. they have realistically been in a relationship for like five years.

amangela: RIVALS TO LOVERS AGAINNNN i have talked about this one a Lot with baflegacy bc like. they are my roman empire. at least these two have met on multiple occasions and actually fought with each other - they keep meeting at gigs/in bars and bickering. angela "clearly abba is the best band ever" giarratana and amanda "WHAT about fleetwood mac you DUMB ASS" lehan-canto. like they meet a bunch and EVERY time they end up bickering. meanwhile angela keeps seeing thirst traps of amanda on tiktok and being like "why are all the lesbians obsessed with her she SUCKS" and chanse and arasha, who have heard this three million times, are like "yeah okay buddy whatever helps you sleep at night." meanwhile amanda is living her bliss <3 and then they realize they're both in battle of the bands and uh oh! things come to a head!

[sammysmaddy]

Normal (Winchesters x Reader) - Teaser

Summary: Growing up as the baby of the Winchester family led you to be constantly guarded. Soon enough, you start to learn what's normal between families and what's not.

Pairing(s): John x Daughter!Reader, Dean x Sister!Reader, Sam x Sister!Reader

Warning(s): This story contains dub-con, use of drugs (otherwise alcohol), incest, and lots and lots of manipulation. The reader in this story is a victim of all four, starting off with manipulation. Please do not read if any of the above makes you feel uncomfortable.

W/C: 1.8k+

A/N: Little teaser/background

Normal Masterlist

Masterlist

Growing up as a Winchester was definitely an experience. Sammy was your twin, no matter how different you guys looked- it was DNA, and science didn't lie. As the baby of the family and everybody's prized possession, you were heavily guarded. 

You weren't allowed to hunt or go places without your father or your brothers, but a part of you didn't mind. They were all you knew and you were okay with that. You were taught to be okay with that. You didn't know that you shouldn't be okay with that. 

School was out of the question too. After being passed around from school to school, John decided that you were too smart. Too smart for his liking, because he knew that if you stayed it would eventually ruin your innocence- he hated the idea that you might want to leave one day. 

John couldn't bear the thought of his little girl figuring out that there was a life outside of family, so he went out of his way to make sure you knew that family was all you'd ever have. He knew you didn't know any better, and school would ruin how naive and willing you were. 

John didn't think it was useful anymore either, because at every school you went to you would sit in a classroom for eight hours, relearning things that you already knew, you were wasting away. The only reason he allowed you to go for so long was because he didn't want you hunting, and if you weren't going to hunt then you were going to sit at the motel all day. When the time came around, he pulled the trigger on the whole school idea. 

Honestly, it was a relief. You liked school some of the time, but there wasn't a thing that they were going to teach you that you didn't already know. You would have much rather stayed at home and read books, and gain real-world knowledge. 

Learning about creatures that most believed to be fictional was much more entertaining than writing papers about books you had already read three times over. 

You wanted to stay at home with John too, you felt like you rarely got to see him. He was always on hunts and when he wasn't, you were in school desperately waiting for when the bell rang and you could go see him. 

Still, you wished you could be with Sam, he was your best friend and the only person who could read you, but it wasn't really your choice anymore. 

As for Sam, he fought the idea of going to school without you. He didn't understand why he was different than you. He didn't understand why John favored you over him. 

Sam was just as smart and he was a good hunter, if anything he should have been the one to be pulled out of school. You barely knew how to hold a gun and John went to extremes to make sure that you never had to learn. 

Overall, Sam was much more of an asset, so why did John choose you? Sam never understood. And with being the middle child, Sam always felt the least enamored- the least valuable. 

The only person who made him feel important was you, seemingly the only person who loved him no matter how differently he looked at the world. Sam didn't want you to turn on him, he didn't want you to look at him the way that Dean and John did. 

Dean was indifferent, he understood both John and Sam, but he only kept his best interests in mind. Often, Dean would skip out on school, whether it was for girls or to go on hunts with John, so he didn't see school as a necessity. 

But Dean also knew where Sam was coming from. You were his sister, his twin, Dean knew that Sam could barely spend an hour apart from you- much less an entire school day. Even if he cared for Sam's side more, Dean knew there was no point in putting up a fight. John called the shots- even when he was away on a hunt. 

However, Dean didn't care for Sam's side more. Much like John, he saw your potential, he saw how smart you were and he wanted to do as much as he could to protect you. His views about keeping you out of school were much different than John's. 

Dean didn't even know the real reason behind John's decision or how twisted it was, he didn't care if you knew that there was a real life out there, but he also didn't mind being able to keep you away from all of the evil that the world possessed. 

Plus, you could help research while they were on hunts. Dean figured it was a win-win, surely you didn't like school anyway.

So, for most of your days, you sat in the motel. Occasionally, you got the pleasure of a new book to read. You wrote down notes about creatures and helped John with his notebook, filling in blanks and correcting everything that he thought he knew. 

When it came down to it, you were the most prepared for anything because you knew exactly what to do if you were ever in a tricky situation with the supernatural. But deep down, you knew you would never get the opportunity to. 

Sure, it made you frustrated- all you wanted to do was help, but everyone, even Sam, insisted that you stayed home when everyone else went hunting. 

The days got lonely from being alone, sometimes you wished you were at school with Sammy and sometimes you wished you were hunting with John and Dean, but all you got to do was stay sheltered. 

By the time senior year came around, you were allowed some freedoms- freedoms you didn't even know were possible. Who would have thought that people had gatherings with their 'friends'? Those were called parties. 

Thanks to Sam and Dean, finding it odd how John never let you leave, you were allowed to go out. Of course, you had to go with one of the three Winchesters, but it still beat sitting in a motel room all alone. 

Dean brought out your rebellious side, which John wasn't too pleased about, teaching you several things like how to drink beer correctly and not get sick- as if it were a lesson. 

Sam taught you things too. He taught you that you could have an opinion, you didn't always have to listen to what everybody said or told you to do, and he always encouraged you to be your own person. 

John didn't like that either. In his mind, he wanted you to stay his baby forever. 

Rebellions would lead to chaos. Having your own opinion would lead to chaos. John wanted none of the above. 

John wanted you safe, he wanted you to be a good little soldier much like Dean was- just in a very different way. He wanted you to do as you were told and to be happy with doing so. He wanted for you to stay at home, wherever that was so that you were safe from all of the outside troubles. 

And most importantly, John wanted you to trust him with your life. And you did. He was your father and he was never wrong about anything in your eyes. He had programmed you that way. 

So, you did as you were told and you never questioned anything, because why would he ever do anything that might hurt you?

•••

Dean's POV (Ch. 4)

Dean was a mixture of angry and confused but above all that, he was scared. Sam hadn't said anything about catching Dean kissing his baby sister and Dean wasn't sure if he wanted that conversation to occur or not. 

Dean wasn't sure if Sam would be upset or angry with him, and he wasn't sure if he wanted to figure that out. There was the possibility that maybe Sam thought that Dean had forced himself onto her, but Dean could deal with Sam. Dean, however, wasn't sure if he could handle the wrath of John if he ever found out.

Sam said he didn't care, he didn't even seem too fazed by the entire scene in general, but there was no telling how Sam actually felt. 

It could be that Sam said what he said only so that he could get Dean and Y/N to leave the party. Maybe Sam didn't actually mean it. Maybe he was bottling up his emotions, upset for Y/N, maybe he even wanted to kill Dean, but he was hard to read. 

Sam was always good at hiding his emotions, all except around Y/N, and nobody really knew how to get through to him. Dean didn't know if he should have left it up in the air, or if Sam was even worried about it in the first place, but Dean felt guilty and he had to stop the truth from reaching John.

John would kill Dean if he were the one to have caught him. Pressing Y/N against the wall, towering over her body, kissing her until his lips went numb, touching all parts of her body with his large hands. John would lose his cool, and Dean was absolutely sure of it. 

John would probably scold him for the rest of eternity, tell him how bad of a brother he was- say that he took advantage of her, and Dean couldn't afford anything but praise from John. 

Dean had always been the best under pressure, his reflexes were arguably even better than John's, he was the better investigator, the better everything when it came to hunting. That's the way that John had raised him. 

John wanted Dean to be like him. Be a hunter. Risk his life every day for the wellbeing of others. And Dean was exactly that. If John ever found out about what Sam saw, Dean was afraid that he would never be looked at the same again. 

But, what about John?  Where had John been for the past hour? Y/N wasn't home and she's the one who rode with him in the truck. 

Y/N was the one who accidentally told Dean, and although he didn't have much information, he knew that something was going on between the two of them. 

Was John hurting her? Did Y/N tell him about what Dean had done? Did she know that it wasn't normal to be with your father like that? It wasn't right and as much as Dean's perverted mind wanted for her to stay so innocently unaware, she needed to know the truth. 

That started with coming clean to Sam. 

•••

Next Part

•••

Tag List ❤️

@hobby27 @writethelifeyouwant @deeranger

[quietfounder]

I didn't want to do this because I already have one fanchild I created and don't really do anything with that I didn't want to make another one, but I did for shellshocked and I'm gonna make it everyone's problem.

If you all remember one of the AUs I talked about where Miles and Mikey were roommates, this would take place in that world.

Prepare yourselves for a bunch of incomplete ideas that are subject to change.

Okay to start off, this yokai mad scientist managed to steal DNA from Mikey and Miles (don't ask me how) in order to create an army of mutant super-soldiers with the abilities of the web-slinging hero and one of the most powerful mystic users for some reason. I specifically had it be a yokai to justify how they were able know of Mikey and steal his DNA. (I had the Dark Turtles from TMNT 2003 on my mind when thinking of the concept)

Once they get tipped off about what's happening, the two subdue the scientist and destroy any traces of their genetic material when they come across a baby clone already in development. They make the quick decision to free him from his containment and bring him back to their place.

**Unnecessary side note: The kid isn't a newborn. He's at least a few months old, old enough to be able to sit up on his own. I just wanted to clarify that.**

They wait at least a week before they introduce AJ (shellshocked kid) to their families.

They wanted to make sure he was okay and that he would be y'know stable, so they went to the Spider Society (in my opinion they owe Miles) to see if he was healthy and what abilities they could expect he would develop.

They also went to Draxum since he is like the go-to person for all things mystics.

Outside of all those people, Miles' parents are the first to meet AJ.

So officially, his full name is AJ Dario Hamato-Morales.

Originally, I wanted AJ to be short for Aaron Jefferson, but then I thought about it some more and liked the names Amari Jasper (or Jackson) better.

August was also considered a name because I thought it would be cute for his other nickname to be Auggie, but since I've seen August used as a name mainly for April's parents in fics I thought not to.

I guess I should talk about Mikey and Miles relationship. They're in their mid-20s and are roommates (in Brooklyn, NY), but they're also in this weird pre-dating stage where they're practically together but are (not so) oblivious to how they feel and act with each other. I'm just gonna say this all happens before they officially have a first date.

Now to get into my headcanons for AJ:

** Has a Mothra plushie.

** Looks human but possesses some of the traits of both a spider and turtle.

Able to wall-crawl. (Hadn't decided if he has spider-sense)

Able to secrete venom which can temporarily immobilize a person when bitten. Mikey and Miles are the only ones immune to it.

Gets a bit sluggish when really cold.

Does not have shell to retract into but instead bundles up in blankets or hoodies to feel safe.

** Was able to float a lot when younger. When older, has to relearn how to do that whenever he wants to.

** Has a Spider-Bot like the ones from the Disney Junior show Spidey and His Amazing Friends. Gifted one when he was 6 or 7 years old.

I want to say that Miles made the bot but had help from Lunella (yes I'm still on about that rottmntxmarvel crossover).

** Miles remained in contact with Miles 42/Miles G, so AJ knows him as "Uncle Milo."

[blueisquitetired]

For funzies may I present to you, the

Warden Ingo and His Brother AU

Okay, so here’s the pitch:

Ingo has been in Hisui for about 2-3 years now and has settled in okay. He’s still seen as an outsider and “unnerving”, but his skills with Pokémon and work as Lady Sneasler’s warden (she insisted) has earned him a begrudging respect among the clans. The hole in Ingo’s soul still pains him greatly, but he has learned to live with it.

And then Emmet falls into Hisui with no memory.

“But Blue!” I hear you cry. “Lots of people have already done that AU! This isn’t new at all!” But you are wrong! Most of those AUs focus on the twins being separated- a comedy of errors keeping them apart. Not THIS AU tho.

No, in this AU Ingo meets Emmet within days of him falling, (wether the Pearl Clan finds him or he he runs into him himself) and as soon as they lay eyes on each other (and this is important) they recognize each other immediately. Not by name, or even relationship, but that the other is the person they have been looking for- the most important person in the world. And then they hug and cry.

(Bonus points if the boys are a little facially blind and someone else has to point out to them that they look exactly the same)

Anyway, this is a soft AU about Ingo teaching his brother how to survive in this strange harsh world and rediscovering parts of himself that he had hidden away. (To make the fluff sweeter, this is a darker Hisui where everyone has scars and Ingo had to learn to mask) They love each other very much and work together well- easily falling back into being a two car train again. An AU about them finding happiness together in a harsh world 💙

Bonus thoughts!

- I think it would be interesting comparing how Emmet and Ingo react to having no memories. Like Ingo had to rebuild himself from the ground up while fighting loneliness and a feeling of otherness while Emmet falls with a support system already in place. As a result, Emmet cares a lot less about getting his memories back then Ingo does. He’s got his brother right here, and if his nightmares are anything to go off of, he doesn’t think he’ll like his more recent memories

- While Ingo had to learn to mask to survive, I don’t think he lets anyone give Emmet flack for his autistic traits. In exchange, Emmet helps Ingo learn to unmask in private or around friends (First time Emmet sees Ingo force a smile he’s like “??!!?! What are you doing!!??”)

Relearn you autistic stims through the power of love lol

- Ingo is also super self sacrificial in this AU. Like, he’s already covered in scars and has been through a lot of pain- but his baby brother hasn’t yet. He doesn’t want his twin getting hurt. (Emmet chews him out for babying him. Doesn’t stop Ingo from blocking his brother from Pokémon attacks though)

But yeah, thought it might be fun to share some AU stuff I have that I don’t plan to write fics for. Feel free to ask questions or add contributions to this post!

[cheesus-doodles]

What if reader somehow turned tiny? (Like the size of their hand) would mitsuyu make her little doll clothes? Would they tease her while she’s yelling at them in her high squeaky voice? Just assumed she mysteriously turned tiny

i'm back! sorry for the wait my fam, life's been a bit tougher than usual these few days with some nonsensical irl family drama - will be trying my best to answer some more asks this week! :)

Masterlist

‎

If you suddenly turned tiny, I think the first thing all the Toman boys would do is start to panic about your disappearance - imagine if it happened under the watch of just one of the boys, for example during your one-on-one time with Kazutora. Happens in a blink of an eye, this baby boy turns away to look at something, when he turns back, you vanished into thin air. Of course, of all the boys that this could happen to, it happens to the one that is the most prone to overreaction and meltdowns, and thats what precisely happens.

You really were hidden among your pile of clothes trying to figure out where you were and what just happened, but unknown to you, Kazutora is now in the midst of a breakdown and had already left the little cafe that you two had been at, running to find someone to help and at the same time trying to tell a extremely confused Baji and Draken on speaker that you had vanished into thin air through his sobbing and sniffling. Didn't even think to check where you had previously been seated like what Mikey did instantly upon his arrival - if not, he would have noticed the pile of clothes (with you still hidden inside).

Mitsuya absolutely would be delighted to be able to make tiny clothes for you - he probably already makes doll-sized clothes for his sister's dolls, and that's he definitely brings one suitable set along for you the moment he gets the call from Draken (will never tell you or anyone else, but Mitsuya's mind immediately jumped to you having nothing to wear and being naked around boys). And lucky for you, because you had to quickly dodge behind some cloth when your Toman friends finally found among what once were your clothes. Beats them back from trying to get you to come out so that you could have some privacy to put on some clothes - a very curious Mikey had to be pinned down by both Baji and Draken once they understood.

Everyone's pretty stumped as to what happened, and you can be sure for the first few days, the boys would have to relearn how carefully you would have to be handled. Kazutora nearly crushes and drowns you on the same day with how hard you were smushed against his cheek as he tried to stammer out an apology amidst his crying for leaving you alone, if not for Pah noticing your struggling and rescuing you from your predicament, letting you sit on his palm where they could easily see you.

Much to the dismay of the other five, much of your time would be initially spent with Mitsuya since this boy would be the one in charge of making new sets of clothes for you, though the rest start barging in to watch after a while like it was a mini fashion show. Mitsuya would use a mannequin the same size as you to make the clothes so that he wouldn't have to, you know, see you naked or touch you to fit the clothes. Would pass it to you from behind a tiny makeshift changing booth where you can try the clothes on and then he can see where to adjust it. All the boys have a certain style of clothes they like to see on you in particular, and they definitely will try to bully or bribe Mitsuya into making those types of clothes for you.

Needless to say, you were instantly banned from attending school while you were the size of their thumb, since its was just way too dangerous and risky for you. Would have one of their gang members go and collect your homework and intimidate your classmates (killing two birds with one stone). If you did insist on attending class anyway, your Toman friends would (very reluctantly) take turns to trudge to school and sit in their classes so that you can listen in from the safety of their propped-up books.

Different boys like giving you a ride in different ways. Sitting on their shoulders is a bit too dangerous for you in their opinion (given that they don't know whether you'll be able to hold on well enough to their clothes), and they rather not find out whether your delicate, tiny self would survive the fall from such a height. Kazutora and Mikey would like to keep you in view at all times just to make sure you are okay, but barring being able to let you ride on their palm the whole day, both these boys would be okay with letting you ride in their hair instead, since they would be able to feel you tug to know you hadn't fallen off. Mitsuya and Draken would much prefer their pockets, given you had a very minimal chance of falling out even if they got into a fight, plus you could easily hide yourself as needed. Pah and Baji would switch between whatever style they feel like on that day.

All the boys would lightly tease you about your squeaky voice (except Kazutora, he starts and then immediately backtracks because his heart is too soft when it comes to you), Mikey, Mitsuya and Draken in particular, given you have to raise your voice quite a bit for them to be able to hear you, but only until you start pouting. At least the same ice cream cone they buy you is now a hundred times bigger, though none of them would allow you to go diving or swimming in the cream, or even finish it yourself, your Toman friends happy to "help" eat finish what you can't.

None of the boys quite mind that you shrunk to be quite honest, since you were still you and it is so much easier for them to keep you safe, given they can just tuck you away into their pockets at the first sign of danger. But what they really mind was their serious lack of cuddles and that you can't cook for them at your current size - the absolute travesties. At least for cooking you could give various boys instructions and guide them along from the kitchen counter or from the tops of their heads, but cuddles? Banned indefinitely on a 4-2 vote, with only Kazutora and Mikey vehemently protesting their right to cuddle. You aren't even allowed to be on the pillow while they sleep (given how violent some of the boys are when they aren't actively being cuddled), instead being given a tiny doll bed set on the side table.

No doubt each of the Toman boys would keep trying to smuggle you away from each other in their pockets and bags, but ultimately, the boys do keep an extra eye out of you with your tiny size. Think you look especially cute and vulnerable, they would go out of their way to pluck small flowers for you and buy you miniature things, despite you insisting in that squeaky voice that you were fine and didn't need anything else.

[lgbthequarry]

Is it just me or does anybody else wish the Quarry kids got to keep their scars from that night?

Like my personal hc is that after the curse is broken, everyone has to walk away with some kind of scar--even the ones who turned--and most of them have some kind of side-effects or pains from their wounds.

Dylan is obvious, baby boy lost a hand. He has to relearn how to do certain things and the first year without his limb is shit cuz the phantom pains never seem to go away.

Laura's eye never regenerated and Max's bite mark stays on her arm. Max feels guilty for a while but Laura wears her scars with pride cuz it means they survived. And anytime someone asks her what happened she simply say's her dog did it. (She and Dylan dress up as pirates, three halloweens in a row, and yes they still think its funny).

Ryan ends up with a nasty gash along his side from the hunting knife. He can't breathe too deeply otherwise it hurts too much and he starts coughing. He's also got a crescent-shaped bite mark on his forearm from Laura but its small enough that most of his shirt sleeves just cover it.

Nick lost a chunk out of his thigh and ends up with a limp because of it. He has to take breaks if he walks around too much and ends up getting a cane to make it easier for him. He kind of hates it but appreciates Abi painting it to make it look cooler. More than anything though he hates the fact he can't skateboard/snowboard anymore.

Max and Abi have matching shoulder/neck scars from their bite marks and can't turn their heads a certain way for a time until physical therapy fixes that. They both also have bruised vertebrae that leads to some back problems--Abi from when Nick threw her, and Max when he was dragged back into the storm shelter after Laura pulled him out. (They can be boo-boo buddies!)

Jacob needs three surgeries to repair his busted ankle from when he stepped in the bear trap and continued running on it that night. He had to say goodbye to his football dreams but ended up becoming an athletic trainer cuz of it.

Emma's back gets torn up after making a run for the lodge and she ends up with an ugly burn on her hand from holding the fireworks to save herself. It takes a long time for her to be able to wear open-backed/revealing clothes. Sometimes her back will spasm and twinge from the memory of claws digging in.

Kaitlyn was the most unscathed out of the group. The worst she got out of the night was a severely bruised shotgun shoulder and few broken ribs when she jumped from the car. She knows she's extremely lucky thats all she got (though she thinks she would have looked pretty badass with a scar or two). She also gets extremely protective of her friends (especially Dylan) and has gotten into multiple fights with strangers who so much as looked at any of them and their scars funny-like.

[enemyoflactose]

I finished rewatching season 1 of Yu-Gi-Oh. My redemption arc is 1/5 complete. (I have to watch the dub because I don't wanna support Crunchyroll and I don't know where else to watch the sub)

My main thoughts are about voice acting since of all the arcs, Duelist Kingdom and Domino City side stories make me the least angry.

So to start off, a comparison between Dub and Sub acting and which voice I like more as of now.

Yami: His sub voice in season 1 is honestly so cute. He just sounds like he's having a constant blast.

His dub voice on the other hand, sounds so hot 🥵. And Dub Yami is what's keeping me from doing drugs.

Overall, I like both a lot. I do however think Dan just makes the character.

Little Yugi: similar thing as Yami, only his dub voice doesn't sound hot. Just cute. I love both voices and honestly can't pick between them.

Joey Wheeler: I like his dub voice more. That's where the personality is. His sub voice just sounds generic.

Tristan: For the first few episodes of the dub, Tristan has this really stupid voice that I just don't like, so for that alone I like his sub voice more.

But then from the Rex duel and onward it's Greg Abby, and then I like both his sub and dub voice.

Téa: I think I prefer her sub voice. Just a little less grating. (I still love you Téa)

Ryou: He sounds like Gachapoid in the sub 🥺. I love Gachapoid!

His british accent tho 😩

Yami Bakura: Gachapoid doesn't suit him unfortunately. I like his dub voice more.

Pegasus: stunning. Both of them. The performance is impeccable. But Dub Pegasus never said "Jesus Christ".

Seto Kaiba: a hard one. In the sub he screams so much, but in the dub he doesn't sound like he's one insult away from killing himself... I can't decide.

Mokuba: they both sound the same.

Mai: I think I prefer dub. Just sounds deeper idk.

Weevil: I love him and his voices.

Rex: I prefer his sub voice. Just less grating and he doesn't sound like he has bronchitis.

Everyone else: meh. Could go either way.

Now to talk about the characters, and if I relearned anything:

Téa's friendship speeches are so sweet and cheesey I can't believe people don't like them. She is always there for her friends and clearly cares so much. I will never forgive Téa bashers for what they did to her during the great Yaoi Revolution.

Joey isn't as stupid as I remember him being, just a beginner at Duel Monsters. Nothing wrong with that. He's trying. His utter determination to get that money for his sister's operation is seriously so heart warming. I love whenever he says "Time roulette go!"

Tristan threw a dead body at Satan. And grabbed Ryou's leg while climbing the tower because he was getting impatient.

Yugi being uncertain of Yami until the Bakura duel is crazy. Like he wasn't even having memory issues. Bro huh? He's also so supportive! Like baby boy was the one to suggest he and Yami fight PaniK for Mai. He told Yami not to attack Kaiba and send him falling to his death. He gave Joey Time Wizard! Yugi is a bro.

Yami is such a good friend. Helping Joey out with duels, got Mai her star chips back, freed both Mokuba and Kaiba's souls because Mokuba asked, tried getting pink shirt his star chips back, and never believing that Joey couldn't duel by himself.

Ryou was, certainly there. Honestly his impact doesn't really matter. He just explains Duel Monsters to Tristan and Téa whenever Yugi is dueling. His first appearance isn't even that impressive because instead of killing himself to save everyone like in the manga, Yami switches the places of Ryou and Yami Bakura. So even if he tries to help, someone else always helps way more.

Yami Bakura is so hot. I'd suck his dick if he asked. I also just love how his deck can not only do tarot readings, but is also really annoying to go up against. Like boy had 3 morphing jars, an electric lizard, a man eater bug, and change of heart. Those cards were fucking devastating back in the day. He also would have won that duel if he used Just Desserts one turn later, but oh well. Why did he lick the millennium eye tho? I get the tarot reading, but why did he lick the eye?

Mokuba. Oh sweet Mokuba. He just wants to help his brother, but he suffers so much.

Kaiba is awesome. He hacks into Industrial Illusions and causes a satellite to crash into an office. Killing people. He helps Yami win a duel. He rips a Blue Eyes. He annihilates with Crush Card Virus. My man uses Saggi the Dark Clown. His devotion to rescuing Mokuba is amazing and is really what has me start caring for him when I first watched the series 5 years ago. His comebacks and sheer distaste for the Yugi gang are fun and amazing to watch.

Pegasus, the star of season 1. He's in my top 5 favorite characters list. I absolutely love eccentric villains, especially when they love cartoons and are actually threatening. Pegasus is a beast. If we ignore his millennium eye for now, he's a fantastic and fun duelist! His deck is interesting and entertaining to watch, neither of his duels were boring, and the man is so funny. "Do I spin it like a top, or roll it like a ball!" I love him. He's also (so far) the only villain I feel genuine empathy towards. Y'all, I'm a sap. If a villain's reason is being evil because they lost their Significant other than I'm sorry I'm crying. My poor guy.

Grandpa: he trained Joey and Yugi, he gave Yugi his deck, he appeared in dream sequences to help Yugi beat his opponents, and he gave Yugi the puzzle. If this man didn't exist, Yu-Gi-Oh wouldn't happen.

Duke Devlin: I forgot how much I hated him when I first watched his dumbass Dungeon Dice Monster 4 episode showdown. He's so fucking mean.

Rebecca: not much to say other than I like her.

The duels:

Seto vs Yami (first duel of the series): a fantastic way to start off the series. Kaiba finds out Yugi's grandpa has the Blue Eyes White Dragon card he's been searching for, he steals it, rips it, and Yugi challenges him to a duel.

Yami takes control and is surprised by Kaiba's duel arena having the ability to make life-like holograms of the monsters on the cards.

The duel begins and for the entire thing, it's honestly pretty equal. Yami summons a monster, Kaiba destroys it. Kaiba summons a monster, Yami destroys it.

It's a back and forth kind of deal until Kaiba pulls out his own Blue Eyes White Dragon card, shocking Yami. He surprises Yami again by summoning another Blue Eyes, but then gets hit with swords of revealing light.

Kaiba summons Judge Man, and it gets Destroyed by the Dark Magician.

During this, Yugi is having his doubts about winning because of Kaiba's Blue Eyes and can't seem to draw cards. Especially when Kaiba summons his third Blue Eyes White Dragon and destroys the Dark Magician.

This leads into Yami and Yugi having an inter monologue with Grandpa about Exodia. How Exodia is split into pieces. Pieces like a puzzle.

Yami gains the courage to draw and he gets all five pieces of Exodia! Instantly winning the duel!

Kaiba is then given a mind crush and starts to question all his life choices.

Rex vs Weevil (half a duel): in this not really a duel, we are introduced to two characters. Since they have names they are obviously important to the plot.

The duel starts with Rex summoning King Rex and instantly getting vortexed. Then Weevil summons his Basic Insect and equips it with Insect Lazer Cannon. This lets him wipe out all of Rex's Life Points.

Weevil is then named Regional Champion, and Rex is the runner up.

Yugi vs Pegasus (second real duel): this is where we are introduced to Pegasus as a villain.

He makes Yugi duel him on a 15 min time lock.

During this duel, Pegasus is cheating. Not just with his millennium eye, but he's sending subliminal messages to Yami. It's not mentioned in the dub, but it still happens.

Yami finds out that duel monsters was created in ancient Egypt and Pegasus starts talking up a storm so he can waste time.

Pegasus wins the duel due to the time limit and steals Grandpa's soul.

Weevil vs Yami (the third duel): This duel was initiated because Weevil decided to be a little dick and threw Exodia off the ship to Duelist Kingdom.

Yami bets his deck and star chip, Weevil bets both his star chips.

The duel begins, and we find out about field power bonuses. Insects get lower from the forest, warriors get theirs from the meadow, dragons and winged beasts get theirs from the mountains, zombies get them from the wastelands, and fiends get theirs during night time.

Unfortunately, Yami doesn't get many bonuses.

During the duel, Weevil summons a full board of monsters. He gets mirror forced.

Then he plays his Petite Moth and Cocoon of Evolution combo. He gets Burning Landed.

He then summons his Great Moth. He gets Makiyued and Summoned Skulled.

This is a simple explanation of what happened, but Yami wasn't met without struggle.

A lot of his monsters that he summoned got destroyed. They usually only lasted one turn.

Anyways, Yami won and has three star chips. Joey steals Weevil's dueling glove.

Joey vs Mai (Duel 4): this is Joey's first duel! Hooray!

He doesn't understand that his land monsters can't attack flying monsters, and gets demolished.

Mai adds several equip spells and uses Elegant Egotist to multiply her Harpie lady card.

Joey finds out Mai is cheating with perfume.

Joey then summons Baby Dragon and the Time Wizard and uses them to win the duel.

He got a star chip and his first rival!

Mako vs Yami (duel 5): Yami duels Mako Tsunami.

Mako's monsters are in the water and can't be attacked.

Yami attacks the moon and then uses his Burning Land card.

Yami wins

Mokuba vs Yami (half duel): Mokuba is trying to keep Yami from dueling Pegasus because he wants to save his brother's company.

He loses the duel.

Yami vs Ghost Kaiba (duel 6): Kaiba jumped off a cliff and died. Now his ghost is dueling Yami.

He's psychology tormenting everyone except Tristan. Mokuba quickly became distraught.

Ghost Kaiba summons his Blue Eyes one at a time, and they all get destroyed.

The first one is destroyed by the real Kaiba because OH MY! He ain't dead! That's just some fat ass pretending to be Kaiba! (Or he's Kaiba's dark half)

The second Blue Eyes gets destroyed because Yami summoned Mystical Elf and Raised the Attack points of the Blue eyes he stole from the graveyard.

Yami wins the duel!

Mokuba got rekidnapped tho.

Joey vs Rex (duel 7): Rex is dueling Joey because he wants to duel Mai, but Mai will only duel him if he beats Joey.

Joey again gets his ass beat and is saved by Time Wizard.

His spoils are some chips and the Red Eyes Black Dragon!!!!

Yami Bakura vs Yami (duel 8): in this duel we are introduced to two new characters. Ryou Bakura and Yami Bakura.

Before the duel, the gang and Ryou are talking about their favorite cards (important). Then Ryou challenges Yugi to a duel, Yami Bakura appears, takes them to the Shadow Realm, puts the squads souls in their favorite cards, then tries to steal the puzzle.

Yami challenges Yami Bakura to a duel and when he summons the Cyber Commander, he finds out that all of his have had their souls placed inside their favorite cards.

Tristan dies to the white magical hat or some shit and Joey Flame Swordsman gets summoned. Then Tristan Cyber Commander gets resurrected, then Yugi Dark Magician gets summoned, then Téa Magician of Faith gets places face down. (She's a flip monster)

Throughout this whole ass duel Yami and the gang are getting their ass handed to them.

Yami gets Morphing Jared like 3 times, had Man Eater Bug eat Joey, had Just Desserts taking life points from him, and Yami Bakura was looking at him like

(𓁹‿ 𓁹)

The whole time.

Anyway, Yami Bakura plays the Change of Heart card and we get to see Ryou in a dress.

We get to see Ryou in another dress because he betrays Yami Bakura and takes control of his Lady of Faith and tells Yugi to attack him.

Yami then thinks about how Yami Bakura took the souls of his friends out of their bodies and put them in the cards and then wonders if he can do the same. He can he does.

We then see Yami Bakura in a dress but he doesn't slay as hard as Ryou.

Yami Bakura is defeated but he took a page out of William Afton's book because he comes back instantly.

Yami vs PaniK (duel 9): This duel starts immediately after Mai gets defeated by PaniK.

Yugi calls this fucking giant of a man a bully, PaniK tries to kill him with fire, and the duel starts.

PaniK is hiding in the dark and Yami calls him a pussy multiple times.

PaniK sure is a duelist. He loses his temper easily and doesn't think about the opponent's strategy. This Leads his Reaper of The Cards to get caught in a Magic Circle (I can't remember the name) and destroyed by his monster.

PaniK gets Swords of Revealing Lighted and his Castle of Dark Illusions has its floatation ring knocked off. His monsters get destroyed and he loses.

Mai got her star chips back :D

Joey vs Kaiba (duel 10? Does this one even count?): the entire duel is Joey getting annihilated. He loses. Badly.

And Kaiba gets insulted.

Joey vs Bonz (duel 11): This duel happened because Joey got kidnapped.

We also get introduced to Bonz, Sid, Zygor, and Bandit Keith.

Bandit Keith used to be the intercontinental champion, and he hates Pegasus.

Bonz is just a little guy who doesn't really like Bandit Keith, but he wants to duel with his zombie cards. Keith is helping him out. So they just gotta work together.

Sid and Zygor are Bonz's friends. They're just kinda there.

During this duel, they are in a cave and Joey is getting scared because Bonz is ugly (no he's not 😤) and zombies are spooky.

Joey is managing pretty alright for the first half because Keith keeps making Bonz play not zombies and they keep getting destroyed.

However, Keith wanted this. Because he put a Call of the Haunted in Bonz's deck. This means that Bonz can bring his monsters back from the graveyard as zombies, they're indestructible, get stronger each time they come back, and they keep destroying Joey's monsters.

Bonz then summons his Pumpking and makes his zombies stronger, but it gets destroyed by the Red Eyes Black Dragon.

Then Red Eyes gets destroyed by ways I don't remember.

Now all Joey has left is his Battle Warrior and Sword and Shield.

He summons Battle Warrior , uses Sword and Shield, wins the duel!

The Yugi gang are now trapped in a cave and Bonz and his friends get their shit rocked by Bandit Keith.

Joey and Yami vs the Paradox brothers (duel 12): Ryou leads the gang here.

We meet the Paradox brothers. A pair of eccentric twins who can't shut up and keep rhyming.

The duel is a tag duel. Meaning they take turns, if one opponent loses all of their life points that team loses, and they can help each other out.

The duel is in a maze. Each card can move up a space for as many levels as it is.

Beaver Warrior gets destroyed instantly by the Wall Shadow, which gets destroyed by KUNAI WITH CHAIN.

Some other shit happen, Yami and Joey gotta face some tank and a worm and spider.

Don't know what happened to the tank, the spider got stabbed with Mystic Box, and the worm had something something Magical Hats.

Gate Guardian is a thing and Yami says it's in the class of Exodia even tho it's not an instant win. (Shout out Gate Guardian for getting support 😔✊)

Yami and Joey won the duel with Black Skull Dragon and make it out of the maze with some coins.

Yami vs Kaiba ( Duel 13): this duel starts after Pegasus told Kaiba that dueling him was a privilege, not a right.

Yami and Kaiba duel with the new Duel Disk system. They're using the advanced rules, that's why it's one monster at a time.

With the duel system, you can recall your monsters and replace them with a different one.

Yami falls for the Crush Card Virus trap and can now only use weak monsters.

He makes his Kuriboh wall, and Kaiba summons his Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon to try and get past it. He doesn't.

Yami then uses his stupid fucking arrow card that I can never remember the name of because it's so stupid and dumb to fuse his Mammoth Graveyard to the Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon.

The dragon starts to decay, Kaiba has a panic attack and threatens to kill himself, Yami says "Bet", Yugi stops him, Kaiba wins.

Téa vs Mai ( duel 14): Téa wants to get Yugi his star chips back and challenges Mai to a duel.

During this duel Téa summons a bunch of wimpy cards like Petite Angel and most of them get destroyed by Mai's Harpie Lady.

Mai has a bunch of equip spells on her Harpie and Téa Wabokued her once.

Shining Friendship gets summoned, gets an equip spell, and Téa activates De-spell to remove Mai's equips.

Mai surrenders and Téa gives Yugi some chips.

Pegasus vs Kaiba (duel 15): in this duel Kaiba is trying to get his brother back.

Kaiba tries to get Pegasus to use his new Duel Disk system, but it doesn't go well.

The duel begins and Kaiba destroys some of Pegasus's monsters, but then Pegasus steals a Blue eyes and turns it into an Ugly Ass Toon.

Kaiba starts losing.

We learn that toon monsters are hard to destroy because they hide in a book.

Also Kaiba falls for his own Crush Card Virus trap and loses.

Mai vs Yami (duel 16): I'm pretty sure Yami was originally being sexist, but I watched the dub so Yugi is the one actually doing most of the dueling here. He doesn't want Mai getting hurt.

Yugi and Yami keep falling for the stupid Mirror Wall thing and their monsters keep getting wrecked.

Then we see Harpies Pet Dragon.

Yugi Mind Controls it and puts it on a catapult to destroy the Mirror Wall (shit looked epic).

Harpies Pet Dragon comes back and we get three Harpie Ladies.

Yugi let's Yami help and they do the Black Luster Soldier ritual and win.

Joey vs Bandit Keith (duel 17): I love this duel.

Joey gets his entry card stolen and Mai gives him hers, so wholesome.

During the duel Joey is fucking shit up. He's doing so good.

Then Keith starts cheating. But Joey prevails.

He uses trap hole, kunai with chain, time wizard, baby dragon, red eyes black metal dragon, and time machine!

Bandit Keith is using Machines and everyone is wondering why. Like bro, machines are a good monster type with a lotta cards.

Anyway Keith is pulling cards out of his wrist band, tries to use Shield and Sword to wipe out Joey, it doesn't work, Keith loses.

Then Keith tries to say that Joey didn't use his own tournament entry card, but Joey shuts that down

Then Keith gets accused of cheating and is sent falling to not at all death.

Yami vs Joey (duel 18): we have to sit through a long ass montage.

Joey throws some cards away, Yami wonders why.

Yami falls for a few traps, then Joey falls for some traps, this whole time Ryou is explaining the birth of the universe to Téa while Tristan kinda stares off into space.

Joey uses his last Time Wizard of the season to bring out his Thousand Dragon, but Yami planned this.

Yami's Dark Magician has become the Dark Sage and he uses Makiyu to stop Joey's attack and wipe out Joey's life points.

Yami wins and I cried the first time I saw this duel.

Pegasus vs Yami (duel 19): the final duel of the arc.

Pegasus tells Yami that if he wins he gets whatever he wants, but if Pegasus wins he gets his soul and the puzzle.

Yami says he wants Mokuba, Kaiba, and Grandpa's souls to be released and Pegasus says "Damn I thought you hated Kaiba", but Yami just doing that for Mokuba.

The duel starts, and Yami is immediately having trouble. He can't destroy the rooms and the Gorgon's Eye is keeping him from defending.

Pegasus also turned Summoned Skull into a toon and it's being creepy.

Yami keeps getting his mind read and Yugi comes in like "what if we switch places?" And Yami says they should.

This gives Pegasus some trouble. It gives him so much trouble that the toon world gets destroyed and he takes the duel to the Shadow Realm.

Yugi dies.

The Yugi gang feel this and send him some good vibes.

This means Pegasus still can't read Yami's mind.

Pegasus does some shit with Relinquish and Yami tries his Kuriboh stunt and his Magician of Black Chaos is there.

Yami wins and gets the souls back.

Pegasus does like 10 minutes later.

Other shit that happened that was interesting/Important:

During the Pegasus and Yami duel, Tristan and Yami Bakura go off on an adventure to find Mokuba's body. This leads to the ring getting thrown in the forest.

The ring goes back to Ryou because love or something.

In the sub Mai offered Rex anything he wanted during their first encounter. This was changed in the dub.

We still don't know how Ryou snuck in the ship to Duelist Kingdom.

Shadi doesn't even try to find Yami Bakura. He just goes to one person (Yugi) and gives up.

I'll never forgive 4kids for editing out Yami Bakura sexily licking the Millennium Eye.

If Joey had a Magic Jammer he would have won his duel with Yami.

Domino City side stories:

Rebecca's cool. I like her.

Rebecca vs Yami (duel 20): this duel happened because Grandpa got accused of stealing Rebecca's Blue Eyes White Dragon card.

Rebecca's strategy is also pretty good for the time. Her deck is centered around milling cards to power up her Shadow Goul, and she uses cards like Witch of the Black Forest and Sangan to do this.

During the duel Grandpa is having flashbacks because he had a duel go exactly like this. We find out Rebecca is the granddaughter of Grandpa's friend, Arthur.

Yugi drew Soul Release, but didn't use it because... I don't know. We find out that's how the duel between Arthur and Grandpa ended.

Arthur appears, says some shit, and we never see Rebecca again.

That dumbass game thing:

I wasn't paying attention to this because there weren't any actual duels and I didn't like this part.

Duke Devlin:

This bitch really gonna say Yugi cheats in his duels and steal all the girls. Bro.

Duke vs Joey (duel 21): Joey almost wins, But Duke does an ass pull and wins at 50 life points.

Duke vs Yami (Dungeon Dice Monsters): Duke doesn't explain shit because Yami is King Of Games and should know how to play a game he's never heard of.

Duke makes fun of Yami for not knowing how to play the game he never explained, gets angry when Yami figures stuff out, and is just an ass this whole game.

I wasn't really paying attention, until shit actually started to happen because there was just a whole lotta nothing.

Eventually both players have monsters on the field, some are doing magic, others are just standing there.

Orgoth the Relentless is certainly a thing. He gets beat by the Dark Magician.

Yami wins.

Other thoughts on the Domino City stories:

I laughed when Joey told Duke "I like ya game, just not you."

More characters gotta duel like Rebecca.

The existence of Adina is weird. If Kaiba made her, ಠ⁠_⁠ಠ. If the Big Five Made her, then fine I get it. Mokuba is like a damsel in distress. I just don't like it.

I hope you enjoy this long ass wall of text. My redemption is going steady. I have noticed no change other than being slightly more unhinged.

Imma do this every time I finish a season.