#join me in the most difficult find the differences game ever

[chipsncookies]

Bravern ep 9 spoilers)

I've been dumpster diving on twitter in search for supe fanart (I didn't find many) but i came across an interesting analysis. Ep9 has shown that the popular theory was right, there are multiple timelines, and this user claimed that we've seen multiple timelines in past episodes. There are some evidence that look really convincing.

In ep 2 smith busted the door to the torture room open, but after that the door looks completely fine

In the scene where they changed lulu's hairstyle, the background changed drastically (seaside + runway turned into buildings, with isami watching) they shouldn't have walked that far for the place to change so much

In japan, the command people were first shown observing the events outside by binoculars, but then changed to monitor. Why go inside? If it's safe to observe in the beginning why bother going inside

Also, remember the risque scene of smith with lulu? It seems the bg also changed between what seemingly looks like seamless scenes. The green duvet is messy in the first scene, but neat and undisturbed in second scene?

Also, this is my own observation, but the place where superbia meditated also changed. In the beginning the place is completely clear, but in ep9, there are many dead trees very close around him.

You could argue he moved, but if you look closely he's on top of a rather tall hill(?) and there's no other place with the same height in immediate vicinity. He'd also made the decision to sit there and think, plus (from what i understood) he could get a good grasp of the situation with bravern vs deathdrives so it's not like he changed place to get a better view

There's a post by another user pointing out that hibiki's injury has changed from head to hand (or vice versa? I don't remember) but I couldn't verify this yet.

There are many more things pointed out in the thread, but they're non visual stuff that require checking and might be affected by subs. Please check it out yourself. I think bravern really needs rewatching after all the revelation.

I think it makes sense that there are different timelines. Because these different timelines could be based on smith/bravern's memories (before and after transformation). But I wonder if we'll continue seeing these in ep10 and so on because starting from knuth's explosion, he can't possibly see what happens in the future

[neoflect]

sharing some of my disorganized jojo musical thoughts now that ive had a week to sit on it and ive rewatched it several times over. i intended to wait to publish something like this until a subtitled version was available, but im not seeing any indication that thats happening any time soon so for now youll have to deal with my loose interpretations from my extremely rudimentary and rusty japanese… so take what i have to say about the finer points of characterization with a grain of salt. gratuitous spoilers below obviously, both for the original source material and the changes made in the stage production

my feelings are OVERWHELMINGLY positive. of course there are things i can criticize or that i would have personally done differently but oh man… i have literally not thought about anything besides this fucking show for a week. im 100% confident in saying this is a better adaptation of the source material than the tv anime. sorry to the davidpro staff, i respect their hard work and their love for jojo and their dedication to what is by any metric a pretty difficult property to adapt off of the page, but i dont know if i can ever forgive them for leaving half of the first episode’s storyboard on the cutting room floor in order to fit a standard half-hour tv slot, especially considering that what they cut is some of the really crucial character-building stuff. happily those scenes are not only reproduced in the stage version, some of them are expanded upon!

with the quick disclaimer that i’ve only managed to get my hands on the final 4/14 performance with shotaro arisawa and yoshihisa higashiyama, from what i’ve seen the casting is perfect. i’m sure there’s a rip of the 4/13 performance somewhere (i’ve seen clips) but i haven’t been able to find one… every single performer knocks it out of the fucking park, the cast chemistry is incredible and even the minor characters are loaded with charisma. and mamoru miyano… my god… mamoru miyano i owe you an apology. i was not familiar with your game. of course hes been killing it for decades at this point but i had soured on him a little bit recently because i felt like he was overcast in everything and i just didnt connect with his dnt reinhard at all, so when the casting was initially announced back in august i was underwhelmed, and of course my standards for the dio role in particular were astronomically high… i’ll go more into detail later in the post because i have so so many things to say about dio’s characterization here but mamoru miyano’s performance is like, life-changing. i had impossible expectations and he exceeded them.

sorry if im gushing. i am a hater by nature. its unusual for me to be so thoroughly pleased with something. im not even a musical theater guy. these are strange new feelings for me.

just to balance things out i’ll talk about a couple of the things that didn’t really work for me: first of all, the music is just ok. my initial draft of this post called the music “bad” but three additional viewings later i have warmed up to some of the songs. i don’t know if this is a shortcoming by dove attia as the composer or if it’s just me, as i said i’m not a musical guy and a lot of the genre conventions of musical theatre are not really the things i look for in music that i enjoy, but like… even at their worst they are serviceable. nothing here is sonically unpleasant to me. high points are “resolve of the ripple” (zeppeli’s hamon training song, a jazzy swing number - it’s simply catchy and fun to listen to) and the closer “phantom blood” (a sweeping ballad that reprises the earlier “light and darkness”/”golden spirit” leitmotifs into an epic duet between jonathan and dio as they join hands and walk off into the darkness together… made me cry! i wont lie! on every single one of my numerous viewings this one got me misty eyed!)

wait i forgot this is supposed to be the part where i’m being critical. ok my most loathed song in the musical is “dio’s world”. sorry dio nation. it doesn’t really work for me. i think this might be a case of my standards/expectations being too impossibly high because it’s not even really the worst song in the whole thing. and of course miyano eats it up so it’s not really his fault. i just find it kind of underwhelming… i find the melody a little grating, it’s kind of just a generic rock number, it’s just missing a particular je ne sais quoi…. the essence of dio isn’t there… lyrically though i am obsessed with the premise of dio recruiting his minions by selling himself as a kind of social revolutionary who is upending and inverting the brutal hierarchy of post-industrial victorian society with zombie blood magic. you win some you lose some.

the second sticking point for me is the costumes. they’re perfectly serviceable… adequate… but i mean when it comes to jojo “serviceable” and “adequate” costume design obviously falls well below what’s expected, right? a lot of the outfits have kind of a boxy, almost flat-looking kind of unflattering fit on the actors, which if i wanted to be generous i could attribute to the challenge of bridging the gap between these frail slender musical theater twinks and the two-meter-tall 250lb roided-out beefcakes theyre meant to be embodying. (bearing this discrepancy in mind a lot of the insane martial arts stuff in the second act doesn’t really land with the oomph that it should, but i also understand logistically why this kind of casting is not practical, and all things considered i think shotaro arisawa does a really incredible job of embodying jonathan joestar even though he kind of looks like i could snap him in half over my knee like a twig. he’s very cute. so i’m not mad about it.) of course, again, logistically, i understand that in a stage musical production, where actors only have minutes to complete costume changes, some sacrifices have to be made to the creative vision in the name of practicality. nevertheless this is jojos bizarre adventure!! i want to see some fucking baubles!!!!!!

which is all to say that… after carefully considering it for some weeks… i still have extremely mixed feelings about dio’s grink ass feather bathrobe look. it’s not that i dont think its something he could wear (the concept of dio lounging around in his gothic vampire palace doing re-animator style body horror experiments on the local wildlife in this “officer i have no idea what happened to my husband”-ass nightgown is nothing short of hysterical to me) but then he wears it into combat and i felt a little disappointed… it has the same unflattering fit issue as the other outfits in the show, and it is just such an un-araki-like design… where are the gaudy color combinations? the bizarre geometric patterns? the tease of an exposed boob/thigh/midriff? erina gets a stage-original dress design that i have fewer issues with because the excessive pleats and ruffles have more of an araki-esque sensibility, but every time i look at dio’s robe it feels like there’s something missing.  i’m going to choose to be nice about it because it’s not at all a deal breaker and, again, mamoru miyano devours the look. it’s fine. it’s always fun to have a new dio outfit. if anything, the fact that the blu-rays are being marketed as “2024 cast version” gives me hope for the possibility of a future production with a new vision for the costume design. (although the fact that this was such a difficult production - with stunts and pyrotechnics and moving setpieces - that its entire first week was cancelled indicates to me that the prospects for a future production from a different company are impossibly slim. i guess there’s always hope?)

in terms of the writing and the changes that were made from the original narrative, honestly i don’t really have an issue with anything that was cut. sorry if there are any diehard stans of Poco’s Unnamed Sister out there who are steamed that their favorite minor late phantom blood character got the axe, i kind of understand how you feel because i’ve been malding over david pro cutting the Danny Lore for eleven years, but i think it was the right choice and the story flows so much better. the real juicy meat at the core of phantom blood as a narrative and the thing that brings it head and shoulders above so much of the rest of jjba is the character-driven drama - that deliciously pulpy victorian gothic family tragedy - and the relationship between jonathan and dio. the musical beefs up the character drama and slims down the action-driven second half by trimming out the extraneous battles. the only real downside i see to this is that the absence of tompetty and his prophecy makes zeppeli’s arc and death feel INSANELY abrupt, but tbf that’s not a deal breaker for me. sorry zeppeli. you were born to die.

okay. okay. i think 1500 words into the post is enough fucking around so let’s talk about the real reason why you and i both know we’re here

musical dio is SO fucking sad. he’s positively wretched, you guys. he was born in a wet cardboard box all alone and forced to eat cement when he was six. he cries even more than he does in the source material and even when he’s not crying he frequently delivers his lines as though he is moments away from bursting into tears. back when the musical first opened i was snooping on the reactions on jpn twitter and one commenter said they could see miyano’s tears and snot from the nosebleeds even without opera glasses, a remark i initially assumed was hyperbole but that i now think probably was not. araki’s dio is certainly tortured and a deeply pathetic crybaby beneath all the cruelty and posturing, but changes in the musical and miyano’s embodiment of the character bring this pathos to the fore. he is literally haunted: dario’s ghost lingers, a manifestation of all of dio’s traumas and insecurities that emerges from the recesses of his memory to taunt him with the reminder that he will always be his father’s son, all the way up until the very minute that jonathan breaks down the door to his vampire lair. i am OBSESSED with this - not only for the obvious reason that i delight in dio’s suffering personally but also because kong kuwata is a delight and he fucking kills it every time. also lends itself to a category 10 leitmotif moment at the top of the second act when dio emerges from the charred ruins of the joestar estate singing dario’s theme and calling out to jonathan - if i had to pinpoint this is probably the moment when this musical stuck for me as the Real Deal. they Get It.

the first solo number in the show is dio’s disney princess I Want song (amazingly, simply titled “dio”) where he weeps for his late mother and his wretched lot in life, and then - in a creative decision that made me clap my hands and hoot and holler at my screen in real life - there is a reprise of this number (delivered, naturally, through tears) when dio is almost arrested for murder and decides to become a vampire instead. so there’s this amazing hopeful uplifting inspirational orchestral music accompanying the onstage action of dio ruthlessly slaying jonathan’s dad and then getting pumped full of lead by a bunch of cops. it is brilliant. 10/10 no notes. it’s moments like this that i think really sell the “softening” of dio in the stage version for me, even though i am historically Not A Fan of fanworks that take a similar angle - like, yes, he is sad, but specifically he is narcissistically obsessed with the spectacle of his own suffering, he is boiling over with bitterness and rage for everyone around him who (by his own estimation) could never hope to have suffered as much as he has. this sensitivity and self-pity he wallows in are not expressions of a guilty conscience or a desire to change - they’re entirely the opposite - every cruel and monstrous deed dio commits is always justified to himself because he is simply the saddest little boy who has ever existed. he has been done wrong by the world and so there is no limit to the depravity he may reasonably respond with. i’ve seen several commenters describe this as a drastically different interpretation of the character from araki’s dio (and someone told me on twitter that mamoru miyano himself has also said this, but i cba to go digging for an actual source so take it with a grain of salt?), but i… dont think thats the case! dio’s obsession with his own weakness and his self-perception as the eternal underdog (as compared to jonathan) are certainly more exaggerated in miyano’s performance, but i don’t think this is an angle to the character that’s been manufactured out of whole cloth. the genre conventions of the stage musical force the melodrama up to eleven and dio’s incredibly repressed angst is the most rich vein to mine for that. hair-trigger sadist dio is still here, it’s the same guy, he’s still killing people mercilessly, you’re just getting to see him sing a big ballad about his feelings instead of confining those to an internal monologue.

if anything, the exaggeration of dio’s pathetic/cowardly/crybaby traits combined with his megalomaniacal aspirations and bottomless well of cruelty is just right. it’s perfect. fucking around, finding out, and then trying to weasel his way out of the consequences with crocodile tears just so you don’t see him drawing his knife to cut you clean open… yeah. thats the stuff. thats my one true blorbo. sad to say i will love him for ten thousand years.

i think that might be all i have to say… or at least all i feel like saying here… most likely ill come back and edit this post later. i certainly have some additional thoughts and some more esoteric/controversial takes but they’re not suited for a public blog. real ones will understand. im keeping my eyes peeled for somebody to translate this thing but to be frank i am kind of enjoying this little corner of fandom as it is right now: just the asians and the true hardcore phantom blood phreaks. i have not had this much fun in jojo fandom in almost a fucking decade. as soon as somebody publishes an english version my timelines going to get flooded with all the most deeply annoying “kono dio da” “speedwagon waifu” reddit guys and 15 year olds and my suffering will proceed. unfortunately this is my lot in life and i am doomed to be here forever because dio put a worm in my brain

[misshoneyimhome]

Struck by Lighting

Tags; Angry!William; Friends-to-lovers; bestfriend!TimothyLiljegren; Fluff

Summary: In the midst of a difficult game, William appears to lose his composure, suggesting more than just frustration over a bad loss;

Author's Note: I wrote this a little while ago and just decided to share it today 😉 It follows the familiar friends-to-lovers plot, yet a little different, you know? 😅 Nonetheless, I hope you'll find it enjoyable;

By the way, a quick thank you to everyone reading my work! I never imagined anyone would enjoy what I write, and I'm incredibly grateful to be able to share my thoughts and ideas with all of you! Having 1️⃣0️⃣0️⃣ followers might not seem like a lot to some, but to me, it's beyond anything I could have imagined 🫶🏻

[credits: inspired by a scene from Ted Lasso]

Word count: 3.4K

・✶ ｡ﾟ

The atmosphere was crisp as the five of you strolled through the streets of Toronto on a regular Friday evening.

The lad's hockey season had started just a month ago, and tonight, you were out with your group of friends: William Nylander, Timothy Liljegren, Pierre Engvall, along with his girlfriend Mathilda. Yet, this evening wasn't solely about the five of you chilling together; it was also a chance for Willy to introduce his new romantic interest to the tight-knit group. Being his close friends, he valued your opinion on this matter.

**

William had become, quite unexpectedly, one of your closest friends. It was something you hadn't quite anticipated from the day you were introduced to the inner circle of the Toronto Maple Leafs – particularly the inner circle of the Swedes.

Morgan had been your entry point, having known him back in Vancouver, and upon your move to Toronto, he graciously showed you around, and after a few months, he introduced you to his team. It was a bit surreal to suddenly find yourself among friends and partners of an NHL team, but undeniably, you felt like you belonged.

The entire team had been incredibly kind and welcoming. You hit it off particularly well with most of them. Auston and Mitchy were an absolute riot, always incredibly funny. Woll, alongside Mo, was among the kindest individuals you'd ever encountered. Tavares was the living legend, and the new guy, Knies – those eyes and that smirk – had a way of making anyone feel weak in the knees.

Everyone treated you kindly, but you could also sense a closer bond among the Swedes. It wasn't something frowned upon by the guys; in fact, it seemed this group genuinely encouraged everyone to become more open and mingle better with the rest of the team. Timothy, in particular, stood out as a genuine sweetheart, perhaps a tad less outgoing than the others.

And it was Tim that was the one who paved the way for you to join the Scandinavian friends' circle. You were consistently kind to him, offering help whenever needed, and being there to support him if he ever felt anxious. It all began with a simple, clumsy mishap in the hallways where he had lost his things, and you swiftly lent a hand. From there, it blossomed into casual conversations about various topics. And soon enough, you found yourself getting him a coffee, guiding him through breathing exercises before facing cameras, and keeping him company after tough losses.

And your efforts had earned you a cherished place in the hearts of the Swedes.

William, on the other hand, was a different story. He had to grow on you.

At first, you genuinely found him rather off-putting. With that way too satisfied, smug smirk on his face all the time, the way he knew all too well how good he was at hockey, and how he so effortlessly just sashayed onto the ice, scored a couple of goals, and became the hero of the day.

However, as time passed and you spent more moments with Tim's friends, you gradually peeled back the layers of William Nylander beyond the dazzling performances and mischievous grins. The more you hung around him, the clearer it became that it wasn't an act; it was simply his natural way of being - in a good way.

After each match, road trip, and workout session, you began to grasp the immense effort he invested in his training. How he'd show up early, stay late for workouts, constantly study technique videos, and engage in discussions with his father about his game.

You witnessed the sheer amount of energy required to uphold his positive mindset. In fact, it amazed you how he managed to stay so rooted and composed, even after a tough loss or demanding day filled with media responsibilities. And what struck you even more was his indifference to the attention and accolades he received; his primary focus remained on playing the sport he adored, striving to perform his best, and feeling proud of his achievements. He aimed high and held himself accountable to those lofty expectations and goals he'd set.

He simply impressed you.

On William's end, he hadn't given much thought to you initially. You were there, seemed nice, and that was about it. He wasn't one to dwell on things, so as he noticed your genuine friendship with his close friends, he didn't really have any negative opinions about you.

But much like he grew on you, you gradually made an impression on him. At first, he didn't pay much attention to you. But as you integrated further into the group, he began to notice your playful nature, your sense of humour, and the banter that developed among the lads. What initially elicited a light chuckle soon evolved into hearty laughter, echoing through the halls of the Scotiabank Arena after almost every home game, and Willy found himself thoroughly enjoying it.

Yet, beyond the good times, the real turning point occurred when William allowed you to see his more vulnerable side.

It had been a terrible game. For him at least, and he just wasn’t feeling good about it. And while he’d normally remain composed and all calm despite the challenging night, he’d involuntarily spat at his teammates about something regarding the play. 

And though there was a mutual understanding among the teammates, that outbursts like these were rather common and no one should take it personally, as it’d all be forgotten the following day, you couldn’t help but stand up to him. He’d said something that was clearly targeted towards Tim, and you were just not having it. 

So, after the match as everyone besides William had left, being one of the last ones as always, you’d stayed back just to offer him a quick remark. 

“You know you can’t talk to him like that,” you’d spoken in a low voice, yet your words been firm and sharp as you’d confronted him in the hallway on your way out. “He played his heart out and you know it. Everyone made mistakes tonight, even you, and you shouldn’t be saying things like these to him.”

William had been slightly baffled by your words. And though he knew you were right; he didn’t think it was your place to talk back to him like this.

“Timmy’s a grown man, he can take it.” He’d said in response. “He needs to know what he did wrong so he can do better next time.” 

In a way you knew he was right too. This was simply the way the boys showed their love and affection for each other as teammates, but you just couldn’t accept the way he’d speak to his close friend.

“I know, Willy. And I know you mean well, it’s just… Tim looks so much up to you, and we all know that you’re an amazing player, who gets a lot of attention, but that doesn’t give you the right to talk down to the others. You’re a team, and you also need to support each other in down times like these.” 

And your words had had a way to walk straight to William’s heart. The way you showed so much care for your mutual friend had really opened his eyes for you. You were more than just giggles and funny puns. You were indeed caring and protective of the ones you loved – just like him. 

“I’m sorry…” he’d murmured, which had taken you slightly by surprise. You hadn’t expected for him to give in to your confrontation so easily. But the softness in his eyes had given away that he might just feel a little regret of how he’d spoken to the lads, and quickly you found yourself feeling softening your facial expression as well. 

Though there’d been no yelling or shouting, you’d unintentionally tightened the muscles in your face, raised your shoulders, as you’d gathered the confident to speak to him. But then as you saw his expression exude a hint of vulnerability and his composure softened, you instead tried to flash him a gentle smile and simply show that this was all about your shared love for a person. 

And as concern and frustrations slowly faded away, you both shared smiles and light chuckles. And yet to another surprise, William had suggested for you to grab a late dinner snack, which you’d enjoyed at his place, while talking for hours about pretty much anything. 

You’d shared family details, stories from the past, future aspirations, along with casual dating experiences and ups and downs from what had you both still at the single stage. 

From that day on, your friendship had become almost closer than yours and Tim’s. 

You’d be the one to confront him when he was merely being a brat, just as you were there to shower with love and affection whenever needed. 

***

So, as the evening of the triple-“date” (you were there with Tim, though you weren’t romantically involved), was coming to an end, William turned to face you all, mentally preparing for the virduct of his new flirt.

“So, what do you think?” he timidly asked. 

“I think she’s sweet,” Mathilda had started out. “She seems kind and nice… friendly and funny, I suppose.” 

“Yeah, she’s got a nice laughter, doesn’t seem dum or without ideas,” Pierre had added. 

“And she’s attractive.” Tim chimed in with a lightning spirit. 

William nodded at the feedback, taking in that everyone seemed to approve of the girl he was becoming interested in. 

“Yeah, you could be a good match,” Mathilda spoke once again with her sweet, gentle tone of voice, as she tried to reassure William that he had found someone good. However, as much as you tried to remain composed, you just couldn’t hold it back.

“Oh, come on,” you blurted out. “Tell him the truth.” 

The group of friends looked stunned at you as you’d broken the silence, you’d maintain during the walk from the restaurant, earning you to elaborate. 

“She’s fine… that’s it,” you spoke gently, before continuing. “Which there’s nothing wrong with. Most people settle for fine. The question is just why the fuck you think she deserves you. I mean, you’re William bloody Nylander – you’re gorgeous, talented, funny, and overall, not too empty headed. Honestly, you deserve someone who makes you feel like you’ve been struck by fucking lightning.” 

Your words echoed through the heads of your friends as your bold honesty slowly sank in, and the others couldn’t contain their amusement. In fact, they just smiled and nodded in agreement as William maintained an intense gaze at you. 

“Anyway, that’s just my opinion,” you offered a sweet smile, and shrug your shoulders. 

And in the evening, William couldn’t help but reflect on your words. It was incredible how you’d always have a talent of speaking so freely and directly to him. And he couldn’t help but deeply appreciate it.

****

A couple of weeks later, the lads were back in Toronto for a home game after a lengthy stretch on the road.

And this time around, it was your turn to spill some news about someone you'd been seeing.

His name was Matt, a few years older than you, working as a chef. He had a kind and sweet nature, and in your view, he was an all-round good guy. Just what you needed after a string of let-downs. Each person you'd dated before had been either completely unfazed or overly dramatic about every little thing. You'd been with all sorts, from the typical sales rep to the cliché sports jock, the soft-spoken preschool teacher, and the imaginative journalist. Yet none of them shared your zest for life and love for outdoor activities or your calm and drama-free outlook on life.

But Matt seemed to be the right fit.

Even your friends' reactions seemed to back it up.

You all shared laughter and excitement during a coffee break - known as "Fika" as the Swedes called it. And soon after, he joined you and Mathilda among the other partners of the team for a home game.

However, the match turned out to be rather awful. The Leafs were trailing 4-0 at the start of the third period, and their gameplay displayed no signs of a potential comeback strategy or strength.

The atmosphere weighed heavy on everyone, evident in the collective sighs as the Senators once again slipped the puck past Woll and into the net. Fans covered their faces in resignation, acknowledging the likely outcome of tonight's game. Equally frustrated were the players, especially when Mitch received a 2-minute penalty for holding, granting the Senators another Power Play opportunity.

The tension only seemed to ratchet up from there.

Then came William; he pushed himself, maintaining a rapid pace, maneuvering around opponents with confidence, controlling the puck as he charged towards the opposite end. He searched for an opening to take a shot, almost finding the perfect opportunity. With an intense focus, he swung his stick high, eyes fixed on the target, aiming and letting loose his shot.

But the puck didn't find its mark.

And a resounding disappointment reverberated throughout the arena.

William, unable to contain his usual composed demeanor, vented his frustrations, taking it out on his stick. He forcefully slammed it against the boards, the rage causing it to snap into two pieces. It seemed like nothing was going right for him tonight.

And your heart sank as you witnessed his outburst.

You'd never seen him this angry or out of character. Typically, he was the one who kept his teammates grounded, but in that moment, he held nothing back.

The game ended with a harsh 7-1 scoreline, and while Auston managed to net a goal, it did little to lift the spirits of the team.

One by one, they departed from the arena after their showers and media commitments. Partners took their hands, quietly making their way towards the exit, understanding that the night ahead would be spent in quietness at home, focused on care and relaxation, as the lads mentally geared up for the next match.

Finding yourself among the last few standing, you exchanged concerned glances with Tim and Pierre, aware that Willy was likely still in the locker room, possibly berating himself.

Offering a reassuring nod to their unspoken worry, you turned to Matt.

"I'll go check on him. This isn't like Willy, and I just want to make sure he's alright," you said to him.

He gave you an understanding smile as you slowly walked towards the locker room.

Inside, you found William, seated in his stall with his head bowed, almost completely removing his gear. His body still gleamed from post-match sweat, hair damp and sticking to the sides of his face.

With cautious steps, you approached him, prompting him to glance up.

"Hey," you said in a hushed tone.

You knew how hard he was on himself after such games. There was no need to vocalize it. But you wanted to convey unwavering support to your friend, so you attempted to offer your best, concerned, and caring smile.

"Hey," he replied, his tone subdued.

There fell a brief silence between you two.

"Alright?" you asked gently.

"Yeah, sure..." he shrugged, his voice lacking its usual spark.

But you knew him too well.

"Babe, I know it might not mean much, but tonight wasn't your fault," you offered in an attempt to console him.

"I know," he mumbled, eyes fixed on the floor.

"Really? Because it seems like you're shouldering blame that isn't yours to carry," you ventured further, aware you were nearing sensitive ground. Yet, seeing him like this hurt, and you couldn't hold back your concern.

"I said I know, y/n," he replied firmly, his tone indicating an end to the discussion. "You don't need to keep digging.”

"I'm sorry. I just want to ensure you're not getting lost in self-pity. This was a team effort, and you all had a tough night," you persisted, trying to express your worries.

"And what do you know about that, huh?" he suddenly snapped, rising to his feet.

William was completely unlike his composed self. He was on edge, filled with an anger so unlike him. And it startled you.

"I don't..." you attempted to speak. "I'm just worried... Willy, I've never seen you like this before, and I just want to make sure you're okay," your voice quivered, conveying your genuine concern.

"Well, I'm not okay!" he burst out.

Never before had William raised his voice at you like this, not even following a devastating game. Something deeper seemed to be at play here than just the outcome of a hockey match.

"Then please, let me help you..." you urged, hoping to diffuse the tension.

"You can’t,” he retorted.

"Why not?" confusion laced your words.

"Because it's you I'm pissed at," he declared.

You were taken aback. He was angry with you?

“Why? What have I done to piss you off like this?” you questioned, bewildered by his accusation.

William struggled to steady his breath, trying to contain the fury coursing through him. Slightly lowering his voice to a more controlled but still assertive level, he continued.

"You always tell us that we deserve someone who makes us feel like we've been struck by lightning... yet you're with a dull, ordinary guy who isn't even close to your league, and you expect me to believe that he makes you happy?"

Wait, what?

"It that with this is all about… you playing a shitty game because I'm seeing someone you don't approve of?" you expressed disbelief. How dared he?

William exhaled sharply, standing with his hands on his hips.

"That's not… no, we just played a shitty game, we'll get over it," he attempted to gather his thoughts. "I just don't understand why you feel entitled to dictate what the rest of us deserve when you don't hold yourself to the same standard."

You struggled to fully grasp his words.

"What are you trying to say, Willy?"

"Don't you see... you should be with someone... not like him... someone who also makes you feel the way you want the rest of us to feel..."

"Well, I'm sorry, but that just won't happen," you spoke loudly, your mind racing faster than you could rationalize.

"Why not?"

"Because the only person who'd ever made me feel that way is you!"

A heavy silence filled the room as your confession hung in the air. 

You were left breathless, realizing you had verbalized something you hadn't even admitted to yourself before. A fleeting thought that had crossed your mind briefly but had never lingered for more than a moment. However, as the words escaped, they felt undeniably true.

And the truth was, you had deep feelings for William.

The laghter and playful banter between you. The affection you both had for your friends and families. How he always showed his genuine self with you, offering a listening ear and a supportive shoulder. You simply liked every part of him.

And as William gradually absorbed the sudden confession, he regained control of his breathing following his emotional outburst. He gazed intently at you, focusing on your worried expression, acknowledging your unintentional heartfelt disclosure.

Yet, he found himself speechless. There were no witty remarks or playful comebacks. He didn't feel compelled to challenge you or demand explanations. Instead, he took a step forward, gently cupping your head with his hands, leaning in to tenderly kiss you.

As your lips met, you couldn't resist, placing your hands on his chest, feeling all frustrations and negativity dissipate from your mind.

Relaxation flooded your body, sinking deeper into his touch. His hands moved down to your hips, drawing you closer, while yours wrapped around his neck.

His tongue delicately sought permission to explore beyond your lips, and you eagerly welcomed the intimacy.

It was an true, heartfelt moment where you both surrendered to desire and passion.

As you parted from the kiss, both breathing in the air that was momentarily lost, smiles couldn't be contained as you stood close.

Being in his arms felt incredibly right, and you wished for that feeling to never end.

However, reality beckoned, so you looked up at him with a gentle smile, brushing a strand of hair away from his handsome face.

"I suppose... I should let Matt know that I can't see him anymore," you chuckled lightly.

"Yeah, he should probably know that you’re already taken,” William replied with a hearty laugh.

[f1crecs]

Fic Rec List - Our Favourite Fics

if your fic is on this list and you don’t want it to be, please let me know and we will remove it immediately, no questions asked. we have contacted most of the authors on this list, but sometimes people fall through the gaps - just pop us a message🤍

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don’t forget to give the authors featured on this list some love in the form of kudos, bookmarks, and comments!

thank you to @talictries for this lovely, lovely ask - and for letting us share our little slices of fandom happiness!

I thought this would be the perfect time to introduce the new blog team. I hope you'll join me in showering them with lots of love! 🤍🤍🤍

Mark/Seb

nsfw: I Heard You're a Player, So Let's Play a Game by Tianvette | E | 88.8k @boxboxbrioche's favourite fic. Mark and Seb are teammates, navigating a complicated relationship. This fic is absolutely stunning! There are parts of this fic that are haunting, that I still think of often, a year after reading it for the first time. The evolution of Mark and Seb's relationship is, although messy and difficult, so natural and so well written. I come back to this fic so often - I must be on my fifth or sixth read. It's captivating.

'Turning twenty-three clearly hasn’t made any difference to Seb’s infuriating cheekiness but surprisingly, he finds his chest growing warm with something like affection, his annoyance melting away like snow in sunshine'

Lando/Lewis

1999, heroes by @lilcrickee | M | 36k @ocontraire's favourite fic Top gun au that explores power dynamics, both in the context of age difference and in the more rigid structure of the military. The dynamics between friends and rivals keep me coming back to re-read this one, as well as the messy, lovely unfolding of the main relationship

'And just like that, Lando feels the wind get snatched from his sails. His chest deflates like a balloon that’s been popped unexpectedly. The easy camaraderie that he and Lewis had shared most of the night feels like it’s been reset. Lewis is his superior officer. Lewis is 14 years older than him. Lewis is someone bright and unattainable and Lando should tell his heart to get a fucking grip.'

Charles/Pierre

Name It The Blood by @effervescentdragon | Not Rated | 23.5k @singsweetmelodies' favourite fic. Charles and George are nobility, and Pierre and Alex are their respective childhood best friends who love them - until Pierre and Alex both run away from the lives planned for them to become pirates. They reunite just before Charles is set to be married. This fic just has absolutely everything, from complex worldbuilding to pining (so much pining and longing!) to not-quite-doomed period romance to pirate shenanigans to heartwarming friendship moments, and it is all so so beautifully written! I reread this fic almost monthly, and there are many lines from it that I can quote by heart. It still makes me tear up a little, no matter how many times I've read it. Just an absolutely stunning fic, from start to finish.

“Tell me, Pierrot,” he says lowly. “What am I to you?” Everything, every part of Pierre screams instinctively. You are everything to me, the sun and the stars, the air I breathe, the beauty in every flower I see for the first time, the rage in every sea storm, the one I would get on my knees for and worship like a God, the reason for my existence, the love of my life, the best friend I’ve ever had. You are everything.'

Daniel/George

nsfw: my temple will be beautiful too by @notthehardtyres | E | 6.3k @lydia-petze's favourite fic. Daniel, in his second year at McLaren, is in crisis over gender and body dysphoria issues that have pushed their way to the fore. He finds somewhere to have a breakdown over it, which happens to be an empty meeting room belonging to Mercedes. George finds him there, and eventually reveals that he himself is trans. Narrowing down all the F1 RPF I've loved to ONE seemed like an impossible task, but when I laid out my favourites to make the attempt, this is the one I kept returning to. It's stunningly good. The language around bodies, and physical reality, and not feeling comfortable in one's own is evocative and visceral - as physical as the selves it is describing. There is a recurring motif of light and refraction, and how much it can change the way we see something, or someone. George's support of Daniel is quiet and steadfast. His decision to reveal his own body is based in compassion, empathy and deep trust. .

'They don’t hear George move, either—only the sound of his deep, regular breaths. Daniel matches that rhythm for a while until their heart rate evens out and the anxious nausea recedes. The one time that they lift their head just far enough to see, George looks stoic and serene, staring at the opposite wall. He hasn’t even gotten his phone out to pass the time. What faint light diffuses through the window blinds has a cool bluish tint, and Daniel imagines that they’re somewhere under the ocean, pressed pleasantly down by the weight of the water.'

Charles/Max

nsfw: objects in mirror by @drivestraight | E | 87.8k @blueballsracing's favourite fic. A series, in which Charles Leclerc decidedly moves to Red Bull Racing and copes with the effects of having Max Verstappen as a teammate, all while he's trying to win his first maiden World Championship. This series is one I constantly reread, because of the characterization and beautifully written moments of what having a rival and a lover is like. It's my favorite fic in the fandom, and I suggest reading the entire series.

“Max looks—his eyes are slits, and his hand is still firm on Charles’ waist. “What are you looking for?” There are a lot of answers to that question. A championship. Forever and always. A gap to overtake. The racing line. My brothers, to hold my hand. Papa, sometimes, when I’m standing up on the top step of the podium, looking out into the crowd and praying for a miracle.”

nsfw: breathe you in (like a vapor) by @fabbyf1 | E | 53.3k @frickinsweet's favourite fic. An enemies-to-lovers story of Max and Charles falling in love over winter break 2022. Choosing a favourite fic was such a challenge (it felt a bit like choosing a favourite child) – but since I could only choose one it had to be this one. Firstly, Fabby is a fantastic writer and I would rec every one of her fics if I could but this one is my comfort fic that I keep coming back to.

This fic has it all: misunderstandings, a Max that is a little bit obsessed with and unbelivably fond of Charles, a Charles having a bad time and in denial about his feelings, petnames, Charles being called pretty multiple times, bickering as foreplay – you name it, this fic has got it. Most of all I love the charactherizations, especially Max who is sort of a weirdo who cant read a room for the life of him but also refreshingly honest and unashamed about his feelings. When I first read this I was new to F1 and definitely not sold on Max/Charles but this fic showed me the light! Also the smut is superhot 🤭.

Charles suddenly snapped back into the present when Max asked, “Were you guys finished for the day? Or did you want to play doubles with us?” Charles turned to look at Arthur, giving him a look that only a fellow Leclerc brother could understand. He didn’t need to use his words. It was obvious that he was telling him: we are absolutely not going to play tennis with Max Verstappen. Arthur tilted his head at him, his eyes locked on Charles before he gave him a slight nod. Because he totally understood. It was so nice to have such a solid, strong bond with his brother. Leclercs were basically psychic! “We’d love to play doubles,” Arthur said, turning back towards Max and Brad. Charles wished he was an only child.

[pearbunny]

the bucket list ✘ [five]

series masterlist | prev | next [ ❀ spotify playlist ]

summary: Fly to Korea. Check. Buy a bouquet of flowers for a stranger. Check. Have said stranger come along with you to accomplish your bucket list? Well that wasn’t on the list, but falling in love was. 

pairing: han jisung x afab!reader

genre: 18+ [MDNI] strangers to lovers, non idol au, crack, mostly fluff, later chapters to include: angst, comfort, smut.

general warnings:  tourist!mc, adult themes including but not limited to: suggestive content, nudity, cursing, alcohol consumption, mentions of death in later chapters, overarching theme of mental health, eventual smut.

word count: ~6.3k 

chapter content: mentions of food, alochol, excessive drinking, public singing, restaurant/bar setting, chef!lee know, bartender!jisung, barowner!changbin.

author's note: HAPPY BIRTHDAY STAY!! It's my first ever, hehe. Anyway, if I miss anything in the content warnings, please let me know. This one is longer than all other chapters, but i do hope you enjoy. :)

“Okay,” You grab your coffee and sit cross legged on the couch next to Jisung. 

He almost jumps out of his seat, caught by surprise. He glares at you playfully with a pout on his lips, making a dramatic show of it all. “Y/N! What if I died in my game?!” He was playing on his Nintendo switch, completely engrossed in whatever game it was. 

You peer over his shoulder, taking a glimpse at the screen. You roll your eyes at him and reach towards the leather bound notebook on the couch with your free hand. “Jisung, you’re playing Animal Crossing. You can’t die in that game.” 

Jisung presses a couple of buttons on the handheld console and the sound of little high pitched gibberish plays on its built-in speakers. “Okay, counterpoint: what if I could?”  He looks back at you, this time he’s the one to raise his brow. The pout on his lips quickly turns into a wide grin when you laugh at him. 

The two of you have gotten into a comfortable routine at his apartment. He’s always up by the time you wake up and has already made coffee for himself, so he’s already got a cup for you waiting. You would join him in the kitchen after showering, hair up in a towel, make-up free, completely fresh from the sleep of the previous night. 

One particular morning though, he wasn’t in the kitchen and instead in his room with the door cracked open. He had left you a note on the kitchen counter next to your coffee that had said, “Working on music. Headphones on. Just come in if you need anything.” It was in Korean and was a little difficult to read. Messy, all over the place, different sizes of characters, and you were about to give up until you saw an arrow at the corner of the post-it. You flipped it over and there, written just as messily, was an English translation. You remember being thankful over how thoughtful he was, despite the little drawing of a crying laughing smiley face next to it. 

“I have a couple of questions, Jisung.” You place the book on your lap and flip it open with your left hand whilst you sip your coffee in your right. 

“What’s up?” The clicky-clacky of the buttons of his switch sound off.. 

“Well,” you were looking over the list, “Do you have a pool?” 

“No.”  He answers simply.

“Okay, guess we’re not crossing off Have a Pool Party from the list…” Your brow furrows as you continue to find other options. “Would you want to go sky-diving?” You look over to him for his answer. 

This time, he drops his game to look you straight in the eyes. “No. No way. Me? In a plane where I jump off?” He shakes his head and picks the game back up. “Ha. You couldn’t pay me.” 

While he goes back to his game, you find yourself subconsciously smiling, sneaking in a couple more seconds of simply observing him: just in a white oversized tee, gray sweats, his hair kind of messy, most likely from laying in bed tossing and turning trying to get sleep. His glasses rest low on the bridge of his nose. When he rubs the strain from one of his eyes you quickly look away. 

You stare a hole into the page of the notebook. “Ummm,” You glance back over to him to see if he noticed you staring. He didn’t, thankfully. Or if he did, he didn’t say anything about it. 

“Oh,” He places the Switch on the coffee table, “Didn’t you want to do the road trip one?” 

You shrug your shoulders. “I did, but you don’t have to come with me on it. I can take a bus or something.” 

He shakes his head and grabs the book from your lap and puts it on his own. “Nah, no way. We’ll go together.” He runs his fingers over a couple of the items. “Look, you’ve got ‘Send a Message in a Bottle’, ‘Sleep under the Stars’, and ‘Exchange playlists with someone’. That is all road trip material. We can go to Busan.” 

You scoot closer to him, looking at the things he pointed out. “Yeah, but I would feel bad if you were to come with me.” 

Jisung rolls his eyes and closes the book with a slight thump. “You’re already staying in my apartment rent free.” He looks at you with a dead panned expression. He stands up and takes the book with him as he goes into the kitchen area. 

You follow him, bringing your cup of coffee with you to the kitchen island with you.”Okay, but what about work?” 

“We can stop by tonight.” He says, working on replacing the water in the sunflower bouquet vase. “You can see where I work and I can beg my boss for more days off.” 

“I finally get to see where the Han Jisung works?” You watch him with your eyes squinted and a playful smirk on your lips. “Maybe he works as an adult dancer, or at a host club?” 

You can see his shoulders shake up and down as he laughs. “Definitely not.” He turns back around to you, placing the vase on the island. “So, what do we need to get ready for our trip?” 

You set your coffee cup aside and grab your phone, quickly searching up a travel guide to Busan on the browser. “Okay, well the bullet train will be about 60,000 Korean Won per person…” You scroll through the page, eyes speed reading through it. “First train leaves at 5:30 am and it would take us 3 hours…” You frown, that seemed like a lot of money…

Jisung leans against the island, hands bracing himself on either edge of the counter. “Or we could make it a real road trip and drive.”

“Oh,” You look up at him momentarily, then go back to your phone, opening a new tab. “Would renting a car be that much cheaper?” 

Jisung laughs and places his hand over your phone, making you put it down. “I have a car, you dork.” 

“You have a car?!”

Jisung nods simply, “Yes.” 

“And we’ve been walking and taking a taxi everywhere?” 

“Have you ever driven in a city? It’s horrible,” he pauses to laugh. “But if we’re going out of Seoul, it’s probably way more convenient than the train… but it will take us maybe an extra two hours.” 

“Hmmm,” You rest your hand on your palm, thinking about the price of everything. “I guess in the long run, it would be cheaper if we decide to go to different places in Busan.” 

Jisung goes to his room quickly and brings back his laptop, placing it on the counter and taking the seat beside you. He wakes the laptop off of sleep mode, “Do you normally plan out things? Next you’re going to give me an hourly schedule.” 

You nod and give off a lopsided smile. “Yeah.. that is something I would do. That’s part of the reason why I wanted to do the bucket list.” 

“I can kind of understand that.” Jisung takes a glance at you, before opening his own browser and looking up boarding options. “Well I’m glad you’re stepping out of your comfort zone.” He stares at his screen now, biting his lip in concentration as he scrolls through pages. 

“Thanks.” You place your hand on the back of his chair to brace yourself on it as you lean over to peer at his screen. “What about this one?” 

He checks the availability. “One room left with two beds. I’ll book it right now.” 

You hop off your chair and before you could make it through the guest room door, Jisung closes his laptop. “Okay, check-in is at 3.” 

You turn around and pout at him, “But I was supposed to pay for it. I’m the one doing the bucket list!” 

Jisung shrugs and takes his laptop, “Then you get the next one.” You can’t see it, but you know that he had the biggest grin on his face. “I’m going to pack my bags. I say we leave tomorrow at 10am.” 

It doesn’t take you long to pack for a trip to Busan. You’re not completely sure how long you were staying, but you do pride yourself on being a habitual over-packer so you aren’t too worried. The only things you consciously have to look out for are your bath supplies. 

You changed into a pair of black wide-legged trousers and a cream square necked tank top, opting to go for a more casual look. Ontop, you had on a black lightweight cropped blazer, giving you the illusion of longer legs. 

When Jisung meets you back in the living room, he’s in a black band tee, jean jacket on top with some loose legged pants. He carries a duffel bag worth of clothes and places it by the door for easy access tomorrow morning. 

Your full suitcase is next to it and he turns his head to look back at you on the couch. “Really? We’re only going for a couple of days.”

“Yeah, but you can never be too prepared.”  You smile brightly at him. 

“Did you leave anything behind?” He makes a show of lifting up your suitcase. 

“Well, I’m not that insane. I left the clothes I’ve already used behind.” 

Jisung checks the clock on the wall and grabs his keys from the counter, “Ready to go? It’s kind of late, sorry. We can grab some food at my workplace. I’m sure they wouldn’t mind.” 

“I’ve always wondered what kind of food they had at a host bar.” 

By the time you two get to the bar, it’s already 8:00. Jisung reaches for the door’s handle and pulls it open for you, “Come on in.” 

You step inside, closely followed by Jisung. The place is dark and dimly lit: overhead fluorescent lights low to allow the neon signs along the walls to cast more of a moody atmosphere. In the far back corner is a bar, and on the short wall farthest from the bar is a built-in bookcase with a neon sign in the middle that reads, “Music For The People”. Beneath the sign is an assortment of cards and board games. The place seemed to have a very laid back feel, long tables to promote mingling with different groups of people. 

There’s a DJ set up in another corner with a stage set up next to it, two microphone stands and a monitor below the stage. Judging by the two people on the stage singing, it seemed to be karaoke night. 

“It’s on your bucket list, right?” 

You look at Jisung with a soft smile on your face. You’re touched that he remembers. 

Looking around, you notice that there are people of all sorts; people that seem to be local, and foreigners as well. You definitely don’t feel like you stick out like a sore thumb for whatever reason. Then again, you remember that you are in the more touristy part of the city, so it made sense that the place looked foreigner-friendly. 

“This is where I work. Not really a host bar, is it?” He offers you his hand as he nods his head back towards the corner where the bar was at. It was crowded in that area, lots of people waiting for their drinks or wanting to order one. 

You take his hand without a moment of hesitation. As he makes his way through all the people, you stick close behind him. Eventually, he’s at the bar and he maneuvers you in front of him just when a seat opens up. You gratefully take the seat and lean towards him, making it easier for him to hear you over the people singing on stage and the people talking around you. “No, it’s definitely not. But I wasn’t too far off.”

Jisung opts to stand next to you instead of taking a seat, leaning himself on the counter. He waves over at a worker behind the bar, a wide grin on his face. “Changbin!” 

Your eyes look toward the man Jisung was waving at. After the man finishes up with another customer at the other end of the bar, he comes towards the both of you. He works out, you can tell with how his plain black tee hugged his pecs and his biceps. In contrast to how built he looks, he has fluffy locks of black hair and the kindest smile. “Yo! Hannie!” 

You wince at the pure volume that came out from the man. A couple of the patrons look in his direction, surprised as well, and other people who you assume are regulars, merely laugh. 

“Ah, you must be Hannie’s new friend!” Changbin looks at you with his brows raised, then quickly glances over at Jisung before going back to you. “Hannie said that he had a friend come into town and he was going to show them around.” 

You nod and smile nervously at the man, “That would be me. I’m Y/N. Did he tell you that we had just met that day, too?”

Changbin looks back at Jisung pointedly. “He did not. But you can fill me in while Hannie here helps out for a little bit, yea? I’m guessing one of those tour guides suggested us to a group of foreign college students and Lee Know-Hyung is in the back on dedicated chef duty.” 

“Ah, okay got it.” Jisung doesn’t whine or complain about it and instead, squeezes past all the throngs of people. You can vaguely hear him screaming, “If you let me through, you’ll get your drinks faster” over all the noise. It makes you giggle. 

Changbin looks at you with a raised brow and a smirk. “So, what will you have?”

“Uh,” You try to think of any of the mixed drinks you’ve had in the past. “I’m not really good at ordering drinks?” 

He laughs and you laugh along with him. “How can you be bad at ordering a drink?”

You place your hands on the edge of the bar counter and lean forward, raising the volume of your voice to combat the change in song and the seemingly drunk singers over the speakers. “My friends usually order me drinks.” 

Changbin nods as if he understands. He looks over to his left on his side of the bar and calls out in a loud voice to Jisung who is pouring shots of sort of liquor into six shot glasses lined up in a row. “Hannie! For Y/N?” 

Jisung looks over quickly before placing the bottle down and taking the glasses three by three and placing them towards the people ordering them. He takes their card and quickly turns around to swipe it before handing it back. He looks back over to you and Changbin and yells back over. “French ‘75 to start!”

“Ohhh, interesting.” Changbin nods slowly and goes to make you the drink, placing champagne and other sorts of things into a shaker. 

“What’s that?”  You question, curious as you’ve never had it before. 

“It’s Champagne, gin, lemon, and sugar.” He moves the shaker back and forth which shows off his biceps. You almost laugh at how muscular he truly is. He pours the drink into an angular sleek champagne flute and places it in front of you. 

You move your purse in your lap so you can take your wallet out, but Changbin shakes his head. “Nope. It’s on Hannie.” 

You laugh and take your hands out of your purse and take a sip of the drink.Your eyes go wide at how much you like it. You can definitely taste the alcohol, but it's more bubbly than anything else. “Oh! This is good! It’s really refreshing too.” 

Changbin watches you while he rinses out the shaker. “M’hm. Hannie must know you well enough for that.” 

“Huh?” You glance back over and Jisung is talking to a couple of customers, laughing and smiling while taking orders. “Oh, did he base it on my personality?”

Changbin shrugs and works on another drink for a patron nearby. He talks to you while he prepares it, “It means you’re a little type A. But since he said to start with it–” 

“It means you gotta loosen up.” Jisung chimes in, coming by to check up on you. “But we’re just starting.” He flashes you a smile and grabs another bottle of liquor behind the bar and goes back to his section. 

You blush a little and make an effort to relax your shoulders. “Is it that obvious?” 

Changbin finishes up with his customer and comes back to you. “A little bit.” He gestures over to the stage, “Are you gonna’ sing?” 

“Oh, no. Definitely not.” 

“It’s on your list!” Jisung yells over. You’re unsure of how he hears you over the noise. He’s actually been looking back every so often to check up on you, but he goes back to his job whenever you look over, just missing his eyes on you by half seconds. 

You close your eyes and heave a loud sigh. “He’s right. It is on the list.” 

Changbin looks confused, but quickly shakes it off. “Okay, Y/N, you have to explain everything. But I’ll get you something to eat.” 

Changbin disappears behind a door that you assume is the kitchen. In that moment, Jisung manages to catch a breath to come back to you. 

“You doing okay?” 

You laugh and notice the sweat on his brow. “I think I should be asking you that.” 

He takes a couple of napkins and pats the sweat off of his forehead. “Yeah. I’m fine. But I gotta muster up the courage to ask Changbin for more days off after this so if you could really sell our situation, that would be great.” He flashes you a smile and eyes your drink. “Let me know when you’re ready for another.” 

You take the drink and take another big sip. You hiccup at all the bubbles. 

Jisung watches you and takes the glass from you once you're done. “So, what do you think? You gonna sing?”  He’s looking at you with something you can’t quite put the finger out. Like he was curious, or maybe like he was really just trying to give you all his attention. It made you feel kinda… fuzzy. 

“I don’t know, I’ve never sung in front of so many people.” Your eyes shift back and forth, feeling more anxious now that you noticed the way he held eye contact with you. “Maybe I just need more alcohol in my system.” 

He ducks down to your level which has slumped a bit because of your lack of confidence. He looks at you through the tops of his lashes. “Hey, you don’t have to do it if you don’t want to. You can just hang out, eat some good food, drink as much or as little as you want. You can watch me grovel on my feet for the next week off.” 

Jisung’s last comment makes you crack a smile and that makes him smile widely. Changbin comes back to the bar and stands by Jisung, raising a brow at the part he came in on. “Eh? A week?”

“No no, I’ll do it. I came all the way to Korea to do as much as I could on this list, so I will get on that stage and sing… but maybe after a couple of shots.” 

“Shots! Hey!!” Jisung is quick to celebrate and run to the other end of the bar to get shot glasses, completely avoiding Changbin’s question. 

Changbin points a finger at Jisung’s retreating form. “Did he say the next week?” 

You give an exaggerated shrug of your shoulders and a confused look. “No idea.” 

Jisung comes back with four shot glasses and pours some kind of clear liquid in it. Changbin whines – more like shouts in a whiny tone– and clicks his tongue. “Get Hyung in here if we’re doing a shot!” 

Jisung screams from his spot. “Hyung!” 

Almost immediately, another man comes through the kitchen door with four dishes in his arm, all balancing precariously in his hands and forearms. He places it on the counter against the wall and turns to the rest of you with a look of annoyance on his face that looks like it had been perfectly sculpted and molded from marble. “Oh. Good to see you’re actually in for a shift this week, Jisung.” He peers over at the shots and rolls his eyes. Then, he looks at you straight in the eyes and it makes you cower a little, the weight of his stare intimidating you. After a second, his features soften and he grins at you, his eyes turning into half moons and creasing at the edges. “Hi! I’m Lee Know!” He reaches over and takes his shot glass, bringing it up to his nose to smell it. “Vodka?” 

The rest of you follow Lee Know’s lead and put your glasses in the air then clink them together. 

“Geonbae!” 

You shut your eyes and take the shot, feeling the alcohol sting as it goes down. You shake your head in disgust and shove the glass back towards their side of the bar. 

Changbin laughs and this time it’s a high pitched one with a rapid staccato as he gathers the glasses and washes them off. 

Lee Know is still staring at you and that’s when you realize that you hadn’t introduced yourself. 

“Ah, oh. I’m Y/N. I’m Jisung’s new friend.” 

He nods once and goes back to the dishes he had placed down and hands them to Jisung to give them out. 

You look to Jisung quickly who gives you a shrug before going off to give people their orders which leaves you alone with the new man. 

“Seungmin says you’ve been staying with Jisung.” Lee Know crosses his arms over each other, leaning against the back counter.

Changbin listens in as he makes more drinks for his customers and he makes a point to make it known when he extends his neck over in your direction. 

“Yeah. For a couple of days. I told him it was okay and that I could find another place.”   Changbin slides you a drink in the meantime, which you gladly take. “Another French 75” he says. He gives you a look, what that reads: you might need this.

Lee Know is very hard to read and judging by how Changbin and Jisung both left you with him, you could only assume he was very respected, and maybe even feared. You sip on your drink, hoping that the buzz starts to come soon and that you gain some sort of confidence. 

“No,” Lee Know finally speaks, which causes you to look at him again. “Staying with Jisung is good. He needs a friend.” 

You tilt your head, confused at the statement. “Aren’t you all friends?” 

Lee Know nods and takes the empty glass. That sip that you took might have been more like a gulp. “Well, we are. But sometimes it’s easier to talk to other people about certain things.”  

Lee Know notices Jisung is back and places a hand on his shoulder before walking away. “Just get me for the next shot, yea?” 

Jisung gives him a thumbs up and places a plate in front of you. “I didn’t realize this was yours, sorry.” 

You look down at it and it’s beautiful. It was only a piece of salmon laid on microgreens, but the plating was exquisite. You look around the place again, just to make sure you weren’t in a 5 star restaurant. Jisung notices this and laughs. “That’s just Lee Know Hyung. We keep telling him to find another classier restaurant, but he says it would be too stuffy.” 

Changbin is at the register, swiping different cards. “Really, he’d just miss us too much.” 

Jisung nods in agreement. “Want another before you go up there?” 

You take a deep breath to calm your nerves. You chew on the inside of your cheek, debating on going up there and when that little ball of anxiousness knots in your stomach, you give him a nod. “One more. But give me something different.” 

Jisung nods and quickly grabs a shaker, pouring the ingredients in. “You ever had a Sakura Martini?” 

You shake your head, “No… I usually stick to vodka sodas. Do you think I’ll like it?” 

He shrugs, shaking the shaker in his right hand back and forth. “You’ll like the way I make it.” He gives you that grin again, the left corner of his lips pulling back to show his pearly whites. He’s being a little cocky, but it’s attractive? You think you may be a little tipsy at this point. He pours you the drink in a martini glass and garnishes it with a sprig of a flower; a sakura blossom judging by the name of the drink. 

You take the cocktail and sip on it, wincing a little. “Jisung, this is strong. Good, but strong.” 

He wipes the bar clean from the syrup that he spilled a bit of. “Well then, I guess you’ll be fine going up there.” He hands a book of songs to choose from and you’re flipping through the pages. 

While you parse through the songs, you are taking bites of the salmon and washing it down with your drink. At some point, Changbin had called a switch and when you look up, it’s him you see, which catches you off guard. 

“Where did Jisung go?” 

“Ah, his regulars came in.” 

You look in his direction and he’s surrounded by girls who are leaning forward on the bar to get his attention. 

Maybe it’s the alcohol, but you huff in slight annoyance. “Guess he’s popular.” 

 “He’s definitely good for business.”Changbin laughs. “So what was this I heard about you staying with him?” 

“I basically walked up to him, gave him some flowers, we grabbed coffee and he offered his guest room to me since I didn’t really have a place yet.” 

“You came to Korea wi–” 

“Yeah, I know. Kind of reckless of me. But that was the point.” 

“Oh, is this your list you were talking about?” 

You nod and place the booklet down, deciding on a song. “Yeah… I’ve kind of just been stuck in the everyday notions and I kind of decided to take the bucket list and just run with it.” 

Changbin’s expression grows soft and fond at your explanation. “What have you guys done so far?” 

“Well, I got a tattoo, we drew portraits of each other, we crashed a wedding. Tomorrow morning we’re planning on going on a small trip to Busan, but we can come back before his next shift,” You sputter out the last part quickly. “But tonight…,” You point your thumb at the stage, “I guess I’m doing karaoke?”

“Here in Korea, it’s Norebang.” Changbin takes a couple of empty glasses that were left on the bar and puts them in a crate that he’ll bring to the back to get washed. “Have you heard of a One Shot?” 

Lee Know comes back out with more plates to be served and his expression drops. “One Shot?!” His eyes roll to the back of his head and he grabs Jisung and brings him over. 

You’re confused. “What’s a One Shot?” 

Jisung is trying to catch up with the multiple conversations around him and since Lee Know had pried him away from his regulars, they followed him over to where you were seated, chanting ‘One Shot’ over and over again. “You just chug your drink.” 

“But I don’t have a drink?” 

“Then get everyone a drink, Changbin!” Lee Know yells as he excuses himself to serve his orders. 

“Mekju?” Jisung calls out and the group of girls agree. 

Changbin doesn’t have to look at you to realize you may not understand. “It’s Beer and Soju in a glass.” As he explains, he’s pouring four glasses while Jisung is working on another four. 

They both line up the glasses filled with light amber beer and soju. Lee Know comes back and takes his glass, raising it up in the air. “Love Shot!” 

Changbin grabs his glass and turns to Lee Know  He uses his eyes to tell you to grab your glass. You do, and once you have it in your hands, Changbin points at Jisung. You look at him a little confused, but Jisung grabs his own glass and extends his arm out in your direction.  At this, the girls pout and heave out sighs and whines of disappointment. They turn to their own friends and two by two, link their arms together and drink from their cups. 

You look to Changbin and Lee Know who are doing the same, albeit Lee Know dramatically hitting Changbin’s bicep. “You’re working out too much!” 

Jisung is looking at you with a smile on his face, eyes glistening in mischievousness, “Well?” 

You're feeling warm, your cheeks and ears are heating up. The lights in the restaurant are not helping you cool down. That’s definitely why you’re blushing, not because Han Jisung is looking at you like you’re the only one he sees at the moment. Well, that’s what he’s doing right? Or maybe it was the alcohol that made it seem that way…

You swallow the lump in your throat and wrap your arm around his. The bar counter between you too is a little too deep so you have to stand up and lean forward on your stool to get closer to Jisung. “Cheers.”  Your eyes are focused on Han Jisung’s and his are focused on you as you both start to chug your drinks. 

You pull apart and place your glass on the counter. You take a dramatic step back, fanning yourself. “It’s so hot in here.” 

Jisung eyes you for a moment with the same grin on his face before he takes your glasses away. “So, you gonna sing?” 

“I’m gonna sing!” 

You pull the collar of your jacket away from your neck, trying to cool yourself down. 

Lee Know holds his hand out. “Give.” 

You don’t question how demanding he seems to naturally be and shrug off your jacket to give it to him. You turn towards the stage, shaking your hands at the wrists to get rid of any nervousness left in your body. 

You place the correct number into the machine next to the stage and when the song that the current person is singing ends, you give an applause with the rest of the restaurant bar and take the microphone from them. 

You take a step on the stage and squint at how bright the lights are. You bring the microphone to your mouth and clear your throat as the synth of the intro starts to play. Your eyes dart back and forth at all the faces and you feel like you wanna back out all of a sudden, palms sweaty, knees feeling weak. 

At that moment, there are screams of encouragement from the bar. It’s Jisung, Changbin, and Lee Know. They’re whooping and hollering and clapping. One of the girls leans to Jisung to ask him a question and you can see him mouth your name. That same girl starts chanting your name and her friends join along. You can’t help but smile and even laugh. 

The screen in front of you starts to count down your queue. The intro isn’t that difficult to sing, it’s actually very similar to talking. When you got to the pre-chorus, it became a little more melodic. There’s a little riff that you attempt to do, you’re unsure if you nail it, but Jisung is cheering loudly for you and you close your eyes from embarrassment, choosing to look away from that corner of the room. 

When the chorus comes, most of the people in the place are singing along with you and over every single voice, you can hear Jisung, Changbin, and Lee Know’s. It was a back and forth between you singing, “Thank U, Next” and everyone else acting as your backup singers singing, “NEXT”. 

Some time during the second chorus, Jisung leans over to Changbin. “Hyung, I might need a week off.” 

Changbin pauses singing to raise a skeptical brow at the younger man, but quickly joins back in during the bridge.  “This is my favorite part!”

 By the end, everyone was singing the outro. 

Loud shouting and applause followed after the song and you quickly escaped back to your seat at the bar, squeezing past all the people who gave you pats on the back and thumbs ups. One of the girls who had taken your seat hopped off to give you the chair. 

You sat down and had your elbows on the table, face in your hands. You’re groaning in embarrassment, but mostly because you needed to contain all the adrenalin you felt in your body. 

“You did well, Y/N!” Lee Know pours your group another four shots. 

Jisung and Changbin look at their chef, confused. “When did you pour the shots?” 

Lee Know smirks and you can’t help but liken him to a cat at that moment. “Just take the damn shots.” 

By the time Changbin hands you your second glass of water, you were definitely drunk. You weren’t slurring your words, but you’d stop mid sentence to laugh at something you had just said yourself and Jisung was keeping up with you in terms of level of toxicity. 

Jisung was in the middle of taking another order when Changbin swats him away. “You’re off.” 

He fishes his phone from his back pocket. “Hyung, it’s only 2 in the morning.” He sighs dramatically, his intoxication pretty evident. 

Changbin grabs the bottle of liquor from Jisung’s hands and blocks him from it with his body. “Yea, well Y/N is drunk.” 

You look at him with a pout “Not that drunk.”

Chanbgin raises a brow at you when you start swaying a little in your seat and shakes his head. “Hannie, you are also drunk. You’re pouring a little too heavy handed.”  

Jisung nods admittedly. “Yeah, that’s true.” 

You giggle at that. 

Lee Know comes out of the kitchen, untying the apron around his waist and tossing it aside. “You guys have a road trip tomorrow though, no?” Lee Know takes an order next to you and then rolls his sleeve up to help Changbin out with the drinks. 

“Oh!” You nod your head, “We do! We should get going.” 

“Jisung, her coat.” 

“Ah” He bends down to the small locker for employees under the bar counter and grabs it and brings it over to you. He places it over your shoulders and holds his hand out. “I guess we’re on our way then?” 

“Byeeee '' You emphasize your goodbye, taking Jisung’s hand while waving at the two boys still working with your other. 

“Han Jisung!”  Changbin calls out once you’ve made it half way through the exit. 

“Yo?” Han yells back. His voice carries far and loudly it makes you wince in pain hearing it right next to you. 

“I’ll see you next week!” 

You turn around to see Changbin waving goodbye. Lee Know is pointing at the both of you and he screams, just as loud. “Get a hangover drink for the both of you!” 

You’re back at Jisung’s apartment after stopping by the convenient store for two hangover drinks, one for each of you in the morning.

You sit on the floor at the coffee table across from him, laughing at something he just said with another drink that Jisung had made for you when you mentioned you could do one more before calling it quits. “You can cross Sing Karaoke In Front of People off your list now.” He says, looking at you over the rim of his glass of whiskey.  “Oh, I can.” You place your now empty cup on the coffee table, getting on your feet to look for the notebook. You feel a little woozy, but it’s not concerning. As far as you’re aware, your speech wasn’t affected yet and you knew that was the tell tale sign that you had met your own personal limit. 

“It’s on the counter.” Jisung stands up with you and grabs your cup, heading over to the kitchen. 

You follow him and open the notebook, grabbing a random pen and crossing it off. “You know, I’m really glad I found this lis–” 

Your eyes look up and you find Jisung staring at you. 

He’s leaning with his back against the refrigerator, arms crossed and head slanted in your direction. One arm is crossed over his chest, the other is bent up at the elbow, his fingers resting on his bottom lip.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Your cheeks are already red so it hides the sweeping blush on your cheeks. The alcohol in your system makes you naturally giggly and happy, so the smile on your lips is excused, though you know that if you were sober, you’d look very similar to how you do right now. 

“Like what?” Jisung asks with a smirk on his lips. He pushes himself off the fridge and he takes a couple steps towards you to stand next to you. Soon, he’s in front of you, resting his arms on the island table behind you. You’re between his arms, trapped and you can’t look away from his gaze. He can’t hide his expression. His eyes are going over your whole form slowly, they come back up and linger on your lips for a moment, then he meets your eyes again and his deepens the smirk. 

“Like you want to kiss me?”

ending author's notes: I'm sitting here kicking my feet up and giggling "Like you wanna kiss me?" HEHEHE who do I think I am?! I hope you all enjoyed it. Next chapter contains smut.

taglist

@burningchaosdeer, @bat-shark-repellant, @jisunglyricist, @captivq, @lixiel0ver, @channieandhisgoonsquad, @dalamjisung, @laylasbunbunny, @beanebabyy, @leyknxw, @vixensss, @hyunfilms, @cutiespaghetti, @hanjisunginc

couldn't be tagged

[sxrensxngwrites]

The Inner Circle Crushing on Someone from a Different Background -- Part Two

this request comes from anon, who asks: 'Head canons for the main dragon age squard (if you feel up to it of course!!!!) About them crushing on someone from a different background (example: cullen and someone rich)'

I ended up splitting this up because I got carried away... my bad. If you want any of these to be revisited or you want me to go into more detail, feel free to shoot me another ask! The same can be said if you want DA characters from different games.

Part One (Blackwall, Cassandra, Cole) Part Two (Cullen, Dorian, The Iron Bull) Part Three (Josephine, Leliana, Sera)

CULLEN:

Cullen’s family had many mouths to feed, but they never tried to make their kids feel like they were missing out on anything. However, as Cullen got older he began to realize how difficult it was for his parents. This led him to joining the Templars; working in the order was a very consistently paying job that gave him places to sleep, so he could very easily send money back to his family. Even after he leaves the Templars and joins the Inquisition, he finds himself double checking his finances out of habit. The Inquisition is tighter on money and resources in the beginning, so suddenly he’s back to watching every coin that comes into his possession.

Enter the object of his affection: a person who never had to worry about money ever before. They’re likely related to some nobility, whether it be from Ferelden or otherwise. Money had been a given, so they’re very quick to buy drinks for the whole Inner Circle or give out money to the villagers of Haven. Cullen admires their generosity, but it hurts him greatly to watch them treat their money with such irreverence. He wishes it didn’t bother him as much as it does. As Cullen begins to catch feelings, the formalities aren’t what trips up their relationship. In fact, they have little to no meaning after a month or so of knowing each other. 

However, now that they’re a full member of the Inquisition and the strains of the job are becoming more apparent, money is becoming an issue. Their family isn’t exactly pleased that they’ve spent family money on the ragtag Inquisition–it being seen as sacrilege at that point. So, their family cuts them off, forcing them to learn how to spend their resources wisely. As sad as it is for them (and disappointing for the Inquisition to be losing such an important donor), Cullen is somewhat relieved. Now he doesn’t have to watch them throw away their money as if it has no value.

They come together over it actually, Cullen giving sound advice on rationing their money and picking up jobs to help around Haven. Although it frustrated him initially, he finds their eagerness to learn rather endearing. They spend regular time together, Cullen teaching what he’s picked up about finances and them telling stories of their upbringing. They begin to understand one another better, and Cullen is sure that he’s smitten. Eventually–when money and war isn’t the primary focus of either of their lives–they decide to stay together after the Breach has been dealt with and pool their remaining savings together. 

DORIAN:

Growing up as a son of a Tevinter Magister, Dorian had quite a lot of resources at his beck and call. However, he never let that deter his outlook on other people. There might be some disagreements here and there, but Dorian never let it dictate who he kept in his company–especially after he left Tevinter for Ferelden and Orlais.

Most everyone in Dorian’s early life was a mage, so it wasn’t unsurprising to him that he would be attracted to a mage when he ran away further south. However, his new romantic interest was unlike any Tevinter Mage. After the fall of many of the Ferelden circles, it was only natural that they’d be deemed an apostate. They had to travel light, but it wasn’t like they ever had much to their name to begin with. That had been taken away before they even made it to the Circle. 

Dorian, while he doesn’t hide his standing, also doesn’t wave it in his peers’ faces to make them feel less than. His companion, on the other hand, is still afraid of announcing their mage status in the post-circle world of Ferelden. Upon their meeting, however, the two connect over their different relationships with magic. They share anecdotes, stories, and theories, ultimately bonding over a shared academic interest. Dorian sees them as an equal from the beginning.

Everything goes swimmingly until it becomes apparent how much sway Dorian’s family has in Tevinter. Still afraid of being found by any remaining Templars, his crush is cautious of any sort of fame. Even if it includes being involved with the son of a Tevinter Magister. It likely separates the two for a while, but then they each remember what brought them together in the first place: the possibilities of what could be in the future. Abandoning fear, the two rejoin together, seeking new avenues for each of them to progress their spheres of influences.

THE IRON BULL:

The Iron Bull was raised inside the Qun, following it up until it came in the way of him and The Chargers. Even then, it greatly influences how he interacts with others. For Bull, romantic and intimate relationships are a need to be fulfilled rather than a connection between people. 

Most cultures outside of the Qun think the opposite of intimacy: that it’s a special connection between people rather than a need to be fulfilled. Bull has met many people who think this way, but even then most of them are willing for their relationship to be short-lived. However, Bull meets a special someone that he has no intent of romancing: they’re a diplomatic bard in the court of Orlais with a soft spot for the romantic. 

They initially meet when the Bull’s Chargers are stationed in Orlais. Bull’s interest in them is initially surface level–a few interactions that will eventually fizzle out as he moves on to someone else. Little does he know, they’re very incapable of something as mild as a fling. So a friendship begins, Bull being filled in on all the Orlesian gossip by his new friend. A physical relationship might even begin, but Bull’s new “friend” is ever the romantic, and is severely disappointed when it doesn’t turn into a love to last all ages. When the Chargers are called away on business, they part ways. 

They’re reunited once again when Leliana and Josephine call an old friend to the Inquisition–and Bull is met with a broken heart he left back in Orlais. Of course, they’re very aware that the misunderstanding is their fault, but that doesn’t make it hurt any less. Over time, they learn to forgive Bull and see him as a friend. After everything is said and done, I believe Bull reframes the way he’s the world–now having chosen his friends over the Ben-Hassrath. Once he’s had some time to reassess who he really is and who he wants, he might let the romantic have another try.

PART ONE | PART TWO | PART THREE

[goodoldwritings]

gaah u have no idea how excited i was 2 find sfl writers out there,,,, it was a pleasant surprise!!! but uhm anyway i was wondering if i could request the four main cultists from date to die for x a masc reader like after the events of the game where its all happy and cheery and stuff... im not sure how it would work for Buck, but i rlly wanna see more of him 😭 if u cant think of anything i would be just as happy if you did before the events of the game instead!! sorry if this is too much but thank u!!!

A lovely ask! I wondered if anyone would ask for the cultists, However I don't have Character edits for them yet.

Warnings:

Spoilers for: Sucker For Love Date To Die For

Summary:

Headcanons for Buck, Kid, Nanni and Billy getting a happily ever after with a masculine reader.

Nanni:

Hot girl summer? Nah 💅Hot girl eternity💅

Even if she is the stereotypical hot blonde girl she isn't stupid, trusting? Yes but not stupid.

Matching nails, it doesn't matter your personality nor your opinion on nail polish you at the very LEAST have your pinkies done to match hers and at the MOST have matching outfits too!

I have this feeling she would volunteer at the library with Muu and gush about the best couples in town. Occationally Rhok'zan joins in to be filled in on all the relationship gossip.

Easily apologizes for her actions in the cult without you asking her to, forgets who she's already apologized to and starts a list in her bedroom.

The only one with family to meet! (None of the other cultists Mentioned family) Nanni constantly elbows you to not mention the cult stuff in front of her parents because they forgot when the world ended and started again.

Also+ double dates with Rhok'zan and Stardust! You are good friends with the pair (How does one give hooves a manicure? Nanni probably looks up a tutorial about caring for goat and Cow hooves to take inspiration from to do it herself)

Rhok'zan loves your relationship with Nanni! You're adorable and she's expecting younglings from you asap! She would love to babysit!

Billy:

Hear me out, Billy is opening a gym, it just feels right. The Gym is based on honor and respect and keeps the utopian folks from "getting soft"

Your "romantic moments" are wrestling eachother to the ground at the gym. She probably kicks your butt no matter how good or bad of shape you are in.

Takes the longest to apologize for any of her actions in the cult, mostly she's just apologizing to Rhok'zan and Stardust.

You two probably keep the town safe by just existing, every Utopia has people who want to mess it up but- look at Billy and think "would I want to fight her and do her loved ones harm?-" No. She will go John wick.

Kid annoys Billy but you don't mind him, it's funny to watch them interact. Sometimes you take Kid with you to the gym just to mess with Billy.

Despite how rough tough and difficult Billy is, helping her braid her hair is a soft activity you two probably do. She is a tad tsundere about it but... she totally could do her hair herself, so she's letting you do it.

Rhok'zan is Concerned, she knows all relationships are different but watching Billy pin you to the floor in a chokehold (lovingly) has her perplexed.

Kid:

I had the most ideas for him first, hear me out- You write and play music together! (Or if you're not musically talented you help the best ya can!)

In Rhok'zan's almost utopian world you two are like a two person boy band working on making his dream come true without Bucks magic brainwashing.

Or you're like his manager, keeping him from doing stupid things in the heat of the moment.

But first there is the guilt, he cannot apologize to most of the people he wronged because they don't remember. He remembers and it causes him doubt about his career on bad days.

Similarly to wondering if his fans have the free will to love him, he wonders if you too are somehow brainwashed by this world. Prepare for clingy mornings and "are you sure you're not under a spell-"

"Yes, I'm sure you dummy."

Given its a masculine reader- sharing clothes and accessories, he loves to match! At the very least match bracelets at all times.

Rhok'zan thinks your relationship is adorable! You're good for eachother (and definitely wants to use her powers to get you some kids but that's intense!)

Buck:

"I can fix him I swear." I'm kidding! If I can love Nyanlathotep, you can love Buck.

It took a while for stardust to convince Buck to come see the Utopia world. That is when you met.

The first thing is his appearance, he is... messed up, but I just imagine after the equivalent of eons gazing at the stars he has this cool starry look to him. Give the man smoochy kisses to make him feel better, just smother him in affection-

Emotional support, Therapy human.

You are quickly trusted to supervise him and be his tour guide around. Buck has no access to magic nor is he really mad anymore.

You get him some nice clothes and he stays with you at your home, he is a homebody these days with his appearance and what he's done.

Eventually you set up a meeting with the others (Nanni, Kid, Billy and Stardust) for apologies but getting Him and Rhok'zan in the same room is far harder- given he tortured her and they are Exes.

Rhok'zan is worried about you with your relationship but definitely thinks you are good for Buck. Keeps an eye on you jussst in case she thinks he mistreats you.

[faces-ofvenus]

Hello can I request hc for Aegon with pride ful fem Lannister who’s older than him but not too much. They fell in love with each other but later on she cannot tolerate him whoring around and having many bastards so she trying to break up with him but he won’t let her go and lock her up in kinglanding and marry with her in the end or something. Hope this idea not creep you lol, have a good day :)

nothing really scares me, since I know those damn Targaryens are all damn yanderes.

You like all Lannisters can be highly ambitious, so when it came to the proposal to marry a Targaryen, and not just anyone as King Viserys's first male son, it wasn't hard to say yes. What always left her with a foot behind is that combined with her ambition comes her lion pride, to find a man who really respects her and sees her as unique, just as with the biggest flaws her father still treated her mother as the most beautiful Lannister in the world. So you were skeptical of your fiancé's libertine behavior.

Aegon and his family sometimes had small get-togethers whether you were at King's Landing or he was at Casterly Rock, but oh the lip he had on never really won her over, they were determined to hate each other, their custom ones didn't match, but maybe that's what Aegon tried to be attracted to you, you were as ambitious as a man, as brave as you were, you managed to put you in your rightful place, at the same time you managed to be kind and loved by all. And for a while that was good, you set your rules, you wouldn't stop him from falling into your drinking bouts, but I could never betray you, you wouldn't accept bastard children, no matter how little guilt they would have, it was hard, and Aegon even seemed to deal with a lot. okay with that. But on the eve of your wedding, you could play games, women coming out of your room more and more, the fact that all the flirting and approaching the different women, between women of high houses, even the lowest, and with that came the news that you wanted to break up your marriage.

Aegon went into maybe a little despair, he was in love at least that's what he felt, but when he drank it got into his blood, everything got cloudy and he did things, he tried everything to justify, justify his betrayals and relapses, but you were just as mean, not believing, not accepting your gifts, apologies and promises, none of that when your pride was hurt, it just made the young Targaryen angry.

But he would have what he wanted, you were his, as they promised on a date night, he talked to your mother, begged might be the right word, and Alicent honestly didn't care much for you, and your house could provide them with great economic support, so it was not difficult to convince your father to go ahead with the marriage, you could walk freely around the castle, but you could hardly escape, since he wouldn't even let you out through the gates, Aegon said it was for your protection, but you knew that no, until your wedding day he always really tried to convince you, since marrying you wasn't enough, he wanted you all back, which would hardly happen with his ego and pride hurt, but in which he was willing, the reality is, was he willing to give up his single life? For the wedding took place, and you felt more trapped than ever, a lion in a prison of dragons, either you escape and die or you join them.

[thelemoncoffee]

i've been playing SAR alot lately (cause i really want a specific cosmetic i have to complete a season pass to get) and i've been having brain worms for Saiouma playing it together.

please, allow me to brainrot for a post.

for ye who are unaware SAR (Super Animal Royale) is a top down battle royale with genetically engineered chibi furries in it called Super Animals. i don't normally like battle royales but this one is pretty nice with a good community, lore, and very rarely makes items unobtainable. its a good one for people who are looking for a chill battle royale, 10/10 would recommend

anywho saiouma playing SAR. i have so many brainworms- mostly to do with how they'd play the game, cosmetics they'd choose, and what game modes they'd prefer.

i can see Kokichi having been the one to have found the game, or was introduced to it by someone else, and then dragged Shuichi into it cause he wanted someone to share it with. he'd defiantly into the classic royale modes (solo, duos, squads), and use to really love Mystery Mode before it was removed from the mode list (there's always mummers of it coming back, but it hasn't. he misses it so)

Shuichi on the other hand prefers the extra modes (SAW vs Rebellion, Bawking Dead) over the actual Royale, mostly cause the larger teams makes it less likely for him to die instantaneously, and in both cases death doesn't mean you are out of the game. in SVR your teams respawn but have a limited respawn count pool that's connected to how many points your team has left and the first team to 0 points loses, and in BD when you die you become a chicken zombie and get to be part of the respawning hoard attacking the remaining survivors. he doesn't like the stress being against 90% of the lobby right off the bat creates, so these two modes are all he ever plays unless Kokichi begs him to join him for a round of Duos.

weapons wise it's a bit trickier cause i'm not too familiar with all the weapons stats- hell i don't know the stats for the weapons i prefer- but fear not! i can uses the wiki to scrounge up stats and strategy information.

for these i'm formatting this a bit different cause there's two gun slots, a melee, a throwable weapon, and one power-up, so i'm going to do this but listing off the choices and explanations bullet point style. i won't list the melee options cause they are purely cosmetic, they all have the exact same stats and all choices are really just skins so it's pointless to list those off

Kokichi- Main gun: Hunting Rifle. Kokichi loves to makes this game hard on himself, so why not give him a really difficult gun to use, hell even the wiki is saying this gun is for experienced users. this thing needs to be reloaded ever shot, the reload takes longer than most guns, and it slows player movement the most out of any gun in the game (it's tied with the BCG in player speed but still). HOWEVER! despite this absolute bullshit, it's great gun in his hands cause if you know how to shoot it right you can break any level of armor in one shot and do critical damage to someone who's unarmored. Secondary gun: Thomas Gun. to combat his stubborn ass difficult main gun habits, this is his favorite late game gun. it's not too easy to find so when he can't find it he settles for anything he can get his hands on- but it's his favorite automatic cause it's great at destroying armor, doesn't slow his movements, and is designed for his preferred close range combat style. it's really good for when he get into the final 10 range and needs a quicker gun to wipe out his opponents in their now insanely smaller arena that is still rapidly closing in on them, threatening to suffocate them to death if they can't kill one another fast enough Powerup: Skunk Gas Snorkel. so the arena gets smaller via a ring of green gas called Super Skunk Gas that slowly suffocates you- there are also skunk bombs that people can throw to make smaller temporary clouds of it. this items allows you to take less damage while in the gas, and Kokichi, who loves to play games the hard way, would purposefully like to play chicken with the skunk gas and uses this to keep himself just a little safer Throwable: Banana. it's literally just a banana, you can use them to slip anyone both enemy and teammate and stun them for a few seconds. he uses these exclusively on his teammates to annoy the shit out of them.

Shuichi- Main gun: AK. imma be real i'm giving him my main guns cause i genuinely feel like my play style suits him. the AK is an automatic he picked up cause it's an automatic and that means he doesn't have to spam click, but kept it cause it works well with his tunnel vision game play style. it is one of the guns that slows you down the most when holding, and isn't the best for close combat, but put him in a small corridor with people running at him and he can plow them down with it while standing still (aha, i do that) Secondary gun: SMG. this is a lighter automatic gun that's bullet spread is pretty wide, so he uses it mostly when on the move and in wide open spaces as he moves from one cubbyhole of the map to the next. they also shoot a bit faster than the AK but that means nothing to him when half the bullets miss the target by the nature of the gun's balancing. Powerup: Ninja booties. these reduce the amount of noice your character makes while moving and increases your speed just a hair, they also hide your footprints that zombies in BD can normally see and follow. they don't actually help him out too much given he doesn't know how to stealth play to save his life, but they give him a sense of comfort to some degree and that's what matters Throwable: zipline. Shuichi- like most SAR players- cannot resist the sweet lure of a zipline to be mindlessly played on for way too long in the middle of a match, so why not be the one to deploy them and trigger the collective braincell? besides, he forgets he has the other throwables when they're needed in combat

okay, now i got that done, i know i made a post once where i assigned the V3 cast super animal skins, but that was based on which i think they'd be as characters, not as actual preferred skins. so now i present to you what i think Saiouma's main three skin choices would be

Kokichi- -his is pretty difficult for me to pick with cause there's a good few i think he'd really love. but my faves for him are the Alebrije variants of various animals due to how neon they are. there's six of them but the one i think he'd like the most is the tiger variant -for something less eyestrain tho, i also thin he'd like the pig on the principle of i hc that's his fave animal. i picked the Lunar Pig cause it's red and i also hc that's his fave color. he literally would use this just because it's two fave things in one -he'd also really like the dragons because dragons are fucking sick as hell, any skin would do but i think he'd get the Ice Wyvern first just because it's the hardest to get

Shuichi- -similar to why i picked the lunar pig, Shuichi's main is the Yellow Bearded Dragon because i hc he likes yellow and reptiles. his favorite Reptile is snakes, but there's no snakes in SAR so he went with the cutest reptile option they had instead - i cannot be convinced Shuichi didn't see the Tibetan Fox, wheeze laugh at it's stupid face for far too long, then decide to get him simply for his own amusement -the Goth Possum is his second favorite skin in the whole game honestly, he likes how it looks like it has eyebags, and it's gothic

okay i'm done now- i'd add weapon skins too but this post it too long as is, feel free to send me asks if you wanna know about those tho

[khaire-traveler]

If you're still answering for the ask game: 🧿

🧿 - Did you have any other spiritual beliefs before discovering your current practice?

(Adding a read more for those uninterested as this is a longer post)

Yes! I used to be a Christian. I basically followed my own intuitive beliefs about Jesus and God after struggling to discover my own path (my family was not religious, so it was a lot of fumbling around in the dark growing up). I didn't really do things the same as other Christians around me would at the time (things are different now, I would say), so it was difficult for me to find a good sense of community. I found one in a local church, but even that was a bit weird for me because most people were in their 30s-40s and my ass was 16 lmao.

Anyway, I was a very devout Christian for pretty much my entire life (I even considered becoming a pastor), but when I was 17 (late 2019-early 2020), something massive changed. My PTSD reared its ugly head for the first time, and when it hit me, it hit me fucking hard. Depression and anxiety became virtually unbearable for me, I was literally going through three abusive situations at once, it was my Senior year of highschool while the pandemic hit, and my life felt like it was falling apart. Shit was absolutely wild. And throughout it, I prayed to the Christian God. I prayed and prayed and prayed, and for the first time in my life, it felt like no one was listening on the other end.

I was praying to the ceiling. I was crying out to the dry wall.

That was when I officially left my Christian faith. Other factors also contributed to it, but I won't be discussing them. It took me until August of 2020 to engage with any pagan/polytheist beliefs. Before then, I tried out Wicca for, like, one month, realized that it didn't work for me and also made me feel weird as an enby, and just sort of didn't have any beliefs for a while (glad that Wicca didn't stick, tbh). In August, though, Lord Hermes reached out to me. As far as I know, he's the first deity to reach out to me, and my gods did he reach out strong lmao. He would not give up on my oblivious ass, sending me signs and trying to get my attention. I'm grateful to him for that.

When I prayed to Hermes for the first time, someone was on the other end of that prayer. I wasn't praying to the ceiling; I was praying to someone, and he was listening to me. I felt his energetic presence as well, and although I was a bit nervous because I hadn't had that experience before, it was still reassuring in a way, almost like a confirmation that "yes, this was a good thing to try". Hermes was the first deity I ever started worshipping in a pagan sense. It was a lovely experience, and from the start, he was kind, helpful, and supportive. He will always hold a special place in my heart. 🧡

-

That's my story. I'm sorry for the whole backstory I just gave you lol. Thank you for the ask, Nonny. c:

If you want to join the ask game, here's the link!

[romanken]

Crawls out of notesapp carrying nell lore. If you guys even care

Was difficult for me to reconcile durge canonically being raised by a normal family before joining the bhaalists bc nell has such an obvious lack of socialization but I've figured it out

- she was adopted and raised by a zariel tiefling couple in the lower city. because she was born directly of bhaal's flesh w no non-godly parents she didn't really have like… a firm physical form or appearance? As a small child she was very malleable and was kind of like a changeling that wasn't in control of her transformations. Constantly shifting form and appearance etc. as she grew up she began to solely model herself off of her adoptive family and by age ~4 she looked solidly like a zariel tiefling except slightly wrong. She still kind of has an uncanny valley type deal but for the most part she passes as a normal tiefling even though she definitely is not.

- family! Mother and father were kind ordinary folk. Owned an apothecary in the lower city and loved her very much even though they could tell she was hmmmm absolutely fucking deranged. She would bite another kid's arm off at the playground and they'd go oh isn't our baby so spirited :). Like ok first of all that is a dog and she has rabies. Her adoptive parents also already had a son called laurence, who was about four years older than nell and an apprentice wizard. He and nell were extremely close even though he could tell something was wrong with her.

- when nell was ten the temple of bhaal decided it was time to collect her; they offered her the choice of letting them kill her family, or doing it herself. She burned down their home and returned to the temple as bhaal's chosen. Worst preteen ever. Laurence was at his apprenticeship when the fire happened and survived, but though nell had died with his parents for several years after.

- nell had a different name when she with her adoptive parents but after years back with the cult + her general lack of attachment to the name she's forgotten it. “Nell” is actually a name gortash gave her (cringe). They took the name from one of the flaming fists nell murdered during their first meeting; her name was donella and when gortash decided he wanted to call nell something that was not "dearest bhaalspawn" was what he chose. When nell woke up on the nautiloid she had nooooo clue gortash chose it for her and thought it was her birth name :)

- back to her brother. about six months before the game starts he's now a fully-fledged wizard with a family of his own. Orin, by then already plotting durge’s downfall, discovers laurence survived the fire, and disguises herself as a flaming fist to tell him that nell also survived, but has been held captive the last ~25 years. He obviously rushes to rescue her. Bad idea. Instead of finding his baby sister a prisoner to the people who killed their parents he finds a deranged bhaalspawn who kills first and asks questions later. Oops. Nell recognizes him only after he's dead. He's the only person in the world she'd ever felt guilt over killing! Oops!!!!!

- still debating over whether it's meaner to have nell then find his family and kill them OR gave her return to baldur's gate post lobotomy, find them grieving, have some inexplicable recognition/connection with his children, and then have orin reveal exactly what happened to laurence after they've already formed these bonds. Also nell's dream guardian is laurence and that's the primary reason she decides the emperor has to die bc how dare he dress up as the sole physical manifestation of my guilt…

[undead-potatoes]

SUNNY, did someone ask about Aurora and Jay and whether they like kids?? Do they get along with them, are annoyed by them? Would they want kids for themselves? How have they interacted with the kids in the bg3 world so far?

No-one did, so thanks for asking B)

This is gonna be long as usual so 🐻 with me

- - -

Much like she's with people in general, Aurora is kinda bad with kids. She likes them, quite a lot in fact, but she's awkward and doesn't know how to interact with them in a natural way. She does find them so so charming though, and enjoys being around them and observing their antics. I think she admires them too for how resilient they can be, how even in the face of so many horrors they're still filled with so much of that childlike joy.

But the Urge makes interactions difficult, since they're often extra gruesome around kids (as you pointed out). She tries her best to interact casually with any kids coming her way, but I think she also keeps her distance for the most part while the Urge rages on. Yenna might be the hardest one for her, since she's someone Rory has to interact with on a regular basis. It goes well for the most part, but I think Yenna probably picks up on Rory's weird vibes and just decides to keep interactions to a minimum (maybe she thinks Rory doesn't like her? Like what did she do wrong?)

She does want kids of her own she discovers, once she's free to live life on her own terms, but she's terrified of passing on any bhaalspawn bullshit to a biological child, so that's a route she doesn't even dare explore. There are other ways of becoming a parent though, and I can see her and Shadowheart bringing up a child together at some point (and I imagine Astarion is just mommy's weird boyfriend who teaches them all the wrong things and is over there like "I hate this kid. If anything ever happens to them I'm gonna turn into John Wick tho.")

- - -

First of all, I just posted a Jay backstory bit that's been sitting in my drafts since October, which adds some context to Jay's relationship with kids already in his life.

So very firmly on the other side of the scale we have Jay, who is really great with kids, possibly even better than with most adults. He knows how to talk to them in a way that makes them feel seen and respected, while still keeping in mind that they're children. Chatting with them, joking around, providing them comfort, it all comes pretty natural to him.

He obviously has a soft spot for the tiefling orphans. Looking at them he sees a reflection of himself from 40 years ago, and many of their schemes genuinely amuse him, though some of them are uuuh a little worrying. I think he tries to sway Mol a little bit since she's their leader, to steer her away from the worst of it, but she's just too stubborn for that. Her whole ordeal with Raphael really stressed him out tbh.

Yenna is an interesting one bc usually I would just write her off and say she never joined the party (it's a bit silly tbh), but Jay absolutely would pick her up and have her tag along if he thought she would be safer with them than being on her own. I assume they get along just fine (she mostly just has the personality of "pleasant child" in-game), and I think he enjoys teaching her stuff, for better and for worse. He's totally the kind of guy who will teach kids some questionable things (often by accident), and then go "no wait, do as I say, not as I do".

I initially (like months ago) thought of him as someone who might want kids, but I'm not so sure anymore. At least not in a way where he'll actively go out of his way to have children; any child that just happens to fall into his lap is a different story. This is partly why I'm a little conflicted about Yenna post-game, like what WOULD he do? He'd be very hesitant to send any child to an orphanage unless there were no other options, so idk where she ends up.

Overall I think he's just fine being everyone's favorite uncle. The kids love him, he brings the coolest gifts, and he gets to interact with them on a frequent basis in smaller bursts. He's the first anyone asks to babysit, and he almost always says yes, much to Gale's annoyance I'm sure ("but what about our plans, love" "we can do that tomorrow, they never get time off from the kids").

[chibitantei]

I made codenames for Naoto if she’s involved with the PT antics. I’ll default to Hound as the go-to one, but I’ve left explanations for my other one (and one not really canon bonus).

Hound

Dogs are one of Naoto’s favorite animals, and it doubles as an in-name-only reference to a Sherlock Holmes story, The Hound of the Baskervilles.

Dogs also have a few connotations depending on the context.

As with most countries, Japan has police dogs. In a vague sense of symbolism, Naoto is like one. She assists the police with cases, taking whatever leftovers they hand her. Since she works closely with the police as she doesn’t have many clients who seek her out for private investigations, she’s most likely often mistaken as one. Considering the police are like that, I can see the PT being hostile to her at first and assuming she is subservient to the police, since you know, dogs obey their masters.

On the other hand, dogs are fiercely loyal. Get past the initial assumptions about Naoto and open up, and you’ll see she isn’t exactly as she portrays herself to be. She joins the cause and she’s committed to helping the Thieves, even if she doesn’t agree with their methods. She won’t betray you like... you know... Like how dogs have a keen sense of smell, Naoto is committed to finding the truth and it’s difficult to shake her off the trail.

In a loose sense, Naoto also views herself as a hunting dog with no other purpose in life other than to solve cases and uphold her family reputation, but nobody has time to listen to that so who cares i don’t

Jack

She isn’t exactly a trickster figure by any means. 

While they have a higher rank than the numbered cards, Jacks are generally the lowest face (King, Queen, Jack) card. However, there are card games where promotion is possible so the Jack can be less of a scrub. This can reflect Naoto’s position if the Confidant and/or party member route is chosen. While she’s not incompetent by any means, without a “promotion”—being allowed into the Phantom Thieves’ inner circle—she remains someone who is a cut above the rest, but can’t go any further.

Bonus: Ace/Spade(s)

Ace is a rather common codename I've seen thrown around everywhere so I didn't really want to use it, but if you think it's cool for Naoto, I don't really care if you decide that must be the codename she uses with your muse.

The spades suit has a variety of meanings, such as representing challenging events coming in the future, logical and rational thought and a lot, because nobody can give me a shared meaning-

The Ace of Spades is traditionally seen as the most valuable and powerful card in the deck. The meaning seems to vary between good luck and fortune to misfortune and death. The two different sets of meanings can be seen as a reference to Naoto’s affinity to Light/Bless and Dark/Curse skills, and it fits with Naoto’s duality theme seen in P4 (or I could be insane, idk)

The symbol also just flat out appears on her beanie hat during the ski trip.

There you go I never want to explain my thinking ever again.

[missameliep]

Hello!! I’d like to ask ✨, 💞, 🎀 and 💎 for the fic writer game please! ☺️

Hi! Thank you so much for your ask! ☺️

✨What's a fic you've posted you wish you could breathe life into again and have people talking about it? (or simply a fic you wish got more credit)

I usually write to myself and for pairings that are not the most popular, but it's nice to have people finding joy in these stories and sharing their thoughts. I remember when the fandom was much livelier and it was such a fun posting and interacting with readers, so I'll mention two fics I wished had gotten more attention (even though the people who read them are so enthusiastic and kind to me I'm absolutely grateful for them ❤️) and I know I would love receiving more feedback and talking about the upcoming chapters and ideas for plot etc. The first one is Second Chances (Desire & Decorum Modern AU), which is one of my favorite projects ever, and I wished Elizabeth's journey and the romance with Hamid would get more attention, and the other is Safe (Wake the Dead), which was such a challenging story to write and I'm so hyped now because of The Last of Us and the parallels and I wished more people would be joining the discussions.

💞what's the most important part of a story for you? the plot, the characters, the worldbuilding, the technical stuff (grammar etc), the figurative language

Oh! That's a difficult question. I consider many parts of the story important, and I usually focus a lot in building the characters (their backstories, motivations and voice) and coming up with an interesting plot, but the technical stuff, specially grammar and good pacing in the narrative are essential. In fact, the technical part is usually why I take so long to post a fic. I can have an entire story in my head, but it takes a lot of effort to write it down as I imagine and in a language that is not my own, and edit it to be a pleasant experience to whoever reads it (including myself).

🎀give yourself a compliment about your own writing

I've re-read a few fics I've posted long ago, and I can see how far I've come. The pacing improved and I think the balance between dialogues and descriptions got better too, and I'm more daring, and ventured experiencing with different kinds of narratives and genres, like zombies and thriller, which says a lot about my confidence in my own writing. ☺️

💎why is writing important to you?

I love writing allows me to not only create things out of thin air, but to experience a catharsis. In my stories I can deal with emotions and subjects that move me and it can be really freeing at times.

Again thanks for the ask. I hope you're having a lovely day/night!

_________________________________

Asks from this Fanfic writer ask game

[squishmallow36]

Magic: the Gathering

Part 3 of Sokeefitz: the Gathering. Part 1 here. Part 2 here.

Written for day 2 of Sokeefitz Week: family, hosted by the aemazing @xanadaus and @gay-otlc

Also a big thank you to @uni-seahorse-572 for listening to my rambling about this fic

Word count: 3.9k

Tw: swearing, food

Taglist (lmk if you want to be added/removed!): @stellar-lune @gaslight-gaetkeep-gayboss @kamikothe1and0lny @nyxpixels @florida-fruity-frog @poppinspop @uni-seahorse-572 @solreefs @never-mourn-the-good @rusted-phone-calls @when-wax-wings-melt @cotyledon-tomentosa @good-old-fashioned-lover-boy7 @dexter-dizzknees @abubble125 @blossomsxgalorex @callum-hunt-is-bisexual @callas-pancake-tree

On Ao3 or below the cut!

    “I’m bored,” Keefe signs, sighing heavily. 

    “What, is Tammy Boy refusing to talk to you again? What is this, the second time this week?”

    “No! Well, yes--but no! I don’t want to argue about Tam’s stupid bangs.”

    Fitz rolls his eyes, going back to his book. Keefe doesn’t know what he’s reading this time but it could be a history textbook for all it cares. 

    Foster, the beautiful angel he is, asks, “Do you know how to shuffle a deck of cards?”

    Keefe shakes its head, bouncing up and down on the couch. 

    “Hang on. Give me one second.” Foster pulls a side table in front of it and starts rummaging through drawers in an attempt to find some cards. 

    It takes several drawers and many seconds before Foster announces, “Yeah, I guess this’ll work,” and drags a chair over to sit across from Keefe. 

    Keefe takes the deck of cards--which has “Magic: the Gathering” written on the back and five small differently-colored dots on a brown background. There’s more details, but Keefe finds a card that’s backwards before it can fully process it. 

    But, when it flips the card over, it also has a picture on it. “Ooh, who’s this?” it asks Foster. 

    “Keefe, did you ever learn how to read?” he answers. 

    It looks at the card to find “Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy” at the top. 

    “Exile, Jace is kinda hot.”

    “I know, right? I’m glad I don’t have a Jace, Cunning Castaway because that’s more than enough motivation to make you or anyone else for that matter become a pirate.”

    Keefe doesn’t hear half of what he says, as it’s destroying the deck Foster set in front of himself, trying to find another one. 

    And he does, but this one only has one side, is shiny, has a red background and is named “Chandra, Bold Pyromancer.” It holds it in front of Foster’s face, who understands immediately. 

    “Now you understand why I’ve been trying to teach you how to play.”

    Keefe nods. 

    “Hey, Fitz. Do you want to learn how to play too?” Foster asks. 

    “I’m good.”

    “Show him Jace,” Keefe suggests. 

    Foster stands up and places it in the place between the pages where a bookmark would rest. “You sure?”

    “This’d make a good bookmark.”

    Foster snatches it away from him, clearly overprotective of Jace. As he should be. 

    Fitz smiles, making butterflies flutter in Keefe’s stomach with that movie star grin. 

    “Do you want me to play?” he asks, looking up from his book for the first time in the last millennia. 

    “Well, Keefie will be angry if I win so I’d like to try to avoid that. At all costs. Because then it’ll never play any games with me ever again.”

   “Fine. Teach it how to shuffle while I finish my chapter. I’ll join you when I’m done.”

    I’m willing to bet his whole book is one giant chapter. Just a feeling. 

    “Alright,” Foster allows, coming to sit in front of Keefe once again. “This isn’t actually that hard. Step one is the most difficult. Split the deck in half, approximately. It doesn’t have to be perfect.”

    Keefe is fully tempted to count out half just to piss Foster off, but figures it’s a bit too early in this conversation for that specific brand of its bullshit. 

    “Then you’re gonna hold each half in your hands like this,” Foster holds the cards with a thumb on the short end, his index finger curled up on the back of it, and the rest of his fingers on the other short end. 

    It takes a second of finagling to get its hands into position, and Keefe figures out why Foster wanted to teach it. If it’s holding things, it can’t sign. 

    “The first few attempts will be yucky, but you’ll figure it out after like a dozen tries. Now it’s just a matter of building up your index finger’s first knuckle because I legit have, like, little calluses from when Amy and I used to play.”

    Keefe does as he instructs before asking, “You and Natalie used to play?”

    “Not with these decks, but yeah. All the time. You didn’t know this?”

    “No.” Keefe tries again to shuffle, more gracefully than the first but by no means elegant, “I am an expert now.”

    “Yes, indeed you are,” Foster replies. 

    That’s when Fitz miraculously joins them, sitting on the couch next to Keefe because the chairs are not good for his knee. That or he wants to see what cards Keefe has. Not as though it would help all that much when he doesn’t know what the cards would do.

    Lots of words on these fuckers. 

    “Okay, what the Exile are we doing?” Fitz asks, head resting on Keefe’s shoulder. 

    Foster thinks for a second before deciding, “Let’s start by picking colors based on their basic philosophies. You get two colors to make a standard sixty card deck, and I have enough of these so you don’t have to fight if you both want the same one although I’ve met both of you so it seems unlikely. And please don’t pick the same colors as the other one just because you feel like being an ass.”

    “I want all the colors. I want gay,” Keefe signs. 

    “You get two. If you’re on your good behavior, maybe you’ll get to move up to a tricolor deck. Maybe. So let’s get started. There is an official order of the colors, so I’m going to start with white’s philosophy. White represents order, peace, and I’ve made you play DnD--which was also made by Wizards of the Coast, by the way--they’re just a bunch of lawful goods.”

    Keefe fake gags, knowing Fitz is just such a lawful good. When he wants to be. And Alvar is six feet under. 

    “They’ve got some mean cards in there, including a whole lot of flyers,” Foster continues. “Then blue, despite you thinking it’ll be a watery color, really isn’t. There are certainly some decks themed around that, but I only have one commander that uses it that way. The others are either artifact or pain in the fucking ass by using instants and sorceries and flying creatures to just shut the other player completely down decks.”

    “Alright, that’s slightly less boring.” Keefe notices Fitz is blushing harder than usual. “Oh, my stars, Fitz. Are you gay for the blue deck?”

    “I’m not saying it’s Jace’s fault…but it’s Jace’s fault.” He picks up the card lying on the table. “Wait. He’s a telepath?”

    “Yeah,” Foster replies condescendingly. 

    “Stars fucking exile.”

    “I didn’t make the card. Apparently you running around the Lost Cities looking for me inspired Wizards of the Coast to make a card based on this kid who kept popping up in the news everywhere.”

    I mean, they do look kinda similar. Fitz is definitely more tan, but there is a resemblance, especially when you consider that the little picture can’t show all the small details. 

    “That…doesn’t sound right. But okay.” Fitz nods. 

    “Moving on,” Foster continues, “Black is like zombies and vampires and using your own health to make yourself stronger. Blue/black is definitely fun, but mono black…eh. I’m not a fan, personally. Red. Red is fun. It’s fast and it’s one of the easier colors to play. It also has a lot of chaeos and fire and all that fun shit. Direct damage and dragons.”

    “Fun shit indeed,” agrees Keefe.

    “Then, finally, we have green, which is just a little slower than red but about as easy to play. It features gigantic creatures and trample which allows any overflowing damage to go to the player you’re attacking. So. How are we feeling?”

    Foster grabs Keefe’s freshly shuffled deck and starts separating it into its blue and green parts. 

    Fitz answers, “Definitely blue and maybe white.”

    Keefe is tempted to pick blue/white but those don’t sound fun. “I’m still mad I can’t make it gay but I guess I want Chandra and the Aggressive Mammoth I saw while shuffling so that’s…red and green, right?”

    “Yep. And that’s exactly what I predicted you two would take. Now. How to play. There are five main card types--land, instant, sorcery, enchantment, and creature, and we will be ignoring artifacts and planeswalkers for the purpose of this lesson, I’m sorry, but Jace will be able to stare into your soul from here.”

    Foster takes both Jace and Chandra away, and Keefe is kind of tempted to wrestle them out of his hand. 

    It holds itself back though. Save that for after the game. 

    Foster explains, “Lands create mana to allow you to cast the other card types. The cost is displayed in the top corner that isn’t the name of the card because I know you struggle with left and right so we’re gonna phrase it that way. And like this one,” he reveals a Shivan Dragon, “is four of any color plus two red so you need six total. You really don’t have to count beyond seven in this game.”

    “Fuck. I don’t know if I can do that,” Keefe signs. 

    “I can help you out with any conversions of mana cost or strategies or special abilities like this one,” he shows a Volcanic Dragon, “has haste. Which may or may not be defined on the card because I’m not looking at it but it basically means it can attack on the turn it’s cast. Everybody else has summoning sickness on their first turn.”

    Keefe signs, “I’m superior!”

    But Foster has to burst its bubble. “Lots of creatures have different abilities like this so don’t let yourself get too confident yet. I realize as I’m saying this that it’s extraordinarily futile. And, uh, an important ability both of you will probably have come up is flying. Flying creatures can only be blocked by other creatures with flying or reach. I don’t think there’s anything with reach in here, if either of you do, it’s probably you, Keefe, but I don’t know anymore.”

    “Okay,” Fitz nods. 

    “One more important aspect of this is how to actually win. The goal is to be the last one alive. You start with 20 health and between direct damage like shock or creatures like the canopy spider, that’s gonna get whittled down pretty quickly. So to know how much damage a creature does or can take, you look in the bottom corner like with this guy,” Foster shows us the canopy spider still in his hand, “is a 1/3. That means when he attacks, he deals 1 damage but he takes 3 in a single turn to kill.”

    “Pretty accurate to real spiders, then,” Fitz remarks. 

    “And then there’s a giant spider who’s a 2/4 and a mammoth spider who’s a 3/5 so I’d say yeah. They aren’t in this deck, but I’ve played with both before. Fitz, I know you’d love to read the entire rules manual before we start but I think this is a good enough intro for us to start if you don’t have any questions.”

    “I feel like I don’t know enough to even know what questions to ask.”

    “Yeah, that’ll work. You’ll figure it out. Do either of you want to go fir--” he notices Keefe’s hand already raised excitedly. “Why do I even ask anymore?”

     He gives it its preshuffled deck, although it does one more shuffle just in case. It doesn’t trust anyone, least not Foster, enough to think they haven’t rigged the deck. 

    “Draw seven cards. If you like them, keep them. If not, you can reshuffle and draw seven new cards. We aren’t playing yahtzee so don’t even start trying to argue those rules. Technically you’re supposed to reduce it by one if you take a mulligan, but house rules say otherwise.”

    While he explains, Foster shuffles Fitz’s deck, then gives it to him. “Same thing, my dude. The general guidelines are if you have between 2 and 5 lands and the color of the lands matches the color of the spells you have, you should be good. Also you want some cheap cards in there. And the vibes to be right. If you want me to check, I do have eyeballs.”

    “Nah, I’m going to be reckless,” Keefe says, pulling away from Fitz’s prying eyes. 

    In its hand, it has a Vorstclaw, just a little guy at 7/7; a 2/2 Goblin Smuggler with haste and can prevent little guys with power 2 or less from being blocked; a forest and a mountain; an Overcome which gives creatures +2/+2 until end of turn and trample, a 3/2 boring Fearless Halberdier; and that ever-glorious 8/8 Aggressive Mammoth which gives everybody trample.

    “Oh, I forgot!” Foster interrupts. “Just one quick note: you can only put down one land each turn unless a card specifically says otherwise. Like, uh, Aesi, Tyrant of Dire Straits.”

    “I don’t have one of those,” Keefe signs. 

    “I know. They’re a blue/green living in a commander deck. But they’re the first one I thought of, okay?”

    “...fine.” Keefe puts down a single forest after much debate and then can’t do anything else. So it’s Fitz’s turn. 

    “Is this a good starting hand or not so much?” Fitz asks, sliding it over to him on the table. 

    “It’s a little dangerous, but you’ll probably be able to make it work. It’s up to you. And make sure you draw a card at the beginning of your turn.”

    Keefe tries to take a card, but nearly gets its hand slapped away. “You went first. You don’t get a card on your first turn.”

    Keefe pouts. 

    Fitz simply puts down an island before being rendered incapable of doing anything, giving the turn back to Keefe.

    Keefe draws a card, this time without the threat of bodily harm, and gets another boring Fearless Halberdier for its troubles. It puts down a mountain--so exciting--and then it’s Fitz’s turn once again. 

    He draws a card, puts down an island, and then it’s Keefe’s turn once more. This game is so captivating. Just gonna keep trading lands to put down. 

    Except it’s out of lands. 

    It draws its card, a boring 2/2 goblin assailant that it can manage to pay for so puts cer down in front of itself, asking Foster, “I can’t attack with cer yet, right?”

    “Does ce have haste?”

    “No…that’s lame.” It declares it Fitz’s turn, having nothing else it can do. 

    Fitz draws his card and whispers, “Psst, Sophie. Do I want to use this?” He carefully slides over a card so Keefe can’t see what it is. 

    “You could but I wouldn’t. It’s playing green. Wait for it to pull out something a little bigger,” Foster answers. 

    “And risk taking damage this next turn?”

    “Yeah. You’ve got 20 of them. Don’t worry about it.”

    “...okay. I’m trusting you. Don’t make me regret this.” Fitz decides, declaring it Keefe’s turn. 

    It draws its card, getting a mountain to place on the battlefield immediately, and casts a Fearless Halberdier. “Attack with Goblin Assailant, 2/2.” 

    “Fitz, you can’t block, I mean technically you could interfere with that card you just showed me as long as it’s an instant, but I wouldn’t recommend it. So you’re down to 18,” Sophie says, reaching across the table and turning Keefe’s Goblin Assailant ninety degrees. 

    Fitz glares at Keefe. 

    “I know. And it’s your turn.”

    Fitz draws a card, looks at it, places it, a plains, on the battlefield, then uses that plains and also the two other islands he has to cast a phantom warrior, a little guy who’s a 2/2 and can’t be blocked. Ze’s a little fucking bitch. 

   When given back the turn, Keefe draws its card, fixes its Goblin Assailant, and does the same as Fitz except it’s a mountain and it’s casting a Goblin Smuggler, the little guy that’s the 2/2 with haste.

    “Attack with all three of my dudes. Goblin Assailant, 2/2, Fearless Halberdier, 3/2, and our new one here, Goblin Smuggler, is a 2/2.” It turns each one as it reads the cards off. 

    “Rude,” Fitz mutters. 

    “Fitz, If I were you, I’d block the Halberdier with your Phantom Warrior.” Foster says. 

    “I can do that?” Fitz asks at the same time Keefe asks, “He can do that?”

    “Yep. Both will die in the process though.”

    Fitz does as Foster suggests, and this is an act of war. 

    Fitz still takes 4 damage from the other creatures, bringing his total down to 14. Then it’s his turn once again.

   He draws and casts a cloudkin seer, a little 2/1 guy with flying that lets him draw a card. 

    All Keefe knows is that it probably isn’t a land because he doesn’t put it directly onto the battlefield. And then it’s Keefe’s turn again. 

    It draws a Rubblebelt Recluse, a big little guy who’s a 6/5 that attacks each combat if able. Like it wouldn’t already do that. 

    Then, it casts the other Fearless Halberdier in its hand, partially because that’s pretty much all it can afford and also to replace the one Fitz killed. 

    “Attack with Goblin Assailant, 2/2, and Goblin Smuggler, also 2/2.” 

    Fitz blocks the Smuggler with his Cloudkin Seer, killing them both and takes the other two damage, bringing his total down to 12.

    Fitz draws and places down an island on his next turn, casting an Octoprophet, a nice-sized little guy who’s a 3/3 and lets him see the next two cards in his deck. Then he throws the turn back to Keefe, terrified of his inevitable demise. 

    Keefe draws an Engulfing Eruption to deal 5 damage directly to a creature. 

    I guess that’s what Foster meant by direct damage. Cool. I wonder if you could build a deck solely around that. Probably. 

    Keefe, having no patience whatsoever, decides to just kill the Octoprophet with the Engulfing Eruption while it has the chance.

    “Was that really necessary?” Fitz asks. 

    “Yes.” answers Keefe. “And now it’s time to attack with both my dudes. 2/2 Goblin Assailant, 3/2 Fearless Halberdier.”

    Fitz can’t block any of the damage, and he’s down to 7.

    On his next turn, he draws his card, then casts a Fortress Crab. 

    Foster interrupts his thinking process by asking, “May I make a suggestion?”

    “Sure, why not? I’m close to death anyway so it doesn’t really matter.”

    He points to his cards.  “Cast this and this.”

    “This and this” are apparently an unsummon on Keefe’s Fearless Halberdier and a Haazda Officer, a little 3/2 guy who’s functionally the same as the Fearless Halberdier except for an ability that doesn’t get used and the fact it’s white, not red. 

    Then, it’s Keefe’s turn once again. It draws a forest, places it down, does a little happy dance because he can cast something, and that something is a Rubblebelt Recluse. Just a little 6/5 guy that has to attack each turn if able. 

    But summoning sickness makes it unable, so Keefe decides to hold on to its soldiers for the first time since this game started. Having nothing else to do, it unwillingly declares it Fitz’s turn. 

     Fitz draws a card, buries it deep into his hand, and casts a fortress crab, a 1/6 designed to be as annoying as possible for Keefe. 

    But then it’s its turn once again. And it draws a forest. And it dances again. Now it can cast the Aggressive Mammoth that’s been burning a hole in its hand since it drew it before the first turn. So now it has an 8/8 with trample that also gives all other creatures it controls trample. 

    In its excitement, it forgot to actually put the forest down, so it adds that to the battlefield before attacking with its Rubblebelt Recluse 6/5. This gets blocked by Fitzy’s new crab. Crab is officially dead and the Rubblebelt Recluse is completely fine.

    Well, maybe zae’s a little annoyed. So is Keefe. 

    And it’s Fitz’s turn once more. He draws a card, then casts some Coral Merfolks in a desperate attempt to block as much damage as possible. 

    2/1s really are not going to do much when everything Keefe controls has trample. 

    Bracing for impact, Fitz gives the turn back to Keefe for the last time. 

    Keefe has spent Fitz’s turn trying to do the math on how much damage it can possibly do in a single turn, and survey seems to say that it’s more than enough. Especially when he throws a sorcery into the mix. 

    It draws its card, only a little sad it won’t get to use this Shivan Dragon this game. That has to be saved for a future game. 

    Keefe casts Overcome, which is a sorcery that gives all of its creatures +2/+2 and trample, as though they didn’t already because of the Aggressive Mammoth. 

    “Attack with Goblin Assailant 4/4, Rubblebelt Recluse 8/7, and Aggressive Mammoth 10/10.”

    “Well, that’s just a few points of damage there, love,” Fitz remarks. 

    “Yeah, and everybody has trample. Can you get Foster to double check some rules for us?”

   “Sophie!” it calls to Foster who has wandered away for some reason. 

   “Yes?” comes his response, probably from the kitchen. 

    “I’ve got two 2/1s and a 3/2 and Keefe has some dudes with trample. I was just wondering how incredibly dead I am.”

    “Well, whatever Keefe’s creatures’ strength combined minus four blocked points is how much it does to you. I don’t know if that’s the answer you want, but it’s the answer I’m going to give.”

    “So, uh, just 18 damage, right? Just a few?” Fitz asks, doing the math for Keefe. 

    “Yeah, let’s go with that. I don’t want to do addition today,” signs Keefe. 

    “I’m dead. I am very dead. I am at like negative 9 levels of dead.”

    “I am victorious!” 

    “What you are is a pain in the ass.”

    “Yeah, that too.”

    “Just hang on one second before you start your victory dance that’s suspiciously similar to Goblin dancing.”

    “But why?”

    “Because I said so.” 

    Ah, yes. The inarguable argument. Sounds like he doesn’t care enough to actually debate with me. Rude.

    Seemingly on cue, Foster re-enters the room, and sets a plate with a glorious cake in front of Keefe. 

    Fitz has never particularly tried when decorating a cake. Beyond frosting and sprinkles, of course. This one is no exception.

    But Keefe won’t argue because, well, it’s cake. You don’t argue with cake. Because then you won’t get any future cake. 

    “Consider this payment for your art lessons last weekend. And also for your victory,” Fitz says. 

    “Thank you, Fitz. It is much appreciated. I will now devour the entire thing like I’ve never eaten anything in my life.” Instead of cutting a slice, Keefe just takes a fork and starts demolishing the cake from the outside. 

    “You know, you could save some for breakfast tomorrow.”

    “The future is meaningless. The cake is now,” it signs with chocolate-crumby hands. 

    “Keefe, uh, you got a little frosting,” Foster gestures to his cheek, and Keefe tries to swipe it off, undoubtedly smearing more frosting in the process. 

   “Let me help,” Foster says, leaning closer until he licks the frosting away, kissing it on the way back down to his chair.

    “That was my frosting!” Keefe screeches. 

    “Then maybe you should’ve protected it better.”

[tmisaccidentreportbook]

MAG026, A Distortion

Case #0160204, Sasha James Release date: July 6, 2016 First listen: Somewhere between the 20th October and the 5th November. I think it was on the walk home, I remember crossing the bridge as we meet what was once Timothy Hodges

We haven’t had a huge amount of time with Jon and his team but I think this episode gives us a little insight into the dynamic of the archival team and also re-establishes some characteristic that fandom had coloured in my mind. I think Jon cares about his assistances, each differently and with some funny ways of showing it, but I think he does. When he was elevated to Head Archivist, he requested Tim and Sasha as his assistances. It’s indicated that he has worked with them before and he knows them, trusts their abilities and skills. And I think there is an element of him trusting them in a social setting too. He knows them, knows how they tick. Jon’s personality and demeanour may make him difficult to approach or difficult to befriend, he’s giving me a lot of feral cat energy. I don’t know if we ever get any sort of confirmation of if Jon is neurodivergent, but I’m projecting so all the archival team is neurodivergent in my mind, but change may be hard for him to process and adapt to. Change such as a new set of responsibilities without clear handover instructions and settling in period, a new dynamic with work colleagues and a new member of the team. I can’t remember off the top of my head if Martin had been working at the institute before joining Jon’s team, but the live reads do confirm Jon didn’t know him prior to becoming Head Archivist. But Jon knows Tim and Sasha. I wonder if Jon is dealing with imposter syndrome, well actually I reckon that’s a given, but I mean with regards to being promoted over other, more suitable candidates. The fandom loves to discuss Sasha as the brains of the outfit, possibly the only one of them with any sort of training in library sciences, she may be the most competent one there. But Elias isn’t looking for competent, he’s looking for malleable and volatile and already in a state of quiet terror. Terror that they’ll be found out; Jon that he’s not up to the job, Martin that he’s lied. Then there’s Tim who is trying to find out what happened to his brother. In the midst of all this, Sasha doesn’t appear as anything more than another victim of the Glass Ceiling. Which I bet Elias would utilise that regardless, fucking product of his time. I so want to know how Gertrude fought her way into the role more.

I think Jon has got a lot of affection for both Sasha and Tim, but now he’s in the role of ‘Boss’, he’s having to temper it. There are moments of fondness and concern that bleeds in, and he wants her to recover and take care of herself. He trusts her judgement, more so than the others. Which is just brutal when she is the first to fall.

- Once again, in the style of Grizzop drik acht Amsterdam around the 41minute mark of RQG 92 – Bringing Down The House SASHA! I beg you to listen to Rusty Quill Gaming it is a joy. Ben Meredith, voice of Elias Bouchard, plays first a sad dwarven sea dad, then a smoky little beef cake of a goblin paladin. I love Grizzop and the friendship he has with Lydia Nicholas’ Sasha Racket is just a thing of beauty, but I whole heartedly love my stabby daughter.

- Sasha doesn’t shy away from calling Jon out on the possibly preferential treatment he’s giving her, suggesting she go home and recover. Martin wasn’t offered such treatment, but as Jon points out, he didn’t have a safe home to go to for recovery. He also said Martin wasn’t injured, which he wasn’t but he had been in solitary confinement and psychologically tortured for 2 weeks so I’d say some TLC was warranted.

- He sounds vaguely indulgent as he’s introducing her statement and I’m soft.

- Sasha disparaging Martin’s self preservation instincts sits real weird with me. Sasha seeks refuge in artefact storage, alone, in the confusion of Prentiss’ attack, when so much about Martin’s character is so much about survival. Also, her tone breaks my heart a little, it’s not cruel but… it’s not the kindest either. I think in the elapsed time, my mind’s just built her up to be the caring older sister of the group, something of a Katara or a Hermione. Which is probably some internal bias rearing their ugly heads, odds are it’s a me problem.

- We get some more insight into Jane Prentiss. We have 9 Flesh Hive related deaths that the listeners know about at this point; 7 at the hospital (6 from colonisation), Harriet Lee and, soon, Timothy Hodge.

- While Martin has sought refuge at the Institute, the Flesh Hive does not appear to have finished with him or the archival team. By the sounds of it, worms laying siege to the Institute. I wonder what the other departments are coping? Also, is it safe to assume that Prentiss has taken up residency in the tunnels at this point?

-. So, so far we know that Sasha lives in Finsbury Park and Martin lives in Stockwell. Think that’s it for the team so far. I’d say she has the longer commute possibly. But at the mention of ‘…my building is old. Victorian,’ I had a near Pavlovian response, something in my head going on point and demanding ‘Smirke?!’ A name that can illicit such a violence within me, second only to that of Leitner.

- And hello Michael. Or at least whatever it is that wears his face these days.

- There’s something about seeing something for what it really is through glass or in a mirror that is really stomach dropping. A missing reflection from the mirror telling you that may be a vampire you’re dancing with vampire, suddenly a kitsune’s tails are there, a fae’s glamour doesn’t hold up under glass.

- ‘I was as surprised as anyone that this undeniably sinister figure wasn’t causing me more distress. To be honest, I was surprised how quickly I accepted that.’ I think fear’s like hypothermia; when you stop shivering is when you’ve really got to worry.

- We also get a bit of an insight into how Sasha thinks, when she confesses she’s been a bit of a skeptic, like Jon. Or at least, like Jon presents to be, but we later find a bit about Jon’s reasons for his connections to researching the esoteric.

- I wondered if there was any significance to the purchasing of lilies. I love flower language me, but all the meanings I could find were pretty positive things, no harbingers of doom. Then I remembered that they are very toxic to cats and… Sasha’s been talking about her curiosity a lot…

- ‘I really wish it wasn’t in Chelsea. Everything around here is so expensive.’ Fucking Johan. Posh twat. It just feeds into the unease of the place and its’ staff. We’ve hear how Martin’s worried about money and Sasha’s painfully aware. Johan set it in an expensive part of London then employs academics who can’t afford the area, just feeding into that loop of uneasiness. But the fact that she gets out of the Tube at Victoria to walk might narrow down where the Institute building is, It wouldn’t be hard to jump on the Central and District line to head further into Chelsea, but as Sasha says she walks from Victoria station, that may put it in the east end of Chelsea, right in the shadow of Westminster to the east.

- ‘Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, three times is enemy action’.  1. Rule of three, 2. I am stealing that phrase, 3. Nothing to add, but it’s the rule of three.

- ‘“Are you secretly a monster?”’ probably would have been a great opener.’ It’s the Throat of Delusion. It lies. It could have said ‘yes’ but it wouldn’t matter because you own reasoning brain would lie for it.

- Jon and Tim were arguing about Smirke! A confirmed mention of another dusty old bastard who wanted to fuck around and found out. Gerard should have been allowed to beat him up too, as a treat.

- ‘I know, but it would have to have been Martin, wouldn’t it? I mean, anything goes wrong around here, it always seems to happen to him.’ Leave my boy alone. Maybe it always seems to be him because you are watching him like a hawk all the time.

- ‘Seriously? If a member of the public came in, you would have torn that statement to shreds.’ I think Sasha quiet brave for actually talking to Jon and having him in the room as she gives her statement. The assistances have more than likely all seen and heard what Jon makes of the run of the mill statements, ripping into them and their authors with not too much care or regard. I think Sasha is right to be hesitant in that regard. I wonder if this hesitancy from his team gives Jon any pause?

- ‘My curiosity apparently conquered my nervousness.’ In one of the later Q&As, Alex and Jonny discuss what D&D class each of the characters would be, and it’s agreed that Sasha would be a wizard, and this statement is giving me big ‘complete disregard for my own safety there is knowledge to be sought’ energy.

- ‘…no, not for him. For it.’ I’m glad Sasha’s dehumanising The Distortion from the off. The fact that Distortion!Helen was able to build such a rapport with the Archival team in later series was always a source of concern. The Distortion is many things, but it can not be your friend.

- ‘…and told me that I had no idea what was really going on. It didn’t sound like it had any intention of telling me, though.’ The board is set, the pieces are moving. And we don’t get to know the rules.

- ‘By this point I was just about sick of this weird thing that looked like a person.’ Sasha’s got the right of it, but it gets harder and harder. Not only as we learn of the Avatars and meet them, but as members of the cast get consumed more and more by The Entities and as Jon struggles with what he  becomes and what he sets in motion.

- The idea that The Distortion knows the archival team is one to indeed create an ‘unsettling’ feeling to feed into the dread, but my brain wants to know the logistics. Does an unexplained randomly appear in the HR office one evening after lock up?

- Tim’s April Fools’ joke! Confirmation Office Jester. Give him the jingly hat!

- So it’s about 10miles from Hanwell Cemetery to Victoria Station. Nearly 50mins by public transport at time of checking, 9:30pm. It’s about 12 to 13miles as the crow flies from Manor House Station in Finsbury Park, over an hour by public transport. She’s going out of her way. And is this going to be travel expenses reimbursed and over time paid? Doubt it.

- ‘…a threat or a warning or just a lie.’ I imagine they’re all one and the same to The Throat of Delusion.

- I’ve still got flower language on the brain so I had a look to see if azaleas meant much. Not a huge amount applicable, until I found that azaleas and rhododendrons were once so famous for their toxicity that to receiving a bouquet of the flowers in a black vase was a recognised death threat. So lilies and azaleas; poisonous, toxic. Seems about right for both The Corruption and The Spiral.

- ‘… though riddled with woodworm.’ Even the pub’s been chewed over.

- ‘… (not prepared) to seeing it. To smelling it.’ Jonny again leaning on the senses that lend themselves to the more visceral aspects of horror. The fact that smell can illicit such physical responses, such as throwing up as we’ve seen in previous Corruption and Flesh statements, but kudos to Sasha for holding it together.

- ‘I glanced desperately at Michael, but it just watched me, its face unreadable.’ It’s not your friend. It won’t be your friend.

- I did not like Timothy Hodge, but to be fair, that is one heck of an STD he got of Harriet… The fact that his body’s gone after the event is thoroughly strange to me. I’d be surprised if the body gave way under the force of the fire extinguisher but, even if it did, there’d be clothes and other items. Did Sasha keep hold of the wallet? Did she lose time, did Michael spirit the remains away? But it means that from 20th November 2015 to 1st April 2016, he’s been becoming the newest colony of the Flesh Hive.

- ‘I should really quit, you know. We, we all should. I don’t think this is a normal job, I, I don’t think this is a safe job.’ If memory serves, it may have already have been harder than it should have. I don’t think they were doomed just yet, I can’t remember the details that Elias reveals on the matter, but it would be hard. But similar to Jon, Sasha seems intent to stay out of curious. It’s not Jon’s drive, not the hunger to know and comprehend that will drive him into becoming The Archivist, but it’s there none the less. Which is why I think Sasha, ‘the most level-headed of the team’, would have fucked Elias up as The Archivist, and I would have loved to have seen it.