#main character graphics are up on the site!!!!

[mybworlds]

Chapter 1: Your perfect life

Pairing: joel miller x f!reader (no use of Y/N) | Rating: 18+ Minors DNI | W.C.: 2.6k

Summary: Your life sounds perfect: you live with a perfect man, you live in your dream house, you do the job you love, you don't miss anything, except love and passion.

Warnings: no use of Y/N, use of you, reader is a photographer, reader has no physical descriptions except hair (no type or color) long enough to hold on to, unspecified age gap, Joel and reader are two cheaters, for a while. Smut, use of pet names, dirty talk, masturbation, unprotected PiV, creampies, comeplay, oral (both f and m recieving), exhibitionism, size kink. No outbreak here. Let me know if I missed anything!

Before to leave, this is a prologue of the main character and her situation, hope you like it...

Masterlist

follow @mybworlds and turn on notifications to get notified when I post new fics

Thx for the dividers @saradika-graphics

The alarm clock rings and you open your eyes, smiling, "Good morning," you mumble, stretching an arm toward your shoulders, but the cold sheets behind you make you realize that Patrick has been up for a while already. You turn belly-up to the ceiling and think about your next photoshoot and smile. You love your job. You are a photographer and yours is not just a job, it has been a passion since you were a little girl.

You get out of bed and stretch with a whimper, barefoot you walk to the bathroom whose light automatically turns on, you get into your beautiful shower with glass doors and blue and light blue tiles, you shower and then you get out, you wrap yourself in a soft blue towel matching the bathroom walls and then you dry your hair. You put some makeup and then smile at yourself in the mirror with a satisfied air. You choose light-colored jeans, a light-colored T-shirt and your beautiful sneakers as your outfit. You walk out of your bedroom, make your way down the small hallway and down the stairs happy to be living this new day.

"Babe," you call out to your Patrick, but Patrick does not answer, he's usually in his office and works in smart working, but today he is not there, you go to the kitchen and there you find your beloved pancakes and next to it a post-it with a red rose ′In the office, see you later, love you′ you smile "I love you so much too." you whisper sniffing the red rose and smiling with your eyes closed.

You are happy. Your life is perfect, you lack nothing. You have a magnificent multi-accessorised house equipped with a central home automation system, you have a garden with a swimming pool, even a small spa corner. You have a wonderful man like Patrick, he is a lawyer who looks after the interests of small local construction companies and mostly works from home apart from when he has to attend some meetings with contractors; you love him very much, you met him when you were only sixteen and it was love at first sight, you then got engaged when you turned eighteen, you took different paths, but you always supported and loved each other, you never accused each other of anything either of being too absent or too present with each other. Last but not least, you have a job you love, you are a photographer, a good photographer judging by the many positive comments you have on your site and the dozens of requests you have every day, you also had a major contract for a fashion house two years ago and since then the requests have increased, of course you haven't had major contracts like you did then, but things are going well.

You have breakfast, get your house keys, then put on your sunglasses and go out. You could take the car, but today you really want to take a walk and enjoy the sun kissing the streets of New York, you'll take some public transportation and walk around a bit, it's good for you.

You smile, you're happy-- you repeat it to yourself until you convince yourself about it for today, too.

Your smile flickers and disappears when you get on the second bus; no, you are not happy. Patrick is sweet, he is perfect, you respect him and he respects you, but can you consider it love? By now your intimate moments are reduced to once, maximum twice a month and he always comes, you on the other hand pretend, you don't want to hurt his feelings. You masturbate all the time in the hope of mitigating this oppressive feeling of yours, to fill that emptiness you feel more and more deafening. Your home is beautiful, it is a wonderful shell that cradles and pampers you for your every need, but is that enough?

But your life is perfect, it's perfect like this, you don't need to look around or look for anything else to be happy, you tell yourself.

You get to your stop and get off, next to your photo store a cafe has opened a few months ago that makes fantastic donuts, and that morning you don't give up to sweeten your thoughts and soothe your nerves. You walk in and inside there is just the bartender Jake, a young man in his mid-twenties or thirties at most, and in the far corner a gruff-looking man who was hunched over reading maybe something or maybe he's answering an email, you have no idea. The man in the corner looks up, as you suddenly lower your gaze caught out, "Um…" you turn to Jake "good morning, a latte and a Blueberry Donut," you resume keeping your eyes downcast and barely breathing, you don't even know why you're acting this way, you've met dozens of people and exchanged hundreds of glances and now you're acting like a dumb little girl newbie.

"Here, consumption here as usual?" the young man asks you politely.

You shake your head, "No, thank you, I'm busy in the store," you reply, at that moment the man you had seen earlier in the corner flanks you, he is huge, massive, has thick dark curls, an irregular beard and a dark mustache, he is leaning with his forearms on the counter and at that moment he is the one looking at you, he smiles at you as if trying to make contact, you immediately look away staring down clearing your throat in embarrass.

Jake hands you the bag and makes you pay, then you leave without giving the charming stranger a glance. You almost run into your store as if to seek refuge within those four walls. Your heart is pounding in your chest, you feel as if you've gone crazy, but what's wrong with you? You've always been a proper young woman, and now you're acting like a crazy who runs away...

Someone knocks on your door, you turn around "W - who is it?" you ask.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," a voice tells you, "you forgot your cell phone on the counter at the bar."

Are you that far gone? That's great!

You open the door and you are confronted by the handsome mystery man, "Thank you." you reply, reaching out your hand as he hands you the cell phone in the palm of your hand "How did you know I was here?" you ask him doubtfully.

"I saw you fleeing here," he replies with a half-smile, "Everything okay? You seemed to be in a big hurry." he adds.

"Um…that is…I had to make a phone call," he nods "Luckily you found it, my mind is elsewhere since this morning!" you exclaim, smiling at the man with a low stare "Thank you."

"You're welcome!" he retorts "So, you own this beautiful place!" he exclaims again taking a step forward into the club, as you take one step back, he looks at you puzzled "Are you afraid of me?" he asks you.

"No," you reply, shaking your head.

"From the way you talk and the way you move, I'd say yes," he replies again "Take it easy, honey," he adds again.

Honey? How dare he?

"You and I don't know each other at all, sir!" you exclaim trying to regain control of the situation "Please, leave," you add backing away and touching with the back of your thighs the desk.

"It's okay, I'm sorry I scared you," retorts the man with his head down walking away.

You lean totally against the desk breathing deeply and realizing that you made a fool of yourself with that stranger, who knows what he must have thought of you!

The first customers and requests of the day distract you from your moment of commiseration. Luckly, you can easily forget for the moment the incident that happened. You think back about it in the evening, once you get back home, while waiting for Patrick and think that if you meet that guy again, you will have to apologize as you overreacted.

When Patrick comes home, he greets you with a big smile approaching you and taking you in his arms, you let yourself be cradled in his grip closing your eyes and thinking again that maybe with that stranger you had an overreaction since you were overthinking your relationship with your boyfriend. Patrick kisses you softly, he tastes of bourbon and sweetness, he makes you lie gently on the couch kissing your lips first, then your neck and chest still covered, you hear him moaning your name softly, while you try to restrain your thoughts, your doubts about you and him, you still want to not give up so, after all you and Patrick have been together for more than ten years, maybe it's just a little stress…

He, meanwhile, has already undressed himself and undressed you as well, without you even realizing it, he touches you between your legs, but you jerk in discomfort and pain, you are not even wet enough, you look at each other, you look at him almost with reproach, he instead has eyes full of lust, "I got it," he announces lowering his head between your legs and making them bend. Patrick has always been a disaster with oral sex, yes he makes you wet, but he's never known how to touch you in the right places in a way that makes you come, and tonight is no exception.

You are almost glad when he fills you, but not for the obvious reasons as much as for the fact that this way he will stop and embrace you and you can sleep.

It is horrible, you know that. He fills you repeatedly at an ever-increasing pace, you have yes little shivers of pleasure, but nothing that can be called really good or pleasurable, he comes a few moments later inside you. Thank God, you are on the pill to regularize your period!

You think back to when you as a young girl you would have loved to have a child by him, you remember that you wished he had blond hair like him and blue-eyed like him, but your own temper… today you think that if you had a child with Patrick, maybe you would have experienced it as a trap… that's a horrible thought too!

Patrick after intercourse, lays his head on your chest and asks "Did you like it?" and you textbook answer "Yeah, sure." then you feel him give you a kiss at your heart level and he relaxes completely, you can't sleep, you stare at the ceiling. You feel hot and a burning thought spreading inside you, is it true love?

The next day you wake up with a blanket on you and with a cup of coffee on the coffee table, you stretch out putting your feet on the floor and find Patrick's ever-present post-it note, "I'm at Black's company this morning, I'll be back tonight, love you xoxo" and the ever-present red rose next to it, you pick up the rose and smell it, but unlike yesterday you can't say I love you too, you place the red rose on the table with a long sad sigh and pick up the cup of coffee which you start sipping thoughtfully.

Your cell phone rings, it's Daisy "Hey doll!" you greet her smiling and putting her on speakerphone.

"Hi gorgeous, how are you doing? Are you already at work?" she asks you, you hear some buzz in the background so she's already around.

"No, I'm going later today. I have a request for a photoshoot for a wedding at noon," you tell her.

"Did they invite you to the party too?" she asks you.

You get up and take your phone with you continuing to talk as you head to the kitchen, "Well, I guess so, I'm their photographer, I'll have to do a complete shooting." you reply to her washing your coffee cup.

"And how are things going with Patrick?" she asks you again.

"Fine." you answer not too convinced "What's with all these questions? Did we wake up in detective mode this morning?"

Daisy laughs, "But no, silly, I'm just asking. Look, but why don't we plan a double date on Saturday? Me, you, Patrick and Jordan?"

"Fine with me, I want to hear from Patrick though."

"Oh!" you hear her snort "These men are so boring!" she exclaims making you smile.

"I know, but we love them for that too, don't we?"

"Yes…" now she's the one using a not-so-convinced tone of voice "So we'll talk about Saturday later?"

"Oh no, how silly!" you exclaim "Saturday there's the wedding, they're getting married in the morning, but the reception is in the early afternoon and then you know how these things go." you add "Sorry, my head's a bit elsewhere."

"Things always go well with Patrick, aren't they?"

"That's the second time you've asked me about Patrick, but do you know anything? So you make me worry!" you say sitting down at a stool in the kitchen.

"No, I just don't like your tone of voice very much. I mean, when we were kids and you were talking about him your voice would go up three octaves! Now it doesn't sound that way at all!"

"Well, Daisy, we were 17 when I was telling you about him and we weren't together yet, I think it's normal that I felt so much enthusiasm then for someone I were falling in love with! Things then change…"

"You mean for the worse?"

You don't answer right away as you don't know what to answer, Daisy has always been like that, a very observant girl who even by a tone of voice can tell when something is wrong and this morning is no exception.

"My friend, go to that wedding and find yourself a hunk, listen to me! If you have this tone of voice after only ten years…" continues Daisy "may I ask you a very personal question?" she adds again.

"Sure!"

"How are things in bed?" she asks.

"Let's talk closely about that, over the phone you know," you answer evasively.

"All right, then I'll meet you at the gardens in twenty minutes."

After exactly 20 minutes you and Daisy are sitting at the local coffee shop sipping good coffee, Daisy tells you about her latest purchases and fashions as if you then don't know or understand much about them, then Daisy asks you again, "So how are things in bed with Patrick?"

"Let's just say … things aren't going very well, he tries, but I don't like it."

"What? Sex or sex with Patrick?" she asks again.

"Does it matter?"

"Well, I'd say it does!"

You snort, "I dunno…I'm a little uncomfortable talking about it. He tries," you repeat, "but I can never come." you admit, as Daisy almost looks at you with bulging out eyes "Please don't look at me like that I already feel weird enough!" you add feeling really guilty about it.

"No, no, I'm sorry…it's just that I thought things were getting better, you already told me about it a year ago and I thought that in the meantime the situation had been changed in better! I didn't think things would continue to go so bad," she justifies her insistence.

You sigh sadly, "The truth is that every day I tell myself that my life is perfect, that I don't lack anything, that I am healthy, I have a good job, I have a man by my side … however, it is not enough for me, I mean, I would like more, I would like to try something again! I'm fine with Patrick, but by now we've established a flat beautiful routine, he makes me breakfast in the morning leaving me a post-it note with a rose and goes to work, I get up, wash, get dressed, have breakfast, go to work, come back, go to the pool, wait for him and…" you sigh heavily "twice a month we do it, but…" you shake your head "each time I don't feel anything but chills, but I don't feel what I felt the first few times with him."

"Oh my God." she says, shaking her head "Do you at least … I mean, do you touch yourself or not even that?" your friend asks you.

"I have a sex toy hidden in the back of my drawer, I'm ashamed of it, but…" you start to say, but Daisy's laughter and her shaking her head interrupt you "Why are you laughing?"

"At least the sex toy kept you from killing Patrick!" she exclaims.

A giggle escapes you, "Silly,"

Daisy squeezes your hand, "I can't tell you what you should do, but think about it. Seriously think about it, my friend." you curl your lips into a little grimace, "Well, I hope at least something happens at this wedding! I mean, maybe you either find a toy boy or maybe someone really nice to have fun with or maybe still something to shake up this your perfect boring routine." she says spelling the last five words.

"Dummy, I'm going to work, not to hook up," you remind her.

"Well, never say never." she tells you with a mischievous look that makes you smile and shake your head, your friend is just crazy.

[desertdollranch]

Dolls brands I never thought I'd own, part 4: Global PenPals

Meet Amity Anderson!

This doll was a tough cookie to track down. I first stumbled across her last year while searching for a completely different doll on eBay. I thought she was adorable, but priced way too high, so I let someone else have her. When I saw her come up again recently for a lot cheaper, I lost the bidding war. When she popped up unexpectedly a third time, I managed to snap her up right away.

The first time I saw her, I was curious about her origin, since the listing said nothing about the brand, Global PenPals. I figured it was someone's small business, because it's an unfortunate truth that many, many 18 inch doll companies produce beautiful and quality dolls for a few short years and then go out of business. Because she certainly didn't look poorly made or low quality; she obviously had a lot of love put into her production. I could tell she had a really nice wig and a carefully sculpted, realistic face mold. She was meant to be more than just a toy, but a little friend as well. That's what I liked about her. She was special, rare, obscure, and unique. And as much as I love my American Girl dolls, I also love the rare and obscure 18 inch dolls that have fallen into my lap over the years through pure luck. That has turned me into a connoisseur of obscure dolls. The rarer, the better.

So for that reason I couldn't get her off my mind. I became very fixated on finding one. I did a Google search that brought up nothing but the listing for her, plus a few dolls with similar brand names, or sites for finding an actual human pen pal. But I noticed the listing photo included a picture of her box, which had the URL of the brand's website. It was defunct, so I plugged into the Wayback Machine at archive.org to see what I could find.

Keep reading for a deep dive into The Global PenPals.

(Hello to anyone in the future who might be doing a web search about this doll! I'm sure you've found little to no information. I've put everything right here for your convenience!)

...

The site's first snapshot was taken in February 2011. It has a very short intro:

"This site is dedicated to children everywhere. Autumn Woods and Amity Anderson will begin pen pal corresponding with children in other parts of the world. They will learn about different living conditions and diverse cultural traditions. Will they discover that children are the same worldwide? Come along with us and see!"

None of the links on the sidebar were archived by the Wayback machine, so I looked at the next three snapshots, taken in July 2013, January 2014, and December 2014 (the final snapshot).

Now this snapshot displays a lot more content, although once again most of the site didn't get archived. The intro is more or less the same. But now we can see illustrations of the two main characters, Autumn Woods and Amity Anderson.

Clicking through the "Meet and learn more about Autumn" graphic linked to a page that had biographies for both characters.

Autumn Woods introduces herself first. She was born in October, hence her name, but she loves Christmas more. She lives in Kennewick, Washington with her parents and younger sister, and likes her school. She's athletic and loves to do cartwheels. Her best friend Amity lives in Basin City, near the farm where her grandparents live. She doesn't know a whole lot about the world outside of Kennewick, so she's looking forward to making pen pals all around the world.

Amity Anderson introduces herself next. She loves living on a farm in Basin City, and most of the other kids at her school are also from farming families, or live in the area seasonally, which has made her curious about the lives of other children of different background. Her family grows cherries, and sometimes the crops fail due to weather conditions. They also have lots of animals including dogs, cats, and cows. She has a secret hideout in the hay loft.

The next page linked at the top contains all of the pen pal letters to and from Autumn and Amity.

There are 10 pages of these letters. The first letter is dated June 11th of 2011, and the final one is dated August 14th of 2013.

Next link is Marcia's Dolls.

To sum it up, Global PenPals was started by Marcia Elovich in 2010. She had always sewn doll clothes for her granddaughter, and her husband built doll furniture. She used dolls to help schoolchildren learn more about the lives and perspectives of children all over the world. She modeled the dolls' faces on her granddaughter and niece, and hopes to introduce more dolls to the brand.

The next link is to the shop.

Only the Amity doll is being sold here. All the images are broken, but I can see that Amity cost $59.00.

The next tab, Media, is pretty much empty.

That's all that I can access with the Wayback Machine, but I didn't stop there.

I Googled Marcia Elovich and found the three Global PenPals books she has published.

These are current, no need to use the Wayback Machine. Here's the link to the list if you're curious about the books. You can click through and read summaries of each.

"About the Author" on the second and third books:

Marcia Harvey Elovich has enjoyed interacting with children in family, at school and other community settings. When she began looking forward to retirement from the local school district, she set up a website around two fictional characters, Amity Anderson and Autumn Woods, using her granddaughter and her niece as visual models for the character images she draws. Through the website, Marcia continues to story-tell to youngsters and adults alike. Amity lives on the farm in Basin City where, in fact, Marcia was raised, and she pursues many of the same interests and activities Marcia did while growing up with her best friend Linda. Autumn lives in town and attends Amistad Elementary School, where Marcia formerly worked as a para-eductor, and earlier as a nurse in the Kennewick School District. This was the birthplace of her peaked interest in interacting with children and later-in-life interest in education. Marcia has recently begun manufacturing of the character dolls and is now converting the website stories into children's books. Also within the framework of her stories, Marcia has interactions from her personal pen pals with whom she is communicating around the globe. Through contrast and compare, she can better present awareness of how alike we are from country to country, culture to culture, religion to religion. "Perhaps the next generation will be more compassionate, not merely tolerating diversity but embracing it!" she adds. In their retirement, Marcia works with her husband and sidekick Bob, marketing her dolls and his woodworked doll furniture. She has one young adult son living at home and an older son living within the community. Her daughter and grandchildren live out of state, so she has to love them long-distance. Through Bob, she has acquired a second daughter who lives in the area and a step-son living out of state. Marcia specifically wants to thank her mother and father, Bob and Kay Harvey, for providing a childhood almost as colorful as the fictional one of which she writes. They gave to her, her three brothers and many childhood friends their mentoring in an era when the village actually did help raise the children.

I also found Marcia's Pinterest profile. She has pinned exactly four images.

The first two are the illustrations seen on the website. The other two are pictures of the dolls.

This picture's caption:

"Amity Anderson if one of the first two characters at www.theglobalpenpals.com and the first to be manufactured as a doll. She is vinyl with soft body and has beautiful peach complexion, with perfect detail down to tiny doll- scale freckles across her nose. She comes in clothes as seen, turquoise tennis shoes, and the matching elastic headband on her long, tangle-free auburn hair. I designed the doll after my own granddaughter. Lovely presentation box designed solely for The Global PenPals."

This confirms that the doll I have is indeed Amity, not Autumn as I had sort of guessed. Amity is illustrated with bangs, but it seems that changed at some point in the doll's design.

I guess that's Autumn on the left? I see no indication on the site or elsewhere that she was ever sold, so it's possible she never made it past the prototype stage.

There's very little else out there about the dolls. A few pictures on Worthpoint with captions stating what I've already put here.

Amity seems to be one of those ultra-rare dolls that only a few collectors know about. After losing out on two other listings, I know that at least two other people do have one and know what Amity is worth. But I have no idea exactly how many dolls were ever produced and sold before the brand disappeared, which probably happened within three years of their debut.

I wonder if their failure may have been due to the price point, $59, which seems very low for a doll with such a nice wig, sleep eyes, a cloth body, a beautifully designed box, and proprietary clothing.

[amethystsoda]

[love-takes-work]

Here we are in the future (merch) and it's WRONG

Hot Topic has been kinda killin' it with neat new designs on SU merch, which to me is pretty special considering how long the show has been off the air and how much I like to get new merch. :X However, the last time I was browsing their site, I decided against getting one of the designs because it's this:

Huh? "Ladies love a hero"? Where the heck did THAT come from?

It's certainly never said in the show, and it's not a sentiment that's presented by any characters, nor is it intended as a message by its creators. Not to mention that the Gems pictured technically aren't even "ladies." Who got the weird idea that "ladies love a hero" would be an appropriate thing to associate with Steven Universe?

I ended up buying a coffee mug with a bunch of SU artifacts and was dismayed to find the "ladies love a hero" phrase had somehow made it onto the otherwise canon-referential mug.

(The side I saw when I decided to get it was this:)

When it came in I showed it to my friend and asked him to find the thing on it that was "wrong." IMMEDIATELY he was like "Ladies love a hero? WHAT?"

Just kinda makes me think that instead of being designed by anyone with a passing familiarity with the show, it was thrown together by someone who thought it would look good. Who decided this?

But speaking of which, then today I saw this one:

Okay. So, seeing merch with random shit from the show splashed all over it is common with knockoffs and lazy ripoff artists, but seeing something like this in a mainstream store is puzzling. It's a somewhat confusing graphic with no message, but it's like . . .

Okay, Steven, Spinel, and Connie from the movie, versus. . . .

Amethyst with her Season 2 design, versus. . . .

Random image of Stevonnie from a single scene in a late Season 5 episode, versus. . . .

Random Greg, random Pink Diamond, versus. . . .

Garnet in what appears to be an attempt at her post-"Jailbreak"/pre-"Change Your Mind" outfit, but it's miscolored, and. . . .

Completely missing Pearl, one of the major main characters. Who puts Pink Diamond, Greg, Connie, Spinel, and Stevonnie on a shirt but forgets Pearl?

It's just kind of a mess, conceptually. A bunch of pretty pictures, several of which are stock art and a couple of which I've basically never seen on anything (so why these, why now?).

It's not uncommon for images featuring the four main characters to have character designs that couldn't have coexisted, but that doesn't bother me as much as something that just feels like it was an out-of-touch designer's google search result for Steven Universe characters.

Man, I need to be a merch consultant for this show or something. I am not much of an artist and am not a designer, but like . . . if they'd just asked ONE fan. . . .

[pluckyredhead]

hi! i'm new to comics and i got in through reading your fics and wayne family adventures. i've since started reading more of the mainstream verse and i realized that most comic fans consider wfa to be totally fanon. you're one of the few i saw that disagrees. would you mind elaborating a lil on why? i'm too new to really form an opinion either way but i'd like to know your's!

(also yes i really did stalk your blog back years worth of posts i'm sorry! 😭😭)

Aw I love this! Welcome!

So I think it's really important to be clear on definitions here:

Canon means it's part of an official text. It's literally in a comic (or book or movie or other property) published or licensed by DC.

Fanon means it's made up by fans. That doesn't mean bad or good, it just means that it comes from fandom and is not part of the official text.

Wayne Family Adventures is an official licensed comic by DC, so by definition, it cannot be fanon. That doesn't mean everyone has to like it, but it's not a fan comic. It's an official DC product. It's not fanon.

Now, WFA isn't part of the main DCU canon. It takes place in a separate universe. The Jason in Batman #138 and the Jason in WFA are not the same and they are having very different experiences. (And I'm sure the Jason in WFA would be grateful if he knew.)

But that's no different than a comic that takes place in an alternate universe, like Dark Knights of Steel or DCeased, or a movie like Blue Beetle or a show like My Adventures with Superman. They all take place in their own universes, but all of those universes are canon. None of them are fanon.

What I think most people mean when they say WFA is fanon is that WFA draws on tropes and characterizations that are popular in fandom. Which...yes, absolutely. This is on purpose, and honestly, it pisses me off when people complain about it. (Not you, anon! Your question was lovely, you just triggered my unskippable cut scene of dialogue. Sorry lol.)

Wayne Family Adventures is probably the single best idea DC has had in the 20 years I've been reading comics. (The second best was the kids and YA graphic novel lines.)

I just checked, and WFA has 1.3 MILLION subscribers. That's more than every floppy comic starring Batman sells in a month, combined. It's more than literally any superhero comic has sold in decades - in this century! The combined strips have over A HUNDRED MILLION VIEWS. That is bonkerstown. That is a readership like DC hasn't seen since the 1970s. That is unparalleled success, and it's introducing characters like Kate Kane and Duke Thomas to a whole new audience.

Now, WFA was clearly designed to appeal to Batfans who were active on social media and fanfic sites like AO3 and Wattpad, and Webtoon readers. The readership of Webtoon is mostly young and female. Fandom as a whole is mostly female. The writer of WFA is female.

And maybe I'm not being fair here, but when I see people dismiss WFA as "just fanon," I always catch a whiff of "It's not a real Batman comic. It's a girl comic for girls."

I have spent the past 20 years begging DC (and Marvel, DC is not alone in this) to see women as a viable audience - as their largest potential growth audience! I have watched in dumbfounded frustration as they ignored the juggernaut success of Raina Telgemeier and Ngozi Ukazu and Alice Oseman running rings around the NY Times bestseller list and counted a 50k shipment here and there as a resounding triumph. I have literally seen them throw out survey responses from women because "those women had an agenda." (This is a true story. 2011 was rough, y'all.)

And all of a sudden, they gave us a comic actually catering to women and young people and fandom, and they put it on the most popular, current, modern platform for comics availably - and it's brilliant. It's smart and funny and stunningly drawn and every episode makes clever, inventive use of the scrolling format. They FINALLY gave us a girl comic for girls, and it's a masterpiece.

And yes, it riffs on fanon concepts. It also has its roots firmly in mainstream DCU canon. It references deep cuts. CRC Payne and StarBite know their shit. Jason Todd being a bookworm may be a fanon staple, but he does plenty of reading - including Jane Austen - in the 100% canon mainstream DCU comics.

It's not going to be for everything, because nothing is. It's completely fine if you don't like WFA. No one has to read it or enjoy it. If you're into Batman for the darkness and the crime and the ongoing plotlines and the angst, WFA won't be for you, and that's totally fine!

But to finally, finally be valued as a reader by DC, to have them do something smart and innovative and so, so well executed, and have the exact people they made it for dismiss it out of hand because Bruce has a "World's Okayest Dad" mug or whatever? Yeah, that chafes.

[sailormoonrarepairweek]

Welcome to the third annual Sailor Moon Rare Pair Week! The event will take place from March 24th - March 30th, 2024, but I'm announcing the themes early to give everyone plenty of time to create their fanworks.

What counts as a rare pair for this event, you ask? Any pairing that isn't Usagi/Mamoru (or any of their incarnations), pretty much! (Don’t get too hung up on the word “rare”. Just roll with it, okay?) They usually have their own week, so this event is a chance for fans to show their love for pairings other than the Miracle Romance, canon or not. You can even include poly, platonic, and cross-over ships, if you'd like! Almost anything goes, as long as you follow some simple guidelines.

Fanworks should somehow incorporate the one of the day's themes. (You can pick just one; you don't have to use both.) How you choose the interpret the theme is up to you!

A non-UsaMamo pair must be the MAIN focus of the work (although Usagi/Mamoru can appear as a side pairing or as part of a polycule).

All ratings allowed.

No smut involving underage characters, which I'm defining as under 18 years old. Otherwise, as long as the characters are portrayed as adults in the fanwork, go wild! Just please make sure to properly tag.

Pairings of all sexual/romantic orientations welcome.

Fanfics should be a minimum of 500 words. Poetry may be shorter, though. (If you would prefer to write drabbles instead, you can write five separate 100-word drabbles about the day's themes, but a day's entry should still be at least 500 words long. You have over four months until the week begins and plenty of time afterward if you don't finish in time. That's plenty of time to write 500 words. I don't think that's too much to ask.) If you're writing fanfic, I REALLY would prefer you post your fics on AO3 or Fanfiction.net and provide a link to your story, but if you must post on Tumblr itself, please make use of the "Read More" option.

Fanart should be a completed drawing. (Any fanart portraying nudity or anything of an R/NC-17 nature should be cropped if immediately visible on your Tumblr post and/or posted with the appropriate community label. You can post the full image under a "Read More" or provide a link to the image on another site.)

Graphics, image boards, playlists, cosplay photos, crafts, meta/essays, etc. are also welcome!

Comments, kudos, and reblogs are encouraged, but don't be a jerk! If you're not a fan of a pairing, please just ignore and move on.

On Tumblr, if you tag #smrarepairweek2024, I will reblog your post. I'll tag explict art and fics reblogs as #nsfw, so feel free to block that tag if you'd rather not see those posts.

Please do not post your works anywhere until the day dedicated to your chosen theme. An AO3 collection has now been set up for this year's event. (Adding your work to the collection will not be required.) If you'd like to look back at the last event's works, the 2023 collection can be found here.

And here is the 2022 collection.

Themes

Day 1: Magic/Mundane Day 2: Hugs/Kisses Day 3: Fire/Ice Day 4: Music/Silence Day 5: Birth/Death Day 6: Break-Up/Make-Up Day 7: Free

(Event Organizer: @kaleidodreams)

[jccatstudios]

SoC Comic Adaptation and General FAQ

General

Who are you?

Hi, I'm Claire (she/they)! I'm currently studying to become a professional comic creator. I love drawing fashion, expressive characters, and anti-hero action.

Where else can I find your work?

You can find all my work on my website! I'm also on Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, and Tiktok (sometimes...). You can find my fan art under the handle jccatstudios, and my original art under jcscottart (only on Instagram and Twitter).

How can I support your work?

Besides supporting my work through your lovely comments and reblogs, you can help monetarily support me on Ko-Fi. Your support helps fund my college education.

Six of Crows: A Comic Adaptation

Why are you doing this?

Ever since I read the duology, I always thought it would make a great graphic novel series. When my professor encouraged me to start a webcomic, I took the opportunity to make the comic I imagined into reality. I want to see the whole series illustrated through comics one day. If I got the chance to make the official adaptation, that would be one of my biggest dream projects. I'm also using this project as an opportunity to improve my skills before I graduate.

Will you post it on (insert webcomic platform)?

Probably not. Most online comic platforms are meant for scroll format, and I'm making a traditional format comic. Plus, I post on so many sites already, so I think adding another would take too much time out of actually creating the comic.

Will you draw the whole book/series?

I wish I could! Since I'm not doing this full-time or professionally, that's quite unlikely. It would take years to complete it full-time, who knows how long as a hobby. I'd love to add a six-volume SoC graphic novel series to my shelf, but that of course can't be done without some serious backing. I'm currently working on adapting Chapter 3.

Where's Chapter 1: Joost?

I never drew it! I started with Chapter 2: Inej because I wanted to draw the main characters first. The first chapter of the comic is the second chapter of the book. I name the comic chapters after the book chapters just to make it clear which part of the book they correspond to.

Can I repost your art, use your art for layouts/edits, etc?

Yes, you may with visible credit. If you use it for your profile layout, put my handle in your bio. If you're reposting it or using my art for edits/collages, put my handle in the description. As long as it's for personal use, you can use my art. Do not sell copies of my art, use it in merch, or use it for any sort of monetary gain. Do not use my art for prompting or generating images.

Can I use your character designs and headcanons in fanart, fanfic, etc?

Absolutely! Please tag me if you do. I don't need credit since I didn't create any of these characters, but I definitely want to see what you create. :D

How do you make the comic?

The comic is made with mostly traditional methods with some digital editing. I pencil and ink all of the pages on bristol board. I mainly use the G-pen nib for characters and technical pens for the backgrounds. Once I scan the pages, I do light adjustments to the line art and correct any mistakes. The gray tones come from a single sheet of ink wash adjusted to be lighter or darker. The bubbles and lettering are all digital.

If anything else comes up, I'll add it here! Feel free to send me an ask if you have a question that isn't on this post.

[shepscapades]

I have two minds to answer this, because part of me is going 'WE GOT EM!!! WE GOT EM!!' While the other part of me is like 'oh god how do I tell them. Who’s going to tell them.' The easiest way I can explain: Tom, Ben, and Harry are not in a minecraft series together, and the lore that I have for them is not based in any actual series. HOWEVER. DON’T LET THE TRAGIC TRUTH MAKE YOU CLICK AWAY /silly so I can explain properly LMAO

Here’s a TLDR for anyone who likes these guys and is a lil interested in them!!

Most of the lore for these three is based on an amalgamation of inside jokes, non-minecraft character trends, and general yogs minecraft world lore!

Tom was an editor (now has a YouTube channel, AngoryTom) and did behind-the-scenes minecraft prep for the Yogscast for so long that he was never really interested in any actual "main channel" series besides [Dig Site - 10 episodes] with Simon, Lewis, and Ben, and [Skyblock - 2 episodes] with Ben! Although he’s also played several npcs throughout various main channel series since he was helping run the show lol. My take on his character is that he’s a former yoglabs employee due to [YOGLABS CLASSIFIED INFORMATION] and now lives his laziest life ever in an undisclosed remote location. He’s also the demigod of death but he’ll never tell

Ben started doing main series mc content a few years ago, but hasn’t done anything mc with Tom and Harry until recently (see below)! His character is a Shark Hybrid due to [YOGLABS CLASSIFIED INFORMATION] who now lives with Tom at the same undisclosed remote location.

Harry has been an insane speedrunning minecraft legend for ages, but was never in any main series content bc he’s actually a graphic designer for the yogs. But he was part of Iskall’s twitch vault hunter event back in November, and he’s now in the [Vault Hunter Series - Ongoing] with Ben and Duncan on YouTube! <3 so there’s plenty of mc content of Harry and Ben, but not so much Tom. c!Harry has lived remote for as long as he can remember, locked in Hardcore, until…?

But again, I base their backstories on a bunch of kinda loosely connected lore dots that are half based on jokes <3

Below the read more includes: links to clips, compilations, and very brief lore explanations (though you can check my other lore drawings in Tom’s tag (#Angory Tom), Ben’s tag (#bedgar), Harry’s tag (#brryhrry) or posts that have any of them, which should be under the (#the outcast trio) tag)!

BEN AND TOM

I’ve been in love with Ben and Tom as a duo forever, since the TTT (modded Trouble in Terrorist Town) days, where Ben’s player model was Left Shark, and Tom’s model was Emperor Palpatine (yes from Star Wars. I can’t stand them). But Ben and Tom have been yogs editors and Behind The Scenes guys forever, so it wasn’t until more recently that they became known personalities in the main yogscast circle (4-5 years is pretty recent in the 10+ years of yogs content timeline LMAO).

Through Warhammer streams and behind the scenes stuff, I kinda fell in love with their chemistry and idiocy, and they worked so well with the “main cast” that I just had to put them in the yogs minecraft universe, somewhere. Turns out, Tom had actually done a majority of the "behind the scenes" work for the Yoglabs series (he built a majority of the main building, did mod research and testing, was present during recordings to make sure things went well, stuff like that) so it only made sense to have his character be the Right Hand Man/ Behind The Scenes Assistant to Xephos (Lewis), the Morally Questionable Head of Yoglabs.

For anyone who’s unfamiliar with Yoglabs, it’s one of the yogs’ more famous series featuring Simon (Honeydew) and Lewis (Xephos) where they tested mods! more info can be found here!

c!Tom also ended up as a Lumian (the fanon alien space species for the yogs fandom, vaguely inspired by Star Trek Vulcans) because of a one-off joke where one of the Yogs artists drew him as a star trek commander, and I really didn’t need any further reason to make him a weird little guy LDKFJG

As far as the “demigod of death” thing goes, it felt right to give him a lore thing that vaguely coordinated with the whole “Emporer Palpatine” vibe, since that’s kinda the mc skin he’s used most recently. There’s another reason there that I don’t think I’ve properly explained, so I’ll leave the rest of that be for now ;]

Ben, on the other hand, plays a shark character in pretty much every video game he ever participates in, so shark hybrid was a pretty obvious way to go. And of course, since the duo had to be in the same place… involving Ben’s shark Hybrid-ness with yoglabs experimentation made good sense and good angst. What can I say :]

Here are the bigger lore posts I’ve made so far (in the order i posted them i believe!), explaining in a little more detail plus art to go with! :] [x] [x] [x]

HARRY

Harry is kinda known as the yogscast’s token memelord? But in the ironic way. He somehow makes it genuinely hilarious idk man. His humor is very dry, witty, and sarcastic, but he’s a sweetheart and kind of a god at minecraft. I’ve been arguing since day one that this man should be in mcc but we won’t go there

There aren't many solo harry compilations, so here's a link to a Harry and Ben compilation hehe

Regarding his minecraft lore, pretty much all of it is based around the idea that he’s a god at speedrunning and hardcore Minecraft. A common consensus in yogscast minecraft lore is that respawning is actually a Yoglabs-based mechanic tied to clones and clone making. I thought it would be interesting if Harry could be tied to a hardcore element in the yogs lore purely by having Somehow slid under yoglabs’ radar. And since he was never in any main channel (aka modded) series, i usually associate him with Vanilla mechanics, and since i also view mods as a Yoglabs-related lore element, it made sense! So basically— no clones, no respawns, no mods!

except that he’s in a main channel series now. So I’ll need to find a new lore reason around that DTBJDFGHK

And his design, well… this man’s skin is straight up Mr Mime, and there’s only so much I can do with that /silly But he’s a HUGE Pokémon fan! He’s played a couple of Disaster Nuzlockes with Lydia from the yogs a year or so ago, if that’s something you’re interested in! Was a huge comfort series for me for the longest time and rly good background noise, theyre soooo good at Pokémon I promise <3

Harry does more twitch stuff (hrry on twitch) than youtube stuff, so twitch is the best place to check him out if you're interested in his solo content!

Last thing I'll say about him is that he designed and ran an original minecraft minigame called "Capture the Wool" and he and Martyn are the hosts for a few episodes i think! i dont think there's any way to explain how entertaining it is to listen to him announce the chaos of yogs members trying to play competitive minecraft LOL

Um, so. TLDR…2, These guys are basically my ocs and now I get Actual minecraft content from them which is crazy. I love them as content creators and cool guys so so much though, so! Definitely recommend listening to these idiots (affectionate) babble and ramble to each other, mc or not <3

[quartzdawn]

Went on google search, typed in 'Ugigiugi' just to analysis her tracing again, and accidental found her ancient Egyptian Mythos art. Apparently either Ugigugi or someone else relogged them on Pinterest and because of that they are now forever frozen there as a memory of a person who is no longer on the internet (and thank god for that).

I was happy to actually find these because I genuinely need to see what these looked like, as when looking at the tracing PDF file that @/Twistedpometea made and seeing a few select of the Egyptian mythos art there, I noticed that if you go to her Deviantart (the only social media she has left) the Ancient Egyptian stuff was the only thing that was completely 100% deleted. you can't find any of the art for it other than on google.

Moving on to an actual topic, while looking at this art wise, not only can you tell that a mass majority of this art is traces of Leona from Twisted wonderland, but the designs are straight up nearly stolen from the Webtoon Ennead (Another place she also traced from in a few of her works). Her Seth is literally a hybrid of the Ennead Seth and Leona from TWST mixed together to make some hybrid child.

I'm assuming she decided to make this "beautiful' decision so that she can easily trace fanart of both Leona and Seth instead of actually have to draw anything at all from scratch.

Anyway, thought this was interesting because my closing suspicion of her possible being homophobic keeps growing because this is apart of the several pieces of work were she replaced a male character in a MalexMale relationship (whether its fanart or official original art) with her female self insert to serve a heterosexual perspective. This time being a more sever case.

If no ones ever read 'Ennead' it is strictly considered a boy love story. Seth (god of war in Egyptian mythos) is seen having several romantic and sexual relationship with men. Specifically the god Horus. Its-- the story is a lot, but the main point is that this series doesn't have many hetro elements to it.

In Ugigugi's version she keeps Seth, gives him Leona's personality (kind of), and then replaces Horus with her Self insert Julia. The stories are nearly the same from what I can gather and all she did was erase the more graphic and horrid parts of the story to create a more fluffy 'gentle' perspective of the relationship. Almost in a way to spite the Ennead version of the story which has a much darker storyline to it.

Funniest part of this all? She's drawn Ennead fanart before so I genuinely do not get why she thought she was going to get away with this.

(LMAO love how in these pieces to not make it clear that she took heavy, and I mean HEAVY inspiration, from Ennead she just changed the art style. Just because the designs [which were probably also taken from other sources] are different doesn't mean that the tracing of the characters aren't obvious)

Now the only thing I want to know is why she mass deleted all of the Egyptian artwork she did and not the obviously traced Twisted Wonderland work that's still on her DeviantArt. is the author of Ennead more threatening with copyright striking? Was the universe she created actually co owned with another user and the other didn't want to participate anymore after realizing she was a tracer? Was she accused of something like racism ? Its odd for sure. if anyone knows comment or reblog because I think its really strange.

(also in the process of making this I found more of her ancient Egyptian mythology art so will make another post. Apparently its being sold on those weird scam sites that sell things for expensive prices. Apparent they think many of this work is worth 24USD. )

[cellarspider]

9/?? What remains

(Previous) | (Index) | (Next)

⛬

We return to the movie that I’m not giving a jokey intro to this time, Prometheus. 

When I was in archaeological field school, we were digging in an area that had been continuously inhabited since the Neolithic period. Untold numbers of people had lived there through the ages.

And so it wasn’t entirely unexpected when someone told the professors that a construction crew across the street had just dug up a human skull.

(https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/work-begins-to-excavate-45-000-skeletons-from-hs2-site-at-london-euston-a3972926.html )

One of the grad students slapped on a dayglo vest and hard hat, and ran over there to speak with the crew. Undergrads were not allowed anywhere near the site, simply because of the liability risk. But the bones themselves? We weren’t allowed to touch them. They went right into boxes for a specialist to take care of. 

All told, remains from 18 skeletons were found, twelve of them children. They’d been there for about eight hundred years. The professors said the construction crew was diffing on top of a medieval churchyard. They’d dug a hole to connect up the utilities, and their trench went right up to the wall of the former church. You could tell that, the professors said, because unbaptized children would’ve been buried under the eaves of the church: rainwater falling from the eaves was thought to be sanctified, so they’d be blessed every time it rained.

The construction crew wasn’t actually obligated to tell anyone about the bones. There was no legal requirement–the dead were everywhere there. As long as there was no reason to suspect a murder, people could just dig.

But because they did stop, just long enough for the bones to be retrieved, those skeletons would be examined, cataloged, and would either be held in an osteoarchaeological collection for further research, or reburied. There was no strong legal or social pressure one way or the other. That’s not universal–some peoples forbid the practice of handling and studying human remains, or require that remains be reinterred with the most culturally appropriate religious rites that can be provided. There is a lack of international or even regional consensus on what to do in these situations.

(https://railuk.com/rail-news/the-archaeology-of-hs2/)

And there are a lot of places where the wishes of descendants and local cultures have not been honored by archaeologists. The twenty year fight over custody of the bones of Kennewick Man (or the Ancient One) is one notable, hard-fought win for repatriation and reinterment of human remains, and there are many, many cases that have been far worse, that are still worse.

But where we dug, the relevant ethical standards for osteoarchaeologists stressed that “[b]iological remains, particularly human remains, of any age or provenance must be treated with care and dignity.”

We students never saw the bones. We didn’t need to, frankly, it would have been incompatible with those values. Is this how it’s handled everywhere? No. And most of the time, our dig was a very casual and lively place. But these professors were trying to start us out with the best ethical standards they could, which I am grateful for.

That’s the context that was running through my head as I watched Prometheus. Movies tend to treat dead bodies with far less reverence. They often carry some sort of emotional weight–fear, disgust, grief, or even excitement or humor. In violent movies, they’re set dressing, less important than the main characters–unless one of them was a main character. I chafe at that distinction, sometimes, but I’m not squeamish about movie violence. Two of my favorite movies of the year prior had been The Raid and Dredd. Two serendipitously similar action movies where death was relentless, graphic, and cheap–content warning in both links, by the way.

Both movies had carried me through because they were consistent on what they were throughout. I didn’t expect anything more sensitive from movies about action-fantasy cops. Prometheus had already lost me, and it was about archaeologists. Ones who professed a belief that they were there to meet their makers.

And so I found the way they treat the discovery of an alien body to be utterly galling. Despite the fact that I didn’t expect anything better from them by this point, I still wasn’t willing to meet the movie where it wanted me to be. I wasn’t feeling their excitement, trepidation over what else they were going to find next, or any voyeuristic excitement over how screwed they obviously were–any of those might have been the intended emotion, I’m honestly not sure what sort of horror movie Prometheus was trying to be at this point.

I was just seething that they were touching the body. Sticking probes into it. That was bad enough. 

We haven’t even gotten to what they do to the head yet.

⛬

(Previous) | (Index) | (Next)

⛬

Citations for alt-text:

All links listed in-line below the images this time.

[dailycallofduty]

Welcome to dailycallofduty! We're a fan site dedicated to the Call of Duty video games. We share edits, graphics, gifs, fan-art, and news related to Call of Duty, including the very first games in the franchise up to the most recent and future installments.

We focus on sharing creations centered on the Call of Duty's main characters, their actors, multiplayer game-play, and all other themes related to the franchise and its fandom.

Looking for gifs or edits of your favorite character or game, check out our tags page!

Some important notes:

We track #dailycallofduty and #codedit

We share strictly SFW content. Other rules can be found here.

We do not share stolen or AI-generated content.

We do not post leaks or rumors, only official news from Call of Duty developers & publishers.

We're looking for new blog affiliates, apply here if you'd like!

[jcinkkrp]

JCINK TUTORIAL FOR KRP PART 1 : basics & registration.

what jcink is and how it works

jcink normal vs jcink premium

the structure of a jcink site

how to register a new account

how to edit your profile

how to register sub accounts

how account switching works

in this set of tutorials, you will learn how to use the jcink forum platform. whether you are a complete beginner at forum platforms or want to learn jcink and have used other forums before, this should be the perfect tutorial for all your needs.

what jcink is & how it works

jcink is a forum platform made for the hosting of roleplay sites. it's similar to proboards, boards, or invisionfree but many prefer it over those for all of its unique features.

jcink is not a website, but rather a forum host

each jcink site would be comparable to a collective mewe group, or the collection of blogs that make up a tumblr rp

you can find jcink's main page (where you register new forums and can search for support topics and find contact information for help) here at jcink.com

jcink is free with a paid $9.99 option for premium which allows jcink sites to host 18+ content and gives extra storage etc. more info can be found on that here

you can find jcink's twitter where they post updates if service is down etc @jcink

jcink site structure

here is a dummy site using the default skin made to help teach you how to navigate a jcink forum.

what you're viewing when you first open that link is the board index. this is essentially the home page.

most sites will not look identical to this, and most sites do not use the default jcink skin but rather custom ones.

registering & editing your profile

every site's board index will have a login / register button and a list of the main forums on the site. some, you may have to register an account first before having access to the forums.

you'll use the register button to make a new account, or the login one if you already have one.

you may register on the dummy site to practice. most jcink sites use character names (first last or last first) for accounts, but you can register with whatever username you want for the dummy site.

this is the registration form. some sites will require additional information, but all fields on the left must be filled out to make an account. email addresses can be used for more than one account.

after registering, you'll have full access to be able to post on the site as well as access to be able to edit your profile.

clicking on 'my controls' on the dummy site will take you to where you can edit your profile.

there are several fields set up so that you can practice setting up / filling out a profile. you can type an answer for 'age' and 'pronouns' and link to an image in the 'avatar' field. any image, it won't show up anywhere on the board for you on this skin. when you've filled them out, clicking 'amend my profile' will save the information.

on most sites, this will include both your ooc information and your character information. most sites designate which is which.

you may also upload a gif or image under 'edit avatar settings'. some sites require this or use it for their graphics on their skins. there is a file size maximum for this! i suggest a 100x100 gif unless the site says otherwise.

if you register with the wrong name or at any point want to change the name of your account (or in most cases character) you'll do that under the 'change username' link in the same area.

you are welcome to test both changing usernames and uploading an avatar on the dummy site as well!

this is also where you can find your messenger (if there is no link on the board index, but most sites will have one), subscribed topics / forums, as well as all the settings for your account.

sub accounts & switching accounts

most jcink sites (which are not sandbox sites) require one account per character. i'll explain sandbox sites later.

if you wish to make a new account (for example, when you're making a second or further character), you'll click the 'edit sub accounts' link.

this will pull up a link of all your existing sub accounts, as well as the option to register a new account.

you are welcome to test the register a new account option on the dummy site. it will automatically add the account under yours as a sub account.

on jcink (unlike on tumblr) sub accounts have all the same permissions and abilities as main accounts, and your notifications for any subscribed topics, tags, messages etc can be pushed to your main account so you won't miss them.

to switch accounts from one to another, you'll simply use the switch accounts option which you can find usually somewhere in the header or top of the skin. in our case, it's next to your username and the log out button near the top.

since this got so long, there will be additional posts for each of the subsequent sections. i'll try to post them all in a timely manner! next up will be forum structures and how to navigate forums.

[k-evans-reads]

In Living Color

Chapter 9 - Part One

Summary: When Natalie Marton, lead character designer for Buzz Lightyear, meets the voice of Buzz, Chris Evans, the sparks are undeniable. But when their work pushes them away from each other, both physically and emotionally, will the sheer differences between their worlds be enough to force them apart?

Pairing: Chris Evans x Pixar Animator OFC Natalie Marton

Word Count: 5,271

By: @k-evans-writes and @ourfinest-hour

We do NOT give permission for our works to be reuploaded, translated, or reposted on any other site. Our work is our own.

Warnings: None.

Previous | Main Masterlist | In Living Color Masterlist

June 2021

Nat reached up blindly to find the pencil she had stuck in her wild curls that were wrangled up in a bun. She had been sitting in this exact same position for hours, pouring over her graphics tablet as she furiously worked in the quiet of her office. Nat could feel the tightness in her shoulders from being hunched over and rolled them slightly as she kept on working, being so focused that it took her a moment to notice her office door had swung open. 

“Hey Nat,” she heard Mark say, finally glancing up with an aching neck to see him hovering in the doorway, her metal water bottle in his hand. 

“You found my water bottle! I’ve been looking everywhere for that thing,” she smiled, waving him in as she locked the tablet and put it down against the glass desk. 

He gave a half-smile, putting the bottle on her desk and informing her, “You left it in my car.” 

“Oh yeah, I remember now,” she laughed, shaking her head as she moved the metal bottle closer to her. Raising an eyebrow, she asked, “Hey, you want to go get lunch together? We could see if Jamie wants to come.” 

“Nat…” he began, clearing his throat and pausing, his hands fidgeting awkwardly in front of him. “Have you checked your phone?” 

“No, why?” She asked, a frown on her face as she watched her coworker, but most importantly her friend, carefully. “Why are you acting so weird?” 

He sighed, shaking his head and suggesting, “I think you should go on Instagram.” 

Nat opened her mouth to ask more questions but quickly closed it again when she saw the concerned look on his face. She didn’t have a clue what was going on and wanted answers quickly, but the ones she got weren’t good. She saw how many notifications she had and started scrolling down the long list of follow requests, hundreds of names and profiles she couldn’t even remember flashing before her eyes, causing her to ask out loud, “What’s going on? Why do I have all these follow requests?” 

Mark shook his head, glancing away to look out the wide window at the Disney campus. “Remember that party of Chris’ that you told me about?” He finally asked, a single eyebrow raised when he met her eyes again. 

Her face fell, and Nat felt as if she was going to get sick at those words. They’d been careful, not posting anything when they were together, or even referencing the other, since they’d met, but especially since Mark’s birthday, when things took a turn for them. She knew Chris’ world and life was… hectic and invasive to say the least, and while she wasn’t accustomed to it, she definitely didn’t want to be thrown into it. But by the look on Mark’s face, she feared the worst had happened. “Oh no…what happened?” 

“The catering company posted a photo and you can see some people in the background if you zoom in,” he began with a sigh, then shrugged and shook his head. “Apparently someone did zoom in and saw Chris with his arms around you.” 

“But did- how is it… why… how did people know it was me?” 

“I guess some fans scrolled through the people he follows and found you and pieced it together. Now it’s all over the internet,” he explained, waving a hand. 

Her frown deepened and the anxious ball in her chest grew, but she was unable to think about anything except her surroundings. While it wasn’t against the rules for employees of Disney to date, it definitely was a gray area. Chris wasn’t an employee in the same way she was, he had a temporary pass, and he was on a way different level than she and Mark were. Mark had known about what was going on between the two, but they’d deliberately kept it from Jamie up to this point because of the gray area and her fear of what Jamie’s – the head of character design, her boss – reaction would be, and the aftermath of the revelation. “Does Jamie know?” She finally asked, eyes wide as she looked up at Mark. 

The older man shook his head, jaw clenched as he emphasized, “I don’t think that’s important right now, Nat. You’re everywhere online, people are tweeting about you!” 

“From just that one picture?” 

“It’s Chris Evans, Nat. If he’s got his hands on a girl, people want to know,” he laughed bitterly, but she could tell he was worried, even more than she was able to feel herself right now. She felt like she was unable to process it fully, unable to understand just how this happened, how someone stumbled across the picture and connected the dots given how obscure she was. Most of  all though, she felt… exposed by this, realizing just how easily any one of his “fans” could uncover anything when it came to him, when it came to his personal life, despite what he chose to share with them. And it scared her, it made her feel like this would never work given what they’d have to do to keep it to themselves. Never interacting in public, never acknowledging each other, never even being seen together would be the only ways forward, but what kind of relationship did that leave them with? Chris, who’d work and be seen alone, smiling on red carpets and laughing kindly as people flirted with him, and Nat, who’d keep her head down, never shared anything about that part of her life, and only saw him behind closed doors? It wasn’t fair to her, nothing about it was.  

“I just don’t understand how this happened,” she quietly admitted, shaking her head before she looked back up at him with wide eyes. “Mark, what am I going to do?” 

Mark sighed, looking out the window again as he struggled to find the words. “I wish I had an answer for you,” he finally told her, rubbing a hand down his face frustratedly. 

At that moment, her phone started buzzing, making Nat jump slightly before she lifted it up to see the name on the screen, telling her friend, “It’s Chris.” 

“I’ll let you guys talk but come to my office when you’re done, okay?” 

Nat nodded as she sat in her office chair, waiting for the door to close before she looked down at her vibrating phone again. Usually she was eager to answer his calls, so happy to swipe that green button and hear his voice, but today she felt… anxious. It scared her to think what might be on the other end of this call but she knew that she had to take it. 

“Hello?” She answered, her foot tapping the leg of her desk anxiously. 

He didn’t even return the greeting, instead asking tensely, “Nat, have you been online?” 

“Um, yeah…” she paused, biting her lower lip as she struggled to continue processing this. “Mark just came in and showed me everything.” 

“God, I’m so sorry Nat,” he sighed, mumbling a curse to himself. “I just got off the phone with my publicist and she told me everything. She’s calling the caterers right now and having them take the picture down.” 

Nat blinked, almost shocked more by the fact that he could make a call and erase it from the internet practically, although the damage was already done. “Okay,” she whispered. 

“She’s going to get back to me but they’re either going to just let it die down, or run something else maybe about the movie I’m working on now to try to bury it,” he explained, speaking quickly as he moved around. “Megan did tell me to let you know to keep your Instagram on private and not to accept any new followers.” 

“I won’t,�� she assured quietly, almost unable to imagine opening herself up to the floodgates of his ‘fans’ like that, letting them see the private pictures from her life and family, something personal. She’d barely given it a second thought when she shared her account info with Chris and approved his follow request, but clearly she should’ve. “There’s literally thousands of new requests.” 

“I fuckin’ hate that this happened,” he said, and the tone of his voice was more frustrated than she could ever imagine hearing it before. “My team is going to try to figure out how to minimize everything though.”

“Do I um, like need to do anything?” She asked, picking a piece of lint off her pants anxiously.  “I don’t know how all of this works.” 

Chris was quiet for a moment, but when she heard him whisper something to someone she realized he was just distracted, not mulling over her words. “Just don’t accept any new followers and once I talk to Megan again, I’ll let you know of anything else,” he instructed hurriedly. 

“Okay,” she murmured, jaw set as a wave of frustration washed over her. 

“Nat, are you okay?” 

“Yeah,” she placated, knowing it was an outright lie. “It’s just… overwhelming.”

“I know and I’m so sorry. You have no idea how sorry I am,” he murmured, the words doing little to help the situation than…. Anything else would’ve. “But we’ll get it fixed, okay?” 

“Alright.” 

“Listen, I’ve got to go back to set but I’ll call you later once I talk to Megan again, okay?” 

Nat let out an unsteady ‘Okay’ before the call ended and she dropped the phone onto her desk. She brought her hands up to cradle her face in her hands, tears burning at her eyes and she felt completely sick to her stomach. She felt like she’d been in such a bubble for a while, seeming to forget that Chris was famous, someone who’s life was in the spotlight. To him, he was just Chris, the sweet guy who made her laugh like nobody else, sent flowers to her while she was away and had become her best friend and confidant, ending each of her days on the phone with him. 

But this was an ugly crash into reality, seeing that something as simple as him putting his arms around her could cause such an uproar. The attention she was suddenly getting scared Nat to her core, not having a clue what would happen from here. This was unlike anything she’d experienced even on the tiniest level, and the shock that came with it rattled her to her core. But almost worse than that was the way Chris had been on the phone. 

She was so used to the sensitive man who always kept her feelings close to his heart… which was something she thought was too good to be true. Never had she felt as treasured and valued by a partner before, but her brain was beginning to remind her that maybe it was in fact too good to be true. In the moment she had needed his support the most, he had been distracted and clinical, treating her like a job to manage rather than a woman he cared for. That one simple thought is what made her feel more sick than anything else. 

Nat knew she was against the clock though, knowing that with every passing minute she didn’t tell Jamie about this it just gave more fuel to the fire that’d become her romantic life, apparently. Pushing herself up and out of her office, she fiddled with her hands anxiously as she made her way down the hallway, avoiding the unaware gazes of the fellow employees. It wasn’t likely that any of them kept up with what was going on in Chris’ personal life, and certainly hadn’t realized how entwined it’d become with Pixar itself, but she was hyperaware and almost paranoid, feeling they almost pitied her as they caught her out of the corner of their eyes. But she pushed those fears aside as she tapped on Jamie’s door, poking her head in and asking, “Jamie? Do you have a minute?” 

He gave her a half-smile, waving her in as he moved to shut the blinds hanging over the glass wall, hiding them – and thankfully Nat’s already teary eyes – from the rest of the office. “I kind of figured you’d be coming in,” he admitted with a short huff. 

“Did Mark tell you?” She asked, frowning as she sat on the chair in front of his desk. 

“Yeah, he showed me everything that happened,” Jamie explained, sitting down behind the desk and watching Nat carefully. “He said you were on the phone with Chris so I didn’t want to interrupt.” 

“I’m sorry for all of this,” she rushed to explain herself, feeling awful she’d hidden this part of her life from him for months now, especially given he was one of her best friends. “I didn’t want to tell you about Chris because of him working here… I didn’t know what you would think.” 

“Nat, I don’t care about any of that. I’m just concerned about you,” he assured her, looking at her with nothing but concern on his face. “Are you okay?” 

She hesitated, looking away from him as she bit her lip and felt tears pool in her eyes. “...I’ve been better,” she confessed. 

“Hey, come over here,” Jamie murmured, standing up and motioning to her. She followed his lead easily, stepping into his embrace as tears spilled down her cheeks rapidly, finally releasing all of the anxieties and fears from inside of her. “It’s going to be okay, Nat.” 

“I just don’t see how,” she confessed to Jamie, unsure how they’d make their way out of this.  

“I’m sure Chris knows how to handle these things,” he reminded her. “And you’ve got Mark and I to fight off any crazy fans or paparazzi.” 

Nat shook her head, stepping away from him and carefully wiped her tears. “Remember that I’ve worked out with both of you and the way that you both hit a punching bag doesn’t give me a lot of confidence,” she reminded, unable to stop the slight smirk that settled on her lips.  

“Well it’s the sentiment that counts,” Jamie laughed, but then looked at her with a frown. “You’re going to be okay, Nat. We’re going to get you through this and so is Chris.” 

But what hurt was that she wasn’t feeling confidence in that last part. 

She finally pulled away from him, wiping at her eyes as she gave him a weak smile, “Thanks Jamie… and I’m sorry for not telling you the truth about Chris and I.”

“You hadn’t done the best job of hiding it so I’m not really all that surprised,” he laughed, a smirk on his lips. And Nat found herself realizing just how much had played out in front of both him and Mark over the weeks, between the game nights with the non-stop near flirting between herself and Chris to the way they basically turned his own birthday party into their own first date. “Just remember that I don’t care about any of the other shit, Nat. I just care about you, and so does Mark.” 

She frowned, realizing that was what she’d been missing all this time from Chris – the unwavering support that came along with the assurance that everything would be okay, not that this was a blip on a brand rollout’s radar. It felt transactional, not vulnerable and honest in the way it had up to now. “I know, I love you guys,” she smiled, pushing down the doubts so that she wouldn’t snap again in front of Jamie. 

“We love you too,” he assured her. “Are you still planning on going home for your niece’s birthday tomorrow?” 

Nat nodded, tapping her fingers against her leg. “Yeah, I think so. It might be good to get my mind off of everything anyway,” she shrugged with a fake smile. 

“I think it will,” Jamie agreed, then shrugged and laughed and added, “And who knows, by the time you come back to work on Monday, maybe all of this will have blown over.” 

Nat sure hoped he was right, but the pit in her stomach told her that he might not be. This was a big deal and she was smart enough to know that it was probably an ever bigger deal than she was fully aware of. She didn’t know his world or what went along with it and for the first time, Nat was seeing just how wildly different their worlds were. 

As she trudged back to her office, closing the door and pulling the blinds to give herself some privacy, there were so many emotions stirring in her that Nat felt completely weighed down. Nat felt pulled in so many directions, part of her wanting to hop on her computer and find out what was going on, what was being said and what truly was circulating around the internet, but the other part of her was frozen, just wanting to bury her head in the sand and pretend this wasn’t actually her life. 

Tears were stinging at her eyes as she sat at that lonely desk, feeling completely defeated. She was starting to think things were changing, that maybe she wasn’t destined to feel lonely or have people simply tolerate her. Chris had started to show her that he was different. That he liked her for who she was and that everything else didn’t matter. Nat was so afraid to get into another relationship after the hurt she’d been through in the past, but she felt like with Chris, it was worth it. 

But she could see that it wasn’t that simple. 

She hadn't been so naive as to think nothing would ever get out about them had their relationship continued, but she hadn’t thought it’d be this soon. There was a constant stream of texts from her sisters, presumably finding out what had happened and wanting to talk to her, but Nat just couldn’t, not right now. She tried to get it all out of her head, just push it away as she got back to work but the longer she sat there, the more she realized that the cause of the pit of her stomach wasn’t really what was on the internet, it was what was between her and Chris. 

Sure, she was scared, terrified even of what was being posted but deep down she knew what was bothering her more than anything was that conversation with Chris. If he had really talked and listened to her, as they had been almost every single day since he left, she knew that the uneasiness inside her would have faded. All she had wanted from him was the kind of comfort and reassurance that Mark and Jamie had given, showing how much they cared for her, meanwhile Chris had treated her more like a problem that needed to be fixed rather than listened to. Instead of helping her be put back together in a terrifying moment, he had been the cause of yet another way she was falling apart. 

Nat ran a hand through her wild curls, trying to push down all these feelings. Ever since she was a child, she could remember feeling everything and feeling it deeply. Being a highly emotional person had proven at moments to be a struggle and caused her to not be able to see things with a level head, but she was doing her best to look at it clearly, realizing that this probably had been jarring for Chris too and that he was probably short because of his limited time. Deep down, she believed that when she talked to him again, it wouldn’t be that way. But when she was walking out of campus and toward the parking garage, she was about to find out that what she was hoping for wouldn’t come true. 

He forewent a greeting once she answered the call, instead simply asking her, “Are you still at work?” 

Nat ran a hand through her thoroughly-ruined hair, tucking a strand back into the bun as she told him, “I’m just leaving.” 

“Okay, well I talked to Megan and we have a plan,” he began, his voice low as he moved around on the other end. 

She listened, feeling the anxiety and frustration rise at his insistence on how to handle it professionally, not as her partner. Not as someone who is the actor on the multi-million dollar action movie set in France, but as Chris. The guy who sends her dinner as a surprise, wakes up hours before he needs to and calls her so she can hear his voice before bed, and the one who’d been sending her daily countdowns to when he’d be back in Los Angeles and with her. She missed him, and she didn’t want to have to think about how to handle things while taking into account the millions of fans who over-analyzed every swipe of his thumb on his phone. Her frustration flared as she stood in front of his stupid car, the one she’d been borrowing for a little over a week now while her insurance tried to figure out how to handle the carjacking. “Chris, how do I get in this fucking Tesla again?” She asked almost helplessly, close to tears as she stared inside the car, wanting nothing more than to go home and block the rest of the world out with a bottle of wine. 

“Push the back of the door handle and then it’ll pop out.” 

She did as he said, thankful when it worked and she slipped inside, adjusting the seat when it automatically set itself for Chris’ settings. “Why can’t this just have a regular door handle like everything else?” 

He ignored her, instead typing away at something for a moment as she turned the car on and connected her phone to it. Once she began backing out of her spot, he asked her, “No word on your car yet?” 

Nat’s jaw was clenched tightly as she headed towards the exit of the campus, waving vaguely at the security guards as she pulled onto the street. “Not other than the police telling me I probably won’t ever get it back,” she muttered. As if she wasn’t overwhelmed enough, the heartbreak of losing the car she loved so dearly only made the situation worse and caused those tears to blind her vision until she rapidly blinked them back. 

“That's probably the least of our concerns right now,” he dismissed her simply, making Nat want to slam a hand against the wheel as she listened to him, wanting to be doing anything but talking about this right now. “I talked to Megan and my team has a plan.” 

She stared at the road in front of her as she slowed to a stop at the traffic light, eyes locked on the license plate in front of her. Her blue eyes burned with tears as he reminded her of the elephant in the room, the one she’d sworn had all but been standing on her shoulders all day, weighing her down as her hands itched to open up anything – Google, Instagram, Twitter – and search their names, just to get a hint of what was being said. “Chris… I just really want to go home,” she finally whispered, feeling as though the cord inside of her was about to snap at any moment. 

And that’s truly all she wanted. She wanted to just curl up with a blanket and hear his reassuring voice, telling her that it’d be okay and that they’d get through this together. She wanted to hear him acknowledge how hard this was on her instead of treating it like a business deal. She knew that he was used to this stuff, it didn’t shake him the way it shook her and she just wanted him to realize that… to recognize how hard it was on her and that she needed a minute before jumping into some ‘strategy’ for his image. All Nat wanted was for him to show he cared about her and she felt like she was getting everything but that. 

“This will just take a minute. I’ll give you the rundown while you’re driving,” he assured her, his voice nearly booming in the otherwise silent car as she steered it through the intersection and merged onto the freeway to head to San Fernando. It was one thing she swore she’d never get used to with his electric car – the silence while driving. And right now, the silence felt too loud. “So the original post is down already and I’m doing an interview for ASP tomorrow so we’re going to promote that and try to get that to the forefront.”

At his persistence, her shoulders slouched, the low-grade headache that’d been bothering her finally began pounding, and her eyes burned. “Okay,” she relented, instantly wishing she’d never done so. 

“I’m not going to unfollow you on Instagram because it’ll look too fishy, but here’s what we need you to do,” he paused, waiting until she made a noise of agreement, just to say she heard him. “Megan doesn’t want you to like or interact with any of my posts. Make sure you keep everything private on social media and don’t accept new followers. Oh, do you have Facebook?” 

“Yeah but I’m not on it much,” she shook her head, her heart rate increasing as she shifted lanes towards her exit. Wiping away a few stray tears, she admitted to Chris, “I didn’t want Shane to see my stuff so I locked it down a while ago.” 

“Good, so keep it that way,” he plainly stated. But Nat felt like she barely even recognized his voice, the normally present emotions were removed and for the first time since he’d left for Europe, she could feel that vast distance between them. It was as if he was reading things off his work checklist, not talking to someone he cared about who’s entire life just got shaken up and he instead just kept rattling off,  “Then just make sure to remove anyone following you who isn’t really close to you and obviously don’t say anything about it to people you aren’t close with.” 

Nat froze at his words, unable to process it fully. She was thankful that she was close to home, but she was all but furious at his words. He was instructing her – with the advice of someone he paid for, which in itself was something she still couldn’t get used to – to keep quiet. To not tell anyone. And in a few days when she could think rationally, she’d probably admit that it made sense, that it wasn’t extreme given his situation. But to know that this was now the reality of their situation, that they’d hide for months on end either until this happened again and blew any remaining cover… or until it ended them for good. It hurt that they lost their relationship as they knew it, but Nat still struggled with the idea that this was clearly something he was used to… so why didn’t he fucking warn her? 

“Did you get all that?” 

“Yeah,” she whispered, blinking away the tears and wiping her face furiously as she turned into her apartment complex. 

She listened as he let out a sigh before annoyingly pointing out, “You’re not saying much.” 

“I got it, Chris,” she repeated, her voice louder and harsher. She navigated into a parking spot, shifting the gears and leaning back against the seat, wanting nothing more than to just hang up and forget this even happened, but with his own frustrated sigh, she was reminded why she couldn’t. 

“Are you mad at me?” 

Nat knew none of the situation was his fault, but she hated how he handled this. She hated how cold he’d become, how different he was when it turned to his career and she didn’t like it, admitting, “I’m just upset at all of it.” 

“Nat, you have to know I didn’t have anything to do with this,” he insisted, wanting to make her roll her eyes. It felt almost patronizing, as if he wanted to just dismiss her feelings because it wasn’t his fault. 

She took a deep breath, rubbing a hand on her face before vocalizing her true feelings, “No, I get that. I know you didn’t cause it but you’re not really helping to make it any better.” 

“What the hell does that mean?” Chris’ voice sounded incredulous, only heaping on more hurt to Nat’s already bruised emotions when he stated plainly,  “I’m doing everything I can.” 

“Except ask me how I’m doing! This entire conversation has been like a business transaction,” Nat stood up for herself, honestly telling him what was stirring inside of her and reminded Chris that, “I get that you’re used to things like this but I’m not. My whole life just flipped upside down because I was at a party with you. Do you realize how scary that is?” 

“That’s why I’m trying to make this better! Why don’t you understand that?” His words only upset her more with how he completely missed her point and seemed to only look at how this was affecting him. 

“I know this is out of your control, Chris. I’m not asking you to fix it, I just wanted you to…” Nat trailed off as the hot tears brimming at her eyes started rolling down her cheeks, her voice cracking when she finished in a voice barely above a whisper, “...care about me.” 

“I do!” He insisted, nearly shouting himself. The tone of his voice only brought more tears to Nat’s eyes and she wrapped her arms around herself in self protection and squeezed her eyes shut. “You should be able to see that what I’m doing to try to make this better is because of you!” 

He let his words hang, silent and panting after his outburst. She couldn’t believe him, couldn’t believe the way he seemed as though she should thank him for this shitshow, thank him for the thousands of teenagers who suddenly wanted a peek into her life, who didn’t understand boundaries and what private means. She hated it, hated the spotlight he commanded, the world he’d grown to accept. But it didn’t mean she had to. 

“Look…” she finally found her voice after a long moment, telling Chris, “I’m going home tomorrow morning for Ella’s birthday and staying in Seattle for the weekend and I think it would be good if I had some time to think.” 

“That’s fucking it?” 

Nat almost wanted to laugh, completely floored by his response and she plainly stated, “My face just got plastered all over the internet, Chris. I think I deserve some time to think.” 

“Fine,” Chris’ tone was so clipped she barely recognized it, but the knife that was already in her heart felt as if it got twisted when he threw out, “I’m going back to Boston for a few weeks after filming. I’ll see you at the end of July, maybe.” 

Without more than a scoff, he hung up the phone, leaving Nat to sit in his car, then head up to her apartment, past the cameras he’d paid for, unlock the door with the new lock he had installed, and head into the kitchen… only to see the flowers he’d sent her. Chris. Not the Chris that had been angry, screaming at her on the phone just now, but the one she felt sick over losing. The one she felt like she no longer knew. 

A/N: DON'T KILL US! We have part two of this chapter coming on THURSDAY so we hope you'll come back to read it!

[minecraftrelatedrandomness]

2 december pirates smp lore summary, aka WHAT HAVE WE LEARNT TODAY my god this is messed up

obvious disclaimers: spoiler warning, everything is roleplay

cw for livestreams:

apo: shouting, mentioned past torture of a child-like non-human entity (non-graphic)

kuervo: food insecurity mention, grief (via p!water), guns and gunshots, what we in the present day would call human rights violations (on at least 2 different levels), self-harm (hitting onself to ensure consciousness), shaky breath (possibly panic attack?)

apo summary (~30 mins)

apo finds graecie at the nightingale tavern, who confronts him about his motives

they sail to the "touching the stars" quest site for a more peaceful environment (graecie's idea)

graecie was trying to hard to stay calm, bless her

apo tries to justify himself, in that he came here in search of freedom and that he was trying to protect the isles from the "evil" of cruppy (whom he is convinced is a manifestation of the corruption and is gonna kill everyone)

he also thinks alphie will approve of his actions… and considers but doesn't tell graecie about martyn threatening him to kill acho (1 dec)

graecie continues to defend cruppy in that it, according to her, has the mental age of a toddler and that apo is compromising his "morals" for something he hasn't even been successful in achieving yet

graecie decides to stay at the quest site to mull things over while apo takes her boat (with permission) to go back to the isles

she also says that she refuses to give up on apo even if apo has given up on the nightingales (her words, summarized)

apo now believes he has to do something he doesn't want to do

apo lore revelations

apo might know more about cults than he initially lets on

the golden necklace he wears is a locket containing a picture of him and the former owner of the locket (probably alphie)

kuervo summary (~1 hour)

previously on pirates smp (1 dec), kuervo saw a cultist at the door to the kite tavern and got knocked out and yoinked

he wakes up in the amethyst cave where the rescue mission happened back on 13 oct (it takes him a while to realize this), and can't find a way out

he decides to take a nap because he's too tired to keep looking for a way out (chat was panicking because they thought he was gonna die if he did sleep)

cut to a shot of kuervo in the marnie cage getting zapped by a petrification beam and barely consciously trying to break out (overlaid with heartbeat effects)

kuervo then somehow WAKES UP in the tiny hut outside the big amethyst cave hole and finds a pistol with 4 bullets

he tries to figure out his surroundings, gets cornered by a cultist to get back down the cave or else, and then shoots the cultist (and… chat says he was having a whole panic attack after that)

CUE THE FLASHBACK to 16yo kuervo (recently promoted?) getting commended and invited to dinner with the armada commanders and being super excited about it (chat declares their undying adoration for him as a kid and i agree)

kuervo sails back to the isles by hijacking a cultist ship and is very salty about chat asking about his past, and decides it's too dangerous for him to hang around any longer

he leaves the kites and packs up his stuff to finish his revenge "quest", visits water in her home to comfort her about the wedding, say goodbye, and get supplies (like a lasting supply of food just in case he has to face food insecurity in the future, and money for another pistol)

he also revises his letter to the armada to come and get him and convinces water to send it off for him via the castaway. there is a promised goodbye hug in the kuervo lore "finale"

he moves into the main town tavern for his "last few days" on the isles to wait for the armada to come get him

kuervo lore revelations

kuervo is a VERY good shot with a pistol

he has a brother, implied to be older (probably alex if going by his last character lore stream on 13 nov); the brother was well-known in the armada

kuervo was almost definitely a child soldier (getting a "new" crew at age 16? he had to have been there for a while for that to happen…), probably indoctrinated into the autocracy that is naya (dw it happens to the best of us)

he didn't have that red hair (dye) streak at age 16

the cultists apparently experimented on him while he was asleep/unconscious… and it didn't work

kuervo has 8 rings out of a collection of 10, and intends to get his last 2. it's implied he might have killed the armada's commanders, 1 ring for each kill? (nothing is said directly on stream but this is the most likely option according to chat live reaction)

naya is located in the distant northwest

either alex is alive, or kuervo is planning to die. i personally suspect the latter, given the ending of his 18 nov stream

[lightsoutbfb]

LIGHTS OUT!

hey everyone! if you're seeing this, then you're probably wondering: what IS Lights Out?

Well, I'm here to answer those questions.

Lights Out is an au of bfb/bfdi/tpot/(whatever other acronyms ya want for the show!). More specifically, of bfb, starting around the time of bfb 3-10.

Lights Out is a horror au that centers around Liy snapping after her elimination, escaping the EXIT, and going totally apeshit.

Lights Out was originally an au that I created back in 2019, and worked on with my old friend for a bit. But we never got anywhere, and he's not really my friend anymore, so I figured I'd just do it myself (with some help from a new friend! Sorry old friend. I won't post your name here in case anyone wants to hate on you for...whatever reasons. People are strange.)

Lights Out is a horror au, and features blood and gore, violence, death, trauma, hallucinations, weapons such as knives, baseball bats, and other creative things she finds ways to use. (And maybe a gun? I dunno.) and psychological horror. If you're a little kid, or you're sensitive to these topics, I don't recommend reading it.

That being said, if you're continuing, you prolly like this kinda stuff. So let's move on!

WHAT IS LIGHTS OUT?

I plan on making it a fic, but I'd also love to make it into a comic someday. That being said, I don't have the time or art skills to do that right now, or I'd be doing it right away.

WHERE DID YOU COME UP WITH THE IDEA?

Well, I've had this headcanon for Liy for a while, and me and that friend were talking, and we were jokin around and one of us said something or other about this being a good idea for an au. So, voila! Boom!

WHY LIY?

I...dunno. I mean, she's portrayed as "snapping" in a sense during her actual elimination in bfb, so I guess I just wanted to take it up a notch.

IS THIS SERIOUS?/HOW DEDICATED ARE YOU?/DO YOU NEED HELP?/IS THIS PAID?/ETC.

This is just for fun! I always wanted to make it but I kinda forgot about it. I figured it might be fun to revamp it here, especially with a bigger audience than on the other site i was publishing it on. It's not paid, I might not get around to doing it for a long time, and I don't really need anymore help than I'm already getting!

DOES MY FAV DIE?

Probably. I mean, unless your fav is Liy then...pretty good chance of it. I won't spoil it, though!

63 to go...

WHERE CAN I READ IT?

Probably here (on Tumblr) or on AO3. I'm undecided.

WHEN WILL YOU START?/WHEN WILL IT BE UPDATED?

I don't know. Could be any time from within a few days to a few months. I'm a tad busy with stuff right now, so I'll get to it eventually.

WILL THE POTENTIAL COMIC OR COMICS HAVE GRAPHIC VIOLENCE/BLOOD/GORE? WILL THE FIC HAVE THIS?

YES. LIGHTS OUT IS A HORROR/PSYCHOLOGICAL HORROR AU AND WILL HAVE GRAPHIC/POTENTIALLY DETAILED DEPICTIONS OF VIOLENCE, BLOOD AND GORE, CHARACTER DEATHS, MURDER, KILLING, VIOLENT/INTRUSIVE THOUGHTS, AND PSYCHOLOGICAL HORROR INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO HALLUCINATIONS, TRAUMA, PANIC ATTACKS, VIOLENT IMPULSES, BREAKDOWNS, PARANOIA, SUICIDAL/HOMICIDAL/BOTH THOUGHTS, AND DELUSIONS.

IF ANY OF THESE MAKE YOU UNCOMFORTABLE, UPSET YOU, OR COULD TRIGGER PTSD, PLEASE DO NOT READ THIS. GO FIND SOMETHING ELSE.

With that out of the way, here we go!

Also, yes, I moved blogs. This is its own main now! Yippee ☆

[tossawary]

The Nimona movie is a very fun watch! Sweet and funny. A little different to the graphic novel (finally got around to reading the graphic novel just yesterday, definitely enjoyed it), but a solid overall adaptation of the novel's themes and the lovable, silly, and emotionally-touching characters. Very lively, extremely expressive animation and super fun, vibrantly colored, interestingly shaped and textured world and character design. I would honestly love to see the frames of this movie turned into a graphic novel of their own. I am personally a huge fan of the techno-fantasy / techno-medieval aesthetic. (The similarities between Nimona and the She-Ra reboot are obvious and imo super fun. I enjoy both stories.) Also, yes, one of the main characters is a man explicitly in a romantic relationship with another man, and that was very nice to see.

I have a couple worldbuilding plot hole quibbles (personal nitpicky stuff that didn't detract from my enjoyment) and I also personally think that the pacing of the movie was a little quick in places. There could have been clearer indication of the passage of even more time. It could have lingered more and allowed for even more slower and quieter moments, going a little deeper into things, but (that's what fanfiction is for, ha ha) that opinion might just be because I liked the characters and relationships so much that I wanted even more and even more detail. I intend to read the graphic novel again and then watch the movie again soon to appreciate the details and enjoy them for a second time.

I've seen some people give flashing warnings but can't personally speak as to the details of that, other than to say the flashing seemed pretty average for an animated movie to me (animated movies are not great with flashing, as a rule, now that I'm thinking about it), as opposed to something nonstop like Spiderverse. Something to look into, though, if that's a concern for you.

Story-wise, I would also warn for some pretty explicit themes of othering to the point of suicide ideation and actions that could be considered a suicide attempt. The film also (slight SPOILERS for the first 10 minutes or so) opens with a non-gory murder and someone losing an arm, which is quickly replaced by a robotic prosthetic, and the struggles of that injury and disability are kind of glossed over. There are casual discussions of murder in the movie as humor, but they veered away from the sort of explicit casual murder that happens in the graphic novel.

Apparently giving stuff a double thumbs-up (the "I love it!" option) on Netflix is important to supporting the film (one of the metrics that high-ups will be looking at or something), if you can do that and wish to do that. If you're watching it another way and want to show support, then I'm sure that happy reviews on film sites, posting positively, and generally encouraging friends to watch it are also pretty good ways. I wish the movie had had even a brief theater release near me, but alas, I shall have to content myself with enjoying it on the small screen. I wonder if they managed to create any merch for this movie. I'd love a Nimona t-shirt or something.