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screaminglygay · 10 months

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third time is a charm, right? (part four)

pairing: natasha romanoff x fem!reader, wanda maximoff x fem!reader, natasha romanoff x wanda maximoff

summary: getting to know wanda and natasha must be wonderful, right?

warnings: swearing, bad flirting once again, hints of sexual themes

word count: 2.4k

an: hi! hello! im back, hopefully my wifi will work forever from now on. thank youuuu for all of your support, i love you guys so much!!! so sweet! 💞 💕 💞

(italica = your thoughts)

In the last three days you checked your phone like nine billion times, still nothing. Being frustrated is a weak word to use in this situation. You were furious, screen time on your phone went up by 89% as it almost hit the number of 13 hours per day. You could make a bet that you´ve seen every Instagram post, every latest information on twitter, in the second it was posted.

I am going to die, I swear. Did I just get ghosted again? Again?

You let out a big sigh, looking around your room makes you go back to reality as you notice the mess. Not just in your head, but also everywhere around your camp spot, for the past days. Seeing this doesn’t make you very happy, but you're really not in the mood to clean up this bomb situation.

Your phone buzzes.

Every thought bothered by the junk in your living room is now out of your mind at the same speed as it came in. Jumping for your phone wasn’t the smartest idea as you stab yourself with something, you grab it.

What the fuck? A fork?

The fork is being thrown away, landing somewhere between your box from take-out and dirty sleeping shirt.

Your phone buzzes again.

Finally, you took it and looked at your messages. Your eyes quickly scan who texted you. It´s Natasha.

Oh my god! It´s her! Yes! Celebrations!

You smiled to yourself as you did something like a cheerful winning dance. Knowing you´re alone, you went fully in with that dance moves. Clicking on the message so you can get some satisfaction makes your heart skips a beat.

Natasha🔥

<12:49>

Hey sweetheart! We´re at town, would be okay if we came to yours for a bit?

<12:50>

To talk of course 😉

Your cheeks immediately turn to a shade of pink. The heat makes you take off your hoodie, but it does not help at all, you stand up and start to walk around the messy room, dodging everything that lies on the floor. Looking back at the phone, your fingers quickly type your agreement.

They did not ghost me, nice.

Your phone buzzes one more time.

Natasha🔥

<12:55>

20 minutes and we will be there! xx

You look around and a sigh of relief escapes your mouth. Typing quick “okay” as a reply must be enough, your brain can't type more than that as you're already smiling. Only happy thoughts in your head, the two gorgeous women are actually sent from heaven. Sitting back on the couch did not last long, you got back up as you noticed that the mess was still everywhere, and you had 20 minutes to clean it.

Shit.

You cursed yourself for being gay mess, literally. Being the clumsy you, it took you seven slip ups on your own clothes and three times spilling the same coffee cup to understand that you have zero chance of cleaning this in time.

Okay, come (Y/N), you’ve got this.

You look at the floor where the spilled coffee is slowly rolling to you.

Maybe I don’t.

The more you look around the more you feel trapped, the chaos on the ground surrounds you. You don´t even know where most of the things came from. Papers and books are scattered across the coffee table, empty snack wrappers the floor, and a pile of laundry has found its way onto the couch as well as on the ground, chair and somehow even on the kitchen counter. Taking off your rings sounds like a good first step.

Sigh.

Determined, you grab an old towel and luckily you find a bucket, so you fill it with soapy water, ready to clean it all. As you kneel, you can't help but wince at the sticky sensation as your hands encounter the wet mess. You start scrubbing aggressively, hoping to remove every trace of the many accidents. But the coffee spill is just the beginning. Your eyes dart around the room, searching for the next task. You spot the papers first, and you quickly gather them up, trying to sort them into some order.

Burger king coupon? Where did i even get this?

You aim it from a distance, thinking you won't need to take the extra five steps to actually put it in the trashcan. Unexpectedly, your aim is much better than you thought it was possible. You grin with pride, quickly forgetting that you have work to do.

Okay, what´s next? Oh.

Rushing to the couch, you scoop up the pile of laundry, quickly folding and stacking them in a corner. It's not perfect, but it will have to do for now. Time ticks away, urging you to keep moving. The once cluttered floor now starts to regain its sense of space, giving you a glimmer of hope that you might finish in time.

But the clock continues to tick faster and faster, and there's still work to be done. You dart around the room, dusting off surfaces, straightening cushions, and rearranging misplaced items. Your hands move swiftly, almost instinctively, as you strive to restore order to your living room.

It doesn't look that bad. It looks like my old apartment... kinda-ish.

It's not perfect, but it's significantly improved. The spilled coffee has faded, the papers are neatly stacked, and the floor is no longer a minefield of wrappers and clothes. You take a moment to catch your breath, wiping sweat from your forehead.

Quickly running to the bathroom, you take the first perfume and spray it in the living room. Breathing faster than you should you start coughing at the way too sweet perfume hitting your nose.

With only moments to spare, you make a final sprint to the front door, checking your appearance in the mirror. Taking a deep breath, you steady yourself for your angel's arrival, hoping that they will see it as a normal apartment, despite the recent chaos that had occupied you and your living room.

Ding ding.

Oh my god, they are here! Okay, it´s happening. Everybody stay calm. Everybody stay calm down! Haha, office reference.

You giggle at your own thoughts as you peak at yourself one more time in the mirror, winking at yourself.

That was cringe.

You shake your head a little bit, trying to gain confidence you once definitely had somewhere. Quickly opening the door was one way ticket to gay panic once again. Your heart skips a beat as you take in their presence. Natasha, with her confident stance and piercing gaze, smiles as you open the door.

Beside her stands Wanda, radiating an otherworldly aura. Her expressive eyes hold a mixture of sweetness and authority at the same time.

Speechless for a moment, you find yourself in the presence of two ladies who probably have the superpower of looking heavenly in any circumstances. The gravity of their presence fills the room, and you can't help but feel hotter than from the world record cleaning you did just a minutes ago.

“Hello, pretty girl.” red head said.

“Hi! Hello, welcome!” You move to the side so they both can enter your apartment.

Welcome? What am I? A bellboy or something?

Closing the door, you let out a big sigh, trying to get your brain cells together to work as a team.

They both walk in, looking around the place you're living in. Trying to take small details about you, Wanda immediately looks at the pictures you have on the wall. Bunch of meaningfull and meaningless pictures together.

“Aww you look very cute here, is this your dog?” Wanda asks with a wide smile as she turns to look at you for a second and then she looks back on the pictures.

“Uh no, that was... Uh my friend´s dog.” You stutter a little bit, that caused Natasha to look at you straight away.

“Friend´s?” She comes closer to you. “I don’t like lying, sweetheart, do you love?” She tilts her head, and her beautiful eyes look at her girlfriend.

“Nope.” Wanda smirks already knowing what´s about to come, but still pays more attention to the pictures.

Natasha's eyes meet yours, her gaze steady and observant. Swallowing hard was another indicator for the older woman that you're not telling the whole truth.

“Technically it´s not a lie.” Your eyes squint a little bit.

Hearing Wanda let out a very adorable chuckle didn’t help you at all. But you don’t dare to look at her, you're still fixated on Natasha, who is watching you like a mother who is waiting for your explanation after being at a parent - teacher meeting.

“But practically we were uh more than friends...” you squint your eyes even more, biting the inside of your cheek as a replacement of fidgeting with your rings as you took them off while you were cleaning.

“You were?” She was playing with you, it was obvious, you knew it right away. Simply nodding wasn’t the answer here, but you suddenly lost your voice. It was like she caught it and with her big, muscular fist and didn’t plan on letting go any time soon.

You clear your throat, hoping it would give you few milliseconds to think of an answer.

“That´s why the picture is ripped. He was uh also there, but I cut him off. I love his dog thought.” You try to laugh it off, but Natasha maintains the same face expression. “I call it my straight era.” another joke that actually worked this time.

All of you laughed at that statement.

Bingo. Mrs. Joker is back in the game. Oh gosh. Cringe, extra cringe. Calm down. Please and thank you.

“We all had that era.” Natasha added, while Wanda came back and nodded.

“I get it though, that dog is very cute.” she chuckled.

You smile at Wanda but hearing Natasha´s comment made you turn back to her.

“Oh, you did? Tell me more!” You smirked looking at Natasha, hoping she will tell you something about her “straight era”. “Pretty please!”

“Aw you have such a nice manners, darling. Okay, alright.” Natasha giggles. Wanda was already sitting down as she almost broke your arm dragging you with her as well. She pulled you towards her, so you were sitting on her lap.

“Oh... um I-” you blushed already feeling the warm feeling in your stomach.

“We need to train this a little, baby, you're just sitting in my lap now, can you imagine other things? You would explode.” Wanda winked at you, wrapping her hand around you, squeezing you a little tighter. As Natasha finally sits next to you on the couch, watching your interaction with Wanda.

After two hours of talking from your first boyfriends to your favorite episode of Scooby-Doo, you figure out both of them are not so different from you. Maybe Natasha owning a big motorcycle company and Wanda owning architectural corporation makes them richer than you, but besides that. You three are pretty similar. You have lots of things in common, reading, watching movies and shows, cooking, going on walks, cuddling.

Wanda and you were having the longest conversation about why Emily Dickinson is the best poet, while Natasha only knew she was very fruity and wrote a poetry, but she was admiring how you and her girlfriend were understanding each other so effortlessly without speaking like a normal human being. When the new topic finally came in, Natasha took the lead and asked you a bunch of questions about your favorite music. When she showed her playlist, you had to let out a big laugh.

“Taylor Swift, really?” you look at her, while you shift at Wandas lap to get a better look at her playlist.

“What? I don’t look like a Swiftie?” She acted like she was hurt by your words.

“Uh, no?” you laugh even more. “You look like a Nirvana kind of guy, Blink 182, Pink Floyd, but not a Swiftie, no.” you admit.

“When we started seeing each other I told her I like Taylor Swift, since then she is listening to her non-stop.” Wanda explained.

“See? That makes sense. Wanda...” you nod towards her “the ray of sunshine is a Swiftie and it make so much sense.”

“So just because I wear black that means I can't listen to Taylor?” She fights playfully back.

“I didn’t say you can't, I just meant that you... a motorcycle company owner who wears leather even as a pj´s won't just play Shake It Off in her shop.” you try to make your point.

“True. Because I think Shake It Off is a song that gets too much credit, just because it´s a simple pop. But something like Eyes open or Better Than Revenge would be great to play in there.” she smiles “Also I don’t think people would mind if I played anything like Lover, because sometimes you much rather hear a song that speaks to you, other than something that just sounds okay and has a lots of drums in it.” she finishes you off.

You don’t say anything at all, you just nod.

“It was your game and you still lost, baby.” Wanda teases you a bit.

“Okay, fine. Fair points, you won.” Even though you don’t want to, you admit it.

“Like I always do.” She moves closer and kisses your cheek.

You tense in Wanda´s arms.

“Relax, detka. We got you.” Wanda whispers in your ear, slowly moving her hands to your stomach as Natasha comes closer to you.

“Yeah, (Y/N). Relax, baby.” Natasha finally connects your lips together as she makes your mind empty. The gentle pressure of her lips against yours sparks a surge of warmth. Her touch evokes a tingly sensation that makes your heart skip a beat. The warmth and softness of her touch imprint upon your senses, etching a memory that you know will linger long after the kiss is over. But for now, her lips are in the perfect place, on yours. If this wasn’t enough, you feel other lips on your neck. As Wanda´s lips trail along your neck, a shiver dances down your spine, electrifying every inch of your being. The gentle press and release of the younger woman kisses unleash pleasure and vulnerability at the same time, leaving a mark, both physical and emotional on your neck.

Your brain is now overtaken by these two goddesses, leaving it empty as the first time you saw them.

That empty you don’t even realize that they didn’t need you to text them your address to find out where you live.

an2: let me know your thoughts on this and what should happen next! If i didn´t tag you, let me know as well and i´ll add you!!

taglist: @arualdcg @beholdagaywriter @snowdrop1026 @itsdoni@newawakening9 @aliherreraaa @zzswiftyzz @lesbiantothemoonandback

#wanda x natasha #wanda maximoff x reader #natasha romanoff x reader #wanda maximoff #natasha romanoff #third time is a charm right?#adele writes #wlw

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wannabepapa · 4 months

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I see you’ve been reboggling a lot of old asks from me which has also gotten my brain juice flowin like

Lately I’ve been thinking about roommates who bond over a pregnancy. A one night stand or a surrogacy, doesn’t really matter, all we care about are the roomies who are now stuck in this fun situation of finding a new groove. Bonus points if the pregnant one gets big and uncomfy quick, leading to far far more late night rendezvouses.

The way I picture it, it starts with your typical incredibly awkward “I gotta come clean about something” scenario, with roomie B expecting a broken appliance or a forgetting power bill, but certainly not a pregnancy! Then as roomie A grows, they get needy, which sends roomie B into overdrive. Late night pizza runs become a regular occurrence, waking up way too early to hold their roommates hair, sitting up at night cause roomie A thinks they felt a kick and wants witnesses.

Then break happens, they go home, and when roomie A comes back they’re HUGE, which changes everything. Suddenly they need so much more to be comfy, and roomie B begins to realize just how much they like being there for their pal. They spend all afternoon at school just to come home and both collapse into the same twin bed, using the other bedroom as storage because who needs it? Sharing is caring after all. Roomie B is there to hold roomie A when they’re sobbing at a ghibli film or some advertisement about sad animals, they’re there to help with anything academic or physical, they’re driving their expectant buddy to and from appointments now that they’ve outgrown the drivers seat.

Bajshxjhshxhs it is 5 am and this ask is ridiculously long winded but I am tired and sappy and obsessed with this idea and thought you’d like it okie bye

uh hello???????? you have left this beauty of an ask in my inbox?????? Marin i am kissing your forehead right now.

roommate B has had nothing but terrible experiences with past roommates so when A comes to confess something they brace themselves for a problem. it's expected, especially when A looks anxious and worried before spilling the secret. the last thing that B would have ever expected was to be living with someone who was going to have a baby. they don't hate babies but they never hung out with people who had children of their own. it was going to be a learning curve to say the least.

the roommates were never close in the beginning, keeping to themselves as they had only recently roomed together but now they find themselves in each other's space. A has asked for help in the morning because the nausea makes it tough to function early in the morning so B is on kitchen duty. B tends to do a lot of the clean up now to give their roomie a break in the first trimester. it's only fair that someone does the bulk of the housework when A is creating a whole person over the course of nine months!

B is also in this weird "I'm not the parent of this child but I feel responsible for A and this child" state of mind that is confusing to them. they don't know why their brain has latched onto being the caretaker for a pregnant person but whatever A asks for, they get. A is feeling cold and wants to borrow a blanket? it's put in the dryer so it's extra warm. it's two am and they have an intense craving for pizza, but only the pizza at this shop that is an hour away? yeah just let B get dressed and get coffee in them before they take the drive. they don't want to be sitting alone at their doctor's appointment and want moral support? of course B will be driving them to and from every appointment now so they don't have to be alone. A meekly knocks on the bedroom door and says the baby needs a cuddle? get in under the covers and pick a movie! it's this perfectly platonic relationship that both just don't acknowledge but now all of their family and friends wonder if they're dating.

when they have to go home for their respective holidays there are definitely tears shed by A. it's seventy-five percent hormones and twenty-five percent not wanting to be away from B for weeks on end. they're ending their second trimester right now and terribly needy. the roomies have forgone sticking to each other's rooms to alternating every few days—it's become their routine. A also worries that something catastrophic will happen and B will force them to move out which B shuts down immediately. they're stuck with each other now whether they liked it or not. this comfortable thing the roomies have with each other is too precious to B for it to ever cross their mind to end it. A has become more than a friend, they've become a companion that has made their days more exciting ever since they got close. it isn't long after A is dropped off at the airport (with more tears shed) and B not even out of the parking structure that a text is sent that reads "we already miss you :c"

they talk every day of the break. A leaves no details of the crazy antics sprinkle (the baby has a thing for funfetti cake and B said they were probably a sprinkle now so it stuck) has been up to and complaining how cold it was where their family lives. they've sent many a selfie where they were hidden under piles of blankets or bundled up in multiple layers of warm clothes with a pouty lip and silly quip about how nobody does the dryer trick here like B does. it's too cute for B to handle. the weeks drag on for eternity to their dismay, their mind straying to how their gravid friend was doing.

to make matters worse A was stuck for an extra week due to a surprise blizzard that grounded all planes going in and out of the state. that was nearly a month apart and it drove B mad. too much time has been spent away from A and there was going to be hell to pay if this new flight would be canceled. if they were stuck any longer with their parents A wouldn't be cleared to fly, leaving them with no other choice but driving hours back down. B would have gone up there themselves to bring A back if it was necessary but to their happiness there were no cancelations and A was in route back home. B couldn't pick them up—work had switched schedules without asking—so they sent a friend to go to the airport for pick up. luckily A would already be home by the time B was off work so they wouldn't be alone in the house for long.

B never considered how fast someone grew in their final months of pregnancy. A's clothes still hide the bump before they left. now, walking into the apartment, B could do nothing except stare at their roommate. A hadn't grown, but popped in the last month since they were apart! there was an undeniable swell that tented A's shirt, their stance wider as they waddled to the door to greet B with a watery grin. the bump is pressed between them which makes it impossible to really hug while making it hard for B to not plaster their hands on the belly. the baby takes the opportune moment to shift between them as they were clearly unhappy about being squished. A chuckles at the movement but B is completely losing it.

after that they don't really stay apart for long. they're very, very close to one another at every second of the day just to revel in the fact that the baby will be born soon. A likes to complain about the pains from the movements of the nugget but they will actually miss it. B, however, has made it loud and clear how they'll miss being able to cuddle up with the belly and feel the nugget move. though both are equally excited to meet the little kicker that they've been waiting nearly ten months to hold.

#;ask and ye shall receive #darling marin #domestic things #platonic friends

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miametropolis · 1 month

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My condolences for the containment breach I get how having thousands of ppl say the same joke over and over in the notes of your genuine analysis post can get annoying 😭 😭😭😭 I’m extremely down to hear more about the differences between the ninth and tenth doctors if you have any other insights you want to share though!!! I’ve been turning your post over and over in my brain like a rotisserie chicken ever since I read it it’s so good

omg thank you for your condolences...it really is the containment breach of all time...let me think!! I have a MAJOR tenth doctor video essay I may or may not make so here are the cliff notes:

-To begin. Anne Carson wrote that to live beyond the end of your myth is a perilous thing.

-in many ways, the 10th Doctor is cursed from his inception b/c he is born at the end of the Doctor and Rose's romantic arc (from a certain point of view) AND YET he is born sheerly out of love for her / to love her

-(we all know the fanon--or is it canon?--idea that Ten's face was subconciously selected to be one that Rose would like, and he's gone for her from the beginning...hello, The Christmas Invasion.)

-all that said, by the time The Parting of the Ways occurs, Rose and Nine have completed a full narrative arc:

-Nine whisked Rose away from the life of boredom and sheltered drudgery she experienced on the estate; she brought life back into the eyes of a hardened war veteran/The Last of the Time Lords

-more importantly, they complete a kind of mutualistic ultimate sacrifice (in a Shakesperian sense?) wherein Rose 'becomes' the Doctor by absorbing the literal heart of the TARDIS (we don't have time to get into that) and erasing the Daleks into dust, finishing the last of the Time War AND saving the Doctor's life

-he immediately returns the favor, absorbing the energy that's destroying her with a kiss (let it be known--the ONLY kiss between the Doctor and Rose Tyler proper--neither Tentoo or Cassandra really count imo), returning her to humanity, life, and safety

-all that said, Nine dies both saving AND being saved by Rose in a kind of unrivaled (?) parity between Doctor and companion. it's perfect synthesis.

-THEN 10 is born. uh-oh.

It is here that I would like to quote Michael Kinnucan's fabulous essay 'The Gods Show Up' on Greek tragedies:

The tragic hero is complete. You can call him unhappy (miserable, utterly broken) even before he is dead. For an instant he is something like divine. And then he dies, because there’s nothing left to do. The center of every tragedy is the image of a human being who has already died but keeps talking, someone whose face is a mask.

I think one of the most fascinating 10 v. 9 moments is that one scene that got cut where Rose says "I miss him." and the Doctor replies "Me too."

As many people in the notes of that original post point out (god help me) 10 is ALSO born IMMEDIATELY into heartbreak--whatever vestigal version of Nine lives inside him died with the despair of losing Rose

-TEN is the man that went sauntering away. perhaps that's part of why Ten is so terrified of/resentful towards regeneration. I think he's lived precisely the worst cost of it.

-The notion of 'talking after death' and 'wearing a face that's a mask' is a existentialist take on regeneration itself--ten EPITOMIZES this tragic hero archetype, esp. after Doomsday (literally! Doomsday!!)

-during his life, I wonder if Nine already considers himself lost in a sense? He's lived past the Time War, past the destruction of everything, and he's also the first NuWho Doctor. HIS ability to indulge in love (even in mortality, given his short lifespan) is different.

-TEN on the other hand has that INCREDIBLY frightening (for him) confrontation with Sarah Jane in School Reunion--knitting him back into canon continuum of Doctor Who, stitching him to the myth of The Doctor that has to live on and on and on in perpetuity--and seems VERY haunted by (im)mortality

-How much time does Ten spend running from Jack? A human being who CAN follow him to the end of time? Ten can't decide if he wants to be mortal or immortal, human or Time Lord. Think of the way he acts with Martha, with Wilf, with Donna. He is totally frozen inside of the space of his seasons. He has time paralysis (fatal, for a Time Lord)

-he is the first doctor that we see reallllly try to stave off regeneration

-That's why there's a certain frantic escapism to his adventures with Rose in S2--he knows, more than she does, that they are hurtling toward's disaster.

-he can't love Rose in a consumate way, even if he wanted to (he wants to) b/c he's trapped inside of his myth. he's like sisyphus. or that guy getting his liver ripped out by the eagle. Nine and Rose are lines that can cross. Ten and Rose are parallel lines. if they touch, the universe dissolves. hence why the narrative/God/Russel T. Davies had to lock her away in another universe

anways!

Ten once canonically carved a statue of Rose by hand with every inch of her body absolutely perfect, from memory, and I think that's crazy

#timepetals meta #timepetals #doctor who #doctor who meta #nuwho #rose tyler #tenrose #10th doctor #tenth doctor #the doctor #ninth doctor #9th doctor #ninerose #hope this is fun for you op!!! i also turn them around in my head like rotisserie chicken #or the very real dolls i had of them as a child that i brought to sleepaway camp and talked to #if you couldn't tell that i was that sort of person

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namism · 14 days

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parts of me | nami

➳ categories: canonverse, gender neutral reader

➳ word count: 1.4k

➳ notes: my two nami fics so far are kinda sad so the next one will be happy I PROMISE

When the Sunny is quiet as the sun sets in the horizon, with the aroma of herbs and tangerines coming from Sanji's kitchen and the faint tune of Brook's violin entering the women's quarters, Nami remembers the day she met you and the day you left.

Her thoughts oddly jump from point A to point B, a silly thing she's guilty of, but it's a thing that she can't stop doing because she makes up for the sad thought of your departure with the happy thought of your arrival into her life.

Looking out the window, her eyes follow the movement of the waves. They crash onto each other in a rhythmic motion, an effective hypnosis for her brain to shut down and work in slow motion. Nami calls this tendency of longing a "thing" rather than a "habit" because she denies that it is one. To her, "habit" suggests that she thinks of you all the time, which technically is the truth, but she can't let herself admit that just yet.

Suddenly, Robin calls from the doorway of the quarters, her mature voice as composed as always. "Nami. Sanji called you for a taste test."

Nami spins on her feet, taking her mind off the hypnosis, which only makes her dizzy. "Huh?"

Robin shuffles into the room and approaches her vanity, where she grabs a book that she left open a few hours ago after being called into Franky's workspace to lend a hand. She walks to the loveseat in the far corner of the quarters, and sits cross-legged as she reads where she left off.

"Sanji wants you to taste his tangerine dish." She giggles softly, her eyes creasing upon remembering Sanji's heart-shaped gaze.

"Ah, no wonder why it smelled like tangerines here." Nami diverts her gaze from Robin to the mini cartography table on her side of the room. She sees the unfinished map she drew of Sabaody Archipelago three days ago.

"(Y/N). I'm Shakky's neighbor, and sometimes her slave," you introduced yourself in a joking manner. Shakky, the 62-year-old woman who you grew up with the past nine years, threw an unused cigarette at your head.

"Don't lie to the guests, kid," she said.

Nami hummed in amusement. "I'm Nami. I came here with my crew."

Robin flips a page of her book.

"You seem upset, Nami. Can I help you?"

"Huh? No," Nami mumbles to herself. "I have something to do."

As the girl leaves the quarters, Robin assumes that she's on her way to taste Sanji's new dish that's awaiting her in the kitchen. Although not knowing Nami as she thought she did, she failed to catch the look on her face when she examined the half-drawn map on her table.

Nami walks out into the deck and looks toward south, where Sabaody and Fishman Island are. She sighs. To live with the feeling of longing is one thing (like when she longed for Bellemere's tangerines or when she longed to be with her crew when they were separated two years ago), but to live with this feeling that you can't admit is another.

"Thank you for helping us," Nami sent her thanks as you pulled her down into your wooden boat.

After a rocky encounter with a Celestial Dragon, you managed to get Nami and yourself to safety, while the other members of her pirate crew, the Straw Hats, as they called themselves, ran in different directions, with some of them running farther into Grove 17 of Sabaody Archipelago. Nami sat on the other edge of the boat as you paddled the vessel away from the Grove and to Shakky's bar.

"Don't mention it," you told her.

It took two days for Nami to reunite with half of the crew. By then, the Straw Hats scurried off into the other Groves to get down to business as the Marines arrived at the archipelago. You insisted on tagging along.

As Nami takes another step farther into the deck, the smell of Sanji's tangerine dish becomes stronger from the kitchen. She appreciates this as a form of distraction from her thoughts. When Sanji comes out in an apron and a mini pastry platter, she is even more relieved.

"Nami-swaaan, please try this dish!" he begs. "Please? Pleaseee?"

Nami grabs a cupcake from the platter and takes a bite as she looks into the distance. Tangerine-flavored. Of course, she thinks, but the flavor isn't too strong or too subtle. Sanji did a great job in integrating the tangerines adequately.

"It's delicious," she tells him. "Thank you, Sanji-kun."

Sanji grins to himself, delighted that he received a compliment from Nami out of all people. While he swoons, Nami notices a particular pastry on the platter that catches her attention.

"Is that—?" she cuts herself off to observe a little longer. "Oh, Sanji-kun, is that me?"

She points at a sugar cookie of a woman who looks exactly like her: orange hair, brown eyes, a smile, and a tight shirt and shorts... except that there is something else to it.

"I'm glad you noticed!" Sanji beams, happy for the second time this day. "I made a cookie for Robin-chwan as well!"

Nami appreciates the gesture. She wants to laugh at it, but Sanji might get the wrong idea, so she saves the reaction for later when she gets the time to think about it again.

She grabs the cookie from the plate and inspects it. It's a pretty piece of art (and a piece of herself, one can say) that she almost doesn't want to ruin, and instead just keep it in a glass box to be displayed in a museum.

She traces her finger over the hardened frosting, the orange color that was used in her hair leaving a barely noticeable stain on her finger.

Then she finally reacts. She lets out a small giggle that doesn't give Sanji the wrong idea. He still, however, asks why she's so bubbly all of a sudden.

"You're amazing," you told Nami in awe as she navigated through the Grove with an outmoded map. "I see it now. You're going to be the world's best navigator under the Pirate King's arm once you map out the whole world."

Nami's face flushed in a way that she couldn't hide. Eventually, she didn't bother hiding her face any longer as she boldly stared you down like it didn't affect her at all.

"And you're going to be the world's best boat pilot."

You laughed at her joke.

Nami clutches the ends of her hair and twirls the strands with her finger, thinking to herself deeply as Sanji waits for an answer.

"This might sound weird," you started, "but you're beautiful."

Nami narrowed her eyes at you. She had heard that compliment a hundred times in the past.

"I reckon that you hear that a lot." You chuckled. "Trust me, I'm not saying this to take advantage of you."

"What is it, then?" she asked.

"Rarely anyone here has orange hair. I find it beautiful that it's your natural beauty."

She didn't reply. Instead, she kept walking through the Grove as you followed.

"You'll forget this eventually. I know you will, but don't cut your hair, ever. It's a cute part of yourself," you told her.

"I just love it," she explains. She traces the ends of the hair that lie just above her shoulders, a depiction of her eighteen-year-old self two years ago. "Thank you, Sanji-kun."

Nami realizes that there is no way of escaping you as the past moments you shared together resurface in her brain in every second and every minute of the day. She wonders if she could ever escape a habit like this when she'll be surrounded by nothing but water for another week as they travel to a new island, somewhere far from Sabaody and devoid of your presence—and it doesn't help her case that old habits die hard.

Sanji goes back to the kitchen to finish cooking the rest of the crew's lunch, leaving Nami to her own devices on the deck. She takes small bites of the cookie, saving her head for last, while losing herself to the rhythmic motion of the ocean waves yet again, hypnotizing her mind to think about you, and only you, like a habit that will never die.

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artsy-hobbitses · 8 months

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heyyyy are you doing ok? Been a while since we heard from you. If you are, hope you are living ur best life.

Ayyooo! You’re sweet for checking in on me ;u;b

I’m actually quite well! I’m working on my last two commissions for this batch, but ALSO what’s actually been eating at my brain for the past couple of days is that News Homie came up to me like “Heyyyy do you wanna join a Pokemon RP Group with me as an admin where you can ✨worldbuild✨?” and I sort went bonkers.

Nine pages of worldbuilding including states, districts, customs and lore kind of bonkers.

I will be back here on your regularly schedule programming soon once I get the heavy duty worldbuilding out of the way!

But in the meantime, please enjoy Meirion ‘Mirage’ Rodric having the time of his life as my chosen character for this endeavor :’3

#IF YOU ASK ME TO WORLDBUILD I WILL BECOME THE MOST UNSKIPPABLE OF CUT SCENES #Also Merry is CAUSING PROBLEMS ON PURPOSE HERE AS HE DESERVES #They made him commodore of a nation and by god he’s going to be insufferable about it #inbox

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darklydeliciousdesires · 7 months

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Lost & Found - Chapter Sixteen.

First update of the week is here again! Big thanks for all your engagement, my lovely little audience :)

Previous chapters - One Two Three Four Five Six Seven Eight Nine Ten Eleven Twelve Thirteen Fourteen Fifteen

Words - 3,448

Warnings - 18+ content throughout, Minors DNI. Recounts of kidnap, child trafficking, physical/verbal/sexual abuse.

New relationships. For the most part, the new voyage with a brand-new person is taken upon a calm sea of getting to know one another, hanging out, having fun, and a copious amount of sex. Occasionally, though, the sea gets a little choppy.

Especially when said new relationship involves living together right off the bat.

Even more so when person A has been recovering from a hellish life, and person B has been tiptoeing around them because of this, perhaps taking a little more in the way of selfishness than he should have.

Lee already had a tension headache that morning. Hearing Emma and Guero going at one another with the kind of decibels that made her brain feel like it was rattling in her skull didn’t help. She’d be lying if she’d stated that she hadn’t been wondering when this might all blow up, from the little observances she’d noted between the two.

“You know, if things ever go south with me and Bish, I’m fuckin’ marrying you,” she spoke, a look of bliss on her face, Angel standing behind her squeezing the tension from her neck. It was always the cause of her headaches. That and she refused to wear her glasses as much as she should.

“What, just for my massage skills? ‘Cuz if you think my hands feel great on your neck...” Looking down, she saw them hovering above her boobs, Lee nudging him with a soft elbow.

“Quit it!”

He laughed returning them to her neck, both of them distracted as the clubhouse door flew open, the small hurricane of a very pissed off Emma flying out, Guero following.

“Em! Get the fuck back here!”

“No way, not after what you just said!”

“Damn,” Angel winced, “she’s getting sassy.”

“Yeah, she’s pushing back,” she observed, sipping her coffee. “Now that she actually can.”

“How’d you mean?”

Lee circled her neck a little, a few clicks sounding. “She had nineteen years of never being able to fuckin’ argue against anything. Don Lombardi said jump, she asked how high. Now she knows she’s not gonna cop a beating or a hot knife against her, she’s learning to speak up.

“I think she’s pretty fuckin’ sparky by nature, but it’s been supressed for a long fuckin’ time and poor Guero, he ain’t used to it. He’s gotten used to this sweet, meek woman who didn’t disagree with nothing, you know? To be fair, though, he’s also let her get away with it, wanting her own way now she realises she can, and him suddenly not letting her ain’t fuckin’ sitting well with Emma, being told no.”

Angel marvelled at how, as usual, Lee truly was the all-seeing eye of the MC family, her assessment making a lot of sense to him, even if he hadn’t really noticed any details beyond the fact the young couple had been yelling at one another for the last twenty minutes. “They should just go bang it out, man. Always works for me.”

Lee leaned back, viewing him upside down with a raised eyebrow. “And when was the last time you had a healthy relationship from those avoidance tactics, hmm?”

He thought for a few moments, moving his hands to the base of her skull. “Hmm.”

“Exactly,” she grinned, winking.

“Yeah, yeah, alright,” he laughed, shaking his head. “I guess me and women don’t exactly go hand in hand like that.”

“Nope, because you only ever keep ‘em at arm's length. Or dick’s length, never really let ‘em in, do you?”

He had no comeback for that, the truth of his lack of confidence in relationships presented to him, tugging a tiny piece of her hair before he continued his pinching. “Whatever it is, I kinda hope they’re done soon. It's too early for all this loud bitching.”

“And if we agree on one fuckin’ thing, Reyes elder, it’s that!” she sighed, the shouting from across the yard not showing any signs of abating just yet. At least one good thing had come from it, she guessed. Emma now realised that anger wasn’t the ultimate precursor to anything bad happening, she didn’t recoil from a raised voice and tremble in fright. Quite the opposite, in fact.

Expressing angry emotions instead of bottling things up was healthy, but perhaps in that moment they both needed to walk away and calm down, Guero finally doing that, storming back into the clubhouse while Emma tore a path back to the workshop with heat in her heels, her jaw set.

“The absolute fucking nerve of him!” she muttered, picking up a spanner, beginning her work again.

“Hey, no rage while you’re working with brake cables,” Lee instructed, pointing across the shop at her.

“I can’t help it! Jesus fucking Christ, he’s got me so damned mad!”

“While you’re in my workshop, yeah you fuckin’ can. I’m technically your boss, so I can tell you what to do, and you can either like it or leave, Emma. If I say no rage, then you gotta calm your fuckin’ shit down before you work on brakes. We clear?”

She chewed the inside of her cheek with annoyance, placing the spanner down and sighing, counting to ten. “Yeah, yeah, we are. Sorry.”

“Good.” Lee watched her carefully, taking a few moments to cool off, sipping at her cherry Coke while she calmed down, moving back to the huge Harley and continuing with her task of fitting the new brake cables. She left it about ten minutes before speaking again. “Alrighty, now boss Lee is done, friend Lee is here. Whassup with you guys? You wanna talk about it, chat it out, spill all?”

“Lots of little things,” she began, her nostrils flaring as she took off her gloves, leaning on the handlebars of the bike before her. “It’s all compounded and he’s basically calling me selfish for always wanting my own way, but I’m not! He isn’t being fair!”

A few more details were revealed, the main bone of her contention being that he refused to travel nearly two hours away to see a used car she liked the look of, his refusal not being met by anything close to grace. Most of her other gripes were of a similar pattern, which if Emma took ten seconds to breathe over rather than losing her cool, she’d see she was being a little unreasonable about. Lee knew why she was struggling with that, though.

In truth, this was her first real relationship with someone, and even though a fully grown woman at twenty-nine, her expectations were quite childish. She expected her own way because Guero had so far let her have it, and maybe that was his fault, setting a standard that wasn’t realistic. Emma experiencing this sudden hostility was likely triggering of her past, though, never being able to have her own voice, being dictated to as well.

It wasn’t really her fault; she simply didn’t know how to handle conflict, how to compromise, since she’d never experienced give and take. Likely, she thought that compromise meant she was being ordered around again, when that simply wasn’t the case. It really didn’t help that Guero too only had two modes, calm and easy, or flying off the handle. He was just like his dad in that respect; there was no in between. Either way, Lee knew she had to handle her reply very carefully.

“Okay, I’m not saying all, but a lot of this is boiling down to you not liking hearing the word no, because it reminds you of a time when that was all you did hear. I also get it that you want to ask for things, now that you actually can. You deserve ‘em, sunshine! Ain’t nobody who does more than you after all you fuckin’ went through, but there’s a but here.”

“And that is?” she asked, Lee pulling her cigarettes out and lighting up.

“You gotta see you can’t expect everything to go your way. Guero is entitled to have his own opinions and if they don’t mesh with yours, you can’t fuckin’ blow up and demand of him. He isn’t Rocco, babe. Yeah, he can be bad tempered, but he ain’t trying to clip your wings, hold you down, bend you to his will, which is the way I think you’re taking it.”

“Let’s use the car thing as an example. Him not wanting to take you all the way up to Anaheim to see a used car you’ve found, a near two-hour journey each way isn’t him being an asshole. I mean, you haven’t even fuckin’ got your learners permit yet! There’re stacks of cars closer to home for sale, too. That’s where you have to meet him halfway and compromise. It’s his time off, he doesn’t wanna spend nearly four hours of it on a fuckin’ motorcycle again when he could be just chilling out, enjoying his time with you in any number of other ways. C'mon, surely you can see that?”

It wasn’t the reply she’d been expecting, but if Emma was brutally honest with herself, it was the one she needed to hear. Lee’s usual calm pragmatism, delivered in her no-nonsense, yet gentle fashion put a hole in her armour, one she needed to actually let in a little bit of sense. Butting heads with Guero, especially how fiery he was when pissed off, had done nothing but make her build a further wall.

Emma realised she was being overly defensive and thus his perfectly reasonable refusal to let her have her own way wasn’t being met by any fairness from her, because it wasn’t getting through. She cringed internally at herself as the realisation of it smacked her.

As if reading her thoughts, Lee continued. “I’ll add here too that you’re not solely in the wrong. Guero and his crazy little temper should know that yelling at you isn’t gonna solve shit. You’ve had too much yelling, but he struggles hanging onto his fire. He needs to dial it back, though.”

The uncomfortableness began to subside, Emma realising it was time to put on her big girl pants. “I’m being a bit of a princess, aren’t I?”

“Yup!”

Moving out from behind the bike, she looked over to the clubhouse. “Think I might need to go apologise for my part.”

Lee nodded. “Humble pie don’t taste too good, huh, sugar?”

“Pretty damned bitter, buddy.” Lee threw her head back, pushing a soft fist against her shoulder, Emma walking over to the clubhouse. Angel and Bottles were outside, both looking at her with slight scepticism.

“Is this about to be round two? Cuz’ my ears can’t take it,” the former asked, Emma shaking her head.

“Nope, off to extend my apologies. Sorry to you guys, too, having to bear witness to our drama.”

The men shared a sharp head turn in one another’s direction. “Yo, he gotta woman who says she’s sorry? Damn. Where’d I find myself one of those?” Angel announced, Bottles laughing as Emma crouched next to where they were loitering on the steps.

She rested her head on his shoulder, sighing. “You might have one right here if he tells me to go fuck myself.”

Angel snorted, reaching to pat her arm a few times. “He ain’t gonna do that, shut up. If he does, though...” He winked at her with a click of his tongue, Emma laughing, kissing his forehead. She really liked Angel. For all his wise assed bravado, he was actually one of the least threatening of the guys, one she gelled with more than others. Him, Gilly and Bottles were her people, she’d found in the six months she’d been in their lives for at that point.

“Just kick him in the nuts if he starts yelling again, babe,” the latter spoke, Emma shaking her head and standing.

“That isn’t conducive to calming things down.”

Bottles sniffed, turning his head back to grin at her. “No, but it’d make me laugh.” His words made a little bit of the tension she carried melt, turning back to the doors and taking a deep breath before letting herself in.

“I swear to fucking god, if you’re here to scream at me some more,” Guero began, turning from where he was sat at the bar with Bishop and EZ.

“Can we talk?”

He raised his eyebrows. “I can, but you just wanna fucking embarrass the living hell out of me with your yelling, so if it’s more of that, then no.” The two men he was sitting with slowly slinked away, not wanting to be right in the way of things if they blew up for a second time, Emma waiting until they’d retreated.

“I’m sorry,” she began, reaching to stroke his forearms. The muscles stiffened on contact. “I’ve realised I was being a princess about things and not being reasonable. I need to compromise more, I see that now. I’m sorry I yelled at you, too. I love you, let’s get past it.”

“Mm,” he hummed, rolling his tongue around the inside of his mouth, his jaw flexing. “And you need to stop looking at me and seeing that dick who took your life away. I know that’s what you’re doing, and it offends the fuck outta me.” As it would, she thought, since her boyfriend was the very antithesis of Rocco in the way he treated her. “Alright. We’re good.”

He looked and sounded the furthest thing from it. “No, we’re not. It’s written all over your face, how mad you are at me.”

He shrugged with nonchalance. “Maybe that’s for you to deal with.”

Oh, he wasn’t budging. When her man held a grudge, he truly did hang onto it with both hands and every single one of his teeth.

She rolled her eyes, turning away. “Mother fucking Mary, you’re so stubborn.”

Rather than fight against it because she didn’t like it, she decided to leave him to it. He’d calm down in his own time, she figured. Being an adult and accepting that was part of the process of being in a relationship was all she could do. She’d apologised, now it was up to him to either take it on board or need further time to simmer down a little more.

Until then, she had bikes to work on, and outlaws to keep her entertained, especially later that afternoon when she stopped for a break and a cold beer. Angel, Bottles and Downer were her source of relief while she sat studying a Harley Davidson manual, familiarising herself with the set up.

It was while she was reading about the engine configuration that Angel broke her concentration with his request. “You’re fuckin’, you’re... hey yo, Emma! Gimme a fancy word for rude.”

“Impertinent,” she offered, Downer snorting.

“Ain’t that when a dude can’t get his dick up?”

Oh, he was walking right into it. “No, buddy. That’s impotent.”

“Yeah, he’s that, too,” Bottles offered, his face alight with mischief.

Angel laughed hard, swigging his beer. “Ain’t got shit to say to that, huh dog?”

“You wouldn’t be nothin’ without your lil’ blonde dictionary over there! Bitch ass probably didn’t even finish high school!”

“Fuck you, man. I finished!”

“I didn’t, though. Didn’t even go, you know, with the whole kidnapped thing.” All three stared at her in disbelief.

“Then how come you’re so well spoken?” Bottles asked, Emma shrugging.

“I read books. Lots of them.” Just then, she felt a body slide behind hers, two familiar tattooed arms draping around her.

“You know what one of those is, right Angel? Primitive version of Netflix.” After his amusing comment – with Angel not so amused by his sarcasm - Guero then leaned in close to her, tightening his arms and kissing her cheek. “I’m sorry for being a bad-tempered ass, wasn’t all just you, baby.”

Her hands clutched onto his forearms, stroking them as she turned to offer a kiss. “I appreciate that.” Her smile warmed him where he'd been feeling frosty, knowing that for his part, he needed to actually accept when someone was sorry instead of holding onto his grudge; even if that holding had only been for a couple of hours.

As for Emma, she recognised it as an important part of her leading a normal life, not letting her past influence her present. It would be easier said than done, she supposed, not to let it happen, not to immediately think that every objection Guero made was an attempt at control. At least now thanks to Lee’s advice, she could see when she was doing it.

Later that night, they spoke about it, Emma lying at one end of the bathtub, him at the other.

“See I kinda think you’re still pissed at me, giving me the tap end of the tub,” he commented, Emma raising an eyebrow.

“Excuse me, who decided to encroach on who’s bath time?”

She had him there, Guero biting his lip as he pulled a face that made her giggle. “Yeah, alright.” Grabbing one of her feet, he began to rub them for her, a gesture appreciated since she’d been on them all day, running around the yard. “I meant what I said about you seeing me in the same light as that slimy fuck from your past, though. We can disagree without you immediately thinking I’m behaving like him. I get that it’s hard for you, but yeah. Try not to go there, alright?”

“I will. Promise I will, honey,” she vouched. “I have a lot of shit to process, I guess. You’ve been so patient with me, too. I don’t blame you for getting pissed off.”

He shrugged. “I ain’t perfect either, and I say I get it, that you have shit to process, but I guess I never really will truly understand it, what you have to deal with. I’m not pretending I will either, but yeah. I’ll try not to lose my shit and be so bad tempered with you while you do. Speaking of that, I gotta say it! You’re nearly as fucking explosive as I am. It’d be a turn on if it wasn’t directed at me.” He went to bite her toes, Emma snatching her foot away with a squeal. “I gotta new type, apparently. Sparky blondes. Sparky blondes whose feet I’m gonna bite.”

“No!” she squeaked, Guero going for the other foot.

“Yeah? Stop me.”

Half the water in the tub was lost to the pursuit of bitten toes, Emma scream laughing, wrapping her legs around him eventually to prevent his onslaught, giving him a defiant look. “Now what are you going to do, hmm?”

He looked her up and down, eyebrows fluttering suggestively. “You.” He leaned to kiss her, his body covering hers, more of the water sloshing out onto the floor. “Today started bad, let’s end it better, huh?”

It ended a lot better, that was for certain. Even though the bathroom floor resembled that of a swimming pool once they were done.

Later that night, as Guero slept at her side – and quietly for once – Emma lay back and played the day over in her head. While medication had eased her anxiety and worked to relieve her of the nightmares that had plagued her, there was much more work she needed to do on herself. While physically, she was far from Staten Island, mentally she was still there in how she was handling conflict.

Turning to her side, she could just about make out her love from the light filtering through the tiny cracks in the blinds, both too busy enjoying one another some more once they’d made it out of the bathtub to bother closing them properly. He was her safe person, the one who’d literally found her, and the one who’d made her realise he was different to all she knew. She owed it to him to believe that, believe him.

Speaking of Staten Island, while she and Guero slept, not two miles from their location a call came in from a resident of that very New York City borough.

“Ezekiel, Rocco Lombardi.”

Standing up, EZ walked from the clubhouse out into the quiet of the yard to take the call, the cooler night air wisping gently against his face, listening as he continued. “So, it’s been almost a year since our arrangement commenced, and things are running well. I’d like to propose a meet with you and your VP again, discuss something extra I intend to move along with our current consignment.”

There it was. The other shoe Bishop had warned him about – and the same one Emma had spoken of months before - had finally dropped.

#guero mayans mc #guero mayans mc fanfiction #guero fanfiction #mayans mc #mayans mc fanfiction #guero x ofc #guero smut #mayans mc fanfic #mayans mc fic #mayans mc smut #mayans mc season 5

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hellomynameisbisexual · 1 year

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“I’m not even sure bisexuality exists. I think it’s just a layover on the way to Gaytown,” Carrie Bradshaw famously said in the offensive, misinformed 1998 episode of Sex and the City in which she dates a bisexual man. These words are still painfully seared into my brain. How could a sex columnist, a character written predominantly by gay men, have such a limited view of queer identity? Nearly ten years later, a 2016 episode of HBO dramedy Insecure sees Molly (Yvonne Orji) finding out that the man she’s seeing, Jared, nonchalantly had a sexual encounter with another man. After exposing her biphobia to her friends, another character declares Jared to be gay. Ultimately, Molly and Carrie both decide, despite the chemistry and their attraction, that they could not get past their own compulsory monosexuality to continue dating a bisexual man. Why does television, a medium primed for long-form character development and storytelling, continuously fail at representing bisexual men?

Twenty-five years after that infamous Sex and the City scene, bisexuality (for the purposes of this piece, I am using bisexuality as a term that encompasses all people with the capacity to be attracted to more than one gender, including those who identify as bisexual, pansexual, fluid, queer, and more) on television has made significant strides—from young-adult programming like Euphoria, Riverdale, and Gossip Girl, to adult dramas like Game of Thrones, The Magicians, and obviously, The Bisexual. Bisexuality is no longer relegated to a very-special episode, and is slowly leaving the realm of bad, misinformed jokes. According to GLAAD’s 2021-2022 Where We Are on TV report, queer representation on television is at an all-time high. After two consecutive years of decreases, bisexual representation increased by one percent over last year: nine non-binary characters, 124 women, and sadly, only 50 men. Fifty may seem like a solid number at the outset, but consider the quality of these representations. Aside from a few stand-out examples, like Nick Nelson (Kit Connor) on Netflix’s much-loved Heartstopper, many are relegated to supporting and recurring characters, at best, and stuck in tropes, at worst.

Maria San Filippo is an associate professor at Emerson College whose research focuses on screen media’s intersections with gender and sexuality. In 2013, she published The B Word: Bisexuality in Contemporary Film and Television, a pathbreaking monograph on the state of bisexual representation in both mediums. “Bisexuality was only beginning to be central and recurring, rather than peripheral and episodically one-off or short-lived,” she said over email. “Bisexuality’s representational legibility has been expanded; it’s less easily deniable as ‘just a phase’ when bisexuality becomes an ongoing character trait.”

Broadly speaking, on-screen storytelling has struggled to construct bisexuality in ways that reach beyond the word landing at the butt of jokes or framed through the lens of disgust and abjection. Nowhere does it fail bisexuals more than television, a site of endless discursive possibilities. Television’s long-form narrative offers unique opportunities to watch sexuality unfold over time, but rather than exploring and showcasing every permutation of bisexuality, bi men on television are far and few between.

“Bi+ male representation has always been the biggest challenge,” San Filippo said. “Bisexuality threatens heteropatriarchy and phallic authority, and so must be hidden or, if acknowledged, desexualized and disparaged through mockery or else hypersexualized as in porn (and even then bisexuality is rebranded as ‘gay for pay’).” She said it’s not unlike the uncommon sight of male frontal nudity on screen, which she explores in her 2021 book, Provocauteurs and Provocations. “Dan Levy’s character David on Schitt’s Creek is one high-profile example of recurring, more nuanced male bi+ representation,” she said. “We need more.”

The phallic authority, as San Filippo calls it, is not as threatened when it comes to the representation of bisexual women characters, who were more than double as numerous in the 2021-2022 television season. Nate Shu, a bisexual comedian based in Boston who spoke with me over Zoom, suggests that feminist film theorist Laura Mulvey’s work on patriarchal ideologies in film still applies here. Mulvey’s seminal 1975 essay, “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema,” uses a psychoanalytic lens to look at the way women have been depicted in film primarily for the pleasure of the male viewer. She coined this theory the male gaze.

“Lesbian and bisexual characters are more attainable when they’re female because there’s something for male viewers to hold on to,” he said. “A bisexual woman is still an attainable woman to a straight man, whereas a bisexual man is both a threat and an anomaly.”

These conventions are sewn into the fabric of on-screen storytelling, a part of the canon of cinema that queer storytellers are working hard to reform. But despite this hard work, bisexual stories are still too-often made palatable to viewers through a handful of storytelling tropes: the coming out story, reasserting the status quo of a relationship or identity, or hinting at a character’s dishonesty or shiftiness (it pains me to bring it up, but Frank Underwood on House of Cards is a great example here).

The CW’s 2015 musical-dramedy Crazy Ex-Girlfriend showcased one of the more fleshed-out bisexual men on television, Darryl Whitefeather, played by Peter Gardner. His unapologetic musical sequence on how he’s “Gettin’ Bi” was an audacious and refreshing moment for a middle-aged character embracing his sexuality—despite his entire storyline being framed around coming out. We tend to see these coming out narratives again and again, to the point where it begins to feel like viewer manipulation. The coming out scene will only lead to the catharsis of Heartbreaker-level tears if it feels earned through a character’s arc of self-suppression and pain. However, the gay blueprint has already been established, and thus the coming out story is relatable and palatable, rather than depicting a character already living their truth.

Shu, who identifies as bisexual and biracial for the sake of alliteration in his comedy (as opposed to pansexual, a term to which he more closely relates), asked me poignant questions: “What is queer representation? Having a character make an off-hand comment and it’s never acknowledged—that is a queer character, but it’s not a queer story.” His ideal bisexual representation allows characters to be authentic people living outside of constructed narratives that are more viewer-friendly like the coming out story. He could only name one example of an Asian bisexual character on television that he felt somewhat seen through—Magnus Bane, played by Harry Shum Jr. on the Freeform supernatural drama Shadowhunters. “It’s tough to get out of the boxes of what culture, film, and TV have defined for decades,” Shu said.

Marvel has been a site of critique around its inability to flesh out queer characters in an authentic way, awkwardly suggesting that all superheroes are heterosexual. The 2021 Disney+ series Loki made headlines for a 20-second scene where the titular character confirms his bisexuality after admitting he has been with princesses and princes in his past. This kind of casual bisexuality has become more commonplace in the streaming era, to the point of forgettability: Bill Pargrave on Killing Eve, playing Eve’s MI5 boss until he was eventually stabbed by murderess Villanelle, also identified as bisexual in a passing conversation. Other examples include Joe MacMillan (Lee Pace) on Halt and Catch Fire and the titular character (Tom Ellis) on Lucifer. Does the off-hand knowledge of a character’s sexual fluidity, without an in-depth exploration of his sexuality, qualify as queer representation? Perhaps a better question would be, does it make bisexual viewers feel seen and understood, and add to monosexual viewers’ understanding and empathy of bisexuality?

At the end of October 2022, Kit Connor came out as bisexual in a bitter tweet after months of being hounded and online bullied by Netflix Heartstopper fans, some of whom accused Connor of queerbaiting for playing a bisexual character. The fall-out made me wonder why any actor, let alone a bisexual actor who may still be processing or figuring out his sexuality, would want to play a bisexual character in the social media age. “I think some of you missed the point of the show. Bye,” his tweet read.

Not to center myself in the discourse, but I can’t help but wonder how a more thorough cultural understanding of bisexuality would impact my own dating life as a gay man, what the dating pool might look like if there was a more rigorous acceptance and visibility of bisexuality and fewer “discreet” men refusing to send you photos of their faces on dating apps with fear of being outed in their real life. The latest 2021 Census data coming out of the United Kingdom suggests there are currently nearly as many bisexual-identifying individuals as gay and lesbian survey respondents combined. These numbers feel hopeful, to me. Previous generations grew up dissatisfied by the range of representation on television, leading to iconic shows like Pose that shifted the course of television at the intersections of queerness and race. I can only imagine what the landscape will look like in 10, 20 years as the bisexual-identifying Gen Zs—the queerest generation yet—make their way into creative fields. We’ll have to watch and find out.

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riotlain · 2 years

Text

Fluff Alphabet with Damian Wayne

ISTG I PUT THIS IN A WHEEL AND IT GOT HIM OK

so yall can request any characters in my masterlist if you want me to write 3-4 letters for em

THIS IS A NWLNW BLOG!! WOMEN DNI!!

A ctivities - What do they like to do with their s/o? How do they spend their free time with them?

I feel like it varies depending on his overall mood. One day could just be you 2 watching a movie together, the next being a giant nerf war in the manor, then it yall just be taking a nice walk.

All depends on the vibe of the day

B eauty - What do they admire about their s/o? What do they think is beautiful about them?

Physically? I think he’d adore your face. He’s unsure as to why but he just loves staring at it. The faces you make to certain things, the freckles, dimples and all that? He loves it.

Damian also adores your passion for your interests and how happy they make you.

C omfort - How would they help their s/o when they feel down/have a panic attack etc.?

In my opinion I think he lacks empathy. But he’ll try his best to comfort you when you’re upset, providing emotional and physical support. Want to be left alone while youre sad? Ofc! He’ll be there if you ever need him tho

D reams - How do they picture their future with their s/o?

Damian doesn’t have a solid idea of his future. Living in a simple house and a simple life sounds nice. But since he’s the son of batman and was (is?) the heir of the League of Assassins you dont get a normal life.

So his current dream is atleast a family of sorts. Many pets. Maybe a child if you want one.

E qual - Are they the dominant one in the relationship, or rather passive?

Damian is rather stubborn. He’ll end up being the more dominant one in the relationship I suppose.

F ight - Would they be easy to forgive their s/o? How are they fighting?

He forgives rather easily if given a nice apology. Or even an “Im sorry”. As long as you show change he can never stay mad you

G ratitude - How grateful are they in general? Are they aware of what their s/o is doing for them?

Very grateful. Youre the only bit of normalcy in his life and he loves that.

H onesty - Do they have secrets they hide from their s/o? Or do they share everything?

Very upfront when he trusts you. Once you know about the LoA and that he’s Robin theres truly nothing much for him to hide.

I nspiration - Did their s/o change them somehow, or the other way around? Like trying out new things or helped them overcome personal problems?

You changed his overall attitude i guess. He’s alot more smiley now. Are the batbros a tiny bit scared? Yes

J ealousy - Do they get jealous easily? How do they deal with it?

He’s a jealous fella at times. Once he saw someone give you a gift and his first thought is “That should be me who gives them something like that…” He ends up trying to top whoever he’s jealous of.

K iss - Are they a good kisser? What was the first kiss like?

Hah no hes not. He doesnt enjoy long kisses. Small ones are more for him.

The first kiss was rather awkward where you 2 hit each others noses on accident. It was a small kiss but it was something.

L ove Confession - How would they confess to their s/o?

He reads cheesy romance novels and thinks of something really nice. Starting with a simple “Would you like to accompany me on a… date..?”

It was rather cute.

M arriage - Do they want to get married? How do they propose? What would the marriage be like?

Yes. He has a very nice plan in his brain for everything. He would propose a while after highschool, probably during an anniversary, in the moonlight.

Something cheesy like that

N icknames - What do they call their s/o?

He calls you basic things mainly Dear/dearest, my love, and other cheesy things like that.

O n Cloud Nine - What are they like when they are in love? Is it obvious for others? How do they express their feelings?

Hes stunned. Him? Damian Wayne al Ghul? Has a crush? It cant be! Hes in denial for the longest and he admires you from afar. Its not obvious at all. Infact you think he might hate you at first.

P DA - Are they upfront about their relationship? Do they brag with their s/o in front of others? Or are they rather shy to kiss etc. when others are watching?

No he isn’t. He’d rather keep things between you 2. Why would everyone need to know you 2 are dating??

The most pda is hand holding, cheek kisses and the like.

Q uirk - Some random ability they have that’s beneficial in a relationship.

Congrats! You get to learn how to use a sword and probably various other weapons/self defense!! He cant have you gettin hurt or anythin like that can he?

R omance - How romantic are they? What would they do to make their s/o happy? Cliché or rather creative?

He’s a very romantic person. Mainly cliche things tho since he reads them off romance novels.

Do the other batbros tend to make fun of him? Yes.

S upport - Are they helping their s/o achieve their goals? Do they believe in them?

Your number 1 supporter!! Hes there to help you every step of the way and cheer you on!

T hrill - Do they need to try out new things to spice out your relationship? Or do they prefer a certain routine?

He likes to keep a routine. As routine as possible for being Robin atleast.

U nderstanding - How good do they know their partner? Are they empathetic?

They know you very well. He lacks empathy so he tends to pick up your patterns to help you through any tough times or just do something nice.

V alue - How important is the relationship to them? What is it’s worth in comparison to other things in their life?

This is probably his first relationship. You mean EVERYTHING to him. He would go through the lazarus pit if needed.

W ild Card - A random Fluff Headcanon.

He cant bake or cook but you 2 try it sometimes. It ends up with it either burnt, not fully cooked or just a mess. Its a fun date

X OXO - Are they very affectionate? Do they love to kiss and cuddle?

Not the best at showing affection. He’d rather be in your presence more than anything. Ofc if you want to cuddle he isn’t opposed to that.

Y earning - How will they cope when they’re missing their partner?

He probably has some of your clothes in his room. He misses you? Oop hes wearing your sweatshirt you left over.

Z eal - Are they willing to go to great lenghts for the relationship? If so, what kind of?

Like I said. Lazarus Pit shit baby. Would kill if it meant protectin you

#dc #dc x male reader #batfam x male reader #batfam x reader #damian wayne x reader #damian wayne x male reader #damian al ghul x reader #damian al ghul x male reader

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bigsnzstanacct · 3 months

Text

So I said I was going to try to write something and so… here is yet another fic with original characters that sets up another chapter I may very likely never write but it’s here and it’s very gay and the plot to sneeze ratio is outrageously tilted towards sneeze (although there’s not that many actual sneezes just like… lots and lots of writing ABOUT sneezing) and yet here it is, enjoy hopefully? Shamefully un-proof-read, will probably clean it up later when I read it back and am embarrassed.

BRUNCH PT 1

“So are you completely sure you want to invite him to this brunch?”

Andrew decided to try one last time to make sure this was what his friend wanted. Andrew lay on Lamar’s bed, having spent the night—platonically tysm—at Lamar’s place in anticipation of going out for brunch the next day with friends. Lamar was still digging through his closet, putting together his outfit for the brunch, occasionally looking to Andrew for a yea or nay on a particular article of clothing or accessory.

Knee-deep in fashion, Lamar replied: “I mean I’m completely sure I want him to fuck my brains out—or, like, vice versa, I’m very vers—so yes, that means I’m sure I want him to come to brunch. Like…?”

Andrew rolled his eyes. Lamar was precious, truly just the sweetest lil (vers?) bottom in all the land, but he absolutely did not know what he was getting into with Charles. First off, Charles gave vers? bottom himself if you actually knew him, but of course the height and the pecs and the sheer size of the man always led gays astray, much to Charles’ own frustration (“why are all vers guys bottoms? If you’re a bottom just say so!” And Andrew’s reply: “Babes, you’re nine feet tall and built like a linebacker, they might be vers but they’re bottoms for you sweetheart”). But second, it was May. May wasn’t… the best time of year to invite Charles to brunch, especially at the spot Lamar liked, on the rooftop… outside…

“I mean I’ll totally call him,” Andrew said, relenting. “Not trying to cockblock anybody, just. You know he has allergies and we’re planning to go to the rooftop at Four Forty-Two, right?”

“Oh my god, he has allergies, I have Claritin, it’s a match made in heaven!” Lamar giggled, and went back to accessorizing.

Andrew shook his head, knowing good and well that Claritin wasn’t gonna do shit for what Charles had going on. They’d grown up together and Charlie could barely tame his nose with the extra-strength prescription shit. And even then, Charles had no business sitting outside on a rooftop with the pollen count looking the way it was looking. But what Andrew also knew was a) Charles always said he wasn’t going to let his allergies hold him back (especially after he came out, bulked up, and shed his bean pole scrawny sneezy nerd image for a brick house bulky—still sneezy—hunk image), b) he really had the hots for Lamar. Like… really. Like would never forgive Andrew for not inviting him out when Lamar clearly wanted him bad really. (He would, of course, forgive Andrew. But he’d be a dick about it for like three whole weeks, truly what a drama queen.)

So Andrew took his leave from Lamar’s room and walked to the living room, calling over his shoulder that he was going to reach out to Charles. And, sitting down on the couch, that’s exactly what he did.

“Charlie?”

“Ahhh… A-Andrew… whahhh… wh-whaaaahhhhh…”

“Charles Montgomery Jackson, I know that sound, don’t you blow my eardrums out, drop the phone… drop it right…”

Andrew heard the phone clatter hopefully onto a soft surface, the sound of the phone’s mic rubbing up against whatever Charlie’d dropped it on momentarily all he could hear, even as Andrew, knowing his friend—and his friend’s nose—moved the phone away from his ear. And no sooner had he done so than a resounding “WWHHHAAAAAATTTTSSSCCHHHOOOOOOO!!!” screamed out from the phone receiver. Andrew swore the sound wave of it alone pushed back his hair. (Of course, he knew it didn’t but he wasn’t so sure Charlie’s sneezes couldn’t do that irl.)

Two more screaming sneezes rang out from the phone before Andrew chanced putting his ear back to the receiver.

“So, allergy season’s kick—“

“HHHHHHHHHHARRRRRRRRREEEESCCCHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!” Charles bellowed.

It was Andrew’s turn to drop the phone.

Finally, a few sneezes later, they managed to actually talk.

“So, allergy season, Charlie?”

“Man… you have no idea. It’s like the worst one yet. I am SO sorry I blasted you right when you got on the phone but like… you know how it is for me, bro, the shit just comes out of nowhere and boom I’m fucking blasting off. I dunno why this always happens to me, like no matter how many herbal supplements I take, no matter how much local honey I eat, no matter how many extra-strength meds they give me, it’s like my nose doesn’t give a fuck. Just takes all that shit and blows it out with these damn sneezes like it does everything else… dude, it sucks.”

“Sorry, Charlie.” Andrew sing-songed. “You feeling OK otherwise?”

“Yeah, same as always. I used to feel like shit all day when I got my allergies, but I got in shape and it seems like a bunch of that shit went away, everything but…”

“The sneezes.” Andrew finished for him.

“Yeah, dude! My whole body got the memo, like, ‘we’re hot and cool and gay now, thanks, get with the program’ and my nose was like ‘nah man fuck you no new friends, sneeze machine for life!’”

They laughed together, Andrew heartily but a bit bittersweet. Charles really thought he’d changed more than he had, but that was probably because he wanted to change so badly. Andrew had always thought the only thing wrong with the scrawny closeted nerd he’d grown up with was the closet—sneezes notwithstanding—but Charles, it seemed, begged to differ.

“Well, I know how your nose is bothering you today so I almost didn’t want to say anything but…”

“Shit, are you with Lamar? Fuck, did he ask about me? Did he talk about me? Did you talk about me? Don’t tell him how much I suck Andrew, you gotta big me up—“

“Oh my god oh my god calm your thirsty tits, bitch. I am with Lamar, he has nothing but positive if slightly concerning things to say about you, AND we’re going to brunch today at Four Forty-Two so if you’re feeling up to—“

“What time.”

“Charlie, are you sure, it’s gonna be outside on a roof—“

“What. Time.”

“Ugh, 12:45 so actually 1:15.”

“Yes! You’re the best Drew see you there at 1, thank you so much BYE!”

Andrew just shook his head. Charlie thought he was slick. Rushing him off the phone like he was just so excited to get to brunch (he was), as though Andrew couldn’t hear the sneeziness creeping into his tone (he could), and Andrew knew that Charlie knew that Andrew would have cussed him smooth out if he’d deafened Andrew again with those big ole roars he called sneezes (sure would have!).

But just then Lamar slinked out of his bedroom, the brunch outfit in full effect. And giving his very best Mae West (though he didn’t know that’s who he was aping, Lamar didn’t know his history for shit), Lamar said: “I hear that Charles is coming to the brunch.”

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aita-blorbos · 6 months

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AITA for breaking into my sister’s apartment?

Not 100% where to start with this one, but I’ll try going back to the beginning. I’m a vigilante, I lived a somewhat normal life until nine years old when my parents were killed by a mob boss, we’ll call him Z. I became a vigilante to bring him to justice, and I’ve been in the life ever since.

Recently, I found out Z had a daughter (I’ll call her M) around my age, and she just became the mayor of my city. I was reasonably upset about this development, and I asked some friends (we’ll call them B and T) to help me investigate. B found her FBI file, which was mostly redacted and not very helpful. I wanted to investigate further, but B and T insisted I rest, since I’m still recovering from a traumatic brain injury and an unrelated concussion.

Now, I wanted to listen to them, but this is the daughter of the man who killed my parents, and who is currently the mayor of one of the most corrupted cities in the country. We don’t know who she’s working with, or what her plans are, and that can’t stand. So I snuck out. Dick move, I know, but I needed information.

When I got to her apartment, she and her bodyguard knocked me out, tied me up, and worst of all, took off my mask. But after she saw my face, she told me the truth: she’s not actually Z’s daughter. She’s my half sister, and she’s working with the FBI to take down one of the major forces of corruption in our city. She introduced me to her mom, and we talked about my father and his past. I wasn’t sure whether or not to trust her at first, but I think she’s telling the truth.

Thing is, now I feel like a total dick. I broke into her apartment, ruined one of her windows, and put her in danger of being discovered by the people she’s working against. I felt like it was somewhat justified - again, I thought she was Z’s daughter, and also, like, evil - but in retrospect, I’m not so sure. So, AITA for breaking into her apartment?

#aita #am i the asshole #unreality #kidnapping

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neurosismancer · 11 months

Text

So, let me put on my Internet Old Person hat and tell you kids about the the way we committed music piracy in the long long ago of 2001, and the fragility of those music collections in those days.

You might know Napster. You might know Limewire. But there was a music piracy tool in between those. A little remembered program called AudioGalaxy, and it worked a little like Napster and a little like BitTorrent. The exact details of how it worked are immaterial, but one thing it did was when you searched for an artist, the songs were sorted, in essence, by popularity (e.g. how many people had that specific song file shared.)

Now, I can’t understand why this was a thing, but there was a strange phenomenon in the early days of file sharing and music piracy where people would share songs with the wrong artist name or song title. Certain bands and artists got a lot of stuff attributed to them that they never recorded. “Weird” Al Yankovic may be the most infamous victim of this, with nearly every novelty song and song parody released attributed to him regardless of quality or subject matter.

The confluence of these two phenomena are how I discovered one of my favorite bands of all time.

So, in my late teens, I found a new favorite band. A quickly little one-hit wonder known as DEVO. Y’know, the band that dd “Whip It.” They had the funny red hats that looked like flowerpots. Those guys.

Anyway, I had become obsessed with this band to the point of autistic hyperfixation, and I wanted to hear everything they’d ever put out. At that point, they’d released nine studio albums, a couple live albums, and two collections of early demos, and I wanted them all. So I would find myself crawling in the bottom pages of the AudioGalaxy search results looking for those obscure tracks—b-sides, songs on soundtracks and compilations, the occasional bootleg, They’d pop up between songs that were obviously not by DEVO, and much like our poor friend Alfred Yankovic, any sort of vaguely quirky 80s song got assigned to DEVO.

That was how I found it. A song called, simply, “Detachable Penis.”

Now, I had never heard of such as song, but I knew on the face of it, it wasn’t a DEVO song.

But with a title like that, I knew I had to find out just what in the name of fuck a song called “Detachable Penis” sounded like.

It sounded, dear reader, like this:

youtube

(CWs: blurry images of a dildo, the word penis, spoken word poetry)

And I immediately went to Google, because this song somehow tickled an itch in my brain, and I had to go and find out the real band that recorded this song, because how the hell else was I going to get every song I could of theirs I could get my grubby little hands on. The band was called King Missile, and I was hooked.

I’d like to see any music discovery algorithm beat that.

I eventually acquired their entire major discography along with a few EPs and B-Sides. I eventually burned those to a CD, which I could listen to with my MP3 CD Player.

And I realize, upon writing that, for you youth “MP3 CD Player” is a noun phrase that needs explaining. See, while the iPod had been released at that point, and similar devices were also on the market, they were all prohibitively expensive. The economical way to listen to pirated music files was to burn them to CD, but some CD players had software that allows you to burn those song as as _data_. Suddenly, you could have a single CD with 700 megabytes of MP3 files—room for an artist’s entire discography, if not multiple artists.

Since I was download a whole lot of MP3s with my high speed DSL connection, I was taking up an awful lot of space on my hard drive that needed to be offloaded somehow. CD-Rs and an MP3 CD Player were the optimal solution. And it worked…

…until it didn’t.

In the summer of 2002, my parents took me on a vacation to Las Vegas and Los Angeles. It was in the latter city where someone got into our rental car and swiped my MP3 CD player and a binder of CDs—both pressed CDs I’d acquired and CD-Rs of illicitly acquired MP3s, along them a CD-R I’d burned containing the nearly complete King Missile discography.

Songs I had only on that one CD-R.

It took me a decade—ten fucking years—before I’d recovered all the music that was on that disc.

This is the sort of discovery and the sort of loss that kids will never experience again in this day of Spotify and the all-you-can-eat buffet of music on demand we have now.

#internet old person #music piracy #music discovery #AudioGalaxy #Napster #Limewire #2001 #2002 #back in the day #2000s nostalgia #long and rambling story #DEVO #king Missile #Youtube

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milaswriting · 1 year

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mila hi i know this is super late but i finally played chapter nine and PLSJSJWISBWIZNZKSHZJ IM SICK IN THE HEAD WHAT WAS THAT 😭😭😭😭😭 IM NEVER BEATING THE WHORE ALLEGATIONS

no cause p’s rooftop scene made me so ill like “which part, the fact that we’re here together or you’re the first person i’ve ever brought here?” ??????? P WHY WOULD SAY THAT TO ME AND EXPECT ME TO BE NORMAL 😭😭😭😭 and at the party when you fix their collar and they hold your hands in placeemsjejdjwkxjwkwjsk 💘💘💘 p top tier ro fr no one’s doing it like them

and the library scene with k “you’re an all right vampire” “you’re an all right human” infhdhdjsbsjs giggling twirling my hair kicking me feet i usually go for the shy flirt options but that was just too good i’m a huge sucker for banters like that 😭😭😭 and when i tell you that as soon as i saw the choice to fix their curls i’ve never picked an option so fast LMFAOOO that is literally my dream interaction with k 🥰🥰 also my heart broke a little when they apologized for the compulsion again :(((

also b being an empath and absorbing emotions….. 💔 i realized i haven’t used kirsten in a b-only playthrough so i did this time and realizing that they both have a tendency to be a people pleaser highkey made me sad 🥲 and not to hc dump but mid to deep friendship stage i think maya would make blaze promise not to absorb her emotions ever again and just let her be sad

but anyway !!!! b not turning around in the necklace scene was so fucking insane of them like “it’s easier and more polite to compliment you when i’m looking at you” ok????? so kiss me????? 🙄 and when they pull mc in for a dance dnejakqKEKAKWKSJSBAKA “is that coupley enough for you?” “you know the answer to that is a yes” B SHUT UP SHUT UPPPPPPPPPP 😣😣😣😣

that said, i think a owned me this chapter KSKDKSKS no cause i legit didn’t know what to expect in the flirt scenes with them. their route def gave more than it was supposed to give 🤭🤭 and maybe i just missed it in the prev chapters but is this also the first time a addressed mc by their first name?? 👀 but yeah i did something right by making loren bold as hell because THE BOLD FLIRT OPTIONS WERE SO SCRUMPTIOUSJSJSNS when you give them a rose and they say you’re the first one to do that and the training room scene when you tell them you wanna get to know their talkative side more and they go “maybe you’ll get lucky” 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 “i’ve seen humans go to the grand royalton looking much worse” LIKE A BARE MINIMUM COMPLIMENT GOT ME BLUSHING IM SICK!!!!!!! also when a was like “oh” at the party and mc just goes “oh? OH?” PSLDJSJ THAT WAS FUNNY

also i love zeren sm <333 as soon as she mentioned she knows tristen i made sure all my golden girlies dated him for the extra drama 🤭 but yeah chapter 9 was too good i can’t stop thinking about it hssznjsbwjaj i’m literally so in love with all the ros i can no longer live one more day being single

I’ve read this like 6 times this morning, and I’ve taken screenshots of it so I think that shows how much I love this ask! I really love the fact that you liked chapter 9, and I love getting your reactions to stuff that I write, it genuinely makes my day—I could and will read them like the morning news. Ooo, alongside all your headcanons too!!! I love reading those, they very much change my brain chemistry, like tell me everything single goddamn thing about Loren, Lira, Kirsten and Maya !!!

Alsoo, Zeren was very much a last minute character that was created and I love her, and I’m glad someone else likes her because I personally think she’s a delight <33

But yeahhh, here’s my screaming about you and my ocs, and thanks so much for reading the latest chapter. I hope to bring another one very soon <333

#ask #nikka ✨

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fredfilmsblog · 2 years

Text

BTS w/B&PC Part 5

Click here for the other posts of ‘Behind the Scenes with Bee and PuppyCat’

Now that Bee and PuppyCat: Lazy in Space has dropped on Netflix, I thought I would share some of my recollections as to how this special series of Natasha Allegri’s came to be. –Fred Seibert

Taking a break from the BTS chronology I’m going to take a minute for some thank yous. Of course, I’ll forget to include some people, but you shouldn’t take it as more than swiss cheese brain.

Some say that filmmaking is a collaborative art, and in my case, that’s been totally true. Yes, for me, that’s an understatement. Getting to a series like “Bee and PuppyCat” is a collection of experiences where I learned from hundreds of people, and then worked directly with hundreds more. In cartoons alone, I’ve had 30 years of a lot of ups, too many downs, some great successes and greater misses.

It was clear to me right at the beginning that American cartoons suffered greatly from relegating women to support positions rather than primary creative ones. Within weeks of starting at Hanna-Barbera I’d voice the lament to anyone who’d listen. It was a long time before anyone even pitched, but by 2006, with Random! Cartoons, we had more women coming in with their ideas than ever before, and in the end nine women created finished cartoons. And during Too Cool! Cartoons, for our Cartoon Hangover channel, almost half the shorts were by a new generation of creative women, including Natasha.

Onto the thanks. Please remember that these posts are about the “behind the scenes” of what makes B&PC. None of us miss the plain truth that it’s our fans that makes everything worth it.

I’m not sure if there’s a way to thanks Natasha Allegri enough, is there? An amazing artist, a deep storyteller, a lovely person with a stunning vision.

Eric Homan and I were colleagues for 27 years, the last 15 or so, heading development at Frederator Studios. It was Eric who, for us, spotted what a special talent Natasha had. He was the person who saw her web comic that kickstarted the Fionna and Cake phenomenon. And, of course, he invited Natasha over to show us the cartoon she’d been working on in 2013.

Carrie Miller has been another indispensable presence during my Frederator years. She ran our New York operation, produced our first original cartoons for Channel Frederator, and by the time Eric sent over the PuppyCat storyboard for a second opinion (”Greenlight this cartoon right now!”), she was running the entire New York office and our YouTube channels.

Don’t think I’ve ignored Pendleton Ward. Because it was Pen’s and Natasha’s friendship, built around the web comics that they traded over years, that inspired Pen to convince her to join the Adventure Time team, her first foray into professional cartoons. Without Pen, I’m not at all sure that any of us could have become her great followers. And don’t think he didn’t help B&PC creatively whenever possible.

Kevin Kolde and I met during my time at Hanna-Barbera, and during his pre-cartoon and SPüMCø lives I did everything I could to bring him over to my side of things. Eventually he succumbed, and while he was developing what has become the ”Castlevania” universe, he patiently worked with dozens of the creators –almost none of whom had ever run a professional cartoon production– I foisted upon him during various shorts productions. Natasha was definitely a mature artist and storyteller who had relatively scant experience in production, and over the decade that Bee and PuppyCat has lived it’s Kevin’s subtle hand that has made all the productions possible.

Efrain Farias and Hans Tseng have been key creative collaborators with Natasha throughout the decade of the B&PC saga. Both of these folks are talented artists, but that doesn’t begin to catalog their contributions to the shows.

Larry Leichliter has worked on everything. As far as I’m concerned, Larry Huber introduced him my way to direct on ChalkZone; Eric and Kevin suggested him for the Adventure Time short, and he eventually became the series’ original supervising director. He served on Bee and PuppyCat the same way where set the directorial vision.

Actors, we’ve had a few. You’re undoubtedly familiar with Allyn Rachel, Kent Osborne, Pretty Patrick Seery, but I think if you peruse the who cast you might get a few surprises.

Didn’t Will Wiesenfeld do an amazing job? Just check out Baths too! Natasha really scored here.

The entire Frederator Studios production team, small as it was, kept things on track, particularly Sylvia Edwards and Steve Worth, who had a lot going on at the same time. The editors, sound department, special and visual effects, Garrett, they all did incredible work. Thank you!

Meredith Layne has voice casted and directed both series (among a whole lot of others for us). And if you look at the credits closely, these shows do not in any way tread the expected paths when it comes to actors.

Heather Kenyon and Junichi Yanagihara really made the difference when we moved the animation to OLM in Tokyo, and kept it up during “Lazy in Space.”

Matt Gielen had recently joined Frederator Networks when we started looking at storyboards for Too Cool!. Though “influencers” were already flooding YouTube, which de-emphasized scripted, character based programming, Matt became an industry leader understanding how to help us build a loyal community of viewers who became the backbone of the Bee and PuppyCat fandom.

We heard from Nate Olson in Part 4 of this BTS series, but as I said there, a Bee and PuppyCat series might not have existed with his sweat, blood and smarts he brought to bear in shepherding our community of viewers-turned-fans into a group of committed supporters, first with the Kickstarter, then with the product companies that came aboard. Maybe more than anyone else, Nate was the loud voice representing the community, keeping all of us in line, understanding that without that special audience all our work would be for nothing.

Making a show like B&PC should be enough. The Cartoon Hangover crew in New York –Cade Hiser, Nicky Fung, Zoe Barton, and all the interns– lost a few years of their lives helped our fans stay fans. No, it’s not as easy as it looks.

Tom Pickett had bought my company, Next New Networks, for Google and YouTube to help them find audiences. And when he started Ellation (owner of Crunchyroll) and VRV to work with independent streaming networks, he reached out to see if Cartoon Hangover might be interested. His programmer, Arlen Marmel and business development head, Eric Berman, were particularly interested in “Bravest Warriors” and “Bee and PuppyCat.” Without these intrepid entrepreneurs we couldn’t have made “Lazy in Space.”

Michael Hirsh, Canadian animation innovator, saved Frederator when we ran into some tough times. “Bee and PuppyCat: Lazy in Space” probably wouldn’t have seen the light of day without him.

Brian Gucciardo was in the law department at my other company, Next New Networks. He’s been around the block, and then some, in almost every facet of the entertainment business. Let me tell you true, doing the kind of agreements we have with first time creators for “Too Cool! Cartoons” (home of B&PC) and “GO! Cartoons” (throw Sony Pictures Animation in that mix) is no easy rolling. Not to mention our arrangements with Netflix and everything else we through at him (thousands –thousands!– of Channel Frederator Network members!).

Fred Pustay and I have worked together for decades, starting at MTV. He's saved my bacon more often than I can say. And he kept Frederator on an even keel no matter now hard I tried to screw it up. We couldn't have gotten through the treacherous waters to get Bee and PuppyCat made without him.

Like I said, it takes a village. And any villagers I’d neglected will be added as they yell at me.

Wow! On Netflix now. Finally.

More to come in BTS w/B&PC Part 6. Catch up here.

#Bee and PuppyCat #Thank you #Behind the Scenes #BTS w/B&PC #Natasha Allegri #Eric Homan #Carrie Miler #Kevin Kolde #Matt Gielen #Nate Olson #Cade Hiser #Nicky Fung #Zoe Barton #Will Wiesenfeld #Hans Tseng #Efrain Farias #Meredith Layne

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