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reputationmunson · 1 year

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Crossing Lines | s.h x fem!reader

part one | part two | part three | part four | part five

series summary: steve isn’t your biggest fan, so why does he ask you to be his date to a wedding? | enemies to lovers, fake dating

chapter summary: your first date with Steve! and more :)

content: fluff, secret relationship, kissing, steve feeling insecure, mentions of eddie having a crush on reader, reader wears steve’s shirt, reader and steve being so in love it hurts, swearing, she/her pronouns, pet names, use of y/n, barely proofread

word count: 4.5k

a/n: IT’S FINALLY HERE! thank you for all being so patient with me and i hope the wait was worth it. (i also made steve softer than originally intended but i couldn’t help myself). also this is not the final chapter!!

thank you to @strwbrrydaydreams for listening to me talk about this chapter and for all of your kind words. i appreciate you so much ❤️

You had a date with Steve tonight. A date. With Steve Harrington.

The same guy who, not so long ago, acted like just you existing was to spite him, the same guy who acted like being in the same room with you was pure torture, and the same guy who groaned after every time you spoke.

He wasn’t that guy anymore, though. You hoped, at least.

Steve kissed you silly two nights ago. He slept in your bed, nothing nefarious, just two people who no longer hate each other sharing body heat and kisses under covers. Then when he left for work the next morning, he pressed a soft, barely there, kiss to your temple.

He called you that night and asked you on a date. Due to the fact that you were keeping whatever was going between you two from your friends, you decided on a night in at your place.

Just because you were staying in didn’t mean you weren’t going to put in any effort. You spent the whole day cleaning your apartment until it looked good enough to be in a magazine. You spent an embarrassing amount of time on your makeup until it was perfect. You even went out and got a new dress. It wasn’t anything fancy, just a simple sundress, but you thought it made you look pretty and you hoped Steve thought the same thing.

You had candles lit, popcorn for the movie popped, and a bottle of wine ready to be poured in case things were awkward.

There’s no way it won’t be a little weird going from barely being able to stand each other to…dating? You weren’t even sure what to call it. You knew you and Steve had to talk about it. You liked Steve, a lot, but there was also a bit of hesitation. He was so mean to you and he gave you a little explanation as to why the night of the wedding, but it was still confusing.

Would he be hesitant too? Would he freeze at your touch? Would he still be cold towards you?

Or would he be the sweet Steve you used to know?

You check the clock hanging on your wall and realize you don’t have time to worry about this as Steve would be here any minute.

Your leg bounces anxiously as you hear footsteps approaching your door, followed by a knock. You take a deep breath, unlocking and opening your front door. Your nerves disappear when you see Steve. He looks so handsome, something you can really appreciate now. He has his hands behind his back, like he’s hiding something.

“Hi” you quirk your brow “whatchya got there?”

“You’re gonna think I’m so lame” he cringes. “I already do. Did you get me a present?” you grin.

Steve chuckles at your excitement and moves his arms from behind his back to reveal a bouquet of your favorite flowers.

“Steve” you whisper and your face softens. “How’d you know my favorite flowers?”

“You told Robin one time and I guess I never forgot” he tells you and hopes you don’t make fun of him for remembering a mundane detail, but knowing you, you definitely will.

“Wow” you breath out “you are so obsessed with me, aren’t you?” you joke and he playfully rolls his eyes. “Hey, you’re the one that got a new dress today” he teases. “How’d you know it’s a new dress? See, obsessed!” you counter and he throws his hands up in defense as a way to say “alright you got me. I might be obsessed”.

“Are you going to invite me in or just let me stand out here while you bully me?” He cocks his head to the side and you pretend to ponder over your answer. “I guess you can come in since you got me flowers”

Steve follows you inside and into your kitchen. You rummage through your cupboards trying to find a makeshift vase for your flowers while Steve admires you. He wonders how soon he’s allowed to kiss you. Does he wait until the end of the night? Or can he steal kisses throughout the entire date? All he’s been thinking about for the past two days is kissing you. He’s not sure he can wait much longer.

“Hey” he whispers, gently grabbing your hand and pulling you closer to him. “You look really pretty” he says and his hand cups your cheek. You lean into his touch, partially to try and convince yourself that this is real .“this is sorta weird” you mutter and his brows furrow. “Weird?” he questions.

“Not like a bad weird, just different. I’m not used to you saying stuff like that” you confess “Oh, sorry. You look so bad tonight. Truly horrendous” he jokes and you stick your tongue out at him. “Meanie”

“Let me make it up to you” he says, stepping closer so your bodies are pressed together. His lips brush over yours, but he doesn’t kiss you yet.

“So pretty” he mutters against your lips. Your hand cups the back of his neck as you decide you can’t wait much longer and press your lips to his.

As you kiss Steve, you realize there’s no point of return. There’s no world in which you could go back to hating him, or even just being his friend, after you know what it feels to be kissed by him.

A simple kiss has never made you so weak in the knees before or made you feel like you had a zoo of butterflies in your stomach.

The hand not on your cheek moves to rest on your lower back, keeping you as close as possible to him. You can’t help but smile, totally messing up the kiss. “Sorry” you chuckle and he rests his forehead on yours. “It’s okay. I’d smile if I was kissing me, too”

“Oh my god” you groan before chuckling. “You’re insufferable, Steve” you kid, no malice in your tone.

“So insufferable” he jokingly agrees. “Do you wanna watch a movie now?” he asks, nodding in the direction of the living room. “yeah, um, but, is it okay if we talk first?” you nervously ask. “Yeah, sure. You’re not breaking this off already, are you?” he jokes and you shake your head. “No it isn’t like that. C’mon, let's sit.” you grab his hand and lead him to sit on the couch.

“So,” you start and fiddle with the hem of your dress “I wanted to talk about us, I guess. I mean, not that long ago I swore you hated my guts and now you’re bringing me flowers and kissing me in the kitchen. I think it’s just making my head spin, ya know?”

“Yeah, I understand. When I was buying flowers for you I kept thinking ‘this chick used to drive me crazy and now I’m picking out flowers and can’t stop thinking about kissing her’ and don’t get me wrong you still drive me crazy, but just a tiny bit less now that I get to kiss you.” he responds and grabs your hand that nervously fiddles with your dress. “Do you want this? Us, I mean.” he asks.

“Of course I do. It’s just-ugh- I’m scared because what if we move too fast? or what if you have this image in your head of me and I turn out not to be that and you go back to how you used to treat me? And like I said before it’s a little weird, right? To kiss and hold hands? I just get scared that I’m gonna reach out to touch you and you’re gonna pull away.”

“Yes, it does feel a little weird, but we’ll take this as slow as you want to, okay? I wanna be the guy you deserve. I know I can be an ass, but I’m gonna treat you the way I always should’ve treated you.” he promises, bringing your hand to his lips and pressing a soft kiss to your skin.

“You really can be cheesy, you know that?” you tease. “Baby, you don’t know the half of it.”

“Baby” you repeat, your voice soft and sweet. “I’ve called you baby before” he states. “Yeah, but when we were fake dating. I know that you mean it now and it’s nice.”

“I’m sorry” he says and you look at him puzzled. “For?” you ask. “How I used to be” he clarifies.

“Steve, you’ve already apologized. It’s okay” you assure him. “I know I have, but it doesn’t feel like that’s enough. I wish I could change it. Go back in time and smack myself upside the head.”

“Oh, I’d love to do that too. Smack you, I mean. Not me, I’m perfect. But, we can’t change the past, so let’s focus on the future. Starting with watching a movie because this popcorn is probably cold and stale now.”

Steve quickly pops a movie in, some cheesy horror that you’ll both make fun of. He lays behind you on the couch, his arm wrapped around your waist. It feels nice. Better than nice. You fit together perfectly like two puzzle pieces.

As you watch the movie, he occasionally peppers kisses along your jawline or your shoulder. Sometimes you turn your head to give him a proper kiss on the lips, which turns into a brief makeout session before turning your attention back to the movie. ‘Slow, Harrington. Take it slow’ Steve thinks to himself.

Steve knows that he loves you. He thinks he’s loved you since he met you. He doesn’t think you’re there yet, though. Hell, he hasn’t even asked you to officially be his girlfriend. How much longer should he wait to ask you that? He doesn’t want to ask too soon, but he’s also not sure how much longer he can hold it in.

If he can’t tell you he loves you, he’ll definitely show you. He’ll buy you all the flowers in Hawkins, he’ll hold you and kiss you until you shove him off you, he’ll do anything to show you and make up for the past.

You and Steve are fast asleep when there’s a knock at your door. By the second frantic knock, Steve stirs, but thinks it was maybe just part of his dream until there’s a third knock followed by a voice that’s too familiar. “y/n! Open the door!” Robin exclaims.

Steve shakes you a little to wake you up. “y/n, wake up! Robin’s here!” he whisper yells. “That’s not funny” you mumble, still half asleep.

“Hello! I know you’re home!” Robin yells and your eyes widen before you jump off the couch.

“Fuck! What is she doing here?” you ask, frantically blowing out the candles you lit for a ‘romantic ambiance’.

“I don’t know! It’s your apartment! Did she tell you she was coming over?” he asks, still whispering. “No, it’s Robin. She always comes over unannounced.” You quietly move to the kitchen, dumping out the popcorn and hiding the flowers in a cabinet. “Quick, go hide in my room. In the closet” you tell him.

“Why in the closet? Why can’t I just sit on your bed until she leaves?”

“No arguing! Closet, Steve”

He doesn’t argue any further, he quickly and quietly goes to your bedroom and squishes himself into the tiny closet.

You gather yourself before opening the door to see a frantic Robin on the other side.

“Hey, Robs. What’s up?” you try to sound casual. “I’m so bored, y/n, ugh and today sucked so bad! Work was awful and I dropped my burrito on the ground and- why are you wearing a dress?”

“Oh, um, I just bought this, so I’m trying it on. Do you like it?” you ask, hoping she doesn’t ask anymore questions. “You look great, duh, but why is your makeup still on, it's like ten at night?”

“Just testing out some new makeup, ya know. I had zero plans tonight so I figured, why not?” you lie, but she seems convinced. “Makes sense, I guess. Since you’re free, do you wanna have a sleepover?”

“Oh, I don’t know-” “pleasepleaseplease” she begs like a toddler and it’s clear she won’t be leaving any time soon. “yeah, okay. Tell ya what, go wait out and my car and we’ll get some snacks. I’m gonna change.” you say, tossing her your keys. “Yay! Don’t take too long!” she says and walks outside. You lock the door behind her just in case and quickly go to your bedroom.

“Is she gone?” Steve asks when he walks out of your closet. “um, sort of. She’s waiting in my car because we’re having a sleepover, so you’ll have to leave like ten minutes after I do. I’m so sorry” you apologize and rest your forehead on his shoulder, letting out a sigh.

“It’s okay. Trust me, I know how Robin is” he chuckles and starts to rub your back.

“I had fun tonight. Even if it got cut short.” you tell him and he beams. “Me too.”

“Alright, turn around. I gotta get changed.”

“I can’t watch?” he jokes and you lightly shove his chest. “Face the wall, Harrington”

You change as fast as you can into a pair of sweats and a t-shirt then give Steve the go-ahead to turn around.

“How do you still look so good? Don’t think I can let you leave now” He says, sauntering over to you. “You’re gonna have to. Unless you want robin to break down the door and find us making out.”

“Hm, very true. How about just one kiss then?”

“Okay, but then I really have to go.” you say and he pouts, but quickly pecks your lips. Then he pecks them again and again.

“Steve” kiss “I really” kiss “gotta go” kiss

You like this side of Steve and love how sweet on you he is. It makes everything worth it.

“Alright, get outta here. I’ll call you tomorrow, okay?” he promises and you plant one last kiss on his cheek before leaving.

You hope Robin doesn’t notice how flustered you are.

Although part of you wished you were still with Steve, it was nice to spend time with Robin.

You hated that you couldn’t tell her about this. She’s your best friend and you tell her practically everything. Guilt eats away at you thinking about sneaking around with Steve behind her back, but she would absolutely blow a gasket if she found out.

“You okay?” she wonders, snapping you out of your thoughts. “Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little tired” you lie, giving her a half-assed smile.

“Can I ask you something kinda weird?” she asks and you worry she might already know. “Don’t you always?” you respond and both of you chuckle.

“Have you seen Steve since you came back from the wedding?” she asks and you stiffen for a second, but quickly act natural. “No, I haven’t. One weekend was enough for me. Why?”

“He called me one day while you guys were there,” she starts and you wait for her to continue “and it just seemed like maybe you guys were starting to become friends”

“What did he say when you guys talked?”

“Basically that spending a weekend with you wasn’t the worst time of his life. He said you were funny and that his family loved you. Especially a little girl named Peneople. He really admired how great you were with her and please don’t tell him I said this he would kill me, but he thought it was cute, too, which drove him nuts.” she laughs

“He said that?” you hold back a smile, but you can’t stop the feeling in your chest. Like your heart just might explode. “Weird, right? I mean, coming from him. I really thought you’d guys come back and at least be acquaintances.” she sighs.

“Nope. Definitely didn’t come back as friends” you say, which technically isn’t a lie. You didn’t come back as friends, you’re more than just that. “Anyways, I’m exhausted, Robs. Wanna go to bed?”

After tonight, you really had no reason to be hesitant with Steve. You were all in.

It had been a week since you saw Steve. A long, dreadful week. You missed him, which is something you never thought you’d say, and you still had to poke fun at him for telling Robin that he thought you were cute.

You barely even got to talk on the phone with him. With conflicting work schedules and late-night shifts, it was difficult to find the time.

Luckily, you’d be seeing him tonight, but unluckily, all of your friends would be there. You love them dearly, you really do, but you just want alone time with Steve and you hate that you have to act like you don’t want to be curled up next to him all night.

You would be able to have a little alone time with him, though. He told you everyone would be there around nine, so you said you’d be there at eight in hopes to make up for lost time over the past week.

Your excitement got the best of you, causing you to show up at 7:30 instead and you hoped Steve wouldn’t mind.

Little did you know, Steve was counting down the seconds until he got to see you. He practically sprints to the door when you ring the doorbell, almost slipping in the hallway.

“Hi” he greets you with a big smile on his face. “Hi, Stevie. Sorry I’m a little early.”

“Oh, yeah, I hate that I have to spend more time with my girl”

My girl. He says it so naturally you can’t help but smile and feel all giddy inside. “You’re such a goof.” you say before leaning in to give him a kiss to say how much you missed him.

Both of you melt into the kiss and you feel the weight of missing him lift off of your shoulders. His arms wrap around you and he pulls you inside without breaking the kiss. ‘Impressive’ you think to yourself.

Your hands find a place in his hair, threading through the soft, brown locks. His hands grip your hips, occasionally squeezing your sides. You feel warm all over from his touch and his affection. You’re half tempted to tell him to call everyone and cancel.

He kisses you until you can’t breathe, which is more appealing than it sounds. You’d kiss him till your lungs give out.

“Mm, I missed you” he says when he breaks the kiss, pulling you in for a hug. “I missed you too, cheeseball” you reply and he snorts. “Cheeseball? What the hell does that mean?”

“Cause you’re cheesy. Cheesy Stevie”

“Please don’t let that become a thing” he whines. “Maybe it will. Maybe it won’t.” you say, nuzzling your face into his shirt. He smells like body wash and laundry detergent and his shirt is so soft you definitely need to come up with a plan on how you’re going to steal it.

“um, so, I was wondering if maybe you wanted to spend the night tonight? You could come back after everyone leaves or something.”

“I didn’t bring any overnight stuff.”

“You live, like, ten minutes away, babe. Grab your stuff and come back.”

“You must really want me here, huh?” you tease. “Yeah. I hate sleeping without a blanket stealer” he teases back. “I am not a blanket stealer.” you defend yourself and he laughs. “So is that a yes?”

“I suppose it is. Consider yourself lucky”

“yeah, yeah, I know. You’re the best and I worship the ground you walk on, blah, blah, blah.” He sounds like he’s being sarcastic, but he means every word.

“As much as I enjoy this, we’ve been standing here hugging for like ten minutes. Can we snuggle on the couch now?”

“You read my mind, pretty girl.”

Steve hated that he couldn’t kiss you, or touch you, or tell you how cute you look every time your nose scrunches when you laugh. He especially hated how close Eddie was sitting next to you. His forearm touching your thigh was driving Steve crazy. It doesn’t take a genius to see that Eddie has a tiny crush on you. He tries to hide his annoyance, but he isn’t doing a very good job.

His jaw is clenched as he gives Eddie a death stare. Eddie is oblivious to it, though, thankfully. You? Not so much. You can tell Steve is annoyed and you want so badly to assure him he’s the only one you want.

Eddie’s crush was harmless, it could barely even be considered a crush. You knew that and so did Steve, but he still let his insecurity get the best of him. He was never mean to you, he’d never treat you the way Steve did. Should you be with him instead?

As Eddie tells a story, he theatrically moves his arms around and in the process, he accidentally spills his coca-cola on you, causing you to gasp.

“Oh, shit, I’m so sorry, y/n” he apologizes, looking at you with puppy dog eyes.

“Jesus christ, munson” Steve groans and stands up from his seat. “It’s okay, Eds, it was an accident” you smile and assure him it’s okay.

“C’mon, I’ll get you a shirt” Steve says and you follow him to his room. Everyone is momentarily confused at how fast Steve jumped to your rescue, sharing confused glances at each other. They quickly brush it off, not thinking too much into it.

“You okay?” Steve asks once you’re in his bedroom. “It was coke, Steve, not battery acid. I’m fine” you giggle. “Are you okay?” you ask when you see the unamused look on his face.

“Yep” he responds in an irritated tone. “Steve, don’t do that. If we want this to work you gotta talk to me.” you rest your hand on his upper arm, giving it a light squeeze.

“I love Eddie, I do, but I can’t stand how much he likes you. I don’t like seeing him all over you when I can’t do anything about it.” he confesses.

“Steve” you sigh “thank you for telling me, but I don’t think Eddie likes me as much as you think he does. Yeah, we used to be a thing for like five minutes, but that was so long ago and it doesn’t even matter. I want you and only you.”

“But he’s so nice to you. He always has been and it makes me think you deserve to be with someone who’s always treated you that way, ya know?”

You step closer to Steve, grabbing his hand and running your thumb over his knuckles. “Steve, please stop beating yourself up about that. I swear I forgive you, okay? Call me crazy, but I’d go through it all again just to be where we are right now” you promise, pressing a gentle kiss to his cheek.

“And you call me the cheeseball” he playfully scoffs. “I’m sorry for being weird. It’ll probably happen again” he says and you giggle. “I know it will. Now can you get me a shirt? I feel sticky.” you whine.

“Here” he says, handing you a t-shirt with a faded basketball teams’ name on the front. “Thank you. Now get back out there before they get suspicious” you tell him and he nods in agreement. “I love them, but I can’t wait for them to leave” he says with a sigh before leaving his bedroom. You couldn’t agree more.

“What took you so long?” Robin asks once Steve returns. “Couldn’t find a shirt up to her standards. You know how she is.” he replies briefly.

You come back out moments later and Steve can’t wait to tell you how good you look in his shirt.

After the longest hour of your life, everyone eventually went home. You rushed back as quickly as you could from picking up some things at your place and you hoped that no one decided to come back once you got to his place and question your reasoning for being there.

Steve left the door unlocked for you, so you entered without knocking and find him cleaning up the mess left behind by the neanderthals (Eddie and Robin to be specific).

“Hi, handsome. Need any help?” you ask when you walk into the kitchen. “No, I’m pretty much done. You can go get in bed if you want and I’ll be in soon”

“I gotta do my skincare routine, then I’ll be ready for bed”

“Skincare routine? What do you gotta do for that?” he asks out of curiosity. “C’mon, I’ll show you.”

Once you’re in the bathroom, you pull out all of your necessities out of your bag and Steve carefully examines each of them.

“Do you wanna do it with me?” you offer. “Only if you do it for me”

You pull a scrunchie out of your bag and pull Steve’s hair out of his face. “What do you think?” he asks, referring to his new hairstyle. “You’ll be starting a new trend in no time” you kiss the tip of his nose and he hums in appreciation.

You take him through each step of your routine, carefully massage the products across his face.

“Mm, feels nice” he lets out a relieved sigh. “And you do this everyday? No wonder you’re so happy all the time.”

“Yeah, that’s why” you snort. Sure, it’s relaxing and brings you peace, but the real reason you’re so happy is sitting in front of with half of his hair in a ponytail being pampered by his own personal facialist. “All done. You look pretty good if I do say so myself”

“I feel like a million bucks, honey. Can we go to bed now?”

“Mhm, let’s go. I’m exhausted” you reply and quickly gather up your products, putting them back in your bag.

Steve dramatically flops on his bed, opening his arms as an invitation to join him. You accept his invitation immediately.

Your head rests on his chest and one of his arm wraps around you. The sound of his heartbeat soothes you, you’d like to think that it’s beating a little fast because of you.

He whispers your name and you hum in response, half asleep. “Are you awake?” he asks and starts to rub your back up and down with his hand.

“Barely. What are you thinking about?’’

“I know we talked about taking things slow, but if I’m being honest, I’m dying to ask you to be my girlfriend and you can say no, but-”

“yes” you interrupt. “What?” he asks, unsure if he heard you correctly.

“Yes, I’ll be your girlfriend, dork.” you clarify, then press a kiss to the column of his throat.

“I call you baby and you call me dork. How is that fair?”

“Get used to it. I’m your girlfriend now”

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#steve harrington x fem!reader #steve harrington x reader #steve harrington x you #steve harrington x y/n #steve harrington fic #steve harrington series #steve harrington enemies to lovers #steve harrington fluff #steve harrington imagine #steve harrington

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xerith-42 · 2 months

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Why Blaze is MyStreet's Most Failed Character

Blame the big bang discord for this post, I wasn't gonna write it until those fucks encouraged me.

Anyways here's an entire essay about why Blaze is the most wasted character in the entirety of MyStreet and I will literally fight Jessica and Jason Bravura with my bare hands.

To get us started on our harrowing tale of wasted potential and the best improviser Jessica ever hired, we need to go back a little. Back to Phoenix Drop High Season 2. We won't stay here long, I promise, I hate it more than you can possibly know. But the single saving grace of this absolute mess of a season is ya boi, Blaze. Introduced in the 18th episode of the season, airing on April 12, 2017, with the airing of Phoenix Drop High Season 2 Episode 18, Blaze was a character who started his brief tenure series with a bang!

Literally dude showed up and the first thing he ever did on screen as a character in a piece of media we can engage with is throw someone out of a window. We do not know this mans name yet and he's already left a lasting impression. Sure throwing people out of a window is common in werewolf culture, which I don't care what you say that's objectively funny, but it is bold to start a characters entire introduction with that. Blaze comes out of the gate swinging before he's said a single line.

And then after introducing himself he throws a dead bird at Aphmau to show off his hunting skills?? Okay so he's just that fucking weird and overly enthusiastic about things I guess! That's amazing! MyStreet always shines when it just lets it's characters be fucking weird without making a big deal out of it or talking them down for it. Dottie even says that it's romantic which is again just a great showing of Blaze's enthusiasm and lack of what might appear to be common social decorum because of said enthusiasm.

This is all punctuated and brought to a hilarious breaking point when Blaze's final showing of why he should be the new top dog at his school is when the crazy mother fucker rips his shirt off to literally flex about how he's one of the hottest guys in the school. And I'm going to be real with you, given Blaze's later characterization as a himbo, I'm pretty sure he doesn't actually care about this. He just says it because he thinks it'll boost his chances. Blaze is later shown to be a character willing to throw away his reputation for the things he cares about, but he does get a rather sincere moment with Aphmau, even if she's blushing the entire time.

It shows that Blaze is not only physically affectionate, but also weirdly comfortable with his shirt off. Because this is purely objective character analysis I will not be shoving my Blaze is autistic and has sensory problems with things touching his chest propaganda down your throats, but now that I've mentioned it once you won't stop thinking about it when this comes up.

The show admittedly fumbles the bag a little by having Blaze say in his internal monologue that he thinks Aphmau is cute and acts kind of like a tsundere, but this is Jesson writing so there's always bound to be a bit of That Shit. But in spite of that, Blaze is a character who has an instant impression that leaves a lot of room for comedy potential, and just good ol' fashion silliness. And while the werewolf plot of Season 2 is... bad, Blaze and the Werewolf Pups are stand out characters in the sense that their characterization leaves a lot of potential if they're in a different, better written story.

And even if the arc is bad, Blaze still is a quality part of it. His shallow but hilarious initial characterization gets built on in some really solid ways. Namely in how he acts as a force for good in Aphmau's life even if she doesn't realize or give him permission to do it. This entire season is about how the different men in Aphmau's life handle helping her in a crisis, and funnily enough, in a season centered around Aaron literally overthrowing Aphmau's new love interest, Blaze is the one who was consistently doing what was best for Aphmau.

Aaron fumbles the ball more than a few times, Ein is shown to be actively malicious, and Kai gets hate crimed. But Blaze, who's barely even a contender in this ship war, is constantly working to actually make things better while everyone else is pulling Aphmau away from what actively matters about her position. While Ein is manipulating her and Aaron is trying to prove that, Blaze throws caution to the wind and just does what he thinks is best to restore order.

But more important than that end conclusion is his true goal of standing up for Daniel. A wolf it is established he barely knew before this year, that Blaze is willing to throw his reputation and standing in a bull shit hierarchy because he's seeing how this hierarchy is hurting someone who doesn't deserve it. Blaze is the one who is baring his fangs and willing to throw hands when Daniel cowers away from bullies. By the end of the season Blaze has been given adequate screen time to not only show off his fun and maybe a tad out of touch side, but he's been given a real level of sincerity that's tied into the things he's enthusiastic about. He loves being a werewolf, and he extends that love to all the werewolves around him, until they start being dicks to other werewolves who are literally just sitting there.

At the center of Blaze is that inherent goofiness though. He's always cracking jokes, or the joke when he's on screen, and in a series that was originally pitched as a light hearted slice of life comedy in contrast to MCD's general misery, that sort of character is needed to keep the tone. Such is show in episode 22 when Blaze is reading a book on the Scientific Method to just learn more about science, but realizes the book is upside down.

But he actually understood it enough to properly apply the scientific method to this situation?? Iconic. It's played off as a joke of Blaze exploiting a loophole to get out of class, but even that's pretty smart honestly. Blaze may be a dumb ass but he's always willing to cheat an unfair system.

Episode 22 is basically a Blaze centric episode, which I did not expect, but now that I'm rewatching it for this post it might be the reason I love this character so dearly. It's not only the episode where Blaze manages to learn the Scientific Method upside down, but also stands up for Daniel in a really substantial way. Blaze is loud, enthusiastic, and strong, all traits that are celebrated by werewolf culture, and whether he realizes it or not, him just being around Daniel can do a lot to get bullies to back off. Everyone has seen Blaze toss a mother fucker through a window, they do not want to be on the receiving end of that.

He spends the rest of the episode trying to figure out what Ein's deal is when he hears that Ein went behind Aphmau's back on werewolf matters, landing Daniel in this situation. He hears Ein actively plotting against Daniel, but that is normal werewolf behavior. He concludes that he'll keep an eye on Ein. And this through line of "normal werewolf behavior" informs a lot of Blaze's decisions once he comes to the conclusion that Ein sucks and deserves to be undermined. He resorts to letting his actions speak louder than words and goes to violence after realizing that the wolves aren't listening to reason, they're listening to instinct.

He fights fire with fire, and while Aphmau might not approve, it's more effective than her soft rhetoric has been in getting people to be less of jackasses. This eventually lands him in hot water where he steps in for Daniel after Ein tries to get his goons to beat him up, and even if Blaze is fighting in a five v one, he still goes down swinging. And I'll say it, I think it's sweet that he calls Aaron after this happens. While it's clearly meant to be a thing of Blaze calling the last alpha because he's probably the only person who anyone will listen to, there's an important detail I think is easily overlooked.

He has Aaron's number.

He says he got it from the werewolf pups, but that means that Blaze went out of his way to make sure he could contact Aaron. He's the reason that Aaron even realizes Ein is playing all of them. Blaze is the catalyst for his undoing because unlike Aaron who's nearly imprisoned, heartbroken, and been hesitant to act in the plot as a result, Blaze doesn't actually care that much if Aphmau currently likes him because he's more worried about her physical and mental well being than whether she wants to kiss him or someone else.

How many Aphmau love interests can say that?

Can any of them say that?

Blaze can.

Blaze actually consistently shows a level of selflessness that's unfitting of how I've seen some people characterize him. He gives up his real chance to be Alpha because Daniel is so compassionate and earnest and genuinely deserves it. Blaze wants to believe in a future lead by people like Daniel and Aphmau where he might not have to keep fighting people to keep things sane. Blaze constantly gives up his pride, his power, his safety just to make sure that his friends are taken care of, or to effect real change in a school he's about to leave.

It wouldn't be long after Phoenix Drop High Season 2 ended that Blaze would make his debut in the main series My Street in the second episode of Season 5, airing only a few days after the end of Phoenix Drop High Season 2. Just like before he really shows up with a bang, literally throwing himself through the air between Lucinda and Kim just to catch a frisbee because Blaze is the most extra mother fucker ever, and then immediately proceeds to flirt with them. Iconic as ever. Short but sweet.

It's in episode 3 that it's revealed that Blaze and the werewolf pups kept Aaron company during his rehabilitation year. But from the way it's worded it sounds like Blaze was called in before anyone else by Aaron's parents. Based on the way they talked and actively planned together before, I wouldn't be surprised if Blaze was the first person who came to his mind when Aaron thought of a werewolf friend.

I think Aaron reached out to Blaze when he needed it.

And even though I've previously stated that I don't think Aaron's parents initially liked Blaze because by this era he's old enough to fully take on his persona as the cool stoner friend who's also a little insane in the most charming way possible, he has a good impact on Aaron. Aaron likes being around him, and maybe they smoke weed to help Aaron relieve some of the lasting pain when no one's looking.

Regardless of his methods, Blaze does an ultimate good in Aaron's life as a result of being there for him when he needed it. So much so that he was invited out to Starlight and is shown to be one of Aaron's main pillars of support. We are given scarcely little of this actual friendship, which is where the problem lies. While before Blaze was a surprisingly engaging part of an other wise terrible story, at least in season 5 the story is a lot slower and character focused. And Blaze can work in these moments, we saw him have real moments of sincerity before.

He gets some of it, but the issue is that Blaze isn't allowed to be alone anymore. The cast of MyStreet is huge, and Blaze is a character who is making his second major appearance, while some characters in the cast have been present since literally episode one. It's hard to justify giving him solo screen time when he's been in the series for such little time and we barely have enough time for certain significant characters to really have arcs (Lucinda). Most of Blaze's scenes are scenes with at least four other characters on screen, he's never allowed screen time without at least two other werewolf characters attached to him.

I don't object to Blaze hanging out with his friends, or even making new ones though out the season but... Would it kill the writers to let him have a scene with Aaron? Like. A single scene. Where it's just Blaze and Aaron. I mean just Blaze and Aaron without Aphmau there. They've done this before. They did it in the season Blaze showed up in. Just one scene where the two of them get to talk about literally anything would do so much. Even if they talk about Aphmau, it's better than nothing. It would strengthen both of their characters so much to be able to get a scene where they talk to each other not as conspirators who kinda know each other, but as real friends supporting one another.

Show that even though Blaze said Daniel was more compassionate than he was, Blaze still is a compassionate and even empathetic person. Show why Aaron was grateful to have him during his recovery. They have those scenes of Aaron at physical therapy, right? Why not have Blaze take him one time and just show how they interact then? The possibilities with this unrealized idea are endless, and that's genuinely upsetting. Opportunities like this present themselves every time Blaze makes an appearance, they even tease me by giving me scenes where Aaron is alone with a character he has little to no connection with, Maria.

Maria was a foil for Aphmau. And Ein was a foil for Aaron. And Blaze was a foil for Ein. There is no reason for Maria to really have a rapor that matters with Aaron. He doesn't really know her that well, she's clearly a friend by association, and it seems like an odd thing to focus on when Blaze is LITERALLY RIGHT THERE IN THE BACKGROUND OF THIS SCENE.

Why won't they let Blaze talk to Aaron? It's so infuriating. The closest we get is in episode 7 when Blaze attempts to calm down Aaron, but he's shown to be ineffective and it comes down to, of course, Aphmau being the one to talk him down. I swear to Hatsune the writers are making fun of me at this point. They're going "Oooooh you want Blaze to be an actually helpful and supportive figure in Aaron's life soooo bad." AND I DO!

I'm serious when I say the show is teasing me. I've been skimming through Season 5 and only watching the episodes when Blaze is on screen, and so far he has never been in a scene with less than 4 people in it. Never. And even in scenes where he gets to be at least a focal point, he's always limited because he has to share that moment in the spotlight with FOUR OTHER CHARACTERS.

Episode 14 is a great example of this. When the werewolf gang gets told they aren't allowed to eat at a restaurant because they're werewolves, Blaze makes it abundantly obvious that he's put up with this before and really doesn't feel like being hate crimed on his vacation. And he knows that actions speak louder than words and therefore joins Maria in saying they should "teach this establishment a lesson." Personally I think Blaze would've just thrown the manager through a window only to realize it's an outdoor establishment and throw him into the ocean. Which would be objectively funny and deserved because that owner was being cringe and racist.

I love the conversation that happens because it shows the unique way that Aaron sees things from passing as a human for most of his life. This has never happened, but he knows that further acts of violence as a result will only make it happen again. This is a great scene for Aaron. Not really good for Blaze, and the next scene makes him worse. I love the detail that Blaze is an instinctual person more than a planner, but it feels wrong that he doesn't even let Aaron consider planning. I know he wants Aaron to be more spontaneous but he should have more awareness of his friend and his habits and be able to accommodate it, not talk over it.

But it's Jesson, so misunderstanding even their simplest character is par for the course. At least episode 15 gives me Garroth and Blaze talking in the background, and I'm starved for good Blaze content, so I was eating this shit up. The problem with watching MyStreet this way is that Blaze... Just doesn't get a lot of moments... At all. There are some episodes where he doesn't even speak at all, and when he does get to talk in episodes, he gets a few lines in one giant ensemble scene.

I don't object to a show having an ensemble cast, or even a lot of characters with a few central ones, but it really is a detriment to the show that Aaron never gets a scene alone with any werewolf he isn't related to. Nana gets to talk to Blaze when she's having a crisis of her relationship history and experience, but it's just so Blaze can tell her the opposite of what she wants to hear. It's not a scene that feels like it was written for Blaze, because it wasn't. It was written for Nana.

And before some jack ass says it "Blaze is a side character he's not supposed to get a lot of focus" and I'm not asking for a lot. I watched every scene he's in in PDH to prove that it works

BECAUSE IT DID.

Blaze showed up officially in episode 18 out of 30, and he wasn't in every episode after his introduction. But the writers gave him a solid introduction, one good episode that spent most of its run time with him, and really good moments throughout the rest of his time in the series. All I'm asking is that Season 5 at least give me one of those things. Either a good episode where he and his relationship with Aaron is brought into focus, even if it's used as a vector to study Aaron's character, or just more sincere moments for him.

It feels like Blaze is a joke character now when he previously made it very clear he's far more than that.

And then they just forget about him. During the first part of the 3 part finale Blaze is there. He's the one who got everyone to gather at the docks because an mf wants to eat some scrumptious food. But when Aaron sees Ein and starts freaking out, Blaze is literally just not in the scene. At all. Not even as like a throwaway of someone who could've helped but failed, he just is not in the scene at all. It legitimately feels like the writers forgot about him entirely.

Blaze the minute the plot shows up:

He's there after Garroth gets turned and was apparently at Garroth's bedside trying to calm him down which I will be thinking about. A lot. I'll be thinking about how we deserved to see or at least hear some of it, about how the writers continue to tease me with an interesting scene that involves my favorite little fucker, about how heartbreaking it would have been to see Blaze and Melissa try to calm Garroth only for him to scream in pain and try to push them away only to reveal that Zane and Nana are able to hear the entire ordeal downstairs and Zane is panicking when he hears his brother screaming in pain. Just thinking about what we could've had if the writers actually cared about any of these characters.

And then after that he dies.

I'm not watching any of When Angels Fall because I know what's good for my health. I know what happens in Season 6 Episode 9 and that's all I need to know. It doesn't matter if the writers may have finally given Blaze an emotional scene, it doesn't matter if they finally gave him even a hint of character development, it doesn't matter if he made a connection in a real way. Because no matter what he did the result is the same. No matter what quality the writers might've pulled out of their ass, it would ultimately be in service of one end. From the start of this season these writers knew what they wanted to do. They wanted to up the stakes and add more drama to the show, and they wanted to do it by killing Blaze.

And I think I know why.

This is 100% a limited view, but I was on Aphmau Instagram at the time that this season was airing. And I ran a Blaze fan account. I talked to a lot of MyStreet fans during this time and I was constantly upset and disappointed that people didn't understand Blaze's character, or just didn't appreciate it as much as I do. Most people liked Blaze on a very surface level, or because he was attached to another character they liked. I found very few people who genuinely cared about him as an individual, probably because Blaze stopped getting scenes alone by the end of PDH, and because the Aphmau fandom (at the time) had more of a focus on shipping than character work and quality. Blaze was easily shippable with a number of characters, canonically shipped with Dottie a little, and had enough characterization that people cared about him, but not enough to get a large dedicated fanbase.

He was the perfect one to kill.

Enough people liked him because he was hard to hate, he was stapled onto Aaron's character with little regard for a story of his own, and his death could be eventually inconsequential. And it was! Blaze's method of dying is so bad it makes me physically angry!

I know the whole story for the last few seasons has been all about Forever Potions and turning people against each other, but just mind controlling Blaze and having him die while under mind control is such such a missed opportunity. There's been a disappointing lack of proper Aaron and Blaze friendship content, but they could have made up for it in this scene with just a few tweaks. Just have Blaze not be mind controlled at the end. He can still go on that rant about Aaron being the cause of all the bad that's happened, but then the words start to become... disjointed. Jilted. As if Blaze is struggling to say them because he knows that they're wrong. Aaron's his friend, there's no way he'd say that about him.

Have it break.

Have him look at his friend in a worse state than he's ever been in, and instead of approaching him with intent to harm, it's intent to heal. A final attempt at getting through to Aaron. And like the times before, it doesn't work. Aaron's angrier than ever and he isn't seeing or thinking straight thanks to Ein's bull shit. All he can see is an enemy in his way. Maybe he sees Blaze's eyes but Blaze's green eye is still Emerald Green, even if the control broke for a moment. Whatever reason, Aaron still attacks.

He doesn't realize that Blaze wasn't trying to hurt him until it's too late. Aaron's anger already ruined a friend's life, it already pulled all of them into the hell they're in, and now it's killed one of his best friends.

ONE CHANGE. THAT'S ALL IT TOOK. ONE SINGLE CHANGE TO MAKE BLAZE'S DEATH ACTUALLY MEAN SOMETHING.

Ideally I'd like it Blaze just didn't die at all, least of all before the finale, but if you're going to kill him off unceremoniously at least make it have some emotional weight. You've been neglecting him for an entire season and now you just kill him off? Just like that? Oh he gets to show up in heaven? How nice. Is it a scene where he gets to express regrets, remorse, or even give any insight into his feelings?

Of course it fucking isn't! Are you kidding me, that's not even close to what happens. I said i wouldn't watch When Angels Fall but

I LIED!!

I watched Blaze's death scene and his scene in heaven to make sure I knew well and good how badly they failed to kill off my favorite character! And man, the scene in heaven is just the worst! Blaze does a genuinely kind thing for Aphmau and decides to stay with her when she's alone because he doesn't want her to hurt. He saw how much pain Aaron was in without her. He just wants to fucking help her.

But Aphmau's too self absorbed to realize that and instead goes on a whole rant about how she always needs other people to take care of or protect her and how everyone else would be better off yadda yadda. What she doesn't realize and what Blaze eventually gets to tell her is that people were around her and took care of her because they just wanted to. Because she was nice to be around. And they never expected anything else, and never saw her as a burden.

And that's actually a really nice moment. Sort of. There's two major problems. First, Blaze gets cut off from telling Aphmau this at first because Irene has to go on a whole rant about Aphmau being selfish. And she is right in everything that she says, but it feels weird for Irene, who literally doesn't know her, to be making this judgement. This scene should have been Irene observing a conversation between Blaze and Aphmau were Blaze just tries to make her feel better.

And that would hopefully solve problem number two. Which is that what Blaze says is very genuine and heartfelt, but severely handicapped by the fact that he and Aphmau were only friends for a short period of time in High School, and an equally short period of time within the last few months. What Blaze says about why he likes being around her is true, but it would have a lot more weight if there was a chance for Blaze to have been around her as a friend more.

Fuck it, if you need Blaze to be on screen with at least two other characters, why was there never a scene of Blaze, Aaron and Aphmau just talking? Would a single scene of that fucking killed you? Just one scene would have made their friendships a lot more solid and therefore heartbreaking to lose when it gets torn apart.

Third problem, the scene ends with a focus on Irene. Blaze's words echo in her ears, and remind her of her friends. And I like that idea because I'm an absolute sucker for MCD, but it takes the scene away from the focus. This should be a scene about one of Aphmau's friends encouraging her to not give up even if it all seems lost. At least don't let her death be in vain by saying such awful things about her friends while they may be grieving. But Irene is brought into focus again because the show isn't about Blaze, or Aphmau apparently, I guess her Aphmau Main Character Powers overrides Aphmau's. She has more experience with them.

Blaze and Aphmau's very heartfelt dialogue is brought down by the fact that these two characters lives didn't intersect very directly out of high school. Through the course of Season 5 I never got the idea that Blaze was Aphmau's friend. Not to say they weren't friendly, I think Blaze adored her just as much as he did in high school, but as a viewer I was never shown that they cared particularly for one another. I believe that Blaze sincerely cared about her even after all this time, but that's not because of anything the writers did with him in these seasons. It's just because that's the kind of person Blaze is.

But their friendship not being strong really weakens the scene. This is a scene that I know for a fact worked as intended when I watched it as it was coming out. I was an overemotional mess of a 15 year old who hated how this series was going but kept watching it because it was almost over and I might as well get it done with. It pulled on my heartstrings and they sang and I cried. I cried a lot. This scene made me incredibly emotional, and it still got to me as an adult, but the devil is in the details.

Blaze and his arc might work on the surface. They work if you don't pay that close of attention to it. They work if you care more about the characters he's constantly around more than Blaze. And when I first watched Seasons 5&6, I still had a very deep attachment to a lot of these characters, especially Melissa, who he shares a lot of scenes with. So I felt... satisfied? I would've liked more, but I probably wouldn't have complained about what I got (his death scene not withstanding I always thought that was bad).

My my, how the times have changed.

If it wasn't obvious from the four thousand or so words you just read, Blaze is a rather unique case of these writers failing as writers. A rather unique case where the perfect character to fix a lot of problems with their show practically jumped up in the air waving his arms around and they still brushed past him to focus on a predetermined story he was shoved into. I don't think the writers ever really had a plan for where Blaze would go or what he would do.

A lot of Blaze's best character moments are when he isn't being written by Jesson. The reason I love the minigames so much is because there, Blaze's incredibly talented voice actor Jason Lord is actually really funny and pretty good at improv. Obviously some bits of the mini games are scripted, but a lot of them are just seeing how much voice actors can get into their characters, which he's fantastic at. A lot of Blaze's funniest moments come from this too, which is great when the writers turn him into a comedy character but the characters voice actor is funnier than they both are and is only a funny character when they don't have direct control of him. Lord is able to bring life to a character who may have been lacking it due to the simultaneously focused and unfocused way the series was written.

Blaze is proof of what happens when writers don't bother to develop their characters beyond the outline. The draft notes for PDH Season 2 said "there's going to be a wolf character who tries to become Alpha and instead stands up for Daniel when he's bullied." and then Blaze was born. The writers gave him some characterization as a treat to make the story work better, and then were done with it then and there. We fleshed him out enough, good character, time to put him in season 5 so people stop criticizing us for not giving Aaron enough friends.

But the problem wasn't a lack of quantity in friends, it was a lack of quality. It was a lack of scenes that let Aaron interact with other characters without Aphmau present. It was a lack of characters to point to that were real emotional connections Aaron had that weren't his last minute family or his girlfriend. It was a lack of attention given to the few characters that could've filled that role. Dante almost filled it in season 2, and Aaron and Garroth could have arguably become closer after everything in season 4, but at that point Aaron's entire arc became centered around Aphmau.

It was the fact that Blaze was one of the few people who ever directly reached out to Aaron and then was never given a scene alone again. It was because the writers wrote too many characters, tried to give the series a more direct focus, and then failed to account for the characters that were dragged along even if they didn't necessarily know what to do with them.

So when Season 6 came around and they decided to make the show super serious no really stop laughing, they needed characters to kill off to up the stakes. It's not like Blaze's character was going anywhere. It's not like they had a plan for him. Nothing was really being lost.

It's not like Blaze was one of the most sincere and dedicated characters in the series. It's not like he had one of the biggest potentials in regards to his relationship with Aphmau or Aaron. It's not like there was time spent proving that he could be a solid pillar of support in both of their lives even under dire circumstances. It's not like he was set up that way through individual scenes where he got to talk to each of them on a personal level. That definitely didn't happen.

TLDR: MyStreet peaked at season 2 and they fumbled the bag with the best chance to make it peak even higher and I'm forever bitter about it. Now get out of my house.

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sarafinamk · 21 days

Text

Fallen Angel (Reader Insert) Incorrect Quotes Part 3

The Smiling Critters Space Riders Au and the character "Z" belongs to @onyxonline

If you haven't checked out the Fallen Angel (Reader Insert) series, you can check it out here. The reader will be referred to as both (Y/n) and Archangel. Enjoy!

Warning: Cursing

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Bobby: Don't break someone's heart, they only have one.

Archangel: Break one of their bones instead, they have 206 of them.

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Crafty: Do you guys ever have a civilized conversation that doesn't require insulting each other every time you get a chance?

Z: No.

Archangel: No.

Crafty: Didn't think so.

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Archangel: I've invited you here because I crave the deadliest game...

Hoppy, nodding: Knife Monopoly.

Archangel: I was actually going to play Russian Roulette, but now I'm really interested in whatever knife Monopoly is.

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Archangel: I found a note in one of my old logs that said Note to self: Get revenge on Captain Dogday.

Archangel: Except I couldn't remember what I was supposed to get revenge for.

Archangel: But I trusted my own judgment, so I went with it.

Dogday: Hmm... I don't know what you were supposed to get revenge for, either.

Archangel: I can only assume you got what was coming to you. Not 100 percent sure, though.

Dogday: Well, whatever I did, I guess I deserved it.

Archangel: Let that possibly be a lesson to you.

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Archangel: The only thing keeping me from running away and hiding from society for the rest of my life is spite. I could disappear forever, but there are some bitches whose downfalls I have yet to witness, and I wanna be around when that happens.

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Poppy: Your archangel was in a fight.

Dogday: Oh no, that's terrible!

Catnap: Did they win?

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Dogday: Did Z just tell me he loved me for the first time?

Archangel: Yeah, he did.

Dogday: And did I just do finger guns back?

Archangel: Yeah, you did.

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Archangel, watching Hoppy do something stupid: Kickin, you're officially only the second highest risk here...

Kickin: Hell yeah! I'm gonna-

Archangel: Don't finish that sentence, you'll move back up.

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Archangel: How do ethical philosophers feel about murder?

Bubba: Well, it's frowned upon.

Archangel: Okay, but what if the reason you want to murder someone is to make your life easier?

Archangel: That's okay, right?

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Bobby: And now for a gay update with Captain Dogday and Z.

Dogday: Getting gayer.

Bobby: Thank you, Captain.

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Bubba to Archangel: We call that a traumatic experience.

Bubba, turning to Catnap: Not a "bruh moment."

Bubba, turning to Kickin: Not "sadge."

Bubba, turning to Hoppy: And DEFINITELY not an "oof LMAO."

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Archangel: Why do you look like that, Captain?

Dogday, laying face-first on the floor: Like what?

Archangel: Like you're dead.

Dogday: It's because I'm dying. Leave me here to perish.

Catnap: Dogday accidentally called Z "babe" in front of everyone today.

Dogday: *sobs into the floor*

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Archangel: What's this?

Bobby, hugging Archangel: Affection!

Archangel: Disgusting.

Archangel:... Do it again.

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Kickin: You know, (Y/n), when you generalize, you tell general... lies.

Archangel: ...

Archangel: Are you trying to teach me moral lessons through puns?

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*One of the many, MANY fights before the events of Fallen Angel*

Dogday: You tricked me!

Archangel: I deceived you. 'Trick' makes it sound like we have a friendly relationship.

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Archangel: Here's a fun Christmas idea. We hang mistletoe, but instead of kissing, you have to FIGHT whoever else is under it.

Dogday: (Y/n), no.

Hoppy and Catnap: Mistlefoe.

Dogday: Please stop encouraging them.

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Archangel: I have a plan.

Dogday: No murder!

Archangel: ...

Dogday: ...

Archangel: I no longer have a plan.

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Archangel: If I die, you can have what little I own.

Bobby: Wait. What do you mean "if" you die?

Archangel: My unending existence is fueled by pure spite, that of which the painful experiences of life have rendered me full.

Bobby:

Bubba, sighing: Let me call your therapist again.

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Archangel: I'm bored, any suggestions?

Catnap: Sleeping is nice.

Archangel: I acknowledge your suggestion, and I'm deciding to ignore it.

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Hoppy: You think you're smarter than everyone else.

Bubba: I don't think I'm smarter than everyone else. I know I am.

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Kickin: So, I MEANT to say: "Oh crap, I left my phone my car," but what I ALMOST said was "Oh no, I left my cone in my phar," and damn, wouldn't that have been embarrassing, but I caught myself, and what I ACTUALLY said was:

Kickin: "Ah, my fart cone."

Kickin: So, anyway...

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Archangel: I know you don't have to listen to me...

Z: Glad we agree on something.

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Dogday: Do you have any skeletons in your closet?

Archangel: You mean literally or figuratively?

Dogday: Honestly, the fact that I have to specify...

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Dogday: (Y/n), I am questioning your sanity...

Hoppy: I never questioned it. I knew their sanity was missing from the start.

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Catnap: Why is Hoppy rolling on the floor laughing? And what happened to Kickin's head?

Archangel, sighing: Kickin was about to hit his head on the door frame, so I told him to duck and he quacked at me.

Archangel: And then he hit his head.

Catnap: *wheezes*

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toshidou · 1 year

Text

Prologue // Snakes in the Grass

Series Masterlist

Pairing // Simon "Ghost" Riley x F!Reader

Word Count // 1.3k

Tags // reader's call sign is Viper, descriptions of injury, blood, swearing, hallucinations, mentions of past relationship.

AN // the beginning of the my first series is here and i couldn't be more excited omg T^T also, in case it's unclear, any dialogue in italics is from the past, rather than the present.

The asphalt tastes bitter from where your cheek is pressed to the floor, ash cascading through the air in thick waves, obscuring your vision from the wreckage that undoubtedly surrounds you. In your delirious state, the sight reminds you of the first snowfall in childhood, precious memories of agape lips, catching delicate crystalized water on an outstretched tongue. Bloodied hands reach up, fingers shaking as you disturb the air above, fascinated at how the ash swirls in intoxicating patterns before settling against rubble.

It’s childish. You’re cognizant enough to recognise that much, despite having your body thrown at least 10 metres back, at the mercy of the C4 that detonated in the room adjoining yours. What you’re increasingly worried about is the way the room shifts before your eyes, hallucinations, no doubt, but convincing ones at that.

The wrecked armchair opposite you transforms from tattered, cheap blue fabric, to deep brown leather, an imprint of the man who used to occupy it seared into the sunken seat. The wallpaper now a heart wrenchingly familiar shade of maroon, rather than the dull grey you’re sure lined the four walls before the explosion tore them apart. It’s ironic, that the room your concussed mind has conjured would be the one you were left utterly broken in for the first time, the only difference now being that it’s your brain and body that have been left devastated, rather than your once naïve heart.

It sparks memories you’ve long since pushed to the darkest crevices of your brain, of torrid days filled with vicious arguments, insults with impact like whips, striking for nothing less than blood.

And all because you wanted the life you find yourself existing in presently. Maybe he had been right, that this was never a path meant for you. But you still can’t bring yourself to ever regret your decision to join the SAS, notwithstanding any of the physical consequences.

Even if it was a decision made out of pure spite. A choice made to hurt the man you once called yours. Your Simon.

You blink, the vision before you unwavering despite the tears that blur the world around you, distant voices that echo against shredded concrete transform to those of your past, as though you needed salt rubbing into fresh wounds.

“I’m not having this same argument with you, over and over again, it's like fuckin’ groundhog day.”

God. It feels fucked up, the way you’re almost relieved that your mind can still remember how he talks, the way his accent curled around words like sandpaper, rough and gritty; how that same intonation ground you down until you were but dust, slipping through his solid fingers.

“But that’s just it, Simon, it’s not an argument, it’s my life! I get to make the decisions about what I do with it, not you. Never you.”

You sound so bitter, your tone not dissimilar to the acrid tang that currently lingers against your tastebuds, a bitterness that tainted the words that filled your brain, far too sour to swallow, leaving you no choice but to spit them out, burning irreparable holes in a relationship you once cherished.

“Does my opinion not matter in the slightest here? You’re talking about joining special military forces, it's not gonna be some walk in the park, it's serious, dangerous shit.”

“You know I never took you for a fucking hypocrite, Simon. Maybe me signing up will give you a taste of what I’ve been having to deal with for the last four fucking years—"

You flinch preemptively, all too aware of how this conversation ends, but still dreading having to live through it once more.

“All it takes is one stray bullet, one missed IED, one simple fuckin' mistake! Can you just stop being so stubborn for one second to see that I can’t risk losing you?”

Cracked fingernails dig into your scalp, pulling and scratching at your skin as though it were possible to drag the thoughts out through the ash-caked strands of your hair.

“No more,” You wail to a vacant audience, tears breaching your lash line and cascading down dirtied cheeks, your broken body wracking with tremors where it lays discarded against debris. But the voices don’t listen, too wrapped up in an argument that ended half a decade before to hear your whimpered plea.

“You keep assuming that I can’t handle it, that I’d keel over on the first day of training. Don’t you trust me?”

The silence that follows isn’t a sign you’ve finally been freed from your shock induced torture. It’s an eerie quiet that has haunted you for far too many years. Present in every room you occupy alone, clinging to you like a shadow, no matter how much you try to outrun it.

“You don’t trust me. Do you.”

A statement. Not a question. Even then you knew this was the beginning of the end.

“Don’t go spinnin’ this on me, this isn’t a matter of trust—”

“It’s entirely about trust, Simon, and your complete inability to feel it! God, if you’d just open up and let me help you for once then maybe we could work past this, but you’re a closed book, all the goddamn time, and I can’t fucking deal with it anymore.”

“If you join the SAS, you will never see me again.”

Succinct. To the point. Like a sniper round through the skull, one shot, leaving one body. Except his round had been doused with agony, aimed to kill with the utmost pain and suffering. Simon had always wielded the power to break you, though you never could have predicted that he’d use it.

He had been right though. The moment you recoiled, shaking hands revealing the acceptance letter you’d held clutched in a white knuckled grasp from behind your back, he'd turned, and strode straight out of the door, never to be heard from again. He left you bleeding out in the living room you once shared, your heart ripped straight from your chest, tossed unceremoniously onto the floor as though all the years he cradled it next to his amounted to nothing.

He had left you to suture the gaping hole in your torso alone, shaking hands desperately trying to fix the damage he had wrought; like a tornado, leaving nothing but devastation in its wake, not a trace of its existence once the dust settled.

And here you lie, years later, the messy stitches desperately clinging to still-raw flesh; frayed edges being the only indication any time has passed at all.

A crackle sounds from your crushed shoulder.

“-ome on Viper, do you copy? If you don’t answer in the next minute I'll call you in as MIA and take your PS5.”

Fucking Macintosh, that little bastard.

The joints in your legs ache as you push yourself into an upright position, willing away the shake in your arms as you plant your palms to the cracked floor and shove, stumbling onto your feet with as much grace as a new-born deer.

The voices have gone now, the room returned back to the desolate destruction you’re far more familiar with than the walls you once shared with him. With a shuddering breath, you begin to limp over loose detritus, shaking away the remaining dregs of the past with every uneven step, clearing the tear tracks from your cheeks with rough wipes of bruised knuckles.

Simon had been right about many things over the course of your relationship, many of which you still refuse to admit to this day. But you’ll make him live to regret ever doubting your ability to fight, to survive.

You are still here, alive and breathing, in spite of his damning ascertainment of your life expectancy. And more than that, you’ve managed to garner quite the reputation. A master of stealth, nimble, agile, with a strike that is nothing short of lethal. A true snake in the grass.

Your fingers come to grasp around your receiver, steely determination flowing anew through your veins.

“This is Viper, I copy.”

// Next Chapter

#simon ghost riley #ghost mw2 #cod mw22 #simon riley x reader #simon riley x you #ghost x reader #simon riley imagine #ghost x you #ghost x y/n #simon riley x y/n #simon ghost riley x reader #simon ghost riley x you #The Viper Series

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ganondoodle · 1 year

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so, i have thought more about what we now know about botw2 and honestly, setting aside the smaller things i am not a fan of (like the building aspect) my biggest gripes about it are the plot looking like its gonna be very generic, especially regarding ganondorf, while i hoped it would perhaps finally give us a little more interesting take instead good vs evil; and the oh so mysterious figure you see in in the trailer very likely to be hylia, since shes mentioned constantly in the first game (among other things like her design being pretty much a carbon copy of zelda for the most boring reasons imaginable)

and no its not just bc of my stupid little fanworks (that i do bc i love the franchise, as much as i am critical of it, it comes from being very passionate about it, hence me working my fan lore around the canon so it doesnt disturb it much, its more meant to expand it on parts i think are a little lacking without me trying to sound superior, literally just as an act of love (and a little spite ill admit that) to add something to it)- BUT bc i have little hope they would do anything more than just going full blown "this monstrous beast is pure inherently evil, and this is the pure inherently good white little girl goddess whos just protecting her god given perfect and unshakable good tm monarchy" with no little to no nuance (theres also alot more to be critical of the general structure and implications like racism, orientalism, nationalism, that while i can see alot of wrong or questionable things in the games i lack the eloquence to talk about in its full range) yes i am personally biased bc i just .. hate that kind of story/worldbuilding structure, but i dont think im the only one who would think of it as boring and .. disappointing?

i dont need ganondorf to be redeemed, i dont need him to be the good himbo bf that some people think all ganondorf stans want, i just want him to be more than to shout "i will conquor this kingdom bc i am evil and want it" and send a horde of monsters after you, at the very least id want the game to just aknowledge that there must be a reason for it, why it turned out like this

the zelda series and its world has so much potential, which is probably a reason for its popularity in fanworks, but also keeps not using it, no i dont expect a company like nintendo to deliver on all my hopes, of course not, im not that delusional, but the further i think and learn about this universe and concepts they created i find myself asking "why" more and more where the games never elaborate, never question

i like a clear structure, i like when your choices dont have a big or any impact on the story bc i want to live the story, not worry about every decision like i already do every second of my life IRL, i want to partake in a movie, in a theater piece i can influence the pace of but not change the outcome, yet i feel kind of ... ignored? let down? asking why and how, how do they know this is right and this is wrong, how do they keep enacting this seeing it never works out, keep saying defeat this evil, but evil yet returns stronger than before over and over, how do they never ask "is this the right way?", they say "we need to kill it more next time"

i know they are fictional little characters made up to sell a game, with a convevient plot point to ever repeat the same structure, but it cant be wrong to say "i love this world, i want to see and know more, i want to see it grow and change, break the cycle and be better, show me characters not puppets"

theres very surely nuances and ideas i am sorely missing bc i lack the knowledge of japanese as a language, culture, and mythology, but i dont think it invalidates all that i feel for it ..

.. right?

#ganondoodles talks #botw2 #tloz totk #rambling #long post #just to comment on the building aspect again #i think i dislike it so much bc it feels like the zelda world might be heading towards a too modern one #i dont like how alot of series of all entertainment treat industrialization as inevitable #that every world will have cars and planes and phones the way we have #botw took some modern concepts and very elegantly remade them into something that fits and doesnt feel out of place #maybe im just boring #maybe i just dont like alot about the world we live in and it pains me to see the escapist relief of it be turned into a copy of it #maybe im just autistic and think too much about stuff that doesnt matter #lmao #or something

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palettepainter · 1 year

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Lips or Floyd for the HC question!

Why not both?

A few spoilers to Muppets Mayhem, the shows been out for a while now and come June/June 10th I’m probably gonna stop putting spoiler warnings in my post buuuut just incase for anyone who hasn’t seen it

////////

Lips:

-So Lips is shown to have a lot of connections in the latest series, so I think it’d be funny to imagine Lips also having dated a bunch of big shot names before he joined the band. Of course all broke up on friendly terms and Lips continues to have very happy catch up chats with his many famous ex’s when they bump into each other (the band are shocked every time)

-I feel like he’s got a proper dad bod, he’s got a healthy amount of chub and is so body positivity

-Since he knows so many people in Muppets Mayhem I think it’d be neat if he knew how to speak a few other languages. Once again it shocks the band everytime, but it’s still helpful to have a guy who can speak Mexican when you end up chasing after your drummer whose after a squirrel. Possibly also know about sign language and things like stimming since he might have had to work with kids who where mute and or on the spectrum

-The best hair routine and care his hair is like touching cloud nine

-Such a dramatic worry wort always jumping to the worst case scenario, he probably developed this from babysitting kids so much as a manny (kids get themselves into the craziest shenanigans). If someone cuts their finger while chopping veg Lips has got the first aid kit and band aids ready before anyone can so much as stand up from their seats this man is prepared for everything

-Speaking of which he’s also extremely hard to catch off guard. Working with kids for so many years this man will walk into a living room, see the tv broken, sofa on fire, a wild raccoon scratching the curtains and Animal stuck on the ceiling fan and he’ll just ask if anyone wants a coffee

Floyd:

-Occasionally smokes from time to time, likes to blow the smoke through his nose to show off

-Him and Piggy are constantly at each other’s throats, no two ways about it. But there’s also a mutual respect that the two can just be themselves around each other. There’s no need to keep up appearances or pretend cuz the two know each other that well to know when the other is putting up a facade. Neither will admit this to the other of course or to anyone else, it’s a silent agreement between them. Enemies dynamic with substance

-Hates hates HATES Piggy’s dog Foofoo sm you have no idea

(Floyd, glaring, scratched, bitten and looking like he got put through the ringer, holding Foofoo at arms length: God I hope you hurry up and go to doggy hell already

Foofoo, alive from pure spite: Grrrr…)

-Basically confirmed in Muppets Mayhem but total dad. He’s a lot better with kids then people believe and is a lot more responsible with them too. Whenever Robin is in the studio and he walks into the same room as him Floyd will always, always, flick away his cigarette or stub it out. He will actively shoot Pepe and Rizzo an unimpressed look if they start talking about something inappropriate and will - and probably has - cover Robin’s ears when Big Mean Carl starts screaming something little ears shouldn’t hear. He actually gets a little offended when people assume he’s not good with kids cuz…come on that’s a child he’s not that irresponsible

-He rarely gets angry, getting him angry is a chore. Quickest way to get him mad is to insult Animal (that’s his son don’t you bring him into this-). The gloves will come off and he will throw hands, Janice will hold him back until then, in which case she’ll basically go “I’m not for violence, but-“. Not even Piggy uses it as an insult

#Muppets #the electric mayhem #the muppets #Iips #Floyd #floyd pepper

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redhoodinternaldialectical · 11 months

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Introducing my jaytim fanfiction series Chained!

This is the largest writing project I have ever attempted! Currently (March 29th, 2024) it sits at a length of 153,000 words published and some back of the napkin math puts the final product in the ballpark of War and Peace’s 500,000+ words. halp lmao! This post is designed to serve as an introduction to what the story is about, what my Tim and Jason are gonna be like, and what parts of canon I’m sticking to

"So, what’s the premise ya dorkus malorkus?”

Jason is set in front of a contract that will grant near omnipotence over every facet of reality. The catch is that it requires the person who actually gains the power to be permanently bound into the service of someone else. Afraid of what this could do in the wrong hands, Jason asks Tim to be his new Master.

(a picture of Jason with the halo and armor the contract grants him that I drew :3 also, have a link to the fics!)

After many hours of intense negotiations (the entire first fic in the series), they produce a subcontract designed to maintain Jason's basic rights as a person while still granting them enough power to overcome whatever whatever caused the contract to be written in the first place. Now all that's left is to destroy the evidence, win the fight, and start remaking the world in their image...

Expect to read about: extensive theological discussions complete with readings of the Bhagavad Gita, shape shifting, hijinks, Harley Quinn being a menace to society really good therapist, redonkulous amounts of time travel and time loops, murders most foul, webs of lies and deceit as Oracle works to uncover their secrets, angst, fluff, hurt, comfort, and I’m gonna stop there before I overpromise myself, turn into a puddle, and never manage to finish the damn thing, lol

The draw of the premise for me is exploring the constant renegotiation of boundaries between Jason and Tim as they navigate a truly terrible idea of a romance. This is slow burn in that it takes them a really long time to get together properly due to the aforementioned terrible idea part, but they know they’re in love very early on.

“Lay out the dynamics there hoss”

I reserve the right to fuss with these, but my intention is:

Jason/Tim = the genius fragile human made of pure spite and determination and their sentient bodyguard/servant monster who they like lowkey have a thing with. Think Integra Hellsing and Alucard.

Barbara Gorden versus Tim Drake = genius versus genius 5D chess headgames war. Think L and Light with Jason as Ryuuk. But like if Light was into Ryuuk.

Tim/Jason versus [MAIN VILLAIN SPOILERS] = warring Gods. The source of a new mythology.

Honestly, just mark down Hellsing Ultimate and Death Note animes as major influences.

“What’s a folk gotta do ta get some headcanons and characterization in this joint?”

For Tim I’m going mainly with him in his Red Robin run where he finds Bruce, blows up the League of assassins and shit like that. I love how absolutely arrogant this man is, and I find the way he struggles with the ethics of the job really neat. This version of Tim seems perfect to act as the commander: always tempted to do more, tempted to go further into the dark with power, but also having a lot of self control and dedication to doing right.

In terms of personal headcannons I am making him trans (cause I can), ADHD/Autistic (because it makes sense), and a dabbler in mild, lowkey amphetamine abuse (The coffee chugger who never sleeps of fanon intrigues me, but also caffeine kinda doesn’t do that, whereas adderall definitely does. He’ll use both stimulants as available and needed. I like a man who knows he badly overworks himself but who can’t realistically say he shouldn’t be overworking himself.)

Jason is a much harder cat to herd because writers have long been playing tug of war with his characterization, dragging him over the line to unhinged villain then back to just another bat over and over. I always like Jason, but I think he’s at his weakest at both extremes of the spectrum. He’s a good villain/antagonist in general, but a phenomenal one when he has real goals and morals. He’s a good anti-hero/tenuous ally in general, but a phenomenal one when he and the family have serious disagreements and Jason is still a killer.

I’m keeping this fic as canon compliant as possible, but there is a bare minimum amount of rearrangement necessary to make Jason consistently morally grey rather than an ethical checkers board that looks grey when you turn it sideways and squint.

Headcanons for Jason include chronic pain (I just think being blown up should screw with a guy’s nerves), trans (cause I can), and having schizophrenia (cause I see some possible canon evidence and he’s had a LOT of ableist stuff thrown his way and I don’t really like ‘well I’m not actually mentally ill’ as a resolution point to that. I am leaving it ambiguous if this has anything to do with the Lazarus Pit, but I intend it to be very unambiguous that it has nothing to do with why he has beef with the rest of the bats. His grievances are not delusions. His moral positions are not delusions. He will hallucinate and I may have him develop delusions, but he’ll also take medication for that and employ coping mechanisms like real life people with schizophrenia do. The mental illnesses are something he deals with, not something that controls him into being evil, no matter their source.)

Oh and it should go without saying that everyone has so much PTSD!

“Cut ta the chase already jabrony, give us da timeline”

Crisis on Infinite Earths, Final Crisis, Infinite Crisis, Flashpoint, Convergence, and the Rebirth changes happened in this fic's canon. We are dealing with multiple multiverses. If you’re familiar with the concept of ‘Hypertime’ used to facilitate the Elseworlds series and elaborated on during the Dark Knights: Metal stuff, I’m building off of that. If you’re not, don’t worry about it, there will be a far better explanation in the fic as the characters discover this shit for themselves.

This takes place during the "Rebirth" era of DC comics canon in a fanfic universe I made up within that canon multiverse called Earth 69. Earth 69 is my idea of what the pre-flashpoint timeline might have looked like if flashpoint never happened. Essentially I'm taking the post crisis stuff and extending it by acting as though that timeline just kept going, with plot points from New 52 and Rebirth canon welded onto the end of it. Keep in mind though, Earth 69 only coincidentally mirrors pre-flashpoint events; that canonical pre-flashpoint multiverse still exists!

Now lets go through just Earth 69′s timeline, focusing on Tim and Jason

Based on the letter Jason sends to Kid Devil, I put the year of his death as 1985. Ten years have passed since then at the start of this fic, making Tim 23 and Jason 25. The influence of alien tech and supergeniouses accelerated cultural and scientific growth such that while the fic takes place in 1995, every bit of tech and culture from 1980 to 2024 is fair game to show up. I find it fun to play around with laser turret drones and microfiche spy tactics all in the same story, so our heroes listened to My Chemical Romance on their smartphones while watching the fall of the Berlin Wall on live TV.

Batman (1940) issues #419 - #429 aka Jason’s post-crisis Robin years happen almost identically to the comics, except that Jason is a trans man and it was the Penguin that got Willis Todd locked up for life and then killed instead of Two Face. Bruce eventually finds out he’s trans and is supportive if understandably clueless. He raises Jason as his son. It’s important to me that Jason’s beef with Batman not leave either side objectively correct. Their relationship and hurts are a lot more compelling to me if Bruce isn’t transphobic.

A Place of Lonely Dying and the Robin (1993) series happen with very few deviations, with the understanding that I've read less of this than would be ideal and might get some things mixed up as I go along. Those deviations include Tim also being a trans man. Because he was looking into transition care for Jason, Bruce already knows about puberty blockers and HRT and supplies them to him. That becomes a big part of why Tim’s Dad is so freaked out by Tim being Robin. In this timeline, one of the major reasons Tim is so attached to the role of Robin is that it’s the first role in his life where he gets to be himself.

Lost Days happens as it did in comics except for two changes. Firstly when Talia sleeps with him, it's not sex, it's fully clothed cuddling and actual sleeping. I think this compromise preserves the important emotional conflict that I identified in this reading of her motivations, while sidestepping some of the problems the sex caused. The second change is that Jason won't have ended Lost Days by going to talk to Hush...

Because I HATE Thomas Elliot as a character. I hate how he was implemented. I hate that he kept showing up. I hate that they killed off Harold. I hate Hush. So it never happened on Earth 69! Instead I'll be emphasizing Tim and Jason's later fights, which have some similar emotional beats.

Now, whether or not Jason held a knife to Tim’s throat is kinda fucking important to how their relationship is interpreted! Most people, understandably, make this a serious event between the two. However, in all the comics I’ve been reading, I have seen zero characters ever acknowledge that Jason was involved. Tim hasn’t thought or said anything about it, even when it really seemed relevant. Jason technically tells Batman he did it in UtRH, but it's never brought up again and at this point it feels almost like Judd Winick tricked DC into publishing a headcanon that applies nowhere else lmao. Therefore I feel fine with just ditching this and putting more emphasis on their later fights which have similar emotional beats.

Under the Red Hood happens, with one modification. He knows about Stephanie's death and treats it with the gravity she deserves. He is targeting Black Mask because of Steph's death, and something very similar to the excellent fanfic 'hangman is coming down from the gallows' by nex_et_nox happens.

Young Justice (1998) happens, except for some of the mythological encounters. They did watch Santa get blown up, but I will be taking liberties with how the Greek Pantheon operates, and holy fucking shit, no they did not meet the goddess Kali like that, what the fuck, did no one even try to do a basic level of cultural sensitivity research?!? Anyways.

Jason does fight Batman, Green Arrow, and Mia as told in Green Arrow (2001) #69 - #72. Roy does hear about this, but he hears about it the way that Mia herself tells it when asked about it in the comic, i.e. “He didn’t hurt me. We just talked.” So he's not exactly all that freaked out about it.

Roy Harper and Jason first meet in Outsiders (2003) #44 - #46 where he helps Roy and Dick exonerate Black Lightning with no ulterior motives, as in the comics.

Teen Titans (2003) #29 (The Titans Tower fight) happens as it did in comics. i.e. It was a fair one on one fight in which both participants understood that the other was not trying to kill them and both combatants walked away with nothing more than superficial injuries. Tim came away from that with a black eye and a grudge; Jason came away from it thinking Tim was pretty alright in his book. The writing on the wall was either Jason’s own blood, or red paint, because there is simply no earthly way that was Tim’s blood.

Teen Titans (2003) in general happens to Tim, though there’s a lot that connects to Countdown to Final Crisis (which can only have happened in the canonical pre-flashpoint multiverse) that may or may not need to be edited and removed.

The combination of events from Countdown to Final Crisis and Teen Titans (2003) #47 also happens, in which Jason attempts to save Duela Dent from murder, fails, connects with Donna at her funeral, and then is interrogated by Tim and Dick who suspect Jason murdered her. Oh and also it's where Tim kicks him in the pants lol. Obviously the reason Duela died and who murdered her has to be different, but all that should be details that don't matter for the fic's purposes.

I've already mentioned that Robin (1993) was being considered canon to Earth 69′s timeline, but make special note here of issue #177, in which Tim sends Jason to jail (his first prison stint, yay :D). One modification here: Jason's plan is to manipulate the established mob families into fighting the cops, leaving the local communities to govern themselves, not to use "kid gangs" to soften up the cops and the mob like happens in the comic. Because like... the on panel plan makes no sense, either logistically or for his character, and idk why but the way the author uses the concept of “kid gangs” leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Nightwing (1996) #118 - #122 aka Brothers in Blood aka the one where Jason becomes a tentacle vore monster happens exactly as depicted in comics. Exactly. As. Depicted. Well okay not exactly, I need him to not have threatened to bomb a building full of innocent people, that is a bridge too far, but everything else stays!

The Red Robin series happens as depicted, except for how Tim got the costume. The Red Robin costume that Tim wears in the pre-flashpoint multiverse was from that multiverse’s Earth 51. On Earth 69 the Red Robin costume was what Bruce made for Jason in anticipation of him wanting to outgrow the Robin mantel one day, like Nightwing did (tho uhhh great job reframing why the Nightwing mantel exists there Bruce lmao). When Dick gave the Robin role to Damian, Tim took the Red Robin outfit for himself from it’s pedestal next to The Memorial Case. There was a considerable amount of spite towards multiple people involved in that decision.

Battle for the Cowl is where it gets trickier. I am going to gut most of the plot of BftC and combine a few plot elements from it with the Batman and Robin (2009) series in order to create a much longer lasting conflict that preserves Jason as an anti-hero and his partnership with Scarlet/Sasha as a competing vigilante force to Dick and Damian.

After Bruce’s “death” Dick super does not ever want to be Batman. No one does really. Jason hears Bruce's post-death message and is understandably fucking devastated. He decides to say fuck that noise, Bruce is gone now, and I'm gonna be Batman since no one else seems willing to do it, and I'm gonna do it my way! Another Batman running around shooting people dead forces Dick’s hand and he takes up the Batman mantel to fight him. Batman and Robin (2009) #3 - #6 happen roughly as depicted, but with Jason still claiming to be Batman, and he doesn’t have red hair. (I’m so sorry white suit + pill helmet costume, but I must leave you behind for the sake of continuity). Jason's stint in Arkham and then Blackgate happens. Batman and Robin (2009) #23 - #25 happen as depicted, minus the part where Jason rigged the entire fucking civilian tram line to explode. After Jason and Scarlet fly off into the sunset together, they come back to Gotham and keep fighting.

Sometime after he's free again he does Roy a favor. I haven't decided what exactly, but it's big. I’ve toyed with the idea that he broke him out of prison because he doesn’t want to see Liam grow up without a dad in a move very similar to the Outsiders thing and roughly analogous to how he meets Roy in Red Hood and the Outlaws (2011), but that seems a lil repetitive and why would Roy even be in jail, so idk.

By this point the events of Red Robin are over and Tim has joined Dick and Damian in fighting Jason. Sometime before the climactic battle, Scarlet leaves for [FANFIC SPOILERS] reasons, so it becomes just Jason again. He goes through with something like the plan from Battle for the Cowl, luring Tim to his Batcave and offering him a place as his Robin. As in comics, Tim's answer is to pick up a crowbar and wack Jason across the face with it! Jason wins the fight and stabs Tim in the chest, knowing it's not gonna kill him, but fine with it leaving one hell of a scar! Dick's fight with Jason afterwards, and Jason jumping from the train into the harbor, happens as it did in BftC #3 with the exception of Dick wearing the Batsuit instead of Tim.

Starfire contacts Roy for help with a lengthy, off planet mission - one that absolutely needs a Bat on board. Every single Bat is up to their eyeballs in fires to put out and projects to run... except for Jason. Roy knows a lot of other Heroes with very good reasons to hate him, but in his personal experience, Jason’s always been a reliable if shady and asshole-ish guy working for the greater good. Ya’know. A Bat. It helps that they both think Bruce treats Dick like garbage sometimes and thus are inclined to be sympathetic towards Jason's beef with him. Roy vouches for him and brings him on board. They work well together, they save the days in outer space, and after a particularly dangerous mission they have a "thank fuck we're not dead" threesome together. This replaces the New 52 version of Red Hood and the Outlaws.

During the trip back to Earth, Jason confides in them about his woes and they encourage him to sort his shit out and get his life back together. Jason agrees and after considering it for a while he asks Roy and Starfire to help negotiate a truce between him and the rest of the Bats. They agree and thus begins two years of ceasefire and getting more friendly with the other Bats.

During those two years, the events of Dark Knights: Metal occur. The Source Wall is broken, and all the peoples of all the earths are plunged into a nightmare world. No one really remembers what happened, it’s all very vague and drifty, like remembering a dream, unsurprisingly. People have been referring to this event as The Nightmares.

This two year period also contains my version of Rebirth Red Hood and the Outlaws. Jason attempts to infiltrate Black Mask’s gang because the real Black Mask should be super dead and super unwilling to work with him. He’s a LOT more competent about it than in comics tho.

The biggest change is what goes down with Cobblepot. Jason’s original intention was to fake the penguin’s death and take all his power and assets from him, as he did in comics. However, he loses Artemis and Bizzaro before he goes through with that plan instead of after. At the last minute he switches the blanks out for lead. The Penguin is super dead.

He fights back when Bruce confronts him, but it's still a brutal fight and ultimately Roy has to separate them. Then Jason follows his father’s trail to the experimentation prison thing like in comics. Roy doesn’t die along the way, we don’t have the scene with Bruce at the diner, but in the end it turns out that his father is actually dead. No one survived that place. He only found boxes of dusty, decaying files, a grave out back, and Dr. Fate. Once he was convinced there was nothing more to find, Dr. Fate took him to John Constantine and The Contract, and that’s just about where our story begins!

Have another link, and I hope some of y’all enjoy what I’ve got so far!

#Damian's Tomfoolery #fanfic #jason todd #tim drake #jaytim #jason todd/tim drake

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savagebisand · 9 months

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I'm gonna say this and make my peace with it but I am frequently reminded as someone watching from week to week when it comes to Only Friends, that it is so easy in a series like this to find yourself accidentally having bias toward some characters, pairings etc. It's very important that we always remain open to alternate perspective and that we remain able to pick out nuances in our favourites. Critique them when they cause trouble or make a bad choice and cheer for them when they find moments of happiness. For today, I am going to speak primarily about Sand because I've already seen a lot of a sentiment on YouTube mostly that he is justified in his scheming to reveal BostonTop and drag Ray into it and yet Ray is vilified for lashing out and pushing Sand off him in the same episode.

We have really got to stop woobifying characters like Nick and Sand and even Ray or Mew because we see them as the most traumatised or the ones with the uncaring lovers. None of them were meant to be the "innocent" character amongst the darkness. JoJo has always said all these characters are flawed and live in shades of grey.

I'm getting real tired of seeing Sand constantly elevated above Ray because one has to be worse than the other for some reason? Or seeing TopMew and SandRay pitted against each other when both have tormented romances. We can note the difference in how the relationships are developing without attacking one or the other. Sand can be the kindest and most sensible character in this series and he can still be morally reprehensible and wrong in other ways. Mew can be caring and hesitant and only want what's best for his friends and still get it wrong sometimes not out of spite but simply because he just doesn't know better.

We do not have to pretend that Sand is in the right when he isn't because we don't want to lose the Sand as a good person label. He IS a good person..he's also wrong for the mess he indirectly caused this ep. Y'all I'm a Sand stan, this blog is sandified all over. The man is me coded. He's a mirror to my soul for me. And I will still sit here and hold him accountable just as much as I would do for Ray when Ray fucks up. He made some Choices this episode and they were Bad. He prioritised his vengeance against Top over Rays emotions regarding Mew and that is Unkind.

Ray was Unkind to lash out at him and push him as well but to act like Ray was unjustified and deserves to be vilified for it is just... it don't sit right with me. He stooped as low as Sand did, he hit right where he knew it would hurt. It was tit for tat. The second Ray went into that meet up where Sand showed him the audio, you could sense Ray knew he was being used as a middle man. That shit hurts. This is the person he's been vulnerable with finally and he just got treated once again, by him, as someone easily influenced and gullible.

Sand used clever words to make it sound like he was doing this for Ray but it was heat of the moment. He was thinking purely of making Top taste his own medicine and eat his words. He wanted Top to lose Mew to prove the point that Top doesn't always get what he wants. Bonus if it meant Sand got Ray and could prove Top even more wrong because "who have you got?" Well now he has him. But honestly Ray was just a prize at the end of a long game Sand wanted to play there for a second.

It can be equally true that when he saw Ray was going to rain hell upon the group, he became more concerned as in his moment of Seeing Red he thought only Top would get hurt. He under estimated the fall out a truth like this would cause for everyone in that clique. Tell one harsh truth and a million more come pouring out. Ray got hurt because of this little ploy and he got a nasty awakening that oh yeah Ray is more important than some contest with Top, it can be equally true that he cares about Ray when Top isn't clouding his judgement and actions. That he didn't want Ray to endanger himself. That he would follow Ray and get him to a hospital safe after Ray angrily tries to take himself home under the influence because he feels betrayed, a black sheep to his friends.

But like it or not some of Sands actions this episode were still laced with calculation and manipulation and involved using others like chess pieces such as Ray and Nick, two people he normally cares about more than anyone. That moment when he smashed up his phone intentionally to get his hands on Nick's? Batshit insane behaviour. He was high tempered and irrational and he made a very big mistake because as I've said before these characters are portrayed as human young adults and it's what we do. No one is perfect 100% of the time. We all have a capacity for bad inside of us that most of the time we tamper. Sand was not able to in this instance. He caused mass destruction in a butterfly effect of one choice he made way before Ray caused more fallout with the truths he spilled.

Sands actions. Sands choices. Not just Rays or Mews. And don't get me wrong Ray was wrong too, he shouldn't have brought April and Cheum into it just to further a point. He should have just let Mew handle Top alone at home. But to be fair he'd spent all day and night being ignored by his friends for not being as blind in love as them, biting his tongue when Ton played along to insinuations over Nick and still got treated kindly after outright saying he had an ice cold heart when Ray knew just how true that was. Dealing with Ton making his emotions for Mew the butt of a joke again, belittling him. Sand using him to get back at Top and lying to Rays face or stonewalling him after they'd spent a week connecting more.

So it's no surprise he went since we're being honest tonight anyway maybe you all need to see you aren't perfect either. Sand set the spark that started this fire this time around. It's alright. All of them went too far and crossed lines. None are worse than the others. This show is not a competition between which partner in this couple is worse or more fucked up than the other. It is showing its audience what it looks like when two fucked up, flawed, morally grey, young adult and queer people fall into relationships and friendships. All of the couples are equally as wrong as each other for behaviours they exhibit when together.

It's subjective of course, everyone's personal level of what's wrong and what's acceptable is different and that's what makes this interesting. Something a character does may not be going too far for one viewer whilst for another it's absolutely appalling. The beauty of media. But let's not get so caught in picking teams that we lose our critical lens when we consume media. You can be rooting for Nick or Boston or Top or Sand or Ray or Mew! A combination! Have favourites! By all means pick people you'd love to see overcome these messy dramas and challenges they face. Just don't throw rocks at glass houses.

#only friends #only friends the series #i guess im morphing into ray tonight bc it needed to be said #and ive seen others echo the sentiment here and there #but this is the kind of show i feel can never have too many reminders to remain unbiased with when consuming #its entertainment and its not that deep but i can understand frustrations when certain characters are treated as more justified than others #in moments of weakness #ANYWAY DHDJD IM READY TO BE HATED BUT I MUST SPEAK MY TRUTH #sandray #bostonnick #topmew #raymew

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rayshippouuchiha · 1 year

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Why do some people tag a story as complete when it isn't

W H Y

I opened a story marked as finished, 9/9 chapters, I reach the last chapter- and there it is, in the author's notes at the end of it, saying that the story is not done and that they'll add new chapters in the future

Not a new story in a series

New chapters in that same story

Then why the fuck is it marked 9/9 chapters if you're gonna add to it

It makes me so damn mad. The story's not even that bad and normally I would have subscribed to it but now I feel like I'm not gonna do it just out of pure spite

Jfc

The times I've seen incomplete stuff marked as complete and was fine with it include:

An abandoned work

An open-ended type work where any chapter could be the last and the story is still good.

A fic an author thought was done but went back and decided, fuck it I'll keep going from here and edited the last author note to reflect that but forgot to open up the chapter count.

Fics with newish authors who don't know/understand how AO3 generally works.

I'm sure there's more reasons I'm just blanking at the moment.

Oh and there's the fact that there's this rising trend in fandom where a lot of younger fans won't even click on a fic if it's not completed. So it could be a bait-and-switch tactic to actually get reader engagement.

Can't blame you for being irritated either way though I wouldn't let it ruin the fic overall if you liked it

#RayRambles #AO3 #Fandom

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warnersister · 2 months

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Chapter 11 - May God have Mercy

The Highwayman Series | Chapter 10 | Chapter 12

“Goodbye, daddy” you kissed your father on the forehead and turned to head to the church, leaving him on strict bed rest while you’d attend Sunday service. “Goodbye, darlin” he replied, not looking at you. You look at him strangely, his behaviour with you odd recently. Then your eyes avert to the window, following his unwavering gaze. All you could see were four equal plots to the left of the saloon, and two tired grave diggers wiping the sweat from their brows as they hopped out from the penultimate plot. “Who’s dead?” You ask, knowing that this town never dug a grave unless having reason too “no one baby, you run on to the church now.” He says and your lips purse, stretching into a straight line.

You head out front, Stetson perched on your head with Jake leant against the fence panels out front, smoking a dying cigarette “since when d’ya go to church?” You ask him, threading your arm through his when he offered it. Jake swallowed despite a dire lack of saliva in his mouth. He just shrugged, eying the plots wearily before walking to you towards the church “feel like I need a final hurrah from the big guy” he tells you, opening the door for you as you try to find an empty seat. “What are y’ talkin’ ‘bout?” You ask but he shakes you off, nodding at the Reverend who was about to begin his sermon.

As usual, the sermon dragged on as you strained to listen, standing to sing, sitting to read, listening to a few of the town’s younger generation read passages from the Bible with a smile on your face, Jake passing an arm over your shoulder as they stuttered over their words. “Thank y’a child” the reverend smiles as the small boy blushes and rushes away from the lectern, and the Reverend just about takes his place when the doors fly open.

There the sheriff stood, four of his inferiors behind him as he smirked smugly, strutting into the church as though he owned the place; the other four falling in tow. “There’s to be a hangin’ today!” He announced and people started muttering to one another, you turn to Jake who looks awfully calm, but still his grip on you tightens. “Cuff ‘em” he says, and the four head towards the pew you and the Daggers were sat on, Bob and Coyote being cuffed first, Rooster put up more of a fight but his resistance was still futile. Your father ripped Jake from his seat himself, ragging him up with such force it nearly knocked the wind out of him.

“Daddy what’re y’doing?” You ask, in panic and he looks at you with a look you can only describe as pure deep-rooted evil. “Doin’ what I should’ve done five years ago.” He tells you, pulling Jake away “‘m gonna hang ‘em.” He says “These here!” He announces, drawing full attention form all as the town crowd quietens. “Are fugitives of the United States government!” He shouts, pulling the pills from his pocket and holding them high in the air “these boys are Sacramento drug runners!” He says and many gasp “Bob’s a doctor!” Maverick announces and your father just shakes his head “a doctor practising in California state. Not Texas.” “Why’re you taking the others?” Penny asked “these two” he motioned to Rooster and Bob “harbouring a fugitive” then he looks at Jake with a smug look mixed with delicious spite “and this ‘un; blasphemy!” He says and you gasp “daddy he ain’t gone against God!” You tell him “sleepin' with my daughter unmarried? By God he is.” He spits, starting to drag the men away. “Daddy y’ can’t do this!” You shout and he scoff “sit down, girl.” You look around and eyes just stare back at you, you look to the Reverend for answers and he just shakes his head, saying a quick prayer “May God have mercy on your souls.”

You tried to run out, but Maverick caught you at your waist and you look at him in horror “what am I gonna do, Mav?” You cry, gasping for breath and his chest rises and falls at an instead rhythm “y’don’t wanna watch ‘em be hung, baby” he says in a small voice and you nearly scream “no! They aint gonna be hung! They ain’t” you tell him, hitting against his chest as you prematurely mourn your fiancée.

As you begin to calm slightly, an idea formulates in your head, Maverick and Penny caressing your back as you try to deepen your shallow breaths. “Can you guys get their horses ready?” You ask, quietly and Penny creases her brows “why, darlin?” She asks “cause they ain’t being hung today. Either five die or none.” You say and as Mav begins to question who the identity of the fifth belongs to, you rush out the church, past the growing crowd formulating outside the Sheriff’s office, and straight up into your house and into your daddy’s room; eyes scowering it as you doubt your own sanity. Questioning if there was any reason behind your actions you do the only thing you can think to do, you lurch for it.

The shotgun.

Chapter 10 | Chapter 12

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delanceyposting · 3 months

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Incredibly long post but i wanted to post oscar Alcoholism era on here. Also posted on ao3

1000~ words, cws for alcoholism, violence, and referenced child ab*se. Please ignore things that dont make sense This is the longest Thing that ive written and actually finished in forever

It was inevitable, bound to happen at some point. Maybe it was the cards he had been dealt, or perhaps it was simply a matter of genetics, but one thing was clear and undoubtable; the amount that Oscar drank definitely was not normal.

He snootily claimed that he could stop any time he wanted, but the truth is, he completely lost control the moment he had a beer in his hands. One was never enough to distract him from the vile being he had made out of himself. In fact, one beer could hardly even get him buzzed after his constant series of binge drinking.

Oscar was constantly coming home late at night, then being incredibly hungover in the morning, slumped over a bucket and puking his brains out. But alas, that couldn’t even stop him from going out and doing it again in the same day.

He absolutely despised the lack of control that he had over himself. Sure, he hated not having power over the other things in his life, but not having power over himself was an entirely different story. You can be above everything your life and do just fine, but are you ever truly fine if you aren’t above yourself?

This constant carousal became so prominent that Morris, and even Otto, had to step in. A make-shift intervention, if you will. Oscar was furious over it, screaming that they had no business dictating what he could do to his own body, and that he was going to continue purely out of spite for them.

“Mo, I tried to tell’ya that this whole fuckin’ thing was pointless,” Otto scoffed, arms folded across his chest as he sat sprawled out next to Morris on the tattered couch, “he ain’t even worth it.”

Otto knew how to push his buttons, and unfortunately for him, Oscar wasn’t gonna take it. Already slightly inebriated, and now blinded by rage, he landed a forceful blow to Otto’s jaw before he could even recognize what he was doing. The initial hit had already knocked him out cold, but Oscar just kept brutally socking him with absolutely no mercy. It was like something horrible had possessed him and was taking complete control of his body. In that moment, any and all dominance he had over himself vanished faster than he could count out 20 papes.

It took both the forces of Morris and Wiesel to pry Oscar away from his unconscious, bleeding cousin. When he finally snapped back into reality, he was met with a thoroughly battered and bruised Otto, bright red liquid dripping down from the shallow gashes scattered across his freckled face. His jaw was already swelling from brute force of the first swing. His nose was bent out of shape and very obviously broken.

Funny enough, Oscar couldn’t even recall slipping his brass knuckles on.

Seeing the damage he had done to Otto reminded him of something terrible— something he had suppressed deep inside his memory and vowed to never remember:

The image of 6 year old Morris, contused beyond recognition, bawling his eyes out after Pa had beaten him, all because he tried to hide his beer. He innocently thought that maybe if he couldn’t find where it was, then he would have no choice but to choose Oscar and him over it.

Blood poured from the wounds on his face, mixing with tears and snot as it dripped down and pooled on the floor below. It was pretty normal for their dad to smack them around, but the extent of this beating could never even compare to what they had experienced in the past. It was unlike anything he had ever done to them before.

Still being held back by Morris and Wiesel, he suddenly burst out into tears, inconsolably sobbing just like Morris did way back when. “What is it, Os? Why is you cryin’ now?” His brother spun him around to face him, eyebrows furrowed in both concern and confusion. Wiesel rushed to Otto’s side, taking a good look at his wounds. Oscar didn’t answer, still distraughtly wailing with his shirt balled tightly in his fists. “Os? Ossie?”, he called out, desperately trying to snap him out of this crying spell that he was under. Now genuinely worried by his sudden breakdown, he grabbed his chin and forced Oscar to look him in the eyes. “What is this about, Oscar?” Still very weepy, he managed to spit out the word ‘Pa’. Morris’ face went blank, like a deer in headlights.

Apart from Oscars blubbering, the room went quiet. The tension was so thick that you could cut through it with a knife. Out of the blue, Morris spoke. “You fuckin’ see?” His solemn expression twisted into anger as he grit his teeth. Oscar squinted at him through teary eyes, waiting for him to elaborate. Morris rolled his eyes at his brother’s incompetence. “You fuckin’ see why I ain’t want you drinkin’ like he did?”, he spat, eyes now carrying a fire that wasn’t there before. Oscar just stared back blankly, breathing shakily. His question had snapped him back into reality for a moment.

“You claim t’fuckin’ hate his guts, but you ain’t even takin’ the time t’realize that—“, he pauses, taking a deep breath before finishing his sentence. “—you is him, Os.”

Oscar felt sick, like he could throw up at any moment, and he was sweating like the Dickens, which could’ve very well been from the alcohol resting in his stomach, but who’s to say?

“I’s can do better, Mo,” he grabbed at his brother’s shirt, pulling him closer. “Please, Mo, I ain’t wanna be like ‘im—I’ll do anything, just please help me be better—“ His throat was scratchy and his face ached like he was about to break down crying again. “You better fuckin’ promise me, Os.” Morris grabbed his chin once again, this time much more aggressively. His gaze was intense. Oscar could’ve sworn that it pierced a hole straight through his soul. “I— I promise, Mo— I’on wanna be like ‘im, Mo—“ Before he knew it, he was crying again. Morris just shushed him, wiping his tears away with his sleeve. “Y’ain’t gotta start ya’ cryin’, Os. Just go get Wiesel the first aid kit, eh?” Oscar nodded in response before walking off to fetch it from the cabinet.

Even though he promised Morris that he wouldn’t, even though he swore that he hated the person he was becoming, and that he didn’t want to turn into his father, Oscar returned to the bar that very night.

#newsies #the delancey brothers #morris delancey #oscar delancey #otto delancey #livesies

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neoyi · 10 months

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We've reached a point in our lives where nostalgic bait is at an all-time high. From the thousands of reboots; remakes; and sequels to beloved cult classics from the 80s, 90s, and early 2000s, it is shameful how many of these we have, all varying in terms of quality and almost always with the intent to pocket money off of us peons.

What can I say? We were desperate for anything because we hardly ever got anything back then.

Even the darling favorite of many a fandom back in the mid-2000s, Avatar: The Last Airbender, was hurting for merch back in the days. And Danny Phantom's was practically non-existent. It is astonishing this comic exists, but not at all surprising because now, Nickelodeon knows to cash in on the products that fans have carried a torch for decades later.

I'm sounding really cynical here, I know. And while Ol' Nicky is seeing dollar signs, it is worth noting A Glitch in Time was clearly made with the most utmost love and respect for the show. Gabriela Epstein gave so much of a damn crafting this near 200-page behemoth, covering almost 90% of the hanging plot points the show never got the time to answer and simultaneously wiping off the backwards series finale that left a bad taste in a lot of people's mouth.

Like altogether, this comic explored Danny's story and what his purpose is post-"PP", Vlad's redemption arc, Pariah King's artifacts (and why Vlad was collecting them), and Dark Danny's return, all while working around a plausible narrative that retooled "PP" using time manipulation and newfound lore. And it's amazing how seamless it flows.

This comic isn't just incredible, it's a miracle.

And in spite of all that, the author still had the balls to leave some of the dangling plot threads and character arcs unfinished for a potential sequel hook, as if they knew this comic would sell enough to justify one.

Well, as of this writing, this motherfucker is still the #1 top seller in Amazon's all-age for graphic novels. Fool on me to rely purely on that hell site's sale counts to accurately know how well it did, but I imagine that's pretty damn good. If you had told me years ago anything DP-related beyond lame ass Box Lunch shirts would officially come out of the woodwork, I would have laughed. That the possibility of a second comic book seem plausible would be chuckly-worthy, but now... damn, I think it genuinely could happen.

And I hope it does, because A Glitch in Time still finishes with a couple of snags left to untangle.

The first major incident is the controversial matter of a one Miss Danielle Phantom. Now that Vlad has been given a second chance to raise a child, and do it right this time, what does that mean for Danny's clone? How will she feel knowing Vlad has changed? Or that he has a son? Would he have been a better father by the time she flies back to Amity Park? What has this kid been up to in the few years since "PP?" How would Danielle feel when she reunites with a Vlad that looks to be genuinely trying? Distrustful on his true intention? Angry that this man had the gull to change? Jealous that Dark Danny had Vlad's unconditional love when his fatherly affection is all Danielle ever wanted?

Dani is never mentioned at any point in the comic, with any hints that she still exists the Danny clones lingering in Vlad's secret base. I understand why she wouldn't be relevant for this comic. Dark Danny, for one, is such a huge entity that an entire spotlight dedicated to him and him alone would be worthy of a full graphic novel. But Dani's existence, her dilemma as a lone wanderer with only a distant relationship with Danny, and the unresolved tension between her and Vlad means her story is worthy of a full comic, too.

Now that Vlad is on the path of redemption with promises to be a better person and a father, his relationship with Danielle is going to invite a lot of questions, conflicts, and hurt feelings before it presumably and hopefully treads into happier paths. And Danny is likely gonna be stuck playing the awkward monkey-in-the-middle family member in all this. But damn, the setup is there.

The other Big Huge Plot left is Valerie.

In her last major role prior to this comic, Valerie was confronted with a moral dilemma: will she take the life of a human if said human is a half-ghost? Danny, in desperation, had to confess to Valerie that Dani is a half-ghost, meaning Valerie would have the blood of an actual mortal on her hands should she kill her.

And mind, this was the best Danny could do. We've seen that ghosts in DP are their own species with their own (dead) lives and free will. I'm not sure if Valerie has killed any ghosts or if she's just thermos'ed them back into the Ghost Zone, but her unscrupulous and, by the end of the show, downright brutal nature, seem to imply if she hadn't already murdered any ghosts, then she's more than willing to should the issue arise.

And so we have Val in A Glitch in Time, still doing her ghost hunting thing (her father hasn't been seen since season two, is he okay with her doing this or is she hunting ghosts regardless of any concerns he might have), a job I'm sure she's positively thriving in now that Amity Park is gung-ho for some ghostbustin'.

Indeed, though she's not as prominent as the main trio and Vlad, Valerie gets enough time in the spotlight to meet Dark Danny. In a particularly brilliant callback, she gets a couple of one-on-one battles with Dark Danny, with both the tone and even color scheme echoing so much of what her alternate, older counterpart has countered with Dark Danny from that timeline.

And I'm sure Dark Danny is just thrilled at the deja vu.

The damning part is how Valerie reacts when she realizes Dark Danny is, well, Danny.

Keep in mind, this is post-"Phantom Planet." This is post-Valerie has known Danny Phantom is Fenton. She says this after knowing the town's hero was a fellow student she once liked and dated, and whom she nearly gave up her ghost hunting career for.

Yeah.

This has implication.

Valerie's first reaction to meeting a future Dark Danny is to straight up tell him, "you're evil." Is that how she felt about Danny Fenton after "Phantom Planet?" Did she feel betrayed that the boy she fell for was secretly half-ghost? Did she feel manipulated into saving Dani? Given the exceptional story Gabriela Epstein has expertly crafted, this one piece of dialogue cannot, under any circumstances, be accidental.

Valerie saying this straight up to Danny fuckin' Fenton after everything that has transpired is one of the biggest bomb drops in A Glitch in Time.

The end of the comic implies she remembers the old timeline, meaning she's still aware of Fenton as Phantom. The tragedy of her character is that Valerie has always been strictly one-minded in her goal. Her downright hatred for ghosts and the absolute destruction of Amity Park before Clockwork fixed everything means in her eyes, she has justifiable cause to kill Danny Fenton. The current Danny Fenton. After all, if he is capable of turning into Dark Danny, then why shouldn't she get rid of him before it's too late?

Valerie is also intricately connected to Dani through "D-Stabilized", meaning there could be a way to tie all of these into another Big Damn Comic Book down the line. And while I had problems with how Valerie's dialogue was written in that episode (sounding deviously supervillainy as oppose to her feeling like her actions are justified), having her as the central villain in the next book sounds about right.

I've always been opposed to the idea of Valerie being an outright baddie (as oppose to a just being a dangerous obstacle), but the potential dynamic and high stakes tension for her to be the biggest obstacle to Danny, Dani, and Vlad (since she also knows what the latter is, too) in her pursuit to kill all ghosts and protect her home has nuances and character exploration that I think Gabriela Epstein is more than capable of dissecting.

Whatever the outcome may be, should another DP graphic novel come to light, I, for once in so many, many, many years, look forward to it.

#comics #neoyi talks

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