#really should feel bad about it if I don’t know enough to dispute it. idk

[puppyeared]

footnotes arent enough I need you to talk to me like im fucking Amelia Bedelia

[leviiattacks]

your angst is really good and i wanted to may i request guard levi and princess reader, they have an affair because they end up falling in love but one day levi can’t protect her because he takes his eyes off her and idk the plot i just felt like crying today and i need a reason so just something angsty😭

note :: i saw this and really wanted to write something but i’m not really sure if i did well it’s shorter than what i normally write but hopefully i did some justice to your request. requests are open so feel free to drop by again and request if you want to !!

++ might make this into an actual fic perhaps,,, minus the dying and what not but guard levi is a very interesting concept to me hmm

warnings :: blood, death, infidelity

No one knows or is able to understand why or how Levi is having such a hard time coping with your death. You are the princess of the nation and he, your guard. Nothing more, nothing less.

At least that’s what everyone else in the Kingdom thinks.

Every night he greets your book shelf like a mad man. Well, it’s all he has to remember you by, why would he ever let it go with ease?

"What you reading? Another sappy romance novel?" He's poked his head from a corner and you grin up at him telling him that you are indeed indulging in another piece of romantic fiction.

For an unknown reason dread fills his gut when he meets your smile, that's never happened before.

It's a bad omen, a sign that he's fallen but is in denial, refutation, rejection, contradiction whatever it is he can't find an appropriate word for it. All he knows is he'll regret this later. He doesn't know why but the sinking feeling in his stomach is an indication that this forbidden romance the two of you share in secrecy will go South.

It’s silent apart from your humming.

"Levi... can you promise me you'll live a long happy life?" The out of place question is worrying. Another premonition and he opens his mouth to voice his concern. However your gaze lingers on his face telling him to not cause a dispute, not right now.

"If you promise me the same, then yes My Lady."

Looking away you're awake but distant. "We are in privacy. You may use my name Levi."

"And, I don't know if I can live a long and happy life. I can try." The slow confession only makes his heart race uncomfortably.

He sighs sitting beside you, your shoulders rub against his. "Then I retract my previous statement. I cannot possibly live a happy life when the princess is discontent."

You flail your arms around, hands are flapping in front of your chest in an attempt to convince him to not think so foolishly.

He narrows his eyes. Expression unreadable, a mix of frustration, maybe even premature grief. It's enough to coax an agreement out of you.

"Very well, I promise to live happy."

Fists clenching your bed sheets he damns himself to Hell for ignoring his instincts. For putting your life in jeopardy all for his own temporary satisfaction.

His forehead hits the plush duvet and he inhales the linen hoping that your smell lingers, hoping that the vanilla is still present. Hoping there’s something left to prove he hasn’t made you up. He fears he’ll forget your scent, your voice, your touch. He fears he’ll forget it all.

If he had followed orders, never let himself grow emotionally involved perhaps you would still be here. Perhaps, if he didn't lead you astray and convince you to betray royalty by pursuing what the two of you shared, maybe just maybe you would still be alive and well.

He'll end up in damnation for all the pain and suffering he's caused you, He curses himself every day for having the nerve to fall in love with a member of Royalty.

No matter how well respected or how strong he was in the military he never had the power to protect you from the political turmoil your family was submerged in. He wasn't of Royal blood, there was nothing he could do to protect you.

One of you would die first, and die you did.

He assumes he was made to suffer through that bleak, unwelcoming night for a reason. That's why he had to see the enemy take you away from him, he needed to be given a reality check.

Royalty and commoners are worlds apart for a reason.

You scream at the world as you call for him, shrieking as the blade erupts from your stomach. It’s throbbing and strumming in vengeance. The contents of your belly become one with the floor but the pungent stench isn't enough to pry Levi away from you. The air is quickly fogging up with the scent of your blood and insides. You whimper, you cry, you sob staring at the heavens.

"You are not dying on me, You can't be dying on me, I won't let you die on me. We haven't said goodbye properly, you can't just-"

"Yes I can Levi. I am not immortal." There you are laughing as you wilt in his arms, you disregard the emptiness you feel, you need to comfort him. Withering away isn't an option for now.

Frantically attempting to staunch the wound to no avail Levi is distraught when he feels you slipping away from him. "You promised to live a long happy life." He murmurs in betrayal, his eyes are glazed over in complete shock.

Panting out of exhaustion and pressing down firmer he's pleading you to not let go of him just yet.

You watch him unravel above you, eyes squeezed shut, he’s lurching forward burying the sounds that want to escape from his chest so badly.

Your shaking hands travel to his cheeks cupping them gently and you draw hesitant circles into his cold skin.

Levi’s tears fall and you sense the dampness coat your fingertips.

"If you were paying attention you would know I promised to live happy Levi, not live long."

You broke the promise, an early death is not dying happy.

He's stunned, he should’ve known you’d pull something like that.

"You made me the happiest Levi."

He thinks that’s a lie.

You break under the pressure and finally admit how you feel.

"I'm scared, what if we never-"

"Don't you dare finish that sentence, we will do what we've planned. I promise." He growls assertive in his point of view.

But, you know it's too late. Placing his unsteady hand above your heart you let your other hand fall from his face. The energy is being drained out of you quicker than expected.

"I dreamt about you last night, dreamt we could be happy.” You hack and gasp desperately for breath but much to Levi’s horrified gaze the blood only trickles down your chin. “I hope we reunite whether that be in the afterlife if that place is real or in another life entirely. We will become lovers but we can't indulge in that luxury right now."

"No, no, no. Shut up, stop talking you're wasting your breath you need to-"

"I love you Levi, please live happily for me."

Then you are limp.

His eyes shoot open as the scene draws to an end. Yet another nightmare has plagued him, one where he is reminded of your passing.

The title of murderer is self appointed, he holds himself responsible for taking his eyes off you. It gave your assassin the perfect window of opportunity to strike, it had been enough to take you out like a faltering light.

Sometimes as he drinks into the night trying to forget it all. He wonders if everything would be different if he had kept his love for you locked away.

Would you still be alive and married to that other man whilst he would have to watch on in pain?

But nothing would be more painful than now, he’d rather watch that instead of accept that you are long gone.

Would you still be alive and forced to bed your horrible fiancé?

Would you carry that man’s children?

He hates himself for confessing and telling you how he felt. He despises that you had to suffer for his sin.

But, that’s the issue with love. It had made the danger in Levi look like safety to you and it had made the danger in you look like peace to Levi.

There are reasons why a guard and his princess should never mingle.

After all, they are worlds apart for a reason.

[spoondrifts]

long post ahead I'm sorry-

crack au where Jonah Magnus is a good guy but everything keeps going wrong and he spends all of his time running around trying to stop his employees from diving headfirst into their Fuck Up™ of the week

in this au Jonah is almost entirely incompetent but he's got the exasperated parent thing down enough to make up for his lack of braincells

he's also at least 7% dumber than he is in canon

s1 Jon: please call pest control there are so many worms

s1 Elias: I already did

Jon: and??

Elias: they ate them

Jon: the worms?

Elias: the pest control guys. the worms ate them

Elias spends the entirety of season 2 desperately trying to convince Jon that none of them killed Gertrude (in this au Gertrude just had a stroke or something in the tunnels). Elias stops Jon from destroying the table but a week later something heavy falls on it and the NotThem escapes anyway. Elias bashes in Leitner's head with a pipe after mistaking him for the monster and Jon gets framed.

now Elias has to convince this hunter that Jon is innocent while Jon runs around and harasses various fear avatars (who are all very amused with Elias' wayward Archivist). Jon assumes Elias knows nothing about all this bullshit because Elias is just his weird and uptight boss who accidentally killed someone, he can't possibly know that there are literally fear gods ruling over them

olive ⚰ has named the group 'Avatars ✨'

JMagnus 👀: Jude please don't hurt him. I'll explain everything when he gets back to the Institute.

🔥: too late

JMagnus 👀: What?

🔥: too late

🔥: burned him

[JMagnus 👀 is typing]

JMagnus 👀: Where is he now.

🔥: going to mike

JMagnus 👀: Mike Crew???

🔥: ya

Elias RACES to Mike's house but he. he fucking misses them. the Beholding helpfully tells him that they're all going back to the Institute so Basira and Daisy can interrogate him, which isn't ideal, he'd really like to not go to jail, so he drafts up an employment contract on the way back and barely manages to escape the whole thing with his life intact.

then he explains everything to Jon because if Jon is going to end up being the Archivist, being uninformed won't do. Jon becomes the Archivist completely on accident and Elias is desperately trying to make all of this work because, haha, the Unknowing is coming up, and Elias is not in the fucking mood to deal with clowns.

olive ⚰ has named the group 'all that is terror uwu'

spidey🕸: lmfaooo jonah how do you make an archivist on accident

JMagnus 👀: He stumbled into it. All I can do now is ensure he doesn't die.

JMagnus 👀: Or get further injured by the rest of you.

🔥: woops

🎭: hEy gUyS lOnG tiMe nO sEe

🎭: gEt iT eLiAs

🎭: sEe

JMagnus 👀: Beholding puns are not amusing from a manifestation of the Stranger.

🎭 has named the group 'eLiAs bE niCe tO niKoLa cHaLlEnGe'

🔥: haha

spidey🕸: I'm sure Nikola will be on her best behavior

🎭: yEaH i wOnT kiDnAp yOuR aRcHiViSt

[JMagnus 👀 is typing]

mike n ike: hey guys what'd I miss

🔥: arent you dead

mike n ike: yeh but I came back

JMagnus 👀: NIKOLA ORSINOV WHERE IS JONATHAN SIMS

🔥: can't you see haha

mike n ike: heh "see"

JMagnus 👀: NIKOLA

spidey🕸: wow he must be pissed

spidey🕸: he left out the punctuation

JMagnus 👀: I WILL BREAK ALL OF YOUR PLASTIC BONES WHERE'S MY ARCHIVIST

🎭 has left the chat.

JMagnus 👀: what the FUCK

since he's still a coward Elias sends Michael to go fetch Jon, only finding out after the fact that he very nearly almost signed Jon's death warrant. Elias is now speedrunning Jon's development because fuck the Unknowing is coming up really quickly and Tim is a self destructive mess and Melanie keeps trying to stab Elias and Martin is a pining idiot and goddammit he didn't sign up for this

Elias prepares Jon the best he can for the Unknowing, because even though he knows the ritual will fail, the Circus can still cause a considerable amount of damage and he needs them out of the way.

the Unknowing happens. Jon ends up in a wack ass coma, Tim is dead, Daisy's in the coffin, and Basira is starting to look like the better choice of Archivist because jesus christ Jon has no self preservation instinct. Elias doesn't get arrested this time around but his ex husband starts coming by the Institute and fucking with all his employees. and the Flesh is attacking. jesus. goddamn.

olive ⚰ has named the group 'bully elias'

JMagnus 👀: Why are you all so mean to me? I'm arguably the nicest one here.

🔥: ur joking right

Peter Lukas: you're not nice you didn't buy me an anniversary gift 😢😢😢

JMagnus 👀: I was busy.

Peter Lukas: doing what

JMagnus 👀: Stopping the Flesh from destroying my Institute. Besides, you didn't remember my birthday.

Peter Lukas: you're 200 years old how could I remember 😓

helen!!!!!: We All Know I'm The Nicest One Here!!

JMagnus 👀: How did you make your text that colorful?

helen!!!!!: IDK

JMagnus 👀: Liar.

helen!!!!!: That's Literally My Job

olive ⚰: hey eli your archivist just woke up I think

🔥: ew why

helen!!!!!: How Delightful!! Maybe I'll Throw Him A Glad You're Alive Party!!

olive ⚰: should we invite him to this chat since he's an avatar now

Peter Lukas: no 🙅 🚫❌

Peter Lukas: I hate archivists 😤😤

olive ⚰: still mad about gertrude huh

🔥: were all still mad about gertrude

🔥: but jons fine once you burn some manners into him

JMagnus 👀: Can you all please stop hurting Jon? Or talking about hurting him? I would like my Archivist to not acquire any more scars.

🔥: damn

Peter Lukas: damn 😔

Elias keeps trying to teach Jon how to pick certain victims to feed off of because personally he has no qualms about feeding from innocents but Jon!! actually trusts him!!! so Elias doesn't want to push Jon into making decisions that will offend his moral sensitivities.

things are actually going okay for a while. Elias starts going home at a reasonable time in the evenings and Jon is actually getting some sleep. and then-

Elias is having a nice dream about Peter trying to fish Simon Fairchild out of a sky filled with eyes when he abruptly sits up in bed, wide awake.

"Ah, fuck," he says to Peter, who is laying on the floor where it is Lonelier™. "Jon's doing something stupid. I Know it."

Peter's mumbled "isn't he always" goes unnoticed as Elias hurries to the Institute, where he finds a fucking rib on Jon's desk and the coffin in the middle of the room.

Peter Lukas has named the chat 'archivists ruin my sleep schedule and my sex life'

JMagnus 👀: What the fuck do I do?? I can't go into the Buried! Why is Jon so stupid? I didn't know he had zero braincells when I hired him!

🔥: ngl why havent you fired him yet

JMagnus 👀: Beholding won't let me. We're all bound to the Institute.

🔥: F

JMagnus 👀: Why are there no Buried avatars in here? Please someone help me.

mike n ike: lol the buried is gross why would anyone go down there

spidey🕸: does he have an anchor?

[JMagnus 👀 sent an image]

🔥: is that a fucking rib

spidey🕸: wow that's not a good anchor at all

spidey🕸: he needs someone he loves

JMagnus 👀: Thanks. Gtg.

spidey🕸: np

🔥: are we not going to talk about his rib

🔥: how the fuck did he get that out of his body

🔥: yall

🔥: YALL

it takes three days for Elias to find Martin.

"Please tell me why the fuck you're dabbling in the Lonely," Elias says as Martin steps sheepishly out of the fog.

"Ah. Well. Jon can't See into it very well and sometimes we like to spice up our se-"

"Stop before I have to gouge my eyes out again."

"A-Again-?"

Elias drags Martin back to the Institute. Martin starts setting tapes on the coffin because "Jon loves these" and Elias starts bashing his head into the wall.

Jon climbs out of the coffin with Daisy and Elias almost considers locking Jon in his office so the damn archivist can't do anything else ridiculous. instead, Elias very calmly takes Jon by the shoulders, and shakes him like a rag doll.

"Stop fucking with entities, you stupid, stupid man," Elias says, shaking Jon more viciously now.

after several hours of breathing exercises Elias returns to his house and doesn't take his Sight off of Jon for the rest of the night, which is a fun experience for Peter when he wakes up and finds Elias' bloodshot eyes staring directly at him in the morning.

JMagnus 👀 added Daisy to 'archivists ruin my sleep schedule and my sex life'

Peter Lukas has named the chat 'archivist hate club'

JMagnus 👀 has named the chat 'shut up peter'

Peter Lukas has named the chat 'you love jon more than me'

JMagnus 👀 has named the chat 'I don't love either of you I'm heartless'

Peter Lukas has named the chat 'I want a divorce'

spidey🕸: jeez take your marital dispute elsewhere

spidey🕸 has named the chat 'lonelyeyes dni'

Daisy: wtf is this

mike n ike: it's a chat for avatars

mike n ike: and ex avatars ig

Daisy: didn't I kill you

mike n ike: yea

JMagnus 👀: Hello, Daisy. Welcome to the group chat.

Daisy: why is Jon not in here

Peter Lukas: because I hate him 😁

spidey🕸: Elias talks mad shit in here and Jon would get offended

Daisy: if you talk bad about Jon I'll rip your throat out

Daisy: :)

JMagnus 👀: Noted.

mike n ike: he's kinda rude tho

Daisy: I've killed you once

Elias' only goal now is to keep Jon and his assistants from pulling any more wild stunts without his supervision. his renewed involvement with the archival staff results in a few things he'd hoped to avoid: drink invites, physical contact (Martin is surprisingly quick to start hugging Elias once he realizes Elias won't stop him), and- shudder -feelings. because Elias genuinely cares about his staff and doesn't want any harm to befall them. especially Jon. Jon is his Archivist, the only one to ever succeed like this, and Elias will be damned if he lets anything happen to him.

"Why do you care?" Jon asks, once, compulsion thrumming like static on his tongue. "About us, I mean. I would've assumed you'd want to perform the Beholding's ritual."

Jonah Magnus attempted the Watcher's Crown once, when he was young and new. he'd brought his patron close, but not all the way through, and the backlash of power killed all the inmates at Millbank and severely crippled Jonah's connection to the Eye for months afterward. he grew to assume that the Beholding simply preferred the world as it was--ripe with fear for watching. it didn't need a ritual.

he instead dedicated himself to growing stronger, cultivating his Institute of knowledge, his stronghold. if he tore out a few people's eyes when he got too old, then, well, collateral. but he doesn't want the world to end, and knows now that no ritual will ever succeed unless it brings in all the Powers at once. and he doesn't want that either.

it's concerning to him that Jon seems to be collecting marks regardless. the only ones he's missing are the Dark and the Lonely, and Elias is determined to keep it that way.

he explains all of this to Jon who, to his credit, takes it pretty well. Jon is fascinated with historic life and Elias spends some time simply recounting tales of his youth, when he still bore the name Magnus.

they bond. it's good.

and one day Basira does a little too much research and discovers the dark sun waiting in Ny Alesund. she insists they need to go and see what's left of the People's Church, they need to ensure everything is taken care of. Jon is rather insistent too. and Elias wouldn't have been inclined to let them go, except Peter was finally home after weeks at sea, and it wasn't like Jon was defenseless, he could call Elias if anything went wrong...

so, very reluctantly, Elias gives them the all clear. Basira, Jon, and Martin head north, and Elias almost forgets they've gone when he arrives home and Peter already has dinner prepared.

Jon comes back marked by the Dark.

Elias curses himself, over and over, for being foolish enough to let them go, for not keeping a closer eye on them. he knows the ritual won't work unless a certain incantation is spoken, so he'll just have to keep world-ending written chants away from Jon. easy. and it's not like Jon will even get marked by the Lonely. Peter wouldn't.

(but Martin doesn't have the same level of control, and sometimes...)

it's an accident. Martin and Jon are testing it, pushing the boundaries, when Martin pulls them both into the Lonely. Elias threatens divorce until Peter caves and fetches them, but it's too late. Jon has been marked by all fourteen Powers.

Elias tells him, and warns him to check everything he reads.

helen!!!!! has named the chat 'apocalypse babey'

JMagnus 👀: How are you doing that?

JMagnus 👀: And the apocalypse is not imminent. I have the situation under control.

olive ⚰: ha yeah

JMagnus 👀: What do you mean by that?

olive ⚰: nothing

JMagnus 👀: Well, now I certainly think it's something.

olive ⚰: it's just

olive ⚰: don't you think it's kinda weird that @spidey🕸 has been offline for so long

🔥: thats weird shes always online

JMagnus 👀: Oliver, what are you implying?

olive ⚰: idk

olive ⚰: just weird, that's all

🔥: never good when the spiders are quiet

olive ⚰: hear hear

Elias gets a sinking feeling in his stomach, and beside him, Peter looks alarmed. meanwhile, in his flat with Martin making tea in the other room, Jon has a statement clutched in his grasp.

Hello, Jon.

I would apologize for the deception, but I'm afraid that's quite what I'm good at. I'm not one to monologue, that's more Jonah's shtick, so shall we get on with things?

I admit I underestimated Jonah Magnus. He's still remarkably easy to manipulate, but when he abandoned the Watcher's Crown ritual I knew I would have to take a different approach. The Mother is not so satisfied with the world as she may have insinuated. It is our turn to rise, Jon.

At the age of eight, you were marked by us. We sent you to the Magnus Institute in the hopes that a new Archivist would rekindle Jonah's desire to end the world. Unfortunately, it seemed as though he grew fond of you, and so we brought in a new plan. We marked you. One fear at a time. Jonah gave an admirable attempt at protecting you, but ultimately, he is an incompetent old fool, and I am a Weaver. Even Jonah Magnus dances to invisible strings.

Everyone underestimates a spider until it bites. Poison is poison, Jon, regardless of the medium in which it is served.

You will be safe in this new world. Martin, too. Perhaps even Jonah and his Lukas, if the Mother deems them worthy.

Now, please repeat after me...

Jon reads the ink scratched words, eyes welling up with tears and hands trembling, as thunder crashes outside and a howling gale picks up beyond the windows. Martin is shouting something, there's the crawling press of Elias' gaze as it rests heavy behind Jon, a silent observer. He can feel Elias' soothing presence, cool and calm in the raging storm.

Elias is still watching out for him.

Strings are wrapped around his wrists, jerking his arms up in a poor mockery of religious regard, strange hysterical laughter clawing out from his throat.

Jon's tears run red. Somewhere, Elias is still watching.

The door opens.

[manlet-michael]

Hi!!! Idk if you're still doing requests but!!! Michael and Brahms (+ anyone else if u have ideas!) with a chubby, "mom friend" s/o? Like always making sure they're hydrated, not hungry, well rested, etc etc.

YES i’m still doing requests!! i’m just,,,slow,,,smooth brain,, also this isn’t very lovey dovey AAA I’M SORRY...i hope u still like......

Disclaimer: I write about characters in the way that I personally interpret them, their personality and behavior. If you don't agree with certain things, I hope that you still find things you can enjoy in my posts!

Michael:

⦁ Unfortunately for you, the two of you might end up getting in disputes more often than you'd like. Michael has a very set way of living. He knows what he needs and when he needs it... or so he thinks. Being reminded of things day in and day out, or even just occasionally, might put him on edge when really, you only mean well. Obviously you care about him a lot, and he knows this, but nonetheless... it gets his blood boiling at times.

⦁ But fret not! Michael won't stay mad at you - not for caring about his needs, anyway. Even if you asked him if he drank enough once every 5 minutes, chances are that his heart rate will have settled down again by the time the sun has gone down.

⦁ When Michael is only slightly irritated, he'll give you a firm stare after you remind him of something, like getting rest perhaps. This is where you should stop mothering him though, as he might have an outburst - agitated breathing, followed by him ramming his knife into a table or a sofa. Whatever is in reach. Try not to egg him on, not even jokingly.

⦁ Your mothering isn't always in vain, though! Just like everyone, Michael sometimes forgets. It may be from being too busy for too long, either mentally or physically. When you actually remind him of something he's forgotten, obviously he won't let you know. After all, he doesn't want to encourage you in annoying him. He'll pause, realizing that he hasn't had anything to drink all day - or several days even - stare at you for a second or two, and then do exactly that. Have a glass of water.

⦁ Truth be told, this happens a little too often. There's stuff he certainly struggles with, especially with getting rest. Occasionally he'll push his body past its limit. Not to the point of passing out, but you'll see a clear difference in his behavior. A slower reaction time, heightened irritability, a weaker grip on his knife. Subtle things, but you notice them. This calls for a shared, good night sleep for the both of you, filled with touch and cuddles.

⦁ Although he hates it when you keep reminding him of things, he knows why you're doing it. The care, the love that it stems from - that's something he can appreciate. Feelings don't come naturally to Michael - if at all! - so he would struggle to show appreciation... but he does try.

Brahms:

⦁ It's no surprise that your active care is right up his alley. Brahms is a spoilt man, so if you ask him if he's had enough water for the day and the answer is no, you'll have to bring him some. If he hasn't rested enough, you'll have to tuck him in, kiss him goodnight and ideally stay with him, too.

⦁ However, Brahms will tend to abuse your caring nature. He'll intentionally do things that he knows will lead you to check up on him. It's an easy way to get your full attention whenever he wants it. He coughs one too many times - "Are you feeling alright, Brahms?". Oh no! He needs you to dedicate the entire day to him. Chicken noodle soup, have you read to him, nap times together.. whatever he wants, whenever he wants it.

⦁ What happens if you suddenly don't ask him as often as he'd like? He'll whip out his child voice, hoping that it raises empathy. (Assuming he started to let go of his child voice after having been with you for a longer time, realizing he doesn't need it to manipulate you) If this doesn't work, he'll do nice things for you, seeing them as favors. A random sandwich, maybe being more affectionate than usual. Whatever he knows you like!

⦁ Although his manipulative behavior is (obviously) nothing good, he does show genuine appreciation for what you do for him. He's unaware of the bad things he does, but he does them because he craves your attention and love. Well, that and he wants to be the center of your life. Again, not good. In return however, as appreciation, he'll bonk his mask against your face more often than he usually would - a kiss! He'll hold you, his arms wrapped around you closely, worshipping you through touch. You care for him, he cares for you.

⦁ As he cares for you, he'll notice when you're not doing well. So at times, Brahms won't be the only one who's checked up on. Except he won't come asking, he'll just bring you things (without wanting something back for once!) or demand nap time on the spot to make sure you have what you may need. If you deny his efforts, he'll give you a concerned look, accompanied by a head tilt. In case you just need to talk, he'll listen. Even if he's in the walls, he'll always listen.

[kinetic-elaboration]

September 10: Friday

I just had this feeling this morning like I didn’t want to go to work and eh... that was probably right. Nothing really bad happened, I just felt very strongly that I did NOT want to be there.

My coworker wanted to talk to me at like 8:30 in the morning (you know those silly little ‘don’t talk to me before I’ve had my coffee’ signs?? literally do not talk to me before 9:30 EARLIEST) and I was supremely incoherent. Then later a different coworker essentially took out his bad mood on my department including on me personally, and it was... dumb. I got his point but I’m just, as I tried to explain to others later, unkeen on being talked to about actions I took under others’ explicit instructions. Also, in part because of that, in part because I thought he was semi-unreasonable, and in part because I just truly didn’t want to do what he was asking/telling me to do, I did not really budge on the issue. Which was very awkward because as I said I did get his point. And of course the issue is SOMETHING DUMB which is always how it is. All of these fights are 100% shit that would sound idiotic if you tried to explain it to someone else, which is why I’m vaguing right now.

And the nametags thing came up on Teams (thanks @ the same coworker), and the only good thing about that is that the director explicitly said she was against the idea so I feel pretty confident that it won’t be mandated. Also I could detect some panic in other people about it. I do NOT like the way this is being handled AT ALL. Plus it’s just the hill I’ve decided to die on (because I think I can win--so I guess it’s better to say this is the hill I’m going to defeat my enemies on) so I gotta get annoyed at it. I refrained from contributing to the conversation but I did like the director’s anti-nametag post, which I think gets my point across.

Also I felt like I spent a lot of time doing not much, to be honest. Still didn’t go to stupid compact shelving. Devoted too much time to the crap in the above paragraphs. Talked to BL over in admin and heard some more unflattering stories about a particular administrator. Like, incredibly unflattering. Which is stuff I do want to know but it contributes to the overall Mood of the day, which again is ‘I don’t want to be here.’

I took a very late lunch, and that in turn contributed to me not paying enough attention to the time and leaving late.OH AND I got 3 important emails in the last ten minutes of the day. Two were very expected because they were coming from the West Coast but the last was like.. do not make me deal with this right now.

I didn’t deal with almost any of it but I did get so distracted that I left about five minutes late, and so I missed the bus. I wasn’t too upset about it since the weather was nice anyway and I didn’t mind spending some time downtown. But I did waste time trying to see if I could catch said bus, and then more time trying to go to my favorite coffee shop, which had closed at 5. But since it was 5:15, there were still people inside (cleaning up, which is fair) and people outside (drinking coffees they’d bought before 5 I’m sure, also fair), and the sign said hours were until 7 so I spent a few confused, embarrassing moments going ????? what is the truth?

So ultimately I went to a different cafe, a newish one that opened in 2019 I think. I’ve always avoided it in part because the floor is very loud and in part because I felt like I was cheating on my main place lol. (Not that I never get coffee anywhere else... just that this place is so close to my usual place, I always feel like, if I’m in the area, I might as well go to said usual place.) I did find the inside very disorienting. The pattern of the floor is just truly A Lot. They did have these weird teacup ornaments hanging from the ceiling though. I got an iced latte, which was fine, and this delicious spinach and feta pastry. I feel like I should stop by more often for baked goods. I settled outside with what I’d gotten, mostly because of the floor, partly because it actually was nice out, and partly because I’m not currently comfortable with indoor dining, even in places with almost no one in them.

I only had like 25 minutes to kill at that point, but it was nice. I had a notebook with me and I did a teeny bit of planning on the Southern Gothic AU (still behind on this!!). Mostly I listened to the conversation next to me. I couldn’t entirely help it; the girl’s voice was carrying. She was talking to her guy friend about some recent issues they’d been having in their friendship. I was honestly...kind of impressed with them? I could mostly hear her--he was talking too but his voice didn’t carry as much--but it just overall sounded like a really open, emotionally honest, generally calm talk. Like certainly there were strong emotions in play (not exactly going to judge whether they were “warranted” given the apparent facts of the dispute, since I just ranted about a disagreement over something so dumb I don’t even want to name it in public) but they were just... expressing feelings that were difficult, and expressing displeasure with others’ actions, without yelling or being passive aggressive, etc. I mean even that they’d picked this time and place to meet specifically to discuss it I thought was commendable. And they were definitely friends, not bf/gf, because the disagreement involved his girlfriend (once referred to as his “partner”...sorry lol I judged that a LITTLE since they looked like they were maybe 21 years old--partner in WHAT??). The girl mentioned her therapist, which put a lot of her tone and vocabulary into perspective. Not necessarily in a bad way, I mean, it seemed to be working? But as someone who has never been to therapy, but is self-taught, so to speak, in gauging and describing my own feelings, I could... discern a sort of purposeful vocabulary that almost sounded scripted. I wrote down some specific quotes but I don’t want to put them in a public place. I’ll draw my respecting-strangers’-privacy line in the sand there. But a lot of, like “when you do x, it makes me feel y” kind of controlled explanations.

Anyway, I got very invested in that. Partly for future writing purposes, partly out of curiosity and partly because... I don’t know that I could have that kind of conversation NOW and I’m fairly sure I could not have when I was in college. I mean.... I don’t know... I’ve blocked out a lot of the pretentious/serious/about-our-feelings talks I did have. And what sticks out now are all the times I didn’t do that--all of the many, many issues with TA38... Even the way B and I have literally NEVER acknowledged the handful of times we hooked up in 2009.

You’re never gonna sound COOL talking about your emotions, your wants and your needs; it’s always gonna sound, imo, like a Therapy Script. And I don’t even always think you gotta have those talks. After graduation, R and I literally had this exchange where we said ‘well we both made mistakes last year, and we could try to untangle it now, but it’s just gonna bring up a lot of bad feelings. It’s done now anyway. Blanket apologies given, blanket acceptance of apologies, let’s move on.” And we did and it was fine. But if we’d had better conversations while we were living together, that would have been a different situation.

All of which is of course complicated for me personally because I am extremely conflict-averse. EXTREMELY.

Anyway, I ran into BL at the bus stop and we talked a bit there and on the bus, which was fine but kinda exhausting tbqh especially because of the topic of conversation. I got home at 6:30 and must have crawled immediately into bed and gone to sleep, but I barely remember it at all. Woke up at 10:30 and had no idea what time it was or what day it was or what I was doing.

Had dinner and then somehow went down a rabbit hole that started... somewhere?? and ended with me looking up my childhood home on Google Earth, which you KNOW is the sign of a mentally stable person who is doing just fine okay.

Now it’s the absolutely disgusting hour of 2:30 in the morning... Idk I wanted to go out tomorrow and take advantage of the nice weather but we’ll see how that goes. The thing is I feel like I need a full day to sleep but I only have two (2) days and in that time I gotta do laundry, cook for the week, preferably write one (1) whole chapter of this fic, and possibly also go on the aforementioned excursion. Which is a lot for me. It doesn’t really... fit.

Everything’s just so much all the time and so on.

[boompowkablam]

Favorite Fic Rec- List # 3

WALKING DEAD LIST

Just a list of some of my favorite stories. I’m gonna act like I remember how to link stuff it will be great. Pairings are going to be Daryl/Glenn and Daryl/Jesus. Maybe a Daryl/Rick thrown in IDK .

     How These Days Grow Long  By Never_Says_Die

This work is COMPLETE!

Written in response to a prompt on The Walking Dead kink meme:

Rick & Co. are finding it increasingly difficult to deal with Daryl's outbursts, his racist remarks, and easily-ignitable temper.  They are in fact, considering just cutting their losses and telling him he has to leave when they come across another group of survivors...one of whom is very, very special to Daryl.

AU in which Glenn and Daryl have been in a relationship for a few years before the ZA, and were separated when Atlanta was overrun.  Each think the other is dead, and Glenn ended up with a different group of survivors while Daryl ended up in the quarry camp.  Story also assumes Merle would've turned his back on Daryl for getting involved with Glenn, so they parted ways long ago.

Action , Adventure, Love , Suspense,Sadness,Longing, Its just everything you want from a fic. Word count 100,538. Pairing Daryl/Glenn

     The Diary of Glenn By  ornategrip

Seasons 1 and 2, as seen through Glenn's diary.

This is so funny I love it! I wish I could make a podfic for it like whoa.

Word count 4,938. Pairing Daryl/Glenn

     Ghosts Among Us  By  TWDObsessive

Daryl sees the dead.  Not the walkers, the twice-dead once they become ghosts.  It started since the turn and he assumes it’s his body’s reaction to the walker infection they all carry.  One by one he experiences losses of loved ones and each of them come to visit him.   And they all seem to be guiding him to Rick.

This was really good but also really sad to me. Mind the tags so you don’t read something upsetting . Word count 6,422. Pairing Daryl/Rick

     Picking Up the Pieces  By  Riastarstruck

When Rick works night duty while recovering from the shooting, he becomes friends with Daryl, the young guy working community service as a janitor in lieu of prison time.

"If you found an animal in an alley and it was raining and you approached it, it would try to bite you. But if you could get it inside and feed it and take it somewhere warm, it would follow you forever. He's got that kind of vibe to him." -Norman Reedus on Daryl Dixon

This one is cute but also makes me feel sad even though it’s not sad.

Word count 21,161. Pairing Daryl/Rick

     While the World Falls Down  By  oleanderedits @oleanderedits​

They were supposed to have ten days to dispute the quickie wedding they'd had the night they'd been drunk. The world went to shit three days later. Part 1 of a series re-write focusing on Glenn, Daryl, Merle, and Maggie as what it means to be 'Family' is stretched, twisted, and redefined by circumstances no one should have to live through. Covers Seasons 1 and 2 and mostly follows the canon storyline.

This is hands down 100% my absolute favorite walking dead fic. It is so good I have read it so many times now. I seriously can not get enough of it.

Word count 48,284. Pairing Daryl/Glenn , Glenn/Maggie , Daryl/Maggie , Daryl/Glenn/Maggie.

     Friction Match  By  vegarin

It's the end of the world. You can be anyone you choose to be."  Daryl Dixon, at the end of the world.

I am not sure what it is about this story that makes me love it so much! I am working on a podfic for it right now so at some point I’ll have a link up for that.

Word Count 24,769. Gen no Paring.

     Fall Into Your Arms. By  doctorkaitlyn @banshee-cheekbones

“I am done with dating.  And I mean it this time.”

Glenn is sick of his friends setting him up.  He’s sick of going on bad dates and he’s sick of getting his hopes up and never hearing anything back.  In all the time he spends not going on dates, he can do things that he actually enjoys, like sleeping or marathoning a television show or trying to find a better job.

He is done with dating.  Seriously.

At least, that's what he says before he meets Daryl.

This is so cute and awkward I love Glenn’s bad luck.

Word Count 4,549. Pairing Daryl/Glenn

     Dear Mr. Hawkeye  By  Psmith73 

@psmith73

AU. Glenn is a struggling student neck-deep in debts. One day while trying to earn some money he gets himself in serious trouble. An anonymous benefactor offers him help in return for weekly emails describing events of his life. Jean Webster's "Daddy-long-legs"/TWD fusion. COMPLETE.

This is really good I dont know why I want to say human disaster Glenn but im  gonna. I think its cause it references marvel hawkeye but also Glenn kind of is.

Word Count 20,552. Pairing Daryl/Glenn.

something keeps pulling me back to you  By  wardeness

 Daryl Dixon sat on the steps of his porch, elbows resting on knees as he sharpened his knife. Katydids called around him in a chorus of chirping crickets, the sound only interrupted by the rhythmic scratch of metal on stone. The heavy air—a sure sign rain was coming, Daryl predicted—felt moist and honeyed against his bare arms. The evening was calm. Peaceful, even.

 Peaceful, that was, until Jesus appeared.

AU after 6x11. Slow burn.

Super cute .Super fluff.

Word Count 64,037 . Pairing Daryl/Jesus

Daryl's Addiction By  DestielHardcoreLove @bugandkitlove

Paul had no clue what was going on.  It seemed as if every time he turned a corner he would find Daryl on his knees with someone different from the community.  He didn't know what to make of it, what to even think but he did wonder how to get on it himself.

This was just really funny to me. Instead of talking I’m gonna make sure you catch me blowing the town.

Word Count 7,702. Pairing Daryl/Jesus

  Against the Dying of the Light  By   LottaCharlene

After escaping Terminus, Rick's family is at their strength's end. When the walls of yet another community loom over their heads, they must decide if they take the risk to seek refuge in this new community. They are met with a strange tradition that they are still willing to follow through for the sake of their family's well-being. Soon enough, they realize that they found a place that they could call home again. But the peace is treacherous and yet again they have to fight for their freedom and the lifes of the people they love.

Unexpectedly, Daryl is the one that has to fight for more than just his family.

So very good and sweet and sad and Gregory is a nut sac but you already knew that. Also I fucking love arranged marriage fics.

Word Count 108,454. Pairing Daryl/Jesus.

 Ripples on a Black Shore  By  Mugatu

For Daryl Dixon the world ended days before it did for almost everyone else, and it was heralded with a prerecorded phone message instead of a bang.

An AU fic where Daryl met Paul several years before the apocalypse.

Kind of sad but with a happy ending.

Word Count 200,540. Pairing Daryl/Jesus.

 Cross Your Fingers  By  starclipped

Daryl finds himself wrapping his fingers around Paul’s wrist before a bandage can be pulled from the tattered box. And Paul peers at him when their skin touches, fierce eye to fierce eye, with… with such veneration. Daryl wouldn’t know that feeling if he saw it, he thinks he’s seeing it now and he can’t believe it, but he can sure as hell feel it; rolling off his hippie ninja in waves, seeping into Daryl’s soul. A gasoline soaked rag, simply waiting to be set aflame. That's what he's become. He swallows the foreign emotions that suddenly make him feel too big for his body.

So very good and kind of sad worth the read for sure!

Word Count 204,186. Pairing Daryl/Paul

 Finders, Keepers  By  Joel7th

Jesus came to Alexandria to do trade and to see a certain grumpy hunter. However, he didn’t see said hunter; instead, just outside the walls of Alexandria he found a black cat – wait, was that really a cat?!

I found this so funny!

Word Count 10,148 . Pairing Daryl/Jesus

 All you need is twinkling stars and ancient cities  By TooRational  @toorational

Daryl Dixon of all people turns out to have the Ancient gene.

Go figure.

Or: The unlikely tale of a redneck from Earth and a Runner from the Pegasus Galaxy, and how they fell in love.

I fucking love Stargate Atlantis Crossovers and this was amazing !!!!

Word Count 16,454. Pairing Daryl/Jesus

 Help Wanted  By  Scababagorn

Daryl Dixon hasn't believed that he deserved to be who he really is. He hasn't ever felt safe enough. Is the reason that so many of the people he loves are dead. And then, suddenly there is a man named Jesus. And he likes to call Daryl "Dixie"

Cute,cute, cute I love it!!

Word Count 22,618. Pairing Daryl/Jesus

 if the world should break  By  transstevebucky @gaydaryl

It's not like Daryl hates the guy. It's exactly the opposite.

Very cute. Be mindful of the tags daryl gets outed without his permission.

Word Count 36,343. Pairing Daryl/Jesus

 Misunderstandings in a Car Crash By  Neeka

Misunderstanding. [mis-uhn-der-stan-ding]

Noun 1. Failure to understand correctly; mistake as to meaning or intent

Warning: Does not mix well with love and may lead to heartbreak

Dude like super sad face for like half of this but it gets less sad .

Word Count 18,614 Pairing Daryl/Jesus.

 Breaking the Cycle  By  AidaRonan @bisexualstarbucky

Daryl's life seems to follow a cycle of pain and violence. So when he starts falling for his new roommate, he's more than wary about what it might mean.

But sometimes breaking a cycle means making a choice.

So very cute a little sad also be mindful of the tags.

Word Count 7,416 . Pairing Daryl/Jesus

 Fables of the Reconstruction By  Mugatu

It’s more than two years after the end of the world and six months after the war with the Saviors when Daryl Dixon returns to Alexandria.

This is just so good holy crap and glenn lives which makes it even better!!

Word Count 91,918.  Pairing Daryl/Jesus

 You're Like Me (a goddamn idiot)  By  yellowhairedrobot

Jesus tilted his head to the side. “If I tried to kiss you right now, would you kick my ass?”

“Yes,” Daryl answered, way too quickly.

This is funny and gives me extreme second hand embarrassment.

Word Count 6,395. Pairing Daryl/Jesus

 the streets are full of strangers  By  smilebackwards @smilebackwards

When Deanna asks Daryl to leave Alexandria, he meets Paul on the road a little earlier.

I would like to say cute-meet . lol its very good and very cute.

Word Count 11,563 . Pairing Daryl/Jesus

There is also a podfic for this.

     [Podfic] the streets are full of strangers  By  Boompowkablam   @boompowkablam

Length 1hr 7 mins

  a heart that's on loan  By  smilebackwards @smilebackwards

Aaron and Daryl discover Hilltop on one of their scouting trips and find that the community has an interesting throwback custom for establishing alliances: marriage.

I LOVE ARRANGED MARRIAGE AND THIS IS THE BEST ONE!

Word Count 11,686.  Pairing Daryl/Jesus

 Just Another Day  By  PezzieCoyote                   

What if Daryl was the one in charge? How would things be different? And what secret is he hiding?

Supernatural elements you know besides the zombies .

Word Count 9,950. Pairing Daryl/Jesus

  Escape  By   AbigailHT, TooRational  @toorational @abigailht

  By the time the song starts drilling into his head worse than the headache, he's come to the conclusion that he can't do much.  There's no way to get out unless someone unlocks the door, and even if he could, he has no idea where he'd go once he's out anyway. Nor has he any idea who has him. Or why. Or where. Or where home is. Or—Basically, he doesn't know anything, and even the things he does know are mostly instinct and completely unverifiable anyway.He's contemplating sitting back down again — he'll have to do it at some point, if only to preserve his strength, but the cold, and the dirt, and he's naked, his skin crawls at the mere thought — when the song shuts off abruptly.

Or: The Saviors' latest prisoner isn't quite what he seems.

Its just like everything you ever wanted out of Jesus in the show. So good a tiny bit sad.

Word Count 6,894. Pairing Daryl/Jesus

There is a podfic for this.

  Escape  By  Boompowkablam @boompowkablam

Length  45 minutes.

[bigskydreaming]

New here, sorry if it's a question you get too many times. What exactly happened between you, seekingxanadu and super/ claire person? If I look you up her long post about you two and her calling each other out comes up but there's no mention of fandom or what the reason for that calling out was? I don't want to assume anything or judge any of you when I don't have the context or even an inkling of what it's about.

LOL, s/uperohclair (think that’s what her URL was) has a call out post about me? I can only imagine what it says.

*Shrugs* It wasn’t that big a deal tbh. I made one of my aggro posts about STOP WRITING JASON HITTING DICK IN EVERY FIC LIKE ITS NO BIG DEAL, she hopped on it to say this was me bullying the fandom - yes, all of fandom - and I reacted with a vent post about how ridiculous I found that logic. As well as the fact that a paragraph she’d written was virtually identical to an anon I’d gotten barely a month before, giving me grief about something I said about Ao3. So I also griped about the fact that I was pretty positive she was the author of the anon I’d gotten, and that I suspected her issue with me and opinions of me had more to do with that than the actual post she’d responded to given that half her post segued into that topic even when it had nothing to do with “stop writing Jason hitting Dick in every fic like its no big deal.” 

All of this was one, two posts tops on my part, not even addressed directly to her but rather about the situation as I saw no point in engaging further after my first back-and-forth response to her response. 

Oh, and in the interests of full disclosure, I also in response to her ‘you’re bullying fandom’ accusation briefly wrote a post I put under a cut that was basically me just venting about how much being accused of bullying by shouting at her by typing stuff in all caps in a generic post that wasn’t even aimed at anybody specific, least of all her, like...that got under my skin because I haaaaaate when people pull shit like trying to act like they’ve been personally attacked when they’re literally approaching me for the first time and before that I’d never heard of her in my life (And you’ll notice I type tons of stuff in all caps, and its not even usually that Im mad, its usually just to emphasize anything from me being excitable, thinking something is ridiculous, pretty much a dozen other things aside from just “IM ANGRY AND YELLING ABOUT IT). Anyway, I deleted that post ten minutes after I made it because it was literally just one of those ‘need to get it out’ things so I didn’t steam about it all day, but apparently that was enough for her to make a thing about how I was playing the martyr. 

(Basically the whole Ao3 thing and what I still suspect was the real root of her issue with me is I’m a rape and abuse survivor and I often make rant/vent posts about how much fic about fetishized rape, incest and pedophilia there is in fandom. And I happen to think I have every right to express this sentiment on my own damn blog, and about the fact that people are often more bothered by me doing THAT than apparently I’m allowed to be bothered by how prevalent that content is. 

*Shrugs* Its my blog. I’ll say what I want to, about whatever I want and am thinking or feeling, and I don’t actually do anything to stop people from writing whatever they want, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have opinions about it, and I object to people giving me shit for just....doing that in public, lol. As far as I can tell based on the one or two posts I saw on her blog that same day, the real reason she thinks I’m a bully is because when I go on these rants about this content, THIS is what’s bullying her because its me making her feel bad about liking something and....I’m sorry, but that’s just not what bullying is, and also hilariously ironic considering it displays zero awareness or concern about how the thing she likes makes me feel so why should my reaction prioritize how she feels? I don’t get that logic, and I’m not here for it, but whatever.)

Anyway, all of that actually happened within just like....the span of maybe five posts, in less than a single day, and was my literal only interaction with her outside of the anon ask and answer I suspect was her the month before. Then I blocked her and said that was the last interaction I intended to have with her, so she couldn’t possibly feel bullied by me, and unless I’m forgetting something, I’m pretty sure that’s the literal last I’ve mentioned her til now. 

*Shrugs again* That’s it, that’s the whole story, that’s all it was, and I have no idea what she’s said about me since or how frequently, but tbh I don’t really care. Seekingxanadu weighed in on the vent post I wrote to express they’d had some conflict of their own with her that she was holding a grudge over, but tbh I have no idea what it was and has nothing to do with me beyond the fact that I guess she still hates us both or whatever. Idk.

I’m fine answering this once because I don’t feel I did anything to be ashamed of, all the posts other than that read more that existed for all of ten minutes are still up (I believe this was back in February but I’m honestly not sure, it feels like it was longer ago than that but I have zero sense of time in 2020 lololol) and I can understand not knowing what to make of a public dispute between two people where you don’t know whose version to believe, so this is my take on it, and the only one I care to make. 

As far as I’m concerned, the matter is done and dealt with and I have no desire to expand or dwell on it further, so make what you will of this post and anything else you find about it in my archives. That should be enough for you or anyone else to determine how you feel about me based on that and whatever it is she has to say, especially considering that’s literally all that exists on the matter or my interactions with or opinion of her. At least on my side of things. *Third Act Shrug and Scene*

But yeah, there’s the answer to your question and if anyone else was wondering about that or does so in the future, I’ll just refer them to this post because tbh that’s really all I have to say on the matter.

[sometimesrosy]

1. So, there’s a music-less version of the Other Side hug scene floating about, and after watching it, I noticed a few small things that added so much depth to B/C past and present. First, idk if you could see Bellamy mouth something else to Clarke after he says, “I heard about Abby,” or not, but I’ve always thought he was saying, “I’m -“ as in, “I’m so sorry,” but cuts himself off. The musical-less version confirmed it as you can HEAR the ‘I’m’.

2. People were saying B didn’t care about Abby or C because of him only saying, “I heard...” but that small dialogue shows there WAS more, that he WAS empathetic (though I think his facial expressions did a fine job of conveying that). No one has ever talked about it and the way he just cuts himself off, like he’s swept up in Clarke’s pain as she starts to cry. Just wanted to get YOUR thoughts on why he cut himself off/what you think of the conversation and the “emotionless” dialogue claims.

3. Last bits: you can also hear the breath B takes when he buries his face into Clarke’s neck. It’s deep and shaky, like he’s releasing tension. It’s a ‘thank God’ breath. Relieved. Grateful. Like he hasn’t been able to really breathe until he physically has C in his arms, sees she’s safe. Breath can communicate nonverbal things (like a loud sigh when one’s bored), and that breath made me think that’s what B/C have always done regarding each other: hold it in.

4. B/C have DEEP feelings, but to be the heroes/leaders they need to be, to do what ‘has to be done,’ they bury them. In their world the stakes are too high, and it’s the ‘only choice.’ People thought B didn’t care about C during the Sanctum battle, but that breath proves otherwise. I love when their feelings leak out in eyes/looks/breaths. The subtlest bits have so much depth with them. What do you think about the Bellarke subtleties? What do you think of their Hero Mode/suppressed feelings?

I don’t know what Bellamy was about to say, and it almost doesn’t matter. He had more to say than he was able to say. I think I agree with your interpretation.

I don’t think I agree at all with the interpretation that Bellamy is “emotionless” in that scene. I’m not sure where they get that concept because that isn’t what was on screen. When they hugged, they both ran into each other’s arms, he held onto her tight. That isn’t emotionless. He asked about Abby, not the battle, showing he was concerned about HER feelings, not the battle or what happened with him. This wasn’t platonic leaders checking in on what happened. This was Bellamy Blake connecting with Clarke Griffin, and it was all about Clarke.

You can’t say definitively what emotions are inside of characters. Even if they say the words, there’s no guarantee that you can take those words at face value. Emotions are almost always a subjective interpretation-- if you’re trying to come down to the exact emotion a character is feeling-- especially if you’re trying to read looks and sighs. Emotions are abstract things in the first place so trying to pin them down is hard. 

The way I look at it, you have to look at the whole scene, not just the actors, because the characters aren’t real people so it’s not just how an actor plays a scene, but also how they are written, how they are filmed, the music. The scene is FULL of emotion. They run together and hug each other tightly. The breathlessness and wordlessness you are talking about. The music. The buttery light that is beautiful and romantic and soft and comforting. How close they are standing, how they don’t break eye contact. 

Bellamy takes her in his arms, talks to her about the most important things. Abby. Their intention to do better. She says she tried to do better, and she says “I.” Meaning her alone. Meaning her isolated, bearing the weight, and the loss. He says “WE” did better. Meaning she was not alone, they did it together. 

I do not know what emotions the complainers were looking for. Bellamy was there for Clarke. Clarke needed him. They have both known loss and pain and horror at their own actions. She needed a steady heart to ground her in the loss of her mother so she could deal with it. Bellamy was there to remind her who she was, who they were, that she was not alone and they were together, that they did this together and that it was about something bigger than themselves and that she succeeded, that THEY succeeded. It’s also important to remember that this was a call back to the s2 finale outside of Camp Jaha where se couldn’t bear what she did and he said “what we did.”  It wasn’t enough last time. This time it was what Clarke needed. And she needed him to hold her. And he did.

I think that the complainers were looking for melodrama and histrionics. This show has enough drama, and we don’t need the characters wailing and rending their clothes. Sometimes it is better to step back from dramatics and present a more subtle scene. Because you’re right, Clarke and Bellamy put their responsibilities ahead of their feelings and personal needs. They lead. They fight their battles. They do what’s right. And Bellamy acknowledged this and that it sometimes means they are hurt.

I don’t think they complainers are right and I think we should remember that just because someone has an opinion does not mean it’s a GOOD opinion. Too many people don’t know how to interpret a thing outside of their own bias, or have an actual agenda that they are trying to push with their statements and will, on purpose, twist canon to support their agenda. And because they think their opinion is more important than canon, it doesn’t bother them to outright lie about what’s on screen. I think too many people think of shipping in an antagonistic manner, and if it isn’t being against the opposite ship it’s being against anyone else’s interpretation of your ship-- including the canon one.

People’s feelings and how they feel about a show are important, but those feelings are not canon and not necessarily a reflection on the story. And that means that if we don’t agree or don’t like the opinion, we are free to discard it completely, and not respectfully agree with bullhockey. You do NOT have to take into account interpretations that make no sense and don’t fit with canon. You do NOT have to have the same fanon as someone else. You do NOT have to want the same outcome as someone else. You do NOT have to agree. You actually have come up with your own evidence to dispute their interpretations. Trust yourself. (But be aware that if you do trust yourself and your interpretation and your evidence that people will call you names, because they don’t like their unreasoned interpretations questioned and their freedom to assert bad hot takes as deep wisdom curtailed. I have been called arrogant by a lot of people who are so arrogant that they think no one is allowed to disagree with their ideas, who think their theories are unassailable facts that are more important than canon. People who think they can’t be wrong HATE people who think they’re wrong. It’s very egotistical to think no one can disagree with you.)

The scene was FULL of emotion. Bellamy was Clarke’s rock. Which was what she needed so she’d understand that she did the right thing and not run off again to bear it on her own. If fandom wanted some other scene with “more emotion,” (I’m not sure what that means, tbh, what that would look like, did they want him to kiss her? That would be inappropriate. Or say sorry? Why? That word is not a magic pill and Abby’s death was not his fault,) then they wanted a story that wasn’t being told. They wanted fanon. If they didn’t find that scene satisfying to them, that’s fine for them. Ok But I’m not sure what WOULD satisfy them. 

I suspect nothing. 

Why listen to people about what should happen when they would NEVER like ANYTHING that happened. When all they like to do is complain and say Bellarke sucks and JR is a bad writer and The 100 is trash.

Like. Really. You have permission to ignore bad opinions. Just because someone says them does not mean they are an accurate interpretation of the show.

[purplesurveys]

710

Have you ever done drugs and were able to quit for good? I’ve done milder drugs, like caffeine and nicotine... I don’t have like a dependence issue on them so it’s nothing I have to ‘quit.’ Are you against weed, or do you think it should be legalized? I honestly don’t know much about them since they’re normally shunned in our culture and is barely talked about/explored. I’ve heard they have medicinal purposes though and I’m finding it hard to find excuses as to why it can’t be legalized for that reason. Have you ever been taken advantage of while drunk? No. Is there any medication you refuse to take? (Like for ADHD, etc.) No, and I’m not familiar with the types of medication either. Ever watched an Above the Influence commercial under the influence? I haven’t. We don’t have commercials like that.

Have you ever or do you have an abusive significant other? Nope, just abusive family members. Are your parents too involved in your life, or do you feel forgotten? Uhh I get the feeling they want to be more involved partly because they’ve realized I’m getting older and it’s only a matter of time before I live my life on my own, so they’ll sometimes drop hints like wishing they got to know more about my love life, mental health, etc. But because we’ve been emotionally distant my whole life, it’s hard for me to open up at all so I refuse or get reluctant whenever they ask. How do you feel when it comes to love? Well I mean these days and for the last few years I’ve been optimistic about it. It’s been a while since I haven’t had a significant person that my life revolves around so my perspective is pretty biased, though. Do rainy, cloudy days affect your mood? They make me feel better. I thrive in bleak weather, and I absolutely hate sunny, humid days. Have you ever wished you could just move away and start over? No. I’m still pretty young so there’s still opportunities for me to do exactly this once I graduate. For the meantime I go through a bunch of shit, make mistakes, and learn from them so that I know better once I have to be an Adult. Are you impulsive, or do you overthink? I’m both. I overthink on my downtime but am impulsive when I feel pressured.

Are you or have you ever been addicted to any substance? No. Do you think beauty goes more than skin deep? Duh. It’s 2020, I think we’ve covered that a million times now. Do you remember your first date? How was it? My legit first date was at a nearby mall and we only had enough to afford Bonchon for lunch. We had just graduated high school so there wasn’t any reason for our parents to give us allowance anymore so we just relied on whatever we had saved in the last few days of school, which wasn’t a lot. But it was our first date after getting back together so we were simply happy spending time together in that simple date. Have you gotten caught in a HUGE lie to your parents? No, I’ve never gotten in trouble specifically for lying because I hate doing that to begin with. I’ve been in deep shit for other stuff, like getting caught cursing on social media when I was 10 or failing a test/class. Are your relationships unstable, or do you manage to keep friends a while? They’re mostly stable and I have friends I’ve kept for a very long time, but I tend to be very particular about actions. That means to say when someone does something I have on my blacklist (like breaking my trust or making fun of me directly) I’ll have no problem cutting them off in seconds, which some have been confused by cos it’s not really that common to do something so abruptly. Don't you hate when people have the nicest parents & treat them like shit? Yeah of course. Why wouldn’t that piss me off? Are your moods stable or do you never know how you're gonna feel? They’re stable for the most part. I can tell when my mood is about to shift and even then I have ample time to adjust for it and warn others if possible. Have you ever been on probation or arrested? If so, what for? Nope. The most/worst that has happened has been getting pulled over. Do you think that without drama and problems your life would be boring? Not that I exclusively thrive on drama lmao, but it’s sometimes nice to have it around just for the spice of it. I can definitely live without it, but yeah I’d say life would be a *little* bland. When you've had a bad day, do you seek an escape, or do you just face it? Depends on what problems I have. If it’s something I know will be sticking around for a while – like my anxiety toward my thesis – I’d rather have a quick, brief escape like eating out or having a few drinks. But if I’m bothered by something more pressing, something I know I’d lose sleep about, I just face the music. Do you think the bible's hypocritical, or do you live by it? Oh I dunno dude. I stopped paying attention to it when I finally didn’t have to read it every morning for school, so I’ve forgotten most of the lines. I have some memories of raising my eyebrows at some gospels though – like the one where Jesus flips out at seeing a marketplace near the temple, when these days a bunch of malls – public areas designated exclusively for shops – host masses of their own. Most churches are also situated near markets or have clothing or food stalls nearby for people to flock to after mass, so that bit confuses me to this day. Have you ever thought you were or actually BEEN pregnant? No, this has never been a concern of mine. Have you ever guilt tripped someone into something? LMAO just my parents, because I’m the most spoiled out of their kids. That’s not to say I’m spoiled rotten, I’m just a bit more expressive about what I want.  Do you actually care about other's problems? UP has opened my eyes to the plight of the poor and the working class, and so I mostly care for their struggles. When it comes to the opposite sex, do you fall for them faster or slower? I’m demi. My concept of ‘falling’ is the same for everyone. Have you ever had or been part of an intervention? Never. I wasn’t aware of the concept either until I saw it being done for Jesse Pinkman in Breaking Bad. If you could, would you go back and change the way things ended with someone? No. Can you manipulate someone into getting what you want? I can probably do it but I never want being manipulative to be a dominant trait of mine. Does the type of music someone listens to tell the type of person they are? Sometimes? Idk, you’d be surprised at some of the music people listen to. I’m as basic as basic gets lmao but I know people would be surprised to see Rancid on my playlists. But then again, music is a form of expression and it’s still a good indicator of someone’s personality or aura. Have you ever felt like you know a person just from their survey answers? Several people I follow have said that their surveys serve as their journals, so in a way it is an avenue to find out who they are. I don’t wanna assume I know them 100% though because after all, I’ve only known them through Tumblr. Are there any problems within your family? If so, what? Land dispute problems primarily, as with all Filipino families. Another issue I’ve heard of recently is what to do with one of the houses we own – who’s in charge of selling it, how to divide the money once it’s sold, etc. Apparently my grandma wants some of the money to be given to one of her sons (my deadbeat uncle) which has pissed my mom off and she’s currently pushing for him not to get any of the money cos he hasn’t done anything to contribute to the family haha. It’s all honestly fun to watch and has taught me to take it easy on my sister when we get older. If you're in a bad mood, do you take it out on others or do you hold it in? I try to hold it in and handle it responsibly, but there are times I’ll snap towards other people. Most days I act fake and convince everyone I’m doing fine so that they don’t need to worry, though. Have you ever seen cocaine, ecstasy, heroin, or acid? Have you done it? Nah I’ve never seen any of these in person. Do you like a lot of attention or does it make you uncomfortable? Oh man I hate it. Once I start feeling there’s too much on me, I try to shift it to someone else. Have you ever wanted to help someone, but you just couldn't? I don’t think I’ve ever had to care for someone who was just too far down. In one way or another I’ve always been able to offer help to my friends who needed it. Have you ever contemplated suicide or talked someone out of it who has? Just the former. I doubt I’m mentally capable of handling the second one all by myself, so I’m a little relieved I’ve never had to do it. I’m sure I have friends who can do it much better than I would. Have you ever been homeschooled? Why? No, I’ve had traditional schooling all my life. Have you ever woken up somewhere and not known where you were? Nah it’s never been this bad. I’ve woken up confused for a few seconds, but I’ve never been completely clueless. Has someone ever laced/slipped something in your drink? No, that’s awful. Have you ever had a party when your parents went outta town? Get caught? I don’t throw parties at my own place, and that’s not very common here either. Is there something you really wanna tell/say to someone but can't? Nah, I’m good. I do want to hug Angela because I’m sure she still feels bad about her grandmother passing away. Don't you hate when someone texts you and you're expecting someone else? Hahahahahaha, yes. That’s why I gave my girlfriend a separate ringtone.

[wcamino-confessions]

""This cat app is serious business >:C 1!1!1!1!1!!1""

Just going on a tangent cause I got a long ass bus ride and fuck it this shits been sitting on the back of my mind for a while^. This isn't @ anyone in particular so don't worry this is just going off stuff I've seen people talking abt.

(Obligatory please don't take this like I'm summarizing EVERYONE or even factually correct on this shit. This is just my assumption on how things are; however, feel free to dispute it all you want cause itd be kinda neat on seeing why others think everyone is so serious about a damn cat app^^ Also this shit wasn't beta read we die like fucking men so big F at all the spelling mistakes and jumping around with ideas in this.)

Anyways enough of that and onto the actual thing

A good portion of people on warriors amino are known to take the app very seriously and that it's not any sort of fun or games to be on there. Like any decision is one to be taken seriously. Now you can say that's just teenagers being moody and honestly thats kinda right; however, you can't blame people for being serious and official when that's the type of vibe the amino gives off.

Lemme explain

When you have such strict rules on the content people can make, how LONG such content has to be, what types of crossovers can be deemed acceptable, what types of species are too outlandish that even if you went by warrior rules it still wouldn't be allowed, and the overall silencing of people having any type of humor that wouldn't be okay in a work setting... It kinda comes off as stuck up. It literally feels like I'm at work sometimes.

Can't make any jokes that could offend a customer and if you're going to say anything about anyone you better do it to a close friend or else the manager (lt) will fire you (ban/strike) you.

The whole process of making groups is so heavily monitored that people don't see a point to it cause why the hell should their creativity be monitored when they can GO SOMEWHERE ELSE! and that's what's fucking happening

Everything has been made so formal that there's no funny business that the humor/entertainment has consequentially been drained out of everything and people are ditching the amino.

And thus this fucking pit fall of being stuck in a loop where the mentality of "we have to behave and seem professional so we don't get fucking booted" comes in. This then has people mixing up "well behaved" with "fucking knight in shining armor of warriors amino" which causes this shit.

This can't even be blamed on "the internet being the internet" cause you're allowed to screw around and get as creative as you want elsewhere without getting banned unless you're REALLY fucked up (or in the kpop fandom and said something controversial on Twitter lol)

Anyways- it's just that we jammed the mentality of only certain things being worthy of any fucking recognition that everyone has become so attached to that mentality that "only certain things deserve notice or passage"! So in the end projects people want to be passed and get denied are basically seen as worse than the idea of another. Which causes debate and the knights in shining armor to come out and fuck shit up.

This back and forth, ring around the Rosie bullshit where everyone is just trying not to piss off a community that is already put on edge due to muddied rules, strange restrictions, and closed off communities WITHIN the community just makes it seem so fucking strange to not be formal. And thusly people start to contribute the good behavior the lt wants with being serious and over protective of EVERYTHING.

We've spiralled into this pit that we can't dig ourselves out of due to past abuse of officers where the normal members lost respect for authority, the constant back and forth of guidelines fighting amongst themselves which makes the community fight amongst themselves, and the feeling that everything needs to be up to code or else you risk running a strike or ban and loose everything you worked for in terms of a following.

So yeah I can see why people are always so high-strung and it's because people are expected to act formally. When shit like that goes on you can only expect one of two things. People bag it and just leave or they take out their frustrations on other people/ideas cause they're not allowed to do it in any other way. No controversial debates, no calling out people who hurt you, etc etc cause it's all counted as DRAMA. Rather than actually labelling unnecessary fake gossip or petty chick fights as drama- it's suddenly anything that upsets ANYONE that counts as drama. And thusly that leads to people being shut in on themselves and making a big deal when they know they can, cause they're not allowed to otherwise. So essentially by allowing some leeway in being able to do something that normally wouldn't be allowed- people are gonna take it. (Usually relates to """amino politics""" and arguing with the lt or decisions clans make)

So essentially people on this app are so god damn serious about what's going on is because the strict rules and constantly-watched-over aura of the amino gives off vibes that basically make it feel like that if you're not super serious or not proving that you're invested in the app that then you're gonna get fucking thanosed. And then when it actually DOES come down to talking about things, people are either wrongfully taking it as "bad drama" which then starts NEW SHIT which actually DOES evolve into petty drama/bs. OR they're just taking the leeway of actually being able to express negativity in a normal setting which usually isn't allowed. And honestly at this point no matter WHOS in charge or HOW things are being run this reputation of the amino and it's people being put on a pedestal isn't going to go away. So no matter how much people complain or bitch about people being too serious nothing will be done.

Should they act like that? Fuck no.

Is it essentially the lts fault? Fuck if I know and frankly I don't care enough to find out.

Do clans cause this? Idfk and idfc

Should we care? Probably not.

Will we? Maybe.

But basically there's nothing that can be done to fix thos metaphorical pot hole thats sitting in the middle of the road just WAITING to come fuck up yo shit unless you either leave or choose to ignore people who get really pissy about shit that goes on (hypocrital of me to talk about; I'm aware)

Idk that's just my take on this. Feel free to tear me a new asshole and disprove all of this. Figured I'd just ramble while taking this shitty ass bus detour fuck you road construction.

[halfnakedmenfightingforabelt]

Voices (Seth Rollins x Reader)

Summary: Seth and (Y/N) having some kind of dispute in their apartment which alarms the neighbours and they call the police.

Warnings: Swearing, fluff, implied smut, angst (maybe idk?)

„You suck! You can be glad I can’t get my hands on you right now! Your ass would be so done!“, Seth was yelling through (Y/N)’s apartment. This was probably the fifteenth time he has yelled that day. „Not my fault you’re so damn dumb, you idiot!“, (Y/N) shouted back, slightly aggravated but also some sort of fear laced in her voice.

 After 5 minutes of silence suddenly something was thrown harshly against the wall, followed by a loud shattering. „Oh, my, god. I can’t believe you did this!“, (Y/N) shrieked. But weirdly enough, you could hear chuckling. But that was soon to be over. 

Seth was in the middle of a raging sentence when there was a knock at the door. „Who hell the has the audacity to knock at my door at this time of the evening?“, she sighed, waddling to the door. She angrily opened it, getting ready to unleash hell at the person knocking. 

Luckily she could hold back because it was the police. The sight of the apartment and the lady in front of them made the police officers assume the worst. The whole apartment was a mess. 

There was a broken vase on the floor, shattered into a thousand pieces. A PS4 controller somehow got stuck in the wall. Seth was laying on the couch, utterly frustrated, letting a few curses pass his lips every now and then.

 And then there was (Y/N). She had a black-eye, multiple bruises on her arms and she was walking on crutches.

“So, Miss… uh…”, the eyes of the male police officer darted to the small name tab next to the door, “(L/N), your neighbour called us because there has been yelling the whole day over. We came here to see if everything is alright.”. 

Fifty names came to her mind as he said ‘neighbour’. It was probably the downstairs neighbour that hates everything and everyone, especially her and Seth. Obviously that wasn’t as important as the current situation. 

“Uhh, yeah. Everything is good. We’ll try to tone down the volume now. We’re very sorry.”, (Y/N) felt very uncomfortable in this situation and tried to get rid of the officers as soon as possible. She hated dealing with authorities. Or The Authority. 

The female officer stepped close in front of (Y/N) and whispered something along the lines of 'Can you please come out to me?’. (Y/N) complied. 

The woman seemed concerned, “Are you sure you’re alright? I mean, this situation looks pretty bad to me.”. Now it struck (Y/N) like lightning, “Oh… OH! Oh no, I’m great. Well, obviously I’m all patched up… but it’s not what you think it is!”. The police woman cocked her eyebrow, demanding further explanation “Uhh, well, my boyfriend and I were playing a console game and he’s very competitive and HATES losing.”, she stressed that word a little and said it louder so Seth could hear it. “I don’t hate losing! I just don’t like it when you’re playing dirty!”, he yelled and got off the couch, offended. The police man that was currently talking to him pulled him back down, roughly. 

“And, oh god you will never believe me… when he lost he swung his arms back and knocked the vase of the table.”, (Y/N) tried to explain as coherently as possible. “And why is there a controller stuck in the wall and why are you covered in bruises and the likes?”, the police woman pressed further. (Y/N) got some really bad flashbacks to Wrestlemania last week. 

In a match against Sasha Banks, she got dropped onto the ringpost and fell onto the ground. She broke her hip, fractured her tailbone and tore her Gluteus Medius. That’s why she was all patched up and relied on crutches. Her arms were covered in bruises, because she was hit with a kendo stick the whole match over. And well, the black-eye happened when her and Seth were putting new shelves together. It might’ve somehow been Seth fault but he didn’t do it on purpose. She did her best explaining what happened to her. And she hated explaining why she was so destroyed. The memories of having to give up her Women’s Championship came back. 

“It seems… logical to me, to put it that way. But why is there a controller stuck in the wall?”. (Y/N) turned around to look at said controller, “Uhh, well.”. The guys from UpUpDownDown were over a couple of days ago. Somehow in a conversation (Y/N) mentioned that the guys should keep it down because the walls are super thin and basically made of paper. Obviously nobody believed her and they were continuing their monkey business. To demonstrate how seriously laughable the walls are she took Xavier’s Controller and stuck it in the wall. She never bothered pulling it back out, she thought it brought some flair to the whole Apartment. 

The police woman snapped her back into reality. (Y/N) sighed, “Look, I have very weird friends. Parties tend to go a little crazy every now and then. But I swear nothing bad is going on here. My boyfriend might look a little rough but he’s the best ever.”. The police officer cracked a small smile, “Alright, Miss (L/N), we’re gonna let you both off with a warning. If we need to come again there are going to be consequences.". Ashamed, (Y/N) looked to the ground, "Yes, Ma'am.". The female officer waved her partner over and gave him a nod, "If something is up you can always call me.". Before she left her gave (Y/N) a small note with a phone number on it. 

"So, what the hell was all this about?", Seth said as he came up behind her and hugged her. (Y/N) leant back into him, sighing,"She thought we were having some kind of dispute and you hit me or something. I had to explain why I'm all patched up and why I have a black eye.". Seth kissed her temple and whispered a soft 'I'm sorry'. She let out a small laugh, "I wish Sasha would apologise to me as well... Anyways, I think is enough video games for the night. We're just gonna yell at each other again.". Seth nodded and carefully swept her off her feet, making sure not to hurt her in any way. 

He set her down on the couch and turned some random TV Show on. Taking a blanket from the recliner, wrapping them in it. (Y/N) let out a sigh of content. "You're beautiful.", Seth whispered into her hair. She turned at him to look at him in disbelief. 

She felt like the messiest and ugliest person ever since you've been taking off TV. She can't work out, she can't stand for longer than 5 minutes so even showering or doing her hair is a chore, because of the weird cast she has around her thigh she can't really wear anything but baggy shirts and sweatpants. But Seth could always make her feel like a million dollars. Even though he can be a big meanie at times he will always have her back and (Y/N) will be always be his number one. 

"Hey, do you remember me making an ass out of myself when I tried to ask you out?", Seth pinched her cheek, ripping her out of your daydream. (Y/N) started laughing, "You made an ass out of yourself? I thought you were kidding and walked away! I was thinking you were completely against dating me after they were playing with the idea to pass us off as brother and sister on RAW!". Seth joined in with his lovable laugh, "I'm so glad they didn't do that. Kayfabe doesn't seem to be dead for some people.". 

After they both had settled with their laughter she set back against him. "Fuuuck dude, I'm so hungry.", she blurted out, holding her stomach. "Hi hungry, I'm-", (Y/N) cut him off, "I dare you.". She playfully punched him in the side. Seth held his hands up in defense, laughing. "How about we order some food? I could go for some Pasta or Pizza or a Burger or something, I just need to eat right now!". 

Seth's face lit up for a second, followed by a suggestive smirk, "I feel more like eating out.". She sighed, faint smile on her lips. His libido is going to kill her some day, "You know what the doctor said about doing anything that involves me having to move my hips around, So, as long as I don't have the permission from the doc, this ship ain't sailing and you need to be satisfied with my face.". He cocked his eyebrow, "I mean, I could easily work with your face. Maybe after dinner?"

A/N: If you liked this, be sure to let me know. ;) It makes me happy to know you enjoy my writing.^^ If you have any request for any superstar you can shoot me a message. Maybe also a prompt or something because I’m not that creative, Sorry not sorry.

[sanerontheinside]

Fic prompts, please! Either cliche for Rex/Obi "Got each other's bag"; or Sarcasm 28 “Excuse me. I have to go make a scene.” (for whoever it amuses!)

AAAHHHHH so sometimes I do complete prompts in my promptedrabbles file, yay. THE LEVERAGE/SW CROSS NOBODY ASKED FOR lol

Based on the Mile High Job

so we’ll call it

Pie in the Sky Job (oh, no, that’s probably bad? ugh idk)

Qui-Gon eyed the board with a grimace. “Right, so the assets are on the plane headed for the Cayman Islands. Ani?”

“Yeah! Yeah. I can get you on that plane. So that’s… four tickets, coming right up.”

“Make it three,” Obi-Wan put in quickly. “I have an Air Marshal badge.”

Ahsoka frowned at him. “Wait, what if there’s a Marshal on the flight already?”

“There’s only one marshal for every hundred flights.”

Anakin’s choked-off curse was fairly audible over comms. “O-okay, you know what? I felt a lot safer not knowing that.”

“Same here,” Ahsoka muttered.

“Doesn’t change the fact that it’s true.” Obi-Wan pointed out, amused.

“Make it two tickets,” Qui-Gon said, already thinking ahead. “One authority figure is good, two is better. Ahsoka, you’re about to get a day job.”

“Huh?” Ahsoka’s head came up. “Wait, doing what?”

Lifting a flight attendant’s suitcase required a minor bit of improvisation, with Obi-Wan as a disgruntled passenger providing an excellent distraction.

“Sometimes I feel bad about playing with people like that,” Tahl murmured, watching from a polite distance as Ahsoka switched the flight attendant’s suitcase with another, similar one. Tahl and Qui-Gon had also surreptitiously lifted a bag each from unclaimed luggage.

“She’ll get home and find that there’s nothing wrong with her cat, it was all a misunderstanding,” Qui-Gon shrugged. “And that she somehow picked up the wrong suitcase,” he added after a moment’s thought.

“Well. Small casualties,” Tahl shrugged.

“Tahl, did you, er—”

“Yes, Qui?”

Qui-Gon cleared his throat. “You checked the suitcases, I noticed. Did you—”

“Naturally.”

“Right. Let’s just—go.”

“So how did you know there’d be an extra uniform in her bag?” Ahsoka asked, catching up to them—already in uniform, in fact.

“Flight attendants are required to carry an extra uniform, in case something happens to the one they’re wearing.” Obi-Wan supplied.

“Or in case of unscheduled flights,” Tahl added, with a smirk.

Ahsoka eyed both of them uncertainly. “Seriously, how do you guys just know this?”

Tahl’s smirk grew positively feline, “Slept with a flight attendant.”

“Worked flight secur—what?” Obi-Wan didn’t quite reel, but it was a near thing.

Qui-Gon just laughed at them and waved them along. “Come on, later. Wouldn’t want to miss the flight Anakin is so kindly getting us last-minute tickets for. To the Cayman Islands. Do I even want to know?”

“Uh—no, not particularly, no,” Anakin said. “Those poor souls won’t suffer for it, anyway. I’m sure the company will reimburse them, or something.”

By the time Obi-Wan was on the other side of the security check, though, Anakin had already cleared everything up with their flight plan. Tahl and Qui-Gon, for some reason, were held up at the checkpoint.

“What’s going on there?” Anakin asked, trying not to sound anxious.

It was Obi-Wan who answered—not in any way reassuring. “Oh god, that’s embarrassing.”

Anakin sat up quickly. “Whaaaat’s happening?”

Obi-Wan growled into the mic. “Qui-Gon, couldn’t you have checked the bags you lifted? Just in case?”

“Oh—”

There was an awkward cough just before Tahl cut in with an excited “It’s our third anniversary!” to the guard.

Anakin was pretty sure he heard Obi-Wan choke back a laugh. “Didn’t want to know that either,” Anakin muttered darkly. Ahsoka had apparently decided that selective deafness was the better part of valour.

Qui-Gon seemed to be scowling. “Tahl, I thought you said you’d handed it off?”

“Well, now, I did think flying with two of those might be a bit excessive.”

“Good god, there were two.”

“Was that a facepalm? Obi-Wan, tell me he’s facepalming?”

Obi-Wan’s voice came back over comms, amused. “Yes, Ani, he’s facepalming, and not at you for once. Congratulations. Not-Anakin-Facepalm Tuesdays, new holiday. What terminal should we be at?”

It was one of the weirdest flights Rex had ever been on, and he’d even managed to sleep through most of it. One of the flight attendants had been… aggressively blunt about flight safety, and in general dispatched her job efficiently, but with the disaffected air of someone who was focused on something bigger than passing (throwing) snacks. There were some complaints. The complaints were also quiet.

Across the aisle, Rex spotted a man who’d come aboard without a carry-on, which was a little odd until the flight attendant moved to ask him something and he flashed her a badge. Air Marshal, Rex thought. Feel safer already.

Of course, that had to be the moment his sleep-deprived brain chose to inform him that, safe or no, said Air Marshal was really not bad on the eyes. He reflexively smothered that thought and decided that he may as well try to sleep through the flight. Honestly, hitting on an Air Marshal mid-flight? That sounded like a bad idea all around.

Rex was all the more certain of it when he missed the Out of Order sign on the door—he’d been a bit preoccupied, watching a fiery redhead talking urgently with a couple of the passengers up front—and walked in on a body in the lavatory. Knocked out, cold. Rex took one look at the knife in the sink, definitely ceramic, and at how neatly the man had been incapacitated, and decided he didn’t want to get into… whatever this was.

At the same time his opinion of the Air Marshal ticked up yet another notch.

Though, if ‘Air Marshal’ was all this man was, Rex would have to eat his own boots, and he didn’t relish the idea. The pair of passengers he’d been speaking with were a bit odd; one was a very tall gentleman, with long hair and a neat beard, and the other was an even taller lady, dark-skinned and green-eyed. Rex couldn’t quite bet on them being a couple, for all their marital-sounding disputes, but they were definitely drift-compatible. At least he caught their names in the midst of those small tiffs: Qui-Gon, he thought, and Tahl—Baker? Such a normal surname for such odd given names.

And if Rex hadn’t seen all three of them together earlier, he might actually have sounded the alarm when he witnessed their clever double act, surreptitiously checking the bags of the passengers behind them. Both Tahl’s lift and Qui-Gon’s handoff of the unsuspecting passenger’s bag were pitch perfect, but Rex also had the chance to note that they hadn’t taken anything.

If Rex had been hoping for a moment’s sleep on this flight, though, he’d been horribly mistaken. With less than an hour left to go, the trip went from intriguing to harrowing as the plane dipped into a rapid descent. He was surprised—thankfully momentarily distracted—when Tahl appeared next to him, a terrified young woman in tow.

“Mind if we join you?”

He shook his head, numb.

“Oh, Good. This is Marissa,” she said, sounding almost chipper as she stepped into the aisle, “and my name’s Tahl.”

“Pleasure,” Rex said tightly.

Tahl threw a sharp glance his way. “Done this before?”

He managed a quick nod.

“Don’t worry, my husband’s an engineer with the company, he’s up front, he can fix this.”

Engineer, Rex’s entire ass, but Tahl sounded absolutely certain that this was something that could be fixed, so Rex tried to smile. “Thanks.”

Who the hell knew, anyway. Qui-Gon could certainly pass for an engineer. Tahl still had that knowing look, though, and in a moment she took his hand and squeezed.

He didn’t actually remember the next few minutes. When he got his brain back in his skull, he realised that people had been cheering and clapping, and that they’d landed—though, where, he had no idea, hadn’t they been in the middle of the ocean? In any case, Tahl and Marissa both looked relieved. And the brusque flight attendant popped up out of nowhere and handed Marissa a ginger ale.

“Thank you, Ahsoka,” Tahl murmured, sounding infinitely patient. Rex decided that was pretty funny, for some reason. He doubled over laughing, probably on the verge of hysteria.

In a little while, they started letting passengers out of the plane. Rex didn’t get up, though. He decided to wait, get his breathing back under control. Tahl and Marissa didn’t seem to be in a hurry to get anywhere, either. The passengers in First Class were just beginning to disembark when Qui-Gon reappeared, the redhead on his heels.

Qui-Gon seemed particularly concerned. “Everyone all right?”

Tahl nodded, and Ahsoka replied with an oddly enthusiastic “Yep!”

“Obi-Wan, we need to do something about Erlick.”

Obi-Wan—the Air Marshal, apparently—just shrugged. “When I knock people out they tend to stay knocked out.”

“Fair enough. Still, probably want to hand him over to the authorities.”

“You know, if they’re doing this as carefully as I think they are?” Obi-Wan looked thoughtful. “There should be someone waiting on the ground to make sure he got the job done. Or, more accurately, that he went down with the plane.”

Qui-Gon grimaced. “And he didn’t.”

“Well!” Tahl rose and straightened out her blouse. “In that case, Genegrow’s taken care of all the loose ends for us.”

Qui-Gon turned to help Obi-Wan take the luggage out of the compartments, passing suitcases to the passengers around them. Tahl walked a pale and shaking Marissa back to her aisle, and Rex stood up and reached for his suitcase—which Obi-Wan seemed about to take with him. “I’m sorry, I believe that’s my bag.”

Obi-Wan glanced up at him and blinked, then cracked the brightest grin Rex had ever seen. “Oh. I believe you’re right, it is—I’m sorry.”

Rex grinned back like an idiot. “Not at all. Can I get your name?” He saw Qui-Gon give Obi-Wan a sideways glance and shake his head, but decided not to pay it any mind, especially since Obi-Wan didn’t look like he was about to refuse.

“I’m—”

He was interrupted by a loud crash and flight attendant’s scream. Obi-Wan glanced over his shoulder, and Rex noticed ‘Erlick’ had barrelled right through the flimsy door.

“Excuse me,” Obi-Wan apologised, his grin irrepressible. “I have to go make a scene.”

He did make quite a scene, and handed Erlick over to the proper authorities outside. Rex shook his head and figured it was bad luck.

Except, of course, when he stuck his hands in his pockets he discovered a square of paper with a number scrawled on it, sighed Obi-Wan.

[ofstaffs]

steve steve was absolutely walking on air. the weather was amazing and he was enjoying it with the woman he loved. of course, it wasn't a totally perfect afternoon due to his endearing clumsiness. after his second time dropping the venue folder, they decided it was better if peggy carried it instead. other than that, it couldn't have been better. "i really like the meadow, if i'm being totally honest," he glanced at peggy as they walked under a cluster of trees in magnolia park. "but the park is fine too, of course."

steve: im screAMING

peggy: OM G CUITE

peggy: CUTIE

steve: the ghostbusters theme song came on while i was writing thiS

peggy: HAHAHAAHHA

peggy she didn't think it was possible for her to love him anymore. the bold and the brave captain america was stumbling over his own feet and dropping the folder each time he held onto it, papers flying everywhere, which required a ton of chasing. she hadn't laughed more in her whole life, and she was sure she had never been more infatuated with someone in her life. "i know, i do too. i just wanted to look around here to see if it was a backup choice," she explained, craning her neck to glance around.

peggy: lets just do them for a bit then ill bring rey in

steve: okie dokie

steve "you know, the first wedding i went to was out here." steve spoke, pointing at the patch of grass by the fountain. it wasn't exactly an enjoyable experience; they hardly knew the grooms and there was quite a bit of drama at the end of the night. he decided to leave out the fact that he brought a date to it. "you would have hated it. it ended in absolute chaos." he laughed quietly, knowing his future bride wasn't one to put up with people's shit.

peggy "oh, dear. maybe we shouldn't have it here, then. i don't want people to be reminded of bad memories when they come here," she said, biting her lip in concern. then she glanced up at him with a teasing smirk. "you know that if anyone tries to start /anything/ at our wedding that i'll deal with them myself." they couldn't exactly hire security; plus, they didn't need any. the groom was captain america, after all. "i don't think you'll let that happen, though," she winked.

peggy: omfg deans rper will not stop chatting me

peggy: like

steve: my ot4 tbh :,)))

peggy: actually

steve: im confused on how it all happened so fast

peggy: they kind of pushed it on kathryn and i

peggy: im convinced the mun is the same person

peggy: they're literally the SAME

steve: nO WAY

steve: mia's rper chats me a lot too so

peggy: yep

steve "i can only think of one person who'd be bothered." steve shrugged. that person was rey. she left early on in the ceremony and sprayed someone with beer when she returned. but at that point, he wasn't even sure if she'd show to his wedding. "i know you will." he grinned with a raised brow, tightening his grip on her hand lightly. him and peggy had already waited way too long for someone to ruin it. "hopefully everyone just keeps their issues to themselves."

steve: if somebody hijacks the steggy wedding i will take it ooc

steve: no shame

peggy: ya tru

steve: i feel like dia would tbh not trying to be rude

peggy "they better," peggy agreed with a firm nod, placing a hand on his cheek then slowly smiling again. "but i don't care if /everything/ goes wrong. as long as i get to be your wife at the end of the day. that's all i want. that's all i've ever wanted." she leaned up to kiss him softly, wrapping her arms around his neck.

peggy: BLESS

peggy: ok im gonna bring rey in]

rey joined the chat 2 hours ago

steve: yaaaasssssssss

rey getting some fresh air was nice, as her dispute with derek was still ongoing, and she felt like she had the opportunity to really clear her mind of everything. until she stumbled across a couple. as soon as she saw the red and blue clothes (did they plan that or did they always just coincidentally dress that way?), she knew exactly who it was. she clenched her jaw but let out a sigh and tried to walk past without her face being seen, tilting it away as much as possible.

steve: does steve stop her orrrrrrrrrrrrr

peggy: probs

peggy: i didnt know how else to bring her in lmao

steve "trust me, you'll be my wife no matter what. even if it means i have to become a minister and do it myself." he chuckled against her lips, gladly welcoming the kiss. naturally, he got too carried away, wrapping his arms around her waist and stumbling back slightly. he didn't even think about anyone else in the park until he felt his back brush against another person. "oh, geez. i'm sorry about that," the avenger apologized to this person behind him, before he quickly realized who it was. "rey?"

steve: i just did that instead whooops

peggy: nice

peggy peggy pulled away as soon as steve did, glancing at the person he had, literally, bumped into. uh oh. hopefully he wouldn't be recognized. she smiled apologetically and began to say sorry when steve said the girl's name. peggy's smile faded as she stared up at him, then chuckled softly. "is-is this a friend of yours?" she asked quietly, nervous about the expression on his face.

rey oh, great. clumsy steve, back at it again. she rolled her eyes and turned to him, crossing her arms tightly over her chest. she was sure she looked horrific, given she'd been bedridden for five days, but finally seeing peggy in person for the first time shocked her most of all. she really did look like her. at peggy's question, she just glared up at steve again before firmly replying, "nope."

rey: ouch

steve: damn steve, back at it again

peggy: i kept saying that in my head while writing jrc

peggy: jfc

steve "uh..." he stammered, glancing between rey and peggy. oh god, they looked so much alike he was getting confused. he genuinely did not know what to say. rey and him had a large falling out, sure, but they were so close. they were still friends in his eyes, best friends even. his eyes narrowed at her once she spoke. "no. she's tony's friend."

steve: yiggity yikes

peggy peggy's shoulders straightened at steve's words, and she stood protectively at his side, hand on his arm. "tony stark is no friend to us. it is obvious that steve doesn't want you around, so i recommend that you keep walking before i have to take action."

steve: FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT

rey rey couldn't tear her eyes away from steve. her expression was a mixture of heartbreak, anger, jealousy, and distress. she missed him, but seeing him with peggy angered her beyond belief. she clenched her fists at her sides as peggy spoke to her, then raised her eyebrows. "believe me, i think that's the best idea, seeing the last time i spoke to your fiancé, he threw a coffee table across the room."

rey: riP

rey: sry im replying so fast im like trying to do this fuc kn g study guide

rey: WHY DID I PORCRASITINA

rey: ETE

steve: UR DUMB

steve: WHAT CLASS IS IT FOR

peggy: US HISTORY

peggy: FML

steve: WRITE STEVE ROGERS FOR EVERY ANSWER

peggy: O K

peggy: ITS OPTIONAL TOO

peggy: BUT ITS 20 PTS EXTRA CREDIT

peggy: KMS

steve steve was stupid to think this day wasn't going to get ruined. he expected the cops would have something to do with it, not rey. not his /best friend/. he glanced at peggy once she spoke, but rey was already retorting before he could catch up. "that's enough." the expression on his face was enough to kill. no more clumsy, adorable steve. rey awakened the beast that was captain america. "so where's derek this lovely afternoon?"

peggy peggy's head snapped up to glare at steve slightly. "so /that's/ what happened? you threw a coffee table because you were angry?" she asked in disbelief. but the expression on his face was not allowing for any chastisement at that moment, so she turned back to rey, watching her carefully. obviously she had done something to make steve, sweet, kind-hearted steve, angry and she didn't like it one bit.

steve: http://66.media.tumblr.com/902d809ec25de... LOOK AT THIS

rey "he's at home. i wanted to go on a walk, so here i am." she'd only mumbled a few words to derek before leaving, but she didn't tell him that. she was too afraid he'd poke fun at her for having a failing relationship. two at the same time. just in very different ways. "oh, but i see you two are planning your wedding. you know, that's funny. the last time steve was at a wedding, he brought along a date. but i'm sure he's told you that."

peggy: DED

peggy: REY ST OP

steve "yes. but you should let rey tell you what she said to make me so angry." he spoke through gritted teeth. he could almost hear rey's angry outburst about peggy and bucky leaving him. his hand flew up to his nose, pinching the bridge of it as she continued to spill like an immature child. "i brought natasha romanoff, my colleague. interesting that you bring up the wedding, rey. recall your little beer incident?" two could play that game.

steve: steve rn: (ง'̀-'́)ง(ง'̀-'́)ง(ง'̀-'​́)ง(ง'̀-'́)ง(ง'̀-'́)ง(ง'​̀-'́)ง

peggy "yes, i /would/ like to know that," peggy snapped to rey, crossing her arms firmly across her chest. anyone who upset steve had to deal with her. "i understand. you didn't want to be alone at the wedding. i get it," she assured him then turned back to rey, furrowing her eyebrows as steve brought up one of /her/ issues.

peggy: omg steve should do like a rly low blow

peggy: and then rey will just strt cr ying

peggy: bc i need them to make up

steve: how low u talkin

peggy: as low as u want

steve: idk how low i can go

steve: damn is this limbo

peggy: truth

peggy: idk like her being abandoned by her family or smth

peggy: or her problems with derek

peggy: or her family issues

peggy: rey has a lot of things to use against her ok

steve: i'll talk about her trying to get derek to propose cause i got an anon bout it

peggy: make it bad tho

peggy: or else rey will just be angrier

rey rey's eyes widened slightly as her expression darkened. now /he/ was digging. this was bad, and was surely not going to end well. she wished she had derek here to back her up. if he even would at this point. "well YOU'RE the one who had feelings for me while you said you were in love with /her/!" she exclaimed, motioning carelessly to peggy.

steve "why don't you tell her." steve looked down at his friend demeaningly, unable to bring himself to repeat her words. "at least i don't have to beg the love of my life to get marry me. i know who i love, rey, and you're sure as hell not one of those people when you act like this." the captain spat, grabbing his fiance's hand. "let's go, peg."

peggy: shIT

steve: shawty got low low low low low low

peggy "is that true?" peggy tried to ask steve after rey explained how he had feelings for her. if so... that was shocking. extremely. but at steve's words, she froze. ouch. that was a harsh one. but it was necessary. so peggy swallowed thickly and held on tightly to steve's hand before turning and beginning to walk away with him.

rey no... he couldn't have just said that. had he? he /had/. he didn't love her. once upon a time they were inseparable, spending every day together. first he had used derek against her, and then he outright said he didn't love her. not even as a friend. her hands clasped over her mouth in shock as her eyes fell shut, not even acknowledging them anymore. silently, she began to sob as she slowly crumpled to her knees on the ground, slightly ripping the comfortable pajama pants she had on, decorated with stars. she hated this. she wanted her best friend back.

steve "it was." he admitted swiftly, avoiding her glance. it was before he knew peggy was alive. it was a mistake, all of it was. she had a boyfriend anyway. right as he's ready to turn on his heel, rey falls to the ground in front of them. at first he thinks she's hurt, so he accesses her body quickly until he realizes she's just crying. oh no. was it really that harsh? his jaw clenched as her scene attracted attention from civilians in the park. "rey... just get up, okay?"

peggy "steve," peggy gasped as soon as she saw rey fall to the ground. they were friends at one point; and she knew steve wouldn't want to see his friends hurt. even though it was obvious she was just crying, she knew steve would still want to help. maybe. so she stayed back but watched carefully as he approached her again, hoping things wouldn't get worse from here.

rey rey simply ignored them both, covering her face with her hands and tucking her knees to her chest as she continued to cry. after all they had gone through together... that was what he now thought of her? simply because she was jealous? sure she had said some things that went over the edge, but he knew she hadn't meant them. but his words... he meant each and every one. and she didn't care that he was now seeing her break down right in front of his eyes. she couldn't hide her sorrow anymore. she cried even harder as she leaned forward slightly, threading her fingers into her hair.

steve steve pursed his lips, sending peggy one last apologetic glance before crouching down next to rey. he wish he could comfort her like he used to, but it felt too unfamiliar to him at the moment. "c'mon, rey. get up." he curled his hands around her forearms, making sure to be gently while he pulled her to stand. he meant the words in the heat of the moment, but now he was beginning to regret them. "i didn't mean it, alright?"

peggy peggy nodded her head swiftly as her eyes saddened. she knew he had to take care of this. he needed as many friends as he could get here in magnolia, seeing as they had enough enemies. and she didn't want one friendship to be ruined because of some simple jealousy. she kept some distance, but watched closely with a sympathetic expression as he tried to apologize.

rey "no... no..." rey cried as he, literally, tugged her up to her feet. it took a few moments for her to get a stable stance on the ground, but when she finally did, she began wiping at her eyes as her sobs became almost completely silent. "y-you did- you-..." she tried to say, but only wept harder, wiping at her eyes yet again and trying to move out of his grip. she was beyond humiliated and ashamed now and just wanted to go back inside where no one could see her.

peggy: wtf im tearing up

peggy: this is rly sad but its also bc of this study guide LMAO

peggy: but mostly bc of this bc aw

peggy: i miss my bbs

steve: omg dont crrrrrrrrrrrry

steve: im sobbing this sad ass song just came on my shuffle i feel it

peggy: right omfg

steve: speaking of shuffle wdyt about the plot shuffle

peggy: what about it

peggy: did they post it

steve: no they just talk about it when they get clique qs

peggy: oh lmao tru

steve: ive never done one b4

peggy: idk ugh

peggy: bc i dont want rey or peggy to be stuck with chars they've never interacted with

peggy: fml

steve: same dude

steve: can u imagine if peggy and negan had to be 2gether

peggy: riP

peggy: steve would be freaking tf out the whole time

steve: steve would literally bust through every door in magnolia to get to peggy

peggy: i love him what a nerd

steve the expression on rey's face caused an ache to spread through his chest. "i didn't, i-i swear." he murmured softly, struggling to hold back the lump in his throat. he couldn't believe he let his anger get the best of him and cause this. the last time he saw rey this upset, it had something to do with snoke. she was right, he lost everyone he loved. he always did. he looked back at peggy with forlorn eyes, almost as if he was making sure she was still there.

steve: im cryin

steve: ldr just came on im gonna fight

peggy: whats ldr

steve: lana del rey

peggy "it's okay," peggy mouthed to him when he turned to look at her, making a silent promise that she wasn't leaving anytime soon, unless he asked for privacy with rey. she understood that she wouldn't understand their friendship, and she didn't try to. it was for them, and none of her business. unless steve was being hurt.

peggy: nice

rey "you /did/, you did," rey sobbed, beating her fist weakly against his chest two times then just crying again. maybe if she wasn't so weak from the concussion, bruised ribs, and all the medication she was on, then she would've run away by now. or maybe she just didn't really want to run away. she wanted to stay, to bring back what they once had. "l-leave me alone," she pleaded anyway, attempting to tug her arms out of his grip, to no avail.

steve he let her hit him once again, her fists rekindling memories from their last fight. "stop, s-stop!" he curled his hands around hers, pushing them away from him. "stop this! stop trying to fight me, rey. i don't wanna fight anymore!" who would have thought, steve rogers, the kid who would fight anything or anyone, begging to avoid a quarrel.

steve: im screAMI

peggy: riP

peggy "steve," peggy gasped when he raised his voice, immediately stepping to his side and placing a hand on his shoulder. but she didn't stop him from speaking to her. he wanted this solved, and she didn't blame him. so she let it continue, and would only step in if things got really bad.

rey "then why would you /say/ that to me?" rey sobbed in distress, trying desperately to tug her hands out of his, though, obviously, that was impossible. he surely wasn't even using half his strength and she was using everything she had in her weak body. "y-you don't want to be my friend, you-you don't love me anymore..."

peggy: im em o

peggy: r u here

steve: IM HERE

peggy: YEET

steve "i'm sorry," steve looked down, letting his head hang low. he was apologizing to both of them at this point for losing his temper and control. "yes i do, rey! i never said that," his eyes were wide in confusion, "do you even want to be my friend? every time we're near each other we fight!"

peggy "it's okay, steve. m-maybe we should take this somewhere more private, though," peggy whispered, noting how people were beginning to stare at the three of them. if steve was recognized... the location of the wedding would be the smallest issue.

rey "of COURSE i do! i-... i miss you..." rey admitted, her voice thinning out to hardly nothing as she said it, finally peeking her eyes up to look up into his own. then she sobbed again as she shook her head. "but-but not after you said that. n-no... y-you meant every word... e-every word..."

peggy: midnight rip

peggy: and still working on this piece of shit.

steve: jesus h christ

steve steve nodded, instantly cooling down when he heard her voice. peggy was his happy place. any place, any situation; if peggy was there, he could do anything. "no i didn't, rey." his brow furrowed and his face fell once again. "let's go home, okay? come with us."

peggy peggy held onto steve's arm gently, though he was still holding a fragile rey up. she wondered to herself why she looked so sickly, but kept her thoughts to herself as she led them both inside, and up to their apartment. "i'll get some waters," she offered and stole a kiss when rey wasn't looking before moving into the kitchen to do so.

rey rey didn't want to go to their house, to where the two of them spent their time together. but the stress was overwhelming and she needed to sit down, but she didn't want to go to her home just yet. she still wanted desperately to fix things with steve. she let him practically pull her up the stairs and past the door, feeling too weak to do so at that point.

steve "okay." steve whispered quietly against her lips. he lead rey's weak frame to the couch, passing over the spot where the coffee table used to be. "-uh, are you alright?" he questioned, refusing to let go of the grip on her arm.

peggy "you don't seem too well," peggy agreed, bringing over a glass of water for each of them and setting it on the little makeshift table they had in place of the coffee table. she knelt before them and looked worriedly up at steve, silently asking him what was going on.

rey "yes," rey exhaled as he sat them down on the couch, closing her eyes and bringing her hands to her head. "i... d-derek and i were pushed down a flight of stairs... i hit my head and got knocked out. and bruised a couple of ribs... w-we went to the hospital and now i'm on five different kinds of medication..."

steve steve shook his head at peggy's questioning look. he had no idea what was going on. whatever it was, it was more than just her being upset. she looked horribly fatigued. "what?!" he exclaimed loudly. the floorboards in the house might as well vibrated at his staccato.

peggy: omg steeb my bb

steve: he cares so much about his girls

steve: peggy, rey, nat, wanda

peggy peggy's hands came up to her mouth at rey's admission, looking over at steve in shock. oh, no. she knew her steve; and she knew the guilt would hit him /hard/ after this. "i-i'll get some ice," she whispered immediately and jumped up, jogging to the kitchen to get some ice to cool rey down.

rey for some reason, she assumed steve had known about her injuries. but how could he possibly? they hadn't spoken in weeks. "i-i'm sorry, i thought you knew..." she admitted honestly, nodding in appreciation as peggy went to get her ice. then she moved her hair out of the way so steve could see the stitched up gash near her temple, with sweat-soaked bandages covering it.

rey: im emo

steve way to go, steve. he felt absolutely terrible for everything at this point. all previous guilt he had was superimposed at her admission. "o-oh, god, rey. i'm so sorry." his gaze fell to his hands, which he quickly retracted from her forearms and placed in his lap. once peggy returned with the ice, he gave peggy his best attempt at a smile.

peggy peggy knelt in front of them yet again as she finished wrapping the bag of ice in a paper towel, giving a small, hesitant smile back to steve. "back of your neck, darling," she said to rey, handing it over carefully. any friend of steve's was a friend of hers. she was choosing to look past their differences, as they obviously wanted to as well.

rey rey shook her head. "i-it's okay, i should've told you..." she whispered, feeling bad that she'd, accidentally, of course, kept him in the dark about it all. it was why she couldn't stand up when he told her to, why she couldn't leave when all she wanted to do was run away. but maybe it helped them reconcile in the end. "thank you..." she whispered to peggy and placed the pack on the back of her neck, leaning back against the couch pillow with a slow exhale.

peggy: LAST PAGE

peggy: ITS SO LIT

steve steve instantly sat up from his spot once peggy administered the ice. she didn't need to be on the floor anyways. "i don't blame you." after the whole coffee table mess, who would want to speak to him? he acted like a complete and utter fool in their apartment and in the park. "i'm sorry."

steve: WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

peggy "no, no, no," peggy mouthed reassuringly, shaking her head and helping him to sit again. "you sit, i'm okay." obviously rey wanted, or needed, his support right now, and she was sure he needed hers as well. they had just come back together, after all.

rey rey opened her eyes and looked sorrowfully over at steve, shaking her head gently. "don't apologize, it's my fault too... i-i didn't mean anything i said either, i just wanted your attention again..." she admitted. speaking of... she looked down at peggy sadly. "i-i'm sorry i was so jealous... it led me to do things that i wouldn't usually do. bad things, and it wrecked my relationship with the best friend i've ever had. so i'm sorry..."

steve steve responded to peggy's refusal with a tight lipped nod. "you didn't wreck anything." he murmured with sad eyes. "i shouldn't have got angry when you told me what you did. i acted the same way when you were with derek."

peggy: omg wtf when did u get here

peggy peggy smiled kindly and nodded to rey, gently patting her knee. "it's alright... everything's all better now," she reassured her with a light, soothing tone. obviously she and steve were very close, and it made her sad to think that they'd spent so much time apart because of peggy herself.

rey right... derek. that was a whole other ordeal that she still had to sort through. her eyes closed slowly as she let out a heavy sigh, readjusting the ice pack on the back of her neck. "i don't know what's going on with us now..." she admitted quietly, peeking up at steve again. "i want to be married to him... /so/ badly, but... but he's still not ready yet. and it's been /two months/... we've known each other for three of them... he doesn't understand that i haven't had a real connection with anyone for fifteen years... i don't want to waste anymore time in my life..."

[sneakyhomunculous]

RPT Phoenix Report: Back to Back!

Part 3: Crunch Time

So to recap I finished day 1 6-2

WWL WWLWW

This is a reasonably happy 6-2! 

You have the 

LLWWWWWW  Ecstatic 6-2

WWWWWWLL So tilted you may not even show up for day 2 6-2

Mine fell somewhere in the middle of the extremes.

But of course, 6-2 is 6-2. And my breakers should be pretty strong + the tournament is quite small compared to recent PTs. Multiple X-4s should make T8

Myself Jarvis Allen Knox and Mark have dinner at a nice Thai place. 

Unfortunately we waited like 90 minutes for a table, but in the end it was worth it as we just hung out at a bar next door. and the food ended up being really good.

We don’t get back to the house until pretty late, and we are greeted with Tom Ross laying out the UW Pioneer deck 

“To fix it up for the GP Tomorrow”

Instead of going to sleep I watch Tom cut multiple supreme verdicts, go up to 4 mystical disputes main, add a horribly awry to the main, sneak a tomik in the SB, along with many other hilarious changes.

He ended up registering 4 disputes main loooool IDK what his list was exactly but he ended up playing vs tons of aggro and still going 7-2. 

Not sure how he finished up day 2; some middling finish I think. Turns out mystical dispute is worse than supreme verdict against mono red and black.

I get to bed a bit late but wake up feeling good.

We get over the Breakfast Club earlier today with time to eat. 

I already know I’m in pod 3 with Oli2 Efro Cain Lauphiette Bloody Sadowsky and Murahashi.

We get to the site right at 9 again and I find myself in a decent seat. I have Oli 3 my left and Efro 4 away. I’m being fed by Joel Sadowsky with me feeding Bloody.

I don’t know a ton about these players preferences or limited abilities, but I do know that Oli and Efro are both very good and I am happy to be seated away from them.

This draft was a bit wild; I open Setessan Champion and take it over who cares i forgot.

I 2nd pick Alirios over some weaker cards i don’t remember, a pretty weak pack. I think there may have been like a red omen and something else but it was easy Alirios and I always want to be blue anyway.

3rd pick I happily take Mire’s Grasp over nothing

4th pick I am greeted with a Dryad of the Ilysian Grove. Not the best card or anything, but i have a setessan champion and love drafting 3-4 color UG decks so this got me excited.

I fill out this pack with an icthymorphosis, a satyr grovedancer, a late cling to dust, and i know a nexus wardens tabled. I also have a memory drain a brine giant and an altar of the pantheon to keep an eye on.

Going into pack 2 I’m not really sure if I’ll be UG or GB or some combo inbetween, but I really want to be green bc of Champion.

I open Thassa’s intervention in an otherwise unexciting pack so I take that. I like this card more than most people I imagine; I think it’s very good.

I am passed lots of really good cards, but I ignore them bc there is an illysian carytid.

I’ve drafted this deck enough to know how important carytid is; and my spidey senses just tell me that I need to be base green and stay as wide open as possible to playing the gooooods that I will be receiving much too late.

Unfortunately the rest of this pack is pretty weak. I pickup a nylea’s intervention like 5th and somewhere in here I get a riptide turtle a mystic repeal a relentless pursuit 2 omen of the hunts a hierophant a 2nd altar of the pantheon and a watcher of tomorrows. Nothing exciting but I’m realllllly set up to splash anything ever.

In pack 3 I open Eat to Extinction and nothing, easy pick.

I’m finally rewarded and passed Calix, Destiny’s Hand. I already have a ton of enchantments with a few of them being removal like ichthymorphosis and mire’s grasp.

Unfortunately the rest of the pack sort of fades, I get a late Drag to the underworld and tymaret, as well as a return to nature a 2nd relentless pursuit a Nyleas Huntmaster a 6/7 colossus and another brine giant.

When building my deck I end up waffling between a lot of different configurations, but in the end I realize to make my mana really good I need to cut tymaret and drag and just splash black. 

Bc I’m lacking esape and ways to deal with it I splash the cling to dust, one of my favorite cards in the set.

My final deck is like 7 forests 6 islands 2 swamps 1 plains 1 carytid 1 dryad 2 omens and nyleas intervention for fixing. I have thassas intervention, relentless pursuit, setessan champion, cling, Calix for card advantage, and then i have grasp icthymorphosis eat to extinction mystic repeal for removal. Round it out with alirios dryad wardens turtle and some big dumb creatures; I quite like my deck and I even have lots of playable sb options.

R9 Joel Sadowsky

This match was a real banger and I wish i could remember the details better.

Joel was feeding me and he has a pretty strong RG deck. He has multiple incendiary oracles and is quite aggressive overall.

He draws his Mythic Phoenix in all the games, and he also has Typhon and maybe chimera as well (i think it may have actually been rage hound not chimera) But anyway he is beating down and escaping.

In g1 I think I assemble ichthymorphosis on one of the escape creatures and I get Calix going while eat to extinctioning a different escape creature. I just survive at a low life total and bury him in Calix cards.

In g2 I feel like I am constantly fighting to get on equal footing but if I can just put my foot down I will be ahead. Unfortunately things just keep snowballing with phoenix and then wings of hubris and I ultimately can’t deploy my cards fast enough and am forced to make suboptimal plays and blocks and eventually die to the wings.

G3 was just great. 

There is a ton of back and forth and on the last turn I leave myself dead to phoenix with only a black up, and he has it and pumps it and goes to extend his hand to say GGs lol; but i cling a creature in his yard to stay at 1 life and untap and deal with phoenix. I have to fade wings for a turn or two but then I can cling again and on the last turn he ends up being able to put me to exactly 1 again after I cling for a 3rd time. 

Clinggggggoat

7-2

I’m feeling good and hoping to fade Oli2 and Efro. I find out Efro lost but Oli2 has a busted white pious wayfarer deck, thats bad news.

I see the pairings and am relieved to see it is Lauphiette and not Oli, but that relief is short lived as Lauphiette begins giving me the business.

R10 Lauphiette Kincey

G1 is a really back and forth affair where Lauphiette sticks a commanding presence on a flier for a turn, but I peel the land I need to Nylea’s intervention it away. He then lagona bands the presence back, but I am able to keep his fliers at bay mostly and he seems to be taking things slow. Turns out he has Shatter the Sky and has been sandbagging a bit.

Luckily I have too, and after drawing a card from Shatter and for my turn I rebuild quickly, and I am able to hold off his presence + leftovers.

G2 and 3 are just a lesson in what happens when your opponent knows how to sideboard and u are playing a 22 land deck or whatever.

Lauphiette boards in multiple memory drains to go with his thassas’ intervention/denial/denies and I just struggle to resolve any of my good cards.

I fight my best, but in g2 he has deny for my t3 champion and then I have pretty awkward mana and never really get much going.

In g3 we hilariously play draw go for like 8 turns when he breaks first casting a big thassas intervention, i respond with my own big intervention but he counters it. I untap and go for champion which he counters, but i stick Calix.

Unfortunately Calix is not jace the mind sculptor and he just easily beats it with a bunch of fliers. Ultimately my deck was just too much air and he has all vexing gulls and counterspells and despite me fighting like hell thru all of it; he is going to kill me with damage while I also have 0 cards in my library and nowhere close to killing him. 

7-3

I’m feeling a bit down after this loss as I know I can’t afford to lose again. It sucks that magic tie breakers work this way, but if I would’ve lost in like R12-13 instead I wouldn’t have felt as bad knowing I probably had another loss to give.

I regroup, convincing myself my deck is absolutely busted. (Deep down I know I just need to win this round bc I am not losing in constructed.)

R11 Brenton Murahashi

Brenton is also RG and his deck seems quite good as well, but it is a different kind of good. He is like multiple warbriars blessings and lots of escape creatures and he is just a RG removal plus large creatures deck. 

The lack of aggression helps me in this match as I’m able to win the 2 games I do somewhat trivially.

G1 I just have a really strong start and have Calix going on an empty board for way too long, and feel like i am 100% to win from t6 until I actually win t18.

G2 I feel ahead but I just draw a lot of timely basic lands in a row and succumb to some medium beats after losing my good cards to warbriars blessings.

G3 I feel really ahead, but he has some serious suprise burst damage with Phoenix and I think wings as well; deja vu. 

CLINGGGGOAT does not care.

As a matter of fact he actually has dreamstalker manticore with me at 3 life. Draws from no hand and smiles a bit and says go. I have cling in my hand but am just holding onto it for dear life always leaving up 5 mana and 2 black. In my upkeep he fires off an omen of the forge. I give a wince and he targets me with the dreamstalker trigger.

Trigger resolves, I am at 2. Omen resolves, targetting me. 

one second.......

CLINGGGGGOAT!

I clean up over a couple turns always leaving up cling.

8-3

I am obviously feeling really good here as I know I am just 7 wins away from the trophy and I have 6 teferi’s 3 dig thru times 4 wraths 26 lands and ~20 opts.

I am immediately suprised to see I am paired vs Sebastian Pozzo. He was in Pod 1 and I thought he was 8-0 overnight, but I was mistaken and he was 7-1 then 1-2 the draft.

R12 Sebastian Pozzo on Sultai Delerium

Sebastian’s list looks pretty stock (Similar to Joel Larson’s) and one thing I have going for me is that he cares way more about world’s and probably spent a lot of time testing standard instead of pioneer.

G1 is a real banger as he t2 scavenging ooze and I just chill out and counter lots of things that matter like a grisly salvage and some planeswalkers. But meanwhile he is exiling all my dig food and I am stuck with a dig in my hand and my life total somewhat dwindling down around 10.

I wrestle control of the game but promptly get emrakuled. The unfortunate thing is I timed a T3feri poorly and left him able to bounce his Emrakul. I don’t think I made any obvious mistakes and I was aware of emrakul and my teferi, but I couldn’t help but think I may have fucked it off somewhere as he is taking my turn.

Luckily he can’t devastate me too bad. He does get to spew some of my cards then go for a dig thru time grabbing 2 lands (He almost had to give me a spell! first 6 we flipped were 1 land and 5 bangers). And he bounces his emrakul and says go to my own turn.

I draw a supreme verdict and am able to + teferi and verdict his emrakul away on the way back down.

He can’t really do much with my turn and I am sort of home free. His deck still has 2 URO a Ballista a tracker another JVP and maybe 1-2 other relevant cards.

Over the next few turns I am just blasting castle tokens into play 2 at a time then eventually 3 at a time. I finally find a t5eferi after he has cracked 7 clues and cast 100 uro. I counted his deck at some point and he had 23 cards to my 19; but he was worried (I believe incorrectly) too much about me ultimating my t5eferi and he was just maximizing every clue and URO with no regards for milling. I never came close to ultimating t5eferi bc he resolved a ballista for 4 or so with 12ish lands. But my 15ish castle tokens were doing just fine protecting my already high life total. 

We fight over ballista with my t5eferi and other cards but he was still drawing with uro and trackers, until he finally counts his library and its 9 cards to my 12.

My deck still has 2 verdicts another t5eferi and t3feri (I have both of those in play as well with some reasonable amounts of loyalty but not really threatening ultimate t5feri bc his ballista still around with 3-4 counters)

Upon recounting his deck he gives me a big sense of relief by conceding. He checked the clock and it was getting around 15 minutes, and he knew he would just be wasting time trying to fight thru triple castle and all these tokens with no real good cards left in his deck.

I was pretty sure this was the case, but the way he had been playing really made me think I was missing something. I kept racking my brain for how he was going to get another emrakul or something but the 1 he had was already exiled to lantern and yeah, turns out he was drawing dead.

Open decklists are great, but when u are against a deck with a bunch of 1 ofs like sultai delerium, while also not having played the matchup that much, that 1 minute of review really shrivels up as u sit there wondering why the hell this man is drawing cards with NO REGARDS FOR HUMAN LIFE!

In SBing i try to go quickly as I don’t want Sebastian to feel I got him by wasting time in any way, and also bc if I get beat by a quick TS + Tracker/dispute draw I can fight to win g3 in 10 min or whatever.

G2 is quite interesting as well but the turns are complicated and despite time ticking sebastian is still having to take some time to think. The climax is with only a couple of minutes left he assembles the 4th type with fabled passage thru a lantern and is able to traverse for emrakul threatening to cast it next turn thru a castle garenbrig if he has a land. But i have a cycler plus a teferi in play and with my cycler i find a dig thru time which finds an ashiok and a counterspell and I know it’s over.

I ashiok his graveyard and he concedes (I would likely not be able to kill him in time this game, but I was up 1-0 and he just saved us all some time and conceded)

9-3

No breaks... Next round is up.

R13 Zachary Kiihne Rimrock RED

Zach is great. I don’t actually know him well, but we battled a lot on the ladder of Arena on the Mythic Invy qualifier month. He ended up making it I believe, while I couldn’t close and finished 13th. We played lots of my WW vs his GW tokens where he was inherently favored, but the games were always complex and large board states and he always played quickly and seemed to know where the games were going.

Keeping up that pace at the PT, Zach just fires everything right off!

in G1 I keep a sketchy hand and he has the exact start to punish me. He just plays creature creature creature shock and I do find my 4th land in time but the problem is I don’t have a verdict, and when i draw on t4 it is not verdict and i die. If it was verdict I would also likely die bc I was so low anyway. WTF M8??

Luckily Dream Trawler does not care what happens in g1

in G2 and G3 I use some 2 mana interaction to survive to trawler and I kill him with them. He did have to mulligan and keep a really land heavy hand in one of the games and it hurt him.

There was an interesting spot in g2 where i had both t3feri and t5feri and he had chandra torch of defiance, exiled a card and it was lightning strike. He lightning striked my t5eferi down, then plays another card. A Judge was nearby and came and stopped our game and informed us you can in fact NOT play magic cards exiled with chandra thru T3feri. What a dumb fucking card!

The judge decides we can just back up to the point of exiling, so instead I take 2. Either way I was casting Dig thru time end of turn and going to win trivially but this way I got to keep my t5eferi in play! Thanks Judge and T3feri!!

And yeah again g3 was just him flooding and me playing trawler at a really high life total.

10-3

I finally get a bit of a break as Zach played lightning speed and we got things over with quick. I get some food and get myself amped up for these next few crucial matches.

R14 Connor Cole

Connor is a local Texan who I actually met playing at I believe SCG Dallas recently. He won a PTQ and ended up joining our local Houston guys Slack team and then went on to crush the first 13 rounds of the PT!!!

Unfortunately he ran into the Buzz Saw here; and I had to show him what the last few rounds of a PT are like.

But no jokes aside, Connor is gas and plays really well. He ended up finishing 12-4 and tiebreaker stung into 9th :( But he qued for the final and I expect big things from him in the future.

Our match was a feature, but we were the backup and they had some audio issues.

I actually just threw away the first game being overconfident in my deck. It’s funny when playing a deck like UW control my instincts are to just man up and trust the shit out of my deck. By that I mean I maximize my mana and effeciency even if I am not getting the most out of my cards, bc i trust with all these teferi’s and digs and cyclers I will be able to gain some advantage/find what i need later so long as I am surviving and hitting lands.

My mistake was maximizing mana and a dig thru time where I exiled my elspeth. At the time I was at 9 life and I had already cast a dig hitting some weak sauce, so I figured I would find my absorb or 2 counters and lock the game, but instead i found opt and charm and i fluttered around with my t5eferi as well and could not beat his running burn spells putting me to exactly 0.

If I would’ve just taken 2 seconds to realize I am in no real rush (he was on E or maybe had 1 card) I should’ve just realized I was almost 0% to lose if I just didn’t exile my own Elspeth.

Moral of the story is don’t trust your stupid deck when you already have everything you need!!!

G2 is an absolute nailbiter as I play elspeth and think I’m cruising to Trawler, but chainwhirler eats it promptly.

I then have my 2nd elspeth but 2nd chainwhirler dashes that as well.

I still slam trawler and think It’s mostly very safe, as connor just has chainwhirler kari zev and soul scar mage with me at 9.

But he slams Chandra and minuses on my trawler. I count it up and thank the lord somehow he only has 8 damage. So i give my trawler hexproof keeping a dig thru time, and he puts me to 1. I untap and attack chandra draw and dig before damage, and I have a lot of combo’s that will keep me alive easily. Any  interaction should be good enough and I leave myself 5 mana. I find a verdict and something else gassy so I just go up to 6 from trawler, verdict and then untap with elspeths ready to come back from the yard and I gain 5 and am out of range and clean up shortly after.

G3 is a bit less scary. He does put up a fight but I feel miles ahead at all points having 2 mana interaction and then also hittings lands and playing cards before trawlering on 6 while still quite healthy.

11-3

Now I’m really feeling hyped as I know I have a win and in and I’m just 4 wins from the Trophy!!!

I refocus and am very confident I will win the next round.

R15 Raja Sulaiman WB Gideon Midrange

I don’t know my opponent, but I do know he has a sweet deck. I am looking at the list trying to figure out if I’m extremely happy or a bit sad and can’t really tell. I lean towards happy but could totally see getting annihilated as well.

Luckily the match is mostly uneventful. I lose g1 to double TS Heart History Gideon...

But again, 

Dream Trawler does not care what happens in g1.

12-3

We did it! Back to back PT T8s!! 

Unfortunately the next 20min were very unpleasant instead of happy, but that’s ok. 

The pairings for R16 makeup for it!

I’m at table 1, paired against my teammate Allen Wu who has enough wins to T8 this PT and the next!

I know Allen does not care much for any bullshit, so I am actually a bit worried he is going to want to play me. 

Yes we are teammates, but Allen cares [almost] solely about maximizing his chances of winning the tournaments. I respect him a lot, and I also respect this approach. 

One of 3 things happened; 

-Allen valued his time too much to battle me here for extremely minimal gains.

-Allen thinks there is some chance losing would make him the 2 seed while drawing just locks the 1 seed (I think he was locked 1 seed even if he played me and lost); 

-Allen thinks I/my deck suck and he wants me in the T8

I’m leaning towards some combination of all 3, but who cares he offered to draw and I ACCCCCCEPT!

The final standings shake out with Allen 1 Jacob 2 Me 3. I am playing the 6, Huey, and my teammate Tommy is 7 battling Jacob on my side of the bracket.

My other teammate Corey is battling PETERRR in the 4/5 match.

Our team has 4 people in the T8!!! I know we are like 7% of the tournament, but thats 50%!

Also shoutout to Mark who I believe lost a win and in R15 or so.

Our squad obviously had a really strong showing, with 4 in the T8 and Corey winning it all. But we also just had really solid winrates in limited and constructed despite playing lots of different decks.

This is getting obscenely long. 

This night was actually really annoying bc I spent it telling the same story over and over;

And also on twitter watching lots of people I’ve never met talk about how much of an asshole I am, or how much I cheat, or how bad I am, or whatever is getting the most likes.

I mostly shook it off. I got to tell the story to all the people I care about, and have dinner with a large portion of my team. I had already played my QF matchup post board a bit with Allen before the tournament, so I knew my plans.

Unfortunately it didn’t help me in the games.

I get to bed at a reasonable time and have to be at the site for like 9:15. I’m there before 9 and when I ask if I can go to starbucks I am told yes of course go ahead, but please stay around. And then immediately someone else tells me I won’t be playing until around 11 probably :0

I get starbucks and get back to battle Jacob some in his QF matchup. Mostly to just warmup and help him out, but also to get a feel for he and Tommy’s decks incase I beat Huey. 

We only get a few games in before finding out my match is actually 3rd not 4th, and these BO3 are going quick and I’m about to be up.

While the other match is finishing, we present and draw our hands and get ready to start right when the other match finishes.

I am greeted with 2 censor Opt Farmland Hallowed Fountain Glacial Fortress Supreme Verdict. Not quite the nuts, but a solid A. I’m on the play and Huey mulligans to 5.

We finally start our game and this one hurt. I opt t1 and hit a teferi and keep it, then immediately draw my 4th land so i say go with censor up ready to cycle farmland, huey goes for sylvan scrying before playing land after t1 grazer got him to 2, and i censor it and he says go missing a land drop with 3 cards in his hand.

From here I play teferi to get the jayemdae tomb one every 4 turns going; Huey draws a thespians stage but can’t muster anything else, so he now has 2 UG lands a stage and 3 cards vs my censor cycle land another land and teferi.

Over the next 3-4 turns I draw 2 cards with teferi cycle this farmland and another, opt and charm, and the only playable card I find is a mystical dispute. I draw seal away and all 4 of my verdicts lol.

Huey goes for Granted with 3 mana up, and i have no choice but to dispute and hope to censor after he pays 2 for 1ing myself. I can’t be granted for distortion without a t5eferi in play or any pressure at all.

He responds by cycling vizier to make a mana, and pays for dispute with 1 mana still up. This now means I have to cycle censor looking for a hard counter but i brick. He gets distortion.

The game weirdly goes on for like 8 more turns. He just keeps making more fields with stages but I amass narset elspeth t3feri t5feri. He finally has to go for it despite not having a way to kill me, so he goes for distortion into string strings last card granted for ugin to wipe my planeswalkers; but I’m able to make a 1/1 and chip ugin down to 2. Unfortunately I draw a land, he +s on my token and i make another then draw another land. ANd now I am dead to the fae coming into play, back to hand, finding Jace and having double walker going. I just got beat at my own game!!! He didn’t even breach me!

But yeah, I am feeling a bit frustrated to lose the game despite knowing how bad G1 is. 

When he mulled to 5 and got his scrying censored I believe I was a massive favorite, probably somewhere in the 70s or 80s at least and I just drew only the dead cards.

But now we board in 9-10 cards and regroup!

G2 was really great, and I made like 1 mistake a turn. 

I asked a lot of really good players what they would do on all these turns and almost all of them would make the same mistakes I did. 

Except for Allen; 

and Drunk Tom Ross!

Tom let me know how bad I fucked up, and I really appreciate that. 

Tom said many different things like “awww u really fucked up. U fucked it up bad. Damn u fucked it up”

The games are obviously on camera, but in G2 Huey goes for field + copy it with stage, I field of ruin the stage. 

So his board is forest untapped Lotus Field tapped with 4 cards in hand.

I have T5feri my 4th and 5th land, 2 mystical disputes and absorb.

I untap and draw Elspeth.

The question is should I play it?

Huey has 4 disenchants, 2 disputes, 1 ugin, 1 jace, 1 thought distortion and maybe 1 more card he could bring in.

For the most part his plan is still the same, build up his mana and try to find a window to either thought distortion me, or strings my lands/his lands to make sure he resolves his key card(s).

But I just felt with the 2 disputes and t5eferi I was going to be able to apply meaningful pressure fast enough to not risk tapping out here.

In my head he could just granted for distortion then sort of ignore elspeth for a few turns and fire a distortion then kill me, but that is so unrealistic. First he has to not board the distortion in (I was thinking he like 80% brings it in. Allen brought his in and we felt like that was just correct so I assumed Huey likely would) and then he also has to somehow have perfect mana to get to 6 and then distort me and kill me before dying to this SIX MACHINE elspeth? Its stupid and I shouldve just probably played elspeth.

Not doing so was playing scared/too safe. But it really isn’t that bad or that big of a deal. If huey has a natural 2nd stage into strings I can easily just be dead. But it’s really low % and this is a tough matchup of magic the gathering vs a great player where you can’t just tiptoe around making suboptimal plays bc it makes you feel safe.

Lots of people hesitated and said don’t play it. Tom would have blown like a .40 BAC minimum when I asked him, and he immediately said to play Elspeth.

Anyway Huey untaps and just plays a temple scryland and keeps the card on top, and says go.

So now he has forest lotus field untapped and 4 cards with a banger on top.

My turn.

I draw damping sphere!

I have t5eferi damping sphere elspeth 2 dispute absorb and my 5th land.

Now a a few things go thru my mind here. Huey has 2 disputes but the way he’s played this game make me feel like it’s somewhat unlikely he has one. 

However, if I go for t5feri and he does dispute it’s really ugly. I can go for elspeth with dispute up but that feels too weak.

My options I am actually considering are just jam sphere and counter a disenchant, or jam teferi and have double dispute up if he doesn’t have dispute.

I think it’s somewhat close, but in hindsight it’s actually just an easy T5feri. 

Unfortunately I go for damping sphere which is where Tom says nooooooo u fucked up bad, u really fucked it up.

And Huey immediately floats 3 GREEN? I say ok and he natural states my damping sphere.

Now this is a bit weird to me. I mean he floated 3 green immediately; but he has a forest up. And he has 2 disputes in his deck...

So now I am paranoid that he hasnt a 2nd disenchant. 

But it’s Huey, and it’s a PT T8. I start thinking maybe he is leveling me and trying to get me not to counter it bc he has no dispute and no 2nd disenchant.

Ultimately my plan when playing it was to just fire off a counterspell on disenchant bc if he does have a dispute or 2nd one he will only have 2 cards, and i can just untap t5feri with counterspell. But if he doesn’t successfully kill sphere I am just going to win easily.

So I absorb.

Huey bins the natural state and before he can cast his other one a judge intervenes.

There is a damping sphere in play when i absorb; so obviously I can’t do this bc it should cost 4. I just totally forgot that part of the card even existed. I haven’t cast it in the entire tournament, and in my mind it was just strip mine lotus fields to wastes. 

Even with the speed of everything and huey snap disenchanting I could have seen myself forgetting to count the sphere tax to itself, but I literally just forgot it even had that text for a second there.

Huey also forgot it. The judges stopped us and then asked me what I was thinking, so I just repeated a lot of what I just typed; all the shit I was thinking about him floating green instead of blue etc. then they came back and gave us warnings and said to carry on. Huey apologizes after the game bc he said he totally forgot himself but it looks bad bc he wanted me to absorb bc he had another disenchant.

Anyway, we backup and I have a dead damping sphere and 3 mana up with absorb Huey now knows about. I also have the 2 disputes.

Huey untaps and immediately taps field and forest and plays hidden strings. THen he looks at me lol. I say are you targetting your lands?? He says yes

So yeah, now I am looking at this absorb he knows about. He only has like what 3 cards behind this strings. It’s going to put him to 7 mana. What can he even do? There is no way he’s killing me thru 2 dispute. If he has breach natural i let it resolve, then i dispute strings. If he pays he has 0 mana left and i dispute again untap teferi + and have absorb gg yo

If he has the natural distortion then obviously I need to counter this. But he has ONE and i just showed him absorb. I am thinking to myself, dont be a fool! his hand is probably granteds and pore over the pages and hes trying to bait u into countering this stupid strings!

So I let it resolve, and I get distorted.

This was not a good play!

I could have just disputed the strings. This virtually counters it bc he only had 1 field. So while he couldve paid for dispute, it wouldve tapped him out, and strings resolves untapping only 4 mana. So from there i still have another dispute and he can’t reasonably do anything.

Instead I am empty handed and in dire straights. I do peel t5eferi immediately but i hit land off of it and draw only lands next turn as well, meanwhile huey sets up to kill me over 2 turns and does so.

what a tilting match :(

It really hurts to make such critical mistakes in these high stakes matches, but Magic is really hard and I forgive myself pretty quickly.

I had good reasons for making the plays that I did, but they were just a bit faulty; 

WRONG!

I feel like if I had more time to think things through, or if there were less pressure of the stakes I maybe would have just slammed T5eferi and even Elspeth t4. But i definitely don’t have a good excuse for not disputing strings. Just Huey being Huey and somehow levelling me into punting it all off after i showed him my absorb.

But yeah GG’s YO I ended up 6th for 10k bc Allen lost too :( and 18 points.

I have a really good shot at Rivals now so I am pumped for the PT final and next RPT!

Shoutout again to Corey for winning and all of team 5% for crushing and being gas.

Also shoutout to all the grinders out there still on the outside looking in. 

I see you!

Hopefully I’ll have more reports soon...

PT Finals Victory Report, RPT2 Victory Report...

Let’s get it!!!

[chu-wan-destruction]

hey here are some Shitty post-game troll kingdom ideas

I had a cool convo with @sparkliee so im gonna unlock the secrets of the universe via copy paste

There are only 4 (four) colours of blood, Cerulean, teal, jade, (all jade bloods are rainbow drinkers now, but whether or not they Activate is their own choice) and Candy Red. The population is about equal between them all, 35% red, 21% for the others. The difference is because hybrids exist, and as ppl got older and Libidos came into creation, prospitians, dersites, and humans all have red blood, changing the balance a bit. If a Teal blood and a prospitian were to make a baby, it would have red blood to support the prospitian features. It would be far more unbalanced if the species had been resurrected more than 20 years ago, but the balance will tip largely eventually. There are only four blood colors b/c the trolls that had them lived, and everyone else died to hard to get the genetic material back. (it  has to be jizz, unfortunately) and no one  wants to EVEN THINK abt gamzee here, lets b real.

The hemospectrum hierarchy can't even exist with so few blood colours, especially since the population amounts per colour are so even. Should things shift enough, or purple bloods return so there's more colours, the hemospectrum won't come back because it's Shitty, and the Kungeys would kick ur ass into the nth dimension if u tried to bring it back.

Before terezi hoofed it to find vriska, she oversaw the justice system in the trollian kingdom, and helped improve others elsewhere!!!! She was on earth for 5 years and set up all the laws, and how to deal with people that break them.

No Murder. Its illegal, just like it is in the rest of the world. No matter what, you cannot assist in a suicide bc thats murder!!!! if someone does you dirty, and not in a kissmesis way, u tell the Cops in your CH or area!!! (they can be found where the info gatherers are)

No Stealing. things still belong to people u stupid head, just barter with them for it!!!! Refusing to give service for something also counts as theft!!! if its not up for sale, or its in their h o m e, fUCK OFF!!!!!!! the punishment for this ranges, depending on previous arrests and the importance of said item. IF YOU STEAL A  P E R S O N YOU CAN BE HELD TO THE SAME STANDARD AS A MURDER!!!!!!!!!!!

Attempting to Bring Harm to another person is illegal, Unless That Person Is Your Kissmesis. You cant just assault someone if you’re in a bad mood!!!! Get ur kissmesis and a bucket, Dave’s sake. 

Attempting to Spread Ideals that Contradict That of The New State is Illegal. this might sound like "don't criticize the government or u go to jail" but its just dont bring back shit like the hemospectrum, anything like that. No nazis in our country.

Those are the big 4, basically anything else falls into one of those. (rape is #3 but even if its ur kissmesis its illegal.)

The jury Was, at first, the best lawyers terezi could find, but as time went on, actual Trolls took those places. Its 7 people, a prosecutor and defence lawyer, and the judge.  Since there's so little crime (b/c ppl are happy and don't feel the need to do Bad Stuff) Terezi herself is the Judge (while she was gone it was Rose), and shit gets INTENSE!!!! Its innocent until proven guilty on paper, but terezi is far more "guilty until proven innocent"-minded, so these trials can get S P I C Y. there was a small spike in crime for the first, like year or so, while terezi was gone looking for vriska. Once she was back, things changed back to normal. There has only been about 375 cases in the whole 20 years, most disputes over if something was "paid off" properly. Those are solved pretty easy. There has only been a couple dozen reports of #3, two of #1, and none of #4. There has only been about 375 cases in the whole 20 years, most disputes over if something was "paid off" properly. Those are solved pretty easy. There has only been a couple dozen reports of #3, two of #1, and none of #4.

Its been abt 20 years since the kiddos arrived on earth, and the trolls took their new kingdom to like, northern africa and the whole kingdom is no bigger than iran

It's just barter instead of money, and since money doesn't "exist," ppl just sort of, do stuff like build roads and stuff at the request of the Kringles, and they give them stuff in return. When dealing with other cultures that use currency, trolls kind of do that "if u give me a free coffee i'll clean your kitchen for u" thing. Other countries are p respectful abt the whole thing. 

Jobs are abundant, as trolls can do Lots of stuff humans can't (psiconics, animal communication, mind control) but they also do regular stuff in their society, like cook, clean, and do service jobs.

There are Communal Hives along with the regular 1 troll hive. Communal hives are like, first nations log houses (idk if u know what that is but its VERY accurate to what im going for here) but REALLY big buildings. There can be anywhere from 60 to 250 trolls living in a single communal hive. Once a troll turns, like 10, they can make the choice of going to a CH (communal hive) or staying on their own. This decision can be changed at any time, but all the stuff u have to do to get in a CH (like proof of identity, ur passport, the stuff u got) is more complicated the older you get. People still got lussi, but there are far more rules on what types of creatures can even be lussi (Vriska's for example, just wouldn't happen), and one would also get to take your lusus with you when you enter it. It’s the school and living space of most trolls.

Politics don't really exist for trolls?? Whoever is incharge of your CH tells "info collectors" what the deal with stuff is, then its overseen and sent off to the royals (kanaya+karkat) so they can do stuff. Ppl that live on their own have info collectors assigned to an area, and if u live there u tell them the deal. 

Cities in Troll Town (i dont got a name yet r ip) are basically just out door malls? like they got hotels ("u sleep here but u gotta fix it after, capiche?? and do ur own dishes, for Dave's sake") and stuff, but they're mostly hUGE barter places, where u trade stuff for other stuff. Things like libraries are in CH's but u can find more expansive ones in cities, there are universities, places u go when u want to learn more, and they're just university but Good, and most cities have a couple CH's in the area (like half a mile away or so) so ppl can actually. Go there. 

Trollian cities like Captor, Medigo, Ampora (yes i named them after the dead kiddos b/c they need to be remembered somehow) are H U G E attractions to other races. 

Ampora is a coastal town, big in fishing, and you can take tours of the waters there in submarines and stuff, theres lots of resorts.

Captor is mostly technology based, with Universities creating Cool New stuff all the time. Imagine troll tokyo.

Medigo is right in the desert, and has the biggest population of non-trolls in the trollian kingdom, humans mostly, b/c theres lots of stuff about history there, and the most expansive shows telling the tales of the gods (basically a play of all of homestuck) are there.

Knowledge of the gods and their stories are treated as history lessons all over the globe, and knowing what to do should you be chosen to play the game is knowledge as universal as knowing what friendship is. U gotta know this stuff, just in case. 

[help-on-four-paws]

Do you have any disabled/sd dating tips?First dates,when to tell what,getting them used to being w/ a team in public,awkward interactions,business denials,when it limits what you can do,not being able to work,medical bills,genetics and kids talk,ect.

Oh lord.

I shared this with a friend, and we both cracked up – if you knew me, you’d know that I’m probably not a solid source for dating advice lol.  On my last date, I ended up mentioning that I’d been the victim of abuse, which apparently isn’t something you generally mention on a first date (in my defense, the person also had a chronic illness and we were sharing “journey to a diagnosis” stories).  My dating skills (actually, even just my people sills) are approximately 0.

I’ll try to break this down section by section.

When to Tell What

Well, I have the social grace of a drunk hippopotamus, so my general philosophy tends to be “love me, love my crap” (apparently).  I tend to go through phases of Say All The Things™ and then being super sketched out about sharing too much too soon.  This is a horrible, cop-out answer, but share things as they come up?  A lot of what’s been brought up can probably be saved until things start getting a bit more serious and probably isn’t first date material.

Getting Them Used to Being with a Team in Public

I haven’t dated a whole lot, tbh.  Part of it is being a serial monogamist who wants to hammer out all the details upfront, part of it is having found and subsequently lost the love of my life and being nervous/cynical about going “fishing” again, and part of it is just the amount of time and energy that having a chronic illness takes.  As far as the last two people I’ve casually gone on dates with, the first one had a class with me and was used to having my service dog around, and the other one is in a chronic illness group with me and is used to service dogs.  So my experience is massively limited.  I’d probably (briefly) explain to them service dog etiquette (and then if they blatantly disregard it, they’re probably not a keeper).  Everyone I’ve seen/been with has essentially just ignored Kelsie and hasn’t made a big deal of her being there, but I guess they knew about her beforehand so my experiences are biased?

Awkward Interactions

Laugh it off?  I mean, that’s my general philosophy for relationships/sex in general (I mean, two naked people in one room - how awkward is that?!).  If your date seems a little sketched out/overwhelmed, you can share a funny story about another awkward interaction you had once to lighten the mood a bit.

Business Denials

If you have an access dispute on a date, then that’s a solid chance to be like, “This happens a lot.”  I’ve found that people are curious about taking a dog everywhere with you, so if your date wants to know what it’s like, then you can mention that access issues happen from time to time.  And if neither of those happen…they’ll probably happen at some point?

When It Limits What You Can Do

That may even come out on the first date.  Them: “Hey, wanna go rock climbing and then do a triathlon after?” You: “…” It’ll slowly unfold as more dates occur because they’ll learn your limitations as you go.  If you have any major limitations (e.g. “I will die if you expose me to peanuts”), I’d probably say that upfront because life is much more important than not scaring away a potential partner.

Not Being Able to Work

I guess that’ll come up if your date asks, “So, what do you do?”  It’s not something to be ashamed about, and if your date judges you for it, then they’re not worth it.  Like, they should be forgiving enough to understand that you have health issues that complicate your life, and if they’re not, then they’re probably not even someone you should keep around as a friend?

Medical Bills

Financials can be awkward even when they’re not related to health, so I’d probably save this topic until things start getting a bit more serious.

Genetics and Kids Talk

This can also be a wee bit awkward even when a chronic illness/disability isn’t involved.  My philosophy is that if they’re squeamish about talking about the future/kids/stuff like that, then we’re probably not compatible.  I notoriously say that the #1 most important thing in any relationship (even platonic ones tbh) is communication.  And if a partner is squeamish about communicating about goals and whatnot?  Then that’s probably not someone I want to pursue, because I’m not here to train them how to communicate (I’ve also had a really bad experience with a friend/potential romantic interest who was absolutely abhorred about communication of any kind, so I’m kind of salty about teaching a partner the basics of communication.  And I’m not talking about the kind of “I’m autistic so I can’t understand vocal inflection” kind of communication difficulties that can arise: I’m honestly talking about someone not being able to communicate what they want/like/etc.).

Other Stuff

I just attack stuff as they come up?  I just kind of blunder blindly through the forest without following the preset path?  So I guess you can do the same?  Or don’t?  I just figure that I don’t have the time/energy to beat around the bush for the next five centuries, so I like to just lay everything out on the table and let the other person decide whether they like who I am enough to see past my problems (which, tbh, is a key part of any relationship).

I hope this wasn’t as massively unhelpful as it feels to me!  I honestly have limited experience and no social tact, so I’m a less-than-ideal guru on this.  With anything remotely related to romance, I run to my friends asking “What do I doooo?!?!?!?!”  So I guess my best advice is to get a person who understands Normal People Things™ and have them help you navigate the terrain?

Also, I don’t do casual relationships/sex, so idk how to navigate that terrain at all.  I’m in it for the long haul (re: “serial monogamist”) and I honestly just don’t have the time/energy for casual stuff.  So most of my answers are biased towards long-term romantic relationships.