#subplot: this is halloween

[lostoneshq]

HALLOWEEN BEGINS.

subplot de outono!

Você acorda e sente que tudo está diferente. O azul das manhãs limpas de verão no Reino dos Perdidos é substituído por tons alaranjados, como se o céu tivesse adoecido. O sol esconde-se por trás de nuvens espessas e acinzentadas, mas não há previsão nenhuma de chuva. Com o passar do dia, raios arroxeados dão pinceladas sobre o laranja e abrem espaço para o entardecer em uma explosão de alaranjado e roxo... Logo em seguida, a noite cai, e ela é tão escura que as duas luas e as estrelas que caem do céu não são suficientes para iluminá-la por completo como antes faziam. O Outono chega. O Halloween começa.

Você não demora para descobrir que o Mundo das Histórias comemora o Halloween com tanto ardor quanto o outro mundo. Talvez até mais. Antes do Reino dos Perdidos, os eventos desse período do ano costumavam ser os mais esperados no calendário historiano — Fantasma da Ópera e Frankenstein fizeram as suas estreias no Mundo das Histórias durante o Halloween; Merlin e Feiticeiro casaram-se no Halloween; a Rainha Branca deu o seu célebre baile de máscaras que uniu todos os reinos também no Halloween; e, uma vez, Astrid e Soluço fizeram uma pegadinha de Halloween com os habitantes do Mundo das Histórias, colocando os dragões para perseguirem reis e rainhas de diferentes reinos pedindo por doces (ovelhas) ou travessuras (queimá-los vivos), o que resultou no banimento temporário do casal de Berk do Conselho das Histórias — mas eles voltaram depois! Há quem goste e há quem não goste, no entanto, uma coisa é inegável: os habitantes clássicos sabem como aproveitar a temporada do pavor... E eles não costumam fazer isso sozinhos. Na Floresta das Fadas, um castelo de pedras escuras se ergue entre as montanhas. As nuvens sombrias que pairam sobre ele relampejam à cada instante e os raios caem nos telhados pontiagudos, estalando contra os pedregulhos. Um caminho de barro serpenteia em direção ao castelo, porém, uma placa de madeira podre avisa: "CASTELO DO DRÁCULA — NÃO SE APROXIME SEM UM CONVITE. ESTOU FALANDO SÉRIO. NÃO SE APROXIME SEM UM CONVITE OU MORRERÁ!!" Você lê a placa e decide que é melhor não se aproximar sem um convite mesmo... Mas espera que possa ganhá-lo algum dia. Na Avenida Principal, uma feira se estende entre os estabelecimentos do reino. Pequenos comerciantes, aqueles habitantes que não possuem nenhum papel além de "figurantes" nos livros das notórias histórias desse mundo, ganham destaque na feira, vendendo os seus produtos voltados para o Halloween — comidas, bebidas, decorações muito realistas como aranhas vivas, sapos, olhos humanos e caveiras são vendidos na feira.

Em toda rua que você vira ou estabelecimento que você entra, há decorações voltadas para o Halloween. Nenhuma loja, nem mesmo a confeitaria da Vovó, escapa das teias gigantes de aranha, abóboras com expressões malignas, caveiras que se mexem ou coisas piores. É claro que como tudo nesse mundo, as decorações são mágicas e cada proprietário de estabelecimento entra no clima. Mais tarde, durante a aula do Centro de Contenção de Crise, você aprende que Drácula não é o único habitante temporário de Halloween do Mundo das Histórias. Alguns portais para o que se conhece como a "Outra Dimensão" estão espalhados por aí e muitos reconhecem Coraline quando ela aparece para dar as boas vindas aos perdidos mais tarde. Infelizmente, também não é qualquer um que pode transitar entre esse e o mundo de Coraline livremente: você precisa encontrar uma chave mágica antes de atravessar o portal e fazer uma visita à Outra Dimensão, ou ficará preso nela para sempre. As chaves estão por aí, então esteja atento! Em seus passeios por essa nova versão sombria do Reino dos Perdidos, você acaba encontrando com mais nomes que compõem alguns clássicos góticos do outro mundo e que os livros estão de passagem por aqui durante o Halloween: Jack, Sally, Dr. Jekyll e Hyde, Emily, Lestat, Carmilla, Dorian Gray... E até alguns que você não conhece o nome, mas que sabe que são figuras clássicas de Halloween, como fantasmas vagando por aí, vampiros, alguns lobisomens que não são parentes do Lobo Mau (e não pergunte se são!), esqueletos... Nenhum deles teve ainda a sorte de serem eternizados no Mundo das Histórias como Frankenstein e Fantasma da Ópera, mas nunca se sabe... Quem sabe uma dessas visitas não se tornará moradia fixa? Espere... Melhor não, né? Pelo menos não enquanto o Mundo das Histórias continuar nesse caos com as histórias sendo modificadas...

CONHEÇA A LOJA DE HALLOWEEN E COMPRE AS SUAS ATRAÇÕES!

OOC.

Esse foi o contexto do cenário do RP durante os próximos tempos. Nada disso aqui é o evento, apenas ADIÇÕES AO CENÁRIO. O evento de Halloween acontecerá apenas no final de Outubro. Os personagens não sabem qual será a temática do evento e vocês também não!

PORÉM, com esse subplot, teremos uma dinâmica de COMPRAS. Estou me inspirando no evento de Halloween que teve em outro RP meu, o Legacies. Vocês irão trocar interações, POVs e edits por moedas para comprarem atrações para o Halloween dos personagens de vocês no RP. Está tudo explicado na página da loja!

Esse subplot começa agora e não têm data prevista para acabar ainda, afinal, o Outono está só começando.

Personagens que são proprietários de estabelecimentos podem criar decorações para as suas lojas! Lembrando que tudo é mágico por aqui, então deixem a criatividade fluir.

Todos os citados, como Drácula, Coraline, Jack, Sally, etc, são NPCs! Mas vocês podem usá-los em suas interações à vontade.

De resto, tudo continua normal até o evento!

POR FAVOR, NÃO DESCUMPRAM COM AS REGRAS DA LOJA! Ou seja, não façam interações em lugares que precisam ser comprados, como o castelo do Drácula, sem terem, de fato, comprado. Eu mandarei excluir.

[cyclopsboxhead]

For every Christian Ward and Jill Thompson there's a Tony S. Daniel to show that just because you draw comics well doesn't automatically make you good at writing them.

[jennablackmorebooks]

seasonally appropriate vampire nonsense discord status

[larissa-the-scribe]

🧙‍♀️

Response to a question from this ask game!

Question: favorite part of 1 Sam 28?

The continuation of the background subplot wherein David is in hiding from Saul and lying to Achish's face about having RuN aWaY from Israel he is Against them now for Sure he has packed his rucksack and left and will Fight Them meanwhile Achish is like. "David. this dude. He's the best."

Specifically verse 2 where Achish decides to make David his bodyguard for life ✨

Honorable mentions:

Samuel ratting out Saul's undercover identity to the medium from beyond the grave

The medium and Saul's men having to browbeat him into accepting food because he was being angsty again (seriously Saul you gotta eat why do you keep doing this last time you almost got your son killed)

[egophiliac]

Hello ! I positively adore the running joke of Idia unknowingly finding Lilia to be the coolest guy ever whenever he doesn't know it's him, like when Silver described his father, or obviously with muscle red. I can't say what'd be funnier, Idia finding out his online best friend is actually Lilia, resident spooky hyper fairy; or them both never finding out, and it'd become even more ridiculous as time goes on. How do you think it'll play out ? You're always so on point

(Also, though it makes sense, I'm still devastated bat boy didn't get a ticket for the Halloween skeleton train : ( does anyone mentions him at some point ? Like how he'd have fit right in with all those Halloween town little freaks, and how he'd have impressed them with his spooks and scared techniques; after all he's been every Briar Valley's children worst fear on Halloween for centuries. I'm on the eng server and I didn't wanna spoil myself by watching the whole thing on youtube)

Have a nice day !

you and me both, Idia and Lilia being oblivious online BFFs (+ Idia being incredibly intimidated any time Silver brings up his jock gamer dad) is my favorite running joke/subplot. 🤝 it's SO good, to the point where I also am unsure if I actually want it to ever be resolved or not...maybe, like, as a post-canon stinger or something? everyone's standing around covered in overblot ink, and Idia and Lilia's phones go off at the same time...

(legit I do think this is part of why Idia couldn't be present for Lilia's dream, because for some reason Lilia decided he was going to just. embody his past self online. he probably quotes his own battle strategies or whatever in the middle of boss fights. Idia didn't pick up on the whole "oh how weird that we both live on a super remote island" thing, but he would spend thirty seconds listening to General Lilia describing siege warfare and be like "w-wait")

all that aside, however it does end up happening, I do see Lilia being very blasé and all "oh! cool!" about it. y'know, taking it very much in stride! and Idia...very much not.

(can't tell if tumblr is going to chew this into illegibility or not, this will be a fun surprise ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ)

as for Lilia sadly missing out on Halloweentown shenanigans...he does get one little mention as part of an offhand reference to the light music club, but so far no one has brought up how this basically is just Lost In the Book of Liliatown (Sebek's been too busy yelling about not getting to be in the same group as Malleus). 😔 honestly though, it's probably for the best that he got left out, because he would just settle right in and refuse to ever leave. canon would shatter. we would miss out on all the delightful angst of episode 7 because Lilia is too busy eating poisonous shrubbery inbetween practicing his very best screams, and no one can pull him away from it.

(I can hope for a sequel next year though...)

[buddierealm]

ʚ MISTAKES NEVER LAST — e. diaz x reader

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5 Wordcount: 4.2k Summary: You spend Halloween with the Diaz household. But first, some high silliness. Warnings: canon compliant drugging (this subplot was crazy), taylor slander (sorry), descriptions of LSD/acid trip, handcuffed kiss (lol), mentions of nsfw content, workplace romance (HR hates them), straight up loser4loser A/N: whyyy does Ryan look so babygirl in this gif HELP ME. i NEED to jump Eddie Diaz's bones NOW

You're halfway done with the brownie by the time Hen, Buck, and Eddie come up the stairs to uncover the crimes you're committing. It's firehouse tradition to announce whenever baked goods are dropped off. It's all about the idea that you all deserve these treats equally and blah, blah, blah. But you're so hungry after 20 hours of being on call, and these brownies just looked too good to resist in the moment.

You stuff the rest of the brownie in your face and chew as quickly as you can, but it's too late. You've already been caught.

Bobby laughs from somewhere off to the side, leaning on the kitchenette island, with a cup of coffee in hand.

“I did tell her to call you guys up before taking one,” he says, completely ratting you out.

“Hey! You literally just got done eating one,” you protest, with your mouth still full.

He smiles and takes a sip of his coffee, “Yeah, but I didn't get caught.”

“Traitor,” Buck whispers, as he passes by.

You continue to chew on the bite of brownie in your mouth, frowning at him. By the time you've swallowed, Eddie comes up to you, impressively juggling two pieces of fudge brownie and two cups of milk with ice. He hands you one of each and you set them on the firehouse's dinner table.

You look up at him, smiling, and he laughs out loud, right in your face. Your expression shifts into a sadder one.

“Sorry, amor. You've just got a little, um...” he reveals, pointing at your chin.

He licks his thumb and then rubs it on your chin. He then turns his finger around to show you. It's chocolate. Yep. You're totally ignoring how such a simple action is making your stomach do backflips, as he wipes his thumb onto a piece of tissue.

You look around to make sure no one's looking, and then you lean in to press a kiss to the corner of his mouth very quickly. At that, he shoots you a toothy grin. It isn't exactly like you're hiding your relationship from the firehouse, but you don't want to make anyone uncomfortable. And, you don't want anyone to think they get to have an opinion on the relationship, because they absolutely don't. They've probably already made up their minds and placed their bets, but it's better if you don't hear about any of it at work.

Plus, you've both been a little hyper vigilant about keeping it all under wraps with that Taylor Kelly walking around with cameras like she owns the damn place. The last thing you need is to end up on national TV as the poster children for inter-department firefighter couples.

The next 20 minutes of your shift are spent cracking jokes and catching up about said seemingly never-ending shift over brownies and ice-cold milk.

“Ugh, I just hope we don't get any calls in the next three hours. I need a good 12 hours of sleep before I can be in charge of anyone's emergencies,” you rant.

The conversation is cut short by Chimney walking into the common area with the camera man who's been haunting your dreams. You roll your eyes, and make quick work of getting up to walk to the kitchenette. Eddie stands up too, as the camera follows Chim to the middle of the dinner table, where you both sat moments ago.

Once you realize what he's talking about to the camera, you have to bite your lip to keep from laughing. He's about to get the disappointment of his life. When he opens the empty plastic container where the brownies had been before being completely ravaged, and shows it to the camera, you snicker quietly.

“Serious, you guys? You couldn't even leave me any crumbs?” he yells, trying to seem as outraged as possible.

Buck passes by the camera with an exaggerated expression on his face, “Ooh, Chim, you missed out.”

“Chocolate?” Howie asks.

The camera pans to Eddie at the side of the table, as he takes a bite from what's left of his brownie, “Mmm. Fudge, with nuts.”

“I love fudge with nuts.”

Hen has a grimace on her face as the cameraman directs his lens at her, “Oh, damn, you would've loved these because...” she pauses to take a bite, “scrumptious.”

Chimney looks dejectedly towards the camera, and starts complaining.

You laugh out loud at his comments, which makes the cameraman instinctively point the camera towards you, as you're leaning on your arms against the kitchenette counter. You have to physically restrain yourself from knocking it out of his hands, and having a word with Taylor about the boundaries of filming intimate moments between coworkers for fame. Luckily for him and the redhead journalist you aren’t too fond of, the station bell rings and you all start making your way to the firetruck.

The speakers blare a few messages.

Attention, Station 118. Medical aid. Unknown injury. PD's responding.

You all cram into the firetruck, as you hear Taylor question where Captain Nash is going to be. You love the man like a father, but you're so happy she's targeting him in this moment. Anything, if it gets her and her camera off your back. The sound of Chim slamming the firetruck door in her face brings you immense relief. You're not sure how much longer you can handle being watched as you do your job without snapping.

You and Eddie are sitting shoulder to shoulder in the firetruck, when he starts rubbing his nose. You look at him with a raised eyebrow.

“What's up?” you ask.

“Nothing. Allergies are going crazy today,” he explains.

You nod, but it doesn't really register in your brain. You widen your eyes, trying to focus on the firetruck and the call you're on. But your mind keeps focusing on these spots dancing in your vision, like little rainbow specs of dust.

You can hear Buck say something that grabs your attention, “I can see the pollen.”

Or like pollen. It's probably pollen, considering he can see it too. Definitely just pollen.

A tune plays in your ear, distant but close enough to touch. It's the pollen. You can hear it in your mind. Now you're sure it's real.

Once you've arrived, you enter the beauty pageant with your bag on your shoulder. There are balloons planets, and decorations swirling patterns everywhere, like in space. You can feel every color and pattern deep in your bones. You're pretty sure you could meet God in a few seconds. You walk closer to Buck and put a hand on his shoulder.

“Did these beauty queens shrink, or are we suddenly giants?” he asks.

It makes you laugh, although you aren't exactly sure who he's talking about, “Huh?”

He puts a hand on the side of your face and redirects your gaze to a bunch of tiny humans right in front of you. They're all dressed like normal people, but they're small. They're so small, you could pick one up and keep it. You won't, but you could. Maybe you will, eventually, when you stop tasting your colors instead of hearing them. No, touching them? Seeing. Yep. Seeing.

Your eyes are wide and crazed as you stare between the small humans, mouth wide open. Athena comes up to your little group, and says something you're not quite registering.

“Hey Athena,” Buck says, “They're, like, the tiniest ladies I've ever seen.”

You giggle at his words and stare up at Athena. Her face makes you frown and you clear your throat.

“Your face looks weird, 'Thena,” you confess, nodding at your own assessment.

“Excuse me?” she responds.

Buckley's voice comes high-pitched from beside you, “Teeny-tiny. Just...”

You laugh again and stare at the little humans, unblinking, as Eddie agrees.

You click your teeth together, as you're being questioned by Athena and Chimney.

Chimney shouts, “Guys, look at me. Do you know where we are?”

“We're everywhere, man,” Eddie replies.

You nod and agree. Then, you walk up to one of the teeny weeny ladies and take her hand. You spin her around, like you're about to dance the waltz, and then bend down to ask her a question loudly.

“Hey! Would you like to come home with me? I bet I could fit you into my pocket,” you ask, signing your words to her, like she's the idiot, and you're completely sane.

Suddenly, you're being pulled away by Athena and put in handcuffs outside. The cuffs make you feel dizzy, and you stare up at the ceiling to zero in on the swirling patterns in your mind. A sound sets off the alarms in your mind and you immediately look beside you to find Eddie crying.

“What's going on? I don't like this,” he whines.

You pout towards him, as Buck makes fun of him. Athena tells him to breathe, and he closes his eyes to breathe dramatically for a moment. You tune everyone out and look at Eddie.

Once he's done freaking out, he looks around and finds you staring at him. You smile and he takes a deep breath and smiles back. He leans in, making the most exaggerated kissy face possible. He gives you a peck on the lips, which you return immediately.

“Mmm, thank you,” he says, when he pulls back.

You laugh loudly at him and rock in place, humming to yourself.

Later, in the cop car, on the way to the station, Athena separates you both with Buck in the middle. You lay your forehead on the glass window, comforted by the cold sensation. You suddenly feel compelled to talk about how beautiful life is, how much there is to live for, about love and joy and contentment. You close your eyes, colors still dancing in your vision, and try to even out your breathing. You have montages of memories flooding your mind, happy, content memories. A specific memory on a couch somewhere in the middle of space and time keeps playing on loop.

“Hey, Eddie?” you call out.

He responds with a hum, and you hear him move to look at you.

“I love you too. A lot,” you confess, sighing.

Buck laughs and leans back into his seat, “Awww.”

You hate taking orders, you always have. Especially when it comes to your personal life, but when Athena Grant orders someone to do something, they do it. So, here you are, still at the fire station, coming down from your high slow. Athena forbade any of the people who got dosed to drive and insisted everyone stay at the firehouse until they're sober enough to not be deemed a threat.

You're laying down on the top bunk of one of the beds in the station, when you hear someone come up the ladder heavily. You peek at the unknown person from behind your arm, where it's shielding your eyes from the light.

It's Eddie. And he has a bottle of water in hand. You pat the barely empty space beside you on the small bed, and he lays down there. He hands you the water bottle, and you accept it gratefully.

“You should rehydrate,” he informs you.

You nod, and pull the cap off of the bottle. He switches to laying on his side to watch you. You sit up and take a long sip of water, gulping down what's practically half of the amount in the bottle. You sigh, as the water slides down your throat. You close the cap back up tightly and then put the bottle between you. You lay down in his same exact position to stare into his eyes.

“Hi,” he says.

You smile, “Hey.”

The comedown from LSD isn't exactly the most pleasant feeling ever, but having Eddie here makes it so much better. His fingers come up to run through your hair. You close your eyes and resist the urge to sigh, just like you had when you were drinking water.

You yawn, and while you know you shouldn't exactly sleep here, considering your shift's been over for a little over 6 hours, you let your eyelids get heavy. It's a testament to how much you trust him to wake you up, to still be here even if you drift off.

Halloween finally rolls around. The big thing around these days is Trick or Trunk-ing. Plus, the candy's usually safer, and this one event, set earlier in the day, means you have enough time to get back home and have a movie night. So, that's what you and Eddie decided you'd do with Chris. You're incredibly nervous when you show up at their front porch, shoulder bag resting on your left arm.

You ring the doorbell, and are immediately greeted with Carla, who has a headband with two pumpkins popping out of it, like antennas, on. You smile at her, as she embraces you in a warm hug. You'd met her once before, over a FaceTime call, as she was leaving after spending a few hours helping Eddie look after Chris. She's just as delightful in real life. She grabs your bag to set it down somewhere with such confidence, you'd guess this might be her house too if you didn't know any better.

“Don't you look gorgeous,” she says.

You're in jean capris, and a white button-up, with the last few buttons unbuttoned and the excess material tied at your waist. Your hair has been teased and twisted mercilessly to replicate the character you’re dressed up as. It's from Dirty Dancing, and also the only costume you could put together on such short notice.

You thank her and return the compliment, as Eddie walks through the living room door and into the room adjacent to the front door. Carla walks into the living room, presumably to be with Chris, and you catch her wiggle her eyebrows at Eddie. It makes you burn up a little, considering you aren't too used to anyone acknowledging your relationship.

You burst out laughing at his costume, once you fully take it in. He pulls the fake gun out of the costume holster on his cargos for dramatic effect and points it at you.

“What are you supposed to be?” you ask, “Some kind of modern Captain Hook?”

“What? No!” he whisper-shouts disappointedly, as he walks closer to you and puts the costume gun back.

You giggle at him and step closer too, “I'm just kidding! Escape from New York, right?”

He nods in confirmation.

You put an arm on his chest to soften the blow, “Don't you think you're a little lacking in the hair department to be Snake Plissken, though?”

His eyebrows raise at your comment. He puts his arms around your waist, cold hands coming to rest on your bare back. The feeling makes you shiver.

“Oh, yeah? Okay, baby,” he says, referencing the character from your costume's nickname in the movie.

But, it still makes you melt in his arms anyway. It seems his goal has been achieved as he beams victoriously.

His eyes have a distant look in them a moment later, his smile wiped away completely. You frown at him, putting your fingers onto his chin to pull his attention back.

“Hey, what's wrong?”

You pause, “Something I did?”

“Or, didn't do?” your frown evolves into a grin, then.

He smiles again, and your hand comes up to rest on his cheek instead.

“No, no. Don't worry about it. Just problems with Chris' new school,” he explains.

As you're about to probe for further information, Chris and Carla walk into the entrance. You and Eddie pull back, but his hand remains on the small of your back. You grin widely at Chris.

“Woah, how cool is that costume?” you ask rhetorically.

You introduce yourself and allow Chris to introduce himself too. It isn't the first time you're meeting, because he'e been by the station before and he's seen you on calls with Eddie, but you feel the need to be formally introduced to him. Not just as a firefighter who works with Eddie, or someone he calls on the phone sometimes, but his girlfriend. After a few moments of small talk, with Carla and Eddie chiming in every moment to smooth out the conversation, you walk over to your bag and pull out a handful of candy.

“Would you do me the honor of letting me give you your very first handful of candy of the day?” you propose, dramatically getting down on one knee with your palm open in front of him.

He laughs and accepts your offer by pushing his candy basket towards your hand, nodding. You drop the handful of candy into his basket with a smile, as Carla announces you should all be heading out for the Trunk-Or-Treating event.

Once you're done setting Eddie's truck up for kids to pass by, you all decide you and Eddie, and Carla are going to alternate between watching the truck and walking with Chris.

Right now, you and Eddie are on candy passing duty beside the truck. You compliment the kids' costumes as they pass by and the parents compliment yours in return. You share jokes and silently judge all of the other parents in between passing candy out.

When Chris and Carla come back, you trade shifts so you and Eddie can walk with Chris for a bit, as Carla passes out some candy. You both stay a few steps behind with Chris walking in front of you. You don't want to encroach in case anyone wants to come by to make friends with him, and you both accidentally intimidate them.

Towards the end of the car lineup, you pass by a truck with very colorful decorations and halloween-y string lights set up all around. It looks like a single mother's the one passing out all of the candy. She smiles at Chris and compliments his costume profusely, as she puts a few handfuls of candy into his bucket.

“Thank the lady, Chris,” Eddie reminds gently.

Chris nods, “Mhm, thanks.”

“Good job,” you praise. It should feel a little out of place, considering you've just met him but the kid feels closer to being family than not already.

As Chris smiles at you and walks away, too distracted with counting his candy to respond, the woman starts complimenting your costumes.

“You all look so great. And you seem like amazing parents too. I'm sure he'll grow up to be an amazing young man,” she says.

Before either of you can respond to correct her, she begins talking to another group of kids who've come to get some candy from her. You both walk away to follow Chris. You can see Eddie doesn't look as opposed to the whole idea as he maybe should be.

“Thank you!” he shouts back, once you've already walked quite a few steps away, like he's just remembered his manners. The woman grins in response.

You laugh at him, as you walk hand in hand back to the truck. Once you're there, you realize there's almost no candy left. It seems Carla's quite heavy-handed with the amount of candy she hands out. It's a testament to her big heart, you suppose. And it just means you all get to head home a little earlier.

You duck into the truck and Eddie drives you all home. Carla quickly packs her stuff at the house and heads out, citing her husband being home soon for the rush. You make sure to thank her profusely for all of her help, despite not being the one to have enlisted it.

When she leaves, you’re left alone at the entrance with Chris and Eddie. Eddie helps his son remove the claws from his Wolverine costume off of his hands, and his shoes off of his feet. You lean on the wooden console table beside the front door, smiling at the scene.

“Anyone want popcorn?” Eddie asks, walking into the adjoining kitchen.

Chris' response comes immediately, “Yes!”

You nod as well. Eddie pops a bag of popcorn in the microwave and then turns to you both. You're talking to Chris, asking if he had any fun, telling him about all of the cool costumes you saw, while reassuring him that his was definitely the coolest and that even all of the parents said as much.

Eddie urges you both into the living room by waving his hands, “C'mon, you guys can pick a movie for us to watch while I bring the popcorn over.”

Chris guides you into the space, playing the role of a very gracious host, as he rambles on about all of the movies you could watch and all of the candy he's going to eat. He sits down at the couch. You spot the remote over on the coffee table and grab it. You open the TV, and he tells you to get onto the Netflix app.

You do as you're told, clicking the remote's buttons until you're on the Netflix homepage. You see three accounts there, instead of two, though.

Eddie and Chris obviously have different profiles. They have matching profile pictures from a popular cartoon show you've tuned in to watch a few times when nothing else has grabbed your attention. Then, there's a third one titled 'Shannon.' You're not sure how to react.

Eddie's never brought up his ex-wife. Not by name, anyway. Just one or two times in passing, and in a bitter enough tone to make you understand what she did wasn't something he'd like to discuss this early in a relationship. You didn't probe any further around the topic, so as not to make him uncomfortable, but this is kind of making you realize you don't even know how recent their divorce is. He could be freshly single, and you wouldn't even know. Maybe it's the reason he moved to LA. Or, maybe it happened ages ago but they're on good enough terms to still share a Netflix account? You have no idea.

You spiral for a few seconds, but Eddie's heavy footsteps from the kitchen pull you from your reverie. You click on Chris' profile, with the assumption it'll have more age-appropriate movies that you can all watch.

Eddie sits in between the both of you, with the popcorn bowl in his lap. You scroll through the movie list, as Chris frowns until Eddie lets him take his place in the middle with the popcorn bowl on his own lap, so he can stake ownership over it, of course.

You end up watching The Nightmare Before Christmas and singing along to the songs with Eddie, as Chris acts embarrassed by the both of you and chews on his candy and popcorn loudly.

As the credits roll, Eddie grabs a blanket for Chris, who's completely knocked out by now. You place an arm around the back of the couch and grab the popcorn bowl out of the kid's lap with your other arm, putting it down onto the side table without making too much noise.

Eddie covers Chris with the blanket and you both quietly make your way into the kitchen. Once you're finally out of earshot, you sigh and lean in to peck Eddie on the lips. He accepts gladly, and has a grin plastered on his face when you pull away.

“You're amazing. You know that, right?” he fawns.

“Oh, yeah? Which part? The kissing or my amazing singing skills and brilliant movie taste?” you list off.

“All of it,” he confesses, and sighs, like he's gearing up to get sentimental, "You have no idea how much you being here means. To both me and Chris. It's the happiest I've seen him since we moved here."

He's gotten you so choked up, you aren't sure you could find the words if you tried. Instead, you just nod frantically, trying to convey that you understand.

“I'm glad I can help. You deserve someone to help you take the load off for a minute,” you compliment.

It's 100% certain that if you continue in this exchange of praises, the night would never end, so you change the subject, “I'm sure Carla's been a big help. She seems so nice.”

He agrees, “Yeah, she's absolutely heaven-sent. The one good thing I got outta Buck.”

You laugh at the joke, shaking your head, “No, no. You have to give credit where credit is due. He did help you ask me out, apparently.”

He doesn't miss the teasing in your tone, “Well, no. I mean, technically I didn't even ask him. He's just so dead set on fixing everyone's lives that he gave me unsolicited advice.”

“Which you followed. And succeeded with, might I add,” you smile, leaning against the counter, “Besides, I think we all have a little bit of a savior complex. Or else we wouldn't have the job we do.”

“Ah, yeah. Right, of course,” he leans closer resting his hands on the counter beside you, caging you in with an arm on each side,

“Well, let's hope I'm not just a charity case to you...It'd be kind of cruel at this point. Considering I let you meet the kid and all.”

“Hmm, maybe the kid's my real target. Y'know, I'm just trying to save him from you,” you point at him.

You giggle when he leans in and rubs his nose into your neck to make you laugh, “I'm just kidding. You're a great dad. He's very lucky. You're much luckier, but he's a little lucky too.”

He stops your rambling by planting his lips onto yours. You return the kiss with equal vigor, as you wrap your arms around his neck.

When he pulls away, panting and blinking to get a clear look at you, he asks you to stay the night.

“I mean, not for sex,” he clarifies, nodding his head in the direction of the living room, “Obviously. Just sleep.”

You contemplate saying yes, but you aren't too sure. You just don't want to confuse Chris. It's kind of a little early in the relationship to be playing house, no matter how right it may feel. You're not sure what the excuse you should use is either. You sigh and ponder how to word your rejection as gently as possible. Eddie must see it in your face because he speaks up again before you do.

“He won't think you're his mom or anything like that,” he tries to reassure you but you give him an expression that says ‘that's not what I mean.’

“Look, Chris is a smart kid. I know my own kid. He's happy. He can handle you being around without breaking down or anything like that,” he explains.

“Plus, I think we should continue with,” he points between the both of you, “this, in whatever way feels natural. And you staying tonight does.”

Every bone in your body's telling you to agree, but your brain's working at 1000 miles an hour, coming up with all of the different ways this could go wrong. You purse your lips in consideration. You look up at Eddie and in his eyes you're sure you've found your answer.

“Yeah, okay. I'll stay.”

A/N: sorry, can u guys feel the imminent disaster about to fall on top of our heads and kill us all like those grand pianos in old cartoons? no? you should, methinks...

[xaviers-student-union]

Think you could lend us a gator to eat it? - D.🐇

Have u heard about the rat king

Oui, heard a few tings bout dat.

[prozacwhorehouse]

camera roll 📷 | mgg x snl cast member au

in which you do a variety ‘what’s in my camera roll?’ interview and reveal moments from your life

authors note: this lowk sucks but new subplot alert?? i love I used to be funny so i just had to. matthew mixed in with some background for our snl reader ✅

“Hi Variety, this is y/n y/l/n,” you smile and and give a wave to the camera, “and today I’m showing you what’s in my camera roll.”

“This is a picture of me at the premier for a movie I did in 2022, called I Used To Be Funny,” you turn your phone towards the camera, revealing a picture a friend took of you posing underneath the title outside a movie theater in Los Angeles.

“I had the pleasure of running into the very talented Ally Pankiw at an event in 2022, and when she said she’d seen my shows and asked me if I’d audition, I read the script and immediately felt drawn to it,” you speak with your hands, imitating an emulation from your body. “It was funny, it was devastating, it’s an incredible story that I’m so honored to have helped tell.”

“I always wanted to be an actress. So landing that role the same year I was cast on SNL, just a dream come true.” you smile warmly at the memory, moving on to your next picture.

You huff out a laugh looking at the next picture, “aww. I love this one, a lot,” you again turn your phone towards the camera, revealing a picture of Marcello, you, Michael, Molly, and Devon on set.

“This is me and my SNL 22 Crew, which is the name of our group chat,” you nod, “pretty sure this was right before our first show. we were so nervous but it was all okay because we had each other. We were all in the same boat, and that was comforting. Ugh,” you sigh, tilting your head up and smiling, “I just love them so much.”

“it was really hard to pick this next one because my camera roll is currently 60 percent him. All he says is ’wait take a picture’, so now I just have a whole collection of silly photos,” you roll your eyes in fake annoyance, trying to distract from the blush that has crept on your face while talking about him.

‘I’m not entirely sure where we were here, all I know is anything Halloween, Matthew wants a picture with. We had dressed up all crazy, I had on an insane fall sweater and like, striped witch tights. I do really love mismatching clothes, layering and looking insane, which I don’t really see a lot of guys doing?” you furrow your brows and squint your eyes in thought, releasing when admitting, “so I feel really seen by him. He isn’t afraid to be himself, so it makes me feel like I can be myself too. It’s amazing. He’s great. I’m very thankful for him.”

“Aww,” you jut your lip out, heart melting over the picture. “I was having a really rough week. I remember my sketch got cut, and I couldn’t think of how to make them better. I walked into my bathroom one morning and Matthew had stuck this on my mirror. I have so many pictures of these, but I picked this one because it was the first.”

You hum, “I could go on, but, I won’t,” you laugh, tilting your head back down to your phone, quickly exhaling to get back on track, “anyways!” Causing the crew to laugh behind the camera.

And the comments are all like

Loved her in I Used To Be Funny. So talented!

I hope she’s on SNL for a while, she’s one of the best additions in a while

The way she talks about Matthew is the cutest thing

Its so cute that y/n and Matthew are getting more public with their relationship, this is the first time she’s mentioned him by name

THE NOTE HE LEFT HER I NEED TO SEE THE OTHERS

—————————————————————————

tag list <3

@sarcasm-and-stiles @mystargirl-interlude @rubyirene @ashrrams @ghostatrixx @forevermorepassionate @saint-boudica @reidmarieprentiss @awakeforu @spencerlicious @kittycat-april @baudarling @delusional-4-fake-people @avenlymars @angelinajolie0213 @arusio @littleslayofhorrors @jezabelle9299 @jaemnationnn @princess-ofthe-pages @flow33didontsmoke

[superectojazzmage]

There's been a number of posts observing the "isn't this superhero stuff so dumb?" syndrome that a lot of modern superhero media has. Where the creators are basically weirdly insecure about the fact that they're making something based on comic books and either refuse to take it seriously or strip out anything even slightly fantastical in favor gritty "realism" so nobody will think they're not serious filmmakers. And I just wanted to observe the patient zero of this phenomena, the case study that is Batman.

Because, for decades now, live-action adaptations of Batman have been so utterly terrified of being seen as remotely similar to the Adam West or Joel Schumacher versions - or really, most of the original Batman comics in general - that they obsessively try to scrub out (in a very superficial way) anything about the series that could be seen as fantastical, strange, or even just lighthearted. Every single Batman live-action adaptation after Batman And Robin has absolutely no hook beyond "it's Batman but TOTALLY GRITTY AND DARK AND REALISTIC AND NOT LIKE THOSE DUMB COMICS".

All of Batman's family and friends except Alfred will be thrown away, with the creators proudly boasting about how they'll never do Robin or Ace because sidekicks ruin the grounded maturity of a rich guy dressing up as a bat. All of Batman's less "mundane" enemies will be ignored or reimagined as mundane criminals; no Killer Croc, no Hugo Strange, no Maxie Zeus, just movie after movie of Joker but he shoots people instead of telling jokes or Riddler but he shoots people instead of telling riddles or Penguin but he shoots people instead of liking birds. All the decades of lore and worldbuilding around Gotham will be disregarded in favor or depicting it as just a vaguely defined crappy city that looks and feels no different from whatever city the film was shot in. Any stories that are even mildly "weird" will go unadapted or have all it's fantasy elements removed, so seminal arcs like Strange Apparitions or Knightfall or Night Of The Owls will be discarded or neutered in favor of endless repeats of the mob subplots in Year One and Long Halloween, nobody caring that they're locking themselves out of something like 90% of the Batcanon.

And, as alluded to previously, it's all done in a very shallow way that often ends up making things LESS realistic. Batman will always just be some asshole alone in his manor with nobody but Alfred for company, even though realistically he would absolutely NEED that huge family/support network of sidekicks and techies to achieve anything at all beyond dressing up in a costume and getting shot by the first guy he fights. There can be no "silly" characters but the creators desperately want to pretend that a furry beating up a clown is like The Wire. And even the more comic book elements are adapted, they'll be either altered in ways that make them unrecognizable for that precious faux-realism or have their unusual nature downplayed severely.

Just look at the Nolan movies; in his desperation to seem "serious", Nolan did stuff like having Bane not use a super-steroid or wear a luchador outfit, not caring that he was usually replacing the supervillain gimmicks with ideas that were even stupider and less real, like Bane wearing a mask to constantly huff painkillers yet somehow not being a crippled addict like such a thing would render him in real life. And Nolan likewise used the League of Assassins Shadows but was simultaneously crazed to avoid or downplay the supernatural aspects of that group in the comics, so Ra's is just some guy who presumably inherited his title and this secret ninja organization totally doesn't have magic or anything, shut up, and also them being an ancient cult will be remanded to, like, a single brief conversation than never mentioned again.

The consequences of this kind of thinking are becoming especially apparent with Matt Reeves' take. Reeves was a subscriber to that ideology of Batman having to be a bleak street crime drama instead of a colorful superhero, but also tried to pay lip-service to the Twitter discourse about Batman beating up poor people instead of being a symbol of hope. And now he's left himself trapped in this catch-22 where he can't adapt the vast majority of stories from the comics because they're too goofy and fantastical in the eyes of Hollywood but also has to keep playing into this idea of Batman as not just being a scowling brooder who goes out at night to beat endless waves of criminals into comas without making a meaningful change. The best he could manage is a mini-series about Penguin that, while not bad, has basically nothing to do with Batman as a series whatsoever and indeed has to bend over backwards to not acknowledge Batman's existence outside of a five-second shot in the final episode. The proper sequel to Reeves' Batman is stuck in pre-production hell, very probably straining to come up with something that hasn't been done before, isn't weird, and doesn't have Batman being overly dark. Good fucking luck with that.

It's especially bad because the animated and video game adaptations DON'T do this shit and embrace the crazier aspects of Batman as a series, and it works out great and produces works just as good or even better than the live action stuff. Batman The Animated Series wasn't afraid of adapting stuff like The Laughing Fish or Moon Of The Wolf alongside grittier arcs. The Arkham games had Batman punching sharks and dollotrons unironically and those are fantastic. Shows like The Brave And The Bold or Beware or Caped Crusader gleefully embrace stuff from all ages of Batman history and are better for it.

Something has to give on the live-action front. We need a Batman movie that dares to go beyond maybe three miniseries from the 80s, otherwise we're just wasting time and the potential of Batman as a character, whose success is partially owed to his ability to slot into all kinds of adventures.

[coraniaid]

Reverse Unpopular Opinion: Season Four of BtVS

[Reverse unpopular opinion meme.]

I’ve been (very, very slowly) rewatching Season 4 on and off all year (and occasionally writing Tumblr posts complaining about this very process about the episodes I’ve been watching), and I think it’s fair to say that this is definitely not the best way to enjoy any season of television.  

That being said, I feel I’d be lying at this point if I pretended this was my absolute favorite season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  In hindsight, the show was in a strange transitory place this year: having lost some of the grounding framework that the high school setting gave the first three seasons of the show – as well as having suddenly lost some of its actors and writers to the new Angel spin-off – and not yet having quite figured out what it was going to do instead.  One can imagine some alternate reality where the show ended up taking a very different direction after this season.

That being said, here are five things I like a lot about Season 4, with as few caveats as I can manage:

I think the opening four episodes of this season – The Freshman, Living Conditions, The Harsh Light Of Day, Fear Itself – are as strong as, if not stronger than, the first four episodes of any other season of the show.  Every other season has at least one dodgy episode in this opening block – in fact Season 3, my favorite season of them all, manages to have two of them! – but where is the bad episode here?  The Freshman is a criminally underrated season opener.  Living Conditions is a fun character episode and a great showcase for SMG to act in ways she doesn’t normally get to on this show.  Fear Itself is the best Halloween episode the show ever did and it’s not even especially close.  The Harsh Light Of Day is my least favorite of the four, for reasons I guess it would be against the spirit of the game to go into, but I certainly wouldn’t say it was a bad episode by any means.  Perhaps none of these episodes would trouble my personal top ten, but they are four very solid episodes nonetheless.

While Anya had of course appeared in a handful of Season 3 episodes, I think Season 4 is the point where Emma Caulfield really makes the role her own.  This season’s version of the character – a blunt-speaking outsider whose romantic struggles are often deliberately contrasted with Buffy’s own [in the aforementioned The Harsh Light Of Day, for example] and who is inexplicably attracted to Xander Harris – could easily have come across as a fairly lazy attempt to replace Cordelia Chase, and I think it’s largely to Caulfield’s credit that she doesn’t.  Anya feels very much like her own person this season, and an increasingly integral member of the group.  It’s a performance that retroactively redefines the character: of course this is who Anya is.  Of course she always acted this way. It's only when you back and rewatch The Wish or Doppelgangland that you realize she didn't. And I think it’s pretty obvious, for example, that when people [e.g. people like me] go back to write Season 3 fanfiction where Anya features more heavily than in canon they [again, meaning me] invariably end up writing the Season 4 version of the character instead.  Anyanka might have appeared for the first time in Season 3, but Anya belongs to Season 4.

I really like how important to the show Willow has become at this point and how much of this season is all about her.  Just go back and look at the first season, in which Willow is arguably the member of the Core Four the writers cared least about – when she existed mainly to nurse a sad unrequited crush on Xander and to be good with computers when the plot required someone to be – and then compare that to this season, where she is Buffy’s best friend and roommate, unambiguously the second most important Scooby, and the center of a – genuinely pretty groundbreaking for the time – .season long subplot about coming out as a lesbian.  And of course Amber Benson is great as Tara too.  I’ve criticized the character of Oz for being very transparently written just to be Willow’s Nice Supportive Boyfriend and never becoming much more than that, and on paper you could level the same sort of charge at Tara.  And sure, obviously she was written to be Willow’s girlfriend and it’s impossible to seriously pretend otherwise.  But I think Tara manages to become a more rounded character than Oz very quickly. Even in this season, when she doesn’t yet have much connection to the others (she will, later, go on to become a key member of the group and a friend of Buffy's in ways I don’t think Oz was) she feels a little more complex than he did.

Faith is in this season!  I don’t just mean in the two parter This Year’s Girl / Who Are You? either. Of course, both of these episodes are great: the scene in the church in Who Are You? In which Faith (in Buffy’s body) breaks down while fighting Buffy (in Faith’s body), -- screaming repeatedly at her own reflection that she’s “nothing”, “disgusting”, and a "murderous bitch" -- is one of my favorites in the whole show.  But Faith feels like a real presence in the show even in the episodes she’s not actually in herself.  Unlike Kendra or Jenny in previous seasons, or even Cordelia the season, the other characters still talk about her and remember she existed when it’s appropriate that they do so (and in a way that they won’t really do again until … well, until Faith comes back in Season 7’s Dirty Girls).

Finally, Restless is possibly the best episode the show ever did, and certainly one of its most creative.  Willow’s dream sequence in particular is fantastically well done. I think this might be my favorite single act in all of Buffy.  Why this all works for me – apart from the fact that the show now has years of history to fall back on and reference – is that it’s an example of the show being utterly unafraid to play to its strengths.  Characterisation, dream sequences, dialogue, foreshadowing, oddly striking visuals, random moments of comedy … these – rather than tightly written plots or rigorously consistent world-building or anything that requires a working knowledge of world history or how the US military functions or what capitalism actually is – are the show’s strengths.  So Restless embraces all of these elements, and just doesn’t bother with anything else.  And the result is a season finale that – by virtue of not really being a season finale at all, at least according to the usual rules – is not quite like any other season finale the show ever did.  Which is, on reflection, a pretty fitting end to Season 4, a season of the show not quite like any of the others. 

[wenellyb]

Unpopular opinion, but I think that the reason why so many people say the latest Bucktommy scenes lacked chemistry is because they only want to see two men kiss. Nothing else.

You cannot watch Tommy spending half of his scenes being there for Buck, taking care of him, bringing him medecine, breakfast and then coffee and still think their chemistry "felt off" in that episode.

Tommy went with him to go pay a tribute to à man they both don't know.

Admit it...you just want to see 2 men kiss....

When comments like these come from Buddie shippers or anti Bucktommy blogs, I get it. But when it comes from Bucktommy fans, my flabber is gasted.

As someone who has been watching a lot of TV dramas with ensemble casts, this is the first time I've seen people complain about a couple doing normal couples thing in a TV show with an ensemble cast.

911 isn't a romantic comedy, it isn't the Buck & Tommy show either, this is an ensemble cast so they will focus on different storylines each tome. It can't focus on romantic Buck& Tommy scenes only.

For me, what we saw in episode 5 was meant to cement the fact that Buck and Tommy were in a serious relationship now.

In season 7, there were more kisses and romantic scenes because the showrunners were building the relationship.

I've never heard anyone complain about Meredith Grey and Derek Shepherd lacking chemistry because they weren't kissing or touching.

They weren't the most affectionnate couple, but everyone knew they loved eachother and for years, they were one of the most iconic TV couples.

That's just how TV works... there will be romantic scenes when there are romantic subplots but otherwise, you should expect Buck and Tommy to behave like any other couple in a TV show about first responders.

Why are people's expectations suddenly so high with Buck and Tommy?

I'm sure there will be a lot of romantic scenes between Buck and Tommy when there's an episode centered around their relationship but being upset because they weren't all over each other in a episode about Halloween, Buck's medical condition and Denny almost dying is typical M/M shipper behavior.

[dbh-bb]

2024 Team Highlight 41

Our forty first team in the 2024 Reverse Big Bang was @connor-sent-by-cyberlife working with @rking200

@connor-sent-by-cyberlife had an idea for a story in which Connor is a music student who studies singing by day, and sings in an elite nightclub called The Red Room at night. This is where Hank finds him, and proceeds to fall in love, with his voice, and then with the man behind it.

They did an incredible seventeen artworks for this story, but tumblr won't allow us to show them all, so we have a selection for your perusal here

@rking200 took this story idea and turned into the mammoth and incredibly ambitious The Red Room, an explicit rated Hankcon fic which sets out with the premise that Connor is a music student, studying under his vocal coach Elijah Kamski, and Hank is a depressed and lonely man who finds his way into the titular club one night, only to fall for the singer. But then the story takes dramatic turns, including a stalking subplot, and an exploration of Hank's depression and addiction.

It's a long read, and not for the faint of heart, but well worth the time and effort to go and give the writer and artist some love for their work. All the artwork we couldn't fit into this post is also contained in the story on AO3.

Artist sign ups for the 2025 Big Bang close in 4 Days on April 30th

Writer sign ups also close April 30th with submissions for Claims due May 15th.

You can join us on discord to find out more!

[egophiliac]

Hi! i love your art! And I'm curious about something: what do you think of the staff? And which is your favorite?

thank you! ❤️❤️❤️ I LOVE the staff, I wish we got to see more of them -- every once in a while we'll get a little side bit of them interacting with each other and it's always SO good. (for that and more proof that EHN is the best event, see: the teachers trying to hold their own Halloween party without Crowley noticing because they don't want to invite him. why was this one scene and not a long-spanning subplot like it deserved to be. we were robbed.)

I have probably made it pretty obvious which of the staff is my favorite, because I love characters who are huge morons who couldn't read a room if they had industrial-strength prescription glasses:

but I'm pretty fond of all of them! it takes a certain kind of person to work at NRC for more than five minutes. though I do think Trein is probably my second favorite? he LOVES his cat! he LOVES his wife! he LOVES history even though he is fed up with these teens and their wacky misadventures! also, I really want to hear the rest of his saucy makeout story. talk about dangling plot threads. 😔

genuinely we need more staff interactions in canon, there is so much untapped hilarity there I CAN FEEL IT

[automaticharpy]

charlie brown: getting rocks for halloween

the snoopy subplot:

FLYING ACE share ID (PS5): NGTDNK09QAMH

[yourlocaltiredartist]

alright back with more deltarune posting. topic of this one is the theory of susie being the main character. i don’t know how it would work narratively but there is a lot of evidence supporting it.

for one, she’s always the one in the middle of the group - in the legend cutscene, in battles and confrontations, even in official art like the recent halloween one. and when it comes to confrontations, she’s almost always the one doing the talking and such - there’s at least 3 scenes with queen in ch2 where this happens, like when they first meet. not to mention her fitting a lot of common protagonist tropes like having the romance subplot, at least half the main cast liking her, being new in town, etc. also the battle theme is literally named after her attack.

i don’t know how much relevance it’ll have to the plot i just think it’s very interesting

[holyblanchett]

People keep saying the trailers weren't mismarketing it and focused on Billy and I don't know about other countries but the UK trailers up until ep6 completely sold the show as middle aged women forming a coven doing spooky halloween shit. Billy is there, yeah, but he was not sold as the centre of the show, his mystery box looked like a subplot not something that would take over the entire show. Every interview was all on about woman empowerment and sisterhood. I'm not crazy right, this is the marketing other people saw?? He was sold as the sidekick.

Yes!! I'm pretty sure we all saw the same interviews and marketing and if people are claiming they saw something else I'm calling BS until I see the receipts. This is why I find it so strange that people are out here saying Rio's relationship with Agatha wasn't a central plot point like what?? Girl the entire show was her running from her gf that happened to be death what do you mean.