#the fact that i still have like 20 more that i haven’t even posted yet is concerning

[bisexualbuckleyy]

teen wolf memes part 13: jesus christ i can’t believe we’ve made this many

somehow we’re still going. shout out to @burnthatbridgewhenwecometoit for being the best roommate and meme making partner ever

teen wolf memes part 13

[heliza24]

Being a physically disabled Dimension 20 fan breaks my heart sometimes

I’ve been thinking about this since last Wednesday’s episode when we finally got a real scene with Lydia, one of the few physically disabled characters in the entire canon of the show. It was nice, but it was really just a lore dump. An excuse for exposition. A moment for Kristen to look good by expending sympathy/pity. (I’m a little frustrated about how that interaction went down. Extending the help action was nice but patronizingly touching the neck of a full-ass adult without consent was not. It was weird and not something she would have done to a nondisabled character).

I have watched almost all of D20 (still missing a couple of seasons) and as far as I know here’s where our list of canon physically disabled characters stand: Lydia Barkrock, Jan de la Vega (who feels pretty problematic to me, maybe more on that in a later post), one of the Dwarven statues in the temple in The Seven (who is not given the dignity of being brought to life like Asha), and Pete’s coworker in TUC2 who is in exactly one episode and is so unimportant I have forgotten his name. I guess you could make an argument that Gunny is disabled, but I don't feel that Lou or Brennan really talk about him or play him through that lens. So in terms of canon physically disabled PCs-- that leaves us with 0.

We do a bit better with neurodivergent characters and characters with mental health problems; Ayda (my beloved) is very well developed and Adaine is a PC. There have been some openly neurodivergent players, like Omar and Surena, whose characters also read ND to me. But that isn’t labeled or discussed in canon, so it's hard for me to know where to class that. I am going to focus the rest of this post on physical disabilities, since that is my area of lived experience. If another fan wants to write about their perspective of neurodivergence rep in the show, I would love to hear that, and will happily amplify.

There has never been a character with a sensory disability or a limb difference or a chronic illness (not a fantasy one, a real one) on Dimension 20. The only NPCs we have are nondescript, similar wheelchair users. And there has never been a physically disabled player at the table. On the flagship show of Dropout, a company founded on diversity and inclusion. It feels extremely pointed to me.

In fact as far as I can tell there has only been one (1) physically disabled performer on any of Dropout’s shows. (Shout out to Brett, you were great on Dirty Laundry.) Obviously I haven’t seen every episode of everything they have produced. If I have missed someone, please do let me know in the comments/reblogs. But it’s a problem. And Sam Reich even agreed with this criticism when I asked him directly about.

I do really hope they’re working on it, as Sam says. But why has it taken so long?

Dimension 20 has had trans and nonbinary and queer players. It has had players of many different races. I’m not saying that the diversity here is perfect; there should always be more POC in the dome, more queer people. We should keep pushing for that. (And we should also push for performers at the intersections of these identities!) But we’ve seen the ways this diversity has expanded and improved the different seasons, because diverse players create sensitively drawn, diverse player characters. They add details to their PC’s experiences that make them feel rich and alive. I’m thinking about each of Ally’s PC’s incredible capital G gender and Aabria “all my characters (even the stoats) are Black” and how excellent they all are. D20 would not be the show it is without this input.

And yet. And yet.

There are 1,000 interesting and complicated themes to explore around disability. Dealing with access. Dealing with ableism. Dealing with compassion and community care. Dealing with none of it and just being a cool fantasy or sci fi character that happens to be disabled. We don’t get any of it.

I watch my favorite show and I see myself in the ace rep and the female characters. But I don’t see all of me. I see a silent but ever present message: you aren’t quite welcome here.

I have this fantasy that I play in my brain sometimes that someday I’ll get to talk to Brennan in person, like maybe if I buy a VIP ticket and risk Covid to go to a live show or we run into each other on the street or something. I am able to look him in the eye and articulate why he NEEDS to include a physically disabled player in an upcoming season. I reference the ways he’s talked about inclusion and writing diversely on Adventuring Party. Maybe I hand him a handwritten letter, or hell, a printout of this post. And because he really cares about diversity and his shows and his fans he would listen to me, and cast a physically disabled performer in the next season.

But I think that might be giving that nondisabled man (whose work I adore, who I respect so much) too much credit. Because he’s had Jennifer Kretchmer, a physically disabled actual play performer, on adventuring academy to talk about access in gaming. He’s hired disability consultants. He knows about physically disabled people, enough to give us shoutouts as inconsequential npcs. And he still hasn’t thought to include us at the table. In over 20 seasons. None of that other stuff matters if we aren't given a seat at the story telling table, and the agency to craft our own narratives equal to other participants in the game.

When Lydia was telling her story in the last episode, I kept wishing for a prequel, where she is more than a plot delivery device and a kind but unimportant parent. I want to know about her adventures with her adventuring party. I want to see a talented, wheelchair-using actor play out the scene when she decides to put the gem in her chest. I want to hear about what happened after. I want to know how she survived. I want it so badly it hurts.

I am in the process of trying to find new indie actual plays that feature more disabled talent. I am learning how to GM myself so I can tell these kinds of stories. But it’s not the same as being a fan of something. Sometimes I don’t want to have to make my own representation. Sometimes I just want to turn on my favorite tv show, the one that I have cosplayed from and written metas about and loved whole heartedly, and see myself included.

If you’re another disabled or neurodivergent fan I’d love to hear your thoughts on this. If you’re not, I’d love for you to reblog this. I would love for the absence of physical disability in this show to be a topic of fandom conversation, at the very least.

[my-darling-dove]

MY LAST POST WAS IN FEBRUARY IM SORRY

HERE’S MORE WITCH!READER X VARIOUS MONSTER THINGS I WANT TO INCLUDE IN MY POSSIBLE SERIES

(I’ve never actually written anything longer than the standard college essay, but i really hope to get better and that whoever reads these enjoys them)

(chubby! Reader btw)

Ok so, reader used to spend summers at their grandma’s house (an actual mansion because of old family money) but slowly stops going all together because reader’s parents don’t like the fact that the grandma is teaching their kid magic

So now the family basically neglects the grandma which leads to the local werewolf pack to take in the grandma

Now reader is grown and in their 20’s and the grandma asked one of the werewolf boys to contact them when she dies

So reader inherits the “house” (mansion) and takes the opportunity to move away from their parents.

It’s a small town, think Stars Hollow from Gilmore Girls, and the grandma’s house is basically a town legend because it’s literally the only mansion around, and even when it’s miles away it’s still technically part of the town

So I’d like to incorporate the fact that these’s a whole “secret society” of mythical creatures and monsters that everyone in the town is kinda aware of, but don’t talk about

Like centaurs, fairies, dragons, vampires, and such that just live in the woods

There are humans that use magic there, but very few actually live IN the town

The normal human town people don’t like reader, but most of the non-humans and magic wielders welcome the reader because they knew their grandma and the stories she used to tell them about reader

Werewolves are the ones that meet reader first to help them move in and help give insights into their grandmother’s life after reader was forced to stay away

It’s pretty noticeable that they’re not exactly human, they’re all taller than average for humans like at least 5”11 (especially the women) and naturally pretty buff

Reader is a theater person (you have no way around this i have too much theater knowledge in my head and this will be one of my outlets as a costume design major)

Uhhh if you made it this far please tell me what monsters you want to be added! Be it a creature i haven’t mentioned yet or if you just want another werewolf (because you cant have too many werewolves)

[loveinhawkins]

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15 Part 16 Part 17 Part 18 Part 19 Part 20 Part 21 ao3

Joyce drops off Will, El and Mike with more homemade food after they’ve had dinner, which makes Steve smile. 

“Tell your mom I’m not gonna have enough space to put all of this in the fridge.”

“You can just eat some of it and then you will have space,” El says, matter-of-fact, “like what Eddie is doing.”

Eddie pauses in his eating of Koogle chocolate spread straight out the jar.

Steve laughs loudly.

Eddie sighs, leans into the melodrama of it. “Damn, right for the jugular. Haven’t I suffered enough?”

El makes a show of thinking in response. Eddie watches her with infinitely growing fondness, how she fights to keep a straight face, unable to stop her smile from breaking through. “No.”

Eddie slumps against the counter like he’s just received a fatal blow.

“Hey, person without a cast,” Steve says dryly, “help put some stuff away, this isn’t a hotel.”

“I dunno, Harrington, you seem like the type to have monogrammed dressing gowns and shit.”

The tips of Steve’s ears turn a damning red.

Eddie pounces on the sight with a delighted grin. “Oh dear god.”

“Eddie—”

“Holy shit,” Eddie whispers, like he’s found the Holy Grail. “I was just talking out my ass man, but. You do.”

“Only ‘cause Robin—it was one joke Christmas present, all right?”

“Yeah, that’s what they all say.”

They all make short work of putting the food away, but the kids linger in the kitchen, like they don’t want to say goodbye just yet.

It’s funny, Eddie has distant memories of Hawkins characterising Will Byers as a quiet little kid when he went ‘missing’, but there’s hardly any of that shyness now. The only slight hint of uneasiness Eddie can discern is that every so often, Will’s hand will rise up as if to scratch the back of his neck, like he’s hardly aware that he’s doing it; he spots El catching his hand in hers once, gently pulling it back down—does it in such a way that it never draws attention.

If anything, Mike is the quiet one, which is tripping Eddie up; he’s so used to his vocal commentary at Hellfire. He can’t tell if it’s just general post-nearly end of the world exhaustion or—something else. He doesn’t know what.

From the way Mike is standing, shoulders occasionally hiking up to his ears, Eddie gets the feeling that he doesn’t want to be asked about it.

Will does the majority of the talking, spends most of the time making references to what went down in California that Eddie can barely follow, revels in teasing Dustin about Suzie—

“Wait, Henderson’s girlfriend is real?” Eddie says.

Dustin glares at him. “Hey!”

Steve nods seriously. “I know.”

Dustin spins around, pokes Steve in the side. “Hey.”

Bizarrely, this prompts Will into an enthusiastic rendition of NeverEnding Story, which makes Dustin groan as if he’s been plagued with it for centuries. But there’s a celebratory sound to all of it, to the way Will sings cheekily, even the way Dustin is rolling his eyes—like they can’t believe they can afford the time to just be silly.

Under the cover of the kids’ laughter, Steve leans forward in his seat, catching Eddie by the wrist.

“Hey, later could you—would you mind helping me up the stairs? I wanna…” He pushes back his hair, grimacing. “Got, like, a sink wash in hospital, but it wasn’t that great.”

There’s a self-conscious air to how he speaks, how he keeps fiddling with flyaway strands of hair.

“Yeah, man, no problem,” Eddie says, matching Steve’s lowered volume. Still look good to me.

They wait until they’re alone—Dustin leaves in Joyce’s car, too, with a firm, “I’ll be back,” flung over his shoulder; Steve snorts, “Sure thing, Arnie.”

Once they conquer the stairs, Eddie’s shoulder aching from Steve needing to lean on it, Eddie optimistically believes that the rest will be plain sailing from here.

Steve’s set up on a stool, and Eddie’s standing in the bathtub, about to see how far the shower-head can stretch.

Steve is in the middle of saying, “Oh, just watch out, don’t think I changed the temperature from when I last—”

Eddie’s elbow catches on the dial. He shrieks as he’s immediately hit with a blast of cold water.

“Jesus Christ,” he wheezes, finally managing to switch the shower off. His hair is sopping wet. “How am I the freak? What kind of monster takes a cold shower willingly?”

And Steve laughs so hard that he nearly falls off the stool, as if the light-heartedness of the kids earlier has lifted his spirits, made him giddy.

“You look,” he says, through a raucous fit of giggles, “like a drowned rat.”

“Excuse me? Oh, tread very, very carefully, Harrington,” Eddie says, raising the shower-head in warning.

Steve raises an eyebrow coolly. “You’re bluffing.”

Eddie is, in fact, not bluffing.

-

“Oh wow.” Eddie makes a low whistle, like he’s just discovered a rare antique. “Why isn’t this behind glass? This shit is history; it should be preserved.”

Steve blinks, gives him a sardonic look from where he’s lying on the bed, leg propped up with pillows. “Pretty sure I’m not the only person to own a Hawkins Phys. Ed T-shirt.”

Eddie scoffs, shaking out the shirt with a pointless flourish before putting it back in the closet. “Yeah, but you, like, wore it.”

“Oh, sorry, I misunderstood you, man. So I’m the only person ever to wear a Hawkins Phys. Ed T-shirt.”

“You know what I mean, asshole.”

Before Steve got round to actually washing his hair, they had spent a lot of time just goofing around, trying to soak the other. While attempting to ensure that it was a fair fight, that Steve didn’t overbalance on the stool, Eddie ended up nearly braining himself on the tub’s faucets—but maybe he really did suffer a head injury, he reasons, otherwise there’s no excuse for what he says next.

“You made it part of your whole thing, you know? Like, yeah, people wear clothes, but you wore outfits.”

Steve laughs, rolling his eyes. “Shut up. You’re making me sound like a sitcom character.”

“Oh, but you were,” Eddie says, grinning with the knowledge that he’s about to be very annoying. “Did you see yourself in the school corridors? You walked like you had your own theme music, man.”

“Says you,” Steve retorts. “I think a laugh track would’ve helped your cafeteria sermons.” And before Eddie can attempt a theatrical gasp of offence, Steve points at a baggy sweater in the closet. “Hey, gimme that one, it’ll do.”

Eddie actually puts some effort into properly aiming the shirt when he throws it, but Steve almost drops it. Eddie turns, ready to tease him, because Steve Harrington is hardly known for fumbling a catch, but stops when he sees the stricken look on Steve’s face.

“What is it?”

“I just—I just remembered,” Steve stutters out, eyes wide. “Shit, Eddie, I’m sorry. Your vest.”

Eddie stares, uncomprehending. “Come again?”

“Your vest. Damn it, I didn’t even think to ask for… they must’ve cut it off me or—”

“Oh, Jesus,” Eddie says, and the hair on the back of his neck stands on end. He shakes his head to try and clear it of the awful image they must’ve cut it off me conjures up then says, with fervour, “Steve. Don’t worry about it. Like, honestly, truly? Do not worry about it. I really can’t stress how much I don’t give a shit.”

Steve frowns, clearly still unhappy about it.

“I’ll just steal one of your polos and call it even.”

Steve smiles weakly; Eddie still counts it as a win. “Mm, I have it on good authority that the Phys. Ed T-shirt is highly sought after.”

“Damn, what idiot said that?”

Eddie turns while shutting the closet, glancing over at Steve as he does so. That’s when he sees it, sees Steve’s bare skin as he takes his shirt off, about to change into the sweater—

There’s no bandages wrapped around his middle anymore. They have healed faster than any normal wounds should, but that fact doesn’t diminish the way Eddie’s stomach lurches at the sight: the gouges in the skin from the bats, and several deep, ragged claw marks. There’s a sudden ringing in his ears; the wetness of Steve’s blood on his fingers…

He feels his knee slam against the bed frame distantly, like it’s happening to someone else. Then Steve’s hand is wrapped around his wrist, and he’s thrown back into his body, and he tilts—

“Hey, hey, you’re all right,” Steve says, and he pulls Eddie down to sit on the bed.

Eddie sways, tries to stand up again—but that just makes the sudden faintness worse.

“Woah, take it easy,” Steve murmurs, and Eddie blinks and blinks until his face swims into view, eyebrows drawn in concern. “God, you feeling okay? You went white.”

“You were bleeding,” Eddie says stupidly. He squeezes his eyes shut, tips his head down and just breathes.

And then he feels Steve gently guide his hand to rest over the wounds. Places it there, puts his own hand on top.

“Not anymore,” Steve says simply.

Eddie traces the marks. They don’t feel overly cold which helps. His hand rises and falls with every breath Steve takes.

Steve keeps his eyes on him, doesn’t let go of his hand until Eddie can stand again.

-

Steve has already drifted off to sleep on the couch when the phone rings.

Eddie picks it up with a quiet, “Hello?”

“E-Eddie?”

At first, Eddie doesn’t recognise the voice on the other end. It’s only when his name is repeated that the realisation hits.

It’s Mike.

Eddie has never heard him sound so uncertain, not even when he was first invited to sit at Hellfire’s lunch table.

“Hey, Mike,” he says, can’t stop a note of anxiety bleeding through. “What’s up?”

“It’s… it’s Nancy,” Mike says. He starts off almost reluctant, as if he’s worried about breaking some sort of sibling code by mentioning her, but the sound of his true fear quickly overrides that. “She—she left, and she told me she was gonna, um, call you, or something? I don’t know, but she… she’s not back yet and I… I don’t think she did. Call you.”

“She didn’t,” Eddie confirms, grabs a piece of his hair and pulls.

Mike’s voice pitches a little higher; he sounds very young. “I don’t know where she’s gone. Eddie, she didn’t even take her car.”

“Okay, okay.” Eddie’s eyes dart about the room, land on Steve’s car keys. “Hey, Mike? It’ll be okay, man. I’m gonna go get her.”

He heads for the door in a mad dash, one arm through his leather jacket. Before he goes, he takes the time to write Steve a note—if he wakes up, Eddie figures that there’s no point in him just sitting there alone, worrying, so he settles for something that will hopefully make him laugh instead.

Back soon. Totally not stealing your car. Cross my heart. On an unrelated note, I took your car keys. -E

-

He finds her at the trailer park, of course. Sitting right by his and Wayne’s place, in the spot where…

She’s hugging her knees, pressing the side of one cheek into them. Her boots are muddy again.

Eddie gets out of the car with more noise than is strictly necessary, so she’s not startled by his approach.

“This wasn’t the deal, Wheeler,” he says mildly, sitting down beside her.

She’s shivering.

Eddie tries very hard not to look at the trailer; it’s just a shell now, it’s just…

“Sorry,” Nancy says, too quiet. “I was… gonna call but. Lost track of time.” She sniffs, mumbles into her jeans, “Had enough of driving.”

“Why?” Eddie asks carefully.

“Because.” Nancy sniffs again. “I had to drive Jason Carver around town.”

For a moment, Eddie forgets how to breathe.

“What? Why the fuck would you even—? He could’ve—”

He stops talking abruptly as Nancy shakes her head, looking scarily calm about the whole thing.

“No. He would’ve killed you immediately. Not me; he’d have to think about it before he… It was… a calculated risk, I guess.”

Eddie barks out a sharp, fearful laugh—remembers Steve saying that him and Nancy were too similar and thinks yeah, no fucking kidding.

“Wheeler,” he breathes, “that was a stupid move.” It feels inadequate for what he actually means, which is some panicked stream of We’ve come too close to losing people, but the terror cuts down his words, makes them small. Stupid.

“He had a gun,” Nancy says, voice flat. She hovers a hand over her side, and Eddie doesn’t need to see it to know that there’ll be a mark there, from where the gun was pressed into her skin.

“Jesus Christ. Are you—”

“I’m fine. He didn’t…” Nancy sighs. “He didn’t do anything, really. I did most of the talking. Just… drove around. Stopped in a parking lot, right where one of the cracks… It’s still visible, only a little bit. Then I just. I asked him.”

“Asked him what?” Eddie says hoarsely.

Nancy’s smile is grim. “If he believed it,” she says. Her voice is as cold as steel. “If he could honestly sit there and think that a boy, that you could have done all this. And I could tell from his eyes that he didn’t, but that he was in too deep. Too cowardly to…” She seethes, spits out the next words: “I told him he could go rot.”

“Wheeler,” Eddie whispers. “God, please tell me he didn’t hurt you.”

She reaches for his hand. Squeezes. “No. I promise. He’s… everything’s being dealt with. It’s bigger than you,” she says, not unkindly. “Plus there’s—we’ve got some, um.” A tiny smile, a proper one. “Unique resources. It’s getting buried, Eddie, I swear, everything to do with you. I’m—we’re working on it. We just. The idea is to, um, replace one paranoia with another, that’s how we sell the—not a full lie, just…” She sets her jaw. “I don’t want you to be looking over your shoulder, ever again.”

Eddie has countless replies on his tongue, namely, What the fuck does all that even mean?

Is this why he’s hardly been given a second glance in the street?

Out loud, he says, “That… sounds like a helluva lot of work. You—you don’t have to—”

“I needed to.” Nancy smiles weakly. “That was the whole plan, right? Find Vecna, kill him. Clear your name.” Her smile falls. “I don’t like… I don’t like things being left… unfinished.” She sighs, repeats, voice small, “I needed to.”

It sounds different this time. Like if she didn’t have that objective, she’d fall apart.

It throws Eddie. How can he be that important? But he looks in her eyes and can tell she means it with all her heart. 

“Eddie, I…” She looks down at the ground. Briefly presses the back of her hand to her mouth. “I need to apologise to Steve. To you.”

Eddie stares at her. “No, I’m… kinda confident that you don’t.”

“No, you.” Her hand starts to shake in his. “You don’t understand.” She looks at him, eyes filled with tears. “I saw it. I saw everything. When he—when Henry showed me… there was so much of it, and it was so fast, and I. I just convinced myself that I was wrong. But then, when I saw you driving. And Steve. There was… this look on his face. And I knew—I knew he was going to die, because Henry… he showed me what he was going to do.”

Eddie can feel himself pale. Nancy withdraws her hand, turns away from him.

“I’m sorry. I thought I could stop it, if I just kept it in my head, it wouldn’t… oh, God.”

“Wheeler. Wheeler, look at me.” Eddie waits until she does, her face wet. “It wasn’t your fault. None of it.”

She moves forward, trembles in his arms. “God, Eddie,” she says, distraught, “it was awful. The whole thing.”

“Yeah.” Eddie leans his head against hers, shuts his eyes. “Fucking sucked.”

“You wouldn’t stop screaming,” Nancy whispers. She jerks her head over to where Eddie parked Steve’s car. “You fell there, and I—I was so scared you wouldn’t get up again. I told you that you had to let h-him go, and it. It was like you couldn’t hear me, and a-all I could think was I’m going to lose them both.” 

Eddie inhales. Exhales. She’d gotten him out. Time for him to return the favour.

“Nancy. Come on.” He gently guides her to stand up. “Time to go home, ‘kay?”

Mike’s waiting outside when Eddie drives up to the house; the headlights illuminate him, his too short dressing gown, his gangly teenaged vulnerability.

Nancy fumbles with the car door handle. Sighs through a sob. “Oh, Mike.”

Eddie watches them embrace, how they cling to one another. He sees Mike raise his hand while still holding onto his sister, sees him mouth Thank you.

Eddie doesn’t pull away until they’re both safely inside.

The fact that he’s driving Steve’s car helps him keep it together for the rest of the drive: the thought that he cannot be seen in public having a breakdown in it.

And then he’s back at Steve’s, and Steve is still asleep, thank God, and there’s an uncontrollable tremor to his hands when he sets Steve’s car keys on the table.

Shit, is he going to throw up? He might.

Oh no you don’t. You’re not waking Steve by upchucking onto the rug, get it together.

“You’re fine,” Eddie says, tugging harshly on his hair. “You’re fine, you’re fucking fine.”

He forces himself to breathe in and out as the wave of everything crashes over him, until he no longer sees the trailer park flash across his vision, like a ghostly afterimage.

When the worst of it is over, he perches on the arm of the couch, then carefully hovers his hand near Steve’s face, just so he can feel him breathing.

See? He’s right here, you’re not… not back there. Not anymore.

Steve stirs very slightly at the movement.

“Sorry, sweetheart,” Eddie whispers, still catching his breath through the remnants of panic.

Steve makes a soft, questioning noise. And then Eddie feels a finger, tracing letters on the back of his hand.

OK?

Eddie smiles tremulously. “Yeah, I-I’m… I am now.”

-

Eddie stays up all night.

It’s not so bad, not when he gets to see Steve wake up for his early morning meds, taken so he can have breakfast with the upcoming dose in a few hours.

“Huh? You’re never…” Steve yawns. His hair is soft from being air dried last night, falling into his eyes. “Never up this early. Not normally.”

“First time for everything,” Eddie says, which is easier than my heart was beating too fast to sleep.

Steve doesn’t call him out on the obvious dodge, still drowsy, growing even more so after he takes the pills.

“You bored? Can put something on if you want, but Dustin might’ve left a… a tape in the, um…”

Oh, there you go, Eddie thinks fondly, and watches as Steve falls asleep mid-sentence.

Some time later, he’s not sure when, the sun starts to poke through the curtains. It’s a dull kind of brightness, but still bright enough to make his eyes blink a little more… and more…

-

He’s been moved to lie on the inside of the couch. Eddie turns his head, feels the warmth of someone next to him. Steve.

“Hi,” Steve says, looking down at him with a smile. “You want some breakfast? Dustin dropped off doughnuts.”

There’s sugar at the corner of Steve’s mouth, like glitter.

Eddie hums, low and lethargic. “Maybe later. Just… mm.” He goes to rub at his eyes, but his hand stills then falls away from his face, a lassitude to his movements. “Five more minutes. Gotta… rest my eyes, just for…”

“Sure,” Steve says, and there’s affection in his teasing when he says, “You go ahead and ‘rest your eyes’ for a few more hours.”

“Mm…”

“Nance called,” Steve says, soft as anything, like he doesn’t want to wake Eddie if he’s already fallen asleep, but still wants him to know. “She’s okay. She says thanks.”

Eddie reaches out, eyes closed, pats Steve’s knee clumsily. “S’good.”

“Yeah,” Steve says, quiet. Eddie can feel him smoothing hair off his forehead, tracing his finger down his nose—makes it impossible for him to even try opening his eyes.

He barely catches it, nearly drifting… But he swears he hears Steve murmur, as if to himself, “You’re so good.”

“You’re warm,” Eddie mumbles without really meaning to.

Steve chuckles, so gently. Keeps stroking that soothing pattern, from Eddie’s brow down to his nose. “Am I now?”

Oh, you don’t know, Eddie thinks, and everything’s fading now, the world going all soft and indistinct, like cotton wool. You don’t know what it was like. I never want to feel you be that cold again.

[goosewithtwoos]

TRUTH OR DARE

pairing: Bob x Reader

summary: sexcy truth or dare cause why the hell not // written in like 20 minutes and posted without proofreading🥸

“Okay, okay, you’re turn.”

You and Bob had been sat on your bed for the past half hour, playing truth or dare, and slowly getting close enough for your knees to touch.

“Hm…okay, truth or dare?” Bob asked, taking a sip from his water bottle.

“Let’s go with truth.” You replied.

The game had gone from innocent questions to progressively more dirty as time went on.

Bob had been forced to answer when the last time had kissed someone was - two years ago unless you counted a drunken game of spin the bottle, in which case it was three months - and you had been dared to call Hangman and ask to borrow his lube.

“When was the last time you brought someone to bed?”

You laughed at the question. Of course Bob wouldn’t want to ask it crudely so you mentally translated. ‘When was the last time you fucked?’

“I think probably sometime in the last year. It wasn’t anything to write home about though so I’ve honestly forgotten.”

Something flashed across his face but before you could figure it out, it was gone and he was back to his normal self.

“Okay, my turn,” You knew you needed something good. Something juicy. Something that was going to really make this night fun.

You took a while to think about it, going over a few different options in your mind before deciding on one.

“When did you cum last?”

Bob almost spit out his water when you asked.

He quickly composed himself, setting the water aside as to not spill it again, before sitting up a little straighter.

“Um…I uh…I can’t really remember.”

Your jaw dropped. His face turned a bright red at the admission. You both sat in silence as your mind was turning.

“Why - why can’t you remember?”

Bob turned an even brighter red than was possible. He opened his mouth to speak but closed it again. After a few moments, he finally spoke.

“I can’t.”

You sat back, looking around the room and trying to act casual. “It’s okay, you don’t have to answer. I’ll pick a different question.”

“No, no, I meant like, I just can’t…finish…when I’m here.”

The got your attention faster than when Maverick dumped the textbook in the trash. Your head whipped up to meet his eyes, finding that he was covering his face.

“Wait, you mean…you haven’t gotten off since you got here?” You were incredulous. You had to get off at least once a week here to blow off some steam. Everything made you tense, you needed a way to release it.

Bob shook his head. He finally uncovered his face and it looked like his eyes were glassy. “I just can’t. It’s like I try, I start, I think of hot girls and yet I just can’t.”

You bit your lip, trying to not laugh. Hot girls. Bless him.

“It hurts.”

Your brain short circuited. You thought you were dreaming, maybe hearing things, but you would swear you heard a bit of a whine in his voice when he spoke.

“I dare you to get off right now.” The words were out your mouth before you really thought about the gravity of them.

Bob squeaked, sucking in a sharp breath.

“It’s…not your turn.” He was still bright red, shifting uncomfortably, trying to not look like he wasn’t completely freaking out.

“Fine, okay I pick truth. What’s my favorite color? Good question. Blue. Now I dare you to show me how you get off.”

Your mind was racing. You didn’t know why, but you had never wanted anything more in your life than you wanted this. Not getting into the Academy, not when your celebrity crush was coming to town. All that mattered right now was him.

His big, blue eyes were watching you, waiting for you to say you were just joking and begin making fun of him.

“Please.” You whispered, desperate for him to show you.

You couldn’t tell where it was coming from. Maybe it was lingering effects from the beers or maybe it was the fact that he whined when he talked about it but you needed to see him get off.

His hand slowly went down to his joggers, shifting them around so he could get a better angle. You saw his black boxers peaking up and you leaned closer subconsciously.

At a snails pace, like he was trying to tease you, he pulled down his joggers just enough that you could see the outline of him through the fabric of his briefs. It was growing rapidly, almost half hard before he even touched it.

“Are you sure?” He asked, gaze shifting between you and his cock.

“Come on,” you stopped yourself from calling him baby and settled on “Bobby. Show me what you can do.”

He moved the band down, slowly, slowly, and you were sure he was trying to make you combust. Finally, his boxers were pulled down enough to let his cock spring out and your mouth went dry.

God, he was so pretty, every part of him. You couldn’t take your eyes off him.

“You’re staring.” He muttered.

“Your gorgeous.” Came your easy reply.

He tentatively brought his hand up, wrapping his long fingers around himself. He wasn’t exceptionally girthy but he made up for it in length.

His hand slowly began moving up and down, drawing gasps from the both of you. He was so reactive to touch, you noticed the way his shoulders had hunched inwards and were already beginning to shake. He continued his slow pace, squeezing as he got closer to the head.

You couldn’t help but study the way he got himself off. His eyes were closed like he was trying to pretend you weren’t there and his bottom lip had been sucked in with his teeth. His back was against the wall, allowing his other hand to come up to his chest. Through his shirt, he was running his hand up and down his chest, paying extra attention to his pectorals.

God, you wanted to touch him.

He let out a whimper as precum began to bubble from the slit. With the added lubricant, he was able to move his hand faster. This ended up drawing more moans from him and caused for your mind to completely stop working.

“Just like that,” you muttered your praise to him. “Keep going.”

He cried out again, hunching forwards as his body began shaking even more. “Please, please, please, it hurts.”

You couldn’t tell if he was actually asking you to do something or if he were just too lost in his delirium so you opted for gently pushing him back against the wall by his shoulder and placing your hand over his.

His movements stopped instantly and those big, glassy eyes looked up at you again.

“Do you want help?” You needed consent before you dared to touch him further.

He nodded. “I can’t do it.”

You leaned forward, pressing a quick kiss to his temple before pulling his hands away and replacing them with your own.

Your left hand traveled up and down his chest, massaging his chest like you had seen him do earlier. Your right hand was on his cock, which fit perfectly in your hand, slowly stroking.

“It’s okay, you can let go, I got you.”

Bob was babbling out your name mixed with other incoherent phrases as you speed up.

You used your thumb to press over the slit and he openly sobbed. His hands were covering his face to muffle the sounds but you were sure your neighbors could hear you taking him apart piece by piece.

You firmly grasped at his chest at the same time you flicked your wrist perfectly and it was finally enough to send Bob over the edge.

“Good boy, good boy.” You whispered as you continued to stroke him through his orgasm.

You knew he was going to come quick and a lot but you were surprised by how much. Your hand was covered along with his joggers.

He continued to cry through his high, coming down as you pulled your hand away.

Looking around for your tissues, you found the box was empty. Without second thought, you began licking him off your hand, relishing in the taste.

You looked up, accidentally making eye contact with Bob who had been watching you the whole time. He hiccuped another cry when he watched your tongue clean up the mess, wishing you would do the same to him.

“I’m so sorry,” You said, suddenly extremely bashful. “I couldn’t find the tissues and I didn’t want to wipe it on my sheets.”

Bob shook his head. “It was hot.”

You smirked as an idea popped into your head. “Oh yeah? Do you want a taste?”

He nodded, slowly opening his mouth and sticking out his tongue. You gently placed two of your fingers in his mouth, watching intensely as he closed his lips around them and began sucking.

Good God, he was going to be the death of you.

“How long have we been here for?” You ask despite his mouth still being occupied. “Three months now? That’s twelve weeks. I think we need to make up for some lost time.”

His eyes closed as he used his tongue to spit open your fingers and lick between them. It was lewd and the implications sent a shiver of excitement through you.

“Eleven more to go.”

[shannankle]

Shadow Meta Series Post#3: Anurak and Old vs New Technology 

This is my third post in my Shadow meta series on technology, time, and horror. You can check out my introduction and plan for that in this post!

When watching through the first seven episodes of Shadow for the first time, Josh’s technology usage was fairly obvious. But when I watched through the episodes again with an eye on technology, I was surprised by a few characters who were also heavily surrounded by tech. One of these is brother Anurak.

In his office alone he has two clocks, three landline phones, a tape recorder, a Newton’s cradle, a lamp, a portable TV radio cassette player (thanks @raypakorn for helping to confirm this one), another radio or older music player (my best guess is an FM radio stereo but I can’t find a closer shot of this one), and candles. 

My goal here is to do a reading of Anurak’s relationship with technology and put forth a few potential theories as to what Shadow might be trying to communicate through this. Unlike other posts in the series so far, the conclusions on this one remain much more speculation as I feel we have a lot more to learn about Anurak in order to get to a deeper reading. I’ll be relying on some other theories about Anurak, particularly @wen-kexing-apologist 's theory that Anurak is the one-armed man. 

Old vs New Technology

What struck me most about Anurak in going over his technology, was the fact that he was pretty even with Josh in terms of how many different types of tech they had. However, Anurak’s tech gives the impression of being more dated. If we go with the theory that Anurak is the one-armed man, then we know his execution happened 20 years before the present day, so 1979.

My theory is that most of his technology predates 1979. It’s hard to track everything down, and we have to consider whether it’s more appropriate to go with the year a technology was invented or with the precise model. Still here’s some of what I was able to track down.

Anurak’s Tech

Three landline phones

While two of these look like the phones found elsewhere in the show, one of these is a rotary which were invented back in 1892. These models seem to have been common up through the 50s with the corded landlines used elsewhere in the show coming on the market in the 60s and 70s.

 TV Radio Cassette Player

This one was surprisingly tricky to track down. You can find models being resold online but actually figuring out when they first went on the market was a dead end. Most of the ones I found were from the 80s when they seemed to be most popular. The earliest I found was a model from Japan from 1978. This is cutting it very close but it does technically make the cut. 

Tape recorder

The model used here looks to be a Sony TC-150 portable tape recorder and player from 1977–it also makes the cut

The Newton’s Cradle

Invented in 1967

The clocks

Both are analog so safely in our window

Music player

If we go with my guess (FM radio stereo), the first FM multiplex stereo tuner came out in the US in 1961

Candles

Obviously these are pre-1979. But they’re of extra note because we also see the one-armed man associated with candles

Some of Josh’s tech

Walkman

I’m not sure the exact model, but it looks like a 90s era walkman. The 80s versions were much blockier and come the 2000s walkmans were getting into digital players and CD players. Regardless, walkmans were invented in 1979 which makes the year stand out as a split in technology in the show. 

Handheld video game console

I’m sure I could be a bit off here, but it looks like a Game Boy, which was released in 1989. The first handheld console with interchangeable cartridges was released in 1979. 

Cell phone

It's hard to tell much about Josh's phone. But given the size, it looks at home in the late 90s. We can safely say it's post 1979.

Digital camcorder

Again, not sure of the model, but the first digital camera with recording came out in 1995

Camera

I haven’t tracked down the model yet, but looking at the history of most of the big camera companies, this looks at home in the 90s, definitely post-1979 though  

Some Take-A-Ways and A Theory

I won’t pretend my methodology here is foolproof, and it’s hard to know when these were available in Thailand since tech comes to places at different paces. But I think it paints an interesting picture overall. If Josh is surrounded by more contemporary, often cutting edge tech for the time, Anurak is surrounded by the past.

This old vs new dynamic is right at home with the themes of late 90s horror, which I’ll explore in a later post to come. But here I want to think about what it might mean for Anurak to be stuck in the past. 

Throughout the first seven episodes, Anurak is consistently opposing and denying change and the supernatural. This comes to the forefront in episode 3, as Anurak is discussing the bible with Dan’s class. He tells them if they follow God, then they’ll know ghost stories are lies.

On the one hand, this could be Anurak denying the supernatural in order to stop Dan and others from finding out some hidden truth. On the other hand, this Christian framework offers a safe black and white logic between safety and risk, reality and fantasy, the abject and the normative. 

In any case, Dan jumps in to challenge Anurak. He tells him “If old beliefs don’t work, there's no harm in trying new things.” He then tells Anurak that “closing ourselves off from the world is more horrifying.” These comments show the audience the growing tension between Dan and Anurak. Anurak repeatedly denies the shadow’s reality and asks Dan to perform that same denial. Yet the scene here feels so specific in how it frames Anurak as stuck in the past and tradition. 

This is emphasized further as the scene cuts to the video of Trin performing outside of the theater. A sharp reminder of modern technology, queerness, and the supernatural mystery surrounding Trin’s death.

Now there could be a number of reasons why Anurak is stuck in the past and the one taking on this thematic role. 

Let’s assume that Anurak is the one-armed man. Then we know that he is likely queer and has gone through a number of traumatic experiences because of this. I’d argue that we could read him as someone who has come to conform and act for those with power due to trauma and a fear of change. Not dissimilar to Chadok from The Eclipse.

I recognize we only have half of his story at this point, and I may need to make another post addressing this once the second half airs. As it stands, I view this as speculation rather than a full reading of Anurak’s role viz a viz technology. Still, the pattern of him being stuck in the past is there, regardless of what the show will ultimately do with these connections. 

If Anurak is the one-armed man, has he closed himself off from the world? Is he trying to protect Dan by metaphorically making him hide his queerness by suppressing and denying the supernatural? He continually emphasizes reality, telling Dan that if he doesn’t believe in the shadow it can’t hurt him. 

A similar exchange to the one discussed above plays out at the start of episode 5, when Dan confronts Anurak about his sense that the shadow is linked to Trin. Anurak tells Dan that "We're talking about reality here, not feelings," something he also tells Dan’s mother. Denying one’s feelings and over-reliance on rationalism (see my post on surrealism vs realism here) could be interpreted as a coping mechanism, a way to survive by pushing your feelings down and conforming to violent systems. 

Perhaps this is a reason why Anurak reacts with fear over the idea that Dan might not forgive his father (and might even want to let him suffer). Of course this is also tied into cultural values around filial piety and we could read it as a fear of Dan straying from the correct path. But perhaps Anurak’s anxiety is also heightened by the fear of seeing Dan choose a path where he refuses to hide his anger and his pain.  

In the hospital Anurak tells Dan that he can’t change the way people think. In his office, Dan tells Anurak that he "should let go of [his] fixation on the teachings" since they might be blinding him from the truth. Conform or push for change. Bury your emotions to not get hurt more or use them to fuel you.  

This dynamic between Anurak and Dan is also paralleled in what we see of Anurak and Trin in the past. Trin is pushing for change, and, while kinder than the headmaster, Anurak resists, telling Trin, “But you’re trying to change a long-standing tradition.” He acknowledges Trin’s opinion in a sense but really just resists change in a nicer way. He’s not angry or using punishment, but change is still a nonstarter.

Trin pushes back asking “If the tradition was good, then why would people want to change it?” Interestingly, Anurak unlike the headmaster doesn’t defend the goodness or value of tradition. Instead he uses “logic” to point out the difficulty of making changes. Interestingly, Anurak tells the headmaster that “these things can’t be easily changed but we must respect reality,” but then turns to use such “reality” to debate Trin and make him back down.  

Reality and reason are safe to Anurak. Much more than the uncertainty of resistance or change. He may not like the status quo, it likely has done him much harm, but to resist and be hurt is far scarier to him. So he conforms, stuck in time like the butterflies on display in his office.

One final piece of technology

I talk about narrative prosthesis in this post, but lets talk real prosthetics. If we continue to assume Anurak is the one-armed man, this means that his left arm is a prosthetic. As @wen-kexing-apologist has noted here, he rarely moves it, and in certain scenes if you watch it closely you can see it reflect light or hang in a way that isn’t quite like his right arm. 

Prosthetics are technology, but they fall into a couple different categories. Some are functional  while others are cosmetic. Given that we never see Anurak use his arm and it typically remains immobile, it’s likely that the prosthetic is largely cosmetic. Meaning it’s used to make Anurak look like he has an arm, to hide his difference and help him conform. Once again connecting Anurak to both the idea of alterity and difference but also conformity. 

I want to mention one other allusion to prosthetics that comes up in Shadow. The bust in episode 7 is a replica of Lacoon and His Sons. The statue famously was missing the right arm for around 400 years before it was found in 1906. A year after it was unearthed in 1509, the pope’s architect held a contest to see who could best figure out what the arm looked like. An arm was added in 1532 that remained until the real arm was unearthed in the early 1900s. It is interesting to think about how the statue was given a prosthetic for 400 years, reflecting values about bodily wholeness. 

In one version of the Lacoon myth, he and his sons were punished by the gods after trying to warn people about the Trojan horse. Both the myth and the story of the statue’s prosthetic touch on themes of punishment and conformity tied together with technology. 

If my reading of Anurak is accurate, this ties not just to the fact that he is missing his left arm, but to his relationship with trauma and conformity which is expressed in part through his relationship with technology.   

Alright! Next time we’ll jump into cameras and horror!

[tastybluesprite]

The Kaiser Effect (Blue Lock)

New Blue Lock fic!!!! I’m trying to post more of these. I have some others that I started but still haven’t finished yet lol. I might try working on them and posting them. So yeah here’s some ler!Kaiser and lee!Isagi because I love them. My favorite frienimies lol. Hope you like it! I put more romantic undertones but can be seen as platonic or romantic.

Warnings: Some cursing, also this is a tickle fic so if that’s not your thing then feel free to just keep scrolling.

Summery: When Isagi accidentally walks in on Kaiser working out… well chaos lol…

Isagi flopped back on his new bed. He couldn’t believe how far he made it. Especially after the U-20 match. That alone felt unreal. First it was meeting Noel Noa, his hero! He didn’t ever dream he’d get to meet him so soon. He felt pretty happy with his choice of joining Germany, Munchen Bastards.

After the game between them and Manshine City, Nagi and Reos team, he was feeling more confident than he ever had. He even managed to earn the title “Man of the Match.”

The only thing standing in his way at the moment, was that jackass of a player. Michael Kaiser. He already knew he wanted to take the guy down despite the fact that they’re on the same team.

Just thinking about him made Isagi riled up. Finally breaking out of his thoughts, he sat up. “I’m gonna go train a bit.” He told Kurona, who was seated on his own bed next to him.

“Alright.” Kurona replied with a slight nod as he scrolled through his phone.

When Isagi made it to the training room, he could’ve fainted from shock of such coincidence.

There he was. Michael Kaiser. The blonde with blue tips looked towards him as he was in the middle of lifting some weights.

“Hello there Yoichi.” Kaiser greeted him when he looked up from his weights, bearing an as-if friendly grin.

“Hey…” Isagi said awkwardly, going for the yoga mats. He had taken a leaf out of Rin Itoshis book to try and do more yoga stretching. Isagi figured he needed to have more routine if he was going to surpass all the great players. He took off his sports jacket, revealing his black tank top, somewhat broad shoulders, and muscular biceps. All the training he’d been doing for Blue Lock really bulked him up a lot.

“Yoga huh?” Kaiser asked, tilting his head.

Yoichi Isagi shrugged. “I’m trying to stretch more. I want to gain more flexibility to better improve out on the field.”

“How is flexibility going to make you a better player?” Kaiser asked him, raising an eyebrow. He actually got up and took a seat on the floor next to the younger boy.

Isagi frowned. Did he really need to explain himself to a guy like this? Then he shrugged. “It’s just a routine I’m trying to implement more in my training. I Uh… picked up up from a friend.”

Kaiser grinned. “Well obviously it’s doing something then huh? You sure are a lot more built than you seem.” Kaiser smirked as he poked at his biceps.

Isagi ignored the tingling sensation from the touch as he leaned himself away.

“Do you have abs too…?” Nothing, absolutely nothing, could’ve prepared Isagi for when Kaiser then began grabbing at his abdomen, causing an electrical shock-like sensation to the nerves there. Isagi accidentally let out a loud squeak as he flinched.

They both froze for a second, Kaiser looking Isagi with an expression of surprise.

“Whoops, my bad Isagi. Did I tickle you?”

His smirk only deepened.

And before Isagi could tell the guy to fuck off, Kaiser grabbed his sides.

“W-wahahahahahahahait!!!” Isagi let out a shriek before desolving into giggles, uselessly trying to protect his body with his arms.

“Wow that Igaguri fellow was right. You really are ticklish. Here I was thinking I’d have to wait a while until I could do this. But this is better than l had hoped.”

Isagi was distantly thinking how much he wanted to murder Igaguri, when the blonde stuck his fingers up his underarms, which was worse than it usually was due to the fact that he was wearing a tank top.

“S-stohOHoHohohohoahap!!!” Isagi protested, trying to squirm away. God this was so humiliating. He was being rendered to a helpless puddle of giggles in front of one of the regulars of the pro German team.

Unfortunately things became far from over, when Kaiser went for his belly once more.

Isagi shrieked, falling onto his back as he uselessly pushed at the hand that was digging into his belly mercilessly.

“G-GYAHH NOhoHoho PLEhEhEAHaSE!!!!” Isagi squealed. He fucking squealed. Someone either save him or murder him. Then again there would be no difference for him between the two.

“Aw does the great and powerful egoist striker have a sensitive belly~” Kaiser teased with a grin. He honestly couldn’t help find this endearing, watching the younger squirm and kick on the floor, bubbly laughter spilling out of him.

“Hey Isagi, your friend told me another thing. He said that you particularly love to be tickled right here…” Kaiser then brought his hands to either side of his lower ribs, digging into the spot roughly.

Isagi seemed to almost be electrocuted, as he jolted, a screech ripping from his throat.

Just great. The guy just had to get his worst spot. Fantastic.

“Man you are way too ticklish for your own good.” Kaiser chuckled.

“SHUHUHUT THEHE FUHUHUCK UHUHUP AHAHAHAHAHA!!!!”

Kaiser honestly couldn’t help be entranced. The boys cheeks were flushed red, tears beading his eyes, his mouth in a face splitting smile. If he had a word to describe it, that word could only be “adorable.”

Soon Isagis laughter was growing hysterically silent, and he became so weak that he merely lay limp. Kaiser, breaking out of his trance, noticed this of course, and understood he needed a break.

Isagi panted, breathless on the floor. “W…what… t-the… hell… d-dammit…” Isagi was too tired out now to say any form of retort.

Kaiser then suddenly bursted into laughter of his own.

Isagi flinched at the sudden noise, sitting up as he watched his new teammate crumble to pieces with laughter.

“OHohoho myhy gohohod…” Kaiser managed, trying to control himself.

He soon managed to regain his composure. “Hah… wohow… I hahave to say I haven’t laughed so hard in a whihile. Felt amazihing.” Kaiser said, some giggles still escaping.

Isagi frowned. “What are you laughing about?”

Kaiser grinned. “Because I think you’re adorable Yoichi Isagi. I look forward to battling together in the next game.” He said as he got up, making his way towards the door.

Little did he know that the young boy, upon realizing what he had just said, became so red in the face, that he thought he might explode. His brain felt damn near broken.

He supposed that was just the Kaiser effect.

[archandshri]

22nd March ‘24 - [arch] Mad About Munch, Warm-up sketches and daaarknesss???

Good evening, Shri! I forgot that it is Friday, but at the beginning of writing this, I have an hour and 27 minutes until Friday is over, so I WILL be on time!

Wow, like a lot has happened? But I also don’t have tons to show for it. (it’s because I’m working on cool secret project that I’m not allowed to talk about which is fun!)

Stuff i have been doing

Museums :0!!!! I have been travelling and in my old age apparently, I like old art now???

Gathering a lot of reference images - photos, but also general inspiration

Finally organising my digital space a bit! I backed up like 3 years' worth of Procreate images and cleared out half my iPad

Getting some of my sketchbooks, especially comic development, digitised and onto Google Slides! I follow a similar process to when I was at uni still, with a huge PowerPoint for a project that contains reference images, inspiration, plot bullet points, and links to google docs where I write the scripts, development sketches and finals. It makes it super easy to go back to important parts of the development and be reminded of things I might have lost in the development process

Warm-up sketches because you bullied me into it (affectionate)

Continuing to explore colour

2 things I would like to tell you more about: 1) Edvard Munch!!!!!! If you ever get the chance to visit the Munch Museum in Oslo, do it!! I hadn’t seen a whole museum dedicated to one guy before, but seeing so much of his work in one place, in person really helped me understand it better. They also had a fantastic audio tour to rent that made it super accessible. I had just come from thinking about colour last week and becoming more comfortable with darker colours, and I had been thinking about personality and narrative in settings and backgrounds - both of which he does really well. In particular, The Sick Child, Eye in Eye, and The Sun stood out to me.

2) Play. AGAIN!!!!! I feel like I’m constantly having to fight myself, reminding myself to let go, play around, and explore without the expectation of a final outcome. You told me to try some 20 min warm-up and cool-down sketches - which I’ve been doing and has been going great! They’re not all perfect and aren’t supposed to be, but I’ve also had some really fun outcomes that wouldn’t have happened otherwise. I also feel like I’m getting more of a grip on colour :0

Plus, I’ve found that I haven’t wanted to post my terrible sketches or even my better ones?? Which has been nice to make without the need for sharing. However, I have found myself craving a final image to share with all of Tumblr and Instagram, thinking of possible images that would do well on those platforms. I think there is a small part of me that wants to create those because it would be fun, but I think it’s mostly to fix the number-shaped hole :/ Hank Green made a good video which mentioned the fact that platforms are EXTRA BAD with teaching creators to be addicted to them, even more so than consumers. Video here. It’s good.

I was listening to the Imp and Skizz podcast earlier (Episode - Rendog pt 1), it’s a great podcast, they chat about Hermitcraft a bit but mostly about what being alive is like and being a creator, I really recommend them too. Anyway, Skizz said he was once told to ‘create videos that he wanted to watch.’ And I think it’s a good approach to have when creating. What do I wanna see/ read?

I would love to chat to you about the balance between dark tones and silliness in storytelling too, but it is 11pm and I do have to get up early tomorrow. Plus, I’m not sure I have enough thoughts yet. But for now, it’s left me thinking: what do I want to make? Am I campable of silliness in stories? I want to tell stories with an undertone of darkness, that discusses difficult themes, but how to we do that while keeping it entertaining and not just Too Much(™)?

I dunno, just thoughts I’ve been having. I wanna get them down, even if I don’t have any solutions yet. In the meantime, please accept these sketchbook pages in lieu of philosophical answers. 

Thank you for listening to my rambles once again!

Love <3 Archie

Ps. I saw Frozen the musical and it was Very Sibling, and I cried. It made me think of you and I think you would like it (it’s only a bit different to the film but it makes such a difference omg)

[stormblessed95]

I have a big problem with ot7 army’s who act very very weird towards jimin and jungkook specifically when it’s both of them involved in something and I think it’s quite a problem too. Ot7 army’s insinuate anything to do with Jikook as shipping and it’s lowkey an insulting way to think because can’t you see their friendship outside of a sexual and romantic relationship, yk the funny thing about that is they ‘hate’ shipping the boys but they can’t see jimin and jungkook as just friends. It’s always about a ship with them and they can never let anyone enjoy the moment.

What triggered this thought was the response to this tweet where the interviewer asked a question where he mentions jimin and the response was so wholly negative and I get that he didn’t ask the best questions but if it was namjoon mentioned for example or maybe even taehyung I know and believe the response probably would’ve been entirely different. And adding onto that when the GMA host asked about jimin they were mad again? But like what do you honestly expect jimin was also in the country with jungkook so they’re gonna ask about the member he’s with. What really annoyed me was that I and the rest of the fandom were mad for different reasons I was annoyed because she outed that jimin was there and it wasn’t common knowledge but the rest were mad just simply because of the mentioning of his name….

I’ve seen it’s such a widespread thing amont majority of the fandom to diminish or ignore jimin and jungkooks bond or what they obviously have. I saw a popular tweet saying jimin could pull namjoon and I honestly believe that and the comments agreed and mentioned yoongi and taehyung a lot but not once jungkook… i questioned whether we’re seeing the same content because not one mention of jungkook THAT MAN IS WHIPPED for jimin😭it’s not even that big of a deal but it is since it’s such a popular thing. And also jimin went to nyc to support jungkook no army talked about it only jkkrs.

Sorry I’m just gonna have a rant about some other thing’s because this feels like a safe space.

I also wanted to talk about the lack of action against tkkrs especially by ot7 army’s. And I have watched this from once again a neutral point of view as someone who doesn’t indulge in shipping. Tkkrs legitimately run the fandom they make up at most 50% of it too. So wherever you go you will see atleast one taekooker and by now I would’ve thought they would decrease in numbers but they haven’t and they’re running wild. The YouTube videos they made of jimin, the tiktoks spreading mistranslations, the SA tweets they make about him and just all the verbal harassment as well as defamation. And when I see these things happen it’s a big big deal but it’s never talked about and the one time they did which was that one twitter space where this old lady was talking none of the accounts got banned 💀 and I had reported them each 20 times. They also had posts accusing jimin of harassing jungkook which are reportable but the account managed to stay up even after it got more than 1mil views on their hate tweet?. I don’t how the account still being up can be explained other than by the fact that barely anybody didn’t anything. And the grouping they do is outrageous

I get that some/quite a big of jikookers are bad but they have never done what tkkrs do and continue to do. They use it as deflection they say “all shippers” and never explicitly mention that literal cult.

And I used to follow this one army who had been exposed for being a jimin anti and friends with vile taekookers mind you they had 20k followers. This person liked tweets by vile jimin anti (not the anti ones themselves) and was in a gc with taekookers who while she was in there shat on Jimins name and hated him. And yet no ot7 army called them out only pjms and jikookers. They still have an extremely large following. As well people jumped to their defence even when they themselves had none??? But then I saw them giving hate too a jimin bias army who by the way had never been an anti but just didn’t post about other members as much. The energy is always directed in the wrong directions and I think it’s purposeful.

1. I'm an OT7 army and while there are quite a few of us doing what we can about tkkrs. The point is valid

2. I also saw that minimoni tweet and saw the lack of Jungkook mentioned 🤣 sigh

3. Rant posted

[incognitajones]

Fic author interview

Thanks to @sesamestreep and @glorious-spoon for tagging me in this one over the holidays! But between starting the new job and the holidays and the RCSS, it totally slipped my mind until now 😬

No-pressure tagging: @anghraine, @ladytharen, @luciechat, and anyone else who feels like it.

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

An even 200 if I include both accounts.

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

Just under 650K words altogether.

3. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Last Train 

I fought the war (but the war won) 

left-handed kisses 

Fixer Upper 

Chain Reaction 

4. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Yes! I want to let commenters know they're appreciated, and I enjoy talking about little details or plot turns. Lately I haven't had the time or energy for much more than a quick thank you, but I'm still trying to respond.

5. What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

At one point it would've been the bad ending of I fought the war, but now I think this Whumptober piece takes the crown.

6. What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

Considering canon, most of them have an unrealistically happy ending! Especially inside the vastness of the galaxy, the "Naomi & Filip get a happy reunion" story.

7. Do you write crossovers?

No. I enjoy writing & reading some fusions (i.e. characters from one canon in the setting of another) but traditional crossovers in which characters from two different canons meet don't generally appeal to me.

8. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Not on AO3, but I've been sent anon hate on Tumblr about my writing a couple of times (find a Reylo writer who hasn't challenge).

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Yeah, a fair bit - in fact it's hard to remember sometimes that I never wrote anything explicit before 2016! It's all pretty vanilla, though, minus a few attempts at kinkier stuff which are deservedly anonymous.

10. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Kind of; someone commented on one of my stories on AO3 to tell me that another story had copied significant parts of it. (They'd already commented on and reported the other fic, so I didn't take any additional action. The plagiarizing story was eventually deleted.)

11. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes! Bless the fandom translators, for they are amazing.

12. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Nothing posted publically.

13. What’s your all-time favorite ship?

I couldn't possibly choose a single favourite! In terms of longevity, it's either Han/Leia or Eowyn/Faramir. And Star Wars ships in general seem to have a strong hold on me 😁

14. What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

The OT3 whumpfic. It's nearly done, but it's far outside my usual wheelhouse so without a beta reader, I can't tell whether it's worth finishing or beyond help.

15. What are your writing strengths?

I think I write decent dialogue, and I'm genuinely proud of the ideas behind I fought the war and pulse to pulse. I can also write a pretty good pastiche of 19C style, although you wouldn't know it from this account.

16. What are your writing weaknesses?

Plotting. Falling back on boring/clichéd beats to flesh out dialogue-heavy scenes.

17. What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

A sentence or so? Sure. Can't think of a reason to do much more than that.

18. What was the first fandom you wrote for?

It would be either Buffy or Lord of the Rings - I honestly don't remember - not counting the terrible Shannara-fic I wrote as a pre-teen.

19. What’s a fandom/ship you haven’t written for yet but want to?

Someday I'd really like to write a Children of Men story telling what happened to Kee and [spoiler] after the movie, plus fixing [spoiler].

20. What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

Subject to change by the moment, of course, but looking back at some older stories recently reminded me that I've always been pretty fond of don't go home without me.

[jokerislandgirl32]

You self ship with the grinch? :O that’s so awesome and cool I’m happy for you guys!! Can’t wait to learn more about your ship with him! —CCFM

Thank you so much for this sweet and supportive ask! Sorry it took me a while to get to!

But, yessss! I do selfship with the Grinch!

This is a selfship I kept quiet about for a while, partly because of the strong hold Zach’s had/has on me, partly because of my ex’s reaction to finding out I liked Grinch a while back (it was not pleasant), and because I was trying to pursue an in real life relationship (haha, that endeavor is failing miserably)….But I’m now embracing my handsome green guy! So thank you, thank you, thank you soooo much for your support!

As of now I’m still in the beginning stages of figuring out the details of my ship with him. Originally, I wasn’t even going to create an official self insert, but after talking and brainstorming with my wonderful mutual and friend @creativegenius22 we’ve figured out a baseline for this self insert! Thank you so much for your help with this process and for being such an awesome friend!

So introducing….

Aurora Borealis Who

Image made with this picrew!

The tag for this s/i is her full name, #aurora borealis who, the tag for any grinch f/o stuff I post is #mr. grinch 💚, and the tag for the AU is #ribbons and bows au. I haven’t figured out a ship name for them yet, this is still in the works! If any of you have suggestions, please let me know!

Fun Facts about Aurora and how she met her wonderful Grinch are below the cut! This became wayyy too long, so consider it as something of a character ref sheet too I guess? lol, enjoy!

Age: 20s, probably early to mid 20s.

Apperance: Short, petite stature (she’s built like Donna, but is only as tall as Grinch’s chest). Long, Blonde hair styled with heart shape buns, parted bangs, and a little heart wisp; aquarium colored eyes, a cute little Who snout, earrings, pink clothing, and a white ribbon given to her by Grinch that she fashioned into a necklace.

Aurora is a fun, lovable, kind, compassionate, hyper Who that adores Christmas (like her Who counterparts).

Her parents named her after the natural phenomenon Aurora Borealis, since she was born in winter, specifically on December 22, the date of the Winter solstice.

Her father passed when she was a child resulting in her being raised by only her mother. Her other family members include, 🥁….Donna, Cindy Lou, and Buster and Bean Who! Donna is Aurora’s aunt and Cindy Lou and the twins are her cousins! They are related through Aurora’s father/Donna’s brother who passed.

She grew up taking initiative and learning to care for herself in order to help her mother out, resulting in her becoming a delivery Who for various companies throughout Whoville. Her real dream is to help take care of/teach children (hmm wonder how that might come into play later…).

This leads her into the arms, I mean clutches, I mean…into the lair…lol, of the Grinch! She is the only delivery Who that Grinch has not scared away. She persists and lets any insults thrown her way roll right past her.

Grinch and her first meet a couple years before the events of the movie when he needs parts delivered to his cave to repair some damage that resulted from one of his hating Christmas fits. After this they develop something of a friendship and he begrudgingly allows her into his cave every now and then as they grow to know each other/become friends.

When Grinch plots to share Christmas she notices an increase in deliveries to his cave, she questioned him about this, and he reveals his plans to steal Christmas because he feels he can trust her. It is at this point they start to have romantic feelings for one another.

Instead of getting angry with him she accepts it, she places her hand against his cheek and says, “if this is what you have to do to heal…I can’t judge you, and I won’t stop you.”

She hugs him kisses his cheek before she leaves, vanquishing any form of friendship they had and making them something more 🥰.

And…I think I’ll save the rest for future posts!

Their love song, by the way, is the inspiration for the AU name! It is Ribbons and Bows by Kacey Musgraves!

[darkcircles4lyfe]

Why Tiger is kind of a big deal, actually

Folks, I have a headache. I just spent the better part of my day doing research, and having even less fun than I expected while doing it. However, coming out the other end of it, I can say this: Tiger, in terms of representation of trans male characters in manga and anime, is practically an anomaly. And we should all be more aware of the weight that carries, not just because it shows how little representation we have, but also because maybe this says something about Horikoshi. Before I get into that, though, some backstory. 

Originally, I wanted to do this as quantitatively as possible, show you how much representation there is, where and when and who it comes from, regardless of how subjectively good or bad it is. Basically all I wanted to say was, “look, there isn't much.” But even I didn’t realize just how bad and messy things were going to turn out to be. I’m not going to show you my spreadsheet because it’s a fucking dumpster fire. For starters, there are a lot more instances of trans female characters, some that could be described as non-binary, genderfluid, or otherwise ambiguous, and very few trans male characters. I ended up with a list of about 20 alleged trans male characters, spanning roughly 40 years of Japanese media. (Not exhaustive, especially because not everything is available in English) Of those, some turned out to be inexplicit/vague/unclear, some were tragic, some were demeaning, some were very minor characters, and some belonged to creators and/or stories with exceptionally problematic aspects. Again I’m not gonna show you my spreadsheet because it got messy and subjective and honestly I was so frustrated I kinda lost my patience. In the end, only one survived as a manga I will definitely be seeking out for substantial, gratifying, therapeutic representation of someone like me. That one manga is Boys Run the Riot, by the way. I wish I could say more about it here, but I haven’t read it yet! Anyway, a few more did survived this filtering process excluding the fact that they’re minor characters, and Tiger was one of them. I want to reiterate how utterly abysmally tiny this pool of characters is. But I swear I still want to have some fun with this post, so let’s talk about Tiger, aka Chatora Yawara.

And what’s more fun than calling out our good buddy Mr. CC on his translating bullshit! Yeah! This all started when I was looking back at ch 72 and I realized something didn’t make sense:

Like, what does this even mean? “Genre?” “Wrong??” I can’t even understand what this statement is referring to exactly, just that it sounds bad. Seems very much like something got lost in translation. I unfortunately can’t really do the work myself, especially without access to the original Japanese, but sometimes I like to try to triangulate with multiple translations put together. Btw though, if you have access to the Japanese versions and can/want to translate, please do reach out to me to either confirm or deny all this. For now, here is a side by side comparison of officials (blue) vs. available fanscans (yellow) for Tiger’s introduction:

It’s subtle, but the officials get things a little more muddled. The most glaring difference is that CC has Aizawa refer to the whole hero team as “these ladies,” which sounds very bad! Idk if the original Japanese has any gendered language to justify translating it to “ladies,” but I’m guessing probably not. My interpretation of what went wrong here is that CC thought Horikoshi wanted to make Tiger being trans part of the joke, playing it for shock value, when really what was meant by “wrong gender” was more like “the only Pussycat who isn’t a woman,” and not “wrong” as in “mutilated woman who thinks she’s a man” (yes, transphobes call us that). After all, how would Deku be able to tell Tiger is trans and be shocked about it anyway? The other comments make a lot more sense with the added translator note in the fanscan as well, letting us know that the whole bit is a reference to Billy Blanks. Hence the “wrong genre.” Basically, all put together, the scene is actually just a joke about Tiger being a hard-ass buff dude instead of a cute, fun little kitty. So yeah, this is all fine. Cannot stress enough how refreshing that is after the research hell I went through today. 

Now let me get into what takes Tiger from okay to great in terms of representation. I want to underline the seemingly tiny detail that he is 31 years old and has been a part of his team for 12 years, so since they were 19. That likely means they were all friends in high school and had already been planning to work together for years. Perhaps their friendship even dates back before Tiger came out and started transitioning. I mean, imagine young Yawara happily befriending a group of girls (same bro, same) but being uneasy about the fact that the hero agency Ryuko is dreaming of starting is going to have them all themed as catgirls. Like, if he comes out, will he ruin that dream? But no, he cares enough about them and they care enough about him that it makes no difference whatsoever, and he even has fun going along with the theme too. Seriously, the fact that he has a gender-nonconforming style of hero costume is some next level shit. 

The other thing that makes him great is he’s just, there. Doing his thing. No one questions him, acts like he’s a fraud, scandalizes or misgenders him. His being trans at all is only mentioned in a quick note next to his sketch page, which is fine by me tbh. Better that than some dramatic reveal. He also doesn’t have any stereotypical traits. I mean, I guess some trans men being gym rats is kind of a stereotype, but not a bad one? It’s more of an actual thing that we can joke about. A negative portrayal I would expect might emphasize a trans man’s “womanly” body, for example, simultaneously fetishizing and mocking it. If anything the fact that Tiger’s body is very masculine suggests he was designed by someone who knows how medical transition works, and the fact that he happily participates in gender-nonconformity suggests he was designed by someone who understands the complexity and diversity of gender presentation. He’s just ya know, casually and quietly one of the most genuine representations of a trans man in manga ever.

Horikoshi does seem to have a way of making even the most minor characters feel real and complex. But with this there’s more to it than that. Trans men fly under the radar constantly. People don’t know shit about us. They forget we even exist. No cishet man who decides on a whim to make up a random trans male character magically gets it right. So lemme just point at Tiger with every ounce of emphasis I can possibly cram into my finger, and look you in the eye with the war-hardened stare of someone who has seen just about goddamn everything: This. Is. Significant. In a world where trans men get next to zero representation, let alone decent representation, this isn’t just good, it’s suspiciously good. Like Horikoshi Knows Things type of good. I hate to go here, but I don’t know how else to articulate this... like, in my spreadsheet elimination, the only examples that fared as well or better than Tiger were written by actual queer people and/or come from stories with more major queer characters. At the very least this means that for a cishet man, Horikoshi is way more knowledgable of lqbtq+ issues than average, and at most…well, you know what I’m getting at. I will also go ahead and say that a character like Tiger could very well be a sign of Horikoshi testing the waters for other more central queer characters in the future, getting a read on his audience, editors, publisher, etc. and how they react to it.

Regardless, I’m writing this post not to speculate, but because I want y’all to be armed with the confidence to say Horikoshi is on your side, and not the side of the ignorant dudes who think bnha is their personal plaything. I’m tired of those people pissing all over this manga like it’s their turf. You know, the kind of people who tell you bnha is a shounen, which means it’s “for boys,” straight, cisgender boys, and you don’t belong here so you should shut up or go read something else. Please take this post as a reminder that you’re not delusional, you do belong here, and you're in good hands with Horikoshi, whether you’re queer yourself or just enjoy a good queer ship/headcanon. 

Anyway have a nice rest of your Pride Month everybody <3

^also enjoy this little exchange with class A, it’s very cute

[secretsappyabode]

Fuck it it’s MY house I GET to make silly little fics about my fave turtle family. The POV will be in second person, but this is specifically about my insert rather than a generic x reader fic yknow?

I’m gonna try make a head canon/ fic for each member of the family, so everyone will get their own post basically. First up is Mikey.

In the past 5 years of…let’s call it “travelling”, you never expected to find friends, let alone a family

And yet here you are, getting roped into… whatever it is these turtles get roped into

Still, you have to admit, it’s nice not being on your own. Finally having company for once. It takes time to adjust, but eventually you go from bringing your dish to your room and eating alone, to actually joining them at the dinner table! And talking to them! Go you!!

Lord, since when did a group of teenagers intimidate you? You’re in your 20s for god sake

Your travels had made you more reserved, more serious, and survival mode hasn’t turned off yet. You’re not the silly, joyful, positive person you once were a few years ago, as much as you wish you could go back to what you used to be.

And now you’re living in the same quarters as a group of turtles who are anything but serious. They’re fun, goofy, and have this sincerity with each other that makes you feel the pit in your stomach grow because you yearn for that connection. You ache for even a moment of simple validity of your friendship with them.

But can you have it? Do you even belong with them? Can you even call yourself a friend? An acquaintance even? You feel a bit out of place…

But they don’t seem to think so. To them, you fit in just right.

Mikey

The first to warm up to you. He’s not sure himself, but he was somehow getting some good vibes from you.

Your initial reservation didn’t bother him, you find. Apparently the purple clad turtle is quite similar in disposition. He would ask you as many questions as possible, to which you listen quietly and answer casually.

You liked his youthful personality. So enthusiastic and earnest, it made you a little jealous. But he never clashed with your mellow energy, in fact he complimented yours. (You wish you had some of that energy. You miss being positive)

You don’t know how he did it, but he somehow figured out your drawing hobby. Damn it, this was supposed to be a private thing. “You’re an artist and you didn’t tell me??? WE COULD HAVE BEEN ARTS AND CRAFTS BUDDIES THIS WHOLE TIME??”

You sheepishly reveal your sketches and he excitedly shows his designs. This turns into art trades which turns into art sessions where you talk about your processes together. He teaches you some really good shading tips. You teach him about expressions and form. You feel good about your art for once.

If the teens have one thing in common, they love your hugs. Mikey is the first to know what they feel like.

It happened to you suddenly, where he was thanking you for some odd favour you did for him and he wrapped you up in a tight hug. You were caught off guard, but eventually wrapped your arms across his shell. But as soon as you did that he quickly retracted from you.

“Shoot! Sorry, I should have asked first. Usually I’m really good with this but I just got so carried away and-.”

You tell him not to worry about it. It’s been so long since you received a hug, or any sort of positive touch for that matter. You just weren’t used to it, is all.

“Oh! Okay! In that case, wanna try again?” You’re prepared this time and bring your arms around him again. He leans his head on your chest and you feel him snuggle in a bit. This…is nice. You try to ignore the long years you endured without any sort of positive affirmation or care or sign of love or anything like that. You ignore the fact that you haven’t felt a hug this warm and close in a long time. You’re gonna ignore the wetness in your eyes now.

Mikey uses the “youngest sibling” puppy dog eyes on you and always tries to pull the “baby of the family” move. This is to no avail. No matter how hard he tries, you just don’t give in. This makes it harder when the other turtles want you to do something for them (and totally not against the rules)

“How is this possible?? Mikey is our secret weapon he ALWAYS works.” “How do my undefeatable little brother moves not work on you??” he wails. “Jokes on you, brother. For you see, I am the youngest sister in MY family, so therefore I am immune to your tricks!”

“SHOCKED GASP” “Dangit!” “Aw come on!” “GAHH! So powerful……”

Eventually you meet the infamous Dr Feelings the more you show yourself. He’s convinced that you need to “come out of your shell” and “stop isolating yourself” and “allow the help people offer in your life”

That last statement, you tell him that he needs to follow that as well. That he doesn’t have to be the “family therapist” all the time and he’s still young and why is he taking on such emotional problems bro he is 15 who let a 15 year old tackle everyone’s mental health?? You tell him that it’s ok if it all gets to be too much sometimes.

He gets quiet at that. Silently absorbing your words in his mind. It feels a little eerie if you’re completely honest. Seeing him sit there fiddling with his “therapist” glasses and averting eye contact, it’s like someone stripped away his personality and pasted on somebody else’s.

All you can do is stare intently at him, hoping he gets your message. You’ve been where he is now, and you know how rough it can get. You’d hate to see him fall down that same rabbit hole, and you’d be damned if you would let that happen to him. After everything that’s happened to you, to him, to this family. He has to know what you’re saying. He has to listen.

Mikey takes off his glasses and you notice a shimmer in his eyes. “You know what? I think….Dr Feelings really needed to hear that.”

After that night, he comes to you whenever he feels his “tazz isn’t very razzy” so to speak. Something about you and what you said just makes him feel more comfortable to admit those not-so-good thoughts around you. “Maybe it’s my inherent wisdom” you joke. “You can only say that if you’re like “old” old. Like OLD old old. Dad old” (you hear splinter shout from the other room)

“Hey come on I’ve got more wisdom in me than the average dad.” “Oh yeah? Impart some sagely wisdom, your wisely wisdomness” “You stink” “THATS NOT WISDOM”

Expect a lot of hugs from him. Everyone in this family is pretty affectionate, but he makes up 90% of it

You used to go on errands by yourself, but now…maybe some company wouldn’t hurt

He’s the first one you invite, making it his and your Thing ™️. Errand time is bonding time. It’s sacred.

And then the other turtles found out and now it’s practically a family outing

During the early days when you joined them on missions, he would show off a little bit (maybe not as much as Leo did, but you could tell his tricks were getting more showy)

He just wants you to be proud of him

He’d call for you to watch him as he swung his weapon at their enemies, showing no remorse as he kicked their asses

Only to turn around like “Hey did you see me?? Was I cool or what??”

All you can do is stare gobsmacked as you give a thumbs up.

Mikey was the first for everything in your friendships with the Hamato clan. Your first friend, the first to confide into, the first you indulged in your hobbies with, the first you personally invited to hang out with-

He was your littlest brother.

And you would do anything for him. For all of them.

[0verc00ked-simp]

So I just finished the third season for the first time last night (I know, I know, I have no excuse for holding off this long) and I have. Some thoughts. Spoilers, obviously.

First of all, it really wasn’t as bad as I was expecting from the way people talk about it, but I have my issues I wanna talk about.

Allison. They took all the parts of Victor I hated in season one and shoved them onto her in this season. Now don’t get me wrong, at first I was excited to see her get her much-deserved snap after all the trauma she’s endured but… They did it so wrong. I see no point mentioning the Luther scene as I’m sure we all share the same opinion on how that was a terrible mishandling of her but the thing that gets me is the fact that she made a deal with Reggie, and when that deal led to the death of Luther and Klaus, she still didn’t back out until she herself was injured. What??? Like, no, as soon as Luther died, that should have been the point that the Allison I know would have been like “ok, nvm, losing more people isn’t worth this”. But whatever,,,

Also, the romance with Luther and Sloane was so rushed and forced, Don’t get me wrong, I honestly thought they were cute together and Luther deserves to move on from the incest… even though this isn’t much better… but jesus. Also, did it have to be another alternate sibling of his? Really??? They couldn’t have given him a love interest that didn’t share a father with him? Its better than Allison who he literally grew up with and refers to as his sister, but this woman is also basically his sister. And they got married after like five-ish days of knowing each other, chill.

I haven’t decided how I feel about Lila and Diego’s kid yet. I don’t like pregnancy arcs but I wouldn’t mind seeing those two happy and settled for once in their damn lives. I dunno. I am neutral so far.

Five was deffo chiller in this season, people are right about that one. He had his moments of course, but I was sort of surprised by how much of a back burner they put him on this season. He’s typically they’re main blorbo. I didn’t really have any issues with him or anything, just wished he had more to do.

Well…

There is one issue.

The last episode ended with them all losing their powers, which included Luther no longer being part ape. This is fine and I think it will lead to some interesting plot next season, but why is Five still a child? I think they could justify it in some senses, but if you ask me, he should have either reverted back to being in his fifties, or he should have finally been in his thirties with the rest of his siblings. I’m sure they just didn’t want anyone but Aidan to play him (rightfully so) but Aidan is 20 now, they could have pulled something off. It’s not like they’re trying to make an actual 13 year old appear to be in his 30 or something.

If they’re keeping him as a kid, though, I want to see that have an effect. I want to see him regress and slowly start becoming more and more of an actual teenager. (In all honesty, could just be me, but it kinda feels like that’s been happening a little bit anyhow.) Also I saw another post talking about him being in school dealing with people who are actually teenagers and I really think that would be so funny, please make the state force him to attend public high school.

This has been my random thoughts after finishing the season, if you disagree with me, that’s totally fine, they’re more just the thoughts I had late at night after being sick kept me up. Looking forward to the new season. It got confirmed to come out next year, although we still have no idea when.

Hang in there people, it will be here soon.

[papirouge]

Notice how the rising stories from China and in villages across India are reporting that families are still mass killing their baby girls make the pro aborts quiet? They claim to be feminists but the choice is always at the expense of a baby girl being murdered for being a girl. Always. There’s no place on earth where baby boys are being mass killed in a system that tells families that boys have no value.

Now those countries are killing themselves because they don’t have any women left to marry their sons too. There’s already kidnapping from nearby areas but that’s not sustainable. On top of that, boys in primary school who consume content like Tat3 or these masculinity podcasts are academically falling faster because they’re more concerned over being “masculine and dominant” over the female teachers and classmates. The future seems to be full of single, violent, unintelligent/uneducated men who hate women because the girls who haven’t been killed in the womb or as infants are accomplished and educated but vastly outnumbered. Males will use every excuse to justify their hatred from religion like islam to just being violent. There would be pick mes that support those men tho. I watched a tiktok of a woman at the gym (who I think either had her account banned or went private) say the worst things for her male viewers. The worst I saw was how she said that men should return women back to god (so kill us) and the comments (the males) all agreed. But even so, she won’t be protected by them because at the end of the day, being a woman means you have a target on your back that will only get bigger as time goes on. So I hope pro aborts are happy that they think giving the choice to kill babies were worth it. Because this world despises women, even in the womb so that choice will always kill us.

They're quiet about it because they can't shove them abortion as the solution of this problem ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯ pro abortion aren't solution focused, they just want to elevate abortion as the be all and end all of reproductive justice. But what are they gonna do when women are going to profit off access to abortion to have safer sex elective abortion? They'll go *shocked face Pikachu ", that's all

Female redpilled grifter are trendy because pandering to incels is very profitable. The good news is that it's pretty much a phase and that most of these women will get over in ~10 years or tone down their act big time (à la Lauren Southern), the bad news is that they will always be a new flock of idiot to take over the torch AND having the audience to follow.

Even here in France we have them red pill trad chicks associated to far right movement saying slut shaming is good and that feminism is the devil (Thaïs d'Escufon is a piece of work lol), and they are fairly popular in their nice. Just sprinkle "woke" here and there and they reach 100k+ views every few days.

She (Thaïs) once made a collab video with a french manosphere scrote, and they humiliated her asking her to pick some coffee and basically putting her down into her 'female place', and french twitter clowned her saying "well that's what sd was asking for ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯". There was also an audio leak from this french Nationalist vocal chatroom where she threw a fit bc apparently nationalist scrotes were interested dating Asian or African wife bc they were "more traditional". She was fuming bc it was a cultural and racial waste 💀 (FYI she's a legit White supremacist. But also a VERY dumb one. She once posted on Twitter an AI image of these "perfect man & woman" and used the fact they were White to argue that White people were objectively the prettiest 💀 .... girl didn't get that AI wasn't "neutral")

It's was very interesting to see her seething at seeing her White men lusting after women. You'd think with all the attention she gets, she'd have a ring on her finger yet, but homegirl is in her mid 20, still not married, but patronizing men peepee to keep them on check (which is a lost cause of course bc most men are animals). This dissonance is very weird... She's very much like Pearl. There has to be something very off with them or their surrounding if they can't find a man. I mean, according to their own logic of "women main purpose to breed to pursue the (white) race".

[everygame]

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 (PS4)

Developed/Published by: Vicarious Visions / Activision Released: 4/09/2020 Completed: 20/08/2022 Completion: All challenges completed and all golds, baby! Trophies / Achievements: 49%

It’s August, 2022. I’m sitting at a desk. It’s April, 2000. I’m sitting on the floor, playing Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater on Nintendo 64. It’s August, 2022, I’m sitting on a couch, playing Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater on PlayStation 4.

It’s January, 2001. I’m sitting on a futon, playing Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 on Sega Dreamcast. It’s August, 2022, I’m sitting on a couch, playing Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 on Playstation 4. It’s August, 2022, I’m sitting at a desk.

…

Alright, you’re probably thinking: 1. That’s probably the weakest parody of that bit in Watchmen I’ve ever read and 2. Are you serious that you actually played THPS 1 and 2 on N64 and then Dreamcast???

Yeah, I’m completely serious! But I’m not sure I’ve ever played anything that decoupled me from time as much as playing this did. It’s interesting, because you’d assume that I’d be able to experience this almost as something new, considering they’ve upgraded the graphics, aged up all the skaters, and even updated the game systems to match the post-THPS2 games what with reverts and that. But I think it’s actually to do with the hypnotic nature of the Tony Hawks games. They are pure “zone” games. A level loads, and you have to pretty much lose yourself to getting the highest combo–your fingers move really without any conscious thought, and what gets into your subconscious is that soundtrack; itself a sort of concentrated bomb of memory and emotion. 

It’s… weird? It’s weird that playing Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, to me, is like riding a bike. I literally haven’t touched one of these since Tony Hawk’s Underground on PS2 (“It’s December, 2003…”) and yet here I am, there I was: trick to revert to manual to trick to revert to manual to grind to manual like it hasn’t been, um, nearly twenty years.

I suppose I had forgotten how to do specials (you don’t rush the inputs, basically) but once that was locked in I was golden. Not that this wasn’t still a challenge for my clearly aging wrists, as once I decided I was going to 100% this with golds the marathon “fail, restart, fail, “just one more go”, fail, restart” session I pulled on the last level in THSP2… well, let’s just say for the first time in my gaming career I was having to ice my hands and wrists. God knows what long term damage I did even the first time I played these.

Anyway. This is as good as it always was. I think it’s a bit of a shame the original no-manual/no-revert play is relegated to a game mod option instead of actually being a way to play through the games properly, but I suppose the original games still exist if I ever want to play them–I’m not going to, but it’s interesting how the “final” incarnation of THPS gameplay put such an emphasis on just chaining special vert tricks; maybe I’m wrong, but I feel like the earlier system made you do more street skating for high scores (which I like more, I think?) 

I don’t really know how well this did, but I suspect it was a bit like Activision’s attempts to get Guitar Hero up and running again–if you were there the first time and you actually play it, you remember how fucking great it is, but they miked the franchise so relentlessly that it’s hard to get up the urge to actually play it again. At least this one doesn’t come with several hundred dollars worth of quickly obsolete plastic, so I say… give it a go, I’m glad I did.

Will I ever play it again? Interesting fact: THPS2 had five extra exclusive levels on Xbox, and they’re not here! Though apparently parts of those levels were re-used in later games, so it’s possible those five levels are considered “non-canon”. I’d maybe play THPS2 on Xbox then one day, but I’d prefer a THPS 3+4 package please! I never played them the first time.

Final Thought: It’s March, 2041. I’m sitting in a burned out building, hoping that the roaming kill squads don’t check this quadrant today. My wrists really, really fucking hurt. I should never have played Tony Hawk’s in April 2000, January 2001, December 2003 and especially not in bloody August 2022!

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