#they all have done awful stuff and they're all big pieces of shit and they're all villains

[supemaeve]

This is not directed at anyone specifically but I always find it interesting how if one of my gifsets features HL or SB people will make any kind of comment about liking the characters or just general comments about them with no issue, which is fine.

But then I will make one that features Stormfront, like the last one I posted, and people always feel the need to preface with "I absolutely hate this character but...", "This character is despicable and awful but..." when talking about her, even if they're gonna say something general about what's happening on the gifs or about the story.

And this doesn't happen only on my gifsets, obviously. I've seen it in lots of places but it happens a lot and I think it's funny how it only happens with her. It's like you have to justify yourself first in order to make a comment about something you find interesting about the character or even just a general comment or opinion about her . But that doesn't happen with the others...

I don't know, I've just noticed that you can like those two guys or WB or anyone else in the show who's done terrible things all you want and say so with no issue, but if you're going to even allude to finding SF interesting you have to put a disclaimer...

[swordfright]

this might just be because i'm a bit older than your average mcyt fan, but it makes me kind of sad to see all these younger fans scramble to wipe their mcyt fanworks off the internet the second a content creator is revealed to have done something awful.

don't get it twisted, I'm a big believer in rescinding financial support to ccs you no longer agree with or admire by unsubscribing, deciding not to buy merch, or refusing to give them ad revenue by watching their content. if you don't feel comfortable giving someone money, don't give them your money. material support isn't what i'm talking about here - I'm talking about fanfic, fansongs, fanart. yknow, content that fans create for themselves and each other, stuff that's not for ccs.

in the past year (and especially the past week, obviously) i've seen tons of mcyt fans saying they're planning to delete their art (or that they already have deleted) because they don't want their work to be associated with content creators who behaved badly, and that they want "a fresh start." I've seen fan writers say the same thing about their fics. and like, this is fine, do what you want with your stuff, but i'll be honest...it does make me sad that so many younger fans seemingly have been made to feel such a high degree of responsibility for ccs that they're unable to enjoy fandom (a thing that is FOR US! FOR YOU!) or take any measure of pride in their past fanworks.

again, at the end of the day you should do what you want with your own shit. but what i will say is, if what you want to do with your work is delete it, at least think first about why you're considering the nuclear option. you aren't responsible for a cc's behavior, and that goes for literally anyone who's ever had a hand in making anything you like: books, movies, games, anything. you shouldn't be made to feel ashamed of having created fan content for a piece of media that a shitty person was involved in making. straight up, this kind of shame isn't something i believe should exist in fandom, because it's parasocial in the same way that positive emotions towards media/creators can be parasocial.

and also, as someone who's been involved in fandom for a long time, i can say with confidence that creators will keep disappointing you like this. there are shitty people out there. if you're searching for a piece of media with zero shitty people ever involved in the project, you will not find it. i'm not saying this to normalize shitty behavior on the part of creators, I'm saying this to emphasize that bearing the shame and guilt of every creator to this degree is not sustainable or healthy (and it's not how fandom used to operate, but that's a conversation for another day, perhaps.)

i understand why so many folks are considering deleting their fanworks, and if that's you...think about it before you do it. that's all i'm asking. you don't want to create a habit of divesting yourself of all evidence of having been passionate about art created by someone who sucks, because if you do get into that habit, then your chances of ever truly enjoying a fandom again are, unfortunately, pretty slim.

[hotdaemondtargaryen]

TOM GLYNN-CARNEY INTERVIEWED FOR DEADLINE MAGAZINE.

IS THAT YOU LYING IN BED IN EPISODE 5, GETTING THE BURNT VALYRIAN STEEL PEELED OFF OF YOUR BODY?

"It certainly is me."

I THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD. SO YOU'RE NOT DEAD YET?

"I say a word … unless dead people can speak."

SO YOU ARE SURE AS YOU'RE SITTING HERE, YOU ARE NOT DEAD.

"I’m not dead yet."

LET'S BACK UP TO THE DAY WHEN YOU SHOT THAT EPIC DRAGON FIGHT.

"Well, that day was, in fact, probably about three weeks work, trying to get all these certain angles and these set pieces together."

"It takes a while to coordinate something like that."

"And it was great fun."

"It was a little different."

"The stuff I had to do previously with the big dialogue, the heavy council scenes and the moments in the pub … that felt more theatrical."

"And by theatrical, I don’t mean hammy and stuff, I mean being in theater and doing a play."

"But this [dragon fight] felt very filmic, being strapped into this crane and having this big camera on a long hydraulic arm thrown in your face."

"There were lots of green screens and gray screens and tennis balls on sticks and wind machines."

"It was great."

"It was a big learning curve for me as well, because I’ve never done anything quite as elaborate as that before in terms of CGI work."

DO YOU THINK CRISTON SAW WHAT AEMOND DID TO AEGON'S DRAGON IN THAT FIGHT? THAG AEMOND IS TO BLAME?

"Criston definitely sees Aegon on the ground and Aemond near him with his sword drawn."

"So he can make his own mind up about Aemond’s intentions, which is still unclear even to me."

"I’m not sure the story was there."

"There could be various outcomes."

WHAT HAS IT BEEN LIKE TO PLAY SOMEBODY WHO'S SO BLOODY UNLIKABLE?

"So you’re not team Aegon, then?"

"Who wants to be liked?"

"Where’s the fun in that?"

"I think it’s great playing someone like Aegon because he’s so unpredictable."

"He’s so volatile."

"He’s not just someone who people don’t like."

"He’s a tragic case."

"He’s a complete and utter tragedy of a person, and I feel deeply, deeply sorry for him."

"And I guess that’s kind of why I’ve wanted to investigate his vulnerabilities, his fragilities and his boyishness, all the things that he lacks in his life that kind of inform his decisions, that have given him a certain reputation."

"There’s a lot to unpack in him."

"He’s way more layered and complex than just an unlikable character."

IT'S BEEN AN INTERESTING JOURNEY WATCHING AEGON AND AEMOND BECAUSE THEY'RE OBVIOUSLY BAD KIDS, WHICH DOESN'T MAKE SENSE BECAUSE IT'S NOT LIKE THEIR DAD WAS AN AWFUL GUY. SO WHERE DOES THAT BADNESS COME FROM?

"I dunno."

"I mean, they’ve got Targaryen blood running through them, so there’s going to be an element of madness somewhere."

"I think if they had a different upbringing and a different experience of childhood, things may have been different."

"If they had the treatment that Rhaenyra got, for example, their lives could be different."

"She was very much the golden child."

"She came first."

"She was the one whose picture was on the fridge."

"So yeah, I think that in many ways they’re a product of their history and their upbringing."

"But then again, they’re spoiled as well."

"They’ve never had to work for anything and that can have its effects."

"That’s probably a question for a psychologist, not for me."

WHY DOES HE DISLIKE HIS BROTHER SO MUCH?

"I don’t think he does."

BUT HE WAS SUCH A SHIT TO HIM IN THAT BROTHEL SCENE.

"That’s brothers."

"Aegon was pissed off that for weeks that Aemond has been in the small council and he’d been conniving and plotting with Criston behind his back."

"That kind of clique-ness and keeping Aegon out of the situation for Aemond’s own self-gain, knowing that Aegon would take over the position of King should he get the opportunity, Aegon needed to bring him down a peg."

"I don’t think it come from a place of disliking him."

It comes from a place of being like, ‘you are my little brother, know your place.’

"It’s dismissiveness and also, I’m from Manchester."

"From where I’m from, there are so many sibling relationships that are completely flawed and fractured."

"It’s very normal for me."

"I’m lucky I have a great relationship with my sibling, but it’s very normal and not out of the ordinary at all for you to see two siblings who actively want to hurt each other."

"It doesn’t come from hatred."

"That’s just the way people behave."

[zeussim]

Ugh I am CONTINUING the traumadumping. But recently I went on a trip with my mom and aunt, and my mom bad a bit too much to drink and started talking about how awful my father is etc. and then she turned to and looked at me and said "you just run away" blaming me for leaving when my father was being a piece of shit, when all I've done for the past 10 yrs is stay, protect and put her first. And then she blamed me for the one time I left bc he yelled at me and I refused to stay under those circumstances. How selfish can a mother fucking be? I've endured him my whole life, I've always stayed with her when she's guilted me into staying no matter how uncomfortable and sick I felt. How dare she not acknowledge that? Because she is utterly incapable. She's a completely selfish being who can only think of how big a victim she is and how everybody ought to help her because she's so pitiful. And frankly, I am sick of it. I've always had to cater to her and never oppose her. When I was in treatment for depression and suicidal thoughts, who do you think played the victim-card and still does by talking about how hard it was sitting outside and waiting for me??? Ehm??? Mam? I was the one fucking dying. You were the one who ignored it when I told you I wasn't feeling well, and when I told you two years prior to discovering my depression at 14 that I had wanted to kill myself when I was 10, the only thing you said was "oh but then I would lose my daughter" and that was it. You didn't fucking use your brain to go "hmmm maybe my CHILD shouldn't be suicidal. Hmmm maybe she's telling me this bc she still is. Hmmm"

She's always been able to say whatever she wants to because she is the victim, while I have never been able to say anything to her because she is the victim. And every time I would dismiss her harshly after days of holding back, she would use it against me and blame me for being mean to her. I've always had to put her emotional needs before my own. Always. And she has never and will never see an issue with that. She may provide materialistic stuff but I would've rather had someone give me emotional support and space. Space to be who I was and am, and space to grow freely without being confined by her and her ideals. She really wanted children, yet she has never realised what being a mother actually is. It is unconditional love, and it is letting your child grow with plenty of nurture, never cutting them down when you don't like their growth but instead letting them grow into the amazing being, they're supposed to - even if that is different from what you're like. You cannot expect your children to be mini-me's. Children grow and become amazing, healthy beings with love and understanding, not restrictions and scolding.

[illegiblewords]

Heavy stuff, venting.

I'm having a really, really awful time right now and it just sucks a lot. Things have been tough offline on a lot of levels lately. I don't share much of my creative stuff with people IRL, but it's one of the things that can give me a lot of joy through the day even when things are hard. Creative stuff can mean stories, or designs, or analysis. Even just poking around seeing what other people have done will cheer me up. I've been taking a break from FFXIV for a bit. I didn't play the most recent patch or holiday stuff. Some of the pacing and directions feel like missed opportunities. I might try again in Dawntrail but at this moment I'm taking a break to do BG3 for a bit. I've been interested in DnD for years, and I actually have a million ideas and things I find exciting tied to the Forgotten Realms. Haven't gotten to do more than the very beginning of a campaign because schedule hell but I'd really love to. BG3 has been a chance for me to actually interact with the world on my own terms a bit and it's been a big source of joy for me lately. And I love that Larian put as much thought and layering for the characters psychologically, overall. I love that they generally haven't shied away from stuff either. If I try to look at tags for say, Gale though? Mostly instead of other people making things, I've been getting people who are absolutely furious about how devs talked in a recent interview. I've dealt with characters I love to bits being treated in horrifying ways before. People who were with me when I did Spidey stuff will probably remember some of it. Shit was genuinely incredibly upsetting. I don't think the things people are mad at Larian about are intentional by Larian in the way they're being interpreted. I think this could probably be resolved just by explaining concerns assuming it was unintentional, without rage or accusation. They seem to really care about their fans and given the story told I think they care about their own characters too. Business bits aside. I haven't talked about any of this on tumblr or twitter because like... right now people seem to be a kind of angry where if you aren't angry the way they are, then fuck you you piece of shit basically. But if I'm just trying to make things, or find other people making things, or do analysis? I've just been wading through the anger from other people. It's more stress when I just don't need it. I've tried to find BG3 or DnD discords. I haven't found one for BG3. The DnD ones, I think there's a combination of them being kind of dead and... not really a place for what I do or how I talk. I have two homebrew monsters and a homebrew item I'd love to keep refining but I have no idea how stats work, and I can only really go so far on my own not having done a campaign in any way. Someone suggested I make my own discord community, and I could try, but idk if anyone else would be interested and being in-charge makes me anxious. Same time I'd be really nervous about whether discords run by other people are chill. I desperately, desperately want to avoid drama.

And stupidly I went to the official forums for lack of knowing where else to go. I was surprised that people were nice initially but one person came in and has been making weird personal attacks, backhanded compliments, talking like they're the authority on all things (lore, morality, storytelling as a whole). If you have a different opinion you are wrong and a bad person and stupid too. I genuinely think this person might be a narcissist and they are setting off every possible warning bell with me. Like I'm actually freaked out by how out of touch with reality they are. This person is making shit up that was never discussed, gaslighting like crazy, twisting words, and going into rages claiming I went nuclear when my whole point was 'why the fuck are you being mean to me and trying to boss me around???' I was very much not happy with the person but I was fucking careful not to insult them. And now I think this person doesn't want to leave me the hell alone. And like, I straight up said I don't want to talk to them further. When the user had a MASSIVE GODDAMN TANTRUM full of personal insults and accusations, I didn't reply. I thanked one other person in the forum for mentioning they read the message as hostile too, mentioned my 'leave me alone' message wasn't taken in its intended spirit, and touched briefly on why the accusations hit a particular sore spot. Then I apologized for derailing and switched to discuss character interpretations again.

Lunatic is like 'oh these replies to my message are so interesting, I'm going to answer you all once the website stops glitching'. And I swear to fuck I can hear the strings from Psycho going off.

I don't really trust that forum moderators will intervene. It's been a whole day since my first attempt to report, when the initial message happened. The second message was much worse. I generally don't trust people to take it seriously if harassment like that is happening. My assumption is if it's criminal I need to go to the police but otherwise like... no one is watching out for shit. And there is no block system on those forums.

I AM JUST TRYING TO MAKE CRAP MAN. I CARE ABOUT THE CHARACTERS. I CARE ABOUT AND INTERPRET CHARACTERS IN A WAY NOT EVERYONE ELSE DOES. I DON'T NEED PEOPLE TO AGREE BUT FOR FUCK'S SAKE LET ME MAKE AND TALK ABOUT SHIT IN PEACE. If I touch on a heavy topic, it's because I think it's warranted or adds a layer to the narrative that explains things or otherwise makes sense. I'm going to navigate heavy topics with care and empathy because I am very aware people get seriously hurt by that shit, a LOT of creators are actively cruel to victims, and! I love the characters! People are allowed to tell stories that cover the darker parts of human experience, not just the ones a single specific person approves of! And if you don't fucking like how someone else interprets or makes shit, DON'T READ IT AND MAKE YOUR OWN CRAP.

This was probably horrible interneting in the sense that I shouldn't have replied at all, but what the everloving fuck. How do you go up to random strangers and lead with condescension like that? How do you go through life just assuming everyone different from you has something wrong with them? EDIT: Person has escalated. Not sure what to do. Have reported a lot but no action yet. FURTHER EDIT: Mod showed up and said 'people are allowed to disagree, be nice, there's a hidden ignore button on a separate webpage'. The personal attacks are allowed to stand and TOS seem to be meaningless. Another user pointed out that the lunatic had been recognized as aggressive by two people and that my analysis wasn't unreasonable or uncommon even if they didn't subscribe themselves. Person private messaged with me and was pretty reassuring. I'm just on the page of 'fuck those forums I am never coming back' at this point, with the added understanding that if I tried to talk again at all the lunatic would 5000% continue trying to harass me. I just hope they get distracted and move on/forget basically. Fuck that shit.

[eighteenoheight]

Baker Incident Report

I 100% believe this little piece of content in RE Village has massive implications for the next game and also started my main theory for what's going to happen in the future. But also upon rereading I have a lot more questions and I'm just excited about it leave me alone. Probably long so gonna put in the read more thingy.

I numbered all these screenshots but can't exactly remember why they're in that order and structuring stuff has never been my strong suit. I'll work it out as I go and probably do a lot of repeating. Let's get into this bitch. Only got screenshots of stuff that really stuck out to me so it's not everything.

I think this has at least two points of hmm resident evil 9 hints?? First is what's going on with the BSAA and/or other players in this situation which I'll go into later on but I think I'm starting with the second thing, which is Miss Zoe Baker.

My theory/wishful thinking that Zoe will be the next protagonist or at least have a role in RE9 is reinforced by this whole thing and ties in really well with what happened at the end of Village. Chris Redfield and Zoe Baker seem to be on the same page when it comes to the BSAA at this point. I'm pretty sure the corruption of the BSAA will be a big plot point, and perhaps this report is giving us an insight into who will be at the centre of this story.

Maybe I'm looking into this a little too much, but getting details on a character like Zoe who was a supporting character in the previous game is a little strange to me. Should probably dive deeper but RE has a lot of single appearance characters that are never brought up again, so why are we getting this info for a character who was only playable in a short DLC? Whatever, the detail of being a reporter gives me lightbulb moments like playing as a reporter would work so well in a Resident Evil game with gathering files and collectibles. I can imagine a lot of fun gameplay elements like writing information in a notepad or something, maybe more emphasis on finding certain files to progress. Also puzzle solving for someone whose job is investigating all the little details. If she's not the playable protagonist she could have a role similar to Ingrid Hunnigan where she's on call to find out stuff to help the player navigate through whatever nasty shit is going to happen in RE9. Outside of a new character, I could only imagine Zoe being the protagonist for the sake of the survival horror. A civilian with limited combat experience would be better than Chris Redfield who has plenty of experience and resources to fight.

Okay that's that on that for now until another ramble happens. Something I'm super ready to get into is what's the BSAA up to???

Initially I didn't pay much attention to this part, and due to bad reading comprehension I'm still unsure of the meaning. In my mind this is either explaining that the Baker incident was another outbreak to happen. Or... Something potentially darker, is that it was one of many coverups that we don't know about. I'm leaning more towards the latter because the BSAA is widely known for combatting bioterrorism so this would be a useless piece of information, and finding out that the BSAA has other indiscretions lets us know that something fishy is going on and has been going on for a while.

Oh great, back on the ramble. No I'll keep it brief. Another maybe hint that Zoe will lead the next game, she's going to see her investigation through to the end. Okay done.

The main point here is allegedly (don't sue me BSAA) someone doesn't want any of this getting out, and have tried to stop Zoe finding out the full truth. What I want to know is whom. The BSAA isn't the only bitch with something to hide. This could just be referring to them, but I can't help but wonder if The Connections have a hand in trying to cover up everything going on. Also would like to know HOW Zoe's been impeded in her investigation.

So what we can gleam from this report is:

The BSAA has been aware of The Connections for a while

They failed to prevent what happened in Dulvey despite having the opportunity

They covered up the Baker incident in an attempt to avoid responsibility

The biggest thing here is they knew The Connections were up to something in Eastern Europe, which brings us into the next thing, and also a huge red flag.

For added context because putting everything here would be a chore, which I'm glad for because Tumblr is struggling with these screenshots. This is Ethan being interviewed by someone from the BSAA, relocating the Winters' because of what happened in Dulvey.

Now bitch, we know the BSAA was aware of The Connections' activity in Eastern Europe. So WHYYY send the Winters' there for their "protection" when that's almost guaranteed to have negative consequences. That raises some questions, and none of the answers are particularly good. So either the BSAA planned on using Ethan and Mia as pawns to draw out The Connections. The other thing is a little conspiracy theory of me but I just realised what else could be happening. What if they were hoping The Connections would eliminate the Winters' so the BSAA wouldn't have to. It's less likely but it's been established that they are willing to do what it takes to look as clean as possible while getting their hands mega dirty. Something I believe needs to be answered is why this happened. Why send Ethan and Mia to Eastern Europe where you know The Connection are operating?

We already knew but this makes it clear that Chris is not involved in the questionable choices the BSAA is making. And it seems that he is actively disregarding the BSAA at this point. This I think is one reason why I wonder if the previous little conspiracy theory might have some weight. Why are they so concerned that Chris is in Eastern Europe? Is it because they knew he would do what it takes to protect the Winters'? Another little flat-earth moment from me is the one part of harsh language is in regards to Miranda. Keep it professional, especially with someone who basically created the BSAA. Did they already know who Miranda was perhaps? Were they shocked that Chris knew about her? This goes into my theory that The Connections and the BSAA are more... Connected... than we think. Pun not intended because I think it's a stupid one but what other word can I possibly use? I can't help but wonder if the BSAA was infiltrated by The Connections at some point, and that's why they "failed" to get rid of Eveline until she escaped the control of The Connections. In this report was a series of comments by civilians at points, and one did stick out to me. Probably could have added a screenshot of it but hindsight is four years ago. Essentially people knew about the shipwreck, though dismissed as conspiracy theorists. Apparently there were satellite photos of the massive cargo ship. In the three years of it being sat there in the bayou why was it never investigated, unless someone already knew about it and had it covered up... Who else has been involved in concealing the truth to the public? The BSAA. What if they already knew and were monitoring Eveline's evolution? May explain how they arrived so quickly when she turned into that huuuuge mold monster. Again conspiracy theory brain, maybe they were just inept? Maybe it was The Connections hiding this.

Great yet again, this also contributes to my belief that Zoe is going to reappear in the next game. Why else would someone send her a copy of the BSAA letter?

Bigger question for me here is who sent it. The actual answer is probably Chris but I don't really buy it. Especially looking at his actions towards Ethan from Village, he doesn't want innocent civilians getting involved. He would probably know that Zoe is desperate to uncover the truth, so why encourage her in a way that could endanger her life? I think there are plenty of options for who sent the letter. I don't have a clue who. Could venture Ada Wong because that seems like her vibe. Despite popular perception of being a self-serving villainous type, she's always down to help those in need (such as helping Sherry and Jake in 6 just because she could). Also I do believe she will be involved in The Connections plot as she was supposed to be in Village. There are also BSAA agents who may have access to their communications, such as Jill, Barry, Rebecca, a member of the hound squad. Perhaps someone close to Chris who could access his mail like Claire Redfield. Could be someone with an axe to grind with the BSAA, or maybe someone, perhaps a secret company or a counter-terror organisation, who intends on leading Zoe to her death to tie up loose ends......... Spooky stuff.

If anyone does read this I apologise. I've been stuck on stupid thanks to this series and desperately trying to work out what happens next even though I could simply wait until RE9 is announced. It started off as fun and now here were are looking like that meme of Charlie from Always Sunny in front of his conspiracy board. That's me. I already have a whole thought train about Mia Winters and wtf is going on with her. The fixation doesn't have an end in sight.

[sigmastolen]

listen the nostalgia of it all carried me a good long way and maybe i'm grumpy bc i'm sick but i gotta be honest with y'all, my final impression of x-men '97 is that it is utterly incoherent

granted, my familiarity with most of the storylines they're pulling from here is low -- synopses and recaps, if i know anything at all, and my comics readership has always been spotty at best -- but... do bastion's motivations and actions make any sense in the books? and frankly i think they did my boy mister sinister dirty...

but i think the pacing was where it suffered the most. idk, i feel like each individual episode started slow and unfocused, yet still rushed to wrap up storylines, where tas might have just sprawled all over some multiparters. but in the current make-or-break tv environment, '97 can't afford to take its time, it has to throw all the big spaghetti at the wall right away, and it scrambles to too-fast, too-pat resolutions -- but because it's controlled by the mouse now, it also has to resolve with feel-good moral messages in a way that frankly clashes with the intentionally complex tradition of x-men. the three-part finale was some of the worst, pastede on storytelling i've seen since the last time i watched a steven binder episode of ncis. it also was unclear to me how much of tas was canon and how much has been retconned and how much was just, like, establishing the vibes but ditching the storylines. (then again, confusion is just the standard state of affairs re: x-men canon.)

which is not to say that everything was terrible -- this show loves a heroic monologue, and most of those were actually quite powerful. the art style works. the voice cast (returning and new) works. lenore zann is a standout for me; she's so much more mature as a performer now (obvi) and she brings so much more depth to rogue than she could 30 years ago. making our heroes more powerful, as you know, made me positively giddy (although i will say that cyclops's primal yells inspired laughter rather than awe). if "tolerance is extinction" 1–3 were the worst episodes, i think "remember it" and "bright eyes" were the best -- strongest plots and tightest character beats. and truly, they did my faves so good: gambit was perfect, rogue (incoherent retconned backstory aside) was perfect, nightcrawler was perfect, jubilee was perfect. all the homoerotically-charged wolverine-and-morph everything was perfect. jean and storm's friendship was perfect. beast rejecting trish tilby in the ruins of genosha was perfect. jubilee and roberto visiting his mom, and her nutball wealthy privilege -- perfect.

the storm-and-forge stuff unfortunately fell flat for me, mostly bc the "lifedeath" episodes suffered from so many weird racist overtones. and of course all the convoluted summers clan stuff was also a miss, because the only summers i give two shits about is rachel -- but this version of jean grey (and madelyne pryor) was more compelling than most.

i don't know, maybe this is the same cynicism that has led to my current stubborn resistance to popular media, that chased me away from the mcu*, that has had me keep my distance from the glut of remakes and reboots, and that has basically stopped me from getting into any new shows for literally years. but it's hard for me not to see this as an empty cash grab, just marvel and disney playing on millennial nostalgia to capture streaming subscriptions and sell merch -- which, frankly, is all they have done with any of their properties for the last 4-5 years anyway. and i have never paid disney plus a red cent and i never will (yo ho), but it also just. doesn't feel good to watch. makes me tired. throws me out of my suspension of disbelief. being able to see the forces of capitalism nakedly at work in a piece of media really takes the enjoyment out of it for me, you know?

[beanghostprincess]

Any tips for beginners fanfic writhers? I am working on a fic about Asl+Uta on Ao3, I currently just put up the first chapter.

Aw, I'm so glad you asked me this. I don't know exactly what to tell you, honestly, so I'll do my best to give you some pieces of advice!

First of all, some basic/technical AO3 stuff:

Don't tag side pairings if they don't have a big role in the story or show up only like, once. Because that only fills their tag with unwanted fics their readers aren't interested in, and it will just be bothersome and sort of like spamming.

It really does work better if you write your fic on a Google Doc and then paste it to AO3 because that way you make sure you have it safe and sound in your lil folder. Drafts disappear from your account if you don't update them!

You can be silly in the tags but don't overdo it because people are there reading those to know what the fic is about. I always end up making jokes there but if it's a wall full of tags, people won't read it.

I personally don't like long summaries. It's better to just write a few lines that describe the fic vaguely and let the tags talk for the genre. You can even just paste some sentences from the fic and it'll look great!

I've written long fics with various chapters but I personally post it all together instead of weekly, but that's just me. Most people believe it's better to do it every week. In my case, I just do this because I often never finish shit and I prefer to just, you know, be sure I have all the fic done before posting.

Now for a more personal advice:

Don't worry about the amount of comments you get. That doesn't rate your fic. Most people don't even comment because they read at night and they're tired! Perhaps they just don't like commenting! But that doesn't mean your fic isn't good or hasn't changed their lives. I can promise you the only reason people don't leave comments is because they're lazy, but they probably liked your fic.

Don't expect results right away. I've had fics on AO3 that didn't get attention after weeks since I published them. Have in mind that the people who read are real people, and it's- It's like working on a store, you know? Some people might not come in a Monday morning, because they might be working/studying, but you might get more attention a Friday night.

Reread your fanfic all the times you want until you feel satisfied to post it. Never post something you aren't satisfied with because then, what's the point? Meeting the deadline? What deadline? It's YOUR fanfic. YOUR baby. You can do whatever you want.

Following that same rule: You can do whatever you want. Write whatever you want. Seriously, if people like it they will read it, and if they don't? Fuck them. You're doing this for you and because you like writing.

Get yourself a Beta reader. It doesn't matter if it's your friend or a mutual. It's always great to have somebody checking the fanfic for you! For me it's my girlfriend and I swear it's great to hear other people's opinions before posting.

If I'm being honest, I don't know what else to tell you. I've been writing fanfics for ages and I think I've just been vibing all this time. I don't consider myself a professional or anything but!! I hope I helped you somehow <3 If you have any other questions please, don't be shy and ask me!!

[mlobsters]

supernatural s15e7 last call (w. jeremy adams)

this bit with eileen is cute

DEAN It means I got to... I got to get out of here, okay? I just... I got to... I'm gonna take a drive, clear my head. SAM Alone? DEAN Yeah, you know, you and Eileen, you guys are having fun. I don't want to spoil that, you know? SAM Yeah, go, go. Clear your head. Eileen and I have stuff to do. DEAN Yeah, I'll bet you do. Yeah? Hmm? SAM It's not like that. I-I-I meant looking for Chuck and Lilith and... DEAN Sure. Got it. Um, okay, but if, uh, things go your way, just make sure you put the sock on the door so I know.

throwing a love interest at sam real fast out of the blue and i'm like hey wait slow down what now? and i mean, we're not completely blindsided, they set up the flirty thing between them before she died and all. but having her pop back up, sam turned into a witchy genius and finished rowena's spell licketysplit, magicked up her a fresh body and now they're getting drunk at night and making hangover breakfasts in the bunker in the morning. that's a lot. and dean bolting out of there too to stay busy and let them be alone. anyway, solo hunt and lying about it, that always goes well

i dunno, man. i'm having a hard time believing dean would be okay with dumping his cell off no questions asked just walking into this bar

i don't think i'm in the right mindset to watch dean flirting and gallivanting living his swayze road house dreams

next day, not sure it's improved (i've been sick [stomach variety] coming up on a week, i am so tired of this) but maybe i can get it done anyway.

i gather this dude christian kane must be a music friend too since i guess they have a bandmate in common, steve carlson? i tried to watch leverage but it didn't grab me, i think it made it through a season or so? and funnily enough, the music kind of put me off 🥴 the cheesiest of heist music

i watched the trailer for road house from 1989 (because apparently there's a new road house (2024) with gyllenhall) and wow. something about bouncing people in pleated pants. i probably would have enjoyed it when i was teenager but i think i need the modern sensibilities of the remake if i'm gonna enjoy a big ridiculous action movie that focuses on just punching the shit out of each other :p

the tone of this scene where sam's about to kiss eileen is just weird. the music is kind of.. mushy wistful, like the mushy music theme but different. and there's a lot of awkward exchanging of looks. and then sam gets clued in what eileen's talking about. i'm just really not picking up what they're putting down. but get a big dramatic interruption with cas popping back in.

also fucking netflix and its caption placement is consistently awful.

CASTIEL Good. I've been thinking about that gun, the, uh... the Equalizer? When you shot God, it fired a piece of your soul.

his SOUL. sure. SURE

DEAN Man, so I don't think I've seen you since Sammy was in college.

gotta tally up all the hunters they mentioned he worked with while sam was in college. think richie too? sure there's others

from 3x04 sin city SAM Not too bad. How do you two know each other? DEAN You were in school. RICHIE It was that succubus, in Canarsie right?

CASTIEL No, but I am sure I can't heal the wound. Maybe I can probe it. SAM Probe it? CASTIEL Study it, see if it can lead us to Chuck.

jamming his fist into sam's chest rooting around for his non-existent soul, sucking the leftover angel grace out of his neck with a needle, what's a little probing of a soul wound from god

DEAN Okay. One, three bottles of Jaeger is nobody's friend, and "B," they were twins.

may have just yelled, BRO! DAMNIT! lol i thought we were done with the 1, B (A, 2) thing that drives me up a WALL whenever it comes up because i can't find the paul reiser mad about you reference to him doing it despite being quite sure that he used it a lot in that show

LEE Whoa, no, they were not twins. They were triplets, uh, and we split them up fair and square.

dean and dudes and triplets.

from 10x01 black DEAN Okay, see, the deal was we howl at the moon -- no time stamp, no expiration date. CROWLEY We've howled. We've bayed. We've done extraordinary things to triplets, all of which have been massively entertaining. I will treasure our Flickr albums forever. But now it's time for us to accept what we are and go back to work.

--

DEAN Trust me, uh, bigger doesn't always equal better. Besides, who's gonna look out after the little guy? God certainly isn't. LEE Damn, brother, that's dark. DEAN Yeah, it's been a rough, uh... it's been a rough decade, Lee.

understatement of the century

(wiki)

The band at Swayze's Bar is a band made up of the Supernatural crew called The Impalas that has played together for many years. Here they are called "The Texas Impalas" and are made up of Perry Battista, Tracy Dunlop, Dave Webb, Cam Beck, and Chris Glynn Jones.

that's neat. i'm glad at least we got some dean singing that wasn't intentionally cringey. i feel like this episode is fan service, but dean/jensen is the main fan in question lol

SERGEI Small thing. CASTIEL What is it? SERGEI Sam is... dying.

of course he is! he's almost dead or actually dead CONSTANTLY. jesus.

and dean's buddy acting shifty, of course. also rolling my eyes that they had this friend insist that the car was raptured based on no info

SERGEI Ah, well, there you go. Most wounds want to be healed, to be whole. But this, this wound is different. It goes down to his very soul. But also out into the world. From what I can tell, his soul, it's connected to something or someone somewhere. Except, as you probed deeper, you forced the soul to stretch from Sam's body to... EILEEN Where? SERGEI I don't know. But now it's like a rubber band. If it is stretched too far, too long, pop, it snaps, and Sam dies.

LOL sure. they've destroyed my suspension of disbelief i just can't haha and castiel's face made me laugh

and now cas just had supposedly bobby?? watching this rando's niece so he could threaten with killing her to get what he wants? sure!

LEE Well, not the old me, anyway. I wasn't kidding about Arizona. What that thing did to that family, those kids, it stuck in my head. If evil like that exists in the world, then guys like you and me, we ain't ever gonna win. The best we can do is just have a little fun. The last Hunt I did, the one right around here, I found something.

very logical and sense-making

LEE You don't, Dean? I am you. I'm just you that woke up and saw that the world was broken. DEAN Then you fix it. You don't walk away. You fight for it.

dean-o gets to remember the lesson that he does actually care and is willing to fight even if it's unclear what's god pulling strings vs his distinct choice

LEE Why do you care so much, Dean? DEAN Because someone has to. LEE Well, then... I'm glad it was you.

uh huh. insert another eyeroll lol. ugh. i'm being an asshole but they lost me :p

SAM Dean, Chuck is weak. I think we can beat him. I think we can beat God.

okie doke. team free will whatever dot whatever, back at it

[under-sedationnn]

the arcana: main six reacting to injured! reader

anonymous: Could u do m6 reacting to mc coming home injured? I want some hurt/comfort >:))

Warnings: talk of being injured, blood. if that bothers you or tiggers you in anyway, please scroll away! i want this to be a safe place, only :)

thanks for the request anon!! i hope you enjoy!! <3 requests for the kissing prompts and physical affection prompts are STILL OPEN. please send them in with the character of your choice (which could be any character from any series i write for) and i will create an imagine!! thanks and happy reading!!

- tries his very very best to stay calm

- you can see panic bubbling under the surface

- faust is on high alert

- slithers around your shoulders and squeezes you for a hug

- "friend! hurt!"

- doesn't immediately ask what happened, just gets you to a comfortable place to be cleaned up

- then, and only then, will he brave to ask what happened to you

- or who did this to you

- wipes the blood from your skin with very gentle swipes

- winces when you wince, and apologizes profoundly

- "Y/n, how did this happen? i thought you were just taking a quick trip to the market."

- "i fell in the market, tripped over a stone"

- "and nobody helped you?"

- in this case he's disappointed with the bystanders, but does not become angry

- in a situation where someone hurt you?

- oh god

- "Y/n, how did this happen? i thought you were just taking a quick trip to the market."

- "yeah, well, somebody had their eye on the same apple i picked up. somehow, though, they managed to push me to the ground and steal it from my hands."

- i don't even think he would know what to say

- and asra is not really the type to march out into the streets of vesuvia and seek to challenge the one who hurt you

- but he would certainly hold a grudge against whoever it was if he did find out

- and would feel absolutely awful about letting you get hurt

- his mind would race about the possibility of losing you again

- because he simply can't handle it

- and what if that person had been particularly violent or malicious? what if you had been taken??

- you'd have to comfort the hell out of him to make sure he knows that you're okay

- "asra, hey, i'm fine! i can handle myself, you know that"

- "you're right, and i know you're right. it's just hard"

- "it's still hard for me, too. the market still makes me a little nervous and i got caught a little off guard, is all"

- that would make him feel better

- would finish patching up your wounds and would make sure to bring you to julian the next day if they were too bad for him to fix or needed stitches

- would also create a special brew to help with the pain and ease you to sleep

- "why don't i go down to the market tomorrow?"

- "why? so when you pick a fight over apples, i can pay you back for all of this high quality medical treatment?"

- "well of course, surely you didn't expect all this tender love and care to be free" *wink*

- panicked doctor mode enabled

- immediately begins checking you over, asking questions

- something tells me it would be a head injury of some sort

- "oh darling, what happe- you're bleeding!"

- "julian, i'm okay! it's just a little scratch"

- "no no no you might need stitches, come sit down. i'll go get my kit!"

- there's really no use in arguing

- he has cold ass hands, so he tries to warm them up before he begins suturing the wound

- tries to be gentle, and his expert hands move quickly without any snagging

- "so, how did this happen?"

- his voice is literally trembling

- "well, i was in the clinic grabbing the list of ingredients we need for our next grocery trip and there was a puddle of... something on the floor. i slipped and hit my head on the corner of your desk"

- immediately thinks it's his fault

- like "oh shit i should have cleaned better that could have killed y/n and then what would i have done-"

- doesn't necessarily voice this, but you can tell by the silence that follows that he's feeling really guilty

- would kneel for you, head on your knees

- "y/n, i am so sorry"

- "juli, it's really okay, i should have watched where i was going"

- "i'll make sure to clean better from now on, okay?"

- would guard you throughout the night in case of concussion

- nurse juli <3

- but let's say someone had put their hands on you

- would patch you up the same way, and apologize profusely for not being there with you

- tuck you into bed and fetch mazelinka to keep an eye on you throughout the night incase of a concussion

- would most definitely be self destructive and seek that mf out

- maybe not successfully, but would try his hardest

- "i'll be back in the morning, get some rest"

- "I can find them myself if I want to, you know"

- embarrassed blush

- because he KNOWS you can take care of yourself

- "of course, but right now you're hurt. as your partner, i will do what must be done on your behalf darling"

- probably shows up the following morning with battle scars of his own

- the guards found you in the garden, passed out in the maze

- blood trickled down your arm, a large gash marking your bicep

- ran you up to the palace and immediately to the medical wing

- them]n nadia gets word

- the calm, collected queen act disappears

- abandons anything she's doing, anybody she's talking to

- "we will finish this at a different time, i have more important matters to attend to"

- she is so worried and it's honestly adorable

- very much giving "where tf are they?" energy

- god i love her so much

- anyways um

- asks the nurses over and over what happened, if you're okay, etc.

- watches the physicians and nurses like a hawk as they clean the wound and suture the cut

- and they're so intimidated lmao they never come face to face with her literally ever

- brushes your hair back from your face as they do so

- holds your hands

- would demand that you be brought to her sleeping chamber

- so that's where you wake up! how cute

- she's laying beside you, her brows furrowed

- maybe even her eyes are a little hazy

- "y/n, sweetheart, do you remember what happened?"

- patiently waits for your answer, you're still a little groggy

- you were either attacked by an animal and passed out from the fright

- or you were attacked by an armed person and was knocked out

- either way, the guards are on it

- nadia isn't letting whoever or whatever did this get away without a fight

- the palace is meant to be a safe haven for you

- for the both of you

- "well, don't you worry, we'll take care of that"

- you try to sit up but she won't let you

- "oh no, you must stay down, y/n. you are possibly concussed from the fall"

- "oh okay, sorry"

- "is there anything i can get you?"

- the countess of vesuvia, serving you in your time of need

- "just some water would be nice"

- "of course, i'll have some brought up right away"

- i literally feel like he would just start crying straight up

- cause like he has some problems anyway

- he big sad boi

- and you coming home to the hut bleeding from a gash in the arch of your foot is not helping

- picks you and carries you to the bed without a word

- just starts examining the cut

- inanna is also very concerned

- she licks the blood from the cut, she's trying to be helpful

- meanwhile muriel is stumbling around the hut looking for anything to stop the bleeding, disinfect it, bandage it, anything

- but he's not the best about keeping that stuff in stock

- keeps looking back at you with worry in his eyes

- he doesn't know what to do

- "muriel, let me see if i can contact asra. maybe he or julian can bring me a salve. i'm pretty sure i'm gonna need stitches"

- low-key makes him feel worse

- cause he feels like he's unable to care for you and keep your safe

- even tho this was just an accident

- he's breathing really fast, his anxiety creeping

- agrees anyway, but goes to get them himself

- "i'll be back soon, just keep this piece of cloth pressed against it"

- cause you're bleeding like a lot

- inanna stays behind

- he returns very quickly with julian in tow, though he doesn't look happy about it

- leaves the hut without another word

- julian gets to work immediately

- "so, you cut your foot i see"

- smartass.

- "yeah, muriel always tells me to put on shoes when i walk in the woods but i love to feel the grass beneath my feet"

- julian chuckled at this

- "and i'm assuming you, what, stepped on a rock?"

- "...yeah, sliced it right open"

- after julian is done cleaning up the cut, he tells you to just stay off of it for a while and make sure it doesn't get infected

- once he's gone, muriel trudges back into the hut

- "muriel, baby, it was just a cut it's not a big deal"

- but his eyes look hurt, and you beckon him toward the bed

- "hey," your hands on his cheeks, "i'm okay, really"

- "sorry, i just got scared. blood is still a trigger for me and since you got hurt in my woods, i felt like it was my fault"

- "muriel, of course it wasn't your fault"

- he really needed a hug

- after this instance, he made sure to keep medical supplies in the hut and you promised to try and wear shoes in the woods more often than not

- "i'll try my best to be more careful. deal?"

- sweet lil smile

- "deal."

- "oh my god, y/n, what the hell happened??"

- you were tending the garden

- without her supervision

- and the garden sheers might have sliced into the palm of your hand

- deep

- brings you over to the sink and runs water over the cut, covering it with a towel when the dripping blood had been washed away

- girl is on the move

- cause she knows what to do! love that

- low-key a main reason why julian managed to live as long as he has

- pepi is curiously perched atop one of the counters, peering down

- finds her personal first aid kit she had stashed in the bathroom

- guides you over to sit on the counter while she tries to figure out what to do

- "damn, you really cut yourself, y/n"

- "sorry! i think i just got a little carried away"

- she giggles at that, though she is still worried about the fact that it won't stop bleeding

- gently wraps the cut in gauze and adheres it together

- places a kiss to your fingertips

- "all done! no more gardening for you!"

- "hey, why not?"

- "well you don't want that cut to open back up again and again, do you?"

- "no"

- "alright then," she smiled, moving to put away the first aid kit again, "and we're going up to the palace medical wing first thing tomorrow morning to make sure it's not infected"

- eye roll

- "yes ma'am" you mocked

- even though you know it's just because she loves you

- "but since you got hurt, you want me to bake you some cookies?"

- "only if you let me eat the dough!"

- good god do i love this man

- but he is so self-absorbed it's actually insane

- and I feel like he wouldn't even notice at first

- cause he's too focused on himself

- gazing into the mirror without a care in the world when you walked in

- "y/n, thank goodness you're home, how do you feel about these pants?"

- you just hobbled to the nearest seat, hand resting over the gash on your knee

- mercedes and melchior were lazing across a rug at the base of his mirror, their attention set on you

- "u-um, yeah, they look good"

- literally just trying not to bleed out, over here

- "good? oh really, now, y/n don't they look amazing?"

- "yes, they look ama- ow, damnit"

- then he turned around

- immediate shock and worry! oh no oh no y/n is hurt!

- mercedes and melchior walked over first, whining as they took in the cut, brushing around the edges

- lucio raced over, squatting down in front of you, and began examining the cut

- "hey, hey, what happened?"

- "i accidentally tripped on my walk in the garden and scraped my knee on the cobblestone"

- he was lightly touching around the cut, gauging how sensitive it was

- when you flinched he stopped, looking into your eyes with a soft "sorry"

- "i think i need to go to the palace infirmary"

- "oh there's no need, i can take care of you!"

- you were not convinced he could take care of you, at least not well

- "uh, lucio, are you sure?"

- he looked slightly offended, at that

- "you know, y/n, i did fight in battles at one point. i have not only tended to my own wounds, but the wounds of others, as well"

- you giggled at the thought

- "much to your protest, though, i'm sure"

- he moved to the small cabinet of medical supplies in the ensuite to your bedroom, returning to your side with it in hand

- "at points, but i don't mind helping you in the slightest"

- for all of his antics, his soft side was enough to make you fall in love all over again

- and although i know he would take care of you in literally any situation, i can't say for certainty that he would stick around and place nurse lucio for long if a person had hurt you

- attacked you

- much like nadia, the guards would be sent out without a second thought, lucio leading the pack in the search for you aggressor

[protego-et-servio]

Long story time!

Let me preface this by saying: I've had shit going on for the last week. On Thursday, I had a root canal that put me in the ER early Saturday, due to an infection. We cleaned this weekend for the routine pest control that management had (thankfully) given notice for early. My partner got news Monday that her mom is in the hospital with COVID; and Tuesday, my partner had to physically go into work for the first time in a long time.

Needless to say, we've had an uptick in things happening and I've been recovering from the root canal and infection.

Now, to the meat of the story...

This morning, my partner was getting ready for the rare need to go in to finish up the IT stuff at work. We find out that our car has been towed.

Flabbergasted, we poked around our apartment until we found this paper, that our kids had brought in without telling us. (Later on, I found out a neighbor kid actually handed this to my youngest and my youngest thought it was a note from them and just put it aside.)

There were no e-mails and no texts about this entire situation.

I went to talk to the management, assuming they'd be present, since the towing was starting at 6:45AM.

Staff was in the office, but they refused to open up until 8:45AM. (I'm pretty sure the only reason they opened up was because they thought I had left, since my two doorbell rings had stopped 15 minutes previously. The property manager was shocked to see me standing there.)

I asked her where to pick up my car. She said, "Oh, just look up the company online." Felt like a red flag; she should've had the information handy with this situation.

I went on to explain we hadn't gotten the notice. She alleges it was on the door on Friday. I explained the situation - that my kids had moved it and I hadn't seen it until this morning - and she basically said, "That's not my problem."

When I told her there should've been an e-mail, she said she wasn't legally required to e-mail tenants unless it was a 24 hour notice to enter. She hinged on the fact she had done what was legally required of her.

To which I said, "So, you did the bare minimum."

That got her angry. "No, I could've posted the notice yesterday!"

...right. Okay.

So, I went on to explain to her how this feels predatory and was going to explain why and explain why there were chances for better contact. She got all up in arms about the p-word. (How dare I?!) She literally would not listen, kept interrupting, and said I was using the wrong word. Which I wasn't. The tow company they're using has actually been revoked contracts with the city, due to predatory behaviors, potential theft from cars, and more.

She literally would not listen. At all. Kept interrupting me and telling me I "had to use facts."

Oh, and she actually said, to my face, "there was no way to e-mail that piece of paper." A paper she obviously typed up on a computer.

Finally, I just walked away after placidly saying, "You're an awful manager."

To which she huffed and responded with, "I've been doing this for 29 years!"

And I replied, "Well, you weren't here when I started living here."

I've contacted the vice president of the company that owns the property. The concerns have been forwarded to the regional manager, but we'll see if that manager is any better.

It's literally not difficult to issue reminders to tenants when something big like this is happening. Especially if it puts their vehicles - their method of getting to work and appointments and other important things - in danger of being towed. Especially when a tenant has to pay that fee. (And, honestly, I'm not 100% sold that the management isn't getting some sort of kickback, too.)

According to her, only 8 tenants forgot to park elsewhere. Sooo, is it that hard to contact those tenants? You have our addresses and our car information from our leases.

I re-read the notice and this part really rubs me the wrong way:

We look forward to everyone complying with the mandatory moving of your vehicles on the schedule set above and also getting this project completed without any issues arising with anything.

Sounds like someone doesn't want to take any responsibility for failure to frequently communicate. They have plenty of ways to communicate and remind tenants; from our doors, to our phones, to our e-mails.

This is also the manager that tries to shoot of e-mails about routine pest maintenance with less than 24 hour notice. Which means any entry into an apartment for the maintenance is illegal.

Just, ugh. Awful manager. After one in-person conversation with her, I honestly hope the company fires her.

[maxmagic]

~Giovanni and (Y/N)~

Giovanni x reader (platonic)

Warning: swearing

Genre : idk honestly

If there are spelling errors let me know

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was a clear night sky. Jazz City was quiet , most people by know asleep or spending times with loved ones.

But no , not Giovanni . He was putting the last few finishing touches of his Banzai Blaster uniform . His last mission didnt go as planned and his suit suffered 'cuz of it . It wasn't that bad tho , only a few holes . But Giovanni knew how to knit , but not how to sew. He didnt want to bother Molly so late at night , so he decided to take it upon himself to fix the holes. After some effort and a bit of blood (clumsy boy pricked his finger) he was done .

Just then , he heard his window open . He turned around and it was (Y/N) , his faithful partner in crime and sometimes rival, who was also a Banzai Captain. They slipped in and let out a sigh "Yoo Gio, are you done or what? The night doesnt last forever you know !" "Geez , who put you in a bad mood ? You cant rush art (Y/N) . Sewing is a delicate act that needs a lot of concentration " Giovanni remarked . (Y/N) frowned and put their hands on their hip ."Just... hurry up and get ready, please. I'll be waiting for you on the rooftop with the crew." And with that the felt .

'Ugh , moody...'

Giovanni finally put his suit on and made his way to the roof. The wind blew gently , making his cape flow with the wind , adding extra flare to his long awaited entrance. "Minions and (Y/N) , tonight is a big night !! Tonight we do something so bad and evil , every one in this city will bow before us !!" Giovanni said with so much pride and energy. He stirked a dramatic pose , pointing to the city . "Tonight ... we rob the mall". The Banzai Blasters cheered at their captain , but (Y/N) wasn't having it. "Again Gio?? Didnt you guys get completely busted last time and my team had to get you guys out before the police arrested you all ??" She said , frustrated as memories from a month ago flashed by. To keep it short , it was a disaster. Giovanni stumbles a bit at their sudden remark . They never embarrass him in from on his boys. He quickly picked himself up and said " B-But this time , it's going to be different . Crusher found a way to bypass the security of the main doors , so they'll never see us coming . " "What about the mall cops ?" (Y/N) asked , wanting this to be over and done with. "Pffft , mall cops are nothing ", Giovani disregarded, " it's usually some old grandad with bones made out of toothpicks" . He puts an arm around (Y/N) and grins "Besides ... We are that Banzai Blasters !! Nothing can stop us , especially not the cops". To that , (Y/N) only rolled their eyes . They removed Giovannis hand from their shoulder and starts heading to the mall , carelessly jumping from building to buildings.

Giovanni let out a huff , but then his face softened. Was something the matter ? Were they upset ? He pondered about it for a bit , before brushing it off. I mean , if they were sad they'd tell him... right ?

Some time passes while they got to the mall. Through the whole trip , Giovanni was looking at (Y/N) . Looking up close , they seemed kinda mad . Giovanni felt his stomach turn a bit. He knew something was up , but ... He cant just bring it up out of nowhere! Then they'll be even more mad . Giovanni just signs and opens the door of the mall . While he was sulking , Crusher managed to unlock it and clear the censors . They all made their way in , the big hollow mall quiet and peacefull . Not for long lol. As soon as they entered , the Banzai Blasters rushed through every store and shop . Wrecking things and taking goods. (Y/N) was just sitting a bench , mumbling to themselves . They eminanted a dangerous aura , so thick and deadly someone could easily suffocate in it.

Suddenly they heard a crash and sirens went of . "Jesus Fuck , who sounded the alarms?!?!. They looked around and saw one of Banzai blasters managed to break a window and it sounded the alarms. "Crusher , you bumbass, I though you said you hacked the alarms ?!!"(Y/N) yelled , furious. "I-I only was able to shut of the security on the d-doors. They must h-have added ne-ew ones on the windows " Crusher stuttered out , kiss knees shaking . Giovanni rushed to the group an said "We have to get out of here !! The cops will be here any minute " . As he said that , the doors and windows rattled and a metal curtain dropped . Now they were really fucked . (Y/N) cursed under their breath . "Theres probably a hatch or something to get us out. Crusher , if we get arrest I'm fucking killing you ." They grab two of the Banzai blasters by the collar and drag them to a vent. "Quickly you shits, open the vent before I pummel you to the ground and leave you for the cops" (Y/N) yelled in a manner almost sounded like a lions road.

Thats it. That's the final straw. No one messes with Giovanni's Boys , even if it's a close friend. Giovanni taps (Y/N) on the shoulder and they turn around."Dont talk to my boys that way!! Only I get to do that " he said ,"You've been a real piece of work the whole night , but this is just being a dick . You okay? Did something happen?". Giovannis voice dulled to a more concerned tone ."I've told you before , I'm FINE." they say through gritted teeth. Just then a loud clang is heard. The two Banzai Blasters managed to open the vent . (Y/N) smiled and clapped their hands sarcastically "Great job, now MOVE.". They push away the two Banzai Blasters and make their way towards the vent . The crawl in and suddenly they're dropped at least 15 feet down . "Aw SHIT!" they cry out. That's going to leave a lot of bruises. They managed to fall on some wash cloths tho , so no broken bones. "ARE YOU OKAY" Giovanni yells down the vent. He could hear a quiet groan in return. "Aw hell... listen here boys . That vent must have lead to some painful stuff , so we dont go that way . You find another path and I'll scoop (Y/N) out of there." "But boss, what if you dont get out ? The police wil- "Dont be silly , Crusher . I am the great Giovanni Potage~! Nothing can stop ME" Giovanni strikes a confident pose , before crawling in the vent .

He also dropped the 15 feet and fell on his but. He cringed , but looked around for his friend. He could only see a small bluff in the corner of the small room . Then his heart broke as he heard sobbing . He rushed over to the blur, which of course was (Y/N) , big tears streaming down their face. "Hey hey , are you hurt ? Did the fall break a bone ?" . Giovanni scanned their body for cuts or breaks , but didnt find anything that looked broken. (Y/N) clutched Giovannis suit and sobbed , their face buried in his chest. They said a few words , but they were muffled by sobs and fabric. Giovanni only patted their head and gave them a big hug. For now he wasnt worried about cops or anything . He just wanted to help his friend.

After a while (Y/N) removed their face from Giovanni's chest , which was now stained with tears. Their sobs were now only sniffles and small hiccups. "Do you want to talk about it ? Giovanni said softly . He sat next to them and let his friend rant about their horrible day ..

"How your day must have really sucked, huh?" "Yeah... thanks for letting me went to you. I though I could tough it out for the day but.... guess not " (Y/N) said as they rubbed the back of their neck in shame. Giovanni gave them a side hug , and looked them straight in the eyes. "We've been friends for so long . It's like I've known you my whole life. You know you can always talk to me if you have problems . Besides, you shouldn't keep all your emotions bottled up . That's for chums". Giovanni smiled at the last line ."That's for chums" was a little inside joke they made from their first mission together.

(Y/N) smiled ."Thanks Gio ... really. I'm sorry I acted like such a douche . You're a really good friend ." Giovanni bashfully shrugged "I mean of course I am . I'm the great Giovanni ~ I

Just then they heard loud sirens .That's right. In all their bonding time ,they forgot they were running away from the police.

How will they get out of this situation??

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yep , got lazy with the ending . Sorry , but hoped you enjoyed

[lahelable]

Tunnel of Love

Inspiration: Open Heart

Pairing: Bryce x MC

Summary: Fluff. Bryce and MC go to a fun fair. Expect candy floss and hot dogs. Shit gets cute.

Author notes: After the angst (and somewhat absence of Bryce) of Chapter 12, let's have some cute fun with our favourite surgeon at the fair! My first completely fluffy fic: be kind. PG but some suggestive comments and innuendo. Because I just can't help it.

Tunnel of Love

Lottie felt a pair of strong hands grab her hips as she leaned over the counter at the nurses' station. Bryce's floppy hair tickled her cheek as he nuzzled in to kiss her.

"Hey," he breathed against her neck, making her gasp.

"Hey, yourself," the diagnostics doctor smiled, turning around to face him. She marvelled at how her day was always brightened up when she saw the surgeon.

"God damn, we both look hot in these scrubs," he winked as he looked his girlfriend up and down appreciatively.

"You're just meant to compliment me, you know. Then I compliment you back."

He stepped back and shrugged at her.

"Youre busy, you might forget. I pull off this particular shade of green quite well, I think."

Lottie yanked him back towards her by his waistband and gave him a peck on the lips.

"I might just pull it off for you, if you know what I mean..."

"Oh," he pressed his hips against hers, hard, "I know what you mean, Dr Bedford."

Abruptly, they pulled apart as they heard a cough to get their attention.

"Dr Bedford, you've patients that need updating if Dr Lahela can put you down for a moment," said Dr Ramsey as he narrowed his eyes at the couple. "After all, you are at work, are you not?"

Without waiting for any reply, he briskly walked off down the corridor. Bryce pulled a face at Lottie.

"I guess I can book him in," he mused.

"Book him in for what?"

"To have that stick surgically removed from his ass, and a heart put in his chest" he winked and she swatted his arm.

"I have to get going."

"No, wait," he grabbed her wrist and pulled her close to him, "I wanted to see if you'd go to the fair with me tomorrow? No roommates, no surgical interns, just you and me."

Lottie loved it when she and Bryce had a day off together. He always had something fun planned, or at least vaguely planned. Whatever they did always led to an adventure, something she'd never have done without him leading the way. Last week they'd gone to a jelly festival of all things. A festival of jellies. The afternoon had ended with Bryce forcing a handful of jelly down Lottie's top and her squishing some blancmange in his face.

His wide smile was infectious and she grinned back.

"Hot dogs, cotton candy and the ferris wheel? How could I say no!"

♡•♡•♡•♡•♡

They arrived at the fair late afternoon, having spent a delicious morning in bed. Following the cramped subway and two buses, they were both ready to stretch their legs and walk around the fairground underneath the warm sun. Lottie shrugged off her denim jacket and tied it around her waist.

Jaunty music bounced across the fairground and the smell of food wafted towards them. Lottie's stomach growled.

"That's because of all the energy you burned off earlier," Bryce laughed, making her blush at the memory of how they worked up a sweat a few hours ago. "Hey, look, let's grab one of those fully loaded dogs!"

She followed his gaze and spotted the hot dog stand. Clumsily, she stumbled as Bryce pulled her by the hand over the uneven grassy ground.

"Whoa, I thought it was me who was starving!"

They weaved through the crowd and smiled and said excuse me at happy and laughing people. Couples with their arms around each other, girlfriends holding teddy bears proudly, and parents with children who were clearly high on sugar and excitement.

"I'll have a Monster Dog," yelled Bryce to the vendor, pointing to the picture of the hot dog piled high with onions, bacon and cheese, and dripping with hot sauce. You could almost see the saliva pooling at the corners of his mouth.

"How come you never look at me like that?" His girlfriend teased, poking him in the bicep.

"Babe," he said solemnly, "this is a Monster Dog, stuff of legend. What are you having?"

"I'll have the same, I guess."

"Yes! That's my girl!" He bumped her small fist with his large one. Bryce handed over the money and they grabbed their food.

As the loud noises of the fair tumbled over them, they slowly walked past the rides and stalls, hungrily shoving their food into their faces. It tasted heavenly, thought Lottie as she chewed: the boy made a good choice. It quietened her belly, anyway. They walked in a comfortable silence, occasionally bumping shoulders.

"You've got a..." Bryce pointed at her face.

"Uh.. sauce? Where?"

Bryce ran a finger up to her mouth from her chin and then licked the sauce off.

"That's so gross!"

He shrugged.

"Can't let hot sauce go to waste."

With their mouths full of the last bites, Bryce nudged Lottie's shoulder and pointed at a stall. Unable to talk, she raised her eyebrows. Unable to talk, he jerked his chin towards it as if to say, come on.

Hesitantly, she approached the gun range with the eager surgeon. A line of 2D plastic ducks moved from left to right and then right to left at the back of the hut.

"Two, please," said Bryce, picking up a rifle.

"Ah," Lottie nervously touched the gun, "what if I shoot someone?"

"They're not real, just watch."

He held the rifle up to his face and took a few seconds to aim. Then BLAM BLAM BLAM he shot three little duckies in a row, setting off three spinners underneath which blurred as they span.

Smugly, he raised his hands in the air.

"Top surgeon, top lover, now top shooter!"

"Well done," said the stallholder, rolling his eyes. "Is the lady gonna shoot?"

Lottie aimed the gun cautiously. Bryce held her elbow up slightly and his other hand steadied her hip.

She shot. And missed.

"Try again, like this." He stood behind her, pressing his hips against her ass, and moved the gun so it was pointing up a little more. "Go."

She shot. She missed. His body pressed against hers was distracting.

"That was closer, though," Bryce smiled, encouragingly.

Lottie aimed one last time and hit the blue duck, sending him backwards.

"Bad luck, miss. It's 2 out of three for a win. But you," he gestured to Bryce, "you've won a prize." He pointed his thumb behind him to the teddies and plastic pieces of rubbish. Bryce looked at his beautiful girlfriend.

"You can choose..." he said, almost shyly.

She raked her eyes over the bears and saw the perfect one. She pointed it out and took it from the man, giving it a big squeeze.

"Why that one?" Bryce asked.

She grinned.

"Your stand in when you're not around. It's just like you, dont you think?"

Lottie held out the plush Tigger and Bryce nodded, thoughtfully.

"I guess so, full of energy, confident, doesn't give a crap what anyone thinks.. yeh that's me alright."

"Aw, I was thinking more that he's annoying as hell and talks too much, but ok," she conceded as he grabbed her by the waist and tickled her, "ok fine, I'm kidding!"

He pulled her closer and kissed her, her eyes sparkling.

"And you just know that with all that energy, Tigger's gonna be good at..." he wiggled his eyebrows and glanced downwards.

"Oh, well he's definitely you, then," she blushed, her mind going back to this morning and just how energetic Bryce could be. All three times.

"Yeh?" He grinned. Grabbing her hand, he span her out and back in, making her skater dress flare up. She span into his arms and he sprinkled kisses all over her nose and cheeks.

They walked hand in hand through the happy crowds, past the twinkling fairy lights looped up over the stalls, stopping now and then to play a game of hoopla or darts. Lottie won a pair of comedy glasses for Bryce and he won her a pair of bunny ears. They bought a stick of candy floss to share and walked side by side, pulling off pink clouds of sugar and feeding each other, laughing at how sticky their lips had become, and licking each others fingers.

"Let's go on the ferris wheel," said Bryce, his eyes lighting up at the sheer height of the thing.

They paid for their ticket and clambered aboard one of the swinging cars, yanking the safety rail down against their thighs.

With a groan, the wheel slowly moved upwards and Lottie leaned back against Bryce's side, wriggling until she was comfy. He wrapped his strong arms around her and kissed the top of her head. His fingers stroked her forearms and Lottie felt a shiver of excitement at being here with the man she felt that she was beginning to love. She'd never had these feelings for anyone before but she was sure that this was it, the real thing. She knew it when she looked into his face; hell she even knew it just glancing down at his forearms. She loved his forearms, tanned and strong and veiny. And his beautiful hands, with his long fingers, bony knuckles and short, uneven nails. She loved them.

The young doctor placed her hands lovingly over his, stroking and caressing along each vein and circling each knuckle in turn, letting him know in her own way that she cared. She felt a warmth of comfort being with him: he felt so safe, despite the fact that they were 100ft in the air on a rickety wheel.

"Thanks for coming tonight," he breathed against her ear, causing her to smile and close her eyes.

"Thank you for asking me. And for being you." She heard him chuckle and felt his cheeks go up in a smile, pressed against the side of her face.

The pair of doctors stayed like that as the wheel continued to rise. His arms gripped her tighter as they watched the sun start to go down over the roofs and trees, and twilight began to descend over the town, creating a swarm of shadows and making streetlights blink into life. The bright lights and music from the fair seemed to fade as all Lottie could think about was Bryce, warm against her back, protecting her and keeping her safe with his strong arms around her. He felt like home to Lottie who was still adjusting to a new place, a new job and a new life, even after six months. As they reached the very top, Bryce pulled Lottie's chin up and kissed her gently, chastely on the lips. She turned to face him a little more and their foreheads pressed together.

"I love spending time with you, Lottie. Everyday is an adventure."

She pulled on his collar so his lips were brushing against hers. Her thumbs brushed along his collarbone and then she slid her hands down over his chest.

"I love... spending time with you, too."

She kissed him deeply, with passion but not desperation: a slow kiss, content to take her time. He was hers. There was no rush. His hands flattened themselves out against her back as he pulled her as closely as possible, their tongues tasting each others mouths like the first time.

They pulled apart, unwillingly, as they realised the car was almost at the bottom of the wheel. He ran his thumb over her swollen lips. They locked eyes for a long moment, before the gruff voice called, "come on then, out!"

Grinning, Bryce hopped out and held out his hand for his partner in crime. Lottie grabbed it and scrambled out of the car quickly, stumbling into his arms.

"I've got you," he murmured. "Hey, look, over there."

Pulling her gaze from the handsome man in front of her, she saw that he was pointing at the Tunnel of Love.

"The Tunnel of Love?" She laughed. She'd never been in one. Never had anyone she really wanted to go on one with. Until now.

She giggled with excitement as Bryce pushed her by the hips towards the ride.

"Two, please!"

Eagerly, they clambered on board, Lottie gripping her boyfriend's arms for balance, and the boat swayed from side to side. She clung on to the edges, while storing Tigger safely at her feet.

"I really dont want to fall in that water," she cringed, peering over the edge into what looked like black, bottomless water, as they slowly drifted along.

She suddenly cried out as the boat began to rock violently. Bryce laughed as he swung himself wildly from side to side.

She shoved him in the chest.

"Idiot! Stop!"

"Ah," he said, grabbing her wrists, "but I'm your idiot."

Frowning, she shook her head.

"You wont be my anything if you do that again."

He held his hands up in surrender.

"Ok, I'll stop. I mean, I never want to not be your anything..." he scooted over closer to the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen. "I really would prefer to be your everything..."

He nuzzled into her neck, gently nipping at the skin, his hand sliding gently along her thigh.

She leaned into him, enjoying the relaxing sensations of the boat swaying and the sensation of Bryce's fingertips making lazy patterns across the bare skin of her legs.

The pink, intimate lighting bathed the tunnel in a romantic glow, while soft music played.

"This is a little cheesy," she said, glancing at the LED swans which moved their necks gently back and forth, "but I love it!"

Bryce coughed. She turned to face him.

"Um... Lottie," he said, and she sensed a little nervous energy coming off of him. Bryce suddenly talked quicker than she'd ever heard him before. "I love spending time with you, I love seeing you, I love talking to you and when I bump into you at work, I feel so happy, like my heart is gonna burst. I feel so proud to be the one you want to be with. And anyway, well I..." he paused, taking a breath and looking down at his hands. She'd never seen him like like this before. As much as she loved Lahela's confidence, this new shy Bryce was quite cute.

Reassuringly, she cupped his face with her hands and looked into his eyes.

"I really love being with you, too." She said, "My heart skips a beat when I see you at work. You make me so happy!"

"Really?" He smiled, his eyes sparkling under the pink glow. "Because, Lottie, I've fallen in love with you. I love you..."

His eyes widened as he watched for her reaction. Her mouth opened but she didn't speak.

Bryce swallowed, hard. His brow furrowed.

"I mean, you dont have to say it back, you dont have to feel the same way back... yet. But," his grin returned, "you will."

"No," she began. She had been taken by surprise. She knew how she felt about him, but hearing the same thing from his mouth had taken her breath away. "I do, I love you already!" Her smile mirrored his as they both grinned widely, relief washing over his features. "Sorry, I was just... taking in the moment. This was perfect, Bryce."

"You love me, too?" His eager eyes searched her face and she nodded. "I knew it," he grinned.

He moved so his face was close to hers, and Lottie bit her bottom lip. Gently, he pulled it free with his thumb and kissed her, pulling her lip down to open her mouth so he could move his tongue against hers, exploring his lover's mouth with a deep longing. Her fingers threaded through his hair and his hands gripped her waist.

"I love you, Charlotte Bedford," he murmured pulling away.

"I love you, Bryce Lahela," she smiled, "forever."

"Of course forever," he said breathlessly against her lips, "you belong to me forever."

Tag list:

@owleyes374 @nighthunternik @politicallycorrectinnocentteen @sibella-plays-choices @ccolz88-blog @nicquix

Let me know if you want adding to the tag list for Bryce x MC!

[iasipranked]

IASIP Episodes Ranked: #102 of 144 - The Gang Wins The Big Game

dir. Kat Coiro, written by Conor Galvin, aired October 31st, 2018, Season 13 Episode 9

summary: as charlie gets left behind at the bar, mac, dee, frank, and their various degenerate friends go to the Super Bowl to watch the Eagles hopefully win, and usual shenanigans ensue!

abby’s favorite line: ‘would a person with pink eye do this? *rubs pink eye into other eye*’ -dee

luce’s favorite line: ‘it’s the invigaron berries, man...i’ve got to sell 40 cases of this stuff or i’m gonna lose my apartment’ -rex

positives:

this is suuuch a hilarious, fun comfort episode. like i never really cared about sports, but this made me feel genuinely proud of philly

this is the episode that collectively made the gays respect sports. rob had to make a sports ep before he could give the gays what they Needed in mfhp

glad we got to see more of the waitress this episode! she really is a fun character and it is good to see her without the burden of charlie being around

it’s pretty interesting seeing mac take up the role of the ‘leader’ as that is usually dennis. you can tell the Super Bowl means a lot to him and he wants to have as much control as possible.

the message of this ep: that they’re all losers and are bad representation for philly, but then realize that they have to embrace who they are and they can actually use their anger for something good, is a theme that comes up a lot in this show. the gang are very awful and no one wants to be around them, but they are who they are, and sometimes they're proud of that and sometimes they make things like nightman cometh or mac’s coming out dance that is fueled by anger and trauma and develops into something beautiful and healing.

it’s hilarious to have the gang singlehandedly help the eagles win, but also it shows how much affect they actually have on the world around them. they’re always stuck in the bar and shutting everyone else out so it’s nice to see them, even though they’re doing it in their own weird ways, make a positive change in the world since all they do is destroy. 

frank and mac are a lot closer in this episode and the season in general, and it’s really cute to see?? ‘you did it!’ ‘no mac, we did it!’ like that’s so wholesome!!! frank is a piece of shit but he’s helping mac be happy and supporting him and sort of being a father figure for him, like he’s done for charlie. 

negatives:

honestly kinda sucks that mac and rex didn’t hook up?? missed opportunity!

it is a bit sad to not see dennis in this episode. on one hand, it’s funny to imagine him on his own in north dakota suffering bc it was his decision not to be with the gang at this moment, and on the other hand, it would be nice if we at least were able to get a little glimpse as to what he was feeling and what he too was experiencing during this monumental event for them! this episode’s main weakness is the absence of two important members of the gang

uncle jack shouldn’t have been in this he can choke

also this episode being tied to the gruesomeness of charlie’s home alone brought it down for me. it would have been a really fun ep but to have to watch the two together to get the whole story is awful...

tldr: this episode is a fun tribute to the eagles winning the super bowl, which could only be made better by the inclusion of the rest of the gang

[miafic]

Wait okay I have a question! So in the beginning of the story when Awsten is Depressed but before Events unfold, Otto and Alex are worried about him because they know he's somewhat Self Destructive and vaguely passively suicidal, and Alex thinks he might have ~done something~ when he goes to the lake, and Otto thinks so too I think in the one extra piece. How long have they known about that? And what was their reaction? (I feel like they're not the kind of kids to be like "big mood" "lmao same"+

+when their friend says something ~worrying~ they seem like they would have a very Serious reaction.) Also, Otto has known awsten for most of his life and awsten’s parents being terrible has kind of always been a Thing, but does it ever hit him like holy shit they’re really bad ? Also, at what point/does it ever hit awsten that the way his parents treat him isn’t right and isn’t fair? (Thanks)

Hi! This is a great question. Sorry it took so long for me to finish, but it’s 3 stories in one :)

How long have they known about that? And what was their reaction?

Alex kind of just assumes the worst. I’ve mentioned that he lives with his aunt… I’m not part of the hustlers anymore so I don’t know how much it gets talked about among the fans anymore, but back before Nothing Personal came out (I am so old), we talked about Lullabies a lot. That’s all I’m gonna say.

As for Otto - you know how a lot of the time, Awsten and Otto sleep in the bunk beds and sometimes in the same bed? They definitely stay up talking after the lights go out. I like to think at some point - maybe after a particularly bad day - Awsten kind of murmured the question. Something like, “Hey, do you ever think about dying?” And at first, Otto thinks he means, like, how they’ll inevitably die one day and why it’ll happen and where they’ll go after if they go anywhere at all, so he says something to the effect of, yeah, I hope I die in my sleep when I’m really old. 

Awsten is SILENT. And not in a good way. Because Awsten will usually talk and talk and talk about ideas and theories and questions he has and play out full hypothetical situations. But he just… doesn’t.  

So Otto’s like, “…Awsten?” 

And Awsten says something back like, “I mean do you ever think about dying soon? Like, what if it happened before high school ends?” 

Otto slowly sits up in his bed, and he’s quiet as Awsten continues.

“What if I got really sick or I got hit by a car or something?”

“That would be awful,” Otto says quietly. And then, because he doesn’t know what he’s supposed to say, he wonders, “Why are you asking me this?”

“I don’t know. I just think about it sometimes.” 

There’s quiet again, for several seconds. Otto’s just about to lie down again when Awsten asks another question.

“Do you ever think about suicide?”

And Otto knows - knows from Ms. Harrison’s presentations at assemblies and the little videos they watch in health class and the talk he had with his dad once - that what Awsten just said is something to be worried about. It’s a big red flag, waving desperately in the wind, even if it’s framed like some casual inquiry. He knows not just because of what he’s been told, but because the thought of asking something like that wouldn’t occur to Otto in a million years, because he’s never thought about killing himself, not even once. 

“Um,” Otto murmurs, “I don’t know. Why?”

“I don’t know.” 

Otto bites his lip. “Do you? Think about it?” He can practically see Awsten shrug in the bunk underneath his. The sheets rustle as if he really had.

“Sometimes, I guess.” 

Otto pushes the covers back and climbs down. 

“Never mind,” Awsten says quickly, sitting up, too. “I didn’t mean it. I was just making stuff up.”

And as weird and kind of awkward as it is, he sits down at the foot of Awsten’s bed, criss-cross applesauce in his little yellow short-shorts, and looks at his best friend. “What do you think about it?” 

“Dude, it’s no big deal, okay? I-”

“What do you think?” Otto repeats, and Awsten falls quiet. 

“I don’t know,” he mumbles a moment later, his gaze dropping from Otto’s face down to the mattress. “It’s not important.”

“It is,” Otto insists.

Awsten fakes a laugh.

For some reason, that irritates Otto. Every time something important happens, Awsten deflects it. Bruises on his arm? Awsten feeds Otto some bullshit story about falling off his bike. Awsten nearly passes out in the hall from hunger? He was faking, being overdramatic. Awsten’s so tired that he didn’t hear a word Otto just said? He’s sorry, but he got distracted by a hot new girl; didn’t Otto see her, too? She went that way. Just turned a corner. They’ll have to keep an eye out for her. 

“Tell me.”

Awsten shrugs. “I don’t know. I just think about it sometimes.”

“About killing yourself.”

“I guess, yeah.”

Carefully, Otto says, “Really? Why?”

“I don’t know, Otto,” he sighs, turning over and lying back down. “I’m fucking sorry I asked.”

“Wait,” Otto pleads. “Are you serious? Do you really want to… not be around anymore?”

Awsten’s quiet.

“Well. For the record… I would fucking hate that.” 

Awsten turns his head to look at him. Hesitantly, he asks, “You would?”

“Duh.” Otto leans forward and lightly jostles what he can reach of Awsten’s leg. “You’re my best friend, dude.”

Awsten rests his head back on the pillow. “I just don’t really think anyone would care.” 

The words are like an icy punch to Otto’s stomach. He’s horrified and sad and offended. How could Awsten not know how much he means to him?! 

“You’re kind of the only person in the world that even likes me. Or knows me at all. And if I didn’t have you, I’d…”

“You’d what?” Otto asks darkly. When Awsten doesn’t reply, Otto says warningly, “Awsten…” 

“Nothing, man. Forget it.”

“No. Listen to me. If you fucking kill yourself, I’ll… I’ll never…” Otto shakes his head, pushing the thoughts away. “I don’t even want to think about it,” he admits, and he must sound strained, because Awsten looks at him again. 

“Dude.”

“What?”

“It was just a question.”

And it’s not, Otto knows it’s not, knows it with ever fiber of his being. They’re sixteen, and tons of other kids that are sixteen are suicidal, too, or already dead. Hell, a kid from Lakeview High committed suicide six or seven years ago, and all the parents and teachers went insane with pushing the anti-suicide stuff. It’s not like Awsten hasn’t sat through all of it, too. But Otto figures he did a lot more listening than Awsten did. 

Otto thinks quickly. “Hey, what time is it?”

Awsten shrugs.

“I’m gonna check.” He goes back up to the top bunk and grabs his phone. He takes a second to shoot a quick message to Dad (I need to talk to you in the morning) and then comes back down, phone in hand. 

Awsten looks at him expectantly.

“It’s almost one-thirty.”

“Okay. We should probably go to sleep.”

“Uh-huh.” 

Awsten closes his eyes, but Otto pushes at him. 

“What?” Awsten groans.

“Scoot over.”

“No, it gets too hot with you in here, too.”

“Too bad. Scoot over.” 

“Fucking hate you,” Awsten grumbles as he complies. 

Otto slips into the bed beside him and curls an arm around Awsten’s middle in a hug before quickly retracting it and turning to his other side so they’re back to back. 

Awsten’s quiet for a moment, and then, into the darkness, he says softly, “Love you, too.” 

~

does it ever hit [Otto] like holy shit they’re really bad ?   Third grade.

“Why won’t you let me?”

“Because.”

“Because why?”

“Because I said no. Look, there’s a ball. Want me to get it?”

“No, I wanna go to your house. I wanna see your room!”

Awsten doesn’t say anything.

“You always come to my house. I never get to go to yours. Not even once! I don’t even know where your house is!”

“I know. Can we talk about something else?” 

“If it’s because of your parents, they’re never home anyway. That’s what you always say. I-”

“Shut up!” 

Harsh words. Forbidden words. Otto shrinks back a step as if Awsten had physically harmed him in some way. 

Awsten grimaces. “I’m sorry, but Otto. You really can’t come over.”

“But why? I always-”

“Because!” Awsten hisses, and he grabs Otto by the hand and pulls him away from the teachers, off toward the fence. “Look. Look!” He turns so his back is to the adults and pulls his collar way over to one side to reveal a navy blue bruise on his shoulder. 

Otto gasps softly. 

Awsten turns around and lifts the tail of his shirt up several inches so Otto can see the red marks coloring the skin there, too. Otto doesn’t speak, and Awsten is glad. He faces Otto again and says under his breath, “If you come over, they’ll do it to you, too.” 

For the first time, Otto suddenly pictures what it would be like, coming home from school and having his parents behave like Awsten’s. Chasing him around the house, yelling and screaming and hitting… And Awsten lives that life every day, never knowing whether he’ll be completely alone, or they’ll be there, ready to hurt him. 

Awsten has to survive by himself. Feed himself. Take care not to get shampoo in his eyes - if there’s shampoo at all - and then get out of the shower and wrap up in a dirty towel. No clean clothes, either. No fitting shoes. Awsten puts himself to bed with no bedtime story; Otto knows that. But for the first time, he’s realizing that Awsten can probably count all the goodnight hugs, kisses, and I love yous he’s ever received on one hand. And then, on top of all the neglect, every time they hurt him, Awsten has to treat the wounds, both physical and emotional, completely alone.

Otto’s eyes turn from concerned to pained and then to frightened, and Awsten is suddenly overcome with guilt. He’s shown Otto some of his bruises before, but they’d been five or six. Otto probably doesn’t even remember. But this… 

“It’s fine,” Awsten lies hastily. 

Otto shakes his head. 

“It is. But don’t tell your parents, okay?” 

“My mom can-”

“Please!” Awsten begs. “Those grownups will come again, and they’ll send me to a different family. A meaner family. And I’ll never see you again!”

“You can move in with my family,” Otto proposes.

Awsten shakes his head. 

“What? Why not? That would fix everything!” 

“Because,” Awsten mumbles, his eyes on the wood chips, “my parents might hurt your family.” 

Otto swallows, nods. He knows Awsten’s telling the truth. “Do they hurt you all the time?”

Awsten hesitates and then shakes his head.

“Yes, they do.”

“Nuh-uh.”

“Well…” Otto stands up a little straighter, but he doesn’t know what to say.

Awsten smiles sadly. “It’s okay.”

“Okay,” Otto echoes, wanting so badly to believe him.

“Can we not talk about this anymore?”

Otto nods. He glances over and sees the blue, rubber ball Awsten had mentioned still lying abandoned by the slide. “Wanna play ball tag?”

Awsten brightens a little and replies, “Yeah!”

~

Also, at what point/does it ever hit awsten that the way his parents treat him isn’t right and isn’t fair?   Over and over again. In different ways at different times. Here’s one of them.

“Here, honey,” Otto’s mom says as Awsten clambers messily into one of the chairs at the bar in the kitchen. “Do you want some yogurt while we wait for Otto? We have green and pink swirl or blue and purple swirl.” 

“Um… blue and purple,” Awsten decides. “Please.” He gasps when she hands a cup of Trix to him with a little red spoon. “It’s the kind with the bunny on it!” 

“Mm-hmm,” she smiles. 

“You buy these at the store?”

“Yes.”

He pauses, something in his stomach making him hesitate. “And… and you’re letting me have one?” 

“Of course, sweetheart.”

But I never get the bunny kind, he plans to say. Instead, what happens is that he sniffles. He buries his face in his hands and tips his head down onto the counter. 

Mrs. Wood is at his side in a flash. “Awsten, what’s wrong?”

“You gave me bunny yogurt!” he says, voice wobbling. 

“Do you want something else?”

“No, I - I want the bunny yogurt!” 

“Okay, sweetheart,” she says, a frown finding its way onto her lips. “What’s wrong?” 

“You’re so n-nice!” He looks up at her, and she seems so puzzled that he starts to cry. “You smell good every day, and you give me hugs!” he says, desperate for her to understand that she is the epitome of goodness. “We looked at rocks together! It was the best day ever!”

She nods, brushing her fingers through his hair. Earlier, while Otto had been at baseball practice, she’d walked with Awsten through the baseball park and, for several minutes, let him point out all his favorite pieces of gravel. Their fingers had been intertwined, and she’d lightly swung their hands back and forth. It had been such a little thing to her - just helping him to kill time - but he’d smiled up at her like she’d hung the moon.

“I love you!” he confesses, and a sob bursts forth. 

“Honey, I love you, too,” Mrs. Wood says, and she’s whispering. 

“You’re always nice - not just sometimes. You’re always here. You’re home. You’re not scary.” He looks at her, tears rolling down his cheeks. “You never scared me, never, never, never…” 

“Baby, come here,” Mrs. Wood instructs, holding her arms out, and Awsten leans into them. 

“I love you,” he repeats, almost frantic as he hugs her. It’s so important that she knows. 

“I love you, too. Shh… Awsten, I love you, too. I love you, sweetheart. It’s okay.” 

“I wish my mom was like you.” 

She slowly strokes her fingertips up and down his spine. “Honey, you know - you know - you can stay here as long as you like. You can spend the night whenever you want. Otto’s dad can take you to school.”

He shakes his head, but he doesn’t pull away. “I’ll get in trouble.” 

“Baby, I can-” Mrs. Wood begins. She cuts herself off and says hesitantly, “What if you never had to go back home? Would that be good?”

Awsten doesn’t say anything. He’s seven now, which is old enough to know that good things just don’t happen. Otto and Mrs. Wood are the only good people in the whole entire world. 

“I couldn’t promise that you could stay here, but… I can promise that you wouldn’t have to go home. At least, not for a while.”

Just the thought of what his parents would do to him if they could hear those words makes his skin crawl. And that upsets him further. 

“Honey,” Mrs. Wood says soothingly. “Shh, sweetheart. I know you’re afraid, but we’d protect you. We could-”

He pulls away, grabs the yogurt, and hops down from the chair, headed quickly for the front door. 

“Awsten? No, I’m sorry. We don’t have to talk about it anymore. Where are you going? Awsten, where are you - honey, your coat!” 

With tears running down his cheeks and the little cup of colorful snack in his hand, Awsten flies down the road. 

“Awsten!” Mrs. Wood calls after him. “Awsten, stop!” 

But he doesn’t. 

He gets home, and luckily, his parents are nowhere to be found. He rushes up to his room and collapses down to sit on his bed, where he realizes that he left the red spoon on the counter. He’s too afraid to go back downstairs to get one from the kitchen drawer, so he starts shoveling the sweet, fruity yogurt into his mouth on two fingers. He’s crying as he does so, mourning as he finally lets himself see how different his mom is from Otto’s. 

He doesn’t understand why, but he makes a promise to himself that he won’t go back to the Woods’ house for a while. 

[anthrat]

The Akatsuki members as high-school students

Has this been done before? Probably! Do I care? No, because these are my terrible headcanons and nobody can take them from me.

A/N: This has been in my drafts for a long time, probably since early February. I’ve been lacking motivation to do anything at all for months and lo and behold, I find this basically finished piece bar one character. I really, really want to start writing again but I’m struggling to think of ideas, so if you have any requests for future headcanons/one shots/etc feel free to slide me a message or something :)

He's definitely the generic super intelligent kid who gets straight A's in pretty much every subject. All of his notes are really well organised, he keeps bullet journals and everything is colour coded - mans notes are literal art. His handwriting is definitely beautiful, we're talking professional calligrapher here.

All of his equipment is immaculate, he cries if one of his books gets a crease or something on it somehow. If you accidentally nudge him or ruin his notes he will silently hold a grudge against you forever - he probably won't act on his grudge though, he just wants to blend in and he dislikes conflict in general.

Despite being fully aware of his intelligence he hardly ever speaks up in classes. He only really speaks when spoken to and so is renown as the token quiet kid. I also envision him as being super pretentious, although he doesn't show it he definitely thinks he's better than everyone else.

His favourite subject would be English because he enjoys analysing anything and everything. If you're friends with him he will make comments on how random pieces of media etc. are a representation of -insert important world issue or theory.- He'd also like art despite it being the only subject he's not very good at. All his art is abstract, he will draw a pink square and claim it represents a patriarchal society.

Doesn't have many friends because he isn't very talkative, spends most of his time at school alone doing schoolwork. Sees school purely as an educational setting and so doesn't see the point in making an attempt to be social.

All of his school equipment looks like it's been mauled by 300 dogs because its all second/third/fourth+ hand. Man would never pay full price for a textbook. He definitely steals all the faculty equipment too. You could fill an entire room with the amount of stationary this man has but he will NEVER lend it to anyone else. If he does lend you something it's because its either A) broken B) barely functional (so like pens which can write 2 letters before running out) or C) you're giving him something better in return/paying for it (even then he'll probably take whatever he lent you back without you realising)

He also definitely runs mini-shops in school where he'll sell stolen equipment and things like sweets/chewing gum/trendy items (he made bank when fidget spinners were a thing) for like triple what they're actually worth.

His favourite subject is definitely history (He's a crusty dusty old man so of course) but he will never admit this. He takes business and economics but hates them, he's already done all of his own research into the subjects and is only doing them to get the qualification. Definitely complains about how he already knows it all already and it's a waste of time for him to learn it again. His only conversation topic is him talking about how he's going to set up his own business as soon as he leaves school.

Is very intelligent but only gets average grades in most subjects because he refuses to try if he dislikes the subject or sees it as a waste of time.

Watched DeathNote once and now thinks he's an actual real life version of Light Yagame. Carries around his own DeathNote and threatens to write people's name in it.

Convinced that he's been bestowed with supernatural powers, whenever he speaks he does lots of flashy hand gestures, - think generic cool-dude protagonist poses - these change depending on what piece of media he's currently obsessed with. His personality also changes alongside the poses.

Basically what I'm trying to say is he's the over-saturated 'weird anime kid' with a touch of superiority complex. Although, he's super confident and has absolutely 0 shame in this fact.

Bless his little heart, he loves writing but is the definition of 'uses complicated words without knowing what they mean'. He's still decently smart though. His grades would probably be pretty average because he struggles to apply himself properly. His favourite subject would definitely be something like sociology where he can freely express his profound ideas, even if some of them are completely god awful. He'd also enjoy any subject which gives him creative freedom such as art or English.

Cannot see this lad as anything but a jock. He loves sports, lives and breathes them. He's probably a member of practically every single sports team and is surviving on the basis he has a sports scholarship of some kind.

Despite him being a jock he'd be the most approachable out of all the Akatsuki members. He's the kind of guy who no matter who you are he'd always be happy to crack jokes and talk with you. He definitely brings in way too much food, he's that dude who brings a whole mini banquet to school every day for no discernible reason. He's always happy to share though, he's definitely the kind of guy who if he saw someone sat by themselves at lunch he'd sit with them and offer them food.

His grades would be a little on the lower side because most of his free time is taken up with all his sports, however, he'd still work hard at his academics regardless. If anything this man is probably the most dedicated, he would hate the fact that he's falling behind all his classmates but at the same time would rather die than give up any of his extracurricular activities.

He'd be fairly popular because of his naturally easygoing and humorous nature, but people would rarely ever invite him to events as they'd just assume he was busy.

Konan is an absolute babe, the kindest and most caring person in the whole school. Forgotten your lunch? She'll buy you some or give you her own. Didn't do your homework? Bitch will give you hers to copy, if it's an essay or something she'll sit with you and help you write it. Looking a little upset? Konan's right there to try and cheer you up even if you aren't friends.

Despite how wonderful and 100/10 a person she is she probably won't have many close friends. She'll get used a lot by others who take advantage of her good nature. She's smart enough to know what they're doing but she doesn't care, she's happy to be of help to anyone even if they don't appreciate it.

She's a bit of a teachers pet though, she's on super good terms with every teacher in the school even if she doesn't take the subjects they teach. Most of her breaks/lunches would be taken up by her helping with display boards or whatever.

Her favourite subject would be geography, she'd really enjoy learning about different cultures and societies. I can see her just really enjoying learning about how rivers are formed and stuff like that as well. Her least favourite would be something like math which is only fact based, she enjoys being able to look at things from different perspectives.

Also bitch would bake all the time, literally every lesson she'd whip out a box of cakes/cookies/anything else she'd baked the night before to share with the whole class.

Carries knives around with him because he thinks they make him look cool. He can and will whip one out at any given opportunity so he can flex a knife trick on you. His knife tricks suck though, he always drops them or cuts himself, if you try and walk away he'll beg you to stay claiming that fortieth time's the charm or something.

He never shows up to lessons, he doesn't even know what one is. If you ever ask him what subjects he takes he'll look at you blankly and ask what you mean. If he ever is in a lesson it's because he was dragged there by a member of staff. Honestly, the few lessons he's actually present for are so chaotic teachers find themselves praying he doesn't show up. Being as he never willingly shows up he'll never know what subject it is, and he'll ask insanely bizarre questions un-ironically because he gives no fucks and has no idea what is happening. For example, you'll be learning about arteries in biology and he'll ask something like "What ingredients do we need?" because he'll have confused arteries with artichoke and think he's in a home economics lesson.

Despite being the weird knife kid he's pretty popular, he's so completely brain dead and unaware of his surroundings that its impossible not to get along with him. He doesn't have the critical thought to bully anyone and so even if he tries to be horrible it always comes off as though he's just trying to be funny.

Oh dear oh lord what can I say about Zetsu? Zetsu is an absolute shit show of a student. Black Zetsu I can see as being very academic focussed, with their favourite subjects being religion, politics and some form of economics. I imagine they’d be very active within school politics/religious scenes, probably the head of some sort of group for both.

Black Zetsu would also be interested in applying for positions such as Head of Year, Class Representative and anything similar. They’re a big control freak and as a result have basically 0 friends. People would find them overbearing and awful to be around. They’re the incredibly opinionated kid who dismisses anything which they don’t personally agree with.

White Zetsu on the over hand, hoo boy. Class clown obviously. The living bane of Black Zetsu. If Black Zetsu wants class representative then you know people will vote for white Zetsu instead because he’s infinitely more popular. He’s incredibly weird but in such an innocent and goofy way they’d have a large group of friends. They wouldn’t be popular per say, but they’d be friends with practically everyone.

Their favourite subject would probably be biology because sex jokes, but I also think they’d enjoy English because uhh… Sex jokes. I just can’t see White Zetsu taking school even slightly seriously.

He basically lives in the art department. If you walk near him he will tag along and start talking to you about art, it doesn’t matter who you are you will be forced to listen to his speech.

Incredibly confident and has no issue starting a conversation with anyone. He's definitely the type of person who every time you see him he'd be with a completely different group of people, whether they want him there or not.

Despite his weird constant art rants he'd be the life and soul of the party. He's always fun to be around purely because of how much energy he has. He'd be the kid who makes everyone laugh completely on accident, although people would probably be laughing more at him than with him.

He'd probably get invited to lots of places by other kids just so he could be the butt of every joke. He wouldn't mind though, he'd brush it off and probably enjoy the attention he gets from it.

Most of his friends would end up being people who know nothing about art though, all the students who participated in any artistic subjects would stay far away in fear of him starting another argument about art.

If the art class ever does clay his has to be put in the kiln separately because it always blows up. He also has a habit of 'accidentally' damaging other people's art if he dislikes it. Eventually he would mellow out and start appreciating other forms.

Nobody knows who he is, people will have sat next to him for years and won't even know his name. The amount of times his name is called in the register and people will pipe up with "who's that?" or "didn't he move to another school?" is genuinely concerning. He doesn't care though, he'd rather go through school completely unnoticed.

Excels at all subjects (besides sports, he's never showed up to a PE lesson because of 'health reasons') despite putting very little effort into academics. His favourite subjects would be biology and math. He'd absolutely hate art as a subject, preferring to do art in his free time rather than make it into a chore at school. He'd have been put in Deidara's class at least once and it would have completely ruined all enjoyment of art as a subject for him. He'd also hate any subjects which prompt discussion such as English or sociology, he doesn't have any opinions on them and he doesn't care to listen to anyone else's.

Honestly, dude is the definition of a background character at school. He just simply does not exist, and I have mad respect for him. On the off chance anyone even tried to speak to him he'd probably completely ignore them, the only communication he has at school is through emails with teachers. He has 0 interest in making friends when they have nothing in common with him.

Another character sort of hard to pinpoint. He’d probably be somewhat similar to White Zetsu, but not quite as popular. He’d be a right teachers pet, with few friends his own age. He’d probably spend spend all his breaks and lunches with teachers in their classrooms, offering to help them with display boards etc.

Despite being a teachers pet he wouldn’t be academic whatsoever. He’d always try his best but bless him, he’s terrible at every subject and ends up constantly making a fool of himself. He’s definitely the sort to raise his hand to make a really great point, but his really great point is basically repeating the lesson objective. When studying of mice of men he definitely asked “what’s the name of Curly’s wife’s husband?”

His favourite subject, regardless of his ineptitude would be drama. He’d always be the most melodramatic and over the top in every character he played, not really caring what other people thought of him. In fact, that’s probably his best feature. Despite his lack of popularity he’d always unapologetically be himself, his goofy and over the top self.

SPOILERS AHEAD:

If we’re thinking more about Obito, I’d like to imagine for the sake of this headcanon Tobi is what he’s like during lower school years and then suddenly one summer he comes back and he’s completely matured into this foreign character unrecognisable to nobody.

He’d become incredibly serious, forgoing the role of energetic teachers pet to a much more muted one. He’d still be just as terrible at all his lessons, and still spend most of his time around teachers rather than others his age but he’d no longer have that fun spark. He’d probably start caring greatly about what people thought of him so his latter years would be trying to stay under the radar completely.