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stoutguts · 1 month

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Autistic/neurodivergent 👻 (💀🧼 too bc why not/it's my comfort ship and I love them)

(chock full my own personal HCs and ideas, also mental health stuff/issues/problems heyo)

CW: brief mentions of s*icide/s*icidal ideation

I have a lot more to say about this freak, than pretty boy, ADHD brain rotted Johnny, so let’s get into it‼️‼️

Ghost is socially awkward as all hell with actual negative rizz, whether platonically or romantically. Most people write him off as weird, creepy, or scary, though that's also part of his charm and mystique for some reason.

Autistic, (and it's painfully obvious lmao). Special interests include Skyrim, DND, Bloodborne, Dark Souls, etc, (wrote a whole fic just talking abt this aspect of his autism lol). Outside of video games, they’re also obsessed with marine life and sea creatures. They're especially fond of sharks, and they love to visit aquariums and the beach. It has encyclopedic knowledge when it comes to most underwater creatures or marine mammals you can think of, and loves to show this off via party trick or just for the sake of rambling about it. (This is also true for the games that they’re clearly highly invested in).

Speaking of his fascination with marine life...He even keeps a few Ranchu goldfish as pets that it bought online from a breeder, (as Ranchu goldfish are one of it’s favorite fish/favorite breeds of goldfish). It thinks of them as it’s own children, and does it’s due diligence and research to provide them with the best care possible, (plus a beautifully decorated tank). Their names are Wotsit, Tangy, and Oswald. Wotsit and Oswald are males, Wotsit is red and black, and Oswald is a "calico" Ranchu. While, Tangy is female, and is orange and white.

At first, Johnny can't for the life of him understand what makes a goldfish, (fish being some of the most boring pets in the world in his humble opinion), so appealing as a pet. But he sees how happy the fish make Simon, so he doesn't really question it, just leaving it at "if they’re happy, than I guess that's all that really matters". Though the more Ghost talks about them with so much excitement and affection in it’s voice for it’s little fishy friends, the more Soap begins to appreciate them and kind of grow attached to them in his own way.

Simon stims by bouncing his legs, pacing, flapping their hands, or grinding his teeth (had to get braces and later a retainer to fix their teeth because of this). It used to mainly stim by rocking back and forth as a child, and he still does it from time to time to help calm himself, or for comfort when they need it. It also likes to walk on their tiptoes,—(he has exceptionally strong legs and calfs because of this habit),—especially when walking up or down stairs.

This detail is more just a general personality trait of his but whatever—

They are very expressive, (Johnny finds it absolutely adorable). For the longest time it’s face was almost always hidden underneath the mask it wears.—The 1-4-1 were shocked—but also positively giddy—At the revelation that big ol' bad Ghost, is WAY more of a softie than it lets on.—A sensitive crybaby, and is a very emotional person. Quite literally can’t help it, (but when the situation calls for it or when they need to get it together, he has excellent control over his emotions).

Ghost often has a hard time understanding other people or what they're feeling due to his autism. They're not heartless by any means, and it tries it's best to understand, but most times they unintentionally come off as insensitive or mean. He’s also brutally honest with people and never lies.

Simon needs constant reassurance due to their often low self-esteem, and Johnny is more than happy to provide that for him. Always praising them and telling them that he’s handsome, that he’s enough, that he’s perfect, that he’s such a good boy.

(Speaking of Soap praising him, Ghost has a praise kink, to which Johnny is also more than happy to indulge. Though will occasionally use it’s kink against it to tease it, such as openly giving it praise during missions. Which Simon is always embarrassed, and seemingly hates it, but in actuality it’s the hottest thing ever).

That he loves them more than anything in the whole wide world, and would not trade him for anything. That he’d never lie, or cheat on him, (and he’s proven time and time again that he’s a man of his word). That it is his “forever” and nothing can change that.

The fact that Johnny is always so considerate of it’s needs touches Simon so deeply, as none of it’s past partners had ever been so respectful. Warming their heart, and it only continues to deepen the love he has for his partner. 💖

Ghost has a rescue German Shepherd named Riley. They love the dog to death, brings him everywhere with them. Simon especially likes to always take Riley with him when they go out jogging or for a run, or whenever they just feel like walking around the neighborhood to clear their head. The two are joined at the hip, not only because they’re incredibly attached to each other...But because Riley is trained as an emotional support animal for PTSD and anxiety-related reasons, and is also a medical alert service dog. Regarding not only some pretty nasty asthma, but he’s got some hereditary cardiovascular/heart issues that could prove to be a real problem.

Simon can't really live without him.

Riley is formerly both a fighting and military dog, they took him as their personal pooch, after no other handlers would work with him due to aggression issues. He has stunning green eyes and a beautiful black and tan coat. Though he's a bit mangy, and heavily scarred with both his ears shredded, (just like Simon hehe). With Ghost having handmade a leather spiked collar and a chain leash to match his overall ruggedness, though Riley's personality couldn't be farther from his tough exterior. Simon has re-trained and re-socialized him very well, and has helped him to unlearn his past temperament/behavior. Good with kids and other dogs and animals, loves people and attention. Though still has just enough bite left in him to be protective and to act as a guard dog for him and Johnny, always at the ready in case something happens. Which in Ghost's eyes is highly important and appreciated in a dog.

Riley's past history really tugged on Simon's heartstrings, so he has dedicated himself to pampering his dog. Getting him the best dog food money can buy, always looking out for a new toy for him when he goes to the store, etc. Riley often will sleep in between Ghost and Soap or at the foot of their bed.

Ghost struggles with PTSD and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). His PTSD stems from his traumatic childhood. While his anxiety is mostly a by-product of his PTSD and trauma, as well as something born from the stress of being in the military, and learning to always be on the alert, never at ease. Though both seem to be somewhat tied to his autism as well.

They have panic attacks regularly, (which can be very dangerous because of his asthma, having to carry an inhaler on him at all times). (Plus, his heart condition is heavily affected by stress, which he’s treated/medicated for, but can still pose a risk). Flashbacks occur more often than not, (their flashbacks mostly happen in their sleep, as nightmares and night terrors).

Johnny is really the only one who knows of their past and mental health. (On all government mandated material, it’s intentionally left vague. The most it recognizes is that Ghost was born in Manchester, that his father's got a lengthy criminal record, and his capture by Roba).

As they don’t really talk about themselves that much, half because they’d rather not bring up such painful memories, and half for the fact he doesn’t really want everything out there on full-display. Either that, or it's just that either no one ever really cared to know, or people weren't stubborn (or stupid) enough to press on it further, (apart from Johnny of course).

Soap is incredibly understanding and patient with it, therefore, it was very easy to open up to him. (Simon still finds that Johnny's the only person he's really comfortable opening up to past a surface level).—Johnny has a strange sort of calming effect on Ghost, and they know it too. Soap being an expert on how to get Simon to relax, making sure his physical health is also well taken care of when such an event transpires. Even though Ghost has a whole-ass service dog for this exact reason and purpose.—Johnny doesn’t care, he wants it to know that he’s there for them, and that he cares deeply for him. Simon appreciating his fawning over him greatly.

Simon also has major depressive disorder (MDD), having struggled with such since childhood, and battles with suicidal ideation/thoughts on the daily.

They have actually even attempted quite a few times in the past. (Fun fact, the closest he’d ever come to successfully killing himself, was when Soap had gone into a months long coma after having been nearly killed by Makarov).

He’ll have depressive episodes that can last from days, to weeks, to months, sometimes being borderline debilitating and/or incapacitating. Soap tries to always be there for it during hard times, and this is no exception. He tries to provide him with what they may need, whether it’s a bit of humor to get it’s mind off things, or consolation after a long day, or maybe a hug, or one of their favorite snacks from the grocery store.—All Ghost has to do is ask, but usually Johnny always knows what he needs without a word being said between them.

Ghost goes to therapy regularly, and it does help a lot, (as they’ve got a fantastic therapist, having provided them with certain tools that'll help to save their skin on more than a few occasions). Though unfortunately despite this,—he’ll never be completely happy or stable. But that’s fine and is something it can live with, as long as he has Soap by their side and other people to support him. 💖

And last but not least…All members of the 1-4-1 having highly specific phobias? Yes please!

As for Ghost…

He is deathly afraid of thunderstorms/has major Astraphobia, as it triggers flashbacks regarding his father’s physical abuse. Simon is about the most vulnerable you’ll ever see him during a thunderstorm, they can’t do anything but curl up into a ball and sob and shake. He’s even pissed himself from fear on a few occasions after a particularly loud clap of thunder. Soap always tries to make sure he’s by their side when bad weather is soon to come, even planning his schedule around it. If they end up having an accident he’ll help to clean them up. Cuddling with him, holding them and having Ghost clinging to him while they cry into his shoulder, attempting to soothe him with lovely words and a gentle touch.

They are also afraid of bugs/have major entomophobia, their entire squad teases and makes fun of them for it, (including Johnny lmao). Though it’s all in good fun, and if Simon ever encounters a single solitary insect…It’s got comfort in knowing their buddies and Soap are there for them, and will protect them. :3 (Idk, I just think it would be hilarious that this grim reaper looking ahh mf, 6’5 brick shithouse of a man, is afraid of a fly getting too close to him).

I really need to gather up my hcs for Gaz and Price and write them down, I love those two as much as Ghost and Soap…I also wanna write shit about NikPrice, bc that’s like my favorite COD ship next to GhostSoap…hrmmm

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buttered-milky · 3 months

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https://youtu.be/XqXZ0tJppok?si=kF5httv3agxyOzqe

Messmer can actually turns into a snake it's his original form, and he looks soo abused and neglected maybe because of the seal?

Eeeee okay so. The summon he uses a: appears to have more blood and/or burn wounds on it. and b: otherwise has most of its scales and doesn’t have the transparency effect I thought it had like the winged serpents!! Also there’s a bunch of eyeballs all over the place but we’ll get to those later.

Burn wounds are pretty straightforward and also interesting since they imply either the serpent fucked around and found out (Messmer burned it) or the serpent fucked around and found out (burned itself like an idiot, not surprising in the slightest for snakes since they miss prey strikes all the time and are, in my humble snake owner opinion, some of the dumbest creatures you’ll ever meet. Curious yes. But also. Idiots)

The snake Messmer turns into has much deeper wounds and scarring on it than just the summon of the abyssal serpent. This snake also appears to have a blind right eye (note for any reptile keepers who care: not the temporary blindness that comes with shedding). Its body is very misshapen and there are scales trying to protrude along the spine, and in several places where there don’t appear to be any wounds the scales are just…missing. This is as expected not good for snakes! They need those scales! I am honestly not quite sure how to interpret the overlapping layers of scales in some places. Like sometimes it looks like a shedding issue but also it seems like it’s the attempts of two souls trying to occupy one body? Also missing shed transparency effect! Idk what the hell was going on in my brain or if it was just lighting but I was sooooo fucking sure of the shed buildup. I was also really tired though and don’t care. The visual read was still fun. It can be a headcanon to me <3

So on those thoughts of it being two souls trying to occupy one body. What strikes me about this design is that some of the wounds look like bite scarring you’d see from live prey fighting your snake back. Again, this is a thing entirely avoidable with good husbandry (don’t live feed unless absolutely necessary). The scales to me still imply shedding has gone very wrong at some point. You’d expect to see shedding heal and scar over these wounds, but they’re all fresh. Very symbolic. You can’t heal violence by just pretending it doesn’t exist.

Ideally when a snake is wounded, you do routine care to help them with sheds and make sure the wound is clean. The scales will grow back and the wound will scar, but it will take several sheds and consistent work! You cannot, as Marika tried to do, just put a bandaid on it. You also can’t just lock a snake in a cage it will hurt itself trying to get out of (ie messmer himself) and expect that to go even remotely well.

Some of this feels like visual symbolism of self-hatred. Like I said, the base serpent looks like it’s gotten in a fight. With its host. Some of it also feels like visible neglect (ie the wounds not being healed, missing scales)

I’m gonna discuss the eyeballs bc I fuck w them immensely. First of all congrats Messmer on having an Eldritch Horror in ur body. Second of all, all these eyes appear to have lids. Actual snakes don’t. They have hard eye caps instead and cannot blink. Some of the eyes seem like they might not be able to blink, but the scales around them are still more closed than you’d expect? I fuck with it. Fits with Messmer’s blindness motif which maybe I’ll make a post on eventually. But in regards to the base serpent specifically, of course violence can afford to close its eyes and be blind to who it chooses to hurt. Violence is also something that, when committed, always seems to haunt you. Its gaze will always be there.

It’s interesting that Marika replaced Messmer’s eye to seal the serpent off, and so maybe it grew more eyes? That could be why the scales around them aren’t correct—they’re trying to protrude from the body. This occurs in both the summon and the physical snake form Messmer has. Repression of identity = Eldritch horrors? Sure I’ll take that fromsoft.

Final thing on the eyes. They’re red, not green. The winged serpents have green eyes, Elden Ring’s color of endurance. Super fitting! The abyssal serpent’s eyes are all red, the color of rot and death in this game. Red to me also feels primordial given its use in lightning by the dragons, but I digress. It’s pretty obvious why a base serpent would have base powers. This thing is old as fuck.

Okay. I’m sure you all thought the post was done but one last note on snake biology! So, snakes’ tongues retract into their mouth. When a snake opens their mouth you won’t see a forked tongue just curled up, hanging out. It’s in a little pocket for safe keeping :)

Neither of the base serpent’s forms appear to have the anatomy for this, since there are eyeballs replacing this anatomy. This is problematic for Messmer in a snake form specifically since he’s blind, and real snakes compensate for shitty vision by having an incredibly strong sense of smell. Messmer’s snake form also doesn’t have the heat pits that the abyssal serpent has. Heat pits are another part of snake anatomy, usually located below the nostrils, and are what they use to “see” heat and locate prey. In pythons (like the winged serpents) you’ll see multiple heat pits all in a row above the lip as opposed to the single very deep pit behind and below the nostrils in vipers. This single pit is what the base serpent (summon) has. Neither Messmer’s base serpent form nor his winged serpents have heat pits which is…interesting. It could be a modeling error but I don’t think so given base serpent has very clear heat pits.

My point is, Messmer is somehow even more blind than you’d expect from a snake. Maybe this makes sense given Messmer carries an internal fire, which would likely fuck with infrared? Still interesting nonetheless.

In summary: The base serpent alone (summon) seems overall in better shape than its other form (transformation). I think this is pretty straightforward symbolism—as a being on its own the serpent would probably be fine. It’s just that it uses Messmer as a host and this causes issues. Fuck around and find out I guess, base serpent.

And holy shit Messmer Cannot fucking see. Good luck with the seeing eye snakes babe because snakes notoriously have shit vision !

(Also just an aside both of the base serpent forms kind of have narrower faces than you’d see on a real snake? Like they’re more eel like to me. Anyways.)

#elden ring #elden ring spoilers #messmer the impaler #eeeee snakes!!!#thoughts? comments? prayers? blessings? curses?#all are welcome #I appreciate responses to my posts lol #not kidding about shit vision btw they’re motion activated #a lot of snakes rely on movement and heat to figure out where to strike #and then they still miss #because they are imperfect creatures #i <3 them

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gabessquishytum · 7 months

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Hob letting a whole bachelor party use his hole one after the other until the cum was dripping down his legs, you say? I could absolutely see that as Desire’s bachelor party.

Because they’re trying to be good for their fiancée, maybe they checked with Unity beforehand for permission to join in, or they’re content to simply sit back and enjoy the show, but either way they do insist that all the attendees have a turn. This includes their stick-up-his-ass brother Dream, who in their humble opinion desperately needs to cut loose and get his dick wet.

And while Hob could just be a sex worker Desire hired for the night, what I think would be even funnier is if Hob was one of Desire’s slutty friends, who eagerly said yes barely before Desire had finished sharing their idea.

And better yet, what if this was also Desire’s crazy idea to introduce Hob and Dream, in the hope that they’d hit it off? It’s a win-win scenario; either they’d have a wild sexy bachelor party, or they’d have a wild sexy bachelor party and give their brother a peace offering in the form of a sexy boyfriend and an amazing meet-cute story (I mean, who wouldn’t want to be able to say “I met my boyfriend when I and several other people used him as a cumdump at my sibling’s bachelor party”?) 😁

-🪽anon

SCREAMING about this. I really like the idea of Hob just being insane and horny. Maybe it's even his idea to be a cumdump in honour of Desire's upcoming union. Desire is just like "oh absolutely you know me SO well. also i want you to meet someone 👀" they don't tell Hob anything more than that. It's going to be the best party EVER.

Of course once the party starts (they're in a hotel suite, Desire and their friends, Unity is there too, and a few of the Endless siblings - Destiny opted out and Delirium is busy on the balcony yelling at people down in the street) there are shots, and probably an assortment of party drugs, and everyone is in the mood. So Hob gets on the bed on all fours, and Desire tells everybody to form an orderly queue. They want everyone to participate - consider it a wedding gift! Especially you Dream.

And because they're Desire's friends, nearly everyone pushes and shoves go get a turn with Hob. Dream ends up quite far down the line, and he's not really feeling it... who wants to have an orgy with various siblings in the same room? But then he gets a proper look at Hob and suddenly he wants. Desperately.

Hob is already dripping. He grins at Dream hazily, slurs something that might be "You're pretty". He looks absolutely blissful like there's nowhere he'd rather be than here, on Dream’s cock, overflowing with so much cum he can't move without leaking. For Dream, it's like love at first sight. This is the man he wants to spend his life with. He thinks he might actually be going insane.

It's a night that no one will forget. With the cumdump complete, pictures taken and Hob duly praised for being such a good slut, Dream takes him to clean up. And they fuck again in the shower, where Hob loops his arms around Dream’s neck and refuses to let go. Desire is feeling very smug indeed with their matchmaking, even though Unity scolds them for setting Dream up with a deranged slut.

When Dream and that deranged slut get married 3 years later, Unity has to admit - she was wrong. Those weirdos are totally meant to be together!

#🪽anon #the sandman #dreamling #nsft #cw exhibitionism

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honeycrispappletree · 25 days

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mayonaise // tooru oikawa 🏐ᯓ★

masterlist

match 3: secret societies

Oikawa can’t help but smile as he pulls up yns house. Its one of his favorite places to drive to. Not because of the neat flower boxes under the windows, or the perfectly mowed lawn. It’s the look of joy on yns face as she leaves the house and spots him parked there waiting for her. Although it makes him grin,it also makes his skin heat up and his neck start to sweat. She always nags him about his AC being cranked up all the way, and he always plays it off by saying he ‘runs hot’.

Today is different though. Oikawa sits in the drive away, pulling out his phone to send a quick ‘here’ and ‘the bus is leaving in 1 minute’ text before looking back up to yn opening the front door. She spots him and smiles for a brief moment before 2 figures appear in the doorway behind her. She turns around and the smile disappears, just like that. Oikawa scrunches his brows and rolls down his window ever so slightly, to eavesdrop of course. The 2 figures, her parents, have stern looks on their faces as they berate her about something he can’t make out. All he can hear is the words “workouts”, “diet”, “practice”.

He can piece together pretty quickly what the conversation was about. Volleyball. He knows yns parents both played in high school, and that they were good. Really good. Her father went pro right out of high school. He remembers yn mentioning how it’s their dream she wins nationals. She made it sound more like a demand though.

Yn turns away from her parents and rushes to the car. Her smile is different now, forced and filled with fallacy. Her parents demeanor completly changes when they see oikawa in the car, they give him a polite wave along with a smile and head back inside. Yns demeanor changed too, she is now buckling herself in the passenger seat and talking about how excited she is for onigiri.

‘-they have this salmon lemon filling, IT’S SO GOOD OIKAWA, you have to try it.’ , she explains while connecting to the aux in his car. It was an unspoken rule that if yn was in his car, she always got aux.

‘damn what happened to ‘hey how are you?’, ‘thanks so much for driving me oikawa!!’’ he mocks her voice as he puts a hand on the back of her seat, looking behind him to reverse out of her driveway.

‘my bad, thank you so much for diving me shittykawa!!!’ she retorted in a sarcastic tone.

‘bitch’ he mutters, laughing.

‘somebody needs to humble you brother’ she sighs as she clicks shuffle on the playlist.

Soft music plays as they drive in comfortable silence. They both slightly nod to the beat and mouth the words. Oikawa chooses to fill the silence.

‘so, what did your parents want?’ He only has time to glance for a second, but her eyes go sort of dead as she thinks about her answer. She’s staring out of the window, with her eyebrows furrowed.

‘nothing really, it’s just volleyball stuff’ she shrugs, her head still moving along with the song.

He’s dissapointed in the answer, but he doesn’t want to pry again and make her upset. It’s 3 strikes and your out with yn. Although he’s on strike 189 at this point, he keeps his mouth shut.

‘wanna practice before school tomorrow?’ he tries to change the conversation, even though it’s still about volleyball.

she sighs, ‘sure, my serve receives have gotten sloppy.’

‘I thought they’ve been looking good?’ he turns his head to her, eyes till on the road, as he questions his own opinion.

‘but they aren’t to me, of course you would think they’re good on the outside looking in’ she explains as she skips through the songs, trying to find the right melody for the moment.

‘oh, I get it, it’s like how I think my serves are bad sometimes but nobody else really sees what i mean’

‘mmm no, I always see what you mean’ she giggles.

‘oh so my serves suck huh? what if my driving sucks too?’ he eggs on as he stops aggressively at a red light, making her fly forward in her seatbelt.

‘Ow, you are not funny oikawa’ she grimaces in a lighthearted way.

They both continue to make eachother laugh and play fight as they get dinner. It’s one of those nights oikawa will look back on the day after and smile. It feels good.

overtime!

the morning volleyball club is considered a secret society to outsiders

invite only! xxx

yui and yams have the worst case of fomo you have ever seen about everything

yn is an aux queen w a playlist for every occasion of course

hinata was really insistent on getting hazed so they decided to throw volleyballs at him for a minute straight while he spun in a circle

almost puked

almost all of them are AP cooked

tsukki and kiyoko are the team tutors

noya is a biology tutor only idrk but that man EXCELS in AP bio

he rlly messes w the amoeba sisters

taglist: @itsdragonius @lulumi1u @gigiiiiislife @babyyitsval @akaashislove @smellysluna @dazqa @walllflowerrrsss @cupidsblonde @nitasplace @gsyche

a/n: this is written so bad i’m sorry I HATE GRAMMAR I WONT PARTICIPATE I WONT i’m projecting my AP problems in this❤️❤️

updates have been slow asf recently life is so busy ughhh sorry guys i’m tryingggg

nitasplace it won’t let me tag u idk why sorry😕😕😕

#haikyuu #hq fanfic #haikyuu smau #haikyuu x reader #hq smau #hq x reader #smau recs #tooru oikawa #oikawa x reader #haikyuu oikawa #hq oikawa #oikawa fluff #oikawa tooru #mayonaise #oikawa smau

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3416 · 2 years

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1634 primer (2015-2023)

since my brain refuses to let me think about anything BUT the toronto maple leafs these days, i've decided to compile info/links/photos/videos of the dynamic on the team i personally find most compelling, charming, heartwarming, hilarious: mitch marner and auston matthews (aka 1634 aka the heart and soul of this current leafs team in my humble opinion). this will cover the beginning of their nhl careers to the end of the 22-23 season. for anything from 2023 summer onwards, here’s part 2.

i will be citing my sources, but if any info needs corrected or there are things i've missed, don't be afraid to hmu. i've only been around for a couple months so 🫡 😘 ✌️ this is going to be long-winded (almost 4k kinds of long-winded...) let's DO IT:

2015-2017 (rookie era)

in june 2015, mitch marner is drafted to his hometown team, going 1st round 4th overall in more beginnings of an effort to rebuild the leafs franchise. here are photos from that day. here's an athletic article about why they picked him that makes me cry.

in april 2016, auston matthews is drafted 1st overall and is basically deemed the savior of the toronto maple leafs from the jump. here are pics from that. (please look at the one below of auston putting on a 16 leaf jersey on draft day and tell me that wasn't fate of SOME sort... i know it's the year but. THE VIBES. the what's-to-come of it all) (here’s a sportsnet documentary on auston/his journey to the nhl).

they played against each other at the 2016 world juniors (dec 2015-jan 2016). here they are on the cover of world hockey news before they had even met... as boys to watch in the hockey world

according to mitch, the first time they actually met was when he said hi to auston in an elevator at world juniors. then mitch says the night auston was drafted, he was at a concert and everyone started an auston matthews chant that he was 100000% in on and excited about. and it was pretty early on in development days that they became instant friends. here's the vid @ ~4:21 and here's a gifset

during their very first day of training camp, auston broke a pane of glass off of a pass from mitch when they were just messing around (again.... fate). here's the vid and here's an article about it

here's them fighting each other for the puck at camp... there's something about it that makes me emotional... their tenacity as rookies...

one of the first ever hangouts recorded on social media... they went to a fair or smth august 2016 (gifs)

at first, they didn't play together very much. in fact, through a lot of the coach mike babcock era (2015-2019), they weren't linemates at all, as auston usually had willy on his right wing. (here's an article justifying that decision from babcock)

that didn't stop them from developing a lot of habits and routines together though. this whole half of a morning skate interview with mitch... "hopefully we're together for a long time and can build up some great chemistry" "that's a big part of what me and matts try to do when we drive together, just keeping it light and have fun with each other" (gifs... it kills me)

"Not only are Matthews and Mitch Marner clicking on their respective forward lines, they are having a good time in the car driving to and from practice and games."

they used to come into the the arena in the same ways on game days (watch any leafs blueprint ep from this time... they’re always getting off the bus together or walking into scotiabank together attached at the hip), went out of their way to greet the doormen and staff, sometimes showed up in matching outfits as evidenced here, here, here, and honestly.. so many more times. it’s about the coordination... the texting each other their fits.

the famous copycat hat moment (gifs).... their goofy responses and getting chirped on twitter about it by everyone and stamkos) (auston’s smile)

they started making sure they were coming out onto the ice together for warmups, always in line toward the back (still the same to this very day). here (x, x, x, x) are just a couple shots of that... they have a handshake they do on their way out (still to this day also), and i think this is the one of the first times it was recorded.

and on the rare occasion they DID get to play together... they were always the Most™ excited and cute about it. here's them talking about playing on the same line, here and here and here are some first moments of cellying that deserve to be looked at for 10000 years... just pure excitement and joy

here's mitch hopping right on into a ridiculous fight on auston's behalf. and here are their responses about it in the media afterward (cute, loyal, grateful).. and here’s auston pissed about an uncalled shove on mitch ... even though they’re not big fighters, they ARE big defenders of one another

2016 centennial classic where they were so cute (x x x x x)

there are lots of practice photos/vids and media of them around or mentioning each other obviously (like this hug at a scrimmage that kills me personally), but anther one of my favorite standout days was this practice when auston had mitch falling on the ground in laughter. gifs: "I think a lot of people don’t understand how big of a jokester he is at times. He’s always pretty serious, but that’s not his kind of personality at all" (pics)

so many bench shenanigans (literally too many to try to round up)

(what i assume is) a broadcast quote i can't seem to track down but so many ppl have used it for edits and gifs that i believe it: “They love him, clearly Auston Matthews loves him.” ... they're always saying the most ridiculous things about them as a pair

case in point.. they also said this: "Matthews and Marner together - their eyes light up […] They've been dying to play together." (basically confirmation vid here from auston.. his hopeful little smile, help)

one of the most iconic moments has to be the time the camera caught them singing 'livin' on a prayer' together on the bench and it became a whole thing in the media. here's the moment, their responses (gifs, gifs), and bon jovi's response too.

they used to play video games as a unit and basically annoy the shit out of everyone. thanks zach hyman for the confirmation: “They have this whole strategy, whenever we play. Auston sits in the back and snipes, and Mitch runs around and looks for you. They have this whole little strategy they put together. And then they laugh. They start dying laughing. They’re clowns.”

they have so many oddball social media interactions and a lot of them are probably lost to time but: here's a meme of mitch being part of both of their twitter profiles, here's some petulant mitch getting clowned on and compared to mickey mouse, here's more auston making fun of him for looking 12, “can’t be a boys week when your gfs are there...... but u look nice :)”, purp.... the joint ootd.. who was doing it like them?, “getty images”, “walking advertisement”

holding bozak’s baby together at the xmas party (gifs)

golfing, hanging out at the mall, shopping

despite their very complimentary talk of each other in media, they're also not afraid to razz each other. "he gets sensitive sometimes", "just kind of get him grinding", auston chirping mitch and the insurance ads he does, mitch making fun of his hair (pre balding era... wonder if that’s off limits now LOL)

here’s a vid of the 2016 leaf rookies at a christmas market... mitch and auston were very cute... mitch uploaded a story of them on the ferris wheel smiling their asses off too

auston recording him on his ig story here and here while they were filming this batting practice vid

here’s a goalie challenge video mitch and auston did with matt martin and barstool back in the day (”don’t take slapshots” “you took seven”)

here are some misc gifsets from this time period: x x x x x x

i'll end this section with a couple of my favorite and the most iconic game pictures from this era...

if you're curious about more stuff from the rookie days, i highly recommend checking out this initial 1634 primer from @/zoehickel, @/thiccbrock's soft bros tag, and @/mitchski's auston x mitch tag (pro tip: add "/chrono" at the end if you want to see everything chronologically).

2018-2020 (not-so-rookie era)

nothing extremely important or concrete separates this timeline but mitch and auston clearly started to grow into their roles on the team and were no longer just rookies (altho i compiled some very basic stats from wikipedia and both of them have just been crazy talented and at the top of team goals/assists/stats almost every year since they were drafted.. they’ve never really been ‘just rookies’ but )

from what i gather, early 2018 was one of the first sightings of mitch's drawings on his gloves... a habit that auston had also been into since his rookie year... mitch started doing this toward the tail end of the hardass babcock days as a reminder that hockey is supposed to be about having fun (here's a not-official-seeming article about their clashes w babcock) (here are some pics of the doodled gloves of that era)

here’s an article talking about how much mitch and auston loved playing together and tried to take advantage of it and prove to babcock they should be allowed more often (also includes goofy bts content of them sharing a fantasy football team)

babcock got fired bc of nasty coaching tactics (here’s a story on what he did to mitch as a rookie), and in came sheldon keefe, who is more mild-mannered and is willing to experiment with auston and mitch playing together so they got more time as linemates these years.

auston and mitch developed a warmup routine together before games where they stayed on the ice a bit longer than everyone else and passed the puck back and forth (here are some vids from this time period: x x x x x)

the team did a big nhl video game faceoff early 2018, and mitch was auston's #1 hype man about it: gasin him up, helping him warm up, sittin behind him making commentary, and acting like it was his own personal victory when auston won

instagram teasing for mitch’s 22nd bday... “babe !”

they participated in this ‘need for speed’ challenge video with natalie spooner and laura stacey to promote the canadian women’s hockey league... competitive dorks is all i have to say about that.

at the end of 2018, mitch and auston took part in a real production of the nutcracker as cannon dolls... and it is as absurd and amusing as it sounds. famous quotes from the event include: “he couldn’t let go of me”, “that’s what friends are for”, “mitch could just sit around and pout the whole time which he’s so used to doing”... here's the vid (gifs) (pics w ballerina) (more goofy pics) (ig story)

some cute practice pics

in 2019, apple had them film a commercial where auston just followed mitch around titled Mitch Marner Shot on iPhone by Auston Matthews... (gifs) (tumblr vid) (more gifs) just any excuse to talk about it forever... it's arguably one of the greatest things they've ever done... pov of dreams tbh. here's another snippet that didn’t make the cut of them laughing... here’s some gifs of ANOTHER snippet.. and here’s an article about auston with some quotes about how he and mitch are great friends and they were just going to “their” favorite places in toronto that day. (also THEIR favorite restaurant being sotto... the exact place mitch/steph go on very special dates apparently according to this pandemic leaf to leaf... food for thought)

another thing about auston and mitch... they WILL be forming unbreakable bonds with people on the team like it's a group activity, and the most formative for them was probably patrick marleau, who basically became their dad for the 2017-2019 seasons. they would always hang out on the road together, watch movies and go to dinner, etc etc. one time mitch n patty when on vaca without auston... ymca in the car with patty and his sons... “he’s obviously old but he acts even younger than me and mitch”... mitch and auston singing happy birthday to him... here’s a christmas party pic of them that kills me... that here's a video where they talk about their relationship... here's another long interview they did together during lockdown... here is an emotional gifset about the three of them, and below are pictures of the family unit (and one rather... interesting... see: the 3rd pic) (here are pics from 2023 when the marleaus came to a leafs game)

morgan rielly on mitch and auston: “[they] are like best friends. they’re different personalities... when you watch the dynamic with the two of them, whether it’s on the road or on a practice day, it’s pretty funny. it changes every year. it’s a unique dynamic for sure.” and him on mitch/auston/patty also

here’s mitch and auston honoring patty with an appearance from the truly wild jumbo

another case of the trio vibes would be freddie andersen, who was on the team 2016-2021. he was basically besties with auston and they spent lockdown together later, but during the 2020 all star game, all three of them attended and freddie, dedicated his goalie helmet to his best friendship w them. "you look cute?" "yeah, i look cute." ..... also here’s some pre-game high five rituals with the three

more all star content: failed attempted at a heart, the blueprint ep (gifs)

the style/clothes content continues... auston was featured in gq mag and here's mitch's giggly reaction to it. "he's a big style guy and i respect it" (gifs)

auston attended a marner assist foundation event in 2018 to support mitch's charity work (some sm pics from here and here)... also went to the marner assist invitational and got dragged for his tape job (here’s a selfie w them)

here’s some intense cellys from this era: like hello? .. SWEET PEAS... this bench moment....... whatever this was

“Marner and Matthews entered the NHL together in 2016-17 and remain good friends and road roommates now. Marner sounded genuinely enthused about his buddy’s new contract, and sent him a text once word broke Tuesday joking that they’re going to have to figure out where to be neighbours once they enter a higher tax bracket next season.” fellas.... is it gay to plan your future in the suburbs of toronto together

here they are dancing at naz kadri’s wedding ... hand check

which teammate does auston matthews like to watch the most? the answer won’t surprise you!

mitch was planning to stream and play nhl with this random streamer during lockdown and auston literally asked to join and hang... “matts, i’ll talk to you.. in like an hour probably” aka mitch is a constant texter/talker (ALSO here is a twitter thread recounting to the experience since the streams gone forever... rip 2020-2021 mitch the streamer)

here are some of my favorite pictures from this time period:

2021-present (superstar era)

they're both alternate captains, very clearly leaders of this team, and basically recognized as superstars in the league too with continued individual success. they're the last ones out on the ice at warmup still, the first ones to cheer for their teammates milestones, the last ones to give the goalies big hugs after wins. they still don’t always play together 100% of the time, but they individually enhance the players around them and have played career high years when they’re at each other’s sides.

confirmation of their warmup rituals and the fact that it's something they've been doing together, to feel good about themselves, since the very beginning ........ the same as back then .... here’s very recent vid

still doing their little handshake too, with the added bonus of a behind-the-back one too sometimes (mitch does the handshake line for the whole team by this point)

"it really seems like we're not cellying really by ourselves. we're constantly going in to hug each other. i think that just shows the amount of joy and happiness we have going for each other right now."

mitch basically assisted on a large percentage of auston's goals these past few record breaking years that they've been allowed to play together. here's a video after the 21-22 season where mitch talks about how thankful and generous auston has been.

here is a tumblr compilation about their chemistry after they've gotten to play significant stretches as linemates (literally part of the most offensively dangerous line in the 21-22 regular season).

“have you ever had this kind of chemistry with another teammate before in your life?” “no, not really”

they're so silly... so much goofy inconsequential content is out there but: mitch fighting the post that hurt matthews at practice.

here’s mitch checking on auston after he took a puck in the knee at practice

forgotten 2021 christmas vid i can’t track down but. matching mugs and whipped cream mustaches. also just look at them in THIS...

the fashion saga continues.. where here they anecdotally have the same spikey high top/low top shoes (they also have lots of random matching sneakers but i’m not knowledgeable enough to compile those)

this media day fashion trend video... where do you even start with this. “you better put some earrings in here for auston” like auston is the center of his fashion conscience. “i won’t wear one of those.. i don’t think... maybe.. we’ll see” you know DAMn well if auston recommended--- “matts has got those- he’s got a big frame”

they both wear chains with their numbers on them (recent fit pics of auston here and mitch here), and though they’re not exactly matching but the coordination, the knowing they talk about fashion and accessories... them having these chains dates back to 2018 btw

their mutual social media hype for each other's accomplishments never gets old: mitch breaking game point streak in 2022... random overtime winner in 2022... auston hitting 50 goals in 21-22 season... "@austonmatthews what an achievement. proud to be a part of this journey with you"... "congrats to my brother @austonmatthews on his historic night"... “couldn’t have done it without my boys”.... they were so extra just bc of a pic of them hugging... like sure ! ... “my fucking guy is a beast” YOUR guy?? .... mitch basically campaigning for individual awards for auston every time he scored a goal ... “well deserved my dog” “lets go baby” when he finally won them... “new range got that dawg in it”

“[auston’s] always very thankful. he’s done a couple really big thank yous for me already and given me a couple things that i’m just gonna keep between us two... he’s a great guy and obviously deserves what he got.”

in the same way they grow attached to people as a pair, michael bunting joined the team and auston and mitch's top line in 2021 and a best friendship blossomed between the trio.

they went to auston's home in arizona over the 2022 summer to "build chemistry", play golf, play tennis, and just generally hang out

they also potentially celebrated auston’s birthday there because here’s a photo of them at auston’s house with his fav chef and here’s auston with his bday cake in the same outfit ...... best friends

went to a jays game together right at the beginning of the season, this image..... a video of them chatting :’)

here is bunting talking about what it's like to get to know them

iconic bench moment between the three of them... another cutesy one

the 2022 heritage classic costumes/entry together like usual, plus the new trio, plus practice pic

their 2022-2023 gloves where they are still drawing cute little doodles of hearts and dog initials and smileys to remind themselves to have fun

"i think the sky's the limit for [mitch]. i think he's just unbelievable. i love playing with him. i think after he came back, he was probably the best player in the world for the rest of the year. he's incredible to be out there with and watch."

commentators weighing in on their joint legacy and saying “they’re magic out there together. they are what they are because of each other”

here are some more quotes about their impact on the franchise and the way their names are basically cemented in history... the modern day odd couple, they say

for auston’s birthday in sep 2022, mitch commissioned a drawing of auston and his dog felix as a gift

speaking of their dogs..... this goofy insta story

auston feeding mitch a golf club at a charity event? or are they using it as a mic... who can dissect their weird antics

the blueprint episode about mitch has some cute bg stuff of them (gifs), as well as one of my fave little head bonks here

some cellys/bench moments these years too bc they don’t stop: big squeeze... he just lauched himself... i just love them... arms wide open... mitch is a cartoon character... what in the hell is THIS... iconic moment ... 22-23 season cellys so far.... this riveting convo

“all of this doesn‘t really happen without him.” okay another unverifiable quote but like. look at those images and tell me it’s not something he’d say... you can‘t

auston asked about mitch trade rumors: "Mitch is an unbelievable player, he's an unbelievable teammate. In this room, everybody loves Mitch; everybody loves everybody. We really have a tight bond. All the noise coming from the outside, you guys have fun with that."

i’m getting derailed here bc half of these moments are not that significant but i fucking love these pics of yappy auston... like of course he’s talkin to mitch

plenty of ribbing is still going on.... or at least attempts: “those are loud flip flops”... though we have transitioned into blatant confirmation that auston can and will be bossed around by mitch when he says stuff like “mitch will assault me if i don’t pick him [to bring with me to a desert island], but i’d like to have him there too”

team bonding at a lake house but you only tag mitch? that vs the history of mitch complaining about not being included...

the importance of the content we received on the 2021 media day cannot be overstated. here’s 5 questions with auston and mitch, yearbook superlatives, career day (images: x x x), and then 2022′s who’s more likely? (all must-sees, i promise... even confirm themselves as the best bromance... if i spent too long on any single revelations this post would be 500k words more)

also the 2021 leafs call out video and the 2022 leafs call out video absolutely showcase how annoyingly endearing they are about each other... whether they’re trying to harp on one another or give genuine compliments... amazing that a dynamic can be captured so clearly when they’re not even in the room at the same time

“mitchelly marner, i’m grateful for my guy” (gifs) (the new nickname... the incessant use of my guy... mental breakdown inducing)

in november 2022, mitch tied a franchise point streak record (with a very valiant effort from the whole team to get him an empty net goal in the final 2 minutes, i might add) and auston was the first one to scoop him up in celebration and then (where he’s normally :| in media these days) was very :D and proud about it and him afterwards. “i’m so happy he got it” (mitch went on to set the new record at 23 games)

and as for extremely recent, both auston and mitch hit their 500 career points mark within a week of each other (1/3/23 and 1/7/23). here are screencaps, gifs of mitch getting to hit 500 with auston on the ice.. then auston collected the puck and pretending to throw it over the glass and prompting the broadcasters to say: “they’ve celebrated so many milestones together”

here are some teammates and coaches talking about their chemistry together and the fact that they push each other to be better players and enjoy it (tumblr vid)

there’s them being hype about the fact that they were SUPPOSED to go the 2023 all star game together on instagram (auston didn’t end up going bc of injury)

here’s a 2023 athletic article about how different they are in personality but how clear their leadership and friendship is (the athletic... tumblr)

mike johnson went on a podcast pre 22-23 playoffs and said “they like playing here, they like playing with each other, they care about each other, they want to have sex– success together” .... the freudian slip

toward the end of the 22-23 season, mitch was nearing 100 points (never made it) BUT they kept showing this graphic about how mitch has assisted on 99 of auston’s career 299 goals up to that game (ALL DESPITE THEM NOT PLAYING REGULARLY TOGETHER TIL A COUPLE YRS IN)

mitch being asked if he prefers to drive his own line or play with auston... he says it’s always fun and special to play with auston bc of their chemistry and the way they're not afraid to “give it to each other” about where they need to improve. “that’s the kind of friendship and teammate you want. that’s something we’ve built a bond over” (vid) (gifs)

mitch marner got married on july 29th 2023, and auston came back to canada (after skipping OTHER weddings like his “favorite teammate” alex kerfoot and ex teammate tyson barrie) to be in attendance :’) here’s a video of him watching mitch n steph dance there way into the reception, here’s a picture nazem kadri generously posted, here’s a pic of him with mitch and willy, here’s gifs of mitch and auston singing shirtless at the reception, and most 👀 of them all... here’s a pic of auston watching mitch and steph’s first dance. ..

here are some of my favorite more current pics of them

i also gif or post pretty much every 1634 moment from current leafs content/games, so you can check out my hockeyedit tag for some goofy bench or ice shenanigans that didn't make the cut. or my 1634 tag in general.

TL;DR

mitch marner and auston matthews were basically drafted to the maple leafs to be two of the faces of the franchise, and they share a similar burden in that with the leafs lack of playoff success thus far being leaders on the team. they’ve accomplished so many records at an individual level in tandem because of their talents and their chemistry on the ice, and they play their best and happiest hockey when they’re allowed to play together. despite different backgrounds and personalities, they’ve developed an extremely charming relationship off the ice, one built from years and years of intense mutual support, playful teasing, and a shared vision for the team. they seem to be so much more outwardly excited for each other’s successes; it becomes so easy to root for them...... regardless of what the future holds for the current maple leafs team, the two of them have done enough to have their names in the hockey history books, and we are all so lucky that there’s much more ahead of them and that we get to WATCH.

if a single person made it this far, i love you, lol. i personally will never be getting over them and am always looking for more content or unseen stuff so lmk if i missed something crucial. edit (6/18/23): if you’re looking for more pictures of them, i have removed watermarks of 95% of their images together on getty and organized them by tags on this blog @1634archive if you’d like to peruse!

hopefully some people get some sort of joy out of this like i have in compiling it all!! cheers to much much more 1634 in the future too. ❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️

last updated: 9/12/23

#toronto maple leafs #leafs #1634 #mitch marner #auston matthews #hockeycomp #iidk what to call this KLFJSDKL #1634 PRIMER #AnYWAY.. SInCE THE LEAFS LOST ABYSMALLY ... LETS GO #Eplease SOMEOn EnJOY THIS. i beg.#also im officially using this to summon a 583416 return #hockey

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luveline · 2 years

Note

For the Steve zombie au, may i request r and Steve’s friends getting to know each other? Maybe they’re all eating together and r realizing she can trust these people and Steve is just so happy they all get along?

thank you for your request my love! steve zombie!au | fem!reader ♥︎ 1.2k

You're majorly surprised that Steve would be friends with Jonathan Byers. It probably seems like old news given the apocalyptic circumstances, but you remember the epic and tragic bumps of their love triangle. Nancy bouncing between them, and the eventual messy breakup.

You're unsure if Steve knows you'd been there that night at the Halloween party. His Risky Business costume had actually done a lot to humanise him when you first met him again in the early days, and he'd been a total jerk. He'd say something cruel and you'd remember his sunglasses and his chicken dancing and get over it.

You're not in the early days anymore. Months of hiking and fighting and zombies and, amazingly, falling in love. Steve would kick the shit out of anyone if they talked to you the way he had, and his apology for being such a grump comes everyday and in new ways.

He has his hand between your thighs, fingertips stroking circles up toward your knee.

"No, man, I'm serious, it was a shit show! First you, then Hargrove," he's saying, stomach digging into the table's edge with his enthusiasm. "Good thing, though, my ego was dead and gone when I needed to be humble."

Jonathan snorts, picking through his cards with a concentrated frown. "I'm still sorry."

"I don't want you to be sorry. I was a dick."

"Yeah, but we were seventeen. Everyone's a dick at seventeen."

You're having a hard time distrusting him, or any of Steve's friends, considering they're the ones who fought to get you back. They walked miles in the dark and the cold to save you, and bring you back to the community. If it weren't for them, you wouldn't be tucked into Steve's side, eyeing his cards and whispering instructions. Nobody's given you shit for it, while it's pretty much cheating, and you know why — there's a resounding feeling of pity wrapped around you.

You still have all the cuts and scrapes of your kidnapping. The scratches on your face have barely scabbed over, your wrists still sore and torn. It's a constant reminder. You try not to look at them.

Pity comes with a good helping of care, though.

"Hey," Robin says, bounding into the town hall with a smile. "Where is everybody?"

"We're early."

"Oh. Well, I got more cards," she says, brandishing a fresh pack, plastic wrapped and everything, "Cooper didn't wanna give 'em to me, but I told him the cards club got a bunch of new members. Hopefully he doesn't come tonight."

She pauses. "Can I sit here?"

You nod emphatically. She can do whatever she likes as far as you're concerned. She'd been there for Steve while you were gone, and she's come to find you too. You're starting to realise that your suspicion of her had been unfounded. For the two weeks you'd slept in her room, you'd stayed up sick with nerves thinking she was gonna stab you in your sleep. It's kind of hard to believe she'd bother these days.

Plus, you desperately want to like Robin. She's funny, and smart, and she has a really nice voice. You could listen to her talk about movies for hours, and you would, because Steve could do it too, though he's far more opinionated than you are.

"Thank you," she says. "I got something for you."

You sit up from Steve's side, trying your best to look like a functioning person rather than his pathetic clinger. "What?"

"Yeah, I got this bio-oil from the medic station for your face. I mean, don't get me wrong, you'd look cool with a scar, but I thought maybe that should be up to you. And this," she says, putting the bio-oil and a white packet down in front of you. "Steve said you liked the first one."

It's a small bar of Hershey's Cookies 'n' Creme. You stare at the two items, lost for words, and then you decide you have to be brave even if it's a little awkward, and even if you're still scared of things going wrong.

"You didn't have to get these for me, Robin," you say.

"I wanted to."

You slide across the bench you're sitting on slowly, so she has time to move away. "Thank you," you say, and hold your arms out for a hug.

She looks startled but happy, and is quick to accept your offering. "You're welcome," she says, arms crossing behind your back.

You nod and pull away, giving her a genuine, if guilty smile.

Just as you realise Steve has been listening, Jonathan tries to save him, roping him back into conversation. You miss his hand on your leg and consider asking for it back, and you really wish he'd stop the game altogether so you can hide under his arm again. You've been feeling rightfully fragile since you got back. Touching him makes it go away.

But you're not a loser. Robin's breaking the seal on the new pack of cards, and you're really good at card games after so many nights alone with Steve, who's really bad at them.

"You know gin rummy?" you ask her.

"I do not," she says, with an air of grandness, her smile unmissable. "I'm a quick study."

"Robs, don't let her teach you," Steve butts in, "she'll teach you how to play, but she won't teach you how to play well."

"I only taught you badly 'cause I was mad at you," you say, rolling your eyes.

"What?"

"Yeah, it was after we got stuck inside that taco truck, and you said I sound like a dying cat when I sing, even though you're the one who asked me to sing in the first place."

He chuckles easily at the memory. "Oh, yeah. God, I'm sorry, you were still sick from that bad water and your throat was all raw."

He does you the service of kissing your cheek.

"I'm sorry," he says again. "I was mean."

"I don't buy it. That's a fake apology," Robin says.

You burst into giggles as Steve gasps with indignation, and Jonathan lays his cards out flat on the table.

"I win," he says.

Steve, despite your ganging up on him, and Jonathan's poorly timed victory, doesn't seem upset at all. He's smiling one of his more secret smiles, the kind you had to dig long and hard to find, and his hand feels like love as he takes up station on your thigh again. He squeezes three times.

You cover his hand briefly with your own, rubbing the fine hairs on the back of his fingers, before turning your attention to Robin completely.

"I'm gonna make you a champion," you promise.

#steve zombie!au #steve harrington x reader #steve harrington x you #steve harrington x y/n #steve harrington #stranger things x reader #stranger things fic #steve harrington imagine #steve harrington fanfic #steve harrington fanfiction #stranger things #stranger things 4

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paradoxlemonade · 9 months

Text

Mirror Mirror

Fandom: Double Life SMP

Dynamic: Etho & Joel

words: 1313

Warnings: body image issues, insecurity

Ao3: Here!

Summary: Etho doesn't like how he looks. Joel does not know this. Hurt/comfort ensues. (This is my @mcytblrholidayexchange present for @kyleknight! I hope you enjoy ^^)

— — — — —

Joel likes to think he’s a pretty funny guy in his own humble opinion, thank you very much. People laugh when he starts cracking jokes, and those that don’t are probably just peeved that they’re the subject of his mockery—after all, when there’s a punchline, someone has to be the one to get decked. It’s all in good fun!

It’s… disconcerting when someone who’s supposed to be in on the joke isn’t smiling along with it.

And it’s not like Etho’s even the one on the receiving end! The whole point of the thing is how they—as soulmates—can ruin everyone else’s thumbnails together!

It’s a bit of Etho’s that Joel has always found fun as long as he’s known about it: hiding another layer of visual data in his player code only visible upon lookup is a fantastic prank for messing with one’s friends, since it’ll only show up when they pull his image to build the thumbnail. Etho himself, who doesn’t bother with that sort of menial technicality and just whips out a camera from his back pocket when he spies a good thumbnail, is immune. And sure, sure, Joel doesn’t actually know how to replicate the effect and just went for a plain t-shirt with the face painted on in crooked lines, but it was still funny and would show up on the lookups (And Etho’s pictures, but that’s what hiding the shirt with armor is for).

Joel was grinning like mad as he showed off the creation, hands waving and detailing the concept. Etho gave an affirmation, but he hadn’t seemed particularly enthused with the concept; the mask hiding his face stretched with a smile even as his eyes skittered to the side and hid under knit brows.

So. Joel tries not to let it bother him and simply enjoy the thought of his friends being annoyed with him.

He picks at the hem of the t-shirt as he paces about the Boat Boys (not Small Etho!) base area. The day passes as usual: chaos reigns, problems are caused (all on purpose if asked, mostly on purpose in actuality), and Joel enjoys Etho’s company. Really, the man is a delight—Joel knew of him more than he knew him personally before the latest season, but every new interaction reveals something new about Etho that he didn’t know, and Joel’s actions and mannerisms in turn to him.

Everything seems fine, until. Until, until, until.

Etho removes the secret layer. Joel finds out about it in between sessions and tries (fails) not to take it personally.

It… stings.

The start of the next session and Joel’s ire do not roll in like thunder, but instead stumble in on unsure legs like a fawn. Sure, he’s irritated (and a little offended, and a little hurt), but it’s Etho. So Joel leans on the edge of The Relation Ship and drinks in the sight of the server.

A creaking floorboard from behind him and a gentle wheeze of breath belies Etho’s awaited arrival.

Without turning around, Joel begins, “I see that you’ve changed your skin?” It’s light as he can manage with a slight chuckle of incredulity, but from the tightness in his jaw, it does little to masquerade much of anything.

“I did, yes—”

“You took the face off? Was it because I—”

“Yeah.”

Joel huffs. “Wow, brilliant.” He pushes off and turns in a single motion, and—

Freezes.

…Any plans Joel has for a polite (but frigid, but pointed, but sardonic) questioning evaporate once he gets a look at Etho’s face.

He looks tired, bags like smudges of coal languishing, shifting with every blink. Every step is upheld with an air of casual nonchalance, but the slight tremble in his fingers betrays him. His pale hair is dull and falls over his scarred eye.

“...You look like a wreck.”

Etho scowls for a bare moment but beats it down to a practiced neutrality. “It’s nothing. I’m fine.”

Joel snorts. “Considering that I hadn’t asked but you tried to deflect anyways, say that I don’t particularly believe you.” He grabs Etho by the wrist and slides past, leading him down to their chests. “Did you sleep at all between now and the last session? Because your eyebags have eyebags. Bet we could fit a whole stack of items in there.” Before Etho can respond, Joel pops the lock on a chest and picks out a loaf of bread. He drops it into Etho’s hands with a nod of finality.

“I slept just fine. And I ate too, if that’s what you’re getting at by this.” He gestures helplessly with the bread. “I told you, I’m fine.”

Joel shrugs. “And I said I didn’t believe you. I can play this game all day, especially since your face isn’t helping your argument.”

Etho scowls again. “Stop saying that.”

“Saying what? That you look like you’ve been fighting phantoms? And losing?”

“Joel, please…” His shoulders are drawn in close and his grip on the bread grows tighter, more desperate.

Joel falters.

“Are you… okay?”

Etho makes a face and stalks back onto the ship. “You don’t need to rub it in, you know.”

Joel trails behind him, his sense of assurance drying up. “You’re gonna need to be a little more specific than that, mate. Rub what in?”

He laughs. Laughs. Something dry, something quiet, something brittle. Etho keeps his gaze trained on the bread crust he picks at aimlessly. “I know I’m nothing nice to look at. I’ve known that basically forever. So you don’t need to rub it in; I already know.”

Joel blinks. He stops following Etho’s pacing and stands in place. What does he say to that? “You’re kidding, right?”

Mm. Probably not that.

Etho gives him an unimpressed look. “Why would I be kidding about this? You’ve been saying it yourself all morning.”

Wait, he thought that… and then Joel…

Oh, goddammit.

Joel rubs a hand across his face letting it trail up to drag through his hair. “You look tired, man, not ugly. You’re not a supermodel—so what? Neither am I. And neither is anyone else that we hang out with. You’re in pretty good company.” His feet finally unstick from the floor and he manages to scoot next to Etho, their shoulders brushing. “You’ve been thinking about this the entire break, haven’t you?”

Etho shrugs, as if it hides the way his shoulders droop with the weight of his thoughts. “I don’t… I try not to think about my face too much. Not ever since”—he waves his free hand at the long, ropy line bisecting his face—“that. No mirrors in any of my builds or anything. I guess your silly t-shirt just reminded me that everyone else is looking at me when I talk to them.”

Joel kinda feels bad for taking that personally, now.

He shakes his head. “If you told me what was up, I would’ve ditched the shirt. Here, like this.” He reaches up with one hand and yanks it off by the neckline, tossing it across the ship in the same motion. It hits the wall and slides to the floor in a crumpled heap. “There, now it’s gone.”

Etho takes a minute to gather his thoughts. After a pause, his eyes trail over to meet Joel’s. “Thanks.”

Joel leans over and bumps him, never breaking eye contact. “Bothering people is fun. Hurting them isn’t.”

The moment passes, and Etho turns his attention back to the bread. He slides his mask down and takes a hesitant bite.

— — — — —

Joel leans back and kicks a foot over his leg. “Besides, I can still think of, like, at least three different people who would throw themselves at you in a heartbeat if they thought they had a chance of getting you into bed with them.”

Etho chokes on a mouthful of bread.

#double life smp #trafficblr #life smp #boat boys #ethoslab #smallishbeans #joel smallishbeans #double life fanfic #mcyt #idea writes #idea original post

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bradshawsbaby · 1 year

Text

Letters to My Love // Part IX

Dream A Little Dream Of Me

Series Masterlist

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Pairing: Bob Floyd x Female Reader

Summary: When you signed up to volunteer with the USO, you never anticipated that you would meet a man like Ensign Robert Floyd. Fate brings you together one balmy spring evening in Charleston—the night before Bob is set to ship off across the Atlantic. Pen and paper become your only means of sharing your heart with the naval aviator who’s captivated it, igniting a correspondence that spans the distance between you. Can love blossom even as war rages and thousands of miles keep you apart?

Word Count: 3.2k

Author’s Note: Bobby and Peach’s story continues! Hope you all enjoy this latest installment!

Set the Mood: If you’re looking for some 1940s vibes, check out the playlist I made to pair with the story.

The title of this chapter comes from the popular song of the same name. Click here to listen to the first ever recording of the song from 1931!

Dedication: As always, this story is dedicated to my dear friend, @luminousnotmatter. Clara, thank you, thank you, thank you for your support of this story!

Warnings: Alternating POV, allusions to the physical and emotional cost of war, lots of sweet fluff.

April 28, 1943

Dearest Peach (or is it Cookie now?),

I have to tell you, this game of tag might just be the best version of the game I’ve ever played. I sure was surprised—and pleased, believe me—when I opened your last letter to find another photograph inside. The other fellas on the carrier are starting to grumble about how they hardly ever get photos from their girls back home, so you’ve managed to make me quite a big shot around here. Tommy Boy told me just the other day that word’s spreading about how “Floyd’s always getting these pictures from a pretty girl back stateside.” In all honesty, I think they’re just shocked that a gal as pretty as you would be writing to a boring guy from the sticks like me.

Now I don’t want you to think I’m gloating or anything when you send me photos, Peach—although your pretty face DOES deserve to be on billboards, in my humble opinion. It’s just that carriers are smaller than you’d think, in terms of news spreading around, It doesn’t help matters that Benny is always looking over my shoulder during Mail Call, and that when I opened your most recent letter, he stood up on our bench and shouted “Bobby Boy’s got another picture, fellas!” Don’t you worry, though. I tucked your photo into my pocket, right over my heart, and wouldn’t let any of the others see it, no matter how much they begged. Serves them right for being so nosy.

All that to say, it’s a wonderful picture and it brought a big old smile to my face to see how happy you all looked at Christmastime. Please send my highest compliments to Dottie. You and your sister look so much alike, you could both be Hollywood starlets. I especially love your matching smiles—prettier than the angel on top of the Christmas tree. And Frankie is the spitting image of Paddy, my goodness! It’s funny, Paul, Jr. looks just like Paul, too. Maybe the boys will both grow up and go to Annapolis together. You know, following in their fathers’ footsteps and all that. Wouldn’t that be something if they both joined the Navy one day?

Speaking of us “squids,” as our Marine brothers are so wont to call us, I’m glad to hear that you enjoyed the photos that I sent with my last letter. Tommy Boy and Benny have been bragging to anyone who will listen that you have our pictures displayed on your desk. I made the mistake of letting them know that you think they’re very handsome, but don’t worry, I kept it just between us that you think I’m the most handsome. They’re good guys and I wouldn’t want to go bruising their egos or anything like that.

Mike is the name of the fella on board who has the camera and took the pictures for us. He’s hoping he can get his hands on some more film soon so that he can take some more photographs while we’re over here. He likes to send them back home to his fiancee in Arkansas. He’s a solid guy, Mike is. He even told me he’d be happy to take some more pictures for me to send to you when he’s able to—if you’d like that, that is.

I’m glad to know that you don’t mind me writing a little bit about you to my family. I received a letter from my mother the same day I received your letter, and she said you sound like the loveliest girl and that you’re more than welcome on the Floyd farm anytime you happen to find yourself in Linn County, Iowa. When I was writing back to her, I didn’t have the heart to tell her that nobody just so happens to find themselves in Linn County, Iowa. But the offer still stands! My mama would be more than happy to bake you all the pumpkin pies your heart desires. And she’d be more than happy to hear about that peach cobbler recipe, too!

Paul wanted me to tell you that you have no reason to be embarrassed about the punch spill, and that, in fact, you should put it out of your mind completely. He’s sitting across me from right now as I write this, writing his own letter back home to Natasha and the kids. Clara’s just learning to recognize her letters and read some basic words, and Paul, Jr. can’t read at all yet of course, so Paul includes little drawings for them when he writes. Natasha says they love them, and that Clara always carries his letters around when they’re running errands to show off to all the neighbors. “Look at Daddy’s pictures!” she tells them. He really is a good artist, you know. One of these days, I’m going to have him draw something for you. Anything in particular you’d like to see?

Oh, please don’t be embarrassed about my overhearing that conversation! That’s the last thing I want you to feel. You have no reason to be embarrassed, Peach. If anything, it’s that Eddie guy who should feel embarrassed for doing that to a lady. But like you—and Dottie—said, everything happens for a reason. I believe that, too. And I believe that good things can come out of even the worst circumstances. Take this war, for example. It’s awful. There’s no sugarcoating it or making it sound better than it is. It’s just plain awful. In the time I’ve been over here, I’ve seen and heard things that I’ll never be able to forget, things that make you question how human beings can do such things to one another. But I’ve also seen instances of such heroism and bravery, of people doing all they can to stick their necks out for each other and see each other home safely, and I think that that’s got to count for something, too. Don’t you think so, Peach? I know you’re all doing your part back home, too, and that means the world to us over here. We can feel it, and we appreciate it more than you can know. So you see? Good things can still come out of the hard times.

Like you and me meeting, for another thing. I can’t say that I’m grateful for this war, but I am thankful that it brought us together and allowed our paths to cross that night in Charleston. I’ll always be thankful for that, Peach. Not a day goes by that I don’t count my lucky stars that Paul finally convinced me to go to that dance that night. It was the last place in the world I wanted to be, but it turned out to be just the place I needed to be. Everything happens for a reason, right?

Speaking of that night at the dance, I had a dream the other night about dancing with you, Peach. We were at the USO dance at first, but then we were suddenly on the beach. As a farm boy from Iowa, you can imagine that I haven’t spent much time on the beach in my lifetime. But I suppose my subconscious remembers all the beaches I saw in Charleston, because there we were, dancing in the sand while the waves were crashing in. Do you like going to the beach? Like I said, there’s none in landlocked Iowa, but I’d be more than happy to let you be my tour guide when it comes to the best beaches South Carolina and Georgia have to offer.

It’s funny, I don’t usually remember my dreams, but I remember that one quite vividly. I woke up thinking I could still taste saltwater on my tongue and feel you in my arms. Maybe that sounds a little silly, but it’s true. It was the best dream I’ve ever had, I’m sure of it.

It does sound like little Frankie is quite the mischief-maker! Hiding keys already? Something tells me he’s going to give Dottie and Paddy a run for their money when he gets older! From everything you’ve told me, I really do think he and Paul, Jr. would make the best of friends. I imagine the two of them would get into even more mischief than Paul and I did when we were growing up!

Gosh, I wish more than anything that I could be there dancing with you, Peach. But I’m holding the thought of you dancing to “We’ll Meet Again” real close to my heart until we really can meet again. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to hear that song without thinking of you now.

Please do keep me updated on your Victory Garden efforts! I’m looking forward to hearing all about it. Believe me, no one could have a browner thumb than me—just ask Paul, Natasha, and pretty much my entire family—so I’m sure you and Dottie will do a wonderful job!

And Happy Belated Easter, Peach! I hope you had a lovely day with your family. We actually had a bit of exciting news that reached us on Easter Sunday. The Royal Navy sent word that they managed to sink a German U-boat off the coast of [REDACTED], which is hopefully a good sign for all the rest of us. I hope this war comes to an end soon. It feels like we’ve been fighting forever.

I hope that the South Carolina sunshine is treating you right, and that you’re safe and well. I can’t wait until your next letter arrives (I’ll try to keep Benny from looking over my shoulder next time).

Most Truly Yours,

Bobby

May 24, 1943

My Dear Bobby,

Don’t worry, it’s still Peach to you, and it always will be. Frankie is learning so many new words every day that I’m sure I’ll only be Aunt Cookie for a little while longer. But I’d like to stay Peach for a good long while, if that’s alright with you.

I’m sorry to disappoint all the fellas on the carrier—particularly Benny—by not including any new photographs with this letter. I’ll try to amend that next time. But I absolutely do not believe that it should come as any kind of shock to anyone that you and I write to one another, Bobby. Boring? Who would dare call you boring? I’ll not have you talking about yourself like that, Robert Floyd, do you hear me? I could just as easily say that the people back in Charleston would be shocked to learn that a handsome naval aviator is writing to a girl as shy and mousey as me, but I know you wouldn’t like that. Just like I don’t like hearing you talk badly about yourself. So let’s promise one another we won’t do that anymore, hm?

Dottie sends profuse thanks for your sweet words about the Christmas photo—she actually blushed when I told her what you’d written! And I could tell that Paddy was all puffed up with pride when I told him that you thought Frankie looked just like him. Dottie agrees with you wholeheartedly, by the way. “Both my boys are so handsome!” she declared. I think Paddy blushed a little bit at that, though he’d never admit it.

My goodness, imagine Frankie and Paul, Jr. both joining the Navy when they’re older? I think you’re quite right that they’d make excellent friends—but heaven help the Navy with the double trouble those two would bring with all their mischief-making!

By the way, I asked Paddy about that nickname you said the Marines like to use—squids? I’ve never seen my brother-in-law turn so red so fast! “Oh, what do they know?” he demanded, waving his hands in the air. “They’re just a bunch of jarheads!” Squids? Jarheads? I never realized there was such a rivalry between you! No wonder the sailors and the Marines seem to stay on opposite sides of the room whenever the USO hosts an event! I hope you know that I don’t think you’re a squid, Bobby. But if you were, you’d be the cutest squid in the seven seas.

You’re very considerate not to bruise Tommy Boy’s and Benny’s egos, so thank you very much for keeping our little secret. Emily came over the other day—she’s still so excited about the wedding and she wanted me to help her go over some details—and she saw the pictures of you and the boys on my desk. She remembered Paul from the night of the dance, and she thought the rest of you looked familiar, too. She said to pass along her best wishes, and I passed along your congratulations on her and Eddie’s engagement. I hope you don’t mind.

That’s very sweet of your friend, Mike to offer to take more photos for you! Of course I’d love for you to send more, if you’re able to! Being able to see that you’re okay, even with all the miles and a war between us, makes me so happy.

Your mama is most generous and kind to extend that invitation! While I can’t say that I have any reason to be in Linn County, Iowa at the moment, I will be certain to look up the Floyd family farm if ever I should happen to be in town. And please let your mama—and all of your family—know that, should they ever find themselves in Charleston, South Carolina, the Sheridan residence is always open to them. Your mama and I can swap recipes. I know Dottie would love that.

I couldn’t help smiling from ear to ear when I read the part of your letter where you talked about Paul’s drawings for Clara and Paul, Jr.! What a wonderful father he is! And an artist, too? I’m very impressed! Not to mention thankful to him for his unending kindness. I can see why the two of you are the best of friends—you both have the same good hearts. Hmm, now as for what kind of drawing I would like, I suppose that would depend on what Paul specializes in. Does he do portraits? In that case, I’d like to see him draw one of you. Does he draw cartoons? I can only imagine how he’d portray a conversation between Tommy Boy and Benny. If neither of those, then perhaps Paul can draw me some peaches—I always think of you now, Bobby, whenever I eat them.

Oh, Bobby. Yes, I do believe it counts for something when people try to hold onto their goodness in the midst of so much evil and bad. We know so little of what you’re facing over there beyond the small bits that we read in the newspaper or hear on the radio. I can’t even begin to imagine what it’s like to be living in it every day. I wish that I could hold you tight and make all the bad memories go away. But since I can’t, I’m glad to know that you’re able to find the glimpses of good where you can.

Without a doubt, everything happens for a reason, and I believe there’s a reason that you and I met that night, Bobby. Maybe a reason that’s bigger than you and I can ever understand. I’m grateful that our paths crossed, too. So, so grateful. I know this might sound silly considering we’ve only actually been together in person for a few hours, but you’ve helped me come out of my shell more than you can know. I’ve always been so shy, Bobby. Painfully so. It’s not easy for me to talk to new people, or people that I don’t know very well. It’s especially not easy for me to talk to handsome boys like you. But that night at the dance and during our walk on King Street—you made me feel seen, Bobby. And heard. Hardly anyone outside my family has ever made me feel that way. And then we started writing letters to each other and you’ve just been so easy to talk to, so easy to share my heart with. Thank you for that, Bobby. It means more to me than you can possibly imagine. So yes, I thank my lucky stars for that night, too.

Did you really have a dream about me? I’m blushing to think so, but now I don’t feel so shy to tell you that I’ve dreamed about you, too. In my dream, we were back at the ice cream parlor on King Street, sharing an ice cream sundae with lots of whipped cream and cherries on top. When you come home, we’ll have to take a drive to Folly Beach and get ice cream on the pier. I’ll be counting down the days until it happens!

Now speaking of our Victory Garden, Dottie and I are quite proud of the effort we put in this year! You’d think the two of us were a couple of regular old farm girls. We spent about a week or so clearing out the beds from last year and resoiling them. One of our neighbors, Mrs. Patterson had a beautiful garden last year, so she gave us a lot of helpful advice. We ended up planting beans, carrots, cucumbers, and tomatoes. It’s still a little too early to tell how they’ll end up, but they look promising so far! I think you��d be proud of us!

Things here on the homefront have been a little tricky as of late. I’m not sure if word has gotten over to you boys across the Atlantic, but some of the coal miners went on strike last month. It caused a bit of a crisis with regard to production and manufacturing. President Roosevelt delivered a fireside chat discussing the crisis earlier this month. He tried to remind all of us that it’s our patriotic duty to continue working and to do what we can for the war effort. I think Paddy was a bit worried about it, but the government has since taken control of the coal mines, and so we haven’t heard much more about it.

I want so badly to do my part for the war effort, Bobby. I think of you and Paul and Tommy Boy and Benny and all the others, risking your lives across the ocean to defend all of us back home. I want to do something, no matter how small, that can contribute and make a difference. There have been lots of women going to work in the factories ever since we entered the war. Some of them are filling their husbands’ and brothers’ positions while they’re off fighting. Paddy mentioned that they’re actually looking to fill civilian positions at Naval Air Station Charleston. It’s harder because of the background checks required, but I’d have a leg up, being Paddy’s sister-in-law. I’ve been thinking about asking Paddy to help me apply for a position. Do you think I should, Bobby? If it could be of any help to you and all the other men, I’d really like to give it a try. What do you think?

That’s wonderful news about the Royal Navy! Every time I hear about the Allies pushing further into Europe, or defeating our enemies in some way, it gives me a thrill of hope that maybe this all really will be over soon. I hope so, Bobby. I really hope so.

Even though there’s a few thousand miles between us, I hope you can feel all the good thoughts I’m sending your way. I can’t wait until I get your next letter. I always look forward to them.

Until next time, Bobby!

Most Affectionately Yours,

Peach

TAGLIST: @teacupsandtopgun @saturnsbabe69 @gigisimsonmars @marchingicenotes7 @high-speed-r @toobouquet @up-thereinthesky @lostinthefandoms11 @strangerparks @sweetwhispersofchaos

#robert bob floyd #bob floyd #bob floyd x reader #x reader #x female reader #top gun #top gun: maverick #lewis pullman #WWII AU #1940s AU

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mal3vol3nt · 5 months

Note

What are ur thoughts on natla?

i definitely have…. thoughts lol

but let’s start with the positives first i guess

i really liked the special effects and cgi. i thought the bending looked pretty neat, particularly the earth and fire bending (which isn’t surprising considering hollywood has spent decades improving the realism behind fire and explosion effects). the water and air bending looked cool too, but definitely didn’t look as realistic in my opinion. which isn’t a bad thing. it didn’t break my submersion or anything. tbh i thought the air and water bending looked more like they came straight out of a really enhanced video game

i liked what they did with the 41st division plot line. having that division be the crew on zuko’s ship was a really nice change from the original and humanized zuko’s character even more in my opinion. though i find it hard to believe that ozai would’ve allowed a freshly banished zuko to travel in such close quarters with a division he literally saved (something something about soldier loyalty wavering and army coups blah blah blah)

the scene of kyoshi possessing aang and getting rid of the fire nation soldiers on her island was honestly… amazing to watch. one thing about me is i LOVE watching the avatars go full avatar mode and give it to people, so that scene had me jumping in my seat cause she looked so damn cool (but i also have other thoughts about that scene and everything that led up to it that aren’t entirely positive lmao so not a complete win)

the casting for aang made me so happy. it’s no secret that aang is my baby, so if they did him dirty in casting i wouldn’t have even made it past episode 1, but gordon actually did such a good job with what he was given and i really wish the writing would have given him the chance to actually be aang. cause he has aang’s adorableness and goofiness (that we see from bts) so idk why it wasn’t utilized, but this isn’t the section for me to start talking about that

aang sending zuko away on the boat after the blue spirit rescue was everything. idk but it was done so gently and in a way that was just so aang that it makes me wanna scream

koh the face stealer. i don’t even think i gotta explain this one, but they did good with koh

so now lemme talk about what i didn’t really fw about this live adaptation. the negatives, if you will

(disclaimer: i have no issue with adaptations straying away from the original source material to make some changes or add some twists. in fact, i love it when they do. but the changes should add to the story and characters, not take away from them!! and that’s a short lil synopsis of my issues with this show)

them getting rid of sokka’s sexism. the reason the show got rid of this was because the creatives didn’t understand that the og show never presented sokka’s sexism as a good thing. he was constantly and immediately humbled when he said something stupid, and his thought process made sense for his character because he’s a boy who has never ventured outside his tribe. all he knows are the gender roles within his own culture and we see that throughout the show as he mets other people, he starts to realize that way of thinking is wrong. them removing this aspect of his character also got rid of the tension between him and katara. sokka undermines katara a lot in the og and it’s clear that that kind of underestimation is one of the fuels firing the burning anger within her. and it’s that anger, provoked by sokka’s sexism, that leads her to releasing the avatar and driving the whole show in motion. because they got rid of this, sokka and katara don’t really have any huge issue to work through, so they had to add in this weak older sibling vs little sibling conflict instead. katara blowing up because he treats her like a little kid does NOT have the same punch as her blowing up because he treats her like she’s incapable. and it also muddies the real dynamic between the two considering they’re both constantly taking care of each other due to them BOTH having to grow up quickly

sokka and suki’s development was done DIRTYYYY. again, because they got rid of his sexism, they had nothing for suki to challenge. he never questioned her legitimacy as a warrior. instead, he was immediately impressed and felt a lil insecure at how skilled she was. and she just immediately liked him cause he’s attractive ig. the whole sequence of them training together (which he didn’t even wear the kyoshi warrior outfit during DINT GET ME STARTED-) is literally just a few long minutes of them stopping to catch their breaths every couple seconds cause they’re so insanely attracted to each other. that’s all it is. suki thinks he’s cute and eyes him up and down (????? literally why), and sokka does absolutely nothing but stand there to attract her to him. SUKI??? the insanely talented warrior who humbles him multiple times, and who sokka literally begs on hands and knees to train under so he can work for her respect, was watered down to “pretty girl who likes pretty boy”

katara. literally just katara. what did they do to my girl? HOW DO YOU MAKE THE KATARA OF THE SOUTHERN WATER TRIBE BORING?? first off, water bending is not a struggle for her?? aang just gives her a very confusing pep talk where he says basically nothing, and suddenly she’s able to make a perfect water sphere without even really trying. nevermind the fact that before aang got there and spewed nonsense at her, she could barely make a ripple in the water let alone pick it up. she was also just handed the waterbending scroll—literally handed—and got insanely good off of that. no master needed, she just picked it all up no problem. the og show makes it clear that while the scrolls can teach you the basics, they do not compare to a real master. in the og, katara fights tooth and nail to get her hands on the scroll and then to later get a master. she’s so determined and works so hard to perfect her element that when she finally reaches mastery level, it feels like a reward. it feels right. but in this show, she literally doesn’t have to work hard AT ALL and only needs to hear a few encouraging words from other characters to become a master. there’s no real development in her skill. one day, she can barely make a ripple. the next? she’s sending ice spears at pakku like it’s nobody’s business. where was the development? it wasn’t there. and because she’s so good at water bending already, she has no real motivation or purpose. she’s not driven by her desperate want to learn how to waterbend under a master. she doesn’t have any real reason to be driven by anger cause what is she so angry of? sokka doesn’t undermine her. she’s already insanely talented at bending with no real training. sure, pakku won’t let her fight but that’s a stupid conflict. a stupid conflict that’s the result of them making her too skilled for a master. cause instead of her frustrated that he won’t teach her, she wastes time trying to get him to let her fight in the upcoming battle. but why does she need his permission to do that in the first place? it’s not like he’s gonna try stopping her? he and everyone else will be too busy trying not to die to care if she’s out there slicing people with ice. so really, katara is just there. she has no drive, no personality, no reason. and it feels insane to even be saying that about katara cause she’s literally katara. but natla fucked up with her and i am not about to forgive them for that

aang. i could scream. natla aang is not aang. it’s literally identity theft. where is the joy? the whimsy? the child-like qualities that make aang aang? he’s so fucking serious all the damn time. he’s 12 years old, freshly out the ice, and already behaving like he’s been at this avatar gig his whole life. he doesn’t play around or get easily distracted like he does in the early books of the show. every pitstop they make on their way to the northern water tribe isn’t the result of aang wanting to have some fun, but because people are literally telling him “hey, you should go to *insert location* because they need help and you’re the avatar”. in fact, their whole reason for going to the northern water tribe isn’t because he or katara need to learn water bending (she’s already so good and he just doesn’t feel like learning??), but because kyoshi took his hand and explained to him that something bad was about to happen and he needed to be there. literally every decision he makes is the result of someone repeating exposition we already know and telling him what he needs to do. the show literally walks the audience through everything that happens. it literally even explains to us countless times that aang is a really goofy kid who likes playing airball with his friends, but we never see it?? he never goofs. he hardly even smiles im not gonna lie. he just introduces himself as a super goofy person and we’re supposed to just take his word for it. why is he already so intense, man? not even book 3 aang was that damn serious all the time. them eliminating his joy and optimism and childishness literally makes him a shell of a character and it PISSES ME OFF. not to mention his dialogue is written like he’s always on the brink of breaking out into song. no shit i thought this show was a musical for a good few seconds cause i fully expected him to start singing when he was venting to appa 😭

aang’s “running away” scene. don’t piss me off. this show was so afraid of giving their characters any actual flaws that they got rid of one of aang’s biggest sources of guilt: him intentionally running away from the air temple. no instead, he was just clearing his head up in the sky “where everything makes more sense” and just happened to get trapped in a storm

kyoshi yelling at aang. this one goes hand in hand with the previous one, but i’m giving it it’s own bullet point. in this scene, she yells at him for running away and tells him that he better not ever do something like that again because now the world’s gone to shit and needs its avatar more than ever, essentially placing blame on him for 1) something that literally isn’t even his fault—unless they get rid of roku admitting his involvement in the war beginning—and 2) didn’t even happen?? aang didn’t run away in this version of the story. he just went on a ride with appa and got caught up in a storm. so why is kyoshi acting like it was intentional when the show makes it clear that it wasn’t?

the death of the moon spirit. the plot point about kuruk’s knife was so stupid LMAO i’m sorry it was pointless to me. and why did nobody do anything while zhao was attempting to murder the moon spirit. everyone just stood there 🧍 like hello??? more importantly, why didn’t aang do anything?? in the cartoon, he tries talking zhao down and zhao plays along like it worked, setting the moon spirit back down into the spirit water before killing it anyways. in this version, zhao never pretends like he isn’t about to kill the koi fish. and nobody makes a move to do anything until after it happens im crying 😭

aang becoming the ocean spirit. my main gripe with this scene is that it’s framed in a way that’s all about vengeance and just pure rage more than anything. but aang becoming the ocean spirit has always been, to me at least, a depiction of grief. it’s pain that the ocean spirit is expressing as it washes away the fn soldiers and ships. it’s done in a way that is, yes brutal, but also graceful and conscious. the ocean spirit is mindful of what it’s doing. it’s intentional and emotional. it’s not just striking anything and everyone out of pure rage, which is how this scene was choreographed and shot in my opinion

#this took way too long to type and i still have so many thoughts but im tired #i didn’t even mention azula but just let it be known that i have issues there too lol #natla #natla critical #aang #avatar aang #katara #sokka #avatar the last airbender #atla

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