#this show is ruining my life (affectionate... mostly)

[jackabbot]

I only ask for one day when Tim Minear doesn't cause ruckus on the interwebs, just one day Mr. Minear...

[softtdaisy]

love is an easy dance / Aaron Hotchner

summary. just you and Hotch celebrating your engagement and how much you love each other

words count. 2 517

what to expect. honestly nothing but love, this is just sweet

a/n. this is heavily inspired by the wedding episode in Dharma & Greg he looked so soft and cute and i thought Hotch deserved his moment too

Aaron Hotchner series masterlist | criminal minds masterlist | F1 masterlist | general masterlist | request

“Oh my god, I feel like I have to congratulate you again.”

You heard Penelope's high-pitched tone in your back right before she wrapped her arms around you. Her chin fell on your shoulder, like it did the other times she came for a hug. You cuddled your head against hers in a laugh, appreciating this new wave of love. 

She had done that four or five times already through the evening. You could blame the alcohol for her very tactile and affectionate behavior. But it would be underestimating Penelope’s capacity to show her love and her happiness for you. And that was without counting the regular congratulations she gave you through the past weeks. 

You still blame the alcohol for some of the things -plurals- she said tonight. You weren’t sure how many times she threatened to run away with you if Hotch wasn’t looking. 

Hotch, who looked at you both with a sweet smile on his face. No words could explain the wholesome feeling he had tonight, watching his now-fiancée receiving so much love from the team. It felt as though you were an integral part of their group. And you were part of this family. His family.

Penelope grabbed your hand, the one you had put on top of hers, to look at your ring again. “Aaron, you really outdid yourself with this one.” 

You smiled, seeing his cheeks take on a pink tone. You two were the only ones to know the story behind the engagement ring you had been wearing for a month already. 

For your anniversary, Hotch offered you a trip to London. No professional engagement, no kid—even though you both missed Jack—just the two of you celebrating your love. And during a walk in town, you noticed the ring in a store. You couldn’t explain it; you weren’t even a jewelry expert. You just saw it in the shop window and felt like it was made for you. But you didn’t tell Hotch until late at night, lying in his arms in the hotel bed. 

“I think I love this ring more than I love you right now,” you remember laughing. Both for your joke and for his kisses down your neck. 

You mostly remember the next hour spent with Hotch doing his best to make sure you would always love him more. And that man truly had more than one trick up his sleeve to make you fall in love with him again. And again. And, oh god, again. 

Yet, this ring stayed on his mind the whole night, and he had to convince you to look at it the next day “so I can know who’s my opponent in your heart.” You loved the way he said that, with his hand in yours, something natural and casual. 

You’ve seen Hotch come back from the field broken and sad so many times that you sometimes forgot that Aaron was still there. A good, funny, and amazing man that was the sun in your life even in your darkest days. 

Next thing, you went to see the ring. A ring that actually cost way too much for a casual buy. A ring that turned out to be an engagement ring—information you missed the first time. 

You knew Aaron was the love of your life, the man you wanted to be with for the rest of your days. Yet, you’ve never talked about getting engaged. You knew enough about his first marriage to not pressure him into another one. 

So you laughed about it, saying something about trying to trap him into marrying you and how he ruined your little game. And for you, the joke was over there.

Little did you know that Hotch never forgot about the ring, also feeling like it was made for you. And that he spent multiple months using his friend in London, Miss Emily Prentiss herself, to get the perfect ring for the woman he loved. Asking her to check the ring, sending rings of yours to get the good measure. Going back to London by himself, just to buy the ring himself. 

One night, after a romantic Friday night together, the ring was around your finger, and the name Hotchner was soon to be yours. 

And tonight, everyone was at Rossi’s house to celebrate your engagement. 

“Who thought Hotch could be a romantic?” Derek joked, which caused your fiancé to roll his eyes at the remark—one he knew he kind of deserved. And you had to fight hard to not answer that you did. They had no idea how full of surprises this man could be. 

Penelope moved from behind your back to stand next to you. “What do you know about romanticism, Derek Morgan?”

This simple question started a whole debate between Penelope and Derek about love and little attention. Mostly based on teasing each other, but that wasn’t a surprise with them. After meeting them, you had to ask Hotch about their relationship, to which he replied with a shrug and an “I’m not sure I can’t tell you much because I’m not even sure I know much.” 

You followed their conversation like a tennis game at first. 

And you would probably have kept doing that for a good moment if you didn’t feel a hand grabbing yours, softly. No matter how many hands you could shake tonight, even with your eyes closed, nothing could ever feel like Hotch’s. 

His hands weren’t the softest—you blamed his work for this. But there was something about the roughness of his skin, the width of his fingers that could cover your hand so easily, the feeling against your skin of the small scars and other marks caused by life in general, or the tenderness he always put in his touch when it was you. Aaron had always been nothing but tender with you.

Especially now, with his fingers intertwined with yours and his thumb caressing the back of your hand so casually, while his little steps guided you away from the conversation and into Rossi’s garden. 

“Are you kidnapping me, Aaron Hotchner?” You asked with a tone that was meant to be serious. But the smile you couldn’t take away from your face tonight was ruining the whole pretense.

Or maybe not. Because Aaron simply replied with the very same tone, one he used for work. One that you heard from him on the phone when he answered with his simple—but very hot—“Hotchner.” One of the many things that convinced you to take his last name.

“Yes, that’s my plan.” He said “Any problem with that?”

“None.”

Aaron turned his head slightly, enough to look at you. And the smile he gave you was just as big and sincere as the one you offered him. In these moments, you couldn’t deny JJ’s words when she said that it felt like love was invented to describe people like you.

You didn’t go far in the backyard. Enough to be alone without anyone seeing you; most of the curtains were pulled anyway. Enough to still hear the music and some of the voices from outside. Enough to have your own bubble, not too far from your friends.

“Good,” Aaron finally replied. He stood in front of you, and you took a moment to appreciate the view of the man you would marry one day.

Hotch was in a suit almost every single day for work. You knew that a part of his brain associated some ties to the awful cases he was on while wearing them. And more than that, the simple thought of wearing a suit—even if he looked absolutely gorgeous in them, your desire knew about that—was linked so tightly with his job that he couldn’t bring himself to wear one tonight.

Yet, he wanted to look good for you. Something Aaron wasn’t speaking about much but that he gave you some snippets of was his fear of not being enough for you. His age, his look, and his attitude sometimes when his job was killing him and he didn’t have the heart to pretend he was fine—something you’ve never expected from him anyway. You had learned that part of the reason he was scared of proposing to you was that he felt like he would trap you in a wedding you didn’t want with a man who wasn't worthy of your love. 

It was an everyday challenge to remind him that you wouldn’t change him in any way.

And so, because of his looks and suits problems—not that you would call that a problem personally—he had a hard time choosing what to wear tonight. He settled on a dark blue shirt with two buttons opened that showed a glimpse of his collarbone and the sleeves rolled up on his forearms—you guessed it was some kind of gift for you and your obsession with his arms. And some dark pants that you bought not long ago after his body changed. 

But to be honest, he could have come in his pajamas, and Aaron Hotchner would still be the most handsome man in the room to you. 

You brought a hand to his neck, caressing his skin, and used it as a shelf to move closer to him and kiss him softly on the lips. You didn’t kiss him enough tonight.

“I had some very persuasive arguments otherwise,” he added against your lips. 

He took a step back, only for his hands to glide down your back. Inviting you to a secret dance only for the two of you. One you didn’t have to share with the others this time.

“Oh, you did, Prosecutor Hotchner?” You replied, your fingers playing with his short hair.

“I haven’t heard that in a long time.” He laughed, being pushed back to decades ago for a second. “But yes, yes I did.” 

But Aaron didn’t give any. Because you didn’t need to hear any of them, you would follow your man to the end of the world just for the sake of seeing the beautiful smile on his face. The BAU was hard on him, and you could honestly count on the fingers of one hand the number of nights he came home with a relaxed expression. Not looking exhausted and, well, broken. 

So to see such a happy expression on him was…relieving. And a good reminder why you loved Aaron so much. Not that you didn’t love the unit chief, but you loved the man underneath more. 

When you started dating, you laughed that you felt like falling in love more and more every day with him. “I’m scared of the day you’ll stop loving me more,” he had replied with a soft smile—again a glimpse of his fear, even if this one was mostly a joke.

“I love you,” you said in a whisper tonight. Looking at Aaron. The way the moonlight was reflecting in his eyes, how he looked so magical tonight. “Still more and more every single day.”

“That’s funny,” he replied, kissing your forehead softly. “I had the exact same thought right now.” He kept giving you kisses, from your temple to your cheek and down to your lips. Tracing a love path on your face.

You got closer to him, cuddling your face in the crook of his neck. Closing your eyes to appreciate his soft and very masculine perfume and the feeling of his hands traveling on your back. And for a moment, you forgot everything. The party, the people inside waiting for you. Yesterday and tomorrow. 

All that mattered was Aaron. All that will always matter was him. 

You felt him move his head, his hair caressing your skin in a soft movement, before his mouth reached your ear. “Promise me that we will always keep loving each other more every day.” 

You waited a second or two, just the moment for your heart to embrace this promise. None of you had any doubt about this. But it was different hearing Aaron ask you for the same thing that was a permanent thought in your head. Reminding you he felt just the same.

But then, after these two seconds—or maybe three—you slowly cup his face between your hands, your thumb softly caressing his cheeks. Before moving your face closer to rub your nose against him. 

“I promise to always love you more every day for the rest of my life, Aaron Hotchner,” you whispered against his lips. 

Sharing a kiss. A simple and brief kiss. That you interrupted to say, “But you kind of ruined the surprise of my wedding vows, you realized that?”

“I plead guilty,” he laughed, his hand meeting your neck so he could keep your face against his to make the kiss last.

And this time you weren’t the one interrupting it.

“Will the two lovebirds honor us with their company?” you heard Rossi say from the opening window in your back.

You jumped at his voice but quickly joined Aaron’s laugh, who cuddled you harder against him like he was trying to protect you. And he was doing that very well, with his muscular arms tight around you. 

His lips met your temples again for a quick kiss before you said, “I think our guests are waiting for us.” 

“Remind me why we didn’t celebrate it alone, only the two of us.” Aaron asked, taking your hand to walk to the door. This became such a natural habit, to walk together with your hands tied, that you felt empty when his palm wasn’t pressed against yours. 

“Because they are our family.”

And you couldn’t even imagine what these simple words meant for him. 

The team was his family; that was for sure. Brothers and sisters, uncles and aunts for Jack—sometimes they were even sons and daughters to him when they needed to be. And Hotch would be lying if he said he appreciated feeling like a father to them from time to time. 

But for you to consider them like your family too—and he knew for sure that the team had adopted you as an active member too—was…something else. Even if he had no doubt that you were the one already. These simple words kept confirming that he wasn’t on the wrong path in choosing you as his wife and a stepmother for Jack.

As an answer to that, Aaron stopped you midway. With your hand still in his, he pulled you against him one last time. The surprise made you trip and fall against his lap in a laugh that resonated in the silent garden. 

His other hand on your neck kept you against him when he whispered, “I love you,” in the most sincere and honest tone you probably ever heard from him. Like it was a need for him to say it, right here and right now. 

But at this point, and he couldn’t care less about sounding like a hopeless romantic, Aaron felt the need to share his love with you every moment you were next to him. And hopefully, you would be by his side for a very long time.

Tag List  @kiwriteswords @monzabee @raysmayhem-72 @kajjaka @pastelpinkflowerlife @winyourheartemma  📬 FILL THE FORM TO BE ADDED

[wafflexdguy]

HAII!!!HAII HEEO HELLO!!!!

AHEMM

How about a looey x scientist!reader? :3 like when the reader is doing an experiment, and then looey comes into her lab suddenly making the experiment go boom,reader gets mad at looey,afterwards she goes to apologise to him and happy ending! Hooray!! :D

I JUST LOVE HUM SM AND THERES RARELY X READERS OF HIM

DO IT AND MY LIFE IS YOURSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS💜💜💜 (NOT FORCING!! :D)

The man responsible for ending 50% of my runs. Fuck this man in particular. Wikipedia saved my ass because I haven't actually bought this character yet in the game lol.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I don't think you were supposed to mix that.

Looey x Scientist Reader.

Regrettably, one of my shorter ones. Mostly because I fucking hate this guy. /Affectionate

Reminder that I write in 2nd person, so gender remains ambiguous.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"M'kay, can you go stand over there?"

You had managed to get a toon that you weren't familiar with to participate in one of your experiments. Was it legal? Maybe. Was it ethically questionable? Absolutely! Did you care? No, you had them sign paperwork saying it was okay.

The reindeer looked at you quizzically as you gave them the instruction. "Uh, this will make my nose glow brighter, right?"

"Possibly!"

The reindeer looked at you slightly stunned before shrugging. "Anything for Christmas!"

The reindeer stood on a platform that was way too complicated to explain in one paragraph, so to simplify: Big machine does cool thing.

You looked down at your tablet as you make sure the chemicals you were about to inject into his nose was actually going to make his nose glow brighter.

"Okay, so this is a very delicate process." You begin to explain. "So I need you to stay extremely still to ensure your safety, understood?"

"Got it!" The reindeer replied, attempting to give you a thumbs up, only to fail halfway through. He awkwardly lowered his arm as you began to press buttons on your tablet, with mechanical arms with the chemicals lowered towards his nose. Would this be a safer procedure if you did it yourself? Sure, but you wanted to give this a shot.

Also, because you didn't trust the chemicals to not explode. 

You were carefully directing the arms towards his nose, ready to inject the chemicals to give this reindeer a glow up.

At least, you would have. If the circus hadn't just showed up.

"Hi scientist!"

Your finger slips as it suddenly and forcefully injects the reindeer's nose, causing Santa's animal to reel back in pain stumbling back into a couple of experimental machines, knocking things down. 

Your water that you keep on a desk so conveniently ends up falling onto one of these machines, causing an electrical fire. The furry animal quickly retreats upon seeing this, staring in shock as months of building and perfecting comes crashing down. Losing tons of scientific research due to chemicals falling onto your research papers you were supposed to give to your caretakers.

Looey stands there both stunned and awkwardly.

"Uh... Oops?" He smiles weakly.

"Everyone get out of the lab!" You yell, quickly earning a response from both living specimen in the lab who quickly does as their told a bails out of the lab.

You quickly go grab your fire extinguisher and put out the fire. Assessing the damage, you can determine that it wasn't really... Good. Your Ichor experiments had just been ruined, destroyed even. 

You sigh, rubbing your forehead. "Looey..." You mutter under your breath. You were annoyed with them; they had just barged into your experiment and ruined years' worth of research! You were so focused into completing what the caretakers wanted to do, and now he just barged in and ruined everything!

You- You!

You forgot to put your red light on.

The red light indicating that you were in the middle of something important.

You facepalm yourself, feeling stupid. It wasn't his fault, this felt like something out of a cartoon. Ironic because you were called toons.

You exit the lab, seeing one slightly nervous balloon person and one livid reindeer person. 

"Why would you just barge in like that?!" The reindeer yells, making Looey slightly more uncomfortable with the situation.

"S-Sorry! I really didn't mean to, I didn't know!" Looey attempts to justify, leaving the reindeer slightly more furious.

"That doesn't excuse that!"

"Yes it does." You butt in, leaving no room for argument. The two look at you. "It's my fault, I really should have had a 'in testing' kind of thing going on. That's on me."

Looey lets out a small sigh of relief. "Still though, I'm really sorry for barging in like that."

"No problem." You wave off.

"Uh, no?! Big problem, my nose still really hurts!" The reindeer yells, pointing at his nose.

You chuckle a bit. "At least it's glowing a bit brighter, like ya asked for." You said, pointing towards a mirror. 

He tilts his head, his previous anger evaporating for a moment as he goes to look in the mirror, only to see his nose glowing brighter.

"Oh, sweet! Thank you, scientist, I owe you one!" He says running off suddenly. You have to hand it to him; his energy shows no bounds.

You turn to Looey, who smiles at you. "It's good to see you!" He exclaims. You nod, returning the smile.

"It's nice to see you too, Loo." You look to the lab, slightly disappointed but undeterred. Looeys happy expression falters as he catches at what you were gazing at.

"I really am sorry for barging in like that." He fiddles with his ears, tugging on them slightly. You wave your hand at him dismissively.

"It's not your fault; I should have had the indicator on." Despite your tone, you were slightly still angry with him. How could you not? He had accidentally ruined so much progress. Either way, you wouldn't hold it against him.

"Anyway, let's get off of all the depressing stuff," he attempts to wave off further, "howzabout we go to my circus troupe? We've got a really great act coming up soon, and we wanted a second opinion!"

You let out a sigh. "Sure, buddy. Sounds fun."

[rekino2114]

Teruko tawaki fluff alphabet

A/n:it's my first fluff alphabet, and i decided to go with my girl teruko cause she really needs love, and i had a bunch of ideas for her

☘️A=affection(how affectionate are they? How do they show affection?)

Teruko's affection changes during your relationship. At first, she's not that affectionate, only accepting the occasional hugs, but the more the relationship goes on, the more she accepts affectionate gestures. She particularly loves giving hugs, especially side hugs

☘️B=baby(do they want a family? How are they with kids?)

She does not want a child. Not only is she still traumatized from her family's death, she's very worried that her luck might hurt your kid or that it may be hereditary somehow, she's also not good with children so that's another reason. Maybe in the future, when she truly moved on from everything but not anytime soon

☘️C=cuddles(do they like to cuddle? How do they cuddle?)

Teruko does like cuddling, especially after a hard day of just existing. She's more often the big spoon, wrapping her arms around you and pulling you near her chest so that you feel protected

☘️D=Domestic(do they want to settle down? How are they at cooking and cleaning?)

While she would like to move in with you in the future, teruko is terrible at domestic stuff, partly because of her luck and partly because she's just kinda lazy. Whenever she cooks, the kitchen always ends up in flames, and her cleaning will just result in the place being 10× more dirty somehow

☘️E=everything (you are........ example: my life,my world)

"You are the luckiest thing that ever happened to me. Just having found you makes up for all the pain I ever felt"

☘️F=flirting (how do they flirt? Does it continue even after they're in a relationship?)

This girl has no idea how to flirt. She'll try to use some cheesy pick-up lines that she asked whit for while blushing intensely. She won't flirt with you anymore after. She doesn't see the point since you're already in a relationship

☘️G=gifts(what gifts do they like to give you? When?)

She doesn't give you gifts often, not because she doesn't want to but because she knows it'll somehow get ruined, sometimes you don't like it, other times it gets broken. Except for birthdays or anniversaries, don't expect many gifts.

☘️H=hug(do they like hugs? how do they hug?)

Teruko gives amazing hugs. not even she knew about it before she started dating you, but there's something about her wrapping her arms around you and being so close that makes you happy and calm. since you like them so much, she's more than happy to hug you whenever you want

☘️I=I love you (how fast did they say it? Do they say it often?)

It took a while for her to say it for the first time. She still has trust issues and needed to know she could fully trust you. But after your relationship gets serious, she'll say it more often, especially when you're having doubts about it

☘️J=jealousy (how jealous do they get? What do they do when they're jealous?)

She actually gets jealous quite a lot and pretty often, but she's relatively good at hiding it. She just doesn't want to lose you and is constantly scared you'll get tired of her luck and leave her for a better woman. When someone's hitting on you she'll mostly stand near you and not say anything if she sees you're not interested, but if someone is making you uncomfortable, then she'll tell them to stop and bring you away (she might threaten to stab them)

☘️K=kisses(how do they kiss you? Where do they like to kiss you?)

Like her affection and demeanor teruko's kisses evolve during your relationship. At first, they're soft and quick, but the more attached she gets to you, the longer they go on for, and the more passionate they become. Her favorite places to kiss you are your cheeks and your lips

☘️L=love confession(how did they confess to you?)

It was actually an accident. She was ranting to Xander about how much she was crushing on you, and you just happened to overhear. When she realized It she locked herself in her dorm out of embarrassment, but you confronted her about it and confessed. It's the only good thing her luck has ever given her

☘️M=mornings (how do they spend mornings with you?)

Like this, but while cuddling you

☘️N=nights (how do they spend nights with you?)

Teruko falls asleep late (it's probably the reason why she sleeps so much in the morning), so you'll just be doing your own stuff before noticing that it's 1 am and dragging teruko to bed

☘️O=overprotective (how protective are they of you?)

She is very, very protective of you, you're the only person she has left and she is very scared of what your luck might do to you. She always stands near you, keeping an eye on anyone suspicious, and she has a knife in her pocket and is not afraid to use it

☘️P=pet names(what nicknames do they like to call you?)

She's not one for pet names, most often just calling you by your name. the one she goes for the most is babe

☘️Q=quizzes(how much do they remember about you?)

She remembers stuff like your birthday, but she sometimes forgets the more minor stuff you tell her. Don't blame her she's not rose

☘️R=rain(how do they spend a rainy day with you)

You just stay inside and cuddle to keep each other warm. She's scared that if she goes outside, she might genuinely get struck by a lightning

☘️S=service (what are some acts of service they do for you?)

Teruko is not one for acts of service, but if you're having a bad day, she might give you a massage

☘️T =Try (How much effort would they put into dates, anniversaries, gifts, everyday tasks?)

She does put a lot of effort into dates or gifts (not into tasks though) the problem is that most of it gets ruined by her luck. She's really happy you still recognize how much she put into it, though

☘️U= unhappy (how do they cheer you up?)

She just hugs you and lets you cry into her. She tells you that it's OK to feel like that and that she'll be with you until you feel better. She's not the best at giving comfort, but if you need it, then she'll try her best

☘️V= value (How important is the relationship to them? What is it’s worth in comparison to other things in their life?)

You're literally the most important person in her life. You're the only one who is still with her despite her luck and everything. She constantly worries that you'll be ripped away from her like her family. She wouldn't be the same if she lost you

☘️W=wound (how do they react to you getting injured?

Immediately thinks it's her fault and starts apologizing profusely, even after you assure her that she has nothing to do with this she can't shake off the feeling that it was because of her luck. She'll later patch you up. She has a lot of experience, after all

☘️X=Xtra (a random fluffy headcanon)

Sometimes, she has trouble tying her hair in the ponytail, so you help her. She always blushes when you compliment the white/gray part of it.

☘️Y=yes (how would they react to you proposing to them?)

"W-what? Really? Are you actually serious? Do you really....want to spend the rest of your life with me even with my...... thank you, thank you so much. Yes, 100 times yes"

☘️Z=zzz (how is sleeping with them?)

She turns around a lot in her sleep, but she still holds on to you very tightly, so you often wake up because of that. She also snores sometimes

[ticklishraspberries]

Study Strategy (Simon/Wilhelm)

Summary: Living in a dormitory requires a level of quiet that neither Simon nor Wilhelm can accomplish. (This show gets angsty literally right off the bat and I couldn’t handle it anymore, I had to stop and write some fluff to cope. Thank you to my evil friends, @signinandgetkinky and @nhasablogg for telling me to watch this show, you’ve ruined my life. Hope y’all enjoy the fic!!)

“You are allowed to take a break from studying, you know,” Wilhelm says, smirking.

Simon can’t help the fond chuckle he gives in response. “That’s easy for you to say. You’re good at maths.”

“So are you! You just overthink the questions.”

Wilhelm snatches the notebook away before Simon can protest, pushing him back against the bed and laying across his chest, effectively finding a way to both pin him down and cuddle him close.

Simon would be lying if he said he didn’t like it. “Well, if I fail this next test, it will be your fault.”

“Good thing you won’t fail, then.”

He opens his mouth to argue, but Wilhelm is kissing him before he can form any words, and he can’t help but kiss back. It’s risky, kissing at school like this, but they can’t seem to resist the temptation.

After their lips pull apart, Wilhelm doesn’t stop there. He presses kisses to Simon’s cheek, his jaw, his nose. His face flushes, and he’s certain that the prince can feel the heat radiating off of his skin. Normally, he’d be teased about it, but his mouth is rather occupied.

Simon lets out a content hum, hands wrapping around Wilhelm’s waist and holding him even closer. He loves when his boyfriend gets into these touchy-feely moods, wanting to be so near they’re practically joined at the hip. It makes him feel special, wanted.

When the kisses travel down towards his neck, though, he can’t help but squirm, a breathy laugh slipping out.

“Does this tickle?” Wilhelm asks, mischief glinting in his eyes.

Even his breath tickles. How is that even fair? Simon huffs. “You know it does.”

“I know. I just wanted to hear you say it.”

Simon never expected Wilhelm to be so playful, so affectionate. He assumed that royals grew up so stiff and strict, but it seems as though the prince’s relationship with Erik was just as playful as he and Sara’s own sibling bond. It’s heart-warming, actually, to imagine Wilhelm as a child, shrieking with joy while being carried on his big brother’s back, not worrying about the family’s legacy or public appearance or one day taking the crown. He certainly hadn’t been worried about a world where his older brother was no longer there to bring a smile to his freckled face.

The sad thought isn’t able to linger, as Wilhelm has taken Simon’s half-assed confirmation as an invitation to continue, each peck of his lips more deliberate, more purposefully ticklish, and Simon can’t help but giggle, heels digging into the mattress.

It’s a soft, steady sound until Wilhelm experimentally nips at the shell of his ear, which makes Simon shriek in the high-pitched way he finds so embarrassing, and it makes them both laugh harder with how ridiculous it is.

“Shhh,” Wilhelm murmurs, nose pressed into the crook of his neck. “You’re going to get us caught.”

“Then it’ll be entirely your fault,” Simon replies, scrunching his shoulders, trying and failing to protect himself.

And because that simply won’t do, Wilhelm switches tactics and scratches at his belly, making him thrash wildly, burying his face in the other boy’s hair as some attempt at volume control. It doesn’t do much, and reality sets in and reminds them both that while this is all fun and games, the idea of being caught is a very real, very scary thing.

“You’re the worst,” Simon breathes when Wilhelm finally rolls off of him, curling up by his side instead.

Wilhelm grins. “You love it.”

Simon rolls his eyes and sits up to resume studying, and Wilhelm doesn’t snatch his book away again. He just lays next to him, occasionally helping him with equations, but mostly just watching him.

When he does well on the test, Wilhelm whispers that maybe tickles should be his new studying strategy. It makes him blush like mad, but he doesn’t protest the idea.

[neonzparkoflife]

The Rodent Club

(my official confession) 🐀🌀

Lowkey on a roll and bored rn so did you guys know my favorite sp relationship is actually (PLATONIC!) Craig, Marj, and Kenny?

I think they'd have a really fun dynamic as a full group and here's how I think it would start..

Craig REALLY wants a guinea pig. He did a lot of research on them in the school library and he's made up his mind. If he doesn't get a guinea pig he'll probably die but his parents say no so he goes for the next best thing, talking to people about guinea pigs. It quickly gets annoying and everyone wants him to shut up so Clyde tells him to go annoy someone else.

He decides to start a guinea pig club. All participants will meet him by the swings after school to enter. No one shows. He goes for something a little more vague: The Rodent Club. Two people show up: Butters and Kenny. First things first Kenny shows off his rats (he keeps them in his pockets and feeds them crumbs, probably). Butters shows off his little hamster toys, yk, the ones with the wheels that walk around? Anyway, he promises that they usually move around, but the batteries are dead. Thus the three are sent on their first mission! Find batteries to see the hamsters move around!

The three of them have Laura help put the batteries in and they take the hamsters to the basement but Kenny trips and falls on the way down! Day RUINED?!

They rarely meet after that, really only going to Craig's house to meet the first Stripe. It's kind of a secondary friendship for a while. If Eric's not around they'll go hang out with Craig or if Clyde's being stupid Craig will hang out with them. They don't really get closer until high school so now let me explain this dynamic.

The Tucker house is a safe space basically. They meet up and play games in the basement while Marj rants (Kenny sucks at Rocket League but plays it all the time with Craig). To outsiders, Craig is the "leader" of this group but the three of them know it's Marj. They both pick up habits from her! Kenny will talk with his fists on his hips like she does and every now and then Craig will pull a "Oh, hamburgers.."

Craig also has an issue with eating at good times. He'll forget to, and even if he miraculously remembers he has specific times to eat so he's not too full before dinner. He's strangely meticulous about it. In response, Kenny and Marj really aren't having it so they learn his schedule and eat with him. He's also super bad at focusing on homework assignments but Kenny and Marj are mostly in the more advanced classes so they can help him with stuff really easily.

Kenny likes Craig because he's actually surprisingly affectionate in his own way. He has no problem holding Kenny's hand, wrapping an arm around him, or giving him piggyback rides. OH AND I ALMOST FORGOT because Craig has a crazy high pain tolerance Kenny will give him piercings whenever. Yeah. He also does Marj's ears!

When Kenny brings Karen over, Marj will ditch them to braid hair n shit though. Tricia and Karen both think she's really cool and they do her makeup and play pranks on the boys.

The basement is important though. There was an incident with Kenny and Stripe in a monster truck and a coffee table and let's just say it didn't end well for anyone... I had a scrapped fic where they all met up the night after graduation because Kenny was nervous about starting adulthood and they both basically just reassured him that they'd stay together for life (they don't see each other for another like 3 years). It was based on the song LAST LOVE SONG ON THIS LITTLE PLANET (i love this album btw stream LAUGHINGFISH on Spotify) and so now thats the official Rodent Club theme song to me.!

OKAY ALSO the Rodent Club is CRUCIAL to Marj's character development. It starts out as a little joke, they say to her she'd be a great president so they create little patches that say V.M.F.P (vote marj for president) and start handing them out to random people, saying it's propaganda and pretty much everyone has one somewhere (i include it in a lot of my designs go find it)

Well, in high school, she realizes she can run for student council president. She ends up neck and neck with Wendy Testaburger, the legend, who gets so mad at Marj she basically blows the whole election and Marj wins by default! It's a really big turning point for their confidence and Kenny and Craig were there the whole time supporting them >:3

I've probably talked too much but I need someone to see them the way I see them o_o wait until I hit y'all with the Scott/Pip/Butters/Jimmy friendship.... or, god forbid, Kenny+Kyle sibling relationship....

[ewansnose]

INVISIBLE STRINGS (1)

Aemond Targaryen x Twin Sister (OC)

summary: Aemond Targaryen was known as a cold, cruel and frightening prince, but he wasn't like that. Aemond was affectionate, intelligent, obedient and loved his family, but mostly her. Alysanne Targaryen is Aemond's twin sister, but with a different appearance. She had hair like her mother Alicent's, but her eyes were the violet of Old Valyria, the blood of the dragon running through her veins. Aemond Targaryen was cold, cruel and frightening, but not with her. What Alysanne wanted, he did. Because it was always her and always will be.

Rating: Explicit/+18 MINORS DO NOT INTERACT!

Warning: Violence and explicit NSFW, third-person POV, bad language, angst, fluff, smut (unprotected sex, oral (giving and receiving), use of fingers)

English is not my first language, so I apologize for any mistakes. This is the first story I've posted on tumblr, so please take it easy on me.

If you want to be tagged in the next chapters let me know!

Word Count: 3.1k

Alysanne run on her small legs to the dragon pit, her nephews and Aegon had said that Aemond was there, and indeed he was, but not in the safe part. She stopped in front of the descent of the pit where the dragons were and tried to control her breathing, as she was panting. The little girl took a deep breath and went down, leaning against a wall and seeing her brother walking to one of the dragons, to Dreamfyre, to be more specific. Alysanne ran to her brother and stopped when the big blue dragon noticed the presence of the twins, she stood up and roared, making Aly grab her brother's arms.

"What are you doing here? It will ruin everything!" he murmured, letting go of her arm "You weren't supposed to come here."

"And you too!" she stamped her foot on the floor. "Mother will kill you."

"If I just get a dragon, it'll be worth it."

Alysanne opened her mouth but nothing came out, she widened her violet eyes and pulled her brother to the ground just as she realized that Dreamfyre was about to burn them both alive. The girl gave a small cry of fright and Aemond threw himself on top of her in an attempt to protect her. One of the pit masters heard the Dragon's roar and swooped down, finding the twins on the ground, their faces smeared with gunpowder. He wet his lips and took the two children out of there, taking their arms and leading them to the Queen who was entertained with Helaena.

"If you'd died, they'd blame us." the guard murmured, letting go of Alysanne's arm and entering the room, Alicent when she saw the state of her son, she got up from the floor and went to him, holding his arms.

"What was your mind? You could have died!"

The queen fumed with concern in her voice, Helaena just shook her head and went back to entertaining herself with the caterpillar that was in her hand. Alysanne tried to hide behind her brother, in an attempt to go unnoticed by her mother. Alicent pushed Aemond aside, seeing a dirty, guilt-ridden Alysanne.

"You guys have been a lot of work lately." Alicent ran her hand over her daughter's hair, smoothing the wavy strands "What were they doing in the pit?"

"I was with Aegon, Lucerys, and Jace training in dragon taming." Aemond said quietly "But... they played a bad joke with me."

"What..."

"They brought me a pig with wings saying it was my dragon." Aemond looked down, sniffling his nose "I didn't want to disobey and go there, but I got upset and..."

"Aemond, you can't keep putting your life on the line just because you don't have a dragon, and neither can you, Alysanne." the girl lowered her gaze. Alicent approached the two and held their chins gently "You're going to have a dragon someday."

"He'll have to lose an eye." - Helaena murmured only to her.

"And you can show them you're worthy of having one." the Queen said firmly, a beautiful smile lit up Alysanne's face, while Aemond was still upset.

Alicent pulled them both into a hug and kissed the tops of their heads, sighing and closing her eyes.

Alysanne clutched her mother's waist as Vaemond Velaryon dictated his words at Laena Velaryon's wake, making it clear that she was of true Velaryon blood. Laena, daughter of Rhaenys and Corlys Velaryon, wife of Daemon Targaryen and mother of Baela and Rhaena, had died trying to give birth to her third child, Daemon had said that she begged Vhagar to kill her, and she did.

Alysanne hated funerals, she couldn't accept that people she cared about suddenly died, and she liked Laena. Aemond turned his eyes towards Rhaenyra and glared at his nephews, the memories of what they had done to him days ago still in his head, he sighed and took his twin sister's hand. Laena's coffin was finally thrown overboard at her home.

The entire family made their way inside the castle, Rhaenyra's children and Daemon's twins standing together, while Alicent's children chatted in a corner. Helaena, as always, played with the little insects, and Alysanne was by her side listening to the curiosities that her sister told about them.

"We should take Alysanne away from Helaena, she'll end up being weird like her." Aegon grumbled, drinking the wine in his cup, taking a pinch from Aemond "Ouch! Why did it?"

"Don't talk about our sisters that way, don't forget that she will be your wife."

Aegon rolled his eyes and grabbed another goblet of wine.

"If I could choose, I wouldn't marry her, not because she's weird, but because I only see her as my sister. This marrying a familiar thing is still weird to me."

It was the first time that Aemond had heard Aegon say something about the incest of the Targaryen house, he also did not agree with that, but if he was ordered to marry one of his relatives, he would do so. Aemond will always do his duty.

"I would marry her if mama let me, Helaena if would make a good wife." Aemond said firmly "But I would also marry Aly."

"She's your twin, don't you think that's weird?"  Aegon asked and Aemond shrugged.

"If her mother and father ever promise her to me, I'll do my duty and be an excellent husband, just as she would be a good wife." his eyes shone when looking at Alysanne, he loved her sister and would make her happy, he was sure of that.

Aegon rolled his eyes and drank all of his wine, moving away to get more. Aemond noticed that his nephews were downcast, probably because of Laena, but also because of Harwin Strong, he had died and the boys could not attend his funeral. Aemond does not talk about it, but he knows that Laenor Velaryon was not the father of the boys, not only he but everyone knew, but the King was keen to deny it with Rhaenyra. He thought about going over to his nephews but just smiled at Jace who smiled back. The prince looked up as soon as he heard a monstrous roar and smiled, his eyes shining, it was Vhagar.

The night had arrived and Aemond couldn't sleep a wink, he got up and went to the bedroom window, watching from afar Vhagar lying on the sand while resting. A dangerous idea had popped into the prince's head, so he slipped out of his room and headed for Alysanne's, waking his sister carefully so she wouldn't startle.

"Aemond?" she rubbed her eye and yawned "What..."

"I will tame Vhagar."

Alysanne widened her eyes and shook her head in denial.

"This is crazy, she's going to kill you!"

"I know all the commands in Valyrian, I might be able to. Please, you need to help me."

The princess swallowed hard and bit her lip nervously, giving up. She rose from her bed and stood in front of Aemond, shaking her head.

"Fine, I'll cover you." Aemond smiled and hugged his sister, kissing her cheek "But promise me you won't leave me."

"I can't promise that."

"Promise!"

Aemond took a deep breath and nodded.

"I promise not leave you."

Alysanne understood and took Aemond's hand, walking with him out of the castle, around the guards. She followed him along the beach, hiding behind a rock so that he wouldn't disturb his brother in his probable conquest. She bit her lip nervously with each step her brother took towards the massive dragon, and bit back a cry when she saw Vhagar lift his head at him. She bit her fingernails nervously and swallowed hard as she saw Vhagar open his mouth to his brother, about to burn him. Her eyes quickly filled with tears at the thought of losing her brother and being at fault for it, but her eyes lit up as she saw her mouth close and her brother raise his hand. He had done it.

Aemond climbed onto Vhagar with a little difficulty due to the dragon's size, and almost fell when she swung the sand from her scales. Alysanne broke into a huge smile as the dragon began to move, and squealed in delight as she flew with Aemond. The prince was overjoyed, he had finally got his dragon, and the biggest and oldest of them all. Tears streamed down the girl's face, happy for her brother, but sad that now she was the only one without one. She dried her tears and ran into the castle again, staying hidden until her brother returned.

Alysanne had dozed off because of the delay, and woke up when she heard screaming. The princess got up quickly and ran when she saw Baela punch her brother, she pulled her cousin by her nightgown and threw her on the ground, being thrown next by Rhaena. She got up and pushed Rhaena, Baela attacked her too, Aemond threw sand in Baela's face and Jace and Luke attacked him. It was all very fast. Alysanne punched Rhaena's face and then regretted it, kneeling beside her cousin and apologizing, Rhaena knew that she had only done that to protect her brother and said that everything was fine. Alysanne heard Luke scream and turned around only to see Aemond holding him by the neck, she ran to her brother but Jace grabbed her arms and stopped her from going to him, Alysanne slapped her face, which made the dagger that was in her pocket of Jace fell to the floor.

She tried to get up but Jace pushed her to the ground again, turning to Aemond who had a rock in his hand.

"You will die like your father did, Strongs."

"Aemond!" she shouted in rebuke.

Aemond realized he had been talking nonsense and lowered his arm, but before he could say anything, Luke grabbed his brother's dagger and slashed at Aemond's face. Alysanne screamed in fright and jumped on top of Lucerys, Baela and Rhaena, scared, tried to pull the girl off the youngest, both knowing that she had done it on impulse. Aemond's screams echoed throughout the pit, drawing in the guards who were unaware of what was happening. Alysanne cried in despair watching the blood run down her face and skin.

Alysanne had her hand laced with Aemond's as the maester finished stitching her face. The prince had traces of blood and tears on his face, and the princess couldn't stop crying, she was scared and feeling guilty, she shouldn't have let him go to Vhagar.

The door to the room slammed open, and Rhaenyra walked past it with Daemon to her children, asking what had happened.

“Her son attacked Aemond. Look at him!” Alicent shouted, squeezing Aemond's hand “Where is the father of your children? Having fun around the castle I believe.”

“Laenor went for a walk as did I.” Rhaenyra explained, everyone knowing she was lying “I didn't see him come back.”

Alicent laughed in disbelief and her lips trembled, looking at her son.

“The eye has been completely lost, my queen.” the maester said, making Alicent cover her mouth in shock, Alysanne started crying again and Aemond closed the only eye he had left.

Viserys finally approached, standing in the middle of the room, looking at everyone.

"I demand to know what happened." he went to Aemond who stared at him with hatred in his eyes “Tell your King what happened.”

Your King, not your father.

“They attacked me in the pit.” Aemond growled.

“Speak loudly”

“They attacked me in the pit.” he shouted “I was returning from the beach and they attacked me, all of them.”

“That's a lie!” Rhaena screamed.

“Baela punched him.” Alysanne got up and shouted too, a discussion between the children was started.

“Enough!” Viserys shouted, making them all fall silent “The reason for the fight, I want to know what it was.”

“Rhaena said Vhagar was rightfully hers, and that's not true.” Alysanne argued “Dragon is not present, you conquer if he lets you, and Vhagar let Aemond climb it.”

"She was my mother's!" Baela took a step forward.

“She is dead!” Aly shouted, making Rhaenys squint her eyes “Vhagar wasn't hers, it was Visenya's and even so she managed. Vhagar was knightless and Aemond claimed her.”

"My son lost an eye because of this?" Alicent whispered.

“He insulted us.” Jace broke the silence “He called us bastards.”

Aemond smirked and Alysanne glared at him. Rhaenyra swallowed and squeezed her children's hands.

“I demand that Prince Aemond be questioned on such charges, my King. Father.” Rhaenyra demanded, everyone knew what kind of question she was suggesting.

"Over an insult?" - Alicent said in disbelief “My son lost an eye!”

Viserys narrowed his eyes in annoyance and gripped Aemond's chin tightly, causing him to glare.

“Who made such accusations to you, Aemond” silence. Alicent swallowed hard, her breathing uneven. “Answer me!” he screamed.

“It was me.” Alysanne placed herself in front of Aemond. Alicent stared at her daughter, Aegon, Helaena and Aemond looking shocked at their sister “I called them bastards first, Aemond just repeated. Punish me, not him.”

Viserys sighed and looked down, he wouldn't fight his daughter, his girl, but that for him was unacceptable.

“Why?” He asked.

The girl looked up and stared at Rhaenyra's children, her gaze moving to her older sister next.

“Just look at them” she whispered “No Velaryon or Targaryen have hair so dark.”

“You have!” Jace yelled.

“My eyes at least are like Valyria's.” Alysanne snapped “You have nothing but Rhaenyra's blood.”

The room was completely silent, everyone shocked by the audacity of the princess who only had twelve days of her name.

“If anyone here or anywhere questions the legitimacy of Rhaenyra's children, they will have their tongues ripped out.” he looked at Alysanne “This matter ends here.”

Alicent looked at her son, a tear running down her cheek as she saw the stitching in his eye and the frightened look in his eyes.

“That's not enough.” she snapped “He is your son, Viserys. Your blood.”

"What do you want me to do, wife?"

Alicent stared at him, another tear streaming down her cheek.

“There is a debt to be pay.”

Viserys looked startled at his wife and Rhaenyra tucked Lucerys behind her, protecting him.

“Sir Criston.” she glared at her guard her Criston Cole “bring me the eye of Lucerys Velaryon.”

Everyone was shocked by the queen's order, even Aemond and his brothers. Lucerys clutched the skirt of his mother's dress in alarm. Alysanne felt her head spin and leaned back against the chair where her brother was sitting. He looked at the girl worriedly, and at the same time Alicent took Viserys's dagger and went to Rhaenyra's direction. Alysanne fainted, the maester catching her body before she hit the floor, chaos ensuing in the room.

As Aegon knelt beside his sister, Aemond went to his mother who had turned away from Rhaenyra, slitting her wrist. He claimed to everyone that everything was fine, as he had lost his eye but gained a dragon.

That night everything changed. Aemond no longer spoke to his nephews and cousins, as well as his brothers. He was crying and in pain and not sleeping, not wanting anyone near him but Alysanne. Every day the girl wiped her face with the maester, she was always there with him. She read to him, stole lemon pie from the kitchen for him, studied Valyrian and about Valyrian with him. She did everything with him.

And it was like that over the years. Today, Aemond and Alysanne are nineteen years old, and nothing between them has changed beyond their coming of age. The prince now knew how to deal with the lack of an eyeball and the whispers about his disability, even if it bothered him, he learned to deal with it. He fought and studied, he was a competent, strong and intelligent prince, he was one of the best swordsmen in Kingslanding, always winning in training. Alysanne, on the other hand, accompanied her mother and sister. She did embroidery, tried on dresses and rejected marriage proposals. Her life was boring, that's what she thought. She wanted to be like Aemond, she wanted to learn to use a sword, she wanted to learn to fight, but she was never allowed to. That's why Aemond gave her secret lessons, teaching her how to handle a sword and how to defend herself, he knew he shouldn't be doing this, but it was what she wanted, and what Alysanne wanted Aemond to do.

"Who was it?" Aemond entered his sister's room and kissed her forehead, laughing when he saw her sulking face.

“A Lord Tully. Seriously, he must be in his sixties.” she crossed her arms and a pout formed on her lips “I don't want to get married.”

“You don't have much of a choice, ñuha zaldrīzes. (my dragon)” he said putting a brown lock of her hair behind her ear “just like I don't have either.”

"But at least your suitors are pretty, the only handsome one who wanted to marry me was Cregan Stark." Aemond rolled his eye “Don't roll your eyes, he's really handsome.”

“Whatever.” he grumbled “Just keep stalling and denying it, it's better that way.”

Alysanne huffed and slouched back in the chair, her hair and dress becoming untidy, drawing a smile from Aemond.

"Getting pointy isn't going to change anything."

“Why don't you go take a walk in?” she muttered angrily “I want out, Aemond. I'm supposed to be going after Cannibal, not sitting here embroidering and reading letters from disgusting old men.”

Aemond smiled weakly and took his sister's hand, kissing her fingers and stroking her hand with his thumb.

“Someday you'll be able to claim Cannibal, you just need patience. If I could tame Vhagar, so can you.” he got up and kissed her forehead, messing up her hair even more “Get ready, mom is calling for dinner.”

Alysanne snorted and continued in the same position, hugging the pillow that was in her lap.

"Or I could send a raven to Lord Tully and have him come here to fetch you to dinner, that would be interesting, don't you think?"

The princess took the pillow and threw it towards her brother who quickly closed the door while laughing, her smile soon faded when she saw two servants staring at him. He walked past them and scowled again. It was always like this. While he was alone or with other people, Aemond was closed off and fearful. But when he was with his sister it seemed like his life lit up as the smile never left his face.

Because it was always her.

[its-queen-panda-bear]

Drop the Little Constantine lore

I know exactly who asked this 👀 you're not slick

But shore, I shall use this as an excuse to ramble about the long lore of little Constantine

This is Ambrose Constantine, my DC OC that originally started off as a very quickly made dnd character and now has quickly ruined my life (affectionate) He is the son of John Constantine and would eventually become the embodiment of Death

(Lore ramble under the cut)

Ambrose grew up in London being raised by a single mother after his dad walked out on them before he was even born. Despite this, his mother has always held onto the hope that one day he would come back (hence why she named their son Ambrose John Constantine)

John falsely believed that his son wouldn't inherit any of his magic capabilities and figured that they would be safer if he was away. But he was wrong with the first bit because while his magic didn't come in until later in life, Ambrose did inherit his father's ability to see not only the dead, but other supernatural beings as well.

Ambrose was constantly tormented by these said beings, but everyone around him brushed it off as night terrors or something to that effect. He would also get constantly bullied for talking to himself while at school by the other kids, that sort of thing. He eventually got diagnosed with schizophrenia and was sent to a psych ward after he suffered a huge breakdown at just 12.

Then when he was 14, he stumbled upon a spell book while out in his public library and found a spell that he thought would help deal with his bullying problem. The next day while at school, he attempted the spell and it worked...too good and the bully nearly died after being caught on fire. Ambrose was then sent to another psych ward to avoid jail time but was suddenly broken out after only two weeks when one John Constantine showed up.

Long story short cause this can take forever, John explained everything about him being his father and about the world of magic and how dangerous it could be if not done right. There was a lot of back and forth, until John begrudgingly agreed that it would be better and safer if he trained Ambrose properly.

I'm also going to skim over the part when they discover that Ambrose's magic has an emotional component to it, meaning that not only can his emotions dictate how well or powerful his spells are when cast, it can also affect the color of it. This just basically means that he has to be in the right head space while casting or chaos/danger will ensue. This is why his bully almost died when he attempted a spell because he was so worked up and angry while casting it.

After a year of training, Ambrose joined in on his dad's adventures and was excited to help people. He eventually met other vigilantes, but continued to operate mostly with John. The two didn't really get along but John still felt an obligation towards Ambrose to at least try and keep him safe. It wasn't until he was 17 that they had a falling out and Ambrose struck out on his own. He decided that in order to protect his mom from any potential repercussions, he designed a costume and started going by the name Moonweaver.

Though, he soon discovered that his methods weren't all that welcomed amongst his fellow vigilantes and his magic was deemed too dangerous as he often left his villains in critical condition. They also didn't like how petty he could be as he was known for making people go annoyed him...shit frogs.

During this time striking out on his own, he met and started dating a girl named Agnes, who claimed to be a witch. He fell hard for her and she encouraged him to seek out more magic and branch out his spells. This led him to discovering his speciality for blood and chaos magic.

(Side note ramble which will be important to note later: Ambrose specializes in sigil and blood magic. He combines the two by drawing symbols with his own blood to add more kick to it since blood is a very powerful tool and ingredient. He ended up mastering creating his own sigils on the spot, which he can use for whatever situation 👌)

Everything with Agnes seemed to be going great with a minimum of red flags here and there...until a year and a half into their relationship Agnes was revealed to be a demon that had been sent to spy on him and wanted his soul. This resulted in a very messy breakup while they fought each other. Their fight attracted the attention of The Outlaws, who managed to come in and help hold her off while Ambrose set up a ritual to banish her.

After that, he somehow managed to find his way into joining The Outlaws.

With The Outlaws, Ambrose finally felt a sense of belonging and despite being the youngest there, he got along very well with all of them. (Especially with Anton aka Green Lantern aka Christmas who is my best friend's OC)

Then when he was 21, he met Nightwing and Starfire's daughter, Vertina aka Tina, who he immediately fell for. Though, the two didn't end up dating until a year later and suddenly, everything in his life felt like it was falling into place.

Tina was everything to him and the two were very clearly obsessed with each other, much to Nightwing's dismay. Tina brought out the good in him and he genuinely saw himself marrying her and helping her open her dream bakery once they retired from crime fighting.

Two years into the relationship, Ambrose couldn't hold himself back and proposed to her, to which she said yes

(Art of Tina by her creator @marstothestarz )

Though, in typical DC fashion, nothing good can last forever...

Months before they were planned to get married, an alien warlord invaded Earth with his entire army. All the heroes and villains teamed up together in order to try and stop them. Ambrose was sent out on a team with Nightwing and Batman (Cass) to infiltrate the main ship to plant bombs. Though, they were soon discovered and a fight broke out, which resulted in Ambrose getting badly injured. Cass managed to slip away, but the bomb was dismantled and Nightwing and Ambrose were captured.

They were thrown into separate cells and Ambrose was left bleeding out from a stomach wound. It was then that he saw a woman dressed in robes out from the corner of his eye and knew that it was Death.

Although, in that moment Nightwing managed to break them both out and regrouped with Batman. Since Ambrose was still bleeding from a stomach wound and the bomb was dismantled, the two older heroes decided to forget the mission and retreat in order to get Ambrose medical attention.

But Ambrose knew the stakes that were at hand and came up with a plan of his own. He knew that he was dying anyways and the entire world rested on their shoulders to destroy the ship. So he tricked the two into an escape pod and remained behind. He then found his way to the center control panel of the ship and began to use his own blood to draw sigils on his body and performed a ritual that made him the bomb instead by concentrating all of his energy and magic. So when the enemies broke through, he released the powerful blast that destroyed the entire ship with him in it.

...

But then he came back a year later after John Constantine rescued him from hell (long story) and after crawling out from his own grave, John immediately threw him his costume and sent him back out into a fight since it turned out that now Darkseid was invading and it was all hands on deck.

Ambrose was still reeling from the trauma of dying and his time spent in hell, but forced himself to focus on the task at hand and find Tina through the chaos. When he found her, he called out her name to which she turned around mid-fight to look in his direction... giving the enemy the chance to pick her up and rip her in half right in front of him

Skipping over the rest of the fight simply because we haven't fleshed that part out, but needless to say that in the end, Darkseid was defeated, but now Ambrose was left alone as he was forced to bury the love of his life so soon after coming back from his own grave.

Despite the fact he still had the ability to see ghosts, he never once saw Tina's, which drove him insane for that first year after her death.

He immediately retired after her funeral and didn't give any attempts at healing or moving on, although he did end up with a service dog that he named Coldplay.

For two years he spent mourning the life he never would get to have with Tina and waited till the day he could see her again.

And then something strange started happening.

Hundreds of people suddenly started dying randomly without any warning whatsoever at the hands of a mysterious woman, who turned out to be Death herself who had gone crazy from the thousands and thousands of years she spent reaping and guiding souls. No one could seem to stop her warpath as she continued to tear through people and causing chaos onto the streets.

Needless to say, this definitely brought Ambrose out of retirement as he joined forces with his dad and other heroes in an attempt to stop her. The only nagging question was what would happen if they did end up stopping her? What would happen if Death died?

Ambrose knew the answer.

Back when he was dating Anges, she mentioned in passing a rumor/old wives tell about how Death wasn't always just one person throughout the beginning of time, but was multiple people. It said that when the time came, Death would pass on their responsibilities to someone worthy, or should Death ever be killed, it would then pass onto the one who killed them. It was considered that if a person was Death for too long, they would start to go insane and corrupted, so it was important for them to pass on the responsibility before this happened.

Remembering this, Ambrose made a decision. Similarly to the way he sacrificed his life to save the world, this time he chose to sacrifice his death

We haven't gone over the specifics over how this goes down, but Ambrose manages to kill Death which causes him to go through the transformation of taking on the responsibility and role of Death

(Ambrose as Death ft. Ghost Tina)

Even though he willingly accepted becoming Death, it still took him a while to fully come to terms with the fact that he would never die and if he did, it would be after everyone he's ever known dies and watched as civilizations rise then fall.

One of the perks, however, was that this new promotion granted him the ability to see Tina again. In order to respect the balance and also not take her away from paradise, he is only allowed to see her once a year when the veil is the thinnest aka Halloween. While it's not a lot, he would take whatever he can get just to see her face.

And thus, is the lore of little Constantine 😁

[super-who-locked-me-in-here]

Dot why do you have irls on here 😭

Fun fact I have irl mutuals on Tumblr because I was friends or became friends with each of them irl before we became Tumblr mutuals. I've never met someone who I was friends with on Tumblr first.

One of my best friends had a tumblr when we met as teens but they soon left Tumblr behind, only to rejoin when they started watching Hannibal about a year ago. They're not very active though and when they are they mostly post about Baldur's Gate 3 and Critical Role stuff which both have fandoms I'm not part of.

The second irl mutual I'm worried about every time I post because I never know what they'll say about my stuff for the bit. You may sometimes, if you ever look through the notes on posts of mine that are more personal than blorbo-posting, see posts from a particular blog that say things along the lines of "father why are you being horny on main". That is one of my best friends/discord children and their main source of entertainment is ruining my life (affectionate). The only reason they even have Tumblr is because I made them make an account so I could publicly call them out for saying Lancelot from BBC Merlin looked like Lord Farquaad.

My third and fourth irl mutuals are both besties from college, both of whom were on Tumblr before I met them, but once we all became friends at college and realized we were all on here we just decided to follow each other, especially since we're all fannibals.

My last irl mutual is not even actually a friend of mine lol. She's my sister's childhood best friend/my godmother's daughter. But she actually is a big reason I write fanfic bc she has written over a million words of popular fanfiction for a particular show and actually has a dedicated fanbase for her universe using the show characters and I was like "oh that's cool I could do that!" and so we follow each other with our mains but she does not follow this account.

Uh yeah so I have quite a few IRL friends who I just happen to also connect with on Tumblr. There are some people who I'd never follow on Tumblr in a million years, like I know my brother is on here somewhere and I have no desire to find his profile, but this is the only social media that me and my friends are all on outside of discord so we follow each other.

[admin-red-rocket]

// I ramble about Red and his relationships with others.

This is somewhat spoilery to the plot of this AU, so if you care about that, don't look under the cut. Another thing is that while this is based on the AU, there is a lot of stuff that is just generally applicable to my interpretation of these characters, especially when it comes to Blue.

This is kind of really long, by the by.

Giovanni was the one who wanted Red in the team. He is fascinated by this boy, so strong but so young. Red is an investment and an experiment of sorts. Red is Giovanni's final weapon.

Silver and Red have a sort of adoptive-sibling relationship. It's strained simply due to their circumstances, but they're closer to each other than anyone else in the team. Silver is about 3-4 years younger than Red. When Red first joined, he wasn't assigned to many missions (Both because he was only eleven, and because he had recently gone missing). Instead, he was given the task of being Silver's friend, basically.

Archer is Red's direct boss. Red is an admin in Archer's personal division, with his own team of grunts. Archer is envious of Red for garnering Giovanni's attention as much as he has.

Both Archer and Silver struggle with the way that Giovanni is obviously far more interested in Red than in them. Archer is incredibly jealous, because at one point he was in Red's position, and now he has been replaced. Silver mostly struggles with the way that his Father is more interested in this random boy that showed up than his own son, but he handles it far better than Archer, simply because Red has stepped into Silver's life as well. Red tries his best to play the "older-brother" role for Silver.

Ariana is Giovanni's wife and Silver's mother. She's affectionate of Red, viewing him more like a son than anything else. She tries to make life in Rocket easier for him when she can, but this isn't always possible, considering she is usually busy running her own division. That being said, she is aware of both of their ranks, and keeps that in mind.

Proton and Petrel don't have as much of a relationship with Red as the others. They're both a bit freaked out by him and his presence in Rocket, but for different reasons.

Now, for the Crown Jewel...

Blue. Childhood friend-turned-rival-turned-stranger.

They were friends when they were younger. However, as they got older, the key thing that began to ruin their relationship was how Blue's grandfather, Prof. Oak began to ignore Blue in favor of Red. Red showed promise when it came to Pokemon, and while Blue did as well, Prof. Oak was just in general far more interested in Red than his grandson. Blue, of course, was a young child. He didn't respond well to this, but he didn't know how to voice exactly what he was upset about. And so, as young boys do, he took it out on Red. Red, meanwhile, didn't understand the situation at all. He still thought of Blue as his friend. He didn't get why Blue was upset at him, and he didn't get why Prof. Oak was so interested in him, either. It just didn't make sense to him.

So, they started to drift apart. Though, since Pallette is about as close to the definition of "Small town" as it gets, they really didn't. They didn't have the chance too. So, everything just kept boiling over. And then, when they went on their Journey, Blue made it his mission to prove to Prof. Oak that he was just as good as Red. That he was better than Red. And what did Oak do?

He saw it as cockiness and narcissism. And he wasn't entirely wrong, Blue was definitely acting far more self-assured than he had any right to be, but instead of Oak trying to find out why his Grandson was acting like this and solve the problem at the root, he just punished the boy. And all that did was make the problem worse, because Oak would go from "You're being a jerk and you should be ashamed of yourself, Blue," to "Wow, Red, you're doing so well! I'm so proud of you!"

The worst was when Oak told Blue to be more like Red.

Not only was Oak showing obvious preference to someone other than his own Grandson, but he was doing it for no apparent reason. Because, to Blue (and a lot of the other people in Pallette, though they likely wouldn't admit it), Red was broken. He had odd mannerisms, he hardly ever spoke (When he did it would come out in broken fragments of sentences, like a toddler), he would freak out about tiny things that didn't bother anyone else. He was unusual, and different, and he didn't act like he was supposed too.

A lot of the issues Red ran into as a child were founded in the simple fact that he lived in a small, older town. The biggest thing was that they simply did not know what autism was. They didn't know why Red was different, just that he was. Oak had a better understanding of it simply due to working in a scientific field, but even he didn't really get why Red was like that. He just was more willing to succeed to Red's needs than others.

Moving on from that point, Red was simply a better trainer than Blue. And this pissed him off. Sure, he was always one step ahead, he beat the gyms faster, he got through things before Red did, but it didn't matter. Red would eventually catch up, and when he did, he always beat Blue. Even though he had the type advantage. Even though Blue did everything he could to be the strongest.

And then, Red disappears. Nobody knows where he's gone. Blue is free.

Blue completes the gym challenge, taking on the E4 and becoming champion. But it doesn't mean as much, now, does it? The thing that was pushing him to get better and better is gone. This was just a way for him to prove himself. And he does! He wins! But nobody cares. Sure, he's the youngest recorded champion, but everyone is preoccupied with the fact that Red's gone missing. His Grandpa doesn't care. The person he was trying to impress this entire time hardly notices what he's accomplished, because someone he isn't even related to is gone.

Blue is upset, because someone he used to be friends with is gone now. He's upset because nobody can find him. He's upset because somebody like him is missing. But mostly he's mad. He's mad at Red for going missing. He's mad at Red for always stealing everyone's attention.

Of course, the media are more interested in Blue than Red. The youngest recorded champion. It's something incredible! And kids go missing all the time. He'll probably be found soon enough. So, Blue drifts apart from his family even more. He's still just a kid, so he can't escape them, and all of the attention is overwhelming, but at least they're giving him any attention. So Blue leans into that.

But he's still mad at Red.

And this doesn't get better with time. It's been around five years since Red's gone missing. And Blue is still pissed. But, he's also older now. He understands things better. He's sad that Red is gone, of course, but most of all he's still just mad. Mad that, above anything else, Red left him. Red left and didn't say a word. They were friends. Sure, Blue bullied him almost constantly, and he feels guilty for that, but how could he just leave? And that guilt is there too, weighing on him. What if it was his fault?

And Red doesn't know this. Red hasn't spoken with anyone he knew before Rocket since he joined. He misses everyone, of course, but it's for the best. He can't reveal himself.

And when they inevitably run into each other again? All hell is going to break loose.

[sw4tch]

MY HEART FUCKING HURTS-

I'm about to finish Lost Light, i think i have only 5 issues left? Anyway. WHAT THE FUCk 😭😭😭

Genuinely, genuinely, fucking hell. Literally they just chose the thing that would fucking BREAK my heart the most.

like WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN Cyclonus' love and yearning was so strong that he alone conjured a vision of the afterlife just so he could see Tailgate again. What the fuck.

Also. I'm sorry but i had assumed tailgate's death was just for a momentary shock. BUT NO, MY BELOVED LITTLE BOT DID FUCKING DIE TRAPPED UNDERGROUND IN A HOLE ALL ALONE LIKE HIS WORST FEARS, and now cyclonus is hanging around a made up ghost of him because he loved him more than anything in the fucking universe.

and like. GOD they better fucking. Idk. ADDRESS THAT. Or explain it further. Because sure sure It's A Sort Of Happy Ending For Them- BUT I'M NOT OVER THE TAILGATE I LOVE DYING IN THE SAME WAY HE FEARED TO DIE THE MOST (ALONE AND TRAPPED UNDERGROUND FOR EVERYONE TO FORGET) OH GOD

anyway.

also i fucking cried at Rodimus asking for an audience with the gods BECAUSE HE'S FUCKING READY TO FIGHT THEM (A BOT AFTER MY OWN HEART) and getting Drift as his spiritual guide.

Literally it's such a cute moment because!!!! fuck!!!! They're BESTIES!!!

mostly it's about how much it got me that Drift went "and you chose me?" and roddy goes "of course! Who else!?"

Like. IDK i know it's only supposed to be funny, especially because rodimus also calls for ultra magnus and ratchet- BUT HE CHOSE DRIFT!!! HE WOULD CHOOSE DRIFT EVERY TIME!! BECAUSE THEY'RE BEST FRIENDS!!! <- sobbing incoherently bcus Rodimus and Drift and their friendship is so important to me, and I'm reading too much into this small interaction

Also ALSO- AS A TREAT ONLY FOR ME. BECAUSE LOVE IS REAL!!!!!!!!! LOVE IS REAL BECAUSE MY BELOVED PHARMA IS BACK SOMEHOW- I FUCKING WON BABEY!!!! PHARMA IS BACK!!!! ALSO MEGATRON AND I FUCKING CRIED WHEN HE SHOWED UP!!!!

No matter what happens next i will be emotionally wounded I'm fucking sure of it.

and BECAUSE IM SURE IT WONT HAPPEN- I WANT TO LAY DOWN MY THOUGHTS about what i want to happen with Pharma. Somehow, i want the line of "I will always be your friend" to come back like in the moment of confrontation between him and Ratchet (BECAUSE OF COURSE HE WILL GO FOR RATCHET AGAIN, THAT BITCH IS OBSESSED <- affectionate)

Anyway NEVER READ LOST LIGHT IT WILL RUIN YOUR LIFE <- Cannot stop sobbing over peak fiction

[forabeatofadrum]

Trope Grading game

Thank you @artsyunderstudy for the tag. This is fun.

Rules: How much do these tropes affect your decision to click on a fic?

-10 -> very dissuaded

0 - don’t care either way

+10 -> very enticed

nope -> if it’s a hard no and you’d never click on a fic with that tag or or you even have the tag blocked or you’d insta click out of the fic if it wasn’t tagged

Bonus points for explaining the rating and whether it’s conditional.

Age gap: -10

Define age gap. I don't think I will actively look for it, regardless of age gap, but what kind of age gap does matter. Obviously, I am not fond of, for example, one of them being 16 and the other being 26, but one being 26 and the other 36? Sure. As I always say, it's not about the amount of years, but whether people are in a similar moment in life.

Codependency: +5

Okay, yeah, remember how fiction is all about exploring themes that would be a big no no in real life? This is one of them. I am such a sucker for fics that explore codependency, especially since it can be quite toxic or it can stem from, for example, of inadequacy which... give me ANGST.

Or also, what happens when people seem to be different in how much of themselves they want to give? Like, with Klaine, I am a big "Kurt needs to learn how to let people in and Blaine needs to learn to care for himself" truther.

Obsession/Possessiveness, jealousy: +3

Kinda same thing as what I wrote above, but somehow I am less interested in it. I like to explore it if it stems from some internal conflict. As Ashton said, Simon's jealousy come from his own insecurities and I eat that shit up, but I would never think it's a cutesy thing.

Opposites (grumpy/sunshine etc): +5

Yeah, sure. I like the idea that people compliment each other, but I also like the idea of having a lot in common. So I do like it, but I am not nuts about it.

Enemies to lovers, Enemies with benefits: +5

"I don't really care for enemies to lovers" I say, as I ship Snowbaz and Firstprince and Zimbits.

I mean, it depends on what constitutes as enemies. If "enemies to lovers" is just being used as a way to have two terrible people forcibly end up together, then no thanks. It needs to make sense. It needs to show how people and the relationships evolve.

Enemies with benefits.... meh. Not really? Feels kinda weird to group these two categories together, since they're wildly different and I am just not into this one. Mostly. Sure. I mean, I do flail over Restoration Ecology by @captain-aralias. I cannot shut the fuck up about that fic and Simon thinks of Baz as his enemy so you know.

Friends with benefits: -5

No thanks. Not opposed to it, but just not for me.

Sex to feelings: still figuring it out

Can I redirect you to this long ass reply that I wrote about how my entire feelings with smut is *cha cha real smooth* super weird at the moment and also the main reason I am not into friends/enemies with benefits but how I am slowly, like, accepting (it makes sense if you read the post) that I do like smut when there's feelings?

Fake dating/relationship: -5

Honestly, I never got this trope. I don't hate it. I don't think it's a bad thing, I just never liked it that much and I didn't get the appeal and it's been done.

Friends to lovers: +10

OH YEAH. I am a big "date your best friend" believer. I think friendship can be a great foundation for romantic love and my angst loving ass also likes the whole "but will this ruin it?" stuff, although that has been a bit overdone, but also, two cakes principle.

Found Family: +10

I AM SUCH A BITCH FOR FOUND FAMILY WHY ELSE DO YOU THINK I ALWAYS TRY TO GIVE MY CHARACTERS A GROUP OF FRIENDS IN FICS.

There are so many goddamn good fanfics with this trope BUT the first one that comes to mind is like a handprint on my heart by @alphacrone, like this fic wrecked me to no end (affectionate).

Hurt/Comfort: +10

YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES

Love Triangle: -10

Fucking hate this. Sorry. I do. Well, not sorry, actually, because I think the media's obsession with love triangles is so fucking tiring anyway and I often find the dilemma to be widely stupid and not fun to read. This is why I am a big fan of shows like Sense8, The Legend of Korra, and Ted Lasso who ended their big love triangle stories in an unexpected way. More of that please, but then technically speaking it wouldn't be a love triangle.

Poly, open relationships: -5

Offline, in real life, I am not opposed to poly stuff, and in media I am all for more poly rep, but I am just one of those people who cannot multiship for life. So it depends on whether the ship/character in question is already poly, if that makes sense. I know I just said I like how Ted Lasso just fucking did nothing, but give me that good Roy/Jamie/Keeley shit, but for the love of God stay away from Klaine or Snowbaz with someone else.

Mistaken/hidden identity: 0

Hm, I wrote an entire fic about catfishing and how it's a messed up way to start a relationship since you don't really know the person in question. I think it can be interesting, and even comedic, but it really depends on how the fake identity came to be.

Monsterfucking: none

No thanks, but again, this has more to do with me not liking smut. Mostly. Again, I made a whole ass post about it. Idk, if you're just starting to figure out what you like, monsterfucking feels too daunting. Nope.

Pregnancy: none

No thanks. Mpreg is a big no for me and also just pregnancy in general is meh. Don't like it. Like many things on this list, I am not, like "morally opposed" to it, I just do not vibe with it at all.

Second Chance: +100000

BUT I DO FUCKING VIBE WITH THIS I AM SO FUCKING DOWN FOR THE REUNION FIC TROPE I ALWAYS SAY IT'S MY FAVOURITE. As much as I think it is a good thing for couples to work shit through as a couple, I am such a bitch for the idea of people finding themselves and growing as a person without the idea of being tied to someone AND then they fall in love with these improved versions of the other and also relearn to love the person they used to be. God yeah, I love this crap. Sign me up.

There are a lot of *chef's kiss* reunion fics in the world, but I need to give a shout out to the Woods verse by @flowerfan2, which I need to reread soon because I recently fell into the Into the Woods 2022 rabbit hole.

Slowburn: +7

I say I like it, but I am also impatient. But yeah, it is definitely something I would click on.

Soulmates: 0

Hm. Mixed bag, mostly since, like fake dating, it has become such a been there done that thing in my head. Oh, the world becomes colourful! Oh, you can write on your body and it shows up on the other's body. Oh, tattoos of your lover's first words! Oh, red string! (I keep saying I do want to write a soulmate fic where I fuck with these ideas, but idk how yet.)

So I don't actively click on it, but that being said, I love fics that throw what we know of soulmate fics out of the window or give their own spin to it. The Check, Please! fandom has some really good ones, especially with the angst potential of Jack "dying" in 2009. A really good one is i'll see you with your laughter lines, also written by @alphacrone. If you want a less angsty one, Those Tangled Olive Threads of Fate by @mcbangle is a hilarious way to fuck with the "red string" trope.

Anyway, thanks for reading. I am fucking tired now. I should sleep. And I am lazy because of it so I will tag everyone who wants to do it.

[ondeemand]

The Stranger (2020) Review

SPOILERS FOR THE NETFLIX SERIES THE STRANGER (2020)

This review is going to contain spoilers for the entire series, and I really do believe the best part of it is the mystery, so please go check out this series before reading if you haven’t already. It’s only eight episodes, about 40–45 minutes each. You have been warned.

Pros/Things I Liked About It

Really great cast. I hadn’t seen the majority of these actors in anything before, but everyone’s performances were pretty good.

○ Richard Armitage my beloved ○ Also a fun surprise to see Ritu Arya :D

Adam being a family man and being so sweet with his boys. It was really nice to see a depiction of a dad who doesn’t think of it as being a glorified babysitter, but as being a parent. He’s vulnerable and sweet, openly affectionate, and does his best to support them. Such a very refreshing take for a suburban dad character in media.

I love the overall theme of “doing crazy things for the people we love, even if it harms them.” It was said most blatantly by Michaela (Ritu Arya) when she said she was going to stay with her fiancé despite him leaking a private video of her. She said something to the effect of  “he did it because he wanted me for himself. Who wouldn’t want to be loved that much?” I don’t personally agree with this in real life, but I love the sentiment that love can be a driving force for both good and for bad.

○ Corinne faked a pregnancy and miscarriage, traumatizing Adam with the false death of a future child, because she knew he was cheating and wanted to keep their family together. ○ Martin Killane killed his wife, giving his daughter Chris all sorts of abandonment issues and complexes, so that he could continue to raise her and spend time with her. ○ Tripp stole money from the football club and killed Corinne to cover it up so he could take care of his family, lying to them every day and ending up dead over it. ○ Daisy thought Mike released revealing pictures of her little sister (fabricated, but still) and ruined her life, so she spiked his joint with PCP to humiliate him. ○ Katz worked for a scummy business man, giving up his morals as a policeman and killing innocent people so he could afford treatment for his sick daughter. ○ Adam, in the end, kills Tripp for revenge despite how it risked him leaving his sons all alone. ○ (Some of these weren’t directly harmful to the person they loved most, but still harm them though circumstance and proves the point that love can be a corrupting force. It’s a really interesting theme to explore, especially in a story that was already so steeped in mystery and had a lot of plot threads to deal with.)

The mystery was so incredibly intriguing. It throws so many threads at you, some of which are red herrings, but it always kept me guessing and theorizing. I was constantly turning all the details around in my head and trying to predict the ending. I cannot emphasize enough how excited I was to sit down and watch more episodes every night.

The way Corinne haunts the narrative is fantastic, I love when this happens in media. She looms over the story and we only really get to know her through flashbacks, stories, and videos. It really helps add to the mystery and keep you guessing as to what happened to her and what she’s done.

Really cool transitions between shots, mostly when there are flashbacks/Adam is thinking about Corinne. They’re just so smooth and seamless, and really adds to the previous idea of Corinne haunting the narrative.

If you’re a fan of flawed/morally gray characters, this is the show for you. None of the main characters in this show are perfect people, even if some are more flawed than others. Even our main character Adam, a great dad who loves his family, cheated on his wife, ends the series as a murderer, and pins it on a man who didn’t do it. And the teens in this show are no exception, some of them are straight up criminals. Each character has a different moral compass, and it invites really interesting discussions about their actions and intentions. This also ties back to the theme I mentioned earlier about loving someone so much you do bad things.

Cons/Things I Disliked About It

Who bit the fucking alpaca?? Why draw attention to the human bite mark on its leg and the fact that whoever did it was missing a tooth and then not resolve it??? You can assume that Mike bit it because he’s the one who cut off its head, but it’s never confirmed and I don’t think he’s missing a canine tooth? I know that mystery shows often include red herrings, there are even some others in this very show, but this one felt like too strange and specific a detail to leave unresolved.

Some of the more intense scenes (mostly the chase scenes) felt underwhelming and kind of cheap. The one between Adam and Chris especially felt like it dragged on for way too long.

Ingrid was an underutilized and unnecessary character. I get that she was meant to help humanize the Stranger and show that she’s going too far with things/making it too personal, as well as to give perspective to her actions, but it isn’t conveyed very well. Not enough time was given to develop that dynamic, so she ended up being a glorified plot device. She was mostly just there to help track down the Stranger, only to die at the end without even showing much of how the Stranger was impacted by the death.

The last episode felt really rushed. The Stranger was revealed to be Kilane’s daughter Chris, and then it’s revealed she’s actually Adam’s half-sister, then Katz kills Ingrid, shoots Chris, and gets arrested. Then Chris gives Adam the gun on the way to the hospital and points him in the direction of Bob, who then points him in the direction of Tripp, who reveals the murder. Adam kills him, then a sudden six month time skip shows that he and Johanna covered it up, and that Chris is back on the run. It was a lot thrown at us all at once, especially considering the relatively slower pacing leading up to this episode. I think this would have benefited from being a full 10 episodes, both for pacing and for fleshing out characters like Ingrid and Olivia more.

The death of Corinne and Tripp being the mastermind, while tragic in its simplicity, doesn’t quite make sense to me. I know Corinne and Adam had a fight, but even at the time I wondered why they all didn’t drive to the school for the awards together? And if they were going to go separately, it would take a long time for Tripp to clean up a murder scene, bury the body at a remote cabin, clean and dump the car somewhere else, and get back in time for the award ceremony. Not to mention he had Corinne’s phone, outmaneuvered everyone at the train station, outran them AGAIN at the bridge, and somehow dropped the phone and hid without anyone seeing him and his bright ass track jacket crouching in some bushes.

I get that Adam and Chris have a fairly large age gap, probably about 20 years minimum, but he really didn’t know her at all? Never visited home, never saw any pictures, never came over to support his old family friend when his wife “walked out on him?”

○ You could mention that Killane keeps all the photos of his family in a box somewhere. Maybe they’re too painful to look at since his wife “abandoned” him and his child doesn’t speak to him. Maybe he keeps them packed because part of him knows he’s going to lose the appeal and wants to keep them safe. Either of these would show an interesting side to him, and explain why Adam never saw Chris’ face before. ○ Or, you could have Adam mention a few times that she looks a little familiar, like he’s seen her somewhere before but can’t place it. That keeps you intrigued, that keeps you guessing. And when the reveal happens, you could say he only met her a handful of times when she was really little, which explains the vague familiarity but why he wouldn’t be able to connect the dots. ○ A fun side note: When they were talking about Chris before the reveal I noticed that Adam used they/them pronouns for her, so I thought the reason Kilane’s kid wasn’t speaking to him was because they transitioned and Adam was just being supportive lmao. It was done to make you think Kilane had a son to make the connection more hidden, but Chris is transgender in my heart now. She even mentioned a surgery she got at 18 and I really thought they were about to confirm her as a trans woman, but alas, no such luck. If she was trans though, that could have been a reason for Adam to have known her as a child, but not recognize her today.

The reveal overall that Chris and Adam were related felt kind of forced/there weren't enough hints. There was the scene where she confronted Adam’s/her dad about having a secret baby (her), but I don’t think that was enough. Also, the way they phrased the line that Chris’ mom "married a bad man" made me think it was an awful step father, not a man who raised her from birth/was assumed to be her bio dad the whole time. It was another move to throw us off the scent, but I think it worked a little too well and made the reveal too jarring.

I wish Chris stayed and got to be a part of Adam's family :( She was blackmailing people, which is a crime, but if Johanna was willing to cover up a murder for Adam, I think they could let this one slide. Then she could be a part of the family she never got to have, and Adam would be able to support her so she didn't have to resort to blackmailing people. I also thought this whole ordeal taught her that sometimes it's not the right thing to reveal these huge secrets, so I don't really see her going back to that life in the end.

The explanation at the very end of pinning Tripp’s death on Katz doesn’t really make sense to me. His gun was the murder weapon, yes, but Tripp died hours after Katz was arrested. I guess since Johanna was helping to cover it up she could have flubbed any details they needed, but that only takes you so far.

○ Did they bury him and claim he was missing? If so, how would they prove a murder had taken place? ○ If they “discovered” Tripp in the woods, then him being outside would have helped speed up decomp, but Katz’s whereabouts were pretty well documented that day (at home, kidnapped Johanna, ran off but was being tracked with Johanna’s phone, drove to the Stranger’s apartment, got arrested). I could only see it working if they claimed he killed Tripp early in the day when no one could account if he was home, but Tripp was also doing stuff that day, so the timelines wouldn’t match up. ○ Pinning Corinne’s death on Katz makes it make marginally more sense, like maybe Tripp followed him to the burial site and was killed, but again the timeline just doesn’t add up. ○ This ties back to my point of the end episode being rushed, another episode or two would have given more time to explain this, or come up with a better explanation entirely.

I wish we got to see Mike after the six month time skip. His dad was killed, and even though he sucked, Mike didn’t know that. I wish we got to see him hanging out with Thomas and Daisy, or off on his own looking sad, or just mention that he wasn’t at the game because he’s still grieving.

TLDR

Overall, I really enjoyed myself while watching this series (the Cons list looks longer than the Pros but I promise I’m just over analyzing a few small details). The ending felt fairly rushed and a little lackluster, but this was a lot more about the journey than the destination for me. It also wasn’t so egregious an ending that it made me actually angry (cough cough Umbrella Academy cough), so I’m able to look past it for enjoyment’s sake.

7.93/10

[time-like-tears-in-rain]

WIP Round-Up....

Mostly Doctor/Rose, some nonsense too..

1. Fourteen/Rose Reunion fic: this goes along with some AU/headcanon stuff I have regarding Tentoo (.....humans cannot survive a metacrisis???), but mostly it's just using the fact that Fourteen is SO emotionally open and affectionate compared to Ten. Also I Miss My Fucking Closet of a Room in London So Much, most of this story takes place in locations I've been. They probably don't look the same/may not even be there anymore.

2. Nine/Rose sleep-telepathy: its explicit but also surreal and kinda weird, probably too weird to really be sexy? Nine has no memory of how he got here, Rose under him, unsure if they're in the Tardis or a hotel or a house or someplace else, not really caring...until it's clear that this isn't exactly real, but someone's dreams, thoughts, but neither are quite sure whose.

3. "Fix-It" for Doomsday: Rose stays in the prime universe, but I hesitate to call this a fix-it. She's just given up a chance to live with her family, lost her mother and her best friend, nearly died because she meant it when she said 'forever.' Now the Doctor copes (badly) with the fact that (as he sees it) he's ruined Rose's life, and worse, risked it. Rose comes to terms with the fact that she just gave up nearly everything to continue living with a man whose reaction to that sacrifice was to shout at her--that maybe she isn't as strong as she likes to think, maybe she's sixteen and dropping out of school for a boy again.

4. Kind of an addition to the above fic, Jack is the one that pulls Rose back from the void: Having lived through the next three years AND Time Lord Victorious and realizing that this was the moment when it all went to hell. Corners the Doctor and tells him that he loves him, he's a good man, at least he likes to think so but do not ever ask him or Martha to go through everything he did to them again. [This does NOT take Martha out of the narrative, I love her, Jack loves her, she'll be around still]. Also

"You had no right to do this." "Eighty-seven, Doc." "What?" "That's how many times I died trying to get your girl back, but honestly? I prefer to think that's how many times I've died for Rose, and I'd gladly do it again. And one more thing? She deserves better too. If you fuck this up, I'm collecting her, and you're never seeing either of us again. This is your last chance."

5. A conversation between Jackie and Ten where she asks him to look out for Rose, and Ten doesn't tell her the truth, but talks around it, to Jackie's joy and horror, she realizes he's in love with her daughter. Ten confesses that Nine made the man he is today for Rose.

6. In some vague AU where they had five (5) minutes to reconnect, Donna is having breakfast with the Doctor in the Tardis and teasing him about how he and Rose vanished the night before for, oh, fifteen hours, when she shows up in pajama pants and one of his vests. She adores this new girl and loves how happy the Doctor looks, but Rose lets it slip that she thinks she missed her 20th birthday and Donna promptly loses it that her 900 year old best friend who looks 33 decided his soulmate is 19. Mostly funny, but Donna has a point.

7. Not technically started yet, but by request, Rose meeting the Master in series three, and facing his petty remarks--sure he had mildly less atrocious things to say about her in front of Martha in canon, but that was to hurt Martha and the Doctor, surely if she was present, he would read the room and tear into her too.

[denimbex1986]

'Last weekend, I completed the ultimate cinematic pilgrimage that has been blocked off on my calendar for months. The unassuming double act of Barbie, a glitzy family-friendly movie centred around the iconic children's toy that isn't afraid to confront issues of gender dynamics and patriarchy, and Oppenheimer, a mature and engrossing look into the life of J. Robert Oppenheimer during the development of the first nuclear bomb, was thoroughly enjoyable for the full six hours I spent sitting in a cinema. Affectionately titled "Barbenheimer", the back-to-back cinema experience was a rollercoaster of emotions and I thoroughly recommend both movies, however, one movie had to come out on top.

As the title may suggest, that film was Oppenheimer, and to put it bluntly, it might be the best cinema experience I have ever had. The film itself is a masterpiece, with Oscar-worthy performances from the likes of Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr and Benny Safdie, and the score has been on repeat in my earphones no matter where I go.

That being said, it was the cinema experience itself that helped to convey this spectacular film in all its glory. Now, I couldn't make it to a 70mm IMAX showing, but I stood firm in not compromising with a lesser screening, so seeing it in standard digital IMAX which is the next best thing. After spending days convincing my friends who were (mostly) adamant that a standard showing would be fine, it was only after I threatened to see it in IMAX by myself (thus jeopardising the Barbenheimer experience as a whole) that I eventually got them to cave and go to an IMAX screening; and before you call me emotionally manipulative, it was for the sake of cinema and art.

This was ultimately the best thing that could have happened, as the film was nothing short of mesmerising in IMAX. I'll try not to spoil anything, but let's face it, you know they're going to set off a nuclear bomb in this film, it was bound to happen. The expanded aspect ratio of the screen gave the full impact of the explosion, as an awe-inspiring yet terrifying column of fire encompassed the screen. Visually the pure scale, mixed with Nolan's masterful direction, can only be truly appreciated on a screen of this size in my humble opinion.

However, it turned out to be the sound in our screening that played the most important role, as the speakers really did the film justice. As the bomb is set off in the Trinity Test section of the film, there is a frantic build-up that instilled more anxiety into me than in any film I've seen before, followed by a minute or so of silence as the scientists and military witness their creation, which is only broken by Murphy's chilling rendition of Oppenheimer's iconic quote "now I become Death, the destroyer of worlds".

Shortly after, the full effect of the bomb is not only heard but felt, as an almighty boom erupts from the speakers, which admittedly made me jump out of my skin. It was so bassy and effective that my seat began juddering violently, and at that moment I was utterly entranced.

Speaking to friends who live in Cornwall, far away from any IMAX cinemas, they found it hard to relate to the way I felt watching the film, which I found gutting as it was absolutely a spectacle. That's not to say they didn't enjoy it, but that it just didn't have the same impact, which sent me on somewhat of a spiral, as I realised that I too will never be able to see that film in the way I did again. Sure I could fork out for more IMAX tickets, but theatrical releases only last so long and I can't think of any affordable home cinema gear that could replicate the way I watched it.

If it isn't already apparent, I loved the film and would quite like to rewatch it, but it's three hours long which is quite the commitment to make for a film I've already seen. No problem, I'll just buy the 4K Blu-ray; the only issue there is that there's only one thing I'd want to watch it on, and that's the 15 thousand pound Sony VPL-XW7000ES 4K laser projector, which is a bit out of my budget.

And that brings us to the sound, as although we have tested some truly excellent home theatre speakers and AV receivers, I doubt any of them could provide the visceral sofa-shaking sound of the IMAX theatre. So what am I to do? Just never watch the film again? Or perhaps I'll wait for a theatrical re-release, as the BFI often hold these, which is likely my best bet. Ultimately I'd really like to watch it again at home, but I just can't imagine a TV and soundbar doing it any justice.

If there's anything to take from the experience, it would be this: I would strongly recommend that if you plan on seeing Oppenheimer in cinemas, splurge on the IMAX tickets. The whole film is shot using IMAX cameras, so watching it on a screen that supports the expanded aspect ratio and enhanced picture quality makes it a visual treat, and the sound design in the film is begging to be appreciated through a proper cinema sound system.'

[saulweissberg]

um...yes...i didn't realize that he was back.

“yeah, neither did i.” saul replied with a deep sigh. that seemed to be his son’s modus operandi: disappear and show up again on a breeze. no warning, no hello or goodbye. after thirty years of saul coming in and out of his life on a whim, could micah really be blamed? all the advice he begrudgingly took on giving micah space and letting him come back on his own apparently wasn’t misguided. saul still hadn’t liked hearing it, though. even if micah was back, it seemed he had no intention of announcing his presence—perhaps he was waiting for some grand entrance, to make a big show of ruining the luncheon with some soap opera dramatics. though, on second thought, micah wasn’t the scheming type. not in the way that saul could be, at least. let micah come to me, he reminded himself and brought his attention back to his date.

he didn’t verbally respond to the offer to talk about it later, instead lightly squeezing her bicep affectionately, but he appreciated the offer nonetheless. “hm, good. i do have a reputation as a gentleman, y’know.” he was joking… mostly. when the subject changed to golf, saul scrunched his nose. “putt-putt’s fun for about ten minutes.” saul opined. he knew most people thought golf was boring, and he could concede watching other people play it was like watching paint dry, but actively engaging in the leisure sport was different. especially with a drink in hand. “hey, if you want me to, all you’ve got to do is ask. ‘sides, how else are you going to learn if i don’t help you with your swing? there’s no better way to show you.” saul gave her a quick wink, though again, he was joking. mostly. 

to her question, saul knew a club would be too hokey of an answer, but he couldn’t think of much else. partying and having a good time wasn’t the only facet of his personality as well—the other half of him would want a second office, which would be impractical for a country club. “a meeting room.” saul finally answered, nodding in thought. “a place where deals are made, that’s my room.” if he couldn’t have his name attached to a den of debauchery, then he’d take something related to his professional life. with rachel now on his arm, saul led her over to the bar on the side of the banquet hall and subsequently ordered them both another drink. before long, he was called over by another luncheon guest and left rachel with a parting kiss on her cheek at the bar.

END SCENE.

"Pendente lite. Copy." Rachel shared with a nod as she didn't see why that would come into conversation, unless he was talking to fellow lawyer or client or someone else in the legal system that was telling an anecdote of some kind. She shooed those scenarios out of her mind, however she was thrown off at the way Saul looked at her when she mentioned his son. "Um...yes...I didn't realize that he was back." She studied his face, unsure if she should have told him that right now. Well, she figured he would want to know that he was here, so she couldn't imagine hiding that from him even if it was to protect him.

When he mentioned that his second ex-wife was back in New York, she gave a slow nod. Rachel could believe it being a long story. Having an ex-spouse of her own, she for sure could understand complicated and long stories. She also understood multiple sides to stories and perspective being something that could be skewed in many ways. "We can talk about it later...or not." She gave a shrug towards Saul, not wanting him to think he needed to explain himself to her unless he just felt like it. Giving a scrunch of her nose in return, she let her face relax and shook her head. "It was my pleasure to be your plus one, Mr. Weissberg." Rachel gave a little bow of her head.

She let out a small sigh as he reassured her yet again he wasn't going to just ditch her. "I know, I know Saul. I was just messing with you, I promise. I don't think you would just leave me out in the cold." Rachel didn't quite know that for sure, it wasn't anything against Saul, but even as trusting she could be of others and liked to give pretty much everyone the benefit of the doubt, there were few people she could count on for anything. She could see herself getting to that point where she could trust Saul for anything, but she also didn't feel like he owed her anything.

Rachel laughed softly at his shock, shaking her head. "Nope, unless we're counting the putt-putt or mini golf variety." She admitted, though her parents had both successful careers that brought in quite a bit of money they didn't have much time to go golfing. They had barely even enjoyed tennis enough to keep up with it. She raised her brow at Saul's offer. "Are you going to be my instructor? Try to do that move where you stand behind me?" Rachel smirked a bit, teasing him as she knew that was such a classic move. "A whole room named after you? What type of room would you want it to be?" She pondered aloud as she figured that someone would have some say in the matter as to what room their name would be, usually it was the one they donated to build or something. Certainly there was a specific amount one would have to give for that situation. Rachel let the thoughts slip away as she smiled as she looped her arm through Saul's and gave his arm muscle a small squeeze before placing his hand in the crook of his elbow. "Oh yes let's!"