#trying to find some positives in what i'm 99% sure is going to be a disaster lol

[nightfury-2001]

not exactly looking forward to the live action httyd movie to say the least HOWEVER more people are definitely going to join or come back to the fandom because of it and i am looking forward to the fandom being more active again

[rapha-reads]

IWTV rewatch

Season 1 episode 7 [The Thing Lay Still] - part 3/3

- Okay, the triple confrontation Daniel/Louis, Daniel/Armand and Louis/Louis is long but there's so much to say, I have to quote it entirely:

[Daniel] "Well, isn't that neat and tidy?" - THANK YOU DANIEL, I know I can always count on you to point out the flaws and holes in the fabric of Louis' recollection.

[Louis] "'There was a ship. We did get on it.'

[Daniel] 'Yeah, I read that, the first 50 pages. Not exactly the, uh, adventure-of-our-lives feeling I'm feeling.'

[Louis] 'It was a traumatic escape.'

[Daniel] 'Yeah, but she didn't say that explicitly. […] But, um… there's a feeling that she hated your guts there for a while. Why is that?'"

Trust Daniel to always see the little thing that would be inconsequential to anyone else.

[Louis] "'I was haunted by my brother's death, by the abandonment of my sister, by the murder of Lestat, I…'

[Daniel] 'Murder? What murder? It was an act of mercy. You didn't kill Lestat. You spared him out of some fucked-up idea you had about love.'

[Louis] 'Love? I bled him like a pig and waited for the death rattle.'"

Oh, Louis. You are so good at lying to yourself. Good thing Daniel's too much of an excellent investigative reporter to let you fool him like you're fooling yourself. Notice how Louis looks as Daniel undoes all his lies and smoke mirrors? Like he's still trying to cling so hard to the story he's told himself for the past 80 years, like the lie is the only thing that keeps him upright, like if he admits the love, admits he wanted to save Lestat, that would completely undo him and there would be no going back?

[Daniel] "You were shot point-blank by an alderman. You were dropped a thousand feet and survived. You torched Antoinette just to make sure. Where does the trash go, Louis? You take the trash down to the street, some guys show up in a truck and they throw it in the back, and then, they drive it out to the middle of nowhere, right? No. They take the trash to the dump. And having lived two blocks away from the dump just outside of Fishkill, New York, with my first wife, I can state, with authority, what else you'll find there. Rats. Big fucking rats, the size of Kevin Durant's sneakers. Enough blood in them to bring back the dead. Especially one in a trunk with locks on the inside. You knew it, Louis. You had to. The biggest rat eater of them all."

Thank you for bringing back Moonlight Sonata! Haven't figured out yet if it's intra or extradiegetic tho. I love its presence in this episode. It's my favourite piece of classical music (I know, very original) and it's so gothic par excellence.

Mention of the first wife, Alice/Armand, no, I will not get down from this hill.

I love how Daniel's theory posit Louis as having done some planning for himself outside of Claudia's and even Lestat's, with the trunks locking on the inside and the rats needed to revive.

[Rashid/Armand] "'This session is over.'

[Daniel] 'How many days in the Islamic year? How many names are there for Allah?'

[Rashid/Armand] '355 and 99.'

[Daniel] 'Why does a 200-pound bouncer pass out after he sucks him off, and you, a wet T-shirt away from 130, doesn't even blink?'"

Ha, Daniel said 'okay who the eff are you and why am I smelling bullshit'. Meanwhile Armand said 'oh shit we're getting too close to dangerous waters and Louis is about to lose it, better reassert control'. But also, Muslim!Armand. Definitely. Not a throwaway line, not just pretence. Rolin Jones I'm counting on you to not fuck this up.

[Louis] "'I couldn't burn him.'

[Daniel] 'But Claudia could.'

[Louis] 'No', she couldn't.'

[Daniel] 'She stuck a pen in his neck. She recorded his last words in his own blood. The girl did not have a fuckin' problem tossing him on the grill, okay?'"

And Louis' wall of lies is breaking and shattering… And the pebbles of the zen garden, his other big trauma, don't help either…

[Daniel] "You cursed her into the darkness. You chose Lestat over her time and time again. You don't need a memoir, Louis. You need a hundred sessions of EMDR. You know the shit they put soldiers through when they see one of their platoon buddies get blown up in front of them?"

Say it, Daniel! These messy vamps need therapy.

Making jokes to avoid the sheer anguish in Louis' face, voice and body language, both in the 1940 flashback (the image of Louis holding Lestat's body and yelling is tattooed on my eyelids) and in 2022 (Louis sitting in his zen garden hugging and rocking himself, eyes screwed shut, trying to block Daniel and Armand's voices and the memories lives rent free in my mind).

[Daniel] "'144 years and you're still Louis the Pimp, paying a whore to sit in a room and talk with you. 'Cause why? You got some story you wanna tell the whole world about yourself?'

[Rashid/Armand] 'When you hear it you'll be ashamed, ashamed of what you say to him now!'"

Please don't hold back, Danny, do tell us what you think exactly. But hey, Louis needs to hear it.

The fuck are you talking about, Armand… Also notice how agitated he is? Feeling protective of Louis, or feeling like he's losing control of the interview, the interviewee and the interviewer all at once?

Love Armand taking off is gloves in the background. So subtle, so crucial. And then the lenses.

[Daniel] "'This is the same shit that happened in San Francisco.'

[Louis] 'Not exactly.'

[Daniel] 'How is it any different, Louis?'

[Armand] 'This time I won't save your life. Louis can sometimes act out. I protect him from himself, always have. Stopped him that night in San Francisco.'"

Oh, hello, Armand's decided to play Superman. Aaaaah, Armand's orange eyes, I love them!!!

Can we talk about Armand's infantilisation of Louis? "He acts out, I protect him from himself"… Like a child that can't regulate his feelings and needs to be put on time's out. The manipulation is deep and multi-layered, it's not just the memory alteration. Notice how Louis is pretty much dissociating, staring at the grey wall, face slowly becoming inexpressive and voice returning to flat and empty, from the moment Armand started telling off Daniel?

[Daniel] "'You were there.'

[Louis] 'You don't remember.'

[Daniel] 'No, I don't remember.'

[Louis] 'What was that you said about memory? 'A monster', was it?'

[Daniel] 'But I saw you standing in the sun.'

[Armand] 'As we age, the sun loses its power over us. What's a mediocre star to a 514-year-old vampire?'

[Louis] 'Daniel Molloy, I'd like you to meet the vampire Armand, the love of my life.'"

One, don't be too cocky, Louis, there's plenty you don't remember about that night too yourself.

Two, and we've come full circle again, the monster memory making itself fully known after lurking all season long.

Three, shut up Armand, the Sun is not a mediocre star, it's part of the entire reason there's life on this planet, show some respect. Sun deities are some of the most frequent deities around the globe. You need to come back down to earth.

Four, all the books being out of reach to Louis, another way Armand's exerting subtle control.

Five, "love of my life", BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAGA *deep breath* HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HAAAAAA, that line kills me every time I hear time. Why you lying Louis, stop fucking lying all the time. Sorry, Armand.

Daniel seeing them side by side and hearing that stupid line after listening to Louis ramble and compose poetry on the spot about Lestat for the past week or so: "hm. I sense bullshit of the highest degree. Time to destroy that whole tower of lies one by one.".

Aaaaaaaaaah, that was such a rich and intense episode!!!! What a grandiose season 1 final!!! So many different elements that have got to be revisited by other perspectives to get the full painting. So many seeds planted for season 2 and even season 3!! The writing is flawless, the acting is exquisite, the music is gorgeous, the costume, set design and stage direction are masterful. I am in love with this show.

ep1 | ep2 | ep3 | ep4 | ep5 | ep6 | part 1 | part 2

[ghostinthegallery]

I can't believe The Silence and the Storm is over a year old! The first anniversary was May 27th (yes I missed my own fic's birthday in my defense I was traveling and forgot how time works).

I'm trying to compose my thoughts because this sure feels like a time a blog post would be fitting. However, my engrams are scrambled because...wow do I have too many feelings.

As some background, I've been a writer for a long time. And I've written 3-5 books (depends on how you count "completing" a book but it's 5 full drafts, 3 of which were heavily edited). I wanted to be a trade published writer (still do) and for a while I was feeling good about my chances! I got lucky and received some wonderful professional mentorship (and met one of my best friends during that program!). I took that guidance to query agents (a necessary step for access to most big/medium US publishers). I knew it would be hard and take time but...4 years later all I have to show are a few requests, hundreds of rejections, and one agent who asked me to rewrite my entire book only to reject me anyway (me, bitter? No not at all nooooo).

I'm a creative person and sharing my work feels like sharing a part of myself. Something that is not easy for me to do. After a while I just assumed I was missing something necessary. My work didn't resonate, but I didn't know how to fix it. I’d never reach anyone in the way I so desperately craved, and it was my fault for not being good enough. I felt broken.

During one of many major depressive episodes my spouse bought me a copy of The Infinite and the Divine. That book has changed my life. I was never much of a fanfic writer before. Either I thought the original work was too good and I didn't think I had anything to add or it was too bad so why would I bother with it when I could just go read/watch something better? 40k inspired me though. The ideas are incredible but underutilized enough that I felt like I had something to add.

So I started writing necron fic because why not? There wasn’t enough for me to read, and I needed more robot stories. Maybe I could rediscover my love of the craft, make some friends, make some robots kiss. Distract my mind from the horrors. So I posted a little OC fic and actually got some nice comments. Hey! Positive reinforcement! Hadn't had that in a while.

Emboldened, I continued in the most normal way possible. Going from a 7 chapter OC story to a giant civil war epic including every named necron character I could find with 6 (then 7...then 9) POVs. It was the type of grand space opera I've always wanted to write but never did because I didn’t think I had the skill and it's harder to sell. Luckily AO3 is free. Ain't no playing to the market there!

Now, a 40k necron civil war space opera is...niche. So I wasn't expecting much. I would have been happy with some kudos, some comments. Fan art felt like a pipe dream, but what are writers if not dreamers? The main goal was to enjoy myself. It was low pressure fun, I love the characters, what could go wrong?

Nothing, but I was wholely unprepared for things to go as right as they did. Y’all have been amazing. So many great comments and ideas exchanged, gorgeous art, fun asks, a lot of screaming (it’s fine probably don’t worry). I’ve never had such a strong outpouring of support for my work. It feels incredible. But also sometimes confusing. I’ve trained myself so well to handle rejection that I kind of forgot how to handle acceptance. Especially for something so personal. This is a weird story about undead space robots, there’s a lot of politics, sometimes the robots have sex. It’s got out there head canons, and 99% of the tyranid parts are pulled out of my ass because nobody knows how the space bugs work okay. My weirdness being embraced on this scale is one of the greatest feelings of my life. But it’s also new, and way out of my comfort zone. I’m being seen and adjusting to that.

Still, writing in this space has been one of the most consistently joyful things in my life for…well, over a year now! It’s changed how I view my art. I actually can create stories that touch people and make them feel things. I can take risks and have them pay off. I know not everyone will love this, but some people really seem to love it. That is mind blowing to me.

It’s making me reassess a lot about how I approach my art. Writing and other. I still plan to pursue publication. I want to get paid for my work, but this is making me consider alternate paths that might fit my style (and psyche) better. I don’t know what the future holds, but if you’d told me a year and a half ago that a big part of it would hinge on an AO3 gay robot skeleton space opera…I would have thought you were nuts, but also hoped you were right because that sounds rad as hell.

So in conclusion, thank you all so much for reading <3

[dream-a-little-bigger-x]

Johnny and Dora | Spencer Reid

Add yourself to my taglist! | Here’s my masterlist!

Pairing: Spencer Reid x Fem!Reader

Warnings: Gun use, mention of alcohol, not proofread

Author's note: This is basically the episode from Brooklyn 99 in season two where Amy and Jake get together. I'm fully aware that the BAU might not work on an identity theft case, but let's just pretend they do for the sake of this story, yeah?  

Words: 4.078

Y/N wasn’t too sure how she’d ended up in this position. One minute she was trying to catch Brooklyn’s most prolific identity thief they had been chasing for days in New York, the next she had her co-worker pressed up against a tree with her lips on his. 

It had all started when the BAU team was sent to Brooklyn, New York to investigate an identity theft that had been haunting Brooklyn for a couple months now. The team was working hard to find the man responsible for the crime, working every possible angle and trying to figure out the how and why before actually going en-route to catch the guy. 

“Tonight, Augustine will be handing off the laptop to a buyer from China,” Detective Peralta told them, concluding his briefing to the BAU team. 

Hotch nodded his head before turning to his team. “Reid, Y/L/N, I want you tailing Augustine until he makes the drop, then arrest him and the buyer.”

“Good call, though I suppose I could take Morgan,” Spencer objected with a light tone. “I’m sure Y/L/N has something better to do…” 

“No, I don’t,” she replied, confused as to why he would say that. 

“Really?” asked Spencer. “‘Cause I swore I overheard you saying to Prentiss you didn’t like… tailing… people…” 

Y/N stared at him with an incredulous look. “You think I said that?” 

“Word for word,” Spencer said with a slow nod of his head as though he was trying to convince no one but himself. 

Y/N stared at the man in disbelief until Hotch cut in between the two. “All right, enough. Prentiss and Morgan will join them in a surveillance van.” 

The detectives and the BAU team all dispersed. Y/N was determined to find out what was happening with Spencer. They had gotten along since the day she joined the team over a year ago. To say his sudden change of demeanor towards her confused her was an understatement. 

“Okay, what did I do?” she asked, slamming the door of the breakroom shut so the two of them had some privacy. Spencer looked up from where he was making his coffee, confusion written in his eyes. “Why are you so bent on keeping me off this case?” 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Spencer muttered as he turned back to his coffee. 

Scoffing, y/n shook her head. “Come on, Spence. Is it because I finished your report for you last week? Because I was just trying to help you. I knew you wanted to leave early to call your mother.” 

With a sigh, Spencer turned to look at the woman. “I don’t care about that. I appreciate you doing that.” 

“Then what is it?” 

Inhaling deeply as if to calm himself down, Spencer put down his hot coffee again and took a few tentative steps towards y/n. He stuffed his hands in his pockets to keep him from fidgeting so much. “The reason I didn’t want to work with you is–” he puffed out a nervous breath. “C-can you not look at me like that?” he asked, suddenly changing the topic. 

Y/N was looking at him with interest, her head tilted ever so slightly, her eyes swimming with worry. 

“Like what?” 

“Never mind,” he grumbled and went back to his coffee. 

“No, Spence. Tell me what’s going on so I can fix it. I hate having  you mad at me.” 

Taking another deep breath, Spencer’s eyes met y/n’s. “Fine… I just… Remember when you told me you’d never want to date any law enforcement?” Y/N nodded her head slowly, trying to understand what he was saying. “It kinda… It kinda bummed me out?” 

“What?” The one-worded question came out in a soft whisper. 

“I was kind of thinking about asking you out…” 

Y/N’s breath hitched in her throat. “Oh… Okay…” she brought out, not really sure what else to tell him. 

“But I know that that’s not what you want, and I totally get it…” 

“Spence…” y/n heaved in a deep breath. “This is weird… And the whole reason for me not dating anyone in the field is so it wouldn’t be weird at work, you know?” 

Spencer offered her a soft smile. “Okay, then just– let’s make it not weird, okay? This is a case; we work cases together all the time, and we’re really good at it, so, you know, we’re professionals.” 

“That’s all I want,” y/n responded steadfastly. “For us to be professional.” 

Nodding his head, Spencer reached for his coffee again and as he passed y/n, he placed a hand on her shoulder and squeezed it reassuringly. 

Later that day, Spencer, y/n, Derek and Emily followed behind Augustine in their surveillance van. The bright red car they’d been following brought them to a fancy-looking restaurant. 

Confused, y/n turned to her co-workers. “Why’s he getting out here?” she asked. “I thought that detective told us he was going to be dropping it off at the park?” 

“Maybe he’s having dinner with his sidepiece first,” Emily countered. 

Y/N’s eyes landed on the object in Augustine’s hand. “He’s got the laptop with him,” she told them. “We should just arrest him right here.” 

“No,” Spencer replied. “The buyer’s the bigger collar. We gotta follow him in and wait for the handoff.” 

Nodding her head, y/n moved to open the door, only for Derek to stop her. “You can’t go in like that. You look like FBI.” 

“Right, you’re right,” y/n whispered as she shook off her blazer and unbuttoned her shirt a little further. “How’s that?” she asked Spencer, who was sitting next to her. A blush fanned his cheeks and reached the tips of his ears as he turned away from her. 

“I don’t know,” he stuttered. 

Emily chuckled at Spencer’s nervous behavior while Derek shook off his leather jacket. “Here, wear this,” Derek said and handed the black piece of clothing to her. Surprisingly, Derek’s jacket fit her very well. 

Once the jacket was hanging off her shoulders, she turned to Spencer and untied his tie. “What are you doing?” he asked, nervously while she lifted his tie over his head and handed it to Emily. 

“For heaven’s sake, Spence, just trust me,” she all but grumbled and unbuttoned a couple of his buttons too. “All right, think we’re good to go.” 

The two of them walked inside the restaurant, scanning the place for the suspect. “Did you know that restaurants are germ-infected? Even the tables are germ-hotspots, especially during rush-hours when the staff is more focused on giving peop–” 

“Spence,” y/n nudged him to shut him up. 

“Right, sorry,” he whispered. “Do you have eyes on–”

Y/N grabbed his arm and cleared her throat. Once Spencer’s eyes landed on who she had seen, he smiled politely. “The hostess stand,” he finished his sentence. “Hi. Table for two, please.” 

The suspect and his girlfriend were right in front of him, talking to the hostess. 

“Oh, I’m sorry, there’s nothing available. We’re totally booked up,” the woman replied. 

Knowing they weren’t going to get in unless they had a really good reason for the woman to make an exception. Without thinking twice about it, she grabbed Spencer’s bicep and leaned in closer to him. “Oh, that’s horrible. Tonight’s a really big night for us. Johnny and I just got engaged and this is where we had our first date,” she said dreamily. 

Spencer looked down at her for a moment in surprise. Over the years of having known her, he’d wanted her to say something along those lines for a very long time. While she was oblivious to his little crush, the rest of their co-workers weren’t, which is why it was always them two who got paired up to do stuff like this. 

“Oh, yeah, it would mean so much to Dora and me…” Spencer chimed in, jumping on the idea immediately. “I-I would’ve made reservations, but I didn’t know if she was going to say yes…” 

“Aww, I love how nervous you were, you little goose,” she cooed before leaning up and kissing his cheek, catching the man completely off guard. 

The look he gave her was one of surprise mixed with confusion. He had no clue what was happening. 

“You two are just the cutest,” the hostess said with a hand over her heart. “I’m sure we can find room for two young lovers.” 

It was the way she said it that made the butterflies in her stomach well up. Aside from herself, no one had ever even thought about them being lovers, let alone called them it. 

“Yeah,” Spencer croaked. “We are two lovers… Together… In beds…” 

“Okay,” she whispered, trying to keep her composure. 

The hostess asked them to follow her to the waiting area and told them they just needed a moment to free up a table for them. As y/n and Spencer stood together at the high table, she couldn’t help but glance over at him. He looked very handsome tonight. Having decided to discard his tie and loosen up a couple of buttons was a good call. She couldn’t deny that it did look very good on him. 

“Sorry about springing that engagement stuff on you,” y/n told him. 

Spencer shook his head. “No, no, no. That was great. It’s what’s got us in here.” He inhaled sharply before jokingly adding, “The cheek-kiss was a bit much though. And wet.” 

Smirking, y/n tilted her head a little. “What can I tell you? Dora’s sloppy.” 

Both of them chuckled but before either could add anything else, the hostess reappeared at their table. “All right, your table is ready. You can follow me.” 

They nodded their heads and followed behind the woman. “Okay, we can go back to being Spencer and y/n on the lookout for the suspect,” Spencer muttered, almost glad he didn’t have to sit through an entire dinner pretending he was madly in love with her as it wouldn’t even be pretending on his part. It would kill him knowing that all of it would be over when the case was done. 

“All right, there you go,” the hostess said, placing down the menus on their table. When the couple co-workers looked up, they realized they had gotten a table right next to the suspect and his date. 

The girlfriend gasped as she turned to y/n and Spencer. “You’re the couple that just got engaged.” 

“That’s us!” Spencer exclaimed as he reached for y/n’s hand. “Johnny and Dora,” he said, holding up your intertwined hands. “Definitely a couple…” 

Y/N and Spencer took their seats, both of them chuckling nervously. Augustine and his girlfriend even sprung them champagne and oysters to celebrate their fake engagement. 

“Wow, champagne and oysters,” y/n said with a sarcastic tone. “You really shouldn’t have, guys.” 

“Well, it’s a special night,” said Augustine. “So when did you guys meet?” 

Not having practiced any of this, the two lovebirds weren’t quite in sync with their backstory. “Last year,” y/n responded while Spencer went for “Two years ago.” 

Upon seeing the confused looks of Augustine and his companion, y/n chuckled. “We first met two years ago but we don’t count it because…” 

“I was dating a super smart scientist,” Spencer finished her sentence. 

“And I was dating the bassist of an up-and-coming Brooklyn-based band,” y/n continued the lie. 

“Anyways, about a year ago, we bumped into each other again in a bar and…” Spencer turned to y/n with a soft look on his face. “We haven’t been able to keep our hands off each other since.” 

Y/N hummed, unable to wipe the smile on her face. 

Augustine’s girl propped her head up on her hand, her elbow resting on the table. “So, how did you know she was the one?” she asked Spencer dreamily. 

Sighing, Spencer turned back to his fake-fiancée. “I’d love to answer that,” he said, surprising y/n a little. She was curious to hear what he was going to come up with. “Um, you know, just whenever I look at her face… and the… attached physique,” he answered a little awkwardly as though he didn’t want to say what he actually thought of her. 

“And you?” the girl asked y/n. 

Y/N’s eyes locked with Spencer’s and she couldn’t help but smile as her insides melted at the sight of his honeycomb eyes. “He’s the smartest guy I know and … he makes me laugh,” she responded honestly. 

“And, you know,” Spencer chimed in again, looking at the other couple. “There’s really no one else’s opinion who I care about more than hers, so…” When he looked back up at Y/N, he saw something in her eyes that he had never seen before and Spencer had studied those beautiful eyes before, remembering every detail about it thanks to his eidetic memory. 

“Okay, so enough chit-chat, let’s see the ring!” 

Panicking a little, y/n moved the ring from her ring finger on the right side to to one on the left before showing her hand to the woman. The ring was one she had gotten from her grandma when she had graduated from the academy. Y/N had always worn it as a token of good luck. It was the thing that kept her safe. 

The girl gasped. “It’s beautiful!” she exclaimed as she studied it. The band looked like twigs from the rose bushes in her grandmother’s garden with a small diamond that presented the rose. It reminded y/n of the days she’d spent at her grandparents’ house and helped her grandma with the rose bushes. 

“When I saw this ring, I knew I had to get it for her as it reminded me of the rose bushes her grandma had in her garden. Whenever Dora talks about spending time with her grandma in the garden, her eyes light up like a child’s on Christmas Eve and I just knew…” Spencer explained and though y/n knew in the back of her mind that all of this was just a ruse, she couldn’t help but turn into mush on the inside. 

How y/n survived the entire dinner without turning into a puddle, she didn’t know, but she somehow managed to get through to dessert. 

“Can you get the car from the valet, babe?” Augustine said to his girlfriend, handing her the keys. “I’m gonna go in the back and say hi to the chef.” Spencer and y/n exchanged glances when they noticed Augustine reaching for the laptop. 

“Good luck on your wedding, guys,” the girl said to them. “Oh, have fun on your honeymoon!”

“We will,” Spencer replied. “We’re going to Waco, Texas,” he said a little too excitedly. 

The girl looked at him for a moment before chuckling, “Huh, okay. Bye!” 

“Bye,” y/n greeted, giving her a wave that she couldn’t even see anymore, before turning to Spencer. “Waco, Texas?” 

“I’m sorry,” Spencer hissed. “It just slipped out.”

Shaking her head, y/n put the napkin down on her half-eaten dessert before scraping her chair back. “Let’s go, Augustine’s making the drop.” 

Spencer nodded and followed y/n to the kitchen where they found Augustine with the chef. “Look, there’s the buyer,” y/n pointed out, but then got confused when Augustine didn’t hand over the laptop. “Or he’s just actually saying hi to the chef?” 

As Augustine turned, his eyes landed on the couple near the door. “Oh, no. He’s seen us,” Spencer whispered and before he could properly think twice about it, he cupped y/n’s cheeks and kissed her on the lips. 

Confused and surprised, y/n wasn’t too sure what to do but then decided to follow along and melted into the kiss. His lips somehow slotted perfectly with hers and the tingle in the pit of her stomach felt natural. 

“Excuse me,” Augustine’s voice interrupted them. 

“Oh, sorry,” Spencer apologized. “We were just looking for a place to, uh…” 

A little groggy from that spine-tingling kiss, y/n finished Spencer’s sentence while holding onto him for dear life. “Boink…” 

“Yep. Boink…” Spencer agreed. “That’s my preferred term for it as well.” 

Y/N nodded her head to try and sell the point further. “I get it,” Augustine then said. “Newly engaged kids. Enjoy.” 

The couple watched as Augustine was out of sight before springing apart. “Good. Good, good, good, good,” Spencer mumbled, trying to convince himself. We kept our cover intact. Nice work.” 

“Quick professional thinking out there, Reid. Very quick. Very professional,” y/n rambled, not entirely thinking straight just yet. 

Trying to keep up his poise and to remind himself that they are, in fact, working, Spencer held out his hand for her to shake, which she quickly did. “Agent,” he said ceremonially. 

“Doctor,” y/n responded before the two of them headed out of the restaurant. 

As the couple joined their co-workers in the van again, they felt a little awkward. Neither of them was saying anything. Not to each other. Not to Emily and Derek. The two at the front found it slightly weird that Spencer wasn’t spewing facts and y/n wasn’t singing along to one of her favorite songs that was playing on the radio. 

“Okay, you’re being weird,” Derek pointed out. “What happened?” 

“Spencer and I kissed,” y/n responded with a roll of her eyes. 

“WHAT?!” Emily and Derek exclaimed simultaneously. 

“It was just to keep our cover from being blown,” Spencer responded. “We didn’t have a choice.” 

“Tell me everything!” Emily ordered, overly excited. 

Y/N shook her head. “Em, there’s nothing to tell, okay? It was for work. It was nothing.” She repeated the words in her head to convince herself that it was indeed nothing. That what she felt when Spencer’s lips were on hers was just a reaction to someone kissing her. That it wasn’t because it was Spencer kissing her. 

“Yeah, who cares about a kiss? Call me when you grab each other’s asses,” Derek chimed in. “He’s pulling over,” he then said when the red car in front of them had his blinker on. 

“Nothing like that is gonna happen, okay?” Spencer said before citing some facts about how in theater, the leads of the play almost never fall in love with one another and that it always just stays on-stage. 

“Guys, it’s not a handout,” Derek informed them as they watched Augustine drop off the case, cutting Spencer’s fact-spewing short. “It’s a drop-off.” 

“Okay,” y/n said. “Em, you and Derek follow Augustine.” 

“Right, and you two, follow your hearts,” Emily added, causing y/n to roll her eyes. 

“No, we’re gonna stay with the package.” 

Y/N and Spencer got out of the car and hid behind a tree to keep an eye out on the laptop case. The air was chilly for a summer evening, so y/n was glad she was still wearing Derek’s jacket. 

Spencer turned to y/n. “We’re cool, right?” 

“Yeah, totally,” y/n answered determinedly. “We’re fine.” 

“Good,” Spencer nodded. “You know, I’m actually quite hungry. I never really ended up eating anything at that fancy restaurant.” 

“Same. You know what I’m gonna get when I get to the hotel?” she asked with a grin. 

Spencer nodded his head. “Yeah, you’re gonna order Burger King and you’re gonna get the Crispy Chicken burger with cheesy chili fries, onion rings and a grape Sprite,” he summed up without hesitation. The fact that he’d remembered her exact order from Burger King surprised her and surprisingly also turned her on a little bit. 

“That’s exactly what I’m gonna get…” she mumbled, trying to shake off the feeling. 

While Spencer went on a ramble about what he was going to eat, y/n was distracted by the man a few feet away from them, closer to the package. She wasn’t paying much attention to anything Spencer was saying as she was trying to determine whether or not that was their UnSub. 

“Spence,” y/n tried to cut him off, but he kept on going with some facts about the restaurant he always went to. “Spence, he’s looking at us…” Before Spencer could turn his head to look at whatever y/n was looking at, she had already grabbed his face and brought his lips to hers, pressing him against the tree. 

Once again ignoring the feeling in the pit of her stomach, y/n opened an eye to watch the buyer walk off with the laptop in hand. She detached herself from Spencer and reached for her gun, stopping the guy in his tracks. 

“FBI! Freeze! We are co-workers!” she yelled, mostly to remind herself. 

“You’re under arrest!” Spencer joined in, pointing his gun at the man, too. “This is a work event!” 

Later that night, y/n found herself in her hotel room, pacing the floor with her crispy chicken burger getting colder and colder with every minute she didn’t touch it. She couldn’t stop her brain from rethinking everything that had happened that day. Every time she remembered the kiss with Spencer, her insides tingled and her heart skipped several beats. 

None of this made sense. She had been able to go about her days for the last year without thinking about Spencer this way. The thought had crept up on her once or twice, but she had always managed to shake it off. Why was this time so different? 

Before she could rethink everything, a knock on her door caused her to snap out of it. She secretly prayed it was JJ or Emily, just so she could rehash the whole thing and get everything off her chest. Though when she opened the door, she didn’t find JJ nor Emily there, but instead she was looking into those beautiful honey eyes that had melted her insides mere hours ago. 

“Spencer, I–” 

“Can I come in?” he asked, not allowing her to finish her sentence. Nodding, y/n stepped aside and let him in, closing the door right after. “A lot has happened today, huh?” he asked, wringing his hands in nervousness. 

“Yeah, I-I guess so…” 

Spencer sighed as he let go of his hands and stepped closer to y/n. “Look, y/n, I don’t want anything to get weird between us, okay? I understand why you don’t wanna date anyone in the field and I respect that. So, can we just forget today happened?”  

Going over her options, y/n’s mind skidded back and forth between every kiss and every word they had shared today. She could either ignore everything she had felt today and agree with him, forgetting about it all. Or she could take the plunge and try to figure it out with him. 

“I don’t think I can, Spencer,” she whispered. 

Spencer’s head tilted slightly as his brows furrowed in confusion. “Wh-what do you mean? I–” 

Before he could finish his sentence, y/n took two long strides towards him and cupped his cheeks, much like she had done before in the park, and kissed him deeply. At first, Spencer wasn’t quite sure what was happening, but he quickly melted into her body, grabbing her by the waist to pull her closer. 

“Y/N!” Emily’s voice sounded before they heard the knock on her door. “Can we go out for some drinks?!” 

Y/N looked up at Spencer and offered him a soft smile. “I’ll be right down! Order a Chardonnay for me, will you?” 

The two of them waited until they heard the footsteps of their co-worker recede before heading out the door together. Neither of them said anything. Neither of them needed to, either. They knew what they felt for one another was real and that they needed to figure something out, but that was not going to happen tonight. 

But whatever they would figure out, they would have to thank Johnny and Dora for pushing them this far.  

Everything taglist: @calamitykaty @littlemissaddict @n0wornever @wanniiieeee @unnowhatthisistbh @Jassy122

[hiding-in-my-blanket-fort]

Demisexual!Jake Seresin x Reader headcanons

Saw this post where people were being little piss babies that Jake Seresin can't possibly be aspec. So *cracks knuckles* since people can't seem to stay in their own fucking lane, I'm gonna be That Bitch and write some aggressively positive demisexual headcanons for our favorite flyboy.

(Tagging my aspec!Jake partner in crime: @gonnabreakhisheart)

Jake is an outrageous flirt. But he doesn't mean 99% of the things that come out of his mouth. He's just blowing smoke and hot air, talking smack.

When someone flirts back, he cranks it up to 110%. But when it comes time to follow through, oh hell no, Jake aborts so fast and hightails it out of there.

Despite what other people accuse him of, Jake has had only two one night stands, and no one ever believes him when he says that so he stopped trying to convince them.

The first time, he was young and reckless, running on the adrenaline high of getting into flight school. His classmates pressured him into it, too, insisting that he was a man now and he needed to prove himself.

It was not a good night and the girl left him in the morning without saying anything, which made him feel like shit.

The second time, Jake had watched one of his pilot buddies die in flight training and it messed him up really bad. He had no one to lean on because he'd learned not to show emotion in the military.

So he ended up at a bar, trying to drown his feelings, and somehow found himself deep in conversation with this woman. She'd lost her boyfriend in a car accident a year ago so she understood what it was like to deal with grief.

They spent most of the night talking and finding comfort in each other.

But they both agreed to part ways in the morning. They still text occasionally and check in on each other now and then.

Jake's reputation as a playboy is purely hearsay and mostly fueled by the jealousy and insecurity of other men. But he gave up trying to deny the rumors a long time ago. His protests seemed to only dig his grave deeper.

So in true Hangman fashion, Jake uses his reputation as a shield. Only the people who will truly stick around for the long haul get a glimpse underneath his armor.

Jake actually takes FOREVER before he decides that he likes you. Being a pilot demands a lot of his time which he knows can be very taxing on a relationship and he's upfront about that right from the start.

He's had a lot of people come and go in his life, and he's careful about getting emotionally invested too early.

You and Jake were friends for years, and he was fiercely protective of you.

Trying to get a guy's number at a bar? GOOD LUCK Jake is gonna be hovering at your shoulder, poking his nose into your business and making sure your potential date knew that you had a curfew, home by 10pm. Or else.

You relentlessly dropped hints that HE could ask you out, which you'd been hoping might happen for...an embarrassingly long time. But he never got the hint.

So YOU finally ask him out, which he tries to laugh off with a joke because you can't possibly be serious. Until he realizes you're not kidding and he finds that it's surprisingly easy to say yes to you.

At the beginning of the relationship, Jake doesn't know what to do with himself. He's on the verge of bolting because this is too good to be true.

About the six month mark, Jake settles down and he starts looking at you in a new light. You fell asleep on his couch, comfortable and safe in his presence while watching television and something in his heart tugs.

In the morning, when he sees you in the kitchen with your messy bedhead as you poured yourself some cereal, wearing the oversized pajamas you'd borrowed from him last night...oh my god, that's the hot button. That's when Jake realizes he found something truly special and he's going to fight for it.

He gets a dog tag engraved with your name and wears it all the time alongside his military dog tags.

He has a picture of you in the cockpit of his airplane. Before every flight, he kisses his fingertips and touches the picture as a good luck charm so he makes sure that he comes home to you.

Honestly, instead of sex, Jake prefers weird 3am chats with you where he can make you laugh until you're gasping for breath.

Jake loves taking a bath with you, especially when you slip into the tub behind him and wash his hair. The first time you did it, he thought he'd died and gone to heaven. No one had ever done that for him before.

He has zero ability to stay mad with you after a fight. He leaves to cool off and then comes back with this kicked puppy-dog look on his face. He takes your hand, kisses your knuckles.

"I hate fighting with you, baby," he whispers.

"Well, if you would just admit I'm right, we wouldn't have to fight."

He can tell you're teasing and you end up hugging each other really hard for several long minutes because you both know just how lucky you are and you don't want a stupid fight to come between you.

Sexy headcanons below the cut (18+ only)

Jake actually doesn't like quickies. They're never satisfying and they're always over too fast.

Cuddlefucking drives him batshit crazy. There's something about how time seems to slow down with the lazy touches, sleep-warm skin, the kisses that feel more like a dream than a reality.

He's actually very worried about hurting you. He's heard some terrible stories from guys in the military who clearly don't like their girlfriends, and he would never dream of treating you like that.

So if you want something more intense, Jake will require an in-depth conversation with clear guidelines and a lot of reassurance that this is what you want.

For that reason, Jake is very uncomfortable with hate sex. It doesn't make any sense to him. He doesn't hate you and he doesn't want to bring that vibe into your relationship.

Jake really looks forward to aftercare. He takes note of everything you liked for future reference.

He loves to absolutely worship your body. Massaging that kink out of your shoulder. Stroking the washcloth over your chest and back in the shower. Propping your leg in his lap as he rubs lotion into your skin.

Jake doesn't care how much shit people give him for saying it but he LOVES missionary. He wants to look you in the eyes. He wants to guide your leg around his hips. It's a classic for a reason.

One time, the two of you decided to get adventurous and try a new position. It was complicated as hell and you fumbled around so much that you ended up collapsed together, Jake's face beet red from laughing so hard.

You didn't actually have sex that night. But you fell asleep in each other's arms without a stitch of clothing between you, and then you had leftover pizza for breakfast, which felt just as good.

Jake is a MONSTER when it comes to non-sexual intimacy. He soaks up every drop like a dying man in the desert.

Sitting on the couch watching tv? He's going to tuck his head into your lap and coax your fingers into his hair.

Brushing your teeth? He'll slide his arms around you from behind and nuzzle into your neck.

Out to dinner with his buddies? He has a hand resting on your thigh.

When you're walking side by side, if you don't hold his hand, Jake will take your hand and tuck it into the crook of his elbow. Every single time. And he gives you this look like, this is your spot, don't you know that by now???

When it's cold, he wraps his hand around yours and tucks it into his coat pocket to keep you both warm.

Masterlist

[lexcellence]

What is it about Western comics as a medium that enables them to tell specific stories--or be types of art--that other media can't replicate? It feels like it'd be so easy to translate a comic to a film, but we've also seen how outrageously difficult it really is. What, to you, makes comics so worth it all?

This is gonna be long and hella cynical, and I'm going to specifically focus on the big two (Marvel and DC) here, but I think a big part of it comes down to money, and the fact that comics are largely considered to be disposable media by the companies creating them.

See, there isn't a ton invested into the actual creation of comics. Creators are freelancers, so no need to worry about pesky things like "paying a reasonable wage," or "offering health insurance" — every few months or so you'll see people who shaped and revolutionized the medium setting up gofundme's because they never got a safety net, and they aren't taken care of by the companies they put all that work into. IP rights and royalties largely aren't a thing, and the nature of capeshit is that you're always going to find some fan who is honored to have the opportunity to write for them, even as the creators they grew up reading are torn up and spit back out. Couple that with an inherently built in marketbase of nerds, and, more often than not, not "wasting" money advertising actual comics to anyone who doesn't buy them already, and to a large extent it doesn't really matter what risks a comic takes. Warner and Disney don't really have to give a shit —a "bad" superman comic, by any definition of bad, might piss off a few nerds, but isn't gonna do a damn thing to the cultural perception of Superman™️, the Brand™️, available on everything from t-shirts to truck nutz at your local Walmart. And hell, 99 times out of 100 the nerds will keep buying the book anyway, and who cares if they don't, because the comic shops will.

Movies, on the other hand, are a pretty significant investment! You've got actors, hundreds of people in cast and crew, and *actual marketing.* They've gotta make that money back and then some, while appealing to an audience of people who might own a Batman wallet, but couldn't tell you the difference between Joe Chill and Victor Fries. It's harder to take risks with movies, because suddenly you might actually taint the image of a seventy year old brand, and that terrifies all of the investors. You throw too much Comic Book Bullshit™️ at general audiences who haven't already devoted their personalities to caring about who Batman is fucking that week (Hal Jordan), and it gets messy. This isn't even some "general audiences wouldn't understand*" gatekeepy shit, either - if you pick up literally any random comic issue and you don't like it, worst case scenario you've spent like four bucks and fifteen minutes of your life, and you've got anything from dozens to thousands of other issues to try.

*that being said, I still maintain that Batman & Robin is better than any Batman comic that came out that year, and everyone who says otherwise is a fucking coward.

And so, comics end up in a weird, probably ultimately untenable position of being able to take more risks, and being made largely by people who love comics, and grew up speaking their bullshit language. They're self-obsessed and masturbatory, sure, but the thing about saying that derogatorily is that it ignores the fact that masturbation is fun? The worst comics I've read, and I've read a lot of bad comics, are still almost always labors of love, be that for better or for worse. As exhausted as I get sometimes, it's hard for me to write that off entirely.

And, ultimately, I'm just way too invested in who's fucking Batman (Superman).

[b3achysurfur]

I know I originally said in a comment at some point about how annoying the Logan war got (think it was in that post asking why we all suddenly backed off) but now I just find your posts humoring it's like "THIS LITTLE GODDAMN PIECE OF SHIT-" and it's the most innocent picture of Logan.

Love seeing it nowadays (cuz it's funny), but you have a good point that he hasn't furthered the story yet but I feel like Red might change that soon. Hopefully. Also how we haven't had his backstory but that also might change too (we've got a hint in one episode where they fought his bullies, something about how his parents didn't want him and he fact that we've only seen his grandparents but not his actual parents says something....)

Anyways something I need to ask you! What are your opinions on the others, what you like about them or dislike, favorite moments and what not. I'm curious!

Sorry this may have been long!

SEE NOW YOU GUYS ARE GETTING MY HUMOR , THIS ACTUALLY MAKES ME SO HAPPY!!! THANK UUUUU A LOT

also UR SO GREAT FOR THE QUESTION YOU ASKED!! I love talking about everyone else

I’ll assess them in order of: ashlyn, aiden, taylor, tyler, ben (not by order of how much I like them or anything btw). Some sections are longer than others because I’m bias BUT ALSO BECAUSE I got tired of typing and realized there was wayyy tm to read. Sorry!!!! if you don’t wanna read all this I put a short summary all the way on the bottom + feel free to me ask me specific questions ! now let me talk your ear off

ASHLYN:

I really like ashlyn because she has the most potential out of everyone (and that’s not to say the other characters aren’t deep, because that’s the opposite of true but bae is the whole reason we’re here). I think she’s also really relatable in the sense that she doesn’t like interacting with people but she can easily take the leadership role when needed. like okay queen I see you. also I really enjoy the fact Red made her dislike aiden at first even though they have a side romance plot going rn. bc that’s how it would’ve been if they were real. ash would not just become chatty out of no where and fall head over heels for him. and I really appreciate the slowburn. Ashlyn’s also higher on my favorites list because I’m bias and we have the same hair length 😣 usually when characters have long hair, authors tend to let their hair flow a lot, but red put ts in braids 🙏 and ask anyone with long hair like that, their hair is up 99% of the time bc it’s annoying, hot, and (personally) GRABS ONTO EVERYTHING LIKE ITS A THIRD HAND. I have a lot of headcannons for ash just based on small character designs / aspects that not a lot of people really think about. She’s so interesting and I really just love her. And since I have positives, I’ll give one negative about her. In the beginning, Ashlyn was really hesitant to tell the group anything. I understand where she was coming from, and given Tyler’s reaction, I don’t blame her for keeping things to herself. But mannnn ts was so frustrating sometimes. it’s ok tho bc all good stories stress you out.

AIDEN:

omg guys it’s my favorite ever. I know aidens really popular already so I’ll try not to rant on about him forever but hes just the best 😣 but mans really does not gaf EVERR.

now I could rant on and on about how silly Aiden is and why he’s so misunderstood as a character, because he’s not crazy like at all and if anything he’s one of the smartest characters in sbg, but I’ll save if for a better time. Instead I wanna talk about how observant he is of Ben and ashlyn.

it’s cropping weridly, sorry. but aiden’s eyes are always watching the ones he cares about most. I feel like this has to do with the fact Ben cannot voice his concerns/opinions so aiden always has to glance at him to make sure he’s not missing any important signal. But I also think it has to do with his childhood (I don’t have fast pass or anything this is just based off of theories/analysis based on his character bc I do that a lot 🤒). Anyways, he has a specific way of comforting people that I think it’s rlly niche. He uses his hands and gets the person what he thinks they need. Like in the attached images he gets ashlyn fabric to squeeze and distracts her with light conversation, and he immediately offers to take a walk with Ben and get some fresh air. If a person refuses or asks him for space, he immediately obeys and doesn’t question their decision. He’s very trusting and understanding. He gives people room to make mistakes and gives them room to ask for help. I’m mainly bringing this up because it ties back to something I’m gonna talk about in Taylor’s section. I just think that this detail is so important to his character and we always brush over it. I don’t wanna say he doesn’t like physical touch, bc he’s always touching everything around him, but I like to think his main love language is acts of service. When you really look at it, his actions speak a lot louder than his bickering and it really helps display how much each character means to him individually. what elseee. He’s able to quickly adjust and assess situations (like when he attacked the phantom or pulled up ashlyn in the bus). He’s very quick to his feet and always needs to be interacting with something to keep his hands busy. Aiden just really don’t gaf 99% of the time (unless it’s Ben / ashlyn) and honestly that’s why I like him. He doesn’t take anything seriously or personally. clap it up for my hb. Also I notice the sbg fandom has a habit of doing it with everyone, but I feel like Aiden is always reduced to his impulsive behaviors and ‘crazy kid’ persona. please guys. look deeper into Aiden Clark. Instead of wasting your energy trying to defend a NERDY FREAK like Logan fields, you should study more on Aiden Clark and his complex character.

yes. do that. rn. You want to so badly. I know you do. Do it. Go reread sbg and focus on Aiden. wowwww. I know you want to. (I’m hypnotizing you btw) Or just ask me I can talk about Aiden (or really any character) alll day long. Ask me anything about anyone and I’ll tell you what I think with proof and evidence. yes. I just need to cut it short because I have to talk about everyone else to. But study Aiden Clark. do it. really. really. Right now. Go. Go. Now. PLUS Aiden’s probably the least likely to die because he’s to cool for that + he’s better than death and injury. YAAA!!! MAKE AIDEN CLARK UR FAV BC YOULL BE SAFE FROM ANGST 🎉

only thing I don’t like about Aiden gotta be his fashion sense sometimes (usually beginning S1). like WHAT R U WEARING MAN???? 🙁

TAYLOR:

okay now let me talk about my shnukums Taylor. I love her a lot but her and Tyler had very different childhoods regardless of the fact they were in the same situation.

We don’t know a lot about Taylor’s version of growing up, so a lot of the details are vague but everything I say is based off of observations and analyses I have personally made, so please take everything I say about Taylor’s backstory with a grain of salt and understand that no matter what, both twins were majorly affected by the passing of their father and illness of their mother.

At first i thought of Taylor was the more lucky one out of Tyler and Taylor when it came to their childhood. Yes she struggled, I knew that, but Tyler was under a lot of stress. But that’s when I realized that she suffered just as much. Although she didn’t need to sacrifice herself to help her family survive, like Tyler did, she went though the most loss. She lost her mother, father, and brother all overnight. One second they were all happy together and the next she was all alone. Physically, her mother and brother were still there, but they were both shells. Her mother isolated by grief and her brother isolated by responsibility. She was all alone. Yes Tyler did his best to support her, but at the end of the day, there wasn’t much he could do to change the situation. Taylor suffered a lot, and since people mostly focus on Tyler, we never really see Taylor’s POV of it all.

Now her backstory leads me into the fact Taylor is the most socially smart character in sbg. She is also the most observant and supportive. This is not to say others aren’t observant/supportive, like Aiden for an example, but she does it much differently. I would attach a picture here but I’m close to maxing out the photo limit and I want to save it for later.

Taylor is very good at reading the emotions of other characters. She is also very observant. Taylor is often the first to notice when a charater is uncomfortable, panicked, or harmed. For an example, she’s the first to notice Ashlyn’s fear back at the house. Unlike Aiden, Taylor is able to verbally let people know she is there for them. She comforts them through words and physical affection. Taylor is usually aware of how much support someone is in need of and the best way to display it for them specifically. For an example when Logan was getting bullied, she defended him against Tyler’s mean words and held his shoulder for reassurance. This same tactic would not work for ashlyn, and Taylor is aware of that. So, when ashlyn broke down about the struggles of being leader, Taylor comforted her through words and reassured her fears. Taylor opened up a space for ashlyn to be scared and share her burden. She was able to do all of this in only a couple of moments. This skills also becomes a werid quirk when she is able to sense Tyler’s condition in the hospital, but maybe that was just twin senses? ���‍♀️ idk

Taylor is also very aware of everyone around her. We know that she is very social and has a lot of friends and connections, but she also educates herself on the people she doesn’t interact with. Even if she doesn’t know a lot, she makes sure to acknowledge their presence at the very least.

What does her ability to read emotion have to do with her childhood? Well, Taylor basically lived with a shell of a family. Tyler was under constant stress, which made him prone to outbursts. Her mother was disabled by grief. Taylor was in a situation that made her feel like she had to take care of her family mentally. It was, to her, the least she could do. So, she was mentally mature from a very young age. Although having to hold the burdens of others constantly is very unhealthy, I’m not sure if she’ll crack because of it.

Taylor being very social and having a lot of friends is also another example of how she’s different from Tyler and how their shared childhood affected them differently. Tyler saw people as distractions while Taylor sees them as her means to keep living. Taylor lives off of other peoples energy, and she maintains the energy of other people by being a supportive beam for them. This is also why I’m okay with Taylor being shipped with others. She’s use to being around people and can form close bonds with others while still only viewing them as friends. Tyler cannot do the same. Taylor is in a position where she can expand her horizons into romantic relations if she was interested in doing so. That’s why I feel as though it’s okay (if that doesn’t make sense I’ll explain it again, but I tried to condense it down)

Something I don’t like about Taylor is that we haven’t gotten to see her brain in action yet. We know she’s the president of the robotics club , but we haven’t had the chance to see her charater support the story in any other way but socially and mentally. The story is only at 60 episodes though, and I’m sure we will see it eventually. Im just impatient and want to see women in STEM shine 😣😣 I wish I could talk about her more, but we barely know anything about Taylor as of right now. I will say it’s interesting how she told her and Tyler’s backstory, but only talked about how Tyler was affected and not herself. Interesting… I hope we learn more about her experiences and I hope I’m right 🙏 also CAN WE TAKE A MOMENT TO APPRECIATE HOW PRETTY SHE IS??? UGHH I LOVE HER SMM

TYLER:

I feel like Tyler has been the topic of discussion for the past couple of months because his backstory was revealed and the end of S1 / beginning of S2 was all about him and his past, so I don’t have a lot to say that I haven’t already said. but I do really like Tyler. At first when he was in his jock era I was very , oh! about him. but he’s actually warmed up to me sooooo much since then. he’s so goofy I just want more interactions between him and Aiden. I think I good place to start is how much I HATE people shipping him with other members of the main cast. I talked about it a little in Taylor’s section, but him and Taylor had very different childhoods. Again, I’m not saying their father’s death and mother’s illness was not hard on the both of them, but Tyler was under a lot of pressure too. We know he isolated himself harshly, and stopped having fun all together. The way I look at it, everything, including living day-to-day, became a chore for Tyler. Ever since he was a little kid. His dad’s death changed his entire world overnight. He had to learn how to physically and mentally support everyone important to him, because if he couldn’t no one else would. Tyler had to learn everything about living life by himself as a baby just so everyone else could survive. He stopped having fun. Little kids find fun in everything. Tyler stopped himself from finding it. He didn’t do anything for himself anymore. He was almost like a empty shell doing automatic tasks so that his sister and mother could have space to grow, heal, and live. In a sense, it was self sacrifice (which he attempts again when he tells the group to leave him behind)

So when Taylor tells us that the main cast started to become an extension of the family he sacrificed himself for, it’s so heavy on his character. Especially because for once in a long time he started relating his ‘family’ back to joy and fun, not just safety and survival. That’s why it bothers me when people ship him with others. It’s so werid to imply he’d date any of the main cast when he sees them as his family. consider them blood-siblings if you gotta, but just stop shipping them. PLEAASSSSEEEEEEEEEEE. otherwise I’ll eat your dog. thanks! also him being friends with the main cast at all is such a huge step for him. I don’t think Tyler has time to get involved with romantic relationships when he believes friends are a distraction. I know a lot of people go to romance when they want to express how strong a connection is between two characters, but you guys are forgetting that Tyler considering everyone as his friends is sooooo much more complex and deep compared to (for an example) Logan saying he considers everyone his friend. ANYWAYS ENOUGHHH!!! let’s move on.

I also wanna talk about this scene (I was to lazy to go find the original scene so the flashback is all you get). I never really realized how much ashlyn ordering Tyler around must’ve affected him. He literally spent his whole life making decisions and taking leadership and all of a sudden some random lil girl is over here telling him to stfu and sit his ass down. I would imagine as mad as he was, he probably felt a least a bit of relief. For once the responsibility wasn’t on him, at least not only on him. He could share his burden with others, and he wasn’t suffocated by being responsible for the lives of everyone else. We see this same struggle affect ashlyn, as she feels like being leader strangles her with the weight of guilt, paranoia, and responsibility. Imagine if Tyler had been the one to bare that weight after everything he’s already been through? he would’ve cracked, whether we like it or not. so let’s clap it up for ashlyn rq!!! yasss girl 😋 I know I’m rambling a lot about tyler but I know a lot about him and want to talkkk 😣 but here is my last point: Tyler’s coping mechanism to the unknown and things that confuse him is denial. Just like his mother 🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯

woww! do you guys remember when Tyler thought this whole thing was a joke? me too! he would’ve never thought this silly prank would almost kill him. Tyler’s mom probably thought her husband’s illness wouldn’t kill him either. oops! 😂 (I’m going kms). sorry. my point is they both refused to believe it happened (although his mom’s denial may have been more of a trauma response while his was just to help him cope). Even with evidence, they both couldn’t understand what had happened to them and pretending nothing was wrong. Tyler saw the picture of the phantom’s shadow and brushed it off to technology he couldn’t understand yet. he felt more comfortable with not knowing how technology worked rather than not knowing if he was in danger. his mother is similar. She couldn’t understand and cope with the death of her husband, even though he died in front of her. She felt more comfortable not understanding why he was late from work than understanding he was dead and gone. Guess it runs in the family? 🤷‍♀️ and since these are all things I like about his character, I will tell you what I don’t like. THAT STUPID ASS JOCK ATTUIDE FROM S1. okay I didn’t hate it, and it fit him sometimes, and I kinda miss it sometimes, but he’s like 5’5 and a stick, he is not beating no one’s ass 😭 respectfully. now he could probably rock me but he’s matured a bit since S1 so it’s different. Tyler’s not even my favorite idk why I talked about him sm , especially when I held off on talking about Aiden because I didn’t want to say to much 🤦‍♀️ whatever

BEN:

I have a lot to say about Benny boy, especially because he is SOOOOOO mischaraterized. Now I won’t go crazy like I did for the twins because I’m thinking about making a separate post just about Ben (maybe.. maybe not idk). plus I just reminded myself anon asked me to just say a few things I like and disliked about each charater not give crazy long paragraph about them. so, sorry Ben but you will probably have the most boring paragraph of them all. I still love you a lot pookie 🙏 I’m just tired AND MAXED OUT THE AMOUNT OF PICS I CAN USE EVEN THO I NEED TO TALK ABOUT U WHILE USING PICS 🤒 anyways enough rambling.

bens charater is often reduced to his backstory which genuinely makes me want to start tweaking out. if you expand on why his trauma affects him, then I will happily listen to you talk. But when most the fandom sees Ben as “music boy who hate bully, will fight you if you be mean” it makes me so SAAAADDDDD. no, Ben will NOT beat my ass for making fun of Logan. That’s like… the whole point of his backstory? He doesn’t like violence, at all. He’s ashamed of his anger issues. He blames himself for having to move and putting his family in danger. The only reason he got involved with Logan’s fight was because the phantom interference + no one was there to help calm him down.

also he doesn’t only do music. he draws too! he’s a very artistic dude. He also gardens. Ben be planting food and shit. which (as much as I HATE the ship) Logan n Ben shippers could probably use to their advantage. Yk bc Ben gardens and Logan helps his grandparents in their greenhouse? wtv. Bens prob growing flowers for Taylor anyways. Fuck Logan. sorry.

Ben is also very compassionate and gentle. He’s always thinking about what’s best for the group, even if it puts him in an uncomfortable position, like sharing his trauma. Ben is also very soft hearted. He gets flustered very easily, we see this when ashlyn and Taylor complimented him. He is very protective over those he cares about and he does not come to play, ever. Also his character development from S1 makes me so happy. He use to be attached to Aiden’s hip 24/7 and we could often only understand his emotions when Aiden would translate him to us. But we’ve seen lately that he’s much closer to Taylor, even putting her safety before his own.

wow, gentleman alert❗️if I didn’t run out of photo space than I would’ve shown more examples where he holds onto others as a way to comfort or protect them. he’s so respectful I might cry. maybe I will make a Ben-centered post. I need to show you guys pictures so you can understand what I’m saying. But Ben is growing and he needs more attention. thank you.

SUMMARY:

Ashlyn

pros:

- has crazy potential + most hinted at lore

- very relateable

-introverted but stands on business

-W relationship development between her and the cast, very natural and not forced

- her hair

cons:

- she is very hesitant to spill info (only in earlier chaps tho!)

Aiden

pros:

- silly

- observant of those he cares about

- acts of service love language

- trusting/understanding

- quick on his feet

- good at assessing situations/making plans

- he doesn’t GAF 🦅🦅 EVAAA

cons:

- often misunderstood / mischaraterized by the fandom

- has ugly ass outfits sometimes

Taylor

pros:

- most socially smart character in sbg

- good at reading emotions

- good at comforting others

- aware of her surroundings/the people around her

- supportive

- social

- super pretty

- wrote a paragraph on why it’s ok to ship her with the rest of the cast js cuz

cons:

- we don’t see enough of her robotics president side, show me women in STEM ��

- we never saw how she experienced childhood (yet..)

Tyler

pros:

- deep childhood trauma/responsibility

- sacrificed himself for his family twice

- not meant to be shipped with anyone in main cast

- sees main cast as family

- he finally made friends

- talked about the scene where ash tells him to shut his bitchass up

- copes by using denial (js like his mom)

cons:

- his jock attitude during S1

Ben

pros:

- hates violence

- angery at his anger issues

- ashamed of his past

- draws and gardens as hobbies

- compassionate and gentle

- soft hearted

- easily flustered

- very protective

- slow but steady quiet charater development

- a gentleman

cons:

- you guys mischaraterize him a lot (like someone told me he doesn’t change as a character bc he never speaks, ts made me mad asf)

THATS ALL! THANK YOU FOR ASKING!! again feel free to as me questions about anything at all even if you didn’t read allat. And if you did, thank you ur so sweet and amazing. Sorry for writing sm 😢

also everyone is open to their own opinions, this is just what I think. As always, I’m always down to debate.

[a-la-sante-du-progres]

The thing with R's design is that he's very canonically ugly, but I can't see "ugly".¹ I just never feel repulsion when looking at human traits. It's not a political stance but an instinctual lack of reaction. Lacking a internal compass telling me who is ugly, I can just use conventional ugly traits but those imho are associated with poverty, illness, violation of gender roles, violation of North European traditional aesthetics, old age². So even if I give R random conventionally ugly traits, I still won't think of him as ugly but as something else. It's a fruitless effort. So I gave up on picturing him as ugly and physically repulsive to me.

So my R design is:

-something makes him repulsive, but it's nothing people can explain rationally. No ugly trait in particular. After all, he's described as "impossibly" ugly. What if it's impossibly ugly because people can't say why he's looks ugly to them? Because it's a sensation that defies logic? My realistic headcanon is that people can sense his all-encompassing dread and lack of any positive belief, and they fear it and from fear it comes the irrational repulsion, also I'm sure that his behaviour toward women has a big impact on his perceived ugliness. It would be right in Hugo's alley anyway, Hugo uses ugliness as a visual metaphor for psychological and social issues.

(In a fantasy!AU I like to headcanon his perceived impossible ugliness as people unconsciously feeling that he's not human. The same is valid for Enjolras, but with his angelic and statuesque beauty.)

-I adopted as headcanon what it can be deduced from the brick. He's 26-29 years old, so quite young, he's fit and strong because of the multiple sports he does, he's short because he's impressed at Enjolras's height, he must have good hair because he appears to be proud of his hair and glad of not going bald like Bossuet. He's supposed to be the apparent opposite of Enjolras, so my headcanons are dark hair, small forehead, bad teeth, strong manly features. His hair may have been ginger too because Hugo had a bit of anti ginger bigotry and he stupidly thought ginger hair were ugly so he may have thought of R as red haired when he wrote he was ugly. Ginger!R is a fascinating idea to me, 99% of the times I see him as black haired, but I think ginger hair is a likely feature for brick!R (and also hot NGL).

-Bladgen!R has imprinted on me, so I borrow some of his features, but he looks too delicate to be R, so I usually roughen up his face a bit when I think about him as Grantaire. He's also too beautiful (I can tell when someone is beautiful to me), but when I try to think of traits to assign to R to turn him ugly, my mind goes blank. Without the obligation to make him ugly, I manage to picture him with different features, but I can't give up on his curly hair in the 2012 movie. Grantaire with curly hair is fixed in my imagination as if it was canon. Bbc!R is sometimes R in my mind, but I don't think he's ugly either (on the contrary, I find him beautiful as well), he just gave a great R impression thanks to his interpretation. No musical actor left something into my headcanons, it's regrettable because I usually enjoy a lot musical!Grantaires.

-Canon R is white imho, he talk about other ethnicities as "other". I'm not sure because he may identify with the dominang group despite not being part of it, but it's a likely guess. He also said he would rather be born a Turk/Arab, he's was joking/trolling, but I take it as inspiration for modern and reincarnation AUs. Obviously, it's unrelated with his perceived ugliness, and to avoid involuntary correlation and involuntary endorsement to white supremacist propaganda, I would explore his ugliness and being Arabic in different fanworks.

-Green eyes just because he's associated with green by the musical.

-Damages from his addictions. So corrupted teeth from smoking and alcohol, flawed skin from smoking, sleepy/tired eyes. Those could work as conventionally ugly traits, but I still think of them as neutral, bad just because they're symptoms of bad habits, not necessarily bad to look at.

¹I'm not trying to be holier than thou, I acknowledge ugliness is real and can be defined by what triggers repulsion at the sight. I can feel this repulsion when I look at very ugly architecture, for example, but I simply don't feel it when I look at people. If I'm repulsed at someone, it's just because I already hate them because of their behaviour. I don't know if it's related, but I don't feel repulsion at anything from the human body either. I've spent some nights in the hospital with surgery patients, and nothing repulsed me, no fluid or matter I saw. It's not high morals, it's high scientific interest, and the human body is too interesting to me to feel other than utter fascination. Like there is one thing I find ugly, and there are bushy eyebrows. idk why, that's it. As I said, lacking an internal compass that tells me what's ugly to me, when I try to picture ugly, I resort to conventions. ²But "ugly" traits are always ugly for ulterior motives, they're ugly because they're associated or they have been associated in the past with the poors (es badly groomed hair, inelegance, bad teeth), they're associated with a lack of health and physical strength (fat bodies, very skinny bodies, asymmetry, paleness, eyebags etc), they defy gender roles (moustaches/beard/big bodies for women, small stature/small hands/small D for men), they're typical of old age or they're anything else than north-European (big noses, bushy eyebrows too probably). I don't blame who find those traits ugly, we can't choose what is repulsive to us, we can only treat everyone decently (unless they're being harmful). But while I recognise ugliness is legit, I see every ugly trait as being something else, the trait of a poor/sick/old/androgynous/poc person so I'm unable to think of someone who is just objectively ugly. Instead I can well see beauty, I'm charmed by people with some colour and proportions as if they were work of art, also I see beauty in all the people I care about because looking at them is pleasurable to me. The opposite of beautiful is just "normal" to me, when I don't feel anything when I look at someone, likely with random strangers.

[loominggaia]

Do trolls have anything akin to cuisine and traditional dishes? Just because you can eat just about anything doesn't mean it has to be presented with no flair. :D I suppose same question for minotaurs. Are there any foods other races go out of their way to try from either of these groups (besides minotaur milk)?

They certainly do! Trolls are in a unique position where they can eat damn near anything without consequence, even foods that are totally raw, filthy, or rotten. But what's even more unique is the fact that they like the taste of nasty, rotten food!

A troll's sense of smell and taste oppose that of most peoples'. By that I mean, smells and tastes that other peoples find pleasant are usually unpleasant to trolls, and vice versa. Taste is subjective, but we can agree that 99% of humans would retch if they put a rotten egg in their mouth. Meanwhile, the average troll can--and will--happily devour it, and enjoy it much more than a fresh egg.

Because of this, trolls have developed many unique dishes that only their species can safely eat. I will warn you, some of the following text is really disgusting. So if you get grossed out easily, consider skipping the rest of the post.

With that said, let's take a look some of these troll-specific dishes from around the world!

Redge: A rotten egg slathered in bitter herbs.

Plopslop: The manure of a herbivorous animal, boiled down into a soup with half-composted vegetables added.

Grrsi: Fresh meat is inoculated with fly eggs, which hatch and partially digest the meat over time. The meat becomes infested with the fat grubs, which are the main attraction of the dish.

Urizluuk: The urine of a male goat, fermented for months in an alcoholic fruit broth. This is a popular drink dating back to ancient times.

Akwi: Raw fish heads, left to dry in the sun until they smell putrid. Sometimes akwi is made with clams or some other sealife instead.

Dukleka: Garlic is force-fed to rats over the course of many days, then rats are fed to a pig-hawk, which has its rear-end sewn shut. The garlicky rats ferment in its GI tract until the bird dies of bloat, then its stomach and intestines are removed and eaten as a delicacy.

Zlub: This is not a meal in itself, but a sauce made from boiled slug slime and rancid onions. It's added to other foods to give it a slimy, repulsive texture that trolls love.

Volzkriz: Animal blubber (traditionally from a walrus or whale) is boiled down into a liquid and then left to cool, forming a hard block of fat. This can be eaten fresh, but it said to taste better the more rancid it gets.

There are lots more, but I'm sure you get the idea...Even ogres, who can tolerate rancid corpses, will be sickened by some of the things on this list. This gives trolls a serious survival advantage over other species.

As for minotaurs, they are a lot less tolerant of rotten foods. However, they can tolerate tough fibers which are undigestible by most peoples. This includes things like raw grass, bark, and woody vegetation. Even trolls struggle to digest these fibers unless they compost them down to a softer form, but minotaurs can eat them fresh, no preparation needed. This is also quite a big survival advantage.

Minotaurs have quite an affinity for fresh grass, and some of them can get quite snobby about it. There are many debates about which type of grass is best for taste and health, and how best to prepare it. Cooked or raw? Some insist that cooking the grass is culinary heresy, and its subtle flavors should be enjoyed in their purest form as nature intended. There are common grasses which are considered "peasant food" and other, rarer species which are enjoyed by royalty.

Grass is a big meme in Etios Nation. Even the Etiosi make fun of themselves for their apparent cultural obsession with grass, and it certainly hasn't gone unnoticed by foreigners. "Go eat some grass" is a common insult hurled towards minotaurs worldwide.

*

Questions/Comments?

Lore Masterpost

Read the Series

[ventiddieus]

Edit: Found, tysm!!!

I'm trying to find a fic I read quite a while ago, and was hoping for some help if anybody recognizes any of this! Everything I remember is below the cut

It was about Kaeya and Diluc, I’m 99% sure it was platonic/ragbros but it’s not completely impossible that it was kaeluc.

It had to have been posted before July of 2023 at the absolute latest because I’ve been looking for it since August. 

I think it was a multi-chapter, but I could be wrong.

It was definitely written in English, and I’m almost positive it was a completed work.

It was definitely hosted on ao3

As for the plot, here are all the details I remember 

Kaeya was hit by a curse/spell/potion (or something similar) that made him say the opposite of what he meant or just outright nonsense.

Whatever the curse was, it was eventually going to be fatal, and they were working on a time limit. 

Kaeya and Diluc set out on a quest to find the ingredients for an antidote, which included them fighting a regisvine (cryo or pyro), and oceanid, and finding a golden loach pearl. There might have been more steps, but these are the ones I remember.

When they fought the oceanid, one of them (I think Kaeya?) almost drowned.

When they were finding the loach, it got away and they thought that they had failed and would run out of time, but then they realized it had dropped the pearl. 

When Kaeya saw the loach and tried to point it out, he said “axolotl” instead because of the curse.

I think that Kaeya got progressively weaker throughout the fic from the curse.

Any help at all would be super appreciated, I have no idea why I didn’t bookmark this because it was one of the most memorable fics I’ve ever read! 

[queen-of-obsessing]

i'm extremely uncomfortable with the way judas is being portrayed this season. (lil vent post)

obviously spoilers for all of season 4. and also i haven't seen the season in its entirety yet, this is just based on what my friend has told me and the leaked scenes i've seen. also also this is only talking about show!Judas, as he's being portrayed by the writers, not the bible version, becauseee we know nothing about that one.

i just watched one of the leaked clips from season 4 (because the stupid chosen team hasn't put it on streaming yet), and i'm acc crying rn. like irl. real tears. i'm so choked up, i feel physically ill, and not for any good reasons. this isn't gonna be one of those "oh wow i'm literally sobbing this show is so good 😍" type posts.

i feel sick.

seeing judas just claw and scramble for any sort of positive attention from the disciples around him is sickening. every single time he brings up an idea for how he can positively help the ministry and use his skills (the only way he knows how to coming from a business background), the others just shoot him down. you can see how hard he's trying to win their validation and find some sort of footing within the group and nothing is working.

and zee just compares him to dirty laundry? like to be able to be part of the twelve he has to ditch every single aspect of his life?? THE LIFE THAT PROBABLY SAVED HIM FROM BEING A DESTITUTE ORPHAN. I wouldn't be surprised if Hadad was the one that took him in after his parents died and taught him business skills. It's how he sees the world!!! it's how he was taught to see the world!!

yet no one ever takes any time to see his perspective or give him any chance to meaningfully contribute. he's just this permanent outsider, trying to get in but never ever being fully in. everyone just keeps speaking in cryptic riddles, talking about prophecies and nothing Jesus says makes any sense either, and now even Jesus is rebuking him. judas is probably completely lost and confused by the time we get to episode 8 of season 4.

and it's really uncomfortable to watch.

as someone who grew up in the church, and also saw the world in a very different way from everyone else, I've also experienced what judas is experiencing. desperately clawing for some sort of place in the church AND NOTHING WORKING. I haven't been to church in nearly a year because everytime i tried, i just didn't fit. they didn't want me, i always felt perpetually on the outside of the circle.

on top of that, i'm 99% sure i'm autistic, so like judas, i see the world very logically. i like to have things told in a very straightforward way, and think in very material concepts (for him it's money). But the "Christianese" never made any sense to me. I never understood it. So I spent my days in the church perpetually alone, never fitting in and never fully understanding who I was even supposed to be believing in because nobody took the time to explain it to me in a way I could understand, but vaguely knowing that I wanted to believe in something.

I believe Judas wanted to believe in Jesus, and did believe in Him, but never fully understood why.

...and then he dies. I'm still wondering how the show is going to handle the lead up to his betrayal, but I'm going to assume continually being rejected by the other disciples had something to do with it.

and you know what else is really sick about all this? Jesus fully knowing that Judas was going to betray Him and kill himself. and he just...lets it happen. like he's some sort of sacrificial scapegoat. it makes me so mad??

i could rant about this for hours but yea. i'll just leave this here. Dallas you have so much fking explaining to do. i dread watching this season...

[vro0m]

The whole situation is magnified by Merc's incompetent driver management, I hope they can realize thise problem during this non-championship-fight year and can solve it as soon as possible.

But one thing I will sure is George is having the route where Nico and Valtteri once had, Realizing you may not the fastest guy, a belief they held and was confirmed by countless single seater championships during their whole racing life, and he is trying too hard to tell the team he wasn't slow compared to Lewis, he is proving something he can't prove, which is distracting him driving him into error-prone.

Only Jenson accepted at very first time that Lewis is simply faster than him and he can't never beat him in speed wise a season, this self awareness make he not have these mental break down process and can beat Lewis sometimes by using his experience advantage. Like Alonso didn't accept rookie Lewis can match and beat him that he threw advantage as a more experienced driver and team number one driver status away and went into against team, forcing himself have to waste 2008-2009 in driving Renault in midfield.

I don't think by GR's personality he will accept it from any way, even Valtteri needed spend 5 years to finally admit the obvious fact , and i don't think he can pull a Nico 2016 bc at that time Nico was already realized he is slower, that's why he can put his whole career to have a final shoot.

I think the Lewis-George lineup will have a quite interesting and very different dynamic to all former lineup we saw with Lewis, and in the end is all down to how Mercedes manage George, bc from Lewis's side, whether is George or some else it doesn't matter, he only aims on one thing, while George does have a lot little mind, which is normal for drivers with his talent and ambition but yeah if is out of control it will cost a lot, not only for team ,but also for himself.

Yeah I disagree about a bunch of stuff there Anon. Tbh it should be obvious to you if you read my blog frequently but I'm still gonna answer because I have time to kill before I go on a walk.

Calling Mercedes' driver management incompetent is a bit much tbh. They have to find their balance and set limits and get to a place of understanding between all parties but it's not that bad right now. It's more a matter of making sure it doesn't escalate than it already been escalated.

I don't think George is realising he's not the faster guy or whatever you said because right now it's really not that clear cut that he is, or at least he's not that far off. I don't think he's making mistakes because he thinks he's slower than Lewis I think he's making mistakes because he's eager to race and win and he's eager to not find himself relegated to a second driver position. He's right to want to race and win and he's right to want to make sure he's fully taken into account by the team. Historically that has not always been the case for Lewis' teammates. Does that lead him to overdo it a bit sometimes at the moment? Maybe. Whether he is indeed slower or not, he doesn't think he is, for sure. He's even a bit arrogant about not thinking that he is, in my honest opinion.

Bringing up Jenson as an example of someone who accepted Lewis was faster is absolutely insane given he's one of three drivers who beat him in the same machinery in his F1 career, the two others obviously being Nico and George. There's a lot of specific context around all three of these seasons but saying Jenson didn't have a breakdown because he accepted he was slower is just wrong. Jenson didn't have breakdown because 1) he's more well-balanced mentally than 99% of F1 drivers and 2) Lewis was not driving well so it's really arguable whether he was faster than Jenson at the time, and if he really was it didn't matter in the end anyway because he still lost out to him. So Jenson didn't have to accept anything.

Also I'm not gonna repeat what I said in the previous 24 hours re: whether George can beat Lewis or not, you can just re-read these yourself. You can wish it not to be the case (like me) but the truth is none of us know what's to come. George is not Nico, and George is not Valtteri. And Lewis is not in the position he was when he was up against Nico or when he was partnering Valtteri. Where I agree with you is when you say it will be different than any other line-up we've seen. But then if that's the case, why do you start by saying George is in the same position Nico and Valtteri were? He's not. First and foremost because Lewis doesn't have the means to be as competitive as he can be right now, unlike when Nico and Valtteri were his teammates. It's an opportunity for George neither of them have had. Or maybe Nico during Lewis' first year at Merc. And Lewis ended that year only 19 points ahead of Nico, so the gap really wasn't that big.

I feel like you just don't like George, or alternatively you only or mostly like Lewis, so you underestimate him. I'm not interested in such discussions to be honest. I hope you don't take me disagreeing with you personally.

[aita-blorbos]

(Technically Canon Characters, but it's from an AU/Fanfic)

AITA For Showing a Dead face to a Guy?

So, I (14??M) am Dead, but am also somehow alive again. I'm like a Zombie basically. I don’t want to get too into everything, but keep in mind I was murdered, trapped in a golden bear suit I was murdered with and my murderer who's a ghost, and I have no memory of anything in my life besides my death.

I stick to hiding in the woods, because I don't want anyone seeing me. I don’t know what would happen if anyone saw me, but I know it wouldn't be good. Only one person knows about me, who I'll call G(15M). He's a bit fidgety and nervous all the time, but is overall nice and apparently knows a bit about ghosts.

One day I end up hearing a voice from a Junkyard calling for Help. When I go to investigate, I find a piece of metal with strange neon goo on it. Confused about it, I just decide to go ask G about it since I was 99% positive it was ghost related. I went to his apartment (Just yelling at him through his window... I am aware that was dumb), and he seemed confused as well. He ended up just suggesting to see if there was more and see if it made anything. I went back to the Junkyard and found more pieces with the goo on it, but ended up making a girl out of the garbage. I'm not sure why, but the goo seems to match with whatever I made since it looks like it's bleeding.

I go back to tell G this and offer to try taking a picture if he gives me a camera since he's still kinda confused, but when he comes down to hand me a camera, his Dad or something comes down with him! I'll call him D, since he's a Detective. You can probably see why I would freak out if I didn't want anyone else to see me, a Detective is one of the worst types of people to see me! It also makes it worse since D is apparently a huge skeptic of the Paranormal, unlike G. I get a bit upset at G for this, but as I try arguing with him, D steps in and says "I believe you should calm down, and not begin yelling at him over a mistake caused by your decisions", which, I guess he's right about that, but it still pissed me off.

G explains he just wants to ask me some questions, and was even willing to let me borrow his camera. I end up allowing him to, but I get quickly upset with the guy. D starts questioning the answers I gave him, which admittedly were kind of bad at the time and kind of lied (I was scared of admitting the truth about being dead), he gets upset and questions me for "destroying private property" of an old Junkyard gate, he even ended up following miles across the woods to get to the Junkyard to see the person of garbage I made because I didn't trust him enough to get in his car. Looking back, these aren't the worst things ever and make sense, but they just made me more agitated at the time.

We get to the person I made who's out of garbage, and, before I can take a picture of it, he snatches the camera out of my hands. D ends up apologizing, but says he can't let me take a picture of it. Apparently some horrible incident happened where a Girl, S, was reported to be seen turning into garbage before going missing, and the person I made with junk looks pretty similar to her. Now, I had no idea this ever happened, I've literally been in the woods hiding for weeks, so I get defensive, thinking he's going to blame me for this. He ends up saying something snarky about how he doubts I haven't heard anything about it, since this incident was a pretty big deal around here, which I said was where I "probably" lived, so I admitted to lying.

D just sternly asks why I lied, and I explain it was because I thought he would see me as crazy if I said I was dead. Then, he just says G told him that already, and that he felt like there were larger issues to address than that. We begin arguing, then he says "I think you're a liar. I do not believe you're insane, or 'crazy', or even a sane person who only happens to believe something absurd, I simply think you're lying, and wear this suit for reasons I don't fully understand. I also believe this...body could possibly be some sick joke to make fun of this missing girl, and, frankly, your attitude towards me and others is starting to get on my nerves."

This was my tipping point, so I end up yanking my bear suit open to show my rotting face. D just stares at me terrified and too stunned to say anything, so I cover my face again and just say "Fuck you" before walking a few feet away and sulking on the ground. D ends up apologizing to me, genuinely apologizing, and promises to leave me alone like I wanted. I don’t apologize. I don’t know why I didn't. I felt bad for doing that, but I also felt too stubborn to? I don't know, my brain just feels confused right now. I feel like I already know the answer to this question, but I might as well ask it since I can't ask anyone else.

AITA?

EDIT: Ok apparently the junk person I made was S after all somehow. I don’t know how that even happened to her, but I guess that adds to D's point about it looking eerily similar (Since it was her.)

[akihabaradivision]

ARB Birthday Special: Nikki Yoshie

~~ May 13th ~~

"Games have so much freedom. You can go anywhere you want."

Login Lines:

"A click here, a click there, and... done. I now control over 99% of the finances from Norinchukin Bank here in Tokyo. Now then, send and... transfer complete. You're welcome, Diabla. ...Hmm? An email? Probably just another subscription. ...Wait. It says... 'Happy Birthday, Nikki.'"

"...Oh right. Today is my birthday, isn't it? ...Peh, not that I really care, to be honest. It's just another day, to be honest. ...But I guess I may as well make an effort to be joyful."

Voice Lines:

"I've gotten a lot of emails and text from my friends and fans wishing me a 'happy birthday'. I question how most of these people have gotten my number, but I suppose that's what happens when you're famous, I guess. Still, it's kind of ironic that so many people like me now when they didn't give a crap about me when I was younger.

"My mom and dad called. They both wished me a 'happy birthday', which was nice, I guess. They asked if I wanted to go out today, but I told them it was fine since I know they both have work. They still sent me some cash and paid off my rent for the next month. I keep telling them they don't have to do that, but... well, it keeps cash in my pockets, I guess."

"I called my younger brother after I was done speaking with my parents. He was glad to hear from me. I asked him how things were at his school, but... he didn't elaborate, which is a sure sign that he's still having problems there. I may have to call in one of those favors that Scorpion Den owes me and find out who it is exactly that's giving him so many problems."

"Keiko? What are you doing here? ...I just figured you'd be too busy with your manga and schoolwork to visit. ...Let me stop you right there: if this is another attempt at trying to get me to join university, then the answer is 'no', it will be 'no' again the next time you ask, and any other time after that. ...Whatever. Did you come all the way here on my birthday to say that?"

"A gift from you? I shudder to imagine what it is. ...What the heck are these? Workout bands? Keiko, in what universe would make you think... ...Uh-huh. Fine, I'll take them, but don't count on me using these things, or not giving them away the next chance I get. ...Blame yourself for giving me a crappy gift."

"Hmm? Oh, hey Criss. What are you...? ...Criss, you have exactly three seconds to let go of me before I hurt you. One... two... thr... I don't care how long we've known each other. If you know me so well, then you also know full well that I don't like being touched, not by anyone. ...Yes, I'm quite fine with being a 'meanie'. Now, if there's nothing else..."

"Oh, a present? Gee, what could it be? ...Oh, a... a handheld retro arcade machine? Hmm... well, I do enjoy playing old games some of the times, I'll admit. ...Yes. Yes, I do like it. A lot. Thank you, Criss. Really, this is... this is nice. I'll definitely use it. ...Criss, I said I don't..." *Sighs* "Fine, you can get one hug. No more, understand? ...Okay, that's enough. Now, let go."

Keiko Lines:

"Hey Nikki, happy birthday. ...I put my work on my manga on hold for a bit. And as for my schoolwork, I already completed it. You know, speaking of schoolwork, have you given any thought to..." *Sighs* "Fine, but I'm telling you: you are wasting your life away by not taking advantage of this opportunity. Someone with your smarts could do a lot at school."

"Anyway, here. Happy birthday. ...They're workout bands. Now before you start complaining, hear me out first. You probably don't know this or care, but sitting for long periods of time in the same position can give you very bad hip and back issues. If you do, at least, ten minutes of hip flexor exercises with these bands, they'll eliminate most standard gaming-induced hip and back pain. ...Look, just try them out once, okay? ...You'd sell a gift that I went out of my way to get you? Why am I not surprised, Nikki?"

Criss Lines:

"Nikki! Happy birthday! ...Come on, let me hug you a bit longer! ...Okay, okay, fine! Sheesh, we've known each other for a long time, Nikki. You should be used... Ugh, you're such a meanie, Nikki! Anyway, happy birthday! Yeah, I noticed before you seemed upset cause one of your favorite sites where you play arcade games was shut down, so I bought this. ...Aww, no problem, Nikki! I'm glad you like it! ...Yay! Hugs!"

[liliavalley]

whats ur hot take currently?

the beginning of s4 e5 tried to set up something with Pigsy and MK and their family dynamic by doing that little "Pigsy's my dad!" "Uh, kid? I'm not exactly your-uhh.." funny haha line about meeting their (jttw/biological) ancestors and Mei thinking MK and SWK are bio related therefore he would see SWK in the scroll. Logically, I'm 99% sure I know what the joke was trying to do. MK says Pigsy's his dad because he was getting annoyed with Mei for calling SWK his dad, and because the context of the scene is jttw/bio ancestors, Pigsy most likely responds the way he does because clearly, he and MK are not bio related and would not have the same ancestor. I don't know why Pigsy would have misinterpreted MK as calling them bio related, but the show jumps between MK acting a little dumb and actually being a little dumb, so other characters can get in their comical "MK.... what a dummy" groan. But here's the thing. To me on first, second, and third watch, it just came off as an "adopted = not your real dad" joke. (Which is really unfortunate, because s4 e4 ended with Pigsy regaining his conscience through a flash flood of memories, all including MK.) And if I'm meant to take it that way, coupled with something Pigsy says at the end of the season, (which I will Get To.) then am I expected to believe that Pigsy -- who the lmk crew in s3 made a point of showing that he gave MK his jacket off-screen because his sweater got ruined -- would have cold feet about calling MK his son? "that's my boy!!" Pigsy? s2 finale "What could have been so important that you leave MK alone to face that-that thing? You're supposed to be his mentor!" Pigsy? pilot episode MK-death-fakeout, "I could have- I SHOULD have protected MK!" Pigsy?

I'll die for them but I think the show was trying to set up some depth for their dynamic through the topic of family, and that is something that they did not have the groundwork for, simply because they decided to wait until season 4 to actually confirm that Pigsy took MK in and raised him as his own. Which, in fairness, may have very well been why they did this set up in the first place! To bring in that depth that they didn't cover before. But, because they couldn't commit early, they didn't have any time left to set anything up properly.

And the thing is, they didn't even really do anything with it either. The joke was just a joke for the audience. MK didn't react to it negatively, he didn't react to it at all. You'd think it would cause a bit of tension. Maybe even result in an tearful argument between the two, maybe MK would wonder aloud if Pigsy ever thought of him as his son. But Pigsy's hesitance is merely foreshadowing to MK finding out he was born from the stone and therefore doesn't have a "real family" (ancestral lineage). And he has a breakdown later, but it's just a secondary issue to his main problem, that being born from the stone means it's one more thing that makes him like SWK, means it's one more thing that could mean he'll make all of SWK's past mistakes/cause even more damage than he did. Despite MK yelling out "I don't have a family", it wasn't really about him and Pigsy. It clearly cuts Pigsy deep, but it's not brought up again until the brief reunion hug they have after retreating from Azure. Which... oh boy.

Pigsy calls MK his son, and emphasizes it heavily. There are two ways to interpret this. Number one is positive, that we were always supposed to have seen Pigsy and MK as father and son, and that it's just a special reassurance because he knows MK was going through it earlier? To make sure he knows he's not alone despite his worries. That is logical. That is safe.

Number two, is... Well, if we're to go off of the beginning of s4 e5, take Pigsy's hesitance to heart, are we supposed to believe it's possibly Pigsy's first time calling MK his son? Because the latter seems to be what quite a few people took from that scene, and if that's the case then it just feels so completely inconsistent with the rest of the show (See again: paragraph 2 examples)

hope all that wasn't completely incoherent but yeah current hot take is that I think lmk writers fumbled the ball trying to give my favourite family dynamic some depth though something that may or may not have been a Not Your Real Dad moment and then never properly talking about it because episodes are only 10 minutes long and they desperately needed to include a macaque version of that tutorial game episode. Hopefully s5 let's the character backstories shine but considering it's an action show, it's so fast paced, and the things that are yet to come, I doubt much more will be done with them so soon.

my real hot take is that they shouldn't have made him embarrassed about his stomach being out. s4 e4 was literally his hottest look i can't believe they took that from me.

[myalchod]

Hello, my darling giftee!💙 How have you been?

I have a feeling you’d be glad to hear that your answer to my previous question brought tears to my eyes. Honestly, I can’t stop thinking about “The five stages of grief”.

Today I’d love to hear about your most favorite tropes and headcanons for Farah and Saul(but you have to pick only one for each and one for them as a pair,not necessarily romantic)

Always yours,

you *relatively soon* know who💌

Oh my goddddddddddd, HEX anon, I adore you and I hate you so much for this ask. Because one each?! Do you have any idea how hard decisions are for me in the best of circumstances? This is cruelty!

(Given how much I screamed at this ask, I am going to enjoy that my responses gave you pain last time. It seems only fair with how much I suffered in trying to address this. I'm glad "the five stages of grief" got you -- that ending remains firmly lodged in my head and will not get out, so it seems only fair to share it!)

Anyway. Headcanons. I don't promise I succeeded at single choices because it gets blurry, but I tried! I also don't know that they're most favourite because that's like picking your favourite fluffy beast from a pile of adorable snuggly kittens and puppies, but let's call them among my favourites?

Farah: I know there's a good part of fandom that loves Mama Farah, literal or figurative, but in my head she never wanted children, and some days the idea that she is positioned as a mother figure to an entire school of teenagers makes her want to scream as much as it makes her want to laugh. It's one more part of the complicated equation that adds up to her finding distance easier. (She's always been socially awkward, and it just got worse with everything, but the lack of maternal impulses isn't just the product of how she was raised. Doesn't mean she won't get ferally protective when it comes to her charges, just ... not that way.)

Saul: Inverting the above, Saul does have paternal instincts, but he's suppressed the ever-loving shit out of them because he doesn't feel like he deserves to have them. He's living a life he stole, and while I don't see him as particularly competitive, the idea that he hasn't earned what he's been given has absolutely embedded itself into his psyche and is a constant background noise. As much as Farah may have lived their sixteen years after Aster Dell trying to not be Rosalind, Saul lived them trying to be Andreas -- not the actual man, but the idealised version he built in his head and raised Sky with stories of. (Sixteen years of "what would Andreas do" that only become "what would Farah do" when she is gone and Andreas is back, and damned if that doesn't rub salt into all of his wounds. The ghosts are real.)

Silrah: Regardless of whether one reads them as romantic or platonic, I headcanon an incredibly strong bond between them (literally and/or figuratively) -- there's a foundation of friendshp and familiarity through the years that underscores all of their interactions and that's where everything else builds from. Both of them are terrible at trust, including trusting themselves, but they trust each other -- to the point that Saul is Farah's moral centre (irony not lost here), and she is perhaps his cause (not entirely sure how to phrase that; it's less solid in my head).

tl;dr my blorbos are oblivous idiots and I love them for it and I have headcanons for days even if they're 99% incoherent screaming? I hope this helps you, anyway! It didn't help me in the least. 😭 I'm just going to be a mess of unexpected feels and useless thoughts over here for the rest of the night.