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nexus-nebulae · 1 year

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whenever i see hollow knight theorists talk about the grubs i almost never see anyone mention certain things that i always think about so i'm just gonna infodump and see if these theories make any sense? I'm going to be such a nerd about taxonomy and real-life bugs. also note that i haven't genuinely studied this shit in school, i am running purely on wikipedia and Autism™

First things first: they're grubs. They're larvae. They're not finished growing, and as we see from the charm they give, they metamorphose into some form of flying being. It's not clear what, but if the Elegy charm in any way resembles what a Grubberfly actually looks like, then they would seem to have multiple wings and a thick, tapered body (with no apparent legs). We also know that the process of being eaten by the Grubfather involves some form of metamorphosis- either of the Grubs, or even the Grubfather itself. You can even hear them making noise within Grubfather, meaning they're not dead (yet. we don't know if they Will Be Eventually).

most of the time "grub" refers to beetle larvae, but... moth larvae can look pretty similar. grubs and caterpillars are often mistaken for one another. the main thing that gets me is the legs- the legs of the caterpillar are typically a lot thicker and better for movement. whereas most grubs have thinner, typically segmented legs and often can barely even move around with them. We see the grubs in hallownest with relatively thick legs- most other bugs in hallownest just get black lines for legs- and they're able to move incredibly freely.

Now- there's a lot of types of bugs in hallownest, which means a large variety of larval stages. We've got moths, obviously, which are caterpillars. We've got mantises, which have no larval stage and instead hatch directly into nymphs (So, the Mantis Youth enemy is likely a nymph). Baldurs are like woodlice, or isopods, meaning intstead of larvae they have manca, which essentially look just like tiny versions of the adult (e.g., the regular Baldur compared to the Elder Baldur). Bee larvae are simple white grubs, which are typically sealed inside of the surrounding honeycomb until they metamorphose. Spiders hatch as spiderlings, which we see plenty of in-game (and, before the Lifeblood update, Deeplings would even actually pop out of eggs when broken).

We have flukes, which seem to moreso resemble maggots, or fly larvae. The tiny flukes we see at the entrance to Flukemarm are clearly the youngest of the larvae (despite the Flukefey being labeled as such in the Hunter's Journal- the larvae in the walls aren't considered an enemy type in the Journal, however, so were likely not considered). Despite the fact that the Flukes more often resemble worms, we know they are not, as some varieties have legs or wings. Annelids (true worms, like earthworms, leeches, etc) never have legs, much less wings. Meaning the flukes are most likely arthropods, and thus most likely are something close to flies.

And then we have creatures that are in completely different phylums to arthropods, such as the jellyfish (cniderians), snails and slugs (molluscs), and mushrooms (fungi. not even in the animalia kingdom).

But by far the most common type of bug in Hallownest are beetles. Beetles are some of the most diverse insects on the planet even in real life, and in Hallownest it's no exception. We see plenty of beetles based on real life- Dung Defender being a dung beetle, the Nailsmith being a rhinoceros beetle, Willoh being a giraffe weevil. Most other insects in hallownest mostly resemble beetles than other insects, with hard, plated shells and often visible elytra (the hard shell casing that covers the wings). Because beetles are so abundant, and because most other insect species in the game tend to keep within their own separated groups, "grub" most likely became the colloquial form of "baby" within Hallownest. Therefore, these Grubs might not even be grubs at all, but another form of insect larvae that was labeled as grub due to its similarity to beetle young.

We never see any direct inclusions of the young of the Moth Tribe nor the various beetles found around hallownest. There is only a single known caterpillar seen in-game, and that is Marmu. It is not known if she is connected to the Moth Tribe or not, however Marmu's design was based on a Puss Moth caterpillar, of which the real-world equivalent grow up to be similarly fluffy moths to the ones seen in the Moth Tribe. The visual similarity between Marmu and the Grubs is striking- and they even sound remarkably similar, meaning they could be of related species.

Now, back to actual Hollow Knight Lore™:

We know that the Collector is definitely related to the Kingsmoulds, as they are both made of void and have the same body template. All Moulds were made as servants to the king, and do not seem to have their own motivations or interests. The Collector, however, definitely has a personality, ranting and raving about how much it loves the Grubs.

The corpse holding the Love Key in Queen's Gardens is a Husk Dandy, or one of the high elite of Hallownest. It was clearly a high-ranking member of society, and may have had some connections with Lurien, or even the Pale King himself. The Tower of Love was most likely this Dandy's tower, and it was likely the one who began the collection of grubs, with the Collector as some form of assistant (thank you mossbag for this one).

Now, the Dandy's Dream Nail dialogue says "Too long spent together... we become as one...". This, paired with the black streaks around the Dandy's eyes as well as the Void particles seen around the corpse, leads most people to assume that the Collector being made of Void somehow started to physically affect the Dandy, leading to its death. But what if it weren't simply one-way? What if, somehow, the Collector started to mirror the Dandy- if the Dandy was enthusiastic enough about its work, then the Collector may have become obsessed as well due to this.

We also know that the Pale King was attempting to snuff out almost everything he could about the Radiance. The Moth Tribe were apparently born from the Radiance, either metaphorically or literally. While the Moth Tribe did reject the Radiance and follow the Pale King, some moths still chose to remember their old god, until, according to the seer, "all of Hallownest began to dream of that forgotten light". Somehow, this hushed worship of the Radiance could have led to the infection taking hold in the world.

From what I could find, it was not entirely clear if any of the Void experiments began before or after the beginning of the Infection. The Collector could have been created any time in between the creation of Hallownest to its fall- it could be an early, perhaps unfinished form of a Kingsmould- it could be a typical Kingsmould that was altered in some way- it could be a late, more adavnced form of Kingsmould with traits unlike the other more typical Kingsmoulds (for example, it has a voice, where seemingly no other Void being does whatsoever).

Another thing to note- it's not made clear what kind of power exactly the Elegy charm draws from. Because of the Grubsong charm's connection to Soul, one might assume it is also Soul energy, however the slash doesn't draw from the Knight's Soul meter and any charms that directly affect spells or Soul use (other than Grubsong) don't have any sort of affect on the Elegy charm when equipped together.

So, my theory:

The Grubs are actually caterpillars, created by the Radiance in her return to Hallownest. The Pale King, or someone underneath him, noticed the appearance of these bugs and decided to study them- that, or they already knew of the bugs' connection to the moths and thus decided to trap them. The Dandy was the one in charge of this, the head researcher who collected and researched them. The Collector was a Kingsmould gifted to the Dandy by Lurien (or even the Pale King himself) to help with research- and perhaps, if they knew about the Radiance connection, also as a form of extra security (The vessels were Void beings created to contain the Radiance. The Collector is a Void being who obsessively contains Grubs. There's a reflection there). The Collector may have even specifically been granted a voice in order to be able to communicate with the Dandy.

Over time, the Dandy and the Collector being around each other so much caused them to start to become one. Not just in the Dandy becoming somehow infected with Void, but also in the Collector's obsession with the Grubs. This ultimately led to the Dandy locking the Collector in the Tower of Love and attempting to run away with the key before succumbing to the Void in the Queen's Gardens.

Being an experiment specifically created by the Pale King and his court, the Collector likely had some form of "programming" by the court to complete its intended tasks. Unlike the Kingsmoulds' simple programming to Defend the Pale King, instead the Collector's would have been to collect or trap bugs. It could have even been the case that the Collector was the Dandy's field agent- going to collect the Grubs itself so as to not put the Dandy in danger. We can even see this in its attacks- it doesn't necessarily slash at you, but instead makes a grabbing motion. Perhaps the Collector was programmed to Contain and Protect, with protect applying both to the Dandy and the collected specimens (a dead grub is no use for research, now is it?). However, now there seems to be some sort of bug in the programming (pun not intended) where the Collector doesn't seem to distinguish between what it should or shouldn't collect- we see bottles of Vengeflies and Aspids and Baldurs, and even the player's Shade, but these are only ever found within the Tower of Love where the Collector is locked away. It's likely it was the Dandy's orders that told the Collector exactly what to collect, and without those it simply overdoes its programmed task.

Unfortunately, the Knight eventually comes along and destroys the entire operation before we can find out the real truths regarding the Grubs. Hopefully the Grubberflies aren't actually tiny Radiances.

#hollow knight #hollow knight theory #if you have 'shorten long posts' turned off i am so so sorry for this #that moment when you initially go to make a two-sentence post and accidentally write a multi-page essay instead-#i wanted to just post my little theory but then i actually thought about putting Research and Effort into it (something i rarely do lmao)#hollow knight and minecraft are the only two games that make me so autistic i research real-world science related to them #they are my favourite games in existence and i love them so much #side note i know this is probably a Very Very Wrong theory #i know game devs never put as much time or thought into game lore as an autistic guy with special interests who tears that lore apart lmao #but it's fun to come up with ideas especially when those ideas make the puzzle seem to fit together just a little more neatly #i don't have any confidence I'm right I just like to come up with ideas #feel free to comment theories and ideas too theorizing is nothing without discussion and debate #greatest hits

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ecoamerica · 1 month

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rainbow-string-tied-me-to-you · 26 days

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Down Bad has to be about HS

'cause like this:

points to this basically Taylor feeling she's being played by Harry. Kind of like this:

and then like this:

just reminds me of all the young love imagery that Taylor used in a lot of songs that is inspired with her relationship with Harry, which some are the cardigan, betty, august, and suburban legends. Also, the next part of that lyric:

reminds me of this part in Is it Over Now?

Also, this part of Down Bad reminds me of Cardigan and Hits Different:

For me, it also parallels Slut! and the part where she thinks it's worth it to be called horrible things if she gets to be with him. It parallels in the way that she gets called crazy for still talking about him and that she gets called sexist slurs just for dating him. Like, in the end, it makes her look bad to others.

Now this just reminds me of her basically just being "down bad" or deeply in love. Like some:

You know just to name a few songs lmao

This part just reminds me of their actual encounters in Grammys. Like come on, if you're a haylor during these moments, then you know what I mean. There's tension there, nervousness, the smiles, the trying to hype yourself up before coming over to talk to them. Ifykyk.

It can also be about their "greatest unspoken dialogue ever." Like even if haylors theorize what all these "dialogues" mean, it would always just come back to it's their conversation, their encounters, their world.

Now, this one is the part where people thinks this is the reason why this is not about Harry, and more leaning to MH (Not gonna lie I did too but I just think there's more "facts" leaning into Harry more than MH), because that man has just the worst history or something. But the things is I interpreted this part as more like the "indecent exposures" being like his dating history and being known as a "ladies' man" and dating older women. But I dunno lmao. I'm not that exposed to Harry's life but I do know that mans is not a saint and is involved with issues and sht.

Lastly, we have this, which just slapping you in the face that it alludes to new romantics:

But it also like more subtly also points to basically every song lyrics that I added here, where it' basically her being so in love with him that she can't move on from him and what they had, which is why she's down bad.

#haylor #disclaimer: this is me clowning #Down Bad #ttpd #I still think this is about Harry since the melody also reminds me a lot of Slut! like their the same to me #but I'm more like 80:20 regarding this with the 80 being sure that this is about HS

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bronx-bomber87 · 6 months

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Happy Weekend everyone :) Exciting we got some BTS I can't wait for the first promo for the premiere. When we get our first crumb and we can all lose our collective minds. Ha Till then we are hitting another fav episode of mine. The one where really it’s Tim and Lucy on a date. Chris and Ashley just happen to be there. So many reasons I love this episode from the date to the work stuff it's all very good. Off we go.

4x12 The Knock

Our couple actually gets the cold open. They’re headed to the beach for a call. Lucy mentions how it sucks to be on the beach but not be able to enjoy it. That she can’t dive into the water. Tim is more than happy to stay away from the water and the beach. Forgetting he’s dating a lifeguard….(Sure he would love the ocean more if a wet Lucy Chen was in it) Lucy giving him crap saying how on brand this is for him. To hate one of natures greatest gifts lmao God I'll always love how she speaks her mind around him. Especially in S4. It's glorious.

Tim corrects her and says it’s the ocean not the beach he hates. Lucy can’t help but get into psychology mode. Telling him a fear of the ocean is related to not being in complete control of his environment. I mean that’s pretty damn spot on for Tim. We know what a control freak this man is over everything. (I can relate. heh) Tells him good luck dating a lifeguard LOL So much sass so early in their shift. Tim’s reactions through out this portion above are too funny.

Throwing his hands up and shaking his head at her analysis of him. Not fighting it BTW. Progress ha He used to be so anti-psych before her. Lucy can’t help but psychoanalyze him. Not only for the water but for Ashley let’s be honest. This flirty sass is only the beginning with this episode. Never be over how very vocal Lucy is about Ashley. Literally giving Tim breadcrumbs all over the place she’s not right for him. Also that she is not a fan. None of us are Lucy...

They make their way to Ashley. Saying she wasn’t expecting them to send their best. And hottest. (I mean she's not wrong. They both fine af.) Lucy is not about this flirt fest. So very transparent my friend haha Awkwardly does a *ahem* Trying to get Ashley to direct them to why she called. Asking where is the thing she called about? Tim can’t let it go when they’re walking towards it.

‘Did you hear her say the hottest?’ Wants so badly for Lucy to recognize he’s attractive. Trust me babe she knows. Painfully aware of it really. Something she has to consistently push down in your flirty moments. I bet you that look she gives in 5x12 was everything for him. When she was shamelessly checking him out. The validation he had been chasing forever. Part of him that just needs to know she finds him attractive. Oh Timothy. She does that’s part of the problem for her especially this season haha They’re walked up to a severed hand. Eww.

Tim’s point about the ocean being proven in this moment. Ashley is just standing there while they bicker like a married couple haha Which is basically this entire episode honestly. Really this season but there is a heavy emphasis on it in this one. Tim asking her if she wants to go in now? Such a shit. I love him so much. Lucy being the exasperated one this time lmao. Look at her reaction above. Annoyed wife status. Idk how Ashley could be around them and not wonder if Tim was in love with Lucy? SMH. Third wheel in her own relationship when Lucy is around. Another theme of this episode.

Tim comes up after Lucy is done talking to Chris. They were theorizing what the story behind the hand could be. He takes off and Tim immediately notices ‘the look’ and he comments on it. Asking her what’s that look? Lucy is defensive and says 'Nothing.... What?' It’s here we see jealous Tim emerge. Welcome sir please stay awhile. Noting she wanted to strangle Chris last week. Now she’s sweet on him?

Lucy can’t help but give him grief for his old school verbiage. Haha He’s the old dude from UP time and time again. I mean this scene really is just Tim speak for jealous. He doesn't like Chris. Never has never will. Lucy deflects said jealously into making fun of him. Tim not even trying to hide how he feels about this situation. Liked it better where she wanted to strangle Chris. He knows that look and isn’t exactly excited about it.

Ashley comes up saying she’s all done with her paperwork. Asking if he has any plans tonight? Tim tells her no. She goes on to tell him her friend won 4 raffle tickets to a fancy dinner thing. Tim being skeptical asks what that entails? She tells him it’s called OSIA. Lucy’s interest is now piqued. Ashley continues on to say it’s a beach pop up. 12 fusion meals and wine pairings.

You can see Tim doesn’t look excited. He tells her he’ll have to think about it. Ashley asks him what there to think about? Lucy jumps right in cause well it’s Lucy. Saying the control freak in him doesn’t like to try new things. (Well he does just not with you Ashley...) You're not the one he's going to jump off cliffs for. Cause well. You know. The vapid quality you bring to this whole thing… Seriously how is Ashley not constantly threatened by Lucy? Tim gets defensive and says he’s not a control freak. Ok honey…..Lucy is enjoying this so very much. Look at her above. Challenging him to proof he is not.

Tim changes his tune and says he would be happy to go to her fancy dinner thing. Funny Tim was a hard no till Lucy called him out. If I was Ashley I would be thinking it was weird Tim only said yes to spite Lucy but ok LOL Honestly the control freak in him to control this moment by saying yes haha My god Timothy. To show Lucy he's not one if he goes. Not the reason to go to a fancy place with your GF. To show up your ‘platonic aide.' but you do you Tim.

They return to the station and Tim gets a phone call. It’s Ashley saying her friend bailed on dinner. She starts suggesting another friend and Tim looks at Lucy. Knowing if he has to do this dinner thing he at least wants her there. Not some random other couple if he can help it. Unconsciously reaching for his safe space in this instance. I.e. Lucy. So he casually says Lucy been pining after that place all day. Lucy TOUCHES his forearm during her excitement.

If a gif could sum up their dynamic/personality in one moment it would be this one one. Heh Her excitement and his need for her to chill on said excitement. Sunshine x Grumpy at its finest. Tim then makes the biggest mistake ever. (He just doesn’t realize it yet…) Spots Chris and tells him Lucy needs a date to a fancy dinner. Oh my love you’re going to live to regret this one. Saw a funny post about this moment. 'Congratulations you just played yourself.' HA It's true though... Does his fake Chris smile to get him to come with.

So desperate to have her there with him he invites Chris. Someone he can't stand. You're a hot mess Timothy. I love you. The clown agrees to said dinner while Lucy stands there and watches this all unfold. She is stunned into silence mostly lol Tim gets off the phone and says’What? Don't be such a control freak.’ The shade Tim the absolute shade. Who is this man? Also let’s note they’re doing a work flirt inside this ‘double date’ before it even begins. Only these two…

So begins the date where a third and fourth wheel called Chris and Ashley just happen to be there for the ride. Really this entire portion is just one giant display of their bond. I love it so much. We get to see their exquisite connection front and center. That seamless flow of theirs and how they lean on one another naturally. Tim starts out real strong saying how he doesn’t understand why a restaurant would be on a beach? Oh my grumpy old man. Lucy isn't phased by this but Ashley is. Their first course arrives and Tim looks so very confused as their server explains it.

This is their first married moment of the night. Tim asking if any of that was English? Lucy steps in. Says she can translate for him. All he needs to know is it’s made of mushroom. Which she knows isn’t his favorite. She knows his various likes and dislikes. Because of course she does. This is her work husband after all. Lucy knows all the things. It’s the way she naturally leans over and he tells her to take it. He leans back and lets her snatch it up. I have a feeling this isn’t the first time this has happened during a meal. They’ve just never had an audience before. This is touching on our 'you know me so well. too well.' OTP moment.

I love him just letting her eat off his plate. Like it ain’t no thang... Just a normal day. Nothing to see here people. Totally normal platonic partners right here. It’s Ashley’s face while Lucy does this that makes me laugh. She is picking up on a vibe so hard. It’s written all over her face. Then there is clueless Chris to her left. Not noticing the dynamic between them. He is a wet match in a damp cave folks. Ashley however is picking up on it right away. You’d have to be blind not to or be Chris at this point LMAO Ashley feeling every bit the third wheel. Says she didn’t know he didn’t like mushrooms? Tim tells her it’s ok. (it's ok cause his wife knows…)

Chris brings up he’s not much of an adventurous eater. But did have curry goat one time in Jamaica. This prompts Tim to come up with a story about Lucy. Because he’s on a date with her and not Ashley right? Tim starting off with ‘Was his name Gerald?’ It’s the way he’s looking right at her when he says this. It’s so cute. They're like a couple on their honeymoon swapping stories with a couple they just met. Lucy trying to stop her enthusiastic husband from embarrassing them by sharing too much.

Tim could not be more adorable with how excited he is to tell this story. Look how animated he is above. Only Lucy brings this side out of him. Let's also note how how his eyes basically never leave her face. Lucy’s sheepish ‘god shut up don’t....’ Trying to cut Tim off from telling this story. Married moment number two coming right up. It's the way she's reacting that is so precious.

A wife trying to stop her husband from embarrassing her with a story. This scene is just so damn endearing. It's a testament to the seamless flow that is them. That bond no one seems to really understand but them. The inside jokes and how they’re finishing each other sentences. That lovely ebb and flow they have. If you didn’t know the context of this scene you’d think they were the ones in a relationship.

They're behaving in a manner that strongly resembles a married couple. The fact that it's in front of their dates tickles me pink. They’re basically screaming their feelings in this moment through this story. The looks they give each other while the other is talking. *heart clutch* The smiles and looks of love. Chris and Ashley's reactions are what make the situation so amusing. Like two outsiders looking into a world they don’t understand. At all. They don't speak the language and it shows.

They get so lost in each other and in this story. They don’t pick up on the vibes across the table. Ashley being confused and threatened. Chris being well clueless and pretending he knows what’s going on. How either of could watch this chemistry filled display and not walk away from the table is beyond me. Their dates are on a date with each other right now. They just don’t realize it.

What's being depicted here is their profound bond, their history, the looks, the touches and laughter. They barely look at their dates towards the end of the story. If you needed a 'Tell me your ship is married without telling me they are?' This is that in spades. Look at the way they are smiling, laughing and looking at each other toward the end of this story. He is sporting his Lucy smile in the gifs above.

Never smiles for anyone the way he does for her. His heart reaching his eyes and lips just for his girl. Tim is so damn pleased with himself for teasing her. Sheer joy out of telling an embarrassing story involving her. Straight flirting right in front of their dates. Tim is so in love with her in this moment. I mean the man took a small comment from Chris and turned it into as story about Lucy. One from a long time ago no less. Nothing soulmate like at all about this behavior.

Look at these two in these final gifs. All heart eyes, smiles, and giggling. That Tim smile loud and proud. They're like two idiots in love who can’t help but project that love to everyone around them. Haven't torn their eyes from one another. They’ve completely forgotten the others at the table. Faded into their own flirty world. I know some people said they felt second-hand embarrassment. I didn’t I LOVED seeing this. I love her laughter feeding off his amusement asking 'Why?' Him replying 'It's funny.' laughing with her. It was only funny to them LOL I’m dying it’s so good.

Ashley is not pleased. Can’t say I blame her. Lucy is bringing out a side that is foreign to her. What happens when you're blah and bring nothing to a relationship. You get second hand Tim. To me this episode is as just one step closer to showing they’re supposed to be together. Shows the depth of their bond at this point. That magnetic draw they have to one another even with others around. Even when those people are the ones they’re supposedly on a date with. They're oozing cute newlywed vibes here and I was so happy to watch it.

We return to them now having a spirited debate about experimenting on the dead. It's stemming from the case they're working on. A mad man has been taking severed limbs trying to reanimate them. Married moments 3 and 4 are arriving at the station. It’s the fact that their bodies are now pointed at each other. Effectively shutting out the others at the table. Ashley inserts herself back into the convo finally getting them to break of from one another. (Seriously Ashley all the signs were there. Should cut this off after this dinner alone.)

She asks Tim if he hasn’t volunteered to be an organ donor then? Lucy answers for him cause wifey knows the answer. Telling Ashley all about it. How he wants his ashes spread over Dodger field LOL I love her knowing this detail. It’s one thing to know someone’s dislikes in food. It’s another to know info like this. Lucy knows him like the back of her hand. He didn’t even care she answered for him. Tim could not be cuter saying his ashes would mess up the PH of the grass. LMFAO. I love this man sfm everyone I really do. Lucy replying like only a wife would.

Making fun of him for calling in the first place. I love these two so much. Also adore how relaxed and comfortable Tim is. His body still pointed towards Lucy. You know she is the reason he’s so relaxed. Why he is having fun. It's because his person is there. Bringing out the best in him. Making jabs and bantering back and forth with him. Chris awkwardly adds in ‘I like the dodgers…’ I’m rolling. No one cares little dude. Tim going back to being a little reserved with his ‘Yeah..’ reply. Tim makes one last jab at the food. How ridiculous it is. Ashley gets up from the table and Tim tries to apologize but she’s out out there.

The next day they’re sent to the county morgue. The guy who’s been working on dead people has been linked to here. They figured out he was using the morgue for his experiments. Because it’s for people who aren’t identified and get buried by the state. Pretty sad but right up this deranged guy's ally. Once they arrive they see blood on the floor. Follow it to where they find him hold up in a room. Trying to get more body parts.

This next section is a lesson in how not to have any personal space by Tim and Lucy. Also how far they’ve come professionally with this moment. Chester the crazy person has a room of people hostage. Tim takes off his body cam and slides it into the room. Opens his phone and makes his way back to Lucy.

Tim asks her what their options are? I LOVE Tim trusting Lucy’s instincts. Asking for them instead of testing them. This scene is so intimate. From their soft voices to way he guides her into place. Places his hand on her lower back and she trust him to do so. Then takes a glance at his phone. Talking out her options with him. Adore how they're so in sync in this scene. How they move together. Gets me right in the feels.

I saw a post (link inside that) awhile ago about how Eric and Melissa took them standing together to another level. How they took the initiative to be like 'Hmm the fans would love this.' So they made it this intimate moment we all know and love. I adore them doing this kind of stuff. Knowing it’ll drive the fans crazy in the best way. Gah the way he’s intensely looking at her as she processes her thoughts. Like a proud husband waiting for her to make her call. This moment shows they have the same amount of chemistry inside their job as they do outside of it. Nothing changes. This scene was *fans self*

Tim waiting for her to make her decision. Knowing she going to make the right one. His trust in her implicit at this point. The silent communication going on here is out of this world. Also look at this man’s jawline. Could cut glass on that thing. Peppered with stubble too. Yum Tum. Thought we made it through a review without me ogling Tim didn’t you? You're welcome. Lucy comes up with a bad ass plan where no one gets hurt. Tim blinding him with his flashlight. Chester erratically shoots at it. Lucy takes him out with her taser with him distracted. They arrest Chester and save the hostages. BAMF'S

Lucy is leaving the station when the clown catches her. Chris telling her he wasn’t really feeling last night. Yeah cause she was on a date with Tim not you… (You'll never compare but sure go ahead putz.) Lucy apologizing to him. Saying her and Tim spend so much time together. They just have a shorthand. It's so much more than that. If by shorthand you mean deep emotional connection and bond. An intimacy that can be felt just by the way you look at each other and silently communicate.

Where you finish each other sentences, make each other laugh, have inside jokes no one else gets, throw heart eyes at one another and clearly are so very in love. Love each other warts and all. Then sure let’s call all that a 'shorthand' Lucy. Whatever helps you sleep at night LOL She ends up setting up a do-over with Chris. Bleh. But she can’t have Tim right now so he’s it atm. Just a distraction for her nothing more. Like a snack you don't super love but it's there. So you pick at it not expecting much enjoyment out of it other than filling yourself up.

Tim has Ashley meet him at the station to apologize. She points out how he spent the entire time talking to Lucy. Well I mean he did…. Tim telling her his job is unpredictable. His entire career has been that way with his jobs. That at the end of the day likes his creature comforts. I hate that Ashley was always trying to change Tim. There’s compromise and there’s someone who doesn’t fit with you. Like trying to shove square peg into a round hole with them.

Lucy would be so happy to do those things with him. Also she’s just not worth him going out of his comfort zone for. Lucy is the only one to get him to do that. As we see in S5 the things he's willing to do for Lucy vs what HAS to do for Ashley. Lucy loves Tim for everything that is him grumpus and all. Where as Ashley tries to alter Tim and things she doesn't. Get him to fit what she wants out of a man. Just not the right one for him to do any of those things. It's telling af how Tim gets defensive when she calls Lucy his partner.

The denial is so real Timothy. She sees his freakout and he reels back saying that’s not the point… it kinda is though haha I swear only reason Tim was with her was to show how right Lucy was for him. How Lucy adds to him and Ashley only subtracts. He was so ready to just settle for he since he wasn’t going to get what he really wanted. More we learn about Ashley more we see him settling. Giving up parts of himself for her because he doesn’t think he’ll get those things anyway. (Marriage, kids, stupid in love happiness) Not till Lucy...Thus ends our marriage moments episode. I truly love this one.

~~~~

Side notes-non Chenford

Nyla being pathologically happy cause of the pregnancy hormones is hilarious. I love it so very much.

Thank you thank you to everyone who supports these reviews. Your likes, comments and reblogs give me life haha see you all in 4x13 :)

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mama-qwerty · 15 days

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Okay, I'm gonna think out loud here, and probably read WAAAAY too much into things. Again.

So. Episode 4 of the series. The rock opera--that was pretty awesome, really--Wade assumes the role of Knuckles and is walked through the 'history' of the echidna's past. Which was not accurate, in any way, shape, or form.

And it also had little tidbits of Wade's life, such as Jack as the narrator, the whole thing being held in a bowling alley, and "Iblis" talking about "hitting up Marketplace".

What if the whole fever dream rock opera wasn't to show Knuckles' warrior path, but Wade's?

It shows "Knux" and his father fighting side by side against the owls. I went back and rewatched that bit and there seemed to be 10 owls--the same number as pins in a bowling game. "Knuckles" and his father fighting the owls could symbolize Wade and his father going bowling together.

But then the owls took "Knuckles'" father. Just like bowling took Wade's.

Now "Knuckles" is alone and faced with threats and dangers he can't defeat as he is. He needed to get stronger.

Wade was alone and couldn't defeat the things he had been facing--feelings of rejection, and abandonment.

So "Knuckles" trained to defeat this great enemy, one that seemed ready to take the echidna down until he discovered his greatest strength was in his heart, not his fists.

Wade isn't a fighter. But he has a strong heart. And he stood up to dangers he never thought he could before. Including his father.

"Iblis" could be a representation of either the negative feelings Wade developed after Pete left, or it could represent Pete himself. And in the end, Wade defeated it, with Knuckles' help.

Now, I don't know how Pachacamac fits into this. I do not trust that shifty spirit, and think there's something more at play than we know. There has to be a reason he told Knux to train Wade specifically.

Wade's . . . well, not the sharpest knife in the drawer. He's trusting and easily manipulated, and not exactly someone you would choose to represent your fallen warrior race.

So, what if Knuckles isn't the Iblis trigger, but Wade is.

In a separate post I theorized that Sonic may have sent the chaos emeralds back in time, and one could have ended up being the bowling trophy that Pete has his grubby little mitts on.

What if, over the course of things, Wade somehow got Iblis trapped inside him, and that's why he's always been such a happy-go-lucky guy. He can't get upset. He can't get angry. He can't cry. Something in the back of his mind tells him that it would be bad if he did. So he doesn't.

He essentially has this monster lurking inside him, holding all the bad feelings he won't allow himself to recognize.

We don't know how the whole Iblis thing works in the SCU. Knuckles' sudden flame powers could be connected to Iblis, or they could be something separate. We don't know.

Pachacamac is up to something. And I don't think it bodes well for Wade.

#thinking out loud #knuckles series #knuckles the echidna #wade whipple

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gerardpilled · 2 months

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i think olivia rodrigo could do a really good thank you for the venom cover

I can kinda see it. When I theorize mcr covers I’m perhaps a bit too realistic and I’m only thinking people would cover their top greatest hits. I was thinking more Helena

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ecoamerica · 1 month

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youtube

Watch the 2024 American Climate Leadership Awards for High School Students now: https://youtu.be/5C-bb9PoRLc

The recording is now available on ecoAmerica's YouTube channel for viewers to be inspired by student climate leaders! Join Aishah-Nyeta Brown & Jerome Foster II and be inspired by student climate leaders as we recognize the High School Student finalists. Watch now to find out which student received the $25,000 grand prize and top recognition!

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disgruntledkittenface · 5 months

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annual* writing self evaluation

thank you @kingsofeverything and @nouies for tagging me!

1. List of works published this year:

I Choose You

when we're finished saying nothing

count me in

too into you

routine surveillance

you wanna be on top?

Suddenly Last Summer

if i'm being honest

it's a holidate

Red

2. Work you are most proud of (and why):

Suddenly Last Summer. I let myself let go and have fun and write exactly what I wanted, and I love the way it turned out.

3. Work you are least proud of (and why):

I hate this questionnnn

4. A favorite excerpt of your writing:

I love this bit from Red, the fic I wrote for @crinkle-eyed-boo birthday:

When Harry turns his head to bite Louis’ earlobe, Louis buries his face in Harry’s hair, breathing him in. He detects a faint whiff of smoke, and frowns.

“Did you smoke?”

Harry presses his face into Louis’ neck, nodding.

“Oh, no,” Louis says, rubbing a soothing hand over Harry’s bare back. “I know you hate to smoke without me.”

Louis barely hears the whisper as Harry says, “I’m sorry,” since he doesn’t bother to lift his lips from Louis’ skin. But then Harry says it again, louder, following it with a kiss against Louis’ neck. And then again, over and over, leaving apologies and kisses against Louis’ skin like he wants them to stay, as permanent as the ink of their tattoos. Louis sags against the wall, trusting Harry to hold his weight, as the relief finally hits him. Harry hates apologizing, even when he knows he’s wrong. And Louis can’t even remember who was wrong, and more than that, he doesn’t care. He just wants Harry back. He doesn’t need Harry to beg, and it feels like that’s exactly what he’s doing right now.

“Baby,” Louis says at last. “Stop, stop it. I’m sorry.”

A tear slips down Louis’ neck, and he wrinkles his brow in confusion. He hasn’t cried in several minutes, a record for him today, if not every day since the breakup. But then a sob wracks Harry’s body, his grip tightening on Louis as his shoulders shake.

“Oh, baby,” Louis says, petting Harry’s hair. “No, baby, I’m sorry. Please don’t cry.”

“I just missed you,” Harry chokes out. When he draws back, it’s Louis’ turn to smooth away his tears. “I missed you so fucking much, Lou.”

“I missed you, too,” Louis says, resting his forehead against Harry’s. “We’ve never been this stupid before, have we?”

5. Share or describe a favorite review you received:

I really loved getting both @kingsofeverything and @allwaswell16 reactions to Suddenly Last Summer! Lauren theorized via voice note and I was glued to my email while Anitra commented as she read, and it all just felt really good!

6. A time when writing was really, really hard:

I'm not going to lie, writing was not that hard this year. I think I was just picking things I really wanted to write for myself. And it was a good coping mechanism when things were hard in my personal life. But honestly, it kind of feels like dumb luck because I've definitely had my share of writing block.

7. A scene or character you wrote that surprised you:

I don't know where the itch to write dark Harry in routine surveillance came from!! That took me by surprise, and I loved doing it.

8. How did you grow as a writer this year:

I think just by writing for myself. I always wish I had different stats on my fics, but I can't write with trying to please people in mind.

9. How do you hope to grow next year:

I don't know! Keep writing for myself and being the weirdo who likes to do lots of different things.

10. Who was your greatest positive influence this year as a writer (could be another writer or beta or cheerleader or muse etc etc):

I am fortunate to have a lot of support!! This year, I really noticed the lovely comments I was getting from @nouies <3

11. Anything from your real life show up in your writing this year:

Yes! Just about everything that the cat does in if i'm being honest has been done by one of my new cats. It's my love letter to them.

12. Any new wisdom you can share with other writers:

I don't think I have much new wisdom. I always say pay attention to the writing advice that works for you, and ignore the rest. I think telling a story and making people feel something matters more than the technique, but I also say that as someone who has spent a lot of time on technique so don't listen to me if you don't want to!

13. Any projects you’re looking forward to starting (or finishing) in the new year:

I want to write a girl direction When Harry Met Sally AU and make it VERY GAY and I'm excited about it!!

14. Tag three writers whose answers you’d like to read. ;)

@neondiamond @homosociallyyours @absoloutenonsense

*All answers should be about works published in 2023

#zarry omegaverse #harry/chris pine #fbi man larry #zouis au #an american tragedy au #narry cat lesbian au #gryles xmas au #red (kim's version)#whms lesbian au

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branwendaughterofllyr · 1 year

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What's the deal with these BNFs like JoLa and such lmao? Sorry I wasn't chronically online during GOT so I had no idea this was a thing until recently LOL.

Oh man, nonny, you are really taking me back. BNFs or “Big Name Fans” are one of the worst aspects of ASOIAF/GOT fandom in my humble opinion. I think the fact that there has been such large gaps in between books, a lot of fans are really desperate for content and thus BNFs are created to fill that need for new ASOIAF content, their word only being surpassed by George. Most BNFs have one or two good takes/theories that got them big and then are uniformally idiots in everything else they say, but the fandom takes them as gospel because they’ve been around so long or were right about one really important thing. A lot of the biggest of the BNFs originated on the westeros.org forums and actually interacted occasionally with George back when he still did stuff like that, and now are considered authorities on the series. The most successful BNFs are probably Elio and Linda who now actually work with George and co-wrote AWOIAF with him (and they’ve had their own very stupid drama that I cannot be bothered to remember. @starkmaiden probably remembers it though. She’s my go to fandom drama lorist)

A lot of the worst but most widely accepted theories can be traced back to a BNF, and since the books have been so slow in coming, these theories ended up just becoming part of the fabric of the fandom. It also doesn’t help that most BNFs are absolute divas that hate it when they end up being wrong or having pushback. I remember rolling my eyes at BryndenBFish who had particularly influential (but often very dumb) theories who I believe left the fandom in a huff and deleted all his stuff. The worst BNF fans in my opinions are the ones who made super long videos or podcasts about the most inane details (I’m taking specifically about Lucifermeanslightbringer here since I ended up listing to like ten hours of the Bloodstone Compendium trying desperately to understand why he was so popular)

On tumblr during GoT, most of the BNFs here were part of the asoiafuniversity account, (including the lovely JoLa) which branded itself as neutral but was decidedly not lol, and had particular drama with people who asserted the Dark Dany theory, which ended up being true, lol. I think they even straight up banned contributions that supported “Mad Dany” at one point. Most BNFs tend to be pro-jonerys, pro-Tyrion, pro-Dany, intensely into Targaryen history (and weirdly a lot of them were really into Stannis before he bit it. The Stannis the Mannis faction was crazy but also kinda fun lol) I’ve always been pro-Bran, pro-Catelyn, and pro-Sansa, so I never really got too into the BNFs, but I did accept that Tyrion, Jon, and Dany were the three heads of the dragons before I read ADWD because everyone else seemed to think that was the case.

And that to me is the biggest problem with BNFs, that a lot of them still espose theories and takes that they came up with before AFFC/ADWD were published and they refuse to budge even though there’s clearly been a shift. (This was before the show ended, which changed a lot of the fandom landscape)

(I also think that a lot of them couldn’t analyze their way out of a paper bag, but that seems to just be me lol. The POV trap is very real for most of these people.)

I’ve also noticed that a lot of BNFs are also Wheel of Time fans, and sometimes use that series to theorize about the end of ASOIAF, which is uh, a strategy I guess. (I know George likes it and all but I think the series have very different vibes, and George has listed series he was drawing on and I don’t think WoT was on that list. Somebody somewhere compiled it, and I think LoTR and The Dragonbone Chair were on it.)

The greatest hits of the BNFs in my opinion are that Tyrion, Jon and Dany are the three heads of the dragon and are going to save the world, which was widely accepted as the ending to the series, by pretty much everyone who was anyone. Season 8 killed that stone dead though, big lol from me. Some people still believe it though for some reason. Some three heads of the dragon propenents also believed it in conjunction with the “Tyrion is secretly a Targaryen” theory which has like one piece of actual evidence, that Aerys had a thing for Joanna, and the weight of Tyrion is Tywin’s son thematic narrative against it.

My favorite offshoot of the three heads of the dragon theory is the curtain of light one, which is simply *chef’s kiss* Basically the curtain of light that Bran sees at the edge of the world is entirely literally and in no way a metaphor, and Bran will have nothing to do with it. Instead, Jon and Dany are going to fuck in the curtain of light to save the world while Tyrion awkwardly watches, and the baby they conceive will be the messiah. AMAZING stuff right there. And because this brilliant take was thought up by a BNF, it actually gained a fair amount of traction.

Other highlights include screeching about the “Main Five” in which they only grudgingly include Bran in order to exclude Sansa from having any relevance to the big endgame, that Catelyn is an absolute bitch responsible for all evils in the world, that Tywin is the biggest mastermind in Westeros, that f!Aegon is definitely fake with no room to debate, Val will be plot relevant to Jon somehow (as his future Queen for those who aren’t super into Jon and Dany endgame), Stannis will take WF, Jaime is going to be redeemed, and Azhor Ahai is some eleborate metaphor for the nature of the universe.

Say what you will, but BNFs really did fill some of the content void while we all wait for TWOW but a lot of them were absolutely batshit and their insane takes were taken extremely seriously by most of the fandom. Some of them even did rounds at conventions I believe. There are some BNFs still around and kicking but a lot of them left permanently after the show ended, which fair enough. The meltdowns during s8 were spectacular and many. Almost makes up for how shitty the show’s writing was lol.

My pet BNF was JoLa, and I even had some civil interactions with her about non Jonsa metas, related to her one good contribution to the fandom, the Dead Ladies Club. She had some of the wildest takes about Dany despite her constantly claiming she wasn’t that invested in non-Lannister theories and ships.

The BNFs were a fascinating phenomenon that you really had to experience in real time to get the full breadth of insanity. The most crazy takes being taken as basically canon really made me feel like I was losing it, or straight up reading different books.

#I feel like an old man telling war stories #the fighting was fierce and it was every corner of the fandom for themselves #still cackling with glee that the Jonsas had the most correct predictions even now #we got everything but Jonsa right #I have way more JoLa stories that would curl your hair #asoiafuniversity was SOO messy #branwen answers

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xerith-42 · 5 months

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Garrance Week Day Six! Snow/Warm

You guys remember the episodes in Malachi's castle? What if I made them even more gay? And made it better because having Garroth and Laurance's "greatest fear" being the girl they like getting with another guy is weak sauce.

The copium these two men (esp Garroth) are huffing truly is something.

Traveling with one of his best friends on a quest to rescue the other one and he's in love with both of them? Laurance couldn't have asked for a better deal. In spite of his worry for Irena's safety, he absolutely cherished the time he got to spend alone with Garroth while they searched for her. It was so refreshing to get out of the village to go on what was hopefully a low stakes quest. He wasn't scared of much largely because he had Garroth at his side. They always fought well, better together, and he knew nothing could stand in the way.

"She likely took refuge in that castle," Garroth theorized as he pointed at the castle in the distance. Laurance squinted to see it through the blue of the ongoing snowstorm. He could at least make out the general shape in the landscape, even if it was blurry.

"Let's hope so," Laurance said with a shiver. "Not exactly the biggest fan of the cold." Garroth turned to look at the man who was bundled up in his cloak.

"I thought being a Shadow Knight would have made you more adjusted to the cold."

"I got used to living in the Nether, and I'm not sure if you've ever been, it's pretty hot there. I'm designed to survive in that, not these conditions." Garroth chuckled a little at the bitchy tone Laurance had that made it clear he was complaining for the sake of complaining, not because he was really that upset.

"I'm sure we'll be able to warm you up once we're in shelter." Laurance tried to ignore his mind supplying him images of Garroth holding him close to keep him warm. Being able to wake up in his arms completely at peace. Not the time for it. Then again, it never felt like it was the time for it. Why not now when they were alone without any prying eyes? It's not like Garroth would ever notice, he's always been far too dense.

The doors to the castle creaked with effort as the two of them pushed them open. Just as quickly as it opened they were stumbling in, and the doors slammed closed behind them. Laurance was hit with a wave of warmth. Within seconds it became burning hot, and panic filled his system.

Fire spread across Phoenix Drop and screams filled his ears. Irena was on the ground, crying, shaking, on the verge of dying. Laurance glanced down and saw his own hand holding Garroth by the throat, blood starting to pool around where his claws dug in.

"NO!!" Laurance screamed, trying to fight back. But he couldn't do anything. He couldn't control himself.

"Don't worry, you won't die yet," A low voice drawled. "I'll make sure you have a front row seat to watch your beloved lord fall at my hand. Then I'll make killing you seem like a mercy."

"Don't touch her!" Garroth gasped out, before Laurance tossed him aside. His footsteps were heavy as he stalked towards Irena, who was begging for her life. It all blended together. Even as Laurance internally fought as hard as he could to control himself, there was nothing he could do. Nothing. Nothing.

He could only watch in horror as his own body grabbed Irena's hair, pulled her off the ground, and just as quickly wedged his sword into her gut.

"Goodnight, my love."

"LAURANCE!!" Her scream jerked him awake. Laurance's breathing was heavy, and he had to blink a few times to let the world come into view. The walls of the castle were dull, old rotting spruce that was sparsely decorated. The fire place was active, a young man with blue hair sitting by it with a young ghost child.

The last thing Laurance took in was Irena, sitting in front of him with tears in her eyes. He hated that look from her.

"Oh my Irene, you're okay," Irena gasped out, leaning forward to press her forehead to Laurance's. She was so warm. "You're back "

"What... What happened?" Laurance muttered out.

"I-It was Malachi. He's a ghost that haunts this castle and he can't control his magick. It forces people to see the illusion of their worst fear."

"I-It was just an illusion. It wasn't real."

"Exactly. We're all okay." Finally he could feel movement in his fingers. Laurance instantly brought a hand to her cheek, his heart swelling at the rush of heat he felt upon touching her. His eyes drifted to the side when he heard the clank of Garroth's armor. Everyone was alive. It was just an illusion.

"Thank Irene." Irena tore away from the embrace with a relieved smile.

"We're going to rest here for the night. In the morning I plan on seeing if I can't find an exorcist to help Malachi out of the castle." Laurance could only slightly move his head to look at the ghost child. "He really didn't mean any harm. He was never taught to control it."

"I-I understand. I'll gladly help in the search come morning." Irena gave him a smile, before she stood up and walked over to Malachi. Laurance felt a splitting headache the minute he tried to stand up, audibly groaning at it. In an instant Garroth was at his side picking him up.

"Come on, let's get you moving," He instructed. "You've been still for some time."

"How long was I out?" Laurance questioned as he managed to move his feet towards the door, with a bit of help from Garroth.

"Two hours."

"How long were you out?"

"Less than that." It was Garroth's nice way of saying ten minutes or less. He knew how competitive Laurance could be. And how sensitive he could be to potential shadow knight effects. At least, he assumed that was the case. Laurance let out a slightly nervous laugh, letting his hair fall down in front of his eyes as he leaned over part of the castles lower walls. Garroth wasn't quite sure how he felt about how pretty Laurance looked. Maybe he was just happy to see him relaxed after being caught in that illusion for so long.

"Care to tell me what you saw?" Garroth considerably tensed up.

"I'd rather not."

"I could tell you what I saw. Means it's less likely to actually happen." Garroth didn't respond. He'd made it clear that he wasn't going to give details on his vision, but he wasn't objecting to Laurance sharing. It might be nice to know what he was worried about.

"If you'd like to, you may." Laurance sighed.

"There's no easy way to put this... I lost control. I saw the future where I gave into every cruel thought ever put into my head in that hell." Laurance shuddered at the memory, and at the cold sweeping around him. "I need you to promise me you won't let it come to that." Garroth knew exactly what Laurance was saying, but he was unsure if he could promise it. Especially with the sudden feelings for Laurance he was barely coming to terms with.

"I..." Garroth's sentence trailed off. He felt truly tongue tied. Normally Irena would know just what to say, but she was likely comforting Malachi or Dante. "I pray to Irene it never comes to that."

"I do as well." Laurance shivered again, which made Garroth laugh slightly. He took off his own cloak and tossed it at Laurance, who caught it with a confused expression.

"Go get warm by the fire. I'll keep watch tonight." Garroth didn't leave any room to argue. Laurance gave him a half-hearted smile before trudging inside as he wrapped Garroth's cloak around himself. Laurance kept a safe distance from the fire, even though Malachi had already gone to bed and Irena was on the other side of the room talking to her new guard. It left Laurance to just sit on the floor staring into the flames.

It was something he often did as a child. Laurance was incredibly rowdy while he was growing up. it was hard to keep him focused or still for very long. Except on cold winter nights when his father would put a log on a fire and go off to bed. Cadenza and Laurance would sit and watch the flames for hours, often falling asleep in front of the fireplace as a result. It was always something that held his attention, that caused some kind of fascination. Something he never quite understood.

This time Laurance could barely look at the fire for a few minutes before turning his head away and leaning against the wall in a way that it would be out of view. He could still faintly feel some warmth from it, but he couldn't stand to keep looking at it. It just reminded him of that all to real vision. Laurance draped Garroth's heavy cloak over his curled up body like a blanket. It actually made sleep come to him very easily in spite of the cold. It was almost like Garroth was holding him...

Sleep didn't last long. It felt like the moment Laurance was able to dream, just the flash of Irena's terrified face jolted him awake. And the moment Laurance was awake, he was cold. The fire was starting to die from nobody attending it, even if Irena and her guard were sleeping around it. Laurance's eyes darted to the closed door. If they were cold inside, how was Garroth faring outside?

He tried to be quiet in his movements, but if this guard was any good, he definitely knew Laurance was sneaking past them. He ducked out of the castle quickly, shoving the door behind him and coming face to face with a very confused Garroth. Well, the helmet hid his expression, but Laurance had seen enough of his face to make a guess at what it looked like.

"L-Laurance? What are you doing out here?" Garroth asked.

"Couldn't sleep," Laurance replied quickly, before shoving Garroth's cloak onto him. "You sound like you're freezing."

"You do too." Laurance brought his arms around himself, pulling at the edges of his cape.

"Nah, I-I'll be f-f-fine." Garroth resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Practicality overtook emotion. Garroth pulled his cloak on, fastening the clasp, before grabbing Laurance's arm and walking him over to the small onning that came off the eastern part of the castle wall. Laurance glanced up at him confused, but his vision was quickly filled when Garroth brought an arm around him and held him close.

Nearly instantly Laurance was filled with warmth as Garroth pulled his cloak across their bodies. It was the best way to conserve warmth. And the most romantic. It was like a scene out of one of Laurance's stupid fantasies he would have while daydreaming at the academy while pretending to pay attention. But this was real. It felt real. Laurance's blood usually ran cold, but in this moment, he felt a lot warmer than he had since coming back.

"Are you comfortable?" Garroth almost whispered. Laurance just nodded, snuggling into Garroth. More points of contact meant heat would be generated faster. That was the excuse. Laurance always had plenty of them. He knew Garroth would need them any time they got intimate together. "Rest well."

"Don't think I can," Laurance admitted. "But I don't mind being out here with you." Garroth didn't ask why, he didn't need to. Instead he let silence settle and the winter winds to whip it away. Laurance's body had been unusually cold, but he seemed to be warming up now. His body was still capable of generating heat, which would be key to him surviving these conditions. It just meant he had to share heat with someone.

"Would you like to know what I saw?" Laurance nodded.

"If you don't mind telling me."

"I just figured that you told me your to help ensure it doesn't happen. I-I'd like to ask you do the same."

"Gladly." Despite not sleeping, Laurance was usually a man of many words. Except when he was really tired. It may not have been obvious to anyone else, but Garroth could tell when Laurance started giving one word or one sentence responses.

"I saw Zane return to Phoenix Drop. I saw him... I saw him hurt people I care about, including you." Laurance let out a small hum. He liked to hear Garroth admit he cared about him. "A-And there wasn't anything I could do about it."

"But that's not true."

"Hm?"

"You don't trust Zane. You won't fall for his deceptions a second time."

"L-Laurance, I don't know if I can bring myself to harm my own brother."

"Even if he tried to kill us, again?"

"Would you not be conflicted if it were Cadenza?"

"Cadenza wouldn't be so obvious about it though." Garroth laughed gently at Laurance's argument. "She'd be way better at being secretly evil. Your brother has already let the mask slip too far down." Laurance snuggled further into Garroth's embrace, a burst of warmth coming from his body as he did. "We're gonna be fine."

"If you say so." In spite of his paranoia, Garroth did mean those words. He believed what Laurance said. He knew that when it came down to it, he would throw his own life into danger to protect the ones he loved, and if that meant striking down his brother in the process, he would do it. And he knew it wouldn't come to that point. Laurance wouldn't let it.

The two lay in silence for the rest of the night. Neither of them slept, but they were able to relax. And when morning came, they never spoke of it.

Laurance bitterly misses the feeling of Garroth's cloak wrapped around him while nearly freezing to death in Gal'ruk. And winters on the Alliance Island get colder than Garroth has ever experienced. He constantly yearns for the feeling of Laurance's breathing on his chest.

Whump quota met.

#aphmau #i dont support aphmau #text post #laurance zvahl #minecraft diaries #minecraft diaries laurance #garroth ro'meave #writing #angst #garrance #garrance week 2023 #garrance week #gay block men #cuddling & snuggling #what if we cuddled for warmth #no homo tho #very straight

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shittypunkblog · 6 months

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The haters theorizing that All Time Low are breaking up is sending me into giggles every time I see it. They're not breaking up. This is a slightly genius (and I use that term LIGHTLY) marketing ploy. It does look like a breakup post to those unknown. It's going to get not just fans talking but people who want to see their downfall. I have theories that I'll get to, but when they do announce something they're going to get a lot of views and conversations from other people than just fans. In this way, all press is good press. Logically thinking it's definitely NOT a breakup. Their latest reels saying how much they miss tour, plus announcing a Columbian show following the Brazilian shows. Not to mention Alex saying in the spotify wrapped shoutout "see you next year." You also don't tease a breakup and All Time Low Forever has been a thing since Ryman in May. This band doesn't have the brainpower to allude to something seven months in advance.

For what I think they're announcing, I've seen a lot of theories. Mainly a tour which I think is probably the most likely and branding it as All Time Low Forever Tour. Maybe their own eras tour but with each member hating an album I'm not sure that's happening. Would be happy to eat my words tho! I'm personally hoping it's a tour paired with something along the lines of Don't Panic: It's longer now but Tell Me I'm Alive edition. Alex has stated multiple times that there are more songs to TMIA. I would love if it's just a deluxe or part two album featuring the unreleased songs and variations like Calm Down. Didn't they have a poll about what songs we'd like to hear the acoustic versions of? They also played a few acoustic versions on tour so that theory holds a lot of water. I've also seen theories of it being a Greatest Hits album. With the value of All Time Low Forever this could have some weight but I think they should've done that this year for the band's 20th anniversary, but maybe it's delayed idk. Maybe they saw the success of Taylor Swift's re-recordings and thought to give it a go? Another theory is STD 3 but I don't think when Wembley livestream is still available and now the vinyl that that's what this is about. They've already kinda done that. From what I do know about this band I can safely assume it's going to cost me a lot of money and it's lucky I just started a new job.

#all time low #molli rambles

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rynnaaurelius · 6 months

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I'd really love the sci fi reading list, if it's not too difficult! Thank you for your explanation

Yes! Okay, requisite this is Not Authoritative Or Comprehensive claim, I'm a dork with a Russian degree, but here we go:

(I tried to organize this chronologically because if I did it thematically we would be here all day. Also, I still have more books, but they get increasingly niche. This is a Greatest Hits playlist, and if you look these people up, you will find their contemporaries)

(Long list below the Read More)

Jules Verne — 80,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Journey to the Center of the Earth. Excellent continuations of that exploration/'ostracized' genius figure, so popular in the previous century. French, so English translations. Kinda marks the transition point between 19th c. pure spec exploration and what we would call sci-fi. BUT BEFORE HIM...

Mary Shelley — Frankenstein is probably the first sci-fi novel as we know it. BUT BEFORE HER...

Margaret Cavendish — Okay, the 'first sci-fi novel' is hard to define for obvious reasons, but The Blazing World has as good a claim as any. Published in the 17th c., so it really traverses the genres, but includes a utopian kingdom accessible via the North Pole. Her husband was so impressed that he composed a sonnet for her, which serves as the epigraph for the novel; it's a wild read in the same way Robinson Crusoe and other early novels are, and I'm mostly including it here because it's so, so wild to read in 2023.

John W. Campbell — That dude. The hero's journey guy. His short story Who Goes There? Has been adapted a million times into a little movie called The Thing. Unfortunately got really into race science, so Isaac Asimov told him to fuck off. Edited the magazine Astounding Science Fiction, which in 1939 published Black Destroyer by Alfred Van Vogt, usually cited as the beginning of Golden Age sci-fi.

H. G. Wells — Big critic of class divisions in Victorian English society, coined the term 'time machine' as we think of it in his novel...The Time Machine. A lot of what we consider 'classic' time travel tropes were, if not invented here, had their seeds planted here. Also famous for War of the Worlds, leading to a MINOR disturbance when Orson Welles did a dramatic radio reading.

Edgar Rice Burroughs — the man, the myth, the legend. If I could persuade you to read one white English sci-fi author with rather dubious politics, it would be him, if only because of how influential he was. Mostly famous for Tarzan, but he also wrote a whole series about Hollow Earth that crosses over with Tarzan at some point (Pellucidar), as well as the series Barsoom (A Princess of Mars and its sequels), and Amtor (Guy named Carson Napier gets transported to Venus, which was a watery hellscape, as was popularly theorized for a while).

They're basically pulp comics before pulp comics, published in magazines, extremely lurid and dramatic, and he did write his own crossovers. These were what the first modern superhero comics writers often grew up reading and what inspired them—John Carter's cultural cachet was borrowed by Superman until it became his cultural cachet.

They're very fun, but also supremely products of their time, and extremely fond of the British Empire.

Judith Merrill — prolific writer and editor, who also wrote one of my personal favorite reactions to the atomic bomb in Shadow on the Hearth.

Gabriel García Márquez — we're gonna take half a sidestep into magical realism here (which is, to define quickly, a genre incorporating the fantastic into otherwise realistic narratives, often formed and associated with decolonial and post colonial Latin American fiction, but not always. It's a fuzzy genre). He wrote in Spanish, but I read him in English. One Hundred Years of Solitude is probably one of the great novels ever written. My mother is also telling me to rec Love in the Time of Cholera and she wrote about the man, so listen to her.

Jorge Amado — the sixties were the big magical realism heyday. Amado was Brazilian and his Dona Flor and her Two Husbands is a book my Spanish high school teacher made me swear to read some day.

Andre Alice Norton — Deserves a spot for being one of the most prolific sci-fi authors of all time during a time when sci-fi was INCREDIBLY inhospitable to women. Over 300 books!

Robert Heinlein — This man is the poster child for "male author who writes groundbreaking sci-fi novels but cannot be normal about women with a gun to his head". The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress is excellent and incredibly important for how comprehensive the creation of Luna and its workers was, even if it is very sixties free love. Also wrote Starship Troopers, the novel.

Edward Smith — you haven't seen drama until you read what they said when Lensman (first book is Triplanetary) lost to Foundation for the Hugo in the sixties.

Larry Niven — Fleet of Worlds! Ringworld won a whole host of awards and deservedly so in 1970. Fair warning, his stuff decidedly falls under "hard" sci-fi (lots and lots of discussion for plausible alien artifacts), though it is awesome just in terms of how he can communicate scale. If you see a big ring-like structure in space, you can thank this guy, basically (the term ringworld comes from here). Also did a bunch of co-writing. I haven't read his other stuff, but CoDominium is on my list (he co-wrote it. First book is The Mote in God's Eye). If you liked the TV show The Expanse when it did the alien stuff and the later books it never got to adapt, you'll love this guy.

Samuel R. Delaney — Dhalgren is a book I am forbidding you to research before reading. Go in prepared. You have been warned. You will either love this book or set it on fire.

Stanislaw Lem — Solaris. I started this novel last week after watching the Tarkovsky film and. It's doing something to my brain, that's for sure. It's a book where I have to read every sentence twice. If you read it, find a good translation if you don't speak Polish. The author famously is very mad at critics who use Freudian analysis for it, so tread carefully (it's about the limits of rationality and our ability to understand, so. Fair).

Joanna Russ — The Female Man is a seminal work of feminist sci-fi. It's—fascinating, to be honest. Discusses socially enforced dependence of women on men and the creation of a different gender, a "female man", when the protagonist chooses to reject it and thus her socially enforced gender. I wouldn't call it a transgender manifesto (written in 1975, features insufficiently masculine men undergoing sex change surgery, so...yeah) but it definitely awoke something in my brain when I was 16 lol. I would LOVE to see it revisited in literary criticism from a modern perspective, especially from trans people.

C.J. Cherryh — If we talked about female sci-fi authors from the 1950s-70s writing under gender ambiguous aliases, we would be here all day, so I'm picking the one whose books I got for cheap at a book sale. Her Foreigner series has such a good premise with descendants of a lost Earth ship and interstellar court drama, and it's SO fun.

Poul Anderson — the name is not a typo, do not look up Paul Anderson, you will never find him. I actually have a copy of Three Swords and Three Lions currently collecting dust on my shelf and judging me right now as I wait to read it. Tau Zero is one of the greatest things I've ever read. The time dilation stuff gets kinda dense at times, but he incorporates some interest in his Swedish history and folk tales into it, and his explanation of travel at the speed of light and incorporating that into his discussion of nationalism is incredible. The ending where they survived [REDACTED] and landed on what may have been [REDACTED] has been bouncing around my brain for a bit now.

Laura Esquivel — Like Water for Chocolate is from the magical realism reading list.

Salman Rushdie — Midnight's Children is one of those bucket list books, for better or worse. Recontextualized Indian independence from the British and the Partition through framing of a husband telling the story to his wife, as he actively tells the story to her. Really uses the fantastical versus the real w/history versus truth so well.

Nancy Farmer — The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm, for the kids lying about their age on Tumblr dot hell. Three kids try to escape a kidnapping after sneaking out—in 23rd century Zimbabwe. With the help of three mutant detectives. It rules.

Ben Okri — Okay, I have not read his stuff yet, but it is on my list. Other people here have discussed his influence on them in post colonial sci-fi. His big one is The Famished Road, first in a trilogy, and renowned for its discussion of the spiritual and realist world coexisting in African animist spiritual life.

Nnedi Okorafor — I have read one of her short stories, Remote Control, and currently have an book list with her other stuff on it. Other people I know vouched for her work. She specifically writes Africanfuturism and Africanjujuism centered around her Nigerian background, and follows on from the likes of Okri and Octavia Butler. I'd also add if you're a Stephen King fan when he's in Dark Tower mode, she's probably gonna have things that appeal to you.

Mentions that are absolutely influential but don't need explaining on this website: Franz Kafka, Ursula K Le Guin, Douglas Adams, N. K. Jemisin, Ray Bradbury, Arthur C Clarke, Isaac Asimov, Frank Herbert, Alduous Huxley, Philip K. Dick, Orson Scott Card, Kurt Vonnegut, George Orwell, Octavia Butler, Neil Gaiman, Toni Morrison.

(to be clear: you SHOULD read them, but you probably know who most of them are and/or why they're big deals. Most of them are also incredibly prolific, and explaining their bodies of work are other posts. Trying to make a list about other folks)

For more on Afrofuturism,(not to be confused with Africanfuturism), I recommend the shit out of Afrofuturism: The World of Black Sci-Fi and Fantasy Culture, full of short stories and guides to art and music. I, alas, lack similarly useful authoritative guides to other genres, but I have read that one, so wanna toss it out there. There's so much.

#scifi #science fiction #i got an ask!#literature #book recs

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the-spam-specialist · 1 year

Text

“Party Corner” Preview

Because I can’t stop myself

Summary: There’s a party at Dedede Castle and Magolor is surprised to get an invite. When he arrives however, his nerves get the better of him when he finds himself surrounded by people he doesn’t know. He retreats to a isolated corner where he plans to hide, but it turns out this corner is already occupied. By Meta Knight.

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Magolor slowly backed into his new little safe space. He focused on his breathing. It was alright. This was just another new thing he would have to get used to. Add it to the pile. Still, he didn’t think he would be so overwhelmed by something as simple as a party. Being surrounded by unfamiliar faces certainly didn’t help.

He put on the Master Crown and fought the universe’s greatest hero without hesitation but found himself cowering at a party. Wow, he really was pathetic

. He kept backing up into the corner, muttering to himself.

“Okay okay, it’s all okay. All I have to do is wait in this corner until the party is over. Or until it’s appropriate to leave. Easy? Easy. Just me and my corner.”

The mage thought his back finally hit the wall, but he knew something was off when it was cold. And metal. And round.

“I’m afraid this corner is occupied.”

Magolor resisted the urge to scream. But he still borderline jumped out of his skin. He recognized that voice, and turning around let his eyes confirm his suspicions.

“Meta Knight?!”

The masked knight was idly standing in the corner, his cape wrapped around him. He nodded at the mage, speaking flatly, “Magolor.”

Magolor was quickly becoming flustered under Meta Knight’s harsh stare, “Wh-What are you doing here?!”

“I was invited.” His voice remained neutral, though there was a slight air of tension around him. He narrowed his eyes a bit. “Did you not expect King Dedede to invite me?”

“No no no, it’s not that, it’s just, um…” Magolor’s back wasn’t facing the corner but he still felt backed into one. He didn’t mean for his question to sound so rude. He rubbed one of his ears as he tried to save himself in this conversation. “You don’t seem like a party type of person. That’s all.”

A moment of silence passed by. The tension in the air was so thick that the mage was tempted to try and cut it with a knife. Meta continued to stare at him and it made him beyond nervous.

Magolor’s relationship with Meta Knight was…complicated. Out of everyone he betrayed, Meta was the one who rejected his return the most. And while the knight claimed to have forgiven him, Magolor couldn’t help but doubt that he was offered true forgiveness. Why else would he be the target of these nerve-wracking glares?

Meta Knight had been the most suspicious of him during the Master Crown scheme. Maybe he shouldn’t be surprised about the knight giving him the cold shoulder.

Though, despite the tense silence between them, Meta Knight’s glare did soften up a bit as he finally spoke up.

“Hm. A fair observation, I suppose. It’s true that I am not an outgoing person. But I theorize that we came to this event for the same reason.”

Magolor tilted his head, “Same reason?”

“We came because Kirby wanted us to.”

#kirby #kirby fanfic #kirby fanfiction #magolor #magolor fanfic #magolor fanfiction #meta knight #meta knight fanfic #meta knight fanfiction #the interactions between these two are gonna be interesting #but entertaining #don't worry Meta Knight softens up over the course of the fic #like a neutral to friends slow burn

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mdhwrites · 17 days

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Thank you so much for saying that a piece of media is allowed to just be average. A lot of fans (not just TOH fandom) should write it on their foreheads as an important reminder.

While I'm definitely not gonna claim that you shouldn't have standards for media you consume, I feel like nowadays people tend to sort all media into two boxes - it's either the greatest masterpiece ever created or a pile of shit that doesn't deserve a flicker of your attention. And that is such a black-and-white and preschooler-reading-level outlook to have that also heavily limits your ability to enjoy the piece of media.

You are allowed to be critical of the piece of media you like.

You are allowed to subjectively like something average or even bad without doing mental gymnastics to explain why it's the greatest thing in the world.

I liked The Owl House. I thought it was a fun show and I applaud Dana for creating Lumity. But the fans who act like it's the second coming of Christ and thus are unwilling to accept criticism, despite some very blatant flaws of the show, really irritate me.

So this answer is going to be a bit odd from me. I'm going to start by talking about the potential sociological reasons for this change but I also have a deeply personal story from over 8 years ago about my own change in attitude towards this. This is partially because of the sociological and how it can play into those who might most closely defend a work.

First I think we all just need to agree that Twitter is a fucking hellscape. While many of the elements I'm going to talk about always existed, people usually agree that Twitter ended up managing to exacerbate a lot of problems. After all, it is a platform literally AGAINST well thought out opinions. It instead wants you to say something inflammatory and then walk away.

This has in general led to a lot of hyperbole. Since you can't be nuanced, now you have to be extreme to get your point across. Also because of Twitter REALLY popularizing the 'villain of the day' mentality, things are also drawn more on moral lines and I've talked in the past how that fucked over fandoms. Now you don't just have to defend if a work is good, it being bad would be a moral failing on your part and morality in general has come into the conversation of media, even from a casual perspective, WAY more. All of this leads to more extreme opinions and way more defensiveness about your work.

But there's also simply the fact that the loudest voices in any fandom are usually those most seeking praise. Who want to be loved for everything they do. This includes the media they consume or the media they create. So suddenly, with the more extreme opinions everyone has, being into the next cultural touchstone feels more important. It can also make you popular and beloved and fill the void that's missing by a lack of connection.

I do wonder for TOH if part of how extreme the fandom is is because it is a product of the quarantine. It was one of the few BIG cartoon break out shows of 2020. When no one could be with each other and everyone was stuck inside. All you have is your thoughts and your hobbies and just trying to pass the time. Most of how you will pass that time will feel meaningless (trust me, as someone on disability, endless free time is NOT the blessing people think it is) so that which feels more important, more worthwhile, is going to hit harder.

Edit: My Discord made a good argument that this has been going on longer than this and the specific form for TOH's fandom probably comes from what I've theorized before: That the show constantly stating it's the best, unique and special causes problems for fans of it if it's not.

So where does all of this come into play with me? Well, it's from the creator side more than it is the consumer side. After all, I'll never tell someone that things like SpyxFamily, Randy Cunningham, Kaguya-sama, Star Rail and Amphibia are perfect. I think a lot of those shows are GREAT but I can tell you why they aren't for everyone or some of their flaws, even if to me they're small. I have never been that precious about the media I consume.

The media I create though?

I was almost 18 when I began writing. Within six months of starting to write, I would be no longer in High School. That fall I would be working 24 hours at Walmart each weekend and a full time student working on an accounting degree. All while finally having gotten into his first fandom.

I have never been anyone's favorite person though. Without a reason for people to see me, they forgot about me. No one called, no reached out and I didn't even see my family much while I still lived with my parents. I vividly remember that Christmas season, Ice Age 4's DVD menu playing on loop in the break room at Walmart and the song it played over and over again being "We are family," and one night it just fucking BROKE ME because of how lonely and depressed I was.

During that time, I stopped even referring to myself as Michael. I was Jumbled as my online handle at the time was Jumbled Thought. I was more used to being addressed by that name on Skype than I was my actual name. It didn't do healthy things to me and that fracturing of my identity and how cold it left me feeling is part of why I won't ever use a pen name for my books, even if female names will often make someone trust their work on romance more.

Btw, for those who have never put it together: My current handle is literally just my initials and my job. Michael D. Hudson Writes. It was inspired originally by someone who used their first name and "plays" for their lets play channel that I haven't watched in YEARS.

Anyways.

I was the loneliest I've ever been and easily the most desperate for validation and I NUKED the vast majority of friends I had made in the MLP fandom by the end of February. I was an insufferable asshole after all who considered his works to be of REAL quality, especially his smut versus the garbage that others got into the featured box for. Only I knew the truth when it came to analysis and others had to agree with me or be ready to deal with me for the next couple HOURS. I was awful and the need to be right, the need to be the best, was making me go nuts as I got increasingly upset about each work that was ignored and this was WELL before I ever made money off of my writing!

I needed that validation though. I needed some way to still feel special, even as college kicked my ass and it felt increasingly like no one cared about me. I needed some part of my life to be special. For a lot of people, with how the world is, with how everyone feels like they're going nowhere but down, the only option they have for that is that the media they consume is special. Doubly so if it's the only piece of media that you feel represents you like TOH does for so many young LGBTQIA+ viewers.

I eventually hit rock bottom though and realized I was just becoming a terrible human being like this. I literally stopped being a part of public Skype or Discord groups until 2020, about FIVE YEARS later, because I didn't want to keep fighting. I didn't want to keep having to knockdown others and fighting just to feel more special. It was making me feel worse and thus was making quite literally no one's life better. It's part of why I try not to attack in my blogs and why in my own Discord, I'll start apologizing pretty quickly when I get too aggressive on a topic, even if it's just passion and not actual aggression. I don't want to become the inferno I once was.

I don't wish to become an angry young man once again.

youtube

And right now, we have fandoms with pockets of intense firestorms. Fires burn out though and all that is left behind are scars. I only hope that those in the fandoms who were like me learn the lessons I did, learn to try and cool down, before they are forever consumed by it and are only left with those who share their blazing fury and desperation.

I still don't know how I wasn't, even to this day.

======+++++======

Talking about how desperate I was a decade ago while this last week has been some of the loneliest I've felt in a long time was a time. *sigh*

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

A Twitter you can follow too

And a Kofi if you like what I do and want to help out with the fact that disability doesn’t pay much.

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denimbex1986 · 5 months

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'Doctor Who viewers heaped praise on Neil Patrick Harris' performance as The Toymaker on the BBC show on Saturday night.

The American actor, 50, made his debut on the smash hit sci-fi show in the third and final 60th anniversary special, starring David Tennant and Catherine Tate.

Neil portrayed devious villain The Toymaker, who last appeared on the drama in 1966, when he was portrayed by Michael Gough in The Celestial Toymaker four-part storyline.

Showrunner Russell T Davies previously described Neil's new version of The Toymaker as the 'greatest enemy the Doctor has ever faced' as the villain made his grand return in the episode titled The Giggle.

Putting his own twist on the character, viewers were left seriously impressed by his peformance as they took to social media to gush over his 'creepy' nature and eerie laugh.

Writing on X - formerly known as Twitter - fans argued Neil was 'perfect' for the role as they admitted they were left with 'chills' watching his performance.

One said: 'What a gift to have Neil Patrick Harris on this episode,' a second wrote: 'Well, Neil Patrick Harris does creepy pretty good.'

A third commented: 'Ten Seconds into #DoctorWho and @ActuallyNPH has me in the palm of his hands! This is a villain!'

Another tweeted: 'Not even a fan of Neil Patrick Harris and he's already giving me chills as the Toymaker #DoctorWho,' and one added: Neil Patrick Harris is perfect as The Toymaker.'

'He is recognising me, are you not pleased Doctor, to see me again after so many years!'

The original Toymaker caused William Hartnell's first Doctor to become invisible for two episodes in 1966 and had a number of living toys as his servants.

The Toymaker was an enigmatic being from outside of time and time, and David Tennant's Doctor theorized that he had allowed the villain to break into reality by playing a game at the end of the universe.

In the second 60th anniversary special Wild Blue Yonder, the Doctor cast salt on the ground in a bid to trick two villains, which allowed The Toymaker to travel into the real world.

On Saturday, eerie scenes saw the Doctor come face-to-face with The Toymaker once again as the villain turned the human race mad and into puppets for his enslavement and amusement.

Upon meeting The Toymaker, Donna Noble (Catherine Tate) asked The Doctor: 'Who is he?' to which The Doctor appeared terrified as he said: 'The Toymaker.'

'We meet again Doctor,' The Toymaker declared, before disappearing to play 'hide and seek' as his creepy laugh echoed around his toyshop.

As Donna and the Doctor tried to find their way around his toyshop, which became a maze of doors, Donna asked: 'Who is the Toymaker, what is he?'

To which the Doctor explained: 'When I was young, I was so sure of myself, I made a terrible mistake. I let the TARDIS fall into another realm... where science is a game and all of us are toys.

'He found his way into reality and I think it's all because of me. I got clever didn't I, I cast that salt at the end of the universe, I played a game and I let him in.'

The Doctor appeared terrified of The Toymaker as he tearfully told Donna that he didn't think he would be able to save her from the formidable villain.

The Toymaker had turned human beings on Earth mad, before challenging the Doctor to a deadly game - which put the planet at stake - forcing the Time Lord to accept to try and save Earth.

As well as his terrifying nature and ability to change reality on Earth, The Toymaker also brought an injection of song and dance into the episode as he invaded UNIT.

The villain suddenly appeared in UNIT's base singing and dancing to the Spice Girls' anthem Spice Up Your Life and proceeded to turn people and weaponry into toys to win the battle.

In a tense face-off with the Doctor, The Toymaker then shockingly shot the Doctor, forcing him to regenerate.

He said: 'I played one game with the First Doctor, I played the second with this Doctor, so your rules declare that I must play the third game with the next Doctor!

As his regeneration began, the Doctor said: 'It's time, here we go again! Alonzee,' however David's face remained as he seemingly didn't regenerate.

He then asked Donna: 'Could you, pull? It feels different this time,' and as she tugged on his arms, Ncuti Gatwa appeared alongside David's Doctor, making his debut in the role.

In an unexpected twist, both David and Ncuti's Doctors remained on screen, with Ncuti shouting: 'No way!' - his first words as the Doctor.

David said: 'You're me,' while Ncuti replied: 'No, I'm me. I think I'm really, really me! Oh-ho-ho I am completely me! Don't just stand there, push!'

When asked what happened, Ncuti's Doctor said: 'Bi-generation, I have bi-generated. There's no such thing, bi-generation is supposed to be a myth, but-!'

The pair of Doctors then faced off with The Toymaker together and managed to beat him at his own game, sending the villain out of existence.

David's Doctor said: 'Best of three, and my prize, Toymaker, is to banish you from existence, for ever!'

'No, you can't. But I - not fair, please,' the Toymaker said, before giving the ominous warning: 'My legions are coming.'

However, it appears that it is not the end, as a mystery hand was seen picking up the Toymaker's gold tooth as it was left behind - after The Toymaker had told the Doctor how he defeated villain The Master and trapped him in the tooth.

Elsewhere in the episode, Bonnie Langford made her hotly-anticipated return, over three decades after she originally boarded the TARDIS.

The actress reprised her role as the Doctor's former companion Melanie Bush, who was working at UNIT alongside returning character Kate Lethbridge-Stewart (Jemma Redgrave).

Bonnie made her debut on Who back in 1986 as Melanie alongside the Sixth Doctor Colin Baker, and went on to be the companion for the Seventh Doctor, Sylvester McCoy.

She came face-to-face with David's Doctor as he was brought into UNIT to help figure out who was sending the human race into madness, with everyone becoming convinced they were right, causing havoc on the streets.

Laying eyes on Melanie once again, the Doctor grinned and threw his arms around her and said it was 'the best news' that she was working with military organisation UNIT.

Melanie told Donna: 'I was like you, I was one of his companions!'

She then revealed that she had spent time travelling the stars after leaving the Doctor, before deciding to return back to Earth.

She shared: 'I had to face up to the one thing I'd been running away from, I had nothing, my family all gone. But then Kate offered me a job, and here I am!''

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wonderlandmind4 · 2 years

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Idk why it took me so long to actually understand Matt in season 2. The first time watching that season I was mainly like “oh. Oh no. Oh man. Wait do I love Frank Castle. Oh that sucks big time.” But after the let’s not count rewatch of the show;

He literally tries to be everything for everyone to help and please everyone. He is pulled in so many different directions and stretches himself waaayyy too thin, and yes, trauma response I think, and the toxicity of a stained past relationship (Elektra refused to leave him be) mixed with his Daredevil side, while trying to be a good “boyfriend” (I’m using that term lightly) to Karen and a good partner/friend to Foggy and a good lawyer and it all just falls between the giant cracks into a pile of burning shit.

I’ve seen people call him an asshole and while he hadn’t been the greatest friend/partner, I think I understand what being in that position he puts himself does and entails. He tried to say no to Elektra but she also knew what to say and spin to get him to eventually say yes and knew how to hit that “Matt can’t say no to helping people” button of his. He wanted to help Frank, he wanted to be that important someone/boyfriend to Karen. He wanted to be that best friend and good partner and lawyer for Foggy.

So, you have Elektra who, in my opinion, doesn’t fully accept or understand his passion for his day job (even if she thought she’d be helping) and tries telling/convincing him that he’s all DD and again hits that people helping/protective button. You have Foggy who is rightfully angry at Matt- for dropping the ball Matt first picked up himself and forced into Foggy, for leaving him hanging and for not telling him about Elektra- also not fully accepting or understanding Matt’s need to be Daredevil.

You have Karen who is also rightfully disappointed and angry and kept in the dark, because she’s smart, she knows there’s definitely a lot more going on that both Matt and Foggy aren’t telling her and it puts pressure on her being in the middle, and maybe if Matt just told her his secret earlier things would have been different and I honestly think she would’ve definitely supported both sides of Matt.

So Matt tries to be all these things and more to everyone around him (even keeping Frank from dying and fighting for his right to a fair trail) and it all goes to shit in the end.

(This isn’t new to anyone who has watched the Netflix Daredevil.)

But honestly, even the first time around, even the 10th, 15th time around….I never thought of Matt as a full on asshole in S2. I think that yes, not the greatest friend, dropped giant important things and prioritized things incorrectly, tried to set rules with Elektra but didn’t stand very firmly on them and didn’t quite set boundaries with her when it came to some um, personal space. Didn’t properly explain to Karen what was happening or going on of why his ex was in his bed in the first place.

I think he felt caught in such a delicate web of people not accepting or understanding both sides of him, his passion and love for being a lawyer and DD. Ended up trying to Be All The Things and having it ruin a friendship/relationship/partnership and definitely ended with his own fears of abandonment coming true in more ways than one. But I understand why and where he was trying to come from and be.

….why do I have so much to say and think and theorize about this damn character. 🤷🏻‍♀️🥲

#THIS IS JUST MY OWN THOUGHTS AND OPINIONS #DONT COME AT ME IM FRAGILE #Matt Murdock #Daredevil #daredevil season 2 #also I love foggy and Karen and Frank and Elektra #it’s 1am these are my rambling thoughts

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hqmillioncorn · 2 years

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FFxivWrite: Day free four......Perfect!

‘Light the spark in your eyes, we're on a battlefield!’

theres a party picnic at babycorns house and youre invited!!!!!!!! COME ONE COME ALL AND WITNESS THE GREATEST FOOD EVER COOKED! THIS TIME! babycorn followed many delicious recipes!!!!

There are many things in the world that happen without any sort of explanation to them.

That’s usually how urban legends or deep-rooted mysteries start but in those cases there is at least some effort to try and make sense of them.

Be it realists that try to find the most logical explanations to people that are essentially throwing explanations around like darts on a dartboard.

All this to say that-there was absolutely no one that could even begin to comprehend why the citystate of Ul’dah granted Babycorn Corn, of all people, a deed to her own private plot of land.

Sure, she was one of the Warriors of Light but was that really reason enough?

———————————–

“Hey, everyone? I think I found it.”

At the sound of Khaljan’s voice the entire group turned to look at where he was pointing.

All the way to their left was a house that could only be described as some sort of candy-coated nightmare come to life. It was a house that was truly testing the resolve of its neighbor’s, who’s houses looked relatively normal compared to what they were looking at.

“Yeah. That’s Babycorn’s house all right.” Lunya had known from the beginning that one of them would be able to spot Babycorn’s house from just a simple glance.

Which was good news for them because Babycorn had somehow neglected to mention in the invitations to the picnic in what ward and what plot she lived in.

As everyone began to make their way towards the Babycorn’s house, Vertical struck up a conversation with B’ig Nunh and anyone else that was listening. “What if this is like a reverse Hahansel and Gregretl situation?” she theorized. It was an age-old legend about two Lalafell children and the dangers of candy witches in a desert oasis.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, what if Babycorn lures in a witch to eat her? What if she’s luring in people to eat them?”

B’ig Nunh laughed, “No way! Babycorn would never-”

At the sudden realization of what he was about to say, B’ig Nunh stopped in his tracks and stayed there as everyone else walked ahead of him.

Andres, who had been listening in, had also stopped walking just behind of B’ig Nunh.

“You know what Vertical? On second thought I think I’ll skip out on the picnic-” Just as he turned to walk away B’ig Nunh felt someone grab the top part of his lovely moogle cap.

“Come on, it'll be fun.” Vertical dragged him along.

“Will iiiit…?” B’ig Nunh placed his hands up to his face and sobbed.

Andres stayed in place where he was until he looked around and realized he was at the back of the group. Being eaten by Babycorn wasn’t really in his best interests but he still couldn't pass up the chance for free food.

He activated Peloton and ran ahead of everyone else.

“Haha! I’m getting first dibs! Suckers!”

———————————–

Even with Himbo’s best efforts to outspeed him Andres was able to reach the gate first. All thanks to Peloton. “Ha! Ha!” he boasted while doing a silly little dance. Then as Himbo hit the ground in despair, Andres reached his hand towards the gate doors to open them.

Only for the doors to open towards him, the force of the doors hitting him so hard it launched him in a straight line towards the others.

Everyone managed to dodge in the nick of time, which only caused Andres to build up speed and crash in someone’s out-of-bounds fountain. Thankfully none of Babycorn’s neighbors were home at the time to witness this circus show.

Coco cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled as loudly as he could. “Are you okay?!”

Andres responded with a thumbs-up. Thankfully he was still alive, as we all know it would take a lot more to kill Andres Sacapuntas.

The sound of the gate creaking open sounded once again. Though thankfully there was no no one else in front of it this time.

“You’re all here! Yay!”

Everyone’s attention changed from looking at Andres’ backflipping out of the fountain to Babycorn greeting them. She was wearing the same pastel pink dress she always wore to occasions she deemed fancy. Standing to her right and left were a pair of Calca and Brina dolls.

Reese sighed, “Babycorn…You do know that gates are supposed to open away from the person opening them and not towards them, right?” Otherwise something like what had just occurred a few seconds ago would happen.

“Pffff! I know that! You told me that already but look-!” Babycorn stepped towards the gate that mysteriously opened on its own and then gestured to herself, “See? The gate opens away from me! Just like you said!” The Calca and Brina dolls nodded in unison, agreeing with Babycorn’s interpretation of Reese’s advice.

“N-No…Babycorn that’s not really what Reese mea-” Hanabi started to explain but she was cut off when Babycorn ran towards everyone to greet them individually at her own pace.

“Hiiiii Reese! Thanks for mailing me all those Millioncorn seeds! They’re growing in the front lawn now! You can see them from here!”

“Lunyaaaa! I can’t wait for you to see how I decorated Cherry’s new room! I added a bunch of the plushies you gave him! He’s going to love it when he wakes up!”

“Cocoooo! Hi! Hi! I hope you and Melmeltan have been doing good! You said she couldn’t come today but I made lots of food so you can take leftovers!”

“Hi Hanabi! Hanabiii! I made lots of yummy food today! I’m sure you’ll like it! Also-! The skies are going to be clear tonight so maybe we can see the stars too!”

“Hi Himboooo! I hear your restaurant is really popular now! Tilika told me she went one night and she had a good time!”

“Oooh! Khaljan I haven’t seen you in a while! …Get it? Cause you can poof(!) away and turn invisible?! Hahaha!”

“Verticaal!! Thanks for the gift last time! I wear it whenever I go mining in cold places! So now I’m all toasty warm! And it’s all thanks to you! …Hmm?”

Babycorn noticed B’ig Nunh trying to hide behind his good friend Vertical Height.

“Hi B’ig Nunh! …Why are you shaking? You’re not cold are you? Don’t worry you’ll get all warmed up in a second!” Babycorn smiled.

“SHE’S GOING TO PUT ME IN THE OVEN!”

“Heke?”

Vertical stepped aside and pushed B’ig Nunh to the front. “Don’t say stuff like that.”

———————————–

As everyone carefully went past the apparently haunted gate, a splotch of orange caught Babycorn’s eye. It was too blurry to tell what it was, even from close up.

Even though Babycorn had been against Tilika getting her glasses she did have to admit that they were handy to have around. Babycorn grabbed the glasses case a Wind-up Kobold was handing them. She opened it up and put on a pair of pink glasses.

Now that she was wearing them she could clearly see that the orange splotch was actually Andres Sacapuntas. As funny as it would be to immediately take them off again Babycorn decided to keep them on. Just in case.

For some reason he looked soaked. Did he decide to take a dip in the pool or something?

“Hi Andres!” she waved to him.

“Oh my god its Babycorn.” Andres pointed at her then walked inside to join the others but not before using his fingers to splash some water left on his hands onto Babycorn.

“H-Hey!!” Babycorn laughed and chased after him.

———————————–

As everyone sat down around the picnic blanket all eyes were on the assortment of plates scattered around the floor. They were all covered with different colored cloths, all to ensure that Babycorn’s surprise would remain a surprise.

While everyone around her was excited for the food to come, Lunya was, at best, cautiously optimistic.

She had seen first hand just what kind of experimenting Babycorn had done in the mansion’s kitchen. Ranging from dunking a whole dodo into fried oil to mixing up chocolate chips with lunch meat and whipped cream as a snack.

Needless to say, Babycorn had strange tastes.

But the optimistic part came in when Babycorn was telling her all about this very picnic just the day before.

‘I followed all the recipes this time! And I think everything turned out great! Tilika didn’t even help me this time and not to brag but I think I made some really yummy food. It's all…going to be perfect!!’

Lunya sighed, ‘Well…if she followed the recipes it probably won’t be too bad…’ she thought to herself. Some things would probably taste a little burned but that was just how life was sometimes.

Lunya’s face scrunched up. ‘Please Hydaelyn , don’t let there be any cornbread.’

Suddenly the door to Babycorn’s house flew wide open. Around five Calca and Brina dolls (each!) came running out. All of them were holding large pieces of papers in their hands. They all stopped in front of everyone and waited for Babycorn to catch up.

“Ta-da!” She struck a pose and held up the same kind of paper the dolls were holding. “I made menus for everyone so you can all know what we’re eating!” she grinned, “It’s just like a fancy restaurant, huh? Huh? Isn’t it cool?!” She had worked all day yesterday making these so she was just as excited to show them off as she was for others to taste her cooking.

“Very fancy.” Khaljan clapped.

“I feel like I’m a million gil richer already.” Vertical agreed.

Babycorn giggled and blushed. “Okay!” She looked down at the dolls and pointed at her friends. “Please pass around a menu to everyone! Make sure everyone gets one!” The Calca and Brina dolls exclaimed “Okay! Yip ho ho!” in unison, before they took off, spinning their way to the others.

“Ah, thank you!” Khaljan grabbed a menu handed to him by a Calca doll. It did a curtsey as a thank you before yip ho ho’ing and spinning away.

Before he looked down at the menu he noticed that some of his friends around him had the strangest looks on their faces. They were looking down at their menus, so maybe he should do the same?

Very soon Khaljan was making the same bewildered expression on his face.

Babycorn giggled, for as much as she had grown through the years she still had a lot of trouble reading facial expressions.

Which was good news for everyone else sitting at the picnic blanket.

“There’s a back to the menu too~♫” Babycorn pushed her eyelid closed with one hand and wiggled her pointer finger with the other, much like an idol would.

With a sense of dread building up in the group, they all bit the metaphorical bullet and turned the menu around.

Nobody said much of anything. Everyone was trying to process what exactly they were reading off of Babycorn’s menu. Nothing written on there sounded like it was meant to be consumed by anyone that was considered a living being, ever.

Flowr’s collective brain could only come to one conclusion.

‘She’s trying to kill us!!!!!!!’

Because no one was talking, Babycorn was free to continue to blab on. “Doesn’t it all sound so yummy?! When I visited my grandma she gave me this cooking book her mama used to have! She said I could have it so I could learn to make all the food in it! Just like her!”

‘Her grandma is trying to kill us!!!!!!!’

Which quite honestly didn’t come to a surprise to anyone.

“She also said something about my allies inevitably turning their backs on me and how adventuring only leads to suffering and heartbreak that would weigh me down for the rest of my life. Or something like that. But enough about that-!”

Babycorn took her seat between Lunya and Vertical and threw off a piece of cloth from one of the plates in the center.

What was under it could only be described as what would happen if a salad spinner had glue poured into it and topped off with a leaf that Babycorn must have picked off the ground because she thought it was pretty.

But to Babycorn it was…

“Perfect! This is the perfect salad! That’s what the cookbook said!”

B’ig Nunh took one look at the “salad” and leaned closer to Vertical. “Is it too late to ask to be eaten?” he whispered to her.

Unfortunately, it was too late for everyone.

Well, almost everyone.

“Wow! It looks so good!”

Hanabi’s voice cut through the silence. Soon everyone was looking at her in half shock and amazement. Her eyes were shining and sparkling just looking at the allegedly perfect salad that Babycorn had revealed.

“Doesn’t it?! Here you can get some cause the cookbook said this is the perfect appetizer!” Babycorn wiggled in her seat, “That means it's the thing you eat first before everything else!” She was just excited to be able to tell everyone all the new things she learned.

Babycorn handed Hanabi a knife and a plate so she could get a piece for herself.

“Woooow! Thank you Babycorn!” Hanabi took the plate Babycorn handed to her and very carefully a piece of the Perfect salad for herself. While Hanabi did that, Babycorn decided she just couldn’t wait until later to reveal the rest of her dishes one by one.

Each one of them looked grosser than the last.

Special mention had to go to the hot dogs that were stained a weird orange because they had been soaked in apple juice for an entire day.

“Oh!” Babycorn’s pom went up in surprise, “I forgot the drinks! I’ll be right back!” She jumped up and made her way back into the house, various dolls following behind her.

“Babycorn?”

Babycorn spun in place to stop herself when she heard Vertical calling out to her. Just when it looked like she was going to fall over, they stopped on an Eorzean equivalent of a dime. “Yeah? What’s up?” she asked.

“What on this menu is a drink?” Vertical pointed at the menu. Her voice was doing a good job at masking just how nervous they were in asking that question.

“The drink is Pilk!” Babycorn giggled, “The recipe said something about putting pepsis into the milk but I couldn’t really figure out how to do that so I put a whole bunch of different fruit juices in there instead!” She figured that the more different kinds of juices she put it-the tastier it would end up being.

“Okay.” Vertical’s answer was barely audible.

———————————–

As soon as Babycorn was out of hearing distance it was time to come up with a plan to get through her picnic alive.All except for Himbo who had been so shocked by the food in front of him he ended up fainting.

Somehow this had escaped Babycorn’s attention.

But before the plan could even begin the early stages of planning all eyes (except for Himbo’s) were on Hanabi, as she slowly took a forkful of the Perfect salad and took a bite out of it. Everyone looked at her in fear (and amazement) as she looked to be thinking about something.

To everyone’s shock, Hanabi smiled. “It’s good!” She stretched her arm across the picnic blanket and began to grab more food that caught her eye. “Oooh! This one looks really tasty!” She cut a large slice of the sandwich cake for herself, making sure to to spill any of the whipped cream on anything else.

Lunya shook her head to snap out of her own bewilderment. “Okay. We have to do something because I am not eating any of…this.”

Almost everyone nodded in agreement with her.

“And I would feel bad if we asked Hanabi to eat all of it.” Lunya continued. Hanabi could probably eat a good chunk of it but it would weigh heavy on Lunya’s conscience. Everyone else seemed to be on the same page as her.

“I don’t mind!” Hanabi smiled, taking a bite out of the tuna jello, “This tastes really good!”

“You might like it but if you eat too much of it you’re going to get sick.” Reese reminded her.

“That is true…” Eat too much of anything and you’re bound to get sick, Hanabi knew this.

While there were plenty of ideas being thrown around, a deceptive little plan began brewing in Coco Cocoda’s big head.

———————————–

“Here I am!”

A Brina doll was hanging off of the doorknob from the inside. She had happily opened the door for Babycorn, who was a little too busy carrying a tray of drinks with her. “I wrote everyone’s names on the cups! So you can know which one is yours!” Babycorn really hoped that she had spelled everyone’s names correctly. She’d been practicing for months now!

“Babycorn we have a surprise for you!” Lunya happily exclaimed.

“Huh!? Really?!” Babyorn set the drinks down and looked at her friends. Not that she wasn’t excited to hear about the surprise but it still came as a shock for them to give her a surprise in the middle of her own surprise to them.

Coco walked up to Babycorn and tried his best to block her view of the others scrambling to gather the food into a single package. “We’ve decided that because you cooked all this food for us…! We’re gonna treat you to a super fancy restaurant!” Coco set off some fireworks to add to the celebration.

“Really?!” Babycorn had been to a fancy restaurant once or twice but she’d never been to a super fancy restaurant! She didn’t think restaurants could get that fancy!

“Wait. Are we going now? What about the picnic?” Before Babycorn could look over Coco’s shoulder, she was already being thrown over Andres’ shoulder looking in the opposite direction.

Lunya swerved over in front of Andres, “Well, we figured that because you worked so hard on all this delicious food we thought you-”

Lunya turned around and faced the others. “-and Hanabi-”

Hanabi looked up from eating a shrimp apple and waved.

“-should get to eat the rest of the food!!” There was a symphony of “Yeah!” “Mhmm!” and “So true bestie.” behind them.

Babycorn let out a long “Hmmmmmm…” It looked like she was thinking really hard. Everyone was on the edge of their seat, hoping and praying that they would be saved from the fate of probably getting very bad tummy aches.

In anticipation of bad news, B’ig Nunh picked up a plate of apple hot dogs and handed it to his friend Vertical Height.

“Here you go bestie! You can have my share!”

Vertical took one look at the food and pushed it back towards him. “No, no, no. I insist bestie. You can have it” The plate continued to be pushed back between the two of them until Babycorn’s thinking process was finished.

“Okay!” Babycorn beamed.

“Great!” Lunya clapped her hands and walked forward, “It’ll be my treat! Let’s go everyone, daylight's burning!” She was happy to go somewhere to eat and extremely happy to not have to eat another one of Babycorn’s science experiments.

Before they left, Babycorn made sure to ask the Calca and Brina dolls to clean up the rest of the picnic. Everything except for the food that Hanabi was taking for herself.

———————————–

Coco closed the door behind him.

Melmeltan jumped in her seat, “Coco! You’re back!”

Then Melmeltan jumped out of her seat and ran up to Coco, as she got closer she realized that he looked really tired. “Are you alright? Was the picnic really exciting?” She knew from personal experience that Babycorn tended to be a handful but it sort of looked like Coco had been dragged from one corner of Eorzea to the other.

“No, we ended up not having the picnic…” Coco sighed, “I was just thinking about the food Babycorn made…”

“Hmm? Does that mean you didn’t bring any leftovers?”

Coco collapsed onto the floor.

He was just so glad Melmeltan had been spared from the wrath of Babycorn’s cooking.

#ffxivwrite2022 #ffxiv #hi this took a long time because i got busy today but it was fun so its oklay :)#i hope my friends also have fun reading this #also babycorns grandma was trying to kill them

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