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accio-victuuri · 11 months

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yuguyao content is truly the gift that keeps on giving. this fandom is keeping us busy with updates from both sides, but that doesn’t mean we will forget the sweets!

this is part four. enjoy ^^

An incident that got lots of attention with cpfs, because XZ mentioned CQL in the interview. and that was because it was asked how may times he had filmed in hengdian and so he mentioned all the projects. which included cql. I must admit that it was nice hearing it from him again. 💕 not exactly proof of whatever cause we know he loves cql and wwx. It would be out of character if he leaves it out.

but of course some entertainment accounts will twist this cause apparently, we’re not the only ones “not over” CQL and their association. It’s all BS. We all know WYB’s change in Weibo has nothing to do with “contempt” for CQL.

Let me just enjoy the parallels i see popping out and the continued Shiying x LWJ examples 😌

My absolute favorite tho and what people have been interpreting is this “mindset” that he has which is similar to WYB. You may think that this applies to both life in general or romance. The answer he gave to the question in the tencent video ruxi interview in particular. How it compares to his 2019 answer about a similar question. He is still the same stubborn XZ!

2019: "For what he thinks is right, and for the people he loves, he can work hard regardless of everything" "This is also the person I want to be."

2021: (Knowing the established destiny, will I still choose the same)" I'd love to say I will. " " But it's going to be hard work, but I'm still doing it."

So the connection people are getting at is, in the story of YGY, he knows that Zhu Yan will be the one that kills him but he still goes and falls for her. That’s just the kind of person that he is irl too isn’t it? Not saying that WYB is his Zhu Yan but the same theme as loving someone ( everyone says ) you shouldn’t. If you believe in SZD, you have to admit that ZZ can have anyone he wants. He can choose the easy route and just let go of WYB but he didn’t. They are both committed to each other and continue to stay in love despite all the noise. Same goes with WYB, how he said, “ love is like this. you can’t help it” . It’s like they don’t care what people say their “fate” will be, loving each other is a conscious choice.

They are both logical people when it comes to life and their career but when it comes to love — they really follow their heart.

The same persistence even when things get tough is a trait they both have. This is why they still continue to be relevant years after CQL.

I found this comment on one of the posts and I wanna scream cause it’s true. I’m sure that if asked, ZZ will say yes. Didn’t he say that if can re-shoot CQL, he will do all the scenes again? 😌

I’m also cackling at this part cause he now knows what it feels like to play that cold character like LWJ.

One of my feelings at the time was that you must not play him as a face, because the truth is that I really don’t want to play this kind of cold character. Most of them don’t have too many expressions. What is conveyed in front of the camera will make the audience feel like a person with facial paralysis. The audience won't believe it.

Which is the exact same fear WYB had to the point that he panics in some scenes cause what can he do when he can’t show much expressions. I’m here clowning about them talking about ZZ should play Shiying, probably WYB giving him tips. Do you think ZZ rewatched CQL and watched his Lan Zhan? LOL. I imagine WYB will get jealous 😂😂😂😂

Shi ying’s animal form also has a mole under it’s lip and yes it has always been ZZ’s “thing” even before WYB met him. However i think that WYB was the one who really put emphasis on it and add the heart with a mole onto that. Especially the “.” that XZ even started adding to his art signature.

for reference: part 1 / part 2 / part 3 / part 3.5

END.

#bjyx #yizhan #there is no science here i’m just clowning like i always do

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independent-fics · 8 days

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Leverage OT3 Casual Touches

(Cont.)

This is mainly for @werewolfsmile and anyone else who wants to shout into the void with me about this ot3!

So far season 4 started off strong with lots of little ot3 moments I’ve been clocking on my latest rewatch. Today I watched “The Office Job” through “The Gold Job” and wanted to recap. Ngl it isn’t much…

Still good things but it was a lot of what we already see which is still beautiful. But mainly it was a lot of leaning, being in each others spaces, and a lot of the handshake. (For the purposes of this post I’m skipping “The Girls Night Out Job” and “The Boys Night Out Job” simply because those two are a whole other beast of ot3 moments that I would like to gif separately and also not a lot of touching (besides the handshake in the boys night) which is what we’re focusing on here.)

“The Office Job” is my favorite comfort episode of Leverage. Everything about is pure gold. Despite Hardison and Eliot arguing the whole time about a sandwich they still manage to pull together in the end and have one of the funniest moments in the episode which is of course topped off by the handshake. Once again mainly in each other’s spaces or leaning this episode.

“The Lonely Hearts Job” also such a great episode of basically the ot3 parent trapping Nate and Sophie and Eliot out here doing the absolute most showing he knows his team in the end of the episode.

As for casual touches a lot with Eliot and Parker (I feel like there’s always more with Eliot and Parker in trying to find more with Eliot and Hardison but mainly they just always lean in each others spaces and orbit each other, compared to Eliot and Parker which sometimes have a similar but different dynamic due to comparing how Parker in the beginning of the series was very adverse to touch. Not from Hardison and Eliot now though:)).

This scene starts out with them with a gap but they gradually get closer (I know this can happen when scenes are reshot. As I always say though let me read the subtext how I want. They were further apart then they got closer soooo)

My favorite thing is the shoulder bumping as they’re walking out. All I have to say.

Here they’re betting whoever gets the highest bid gets a steak which is super cute later because Eliot loses and puts up a fight about making it but then totally has heart eyes and smiles when he “loses” that argument too. Why wouldn’t he make his boyfriend a steak. There’s also a later scene I totally forgot to gif when they’re getting the guy flirting with Sophie out of the way and he calls Hardison (who’s in character) an idiot and I know Eliot did not need to take him down as hard as he did all I have to say.

And once again we have the leaning in each others spaces, shoulder touching, and once again the handshake. None of the other bachelors were standing this close on stage just saying.

Then we have “The Gold Job” where Parker literally gets up to sit next to Eliot? Wonderful. But then there’s some shoving but for context the whole scene was kinda tense because Hardison was running his first con. But then right before the camera changes Eliot moves closer!!!

But then they end up further apart again which I’m assuming may be due to reshoots.

Just generally the comfort between all of them gets me in these scenes. They’ve come a lot way and even though the beginning of season four I feel like shows this a lot more I’m still glad I’m finding scenes with their casual touches as I’m finishing out season 4.

That’s all I have for tonight :D I’m finishing up season 4 tomorrow so I’m sure I’ll be adding to this later.

Hope you like my gifs :) haven’t gifed in so long but I’m happy I’m learning again. Quality still needs work though.

Bonus:

Here’s a bonus gif of Eliot looking like he’s blowing a kiss in the button cam footage in “The Office Job” because I thought it was funny. This is once again getting added to my “why didn’t I notice this before” list. I just wanna know for whom Eliot. :)

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clavalanche · 3 months

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Why 3D Animation feels shitty now - a janky rant

With all the talk about how shitty Megamind 2 looks Ive been really on a kick of rewatching a lot of 3D classics, and since doing so I’ve been simply blown away by the quality of these films. I recently rewatched Ice Age: The Meltdown; which was a favorite movie of mine as a kid, but by the standards of the time it was released, it wasn’t all that crazy. It got a 54% on Rotten Tomatoes (not that it matters), but comparing it to a lot of today’s 3D features it’s nearly a perfect movie in my opinion. Somehow the animation and writing of this 2006 film feels higher quality than many 3D animated films now; the acting is incredible; the subtlety of the way these anthropomorphic characters react is literally so captivating and it feels so real it’s insane.

Obviously this is in part to our rapidly decaying media literacy, but the depth of some of these seemingly “goofy” kids films actually blows me away. What makes these movies land is the love that went into them; you can tell these people enjoyed the material they were working with.

The biggest difference to me nowadays is that 3D has been pushed so far that nobody really has to try anymore. When these films were coming out it was HARD to make 3D look good, so each subsequent movie that came out around the earlier days of 3D was designed to PUSH the limits of the software and you can tell that these movies were made with that goal in mind.

A great example is Pixar. “How do we make fur feel real?” individually model over 5 million strands of hair for Sully in Monsters Inc. “Water is tricky in 3D, how do we master it?”, make Finding Nemo; a movie almost entirely underwater. “How can we push the physics of character animation, capturing the fluidity of 2D in this new medium?”, The Incredibles; a movie with characters who are elastic, stretchy, bulky, fast, who have an insane number of costume changes, making the decision to have Violet wear her hair down; all things that 3D software had trouble emulating. “How close to realism can we really get with this?”, Wall-E. People were constantly PUSHING for something better; something that they could do differently.

Because the software has advanced so much, these things aren’t nearly as difficult as they used to be, and because of that it’s easier for generally “good” looking 3D films to be made faster but still look better than films made 20 years ago; so they don’t really have to try to make the writing complex, or make the characters feel unique, because at the end of the day, it “looks pretty”. I feel that 3D animation is still producing content on par with the standards of 3D 20 years ago; when it should be pushing 3D to its limits.

And there ARE films that do this; Into the Spiderverse, the new Puss in Boots, etc; but the ratio of films like these to films that commodify and “cheapen” 3D animation, particularly from multi million dollar studios, is embarrassing to the craft, and I think this is why we’re seeing people ask Disney for 2D features again, and why everyone seems to have a growing resentment towards 3D animation.

I hope this is coherent.

#3d animation #my rants #pixar #disney #ice age #monsters inc #media literacy is dead #finding nemo #the incredibles #megamind #megamind 2 #animation major suffering #animation

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lynxthewolf1 · 25 days

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Wrote this at like 2am yesterday and I’m feeling sappy so screw it I’m gonna be sappy for a second. This probably gonna be a lot of me repeating myself I tried my best to make this coherent but this post is long and it’s almost 2am again

I don’t think it’s fully processed that fables story is over but when it does hit im gonna be sad but until and after then Im so thankful for being able to meet the people I have through Fable Smp. If any friends/moots I’ve met though fable sees this y’all are so cool and I’m so glad I got to met you. If someone told me when I started watching fable I would be as active in the community as I am even tho I’m a lurker who occasionally appears to ramble about my thoughts and feel so at home here I would’ve thought ur lying and honestly teared up at the thought a community like that could exist. Now I can sit here teary eyed knowing I found that place and people I can talk 2 who get the emotional pain that is fable smp. Also they’re all just neat and fun to hang out with and talk to.

I was in a really dark place when I found fable and ended up gravitating a lot to certain characters I related to a lot at the time Caspian and c!Athena mainly. Seeing there stories progress and the characters get through what they have gave me the confidence to deal with my own personal stuff and situation. I remember watching my first stream it was ether S1 Halloween or a bit after that seeing it the whole way through has been such an incredible and emotional experiences of trying not to cry and rooting so hard for these characters to have one nice thing. Through this community I found a the safe space and in a sense that I gave up looking for. Thank you to the cast for giving me and so many others a safe space and comfort series and characters that we can watch to get through the hard times and representing not just minorities but struggles that aren’t shown often and the different ways it effects people.

I don’t think I’ll ever be able to describe the feeling of Rae and Caspian show not telling the fact they’re Demi and going “they’re like me! It’s not just a me thing there’s a name for it??” And feeling so seen. After being called weird and broken for what I found out was because I’m demiromantic aroace was such a moment I remember being so excited because for once I didn’t feel broken. It felt like if a fictional character I relate to is Demi then why should I care what other people think of how I feel about people. Whisper duo was my wake up call to my own situation with my “friends” that I needed at the time and overall this series showed me how much family isnt blood it’s the family you make and I found a home in this community as a lurker who sometimes appears to ramble on Tumblr and go back to the void.I wanted to feel seen and fable did that through its characters.

Thank you to the cast for making a series and community that so many people can enjoy and characters who feel like call outs even tho anytime I relate to a character in any way I take 1d6 physic damage (/j) and a safe space for people who was looking for it or found it by accident and now we’re in the rabbit hole. I don’t plan on leaving this fandom I’m gonna continue to rewatch fable and just cry about it. For prob not the finale time my counsler and friends will be hearing about how much fable Smp has changed my life for the better /pos.

#fable Smp #it’s over isn’t it? /ly #emotional damage #sobbing #sad it’s over but glad I was here to watch the journey #sappy Lynx moment #home isn’t a place it’s people #denial is a river in egypt #it hasn’t set in fully that today was the finale lore stream

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flutishly · 11 months

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LBD rewatch, part 5

It’s hard not to feel that the last batch of Lizzie Bennet Diaries episodes are a bit of a letdown. Where the pacing was excellent at the beginning, the story by now feels drawn out. The Lydia subplot ends up feeling like the show’s main climax, instead of the romantic realization between Lizzie and Darcy. Everything that happens after “Okay” especially just feels a little... out of place, at least in a binge era. I don’t remember it feeling quite this slow back when the show was originally airing, but it did now.

Part of the problem is how the show handles Darcy’s presence. The choice to wait a long time before “revealing” Darcy created a lot of hype around his first appearance, which was frankly a fairly brilliant narrative choice. Except that Darcy ends up adding only a little to the story, in retrospect. He shows up a couple handful or so times, with each appearance wielded like a sharpened weapon. His obvious discomfort on camera alongside his obvious infatuation with Lizzie creates a rather uncomfortable dissonance. I find myself not wanting to watch him, because unlike Lizzie, he doesn’t feel like someone who wants his drama online. Except, of course, Lizzie continues to film and upload videos of/with/about him. And honestly? Much as I appreciate what Daniel Vincent Gordh does with the character, there was a sense that there just wasn’t enough done with him to fully justify Lizzie’s emotional shift. So much time is spent showing us that Darcy is so so so into Lizzie (which becomes a little weird, honestly!), but her reciprocation doesn’t come across quite as successfully.

So much is happening behind the scenes (which was actually kinda cool, from a realism perspective!), but since Lizzie doesn’t actually really vlog about that before all the Lydia stuff goes down, the only time we really get Lizzie vlogging about her changing feelings is in “Talking to Myself”. This episode has some of my favorite Ashley Clements acting in the series, in the way she so perfectly conveys Lizzie’s confusion, discomfort, apprehension, and desire to figure things out. (It also has the very excellent “This far, no further” First Contact reference, so that’s great.) It also does a really good job of calling back to what worked so well in the first part of the show - we’re watching Lizzie’s diary. We don’t actually need to constantly see other people or have them randomly walk onto the vlog. Lizzie’s interpretations and her presentation are kind of what sell it and the fact that this tiny last batch of episodes has so many camera-breaches is part of what makes it less to my taste.

“Talking to Myself” also works because it’s the breather before the Darcy finale. It’s one of the most direct episodes of the series and one of the ones that makes most sense as a vlog, in a weird way. The temporal aspect feels real when we can literally see/feel the gap between it and “Special Delivery” a few days later. It’s not a false gap, induced by editing or the production powers that be, it’s real. And Lizzie’s explicitly sharing the video because she’s trying to reach out to Darcy and communicate, even musing over the fact that surely if he watches her videos, he must know how her feelings have changed. (Even if I’m not convinced, I can certainly understand why he would be.)

But then? I don’t know! Part of it is certainly that secondhand embarrassment (I quite literally had to pause as soon as Darcy sat down, it was so overwhelming), but part is also the way “Gratitude” doesn’t make much sense. It’s obvious that LBD had to show the Big Damn Kiss, but it’s also... not? Something about how it plays out feels weird. Lizzie’s coy opening is excellent, but then the fact that she still shows this whole dang conversation is unsettling! And like I felt at the beginning of my rewatch, it’s not that it felt outdated (UNFORTUNATELY), it just feels uncomfortable. Obviously still very romantically satisfying, but still... public videos?!

And then the show... ends.

This is the part that I found so much more disappointing on rewatch. In a movie - particularly in a movie where the romantic angle is the primary plot - it can work for the story to wrap up quickly and neatly within a few minutes of the Big Damn Kiss. In a TV series, it’s more of a question of how the story framed its ending, but the gist is the same, if the romance is the point. The problem is that LBD did such a fantastic job of selling itself as so much more than just a story about Lizzie and Darcy (and again, Darcy is a secondary character, all things considered!), that this ending feels baffling in how rushed it is. Lizzie goes from spilling her heart out for weeks on end to saying “mm yeah, I’m done”, without a deeper conversation about that. She doesn’t even really justify it in the context of consequences arising from her videos. It’s just... “The End”. Especially knowing how other shows would do it in the future in much more realistic ways (Jane in the Autobiography of Jane Eyre starting to post less near the end of the show’s run, before justifying why she no longer feels the need to keep posting videos, or much more amusingly, Benedick saying he’ll post his regular video next week and then simply not doing so in Nothing Much to Do), this feels like a deflation rather than the series ending with its head held high.

It’s not that there aren’t brilliant little bits in these episodes. Again, I still feel an immense emotional rush at seeing Lizzie and Darcy kiss and talk in “Gratitude”, as well as their ridiculously overly-adorable affection in “Future Talk”. I love that Lizzie emphasizes her growing relationship with Lydia and that Lydia appears in the last episode. I love that Charlotte comes to cheer Lizzie up and is also there are the very end. And against all odds, I like the ending itself! Once I set aside the deflation aspect, the last episode does a nice job of wrapping things up, thematically. And goodness, I had 100% forgotten that post-goodbye ending scene!!! I laughed aloud.

I’m still trying to wrap my thoughts around some aspects, but I’ll do a rewatch recap at some point soon. In the meantime... what’s the next webseries rewatch, hmm? I should probably start thinking about that...!

#lizzie bennet diaries #rewatching projects #The Great Webseries Rewatch #Longer thoughts #LBD #webseries

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escapism-from-the-real-world · 7 months

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I’ve been meaning to make this post for a while but it’s a long post so… have fun

So, the power rangers movie, right?

Garbage.

As someone who watched power rangers growing up and is rewatching a lot of the series it does NOT hold up to its legacy.

All the characters lack any real characterization and they (the makers of the film) know it. Instead of showing us there growth, we are literally told, to our face, the struggles they are going through and how this connects them to each other.

They literally have to force them to interact and have heart to hearts because they lack so much chemistry.

And I think part of that is that they are all the “outcast/loner” archetype. Now, I usually really like this archetype in PR (read Dillon from RPM) but they have every. Single. One of them as this kind of character.

Instead of having a typical group dynamic with a heart, leader, smart guy, strong guy, and lancer, with diverse character archetypes, it’s all just, outcast who used to be popular, outcast with autism, outcast because she sent nudes of her friend to other people, outcast for some reason, and, you guessed it another outcast!

In other PR shows, we have so much diversity in how the rangers are. Like, PR is surprisingly good at having a bunch of completely different people mush together to form a team.

But no. They wanted to be edgy. And they could have been!

Like RPM would have been a great version to base the movie off of since its more mature and, in my opinion, the best power rangers and it is edgy! Almost all the world is dead and the air is toxic and the team is full of really interesting characters who just feel so natural and pretty much everyone had a tragic backstory where someone they care about gets hurt/killed by Venjix and it so good.

If I was the writer for this movie, I wouldn’t have so many outcasts. And I know part of it is they need a reason why they all gathered together and got their morphers, but PR has been putting a group of strangers into unlikely situations in order to form their teams for years but now suddenly you can’t think of a better way to bring them together than “they were all outcasts and didn’t feel connected to the city”

Also, Zordon is a bitch. Sucky mentor who doesn’t tell his rangers shit and doesn’t train them and is just disappointed no matter what they do. He barely changes by the end of it and I. Don’t. Like. Him.

Also, the little robot is not friend shaped. I don’t care what they were going for, it failed.

It’s like the movie runners completely forgot that part of PR is that ANYONE can be a ranger and its not just the angsty, lonely outsiders fated to protect the world.

Also the music choices? Bad. Horrible. I could’ve picked way better song choices and let the audience here it. Seriously, how do they not know how to use music?? Don’t even get me started on when they used the power rangers theme, that was so bad.

They should’ve used a orchestra version that shook your bones. But no, we’re left with an unsatisfying play of the theme that can barely be heard with honestly crappy suit designs that I don’t really like and bland, soulless characters that I don’t want to root for.

Just, why. It could’ve been so good, but it stinks. Especially in comparison to other PR shows like RPM where they were angsty and edgy but still fun and good and able to use fucking music in their show like holy hell how hard is it to turn the volume up a little

Ugh, I am so bitter about it. They all deserved better. They all deserved to be campy. Shit, man.

#rants #power rangers #power rangers movie #i can’t with this movie #and the girl whosent the nides doesn’t really apologize??#like yeah of course you’re being bullied #everyone knows what you did don’t play victim to possibly ruining someone’s life #like bro they aren’t likeable #execpt for Billy but only barely #everyone else is a bitch and needs to calm down with the edgelord bullshit

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bramblemantle · 1 year

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question meme thing, tagged by @nosongunsung11 ( o/ !!)

tagging: uhhhhhh let’s say @lupathemoth and @a-little-monotonous ! as well as anyone else who’d like to use this format

share your wallpaper: it used to be ace attorney for a really long time, now it’s blaseball. i don’t tend to change visuals often

lock screen is this artwork of Parker by @ HORSEIZONTAL on twitter

home screen is this Jaylen artwork by @ 0re

my laptop lock screen is that title screen artwork of Revachol from Disco Elysium, home screen is this, don’t know what the original source is but it’s on a lot of wallpaper sites. miiiight be wallpaperstock dot net ?

last song you listened to?: i’m listening to music all of the time but as i’m writing this i’m listening to Hail To Whatever You Found In The Sunlight That Surrounds You by Rilo Kiley. in general i’ve been listening to a lot of the Garages and Paramore. so i’m also linking Ignorance bc i keep getting it stuck in my head

currently reading?: i’m rereading the Animorphs series for the first time in years! this is actually the first time i’ve read the series in its entirety, as my personal collection grows sparse after book 30 so there’s some i’ve never read. i’m currently on book 36 out of 54! (plus the extras in there whenever they fit chronologically)

last movie you watched?: uhh i don’t watch a lot of movies. technically Sing i think? i was playing totk and sitting with my 7 y/o brother. he wanted to watch Sing but he got distracted before the end of the movie and turned it off. if we’re talking about movies i watched for me then there’s a good chance it was the new Puss in Boots movie or Into the Spider-Verse but it’s been like a couple months

craving: toasted bagel. butter on it. the good stuff. the creamy kind of butter. tim hortons does it right. also i could go for some dark chocolate

what are you wearing right now?: uhhhh some kinda kapris (?) with grey flower and triangle patterns, and a muscle shirt (?) i was just gifted with pride flags on it. it’s hot as balls. if it weren’t hot as balls i’d have on one of my fave tees, and my Houston Spies bomber jacket or one of my beloved long coats

how tall are you?: 5’2” and a half, which i only found out last year when i finally asked at a visit with doctors

piercings?: nah i’m too much of a baby abt the pain and don’t want to deal with maintenance, but they look cool as hell on anyone

tattoos?: same as above but i’m more likely to be tempted into getting something small someday

glasses? contacts?: i’ve been wearing glasses since elementary school, they’re an all day necessity for me. i gotta get new ones, i’ve had these lenses for years and the frames for even longer whoops. the prescription definitely doesn’t line up anymore

last drink?: iced capp from tim hortons hehe. i don’t consume a lot of caffeine but that shit slaps and cold drinks are a must in this weather

last show?: i also don’t watch a lot of tv! uhhhhh i’m drawing a blank. there’s a chance it was Centaurworld but that was a WHILE ago (and i’ve been thinking of rewatching it soon)

favourite colour?: purples and teals. also browns when there’s a saturated accent colour with it

current obsession?: split between Blaseball (the brainrots been going strong since october) and several different groups of ocs. and also Animorphs i missed Animorphs so much i love Animorphs. fundamental to my childhood. i’m getting back to my roots

unrelated obsession?: not quite sure what this is asking! but Tears of the Kingdom is Up There as well, i’m trying not to rush through the game but i’m finding it very hard to put down ^-^’

or actually if that question is asking about obsessions not tied to any fandom. it’s prehistoric animals and/or bats :]

any pets?: there’s a lot of animals i know and interact with throughout the week. i live with a dog (old chihuahua named Prince) and 3 cats (Charming, Bella, and Mr. Kitty). of those, Mr. Kitty is My Cat part time. he loves my granny a lot too, he’s always either in my room or hers, snuggled up near one of us. he’s one of my best friends he’s so important to me :] my silly little guy

do you have a crush on anyone?: i still am not sure what that’s supposed to feel like and if i have ever felt it before but no i don’t right now. just love and admiration for my pals 🫶

favourite fictional characters: there’s so many my guy. i have a tag for blorbos that live in my brain. the ones on my mind a lot recently are a bunch of Blaseball players, the kids from Animorphs (in particular Rachel, Tobias, and Cassie. the latter two were always tied for favourite when i was a kid but i’ve also found a new appreciation for Rachel as well. man. these kids), the iterators from Rain World, the satellites from 17776/20020, Emmet & Ingo from Pokemon, the list can go on and on and on

last place you travelled?: uhhhh i don’t get out much! i haven’t left the valley i live in for years. i don’t know how far away ‘travel’ has to be to count as travel, the last trip i’ve been on might have been a family vacation into the states? in any case i didn’t go anywhere noteworthy in the past year or more

#bramble rambles #long post #ask memes #i don’t know if that’s the right one for this category of post but close enough #Spotify

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linnorabeifong · 7 months

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🌟⭐🌟

Okay so here is some director’s commentary on “Happy Birthday to Me…I Guess” it wa so hard to decide what to write about. I really want to talk about the creative process behind this without spoiling it.

I had the idea when I rewatched the show and saw the scene with the photo of Yasuko and I realized we know nothing about her. I really wanted to remedy that. I also really love Asami and Asami centric fics. She’s such an enchanting character. She’s so elegant and mysterious 💜🤍

I couldn’t find a fic that was exactly what I was looking to read so I decided to write it myself. The premise is a little unoriginal I’m sure I could probably find a lot of ficus tackling this if I actually looked.

Where it gets fun is well… Asami doesn’t remember anything about her childhood or mother. It’s between seasons three and four and all of her friends are busy with their respective careers and she’s just kind of left out. She is still feeling the lingering affects of her father’s betrayal, Varrick’s attempt at stealing her company etc. She’s just really going through it and focusing on keeping her company going, to be honest she is neglecting herself.

She forgets her own birthday ! A girl’s twenty first birthday should be an occasion and so while Asami may neglect it someone else doesn’t. She’s sent a dress that was her mother’s and it sparks her curiosity. But there’s more. There’s a photo too… So now she wants to rediscover her parents past and figure out who tf sent this.

Along the way she enlists the help of her friends. But there’s more to the gift because it triggers memories. She has these really creepy/bizzare dreams and nightmares.

it’s a bit obvious who the gift sender is. But there are multiple plot points besides the mystery and the focus of the story alternates and changes as it develops.

(Side tangent/ secondary plot: She also really misses Korra, who hasn’t responded to any of her letters or calls and Asami doesn’t know how to handle her more than platonic desires. More on that later)

Through circumstance she finds out more information.

there is also a Kya-centric sub plot.

i don’t want to spoil anymore of it here’s more of the creative process/ inspo.

I wanted to use a large cast of characters and really flesh them all out more ( even and especially background characters) and give them something. I wanted to fill this with so many soft moments and backstory.

I also wanted to flesh out the city itself.! I love Republic City, it’s the most wonderful mix of cities around the world. Chicago, New York, Shang Hai, (Fun fact: The square in the park where the equalists protest in episode one is actually based off of a place in London) I know some fans don’t like how Americanized LOK is compared to its predecessor and the city is a massive part of that criticism. This is valid ! But I also feel that in some ways the Chicago influence ( the city is infamous for 20’s mobsters and I personally hear more old man from the Windy City than grumpy New Yorker in Zolt’s voice, but once again maybe I am over analyzing) kind of works. Hear me out. These American cities are a melting pot of cultures, and RC is supposed to be that as well, it’s the only place where all four nations combine.

tangent aside we’re given a massive city and so little lore. So I’ve sprinkled in street names and head cannons that one day I will expand upon.

💖I LoVe Yasuko💖

The idea behind Yasuko’s backstory was what if she had a rough background and weaseled her way into the upper class… and what if she had some interesting friends… I really wanted to see her as more than just a mom. I wanted to give her hobbies and make her proud of her culture and a sassy sweetheart. I wanted her to be the kind of person who fights tooth and nail for the people she cares about and is loyal to the bitter end.

I also may or may not be writing a companion piece set about (does the math) almost forty years before this one.

maybe I’m giving away too much.

I’m trying to keep it lighthearted but it’s kind of hard because we’ll… the circumstances of Yasuko’s death and the …. details of it.

there is also fluff and there will eventually be romance .💖 Korrasami 💖

so that’s my rant … and I still have more to say.

#korrasami #directors commentary #legend of korra #fanfiction #archive of our own #asami sato

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bi-lullaby · 2 years

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I would love to hear more about why you love Dean/Lisa. I never quite got a grasp on her character's personality or how she and Dean were similar and/or different, but I did like a lot of Dean's scenes with her---and, of course, with Ben!

Ohhh I hope I can get my thoughts out in a concise way!

There’s lots of things I like about them.

There’s a pure and simple aesthetic level- They’re gorgeous together. It’s the most shallow and not my main reason, but it’s the “eye catcher”. I remember, upon rewatch, thinking that in her introductory scene if we were in the “Trickster land” show, they’d make that corny-ass effect of her opening the door and her hair flowing around and Dean being thrown back by a sudden wind because she’s just so smitten. They look good together.

Secondly, they’re up to the task of working to build something together, and that’s just exactly my thing. They care for each other deeply (although they aren’t each other’s main priority, which is perfectly okay for a mother and a guy who saves the world for a job) and want what’s good for each other. They’re tender and soft with each other (seriously all of their kisses are just so… Gentle? Almost lip-caresses? That scene of them cuddling in bed makes me melt). Lisa doesn’t try to fundamentally change who Dean is - She tries to work with it until the threat to her kid is bigger. Dean is conscientious of her life and all that it entails and tries very very hard not to let his own traumas bleed on them, and he tries to better himself. They weren’t built to work, not in that universe, not within that storyline, not thematically, but they loved each other enough to try. That scene where he goes “then ask for something” because he doesn’t know how to be loved like that (without being needed, loved purely because he is and not because he is xyx) breaks me and I think shows why they didn’t work - I think they’d be genuinely good for each other in a “right person, wrong lifetime” way, almost. I feel the need to point out here (mainly bc I feel that meaning has been lost lately) that shipping something doesn’t always mean “I wish those two were together in canon right now and think they are the only people right for each other”. For me, I ship Dean x Lisa because of their inherent tragedy, their inherent loss, their almost so’s. I tend to visualize Dean with her if I’m thinking of an AU where Mary didn’t die, for example, because I feel they would have more opportunity to turn that seed of feeling into the actual act and decision of love and relationship.

There’s also the fact I’m a Dean stan first and foremost and I think she’s fantastic for him. She cares about him. She knows him enough to know how important hunting and Sam are to him and tries for compromise (come back when you can). She is tender with him and treats him like he’s valuable and worthy and precious. She represents a lot of the things lots of Dean stans want for him - Stability and normalcy, but still with someone who knows about hunting (I have way too many thoughts about Dean and leaving hunting or not to ever articulate), someone who appreciates him and thinks he’s worth it and cherishes him and cares about his well being, a chance at a family, healthy connections (we see him with a stable job and making friends in 6x01), growth and peace. I think it’s disingenuous to say Dean was unhappy at her house because he didn’t love her or that sort of life - Sure, it could be that but we’re shown and told it’s far more likely it’s because he kept having horrible nightmares about his baby brother (whom he thought was dead at the time) jumping into a cage to be tortured for all of eternity. No one could (or should) be expected to be an instant cure-all for their partner’s trauma (especially not the sheer amount of trauma someone like him would have), but I do see Dean having a chance with her to deal with his.

It’s absolutely true we don’t know a lot about her! However, I don’t think it’s too much to infer and extrapolate (a lot like how we do with Jess, for example, drawing from context clues and details we’d have to give them for a relationship with their respective Winchester boy to work). We know she was wild and fun and enjoyed herself in her youth, we know she matured and stepped up to be a single mother, we know she raised Ben pretty well, that she’s protective of him, that she is empathetic to Dean’s plight and willing to accommodate it but that also she puts her foot down when her lines are crossed. It’s not hard to extrapolate that she’s still a fun person and we do get snapshots of her having a great sense of humor (Did you almost shoot a yorkie?). We can infer that they talk to each other and confide (She talks about Dean as “guy who saved the world” and I doubt that’s a direct phrasing from Dean so she was told at least enough to draw that conclusion, which then can lead you into thinking how hard it must have been to put Dean at ease to talk about that). We know she admires Dean and thinks he’s a great role model for her son and from that we can see that she values courage and kindness and selflessness and humor and all sorts of things Dean is. We can infer some wildness and even courage from herself just by allowing Dean into her life. Her yoga background and It’s not an encyclopedia of knowledge but I almost like that - She was never built to be a main character, she was always supposed to be a bridge Dean had to the “civilian” world that had to be burned down at last.

#I hope this makes sense at all #there’s details I probably got a little wrong bc it’s been a while since I rewatched #and I know fanon and fanfic and headcanons got mixed in with a lot of my spn knowledge #but the hist of it is this #dean x lisa #answered

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pretty-boys-book-club · 2 years

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CAT!! i just saw you in my notifs and squealed i missed you!! how are you!! how are things??

Oh my, okay, I had this WHOLE response written out but our dearest hellsite decided to delete it 😡 so, starting over…

Hi, Jay 💜💜💜💜💜 How have you been?

I’m still around, who would’ve thought?! Jokes aside, I’m alright, been resting a lot lately and feel a bit more energetic than I was in the past. Still haven’t managed to write anything, but I’m trusting that it will eventually come back to me. Been watching Bones for the first time and ugh, it gives me SO MANY fic ideas, but I just can’t manage to put them down in words. Also have rewatched CM with my sisters (we’re currently on Season 6!), I feel like this time of year is the perfect time for seeing the show once again.

Been trying to keep up with all the reboot news, but I’m not that into it, to be completely honest. I’m giving it the benefit of the doubt for now, since I really look forward to seeing some of our faves once again, but I can’t quite shake the feeling that it’s too soon, too rushed. I guess we’ll have to wait until it airs.

I’m also a bit tense because elections are coming up in the country I live in, and there’s a real risk of the current bigot in chief (aka Tropical Trump) being re-elected. And that would pose a real threat to the well being of a lot of people very close to my heart, particularly my LGBTQIA+ and POC friends. There’s a chance the left candidate will win the election (I’m rooting for it so hard) but even then, the political climate is really tense and I fear we’ll see a spike in politically motivated violence until the Presidential Inauguration takes place in January 2023. Very depressing and anxiety inducing news.

Thankfully though, time has just been flying by! I’ve managed to reconnect with some old friends, started to go out some more, have dyed my hair red (you know, changing your hairstyle is the most important sign one is going through ✨something ✨), even developed a crush on one of my coworkers (let’s not talk about that, because it’ll most likely lead to NOWHERE).

Side note about the hair: I’ve wanted to do this ever since I was around 14-15, but I’ve never mustered up the courage to do it. Until a few months ago, when my therapist encouraged me to do something I’ve always wanted to do but scared me.

Anyway, on a more personal note, I’ve been busy planning an “euro trip” with two of my closest friends. I’m really proud of myself because I’m the one that has basically done all the schedule and took care of booking our flights, trains and hotels. Really looking forward to it, as well as having the almost the entire month of November to travel and disconnect from work and other daily trials. That’s what’s been driving me at the moment.

Oh, and Halloween, because it’s my favourite time of year. Even if it’s not widely celebrated around here, I love it so much. Can’t wait to start rewatching “Practical Magic” and “Hocus Pocus” until everyone in my house is sick of it. My friends are planning on going to a party at a night club on Oct 29th, so I’m trying to come up with a costume. I’m leaning towards going as Wanda in the iconic vintage Scarlet Witch costume (just because I want to be able to dress up as a character that has red/ginger hair). But still not sure.

Anyway, what about you?? I hope you’re doing fine as well!

#jay 💜#lovely moots 💕#cat replies #cat rambles #*I’m still standing by Sir Elton John playing in the background*

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vro0m · 2 years

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vro0m’s rewatch - 72/297

2011 Australian GP

Okay a little bit of information here before we begin with this season because I have a lot more followers than the last time I posted about this : after Abu Dhabi 2021 I decided to watch Lewis’ whole career to fill the void and also to try to understand how we got there. These are reviews of each race + GIFs I make to illustrate them. You can catch up on everything I already posted on my pinned post + there’s a special tag for these in case you wanna mute it.

It is time. 2011. Here we go.

There's been one minute of silence for the victims of the 2011 tsunami in Japan.

Ah too bad we don't get the build up. It's unfortunate because it's the first race of the season and that's normally when they cover all that's changed during the break... Webber is third on the grid, Lewis is second, Seb is on pole already, Jenson is fourth. Here are the newbies : Sergio Perez! (didn't know he arrived that early, I thought he had been in F1 for much less time than that...) in the Sauber. Di Resta in the force India, Maldonado in the Williams (look I heard things about him but I'm not sure what but I know he’s chaotic I can't wait to see), and D'Ambrosio in the virgin. Actually some of them might have been there last year too and I just haven't heard of them? Lol idk. If you want to know the cold facts check Wikipedia this is just me vibing and making gifs as you know by now.

Formation lap!

And they're racing!

Bad start for Lewis! He holds up Jenson too. Not good. Petrov is up into third place and there's a Williams in the gravel trap. Lewis is back into second place then it’s Webber, Petrov, Massa, Button, Rosberg, Kobayashi, Alonso and Alguersuari.

What the fuck there's some terrible hard rock playing loud in the background? Apparently it's to announce the ad break. We're 10 laps in. Seb is still leading. Lewis P2, Webber P3. Massa has been told his brakes are too hot. He's P5. Button is right behind him, but he himself is under pressure from Alonso.

Both Redbulls complain of their tyres. It seems the softs are short lived here. Ah Maldonado has stopped. Jenson overtook Massa illegally so he has to give back the place but Alonso also overtook Massa so he has to let them both through. Webber pits from third, he's now 9th on hard tyres. Alonso pits for softs again. Jenson argues he was pushed off the track by Massa, it's under investigation. Lewis is gaining on Seb. Massa pits, now if the stewards decide Jenson was at fault it'll be a drive through penalty instead. Seb pits! Lewis takes the lead. Seb is out behind Jenson, who gets a drive through indeed. Jenson held up Seb for a little but he got past. Lewis will have to stop, his ty yeah he does so as I write it lol. He gets the softs still? He's out just in front of Jenson who will let him go as he has a penalty anyway. So Seb is back in the lead and Lewis still second.

20 laps in, it's Kovalainen DNF for lotus. Schumacher DNF for Mercedes. And now contact between Barrichello who finds himself facing the wrong way and Rosberg? Who's getting away but smoking more and more, and finally has to stop. Both Mercedes out, then. Jenson overtakes Kobayashi for 7th. There's ad breaks every 5 laps I’m going crazy. Webber pitted again from third. Lewis is losing time. If I understand correctly there's something wrong with the plank under his chassis that's supposed to be a certain thickness at the end of the race. On a replay we see it dragging on the ground. Did he come detached? Now the issue isn't so much whether he'll defend his place against Petrov but will he be able to finish the race... Seb pits. Lewis pits. Petrov pits.

Ah btw. Kers is back. If you remember correctly I talked about it in the 2009 rewatch. It was this braking system that allowed to store kinetic energy to use it as a boost at another time. The Mclarens used it back then with the issue that it was very heavy and so a lot of teams gave up on developing/using it. In 2010 it was still allowed but all the teams agreed not to use it. In 2011 the weight limit was raised by 20kg and so it's making a comeback. It seems most teams are struggling with it though, because it fucks with how it feels to brake.

Webber pits again and Alonso gets in third, we’re 42 laps in. But Petrov overtakes him! The whole story is Mark Webber trying to get on the podium. Perez somehow has only stopped once! How did he manage his tyres... Now they tell Lewis 7 laps to go and to please look after the car as it is damaged. Barrichello retires.

And it's the end of the race!

Seb wins, Lewis p2, Petrov p3, his first podium.

Lewis takes a look at the plank under his car.

Wow we barely got the press conference in this stream...

They mention the pirelli tyres (last year they weren't pirellis I think) and apparently everybody was worried after the tests but Seb says in the end there weren't that many stops this time (is he talking about pit stops? Because most of them did 3 which is a lot…?) Also now they have the DRS to get closer which is what replaced the F duct from last year. Lewis is proud of the result, they weren't expecting to be anywhere near the top 5 two weeks prior, they're very happy, and he thinks they have good pace. Lewis says yes, the plank and the floor are massively damaged and he doesn't know when it happened but he was losing a lot of downforce. He had a bad start.

Sorry, that's not much gifs and not much content. Hopefully not all the 2011 races I downloaded will be like that.

#lewis hamilton #f1 #2011 #2011 australian gp #vro0m's race reviews

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xenofact · 3 months

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Grifts, Spiritual Grifts, and Widespread BS

Recently I discovered the delightful videocaster Tom Nicholas. A charming man who covers economics, politics, and culture, he has a witty but laid-back style that helps him cover some pretty serious subjects. My introduction to his work was a YouTube episode on why everything is so grifty these days, which I recommend seeing. Well, after you finish reading this.

It’s hard to sum up, but the short form is work and the economy aren’t so hot, business gurus sold advice on how to make money (while their business was guruhood), and eventually you end up with grifts everywhere. I’m not doing it justice, but, you get the idea – looking to have grifts is sort of normalized now.

While rewatching this episode because I’m some kind of masochist, I began wondering what this meant for the spiritual grifts that I often analyze. Which is where this column comes from, so here’s my thoughts.

Spiritual grifts have always been with humanity as long as there have been humans. It doesn’t take much historical reading to find such things, from failed cults to faked miracles. But there’s something about today’s spiritual grifts where they seem to be varied, ominpresent, and a lot of people are in on them.

Which seems sort of weird. Are there this many chosen ones, like can someone choose among the chosen ones to narrow it down? Why can’t all the messages from the Space Brothers, you know, line up? How come the Ascended Masters only now care about vaccination? I mean, how did we get here?

When I stepped back thanks to Mr. Nicholas, the answer seemed depressingly obvious.

First, grifts always take advantage of existing technology. The printing press changed every country that created it or adopted it – and also meant people could more easily print and spread bullshit. History is replete with opportunity pamphleteers and scam artists and people who lied fast and wrote just as fast on spiritual “issues.” The internet just makes it faster than we were used to a few decades ago – and easier to start a spiritual grift.

Secondly, many of us exist in a culture that contains what I might call “Capitalist Idolatry.” We are told to make money all the time, to turn everything to a profit, to look for the next thing. We’ve had years of business gurus pitching side hustles and passive income. We’ve internalized this, and for many people this seems to be instinctual.

Third, the economy hasn’t gone great for a lot of people. How many layoffs, restructurings, firings, our recessions have you been through? How many people lost their economic progress, or never even got a chance to start any progress? People have been let down by the economy, and they’re looking to make money, and that culture of hustle is there waiting to tell us we can do it – and beat the system!

Fourth, American culture has normalized the spiritual grift. We have the so-called mainstream Christian grift, a historical lineage of tent revivalists, pass-the-plate evangelists, megachurches, and of course the televangelists and their empires. If people aren’t interested in that – or are rebelling against it – you can provide “alternative” spirituality and get your own grift going by doing something different while keeping the same old moneymaking routines.

Fifth, spiritual grift doesn’t require you to make anything unusual. Sure you can sell crystals and whatever, but it’s really easy to sell content which you can just make up and spew into the format of your choice. If you do want to sell merch you can get things manufactured or slap your brand name on some pre-made herbal medication or whatever. But for the most part, spiritual grift is no different than the various life coach and business guru scams.

Toss all that together and of course we’re awash in Spiritual grifts. They’be been around for awhile, we exist in a grifty culture, and the internet turned it up to eleven. When someone is flooded with TikTok, YouTube, and Podcast gurus, they might get ideas. They might even have some authentic spiritual insights, but that’s a seed for something neither spiritual or insightful.

What we face today in the world of spiritual grift is something more widespread and faster-moving than grifts of say a century ago. But nothing is actually unusual – we’ve all seen it before, throughout history and throughout our lives.

-Xenofact

#tom nicholas #spirituality #economics #grift

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chronic-invisibility · 10 months

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I stopped coming on here for like almost a month i think bc i added some tags onto a post i reblogged and the op called me out and said i completely misunderstood everything (except they misunderstood what i was trying to say so fuck me ig) and i got upset and dipped. In the meantime, lots of stuff has happened, but also not much.

I went back to university, the semester started last Thursday and it’s going well so far, I’m majoring in Museum Studies bc I am a big nerd, and it’s a 100% online program so I’m still working and I don’t have to like, move to Arizona, which is good.

Work is meh, we’re starting vaccine clinics again soon so I’ll be doing that again with this season’s flu and covid shots, and maybe other vaccines as well I’m not sure what the regulations are now. We still only have one pharmacist on staff so we’re stuck with a rotating cast of floaters, some of whom are more helpful than others. And the customers are still horrible, that hasn’t changed. I got yelled at for 10 minutes today by someone who’s doctor called in over a dozen prescriptions and then faxed us and cancelled all of them so we put them all back, which was a mistake apparently and then after we finally got it sorted and got them called in again, we were supposed to close in 10 minutes so it was physically impossible to fill 15 prescriptions for one person, and she wanted us to stay open late just for her, which legally we can’t do and also no, we want to go home and she was being so rude we didn’t really want to help her at all. So yeah, work is work

In good news, I’ve been talking to someone i matched with on a dating app (my intro that they messaged me about was mcr related, so you know they’re a keeper) and we’ve been on 2 dates and text a lot and we’re planning on hanging out again this Tuesday. They’re a special ed teacher and they have adhd so they get how my brain works and they work with kids whose brains work similarly to both of ours, and they’re really funny and cool and smart and nice and pretty, I really hope this keeps going well bc I really like them.

I watched the newest season of Heartstopper twice in a row after it came out, reread all the comics that are out (Alice Oseman is still publishing them, too, so that’s nice) and then rewatched both seasons in a row. It’s so cute and so good and i can feel the hyperfixation building. I’ve watched it enough that I keep slipping into a british accent when I talk, which is entirely unintentional but not the worst thing. I can also do it on purpose, but i tend to pick up accents from people I hear talk a lot, which is maybe the only fun side effect of masking my whole life

I’ve seen a few really good plays and musicals recently, I know I saw The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window before i stopped posting on here, but that was really good, and then I saw Kimberly Akimbo the other day, it was INCREDIBLE. The music and the writing are amazing, obviously, and the actors were all so good, again obviously. They won 5 Tony’s last season, including for Best Musical and Best Featured Actress in a musical and Best Lead Actress in a musical, which were so well-deserved, I seriously cannot hype this show up enough. There’s so many good shows on Broadway right now and I wish I could see them all, there were a bunch I wanted to see but closed before I got the chance, too, including Prima Facie starring Jody Comer, but I bought the script for that one.

In less fun news, I think i might need to put a read more here bc there be triggers coming

Between my chronic GI issues (trying to see a specialist about it again but there’s a whole mess of problems with that i just don’t feel like typing) and watching season 2 of Heartstopper and also rereading it and seeing Charlie struggling with his eating disorder, I’ve lapsed pretty hard with my own. I can’t really call it a relapse bc I was never really actually trying to recover, but I was trying for a while to eat a little more normally, but that’s basically out the window now. Thanks brain, so helpful of you to see a person struggling with a similar mental illness to mine and say “well they’re sicker than you so you suck and also you need to work harder at being sick like them” like FUCK OFF that’s not helpful and also Charlie is literally a fictional character and most of the storyline is about how he’s trying to get help for his ed and how awful they are, and his ed and mine aren’t the same, nor are our reasons for being disordered. So that’s not been fun.

I also realized (after watching a video by a therapist reacting to the scene when Ben assaults Charlie in Heartstopper and then going and obsessively researching legal definitions) that what happened to me in the summer of 2019 would probably be classified as a rape, not just a sexual assault. Which it also was, but what happened falls under the legal definition of rape, not just assault. So I’ve been spiraling about that, even though I still remember almost none of it and once again my garbage brain has decided that I’m somehow not allowed to be that upset or say I’m traumatized bc I don’t experience two of the most common symptoms of ptsd (flashbacks and nightmares) so clearly, this is all me being dramatic, even though basically everything else fits. And those aren’t required to be diagnosed with ptsd. Not that I WANT ptsd, but for whatever reason I feel like i’m not allowed to even say i’m a little bit traumatized by what happened bc of that. Again, stupid brain. I also realized after talking to the person I’ve been talking to (idk if we’re officially dating, maybe i should ask) about boundaries and what we’re both comfortable with, that the last person who I’ve had any “romantic” physical contact with was the person who raped me, and also the only sexual contact I’ve ever had (unless i’ve blocked out more than just the one assault I know happened) was with that same person, so now i’m extremely anxious about doing anything with the person i’m sort of maybe dating, even though neither of us are interested in just jumping right to physical intimacy, they’ve also experienced similar situations so they’re anxious about it too, and also they’re a nice person who i’d trust to not push it if i wasn’t comfortable with something, but idk how to say “i’m anxious about kissing you even though i like you and i want to kiss you bc the last person i kissed was the person who raped me over 4 years ago”

I’m working on finding a new therapist now that i’m done with my IOP and i know that’s going to be one of the (far too many) things i need to deal with in therapy, as well as all the other trauma from that summer, and from my previous university experience, and my whole fucking childhood, and also my other issues that aren’t necessarily trauma related, although most of them probably are to a certain extent bc being an undiagnosed audhd person who also doesn’t realize they’re trans until they’re an adult is inherently traumatic.

I don’t know if there’s any other big stuff I want to/feel like I need to say that’s been going on, not that anybody will probably read all or any of this. But yeah, a lot is going on, but also not much is actively going on. This was a lot longer than I thought it would be. Oops.

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materassassino · 2 years

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There’s a lot going on and like... while I don’t particularly enjoy “feminised” Luke interpretations (which is to say they are exactly the opposite of what I like, they feel ooc), some of the language going around feels very, very nasty towards gender non-conforming men and amab people. There is nothing inherently wrong with gender non-conformity and we should all know this by now. Even if that interpretation displeases you, it’s not right to veer hard into the opposite direction. I imagine some men and amab individuals who choose to present in a more feminine manner might be quite hurt by this discourse, especially if they choose to project this presentation onto their favourite character. We’re all guilty of blorboism, otherwise we wouldn’t be in fandom.

It seems to me that these tropes people dislike are genuine flanderisations of the character traits Luke and Din do present in canon. Luke has always been an anomaly in fiction as a male hero who does carry a lot of traits traditionally ascribed to female characters (kindness, redemption of the enemy through love), and this kindness probably contributes a lot to these exaggerations of parts of his character. Din, on the other hand, is absolutely a protective character in canon, and that can push people into presenting him as possessive (which he isn’t, the choice to let Grogu go is testament to that).

I also feel like a lot of people are forgetting Mandalorians, including Din, are warriors. They are a culture that is founded on warmongering and galactic imperialism. By the time of Din a lot less so, but he is still a man who has murdered multiple people on-screen and resorts to violence quite often. One of his weapons for half the series literally vaporised people. We’re forgetting just how much Grogu has changed him and made him softer, and nevertheless we still see him cut a man in two and carry his decapitated head in a bag for work.

Tl;dr: both Luke and Din are capable of great violence and great softness, and those are important parts of their characters.

Also I think more people need to watch/rewatch the Original Trilogy. Just for fun and also for Luke.

#dinluke #this is all i'm going to say on the matter #i'm tired #only a sith deals in absolutes #i don't want to get involved i just want to make these characters kiss #and hug their green son

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from-the-clouds · 3 years

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Kiss Me More (Part II) - Zemo/Reader

Masterlist || Part One

Summary: Part two, read part one if you haven’t already! Sam & Bucky put reader in charge of looking after Zemo....again. Series loosely inspired by this song.

Words: 2.5k

Warnings: Kissing, heavy petting, mentions of sex, minor TFATWS spoilers.

A/N: Wow! I was so shocked on the feedback I got on the first part of this story. It has nearly 800 notes. I’m not used to my writing getting that kind of attention so I really appreciate the love. I decided to make this into at least a 3-4 part series and there will be eventual smut, but I feel like there’s something sweet between these two that goes beyond an obvious physical attraction, so I do want to build that a bit before we get there. This weekend I rewatched TFATWS & Civil War because I’m officially obsessed with Zemo lol. Please let me know what you think, and let me know if you’d like to be added to the taglist. :)

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“Keep an eye on him.”

Y/N watched Bucky and Sam split off again. That was now at least the third time she’d heard that phrase since she arrived in Riga. Little did they know, she was probably the worst person to be put in charge of Zemo. Truthfully, it was starting to be a little insulting.

It was unclear why she’d been brought along on this mission, when half the time Sam and Bucky were talking in hushed tones just out of her earshot. There was always more to the story than they told her, but this time, it felt like she was more out of the loop than ever.

She adjusted the neckline of the sweater she wore out of an abundance of caution, checking subconsciously to make sure it hadn’t exposed the mark Zemo had left on her from the day before. It was a discovery she’d made that morning, and persisted despite her efforts to cover it up with makeup.

“According to those two, I must be the best at babysitting you,” she muttered under her breath. It was petty, so she wasn’t even sure if she wanted him to hear. But he did.

“Babysitting?” Zemo lifted an eyebrow.

“You know, a nanny, a governess….whatever a Baron’s equivalent is,” she said, looking him in the eye for the first time that day, which was a mistake. He looked so handsome in that long, fur-lined coat, tall and refined, hair styled perfectly. There had to be warrants out for his arrest since escaping prison, and in his current getup, he was hard to miss.

It wasn’t easy to ignore the stifling tension between them. The Baron hadn’t left her thoughts since she’d closed the door on him the evening before. Now they were alone again. She couldn’t decide if that was thrilling or terrifying, so she decided on both.

“It’s nice of them to give us some alone time,” Zemo stepped close to her, one gloved hand pressing between her shoulder blades. Despite the cool temperature outside, it was the first thing today that had her shivering.

“Walk with me,” he commanded sternly. She saw no opportunity to refuse as they started in the direction opposite of where Bucky and Sam had disappeared.

“Zemo-”

“Helmut,” he corrected her. “But go on…”

“We have to focus on figuring out where Donya’s funeral will be,” she said, feeling his hand slide down to settle on the small of her back, trying to inch away, but he just pulled her closer. “We can’t waste time.”

“I know Riga inside and out, that won’t be as difficult as you and your friends think,” he murmured. His proximity was already suffocating. Or maybe comforting. It was hard to tell. “Tell me, what is your business with them? You aren’t an Avenger. This was my first time hearing your name.”

She snorted, finally finding the strength to pull away, and he dropped his hand. That was one thing that had confounded her. He was confident, took liberties with what others would allow, but knew when to stop pushing. There was something alluring to his nature.

“I’m not,” she responded, wondering how much she was willing to share. When she stole a glance out of the corner of her eyes, his head was lowered, leaning in, listening intently for her response. She wondered if he really cared, or if he was good at pretending. It was easy to believe that he did.

“Bucky and I aren’t that different,” she continued. “That’s why we’re friends. I’m not a super soldier, but I was taught how to fight, how to kill. I followed orders for too long without questioning whether or not I was doing the right thing. And at least now, I think I am.”

“You think,” he repeated, and corrected her again like he had the day before. As much as she wanted some kind of clever or quick quip back, she wore her heart on her sleeve for the moment and shrugged. There was nothing to defend when she still wasn’t sure what responsibilities she had in this world.

Zemo halted, and she paused too, turning back to look at him. “So you were an assassin,” he murmured, reaching out. Nodding slightly, she lowered her eyes when his gloved thumb brushed across her face. The buttery, overpowering smell of leather took her over as he tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “I would’ve never guessed. Du bist so süß.”

Her knowledge of German was limited, but she could see a flash of what looked like affection in his eyes. He couldn’t be lying, could he? She wondered. She wanted to trust that he wasn’t, wanted to identify every good part of him she could, so she could justify the overwhelming attraction she felt towards him. Something in her just kept pulling forward against her will, like a magnet.

“You’d be surprised,” she answered, but didn’t pull away. The intensity of his gaze made her feel weak, but there was something strangely reassuring in his eyes. It was just the two of them, standing on a crowded sidewalk.

She rose her hand to clasp around his, frowning when she felt the hard loop of a ring on one of his gloved fingers. It had gone unnoticed by her, until now. He still wore a wedding band.

It would have been easy to vocalize the observation, gauge his reaction, try to regain some upper hand and remind him who exactly he was dealing with. But, it would’ve been pointlessly cruel, as she knew what that felt like to answer that question. Those days were behind her, now.

As if the universe was scolding her, a loud car horn broke through the perceived silence. His hand dropped from her face, and they began to walk again.

“I had lots of time to think in prison,” he said after a heady pause in conversation. “About the things I’d done. Whatever intentions you have, to someone, you’re always the enemy. What I thought was important, trying to serve the greater good, it isn’t always worth the trouble. I was trying to protect what I had already lost, the places and people I’d taken for granted.”

Deciphering his words, she took a moment before responding. “That’s actually...very insightful,” she said, partly surprised by what he’d shared, appreciating that he felt her vulnerability, and matched it in his response.

“I know you’re stunned I’m not a brute,” he answered, increasing his pace to a determined strut rather than a lazy stroll. She was forced to keep up with him. “You’ve been told what to think about me by Sam and Bucky.”

She scoffed. “Not just them. The entire world. All the people you’ve hur-”

He halted and turned to face her so quickly, she collided with his chest and her breath caught in her throat.

“I’m not that man anymore,” his voice was nearly a growl, disgust laced in his features as he looked down at her.

But as soon as she recognized it, he became expressionless again, backing away. Falling back into step beside him, they continued to walk, a bit faster than they had been before. She followed him, at this point convinced that she might get lost without his guidance, but a little startled by his sudden change in behavior.

“What do you think of Riga?” he asked her as they cut through an alleyway. His voice held none of the venom that it had a few moments ago, so she wondered if she’d just hit a sore nerve.

“It’s beautiful,” she answered, admiring the old brick buildings and fine architecture. “But I think I haven’t had much of a chance to appreciate it.”

“Have you been thinking about me?”

They ducked under an alcove, and she realized he’d carefully led her off the crowded streets. It was much quieter here. She suddenly didn’t feel as protected as she had been with him in the open. The temperature in the shaded space was much lower than expected. And he was standing over her, waiting for some response she didn’t know if she could give.

“I haven’t forgotten about last night, liebling,” he continued.

Of course she had been thinking of him. Nearly nonstop. What they’d shared, what it meant. She hadn’t been able to sleep until she relieved herself, fingers rubbing her clit and delving into her warmth, whimpering his name when she finally came. Still, it had done little to quell the ache inside her.

It was a horrible thing, she’d decided. Objectively horrible, and unprofessional. There was the consideration of accessibility. What did he see in her beyond a means to an end? Was she really going to throw everything she’d worked for away to a man who was going to use her to scratch an itch?

Too much was at stake, Sam and Bucky’s trust, her reputation, her job, and she couldn’t allow it to go on.

But oh, how much she wanted it to.

“Yesterday was nice,” she straightened up, holding her own. “I won’t lie to you.”

The corner of his mouth tugged up slightly in a self-satisfied smirk.

“But I’m not foolish,” she continued. “Coming on to the first woman you see after you get out of jail? Seems pretty convenient.”

At first, the Baron tilted his head to the side, his brows pulled together at her words. But after a moment, the smile returned, and he chuckled. “Is that what you think this is about?”

“Don’t insult me, Helmut,” she said sternly, trying her best not to feel embarrassed. She was only being honest.

“Are you always so severe to yourself?” he asked, tutting lightly.

It would have been better to say nothing. Why give him anything at all?

She didn’t answer his question, just backed away from him and began walking in no particular direction, wanting only to increase the space between them and regain her common sense. That was impossible however, as she was jolted backwards before she even knew what was happening, a firm hand on her upper arm, and she was chest to chest with Zemo once more.

“We were in Madripoor together. I could’ve had my way with many women there if I wanted. But I didn’t.”

“Please-” she rolled her eyes.

“If all I wanted to do was fuck someone, I could have done it by now,” he stalked forward, the air pressure around them dropping, weighed by the tension hanging thick between them. “But that’s not what I want. I want you.”

His words, spoken in a soft, low purr rattled away every bit of resolve she had left in her. Some last ditch effort found her stepping backwards, but her body met the brick wall behind them and she realized he had her cornered.

In more ways than one, she thought.

Taking in a shaky breath, she looked up at his eyes, clouded with lust. “I know you want me,” he said, not a shred of doubt in his voice. But why should there have been? He was right.

Her eyes darted around, like someone or something around them was going to jump out and save her from herself. It didn’t go unnoticed. “There’s no need to be scared, liebling. I feel it, too.”

With that, he closed the gap between their lips. He tasted sweet, like the candies he’d been eating back at his flat. Turkish delight. She was drowning in him again, his scent, his touch, everything about him enveloped and beguiled her. Her shirt had bunched up slightly somewhere along their walk and his gloved hands explored the exposed skin, leaving goosebumps in their wake.

She surrendered, letting him tease open her mouth and claim her wholly. It was still bad, she knew. But there wasn’t any last bit of self-control left in her.

The layers of clothing between them didn’t allow for the same proximity she’d had to him the evening before. Groaning in delight and frustration, she reached up to tangle and rake her fingers through his hair, as his fingers curled around the top of her sweater, revealing the sensitive skin of her neck.

“Don’t hide this,” his lips left hers as his eyes focused on the stamp of affection he’d left behind the day before. “Let them see.”

“You know I can’t,” she responded, sheepishly pulling it back into place. Studying her with amiable consideration, his hand rose to brush tenderly across her cheekbone.

“I thought you’d come to me last night,” she confessed, drawing away slightly, shocked by her own admission. But right now, she didn’t feel the need to put up as much of a facade. He looked positively virile; panting, his cheeks flushed and hair mussed, pupils blown out as he focused on her. To know she was the cause of his current state of disarray gave her an immense amount of satisfaction. A buried, salacious part of her wondered what else she could do to make him look even more unkempt.

“I considered it,” he said, sounding almost timid. “But I want to do this right.” He leaned in, pressed a kiss beneath her ear. “In private, so no one can disturb us,” he continued, lips moving down her neck. “We can take our time, you can be as loud as you’d like.”

The mental image he was currently painting for her was doing very little to strengthen her convictions, whatever those had been. The thought of her legs wrapped around his torso, naked bodies pressed together sent a bolt of electricity through the pit of her stomach, radiating outwards. She wanted his lips on every inch of her skin. Aching at the possibility, the present tease of his teeth nibbling on her collarbone wasn’t helping.

“You know we can’t,” she didn’t try to stop the thought as it came out of her mouth.

“What is there to lose?”

Everything, she thought, but didn’t answer. She couldn’t really, as his gloved hand was trailing slowly under her jacket and sweater, against her bare skin, and cupping her breast through her bra. Whimpering, she couldn’t control the way her body arched against his.

Hooking her knee on his hip, she let him press forward, feeling the warmth of his excitement through his trousers and her jeans. He ground against her once, teasingly, and she moaned softly into his mouth.

He was the one to pull away, and she was thankful he did. “Think about it, liebling,” he said softly, pressing a tender kiss to her temple. “Du hast die Kontrolle.”

“We can’t,” she answered again, but even she didn’t believe herself. Raking her hands through her hair and adjusting her rumpled sweater, she straightened up. “We have a job to do.”

Brushing past him out of the alcove, each step she took away from him gave her the self control she desperately needed. She glanced over her shoulder to see him reluctantly trudging behind. At this point, she wasn’t foolish. There were only two ways this could end.

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Part III

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