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after-nine-at-the-oasis · 2 years

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THEM PANNING BACK UP TO THE PARTY, AND THEN JUST ENDING IT??? NOT ALLOWED.

Also Jerome looks so jokingly offended that Asher has forsaken him to dance with Jordan lol. Like what happened right before we panned up xD.

Anyway like I'M HAPPY FOR THEM (AHHHHHHHHH!!!) BUT THE TONAL SHIFTS IN THIS EPISODE!!! It's whiplash man xDDD.

And then it just ends- claheosngpabdil. A masterpiece, but ouch xdd.

Anyway, yeah!! That's the last of my liveblog thoughts :)), now it's time for the. . .

REVIEW

Hey! Not that long after the end of the liveblog this time, huh :D? Lol. Sure, that's just because I finished it, but still xD.

Yk, having stopped half way through lol.

Anyway xDD.

Let's start!!!

Okay, so, this'll be short - some on this episode, some on the season, hopefully I won't get too distracted lol.

Jordan!! Love my girl 🥰🥰🥰. Her inventing journey with Lea this season!!! Loved it :DD. It was so nice to see more of that side of her, it's really cool :D. Also, she got her first solo surgery!!! This first of the new residents :DD (though, granted, there's only her and Asher lol). And like, early! UGH, I'm so proud of my girl :D. She was so good in that episode, and this one!! I loved her telling Lea that she (and both of them) deserved a real wedding, and honestly just telling them not to be stupid and get rid of the gifts lol. Mostly that part xD. But, she did help plan the wedding!! I feel like she had a huge part of that lol, or even the main part XD. Anyway, I love her, she's amazing :))).

Glassman!! Glad he came back this season, and didn't end up dipping lol. Honestly, he's been pretty good since he came back :). And this episode, with that "I love you" scene with Shaun?? Amazing 😭😭😭😭. I say "I love you" scene because that was a big part of it, but I could say ring scene lol. Also that takes it sound oddly romantic but uhh PLATONIC lol. Such a great scene, love my guy :)). Honestly he brings such good humor lol. Not my favorite, but ah, I love him :). 🥰🥰🥰❤️❤️.

Morgan and Park!! Putting them together because their storylines intertwine a lot :)).

Now, I did look up what job Morgan was thinking about because I forgot lol, but honestly I'd be sad to see her go :((. I think it would be hard to find another cast member (in the cast of characters sense) where it doesn't just feel like they're replacing her, but so we do still have that ambitious attitude. Jordan has it to an extent, but in a different way. I think it'll definitely be interesting to see what happens next! Also, her and Park this season were cute 🥰🥰. They're not my favorite couple, but they had some really good moments - though sometimes they're fights stress me out lol. Love em <3.

Park's continued passiveness regarding moving up is a little odd, but it's nice! Especially in juxtaposition to Morgan. I don't remember a lot of his storylines form this season, to be honest, and besides his with Morgan and how tha influenced home, I don't think he had much of an overarching storyline this season. Also, when I say "his with Morgan", I mean storyline. Their relationship is cute, though as I said, stressful sometimes xd, but I'm honestly not sure if they'll last. I really hope they do though!! But we'll have to see what happens :)). Also, I love Park being there for some quality humor and just good doctor-ing, lol. It's nice and refreshing from some of the drama <33 🥰.

Lim!! Any scene referencing Melendez this season destroyed me 😭😭. As per always, but still lol. I thought her relationship with Andrews, building that friendship back up after the whole drama, was really nice! I mean, I already loved Potluck lol, but their story their is definitely one of the reasons XD. Also, her storyline with Villanueva! Heartbreaking, but also heartwarming :)). And, as evidenced by the ending, SOMETIMES VERY STRESSFULL!!! XDD. Anyway, lol. Lastly, loved her fighting back against Salen 🥰🥰🥰. I mean, somebody had to do it, and of course it's going to be Lim :))) 😎😎. And this episode, her conversation about moving on with Villanueva? UGH, SO. GOOD. I love her so much ❤️❤️❤️🥰. Both of them!!! But AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH L I I I M M M M M M M!!!!!!!

I mean honestly I think she'll be fine, I am really scared for Villanueva though :((. I mean obviously I am pretty scared for both of them, we know The Good Doctor doesn't shy away from killing people (cough cough Melendez), but I think plot- and importance-wise (yes plot is supposed to be that, it's connecting to the "wise") Villanueva has a better chance of dying 😬😬😬 :(( 😭. Hopefully it'll all work out fine, with some complicated or desperate/like needed immediately lol surgeries and some recoup :)).

Anyway, Andrews! Not a huge fan this season of how he supported Salen (and DATED HER 🤮🤮🤮 lol), but he got his head on straight eventually. Also like dang I really wanted to like Salen but nah bro 😭😭😭 xD I- well I won't say I hated her but I did not like her lol. Anyway, help though I'm so confused, what happened with Isabel??? Like y'all hello 😭😭😭. I know they didn't say (trust me, I looked it up lol), but still man I'm so confused xdd. I think they just wanted drama, because last I knew, of their very stretched out and sparse storyline, they were doing fine. But, eh, whatever ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. Anyway! Loved that he associated the wedding :))). And called it a privilege too!! Yes, it is 🥰🥰🥰. Also just all the things he said :)). So good <333. And he looked os happy for them, AHH, good for him :). Because we don't usually get to see him happy lol, at least not these days xD. Anyway, love the growth for him this season - I agree with Lim in Potluck, it takes a lot to do what he does, and he does it well :)) ❤️.

Asher (and a bit of Jerome :D)!!!

You know I love my boy :)). I loved his storyline with Jerome this season!! Y'all know I love some good rep, and, while with side characters, it was good 🥰🥰🥰. I mean, Asher is more of a main character than Jerome, but you know, lol. They've both been good characters this season :DD :)).

Also, Asher's talk with that one lady about when he came out! Oough, that was so good. Really just loved that scene in general :'DDD. He's had a lot of great scenes this season!! Especially emotional ones :)).

Now about TODAY. Well, this episode, lol.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Bro I am so emotional from that entire thing 😭😭😭😭. I've watched the last half about 3 times now lol. Anyway, I loved getting more backstory on Asher, meeting his parents, and really seeing their strained relationship. But, it is still a relationship - they all still love each other. It's like a big triangle in all directions lol, just with different kinds of love. And honestly, by far my favorite scenes of the whole storyline: the scene where they're doing the practices/traditions, the scene with Asher and his mom in the church, and the goodbye scene. Ughh, all sooo good 😭😭😭. And by far the most emotional were the last two (though I loved the kind of like- angry empowerment in the first, AND THE KISS AHHH :DDD <33 RIGHT IN FRONT OF THEMMM :))) power move lol). So amazing :'))).

Lastly, in the goodbye scene, with Asher saying I love you in Yiddish and his dad saying it in English, to me it kind of shows their sacrifice for each other. Not white sacrifice, I guess, but their. . . meeting in the middle. Like, their extension of almost olive branches, if that makes sense? I think meeting in the middle works best. And no, I didn't mean they're for that one lol. Anyway, it was jus really amazing <33.

Oh wait also y'all the whiplash 😭😭😭😭😭 XD. Like we go from THAT that horrible (for your emotions, it was amazing) scene of Asher saying goodbye to his dying father, probably for the last time, and then we go straight to another emotional scene, but it's Shaun and Glassman having an INCREDIBLY sweet moment!! My neck practically hurt from that emotional whiplash XDD. And then to the sorry and stuff, and the stabbing, and back to the party - basically for the rest of the episode from then on out!!! I mean honestly, even some before that, to a lesser extent xDD. And related to that, brooo Asher looked so sad in the wedding scene 😭😭😭. Like he was happy for them but man was NOT in the mental state XDD. Ah, I hope he (and the others to a lesser extent) doesn't associate the happy event of their wedding 🥰🥰 with that. But, yeah, amazing all around :'))).

Also Asher and Jerome are so cute 🥰🥰🥰🥰😭😭❤️. So yeah, anyways. Love them :))))) ❤️❤️❤️❤️ <33.

And lastly: Shaun and Lea!!!

AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

THEY GOT MARRIEDDDDD Y'ALL THEY GOT MARIEDDDDDDDDDDD!!!!!

I'm so happy for them 🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰😭😭😭❤️😭😭❤️❤️❤️🥰🥰🥰🥰. Y'all I love my children :'DDD <333.

Anyway, they've both been amazing this season! We've seen some real growth form Shaun, especially with the Salen issues, and I'm glad he stood up to her!!! Honestly, those flashbacks we had this episode (AMAZING BY THE WAY) really just showed how much he's grown up, even since then :')). AGHHH I'm so emotional about it 😭😭😭❤️.

And Lea!!! Her inventing storyline this season with Jordan :DD, amazing!! Just like I said earlier :)). I really liked seeing focus on her computer skills again, but in a different capacity than her job :D. It's really interesting, and they're a fun pair to see working - and playing (by that I mean having fun and hanging out lol) - together :))) 🥰🥰. Also, Lea's help in that episode with the steel lung!! Amazing :DD.

I wasn't a huge fan of the whole reality tv storyline, but it was fun while it lasted :)). And it brought out some interesting sorts of their personalities and dynamic that were fun to see - you know, just them in a different situation :)). Also, I'm really glad they didn't get married on the tv show :)). Even if I felt bad for the lady lol, the one filming it xD. And that it was so fancy, and Claire won't be here again. You know, like, she wasn't for the real one xDD.

Oh yeah!!!

CLAIRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEREE!!!!!

I loved seeing my girl again 🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰. So sad she couldn't be there before the actual wedding 😭😭😭. Glad she was there for the almost one, though, and it was really nice to see her talking with Lim, and the case, how she's changed, and to hear about the job she was talking about. I miss her so much, but honestly, with everything, good for her <333. I love her so much :'DDDD :)) ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️.

Anyway! Too and they missed the fancy wedding, but SO GLAD that Jordan stopped them in this episode from returning their wedding gifts xDD. It was funny to see the two of them, the besties 🥰🥰, opening them too :D XDD. Anyway, I am SO. HAPPY. THEY GOT TO HAVE THEIR WEDDING :DDDDD.

As in "so happy that they got to have" btw, lol.

I would've had it if they got married at the courthouse 🥰🥰🥰. Lol, like, of course so still would've been really happy for them and that they were married and all, but like. We deserve it, y'all XDD. After this long of their relationship being ups and downs and bad times and good times, we deserves it lol. A full wedding XD.

Even if it was on top of the hospital lol.

Also yesss!! Shaun recognizing Lea's mixed feelings in this episode :DD. That was so sweet 🥰🥰🥰. Not like it was a choice lol, I just mean as a thing that happened lol. Glassman really was right about his growth :)).

Overall, I really, really loved this episode. The cases were great, Asher's storyline was heartbreaking and even a tiny bit heartwarming, but mostly just sad and loving. I'm nervous about a lot of things, but I am mostly just so happy that Shaun and Lea are married :))). And glad that Asher got a really good, full storyline :D. But, yeah, it was an amazing episode, and an amazing finale :)). Such a great season!!

Well, that's about it! I adored this episode and this season. And I'm really nervous about what'll happen after all of the stuff I just talked about. This has been my review of. . .

The Good Doctor, Season 5, Episode 18: Sons

Such a good episode!! I'm really excited for the next season, and all the cool medical cases and drama that will come with it. See you next time for my review of. . .

The Good Doctor, Season 6

Bye!!!

#the good doctor #tgd #oasis's tgd chatter #YAYYYYYY #FINALLY THEY'RE ALL DONE #THROW A PARTY Y'ALL #WHOOOOO 🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🎊🎊🎉🎉🎉🎉🎊🎉🎊🎉🥳🎊🎉🥳🥳🎉🎉🎊🥳🥳#we made it through the numerous bouts of executive dysfunction and months of excuses business and just not doing it xDD #but finally #we are here #lol #it's been a great season of shows y'all <33 lol #season meaning like the time of them being released #starting in the fall (except for lone star) and ending around the same time in the spring #wonderful lol #shaun murphy #lea dilallo #or maybe even now!!!#lea murphy #who knows :))#or the other way around or combining or choosing a new one or hyphenating lol or just leaving it - like I originally tagged lol xDD anyway #audrey lim #asher wolke #jerome #morgan reznick #alex park #jordan allen #marcus andrews #aaron glasman #byeee :))) ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️🥰🥰 :DD <3333!!!!

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mypoisonedvine · 4 years

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Ties That Bind, Debts That Burden | Curtis Everett x reader

for @stargazingfangirl18 and @navybrat817‘s august challenge! my prompt was the gif!

summary: you didn’t expect the man who bought you to be so kind. you didn’t expect to fall for him, either.

warnings: death of a parent character, kidnapping, implied noncon/mentions of noncon, sexism, sexual slavery (mentioned), dub con (but not in the way you’re expecting), implied age gap (everyone is over 18!! as always!!), semi-public sex, breeding kink, loss of virginity, pain kink (slightly)

word count: a bit over 4k (and I wrote it all in one day... hey that rhymes!)

[this is another one of those things where the fic itself is dark due to the subject matter, but the character in question is not ‘dark’ in the traditional sense. so, curtis is a good dude, it’s everyone else that sucks; this is a dark fic tonally, but not sexually per se]

Life in the tail section was ruthless. It was all about survival, and survival was about being stronger than others. You weren’t strong. What you did have was your father, and he had kept you safe all your life, even before the two of you had lived in this terrible place. He was a sort of leader; people looked up to him, and as a result, they obeyed his wishes to stay away from you. Even so, you could sense that a lot of the men in the train were just waiting for their chance to take you. Women who didn’t have significant skills to offer, women like you, were seen as a commodity with only one purpose. Less like wives and more like slaves, they were traded, sold, and bartered for like clothes or rations. It made you feel sick, but most of all it made you terrified for what would happen when your father couldn’t protect you anymore. He was strong, but old, and so tired. You hated to see how hard he had to work so late into his life, just so that you wouldn’t have to suffer.

When he died, it almost didn’t feel real. Even though it was sort of expected with the way his health had been declining for months, it was nothing you ever could’ve imagined. A world without your father meant a world you were truly alone in… and only now did you confront the real cruelty of life in the tail section.

You woke up to being dragged by your hair; you screamed and kicked, but there was little you could do as you were thrown down onto the floor. Your worthless fighting was muted as rags were used to bind your wrists and ankles, and a gag silenced you. You looked up to see you were surrounded by men, with one-- you were pretty sure his name was Jamie, you’d seen him around before-- standing up and hovering over you.

“Her father is finally dead!” he announced to the crowd with a dirty smile that was missing a few teeth. “I got my hands on her first, but I’m willing to sell her to any reasonable bidders.”

“Five rations,” one voice quickly jutted in.

“Five-- what the fuck are you talking about, man? Everyone’s been drooling over this little tart for years and you offer me five rations?! Get a grip,” Jamie spat.

“Twenty,” another called out.

“Getting warmer,” Jamie laughed. “Come on, boys, she’s never known a man before. This is truly a priceless opportunity.”

“Thirty!”

“Thirty-three!”

“Best I can do is thirty-five.”

“This is preposterous,” Jamie scoffed. “She’s a virgin, and look how cute she is when she cries! If nobody’s gonna make me a suitable offer,” he growled, suddenly grabbing you by your neck and putting his face right against yours, “maybe I’ll keep you for myself, hm?”

You sobbed and tried to squirm away but it was beyond useless, your bound limbs overpowered easily as he held you down and licked a stripe up the side of your face, just to hear you scream behind your gag.

“I’ll take her,” a deep voice boomed suddenly. “A hundred rations.”

“A-- what?” Jamie stammered.

You tried to look around at who it was but you couldn’t see very well in the dark.

“It’s more than enough,” the man continued. “Hand her over.”

“Curtis,” Jamie greeted awkwardly, and your eyes went wide with recognition, “I… didn’t take you for the bartering type.”

That was an understatement. You knew Curtis, like some of the more chivalrous men of the back car, was a long-standing boycotter of this sort of activity. He didn’t even seem interested in the women who wanted to sleep with him, let alone those who were being sold against their will. Seemed like his patience had worn out, and he was finally giving in to his biological needs, no matter who would suffer cruelty along the way. Just your luck that it would be you for sale when he gave up on his morals.

“I didn’t take you for the type to stall when he’s offered a great deal,” Curtis replied coldly. “Now give me the girl and take your payment.”

Something must have changed hands, but you were too busy staring at the corrugated steel floor and hoping it was all a dream that would end any moment.

You lurched back as Jamie picked you up again, tossing you to Curtis who caught you awkwardly.

“Have fun with her,” Jamie encouraged, “make sure it’s loud enough so we can all hear; a little consolation prize for the rest of us.”

Curtis said nothing as he turned and dragged you to his bunk, ignoring your muffled pleas. When he set you down, he kneeled beside you and put a hand on each shoulder to brace you.

“I’m going to take off this gag, and your ties,” he offered, “but you need to stop crying, okay? Everything will be alright. I won’t hurt you.”

You weren’t sure you believed that, but you tried to steady your breathing. Maybe if you did what he said, he would be gentle with you…

You nodded slowly, and he untied the gag. Your sore mouth appreciated the reprieve as you wiggled your mouth around to stretch your lips. You had sort of assumed that whoever bought you would leave the restraints on, so that you wouldn’t fight back. But Curtis was so strong and healthy, he didn’t even need to bind you: your body tensed up again at that realization.

“Shh, shh, calm down,” he requested as he worked on the knot around your feet, “you don’t need to be afraid of me.”

Finally your limbs were freed, though that freedom was wasted on exhaustedly falling to the cold steel floor.

“Use this rag to clean off a little,” he instructed, handing you a cloth that had been soaked in water, “and go back to sleep for the night.”

“You… you’re not going to…?” you murmured, confused.

“I don’t believe in enslavement,” he shook his head. “Your father was a good man; he did a lot for me, even when I had nothing to offer him in return. He told me to pay him back by keeping you safe after he was gone.”

You hadn’t realized your father knew Curtis so well. You’d seen him around, sure, but he was more a stranger than anything.

“Thank you…” you whispered, your voice hoarse and ragged.

“You need to rest,” he whispered back. “You can sleep in my bed-- someone’s already claimed yours, I’m sure. I’ll be on the floor beside you if you need me.”

Your cheeks burned with guilt. “Curtis, don’t do that. You spent so much on me... I don’t want to be any more of a burden.”

“Don’t worry about that now,” he soothed, “we can talk in the morning. Get your sleep.”

After washing yourself hastily with the rag (focusing most on wherever Jamie had touched you), you slipped into the sheets on his mattress, finding him different from the ones you were used to, but comfortable in spite of the unfamiliarity.

Curtis settled in on the floor, and in the near-darkness you could just make out the silhouette of his face as he closed his eyes and relaxed against a roll of tattered clothes as an improvised pillow. You’d always thought he was handsome, and the impression you’d gotten was that he was patient, and honorable, but kept to himself. You could remember just a few nights ago when you never could’ve imagined this being your new life. Although you did wonder if Curtis was simply waiting for the morning to claim you, in the meantime you decided to take him at his word and just be thankful that someone seemingly kind had bought you instead of Jamie or his fellow bidders.

Two weeks later...

If anything, it was odd how little Curtis had asked of you. He didn’t even really talk to you. Even your father expected you to help him with anything you could; sometimes it was just keeping him company, listening to him. But Curtis all but avoided you. All that said, his presence was rarely needed to keep you safe. People respected your father, but they feared Curtis. He wasn’t violent-- well, he wasn’t violent typically. Nearly a week ago he had gone to fisticuffs for you after a man had tried to grope you. The weird thing was that you hadn’t even realized Curtis was nearby: one moment you were alone and being pulled into a stranger’s oppressive form as he purred in your ear, the next Curtis had appeared and shoved him off of you. That seemed to get the point across that Curtis’ things were not to be touched.

Feeling guilty, you decided to do whatever chores you could think of while he was away from his ‘room’ (which was, of course, not a room at all but a bed draped with a canopy of tattered fabric in order to create some privacy). You waited for his return with a little smile on your face, sure he would be grateful for your service and maybe would start to warm up to you more.

“Hi, Curtis,” you greeted with a peppy grin when you saw him approaching, jumping up from where you had been sitting.

“You washed my clothes,” he noticed instantly.

Your smile fell when you realized that he wasn’t happy. “Did I do something wrong?” you asked sheepishly.

“You are not my slave; I cannot make that more clear,” he frowned. “Never do a chore on my behalf again.”

“Please, Curtis. You’ve done so much for me, just let me prove my usefulness.”

“You want to be useful? Stay out of harm’s way.”

“Oh, I see,” you sneered, “you don’t want me to do your chores because I am your chore. Is that all you see me as? A debt you are repaying to my father?”

He seemed confused by that question. “What else could I see you as?”

“A partner!” you protested. “A woman!”

He grabbed you suddenly, pulling you into him by your wrists. “Stop talking like that. I won’t hear any more of it. Just stay quiet and take care of yourself.”

He dropped you as you began to cry, crumpling into a ball on the floor.

“Don’t cry,” he frowned. “Why could you be crying, when all I told you was that you don’t have to do anything?”

“I suppose I should be thankful that you’re not sadistic,” you explained with a shaky, weak voice, “but you’re still plenty cruel to me, I hope you know that. You ignore me completely-- and no one else will talk to me, because they’re afraid to upset you. I’ve never been so alone.”

He sighed and sat down beside you on the floor. “I never meant to…” he trailed off. “I bought you to save you from them. Not because I had any purpose for you.”

“I have no purpose,” you stated plainly, moving from sad to stoic. “Don’t you hear how sad that sounds? Can you blame me for being upset when you’re telling me straight to my face that I’m useless?”

He seemed to at least see where you were coming from with that, looking to the side with an oddly guilty look in his eyes.

Suddenly, he reached to pull up his shirt and you gasped when you saw a cut along his side.

“I fell,” he explained, “and scraped against something.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” you comforted to the best of your ability, “I hope it’s not giving you too much trouble.”

“It’s not, but I’m worried it’ll get infected.”

You thought for a moment. “I could… help you clean it?”

“Sure,” he nodded, “that would be nice. Thank you.”

“It’s nothing,” you shrugged as you grabbed a rag to dampen. “I’ll be right back.”

You cleaned his wound in silence, carefully washing away the dried blood, even when he sucked in breaths through his teeth as you touched the sensitive places. The task at hand distracted you from your previous outburst; this was exactly proof of why you needed things to do, you’d go crazy otherwise.

“I don’t think it’ll need stitches,” you informed him as you put the rag away and rolled his shirt back down. “We’ll just clean it again tomorrow and I bet that’ll be enough.”

“Good,” he nodded.

The day was winding down to a close already, and you looked around to see a lot of the people nearby starting to prepare for bed, if they weren’t already on their mattresses with their eyes and ears covered to block out the distractions of those still awake.

“I think you should take the bed tonight, since you’re injured,” you offered. Up until now, you’d been alternating nights on the floor; it was the only compromise you two could come to.

“I couldn’t ask you to sleep on the ground two nights in a row,” he shook his head.

“You’re not asking me to. I’m telling you that I will.”

“I won’t take the bed.”

You crossed your arms and grinned stubbornly. “Then we’ll both be on the floor.”

“Fine,” he sighed with defeat, “I’ll take the bed, but only if you share it with me. I can never sleep well when all I can think about is how cold and uncomfortable you must be.”

You were surprised to hear that, because you had always felt the same way on the nights you were in the bed. Seemed both of you were getting worse sleep than you let on.

“F-fine,” you stammered, realizing how little space the two of you would have to work with on the mattress, “we’ll share it then.”

“Might help with the cold anyway,” he shrugged as he stood up, removing his outermost layer of clothes before slipping behind the curtain that surrounded the bed. You swallowed, as if you hadn’t realized until now that you were going to be in bed with him so soon.

You removed your jacket as well; even though you normally liked to sleep in something less bulky than the dress you were wearing now, you figured he would protest if you were in any state of undress while sharing a bed with him.

As you pulled the curtain aside, you found him already on the farther side of the bed, facing away from you. He was so far off the edge that he surely would’ve fallen if there wasn’t a wall on the other side.

“Curtis, you’re twice my size and you’ve left nearly two-thirds of the bed for me,” you chuckled, slipping into the covers with him and noticing how much space was still left between you. “Relax, won’t you?”

“Alright,” he relented, laying back a little as his shoulder brushed against yours.

“Goodnight, Curtis,” you mumbled as you settled in and got as comfortable as could be reasonably expected, letting your eyes fall shut. Sure, it took awhile, but with a forced relaxation you were able to drift to sleep and stay that way for quite some time.

At some point, you awoke to the softest noise beside you. At first you thought it was just your dream, but then you heard it again-- Curtis was breathing strangely, and you jumped up when you heard a strained noise of pain.

“Curtis!” you hissed into the dark. “Are you hurt? Is everything alright?”

“What?” he stammered, jolting away from you.

“You were--” you started to explain, but then you realized he was palming at his trousers; specifically, he was stuffing his cock back into them. “Oh.”

“I’m sorry,” he sighed, “I didn’t-- sometimes you just-- I never meant to--”

“Are you feeling… frustrated?” you asked him softly, moving a little closer to where he was pressing himself back against the wall.

“It’s fine,” he assured you, “I’m fine.”

“Let me help you,” you pleaded. “I wanted to help you so much, but there was nothing I could do. Let me do this, please. I want you to feel good…”

“Your father, I promised him--” he began, but you interrupted.

“Don’t talk about my father,” you requested. “You kept your promise. I’m safe. Let me thank you for all you’ve done.”

Your hand reached out and made contact with his heaving chest through the thin layer of his shirt, beginning to trail down over his stomach and finally to the hard outline inside his trousers.

“W-wait,” he stuttered quietly, even though you felt him quietly sigh with relief as you palmed at his erection.

“I don’t want to wait anymore,” you whispered-- so quiet even you could barely hear it-- as you leaned in and your nose brushed against his cheek. “I wanted you for so long, Curtis, did you not know? Wanted to touch you… wanted to make love with you…”

He let out a long-held breath as you reached into his trousers and wrapped your arm around his length. It was so hot in your palm; it warmed you in the most intoxicating way.

“R-really?” he murmured.

“Of course I did,” you answered, moving your hand and slowly stroking him. God, the poor man must’ve been so pent-up: he was bucking into your touch already, his cock so hard that you wondered if it was hurting him. “Every woman on the train lusts for you. To have you so close and not be able to do anything about it, it was torture.”

“Nothing compared to what it was like,” he groaned softly, “to want to have you for so long and feel horrible for it.”

You began to pump his cock faster, seeking more of those beautiful noises he was making. The way his length flexed against your palm made arousal tingle all throughout your body.

His hand slipped to the back of your neck, his fingertips brushing up against your hairline and making you shiver. He whispered your name and you felt like putty in his hands, so distracted by your own need that the pace of your strokes faltered briefly.

The two of you stayed like that for a few moments longer-- foreheads pressed together, shivering and shaking and panting in each other’s arms-- before a rush of adrenaline gave you the confidence to speak.

“I want it inside me,” you whispered against his ear. “Please, Curtis, I want you inside me.”

You swung your leg over to straddle him, pushing yourself up off of his chest. He whispered your name with shock as you lifted your tattered dress and pulled it over your shoulders.

“Touch me,” you begged. “Didn’t you want to? I wondered if you did. I wondered how your hands would feel…” you trailed off as you grabbed his wrists and guided his hands to your waist. They were strong and rough, and so hot against your skin that you thought you might just burn up right there. He moved them on his own then, sliding them up to your breasts which he gently grasped. You sighed a little and melted into his touch.

His thumbs teased your nipples, which were already hard and alert. You tried your best to suppress your moans, aware that many other passengers were sleeping nearby. Secretly, the idea that they would hear Curtis pleasuring you was almost titillating. You hoped it would make them all jealous.

“You’re so soft,” he whispered, “and… smooth…”

“Did you long for me?” you asked, your curiosity getting the better of you.

“Yes,” he finally admitted, “yes, I wanted you. I want you now.”

You reached down and grasped his cock again, guiding it to your wet, swollen opening. He made a noise that sounded something like a whimper and a groan as the head of his cock moved through your folds.

As you sunk down, you tried to ignore the burn of his cock stretching you open, though a pained whimper escaped your lips.

Curtis’ hands gripped your hips tight enough to bruise as you slowly took more and more of him into you. His head fell back with a groan, lost in the way your walls gripped him tighter than he thought possible. In that moment, he wanted more than anything to hold you close and never let go.

You shivered as your hips met his, feeling full in a way you could’ve never imagined. It still stung as he forged a new path inside you, moulded you to his shape, but you didn’t mind because it was him.

You were so weak that you struggled to lift yourself on top of him, but he gently guided you to lessen your load. Your body adjusted to him rather slowly, and every time you rocked your hips made you hiss with discomfort along with the sparks of pleasure burning through your gut. Even when it hurt, you wanted more; if nothing else, the noises of his restrained ecstasy spurred you on.

Leaning down, you laid yourself on his chest so that you could hear him better, and him you. His arms wrapped around you and you felt small; normally, feeling small meant feeling weak, vulnerable, scared… but in his arms, it was wonderful. You felt vulnerable, yes, but protected.

Your name tumbled from his lips like a whispered chant as you moved on top of him, and you whispered his name back. The way his cock rubbed against your insides felt so good that you couldn’t even remember that it hurt before, but then again, you couldn’t remember anything from before right now and you didn’t want to.

Your moans got louder and louder, though they were still relatively quiet, but either way they were like music to his ears, sweet and soft and all for him-- just like you.

“S-stop,” he groaned, “you have to stop.”

“Why?” you gasped, feeling a little guilty for not instantly obeying, and yet too lost in pleasure to stop moving your hips.

“If you don’t stop, I’ll come,” he explained breathlessly, “and you could get pregnant.”

You bit your lip, feeling your face warm with an emotion you were sure you hadn’t experienced before. “What if that’s what I want?”

“Fuck,” he sighed.

“What if I want you to come inside me? What if I want to have your baby?” you continued.

You managed to suppress your yelp as he grabbed you and flipped you both over until you were on your back and he was hovering over you.

“Is that what you want?” he asked with a low growl.

“Yes,” you gasped, “Curtis, it’s all I ever wanted.”

“Fuck,” he moaned, pulling back and thrusting into you again. He lifted your legs to rest on his shoulders, nearly folding you in half as he fucked into you so deep that you could scream. You didn’t, but you wanted to. “Gonna fill you up so good… you’re gonna be so full,” he promised, “you’re gonna be mine.”

“I already am,” you promised, “I always was.”

He leaned down to dominate your lips with a searing kiss, fucking you deep and slow but with an increasing ferocity. Each thrust was harder than the last until the most prominent sound was the slapping of skin, your arousal so prominent that it was beginning to leak and drip down your thighs and ass.

“Tell me who you belong to,” he growled, right against your ear.

“You,” you moaned, “I belong to you, Curtis.”

“Fuck yeah you do.”

You gripped his arms tight as you felt your walls spasming with your orgasm-- it was unlike anything you’d felt before, even though you’d touched yourself plenty of times up until now. Already you knew you were going to be addicted to this feeling. Poor Curtis; you were going to be begging him to fuck you day and night if this was how good it felt.

The tightening of your body around him, and the way you bit down on your lip to keep from screaming with pleasure… it was all too much for him to hold back any more, and with a stuttered groan he spilled himself into you.

You wrapped your arms around his neck and pulled him into another kiss. He relaxed on top of you as he reciprocated, both of you basking in the glow of the moment.

“Don’t pull out yet,” you pleaded as the kiss ended, “just hold me a little longer, won’t you?”

“Of course,” he smiled softly, placing one small, delicate kiss to the tip of your nose.

“Did you really want me for so long, like you said?” you pressed, remembering what he’d said and fearing it was just a sweet nothing in the heat of the moment.

“You have no idea how long,” he sighed. “I dreamed of this; of you being mine.”

“Was it everything you imagined?”

“And more,” he assured with a soft laugh. “Best hundred rations I ever spent.”

#how did this turn out so fluffy??? lmao #curtis everett x reader #curtis everett smut #chris evans x reader #chris evans smut #ehhh that's enough tags right?#shamelesshoesforchris

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hearts-hunger · 3 years

Text

aay’han mar’eyce (bittersweet discovery): chapter one || din djarin x reader

Read on AO3 || Masterlist

Series Summary: In search of the Jedi you’ve been tasked to find, you and Din wrestle with the bittersweet discovery of your little one’s past and destined future. || Part Three of Jate’kara (Lucky Stars)

Chapter Summary: When you land on Corvus, you and Din both realize you’re more nervous about finding Ahsoka Tano than you thought.

Pairings: Din Djarin x Wife!Reader

Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Angst | Word Count: 3k

Warnings: Mentions of reader’s pregnancy

A/N: When will God stop my sinful hand? Never, and I’ll keep writing for Mr. and Mrs. Djarin as long as it gives me serotonin like this. This series is a pretty distinct tonal shift from Dralshy’a Ka’ra, which was all sunshine, but I really wanted to do another episode rewrite and I thought chapter 13 had such great potential for family bonding and hurt/comfort. I hope you like it! ♡

“Corvus. This is the place.”

Your husband’s voice broke the silence that had filled the cockpit, and you looked up to see a cloudy green planet steadily growing bigger beyond the glass. Bright glimpses of magma core peeked through the dense atmosphere. The display on the Crest’s instrument panel gave a friendly chirp and outlined the planet’s main hubs, one of which was the city of Calodan. Your stomach gave an unpleasant jolt at the name and you tried to still the slight trembling of your hands, looking for something to distract you from your impending arrival on the planet.

You held an unfinished project in your hands, a soft little baby romper made of navy blue cotton. Din had gotten you the fabric while you were staying on Naboo - though he’d gotten it for you to make something for yourself, he hadn’t minded when you told him you were going to use a little of it to make something for your babies. You’d already stitched up a handsome little shirt for your son, and now you were working on something for your new baby.

Resting your hand over your stomach, you gave a small sigh and thought over the last month. Omera had wanted you to try and steer clear of danger as much as possible, for your sake and the baby’s, but danger followed your little family with an uncanny determination. The Mandalorians you’d found on Trask had turned out to be an entirely different kind than the one you’d known, taking their helmets off as if their creed meant nothing, roping your husband into a dangerous, fruitless mission in exchange for their help. But they’d also helped save your little one, and you’d be forever indebted to them for it.

You shuddered. You couldn’t think about that day for long before you grew panicky, nervous to let your son out of your sight lest he be swallowed up like that again. You and Din had both had nightmares about it, about what could have happened to Din or your baby on that ship. You could have lost a child and been widowed in the blink of an eye had it not been for Bo-Katan and the other Mandalorians, and the thought made you sick with fear and worry even now.

Then you’d gone to Nevarro, and Din had gone off on another mission to destroy an Imperial base. You and your husband had argued about it, but he eventually brought you around - Cara and Greef were your friends, and they’d always helped you when you needed it. It was time to return the favor, even if it meant you’d be fretting in the back of a schoolroom the entire time they were gone.

Your husband’s return hadn’t been the triumphant victory you’d expected - Din had rushed in, wasting no breath on explanations, and taken you and the baby back to the ship for a hasty departure. It was just your luck that your escape from Nevarro had devolved into a dogfight with Imperial TIE-fighters, and your poor husband had endured no small amount of ranting from you when things settled back down. You were angry and worried, petrified by the thought of the experiments the Imperial warlords wanted to perform on your little one.

And now, you were approaching the planet that sheltered the Jedi you’d been tasked to find. The Jedi you were then supposed to hand your baby over to, because she was one of “his kind”. You felt a now-familiar wash of unease come over you, and worried your bottom lip to try and keep it in check.

“I’ve detected a beacon,” Din said, looking over at the display. Your baby sat up on the dash next to him, watching his movements with interest.

Din worked around him, pressing buttons and flipping switches in preparation for landing. “I’m gonna start the landing cycle,” he said. He glanced down at your son. “You better get back in your seat.”

The baby didn’t move from the dash, giving a soft coo of protest. You noticed the silver handle was back on the gear shift and smiled a little, knowing that was what held your little one’s attention enough for him to disregard his dad’s instruction.

Din took his focus from the landing cycle long enough to realize his son hadn’t done as he was told.

“Hey, what did I tell you?” he said, in a mildly scolding tone. “Back in your seat.”

Your baby’s ears drooped. Setting aside your sewing project, you rose and gathered him into your arms.

“Oh, you poor thing,” you crooned, cuddling him close. “Your daddy’s so grumpy, isn’t he?”

He gave a babble of agreement, and Din huffed a laugh.

“I’ll be more grumpy if he tumbles off the dash while we’re landing.”

“That’s not true,” you told your baby. “Daddy would hold you and kiss it better. He couldn’t be grumpy with you if he tried.” As stoic as your husband seemed on the outside, he was as gentle as could be underneath all that armor.

He flipped another switch and looked over his shoulder at you.

“You alright, cyare?” he asked gently. “You’ve been pretty quiet today.”

Usually you could be counted on to keep up a steady stream of conversation if you decided to stay with Din in the cockpit rather than roam around the ship. For this trip, though, you’d been uncharacteristically quiet. You knew Din shared your fears about finally meeting this Jedi, but you were completely tangled up in knots about it and hadn’t wanted to burden him.

You shook your head and held your baby closer. “I’m fine. Just... tired, I guess.”

You were a little run down, especially since morning sickness had started to give you some trouble, but you’d had much worse and would muscle through it. Besides, you couldn’t really afford to slow down, and both you and Din knew it.

“I would have thought you’d be relieved to have a little peace and quiet,” you teased lightly. He’d told you when you first started courting that the Crest had never heard so much talking until you came aboard.

He chuckled. “I like listening to you talk, cyare.” He eased the Crest into the atmosphere, a task that was second nature after so many years with the same ship. He glanced over at the little romper you’d laid on the dash.

“You finished it?” he asked.

You picked it up; your baby grabbed it in his clawed hand.

“Gentle,” you reminded him. “This is for ik’aad, remember?” Din had used the Mandalorian word for “baby” to tell your son your happy news, and it had stuck. Even now, your little one’s ears perked up at the nickname.

You smiled when he brushed his fingers over the fabric with a gentler touch and gave a soft coo.

“I haven’t finished it yet,” you said to Din. “I want to do some embroidery on it, if I can find the right thread - I was thinking little snowflakes along the collar.”

Your baby would be born during the winter on Sorgan, and even though you knew it was early yet, you’d taken great comfort and joy in working on this outfit.

Din held out his hand. “May I see?”

You handed it to him, and it seemed delicate and very small in his big hands. He ran a finger over the collar.

“You’ve done a beautiful job so far, cyar’ika,” he said, and you felt your cheeks pink a little at the tenderness of his compliment.

“Thank you,” you said. You put your son down in your seat and took the romper from your husband’s hand.

“Stay put, and be good for dad,” you told your little one. “I’ll be right back.”

You gathered up your sewing odds and ends and took them down to the second level of the Crest, tucking them safely away in the small chest you kept your mending in. A shirt of Din’s that had torn at the shoulder seam was half-folded at the bottom, and you took a moment to neaten it and steady yourself before you went back up to the cockpit.

Ahsoka Tano was her name. It was the only thing you knew about her, besides the fact that she was a Jedi. You didn’t know what she looked like, or who she worked for, or how she would train your little one. She might be cruel and mean-tempered, for all you knew - how could you just hand your foundling over to her?

You and Din hadn’t really talked about it. Up until now, finding a Jedi had always seemed like something that might take years to accomplish. They were apparently very few and far between, and though you now knew it had been foolish to do so, you had never really given any great consideration to actually finding one, at least not so quickly. You and Din had loved your little one and cared for him as your own, even before the Armorer declared you a clan of three and heard your vows to adopt him. To hand him over to someone you knew nothing about - someone from an enemy race to the Mandalorians, no less - was unthinkable.

But you’d also vowed something else to the armorer that day. Together, you and Din had promised to find others of your foundling’s kind and return him to them. It was not a vow you took lightly, and you knew Din would no sooner break his promise than he would give up the Way.

You straightened your shoulders and stood. No matter what happened on this planet, Din would need you. His struggle between the love he had for his foundling and the loyalty he had to the Way would not be an easy thing to overcome, and you wouldn’t leave him to face it alone.

You made your way back up to the cockpit, and you heard your little one babbling away before you came through the doors. Din was nodding and responded with interest despite the baby’s chatter not really meaning anything, and you felt your chest tighten. This was going to be harder than you thought.

Din landed the Crest in a clearing among the forest of charred, skeletal trees surrounded by a sickly fog. You wondered if the air was even breathable. A quick check to the Crest’s display showed that it was, but the greenish tinge of the smog only added to your unease as the ship settled to the ground.

“I thought Bo-Katan said this was a forest planet,” you said.

Din started the shutdown cycle. “She did. Something must have happened to destroy the forests, and I’m guessing it wasn’t an accident. It probably has something to do with that city we passed over.”

You looked up at his helm as he stood. “The city we’re headed to?”

“Right again,” he said wryly. He looked over your shoulder to the dead trees outside. “Do you want to stay here while I go check out the city?”

As if on cue, a low groaning sound came from outside - only a very big creature could have made such a noise, and it didn’t sound like anything you’d like to meet on your own.

You crossed your arms over your chest and pressed closer to him. “No, I want to go with you.” You didn’t want to be on this planet anyway, and being separated from Din would only make it worse.

He ran a hand over your back to soothe you. “Okay,” he agreed. “Are you ready to leave?”

You nodded, but you didn’t pull away from him yet. His chestplate felt cool against your skin, and you allowed yourself a moment of comfort in his arms.

He cradled your face in his hands and leaned his helmet against your head.

“It’s gonna be alright, cyar’ika,” he said gently. “We’ll just take it one step at a time, ok? We might not even find her here.”

You pulled back then, just enough to look up at his visor. You didn’t need to see his face to read the tension and unease he held in his whole body; he was just as hesitant to go looking for Ahsoka Tano as you were.

You bit the inside of your cheek. “One step at a time,” you agreed.

He nodded and relaxed a little. He gave you a final gentle tap of his helm against your head, a reassuring, comforting kiss, then beckoned to your little one.

“Come on, ad’ika,” he said, taking him from the seat. “Let’s go see what we can find.”

You followed Din to the second level, and he set your baby down after he’d come down the ladder to let him stretch his little legs. Your little one toddled after Din as the ramp lowered and revealed the bleak landscape you’d seen through the glass. The dead forest stretched in every direction, broken only by the great hulking shapes of slow-moving creatures in the distance.

Seeing his father had stopped at the foot of the ramp, your baby stopped too - top heavy and struggling to balance on the ramp, he sat midway down the slope with a little coo. You noticed he had the handle to the gear shift in his hand and was contentedly watching the way it shone in the weak sunlight.

“Did daddy give you that?” you asked, hunkering down next to him. He held it up to you and gave a soft babble.

Din turned. “Did I give him what?” He saw the ball in your baby’s hand and closed the distance between you in a few steps.

“What did I say about that?” Din scolded, extending his hand. The baby whined but reluctantly handed over his prize.

“This needs to stay in the ship,” Din chided. He tucked the ball into a pocket on his belt and straightened, looking out over the terrain again. You gave your son a consoling kiss on his soft ear; he chirped happily at you and you couldn’t help but smile back.

“Not much to see out here,” Din said. He looked back at the two of you. “I’ve never had dealings with the Jedi before.”

Neither of you had, and his guess was as good as yours as to whether Jedi usually made their homes on planets as seemingly inhospitable as this. You knew nothing of their customs, their way of life - perhaps they didn’t even train ones as little as your baby, or were still hostile to Mandalorians. The only way to know would be to find the one you were looking for.

Din leaned down to scoop your baby up, cradling him in the crook of his arm, and offered his hand to you to help you stand. He gave your hand a quick squeeze before letting go.

“Let’s head into town,” he said. “See if we can pick up a lead.”

You stayed by his side as he walked to the edge of the clearing, and the Crest whirred as it drew the ramp back up and settled in to wait. You’d landed far enough away from the city to leave your ship better guarded against thieves, but it wouldn’t be a long walk to reach the city.

The forest closed in the further you went from your ship - even though they were rotted, the trees were numerous and large. They loomed in the fog, invisible until you were right on top of them, and it set your teeth on edge. When he was carrying the baby, Din preferred to have his other hand free to grab his blaster if the need should arise; to oblige him but still attempt to soothe your jangled nerves, you held a handful of his cloak and kept close to him that way.

All three of your kept quiet as you walked. You were in no mood for cheery conversation, and Din was well accustomed to silence on a bounty hunt. Even though Ahsoka Tano wasn’t a bounty, you knew your husband would employ those same skills to find her in the city; Din was an excellent hunter, and would most likely find her quickly. You didn’t know if that was a good thing or not.

Just before you reached the city, Din stopped and asked you to take the baby.

“Keep him close, cyare,” he said as your little one snuggled against your chest. “I don’t want either of you wandering.”

He knew he didn’t have to remind you, but you also knew it helped soothe his nerves. You put your hand on his arm, hoping to reassure him.

“We’ll stay close,” you told him. Though you were occasionally tempted to break his “stay by my side” rule on more colorful, inviting planets - you’d gotten a thorough reaming out from your husband one time after you’d wandered off and gotten lost in a bazaar on a Mid-Rim planet and made him sick with worry - you wanted to stick close on this planet.

“Should we do the nursemaid, this time?” you asked. A Mandalorian accompanied by a young woman and a baby would always call attention, and you often playacted to keep your identity as his wife a secret. You and your little one made him vulnerable, and were therefore a higher prize to be won or better bargaining chip to own.

Din’s posture stiffened.

“No,” he said firmly. “If anyone asks, we’ll tell them the truth. You’re my wife, and anyone who wants to get at you or our baby will have to go through me first.”

You felt a strange mix of apprehension and pride, hesitance and desire. His protective nature had always been something you loved about him, but he wasn’t usually this keyed up before a hunt. You reminded yourself this wasn’t a regular hunt you were on; neither of you had any idea what you’d find in the city, and you knew he’d been feeling the same nervousness you had as you came closer to finding what you sought.

“Okay,” you agreed. “We’ll tell them the truth.”

He seemed to relax a little - he must have known you’d picked up on his tone, and was thankful you’d taken it in stride. He brushed his hand over the baby’s head, then touched his fingers to your cheek.

“Thank you,” he said. “I love you.”

You took a steadying breath and held your baby closer. “I love you too.”

Read chapter two!

pedro pascal character taglist: @punkgeekchic, @tv-saved-the-teenage-girl, @stardust-galaxies, @theorganasolo, @qhbr2013 ♡

series taglist: @kyjoraven, @sarahjkl82-blog, @remmysbounty, @bitchin-beskar, @cosmicbreathe, @prettyboyskywalker, @happyxdayxbitch ♡

let me know if you’d like to be added to either taglist! ♡

#i'm going to keep writing these until someone physically stops me agvhdgvhg #<3 #let me know what you think!#din djarin x reader #din djarin fanfiction #the mandalorian #the mandalorian fanfiction #the mandalorian x reader #aay'han mar'eyce #jate'kara series #maddie writes stuff!

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mc-critical · 3 years

Note

I was curious since you were just talking about Suleyman sisters. Which one is your favourite and what would you change in their storylines? (Me: I would Sah being in love with Ibrahim and her and Hürrem being enemies, because I truly someone from the imperial family liked Hürrem)

I honestly love all of them. Even though they all share a similar purpose in the narrative on the outset (that is, being antagonists to Hürrem), they have distinct motivations and personalities that always succeed to make them so interesting to analyze.

Despite of that, I have to say that my favourite is Hatice. She's the one who felt most fleshed out, with the widest arrays of personality and relationships and I sympathize with her in nearly every level. While I know that S03 Hatice could turn people off and I could understand why in theory (good flanderization is still flanderization after all and her "Heel Face Turn" could feel underwhelming after Hü's huge E63 victory and it lowkey makes for kind of a soft reset of the show's status-quo, but not only I haven't seen this actually being used in arguments against her, but this is solely a writing problem that didn't even originate from her and wasn't totally fixed until the end.), I felt this was the most logical step in her arc and her development made complete sense, no matter how flanderizing it was and how tragic it ended up being. [poor Hatice :(] I have analyzed her character and why I love her so much as well in more detail here.

The one thing I would change is, again, her spending more time with Osman and Huricihan. The need of having kids was set up as a very important part of her character from the beggining and Osman and Huricihan's birth could've felt as a new wave of hope after the devastating child losses. It felt like they were the start of an entirely new chapter of her life where she could enjoy the company of her kids the way she so wanted to, but the birth of Huricihan and Osman ended up being only the finale of Hatice's worries over her children, a satisfying end to these arcs of hers where she could finally find happiness at last and with this it was over. It wasn't built on at all and this whole angle of Hatice's character was seemingly dropped just like that. While I get that her storyline was very densely packed and they may not have had time, they could've given us a few scenes at the very least, especially in S03B where they would play part in empowering even more Hatice's tragic arc, being a reminder of Ibrahim. Not to mention that Huricihan would've been a much better character if that set-up existed.

I adore Şah Sultan, as well and I actually enjoy her dynamic with Hatice even more than her dynamic with Hürrem, because it tells us much more about who she is. It was so enjoyable to watch these two sisters confront each other on not so few instances, while still loving each other. I love how Şah's ambition contrasts so well with her genuine care for the people she loves (like Hatice and Esmahan) and how her pragmatism could actually get in the way of that care, while we could still see that the two coexist in her regardless. It makes her motivation so interesting to figure out in a way we haven't seen before or after with any other character. Her love for Ibrahim.. while yes, I get that it may seem a little weird, putting so much stuff in their past into another context that could draw the line between "this makes sense" and "how exactly did that happen?", it explains why Şah may have this deep seated resentment to Hatice, it is a nicely used plot-device to drive conflict between them (the conflict set-up in their past that is outside of their clash of ideals and philosophies in the present and near future) and her and Lütfi later. It makes her more interesting, too, because it shows her ability to let go of her feelings when she sees is necessary. Her approach is also very interesting and unique (at least at first) and while I find most of her scenes with Hürrem generic, she was a formidable and effective antagonist. I also find interesting that in rewatch, you do see that out of her and Hatice, it's Şah who is more elitist, interestingly enough. (because while Hatice mostly pulls rank out of ignorance or when she's challanged outright, Şah pulls rank not only in confrontation, but in casual conversations with people around her, as well - E87 is a perfect example of this. She also views the dynasty as something even more valuable that shouldn't ever be touched - her not wanting to fight Mihrimah in the end, even though I'm sure she could've outsmarted her if she truly wanted to, she wanted the most out of anyone in S03B for the dynasty members to have each other's backs and support each other no matter what and she was as ready as Hatice to stand behind what the dynasty represents, but not on a more personal level like Hatice, rather on standing behind its laws and traditions, like Ayşe Hafsa.)

What I would change with her, is that intrigue of hers that succeeded to have Hürrem be exiled for the third time. There's nothing wrong with the intrigue neither writing-wise, nor with Şah's character in it, and I kinda appreciate Hürrem's overspending there as a parallel to Mahidevran's overspending in S02, showing that they're not so different after all in a bunch of cases. But otherwise, the whole thing felt like pointless filler that only repeats some aspect of previous storylines. Yet another harem riot, though not as large in scale, and that almost contrived exile, which served nothing in the end (except for showing how Hürrem has gained a decent network of political allies, but that was shown before the exile, too). I would probably make it a far more complex, but still to the point intrigue, the outcome of which sure wouldn't be another exile for an episode. This also wouldn't have been the ending culmination of Şah's careful plans against Hürrem, either. (Ayaz Pasha's death afterwards was relatively quickly planned in comparison! Like.. c'mon..)

Fatma is my least favourite sister of the sisters, but she certainly has her moments. I love her debut and I love how fun loving she is, I sorta wish we saw even more of that. I actually don't recall a moment where Fatma ever pulled rank on someone in the way Hatice in E26 did and Şah so casually does and if there truly isn't any moment like that, then I love her even more for it. What is even more interesting is how her motivation is a promise made to Mustafa (even though this whole motivation is kinda strange writing-wise, since she's an entirely new character and the devotion to Mustafa could look like something the writers only came up with in the heat of the moment for S04A's bad use of flashbacks and to make yet another antagonist for Hürrem... Fatma could've been next to Mustafa when he was a child in Manisa and she liked him as a child, who knows? That coupled with Mahidevran probably reminding him of Fatma's existence, as well.) and how far she's going to go to fulfill it, even after his death. It all showed a side of hers that is willing to put the dynasty members in intrigue (the way she put Selim and Bayezid against one another and even when she played that game on Mihrimah), an interesting contrast with the other sisters, who would do anything but, at least not so consciously. (I'm referring to Şah's very first scheme against Hürrem, in E85-6) I love how she scolded Mihrimah in E121 and I love how they showed her sorrow for Mustafa's death. (that little scene where she said: "I failed.." was so touching, honestly... It shows how devoted she was to it all) Her relationship with Kara Ahmet is also pretty great.

What I would change with her, is her part in the menopause plot. The episode itself is such a weird and tonal mess, but Fatma there was at her worst and I don't agree with her making fun of Hürrem like this. I get the purpose of the episode and scene, but it still sits wrong with me and since that was our first episode with Fatma, it rendered her a little petty for me when I was first watching. I wouldn't have had Fatma tell it out loud for everyone to hear, I would've probably made her show Hürrem she knew in a confrontation similar to Hürrem and Mahidevran's (hey, a part of their formula could work for once!) between both of them during the entertainment. I would have also given her a little more balanced screentime. In some episodes it was very fine, but in others, it felt like she was more shoved into the background.

About Hürrem having at least one dynasty member to like Hürrem - I agree, it would be a breath of fresh air, to say the least, there should've been this kind of variety. If there is one I would make a friend of Hürrem's (at the most part), that would be Beyhan.

I would have given her more screentime, especially in S01-2, she could be there to advice and support her sisters even more and for them to calm down from the games and intrigues. She wouldn't play such a big role in the story, aside from an arc or two that would be different from working against Hürrem. Her and Hürrem would be usually on good terms, since her emotional maturity would let her understand at least a bit of her side of the story and wouldn't be so quick to accuse her. (as she wasn't when she learned of how Hatice learned about Nigar and Ibrahim) Beyhan can't be fully on board with her, of course, because moments where Hürrem tramples on Hatice's happiness directly or indirectly could put them at odds, but I feel Beyhan's personality and shtick would be the best suited for a friendship with Hürrem of sorts. Since she still wouldn't be part of the throne war, Hürrem would have no reasons to act against her personally, either. (now, S03B could be a problem, but then we could... have her return to her castle permanetly?) It would've been epic if Şah had only her dynamic with Hatice in the story, but I don't think that alone would be enough for the writers, because they sure were searching for someone to replace Ibrahim as a more prominent antagonist until S04's switch of focus and enrichment of storylines.

#magnificent century #muhteşem yüzyıl #muhtesem yuzyil #hatice sultan #sah sultan #beyhan sultan #fatma sultan #ask #librarian-witchling

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neoyi · 3 years

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I don’t think I’ll ever get to humorously commentate on KH2 piece-by-piece as I tried to do for the first two games (and god knows if I’ll wrap up Re:chain of Memories with the writing method I was doing, but I digress.) I like talking about this endearingly dumb series and replaying this game is a nice opportunity to revisit how I feel now versus how I felt back when I was a fresh-out-of-high-school Neo playing this game for the first time back in 2005.

So I’m going to surmise my current play session (this collects my thoughts up to the Hercules world) with easily containable bullet points.

*I kind of want to make a separate post about the infamous prologue and discuss how people felt Back in the Days (an understatement, let me tell ya), and ultimately what I feel it does for the game and whether I personally liked it, so I'm going to leave that in the back burner for the time.

I will say Twilight Town sounds like a nice, quiet place to live. I love the concept of a city that's always perpetually sunset. It's a beautiful place and like Traverse Town, sports an amazingly cozy soundtrack.

*I'm sure there's some bullshit reason why, but I don't get why Sora's one year absence meant some of the people he's met just....forgot him. Like why? What purpose does this serve? This especially affected Kairi, but it’s ultimately negligible because she regains her memories of him during the beginning portions of the game.

Was this Namine's doing? Was it to protect Sora from the bad guys or something? Why hasn't Riku forgotten him? Was Namine just selective on who she erased Sora's existence from? Did Kairi forget just because she’s connected to Namine? Or Sora? What purpose does this narrative serve? What was the point?

*Speaking of, I forgot, did they ever explain why Riku disguised himself as Ansem? I don’t remember if they ever explained it when I played through this game, but also I haven’t touched KHII in six thousand years, so I don’t remember a lot of the more convoluted parts of the plot.

*It is comical to see Setzer of Final Fantasy VI fame turn from a risky, gambling sky pirate who doesn’t give a rat’s ass about the empire, only cares for the freedom of the skies, and enduring survival’s guilt over a tragic loss of someone dear to him into a...

Whiffle Bat Champion.

*My sheer excitement and obsession when they first announced Vivi as one of the FF cameo was astronomical. I remember keeping a DeviantArt journal detailing any news and screencaps of the little guy pre-release. Still my favorite character from the whole franchise.

Even if he suffers the same fate as Donald and has a zipper on his mage hat for absolutely no reason other than this game existing during Nomura’s Belt-and-Zippers phase.

*Someone’s going to get sued one day because these damn kids keeps sitting atop the clock tower that has yet to be grafted with bars to prevent their inevitable deaths when one of them slips and falls.

*I swear I could play a six degrees of Kingdom Hearts with all the voice actors in this game. Or at least a "Whozit" and "Whatzit" they've done in other media (like Yuffie who is voiced by Mae "Katara" Whitman here. Pre-Avatar, even.)

Also I’m sorry, Will Friedle, you’re a fine voice actor, but you’re...Terry McGinnis. Batman told me he “totally owned all you lamers.”

*I love the Nobody enemy designs. The sheer creepiness and uncanny valley of them all lends credit to their existence as, well, non-existences. The Dusk enemy design alone is inspired with its unsettling belts wrapped around its fingers, or terrifyingly sharp teeth subtly hidden inside of its mouth. I can imagine the creature unzipping its mouth to reveal a set of flesh-eating teeth and the fear is real.

I love the way it flies and circles around its victim, almost like it’s trying to wrap itself around you, but I’m especially fond of that one attack where it essentially kicks you as while it sashays over to you upside down.

The Samurai Dusk also has my favorite reaction command. It’s just unspeakably badass.

*I never liked Squall in FF8 back then (don't know how I'd feel now if I ever replay FF8) and he was just okay in the first Kingdom Hearts, but I remember I really endeared myself to his reappearance in KHII. Squall in this game is what happens when he grew up, found good friends and family, and got some therapy for his issues. He’s stoic, but always a team player, and supportive of Sora and the people around him. KHII Squall is what FF8 Squall has the potential to be once he reaches adulthood and it’s nice to see that here.

*I really love the little changes the developers inputted for Sora, Kairi, and Riku's models to accommodate for their physical growth. Riku's is the most obvious (boy clearly ate his vegetables), but I like that you can tell Sora grew not just through story observations (Yen Sid points out how he outgrew his old garbs) but by comparing his height in relation to Goofy. Sora was shorter than him in the first game, but has since outgrown him in KH2.

Along with his better skill set during combat, this is a really nice way to visually shown how far Sora has come and how much time has passed.

This also goes in the opposite direction with Namine whom I think had to redo her mod when they remastered Chain of Memories for 3D. I notice she looks younger in that game than in KHII which would make sense at the time since it takes place a full year ago.

...Well, maybe. Can Nobodies age???

*Damn it, game, don’t give me a pouch containing 5,000 munny and treat it as an in-game key item that I can’t use even though munny is literally the currency I use to buy things.

*The retooling and emphasis on battle mechanics means the platforming element of the first really suffers and that’s a damn shame. I wasn’t particularly in love with exploring the Disney Worlds in the first KH, but I appreciate the effort put into so Sora could not easily get from Point A to Point B.

Even finding treasure chests is comical and if not for sake of posterity for anyone going for 100%, I wonder why Jiminy bothers to keep track of how many you find. There were literally like three out in plain view the minute I entered the Mulan world.

*Speaking of level designs, yeesh, the layout is not optimal for the skateboarding minigame.

*Trying to design a gummi ship in this game requires a masters degree in gummiology and metaphysical engineering, as well as the ability to tap into the 4th dimensional. The 45,000 page instructional manual they give you, the odd grid map used to piece together your ship (fair, the latter was also in the first game), and finicky button controller layout means it took me a while to fully grasp what I was suppose to do and I’m still not sure I got a full handle of it just yet.

*I don’t understand why Sora had to use a physical object as a conduit in each world to open up a metaphysical gate to the next world. He never had to use an in-between to close it. What’s the exception outside of unnecessary symbolic tie-in to the individual worlds he’s in?

*Props to the developers for recreating the ballroom. It’s actually kind of majestic to look at the beautiful ceiling and chandelier design from Sora’s perspective.

*There are a couple of random gameplay elements I forgot completely existed and seemingly there for arbitrary purposes. I just find it unusual that Mulan’s world forces you to collect literal manifestation of morale. It’s like the developers decided they wanted to reuse the Struggle minigames’ balls into a repurposed Morale Ball because well shit, someone programmed these things they’re damn well going to put it to good use.

I guess if Sora and pals don’t literally collect morale, all the soldiers will be, I don’t know, sad and die in battle or something.

*I’m aware Disney villains using the Heartless as their personal army is the norm, but it’s tonally weird when it’s Shan-Yu of all characters doing it. The infamous Charge-In-The-Snowy-Mountain scene doesn’t quite have the leg up in terms of threat when his army consist of adorable Heartless bumblebees.

*You know what pointless shit I am obsessed with? The stupid puzzle pieces scattered throughout the game. This is the first time I’m playing the Final Mix game and I’m just seething at the lack of abilities I currently do not have that prevents me from reaching certain pieces.

*Auron was instantaneously my favorite character when I first played FFX twenty years ago, and his return in KH2 sent me in fangirlish squeals. How could I not? Look at this handsome bastard. He’s calm, collected, badass with a cool sword, has rugged good looks (he doesn’t have it here, but he rocks some killer shades), and a good dad. That’s prime DILF quality right there. Of course I can’t get enough of him.

Square Enix knows we can’t get enough of him; dude be all “fuck off hades” and gives the god the middle fingers and fucks off elsewhere. Auron is King Shit.

*Oh man, do I still have my old Sora figurine? I think I got him in Katsucon way back in 2009.

*So who’s done a drinking game every time the game introduces Sora, Donald, and Goofy individually to every character they meet?

*Hey, so I noticed Square Enix is finally moving their asses and bringing the Ultimania books to the US. I doubt they’re going to bring the older KH Ultimanias overseas (my kingdom for an officially translated FFIX one), but ya know. I kinda think that yeah, I might want the KHIII Ultimania.

...Just saying.

*GET UP ON THE HYDRA’S BACK! GET UP ON THE HYDRA’S BACK! GET UP ON THE HYDRA’S BACK! GET UP ON THE HYDRA’S BACK!

GET UP ON THE HYDRA’S BACK!

#kingdom hearts #neoyi talks #kingdom hearts II

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jurassicparkpodcast · 2 years

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Dinosaurs, Robots & More | Camp Cretaceous Season 4 SPOILER Review!

Hey everyone – and welcome to another article on The Jurassic Park Podcast. Today is our SPOILER deep-dive into Jurassic World Camp Cretaceous Season 4. In this article we will explore some of the most interesting moments which I feel were present throughout this season.

We have a lot to delve into and talk about here – and we will reference things referenced throughout the entirety of Season 4, so click off now if you do not wish to be spoiled. Still here? Good – let’s dive in!

I wanted to start this article by getting the biggest sticking point for me out of the way – and that is the science and the technology which Mantah Corp are capable of utilizing in the fourth season of the show. The quadrupedal robot drones referred to as the ‘BRADs’ were pushing the boat out a little bit too far for me in terms of believable technology in the Jurassic universe, so the introduction of the BRAD-X units really pushed this over the edge for me. I understand that the intention here was to introduce Mantah as this genuine, technologically advanced threat, but the amount of futuristic technology here felt at odds with the more grounded nature we’ve come to expect from the Jurassic franchise. I appreciate that the writers were attempting to do new things here, but this feels tonally a lot more like Westworld than Jurassic Park.

With this initial surface level of extreme technology and goofy set pieces chipped away at, the rest of the story here is really strong in my opinion. The idea that rival biogenetics companies are scavenging animals from places like Isla Sorna and Isla Nublar makes a lot of sense, as I can imagine there would be a huge scramble when news broke that Jurassic World had fallen. This alone makes for a strong story – even if I wish we had seen more of Isla Sorna in this portion of the story. The other themes which are explored here are very eye-opening when we think about the current Jurassic universe. The idea of dinosaurs fighting each other for entertainment, and rich investors overseeing investment and acquisition of these animals is something which mimics the ending of Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom very well. This gets me excited for the universe during Jurassic World Dominion, as this helps to paint a picture of some of the nefarious things which could be going on in this universe. We’ll go into more detail on another plot point later in this review, but it’s safe to say the story feels pretty strong here when you dig underneath the surface level moments.

I also think the Animals in this season were handled incredibly well – with some interesting new additions to the roster. The Kentrosaurus was a welcome new addition, with Pierce having some fun behaviors which showcased how differently Herbivores behave in different situations. The return of the Spinosaurus was very triumphant – with the animal behaving in the same aggressive way which we saw in Jurassic Park III. I really appreciated this as it made it feel consistent to the animal which we all know and love. The Saber-Toothed Tiger has an interesting introduction into the series, but it is killed off quite quickly and feels inconsequential when it comes to the overall storytelling here, although it does open the door to more animals being introduced in the future. The introduction of the Spinoceratops was a really cool idea in my opinion, as I think it makes sense that Mantah would want to create their own hybrid after seeing the Scorpios Rex during their reconnaissance on Isla Nublar. These animals were fun additions and make sense given that hybridization is unlikely to suddenly stop happening. Lastly, but by no means least, is the reveal of the Dilophosaurus – a dinosaur which we have wanted to see return for a long time. This was an awesome reveal and I love how aggressive and nimble these animals are depicted as within this show. It was a really cool reveal which made the final debut feel like it had some fantastic payoff.

There is a lot of character development in this season too – and I think a lot of this was handled incredibly well throughout the duration of Season 4. We get Kenji and Brooklynn entering a relationship and we can see this blossoming throughout the season – initially causing some tension with Darius before this is resolved. This development is overshadowed, in my opinion, by something which is far more pertinent – and that is characters like Yaz experiencing PTSD from the events which they experienced on Isla Nublar. I was really impressed that the writers of the show took the opportunity to explore mental health within this season given that this is not something which we often see touched on in the films. These events are incredibly traumatic, so seeing some time given to exploring the impact that events like these can have was a welcome change of pace and something which I really appreciated the writers including here. Doctor Mae Turner and Kash are also introduced with some decent development – helping to flesh out how Mantah Corp have a mixture of scientists and technicians hired to develop the groundbreaking technology we see them using in the show, although I would perhaps like to learn more about these characters in the future – something which I am hoping we get to explore in a fifth season of the show.

On the subject of characters, we have to talk about one character who is revealed during the fourth season of the show – and that is Kenji’s Dad. The final episode reveals that Kenji’s Dad is actually in charge of Mantah Corp – perhaps explaining why his dad spent so much time on Isla Nublar. It would seem as though all of his trips to the island alongside Simon Masrani were perhaps a secret intelligence gathering exercise, allowing him to learn more about the assets which InGen had created and steal research. This would explain why Kenji had seen the tunnels on Isla Nublar – as it is likely that his Dad was using them for a less than above-board reason. I thought this development was interesting, and I am excited to see what it means in. the future. We need to keep in mind that Kenji’s Dad likely thought he had died on Nublar but was still willing to exploit the island afterwards for his own gain – showing that this character is unlikely to be a positive influence in the show. Just how evil he may be remains to be seen, but we are excited to get to see more of his character when we get a fifth season of the show. We are also interested to see whether he is truly the man in charge of Mantah Corp – or if there is someone above him pulling the strings behind the scenes, too.

I think after touching on Kenji’s Dad, it is worth us touching on Mantah Corp as a whole – as this organization get some really interesting development throughout this season. It is stated that some of the assets which Mantah have on this island are stolen directly from Isla Sorna – which poses an interesting question given the fact that we know Sorna will be referenced within Jurassic World Dominion. Is it possible that Mantah Corp are working with Biosyn in the upcoming film? Or is it possible that Mantah are going to be an entirely separate part of the new film all together? Whichever it may be, it is interesting to see another large organization with multiple assets and advanced technology working to create and contain these dinosaurs. As InGen continues to crumble in the wake of the Jurassic World incident, it is interesting to think about where these additional organizations may factor in as they fight to fill the power vacum which is left by InGen. We’re hopeful that Mantah isn’t a purely Camp Cretaceous creation, as it would be awesome to see them pop up in other extended media in the future to see where they fit into the overarching universe which seems to be being built currently.

One of the more interesting things we see Mantah Corp participating in during this season is research into the Behaviour and Emotions of the Dinosaurs – something which feels right at home when compared to the IBRIS programme in the Jurassic World film, and also the work which is being undertaken in Jurassic World: The Live Tour. This is a really interesting connection to be able to make in my opinion, as it suggests that some of the work and research which InGen were doing may have been stolen by Mantah Corp as a basis for their own work, too. This poses a really interesting question in my opinion as it could suggest that Doctor Turner had worked with InGen at some point in the past – something which would add some cool depth to her character. It wouldn’t be beyond the realms of possibility that scientists and staff involved in the Jurassic World park would go and work for other organizations and companies in the wake of the Jurassic World incident, so I think that there is the potential for some kind of connection to be explored here in the future. Who knows what the future may hold for this new character!

The last thing I wanted to touch on is the fact that at one point during this Season, Darius is able to get a telephone call out to his brother – letting him know that he is still alive. He doesn’t get enough time to tell him where he is, but we can see that his brother now knows that he is alive, and he uses this as an opportunity to prepare to head out and rescue Darius from wherever he may be. This reinforces the idea that we will be returning to Isla Nublar in the fifth season as this is the last place where Darius’s family knew he was – so they will, presumably, assume that the call came from the island. This sets up for a potentially fun split-narrative in the fifth season, with Darius’s Brother piecing together the clues about what happened to the kids on Nublar whilst the story on the Mantah Corp Island continues simultaneously. This possibility has me excited as I am curious as to whether we could see Dave and Roxy return in the fifth season to help with a rescue mission on Isla Nublar. Only time will tell for certain, but this season opens some interesting doors for future potential storytelling which we can’t wait to explore.

To conclude – Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous Season 4 explores some interesting themes and ideas which I think will be all the more relevant as we approach the release of Jurassic World Dominion. There are some interesting potential connections to other pieces of lore which we know and love, but the show never really solidifies these connections – with even the two Tyrannosaurus Rexes present from Isla Sorna never being fully explained. This series feels like it wants to connect a lot to the things we loved beforehand, but it struggles to stick the landing.

What saves it, in my opinion, is a fantastic focus on story which could have real ramifications for the modern-day Jurassic universe. Watch this series in the context of what could be going on now dinosaurs are in the wild and I think you’ll get some enjoyment out of it. I know I am very excited to see how this cliffhanger is resolved in a fifth season of the show. Let us know your thoughts on the fourth season in the comments below, and stay tuned for more news, reviews and much more on all things Jurassic in the near future!

Written by: Tom Jurassic

#article #jurassic world camp cretaceous #camp cretaceous season foour #camp cretaceous season four spoilers #camp cretaceous spoilers

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lushthemagicdragon · 3 years

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On Deadpool, WandaVision and Breaking the Fourth Wall

Hey pals, let’s talk about breaking the fourth wall / extrapolation of meta information in multiverse universes--say, the Marvel cinematic vs the xmen films vs the comics. Actually, let’s talk specifically about the Marvel multiverse.

I wrote you an essay, just go under the cut it’s shiny.

As a general rule, suspension of disbelief works better on paper than it does on video. Heroes was an excellent example of this problem. This was the first time TV show was made directly based on a comic book format, trying to emulate a comic book format. The ship sank when they tried to keep comic book pace, and to play by similar rules. Long story short, this is because the way our brains consume literature and comics is different from how we consume photographic media like movies or tv. Video, like photography, convinces the brain that it's depicting reality even when we logically know that it isn’t. Therefore, unless the rules of the video/TV world are well established as being different from our own, we apply to it our own real-world understandings of what is possible. We are able to follow the fantastic more willingly when we're imagining it (because we’re reading it) instead of seeing it with our senses.

Breaking the fourth wall and/or being self-referential is extremely tricky on video media because you're forcing the audience's brain to acknowledge that this is fiction, which can cause some cognitive dissonance if the goal of your show/movie is to create second world immersion. Sitcoms are good at breaking the fourth wall because, with laugh tracks, live studio audiences, and a general lack of real-world consequences, our brains understand that it isn’t real. Generally, they’re not trying to fool us into believing that they’re real. Still, if Chandler Bing suddenly turned around and made eye contact with the camera, that would be weird. It’s not established in that particular sitcom world that they understand that they’re fictional. Fresh Prince on the other hand, did that all the time.

But we’ll get back to Sitcoms, because WandaVision. As opposed to most sitcoms, most serious dramas and adventure-thrillers are trying to create a very different vibe. In order to function, you have to be fully engaged, and have to completely believe the second world you are currently in. Otherwise, the emotional experience falls short. Tonality must be consistent, whereas sitcoms can get away with having the odd emotional moment surrounded by a laugh track.

Marvel is very weird when it comes to second worlds and believable experiences, because Marvel films, tv, and comics are all existing in the same multiverse but with wildly different tones. If you try to wrap your head around all of it as one body, it can give you a headache. Which is why I find it so interesting whenever they try to be meta.

The MCU as we understand it is presented as a realistic second world. Yes, it's fun action adventure with magic and superheroes, but presented in a way that feels real, and rationalizes its reality. It explains with technobabble and sciencebabble everything that it's doing. It wants to feel real. There are a few examples of comedy in the MCU (AntMan, Guardians of the Galaxy, Thor Ragnorok), but their silliness can for the most part be explained away. With the latter two, they take place in space, with aliens, so our brains allow that as an explanation of wackiness outside our own reality. For Ant-Man, honestly I think it was a brilliant idea to make it a comedy because there was no way that film would have succeeded if they tried to make the audience take Ant-Man seriously on screen. I love Ant-Man, it’s a spectacularly made film. But I digress. Importantly, even though they’re funny and campy, they never lose their sense of realism, with emotional anchor points to keep them grounded. When these characters are in an ensemble, they lose their high camp aesthetic and become part of the realism whole.

Even when they say in the MCU, Oh look at this I am an action figure, I'm in comic books, it's presented as in-world realistic. These people are famous now, and they're real life superheroes, so obviously action figures and comic books are being produced about them. It all makes sense. Even the X-Men films, for as camp as they are, do this in their own realism bubble. I would argue the X-Men films actually do it better because you don't have to suspend as much disbelief to believe mutation as you do to believe in a super suit that shrinks people (I love you Small Rudd).

Things get weird when the fourth wall is broken, and the multiverse is acknowledged, because the marvel cinematics have done an excellent job of creating stable second worlds. The Deadpool films, the prime example of fourth wall breaking in Marvel films/tv, are excellent because they go whole hog into breaking the fourth wall and acknowledging how ridiculous it all is. But it works for two reasons.

1. Deadpool is the only person in the entire movie that acknowledges the fourth wall (I am pretty sure, it’s been a while since I’ve watched them but I am pretty sure). Because he alone is aware that he's a fictional character in a wider fictional universe, it's not weird when he references his actor being the green lantern or talks directly to the camera. It’s exactly what we expect from him. With Deadpool, we're in on the joke but no one else is. And that's funny.

2. The tone of the Deadpool films is always funny and stupid. Even when it gets serious, that becomes the joke. There is no cognitive dissonance because it's consistent. See: Sitcom Logic. If the tone is light, breaking the fourth wall doesn’t jarr quite so much.

3. Deadpool is never in the other films, and MOSTLY, the characters in Deadpool (beyond the odd brief cameo) aren't in the greater universe (I say mostly because of Colossus, but he was in one movie ages ago for like ten minutes it’s not the biggest deal). It's consistent, and it doesn't become confusing because it's contained in itself as a weird fourth wall bubble on the side of the greater universe. Anything that happens to characters in the Deadpool films will not carry over to the more serious timeline.

There is one place in which I would say that the Deadpool films miss the mark, and make a mess of things. By making that one joke where young 90s xmen from the newest film are behind a door and shut it before he turns around, a wrench is thrown in. The weirdness of the Deadpool films suddenly is an issue because the question is asked: Where do the Deadpool films sit in the timeline? The answer is that the Deadpool films don't fit anywhere in the established XMen Cinematic Timeline, and the big mistake was having a group of characters from an xmen film on screen at the same time even as a gag. In this moment, the Deadpool films are very suddenly part of the greater universe, rather than a sidecar referencing what’s going on inside. By doing this, Deadpool is not the only character breaking the fourth wall. Now the physical world is breaking the fourth wall. And our brains will try to make sense where they cannot make sense.

But anyway for the most part, Deadpool does an excellent job of it by being a weird little fourth wall meta bubble on the fringe of existence. Wandavision though, that gets weird in a different but also very fun way.

The reason why the first 3/4ths of WandaVision work in terms of being meta-referential and also occasionally breaking the fourth wall is because

1. genre and tone. It sets up from the beginning, this is a sitcom world, not gritty realism world. We get sitcom world, we know what to expect from sitcom world. We can laugh along with the laugh track when something odd or silly or referential happens, and accept it as truth, because a sitcom generally does not pretend to be reality.

2. Whenever the fourth wall breaks in a way that doesn't make sense, it's intentional. Wanda reacts accordingly. Something goes weird, she fixes it. When something goes weird for someone other than Wanda (Say, the Vision), the integrity of this sitcom world is called into question in an intentional way that tracks with what is actually going on in the gritty-realism world (acknowledging that we’re in a bubble within a bubble). This camp sitcom world breaks the fourth wall within itself, not to us. Billy talking to the screen isn't talking to us, he's talking to the imagined viewer in-world.

3. Most of the meta-references are either subtle enough to be Easter eggs (like the kick-ass reference) or exist solely as fun gaffs that have no consequences and are never acknowledged as being meta (the Halloween costumes). I say most, because there is one big meta-reference that I think was a mistake, and where it kind of starts to fall apart in my eyes.

As much as I adore Evan Peters’ Pietro, as extremely happy as I was to see him on this show, this particular meta-reference was done in a way that breaks the second world illusion, because they pointed a big red sign at a meta reference and then tried to explain it without breaking into the multiverse.

The thing about breaking the fourth wall and meta-referencing is that it has to be toungue in cheek to be sustainable. Our brains are accepting that this reference is for us, but to make it a serious part of the story requires an answer to the question: why? By explaining that actually, this fake Pietro was Ralph the whole time, a real person who exists in this gritty realism universe, the illusion of tongue in cheek is gone. Suddenly, there is a person who brings into question the entire structure of the second world. Because this second world does not have access to the multiverse (Into the Spiderverse is wholly its own thing), it doesn't make sense that this random guy who happened to be used to play Pietro looks exactly like Pietro from elsewhere in the multiverse. It stops being fun, and starts becoming confusing, and we start trying to find answers where there are none.

IMO, two ways to solve that problem. 1. never explain it. If you never explain it, it's just a weird meta reference for us that also exists in Wanda's fake-world that is in itself accessing the multiverse (see: the costumes), without touching the realism world outside the bubble.

2. What I'm now calling the Taika Waititi method. Give a nonsense explanation told with a straight face as a brush-off. Say, Wanda asks Agatha who this guy is, and she says something along the lines of, oh I don't know I just pulled some random Pietro out of the universe, I never met the guy I had to improvise.

Anyway I still give WandaVision an 8/10 and an A for effort. Pulling off multiple tones and multiple second worlds simultaneously without even explaining it away with the multiverse is fucking hard, and they did a pretty good job all things considered.

And if anyone is interested in wtf I'm talking about re: second worlds, I highly recommend Tolkien's essay On Fairy Stories which pretty much defines how fantastic fiction works.

#wandavision #deadpool #mcu #mcu meta #film theory #marvel cinematic #xmen cinematic #miri meta #miri writes #look ma i wrote something #wandavision spoilers #pietro maximoff #long live uncle pete #maximoff family values #wanda maximoff #wade wilson

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passionate-reply · 3 years

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This week on Great Albums, we talk about something a little more recent, but still old enough to be a classic. Can you believe that John Maus’s We Must Become the Pitiless Censors of Ourselves, is turning ten years old already? Yes, 2011 was that long ago...and so were my high school years. Come check out this lo-fi synthwave masterpiece! Transcript below the break.

Welcome to Passionate Reply, and welcome to Great Albums! So far in this series, we’ve looked at a lot of older albums, and that’s by design. While I listen to, and love, plenty of more recent music and younger artists, I’ve decided to focus Great Albums on works that are at least ten years old. That’s partly because I think that having some distance from when albums were released lets us situate them in fuller context, and take their legacy into consideration. It’s also partly because so much of the music criticism that’s out there is focused, somewhat myopically, on only the newest and hottest releases, when there’s so much amazing music to be discovered outside of that purview.

Now that that’s out of the way, let’s get on to discussing today’s album: John Maus’s We Must Become the Pitiless Censors of Ourselves, which was released in 2011, one decade prior to this video. It’s an album that was very significant to me as a teenager, when it was new, and one that I think will go on to be seen as one of the most important electronic albums of this decade.

Before releasing his arguable magnum opus, John Maus had two LPs under his belt, Songs and Love Is Real. They earned him some cult followers, but also attracted substantial derision and disdain. While many elements of Maus’s signature sound are present, such as lo-fi production, atmospheric washes of synth, and lyrics that straddle the line between pithy and biting, I’d characterize these releases as being very...rough around the edges.

Music: “Too Much Money”

“Too Much Money,” off of Love Is Real, is tantalizingly close to a pop song, but its truly shocking bridge seems almost deliberately crafted to shatter our ability to enjoy it as such. Maus had initially set out to be an experimental, outsider musician, but he soon became more interested in the tradition of pop, particularly after meeting his longtime friend and artistic collaborator, Ariel Pink. It was in that pop spirit that Maus created We Must Become the Pitiless Censors of Ourselves, and the resultant increase in accessibility is what made his third album so different--and so much more successful. There’s a certain charm that only comes from an outsider attempting to do pop, a fusion of intuitive mass appeal, and an intuitive, unschooled process of creation. This album has that in abundance.

Music: “Hey Moon”

While “Hey Moon” is one of Maus’s best-known tracks, it’s actually a cover, and was originally penned by singer-songwriter Molly Nilsson. It’s a very simple, and very pop, composition, and it’s easy to see how it embodies the sort of straightforward songwriting Maus had in the back of his mind while creating the album. But it fundamentally lacks the signature oddness of Maus, and I think that leaves it as the least interesting track here. With everything else going on, “Hey Moon” feels all the more plain and banal in comparison.

Music: “...And the Rain”

Listening to “...And the Rain,” it’s easy to hear how strongly Maus was also influenced by Classical and Medieval composers. Besides those organ-like synth textures, Maus is also inspired by the Medieval modes, and pre-tonal ideas about melody. Whenever contemporary music uses slightly older synthesiser technology, and/or that lo-fi production, many people become preoccupied with using ideas of 80s nostalgia and retro chic to understand it. I think this album has less to do with “old school cool” and more to do with the spectre of the past as something faded and ineffable, accessible only through the dim consolations of memory. Consider “Quantum Leap,” which presents us with a hazy dream of time travel, contrasted with the “dead zone” of the present.

Music: “Quantum Leap”

In “Quantum Leap”’s more strident moments, I like to think that a whiff of the in-your-face abrasiveness of “Too Much Money” remains. But rather than scornful and vitriolic, it comes across as the overwhelming splendour of divine mystery, thanks to its appropriation of Medieval church music. There are many antecedents of what Maus is doing with it, from the tradition of goth to the work of other electronic musicians like John Foxx, but what Maus really excels at is weaving together the sacred and the profane, and getting us to forget which is supposed to be which. For a more splendid example of that, look no further than “Matter of Fact”:

Music: “Matter of Fact”

Yes, you heard that correctly--this song’s only lyrics are, “pussy is not a matter of fact.” I’m tempted to compare this laconic number to some of Maus’s earlier pieces that seem to satirize easily spouted slogans of social change, such as “Rights For Gays.” The core assertion here could be interpreted as a rebuttal of essentialism with regards to gender and sex, or perhaps of toxic masculinity, and the idea of a man feeling entitled to a woman’s body and sexuality. But its ambiguity, and possible meaninglessness, are, I think, part of what makes it so effective. Still, as far as transgressive lyricism goes, the use of the term “pussy” here pales in comparison to the preceding track, “Cop Killer.”

Music: “Cop Killer”

Maus has described himself as extremely left-wing, but he’s also consistently maintained that his music isn’t meant to be interpreted through a strictly political lens. But however much Maus insists that “Cop Killer” is “really” about metaphorical cops, its seemingly blatant call for violence feels obscene. Ten years ago, “Cop Killer” was shock art, and an expression of the unsayable. But in the past year, more and more people have opened up to criticism of police brutality, and police as an institution. “Cop Killer” has been re-evaluated and re-contextualized, and interest in the track has surged. It’s had a degree of vindication that most provocative and challenging art will never see, no matter how powerful.

Given Maus’s frequent emphasis on ideas of criminality, justice, and the punitive arm of the government, I’m tempted to interpret the lighthouse featured on the cover of We Must Become the Pitiless Censors of Ourselves as a reference to the “panopticon” prisons designed by the Enlightenment thinker Jeremy Bentham. Bentham proposed prisons, and other state buildings, in which a single observation tower stood watch over people to be controlled. Prisoners cannot tell when, and if, they are being observed, and thus are forced to live as though they are under constant surveillance, and internalize the structures of social control. The panopticon has often been used as a symbol of how structures of discipline and punishment affect the psyche of those who live within them, most famously by the 20th Century philosopher Michel Foucault.

But this is, of course, me using political theory to try and pin Maus down! We can also set this aside and appreciate the cover design for its aesthetic ambiance. Its fog and tumultuous sea evoke the wild or unrefined qualities of the music, but the bright and piercing light of the lighthouse suggest a firm and directed focus, not unlike Maus’s stated goal of creating bona fide pop.

The album’s ponderous title doesn’t actually appear on the associated artwork. This isn’t so uncommon nowadays, but when physical media was more central to music consumption, it was a self-sabotaging move that few but New Order ever got away with. Maus was one of the first artists I became aware of who chose to omit text from album art, and it struck me as a very bold and forward-thinking adaptation to an increasingly digital world. Maus nicked the title “We Must Become the Pitiless Censors of Ourselves” from the work of the philosopher Alain Badou, under whom he studied at university. Like that piercing ray of light, it seems to suggest a pruning away of impurities, and a recalibration or refocusing of one’s energies. It applies equally well to the idea of becoming sanctified or purified in the presence of the holy, or, more prosaically, to Maus’s newly pop-oriented artistic direction.

After the success of We Must Become the Pitiless Censors of Ourselves, Maus’s follow-up was, essentially, the 2012 compilation, A Collection of Rarities and Previously Unreleased Material, which featured assorted tracks he had written throughout the preceding decade. Over the next few years, Maus chose to isolate himself from the public eye, claiming to not see himself continuing a career in music, and instead pursuing a Ph.D. in political science. He eventually returned, however, and released a fourth LP in 2017, entitled Screen Memories. Screen Memories would continue the focus on hooky and accessible melodies, while also increasing the use of guitar and bass to bring Maus’s sound a bit closer to rock.

Music: “Touchdown”

While Maus hasn’t put down any new material since Screen Memories, he has made himself substantially more notorious quite recently, by having been present at the attempted coup at the United States Capitol Building in January of 2021. Given Maus’s aforementioned radical leftism, and his cryptic, but seemingly anti-fascist oriented tweets afterward, it seems unlikely that Maus actually supported the insurrection, but the incident continues to cast a shadow over his reputation, at least for the time being. Whether Maus is ever truly rehabilitated or not, and wherever his true intentions and sympathies lay, his music has certainly left an indelible mark. We Must Become the Pitiless Censors of Ourselves was a watershed moment for this idea of lo-fi, electronic pop, with a gothic and mysterious aura to it, and I don’t think this sound would be so commonplace in today’s musical landscape without what John Maus had accomplished, ten years ago.

My favourite track on We Must Become the Pitiless Censors of Ourselves is “Head For the Country.” Its stirring and anthemic refrain is one of the most emotionally powerful moments on the album, particularly when juxtaposed with its lyrical themes of feeling confined by society’s rules, and its return to the idea of criminality or deviance. It's probably too intense and overbearing to ever pass for an ordinary pop hit...but who’s keeping score? That’s everything for today--thanks for listening!

Music: “Head For the Country”

#music #great albums #album review #album reviews #synthwave #lo fi #lo-fi #john maus #indie #indie pop #indietronica

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rwbyremnants · 3 years

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WARNING: Light-but-sudden gore later.

Heyyyy we still out here, I promise. More coming soon! Maybe a new fic once Lady Stardust wraps up!

=Chapter 27

The rest of the evening went quite well, all things considered. Yang politely answered Mrs Schnee's every question, only side-stepping a few about her parents that were too painful to answer, or about how intimate she and Weiss had been. For that, Weiss felt grateful; she didn't want her mother to think of her that way if at all possible.

Neither did she want to think of her mother that way. An hour or so later when Kali finally shook loose the bonds of minimum wage servitude, she couldn't help noticing the warmth of the smiles that passed between them, and saw Yang squinting suspiciously, as well. But they very quickly afterward set to work.

“So,” Kali finally sighed just as Weiss was coming back downstairs to fetch herself a glass of milk, and Yang a glass of juice. The two mothers were sitting very close to each other on the couch, poring over various documents. “If these figures are accurate…”

“They must be. Jacques keeps impeccable records. Do you think we really have a-” Her voice cut off when she noticed her daughter standing there. “Oh! Did you need something?”

Shifting awkwardly, she said, “Just something to drink. Am I interrupting… anything?”

“No, no. Go on.”

She went through into the kitchen, trying to shake the feeling of being out of place in her own home. That feeling hung around a lot lately. She wanted to ring her sister and ask her to come home - help it feel less strange. But that wouldn't be fair; Winter had her own life to live. Maybe she would write her a letter.

Her train of thought was interrupted by a gentle hand in the small of her back. She turned, expecting her mother, only to find Kali instead.

“Are you alright?”

“What? Oh… I'm fine. Why?”

“You're pouring that milk into the juice.”

Starting in complete shock, Weiss took a step back and gaped down at the glass overflowing with two different liquids that most certainly did not mix well. “Oh… oh, poo.” Grimacing, she carried it over to the sink to dump out.

“Seriously, what’s wrong?” she asked again. “Your father?”

“It’s not that. I… oh, you’re going to think I’m silly.” But the Belladonna matriarch wasn’t budging. “You and… my mother.”

Kali smiled very slightly. “She’s a wonderful woman, Weiss. She’s simply been through a very difficult situation. I was a little premature in passing judgement on her for not being there for you… because it wasn't truly her choice. Once on the other side of all this, I think you’ll find you’re glad to be her offspring.”

“No, not that - I meant, um… you and my mother.”

“Me and…” Her eyes slid closed as she nodded. “Ah.”

“It’s none of my business, of course. I’m sorry.” Kali didn’t respond; merely stood by waiting as Weiss rinsed out the glass and went back to start over. Eventually, she decided she had to finish her thought or she might never get out of there - and she might as well, now that the subject had been touched upon. “It’s just- I mean… you spent so much time flirting with me, and now, you and she are so close, and I’m… a little confused about that. But as I said, it’s none of my business, and I’m definitely making a big deal about nothing.”

Chuckling gently, Kali sidled closer and slid an arm around her back, granting her some comfort. “I’m fairly sure your mother isn’t one of us, Weiss. Don’t worry so much.”

“Did I say I was worried?”

“Yes. Body language and tonal inflection count.”

“Tonal wha…?” But when Kali only smiled easily, she sighed and looked down. “Then you aren’t interested in my mother in that way?”

“I didn’t say that. But even if I were, it’s… irrelevant.” At Weiss’s alarmed expression, she held up her other hand to waylay any complaints. “I only mean that even if she were interested - which she is not - I’d never accept her feelings. She’s barely a few days on the other side of leaving a husband who hurt her, as well as their children. I don’t date married women, and especially not ones who are in pain from that marriage, and too fragile to make wise decisions. It’s… not a good idea for either party. Do you understand?”

That did grant the poor girl some relief. However, she was a little surprised to find that underneath that relief… she felt some disappointment.

“Weiss?”

“Sorry,” she sighed as she poured the juice and put it away. “I must really be irritating to you right now.”

“Did you… want me to be interested in courting your mother?”

Weiss swallowed hard. She didn’t want to upset Kali, but it had to be said. “Not if you were still interested in courting me. It’s too strange.”

“Ahhh. Well, I can see how that would be awkward. I did try to assure you that I was teasing, but…”

“You should probably just ignore me,” she laughed uneasily as she tried to back toward the door - but Kali caught her by the wrist, drew her in close so that her hazel eyes were filling most of her vision. “H-hey! I almost spilled these!”

A long, tense moment passed, and Weiss felt her heart thumping louder. It wasn’t the way it did for Yang - that was its own unique, beautiful mess that she sought out whenever possible. But Kali was a different matter. It was as if she wanted both women to take care of her, but in different ways; in Yang, it was physical, romantic. Sensual. With Kali, there were thrilling hints of that, but the rest of it was completely different.

She wanted her to mother her. And she had done such a good job of it thus far that she craved more of that, to receive what she had missed from her own parents. The craving just manifested in an oddly sensual way because she wasn’t used to feeling it.

“I’m sorry,” Kali told her very simply. “Sometimes, I forget my own sapphic strength.”

“M-Mrs. Belladonna…”

“I’ll never flirt with you again. That is a promise. As for your mother… well, I stand by what I said before.” Her voice took on a tinge of urgency as she embraced Weiss warmly. “What’s most important to me now is to be there for both of you, and help you through this. It’s silly since we’ve only known each other for a few weeks, but I already feel like you’re family. And I need you to be alright. Even if not now, then soon, with all of us working toward that goal.”

Weiss melted completely into the hug, squeezing back as best she could with the two glasses in her hands. It was nice having someone on her side - and the Dragons were quite good at that. But after a moment, she found herself saying something that was a little at odds with her feelings and actions.

“I suppose… you don’t have to quit flirting. Just as long as you keep an eye on the line and don’t cross it.”

Kali laughed, squeezing her just a little. “New lesbians are so cute.” Her lips pushed into the top of Weiss’s head, prompting a giggle. “And delicious.”

“Close to that line,” Weiss warned as she backed away. “And with Yang upstairs!”

“Maybe I’ll wait just long enough for you two to get frisky and barge in,” she threatened with her eyebrows waggling. Weiss would have been upset, except that she had all but asked for this herself. What was wrong with her mouth lately?

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

Of course, Kali never made good on that threat. She and Yang didn't do any such thing, either; they studied. Now that her father was temporarily sequestered, she wanted to get back to keeping Raven from beating her up again. Yang groaned and complained, and tried to distract her with kisses, but in the end they got some decent work done.

Next came another dreary school day. The homecoming dance was on the immediate horizon, and decorations were going up all over the hallways, reminders about “appropriate conduct” on every bulletin board. The Dragons had plenty of fun deriding the very concept, since none of them would be going.

“We know our kind isn't welcome there,” Blake sighed as she finished off the last dregs on her tray. Kali probably offered to fix her something more appetizing, but she didn't want to be the only one eating out of a metal lunchbox or brown bag. At least, that's how Weiss would feel in her shoes; she herself had only suffered through one lunch in her freshman year that was catered, thanks to her father. The other kids made such a big deal about it she thought she would never live it down.

“Our kind, the Dragons?” she asked. “Or our kind… the Boston Marriage kind?”

Coco shrugged, working on her teeth with a toothpick. “Six of one, half-dozen of the other.”

“We could still all go. It might be fun!” The withering looks she got said otherwise, and she ducked her head down. “Or not. Sorry.”

“Hey, why not?” Yang sighed with a lazy smile. “We'll go to the dance, raise a little Cain, and then head back to Kali's to, y'know… be ourselves.”

“Or Shopkeeper's.” The instant she said it, Blake's face fell, and she stared down through the table. “Damn. I forgot.”

Weiss reached over to pat her back. “It'll take some time. And… we'll find a new place, like we talked about.”

“I'll wear a suit,” Yang piped up, to take their mind off the fire. “Pick you up, show you a good time.”

“No, thank you. I like the idea, but I'd rather see you in a pretty dress.”

“Yeah,” Coco laughed easily, propping her boots up on the table. Weiss curled her lip in disgust, but no one paid her any mind. “I'd pay good money to see that myself!”

Glaring at the sunglasses-clad girl, Yang snapped, “If I gotta wear one, so do you.”

“Nah. My Velvet will look like royalty, and I don't want to upstage her. Although… I'll be on Fox's arm when we arrive…” Now she looked the tiniest bit less confident.

“Hopefully, Cinder will be able to come by then,” Blake sighed. They all fell silent after that.

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

After cheerleader practice let out, Weiss almost pushed and shoved Ruby into Pyrrha's car. It had taken some convincing to get her to hang around until after they were through shaking pompoms and memorising cheers for the home team. Penny tagged along with her ever-present smile in place, and the both of them looked quite contented in the backseat. In no time at all, they were all seated in the malt shop, barely crammed into a single booth.

“Hey, squares,” Yang grunted when she joined them a few minutes later, pulling up a chair to sit at the end.

“Oh!” Pyrrha gasped, sitting up a little straighter. “Here, sit next to Weiss!”

Before she could fully rise, Yang forcibly pushed her back down by the shoulder. “Cool your heels. I can sit next to her later. Besides, you were there first.”

“Hello, Yang!” Penny piped up with a chipper grin. “My name is Penny, and it's a pleasure to meet you!”

“Uhhhh, yeah. We've met before, I think.”

After thinking for a moment, she grinned again. “So we have!”

“Hey, sis,” Ruby began with a hesitant smile. She was just beginning to have some confidence around Yang now, after their sickbed visits. “How's, um… your shoulder? Is it better?”

“Yeah, better. Still kinda aches sometimes, but Watts said to expect that for another month or two.” The waitress came over to drop off two malteds and a cheeseburger in front of Pyrrha and Penny, so she waited for her to leave. “Uh, what have you been up to, Rubes?”

Smile both cherubic and excited, silver eyes lighting up, she replied, “Me and Penny are gonna apply to become writers! For the Vale High Voice!”

“Actually, I think I would make a better copy editor,” Penny put in pleasantly. “But I'll leave that up to Miss Goodwitch. She's the faculty advisor.”

“That's wonderful,” Pyrrha told them immediately, smiling as wide as Ruby. “I did a few articles for them last year, and was on yearbook committee. It's the bees’ knees!”

Yang looked a little unsure of what to say. But the instant Weiss kicked her under the table, she smiled over at Ruby and said, “Great! Wow, I didn't know you were into writing.”

“Yep! Well, before now, I just, y'know, wrote stories about… well, it doesn't matter.”

“Sure it does. C'mon, tell me what you wrote.”

“Umm…” Blushing a little, she looked down at her fingers, playing idly with a napkin to distract herself from being forced to talk about her hobby. “Stories about… well, kinda like Anne of Green Gables, but with magic? Fairies and wizards. I don't know, they were silly.”

Voice suddenly quite hallowed and serious, Penny leaned in to say, “Oh, they weren't silly! I enjoyed Ruby's books!”

“Books?” Yang asked, her smile growing wider still.

“I know, I'm a cube,” Ruby muttered, red to her roots. “And they're only in notebooks, not a real-”

“Get outta town! That's pretty great, little sis!” At her stunned expression, Yang gently socked her in the upper arm. “I ain't so good at reading, especially not a whole book. So you writing one is a big deal!”

Still wincing from the light punch, Ruby grinned. “W-well, they aren’t very good…”

“I told you they are,” Penny said simply, as if her stating that settled the matter.

“Can I read one?” When Ruby buried her face in her hands, Yang said, “What?”

“They’re not real books!” she squealed. “Just a bunch of scribbles!”

However, Ruby underestimated two things: Yang’s growing interest in her estranged sister, and precisely how stubborn the brute could be if she put her mind to it. That was something with which Weiss was intimately familiar, so she helped convince Ruby that there would be no dissuading her by that point.

And Ruby loved it. All Weiss needed to feel secure in her decision to push them together was to see how earnestly ecstatic the younger girl was to be hanging out with her big sister again.

The sky was getting dark by the time their little rap session was interrupted. Weiss had been about to check her watch and head home when it turned out not to be necessary.

“Hey, kid. Takin’ too long.”

Weiss blinked up at the tall, lanky man. She needed no introduction; ordinarily, she would be demanding to know why some stranger was coming up to their table. But he was almost a dead ringer for Raven - same brooding, dangerous eyes, same pale skin and black hair. Both fairly tall; Yang obviously got the averages of her mother and father's heights. That made this man…

“Sorry, Uncle Qrow!” Ruby squeaked with a duck of her head. “Lost track of time! Can, um, can we give Penny a ride?”

One of his broad shoulders shrugged. “Hurry it up.” Then he leaned down and squinted hard at Yang. “Huh. So it is you. Been a while, Little Dragon.”

“Hey.”

That was an awfully short reply. Even while Weiss was staring between the two of them, Ruby was hopping up and dragging Penny with her - almost as if trying to avoid an incident.

“You, uh… get my birthday present?”

“Yeah. Thanks for the two bits.”

“Mm.” He reached over to tousle Ruby’s hair. “C’mon, squirt.”

“See you guys!” Once Qrow had turned his back, hands in the pockets of his grey slacks, Ruby mouthed the word “Sorry!” at her sister before fleeing.

The table remained silent for another minute or so. The waitress brought their check in the meantime. Weiss moved to the other side of the booth and dragged Yang into it next to her.

“What happened? I mean, that was a pretty chilly reception.”

“I agree,” Pyrrha said in a hesitant tone, idly moving the straw around her malt glass.

“Drop it.” After a few seconds of them staring, Yang sighed and grunted, “Family stuff. Okay? Just… he only ever had time for Ruby. And she's not even his niece by blood. Why couldn't he take me in, too?”

Stunned by these sudden admissions, Weiss breathed, “Raven's your mother. I'm sure that's… well, of course she would get custody. He probably didn't have any choice.”

“Yeah? Well, I don't remember him fighting very hard. And Ruby didn't, either.” When Pyrrha winced, she snapped, “I know! I know already, okay? Little perfect golden child was too young, and too upset about Summer dying. But I didn't get to be upset. I had to go live with the one person on Earth who would say anything bad about Summer Rose, who was way more of a mom to me than the bitch who gave birth to me.”

By that point, she was trembling all over. With rage, or with sadness; it wasn't easy for Weiss to tell, but she put an arm around her all the same. She clung a little tighter, and eventually the tension lessened, Yang’s breathing evened out.

“I’m sorry,” Pyrrha whispered very quietly, as if worried she would break something if she were louder.

“Nah. I’m… gonna be fine. Promise.” Then she took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Summer’s gone, and so’s Dad, and nothing’s gonna bring them back, anyway. So I might as well just… move on with my life.”

“Yang…” But Weiss didn’t get a chance to say anything else before she was getting up.

“I need to pee. Ladies, anybody else? No?” Without really waiting long enough for an answer, she pushed through to the restroom in the rear of the soda fountain, shoulders still taut despite her efforts to appear casual.

Pyrrha slumped a little lower in her chair. “Good grief, that was…”

“Awkward? Unpleasant?” As Pyrrha nodded, Weiss slumped forward herself, dragging her malt glass over to sip the last few drags from the bottom. “At least now I understand why she resents them. Imagine, being asked to raise only one of two sisters!”

“Or being one of the two. Not a nice situation for anyone involved.”

Her eyes flicked towards the bathrooms. “Should I go check on her? Probably not. She probably wants to be left alone for a minute.”

“You know her better than I,” she answered with a self-conscious laugh. “But… maybe just check on her, and ask if she wanted to be alone? Then you'll know for sure.”

Deciding she was right, Weiss made her way to the ladies’ restroom. Yang was seated on the sink, head in her hands. When she looked up to see who had come in, Weiss could at least see that she had not been crying - which was good, even if it didn't necessarily mean she was alright.

“Oh… hey, you.”

Weiss tried for a smile. “Hi. Sorry if I'm intruding, but… I wanted to check if you were alright. But I can leave! Just say the word.”

It made her sad that Yang actually debated the options. In the end, she sighed and leaned back against the mirror. “Wish it didn't still bother me. But just seeing his or Ruby's face… reminds me nobody wanted me. Not Raven, or Dad, or Summer… Qrow…”

“Ruby did,” she told her firmly. “And now you can't pretend she didn't - and if you try, I'll scold you until you see reason.”

“Fine,” she snorted, gesturing for Weiss to come closer. She did, and she reached out for her hand, squeezing it gently. “And I've got you, too. The Dragons. I shouldn't complain.”

“No reason you shouldn't, if you need to. Just want you to keep in mind that your sister loves you quite a bit - and not having you in her life was painful for her.”

Finally, Yang's expression turned truly sad. “Really? I mean… I can tell she's all smiles around me now, but not… she really missed me, huh?” When Weiss only nodded firmly, entirely convinced it was true, her violet eyes flicked toward the tiny window at the top of the wall. “Damn. I've been a terrible big sis.”

“Don’t say that,” Weiss reassured her quickly.

“Yeah, I have. Don't butter me up.”

Leaning up on her tippy-toes, she gave Yang a gentle kiss to the cheek. “You were still missing Summer, and feeling hurt. It's… you weren't mean to her much.” Knowing that wouldn't help, she added, “But you're already making it up to her now. Don't feel too bad.”

“Why do you love me?”

“What?”

“I'm a jerk,” Yang whispered in such a fragile voice that she had to double-check that this really was her girlfriend, The Dragon. “To you sometimes, and to Ruby, Qrow… even my mom, who is a real piece of work on her own. Sometimes, I'm really worried that… that I'm just a bad seed.”

Voice as gentle and soothing as she could make it, Weiss whispered, “You're strong, and loyal, and brave… and tender with me. Don't be silly; nobody's perfect. And you, Yang Xiao Long, are one of the best. I mean it.”

For a long moment, they simply stood and let their leather-clad arms hold each other. They had been through a lot in their lives, and a lot of it very recently. Then Yang left a kiss on top of Weiss's head, close to where Kali had so recently.

“What would I do without you, Schnee?”

“Probably fall apart,” she sighed airily while striding for the door. Yang let out an easy laugh as she followed.

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

Out of respect for their parents, Weiss and Yang retired to the train depot for a little post-dessert enjoyment. Pyrrha drove them, as they were still trying to let Yang's injury heal.

An hour passed with the two of them taking turns wringing pleasure from bodies that were quickly becoming so familiar. Once, they tried Weiss reclining back against Yang's front while the brute reached around to fondle her from behind. That was nearly as magical.

“You two really ought to fix your hair,” Pyrrha said as she glanced in the rearview mirror at them. “People will talk.”

“Let 'em talk,” Yang purred into Weiss's ear.

“Stop that!”

“Never.”

Blushing, their chauffeur went on, “We’re almost there, anyway. Do y-you want me to… drive around the block again?”

“Yeah,” Yang sighed wearily. “But you probably better take me home now instead.”

“Okay. I'm sorry.”

“Not your fault. Just gotta do what I gotta do.”

Weiss did offer to go in with her, but Yang declined. She thought it was more important that she spend a little one-on-one time with Raven. That sounded like a fate worse than death to Weiss, but she knew the reason was to hopefully help bridge that enormous emotional canyon between them.

As Pyrrha began driving them home, Weiss now in the front seat, she sighed and looked over at the tall redhead. “So… want to come up to my room and listen to the radio?”

“Oh? Shouldn’t we do our homework?”

“Probably. But… I think we can take a break for a little while. Maybe I could scare up some of my old comic books.”

The smile that stretched across her friend’s lips told her she had done the right thing. Even if she didn’t mean to, she had been a less than ideal “best friend” of late, and this was something they both needed.

Once they got back to Atlas Heights, Weiss stowed her jacket under the seat out of habit; she didn’t know why she kept doing that, but also didn’t much feel like going back for it just now. Then they began to head up to the front door.

“Think we could find any of Kali’s cooking in the kitchen?” Pyrrha asked quietly. “Maybe some pie?”

“Pyrrha! We just ate!”

“W-well, my metabolism is higher from all that track-and-field,” she hedged, cheeks pinkening a little.

Chuckling a little, she said, “Alright, we’ll check. But don’t be too disappointed if you’re out of luck; the way he packs food away, Whitley must have a hole in his stomach or s-”

What a sentence to be interrupted. Weiss had just been wondering what the noise behind her was, but didn’t even get time to fully turn and investigate before she felt white-hot pain in her abdomen. When she looked down, it was to see the very tip of a thin blade sticking out just below and to one side of where her navel lay, gleaming with her own blood.

“Or s-something.”

#princess and the dragons #freezerburn fanfic #rwby fanfiction #rwbyremnants #1950s au #gore tw

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loyalflutist · 5 years

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Who Said That? (F!Byleth x Edelgard)

Rating: General Audience Archive Warning: N/A Words: 2,214 Summary: Byleth becomes extremely confused when there are two people who share the same, exact voice as Edelgard...

A/N: Since Tara Platt also voices Zero (Drakengard 3) and Mitsuru (Persona 3), just threw the idea in about Edeleth bumping into them. It’s comedy, so nothing too serious! Hope you enjoy this! I enjoyed writing this.

Supernatural wasn’t exactly something Byleth had thought long and hard about. In a country full of monsters and magical voodoos, nothing could shake the foundations of reality for her, save it for the occasional ghost stories. The same could be said for the Adrestian Empire’s noble. There was nothing that would falter the rising emperor. With the two together, they were a fearsome storm to deal with.

“FUCK!”

Byleth smashed her nose against a wooden pole from shock. She backed away from the solid object by a couple of steps, one hand covering the rattled cartilage. Tears prickled from the professor’s slanted eyes as she silently mumbled her anguish. Edelgard, who stood nearby at the weapon shop, rushed to her girlfriend’s aid. The student hovered her hands over Byleth’s scrunched face.

“Are you okay?” Concern dripped from her words; Edelgard eyes were fixated on the concealed nose. “You didn’t break anything, did you?”

The professor suppressed more of her incomprehensible grumbles. She slowly shook her head and removed her hand. Byleth’s fingertips brushed the skin beneath her throbbing nose. No blood. For an audible collision with the wooden stick, she must have been blessed by the heavens above to retain her nose’s structure. Edelgard felt her shoulders slump. The white-haired’s lips formed a small smile as she retracted her hands.

“You should be more careful.”

“I will.”

Hm, wasn’t there something that she also wanted to say…? Byleth stoic facial features hardened, her brows furrowed. Her girlfriend had an imaginary question mark pop up from the top of her head at the odd reaction.

“Professor, is there something on my face?” Byleth shook her head. The student frowned in return. “Okay… so what is it?”

“I’ve never heard of a noble curse as loudly as you.”

Edelgard’s eyes temporarily widened. “You must have been mistaken. You know I would never curse.”

“I don’t think I could have mistaken your voice.”

Tension began to formulate as the two shot glares at each other. One from disappointment, one from frustration. This is what happens when you pit a stubborn individual against another similarly stubborn individual. It didn’t help that they were both in a romantic relationship either. Two of them were clearly not going to budge from their position.

Civilians in the background could not help but steal a glance at their direction. In the middle of the marketplace, it was rare to find arguments and fights break out, especially the fact that this was on monastery’s ground. Security guards from the front entrance felt their eyes narrow as Byleth and Edelgard engaged in a verbal warfare.

“They’re fighting again?” Linhardt stifled a yawn as he and Caspar walked from the fish market. In their hands, they held a bag destined for an upcoming lunch. The short male glanced over his shoulder as his friend remarked, “I’m still surprised they didn’t break up.”

“Hey,” Caspar playfully smacked his knuckles on the magus’s shoulder. “Lover’s quarrel. It shows just how close they are to each other.”

“…you think we can ever achieve something like that together?”

“Did you say something?”

Linhardt shook his head, his expression sparing no emotion. “It’s nothing.”

“Oh, really?” The grappler clicked his tongue. “Now you’re making me even more curious!”

“Not telling you…”

“Come on, Linhardt!”

As the two boys began their own set of argument (more like one-sided), Edelgard huffed back at the marketplace. The white-haired rested her hand on her forehead and shook her head.

“This is ridiculous, Professor. I can’t believe you can’t believe in me!”

“I would believe in you if you would stop lying.”

“How could you say that?!”

“Aren’t you two the biggest dumbasses I’ve ever seen.”

Oh, that did it! Byleth fumed and raised her finger up; the brick-like expression she wore faltered. How dare Edelgard curse again! That— wait a minute…

Byleth’s mouth opened, but no words came out, and her pointer drooped. That voice… It was clearly Edelgard’s. However, her furious girlfriend was standing right in front of her, lips sealed. Although the princess would like to demand an apology, that wasn’t the first thing that popped to mind. Instead, she too was frozen in her spot. The two females, like a robot, turned their head to the speaker.

It was an alluring woman. The pink flower blossomed from one eye, her white attire and hair matching it with elegance, save it for the black ribbon and markings on her foreign clothes. When Byleth’s and Edelgard’s eyes shifted over to the weapon on her waist, it was unlike anything they’ve ever seen in Fodlan. Clearly, this arrogant woman was not from this country.

“…excuse me?”

Edelgard was the first one to speak up, albeit quieter than normal. To the stranger’s amusement, she possessed the same tonality as hers. A smirk flashed through the 19-year-old as her prosthetic left hand motioned on the side.

“I said, ‘ You’re both the biggest dumbasses I’ve ever seen.’ ”

“I’m not sure what you are trying to get at by insulting us.”

“I wouldn’t be saying anything if you chickenshits weren’t making so much fucking ruckus.”

“Are we THAT bothersome that you had to say something?”

“It’s already fucking loud enough here. If you both don’t shut up, I’m gonna stab my eardrums with a fork.”

The frustration and irritation that was once placed on her professor shifted its course. Edelgard had marched right up to the taller female no older than by one year. It was a bit comedic seeing the height difference between the two. (Unfortunately, Edelgard is still the short one.) Hands bunched into fists, the axe-wielder flung her status at the foul-mouthed woman.

“I hope you understand that this is no way to speak to a princess from the Adrestian Empire.”

“Uh… sure,” the other white-haired rolled her eyes. “Not like I care. Royal or not, we’re all the fucking same.”

That was something the noble agreed with, ironically. Regardless, Edelgard furthered her defense. She needs to disperse the growing crowd that began to surround the three figures. A huff came from her direction.

“I suggest that you leave us alone, and I want you to apologize to my professor.”

“Professor?”

Byleth felt a chill run down her spine. That sharp gaze from the stranger was not uncommon, but it clenched her soul in a tight grip. Emotional reactions were something she had difficulty expressing. In this case, the teal-haired shuddered and allowed fear to creep into her eyes. There was also the voice from the taller female… That voice was literally the same as Edelgard’s. It was like watching Edelgard argue with herself! Another shudder reverberated through her spinal cord.

‘ This has to be a dream. ‘

Sensing the discomfort from the older woman, the stranger could not help but burst into a fit of laughter. Edelgard leapt an inch off the ground as a result. How funny for the newcomer! What kind of situation was she subjected to now? As if being thrust into this world without Mikhail, the Intoners, and their Disciples wasn’t enough, now she had to deal with this nonsense?

“This is so fucking stupid.”

The other female eventually approached Byleth. Sweat flew out of the teacher’s head as they stood in close proximity. Maybe it was a little too close… Byleth felt the taller woman stare down at her by a few centimeters.

“…”

Yep, she’s nothing like her Edelgard.

“Sorry about it.”

“?!”

That… was rather tame. Truth be told, Byleth had expected the opposite. The stranger blinked. Then, she placed a hand on her hip, the corner of her lips twitched.

“Look, asshole, just because I seem like a bitch doesn’t mean I don’t know when to apologize.”

“…”

Without warning, Byleth felt a strong grip around her face. The professor’s chin tilted upward from the foreigner’s action. Her cheeks were somewhat squished, her heart raced as the other’s lips twitched once more. That glower was clearly not going away any time soon.

“A fucking rock has more expression than you…”

“…”

Someone just had to say it. It was a common remark that many individuals, including some of her own students, dare say. However, no one dared to blurt it out in front of her face. It was heartless! Byleth and Jeralt made it clear to the three Houses that she simply lacks the ability to freely express her emotions. Even after diving into a romantic relationship with the Black Eagle’s house leader, Byleth struggled to put forth anything more than disappointment, surprise, and content. She was still a budding plant. The fact that this outsider threw the fact at her face felt more like a punch than a gentle jab.

‘ I thought I got better… ‘

The ex-mercenary realized that she had held her breath after the woman released her hold. Byleth rubbed the affected area. She may have not much to say out loud, but Edelgard has plenty to say in her stead. The youngster immediately ran up to her girlfriend’s side once the newcomer turned her back to them. Edelgard is one of the three individuals that could read beyond Byleth’s blank expression. A single gaze into the teacher’s hues said plenty.

“You have a lot of nerves saying that to Byleth.”

“Just speaking the truth.”

“Who exactly are you?” This time, it was Byleth who spoke up. She placed a hand on Edelgard’s shoulder the instant the student cracked open her lips; the teal-haired continued. “Is there a reason why you came here?”

The sword-wielder stopped in her track. Ah— now this woman is getting it. Cutting right past the prattles. Had she responded with another topic in mind, she would have left the teacher and student hanging. Then, without turning around, she said,

“Zero.”

“…Zero?”

“Yep. That’s my name.” Zero, the Intoner, reverted her attention to the two again. “I got lost. Don’t know where the hell I am, don’t know why the hell I’m here.”

Byleth blinked. Before she could say anything, Edelgard cut her off.

“Well, this is something you don’t hear every day.”

“?”

Edelgard is certainly speaking her mind out today, isn’t she? The ex-mercenary glanced. So far, the noble instinctively hugged her teacher’s arm like a child. Edelgard felt Byleth’s eyes on her and returned the favor. Wait a second… There was someone who possessed the same tonality and spoke out loud. As for her teacher, it’s the very same stare that she had given to the girl earlier! The Adrestian Empire’s princess tightened her hold.

‘ Are we seriously going to do this again? ‘

The noble mentally groaned and peered at Zero. She could theorize that it derived from the newcomer. Of course, it wasn’t Zero who spoke. First, it would be strange to make a left-field remark after her short explanation. Second, this woman whipped her head to the side. These actions are not from one that had spoken.

“The hell?” Zero grumbled. She scanned the crowd that had formed around them. “I already thought this kid sharing the same voice as mine was already confusing this idiotic teacher.”

Lo and behold, another woman broke through the civilians. Although her outfit was less flamboyant than Zero’s, the air of an authoritative figure that rivals that of Edelgard’s emitted from the newcomer. The red-head flicked strands of her hair over her shoulder. Just like Zero’s, she too possesses sharp eyes. However, unlike the 19-year-old, her manner of speech and poise struck closer to Byleth’s girlfriend’s personality.

“It seems like there are two individuals who share the same voice as me.”

“No shit.”

“It appears so…”

Byleth felt sweat fly out of her head as she caught the three observing each other. Then, in a small voice, she asked,

“Who are you?”

The female in the white blouse temporarily closed her eyes and chuckled. “How rude of me. I am Mitsuru. It appears that I too am lost.”

And so the teal-haired had no choice but to take on this side quest to send them back to their world. How did they arrive in Fodlan? Both Edelgard and Byleth had no idea. The only description they’ve acquired was a black portal that sucked them in and spat them back out in less than a minute. Nonetheless, they had to convince Rhea and Seteth about their new guests and provide hospitality to their new neighbors. Zero and Mitsuru were grateful for their courteous nature.

Edelgard and the members of the three Houses befriended the two newcomers into the Black Eagles. Despite their first impressions with each other, they quickly got to know each other. Their differences may vary, but they shared various similarities with one another. Even Zero, whose sole mission was to destroy her sisters, used this chance to think back upon an experience that was never gifted to her doorstep. (Though she wouldn’t admit it to their face.)

As for Byleth, it was simply another responsibility tacked to her job. The problem is, she can’t differentiate who’s voice is who in the monastery. Plenty of migraines accompanied her in the following days. It doesn't seem like it'll go away either until she finds a solution to this supernatural phenomena.

At least she can pick out Zero’s… she knew that Edelgard wasn’t the type to curse like a sailor at two in the morning.

#loyalflutist #os #one shot #fan fic #fan fiction #edeleth #f!byleth x edelgard #edelgard #byleth #f!byleth #zero (drakengard)#mitsuru kirijo #crossover #fire emblem #fire emblem three houses #comedy #S:DKFJ:SKDLJF

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k--havok · 4 years

Text

Camp NaNoWriMo Day 15 & 16 & 17

Not just a double but a TRIPLE because WOW what a mess it’s been!

Day 15

I wrote nada. Nothing! Nothing whatsoever! Instead, I ended up doing homework and playing D&D with my friends and well... I just REALLY lacked writing inspiration. I did do some drawing, still haven’t made those moodboards or a cover for the novel yet, but ah well.

Day 16

I also barely did any writing on this day. I mean... I guess 66 words hehe execute order 66 is better than nothing but.... I dunno. I really hit a depressive episode on this day and just. I didn’t even do homework?

I dunno where my time when? I woke up super late as I didn’t go to bed until super late and then just. Sat in my bed and suddenly my mom was giving me dinner? So strange. My brain just kinda melted a bit, I think. Probably from stress, especially with school going on and some personal issues but. Meh.

Hey, 66 words is better than none still! But oof....

Day 17

Today had a really rocky start, lemme tell you. I did NOT work on the homework I really needed too... which means I’m gonna have a hell of a time this weekend. That being said, everything REALLY came together today! I didn’t wake up as late, my morning went smoother, and despite the daunting task I had ahead of myself, I took it nice and steady.

To miss pretty much 2 days is HARD for NaNo. Especially if this were November and I had to do the full 1,667 words, missing two days is hell. Not only do you have to make up for the days you missed, you have to do the writing for the day you’re on! In November, that would be about 5,000 words. Luckily for me, it was a little under 3,000

Still! 3,000 words is a lot! For me that’s about 6-9 pages since I understand how word counts correlate with page count and font and such ;3

I made sure to get at least some of my homework done first. From there, I then decided to work on the novel in parts. For the first part, I tried to get the latter half of chapter 8 finished. Chapter 8 is def a weird one as its more a transitional chapter. Furthermore, I had NO idea what I wanted to actually write for it! I started thinking about what happened at the end of chapter 7 and decided to have the two side characters introduced discuss and share their opinions on the matter. From there, a surprising amount of backstory was given for my current comic relief character. No idea where it came from! But honestly? It’s so far one of my favorite scenes.

Afterwards, I took a dinner break and came back to start chapter 9 on my second writing venture of today. It’s also quite strange and a bit of a tonal shift, but this is also the chapter 2 other characters are going to be introduced as well as the antagonist for the book so it’s quite important and I wanted a good build up to them!

It’s odd because usually I am not much of a panster. I always figured I was a better plotter than anything but at least for this story, I am REALLY enjoying this freedom I have! I dunno if its the tone of the book or the characters that make it work out but I have been really enjoying myself so far.

I know for some of my more complicated stuff, I prob won’t be able to do the same thing. But perhaps for some of these shorter novel ideas I have it’ll help a lot? Either way, I am really enjoying myself so far. Once Camp ends, I’m gonna have to figure out a way to keep myself writing, ahaha! I wanna try and get this novel finished in a decent amount of time :>

Oh, and one last thing! I am officially over halfway to my goal! Yippee! Hopefully I can finish this strong and keep up the steam after the fact!

Word Count: 2,886/1000

Total Word Count: 17,058/30,000

#writeblr #writers on tumblr #writing #Camp NaNoWriMo #camp nano april 2020 #camp nano update #camp nano log #long post

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characteroulette · 5 years

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Hey PQ was pretty good!

so I’m having trouble getting into PQ2 because of several factors, so I thought I’d write a half-think piece, half-essay on why I think the first PQ gets more flak than it deserves. So here’s that.

------

I genuinely don't understand why, when talking about Persona Q, people are always saying things along the lines of, "The gameplay was good, but the characters were trite and the story wasn't that great." Like, as a fan of the Persona series, I genuinely don't understand that assessment.

Not saying PQ is flawless, oh no. There are PLENTY of things in PQ that I have an axe to grind with (the small door scene with the P4 gang, for one), but the overall story? The characters? They're both fine. Good, even, dare I say. And here's my argument as to why:

The returning Persona series characters (from 3 and 4) in PQ do a good job of representing their games and their own personalities, even if a little more light-hearted than their source material,

AND

The story is genuinely in-line with the rest of the Persona/SMT series, even if it ultimately doesn't matter due to time shenanigans (and I'm okay with that).

These are my two points. Just those two. Because these are the two most contested parts of PQ, as far as I can hear, since we all agree that the gameplay is the real breadwinner here hahaha

Anyway.

First, let's talk about the returning characters, since they seem to be the ones who matter most. The P4 cast are generally less griped about (save Chie and Teddie) and I believe this is largely due to the brighter, more hopeful tone of P4 as a whole. (Aaand, in my opinion, they're done a MUCH BIGGER disservice in the Arena games, but no one ever talks about that so let's not bother with those right now.)

P4 was a game about making friends, the hijinx that come from that, and finding the truth about a string of murders and confronting the worst parts of yourself in a harsher world in the process! And it executes this with the appropriate amount of balance between serious moments and comedic relief. The theme colour for the whole game is bright yellow/gold, a happier and more friendly colour which helps remind you that this game is all in good fun.

(Side note here: I honestly think that P5 really failed in this respect, despite my liking its tone slightly more. I just personally like darker-themed games, but P5 was a little too dark and oppressive right out the gate, with hardly a friendly face, which helps make your gradually growing group of friends much more appreciated but also a harder atmosphere for jokes to really land well. Most of the 'funny' sequences felt very undeserved and really dragged because uh guys we literally just fought a rapist, an abusive father figure, and some other fucked-up shit. Can we please acknowledge that a bit more instead of pretending it never happened by laughing at the expense of Ann's autonomy of her body? Especially when she was a target of said rapist??) But that's its own discussion for later.

Really, the fact that most of the P4 gang get out of this with little criticism shows how accepted their caricatures have become. I guess? At least, except for Teddie and Chie.

Teddie being a wannabe Casanova must've been a huge hit with the Japanese audience, because it's just the hill he's going to die on for the writers. There was more to Teddie than his hitting on the girls in P4, believe it or not! (And there's a whole thing about it being brought on by him mimicking the type of behaviour he saw Yukiko's shadow exhibiting, which has a lot of really interesting undertones, but it makes him more swappable with Junpei, so whatever, I guess.) Meanwhile, Chie's not as meat-crazy, either, but I guess it's a better trait for them to roll with than her (cut in the translation) glossed-over sexism.

Both work fine, however, and aren't really too annoying enough to be that egregious. (Though they both go right up to the line sometimes. Teddie more so, but none of the girls playing along really helps show how gross his actions are. Most of the time.)

No, the real complaints I see directed at the characters being 'too cartoonish' are usually reserved for the P3 gang.

P3 is, really, such a bizarre game to go back to now when compared to its two successors. It's dark and hopeless, like P5, but formulaic and mystery, like P4. It's actually a natural progression when looking at its two/three older siblings (both P2s are bleak. As. Hell!), but, at least to me, it's the odd duck of the bunch, being the first to implement this winning formula of being caught in a time limit of a school year and managing spending time exploring this other world. It adds Social Links and social stats with this new time limit and this idea that the Persona and Shadows you fight don't just happen out on the streets in 'normal' circumstances for everyone to see. It pretty much went from an RPG to a management game with RPG elements.

And its emotional, impactful story, like P5, had a lot of tonal whiplash due to the attempts at comedy!

I feel like a lot of people forget this about P3 (and maybe I think more about it because I haven't actually beaten the whole game yet myself), but the story is actually a goddamn mess of tonal confusion. You got kids shooting themselves in the heads and a Social Link dealing with a classmate's crush on his teacher. You got wacky foreign exchange student and kids taking experimental drugs to suppress their Persona and slowly poisoning themselves to death as a side effect. The protagonist is an orphan who lost his parents in a huge, plot-relevant accident... But he's able to date every single girl at the same time and be the most wish fulfillment charming guy if the player so desires.

P3 being messy isn't a bad thing. P4, P5, and even P2 and PQ are all a little messy in their own rights, too. But because P3 was a lot of fans' first in the series, and PQ is just a spin-off, it gets way more flak for this than I feel it deserves.

(I mean, hey. Both P3 and P4 have those classic anime scenes of the boys walking in on the girls while at a hot springs. All PQ's got is an awkward group date scene and the implication that Yosuke and Kanji kissed each other while getting knocked out.) (They all. Have. Problems.)

And I know a lot of this comes down to personal preference. I'm not saying you're wrong for liking P3 or P4 more than PQ. I'm just saying I feel like PQ is often wrongly accused of being worse and less well-written when, really, they're all pretty much on par with each other. (And someone on the team really doesn't understand how to handle large casts of characters sharing the same space...)

But, personally, from everything I've seen from P3, I don't like the way most of the characters get presented to me in the source material. Junpei is way more insufferable in P3 than in PQ and Yukari is way more uninteresting in P3 than in PQ. Really, PQ helped me appreciate these characters more than P3 itself did. And, yes, they're more funny when they're trying to be, too. Because PQ is set up better for comedy than the 'remember you are mortal' tone of P3.

(Which makes dramatic moments hit all the harder when they happen) HEY check that segue! It's time to talk about the story and the two original characters of the game!

So, second point: people say the story isn't very good. To which I wanna ask... "Did you stop playing before defeating the fourth Boss?" Because it really sounds like, to me, everyone who says that didn't actually finish the game and reach all that juicy character development that happens for both sides around the fourth dungeon, where all the issues they've been building up (like Yukari's issue with Mitsuru for the P3 side and Kanji and Ken's awkwardness in the P4 side) start getting resolved in a satisfying way. And it comes with a reveal for the two characters we've been getting to know, Zen and Rei, as well.

(And, from here on in, there be spoilers. You've been warned.)

The two new characters to this game are Zen and Rei, who were in this place before the P3 or P4 gangs were called to the scene. Zen is quiet and a bit unsettlingly dense, but devoted to Rei, who is bubbly and full of life, but terrified of the dungeons you have to traverse. The two have been in this place for (what's implied to be) a very long time and enlist the help of the P3 and P4 teams in order to find a way out through defeating the bosses of each Labyrinth/dungeon. Simple enough, as it also helps the P3 and P4 team's goal of getting out. With each new dungeon, it feels more and more like something about Zen and Rei aren't quite right, but the length of the dungeon and all the team chats help you put it out of your mind each time. Rei can even get kinda annoying with her loudness and big appetite if you don't find her cute (which: how dare you. But yeah, I get it).

And then, at the end of a fiery festival fourth dungeon, you find yourself in a dark tomb at the bottom level. The boss awaiting you is Rei's shadow (a nice callback to the way P4 works) whom she still doesn't accept after you defeat it.

All the locks are gone and the P3 and P4 teams can return to their worlds if they wanted. Except Rei gets kidnapped after Zen reveals that Rei has been dead all along and it was him who trapped them here. It was he who created this place and even he who called both teams here.

And this was a plot twist that I friggin' loved.

It definitely had more impact on me because Zen and Rei easily became my favourites out of the whole cast, to the point of having them on my team for the whole game, but to find out such a fucked up twist is wild! (Seriously! Go watch the cutscene and tell me it isn't super fucked up!) You can say the P3 and P4 twists were shocking (or P5s I guess), but for my money, this is the best reversal of expectations I'd ever seen in a Persona game. In any game, really!

Zen was, in effect, the villain the whole time. His true identity as Chronos, God of time, makes sense with displacing the teams from their own times and the time here being erased once you reach the end. His own power that he sealed away growing impatient and taking matters into its own hands by drawing the teams to this haven displaced from time also makes perfect sense! And the entire climb through the last dungeon is his redemption arc and it makes for a super emotionally investing final dungeon all the way. (Which is great, because I hate every single one of the enemies that appear in this god-forsaken place.) (Even P4 and P5 can't really boast that, I felt very little investment through Izanami's dungeon and Baldabaoth's distortion.)

Of course, if you found Zen and Rei to be annoying and pointless, I can see how this would fall flat for you. The fact that they hinged such an emotional climax on these new characters, characters that don't even matter outside of this game!, was such a risky move. Especially when you consider this is just a fanservice game made basically under the promise of seeing the P3 team interact with the P4 team. But, for me, it really paid off.

And whatever complaints you had with the P3 or P4 characters, I feel like the resolutions to those character moments I mentioned earlier get explored even further during the climb through the final dungeon. From the P3 gang coming together to finally communicate with one another to the P4 gang reconfirming their bonds with one another, it's a really investing and emotional journey. I do wish the writing had been this tight and impactful through more of the game, but I believe it's worth it in the end.

Perhaps this moment comes too late in the game, though. I can definitely see others giving up before reaching this point due to the repetitive nature of the dungeons and the tidbits of character development that are meant to build up to this moment that can be too sparsely placed. (But, really, it's the same from P3 to P5, Social Links don't really add much variety when they can be just as repetitive and boring, just saying. Especially when you get caught in waiting to rank up hell, ugh.) For me, however, this really sealed the deal on this game being an incredible experience that I adored from start to finish. 7/10. Final score.

....

(7 outta 10?? Not perfect??) Well, it's not perfect. Japan's blatant homophobia and sexism really ruins a lot of scenes for me. I'm super salty especially about how the fake marriage scenes are handled so differently from the girl choices to the boy choices. (But you just argued in its favour for 2000 words!) Listen. ALL the Persona games wouldn't receive perfect scores for me for this aspect alone. There are a lot of other factors as well, but they vary from title to title and PQ in particular is guilty of spending too much time focusing on Teddie and Junpei being girl-crazy. And Marie is in this game more than she really should be. UGH.

But I digress.

In conclusion, this game's story and characters are better than most give it credit for. Hopefully, my argument helped you see why I believe this and why I think claiming that both aspects are just 'bad' is lazy.

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krinsbez · 5 years

Text

Marvel Comics #1,000

Managed to find a bit of room in m’budget and bought it.

My thoughts as I read it below the cut.

-So, of course, we begin at the obvious starting point. -Gotta be honest, I've seen so many retellings of this moment it's gonna be hard to make this one stand out. Let's see if it does. -So, no. Oh well. -FERRET! I love this guy! -Oh, the Three Xs, I've never read anything with 'em, but I remember 'em from a Handbook entry. -...They remembered Mystery Men exists Awesome -OK, so let's see how they try to do something new with Cap's origin. -...Yeah, that'd do it. No idea what's going on here. -Hmmph, I recall the Thunderer's name, but nothing about him. -Ah, now we're tying things together... -Aww yeah, Jimmy Woo! -Has anyone ever framed America Chavez as a legacy before? Because they absolutely should. -Naturally Patsy gets a page. -Oh, ho, the plot thickens. -Aww yeah, Namora! -And again, Aww yeah, Jimmy! -Aww yeah, Bob! -Western heroes now, huh? Let's see how many they can cram into one page... -Gotta admit, bit of a let down there. -Next, up...the name Tessie the Typist is vaguely familiar, but not the other. -Wonder if Minnie and Sherry will show? -Oh, hey 'nother character I don't know! (I mean Rocky Jorden) -And again, Aww, yeah Bob! -Aww yeah, Venus! -More plot, huh. -Also, a bit of a mix-up, innit? Given that the page who's headline is Bob being introduced comes after one where he's already active. -Guess that one's a bit of a breather, episode huh? -Not quite sure I get this one, as I'm not up-to-date on Loki lore. -snrk -Forbush Man! -Aww, yeah Ken! -Huh, Ken questioning Jimmy's orders, that's a bit odd. -Interesting framing of things in that Black Knight story. -And back to Jimmy! -Huh, that's a neat philosophical point there. -Huh. Man, that makes Ferret look poorly in light of his previous appearance in this book. -Man, this thing is doing a lot of continuity-stitching isn't it? Though I'm a bit uncomfortable with villainizing the Three Xs. -Heh. -snrk -Here. We. GO! -Verra nice take on Ben ,there. -Hah! -Though, why would Ock be in the biology department? He's a physicist and engineer. -That's a good take on Tony, too. -...what in the heck. I thought they were done with that synergy stuff? -Ohhh, it's a hallucination/dream! -Hah! -I'm saying that a lot, aren't I? -That's pretty profound, I think? -And also kinda ties in to the theme of the book, don't it? -Back to the plot. -Bit peeved about the Mar-erasure here. -But it's still a neat story. -...Sheep are mostly farmed for wool, so the metaphor doesn't really work? -Aww, yeah, Conan! Though his inclusion here feels a bit off. -Again, it ties in thematically, even if it doesn't tie-in to the meta-plot directly. -When was the last time they did anything with Red Wolf? -Feel a bit sorry for the rest of the Drac Pack, but that was neat. -Eh, I know some people who'd be annoyed by this page about Gwen. -It is pretty neat, though. -Bit late in the game to be breaking the Fourth Wall, innit? -Also, of all characters to do so with, why Logan? -Pretty good Frank story. -Wait, there are two White Tigers (not counting Kasper, of course) now? Why didn't I know about this? -And again, including this feels iffy. Albeit somewhat less so, given that the IIRC, the SW book saved the company. -Well, that's depressing, and honestly tonally out of sync with the rest of the book. -Is Blind Justice an actual character? -Don't recall this Night Raven guy at all, but more of him please. -I can't help but feel like someone's editorializing in this She-Hulk page. -Oh man, that was great, though I'm not sure Tony's first clash with Doctor Doom was really a milestone worth commemorating. -Aww yeah, Herc! -And with a great story, too. -(Storm story) D'awww. -That's two d'awww stories in a row! -Thor story is neato, that is all. -That's a pretty great Howard story, I think (I don't think I've ever actually read any Howard stories) -Oh, that story! Wow, talk about ibscure; I only know about it cuz it got mentioned on m'tumblr once. -So, Speedball's story is about him angsting over something silly. Yeah, that's definitely a dig. -Oooh, Damage Control... -Yeah, that's a very Damage Control sorta story. Also sorta synergistic, but not in an obnoxious way. -And we're back to the plot. Man that took awhile, huh? -It's true, the meta-plot is being carried by the bit characters and I love it. -Oh, we're into the Dark Age now, so this should be interesting. -Yup, mockery. -Love me some heroing banter (Thing and Spidey) -Again, mockery. -Oof. That..gets ya right in the feels. -Well, that was ominous. -Bit of a breather again. -Yeah, this is pretty Deadpool-ish, isn't it? -Bit of tonal whiplash there. -Wait, when did Rick get old? -Also, I'm astounded it took this long for him to show up. -'Nother thematic tie-in. -D'awww. -D'awww and ha! Very Elsa. -This X-men bit feels...vaguely redundant? -I'm with Gabby on this. Also, a neat meta-joke. -Man, I don't even care about thee Young Avengers and I love this. -HA! (and hey, the story where Luke makes Doctor Doom pay his debt was awesome) -Love this Hulk Family group shot. And that's not even the whole thing, I think? -Well, that's a bit trippy. -And back to the plot again. -I want a new Three Xs series starring these guys now, is that weird. -Oh, hey the MJ page that's one of the reasons I bought this! -Cute little Miles story. -And again, a Spider-Man story hits you in the feels. Albeit less so for some reason i can't quite put my finger on. -Neat way of doing a Cable bit. -Very meta that MM story. But also, thematically appropriate for the over-arching plot. -Doom alone pontificates narcissistically. -Actually, Wade, this is your third appearance. -JMS put himself in the comic. Is that allowed? -Granted, it worked (as does the rest of the page, but still) -Haven't really got anything to say about the Silver Surfer page. Asides form, y'know thematics. -Ah, starting to wrap things up I presume...

All in all, a great book. Only downside being that the meta-plot is so good it’s kinda annoying that they kept cutting away from it so much.

#Random Thoughts #Marvel #Marvel Comics #Marvel Comics 1000

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