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ghosts-and-entropy · 9 months

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Things Don't Stay Forever

DC x DP prompt. Or story? Story, I think, cause I plan to add more chapters. Idk, I'm building this world as we go along. It's my side project to keep writing. But you can take it and roll with it too :D.

But for a prompt: Lex Luthor created a virus to "combat and destroy other viruses and diseases in the human body." This is in quotes because he placed it under this description himself. In truth, the virus is supposed to destroy metahuman abilities. (This actually happened in the comics) But the virus didn't work as he wanted it. Something happens, still working on this part, where the virus is leaked into the air and causes a global pandemic.

That's right people, this is an Apocalypse AU!

It is eventually going to be Dead on Main or JasonxDanny cause I love that ship. But it's going to be very slow going.

Anyway, enjoy the first chapter!

Chapter 1: And that’s when I realize that, in the end, we’d all wish for the same thing. Just a little more time.

Danny remembered when it started.

The minuscule, barely noticeable at the time, change in the world that jumpstarted the end.

A news report on the WGN9 station at ten at night.

He remembers it was January. He had been out hours before, keeping an eye on Amity and her dead, and her living. It had been snowing that night. Cold and windy, the cool air had felt good on his skin and in his core. He had flown for two long hours around Amity relishing in the dark and quiet before making his way home.

He remembers sitting on the living room couch, dozing and alone after a long day of schoolwork, ghostly activities, and dealing with the imminent problem of his future.

He remembers closing his eyes, his arms resting against his stomach, rising with his breaths. He hardly listened to the words of the newscaster talking. Her words had been so distant and muted, his thoughts the complete opposite, almost blaring and intrusive.

He remembers wondering, through the anxiety-ridden whispers in his head, where his mom and dad were. If they were in the house or if they were out again, hunting. It was late. It was snowing. But they always stood up late through any type of weather. Catching ghosts at night was easier than during the day. He made sure before heading home the ghosts kept their heads down for the night in case his parents were out.

He hadn’t seen them when he was flying though. They had probably been in the basement then.

He remembers the throw blanket under his head, resting on the back of the couch. How it still smelled like Jazz’s perfume even when she hadn’t been home for months, away at college. His eyes had stung and watered under his eyelids and he fought to keep the tears where they were.

He remembers it was cold in the house. It was always hard to tell if it was because his dad ran hot so the temperature had been lowered, the ghost portal opened in the basement, all the ambient ectoplasm in the house, or if it was him, or maybe all four options.

But what he remembers the most about that night was the moon. Bright and full, shining in through the living room window, helping to illuminate the space and him alongside the TV screen. Offering a kind of silent comfort he never took for granted.

He remembers that the most because it was the first thing he saw after snapping open his bleary eyes when he heard it. The thing that set off a warning in his head. The name of the man who would later help realize the end. His gaze quickly shifted to the screen to see the newscaster, Tiffany Snow, begin her news report.

“Billionaire and CEO of LexCorp, Lex Luthor, has recently announced a scientific breakthrough his company has been working on for years. Sources say Luthor has hired some of the greatest scientific minds in the 21st century onto this project that will, quote, “change the world.”

A project that would change the world. One they have spent years working on.

And suddenly, everything went silent.

A recorded scene of Lex Luthor shaking hands with delegates from multiple countries played out on screen. Luthor looked pleased. Behind him, a line of scientists in lab coats stood, looking blank or grim. The delegates standing next to Luthor grinned and clasped hands with one another, and flashes of camera light flooded the conference room they stood in.

Danny remembers slowly sitting up, his eyes, red-rimmed and tired, staring at Lex Luthor, right into his eyes. His face was instantly frozen on the screen staring right back with dark eyes. His hands still clasped in another’s, a small smirk rested on his face but he didn’t move. Time had simply stopped.

Still. So very still. Danny hardly moved or breathed. Just stared into the billionaire’s eyes like he could foresee the future and all its mistakes. Silence had reigned around him. Only the frantic whispers of a warning rushed into his head like static. He couldn’t understand them, there was too much, too many voices talking at once. Building and building louder and louder until—

And then it was over.

Tiffany Snow was gone. Lex Luthor and all his scientists behind him were gone too. A commercial for life insurance played on, the narrator’s voice booming after long seconds of utter silence and static. Danny remembered flinching and rubbing his eyes, taking deep breaths because what the hell had that been?

What was that?

He’d never felt anything like that before. It felt like…an omen. A premonition? He’s never had premonitions before. So what…?

He remembers thinking maybe he had been tired. Danny had been running himself ragged for days, for months. Maybe it was time for him to go to bed. Finally, rest after a long couple of months.

It had to just be sleep deprivation, that was all. It didn’t feel that way.

He remembers turning off the TV. He stood up, draping the blanket that had been resting on the couch over his head and shoulders, wrapped and held in one hand like a childish comfort in front of his nose. Remembers walking up the stairs to his bedroom in the dark, the only light in the whole house coming from the moon.

He remembers lying down and staring at his glow-in-the-dark star-covered ceiling. Small and colorful blob ghosts darted up and down through them. They were quiet and playful with one another. He counted them like sheep, over and over.

He fell asleep later that night, hours later because he couldn’t get what had happened out of his head. Remembers the sinking feeling following him the next day and the next. Watching out for the news every night after for more reports on Lex Luthor or LexCorp or this thing that was going to change the world. He had asked Tucker to put an alert on his Blackberry for those two keywords for any articles that popped up online.

Because something was wrong or was going to be wrong. That eerie feeling on the back of his neck down to his queasy stomach had left him sick and paranoid for months after. It was the reason he had been so overprotective of his family, his friends, and his hometown both as Fenton and Phantom for months.

That deep knowledge of Death being near. The End of all things. Not the afterlife. Not all the ghosts, spirits, shades, and other indefinite things that walked the Earth but actual Death. As if the shadow of it eclipsed the planet and the sun couldn’t shine through.

He remembers being seventeen and not worried, not concerned, but absolutely terrified and sure that something was coming.

And then it was July. A day after his eighteenth birthday. One month after his high school graduation. One month before college, although, that was never in the plan to begin with if he was being honest.

But it was July. One day in and the world was dying. Just like he felt it would.

Because Danny remembered when it started.

But long before the outbreak ever occurred. When there were just small hints of something to come—nothing damning, nothing for sure—Lex Luthor was working on something groundbreaking. But no news of it ever hit the media after that first initial report. The one that made him anxious.

Although, now that he has some time to reflect on it, he realizes maybe he hadn’t been the only one either. There may have been others who caught those signs too.

He ponders this as he watches clips of Wonder Woman, usually tall and confident, grim face and small, as she helped care for the dying in India. The Flash sped toward hospitals all across Europe carrying supplies of medicine and food.

Superman, powerful and usually bigger than life, hovering over a burning village in Vietnam, his face dazed and shocked at the destruction below him. Like it was his first time seeing such a thing.

And then there was Batman’s Knights. Small snippets of gloved and cape-covered Bats ran and jumped through Lady Gotham’s large skyscrapers and high-rises, carrying items that shaky cameras couldn’t capture.

Gotham had been in quarantine days before the outbreak. Metropolis too. Countries were warned three days in advance. Every country around the world began to plan and lock down before the first wave could hit. They weren’t given enough time.

Israel built fences and walls around itself. So did China and Egypt. Canada had cut off their roads and airspace, as did many countries after them, including the U.S. Europe closed down its borders. Mexico refused to let anyone into the country. Africa’s CDC convened to plan their next steps for lockdown amongst all African nations.

Chicago shut down both their airports. Jazz hadn’t been able to get a flight back to Illinois. Then all the airports started shutting down, quicker and quicker, one by one, before she could even look for a ticket out of California.

And the other cities, the other countries—not all of them closed down in time. Not all of them had superheroes living in their cities to help them. The superheroes that were on Earth were stretched thin around the globe helping out.

Not all of them had the means to control the masses through a global pandemic.

Amity Park, on the other hand, was quick to close down their roads weeks before Gotham and Metropolis did. Phantom made sure of that.

And the fact Vlad didn’t argue with him spoke volumes about the information he was hoarding too.

Yeah, there had been others who knew.

Did they even try to stop it?

Was there anything he could have done?

Clockwork comes to mind and Danny has to suddenly stop himself from running down the basement stairs toward the portal below just to ask him if he knew. He hasn’t spoken to him in weeks. Not since their last conversation when he confided in Clockwork about his fears.

His hands clench and Danny lets out a soft growl. Of course, he knows. He always knows.

Ancients, he’s always known.

But he hadn’t said anything. Not when Danny asked. Not when Danny told him something was wrong. He hadn’t uttered a word. And he had looked fine. His usual self, nothing seemed out of place. So why hadn’t he said anything to Danny?

Well, he couldn’t, could he? The future has to continue, no matter what happens. That’s what Clockwork once told him.

But it can be changed. It’s been changed before. Danny’s seen it. Danny’s done it. So why—

—And if Clockwork sees this, has seen it—how could he not—then it means this is something that was always meant to be. Always growing in the back of this planet’s history.

Impending and dooming. But things can change. He knows that. He does because he’s helped change things in the past before and maybe he shouldn’t have. He’s privileged to have done that but Clockwork must know something else. He just needs to ask. He needs to—

The landline phone rings suddenly and Danny rushes quickly to pick it up before the first ring even finishes. He knows who it is.

“Jazz? Jazz, hello? You there?”

Static fills his ears for a second before he hears her ask, “Danny?”

Relief floods his system. He sighs gratefully. “Jazz. Hey, I can hear you. Can you hear me?”

“You’re kind of breaking up but I can hear you.” Static fills the line again before she says, “Are you okay? Is everyone okay?”

She sounds worried and tired. He rushes to reassure her.

“Yeah, yeah. Everything’s fine here. We’re all okay. Are you okay? Where are you now?”

A rustle of paper. “Nebraska, near the border of Colorado, I think. I’m in Big Springs. I just got out of Wyoming.”

Nebraska. She’s in Nebraska. It’s been two days. She’s just reached Nebraska and it’s been two days. It shouldn’t be taking this long. She’s still too—. Danny rubs the side of his face with his hand and holds back the panic.

“Okay. That’s good.” He lies, “You’re good, you’re okay. You just got to get through Nebraska and you’ll be golden.”

She lets out a small humorless chuckle. “Not just Nebraska, Danny. Iowa and a quarter of Illinois too.”

“Hey, that’s gonna be so easy! Okay, you’re back in the Midwest. You’re already halfway there, you know?”

“Yeah.”

He turns around to face the living room from the kitchen. The TV behind him, muted, shows more scenes of destruction and human desperation he doesn’t want to look at right now while talking to his sister.

“How are you? Really?”

Static for another moment, mere seconds before he hears her again. “I’m…scared and—and worried. This car trip home was not how I expected it to go.” She chuckles.

“No, yeah I know.” He turns to take a brief glimpse back at the TV before looking down again. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay! Really, I’m fine. I should have—I should have planned this better.”

Danny shakes his head. “You didn’t know this was going to happen. You had plans in motion. You—you have goals. How were you supposed to-to—”

“No, yeah, I know. I—” Jazz sighs, exhausted. “I know.” She’s silent and Danny’s heart drops. A rustling sound fills the phone and she says optimistically, “I made it through the worst of it and I’m almost home.”

“How—” Danny clears his throat. “How has the trip been so far?”

Trip. Can he even call it that? It’s more like an escape. She’s running away. She’s trying to get home before—before—

He can hear a puff of air hit the receiver. “It’s been…eventful. There’s a lot happening around the States. I’ve done my best to avoid it all but...”

“Like what?” he asks, curious, worried, panicked.

“I…there’s something I have to tell you. But I don’t want you to worry.”

Too late. Because that statement was ominous. “Tell me. Please. I want to know. I need to make sure you’re okay. Jazz—”

“I’m okay! I think, yeah, it’s, there’s been—”

“Jazz.”

She’s quiet again. Ancients, he hates when she’s quiet.

“Jazz, what’s going on?”

“It’s-it’s bad, Danny. It’s really bad. Everywhere. I’ve had to—” She sniffles. God, is she—? “I’ve had to do a lot to get out and I’m almost home, okay? I’m almost home and then it’s all going to be okay. But you gotta trust me that I’m going to be home soon, okay? Just know that.”

She’s frantic and panicked. He knows she pulled her phone away from her face because her sniffling is distant but he can still hear her. He needs to keep hearing her.

“Jazz? Jazz, hey, talk to me. Don’t stop talking.”

“Okay, no, it’s okay. I’m fine. I’m sorry.” She sobs.

She’s been through a lot. She’s stressed as hell. Who wouldn’t be in her situation? She’s had to do things to get out.

What did she do? What’s happening in the other states?

Without thinking, Danny grabs the remote and flips quickly through the channels but all everyone is showing are either clips of the Justice League or damn commercial ads for fucking prescription drugs and why the hell is that important right now? Right now when his sister is afraid and alone during a fucking pandemic?

He throws the remote down on the table and makes a decision.

“Jazz? Jazz, it’s okay. Listen. I’m gonna come and get you.” Danny rushes through the kitchen, rips open cabinet doors and drawers, and rustles through them searching. He knows it’s around here somewhere.

“What? What, no! Danny—”

“I’ve been so fucking stupid! Why didn’t I think about this before? I’m sorry. I’m so sorry I left you like this. But I can get to you. I can. I know how.” He holds the phone between his shoulder and ear. The coil phone cord wraps around his torso as he rips open a junk drawer and immediately locates the map he was looking for.

“Here it is! Okay, you said you were where? Big Springs?”

“Yeah, but—”

“I can meet you there. It usually takes, what? Eleven hours to get to Nebraska from here? Twelve? I can fly. I can be there in sev—no! Three. I can be there in three hours. Just hold on for me, okay?”

“Danny, no, stop. This is absurd.”

Danny freezes and thinks for a moment. She’s right. This whole thing is stupid. He can get to her much quicker.

“Yeah, you’re right. I’m so dumb!” He smacks his forehead. “I can take the Infi-Map.”

“Wh…what?”

“The Infi-Map. I can borrow it from Frostbite and use it to find a portal closer to you. How much ambient ectoplasm is in that area? You know what? Doesn’t matter. I’ll just ask the map to bring me to you.”

“Danny—”

“I can take the Speeder. We’re gonna have to leave your car but at this point, what does it matter?”

“Danny. Wait, stop for a second!”

Danny stops and waits for her to speak again.

“What?”

“Danny…that can be extremely dangerous. I’m not risking your life to come and get me.”

Danny holds down his scoff and rubs his eyes. “What the hell are you talking about?”

She lets out a large sigh, her breath creating a distorted noise on his end. “I’ve been around people. A lot of people. Not on purpose and not because I wanted to be. I just—it’s been a long trip so far. I’ve had to get out of the car. I’ve… had to help some people.”

Danny slumps down in the kitchen chair closes to him and stares at the TV screen. Dragonson is in North Korea. He’s in talks with the leader to help protect his people. Apparently, it’s not going well.

“Of course you did.”

“Well, I do learn from the best.”

“That’s not even remotely funny.”

She laughs anyway. It’s not funny, it’s—this whole situation is awful and it’s not funny but she’s laughing on the other line anyway.

“I’m coming to get you. I don’t care what y—”

“I may be infected.”

His breathing stops. He blinks at the TV and watches Cyborg pull up multiple maps of different countries. Areas of Europe and Asia are pulsing red and growing bigger.

“Are you—” he chokes, “Are you showing symptoms?”

“No. Nothing. But I was around people who may have been sick. I—” She takes a breath in. “I wasn’t sure if coming home was safe. I may infect other people. I may bring this to Amity.” Her voice wobbles on the last word. “And you worked so hard to keep our town safe. I don’t want to jeopardize that.”

“I don’t care about—”

“But I’m still coming home. I have a plan. I can wear a suit, one of mom’s old jumpsuits with the-the helmet. She has a hazmat suit still, right? I don’t have to enter Amity. I can stay outside the border. Wait it out to see if I’m inf-”

“No. You’re coming home. End of discussion.” Danny stands up and tosses the map, useless, onto the table and walks towards the wall cradle, ready to hang up.

“Danny, no. I’m not risking anyone’s health because I was being stupid.”

“You had a mask on right? You said you were able to get a hold of one before you left.”

“Yes, of course, I had one on.”

“And how many hours has it been?”

“It’s been five since exposure.” She’s been counting down. She’s been preparing herself.

“CDC says it takes less than twenty minutes for symptoms to show.”

“I could be asymptomatic. There have been reports of people suddenly dying without any symp—”

“YOU’RE NOT DYING!” Danny shouts. His grip on the phone is tight, almost crushing. He can see his eyes glowing in the metal reflection of the fridge.

She doesn’t say anything. She stays silent and listens to him taking deep breaths to calm himself. She isn’t dying. She isn’t going anywhere. This isn’t her time. He knows that. He knows it isn’t her time. He would feel it, right? He would feel her fading.

Would she stay here, on this plain? Would she accept her afterlife in The Zone? Would she leave him?

He’s not ready to face that yet.

“You’re not dying. Okay? I would know. I know I would know.”

“I…” she hesitates.

“You wore your mask. It’s been more than twenty minutes. You’re sure?”

“Yes, yes I’m sure.” She replies calmly.

“Then you’re fine. I’m coming soon. Give me twenty minutes.”

“Danny! Listen to me! I could infect you! I could be dangerous to everyone back home. Just because I wore a mask doesn’t mean I didn’t inhale it somehow.”

“Did you wash your hands?”

“Wh—yes! Right after and I used hand sanitizer.” Of course, she would. She was always prepared for anything. Why would she falter now?

“Great!” Danny shrugs. “Be there in twenty.”

“Danny—!”

“I love you, Jazz. I’ll see you soon.”

“DANNY!”

Danny hangs up the phone and rushes down to the basement of his house. He ignores the insistent ringing coming from the kitchen phone and races to pack supplies in a backpack he stored away in an unused locker his parents never checked.

They’re out in town, helping Vlad set up tents and other necessities for the denizens during the lockdown. They won’t miss him, not for twenty minutes. Maybe less if he speeds quickly to Frostbite.

He’s going to get Jazz. He’s going to bring her home.

#dc x dp #dc x dp fanfiction #dc x dp prompt #danny phantom #dp #fanfic #fanfiction #Things Don't Stay Forever #dcxdp

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kisilinramblings · 10 months

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I don't know if you've seen the last two final episode yet but if you have, any thought?

I actually like it?

Sure, I was disappointed that Chat Noir didn't join up the fight. At the same time, I understand Adrien's reasons for not turning into Chat Noir in order to break himself free.

Not only was he hunted by the nightmare of him as Anti-Chat killing everything he cared about, but he was very self-aware at how emotionnally vulnerable he was to be akumatized and making that nightmare come true. This season made him realized he can be so angry to the point of he wants to cataclysm people. It almost happened with both Darker Owl AND Dark Humor this season. Adrien backing off, remaining in "prison" and taking off his Miraculous so Plagg put it in safety for the time being was not him giving up. It was him trying to protect his loved ones. And he was also unaware this was a Monarch attack going on that needed Chat Noir.

Also, everything was made so Adrien doesn't find out for now that his father was Monarch. I don't consider Marinette was in the right even if Gabriel asked her to make sure Adrien doesn't learn the truth. And unbestknown to Gabriel, his dying request landed exactly on Marinette's nightmare territory. Remember the nightmare she had at the beginning. In it, Marinette accidentaly "kills" Gabriel after vanquishing him, right under Adrien's eyes which upset him, asking her why did she did this to his father.

So all ingredients seem to be there for this secret to come back to bite them if it is ever discover. The fact Gabriel has a statue, even if it built on a lie, means that something of him remains even if he is gone. And lately, we have seen that statues IRL can be toppled. But yeah, as long as Gabriel's statue is standing high, his shadow still is present. That is how I view it.

Outside of that, the fight between Bug Noir and Monarch was satisfying. I love that she swung a shovel at Monarch's face sending him flying and the use of Lucky Charm in succession was actually interesting.

I liked that La Résistance try to help however they can. I'm not sure on how pertinent it was for Gabriel and Tomoe's last attack to be international, but I didn't mind. DC and Marvel both have heroes from their respective IPs coming together to fight when there is a global threat affecting more than one city. And it is no secret both Jeremy Zag and Thomas Astruc desire to create their own Zag universe of superheroes.

Also, Tomoe is so up to no good.

Luka was a surprise. I didn't expect him to be trained by Su-Han, however, considering that Su-Han was able to repel an Akuma and since Luka does know both LB and CN's identity, and that Su-Han and Luka already have met once during Ephemeral (as that part wasn't erased), that ending is not that weird if they wanted him back in the story eventually (and reminder that Mirakungfu is meant to disarm Miraculous Holders who went rogue). Anyway, with Luka, a side story about that would have been welcome. But fun detail, Luka's martial style is based on the Snake!

Love the true form of Tikki and Plagg and seeing them fuse into Gimmi was something.

"You humans always summon me to complain. Never to rejoice".

Yeah, feels about right.

Lila's intervention in the finale was pretty tame, but the conclusion is what we expected : she gets the Butterfly Miraculous. But it is probable she might have seen Ladybug untransformed alongside witnessing how to summon Gimmi (although there is no way to know for sure right now). Plus, Lila will have help which I didn't expect. And it seems it is someone who knew where to find here.

Btw, can we have more politician like Mayor Bustier, please? I know it is very utopist, but sign me up for that future.

So yeah, that finale closed a book BUT this isn't the end. There is something uncanny going on during the pool party. It's the illusion of a perfect ending.

Sign me up for S6. o/

#miraculous ladybug #ml season 5 #ml s5 spoilers #ml spoilers #ml s5 finale #ml conformation #ml re-creation #ml s5ep25 #ml s5ep26

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alexissara · 3 months

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Top 11 Ships of 2023

Time for a typical and normal numbered top 11 list, the classic and well known format, top 11, which everyone uses and everyone loves garnering much SEO so that I may boost myself. This standard top 11 of the year list which everyone does annually really is covering ships I really loved this year. I love love and therefore love when romance is in things I watch and I love imaging relationships between characters. While I am not a super active fanfic writer or reader I enjoy fan art and thinking about dynamics and sometimes writing or reading. This year had a ton of girls I thought should kiss so without further ado let's get into it.

Sulleta and Chuchu [Gundam: The Witch From Mecury]

Opening with a Rare Pair but I am here to wave my Sulleta and Chuchu flag. While all my ships are polyam and open to them dating lots of other women if I had to pick a pair for either women it be them together. Unlike their other relationships this is a true ride of die pair. Chuchu and Sulletta always have each others backs even when their hurt by people they love and trust. Their both mech pilots and can fight together. Their adorable and sweet and I can see them blowing up their enemies together and wish we had more of it in the show.

Whisper and Tangle [Sonic IDW]

Pictured above is not an edit but an actual panel from Sonic IDW. While the creators have fairly clearly said that Sega simply will not allow them to make any romance canon straight or gay including for original characters these two are clearly being written as a couple and everyone has simply agreed that they are gay and hoping that fan pressure will eventually force Segas hands. These hero besties are opposites attracts goodness one is silent and keeps her feelings inside the other is out there and emotional but both kick ass together and support each other. These furries are probably as close to canon romance sonic is gonna get for the foreseeable future and their just so cute I'll never get over them.

Edelgard Polycule

While not a new ship or a ship with new offical content at all in 2023 outside of Edelgard talking about some of her girlfriends in Emblem ring conversations in Engage but I made new content, a lot of it for this ship in 2023 so it be lying to say it wasn't a top ship, probably the top ship given I ya know made fan content for it. Edelgard deserves all the girlfriends in the world and I am utterly giddy when I think about Edelgard and her big group of GFs. I feel similarly about many FE women but none as strongly as Lady Edelgard [Monica moment]. Edelgard does so much to make a better future for everyone and I think at the end of it, she should be loved every second of the rest of her life. I'm even doing like a private Three Houses roleplay thing for our combined ideal route for the game and crafting our own definitive version of the story.

HarlIvy [Harley Quinn Animated, DC]

Harlivy forever! Harlivy is for sure one of my oldest ships but it's also a ship that had a fucking load of amazing new stuff this year. While I have not read the comics proper we had a main line Harley Quinn comic where they said that a multiversal truth about Harley is that she has an Ivy and a fucked up evil Harley was redeemed by finding her fucked up evil Ivy with the help of main Harley. We had the utterly adorable DC Pride comic featuring them basically adopting Crash another lesbian character. Then we had a new season of Harley Quinn animated that while it started rough I think had a good purpose in establishing what the creators believe is the heart of Harley and Ivy and it's something I agree with so ya know awesome. Harley and Ivy complete each other and while I see them as being polyam I think their the core part of their relationship, nesting bitches for life. Their a couple I'd love to write some fics for and in general just a dynamic I really truly love a lot. Harley and Ivy are complicated and messy gals and seeing them figure their shit out together is great.

Jala/Tyler/Diya [Thirsty Suitors]

I want this messy trio of exes to be a sexy little triad. Jala and Tyler have a very messy history but to me I think the answer is clear on why Jala is like this, which is that she will never be happy with just one partner, she's not meant for monogamy and I think when her and Tyler have healed more and Jala realizes this about herself, they can have a talk and like both actually have a healthy polyam relationship rather than a toxic monogamous relationship. That's where Diya comes in she was an asshole and a bully but she's grown and she is a proud out lesbian now and helps take care of the community something Tyler cares about and she's still into Jala and i think them growing into a cute little throuple would be so good and I wanna see them kiss and I need it actually, it's canon according to me.

Pink Sugar Polycule [Pink Sugar]

This polycule is end game but I've been sold on them from go. These four sexy lesbians are just all such compelling characters, I want to know more about all of them, their lives when they were human, their lives in Purgatory, and see them thrive together as a little quad of deliciously darling dykes. These are some of my favorite characters ever written and the story is still in it's early days. I imagine in years to follow they will remain a favorite ship. They all feel very different but all feel like a realistic group of people to be friends and be lovers. Every dynamic between them works and they suit each other every way around. Any of them would be an amazing couple but all together their an even better polycule.

Juri and Chun-li [Street Fighter]

Another classic Alexis Sara ship that's got some new spice this year. The release of Street Fighter 6 had a little bit more Juri and Chun-li for us, Juri is still obsessed at the very least. Then we got a few extra tidbits in the You Got This Juri comics. Juri is this messy little disaster Gremlin and Chun-li is a mostly has it together sweet now adoptive mother. I think Juri would add some fun to Chun-lis life and Chun-li would help her get her shit together. I think both of them could help them be morally better people Juri would de-cop Chun-li and Chun-li would help her like not take obviously dubious hit jobs. Their just kinda perfect for each other ya know.

Sailorcule [Sailor Moon]

This is another one that technically had "no new content" like I didn't watch the new movie, I've been waiting for an offical release and it's not happened so here I am but what I did really get into this year was enjoying the inner senshi as a big polycule. I always enjoyed HaruMichi and quickly enjoyed HaruMichiSetsuna but kinda just shipping all the girls together while something on paper was like sure I do that evolved from a sure thing to something I actively really enjoy. A lot of that is thanks to yamino's amazing fan art and my own Magical Girl OCs who are pretty heavily inspired by Sailor Moon so I started to see them in the dynamics between the girls.

Shadowheart and Nocturne [Baldur's Gate 3]

One of this years totally new ships and one I truly adore and wish was more popular was Shadowheart X Nocturne. These two have probably my favorite tropey ship dynamic of them all Childhood friends to lovers. I enjoy all sorts of dynamics but when I am roleplaying, when I am looking at my most beloved ships, I am thinking wouldn't it be cute if they knew each other when they were younger? Nocturne and Shadowheart are so loaded with good little spice in their childhood friends to lovers arc too though. Like Shadowheart and Nocturne both picked their chosen names together. Shadowheart would forget everything with memories being erased and Nocturne would tell her everything and still love her every time. Even after forgetting her again in the most recent events Nocturne remains loyal to her to the point where if Shadowheart becomes a Selunite the sworn enemy of Shar Nocturne despite not having the strength to leave the faith still acts as an inside woman to help Shadowheart evade assassins from Shar. I think the two should get married and live happily ever after and my Tav can marry them both too, I don't see why not and they can both fuck Alyin and Isobel while we're at it. I just want them to be happy together. Outside of Three Houses stuff this is the ship I am most compelled to write fics for simply because no one else is shipping them and I think it's so fucking juicy and why won't anyone sit down with me and eat some of this delicious juicy fruits.

Rae Clair [I'm In Love With The Villainess]

MISSSS CLAIR! Rae's obsession with Clair might frustrate me a bit in the light novel version but in every other version I only find it utterly endearing. I love a good obsession, I love when someone is like on their mind so often and they live for them and it's just ahh so yummy. I think what Rae brings to Clair is really nice for Clair too. Clair feels abandoned constantly, she's lonely and trying to fit a model of a type of person that she's been told she's supposed to be. Rae helps her break those norms, makes her feel not alone, makes her realize she wants to help people. Their really adorable and I do look forward to picking up more of the audiobooks of the light novels and seeing how their relationships evolve along with keeping up with the manga as it releases in English volumes. Their really good and I want to engage them in every medium I can.

Nomoto X Kasuga [She Loves To Cook And She Loves To Eat]

I mean I couldn't not put these two on this list, I want them to kiss and have a house and get married and be together forever. This one has no messy layers, there isn't really the juice but what they have is the true to life, down to it's core, amazing sweetness. It's like a wonderful ice cream dish lovingly crafted down to the last delightfully delicate detail. They just are so good together, they make each other happy, they have a really real feeling healthy slowly building relationship. They both bring out the best in each other and they both always have a good time together. It's really perfect and I think it just feels so honest and sweet and like ya know as a lesbian I feel really seen by them, their relationship, them as characters and the whole story. Nothing is quite as wonderful as She Loves To COok and She Loves To Eat.

If you want to help me enjoy more art then consider checking out my Patreon or Ko-fi .and giving me a little bit of cash so I can do more of this kind of writing but also like make lots of my own art, art is hard to make and costs money and like maintain my chronically ill and trans body also takes money so anything helps, thank you.

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emperorsfoot · 15 hours

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I'm so tired. Almost my entire blog all week has been posts about antisemitism. Tumblr used to be my fandom website. It used to be where I would go to escape the real world and relax.

So, to break up all the overwhelming IRL concerns,

New Followers of Jumblr, tell me about your fandoms!

Let's all share our interests with each other!

I'll start.

The fandom that brought me to Tumblr was Star Wars. I have been a fan of Star Wars since the 90s. I'm old enough to have felt the pre-queled ruined the franchise before the sequels could (after what Disney's done that opinion has changed). Around 2011-2012ish when the Disney buyout was still new, my friends and I started a podcast to educate new fans about the old Expanded Universe (Legends) that existed before Disney bought the franchise. I started this blog to advertise that podcast.

My username Emperor's Foot is inspired by my favorite character, Mara Jade. She used to be an Imperial agent before the death of Emperor Palpatine at Endor. She is Force sensitive and could hear the Emperor's voice from anywhere in the Galaxy, when the died she felt is and he sent her his last instruction, "KILL LUKE SKYWALKER!" But when she finally crosses paths with Luke organically, she needs him to help her survive, so she can't kill him. Then she needs him to save her new boss, so she still can't kill him. Then she's a prisoner of New Republic and needs to help Luke defeat an evil Dark Jedi in exchange for a pardon, so she still can't kill him! Then she kills his clone and the voices go away. Mara realizes that she and Luke actually work well together and is willing to work together in the future. Luke gives her his father's lightsaber (they pulled it off the clone's dead body, that was how they cloned Luke, they went looking for the hand on Bespin and there just happened to be a lightsaber attached to it.

More stuff happens, but you'll have to read the Expanded Universe (Legends) books to find out.

I'm not competent enough to be the Emperor's Hand, but I could be the Emperor's Foot.

After Star Wars, my new big fandom on Tumblr was Ben 10. I was a very active fan and it was also my first sideblog. But the Ben 10 fandom back in 2014-2017 was really toxic and I ended up leaving. It's had a reboot, the fandom might be different now. I donno. Overall it wasn't a positive experience and I don't wanna go back.

I flit in and out of Sky High every now and again. But I have not contributed anyone of note to the fandom. We're also a very small fandom so there's also not very much to reblog.

My last major fandom fixation was Masters of the Universe, which I got into through She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018), and MotU became my second sideblog.

MotU has a long history. Its similar to DC comics in the sense that there've been so many reboots and reimaginings, and changed form so many times that there's no "one true canon". It really leaves a lot of room for the fans to be creative. An executive at Mattel even says that because they're action figures meant to be played with, that all interpretations and imaginings are canon, even the stories kids make up while playing. So there's a lot of freedom for fans to make their own fan fiction and fan art.

My favorite character is Prince Keldor, the guy who eventually becomes Skeletor. He's gone through a lot of reimaginings over the years. The core detail that remains the same is that Keldor is Randor's brother and Adam's (He-Man's) uncle. When he was first introduced in 1987, we never see him, so we don't know what Keldor looked like before he became Skeletor. Randor explains that Keldor was a sorcerer but had some kind of magical accident and was lost in dimensions.

When the franchise was Rebooted in 2002, Keldor's backstory was changed and his appearance designed. Keldor is Randor's half-brother, they are both the children of Miro (in the 80s he was the previous king, in 2002 he was a "Captain" of a religious army team of Defenders that serve the immortal Council of Elders). Keldor is half-human half/Gar (blue space elf) the homeland of the Gar was destroyed for reasons that are only vaguely explained in the Show Bible and Keldor's mother raises him to blame and hate the Captain Miro (and by extension the Council of Elders) and he grows up studying and training to take "revenge". By the time Keldor's ready to stoke, Miro is gone and Randor is Captain. Keldor attacks the Council of Elders and during the battle his face is melted with acid. Evil-Lyn, his 2nd in command, takes him to the Temple of Hordak to save his life and the price for his life is that he becomes Skeletor.

DC Comics was also given permission to do a run of comics, they crossover with the main DC universe. He-Man fights Superman. The run is not great. The best segment is the end arc, Eternity War when they're back on Eternia after that wild ride on Earth. 2/10, do not recommend. In the DC run, Keldor is still Gar and still Randor's half-brother. Miro's back to being a king in this canon and both Randor and Keldor grew up as princes. Keldor is the older brother, but he's a bastard and so is denied the crown in favor of the legitimate son, Randor. Keldor becomes the scheming royal advisor trope and plans a coup, during which his face is melted and he refuses to die (no, literally, he bashes Death's skull against a rock and walks away, this bitch beat up Death!), and becomes Skeletor.

Around the same time as the DC run was another run of comics published by Dark Horde and came packaged with the toys, the Classics-Line. The Classics-Line is my favorite canon. Keldor is once again the first born son and after Miro is banished to another dimension, Keldor was going to be crowned king, he even had Randor's support! But there were also a lot of bad things that happened all at once. The people of Eternia are apparently super racist and hate the Gar, there's a public outcry over having a Gar king. While Randor is trying to reason with a crowd of screaming citizens protesting a blue king, Randor's mother goes to get Keldor so he can address the people. But she dies suddenly and abruptly from very suspicious circumstances and Keldor is implicated in her death. While her body is still bleeding on the floor, no investigation, so trial, Keldor is sentenced to be banished. Keldor resents this treatment and travels Eternia meeting other people who were outcast and resentful (most of which were other non-humans, while most of the Masters are human; just sayin'), and Keldor builds a rebellion. During their attack on the capital, Keldor's face is splashed with acid and he becomes Skeletor.

In 2021 we got 2 new reboots. One aimed at adults who grew up with MotU in the 80s, and one for children just discovering the franchise now. I like both, and Keldor appears in both. The one aimed at adults has the better Keldor of the two, but the one for children has better story telling. I recommend both. In the one aimed at children, Keldor is completely human and is just a jealous asshole, they really stripped his character of any depth or complicated nuance and gave him a morning character design on top of it. But what it lacks in Keldor, it makes up for in story telling and the Kronis/Evelyn ship.

My current fandom is Tim/Kon. I'd like to say DC Superheroes, but that would be a lie. I only care about making these two men kiss. Tim Drake (Robin, Red Robin, Drake, Gun-Batman), and Kon-El | Conner Kent (Superboy). I have written so much fan fiction about them! I enjoy almost any interpretation of them. DC characters are kind of like "modern mythologies" for me. Like Hercules or Snow White is constantly reigned and transformed, so can you do with DC characters. No depiction of them is "incorrect" I love them all-! ...so long as Tim Drake and Kon-El fall in love.

My current Tim/Kon projects are 2 long A/B/O fic series. One I started in October of of last year, but I kinda lost the thread in what needs to happen in the story. I was kinda just writing out of emotion without any plan, the whole thing's a mess. I've also returned to working on a fic series I started in 2017. Tim and Kon are grown up, married, and raising their children when Tim discovers Terry McGinnis (of Batman Beyond) and assigns his eldest son to follow Terry. The fic mostly focusses on the son, my fan-kid OC. I also just started writing a completely escapist fic taking place in the same universe as the Batman Beyond one, but much farther along the timeline when their youngest child is an adult. Its a self-insert oc/ oc fic which both OCs are my self insert. I might not post that one, I'm still debating. I'm afraid of getting negative comments.

#jumblr

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lady-ofmidnight · 4 months

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For the tag game, Murder Queen?

Not exactly little but I am so happy that you asked about my metaphorical baby. And again, thank you for tagging me!

So Murder Queen kind of started when I was watering my vegetables. I noticed that my neighbors on one side had painted their door and wondered if my neighbors from the other side had gotten a dog recently cause I saw their teen son walking a dog. But like, it could have been a side business and not a permanent pet.

But that got me thinking. We know that on one side of Wayne Manor is Drake Manor. But what about the other side. Is there another neighbor? Or are the Wayne’s the house at the end of the (several mile long) street?

I searched google but found nothing except a Reddit thread where the Drakes were on one side, the Waynes in the middle and the Addams Family on the other. I’ll admit that it was hilarious.

I put the neighbor question down after that until I saw a prompt by @stealingyourbones . Now, @stealingyourbones writes DC and Danny Phantom crossovers. One of those crossovers was if some batfamily member had an injury/scar soulbond with one of the bats.

That got me cackling because of the angst and the drama that would come from gaining fighting scars from your soulmate, who to the best of your knowledge was not part of the cape community.

I had learned in some odd ao3 fic that The Court Of Owls took the children of rich Gothamites and turned them into semi-immortal assassins using experimentation.

So I combined the neighbor, scar bond, and experiment of the Court Of Owls ideas. I also decided that the bat for the job would be Damian because he used to be an assassin. Then I turned the mess of ideas into my first title. Zodiac. Not sure why I chose that name, but I think that I was half asleep from a 추석 food coma when I chose the name.(추석 is like the Korean version of the American Thanksgiving. It’s known to actually cause major traffic jams in South Korea as families travel to the houses of their grandparents. There’s so much good food but my favorite is definitely the 송편, or colorful rice cakes.)

Rant over my favorite Korean Holiday aside, Zodiac eventually turned into A Queen With Wilted Wings, which focused more on the “recovery from the influence of The Court Of Owls”.

A Queen With Wilted Wings eventually turned into I’m Not A Noble Lady (I’m The Queen In Charge). That iteration turned into the draft that focused on the relationship between the main character (then given the name Sophie) and Damian as they navigated Gotham upper society.

I’m Not A Noble Lady (I’m The Queen In Charge) became Murder Queen. Murder Queen added onto the “experiment” aspect and gave the main character feathery Owl wings because I found and binged The Croaking on Webtoon. The Croaking is amazing and I adore the drama in the story but I wish Ky and Scra would communicate! Oh! And the creator is on Tumblr as well as @megjgrey!

Murder Queen also made The Court Of Owls more like the backstory of the main character so it (the court) isn’t really a big part of the story. The reason for that is because the main character (now known as Phoebe) became more of a Red Hood Style Mob Queen but for the ex Court Of Owls.

Reading back on this I’m questioning my life choices because it’s longer than some of my short essays but that’s a problem for future me.

#It got so long but idc #wip ask game #answered #Yes Murder Queen and Phoebe are my babies #i will take no criticism #but like #picture the Addams family being the neighbors of the Waynes…#that would be hilarious

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webslingingslasher · 3 months

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Sorry for leaving everyone hanging but bestie got covid so I’ve been asleep for days! Anyways here is some of my friend’s story (note there is so much more crazy in her life but I don’t have the energy to type it all out) :

Okay so background she came to our college from across the country and fell IN LOVE with this dude here. Eventually she decided our school wasn’t for her and that she outgrew it so she dropped out and moved home. After being together for less than a year she decided to move back here alone to be with him (even though he’s currently in DC for military deployment)

So she moved here in November and everything seemed good. When I went to see her (abt an hour away from our school) and she was planning her future. They had been talking about g about marriage and he wanted her to look at houses with him when he came back. I was worried about her because he actually cheated on her at one point be she let it slide even when we said don’t get back with him. But ya know she’s her own person.

He’s 23 so the age gap was fine and she’s always been “older for her age” which is from her life experiences being treated more like an adult.

So at this point she’s living alone in his apartment and gets a job where she makes some friends and such. Including mr 31 year old.

All of a sudden the day before Thanksgiving she breaks up with him without any of us knowing. Apparently she was taken by surprise when the guy was doing nice things for her and not expecting sex in return. (And now I’m learning more abt how abusive he was). But the guy became super close with her to the point that he was there while she broke up with him. I told her that he might expect more from her at some point and to watch out but she told me it was fine and it wasn’t like that.

So she breaks up with the guy she just moved across the country for and now needs to get out of his apartment. The guy actually went crazy and made threats and had her followed so I was worried. But she decided to stay in that town where she didn’t really know anyone else which I was confused by. So then she ends up at a new apartment and having a ton of dates and one night stands. Which is fine I told her she needs to be single for a bit because even before the guy she was with another guy and never was really single.

The next thing I know it’s after Christmas and she’s dating the 31 yr old and practically living at his place. I was just on the phone with her and instantly she said they were thinking abt getting married (LIKE SOON). Please note no one in her life outside of this little town has even met him. She moved fast with the other guy but this is even faster. She’s know the guy for less than 6 months and is talking about legally marring him. Because “it proves we are committed to each other and he’s what I want for my future.”

I have NO idea how to slow this down and I’m worried she’s clinging to him because of her issues with family and also the fact that he’s able to protect her from the ex that made death threats.

Anyways that’s the chaos I deal with. On the opposite side I don’t leave my dorm on the weekends and have reread fics longer than War and Peace and Crime and Punishment combined in a few days.

-🦝

this is how abuse happens. this is how is starts.

he's made her rely on him for saftey and housing, and he's rushing into tying her down legally. i feel for her, but if she won't listen, this is going to be a hard lesson and it'll suck being a 25 year old divorcee.

#🦝 anon

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zeroducks-2 · 9 months

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I'm back to ask about your wips again 👀 What's Clipped about? Oh oh and Omegaverse Royal AU with Rastim 💕

So the Omegaverse Royal AU is this one, but where it says "Rastim" it's actually a spin-off (or maybe I should say a parallel story? IDK that's what a spin-off is after all, but I wrote everything together and then separated the bits) about what's happening with Tim. I mention in that post that Ra's shows up because he wants a piece of the cake, and in this case the cake involves the Drake estates which 14 yo Tim is set to inherit when he's old enough. Case in point, he's too young for a recognized union of any kind. He presented as an Omega just a few months prior to these events, but by law he's not old enough for an official mating or to inherit anything. Also, King Alexander is not happy with the Al Ghuls coming over and going like "ah yes haha this is mine actually", "oh sure I will take this other one instead". All of this is however not going to stop Ra's from getting what he wants :)

"Clipped" instead is a veeeeeery old WIP. It's the very first DC darkfic I've ever written! I probably posted a couple of snippets here and there but never the entire thing because it's on hiatus, and who knows if I'll ever finish it. I wrote it after reading Future State (more than a year ago), and it's in fact a Future State inspired situation where vigilantes are outlawed so severely that some get executed publicly, some kept locked away for experiments on their meta-genes if they have any, and in general it's not a good situation especially since the Bats and Birds have had their identities revealed to the press. They're forced to live separated and in constant hiding, all linked through Oracle (which is not a single person at this point but a "vigilante-friendly group" lead by Babs) while they try not to get caught by authorities for who knows what.

In this picture, Deathstroke became some sort of vigilante hunter. He's allowed to be free and do whatever he wants (and his kids have some degree of immunity as well, or anyway they're relatively safe), but in exchange he hunts down, captures and "deals" with rogue metas and "former heroes". Which means that some get sent to governamental facilities to be brainwashed rehabilitated, some get publicly executed as mentioned, and some just... "disappear". It took Slade literal years, but finally he got his hands on a good chunk of the flock of birds (Damian, Dick, Tim and Jason). The thing is. Slade is a mental sadistic creep in this one, and before he does anything even remotely helpful, he's going to break the kids to little pieces and then rearrange them as he sees fit.

The story features (or anyway should feature) Dark!Sladin in almost all its shapes. It was really fun to explore how the kids deal with the situation, because Tim took the months of torture of his life and eventually decided to try and follow the rules to limit the damage, Jason instead had a mental breakdown and decided that he'd going to get himself killed again (not going to be easy to make Slade slip though). Damian doesn't grasp the gravity of the situation, and Dick is just desperate to do literally anything to help the others. But again, I'm not surem I will ever even publish it. I might end up posting it incomplete just cuz.

#thanks for asking ana!#sorry again that it took me so long to reply!#my asks #wip ask game

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maxwell-grant · 2 years

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Bingo: THe OG Jojo, Jonathan Joestar

My thoughts and opinions on Jojo have shifted all over the place in the almost a decade since I got into the series, but I still stand by the opinion that Jonathan is my favorite JoJo. Probably not "the best", if you wanna get like, technical about this as far as writing quality and arc and all that crap but, pretty uncontested my favorite, and I don't think I'd even know how to argue this. Do I have to argue this? No? Okay, I will anyway.

Most of this has to do with the Jonathan x Dio dynamic (and where it stands on the ensuing larger Dio vs Joestars conflict) being my favorite in the series, and that being the biggest factor in making Phantom Blood my favorite part and the one I keep rewatching / rereading the most again and again (a lot of this helped by it being the shortest part). Jonathan is dramatically more interesting as Dio's enemy than he is as a character onto himself, and that kinda sounds like a knock against Jonathan but, it's actually kinda integral to how that dynamic and Phantom Blood works. Jonathan was Dio's enemy first and foremost, and a protagonist second, by Araki's own admission Dio had just as much claim if not more to being the protagonist of Phantom Blood. And that kinda makes Jonathan unique in a way none of the other Jojos really are.

Araki's said as much that Dio was designed first (even not counting the existence of Mashonen BT, who's Dio's prototype 100%) and was the character he was excited to write for, where as Jonathan was harder to get a grasp on and not the kind of protagonist he preferred to write. He said as much that Jonathan was made to "function as a symbol of purity and dignity rather than a unique, fresh character" because he had to contrast Dio, who was always going to survive. Jonathan was kinda made to die against Dio and pass the torch on to future protagonists, and be the big dramatic and morally pure hero every other Joestar was gonna fail to be, so they could be the kind of weird asshole with a heart of gold protagonists that Araki actually likes to write for.

I certainly don't dislike any of the JoJos, to be upfront (...okay Joseph in Part 2 gets real grating sometimes, I definitely prefer him when he’s older), I don’t really have less favorite Jojos and if I do they’re still a couple tiers to me above like, 99% of any given Marvel/DC characters. Ranking Jonathan next to them is a little unfair because he was never really made to work as a character the way they did but, that's also kind of why I love him more? Because he's so fundamentally different from the other JoJos in a way that forced his author to grow and mature in order to tackle properly and it shows as the part progresses. Because he was designed having an already clear ending in mind and Phantom Blood has a much more compact story, with a clear beginning, middle and end than the other parts, who were mostly running for as long as Araki wanted/could stretch the premise. Because there's no mismatch between Jonathan's personal narrative and the narrative that allows the part to run for as long as Araki wants it to. We grow up, watch him fight, and die with Jonathan till the bitter end.

Jonathan's narrative is Dio's narrative and they are Phantom Blood's narrative and they all run for exactly as long as they need to and not a second longer (the anime definitely could have been paced a little better though), and the side characters and cool powers don't get to steal the show unlike in every other part. Everything revolves around these two and their vicious conflict and everything they try to do to end it, so they can go on to live their lives, unaware that their lives are one and the same even before they become one and the same. They were kind of narratively doomed from the start, and by they I mean mostly Jonathan, because Dio was eventually gonna go on to doom a whole entire universe (not even figuratively) and it was only through Jonathan's sacrifice to save Erina that the world even had a slight fighting chance.

I like Jonathan because we grow alongside him to an extent we just don’t with the other JoJos, and that he actually grows at all to an extent most other JoJos (besides Jolyne and Johnny) mostly don’t in their own parts. The anime cut down hard on most of this but, as a kid, Jonathan was kind of a little shit! He was the spoiled son of a nobleman who got into fights and smoked pipes and threw rocks at crows, who even threw rocks at his dog when he first got him and regularly kicked him around until Danny saved him from drowning. It wasn’t that hard for Dio to surpass him at most things and it wasn’t until Dio assaulted Erina and Jonathan fucked him up that he started proving himself more than an average kid, to us as well as Dio. The anime cut down a lot of Jonathan’s emotionality and development to speedrun through his journey, and in that process made him more one-note than he really is. And that resulted in a lot of fans perceiving Jonathan as a passive and boring cinnamon roll. I kinda dislike the interpretation of him that defaults to “gentleman” as a standalone trait, and I especially detest any that present him as having some stick-up-his-ass about his descendants (if nothing else I’m really thankful the games proved this idea wrong and established thoroughly how much mutual respect there would be between him and them).

His path in Phantom Blood is extensively defined around Jonathan’s continued rise towards becoming someone able to stop Dio, someone who continually pursues Dio and not the other way around. He has to be someone able to match Dio, and so, he grows into someone Dio (and the audience) respects. He has to grow from an immature boy into a superpowered martial artist who storms castles to cleave vampires and zombies from the inside out. Even before he got superpowers, he was fighting street thugs by tanking sawblades in the arm and winning their respect so hard they swore lifelong loyalty on the spot. With powers, he physically outmatched a giant who destroys cliffs with a single sword swing, and he did this to that guy (hate, hate, hate that the anime had to censor this).

He wields a sword that he was given by a centuries-old zombie knight that was so impressed by his fighting prowess, cleverness, and resolve, that he used his dying moments to praise him and give him his sword, after Jonathan restored his faith in mankind so hard it killed him (in my view, people have never appreciated the epic ridiculousness of the Bruford fight enough). He killed a zombie with snakes in his head by mind-controlling and empowering said snakes into slowly and painfully devouring him. Jonathan was way, way, way more ruthless than most people give him credit for, you don’t Belmont your way through hordes of supernatural evil WITH YOUR BARE HANDS and very little training otherwise. The contrast between Jonathan, the titanic beast of a man who literally fistfights evil to death, and Jonathan, the adorably nice boyish good guy and gentleman (and who had to learn to be one), is crucial to what makes the character work outside of his dynamic with Dio and is so much better than the boring hero caricature fandom paints him as.

He forgives and loves Dio even to the bitter end because he’s a forgiving and loving person. He spent the majority of his life hating Dio, and more important, hating himself because he couldn’t bring himself to like Dio when everyone else did (a line that does so much to establish Jonathan’s character as an adult), and still he chooses to be forgiving. And that’s key here: That choice. He chooses to be optimistic in the face of the Ultimate Evil, even when Speedwagon’s given an entire monologue dedicated to how naive he is for doing so. But Jonathan knows first-hand better than literally anyone alive what a massive fucking monster Dio is time and time again, and he still spends his last seconds embracing his brother with tenderness, extending love towards Dio even as he has to drag him into an inferno by hand. I get why some feel this way but I will never accept the idea that Jonathan is boring, not even by JoJo protagonist standards.

Phantom Blood fascinates me so much because it's JJBA's creation myth, and it’s one that has nothing to do with the setting and plot points or even general business that define like, 80% of the series, but one that lays down the groundwork of the battle of good vs evil that the series is built on and all of it's ensuing variations. It's built on abstracts because it has to be, it has to define what the soul of the series is gonna look like even as a massive body has to grow around to obfuscate it. It's The Ultimate Hero vs The Ultimate Villain and the Ultimate Villain wins the battle through superior guile and improvisation and luck and so on, while the Ultimate Hero wins the future, not for himself, but those he loves, through self-sacrifice and love and determination. He lives a short life and dies a tragic death, his legacy is not perfect and neither was he, and most of his descendants have no idea who he is and what he lost to ensure they could live, but his story lives on in some form. The sun still rises every morning whether you’re there to greet it or not.

Completely unintentional on Araki's part, but I've always liked how Jonathan never gets mentioned again outside of hearsay from family members and his worst enemy’s words, so it ultimately falls on you, as a reader and fan, to give Jonathan his due. To remember him even as the story doesn't, even as he faded into the abstract good of the Joestars that comes from him. I've always liked the idea of a setting's heroic paragon not being remembered as such or even remembered at all by most of the people continuing the fight they started, and that it wasn't their power or efficiency or even their unshakeable morals that lingered or saved the world or defined them, but the sacrifice they used their dying breaths for.

Who they were, above all else, till the end.

#replies tag #jjba #jojo tag #jojo's bizarre adventure #Phantom Blood #jojo #jonathan joestar #dio brando #hirohiko araki #I will never have normal coherent feelings about That Sun in the Great Days intro #character opinion bingo #i swore to myself I wasn't gonna make this a big post and voila #The Thoughts just had to strike again

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soleminisanction · 2 years

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You’ve mentioned Steph having black girl sidekicks other than Nell Little. Do you know who they are and where they appear? I’ve never heard of any of them before

Understandable -- to be clear, it's not that I think this is a deliberate thing, it's just something they've done accidentally often enough that if they do it again it's officially going to be creepy.

In addition to Nell, it's happened twice. The most recent was Tiffany Fox from Batgirl: Futures End (2014). She's the least egregious one because she at least got to be in an ensemble and was created by Gail Simone, who actually knows how to write women, but she is shown to be closer to Steph than Cass, including this emotional moment where she and Steph are hugging while Babs says goodbye and it stands out.

The first time they did is really obscure, because it seems like everybody but me has forgotten the Robin/Spoiler Special from 2008. But I bought that damn thing new, it's one of my first experiences feeling ripped off by a comic I paid money for, and I have kept it bagged and boarded for 15 goddamn years out of spite and also to occasionally remind people that Chuck Dixon is a reactionary racist.

As part of the very bad and also very racist flashback story explaining (badly) why Stephanie decided to come back from Africa to be Spoiler again, they give Steph a widdle black girl sidekick named Efia.

All we really know about Efia is that she has a little dog named Buni, and that she looks up to "Miss Brown" enough to ask her to go out and look for him. She also gushes about how wonderful America sounds, expresses her desire to go there, and tells Steph about a "devil" who comes out at night to hunt.

Katavi, btw, just means "thorn" in Swahili. It's the name of region in Tanzania and also a national park. Chuck Dixon pulled this "devil" out of his ass so that Stephanie has something to cosplay as while saving Leslie Tompkins from his poorly-researched and deeply offensive portrayal of modern Tanzanian witch-hunts, which are a real thing that have killed thousands of people.

In this fight, Steph blows a man up with a gas can molotov, gets Leslie Tompkins shot, and abandons her little friend after destabilizing the village and fixing nothing, because the bad guy seems to remain in-power in the end and the narrative does nothing to imply that the locals have somehow lost their racistly-portrayed ignorance.

Fun fact: according to Google Translate, "Mimi ni katavi" is Swahili for, "I'm a bitch!" Dead serious.

This, according to Dixon, is what inspires Stephanie to go back to Gotham and be a superhero again. Because, quote, "I can never really stop being Spoiler. And I never want to again."

So yeah, there you go. The good news is, Nell Little got reclaimed in the DC Bombshells universe, where she's one of the founding members of the Batgirls little league baseball/vigilante crime-fighting team, is portrayed as both their expert get-away driver and their mechanical genius (she creates the Batmobile!), and eventually hooks up with Alysia Yeoh. I prefer to think of that as her canon version.

#nell little #batgirls #batgirl 2009 #robin/spoiler special #robin dc #dc comics #tw racism #seriously I cut out the worst of it but I cannot stress enough how racist this story is #chuck dixon should never be allowed to write black people #especially not black people who aren't american #he's always embarassingly racist about it #you know he wrote a fucking QAnon comic??? dude deserves to be forgotten #anyway read bombshells it's great #and progressive and actively anti-racist

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littlemissonewhoisall · 2 years

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Alright, so I put together a Twitter thread about the recent queerbaiting that DC has pulled with Stephanie Brown and Cassandra Cain. It's an interesting and frustrating story so I decided to repost it here. There is a demonstrable shift in how the two have been written in Future State and beyond. This is a long post but I wanted to be thorough.

First, some background: One thing that frustrated a lot of fans about Steph and Cass's friendship between Batman and Robin: Eternal and the beginning of Joker War was that there wasn't much interaction between them at all. They became friends off-panel, and Cass and Steph's relationships with Harper and Basil, and Tim respectively were much more heavily focused on than theirs. This led to the finale of Detective where they embrace feeling a little hollow for some. This changed w/ Joker War where we finally saw them being friends and they first started building hype to what seemed like an inevitable “Batgirls” comic.

It should be noted that this period where they weren't interacting much was also the time where we first got textual indications that they're both attracted to women, though it was never "confirmed" in that exact language.

Alright, preamble out of the way, let's get into the issue at hand. The story starts with Future State, which is really the REASON why everything else is so bad. The bait here is INTENSE. Throughout the story, Stephanie CONSTANTLY uses terms of endearment that are... well, it's literally just flirting. While it might seem like just taunting at first, the fact that she keeps doing it AFTER dropping her act says otherwise.

This alone would've been pretty blatant subtext... BUT the comic goes further once Cass starts opening up about things. The implication is extremely strong here that the two were romantically involved before and, by the end, are heading towards that again.

At this point, the only thing keeping it from being official was confirmation BY the writer and sure enough... The editor for Batgirls posted this panel in direct reference to the upcoming book and the Future State writer retweeted it with the bi pride flag colors and two girls holding hands.

That last bit is VERY important to remember going forward because some of what I post after this might not seem like bait out of context but remember this is the expectation Future State set: that Steph and Cass WOULD eventually get together. With that in mind, let's look at Batgirls. First, the backup story leading to the ongoing comic itself, which features lots of affectionate body language and Steph and Cass sharing a bed at a hotel. Not inherently bait but in the aftermath of Future State it comes across as a reinforcement of what that comic had promised.

With the comic itself, the most bait-y stuff isn't in the pages of the comic but in how it was promoted. The solicitations talk about "their love for each other" and how laying low is "that much easier to bear because they have each other".

Variant covers added fuel to the fire: Steph and Cass holding hands next to a pair of conspicuously rainbow-colored skis and Cass falling asleep on Steph's shoulder could be dismissed as a coincidence, but having them write "XOXO Cassie+Steph" on the Valentine's Day cover is... less subtle

Within the pages of the book itself, the baiting is more restrained, restricted to Steph using some of the same flirtatious language as in Future State and a rather suggestive panel of their faces VERY close together as Cass holds Steph affectionately.

MOST of this stuff isn't particularly egregious individually, but when put together shows a clear pattern, and so it shouldn't be surprising that when THIS line showed up in the solicits for Batgirls #9, a lot of people had some hope they were FINALLY doing something.

But nope. The solicitations for the next issue confirm that what's ACTUALLY happening is that Stephanie is being paired with a new male love interest who, based on the cover, seems to be Kyle Mizoguchi, brother of Maps Mizoguchi from Gotham Academy.

I think with all that put together there's a pretty clear case for this having been intentional bait on SOMEONE'S part. It's pretty frustrating to have your hopes built up (even to the tiny degree I allowed myself to hope) only to have one of the characters paired with the most random man possible.

#StephCass #Stephanie Brown #cassandra cain #batgirls #future state #queerbaiting #Bat Family #bat fam #DC comics #batgirl

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thevindicativevordan · 1 year

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Weekly comic review ?

Nightwing #100 - A great artist showcase that Taylor manages to stay mostly out of the way of. No real narrative developments worth mentioning, the Titans shilling and obvious setup for a new Taylor written Titans ongoing just makes me roll my eyes but hey - whatever pries Taylor off of Jon I'm all in favor of.

World's Finest #11 - Solid ending to an arc that surprised me. Got thoughts to share on Magog now that it's over that I'll write up in a different post, but I will say I didn't expect him and Clark to part on such amicable terms. Of course Waid canonized the depower chamber from Superman II, should have seen that coming. Ending is definitely setting up some kind of follow up, be that in a future arc or in a spinoff mini like how Lazarus Planet is resolving the Nezha plotline.

Stargirl #3 - Continues to be great, guessing the Foster Father is Per Degaton. Eventually I'm sure Courtney will join the JSA book, only question is how many of these legacies will too.

One Bad Day: Bane - After Dark Crisis shit the bed Williamson needed this book to come out to remind me why I was on board for his Superman. It's solid and I love the twist that the "one bad day" for Bane actually ends up being the day he broke Batman. He peaked then and there, and never achieved anything as noteworthy ever again, something Bane himself recognizes and regrets. By the end he's become a quasi-Batman figure himself, taking in and mentoring a young man in an attempt to find a new purpose in life. Very much feels like an abbreviated DKR for Bane which is fitting given his status as the Evil Batman.

Lazarus Planet: Assault on Krypton -

Dreamer: Fine. Mostly just served as the story to explain what the hell is going on if you didn't bother to read Batman vs. Robin or the Alpha issue.

Jon - Wow actual chemistry between Jon and someone else! Almost forgot what that felt like after a year of utter blandness between Jon and Jay. God just break those two up already and put Jon with Ash, it would at least be amusing to see Jon dating someone who pushes back at his preaching.

Mercy - Good, I liked the flashes we get of her relationship with Lex and I approve of her becoming more like her animated Young Justice counterpart. Not quite a cyborg, more like Alex Mercer in terms of powerset.

Power Girl - Beautiful art, and Leah seems to have a good handle on Karen's voice. If she's getting telepathy I think she needs to give up one of the powers she already has in exchange. Looking forward to the backup.

The New Champion of Shazam #4 - Ending was a bit rushed but on the whole this was an enjoyable mini that left me feeling very optimistic about MAWS. I'm not thrilled that they seem to just want to have Mary go by "Shazam" too, come on surely we can come up with a better code name for her than just having her use Billy's. Especially since not only is he coming back, but his book is going by Shazam! Have Mary go by "Captain Shazam" if DC/Campbell is that opposed to a gendered name for her, it pays homage to Billy's original name and let's her be "Shazam" without literally having the same name as him.

Immortal X-Men #10 - Holy fuck I haven't been this eager for the follow-up since HoX/PoX. Gillen nails Xavier, there's no question that he is a good man, but his goodness doesn't stop him from taking actions that leave you unsettled. And that cliffhanger... looks like we're seeing the beginning of the end for resurrections.

Invincible Iron Man #2 - It's fine. I have no clue what is going on with Riri since I have never read anything with her in it, but she comes across as Tony's equal in arrogance alongside intellect.

Strange #10 - I was not familiar at all with Clea before this mini but now consider me a Clea fan. Great ending and i can't wait to see where McKay takes these two next. I've seen articles hyping up the new Strange series coming as being about Stephen as a wife guy, but brethren, it's Clea who is the husband gal. Look at that adorable psycho itching to slaughter an entire building this issue, but shows mercy because she loves her husband that much! Awwwww!

#weekly reviews

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britesparc · 2 years

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Weekend Top Ten #541

Top Ten Marvel Studios Predictions for SDCC 2022

Okay, bit of a fun one this week. In the past I’ve liked to do big predictions for what announcements might come out of San Diego Comic Con. This is because, in recent years (decades?!), SDCC is the hotbed for all kinds of freaky genre entertainment. Huge studio movies, exciting TV shows, videogames, and – yes – comics have used SDCC, and often its legendary Hall H, to make major announcements. Marvel Studios in particular has become famous for its SDCC panels, including the first appearance of all the Avengers live on stage, or Tom Hiddleston in character as Loki calling the audience mewling quims, or the roadmap of various MCU Phases that introduced us to “Avengers: Infinity War, Part I & II”.

As the years have gone by my interests have shifted slightly. I’m not really following mainstream comic book continuity anywhere near as much as I once did, so Marvel and DC’s big announcements don’t really resonate as much. And, to be honest, I’m quite happy with the drip-feed of info from other sources regarding what big movies are in the works, or what’s happening with my favourite genre TV shows (in fact, I’d rather not know, short of the fact that they’re still making them, if that makes sense). This has been exacerbated by the fact that DC’s films have grown increasingly disparate and less connected as time’s gone on, so there isn’t that sense of “this is what’s next for the universe” that you get with Marvel.

No, at the end of the day, the only ongoing series that I really want to know about – in terms of announcements of what’s round the corner – is the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And it really, really feels like this is going to be a big presentation from them. I hope I’m not getting too hyped or setting myself up for a fall, but it would make perfect sense if they chose this moment to make some pretty big announcements on the future of the MCU. Phase 4 has been a bit of an odd duck as they’ve introduced new characters, allowed established directors more free reign, played around with the multiverse, and made more TV than you’d think was humanly possible. I’d argue that maybe this has lead to more variable quality than we saw in Phase 3, but I would argue that, so far, the threshold is comparable with the first two Phases (Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, and Thor: The Dark World are all far from stellar). Also, despite many balls being in the air – Kang, incursions, the Scarlet Witch, Elaine from Seinfeld – we don’t actually know where this Phase is going. Phase 1, we all assumed, would lead to the Avengers teaming up; after that, we knew Thanos was the Big Bad and, eventually, we discovered the whole gist was following the Infinity Stones which led to Infinity War and Endgame. This gave the interconnected MCU something of a throughline; each film would lead to the next, often teased in post-credit stings. With this Phase, all we seem to be getting is celebrity cameos revealing new characters who – for the most part – remain unexplained or unconnected to the wider universe. What I’m saying is things are a bit woolly, stuff undefined; and that’s all fine, but at the same time, it’ll be nice if we can see some kind of destination ahead. After all, that’s one of the joys of following a shared universe: knowing that various individual stories are going to coalesce in the future.

So today all I’m doing is making some predictions for what Marvel will announce. A roadmap of Phases 4 and 5; and endgame, if you will, or at least a middlegame. This is my own rampant speculation corner and personal mini wish fulfilment centre. I’ve tried not to go overboard or be too silly, which is why there’s no Death’s Head movie; this is all stuff that I genuinely could see them announce at SDCC, or at least something very much like this. Will I be right? Probably not, but that’s half the fun.

Footage from Wakanda Forever, The Marvels, What If…? and more: I think audiences in the hall will be shown footage from a bunch of upcoming MCU projects, but I also think they’ll release – to the public – teaser for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and What If…? season 2. They might even do a sizzle reel of loads of upcoming films and TV shows (including Secret Invasion, Ironheart, and Quantumania), but I doubt that will make it to the wider world short of dodgy phone videos of the presentation. What I do think we’ll see is the first footage from both the Halloween special – Werewolf By Night, presumably – and the Guardians Holiday special.

Blade, Thunderbolts, Fantastic Four, and Deadpool 3 all get release dates as we round out Phase 4: so I’m making a big assumption here which is that the announced films – and Thunderbolts – all form part of Phase 4. I might be really wrong here, and only the films that currently have dates – which takes up to The Marvels next summer – are Phase 4, and after that we might be onto Phase 5. But for what it’s worth, I’m gonna match up films to release dates and say that November 3rd 2023 will be Blade, February 16th 2024 will be Thunderbolts, May 3rd 2024 will be Fantastic Four, and July 26th 2024 will be Deadpool 3.

Fantastic Four cast on stage for the epic finale of Phase 3: so at the moment I think Phase 4 is building up to Fantastic Four as being the big “Avengers” moment; the climax of this Phase. I think it’ll be called something like Fantastic Four: Incursion or Return of the Fantastic Four, and it’ll be about a multiversal incursion that ends up with the Four on our Earth (and Doom, natch). Whilst I think this is “the big film”, I actually think Deadpool 3 – which’ll be called, I dunno, Deadpool versus the MCU or something – will be the final film, offering an Ant-Man-style palette cleanser. And, yes, I think this will be when they announce the cast, director, and release date of FF, with the First Family up on stage. Who will that be? Gah, I dunno. I don’t think Krasinksi, actually. Let’s say they’re skewing a bit younger, Reed and Sue don’t have kids yet, so I’ll pick Dev Patel (Reed), Anya Taylor-Joy (Sue), Finn Wolfhard (Johnny), and Seth Rogen (Ben). None of those will be correct, by the way. Oh, and as I write this Twitter is getting silly over the concept of Steven Spielberg possibly directing the movie; as this would just make me far too excited, I’m choosing not to believe it. I totally believe it. Help.

Phase 5 begins with Captain America: I’ve just read that they’ve hired a director, which actually adds fuel to the fire of my theory that Sam Wilson: Captain America (or whatever it’ll be called) will be announced, its plot bouncing off not only The Falcon and the Winter Soldier but also Thunderbolts. And this will be one of the threads of Phase 5: Sam Wilson putting together the next Avengers team in the face of a dodgy government-sponsored group, youngsters getting in on the act, increasing multiversal weirdness, and of course muta – hey, what’s that over there?

Taika Waititi will complete his Thor trilogy: I’ll try to avoid spoilers for Thor: Love and Thunder, except to say that it definitely teases more from the character. It seems to me that Waititi wants yet another crack at it, and so I think we’ll get an announcement of a fifth Thor film, completing Waititi’s trilogy. And whilst I don’t imagine it’ll be stated outright, I would have thought that would be it for the character – although Chris Hemsworth has said he’s open to keep playing him for a while, so who knows?

Spin-off TV series detailed for Shang-Chi, Black Panther – and Eternals: we already know that Shang-Chi and Black Panther are getting Disney+ spin-off series – I think they’ll be about the Ten Rings and the Dora Milaje, but I might be totally off-base; they could be about Trevor Slattery and Everett Ross. Anyway, I think we’ll also get an announcement of a sequel/spin-off for Eternals on D+ too, with Chloe Zhao involved in some capacity. Whether it’ll follow the Eternals abducted by Arishem or those who met up with Harry Styles – or something else – I don’t know, but I think the languid pace of the movie would be well-served by a TV series.

Sequels confirmed for Shang-Chi and Doctor Strange: yeah, Phase 5 will have sequels to some of the more recent hits, specifically Shang-Chi learning more about the Ten Rings and just exactly what they are (maybe tying into stuff we’ve seen in Ms. Marvel?) and Doctor Strange’s adventures with Charlize Theron (The Nightmare of Doctor Strange?). Given that I’ve predicted an incursion-based FF movie, and that’s what Theron’s Clea mentions in her post-credit scene, maybe the two films will be related?

New seasons announced for Loki and Moon Knight: we know Loki season 2 is coming, and I think we’ll see/hear a lot more about it, with both Loki and Sylvie present on stage (hey, maybe Sophia Di Martino will call everyone names this time?). but despite it not being something originally announced or, seemingly, planned for, I think the success of Moon Knight will bring Oscar Isaac back (and on stage!) to announce there will be further adventures for Steven and Marc and Jake. And hopefully hippos.

Brand new TV series include Captain Britain, Young Avengers, and Power Pack: as is there wont, Marvel will be announcing some new stuff. There’ll probably be new films – debuting new heroes on the big screen – but seeing as so much of their focus is on Disney+, I think we’ll see more TV series. Big characters and teams that I think will make their bow on the small screen will include Captain Britain – bringing the world of Marvel UK into the MCU – and Young Avengers, the latter teaming up many of the heroes we’ve already encountered. Maybe there’ll be something skewing older and grittier, too (Daredevil?!), but I also think we’ll go young with Power Pack, a kid-focused show that’ll be aimed at an even younger audience than the teen-centric Ms. Marvel. Amidst all this, I also wonder if we’ll get something with the Agents of SHIELD characters; I’d love to see Daisy and May in the MCU.

It all leads up to X-Men: this has been a very good year for the X-Men ‘97 theme (and, incidentally, I reckon we’re due a trailer for that show too). Anyway, we know where this is heading; Kevin Feige said so himself, that we’re leading up to the introduction of mutants in the MCU. We know they exist elsewhere in the multiverse because we saw one in Multiverse of Madness. And, er, they probably exist on the prime 616-Earth of the MCU, too. Yeah? Ahem. So I think this is really where we’re going at the moment: confirmation of mutants, who they are and how they came to be, and we’ll see a big, proper announcement of it all at SDCC. Or at least some kind of roadmap through Phase 5. My personal prediction? Mutants will generally be seeded through the films and shows, although I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s, say, an Xavier series or something that’s not explicitly about the X-Men yet. Will we get casting? Ewan McGregor as Professor X? Taron Edgerton as Logan? Anyway, whilst I still don’t think it’s the final destination – whether that’s Kang or Galactus or Doom or Secret Wars or something else entirely – I think one stop on the road is going to be, essentially, Avengers vs. X-Men. And that’s the next Avengers movie, and that’s the film that closes out Phase 5, and that’s the biggie at the end of the presentation.

So I’ve done all this pussyfooting around making bold and ridiculous predictions, but what actually will be announced? Like, everything? Well, I’m glad you asked, imaginary reader, because I’m going to round things off by listing literally everything I think will be mentioned in one way or another by Marvel Studios at SDCC this year, whether it’s just a name on a screen or James Gunn and the entire cast up on stage making dick jokes. Enjoy!

Films and shows we know about: Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, The Marvels, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, the Halloween special (Werewolf By Night?), Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, Secret Invasion, Ironheart, Armor Wars, Loki season 2, What If…? season 2, Echo, Marvel Zombies (if that counts as MCU?).

Films and shows that we know they’re making but we don’t know exactly when: Fantastic Four, Blade, Deadpool 3, Thunderbolts, Captain America 4, Shang-Chi 2, Black Panther spin-off, Shang-Chi spin-off, Agatha: House of Harkness, Wonder Man, Daredevil, Nova, Spider-Man: Freshman Year (which I think is supposed to be in the MCU?), whatever it is that Scarlett Johansson’s supposed to be working on, the next Spider-Man movie that probably won’t be announced here because Sony will want to do that I guess.

Stuff that I’ve just made up: Thor 5, Doctor Strange 3, Eternals TV spin-off, Moon Knight season 2, Captain Britain, Power Pack, Young Avengers, something with characters from Agents of SHIELD, something with mutant characters that’s not really an X-Men movie, Avengers vs. X-Men.

See, that’s a lot, even before I started pulling stuff out of my arse. Feige’s gonna need a really big whiteboard to write it all down.

#top ten #marvel #movies #comics #mcu #kevin feige #sdcc #comicon #ms marvel #mutation #fantastic four #x-men

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boldlyvoid · 3 years

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ain't it fun? | Part five

Summary: reader just needs an NA meeting before they have a meltdown, they end up with the best friend they could ever make.

Warnings: pregnancy, chronic illness, spencer's career chance - he's a high school teacher now, they have a 1-year-old, smut at the end but not graphic.

word count: 2.8k

a/n: I imagine this is in season 10, so they've been together at least 7 years-ish now, I just jumped well into the future because I wanted to! also, Cordelia's nickname is Edie and pronounced Ee-dee !!

P1 P2 P3 P4

“No.”

Spencer sighs, “are you going to like any of my suggestions?”

“When you give me a baby name that isn’t from some weird old male book character, then yes, I’ll take them into consideration,” she replies, hand on her stomach as she lays back against the pillows.

She was huge, 9 months pregnant and so, so close to the finish line. She was swollen and in pain and exhausted. Going off every single medication and recreational drugs to make a life was a commitment and a half, she was doing well but she was so ready to be done. To do a few more months of breastfeeding and then go back on her medications.

Spencer was terrific. He was googling and asking Penelope to research things, he had called doctors he knows and friends and did everything in his power to find a way to ease her pain even before they got pregnant. He’s taken the last 3 months off of work and he doesn’t know when he’ll go back. He has just been so, so incredible the whole time.

Naming a child was hard. You had to not only think about all the nicknames and what their initials spell, but you also had to think about how they’ll like it; if it’ll fit their personality and spirit. And most of all, is it going to get them bullied? There are some terrible kid names. Like Richard… how do you name a newborn Richard?

“I want something meaningful with a nice nickname and works with our names and her siblings,” she whispered towards him. “They need to all work together.”

“What are some of your favourites?” He asks, moving in closer and finding a way to cuddle in with her and her pregnancy pillow who has all but replaced him lately.

“I like earthy names, like Lennox, Juniper, Aspen, Elowen,” her voice is really soft, she bites her lip at the end as she thinks them over again. “And old things like Cordelia and Winnifred.”

“Which one sounds the best with Reid?”

“I like Cordelia Reid the most, and then we can call her Edie and I was thinking you can pick her middle name?” She’s been thinking about it for a while, but too afraid to know his opinions.

“Cordelia means core in Latin, which makes sense cause she already has my heart,” Spencer teased, he has made it very clear that their little girl is going to be spoiled, loved and a daddy's girl.

He took all his fears of being a bad dad and threw them out the window. He knew that just being there was all he wanted from his dad, and so that’s what he was going to do. He left the BAU for the time being, he was doing the odd lecture at the academy and answering calls for cases. They couldn’t just stop using his brain, there were some things too pressing to not ask the walking computer, but other than that, he was done.

He was looking into other jobs for when he finally decides to go back, he was unsure how long of a paternity leave he wanted. He was really content with just staying home all the time now, but he did miss going out and being useful during the days. The job he was most interested in, however, was a high school teacher.

A prep school in DC is looking into adding an Anthropology, Psychology and Sociology course to their curriculum, and they wanted Spencer. They thought he would be perfect for the seniors, he is fun and young and attentive, he can control a room and keep them entertained, and he’s probably the best teacher a kid could get.

It was going to make him a good dad too.

“I think Jade is a nice middle name,” he adds after thinking it over for a few minutes.

“Cordelia Jade Reid,” she says the full name for the first time and it just feels right, like they already know her.

—

She was very calm for a newborn baby.

She liked to just look around and blink, she licked her lips a lot and she was constantly breaking out of her swaddle. She was always happy to have cuddles with her dad and she pooped every night at exactly at 3 am, without fail. She didn’t cry a lot, but when she did it was still wonderful to hear.

They were so in love with her, she was absolutely perfect for them. She fit right into their sleeping schedule and their life, she ate like a pro, she slept most of the night and she was growing way too fast for their liking.

One day they’re crying over the fact they made a life in a tiny little hospital room, and the next thing they know she’s about to turn 1.

She’s sitting in bed with Y/N, she’s sitting in her lap with two handfuls of hair and a story to tell. She’s been babbling so much lately, she hears them talking all the time and she wants to join so badly. They indulge her, asking her to continue her thoughts and gasping at her gossip.

“No way, and what did you do next?!” She asked the little one sat in her lap.

Edie babbled on once more, smacking her tongue on the roof of her mouth as she pushed air past her vocal cords, humming and making the funniest sounds. She went on and on, she was so enthusiastic, like her father, as she waved her arms around to make her point.

“That is so fascinating, you are so cool, little Edie,” Y/N hyped her up, smiling at her as she leaned in close and pressed their noses together.

Cordelia laughed and it finally made Spencer giggle too, he had been watching from the doorway as his ‘wife’ and daughter talked in bed. They were best friends already, always talking and snuggling, learning or reading together. She was always happy when she was with one of them, she was needy and snuggly and very co-dependent but they didn’t mind, they preferred all the attention from her.

“Look who’s home,” Y/N whispered and Cordelia shot a glance towards the door, she smiled and screamed as she saw him.

“Hi Edie!” He waves at her with a smile, he takes his bag off and places it by the dresser followed by his blazer.

He gets into the bed and she instinctively reaches for a hug. He wraps her up and she snuggles right into his neck, with a fistful of his shirt, she just holds him there. She didn’t understand why he wasn’t home all day anymore, she missed him for lunch and at nap time but she loved the new routine of a snuggle when she woke up and he got home.

Spencer leans back against the pillows beside Y/N, turning his head to capture a kiss from her lips. They always just spend a quick second kissing when he gets home, even if it’s just a peck or a full-on passionate make-out, he always kisses her when he comes home. He smiles at the end of the kiss, pulling her into a hug too.

“I love Fridays,” he whispers, “Edie do you know what Fridays mean?”

She pulls away and sits up, she loves to listen to him. “Friday is the last day of the school week, which means I get to spend 2 whole days with my favourite people now.”

Edie smiled, almost like she understood what he meant, and then she was talking again, it was completely incomprehensible but they imagined she was telling him about her day.

“You forgot the part where we went to the park,” Y/N added.

Cordelia looked at her with wide eyes, “dada,” was the only word she said before babbling on again and they both stopped.

“Did she just?” Spencer was shocked and frozen still after asking.

Y/N sat up and looked right into Cordelia’s eyes, “who is that?” She pointed at Spencer.

“Dada!” She said it again and they were suddenly all squealing, even Cordelia was suddenly excited as she kept screaming dada over and over again.

“Can you say, mom? Or mama? Mummy?” Spencer tried his hardest to find an easy way for her to say it.

“Mumm,” she pushed her lips together to hum her M sound and Spencer was floored, he bounced her up and down a small amount as they cheered.

“Smartest girl in the world!” Spencer cheered her on before pulling her into another hug.

Y/N was crying softly, little tiny dreams that she didn’t even know she had were coming true every single day with them. She knew she wanted to be a mom when she was growing up, all those dreams died when her illness got worse and they all warned her that having kids would put her at risk of being moneyless and that working wasn’t an option to even support them. Let alone the threat of them taking them away just because of her autism or depression possibly being considered ‘too bad’ to care for them.

Spencer took all those fears and he kicked them out. Every day she got to experience the most precious gifts the world had to offer, her daughter was perfect and her husband was incredible. Together they were a perfect little family that ran on trust, love, and communication. Always talking, always hugging, always there for each other.

—

They crawl into bed much later than they expected to. Cordelia didn’t want to go to bed, she was trying her hardest to keep staying awake to spend time with them but eventually, sleep won. They finally placed her in her crib with her white noise and her complete darkness and closed her door for the next few hours of peace.

They both let out a deep sigh before rolling to face one another. “How was your day?” He asks, like always.

“Good,” she smiles, “I think having a kid and getting on her schedule was the best thing I’ve ever done actually, cause I’m sleeping on time, I’m eating when she does and I’m outside a lot more. She’s given me this purpose and it’s rewarding on my body.”

Spencer moves in so he can kiss her nose, “I love hearing that.”

“How was your class today?” She asks back, loving his little stories about all the 17 and 18-year-olds that were fascinated by him. As well as the kids who thought it was cool to try and pick on him before getting the shit verbally kicked out of them in front of the whole class.

It was interesting seeing him in a form of authority, he never really took charge at the BAU, she’s never seen him yell at his friends and he’s never really yelled at her either. He’s been incredibly calm, so to see him verbally tear someone apart by acknowledging their biggest flaws to make sense of why they feel the need to bully, it was pretty intense.

“They were a lot better today, they enjoyed the lesson and the kids that were giving me trouble skipped, I guess he really didn’t appreciate me calling him out that bad on Tuesday,” Spencer smirked, rolling his eyes like he cared.

“I still can’t believe that he thought it was okay to call you names in front of other students, where is the respect these days?”

“Well,” he’s about to do what he always does. He can never be truly mad at someone because he knows why everyone does what they do and that they can’t help it. “In his file, it says his parents are newly divorced, we get a list of all the kids information on the attendance like allergies and things, but also small info like life changes in case they act out.”

“Doesn’t mean he can call you the f slur,” she whispers, “all because you wore a purple shirt?”

“If I met his father I’d probably get an answer for that,” he adds, “if he’s afraid to show his emotions around his son, it’s probably why his son thinks colours are gay.”

It makes her laugh, “you look hot in purple too so I don’t see the problem?”

“Do I?” He teases, getting in even closer and pressing their bodies together.

She rolls her eyes before wrapping her arms around him and leaning forward for a quick kiss, “I think you look sexy all the time.”

He kisses her as a thank you, “I think the same about you.”

“Even when I haven’t showered in 2 days because she cries if she can’t see me and she cries if she gets wet?” Y/N laughed, annoyed but in love with their little monster at the same time.

“Always,” he reminds her. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” she kisses him again after.

There are probably a million more things to share from the day, but they spend their time kissing instead. It’s been too long since they’ve just rolled around in the sheets making out like they did in the beginning. Before they ever had sex, before they had kids and a house and a love as strong as they do now.

A part of them missed the early days when everything was new and exciting, but she also loved the fact that they knew each other so well that they didn’t have to communicate anymore. They ran like 1 unit, always completing the other person's thoughts, needs and wants. They were so unbelievably happy.

She wants him badly and he wants her just as much, and he’s about to take her when she pulls back. “Nope, as much as I love her I can’t get pregnant again for at least another year.”

It makes him laugh as he pulls away and rolls over to look through his nightstand for a condom, “it wouldn’t be that bad?”

“You carry it then, seahorse it up,” she teased. “I like being back on my medicine, I need some time to be okay before I go through all that again.”

Once he’s all situated in the latex and back between her legs, he hovers over her, so close that their lips are touching ever so slightly. “I am fine if it’s just the three of us forever.”

“I’m not,” she smiles, “there will be 4 of us one day, just not today.”

With that, she’s pulling him into another kiss as he pushing inside. It’s a feeling she’s accustomed to but will never be used to, it’s a stretch that shouldn’t be as intoxicating as it is. She holds him closer as she plays with his tongue in her mouth.

He was so good at everything he did, especially the sex. He knew every single part of her body now and exactly how to push all her buttons the right way. She could live in the moment of his pumping in and out of her while his thumb circled her clit and his other hand groaned her breasts. Eventually, he kissed down her throat and she was a mess of breathy moans and low gasps.

Writing in the sheets, her legs wrap around him as she tried to pull him in even closer. It was impossible to get closer but he was still too far away, she wanted to absorb him and live in him forever. He was her safe place and she never wanted to be anywhere else.

As her orgasm bubbled, so did his. The both of them gasping and panting, she whined as she breached the edge and gripped his back, “Spence!”

“That’s it, sweetheart,” he whispered before fucking into her harder and faster, pushing her through it as he reached his own.

His movements on her clit never stopped and suddenly one felt like two and she wasn’t sure when the rush was going to stop and she didn’t care when it did. It was powerful, soothing and euphoric. A high she could live in for a while and return to it without problem as long as she had him.

He came with a small moan, trying to keep quiet as he muffled it into her neck, stilling his hips on his last thrust and dropping onto her more. Her hands were all over his back as she pressed kisses to his forehead, coming down but not wanting the love to stop there.

The love was never going to stop there for them. Their love was never-ending, and somehow as she held him there in her arms and felt his breath on his neck, she turned to see the baby monitor with their peaceful child sound asleep down the hall, she loved him even more now somehow.

Loving Spencer Reid was like falling down a bottomless pit. She never knew when she was going to reach the end, but she was content with falling.

smut taglist: @g0lden-cth @doctorspenceryeet @samuel-de-champagne-problems @reiding-recs @shemarmooresfedora @spencers-dria@reidsfish @manuosorioh @mochionly @jswessie187 @k-k0129 @calm-and-doctor @blanchardsbk

#spencer reid #spencer reid smut #spencer reid fanfiction #spencer reid fanfic #spencer reid imagine #spencer reid x reader #spencer reid x y/n #spencer reid x you #spencer reid self insert #spencer reid request #criminal minds smut #criminal minds imagine #aint it fun

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nightingaelic · 3 years

Note

could you do Fallout New Vegas companion’s reactions to a Courier Six who is also the Lone Wanderer telling their stories from their time in DC? (bonus points for Arcade’s reaction to them hating the enclave, and if that would make him decide to keep his past hidden even longer, or if he would still tell them?)

The logistics and implications of this make my head spin. This is also super long, honestly I should just quit writing reacts and start writing fics OH WAIT

Getting the courier talking was a tough thing to do, but on nights where the moon was full and the coyotes' howls were miles away or at least behind some stout walls, on nights where they were a few beers in and they hadn't seen another living soul in a few days, that Mojave Express deliverer started to reminisce. That wasn't really the surprising part, though. No, the surprising part was what they would remember, fondly or not-so-fondly: A world apart from the desert, a continent away on another coast, and stories of life in a vault, a missing father, pure water and a Brotherhood divided.

Arcade Gannon: Arcade didn't mind these moods, at least when they first cropped up. He nodded along as the courier talked about living in their father's shadow, about feeling cornered by their own family's legacy. He hung on their words about living in the cradle of America's history, about Project Purity, all of the gritty details of modifying a GECK to bring water to a devastated wasteland.

Eventually though, the courier's memories soured, with the arrival of Enclave remnants in their life. Arcade folded into himself with every harsh word, every jolt of plasma that had disrupted his friend's world relived in horrific detail. They gestured angrily as they described their newfound purpose, their battle for power with the fractured Brotherhood of Steel at their back, and their smug satisfaction at the moments they were able to crack open Raven Rock and the Enclave's mobile base crawler and lay waste to their tormentors.

It took a few rounds of these stories before the courier noticed he shrank and grew quiet whenever they neared the end of their story about breaking into another vault to find the GECK. They stopped abruptly one night. "What's up with you?"

"Um..." Arcade scratched the back of his neck and looked away. "Nothing. Nothing, I just... have some personal experience with the Enclave, myself."

The courier sighed. "Yeah, there's a few people walking around the West Coast that have similar stories to mine. Arroyo's full of them, for one. Is it something like that?"

Arcade took a deep breath. "I feel... well, it's a lot closer to home, for me. Close enough to raise questions, so I don't talk about it much."

"Close enough to..." The courier twisted their face up in confusion for a moment, before realization set in and their eyes grew large. "You were... your... oh."

"Mmm-hm."

"Well, fuck me." The courier smiled and popped a cap off of another beer. "I've been doing all the talking, haven't I? Let's hear your story about working with the guys in power armor who ruined my life, right after dad did."

Craig Boone: Whenever the courier started up like this, Boone couldn't help but notice a familiar twinge of regret and self-doubt in their voice. It shone through most clearly when they spoke about their time with the Brotherhood of Steel, the men and women they'd fought alongside and lost during their struggle against the remnants of the Enclave. It was there, too, in their story about returning to the vault they grew up in, setting the chaos that had arisen in their wake to rest, but not being able to go back to the way things were.

Boone didn't pry. He knew that feeling well. Instead, he cracked open bottles of beer, liquor, soda, whatever they had on hand during their nights in the desert, and just listened. He'd done the same for Carla, when they were younger and new to each other and he couldn't get enough of her voice and how it flowed endlessly, easily, the way his never could. He absorbed it all now as he did then: The joy, the pain, the loss, the fear, the triumphs and falls and abandoned dreams that filled the courier up and drove them to travel west, beyond anything they had ever known.

That last part stumped Boone a bit, though. "Why didn't you stay?" he finally asked one night.

They looked surprised. "Stay? Stay where? I didn't have a home anymore."

Boone shook his head. "With the Brotherhood. Or some other settlement."

"Like Megaton?" The courier sighed. "I thought about it. Close to the vault, friendly people, easy work... I guess I just didn't want to wind up... stuck."

They flushed red and looked away from him. Boone knew why they were embarrassed, but he also knew the truth in their words.

Sometimes the courier cried after they had finished, though they did their best to hide it. Boone pretended not to notice. He was pretty sure they knew he was pretending, but he was also pretty sure that pointing it out would be worse than just letting it be an open secret between them. The silence between them endured, but something grew inside it and flourished. Some kind of deeper understanding.

Lily Bowen: The more the courier spoke, the more Lily made connections in her muddled mind. Of course they knew the basic layout of most vaults, they had grown up in one. Of course they were extra-sensitive to the Mojave heat, they had come to the desert from the cooler of the two coasts. Of course they'd been extra-wary around the super mutants or nightkin of Jacobstown, they had only known angry super mutants looking to grow their own numbers through any means necessary.

Their shared experience of growing up inside a vault reminded Lily of happier days, and she often asked questions about Vault 101 during the courier's stories. "Were you sweet on anyone inside your old home?" she asked, with a big smile befitting a proud grandma.

The courier blushed. "That's not very polite, Lily."

"Oh, I'm sorry, dearie."

"No, no it's okay." The courier smiled. "There was a boy who picked on me a lot, but I never figured out whether he did it because he hated me or liked me. His name was Butch. And there was Amata, my childhood friend. She was the daughter of the Overseer."

"Daughter of the Overseer?" Lily grinned. "I'm sure she was a lovely young woman."

The courier looked a little misty. "Yeah. She was. Probably still is."

Lily pulled a handkerchief that used to be a small tablecloth from inside her overalls and handed it over. "Maybe we can go back there together, pumpkin," she offered. "I always wanted to travel to the capital. We can visit your friends, see the sights."

"Yeah, maybe someday." The courier accepted the gift and blew their nose. "I've got some things I need to finish up here before I even think about wandering back east, though."

"Then let's make a list and do our chores," Lily said happily. "Number one?"

"Ohhhh, man." The courier smiled up at her. "I wouldn't even know where to start."

Raul Alfonso Tejada: Raul got a faint smile on his face whenever the courier started up like this, as if their memories reminded him of another place he had come from, another time. While they couldn't have more different backgrounds, pasts- hell, he had several hundred years on the courier, even if they shared the same road today- there was something in the description of the other roads they had walked that made him feel warm on a cold night.

"What's on your mind?" The courier asked him one night, when Raul's smile grew larger than usual.

"Nada, boss," he reassured them. "You're just a good reminder that I can change my mind about the future anytime I'd like. Tell me the one about that radio DJ again."

"Again?" The courier rolled their eyes. "Why? I could tell you a million stories about Underworld and all the ghouls that lived there, but all you want to hear about is Three Dog. You'd probably have more in common with the Underworld folks, honestly."

Raul nodded noncommittally. "Sí, but my favorite stories are about people who had to rise above bad situations and become someone uncommon. Anyone who's able to do that is either fighting for something great or running from something terrible. Sometimes both."

The courier shot him a skeptical look. "Three Dog's holed up in his radio station 24/7, he's not running from anything or out fighting for anything. All that stuff about 'the good fight' is a load of bull."

"Now, now, Six," Raul chastised. "Just because he looks like your average pendejo doesn't mean he isn't doing his part. You even told me his radio show is inspirational for the Capital Wasteland folks."

The courier held their hands up in the air and bobbled them, as if balancing an invisible scale. "The duality of man. Being an average pendejo, or convincing everyone around you that you aren't actually an average pendejo and can pull off miracles."

Raul laughed. "And which one are you, boss?"

"Eh, I'm still figuring it out."

Rose of Sharon Cassidy: Cass was never one for fixating on her own past, but she couldn't help but sympathize with the courier whenever they deigned to add onto their unbelievable story. It was hard enough for her to navigate her own damn life: She couldn't imagine being called upon to steer an entire area's destiny.

After another night of recalling their life inside a vault with their dad, then their unexpected loss of him right after being reunited on the surface, the courier stopped suddenly. "I'm sorry," they said.

Cass paused her swig of precious whiskey. "What?"

"I keep going on and on about my dad, and here you are not knowing what happened to yours."

"Eh." Cass took her drink and waved her hand around until the burning swallow made its way down. "S'loads of people in the wasteland without a clue what happened to their pops. I'm not special. In fact, I'd say it probably hurts a bit more, what happened with yours."

"Well, all the same." The courier sank deeper into their seat and examined their own bottle of spirits. "I feel like an open book, tonight. Anything you want to know about where I came from that I haven't already spilled?"

Cass thought for a moment. "Tribals."

"What about them?"

"Does the East Coast have them? You're not the first traveler I've met from there, but none of you have so much as mentioned any tribals out east."

"Mmm." The courier looked thoughtful. "I guess we do have them, though maybe not in the traditional sense. There's a mess of them in Point Lookout for sure, and at least one tribal group in the Capital Wasteland outright, but beyond that things are more... loose. Fewer intact families, fewer intact homes."

"Huh." Cass took another drink. "Maybe that's where my dad went."

She let the courier stew in the awkward silence for a bit before she grinned and reached out to smack them. "Just kidding. Keep going. I want to hear about that giant robot again."

Veronica Santangelo: Veronica usually sat and listened, spellbound, picturing a chapter of her order that had realized the very thing she kept trying to tell the Elders and made the ultimate sacrifice to follow their hearts anyway.

Well, maybe Elder Owyn Lyons hadn't come to the same realization as her, but he had had a change of heart that split his company and cut them off from almost everyone they had ever known. It had been five years since the High Elders had instituted radio silence toward their East Coast chapter, and so far there had been no attempts to re-establish contact.

Veronica prodded the courier for any info she could get about the Capital Wasteland Brotherhood of Steel. The courier let slip pretty early in their friendship that Elder Owyn Lyons had passed away, which wasn't unexpected. The man was 76 years old, after all. She learned on one particularly emotional night that his daughter, Elder Sarah Lyons, was also dead, something she wasn't sure even the Western Elders were aware of. That memory was clearly painful for the courier though, so Veronica didn't press for details.

"And the Enclave?" the Scribe asked one night, arms wrapped around her knees. "Are they completely gone?"

The courier grew cold. "Yes. I made sure of it."

"Right." Veronica nodded. "So the Brotherhood took over the air force base they were at. It must have been chock-full of tech and resources, if it was the Enclave's last stand."

"It was." The courier sighed and shifted in their seat. "And it woke up some of our brothers and sisters to their original mission in the Capital Wasteland. I thought maybe that selfishness had died with Liberty Prime, but... well, I didn't like it, so I left."

"Mmm, yeah." Veronica nodded again, sympathetically this time. "I know how you feel. Felt."

"Feel," the courier agreed. "I just wish there was more I could've done. Maybe there wasn't anything else, short of seizing power."

"You'd definitely get pushback for that in the Brotherhood," Veronica agreed. "But you might get that chance out here in the broader Mojave."

ED-E: At first, ED-E enjoyed the stories, trumpeting and cooing various beeps at the appropriate moments for emphasis. The one time the courier began badmouthing the Enclave, however, the eyebot waited until they had finished before playing back the first tape that Dr. Whitley had recorded before its trip.

The courier listened to the scientist's words from years ago, deflating slightly as it played out. When the tape had finished, they stood up and checked the eyebot over. "He sent you toward Navarro, huh?"

ED-E beeped affirmation, and the courier sighed. "But Navarro was already gone. I'm sorry. I guess I'm... well, me and the Brotherhood of Steel back east are responsible for your previous master's decision to send you away. Might be responsible for more, too."

ED-E beeped sadly. The courier pressed their forehead against the eyebot's metal dome in apology.

Rex: Well, surprising for most. Rex was not most. As soon as the courier got really into their recollections, Rex usually yawned and went to sleep. He stirred when he felt their hand reach down to scratch the ruff of his neck, or pat the glass dome that held his brain.

"Good dog," the courier said, through the veil of sleep. "You remind me of another pup that used to follow me around."

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thewhiteroseofvermilion · 3 years

Text

Moving Forward

Hello everyone. It’s been a long time since I’ve last spoken to you all, and an even longer time since I’ve last updated this story. Over the months and years, my absence has saddened, frustrated, and even angered many of you. Despite my own valid feelings of how—to put it bluntly—I don’t owe any of you anything as this is something I do for free and in my own free time, I still recognize how it must feel for you all to see something you enjoy so much slowly lose momentum and eventually grind to a halt. Furthermore, my habit of making enthusiastic yet empty statements in between didn’t help either.

As such, a proper and honest explanation is due, as anything less would be unkind. This will be lengthy, but please bear with me.

For the past four years, it’s been increasingly difficult to find the time, energy, and motivation for me to properly sit down and write. Seemingly gone are the early days of this story’s life when I was able to publish a new chapter every month or so, or even every two weeks when I was at the top of my game in terms of activeness. Even though I had an immense workload due to being a double major in college, leading me to adopt the best work ethic I’ve ever had, I still led a sheltered lifestyle where I didn’t have to worry about the many looming, inevitable adult responsibilities that were ahead of me.

Those tranquil years of course came to an end when I graduated, and I soon felt immense pressure to shift my attention to finding work, living independently, and working on things that would further my career. While I received support as an aspiring writer from the majority of my family, those being my mother and sister, the both of them commented more frequently as time passed by that my “fanfiction” wasn’t something that I should be spending so much time on anymore. After all, it’s not like I could sell the work as my own, and the fact that despite fanfiction absolutely being a valid artform, it wasn’t something that the world of professional employers cared about.

Nonetheless, when I did eventually find work as a film freelancer, I still tried to persevere and write on the side. My goal back then was to work in film in order to sustain my pursuit in writing. Film was something I went to school for, greatly enjoyed, and even saw a possible future career for myself in, but it was the writing aspect of it that I was truly after, that being primarily screenwriting.

After two years of living at home, I felt the need to try and live independently as I outgrew my tiny room and my mom started dating a man that I didn’t particularly like. I knew it wasn’t financially smart of me to do so when my mom allowed me to live with her rent-free. But at the time I thought that it would help me to become more mature and productive, as I would have to force myself to work in order to put a roof over my head and food on the table—as opposed to living a sheltered life at home where everything was taken care of for me. Essentially, I was longing for the lifestyle I had in college, thinking that once I returned to it, I would be able to reacquire that once incredible work ethic I had.

So, I became roommates with a friend from college and together we rented a townhouse together. Rent wasn’t terribly expensive, but it wasn’t cheap either. Regardless, I was able to make ends meet. My greatest challenge however, was to live up to my family’s spoken and unspoken expectations. On one hand, my mother was sweet and understanding, naturally giving me her full support. My father, on the other, always thought that it’d be better for me to pursue something safer and more lucrative, and to not risk being a starving artist. But the one I had to prove myself the most to was my older sister, who was wildly more successful than I was—financially and professionally. My pay compared to hers was like a drop in a bucket, and I felt both indirect and direct pressure from her to be more “professional” like her. Therefore, I threw myself into my work, which is when things slowly began to go downhill.

As a film freelancer, my work hours usually averaged between 10-12 hours a day, and with my work taking me all over my home state of Maryland and even into neighboring Washington DC and Virginia, my commute time to and from work ranged anywhere from an additional 1-3 hours. It became incredibly common for me to wake up for work anywhere between 3-6 AM and not get home until 8-10 PM.

Unbeknownst to me at the time, I slowly slipped into a routine where when I did have the “time” to write, I had zero energy or motivation as my work was so taxing. I reached the point where I had to drink two energy drinks with 300mg of caffeine to get myself to and from work. I saw less and less of my roommate and friends. I spent an alarming amount of money and gained weight from ordering take-out so often because I hadn’t the energy to cook for myself when I got home late from work. There would even be days when I fell into what felt like comas, sleeping up to two days straight at one point. My physical, mental, and emotional health was in serious decline. And yet I didn’t see it that way, as I had become obsessed with trying to prove to my family, my sister in particular, that I wasn’t a failure and that my pursuit of writing wasn’t a hopeless one.

During the first month of COVID-19′s outbreak last year, I finally had a much-needed vacation. This was undoubtedly the best time for me to have returned to writing—but I didn’t. At this point, so much time had passed since my last proper writing session that the few times I did try to write, I found myself completely unable to write anything. I was so out of practice and so out of touch with what I had written. This honestly frightened me, and I soon began to doubt if I could ever be able continue the story with the same quality that so many readers fell in love with. Regrettably, I fled from this revelation long enough for a full month to pass by, and I soon found myself busy with yet another distraction: unemployment.

I was out of work for about 4.5 months, from the middle of March to the beginning of August. During this time, I had to rely on state unemployment, which earned me great scorn from my older sister. Our relationship had always been uneven since we were kids, but it was becoming increasingly toxic as of late since our college years. I felt so ashamed to tell her how much money I made in a year from my job as a film freelancer, and how I barely managed to move to a better position after four years of work. Riddled with guilt and disappointment in myself, when work became readily available again in August, I frantically threw myself back in harder than ever before. In the past where I had turned down the occasional job to give myself some time to relax or in order to make it to a social outing with friends, I now accepted every job thrown my way, only declining those that would make me double-book myself. I earned a lot of money during those months as a result, and I was so happy to finally distance myself from the stigma of being “unemployed.” However, I once again failed to see that I was yet again sliding back into the lifestyle that had been slowly poisoning me for the past two years.

After essentially working non-stop from August to March, my body, mind, and soul soon returned right back to the brink of collapse. It wasn’t until then at my lowest point when I finally realized how I initially went from working to sustain myself in order to write, to not writing at all and only working to sustain myself to work even more. It was truly scary to see myself fall victim to a brutal cycle of unfulfilling work that could have trapped me for years to come if I hadn’t broken free first. That’s when I realized that my lifestyle was personally unsustainable, and that something had to change.

Henceforth, I’ve made the difficult decisions to both transition out of film freelancing and to soon return home to live with my father. At the end of April, the homeowner of the townhouse my roommate and I had been living in for close to three years gave us our 30-days-notice to vacate, as they no longer wished to rent but to sell the property. As my roommate had been planning on finding a place of his own with his girlfriend for quite some time, we split amicably at the end of last month in May and I’ve since moved into a temporary apartment with a friend who has traveled back to Maryland for seasonal work.

Regarding the change in my career, I’ve been looking into applying for writing positions for something that I’ve grown to enjoy over the past few years, which is to write reviews for media such as film, anime, and videogames. This of course is not what I truly want to do in life, but I think that because it actually involves writing, it would be both good practice in terms of practicing my writing and experience in terms of resume-building. Furthermore, a stable “9-5″ job as such would be good for me, I think, as it would introduce some desperately needed structure back into my life. Being a freelancer was definitely fun as I had the power to choose my own schedule, but it unfortunately fostered a lot of laziness and procrastination when I wasn’t completely burnt out.

I’ve shared with you all this information, a great deal of it being very personal, in the hopes that it helps you better understand who I am as a person and what I’ve been going through these past four years.

I understand that my word may be difficult to trust due to my history, but I sincerely wish to let you all know from the bottom of my heart that I do plan on continuing writing The White Rose of Vermilion until it’s completed. My fears and insecurities may have alienated me from that promise, but not once did I ever entertain the idea of fully dropping the story. And I promise you, I never will. It most likely will not further my career in any way, bring any revenue in, and will continue to consume a great deal of my precious free time—yet I still choose to pursue continuing it because I can’t see a future where I don’t finish it.

It is after all my most cherished project; the reason that I was able to truly find my calling as an aspiring writer, its success also ultimately being the proof to my mother that I had some skill as a budding writer, who then gave me her full blessings to pursue it as a career. But most important of all is that it’s the reason why I was able to experience first-hand one of the most important and beautiful discoveries in my entire life. That being the incredible phenomenon of how art is like a beacon—its bright light is powerful enough to reach out and inspire others to create art of their own. From Monty Oum to Nancy Phetchareune to myself, I was blessed enough to see readers create wonderful fanart to show me or tell me in a review that reading my story had inspired them to create something of their own.

I am officially leaving behind my prolonged hiatus and returning to working on The White Rose of Vermilion. While I am extremely hesitant to even estimate when the next chapter will be published, please know that I am genuinely trying to leave behind my habits of old and returning to a more consistent schedule.

The White Rose of Vermilion will return in:

Arc II, Chapter Twenty-Seven: Stranger in the Night

#TWRoV #The White Rose of Vermilion

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