#Like I said; this is so the plot twists can have Max Effect | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

imtheasssniffer · 3 years

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Worth It

(Thank you @majorbombsinyourface for helping me with my comeback story. You’re a nasty mfker, but I guess I am too. Also I’m back, and this story isn’t very fart related. It’s just raunchy. I hope you guys still enjoy it though.)

You finally made it to college, and following in your brothers footsteps you decided to go to the same college and join the same fraternity. The guys always seemed so cool when you’d visit your brother, and you wanted to be a part of that. Being only two years apart meant that you got to be his brother not only biologically, but in the fraternity house. There were some familiar faces. Like Max, he was one of your brothers best friends, and you always got along especially well with him.

Day 1:

On the first day of pledging each pledge was paired with a big brother. You were lucky enough to get paired with Max. Getting paired meant you had to share a room. This seemed awkward at first, but you figured that as you bonded with Max it would be fun. After the house meeting was dismissed Max showed you around, and helped you to get settled down.

Day 2:

The second day was rather uneventful. You went to your classes all the same. After you were done attending classes. You went back to the frat house and studied. Max was out, so you had the bedroom to yourself. It was nice. It smelt a little off, but there were two college boys sleeping there, one of them being a jock, so it was well expected. After a couple hours of silence you heard the door creack open, and listened as Max approached you. His footsteps heavy on the floorboards. You didn’t turn around, which only aided in scaring you as Max roughly planted his hands on your shoulders.

“Whatchu doin man,” he asked loudly. “Studying,” you replied slightly startled, “What have you been up to?”

“I was getting something to eat with my bro’s,” Max replied smugly.

“Hey go sit on my bed,” he demanded.

You slid out of your chair and sat on Max’s bed, which was in the corner of the room and watched as he paced. Clearly he was thinking. An evil smirk crept onto his face, and then all of a sudden you got the feeling that maybe being Max’s pledge wasn’t a lucky turn of events. After a few more long seconds of awkwardly watching him plot to destroy you, Max walked towards you, holding eye contact with you the entire time. He mounted his bed on his knees. Sitting only a few inches from you.

“You know. Just cause I’m friends with your brother. Doesn’t mean I’m gonna go easy on you,” he stated coldly, you nervously chuckled. Knowing that something sick and twisted was a brew. He placed his left hand on your fore head, and with his right, he blew his nose. Effectively emptying his nose of all its mucus. You wanted to move, but some part of you told you to stay, and let it happen. Maybe it was because you wanted in to the fraternity, maybe it was the twitch in your cock, but whatever it was, it couldn’t shake you from the feeling of disgust.

Before you could fully comprehend what was going to happen next Max slapped you hard in the face. Spraying the boogers onto your cheek. The force causing it to splash over your lips and eyes. Without giving you a second to recuperate Max told you to open your mouth. You shook your head no, you were completely stunned. Max’s sick smile showed on his face again, and he forcefully shoved your head into the wall behind you and repeated,

“Open your mouth.” You gave in. Your cheek stung, and your brain was completely rattled from the past events.

“Wider, aaagghhhhh,” Max teased. You opened your mouth as wide as you could, and Max rubbed his slimy fingers across your tongue and teeth. Leaving a salty residue of mucus to coat the insides of your mouth. You cringed at the taste and the situation. Part of you wanted to throw up, but for some reason. You found it extremely easy to surpress your disgust, as Max had his way with you. You heard him snicker as he brushed your teeth with the remaining boogers on his hand. Your eyes had lost focus. Like they were frosted over. You couldn’t believe what was happening. Then before you knew it. Max planted his hand under your chin, and helped you to shut your jaw.

“Rest up. It’s only going to get worse tomorrow. And get the fuck out of my bed.” You hurried away from him, and walked into the hallway. You took a few deep breaths. Afraid of the monster your rooming with, and the fact that his wrath will only get worse. After a few moments of catching your breath. You rushed in to the communal bathroom and brushed your teeth. Scrubbing vigorously until you could taste blood. You gagged as you the you roughly scrubbed your tongue. He was evil, so why was the thought of it getting worse starting to make your dick harder.

Day 3:

You woke up day three of being a pledge to the sight of a pale ass, and a slightly hairy pink hole hovering over your face. You exclaimed your surprise by a small gasp, which forced you to inhale the musk that was over you.

“Rise and shine,” Max laughed before,

PPpFffRRRrTrTt

You watched as his dewy ass sprayed a fart into your face. His hole pushing out and open to unleash a 4 second fart on your face. The smell was rancid. You choked on the warm air, not wanting to breathe in the taste.

“Do you have morning classes today?” Max asked.

“No.”

“Good, cause your face looks really comfy.”

You began to panic, but before you could even try to throw him off. He fell backwards and planted his ass over your face.

“How’s the post-workout funk man?”

It was awful. You felt his hole swell over your nose. Ready to release. You wanted to do something, but you laid completely still, and let him,

bbBbBlLaarraARrpPtT

You heard Max laugh violently.

“How are the post workout farts pledge.” He said. It burned. You felt your face warm up, and get soggy from his swamp ass.

After what felt like an eternity, which was really just three minutes. Max raised his ass off of your face, and pulled his underwear up. You gasped, and you could feel your body shake, as oxygen was reintroduced to your blood flow. Max laughed as he watched you struggle to get out of bed and catch your breath. You glared at him, and he just laughed even harder.

“Gotta love the booger and fart combo meal,” Max joked as you walked past him.

“Well I wouldn’t know.” You said jokingly.

“What?” Max asked with an slightly annoyed tone. You turned to see him genuinely upset. He grabbed you by the collar of your shirt, and pulled you into the bathroom.

“Did you brush your teeth last night?”

“Y-yes,” you replied hesitantly. He let go of your shirt, and started looking through the toothbrushes.

“Which one is yours,” he asked intensely. Nervous, you responded with,

“The blue one in the middle.”

“You know. I’m pissed you made me have to do this, because this shit hurts,” Max replied. You watched as Max locked the door, and then grabbed your toothbrush, shoving the bristled side awkwardly up his asshole. You watched as it went deep. He was rubbing it up and down, collecting every nasty thing he could. He pulled it out, and now the once white bristles were slightly brown. You gagged at the sight, which prompted a laugh from Max.

“Go on, brush your teeth now.”

“Max... don’t you th-“

“I said brush your fucking teeth.”

Scared of what else he’d do. You grabbed your toothbrush back, and applied a fat glob of toothpaste onto the now browned bristles. You hesitantly brought the brush into your mouth and starting ‘cleaning’.

“No matter how much toothpaste you use. You’re still brushing your teeth with my shit,” Max stated, before stomping out of the bathroom. You immediately stopped brushing your teeth, as soon as the door closed, and spit out any remainder of the experience down the drain. You desperately cleaned your toothbrush, but you had a feeling you wouldn’t be able to use it again.

When you walked back into your room Max was no where in sight. The only mark to show he came back, was the dirty pair of underwear he’d been wearing for the last couple of days sitting on your pillow. You scoffed as you threw them on the floor, and then got dressed for your day. As you were about to leave your room. The door busted open, and Max came in holding three hampers filled to the brim with dirty laundry. You gave him a funny look, and he flashed his dangerous devilish smile. You stood still in fear, and curiousity. He walked past you and placed the hampers next to his bed. He turned around to look at you and chuckled as he saw your face which was contorted in a disgusted manner.

“Listen I don’t know what you think I’m going to do to you, but I can promise you it’s worse than you imagined,” he said walking up to you, and cupping his hands around your face. You could feel your dick start to strain against your pants, and you got embarrassed at the thought of him seeing it.

“Can we just get this over with?” You asked complyingly. You were so terrified of what would happen if you didn’t listen.

“Hmm. Somebody’s eager,” Max joked not knowing that some part of you did want to drown in weeks old, dirty, jock clothes.

“You felt yourself blush as you followed behind him. He crouched on the floor and grabbed a box from under his bed. Containing a ball gag and rope. You watched nervously as he pulled out the rope, and told you to take off your shirt, and then place your hands together. Although you knew he was getting ready to torture you. You couldn’t help but stop to admire how intimate it felt. The way his eyes squinted as he intently tied the rope around your hands.

“Lay down,” Max stated demandingly. You awkwardly complied. As you got down on the floor Max started to unbutton your pants. Your whole body tensed, and you covered your dick afraid he would see the erection that was slowly getting larger.

“Calm down man. I’m not gonna touch your dick. This is platonic,” he winked. Some part of you trusted him. Even though you were so terrified. You lifted your hands a little. Just enough for him to shimmy your pants down, but you kept them covering your member the entire time. Max just laughed. Once your pants were off he started to bind your feet. He did so with the same level of care as he had on your hands. Next he grabbed the ball gag. You looked at it with fear.

“Are you sure that’s necessary?” You asked nervously. Max snickered and replied, “If you’d like I can use Liams jock.”

“Never mind. Do what you think is best.” Your heartbeat quickened as the gag got closer to your face. Max motioned for you to open your mouth and placed the ball inside, he then gently lifted your head to fasten it tightly. Trapping you in a completely compromised state. After he finished binding your body. He gently scooped his arms under you, and lifted you softly. His arms were warm and embracing, but the second you started to feel comfort in them, your body was thrown like a rag doll onto his bed.

“Listen my bedsheets need to be cleaned, and you’re gonna clean them, but I thought we’d make this fun.”

Max watched you struggle on your back, as you tried to get into a comfortable position.

“Ready?” You just groaned into the gag. He smiled before lifting the briefs you threw on the floor.

“I see you didn’t appreciate my parting gift earlier. Before I drop all the toxic waste that is your fellow frat bros laundry on you. I’m going to make you regret disrespecting me.” You tried to say something, but you couldn’t. All you could do, was watch as he placed the pouch of his briefs over your face. Then he stretched as tight as he could. Stretching the stench of his 3 day old ball sweat on your face. Forcing you to inhale all of the musk that radiated off of his balls. You felt him lift your head, and you thought he was going to release you, but instead he pulled his briefs even tighter around your head, and tucked them into the strap of the ball gag on the back of your head. Your dick was fully erect now. All you wanted was for this to be over, so you could go shoot the steamiest load ever.

“Now that justice is served. I say it’s time we carry out the punishment.” You felt chills run down your body causing you to spazz.

“Oh no, no escape for you.” Little did he know you spazzed, because the sensation your dick was enduring, was euphoric. You couldn’t see anymore, but you heard Max lift one of the hampers. With no warning. Max unceremoniously dumped one of the hampers onto your legs. You could feel moisture surround the lower half of your body.

“Nice and warm huh?” Before you knew it he dumped the second hamper on your crotch. Finally you didn’t have to cover your huge boner. As you felt relief from freeing your dick. The third hamper was emptied onto your chest.

“Don’t worry. I saved the best for last.” Having no clue what he was talking about you listened closely. There was a ruckus and then the sound of zippers being unzipped. You heard Max sniff hard, and then mutter,

“Oh yeah, that’s the good shit.” Moments after the light that shone through his briefs, turned to complete darkness. Then the most potent scent of musk filled your nostrils. Your face felt warm and damp. It was almost noxious, but you kept sniffing it. You couldn’t get enough.

“I know, it’s hard to breathe down there I bet. That’s the contents of my year old gym bag being spread on your face bro. Always moist, always musty.” You heard Max walk away and open a door. Then, you felt even more clothes being thrown in you.

“And that’s my hamper for good measure too.”

The smell was so intoxicating. Almost as if it was getting you high. You were only trapped under his gym clothes for a couple minutes, but it felt like it had been hours. As you were getting lost in the scent. Max moved all the clothes from off of your face and took off the briefs that was tightly wound over your nose.

“Hey bud.” The light hurt your eyes, as your face became exposed to the world outside of his filthy briefs. You tried to speak back, but the ball gag was still in your mouth.

“It was getting pretty boring watching you lay still under my clothes. So I figured you might as well get it from the source.” You felt your eyes go wide. Max took off his shorts and he was free balling. You watched as his dick bounced between his legs.

“You know. Last year, your brother told me I have perfect t-bagging balls.” A cruel smile crept on his face as he laughed maniacally.

“Little did he know. These t-bagging balls, would be all over his little bros face.” As he spoke, he played with his balls fondling them. You saw his dick twitch, but he seemed unbothered. Meanwhile you had to stifle a moan, as your dick rubbed against some stale socks.

Max walked towards you with a wide, slow gait and a menacing look in his eyes. He slowly neared the bed, and stood over you. His hand lightly slapped your face, and then he kicked his leg over you, straddling your face with his crotch. He was right he did have the perfect t-bagging balls. The nearly covered half of your face, as he rested there, with his taint on your chin. Then he extended his knees, and sat up. Dangling his balls over your face. The angle at which you were witnessing this was immaculate. He looked so godly as he lowered his balls to your nose. Placing his hand on top of them and shoving them in your nostrils. Forcing you to directly breathe in his pheromones.

“Ahh take it in. The scent of your future big bro.” He moaned on top of you. Meanwhile you were struggling to breathe, because the skin of his balls was clogging your nostrils, and the ball gag didn’t help.

“Fuckk.” He started massaging his balls into your face. Kneading them over the bridge of your nose. Then as if his torture couldn’t get anymore raunchy he placed his asshole over your mouth, and dropped his dick over your eyes. You felt his hole against your top lip. His taint sat over your nose, and all you could smell was his tangy aroma. It was magical. You did your best to stifle large inhales, but it was so hard, because his scent just got more addictive the longer he tortured you. While busy trying not to let him know you were enjoying this, he,

BBrRraaAFfTt

Let out a spicy fart.

“Damn. That one kinda hurt coming out.” It slid into your mouth. It left a burnt taste in your mouth, and gave you goosebumps. It lasted 3 seconds, but it packed a major punch. The smell wafted into your nostrils and it was awful. It was cheesy and skunky.

BbBrRaAaaPPtT

“Aww fuck. You’re in for it man.”

PPPrRUUmMMpPTt

“Jesus.” Max said as he comically waved his hand in front of his face. You couldn’t blame him. You were weakly coughing under his ass. The smell was so intense. He must’ve eaten something rancid while you were in the shower.

PpPpPAAAAaRrRpPTt

“I kinda feel bad for you down there.”

PPpffRrrTT

“Ok I’m done. I don’t want to kill you.”

He slowly unmounted your face. Leaving you to bask in his gas, while he stepped away. You watched as he gathered the clothes that he had taken off of your face.

“I’ll let you cool down for a bit,” he said as he threw his old gym clothes back on you. This time a jock falling over your face. The smell was intense, and the smell of his farts that lingered over your face only aided in making his clothes smell atrocious. You were loving it. You laid still smelling the clothes for a while. Clearly Max was up to something. You finally heard the door creak, and then Max,

“Hey man. Sorry I took so long. Hope I didn’t keep you waiting.” He chuckled as he walked over to you. You were expecting him to release you, but instead you felt and indent on the edge of his bed, and then a heavy weight on top of your body. This weight effectively pressing your sore and hard penis into the pile you of crusty jockstraps and damp T-shirts’ you were under. Since you weren’t expecting the sweet sensation this caused you let out a loud moan.

“Bro, what the fuck, are you good?” You heard Max ask above you. You felt a shuffle on top of you as clothes were thrown on the floor, and then a hand caress your bulge.

“Are you turned on by this?” You were terrified. What was he going to do. What was he going to say?

“I didn’t know you were such a freak,” he stated with a tone that almost sounded pleased.

“I’m glad I’m not the only one in the room right now that’s horny as fuck.”

You gurgled into your gag in shock. Was he for real? A sick sense of joy arose in you. You heard him inhale deeply into the still, rather impressive pile of vile clothes on top of you.

“Fuckkk.” He ruffled some of the clothes on top of your face, and grabbed your jaw. Forcing you to look at him.

“Do you wanna fuck?” He asked bluntly. Surprised, you just moaned into the gag. You were confused, but his face made you want to submit further than you already had.

After a brief contemplation. You nodded your head up and down. Max’s whole face lit up in a sick grin, and he started to stand on the bed . He quickly took off the briefs he was currently wearing, and slammed his body back down on top of you, before sliding off of the bed. He then placed his hands under you, and flipped you over. Your body tensed in shock. You now laid on top of the pile, and your face was pressed into a sweaty sock. You felt him climb back onto your bed, and then grab your butt cheeks. You felt his face against your ass as he inhaled deeply, which caused you to get chills all over your body. He moaned and then placed his tongue just below your hole, flicking it up until it slid around the ring of your anus. You moaned in ecstasy as his tongue seemed to expertly navigate your ass. Once finished licking the outside of your hole, he penetrated your asshole with his tongue, slowly pushing in deeper. He used his tongue like the bow on a violin, going back and forth, in and out. His hands tightly squeezed your cheeks, and massaged your thighs. After a couple of minutes you felt his dick slide against your taint, and in between your cheeks. You moaned in anticipation, as his dick stroked against your ass. You heard him spit, it splashed on his dick, and rained down on your ass. Unlike everything he had done before, he sloppily rubbed his saliva into his dick, moaning as he played with the head of his cock in his hands. Before continuing, he grabbed a sweaty t-shirt, and inhaled deeply into the armpit. Gasping in ecstasy, and then plunging his dick in ecstasy. You nearly screamed as you felt your hole stretch around his cock, which was larger than you anticipated. He initially moved slow and carefully, like he had before, but after a few strokes he started pounding into you roughly. You felt his hands slam down against your back, leaving a sting red pain to heat up your mid back, before scratching his nails back down to your ass, which he pinched between his fingers. Jiggling your mounds like jello, as he thrust into them harshly, causing them to ripple even more. You groaned in pleasureful pain, as your body was being used by Max, who fucked you hard. The intense stench that filled the room mixed with the beating your ass was getting, caused you to shoot your load all over the pile of clothes you laid on, spraying your cum onto your various frat brothers clothes. The vulgarity of it just aroused you more. Not too long after you felt Max strain as he began to shoot ropes of cum deep into your insides. As he slowly slid his dick out of your hole, you felt his cum ooze out of your hole, and trickle down to your balls.

“Fuck you better be ready for round two bitch,” Max said trying to catch his breath. You simply moaned at the thought of going again.

(I was thinking of making this a story that took place over a week, so if you think I should continue it let me know. I have a lot more nasty shit planned for you and Max.)

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brakken-spideyverse · 2 years

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This review feels like a long time coming:

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)

I’m finding it difficult to know where to start with this one. I loved it when I first saw it, even though it’s not free of problems, and I’ve been on the defensive about it for quite some time. Part of me wants to leap in and bite at all the specific criticisms I’ve heard and explain why they’re mistaken, part of me wants to simply shower it with overly biased praise to try and achieve some kind of balance… but I’ll do my best to break it all down.

I know the plot with Peter’s parents isn’t for everyone, but I appreciate the efforts to make it more engaging, and not slide it under the mat because it was unpopular. The opening is effective in giving us some misleading clues about the backstory, and also serves as an interval between TASM1’s final swing and when we pick up with Spidey again in this one. And they don’t hold back on the foreshadowing moments - the plane, Mary’s death… I mean the movie starts inside of a clock ticking away.

Now, our opening image of Spidey. Oh, dang. I love it – I love the symbol fading in as we’re brought to present day, with the theme music coming in triumphant and exciting and fun. The way the camera follows Spidey in this opening makes me want to jump up in my seat every time. How he pulls himself around buildings, and twists through the air. When he reaches the peak of his swing, and our viewpoint spins around to frame him against nothing but a clear blue sky as he enters a death-defying dive. The film itself feels so excited about throwing Spidey onto the screen - truly, amazing. This was, and continues to be, the absolute pinnacle of web-swinging scenes.

And the movie has now set up its extremes – from the dark and tragic prologue with Peter’s parents, to this light-hearted and thrilling pursuit, we already have the gamut of what the movie will ask of its audience. As someone who doesn’t like to be ‘tricked’ by a story suddenly shifting tone, this has great value to me. Especially given that this opening also has some stuff that can be considered… off.

Specifically, the car pile-ups caused by Rhino’s hijacked truck feel too extreme – it’s an easy detail to blur out when caught up in the action, but it’s not fully sold that the innocent bystander Max Dillon requires saving at the cost of a taxi cab tumbling and scraping its way across the street. I think there’s something to be said about the lens we’re viewing this under, which is why I brought up the tone being so firmly established. In TASM1, there is a scene where it is acknowledged that someone dangling in a car off a bridge is in need of rescue – so when Spidey swings away after that singular save, and leaves Dr. Ratha unconscious and still hanging there, it creates cause for concern. But not to the same extent here in TASM2 – when the cars get tossed and turned, we’re allowed to experience this in Spidey’s POV, and since he’s not concerned, we don’t need to be, either. However, on repeat watches I do still find it goes a bit too far.

As someone who was substantially disappointed by how TASM1 handled its Peter/Gwen wrap-up, I was really glad to see it addressed as a primary plot thread in the sequel. It’s already a fine line to expand on a story, but to specifically address a problem-moment takes guts and craft. It would be so easy just to ignore it, or retcon it with a mere hand-wave. It could have been: “Who cares about the entire plot of the first movie, it’s fine!” or: “Actually, they broke up again, oops!”. But TASM2 hones in on the promise he made, and on Peter’s indecisiveness. We get to see him wrestling with responsibility and guilt, still struggling with understanding who he wants to be.

On the flip-side, how I wish Gwen and Peter were just happily dating in this movie. They are just too cute together to have so much time invested in relationship drama, even when I think it’s handled fairly well. I’ve heard a number of people call Peter out for following Gwen post-breakup. They are correct - this is a thing he shouldn’t be doing! Without forgiving that, I'd also like to emphasize that neither the movie nor the characters act like it's a romantically blanketed action on his part. Gwen confronts him about it, and Peter deflects before guiltily admitting. To expand further, they both know that their relationship isn't so simple. They each state at points in the movie that things are complicated. Gwen cares about Peter, and knows him well enough to understand why he's acting the way he is, but still demands to hear his explanation. I don’t think it’s flawlessly done, but contrasting it to TASM1 - where him discreetly taking pictures of her goes mostly unaddressed and at one point almost rewarded - I think there is a meaningful distinction.

I want to talk about the evolution of Spidey’s quipping. In the first movie, his witty persona emerges as a bully, since he’s seeing the world in a fairly black-and-white way. He gets harassed by Flash, so he pushes back. When he’s out seeking justice for Uncle Ben, he has no qualms about humiliating the car thief or getting cocky with the cops. But after further run-ins with Flash, and realizing Doctor Connors is the Lizard, this makes him begin to realize that not all villains are just clear-cut evil-doers. There are people there, with past trauma or misplaced anger. And maybe there’s a chance to help them, before hurting them. In TASM2, every time he swings in to intervene with a baddie, he always begins by attempting to defuse the situation, or to resolve it by talking before swinging fists. We see it in both scenes with Rhino, with Max in Times Square, and even with Harry where he simply pleads with him.

Now, let’s talk about the villains.

Electro is a bit of a grey area for me. I love his powers and his music, and I dig his design for the most part. His awakening in the morgue is wonderfully terrifying. However, I flip back and forth on how much I like his story. On one end, I see his descent into villainy as this exaggerated version of a hyperfan – so eager for his idol’s approval, and so quick to feel snubbed when faced with certain realities. This is mostly effective, even with its caricatured tone, and serves its purpose for the big, explosive fights with low personal stake. But the film also clues us in to the lonelier side of Max Dillon - where the world is unjustly against someone who wishes no harm… there is more tragedy than villainy in that. And when that aspect of his character goes unaddressed, with no final attempt by Spidey to redeem him, his demise doesn’t feel earned by the story.

I love this movie’s take on Harry. In a reflection of Peter getting left behind by his parents, here it’s the son who was sent away. His introduction comes naturally off the premise that Norman is dying, and his chemistry with Peter quickly blends him into the history of this series as we watch them reconnect, and watch Harry struggle with the ‘Osborn curse’. Critics have said it’s unreasonable that Peter doesn’t give Harry his blood, but I disagree – one look at him and you can see the obsession and desperation that’s eating him alive. It’s all too similar to Connors, and Peter isn’t so ready to trust again. And the Goblin is more than a surprise villain at the end. He is the culmination of Harry's journey – all his pain and abandonment manifested, as his plight to not become his father turns him into something worse. His design reflects this too – a state of absolute agony as his disease clashes with the spider venom, and he’s kept lucid only with the help of the combat armor. He wasn’t meant to look like a perfected design for Green Goblin – he’s meant to look like his own worst nightmare.

Concerning Rhino… he’s great! And Paul Giamatti is great as Rhino! No further comments!

Well, a little elaboration on one point: Rhino is not sequel bait. Would he have appeared in TASM3? In all likelihood, yes. But his purpose is fulfilled in this film. He is the bookend – our reminder of Gwen’s speech, of Spidey at his peak, and showcases that all things will evolve and escalate, with or without Spidey there. More on this later.

With Aunt May, her scene in Peter’s room is just so beautiful and heart-breaking. We understand how she’s struggling with her situation as much as Peter is, and feels like she’s losing him to the idea of who his parents were. Carrying over from the first film I really get the sense that in their small family unit, Peter had the strongest connection with Ben - and with him gone, all the weight of the secrets and loss is all on her. “You are my boy”. It’s so honest and unrefined, and vulnerable.

I have some issues with the culmination of the storyline with Peter’s father. I think it’s strange that the actual flashbacks place an amount of importance on his mom, but there’s no meaningful follow-up for her in present day. And I wish there’d been any amount of exoneration for either of them beyond Peter’s discovery – be it a Bugle headline, or even just letting May find out the truth. It would go a long way to casting off the shadow of the past.

But most notably, it is rather heavy-handed that Richard used his own DNA to create the spiders. When the spider bite is classically this… complete happenstance, it does feel against the ‘nature’ of a Spidey story to have it tied so much to a feeling of destiny. And yet… with how other Spidey comics and stories have evolved, is it really such a deviation? When there is a whole tangled web of Peter Parkers out there, all bitten by spiders, can we really stand firm on this notion that it has to be accidental, in every timeline, in every universe? I’m not always sure, myself. I hold Into the Spider-Verse in the highest esteem, which very much evokes the idea that anyone can be Spider-Man. Even so, I really think this version of Peter in TASM needs that connection to his father. It’s a physical embodiment of choosing to do something good with the abilities given to you, which both Richard and Peter attempted. What’s most interesting in this scene for me, is that Peter’s final unanswered question gets resolved here – he finds out his father didn’t abandon him, that he was loved. In another story, this could’ve led to Peter deciding to let Gwen go, much like his father left him. But here, he does the opposite. He knows the pain of being disconnected from a person you love, and he chooses to forgo that.

But… it’s too late. While Peter has untangled his legacy, Harry has gotten wrapped up in his own. And his revenge is killing Gwen – and all hope for Peter’s future. It’s sickening, and tragic. The entire scene is heartbreakingly beautiful. Yet, it’s difficult for me to pin down whether I think it was wholly the right choice for the story, when I liked the character so much and didn’t want to see her go.

But I am certainly thankful that we’re not left there, in absolute despair.

We continue into the epilogue… the ending.

It harkens back to Peter tossing stones with Harry, remarking that Spider-Man brings people hope. “Maybe eventually everything's gonna be alright.” This idea is shattered for Peter, now – his own hope is gone. But Aunt May’s words, and Gwen’s speech, help him push past his grief, and remember that Spider-Man means that to everyone else, too. And they need that. They need to believe it, even if he can't. This movie ends on the highest of highs. The hero swings in to save the city from a huge, bombastic villain. Spidey is charismatic and quippy. He is met with cheers, and his theme music carries us beyond the cut to black, as his symbol flies in to complete the story – telling us that he will keep fighting.

But it’s all for us. Peter Parker is utterly broken, and only Spider-Man remains, for our sake. We win, but Peter loses.

So much I could still talk about, but I’ll leave it at that, for now. This movie is so very full - full of beautiful moments, of thrilling events, and plenty of problems… and altogether remains very important to me.

Rating:

#max talks about spidey #long post #nonmakeover

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alltooreid · 3 years

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Invisible String

Although Spencer Reid and the Reader don’t find themselves in a romance with each other until well into their adulthood, their relationship has been decades in the making. Almost as if something as been pulling them together all these years.

A/N: sorry for such a long wait but i’ve been struggling a lot mentally as of late. i hope you guys enjoy this one shot!! As always requests are open and heavily encouraged!! And of course this is inspired by the taylor swift song of the same name :)) Also keep in mind although the following scenes are heavily inspired by some scenes in Criminal Minds, elements of them have been slightly altered to fit in Y/N as a character.

Pairing: Spencer Reid x Reader

Type: a cute strangers to lovers fluff fic!

Word Count: 3.9K

Content Warnings: typical criminal minds case discussion, mentions of child trafficking when discussing this case, but no real detail. slight spoilers for season eight (beginning maeve stuff) and tiny spoilers for season fifteen (briefly mentions max but nothing really important to the plot at all)

“Time, curious time Gave me no compasses, gave me no signs Were there clues I didn't see?”

You had met Spencer Reid 3 times before you had really met him.

It was almost silly to think about it now. Now that you and Spencer have been dating for 3 years, it was strange to believe there were so many chances for you two to meet years earlier.

When you were sixteen years old, you got your first part time job. You worked at a self-serve frozen yogurt shop called Iced Dreams. You hated it so much. Your manager was a total creep, your older coworkers were rude and condescending to you, since you were one of the youngest people working there, but most of all you hated the uniforms.

Consisting of a very stupid looking hat, bright pink with randomly embrodiered teal patterns, an outdated bright teal shirt, it had been given to you from a dirty bin in the back, and judging by the sewn in shoulder pads, it had to be at least a couple decades old.

So one day, you didn’t wear the hat.

It wasn’t entirely purposeful. You couldn’t find it, you searched your room, you searched your car, so eventually you had to leave without it to prevent being late. Still, as you clocked it and passed the box of extras in the office something made you decide to leave it alone.

You were about 8 minutes into your shift when your manager approached you. “Y/N? Where’s your hat sweetheart?” You hated this man so much. You had gone to your parents time and time again, recounting his creepy behavior towards you and the other teenage girls who you worked with, but they refused to let you quit.

When you had started working there, he used to enforce this ridiculous rule that all the female workers had to wear skirts as part of their uniform, but you had gathered all the sixteen and seventeen year olds who worked there and all threatened to quit if he didn’t change the policy. So you were no stranger to breaking and defying the rules.

“Yeah I couldn’t find it, sorry.” you shrugged.

He chuckled and reached his hat out to touch your face. You jerked back, you almost wanted to refuse to wear one of the stupid extra hats just so that you could get fired.

“Well, Y/N its policy sweetie. No matter how special you are to me you still need to wear the hat. There’s extras in the office.”

“No way I’m wearing one of those. I bet they have like lice or something.”

He pursed his lips and sighed “Well I suppose that beautiful hair is just too pretty to wear a used hat huh. . . What do you suggest? If you’re working you have to wear it.”

You laughed, “Well you could let me go home.”

He paused, “Why don’t you go sit in the office, I’ll come talk to you in a minute.”

So you did, for about 10 minutes you sat in the office, surrounded by frozen yogurt flavor marking posters and boxes of old uniforms, and each passing minute you feared for the worst. Maybe you were actually getting fired? You really didn’t want to go that far, because, as much as you hated it, you really needed this job.

When your manager finally came to talk to you he held a small salted caramel frozen yogurt, your personal favorite flavor, and a twenty dollar bill. He handed them both to you.

“You seem so stressed Y/N, why don’t you take the day and go get lunch. My treat,” he said, smiling that weird twisted smile that always made your full body shiver.

However you were broke as hell, and no teenager in their right mind would ever pass up free food, so you took it, grabbed your keys and started to leave

Yet as soon as you walked out the back door you dropped your frozen yogurt, cup fully upside down, onto the pavement. You cursed, you hadn’t even taken a bite of it yet, and it looked like he had put coconut flakes on it, and you loved coconut. Still, you had your twenty bucks, and that was a pretty sweet pay out considering you were only clocked in for about 20 minutes.

So you got Chinese food, and spent what was supposed to be your shift in the shopping mall across town, completely and blissfully unaware of the fact the Behavioral Analysis Unit of the FBI was dragging your manager away in handcuffs.

➽───────────────❥

Young Spencer Reid had only joined the FBI about a month ago. Despite being a genius, and providing crucial information to the solving of cases, he was aware of the most obvious. He was only twenty two years old, and he was scrawny as hell.

He felt this intense need to prove himself, especially to make Gideon proud.

So when they got a case about a the kidnapping and sex trafficking of teenage girls, he saw it as something he could really involve himself in. Based on the profile, it wasn’t going to be a large, strong, confident unsub who Morgan needed to tackle. This man would be ugly sure, but he would be a manipulative mastermind. Reid could work with that, he could prove himself.

He surprised everyone with his sheer work ethic and determination to find this man, and through consistently revising and delivering the profile soon enough they got a hit. A young woman in her early twenties called the tipline and reported her own manager. Insisting he fit the profile perfectly, and described how strangely he treated the minors who worked there, and how he almost exclusively hired young girls, treated them great and then switched as soon as they became legal.

So Garcia did her magically digging, and soon enough the FBI was tearing up a frozen yogurt shop, looking for any evidence of pedophilia. Garcia was even brought along, as she was pivotal to discovering any secret files in his computer.

At first, all they could find were strange compilation videos and under employees skirts. Spencer, and the rest of the team, were struggling to connect how he could get so many videos from an angle like this without anyone noticing or reporting him, until Gideon uncovered an old dusty pair of shoes, in which the right one held a small camera at the toe.

Although this was absolutely disgusting, it wasn’t enough to prove he was running the ring or kidnapping the girls, so Garcia kept digging. Meanwhile, Spencer tried to make himself useful by checking out the back of the store.

That’s where he found your clock-out receipt.

“Hey guys, we might want to take a look at this,” he shouted out.

Morgan grabbed the paper from his hand, “Ok, I don’t get it kid, it’s trash.”

Spencer pointed to the details on the slip, “Yeah but it says here she clocked out 18 minutes ago after only working for 23 minutes and 46 seconds. If this guy is our unsub, this girl could be in a lot of trouble.”

“Maybe she’s still here, has anyone checked out the parking lot yet?”

Spencer shook his head, and followed Morgan out the back door. There they discovered some almost completely melted salted caramel frozen yogurt.

Morgan bent down to investigate, “Yeah, we gotta get this to the lab, but I can tell you right now that there’s clearly more than just coconut topping this yogurt. It also means we have another victim.”

Spencer crouched down as well, “Not necessarily.”

“What do you mean kid? We’re missing a teenage girl and we’ve already found illegal evidence on this guy's computer. She’s in trouble.”

“Well judging the shape and inscription of these pills it appears to be some pretty strong rohypnol, almost certainly prescription grade. And ingesting it like this means she probably would have begun to feel its effects fairly early, I would predict 15 minutes. She clocked out 18 minutes ago, so even if she left exactly at that time she would have certainly crashed her car on the way home. The nearest residence is 8 minutes away from here, we’re in a complete shopping district. There’s only two cars out here and neither have a passed out driver, so I would bet she didn’t eat any of it. Also, the only spoon out here is still wrapped in plastic, “ Spencer analyzed.

Morgan sighed, “Well what do we even do then?”

Before Spencer could answer Hotch opened the back door. “We got him.”

Spencer turned to Morgan, “I’m sure her phone number is somewhere inside, I say we call her and make sure she’s ok. She probably doesn’t even know this is happening right now.”

So he did find your phone number, and although he initially pushed the phone to Morgan, he just chuckled and pushed it back.

“No way pretty boy. You’re the know-it-all with all that profiling out there, you can call her,” and before he could protest Morgan left, so Spencer was left to call you.

And strangely, for it being the first time he would ever interact with the love of his life, he thought nothing of it.

And that was the first time you had met Spencer Reid.

➽───────────────❥

The second time was years and years later, when you were waitressing night shifts to make extra money. You had never forgotten meeting Spencer Reid the first time, but this was the first time you would ever see his face.

You were slightly concerned when you got a call from a man, whose name you had now long forgotten, claiming he worked for the FBI. Although you weren’t incredibly surprised to hear your manager committed such heinous crimes against children, you were taken aback by how close you had come to becoming one of his victims.

But that was 9 years ago. In your college days it became a fun story you told at frat parties, but you were 25 now. Sometimes you would think about the incident when you couldn’t sleep, and if you were feeling feisty you would use it as an icebreaker or a “two truths, one lie” statement, but otherwise you didn’t really think about it.

You had plenty of other things to worry about, in fact, that’s exactly why you worked so much. It was so much easier to forget when you were constantly preoccupied with complaining customers and terribly awkward blind dates.

You had just sat this man, incredibly handsome, however it was clear he was on some kind of date. His reservation was for two, and he spent way too much time adjusting his clothes and table setting for him to not be trying to impress someone special. He also brought a gift, which judging by the packaging and shape, seemed to be some kind of wrapped book.

Even though he was 15 minutes early for his own reservation, he still looked really nervous, almost like he already believed she might not show up. You couldn’t help yourself, you had to go talk to him.

“Anyone ever tell you you should model?” you started with.

He looked up “Excuse me?”

“Sorry for being so bold, you just look so familiar,” he weirdly sounded very familiar as well, but you didn’t tell him that. “Are you sure you haven’t modeled? You have excellent bone structure. I bet you could.”

He laughed to himself, “yeah I’m sure.”

“Well your date is very lucky either way. I wish I had a boyfriend as handsome as you. Actually I wish I had a boyfriend period, but that’s a whole other story.”

He chuckled, and although you knew in your heart that you shouldn’t be flirting with him considering he was 15 minutes away from being actively on a date talking to him made you feel something you hadn’t felt in a long time. “What happened with your boyfriend? Do I even dare ask?”

“Well I kind of always knew he wasn’t super interested in me, but I really liked him, so I did my best to ignore his wandering eyes,” you sighed. “That didn’t stop him from leaving me for his coworker though.”

“That’s terrible.”

You smirked, “That’s not even the worst part, he broke up with me over a 27 second phone call. He didn’t even let me respond, he just kind of hung up.”

“I’m sorry, no one deserves that. Especially not you. I’ve only been talking to you for a couple minutes and I can tell that.”

“Oh really? What makes you so sure?”

“I’m pretty good at reading people.”

You smiled, “Well I should probably stop flirting with you now, considering your date hasn’t even started yet. And don’t worry, she’ll show, you’re so handsome she’d be stupid not to.”

He looked confused. “You were flirting with me?”

You laughed, “I thought you were good at reading people?”

He smiled back at you, and it made your heart soar, this silly, pure goofy smile that made you want to replace his date and have dinner with him right then and there.

You walked back to your hostess stand. A couple minutes later you noticed the handsome stranger on the phone. You thought nothing of it until later when a woman came in, clearly nervous, holding a gift bag.

“Can you give this to Spencer Reid for me please?” You recognized the name, the man you were just speaking with had filed his reservation under it.

“Um, yeah sure, aren’t you going to go in? He’s at that table over the-” but before you could finish your sentence the woman was gone. Your heart sank, poor Spencer, how could someone drop their date off a gift but stand them up anyway? That’s just cold.

When you get up to bring the gift to him, he’s already heading out of the restaurant himself.

“Sir? Spencer? Dr. Reid?” he turned his head. “A lady came in and dropped this off for you.”

His face dropped, it almost looked like he was about to cry. “Thank you,” he said as he looked up at you before leaving.

He ran out the door, both gifts in hand and whipped his head around a few times before sighing and speeding off in one direction. Even before you learned what happened after that and leading up to it, you felt terrible for the handsome stranger.

How could you not for someone so clearly distressed? Someone so clearly in love?

➽───────────────❥

7 years and a divorce later you were spending your Saturday in a park, strangely contemplating love itself. Although you barely remember that night all those years ago when you spoke to Spencer, he did. Vividly. In fact, on this Saturday you both were in a public park, contemplating your many failed attempts at true love.

It was your first wedding anniversary without your husband. Although you had only been married for two years, you still were having a hard time navigating life without him.

You started to wonder if you would ever find the true love you had been wishing for since your youth. Was 32 too late? Had you lived out all of your opportunities?

When you were little your mother had told you that all soulmates were attached at the left ring fingers, by small, incredibly thin strands of gold string, invisible to the naked eye. She insisted that these strings were constantly trying to pull you and your soulmate together, and that when life was ready for you two to meet, you would.

Until then, you would have small, mindless interactions. Things you wouldn’t think about, maybe even things that weren’t interactions at all. You would get the same commercial jingle stuck in your head. You would both get an intense craving for the same food. You’d have the same dream.

As a kid you were obsessed with this idea, you thought it was so romantic, and you fully believed everything your mom told you about it. You always asked her for more stories, and at bedtime you refused to sleep unless she would tell you more.

But now you were sure soulmates, true love even, didn’t exist. The invisible pretty gold strings your mother weaved fantastic stories with were completely fabricated. If they weren’t, you would have seen the clues by now.

Right?

➽───────────────❥

Spencer Reid was given an assignment from his therapist. He had to spend his Saturday off trying to interact with a stranger. Making friends with someone other than his colleagues may seem like a simple task for some, but it was something the young genius had almost no experience with.

He understood that it was probably for the best. He wasn’t exactly great with relationships of any kind, but especially not romantic ones. It didn’t take a genius to know that a couple of flirtations, a dead girlfriend he had only seen once, and a long time unrequited (or at least he thought unrequited) infatuation with his best friend and godsons’ mother was not a very great track record.

He, just like you, was also beginning to believe that he was hopeless when it came to love. That 38 was too old, that his time to meet someone and have the children he dreamed of had long passed.

But right as he was about to call JJ, to see if she would invite him in on the case Garcia had started to work on, he saw you.

Unlike you, he remembered your face and your interaction vividly. That almost date with Maeve was one of the biggest defining moments of his life, and what are the chances that the waitress from that very night was now less than 30 feet away from him, reading under the green leaves of a tree.

He wasn’t going to say anything, until he saw the book you were reading.

The Narrative of John Smith.

It must have been a sign, for what he wasn’t exactly sure yet, but it just had to mean something. The universe had to be reaching out to him, he had experienced crazier things.

And just as he was about to walk over to you, to close the gap between the gold strings tied around your ring fingers, a child interrupted his train of thought.

“That’s a strange haircut.”

➽───────────────❥

Derek Morgan and Spencer Reid were finally reuniting after many years. They barely got to see each other these days, but even though he was teaching and working at the BAU, Spencer still was willing to clear his schedule to second Derek suggested they meet up.

Morgan was excited as well, both to see his friend and to hopefully help him get a date. Sure, he had liked what he had heard about Max, but he wasn’t exactly surprised it had only lasted a couple months between her and Spencer. They just seemed too different.

Plus, now he got the chance to play wingman again, and he was ecstatic about that. Spencer not so much.

“I don’t know Morgan, it’s only been a couple months since we broke up. Wouldn’t it be too early to start talking to other people?”

“Pretty boy, you and I both know that the rate in which you’ve had relationships is not even close to the average. You need to balance that out somehow.”

Spencer sighed, he knew Derek was right, but he still felt strange.

“Morgan, have you ever heard of the red string of fate?”

“No, but I’m sure I’m about to hear all about it.”

“It’s an East Asian philosophy, based on the discovery that the ulnar artery connects the heart with the pinky finger, actually that’s where the belief in pinky promises come from. The reason it’s integrated in so many different cultures is that-”

“Kid, you’re losing me here,” Morgan interrupted. “Finish your thing about the string.”

“Oh yeah, sorry. It’s the idea that human relations are predestined by a red string that the gods tie to the pinky fingers of those who find each other in life. Legend has it that the two people connected by this thread will have an important story, regardless of the time, place or circumstances. The red string might get tangled, contracted or stretched, as surely often happens, but it can never break. Essentially, the idea is that although we might not realize it, our lives move in a pre-ordained direction, guided by invisible strings that are woven into the fabric of the Universe itself. And all the while, the red thread connecting us to our distant soulmates is getting shorter.”

“Well it’s an interesting theory kid, but it’s a lot to think about. I mean, we’re in a bar, let loose a little bit. Not every interaction has to be about getting closer to your soulmate. And sure, maybe you’ll meet them one day, maybe even soon. But you’re here now, and just because your one true love may not be, doesn’t mean it’s not worth it to be here.”

Spencer sighed, “You’re right. I don’t even know if I believe in that anyway, maybe I’m just looking for something to explain this all.

Derek patted his friend on the shoulder, “okay pretty ricky, this is how it’s about to go down. I’m going to buy you two drinks. You’re going to take both of them, and go find someone, anyone here to go talk to.”

“Ok, I think I can do that. Who?”

Derek looked around, trying to find who he believed would be the best match for his friend. “How about her?” he asked, pointing at you.

Spencer couldn’t believe it when he looked. There you were, the girl, the one he had met three times before, even if he could only remember two. The woman he knew was some sort of universe sent sign that Saturday he saw you underneath the greenery. The girl he was so close to talking to before he was interrupted by Max’s nephew. The woman who (and he obviously did not know this at the time) he would marry 3 years later. The one who would carefully knit the baby blankets for all of their friends and exes. The one who he would adopt 3 children with. The woman who, he was now sure, was at the other end of his invisible string. The girl he needed to talk to right now.

“Is it just me,” Morgan said, “Or does she look kind of familiar?”

“Yes,” Spencer responded, “yes she does.” He got up quickly and started making strides towards you.

“Wait!” Morgan called, “You forgot your drinks!”

“I don’t need them!” he shouted back. When he sat down next to you, you smiled. It made his heart soar, you had this silly, pure goofy smile that made him want to ask you out right then and there.

Instead he settled on the only conversation starter he could think of.

“Have you ever heard of the invisible string story?”

And you couldn’t help but laugh.

“A string that pulled me Out of all the wrong arms right into that dive bar Something wrapped all of my past mistakes in barbed wire Chains around my demons, wool to brave the seasons One single thread of gold tied me to you”

- Thank you for reading! Please reblog and let me know what you think :))

#spencer reid #spencer reid fanfiction #spencer reid fluff #spencer reid one shot #spencer reid x reader #spencer reid x you #spencer reid fanfic #reid #Criminal Minds Reid #Criminal Minds Spencer Reid #reid fanfic #reid fanfiction #Criminal Minds #criminal minds fanfiction #criminal minds fluff #reid x reader #spencerreidxreader #spencer reid taylor swift

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introvertguide · 3 years

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The Road Movie

Most movies follow a general script type depending on genre, and this is used to tell a story that has a satisfying ending. It is interesting when a movie mixes up type and tone and goes against genre type. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it is terrible. Great directing and acting can make the subversion of expectations less jarring (or more depending on the end goal), but the end goal and tone allows us to attach a film to a genre. But what about films that aren't about the end goal? There are many films that are in a sub-genre that focus on the journey with little regard to the end goal. These are what are called "road movies" and can fall under many different genres since the end goal doesn't really matter. Let's address some famous road movies through the years that are also classified in a variety of other genres:

Huckleberry Finn (1931)

The OG of travel films, this was the sequel to Tom Sawyer (1930) and had the same child actors. This wasn't what you would call financially successful, but this was largely due to the Great Depression. The 1939 version of the movie did a lot better and was one of the well known films of child actor Mickey Rooney. This story of travel was an early role for many actors including Rooney, Ron Howard, and Elijah Wood. Although there were threats of death and portrayals of slavery, this film was considered a family adventure in the pre-code film era. I guess a boy escaping his abusive father in the company of an adult escaped slave where people are actively attempting to rob and kill them was considered a fun family romp in the early 30s. This was the same story that came from a book that was banned in schools during the 1980s. It is a great story and I love the works of Mark Twain; I am just surprised at the genre.

Stagecoach (1939)

This is a great movie that transcends the Western genre of which it is categorized. A group of people all have different reasons for traveling from an Arizona territory over to New Mexico. There is word of vengeful thieves and angry Apaches that threaten the small band of travelers. It is actually very intense because the threat feels very real throughout the film. The entire film focuses on the journey and the relationships forged (and broken) on the way. This was the breakout role for John Wayne and was part of an amazing string of films directed by John Ford and starring John Wayne.

Easy Rider (1969)

This is a film that really spoke to the hippie movement during the Vietnam Era. It is statement on how difficult it is to truly be free and how society fears that freedom and tries to destroy it. The film might very well have the worst dialogue of any movie I have ever seen. Actors Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper were actively using drugs throughout film production, so the real draw was the sweet rides and the moving soundtrack. This is a movie where I actually want more driving montages and less character development because I don't identify with the characters at all. Maybe it is a generational gap.

Paper Moon (1973)

This film is amazing. It is the story of a traveling grifter who takes a little girl on the road with him after her mother dies. He teaches her how to make a living cheating people and they form a father-daughter type of relationship. It is a comedy drama that won the girl an Oscar for best supporting actress when she was only 10. Some nice back story, the girl is Tatum O'Neal and is the actual daughter of the grifter, played by Ryan O'Neal. It is kind of strange, but this is a "coming of age" film on the road.

The Blues Brothers (1980)

Now this is what I am talking about. Two brothers go on a trip after being released from jail because they got a message from God. I am pretty sure that this film still holds the record for most crashed vehicles in a single movie. It is also interesting that the film is technically a musical. The brothers stop at different locations and songs break out. In between stops, they are chased by the police in an almost demolition derby style chase. I really enjoy this movie and believe that it really keeps a fast pace (literally and figuratively), but, like many road films, I can't say it is good because it is more of an experience than a story.

Thelma and Louise (1991)

This was an interesting twist on the "run from the law" type of film. Two women are friends and decide go on a weekend retreat. They get in trouble after killing a man who tries to assault them and have to run from the authorities. It has a reputation for being very feminist (despite being directed by accused mesogenist Ridley Scott) because of the negative portrayal of men. It obviously wasn't that bad since it was nominated for 6 Oscars including both leads for best actress. In fact, Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon were both nominated for best actress at the Academy Awards, the BAFTAs, and the Golden Globes. It is the quintessential road film since the end goal is constantly changing and best defined as "away from here."

Natural Bork Killers (1994)

This was kind of a strange film. It is a crime drama where the audience follows two killers with traumatic childhoods as they meet and go on a murder spree. Similar to Bonnie and Clyde, but with gory murders as the focus over bank robberies. It is directed by Oliver Stone, and criticizes the glorification of violence by the media. It is most definitely a road movie because the end goal for the two is simply to be together and enjoy the rush of breaking the law. Hm. It is actually quite a bit like Bonnie and Clyde. Interesting. I would like to make a note that my mom hates this film because of the shaky cam and Dutch angles. It made her feel sick at the theater.

Road Trip (2000)

OK. This is far and away my least favorite film on this list, but it is the most famous "boner road comedy" that I am familiar with. It is a high school/college coming-of-age film that focus on the sexual pursuits of a group of young men. These types of films are marked with gross out humor, gratuitous nudity, and boys trying to have sex. There was a bunch of films like this that came out around the early 2000s and they all had to do with boys traveling some place in search of idealized sex (the plot on this one is a little different, something to do with a sex tape) and generally they find that the best girl for them was there by them all along. It takes a nice idea of character development and throws raunchy jokes and boobs at it. I was not a fan, but it was definitely a thing.

Death Proof (2007)

This is much better shlock. It is the Tarantino version of exploitation grindhouse films of the seventies, but updated to be a women empowerment film. It was part of a double feature that was paired with a horrific zombie outbreak film directed by Rod Rodriguez, but this one is much better on its own. It is the story of an old stunt man who travels around looking for unsuspecting victims whom he can run down in his indestructible car. This is a great example of what a road movie can be because Tarantino took the concept of a slasher and put it completely on the road.

Mad Max Fury Road (2015)

Here is an action revenge film in a post-apocalyptic wasteland where most of the film is driving. The producers couldn't find a director who they trusted with remaking George Miller's Mad Max franchise so the 70 year old Miller said "hold my beer" and made this masterpiece that is arguably better than any of the first three (edit: I guess Miller always intended to direct but it took so long to go into production that he joked in interviews about giving up on it). The original trilogy with Mel Gibson presents an amazing world where most people are nomadic and traveling can be a life or death proposition. Fury Road is the further adventures of the character and his interaction with one Furiosa. The use of many practical effects on moving vehicles that was garnished with CG effects made for one of the best action films in the last decade. It was more than a simple movie about traveling; it was a land were the road was life and everything surrounded the ability to be mobile enough to get supplies in a dead world.

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This is by no means all of the road movies. The Wizard of Oz is technically a road movie. The Grapes of Wrath is a critically acclaimed road movie from around the same time. Comedies like The Cannonball Run, Smokey and the Bandit, and National Lampoon's Vacation can all be classified in the genre. Rain Man is one of the best films of all time and it can be classified as a road movie. What it comes down to is that, when considering characters, a writer should think about the journey itself and think of how the leads interact with this entity. The road might be the best character in the whole story.

#road movies #thelma and louise #stagecoach #huck finn #mad max fury road #death proof #road trip #natural born killers #the blues brothers #paper moon #easy rider #introvert #introverts

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brokehorrorfan · 3 years

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New Release Review: Spiral: From the Book of Saw

The Saw series is often dismissed for ushering in the so-called "torture porn" subgenre, but such malign is unfounded. Not only did its widespread popularity help turn a new generation onto horror similar to quintessential slashers in the 1980s, but the franchise’s storyline is remarkably intricate, especially considering they were churned out annually from 2004 to 2010. You can't sit down for a random Saw sequel if you haven't invested in its predecessors; each entry cleverly reinvents what came before it in an attempt at one-upmanship.

2017's Jigsaw sought to resurrect the brand with a film that could be enjoyed by both loyal followers and new blood. While it didn't require intricate knowledge of the Saw universe's past events, the plot - including the twist; an integral aspect of any Saw film - felt like a rehash going through the motions. It failed to capture the box office success of the earlier entries, and critics weren't kind to it. The franchise may have ended there... if it weren't for Chris Rock.

With no prior experience in the horror genre, the esteemed Saturday Night Live veteran was an unlikely savior to revive Saw - but when Rock expressed interest, Lionsgate listened. The result is Spiral: From the Book of Saw. While Rock and other fresh faces breathed new life into the film, several alumni were recruited to return behind the camera. Notably, Darren Lynn Bousman (Saw II, Saw III, Saw IV) is back in the director's chair, Josh Stolberg & Pete Goldfinger (Jigsaw, Piranha 3D) penned the script, and original producers Mark Burg and Oren Koules shepherded the project.

Rock stars as Zeke Banks, a cynical homicide detective considered a rat by his fellow officers for turning in a dirty cop, who is paired with an eager rookie, William Schenk (Max Minghella, The Handmaid's Tale). The pair become embroiled with an apparent copycat of the long-dead Jigsaw killer, who plays cruel games with the police department to invoke reform in their duplicitous ways. Samuel L. Jackson (The Avengers) co-stars as Bank's father and the retired police chief, while Marisol Nichols (Riverdale) plays the current police captain.

The typical Saw film is structured with two interwoven components: a group of victims trapped together attempting to survive Jigsaw's games, and the authorities racing against the clock to save them and capture the killer. Spiral eschews the formula by forgoing the “B” story, as the cops themselves are the target. By focusing heavily on the procedural investigation - one that teams a veteran with a rookie - it evokes Seven as much as it does Saw.

Arguably, the most fundamental elements of a Saw movie are the traps and the twists. Spiral's traps are effectively sadistic and inventive yet plausible, but none of its offerings are as memorable as classic Saw set pieces like the needle pit, reverse bear trap, or pig vat. The narrative twists are serviceable, although astute viewers may not be particularly shocked.

Stolberg and Goldfinger's screenplay succeeds where Jigsaw failed as a soft reboot, providing an enjoyable ride for longtime fans and newcomers alike. In Bousman's confident hands - the filmmaker behind three of the strongest entries in the franchise featuring several of its most indelible set pieces - the material shines. He and cinematographer Jordan Oram (whose previous work includes numerous Drake music videos) embrace Saw’s grimy aesthetic but aren't afraid to explore new territory. The same can be said of the soundtrack, which combines Saw composer Charlie Clouser's distinctive score with hip-hop tracks.

Rock imbues the film with his natural sense of humor from the moment he's introduced, riffing on Forrest Gump. Spiral is by no means a horror-comedy, but it offers more levity than the previous Saw films. The topical social commentary - regarding police corruption and breaking the blue wall of silence - is a welcome return, as Jigsaw and his disciples' motives became increasingly muddled as the series went on. The pig mask also returns, now with a double meaning to taunt the police, and the killer utilizes a pig puppet in lieu of Jigsaw's iconic Billy.

As a character notes in the movie, the spiral is a symbol of change, evolution, and progress. While it doesn't do much in the way of mythology expansion, Spiral is a fresh return to form that reinvigorates the dormant franchise while being reverential to its legacy. It's undeniably exciting to see Rock and Jackson playing in Jigsaw's world, even if the plot is occasionally slavish to the established conventions. I would be perfectly content if Spiral becomes a new annual tradition like Saw before it.

Spiral: From the Book of Saw opens in theaters on May 14 via Lionsgate.

#saw #spiral #spiral: from the book of saw #spiral from the book of saw #chris rock #review #article #samuel l jackson #samuel l. jackson #darren lynn bousman #marisol nichols #max minghella #horror #jigsaw #charlie clouser

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purrincess-chat · 3 years

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Marinette Dupain-Cheng’s Spite Playlist: Remix CH25

This chapter might look familiar to those of you who read the original ;) But there’s a twist!

Previous First Next AO3

Chapter 25: Attack of Panic

“Remember, class, pick a painting that inspires you. Your reports are due tomorrow, so be sure to take good notes while on your tours today.” Mme. Pierre instructed. “We’ll meet for lunch in the courtyard. Try to learn something today.”

Marinette took a deep breath as Mme. Pierre dismissed them. Eliott and Lisette grouped up, walking arm-in-arm a few paces ahead. After overcoming their shyness from Saturday’s date, they were practically inseparable. Marinette was happy for them, but it made her miss Adrien. Having a boyfriend at a different school was lonely. How did anyone manage long-distance relationships?

Macy linked their arms together, snapping Marinette out of her trance.

“Let’s walk around in a group,” she said, tugging Martin on her other side.

“Sure.” Marinette smiled.

At least she still had friends to walk with, so she wasn’t completely alone. Though she’d have to think of a way to branch off to give Martin time alone with Macy, but then who would she walk with?

Long red curls bounced up the hall ahead of them, and a smirk curled on Marinette’s lips.

“Let’s go this way first.” She suggested, tugging Macy in the direction Gabrielle had gone.

“Shouldn’t we invite Eliott and Lisette?” Martin asked.

“No way. They’re spending quality time together as a couple. They’ll meet up with us at lunch,” Macy said. “Speaking of couples, did you see Thomas’s new girlfriend? I heard he ditched little miss bankrupt as soon as he found out.” Macy pointed to Gabrielle who was jotting down notes in front of a painting.

“Macy, that’s mean.” Martin chided.

“So was she.” Macy huffed. “She used to torment you, shouldn’t you be laughing too?”

“Yeah, but I don’t think she deserves to be miserable,” he said. “She’s been a lot different lately, and I’ve forgiven her. You should too.”

“Aww, Martin.” Macy hugged his shoulders, turning the tips of his ears red. “You’re an angel, you know that?”

Marinette bit back a smile as he faltered, tuning into the museum guide’s explanation. A boy with bright red hair stood in front of her, jotting down notes around a doodle in his notebook. His drawing was pretty good, though the style reminded her of someone.

Wait. Marinette knew that tomato top. She blinked a few times to ensure she wasn’t imagining it.

Nathaniel?

Marinette spun around, frantically searching the exhibit. Kim was mimicking the pose of a statue for Max and Alix across the room. Myléne and Ivan were reading a placard, hands twined while Juleka and Rose studied a map.

“Looks like we took the same field trip.” She jumped at Adrien’s voice in her ear, and he placed a hand on the small of her back to steady her. “You okay?”

“I-”

“Marinette?” Her spine stiffened as Kim called out to her. “Guys, it’s Marinette!”

“Marinette!”

“Yo, what up?”

“I love your new hair.”

“We missed you.”

Marinette’s heart sank at Rose’s declaration, and her old classmates surrounded her with eager smiles. Her old friends. Some of them, anyway. Nathaniel hung back, refusing to meet her gaze—a reminder of how far Lila’s influence still stretched. Marinette’s stomach twisted in knots.

“I-” She bit her lip to hold back tears. “I missed you guys too.”

“Aww.” Everyone crowded in for a hug, complimenting her hair and filling her in on exciting developments since she’d left.

“Well, well, look who it is. Long time no see, Marinette.”

Marinette’s blood ran cold.

The atmosphere changed in an instant, the crowd around her parting at Lila’s voice. She wore the same smirk she always did, silently goading Marinette. To add insult, Alya stared right through her like she were any other patron in the museum. A stranger.

Marinette swallowed hard.

Nathaniel and Myléne moved to stand beside Lila and Sabrina. Nino draped an arm over Alya’s shoulders, giving a curt nod to Adrien. Lila’s green eyes glinted as their classmates claimed their sides. She didn’t seem bothered at all by those still standing beside Marinette—quite the opposite. Lila lived for the challenge, but Marinette felt like she was going to throw up. What was she plotting?

“How is your new school? Why did you transfer anyway? And without telling any of us! We were so heartbroken,” Lila cooed.

Marinette’s jaw clenched, biting back a string of insults. Now wasn’t the time to start a fight—it would make Lila look more sympathetic. Marinette needed to keep a cool head, even if Lila was a snake.

Adrien bristled, fingers curling on Marinette’s back. “Lila-”

“You’re right. I’m sorry,” Marinette said. “I know I should have told all of you, but it was a sudden decision I made because I wanted to focus on my future. I hope you’re all not mad at me.”

“How could we be mad at you? You’re like, the best,” Kim said.

“Indeed. We were confused, but this development makes sense. We know how important your future as a designer is to you, and with your level of talent, moving to a new school will increase your chances of succeeding in your field by 68.9%.” Max nodded.

“I mean, you could have said goodbye,” Nathaniel said, and Alix elbowed him.

“We’re just glad to see you again. We haven’t heard from you, so we were afraid to come see you.” Rose buried her face in Marinette’s blazer. “We’re sorry for being bad friends!”

“Rose…” Marinette patted her back.

“But you’ve had some crazy cool adventures at your new school. Tell us about that Jagged Stone concert!” Alix requested, several classmates echoing their agreement.

“Hey, Marinette, we’re gonna move to the next exhibit,” Macy said, parting the crowd to reach her. “We need to take notes for our report.”

“You’re right. Sorry, I have to go.” Marinette winced, though her former classmates only smiled.

“No sweat, Marinette.”

“Hey, we’re all having lunch in the courtyard later, you should sit with us!” Rose offered.

“Uh, sure,” Marinette said. As her old classmates dispersed, she shot a glare at Lila who only smiled in return.

“Adrien, our teacher wanted us to stay together. You don’t want to get in trouble, do you?” Lila said, not bothering to mask the gloat in her tone, but she wasn’t going to get a rise out of Marinette today.

“I’ll see you later.” Adrien planted a quick kiss to Marinette’s cheek, side-eyeing Lila as he did.

Macy tugged Marinette away from them swiftly, not slowing down until they’d rounded the corner to another hall.

“Martin told me about your run-in with that girl last week, so I wanted to get you out of there,” Macy said once they were safely in another room. “You were being so brave.”

“Do you want us to be your buffer today?” Martin asked.

Marinette smiled. Her friends were always looking out for her. What would she do without them?

“Thank you, both of you, but I’m fine. Seeing everyone again has actually put my mind at ease. At least now I know they don’t hate me. Well, most of them anyway.” She hugged her arms to her chest. “My biggest challenge today will be avoiding confrontation with Lila.”

“Well, you know we’ve got your back.” Macy linked an arm through Marinette’s with a smile.

“I’m really good at avoiding people, so I can steer us away from them.” Martin added.

“You guys are the best.” Marinette pulled them in for a side-hug.

“You’ve protected us in the past, so now it’s our turn,” Martin said. “Let us be your shield today.”

Marinette tightened her grip, leaning her head against Macy’s shoulder. Her old friends might still be under Lila’s control, but Marinette was grateful for the people she’d found after leaving. They’d been there for her when her whole world was falling apart. She really was lucky to have them.

Martin’s stealth proved effective as the morning wore on. Marinette barely saw any of her old classmates. As much relief as it brought her to know they still thought of her as a friend, she wasn’t ready to dive all the way back in. After all, they were still enamored by Lila, so she needed to tread carefully.

While Macy and Martin were engrossed in a Regnault, Marinette slipped over to the painting Gabrielle was studying across the room. Her dark green eyes didn’t look up when Marinette flanked her on the left, but she’d expected as much.

“You know, most people don’t avoid popularity.” When Marinette turned, Gabrielle’s face fell into a scowl. “Don’t turn around! I don’t want people to know we’re talking.”

Marinette turned back to the painting and pretended to study it. She was used to this game by now. Just because they were friends didn’t mean Gabrielle wanted everyone to know. She said it was for Marinette’s own good since people still rubbed the whole bankrupt thing in her face, but Marinette was starting to think she was just shy.

“You said you ran away from your old friends because they ditched you, but they all seemed more than happy to see you,” she said.

“It’s complicated.” Marinette jotted down information from the placard. “They’re being manipulated.”

“By the girl from the café?”

“Yeah.” Marinette pressed her lips into a firm line.

“She is quite the show pony,” Gabrielle said. “I can see why you two butt heads.”

“Lila is very charismatic. She tells people what they want to hear, so they don’t question it. It’s how she keeps control over them,” Marinette replied.

“She’d make a great politician.” Gabrielle laughed, but when Marinette remained quiet, she added, “It would be easy to take her down, you know. Someone with your connections could prove she’s lying with two phone calls.”

Marinette paused her writing and lowered her notebook with a frown.

“I’m not getting involved. It’s not my job to save everyone,” she said with more bite than she intended.

“Oh, don’t give me that.” Gabrielle rolled her eyes. “You like playing the hero, not for any glory or self-elevation, but just because you like helping people. It’s your most annoying quality.”

“I do not…” Marinette said lamely.

“Is that why even though I was mean to you and your friends, you still come by my café every Tuesday, so I don’t have to walk home alone? Why you talk to me at all when everyone else abandoned me,” she shot back. “Martin was a spineless twig before he met you. Macy and Eliott were complacent cowards. Now the twig has grown a trunk, and Thing 1 and 2 won’t stop running their mouths. You can’t help yourself, Marinette. You’re a good person.”

“Do you really think exposing her is what I should do? She’ll end up hurt and alone.” Marinette lowered her gaze.

“So what? She did it to herself when she told all of those lies. Sometimes you need to lose everything in order to change. If you leave her like this, she’ll never stop.” Gabrielle let out a short laugh. “Take it from someone who knows.”

Marinette weighed those words, pressing her lips together. Did she want to help? Of course. But did she want to get involved again at the expense of her own well-being? She wasn’t sure.

Lila was slippery. Marinette wasn’t even sure she could take her down, and if she did, she’d only cement her as an enemy. She needed a different way, an indirect way to make everyone see without calling her out to her face. A way to make Lila’s lies crumble from underneath, so that she had no choice but to face the truth.

There is one person who would know what to do.

But did Marinette want to stoop that low? Chloe requested her help once before, but did she even still want it? Chloe and Adrien had tried and failed to out Lila multiple times. Not to mention, Marinette and Adrien promised each other to let it go. Things were finally working out between them, and Marinette didn’t want to do anything to jeopardize that.

Marinette left her old life behind for a reason. Looking back was too painful. It had been a month since she left, and Marinette thought she was finally over everything until today. Seeing her old classmates rattled her more than she thought it would, a cool draft from the door she couldn’t quite close pricking her skin. But what did she expect when she ran away from her problems instead of facing them? A broken door couldn’t keep out the cold if it was never fixed. How much longer could Marinette run before the past caught up to her? How much longer until she had to turn around and face it? She didn’t want to think about it.

“Guess who?” She jumped as a playful lilt sounded in her ear, and a hand clamped over her eyes.

“Adrien?”

He lowered his hands with a cheery smile. Gabrielle was gone, and none of her old classmates were anywhere in sight. Her shoulders relaxed as Adrien pulled her close, touching his forehead to hers.

“You doing okay?” he asked.

“Yeah, I’m…fine.” She pushed her frantic thoughts away.

Adrien turned her around gently, hugging her from behind. “I know you’re avoiding everyone, but let’s walk around together for a bit. Just me and you.” His lips brushed her cheek, warm breath teasing her skin.

Adrien was her boyfriend now. Adrien, the boy of her dreams, was her boyfriend. Marinette still hadn’t told him her feelings, nor had he, but Adrien referred to himself as her boyfriend on Saturday. Their date hadn’t exactly gone as planned, but they were still able to spend time together. She’d tell him the next time they were alone together. No more hiding and running away.

“Okay.”

They walked hand-in-hand through several exhibits. Adrien mimicked a few poses from the paintings they passed. Marinette smiled and laughed. She leaned on his shoulder and snuggled into the crook of his neck, pushing the worries from that morning out of her mind. Lila wasn’t her problem anymore. Her old classmates still liked her—most of them anyway. Adrien was her boyfriend. Her new friends were amazing. Everything was fine.

So why didn’t she feel fine?

“Are you sure you’re gonna be okay with everyone at lunch?” Adrien asked. “I know you’re putting on a brave face, but we don’t have to eat with them if you don’t want to.”

He’d gotten good at sensing her mood. Could he be any more perfect?

“I’ll be fine,” she insisted, though her grip tightened on his hand.

“I’ll be right there with you if you need me, okay? I’ve got your back.” He lifted her hand to his lips, placing a gentle kiss to her knuckles.

Adrien continued to keep her mind off of everything, discussing various paintings and relaying stories from recent photoshoots and fencing tournaments. He told her jokes to make her laugh, kept her smiling when she started to look sad. But lunch eventually came, and he held her hand the whole walk to the courtyard.

“Marinette!” Macy waved them over to their group, and as soon as she sat down, her old classmates flocked to her.

“So, who are your new friends?” Rose asked, settling in with Juleka.

“Uh…”

“My name’s Macy, and this is Martin, Eliott, and Lisette.” Macy cast Marinette a reassuring smile as her old classmates introduced themselves one-by-one, but it did little to calm her nerves, especially when Lila approached with her group.

Marinette’s stomach flipped as they sat down, the tension in the group escalating rapidly. Her old classmates flicked their gazes between Lila and Marinette, waiting to see who would strike first.

“Hi, I’m Macy!” She stuck her hand out to Lila with a cheery smile that didn’t touch her eyes. “What’s your name?”

“This is Lila. She has an amazing life,” Sabrina said.

“Same.” Macy smiled sweetly as if that announcement were no big deal.

Marinette’s heartbeat accelerated.

“Last summer, she saved an African village leader from choking,” Nathaniel said, beaming up at her.

“It was the least I could do after he agreed to sign my petition to teach the children how to read.” Lila waved it away.

“Oh, Eliott and I love charity trips. Our parents have an organization that ships out clean water and recycled clothing to third-world countries. We visited a few in Africa last summer to help build huts and dig wells for them.” Macy shot back.

“Those kids played a mean game of football.” Eliott nodded with a reminiscent smile.

“She also spent Christmas in Achu with Prince Ali and his family. They’re close personal friends!” Rose gushed.

“Oh, Achu is lovely at Christmas, but we usually spend it in London at the royal family’s Christmas party. It’s a blast! My dad played water polo with Prince William in college, and they’re still good friends.” Eliott chimed in. “That reminds me, Marinette, you have got to come this year.”

“You know Prince William?” Rose gasped, cupping her cheeks.

“I have his number. Sometimes I babysit when we go to visit.” Eliott shrugged as if it were no big deal.

“Ugh, don’t get him started. He’ll brag all day.” Macy rolled her eyes, but Marinette’s old classmates turned their attention over immediately.

Marinette took a bite of her sandwich, but it turned to sand in her mouth as Alya glared at her. Her expression crossed between disappointment and anger as if she couldn’t believe Marinette would stoop so low. Alya used to give those looks to Chloe when she pulled her usual stunts, but Marinette wasn’t used to being on the receiving end.

As much as she should have been happy that Lila wasn’t getting the attention she wanted, Marinette didn’t have it in her. This was only giving Lila fuel to come up with better lies and new ways to use her friends. The divide between her old classmates was obvious—a deep chasm stretching wider by the minute.

Macy and Eliott might be upstaging her now, but it was only a matter of time before Lila got her revenge. Gabrielle was right. She’d never stop.

“You okay?” Adrien leaned into her ear.

Marinette blinked down at the sandwich she was crushing.

“I’m gonna go to the bathroom.” She set her lunch on top of her bag and scurried off as Eliott performed a scene from the Miraculous show he was in.

The faces she passed were all a blur. Her heart raced, blood roaring in her ears as she raced down the steps, past other patrons who paid no mind to the girl in a private school uniform wandering the halls. She didn’t know where she was going—away. Just away.

Her feet carried her deeper into the museum, lengthening the chasm between her and her old life. She wasn’t ready to turn and face it. The draft had grown stronger now, the cold wind beating against the door. It threatened to give out at any moment, biting Marinette’s toes with its frosty breath. She couldn’t run from it forever, but she could run today.

She collapsed on a bench, face falling into her hands. Her shoulders heaved with ragged breaths, tears wetting her palms. Gentle hands rubbed her back, weight sinking onto the bench beside her.

“Hey, I’m here, just breathe,” Adrien said.

She buried her face into his chest, shoulders shaking. Of course he’d come. Adrien was always by her side. It was one promise he kept, and Marinette needed him desperately.

Adrien held her close and whispered gentle reassurances in her ear until she calmed enough to sit up.

“Talk to me.” He tucked a loose strand of her hair back in place.

“Just… They’re all so taken with her, and she does nothing but use them and rub it in my face,” she whimpered. “And I know that I could expose her in an instant. I have Jagged Stone’s phone number. Clara Nightingale texts me! I could end her reign with a single phone call.”

“But that’s not you,” Adrien said.

She pressed the back of her hand to her quivering lip and shook her head.

“I want to stop it. I do, but I don’t want to play her game anymore. I want to get out, but I just can’t let go.” She found his gaze, hot tears clouding her vision. “I want to save everyone, but I don’t want to do this anymore. I’m tired of being everyone’s hero.”

“It’s okay.” He soothed with increasing alarm, placing a hand on her shoulder. “You’re gonna get through this. You’re the strongest person I know.”

She clenched her hands into fists. “I’m tired of always having to be strong. For once, I want to stop carrying everyone’s burdens because they’re too heavy for me.”

Adrien flicked his gaze over her shoulder briefly and met her gaze once more.

“Listen to me. Macy, Eliott, and Martin are all here for you.” He cupped her face. “I’m here for you. Don’t lose hope.”

“I can’t anymore. I can’t. I can’t-” She stopped short as dark energy washed over her, a cold feeling running through her core.

“Princess Verity, I am Hawkmoth-”

“Marinette, don’t listen to him, listen to me!” Adrien pleaded. “No one expects you to solve all of their problems.”

“Your friends are all trapped by that liar.”

“You’re stronger than him, Marinette.”

“Wouldn’t you like to set them free?”

“Fight it! Don’t give up!”

“I can give you the power to expose the truth.”

“Marinette, you’re not alone.” Marinette blinked, finding Adrien’s worried green eyes baring into hers.

The bracelet Macy gave her had gone dark, glowing with sinister energy. Marinette pressed her lips together. She was too tired to fight. Hadn’t she struggled enough? Maybe it was what Lila deserved—what they all deserved.

“Run, Adrien,” she said.

“No.” Her head snapped up, meeting his determined green eyes. “I’m not leaving you.”

“Adrien, please.”

“No.” He shook his head. “Don’t give up. You can beat him.”

“Adrien.” Fresh tears welled in her eyes, panic swelling. “Please, run. I love you, and I don’t want to hurt you.”

“You won’t. Don’t you know why I call you mon ange?” He held her face in his hands, touching his nose to hers. “Because you’re my angel, and I love you with all of my heart. I’m never going to leave you. Not ever.”

“Adrien…”

She just wanted everything to go back to the way it was—the way things were before Lila. The broken door had been pried open by the storm, dragging Marinette out into its dark flood. Her head hurt, body numb and cold, and even on her tiptoes, she could barely stay above the surface. She was drowning in a sea of her own anguish and guilt, too exhausted to fight the waves.

“Make it stop,” she whispered, a single tear slicing down her cheek.

They didn’t hesitate this time. His lips found hers, warm and safe—a buoy among the waves. Marinette wrapped herself in his warm embrace, driving out the cold ache in her bones. He trailed his fingers up her jaw and into her hair, pulling her closer. Ever since she left, Adrien had always been her lifeline, no matter how rough the waves got. His arms provided stable footing when the current was spinning too fast. He hadn’t abandoned her back then, and he wasn’t abandoning her now. Even her friends were outside fighting for her.

Lila could take a lot of things from her, but not them. These were the people who would always pull her out of the water, no matter how far down she sank. Marinette just needed to hang on while they pulled her to shore.

Taking a deep breath, she undid the clasp on her bracelet with shaking hands and set it on the bench. Macy, Elliot, Martin, Lisette, Adrien, Gabrielle. She had so many people who loved her—people who had been looking out for her all day. People who were still looking out for her. She was not alone.

“Not this time, Hawkmoth. I won’t help you. This isn’t the answer to my problem,” she said calmly.

The butterfly reemerged and fluttered off, returning the bracelet to normal. Marinette watched it go, legs too heavy to give chase.

Adrien crushed her against his chest, kissing her hair. “You’re okay. I’ve got you. You’re safe.” He rubbed her back, clutching fistfuls of her shirt in shaking hands. “I’m here. It’s gonna be okay.”

“Adrien, the akuma. We have to stop it,” she said, but he didn’t budge.

“One minute, Marinette,” he murmured. “Can you think of yourself for just one minute and stay here with me?”

Marinette relented, finding his lips again. He kissed her hard, his fear and relief washing over her, the severity of the situation hitting her in the gut.

She’d almost been akumatized. Again.

If Adrien hadn’t been there, Paris would have been doomed. He was her guardian angel, and the best boyfriend in the world. The selfish part of her wanted to stay and kiss his pillowy lips forever. Maybe someone would paint a picture of them and hang it in the museum, then everyone could bask in their undying love. But Marinette couldn’t afford such luxurious daydreams. Not everyone had the support system Marinette did, and she needed to find the akuma before someone else fell victim to Hawkmoth.

“Thank you,” she said when they pulled away. “You’ve been looking out for me all day.”

“You’re not alone, mon ange. I will always be here for you.” He vowed, kissing her forehead.

She took a deep breath and squared her shoulders. “We should go after that akuma before it gets someone else.”

“We can cover more ground if we split up.” He fastened her bracelet around her wrist, giving her hand a squeeze. “Be careful, and stay safe.”

“You too.” They leaned in for one final kiss, swift and hard, before turning their backs and taking off.

“I’m very proud of you, Marinette,” Tikki said as she took cover in a closed exhibit. “And you and Adrien finally confessed your true feelings!”

“We can talk about it later. We have an akuma to catch. Transform me!”

#mdcspr #my writing

35 notes · View notes

gofancyninjaworld · 3 years

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OPM Mega review (chapters 131 - 148): Part 2 To the side, not the sidelines

A continuation of part 1 of the mega review. This isn’t a narrative account, but rather a look at all the other groups and happenings around where the main battle is raging.

Heroism in all sizes

It’s like the end of the world. City Z isn’t the first city to face near total devastation. But City A was at least gone in a flash. People had almost no time to consider their imminent demise. In City Z, the carnage has had time to build and to come from multiple directions. From vampiric monster roots enveloping and sucking the lives out of inhabitants by the block. From powerful earthquakes splitting and even twisting the ground. From aerial bombardments of gigantic rubble and from the sea itself as the coastline is threatened by a chain of tsunamis. Survivors aren’t bothering to try driving: it’s whatever you can carry as fast as you can.

Those who gave up their beds. The Hero Hospital in City S has come to serve as an impromptu staging post for nearby heroes. Like a middle finger stuck up at face of civilisation, the tower previously buried underground and its glowing red monster is just about visible from the hillsides of City S and draws heroes in like a beacon. First Metal Bat, then Mumen Rider, then the Tank Toppers, then the Blizzard Group, then all the other heroes hospitalised in the aftermath of either the Day of Chaos or Garou’s depredations discharge themselves against medical advice and run in to see who they can save.

just as well they all went -- the roads are so impassable and the situation so volatile that they’re literally the only rescue coming for hours if not days

Swept up in the mood, the martial artists were considering moving out too, only for Suiryu to pour cold water on the notion. It has done me a world of good to see that Suiryu has been inspired by Max and Snek and not Saitama. He finally gets it that a hero is someone who has the courage to step into the path of danger because someone needs help, and not because they’re strong and think they’ll win.

No space for playing hero. It’s very wise that Suiryu advised his fellow martial artists not to play hero. If many have complained about how heroes seem to be blessed with life, no such protections are afforded to non-heroes. The people who went in alongside heroes have suffered grievously, although those who have died did so bravely.

I have a one-person prayer circle going for Sekingar. I pray that ONE will choose to spare his fine non-hero one-eyed, single-handed ass. I have come to like the guy and I’ve been impressed at how he has stayed calm when trapped in City Z, succeeded in encouraging discouraged heroes and even asserting a genuine authority to guide Metal Bat and King. I don’t think there’s too many more like him in the executive of the Hero Association and think it’d be a shame if he didn’t bring his hard-won experiences back to guide them in what’s sure to be a crisis.

The king under the mountain

This arc has introduced us to a lot of concepts and players who are likely to have long-term effect on the world. In this series of chapters, some of these ideas are developed further.

Came for the pussy, stayed for the tentacles. I’m sorry, I’m allowed one double entendre a week and I decided to curse you with it. I wouldn’t have mentioned this but Drive Knight’s comings and goings are almost certainly going to be very plot-relevant later. He was supposed to be gone with his prize of one Nyan, but then he saw the tower emerge and Psykos-Orochi wave tentacles skyward and as much as a cyborg with no discernable facial features can be said to yearn, he yearned. For a sample that is.

He stuck around as long as it took him to get a sample of Orochi and then he was gone, without so much as a ‘thank you for your help’. At present, we’ll just have to see what this is all about later.

When the cat’s away the mice will play. The only way to foment a world ending crisis is to have the guy who can squash it all and wonder what the fuss was about occupied elsewhere. Through meeting Flashy Flash and getting a tour into the deepest reaches of the Monster Association thanks to Manako, and a couple of other things, Saitama is literally trapped in an alternative dimension. Although, being Saitama, if he felt a sense of urgency, he’d break back into the real world without a second thought. Right now he’s curious,worried for his house, but mostly hungry. Some curry would be nice.

The real question is how are the heroes going to hold out until Saitama arrives? I’ve been touched by how genre-savvy Genos and King are about this. It’d be amusing if it weren’t so brutally true.

The formal establishment of extra-spatial dimensions as a feature not restricted to a few unusual individuals. Phoenixman first got us learning about the idea of extra dimensions, in his case a private manifestation of his inner psyche. Neither he nor Child Emperor physically moved.

Ninchirin introduces us to the idea of an extra-spatial dimension that physical objects can be stowed in and taken from.

But nothing takes it as far as ‘God’ with the existence of a pocket dimension with its own timeline that takes people in wholesale. Whether a lot of time passes on the outside (as it does for Saitama and co) or no time passes (as it does for Psykos-Orochi) seems to depend on ‘His’ will.

The formal establishment of ‘God’ as a singular being with a distinct personality. Homeless Emperor first talked about ‘God’ as being a being who tasked him with eliminating humanity after he despaired of living as one. Pyskos expands on that concept. She saw ‘God’ very differently, as a quasi-planetary being rather than as a vaguely humanoid one, but her experience of ‘Him’ as a being who bestowed power and a mission on her bears striking similarity to that of Homeless Emperor.

How people get to talk to ‘God’ becomes clear when we see Flashy Flash and Saitama accidentally summoning ‘Him’ via handling a box. Which leads very naturally to elucidating some of the mystery of Blast.

Finding out why Blast is still the number 1 hero. If the likes of Tatsumaki leave us scratching our heads as to how any hero could outwork her in terms of facing monsters, Blast gives us an answer. He specialises in dealing with non-physical threats, which he does by having some sort of dimension-hopping gizmo. The black box he disposes of identical to that seen in Tatsumaki’s flashback, leading us naturally to think about what business the facility holding her was having with ‘Him.’ Webcomic readers see a gimme as well in the construction of the Ninja Village Flash hails from, along with Blast paying the ninjas a visit.

With Blast having taken Saitama and co out of reality, it’s going to be an unknown while before they pop back into it.

Sleeping is such a nice euphemism for dying

The principle of explosive growth through surviving situations that should have killed one is by this point a well-established mechanic within the story. After seeing Phoenixman come back from the dead, it should perhaps not be a surprise to us that Orochi does the same. In coming back, he’s evolved into a distributed form that can regrow after even extensive destruction and the consequences of his doing so are already covered in part 1 of this review.

Speaking of evolution, what about Garou? We left Garou buried under tons of rock in the wake of Tatsumaki lifting the base. Yet again, he does not die -- thank you Darkshine for your anti blunt trauma vaccination -- and little by little, we see him dig himself out, and transforming himself as he goes as he dreams of a world in which he enforces peace but very unconventional means.

In retrospect, the sequence of Garou’s eyes closing in response to his humanising memory of Tareo is the most ominous as the eyes that open again have not a shred of humanity in them.

It reminds me a lot of what we saw happen to Gouketsu when the latter accepted a monster cell, his human eyes closing as a new set of monster ones opened.

At long last, Garou makes it back to the surface. But what’s this? Where’s the wise-cracking, judgemental little shit we love? What is this near silent, befanged, clawed feral creature beating down on everything he sees? Oh dear. He is not sleeping sweetly, dreaming pleasant dreams of a world perfectly obedient while he waits for the fist of some self-righteous prince to awaken him to his destiny. Garou may perceive it as lapses in consciousness, but it’s the monster within eating him alive. He’s dying. He is under real existential threat of being completely lost to monsterfication and how it is that he can save his humanity is a big point of interest.

In his flawed way, Bang is trying to get through to Garou. I don’t hold out big prospects of him reaching him. And if he does, I hold out even smaller prospects of him actually beating Garou. Barring some interruption, we might be about to see the tragedy of a master beaten down by his student.

I’m going to leave this review here. What comes next is all too soon going to change the status quo of the story, if not for the better, then certainly for the more eventful.

#OPM #review #Snek #Saitama #Garou #Bang #Flashy Flash #Sekingar #a lot has happened #and the heroes working bravely in the background to save as many as they can is indeed heroism at its best #how the supernatural meddling fits in with everything that we see going on we don't yet know #Garou coming back onto the scene is a far more ominous re-emergence than it was in the webcomic #this could get really ugly

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sepialunaris · 3 years

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Besides the crazy stupid plot twist and dumb character actions I think the big problen why Jurassic World is a failure of a narrative is that it constantly confuses its own tone and what idea it wants to convey. And as a whole it just sounds like singing praises to capitalism and pinning problems on other aspects instead of the root of the problem.

So JW is said to have been open for 15 years, and its said people are bored with classic InGen retrosaurs hence initiating the creation of Indominus, and yet from the other perspective people are enjoying the retrosaurs just fine? It is not even hinted a bit that they did not not enjoy them besides that bit of exposition.

And our audience perspective character doesn't work. Gray and Zach seems to come from a middle-upper class family and yet they never visited the park for years despite having a family member as a high level staff? Knowing their son is obsessed with dinosaurs? And the only reason they were sent there was because it was an excuse to cover up their parent's divorce? In the case of Darius Bowman from CC it makes sense, but this is weird. It's kind of nitpicky, but okay my point is, what makes them ineffective is that they are new eyes to the park and Zach cannot represent "ahh ppl who already seen this many times get inspired to see the beauty of ugly 1993 retrosaurs" because he has never been there either. So its just weird to include their POV when it deosnt complement the Indominus narrative and if it does it feels forced and loose.

And its more bizarre when the movie seems to be more obsessed with showing "oh my god look at this capitalist paradise! John Hammond's gentrification deeam fulfilled!" and panning on random buildings and starbucks with the Jurassic Park theme. Besides "do you have dinosaurs in your dinosaur park" it just wooshes the anti-capitalist social commentary of JP, more crazy when its loads of product placement. I know that they did plan a panning shot with dinosaurs which would've been effective and narratively fitting rather than *pan to giant building* so idk why they even did that. And so idk if this movie wants to criticize capitalism and consumerism combined with the privatizing of the genetics could give way to ethical and environmental issues or do they want to say "god powers are allowed for capitalists if they are nice" (ahh and based on leaks for JWD, its the latter. They made John Hammond a messiah for protecting his unethical business from the 'bad capitalists' omg)

There's also the issue of 'authentic' dinosaurs (hence why I keep mentioning retrosaurs from the start 😂, i want to talk about this too). The scene with Wu and Masrani works, but ultimately the whole movie fails it. It is lifted from one of the few good scenes from the oroginal movel with Wu and Hammond, and concerns about how ALL dinosaurs from this park are genetic hybrids from the start. And well it would've worked well to explore the ethics and capitalism approach but honestly with the whole movie as comparison it just sounds like "guys this is the reason why they are not realistic and feathered please dont ask us about it again." The fact that they are hybridized retrosaurs get ignored and thrown under the rug besides that one scene, and we never again explore how unnatural all of them are as the movie time to time again keeps promoting a division between "legit" dinosaurs and Indominus, the character Lowery keeps pushing. And the latter... aslo shows how much they want to praise the first park and John Hammond despite it being a metaphor of capitalism failing from wanting to conquer nature, despite it being the exact same thing as modern JW. "They didnt need these hybrids they only had real dinosaurs" is already an errornous statement since all of them were frog hybrids, so if its wrong... what was the point of bringing it up? JP didn't just fail because Dennis Nedry sabotaged it, it was bound to fail for its attempt to control nature as Ian said. However JW attributes the singular creation of Indominus as the reason for its failure (and by attribute hoo boy how many plotholes did they engineer to pin it the blame. Suddenly it knows its being thermally monitored? Or does it just releases electromagnetic energy to make ppl around it dumb or jam cellphones, god im rambling), and if they continued making retrosaurs it would've been fine? So what was the message? "Its okay to mix dinosaur dna with frogs but don't add to much to the mixture"? "Its okay to play god with capitalism but dont go too far"? Instead of mentioning both concepts as unethical and the concept of Indominus as an already flawed concept pushed even more unethically, the increasing level of tolerance for playing god already shows a shift of morals from the JP and JW. So once again its 'capitalism is actually good, its just the evil ppl thats the problem'

It honestly just erases the brilliant potential of how that narrative could be engaged. Of course its obvious the park would want to promote their retrosaurs as legit and Indominus as a different flavor despite both being hybrids but the latter being pushed to the max, so both of them are bound to have intersecting problems. However not everyone would've been fooled by such promotion. And yet from our POV only Wu was aware of it; the view of them as retrosaurs is treated as an understatement to be ignored as we are only allowed to see things and agree with opinions from the POV of Lowery or the kids against Hoskins' cartoony "lets convince our president to use dinos to steal oil" idea.

It could've honestly touched on many aspects of de-extinction or concepts like the Chickenosaurus, as well as the complex moral dillema around many genetic issues, but the movie just wants to shy away from it and impose a black and white morality of "Indominus bad unnatural" and "retrosaurs good natural." Not unnesary military commentary that doesn't work (dinosaur's effect in the environment would be more devastating than them acting as military weapons so pro-US imperialists can be proud (one bullet will kill them, I swear yeah ik this is a 'scifi' franchise, but the logic hoops you need to jump from that. One raptor died from getting hit by a rocket launcher as they should. So what US wants to use these bags of flesh as weapons to steal oil? There is nothing they can do that dogs or dolphins can't do better). The only time its kinda shown is when Indominus is killing Apatosaurus for fun, but... real animals like humans, dolphins, chimps do that too. And the movie treats this as something unnatural or makes it evil. Scorpios rex despite being ugly actually accomplishes the ecological horror of having an invasive creature invade an ecosystem (despite the ecosystem itself alr being flawed and superficially created) and being able to reproduce through parthenogenesis). And I doubt they would touch on this in JWD despite the variance of animals they will show, as even Atrociraptor is not going to be called out by name in that film, that they can change its name in post production.

#jw negativity #anti jurassic world #jurassic world negativity #jurassic park #god i actually out this to words #that said if they wanted to even tackle moral dilemmas in the field of genetics i sont trust them at all #they will just sound racist and eugenic about it #jwd leaks #jwd leak

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cinnamonblueberry22 · 3 years

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Optigami Review + A big rant on Cat noir in season 4

Alright, I haven't been really active on Tumblr lately mainly because of school and all the work I've been receiving, but this is the one time I can post so just bear with me lmao.

*SPOILERS AHEAD*

Optigami Review:

Honestly love Ladybee, her transformation did look a bit rough, but her suit looks stunning. Too bad Cat noir didn't get to see it.

Kind of lost as to why there's only Luka, Kagami, Max, Chloe, and the other miraculous holders that Shadowmoth knew the identities of, did Gabriel just ask Adrien those specific people, and Adrien just, did not find anything suspicious about that?

Did Adrien just not question as to why Kaalki, the kwami of teleportation, was there with Rena Rouge?? And why Kaalki even teleported him somewhere so far to the Montparnasse Tower even though he's literally Cat noir and needed to fight??

Why were the kwamis magically able to be heard on the phone?? I thought they weren't able to be seen in technology, the phone is technology... So why were they heard??

Now for Alya. Honestly, she did seem a bit suspicious earlier because she wanted to be a permanent holder even though it's not the wisest decision and then completely acted like everything was fine after saying "It's your choice tho" and then immediately got to be a permanent miraculous holder... Seems like she wanted to cover her plans up by seeming sincere and then got her chance. Foreshadowing? Even if I love Alya in general, I do love some betrayal plot twist stories.

Mari is not making the right decision because, it will be okay for a moment, but Shadowmoth literally knows who Rena Rouge is. And at the end of the episode, we see him wanting to get to know Alya better. Alya is going to be in danger. This is going to affect Ladynoir. I mean, yea, I want angst but still.

Overall, I rate this episode a 7.5/10. It was impactful, we got to see Cat noir upset about not being needed, but there were also some questionable things in this episode like I mentioned previously. Other than that it was a decent episode and for once I liked Shadowmoths plan tbh.

So there's been a ton of people talking about "Cat noir is being replaced by Rena Rouge!" and all that... I just have one question, why? Why are you so upset over the fact that Rena was here for like, what, two episodes? And then saying she's replacing him? It's as if you're living in Cat noirs mind lmao. I swear I saw at least 12 videos in the span of two days after the release of Optigami saying how upset Cat noir is and how they're bashing Rena for it as if it's entirely her fault for getting to be a permanent miraculous holder and about to be replaced as the next Guardian of the miraculous box. Look, if you despise any girl that's getting more screentime over a DEUTERAGONIST, just say you're misogynistic and go. I don't mean to sound controversial, but what's up with you hating and bashing on girls that "Get in the way" of something that you cherish and baby (Ex. 'Kagami gets in the way of adrienette, Rena is replacing Cat noir, Vesperia is a replacement of Chloe and gets in the way of Ladynoir' who, may I remind you, is a racist rich girl and Cat can like anyone he wants so shut it)

Now back to the main subject, yes, you can be upset over what's happening to Cat noir, but that doesn't give you the right to completely bash the girls who have nothing to do with hurting him unintentionally (BTW, Ladybug is the one who is hurting him by not telling him anything, still doesn't mean you should hate on her, you can talk about it but bullying her over- dramatic; this is a kid show for god's sake). I am upset about Cat noir, but it's clear that the writers are planning something with him, as I will talk more about in the rest of this post.

There have been tons of foreshadowing in the past episodes about Adrien/Cat noir, so let me talk about it.

I'll start with Truth. In Truth, Cat noir gets hit by the spell, and Ladybug asks him his opinion on her role as Guardian of the Miraculous Box. He then says "If it doesn't change things between you and me, then I'm good with it!". But things are changing, and he's clearly not okay, this was some good foreshadowing I did not notice earlier lmao. This was a good part on the writers job.

In Mr. Pigeon 72, the end card is quite interesting. Practically all the photos of Adrien in this end card are of him wearing his blue scarf. When it wasn't even mentioned in this episode. Even if it wasn't said, it actually is still there. In Bubbler, when Adrien arrives to school, Nino says "Wow dude, guess adults can really change!" This line is effective to Adrien. The moment he got the scarf and apparently it was from his father, he was so happy. From the scarf, he thinks his father can change. He thinks his father is just demanding and over protective. He thinks his father just "Doesn't know how to show his love for his son" Even though, us, the audience, knows thats not true. Adrien is not blind. From the scarf, that's what's making Adrien keep on thinking his father isn't bad. And in Mr. Pigeon 72, he literally tells Marinette the moment he wants to walk with her in the rain and then sees the gorilla, "I can't, you know my father, he's demanding." Even though that's not the case. So why was it included in the end card? Foreshadowing that there will be a scarf reveal. Foreshadowing that Adrien will find out the truth. Even if the truth isn't always great.

Now for Solecrusher. I picked this scene because, I find it really upsetting. When Zoe was opening up to everyone talking about how she made different roles to please Chloe, and when Ivan hugs Zoe, Adrien is upset. Why? Because he relates to her. He makes different roles of himself or different personalities, to please everyone. That's why he's upset.

Now for the end card. Here's a little close-up. We see Adrien, Ivan, Juleka, Luka, and Rose. However, Adrien is farther from the others. He stills feels isolated and stuck. While everyone else is happy. He stills feels the need to pretend. Which is making Adrien feel worse.

This isn't specifically about Adrien, but I kind of see a little pattern here. Solecrusher shows Andre is the one who made Solitude. Queen Banana shows a movie being made. What's the next episode? Gabriel Agreste. This episode will probably be all about flashbacks. About the movie Solitude. About Emilie. Showing Gabriel, Emilie, and Adrien younger. I honestly think that Gabriel and Adriens relationship is still as bad, I just think that even if Adrien claims it was better before.

This was honestly the episode I felt the worse for Adrien. He nearly killed himself and Ladybug didn't even talk about it after. Now, I know Ladybug wouldn't know what to say, but she should at least speak up?? I mean that's all I want tbh. The end card seems.. Off. Adrien is not included even though he had a big role in comforting Juleka in the beginning of the episode. Cat noir is shown to be, smiling.. But the smile doesn't even seem genuine. He's still upset. He's still not okay. Foreshadowing that he's feeling even worse than before.

Optigami. Holy this episode. Well I already rated it before but yea. Take a look at his facial expressions. He's upset he wasn't even in the battle (Meaning he wasn't never happy with the fact that he's sometimes not even needed in fights like Style Queen), he's angry, shocked/disappointed, then pretends he's the same old Cat noir with the flirty jokes, but the moment Ladybug leaves with her superhero allies (Still questioning why she even left tho; Shadowmoth knows those identities yet Cat noir doesn't..) And Cat noir is just upset. I couldn't take the exact frame of him alone but I see him looking all moody and sad. He's now pretending to be fine as Cat noir. Which is not getting any better, but more angsty lol.

As I saw all the foreshadowing in this season, the writers seem to be isolating Adrien even more. And after the scarf reveal, I'm pretty sure he's going to pretend to be fine with that too. I feel like a lot is going to happen to him. Maybe even him possibly becoming a.. Villain? What? In Queen Banana, it shows the hero of creation, and the villain of destruction. Could mean something. Other than that, I've been thinking about a lot of angsty fake scenarios of Adrien lately lol.. Back to the subject, the possible breakdown or conflict between Ladynoir would happen in season 4. It's the most logical time.

Oh, and one more thing:

Bye!

#adrien agreste #miraculous ladybug #adrien sugar #analysis on season 4 #ladybug #sorry i had to #its just the angle i found so funny lmao #alright its nearly midnight bye

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aspiestvmusings · 3 years

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ZEP S2 WISH LIST

Here is my wish list for ZEP future season(s):

This is based on a list I posted on another site after the finale. I've just expenaded on it. And added more things to the list:

One: Joan = CEO. Zoey or Max = Joan’s job (Zoey = Joan & Max = Zoey OR Max = Joan). -- Because they gotta keep Max around on the 4th, since it’s workplace centered show. And he’s free & looking for a job & he has loved working there & has been for 5 years, but he doesn’t want his old job back as a coder. This would allow them to deal with this the best. Without casting anyone new, and having the main cast all together in scenes, while also creating new dynamics... Because Joan is the new CEO (cause DMD is gonna be away for 6-19 months, so Joan is possibly not gonna be around as much for a while... a storyline written because of the actresses LG’s filming schedule conflict). So it’s either gonna be that Zoey takes Joan’s job (and Max Zoey’s job) or Max takes Joan’s job (and Zoey remains in hers...cause she has too manhy things to deal with currently to handle the responsibility of Joan’s job)

Or as an alternate option: Max does continue on his own path, and part of his character development (and part of more backstory for him, and his growth) will be his new career path. And I hope it won’t be on the 6th floor/at some other SrpkPoint team, but that he’d go on and start his own business or something. That’d be interesting, and source for many storylines.

Two: Abigail returning from Africa & getting that internshop at Sprk Point. Tobin + Abigail (since KT has said he wants Tobin to fall in love) -- I really want to see Abigail again. and they did set up the possibility of that in S1. Also... this would allow Howie to return, too (as her dad now, not as Mitch caregiver)

Three: Max & Mo friendship. More of that. Team M&M being there for Zoey...at this time of grieving. The only two people who know about her superpower (the only two she’s told...cause the MRI technician might be “on the know” too? The third person who knew is not physically there anymore)

Four: Max’s new look: beard (and locks). See: Skylar Astin’s social media posts during quarantine for the visual of the look. I mean... if we already had Tobin, David & Simon... all have a beard or a shadow of a beard...in the shows Pilot, then how/why would they (read: the network/studio) not allow Max to have one? The network made the actor shave for the show/S1, but... times they are changing. And the new look would fit... perfectly into the storyline. I mean.. Max is unemplyed for now, staying at home (not going to the offfice, so no “reason” to shave). Plus he said it himself... he’s looking forward to trying new things..etc. So it would make sense storyline wise, too.

Five: Max & Tobin friendship - exploring more of this. It’s one of the dynamics we haven’t seen much in S1. But both Tobin 2.0 & Max 2.0 are extra great, and they’d work well together.

Six: Tobin’s squirrel! Can he bring his pet squirrel to work again, please?

Seven: More Team SparkPoint! More scenes, more songs for, more interactions with, more backstory of other member of the Team (Tobin, Leif, and everyone else) I really need there to be more song for Tobin/Kapil.

Eight: The Max & Zoey office pool: Tobin being in charge of the bet “when will they get together”. Since everyone knows that Max has had a crush on Zoey for the longest time, and they’ve seen her sing “I’m Yours” to him (and probably more)... it’s time for this storyline. Because there is definitely some betting been going on about Zoey/Max, and if/when they will be together.

Nine: More backstory to all (side) characters: The Clarke’s (Maggie, Zoey, David, Emily), Mo, Tobin, Leif, Joan, Max... How/When they started to work at Sprk Point. Their family. Their “outside work” life. Their personal experiences with grief (Zoey & Simon may be the only ones who have lost their dads, but Joan is defintely not the only person Zoey knows who has lost someone close... and she/we are just not aware ogf it yet)

Ten: Max & Simon: Both men agreeing to take a step back & take themselves out of the competition in Zoey’s mind, letting her have her alone time & family time after the funeral. Zoey taking time to think, and reflect...on things. And then sitting down to talk with both men (either all three together, or with each separately), and telling them everything/the truth. Telling Max about her connection with Simon and what happened on her “anger phase day”. Telling Simon about her connection and history with her best friend, Max and what happened on the day when the bad moon rose. And then either choosing one of them...or...if they are all open to it...then they could all be in a poly relationship... In other words: honesty from all. And no love triangle, cause that doesn’t work or fit anymore after S1. ETA [Dec 11th]: Oh, well...we all knew this wish of mine wasn’t fully gonna come true in early S2. The “triangle” is still there & both continue with their “heart songs” apparently, but we got a bonus out of it all: the two men are “best buddies” now. That’s something at least...

Eleven: Exploring the Max & Zoey relationship (co-workers, friends, romantic couple) through the eyes of others/people around them: We’ve seen Simon, who was an outsider & didn’t know them much, notice the connection between Max & Zoey. We’ve seen him say that he’s noticed how close the two are, and it’s also noticable when they are spending less time together. He’s even asked if the two are/have been a couple. So... he’s been aware that there is more to Max & Zoey than she has told him. Cause she keeps telling him they’re just friends & he has no reason to be jealous..etc... when he can see/sense that there is/was more... (and it’s possible that had she been honest with him from the start, he’d not “come between the two”...though IDK). How others see them.

Twelve: Zoey admitting to herself that she hasn’t been fair with the two men in her life. Telling both the truth. Being open about her real feelings..for each. Zoey being more open with her own feleings, not running away from deep emotions. Not being scared of “what if-s”. Taking her own advice...to not keep it all (the grief) inside her, and instead talk about it...with loved ones. Dealing with it. And looking at things from a new, different perspective. Going after her joy... and realizing it’s not as far as she thinks. Realizing that she can live and love again after her dad is gone. Zoey admitting to herself that she formed an emotional grief bond with Simon only/mainly/mostly because she had a crush on him and wanted him for his body. That that was her motivation. Cause that was why she was so eager to help him, and why she continued her emotional affair with him.

THIS IS WHAT HAS TO HAPPEN...FOR ME TO “LIKE” THE MAIN CHARACTER. Until she claims it’s all due to the powers or grief & won’t accept it’s her own choices & doing, I’m not gonna be able to fully enjoy the storylines. She may be grieving, she may be “stressed out” due to the power and she may have a “hot mess” personality in general, but since for me none of it is logical & I see her behaviours and all as irrational & controversial, I can’t “get” the character. To me her behaviour and all don't match up (and s much as I try convincing myself it’s cause of grief or powers or...) I cannot convince myself that those explain it. Hence she seems “OOC” to me... back & forth, all depending too much on the seasons set up (things happen in premiere, for sweeps, for finale... cause there have to be twists then, so even if they don’t add up or aren’t logical, they happen...)

As Maggie put it, when Zoey lashed out on Howie: “We do not talk to people like that.” AND as Mo out it “don’t blame it on the power, this one’s all on you”. Meaning... she cannot claim that all of it is due to her grief or powers. And personally need her to stop being in denial & claiming it’s “due to grief/powers”, when its been made clear she’s aware she is actually just trying to stay in denial....

Thirteen: Zoey + therapy & Simon + therapy: both taking time to properly grieve, and heal. And acknowledge their mistakes: Simon (emotionally) cheating on Jessica (he may not be a bad person, but he did a “bad thing”). Zoey leading both men along and being dishonest.

Fourteen: Maggie going back to work, continuing her landscape/floral business...without Mitch. But shell need someone to help her. The perfect candidate would be Autumn. She loves all things nature! Also...any excuse to have her (Stephanie) back.

Fifteen: Paul (the family friend, who we saw in 1x06 & 1x12) being back. He’s the most likely candidate for a possibly romantic storyline for Maggie. IF they decide to write one. (and we all know TV shows like to write all that)

Sixteen: Mitch still being there... even if he’s not. In their dreams. In flashbacks. In Zoey-ality...singing to her. Any excuse to have Micth (Peter) back...as much as possible. And the “Mitch effect”: how he’s shaped everyone (Maggie, Zoey, David, Emily, Max...) who knew him... his “ideas” living on through them. Big Moments...

Seventeen: Baby Mitch [cause, let’s be real, David & Emily are gonna name their baby boy after his grandpa...in some way or form)! David & Emily as parents. David as a father... even if he’s had doubts about himself as a dad [the whole “I dont think I’m manly enough” plot they did]

Eighteen: Aunt Zoey -- Zoey as an aunt to “baby Mitch”. David & Emily asking Zoey & Max to be the babies godparents (they would...cause he’s like a family, and they have no idea about any of the triangle drama...probably). Zoey babysitting baby Mitch. Zoey & Max babysitting baby Mitch. Cause let’s face it - they would not let Zoey do it alone - she’d be too anxious/nervous... #classictrope

Nineteen: Throwbacks to: The day that Max & Zoey met..5 years ago..a the company orientation day, and to other big moments in their friendship (how the movie nights started...). Leif’s first day...which was 7 years ago... sao hes been there longer. The day Max met Zoeys family, and seeing many of the moments they had together (any excuse to have Micth/Peter back) - the holidays, the summer barbeques... and how everyone knew about Maxs feelings for Zoey.

Twenty: More Zoey/Mo friendship. And more about her other neighours. Maybe her shy downstairs neighbour is ready for that moonwatching adventure on the roof? Speaking of which...can we get some astronomy/math storylines (backstory and expansion of Zoey’s interests - how it started, what she’s doing now...)

Twenty-One: More singing & dancing...in whatever form. In Zoey’ality/Zoeys head, in dreams, in the form of karaoke or flash mobs. And one thing’s for sure... we need Zoey to SING...for real...to Max..once she’s made up her mind and chooses him. Whether it’s a flash mob, or karaoke..or just... “serenading” him... but she is her fathers daughter, and to parallel Max’s flash mob love confession & honouring her dad’s love for big moments, bigger memories...her “confession” should also be in the form of song...and dance.

Twenty-Two: More people finding out about the power...though I don’t really see her “trusting” this secret to anyone but the people she already has told. Except for, maybe, her mom. It could help her if she’d know that Mitch communicated with her/them in a way...during his last months. And maybe she’d tell Joan. But... I actually do not see her telling Simon... even if they do make her choose him for now...cause she’ll make bad choices due to being a grieving mess. And unlike with her best friend, where she can request any feelings/heart song..or none at all... I don’t see her doing the same with her office crush, so any possible make out session will be ruined...as now it seems he is emotionally available, and “likes her back”, so he’s about to sing to her...during such moments. Yet...if they do get closer and she doesn’t tell him... that alone will drive them apart..the secret(s). And yet...if she will tell him...then I do not see a scenario where he will be okay with it, and as chill as Mo, or even as mildly chill as Max was. Because his entire belief in them is based on his belief that she has this natural connection with him...when in fact she’s using a CHIRP style device that helps her read his mind/heart. And unlike others, I do not see the possibility of him being chill or OK with her power, and her not telling him.

Twenty-Three: CHIRP vs ZOEYALITY...the parallels between the superpower & the new tech/gadget

Written: over summer 2020 & updated with a few ETAs: Dec 11th, 2020

#ZEP #ZOEY'S EXTRAORDINARY PLAYLIST #ZOEYS EXTRAORDINARY PLAYLIST #ZOEY'S EP #Clarkeman #Zomax #Zax #Zoey Clarke #Max Richman #Zoey x Max #Max x Zoey #TEAM MAX #ZEP S2 #ZEP SEASON 2 #SEASON 2 #LONG POST #TEXT POST #LIST POST

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cctinsleybaxter · 3 years

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2020 in books

2020 was a year of changed reading habits; people reading more than ever or not at all, some changing their tastes and others turning to old comforts. While there weren’t any huge overhauls on my end, more free time did mean a total of 32 in a wider range of genres. In the past couple of years I found a lot of the things I read to be kind of middling and ranked them accordingly, but this year had some strong contenders in the mix. With college officially behind me I love nonfiction again, and I really need to stop being drawn in by novels with long titles that ‘sound interesting.’ A piece of advice to my future self: they will only make you angry.

The Good

The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky I loved the BBC radio play when I first listened to it back in 2017, but didn’t know if I could stomach the idea of actually reading the 700-page book, especially since I already knew the plot (spoiler alert: this had no effect and I gasped multiple times despite knowing what was going to happen; Fyodor’s just that good at atmosphere.) The story follows Prince Lev Myshkin, a goodhearted but troubled man entering 1860s Petersburg high society and meeting all of the wretched people therein as he navigates life, laughs, love, unanswerable questions of faith, and human suffering. I care about it in the same way I think other people care about reality TV shows and soap operas. I’m so personally invested in the drama and feel so many different emotions directed at these clowns that it’s like being a fan of Invitation to Love (with an ending equally upsetting to that of the show ITL is from, Twin Peaks.)

Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlanksy I adored this book. The first half reads a little like a Wikipedia article, and I was worried that it was leaning too clinical and would be disaffected with colonialism and indigenous peoples, but even that oversight is corrected for as the text goes on. It’s not going to be for everybody because it really is just the world’s longest encyclopedia entry on, well, salt, but it’s written with such excitement for the topic and is so well-researched and styled for commercial nonfiction that I think it deserves any and all praise it’s gotten. We have to talk about that time Cheshire was literally sinking into the ground, and companies who were over-pumping brine water to steal each other’s brine water said ‘no it’s okay it’s supposed to that’ so were legally dismissed as suspects.

Midnight Cowboy by James Leo Herlihy Cried. 10/10. The plot of Midnight Cowboy is very classic and actually has a lot in common with The Idiot, as 20-something Joe Buck moves from the American Southwest to NYC and meets myriad challenges as a sex worker. I’ve been obsessed with the movie for a few years now and the book made me appreciate it anew; I think it’s rare for an adaptation to take the risk of being so different from its source material while still capturing its spirit. The movie doesn’t include quieter moments like the full conversation with Towny or time spent in the X-flat, nor does it attempt to touch Joe’s internal monologue or his and Rico’s extensive backstories, but these things are essential to the book and are some of the best and most affecting writing I’ve ever read. Finally! The Great American Novel!

The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones I would firmly like to say that this is probably the best horror novel ever written. The setup is very traditional in that it’s about a group of friends facing supernatural comeuppance for a past mistake, but delivery on that premise is anything but familiar. A story about personal and cultural trauma that raises questions about what we owe to each other and what it means to be Blackfeet, with a cast that’s unbelievably real and sympathetic even at their absolute worst. Creepypasta writers trying to cash in on the cultural mythos of lumped-together tribes wish they were capable of writing something a tenth as gruesome and good as this. It could very well be a movie the visuals and writing style were so arresting, and I can’t wait to read whatever Jones writes next.

Found Footage Horror Films: Fear and the Appearance of Reality by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas This is the least accessible title on the list since it’s a college textbook for people with background in film, but it was so nice to read a woman unpacking film theory with the expertise and confidence it deserves that I have to rank it among the best. I had an absolute blast reading it and am going to have to stop myself from bringing up the horror of 1960s safety films as a cocktail icebreaker.

Blood in the Water: The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 and Its Legacy by Heather Ann Thompson

The year’s toughest read by far, but also its most rewarding. Thompson uses mountains of documents, government-buried intel, and personal interviews to explain what happened at Attica from beginning to end, and does a fantastic job of balancing hard facts and ‘unbiased journalism’ with much-needed emotion and critical analysis. It’s more important reading in the 2020s than any kind of ‘why/how to not be racist’ book club book is going to be, and the historical context it provides is as interesting as it is invaluable. The second half drags a bit in going through lengthy trial processes with some assumed baseline knowledge of legalese (which I did not have. All that criminal minds in 2015… meaningless), but aside from that editing and prose are some of the best I’ve seen in nonfiction.

The Bad

The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn A friend and I decided to read this together because I’m obsessed with how insane the author is and wanted to know if he can actually write.

He cannot.

The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All by Laird Barron Barron is an indie darling of the horror fiction scene, so I was excited to finally read one of his collections but can now attest that I hate him. If you’re going to do Lovecraft please deconstruct Lovecraft in an interesting way. I had actually written a lot about the issues I have with how he develops characters and plots, but one of the only shorthand notes I took was “he won’t stop saying ‘bole’ instead of tree trunk” and I feel like that’s the only review we need.

Bats of the Republic by Zach Dodson Look up a photo of this author because if I had bothered to glance at the jacket bio I honest-to-god wouldn’t have even tried reading this.

This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone I went in with high expectations since this is an epistolary novella I’d seen praised on tumblr and youtube but oh my god was there a reason I was seeing it praised on tumblr and youtube. This is bad Steven Universe fanfiction. Both authors included ‘listening to the Steven Universe soundtrack throughout’ in the acknowledgements, and to add insult to injury there’s a plug from my nemesis Madeline Miller.

The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton The premise of this one plays with so many tropes I like that I should have been more suspicious. It’s a dinner party with stock characters one would expect of Clue, and rather than our protagonist being the detective he’s a man with amnesia stuck in a 24-hour time loop. Body-hopping between guests, he must gather evidence using the skillsets of each ‘host’ until he either solves Evelyn Hardcastle’s murder or the limit of eight hosts runs out. I read a lot of not-very-good books, and it’s so, so much worse when they have potential to be fun. This is how you lose the most points, and how I abandon decorum and end up writing a list of grievances: • Our protagonist can only inhabit male hosts, which I think is a stupid writing decision not because I’m ‘woke’ but because wouldn’t it make sense for him to also be working with the maids, cooks, and women close to the murder victim? • Complaining about the limitations of hosts makes some sense (e.g- there’s a section where he thinks that it’s hard to be an old man because it’s difficult to get to the places he needs to be quickly), but one of his hosts is a rapist and one of his hosts is fat. Guess which one gets complained about more. • One of the later hosts is just straight-up a cop with cop knowledge that singlehandedly solves the case. We spend some time being like ‘wow I couldn’t have done it without the info all eight hosts helped gather’ but it was 100% the detective and he solves the murder using information he got off-screen. • The mystery itself is actually well-paced and I didn’t have a lot of issues with it (e.g, there’s a twist that I guessed only shortly before the end), which makes it all the worse that the metanarrative of this book is INSANE. No spoilers but the reveal as to why our unnamed protagonist is even in this situation is stupid. I just know they’re going to make it into a movie and I’m preemptively going to aaaaaaaaa!!!

Trust Exercise by Susan Choi The fact that this was the worst book I read all year, worse even than the bad Steven Universe fanfiction, and it won multiple awards makes my blood boil. I could rant about it for hours but just know that it’s a former theater kid’s take on perception and memory, and deals with sexual abuse in a way that’s handled both very badly and with a level of fake deepness that’s laughable. Select fake-deep quotes I copied down because at one point I said ‘oh barf’ aloud: -I’m filled with melancholy that’s almost compassion. It’s sad the same way. -[On a friendship ending] We almost never know what we know until after we know it. -Because we’re none of us alone in this world. We injure each other.

There are also bad sex scenes that I can’t quite make fun of because I think (HOPE?) they’re supposed to be a melodramatic take on how teenagers view sex, but I very much wanted to die. Flowers were alluded to. Nipples were compared to diamonds.

Honorable/Dishonorable Mentions (categorized as the same thing because, well,)

The Life and Death of Sophie Stark by Anna North This book was frustrating because the first third of it is fantastic. It’s set up to be a takedown of the manic pixie dream girl trope, jumping from person to person discussing their relationship with the titular Sophie, and indirectly revealing that she was just some girl and not the difficult and mysterious genius they all believed her to be. Then in the third act, BAM! She was that difficult and mysterious genius and she’s now indirectly brought all the people from her past together. I wanted to scream the plot beefed it so bad, but the good news is I really liked this octopus description.

It was the size of a three-year-old child, and it seemed awful to me that something could be so far from human and obviously want something as badly as it wanted to get out of the tank.

Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America’s Shining Women by Kate Moore Cool new nightmare speedrun strat is to hear a 2-second anecdote from a documentary that people used to get radium poisoning from painting watch faces, be curious enough that you buy a book to learn more, and be met with medical and legal horror beyond anything you could have imagined. This was almost one of my favorite books of the year! Almost.

Radium Girls is very lovingly crafted and incredibly well-researched; one of those things that’s hard to get through but that you want to read sections of again as soon as you’ve finished. The umbrage I take with it is that it’s very Catholic. The author and many of her subjects are Irish and their religion is important to them, but it casts a martyr-y narrative over the whole thing that I found uncomfortable. Seventeen-year-old girls taking a factory job they didn’t know was dangerous are framed as brave, working-class heroes, but there’s not a set moral lesson to be gained from this story. Sarah Maillefer didn’t make “a sacrifice” when she agreed to the first radium tests, she agreed because she was terrified. She didn’t think she was helping she was begging for help.

The Mushroom at the End of the World: On the Possibility of Life in Capitalist Ruins by Anna Tsing Tsing is an incredibly skilled researcher and ethnographer; there are so many good ideas in this book that I’d almost consider it essential leftist text… if I could stand the way it was structured. Tsing posits that because nature is built on precariousness she will build her book the same way, allowing it to grow like a mushroom, and thus chapters don’t progress linearly and are written more like freeform poetry than a series of academic arguments. Some people are really going to love that, but I’m me and a mushroom is a mushroom and a book is a book. I don’t think in the way Tsing does, and while I tried to keep an open mind it’s hard to play along when something is this academically dense and makes so many ambitious claims. As if to prove how different our structuring methods are, I’ve made my own thoughts into a pros and cons list

Things I liked: • ‘Contamination’ as something inherent to diversity • ‘Scalability’ as a flawed way of thinking (Tsing has written whole essays about this that I find very compelling, but a main example here is that China and the US have come down on Japanese matsutake research for being too ‘site specific’ and not yielding enough empirical data) • Discussing how Americans were so invested in self-regulating systems in the 1950s we thought they could be applied to literally everything, including ecosystems • “The survivors of war remind us of the bodies they climbed over- or shot- to get to us. We don’t know whether to love or hate the survivors. Simple moral judgements don’t come to hand.” • Any and all fieldwork Tsing shares is amazing; I especially liked reading about the culture of mushroom pickers living in the Cascades and their contained market system

Things I didn’t like: • Statements that sound deep but aren’t, e.g- “help is always in the service of another.” (Yep. That’s what that means. Unless an organism is doing something to help itself which then nullifies your whole opening argument.) • A very debatable definition of utilitarianism • “Capitalism vs pre-capitalism,” which seems like an insanely black-and-white stance for a book all about finding hidden middle ground • A chapter I found really interesting about how intertwined Japanese and American economies are, but it tries to cover the entire history of US-Japan relations. Seriously, starting with Governor Perry and continuing through present day, this could have been a whole different book and it’s a good example of what I mean when I say arguments feel too scattered (the conclusion it reaches is that in the 80s the yen was finally able to hold its own against the dollar. Just explain that part.) • A chapter arguing that ‘true biological mutualism’ is rarely a focus of STEM and is a new sociological development/way of thinking which is just… flat-out not true

For all the comparisons art gets to ‘being on a drug trip’ this anthropology textbook has come the closest for me. Moments of profound human wisdom, intercut with things I had trouble understanding because I wasn’t on the same wavelength, intercut with even more things that felt false or irrelevant. I can’t put it on the nice list but I am glad I read it.

#2020 #books #long post #(in case the read more isn't working)

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bbrandy2002 · 4 years

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Wacky Drabble #17: Liam’s Smut

Part 3

Masterlist

Part One Part Two

“Riley’s” Fic/What Happens In Fydelia

This is part of @emceesynonymroll ’s #wackydrabbles. This weeks prompt is: There is a certain taste to it.

Liam x Riley and Liam x Hana x Maxwell

Word count: Lets just say, the limit doesn’t exist. So Sorry Enna😲 ……2143

A/N: Its been a hella crazy, hectic week and Im Not too thrilled with how this turned out but it is what it is.

Chapter Summary: In an attempt to get Riley to understand how he feels, Liam writes his own smut with shocking results.

**Special Note: @fromthedeskofpaisleybleakmore did not write any part of this, therefore, this drabble should not reflect on her far superior talent. I had no plans to write this when I wrote the previous drabble or I would have never drug her name into it…but, ya’ll just had to see what Liam wrote 😂 Thanks Bleakmore for being such a good sport!

This is MY attempt to write a story within a story, that includes smut (not my forte), in Bleakmore’s writing style, with a fictional character as a contributor, while also switching back and forth in my own writing style….God have mercy on all of you!!!!

MY READ MORE DID NOT WORK AGAIN...tagged as long post

————————————-

Riley’s eyes flitted at the screen as she scanned the words written before her. It was quite obvious by the content and plot of this story, one person in particular was meant to read it-her, and it had Liam written all over it. If those two things didn’t make it clear enough, the username, @inyourfacerileybrooks-love-liam, was the biggest indicator her husband had bested her.

A sea of crimson rippled across her face and heaving chest as she shifted onto her side, adjusting the laptop to lay on the bed next to her, full of resentment and outrage. If she was being honest with herself, she felt more guilt than anything.

If he wanted to “out smut” her, she’d be damned not to see what she was up against. She sighed heavily as she began to delve into his-little story.

________

Liam Fucks Hana Five Ways From Sunday With His Enormous Dick”

A new collaborative drabble by @fromthedeskofpaisleybleakmore and newcomer @inyourfacerileybrooks-love-liam

NSFW 🍋🍋🍋

Summary: This takes place in Fydelia, during the engagement tour, where Liam had caught his girlfriend, Riley, having sex with Drake in the courtyard.

(Liam)

“Bastien!”, I yelled, “arrest these two for treason, indescency in public, and…”, upon seeing the little Hershey bar wrappers scattered on the ground from Drake’s smores, “….litering”.

Seeking my forgiveness, Riley sobbed and pleaded for her release, citing temporary insanity, as her reasoning for betraying me in such a manner.

I did not care.

As my head guard took them both away in shackles and chains, I stopped him momentarily, “Bastien?”.

He turned to acknowledge me, “Yes, Your Majesty”.

“Throw away the key”.

I never wanted to see their sorry faces again. They both will spend the rest of their days in the palace dungeon, in misery, never to see daylight .

Riley rolled her eyes, “real subtle, Liam”, she murmured, before continuing….

I left the scene of their sexual crime feeling hurt and destroyed. Everything I had done since my coronation had been to protect her….Her! When I spoke those three words in the hedge maze before we made love for the first time, I meant them….I loved her.

Truth is, I never stopped.

I never will.

I would have gone to the far reaches of the universe to love her and show her love. I would have given her anything, do anything she asked, gave her my very own life to protect her, yet, it wasn’t enough to keep her. She didn’t think I was man enough to be those things for her, a lover, a protector, a soul mate, a confidante…my best friend.

She wanted Drake Walker for that.

Shame…there is a certain taste to it. Extremely spicy? Maybe. If so, Riley’s mouth was on fire. She pushed herself up from lying down on her side and gently tossed the laptop onto the bed. If there was anything she was ever sure of in life, it was that Liam loved her and always had. Those words she just read, were meant for her, in the here and now.

Her stomach began to twist and turn, a sour taste rising in the back of her throat. She eased herself from the bed to stand, wiping away the steady streams of hot tears that moistened her cheeks.

She ran to the bathroom, shutting the door and fell to her knees before the cold porcelain, emptying the foulness of her betrayal inside of it. Feeling miserable for hurting Liam and causing him such pain.

“Mommy?..daddy?”, Nikolas called out as he sleepily entered his parents empty bedroom.

Without a reply, he stepped in further, his little, beady blue eyes darting around, seeking to find his mom and dad, his ears perking up at hearing the shower running.

Nikolas decided to wait for them to come out of the bathroom, not knowing Liam had stayed in his study last night. Grabbing onto one of the large wooden posters at the foot of the bed, he placed one foot on the frame and hoisted himself up, crawling playfully to the center.

He rose to his feet and jumped up and down several times before landing on his backside with a high bounce, giggling with pure delight. Riley’s laptop caught his eyes, resting on her pillow, open wide with the screensaver of a half naked, Ryan Reynolds bouncing around consistently. He perched himself on the edge of the bed, his short legs swinging freely over the side, as he laid the laptop in his lap.

He knew he wasn’t permited to use electronic devices without adult supervision, however, in his mind, that was not something he was concerned with. His tiny finger ran over the touchpad as his ears listened intently for the shower to stop. Nik’s eyes narrowed on the words that flashed before him, his hand cupped over his mouth….“daddy did what to Aunt Hana?”…..

Returning to my room at the estate, wounded and dispirited, I pour one drink after another, drowning my sorrows. My ultimate goal was to feel nothing, to forget the love of my life ever existed….if only for this night.

Soon, the dizzying effects of the alcohol begin to take its hold on me. I shed my suit jacket, feeling warmth, tossing it absentmindedly on the bed. I began to roll up the sleeves of my dress shirt, when a gentle knock alerted me to the door. I stumble haphazardly across my suite to see who it is at this late hour.

Hana and Maxwell stood opposite of me with looks of concerns and disappointment.

(Hana)

Maxwell and I stand before Liam, who looks like he has spent the evening wallowing in what Riley and Drake had done to him. By now, the entire court and press had gotten word of their very public display of affection….if thats what you would call it. When Maxwell and I were made aware of the situation, we thought he could use a friend, a shoulder to cry on, and-The Game.

The King invites us into his lavish executive suite, lit only by the moonlight’s glow through the clear glass of the balcony door. A near empty bottle of scotch sits on the coffee table in front of the sofa with a pack of cigarettes and a full ash tray.

“Liam”, I wrap him in a warm hug, “we are so sorry for what happened. Is there anything we can do?”.

“Yeah, buddy”, Maxwell said with an encouraging smile, “we came to cheer your up”.

Liam crosses to the center of the room and slumps down onto the couch, grabbing the bottle of scotch, “I appreciate that, but…I don’t think anyone can help me tonight”.

I look to Maxwell, who gives me a knowing look and a nod. We avert our attention back to the King who is lighting up his next cigarette and falling back into the couch.

I wink at Maxwell. It’s time.

Maxwell and I move to the sofa. He plops down on the end opposite of Liam and I settle myself in between them; there was only enough room for the three of us.

(Liam)

I’m grateful that Maxwell and Hana are so concerned for my wellbeing, however, I really just want to be left alone.

Hana shifts next to me and places a delicate hand on my knee. If I weren’t so inebriated, that act alone would seem almost inappropriate for a lady of my court. I take a quick draw and exhale the toxic fumes towards the ceiling.

“Your Majesty”, her voice sweet and low, “Maxwell and I would like to play a…"game”..with you.“

I smile at her and lightly squeeze the hand she has resting on my knee, “I’m not really in the mood for games..maybe another time”.

“Come on daddy, play the game with Uncle Max and Aunt Hana”

I catch Maxwell’s hand moving just below the hem of Hana’s knee length dress, gliding under the fabric as he caresses her thigh, inching higher and higher. I quirk my brow, curious at to what this knucklehead was doing.

Hana closes her eyes, appearing to melt into his touch, soft moans escaping her lips. I scoot further away, unclear as to what the hell is going on.

The intricate lace of Hana’s light pink panties become visible as Maxwell’s finger disappears under it. Her usually, elegant hand, pressing him further and deeper into her. I avert my eyes and begin to whistle uncomfortably, wondering if these two came to cheer me up by…fucking in front of me?

Hana’s sultry voice beckons for me. “I dare you to touch me too, Your Majesty”, an inviting grin appears on her face as Maxwell removes his fingers from her. To say I am baffled would be an understatement, yet, my cock starts to harden with anticipation.

“Do it, do it, do it”, an oddly subdued Maxwell begins to pressure me with a shit-eating grin.

I shake my head insistently, “I..I can’t touch Lady Hana like that”, I wanted to, she’s gorgeous and talented, and by the looks of Maxwell’s glistening fingers, fucking soaked. I lean forward and put out my cigarette, planning to get away from whatever the hell kind of game these two are playing. I’ve played Monopoly, I’ve played checkers, never have I “played” Stick a Finger in The Pussy.

My heart races as she grabs my hand and pulls it towards her. I hesitate, but, dammit, I’m only a man. My fingers roam over the wetness of her panties, I can smell her essence and it completely overcomes me. I make my way under the lace; she is warm and slick. I begin to move with precision through her folds and she groans my name. Hana’s giftedness never fails…I can honestly say, I do feel a little more cheerful afterall.

Through her moaning, she dares Maxwell to suck my dick. I laugh, oh the Hana…she’s such a jokester, until that son of bitch gets up and kneels before me. In my drunken state, I don’t move as my lifelong friend unbuckles my leather belt and slowly unzips my pants. He releases my cock from its confines…is this really happening? Hana squirms under my touch and I can tell she is close to the edge, as Maxwell’s hot tongue curls around my shaft.

“Nikolas!”, Liam’s voice booms disapprovingly as he stands at the doorway, “are you on your mother’s laptop?”

A panic-stricken Nikolas, jolts from being caught, then squints his eyes as he watches his father approach him.

Liam towers over his young son, hands on his hips with a displeased glare. “Well…what do you have to say for yourself?”

Nikolas remains quiet for a moment before Liam presses him again for an answer. Without warning, he cries out, “You are a bad man daddy! A very bad man!”. He jumps off the bed, pushing himself past Liam, wailing and sobbing back to his room, where his door could be heard slamming shut.

The bathroom door opens and a towel clad Riley slips out, “What was that?”

Liam scratches his unkempt hair, perplexed at his son’s outburst, “I’m not sure. I caught him on your laptop before he told me I was a very bad man and cried himself out of the room”

Riley swiveled the laptop he left on the bed towards her, leaning over it in search of what caused her young child to explode. Her lips moved quietly as she read until, “YOU HAD A THREESOME WITH HANA AND MAXWELL?!”, she blinked wildly, “…my baby is gonna need therapy for life”.

Liam grabbed the device from her, “I most certainly did not”. He read the post for himself, gasping at each sentence, nodding his head incessantly, “No…No…animal sounds?…golden shower?…Hana milked our prostates? Drake escapes the dungeon and kills me with marine life?…I didn’t write this, I swear. I only wrote the first part and Bleakmore assured me she would give it a loving ending”.

Skeptical at his story, Riley points to the screen, “Look”, her eyes focus in as she points to the screen, reading aloud, “Never ask a Drake stan to betray him…You’ve been… Bleakmored”. She bites her lip to control the urge to laugh.

“Bleakmored?”, he sighs, “Bleakmored?…I hope she knows she has traumatized our son”, he closes his eyes in disbelief before Riley wraps her arms around his waste and draws him closer to her.

She stares up at her husband with a loving smile and sincerity, “I’m sorry you were Bleakmored…and…I’m sorry I wrote that story about Drake. You are the only man I want, My King”, she trails kisses across his neck and palms his hardened groin, “maybe you can finish your smut where you left off, with me”.

Liam shudders under the intensity of her hands moving in perfect motion, “Only if you let me… milk you, My Queen”.

Riley lips curl into a devilish grin “I’ll get the Vasoline and rubber gloves”.

Wacky Drabblers and Permatags: @emceesynonymroll @burnsoslow @jessiembruno @sirbeepsalot @dcbbw @romanticatheart-posts @stopforamoment @katedrakeohd @pedudley @of-course-i-went-to-hartfeld @drakesensworld @ao719 @janezillow @eileendannie @texaskitten30 @glaimtruelovealways @fromthedeskofpaisleybleakmore @hopefulmoonobject

#liam x mc #the royal heir #choices trr #king liam x mc #wacky drabbles #liam x riley #bbrandy2002 #long post

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terramythos · 3 years

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TerraMythos’ 2020 Reading Challenge In Review - 9/10s!

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Here's the 9/10 books of this year -- books I really liked but not to the point of perfection.

1. This Is How You Lose The Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone (Full Review Here)

This is a beautifully-written novella about two women from enemy time travel societies. They start as rivals who pass taunting letters to one another and gradually fall in love with each other through their writing. There’s some really beautiful and interesting locations, and I love the longing and emotion in the letter sequences. I think using a science fiction setting for a love story is super cool; especially with time travel, there’s a sense of predestination not found in other genres. I also like the idea of each author writing one of the two leads, so the style is slightly different between them.

2. The City We Became (Great Cities #1) by N. K. Jemisin (Full Review Here)

Jemisin is a fantastic author and created my favorite series ever (The Broken Earth), so I was stoked to read book one of a new series by her. The concept here is that cities become sentient beings over time given enough people and cultural influence. New York City is about to be born into a human avatar, but something goes wrong. An eldritch foe known simply as The Enemy seeks to sabotage the nascent city and almost succeeds. Proto-avatars of the city’s boroughs have to find their inner power and band together to rescue him and save the city.

I really dig the ensemble cast, especially Manny (Manhattan), Bronca (The Bronx), and New York City himself. The book is also a great middle finger to Lovecraft, as the cosmic horror element is steeped in structural racism and oppression, with the Eldritch Aesthetic being a creepy pale white. Super excited for the next book.

3. Artificial Condition (The Murderbot Diaries #2) by Martha Wells (Full Review Here)

I’ve already said plenty about the Murderbot books on my 10/10 list. I really like this one in particular because it introduces ART, one of the best supporting characters in the series. It’s super interesting to see how Murderbot interacts with a non-human person (or... spaceship. But ART is also a person for sure) similar to itself and I really like the banter and friendship between the two. Like the rest of the novellas, it’s short, but it packs in a lot of story and heart.

4. Rogue Protocol (The Murderbot Diaries #3) by Martha Wells (Full Review Here)

My other 9/10 selection for this series! There is a heavy focus on Murderbot’s past and how far it’s come ever since it freed itself from the company’s mental slavery. This probably has the strongest character development in the series outside of Network Effect, with a genuinely sad and sobering ending.

5. Finch (Ambergris #3) by Jeff VanderMeer (Full Review Here)

I think this book is where I really “got” the Ambergris series; it’s a pseudo-trilogy with a lot of postmodern elements, but this one is the most straightforward. Finch is a fascinating mix of noir, dystopia, and cosmic horror. I even called this “nontraditional cyberpunk”; there’s elements of a surveillance state, underground resistance/revolution, artificial implants/bodily enhancements-- but all related to fungi and eldritch horror.

Anyway, this book stars Finch, a detective working in the city of Ambergris, who is tasked with solving an impossible double-murder case. In his investigations, he soon stumbles upon a web of conspiracy related to the downfall and takeover of the city by the gray caps, the humanoid mushrooms who enslave and oppress the human population. It’s just as weird as it sounds, but if you made it to book three, you'll be plenty familiar with how bizarre the series is. Technically, this book is a standalone, but I recommend reading the other two first as they are integral to understanding the plot.

6. The Last Sun (The Tarot Sequence #1) by K. D. Edwards (Full Review Here)

This is a really impressive debut novel with an interesting world concept and great characters. The idea is that Atlantis was a real thing and got destroyed. The surviving inhabitants decided to build a new city by magically stealing a bunch of buildings throughout the world and transporting them to Nantucket. The result is a cool patchwork urban fantasy setting. There’s a huge tarot motif, hence the series name. It’s also gay!

I fell in love with the excellent character banter, especially between Rune and his soul-bonded bodyguard Brand. While I had some criticisms on the plot structure and a reliance on same-y action scenes, everything else was so good I gave Edwards the benefit of the doubt. And it really paid off in the sequel, which improves on basically everything.

7. The Princess Bride by William Goldman (Full Review Here)

I mean, the movie’s a beloved classic. If you haven’t seen it... go do so? It’s a great adventure story with lots of memorable characters, lines, and moments. Honestly I’m more surprised I hadn’t read the book before, and I’m glad I did. It often felt like an extended cut of the movie, with a few key differences in the frame story and some locations. While I think I like the film just a little more, I appreciate the novel for giving me a broader perspective on the story and characters.

8. A Choir of Lies (A Conspiracy of Truths #2) by Alexandra Rowland (Full Review Here)

A Choir of Lies is a standalone sequel to the book A Conspiracy of Truths and can be read on its own if desired. It stars Ylfing, a fan-favorite character in the previous book. He’s processing grief and depression in the wake of his mentor (the last book’s protag) suddenly abandoning him. A (sort of--it’s complicated) professional storyteller called a Chant, Ylfing tries to make it in the Netherlands-inspired fantasy city Heyrland, and writes a diary about his experiences. However, another Chant has found his manuscript and writes scathing commentary on his decisions in the footnotes.

I had a difficult time getting into this one, as Ylfing is both relatable and infuriating, and a depressed protagonist can be hard to get behind. However, it's well worth sticking through, as the sheer catharsis of Ylfing realizing his horrible mistakes and doing everything he can to fix them is... well, pretty inspiring. Multiple characters own up to their failures, often at great personal cost, for the wellbeing of others. I think it’s a great message, especially reading it in 2020 when the future feels hopeless. A Choir of Lies also has two of the things I liked most about A Conspiracy of Truths-- lots of meta commentary on storytelling, and surprisingly interesting economics.

9. The Harbors of the Sun (The Books of the Raksura #5) by Martha Wells (Full Review Here)

I thought this was a nice finale to the series. It has some satisfying thematic bookends regarding the Fell and Moon’s character development. It’s also probably the most “epic” fantasy of the series, with super high stakes and a broad cast of perspective characters. I have to wonder if there are plans for further books or a different series in this universe, since the setting has a lot of depth and potential. Either way, I really enjoyed it!

10. A Killing Frost (October Daye #14) by Seanan McGuire (Full Review Here)

Another year, another October Daye book! Obviously I like this series if I’m fourteen books in and still reading it. A Killing Frost has some slow-ish pacing, but ramps up a lot in the second half of the story. It’s the conclusion to my favorite storyline in the series -- the redemption arc of Simon Torquill. He’s a really interesting morally gray character, and I think serves as the poster child on how the series plays with the idea of heroes and villains. Also, this book casually drops probably one of the craziest twists in the series at the end, and I am super interested to see the fallout of that.

11. The Edge of Worlds (The Books of the Raksura #4) by Martha Wells (Full Review Here)

This is basically part one of Harbors of the Sun and involves the main cast going on a long journey to an ancient ruin. The first half of the book is pretty slow and probably could have been pared down -- lots of travel sequences. However the second half is super tense and action packed. I found the ancient ruin itself really interesting and creepy, and the book sets up a lot of things that pay off in The Harbors of the Sun.

#2020 reading challenge #taylor reads

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