#Zack is so cool without even realizing it

[end7essness]

Zack being the best boy.

Always.

#if Kunsel and Luxerie would see this mission's recording they'd be drooling over how cool Zack is #Zack is so cool without even realizing it #FF7 #FFVII #Final Fantasy #Final Fantasy VII #Final Fantasy 7 #Crisis Core #Zack the Puppy #Zack #Zack Fair #Final Fantasy Cris #crisis core reunion #final fantasy crisis core #final fantasy vii crisis core #gifs

[hellfirenacht]

Wing Man Part 5

Summary: Steve ‘the Hair’ Harrington is your best friend, and is constantly striking out. Sick of this, you two make a deal; you’ll wingman for each other. Hooking Steve up with dates is easy, but he finds himself struggling to find you a date. At least, until Dustin starts talking about his new cool friend Eddie.

Chapter Summary: Ranting about Ozzy Osbourne counts as flirting, right?

5.7 words

(1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9)

a/n: I wanted to get this chapter out before Flight of Icarus on Halloween. I am MILKING that preview we got for all it's worth. I want y'all to know in this chapter I am projecting HARD on what I think the book will be like and how it will affect Eddie. Also say thank you to @hellfiredarling and @crocwork-clockodile because without them, this wouldn't have gone past 2 chapters. Also shout out to @hellfiredarling for letting me borrow her OC Tara for this fic as well. 💜

WARNINGS: This chapter discusses the Ozzy Osbourne Bat Incident. Nothing is really talked about in graphic detail, but I figured I'd throw that out there, just in case.

Eddie Munson would never consider himself a homewrecker. He was a lot of things; a freak, a metal head, the occasional dealer, a musician, but never a homewrecker. 

But he’d be lying to himself if he said he didn’t enjoy flirting with you as Steve was right there. Steve hadn’t even made any sort of move to make it clear that you were actually on a date anyway. Eddie had expected some sort of reaction from Steve from the banter that bounced between the two of you, but he’d only sat back and watched. 

You were far too good for Harrington anyway. 

But he could have figured that out the second time the two of you had met so many years ago. You didn’t remember Eddie, and he didn’t blame you too much for that. You had been in a rough state that time, shaken up and worried out of your mind. Hell, Eddie himself could barely remember the first meeting it had been so long ago. 

He couldn’t help himself though, not when you showed an interest in his band, his club, and (he was starting to hope) him. The back and forth between the two of you had excited him. He swore (lied) to himself that he was only flirting and chatting with you to annoy Harrington, and the last thing he had expected was for you to start flirting back. It was night and day compared to Sidequest Day. Eddie completely forgot about Steve the second you mentioned WASP as a favorite band. He probably could have stood there all night, asking you how you fell into the genre, what songs you add to your mix tapes, and bragging not-so-subtly about his band and guitar skills. 

But reality always shows up, and Eddie was needed to fix the amp again. It was old and beat to hell and back, but it was all he could afford to fix. A new amp would always be out of the question unless the Hideout decided to start paying the high schoolers for their performance every week. 

He made his way to the van to grab his toolbox (Wayne’s toolbox, but he insisted that Eddie keep it in his van) when he realized that he was an idiot. Shit, he’d offered you a ride home, and he was really hoping you’d take him up on that offer, intoxicated or not. 

The back of the van was gutted, making it far easier to transport Gareth’s drum set, the amp, and all of their other equipment to their weekly gig. There was even room for two of his friends to (very illegally) sit back there while one person sat up front with him. 

Would you even want a ride home like that? Eddie had no problem forcing everyone else to ride in the back while you rode shotgun. Then it was the long ride to Gareth’s place to drop everything off, then dropping off Jeff and Zack. 

He could drop you off first, but that would defeat the purpose of offering you a ride. 

Shit. 

Whatever, he’d wing it. He’d figure out the details later after the show. Right now he had to fix the amp again and focus on the music. 

There was a moment before every show, when the janky spotlights would turn on and temporarily blind Eddie, that transported him to another world. Any time he picked up his guitar, be it his electric one or the acoustic, he could feel a charge in the air. Music was as natural as breathing to him, something that just was. 

Someone once asked Eddie, why music? Why this music? 

Because it’s fucking badass. Because it’s an escape to a different world, a different dimension. 

When Eddie played, he didn’t have to be in Hawkins. He didn’t have to be a freak. When he felt the sharp strings press into his fingers he became a Rock God. His music made him feel badass, indestructible, a fucking hero in his mind. 

During a really good show, Eddie could lose himself completely. He could imagine that there was a large crowd cheating his name, his band. The sound of his guitar screeched like a demonic bat, and he could imagine that the audience was looking through a portal to another dimension, watching as Corroded Coffin used their music to kick ass and take names. 

Eddie never thought about what it would be like to look through the other side of the portal. To look back and see someone looking at him the way he imagined it. That was, until the first song started and his eyes met yours through the near empty bar. 

There was a smile on your face, and an intense look in your eyes as you watched him play. The excitement in your eyes couldn’t have been mistaken for anything else. It was the same look that Dustin had given Eddie the first time he made the kid a mix tape, it was the look that his bandmates had when they booked their first gig ever that wasn’t some talent show or open mic night. 

It was the look Eddie had when he held a guitar for the first time. 

Sure, Eddie had fans. At least 5 people would drunkenly cheer for him on Tuesdays. They were mostly older though, blue collar workers who were reliving their youth through Corroded Coffin. Occasionally he could even have a semi-coherent conversation with them about music after the set. Not often though. The sets usually ended with high fives from the band, maybe a pat on the back and a beer slipped over to Eddie. 

The way you were smiling up at him was different though. Even with the drink in your hand you were alert and paying attention to every song and every lyric. Eddie’s voice wasn’t the most well-trained but he let his guitar do most of the work. As they worked through their set, his eyes kept falling back to you. Of course it was easy, considering the fact that you were a cute girl sitting front and center, and most of his other ‘fans’ were by the actual bar on their fourth or fifth round for the night. 

Paige had once mentioned off-handedly that he had the look and the stage presence. She’d even said that he looked good once and that was a compliment that he had ridden the high of until everything came crashing down again. When that dream disappeared along with her, Eddie had gone back to just being the Freak of Hawkins. But, fuck, when you were looking at him like that he could almost believe it again.

When the echoes of the final chord faded into the air and the portal closed, Eddie was left smiling at the one person in the bar that bothered cheering like they meant it. You. 

He took his pick and tossed it to you, and you caught it between your hands like you had with the air hockey puck just a few days ago. Eddie felt a sense of pride as your cheeks darkened, and he hoped it was because of him and not the drink you had been nursing for the past hour. Your eyes darted between him and Steve- oh right. Harrington was here too. Right. 

Eddie turned away and started helping with packing up. The sooner they got the equipment to the van the more time they would have to hang out before curfews for everyone else hit.

During the summer they had gotten away with staying out a bit later, but it was now the school year. That meant they had about twenty minutes to mingle, pack, and head out. The last thing he needed was to piss off Gareth's parents (again) and lose their place to practice. 

Eddie was already on thin ice with the parents of his bandmates and club members, except for Zack’s. He wasn’t gonna push it. 

With everything tucked securely back in his van, Eddie made his way back inside to find you.One of his regulars gave him a clap on the back for a good show and handed him a beer which he gladly accepted. He should back off, stay away when every time he’s seen you in recent memory was with Steve Harrington. But when he caught a glimpse of you sitting at the table still fiddling with the pick between your fingers and finishing off your drink he couldn’t stay away. Steve was nowhere to be found. 

“So, did you enjoy the show?” Eddie asked, taking a seat next to you. You had been lost in thought and jumped slightly. When you realized he was there, you smiled at Eddie as if he was the one person you wanted to see in all of Hawkins. 

“Holy shit, you guys are good!” You said brightly. There was the tiniest slur to your words, made noticeable by how fast you were talking. “Your amp makes a weird sound with your guitar but I don’t think that’s a bad thing and you were going so fast! How’d you get your fingers to do that?!”

Eddie laughed and had you been in a more sober state of mind he might have made some sort of dirty joke about that. “I’ve been playing since I was a kid, and I practice so much it’s second nature to me.” 

You glanced at his calloused fingers and nodded, before looking back at your own. “I don’t have the finger dexterity for that.” you said, moving your fingers around. “See? My pinkie is kind of fucked up.” You gave your fingers a wiggle and your pinkie definitely moved in a more jerky fashion than the rest of your finders. 

“It’s because you don’t use it enough.” Eddie said, grabbing your pinkie and shaking your hand around, making you laugh. “Just start playing guitar for about four hours a day until your fingers bleed and I’m sure you could fix it.”

“That sounds like a lot of work that I don’t have the passion for, so I think I’ll leave all the fingering to you-” You closed your eyes and took a very deep breath as your brain caught up to your mouth. Eddie watched in amusement as you slumped your head to the table. “Can I get a do over?” 

Despite the embarrassment you were laughing, which Eddie took as a good sign. His next move was risky, but he was going to go for it. 

“If you had a g string I could show you how to finger it.” 

“Nooooo!” you groaned through your laughter as you sat back up. “Low hanging fruit, Eddie! That was too easy!” 

“You handed that one to me on a silver platter! I don’t think I’d be allowed to play guitar anymore if I didn’t go for that joke!” Eddie said in mock offense. 

“Eddie, did you know that when you order one drink here, they actually give you three drinks in one glass?” you asked, motioning to your empty cup. “Because I did not.”

He looked over at the bar, and then back to you. “Sam’s working. Yeah, he’s pretty heavy handed with his drinks. Are you good?” 

You gave a nod. “Yeah, I’m fine. I mean, I can’t drive probably but I’m not blackout wasted or anything.” There was still a slur to your words, but your eyes were still alert enough that he felt confident that you weren’t going to make any decisions that weren’t completely your own.

“So how come I’m the one who offered you a ride home and not your date?” Eddie didn’t want to bring up Harrington, but curiosity always got the better of him in one way or another. 

“Date?” You furrowed your eyebrows in confusion before realization dawned on your face. You looked at Eddie with such intensity that it made him feel nervous for a second. “I am not dating Steve Harrington.” There was firmness in your voice. “He’s dating every other girl in Hawkins.”

“Do you... want him to be dating you?” Eddie wasn’t sure where you were going with this and he took a sip of the beer that he’d been neglecting for the past few minutes. . 

“Ew.” 

That one word had him nearly choking on his beer as it went down the wrong pipe. He made a strained sound between a cough and a laugh and you smacked him on the back a few times with concern before he waved your hand off.

“‘Ew’?” He managed to finally choke out, looking at you in disbelief. “So you’re telling me that you and Steve Harrington just happen to hang out but you aren’t dating?” 

This had to be a joke, some sort of prank where Harrington would pop out of the bathroom, throw his arm around you, and laugh at Eddie for believing for even a second that someone as cool as you was single. 

“We’re just friends and we have a kind of deal going on.” you said, messing with the ice in your empty glass. “I help him and he uh...” Eddie watched as you hesitated and your mind looked for the words. “He helps me get out of the house.”

“I thought you said coming out was your idea?” Eddie tilted his head, watching as your expression changed to one of a kid who’s hand was caught in the cookie jar. 

“I lied.” You said bluntly. “I had no idea about you playing or that you had a band or even that the Hideout had any live music ever. It was Steve’s idea.”

Eddie watched your expression carefully for any sign that you didn’t actually have feelings for Steve. He didn’t want to get his hopes up, knew better than to get his hopes up. The Munson’s weren’t exactly known for being lucky in love, and he was no different. Eddie could count on one hand the amount of times he’d had any sort of romantic connection to a girl and most of those had crumbled to dust in his hands. 

“Harrington brought you here?” He said slowly. “To get you out of the house?”

“I pretty much live at work and home.” you shrugged, sucking the last bit of moisture that had melted in the bottom of your glass. “He’s a good friend. And that’s all he is.” 

Even Eddie wasn’t stupid enough to ignore the blatant flag that you were waving over your head. 

SMACK

Two drumsticks came crashing down on the table between the two of you. Eddie didn’t even realize how close you two were getting until Gareth managed to squeeze himself between the two of you, banging his sticks rhythmically on the table. 

“Eddie we gotta go.” Gareth said. “Mom’s gonna kill me if I’m late tonight. Grandma’s visiting.”

“Shit.” Eddie muttered to himself and then looked at you. “Do you still need a ride?” 

He hoped you’d say yes. He hoped you didn’t mind his band while they all drove home so illegally. 

“I think I can’t say no.” You glanced at the drink. “Because that was waaay stronger than I expected it to be and I can alway bully Steve into helping me get my car in the morning.”

“Why was Harrington even here?” Gareth asked, looking at you with confusion. He glanced at Eddie in a questioning manner and a sharp look from Eddie shut him right up. 

“He’s my friend. He left. Said he wasn’t feeling well.” You replied nonchalantly. 

Harrington just left you drunk at a bar?! Eddie looked at you with wide eyes and his mouth hung open. What kind of bullshit friend was that? Henderson had spent so long talking up Steve Harrington, and how he was a total badass and not a dick and he left a friend drunk at a bar? He had been willing to play nice for Dustin, but any chance of that was thrown out the window. 

Eddie stood up, the chair scraping behind him as he tried (badly) to hide his frustration. “We’re giving her a ride home. She gets shotgun.” 

“What?!” Gareth protested, looking at you like you’d personally offended him. “If my parents see me get out of the back-”

“They won’t unless you plan on telling them to wait up for you.” Eddie said firmly. “She’s shotgun.”

There was a look of guilt on your face as you sat there awkwardly. “Mom, Dad, I can sit in the back or I can just stick around her for another hour with some water and I’ll sober up.” 

Eddie grabbed you by the scruff of your jacket and hauled you up quickly. “Nope, you’ve already had one person ditch you tonight. I’m not leaving you drunk in a bar alone.”

He winced internally at how roughly he’d just handled you. Eddie was so used to handling and rough housing with his club that he forgot that he shouldn’t be doing that with other people. But it was so easy with you. The few conversations you’ve had made him feel like you should have been part of Hellfire to begin with. If he ever saw Chris Morrison again, he’d deck him in his smug little nose. 

There was no time for protesting from either you or Eddie as he pushed the two of you out the door and towards his van. It was chilly out, the autumn air biting his skin as he pushed Gareth towards the back of the van. He released your jacket and stepped to open the door of the van for you. 

“After you-” He did his best to give what he hoped was a charming smile as you hopped into the van. He heard Zack mutter something in the back of his van followed by a round of snickering between his bandmates before he closed the door and hopped into the driver side seat. 

Metal came blasting out of the speakers and he fumbled to turn it down so that it didn’t blow your eardrums. 

“Wait no, turn that back up!” you said, reaching for the knob to elevate the voice of Ozzy Ozbourn as it thrummed through the van. 

“So uh, this is my new friend.” Eddie said, hating how that sounded as he tried to break the ice. 

You turned around in your seat immediately and stuck your hand in the back, introducing your name. Eddie was amazed as you wasted no time launching into how great the set was and asking a million questions as to who they were, how they started playing music. 

You weren’t shy, that was for sure. Actually the buzz you had going on made you even more interested in talking to everyone. Soon there was a lively conversation happening, enthusiastically about the tape that was playing. 

“My mom hates Ozzie.” Jeff said. “Says that he’s an animal abuser because he bit the head off that bat.”

“Everyone wants to talk about that, but no one wants to talk about how that happened!” You threw in. 

“What do you mean?” shot back Gareth. “With his fucking teeth!” 

“That’s not what I meant, Dingus!” you snorted. “Where do you think the bat came from?” 

Eddie gave pause and slowed his driving down just a touch. He was already going slow to avoid any cops out, but you had asked a question that he’d never even considered. 

The question gave pause to everyone as they looked at each other with confused shrugs. 

“I thought he just pulled it out of his pants.” Said Zack 

“His pants?!” 

“Why would he keep a bat in his pants?!”

“To pull it out and bite the head off of it, duh!”

“Where else would he keep a bat?”

“I don’t know, a cage?!”

The conversation was delving into chaos and Eddie could see you grinning out of the corner of his eye as you watched them squabble amongst themselves. 

“Maybe it just flew in?” Eddie threw that out there, wishing that he didn’t have to be driving so that he could focus on the mischievous glint in your eyes. 

“It was a closed auditorium, actually.” You smiled at him. “I highly doubt that a bat is just gonna fly into a random building filled with screaming people.”

“Yeah, but it’s not just a random building. It’s a building where Black Sabbath was playing.” Eddie laughed, glancing between you and the road. “Maybe it was a metal fan.”

“Not anymore.” 

“Jesus, Zack” 

“Alright, I’ll bite-”

“The head off a bat?”

“No! Okay, so you clearly know what happened so just spit it out!”

“Like Ozzy did with the bat head?”

“ENOUGH!” Eddie yelled out, hitting the breaks just enough to make the van jerk and you all to have his attention. You laughed as he resumed normal driving, thankful that it was almost 10 pm on a Tuesday night and the roads were dead and empty. “Let her talk.”

The van went quiet after a few apologies and you reached over to turn down the radio. 

“Alright, so,” you started. “I’m just gonna start from the beginning and if you all hear me rant about this once, you’ll probably hear me rant about it a hundred times in the future because this is my go-to drunk rant.” 

You glance at Eddie, and he could see the excitement in your eyes that you got to talk about this with fresh people who would actually appreciate it. 

“So we’ve established that this was a closed auditorium that he was playing in, and this wasn’t planned at all.” you continued. “So the question everyone needs to ask is where the fuck this bat came from. Everyone always talks about it like he reached up and grabbed a random bat out of the air and ate it whole but that’s not what happened. What happened is that a fan threw the bat on stage- mind you, he has no reason to believe that it’s a real bat. He thinks it’s a rubber bat! Who in their right mind would think that someone would throw a real bat on stage?”

“Isn’t Ozzy on every drug ever?” Jeff asked from the back. 

You turned around in your seat to look at him, your finger extended. “You... are absolutely correct and make a very valid point. That aside though, let’s think about this. What kind of person managed to get a live bat, sneak it into a concert, and get close enough to the stage to throw it at Ozzy?”

They were pulling up into Gareth’s neighborhood now, and Eddie drove under the speed limit, stopping fully at every stop sign just to prolong this time together. He was fully invested in the excitement and passion in your voice as you told this story. 

“Who was it?” Eddie asked. 

“Get this- a seventeen year old high school girl.” You said. “A fucking junior in high school, managed to get a live bat, sneak it in, and throw it at Ozzy! That’s insane, right?!”

“What?!”

“How the hell did that happen?”

“I have absolutely no clue!” you laughed. “The two interviews I read about it didn’t talk about who she was or anything. They just talked about how Ozzy saw the bat and didn’t realize it was alive until he took a bite! It’s actually kind of fucked up, and Ozzy did not deserve that but holy shit right?”

Eddie pulled into Gareth’s parent’s driveway, and everyone in the back went into band mode as Gareth immediately hopped out of the back and hoped that his parents weren’t watching. You moved back in your set and glanced at Eddie who had to pretend he wasn’t staring a hole into the side of your head. 

“Need any help?” you offered. 

He shook his head, “Just hang tight while we unpack. It’ll only take a second.” 

The boys made quick work of unpacking the drum set and rearranging the back so that the remaining two club members could more comfortably fit for the final leg home. Thankfully Jeff and Zack didn’t live too far from each other. You stayed in the van, zoning out pleasantly to the end of the tape. 

In the garage, Eddie was getting roasted. 

“So now you’re taking home girls after shows, Eddie?” Jeff asked with a shit-eating grin. 

“Next time warn us so we can get a different ride.” grumbled Gareth. 

“She seems nice.” Zack added. 

“Look, it was a last minute thing and she was left alone and drunk in a bar.” Eddie tried to explain as they put up the drum kit. 

“So the only girl you can get is a drunk girl?” ribbed Jeff. 

“A drunk girl who was ditched by a jock- ow!” Gareth rubbed his arm where Eddie had socked him. 

“I told you, it was a last minute thing.” Eddie said more firmly, narrowing his eyes at Gareth. “I’m just making sure she gets home safe.” 

“Wasn’t she also at the arcade last Saturday?” Jeff asked. “Weird how she keeps showing up.”

“If it means we get someone else watching our band, who cares? She liked the set and we need the support.” Zack added. “Night Gareth”

“Night.” Gareth said before closing the garage door. 

They all made their way back into the van, just in time for the cassette to be spat back out for you to flip it over and push play again. The drive to drop off the remaining two members was quieter, as the school day plus the set caught up to them. Eddie was still wired, and he was looking forward to having a joint when he got home to calm himself after everything that had happened tonight. 

When the van was just the two of you, and you gave him directions to your small apartment, there was a comfortable silence between you. Eddie watched you from the corner of his eye at a red light, taking in the way your eyes were closed and your lips were upturned as you soundlessly mouthed the words to the song playing. 

“So, where’d you get your tattoos?” you asked after a few minutes. 

Eddie grinned. “Why? Are you looking to get some ink done?”

“Well, the last time I checked tattooing was illegal in Indiana.” you replied, glancing at the colony of bats flying up his arm. “So have you ever left the state or should I be concerned about whatever shady basement you visit to get those?”

He scrunched his face and blew a raspberry. “Don’t worry about the legalities, are you gonna tell Hopper on me?”

“Scratcher tattoos?” you frowned. “You are so lucky that those didn’t get infected.”

“She did it as a favor for me, she wasn’t some sketchy dude I met in a bar.” Eddie said defensively. “Her name’s Tara, she moved her from California where tattooing is legal, and she’s still technically licensed.” 

“Just not for Indiana.” 

“Not even a little.” he laughed. “But I helped her and she repaid me with these sweet ol’ tatties.”

You snorted into your hand at his verbiage. “How many you got?”

“Three on my arm and two on my chest. I got my first about three months after I turned eighteen when Tara moved in.” He explained. 

“Damn, and here I am looking at leaving the state to get something done legally like some sort of square.” You laughed. 

“So you are looking for some!” Eddie pulled into the parking lot you pointed to, right outside your building. 

“What can I say, I’m a rebel at heart. I shouldn’t be telling you this but I did jaywalk last week.” You smiled up at him, not bothering to move yet from the passenger side seat. 

“Jaywalking? Shit, and here I thought you were a quiet goody two shoes.” He shook his head. “I think you’re gonna be a terrible influence on me.”

“The worst.” you agreed. 

There was a silence that seemed to crackle with the old stereo. Eddie’s eyes met yours and he felt something that he hadn’t felt in almost two years. 

Oh.

Oh shit.

Flashes of his first senior year raced through his mind as he felt something begin again. He would have hoped that when he felt that jolt in his stomach again he’d be alright. Eddie looked at you, his mind racing a million miles per hour over what to do now. 

He had to get out of there. 

You were reaching out for him, shit- he wasn’t ready. Your hand was reaching across for his and gripped it, pulling it towards you. You were making a move and-

Pop

The sound of a maker’s cap reached his ears. Eddie felt the tip of the felt glide over the skin of his forearm, the temporary ink sinking into his skin and spelling out your name and phone number. 

Jesus Christ. What the fuck was that about?

“We should hang out again, on purpose.” you said, putting the marker back in your bag. 

Eddie’s shoulders relaxed and he nodded. Fuck, he needed a joint now. “Fifth time’s a charm.” he said. 

Without another word you gave him a wave and hopped out of the car, towards your unit. He watched to make sure you made it inside before smacking his head against the steering wheel as the night replayed in his mind. 

Sweet ol’ tatties?

Freaking out when he thought you might kiss him?

He knew that everything that happened two years ago would have an effect on him. Anyone who was close to Eddie knew the toll it took on him. He’d always been cynical, but ‘84 changed something deeper. 

Eddie didn’t want that to affect you. 

But he looked at the dried dark green ink on his arm with a sigh. “Dammit.” he muttered to himself before pulling out. 

He shouldn’t drag you into his problems. He should turn around and leave it at that- just four meetings between the two of you. Four odd, awkward, and admittedly nice meetings. 

The fifth meeting was inevitable. 

---

“So, I think you need to leave, Steve.” you said as you watched Corroded Coffin pack up their instruments. 

“Wait, what?” he looked at you with wide eyes, glancing down at the guitar pick that you were fiddling with between your thumb and forefinger. The smooth plastic and the slightly sharper edge had a nice contrasting feeling as you played with it. 

“Steve, I appreciate everything you’ve done for me. I do. But I think if you stick around I’m gonna lose this chance.” 

“You’re really gonna go for it? For him?”

“Yeah, I think I am.” You watched the man on stage and gulped down the last of your drink. It was a bit stronger than expected and you had a nice buzz happening, but nothing alarming. You could easily hang out for another hour with some water and some pretzels and be perfectly fine to drive home if needed. But playing it up just a little wouldn’t hurt, would it? It had definitely loosened you up and relaxed you enough that you were starting to feel excited about talking to Eddie again. 

“How sober are you?” Steve glanced at the drink and back at you. “I need to know that you’re of sound mind and body before I leave you alone with some guy we barely know.”

“Awww, look at you caring about me.” you teased and pinched his cheek as he swatted your hand away. “If Dustin vouches for him, I’ll trust the kid’s judgment. And I’m fine, the worst I’ll do is run my mouth worse than normal and rant about things you won’t understand.”

“How’s that different from normal?”

“Ha ha. Okay, seriously. I love you, but you’re cockblocking me.” 

“Okay, okay I’m going, sheesh.” he stood up. “This is the thanks I get for introducing you to a guy.”

“Did you, or did you not get laid at least four times since we started this?” 

“Don’t forget to use protection.”

“Thanks Mom.” 

---

You liked Eddie’s friends, you decided. They were just as weird and loud and rowdy as you expected a bunch of high school boys to be. Gareth kept challenging you every few sentences, but the conversation didn’t feel as awkward as you were worried it’d be after being manhandled to Eddie’s van. Maybe even if this didn’t work out, you could at least be friends with them. 

And when the band was dropped off, it was just you and Eddie in his van. Talking to him was easy, almost as easy as it was to talk to Steve. You never had anything to prove to the jock, and you wished that you could feel the same about Eddie. You wanted him to like you, you wanted him to like you so much. 

Eddie parked and there was a charge in the air that made your stomach flutter. For the past two months you’d actually avoided moving ahead with Steve’s end of the bargain. As much as you wanted companionship, putting yourself out there was scary. But when you were next to Eddie, making small talk, awkwardly flirting, and screaming about music it wasn’t as scary. 

You wanted to move forward. 

You wanted to know him, and get out of this damn rut of home and work and little else. You were tired of hearing about everyone else living while you just coasted. 

So you decided to go for it. You wished you had grabbed a napkin from the bar, but all you had in your bag was an old green sharpie that you were praying still worked. You reached for his arm and you jotted down your name and phone number, putting the ball firmly in his court. You’d made your move, and now it was his turn. 

“We should hang out. On purpose.” you said, releasing him. 

“Fifth time’s a charm.” Eddie said. 

You gave a wave and made your way back to your small one bedroom apartment. As you dropped your bag and kicked off your shoes, that’s when you realized something. 

Today. Saturday. That was-

You looked down at your hand and put down two fingers. 

“What did he mean, five?!”

--

Part 6

Dividers by @strangergraphics

A/n: Drop a comment of what you'd want to see Reader get as a tattoo and I might add it later. See you all on the other side of Flight of Icarus.

Tag List @k8loo @terrormonster55 @sp1dyb0y1008 @crocwork-clockodile @ali-r3n @mxcheese @josephquinnschesthair @gagasbee @peaches-roses-sins @witchwolflea @vintagehellfire @royale1083 @cumslutforaemond @prestinalove @browneyedgirly93 @perpetualmess @thebook-hobbit @mistook @cultish-corner @grishaversecaptivated @sortagaysortahigh @halialex1119

Please reblog 💜

#nacht fic #wing man #eddie munson x reader

[mephyyy]

So I was trying to find some random Sonic OCs off Google to draw today because, man, art block killing me. I would like to prefece that I, myself, have Sonic OCs.

(This is all old art, except for my sonic.exe oc, but alas)

I think they're fun and a good way to express your creativity, whether that's writing them to date a character that you like or to be the most popular/powerfulest person EVER.

But with my not very deep dive into the 3 page of Google, I realized that even the really well draw or intriguing OCs are "cringe" and "Mary Sues".

With this, the notion comes that OCs are inherently cringe and not worth making unless you make them the most boring and unspecial person ever. Like: "This is my Sonic oc, Joe the cat. He works at a desk job, and he likes coffee." Making just your average Joe can be fun, but the thought that ALL OCs have to be fucking boring is dumb.

This thought is everywhere. You scroll through Google for 30 seconds, and you see articles about sonic OCs being a sickness, like this article from the medium. Like the drawing that a 10 y/o posted on deviant art about their green sonic will irreparably damage art.

This mindset actually hurts art in the long run. If you get told over and over again that the self insert you make is cringe and you should never draw again then, inevitably, you're going to stop drawing.

I was someone actually who thought for a very long time that my OCs shouldn't be special, or have super cool powers, or even have heterocromia. A good lot of my original characters were boring because I was worried about making a Mary Sue (Thanks CyberSans). It's actually a very deliberate choice that my self-insert/persona, Mephy, cringe.

Yes, I took things from jjba and Sonic to make this weird combo of Mephiles, Diego, jouta, and myself. I did this to push myself to make something "cringe," and anytime I think about removing his tail, I remember why I gave him one.

After I disregarded being seen as cringe, did I start to like designing characters. Just the want to make something I like without being worried if it's cringe or not. I think the freedom to make things like this is very important for young artists (or just artists in general). It's very liberating.

I took the making things purposefully cringe into my TF2 OCs. I gave them on the noise names, and I gave them back stories that were edgy. I enjoyed it. It made me happy.

With the acceptance of being seen as weird, I almost forgot what things were "cringe." I've just been seeing so many people happily making sonadow fan kids that I forgot people think that's cringe. I forgot that edgy OCs is cringe. I forgot that just being into something odd is cringe, and that makes me sad. I honestly thought that we got past thinking that darkspine the evil hedgehog (original character, do not steal) is cringe.

It's just sad. These OCs are cool. And yes, there are sonic OCs that aren't seen as cringe, like Ian Jr, S.N.T., or Trevor the hedgehog, but those are the exceptions. When was the last time you heard something say that Rosechu was their favorite OC? That's right, you haven't because sonichu is very much "cringe" (and don't bring up that Chris-chan did some fucked up shit, y'all didn't like she before she went to jail or did any of that fucked up stuff.) Why can't someone just make someone weird?

Concussion: Stop seeing things as cringe, and cringe culture is NOT dead until we kill it ourselves.

Anyway, I think I have written enough, and my English teacher would say that this is an emotional rant and that I need to rewrite like half of this. I think one of her exact words on a paper I wrote was "zack, this sentence makes me want to smear poop in my hair."

Here is some old art is some of my favorite little guys I found off Google (:

#rant #sonic #sth #sonic the hedgehog #sonic oc #sonic ocs #sonic rant #original character #original characters #cringe #cringe culture #i think i can write a paper on this tbh #oc #ocs #cringe cultural isn't dead no matter how many times you say it #it lives untill you make sure it's dead

[gale-gentlepenguin]

ML Reboot: Miraculous: Heroes of Miracles: Origin Adrien

-So Adrien has been without his mother for a few years now. He lost her when he was 10. So it’s been around 3 to 4 years since.

-Adrien still misses his mom but he is doing what he can to move on.

-Him and Felix are best friends and still have that connection. (There is no falling out). Adrien even spent a year in London while his father was in mourning. Amelie basically became like a second mother to him.

-Felix and Adrien look similar but there is more clear variation. Felix’s completion is lighter and his hair is darker, having Grey eyes instead of green. Amelie and Emilie are still twins, Amelie being the older twin.

-think Mischievous Zack and Goodie goodie Cody for the dynamic, but they care about eachother.

-Felix also is a tsundere.

-Adrien’s still very obedient, but Felix often was the one that pushed Adrien to do mischief. And in fact, it was Felix’s idea for Adrien to try and visit him during the events of Origins.

-(So change here) Adrien wasn’t sneaking to school, Adrien was sneaking to the train station to go visit his cousin. And he would have gotten the train, but he saw an old man fall over. Adrien saw his bodyguard and Nathalie looking for him. If he got on the train he would have escaped. But he goes to help Fu even though it meant missing the train and getting him in trouble.

-Fu apologizes when he sees that Adrien missed his train, but Adrien tells him he will get the train next time. Then he gets brought back home where he would get grounded

-Basically Adrien gets the cat miraculous and gets some more freedom.

-The first encounter pretty much the same but chat noir isn’t smitten right away.

-After he gets back he arrives just before Nathalie walked in to tell him his father wants to talk.

-Gabriel tells Adrien he is disappointed that he snuck out, And he will be grounded.

-“You will go to school, to your photo shoots and straight home.”

-“wait school?”

-“You can’t sneak out so easily if you have to be in school.”

-Adrien was surprised but accepted it.

-Gabriel did so because it would keep Adrien from discovering the truth.

_________________________________________

-Adrien is not childhood friends with Chloe, He knows of Chloe because rich people gatherings. It’s also how he knows Kagami. Adrien was closer with His cousin and they sort of were only polite to the blond.

-Adrien being shy without anyone he knew was taken advantage of by Chloe, who also played up their dynamic as friendship. Adrien was uncomfortable with it, but Felix suggested to play along until he got the swing of things.

-Adrien ends up getting pulled into a prank on Marinette, which results in a bucket of water falling on her. Adrien realized what was going on and tried to stop it… but it ended up looking like he pulled the prank. Marinette didn’t get wet, but her design book was destroyed.

-Adrien felt so much guilt over it. Ended up asking a kid who was chilling by himself listening to music what he thought.

-Nino wondering why all the new kids are asking him things, tells him that if he feels bad he should make it right or whatever. Which Adrien thought was good advice. Thanking the kid and asking his name. Nino looked up and saw Adrien and told him. Adrien said he was a cool dude and headed out.

-“First the hot new girl asking about bread girl, now the other new kid. You’d think she was a main character in a show”

-Chat noir does fall for ladybug, but it doesn’t happen until after they save the day.

-“You were amazing.”

-“No kitty, We were amazing.”

-“We?”

-“I couldn’t have done it without you.”

-And that’s when his heart went boom

———————————————————————-

-Marinette and Alya take Chloe’s seat like in the original show. Alya being the one to tell Chloe off. And Chloe makes a comment which then gets deflected when Marinette jumps in and defends Alya, and Adrien was impressed.

-Adrien goes to apologize to Marinette resulting in the umbrella scene. Adrien even shows he got Marinette a new note book and a fabric swatch book. Since he saw that it was a design notebook. He complimented her designs. And he tells her about what happened, and that he tried to stop the prank… but assures her he isn’t Chloe’s friend.

-Cue umbrella scene on cue, Marinette falls for him and boom.

__________________________________________

-Adrien thanks Nino the next day for his advice and asks if he wanted to be friends.

-Nino normally being aloof and keeping to himself. Sees this naive Blond as a little brother, and the instincts to help him out kick in.

-“Alright, I guess I can show you the ropes. But don’t expect much from it”

-Adrien is happy, he made 2 friends.

#ml #miraculous ladybug #miraculous: heroes of miracles #adrien agreste #felix fathom #origins #ml reboot #Gale boot

[kataraslove]

my fav podcost is the one with janet/zack d Dante because for so long ive heard zutaras call aang losing appa =throwing a temper tantrum/ no big deal/ horrible that he compared it to katara losing her mother.. and Zukos VA talks about how r important appa was to the group since without em there is no story the gaang can't go anywhere they're stuck.. they did almost die in anon without him in that desert.. Appa was a very important member of the group and zuts always treat him like garbage and it drives me crazy how they can be so cold to such a lovely animal while claming to be the more compassioate/caring side too.. i'll never understand that fandom

bonus for zack telling dante zutara was all in his head.. its so cool they managed to find aangs voice actor id love for him to cameo in those movies somehow but it probably wont happen

no, you don’t understand… appa is only narratively significant to them when he’s spending his time bringing them together, such as in episodes like the southern raiders or that one image when they’re sleeping together on appa. other than that? appa’s deadweight, “just a pet,” has no relevance to the gaang, etc.

good on dante for highlighting the importance of appa! additionally, in comic con revolution 2023, mae whitman went on and on about how amazing appa was and how important he was to the gaang - in addition to (jokingly) berating zach for not choosing appa as his other favourite character. if the captains of their ship - dante and mae - love appa endlessly and understand his importance narratively, you’d think that would spark some sort of realization inside of them.

also zach was hilarious for saying that, regardless of the amount of shit he got from the shippers. it’s very clear that zach and dante are just joking with one another and clearly like to poke fun at each other on when it comes to ships. I saw many comments stating that zach was bitter, jealous, upset, rude, etc. he’s a grown ass man who just learned what shipping was like 2 years ago. he’s clearly just joking. even if he wasn’t, who cares? I’m sure the other VAs can stroke their egos. just go rewatch the zutara tiktoks by dante.

#antizutara #asks #so sorry for the late response! #im clearing out my inbox.

[x-eternalmagic]

some selections from the vault (and snippets from my wip fic)

so! for those who are not following me on twitter, i recently went through my drafts for some strifehart content that i hadn't yet shared publicly! i wanted to quickly cross post so you all can see them too :)

putting it under a cut just so i dont clutter up the tag again :)

the one i had written the most for was the more recent kink meme off dreamwidth--specifically, the prompt for a superhero/vigilante au! i hadn't written very much for it (basically just the interaction below), but i had a general idea of cloud and leon's backstories. at some point, leon would show up at cid's repair shop where cloud happens to work and there'd be some fun to be had there!

--

next was what i think was originally what i had planned for one of the prompts from strifehart week 2018; i think it was "witch" or "fantasy"? this one is a little more out there, sorry

but at the time, i'd recently read a fic for fire emblem fates called beyond the sea; in it, magic was kind of a rarity and the people who got power were given a brand, or star sign. i was going to do a KH-flavor twist on it for strifehart. the idea would be that cloud, squall, and tifa all worked as soldiers in a government that was hunting down these "witches" and turning them into weapons or tools of a sort. the three main ones were:

-aerith, with the mark pf phoenix; focus on healing magic -riku, sign of ifrit; mostly can only control fire as he's so young -squall, who had a rare double mark of ixion and leviathan; wind/water/lightning based magic focus, so he can basically create a hurricane at will

the idea was for cloud and tifa to find out they've been ordered to abduct a kid and defect, especially after finding out their friend aerith is also someone wanted by the government. squall, meanwhile, has had enough of hiding and kind of loses it when he finds out riku is the latest kidnap victim. they all end up traveling together, and...i had no real plans aside from that. part of why this never ended up being finished/posted, haha. the most coherent part was below, though i jumped ahead to try and write cloud seeing squall going all out with his magic

--

the third is a twist on spirited away/the boy and the beast/song of the sea.

kid squall ends up in a fantasy world after being separated from his sister ellone, and is found/taken in by werewolf zack and dryad/nymph aerith. they have to hide that squall is a human and pretend he's a baby werewolf and he ends up getting found out on a big festival day. but he'd end up on a quest with cloud, who was a selkie, as a way to keep him/zack/aerith from being banished. no concrete plot ideas for this one either, unfortunately, so it's not gotten anywhere, even if i had a cool scene in my mind for squall getting outed as a human :( (but i had a track off the boy and the beast ost scoring a big fight zack gets into when squall gets found out)

--

i had no other major fics planned aside from my current WIP, but here's a snippet from a drabble i was fiddling with where leon gets sick and doesn't realize it, just because i like how i used to write his interactions with yuffie

--

ANYWAY here's some snippets from/about my current WIP, a song without its melody.

first up is actually a piece i had wanted to be in my main longfic, a little bit of levity, but ended up being cut. it was intended to go after the scene i have of leon and sora in song (since it was a scene that i had to cut from levity that i managed to fit back in), but with how leon's interactions with roxas and xion have changed, i had to leave it in my scraps doc! it is, generally, the vibe i kind of want for leon's relations with roxas and xion respectively

next are just some snippets from upcoming sections, so please look forward to it! :3c

-

-

-

ANYWAY if you made it all the way to the end, thanks for reading and i hope you're havin a good one :)

#strifehart #strifeheart #my writing #sorry to clog the tag a tiny bit but have been in a sharing mood haha

[isaacapatow]

What is the most annoying trait each person close to you has? ( a mundane trait rather than a full blown one )

GET READY FOR A RUN-DOWN ON EVERY SINGLE GOD DAMN PERSON IN TOWN

adriana: unreasonably respectful of ermano's kink privacy

alex: has that face and he points it at people

ares: doesn't blink enough for somebody whose eyes are that blue

bea: her rack is distracting. i'm distracted just remembering it

cass: i think i could fit in her sweaters; her laugh scares the sheep

clint: i saw a salamander in his pocket at dinner

cole: too many muscles. smells like hay and it's not unpleasant

david: sometimes his nose whistles when he breathes

ermano: i wish i had a butt like that

fleet: who?

jake: knows everything about pokemon. suspicious. possibly a ditto

jemma: makes audible punctuation sounds and denies it when confronted

lucien: i suspect he has better chest hair than me

maya: name too close to mayra; confusing

mayra: does little dances without realizing and each one is new

nicki: lets one of her pinkie nails grow longer than the rest

orion: follows behind me and puts things back where they belong

renee: hmm.

silvy: does not have her firefighter uniform here even tho it would be so cool

sol: walks with his hips? he shouldn't be able to do that

val: always smells faintly like grape soda and i can't figure out how

zack: i feel the urge to push his bowlegs straight

#ikeapask

[wonderbatbvs]

The only way I'll accept this whole soft reboot of the DC Universe by James Gunn is if it's handled with absolute care. The biggest advantage James Gunn had with The GOTG is that they're very self-contained & don't need to deal with anything Earth related until Infinity War (which was amazing & hilarious. We needed more of Iron Man & Star Lord together)

My biggest worry for this new DCU is that it dies without getting a real chance to shine, just like The DCEU (2013 - 2023)

A universe-displaced Wonder Woman that wants to return to her man Bruce from The Snyderverse & longs to see her home again, NOT the Themyscira of the DCU would be very interesting.

It's a shame we'll never get Zack Snyder's take on The Batfamily. Given what we saw of Bruce & Alfred's relationship throughout The Snyderverse. I could definitely see Batgirl in this universe. What if she never got shot by The Joker in this universe or what if she did & stayed Oracle passing the mantle to Cassandra Cain & Stephanie Brown?

There's still so much potential in The Snyderverse, which really really really sucks to see wasted.

James Gunn's universe hasn't even started yet & people are rightfully skeptical & maybe at best hopefully optimistic.

The most interesting thing I can think of doing with Diana is that she realizes she's not in her universe when she meets The DCU's Superman & Batman. Mainly because it would be very cool to see Diana eventually going back to The Snyderverse after passing the mantle of Wonder Woman to Donna Troy or Cassie Sandsmark.

You could make Gal's Wonder Woman pass the mantle on multiple times spanning TWO different universes.

In The DCU, she passes it on to Donna Troy.

In The Snyderverse, she passes it on to Artemis of Bana-Mighdall (who's part of The Dark Trinity in this universe & dating a recently resurrected Jason Todd)

WonderBat is canon in The Snyderverse & Jaytemis would definitely be canon in The Snyderverse. Could you imagine the stories we'd get?

I'd love to see a Trinity & Dark Trinity movie to give a finale to the universe. You'd have The Batfamily with Wonder Woman's family growing to with Artemis, Donna & Cassie.

And while I'm rambling on about all this stuff, GIVE ME A TEEN TITANS & TITANS MOVIE!

#the dcu #james gunn's dcu #the snyderverse #the dceu #wondergal is perfect as wonder woman #wonderbat is canon in every universe #wonderbat

[rextasywrites]

Hamstring - a Zack Fair fanfic!

Recent reports had showed that Wutai was preparing for an attack, upping up on various weapons and there were whispers about newly developed robots for a counterattack. Bigger, stronger, smelling the mako-enhanced SOLDIERs from a mile away.

Too bad that Zack had the tendency to forget to shower.

Warnings: mention of injury, Zack and Angeal becoming friends, Zack being stupid

This fanfic is a birthday present for my friend @crylin ! Happy late Birthday dear, have a good one! <3

Also big thanks to my buddies in the server who always hype me and my writing up, including but not limited to @ryvian @prismaticpichu @dyradoodles @winter-doggo and so many more <3

*

The concept of a God, or several Gods, was unknown to Zack. But in this very moment, if he had faith in any of the things people called ‘religion’, he would have thanked whatever deity he were to believe in.

Zack and his 2nd class buddies had been sent out on a spy mission near Wutai. Recent reports had showed that Wutai was preparing for an attack, upping up on various weapons and there were whispers about newly developed robots for a counterattack. Bigger, stronger, smelling the mako-enhanced SOLDIERs from a mile away.

Too bad that Zack had the tendency to forget to shower.

“Hey Zack! Are you not gonna go to bed now?”, Kunsel asked Zack, who was putting his shoes on. “You are on morning duty.”

“Yeah no, I want to look around a little bit. Get used to the surrounding area. Besides, the food was terrible, maybe I can find some berries. Gotta be tastier than the slop we just got. What even was that…?”

“Angeal said it was some kind of nutrient filled mash with pieces of Hedgehog Pie.”

“More like Hedgehog Vomit!”

“Zack!”, Kunsel laughed and threw one of his towels, which he was holding, at his friend. Zack caught it mid-air and chucked it right back, laughing just as much as Kunsel did.

“I won’t be gone for too long, don’t worry!”, and without another second to spare, Zack ran off towards the nearest forrest.

Angeal, who had been watching the whole situation, sighed as he put his Buster Sword on his back, knowing he’d have to rescue this dumbass 2nd class SOLDIER sooner or later. From what he had heard about Fair, Angeal thought it would probably sooner than later, and took off after the young man.

*

“Oh, no no no no!”, Zack cried out. In his berry haze, the SOLDIER hadn’t realized that Wutaian soldiers were on his trail, ready to attack any ugly Shinra SOLDIER dude on sight. Zack was cornered up by a cliff, his only way out would have been a high jump down into a roaring river. While he could potentially survive the jump, the strong current could be his end. And Zack wasn’t ready to die! He had people he loved at home and still hadn’t tried the cool takeaway place in Sector 4, the one Kunsel always told him about!

With his enhanced abilities, Zack managed to take down two of the Wutaian soldiers. The fight seemed to go well for him, until one soldier managed to land a massive hit on Zack’s right leg, right on the hamstring. A loud bang was heard and before Zack’s brain could receive the information about pain in the leg, it gave in, making Zack land face-first in a puddle of mud and blood of the fallen soldiers.

That’s it, that’s his end, he thought as the Wutaian soldiers stalked up to him, sinister grins on their faces. “Should we kill him?” “No no, let's take him back home.” “Yeah, I heard the General has developed a great new torture method!” “The one with the water and the wax?” “Fuck yes.”

The next few seconds felt like hours. Zack later described the appearance of Angeal in a flash. By the time the Wutaian soldiers could turn around, their guts were spilling out of their bodies, the weak attempts to keep their stomachs and bowels in place with their hands fruitless. They dropped dead before they could have taken another breath.

“Zack Fair! Are you insane?!”

*

Angeal had dragged Zack back to camp, right into the med tent. Zack’s right leg’s hamstring was cut right through, requiring surgery. Zack was flown back to Midgar, Kunsel in tow as his ‘emotional support SOLDIER’. Angeal approved Kunsel’s earlier departure, instead requesting some 3rd class SOLDIERs to get flown in for field training. The 3rds were excited and Kunsel was glad he got to support his friend. *

A few weeks later, Zack was walking on crutches. The fact that he was unable to do squats (he had a cast so high up his leg, he could nearly rest his butt on it) and no running around… Zack hadn’t felt this bad since a bad flu knocked him out for 6 weeks when he was just 7 years old.

The days felt long. Kunsel had gone shopping on the plate and got Zack some games to play. Board games, card games, and with some money thrown together from both Zack and Kunsel, he even got a gaming system for both of them to play on.

One lonely afternoon, Kunsel was scheduled for combat training sim the whole day, Zack couldn’t do much else but play SOLDIER Kart. The TV in front of him felt lame, and Zack felt as if he had played through every single track thrice by now. There was only so much fun he could have had with this game. Even after a while, shooting Commander Rhapsodos with ‘turtle shells’ and throwing bananas at him became boring. He even made his own character in the character creation menu, but playing as Sephiroth sure was fun too.

“Do you have any idea how hard it was to get Sephiroth to agree to this game?”, Angeal had entered the room without Zack noticing. Zack paused the game and placed his controller down, focusing completely on the 1st class SOLDIER.

“Tell me!”, Zack laugh, and Angeal sat down next to him on the bed.

“Sephiroth had no interest in any kind of ‘video game’, no matter how funny or silly it was. PR told us to agree to this game, and since Genesis and I are ‘always around Sephiroth’, as they said, we should try to change his mind.”, Angeal started to tell the tale, “So Genesis and I took him into the arcade down in Sector 2 one night after bedtime. To make sure no one would recognize us, we put Sephiroth in a wig and a hoodie, Genesis wore a face full of make up and I wore a beanie pulled so far down, I was barely able to see. We got him to play all of these silly arcade games…”, Angeal laughed at the memory.

“Sephiroth was blown away by the games and by how much fun it was to play with us. He won a big prize that night, don’t know what game. But one of the owners challenged us to some game and the prize was free pizza for a year at the arcade’s restaurant. Sephiroth, of course, kicked the owner’s ass, and we got free pizza for a year.”

Zack listened, his eyes growing bigger with every word spilling from Angeal’s mouth.

“We were just ranked up to 1st, young men with an appetite to rival monsters. We nearly made them go out of business with the amount of pizzas we ate! Whenever we came back from a mission, we would eat until they had no dough left!”, Angeal couldn’t help but laugh even more at the memory. But the knowledge, that Sephiroth hadn’t eaten pizza, or even knew of pizza, before this event, was something he’d keep for himself.

“So PR got the deal for the game and we got free pizza for a year. Win-win for everyone”., Angeal smiled, but then his face changed.

“So, Zack, about the incident in Wutai…”, Zack went pale at the words. Oh no, he’d get kicked out of SOLDIER now! He’d have to move back home to Gongaga and live in his parent’s basement and work as a hunter or farmer! Oh no!

“I saw what you did to the two guys before they cut you down. You have potential. A potential I’d like to see grow. Are you interested in becoming my student?"

#zack fair #final fantasy 7 remake #final fantasy 7 #zack fair fanfiction #angeal hewley #kunsel

[rueitae]

Season 2, Episode 2 the hot rocks of Rio caper (Pt 2) for @csweekly

I love this episode (she says every week)

This is the first time we see Shadowsan acting, knowing he’s acting, and its so interesting to see. Because during the part where he’s REaLLY acting, he sells it. When he’s crowing about how much he’s hurt Carmen, he HAMS it up so that Carmen knows without a shadow of doubt that he IS acting, and this is just what he’s been doing for her all these years. AND CARMEN IS SO FUNNY SHE ALMOST DOESN’T KNOW WHAT TO DO SHE’S NOT USED TO WORKING WITH SOMEONE IN THE FIELD THIS WAY. She’s usually the one calling the shots, not having to bounce off of someone else’s lead. (See also Duke of Vermeer caper)

Also Le Chevre is so funny here he’s so onto Shadowsan. He deserves it after stealing that ball from those kids, not sorry.

The way the Faculty all realize at the same time that Shadowsan’s betrayed them. They don’t have concrete proof yet but they just Know. Also Brunt is the only one who doesn’t understand the possible betrayal because again, family. Cleo straight up doesn’t allow that conversation to go further because they don’t CARE. Its like they just ignore Brunt and let her live in this little family fantasy. Also ‘after we welcomed him the way we did’ yeah Brunt, welcomed him after you had him kill Dexter oanognasg its all so screwed up I love it.

I also love how they think Carmen is allied with ACME somehow.

Carmen and Shadowsan both hide their red objects inside trash cans. Carmen her coat and Shadowsan the siblings LOL Congratulations Shadowsan, you went from father of one to father of four within a twelve hour period.

THIS IS MY FAVORITE PART OF THE EPISODE. Zack and Ivy meet Shadowsan. 1. They do NOT recognize him as the guy who jumped them. 2. They know EXACTLY who he is, meaning that Carmen has told them EVERYTHING in a very VENTING fashion. (give me those late night slumber party chats PLEASE) 3. PROTECTIVE IVY 4. Zack’s new dad

RIP Chase he got demoted to office work. Okay but in scenes like this, I can’t help but think he and Carmen would really get along because Carmen too would hate paperwork. To Chase’s credit, he sticks around longer than Carmen would.

The horrified look on Shadowsan’s face when he sees Player LOL. They get younger and younger. Also, the fact that she calls him her secret weapon kills me because its true and the secret never gets uncovered haha. Its heartwarming to see how highly she values him.

I’ve ridden on a duck boat its pretty sweet.

Awww Carmen is SO excited to be running this caper with Shadowsan and he isn’t having it.

This plan by VILE is actually pretty clever. Even without the hint from El Topo I bet team Carmen would have figured it out though.

I like how Carmen uses Tigress’s own strategy against her, distracting with sand/rubble to the face. Appropriate since the tables have turned. Tigress thought she was Shadowsan’s favorite student, but it was Carmen all along.

Also Shadowsan does not break a sweat.

Carmen’s little smile when she sees what the siblings have found for a disguise. She is SUCH an enabler. I’m gonna emphasize this point next episode with my favorite example.

Aww even Shadowsan approves of the team effort!

Brunt destroying everything in the background. A+ comedy.

BLACK SHEEP INC

So, let me express my appreciation for what the show does. Shadowsan could have left on his own all mysterious like and teamed up with Carmen every now and then. But no. They let Shadowsan and Carmen have a heart to heart, and Shadowsan RESPECTS Carmen so much that he not only listens to her after the caper, but he accepts her offer to travel and join her, telling her how much he is grateful for her example in his life. She saved him. This is mindblowingly big and such a cool character arc for a mentor character. He joins the family literally this time, and we get him (begrudgingly at times) bonding with all of them. And I am so grateful this is the route the show chose to take.

Argh. The way Shadowsan tips around the truth about Argentina. The way his face contorts in pain over keeping this a secret from her after she JUST said no secrets. I LOVE rewatching this show.

I do love the cool detail that Zack and Ivy are already gone by the time Carmen and Shadowsan are making their getaway. The siblings are used to blending in as civilians.

The LOOK on poor Julia’s face when her entire world gets SHATTERED. Carmen is giving her zero favors to help her case.

#carmen sandiego #carmen sandiego 2019 #carmen sandiego netflix #csweekly #cs weekly #carmen sandiego weekly #cs liveblog

[altocat]

Hope you are doing well! We don’t have canonic birthdates for the first class soldiers, I wonder what you think they are for AGSZ? 🎂 What kind of gifts do they like on their birthdays?

Hiiii hope you're doing great! You always have awesome questions!

I don't think I have exact days and specifics. So I'm making it up as I go along!

-Angeal was born first. I want to say he's a spring child. Total sensitive Pisces energy.

-He probably had the most stable of families as a child, despite the fact that they were poor. So his parents gave what they could to make each birthday special. His mother made him his favorite foods and they would spend all day baking bread together. Angeal cherishes these memories dearly.

-The Buster Sword was an early birthday present from his father! Right before the latter passed away and subsequently right before Angeal was deployed.

-As an adult, Angeal will typically get cool trinkets, books, and novelty items from his friends. Genesis has a rather traditional habit every year of waking him up via airhorn and gracing him with a lovely joke-gift. One year it's plastic vomit. One year it's a pooping chocobo magnet. One year it's just Loveless within Loveless within Loveless. MULTILAYERED Loveless!

-....Seph just gets him a good book.

-Genesis was born the same year as Angeal around September. His birth was slightly more engineered given what they extracted from Gillian so they waited just a twinge more with him. Anyway, Gen's a Libra lol. Make of that what you will.

-As a child, Genesis' rich upbringing had him spoiled and lavished with toys, which were more than often a substitute for his parents' company. He'd give a lot of them to Angeal. He doesn't...want them.

-As an adult, Angeal and Sephiroth celebrate his birthday with a night out on the town. It's a crazy party in which everyone gets drunk and maaaaaybe a little high and miiiiight have accidentally blown up a building or two whoops.

-Yes, Gen is totally the type to get weepy over really nice gifts.

-Gen likes expensive perfumes and shiny things. He will hoard them like a greedy little cave goblin.

-Hehehe I like the idea of Zack's birthday being literally the day RIGHT BEFORE Cloud's and neither of them even realizes it because they're such dorks. Anyway, summer bros! Leo bros!!!

-Zack is pretty much a little kid when it comes to his birthday. He's HYPED!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And gets childishly bright-eyed at the prospect of presents. MAXIMUM ZOOMIES.

-Zack's mom sends him a cozy knit sweater in the mail every year with a big old doofy Z right in the middle. Zack is shamelessly proud of this and will wear it all day long.

-Angeal breaks his frugality one year and splurges on his apprentice, getting him a fancy new weapon. Zack breaks it within two seconds of using it in battle. After Angeal is long gone, the memory genuinely haunts Zack and motivates him to take extra special care of the Buster Sword.

-Zack's birthday without Angeal is gloomy and kind of traumatically miserable. Until Sephiroth sort of wordlessly invites him for drinks. They spend most of the night just kinda sitting there awkwardly drinking together in silence. But Zack finds that it oddly...helps. They smile shyly at each other and it's a nice moment. Before, you know, awkward again.

-Sephiroth was born the following year after Angeal and Genesis. He had a much wider gap and wasn't born until October. Scorpio hhhh.

-Despite this, he never finds out what day his birthday is. He spent a whole fraction of his life not even knowing what a birthday was. And he never received any presents at all. He has no idea how old he is. Hojo won't tell him anything and the files have all been locked away.

-Sooo one day, the trio gets bored and Genesis throws a dart at a random date on the break room calendar and they officially declare it Sephiroth Day. Sephiroth doesn't understand what they're talking about but they yank him around and tell him that from now on, this day's the number 1 Sephiroth day of the year! The sky's the limit and--wait Seph, come back!

-After coaxing him out of his room, they pull out all the big stunts. Cake. Streamers. Obnoxious noisemakers that make Seph jump from frantic catboy anxiety. When they see that they're clearly freaking Seph out, they tone it down and let him pick what they do, what makes him happy. It's his day, after all. Sephiroth is puzzled. Honestly?? He just wants to train with them like they always do together. That's all he wants.

-Every year, they cultivate a relaxed celebration of Sephiroth's favorite activities. A bit of sparring. Library time. Maybe a bit of chess or some quiet drinks. Angeal makes a cake. Genesis showers Sephiroth in new Materia or fancy items to help him sharpen and polish the Masamune. Sephiroth doesn't feel agitated or pressured, completely relaxed and warm and cherished. Days like those, he finds, were perfect. Perfect with them. Perfect together.

And he no longer remembers them. Like the day of his birth, they ultimately become locked away completely.

#Sephiroth #Genesis rhapsodos #Angeal hewley #Zack fair #crisis core #ffvii #ff7 #asks #final fantasy 7 #sephcanons #Gencanons #Honorcanons #Zackcanons #Headcanons #Writing

[fullwintermoon]

How lookism characters would react to you saying I love you

Daniel- would at first be confused and blush. Would think you meant it as in a platonic way but once he realizes you mean it romantically he would be a little flustered but try (and fail terribly) to play it cool

Drunk Daniel- let's just say you won't be able to walk tomorrow

Zack- he's already a huge simp so he'd probably just get really excited again he would try and fail to play it cool

Vasco- smile and say he loves you too however he thought you meant it in a friend way until he tells jace and jace explains it to him then he gets burn nuckles to help him ask you out obviously its a total mess but it's cute

Jace- blush and kinda internally freak out he actually succeeds in playing it cool and says it back

Jay-"......." (with a genuine smile)

Jake- would be surprised since he was planing on saying it first but a while from now he gives you a smile and says it back and wraps you in a hug

Samuel- he doesn't have to play it cool he genuinely is just like "that's nice" he couldn't care less however when he realizes it hurt your feelings he holds your hand without saying anything

Sinu- would get genuinely excited and really happy would say it back and be in a good mood for the rest of the week

Johan- he's kinda confused at first until it sinks in then he gives you a kiss on the cheek and walks away he's not ready for the responsibility and commitment of a relationship just yet even if he loves you too

#lookism #imagine #lookism incorrect quotes #writing #webcomic #this is my first time doing something like this sorry if its not that good

[prismaticpichu]

You ever just abandon something like a Twix bar you’ve accidentally left in a black car on a summer day?

First chapter of a fic that’s now a melted Twix bar!

x~x~x~x

Scarless

His gaze never tore away from the sky, even as the feathers came raining down like ashes in the wind. He crumbled to his knees, struggling to pick up the fragments, but the plumes caught ablaze beneath him. He was then standing within one, screaming for answers from someone who he had once trusted with his life, and his satanic glare, without humanity or recognition, pierced into his chest that had already been cut deep. Then, there truly was a blade in his chest, plunged by the same hands. Gold and silver weaved around his vision, clashing and melding, unforgiving, unmerciful, until the mercury spilled into green acid, dissolving forever. 

He was in the green now, swallowed, doused in the venom that breathed new fire into his veins. He was screeching to deaf ears, drowning, fighting, the poison flooding into his lungs and stealing his air, out of reach... subsumed. 

Then, it was rain that was drowning him, torrents surging and adopting a crimson sheen, sparkling in the embrace of winking sunlight. He reached for that sunlight, he reached for wings of his own, and he didn't stop until he had them.

~~~~~

"Hey... Z...ack..."

The teen rolled onto his side, ashy spikes splaying across the pillow as a feeble groan escaped his lips. The hand was incessant, however, shaking his shoulder until the pair of sapphire eyes finally slid awake, lashes fluttering and revealing a world under a film of glass.

He blinked again. The mist gradually lifted, and the wooden contours of a dresser and nightstand bled into focus, sharpening in color along with the creamy paint of the walls.

"Zack, what are you doing, man? It's 8:00."

The voice was coherent now. Familiar, but like the hazy memories of a dream, fragmented into a thousand pieces that spiraled around his mind...

Until they connected all at once.

"...Kunsel...?" Zack's voice leaked with grogginess, although the cobalt orbs swam in rivers of disbelief and awe, detached from his body.

The other drew away, rubbing the bed of chocolate hair with a puzzled look. "Uh... yeah. Who else would be in our room?"

Our room? 

Zack straightened in a jolt, ignoring the onslaught of nausea as he digested the world around him, levitating, in a stupor, his head spiraling with a different sickness entirely.

He was draped in a heavy blue blanket that cascaded off his shoulders, sprawling clumsily over the edges of a twin mattress and pooling into the wooden sea below. The room was lit in the tender embrace of a bedside lamp, casting reaching shadows that snuck up the walls and fell over his pale cheeks.

Zack's eyes darted wildly, breathing in serrated and taut gusts, his heart ready to burst.

That's when he realized he was breathing. 

He was feeling. He sank his palm into the ivory plush, letting the warmth and comfort radiate into his body... so different from the rugged grounds and crimson rain that had carried him to sleep...

Zack threw off his blanket, and air turned against him, throttling his lungs like an anaconda.

Not a single gunshot marred his skin. Not a single slash from a monster, or dried mottled of reddened sweat, or the mark of a burnt katana. He was clean, pure, and unscathed.

He was... alive.

"Earth to Zack, hellooo?" Kunsel's voice had finally resurfaced, drawing him back to reality—the world, the Planet—and snapping his head towards him.

"What's the matter with you?" Kunsel scanned his friend for injuries, looking even more puzzled when he found none. "Had a nightmare or something?"

Respond. Right, that would be the natural thing to do. Just... play it cool, at least until he got some goddamn answers.

"...Yeah, spooked in a dream. I'm fine, really! Thanks, Kun." He mustered all his willpower to not squeal at the sound of his voice, praying he was at least somewhat successful in doing so. Although, from the unconvinced quirk in his friend's eyebrow, he was certain he resembled nothing less than a child holding car keys behind their back.

Zack swallowed, urging himself to relax in a race against his own sweat.

Thankfully, and by the gods thankfully, Kunsel just shook his head. "Alright, man, we all get nightmares. Just wanted to wake you up before your mentor comes chasing after you. It's Thursday, remember?"

Now, he was certain whatever ghostly color was left in his skin had faded entirely.

Mentor...?

Oh man.

Oh Gaia.

Oh.

Gaia.

The memory came dogging back, fast as lightning and striking like a speeding train. Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays were the days he would train with Angeal. The name itself caused his heart to twist into jagged knots.

Zack's eyes fell onto his PHS, charging peacefully on the nightstand; he disrupted its slumber and pried the cord away, letting it slap against the wood as he flipped the device open to read the date inside.

July 24, 0001.

Oh.

Gaia.

This had to be some cruel joke... Angeal was alive?  He was in his old billet?

He was still in SOLDIER? 

"I'll see you, later, Zack." Kunsel was already standing by the door, shooting him a quick smile before it was hidden under the obscurity of his helmet. Then, as Zack returned a weak wave and flimsy smile, he was left alone.

He took in a deep breath, the bed groaning below him as Zack brought his legs to dangle over it. Cautiously, as if this mirage would shatter with contact, his toes kissed the floor... and nearly recoiled at the bitter chill.

Touch. It was still so strange. 

He closed his eyes. "Focus, Zack... Focus..." he repeated, over and over, cheerleading himself along as he teetered to a shaking stand.

Okay. Step one: done.

His hand flew to his bedframe, seizing it for support when his knees practically buckled below him. Nearly done, that is. His body clearly wasn't cooperating with his shaking soul and palpitating heart, nor was his mind fully clear of haze yet.

Now... if he remembered right, his uniform was kept in the upper-right drawer on the dresser; Kunsel claimed the left drawers while he claimed the right.

Releasing his grip, gingerly and steady, like learning how to ride a bicycle for the first time, Zack crept to the dresser only inches ahead. To his surprise, and maybe to his horror—he really didn't know—there was indeed a bundle of navy blue crammed into the highest drawer, creased and stained and... loved. It was a 3rd Class uniform—another snippet of his being, a lost shard of his soul, so faraway, yet so… familiar.

Biting his upper lip, Zack ran his fingers along the clingy fabric of his attire, slipping his branded clothes out with a care so tender it even startled him. He lingered there for God knows how long, clutching his uniform, clutching his past, absorbing the scents of fast food and detergent, listening to the songs of clanging metal and the echoing laughter of the cafeteria, watching his eyes glisten while flipping through the pages of magazines, seeing his hero in battle...

It was like holding innocence in his hands.

He snapped out of his stupor upon catching a glimpse of the clock. The tethers of his heart squeezed tighter, asphyxiating, but tugged onwards all the same. Maybe this was a gift. It was too much to process at once, but it was also too valuable to give away. He could relive it all again. He could feel the happiness he once felt before the world imploded around him.

Balling his fists, Zack dressed swift and efficiently, caging his searing questions for later on. As he located his boots and began to clasp the latches, he found himself staring at the mirror just directly above...

And that's when the wet thorns finally pierced through.

In his reflection, stood a SOLDIER 3rd Class, his features young and jubilant, his hair unstyled and free, the sapphire eyes fresh with Mako as they bounced off the stranger and into his own, reconnecting them. Rekindling them. A puppy reborn, playful and bleeding with love, whose sworn duty had once been to beat Angeal in a spar, carry Cloud on his shoulders through SOLDIER corridors, and make the unmovable General smile.

In his reflection, stood a scarless SOLDIER, whose cheek, whose life, whose world, had not been torn apart. Zack rubbed his eyes, sniveling, a narrow river filtering through his fingers and trickling onto the floor.

The realization dawned on him then: this wasn’t just a gift. Goddess... it was so much more.

It was a chance

He may have failed once, but by the gods, this time he would be a hero.

#ff7 #zack Fair #puppy Zack #fangirl #fanfic #practicemakesprogress #shoving it your way!

[tri-poke]

(screaming as I upend my complex combinatorics table in frustration - fuck odds, yo!! - and just making Excel give me 5 random cards - Revolver gets two pair, for both his draws, which I'm saying is good enough for him to help and to eventually find you but to make you and him both good and nervous for a bit that the big galoot got lost)

Zach, with Demon-Tooth's natural talent to help, manages to prove his skills just fine - not even really needing Revolver's help - cutting out exactly the 5 Triceratops he wanted while the rest of the Tripokes hold the herd on course.

And it seems for a decent minute that it is a GOOD thing Zack doesn't need the help as in the chaos and rush, he ends up in the canyon with the Trikes under fine control and headed his way... but Revolver seems to have missed the turn.

Unfortunately, there's no real chance of going back to fix things. Else-wise, the trikes will just run wild-and-willy-nilly through the canyons. And even IF they end up in the right place without him, there's no guarantee that the Matriarch will count the oath fulfilled because he wouldn't be there.

Just as Zack is thinking his perfect lucky streak for the day has finally run out, Revolver bolts in from one of the side ways. Looking a bit haggard with effort while his Rex looks more than a tad spooked by running through the echoing and cooling terrain.

"Good thing, Trikes are noisy," Revolver complains. Explaining at least how he found Zack, even if not how he got lost. He looks like he might want to ask, 'so where's this big-ol-spider-goddess we heard so much about, huh, huh, where's-at?' but has somewhat reconsidered in the eerie, narrowing walls of the labyrinth. He either chooses silence as the better part of valor, the best route to avoid shame, or just plain because he doesn't like talking much.

Which doesn't help the creep factor as the mist starts to lap around them and the Trikes seem to reconsider bolting, trusting that what's scaring them is scaring the Rexes, too, so they can slow down. The Rexes don't seem to think that's a terrible idea either.

The mist deepens and the day falls so dim that it is getting more than a little reminiscent of a starless night. But even knowing what's there, the first sign that everything has gone right - or wrong as the case may be - is the Matriarch's voice echoing in pooling colors inside his head.

You return, and oath-kept, Human-Who-Is-Open.

She hums thoughtfully in a sotto voce kind of sending that pulls on the feeling of the clean way the air smells the first clear dawn after a week of storms.

You are twice rare. I admit I didn't really think you would return. Let alone with more than you left with.

Revolver finally finds his voice, but it sounds tinny in the foggy corridor of stone. "Why we stopped?"

But then he gasps as the walls shift and the dislocation draws his widening eyes up and up and up the suddenly crawling-scuttling-scattering-swarming wall, just as the giant legs of the Matriarch jut in a regally refined creep out of her cave, surveying her army of children as they swarm down toward the five triceratops.

Whatever language he speaks it in, Zack is pretty sure the phrase Revolver squeaks is some kind of prayer for mercy.

One-short-a-working-standing-pose's-number of - she says another terrible at first seemingly untranslatable word until Zacks brain catches up and realizes she is saying she is impressed that he has brought her: 5 Triceratops. You are not at all what I have learned to expect from your kind, Human-Who-Is-Open. Have I been ignorant all these years? Do humans, too, have populations of Open-Minds versus Flicker-Minds, like we have Female and Male?

[stevensaus]

The Toxic Past -- And Better Present -- Of Rom-Coms, Featuring "Love And Monsters" and "No Hard Feelings"

TL;DR: I highly recommend 2020's Love And Monsters and 2023's No Hard Feelings as fun romantic comedies with far less of the toxic behaviors. Just like Jay and Silent Bob at the beginning of Dogma, I used to think that Shermer, Illinois (from all the John Hughes movies) was real. Or at least, the shape of the stories there was real. That the ways the stories went in Hughes' movies -- and in so very, very many other rom-coms -- were the ways that life was supposed to go. There's plenty of think pieces out there talking about the toxic effect these stories have on what we think of as normal, expected, and even required behavior in relationships. And it wasn't just a few films over a short period of time: The first two lists of movies with romanticized toxic behaviors that came up in search results (from Bustle and Buzzfeed) have 13 and 14 entries each. And only one film is included on both lists. The trope I whole-heartedly bought into was the "but the nerd wins in the end." The one where the cool, desired character realizes that the nerd was worth caring about and falling for after all. Sometimes it involved a makeover -- the quintessential "nerdy girl with glasses" gets contacts and a new hairstyle kind of thing. Sometimes it involved adults, like The 40 Year Old Virgin or Zack and Miri Make A Porno. It's the opposite kind of end than Pretty In Pink ... except that even Pretty In Pink originally started out with the "nerdy" character being chosen by the girl. All of them have the same refrain. Eventually, the romantic gestures work. Eventually, that special person realizes that yes, you are the right one after all. /me squirms nervously. Look, out of all the toxic things from rom-coms, the idea that you'll eventually be recognized as being worthwhile is a lot less creepy than some of the others. Doesn't make it great, though. So I've spent some time thinking about the why of that belief, and I realized that was pretty much the only choice ever showed. The protagonist got the romantic partner, or it was a tragedy. There was no other option. It wasn't -- isn't -- just rom-coms. Damn near every story with a romantic plot element presented only those options. Romantic success, or utter failure. Yes, even When Harry Met Sally. Because while it shows them being friends... that's not how it ends. And if that's the only options you've ever seen, if that's the constant mythology surrounding you since your eyes opened... Well, that explains a lot in my life. Let's just say that. So it's not just the snark and whimsy that made 2020's Love And Monsters and 2023's No Hard Feelings so enjoyable for me. Both of these films share the same DNA with past rom-coms... but both deftly smooth down (if not eliminate altogether) the toxic implications of yesteryear. They aren't perfect, and they have their (occasionally) problematic elements of their own {1}. But if you are looking for something that feels like rom-coms used to, but without nearly so much toxicity, I'd firmly point you toward these two. Yes, I know. If you watch the trailers or read the blurb, they look like they're going to be just like all the others. But these films show other ways. They take different paths, and manage to do it without losing the feel of a rom-com. When I saw the trailers for each of these movies, I thought, "Man, that looks fun. But it probably ends up in the same stupid tropes as all the old ones. But I wish it didn't." So I'm just telling past me -- and you -- that neither of them does. I hope you enjoy them. You can find ways to stream, rent, and buy Love And Monsters at Justwatch and buy (at present) No Hard Feelings at Justwatch. {1} Most notably, Andrew Barth Feldman's character in No Hard Feelings -- who sure came across coded neurospicy to me -- adapts pretty suspiciously quickly to being out of his comfort zone in the final third. But I'll forgive the film that due to the fact that it also does not demand that his character change and conform to "normal" society either. Read the full article

#moviereview #relationships #review #rom-com

[redbarracuda]

The Amazing Race: Season 3

My Thoughts - Spoilers Ahead

The group immediately turns against twin brothers Derek & Drew. The hate is so strong that I actually started rooting for the brothers because the hate is so unnecessary and mean.

Derek & Drew don’t help themselves when their taxi drives off with their bags. They later attempt to show off their athleticism by jogging to the fast forward, which fails.

Aaron & Arianna start off fun and likable. However, as the season progresses they become bitter and mean. They’re the ones that started the hate against Derek & Drew. The constant hate becomes tiring.

Here we go with that new couple using the show to see if their relationship will last. It’s clear from the start that Flo & Zach are set to fail while John Vito & Jill work well together as a team.

Teri & Ian are loud and proud. The older married couple in the group; they yell and fight their way through the race. The way Ian treats Teri is so uncomfortable. There’s a point where Ian proudly says no other team wants to make an alliance with them.

In the opening intro, Teri & Ian’s part is so hilariously bad.

Ken & Gerard nicely balance out the awfulness of the other teams. The race really helps them reconnect as brothers and it’s great to watch.

The bus crash was frightening and I’m glad everyone made it out okay.

The dolphin challenge is cool but the dolphins couldn’t care less about the group.

Michael decides to complete the dolphin challenge even though he doesn’t know how to swim.

I don’t think we realize how late in the evening that soccer roadblock occurred.

Heather & Eve, two lawyers, incorrectly read directions: walk instead of driving. They’re eliminated on a technicality.

Flo has a breakdown while attempting to descend down the side of the cliff. Other teams encourage and show her support. They switch tasks and she blames Zach, who is carrying the team by himself.

They focus a lot of time on the racers incorrectly fueling their vehicles. I loved how gradual it played out as one team’s vehicle dies after another. The great diesel mistake, how unsettling. Each team handles the mistake differently - siphoning was the best.

Even though the diesel mistake cost them a win; I think the experience helped Kathy and Michael grow stronger as a couple. He finally showed some vulnerability and a side Kathy was looking for in their relationship.

First responders, Andre & Damon go through the race without a strategy and aimlessly follow other teams through the challenges, to the annoyance of others. It’s actually surprising how far they get with their clueless stumbling.

Eventually Andre & Damon’s strategy-less strategy catches up to them and they are detained by the sketchy local law enforcement. This clearly has an impact on them as they are still in shock when describing the experience later. Shout out to the behind the scenes crew for stepping in and resolving the issue.

In Switzerland, the counting challenge was rough.

The foot race through the small village was chaotic. I loved how people jumped fences and ran through random fields.

How could John Vito & Jill not enjoy the cheese fast-forward?

In between challenges, teams were allowed to call home to one of their loved ones. I honestly didn’t care for this moment even though the show pushed the emotional factor hard, it felt unearned to me.

Flo & Zack and Teri & Ian struggle with the bike challenge. Ian is so unsupportive when Teri falls off the bike. Flo has another meltdown when she thinks they’re going to be eliminated. I can’t believe (even though I should) she angrily throws her helmet and threatens to quit.

In Vietnam, Flo has a major meltdown. I know right? I have no idea how Zach remained calm and patient. Flo is clearly exhausted and out of it. I feel for her but at the same time I don’t. She lashes out at Zach so often and so bitterly that I think the show should have offered him a new teammate. He is so amazing and the only thing holding their team together. Besides her meltdowns and lashing out, how does Flo support Zach? She’s over there flirting with Derek & Drew. Oh my god. Zach realizes any chance of a relationship are dead and he’s just here for the money now, even if he has to drag Flo across the finish line.

The detour in question has them taking a basket boat across the water or ride a bike covered in baskets. Flo just loses it and threatens to quit, again. Zach talks her off the ledge, somehow. At the same time, Teri struggles with the bike and finds support in the horde of children hanging out there. Ian’s off down the road yelling at her to keep up.

Ian’s behavior at the travel agency was so out of line and I’m glad he was called out by the brothers.

Zach’s decision to not cut the line at the airport annoys Flo and sets up her last meltdown of the season. As their relationship(?) / friendship(?) dissolves, Flo consoles in a can of soda. If Zach never spoke with Flo again I would understand.

A great season overall, with enough drama and suspense to keep your interest. We’re only at season three but I already feel like Flo must be one of the most undeserving winners in the show’s history. Thoughts?

#Why Is Flo Like This? #Justice For Zach #the amazing race #cbs #amazing race #the amazing race 3 #phil keoghan #tar #tar3 #RBReviewsTAR