#at first i thought this was gonna be like. infinity era. and then the last sentence hit me like a train

[makingfanfictionstosleep]

My First But Not My Last.

Pairing : Gojo x Femreader, Geto x Femreader

Setting : Started from Pre-Cult Suguru Geto // Modified that Kenjaku will not totally take over Geto's subconscious later on // Girl bff Shoko, Mei Mei & Utahime, Strong sorcerer reader // Death, Murder Spree, Romance, Lemons.

Rating : M || m i n o r s d o n o t i n t e r a c t

Part 3 : My strongest

<< Previous ...... Next >>

Bleeding & broken.

That's how Satoru found you.

He took slow tentative steps toward you, avoiding the shards of glasses on the floor from the broken mugs & plates that he assumed you threw.

You did not even feel him approach you.

He knelt down & took you in his arms, your shoulders shaking as you cried yourself on his chest.

"None of this is your fault," Satoru said softly, "Forget that stupid man, you don't deserve to cry."

That's Satoru.

He has always been there for you, Satoru & Shoko.

He pulled you in his arms & carried you to the living room where a very worried Shoko & Meimei waited.

"Take her to the bath, we'll got it from there," you heard Meimei tell Satoru.

Your friends took care of you during that time, until you were able to get back on your feet.

Bless their beautiful souls for being very patient with you because you were very stubborn.

You started to move forward. But you did not move on right away. Your concern turned to regrets, to spite.

You began to spite Suguru Geto because Satoru was right - none of this was entirely your fault. He knew what he was doing. He's the same man who told Satoru that your skills & talents must be used to save as much non-sorcerers as you can.

He's a hypocrite.

But he was your hypocrite.

He was yours.

But it did not matter anymore.

Because you tried your best & it's time to put yourself first.

Your wake up call to move forward was when your favorite ice cream shop was set into fire along with the owner - your good friend, & with other non-sorcerers.

He is not your Suguru Geto anymore. He has become someone you don't know.

"Satoru," you called the white haired man who was resting lazily under one of the trees in Jujutsu high, "Oi Satoruuuu!"

He turned his head toward your direction, both arms under his head, "What?"

"I learned something new. You're gonna like this," you said with a confident smirk, "Turn your stupid infinity on."

Satoru remained lying on the grass, "I got them on all the time, stupid. Get on with it."

You rolled your eyes & focused your energy. Then you placed the tip of your index finger on his forehead, directly touching it, surprising Satoru, before you flicked his forehead.

"Ow! How did you do that?" He asked, sitting up rubbing his forehead, "Not bad, Y/N."

"I can finally touch the untouchable Gojo Satoru," you said smugly, sitting down in front of him, "You're not the only one who has a weird family ability. I think I inherited my grandmother's nullification ability - to which no one has ever seen for years!" You said just to tease him.

Well it's the truth. Many thought that the ability was gone, long before Sukuna's era, but your grandmother chose to live a simple life away from the sorcerer world because she just wanted to have a normal life.

Your mom inherited amplification & that's what you got. Plus nullification. So you can multiply & nullify any curse technique.

You just have to learn more about it & Gojo Satoru is the best practice material you can have.

"I guess I'll be your punching doll? That's why you're here?"

And he read your mind.

"Bingo! You are perfect for this role. Don't worry, Shoko will put your broken pieces back together after I'm done with you. I just need to get used to it. I think I can combine my techniques & use little curse energy when I nullify shit," You mused as you stared at your fingers," Meimei already taught me how to use my amplification technique well & I think I can use that to minimize the energy that use to nullify curses."

"When do we start?"

You stared at him with your pretty eyes, smiling as you tried to act adorable, knowing that Satoru would understand why you're looking at him that way.

"What? You mean now?!" He asked, standing up with his hands on his hips as he looked at you incredulously.

"Duh?" you answered, extending your arms to him as he pulled you up, "I wanna beat you at being strongest."

"You wish," Satoru answered confidently, trailing behind you as you walked back to the school grounds.

You remembered how Satoru helped you move forward. Well, not just him, your friends did a lot to help you get to where you are right now.

You focused all your energy to become stronger for a whole year.

Because one day, you know that your paths would cross & you're on opposite sides.

You swore to protect the weak like he did.

But now he is eliminating the weak.

And while you loved him so much, you can't stand for what he is doing.

"There's my princess," you felt a soft peck on your cheek, "Where were you? I have been looking for you all over the school."

You turned your head towards the man who sat beside you, "I have been here, working, when you should be too," you replied to Satoru, your now-boyfriend.

It did not hapoen right away. It was gradual.

You just realized that you were falling for him, when he told you that he has always been in love with you the same time when Suguru Geto did.

You just loved him first because Suguru was not a hard man to love.

Was.

But as you spent time with Satoru, you saw him more than the 'Strongest Gojo Satoru' that everybody sees. To you, he is just Satoru. Goofy, soft-hearted, kind, caring, smart, very laid-back & most of all, the man who brought your heart back to life.

When you thought you wouldn't be able to love again, he was there to prove you wrong.

Plus, he is the best you have ever had, yes better than your murderer ex - he made sure of it. Because if there's something to remember about Gojo Satoru, that would be his hate for losing.

Competitive bastard.

"Well you've been here for hours. You have to take a break," he said turning your chair to his direction as he pulled you toward him. He sat down & pulled you on his lap, his arms around you tiny wist, his lips kissing your neck sensually as you threaded your fingers in his hair.

"Mhmm, but we're at school. Somebody could just walk in -"

He cut you off with a kiss which you returned gladly.

"Ssssh, I locked the door," he smiled against your lips before kissing you again while he caressed your back, squeezing your ass, while you made out passionately.

He slowly lifted your skirt, your shirt already unbuttoned as you changed position to straddle him. He pushed your soaked underwear aside, tracing your wet folds, your back arched while your tongue continued to dance with his.

You kissed the sensitive spot behind his ear, mking him moan slightly as you nibbled his earlobe.

"Satoru, I want you so bad," you rasped in his ear, sending shivers down his spine.

You ended up sprawled in your office table, with Satoru fucking your brains out, your work long forgotten the moment he entered you.

"Oh gooood," you muffled your moans as you don't want anybody to hear.

"Cum for me, princess," he commanded & it was like a switch that was turned on. You felt the tension building up in your belly & not long after, you were a shaking mess under him, as he continued to fuck you with no mercy.

"Not yet done with you, love," he hissed between his teeth, "Not fucking done with you yet," he said between his thrusts, "Until I get my fill, which will never be full because you are like a fucking drug to me."

You'd definitely work overtime today.

A/N : Typed on my phone. Gradually proofreading typos. Please bear with me.

#gojo satoru smut #gojo x you #gojo x y/n #gojo x reader #gojo satoru #gojo smut #jjk gojo #satoru smut #gojou satoru x reader #jujutsu satoru #jjk satoru #suguru geto x reader #suguru geto x y/n #suguru geto x you #suguru geto smut #geto suguru #getou suguru x reader #jjk suguru

[honorarypines]

These are not at all what I was going to post today but here we are I guess bc I have sO MANY THOUGHTS ABOUT THE CONCEPT ART WE GOT OH MY GOD?!!!

The 'A' outfit seems like kind of a safe choice as it's similar to the classic one but I love the rolled up sleeves. Also the shoes!! Basically it's more cool version of his usual fit and I'm here for it

The 'B' is SO FRICKIN AWESOME but also I feel like it might be too awesome for a loser like Gary idk? But it's amazing and omegosh the shoes!!! They really nailed every pair of shoes here (though I'm gonna miss his long boots so much it's like an end of an era I loved drawing those😭)

The 'C' is giving some serious post-apocalyptic vibes and I feel like that version of post 5 year time skip world is gonna be the grimest one. I'm not really that much into that tbh.... my man gary deserves nice fits come on he's been homeless for so long...

The last one outfit tho... it's cool, but also not really looking like civillian clothes? Maybe the future world has its new infinity guard? I'm having so many new theories!!

As for the hair I love the first one as it looks like a longer kinda overgrown version of his previous haircut.... it has more flow to it and was really pleasant to draw

The longest hairstyle is so pretty.... maybe too pretty for gary but I'm still gonna draw that on him a lot in the future bc prettyyyy

#final space #gary goodspeed #final space fanart #fanart #I am going insane over the new stuff olan showed us!!

[bokutosmochi]

TOUCHSTARVED ♡ GOJO SATORU

gojo satoru x gn!reader

ingredients? being born as the strongest, affection and tlc wasn't something he got from his elders. the moment he loses his best friend is when he learns to lean into the touch.

what's it? angst. reverse comfort, but mostly angst. a pinch of fluff if you squint

allergen warning/s? gojo's ooc, gojo's elders are icky, reader has a mostly good relationship with their parents (not described in detail),

sugar level? 1.6k

regulars? @hanayanetwork​ @tokyometronetwork​ @tahonet​

parlor's note? did somebody say gojo satoru birthday fic???

gojo's a little ooc, but i couldn't help it. this man has gone through so much and now we're gonna make him go through more-[gets slapped]

bon appetit!

ever since the clan elders found out he not only inherited the limitless, but also the six eyes cursed technique, they were quick to push him into learning the art of jujutsu. there was no time for strolls on the beach, play dates with the kids his age at the playground, or ice cream parlor visits with his parents whenever he got an A on his report card -- not that they necessarily cared about that, the fact that he will grow to be the strongest sorcerer in his era is enough. his daily routine was wake up at five thirty in the morning, do light training, shower and get ready for school, eat, go to school, train some more exactly thirty minutes after he gets home, do his homework - sometimes gojo clan members who didn't inherit an excellent technique would just do it for him as ordered by his grandfather -, eat dinner, then get a full eight hours of sleep. this lasted up until he graduated middle school. it was when he moved to tokyo metropolitan jujutsu technical high school did he finally gain some independence; there were no more groups of people following him around with the intent of doing everything for him, and long gone were the days of him getting treated as some sort of living weapon. or so he thought.

while the high school was most certainly a lot better than how he was treated at some, he still had this sick gut feeling like he was being used to keep people safe, and while he did certainly enjoy being named as the strongest, and while he undoubtedly enjoys deeming himself as the honored one, couldn't shake off this feeling. but then again, he sighed, at least he's able to be himself here.

you entered his life during his first year of high school as you also possessed cursed energy and was pushed by your parents to attend the school so you may be able to sharpen your skills to the fullest potential.

the first thing he noticed upon meeting you, ieiri shoko, and geto suguru, the other boy in your class was that you both came to the school via your own accord. sure, your parents wanted you to be jujutsu sorcerers, but in no way, shape, or form did your elders shove the idea down your throat the way his elders did with him. he realized upon reflection that it was most likely because you didn't possess the amount of power he did. while yes, he knew that you and suguru were forces to be reckoned with, he can exorcise curses with a snap of his fingers. it didn't compare. not having him fulfill his destiny of becoming the strongest would be a waste of his inborn abilities. but then, you, him, and geto came closer friends and when he confided in you his feelings about how his elders treated him, you looked at him with this sadness in your eyes when he thought that you would just hum along and agree, say that the way they treated him was the right thing to do given his amount of power.

it was the first time he was ever looked at with something resembling pity.

you lunged forward and wrapped your arms around him in a hug, stroking the hair at the back of his head, muttering things about how you'll bake him homemade cake for his birthday and take him out for ice cream every time a mission goes well.

it was the first time he subconsciously turned off his infinity and the first time he received this comforting type of affection. the only time people has shown affection for him was in the form of love confessions and boxes of chocolate during middle school from people he barely knew. but this is different, because he knew you and it felt so intimate.

thankfully because of how used he is to training, he didn't jolt from your grip nor did he stiffen from the strange feeling, however, he did not return your hug. instead, he opted to put two firm hands on your shoulders and pull you away from him and go back to his dorm room quietly which was quite uncharacteristic of the white haired sorcerer. if you were being honest with yourself, you expected some sort of teasing quip about how you couldn't take your hands off him or how you couldn't resist him; basically, the complete opposite of how he actually reacted.

both you and geto were shocked, left dumbfounded so you decided to ask gojo about his behavior the next day.

to no one's surprise, he brushed it off casually before bringing up something embarrassing that happened to you one time you were paired up with him for a certain mission.

he was good at taking the heat off of him and leading conversations away, that's for sure.

but then, in your second year of high school, gojo asked you out. you said yes, and from there, you started dating the white-haired sorcerer.

as your boyfriend, you found him much gentler to you at times, praising you a lot, and yes, also annoying you a lot more since he got much more comfortable in your presence as time went on. for some reason though, you noticed that he still didn't let himself get vulnerable with you and affectionate too for that matter. his kisses were short pecks to your forehead and his hugs were even shorter -- he'd bring you close to his body with one hand, pat you on the back, and that was it.

still, you gave him space and didn't push the issue, not wanting to make him uncomfortable. maybe affection just wasn't really his forte, and if that was the case, you didn't want him to change for you. besides, he shows you his love in other ways, like how he has all your orders in the different restaurants you frequented memorized, the way he shares his beloved sweet treats with you, and how you're the only one privileged to be on the receiving end of those three words he uttered that you absolute adore.

gojo thought he could hide his vulnerable side from you and was quite confident about that too, that was until you two entered your third year.

it wasn't until he heard about the things that the last person in your trio has done: geto suguru, former student of jujutsu tech massacred an entire village.

what really got to him was the fact that the signs were all there, but he, geto suguru's best friend, didn't pick up on them: geto's bad days becoming more frequent, him losing weight, the conversations they had about how jujutsu sorcerers seemed to live just to serve non-sorcerers and protect them from curses.

you were close to the long, black-haired sorcerer as well. he was your classmate, after all, but your bond with him wasn't nearly as tight-knit as the bond him and gojo formed . your chest tightened upon hearing the news so you could only imagine how your boyfriend was feeling. all you managed to do was bow curtly to yaga who broke the news to you as you departed, running to find gojo which was thankfully easy because of the trail of cursed energy he left. it led you to his dorm room which was locked.

you gently knocked on the door. "'toru, it's me. open up."

it was opened at once and in a blink of an eye, satoru was already sat on his bed, his head in his hands, and his elbows on his knees. he didn't speak and neither did you. after all, what can you say to someone who just lost their best friend? and especially in the way gojo did. you also noticed how geto's mood was off in the past few days prior to the incident occurring, so you were sure gojo did too. what do you tell someone who saw the signs, only too late? and what do you tell someone who has the unfortunate, heart-wrenching task of having to exorcise his best friend?

not exactly knowing the answer to those questions, you just hugged him tightly, pressing your chest against his and cradling his head with one of your hands, tucking it into the crook of your neck. you could feel his touch as light as a feather as if he was gauging something because this is not something he is familiar with, this closeness and this intimacy. it wasn't one of the things taught to him by his elders, including his parents. he finds the feeling so alien, but so good. and it's what pushes the sob from his mouth, the two overwhelming feelings of loss and gain toyed with his mind and his heart so much so that he wasn't able to control his emotions anymore. he sobbed into your neck, grabbing fistfuls of your shirt to pull you closer to him, silently pleading that you never let him go, not just in the physical aspect of things, but also to never lose to the demons inside you the way his best friend did.

and you don't. you stay the night in his dorm, letting him bury his face into your chest and cry until he falls asleep as much as you needed, as much as he was deprived.

i get: reblog

you get: blindfold

#order of the day! #order up for gojo! #one matcha mochi #with a side of lime italian ice #gojo #gojo x reader #gojo one shot #gojo drabble #gojo angst #gojo satoru #gojo satoru x reader #gojo satoru one shot #gojo satoru drabble #gojo satoru angst #satosugu angst #satosugu one shot #satosugu #satosugu drabble #satosugu x reader #satosugu x you #gojo satoru x you

[secretkeeper007]

Okay I haven't had a chance to properly listen to the album yet (with no distractions and lyrics in front of me) but I have listened to it on my way to and from the mall so... Thoughts on initial listen:

Love from the Other Side: perfect. Amazing. There's a very good reason it's a single AND the first track on the album. Very reminiscent of early fob, especially infinity on high and folie a deux era.

Heartbreak Feels So Good: Not my favorite, gets very repetitive at times, but still very very good, very catchy and easy to sing along to. Again, there's a reason this was one of the singles

Hold Me Like A Grudge: Yeah this is really good. Again, good reason for it to be a single. The lyrics "part time soulmate full time problem" are hilarious and also relatable

Fake Out: Great song. Very good to dance to

Heaven, Iowa: if I'm not mistaken, this is the song Patrick was fighting very hard to keep off the album. Very happy to say Patrick was very wrong, this song is amazing and perfect and hits so good. It's also one of the songs that's title isn't *in* the song, which feels like a solid callback to pre-hiatus fob

So Good Right Now: great song! Great to jam out to in your car while driving to the mall

The Pink Seashell: not really a song. It was interesting I guess? Will have to listen more closely

I Am My Own Muse: another song I will have to listen to more closely. Sounded good, unfortunately I was dodging traffic and dealing with an unruly parking lot when this came on so didn't get a good listen

Flu Game: also didn't get a good listen to this song. Im pretty sure I liked it a lot but will def have to give another listen. Another song where the title is not in the song

Baby Annihilation: oh yeah Pete Wentz poetry. Solid callback to when Pete would just recite poetry and the end of songs. Specifically feels very close to his outro in 20 Dollar Nosebleed, but like updated? Part of me wishes it had been tied to a specific song, but another part respects it being left solo

The Kintsugi Kid: SO GOOD! One of my favorites on the album. It just hit really really good

What A Time to Be Alive: also one of my favorites. Absolute bop.

So Much (For) Stardust: y'all. This one. This is the best song. There's a good reason this is the album title. There's a good reason this is the last track. It is fucking incredible. I literally started crying. I knew it was gonna be good just from the opening violins, but holy shit. I cried through the whole song cuz it was just so good.

This whole album feels like a love letter to their past selves. And also their future selves. It's a love letter to everything they've ever created and everyone that's ever passed through their lives, even for just a moment. Lots of the songs have to do with love or heartbreak and I don't think it's about specific people but about specific times in their lives. I don't know. It's a really good album and I love it a lot. It's a really good balance of pre-hiatus fob, post-hiatus fob, and a completely new sound that they had yet to touch on until now.

I will be listening to this for the next week, and crying over how much this band has always meant to me and will always mean to me.

#fall out boy #fob #so much for stardust

[toxic-potions-productions]

I'm pissed off cuz of my headphones taking a dump for no reason at all, so here's some of Zakiko's last words to make ya'll suffer with me /hj

Slight Infinity castle arc spoilers, I guess. Mostly with Zakiko's death, but quite possibly the arc as a whole, so that's why a warning is there since I'm not gonna risk it >3>"

🌙~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~🌙

"......I'm sorry, Michikatsu........I'm sorry for.....not keeping my promise to stay alive in this final fight.......I really hope you're not upset with me........"

"No, no, of course not! I'm just so upset that it came to this. I am so, so sorry, my friend. I'm sorry for hurting your allies, having to fight you, I'm sorry for all of it."

"It's.......it's fine.......Heh.........Y'know what? I'm not even in any pain. Mentally & physically, actually."

"No?"

"Nope.....My pride is still with me, & my body doesn't hurt at all. So.........I guess........I guess that means I'm dying..........At least I get to talk to & hug what's left of you before I do........."

"........Yes. I suppose that is always a good thing to think of. My body is crumbling away as we speak. We're both exhausted. I'm sure this isn't what we really wanted, after all. But, I am happy knowing it will be painless for you. Since that makes me feel so much better about everything."

"Hm. ........Remember when you said just how much of a good friend I was when we first reunited.......?"

"Yes......? Why do you say that?"

"Well.........I think I finally believe you. I managed to stay on both sides & look after those weaker than me & you at the same time. They really respect me & so do you. Every time I talk to them, they genuinely seem happy to be around me. & that makes me happy. I protected all of my allies & friends & they seem to be proud of me. I'm proud of myself, too. Cuz now........I finally realize what you & Yoriichi were trying to tell me. I finally realize that I'm not a monster & I don't make problems worse. I finally realize just how much people do like me. I finally.....finally realize........how much of a good person I really am."

"!!!!!!!!!!!"

"I finally realize & understand everything. No one thought of me as a monster. They thought of me as a good person. & you still stayed by me even back in the Sengoku era. & I did with you. I realized it a little too late, sure, but I finally understood just how good of a person I am. So......thank you for not giving up on me. At least I can die with a smile on my face finally knowing just how much good I brought to peoples lives. & it's all thanks to you & Yoriichi for not giving up on me. Thank you, Michikatsu........"

".......Zakiko............ *Sniff*"

"Hey, c'mon, don't start with that blubbering, you big baby."

"I-I'm sorry, I just.........I'm so happy you finally are at peace with yourself, & don't bring yourself down anymore. I'm so happy & proud of you......! *Sniff*"

*Hugs him closer to her chest*

"Oh, Zakiko....! You really are amazing. You truly are. I'm so happy you finally realized you deserve better. I'm so glad all my efforts weren't in vain......! *Sniff*"

"Hmmh. Now, you're just gonna get me going."

"Ahehe. Excuse me. I just got overwhelmed, I suppose. ............This is really the end for us, is it?"

".....Sure looks like it. At least now I'll get to see everyone again.........but............I'm scared......."

".............."

"It's.......it's starting to feel a little colder.........I don't really wanna leave just yet........."

".........It will be okay. You won't feel anymore pain & you'll be by my side & never leave again now. That is what friends do, after all. Besides, you are totally right. You will see everyone again. Your parents, Yoriichi, everyone. So, don't be upset you are leaving your allies behind. Be proud you fought so hard. You deserve to finally be at peace after all these centuries. I know I think you do. I always have. I look forward to seeing you on the other side. If heaven will even accept me. Next time, I'll make sure you're safe again. Just like how I always did."

"...............O-okay. I.........love you........., Michikatsu.........Thank you for everything.........."

🌙~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~🌙

God, their friendship is the sweetest!! 😭😭😭😭

But, yeah. Don't know how my headphones busted so I'm using some earbuds from the downstairs computer armoire & I FUCKING HATE EARBUDS

So, you get to suffer with me. Sorry, everyone

Although, in my defense, I don't do KNY angst as much as I should, sooooooooooo.......can't blame me 🤷🏻‍♀️

#Demon slayer #KNY-sona #tw: mentions of death #Infinity castle arc spoilers!! #kny oc #demon slayer kokushibo #Infinity castle arc #kimetsu no yaiba #kny angst #Strawberry during crackhead hours

[pla-teau]

WANDAVISION EPISODE SEVEN THOUGHTS

GIF NOT MINE

SPOILERS AHEAD YOU’VE BEEN WARNED!

BREAKING THE FOURTH WALL MORE LIKE BREAKING MY BRAIN AND HEART

wanda’s mood | as she talks to the camera, she treats her expanding the false world she’s created to having a bad night out. we’re seeing how tired she is from expanding westview - it damn near drained her it seems. the last episode was a lot to take in, keeping up with her torn emotions with pietro, her relationship with vision crumbling, worrying about her kids, expanding the hex — it’s enough to fry out your nerves. wanda also categorizes what happened in the last episode as reckless and decides to stay in to punish herself. even her kids notice that she’s out of it because she doesn’t stop them from fighting and doesn’t say a word as she heads to the kitchen. she’s drained, she’s tired - she doesn’t want to deal with anything today. wanda’s not being the doting mom she’s been since the birth of the twins as when billy talks about his head being too noisy, she ignores his complaints and lounges in bed a little longer. she’s drained and is acting out of character throughout the whole episode.

wanda’s reality is starting to break | right off the bat, we see how the reality in westview is going haywire. the boys mention their game freaking out. it switches to games from different eras. then we see it with wanda’s milk - switching from black and white to color and even changing shape to fit the style of a past era like 50s with the milk being in glass bottle or a milk carton with the ‘missing’ label on the side. we’ve seen the trailer/promo footage of different objects/furniture in the house glitching in this same manner and it seems that wanda’s power is not strong enough to keep everything together - physically or mentally so it seems in this episode.

“thanks for tuning in to W.N.D.A.” | as wanda is in the kitchen making herself some cereal, you can hear the tv from the living room say this. this sets up the opening credits for the show as everything is about wanda. if you turn on the subtitles, you can read exactly what the anchor is saying on the television. he says “not a thing weighing heavily on your conscience. i hope your little ghosts arrived home safe last night. it’s always such a treat to see those creepy kiddos out and about once a year.” it seems as though it’s wanda’s mind we’re hearing. nothing’s weighing heavily on her conscience - kinda is with expanding the hex. the little ghosts is in reference to all the kids that we finally saw come out for halloween in westview. calling them creepy kiddos could mean nothing but i thought about tommy and billy? since the two gained their abilities on halloween and weren’t doing much to conceal their powers (at least tommy wasn’t). i also say it’s wanda’s mind we’re gaining insight to cause when it goes on to the bit about giving tips about resisting temptation of the leftover candy or just eating it all - wanda is skeptical of what’s happening with the milk but still takes a big spoonful of cereal.

opening credits | we don’t have some super catchy lyrics this time around for the opening credits of the show - making me think that this is a nod to the office. but we do get ‘wanda’ splattered in every frame of the credits. the one that stands out to me is the ‘i know what u are doing wanda’ since everything else it seems to be replacing random words on signs like restaurants and other shops. comes off as a tad bit scary/creepy since it’s written with cut out letters from different new articles/magazines. could be a hint to vision knowing that it is all wanda’s doing. or as we later find out, it can be a set up to agnes’ reveal since she plays a more sinister role in all of this. this is the first we’re seeing any sort of credits in the opening sequence. created by wanda maximoff - again driving home the fact that the hex and everything we’ve seen so far has all been wanda’s creation or so we’re forced to believe...

SWORD retreat | we learn that the broadcast has been taken down - all they get is dead air supposedly. maybe that’s just a result of wanda’s expansion of the hex but i think it’s too weak given how har out they are and since they are farther from wanda as she doesn’t live right at the edge of town. we also learn that haydick hayward is planning to launch a missile or some kind of powerful weapon on/in to the hex to stop wanda. let’s hope it fails or if it goes through, wanda can point the missile/weapon back at SWORD and let it go.

“if he doesn’t wanna be here, there’s nothing i can do about it.” | wanda’s comment about vision not being home and response to billy asking if they should go looking for him. this clearly speaks to wanda not having any control over vision anymore. this is the first time we’ve seen the couple apart for the entirety of the episode. he’s gained enough sentience within the hex to not be controlled by wanda as other residents are. she knows she can’t rewrite or edit the scene for him to suddenly come through the door and have everyone be a happy family.

“he is not your uncle.” | wanda confirms to us that the pietro we’ve seen so far is a stranger and not some multiverse version of her dead brother. this to me also shoots down the theory of the multiverse existing at this point and wanda being responsible for it even though evan peters does play pietro in the x-men universe. i think it was a wink to fans about marvel gaining rights to the x-men franchise. i could be wrong but until then, ‘uncle p’ is sus to me.

“i don’t have all the answers” | wanda going on about how despite being their mother, she doesn’t have all the answers. this is the third time wanda’s been asked about the truth and she doesn’t have an answer. first with vision when he asks how all this happened. second with ‘pietro’ also asking how she created westview. now, it’s the twins seeking answers about their not-uncle if she’s claiming he’s an imposter and a liar. if anything, wanda has been consistent in this claim of not knowing anything. she knows she created westview but she doesn’t know how it got to be this way. i still believe she was offered something or was taken advantage of from the get go by someone else to get to her and observe how powerful she is. i personally love the twins’ reaction to her speaking on not having all the answers. hello yes i love them.

hayward’s interest in vision | we learn that project cataract is/was hayward’s plan to bring vision back to life. this man was trying to make vision into a weapon for SWORD and that’s why he’s so focused on vision inside the hex. wanda somehow brought him back to life despite hayward’s various attempts. i hate this man and i’m sorry but i hope monica and/or wanda beat the shit out of him. obviously, hayward was using SWORD’s resources to try and bring vision back to life but it’s a question of whether or not other people within SWORD knew this was happening and what the intentions were. because we also have monica’s contact be another agent working in SWORD. so why do i get the feeling that we’re gonna be dealing with a SHIELD 2.0 in which bad guys operate within the agency and it’s going to eventually fall like 2014?

“do you think maybe this is what you deserve?” | the interviewer asking wanda this question after we see her house starting to glitch like there’s no tomorrow. while later we do find out agnes is behind the mic, it made me think that this was mephisto finally coming out a bit since the question is very pointed at wanda. the interviewer wants to see wanda suffer because why would anyone ask such a thing let alone say that? they’re taking joy in wanda losing touch with her reality. this is the lowest we’ve seen wanda throughout the series. she’s usually put together - has a slight moment of crisis - but gets back on her feet for tomorrow to enjoy her life with her family. slowly it’s been building up to this point in which wanda just...crashes. she’s lost control in this reality so for the interviewer to pose that question, it’s a signal that someone else is in charge and going to come for wanda at her weakest.

the nexus commercial | this commercial is definitely referencing wanda during infinity war/endgame. the world goes on without you? could be talking about how the world keeps spinning after wanda lost the only family she had left or how everyone moved on in endgame despite losing the person she wanted to spend her life with. wanting to be left alone? all wanda wanted was to be with vision and now to be left alone as she lives out her life with vision in westview. i know the word nexus itself has a double meaning in marvel. nexus was first name dropped in aou, with it being the center of the internet located in oslo. in the comics, i know wanda is referred to as a nexus being in which this could definitely set up the multiverse as the commercial does state that the medication ‘anchors you back to your reality. or the reality of your choice.’ i’m guessing this is on purpose since we’re conditioned to see everything marvel puts out or puts emphasis on to have a double meaning. maybe wanda discovering that she is a nexus being in multiverse of madness could be what the side effects are talking about. if she’s confirmed to be this being, she’d feel a lot of feelings, confront her truth (maybe her role in westview and hopefully her trauma), seizing her destiny (taking control of her life and bigger role in the world), and possibly more depression (i don’t think she needs more of it but with her, it’s almost inevitable especially given where these next two weeks might be heading). given that it does hold two meanings for marvel, it could explain the scenes we’ve seen in promo footage of her time in sokovia with the mind stone. we were told that the show would explore more of wanda’s past from aou so maybe it is going to give nexus a double meaning in the mcu: the largest internet hub and wanda’s confirmation as a nexus being.

the twins with agnes | this scene had me anxious. billy commenting about it being quiet heavily hinted at how agnes isn’t like anyone else in westview. again, we’ve never seen her husband ralph and we still don’t see him in this episode. we get another glimpse of señor scratchy with billy holding him but that’s about it. the house is also a big contrast to wanda’s house and westview’s scenery overall. there’s usually a lot of light and warmth in westview but agnes’ interior is toned down and has darker tones throughout our time in it. clearly, a set up for the big reveal that everyone’s been echoing since the show started. this is also the last time we see the twins in the episode.

monica | after the SWORD rover failed to get through, monica goes right in and clearly her passing through a third time has a permanent effect. she’s finally got her powers and is more badass than before. i loved how we got bits and pieces from her, maria, carol and fury in captain marvel. monica has been one of the best characters in this series and i can’t wait to see what happens next with her.

it’s all about vision | monica’s explanation to wanda about hayward. i said this before about the end credits in the show always zooming in on vision’s eye to segway into the crystal sequence. we’ve learned that hayward was trying to bring vision back and somehow wanda managed to do this once she took his body. i wouldn’t be surprised if by the end of the season we see vision being the key to saving everyone in westview since hayward just wants what he believes is his and is willing to blow up a whole town to get it or cover his tracks. while this whole series has been focusing on wanda, this all boils down to vision.

agatha all along | of course the big reveal is agnes being agatha harkness and the mastermind behind a lot of the weird occurrences in westview. what is interesting is that she’s choosing to reveal herself to wanda in this way. it doesn’t seem like it was her plan to do it at the time she did but seeing that monica could’ve swayed wanda to go off script in agatha’s plans, better sooner than later. i think señor scratchy is none other than mephisto and maybe in the next episode we’ll see the other big bad reveal himself to wanda and us. when’s that bop dropping on spotify

snooper’s gonna snoop | finally, we get a post credits scene with uncle p and monica. we’ve learned that agatha was behind the ‘recasting’ of pietro but who is he?! he could be a multiverse!quicksilver we’ve never seen before - which could explain his skewed memories with wanda. right when the camera comes to view with monica, it cuts to the credits. i believe that maybe this pietro shapeshifts into who he really is - who this might be? i don’t think mephisto but possibly agatha’s son nicholas scratch since he seems to be an accomplice of hers?

ugh god so much to unpack and we have another two episodes before shit really hits the fan.

#wandavision #wandavision spoilers #scar’s theories #scar tries to piece together what she can each week #wanda maximoff #vision #agatha harkness #monica rambeau #billy kaplan #tommy shepard #darcy lewis #jimmy woo #pietro maximoff #mcu #marvel

[middleofnowhere92]

Azulaang for my ATLA Valentine’s Day Rarepair One Shots  for @ljf613

Blue Lotus

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Aang/Azula (Avatar), Aang & Azula (Avatar) Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Tattoo Parlor, Tattoos, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Modern Era Summary: Azula, Ty lee and Mai decide to get matching tattoos on Valentine's day. Aang ends up being Azula's tattoo artist.

Read on ao3 or below the cut

Ty Lee bounced ahead of Azula into the tattoo shop. Mai and Azula followed her in, with much less enthusiasm.

By the time Mai and Azula made it inside, Ty Lee was flipping through a portfolio and chatting with the girl at the front desk. Ty Lee chirped, "Well we decided fuck valentine's day, let's get tattoos!" "More like you decided," Mai responded in a bored tone. Ty Lee laughed and then the girl at the counter called out, “Jet, Snoozles, Twinkle Toes- your appointments are here.”

A tall lanky guy confidently strode up to the desk and peered over the girl’s shoulder, “Azula?” She recognized him from the video chat when they had first discussed her tattoo. She walked forward and followed him down the small into a room that was painted a nauseating shade of orange.

He sat on a low rolling chair and she hopped up onto the tattoo chair. His wide grey eyes looked up at her, “So I was looking over what you requested, a blue lotus tattoo?” She nodded. He was easy and relaxed, “You’re still wanting it on your inner forearm?”

She flipped her forearm and pointed to the center, “Here.” He nodded, “I think it’ll look perfect. Let me show you what I drew up.” He easily rolled over to his computer and she peeked over from the chair. It was better than what she had expected, but instead she replied, “That’s fine.”

He spun around and looked at her, “Is there something you want me to change? It’s gonna be on you forever.” She brushed a bang behind her ear, “No, it’s fine. We can proceed.” He almost looked like he wanted to ask again, but instead rolled back to the computer. He printed up the design and then pulled on latex gloves.

He smiled up at her and said, “You can sit back and rest your arm on the arm rest, we’re gonna be here for a while.” She did as she was told and watched him roll over to a cabinet and grab supplies.

He rolled back to her, “Alright, so I’m just gonna disinfect you here.” She didn’t flinch as he rubbed down her inner forearm with a cool alcohol swab. She watched closely as he applied the outline to her skin. He looked up at her, “Alright, go look in the mirror and make sure it’s exactly what you want.”

She bounced down from the chair and walked over to the mirror. The flower was centered on her inner forearm and it looked like it was meant to be there. She turned and sat back down. To appease him, she said, “It’s perfect.”

“Great!” He responded. “Let’s get this show on the road.” She settled back into the chair and heard him start up the tattoo gun. He asked, “Is this your first tattoo?” She looked up at the orange ceiling. “Yes, it is.” “Oh, cool, cool.”  She bit her lip as she felt the first prick of pain.

He was bent over her arm intently at work, but his voice was carefree as he asked, “So why a blue lotus?” She really would rather sit here in silence, but she answered, “My friends and I always talked about matching tattoos. The lotus has meaning for all of us. I’m getting blue, Ty Lee is getting pink and Mai is getting red.”

He nodded along, “That’s so cool. Me and the other artist Sokka, we have matching tattoos, but you know what- actually we don’t need to talk about that.” A voice called from down the hall called, “Aang, don’t be ashamed of our bro tats!” He looked up at her, “Do you mind if I put some music on. I swear I can’t get any privacy here.”

The girl at the front desk yelled back, “The fuck do you need privacy for?” Aang rolled his eyes and Azula laughed, “Sure, go ahead.” He wiped down what he had done so far and then looked around, “Can you grab my phone and pick something on Spotify? It’s right behind you.”

She reached with her free arm and swiped open his phone, which already had the app open. She clicked on the playlist that said Tattoo Beatz. As she placed it down Lupe Fiasco played in the background. He waited for her to get settled and then went back to work, “Good choice.” She smirked, “You have your playlists pretty easily labeled.”

She watched him intently as he worked on the outline of the lotus flower. She looked around the room she was in to get her mind off of the pain. There was a happy buddha up on a shelf, plants were scattered all over the place and inspirational quotes were on the walls. She looked down at the artist as he was crouched intently working on her tattoo.

He was tall and skinny, but he had enough muscles that they flexed as he moved the tattoo gun. He was wearing a white tank top with the sleeves cut off and orange cargo pants. He was so different from her, in black jeans and a burgundy long sleeve crop top.

The tattoo gun hummed. She studied him as he worked, his face full of concentration and his bottom lip caught between his teeth. His body was covered in tattoos. It wasn’t haphazardly done, but seemed intentional and well thought out. She leaned forward without realizing, to get a better look at the blue pattern that covered him.

She was startled as his chipper voice disrupted her thoughts, “I spent a few years abroad, learning traditional tattoo methods.” “Oh,” she answered. She flushed a bit at being caught looking at him. He looked up at her, about to say something, when Ty Lee bounced into the room and poked her head over Aang’s shoulder, “Ohhh it’s so pretty.”

Aang wiped away excess ink and gently tapped Azula’s arm, “We’ve been at it for a minute. Take a break.” He unfurled himself from his crouched over position, stretching to his full height, his long arms stretching up towards the ceiling. Azula’s eyes scanned over him, until she felt Ty Lee yank her out of her chair, “Let’s go see Mai’s!”

It actually did feel good to get out of the chair. The girls walked into the small room. Mai was flipping her pocket knife with her free hand as the artist intently worked on her piece. Mai’s was the darkest, the lines straighter and more severe than the other two girls, but each of their tattoos were beginning to reflect their personalities.

Ty Lee and Azula each went back to their designated chairs. Aang snapped on a new pair of gloves and got back to work. He said thoughtfully,” You’re a really good canvas. You’ve got a great skin tone for colored work and the forearm is one of my favorite spots- not too much pain for you and I don’t have to be twisted in some awful position.” Azula’s brow furrowed, “Does that happen a lot?” His grey eyes went wide, “Oh yeah. People ask for the weirdest stuff. I’m just glad that you didn’t ask for an infinity symbol or something. Not that I have anything against it- just gets repetitive after awhile.”

She couldn’t hold back as she asked, “What’s the worst tattoo you’ve ever done?” He looked up at her mischievously as he switched to blue ink, “Worst in what way? Like worst design I’ve ever done? Worst thing someone has asked for?” She couldn’t help but be pulled in by him, “All of them.” He laughed easily, “Well, every tat Sokka asks for is easily the worst thing I’ve ever done.” A “HEY!” rang out from down the hall.

She looked around the room, at the decor, then at him and asked, “Do you think a lotus tattoo is offensive? You seem more spiritual than I am.” His brows pulled together, “I wouldn’t tattoo something I thought was offensive. I know some people think it’s crude, but you’re not doing it just because you’re into yoga this week. You’re doing it because it reminds you of who you are and your friends. I think that’s really sweet.”

Azula actually outright laughed, “No one’s called me sweet before.” He looked up at her, “Bullshit. Your friend, the peppy one, I’m sure she has.” Azula smiled at the description, “Nope. Never.” He shrugged and focused as he used the gun to spread white ink, “Well, I think you are. I mean you’re spending Valentine’s day with your friends. Seems pretty sweet to me.”

She rolled her eyes, “I was forced here.” “Oh really? ‘Cause we talked about this tattoo like a week ago. What would you be doing today if you hadn’t been forced here?” She looked down, “Probably watching cheesy movies with Mai and Ty Lee.” “See! You are sweet! Spending Valentine’s day with your friends.”

She sighed in fake annoyance. She really couldn’t be too annoyed when he was giving her a bright lopsided grin. He wiped down her arm for the last time and said, “Go have a look.” She slid out of the chair and when she saw the design in the mirror, she had never seen anything so beautiful, and it was a part of her now.

The flower looked so real, so delicate. The blue, white and yellow hues all blended seamlessly. He did beadwork that hung down from each petal and connected them. He had recommended it during Azula’s consult and she was enthralled by it. He stood behind her in the mirror, “I think a blue lotus suits you.” She was still staring in awe of it, “It means perfection of wisdom.” He added, “Lotus flowers symbolize a lot of things to different cultures. I like the idea that they symbolize the human condition. We can be planted in the dirtiest waters, but still grow to be beautiful. That we can grow past a difficult beginning and make a beautiful life.”

She normally would have made a snide comment, but she was thrown off as she saw the genuine look of interest on his face. Instead she softly replied, “I’ll remember that.”

He blushed and said, “Let’s get you bandaged up.” Azula realized she would miss how delicately he touched her. How good he smelled. This was silly, she had only known him a  few hours.  

He talked her through the aftercare and she took diligent mental notes. He easily slid back in his chair and scribbled on a post it, “Here’s my number, in case you have any questions or need anything. You can always come by so I can see how you’re doing. I’d be happy to take you to lunch sometime.”

The small paper felt heavy in her hands, but she nodded and slipped it in her pocket, “That would be great.”

-

Aang watched the group of girls leave the shop. As the door shut behind them, he heard the girl in pink shriek at Azula, “HE GAVE YOU WHAT?”

Toph rolled her eyes as she closed out the register, “You’ve got it bad, don’t you Twinkle Toes?”

#azulaang #aang x azula #please don't hate me #i really tried #mids atla rarepair oneshots #I just suck at writing anything with aang

[loreweaver-universe]

And that’s...

...the show.

That’s Steven Universe.

That’s the end of the most important show I’ve ever watched.

That was...perfect.  I wasn’t sure if they were going to nail it, but they did.  I was crying through half the episode, really blubbering.  I could barely take it.  This was SO good.

Steven Universe...what a show.  This show was so important.  It broke so much ground, and it affected my life in countless ways.  I don’t know where I’d be without Steven Universe, but I don’t think I’d be anywhere near as happy.  This show means so much to me, and I’m sad to see it go.

It’s the end of an era.  I...wow.  I finished Steven Universe.  That’s it.  It’s done.  I can’t believe it.  One hundred and eighty liveblogging sessions.  A little shy of twenty thousand screenshots, counting the ones on my old fried laptop.  4.46 million views.  It’s nuts.  What a journey.

According to my Discord chat, I’m the first person to liveblog every episode of Steven universe?  Some people beat me to the final episode, but they’re ones that started midway through the show.  Who’d’ve thought I’d be the first getting from start to finish?  Crazy.

I’m stunned.  I can’t believe it’s over.  It...man, I’m gonna talk in circles here for a minute, but this show changed my life.  I can’t believe it’s over.  I can’t believe it.  There’s no more Steven Universe for me to watch.

I thought it would feel like there was a hole in my life, but instead I feel...complete.  That finale really finished it off for me in such a satisfactory way.  That sense of completeness is really buoying me in a time when I thought I’d be absolutely crushed.  It’s amazing.

I did it.  I made it all the way from start to finish.  That’s Steven Universe.

Goodbye, Pearl.  Goodbye, Connie.  Goodbye, Amethyst.  Goodbye, Garnet.  Goodbye, Greg.  Goodbye, Peridot.  Goodbye, Lapis,  Goodbye, Bismuth.  Goodbye, Ruby.  Goodbye, Sapphire.  Goodbye, Sadie, and Lars, and Onion, goodbye Sour Cream and Buck and Jenny and Ronaldo.  Goodbye, everyone.

Goodbye, Steven.  I’m going to miss you so much.

The Future comes in at my new #1 for Season 6, displacing Snow Day, and my new #1 for the series, displacing A Single Pale Rose.  Very little in this show is on par with it, and nothing made me cry like it has.  What a capper.  What a perfect sendoff.

I love this show.

If you’d like to read some other Steven Universe liveblogs, now that I’m done, I have a few active ones for you to check out.  Minda Reads is finished with Steven Universe, though he only started with Three Gems and a Baby.   Taz, the SU Workbook, is the newest game in town, and damn is she good at what she does.  Zephyr is another liveblogger that started at the beginning, and he’s halfway through Future, so there’s quite a lot there to read.  MissFineFeather is another liveblogger that started midway, with Can’t Go Back, but is up to Prickly Pair in Future.  All of these people also do other shows and webcomics, so check them out if you want to branch out, too!

As for me...I’m going to take Friday off.  I think I’ve earned it.  Well, off from liveblogging; I’ve got streams like Baba Is You and Final Fantasy VII Remake to do, and I may do those for fun, but I’m taking my usually scheduled Friday off from liveblogging.  I’ll be getting back to liveblogging on Monday, with the Patron Picks, and after that will be more She-Ra; my plan is to finish Season 1 of She-Ra, then take a big bite out of Season 2 of Infinity Train.

This has been a thrill, liveblogging for you.  I hope you Steven Universe fans stick around for the other shows I do, but if not, know this: I treasure every moment we’ve spent together.  It’s all been so important.  You all make this possible, with your patronage and your fandom, and I owe each and every one of you for making me able to do this for a living.  Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.

I’ll see you next time.  I love you guys.

(For the record, I did this entire liveblog wearing the Shouty Goat shirt that @thischick25 made me years ago.)

IN OTHER NEWS:

Back in January, I completed a blind playthrough of Steven Universe: Save the Light!  You can view the full playlist by clicking here!

I recently completed my playthrough of the second story campaign in Fire Emblem: Three Houses!   You can view all the streams of the Golden Deer and Black Eagles routes I have done by clicking here!

I recently completed a blind playthrough of Hollow Knight on Twitch!  You can watch all the Hollow Knight streams I’ve uploaded to Youtube by clicking here!

If you’d like to help me pay my rent, buy me some food, or help with my bills and medicine, please use my direct donation link!  If you’d like to support me per liveblog completed every month, please pledge to my Patreon! Becoming a patron not only allows you to vote on what shows I do whenever I choose a new one, but also grants access to the community Minecraft server to $5 patrons or higher!

You should also go pledge to Gio’s Patreon–our Discord server maintenance tech, creator of Rubybot, and community Minecraft server overlord deserves far more than I can afford to pledge to him by myself.

If you’d like more of me and my content:

My Episode Lists master page, where you can find every show and liveblog I’ve done!

My Discord server, where you can come hang out with me and other fans, check out member liveblogs, and join community gaming guilds!

My Twitch channel, where I stream variety games every so often!

My Youtube channel, where you can check out past streams!

My ask blog, where you can send me questions and comments!

My Twitter, where I make announcements about liveblogs and streams!

It’s your kindness and support that lets me do this stuff, and I wouldn’t be where I am without all of you to do it for.  Thank you all so much for your support, and for tuning in every episode!

OTHER PEOPLE YOU MAY ENJOY:

I may have been one of the earlier Steven Universe liveblogs, but a whole community of livebloggers has sprung up over the last five years!   I linked to a bunch individually for a few wrap-ups, but honestly, this end-slate is already eight billion miles long, so I’m just gonna link to my links page.  Click here if you want recommendations of other livebloggers, or other neat people, or webcomics and podcasts that I recommend.

#steven universe #steven universe future #suf #subloggin #bloggin #su180 #su episode 175 #this is screenshot #sua11308 #episode wrap up #goodbye steven #I'm going to miss you

[davidmann95]

Comics this week (11/25/2020)?

Anonymous said: This week's floppies?

Anonymous said: This week’s comics?

Anonymous said: Have you read Red Hood #51 yet? It’s one of the best stories Jason has been in since Under the Red Hood and I don’t think I can go back to his normal stories after this

Anonymous said: God damn the Other History of the DC Universe has a pretty brutal call out of Superman, yet as a Superman fan I wasn’t offended or put off by it at all. Ridley specifically narrowed in on one of the key flaws of Superman, his need for public love and approval. What did you think of the portrayal of Supes?

Anonymous said: Thoughts on "The Other History of the DC Universe" and why it's already one of the greatest comics of all time?

Anonymous said: Thoughts on "Other History"?

X-Men #15: Heck yeah, Quiet Council discussing protocol, this is what I come to Jonathan Hickman’s X-Men for, and Cyclops getting his Captain America in Hickvengers moment.

X of Swords: Destruction: Look this rules and I guess I understood the Arakko story by the end but not the Otherworld/Captain Britain stuff, and it’s the former that’s gonna matter to Hick-Men going forward. But I don’t care if it put a ‘_ of 22′ counter across the top, if a crossover is for real going to demand you buy 22 comics in 3 months for you to see the entire core story you need to be screaming that from the rooftops with every single interview that it’s genuinely the whole thing that’s essential, because editorial claiming that you should totally get everything aside that’s not how crossovers have actually worked since the 90s no matter how many checklists and reading orders may be provided. This whole thing really sorta felt like the Infinity of this run, good stuff but ultimately Hickman serving a master beyond telling his own story - in this case trying to provide a forcible on-ramp from Marvel’s hottest book to all the ancillary related stuff.

Shang-Chi #3: This continues to be a really solid little mini with some poignant bits.

Power Pack #1: Haven’t read much if anything with them in it before, but as good as I could have hoped of Ryan North’s first post-Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Marvel gig.

Fantastic Four: Antithesis #4: Fine, but it would have been so much funnier if Waid’s last Marvel work before finally returning to DC had been that cancelled Squadron Supreme two-shot.

Daredevil #24: God so goooooood. And next issue’s next week?!

The Department of Truth #3: Imagine going literally any duration back in time, handing this to someone who’d read and even enjoyed his work, and explaining “THAT’S the level James Tynion is going to end up operating on”.

BANG!: My shop got the TPB this week of the recent mini by Kindt and Torres, and this is a top-notch reimagining of assorted 80s action/pseudo-pulp archetypes into something modern and strange and delightful, that while technically concluding somewhat tidily if the sales aren’t there is set up to go on for as long as the creative team has ideas for it. It taps into that America’s Best Comics/Planetary/Adventureman energy for a slightly different branch of genre storytelling, and even if like me it’s not an iteration you grew up with it’s definitely worth your money and attention.

Dark Nights: Death Metal: The Multiverse Who Laughs: It’s fine, whatever, just a buncha little Dark Multiverse stories...except for the last story, where the Twilight Zone-esque shocker final twist is that being black in America and thereby constantly experiencing the constant low-grade terror of the background radiation of systemic racism essentially acts as a vaccine against Scarecrow’s fear toxin, which...okay??? It’s written by a black man so it’s not as if I think it’s offensive, but particularly given that given the rules of the Dark Multiverse one of the three characters in there had to have imagined this possibility, and that then The Batman Who Laughs must’ve seen it and gone “Hell yes, all about this, definitely one of the 52 scariest of all possible universe”, it’s a serious candidate for weirdest comic of the year.

Legion of Superheroes #11: This is an excellent kickoff to a 3 or 4-issue arc so I have absolutely no idea how it’s going to reach some kind of season finale next month.

Action Comics #1027: Romita Jr.’s deteriorating by the day but I did like his take on the Phantom Zone, and I feel like this while taking it a bit farther than I’d prefer still convincingly sells the idea of Superman just being absolutely fed up after a truly awful day.

Justice League Dark #28: So is this the end of the run, Future State notwithstanding? Shocking how coherently it held together through the transition in writers, and I really hope it says and so does Ram V to take it in a direction wholly his own.

Wonder Woman #767: Substantially improved now that it’s not working off the completely bizarre and increasingly uncomfortable ‘buddy-cop’ premise.

Red Hood #51: GOOD NOW?! I checked it out because of the rec above and because I was curious how someone would try and salvage the concept post-Lobdell, and while it obviously isn’t literally by him, Shawn Martinbrough and Tony Akins are for all the world doing a Christopher Priest Relaunch with this tonally and aesthetically; I think it’s even a direct sequel to Priest’s Batman: The Hill oneshot from decades ago. I sure hope this isn’t a two-issue filler run with the book either cancelled or reshuffled after Future State, because this has all the makings of an excellent crime comic.

Suicide Squad #11: I’ll probably check out Taylor’s Revolutionaries book once that happens, so I guess mission accomplished. Fine little run.

The Other History of the DC Universe #1: I heard someone on Twitter say this is the best thing that’s come out of superhero comics since HoXPoX, and I don’t know if I’m on that level with it but that is absolutely a fair conclusion. I’ll be honest, I had measured expectations here from having seen some of Ridley’s past comics work - I figured it’d be a perfectly solid book with a few standout moments, but instead it throws out all the haymakers in the world and emerges as one of my favorite comics of 2020, even given we’re only seeing the one issue this year. I can only judge so much because it feels like a lot of what we see in this debut is going to be completely reframed through the perspectives of other characters in subsequent entries, but standalone this is a brutal, intimate, brilliant character study set against the backdrop of a hazy dreamscape vision of the history of DC reformatted as needed to fit the concerns in play here (though the dates presented are so specific I wonder if aspects of this are leftovers of the original version of 5G), and probably as close as we’re going to see to a ‘trilogy capper’ to The Golden Age and New Frontier. That’s why the take on Superman here works, as much a product of the worst of his mass-consciousness image as the Superman of DKR but meshed with a profound understanding of what makes him tick as a character that makes the inherently compromised version on display here palatable, and a believable extrapolation of the Silver/Bronze Age’s version of him when that’s the era this series is thus far working as a contrast to. And god, the art. I always liked him fine enough, but even with finishes by Andrea Cucchi and colors by Jose Villarrubia I never could have imagined Giuseppe Camuncoli putting out the likes of this, and Steve Wands’s lettering is doing at least equal legwork in defining the look of the book. There have been several impressive titles out of Black Label at this point - Last Knight on Earth, Rorschach, Strange Adventures, and especially Harleen - but nothing else has come close to demonstrating the potential power of the imprint as a vehicle for creators taking this iconography and doing something radical and unrestrained and phenomenal with it.

#Week's Comics #Opinion

[liberty-barnes]

Switching Things Up

Louis Tomlinson x Female!Reader 

University AU / Non-Famous AU

Summary: Five times Louis almost asked you out and the one time you asked him.

Warnings: cursing, fluffffff, bit of angst, misunderstandings, and Louis pining.

Word Count: 5k words

ERT: 20 minutes

A/N: i'm so in love with Louis it's not even funny anymore. also, it's finally out!!!!!!!

Inspired by: "Kiss You" "18" "Infinity" by One Direction, that one scene in the This Is Us movie. 

Masterlist | Taglist

Louis's First

It was just another usual day for Louis. Wake up at six o'clock, drink his tea, go to class, pick up the girls from school, have lunch all together, and start his shift at Toys 'R' Us.

He genuinely liked working there. He loved kids, it was fun to be surrounded by toys, and they were quite respectful of his uni hours, so overall, it was quite a nice gig.

He was working on the floor today, greeting costumers, seeing if they need help with anything, trying to keep the shelves tidy. It was quite a slow day so since he was done with all his homework he took some time to play with the toys a bit. 

"Okay, they've got to be here somewhere. Don't worry, we'll find you one just like it."

He lifted his head from where it was bowed over one of the pianos in the lower shelves, giving up on trying to get it to be straight and cracking his knuckles a bit.

The woman sounded pretty young and her voice was very nice so he started playing a random tune on the piano that was a bit more level with him (and sounded better too), just waiting for her to round the corner and spot him.

"Auntie, look, it's right there!"

The girl that passed right by him was absolutely divine. He'd never seen anyone as gorgeous as her and if the way his heart stuttered in his chest was any indication, his body seemed to agree. He straightened his shirt and ran his hands through his hair before turning around, ready to offer his help and maybe get her number after.

And if he pouted when she walked right past him with not the smallest reaction, nobody will ever know.

Louis's Second

He sat on a wooden bench as he waited in front of his youngest sisters' primary school. He was among parents and nannies, waiting for the bell to go off and the children to leave. His fingers tapped a random beat on his thigh while he hummed a melody that's been floating in his brain for a few minutes, trying to match some words to it.

So tell me, girl, if every time we touch

You get this kind of rush

He was about to take out his phone to write it down when a girl sat on the other side of the bench, taking out her headphones and putting them neatly into her bag.

But it wasn't just any girl.

It was the one he'd dubbed 'Future Mrs. Tommo', the girl from Toys 'R' Us. He refused to let her go this time, but he had no idea how to start the conversation.

That is, until she took out a familiar-looking binder, flipping it until she reached her desired page and started filling it out. It had been a mere thirty seconds before she started frowning.

He's never been so grateful to have chosen music as his minor.

"Are you in Charlton's class?"

The girl looked at him and he momentarily froze in place as his blue eyes met her (y/e/c) ones.

"Yeah, are you in his class?"

"Not anymore, I had him last year, though, he's a prick."

She huffed out a laugh and leaned back on the bench.

"Tell me about it, we've been talking about the Renaissance Era for two months and he still hasn't gotten to the interesting part."

"I thanked every deity imaginable that I got Natalie this year, I don't think I could do another year of that old man."

She turned to him and cocked her head.

"I've never heard of a 'Natalie' before."

"Natalie Dubois, she's a new teacher from France. Got a bit of a weird accent but she's a hell of a good teacher, and fun too, she gives us a bit more freedom, nothing like Charlton."

"What year are you?"

"Third, you?"

"Second."

He nodded and she tapped her pen against her binder.

"What're you studying?"

He was quite happy that she kept the conversation going.

"Drama major, music minor."

"Very artistic."

"I live to entertain. What about you?"

"Psychology major, music minor."

"Ooh, a brain doctor, I've always wondered if Psych majors could identify psychopaths from a single conversation."

She laughed at that and he felt his heart wanting to beat out of his chest. He wanted to record that sound so he could listen to it all the time. Use it as a ringtone, a melody for his next song, his alarm in the morning. He was positive he'd wake up in a much better mood if that's what brought him out of his slumber.

Unfortunately, he was interrupted before he could even ask for her number, or name, mind you, by the children's excited cheers.

Sooner than he would have liked, a little black-haired boy came running out and into her arms, Phoebe and Daisy only a couple steps behind.

"It was nice talking to you, I'll see you around!"

He could only wish her luck with that idiot teacher before she was gone and he had to care for his two little girls.

Louis's Third

The music room was quiet as he sat in front of the piano. He took out his notebook and started to play, following the notes messily scribbled on it.

I got a heart, and I got a soul, believe me, I will use them both

We made a start, be it a false one, I know

Baby I don't want to feel alone

He tried out, but something felt off. He tried a different note for the end, content with the way it sounded and scribbling it onto the notebook right after.

So kiss me where I lay down, my hands pressed to your cheeks

A long way from the playground

He frowned, changing a few notes here and there.

It sounded better, but there was still something missing.

"Try a key higher, it might sound better."

He heard her voice from the doorway, heart almost beating out of his chest for two entirely different reasons, though he chose to focus on the "I was startled" one instead of the "My dream girl is here" one.

He did as she told him though, and it did sound better.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome."

She looked entirely too pretty when she smiled. He wondered if the sun was really necessary given that she smiled bright enough to light up this galaxy and the next. He busied himself with writing the changes in his notebook while she went from table to table, searching up and down for something he wasn't aware of. He secretly hoped she wouldn't find it, just so he could stare at her for a bit longer.

"How're classes with Charlton going? Still a prick?"

"The day that man stops being a prick, angels will be falling from the sky."

He didn't see her fall, but he was pretty sure she was an angel. 

"A-ha!"

He saw her lift a blue journal, the word 'Songs' beautifully calligraphed on it in gold. She put it back in her bag and approached him so she was standing right behind him, reading the words in his notebook. 

He felt her shoulder grazing his and smelled her perfume. It was fruity and sweet. Peaches, maybe?

"That's a beautiful song, you're very talented."

He felt his cheeks heat up at the praise.

"Thanks."

He took a deep breath. This is it. He's gonna do it. He's gonna ask her out.

"Hey, I was wondering-"

"Shit!"

She got up in a flash and took her backpack from where she had put it down next to the seat.

"I'm gonna be late for my appointment but hold that thought 'til we meet again?"

She looked so sorry that he couldn't bear to tell her no.

Louis's Fourth

"I'm telling you, Niall, she's the most perfect girl to have ever walked this Earth."

He sighed as he faceplanted onto the couch, the blonde still strumming his guitar as if Louis wasn't having an existential crisis a mere six inched away from him.

"You don't even know her name."

"I'll just call her mine."

The punch that landed on his arm was deserved, he'll admit it.

"The way I'm seeing it, you just need to find out who she is and ask her out, it's really not that hard."

"But I don't know where to find her."

"Wrong, you know that she picks up her nephew at midday. A nephew that goes to the same school as your little sisters. Just figure out the kid's name, find the school records, and trace it back to her. Easy."

He lifted his head from the pillow and glared at Niall.

"That's illegal."

He shrugged.

"Most importantly, though, I'm awful with computers so we'd need to find someone to do it for us."

"I know a guy."

He nodded, that would be plan B, assuming they find a plan A first.

The door opened to the sound of Harry's amazing rendition of Juice, and Louis smiled unconsciously.

"Nialler, you home?"

"Living room!"

The brunette walked into the room and fist-bumped them, lifting Louis's legs so he could slide under them and sit.

"Why do you look like a kicked puppy?"

"I met the girl of my dreams but I don't know her name and have no idea how to contact her."

Unlike Niall, Harry was much more the romantic type. He believed in fate, love at first sight, and all that stupid shit in the books he read his sisters every night. It was no surprise when he gave him the most poetic, love-filled piece of advice Louis had ever heard.

"You just need to have faith, Lou. If she's the one for you then the universe will find a way to get your paths to cross again. Before you know it you'll be married with four kids and a cat, living on a little farm with a giant trampoline in your backyard."

"How did I end up with you two as my best friends? I either get a 'break into a primary school' or 'trust the universe', there is no in-between."

Niall laughed loudly and Harry patted his calves reassuringly before they heard the door open and their friends' voices echoing in the small flat.

"Hey, boys?"

"Living room!"

Liam came in with a couple of packs of beer, followed by Zayn and a third person whose footsteps he didn't recognize.

(Because yes, he'd memorized the sound of his friends' footsteps, sue him.)

"Lou, stop sulking, it's time to drink beers and be happy."

"I'm deeply sorry if my existential crisis is bothering you, Zayn, I'll try to suffer silently."

The laugh he heard made his breath hitch and his heart stutter in his chest.

He knew that laugh.

That laugh had been playing on a loop in Louis' brain for two weeks now.

He tried (read: failed miserably) to sit up naturally, though it looked a bit more forced than he wanted it to.

"Mystery Boy!"

She pointed at him with a gleeful expression on his face and if his soul hadn't left his body before, it sure had now.

"Hey."

Really? 'Hey'? That's the best he can do?

"I never caught your name."

She cocked her head to the side adorably, arm stretched over her knee from her place on the floor, leaning against the armchair.

"I never threw it."

It was stronger than him, he didn't even register his comment until she started laughing and he felt his cheeks burn up, the overwhelming sense of having fucked everything up taking over him.

"Drama majors, always clowning around."

He let out a relieved breath and smiled when she didn't seem to take any offense to it.

"You guys know each other?"

Liam, lovely Liam, looking like a confused puppy but bless his soul for asking because it made her speak and Louis loved hearing her voice so much, it sounded better than any music the world could provide.

"We've kind of met. I'm (Y/n), by the way."

(Y/n).

(Y/n), (Y/n), (Y/n).

(Y/n) Tomlinson.

That had a nice ring to it.

A really nice ring to it.

Mrs. (Y/n) Tomlinson.

Perfect.

"Usually, this is the part where you tell me your name. I can't keep referring to you as 'Mystery Boy'."

She giggled and his cheeks heated up again, though he didn't mind embarrassing himself if it earned him a laugh from her every time.

"I'm Louis. Tomlinson. Louis Tomlinson."

"Nice to formally meet you, Louis."

He smiled and thanked the sun, moon, and stars for this opportunity. Because really, there wasn't a better opportunity than this one.

She's here.

With him.

(And his friends, but who cares about them?)

And he finally knew her name.

He could ask her out.

No fear.

No time-clock.

No hesitation.

"Here's your juice, love."

"Thanks, babe."

She threw Zayn a kiss and he felt his heart break.

Oh no.

"Guys, I have to tell you about this girl I met."

Louis sat down properly on the couch so he had a clear view of Zayn's face.

"Ooh, gossip."

The younger boy swatted him before letting out a dreamy sigh.

"She's just- She's so pretty and kind, and her laugh, she has the most beautiful laugh I've ever heard. She's a psych major so she always has something interesting to say and her friends are so cool. She's... She's just perfect."

Louis's Fifth

And perfect she is.

Louis left the flat right after he realized that the girl he'd been pining over was the same girl Zayn had been seeing, muttering about homework and essays and studying or whatever.

Now here he was, working the register at Toys 'R' Us, his usually bright and genuine smile replaced by an incredibly awkward and forced one, trying not to let the heartbreak eat him alive.

"Tommo!"

His coworker came over to him.

"Switch with me, James asked to see you."

Great, and now he was probably gonna get sacked from the only job he ever liked.

He walked with a frown on his face to his manager's office and sat down on the chair, waiting for him to finish what looked like a very intense phone call about... mechanical kittens?

He hung up a couple of minutes later and turned to Louis, resting his elbows on the desk.

"Louis. Louis, Louis, Louis. D'you mind telling me why my best worker's been sulking all day?"

He shrunk down a bit on the chair, suddenly feeling very small. Toys 'R' Us is a magical place, workers are supposed to be happy all the time.

"Just... Stuff."

"It's okay to be sad, but we worry about you. I mean, some of our regular costumers asked if you were alright cause you weren't jumping and joking. Just tell me what's wrong so I can try to help."

He let out a breath and let his head fall onto the desk.

"I met this girl and she's amazing, and kind, and funny, and just overall perfect."

"So you're sulking because you met the love of your life?"

"No! I'm sulking because the love of my life is dating one of my best mates."

He froze for a while, definitely not expecting that.

"What?"

"Zayn's dating her. I found out yesterday."

Jame took a deep breath and got up from his chair so he could get closer to Louis.

"Oh no."

"Oh yes."

"Not a Jimmy Hug."

"Shut up, you deserve one right now, no matter how much you like to pretend you hate them."

When he came out of his boss's office, more relaxed and with a small smile on his face, he immediately spotted you next to the pianos.

He took his break at that moment and only returned when he saw you leave through his place in the alleyway right next to the parking lot.

Your First

You took a deep breath and tightened your grip on your nephew's hand, steeling yourself before entering the store.

"We have to get one with brown fur, just like Summer!"

You promised little Lucas that if he behaved at the doctor's you'd get him get a new plushie, a German Shepherd, just like your parents' dog.

"Okay, they've got to be here somewhere. Don't worry, we'll find you one just like it."

You looked up and down aisles, trying to find the plushies but not knowing where to look. You could hear someone playing the piano a couple of feet away and let yourself be lulled by the sound of the song, you'd always loved Tchaikovsky.

"Auntie, look, it's right there!"

Your nephew pointed at the shelves just on the other side of the piano (and the beautiful pianist standing in front of it). You let Lucas pull you towards the shelves and search carefully for the perfect plushie while you tried to not let the man get to you.

He was gorgeous. Like, model tier, plaster his face on your walls gorgeous.

And you were shy.

So you dragged the time out and mentally asked him to approach you, pouting when you realized he couldn't read your thoughts and your nephew was asking to leave.

Your Second

You speed-walked to the school, still riled up because of your class with bloody Charlton.

You wanted nothing more than to sit down on the bench, listen to your music, and people-watch until your nephew got out.

But you weren't expecting him to be there.

You were still too shy to approach him so you just took out your headphones and sat on the other side of the bench, taking out your binder and filling out a few things before purposely stopping somewhere and tapping your pen on the paper, pouting and wishing that he'd 'save you' from your boredom.

"Are you in Charlton's class?"

Bingpot!

You looked at him and were temporarily taken aback by just how blue his eyes were, but forced yourself to speak. You weren't gonna get anywhere by keeping quiet.

"Yeah, are you in his class?"

"Not anymore, I had him last year, though, he's a prick."

You huffed out a laugh and leaned back on the bench, trying to look nonchalant.

"Tell me about it, we've been talking about the Renaissance Era for two months and he still hasn't gotten to the interesting part."

"I thanked every deity imaginable that I got Natalie this year, I don't think I could do another year of that old man."

You turned to him and cocked your head.

"I've never heard of a 'Natalie' before."

That's a lie, you knew who she was, you'd even interacted with her.

"Natalie Dubois, she's a new teacher from France. Got a bit of a weird accent but she's a hell of a good teacher, and fun too, she gives us a bit more freedom, nothing like Charlton."

"What year are you?"

"Third, you?"

"Second."

He nodded and you tapped your pen against your binder.

"What're you studying?"

"Drama major, music minor."

"Very artistic."

"I live to entertain. What about you?"

"Psychology major, music minor."

"Oh, a brain doctor, I've always wondered if Psych majors could identify psychopaths from a single conversation."

You laughed at that. Usually, you hated when people were that shallow about your job but when he said it, it didn't sound shallow or mock-ish. It sounded like a legitimate concern, like those things you think of at three in the morning when you can't sleep.

You were interrupted by the school bell and cursed mentally to not have gotten here earlier so you could talk to him more. Your nephew came running towards you and two little girls followed, walking towards Louis. He looked so good with children clinging to him that you had to physically extract yourself from that situation before you said or did something embarrassing.

"It was nice talking to you, I'll see you around!"

Your Third

You walked to the music room, praying that your song notebook was left behind there. You don't know what you'd do without it. It has every single one of your creations there.

You heard someone play the piano and groaned. You were way too sleep-deprived to deal with human interaction.

But this wasn't just any human interaction now, was it? Because Mystery Boy was there.

(He's been dubbed Mystery Boy in your head since you have no idea what his actual name is.)

You stood in the doorway for a while, notebook be damned, just watching him play, then frown, then play again, and light up like a happy little puppy once he found the right melody. Until he reached a complicated part and couldn't find the right combination.

"Try a key higher, it might sound better."

He jumped a bit and you felt bad for scaring him, but the way he blushed after was cute. He didn't answer, just did as you advised and smiled once he found that it sounded like he wanted it to.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome."

You smiled and the blush on his face was entirely too adorable and you went from table to table, pretending you didn't remember exactly where you were sitting that morning just so you could spend a bit longer than necessary in his presence.

"How're classes with Charlton going? Still a prick?"

"The day that man stops being a prick, angels will be falling from the sky."

You couldn't stall anymore, it would just be awkward at this point.

"A-ha!"

You showed off your journal before putting it back in your bag and going down the stairs of the auditorium so you could stand right next to him.

Deciding to be subtle but a little more daring than usual, you stood next to him, shoulders grazing while you read the words on his journal.

He smelled heavenly, like cologne and deodorant, and something that had to be entirely him. You wanted to bury yourself in that scent.

"That's a beautiful song, you're very talented."

You'd never get tired of watching him blush.

"Thanks."

You heard him take a deep breath just as your eyes went to the clock and you remembered your doctor's appointment with Lucas, he had to get the second dose for his shots and you were the only one who could get him to quiet down.

"Hey, I was wondering-"

"Shit!"

You got up in a flash and took the backpack from where you had put it down next to the seat.

"I'm gonna be late for my appointment but hold that thought 'til we meet again?"

He answered a small yes and you dashed out of the room.

Your Fourth

You followed Zayn to his friend's flat off-campus. You had met him a couple of months ago through Gigi, your best friend. Those two had been flirting for ages and it honestly made you sick, but Zayn was an easy-going person and you got along great, so when you mentioned that you had plans of getting drunk alone tonight, he offered to take you to his friend's house so you could get drunk with some company.

You entered the flat with Zayn and who you now knew to be Liam, saying hello to the two men in the room and tilting your head in questioning at the man lying face down on the couch.

"Lou, stop sulking, it's time to drink beers and be happy."

"I'm deeply sorry if my existential crisis is bothering you, Zayn, I'll try to suffer silently."

You couldn't stop the laugh bubbling from your chest as you sat down next to the armrest.

He sat up way too quickly to be safe and you smiled brightly once you realized who it was.

"Mystery Boy!"

It was fate, it had to be. This was the universe's way of telling you that you belonged together.

"Hey."

You giggled at his awkward greeting.

"I never caught your name."

"I never threw it."

You started laughing at his sassiness. If you weren't completely smitten before you sure were now.

"Drama majors, always clowning around."

"You guys know each other?"

Liam asked and you jumped into an explanation.

"We've kind of met. I'm (Y/n), by the way."

He said nothing for a couple of seconds and you worried you were being too forward.

"Usually, this is the part where you tell me your name. I can't keep referring to you as 'Mystery Boy'."

He blushed again, he seemed to be doing that a lot and you wondered if that was as unusual for him as it was for you to be this confident.

"I'm Louis. Tomlinson. Louis Tomlinson."

(Y/n) Tomlinson.

That had a nice ring to it.

A really nice ring to it.

Mrs. (Y/n) Tomlinson.

Perfect.

"Nice to formally meet you, Louis."

He smiled and you wanted to yell at the sun to hide because it was stopping you from seeing the true brightness of Louis's eyes.

"Here's your juice, love."

"Thanks, babe."

You threw Zayn a kiss and he rolled his eyes, already used to the fact that you were kind of nickname-addicted and very endearing.

And also kind of drunk, which is why he brought you the juice.

On second thought, that might be why you were being this confident.

You thought everything was going well, but as suddenly as it started, the object of your affection was out the door, muttering about appointments, or homework, or something you didn't understand, but that sure made you frown for the rest of the evening.

Your Fifth

You walked into Toys 'R' Us for two reasons that day. 

The first is to get your nephew a birthday present.

The second is to (hopefully) see Louis.

You wanted to talk to him, the way he left the flat was strange, so you took advantage of the fact that you needed to get something from the store to try and see him.

You saw him go to the back as soon as you got here and decided to wait a bit for him to come back, looking at everything slower than you needed even though you knew exactly what to get. After fifteen minutes, you were pretty sure he wasn't going to come back. Maybe his shift ended already? 

You took your present and left the store, looking around to see if you found him, to no avail.

The One

You marched to the door with only one goal in mind: ask Louis Tomlinson out on a date. It's been a week of him ignoring you, running away as soon as he saw you, barely answering your greetings and you were more than done. 

If he wanted to turn you down, then it at least he would do it to your face, none of this ghosting nonsense. You don't want to spend the rest of your life thinking what might have been if you'd just reached out.

So, you talked to Niall, who gave you Louis's address and his schedule. You knew he was home and he had no way to escape you. He was babysitting his sisters, after all, so there was no way he could just run away.

You rang the doorbell and nervously wrang your hands in front of you, taking deep breaths and mentally going over what you wanted to say.

"I'll be right there! No, Daisy!"

His voice rang through the door and you smiled fondly at the sound, imagining him taking care of his sisters did something to you for some reason.

"Hi, sorry for the-"

He froze when he saw you, eyes going wide and mouth hanging open.

"Hi."

You said, and that seemed to bring him out of his stupor.

"(Y/n)."

"Yep."

"(Y/n)."

It seemed like he couldn't quite believe you were here.

"That's my name. Don't wear it out, though."

He shook his head and started stuttering his way through a response, trying to ask what you were doing here, at his house.

"Um, Niall told me where you lived. I had something I wanted to ask you."

When he didn't answer, you went for it.

"So, um, you've kind of been avoiding me lately which is quite unfortunate because I happen to like you... a lot... and so I-"

"Does Zayn know that?"

You were cut off in the middle of your rant and tilted your head confusingly at him.

"What?"

"Does Zayn know you 'like me a lot'?"

He looked angry, jaw clenched shut and arms crossed in front of his chest, which was no help to the attraction you felt towards him, that shirt did wonders for his biceps.

"Why should Zayn know about it?"

"Well, he's your boyfriend after all."

Wait, what?

"Well if he's my boyfriend then I should probably let Gigi know he's cheating."

He seemed to blanch at that.

"Gigi."

"Yeah. Gigi. You know, the girl he's been pining over since the beginning of the semester, they got together officially two weeks ago."

Only his sisters' voices could be heard.

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"So, um... you and Zayn... you're not..."

"Together? No."

You laughed and tucked a strand of hair behind your ear nervously.

"Would you like to go on a date with me?"

You snapped your head up and grinned devilishly.

"I believe I asked you first."

He laughed and took a step forward.

"Then I will most certainly go out with you, as long as you let me pay. Take it as an apology for how stupid I was."

"I guess that could be arranged."

He was so close you could smell his cologne. Still so, so tasty. Still so, so wonderful.

"Do I have to wait until the end of our first date to kiss you?"

"I think you've done enough waiting already."

"I think so too."

And he kissed you.

And you were happy.

here it is babes! finally out!

i hope you liked it and if you do, don’t forget to comment, reblog, like and stuff

have a nice day/morning/afternoon/night/whatever

-Love, Libby

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Taglists: (if your name is striked through it means for some reason tumblr wouldn’t let me tag you) 

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@jeezkiddo​ @beananacake​ @yoinkyourheart​ @averyfosterthoughts​ @onebigolemess​ @samoney69​ @agirlwithpointlessideas​ @ddaawwssoonn​ @inhumanwithpowers​ @imagineshere-forall​ @stiles-banshees​ @orowit​ @spideynut​ @deathofmissjackson​ @parkersbliss​ @ephemeral-limerences​ @write-from-the-heart​ @cardboard-ben​ @my-alignment-is-bisexual @mendes-marvel​ @shawnsnovel @inthecornerchair​ @lovelynerdytraveler​ @niallssweetheart22​ @incorrect-things​ @lost-in-the-stars03​ @harishaanne​ 

ACTORS/RPF TAG 

@bubblegumbarnes​ @sofiaconlaz​ @hyluas 

ONE DIRECTION 

@hhighlydisfunctional1  

#libby writes #libbys stuff #louis tomlinson #louis 1d #louis tomlinson x reader #louis tomlinson imagine #louis tomlinson fluff #liam 1d #liam payne #niall horan #niall 1d #harry 1d #harry styles #zayn mailk #zayn 1d #gigi hadid #university au #uni au #non-famous au #1d #oneshot #one direction #1d reunion #kiss you #infinity #18

[paraclete0407]

1.

That my favorite JLC novel was ‘Call for the Dead’ - a reference for the Black Death

2.

Nora Roberts’ ‘Holding the Dream’ - ‘Project 521′

3.

‘[Japanese word for bouquet] super-cruise

4.

‘Afterburner’ - hands on shoulders

5.

‘Disbelief in math’ - you [stole presence of breast]

6.

‘Why am I so dumb’

7.

Drinking boiling tea on empty stomach till fly, leap weightlessly

8.

‘Mariposa 2016′ - why not be ‘wheeled out’ 

9.

‘Speak while breathing in’

10.

Oxygen from outside not needed; breathing is crutch

11.

Do backflip; test of will

12.

‘Germantown Lake’

13.

Instant respect University School of Milwaukee

14.

‘UW-Milwaukee (once) respected me’

15.

‘The infliction

16.

‘H3B’ - ‘Mutt Riley’ drug-dealer w/ heart of gold (fake stock character) ‘Malaysian Camille,’ fingers intercostal, ‘Liesl,’ point to books w/ furry boot-toes, ‘I want to kick that cat.’  Some kind of gov’t agency.  Girl w/ marmalade hair,

17.

‘Gangster Opera’ - ‘__-ya what _ _ _ _’ - ‘penalty life’ 

18.

‘Flamenco dance-hall poison gas massacre’ - ‘First Love’

19.

‘The Persian Girl’ - NYC container-ship nuclear terrorism

20.

‘Oxygen Girl and Lithium Boy’ - W. Allen ‘Jupiter Symphony’ - Green R-33  - ‘Yeppeo Harkke’ - ‘I’m not Allen; don’t want to know everything; I groom no one; I expect not to live forever; IDC abt ‘sexual awakening’  + doesn’t need to be taught.  Unoriginal sinner, un-special sophistication, ‘nubile’ - well f--- you and praise God f---face

21.

Distributing the apple-baskets to the poor

22.

‘Epipen’ hostess-bar; [fake name spoken by munch-crumple-idiot].  

23.

‘The Coalminer’s Wife.’  Rutgers is Pyongyang; Mason Gross School of the Arts is Pyongyang; spiral staircase, why am I so dumb.  ‘Poetry-writing is like _ _ but novel-writing is like coal-mining.’  The small room, loom / weave.  Sleep in uniform apron / visor.  Blindness.  Hairband.  ‘If you wear this shirt on college 1st day will meet fut. husband.’  

Sitting in subterranean culvert, bride, pink silver white, orange light.  Kneeling in matte white in coal-hill.  ‘The village headman’s daughter.’  Candle.  Roman Catholicism implied.  

24.

Legalistic, fat on health-foods.  Friend is skinny always burning self down, love of pizza.  ‘Sungjin.’  

25.

‘Minister of the Right’ - ‘Scholar Jin and Lady Periwinkle’

26.

‘Eternal Protector YSS his face was white to blacks black to whites spoke breathing in, racist in immutable divine capacity, picking up valuables from ground even if stolen property =/- smashing store-window to steal.  Terrible elephant-trumpet, sinking, PCH will burn me w/ cigarette-tip in Eternity.  

27.

‘Sospira’ - mandatory euthanasia for piano-teacher after ‘genius student’ graduates

28.

‘Man is woman and woman is b _ _.’  ‘Women are floors.’  

29.

The bird says ‘laoshi.’  The rabbit approaches me; my son.  Little kids w/ armored lower legs will crush me.  

30.

‘So tired from writing strip-club accounts by hand shoulder fatigue the RU Aryan Nation (inc. blonde Jewesses) easily bent her arm to make it look like suicide.’    

31.

‘I caused WW3 due to collective hallucination and/or CCP deepfake; casus belli

32.

‘We’ll give you a five-course meal then f--- you up + also plant bomb in stomach

33.

‘I f---ig TOLD YOU

34.

Mom trusted me with absolute trust-ness as we walked; Jew ‘Take your family _____!’  ‘Carlos Park,’ ‘I HATE Jews; they think they’re the only humans.’  ‘At least we can all agree about Obergefell(?!).’

35.

Why Episcopalians sing about Socrates?

36.

Tell parents, ‘Don’t you know how easy it is to generate deepfakes and say anyone did anything?’  They drove away leaving me outside Best Buy.

37.

‘He’s like the Palestinians.’  ‘I really like you.’  Black boy in pom-pom-hat, tooth-smile, tinfoil.’  My Tibetan bracelet, Diamond Gym Maplewood

38.

‘Meta-wolf.’  Painterly resolution of cinema.  Die at piano.  Stab self in right thigh.  

39.

Looking in to the PC screen 2003 I saw the future; at the very end of the _ _ vid the katana right through her mouth and head / brain / skull.  Dads to plan Covid ultra-vengeance.  YSS, ‘I killed my sons to _ _ _.’  

40.

St. Peter in sky

41.

‘Delight of bread; it befits Man’s dignity... Xi Jinping likes _... delight stomach nursing school, orange sherbert, all ight getting beaten

42.

The Black PhD woman wants me to apply lip-gloss(?!), will not expand on educational philosophy of institution - ‘I blah blah blah Harvard, middle class can’t live within means - Shanghai novel ‘What We Were Not Promised’ - ‘

43.

Guidance counselor you f----- it up - incompetent reprobate self-hypermasculinizing crop-hair Jewess man up Derek Chauvin

43.

‘The neural math Yuki Katakura, mirror neurons, decoupling, cannot ride the vestibule, Matt Chai, “Correspondence and Correlation’  Berkeley CA, ‘Catherine Chai’ emerald dress, McDonalds in the days when seats were fixed outside.  Michelle WAi funeral; she played guitar; commanded submarine, assassinated by RPG Arab terrorist.  G-36.  ‘Fantail.’

44.

‘What’s Myeong Hyeongeso up to?’ - I really love my friend Cunningham whose heartrate spikes probably b/c he knows there’s CCP Yakuza assassins somewhere al the time thinking of murdering him

45.

Daejin McDonald’s one night, I start singing ’Star Spangled Banner.’  Kim Jong Un launches missile arcing over cereal grain fields, I start singing ‘Star Spangled Banner.’

46.

Literally 2015, ‘Trinity of Happiness.’  Later ‘finally enter.’  Gold label lite cigarette, ‘I’m gonna have my day!’

47.

I gave the little kid money + he flipped out; he later tried to freeze himself to death as Texas Bill is manning up worried about magazine cliches, contributions to ROKA(?).  Kid quit due to voice but he’s still better than me!  Fire all these people, CDF, ‘Charles David Framingham,’ nuke Milwaukee, I don’t trust his data.  ‘I had so much sex before marriage’ - just die I read your magazine 3,0000 years ago.  I can’t believe anyone wants to be you; my grandfather was B-24 co-pilot, main pilot KIA, landed without landing-training, grapefruit morning, infinite wrist-strength.  I smashed up his house but he didn’t get mad, just stutter.  Dead-eyed f---face shooting every animal in Texas.  

48. 

Very much fear of P2 holiness but holiness-shyness even worse than love-shyness even more blasphemous, I sincerely hope he strangles me very soon

49.

The evillest thing I ever thought, the ‘death of deaths,’ Kim Jong Il, what was he thinking?  I used to toy with TW-1, say word ‘zombie’  ‘How could you do that?!’  I didn’t liquefy girls’ skeletons or sth; it’s like Schindler’s List soundtrack; I just don’t know words for it.  ‘Final Gesture’ - Jesus to Judas ‘friend?’

50.

Iraq War Day trail-running, later cognizance of Noam Chomsky Hiroshima Day.  Wanted to say Op. Olympic noble but in retrospect ‘Bells of Nagasaki’ + ‘swamp of Japan.’  My grandfather’s funeral, dad is, ‘We have all drunk from wells we did not dig.’  Chinese chicken eat, nap, I can run all the way up of the hill w/ African chat.  I like YooA ‘Bon Voyage,’ check CNS high reps, atrial fibrillation.

51.

SHINEE fangirl ‘Stella(?)’ - noli me tangerine I know that stuff is ‘little stars.’  Awed at my gait  ‘If only they had stayed in hot pursuit.’  I wanna believe in all that stuff as well; I am also a dead-ender or last-chancer or last-caller; I admire Mari Iijima, ‘’Uncompromising Innocence.’  ‘Little Heaven’ but that’s Kim Jongilism or I’m worse than Kim Jong Il for thinking about ‘Agents Running in the Field.’  Timothy Keller, ‘I don’t like broccoli.’  I felt it was an innuendo and it made me think of HJ that gave me her number but I didn’t call b/c I’m against prostitution and I felt it’s fake number b/c everything is the Shadowplay.  I made stupid lewd stuff for years despite ‘Anointment’ and ‘When To Care’ - ‘toucan, macaw, demi-bra.’  Everyone thinks I’m a rapist but I’m not pressing my case; I don’t mouth-breath; I don’t spit.  I read ‘Sentimental Education’ and pre-targeted; I gave up; I wish Gen. McChrystal could be President or GWB 3rd term, conscience of Moon Jaein, ‘Weary Head.’  Thought I was ‘all hard’ for reading Natsume Soseki’s ‘Meian’ with ex-girlfriend’s smile at the end but he as dying then I started seeing kisses + wife-smiles and stuff; what’s Francis Chan up to?, does Mike Pompeo know I am real?  I liked 2nd Inuyasha movie, that song was about Mochida Kaori’s unborn niece or nephew, Kinokuniya Edgewater Mitsuwa.  The ‘Many Pieces’ live version ended with bass-note - ‘cantus firmus’ - instead of fadeout and wail.  Stone Lake NK Mountain morning.  Fav. Bible book 2 Timothy - ‘grievous wolves.’  & I used to listen to ‘Arirang’ and hear the Latin, ‘Respondemus’ - my favorite person said that Latin’s ‘quaint’ but it’s the lingua franca of the Roman Empire and that’s the final empire of this world that never went away; but this is a specific era, the great wave Delta and it’s not even the last iteration If I know anything about biological war or Satan.  Unironically fall on your face; ten billion jewel-souls tonight and this terrible fire rolling over.  I just simply pray for mercy on Milwaukee + somebody suspend their infinity-war-dueling over all the ills of yesterday back to Original Sin nd the Fall of Lucifer.  I’m unhappy that I know all this pop-culture; ‘worlds are swaying / someone is praying / please let us come home to stay’ or Kahi’s ‘One Love’ where at the end it uses the word for ‘I’ in the subjective case which is ‘arm confirmed identity’ 

[aspiestvmusings]

WandaVision Thoughts: Ep 8

Warning: Contains SPOILERS up to the end credits scene of ep 1x08. And “speculation” about the Finale.

1. I was wrong about several things in my theories. But I was pretty close with some other things.

2. I still presume the  timestone blast in “inifity war” might have made her even more powerful/unlocked more of her powers, but her backstory revealed that she “absorbed” the energy from the stone during her first contact with it....already, also .She is literally a living infinity stone...in a way. She absorbed the “energy” of the stone & is connected with the stone...as we’ve seen throughout the MCU history. And she’s kinda “absorbed it twice”? (so, in a way, she has been carrying VIsion’s soul inside her for a while... so makes sense she would “create” him, because they are literally of the same mind(stone))

3. All. The. Colours. ... Differen t colours of their powers/magic... coming from all these characters: Blue. Purple. Yellow. Red... The colours of the infinity stones. The colours of “characters powers”.... All the colours of the rainbow/spectrum. I completely see the last shot of the show being a rainbow above WestView (cause the colours of everyones powers are the colours of the rainbow...)

4. My theories were wrong, because I  based them on the hypothesis that she cannot create things from nothing...that she can just change their “dna” & shape. If I had presumed that she can create things from nothing, I might’ve been more accurate about...Vision...and more. She seems to have created vibranium, an infinity stone, and a soul... “out of nothing”... when she/her grief created a vision... UNLESS... that was an incorrect guess by Agatha, and Hex Vision is more like his episode 2 stage name suggested... an Illusion. Though I have a hard time believing/understanding it, I’ve tried to accept that in comics & fiction things that don’t follow laws of physics can be & are true. And she did create Vision from “nothing”..even if in real world that is impossible...

5. In the past few days before ep 8 I had started to believe the theories about “double vision”. And unless there is also a cameo coming with an appearance of some other actor, Paul Bettany’s comment about doing a scene with an actor who he had always wanted to work with was... the best joke ever... cause he was most likely referring to himself. And the way it is similar to the “Luke Skywalker” Mandalorian camero is not because of the actor, but because of the CGI used. I love that this is most likely the answer here. [and in that case I kinda think that the “fireworks” could be a scene similar to when Tony asked Jarvis to activate the Clean Slate Protocol in IM3, cause we are dealing with more than  one “copy” of the same “tech” here... & they can be blown up like that...]

6. We also got a much more clearer look on Hayward’s evil plans. And I'm now seriously starting to suspect the theories that connect WV to AoU...in a meaningful way. I’m not gonna say it, but I think you get my point. We’ve all known all along he’s up to no good. Even if he is “just” another “government baddie” and not Ultron’s puppet/puppeting Ultron. And I'm still unsure if he is aware that he’s essentially waking up Ultron or will that be a surprise to him...

7. Paul Bettany’s journey in MCU is about to become full: he started as the VOICE of JARVIS (AI/machine) that Tony built/created. He then appeared in physical form (body and voice) as The Vision since AoU. And now it seems possible that we’ll see him play Vision, while someone else provides the VOICE over for the character. But we also know, “thanks” to Spiderman 2 (released last year, but taking place several months after WV events in the MCU) that the Vision we have known & loved does not survive this hex reality. I wish there’ll be a surprise twist, but I sadly doubt it. 

Before the show started to air, I had no doubt the character was done... I was 99% sure there is no way he could come back & WV is just a dream or something like that. But as the show has progressed, Ive started to think there are ways it could happen. None of them really fit with the shows theme & point. Just like Tony had to die for the sacrifice to be as impactful Vision has to die/remain dead for Wanda’s grief journey to come to a conclusion. She has to reach the final stage(s) of grief, accept the loss & move on. Though... we can arue that Vision could live & she finally deals with the greif for her parents & brother. And/Or Vision “lives”, but it’s not her Vision...she can’t feel him. So he starts his journey from the start...to learn to be “human”, etc. 

I mean.. I wish we would get the merging of the two (sides) of Vision - the soulless body of whitevision + the “created by Wanda” Vision with soul (even if with no memories of pre-hex). But based on Spiderman 2: FFH “in memoriam” clip Vision is one of the fallen avengers next to Tony & Nat. But then again, Steve/Cap was also in that clip, so perhaps there is still hope... that Wanda/the hex will merge the two & this is how we/Wanda gets her Vision back. And it’s just kept under wraps. And if it’s not Ultron, then the greatest twist would be if RDJ would provide the new Vision’s voice (until he “gets his soul back”). I mean.. Paul Bettany provided the voice for Tony’s AI/suits, so that’d be a huge thing

8. I hope everyone understood that the town was a mess because it’s literally a few weeks after the Blip. 5 years ago Thanos snapped half of life away, and this is the outcome of it...the small town was probably full of life before that, and now its just “in ruins”. When Vision (and Wanda) bought that property/land it/the town did not look so sad. This is all the result of the snap. And this is why, I think, the word “snap” appears several times on the show (cereal box, add on wall)

9. The origins story from the experimentation with the mind stone scene had the same kind of “rewind” stuff as Wanda’s sitcom episodes. The watchers (blinded by the blast) seem to miss a part of the show. And now Darcy & Jimmy & team seem to miss parts of the show. We are shown that this is kind of due to Wanda “rewinding time”. So...she posesses the “power” of several infinity stones, kinda, it seems.

10. I’m starting to think that perhaps one theory that was flooting around is correct. The “Wanda arrives to Westview” scene where she sees several of the residents could imply so. We only see one part of each couple. And within each couple the one who “glitches” (Mr. Hart choking in ep 1, Vision malfunctioning cause of gum in ep 2, etc..) is not seen, only their other half. So is the town “in ruins” not just because of the blip? Maybe it was populated by people who lost their loved ones in the Snap & all moved to this town after that? And hence weren’t at the place their other half was returned to now, 5 years later? Or...the other halves are all dead, and hence everyone looked sad & alone? Maybe it was more thaan just the chaos creted by the snap & blip? 

11. Where were Vision (who was flying back to the house) & Monica + Fietro? during this episode? Well..all of ep 8 happens in just a few moments... simultaneously to what was happening with Vision(/Darcy and Fietro/Monica in the end of ep 7, so...they will arrive..soon.

12. I do not know how it could happen or work (considering what we already know to be true), but since they pointed out in episode 1 that “The death rate of single men is twice that of married men" & Hex Vision is married, while White Vision is not (also...will he remain himself when entering the hex or will he chanage form to fit the year/era that episode 9 is set in...which, I’d say might be a decade before rel time 2023, because the boys are 10... cause this version is essentialy a machine, so if it doesn’t match the era, then the hex changes it), then that would lead me to speculate that Hex Vision defeats White vision.  So now the question remaims if the vibranium/empty shell will remain or will it be vaporized... cause if the materils cotinue existing they can still re-built/re-create Vision in future. Cause unless both die, and unless some otehr surprise (going through the hex changes Hex Vision and/or he has competed his journey & become a separate indivudual, a real  being, then there’s no way he can survive outside/without the hex. But that quote tells us which Vision wins the fight 

xxx

#WandaVision #SPOILER #WandaVision spoilers #WandaVision spoiler #WandaVisionSpoilers #Wanda #Vision #The Vision #Wanda Maximoff #Wanda Vision #Wanda x Vision #MCU

[fyexo]

200924 SuperM Talk 'Super One' & Finding Unity In The Covid Era

Last year, K-pop group SuperM made history when their self-titled debut EP premiered at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 album chart. A miscellany of a boy band featuring seven cornerstones from four different acts signed to South Korean company SM Entertainment, the newly formed act’s star power and the virality of their immensely memeable first single "Jopping" made them a must-watch act of 2020. Now, they’re back with their first LP, Super One.

Out on Sept. 25, SuperM's first full-length album features 15 tracks, some that listeners have heard before, like pre-release singles "100" and "Tiger Inside," and B-sides like "Dangerous Woman" and "With You" that the act has performed in the past during concerts and televised performances. Split almost evenly between songs that are performed predominantly in either English or Korean and fronted by the lead track "One," a blend of two B-sides, "Monster" and "Infinity," Super One is all about meshing different elements together, whether it’s members of SHINee, EXO, NCT 127 and WayV into one whole, or running the gamut of different genres and languages in ways that are all at once familiar and innovative for members of some of K-pop's biggest acts.

Throughout all the multitudes of Super One, however, is one overall theme—serving up a soundtrack perfect for the age of corona. "I think we tried really hard to unify the messaging through the lyrics and through that bring a message of hope and unity to our fans and everyone who listens to it," said Taemin, the most senior member of the group, active in the industry since debuting with the group SHINee in 2008.

Coming out since the world first began reeling from the changes and ongoing impacts of the global COVID-19 pandemic, Super One spends its length motivating listeners through a freewheeling medley of energetic, vibrant electro-pop anthems and mellowing out to offer up lackadaisical, breezy moments on hopeful tracks. Whether it’s the optimistic, sweet bounce of "Better Days" and "Wish You Were Here" or the hint of separate-but-together partying euphoria on "Together at Home" and the smooth sexiness of the groove on "Drip" serving up the type of confidence that comes with good times, SuperM have delivered an album that is oh-so-very 2020 but will live long beyond December.

This interview was edited for clarity, and conducted in both English and Korean.

You’re about to release Super One into the world, following the release of "100" and "Tiger Inside." How does it feel to be sharing your first LP after last year’s debut EP?

Mark: We feel really thrilled to let the whole world see it. We’ve prepared a lot for it. “100” and “Tiger Inside” were just the singles that only lead up to the main album, so we’re pretty excited.

Taeyong: Because we’ve been working on this first full-length album for such a long time, we think it’s that much more meaningful for everyone. We were really thinking of our fans when we were putting this all together. Because we released two singles ahead of the release, we hope our fans and everyone will have the same and rising expectations for “One.” We hope everyone receives a lot of strength and positive vibes through this album.

What is the meaning of Super One to you?

Mark: We believe that it is very appropriate for the situation that the whole world is going through, the message that we have. Not only are we trying to say that we can overcome all of our problems and all these difficulties as we work together, we also believe that—if you see in the album, there are a lot of songs in the playlist where it has an encouraging message. We just want to spread positivity around the world and really bring hope to the listeners, saying, "We can overcome it all." With that positive message, we really want to bring everyone together. That’s pretty much how we, SuperM, were brought together as well. Though we may be all scattered in different ways, when we come together we become very super. I guess that’s the main message and the aspiration also of Super One.

Your first album debuted at No. 1 on the Stateside Billboard 100 chart, so expectations must be high for this album. What sort of response are you hoping for now that Super One is going to be heard by the world?

Lucas: I just hope that, throughout this whole worldwide pandemic situation that we’re all going through, listeners and fans will receive strength and hope through our music.

Why is "One" the perfect single for SuperM to release Super One through, following the earlier releases of "100" and "Tiger Inside"?

Mark: We always thought that having "100" come out first, then "Tiger Inside" leading to "One," that whole picture was a strategy that we thought would be best because we wanted to build up as much anticipation as we can. We wanted to build our fans’ expectations a lot as well. Having "One" come out as the final product was something we knew was right because the song itself has a lot of power in it, it holds a lot of what we can sing and rap about. The potential of the song holds what SuperM can really express. I feel like "One" was one of those tracks we really wanted to explode with. It’s a song that represents the album the best way.

You mentioned that you were sharing a unified picture in releasing these trio of singles one after another. What were you trying to relay through this trilogy?

Mark: I feel like each is great in their own way, but they all are connected as well. They’re all very different. Even if you just see “100” and “Tiger Inside,” the concept, the visuals, the pictures, the sounds, they’re all really, really different. But if you see the whole playlist of the album, they’re actually quite connected because all the songs have one central message on the album. “100,” we really wanted to give our 100% power and energy for fans to receive. “Tiger Inside,” the message was to not hide your power, to not hide the inner wildness you have inside and really release it out. And “One” is to bring all that energy together to overcome something we think we may not be able to but we can if we work together. It’s all about overcoming and collaboratively working together to overcome something we all want.

“One” is a blend of two songs, “Monster” and “Infinity,” how does it feel for you to be blending these songs together?

Ten: I think the concept that we put two songs and mix it together is very new, but also SHINee’s [2012 single] “Sherlock” is a mix of two songs, “Clue & Note.” With this album we think it’s a good idea to put the songs together because both songs, “Monster” and “Infinite” are very strong, they’re both ear-catching. That’s why I think it’s a very good idea to put it together, and I think the fans are going to love the mix too.

Speaking of… Taemin, firstly, congratulations on the release of your new album Never Gonna Dance Again!

Taemin: Thank you!

You’ve done this blending of songs into a single before as SHINee. How does it feel revisiting this creative style again with SuperM?

Taemin: I personally think that this is one of K-pop’s biggest strengths, the fact that there are so many different styles of music and genres that can be mixed into one song and they’re all so catchy. Since we [already] did this with “Clue” and “Note,” it was really cool for me to see that creative process happen again. If you think of K-pop in general, it includes so many different styles of music. Even in one song, you’ll see multiple genres, multiple drops, multiple tempos, key changes, etc. I actually heard that when the producing team was making this song, it was really hard to make it sound really seamless and natural, making sure the key and tempo and everything matched when they mixed these two songs. But I personally think it was really fun to see this all come together and happen. Seeing a more creative and fun kind of music production process is always what makes K-pop new and exciting all the time.

The album is bilingual, and split pretty evenly between English and Korean tracks. How do you feel about showing this duality? Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think it’s ever been done before in K-pop, splitting an album with different language tracks quite in this way.

Taeyong: When I’m recording [in English], it’s very fun but it’s like English studying, a little bit. It’s because English pronunciation is important. I think our fans like our English songs a lot. They and our Korean songs are really good. They’re really dope. Really a bop.

Several songs, like “Better Days” and “Together at Home” seem inspired especially by the global corona pandemic. Why was it important to you to share these sorts of songs with listeners?

Mark: We structured the entire album to appropriately fit what’s going on in the world right now. So that’s why we thought of this entire message. “Together at Home” and “Better Days” are the songs that really represent that feature the most in a way. Taeyong and I actually wrote some of the lyrics for “Together at Home.” When we received the message of the song for us to get the inspiration, they were talking about how we can talk about the Beyond Live [concert platform] that we used. We could think of that as a way for us to get inspired so we can think of ways to write about ways we could reach our fans at this time. So we actually wrote stuff about that on the song. We really wanted to put that in there. That’s why if you see the lyrics, we’re talking about how we’re always indoors but still kind of connected in a virtual kind of way, however we can [be]. Stuff like that really fits what’s going on right now, so we hope the fans can relate.

Is there a song that any members feel particular fondness for?

All: “Wish You Were Here!” [Members sing.]

Mark: I guess we all like “Wish You Were Here” the most. [Laughs.]

Lucas: Yeah!

Mark: It’s so catchy. It’s easy to listen to and so catchy. That’s why I like it.

Kai: I like the chorus. It’s very bright so I can get uplifted by it. I think it suits the album a lot.

Taemin: It would be great to hear fans’ covers of that song. I think it’s a song people will want to cover, and it’d be cool to collab with someone on it as well.

You’ve been together as SuperM for a while now, but who surprised or impressed you while recording and preparing this album?

Mark: We’ve been together quite a while now and, more than discover an aspect we haven’t seen of each other before, it’s more like, "Wow." For example, I knew Baekhyun was good at singing, but like… It still surprises me to this day, if you know what I mean? There’s stuff like that. Something that I didn’t know was that Baekhyun is good at art.

Baekhyun: We were together, and when we were in LA living together, from the beginning [as SuperM]. As time passes, we feel more like family and I feel every one of us is growing more into our roles as individual members of the group.

Were there any memorable moments from the creation process of this album?

Baekhyun: We actually shot a reality show together. Obviously, the album production process itself is always memorable, but in addition to what we’ve always done – preparing for performances, practicing together, recording the songs, etc. – outside of that, we had a chance to be a part of these shows that will air soon. These shows were where we got to spend a lot more time together, and we could showcase our chemistry to our fans and viewers. Those memories were really fun because we got to travel and do stuff together.

Transportation and speed have been themes that carried throughout your songs and music videos, where you regularly are seen traveling in different types of vehicles, whether it’s space ships or helicopters. At a time when people aren’t able to travel, what do you feel this represents?

Kai: If you look at our past music videos there are motorcycles, there are tanks, there are a lot of cars, and I think that goes well with SuperM’s concept as a group. That’s why they were featured in our music videos and past songs. We can’t really travel right now because of the pandemic and everything that’s going on, but we hope that, just like these modes of transportation can take you somewhere, our music and this album can be a mode of transportation that takes you to a place of hope and takes you to that higher place where everyone can enjoy themselves and be happy.

What are your favorite lyrics on the album?

Mark: For me “Wish You Were Here”’s, “After all these years, I wish you were, wish you were here” is my favorite. Because the melody is really cool.

Taemin: In “So Long,” there’s a chorus where Mark sings “차가운 표정으로 맞이하는 절정 (An ending with the coldest face*)” I like that part. It’s really addictive, that part in particular.

Mark: I don’t know if he’s teasing me. [Laughs.]

You’re all part of different groups under SM, so what do you think makes Super One a distinctly SuperM album?

Taemin: If you listen to our first mini album, there were songs that were like unit tracks. It wasn’t every member on the album on every track. This album is different because every member participated in all of the tracks, and I think that it’s distinctly SuperM just because we were kind of able to create this album with one unified messaging. There’s so many types of songs, types of genre, on the album, but I think we tried really hard to unify the messaging through the lyrics and through that bring a message of hope and unity to our fans and everyone who listens to it. I think that makes it distinctly SuperM.

What are your goals for the rest of 2020? What do you hope to achieve with this album?

Lucas: The biggest goal that we want is we really want to be able to meet our fans if possible in 2020, because we miss them so much. If that can’t happen, another goal that we have is that through the Super One album we bring a lot of strength and hope to anyone who listens to it.

Ten: We might have more online events, like Vlive [livestreams] or Beyond Live [concerts]. Maybe those kinds of things can happen. We’re still thinking of ways to get close to fans even though everything is far apart nowadays. We’re going to find all our fans. So don’t be sad, don’t worry, just have fun. Hope you guys stay strong during this period. We’re going to do our best to meet you guys.

Baekhyun: That’s right.

*Translation provided by SM Entertainment.

Tamar Herman @ GRAMMYs

#exo #baekhyun #kai #t: interview #album: super one #200923 #e: interview

[grimelords]

There is no limit to how many good songs exist! There are just so many!

My June playlist is finished, and on time too! Please enjoy all manner of bangers from Dave Brubeck, Nelly Furtado and everyone in between.

listen here

Night And Day - Hot Chip: I’ve started a band with some friends and my friend Tiana (who has requested a special shoutout in this playlist and is currently receiving it!) suggested this as a song for us to learn and she was extremely right to do it! It’s extremely funky and probably the most i’ve ever liked Hot Chip because they’ve finally allowed themselves to be emotional and feel the most important emotion of all: horniness.

Infinity Guitars - Sleigh Bells: The other day a friend of mine said ‘hey whatever happened to Sleigh Bells?’ and guess what: they have five albums and continue to release new music as recently as last year. They seem to steadfastly refuse to advance their sound and you’ve got to give them props for that. When nobody else sounds anything like you the smartest thing you can do is double down on your own weird thing. I’ve always loved this song and am totally enamoured by whatever mixing trick it is that enables this song to start loud as fuck and somehow finish even louder no matter what volume you play it at.

Hurricane - Bob Dylan: I haven’t watched the Rolling Thunder Revue thing on Netflix yet but I’m excited to because this is a good Dylan era and I’m always down for more footage of the world’s freak Bobby D acting like a maniac. This song is a good example of how have no control over how music is consumed once you release it because this is ostensibly a serious and angry protest song about a great injustice but my greatest memory of it is for at least a month when I was in boarding school a guy in my dorm would play it every morning super loud and we would all yell the words along as we were getting dressed. Having a great time being fifteen and yelling happily about a miscarriage of justice.

Grindin' - Clipse: I started putting together a playlist of songs with super minimal or no pitched instrumentation that almost totally rely on the percussion and the vocals to carry it. Basically the Pharrell special because he did it on this and Drop It Like It’s Hot and I’m sure more songs of his I haven’t heard yet. But also songs like Lipgloss by Lil Mama, Fix Up Look Sharp by Dizzee Rascal, Tipsy By J-Kwon (almost if it didn’t have the baseline) and The Whisper Song by The Ying Yang Twins. There’s heaps more I’m sure. It was a real minimal style for a little while in the mid 2000s and I think it’s great. It gives you so much space in the mix and it’s a great lesson: if the beat is hot enough and you’ve got enough charisma to carry the vocal you don’t need anything else at all.

Rock Lobster - The B-52's: Did you know the guitar in this is tuned CFFFFF? Did you know this song is nearly 7 minutes long? Did you know The B-52s had a hit with this and then didn’t have another hit until Love Shack fully ten years later? Truly everything about this song is insane.

Johnny Irony - Bad//Dreems: I think ‘are you bleeding?’ is my favourite bit of pre-song hot mic dialogue i’ve ever heard. I love the energy of this song, and what a fun throwback it is to I guess reference Lead Belly’s ancient song about doing cocaine Take A Whiff On Me for a new modern twist on a song about doing cocaine.

Girls On Film - Duran Duran: Have you ever noticed how the bass in this song is absolutely popping off? It rocks. I listened to just the isolated bass track on youtube the other day and it’s my new favourite song. I’m having a big moment with this early eighties art-funk thing where someone figured out you could put huge funky basslines into rock music and completely changed the game.  

Love - Lana Del Rey: I figured out this month that my vocal range seems to be just Lana Del Rey but an octave lower which is absolutely great news for anyone that wants to hear me sing this song in a cowboy voice in my car.

Want You In My Room - Carly Rae Jepsen: I am absolutely in love with this song and also absolutely furious at it. Absolutely in love with the way it’s written like a duet with herself, trading lines and overlapping and harmonising. The big ascending guitar line that leads into the chorus. I love how horny the lyrics are, I love the very 80s robot voice in the chorus who also wants to fuck. It’s just phenomenal, which brings me to the the think that makes me so furious: this song just fades out? After the second chorus just as the saxophone comes in? Just as it’s getting good???

Genevieve (Unfinished) - Jai Paul: It's just unbelievable how good this sounds. The bass sound. The way the whole mix seems to float around. The cuts to silence that feel like someone took a razor randomly to the master. It all culminates in this frenetic nervous energy that feels like the song could just fall apart and stop at any point. And it does! It just fades to silence and then comes back in as a totally different song near the end before fading away again.

Elephant Talk - King Crimson: King Crimson is on Spotify now and I’m comically striking them off my list of Bands I Have A Grudge Against For Not Being On Spotify. It’s always kind of surprised me that for someone who loved The Mars Volta as much as I did I never really had a big King Crimson phase. I always liked them fine, and I love this song, but I never really sat down and gave them a proper listen. Maybe now they’re on streaming that’s all about to change and my girlfriend will have to suffer accordingly.

Kids In The Dark - Bat For Lashes: Very excited for Bat For Lashes next album if this is an indication of the direction. She's always had a very hazy 80s feeling, so purposefully leaning into it is only going to be great.

CHORDS For Organ - Ellen Arkbro: My favourite lady is back with 15 minutes of rock solid chords. Something I've been thinking recently in regards to Ellen Arkbro and Holly Herndon is people who make pretentious art unpretentiously, truly believing in their process and outcomes but very aware  of and fine with the fact that it's silly, useless or unlistenable to anyone who's not interested. Ellen Arkbro posted a photo of an organ on instagram the other day and wrote "turned out this was one of the biggest instruments in berlin and it was also connected up to two other organs in the same space. Despite that I ended up playing an extremely quiet version of my music. I don't really know how that happened. I will play a louder version in st giles cripple gate in london this saturday if you're around" She posts like Courtney Barnett about her experimental organ drone music, I just love it. As for the music itself I don't really know how to explain this other than if you let it it can be extremely overwhelming. It's also the closest I've come musically to Malevich's Black Square and how I feel about that, which is hard to explain properly other that to say I love it.

SWIM - Holly Herndon: I'm obsessed with this Holly Herndon album. It's just amazing though I think the marketing and a lot of the writing about it is sort of.. misleading? There's a lot of emphasis being put on the machine learning and AI aspects of it, which as undoubtedly good and cool as they are, are sort of overshadowing what's so good about this in a simple way which is that it's just choral music for the future. It feels like it reaches so far back and so far forward at the same time it's incredible.

Too Real/Television Screens - Fontaines D.C.: I really had to stop myself from putting the whole Fontaines DC album on here because quite literally every single song on this is amazing. Just when you think guitar music is well and truly dead it pulls you back in!! Also the way he says 'aaa' at the start of Too Real just absolutely kills me.

Dangerous Match Ten - Scientist: I forget where I read it but some bass player was saying she learned to play by listening to Scientist albums, and so that made me listen to Scientist for the first time and go on a long dub trail and have a very good and dangerous day where I thought “..what if I become a dub guy?”. It’s very good. I don’t know anything about dub really, we don’t really have the jamaican population here for it to have any cultural currency like it does in america and the UK so my biggest exposure is the Dub radio station from GTA III and San Andreas which I’m now learning was mostly made up of Scientist songs anyway. Anyway dub is good, please keep an eye one me and watch as this playlist evolves into me becoming an evangelical dub guy over the next few months and start calling everyone m’brethren in a racist way.

Lipitor - Longmont Potion Castle: Lipitor. This is unfortunately unavailable on Australian spotify which is a crime but if you're from anywhere else please enjoy.

A Lot’s Gonna Change/ Andromeda - Weyes Blood: I am having such a time with this Weyes Blood album. Yesterday I spent all day playing A Lot’s Gonna Change over and over and over and today I spent all day listening to Andromeda over and over and learning how to play it. I suspect this will happen to me with the entire album, it has a complete hold over me.

I’ve listened to Weyes Blood before and she’s never really grabbed me and so it took a lot of people rhapsodising about this one to get me to give it a go and I’m so glad I finally did. This album really took me by surprise, and looking back now I love the development of her sound: from her original spacy noisy thing to the bonafide soft rock of Front Row Seat To Earth to this - an expensive sounding 70s singer songwriter pop album of absolutely devastating beauty and inventiveness.

Wasting My Young Years - London Grammar: I think what's so interesting about this song is that it sounds like an acoustic cover of a trance song. I don't really know how to explain it better than that. The way the deceptively fast four on the floor drums come in, the sort of adult-contemporary The XX instrumentation, the whole structure of it, it feels like a BBC Live Lounge cover of some forgotten rave classic. I love it regardless but it's an odd song as well.

Left Hand - Beast Coast: Beast Coast is lames and I didn't make it more that halfway through the album. On the fourth song there's a verse where one of these guys is doing that rap thing of talking way to graphically about eating pussy. He says lick lick lick it's gross. Anyway this song rocks though. The beat is that perfect mix of hard as hell and a little bit spooky and I love any song where one million guys do like four lines each.

Hung Up - Madonna: In the wake of not listening to Madame X I've been reflecting on how it's been 15 years since Madonna's last true banger, Hung Up, and in my opinion she's a legend forever for this song alone. Do you remember the Madonna x Gorillaz performance at the 2006 Grammys? Where she walked BEHIND the hologram? She still has so much to teach us. 

Never Fight A Man With A Perm - IDLES: I love just how purely sweaty man muscle this song is. 'concrete to leather' are you kidding me?? That's the coolest shit I've ever heard. 'You look like you're from Love Island' also quite good.

Speakers Going Hammer - Soulja Boy: I was listening to this the other day and had to keep stopping and rewinding because of how advanced the flow is when he says 'Style swift hot like it's July 10th/Fly chick in my whip with nice tits/Her boyfriend paid for it, I didn't" he's like five minutes in front of the beat and combined with the internal assonance it just sounds sick as hell.

African Woman - Ebo Taylor: Man goes ham on toy piano must see

(I’m Not Your) Stepping Stone - The Monkees: My friend Tiana (who I've mentioned twice now!) came to band practice and said she saw The Monkees last night. I thought no, that's impossible. The Monkees are all long dead, forgotten legends from a forgotten age. BUT I was wrong! Michael Nesmith and Micky Dolenz, the surviving Monkees tour to this day! And she introduced me to this great song which we learned for the band! Monkees forever!

Whoo! Alright! Yeah! .. Uh Huh - The Rapture: Somehow as time goes on this song becomes more and more important to me and more and more groovy.I used to think life’s a bitter pill but it’s a grand old time. Now that’s wisdom.

World Of Stone/Loinclothing - Hunters And Collectors: I've been getting very heavily into early Hunters And Collectors over the last couple of months.  I think I put Loinclothing on last months playlist as well but fuck it, it's great. It's so primal and raw it feels like the first caveman who learned to talk fronting a band of cavemen who sing songs about caveman issues and passion. I love the incredibly wide open sound the drums and bass have and the fidgety guitar combined with the unhinged vocals creates this really unique ambience of menace and power without ever getting particularly busy and losing the spaciousness. Feels like yelling about monkeys on a wide open desert plain.

Coisa No. 10 - Marcello Gonçalves and Anat Cohen: I found this song ages ago on ABC Jazz I think, and I absolutely love the intricacies of it. It twists and folds in on itself over and over and over without ever losing the groove or relaxing into anything easy. There's so much tension in it even though the melody and groove are so fun, it's a great mix. I also found out it's from an album that's a tribute to someone I'd never heard of before named Moacir Santos, so I got the great joy of discovering his music via this song as well.

Monologue/Nana - Moacir Santos: Moacis Santos, as I understand it, was one of Henry Mancini's film composition assistants and also the guy that taught all the Boss Nova geniuses like Sergio Mendes. I love this Monologue where he tells the story of a mystical vision that inspired this song, which you assume being inspired by a vision would be of mythical importance and weight and but instead sounds like the theme to a cartoon about a grandma who has superpowers.

Weird People - Little Mix: I need more info about the identity of the robot voice in this song. What is his relationship to the singer. He starts off antagonistic: “get off the wall” then commenting on what happened to her: “fell off the wall” then just echoing her: “on the other side” then becoming her “i’m living my life”. It’s complicated and hard to explain but I believe the robot voice in this song is god. Anyway this song is a masterpiece. It’s an incredibly goofy and great piece of 80s revival that imagines a glorious alternate future where Oh Yeah by Yello is the template for all pop music.

3 Legged Dog - Marisa Anderson: Marisa Anderson used to write songs with words here and there among her instrumentals but it seems that over the last couple of albums she’s decided to stick to instrumentals only which I think is a shame. She’s obviously brilliant at it but I’d hate to be missing out on beautiful little slices like this. I love how small time this song is, it feels like a song you’d sing to yourself more than a song for anyone else.

Nighttime Suite - Adam Gnade & Demetrius Francisco Antuña: Adam Gnade is a guy I’ve been following for about ten years now who seems determined to stay obscure. He self-releases all his stuff in limited editions or on cassettes, some of my favourite things he’s ever done don’t seem to be available anywhere digitally any more (if they ever were). I remember years ago he seemed hard up for cash and he ran a deal on his website called a ‘lifetime subscription’ where if you sent him I think $100 he would send you everything he’s ever done AND would continue to send you everything he made in the future for the rest of his life. It was absolutely great, I would get CD-Rs and tapes and zines and things delivered randomly to my mailbox every so often for a couple of years and they were all fantastic. I guess at some point my lifetime subscription lapsed because he’s released a bunch of stuff I haven’t heard or read but that’s ok, you shouldn’t be able to buy someone’s eternal soul for $100.

Adam Gnade has developed his own style of folk music where he just recites a sort of prose poetry over music and it’s incredible. In the hands of anyone else it could feel overly pretentious, and he pretty often rides that line. He’s reaching for a sort of poet laureate of Americana ideal but very often he actually grabs it. His writing is great and magnifies the minor details of normal life into larger symptoms of the American mindset, like depression-era songs of marginalised and exploited people individualised and updated for the modern era. Most of the time he backs himself on a lazily strummed guitar or banjo and his music sounds like sitting on the front step or laying down in the tall grass, but for this song he’s teamed up with Demetrius Francisco Antuña for some real Godspeed feeling dark soundscapes and it’s really something.

We Are The Same - Lurch And Chief: I think it's a damn shame that Lurch And Chief broke up before they even put an album out because this song is a damn classic and I have begun praying every day for the return of Lurch and/or Chief. I love a big voice and there's two distinctly huge voices in this song fighting for position.

983/Near DT, MI - Black Midi: Fucking hell I love this Black Midi album. I'm so, so glad it exists. It feels like the next generation of the Slint Hella, Tera Melos etc lineage of math rock and I simply can't get enough of it. Pump it directly into my veins I'm obsessed with it.

Take Control - Amerie: I just screamed out loud in my car hearing this song for the first time because it samples Jimmy, Renda Se by Tom Zé one of my absolute favourite songs ever. And samples it amazingly, totally transforms it into something new while keeping the spirit of the original. Do you ever feel like a song was just made for you personally? It’s a very kind thing of my vlogger wife Amerie to do for me but I guess that’s just how she is. Also, thanks to Spotify’s new feature where you can see the actual credits for songs I got to find out that Hall And Oates are credited on this because it basically interpolates the the whole verse melody from You Make My Dreams Come True which I didn’t even realise until I looked up why they were credited.

Unsquare Dance - Dave Brubeck: Dave Brubeck's brain is huge. I can't belive it's possible to make 7/4 this funky. How come nobody else ever ripped off this rhythm? It deserves to be a whole genre. I also totally love the piano solo near the end where it turns into like a funky 7/4 stride and then abruply ends with a shave and haircut like it's 1925.

Suddenly - French Vanilla: Get a load of this fucking slice of dance punk that Discover Weekly served me up. I haven't even listened ot the album yet because I just love this song so much I'm stuck on it. Singing "I like the nightlife! I'm in the spotlight!" like you're being hunted with a knife? Incredible. The impromptue glossolalia about halfway through? Incredible. Everything about the saxophone? Incredible

Maneater - Nelly Furtado: There's nothing deft or subtle about Timbaland. Everything he does is just so heavy handed and thick. The drums in this are so straightforward and they sound like garbage cans.. Nothing ever plays at he same time as anything else . It's like a gorilla learned to play and it's absolutely fucking sick. And then the whole rest of the song! His insanely thick buzzy synth lines against the big beautifully stack clean harmonies

I, The Witchfinder - Electric Wizard: I've been getting back into Skyrim because I have a little worm living in my brain and I've discovered a good trick is to turn off the game music and turn on Electric Wizard instead. It increases the ambience because it feels like if you did an x-ray of the Dragonborn's head this is all that would be in there. It's just stoner metal in there and no other thoughts.

Music Sounds Better With You - Stardust: Can you believe how lucky we are to live in a world where the greatest song ever written is finally available on spotify? You can just listen to this any time of the night or day and immediately improve your life.

Don’t Chew - Spilled Oats: Here’s a very good and underexplored idea: what if guitar music but it sounds like chopped and screwed? Absolutely dynamite.

 As an extra bonus treat here the absolute best ever chopped and screwed channel I’ve found on youtube, please explore Scobed & Robed: https://www.youtube.com/user/scottalexanderburton

listen here

#playlists

[widziadelko]

Avengers: Endgame - the end of the era (SPOILERS)

Hello, beautiful people! 

If you haven’t watched movie yet, please, ignore it. Just go away and live your life. You really don’t want to read that.

But if you are bored and you have nothing to do with your day - I am oficially inviting you to discussion. 

Warning: This is gonna be long + I’m not a native speak, so forgive me every crime I’ve commited on this beautiful language, I will fix them and learn something. 

Okay! So I’ve seen Endgame a few days ago, I was thinking about what happened and I still don’t know how I feel about this movie. Really, I have totally no idea.

I'm fan of Marvel, GoT and Supernatural - this is a painful year for me. I’m a mess. Have mercy.

First things first, I gave up a long time ago to look at MCU movies (especially the ones that are called ‘Avengers’) the same way I look at other productions. This is not something you can rate at an angle of film purely, because:

1) Those films are parts of a really long series and looking at them just like we looked at trylogies or single movies would make a big mess. We would start seeing many mistakes, things that don’t work and everyone would end up with one big mind fuck and a bitter taste on their tongues. Because, theoretically, there are a lot of things that shouldn’t have place, but doing it differently would made everything lost its sense.

2) Infinity War was made to explain things to new audience who hasn’t seen previous movies. For example at the beginning Dr. Strange explains what infinity stones are and with that he lets people, who have no idea what the fuss is about, understand. And characters who have no idea what is going one, finds out by talking to other characters. Therefore, we as losers who are devoted to Marvel get our summary and people, who still have light in their lives, know that the shit is real. 

But that’s IW, in Endgame no one cares about it and everything just happens (I feel sorry for everyone who had never seen Marvel movie before and had to face the whole new level of “What the fuck”). Action is fast, characters are fast, everything is fast, we are out of time. That’s the big plus, because during IW I felt that things were slow and they were jumping from one scene to another, because they needed to show something to this person, explained things to this one and it had a lot slower pace to me. Also I love that Endgame is movie for fans, because there  are enough of us to make film that only people who know the whole series would understand and still have money. Who would know ten years ago that we end up like this, right?

I very liked first 15 minutes of film, because Russo brothers let fans believed that they were right and then, boom!, *5 years later*, our theories can go and fuck themselves.

I'm gonna focus on a few things that a lot of fans are talking about. . . and mostly complaining:

1) Thor

I don't entirely like what they did to him in Endgame, but also I don't entirely despise it. I think I know what they were trying to do, but they didn't show it in a good way.

It's easy to notice that Endgame Thor isn't Thor from. . . Thor and previous films about Avengers. He's not a god, he's not shown as one, he looks and is portayed like human, like mortal. By making him look and behave like a mundane, they were trying to make him closer to us.

He lost everything: his family, his best friend, his planet, half of his people - it must've been a terrible experience. Thor is a strong character and probably this is a problem. After losing with Thanos others had their break downs, tried to lived their lives, yet weren't able to move on, but they still had this thought "Okay, we lost, we fought with someone stronger than us and we lost". But not Thor! He's a god, he's powerful, he was the leader, he should be able to protect the ones he loved and he wasn't! If anyone was able to fight Thanos, that was Thor. And he couldn't do that, no, he could do that but didn't, because he didn't attack the head. The whole thing wouldn't have happen if he had killed that big, humanoid bunch of grapes.

Showing his trauma and his depression was a good idea. Showing that he's not always mighty god and he has to work for that was a good idea. Keeping him fat and not making him loose it in a mere second because he ran three times around the globe was a good idea. Let him has a break down in Asgard and talk to his mother was a great idea.

But! Covering his trauma and ignoring his depression by using it as a gag was a terrible idea. Using his mental state as something that lasts only a moment totally forgeting that reversing what Thanos did wouldn't bring back his loved one was a bad idea. Making fun of Thor being fat was the worst idea they could have. And caling him out because of him crying and using it as a joke was a terrible idea!

Remember that he's the only one that will NOT get his brother, best friend and half of his people back, because they were killed by Thanos himself. Not by the glove, but by the powerful Gummiberry Juice!

About fat jokes - I thought we grew up, I thought we have evolved, yes. . . Yes, I thought that we are over it and I was wrong. I feel incredibly disappointet. One comment is okay, it wasn't that bad, but making it a joke in a whole movie? I beg you pardon?

So, I uderstand Thor, but I hate how he was portrayed. The ending, quitting his "job" as a king and going with guardians made me kinda. . . Angry? It's like a big regress to his character. (Even if you don't like Taika Watiti's Thor the same way as me, he still showed him as a king who is ready to take responsibility for his people.)

2) Loki

Of course, we had a speech about Thor, now time for our favourite God of Mischief. I'm gonna get this straight, I love him. And I love Tom Hiddlestone. This is not surprising. I feel very bad what MCU did to both of them: to Loki as a character who should be like a snake, smarter than most of people, powerful god and to Tom who really cared about him and was trying to portray him the best he can. If not Loki, at least Tom needs some justice. Please, somewhere in alternative universe. This man is a gift from gods.

The big plus is that Loki 2012 ran away with Tesseract. I saw this scene and I was like "Oooh, okay, that's how they will have him alive in a tv series!". He is alive somewhere and I live for it!

And right, if you are wondering why Thor hasn't spoken once Lokis' name - remember that he was his brother? He loved and still loves him? They just made up and then Loki was killed! Thor can't say this name out loud, it would break him to pieces completely.

(That is something I want to believe in. It’s better than - Marvel just doesn’t want Loki anymore.)

3) Hulk - Banner

There is not many things I can say about it, but: I kinda feel like it was stupid idea, but okay. I'd prefer them to be separate beings, but have an agreement, how they are going to do things or something. Whatever!

I felt like Bruce we got in Endgame wasn't Bruce we know and love. Some of you can say that he changed, because he didn't treat Hulk as an ilness anymore and I get it,  but still. . . Something was off for me. 

I liked that he brought some humor too, but have you ever seen what predispositions Mark Ruffalo has to play dramatic scenes? HAVE YOU?! You know how great he could play after finding out Natasha's dead? This is probably the biggest dissapointment I have, that they didn't use his acting skills in this scene. I will never forgive for such a waste.

4) Natasha

I am a fan of Scarlett and Black Widow (in MCU and comics) and do you want to tell me, that she didn't even get a funeral? You're gonna tell me, that her friends didn't care enough to say goodbye to her this last time? Especially, when she sacrificed herself for the entire world? Yes, not only Tony, but Natasha too!

I am sad and angry about that. Burton, at least you. . . Their fight hit me right in the guts, I loved this duo.

And right, what was going on with Hawkeye? I mean, he was killing people, he was like "I've gone crazy", then Natasha came, said that they can fix that and he's immedietaly like "Okay, I'm back, but with the new haircut"?

5) Steve (and Sam. . . and Bucky)

Steve being worthy? I'm here for it! Steve using lightnings? I'm ace, please, don't fuck with me.

It was a moment in my theater when everyone gasped and one guy shouted "OH SHIT, HE FUCKING DID IT!" (but in my language it sounded harder, more harsh and was totally not for children's ears). Someone who hasn't watched Age of Ultron or doesn't know the Thor franchise, may think "Okay, lifting hammers had to be very difficult thing for this handsome man in riding-breeches", but it was something, rigtht? Everyone's heart started beating faster.

But why Steve fucking Roger was able to use Thor's power? I need to know, because it doesn't make any sense to me, especially when it was clearly said that the power is inside of Thor, not in the hammer.

Sam being new Captain? I have nothing against Sam, but. . . we don't know him very much. He was a sidekick we saw just few times. For me, Rhodey could dissapear in IW instead of Sam and then we'd get something more about him. He could do something heroic. But like that? I don't buy it. 

And are you gonna tell me that Steve left Bucky like that? He was ready to do everything for that guy, yet he left him alone and didn't even say proper goodbye. Was that the end of the line? (’Bros befores hoes’ doesn’t work the same way anymore? Sorry, I love Peggy, but I had to.) And don't even let me start on the fact that Avengers have just lost Natasha and Tony. Really, Steve?

It doesn't mean I don't like his ending, it was a perfect one for him. He finally found some peace with a woman he loved and I'm proud of our boy.

I'm proud of both of them: Tony and Steve. Because this movie was a great ending for these two. We have been watching Tony's character development since 2008, his way was long and hard; he became a loving husband and father; he finally learned to do things for others not only for himself.

Steve on the other hand was closed in a 'perfect hero' box. He was trying to be good and he was forgetting about himself in the process. Finally, he thought about himself and made a choice that was only for his own good. I haven't cried. Not at all. Not once. 

I love them both 3000 and I'm gonna miss them so much it totally doesn't hurt.

6) Girls heroes posing

Before I start shitting about it - I'm a girl. Let's go.

I don't care about that scene. I don't like it. I don't hate it. I didn't feel any kind of power from it. Nothing. (For the first time I missed it and I feel bad about it.)

You know why? Carol is powerful enough to take them down by herself and she doesn't need help. Letting all of these females be together was used just for one thing - showing that MCU has women. It was a shoutout to us: "SEE? WE HAVE THEM TOO! WE HAVE POWERFUL WOMEN! ARE YOU HAPPY? LOOK HOW FEMINIST WE ARE!"

As a girl and as a feminist. No.

Better learn how to write and show female characters properly than throw them in our faces. Better let women write female characters.

Although I’m glad that something like that was included,

7) Captain Marvel

I like her. She is the one I needed in the MCU. (Well, we have Natasha, Maria, Shuri and Wanda, but they don't have a solo movie. . . yet.) But making the whole Endgame aroung her would be ridicoulus. Directors didn't know how people are going to react on Carol, a big part of the audience didn't know about her. It would be a dangerous move. (But still, why didn't they call after here earlier. . .)

Still I love her, she’s powerful and beautiful! 

(My brother’s and cousin’s reaction was the purest: “She seems so awesome! Girl is gonna kick some asses!”)

AND NOW SOME GOOD SHIT (I mean, those above were good too for me... most of it):

1) Dr. Strange

It was probably the whole fucking cosmos for Benedtic Cumberbatch! I mean, what did he do in this movie? He said like three sentences, showed one finger and held water. Playing this role was probably just a big mood, I mean, you have no idea what you are doing, you are just moving weirdly your hands, hoping it makes sense!

Also, using Strange in a fight would mean that the whole shit ended quickly. So what he had to do?

Held water.

"Wait guys, I can't fight now, I'm holding the water!"

(Hold the door!)

2) Peter Parker

Just.

There is nothing more to say.

He makes everything better.

3) I love you 3000 and cheeseburgers

Do you know what is the perfect way to make a young ‘I don’t cry on movies’ woman cry on movie? That's the way.

4) AVENGERS ASSEMBLE

I screamed.

5) Guardians of the Galaxy and their small interactions with one other

6) Ant-Man

I have a soft spot in my heart for that man and his role in this movie was great.

7) Time travelling

If you want to complain, remember, Endgame is not a movie about time travelling. It is a movie that has time travelling in it. I like their solution, especially that this is a very difficult topic and can be very easly destroyed (you can see it in DC serial's like "The Flash" - sorry fans, I like this show, but the time travelling is just a nope for me, it doesn't make sense in the latest seasons even more). Using this way was kinda smart, at least it was something different.

8) HAIL HYDRA

My whole theatre cheered and started clapping.

9) The final battle

It is something to make a battle that is not boring and it is well known what is happening during it.

10) INTRODUCTION TO MULTIVERSE

Generally it was a good movie and it made a small progress. I had a big fun during it! I loved every blink to that part of the audience, which knows these movies and heroes like mothers know their children. I'm gonna miss Cap, Tony and Nat.

And guys. . . This is the end of the era. The very great era I'm grateful to be part of.

I feel like I'm gonna cry now. While I was writing this, the thought it is the end of something just hit me so hard I have tears in my eyes.

The best eleven years of my life. Let's see what comes next.

PS What do you think about Peter coming back to school? I mean, it looked like every person was erased, because what. . . If Ned disappeared too, it means that him and Peter don’t see each other only for a moment and they greeted like it was a really long time! Even if only Peter was gone, Ned would be an adult already. He’d graduated school a few years earlier. Just imagine this mess when everyone came back.

BLESS YOU ALL!

#avengers #endgame spoilers #avengers endgame #endgame #marvel endgame #tony stark #peter parker #thor odinson #thor #loki laufeyson #loki #natasha romanoff #black widow #steve rogers #captain marvel #captain america #bucky barnes #tom hiddleston #marvel #hulk #antman #wanda maximoff #dr strange #thanos #gamora #nebula #infinity war #infinity stones #mcu #marvel mcu

[withallthingslove]

avengers endgame spoiler-filled review

below the cut bc spoilers obviously

even after two viewings this movie is super overwhelming so I’m just gonna jump right in

- clint’s family disappearing was so haunting and traumatic omg

- i didn’t like the music choice over the marvel opening crawl

- nebula was so adorably intense when tony playing footbal with her

- carol is such a bad bitch she just carried an entire fucking ship through space

- steve running up to tony and holding on to him... that was content I didn’t know I needed

- the pepperony hug ughhh I’m not a huge gwenyth paltrow fan but she was so good as pepper in this

- honestly I get tony has been through a lot but he was such a dick back at the avengers compound. I’ve always preferred steve to tony and that scene really displayed why. Yes tony was right something bigger was coming, but his way of going about preventing it was proven wrong both times. I don’t consider ultron to be super canon because joss whedon sucks but tony’s first idea to try and solve it failed, and then the accords also failed and even rhodey regretted it. Infinity war was basically “hey yeah the accords was dumb af and steve was right and now the avengers are scattered.” Both tony and steve were selfish and made mistakes in civil war but the fact that it had been over three years and tony was still soooo angry with steve and holding a grudge just rubbed me the wrong way.

- I really felt for thor when they went to get thanos. Chris hemsworth’s acting in that scene was so good when he realized they had failed

- again who on earth put steve in charge of a support group. And while yes its nice to have some lgbtq representation marvel is way behind on that so to me it did not feel like enough

- paul rudd did so well in this movie and scott is such a good dad ugh

- 10/10 would die for morgan stark. She is soooo cute and it was hilarious when she was like “mom told me to come rescue you”

- i know a lot of people are mad at tony dying bc he could have “retired” but that scene with his daughter before steve, nat, and scott show up shows he could not. He still had a garage where he built iron man suits and suits for pepper. That’s not what someone does when they are out of a fight. That’s why he fell back into it so fast because he never left it. He was still tinkering and preparing and even when he retired he was still fully ready to go back

- i like professor hulk but at the same time i miss bruce

- tony and steve love each other so much it made me so happy when tony showed up at the compound. they’ve had their differences but there is real love there

- speaking of real love I will still never forgive joss whedon for taking clintasha away from us like yes their platonic friendship is great but UGH. They love each other SOOOOOOO much 

- tom hiddleston as loki always steals the show and i miss him so much. I was convinced he wasnt dead so I’m sad that he was still dead in the current timeline. But maybe since there is now an alternate dimension with loki and the tesseract he will show up again

- him impersonating steve, his side eye, just... *chefs kiss*

- the america’s ass comment... amazing, iconic, beautiful. And then steve’s “yeah I know” comment to his 2012 self. I’m so glad the russos let steve be funny

- I love how much winter soldier played into this one especially since it was the russo’s first mcu movie. The elevator scene... steve outsmarting the hydra agents. Secretary pierce showing up... and then steve fighting his past self was just *chefs kiss* again. The fact that he knows his own weakness is bucky and uses it against himself 

- not excited to see tilda swinton’s character because its just a reminder of marvel’s whitewashing but I appreciated it trying to explain the timeline/dimension stuff

- i also loved that at the army compound tony was able to get closure with his dad, something he deserved for a long time. I think that was another hint he was going to die because his arc was completing while steve’s.... the look on steve’s face when he saw peggy just broke me. absolutely broke me. Steggy was my first ship in the mcu and so steve and peggy hold a special place in my heart. The fact she still keeps the picture of tiny steve after all these years (a reference to agent carter)... they both moved on enough to enjoy life but never truly moved on enough to leave the other behind. And so while tony was getting closure, steve was being reminded of what he wanted most and couldn’t have. I also loved the tie in with agent carter and showing Jarvis this movie was truly a fan service to us all

- okay so rhodey/nebula: so ive never been a huge nebula person but i really liked her in this movie. I loved rhodey’s line about “you work with what you got” as far as their disabilities. I felt so bad for new nebula because old nebula SUCKKSSS and I hate she had to face her. I loved that in this movie thanos was wearing his armor because 2014 thanos was not as strong or secure with himself. His energy was SO different compared to the thanos we saw in infinity war so props to josh brolin

- natasha/clint: Well go ahead and rip my heart out. The audience knows only one of them is coming back but they have no idea. And they love each other SO FUCKING MUCH they both tried to sacrifice themselves to save the other person. That is true love. Jeremy renner is such an underrated actor and his reaction to natasha dying just killed me. But so did scarlett johansson’s acting as much as I hate to admit it because I’ve really stopped liking her as much due to her recent acting choices but she played that scene so well. And I will miss natasha romanoff forever. She deserved so much more and paved the way for all the other female superheroes in the mcu

- everyone crying over nat and especially steve broke me. They had such a special friendship, almost as strong as her and clint and I feel so many people forget that because of how natural they were together. And her last words to him were that she would see him in a minute and then she didn’t come back..

- i just realized i havent talked about thor and thats honestly because my brain blocked it out. I like that they explored his depression but dont like that he was made the joke of the avengers and I don’t think it was handled well. I did enjoy his conversation with frigga and by that I mean it made me cry. (also loki deserves a conversation like that too don’t @ me)

- STEVE WIELDS MJOLNIR!!! IT WAS SO BADASS AND MY DREAM COME TRUE I HAVE NEVER BEEN MORE EXCITED IN A MOVIE. To me that was the absolute highlight of the movie

- And then sam says “on your left” and all the characters come and the music... poetic cinema

- thanos is a weak little bitch and as soon as wanda was beating him he was fine with his own troops dying just so he could get away

- TONY AND PETER REUNITING CURED MY DEPRESSION AND THEN GAVE IT RIGHT BACK

- CAROL IS SO POWERFUL MY LESBIAN QUEEN

- sebastian stan has no business looking this good my god

- I forgot how much I missed peter parker

- I didn’t notice mbaku until my second viewing and honestly the wakandan characters were shafted like poor shuri we didn’t even know she was dusted until a few weeks before the movie

- I know everyone loves the scene of all the women characters carrying the gauntlet but honestly marvel has a long way to go before they reach equality and it honestly wasn’t enough for me

- side note pepper fighting back to back with tony was awesome

- ugh tony’s face when he realizes what he has to do and he looks at strange for confirmation... give rdj an oscar like my god. He knows that the past few years have led up to this moment and he is absolutely terrified and determined and I am tearing up while writing this because I am remembering it so vividly

- peter parkers goodbye had me crying why is tom holland such a good actor

- pepper’s goodbye BROKE ME... “you can rest now” I think that is the epitome of tony’s arc. For his entire storyline he has been trying to right his wrongs and save his friends and the world and that is so much for one man to carry on his shoulders and everyone knew it would be the death of him. I know tony stans are pissed off that he died, but I don’t see him just being able to retire. Obviously I didn’t want him to die, but his whole storyline has been leading up to this. He truly got a hero’s sendoff and was solidified as THE hero of the mcu. This era started with him and it ended with him. It was a beautiful sendoff for the character that started it all. And I don’t think rdj would go along with it if he didn’t approve

- Steve’s ending.... so I knew from spoilers what would happen and while it was something I wanted in theory I was pissed when I first found out. But it somehow worked. If you look at steve’s arc, he has always been a man out of time. For everyone getting mad he was hung up on a girl he kissed once, it’s pretty much confirmed in agent carter that he and peggy were on the DL for 3 years. she wasnt just a crush he knew for a few months. They loved each other and fought side by side for three years and time took him too soon. In age of ultron the only part I liked was steve’s vision where he gets a dance with peggy. As much as he moved on in the present, the possibility he missed with her always haunted him. You can tell in peggy’s video in the winter solider that even though she married and had kids, the thought of steve still gets her choked up. When she sees him as an old woman she immediately crumbles. They both have referred to each other as the loves of their lives. 

- So with that said, I don’t think it’s weird or out of the blue that he would suddenly decide to try and go back to peggy. They won, bucky is back and safe, sam is back and safe, he can finally rest, and he has the tools to go back in time. The way I interpreted it, Bucky 100% knew what he was going to do. The look on his face, the tone of his voice. He knew Steve was not coming back, and he also knew he deserved to have that happy ending. So while sam and bruce thought it would only be 5 seconds, bucky turned away from the machine, knowing steve wouldn’t show up there. I ship stucky too because I just want steve happy so while at first I was like “how could he leave bucky??” watching it on screen it made sense. Bucky approved of his choice, and while he was saddened by it, he understood it. 

- In my interpretation, I don’t think steve stayed in the main timeline. I think him going back created an alternate timeline where he married peggy, dissolved hydra earlier, and freed bucky earlier. At some point, those two timelines merged, and he wandered over to where he knew they would be. OR after peggy died, he used the technology to travel back to that timeline when he was old. Or my friend suggested he could have met tony stark in his alternate timeline and asked for his help. Who knows. He literally came back with a shield, meaning he was at one point captain america again in that timeline. I don’t think there is anyway he could just stay quiet for 70 years about bucky being tortured and peggy running shield that was secretly hydra. I refuse to believe that. If the russos come out and say that’s what he did, then I’ll backtrack and say I don’t approve of steve’s ending. But as of right now I’m okay with it. 

#avengers endgame spoilers #avengers endgame #avengers 4 #steve rogers #tony stark #natasha romanoff #clint barton #bruce banner #scott lang #pepper potts #peggy carter #steggy #bucky barnes #stucky #pepperony #carol danvers #thor #marvel #mcu #mcutext #marvel text post #mine