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disillusioneddanny · 8 months

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Fic Stats Game

Rules: Give us the links to your fic with the most hits, second most kudos, third most comments, fourth most bookmarks, fifth most words, and fic with the least words.

I was tagged to do this by both @nikki-pondtheauthor and @halfagone! Thanks for the tag friends <3333

Fic with the Most Hits

Ah, Sunflower (DpxDc)

Danyal Al Ghul faked his death to give his younger brother a better life and to give himself the life that he always wanted. Damian Al Ghul was happy to learn his older brother was dead. No longer did he have to live under his shadow. As the years go by, though, this changes for both of them. Danny Fenton never got the life he always wanted. Damian Wayne has realized he will never see his brother again. That is, until the bats summon the Ghost King and soon two sunflowers finally start to grow the way they were meant to.

Second Most Kudos

Holding Me Now in Hand (DPxDC)

After Tim Drake tells his family about his new insane chemistry teacher, Dick Grayson decides to do some investigation himself. What he wasn't expecting was to instantly fall in love with the chaotic science teacher. Danny had managed to make a new life for himself in this new dimension as a science teacher at Gotham Academy. He had a fulfilling life, teaching the kids of Gotham how to survive on the streets and then at night protecting the bats who roamed the streets. Now, to make things even better, he had somehow caught the attention of Dick Grayson. If Danny had to be honest, his life was going pretty great for him. Now he just needed the other shoe to drop.

Third Most Comments

Mesmeric Revelation (DPxDC)

Danny couldn’t stop the future. That much was true. Despite not cheating on his CAT and doing every single thing by the book to make sure that this future was not a reality, it had happened anyway. The nasty burger had blown up. His parents, Jazz, Sam, Tucker, they were all in the building when it happened. With his friends and family dead, Danny goes to the only place he thinks is safe. The infinite realms. As Danny attempts to move on from the tragedy he manages to get summoned by cultists, build a new family for himself and even find love. Not all in that exact order. Tim Drake thought getting kidnapped by cultists was probably the most annoying thing to have ever happened to him. Little did he know it would also be the best thing to ever happen.

Fourth Most Bookmarks

Mesmeric Revelation (DpxDC)

Fifth Most Words

Cat's Cradle (57,234 words) (DpxDC)

After Danny's sister throws him into the portal for his own safety, the halfa feels lost, alone, and without a haunt. That is, until Clockwork gives him a new purpose. Somehow this new purpose thrusts Danny into his new life as the protégé of one Catwoman and the new pain in the ass for a certain sword wielding Robin. Damian Wayne didn't know what to think about the new Catboy that was following behind Catwoman. On one hand, he was a nuisance that caused him nothing but grief. On the other, he was charming and made Damian smile like no other.

Fic with the Least Words

Doodles on the Palms of Our Hands (1,438 words) (DPXDC)

Damian and Danny get ready for Danny to meet Damian's family for the first time. First, they share a tender moment between the two of them.

I will tag @halfblackwolfdemon @susiron @gilbirda @gremlin-bot @bewitched-forest feel free to ignore this :)))

#dpxdc #tag games #dis dreams #fic stats

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dunkzillla · 2 years

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New Tricks for an Old Dog (2/?)

William Regal x Wheeler Yuta, Chuck Taylor x Wheeler Yuta

This took a little while but here is chapter two! A small filler chapter until the next one which is Uh, more fruity.

Title: New Tricks for an Old Dog

Pairings: William Regal/Wheeler Yuta, Chuck Taylor/Wheeler Yuta, Bryan Danielson/Daniel Garcia, Jon Moxley/Eddie Kingston, William Regal/Tony Schiavone

Ratings/Warnings: Mature — Derogatory language towards sex workers, mentions of death due to terminal illness.

Word Count: 2473

Parts: ONE

Summary: William Regal is a lonely old man looking for a way to feel alive.

The soft sounds of Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra on the radio are disrupted by loud jockeying, the scuff of boots and grunts.

“Bryan, Jonathon, do remind me, how old will you turn next birthday?” William Regal says as his two wayward adoptees stumble into the room, the smaller of the two hanging off the larger, arms wrapped around his neck in a headlock.

“Forty two, sir.” Bryan says, though he doesn’t release the hold on Jon. Jon doesn’t answer, two busy trying to push Bryan off of him.

“Then it would be wonderful if you acted like it, dear.”

“He started it.” Jon grunts, finally managing to detach his little hanger-oner.

“Moxley, I simply don’t believe that, but even so, I don’t care, not at the breakfast table.” Regal says, and he turns the page of the newspaper he’s reading. His two protégé’s take their seats at the long wooden table, instantly reaching for toasted bread, crumpets and fruit that line the table each morning. His chef, Claudio, makes sure that they have a banquet morning, noon and night.

“So, did you go see him?”

Regal tips his newspaper down to look at Bryan, who’s talking around a slice of toast. “Hm?”

Bryan swallows before he speaks again. “Daniel’s friend, did you go and see him last night?”

“Jesus Christ, you’re not seeing hookers now too, are you old man?”

Bryan’s head whips to Jon, a scowl twisting up his face. “They’re not hookers, they’re sex workers, escorts. We don’t call them hookers.”

“They’re not escorts, you book escorts through an agency, real high class kinda shit, hookers stand on the street and suck your dick for the price of a gram of crack cocaine.” Jon shoves half a slice of toast into his mouth and chews on it like it tastes bad.

“I can assure you the price I paid would get you more than a gram, Jon. Yuta was quite lovely, Bryan, you were right.” Regal says, setting his newspaper down in his lap and picking up his tea to take a sip.

“Are you going to see him again?”

“I think I might, he was very enthusiastic, we had a lovely time.”

“Of course he was enthusiastic, you’re giving him money and a good time, it’s a win fucking win.” Jon throws the crust of his toast down on his plate and pushes himself away from the table, storming away in true Moxley fashion.

“What the fucks his problem?” Bryan asks, grabbing a peach from the centre of the fruit bowl.

“Haven't the foggiest, did he get into a fight with Mr Kingston again?”

“Probably,” Bryan says, biting into the peach and slurping at the juice that trickles down his palm. “He talks bad about paying for sex but paying for sex is better than having sex with Eddie Kingston.”

“Now Bryan, don’t be spiteful. They’re very sweet together when they don’t keep me up till five in the morning arguing about who was looking at Claudio’s rather nice rear end the most.”

Bryan huffs out a laugh, but he finishes the rest of his peach in silence. The music comes back into focus, and Regal resumes reading his paper.

“You enjoyed it, then?” Bryan says after a while.

Regal closes his paper again. “Very much so. He was nothing like I expected. Pretty little thing, very polite and sweet. And dare I say he seemed to enjoy our time together.”

“Danny always enjoys it when I come around. When they get good men it makes them happy. Are you gonna’ put him on retainer?”

Regal hums. He can’t say he hasn’t thought about it. Last night with Yuta was wonderful. He’s never used the services of a sex worker before, hadn’t ever thought about it until Bryan told him all about Daniel and what they are to each other. He’d denied it to himself for quite a while. He’s an old man, he really has no business looking for a young man to have sex with him just because he has the money to pay for it, but he’s gotten lonelier lately, and with the way Bryan had described Yuta, he couldn’t resist taking a look. He told himself that even if it only happened once that would be okay, a young man looking to earn some money would get just that, and they’d at least have a nice time.

But they had more than a nice time, and Regal would really like it to happen again. Yuta seemed to want it to happen again, with the way he said he was looking forward to their next meeting. Or maybe he’s a foolish old man believing the words of a young man paid to say things like that.

“I’m not sure, I guess that would be up to the young man. Is that what you do with Daniel?”

“Tried to, but he fights me every time I bring it up. He’s furiously independent and tells me that I can’t stop him sleeping with other people because I don’t own him,” Bryan rolls his eyes, but he’s smiling fondly, “He's a brat, but I’m working him down.”

“You sure do like a challenge, don’t you?”

“He won’t resist me for much longer.”

“All the luck to you, Bryan my boy. What’s on the agenda for you today?”

“Teaching a kickboxing class at the gym at ten, probably stick around to see if anyone wants one on one training.”

“You’d better get going then, or you’ll be late.”

Bryan reaches for another peach, “Yes sir.” He grins at him, giving him a salute before he’s leaving the room.

As soon as it had become noisy the room falls quiet again, with only the sounds of the radio to be heard. For all that he bemoans the two, Regal’s thankful that he has Bryan and Jon living with him in this huge house of his.

He’s thankful for them, period. They found him at a hard time in his life, widowed, drinking and taking whatever pills he could find, and they pulled him back from the brink, keeping his gym going when he’d all but given up hope on it.

They don’t make him feel any less lonely, though. They’re always around, in and out of their home at all times of the day, dropping in on him when he’s in his office going over accounts and figures to bring him food or a cup of tea. But it’s nothing like having a partner, and when he’s alone in bed at night, wishing for the warm touch of a lover, he feels the loneliest.

Bryan suggested using an escort when Regal divulged his loneliness to him one evening, telling him about his own trips to see Daniel on a street half an hour away from their home. He’d dismissed the idea at first, but then he’d laid abed alone, and it was all he could think about until he asked Bryan for the street number again and made a plan to go.

Regal had tried dating in the past, but he found that most men that were attracted to him were more attracted to his bank account than they were him, and while he enjoys spoiling the people he cares about, when someone is rinsing your wallet and not giving anything back, not even love or affection, it really doesn’t feel good, so he’d given up. At least paying for company Regal can control what he spends, who he spends it on, and just what he gets in return.

Regal finishes his tea and takes his cup into the kitchen. Claudio is there, preparing vegetables by the sink. Claudio had come to him not long after Bryan and Jon had, a friend of the two, down on his luck after losing his job. Regal had taken pity on him and given him a job at the gym. He was a good employee, his passion for fitness and nutrition was quite evident, especially when he started handing out prepared meal plans to some of their more regular clients. He told Regal once about his love of food, and how he had always wanted to be a chef but had never been able to quite land the job of his dreams. Regal took him into his home and his kitchen immediately after.

“Mr Regal, how are you today?” Claudio asks him politely, wiping his hands on a cloth.

“Wonderful Claudio, thank you, and you?”

“Wonderful too sir, thank you. I’m just making some soup. Would you like some for lunch this afternoon?”

Regal hums, “That would be great Claudio, thank you. I will be back around noon, I’m going to run some errands for a little while.”

“I’ll have it ready for you when you get back sir.”

“Smashing, thank you Claudio.” He gives him a gentle wave before he heads out, grabbing his keys from the hook by the door and heading out to the car.

Regal goes to the bank first. He’s not at all paranoid about the fact that he gave a stranger his credit card and the PIN number for it, but he’d like to keep track of the amount spent on it, just in case he has to cancel it because the spendings getting a little out of hand. He uses the little machine to check his account, and finds no transactions since he gave Yuta the card. He wasn’t expecting that. He wasn’t expecting excessive spending either, because Yuta had tried to give it back to him, told him it was too much to accept, but he expected a few transactions. Anyone would be silly not to take advantage of having such a thing given to them.

Regal asks the teller to set up the mobile alerts for when the card is used and then he’s on his way, getting back into his car and heading to the cemetery.

The florist is across the street, and he heads over to her and makes the usual conversation with her as he chooses which bunch of flowers to buy.

“Miss Rose, beautiful as always. I’ll take these, please.” He picks a bunch of sunflowers speckled with a few red roses.

“Thank you Mr Regal, nice to see you as always.” She says, wrapping up his flowers and handing them over to him with his change.

“You too Miss Rose, have a lovely day.”

He takes the flowers over the road into the cemetery. He makes sure to come every few weeks to top up Tony’s grave with a fresh bouquet, to tell him what he’s been up to and if anything’s been happening.

“Hello my love, I hope you like these.” Regal says, and he gets down on his hunches so he can start pulling away the old dead bouquet from the vase of his beloved late husband's grave.

It’s been many years since Tony passed away, over a decade, but it doesn’t hurt any less, nor has his affection for him diminished, he still loves him the way he always has, and he misses him dearly.

If there’s one thing that William Regal has learnt being rich, is that money can’t buy you everything. It can solve a lot of problems, it can give you a wonderful life, but it can’t buy you everything, and Regal realised that when he threw every dollar and cent he had at Tony’s cancer treatment and it didn’t do anything. He still died.

“I met a beautiful young man last night. You’d have loved him, great fashion sense, should have seen his boots.” Regal says, and he uses the pen knife in his pocket to snip the ends of the flowers off so they fit in the vase. The flowers fill the vase and bring colour to the otherwise grey stone. He runs his fingers over the picture of Tony that’s mounted on his stone, a time before cancer took over his body and withered it away.

“I think I’m going to see him again. His smile was beautiful, and his touch made me feel, well, like I’m not alone in the world. Alive.” He whispers the last word, like it’s not a word he should say in a cemetery.

“I know what you’d say, ‘oh you old fool, trying to relive your youth’, maybe I am, petal, maybe I am. Maybe I want to feel the excitement I did when I met you.” He smiles, thinking about meeting Tony in his youth and falling in love with him. They had the time of their lives together, even if they couldn’t live together forever.

“Keep out of trouble up there, won’t you pet?” He says like he always does. He blows Tony a little kiss before he stands up, hearing his knees click.

He waves to the florist before he gets back into his car and drives home. Like he said, Claudio has the soup warming, just ready and waiting for him with a warm bread roll.

Jon joins him, noisily slurping down his own bowl of soup as he recounts his tails of the morning, his little tantrum about Regal’s escort usage completely forgotten.

Once he’s enjoyed lunch and spoken with Jon for a while he retires to his office, works on the gyms accounts until it’s time for dinner. This time Bryan, Jon and Claudio join him, and he enjoys listening to them all talk about their days, Jon flirting with Claudio so much that Bryan pretends to wretch at the shameless flirting. Claudio receives it wonderfully, though he doesn’t quite return it, there’s a blush on his cheeks that tells Regal that Claudio is too embarrassed in front of everyone to do so.

When dinner is cleared away, Regal goes back to his office and works on the accounts a little more before he gets restless. It’s only half eleven, and he’s nowhere near tired. He’s bored, and the books he picks up don’t interest him, nor does the radio or TV. He’s lonely, and Jon is off god knows where with Eddie and Bryan is nowhere to be found.

So Regal goes upstairs and takes a shower. He combs his hair back, spritz on aftershave and a nice suit, and gets into his car and drives to the same street he did last night.

Yuta is standing on the sidewalk, one leg crossed over the other with his arms over his chest, his little bag over his arm and his sparkly top glinting under the street lights. When the young man sees his car he smiles and comes towards him, hips swaying in his tight little skirt, and leans into the window that Regal opens.

“Evening Mr Regal.” He says sweetly, eyes shining as bright as his glittery lipstick.

Regal smiles. “Evening, little Yuta. Care to join me?”

#william regal #wheeler yuta #bryan danielson #jon moxley #claudio castagnoli #eddie kingston #tony schiavone #writing #wheeler yuta x william regal #bryan danielson x daniel garcia #the real juicy stuff is coming next chapter I promise!!!

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hannahhook7744 · 1 year

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Red Hearts headcanons;

Her name isn't actually Red, that's just a nickname.

Her actual full name is Róisín Evangeline Hearts.

Her father is the king of Hearts.

Her favorite colors are pink and red.

She has brown eyes and black hair with red streaks.

She's been nicknamed 'Red' since she was a little kid because of her extreme love for the color.

Red has a nack for getting herself (and her friends) in and out of trouble.

She has been described as rebellious, troublesome, and whip-smart.

She loves elaborate dresses but also loves a nice, simple, comfy outfit from time to time.

Red loves provoking her mother against her older brother, Hardy's, wishes because she knows she'll never gain her approval.

She loves pulling pranks, playing cards, solving mysteries, and ghost hunting.

She has a card symbol choker necklace with matching earrings.

She usually travels with a playing card hoverboard.

Red's weapon of choice is a flamingo croquet mallet.

Her favorite holiday just so happens to be Chloe's least favorite and that's Halloween. She likes it because no one looks at her weird and Chloe hates it because of the dragons.

Red also enjoys acting, musicals, croquet, and poetry.

Red and Hardy both inherited their mother's temper. She's just better at hiding it than he is.

She is also a big fan of unbirthday cakes, princessy stuff, and roses.

She doesn't get along that well with her mother or her father who she thinks is spineless but she still loves them.

Trials bore her.

Red met Chloe when they were 10 after the barrier was brought down and they instantly became bestfriends.

She swore to Chloe that she'd help her find Chad after he disappeared and never gave up on it.

Eventually, they somehow managed to drag Danny Darling, Maddox Hatter, and Hadie into it and even convinced the Badun Detective Agency and the other protégés to give them a hand occasionally.

She is 18 by the time the events of the pocketwatch occur.

Flamingos are her favorite animal and eventually Chloe gets her one as a pet.

She names it 'Ruby' and Ruby gets along great with Chloe's pets (Her dog, Bailey. Her horse, Speedy. Her cat, Bumpsy. Her mice—Athos, Porthos, and Felthos. And her elephant, Peepsy).

Red made herself a toy back on the isle that she named 'Ace'. It was made with a card, goggly eyes and glue.

She still has the toy in her room on her desk.

She and Chloe are roommates at Auradon Prep.

Red and her brother help out at her mom's salon.

Red's mother use to be (and may still be) a teacher at Dragonhall.

Her favorite sport is foul ball.

Her favorite video games are Storm the Castle and Crown of Duty.

Gil fixes any rips in her outfits because her brother is in his crew.

Her favorite classes are Flying Ed (Flying Carpet driver's ed) and Jousting class.

Red is apart of the following: Jousting club, Debate club, croquet club, and the school newspaper.

She looked up to Dizzy alot since she is younger than her.

Every year on Unification Day Holiday and King Beast's Honorary Holiday, she vandalizes the museum and his statues.

She hates Beast, obviously.

Of the boys, she's closest to Maddox.

She doesn't take Hadie or his 'minions' seriously because she doesn't really believe their evil.

She gets along with him and his friends just fine though.

She also gets along great with Danny.

She gets along fine enough with Ally despite their differences.

Red's favorite bands are The Bad Apples and The Dragon Slayers but cannot stand The Sorcerer's Appertinces or Aladdin and the Lamps.

She loves Heavy metal and rock music.

Her favorite social media is InstaRoyal.

Her favorite candy is licorice.

Her least favorite class is Remdial goodness and Ethics.

Red has nearly been kicked out of the School Newspaper writing team and the debate team several times for making people uncomfortable. For bluntly stating the truth.

She also has a sister named 'Quinlynn'.

Also despite their vastly differing appearances, the three of them are (despite popular belief) full-blooded siblings. Genetics are just werid sometimes.

That's all I got for now. Hope you guys enjoyed.

#descendants #disney descendants #melissa de la cruz #the pocketwatch #rise of red #rise of red au #the pocketwatch au #red hearts daughter of the queen of hearts #princess red hearts #red hearts #descendants headcanons #disney descendants headcanons #disney descendants au #descendants au

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killmebythebeach · 1 year

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I'm so tired. TMA Owl House au.

Okay. Instead of covers there's gods, so everyone's more like warlocks. Head of the Isles, Jonah Magnus, unified all witches centuries ago by placing a system so that everyone can only make a deal with one god, having a ceremony on their 16th birthday and training for all their childhood to be suitable for said god.

Since then the Isles have been ruled by a Head, all of whom are to make pacts with the Eye. Eyepocolapse rules as well, so all the warlocks are under the authority of the Eye. Every other God also has a representative acolyte, like a coven head.

Jon the human getting transported to the demon realm as a child, chasing a weird spider. So he's almost like Anne from Amphibia, he's just hiding out in the woods for a few years until local magicless witch finds him.

Said magicless witch is Georgie, cursed as a child to be barred away from ever making a pact by her inability to feel fear. Her and the Admiral, her weirdly powerful cat, take Jon in and they all immediately become friends.

The Institute is where most warlocks train to take in their god. And within the institute is the Archives, a program supervised by Elias (current Head of the Isles) himself, where Avatar Representatives take on an apprentice.

There's Tim who learns under Nikola Orsinov. His brother used to be her apprentice as well, but died soon after making his pact with the Stranger. Tim plans to make his pact with the same god, seeing if he can bargain for his brother back and maybe learn to harness Stranger magic (one of the most difficult pacts). And maybe kill Nikola, who is rumored to be the one to take Danny's life.

There's Sasha under Micheal Distortion, who has had a knack for the Spiral since she was a baby. But she hates it, the attention from teachers and from her god hates the illogicalness she causes and the need to tear her friends (even if Micheal says they are all to be fake) from the in side out with lies. She's here to tear the Spiral apart from the seams, mapping it out and finding patterns.

And then Martin of the Lonely under Peter Lukas. He was taken in as a boy to be part of the Lonely, and has gotten quite good at banishing people to his domain, summoning and disappearing into the fog, and finding lonely people to leech on, even without a pact yet. The latter ability is the reason he's friends with Tim and Sasha, the only two apprentices in the whole place that don't want anything to do with their god.

Let's get into the Avatar Representatives!

Enrique MacMillan of the Buried, obsessed with finding the supposed "hidden treasure" on the Isles. He takes no apprentices.

John Amherst of the Corruption, able to make a person fatally ill with a touch (though they don't die unless he says so) or with any object he inscribes his magic into. His apprentice is Jane Prentiss, who let's bugs live under her skin and seems... borderline enamored with her god.

Maxwell Rayner of the Dark and his assistant/field agent/dragon Manuela Domiguez. The Dark has the youngest apprentice, Callum Brodie, of the whole Archive, a prodigy with the ability to spin tales of monsters and make them true, as long as a person is thinking of them in the dark. Rayner is pretty aloof, so Manuela usually attends to meetings and Callum's studies.

Agnes Montague of the Desolation, one of the newest Avatars, yet to take an apprentice. Not much is seen of her, but other people with the same god tend to not like her much, calling her a spoiled brat or a child protégé. Rumor is she burnt her mentor to a crisp while she was an apprentice, earning her the Representative position.

Oliver Banks of the End, taking over after Nathaniel Thorp went missing. He is generally outlasted by the other Representatives, not exactly well liked for his tendency to give prophesies about their deaths at the staff parties.

Jared Hopworth of the Flesh, earning the Representative position after Angela had been fully consumed by her god. He's rather experimental in his practices, and will try magic out on himself.

Trevor Herbert of the Hunt, never really seen at the Archive. Or at announcements or really by the Head at all, actually. Elias probably prefers that, as Trevor does not act like he's of as much importance as he is. Him and his apprentice, Julia Montauk, are usually on excursions to kill monsters or discovering new Hunt magic practices.

Peter Lukas of the Lonely, coming from a long line of Lonely Reps. He never planned to take an apprentice, but Elias forced him to make use of Martin, the boy he took in years ago, and mold him into a Rep so he doesn't become too powerful without someone to control him.

Newest Rep, Melanie King of the Slaughter, gaining her position after Alfred Grifter had quit. Certainly angry enough to be a Slaughter Avatar, she is reluctant to take the job after she said the Slaughter "betrayed her" by mutilating her leg and leaving her blind. But Elias let's her keep the magic and gives her the position, mostly if not to keep an eye on her.

Micheal Distortion of the Spiral, formerly Micheal Shelley before a higher up tasked him with studying the god. His apprentice, Sasha James, enacts as his assistant, telling her to make friends to lie to and to study her innate Spiral magic.

Nikola Orsinov of the Stranger, not much is known about her, funny enough. Her apprentice is Tim Stoker, motivated by his brother and his brother's death to be part of this god.

Simon Fairchild of the Vast has taken many apprentices over the years, claiming them to be part of his family. His most recent apprentice is Mike Crew.

The Web of course has a Rep, even an apprentice of Annabelle Cane, but no one knows who they are. The only thing Annabelle ever publicly refers to him as is Mr. Spider. Even Elias doesn't elaborate on the mystery to the public.

And of course Getrude Robinson of the Eye, having not taken an apprentice since her last one, Gerard Keay, was taken by Elias to be his personal guard. But after Jon the human is caught sneaking into the Archive in his own burning curiosity, Elias forces her to take him as her apprentice, much to her dismay.

But a human? Oh ho HO. Those guys are terrified of everything, and soon all the gods want the human to be theirs, even if he's under Elias's and Gertrude's direct protection.

And even when Georgie offers him to stay with her, a safe haven where Elias won't find him, Jon refuses. There's just... so many new things to discover. He wants to figure out who Elias is, why Gerard works with him, who the Web rep is, what Gertrude's deal is... he can't just leave when there's so much to uncover.

Plus, Tim and Sasha are right. The best way to take down the operation is from the inside. He keeps in contact with Georgie, consigning to study in the Archive, where everyone is trying to kidnap/convince/possess/kill onto their side, to help them take it down.

#the magnus archives #tma #tma x toh #toh x tma #im... not tagging all those guys.

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crimsonmasks · 2 years

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(Call Me) Little Sunshine 1/?

BCC polycule monster AU where kayfabe is real and AEW is home to demons, sirens, werewolves, an alien, the undead, and in the case of the BCC, vampires.

“You don’t ever think about getting a leg up sometimes?” Yuta asks. “It’s a big decision, but–”

Danny straightens and grunts, putting the bar back into place. “Never. You think Jericho and his boys aren’t just beggin’ to get their teeth into all this?” He gestures to himself and Yuta snickers.

“I’ve told him no every single time. I ain’t like them. And neither are you.”

“I just think,” Yuta starts. “This isn’t, like, a bad offer.”

Yuta knows, logically, his job is weird.

Sometimes he tries to explain it to people, long winded explanations about how he arrived at the point of being in a televised fighting tournament meant for only the most gifted and exceptional athletes, and how some of them (most of them, he thinks, at least the more popular ones) have what Yuta might call an unfair advantage. He doesn’t hold it against them–far from it, Yuta takes pride in being one of the only regular, average humans in his line of work–but he does know, in the part of his brain that comes home at night to Chuck’s pull out sofa that’s long since stopped actually folding into a bed, that yes, his job is weird.

“This is so weird,” he murmurs, mostly to himself. He’s certainly not talking to anyone else in the room, Mox and Bryan and Regal staring at him with unreadable expressions.

They’ve sequestered him in one of the conference rooms the executives keep for meetings, Yuta situated in one of the seats at the middle of the table. He wonders what it says about his confidence that he didn’t pick a chair at the head of the table even in a meeting solely about himself.

“You don’t have to say yes,” Bryan huffs. Mox rolls his eyes at the comment, seemingly hearing it before.

“Yeah, you do; come on, Wheeler, think about it,” Mox begs, his voice strained like he can make Yuta decide if only he’s passionate enough. “Just a couple of test matches, I know you’re gonna get over anyway, and that’s it, you’re in.” He stalks around the room like his legs won’t let him stop, veering to clap Bryan on the back.

“You trust us, don’t you? Two of the best guys in the business, we can make you so good, Wheeler, all you gotta do is say the word.”

Yuta wants to squeak, ‘am I not already good?’ but Regal speaks before he can, commanding the room with the accent light on Yuta’s ears.

“What my protégées are trying to say, dear boy, is that you don’t get opportunities like this often. Once, if ever, in a lifetime.”

“Several fuckin’ lifetimes, even…” Mox says under his breath. He continues to pace, occasionally crowding around Yuta like a shark might circle a seal.

“Take some time and consider it, Sunshine.” Regal squeezes Yuta’s shoulder and his breath hitches. Then they’re gone, all of them falling into step and leaving Yuta alone in an empty room with just his thoughts to keep him company, the sound of the door echoing through the empty hall.

Yuta lies awake that night turning over the ideas in his head. He likes being with the Best Friends–loves them, each and every one of them. However, he can’t help but wonder what it would be like to be at the same level as his friends without having to fight tooth and nail for it.

Kris isn’t normally allowed to use all her powers in the ring out of fairness, but even without the weird alien telekinesis she’s strong, so much stronger than any of the others and certainly stronger than Yuta. Yuta thinks about Danhausen, who’s only recently taken to following Chuck and Orange around, and how even as a bumbling, weird little freak he still has the kind of strength and power that leaves opponents quaking. Yuta walked in on him once accidentally, saw him talking in the mirror to some distorted version of himself, bigger and scarier and decidedly non-human, and promptly turned tail and left.

He thinks about Chuck and Trent and Rocky, the way they throw each other around when they train, too much for Yuta on certain days close to the full moon. Is that what Mox is like with every stable he’s been in? Too powerful for anyone else to handle?

If he took them up on their offer, what would he become? His entire persona would have to change, from Yuta-The-Human to… would he even call himself a vampire?

Mox doesn’t ever use that word. Yuta knows, watching Mox’s old matches from his couch-bed in Chuck and Orange’s living room, even back when he was a wiry little fledgling doing death matches in backyards, that Mox has never used the V Word. Sure, he’s played it up a little, his long hair falling in his eyes as he carves up another wrestler with a glass tube, licks the blood from his hands and smiles at the camera–Yuta’s dick gets hard and he tries desperately to ignore it, playing the next match on the laptop he got from Chuck as a hand-me-down.

It’s from a little later in Mox’s career, but still before he hit it big. He sways into the ring with the same signature gait he’s always had, each step powerful if not a little meandering. When he gets on the mic, the crowd boos; Yuta huffs a small bit of laughter at the incredible change in his popularity in just a few years.

His opponent blindsides him with a leap off the balcony before Mox can react, hitting him hard against the mat. Yuta groans as the man takes a belt to Mox’s back, the anguished, “ah, ah!” noises rising above the cheers of the audience. He whips him again, once, twice, before wrapping the belt against Mox’s neck, choking him against the ropes, and Yuta closes the laptop with a sharp crack.

He’s thinking about it. Just going over his options. That’s all this is.

There are a lot of regular people in the company, but they’re vastly outnumbered by everyone else, the real veterans of the scene, the inhumans. That’s why Yuta seeks out Danny for advice, rather than someone like Chuck or Orange: they don’t really know what he’s going through, not really. Danny would understand being a regular person, and what this offer meant, and give Yuta his no-bullshit opinion.

“Why would you wanna be one of those bloodsuckers anyway?”

He’s spotting Danny as he lowers three hundred pounds into a squat, his thighs flexing. Yuta hovers but doesn’t touch the bar.

“You don’t ever think about getting a leg up sometimes?” Yuta asks. “It’s a big decision, but–”

“I’ve told him no every single time. I ain’t like them. And neither are you.”

“I just think,” Yuta starts. “This isn’t, like, a bad offer.”

“Nah, none of that. That’s how they fuckin’ get you, man. You’re gonna be chained to them for life if you let one of ‘em bite you. No identity of your own; just another bloodthirsty little monster that’s riding a bigger guy’s coattails.”

Yuta lets the words wash over him and finds that they settle warm in his chest. “Just because you wanna be on your own doesn’t mean it’s a bad thing. I don’t know how the blood-bonds work but–”

“But what?” Danny laughs. “You think you’re not good enough on your own? You gotta be someone’s little pet to make it big?”

“Come on, man–”

“I’d never roll over for one of them like that. Not any of ‘em, no matter what they promise; not the vamps, or the demons, or the undead, none of ‘em.”

Yuta can’t help the snort that forces its way out of his nose. “Then why does Chuck say you smell like another wolf all the time? I think you have been rolling over–”

“Oh, fuck off, Wheeler.” Danny snarls, his face burning red. He leaves the gym so fast that Yuta worries he doesn’t catch the echoing, “Tell whoever is giving you that beard burn that Rocky’s told the whole roster you’re spoken for!”

Yuta turns over the pros and cons in his head for days before he finally gets the courage to text the group chat a simple, [can we talk soon?]

Trent responds first. [No.]

His phone luckily lights up with a text from Chuck right after.

[Yeah I’m almost done]

[Got steak for dinner]

[Is everything okay?]

[:((((((]

Yuta doesn’t answer. His phone buzzes again when Orange hearts the message about steak and the sound makes him anxious. He groans.

[yeah everything’s fine]

Trent dislikes the message and Yuta throws his phone into the couch.

“You guys know that I love you, right?” Yuta asks over dinner. There’s a basketball game on the TV that Trent and Orange are watching from the couch while the rest of them sit at the dining room table. Yuta stares at the steak on his plate, jabbing at it.

His appetite leaves him.

“‘Course we do,” Chuck says, cutting his own piece of meat into pieces. It bleeds a considerable amount more than Yuta’s does.

“And I appreciate all you guys have done for me.”

“We love having you,” Chuck says, beaming. “Best friends, right?” His smile is so earnest that Yuta feels sick.

“Fuck, okay, I’m just gonna–I’m just gonna say it. I got an offer from Mox to do a try out with his new faction, and nothing’s set in stone, but. But I just wanted to tell you.”

The sounds in the room grind to a halt. Yuta hears a fork clatter to a plate. Kris stops with a bite of food halfway to her mouth. Chuck stares.

Yuta watches in silence as Chuck’s face contorts, emotions leaving his features just as quickly as they come. He settles on a grimace, a pained attempt at a smile.

“You’re really thinking about leaving?”

Yuta wants to jump off a bridge. “Not, I mean, not right now–and I won’t, there’s like, a big chance they don’t like me. Or I’m not good enough, I won’t get in, or they decide not to–”

“But you want to?” Chuck asks softly.

“It’s–” Yuta pauses. Yes, he wants to. No, he doesn’t. He has to do this. He won’t leave his only friends. Yes, no. Yes, no. “It’s a good opportunity.”

“Oh, bullshit!” Trent says from across the room. “Are you fucking kidding me, Wheeler? Really? We take you in, put you up, teach you fuckin’ everything you know and what, the minute you get a better offer you fuckin’ pack up?”

“Hey!” Chuck tries, his pack leader voice, which Trent has evidently gotten very good at ignoring.

“No, you’re gonna let me fuckin’ talk. You gave the kid all your goddamn time and attention and this is how he repays you?”

“Trent, come on, let’s simmer down a little,” Rocky soothes.

“God, you all baby him because he’s young and breakable and he totally takes advantage of it and I’m the only one who saw it from the fucking beginning.”

“You never mentioned wanting to change,” Chuck murmurs, his voice measured amongst the raw emotion. “We could have helped you, you could have been pack–”

“I didn’t want to be anything, before this!” Yuta chokes. “I didn’t want a set path, I didn’t want to change, I didn’t want to be the third wheel while you and Orange tag. I wanted to–to win on my own.”

“Oh, boo fuckin’ hoo.” Within moments, Trent crosses the room to shove Yuta up against the table. “You know, Wheeler, you belong with those guys; they probably won’t even change you. You can be their pathetic little bloodbag fucktoy, whining about not being strong enough while they take turns–”

“Trent, that’s enough!” Chuck slams his hands down on the table as he rises to his feet. His lips are pulled back in a deep snarl and his face is red. Yuta eyes Kris for support but she resolvedly doesn’t meet his gaze, her hands raised in a clear approximation of “not my business.”

Orange makes his way around to Chuck’s side while he postures, his glare still pointed at Trent, who won’t take his hands away from where they’re knotted in Yuta’s shirt. “You’re just gonna let him betray us, then? Aren’t you mad?”

Chuck makes a noise that would be a sob if it wasn’t so choked down. “I’m fucking gutted, Trent. I know you are too, but this isn’t–”

“He doesn’t mean anything to me; I was just looking out for you fucking idiots.” Trent releases his shirt then, stepping back. He makes a show of placing his hands up and Yuta wonders why before Trent is very slowly letting his claws out. He takes a few more steps back and drops to the couch, running the very tip of the points over the cushions. With a sheer rip Trent claws through the fabric, the stuffing pouring through the gashes.

“Oops,” he whines, “now where will your little pet sleep?”

Yuta finally gets his senses back to him and turns on his heel, ignoring the overlapping concerned calls of his name.

“Don’t go,” he hears Orange say, as close to begging as the man can get. He doesn’t stop until the door is slammed behind him and he’s alone in his car.

No one walks out of the house to follow him.

Yuta doesn’t ask how or why Danny Garcia has Bryan’s address and is thankful he doesn’t feel the need to explain. He doesn’t want to text before showing up, a stupid, prideful part of him deciding that if Bryan turned him away he would just get a hotel and never show his face around work again.

The sun sets on his drive over, and Yuta worries briefly if he might be gone. He parks outside the modest place, a regular house in a regular neighborhood, turns off his car, and allows himself one small breakdown.

His hands hit the steering wheel and his head dips.

This was stupid. He’s stupid. He left the one stable thing in his life, people that love and care about him, on the single conditional offer of three inhumans he barely knows. He has to prove himself to them, has to impress them, show them he’s worthy of being their equal. Christ, they hadn’t even promised to bite him, he just assumed that was where this was headed–

He doesn’t cry, doesn’t let himself yell, just stares at his knees and whispers, “fuck, fuck,” as his head swims with dread. Yuta can feel it bubbling in his chest, his throat, curling around all his organs like smoke and taking form and strangling–

Someone taps on the window. His head snaps up.

“You okay, Wheeler?”

Yuta doesn’t expect genuine concern on Mox’s features but relishes it anyway. He scrubs a hand down his face and finally steps out of the car. “Yeah, man, doing great. My whole faction wants me gone and I have nothing but a single bag and I’m here to beg for a place to stay, so it’s going pretty good for me right now.”

“Oh, Bry’s gonna love that, he’s a sucker for strays.” Mox snorts, one hand coming to rest on Yuta’s back. “Bring your stuff inside and stop bein’ fuckin’ weird; sitting in your car skulking outside Bryan’s fuckin’ house, thought you were some kinda creep.”

Yuta laughs at that, a smile splitting his lips before he can remember all the things he should be upset about. By the time he’s settled on Bryan’s couch, the lights off as the other two men retire to some other part of the house, blanket draped over him and pillow borrowed from Bryan’s bed beneath his head, Yuta can almost pretend he’s at home.

#alright first fic for wrestling let's pull the trigger on this very long very meticulous au #bcc polycule #title is from the ghost song #(Call Me) Little Sunshine #<<<< fic tag

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aliasficrecs · 1 year

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All of our friends and family during the holidays:

Us, reading Alias fanfiction 😌:

You might be wondering why we are Alias characters, if we're supposed to be reading the fanfiction. Are we reading about ourselves? That's not important. What is important is holiday Alias fics!

First off, submissions! We got one from the inimitable juliareed! They recommend Tonight, and here they've described it for us:

Sharing my favorite Alias holiday fic! It’s a mid s3 ensemble fic, called “Tonight”. It has everyone in it: Sydney, Jack, Irina, Sloane, Allison, Lauren, Vaughn, Dixon, Marshall, Weiss, Will, Sark. There’s a separate section dedicated to each character, and every section is incredible. It’s so so great!

Thank you to juliareed for sharing!

Next, you all have to suffer through reading my synopses (but trust me when I say you won't suffer while reading these fics!) In no particular order, we have:

#1 The Near and the Dear Ones by Auburn Sark and Sydney get into a tussle (as they do), and Jack and Irina have to work together to make sure their respective protégés don't freeze to death. Soup, singing, and stripy socks ensue. There are some very excellent conversations between Jack and Irina here! Rated G/K.

Quick sidenote: I think the fic might be archive locked on AO3, which means you have to have an account to read it. It is also on ffn, if you don't have one, however!

#2 The Third Gift by Caedn

Intrigue! Adventure! The magic of Christmas! All that and more awaits you! Sydney gets a mysterious summons to a tomb in Egypt, which happens to a) have a bunch of Indiana Jones-esque traps, and b) be themed after the three wise men. Now, she must navigate the dangers of the tomb with none other than one Mr. Sark in order to learn more about her time in the Covenant, but (as always) things are never quite that simple. Bonus: Will working for the CIA! Rated R.

#3 The Greatest Gift by spaztic lapdancing pinata

Sydney and Francie are shopping when they run into a friend from Syd's work. Vaughn gets invited to a Christmas party, and there's general wonderful fluff all around! The Syd and Francie dialogue is wonderful here, and bonus points for Amy being there! Rated T.

#4 The Sweetness by Karen T

A wonderful, bittersweet journey through Sydney's Christmas memories with Danny. I don't want to say too much and spoil it, but it is hilarious and wonderful, and then very, very heartbreaking. Rated T.

#5 Thaw by Rez

What's a man to do when Jack Bristow tells you to be his daughter's backup at Sloane's Yuletide party? Probably listen to him because he's terrifying. Sark gets a job thrust upon him, Lauren and Vaughn go dancing, and Sydney gets threatened (well, maybe). Rated M.

Another quick sidenote: I think this one is archive locked too, but you can also read it on ffn!

And finally, #6 Secret Spy Santas by vyduan

It's Christmastime at SD-6, and our pals our having a secret Santa exchange! Featuring some *amazing* Syd and Francie friendship and Irina being sweet to her children! (no seriously, Francie steals the show despite the fact she's never actually there. Such is her awesome power!) Sarkney-ish, fair warning. Rated G.

Anyway, stay safe, have fun, and go tell your favourite authors you love 'em! Happy holidays!

#alias #fanfic recs #you might think i did something on time for once on this blog but i actually meant to do this before christmas :') oh well #also sorry for scaring you all with tiny marshall #i love making those stupid pictures

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nelkcats · 10 months

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Anomaly

Since the situation with Dan Phantom, Clockwork realized something very important: Danny was an anomaly, something that even he could not control. He lived outside the laws of time, suffered no consequence for his changes and was basically the representation of the butterfly effect.

That, of course, thrilled him. Since he began his "contract" with the Observants, his movements were restricted, he was forced to follow rules and could hardly act against them. That's why Danny was a blessing, his protégé was not tied to anyone, he could act freely.

Clockwork took advantage of this, he asked him for help frequently, for some things he could not change. This led him to discover another important factor: Danny was balance. He never acted for anything that was not fair. And the Realms followed his wishes.

That's why it didn't surprise him that Danny wanted to help Jon Kent. Clockwork knew how the "New Superman" would end up, he knew the boy would fall into a black hole and lose his childhood, he knew he would be trapped in a volcano for 7 years. The Observants told him it was "inevitable" of course, but as he had learned with young Daniel, nothing was.

Then he told him about the boy, the boy who laughed with joy in his parents' arms and had made a best friend his own age. The boy who had trouble controlling his powers but had a big heart. Just as he imagined, Danny frowned at his "inevitable fate," as a child whose childhood had been stolen, he didn't wish that for anyone else.

Then, the moment Jon fell down the black hole Danny decided to interfere. He changed the location he was headed to the clock tower, he needed the Observants to believe that the event had "happened" before taking Jon back home.

Jon Kent, who had been separated from his grandfather, panicked. Of course, since the Realms didn't have a red sun his powers didn't work, which made him feel worse. That was before he noticed the smiling boy offering him cookies and the old man-floating? looking at him curiously. Jon wondered what situation he had gotten himself into, he hoped Damian would believe his story when he got back.

#dpxdc #Danny is Clockwork's student #Clockwork is like a father to him now #Danny lives in his tower #and help him with time travel interferences #Danny hated Jon's future #Clockwork told him about his supposed fate #but Danny couldn't accept it #Jon deserves to be a kid #all kids deserve a childhood #dp x dc #dc x dp #Jon is confused #he wonders if Damian would believe him #The Infinite Realms follows Danny's wishes #Danny is balance itself

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lucifer-is-a-bag-of-dicks · 3 years

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I hope your doing okay💕

Why dont we shift your focus. It helps me when I get overwhelmed.

So I had this realization a while ago about Danny being OP as heck.

If you stick to the typical "oh no I fell through a portal" crossover take.

How angsty do you think other heroes would be when they realize Danny is pretty much his worlds only hero.

And he doesn't just protect the living. He protects the dead too.

He is solely responsible for two dimensions.

That's a lot.

And he's had zero training and almost no help.

And he's one of the few of his kind.

You can do DC or marvel with this take. Im not picky💕

thank you for sending me this when I was having a rough time that was very thoughtful of you 💖 I have actually been really excited to answer it! (I've just been surprisingly busy/mentally exhausted and had to go through some older asks first)

but yeah this is one of my favourite concepts that like 90% of my maladaptive daydreams love to chew on

because hot diggity damn when you compare him to other media, there are entire superhero organisations or societies built around superheroes where they have mentors and training and backup

Danny gets none of that

he has some human friends, a potential mentor who comes with a steep and patricidal price tag, a bunch of incompetent ghost hunters who also hunt him, one actually pretty competent ghost hunter that not only also hunts him, but does so with a personal vengeance, and the god of time who is only about as vaguely helpful as most omniscient characters ever are

and yeah he not only does he have to protect humans from ghosts, but also has to protect them from the humans who once tried to actually destroy their entire dimension???

bruh he has fought minor gods, a whole ass government agency, his own parents, and he's 14 years old, I couldn't even order a fucking burger at McDonalds at that age without being paralysed with anxiety, imagine having the life of the world on your shoulders?

throw him into the Marvel, DC or MHA universes and they would be fucking horrified

I ACHE for fanfiction that gives me this content, and I find so little of it, like the concept is definitely hanging around a few fics but I just haven't found a fic that really puts the weight behind it, that stomach dropping moment of realisation when an adult looks at this child and realises what he's been through, how it's unlike anything they're own students or protégés have ever been through before because they've always had someone to turn to, they've always had backup

this kid is his world's first line of defence, and the last

he has to fight with the knowledge that whatever gets past him will not be stopped

there's no All Might, there's no Superman, there's no Avengers, there's just a 14 year old kid who has no idea what he's doing

that's it

and you know what makes it so much worse?

is that if Danny is flung via portal shenanigans into one of these universes, he gets to see what he could have had, he gets to feel what it's like to share the burden, to have someone support you and help you

but Danny can't stay there, he has to get home

and then you have these superheroes, who see this child who they so desperately want to keep and protect, but he needs to go home, they have to send him back to that world where he's alone again, where he has no one to help him, where he's living a life absolutely none of them would ever let the children in their own care suffer

fucking. ouch

and then there's Danny, being the recipient of all this pity, and loathing it, yes he wishes he could have lived in this world, he wishes he could have had help, but he didn't, he's not just a child anymore, he's a god damn seasoned warrior

so when they talk to him in pitying tones and try to tell him that at least while he's in their dimension he doesn't have to worry about everything, they can look after him, they can train him, they can make sure he's safe, he feels completely condescended, infantilised

nothing these heroes can do will ever change what he's already had to go through, and by this point in his development, they probably couldn't help him anyway, he's already stronger than most of them

he defeated the King of the Dead in single combat, to insinuate that some basic ass villain heist is Too Dangerous for Children, is a fucking insult

and why should he even trust them? since when has an adult ever not let him down? there were a few old ghosts he trusted but most of those ghosts wore their motivations on their sleeves, humans were a whole different beast, a lot better at hiding their ulterior motives

and besides, even if he did trust them, it's not like he can take all these promises back home with him, letting himself get used to other people fighting battles, growing attached to mentors who will always have his back, it would only make it hurt more when he was home again, back to how it always was

as his world's first, last, and only line of defence

I could probably go on but I'm nodding off and the words are swimming so I should probably end here before I fall asleep and accidentally exit out or something ✨

#asks #danny phantom #you'd be amazed at how many posts I have to hard blink the last couple paragraphs through #I fall asleep writing on my phone all the time #lula's headcanons #lula's aus

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variousqueerthings · 3 years

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@elsonambulo some random HC’s about Silver/Kreese that veered into... something... it’s shippy-ish in the sense that I think they’re in awful villain luuurve, but it’s more about... idk... their backstories? motivations? idk. A mix of things...

1. Okay, I have two different thoughts on whether Silver comes from money, as a bit of backstory

a. he doesn’t come from money and takes over Ponytail Guy’s life when he comes back from the war, essentially taking over as the lost son of these mourning parents

If it were “a” I imagine a very Mr Ripley-esque scenario (bonus points because Ripley is also gay) in which he molds his personality to whatever the situation needs - gets drafted? lean into the helpless “I can’t protect myself” vibe around the bigger men (especially that one guy, Kreese). Has strong vibes of the kid who became friends with head bully so he wouldn’t be bullied himself and did nasty things to other kids - maybe even liked it a lot more than he’d ever admit...

And then once he’s out, he doesn’t forget Kreese at all, he tells him to hang in there and puts in motion his plan to get the money that Ponytail guy came from (maybe he even started earlier, sending heartfelt letters to Ponytail guy’s parents, so they were already attached) and once he’s got it, he immediately gets Kreese those dojos, and Kreese can’t fucking believe it, you weren’t kidding... you’re amazing Terry...

b. he DOES come from money. And he just... doesn’t tell Kreese this. Like in the former option, he goes hard on the helplessness, but it’s also true to an extent, he’s just some rich kid who got drafted and daddy couldn’t get him out of it (or didn’t want to, make a man out of him yaddayadda). And he sticks with it The Whole Time they’re over there, promising Kreese anything he wants and once they’re out boom, he delivers immediately, leaving Kreese stunned.

This was because he wanted to make sure that Kreese felt like he was in control/calling the shots over there and protecting him (even as he slowly got bigger and stronger - more on that in a second), and so that he could impress him once he came back.

Bottom line: either way it’s aaaaalllllll a game. A game to own Kreese.

I like both of these in relation to him and Kreese and also giving the Twig of the story that Silver-personality + adding a twist, which is that war might be hell, but it’s not the reason why Silver is the way he is - it’s just what introduced him to John Kreese. Since this is Kreese’s backstory and not Silver’s, there’s room for that reading.

The reason I veer juuust that little more to option “b” is because we’re seeing actual literal billionaire villains with dick spaceships and in government these days, so it’s... really not a stretch to imagine Terry Silver as a rich boy who likes to pull the wings off of flies and tortures and psychosexually manipulates teenage boys for the giggles.

2. In either case, once Kreese has killed a man (and Silver doesn’t see this in canon, does he? I’m assuming not) things start to change. Silver nurtures that darkness in Kreese. He fucking loves it, even if initially he doesn’t know that Kreese killed their commanding officer after they’d been saved. And in turn he gradually shows more of himself - this mean, possessive, terrifying man, all the moreso after his body grows with his desires.

And they do terrible things while over there, generally egged on by Silver. I imagine that eventually Kreese told Silver what he did to their commanding officer and Silver honestly, sincerely tells him that he’ll never share that with anyone. And he won’t, because it’s the first piece of Kreese’s badness that was inspired by him (since he fought him initially to protect Twig).

It’s all for him.

3. There must have been a conscious moment where Kreese realised that the man he was seeing in front of him... was not the man he met. Not because of war (but maybe Kreese - seeing as so much of what he became was because of the war and the actions he committed during the war - thinks it is that. He didn’t know that Silver was always this way, because he wasn’t when he was with him, at first), but because he’s so much physically larger -- he’s larger than Kreese, even. He doesn’t need his protection anymore. He doesn’t need anything from him.

Maybe Kreese feels bitter about that. What does he have to offer now? But Silver never makes him feel like that, he just keeps talking about the future -- it’s gonna be great, you wanna train karate, I’m gonna buy you a chain of dojos across the country - it’s okay, I just want the one, yes, I’m serious - and John never dreamed as big as Terry did. He never wanted mansions and money, he just wanted to... matter.

At some point Terry was the one who took charge, and John doesn’t remember when that was, just like he doesn’t remember when exactly he got so big Imposing. Unlike him, he doesn’t do karate to win in tournaments. Terry just likes to win.

(after the events of TKK3 that feeling of self-pity/the fear that he didn’t have anything to offer - couldn’t be a man - took over and he slowly drifted away from Terry Silver... he thinks it might be the only time he’s seen Terry looking vulnerable, but even that can’t stop him).

4. Terry Silver is a manipulative, deceptive bastard, who likes to own things and people. And he loves, too - he loves through possession. John Kreese was his first real prize, unmolded clay just... handed to him, in the middle of a warzone of all places. And then, later, he in turn offered him Daniel LaRusso as a gift.

Like fate.

But he was greedy - he wasn’t patient, like he was back in Vietnam, or maybe he was just too used to the lawlessness of it all, to being able to act without consequences, and that fucking teacher of his and he ended up losing both Danny and John. Sure, he could’ve gotten them both back by force, but he’s learned his lesson.

He has to wait for fate to deliver them back to him.

5. I very much HC Terry Silver as in love with John Kreese, and I HC that if something were to happen... any sliver of disagreement -- say, for instance, Terry wanting both John and Daniel, vs John being intent upon destroying Daniel because of his own protégé (and I haven’t formed an opinion on what Terry knows or thinks about Johnny Lawrence yet... we’ll see).

Well, if John and he were no longer to see eye-to-eye, to be that seamless, terrible, glorious duo they were during the war (when they acted as one unit, didn’t even have to discuss to know when they wanted to kill or fuck or steal or or or) I think Terry Silver would rather have him dead and his than alive and not.

I could very much imagine Silver killing Kreese out of love.

Last thing: I think John Kreese fundamentally doesn’t want to think of himself as a bad guy. That self-deception gets bigger and more difficult to contain with time, but he’s a victim, he’s doing it for Johnny’s own good, he’s a veteran, he knows war, he does what’s necessary

Terry Silver never believed he was anything but what he was, and he actively delighted in bringing John Kreese - a man who in another lifetime might’ve been the hero of the story - to his level.

And if John ever forgets this - really, truly forgets who he is - Terry has in his back-pocket the unshakeable truth: That the first time Kreese killed a man while looking him in the eye, Terry didn’t even have to lift a finger to tell him to do it. The thing Terry most loves about him was inside him the whole time.

(also I think Daniel LaRusso is the one who got away - whatever that means for whatever Terry wants out of him - and there’s nothing more frustrating and tantalising than that: Not only is Kreese putting himself back in his life at last, asking for his help, but he’s offering Danny-boy once again. This time he’s not going to lose).

#terry silver #john kreese #cobra husbands #evil karate husbands #ck #cobra kai #this is for everyone into evil awful terry silver and his awful evilness #a smidgeon of silverrusso as well #silverrusso

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magnoliapip · 3 years

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The Storm Inside

Title : The Storm Inside

Book : Open Heart series (Choices - Pixelberry)

Description : Casey has been pushing everyone away and spiraling since the attack on the hospital and her loved ones are concerned.

Pairing : none established / ambiguous

Characters : Open Heart FMC (Casey Valentine), Sienna Trinh, Bryce Lahela, Jackie Varma, Rafael Aviero, Elijah Greene, Aurora Emery, Kyra Santana, Danny (mentioned), Bobby (mentioned)

Warnings : mention of death, mental health

Prompt : “What’s the weather outside your window doing right now?...”

Casey stared vacantly out the floor length windows into the night sky above Boston from her seat against them on the living room floor. The sky was as clear as could be, a rarity for the area, but in a city as populous as Boston seeing the stars was a gift they were never granted. She stretched out her cramping legs to a different position as she leaned her head and left shoulder against the cool glass.

She looked out of windows with alarming frequency now. She had never really done so before, preferring to always be doing other things. She’d always thought of herself as a social person who enjoyed others company, though she could be either out dancing in a packed club or relaxing away a quiet night in with the same level of enjoyment. Friends and loved ones was all she really needed.

The attack on Edenbrook had changed everything, down to her very bones.

Some days her mood was somber but calm, like a cloudy day. Those were her best days and the ones she liked best. The cloudy days could be darker with threat of rain or lighter with the sun just missing the opportunity to come out. It was the closest to her old self she could feel. Unfortunately for her, those days were not only fleeting and the least common, they were becoming a rarity.

More often, her moods were a range of levels of sadness. All the way from a misting drizzle, enough to coat everything in water and make the air humid, to a torrentially pouring rain. Buckets from heavens and flash floods. The only thing those floods never seemed to leave clean was herself.

Other times she was cold. So, so cold. The best of those days were accompanied with a blizzard. Cold, but manageable with a shovel. On the days where she left her heart covered in an inch thick layer of ice and brandished her words like weaponized icicles, frigid and sharp, the people around her knew to steer clear. She was getting a little too good and stabbing them where it hurt.

Her worst moods felt like she should alert the National Weather Service. Tornado warnings and hurricane evacuations were a courtesy she never felt up to extending, adding to her already astronomical guilt. Like a twister, she could feel so angry and out of control she would tear through everyone in her path with no regard for who or what was in it. She had hurt people, especially the ones she loved, deeply but couldn’t bring herself to stop. It was like watching her body act with someone else at the controls.

It was just one more thing about herself to hate lately, and it had a long line to stand in.

The weather in reality never matched what she felt inside. It fascinated and disgusted her in equal measure. It had been sunny (mostly) since the funeral. It was repulsive.

Bobby was dead. Danny was dead. Raf had almost died and would have god knew how many long term problems ahead because of the illness. She had nearly died. And the world just kept spinning.

Couldn’t they see? Couldn’t any of them see that she was stuck there in that room. That she had never recovered. That she couldn’t recover.

At first, when her friends had noticed her strange new affinity for gazing outside for hours every night, they tried to pull her away. Distract her with things like herbal teas, chocolate ice cream and support. They tried to shower her with her favorite pastimes from before. They tried dancing around the apartment to silly pop songs and playing video games with her. But they didn’t understand. And they didn’t stop.

So she bit them. Hard.

Now they left her alone.

She was an awful person. She shouldn’t have been allowed to live. Someone should have realized it at the hospital and just let her die.

She could feel the tears well up again, stinging her eyes as her inner clouds started to rain again. The night sky outside stayed perfectly cloudy.

It was going to be a long night.

Sienna stood around the corner, watching her best friend shatter silently, as she had done every night for over a month. She whispered to those behind her, “Don’t you all see? Nothing is helping and she’s getting worse. After the last time she panicked when I reached out, I thought I’d give her space. We all did. But it’s not working. Does anyone have any suggestions?”

The gathered assembly of those in the cramped penthouse hallway who loved a young doctor named Casey watched her crumble, weeping without making a sound...and no one said anything. Some of the smartest doctors in the nation, and no one had an answer.

Not Bryce, who stood off to the side watching the pain on the face of the first true friend he’d made while at Edenbrook. Someone who had looked past the brash, self-confidence he used as a shield. The first person he hadn’t been afraid of discovering his past.

Not Rafael, who stood at the back of the crowd, down the hall, not able to stand to look at the person who made him believe he was worth as much to her as these intelligent, talented and more well off friends of hers. Not as she could no longer see how much she was worth.

Not Jackie, who was used to facing her problems by cackling at them until they scurried off with tails between legs or tearing them out with her teeth. But this was a problem that required delicacy, the type she had been shown by the very woman who now needed it.

Not Ethan, who leaned against the wall as he saw his protégé, the first person he’d ever believed in this much, destroy herself. She had forced herself, her goodness, into his life and helped fix his hurt self. Now it was his turn and he, for the first time, found himself at a loss.

Not Aurora, her rival turned friend who showed her at her loneliest that having friend was worth something after all. Not Elijah, a beacon of positivity who felt entirely inadequate with this situation that left her emotionally impaired. Not Kyra, desperate to find some way to give Casey the support she had given. Not Sienna, whose heart broke as she watched her very best friend, her dolphin, her rock in many ways fall further and further into herself.

Each one of them loved her. Each one of them cared for her. Each of them had a purpose and a reason to be at Edenbrook, but Casey was the glue that had held them all together. That glue, their foundation, was compromised. This time, they needed to find a way to save her. This time, she couldn’t waltz her way into a miracle seemingly handed down by the divines themselves to fix the situation.

Giving voice to their silent thoughts, Bryce whispered softer than before, “She needs us. She has to know it. She has to know we’re here somewhere inside, but can’t ask. Won’t ask.”

“We’ve already lost so much because of the attack,” Sienna said quietly. “We can’t lose her now. I can’t.”

“None of us can,” Rafael replied softly.

There was practically a flashing beacon over Casey’s head, screaming help me please. It was long overdue for them to stop ignoring it. For a few pregnant minutes, they all looked around at each other and back to her. This mismatched band of misfits and nerds, bound this night by their affection for one single woman. They stared at each other, desperate for answers…

Until the one who loved her most went rigid. Then stepped toward the rest, speaking slowly.

“I...may have an idea.”

[BREAK]

Notes : I left the ending open for interpretation on purpose. This story is not intended to be expanded on or have a second part. Y’all can decide who the person who loves her most is (and if that person isn’t presently named in my story, you can put them there yourself :D)

Also, I want to extend a heartfelt thank you to the amazing writers I’ve talking to lately. Due to some truly awful comments and the way they were affecting me mentally, I recently purged all of my works but a few from fanfiction.net, AO3, and here on tumblr. Talking to, interacting with, and just seeing you lovelies in action has led me to believe I should start to do this again.

Huge shout out to @jerzwriter and @lovealexhunt for being the lovely souls they are. You may have no idea who I am, especially on this blog rather than my main, but I will never stop being grateful for the positivity you put into the world. Thank you.

#choices #open heart #choices open heart #open heart mc #casey valentine #ethan ramsey #bryce lahela #jackie varma #rafael aveiro #sienna trinh #elijah greene #aurora emery #kyra santana #magnoliapip

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terrm9 · 3 years

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Lost

Ethan X Sienna - friendship/mentorship (also mentions of Ethan X MC and Sienna X Danny)

This takes place somewhere through Chapter 18 and the time jump

Warnings: angst, mention of character death, trauma, sexist remark (1)

Words count: 1 700

So I had this idea in my head for a while now and now I decided to write it for two main reasons: 1) I can be okay with the time jump and absence of a date night and pretty much everything EXCEPT the fact that everyone ignores Sienna’s feelings ever since the accident. I mean, we get to help Jackie, we get to help Aurora BUT no diamond scene to help OUR BEST FRIEND Sienna, who lost her dear one? (And I don’t care that they were just ‘almost’ something. I have been an almost something with my now husband for a whole year before we started dating officialy and I would die if something happened to him in that year.

2) I really like to see Ethan as a good mentor. Not just to MC because he has ‘soft spot’ for her. As much as Ethan is irritated with interns and pretty much everyone, I believe that he has it in him to be a good mentor when some of his residents need help

I wrote this for myself actually but I hope someone else might enjoy it too

------- LOST ----------

It was Ethan’s sixth hour of working and, as fulfilling as working at the free clinic was, he was exhausted. Walking through the corridor towards his old office, all he wanted was to have a cup of hot coffee, ten minutes of peace and if he was lucky enough, maybe a moment alone with Chiara.

He missed her. As a mentor, he couldn’t be prouder of how she adjusted to the new situation and how dedicated she was to do as much as she could before Edenbrook’s closing. As a partner, he just wanted to have a nice free weekend with her filled with talking about everything and nothing, cooking for her, watching House, which she loved and he hated, and having undue amount of sex.

Turning around the corner, he stopped in his tracks as he noticed Dr. Trinh storming off one of the patient’s rooms and nearly running into nearest supply closet. He sighed, the scene becoming all too familiar and took a look into the room she just left. An older man was sitting on a bed, gesticulating wildly as he spoke to someone on the phone.

After evaluating situation, Ethan decided to leave the patient alone and follow Sienna into the supply closet instead. However, before he could do so, the door of the closet opened again and without as much as glancing into his direction, Sienna – with her eyes red and puffy, cheeks wet with tears and lips trembling – walked away.

This needs to stop.

He straightened his posture and followed her tracks, finding her at the nurses’ station, talking to Chiara in quiet voice.

Approaching them, he cleared his throat and as both younger doctors raised their heads at the sound, he spoke, his voice firm.

“Dr. Trinh, a word in my office, please.”

Sienna’s eyes widened and she muttered to Chiara: “He is going to kill me. Oh, he is going to chew me out.”

Well, my ex-office. Not that it really matters.

Chiara’s brows furrowed, her eyes travelling from her best friend’s face to the one of her boyfriend. Sure, Ethan was still their attending, but he actually liked Sienna. He wouldn’t chew her out, would he?

Then she realized that when she screwed up, Ethan would give her a hard time, no matter the fact that he would take her for a dinner after that.

“Should I go with you?” she whispered to Sienna, worried about the scene that was about to happen.

Sienna smiled sadly and shook her head, already following Ethan’s steps.

He was already standing behind his desk when she came in, his expression unreadable.

“Take a seat, Dr. Trinh,” he gestured towards a chair, not taking a seat himself, however.

Sienna sat down, her head hanging low, waiting for the outburst.

“I was about to make myself a cup of coffee. Can I offer you one?” Ethan asked quietly.

She lifted her head up abruptly, not believing the words she just heard and nodded quickly, before Dr. Ramsey would change his mind.

“Is this about me leaving a patient and crying in a supply closet, Dr. Ramsey?” she asked with voice so quiet it could have been a whisper, as he handed her a mug.

“Yes. This is the fifth or sixth time I have seen you walking in or out of a supply closet, crying, Dr. Trinh and I am speaking of a period of last three weeks maybe. What is going on? You know this cannot go on like this anymore.”

Sienna put the mug on a desk and started to play with the hem of her white coat, hoping that Ethan wouldn’t notice the tears streaming down her face again.

“I am sorry, Dr. Ramsey. I know my behavior hasn’t been professional and that leaving a patient like that is unacceptable and I promise to do my best to avoid such situations in the future.”

Ethan sighed, leaning into his chair, tilting his head slightly as he observed the obviously broken form of a tiny doctor in front of him. He avoided these situations as much as he could – Naveen was the one to confront while also comforting. Ethan was the bad cop, always.

But Naveen wasn’t here and Sienna needed a good mentor, badly.

“I asked what is going on. I know you are a professional, Dr. Trinh, so I need an explanation of the situation.”

Sienna was openly crying now, all the awful thoughts running through her head.

“It’s just… this patient, he was so, so rude to me. He walked into free clinic and I knew he needed to be admitted so I’ve had a nurse admit him and as soon as I could, I went to his room to do the tests and all the time, he was telling me to fuck off – he literally used these words – and asked me to get him a real doctor and that I was just a child pretending to know what I am doing and that he would never let me do as much as draw his blood,” she sniffed, wiping her eyes with the sleeve of her white coat.

Ethan reached into his pocket and pulled out a nice white cotton handkerchief, handing it to her without saying a word. She nodded thankfully, acknowledging the gesture and after a while decided to go on.

“And you know. Dr. Ramsey, this is not an unknown situation to me. Because I am so tiny and smiling all the time, the patients tend to question my abilities as a doctor. Men, mostly. Sometimes, they have these terrible sexist remarks, I remember one patient telling me that I could take his pain away with my pretty little hands,” she blinked rapidly several times, fighting the tears of disgust.

“I am used to these situations and I believed I could handle them well. The thing is, every time I have had a patient like this and I felt uncomfortable or even unsafe, I would just page Danny with our secret code and he would storm into the room with his ‘badass nurse’ face on and usually that would work. These men respected him more than me, because he was a man too, you know? And I felt safe when he was there with me. But now,” she covered her mouth with her hand as a terrible, broken sound left her, her whole body shaking with sobs.

Ethan stood up from his chair and walked past the desk to kneel down next to her, putting his reassuring hand on her shoulder.

“Now he is gone and every time I deal with a patient that is rude, I am hit with the fact that I will never get to see his badass nurse face again. And I know I should be happy. I should be happy about Chiara being okay and Rafael being okay, and I am, oh God I am so thankful that they are here, alive and well, but still it hurts like hell, not having Danny around. It has been months and I still feel like I can’t breathe every single time I pass that room. And I keep screwing up, again and again. I screwed up with my intern and now he is gone. I screw up with my friends and with my patients and I am trying so hard to go on with my life, because all of my friends can do that, even Chiara can do that, but it’s just all too much now, you know? I just wish I could leave this city for some time and just… do something entirely else for a while. Be someone else.”

Ethan kept staring at Sienna for a long time, realizing for the first time, how much the accident has affected her.

He wouldn’t get through losing Chiara, if she didn’t make it that day. He would rather die with her and it didn’t matter that at the time of the accident, they weren’t official.

So what was the difference with Sienna and Danny? Did it matter that they weren’t official, if they cared about each other deeply?

He stood up again and grabbed his coffee, intending to finish it before they would have to leave his office to work again. There was an idea playing in his head and by pretending to savour every sip of his beverage, he was gaining himself some time to compose the proposition in his head.

Sienna, too, decided to finish the coffee, preparing herself to go back to the room 421 to draw the damn blood.

“You probably haven’t heard about it, Dr. Trinh,” Ethan finally broke the silence that was becoming a little bit too uncomfortable. “But there’s this thing… Dr. Mirani, I mean Baz Mirani, is leaving to Philippines after Edenbrook is closed. He will go with Doctors Without Borders for six months to help at Calicoan Island. If you could see this as an opportunity for you, I could be able to arrange for you to join him as his protégé. Don’t feel pressured into this, please, but knowing Baz, he would be happy for your company and it could help you after all. I am now speaking from personal experience.”

“Your little trip to Amazon, huh?” Sienna couldn’t help but smile a little.

Ethan simply nodded, finishing his coffee. There was no point in telling her that in his case, leaving to Amazon didn’t help his problems at all.

“I will think about it. Thank you, Dr. Ramsey. I should go to see Mr. Lowes, I still need to draw his blood.”

Ethan nodded and grabbed his white coat. “I’ll go with you.”

If Sienna was surprised, she did a good job at hiding it. She just smiled thankfully, the first genuine smile that day.

“And for what it’s worth, if you ever find yourself feeling uncomfortable or unsafe with a patient, you can always page me.”

There was another kind of tears now threating to fall from Sienna’s eyes as he said that. She gulped visibly but instead of thanking him again, she said: “Chiara is really lucky to have you, Dr. Ramsey.”

Ethan smiled at her with the soft, gentle smile she has never thought could be addressed for someone else as Chiara.

“She is also incredibly lucky to have you, Sienna.”

#ethan ramsey #sienna trinh #baz mirani #open heart #open heart choices #open heart fanfiction #trauma

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letterboxd · 3 years

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Heart Beat.

Minari’s film composer Emile Mosseri (also responsible for the Kajillionaire and The Last Black Man in San Francisco scores) tells Ella Kemp about his A24 favorites, Nicholas Britell’s friendship and the boldest Paul McCartney needle drop in movie history.

What do you think a broken heart sounds like? How about a warm, beating one? It’s something that Emile Mosseri has been thinking about for a while now. The past two years have seen him complete a hat-trick of beguiling, transporting scores for Plan B movies: Joe Talbot and Jimmie Fails’ The Last Black Man in San Francisco, Miranda July’s Kajillionaire and now, the film voted the best of 2020 by our community, Lee Isaac Chung’s Minari.

What binds these scores together is a delicacy that knows when to break free and turn into something altogether spectacular. But on Minari in particular, Mosseri is in full bloom, working for the first time in a way he’d always dreamed about. While The Last Black Man in San Francisco saw him compose to a loose edit, and on Kajillionaire he worked to a locked cut, Chung gave him the freedom to write music directly to Minari’s script. “It was a dream to work this way on Minari,” Mosseri says. “It was so beautifully written and so visceral.”

‘Minari’ composer Emile Mosseri.

Minari is an intimate portrait of a Korean family making their way in rural America, and the composer was interested in “trying to figure out musically how you can feel connected to your deepest childhood memories”. These memories belong, in the film, to David—a tiny king played by eight-year-old Alan Kim—as he comes to terms with his new life on a small farm in Arkansas, as his family strives for their own version of the American Dream.

The Yi family is made up of David and his sister Anne (Noel Kate Cho), their parents Monica (Han Ye-ri) and Jacob (Steven Yeun) and their grandmother, Soon-ja (Youn Yuh-jung). It’s a personal story for Chung, one that Mosseri felt honored to be a part of. “It’s a very intimate story with these five characters, which takes place mostly in this small mobile home—but emotionally, it’s very epic.”

There was something about Chung that had caught Mosseri’s attention early on. “I had met him at the LA premiere of Last Black Man,” Mosseri says, “and I sent him the Kajillionaire score.” Mosseri was already familiar with the filmmaker’s work: “His first film, Munyurangabo, is incredible.” He calls Chung “very open, but also sly” in terms of hitting the right notes and “gently steering the ship”. The partnership between composer and director was about working on “a more emotional level,” Mosseri says. “There was never any talk about what we wanted stylistically.”

The ‘Minari’ ensemble cast.

The result is a film graced with music at once lush and raw, grandiose and vulnerable. Mosseri is keenly aware of these nuances, and always made sure to walk the tonal tightrope in the writing process. “There aren’t sad cues and hopeful cues,” he explains. “Every cue has both feelings. Each musical moment dips in and out of the hopefulness and joy of a family, and then the pain and frustration and dissonance that they hold.”

The way Mosseri’s music swells and flows often feels intangible, magical, even—which comes more from knowing what to avoid, rather than acting with too much forced intention. On his first film, Mosseri brought brass and strings to the streets of San Francisco, and with Miranda July, he worked old Hollywood glamor into the concrete blocks of Los Angeles. Here, we twirl through the tall grass as gentle acoustic guitars and elegant string sections sigh and sway, while the Yi family work through their growing pains.

“We didn’t want to hear Korean music when you see Korean characters, and we didn’t want twangy music when you see an American farm,” Mosseri explains. “We wanted to come at it from the side somehow, in some way that’s unexpected.” ‘Rain’, his collaboration with Minari star Han Ye-ri, which features on the official soundtrack, encapsulates this juxtaposition. It’s an epic lullaby of sorts; Han sings in Korean to a gentle guitar; a pleasing swell of synths climbs alongside her voice. The effect on the listener is as if liquid love is trickling from every vein. “I wanted this score to feel like it had a warm, beating heart.”

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Two of your three feature films to date have been released by A24, and so we must ask: what are your favorite A24 film scores? Emile Mosseri: Three come to mind. First of all, Anna Meredith’s score for Eighth Grade. It’s so adventurous and unexpected and fresh and just brilliant. It’s so pure and out-there. It also does this impossible thing of being hip and exciting and deep, but also hilarious. The pool-party scene fucking kills me.

Then there’s Under the Skin by Mica Levi. I remember seeing that at the Nighthawk theater in Brooklyn and feeling like it was the best score I’d heard in as long as I could remember.

And then of course, Moonlight. That film got under my skin in a way I didn’t see coming. I saw it by myself in a theater, after hearing all the hype for months and months. When a movie has that much hype you can get a bit cynical and it can distract you, so I went in a bit guarded, but I left the film destroyed. For weeks and weeks it resonated with me in a way that was so profound, and a large part of that is due to Nick [Britell]’s music. And the film is just perfection.

Scarlett Johansson in ‘Under the Skin’ (2013), scored by Mica Levi.

You’ve been described as Nicholas Britell’s protégé more than once… It’s funny, I think that came from me being a fan of his and saying nice things about his music. I met him at Sundance two years ago when Last Black Man was premiering. I went with my wife and my brother and I was so excited, I’d been waiting for this moment for so long. We walked in and Nick and Barry [Jenkins] were walking in behind [us]. And there was also Boots Riley, Kamasi Washington… all these people I looked up to. I hadn’t considered that I would see this film in the room with them, and it was the first time I was hearing the final mix and just agonizing.

Nick was incredibly generous and said great things about the score and was super encouraging, and he became a friend and mentor. But I’ve never studied with him or worked with him. Although, if you’re a fan of somebody’s work, you’re a student of any of these composers that you admire. Anything you watch and listen to, you absorb.

What was the first film that made you want to be a composer? It was Edward Scissorhands. Danny Elfman’s score was the first one that made me realize that this was a job. I’m always attracted to big, romantic melodies, and over-the-top sweeping stuff—but done tastefully. In that score, he sets the high-water mark for me. It’s so unapologetically romantic.

And then there are other obvious ones like The Godfather. It’s maybe a dorky choice because it’s the most famous movie ever, but it really is the best. And that got me into Nino Rota, and from there I found [Federico] Fellini and all these movies through Nino, the composer. And then I got really into the score for La Dolce Vita and more movies that he’d written for, which are so beautiful.

The ‘Edward Scissorhands’ (1990) score was an early inspiration for Mosseri.

Which films, new to you, blew you away in 2020? Take Shelter by Jeff Nichols blew me away. It unfolded in a way that was intoxicating and really exciting, and it just really stuck with me.

What’s been your favorite needle drop on screen this year? Aside from Devonté Hynes’ score being stunning, there’s an amazing piece of music placed in an episode of Luca Guadagnino’s We Are Who We Are. They use a Paul McCartney song called ‘Let Em In’, and they dropped it in this incredibly tasteful but unexpected way, in a really dark, emotionally loaded scene. It worked in such a beautiful and graceful way. It’s because it’s the most cheery McCartney, it’s full-blown upbeat and poppy McCartney. And this is the darkest-of-the-dark human pain, and it lands in this way that is such a bold choice, such a powerful move.

What should people listen to after watching Minari? One record I’ve been listening to a lot recently is Jeff Tweedy’s Love is the King. It could be a good companion to Minari. I’m a huge fan of his and it’s a gorgeous record. It’s very stripped-down and emotionally raw, and it’s both hopeful and heartbreaking.

Which filmmakers would you love to work with next? I’m always afraid to answer this question because there are so many filmmakers I admire. There are filmmakers I grew up with loving their films—working with Miranda was that for me. Spike Jonze or Yorgos Lanthimos are directors in her world that I also love and would love to work with. But there’s so many others. Derek Cianfrance is amazing and he works with different composers. I love his choice of collaborators musically. I love that he used the late great Harold Budd to do his shows [including I Know This Much is True], and then Mike Patton, and Grizzly Bear… the music is always incredible in his projects, but he doesn’t have a go-to person. His films are so heartbreaking and powerful and really, really raw. He’s fearless.

I feel very lucky that I’ve worked on these three films which are all very much like somebody’s ripping their heart out and putting it on the screen. I feel like Derek Cianfrance does that in his films too, in this unapologetic, super-vulnerable way of just ripping his soul out and putting it out for everyone to see. It’s incredibly appealing to find those projects, because they’re really rare.

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Follow Ella on Letterboxd

‘Minari’ is available everywhere in the US that movies can be rented, and screening in select theaters in the US and other regions. Listen to the official soundtrack and more of Mosseri’s film compositions in the official Spotify playlist via Milan Records. ‘Kajillionaire’ is available on VOD now.

#minari #letterboxd year in review #kajillionaire #the last black man in san francisco #emile mosseri #miranda july #lee isaac chung #a24 #a25 films #film composer #film soundtrack #film score #derek cianfrance #nicholas britell #nino rota #letterboxd

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aion-rsa · 3 years

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How Alias Anticipated Modern Superhero Storytelling

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J.J. Abrams’ spy drama Alias, which turns 20 this week, was a lot of things: high-octane action-adventure series, twentysomethings relationship drama, occasional National Treasure homage. It was also, surprisingly, a spiritual predecessor to today’s hyper-saturated superhero movie and TV universes: A preternaturally gifted fighter, Sydney Bristow (Jennifer Garner) inhabits comic-book-esque alter egos to infiltrate secret missions related to ancient artifacts and promised immortality, all while ensuring that her nearest and dearest don’t know how many times she’s saved the world—or which side she’s really on.

Like the series’ MacGuffin-generating Nostradamus figure Milo Rambaldi, Alias has proven to be somewhat prophetic itself about what makes for the kinds of superhero stories that land today. With some 20th-anniversary hindsight, let’s look back at what made Sydney’s story so super and what lessons Abrams’ ridiculous(ly fun) series can still impart to the current crop of superhero sagas.

The Secret Identity as Kiss of Death

The highest priority that spies and superheroes share is that they cannot get made—that is, have their identity as a larger-than-life individual linked to their “normal” selves. They must always keep their personal and professional personas separate, lest they risk losing the people who know both sides of them. Alias establishes this difficult lesson in the first half hour of the pilot, when Sydney reveals her true work (she thinks SD-6 is just a covert branch of the CIA) to doctor fiancé Danny, only for him to blab about it later and get bloodily taken out in their bathtub. It’s the first time that SD-6 treats its sweet protégée harshly, making clear the consequences of her actions should she open up to anyone else in her life. And then she defects to the CIA, which will be a death sentence for her if SD-6 ever finds out.

Yet beyond the specter of grisly assassination, what the series really digs into is Syd’s growing ethical dilemma about being a double agent where it concerns the actually good people at SD-6, primarily her longtime partner Dixon (Carl Lumbly) and sweetly awkward Q stand-in Marshall (Kevin Weisman). It would be too easy if the series were only about her getting long-game revenge on SD-6 director Arvin Sloane (Ron Rifkin); the real conflict comes from Sydney lying to Dixon’s face on every stakeout, knowing that he still thinks he’s working for the good guys and she can’t ruin that fantasy for him without potentially turning him into collateral damage.

Similarly, the moments in which Sydney’s two (or three) lives begin to collide have other heartbreaking consequences: While the scene in which her best friend Will (Bradley Cooper cast as the friendzoned buddy, amazing) gets kidnapped and sees Syd saving him, is one of the decade’s best laugh-out-loud moments, it also leads to Will going into the Witness Protection Program. His life ends, in a sense, because Sydney couldn’t keep everything compartmentalized. And we haven’t even gotten to the awful fate that befalls her best friend Francie (Merrin Dungey)…

What Alias Predicted: The beating heart (or arc reactor) of many a superhero story is this tension between selves—which means that the big reveal of a secret identity has to be carefully timed and deliberately presented. It’s as emotional as Peter Parker’s (Tobey Maguire) mask getting ripped away when he saves the subway car of people in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 2, as big as Spider-Man: Far From Home doxxing that Peter Parker (Tom Holland) in a commentary on fake news, or as pure and simple as Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.) outing himself as Iron Man in the very first installment of the MCU. You cannot unring that bell, so it better be a memorable moment.

What Superhero Stories Can Still Learn: Rev the secret identity stakes back up! Captain America: Civil War ably took on the game-changing Marvel Comics arc of the same name by having heroes collectively unmask, and movies like Spider-Man: Far From Home are still playing out those ramifications. But mostly we see the dangerous ramifications of heroes doxxing themselves, without really digging into the strain for heroes to constantly have to lie about the things that truly matter to them.

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Campy Disguises and Clever Aliases

If you’ve watched Alias or were even vaguely aware of it, no doubt the first thing you envision is Sydney in black leather and bright red hair, a.k.a. her iconic look from the pilot. Her non-SD-6-sanctioned, under-the-radar disguise (impersonating Will’s sister) displays her ingenuity and establishes the series’ brand: attention-grabbing hair paired with increasingly ridiculous outfits, from chain mail waitress ensembles to rubber dresses. She’s played punks, rich bimbos, alluring businesswomen, escorts, and all manner of female personas upon which her marks would project their assumptions—all of which belied her true strength and cunning.

Even when future episodes riffed on the color wheel with teal, magenta, purple, and good old-fashioned blonde wigs, it was still within a clear spectrum established on that pivotal mission, when she channels a silly girl who cares more about the color of her hair than her safety, only to pin her torturer with the same chair to which she’s bound.

What Alias Predicted: I would hazard a guess that Natasha Romanoff’s first appearance in 2012’s The Avengers—a seemingly helpless redhead tied to a chair, about to be nastily interrogated—was a nod toward Sydney’s triumphant pilot mission. What’s more, despite the first ten years of the MCU leaning toward sleek costumes, later phases (like WandaVision‘s cheeky Halloween callbacks) have realized that they can embrace the bold colors and campy designs of the comic-book source material.

What Superhero Stories Can Still Learn: Better to lean into the bold colors and campy designs of the comic-book source material than to go for more sleek and cool. WandaVision did this, albeit cheekily and using the excuse of Halloween, but the nod toward Scarlet Witch’s original outfit was well received. Because any superhero can look cool in leather, but only the standouts can rock color.

Rambaldi Artifacts, Immortality, and Clones

While replicating the romantic dramas of Felicity, Abrams was also playing with early iterations of his signature “puzzle box” narrative style: The pilot has Sydney chasing after the mysterious Mueller device, which turns out to be… a floating red ball… which bursts into water the moment she tries to remove it. That head-scratcher of a device is only one of many inventions belonging to Milo Rambaldi, a fictional Renaissance-era philosopher whose sketches and writings all pointed toward the ultimate endgame: immortality. You know, just normal spy thriller things.

The series saw Sydney and co. chasing after all manner of Rambaldi MacGuffins, from a clock to a kaleidoscope to a music box to flowers that either demonstrated proof of eternal life (by never wilting) or amped up human aggression. Through all of this, it becomes clear that Sloane helped found SD-6 in order to collect all of Rambaldi’s artifacts and capture immortality for himself—even and especially at the cost of people like his daughter, Sydney’s half-sister Nadia Santos (Mía Maestro).

Before we get more into Rambaldi’s prophecies about the sisters, we can’t forget the parallel fever dream of the series: clones! Or, rather, secret agents genetically modified to look like anyone—which means everyone is a suspect. This constant paranoia quickly got out of hand on the series, but its first reveal was perfect TV drama: There’s not an Alias fan who doesn’t remember “Francie doesn’t like coffee ice cream” and the complete devastation that followed—the knock-down, drag-out fight that destroyed Sydney’s apartment just as badly as Danny’s death, but also Sydney’s heartbreak upon realizing that her best friend was already long dead.

What Alias Predicted: The Infinity Stones themselves are less interesting than in various superheroes’ personal connections to them: Loki (Tom Hiddleston) tempted by the tesseract in Thor: Ragnarok; Star Lord (Chris Pratt) and the Guardians of the Galaxy channeling their friendship to withstand the effects of the Power Stone; Wanda Maximoff’s (Elizabeth Olsen) stages of grief as she copes with trying to keep the memory of Vision (Paul Bettany) alive even without the Mind Stone. In short: grounding the most out-there plotlines in the personal ensures they will always land.

What Superhero Stories Can Still Learn: Ground the most bonkers of plotlines in the personal, and they’ll always land.

The Chosen One and the Passenger

This is when the Rambaldi business started getting less National Treasure levels of charming and more outright weird. Turns out the team wasn’t just recovering a treasure trove of artifacts, but also Rambaldi’s prophetic writings—including the mysterious “Page 47,” which featured a drawing of a woman known as the Chosen One… who bears quite the resemblance to Sydney herself. That would be easy enough to dismiss as a strange doppelgänger coincidence, but then comes the reveal of “Project Christmas”: When Syd discovers that she didn’t just stumble into the spy life on her own, but was actually trained as a sleeper agent from childhood, it only amplifies her fears that she has no true agency over her life.

Further Rambaldi writings center Sydney and Nadia into predestined roles as the Chosen One and the Passenger: supposed foes who are fated to clash, with one dying. Nadia getting injected with “Rambaldi fluid” in order to tap directly into the long-dead man’s consciousness (contained within another artifact known as the Sphere of Life) only earns her some nasty apocalyptic visions. But despite their genuine friendship that comes from bonding over their fucked-up childhoods, Sydney and Nadia are forced into that preordained confrontation when the latter is injected with a compound that reduces her to a mindless killing machine… all while a giant red ball is hovering over a city in Russia, because why not. Even after Nadia dies, and is brought back to life, then dies again, with her ghost haunting Sloane as he finally attains immortality, she remains a presence on the series.

There are certainly echoes to Black Widow and how it handles Natasha and adoptive sister Yelena’s (Florence Pugh) strained reconciliation after the older sister got out of the Red Room while the younger was still caught in its web. Their bickering banter about vests and poses, their differing memories of their false childhood, and their respective feelings of abandonment are what elevated Black Widow’s standalone outing—and made it even more tragic, on multiple levels, that this was the only time we would see the two of them in a movie together.

What Alias Predicted: Sister stories are gold! The Rambaldi storylines would mean nothing if they didn’t hinge on a tragically preordained confrontation, just as the MCU’s Red Room depiction seemed overdone until it was presented within the context of multiple generations’ differing experiences with its bloody legacy.

What Superhero Stories Can Still Learn: More stories about sisters! With Nat dead not long after she and Yelena had just started to bond again, it’s vital that Yelena’s future MCU appearances show her still grappling with the little time they got together.

After all, the best superhero stories are the ones that can feel just as fresh now as they did 20 years ago.

Alias is currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video.

The post How Alias Anticipated Modern Superhero Storytelling appeared first on Den of Geek.

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Open Heart: Second Year

I don’t think I’m saying anything that hasn’t already been said before but this is bugging me like crazy. I don’t use Tumblr very often but I don’t know anyone else who plays Choices, so here I am (I guess spoiler alert for those who haven’t played Open Heart).

Open Heart book 1 is one of my favourite books, possibly even my most favourite. I genuinely couldn’t decide between Bryce, Raf and Ethan. I switch between the male and female MC and I’ve been able to give them different personalities. The book had strong writing and a coherent plot with probably three main storylines: Patient X, Panacea Labs, and Mrs Martinez, which all tied together beautifully at the end. Even all our patients came back in the last chapter.

And then Open Heart: Second Year. Where to start.

Obviously Ethan is our boss, mentor and colleague so he will have a vital role in the story, but why push the other LIs aside? Why can’t Bryce romancers steal a few minutes in the hospital corridors where Bryce gives you a flirty wink and a pat on the butt? Why can’t Jackie romancers sneak into her room every so often?

And let’s get started on Rafael. First of all....what the fuck?

I love a little bit of angst so I wasn’t initially too mad when Sora was introduced (actually I think it made me want Rafael more, because apparently I only like men I can’t have...and I’ve gone off Ethan because he would be too easy). But there was none. Sora appeared in chapter 2, where it’s described as ‘stings a little to watch’, but doesn’t appear again until the baseball game in chapter 8 where they cheer for Edenbrook a couple of times. The only kind of ‘angst’ Rafael romancers got was dancing with Raf at the music festival where Sora is briefly mentioned and MC closes their eyes and listens to Raf’s heartbeat (which was a sweet moment, to be fair). Are you seriously telling me that none of their friends acknowledged that he and MC used to date? That they wouldn’t have asked if MC was OK at least once? That they would have invited Rafael over to the apartment without giving MC a heads up? And when PB was asked about this they gave some crap about making things realistic and exploring the mature themes of a medical drama. If Open Heart were realistic, MC would have been fired halfway through book 1 (one of the dialogue options with Ethan in book 1 chapter 6 actually leads him to say ‘consider yourself lucky you’re even getting a next time’) but NO, we get ‘realism’ by losing a beloved love interest and character that people have grown invested in and spent money on, and then completely waste the opportunity for drama.

And then there’s chapter 10.

And going back to realism, they couldn’t think of anything else apart from vengeance and terrorism? Not, I don’t know, just a highly infectious patient which is probably more likely to happen within a hospital?

I do think that chapter 11 is one of the strongest chapters of Second Year, and the book has got stronger since then. But knowing that it might have ended with the death of Rafael leaves a VERY bitter taste. I’m very glad they rewrote it...but what on earth was the thought process behind that?!? Going back to realism again, if they wanted drama and emotions, why not have Kyra die of surgical complications? At least we’d have been somewhat prepared for that as she was introduced as being a cancer patient, and there would have been more angst (especially for Bryce romancers) as he would have had the guilt of not being able to save her when he promised MC he would, even if it was out of his hands. But sure, have Rafael caught in an assassination attempt, that makes sense. And it still doesn’t really excuse Sora, I mean, imagine the pain if he was still an LI and he and MC were saying their last goodbyes in that room??

I was happy with the rewrite to chapter 11 and the kiss between Raf and MC in chapter 12 was beautiful. And PB have actually made something of an effort to include Raf in the rest of the story; I was half-expecting to not see him again until the obligatory 30-diamond scene in the last chapter.

Chapter 12 was so emotional and it was so clear that each character and LI was struggling with the events. And the end of chapter 12 and the beginning of chapter 13 made it very clear that MC was terrified of returning to work. MC has butterflies in their stomach as they walk in to Edenbrook and then...nothing. That was that. As if they just needed to face their fear and they’d be alright again. Now I could be wrong, but I’m pretty sure PTSD isn’t as simple as that? It would go far deeper than ‘Oh, I’m alright, just taking it one day at a time’. And the narration specified that MC was uncomfortable at the idea of going back into the diagnostics room where the attack happened, but chapter 14 we’re back in there without batting an eyelid.

Someone (I don’t know who...if you’re reading this let me know!!) pointed out that Danny and Bobby could have been mentioned at the gala...there could have been some kind of ‘in memory’ and donors could have been guilt tripped by MC. But no, not a peep. I keep thinking that we could have had Baz, Zaid and Inez (I miss her) catching up with MC and asking how they’re doing and how worried they were. If you’re going to the gala with Raf there could have been a highly emotional scene between them about what happened in the room. Raf alludes to it in a line of dialogue but there was potential for so much more.

And how about the fact that a group of doctors cured the incurable OVERNIGHT and it worked without proper testing? NO ONE has mentioned that since! Surely there would be papers being published and deeper research being conducted now that lives aren’t on the line? We had a whole chapter about how a research grant would save the hospital but now...nothing?! Ed Farrugia hasn’t been mentioned since chapter 12. No one in the team is talking about how it was June’s idea to convince him to switch to Edenbrook. Surely that would be a huge elephant in the room? Wouldn’t she at least say something like ‘I never wanted this to happen, we went too far’? Something?!

The fact that there has been no follow-up to the attack suggests to me that it was purely for shock value. They just wanted drama and didn’t care about keeping it grounded. And assuming that Rafael died in the original, that’s more upsetting. I can’t believe that he was the least profitable character in the history of Choices ever. And even if he was, was it because no one bought his diamond scenes, or because he didn’t have diamond scenes to buy? I romanced Bryce in my first playthrough, but I remember choosing to assist on his surgery without even thinking about it, I didn’t even look at the diamonds it would cost. So a beloved character would have been killed, and it would have brought nothing to the story.

Furthermore, Sora would never have been explained. Rafael almost explained in chapters 2 and 12 but both times MC cut them off. If Rafael was originally going to die in chapter 11, Rafael romancers would never have got that explanation, unless they were to hear it from Sora themselves afterwards (doubtful). And it’s highly unlikely it actually will be explained. PB will probably say ‘it’s up to you what happened!’ like they’re doing us a favour by creating our own headcanon, but to me that’s just lazy writing; they wanted to write off Rafael and they didn’t care how they did it.

If Second Year hadn’t opened with a funeral scene we might never have been clued into what was going to happen and demanded a rewrite.

Aside from that, there’s Esme. She’s introduced as breaking Dr Thorne’s hand and then has to diagnose and treat him in chapter 10. Depending on your choices, he gets surgery and thanks Esme for saving his life and apologises for the bar incident. Otherwise she doesn’t run further tests and he messes up a surgery which eventually forces him to resign. And then Esme gets her plotline with Levi. If Dr Thorne wasn’t her main plotline, what was the point in introducing him? It’s another storyline that had huge potential--sexual harassment in the workplace, for example--but had little to no payoff and fell off the radar. If PB wanted to introduce MC and Esme the night before they both started working then MC could have just literally walked into Esme and either apologised, asked if she was OK, or told her to watch where she was going, and that would have affected how she greeted you in the hospital the next day. But no, we get this storyline hinted at which is then written off and replaced. Maybe it was a rewrite, I just don’t see why it would have been.

Like I said before, the main storylines of book 1 all tied together in the end, but the storylines we’ve had in book 2 have just felt like completely separate events, just a bunch of stuff that happens and is quickly forgotten. I think the balance of the LIs has been better since chapter 11; even when the gang went to Vegas, Raf romancers got a quick phone call with him. As a Raf romancer, I appreciated that, and it only goes to show how PB could accommodate for all LIs whilst having Ethan integral as our boss (see before, bonus scenes for Jackie romancers sneaking into each others rooms, bonus scenes for Bryce romancers having flirty interactions in the corridors).

There is such a difference in dialogue if you’re playing Ethan’s romance route or not. I had him stay behind in chapter 11 and I thought it came across as a sweet conversation between a mentor and his protégée. But the other LIs don’t have anything close to that level of detail. Ethan romancers get pretty close to being official in chapter 17 but I’ve heard Jackie and Bryce didn’t get that. And Raf romancers didn’t even get caught sneaking back into the gala. I’m still holding out hope that book 2 will end with all LIs saying ‘I love you’ and being official with MC, but the inequality makes me sad.

I might have had some more to say, but this post has been longer than I intended and I don’t remember what that might have been. I really wanted to like Open Heart: Second Year. Book 1 will always be a favourite, but book 2? It’s like going from the classic era of The Simpsons where Homer was a lazy dumbass but genuinely loved his family, to the modern era of The Simpsons where nothing makes sense and Homer is a straight-up jerk. I just hope that, if we get book 3, they would have learned from their mistakes and Open Heart can be saved. It doesn’t deserve this.

Well, that’s my two cents. Sorry for the long post. If you got this far, thanks for reading.

#choices #pixelberry #choices stories you play #open heart #open heart second year #ethan ramsey #bryce lahela #jackie varma #rafael aveiro #casey valentine #rant #long post

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