#my biggest grip is just that they cut out the main character's ACTUAL first wish in the original story

[moonybadger]

I am still so flabbergasted that there’s a movie adaptation of “The Djinn in the Nightingale’s Eye“ and that it’s directed by George Miller, like holy hell. I thought only me and mom even knew/cared about that collection of short stories.

#three thousand years of longing #my kingdom for an adaptation of the 'The Eldest Princess' #it's not a perfect movie but tbh it's also not a perfect book #my biggest grip is just that they cut out the main character's ACTUAL first wish in the original story #which led into my favorite of her stories about her own life #okay also that they put way more of an emphasis on her ex-husband then the story did where she didn't care about him at all #there's other nitpicks I have but those are the main two #I'm still so in awe that this movie exists that its flaws don't bother me that much #bored badgering

[iambilliejeanok]

🤎A Break With My Lover.🤎

Part One

Pairing: Might Guy x Tenji( made up character)

Summary: Tenj is back from her two month mission and is so excited to spend time with her new boyfriend Guy, who pampers and adores her. Just a cute little short story for all my Guy sensei hoes to enjoy.😊

Warnings: 18+, language, fluff, SFW and NSFW, smut.

Tenji now stood at the entrance of the Hokage mansion, grateful to have been granted a full week's rest after her team worked tirelessly for a full two months. Another breeze blew a curl that dangled from her loose bun into her face, not caring in the slightest to put it back in its place. Her main goal was to reach her beloved apartment and take a much needed cool shower to wash away the grim, sweat and blood that clung to her aching body. With her eyes closed she inhaled a deep long breath, forcing herself to take the first step. Her body felt so heavy and her mind fuzzy, a sudden wave of fatigue ripping a whine from deep in her throat. “Oi, Tenji,” a sharp flick on the side of her neck immediately snapped her out of her sluggish mood. “Tch! Genma what the fuck,” a sly smirk appearing on his smug face as he took pleasure in her frustration, relishing the irritated look he managed to put on her face. “Well hello to you too Tenji, it's been too long, glad that you're back and in one piece it seems,” he spoke as he gave her a quick once over, ensuring that she was really in one piece and he hopefully hadn’t spoken too soon. He noticed the dark circles under her eyes as he inspected her obviously fatigued face, a hint of sympathy pulled at his heart realising she would probably have to walk all the way home on her own despite how tired she was. Tenji noticed the slight worry in his light brown eyes and instantly thought of a plan. Maybe she could convince him to carry her home after seeing the state she was in. “I’m okay I guess, I’m so tired, just wish i had help getting home Genma,” she whimpered as she stepped closer, leaning her chubby cheek into his broad, muscular chest, she looked up at him, hopeful that her long time buddy would show even the tiniest bit kindness he claimed to have, pulling her best puppy face while looking into his light brown eyes, her darker eyes needy as her full lips curved into a pout that he almost gave into until he realised what she was up to. Now, it’s not that he didn’t want to help(maybe a little) but it was also that he had already been summoned by the Hokage and couldn’t afford to be later than he already was and also because he knew Tenji could be such a spoiled brat sometimes and he was not in the mood to baby her today. He averted his gaze and placed two long, slender fingers on her forehead before gently nudging her off of him. “Geez Tenji” , his words almost sounding empathetic until he opened his mouth again, “Good luck finding someone who will help you with that”. Tenji’s mouth hung open in utter defeat as Genma walked right past her, not missing how he unashamedly took in the gorgeous sight of her full, round ass, her uniform gracefully complimenting it with the way her pants clung desperately to the curve of her hips and hugged her ass in a way that he would always appreciate. “Tch”, Tenji scoffed as she turned fully to face him, his soft light, brown eyes slowly climbing up her body taking in her front, failing to hide the disappointment in them, missing the blessed sight she turned away from him, reluctantly looking back up into her darker orbs to wink at her, disappearing into the Hokage mansion. She blamed herself for expecting anything from that perverted bastard, as she hesitantly began her dreadful walk down the busy streets of Konoha.

Tenji kept her eyes glued to the ground, drowning out the sounds of the happy village folk all around her, as she continued on replaying how good it would feel to walk into her apartment and pamper herself to a nice shower and some well needed rest. A low growl from her tummy dirsturbed her train of thought, reminding her of her deep hunger for some delicious, warm food. The divine, savory smell of Ichiraku’s ramen, not helping her best attempts at ignoring it and heading home, her fatigue too overwhelming for her to entertain her hunger as she stood in front of the little ramen restaurant. “Tenji sensei!,” a loud voice erupting out of nowhere pulled her attention directly in front of her. A young and enthusiastic Lee stood in her path, the biggest grin spreading on his face, clearly excited to see her. A mini Might Guy, always bringing a deep nostalgic feeling in her heart, he was far too adorable for her to not smile at him, despite the exhaustion that tugged at her eyelids, with his little green jumpsuit, “Lee-san, so good-,” she was suddenly cut off as two large hands tugged at her waist, lifting her up and tossing her high into the air, she squeezed her eyes shut, bracing herself for the one sensation she absolutely despised, punching her deep in her gut as the fall back downwards came shortly after. Landing right into none other than her boyfriend, Might Guy’s strong arms. “Precious!”, she shuddered as he spoke way louder than she would have liked; “After so long you have finally returned from your mission! Wow I’ve missed you'', Guy was basically roaring right in her face at this point, which she normally wouldn’t mind, but the fatigue she couldn’t shake off any longer made her highly irritable. “Guy!, put me down right now, baka!”, she blurted, his big, pretty grin never leaving his face as he gently complied. “My precious flower, how was your mission” he spoke in a much calmer voice, now sensing her irritated mood as he shamelessly inspected her entire body, not bothered by the irritation in her tone, making sure his eyes and hands didn't miss a single spot, hoping she wasn't injured as she replied, “It was a success. I just reported to Lady Hokage and I get a full week of rest as a reward so i'm going home now” , the tone of her voice growing more and more annoyed as she noticed Kakashi and his team all standing there, watching Guy fiddle with her body, the embarrassing display of care leaving a light blush across her plump cheeks. Everyone knew they were dating, despite the fact that their relationship was still very new, it didn't take a scientist to figure out they had been in love with one another even as friends. “Guy!” she whined, pushing him off of her hoping he was now pleased with his inspection. “As expected of my lotus! Always glowing in the light of her youth!”, he continued with his over enthusiastic praise. Tenji was now very used to his overly positive attitude that he was apparently born with, considering he was just as loud now, as he was when they were still children. Kakashi looked at her with a knowing look of second hand embarrassment as he nodded towards her “Yo, we‘re going inside Ichiraku’s now, join us whenever you’re ready Tenji-chan” he spoke in the warm, familiar manner, he always spoke in when talking to her. “Kakashi-san, I’m too tired. Next time?”, she replied, her eyelids noticeably droopy as he nodded in understanding, walking into the restaurant.

Guy stood in front of his new lover, feeling like his heart would explode with the surge of joy he felt to be near her after not getting to hang out much, especially in the past two months. Tenji stood before him and let out a deep sigh, knowing that she wouldn't have to worry about the dreadful walk home because her best friend and now lover would go to the ends to make her happy, as she would for him. Tenji looked up at him, her deep brown eyes never leaving his onyx ones as she stepped closer, wrapping her arms around his large build, gripping on the back of his green jumpsuit, sighing heavily into his chest. Her heart fluttered, remembering that she could now hold him like this. He was hers now. Guy’s flak jacket draped her arms as he engulfed her in a warm embrace, strong arms wrapping firmly around her, pulling her impossibly closer. Her eyelids fluttered shut, comfort washing over her as he began to rub his large hand soothingly up and down her back making her eyelids feel like a ton of bricks as she finally gave in to keeping them closed. She relished in the heavy slumber that quickly crept up on her feeling like she was sinking deeper and deeper into her lovers addicting hold, but it was cut short as she was abruptly interrupted by the rumbling of Guy’s hard chest, a deep chuckle leaving his lips as he felt the weight of her body dip further into his. “Someones ready for a nap I see?” he spoke placing a soft kiss on her forehead, “Mmhmm”, was all Tenji had the strength to say, too tired to move her mouth into actual words, revelling in the pleasant warmth Guy’s soft caresses provided—despite the afternoon heat—bringing his fingers to brush the coily strand that escaped the loosely tied bun at the nape of her neck and tucked it back into place. Attempting to tuck the one strand in, the whole bun began to fall apart and Guy being the sweet bean he was,decided to fix the whole thing for her. Speaking to her, he continued to work on it, gently detangling her hair from the scrunchie that failed to keep her thick, dark brown coils neatly bundled up. “How about I take you home and help you wind down?” , he continued, finally able to pry the scrunchie from the last little coil that wouldn't let it go, careful not to hurt her. “Miss you”, she sounded muffled, snuggling further into his chest, a pang of happiness filling her chest at the action, taking in her favourite faint scent of lemon and a much stronger earthy smell. Guy began to softly brush her hair back with his palms, making sure to pull all escaping strands into the ponytail he was forming in his fist at the nape of her neck, now securing it all with the scrunchie. “Well let's get going precious”, he sighed out, gently prying himself free from her tight grip around him, quickly silencing her whine, turning around and gently tugging at her arm, easily pulling all her weight onto his back. A move that she was all too familiar with, Guy always treating her like the ‘precious flower’ he always described her as ever since they were younger. Her heart leaped along with him as he jumped up onto the nearest rooftop, maintaining a firm yet gentle grip on her thighs, a faint sigh leaving her lips and excitement bubbling up from the pit of her tummy, pleasantly spreading around the rest of her body as thoughts of the cuddles and attention she was going to receive clouded her mind. Why didn’t they get together any sooner? Not only did she have a whole entire week off, but she also scored time with her lover. It couldn't get any better than that.

#might guy #gai smut #gai x reader #might guy imagines #black women #naruto imagines

[dontbipanicjonsa]

Dutiful Sansa Stark

Plus some extra stuff about perceptions and POV traps

Read under the cut-

Tyrion 

"No," Sansa said at once. "You . . . you are kind to offer, but . . . there are no devotions, my lord. No priests or songs or candles. Only trees, and silent prayer. You would be bored."

"No doubt you're right." She knows me better than I thought. "Though the sound of rustling leaves might be a pleasant change from some septon droning on about the seven aspects of grace." Tyrion waved her off. "I won't intrude. Dress warmly, my lady, the wind is brisk out there."

He was tempted to ask what she prayed for, but Sansa was so dutiful she might actually tell him, and he didn't think he wanted to know.

xxx

He wondered what Sansa would do if he leaned over and kissed her right now. Flinch away, most likely. Or be brave and suffer through it, as was her duty. She is nothing if not dutiful, this wife of mine. If he told her that he wished to have her maidenhead tonight, she would suffer that dutifully as well, and weep no more than she had to.

Littlefinger

A true daughter would not refuse her sire a kiss, so Alayne went to him and kissed him, a quick dry peck upon the cheek, and just as quickly stepped away.

"How . . . dutiful." Littlefinger smiled with his mouth, but not his eyes.

xxx

She hugged him dutifully and kissed him on the cheek. "I am sorry to intrude, Father. No one told me you had company."

"You are never an intrusion, sweetling. I was just now telling these good knights what a dutiful daughter I had."

"Dutiful and beautiful," said an elegant young knight whose thick blond mane cascaded down well past his shoulders.

That's a lot of dutiful.

On the surface it seems like these two situations- one with Tyrion and one with LF- parallel each other; creepy, older men interested in Sansa think she's too 'dutiful' because she suffers through their attentions. However, when we dig deeper it becomes clear that the two situations actually contrast in subtle ways.

Tyrion

Tyrion calls her dutiful, but what duty is she fulfilling? She actually fails to fulfil her biggest duty to him i.e. having his babies (ew).

Or rather, she refuses to do her duty to him.

"On my honor as a Lannister," the Imp said, "I will not touch you until you want me to."

It took all the courage that was in her to look in those mismatched eyes and say, "And if I never want you to, my lord?"

His mouth jerked as if she had slapped him. "Never?"

Cue me falling ever deeper in love

This is a powerful scene. Tyrion is willing to give her an inch, but she goes and takes a mile. She could have just said "yes, I'll let you know when I want you" and then never let him know, but instead she said that. His plan was to postpone the consummation, but now she’s taken the opportunity to tell him that if she had her way, they would never consummate their marriage. He can still go through with it, but with this one statement (knowingly or unknowingly) she's put the onus of choice on him. He can still touch her, he can still consummate the marriage- but Sansa will never want him to. It’s still her ‘duty’ to suffer through it, but now any future sexual contact between them is undoubtedly in the non-con category.

That doesn't sound like Sansa is just reluctant to do her duty, it sounds like she's rejecting it.

In fact, Sansa is basically never shown to think about her 'duties' as his wife. Eating lunch with him may be her 'duty', but she isn't doing it for that reason. She's doing it because what other choice does she have?

Honestly I'm not sure where he even gets the idea that she's oh-so-dutiful, because as far as I can tell, she's really just doing the bare minimum she can get away with doing as his political-prisoner-child-bride.

Sansa does not, for a single second, give a flying fuck about her duty to Tyrion and I love her for it.

And yet, Tyrion's my-dutiful-wife false belief is what allows her to get away with planning her escape. Tyrion fails to be suspicious of her even when he absolutely should be re: that first quote.

So-

Tyrion likes to think Sansa is dutiful (for some reason).

Sansa is not dutiful.

Sansa doesn't seem to be aware that Tyrion thinks she is, but it works to her advantage nevertheless.

Littlefinger

Now in Littlefinger's case she really is playing the dutiful daughter.

This time, fulfilling her 'duty' as his daughter is in her best interest, because it acts as an excuse to avoid what he really wants from her. It's basically the reverse of the Tyrion Situation.

So-

Littlefinger thinks Sansa is dutiful because she is.

She's acting dutiful on purpose (to diffuse his sexual attraction (ew) towards her).

Clearly, it's working to her advantage.

Now, onto the extra stuff-

We have this-

Dontos chuckled. "My Jonquil's a clever girl, isn't she?"

"Joffrey and his mother say I'm stupid."

"Let them. You're safer that way, sweetling.

xxx

"The g-g-godswood, my lord," she said, not daring to lie. "Praying . . . praying for my father, and . . . for the king, praying that he'd not be hurt."

"Think I'm so drunk that I'd believe that?" He let go his grip on her arm, swaying slightly as he stood, stripes of light and darkness falling across his terrible burnt face. "You look almost a woman . . . face, teats, and you're taller too, almost . . . ah, you're still a stupid little bird, aren't you?

xxx

"There's to be so much, my lord. I have a little tummy." She fiddled nervously with her hair and looked down the table to where Joffrey sat with his Tyrell queen.

Does she wish it were her in Margaery's place? Tyrion frowned. Even a child should have better sense.

Sansa goes under the radar so well in KL because people think she's too stupid to do anything. Again, we see Tyrion, an overall smart guy, fail to be suspicious of Sansa's very suspicious behavior nevermind that she IS a child you asshole because he thinks she's stupid.

So-

People think Sansa is stupid

She's not stupid. We also don't see Sansa actively encouraging that perception, which makes sense because-

she doesn't need to. They do that all by themselves and

she's too busy believing she really is stupid, poor kid

3. It works to her advantage anyway.

Which leads me to-

"I forgot, you've been hiding under a rock. The northern girl. Winterfell's daughter. We heard she killed the king with a spell, and afterward changed into a wolf with big leather wings like a bat, and flew out a tower window. But she left the dwarf behind and Cersei means to have his head."

xxx

"Your Grace has forgotten the Lady Sansa," said Pycelle.

The queen bristled. "I most certainly have not forgotten that little she-wolf."

xxx

"The dwarf's wife did the murder with him," swore an archer in Lord Rowan's livery. "Afterward, she vanished from the hall in a puff of brimstone, and a ghostly direwolf was seen prowling the Red Keep, blood dripping from his jaws."

So-

People thinking Sansa murdered Joffrey with her witchy wolf ways.

She didn't.

???

I am SO looking forward to see where this goes.

More extra stuff-

This entire post grew out of me obsessing over this post.

It got me thinking that out of the six core characters, Sansa is the most observed one. We see her in real time through the chapters of other POV characters the most. I counted. My count can be up or down by about one or two chapters, but I have Sansa pegged at around 15 chapters, followed by Tyrion at 11, then A*ya (around 9), then Jon (around 8), then Bran (4), and then D*ny (0). This is exacerbated by the fact that Sansa has some of the least number of POV chapters of the 'core six'. This means that-

We see Sansa more (or at more than others) from other POVs than her own. In other words, we get to be in Sansa's head less and in other characters' head thinking about her more (unlike most other main characters).

This plays a BIG ROLE in her POV trap, which is pretty much the opposite of D*ny's POV trap in terms of both what it is hiding and how

Perception and reality play a very obvious and direct part in Sansa's story, both her own perceptions and others' perceptions of her.

The Vale arc changes everything though. Now suddenly-

She's surrounded by an entirely new cast of people

She's the only POV character in the location

She has an entirely new identity with none of the same pre-conceived biases attached (though there sure are other pre-conceived biases that go with her identity)

This has happened with other characters as well (Tyrion in ADWD, Arya in every other book), but the impact it has on our perception of her is unique. It's basically reversing everything her POV trap was previously built on.

Now, she is her own worst critic. Now, the thoughts that other POV characters have of her (Tyrion, Cersei) are increasingly muddled. Is she a murderous sorcerer, or a stupid little girl? Was she dutiful, or a scheming traitor? The correct answer is-

she was none of those things. Everyone is just....trapped by their own PoV?

#sansa stark #meta #anti sanrion #anti littlefinger

[the-second-tonks]

I was wondering if I could request something for the game where you describe people's lives with the avengers!

I'm generally pretty empathetic and kind but a little awkward at showing people how much I care. I like science and history. Whenever I play d&d I play as a ranger (basically a fighter who likes trees and animals). I tend to procrastinate dealing with my emotions and usually keep them to myself to not burden anyone else with them. My favorite Marvel characters are Peter Parker and Bruce Banner. Some negatives about me are that I forget to take care of myself, pretend nothing is bothering me even if something is, and I have no self esteem. Some positives are that I care about even small creatures like birds and squirrels and bugs, I've been told I have a huge heart even if sometimes I feel like I'm being selfish (I'm generally not a very selfish person tho). I like having a small group of close friends who do anything for eachother. I've been called the dad friend. I'm the type of friend to take the fall for something you did. I would 100% sneak a pet dog into the avengers compound. I'm a Pisces Aries cusp although I don't really believe in zodiac signs so I do know what that means. Le gasp, I am Hufflepuff. On quizzes my secondary house is usually tied between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw. I never have a hidden agenda or motive and I usually wear my heart on my sleeve. I'm a bit shy and awkward at first but then I become energetic and friendly and goofy. I've been told I'm chaotic good and can't take anything seriously. Lasty I tend to ask questions first punch later and I hate violence so it's always a last resort. Don't know how helpful this is but I tend to steal tall peoples jackets

Thank you so much and I'm so happy to your blog grow, your content is amazing and you deserve it.

Hi hi friend ! Yep ofcourse you can ! Aww thank you 🥰 .

Coming back to your ship .. thank you for participating !

Your power is

An Animal Witch !

Oh . My . God. I literally gave you this power because it's suits you a lot . You care about nature , animals , makes you an animal witch . This power allows you to talk to animals , they'll like you from the very beginning and feel safe around you . You'll also have a power of governing over them to maintain peace and security . But , this power also permits you to transform into the wished animal whenever you want . You can transform from the smallest animal as rabbit to the biggest as a giraffe , all you need to have is their permission (ofcourse you'll have it!) . You will be the most unique and strange addition to the team . They'll respect you for your love for animals , a lot .

Your life with the Avengers

Your backstory . You would be a girl from another world. A world where there are different types of witches , you being an animal witch . You'll live in the village where an animal witch should live , often interacting with the creatures there (which aren't found on Earth) . But one day , an animal from the Earth will sneak it . An order in your world to kill each and everything that comes from the 'destructive'(you all thought the people are your enemies due to some ancient history and myths) Earth should be killed immediately . But your love for the cute dog was too much to kill . Okay , your world never had an animal called dog , but you had studied about them being one of the most common creatures on Earth . Before someone could catch you with the dog , you sneaked out with the dog for a new adventure . Turns out the dog was Peter Parker's pet . You meet Peter and he introduces you to the world until you both open up about your powers . Him being Spiderman and you being a witch . You both would be amazed and so would be MJ who had eavesdropped . Your trio was the only friends , soon to be bestfriend who'd do anything for each other. But , your world comes to know about it and so , you literally run away with Peter , MJ covering you both . You stay under the protection of the Avengers (yes you sneaked a dog in too ) and to return their favour , you decide to participate in the infinity war with Peter. Finally , from following Peter Parker despite Tony's orders into the strange flying machine to ending up fighting beside Bruce-in the big suit , you kept glancing at your father figure Bruce to make sure he was safe . Suddenly , you did feel as if something went wrong and whosh , people started vanishing away . You couldn't take it . Returning back and coming to know how Peter's last words were 'i love Y/N' , you returned back to your world . There , everything wasnt alright too . Half of the village was empty . Determined to bring everything back , you return with an amazing plan after five years , bringing everything back to normal after fighting with Thanos himself . But before you could return in your world again, Peter asked you to marry him .

Your bestfriend would be

Michelle Jones / MJ

"Hey ! No no no ! You're not coming with me " you spoke , despite knowing the fact that MJ was following you still. "Actually I'm coming" she spoke shortly . You stopped sneaking . You wanted MJ to be safe . You wanted her to stay back while you checked out who was downstairs . But MJ wouldn't give up . She kept blabbering about how selfless you were being , but you felt selfish for taking her down . "You're not dragging me down ! It's me who's coming behind you . It's my choice !" MJ tried to convince you . You nodded a bit before literally pushing her into the nearest room and closing(locking) the door quietly . Slowly going down the stairs , you wished that the person wasn't a thief or something. Picking up the rod standing on the support of the nearby wall of the staircase , you got ready on question-first-attack-later mode . Slowly but steadily you walked down and were about to turn on the lights when you saw a figure dancing outside the door (main door) through the window . Squinting your eyes , you noticed it was MJ . "How the heck did she escape?!" You wondered to yourself . Though , you smiled at how she was sticking up with you . Slowly opening the door , with sweat rolling down your forehead , you let her in . She immediately took action by turning on the light . You and MJ groaned to see Peter stuffing his mouth with some biscuits that were your all common favourite . "PETER !" you and MJ launched yourself at the biscuits .

Your s/o would be

Peter Parker !

"hey , baby ! Where are you going ?" You asked the dog , who had been your companion in the new world for a few days . Munching on the julibu(a sandwich in your world) , you stared at the dog who was being impatient for a while . It was sniffing all the time. According to what you remembered about a dog , it could mean it found something that smelled- , your thoughts were cut off by a voice . The voice was very excited and worried at the same time . Turning around to see the voice's owner , you see a boy around your age , hair slicked . He was wearing a strange thing around his back(a bag) and a blue t-shirt over a shirt . He came running towards the dog , and you thought he was about to hurt the dog . Standing in between him and the dog , you realised that the grip of the boy's shoes was quite low , causing him to almost bumped your nose with his . You still stood your ground and spoke "You , won't be able to hurt this dog . Get it ?" . Even though, you were awkwardly staring st him just like he did , you still acted brave . He spoke , stuttering , his eyes constantly roaming around your face because he found it beautiful "i-i , actually .. no- I mean- . It's my pet . My dog . Why would- I like- hurt it?" He managed to speak . You smiled a bit but then got upset , speaking "it's , like your uh pet , then- why was it like- roaming around.. lost ?" And then, Peter was the boy's name, who started explaining you everything . And , you didn't realise when you changed from a shy awkward girl to a funny and goofy girl in front of him and when , your relationship changed from 'friends' to 'married' ...

I hope you liked it !

Thank you for participating !

#marvel #marvel ships #ship requests #ship request #peter parker x platonic!reader #peter parker x reader #tani plays games #game for you all

[butwhatifidothis]

Damn, does the writers waste Claude's potential. How about his support with Ingrid? Someone who has the crest his advisor shares the last name with, and part of a family that broke off from the Alliance to the Kingdom. The same Kingdom that the nobles wanted independence from? Or, how about gauging her xenophobia, since his main goal is to bridge both of his heritages, and maybe use the other foreign nations as stepping stones as ridding prejudices? No, just inferior Sylvain/Ingrid? Damn it all.

...Alrighty there anon you had me checkin’ my drafts to make sure I didn’t accidentally post the thing I’m workin’ on rn because it’s all about Claude’s wasted potential lmao had me sweatin’. 

Got long so under the cut

But yeah, Claude’s supports with Ingrid are some of my least favorite in the game because of the big flashing opportunity IntSys had to make Ingrid’s hatred for Duscurians something more than a “ahh let’s just have one support deal with this, I’m sure only Dedue would have any problem with this”. Dimitri is also fine with his childhood friend hating another close friend of his just because of their race, I guess. I get it, you don’t want a repeat of FEA/Fates where a character has That One Trait that keeps getting brought up in nearly every support convo, but like... this is kinda big?? Ingrid has supports with two of the biggest opponents of discriminatory thought, one of them directly related to the people she hates, and it’s just... never brought up by either of them. 

The only reason I give the Dimitri/Ingrid supports a pass somewhat is because what we get is still interesting, but my god her supports with Claude are just... bland. Uninteresting. The same basic “You act too much like [x] you should be [y]/Nooo wait you were better as [x] you’re fine the way you are” shtick with barely any twist or originality whatsoever.

To spoil some of that post I’m doing, I was thinking that this is actually a perfect opportunity to see some hints of Almyra’s culture? Hear me out: Claude says that cringey “You should smile more” line (after re-working it to be less... so demeaning - Claude is rarely so blatantly rude so it’s always felt strange to see that here, it’s like the writers forgot they weren’t writing Sylvain sometimes in this support) and Ingrid reacts the same way as she does, but instead of Ingrid continuing on from that, have Claude... be confused. Have that saying be cringey and demeaning to Fodlani people, but not Almyrans. Have him say something like “Whoa, did I say something wrong?” and genuinely mean it. Have Ingrid be mad and go along the lines of “Oh, you know what you said, don’t even try to play stupid!” but Claude’s just like... what. 

Because look, the guy’s only been in Fodlan for a year! And it seems like most of that time was spent in some form of politics - we never hear otherwise and we know how actually busy Claude is working on his dream. Some things about casual Fodlan culture are sure to fall through the cracks when he’s actually living in it and not just being told how Fodlan is like, which is something I desperately wished 3H explored more. Think of it like a “you shouldn’t shake hands with a firm grip” sort of cultural difference. So from this point in the supports we can hear from Claude some things about Almyra as a response to some of the things Ingrid accuses him of: A noble doesn’t yawn in public? Well, maybe her nobles don’t, but that’s not to say that’s the same everywhere (wink wink nudge nudge), something along those lines. We can also see Ingrid’s reaction to these differing culture ideals: Confusion over how different it is? Curiosity over want knighthood entails for other cultures? A positive or negative reaction? I wanna see that!

Hell, we already kinda have that - Claude meditating in the morning is a legitimate practice of Zoroastrianism, an ancient religion originating in what is now Iran (to give a basic description, to say the least), which Almyra is partly based off of, for example. This isn’t the first time something related to Zoroastrianism is brought up with Claude, as seen with Annette’s supports (the fire ritual he describes closely mirrors the Chaharshanbe Suri, a practice of Zoroastrianism that celebrates the spirits of the dead - again, to oversimplify it), so it’s likely this is something Claude genuinely does and is genuinely part of Almyran culture. 

Give us more shit like that! Or focus on her hatred of Duscurians and how Claude reacts to seeing that kind of hate up close! Or give us more Judith/ Kingdom and Alliance lore! That’s three topics this support could have chosen to focus on that are infinitely more interesting from a character and lore point than the played-out trope we’re given - but on the other hand, like, even that had potential to go somewhere! Claude and Ingrid pointing out the other’s flaws and genuinely trying to fix that part of themselves but failing despite their earnest efforts could have been something! There’s a reason people like that trope! But they both just give up and the support cops out with the “you’re perfect the way you were :)” when no they weren’t! They pointed out legit flaws! Claude does come across as empty and dishonest even when he’s trying not to and that lowers people’s view of him! Ingrid does come across as self-righteous even when she doesn’t mean to and that pushes people away from her! Those are not quirky lil’ personality traits, they actively harm their relationships with others! But nope, Claude and Ingrid have to have the “cute” relationship of bumbling husband and nagging wife but oh neve you worry they have kids so it’s totally a loving relationship (which is what their ending depicts them as - fun fact, this is the only ending Claude has that mentions him having kids!), so they couldn’t dare, oh I dunno, help each other develop past their flaws or anything. Ingrid couldn’t help Claude come across as more earnest (because if there’s one thing Ingrid is it’s that she’s extremely honest) and Claude couldn’t help Ingrid relax some, no they had to reenact a dynamic you’d see on fucking George Lopez

Just... yeah. Wish something better was done with them.

#ask #anon #will always be peeved at this support #so many things they could have gone with and they made these two an annoying sitcom couple #what a waste

[petekaos]

What did you think about the last episode!!

hi hi! so uhhh... this is going to get long and i’ve combined like 10 other asks i want to address, so your ask may be answered here! if you want Rahul’s Take On The 2gether Finale, then brace yourself.

...I didn't really like the last episode, I feel like it could've been a lot better/more emotional

I dunno if it's because I didn't like the last 2 episodes but even though the show literally finished I'm not emotional? The last episode I felt actually really happy watching was ep 9 but now I'm just 'ok, that show finished.' I'm sad bc I thought I would have a stronger reaction to the ending and them getting back together but I'm just meh :/

Really don't want to sound like those annoying people but damn really no kiss scene

I liked the ending, it was okay I guess but gmmtv better prepare for a shitstorm bc so many people didn't lololol

Honestly the best and well written episodes were ones where they still weren't a couple, like 8 and 9 were amazing

Although the finale was good, I feel llke in the future when I want to rewatch my favorite moments from this series, I will go for the first 10 or so episodes more often than not. It kinda feels like 2gether peaked around episodes 7-10, which is perfectly fine!! It was all in all a great series that did what it wanted to do and I’ll always cherish it but, I probably won’t rewatch much of the last two episodes

They made pam even worse!! Before she had her talk with tine anyway!!

My thoughts on the finale: could've been a lot better, could've been a lot worse

2Gether really felt like a giant inflatable castle that was carefully blown up for the past 12 weeks only to let it rapidly and poorly deflate in the end

The ending was fine and was expected but for me it's underwhelming in the sense that the past episodes, especially 4, 8 and 9 were really written in comparison so the finale is kinda meh bc I knew there was gonna be a happy ending. But still the YouTube comments and what some people on tumblr are saying is ridiculous, I don't want to even think about Twitter but imo I don't think any of gmmtvs other shows can top dbks ending like that ending was perfect,

i honestly love that 2gether focused so much on the story and the emotion and became so successful without all the usual fan service. i hope the whole industry takes something away from that! but i still felt like the finale was a little emotionally stunted when it came to tine/sarawat. i just wanted a big YES, I CHOOSE YOU moment, and tine's reappearance and the bracelet scene just didn't do it for me. you know what would have, though? a kiss. or a hug, or holding hands, or something sweet

okay, my friends! here is my opinion on the 2gether finale first, and then i’m gonna address what i personally hold of the more negative response the fandom has shown. i generally thought the finale had... a solid ending. i went into it with absolutely no expectations apart from sarawat’s song and a happy ending, because i knew it would be messy and not as good as ep 4 or 9 etc, considering the sheer amount of open storylines that were left to be resolved in one episode. i knew it would polarise the fandom--but i personally thought the ending was fine! a bit cliche, a bit rushed, but it was okay and it was a good enough ending for me to put 2gether behind me, the first season at least. the bracelet scenes and shots were amazing, the song was incredible (although i wish they would have had sarawat sing a bit more), the conversation pam and tine had was solid as well! there were a lot of things i liked about the finale and bright and win killed their solo acting as always. however, there are some things i wanna get into more detail about that i feel could have been done better, not only as a finale but as a show itself.

time allocated for the storylines. or: plotlines in general. this has been my bone to pick ever since episode 10. not gonna lie, this wasn’t good, especially from ep 10 onwards. there were so many storylines and plotlines that were dragged out further than necessary, and so many plotlines that should have started earlier. best example for this is mil and phukong, the mil redemption storyline should have started in ep 10 and should have had him be sincere for once, and the mil/phukong storyline should have actually made sense from the beginning and started in ep 11 at the latest. the mantype storyline should have also started a bit earlier than that and given us an explanation as to why type was crying at the retreat. however, mantype did pull it off!

writing! this ties in with the first point. the writing felt a bit inconsistent in the last two episodes and it’s a pity, really, that this is one of the downfalls :/ all the actors in this series, from the mains (bright, win, mike, toptap, frank, drake) to the side characters (gunsmile, love, gigie, film, etc.) are such good actors and it’s unfortunate that the last three episodes were a bit :// in terms of writing and plotlines. they all did the best they could with what was written and that... yeah.

conflict. this has to do with the first two points. the finale felt rushed. that’s something that i don’t think anyone really can argue? and i expected that, so i wasn’t too disappointed by it or anything. obviously it would have felt rushed considering the fact that they had to wrap up 3 or 4 episodes’ worth of storylines in one episode, which was a blunder on the writers’ part. the conflict fell flat, then. if they had had pam come in earlier and had tine and sarawat spend more time away from each other, we would have gotten an explosive reaction. i really do think that after they got together for real, the writers struggled to find conflict to keep the story going, jumping from tine’s insecurities to mil to pam for no reason whatever. i think it would have been much better done if we had mil as an antagonist wrapped up and on the road to redemption in ep 10 and had pam come in there, with tine’s insecurities as a b plot. i feel that would have been a bit more gripping. but, hey, guess that’s just me!

order of filming. this has to do with people saying that brightwin’s chemistry was off in the finale. i don’t think it was off, per se, but it was definitely lacking when we compare it to their chemistry in ep 4 or 9 or 10, y’know? that’s because i believe the finale was filmed earlier, when bright and win were still getting to know each other and figuring out how well they could improv. and they can improv, from what we’ve seen! so there really is nothing i can say apart from the fact that it’s a bit disappointing that they decided to film such a pivotal scene at the beginning. if it had been filmed in the end, it would have definitely been better!

flashbacks. the finale needed all the time it was gonna get, and i am disappointed by the amount of flashbacks they used, honestly. i would have cut down on the number of sarawatine flashbacks and used them sparingly when they reunited, because that just... makes sense and evokes emotion in the viewer, you know? the only flashbacks that served well were type’s view of everything and phukong and mil, because they were new. it just... felt a bit inauthentic.

pam. or: the girls in general. there is nothing i can do here but SCREAM. pam should have come in way earlier and replaced mil as the centre point of conflict for ep 11 and 12 to have been as good as the rest of the show, or ep 4 and 9 at least. her character fell so flat and the conflict she brought with her fell so flat as well, honestly. the girls should have been done better--more of earn and sarawat! more of pear! they could have tied into the plot effortlessly!

mil and phukong x mil. yeah this is a... whole ass bulletpoint, unfortunately. call me a clown all you want for expecting him to have at least a half assed redemption arc in the finale but goddamn was that... not good. really bitter over the fact phukong was straight up okay with being a “replacement” for tine even though... that doesn’t even make sense. i just... yeah, this wasn’t good. i feel super bad for frank and drake because they deserve a well written show or at the very least a well written storyline for all of their chemistry and work they put in, considering the fact that they are so so young. i could go on about a good mil arc for ages but i just... yeah i’m writing a fic, so y’all will see.

the reunion. this stems from the flat conflict and the rushed-ness of it all, but yeah. it wasn’t particularly hard-hitting, but i still enjoyed it because it’s sarawat and tine. this has to do with when they filmed as well, and just... because the angst didn’t start early enough for it to hit home. and i really do wish we’d had a scene after that with the both of them, alone. a lot of their things happen with a lot of people around them... and nah.

one year later. bro. bro. bro. the music club thing was cute! but i would have just... loved to see them alone, y’know? a scene of them being alone and intimate, just sitting next to each other on the couch or at a football game or sarawat continuing bringing the cheerleaders snacks, even a year later. them going to another concert. anything where they were just... alone. i wanted to see them together! we got that with mantype and we even got that fucking... scene on the roof where mil and phukong were just fuckin around? yeah? i would have loved to see that with sarawat and tine so much. (also btw pretty sure the rooftop scenes with mil and phukong is also where drake and frank took this photo and it made me so happy dhsndh like... the shot where mil took his hand off phukong’s eyes? i called it immediately and my partner was like ???)

intimacy. chemistry. the biggest thing everyone is talking about. now comes the part that y’all all wanted to know if you’ve been reading this far lmfao, my take on the fact that was no kiss in the finale! and my take is... i expected there to be no kiss in the finale somewhere deep within, and honestly i’m fine with not having a kiss. my only problems with all of this are first of all, that we didn’t get a proper kiss in the entire series and had sarawat kissing tine one-sidedly. secondly, i would have loved verbal intimacy as well! an i love you, or y’know, some hand holding, anything! this is also due to the fact that i believe the series was filmed relatively early on. i just wish... again, that they would have been alone one year later and we could have just seen them being domestic, as we have already seen them!

so those are some of my thoughts on the finale. considering the fandom’s response... i can see why people are upset or disappointed but i don’t think it’s, like, that justified to throw the whole show away as well. yeah, the ending wasn’t perfect, but if you’ve enjoyed the show as a whole... maybe it’s okay, y’know? like, personally, i don’t think i’m ever going to rewatch the finale. but i do love the earlier episodes and i am gonna watch them back at some point, probably! it’s all well and good and valid to criticise the lack of intimacy and kissing in the finale i guess, but if you’re a straight girl then maybe... watch your words. 2gether has portrayed a wonderful love story between two men and to see straight people throw it away as “bromance” or say it’s the “straightest bl of all time” or whatever because of the lack of kisses is kind of hurtful. i am completely open to discussing this with lgbt people, mlm specifically, and you can come talk to me about your thoughts if you’re a straight woman as well. all i’m asking for is that you maybe show a little bit of empathy and respect, y’know? i also do think 2gether peaked around episode 9/10 and i’m fine with that! it gave me so much more than characters and relationships--it gave me the fandom and everyone here and words cannot express how grateful i am for all of you. maybe the last few episodes were poorly written and the finale wasn’t everything y’all hoped for... but i did and do love this show. i cannot wait to see where brightwin go next.

#tried to put this under a cut but it gave up on me lmfaooo #also yeah dbk finale was perfect nothing can compare dsmdhs #2gether the series #2gether finale #for my own tagging purposes #ref #rahul answers

[marvelslut16]

About time

Pairing: Jay x reader

Synopsis: Jay and (Y/N) have been friends for years. The met back on the Isle, but will their friendship evolve now that they’re in Auradon?

Word count: 2,333

Warnings: Some blood. Kind of OC, the main character has a certain hair color to fit with the story.

Leaving the Isle definitely has some perks, but it also has its negatives. All of my friends are doing things they love: Evie has more material to sew with here, and she’s incredibly smart; Mal can do magic, and it's obvious she’s trying to hide how good and dare I say nice she actually is; Carlos met Dude, and they do everything together; and Jay has Tourney, and girls chasing after him everywhere he goes. Then there’s me, I was never special on the Isle and I’m still not special in Auradon. 

My father is a villain, he tried to take over a Kingdom, and technically tried to kill a queen and a princess. However, Hans was never feared by any of the other villains, and by association, neither was I.

“Are you okay (Y/N)?” Carlos asks, petting Dude. I look over to where he’s sitting on his bed and shoot him a smile. “Of course I am, why wouldn’t I be?”

“What’s going on with you and Jay then?” he asks nervously.

“Absolutely nothing,” I laugh, pushing a strand of my platinum blonde hair behind my ear.

“Everyone kind of thought you had a thing when we were on the Isle. But you guys seem like you’re avoiding each other here,” Dude barks as if he agrees with Carlos’s statement.

“We never had a thing, he’s just my best friend. You already know this Carlos,” I squint my eyes at him, before plopping down on the bed. “He saved me more than once when we were kids, and we became friends. I'm indebted to him, I literally owe him my life. We aren’t ignoring each other, he’s just busy and I’m not.”

I’m roaming the isle, my hair up in pigtails. I notice the sun going down and realize that I probably won’t make back before the sun goes down completely, like Hans demanded I do. I take a turn down a back alleyway to get back faster, but I get a weird feeling like I’m being watched.

“Well, well, well, if it isn’t little Miss. Loser,” Shan yu’s son said. He comes out of the shadows, and soon his friends join him, I’m completely surrounded.

“The weak little princess, too afraid to do anything,” one of his friends laughs.

“You don’t fit in on the Isle,” another friend joins in.

They aren’t wrong, I never steal or hurt anyone. I just don’t want to, I’ve never had the urge to. And if that makes me stand out, then so be it. I’m not going to change just so I can fit in. The name princess started a few years back, after I was caught paying for my food and not stealing. Everyone on this island seemed to come to the consensus that I acted as privileged as a princess, which painted a target on my back.

The circle of boys inch closer, cracking their knuckles. Their lips all pull up on one side showing their teeth, all have the menacing look down pact. The one behind me grabs the collar of  my leather jacket and holds me still. Shan Yu’s son readies his fist and lines it up perfectly with my nose. My face scrunches up as I tightly close my eyes and await the pain.

“Get your hands off of her,” a shout comes from the mouth of the alleyway. I open one eye and look to see who it is, Jafar’s son. He walks up to the group and grabs them all by the collars and pushes them into the ground or into a wall. Shan Yu’s son gets up and pulls his arm back, getting ready to punch Jafar’s son in the face. Jafar’s son beats him to it, and punches his jaw, before grabbing my wrist and pulling me out of the alleyway.

“Why did you do that?” I ask when I finally find words.

“A simple thanks would be nice,” he grunts.

“Thank you. But are you crazy? Do you have some kind of death wish?” my eyebrows furrow as I stare into his eyes.

“No, but you do apparently. You were going to let them just hit you,” he glares at me.

“I don’t hurt people,” I glare back.

“But you need to be able to protect yourself here, people aren’t nice here on the Isle.”

“You are,” I squint my eyes at the brown haired boy.

“Or maybe I'm tricking you,” he smirks.

“But you aren’t,” I smile as I stare into his brown eyes. His eyes give away the fact that his actions are genuine. “I’m (Y/N), by the way,” I raise my hand up to shake his like I’ve seen people do in Auradon.

“Jay,” he says as he reluctantly raises his hand to grasp mine. He recoils a little as our palms touch. “Has anyone ever told you that your cold?”

“I’ve gotten told that once or twice,” I giggle a little.

“(Y/N)?” I hear Jay call. It’s been years since the day that we met, I’ve been hanging out with him and his friends, Mal, Evie, and Carlos. Mal was a little scary at first, but the latter two welcomed me warmly. “Princess, this isn’t funny,” he calls. Jay managed to make the name that made me feel weak and like I didn’t belong into a cute nickname that makes me feel confident.

“In here,” I call quietly. I hear his boots crunch on the broken glass the closer he gets to my room.

“What happened?” he asks worriedly as soon as he sees me curled up into a corner. He drops down to his knees in front of me and grabs my hands.

“Hans,” I whimper. “I dropped his sword as I was putting it back.”

“What did he do?” he asks as he wipes away the blood on my chin that’s spilling from my split lip.

“He threw stuff at me, then he started hitting me,” I whisper.

“Well what do we have here?” Hans voice comes from the doorway, causing a whimper to escape me.

“Don’t you dare come any closer,” Jay spins around and stands before my cowering figure.

“You think you can stop me?” Hans laughs lowly.

“I know I can,” Jay laughs lightly. My eyes widen at his uncharacteristic attitude. 

Hans lunges at Jay and I let out a little squeak. Fists are flying so fast that it’s hard to tell who’s winning, if people even win when it comes to this. Jay knocks Hans into a table, causing it to break under the older man's weight, before pulling me up and throwing me over his shoulder.

He runs until we arrive in the alleyway by Mal’s place. He finally sets me down and I can see the bruise forming on his chin, the gash over his eyebrow, and the slight blood leaking from his busted knuckles. I grab his hands and use the bottom of my shirt to clean his knuckles. With his free hand, his fingers ghost over the bruise that I know is forming on my cheekbone.

“He’ll never touch you again,” Jay promises. “I won’t let him.” I bury my face in his leather clad chest, I can’t seem to find the proper words to thank him. Jay shivers lightly as our bare arms brush up against each other. “You’re cold Princess,” he laughs.

“I thought you’d be used to that by now,” I tease him. “Now, lets go get you cleaned up.”

He puts his red beanie on my head as a thank you. I smile lightly as I look up at him, before leading him into Mal’s. 

“Carlos, you’ll never guess what this girl tried to do-” Jay stops mid-sentence when he sees me sitting next to Carlos. “Oh (Y/N), what are you doing here?”

“We were just talking about the prince that was hitting on her,” Carlos laughs.

“What?” Jay snaps. “When?”

“It was yesterday when Mal was giving Ben the cookie,” I awkwardly pet Dude’s head.

“Who was it,” his fists clench.

“No one you need to concern yourself with,” I glare at both boys. Grabbing my jacket from the bed I head towards the door, but before I can leave Jay grabs my arm. “Let go of me!” I grab his hand and try to yank it away, but he keeps his hold.

“Princess-” Jay starts, before I cut him off.

“I’m not a little girl who needs saving anymore, Jay! I’m forever grateful for everything you did on the Isle, but I can take care of myself. I can tell a guy when I’m not interested all on my own!”

“What’s going on here?” Evie asks, walking into the boy’s dorm.

“You don’t want to know,” Carlos mumbles.

“Princess, you’re colder than normal. This can’t be healthy,” Jay looks concerned. He tries to pull me closer to him.

“I said let go of me Jay!” I finally rip my arm out of his grasp and head to the dorm I share with Mal and Evie.

Days pass, and now Jay and I are really avoiding each other. We now sit on opposite sides of the classrooms, instead of right next to each other, neither of us even bothering to look in the same direction as the other. This is the biggest fight we’ve ever had, and the longest we’ve gone without talking since we met. Fairy Godmother video calls our parents, but I don’t bother joining the other VK’s. I know Hans won’t be there, we haven’t spoken in over a year. And even before that he never really cared about me.

It’s parents day at Auradon, and Evie forced me into a dress and to go. My hair is down in its natural waves, and in a green dress that goes down to my knees, with a black sash in the middle. Mal is off meeting Ben’s parents, Evie is off doing her own thing, and the boys are eating chocolate.

“Hi,” a redheaded older lady says to me. It’s princess Anna, one of the people Hans tried to kill. Following after her is her husband Kristoff.

“Hi….” I say nervously. Why is she approaching me?

“You’re Hans’s daughter right?” she asks.

“Anna,” Kristoff says sharply.

“I am, and I’m so sorry for everything he did,” I rush out. Backing up I bump into the table the boys were eating from a few moments earlier.

“Have you heard the story of Kristoff and my first daughter?” Anna asks.

“Anna!” Kristoff warns and steps closer to her.

“Uh- yes,” I grip the table cloth behind me. “We learn it on the Isle, someone kidnapped your daughter and you’ve never been able to find her. Again, I’m so sorry,” my voice wavers in fear.

“She’d be about your age, you know,” Anna takes a step closer, analyzing my face. “And Hans is the only one holding a grudge against us.”

“What are you implying?” I shiver as burst of cold hits me.

“Incredible,” Anna murmurs quietly. “She’s like Elsa. Elsa!” she runs off to find her sister, I assume.

“What?” I ask her retreating figure. I look at the ground and see the area around me covered in a thin sheet of ice. “Oh my god.”

“I’m sorry about her,” Kristoff says quietly. “She gets overly excited and carried away.

Before I can respond, Anna comes back pulling a platinum blonde haired woman behind her. That must be Queen Elsa.

“Elsa look!” Anna exclaims, pointing near my feet. “She has the same powers as you!”

“How did you do that?” Elsa asks calmly.

“It’s never happened before,” another burst of cold runs through me, I can feel the ice now covering the table behind me. “I’ve always been colder than everyone, but I’ve never made ice appear.” I can hear the panic in my voice, and the slight rise of it.

“(Y/N), are you okay?” Jay appears at my side. I let out a little sigh of relief and grab onto his arm. “What’s going on here,” he looks to the small group of adults in front of us.

“(Y/N) has powers like Elsa!” Anna says excitedly. Jay looks around for the first time and sees the ice surrounding us. I smile weakly up at him. “She has to be our lost daughter!”

“Princess?” Jay asks me confused.

“I guess that nickname has a double meaning now,” I whisper.

“And it explains why you’re always so cold,” he whispers back.

“Who’s this?” Anna cuts into our conversation.

“Anna!” both Elsa and Kristoff say exasperated.

“Oh, um, this is my best friend Jay,” I force a smile at the adults.

“It’s very nice to meet you,” Anna sticks her hand out to him.

“Uh, yeah you too,” Jay shoots me a look as he shakes her hand. “I see where (Y/N) got the greeting from,” he laughs lightly.

“I think we should leave them alone for a little,” Kristoff smiles at us, there’s a sparkle in his eyes. He grabs Anna by the hand, and pulls her away from us. Elsa follows close behind.

“So can a Princess still hang with a villain kid?” Jay grabs my hand.

“Hmmm, I don’t know. I am a prissy pink princess now, there are rules.” I laugh as he pulls me closer.

“Does the prissy pink princess mind if I kiss her?” he asks, leaning his head down. Instead of responding, I grab him by the lapels and pull him to me. Our lips meet and there’s an instant spark. I melt into his chest as he grips my waist tightly. His warmth mixes with my coolness perfectly, everything about it seems right.

“It’s about time,” Mal, Evie, and Carlos say from behind us. Jay and I break apart, I rest my forehead on his. I giggle a little as he smiles down at me.

“Ben’s parents want to play croquet with us,” Mal cuts in before we can kiss again. “Let’s go.”

#descendants #jay x reader #mal #evie #carlos #jay #jay farr #jay farr x reader #descendants 2 #descendants 3 #descendants imagine #jay imagine

[thisgirlhastales]

“Wayward Son” — Is There Peace When You Are Done?

What we have here is an essay of sorts: a loosely organized mishmash of thoughts and opinions. Disclaimer that this is highly subjective, as it is based on my own experiences and expectations going into this novel :)

And, naturally, many Wayward Son spoilers below the cut! If you haven’t read it yet and are planning to do so, please do not proceed further. If you’ve already read it or don’t care about spoilers, c’mon in! Ain’t nobody here but me!

First Thing: I thought the plot was cool — I loved seeing the characters again, loved seeing the different magical culture within the United States as compared to the UK; all the geographical variety and how that impacted magical abilities and politics, the creatures and the nature of magic as it applied to people who aren’t mages, the syntax, and Shepard. All of that was fascinating. It felt organic and real, even though our main dude, Shepard, did drop a few exposition bombs. I loved it all.

The magical creatures touch on something that I think all the main characters learn and re-learn (and may be symbolic of their issues as a whole): there is no one way to do or be magic. The word magician can apply to any creature who is or practices magic. The UK’s mages have an expansive but selective history. They do not acknowledge people like Lamb (see Nicodemus), even though they are technically part of their world. I wonder if the UK vampires have something like what the Las Vegas vampires do — i.e. ways to feed without killing, ways of living without standing out so much, a hierarchal structure, their own historical narrative, etc. 

Agatha coming into her own was fabulous, driving the plot with the vampires on her end; she wasn’t a character I enjoyed in the last book too much (I thought she was very real, even practical, she just didn’t appeal to me as a person), but in this? Loved her. And she figured out her own way to be, though there’s still a ways to go for her, I think …

There is no one way to be anything, and that’s a lesson everyone in this book needs to learn (and talk about with each other, please, please, please).

Second Thing: Dealing with Trauma — I do think this was what resonated most with me, as someone who likes it when things are not perfectly hunky-dory after severely traumatic events.

Simon is Not Dealing. He stopped going to his psychologist. He thinks about the Mage, but doesn’t fully process the impact of having killed him. He’s in mourning over his magic and the Mage and all of it, but he’s choosing to not digest it fully — every time he was happy on this road trip, I, like Baz, was thrilled, but I also knew that it was fleeting because he hadn’t really dealt with anything. The underlying cause of his depression and listlessness wasn’t being addressed. His bursts of anger, his heartbreak, his inability to let go of the wings … He goes back and forth a lot, as well, tormenting himself.

Baz is Not Dealing. Baz was suicidal in Carry On. Baz barely knows anything about vampires. He lives in fear of being a monster, and of being executed as one regardless of his actions. As much as I detest Lamb, he had knowledge: How to feed without killing your prey. How to live amongst people and blend in better. He looked physically healthier. Baz’s grey complexion is actually a sign that he is starving more often than not. Remember how powerful he is now, and imagine how powerful he could be if he took better care of himself. And how much more comfortable in his own skin he’d be, which would help with so many of his bitter self-recriminations.

Penny is Not Dealing. Wow, that break-up with Micah was rough. She has a few more moments of self-realization than Simon and Baz do, but she’s also completely caught up in her own magical world, culture, and plans for the future; she has trouble reconciling what Shepard tells her, and is still processing (accepting? Healing?) from not only that breakup, but everything else that has ever happened to her and Simon. Penny copes better, but still not necessarily well. Her can-do, will-do attitude is a huge boon, but when it fails? Yikes. I rather feel like she had overly-rationalized (maybe even over-simplified) every trauma she went through with Simon, and … the world isn’t rational or simple at the best of times. I really, really hope she can come to terms with that (and that we get to see it).

Simon and Baz Together Are Not Dealing. It goes without saying that these two NEED to talk. But their separate issues are a huge roadblock — I feel like the chances of misunderstandings occurring are high. Each is convinced that they are bad for the other. Baz is slightly better about it, but he’s so afraid of the consequences of broaching the subject, he simply won’t. And the thing is? His instincts aren’t wrong. Simon does want to break up with him. It’s based on the whole you deserve better than me assumption, but Baz is actually sensing correctly that Simon is on the verge of leaving him. They need to deal with their own, separate traumas, and they can do that together or apart, but they need to start healing in some capacity. I fully believe that they can be together, even with a break, but that break needs to come with communication? Point being, we all go through healthy and unhealthy periods, as individuals, as part of a family, as part of a couple. They are right smack dab in the middle of a rough, not-so-healthy part — however they cope with it, (TALKING AND LISTENING ARE MUSTS), we at least know that they love each other. Love alone is not enough, but it is a powerful, wonderful force in their corner.

The expansion on magic implies legion of ways in which to exist, and such is the case for coping with pain, sadness, regret, and all the other fun aspects of being humans who experience trauma in innumerable ways. Sometimes we choose things that are unhealthy as a stopgap, because we’re not ready for the work and pain that is healing. Y’all, healing sometimes is on par with the issues that made it necessary — in simpler terms, it can really, really suck at the start. Again, some of you may come from different perspectives, but this struck a chord with me. 

I definitely went in with the expectation that all the issues would be laid out, and then addressed … We got the first half in spades … Did not get the second, nope.

Third Thing: The structure of this book implied right from the start that things may be unresolved, but, er, it was still a bit hard to deal with — having an epilogue at the beginning and a prologue at the end implies to me that this second book is a launch point. The prologue at the end is the start for the next (hopefully larger) narrative. That makes Wayward Son something like a sprawling behind-the-scenes look into these characters before we launch into their following, more detailed story. 

But I didn’t feel too great about having been plunged so deeply into this ‘verse, only to not have a lifesaver tossed my way … Which is to say, it kept me breathless, and knowing that people survived allowed me a reprieve, but the core of this novel — the overall mental well-being of Simon, Baz, Penny, and Agatha — had me tight in its grip from the beginning and then just … kept right on squeezing at the end. Even tighter. 

I don’t mind a plot-based cliff-hanger, but the fact that all the emotional and character arcs were left hanging as well? I felt like I got a decent resolution, or partial conclusion, on a few plot points, but next to no resolution for the emotional and/or psychological arcs. That I have a lot more trouble accepting. Particularly when I’ve spent an entire book with characters forced to live in each other’s space, in close quarters, and still not communicating. I wanted to rip out every beautiful thought Simon and Baz had about each other and throw it in the other’s face. Because they were gorgeous and wonderful, and for all that they are currently fractured and bleeding, they so clearly want what is best for each other. They are (mostly) selfless in their love (with a few selfish foibles, but they made sense to me).

I was also rather … not happy with the fact we got no mention of Lucy, of Davy, of them being Simon’s parents. I’m really, desperately hoping we get that in the next chapter of this series.

The positive thing I can take away from this point is that when we get to the next book (and I know there will be one — my copy literally has a number 2 on the spine, which heavily implies series to me), we will be firmly grounded in what is facing these characters both internally and externally.

The biggest issue that lies ahead is COMMUNICATION. I know (I hope like hell) this will be addressed in the next book, but I craved it so, so badly in this. Not just for Simon and Baz but PENNY. They are all sitting on shifting sand foundations now — their worlds have been completely overturned, over and over again in the past year or so, and they haven’t found firm footing yet. When Micah broke up with Penny, I very much thought that was the kick off for a road trip filled with introspection and epiphanies and finally, lots of talking about said introspections and epiphanies — I got half my wish. The latter half, I suppose, will have to wait until the next novel. I didn’t expect all the character/emotional beats to be acknowledged and resolved, but at least some of them, with room for others to be resolved in the next story, so we would have more (and more room) to explore in that novel.

As a result, Wayward Son, for the many things I loved about it, didn’t feel like a complete story for me. It doesn’t stand on its own quite as well as Carry On did. Maybe when the third book comes out, I will retroactively love it more, but for now I’m just sort of … floating along, waiting for that lifesaver. It did, honestly, feel a bit like half of a story. Half a good story, fantastic even, but still … Half.

In addition to these thoughts I’ve shared, here’s where I’m coming from, as a reader — we all come at these books from different places, different life experiences and wants and expectations. 

One of my most formative reading experiences was Harry Potter. I read Harry Potter practically as it came out. I had to wait years between some of the books. By the time the last book arrived, the characters had matured about as much as I had. Because the middle books were so chunky and dense (and I loved them for it!), I was a little thrown off by how slim Deathly Hallows was in comparison, and that ultimately was reflected in my reading — it went by so quickly. While I loved it and sobbed all over the damn place, when I hit that epilogue … that’s the first time while reading that I did a full stop. All the pain and agony of that book, as quick as it had been, had been amazing, and it felt like it demanded some kind of … reflection and communication between the characters, and I thought after ten years of these books, we had a definite basis for an epilogue that could’ve added another third to this novel — maybe one that jumped through the years, showed us different characters at various stages of healing? Something involved and detailed to a degree.

Wayward Son had that rushed element to it … and I think part of that feeling was enhanced due to the lack of resolution to those character/emotional arcs — we were tumbling, running forward into a free fall and then were frozen right at that point before falling.

However, Wayward Son gives me more positive feelings than that epilogue in HP. Yes, it still feels incomplete, like half a story. But Wayward Son isn’t an end. Unlike Deathly Hallows, there is more to come, and that’s what I’m looking forward to most. It definitely has its flaws in my view, but I can reconcile them somewhat, as you’ve seen.

(There is also a whole thing involving the way these sorts of arcs would resolve in fanfiction versus the medium of a book intended for a broader audience, but that would be a whole other post, methinks. Let me know if you want me to discuss that, because I do have some thoughts on it, though they’re a little haphazard at the moment. Um. Assuming all this rambling isn’t wildly boring and/or awful for you.)

Final Thoughts: At the end of the day? I loved reading this book, even for all that I wanted to reach into the pages and knock the character’s heads together. I said, “Oh no!” out loud when I reached the end, but it was because I desperately wanted more right then and there. The fact that I want more means that, despite any flaws, I’m still on board for this universe and its characters — I still love all this magic, and this dragon boy and his vampire boyfriend :)

And now, 2000 plus words later, I am done, holy crap. If anyone actually made it to the bottom of this, thank you? Not too sure how coherent I was, but I hope some of this was of value to someone :) *many hugs*

Edit: Apparently I still had some things to say, so here is a sequel to this ramble — Simon and Baz Carrying On Like Wayward Sons.

#wayward son #wayward son spoilers #snowbaz #simon snow #rainbow rowell #tyrannus basilton grimm pitch #penelope bunce #agatha wellbelove #rants and ramblings

[writethehousedown]

Bottled Up Feelings, Chapter One (Cheryl/Blu) - Zyan

a/n: hi! it’s me, I’m back, after having failed at doing ficmas due to some shenanigans with my wifi, I’m determined to finish the Be Mine Week - this is a threat.

So this whole fic was inspired by a prompt I saw in @dailyau: "You’re a genie and you said I could wish for anything. I, of course, wished for infinite wishes. Oh, wait, does that mean we’re stuck together forever?“ with a thing or two changed. Also - I didn’t know wether to leave Sum Ting’s name like that or not, so I just used her real name, but she is a cisgirl in the fic. Hope that kind of makes sense.

Thanks to Frey and Grapefruit for beta-ing, and to Winter for brainstorming with me. Love y'all. Hit me up at @chachkisalpaca if ya want!

Chapter One: Crisis Chocolates.

One of Cheryl’s biggest prides was her dance studio. She’d worked her whole life to be where she was, and nothing made her happier than seeing her students become skilled dancers.

She especially had a soft spot for the little ones; she taught ballet classes on the kids, Wednesdays and Fridays and it was the highlight of her week. They were always full of imagination and stories to tell, brightening up her days by giving her a good laugh.

Another class had gone by, and Cheryl was trying to get the kids to behave while they waited in the main hall for their parents to pick them up. They were all around her, telling her about their holidays and what they’d done. She listened to every single one of them with a smile and replied as enthusiastically as she could.

She loved her children, and her children loved her back.

“Miss Cheryl! Miss Cheryl!” One of the kids called, tugging on her skirt. Cheryl turned to see Lily, secretly one of her favourite students.

“Yes, love?”

“Mommy told me to tell you she can’t pick me up, so my auntie will come instead.” Lily stretched her arm looking for something in her backpack and pulled out a note. “Here.”

Cheryl read the note trying to not roll her eyes. She knew Lily’s aunt, but they weren’t on the best of terms. She nodded with a forced smile and soon Lily was back to chatting with her friends.

She took a deep breath and swore she wouldn’t let Vivienne’s presence affect her. She’d just come, pick her niece up, and then she’d be gone. It wasn’t that big of a deal, right?

Cheryl tried not to worry about it, until the kids started leaving, one by one, and at some point Lily was the only left and Vivienne was nowhere to be found.

She sat next to Lily on the floor by the entrance and let the little girl ramble about her dolls and how she’d performed an important surgery on one of them, and now missed playing with her, but she obviously had to rest to get better. Cheryl listened to all of her occurrences with a big smile, forgetting, for a moment, that it was closing time and Vivienne still hadn’t arrived.

Finally, she appeared bursting through the door and trying to catch her breath, looking as if she’d ran all the way from her office to the studio.

“I’m sorry I’m late!” She breathed out, leaning on the nearest wall to catch her breath.

Lily stood up with a jump and Cheryl followed her, adjusting her bag and searching for her keys in her pocket.

“I’m so sorry, Lily love, but I had a very important meeting. You think you can forgive me if I let you eat candy before dinner?” She offered and Lily nodded, beaming, and then Vivienne’s attention fell on Cheryl. “Thank you for staying with her, I promise it won’t happen again.”

“Don’t worry, I love this small bean, so it really wasn’t any problem.” She winked at Lily and they followed her out of the studio. “I will have to talk with your mom when she picks you up on Friday, though, if you’re planning to be Fairy number one at the Valentine’s Day Show.”

Cheryl turned to see them once the doors were locked and saw Vivienne pursing her lips, shoulders tense and her grip on Lily’s shoulders a bit too tight.

“Yeah, actually, since Lily’s mama’s got a raise in her job I’m gonna be picking her up from now on. I thought my sister had already told you…?” Cheryl blinked many times before she acknowledged what Vivienne had just said.

“Oh.” Was all that came out of her mouth. She chewed on the inside of her cheek until she rearranged the thoughts running in her mind. “That’s perfectly fine, so I’ll just talk with you on Friday about the cost of Lily’s costume and you can tell Emma. All right?” Vivienne nodded, her grip on Lily loosening.

“All right,” Vivienne repeated, taking Lily’s hand, clearly wanting to escape from the conversation, but she turned around one last time, much for Cheryl’s annoyance. “By the way, I’m sorry I never texted you back. I’m… Still thinking about it. See you on Friday.” She and Lily waved at her, leaving Cheryl frozen in her spot with a blind anger taking over her, as she saw the pair walk down the street.

*

Cheryl didn’t usually drink in the middle of the week when she had to get up the next morning for work. But this was a special occasion - she tried to convince herself as she poured glass after glass, until the wine bottle was half empty.

Why had she been stupid enough to think it’d be a good idea to mess with one of her students’ emotionally unavailable relative? And the worst part was that she never even planned it, never intended to actually make a move on Lily’s hot aunt — it just happened that they frequented the same bar and drunk Cheryl wasn’t the same as sober Cheryl.

It just happened, and six months after spending their first night together, Cheryl very much regretted it.

She sighed as she ate what she liked to call her “crisis chocolates” saved up for moments like these. Tomorrow she’d for sure regret it, but right now there wasn’t anything else that could cheer her up.

Well, except the marathon of El Bahiano, her favourite soap opera. It was from Argentina and the dubbing was awful - much like the acting - but it was Cheryl’s biggest guilty pleasure. Besides, it had drama and lesbians, so what else could she ask for?

Cheryl was finishing another glass of wine when the soap opera took yet another turn, and before she noticed one of her favourite characters was throwing herself off the cliff. Familiar “To Be Continued” credit rolled around and a voice told the viewers to tune in next week for the big finale. Cheryl spit out her drink.

“What? How dare they end the marathon there?! I need to know what happened with Lorena!” She exclaimed offended, trying to blindly reach for the remote with her free hand, as she kept cursing the TV. Then, she heard a loud crash and the place got significantly darker.

Cheryl froze, slowly turning to where there once was a lamp lightning up the living room. She left the wine glass on the table and cursed herself, stumbling to look for the broomstick.

Definitely it had been a bad idea to drink a whole bottle alone — it had been a bad idea to drink, period.

With an annoyed groan, she made the mental note to swing by Vinegar and Bo’s shop tomorrow to buy a new lamp.

*

“Hey girls, is anyone here?” Cheryl exclaimed as she wandered around the antique shop.

Antique Shock was owned by two of Cheryl’s best friends, Vera - commonly referred to as Vinegar - and her girlfriend Bo. They’ve had it since they graduated from college, both girls thinking it was a great use for their history diploma — besides, they loved vintage things, so why not?

Cheryl hung out at the shop all the time when she was just beginning with her dance studio and she was still learning how to cope with the attention span of her five year old students. Nowadays she barely went to visit them every other week, but they were still pretty close.

“I thought I could smell bad spray tan,” said Vinegar from the counter. Cheryl smiled as she approached her, blowing air kisses at her. “How are you, baby? It’s been a minute since I’ve seen you around.”

“Oh, please, I was here before Christmas, don’t be so dramatic.” She looked around, trying to find something resembling a lamp. “So, yesterday I may or may not have gone into a drunk rampage ‘cause—”

“Oh, please tell me it didn’t have to do with Vivienne or El Bahiano,” Vinegar cut her off and Cheryl rolled her eyes.

“Y’know, I hate when you think all of my drunk rampages are either because of Vivienne or El Bahiano,” she began, Vinegar cocked a sceptical brow. “This time, it was both.” Vinegar let out a loud laugh and Cheryl folded her arms offended.

“What happened and what did you break this time?” She inquired with an amused smile and Cheryl rolled her eyes.

In all the years Vinegar had known Cheryl, she came to know that drinking when she was pissed was a tendency of hers, getting clumsier with each drink. Vinegar could say without an ounce of doubt that during Cheryl’s early years as a dance teacher she’d helped pay their bills with the amount of things she’d broken in her flat as a result of this.

“Lorena throws herself off a cliff! And they dared to end the marathon right there! I might just sue them, honestly,” she said with a tone so exasperated you’d think she was talking about real life events. Vinegar laughed again. “Ugh, I’m not in the mood for talking about Vivienne right now, like, I even ate all of my crisis chocolates, so figure out yourself if what she did pissed me off. I can tell you I need a new lamp, though.”

Vinegar pursed her lips and disappeared behind a door for a moment, coming back with a dusty box.

“We got these around Christmas, I think. We planned on fixing some of them, but we totally forgot since we have our hands full with this wardrobe we bought a few days ago,” she commented while opening it, pulling some lamps out.

The majority were tiny and had cracks here and there, some lacked a shade or a spotlight; overall pretty minor stuff. Cheryl peeked inside the box to see if there were any left, and she found one pretty weird looking.

“What about this one, V? How much?” She asked taking out the lamp. The base resembled the figure of a woman with her arms up, the paint was blue and the shade was a bit worn-off, but other than that, it looked fine.

“Huh, weird, I don’t remember this one,” Vinegar commented, lips slightly pursed. “Fiveteen pounds.”

“Deal.”

*

Cheryl sighed in relief when she got home, wanting more than ever to take a warm bath, eat dinner, and go to sleep.

She put some leftovers from her lunch in the microwave and sunk into the couch, looking over her unopened texts. Most of them were from the parents of her students, a couple from her friends, and one from her sister, asking if she was coming home for the weekend. A tiny part of her was disappointed there wasn’t a text from Vivienne — just a tiny bit.

A weird noise came from somewhere in the apartment, taking over her attention. Cheryl cocked a brow, looking around. She saw the box where the lamp she’d just bought was and remembered she had to clean it, the weird noise suddenly forgotten.

Cheryl took it out and wiped the dust off with an old cloth, the lamp quickly getting a shiny blue tone. She smiled, pleased with how it looked and turned around to check on her dinner.

Suddenly, there was a cloud of white smoke and she started coughing desperately, not being able to breathe. She turned back around and instead of the lamp she saw a woman sitting calmly on the table. Cheryl nearly had a heart attack.

“Shit, I forgot this was part of the deal,” the stranger said, waving a hand, trying to dissipate the smoke.

Once it cleared out, Cheryl was able to see her. The woman was short, with long orange hair pulled up in a ponytail, milky white skin and the weirdest clothes she’d seen in a while.

She turned around, almost as if she was looking for something, and locked eyes with Cheryl. Her eyes were as blue as the ocean.

“Who are you?” Cheryl managed to ask. The stranger hopped off the table and gave Cheryl a smile.

“My name’s Blu without an E, and I’m the genie of the lamp. I’m here to grant you three wishes.”

#rpdr fanfiction #blu hydrangea/cheryl hole #blu hydrangea #cheryl hole #vinegar strokes #zyan #bottled up feelings #lesbian au #genie au #slow burn #be mine 2020 #day 1: chocolate #submission

[spideyboyz]

Thoughts on the BBC adaptation of The Cuckoo’s Calling

So there are things that were done right and things that could have been done better. I’ll start off with the good aspects;

First off the casting of Cormoran Strike himself was amazing. Tom Burke nailed his character and even managed to uphold the right look. And this applies the same for Holliday Grainger as Robin Ellacott, who also did a great job.

For the most part generally the casting itself was very well done. 

Now my main issue with the adaptation was the narration and pacing. I didn’t find the series very gripping although this may be part due to me reading the books but I do wish that the show itself had more tension in it. 

Personally I feel as though the series should have been expanded to about 5 episodes instead of three as there was far too much cut out to fit into the 3 and there were a lot of plot elements in the book that were rushed or just not placed into the adaptation. This meant that when it came down the reveal of who the killer was it was a bit clunky and underwhelming and I wish there had been more ‘investigation’ scenes as many were cut short. Along with that towards the end everything felt suddenly rushed. The first episode was well paced and while the second was slower it was still okay but then about midway through the last everything seemed to have rushed and then just became a bit of a flop.

My biggest peeve within the adaptation was how they handled Rochelle’s character. Now if you haven’t read the book you would know nothing about her but in the book we actually get to know her a little and Strike actually managed to interview her and (SPOILER) she was found dead in the river not in her bathtub and I think the original death made more sense as to how the killer would have found her. Another problem with how they dealt with Rochelle’s character was that she did contain a lot of important information (such as how Lula had told a bunch of her friends a different secret each so that she knew who to trust and who she couldn’t trust and Rochelle was the only one who kept quiet). 

And this goes mildly similar with Evan Duffield. In the book he actually spoke to Strike in the club and I think that should have been kept in but as adaptations goes some things are altered and so this didn’t bother me immensely but was something I would have liked to have seen.

The other thing that bothered me was that I wished that Jonah was better developed because like Rochelle he only showed up briefly and he was quite an important character. In addition I wish that we could have seen him at the end because I think that’s what made the book ending satisfying was that scene between Strike and Jonah.

So all in all I am not the biggest fan of this series. As an adaptation, while mostly faithful to the book itself the pacing was off and there was far too much cut out for the murder mystery to be properly developed as it was in the book. And just as a series itself without comparing it to the original source, I found that it was pretty mediocre and I think that the Sherlock series does a better job at narrating than the Strike series did as for me the Strike series was pretty dull and I was never invested.

#Cormoran Strike #Cormoran Strike Series #Robin Ellacott #Robert Galbraith #bbc #book to tv adaptation #adaptation #mini series #JK Rowling #review

[reddragoon2691]

Final Fantasy VII Remake: Intermission Review (Spoilers)

******SPOILERS********

I wasn’t the biggest Final Fantasy fan, let alone FF7 fan before FF7 Remake came out. Despite playing Kingdom Hearts and learning about what the series was about I never really got into the series, let along play much of the games. (With FF15 being a disappointment on story and gameplay). However, ever since jumping into FF7 Remake I’ve fell absolute in love with the world and characters which even made me play FF6 (which was a masterpiece in its own right). So I was completely excited to see more of what this DLC had to offer and I was kind of blown away from minute one. 

THE STORY

It’s short but effective, the great ninja Yuffie is on a mission by the provisional Wutai government to infiltrate Shinra HQ and formulate an alliance with the local Avalanche group now that the two are working together. The worldbuilding and context behind this mission is far more interesting than the actual mission itself but since it also has these characters go through fun and character building scenarios it works for what it is. I never expected it to be game changing like the main story was. 

The main star was certainly Yuffie’s introduction and character arc, or atleast the beginning of it. Yuffie’s personality was the perfect balance between bratty but energetic, annoying but kind and enduring. It certainly helped that her VA’s were spectacular, like seriously whoever is in charge of hiring the VA is this series needs a promotion for picking such great people for the job. 

Getting back to her story, it’s a nice tale of a teen who’s readying to dash into the adult world and take responsibility, when in reality she’s probably still needs time till doing those sort of things. Her home life and situation her homeland been through created a world where she did have to grow up fast but it doesn’t change the dangers that plague Wutai for who knows how long. Sonon was a great partner to pair her up cause he’s more seasoned but reasonable to deal with, so when Yuffie has moments of doubt or goes to far he’ll help re-center her and work around those without blowing up at her for messing up or getting in the way of his personal mission. It’s a great dynamic that carried this DLC, and though the death flags were rather obvious, how long it lingers on that death and what it would mean for Yuffie’s story later down the line made it far more effective where it could’ve felt limp. 

My only gripe is that it felt like their were a strong beginning, middle and then a quick end. Chapter one was great in reminding players of the controls and introducing the characters, Chapter two was gripping with the conflicts presented by the antagonists with Nero actually being challenging and creepy (though he was SUPER edgy in a mid-2000′s sort of way). But then it cuts to Yuffie already outside of Midgar and looking for others to join in an upbeat attitude. I understand that it’s a DLC but I personally would’ve gone for one last mission, not even a whole chapter, where Yuffie had to fend her way out of the city so to make the player miss Sonon for not being able to fight with them and showing how Yuffie would handle a dire situation entirely alone. 

Still, it’s a well paced story befitting of an energetic young ninja. 

The CHARACTERS 

I already talked about it but Yuffie was a delight and got the proper treatment the party in the main story got. I can not wait to see how she’ll integrate with them both in fighting style and characters. Sonon, I wasn’t expecting to like since the aforementioned death flags were everywhere for him and if his role in this short story would leave an impact both for me and Yuffie. Thankfully, he was a solid partner in a side story who meshed well with Remake’s world. It was a little interesting that he projected his sister onto Yuffie and his personality mixing really well with Yuffie’s, though I guess I would’ve appreciated a bit more backstory of them working together and see what exactly Yuffie reminded him. 

These new Avalanche characters were very small in their roles but their politics were certainly interesting. Given by Yuffie’s and Sonon’s side conversations, they give off the vibe of being more moderate in their approach of confronting Shinra compared to Barret’s radical splinter cell and we see how much it’s frown upon. Yuffie’s immediate support of these bombings is a great hint to why she joins the party later. It presented a interesting and revealing part of avalanche and where that story thread could lead, and presents why more Radical methods is necessary and justified. Avalanche is a group focused on Midgar issues, first and foremost, and while Midgar is in desperate need of change, the fact that Yuffie point out that they never seen the deadly effect Shinra imperialism has done to other people like Wutai shows they’re short sighted and don’t fully grasps the scope of Shinra’s ambitions and the deadly effects their capitalistic and imperialistic system is capable of. They give of the vibes of wanting to negotiate and compromise with the system, rather than break it down whatever means necessary. It reminds me of the differences to what the first world sees as ‘too far’ and ‘rebellious’ to third world nations where they face the brunt of today’s global systems effects more than anyone. 

It’s all interesting to think about and why I love this series and have confidence in this plot.

Nero and deepground aren’t something I’m familiar with but I think it’s handled well. It’s edgy but just enough of it where it doesn’t become eye-rolling and comes off as comedic. I actually enjoyed it to where I hope we see Nero again as a sort of rival to Yuffie, they did show him grabbing Sonon’s corpse so perhaps it’ll be used to get in her head and challenge her on her personal goal of taking responsibility and being an adult by reminding her of her mistake. 

GAMEPLAY 

What can I say other than perfect and refined. Flying through the air as Yuffie was fluid and fun, and the partner system didn’t feel like a downgrade to the main story but a great addition to scenario’s where its needed. Missions were cute and Fort Condor was great fun, I almost wish for it to be a multiplayer feature. Boss Fights were fantastic in scale and challenge, kind of scared to face Weiss given how tough he is. 

FINAL THOUGHTS 

It’s a great stepping stone to what’s to come in part 2 with a after credit scene that shows what travel and scenes will be like and what crazy time shit consequences are waiting for us. 

Final Review: 9/10, it’s gonna be fun and interesting to replay the main story and jump to where intermission takes place while our main group going on their adventure in Midgar. 

#ff7 remake #ff7 intergrade #ff7 intermission #ff7 yuffie #final fantasy #final fantasy 7 #final fantasy 7 remake #yuffie final fantasy #i love yuffie #yuffie kisaragi

[ramctheatheist]

Films I admired in 2016

Every film that you watch teaches you something. It could be an idea, an approach to storytelling, a technique or a perspective on life. Or it could simply reinforce something you already believe in.

These were some of the films I watched in 2016 that made me pause, reflect and learn.

Dheepan

This film provides the most balanced perspective with the Sri Lankan war as backdrop. It doesn’t take sides. It shows us how three refugees who escape to France, claiming to be family, have to fight it out to survive. Initially, the characters only want to stay alive and then gradually other needs begin to sprout. It shows us how France houses not just refugees fleeing civil war in Sri Lanka but also immigrants from other countries like Albania. It uses the life of Sri Lankan refugees as a lens through which it looks at more generic issues of displacement, war and the need for survival.

Parched

Whenever I mention this film to any friend, they either grin or groan “Oh that one with the Radhika Apte leaked video?” I must have been living under a rock because I never knew about this video. And I think this film is a must watch for its storyline and the impeccable acting of Radhika Apte and Tannishta Chatterjee. Also, it portrayed a simple Indian household woman as the oppressor and oppressed. It shows how women themselves become tools through which oppression is dispensed and for doing that this film deserves a salute.

I have written in more detail about this film here.

Suleimaani Keeda

I’ve started watching Netflix recently and it’s getting to be addictive. Came across this Indian independent film. I had wanted to watch it because one of the protagonists is from Chai Sutta Chronicles and I love his acting. This film is about two wannabe writers in Mumbai, their quest to make a film and how they come to terms with their lives. The best scene is the one in which the girl tells the guy to live his life as he wishes since there’s only one life. He remarks that maybe that’s his problem. That there’s only one life.

This film also goes to show how Netflix could easily be a viable platform for independent movies of the future. There are many more films like Brahman Naman that I’m planning to watch soon.

Following

Finally, I got to see this initial Nolan film that many of my friends had been raving about. It was heart-warming to see several Nolanisms, including the kothu-parotta-style screenplay and the batman logo stuck on the writer’s door. Also, if you’re passionate about making films you can always figure out a way to make it. This film is a classic example of extreme low budget production but kickass concept.

Close-up

My biggest fascination with this film is that there are several scenes that make you wonder if they’ve been enacted or they’re actual documentary footages. And that’s the style of this film. The director has intentionally combined documentary-like footages and re-enactments of a real incident to make you feel unsure of what’s real and what isn’t. That works well with the film’s theme that’s about a guy who impersonates another man. It instantly made me a fan of Abbas Kiarostomi. Also, this interview of his!

Taste of Cherry

Another terrific film from Abbas Kiarostami. Throughout the film a guy drives around in a car, picks up random people from the streets and then offers them money to bury him. Watching it gives me the confidence that you can make a film out of any simple concept, provided you get your actors and setting right. Also, sometimes it can be much more powerful if you don’t reveal the exact motivation for your characters but instead you merely hint at it. You never get to know anything of the protagonist’s past and why he wants to be buried. And that’s the beauty!

Tokyo Story

I must say Yasujiro Ozu woke me up to the possibilities of cinema in its simplest and purest form. I loved how his camera captures the interiors of the Japanese homes. It got me thinking that what happens in a story is as important as where it happens. While the characters on screen form one layer of storytelling, the spaces they inhabit can form another layer of narration. The film is about an old Japanese couple who travel from their native village to Tokyo to visit their children, who’re grown up and living their own lives. It’s about how these children welcome their parents, how they interact with each other, what expectations the parents have of these children and what happens to those expectations. It’s a simple film that focuses on the nuances of relationships and human feelings. And it’s one of the best commentaries on death and how the human race has learnt to accept it.

Ikiru

Watching Ikiru, you can sense that Kurosawa wants to experiment with screenplay and camera movement. There are several innovative usages of both that were awesome. Let me give you two examples.

1. The protagonist, an old government servant, who’s not sure if his grown-up son loves him anymore, walks towards the main door of his house in the night to ensure it’s locked before going to sleep. He picks up a little baseball bat to place it against the door as protection from being opened. In that moment, he’s reminded of the baseball match in which his son played and the screenplay momentarily cuts to it.

2. The government servant begins to finally do something about his life and help to build a park for the poor people in his locality. Immediately, the film cuts to the mourning of the government servant’s death and through the conversations of his colleagues and others present at the mourning, we piece together if he was able to achieve what he wanted.

The biggest plus of both these screenplay effects is that they grow organically from the story. They’re not gimmicks inserted by a filmmaker who wants to show off being intelligent. And that’s important if you don’t want to make pseudo-films like the ones Kamal Haasan is making these days.

Oh and that haunting Gondola song... I’m sure even Mysskin will agree that songs sometimes can be extremely powerful.

The Next Three Days

Hollywood has this obsession to portray the bad guys getting away with the crime. Fooling the system. Off late in Tamil too, you’re beginning to have such films like Soodhu Kavvum or Mankatha. The Next Three Days adds a small twist to it. It makes you want the protagonists to get away with the crime.

Unknown

Liam Neeson’s popular blockbuster film. I must say Hollywood knows how to make its thrillers. Although this isn’t a cinematic masterpiece, there are some moments in this film that are supremely thrilling. And the twists were real good. Sometimes you just want to stop analysing art and then fill your mind with some crazy whodunits. When you’re in such a mood, you know which film to turn to.

Taxi Teheran

The passion Jafar Panahi has to make films is amazing. He makes his limitations into his strengths. He was issued with a ban on filmmaking. So what does he do? He thinks up a film concept such that he drives a taxi around Tehran with a camera fitted inside and makes a film with it. And it’s an engaging film. Each passenger who gets in is unique and some of them, especially the little girl will make you cry.

I wrote about this film in more detail here.

12 Monkeys & Brazil

Vision. That’s the only word I can think of when I see a Terry Gilliam film. The first thing that will strike you about a Terry Gilliam film is that every single detail has been meticulously added by him. He’s a painter but with film as his canvas. And it’s not details just for the heck for it, but details with a purpose or a clearly-defined aesthetic sense. His stories are always gripping, passionate and crazy! The theme song of Brazil shall forever be etched in my memory.

Her

I love this film simply for suggesting the possibility that a relationship is possible between humans and machines. It also questions every single assumption we have about relationships and in that sense I think this is an “evolutionary” film. And I loved the way futuristic technology is depicted. It feels like whatever’s shown in the film is plausible a few decades from now.

The Apu Trilogy

Thanks to the restoration of this Satyajit Ray masterpiece I got the chance to watch all 3 films back to back in a film theatre with an audience. The trilogy keeps growing each time you watch it. You notice more details, things you had missed earlier. You make new connections. It was this time around that I got the relevance of why Ray shows us elaborately the onset of the monsoon just before Durga gets wet in the rain. Nature transforms from something beautiful and replenishing to cruel and destructive in a short span of time.

With each viewing I realise with greater conviction that no matter how many years and how many miles separate me from this film, I am Apu.

Jai Baba Felunath

This film shows how a laid-back mystery can unfold in the unlikeliest Indian city - Varanasi. And if your film is made well, it can be engaging for children and adults alike.

Memories of Murder

Spoiler alert! This is a terrific film that’s best if you watch it without reading anything about it. So let me give you a spoiler alert before you read further.

I loved this film simply because it obsesses over who committed certain heinous crimes and then towards the end it makes the question seem completely unnecessary. It makes a bigger point that it doesn’t matter who did it. The fact that these crimes occurred is a reflection of the state of the society and its people. If you take the Delhi rape incident for example, it was committed by certain specific people whom we can arrest, try in court and punish. But, are they solely to be blamed for the crime? Will the problem get resolved if they’re punished? Was the society in no way responsible for their upbringing? It’s questions like these that Memories of Murder raises. And the best movie frame of this year for me was this one.

I’ve written in more detail about this film here.

So that was 2016 for me! I’ve got a long list of movies to watch in 2017! Let’s see which ones I get around to watching!

#movies #cinema #Tamil Cinema #akira kurosawa #Satyajit Ray #abbas kiarostami #iranian cinema #korean cinema #movielist #movie recommendation