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waitmyturtles · 11 months

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THAT WAS PERFECT. SPOILERS FOR EP. 4 OF OUR SKYY 2 x BBS X ATOTS.

What can I say. I don't really know what to say. I'm going to blather because otherwise I'm gonna start really crying in this Starbucks.

I have so much Aof on my mind right now, especially with wrapping up not just this Our Skyy 2 series, but Bad Buddy, ATOTS, and finishing off He's Coming To Me last night (which I haven't intentionally processed yet, because I want to do a little rewatching before I get any passing words down).

Another thing I wanted to consider before starting on the episode is that while I've been so hugely focused on Pat and Pran, that I was also saying goodbye to my very first Aof couple in Phupha and Tian. I watched ATOTS WELL before even ever thinking about doing a Thai BL watchlist. I literally only watched ATOTS to get to know Earth and Mix before the premiere of Moonlight Chicken, close to the time that I joined Tumblr last summer. And I was fucking HOOKED after that.

I mean, before I get into my thoughts on this episode, I think what I'm feeling is similar to how I felt when I finished Bad Buddy. I just feel really fulfilled as an Asian that an Asian director is exploring all of these monumental themes in such an in-depth, loving, empathic, and creative way, vis à vis the lens of queer Asian characters in Asia dealing with issues very familiar to my own culture, and my watching how these characters, vis à vis the writing and direction of Aof himself, navigate those worlds.

What I'm realizing about this episode are a number of themes -- again, themes, as I wrote this morning to dear @wen-kexing-apologist, that I see Aof returning to time and time again. (I'm feeling really surprisingly emotional still, so this post is going to ramble a bit, the writing is not calming things down as it usually does.)

I think what's getting me really emotional here is that this episode was about transcendence -- HUGE transcendence on the part of Phupha, but on all the other guys, too. But in regards to how the transcendence STARTED, and from whom and to whom it started: it all happened when Pat and Pran arrived in Pha Pun Dao, and experienced Tian and Phupha, and vice versa. All of them experienced each other, and all of them changed because of it. Because they had found queer community amongst each other, they were able to share their experiences with new people, compare stories and emotions, and grow the better because of it.

Something I didn't realize last week was (or maybe I did, and I can't remember writing about it, because I'm a jumble): Pat and Pran moved again, Hegel-ian style, as I wrote in my massive BBS thesis. They went from Bangkok to Pha Pun Dao, a nicely big trip. Pat and Pran move, independently and together, always searching for their synthesis, which they can't QUITE find, because their families are in the way.

But they came REAL close to a public synthesis in this episode, and we know that they were essentially on another out honeymoon in Pha Pun Dao last week and this week, knowing that they were in the company of another queer couple, as @wen-kexing-apologist so sharply noted last night.

And then -- vis à vis Phupha's permission, a new modality of finding openness and honesty -- they came as close to a public synthesis, together, in the play as they could possibly find. While still closeted to almost everyone around them. They were still able to provide cover for fucking Dissaya. But they were as out as they could be between BBS episodes 11 and 12.

And that's just Pat and Pran's transcendence journey. With each Pat and Pran having separate conversations with Tian and Phupha in Pha Pun Dao, they could TRANSCEND THEMSELVES, their biases about their relationship with each other, and reflect on what holds people back in their own relationship. Indirectly, Pat and Pran were learning about what was holding Phupha back in being open and honest with Tian, and reflecting back to Chief on how THEY related to that (as communicative and reflecting youngsters), and Phupha could see THEIR processing, and learn from that. Pat and Pran could process because THEY found queer community, as much as Phupha and Tian did.

So: back to Aof and his themes. The theme of community building. How building a community and strength in numbers can help you grow.

It was so meaningful to hear Phupha comment that no one understood Phupha and Tian better than Pat and Pran. BECAUSE YOU NEED COMMUNITY TO GROW TOGETHER, AND THAT IS WHAT AOF IS SAYING FOR EQUITY FOR THE ASIAN QUEER COMMUNITY: FIND EACH OTHER AND BE TOGETHER, STRONGER. There are so many forces working against that community in each country of the continent, in their own ways.

And what happens when that happens, when people find community? You get strength and growth. You get a story like Phupha, who UTTERLY TRANSCENDED HIMSELF IN THIS EPISODE, MY GAWD. And Phupha did a Bad Buddy, he did a Hegelian thesis transition. HE MOVED. HE CROSSED HIS BORDERS and WENT TO THE CITY. As Pat and Pran, in episode 11, had to go to the eco-village -- Phupha needed to go to the city to close this newly awakened circle in him to confirm his relationship with Tian, and to find his sturdiness and commitment in living his life to take care of his partner.

Phupha found his courage through Pat, seeing how utterly OPEN and sappy Pat was to Pran. Phupha found that HE COULD STILL BE HIMSELF through Pran, hearing and seeing Pran's own reticence, Pran's own inclination to hold himself back. Phupha saw himself and Tian in Pat and Pran, and saw how a different paradigm could play out, simply with different mindsets.

I'm feeling really, just.... I am feeling really deeply grateful that we got to close out all of this on Phupha's story. Especially discussed among the friends (@lurkingshan, @shortpplfedup, @bengiyo, @wen-kexing-apologist, @ginnymoonbeam, and @kyr-kun-chan) -- could the ATOTS story have held up WITHOUT Pat and Pran?

Maybe? But, but, but. That wasn't Aof's point -- AT ALL.

Aof's point was to hammer home the equity of community. How you can be a BETTER PERSON when OTHER PEOPLE are helping you reflect, with THEIR PERSPECTIVES, on your life and your struggles.

There's a part of me that thinks here that there's a parable regarding the importance of having the freedom TO BE OUT. Each of the four guys -- Tian, Phupha, Pat, and Pran -- have their own ways of dealing with outness, and what it means to them. Each of them has their own group of people that would be affected by their outness.

And, fucking Christ, how beautiful. What we got to see in this episode is the internal reckoning of each character -- BUT ESPECIALLY PHUPHA, BECAUSE HE'S THE ELDEST AND WAS LIKELY EXPERIENCING THE MOST DIFFICULTY IN ADAPTING BECAUSE OF HIS PAST EXPERIENCES that we know nothing about (Uncle Jim, Uncle Jim).

We see Pran's reckoning at the moment of the play -- that he's gonna fool Dissaya. We see Pat not giving a toss for Ming. We see Tian WANTING Phupha in with his parents.

Each of the guys are in a different place and a different moment with their micro-circles. They needed to talk about their own stories with each other, and to hear each other tell their own stories, to build this story together of community.

They needed to each, vis à vis all of each other, that each one of them, individually, do need to compromise -- but not to GIVE UP THEIR LIVES for each other, or for anyone else in their lives.

None of these guys needed to give up their lives to compromise to each other's demands or characteristics. Pat and Pran do not need to use their lives to repay the fucking foibles of their parents. They're gonna play their parents until their parents are ready, which I love and think that that's very realistic and empathic from the lens of Asian filial piety. (I LOVE @grapejuicegay's analysis -- and I like it, and am going with, the read that Pran needs to get separation from Dissaya through Singapore. Boy, do I ever fucking relate to that.)

Phupha doesn't need to use his life of reticence and secrecy to repay... what -- the world's bias against the queer community? Thailand's bias against public servants being out and open?

And Tian's is helping him through that. But Phupha couldn't have done this ONLY with Tian, because Tian has his own needs and his own issues, his own stubbornness, that Phupha and Tian need to contend with as a couple.

Phupha needed the big push, he needed the push of the community that Pat and Pran provided, and the objective REFLECTION that Pat and Pran provided vis à vis the play, to TRANSCEND himself and get to a place of openness and comfort.

And he found that, in the arms of Tian, but also in the acceptance of Tian's parents and Tian's community in Tul.

I think it is really ripping my heart apart that the close of ATOTS was told with the story of Bad Buddy. I actually don't see it ending any other way. And we didn't get a close of Bad Buddy, per se. We're getting the close of Pat and Pran and OhmNanon, for sure, but we know the boys will find ways to move forward in our beloved world of fiction, wherever they go.

We do know that Phupha has committed, openly, in family and community, to love and care for Tian, Tian with the borrowed heart and the thousandth star on his finger -- and that's exactly an ending for ATOTS that I could have asked for.

I have more to process... but mom needs a break and a cocktail tonight. I could not have asked for anything more than this -- I am so fulfilled.

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mdhwrites · 1 year

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Okay, Let’s Eviscerate Luz’s Nightmare

I REALLY like dream sequences and false reality. I think there’s a lot that can be done with it that creatively is admittedly hard to do. It’s why I wanted to do a Jumbled Thoughts on it. The format for Jumbled Thoughts is to be approachable to those who aren’t familiar with the work being used as an example though and genuinely are just for teaching.

I am still genuinely upset though that the show had such little of a fucking clue what to do about wrapping itself up that it wastes the FIRST SEVEN MINUTES OF ITS FINALE. So this is just going to be me ranting more about why this sequence is bad but with more specifics to TOH. Specifically starting with: Even if it were good... It’d be rendering the two specials before it pointless. As far as characters go, especially ones the writers care about, the last two specials have been entirely about Luz’s self hate. I don’t think it’s done well mind you, it leads to character assassination for her and a finish that is laughable at best in context with the rest of the show, but that is the point of the two specials. Luz’s guilt over Belos. In special 1, it’s about how deep her self hate runs and the ‘sacrifices’ she’s willing to make to ‘make up for it’. As anyone familiar with this blog knows, I see what Luz does much more as “Oh, I can’t easily fix this? Fuck it then. Let them all burn.” But the writers think otherwise despite Luz’s actions. Special 2 is about Luz finally coming to terms with this and realizing she doesn’t have to give a fuck because she is the most special thing on the planet and everyone should understand that.

So we had a resolution. It led directly to Stringbean existing because she suddenly had clarity of purpose and shed that which was holding her back. But... This sequence HINGES on the idea that Luz isn’t past that stuff. Frankly, it would have made a MUCH better opener to the second episode where the Collector grabs them IMMEDIATELY. Not only would the transition be less awkward because... Oh my god the finale starts in just a terrible fucking way that despite following up literally where the last episode left off, feels like a “Here’s what you missed on the last episode of The Owl House!” That may be because I still haven’t watched the majority of S3. You can thank my Discord for me watching these seven minutes.

Anyways, not only would the portal act as a good, disorienting transition to make the audience think something went wrong with it instead of everyone immediately just knowing it’s a dream because... Duh, it also would have meant that Luz would be attacked by her friends when emotionally she was the most vulnerable. She doesn’t think her going back is a good idea after all. If the first thing she remembers post going through the portal is this nightmare where the whole is vacant and dead except for those she just brought to it... That would have actually had literally any reason to work. The words would cut much deeper because they are genuinely what she’s thinking. Instead... It feels like the main character’s character arc gets unearthed again for a shitty dream sequence. WHAT!?

And I want to make this clear: It’s BAD. It’s bad even compared to other bad dream sequences. At least most have the dignity to be like Zuko’s fever dream where it’s literally just a shocking moment and move on. But like... How shocking is anything in this sequence? Amity and Willow get out attacks I guess but otherwise the imagery is REALLY tame and the impossible space stuff is as basic as it comes. Otherwise, everyone is saying really blunt, obviously not them lines so you can’t really invest in what they’re saying. It only cuts (because I’ll admit it got an emotional rise out of me) because what is being said is so cruel. They’re lines that if they were true to the characters’ views AT ALL, then they’d be really powerful.

But they’re not. Most of them are just based on “YOU DESTROYED OUR WORLD!” a concept all of them immediately forgave, or just ignored, the second it was brought up to them. None of them care and have made that clear to Luz and Luz isn’t in a part of even her grief cycle to still be telling herself lies about this being the real truth that her friends are just hiding from her. It’s not helped by the fact that it’s the same bullshit we’ve been hearing from Luz already so even if it were actually Luz, it wouldn’t be new insight, just like how “Willow represses anger” isn’t a new insight in Understanding Willow (another really boring episode in terms of a mentalscape frankly.) The only person who MAYBE has their real feelings here is Hunter but he’s just stating a problem I have in general with Flapjack’s death. Why DID Luz get a palisman while Hunter’s had to die? What was the point? You know, besides cheap shock and giving Hunter magic so you didn’t have to worry about him having a staff anymore.

The resolution is also dogshit to me and way more twee than The Owl House ever does which makes what would be groan worthy in a different kid’s cartoon just pure cringe in the worst ways here. “What do you do after a bad dream? Turn on a light.” So... If Luz had cast a light spell while fighting them, would the whole thing have vanished regardless? Usually the fight for getting out of a dreamscape is one of the most compelling elements. What makes the hero hesitate, what sets them off for this being wrong, etc. like that. It’s part of what makes Superman still comforting his dream son so powerful because despite him not existing... Superman still cares. Because that is the core of Superman. ALL living beings matter to him.

This says fuck and all about Luz except that she’s a gatekeeping bitch of a nerd. Despite being in tears, for almost no reasons since the show does not sell that she actually thinks this is real (and again, from a narrative standpoint it makes the second special feel even more pointless if these words still effect her. NARRATIVE PAYOFF! LEARN WHAT IT IS!), she still immediately catches the mistake and bounces back to 100%. It’s... Honestly embarrassing from a writing standpoint. It says so many terrible things about Luz while also not saying much interesting. Yeah, Azura apparently really is that big to her that even during a breakdown with her friends, all it takes is her gatekeeper and continuity senses to go off to get her to write them all off. What would happen if Amity had to just admit it’d been a year since she read the book and just got the reference wrong?

As a note, the moment of Luz touching Amity’s face was the only clip of this sequence I’d seen before last night. Even then, I knew something was fucked here. Luz playing with Amity’s face feels like when a player character in a story about a game suddenly gains sentience. The other NPCs literally can’t process what they’re doing so Luz gets to just play with this Amity toy who should ostensibly be trying to kill her but has enough honor to wait for Luz to arm herself apparently.

Then the REST OF THEM WAKE UP. WHY!? WHY ARE THEY ACTUALLY ABLE TO EFFECT THIS!? Also... Does that mean Amity just got the reference wrong? Or did she do it on purpose? Why could she give Luz a glyph to cast? Why do they have that much power here? It’s just such a dumb twist that exists only to get the stupid line out of Hunter while he still sounds like he’s under mind control because of how unnatural the delivery of the advice is.

And this also of course means that Luz gets out without effort. Without anything. I’ve seen people call this trailer bait and I really just can’t blame them for it. It’s seven minutes of trailer bait though. Of an episode that’s only 52 minutes long and has two villains to actually take out still. That... Why? Why is that how you decided to start your finale.

It also brings the comparisons people would make between Marcy and Luz right to the forefront. Marcy had a dream sequence after all. Its imagery was more fun though and had more of a point and was HEARTBREAKING in that by being so idealic... That’s how Marcy knew it was fake. That one moment tells us SO MUCH of how she saw her role in the trio that we didn’t really know before. And the fact that she stayed trapped, having to hope others, others she thinks don’t care about her, will come save her makes it all a fucking tragedy. It’s really powerful and would not have been half as effective without being a dream sequence of sorts.

And as always... When TOH does something like Amphibia, it copies the really shallow, loud parts without understanding why Amphibia was doing it the way it did it. It makes the show look like a joke in comparison.

Which is why I’m not actually surprised people haven’t asked me about this sequence. It’s bad. It’s REALLY bad, which is probably why most people even on Twitter don’t talk about it. Not when you have the deux ex machina to gush over close to it. It’s bad in all the ways that you expect a dream sequence to be bad. It’s there for shock, it says very little about the characters and you could cut it and lose almost nothing, if just nothing. If I didn’t like dream sequences, I wouldn’t have anything to talk about here.

It makes it ‘of a kind’ which is why I used it to teach. And... Being ‘of a kind’ for being bad, especially when it actively goes against the character growth you’ve been doing... Well, it’s one of the few times I would say “I could have written this better.” Mostly because as a director I would have looked at whoever pitched the idea and gone “We have a godlike child who likes to play games. Come up with an actual fucking GAME instead of this cheating bullshit.”

Because like Luz looking beat up at the beginning of Yesterday’s Lie, it’s all just writing cheats and excuses. Just this time no one bought because why would they? Most audiences expect a dream sequence to be bad so seeing it was all a lie for baiting the audience... Well, at least for once TOH didn’t try to subvert a fantasy trope, did they?

*sigh*

==========

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead, If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

And finally a Twitter you can follow too!

#the owl house criticism #TOH Critical #toh finale #Luz Noceda

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pyrochickenpollo · 11 months

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So uh This post is gonna be a but long cause I'm gonna be putting my two cents on the latest Helluva Boss episode [Season 2 Episode 4 Western Energy] yes there will be spoilers

I may some things that you will like I may some things you might hate I don't really care because this is JUST MY OPINION on the episode and what I THOUGHT ABOUT IT. Feel free to put your thoughts too if you like but let's do this

So when I watched this episode I actually saw a 2 photos on Twitter and it kind of hyped me up because I saw Striker was making a comeback but when I finished it I was to say a little disappointed. The episode was not as bad like 'I'm gonna not watch it anymore' it was more of bland to me

Spoilers for the episode as a basic summary of it basically Stolas finally got jacked by Striker to be tortured and killed as ordered by Stella; Blitzo can't come to the rescue due to Luna needing a shot so M&M take to the streets to find Stolas and get him back. The episode ends with Blitzo figuring out that Stolas can be hurt, Stolas losing more confidence in their relationship, and some questions on where striker went

The animation for the episode was great, it was the writing and pacing of the episode that bothered me more of like they tried to put the le haha funny plot in with the serious tone of the first plot

The episode started at the richest cup cafe where Stolas, Stella and Andrealphus go to discuss the terms of their divorce and after a bit of bickering from Stolas and Stella;

Striker comes into the store and using some kind of angelic rope captures Stolas and starts breaking it for his hideout, on their way Stolas calls Blitzo to tell him the situation Striker tells him he's good and this is where I started to have a problem with this episode

They put this episode as a Plot A and Plot B (A Plot is stolas being jacked and B Plot is Luna getting a shot) Now the thing that ruins the writing of the episode is that they just reintroduced Striker

Striker is a very different and very threatening villain in this show, in his first debut he was put on a hit to kill Stolas at the Harvest Moon Festival and had Moxxie not been in the house at the time yeah he would've gotten away with it

Not only did he over power M&M he over powered Blitzo too

He was the first imp we have seen that owns And can apparently get blessed or angelic weapons and was the first person Stella hired to kill Stolas based on these clues we can concluded that Striker has killed many royals before. He's hot he's very convincing and he knows it HE really is a main threat to the imps and Stolas aside from Stella

But knowing this they way they went about his comeback made it seem like "yeah he's a threat but look at all these funny lines and whatnot" and I'm not talking about when he's torturing Stolas and Stolas making quirky comebacks I'm talking about his fight scene

His fight with M&M was the best fucking thing I've seen since the scene where they fight the D.O.R.K.S. it was so smooth it was edge putting heck it even had Moxxie not being scared or jumbled instead using humor to cope

But it was always interrupted by scenes of Blitzo and the Doc chasing after Luna to give her a shot...

Like seriously outta place for a badass scene like this The Villian fighting against a more upgraded and less clumsy M&M who nearly Like I mean by a inch get out alive just by main character plot armor Millie literally almost gets her head chopped and Moxxie once again almost got choked out if it wasn't for Striker being thrown off by Moxxies comment and Millie using the statue after getting out of her axe Striker would have definitely won and probably took like one of Stolas limbs or something

But through the middle of it you get these pink pastel kind of le haha funny simmer down the tension scenes where it's not needed at all It ruins the vibes of the fight scene it was trying to give

Don't get me wrong this was a cute moment to see Luna not treat blitzo like shit and him being soft and kind to her but I feel like the return of Striker deserved more of a serious "oh shit even as they evolve he's still a huge ass threat to have around" episode like the DORKS epi where it was more focused on Mox and Blitz being jacked and only for a brief moment going back to Millie and Luna getting closer to finding the boys

I will give credit where credit is due though the ending was loafly Blitzo thinking everything was honky dory just like every other time he's saved Stolas only to see that it's stolas getting dragged into the hospital

We already know it's bad because we've kinda seen what Striker did but to see Millie of all people looking at Stolas body like that shows that they haven't seen anything this brutal and the person still be alive not just that but It he seems close to all of them as friends so her face says it all

And then m&m breaking the situation to Blitzo for him to realize that Striker actually fucked up Stolas bad and he can actually be hurt

That was a reality check for him that YEAH He can lose Stolas, he isn't this untouchable higher being like he thought he was and even though he was hit with this reality check he still is too fucking stubborn to go to Stolas but that's just how he is

And the end cap is Stolas remembering what Striker said that "no one was coming" that he's relationship with Blitzo is not good and his confidence in trying to fix his relationship with Blitzo is so shit rn that ending was perfect it was great

Like I said before this episode was kinda bland and not due to the animation or the voice actors who did fucking amazing I wanna say it was the direction and writing that kinda set it off a little made it like exaggerated and too weird for people to focus on

Like we have to be concerned for Stolas and M&M wondering oh shit are they gonna die just to be cut back to Hey look at how Luna acts like a dog and goes CraZy cause she's get a shot or haha look at the doc how he thought this was gonna be easy when or emotions or still on the A plot

That's why people didn't really like this episode that much the tone shift to what we were supposed to feel shifted so much it made the episode look like it was trying to hard to not be serious and show that hey we can make jokes look

I feel like the B plot should've finished at Blitzo threatening to kill the racist lady and then the next time we saw em should've been at the end it would've made the whole middle part good and seeing Blitzo smiling and walking out with Luna like he had a great time even more heartbreaking

I'm not sure if anything is happening with the writing team [based on some instagram and Twitter posts about how Vivienne isn't paying the writers and animators enough for what they putting down] or if someone else took the lead for this specific episode but yeah that what just my take on this epi and why I don't like it that much

Now let me say something else Specifically about Vivienne because I can't get into a tweet without seeing this shit like this flying all over the comments people are convinced that Viv isn't paying animators, va's,and basically anyone that works with her the amount that they should be paid which based on what some people who worked with her have said is false, like I've seen at least two people who've worked with her say that it's a load of bull and people shouldn't jump to conclusions for things they don't know so I don't think that's the issue here

But yeah that's my post on the newest helluva boss epi if you actually made it to this part Why??? This shit was long as he'll. But thank you and lemme know what you thought of the episode or if you even like the show

#helluva boss #helluva millie #helluva spoilers #helluva moxxie #helluva blitzo #helluva striker #helluva stolas #vivziepop #Striker couldnt catch a fucking break from the horniness that shit was hilarious to me #but also fuck him for hurting stolas #but also who hirt him like that thoo #but this also shows that not everyone in hell is like this asshole sex drivin crack head kinky nut job #so thats cool #helluva stella #helluva season 2 #helluva andrealphus

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biblioflyer · 1 year

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Jumbled thoughts about Picard s3e1

The short version without spoilers? I liked it. I'm not surprised I like it. That just means Picard is 3 for 3 in really solid first episodes. This is a show that's always been good at sprinting but can it finish the marathon without being winded and slightly confusing?

Spoiler free commentary:

They're getting the band back together!

Riker & Picard's dynamic is arguably more solid than it ever was in TNG. There's a genuine warmth and congeniality to it that rarely got explored in TNG.

Raffi's character growth from seasons 1 & 2 is preserved and expanded on. Narratively the character also seems to be playing a role that is a better fit for her personality and talents.

The mystery to unravel doesn't seem like its going to be as arcane and at risk of requiring a convoluted resolution.

Yay starship porn! But also....ehhhhhh starship porn. (I don't love one of the new designs for extremely arbitrary and very nerdy reasons. Your mileage is free to vary without my judgment and I'm hoping I'll warm up to it.)

Spoilers after the jump.

This is where the spoilers start.

Bev kicks ass?

I find it to be a rather interesting choice to make one of the main characters to be a key element in the central mystery. Making it Beverly of all people just adds another interesting twist. At first I was put off by her lethal efficiency in dealing with the boarders but I really appreciated how Riker pointed out how out of character this was for her when he was examining the aftermath.

Casual XB-ism

I'm uncomfortable with Captain Shaw's casual prejudice towards Seven of Nine. A certain amount of anti-Borg sentiment would be understandable in a less utopian setting and while its not entirely out of character for people in the Federation to hold prejudices, those prejudices are generally the direct result of some sort of trauma. Which is not great, but its not entirely realistic to expect people to be entirely free of bitterness over horrible experiences and it is better, relatively speaking, than simply being prejudiced because of a bunch of ancient conspiracy theories and undeserved smugness over one's culture or genetic lineage. Although it is still not objectively good, just better than more irrational forms of prejudice.

To throw out a few examples of what I'm talking about, Kirk hated Klingons because on multiple times he was a firsthand witness to Klingon atrocities and a Klingon murdered his son because he was Kirk's son - pointedly though, he was able to realize by the end of the Khitomer affair that his prejudice may be something he may never get over but it was also something that could get a lot of people killed if people like him were the only ones directing Federation policy. O'Brien hated Cardassians because of his traumatic experiences during the Cardassian war. Sisko was hostile to Picard at first because his wife died at Wolf 359. Notably he also was able to recognize that he was being unfair in blaming Picard for the crimes of Locutus.

By contrast, Admiral Satie hated Romulans in a more general sense and was willing to ruin people's lives trying to root out spies.

All of those Admirals who are hidebound obstacles for the crew to rebel against, and sometimes are villains outright, must come from somewhere. So it does seem like somehow Captain Shaws slip through the cracks, in spite of Starfleet's best intentions, and wind up becoming symbols of authority that is too remote and out of touch to be of use.

That having been said, there is an opportunity here that I hope will be seized to give Shaw a legitimate reason to be standoffish with Picard and to dislike former Borg. Maybe he was part of the flotilla that fought the Borg in First Contact. Heck, maybe he was a fresh Ensign that Picard forgot who was on the Enterprise during the events of First Contact and witnessed Picard's spiral into Captain Ahab territory. Maybe he lost a parent at Wolf 359.

I just hope that he's not prejudicial because of generalized dislike of the Borg, because that's one of my arbitrary lines where I think it is possible that humanity could reform itself: to let go of arbitrary, generalized prejudice and collective punishment of liberated individuals for the crimes of a hegemonic collective.

Shaw didn't do everything wrong.

Okay I have to admit it was hilarious and just plain good world building for someone to behave like they're part of a command structure with defined responsibilities and reporting structures, and not running off to showboat based on the whims of two people who absolutely no authority or standing, besides their status as heroes.

Raffi is where she should be.

One of the issues I plan to address with a rewatch is the generalized sense among many fans that Raffi should not have been cleared for duty after Season One based on how she behaved in Season Two. That may or may not be unfair, depending on just how effectively you think you can stress test someone who already knows most of Starfleet's tricks for psychologically screening people for their mental fitness to serve.

Season three addresses this by having Raffi serve in Starfleet Intelligence as a field operative with what seems to be a wide reservation to work inside of it. This seems to be a much more appropriate place for her based on her personality and skills. Also I am entertaining the possibility that her handler is not who we all probably think it is and that the comment about Raffi being a warrior is a Red Herring. It would be interesting to see it wind up being Moriarty of all beings, newly emancipated after the lifting of the Synth ban and free to roam wherever the processing power exists to support him, and unable to resist a good mystery.

Arbitrary gripes

The mystery son trope. Don't get me wrong, I'm curious about his parentage and conception. I'm sure we're meant to assume he's Picard's (somehow) but I think it would be neat if he were actually Jack Crusher's son and Bev just decided to have another child with her late husband using preserved DNA and somehow managed to keep it secret from the rest of the crew. Maybe his growth was artificially accelerated?

Machine gun phasers. Why? No, its rhetorical. I know why, not having a suppressive fire option for energy weapons means that everyone and their uncle would be using bullets instead like it was The Expanse, but a part of me loves the moderately kinder, somewhat gentler Old West style exchange of fire one shot at a time.

#star trek #star trek picard #picard season 3 #picard spoilers

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vacantgodling · 1 year

Text

2022 Year in Review Tag!

thanks so much @magic-is-something-we-create i feel like this year has been a huge jumble ngl but let’s be positive about it lol :’)

also this is just a general list not top 5 cuz i didn’t do much this year

5 movies i watched

in terms of new movies:

american psycho — i actually enjoyed this movie a lot but it’s genuinely bc this movie is much funnier than i thought it would be. all deeper meanings and commentary aside patrick bateman is a fucking specimen

kwaidan — obsessed with this movie ngl. the first three segments are top tier (kurokami, yukionna & HOICHI THE EARLESS ESPECIALLY IF YOU WATCH NO OTHER PART PLEASE WATCH THIS ONE I CANNOT PRAISE IT ENOUGH). however the last one was super lackluster in comparison to the other three. tbh i feel like if the last one was the first one it would be a really good progression from okay to the best bc you really can’t follow hoichi the earless with anything imo.

tales from crypt (1972) — watched a lot of old horror this year (bc my partner is a horror movie buff and has been getting me into them for awhile now lolol) but this movie was a lot of fun! i want more ridiculous anthologies and movies tbh. make movies fun again tm.

jeepers creepers — never seen it before and MY GOD was screaming the whole time i was watching bc no?? we do not need to investigate you KNOW it’s a creature. all of this might’ve been avoided if y’all just minded your damn business 😔

then off the top of my head i rewatched my comfort movie sherlock holmes bc fuck iron man, rdj’s sherlock is his best role to me. i definitely wanna watch more movies next year.

5 shows i watched

ah i mostly just watched anime this year

chainsaw man — stressed. everyone is sketchy and i’m stressed

rewatch of demon slayer with my friend bc demon slayer is the only thing that matters :) finally have hulu so i can fucking watch season 2 i just haven’t gotten around to it yet 😭

way of the househusband — finally got around to watching the anime this year and just as the manga, it’s perfect

jujutsu kaisen — i love it but at what cost. also i’m a simp for nanami oof

death parade / nana — i’ve only watched the first episodes of each but nana stresses me out (lovingly) and i think death parade is fascinating i just need to make more time to watch shit lol

5 songs of 2022 (*separate from spotify wrapped*)

odo — ado -> got introduced to this song recently and just absolutely obsessed with it. it’s the song that may be sparking a change in one of my wips that i mentioned lol

devil — max changmin -> came out in january and this song owns the whole fucking year idc idc idc

go back — se so neon -> UGH THIS BAND their songs slap so hard but go back is genuinely just so good

濁 (daku) — the gazette -> this whole album. but i want this song directly injected into my veins.

better — boa -> CRACK. THERES CRACK IN THIS SONG. but boa >>>>>>

5 albums or artists of 2022

i don’t have 5 but these three specifically:

devil (the 2nd mini album) — max changmin -> this album owns my ass. cannot believe he started the year like this. how fucking dare lol.

the gazette, always my beloveds

lowlife princess: noir — bibi -> she snapped with this one. every song and mv snapped. bibi vengence & animal farm especially

5 books i read

definitely didn’t read 5 books lol didn’t have time or space mentally. however i will say i started to read bram stoker’s dracula this year, got stuck on the part about paprika, thought it was hilarious and never finished chapter 1. it’s super good from the bit i read so far, i’m just easily amused and don’t have patience 😔

5 characters from media

nanami (jjk) — feral about a man a single man

like everyone in demon slayer but tanjiro komado my fucking BELOVED 😭

hanzo (ovw) — 6 years strong obsessing over this man pff

link — i am once again pointing at my botw self insert au side blog lmaoooo

gojo / rengoku share a spot only bc i love them but ow pain :)

sorry i don’t listen to podcasts lol

and finally

5 positive things that happened in 2022 no matter how small:

got conveyor belt sushi for the first time! i wish it was closer by but maybe it’s better i’d be there every day

created a new writeblr so i could start getting more confident talking about my stories. i think it’s marginally worked! i’m working on myself still but i feel like i’ve been more open and indulgent this year

5 years with my partner!

had a pretty good birthday for the first time in years

despite the struggles working from home has done a lot for my mental health and i want to try and secure another wfh job in the future.

this is an open tag! i hope everyone had a decent year to some extent 💛

#about renjamin #ren mix

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hi-my-name-is-dotdotdot · 2 years

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combined jumbled ds9 I watched a lot today

mirror Kira. she- I- um. HELLO??

I wanna read like a character study now. also implications for non mirror kira???

got long again and this is about many episodes and it’s all jumbled up, so here’s a cut

I kept thinking that by the amount of times they said “no changeling has ever harmed another” that would change soon, and I was right. feel bad for odo :(

lotsa invasions happening. romulan-cardassian invasion of the dominion, klingon invasion of cardassia, when is the full out war gonna start? also the maquis still exist but they haven’t done much in a while

oh wait, except for when ruler version 2 (tom) pretends to be will and steals the defiant. also I never got to finish tng (it left netflix and I just never got around to watching it on my own on my laptop) so like what happened between will and o’brien?? like. that “I have nothing to say to you” exchange was SO unexpected.

also apparently the enterprise gets destroyed. that was news

back to ds9, umm oh we finally see the ferengi planet! andddd yep, seems right, pay to enter someone’s house, pay for an elevator, pay to sit, pay to stand, pay to find out who’s been charged with a crime and what the crime is, etc

quark and rom’s mother seemed quite interesting. kinda want her to pop up again, see how her secret financial empire is going

nog got into the academy!

rom stood up to quark!

that one episode that’s pov is old Jake and it’s the story of how ben dies but not really was. so sad. good thing his plan worked and it was fixed! but also, feel like it should come with a suicide warning? technically?

who in their right mind thought sending dukat on a mission alone with kira was a good idea? and then he had the nerve to say “actually, I think the occupation was good for Bajor but I’m not here to debate you on politics” THEN WHY’D YOU BRING IT UP, MISTER

also, dukat of all people was in love with a Bajoran? and has a half bajoran daughter? who he couldn’t bring himself to kill even with a weapon pointed at her for a few long minutes? surprising

don’t know if taking her back to cardassia is actually the best thing, sorry major, but I can’t believe most cardassians would ever treat her as equal or respect her. not to mention like. I’m assuming dukat would take her home to his home. and his wife and seven children. so not only would the rest of cardassia think she shouldn’t exist, she’ll probably have to live with people who resent her and just think she’s a “mistake” by dukat. who knows though, maybe cardassian “family is everything” values have a broader definition of family than I’d pessimistically include.

worf is here! funny thing - when we watched tng my mom never liked worf but now that he’s here she’s happy to see a(nother) familiar character lol

JADZIA AND LENORA AND DS9’S FAMOUS LESBIAN KISS why is this episode so tragic I wanted to cry

alsoooooooo I love how not a single complaint was they’re both women but only that they were married in previous hosts like yes go star trek written in the 90’s you did it

oh that reminds me! this was a few days ago, sisko and bashir were talking about reassigning an ensign because he’s “budding” and then have a whole, happy conversation about how “he’s pregnant?” “yes, twins” “well congratulation, of course he’s reassigned” “we’re having a baby shower for him” “I’ll be there are you getting him anything” that just made me happy

also I like how julian and miles’ relationship went from miles hates julian and julian annoys miles and then they grow to like and understand each other and sometime they start spending fixed times together (racquetball, darts) and go to each other with problems, become basically best friends to the point where when they get captured by some jem’hadar who want a cure to their genetic drug addiction and julian refuses to leave with miles because he wants to cure them, miles is willing to risk his career and everything to get julian back to their ship with him no matter what. even if julian’s his superior officer. even if he has to blast his work apart. even if julian might always resent him for it. (happily the end cues seem like they can start hanging out again in a few days, but I don’t think it could be quite the same as before after something like that, not so soon at least)

during jadzia’s (????) ceremony where she meets her previous hosts and curzon somehow joins with odo and both decide they want to stay in odo’s body but eventually realize it’s not for the best. I just. that was sad ok.

also, speaking of odo, he’s in love with kira? I feel like there are literally never signs besides like. two episodes. one is when it’s the bajoran gratitude festival and odo’s like “I was thinking of coming this year… I’ll see you there?” and kira said she’d be with bareil and odo was visibly disappointed

the second episode was when another changeling pretended to be kira stuck in a growing rock and odo admitted it when he thought she was gonna die. (also! I KNEW it was a trap, the second they split up something happens to her? really? also she sounded way too panicked to be kira over getting her foot stuck in a rock)

another point - because of odo I just assumed changelings are bad at being humanoid, but changelings besides odo can imitate humanoids (so far, one vulcan and maybe two humans? including scanning as that species with a tricorder!) so why can’t odo? does he just need more practice or is it some result of being separated from his planet and people so young? or maybe something to do with this great link?

oh and about that episode where odo and garak go off to investigate and then garak is like “huh! I can be a good cardassian again? I can be back in the obsidian order? yes!” like. dude. of course I understand his desire to go home and feel bad for him but do you really trust that? really?? you were EXILED for betraying this man and - even if you say you didn’t do it - you think he’s just gonna let you back into the fold? back into cardassia? after you ran off to save him from ab assassin only to learn he sent the assassin after you? really? I suppose he figured it out at the end, somewhat.

odo in that episode too. so when he can’t turn back to liquid he starts falling apart? like. geez that’s harsh. also why does he always wait until the whole 16 hours have passed? like, 16 hours is his regeneration period, it’s the longest he can hold a form, but wouldn’t it make more sense to go back to his liquid state whenever he has a safe few minutes time? that way his 16-hour “time bank” would always be as full as possible. or does it only count at the 16-hour marks?

also the scene when odo is flaking apart and looking in all sorts of pain and can’t stand anymore and garak runs over like “just tell me something! anything!” and odo bursts out with “I want to go home! not to the station, but to my people! I want to be part of the great link” and he sounds tortured and agonized over it. well. goodness, that hits right in the heart, doesn’t it? (the “goodness” makes me southern in that sentence, lol)

also the whole thing with “need to bleed to prove you’re not a changeling because when separated the blood goes to what I’m now calling default changeling mode (dcm?)” why oh why are they always making big dramatic cuts in their palms? a finger prick would work just as well! at first I thought, just yank out a strand of hair but then I remember wigs could easily make that useless. but seriously. finger pricks! also get something sterile, why is everyone in the room using the same klingon’s knife?

my dad promised to get paramount+ after wimbledon’s over, so I’ll probably finally actually finish tng before I come back to this. since I’m not under “BINGE BEFORE IT LEAVES” constraints it’ll probably just be one or a couple of episodes a day, which’ll hopefully mean I’m actually coherent if I’m possessed to write about it like this

#star trek #ds9 #long post #very very rambling thoughts #just realized a lot of these are about specific scenes in specific episodes and so don’t make much sense

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iwadori · 3 years

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are you going to do a 'when the haikyuu boys make you insecure' part with Iwaizumi / could I request that?

When they make you insecure part 6 (Iwaizumi,Matsukawa)

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6

Word Count: 2.8K

Genre: Angst, Fluff

masterlist

AN: Did I embedd myself in this story? Yes, yes i did. :3 (it’s only a small part dw loool)

Iwaizumi

One day when you were walking to the gym to go see your boyfriend

You overhear him and the team talking about some instagram girl

“She’s hot” you hear Boktuo yell doing a hoot as he fawns over a picture, with the rest of the guys agreeing.

“What do you think Iwaizumi?” Hinata ask

“She’s cute... I guess?” the rest of the guys, grunt in disagreement at Iwa’s lack of drooling over the girl.

“Well I see why you wouldn’t want her Haji-kun,” says Atsumu “you are into the more simple girls bro”

“Simple?” Iwaizumi questions, and the rest of the guys agree

“Yeah simple, you know Y/N... she’s simple” says one of the guys, with the word ‘simple’ rolling off their tounge with a tone of disgust.

“I guess your right guys...” Iwaizumi says “Y/N is pretty basic and simple but-”

You leave the gym before you hear what the rest of them had to say. When you got to your house you bolt straight to the mirror, you look at your outfit and frown. You never thought your style was ‘basic,’ to be fair you wouldn’t describe anybodys style as basic or simple. Of course, you weren’t like those instagram influencers, that wasn’t your thing. But Iwa has known that about you for years... but I guess that’s not what he truly likes.

You go to your closet and take out all the contents, just tossing all your clothes (even some of your favourite items ever) and dashing them in a black trash bag putting them to the side. You were already on a mission to buy a whole new wardrobe, going through all different stores and looking on pinterest for inspo.

You didn’t really talk to Iwa for the rest of the week, since you wanted him to see you in your ‘new form,’ you weren’t being radiosilent but you didn’t initiate any hang outs with him or face time calls (which he did find slightly odd, but didn’t think that much by it.)

Finally, the clothes came and you were kind of shocked at how much you ordered you spent over £200 on clothes from all different places. When you were trying them on, you liked some of them the ones that were kind of similar to your past style but not so ‘simple,’ the others you kind of frowned at since it definitely didn’t feel like ‘you’ at all. ‘This is for Iwa,’ you reminded yourself as your forced a smile on your face analysing yourself in the mirror.

You had everything sorted, your wardrobe was now changed and done the colours and styles you once wore before is now the complete opposite. You invited Iwa over, hesistantly waiting to see how would he react.

When you hear your door knock, you rush over to open it and model a pose you saw one of those girl do trying to look as natural as possible.

“Hey babe ho-” he says, with his eyes widening seeing your new look “Woah Y/N!”

“Hey Haji..come in!” you exclaim with a beaming smile pulling him inside to the couch. “So, are we going to continue watching the crown, I watched the previous episode and god prince phillip is such a dick.”

You look over your shoulder and see Iwa still standing in your entranceway a bit awkwardly, looking a bit stunned. “Come sit down then, we’ve got an episode to watch.”

“uh oh yeah, sure” he says blinking, following you to the couch.

You got through atleast 4 episodes together, you barely talked as you were really engrossed in the show. Iwa was barely paying attention, he was too busy questioning how you were acting. This definitely wasn’t the girl he knew, even the way you were acting whilst watch the show was odd. The way you’d cutely giggle and ‘sublty’ look over to him whilst laughing at a funny part of the show instead of just doing your usual obnoxious laugh that he loved to hear.

“Oh Y/N, I’m going to go to the bathroom.” he says standing up, you don’t reply you just wave your hand in acknowledgement.

On his way to the bathroom, Iwa nearly trips on a black bag left outside your bedroom door. He opens it, and mildly gasped when he saw all your old stuff jumbled up in there. He picks up the back and goes straight back to the living room and stands in front of you.

“Haji, what are you doing you’re blocking the TV” you complaining trying to see what’s happening behind him.

He drops the black bag infront of you and you internally curse yourself for not moving. You stare at him waiting for him to say something.

“Well whats this then.” he says looking down at you, almost like a disapproving dad.

“Clothes.” you say smartly, knowing what he was asking.

“You know what I meant Y/N, why are all your clothes in a garbage bag.”

“Because I wanted to put them there,” you wanted to seem as nochalant about it as possible as if putting all your clothes in a garbage bag doesn’t make you feel sad.

“Yeah but why?” he says sitting down next to you.

“Just because I wanted to” you reiterate “what else do you want me to say?”

“Well this isn’t like you, its just a bit random Y/N” he says

“I know this isnt like me you” you spat, standing up “Isn’t this what you wanted anyways.” You head to your bedroom picking up the bag with you, with Iwa hot on your heels.

“What do you mean this is what I wanted?” he says in disbelief “When did I ever say that?”

“It doesn’t matter” you mumble, you start to aggressively take our your old clothes and shove them back into your wardrobe whilst Iwa is just talking. You’re not really listening to him your just putting the clothes back.

“Y/N Stop!” he yells kind of knocking you out of your ‘trance,’ “what is going on with you?” he grabs you hands and pulls them down stopping you from what you were doing and he winced at seeing your tear stricken face.

He gently pulls you into his arms sitting you both on your bed, waiting for you to speak. “I don’t know what you want from me Iwa..” you start your voice slightly breaking “it’s just I did this all for you and you don’t even appreciate it.”

“I don’t know what you mean Y/N?” he says sounding genuinely confused.

“Y/N is simple and basic.” you say repeating words that you heard your boyfriend say about you, you feel him tense as you say it and you slowly get out of his hug.

“Y/N I-”

“That really hurt Hajime, I know now that I'm not your ‘type’ but I-”

“No Y/N, you are my type of course you are!” he says gulping in nervousness “I love you, and your style. I’ve always being enamored by how you dress and present yourself and I don’t know why I even said you’re basic and simple I didn’t mean it that way.”

“Really?” you say sniffling looking down

“Yes really you idiot,” he says lifting your head up “To be fair I don’t care what you wear, since you look great in anthing I just want you to be happy Y/N and especially not dress for anyone including me. Okay?”

“Okay,” you agree slightly nodding your head.

“Good, so can we go and finish the crown and then burn all these clothes?” Iwa jokes as he stands up.

“Burn them!” you exclaim “These cost £200, you muppet.”

“£200! Gosh Y/N, next time you go shopping im definitely coming with you.” he says shaking his head “can’t have you blowing out your bank account for clothes you don’t even like that much.”

You spend the rest of the day finishing of The Crown and you and Iwa eventually both sort out your wardrobe. Your style and aethetic changes a lot more through the times you were together and Iwa was very supportive and helpful of every single change. Especially *insert your favourite dress aesthetic here.*

Matsukawa

You were walking with your friends; Iwa, Tooru, Maki and your boyfriend Matsun. Walking to school as you did every morning, today the topic of conversation was Tooru’s bad taste in women.

“Gosh yesterday was horrible, she didn’t want to talk to me at all,” he complained “all she wanted to do was to come straight to my place, I didn’t even have the chance to tell her my hair routine.”

“That’s why you don’t find dates off of Tinder shittykawa” grunted Iwaizumi

“Well I know that now!” he exclaimed.

“Y/N,” said Makki grasping your attention “Would you ever use Tinder?”

“Well I-”

“Of course she wouldn’t” your boyfriend interrupted wrapping his arm round your shoulder “she’s got me”

“Yeah, but if you two weren’t together, would you use it.”

“Well may-”

“Y/N definitely wouldn’t” he said interrupting you AGAIN “she’s way to frigid for that shit”

Frigid? You thought to yourself, ouch. Their was a quick awkward silence and all you could hear was Matsukawa laughing with the others laughing after awkwardly in pursuit. After sensing your uncomfortability (is that a word?) Oikawa decides to change the subject to make things less awkward,

“I need a woman who understands me!” he rants “One that can listen to me and appreciate my awesome hair.”

“Goodluck with that Shittykawa.”

Oikawa rambles on as you walk to school with the other guys chiming in. You on the other hand, were lost in thought. Your sex life wasn’t something you would want to publicly talk about let alone to you and your boyfriends' male friends. Also, with Matsun describing you as ‘frigid’ struck a nerve. You weren’t frigid, well at least to you, you weren’t.

When you got to school you immediately rushed straight to your lesson claiming that you teacher really needed to talk to you. Which was odd to Matsukawa as you usually all hung around each other until the bell rang, the other boys gave each other knowing looks all assuming the reasons for your odd behaviour.

At lunch time, you stayed in your class instead of going up to the roof where you and your friends usually end up. In the class room you hear one of the girls in your class, Empress having one of her usual gossip conversations with her group of friends.

“Hajime is so hot!” she said, fanning her face being dramatic

“Of course he is! You should totally go for him.” her friend said and the rest of the friends agreed.

“What do you think Y/N?” she says to you catching your attention “you’re close friends with him right?”

“Yeah, I am” you say a bit sadly “You should definitely go for him, I think you’d be perfect together.”

“Okay! I think I might later” she says smiling. Her and friends leave, but then Empress returns and walks straight to you.

“Are you alright doll?” she asks softly smiling

“I guess so..” you say hesitantly “It’s just something my boyfriend said to me this morning.”

“Matsun?” she asks and you nod in reply “What did he say?”

After you rehash the situation from this morning Empress scowls in annoyance, “Boys can be such pigs sometimes, such a dick thing to say.”

“I know right!” you respond “Even if I was frigid, which im totally not it’s not even a bad thing nor is it something to reveal to people in public in a ‘jokey’ way.”

“Yeah!” she agrees “I think you should go and give him a piece of your mind.”

“I mean...” your voice falters, when it comes to Matsun you’ve never really given him a ‘piece of your mind,’ even when he makes jokes that you’re not so fond of.

“Come on!” she encourages “I’ll come with you and cheer you on.”

“You just want to come to see Iwa Empress” you say pointedly “But fine let’s go.”

You both power walk to the roof where you see the four seijoh boys sitting down and eating. “Oh hi Y/N/-chan and look Iwa its Emp-chan... isn’t that a surprise!” Iwa blushes and the rest of the guys laugh.

You walk straight up to Matsun and stand right infront of him. “Matsukawa I need to talk to you,” you say folding your arms. “Why whats up babe?” he says, still sitting down with a cheeky grin on his face.

“Alone.” you say turning around walking to a secluded spot. Behind you, you hear Matsun get up and the rest of the boys saying “oooh Matsukawa your in trouble” as they laugh.

“What’s wrong with you today Y/N?” he asks slightly accusatorily.

“I didn’t appreciate the comment you made today on the way to school,” you say with your arms folded.

“Oh that little comment about you being frigid, come on it was just a joke I wasn’t being serious.” he says lightly laughing but he stops once he sees the glare you give him ”you knew it was a joke right?”

“Matsun, some are your jokes just aren’t funny,” you say “especially when they're about me and our sex life in front of our friends too.”

“Y/N I didn’t mea-”

“You just come off as a huge dick sometimes, and I can’t do this anymore if you keep on making these comments anymore I don’t think I can do this.”

“Woah Y/N, are you threatening to break up with me?” he asks “Over a few little comments?”

“These aren’t a few little comments, sometimes what you say is just unnecessary and rude.”

“Okay well...”

“Well...” you repeat staring at him waiting for to apologise or atleast say something, “fuck you Matsukawa.”

You storm away and walk bout to the group saying “Empress lets go.” She jumps of Iwa’s lap and waves by to them following you back down to the school. You walk into the bathroom and just start to cry, “Y/N whats wrong?” Empress says pulling you into a hug

“H-He doesn’t care,” you cry “He pretty much excused his stupid comments, passing them off as little ‘jokes,’ that didn’t apparently mean anything.”

“Oh dear,” Empress says consoling you “he’s not worth your time right now.”

“B-but but I love him.” you wail fat tears streaming down your face.

“I know sweetheart, I know,” she says letting go of the hug “so what do you wanna do about him?”

“I don’t know,” you say “I don’t want to break up with him or anything, but is there a point in staying if he’s just going to make these comments again.”

“I don’t know Y/N, but whatever you wanna do I’ll support. Wether it’s keying his car or reading shitty fanfiction and crying.” Empress says making you laugh.

The final bell rings and now it's time to go home, of course you don’t walk with the guys so you just enjoy your own company walking home.

“Y/N! Y/N!” you hear from behind you and of course the only person it can be is Matsukawa.

“What do you want?” you mumbled

“I..I want too” he says heaving out of breath from the running he had to do “I want to apologise. I need do.”

“Okay...” you respond

“Im sorry, Im so so sorry,” he says “those jokes and comments were stupid and I agree I can be a dick sometimes. Well a lot of the time, but I never wanted to be a dick to you.”

“Well you were.”

“I know I was, and I’m so sorry. There’s no excuse what I said and what I have said before I just hope I can make it up to you.”

“Okay then.”

“So are we not broken up?”

“No we’re not broken up, but it’ll take a lot of making up to do for me to fully forgive you.”

“Great! And I'll spend every day to get you to forgive me.”

Which he did, he spent every day showering you with love and affection. He was way better than he was before, you even went on double dates with Oikawa and his flavour of the week and triple dates with Iwa and his girlfriend. Matsukawa, although he still made jokes, he never targeted them and centered them around you in an insulting way.

AN: I didn’t really like the matsukawa one since i couldn’t really write for him properyl sooo sorry bout that one kids.

#haikyuu x reader comfort #haikyu angst #haikyu x reader #haikyuu fluff #haikyu scenarios #haikyu headcanons #haikyu #iwaizumi x reader #iwaizumi angst #iwaizumi scenarios #iwaizumi hajime #iwaizumi fluff #matsukawa x reader #matsukawa angst #matsukawa fluff #matsukawa oneshot #signedwithane😌

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reaction2whatever · 2 years

Text

My Agents of shield season 3 mumble jumble

I just finished the season 3 finale and boyyyyy am I emotional right about now. (Possibly because I binged 5 episodes all at once and thoughts are jumbled

Be prepared I'm sensing this is gonna be a long rant

Just like the season 2 rant Imma divide this into two parts and ramble it through each part

(sidenote: this is my first time watching this show so If you want to see my reactions to previous seasons you can find those thoughts here and please no spoilers. I started this account that I don't really use to stop Tumblr spoiling me based on the tags that I used lol)

Plot

Welp. Where do I even start

I think it is a pretty good season. Better than season 1, not as strong as season 2.

I also like the latter half of the season where they fight Hive more than the first half.

The reason behind my criticism of the first half of this season is that it is trying to do TOO many things all at the same time while simultaneously moving too slowly too.

Let's see. The first ten episodes of this season had the following main storylines:

-A massive amount of people are turning into Inhumans and they are creating chaos

-ATCU is targeting Inhumans, especially Lincoln

-A new "monster", later revealed as Andrew/Lush, is hunting Inhumans as well

-Fitz saving Simmons from an alien planet/ that FitzSimmons and Will love triangle

-Hunter and May trying to take down Ward for Bobbi

After having finished this season, I can see the way these stories intertwine with each other. It is pretty great. I think the writers did a very good job with how the mysteries thrown at viewers were all resolved.

But when watching it for the first time, I felt like new questions kept coming up and the main characters were all over the place following different plotlines. It was easy to be confused as to what's the point of everything and how does everything connect together?

Especially when it's trying to tell this many stories all at once, somehow this show slowed down the pace so suddenly to give Simmons a whole episode solely to talk about her time on an alien planet pining for one man and falling in love for another.

Like the pace was really fast and suddenly slowed down then picked up the pace again.

When season 2 was finished I was pretty excited about the potential of a lot of new inhuman capabilities in season 3, because fish is a common enough thing that a potentially huge amount of people could get powers overnight.

But I guess in season 3 we only get Andrew(who wasn't turned into an Inhuman because of fish oil), yoyo, joey, and some minor side characters. After Rosalind died and Hive was introduced, this spread of inhuman incidents' influence seemed to have hit the stop button and never surfaced again.

Wasn't this introduced as a massive global outbreak in the first episode? Why is it that the shield team has stopped showing up to newly turned Inhumans like they did for Joey? Why is it that Hive wasn't capable of finding hundreds of Inhumans to work for him under his sway?

At his peak, Hive had like 4 Inhumans under his sway(Daisy, multiplying woman, telekinesis guy, fire-throwing guy), and...honestly, I had to lol at that pathetic low number(I know Andrew killed some but like, they can do better with that number. There is no way anyone can stop the world from eating fish and this is a thing that can't be stopped. Every day there should be new Inhumans lol.

Would have been so cool to see more characters with inhuman powers/see a massive inhuman outbreak more.

The same could be said for Simmons' adventure on another planet and her reaction to it, soooo much potential for a whole other planet. The ATCU's philosophy and the debate of whether Inhumans should be cured could be expanded a lot more to talk about ethics, so a lot of potential there too.

Each thread of plotting could be expanded and explained more because each thread has a lot of potentials, but I guess they needed for the season to move forward quickly and I think it got a bit messy and rushed with the many characters and plotlines introduced.

The latter half of the season focuses a lot more on a singular threat Hive and I feel like I like the latter half more. I'm very sad that Bobbi and Hunter are gone for the latter half but I have to admit after sending these two away, the reduced number of the main cast also helped with the storytelling.

I know I wrote a lot of criticism above but honestly overall I still think this is a strong season and the plot is pretty awesome and I love this show but I've said that amazement enough in my episode to episode reactions lol so I'll shut up and talk about characters instead.

Characters

Daisy Johnson

oh boy do I love her. (Chloe Bennet is so good at acting like oh wow

First of all, I know (from the very kind @agents-of-fangirling in the comments) that Daisy Johnson is a comic book character and that's probably why they've changed her name.

But still, I think it's pretty symbolic.

Skye was a person trying to find meaning in her life. She was homeless, an orphan, who had never had stability in her life, who had no idea who she was or what's her heritage. Skye was very much struggling to balance between her birth family and her shield famly and why does she have powers. It's an orphan's name and it hints at her chaotic life.

After an entire journey in the span of two seasons, Skye had found her heritage, her power, and her parents. Now she was agent Daisy Johnson, her full name comes from her birth parents but very much an agent of shield and a superhero (Before sway. I'll talk about that later lol)

She had gotten over that rookie phase and she was more mature now.

I'm very glad that Daisy Johnson doesn't need anybody to baby her to go into the field and be GOOD at it. She wasn't stuck as a rookie and she's just grown to the point where I feel a sense of security when she's in the field.

Compare that to when in season 1 she can't fight at all and in season 2 she was training under May and fumbling over her powers, this season she'd really feel all grew up.

She leads the inhuman task force, she advocates for inhuman rights. She has accepted her Inhuman identity and knows who she is. She uses her power well and she fights well and she gets things done. She had really started to feel confident and capable. She's just an overall very enjoyable superhero and agent in this season.

(Maybe she didn't hack as much as she used to but I accept the trade between hacking scenes and super hot power/fighting scenes any day)

ALSO did I mention just how gorgeous she is?

AND THEN she got swayed

See, the writers of this show never let any character gets too comfortable with life.

I feel like part of the reason why Daisy after sway is pretty heartbreaking to watch is that she finally seemed happy and content with her life for a bit. She was a leader of a good team of Inhumans, she had a boyfriend who's a massive upgrade from Miles and Ward.

AND hive just went ahead and took all of that away from her.

I feel like that's like her worst nightmare coming true. She truly sees the team as her family. Not only did she personally hurt Fitz and Mack but she also had that vision. She knew someone is gonna die. She knew that time can't be changed.

I truly believed that if she killed someone on the team it will break her but...things are not much better.

She was in so much pain and so addicted to the feeling of hive that she begged hive to take her back, which at the moment is understandable, but she's gonna beat herself up for it for sure later on. hive having Ward's face definitely doesn't help one bit.

I feel like she was even relieved when she thought her helping hive will only result in her own death and not somebody else's.

It's easier on her conscious in a way

AND then Lincoln dies. Lincoln who is the only one that knew she begged Hive to take her back. Lincoln who only said he loves her when he was about to die.

My girl ended this season being suicidal, going through withdrawal, having to face the fact that she harmed the team, having to face the fact that May's ex-husband and probably the only therapist who can help her deal right now died for her, having to face the fact that her boyfriend exploded in space for her with hive who possess Ward's face and being hunted by shield.

I fear for her sanity because I would be on the floor bawling right now if I were her. Life is not treating her well.

I don't know why shield is after her when we end this season but for the love of God somebody please wrap her up in a soft blanket and give the girl some soup and also give her a ton of good therapy.

Phil Coulson

Coulson feels more like a person this season because he is selfish and I meant it in a good way

He was just good in season 1 and 2. He was that generic good boss character with some trauma with being brought back to life and...yeah that's about it

This season though, Coulson fell in love with Rosalind resulting in Rosalind bleeding out in his arms

He hunted down and killed Ward for personal reasons and I liked it because he's more like a human being with flaws lol.

There was one bit of wasted potential for Coulson and that's being an amputee.

I know he struggled a bit with ties and he mentioned phantom pain. But later on, he had cool gadgets on his hand and he just got some more capability being an amputee

I would love to see an episode where he lost his hand and show some real struggle with it because I feel like in this season his struggle as a disabled person got glossed over easily. His disability was even seen as cool with all the extra gadgets on his hand. idk I feel like there are a lot of potentials to be explored there

Melinda May

Man, I don't know why they keep on wasting May's potential

May's arc was basically hunting Ward with Hunter and then some emotional scenes/plots with Andrew/Lush

Other than that...May is basically used as a generic plot driver/field agent

I want her to have some solid arc. like Daisy's brainwashing arc or Simmons' alien planet arc

Give her something of substance please and don't let Andrew's wife confine her like it did in this season

Also I was kinda sad that Lash didn't get to say goodbye to her

Grant Ward/Hive

I hate his face so much

Like seriously, he better be gone for good. He's a pretty good villain for a solid three seasons now and it's time for him to be gone

I loved him as good guy Ward and I still think he's a pretty handsome guy

But uggh the way seeing his face makes me want to punch things

FitzSimmons

FitzSimmons this season got more mature and they finally got together like TOOK THEM LONG ENOUGH(I'm feeling like a proud mother

I am very proud of Fitz that he had gradually overcome his brain damage and he got more daring/courageous this season

I cannot imagine season 1 Fitz facing and successfully tricking a whole mob by himself but he did in this season for Simmons.

He was very much a heroic character in trying to save Simmons through space when he pulled her from the planet

He didn't hold it against Simmons for falling in love with Will and even though he was in love with Simmons he still tried his very best to save Will. That's heroic behavior and just pretty selfless overall. Not a lot of guys will do that.

I'm very glad that he got the girl in the end lol

I feel like Simmons this season had a good arc with the alien planet thing. I was very glad that she got her own episode.

I understand why she would fall for Will and I applaud the writers that they used creativity to introduce a love triangle to FitzSimmons.

I think the reason why FitzSimmons is appealing (at least for me) is that they seem to have this bubble around them, separating them from the outside world. They live in this scientific world where they are the only two who can understand each other and communicate with each other. When they talk to other people, they need to dial their sentences down, use plain language so that others could understand, chose their words carefully to explain. But they don't need to do that with each other

A perfect example comes to mind:

When Fitz was trapped in the hanger with primitive agents

Simmons: "Fitz, Professor idk's compiler theory?"

Fitz:"yes yes do that you saw me do it and you have a good memory"

After Simmons has saved Fitz, Coulson was like "wtf is that"

see, FitzSimmons has this deep understanding of each other and connection that seems so untouchable for anyone else. They don't need to say things carefully so the other will understand and their communication in science is unmatched

I don't think anybody could follow their train of thoughts outside of them, and that's a connection that's unbreakable

I had always thought a third wheeler in FitzSimmons is kinda impossible. The writers managed to use Will to introduce some logical and possible angst to FitzSimmons and I had to applaud them for effort lol

(SEE, it takes separation to an ALIEN planet to introduce plausible angst to FitzSimmons and that's saying something lol)

I hope FitzSimmons have a good vacation in Seychelles and do more than just snorkeling

Lincoln

Oh man I wish he was not dead I'm still emo thinking about it

Last season I said Lincoln felt like a love interest designed for Daisy and somehow that feeling hasn't really gone away this season

He was saved by Daisy, joined shield for Daisy, almost died trying out a vaccine for her, and eventually really died for her.

When his addiction to alcohol was first introduced I thought briefly that the writers wanted to introduce more depth/background to him. But after that sway of Daisy+Hive sway thing I feel like they purposefully introduced it to make Lincoln be the only one who would understand Daisy's addiction to hive

The rest of the team just thought she went to Hive to fight him. Lincoln was the only one who figured out that she was addicted.

I mean it's good that somebody on the team understands Daisy, but I also feel like this shift was a bit contradicting the image when Lincoln was first introduced. He was calm, collected, in control of his power back then. He accepted his inhuman identity perfectly and he was just overall pretty nice and kind. He was also very supportive of Daisy

This season, because the writers are putting this being hunted/addiction arc onto Lincoln, he has gotten more chaotic and his writing got a bit inconsistent

He didn't visit Daisy when she was at her lowest after Hive's sway, but sacrificed and died for Daisy in the end while saying he loves her. If he loves her I guess he'd done for her what Mack has done for her, right?

But all of these things aside, I just wished Lincoln could act more of an Inhuman medical expert for the team. He could have been very valuable but I guess he stayed as a supporting character

I'm gonna miss him. He was pretty handsome. I hope his death doesn't completely break Daisy even though it seems likely

Lance Hunter/Bobbi Morse

They are two of the best characters on this show and I cannot believe they just left like that

But I guess if they had to go, they went out as a couple and as heroes. So I guess spy's goodbye is a good goodbye.

They are like the definition of likable supporting characters who doesn't hog screen time while still being very enjoyable to the show

We never need to have long and deep scenes of them to know their characteristics and that's hard to achieve. I'm gonna miss both of them dearly for sure

Mack

Yay he definitely got more likable in this season! His shotgun axe was pretty awesome and mmm I hope his romance with yoyo works out well

Andrew/Lash

Andrew shouldn't have died

I don't really care about Lash had to die somehow but I do think Lash shouldn't have been Andrew

His character has so much potential

He's a therapist that shield could trust. Just how valuable is that??

This show has so many characters with trauma that's layered with shield secret and every single one of Andrew's therapy scenes is gold for characterization

If Andrew didn't die, he could have helped everyone on the team and I just feel like his connections to Daisy and Simmons and May were kinda abandoned and ruined

I will miss Andrew for sure

ANYWAYS, this is definitely too long of a thing and I had a blast today watching many episodes and finishing season 3.

Imma stop now lol.

#agents of shield #agents of s.h.i.e.l.d.

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phoenixstartedthefire · 3 years

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Alright. I just finished season 2 of young justice and I’m gonna talk about it. For those who have no clue what I’m talking about, it’s a cartoon on HBO Max about the DC superhereos “sidekicks”. I recommend it if there’s anyone who likes superhero stuff and cartoons. It’s amazing.

*Spoilers for season 1 and 2 of young justice ahead*

Okay, at first I was a bit jarred by the five year time jump. But I really started to love the new characters. Blue Beetle and Impulse are my entire life now and I would do anything for them. I was very pleased to find that I wasn’t the only one who shipped them. Really loved Wondergirl too. She was sure trying her best and I respect that as a fellow klutz. Beastboy was great too. Loved the brother-sister relationship between him and Miss Martian. Adorable. I could really live without La’gaan. He’s just irritating. Sorry if there are any La’gaan stans but I really don’t like him. Also, I ship Connor and Megan and La’gaan is taking that away from me.

One small issue I had with this season is the amount of subplots going on at the same time. We had the whole ‘Impulse is scared of Blue Beetle taking over the world’ and then ‘Aqualad is a spy’ and then ‘Reach nonsense’ and plenty more and sometimes I feel like they jumped between plots pretty quickly. They would introduce a conflict in one episode and then focus on a different one completely the next episode. Pretty much everything was wrapped up at the end though so I can’t complain too much. That’s just a small critique I had.

I love how much Connor has grown! My baby is so mature now! And the fact that Wolf is an actual part of the team! I love that. Connor is a legend and I can’t help but stan. Also I have mad respect for Kaldur. What an absolute legend. My man has the love of his life die and finds out his real father is manta and STILL decides to do the right thing. He’s amazing. Not to mention he just immediately forgives Megan for frying his brain and risking him and Artemis almost losing their cover? He’s too good for us. Also some respect to be shown for Dick who has to put up with the team’s shit all the time. He’s gets the break he deserves <3

Alright there’s no way they just killed off my favorite boy KF there in the LAST EPISODE. You CANNOT do that to me. He’s gotta come back. The scarab said that he would “Cease” and he didn’t seem to actually die? He just kinda vanished? So maybe there’s some kind of a loop hole there. I think I saw some kind of post saying that the speed force doesn’t exist in this universe? Correct me if I’m wrong please but I don’t think it has to do with him and the speed force. But yeah there’s no way that Wally is actually dead. It’s just occurred to me that I could be in denial but I will deny that. I don’t think they faked his death like they did with Artemis but I don’t think he’s dead and we better get him back in season 3.

In season 3 I hope we get more info on Kidflash cus there’s NO WAY he’s dead. I’m pretty sure we get more info on Jaime’s family which is nice. Hope we get to see little Lian grow up. She’s adorable and I hope Jade and Roy(the clone) are the good parents she deserves. Jade seems great but I’m a bit worried about Roy. I hope we get to see what Arsenal’s up to and the rest of the Meta-Human team. Asami is adorable and she deserves the best. Also Tye deserves better! Tye better get all of the love and happiness he deserves in season 3 or I will commit a crime(for legal reasons this is a joke). And I’m definitely not just saying this because I relate way too much to his character haha... :(. And I know bluepulse isn’t canon but we better at least get more friendship content that I can misinterpret as relationship content. Also petition for Vandal Savage and G. Gordon to stfu. No one likes you :(

Those are my jumbled thoughts after finishing season 2. Please don’t spoil season 3. It’ll probably be a little while until I finish it because I’m watching it with my dad and he doesn’t like binging entire seasons on shows in one night and I’m not going to be living with him most of the time as of this week. But I’m really looking forward to watching it and I love this show more than anything. I’m very excited to be able to look at Young Justice content without worrying about accidentally spoiling it for myself :(

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moving-accounts-uwu · 4 years

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Right Where You Were Meant To Be (Bucky x Plus-size!Reader)

Fandom: Marvel

Characters: Bucky x Plus-size!reader

Warnings: Fluff, hurt/comfort, body-shaming

Story type: One-shot

Word count: 2.7k words

Summary: Reader has a crush on Bucky the second she looked at him but she also has feelings of self-consciousness about her body and doubts she’d ever end up with Bucky or any guy like Bucky. That all changes one night at one of Tony’s parties.

(A/N: This is a cute little one-shot idea I had and just wanted to write out. I feel there aren’t many plus-size!reader stories so I wanted to make my own. I’m a chubby girl and felt like I needed some love, lmao. Any mistakes I take responsibility for, this story wasn’t beta read, so I apologize for any mistakes. I hope you enjoy nonetheless!!! Also, the gif isn’t mine, but he just looks so precious <3)

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It all started when you looked at him for the first time. He had just moved into the Tower, and you had just gotten the job as Tony's new assistant since Pepper had become CEO of Stark Industries. Because you worked in an environment with superheroes who were very fit and healthy, you had become self-conscious of yourself; whether it would be what you wore, the things you ate, or just how your body looked in general.

Being a bigger girl, it often took a toll on your mental health when you would notice the glances, the whispering, the judgmental stares, and how shopping for clothes in your size was difficult, and it made you feel like you had to lose weight to fit in and belong. You felt alone and isolated.

You didn't have any friends; you didn't even talk to many of your co-workers, and just kept to yourself a majority of the time. When Bucky moved in, you noticed he did the same. He didn't speak much to the rest of the team, he mostly stayed in his room, and only hung around Steve. Bucky was very fit, and his muscular body showed it whenever he wore tight-fitted clothing. You would never wear tight-fitted clothing for fear of having your plumpness accentuated.

After five months working for Tony and having a more friendly relationship with the rest of the team, you had built a few close bonds with some of the heroes. Wanda and Natasha were your closest girlfriends and would regularly have 'Lady's Nights' every Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. Tony, Clint, Sam, and Steve were like your older brothers and would look out for you.

You and Steve made it a routine to do small exercise and yoga in the afternoons just after 4 o'clock. How this all started was because you wanted to accomplish small goals for yourself, as Sam told you to do to help with your mental health.

"Steve," You called out as you stepped into the Tower's gym, the one place you knew where to find Steve if he wasn't in the common room.

"Oh, hey (Y/N)! What's up?" Steve turned to face you as he held the punching bag still while he watched you walk closer to him, noticing you fidgeting with your fingers nervously.

"I just... I wanted to start doing light exercises, you know, to boost my endorphins, and so I have something to do in the afternoons when I've finished with work." It wasn't a complete lie, but it just sugar-coated the fact that you just wanted to lose weight to gain confidence in yourself.

Steve had agreed to help you; he wouldn't push you too much either because he didn't want you to strain anything and not push you out of your comfort zone too much. Both of you would exercise for an hour each day in the afternoons. This routine had been going on for six weeks, and you were enjoying it. You felt better about yourself each week when you would check your progress and write down how much you lost during the week; you were more confident than you were all those weeks ago before asking Steve for help.

During one of those afternoon exercises, you and Steve were both in the Adho Mukha pose with Steve wearing his usual tight t-shirt that you swore was a size too small, and shorts while you wore a loose, black tank top, and tight-fitted leggings that complemented the shape of your plump ass. You were so in the zone that you hadn't heard the gym doors open and the sound of footsteps coming closer to you. Bucky stood behind you and Steve, him getting an eyeful of your butt while he cleared his throat to catch his best friend's attention.

"Hey, Bucky! I didn't notice you were there. (Y/N) and I were doing some yoga, would you like to join us?"

You. Were. Mortified. You quickly stood up beside Steve and looked down at your feet, trying to avoid looking at Bucky after having your ass practically in his face.

"Uh, I kinda have to get ready for 'Girl's Night' tonight, but I think Bucky can keep you company." You nervously spoke, having your words jumble out quickly due to your inner-embarrassment. "I'll see you later, Steve!"

You bolted out of the gym as fast as your legs could go and made it up into your room without another incident. When you flopped onto your bed, you let out a loud, exhausted sigh before closing your eyes shut tightly. 'Why did I have to act like a nervous wreck? You didn't even let him talk for Christ's sake!' After beating yourself up over the little incident, you started to get ready for 'Girl's Night' with Nat and Wanda.

It was two hours into 'Girl's Night' and you, Nat and Wanda had, at least, drank four glasses of Kraken Rum and about three shots of Vodka. You were more relaxed and carefree, enjoying your time with your best friends while gossiping about an episode of Criminal Minds you all saw the other day together.

"Not gonna lie, I would love to have a man like Morgan. Have you seen his muscles? And how he kicks down doors like a badass?" You gushed.

"That is true, and I fully believe Morgan and Garcia should be together. They have chemistry and look so cute!" Wanda loved her Morgan and Garcia ship.

"Eh, I like to have a super cute genius but that's just my opinion" Nat took a sip of her fruity vodka drink while shrugging her shoulders.

"Of course you would, you're with Bruce and that's a little bias, Nat." You gently shoved your red-haired friend playfully.

You and Wanda giggled like school girls when Natasha scoffed before she pointed an accusing finger at you.

"Well, says you, (Y/N)! You practically drool whenever you see Barnes."

That shut you up quickly. 'How does she know?! Play it off'

"That's very funny Nat, but I don't know what you mean."

"Don't bullshit me, (Y/N). I've seen the way your cheeks get all pink and how your eyes are glued to him whenever he walks by. You're so smitten it's grossly cute." Then Wanda turned to you with a small smirk on her face.

"Maybe you should ask him to work out with you and Steve!"

Flashbacks of your embarrassment earlier that day made your face go pale. 'Absolutely not'. You shook your head furiously, staring at your two friends with fear. There was no way you'd have the guts to do such a thing, not after how you acted around him before. Plus, you didn't want him to look at you with disgust when he looks at you working out. You shake off all the negative thoughts before finishing off your last bits of rum.

"I think I'm going to head off to bed now, gotta wake up early tomorrow. Tony wants me to help him organize and plan a gala party to celebrate his newest project. And when I say to 'help him' I mean I'll be doing most of the work while he hides away in his lab with Bruce." You said before walking off and waving the girls goodbye.

2 weeks later...

You had most of the gala planned out. You had booked a cute catering company to organize some food dishes for everyone and even hired a group of people to decorate one of the large common rooms that would fit all the guests on Tony's guest-list. You had even bought a cute new dress to wear for the party. The party was starting that night at 7:30 and you would hopefully get everything done while having an hour and a half to spare to get ready.

When the decorating and planning finished, you quickly made your way to your room and got showered and changed. You stood in front of your mirror for quite some time, nitpicking every flaw you could see, judging your appearance because you knew how the other women at the party were going to look flawless and have every man swooping in for them. A sudden knock on your door snapped you out of your negative thoughts.

"(Y/n), you ready?" Wanda's voice called from the other side.

"Y-yeah! I'm coming now." You dashed for the door to get away from the mirror so you can't put yourself down even more. Once opening the door, Wanda linked your arm with hers, and both of you walked toward the elevator.

Telling FRIDAY which floor, you both arrived just as a few of the guests were mingling around; drinking, eating, and chatting. You glanced around, hoping to see the familiar faces of your friends, spotting Sam, Nat, and Clint near the bar where Natasha was serving the drinks. Tony was standing next to Pepper and being an absolute flirt as always while Steve and Bucky were standing near a corner with drinks in hand. Before you could make your way over to the bar, Wanda told you to wait where you were while she goes to quickly touch up her make-up, disappearing before you could say a word. You stood there awkwardly and looked around, making sure everything was going swimmingly until you felt a presence behind you. A tap on your confirmed that someone was indeed behind you.

You turned around to see a group of two slender women and three muscular men staring at you with smug and cocky smiles on their faces.

"Can we get some more drinks? And make them with a little more alcohol this time." One of the men quirked an eyebrow, waiting for you to scurry off to grab their drinks.

"I'm sorry, but I'm not part of catering. I'm-"

"You certainly look it though, I mean, you're not dressed like you're here as a guest. The dress you're wearing looks like the other catering staff." A woman spat, her eyes narrowed at you. You started to feel self-conscious about your outfit now, realizing the color-scheme looked very similar to the catering staff.

"Plus, the dress isn't that flattering for your body hun. We can practically see your muffin top and panty lines with how tight that dress is on you." The other woman commented while she leaned to the side to glance at more of your plush figure.

A stinging sensation began to appear behind your eyes, feelings of doubt, and an anxiety attack began to make themselves known. So looked away from the group and quickly made for the elevator, shooting Wanda a quick text saying you weren't feeling too well. 'How stupid of me to think I even looked good or that I could fit in at the party.' By the time the elevator doors reached your floor and the doors opened, hot tears were falling down your cheeks as you tried to furiously wipe them away with zero results. The tears kept flowing down as you began to walk down the hallway to your room; quiet footsteps barely making noise as they followed you. Just as your hand settled on the door handle, a warm hand clasped onto your shoulder gently. With a yelp, you spun around with a jump to look at your "attacker", only to find a pair of stormy blue eyes staring at your teary eyes intensely.

Bucky's eyes held hints of concern and worry, but it was hard to see because he was good at hiding his emotions, and the fact that your eyes were blurry from crying.

"You okay, (Y/n)? I saw you leave the party quickly and noticed how fast your breathing was." Bucky had to look down at you because he was so tall, or was it because you were just very short?

"I'm fine, Bucky. I just don't do well in crowded places or with so many strangers. I got a bit overwhelmed but it's fine now." You weakly smiled but he could see right through it, he always did.

"You had a panic attack after speaking to a group of people, and judging by the looks they gave you while talking to them, I can only believe it wasn't a pleasant conversation." Bucky then brought both his flesh and metal hands to cup your face while he peered into your eyes more. "Tell me what happened, doll."

You sighed, you knew he wasn't going to let this go. Even though you both barely spoke to each other, he still cared for you like the both of you knew each other for years. Something about his calm voice and caring nature helped your nerves settle.

"They thought I was part of catering and asked if I could get them more drinks. I told them I wasn't catering, only for them to make snarky comments about my outfit and body. But it's fine, I'm used to having those comments made to me, I've dealt with those types of people all my life." Your hands gently held his and tried to move them away from your face but Bucky didn't budge.

"You don't believe them, right? I mean, I think the dress looks good on you. It shows off your curves and any man who doesn't get blown away is blind."

You gave a humorless laugh and shook your head at Bucky, looking down at the floor.

"You're just saying that to be nice to me, Buck. We both know girls like me don't belong in a place like this, or a party like that. You can go back to the party, I don't want to waste more of your time." You went to turn away when Bucky held your upper arms tightly.

"Not a chance, doll. I'm not a fan of crowds myself and was about to leave the party myself until I saw you run away. I'd rather spend my time with you and making sure you don't ever think that you don't belong."

You both stared at each other for a few seconds, his stare was intense with adoration and love while you stared at him in shock that he'd want to spend time with you. Before you could blink, Bucky leaned down and you felt his soft lips on yours, his arms wrapping around you and caging you into a warm and gentle embrace. Your hands rested onto his firm chest while his hands rested on your lower back, just above your butt. At first, you were in shock but then you gave in to the kiss and snaked your arms around his neck, your fingers embedded into his long hair.

The kiss was full of passion, and so much love that you didn't think it was possible. When the need for air was too much, you both separated and looked into each other's eyes once again.

"H-how? Why me? We barely know each other!"

"Because, (Y/n), I've been smitten for you since I first laid eyes on you but didn't have the guts to tell you. Steve's been a punk and trying to get me to join your work out sessions for weeks but I was too nervous to do it." Bucky's cheeks tinted red as he chuckled.

"And why's that? I was scared that if saw me working out, that you'd be grossed out by my body." You explained, chewing on your bottom lip.

"I could never be grossed out, sweetheart. I love a woman with curves and plumpness to her. I was nervous that if I watched you work out, I would try to make a move on you too fast and scare you away. I didn't want that to happen." Bucky grabbed your chin and leaned in again, his lips almost touching yours. "And you looked downright sexy in those tights, they shape your ass well."

You gasped and lightly smacked his shoulder while he smirked at you. His playfulness coming through. You made the first move this time and got onto your tippy toes to kiss him. This is was quicker than the first but still held the same emotions. With so much strength you underestimated he had, Bucky lifted you up, your legs wrapped around his waist as he opened your door and carried you over to your bedroom. Both of you watched a bunch of movies in your room; many kisses were shared before you both passed out, cuddled up under your fluffy blankets, safe in Bucky's arms. Right where you were meant to be all along.

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Thanks for reading!!! <3 <3 <3

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flowerbloom-arts · 3 years

Text

A 2434 word long fic about Fuddler talking to a maybe not actually real version of his father after trying to escape from a recent event in his life and failing. Now I would've written a 50s sitcom episode of Fuddler's family that would've lead up to this point if I had the motivation, but I didn't, so here you go. I hope you enjoy this!

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The set of the show had become undone and the fourth wall was nothing but a non-existent window into the stage, the Muddler, tear stained and tired of his child's shenanigans, went up from the table he was crying at and walked to the empty director's chair with 'The Fuddler' embroidered on the back and sat on it. The Muddler grabbed the megaphone that sat on one of the armrests and spoke into it in a very clearly annoyed tone of voice: 'Cut. Take 2. Excuse me! That wasn't a bad first take but all of you really fell apart at scene 15.'

But the rest of the cast had been frozen in place, basically mannequins, all except Fuddler, who was in fact the mastermind behind this mess. The small and fuddly creature looked around in a slight bit of confusion and decided to walk up to his father on his director's chair, it did have his name on it afterall. 'Excuse me, aren't I supposed to be sitting there?' he asked rather sheepishly, there was a thought in the back of his head that knows exactly why but he's too afraid to make that thought even slightly tangible.

'Well, yes,' answered the Muddler matter-of-factly 'but due to poor management someone else had to take over.' he added, he spun the megaphone around and inspecting it in a rather disinterested manner. If it's anyone, it really didn't seem to be the father that Fuddler knew, even if he was stained with dark brown tears on his face and wore ragged feminine attire indicative of a mental breakdown, which was a sight that would only be familiar as the Muddler.

'Maybe. Though we should probably take a break, that breakdown didn't look all that... The breakdown seemed very exhausting to act out,' Said the Fuddler, trying to avoid going over this episode another time.

'Sure,' Muddler said, he didn't even care to glance at his child, he put down the megaphone on the floor and rested his face on his paw resting on the armrest, looking off to the black void beyond the set or nearby part of the studio.

Fuddler sighed with relief and a tinge of discomfort, he decided it was best to sit down next to his father and look back at the scene that was frozen in time. It was not even the slightest bit amusing to say the least, it's just everyone looking concerned over Muddler having a breakdown but Muddler isn't even there, you could see the Fuzzy, Fuddler's mother, placing a hand on what was Muddler's back, great uncle Hodgkins and Sniff are looking on confused and concerned, and Moomintroll had just walked in with not even the slightest idea of what's going on. The Fuddler stared at it for a few moments before saying what was on his mind while the scene was happening 'That... That breakdown... It wasn't in the script.'

'What script?' Muddler asked as if Fuddler was too dumb to even remember he didn't even make one. Of course there wasn't any script to speak of.

'I- I dunno!' Fuddler blurted out with the realization 'You guys were basically reading my mind anyway! I thought that was something like reading a script-!'

'Were we reading your mind or were you controlling us?' Muddler asked, almost cutting him off.

Fuddler was a bit surprised at the sudden interruption, it's really unlike his father to act anything close to this, is this even his father? Fuddler started to actually question everything about this, as if it wasn't a very obvious thing he should've questioned at the start. He looked down and curled up into a more fetus-like sitting position, kind of avoiding answering the question.

'Now tell me, child, why this?' Muddler gestures vaguely toward the set.

'What do you mean?' Fuddler looked up at Muddler and asked innocently.

'Why the television show?' he clarified, he lowered his resting paw and finally looked at Fuddler for once, though he did look very... unpleasant.

Fuddler felt very uncomfortable at the question and simply answered with an 'I dunno...' like a small child, he certainly looked and acted like one either way despite being an adult.

Muddler sighed disappointedly and went back to staring at the set 'Is this really how you're gonna deal with what happened? What even did happen, anyway?' he asked, even he was unsure of the origins of this.

'I... I actually don't remember... Excuse me, sorry, oh dear... What was I thinking?' Fuddler asked, he was mostly asking himself that.

'That's right, what were you thinking?' Muddler repeated Fuddler with annoyance 'Did you really think you could reduce your own family into cheap tropes and live like that?'

'I wasn't trying to do that!' Fuddler cried 'I just thought...! I thought if I could live just one happy day after 10 years of nonstop misery-!'

'And you did that by retreating into some ideal version of reality the city gave you through a light box?'

'Yes!' Fuddler blurted out, he realised what he said outloud and slowly went back into a balled up position on the floor 'Just... Atleast those people on TV seemed happier... Happier than we ever could've been when we moved to the city,' Fuddler argued with a quieter but ultimately defeated tone, this wasn't how things were supposed to go in his mind.

'Is that why you wanted to move away so badly?' Muddler asked in a more sincere and worried tone of voice, much more like his regular self and what Fuddler would be used to.

'Maybe,' Fuddler answered simply 'Or I guess there were other things too...' he added.

'Oh I could definitely list them off for you,' Muddler suddenly went back to a menacing tone.

Fuddler suddenly felt a great shock to his system and did not want anything Muddler could be implying 'Please don't-'

'Well first of all,' Muddler didn't let his child finish and he didn't seem to care in the slightest 'you didn't like other creatures shoehorning you into their ideas of what you should be, you didn't like the boring concrete buildings, you hated the constant noisiness of that wretched city, you couldn't bare the constant mockery from your own peers, they kept thinking you were a twelve year old - which you never grew out of being one after all these years by the way - and kept thinking you were lying when you said you weren't, you didn't like the lack of frogs or swamps or free things to collect off the street, you were being discriminated against for being a clumsy little mut, and most of all-'

'Please stop!' Fuddler cried.

'MOST OF ALL,' Muddler repeated louder to talk over Fuddler 'You hated me. Your own father. Simply because he couldn't land a simple job and was too feminine for anyone's liking!'

'NO!' Fuddler jumped up and tried to hold onto his dad's arm, but Muddler quickly got it away from him.

'YES! You kept having the same negative comments and jokes repeated to you over and over and you thought they were making fun of you by association! You don't want anything to do with the way I am and yet you keep chugging along the same way I did!' Muddler cried 'You were happy enough to tell my dear old friend mr. Moomin that people said you took after me and leave it at that! What if he asked you even further? Would you have talked about me in a good way!?'

'STOP! PLEASE!' Fuddler was almost in tears at this.

'Oh I see how it is! Just admit it! You hate me! Why else would you shove me in as the comic relief? Why else would I break out of character if you didn't know it'd be completely out of line for who I actually am!? I am anything BUT happy and you know this! No matter how hard you try I will cry eventually because I'm that dumb and sensitive about everything! The only things that you got right about me is that I'm clumsy and that I love you!' Muddler started tearing up through all the yelling 'You know deep down I love you... It's not your fault... right?'

Fuddler wanted to cover his face in his saucepan but unfortunately he was in his sitcom costume which lacked it completely, all he could really do was bury his face in his paws and try not to cry, muddler tears are much like that of a dog's, mixed in with blood waste and it stains your face, you'd need some cloth and water to clean it. Very inconvenient for a man, they aren't supposed to cry, and the stains make it very obvious you did.

'Fuddler... Did you really think this was going to solve anything?' Muddler got up from the director's chair to kneel down and lowered Fuddler's paws away from his face, Muddler's face was... trying to be comforting but that got ruined by the tear stains, which was being added onto by him crying at this very moment, he looked down at Fuddler's paws, looked back up at his face and added '... At all?'

Fuddler didn't make an attempt to make eye contact with his father, those strange 'u' shaped pupils were familiar but the idea of them not being normal at all still brought him some form of discomfort '... I just... Excuse me. I just thought that maybe... If I could feel better, somehow, maybe the problem would be less of a problem...'

'Fuddler, you don't even remember what the problem was,' Muddler said, he held his child's chin up to make him look at him directly 'You know this.'

'I know...' Fuddler admitted 'I think the cause is starting to come back to me... I think... It's still a little foggy...'

Muddler sighed 'How many times have you done something like this?'

'I...' Fuddler started thinking 'I don't know... I never bothered counting.'

'So this clearly isn't the first time.'

'It definitely doesn't feel like the first time... say for the addition of a few cast members,' Fuddler added the last part as a sly attempt at humor, he was referring to Moomintroll, Jumble and Sniff.

'Of course,' Muddler said with a touch of melancholy and sat on the floor beside Fuddler, Fuddler followed suit 'Do you think this is normal?'

'Dad, I moved to Moominvalley to get away from 'normal'!'

'You moved to Moominvalley to feel normal, there's a difference. And that's an important difference to realise,' said the Muddler, the black and white studio faded into a sepia tone as it seemed to transition into a lake sort of scene, almost unnoticeably to the Fuddler.

'Why's that?' Fuddler asked.

Muddler picked up a flower that happened to be next him, well- not actually, a sort of ethereal copy of the flower formed which left the real one untouched, Muddler looked thoughtfully at the flower in his hands 'If you know the difference, then maybe you can appreciate the specific thing that makes this place feel like you feel normal.'

Fuddler stared at the flower and glanced up at his father '... You're not really my dad, are you?'

'You think that now?' Muddler questioned with an amused undertone.

Fuddler felt almost silly about it, of course this Muddler isn't real, why would he think otherwise? 'I dunno... I guess I got cought up in the all the acting that... I forgot I'm just talking to myself...'

'Does it really matter, though?' Muddler raised an eyebrow with a slight smile on his face 'Atleast you got it out of your system, you twelve year old.'

'Don't call me a twelve year old!' Fuddler cried in defense.

'Then why do you act like one?'

'How can I not act like one if I look like one?' he said, slightly furious at the subject being brought up.

'People can turn invisible if they're abused enough, maybe this is something similar?' Muddler suggested.

'Tsch, magic, sure.' Fuddler waved off dismissively.

'You stayed as the same Fuddler that you were when we lost Sniff, excuse me but you really don't think there's something connected here?' Muddler asked rather rhetorically 'You graduated college with a degree in biology and live by yourself in the coffee tin you inherited from me and yet you still chase after a woman like you have a preteen crush on her with absolutely no clue as to how to talk to a girl.'

Fuddler cringed at the memory of his attempted courtship of the Mymble and recoiled back into a ball position.

'But atleast it seems like you learned from it, just... Don't let things paint your views so easily, sir,' Muddler placed the flower on Fuddler's head.

'Don't use 'sir' on me...' Fuddler muttered quietly.

'Well, what do you want me to refer to you as? Ma'am?'

'That's even worse!' Fuddler shut down the idea almost immediately, he grabbed the flower from his head and looked at it 'Neither of them feel all that right...'

'Right,' Muddler said 'It's fine if you don't want to be referred to as either of those.'

'It's not just that... I don't really feel like a... A man. Atleast not how the world seems to think of one.'

'You're a button collector, Fuddler. Maybe you should start calling yourself that instead.'

'You can do that?' Fuddler seems to be almost bewildered but not totally against the idea.

'Fuddler, I'm a half woman who calls itself a man, anyone can be anything, especially in places like this valley. You don't have to define yourself by those standards anymore.' Muddler explained.

Fuddler stared at his father with a thoughtful expression on his face 'Like I don't have to define my family by any of those standards...' he looks back down at the flower in his paw.

'That's the spirit!' Muddler punches his child lightly on the shoulder 'And whatever the problem was... I hope you can fix it, it's not easy but... It'll be better for the long run.'

'Right...' Fuddler flicked the flower into the lake, it simply dissolves in mid-air rather than land into the water or anything 'I'm sorry about... Everything. I'm still very, very dumb.'

The Muddler laughed ever so slightly 'You'll get it in time, I promise.'

'... Maybe.' Fuddler said rather hopefully. The Muddler seemed to dissolve away like the flower did and the world faded into full color. It looks like that episode was a wrap, one might say. Now it's time to figure out why it had to be made.

#moomins #moominvalley #art #muddler #moomin muddler #the muddler #fuddler #moomin fuddler #the fuddler #fanfic #short ficlet #angst fic #I kinda realised halfway through writing this that thisbwas basically the plot of Wandavision lmao #but I don't wanna say it's plagiarising. characters escaping reality through a sitcom has been a thing for a while now #also heehoo more Hdogkins family lore; Fuddler (And Muddler by proxy) addition! yippee!#writing these is actually kinda fun tho

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arcticwaters · 4 years

Note

i see you discussing a future meta on my post and you need to know that i am waiting for it respectfully 👀

it’s actually a post that i have finished and ready in my drafts, i’m just hesitant to post it because 1) it’s a response to some beau related takes that i’d seen from when 108 aired (not the traveler related ones, i DO NOT care about anything related to him) and that was like three weeks ago, and i don’t wanna be that asshole who drags up weeks old discourse unnecessarily?? and 2) there’s a voice in my head saying “but what if they’re right? what if i make these very bold statements about beau’s relationship with jester and yasha and i end up being the fool?” so i wanna wait until we get some more information from marisha because i’m sure it’s gonna come up on talks. there’s no way dani carr is not going to ask.

however i don’t mind copy and pasting the part that specifically addresses episodes 92 to now, because honestly yasha’s role in beau’s little internal arc here is something i’d been wanting to talk about for a while anyway. (i managed to link it in with my bigger post because i was taking about beau’s relationship with yasha changing, but it can stand on its own separate from 108.)

“as i’ve mentioned before, i’ve been rewatching from 92 onward, focusing mostly on beau as i go and the obvious turmoil that meeting her father again left her in. and one thing i did notice is that in 96 - the episode where she’s at her most rough - she really is all over jester, that can’t be denied. she’s like, trying really hard to get her attention. but then in 97, which is only a day later, that’s gone. then the amount of attention beau gives to jester lessens over the following arc as she gives more of it to yasha. here’s the thing about 96: it’s the peak of her spiral. she hadn’t been ok since meeting her family again, and while i think the talk they all had in episode 94 helped a great deal, i don’t think it addressed everything. and i think all of it came to a head when she met caduceus’s family and saw a love and support, and a sweet gentle father. i think it (along with very nearly dying earlier) just set her off and she reached the high point of her regression and decided to act out and be shitty for the sake of it, something she hadn’t done in quite a while, and she latched on to jester because jester lives for that kind of thing. jester is the one who will say “make confused people’s lives even more confusing for the sake of a laugh? no judgement here let’s go!” (and overall, sure their pranks where kind of harmless, but remember that they very nearly started messing with the bodies themselves. it’s not the pranks themselves that i’m looking at, but how insistent beau was at causing chaos in a holy temple despite caduceus asking them not to, energy that jester fed into.) it was likely easier to be like “haha yeah we’re having so much fun together heehe you’re so attractive when you validate my bad behavior ;3″ than it was to confront the shitty horrible mindset that she was still in at the time.

and then she’s,, kind of over it? when you reach a peak, the next step is coming down from it. she got out of that temple, she watched cad say goodbye to his family, she got some sleep. she calmed a bit, turned her issues inward, instead of taking it out through unnecessary mischief. and in a moment of just having some silly fun, threw some flirty innuendos at yasha, and yasha threw that same energy back at her. yasha, not even missing a beat and cracking dumb jokes with her, calling her beautiful? that must’ve made her feel really good. then later, while she was having some alone time, she watched yasha be alone too. this woman who, just like her, carries a lot on her shoulders and feels broken and lost; who just like her, once dealt with her inner demons through self destruction, choosing to deal with her hurt through quiet music. by being gentle and soft instead of hard and loud. not that expressing your hurt through being loud is always wrong, but that it’s likely such a different thing for beau. something she’s not used to. something she might have decided she wanted to give a try.

i think this marked a turning point for her relationship with yasha. old feelings she forced herself to not think about resurfacing, a subtle reconnection to a kindred spirit, and i think it was the kick in the ass she needed to start feeling better after kamordah. (oh also?? fjord fucking dying. there’re a lot of reasons she started moving on, but i’m focusing on the shippy.) she started reaching out to yasha more from then on and into the rumblecusp arc. there’s gentle talks on the boat, there’s more beautiful harp, there’s healing hands, there’s carrying, there’s flying with owls, there’s checking in with each other after fights, there’s looks. she seemed to be realizing that she didn’t need to cling to jester, because she didn’t need to act out and fuck with people to deal with her issues. because there was yasha, growing angel wings just to catch her. she felt, in her own jumbled words, “better than she has in a long time.” she’s doing so much better than she did a month ago, and yasha made her feel that way.”

but yeah, those are my thoughts on how yasha simply being her sweet self helped beau get out of the self destructive mindset she’d been in for a while.

#critical role #beauyasha #orphanmaker #ask #beauyasha: heaven is where you are

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kzesl · 3 years

Text

Okay. Okay. So I finished watching Prodigal Son.

The rest is under the cut, because I want to talk about this show and I don’t even want to try to keep it spoiler free.

Long post is long.

I thought about making a primer for it, but I still haven’t looked at the stuff in the tag, and for all I know somebody already beat me to it, so... rambling it is. Followed by a few gifset reblogs, probably.

I’ve been wanting to watch this show since I first saw the trailer. Which was before it actually came out. I just never got around to it. Until now. It looked like exactly the sort of thing I would love, and it is.

If you are looking for something that feels more realistic (like The Mindhunter for example) this is probably not the show for you. It’s often quite ridiculous, but in a good way, if you like that sort of thing. Which I do. It’s like a mix of Criminal Minds and The Mentalist, with a lot of family dynamics (and drama!) thrown in.

The main character is Malcolm Bright (born Whitly) who works for the FBI to begin with, and then as a consultant for NYPD when that doesn’t work out. He is a profiler (a very good one, of course). He also has a lot of old trauma that is still affecting him greatly. Disclaimer: I don’t know squat about profiling and trauma, so I can’t tell how well they presented any of it. Moving on.

Now Malcolm’s father, Martin, is a very prolific, convicted serial killer, who is also a very proud papa to his son, and his daughter Ainsley. They have a lot of chats, which tend to leave poor Malcolm rattled. The father and son are alike in many ways. They are both brilliant and they both process information in a similar way. They also seem to be similar in how they express anger, but while Malcolm may be willing to chop off limbs, stab people and manipulate criminals into shooting each other, he is still someone who believes in justice and who has decided that he is not like his father. He has built himself around that tenet.

His sister, on the other hand, is a bit more like their father. Saying that is not very fair to her, of course. Her actions stem from wholly different reasons than Martin’s.

She is an ambitious journalist, and I was a bit worried at first, because I have seen far too many tv series and movies where journalists betray family member’s confidence for a big story. I was relieved that it was not the case here.

The siblings and their mother, Jessica, are a family unit. And Jessica can be quite overbearing, and she seemed very shady in the beginning (I’m still not 100% convinced. Maybe 95 %), but her actions come from a place of love.

They are a very rich family, and Malcolm is quite often mocked for it, but it is all just banter. They, as a family, are aware of their privilege. Jessica is also very extra. I put that in italics because she is that extra.

Other important characters are Lieutenant Gil Arroyo (mentor of sorts, father figure?), detectives JT Tarmel (token regular guy) and Dani Powell (who will hopefully never become a love interest, powers-that-be please). Malcolm thinks they are both friend shaped. They are a bit resistant, but he’s wearing them down. His social skills are not the best.

There is also Edrisa Tanaka, the slightly weird (of course) medical examiner, who has a massive crush on Malcolm (a la Mooly Hooper from Sherlock). Usually, I’m not a fan of these things, but I sort of like the way they handled it? She’s not subtle. That woman has no chill. Malcolm shows up and that’s it: thirst mode activated. Point being, everyone knows and occasionally comments on it, but it is never mean. They just long-sufferingly reprimand her a bit when she crosses a line. And Malcolm is very cool about it. It’s all very... gentle.

There are other important characters, like The Girl in the Box, and Eve Blanchard, etc. Also, Mr. David, who works at Claremont Psychiatric Hospital and has to deal with Martin every day. That poor man.

There are so many moments that are comment worthy and so many things that I loved:

All the different family dynamics they have in that family.

I love the contrast between the serial killer!Martin and dad!Martin and how he embodies both things. He is a despicable human being, but he loves his family.

That scene when he defended himself against the assassin. The eyes. The eyes.

Then there is Malcolm who struggles so hard and who never stops trying to prove to himself and everyone else that he is a better man than his father.

Jessica who kept the name Whitly when she could have gone back to her maiden name, and Malcolm who came up with a new one to escape the only one he had.

Ainsley, who was too young when Martin was arrested to remember him, but who still had to grow up with an alcoholic mother and a deeply traumatized brother.

Martin waking up from a coma because God forbid he not be awake when his son visits. Nah-uh

Tom Payne’s eyes. Damn. I mean, not just his eyes, but-

The vacation episode. Malcolm jumping through a window to get away from a land mine.

German nurse.

Malcolm’s questionable actions in general. I want an AU where he is a criminal. Note to self: check AO3. Please let there be good fics in this fandom.

Ballet. He showed great promise.

Gil. Who can’t seem to stay away from that family.

Malcolm flying through his window during a nightmare, and dangling there dazed, hanging from his restrains.

I mentioned this already, but Malcolm manipulating criminals into shooting each other. Just Malcolm using skills to get people to tell him stuff, or do what he wants. Dangerous that.

And so much more. I binge-watched it, so it’s all a bit jumbled up in my head right now.

Looking forward to season 2 :D

#prodigal son

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tsukikoayanosuke · 3 years

Text

I Should be Studying, But...

I'm still in my finals week so that's why I haven't post anything, but also the next two chapters are Training Camp snippets, so yeah. I had a Break & Gosh flashback...

So, yeah. I guess I can tell a bit of story.

So, back when I was still in high school or early college, there's this online novel writing competition, and I was excited. I had this overcomplicated fantasy novel draft, so I submitted it, updating everyday.

However, that's the problem: because I suck at promoting, I had to update everyday to at least gain attention. The novel was a mess, with writer block and not knowing now to connect the plot points. It was abandoned. But back then, I thought it was because the fantasy genre wasn't that popular.

The second try was a detective story. This time I had a guideline. It was way easier to write, however I wasn't that excited. The mystery genre was something I hadn't try before so putting the clues and the murders required to much brain power. So it was abandoned.

They say third time the charm. Well, in this case, it wasn't. The next time, I wanted to try to write a magic high school story, however this was sort of an experiment. Instead if putting it in Fantasy, I put it in Romance. Will it gain more attention? It didn't because I was being a halfass.

I can't delete the novel, so this will forever haunt me.

Looking back at this, then to the update-everyday-fanfic-attempts and the success of TW:OPT, I guess I've learned some things:

Plan your story. My biggest mistake from all five previous attempts (3 novel + 2 fanfic) was the lack of planning. I was too spontaneous for a half written story that when I've posted what I've written I don't know what to write next. I had these cool plot points and characters, but didn't know who to connect them, which made me frustrated and didn't want to continue. Meanwhile, I had written episode lists and short summaries for every chapter in TW:OPT, granted this is a based-on fic, but the processes are the same. Planning really help you to stay on course and motivate yourself.

If you need a world building, finish that first. Continuing the planning process, world building, especially in fantasy is important. Out of five story, four of them are fantasy, yet none of them had concrete world building. My two fanfic are also based-on existed media (Kingdom Hearts and Tales of the Abyss), but they had never reached the same level as TW:OPT. Setting the rule of your universe, the power scale, the magic system, all of those are important. If you don't set the rule first, then the world will be jumbled.

Keep your spirit burning. This is the trickiest part. I'm someone who is often overexcited but quickly burnt out in the end. This will be a problem for the 3 novel which will reward you with points to rank up if you update everyday. With the lack of planning and incomplete world building, I was quick to give up. How you keep your spirit burning is up to you, for me and TW:OPT, it's because the warm reception and review that keep me want to write more for you guys. But also...

Stay focus. This is another thing. The reason why TW:OPT still going is because I know my end goal and focus on that. But this is also because TW:OPT is my only project. I don't write two fanfics at once, because of that, I can focus on this project. Once TW:OPT Season 1 is done, I'll probably go back to the novels, but this time writing them one at a time.

Research (and understanding source material). Same as world building, research is important. TW:OPT may not have the best character interpretations of the canon cast, but I've read some of the card and can imagine how this character will act in a situations. Not only that, the Harry Potter spells and potions, the battle scenes, references, even the meaning of my OCs' name are the result of the research.

Chapter target. In order to get point in the novel competition, the writer must write at least +1k words per chapter. With this target, you can plan further which scene you want to include, adding more description, knowing where to put cliffhanger. This point is the one that I still do after the failed 3 novels. For fanfiction, I lowered my target to 500 words and I'm pretty sure some chapters in TW:OPT barely pass 1k. Create your own target to motivate you.

Experience can be your guide. I've started writing since I was in middle school. Heck, I finished my three novella (that I never published). I still have the files. However, looking back when I am older, I can notice the plot hole, the simple description, the inconsistent personalities. If I have to compare my old fanfic with my recent one, I like the latter better. As you grow, your writing skill also grow. You became more creative in choosing words and have less grammar mistake. Your plot becomes more complicated and your characters are more colorful. From reading even more great fanfic and listening to booktubers and writing advice, I became for passionate in writing because I want to be better.

As you can see, I rambled a lot because I just love writing stories. Even if I'm bounded by the rule of canon and world building, I can still let out my imagination and wacky creativity. My dream once was to become a novelist, that's why I still want to learn and write more, listening to your feedback brings me joy and will to keep on going. Your suggestion makes my brain turn to make this story better. I could've done this without everyone; reader, writer, booktuber, and many other who push me forward.

I hope you don't mind this long ramble.

Keep on writing guys.

#the captain's rambling #writrblr #all around me are fanfictions #twisted wonderland: our precious treasure #twisted wonderland fanfiction #twisted wonderland fanfic #twisted wonderland fic #twst fanfic #twst fic

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perfecttimeseleven · 3 years

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https://open.spotify.com/episode/599XTxnDzzcJibnEaEjPdb?si=e9ce5c51fbdb474e

PERFECT TIMES ELEVEN EP. 7 TRANSCRIPT

ACT TWO SCENE ONE Lights rise on a table and two chairs in an otherwise empty-seeming room. THIEF #1 and THIEF #2 are seated at the table, examining a laptop. They’re both young; even younger than REMINGTON, JAY, and DAISY (think 13 or 14.) They’re unassuming — cute little kids, even — dressed in all black. THIEF #2 (bored) When you said “surprise job for our two-month anniversary”, I thought we’d like, I don’t know, kiss with tongue. THIEF #1 Yeah, but this is just as good. THIEF #2 Do you care about kissing with tongue at all? THIEF #1 Babe, of course I do. I just think -- THIEF #2 It’s just heist after heist all the time. The only thing you don’t seem to care about stealing is my heart. THIEF #1 Babe, it’s what we do. THIEF #2 Besides, it’s a crap job. Robbing a supermarket? A supermarket? That’s the most boring junk I’ve ever heard. THIEF #1 Don’t you trust me? THIEF 2 You’re a bank robber. THIEF 1 You’re a bank robber. THIEF 2 Okay, that’s fair. I just…will this be worth it at all? I know you have trouble grasping the fact that we’re now fricking loaded. We’re not little please-sir orphans snatching heads of lettuce from farmer’s markets anymore. We’ve stepped up our game. What’s so special about this supermarket? THIEF #1 Trust me. This will be an easy, fun night out. What’s not special about it? THIEF #2 Why are we wasting our time? We could be preparing for the Minecraft job. Or kissing with tongue. And…and, and, and…you’re not even taking the proper precautions. I don’t know about you, but I’m not going to get caught robbing a stupid supermarket, of all things. Like imagine it! You get cornered in the...I don’t know, produce aisle or something stupid like that and the headlines are all “two kids got caught stealing from the Shoprite off the highway” — who wants that? (THIEF #1 stands up. 11. Super Supermarket Heist.) THIEF #1 (pointing at the laptop screen) LOOK. ALL RIGHT, WE’VE GOT OUR TARGET HERE. THIS LOCAL SUPERMARKET. YOU KNOW YOUR JOB, YOUR INSTRUCTION — THIEF #2 (standing up) I THINK WE NEED SOME MORE DISCUSSION. THIEF #1 IT’S A QUAINT UNPOPULATED SPOT WE KNOW WHAT TO EXPECT, AND THAT’S NOT A LOT! THIEF #2 WHERE’S THE FUN? WHY NOT GO BIGGER AND PULL OUT ALL THE STOPS THIEF #1 AND PULL THE TRIGGER? THIEF #2 Fine. I guess you have a point. I’ll do it. But you better watch a sweet, romantic movie with me later. THIEF #1 Is it — THIEF #2 Cats 2019. I know you hate it. THIEF #1 Fine. THIEF #1 YEAH, WE’RE GONNA MAKE YOU STOP AND SHOP NOW PUT YOUR HANDS ON TOP OF YOUR HEAD OR YOU’RE DEAD OH YEAH, THAT’S WHAT WE SAID GRAB THE CASH, THEN DASH OUT THE BACK AROUND THE TRASH THIEF #2 WILL THAT WORK? THIEF #1 (exasperated) JESUS CHRIST! THIEF #1/THIEF #2 A SUPER SUPERMARKET HEIST! WE’RE GONNA MAKE YOU STOP AND SHOP NOW PUT YOUR HANDS ON TOP OF YOUR HEAD OR YOU’RE DEAD OH YEAH, THAT’S WHAT WE SAID! SIT TIGHT OR WE’LL FIGHT OH, THIS AIN’T THE NIGHT TO BE STUCK UNSUPERVISED IN A SUPER SUPERMARKET HEIST! THIEF #2 YOU KEEP ON SAYING THIS’LL BE A CAKEWALK. ALL OF THIS “NOTHING MUCH AT STAKE” TALK! HOW CAN YOU KNOW WHAT TO EXPECT? WE NEED TO PREPARE FOR ANY THREAT THIEF #1 I’VE GOT INSIDER INFO FROM MY SOURCE. I TRUST HER. SECURITY TONIGHT WILL BE LACKLUSTER. RIGHT NOW, WE WILL JUST SIT TIGHT. AT EIGHT O’CLOCK, WE’LL SHOP RITE! THIEF #1/THIEF #2 WE’RE GONNA MAKE YOU STOP AND SHOP THIEF #1 AND NOT A SINGLE COP WILL SEE, TRUST ME, THIEF #1/THIEF #2 IT’LL BE EASY! GRAB THE CASH, THEN DASH IN AND OUT IN A FLASH! CATCH THEM BY SURPRISE! A SUPER SUPERMARKET HEIST. WE’RE GONNA MAKE YOU STOP AND SHOP NOW PUT YOUR HANDS ON TOP OF YOUR HEAD OR YOU’RE DEAD OH YEAH, THAT’S WHAT WE SAID! SIT TIGHT OR WE’LL FIGHT OH, THIS AIN’T THE NIGHT TO BE STUCK UNSUPERVISED IN A SUPER SUPERMARKET HEIST! THIEF #2 I just…this is so out of nowhere. We usually plan these together. THIEF #1 I wanted to surprise you. You’ve been so stressed. I didn’t want to add the stress of planning a fun anniversary outing on top of that. THIEF #1 I KNOW

THINGS HAVE BEEN ROUGH — THIEF #2 YOU’RE NOT AN OPEN BOOK. THIEF #1 BUT THAT’S EXACTLY WHY WE CAN’T GIVE UP HOPE AND — THIEF #2 LOOK. WE’VE GONE DOWNHILL. ADMIT IT. IT SURE SHOWS! BANKS WERE OUR TRADE, NOT TRADER JOE’S! THIEF #1 SURE, WE’VE DONE MUCH COOLER JOBS WITHOUT MUCH CONSEQUENCE BUT A SMALL VICTORY WILL BOOST OUR CONFIDENCE! THIEF #2 DOING IT TOGETHER IS WHAT MATTERS MOST TO ME ART MUSEUM OR BANK OR MALL OR…I GUESS GROCERY THIEF #1 Yeah? THIEF #2 Yeah! THIEF #1/THIEF #2 SUPER SUPERMARKET, SUPER SUPERMARKET, SUPER SUPERMARKET, SUPER SUPERMARKET, SUPER SUPERMARKET, SUPER SUPERMARKET, SUPERMARKET HEIST! YEAH, YOU’LL STOP AND SHOP NOW PUT YOUR HANDS ON TOP OF YOUR HEAD OR YOU’RE DEAD OH YEAH, THAT’S WHAT WE SAID! SIT TIGHT OR WE’LL FIGHT OH, THIS AIN’T THE NIGHT TO BE STUCK UNSUPERVISED IN A SUPER SUPERMARKET HEIST! WE’RE GONNA MAKE YOU STOP AND SHOP NOW PUT YOUR HANDS ON TOP OF YOUR HEAD OR YOU’RE DEAD OH YEAH, THAT’S WHAT WE SAID! SIT TIGHT OR WE’LL FIGHT OH, THIS AIN’T THE NIGHT TO BE STUCK UNSUPERVISED IN A SUPERMARKET WE’RE ARMED AND DISGUISED IT’S A SUPERMARKET GROSSLY OVERPRICED IT’S A SUPER SUPERMARKET HEIST! (THIEF #1 and THIEF #2 exit.)

ACT TWO

SCENE TWO

The lights rise on REMINGTON and HP. REMINGTON is sitting next to a Dumpster in the back alley behind a restaurant. HP is squatting beside her, picking at a piece of crumpled paper and tossing its remnants into a small trash can that he hugs with one arm. REMINGTON is wearing floral shorts and a tattered, half-tucked in Domino’s employee shirt. HP is still in his original outfit, although he’s ditched the rainbow scarf and his jacket. Those can be seen laying on the other side of the Dumpster, next to the wall in a pile of other fabrics that seem to comprise a makeshift bed. The two kids have a half-empty and surprisingly fresh-looking Domino’s pizza box in front of them. REMINGTON is snacking on one of the last pieces. REMINGTON Okay. I’ve been doin’ some big brain thinking. Superhero names. HP (turning his head sharply from the paper) Hm? REMINGTON Let’s do a little word association, okay? Test the power, the wow-factor that these names hold. Ready? HP Mmkay. I like to word associate. REMINGTON What comes to mind when you hear the word...Flambé? (HP pauses, looking up contemplatively, before turning his head back to REMINGTON.) HP Shrimp? REMINGTON Nooo, like…I don’t know. (takes a bite of the pizza) Doesn’t it sound fancy? Like ain’t it French or something? (receives no reaction from HP) Okay. Okay. How about...the Remedy? HP (squints a little in confusion) What? Like medicines? Medicines and pills and little maggots in bowls? REMINGTON Like, my name is Remington, but there’s not much you can do with Remy or Remington that isn’t Ratatouille — (sees HP’s blank face, gives up) I’ll think of more names. (takes another bite of her pizza) Mm. Domino’s could beat up Papa John in a fight. (HP finishes tearing up the piece of paper and jumps to his feet.) HP Your break is almost over. You need to get back to work. REMINGTON No. The voices hurt. I’m lazy! HP One fire by the end of the day. That is our rule. REMINGTON (reluctantly dropping his half-finished slice in the pizza box) One spark. HP No, one fire. You’ve passed the spark level. (HP offers REMINGTON his hands, which REMINGTON takes. HP effortlessly pulls REMINGTON to her feet.) HP C’mon! It’s easy! (REMINGTON reluctantly unclasps her bracelet and tosses it aside. 12. Perfect Times Eleven.) HP NOW DEEP DOWN, THERE’S A FIRE GROWING STRONG JUST LET THEM HELP YOU SET IT FREE, REMINGTON LONG! IMMERSE YOURSELF IN VOICES, AIM THEIR ENERGY AT ONE SPOT! CAN YOU FEEL YOUR INSIDES SORTA GETTING HOT? REMINGTON Yeah, but it doesn’t feel healthy... HP ONCE YOUR BRAIN WIDENS, GIVE IN TO PRIMAL DRIVES, YOU’LL GAIN ENERGY FROM ALL YOUR PAST LIVES NOT JUST THE ONES YOU HEAR SINGING! REMINGTON What do you mean? HP WHETHER ANIMAL OR HUMAN, THEY WILL BE BRINGING YOU ENERGY! AND THAT’S THE KEY! IT SWELLS UP IN YOUR BRAIN! LET IT PLUMMET DOWN LIKE RAIN ONTO YOUR GOAL HP/REMINGTON THIS ENERGY IN YOU AND ME, ALL OF IT COMES FROM THE MOMENT WE BECOME ONE WITH THE SOUL AND OUR SOULS HAVE BEEN PERFECT TIMES ELEVEN REMINGTON WHICH MAKES US NOW GODS AMONG MEN HP WE COULD BURN AWAY ALL LIFE AND CREATE THE WORLD AGAIN REMINGTON THAT’S A LITTLE EXTREME, BUT SURE, I SUPPOSE. AT LEAST ONCE I'M TRAINED, WE CAN LEAVE THIS TENT BEHIND A DOMINO’S! HP/REMINGTON PERFECT TIMES ELEVEN, A UNIVERSAL LOTTERY WIN! NATURALLY MORE DISPOSED TO FREE THE ENERGY WITHIN! TIME AND SPACE WILL JUMBLE AND CRUMBLE AT MY HAND I’M A GLITCH IN THE MATRIX WITH REALITY AT MY COMMAND! HP STARTING LITTLE FIRES IS THE EASIEST TO MASTER! AFTERWARDS, YOU’LL LEARN TELEKINESIS FASTER TO SET A FIRE, GIVE YOUR SOUL’S ENERGY A TOSS! SCOOP UP A BIT OF THAT TIME AND SPACEY SAUCE THROW IT OUT OF YOURSELF AND JUST LET IT ALL GO THE HUGE AMOUNT OF ENERGY WILL SET SHIT AGLOW AND AFTER YOU CAN GET FUN LITTLE FIRES TO START, MASTERING THE REST OF IT’S THE EASIER PART HP/REMINGTON ‘CAUSE ENERGY IS THE KEY! IT SWELLS UP IN YOUR BRAIN! LET IT PLUMMET DOWN LIKE RAIN ONTO YOUR GOAL THIS ENERGY IN YOU AND ME, ALL OF IT COMES FROM THE MOMENT WE

BECOME ONE WITH THE SOUL AND OUR SOULS HAVE BEEN PERFECT TIMES ELEVEN, THE LUCK OF THE DRAW REMINGTON IS BEING A REALLY GREAT TEACHER ONE OF YOUR POWERS? ‘CAUSE I AM IN AWE. HP WELL, TEACHING YOU’S AS FUN AS MAKING ANIMALS COMBUST! REMINGTON THANK YOU…THAT’S A COMPLIMENT, I TRUST? HP/REMINGTON PERFECT TIMES ELEVEN, A UNIVERSAL LOTTERY WIN! NATURALLY MORE DISPOSED TO FREE THE ENERGY WITHIN! TIME AND SPACE WILL JUMBLE AND CRUMBLE AT MY HAND I’M A GLITCH IN THE MATRIX WITH REALITY AT MY COMMAND! HP Now, concentrate! Feel it build up inside you until every cell of your body feels like it’s screaming! REMINGTON Ahhhh! This shit hurts! HP And let it go! (REMINGTON propels her hands forward in one strenuous motion. There’s a whooshing noise and the inside of the trash can is now impressively aflame.) HP That’s it! REMINGTON That was my best one so far! HP/REMINGTON WE’RE PERFECT TIMES ELEVEN! A ONCE-IN-A-BLUE-MOON CHANCE, WE'RE EXISTENT AND ALIVE AGAINST ALL CIRCUMSTANCE! HP IT’S GREAT TO BE BETTER THAN HUMAN! REMINGTON EH. IT’S OKAY. IT’S GREAT TO LIVE WITH YOU IN THIS ABANDONED ALLEYWAY! HP/REMINGTON PERFECT TIMES ELEVEN, A UNIVERSAL LOTTERY WIN! NATURALLY MORE DISPOSED TO FREE THE ENERGY WITHIN! TIME AND SPACE WILL JUMBLE AND CRUMBLE AT MY HAND I’M A GLITCH IN THE MATRIX WITH REALITY AT MY COMMAND! (REMINGTON, perhaps spurred by the vigor of the musical number, is ready to go apeshit with the fire. She concentrates on the pizza box.) REMINGTON’S VOICES AHH! (She manages to set the pizza box on fire.) HP Yes! Nice! REMINGTON’S VOICES AHH! (REMINGTON manages to start a fire from somewhere inside the Domino’s — we can see a faint flicker through the window.) HP You’re doing so good! REMINGTON’S VOICES AHH! (REMINGTON sets all of the nearby Dumpster’s contents on fire. Spectacular!) HP Fantastic! (REMINGTON victoriously embraces HP, who attempts to spin her around. REMINGTON then takes HP’s hand. They skip around a little/dance giddily amid the blaze.) HP/REMINGTON PERFECT TIMES ELEVEN, A UNIVERSAL LOTTERY WIN! NATURALLY MORE DISPOSED TO FREE THE ENERGY WITHIN! TIME AND SPACE WILL JUMBLE AND CRUMBLE AT MY HAND I’M A GLITCH IN THE MATRIX WITH THE WORLD AT MY COMMAND! (pausing in a triumphant pose center stage) PERFECT TIMES ELEVEN PERFECT TIMES ELEVEN PERFECT TIMES ELEVEN! (REMINGTON and HP freeze in their triumphant pose. Somewhere behind them, a burning piece of cardboard unceremoniously falls out of the Dumpster. Blackout.)

#transcript #episode 7

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