#off my soap box now | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

azikarue · 2 years

Text

Just A Moment : Chapter 29 : Fireworks

All Starz | FFN Rating: T (underage drinking, minor language) | FFN Link ❖ “Did you guys have fun clapping for Max and Rick, because I sure did,” Eddy said, voice dripping with sarcasm. He took a swig from the bottle in his hand. It was nearly empty, despite containing the wateriest, cheapest beer Michael could get a hold of. He sighed and finished it anyway.

“Sorry, man, I know it sucks.” Michael opened another bottle with his teeth and spat the cap out somewhere to the right. Ignoring the scoff from behind them that followed, he handed it to Eddy.

“Shitty beer for a shitty day.” Eddy shrugged and added his empty to the line they’d started on the wall. There were fireworks reflecting in the glass. He scowled.

Normally the All Starz celebratory send-off was more fun than this. Normally, he and Steve and Michael were the ones being congratulated and cheered on. Normally, Judy looked to them, her top brass, to bring America its World Championship victory instead of her precious baby boy and a bully from the street.

This year, Steve was injured and the rest of them couldn’t get away from the party fast enough. While Max and Rick watched the fireworks outside in front of the cameras, the rest of them retreated to the roof to sulk.

“I hate this.”

Michael downed half of his beer in a few gulps, then said, “I think I’m having a midlife crisis.”

“Oh, please,” Emily groaned, apparently done with staring on in silent disapproval. “You’re eighteen, Michael, not forty. And stop using your teeth to open those, because I’ll be the one stuck finding you a dentist before the tournament tomorrow if you break a tooth.”

“Emily,” Michael said, turning around to lean against the wall with the city to his back, “if you can’t get in the spirit of misery, you can always join the others.”

“Yeah, maybe they need someone to hold Rick’s boombox or calibrate Max’s launcher or something.”

Michael chuckled. He and Eddy clinked their bottles together.

Emily slammed her laptop shut and sent them an icy glare. She was perched on one of the building’s AC units and practically vibrating with anger. Eddy suspected most of it wasn’t because of their jokes.

“Neither of you are old enough to be drinking those,” she pointed out while forcefully shoving her computer into its bag. “I should report you to the director.”

“Ha, please,” Michael scoffed and took another drink.

“You know, Emily,” Eddy interjected with a playful grin, “if you want one, all you have to do is ask. No need to be grouchy.”

“No, thank you.”

Eddy shrugged and went back to nursing his drink.

Shortly after, Emily gave in and joined him and Michael at the edge of the roof. The three of them stood in companionable silence and watched the fireworks crack and shimmer across the sky. It would have been peaceful if there weren’t such strong feelings of injustice stewing in each of them.

“This really bites,” Eddy said when he couldn’t hold it in anymore.

His teammates made noises of agreement.

“Emily, you shoulda lied when Judy had you go over Rick’s intake data,” Michael said, twirling his bottle between his hands and scowling into the distance. “Max is whatever, mommy’s favorite and all that shit, but Rick’s a giant bag of dicks.”

Eddy snorted into his beer.

Emily bristled.

“She never had me review it.” There was a poorly-concealed bitterness in her voice. She crossed her arms in front of her.

Eddy exchanged a look with Michael. He could see his friend’s eyes widen in the flickering light of another firework.

“No wonder you’re pissed,” Eddy said, and took a drink. He didn’t even taste it going down, too preoccupied with wondering why Judy was keeping secrets from Emily, of all people. It wasn’t like she would have skewed the data – she was too academically proud for that. Probably would have cautioned Judy about Rick’s lousy attitude and been done with it.

“I trust Director Judy’s calculations!” Emily said defensively.

“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean you have to like them,” Michael pointed out. He tipped the neck of his bottle in her direction and wiggled it, one more offer.

Emily huffed, then snatched the bottle and took a drink like she’d lose her nerve if she didn’t do it fast. She hadn’t even swallowed the whole way when she made a noise of disgust and shoved it back into Michael’s hands.

“Not many parties on weekends?” Michael quipped.

Most days Emily would deliver a witty retort that let them know, in no uncertain terms, how pointless that would be for the development of her brain and her career. This time she got mad.

“No!” she exclaimed waspishly. Her eyes gleamed with emotion as they darted between Eddy and Michael. Eddy recognized that look – she was debating whether or not to say something that she desperately wanted to because she knew it would make her sound her age for once. Her anger won out in the end. “You haven’t either! None of us have done anything but train on weekends for months!

“And I don’t know about you two, but I turned down dozens of opportunities for the sake of the World Championships and I’m not even going to get to beyblade!” she finished, wiping away tears of frustration and knocking her glasses askew in the process. She yanked them off forcefully and turned away to clean them, successfully hiding any lingering tears.

“At least you’ll get to process data,” Eddy pointed out, both to cheer her up and to complain. “Michael and I are gonna be stuck twiddling our thumbs on the bench.”

“Yeah, Emily,” Michael chimed in begrudgingly, “Max’ll probably even let you blade if you act upset enough. Judy always says he’s such a gentleman.” He made a show of gagging at the thought and Eddy raised his drink in a mock toast. “Save some of those tears for Maxie.”

“You two don’t get it!” Emily rounded on them. “I was just looking at Judy’s data – she’s been compiling it for almost a year!”

Judging by her tone that was supposed to mean something to them. Eddy looked at Michael to see if he was following and got a shrug in return.

Emily rolled her eyes and clarified: “She’s known for a long time what was going to happen with the Championships this year and the three of us were never part of her plans.”

A heavy silence fell over their group. Eddy thought it seemed suddenly cold on the rooftop and set his beer aside in favor of shoving his hands into the pockets of his team jacket. If it were up to Judy, he probably wouldn’t even be wearing it. The thought made his blood begin to boil.

It made sense now why she didn’t seem concerned about Steve’s injury sidelining him. Probably made her life a hell of a lot easier not having to force one of them off the team entirely. And, with the new tournament format, she could still claim the rest of them as a successful pet project, all the while giving the spotlight to Rick the Barbarian and Max the Nepotism Baby.

The sound of a bottle smashing against concrete interrupted his thoughts. Michael had thrown the remains of his drink on the ground in anger. Hundreds of pieces of glass scattered across the roof, a sour mimicry of the fireworks scattering across the sky above them.

“Michael!” Emily scolded.

“Bullshit!” Michael shouted, ignoring her. “She can’t do this to us!”

Eddy nodded fiercely, throat too constricted to say anything. Trades happened in sports every day, but it was underhanded and cruel of Judy to train them for positions she never had any intention of letting them play.

“She already did!” Emily shot back, voice high and hollow like she was fighting more angry tears.

“Well we aren’t gonna let her!”

Michael grabbed the sleeve of Eddy’s jacket and dragged him over to Emily, the All Starz logo bunched up in his fist. The three of them stood in a huddle, Michael and Emily glaring at each other with separate challenges in their eyes. Eddy waited with bated breath for one of them to snap. His hands were clenched to tightly in his pockets that he could feel blunt nails digging into his palms.

With a resolute nod, Michael clapped both Emily and Eddy on the shoulder. He left his hands there, a solid connection, and surveyed their group.

“We’re still in this,” he said, sounding more like the captain he was than usual. “They can try to bench us all they want, but we don’t have to sit back and take it. We’re the original All Starz. We built this team. Nobody is gonna make us feel like we aren’t good enough for it.” His grip on their shoulders tightened.

Eddy grinned, in spite of himself, and stretched his arms out over his teammates’ shoulders.

“Damn right.”

Then came the finale of the fireworks show. Eddy could feel every explosion in his chest as the brightest starbursts yet cast a blinding light on their rooftop huddle. The wind carried the cheers of their home crowd on an updraft. It had a bolstering effect, even if it wasn’t solely for them.

Soon Judy would be ushering Max and Rick off of their pedestal to rest up for the first round of battles. Max would listen to her and Rick would disappear to wherever he disappeared to. The rest of them would be lucky if Judy wondered where they were before the cameras came back on and she needed her set dressing.

“Emily?” Michael prompted, giving her a shake. She’d been quiet for too long. “You gonna give ‘em hell with us? Or do you wanna hold the boombox?”

Emily stared past them pensively, the light show reflecting in her glasses and masking her thoughts.

“C’mon, Em.” Eddy felt some of the tension in her shoulders ebb away at the nickname. “All for one and one for all.”

“Except Max and Rick,” Michael added.

Emily snorted and shrugged them off. When she looked at them, she was almost smiling.

“Clean up this glass,” she ordered, slinging the laptop with Judy’s stupid data over her shoulder and making for the stairs, “and then get some sleep. We can’t give anyone hell if you’re zombies in the morning.” She paused with her hand on the doorknob and shot a smirk over her shoulder, glasses glinting. “More so than usual, I mean.”

#the OG All Starz get the shit end of the stick in G Rev #honestly happens to so many first season characters the more I think about it #I rewatched the All Starz qualifier ep while writing this and Judy literally says everything is going according to plan during Rick's battl #so conniving #also set Max and Rick up to be hated by their teammates #even though they did earn their spots I think they should all be a little mad at Judy #caused so much drama #off my soap box now #beyblade #azrfic #azikarue #azikarue394 #mayblade 2022

7 notes · View notes

rottenxfairy · 20 days

Text

why do people forget the met gala is a charity event for the preservation of fashion constume and that fashion isn’t frivolous and is often very tied into society like i understand the criticism but i feel like people aren’t looking at the met gala as a whole and you obviously condemn the occupation and displacement of palastines but comparing the met gala to the hunger games would be ignoring the whole purpose of the event and taking it out of context

#like that’s why the tickets are expensive bc it’s a charity event #idk especially with the art world already being taken over by ai it’s really sad seeing people completely miss what the met gala is doing #off my soap box now

0 notes

paperclipninja · 1 month

Text

I'm gonna sound very old person yells at cloud but I don't care, I feel like I need to say this. We all (well most of us) know that messaging Neil with any headcanons/theories/wishes/hopes/dreams to do with the show is a no-go because it could potentially compromise the story he wants to tell or ends up telling. And yes, he is a grown up who chooses what to respond to etc and I think it's wonderful he engages with fans and answers a lot of lovely and interesting questions about his process, writing and journey etc.

However, there is another reason not to send theories and ideas about how the show should go to the show creator in the hope of a response: it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter whether a theory is correct, or a speculation may or may not play out. That is why fandom exists.

Online fandom is where we all come together to yell and cry and throw around weird-ass ideas and theories and look at art and read fanfic and unite in our love of characters and a show. A huge part of being in fandom, is the way fandom theories become like an understood little bit of fanon lore that some people attach to, others disregard. But it doesn't matter. And part of the fun of fandom, is when a new season or a new episode of the show comes out, you have this collective catalogue of ideas and theories and headcanons and you get to yell and scream, "omg it happened1" or "lol that that thing was ever talked about" or "thank god that theory didn't come to pass".

Wanting to know now (not that we ever will) and not wanting to wait until the next season to find out the answers diminishes the fandom experience. I cannot stress enough how much we are in the absolute peak of the fandom experience right now. The between seasons time is the ultimate time to be a part of a fandom (as I'm sure many people are well aware), knowing there's another season coming energises everyone to create and connect and speculate and it's glorious! I know it feels like it'll be like this forever, but it won't. Next season is the last and yes, there will be a flurry and uptick of all the energy and excitement once again, and I absolutely believe Good Omens fandom will live on and remain active and thrumming. But there won't be theories and what ifs and hunting for clues for the next season, and over time it will dwindle a little and plateau and some people will fall into other fandoms, and while it will probably bubble away, there won't be the anticipation that sits with us now.

My point is, fandom is where we get to throw around ideas and flail and be ridiculous and also serious sometimes, but it's all for us. For the fans. Showing Neil theories or getting in a flap about a particular speculation and asking if x, y, or z might happen isn't just about putting the creator in an awkward spot, it takes away what fandom is about. Just let this time be ours. If you haven't been in fandom before, enjoy it! Don't be in a hurry to seek definitive answers or know things either way.

It doesn't matter if any or none or all of the things that float around end up being correct or incorrect. Fandom isn't about being right. It's about being a part of a community and being able to share ideas and it's about it being FUN.

So TL;DR Stop sending Neil fan ideas because that is for fandom, not for the creator.

#good omens fandom #good omens #just a little rant #sorry I don't normally get ranty but here we are #I'll get off my soap box now

2K notes · View notes

sad-leon · 1 month

Text

I think some people need the reminder that you can just not like things. For whatever reason. You don't need to justify things you don't like to anyone, as long as you're not making people feel bad for liking it.

You're able to not like something, but that doesn't make it weird.

You're able to not like that people like something, but that doesn't necessarily mean they're bad people (within reason of course)

And it's also important to remember that you may like something that other people don't like. That doesn't mean they have a personal vendatta against you for liking it.

That doesn't mean you're wrong, nor are they wrong.

People have preferences for everything. Just because you prefer something, that doesn't mean you're "right". This is fandom, there are very few things that even have a "right" and "wrong" side.

#rambles #okay getting off my soap box now #i was just reminded of a debate earlier that rubs me the wrong way #its fandom #have fun #but dont let your fun ruin other peoples #you can have boundaries without attacking people #you can have defenses and opinions without putting people down #you dont have to justify your existance in fandom and neither does anyone else #live and let live #all of these guys that we're obsessing over (in the rottmnt fandom atleast) are fictional #if you dont like something dont read it #but that doesnt mean others cant enjoy it #tag your shit and respect people's boundaries

77 notes · View notes

leverage-ot3 · 3 months

Text

time for the obligatory post about what episodes I want to see in the upcoming leverage season(s)

(for reference, I made this similar post in 2020 after the reboot was announced. I'm pasting some from that post bc I still want them to happen lol)

new ideas:

I mentioned a date night episode in the last post (apollo really did bless me with foresight for the date night job on that one) but for considerment: ot3 date night. possibly their first date night after they all get together. breanna and sophie know it's happening (harry is, like, peripherally aware) and some crime hijinks are going down and the three of them are frantically trying to stop bad things from happening that are going to interfere with the date. I want to see them going through it behind the metaphorical curtain. I want to see breanna fighting for her life trying to out-hack the hacker that is going to ruin their ten-part itineraried date. harry has to get in a fistfight and eliot is so proud about it when he finds out after everything is over

tree law episode. harry has been frothing at the mouth about it since it was made. his life has been moving him towards this penultimate moment. breanna thinks it's HILARIOUS and cheers him on 100% of the way. she is VERY enthusiastic about this con

I'm not going to mention certain things because I've seen jrogers posting on bluesky social and I know he might be already writing some of those plots

con that the food trucks have plot-relevance. like, one of his food truck stations is being harassed /victimized by, like, a local gang or something that takes advantage of food truck/cart workers and the team steps in. the actual (veteran) food truck workers get involved in the con. leverage international might just have gained a few retainer members

quinn should come back for an episode. I know the actor is friends with ckane. they should make it happen because it would be iconic and I said so

on a similar note, ckane is friends with jensen ackles and. guys. wouldn't it- wouldn't it be extremely funny if a flame from eliot's past named sean sylvester who is a rugged drifter with a questionable past

episode where tara or maggie (or BOTH, can you imagine how powerful that would be???) come back and there is slight flirting with sophie possibly??? that or very obvious chemistry from a past tryst. sophie has slept with both of them, I know it in my heart of hearts. bonus points if tara and maggie fall in love (I think it would be funny. maggie's taste in men is canonically atrocious, I think she deserves someone like tara at this point)

I just want a lot of side characters to come back, okay? sue me I miss them

gonna put the rest under the cut since this post has become obscenely long

not episode-specific, but I want more mentions of the korean leverage team. and all the other teams too! we know that in canon there is the south korean one, the nigerian one, and one in london (I think that's it for mentions so far, but correct me if I'm wrong!)

episodes addressing issues with american imperialism and its effects on minorities and marginalized communities, specifically within this country (there aren't a lot of episodes where they are actively out of country)

dear fucking god take a more abolitionist stance on policing I'm begging. would it KILL you to not be weird about cops? pls just punch some more cops. take down white supremacist cops, I'm sure you can scrounge something up bffrrn

women's rights episodes. I know it's kind of recent, but episodes about accessibility of stuff like birth control, abortion access, etc. y'all are capable of making excellent episodes on that I know it

more climate crisis-related episodes. god knows you're feeling it in the deep south

taking down a corrupt megachurch pastor (although lbr, there is no ethical megachurch anything and you can fight me on this)

something to do with ace rights bc I think it would be really cool to see the team advocate for that stuff, especially since breanna is canon ace

helping a polycule that is being victimized by X organization/entity (maybe a housing association or medical or something???). breanna is bombastic side-eyeing the ot3 the entire time. it is making hardison sweat. sophie thinks it's hilarious

taking down 'writers' that use ai and self-publish AND/OR people that take original/fan works off of like ao3 and wattpad and publish them for personal profits without the author's consent. breanna would have a field day with this (god herself could try to convince me that girl does not read/write fanfic and I wouldn't believe it)

episode about underfunded public schools. we saw corrupt private schools in the fairy godparents job but I want an episode that would make abbot elementary writers proud

episode addressing native/indigenous. eliot is from oklahoma, I'm sure he is well aware of the health/job/economic/etc disparities on reservations. I will email jrogers about it myself if I have to- it anyone can get people going about native rights through a tv show it would be leverage.

I sent an ask to wil wheaton once asking if he was open to returning to leverage and I think he said he would be down for it. but chaos either has to be a reluctant ally to leverage international and is being handled by quinn as a hitter OR he is just. in jail. bc he sucks.

bpas and/or pfas episode. breanna has mentioned microplastics before but I want more

the team tears the shit out of conversion therapy camp owners and plants the seeds for legislation that will punish parents that try to send their kids to those hellscapes

while we're at it, I'd love to see an ep where they tackle the trans bathroom issue. god knows the news doesn't talk about it nearly enough

something to do with foster care. they end up starting some sort of foster care network that past clients/allies can take part in. maybe a mentorship program for kids that want to do what they do one day (they are very reluctant to encourage kids to participate in crime BUT if that is the avenue that they are going to inevitably go towards, they guide them in the right direction). nana makes an appearance (*insert 'everybody liked that' meme*)

prison industrial complex episode. I KNOW we had the jailhouse job BUT we really need this in our year of 2024

another episode on corrupt influencers. maybe influencer parents? dear god pls take them down a notch

ep where there is an underlying message that tells you how to avoid becoming victim to scams or something, or like is a tutorial for how to identify scams you might fall victim to (sorry, I just have to say this after two separate people tried to pig butcher me in less than two (2) weeks))

not to say I want them to do an ep calling out cop city, but it would feel really good to watch the leverage team rip that concept to SHREDS

the minimum wage job. need I say more? we deserve the catharsis

pls go after goodwill execs, esp the ones in the pnw that have their sector as for-profit and have become millionaires+ because of it while paying their staff (especially disabled staff) fucking pennies

while we're on the topic, pls call out salvation army (the corporation)

I can probably go on for like five hours so I'll stop here

ep that we get to see harry and his daughter bond :)

job where they get to lower the price of insulin (and other drugs)

actually, you know what? an episode where the crew annihilates big pharma and terrible insurance companies

I think that breanna should be able to go off about mass/over consumption as a treat. I 100% believe she has Thoughts about it. like, she will absolutely call out the corporations that are responsible for these trends, but also she should be allowed to mention our tendency for overconsumption as a society. obviously there are a few corporations that are doing most of the world's pollution/ecological damage, but we should be doing our part too and I KNOW it would be in-character for her to go off on it

I bet she has a LOT to say about influencers, tbh. obviously not all influencers are bad, but there are sooooo many problematic ones and problems within the influencer industry

sizing discrimination in the modeling/clothing industry. let eliot talk about how there are no perfect bodies. also while I'm on the subject, can we PLS have more body-diverse background actors on the show? I know this is nitpicky but I'd really love to see some more people that look like me, even if they are just in the background

a thinly veiled writers' rights episode (I'm looking at you media execs and the stupid amount of time it took for you to comply to the WGA demands)

something to do with media companies making entire movies/tv shows and then fucking cancelling them/not releasing them and using them as tax write-offs. every time it happens it baffles me. that is cartoonishly stupid villain shit. I can't imagine lovingly working on a project for a year plus and then the company just going, nah, we aren't going to release it because you suck and it's a good business move

ai art and ai in general. please. let it BURN

okay now I'm done

ideas from the previous post that I still want:

comicon job. I said it before and I will say it again- we deserve it!!! come on, it's the age of the geek after all!!! (in the last post I also said a ren faire ep, but I will let the card game job count for that)

summer camp ep? I saw a tumblr fic about it and I think it could be cute. it could kinda be like the fairy godparents job- eliot in charge of some type of sports (archery, fencing, etc), hardison would be in charge of arts and crafts (this boy might be a genius with tech and in general tbh, but the show did such a good job of showing that he’s also very talented with the arts- sculpting the statue for the miracle job, forging the old diary in the king george job, etc), parker would LOVE to be in charge of a high ropes course. breanna would totally be down for some sort of nerdy kid robotics or simple, traditional camp games (can't go wrong with the classics. everyone loves making bracelets!) I feel like it's too stereotypical to have sophie have kids put on a play but we all know that's exactly what she would do. idk for harry? I think he has the same traditional camp activities vibe as breanna. he's in it for the nostalgia. OR something to do with videogames

please, please, please, please, please make an episode where they take down a cult, im begging. that would be such a good episode. definitely a mindfuck episode like the experimental job (4x11). I’ve seen a few posts about a job dealing with a cult (here’s one) and I think it would be really interesting

MORE STERLING being DONE with leverage shenanigans!!! give me feral!sterling like in the frame-up job (5x10)!!! give me sterling that protests every step of the way but conveniently looks away and “whoops, the team just disappeared, I have no idea how that happened!!! diddly dang darn it, they got away again!!! sorry guys!!!” bonus points if mcsweeten is there too and also participates in intervening hijinks

the team takes down a circus that is still using and abusing wild animals!!! because first I’d LOVE to see acrobat!parker swinging up in the air like a pro and being in her element, but also because those places are the fucking worst and need to Go Down. give me eliot having to pose as an animal trainer with deep sympathy for the animals being abused, quietly talking soothing words to them when he thinks no one is around (correction: hardison is, in fact, around, and filming his boyfriend’s softness to save for later). give me charismatic hardison playing the role of ringmaster, running and flaunting about and being passive-aggressive to the circus master. give me eliot freeing the animals from their chains when they are finally able to shut the place down and relocate the animals to sanctuaries (his hands shaking just a little as twists the key in the lock, because he too was once an abused, caged animal in his own right and he knows how liberating it is to finally be free).

#i have SO much to say about native rights and I'd give a kidney to be able to have it shown for all on a wide reaching show #for the love of god it's the least we can do #sorry yall im just. really passionate about native rights. I made myself a nuisance to all of my hs history professors talking about it #every chance i got. if the textbooks won't talk about it i will make my presentation about it and educate my peers my goddam self if i have #to #anyway. i will get off the soap box now. but yeah educate yourself on native/indigenous rights (based off where you live too)#episode ideas #leverage redemption #leverage redemption s3 #speculation #mine #parker #alec hardison #eliot spencer #leverage ot3 #parker x hardison x eliot #sophie devereaux #harry wilson #breanna casey #mr quinn #quinn #side characters #leverage international #tara cole #maggie collins #jim sterling #recurring characters #sophie x maggie #sophie x tara #maggie x tara

117 notes · View notes