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stewardofningishzida · 4 months

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Stephen Strange Meta-Fic Sequel — Chapter 18: Grim Grinning Ghosts

Crossover ahoy! Marvel x Disney’s Haunted Mansion. Also, more multiverse bait. ;-) Enjoy!~

TRIGGER WARNING: Scary situations, death mentions, language, just a lil bit of Disney office politics

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Chapter 18: Grim Grinning Ghosts

*After a couple of days, I’m about half-healed. Still semi-limited in movement, but I can do some basic stuff again. Wong has asked us each to workshop some ideas for our universe’s Sanctums and the organization of our Order. So, Trix, Prettywitch, and I are having a meeting in the library to discuss it.*

Me: So, since we don’t have to work as a shadow organization and the various countries have swarms of cryptids running rampant, we’ll probably have to train legions of new sorcerers to help keep things in-check. Plus, with people being people, we’ll probably need to work alongside law enforcement to prevent abuse of magic and capture any rogue sorcerers before they can become a major problem. That last bit, we’ll approach when it comes, I think. Still, we’ll not only need the main Sanctums, but several smaller, reserve Sanctums to provide backup and house other sorcerers so they can look after their respective regions.

Trix: First things first, though: our version of Kamar-Taj and the Sanctums. We need somewhere of our own first so when we start recruiting, people have a place to go.

*I nod in agreement.*

Prettywitch: Maybe we can pool our money together and start a small ad campaign for recruitment. I mean after what happened recently, people are bound to believe in magic at least a little bit more.

Me: True. Once the Sanctums and our version of Kamar-Taj are up and running, we can start recruitment. What do you think, Tr-

*I pause and look scared for a moment. There’s also a familiar feeling of nausea washing over me, as though I’m in a dangerous situation in an area filled with spirits. After a few seconds, I look at Prettywitch and Trix.*

Me (hesitant): Did either of you feel something just now?

Trix (frowning): I didn’t…

PrettyWitch: I felt something faint.

Me: Wanna describe it? *I don’t want to skew Prettywitch’s perspective and want to know exactly what’s going on.*

Prettywitch: I felt like…a wave of unease washed over me, like I could feel that something was coming.

Me: Weird. I felt as though a bunch of distressed souls all just cried out at once…

Trix (concerned): That’s really not good. *She pauses before standing up* Let’s go get Stephen’s opinion on this if something is going on.

Me (shaken): Yeah…I think he’s in New York. Let’s head to the Rotunda of Gateways to get over there.

*We get up and use the active portal to the New York Sanctum. Stephen is currently watching the Orb of Agamotto, looking perplexed.*

Trix: Hey Stephen, we think something weird is going on. Something just affected Steward and PrettyWitch.

Stephen (looking up at us): I sensed it as well. It’s not in your universe or ours…I’ll have to do some more scanning to pinpoint it.

Clea: Good morning, Stephen… *She’s wearing his Colombia U sweater and rubbing sleep from her eye.*

Stephen (preoccupied): Good morning.

*Trix glances over at Steward and PrettyWitch and is trying not to make an excited face and play it calm at the fact that it’s finally happening.*

*I’m indifferent, more focused on the matter at hand than the romantic happenings. Stephen is currently concentrating. After a few minutes of silence, it seems he has it figured out.*

Stephen: It’s a distress call, much like the one I had sent out to Wong while I was trapped in your universe. From universe…Hmmm…196971.

Me: Do we check it out, then?

Stephen: …You three DO need mission experience, but I should come along to make sure you stay safe.

Trix: Oooo first official missions in our mastery. *She’s smiling despite the internal worry.*

Prettywitch: Oh, I’m down for that!

Me: Looks like we have to gear up. Oh. Hi, Clea, by the way. *I’m polite as usual.*

Clea: *She waves.* Hello. So, what’s going on?

Trix: Apparently a distress call from a different universe that we’re going to check out..

Clea: Really? *She smirks.* Stephen, dear, would mind if I tag along?

Stephen: Actually, Clea, I cannot leave the Sanctum unguarded. Out of all of the choices I may have, I shall entrust you with this sacred duty. *He’s sincere, showing his trust in her.*

Clea: *Her eyes turn, starry.* Oh, Stephen! *She smiles playfully and wraps her arms around him.* And to think, I was about to tease you for locking me in here by myself.

*He blushes deeply.*

*I go about my business, letting them have their moment as I quickly open a small portal to grab my gear from.*

Trix (coyly): I’m glad you both get along so well. *She then gets serious before using a small portal to grab her small go-bag.*

*Stephen is still a bit pink in the cheeks.*

Stephen: Erm…That aside, I’ll open the portal. Multiversal travel is finicky. So, I should do it until you three get a better grasp of the technique.

Me: All right. Let’s go.

Trix: Ready!

Prettywitch: Let’s do this!

Clea: You girls have fun! *She turns to Stephen, sweetly.* See you later, my love. *She gives a sweet peck on the lips.*

Stephen (awkwardly): Thank you, dear.

Clea: *Giggles.*You’re welcome. Have fun.

Me (to seemingly nobody in particular): You there, Ancient One? *It seems I do check from time to time and I’ve been seen conversing with her and other spirits on occasion. More of a casual conversation since I figure it’s probably lonely existing as a ghost. That and I do want her around for help since things do tend to be chaotic around us.*

*The image of The Ancient One flickers into view for a moment before it flickers out again, like static.*

*I relax slightly, knowing she’s there. It seems that Stephen is a bit calmer too. At first, I don’t really notice the quick flicker since I’m currently preoccupied with the mission. Though since I saw The Ancient One there, I assume it’s fine. Stephen opens the portal and we walk through.*

*It’s a dark and stormy night wherever we have ended up. Dead trees line the old dirt path we stand on which leads to a set of open iron gates.*

Trix: Well, this seems ominous.

Me: …Did we just land in an old-school horror movie or novel?

PrettyWitch: …Well, at least it’s not the Overlook Hotel…

Stephen: …Stay close, girls.

*We head up the path towards the gates when a building comes into view. The house looks like a mixture of brand new and ancient. Four white pillars stand imposingly at the entryway like sentries, reaching up two stories. There is a wrap-around porch on both levels of the two outdoor accessible floors. It is all trimmed in an elegant green metal trim that seems rather familiar in style. The plants on the grounds were trimmed to perfection despite the signs that the place seems abandoned.*

Trix (in awe): Oh my god I know where we are.

Me (curling my lip): Really? A real Haunted Mansion? Like the Disney ride? *I’m amused at the seeming-goofiness of the situation.*

Trix (growing more and more excited): You don’t understand, I know everything about the Mansions. From names of the ghosts to how they designed the wallpaper. This is so incredibly COOL! *This is probably the most excited she has ever admitted being.*

Prettywitch: *Giggles.* It’s nice to see you’re so enthusiastic about this, hun.

Stephen (looking at Trix curiously): You’re probably the biggest Disney fan out of the three of you, eh?

Trix: I sold my soul to the Mouse years ago. *She pauses for dramatic effect before grinning.* I worked at Disney World for a year and have been a lifelong fan. If there’s anything I know the most about it’s probably Disney and the intricacies of their storytelling through so many different mediums. I always wanted to be a storyteller and it fascinated me. *She starts walking forward again to enter the gates because she wants to investigate despite the fact she would normally be terrified.*

Me: I’m more of a casual fan. I appreciate their history and work, but don’t like their business practices much. I actually boycotted them for a while after they bought Marvel, but seeing as it’s not gonna change anytime soon and I love Marvel, I came crawling back. Used to live near Disneyland and visited regularly before the Marvel thing. Then, I stopped for a while. I eventually resumed visiting, but it takes a while to save up. They’re super-expensive now.

Trix (She turns back to the group): Yeah, the upper management is absolutely horrible and I have many comments about them, but honestly working for them was my first taste of creating magic. It was as simple as making a little girl smile from a good deed and Disney, at least before the pandemic, usually brought out the good in people and let kindness thrive. Just little acts of kindness were usually the true act of magic in our world before, y’know *She shrugs*

Prettywitch: I love Disney but I fear for the company’s future as well as Marvel’s. Luckily, there’s a shareholders meeting coming up which looks to be a huge ass executive bloodbath. *She smiles maniacally…until she notices her friends staring at her with some genuine concern. Her smile slowly fades.* Too much…?

*I smirk and subtly give her a thumbs-up, indicating that I lowkey support the corporate “dethroning”, as it may be.*

Trix: I’m all for it. I’m for the lower branches of the tree, the people who actually make the magic. Not counting the money.

Me: Yes, please. They deserve far better than they get.

Trix:…we could absolutely try and get away with creating our own magic getaway vacation spot to fund our Order… *She grins, bringing up the previous conversation.*

*Stephen’s been listening to all of this and silently agrees to most of it. Though when it comes to the “magical getaway”, he raises an eyebrow dubiously.*

Me: Yessss...As long as we make sure that the workers are all treated well, paid decently, and have good benefits in the long-run. *I notice Stephen’s face and quickly change the subject.* Anyway, we should keep going. Wanna lead the way, Trix?

*With a salute, Trix continues leading the way up to the gates. It is exactly the same as the parks but seems…off. She steps through.*

Me (smartass as I get ready to walk through the gate): Maybe they’re just having a problem with their Doombug-*I shudder as I pass through, going pale. Sweat begins to bead on my face and I look sick. My aura also seems diminished.* Eugh…What IS this?

*Stephen follows closely and goes to check on me.*

Stephen: What’s wrong?

Me: I feel weaker and nauseous. It’s kinda muggy here, right?

Stephen: A bit, but let me see. *He feels my forehead and checks a few things. Whatever this is, it isn’t from germs. He makes a disconcerted noise.*

PrettyWitch: What’s wrong? *When he doesn’t answer her, she crosses the threshold and feels that same, faint feeling she did before. She ignores it though.* Stephen, what’s wrong with Steward?

Stephen: There’s something about the energy of this place affecting her. I should get her out of here.

*As he says that, the iron gates snap shut behind us.*

Prettywitch: Shit!

Stephen: We can still get out. Here. *He uses his Sling Ring to attempt to make a portal.*

*There are a few sparks, but the attempt fails.*

Stephen (irritated): Shit, not again…

Trix (frowning): There was a distress signal, though. This could be related to that…

*Prettywitch pulls out her tarot deck and asks the cards what kind of spirit it is that they’re up against. She pulls The Moon, inverted.*

Prettywitch: *She sees the card and, knowing it’s meaning, shudders.* Oh, we’re fucked, aren’t we?

Me (deadpan): So, it was a trap. Wonderful.

Trix: I guess we just have to keep going then. *She’s more cautious now, but something doesn’t seem right about this.*

*The group walks up to the porch before heading up the stairs to the front door. Trix reaches for the handle but it opens on its own.*

Trix: That figures.

*Stephen steps defensively up front.*

Stephen: I’ll take a look first, girls.

*The entryway is almost lackluster as it appears normal at first glance. Gunmetal colored patterned wallpaper and rich wood accents tastefully highlight the cobweb-filled chandelier in the center of the room. It seems to be lit with actual candles and yet there is no sign of life in the room. There is a small table near the front door that holds a vase of dead roses.*

*There are two doorways across from him: one directly in front of him and one to the wall on his left. On the right wall, there is a fireplace with glowing embers still in the hearth. The most curious thing, however, is a painted portrait of what seems to be Stephen himself above the fireplace.*

*Since we see him looking around and unharmed after a while, we follow him in. I look up and notice the portrait.*

Me: Interesting choice in location, there, Alternate-Stephen…

Trix: So we’re probably dealing with another version of Stephen then. Great. *She looks over at our Stephen* Sorry, but our track record with other you’s doesn’t seem to be the best. At least at first and that’s not counting the ones we know exist from our media.

Stephen: No offense taken.

*I creep slightly closer to him to both keep an eye on him, but also now there’s a chill in the air. His Cloak subtly wraps around me.*

Prettywitch: Let me see if I can figure out which pathway to take. *She cleanses her tarot deck and decides to use a simple, one card spread, asking the cards if the right passageway is safe? She pulls The Chariot.* Hmmm. Apparently, the right passageway is safe, according to the cards. Let’s just hope they’re right.

Trix (curious): Let’s go then. I think I have an idea of what might show up…

Prettywitch: *She nods.* Yeah, me too…

Me: Mm’kay. *I go along with it, conserving my energy. I figure I’ll need it. In addition, I’m semi-meditating while still paying attention so I can keep a level head to assess the situation.*

*They head in through the door opposite of where they entered. The room they enter into is a dead end. It is an octagonal room that is rather small, about the same size of the foyer they were just in. Dark wood paneling reaches up about eight feet high on all of the walls and at each intersection of the walls, a wooden gargoyle is perched, each holding a lit candle in each hand. They peer down menacingly at the group. Above the paneling is striped wallpaper in reds, yellows, and greens.*

*On every other wall there is a painting. One features a young brunette woman in a pink ballet outfit with a pink parasol. The next, a gruff looking man in a bowler hat with his arms crossed in frustration. After that, an old woman with her grey hair pulled up in a bun, a maroon shawl was held on her shoulders by a cameo brooch, and she held a red rose in her hands. Finally, the last painting was of an official-looking bald man standing proudly holding one edge of his black jacket with a red sash underneath and he held documents in his other hand. As we fully enter the room, the door shuts behind us with a click and it seemingly melts into the wall.*

Me (turning to look at the disappearing door): Hmmm…Should’ve known this version would have an extra trick up its sleeve.

Trix (confused): But there’s something missing…where’s the Ghost Host?

*I shrug.*

PrettyWitch: Uhhh…Beats me.

Stephen: The Ghost Host? So, this theme park of yours had gimmicky rides that looked like this and had some sort of narrator?

Trix: Yes, he was the narrator of the ride. *As she speaks, the walls begin their metamorphosis, the paintings stretching and revealing their full images* See, this is The haunted house people think of in our universe when they think of a haunted house. Like this same exact effect happens and it’s this whole history of it taking a decade to build but the thing is, this place is acting just like the ride, but what happened to the host?

*The room has stretched to its full length. The lights flicker out and the ceiling is revealed to have disappeared and a corpse hangs from the rafters, illuminated by a lightning strike outside before the lights come on again and the ceiling is back to normal.*

Trix: See, that’s supposed to be his body which is clearly still there…and is horrifying now because it’s actually real here, but something is wrong.

Me (unperturbed, accustomed to being around the dead): Maybe we have to restore him to his position or something?

Stephen: The spirits of this place feel weakened. In turmoil.

PrettyWitch: I mean…possibly? I confess, I don’t know much about The Haunted Mansion, so I’m stumped.

Trix: Basically, we have to keep going until we find Leota’s room. We aren’t supposed to actually see any spirits until she does her spell. She’s a medium and psychic who died and now resides in her crystal ball. That’s who we should try and find. *She turns to the wall that has the painting of the ballerina and knocks on the wall, revealing a door that opens. She turns back to the group and grins* I hoped that would work the same.

Me (realizing something): Whoa, wait a sec, guys. *I concentrate for a moment, attempting to sense something…anything.*

Prettywitch: Anything?

Me (unnerved): …No. I can’t even feel The Ancient One or any of the other spirits who were with me. It’s completely silent. Can’t see or hear anyone at all…The only thing we have going for us is I don’t detect any soul eaters. So, they’re not behind this. Guys…spirit-wise, I’m blind here.

Trix (unnerved): Well that’s terrifying.

Stephen (firm): We do NOT leave anyone’s line of sight, understood?

*I nod quietly.*

*Trix frowns but nods as well.*

Prettywitch: Agreed.

*We move forward into the next hallway. It has a wall of paintings on the right hand side while windows cover the wall on the left. Curiously, the paintings seem to be completely normal.*

*Trix frowns.*

Trix: Those aren’t right either. They’re…for lack of a better term, lifeless compared to what they’re supposed to be.

*I scan every once and a while to determine if I can detect ANY remote flicker of spiritual energy.*

Pretywitch: I’m gonna keep an eye out, just in case. *She summons a magic rapier.*

*Stephen keeps a sharp eye out, scanning for traps.*

*We continue forward despite the oddities. There’s a lingering energy in the air, powerful but almost…wrong in a way at the moment. We finally happen upon a stairwell and start to walk up them. It’s only when we’ve been climbing for two minutes with no end in sight and the walls have shifted to darkness that we truly realize what’s going on.*

*I cough wetly, vaporous ichor beginning to flow from my nose and eyes. I wipe at my mouth with a tissue. Ectoplasm.*

Stephen (worried): Whatever is generating this energy, we need to find it quickly.

*He senses something else…leylines. There’s a moment of realization dawning in his face. The energy, the architecture…*

Stephen: This place isn’t just a haunted mansion, it’s a Sanctum. Its energy is being catastrophically altered. That’s why there was a distress signal! *He isn’t really shouting, but his revelation is obvious.*

Trix (horrified): That’s why there was a portrait of you at the front! You’re the Master of the Sanctum! But how the hell is this a Sanctum? *She goes up a couple steps and watches as her hair suddenly stands on end and she lets out a yelp as she suddenly falls…upwards?*

*The Cloak swoops off of Stephen to stop Trix’s fall. It returns her to the group.*

Me (garbled from the leaking ectoplasm): *Blows nose again* Okay…The gravity here seems to work on Mirror Dimension logic. We should probably toss something small forward to see which way each gravitational field goes so we can advance safely.

Trix (realization): That’s probably the best solution…but this shouldn’t be in here. This is from the Florida version, not California like the rest of the house is… *She looks over at Stephen.* Each mansion has some similarities but they also have some significant differences as well. This is the mirrored staircase.

Stephen: Every Sanctum is unique. Also, since our universe was slightly different from the visions your universe had of it, perhaps this one is similar. Regardless, I strongly suspect that whatever is altering this Sanctum’s energy is a powerful relic…One that really shouldn’t have been placed here. As for the other me…I don’t know where to start.

Prettywitch: Well, maybe the house did something to compromise him.

Trix: He might be trapped in here somewhere.

Me: Possibly. I don’t know whether or not I imagined it, but I thought I heard his voice mingled in with the others when I detected that distress call.

Trix: That’s concerning.

Stephen: I’ll go first. Levi will help me navigate these stairs. Follow me when I say it’s safe and the Cloak will help you girls along when needed. *He steps forward and cautiously begins to negotiate the stairway.*

*It’s slow going, but we cautiously make our way up the stairway. It takes about ten minutes before we finally reach the top. It leads into the beginnings of a hallway.*

PrettyWitch: Okay, which way now?

*My eyes are streaming now. So, it’s hard for me to see. Stephen helps guide me.*

Trix: Okay, so if my guess is right, we’re going to be going into the endless hallways. So long as we pick the right path we should be fine. We just need to keep moving. *She glances over at Steward, concerned.*

Me (wiping my eyes): Trix, you know the most about this place. You lead. Everyone link arms so nobody gets separated. *I blindly reach out to try and find and grasp her with one arm while my other arm stays anchored to Stephen.*

*Trix grabs her arm and links up. Prettywitch does the same but to Stephen so we’re in a chain.*

Trix: Okay, we’ve got this!

*It’s a decently long trek as it seems the Mansion is pretty defensive right now. Occasionally, we will spot a floating candelabra that points us in the correct direction to go. It’s almost ten minutes before we finally make it to a larger hallway filled with identical doors. They are silent.*

Trix (unnerved): I know where we are, it just seems like the ghosts aren’t around. Up ahead as soon as we come across a grandfather clock, the next door should be Leota’s.

Stephen: The relic should be close by, if Steward’s reaction is any indication.

PrettyWitch: I think you’re right.

*I’m quiet, just trying to get through this now.*

*Trix leads the group down the hallway only to be confused when it leads to a different room entirely.*

Trix (stunned): I absolutely wasn’t expecting this here *she gestures around at the room* but it looks like we found the library. Another room that normally isn’t in this particular mansion.

*There's a nasty hacking sound as I spit up more ectoplasm. Then, I take in a gulp of air.*

Me (relieved): Well, at least it’s getting further away from whatever THAT is…*I’m still in bad shape, but I look a little less likely to drop now.*

Prettywitch: *She places her hand on Steward’s shoulder and gives her a smile that says, “You’ll be okay.”*

Stephen: How many other rooms do you know of, Trix?

Trix: The other room that might be here that wouldn’t match this mansion would be the music room. Other than that? Leota’s parlor, the ballroom, the attic, and the graveyard. I hope to god that Constance isn’t in the attic…

Stephen: Who’s Constance?

Trix (wincing): She’s known as The Bride. She had 5 husbands because after each marriage she would- *she mimics slitting her throat* her current husband before finding another man to marry and move up the social ladder. She has a hatchet and likes to behead people.

Stephen (sarcastic): Charming.

Trix: I mean her last name is Hatchaway… *She smirks*

Me: If it comes to that…Wait, let me test something out. In my physical body, I’m hindered. Think it might help if I…step out?

Trix: If this thing is affecting spirits then wouldn’t it, y’know, hit harder?

PrettyWitch: Yeah, I’m with her. Wouldn’t that put you at greater risk?

Me: Maybe, but I sense that we finally have company…*I look relieved and look in the direction of Leota’s Parlor.*

*Trix looks around at the library longingly before she focuses on the mission.*

Trix: Let’s get there first before you start exploring because Stephen might actually kill you if you attempt to astral project now and he can dispose of the body easily here.

Me (morbidly amused): Har har.

Stephen (giving me a look): Don’t even try it.

Me (shrinking at his glare): Okay! Okay!

Prettywitch: Alright, let’s go.

*With one last longing look at the library, Trix leads the way out. They pass through a music room with a piano then the next room is the atrium which seems to be set up for a wake. A coffin is propped up and the normally loud person in there is completely silent. He isn’t pushing up against the nailed lid. Finally, they reach the grandfather clock and the door that leads to Leota’s parlor.*

*I scan again, sensing some promising signatures. They don’t feel hostile. So, I reach out. My energy is still limited, but I give it my best shot.*

Me (in a meditative trance as I reach out to any spirits in the area): I reach out to the spirits who dwell here as a friend. I am accompanied by my companions and master. We mean no harm and seek to help rid this place of the corrupting influence that diminished your presence here. Please reveal yourselves and we will help you in any way that we can. *I’m sincere.*

*There’s a considering pause before the door slowly creaks open, allowing us access. After we scurry in, the door closes behind us and we find ourselves staring at a round table with a large crystal ball sitting in the middle of it. Within the crystal ball floats the head of the great Madam Leota who looks astonished to see us, particularly Stephen.*

Leota: I could have sworn the emergency shields went up but how did you three get here? *She becomes annoyed* Stephen, what did you do? You disappear for days and show back up here looking completely different!

Stephen (taken aback): I think you may have the wrong Stephen. I was escorting the girls here on a rescue mission. We received a distress signal from your universe and came to investigate. The gate on your perimeter sent up a series of wards that cut off our exit.

Me (faintly): Prettywitch, our Stephen, and I detected the energy signature from here…Also, I’m quite sure that your Stephen’s voice was intermingled with the others when I heard the cry for help. *Currently, I’m recovering my energy since using my abilities took a lot out of me in this condition. There is still a little bit of ectoplasm leaking from my eyes, nose, and mouth; but not as severely as before. I’m unsure how to go about this yet since I suspect that this version of Stephen is still around, but want to apologize for the abrupt announcement to Madam Leota. Still, I do my best.*

Leota (startled): Oh, apologies. Everything in the Mansion has been upended lately and being effectively trapped again has me on edge. *She squints at Steward.* My dear, you wouldn’t happen to be a medium, would you? *She glances over at PrettyWitch as well and her face brightens.* Oh my, and a psychic as well! It seems the Mansion asked for help from the right people.

Me: I am. I’ve gotten into the practice of helping troubled and lost spirits whenever I come across them.

Prettywitch: Yeah. And i’m slowly learning to hone my abilities to see the future.

Leota: A wonderful practice to take on, very respectable. -response to Prettywitch- Once this mess is solved, I simply must see what skills you possess. I would love to pass on skills to the next generation of mediums and psychics. What are your names? And yes, I don’t need your full names. What shall I refer to you as?

Me: Steward.

PrettyWitch: And I’m Prettywitch.

Leota (smiling): A pleasure to meet you both.*She finally looks over at Trix and Stephen.* I know him, unfortunately, so who might you be, dear?

Trix (slightly nervous): I’m Trix

Stephen (dreading the response, but curious): Unfortunately? What did this version of me do?

Leota (deadpan): Agreed to court me. Stephen has been missing for three days.

Me: Hmm. The Stephens’ signatures are all rather similar. Maybe I can “lock on” to it and track him down?

Leota: He said he was going to check up on the wards in the graveyard the last time I saw him. That was when the Mansion began to rebel and started to… *She frowns* it has started to lose its magic.

Stephen: Do you remember anything happening right before all of this started? Maybe someone came in who wasn’t supposed to or a relic was misplaced?

*Leota frowns in thought and her crystal ball begins to float around the room as she muses to herself.*

Leota (distractedly): Wong had brought a number of the apprentices from that sorcerer school over with the relics we are meant to protect. *She turns back to the group* We keep safe the items that can easily harm the living *She continues to roam after clarifying* and the sorcerers are still in the process of finding and moving everything. They had been gone for about a day when a few of our regular ghosts disappeared and some of the monitoring spells failed. Then everything began to get worse…

Me: Harming the living…So, this version of Stephen is…?

*Before Leota can respond, the entire room begins to shake and rattle as if a strong earthquake has hit.*

Trix (started and trying to keep her balance): What’s going on?!

*I reflexively duck under the table and grab Trix to bring her down with me, gesturing for Prettywitch and Stephen to get down too, covering the back of my head and neck until the shaking stops.*

*Stephen checks on all of us and looks around for debris before getting up.*

Stephen: We need to hurry up and figure this out. If a Sanctum loses its magic, not only does it bring down a part of Earth’s protective barrier, but it could release a wave of dangerous magical energy from the relics contained within it.

Trix: But what about- *She turns back to Leota but during the earthquake it seems her crystal ball has been shattered and the ghost has disappeared* Oh…oh no.

PrettyWitch: Oh my God! Where did she go!?

Me (quietly): She’s with me. Don’t worry. *I have my hand on some of the shards.*

Trix (concerned): I know we’re on a mission to save the Mansion, but it just feels like this hits…harder since I love this place so much even if I always thought it was just a ride and a labor of love from the imagineers…

Me (gently): I know. The good news is, Leota isn’t gone and that crystal ball can be replaced. It’s not great, but not irreversible. Now, let’s get our butts in gear to sort this out. *I’m determined.*

PrettyWitch: Okay. So what should we do in the meantime?

Stephen: We’ll check the remaining areas for this version of me. That should solve at least part of the problem.

Trix: She mentioned he was in the graveyard. If we go down to the ballroom, there should be a hearse crashed through the wall that we can use to get out to the back easier.

Me: Lead the way.

*We carefully make our way out of Leota’s parlor through the other door and down a dark hallway. The floor is covered in additional dust and debris but things seem to be steady for now. It’s not long until we’re on the balcony above the ballroom looking down.*

Trix: We may need to jump down because I don’t know how to get down there otherwise and I don’t want to risk doing a portal in an unstable Sanctum.

Stephen: I’ll go down first and Levi will help you.

Trix: Works for me! *She smiles weakly at him.*

Prettywitch: Okay.

Me: Ok. *I’m still weakened. So, I don’t want to risk trying and failing to cast a levitation spell to break my fall.*

*Stephen descends down into the empty ballroom before sending Levi up to escort each of us down. Luckily, everything goes to plan. We squeeze past the hearse and into the large graveyard that takes up the entirety of the back part of the property. It is eerily quiet.*

Trix (nervous): I’m almost more scared of this place without the ghosts… *She looks around.* Now we just need to find this Stephen. Luckily I think I have an idea to help. *She crafts a spell and it manifests into a teal butterfly which remains perched on her finger.* A tracking spell but adjusted to look for the Stephen with the same energy as this universe. *She releases the butterfly before turning to the group.* Now we just need to be on our guard.

Stephen (proud of Trix): Clever girl.

PrettyWitch: I’ll say! That was awesome!

Me: Nice. Will do. *I give Trix a small smile.*

Trix (grinning): Thanks!

*The butterfly meanders around the graveyard. After around ten minutes, it lands on a headstone.*

*Stephen goes over to look at it. He gets an odd look on his face and turns to us.*

Stephen: Well, Steward, it seems your hunch was correct.

*I wander over and look. Despite us not knowing this variant, I still feel a bit sad about it. Though I’m quiet and just gently pat our Stephen’s shoulder in a silent condolence. Our Stephen knows that I’m subtly trying to comfort both him and myself and looks at me.*

Stephen (reassuringly): Don’t worry, Steward. I’m not planning to go anywhere for a while.

Prettywitch: *She smiles.* Don’t worry, we know.

Trix: So… this Stephen ran the Sanctum then died?

Familiar Voice: Actually, the opposite.

*Rising from his grave is the ghostly image of Stephen Strange. Almost a mirror copy of our Stephen despite there is no recognition in his face other than for his duplicate.*

Ghost Stephen: I see you received the summons, though I was expecting Wong other than someone from a different universe.

Me (focusing on the mission because I’m worried about the potential fall of the Sanctum): Not sure how it happened either, but do you have any ideas of which relic might be causing this problem? Madam Leota told us that a group of apprentices left some here before things started going wrong. *I have Madam Leota’s dormant spirit with me.*

*Ghost Stephen glows brighter for a moment at the mention of Leota before focusing on the problem at hand.*

Ghost Stephen: I had cataloged the relics we were receiving and had gone to visit Leota after her meditation. I was initially going to head out here to check on the residents when something caught the Mansion’s attention in the relic room. I only got a glimpse of it: a silver cylinder of sorts that was just laying on the ground. I couldn’t get closer before the Mansion yanked me out and I haven’t been able to enter again since. I felt incredibly weak after getting close, however, and have been spending time in my grave trying to recharge my energy.

Trix: I’m glad the Mansion was able to save you.

Prettywitch: Yeah, same. *Internally, she can’t help worrying; this Stephen seems to be having similar reactions to the relic as Steward is.*

Me: Unfortunately, that relic weakened me and Leota as well. I’ll release her here where it’s safe so she isn’t subjected to more of that relic’s energy field. *I do so, her dormant spirit floating forth from my body.*

*Ghost Stephen rushes forward to cradle her up to him, incredibly worried that she is still seemingly asleep.*

Ghost Stephen: We need to get her to her resting space. Come.

*He floats away quickly, clearly expecting us to follow.*

*We follow him. Meanwhile, our Stephen follows us while silently thinking about what this silver cylinder relic could be.*

*As we reach a small headstone with a copper face that looks like Leota decorating it, Ghost Stephen finally stops and allows Leota to drift out of his arms and into the ground below. He floats there for a moment, in quiet contemplation, before turning back to us with relief clear on his face.

Ghost Stephen: Thank you, for saving Leota. She’s…very special to me and has made my afterlife worth living…other than protecting our reality of course. Is there anything else you need to know? I can tell you the layout of the Mansion-

Trix (interrupting): Oh, I know that. *She blushes when Ghost Stephen stares directly at her.* In my universe this place is actually based on a theme park ride. You weren’t in it but everyone else here was. The house layout is the same at least for the most part.

*Ghost Stephen is clearly intrigued but decides to focus on the situation at hand.*

Ghost Stephen: Anything else? Weapons just in case?

616-Stephen: How do we access the relic room?

Ghost Stephen: You need a portal to access it. It’s completely closed off from anyone stumbling across it accidentally. It’s why we were chosen to host them other than Kamar-Taj or the other three sanctums. I can open the portal but it will have to be quick.

Trix (interrupting): Wait, how are you even able to do magic as a ghost?

PrettyWitch: Yeah, that’s a good question.

Me: Honestly, knowing about this might help. None of us can make any portals here right now.

Ghost Stephen: Ahhh. The Mansion is reacting the way it was trained to when the relic room is under attack. It restricts portal access first to everyone except the Sanctum Master, then if the attack continues, it shuts down access to the wards and closes everything as a precaution. Some of those relics are intensely horrible and this is supposed to keep thieves or rogue sorcerers from escaping with anything. As for magic… *He smirks* …there are perks to learning necromancy in that it isn’t like the stereotypical meaning of the art. It is using the energy beyond the veil of death in order to do magic. Leota taught me before I died when I was trying to break the curse on the Mansion. It allowed me to continue using the mystic arts despite being in my astral form and eventually just as my soul after death. I have dedicated myself to learning all I can about it so I can train others and keep the art alive without the stigma it carries now.

Me: If it’s not too much trouble, provided we get things sorted out, would you mind teaching me a bit? It might help expand my skillset as a medium.

Ghost Stephen (nodding): Of course. Anything to help an apprentice of mine… I’m assuming. *He glances over at 616-Stephen for confirmation*

*616-Stephen nods.*

616-Stephen: Yes. The girls are my apprentices. Our version of Wong also took part of the responsibility by training Trix.

Ghost Stephen: I see. *He looks us over.* And which one of you is Trix?

*Trix perks up and gives a little wave.*

Trix: Hi! That’s me! Honestly, other versions of you have recognized us so I guess we assumed you knew us as well.

PrettyWitch: Yeah. But it is the multiverse, so odds are we’ll run into Stephens who never met our group.

Me: There was also a bit of a run-in with a different version of you a while back. Anyway, now that we have the information, any other questions, guys?

Trix: No, not now. Not when we have to keep the Mansion from breaking.

Prettywitch: Oh right! The mansion!

Me: Then, we should get a move on. *I turn to Ghost Stephen.* Could you please open the portal, then?

616-Stephen: First, you stay here. That relic was damaging you enough without even being in the same room.

*I give a half-hearted glare, wanting to help more, but knowing he’s right.*

Ghost Stephen: If anything, I can take the time to show you how to start conjuring a spiritual weapon while they’re working. *He summons a rather large two handed spiritual battle axe* It can be handy.

Me: All right. *I turn to Trix, Prettywitch, and 616-Stephen.* PLEASE, be safe and get back here in one piece, okay?

Trix: Got it!

PrettyWitch: Of course.

616-Stephen (with resolve): We will.

*With that, Ghost Stephen opens a portal. Rather than the usual golden sparks, it is more of an inky teal color with occasional sparks appearing from it. A rather full room awaits us on the other side and 616-Stephen, PrettyWitch, and Trix all quickly step inside before the portal closes once more.*

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

616-Stephen: Okay, a silver cylindrical relic. Each of us should take one third of the room and start looking, but don’t touch ANYTHING.

Trix (on guard): Got it.

Prettywitch: *Nods.* Right.

*It’s a decently sized room, slightly larger than the foyer of the New York Sanctum. Various relics are on display however they are scattered about the floor, some hanging onto their displays by a thread as the floorboards expand and contract below them. The same could be said for the walls and ceiling. Where it expands, the walls come apart at the seams and only pitch blackness resides beyond. It almost seems like the Mansion is …breathing, or rather wheezing as it is under attack.*

Trix (horrified as she looks around): This is very bad.

Prettywitch: Ummm…Why does it look like the mansion is breathing?

*We turn to Stephen for answers.*

616-Stephen: Every Sanctum is infused with magic and due to how much energy is present from the spells, relics, and leylines, they tend to gain a “life” of their own. They often have a rudimentary sentience that grows with age. *He glances around, looking for any potential leads. There’s too much energy present in this room for his detection spells to work effectively.*

Prettywitch: *The moment she hears that, she reaches for her deck and cleanses it.* Yeah…I’m just gonna consult the cards on this one. *Once she’s finished, she shuffles the deck again and asks the cards, “In what part of the room is the relic we’re looking for?”. She pulls Judgement (Past), Four of Pentacles (Present), and Five of Wands (Future)* Huh? *She’s not sure what that could mean, at first. Then, she remembers that she too has been sensing the relic. She closes her eyes and feels for it. It takes a few seconds, until she finally feels a mild sense of nausea overcome her. She clasps her head and moans…and opens her eyes. Sure enough, she can see a blue outline signifying the relic.* Hey, guys!? I think I found it!

*Stephen looks at her.*

616-Stephen: Lead the way. *He’s cautious, but hopeful. It seems he has grown to trust us.*

Prettywitch: *She beams.* You got it, Doc! *She points to a huge pile of nicnacs in the corner where, in the center, she can see the relic’s outline, clear as day.* There it is! Let’s go. *She walks slowly towards the pile and motions them to follow her.*

*As PrettyWitch steps forward, the floorboards underneath her suddenly contract and she is pulled about five feet away from Stephen and Trix while a gaping void in the floor remains.*

Prettywitch: What the fuck!?

Trix (worried): Are you okay?!

Prettywitch: Yeah, I’m alright.

*616-Stephen maintains his balance and uses his Cloak to glide over to Prettywitch.*

616-Stephen: I’ve got you. Point me in the right direction and I’ll get the relic out. You’ve practiced your levitation techniques, right?

Prettywitch: Uh…Not really. *She points ahead.* That pile right in front of us, see the blue outline in the center?

616-Stephen (concerned): Okay. Levi, take Prettywitch back to Trix.

*The Cloak carefully puts Stephen down and grabs Prettywitch, placing her safely next to Trix. Meanwhile, Stephen heads towards the pile.*

*A glow of light catches his attention. On his right is a mirror covered in various runes and languages. In the right light, the markings almost seem to glow. There’s something about the relic that seems odd and this relic doesn’t exist in his universe so he isn’t quite sure what it does. Meanwhile, the room returns to normal as the floorboards expand again.*

*He can’t help but look as his eye is drawn to the light. As he glances at the mirror, he notices the runes and engravings. They’re beyond fascinating and he feels compelled to keep looking. Stephen’s common sense kicks in and he shakes his head, tearing his eyes away from the mirror, suspicious of the dangerous relic. Out of an abundance of caution since he knows they have no time to lose, he conjures a sheet and telekinetically drapes it over the mirror to cover it. With that out of the way, he proceeds forward.*

*Trix and PrettyWitch follow slowly behind him, cautious of the various relics and of the room itself. Suddenly, the floor rumbles again and the room shudders, causing various relics to scatter about, one of which is a crown that falls right into Stephen.*

*By reflex, Stephen catches it, but unfortunately that’s all the Crown needed. He has an irresistible urge to put it on and as he dons the Crown, he feels all of his worries and concerns melt away into bliss. On the outside, Prettywitch and Trix see the Sorcerer Supreme giggling and clapping his hands like a child.*

Trix: Fuck. *She turns to Prettywitch* You go for the relic so the Mansion doesn’t come crashing down around us and I’ll help Stephen.

Prettywitch: *Nods* Good idea! *She dashes for the relic.*

*Trix creeps forward and carefully maneuvers around some missing parts of the floor before reaching Stephen. A wave of aura tries to influence her but she quickly raises her mental shields and fortifies them, exactly like she did during her trial. Now she just has to get the crown off of Stephen without touching it.*

Trix (overly pleasant): Hey Stephen, whatcha doing?

616-Stephen (giddy): Hi, Trix! I feel great! *He goes over to hug her.*

Trix (wary of the relic but trying to distract): Hey! I just thought of a game we haven’t played before. Want to try it? I don’t know if they have it in your universe. It’s called Simon Says.

616-Stephen (cheery): Yeah, I’ve heard of it. Sure!

Trix: Okay, so the rules are you have to do whatever Simon, which I’m going to be, tells you to do but only if I say Simon Says first, okay?

616-Stephen: Okay! *He doesn’t seem to have a care in the world right now.*

*Before Trix can do the first round, another earthquake hits and the room begins to shake again.*

*Prettywitch meanwhile, continues running for the relic before getting hit with another wave of nausea. This one, more intense, like she ate too much chocolate for breakfast. BUt she has no time to be sick and pushes forward. When it becomes too much, she creates a shield that wraps around her body, encasing her in a pink glow, or sorts and walks towards the relic.*

Prettywitch: Alright, let’s end this… *The floor rumbles around her again.* Now…?

Trix (slightly panicking): Simon Says don’t fall into the void! *The floor has disappeared next to her and she rights herself after a moment of unbalance.*

616-Stephen (oblivious): Wheeeeee! *He hops onto a stable set of planks. The Cloak hovers nearby, concerned.*

Trix (shouting): Simon Says hold your crown above your head! *She’s panicking but trying not to show it*

616-Stephen (blissful): Okay, but I’m not gonna lose it!~

*As soon as he obeys and lifts up the Crown, the Cloak quickly yanks it out of his grasp and hurls it into the void. Stephen lets out a startled yelp and turns, ready to scream at his relic until his eyes refocus and his expression of bliss goes from surprise to betrayal to horror.*

616-Stephen (coming to his senses): What did I do?! *The Cloak has resumed its proper place on his shoulders, keeping him steady.*

Trix (relieved): Oh thank the Vishanti. *She breathes out a sigh of relief and the floor rights itself once again and Trix finds herself next to Stephen and hugs him.* A relic, a crown, landed on you and you just- *she gestures wildly* zoned out and started acting like a kid. Luckily Levi and I managed to trick you into getting the crown vulnerable.

*He accepts the hug from Trix and pats his Cloak in silent thanks to both of them. Then, he quickly focuses on Prettywitch, watching to make sure she’s okay.*

*The shield seems to be holding well for Prettywitch as she advances, however a relic nearby begins to rattle and begin to move on its own. Trix yelps and rushes over between Prettywitch and the relic as green smokey magic reaches out, catching Trix instead of its intended target. The relic appears to be an old spinning wheel, its wheel now spinning faster and faster as a green glow appears in her eyes. She slowly advances forward with a handle outstretched towards the spindle.*

*Stephen summons the Hand of Hoggoth, grabbing Trix and pulling her back from the spinning wheel, attempting to get her out of range of the dangerous relic.*

Prettywitch: *Growls.* Dammit! We don’t have time for this!- *That’s when it hits her; time! She can stop time and get the relic. She chuckles.* Can’t believe I didn’t think of that sooner. *She goes to form the sealing wand and Time Card…only to remember what Stephen has been trying to teach her and stops. That just leaves her with one question; how can she make time magic her own. She starts snapping while thinking…until looking at her poised fingers gives her an idea. She smirks.* Well, no one will say this ain’t creative.

*Prettywitch taps her foot and snaps her fingers simultaneously. When this happens, the room becomes encased in a gold glow where everything and everyone has frozen in place. Satisfied, she takes a moment to admire her handiwork and turns back to face the relic.*

*Next, Prettywitch calls upon the Crimson Bands of Cyttorakk, mimicking the movements of her mentor as she throws the bands at the relic. She tightens the bands to secure its grasp and, with a quick gesture, she makes the bands bounce back to her with the relic in its tendrils.*

*Her last act is to encase the relic in a protective bubble for now.*

Prettywitch: *Smiling.* Not bad if I do say so myself. *Then she looks around and is reminded that she stopped time, so she taps her foot and snaps her fingers again, resuming time.*

*The room shudders one last time in relief before it finally settles. The heavy aura of distress is finally receding as the Mansion settles after the threat has been contained. Everything is calming down, except for Trix whose mind is still ensnared by the spinning wheel. Her face is blank as she is held by the Hand of Hoggoth, arm attempting to extend still.*

616-Stephen: Nope. Not having any of that. *He maintains the Hand’s Grip and looks at the spinning wheel, using telekinesis to jam a dowel into the spokes, stopping its movements. The glow finally recedes from Trix’s eyes.*

Trix (drowsy): Did we win?

616-Stephen: Yes. Now we need to send that thing to this universe’s Wong. He’ll know how to deal with it. *He releases Trix when she’s back next to him.*

*Trix wearily turns to PrettyWitch*

Trix: Great job tracking that thing down. What is it anyway?

Prettywitch: This! Uh…I don’t know, your guess is as good as mine. Kinda looks like a Kalidescope, though.

616-Stephen (looking at it): That’s a flashlight and it’s still on. Turning it off would probably ensure that it won’t collapse the Sanctum if the bubble breaks.

Trix (baffled): I know it’s a relic, but how the hell did a flashlight manage to do all this?! *She gestures around the room.*

616-Stephen: No idea, but if the lockdown spells have lifted, let’s send it to their Kamar-Taj and make sure their Wong turns it off.

*Trix takes the hint and opens a portal to this universe’s Kamar-Taj. It seems to have worked.*

Prettywitch: *She peeks into the portal and sees the grand staircase.* Hello!?...Anyone home!?

*There’s no answer for a moment before 196971-Wong suddenly appears in front of the portal.*

196971 Wong: Who are you and why are you trespassing? *He spots 616-Stephen and blanches. Then he realizes exactly where we are.* What happened?

616-Stephen (coolly): A misplaced relic almost collapsed this Sanctum. Your Stephen and the Sanctum sent out a distress call, which we picked up in our universe. We went in to extract it since that relic’s energy weakened not only your version of Stephen, but all of the other spirits present and the Sanctum itself.

*196971 Wong frowns and invites them into Kamar-Taj, away from the other deadly relics.*

196971 Wong: We have been in the process of connecting the New Orleans Sanctum to the various network wards across the world as it has been a few months since it has become a Sanctum. Unfortunately that means we were too absorbed in our work to realize the danger that was occurring. *He turns to PrettyWitch who has the relic floating next to her.* May I ask what relic caused this?

Prettywitch: Well, to be honest…we were kinda hoping you could tell us that. We don’t have anything like this in either of our worlds, as far as we know.

*196971 Wong raises an eyebrow at 616-Stephen at the ‘worlds’ comment but inspects the relic in the bubble with a frown.*

196971 Wong: We do not have any records to my knowledge of this relic. *He activates some identification spells around the bubble to try and gain more information.* It seems that it should not harm the living. It seems particularly geared towards combating things beyond the veil. We would not have willingly or knowingly brought it to the New Orleans Sanctum.

616-Stephen (unamused): Precisely.

196971 Wong (deadpan): We will do research on it of course, and store it properly and investigate how it came to exist in the forbidden relic room.

616-Stephen: …and hopefully more thoroughly inspect relics before they’re placed into Sanctums to prevent further incidents.

196971 Wong: Naturally. *He eyes 616-Stephen* I’m assuming you became Sorcerer Supreme in your universe?

616-Stephen: I did, yes. Also, I had intended to send some new Masters on their first missions to deal with this, but elected to come with them just in case. It seems that it was the right call. This relic almost incapacitated one of them, poisoned the other one, and the threatened Sanctum’s relics and reactions nearly killed the four of us.

*Trix nudges 616-Stephen slightly.*

Trix: I know it was a bad move to have all those in there but I think you already explained the severity of what happened. It seems like it was an accident gone wrong…

196971 Wong: No, he’s right to scold me for not doing my due diligence. Our mistake should not have caused visitors to nearly meet their demise and nearly take out our fledgling Sanctum. *He bows to all four of us* I apologize for my actions and the actions of Kamar-Taj. *As he straightens, he frowns.* You mentioned four of you, is your last member alright?

*616-Stephen calms a bit.*

616-Stephen: She’s still on the New Orleans Sanctum grounds with your Stephen. While she recovers, your Stephen agreed to teach her some of his techniques. *He looks at 196971 Wong calmly, clearly having forgiven him.*

PrettyWitch: Oh yeah, what do you want us to do with this relic in the meantime?

196971 Wong: We turn it off and drop it off in the library for cataloging before going to check on Stephen- *He glances at 616-Stephen* -my universe’s Stephen after that. *He comes to a realization.* I must apologize once more. I do not know your names. I am Wong.

*616-Stephen gently nudges Trix and Prettywitch to let them introduce themselves.*

Prettywitch: Oh! I’m Prettywitch.

Trix: I’m Trix! Another version of you actually helped train me. I’m going to eventually be our universe’s librarian since the three of us are actually from a different universe from this Stephen but magic just recently got introduced into our universe! *At this point she’s babbling. It’s been a long day.*

*196971 Wong stares at PrettyWitch and Trix for a moment before nodding with a hum.*

196971 Wong: Nice to meet you. Come. *He leads the group to the library.*

Trix (while walking): So why do you suddenly have an extra Sanctum?

196971 Wong: It was not intended. Stephen was on a mission to the mansion when the cloak pulled me from what I was doing to drag me back there. Stephen was trying to break a curse on the grounds but nearly killed himself on his first attempt. He forgoed treatment in order to stick to the terms of the wager with the party responsible for the curse and managed to break it at the cost of his life. The Mansion was gifted to him and due to its positioning and Stephen’s lack of desire to pass on, we decided that creating a Sanctum focused entirely on the other side of the veil would be advantageous.

616-Stephen: I see. It’s a logical conclusion. *He nods in agreement. In addition, he privately thinks about the scenario that his counterpart went through with empathy.*

Prettywitch: Yeah, but I wonder if it might be better to have a human sanctum master on the grounds, too. That way, the sanctum doesn’t fall into disarray like it did here.

*They enter the library.*

196971 Wong: We did consider it, however the Mansion is not meant to truly house the living anymore, with one exception. The Groundskeeper is typically on hand just in case. He was also affected by the curse since he was a child and somehow does not need everything we would to survive. Clearly we need another way for him to contact us, just in case.

*We reach a relic containment area and 196971 Wong gestures to Prettywitch.*

Prettywitch: *She holds it out to him.* Here you go.

*He takes the relic, turns it off, and stores it. Then he creates a portal to the graveyard where they left Ghost Stephen and Steward only to find Steward’s body laying in a casket with an old decrepit man about to put the lid on it.*

*616-Stephen freezes in horror. His heart skips several beats as he goes pale.*

616-Stephen: What in the name of Ostur happened here?!

*I twitch and let in a gasp of air before sitting bolt-upright in the coffin. Then, I quickly turn my head to look at the Groundskeeper in shock.*

Me (almost screechy in my flurry of adrenaline): EXCUSE ME! I STILL HAVE A PULSE!

196971 Wong (unamused): We’ve been over this plenty of times, just because someone is unconscious doesn’t mean they’re dead. *Clearly this has happened numerous times before.*

Groundskeeper (rather rattled): I’ve told you that I can handle ghosts but zombies are where I draw the line Master Wong. *He turns to Steward.* Apologies Miss! *He helps her out of the coffin.*

*I look at him, still bug-eyed, before shifting my glance towards the group.*

Me (slowly settling down): Okay…You’re all okay…Good….*I pause to catch my breath.*

Trix: Some close calls with some relics but nothing we couldn’t handle! *She glances at 616-Stephen.*

616-Stephen: Yes, we’re fine…*He’s clutching his chest as his heart rate finally starts to go back to normal.*

PrettyWitch: I think the better question is are you okay?

Me: I’m better. I’m guessing that the rest of the symptoms lifted once you guys extracted the relic. Still feeling pretty drained, but I have all of my faculties back. Plus, quite a bit more. *I smirk.*

*Ghost Stephen materializes next to Steward.*

Ghost Stephen: I am finally back to full strength and Leota should be waking up soon as well. *He glances over at Steward and smirks as well.* I took the time to show Steward some tricks of the trade, as it were, since there was little else we could do and I would like to help train the next generation of mediums and necromancers. *He turns to PrettyWitch* Leota would absolutely love to talk to you about your psychic abilities. She’s been wanting me to find her an apprentice for ages and though it would only be for a very short time, this would appease her.

Prettywitch: *She gets starry-eyed.* Really!? *She looks at her Stephen and gives him puppy dog eyes.*

616-Stephen: Provided that you don’t nearly get buried alive or otherwise, fine. *He doesn’t want to cheat Prettywitch out of an opportunity to learn.*

Prettywitch: Yes! *She traps her Stephen in a bear hug.* Thank you, Stephen!

616-Stephen: Ack! Yes, yes…I want you girls to learn as much as you can and keep an open mind so you can continue to learn throughout your lives. This is a chance that shouldn’t be passed up.

Trix (hopeful): *She turns to Ghost Stephen* Does this mean I could possibly have permission to look through the library while the specialty training is going on? I’m sure you want to teach Steward some more things too!

Ghost Stephen (amused): Yes, so long as your version of me stays with you. I will chaperone Steward while Leota has PrettyWitch. As much as I love the Mansion, I am fully aware of the dangers it can pose to the living despite it not actively trying to kill anyone anymore.

196971 Wong: I will begin to personally sort through the relics once more to make sure everything is in order and will not harm anyone else.

Trix (sheepishly): You will be one short. One ended up in the void when the Mansion was falling apart in the relic room…

616-Stephen: It was a crown of sorts with deleterious mental effects.

196971 Wong: Ah, yes. The world will not be at a loss with the demise of the Crown of Fools.

Trix (trying not to laugh): The Crown of Fools?

*616-Stephen gives Trix a look.*

196971 Wong: Yes, it was a rather insidious relic. Very tricky to manage. Too bad it…fell in the void. *He gives us a look before opening a portal back to Kamar-Taj.* It was a pleasure to meet you all. *And with that, he closes the portal and the five of us stand there, the Groundskeeper having snuck off while Wong was talking.*

Trix (turning to Stephen with a look): So you’ll chaperone me?

616-Stephen (smoothly): I will.

*Trix turns back to Ghost Stephen with a grin.*

Trix: Then it’s settled! Special tutoring for all of us!

Ghost Stephen: Let’s get started then.

*We end up spending three days at New Orleans Sanctum, still lovingly referred to as The Mansion by its residents.*

*I learn to summon spirit-based weapons, open portals, and use spells while astral-projecting. This includes a specialized type of portal for spirits. I also check on the ghosts who were with me before the incident started. When I realize they aren’t there, I get worried until Ghost Stephen lets me know that they’re most likely waiting for me in the 616-universe.*

*Prettywitch learns to start channeling psychic energy so that she can not only improve her tarot reading, but that it will allow her to eventually call upon her future vision at will. Leota also was delighted to teach her a number of her original spells from her grimoire.*

*Meanwhile, Trix has been, with Ghost Stephen’s permission, making copies of all of the books in the library so she can peruse everything when she has more time. She picks up certain things here and there and spends her Stephen-mandated breaks dragging 616-Stephen around so she can ask the various residents of the Mansion questions she has always wondered and finally gets to meet the Ghost Host, a lovely man who was originally named Sebastian Gore.*

*616-Stephen keeps an eye on Trix, making sure that she stays safe and takes regular breaks. He listens to what’s going on and also checks on me and Prettywitch periodically to ensure that there are no further incidents. Though he does have to drag Trix back to rest for the night a few times.*

*Finally, the time has arrived for us to go back to 616.*

Ghost Stephen: You’re welcome back anytime whether it be for knowledge, visiting for a friendly chat, or to explore the Mansion more. We're always haunting the place. *He smirks. A noticeable difference between the two Stephen’s is Ghost Stephen’s very morbid humor and a deliberate and frequent use of puns.*

Trix (exhausted but smiling): Thank you again! For everything! *She has enchanted at least five bags to hold the entirety of the library for her to bring back.*

Me: Thank you, Sir. *I give him a smile.*

PrettyWitch: Yes, thank you.

616-Stephen: Thank you for your hospitality and sharing your knowledge with us. We’ll be going now.

Leota (coy): Don’t stay away too long! It’s always a pleasure staring at two Stephen Strange’s.

*As we leave through a portal, Ghost Stephen is both blushing a bright blue while whispering loudly to Leota who grins at us. As the portal closes behind us, we find ourselves back at 616-Kamar-Taj. Exhausted, covered in cobwebs, but alive.*

*I notice that the ghost of The Ancient One has sensed our arrival and she has already appeared at my side.*

Ancient One (appearing to everyone): It seems you have gone on quite the adventure… *She looks Steward up and down before looking at the rest of us.* It’s a shame we didn’t know where you were to know where your new chapter began… *She’s rather formal at the moment.*

*I cringe, recognizing the tone and bow in apology.*

Me (earnest): My sincere apologies. I didn’t know that you and the other spirits wouldn’t be able to follow me. *I stare at the floor.*

*The Ancient One stares at her for a moment before nodding.*

Ancient One: See that it doesn’t happen again. *She stares at Stephen.*

*Stephen withers under her stare.*

Stephen: I’ll be sure of it. *He bows as well.*

Ancient One (finally smiling): Good. *She disappears to the group, nodding at Steward as she heads further into Kamar-Taj.*

*I’m quiet. Meanwhile, the other spirits reform and join me again. Hearing the conversation of familiar voices in the courtyard, Wong comes out in a huff.*

Wong (growling): I’ve been scanning for you for four days. Where have you been? *It’s clearly anger born of worry.*

Trix (holding up the giant bags): Saved another universe’s Sanctum and I brought you back an entire ghost library! *She grins at him*

*Wong glares at each of us and then his eyes settle on Trix before he sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose.*

Wong (weary): While it was a worthwhile endeavor, please for Vishanti’s sake, don’t disappear like that without warning us and leaving some information for us to be able to find you…

Trix: Come on, we can all get tea while we tell you about this ghostly fourth sanctum that got established and how PrettyWitch was a badass and saved the day.

PrettyWitch: *Blushes.* Well, I wouldn’t call myself a badass but yeah, I rocked!!! *Then she remembers something.* Oh yeah! Stephen, we should totally invite Clea to tea! I’m sure she’d love to catch up with us.

Stephen: Erm…Sure. *He flushes a bit. He DID miss her.*

***To be continued***

#doctor strange fanfiction #doctor strange #doctor strange meta fic #doctor stephen strange #multi author #dr stephen strange #stephen strange #marvel #wong #haunted mansion #the haunted mansion

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persephoneflowerpetals · 7 months

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Do you think Disney should go back to re-releasing their animated movies for limited theatrical releases in 3D again Rather than making these live action remakes / reboots? How do you feel about those (the live action stuff)? I honestly think it's bad (imagine if they made a live action Hercules movie). At least the 3D thing was a fun gimmick and actually got people in seats.

Totally! They need to take some of those classic movies out of the Disney vault lol! I’d love to see Cinderella and Mulan and Hercules back in theaters! I know during the summer some movies theaters will play kids movies that have already been released for summer camps that visit and stuff like that (at least where I live they do lol) , but you don’t really see them playing Disney movies unless they’re new releases. It’s usually movies from different studios like Universal or Dreamworks.

I’m not the biggest fan of the live action reboots tbh. Disney honestly needs to go back to releasing original movies. I feel like Pixar’s the only one making original movies (and sequels) at this point and they’re doing quite well, like everyone thought Elemental was gonna be a flop, but it actually turned out to be a good movie and did well in the box office. Like, look at the live action Snow White that’s coming out, though. Haven’t heard the greatest things about it and it hasn’t even been released yet, so I guess that’s not a good sign. Personally, I feel like the only good live action reboots were The Jungle Book and Cinderella and those were made back in the mid to late 2010s. I haven’t really seen any other ones besides those only because they just didn’t look very good and I’ve heard they aren’t very good either, but maybe I’m wrong. Like, even the Little Mermaid reboot wasn’t the best, I heard it was okay, but not great. But I haven’t seen that one yet, so yeah lol. I guess I’ll have to find the time to watch the reboots on Disney+ lol (though, tbh they don’t really interest me so idk if I actually will unless they REALLY interest me lol, like I’d be up to watching the Beauty & the Beast reboot but not the Pinocchio one because omg I’ve seen clips and reviews and it is…so bad, also I don’t really like the original Pinocchio movie, it scared me as a kid lol). I’ve heard different opinions on different live action movies, so I totally respect you if you have a different opinion from mine, like, if you liked the live action Dumbo movie, then that’s cool. You do you, y’know? But to me, the movie just didn’t look that good (even though it had the great Danny Devito aka Philoctetes in it lol).

And yeah, I honestly wasn’t big on the 3D animated movies at first either, but now that Disney’s basically only making live action reboots at this point, I’d love to see anything animated lol. Like give us a Frozen 3. I’ll take it if it means no more live action reboots 😂 but I really do miss their 2D animated movies and I wish they start making those again, but I suppose it’ll be a while since there an actor’s and writer’s strike going on and 2D animated movies take a lot more time and work and people than it does with a 3D animated movie (which I guess is why they were making those so much).

But oooooooh, honey…have I got news for you…there is definitely a live action Hercules in the works and I’m scared about it lol. I believe it’s gonna be made by the same directors that made Marvel’s Infinity Wars (or maybe it was Endgame? I don’t remember lol) and the worst part….they said the movie’s gonna be inspired by TikTok….FREAKING TIKTOK OF ALL THINGS LIKE??? What do they even mean by that??? It’s a social media app??? Like is the movie gonna be made with 1 minute clips of people doing little dances in their living room or something???

I’m trying to stay positive about the whole thing, but oh man do they make it difficult lol. I think they’re also going to cast Ariana Grande as Meg and idk if that’s the best casting decision. That’s just me though, idk. I mean, her rendition of I Won’t Say I’m In Love was okay, but I wouldn’t go as far as making her Meg in a movie. I only know her acting from Victorious and Hairspray Live and those were okay too, so I guess what I’m trying to say is that Ariana Grande is an okay singer and actress, but like I said, I wouldn’t go as far as making her Meg. I think, like pretty much every movie in Hollywood at this point, they’re just putting her in the movie just because she’s a famous celebrity and her name has enough value to get people to see the movie, but maybe I’m wrong. I dunno if her being Meg is actually official, though, most of the info we have for the movie (mainly casting) is just rumors and speculation, so maybe they won’t go with Ariana and they’ll actually go with some new talent (which is very much needed and I’d love to see it as someone who is dreaming of breaking into the acting business one day, I’m so tired of seeing studios hire celebrities for everything, like it’s okay to audition people and look for new actors, my dudes), but yeah. I guess we’ll see how the movie plays out in the future.

#ask #anon ask #disney’s hercules #hercules live action remake #hercules live action #disney #rambles #long ramble

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lorenlily · 1 year

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AAAAAAAAHHHH ok

hi, feb anon here

you should 100% watch derry girls, it is so hilarious omg! as an irish/english person who is growing up in england, it is literally the funniest show i've watched recently! all three seasons are *chefs kiss* brilliant.

gilmore girls is also great! i do love rory and logan together, i just love logan in general. the more i watch the show, the more i come to think of him as rory's best love interest! you should defintly try it out! i won't say anymore on that so as not to spoil anything.

i am very frustrated rn because once upon a time has been taken off neflix and i don't have disney+ so i can't have the killian and emma content that i crave, but it's ok i'll find a way to watch their episodes :)!

my top three from rep are call it what you want, dress and getaway car

from evermore they are long story short, coney island feat the national and champagne problems (with special mention to evermore feat bon iver because i love it so much)

and from midnights it's paris, would've could've should've and labyrinth,

that was hard omg

i haven't read daisy jones and the six but i will have to check it out now that you've reccommended it, along with that fantasy series. i just bought shadow and bone, as i've seen a lot of love for the books and tv show so i'm gonna try and read that. have you read it? if so, what are your thoughts?

i am really excited for maisie peters second album, body better, to be released as i am obsessed with the lead single and love her music! i haven't listened to paramours album yet but i've been meaning to, same with gracie abram's discography. i'm gonna try to listen to all of gracies stuff before her next album release.

as for marvel, i used to like it a lot, but i think that was more because everyone else did and i wanted to feel included. now tho, the films just seem kinda lifeless. like there are so many filmos and tv shows being mass produced by them that none of it feels unique or authentic, and all the dialogue is just sarcastic and quick witted and kinda mean. idk, i'm just not really that into it anymore. i liked tom hollands spiderman films though, and i've been meaning to watch andrew garfields spiderman for a while.

and as you can see from this ridiculously long message i am a rambler too.

i don't really know what else to say about me, there's not a lot to tell. i like alice oseman and plants and taylor swift and most of my life centres around music and musicians and different media i enjoy.

umm, yeah, i wish i had more to say about me but there's just not really a lot.

what about you tho, any new medias or things coming out that you're excited for? anything interesting about yourself? any fun facts? i'm curious.

i hope you are having a lovely day and everything goes well and you have a nice time doing whatever you plan to do <3

hiiiiiiiii <3

yeah see marvel movies are mostly alright and very surface level but honestly they messed a lot of things up with endgame that it's made me lose the love i had for some movies. i've always loved the ant man movie and fantastic four is literally the only other project i'm excited for. I hate how they cancelled great shows so only disney+ shows remain and now everytime I watch something i just think about the potential they had lmao i could rant on it all day long....

toms movies are okay but nwh is the only goood one for me and i love the amazing spiderman movies the most!!

oh maisie i liked the music she made for the trying soundtrack (idk what the show is i haven't watched it) and i love songs her eps especially the list and daydreams and adore you and details. her album i only really loved and listen to outdoor pool and volcano but body better!!!! omg I love it so much and I'm excited for her new album I really love this sound

difficult has become my favourite gracie song so i'm excited for the new album and i really love how she's got great bops and really depressing songs (which aren't boring for me to listen to)

ouat is so good even when it's bad lol and it's annoying it got taken off netflix! derry girls i've been meaning to watch and it sounds so good!! lol gilmore girls got spoiled for me which idm i don't think i would've watched it but honestly my dash is mostly rogan shippers and i'd say they're correct too

djats i liked the style of the book and its inspired by fleetwood mac and the civil wars (both artists i've never listened to lol) and the band is supposed to be 70s rock which i have no idea what that sounds like so I'm excited for the music but from all the promo they clearly have changed some scenes from the book which kinda made me less excited but i'm still gonna watch it i just think the discourse about "ships" when it's released is going to be inssuferable lol i think mostly i'm excited to expand on a few of the side characters storylines more

i think like majority people i prefer the six of crows duology to the shadow and bone trilogy (its not bad just the other one is sooo good) and honestly the shows okay but the things i've heard about season 2 like joining both book 2+3 for the plot of the second season i'm just so confused about the direction but it's not long till it's released now (literally everything is releasing in march lol)

now onto taylor! your top 3s are so superior omg!!!! the coney island and labyrinth appreciation! you're literally after my heart!!! what rerecordings are you most excited for? do you have any unreleased tracks you would really like on some of the vaults!! the two lover tracks omg those snippets are soooo goood i really really want them released!!!!!

well now i've thought about it there's actually a lot of things i'm excited for this year!! creed 3 is coming out next month i love those movies! and john wick 4! across the spiderverse looks absolutely incredible! apparently there's a new insidious movie coming out this year (it's my comfort horror series lol) hafsah faizals new book a tempest of tea which is pitched as king arthur meets peaky blinders with vampires!!!!!!! it's alll the things i love! and it's the one book i'm most excited for!! speaking of peaky blinders the movie is filming this year and any behind the scenes crumbs i'm so ready for!! the pjo tv show its looking like its not going to coming out until next year but I'm anticipating at least a trailer since filming has ended and we're getting a new pjo book with percy, annabeth and grover again as well as the solangelo book called the sun and the star! also the little mermaid movie she's absolutely going to kill it!! and is it wishful thinking to say speak now tv (which my dream release date of this year would be september 1st! it's a friday 🙏) and so many other things but this message is getting very long lol

honestly same! i'm literally made up of the media's i consume lol my life is pretty boring and all i've done this year so far is get job rejections and get ill lmao but the biggest source of comfort in my life is my nephew's who i look after almost every weekend :)

and i guess another little thing about me is my dream would be to write a book i have so many ideas in my head but o can't seem to get them on paper, even just practising writing a scene i find hard to do. i think at most i just want to learn how to write. i don't even think it'd go anywhere like i don't think anything will be ready to publish or whatever but just for myself i think it'd help free up my mind if i got my ideas out of my head and fully thought out and wrote a book. what about you? what's your dream job or passion? is there anything new you're trying out or want to? anything you'd want to go back and revisit?

#we're quite a pair of ramblers lol #edit!!! daughter has a new album coning out in april and i'm planning to finally listen to the national before their new album comes out #lol my story with the national is so funny to me #edit!!!! the doctor who 60th anniversary specials omg how did i forget about them!!!!!#theyre bringing my excitement for dw back #what becomes of curious minds*#february anon <3

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bearpillowmonster · 3 months

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I know you see Moana 2, this year no less, but really it's not all that exciting. One of the reasons Moana was so good in the first place is because it was from Jon Musker and Ron Clements, who literally made the Disney Renaissance and Moana was their last film. Plus we had Lin Manuel Miranda basically at the top of his game because this made the most name for him, only after did he get all these other hit roles to play in the music department or even acting and well, none have hit as hard, so he's apparently not coming back.

I'm not discrediting whoever takes these people's place, I'm sure they do great work, which the director was already announced and he also did Raya which...brings me to Disney's most recent track record. They just haven't been doing so hot with good movies, I think maybe Encanto actually made a splash and everything else has been received mostly poorly. So who's to say how Moana 2 will be any different.

They also announced a series of other projects that were in the works and their release dates with Inside Out 2 and rough years for other sequels and a whole frickin Disney universe in Fortnite, you think this is a joke?

But you have to realize why they're doing this, why today just all of the sudden, I mean it's just a bit odd that- OH MY GOODNESS

They're baiting you. They're trying to cover up as much as they can saying "Look, look what we have in store this year, forget all about a few hours ago and what's to come later on." It's all so obvious, it's all so planted, even talking about it makes me cringe because it obviously worked to a degree. Don't let Disney trick you, talk about how they could very well lose this battle, give them a fight.

(It was also Disney's Quarter 1 Earnings Call but it's all so coincidentally placed, tell me it doesn't have SOMETHING to do with it. They had to have known it was coming and scheduled around it or even hastily posted the stuff that should stay under wraps)

Don't give in to the shill, resist their corporate branding. I mean how blantant can it be when they flex their companies all over Fortnite, there's literally an island with Marvel, Star Wars, Pixar, Fox, ESPN, their flipping cruise line and Disney+, that's horrifying. How corporate can you get? Even from just a design standpoint and this is coming from a Kingdom Hearts ride-or-die, they actually take care of their worlds and properties that they choose and then incorporate it into a story without trying to straight up market to you, it's that simple, KH fans know that Disney is just the side-piece to an already delicious meal. Fortnite won't be that. It will never be that. I don't care if you can access Disney+ inside a video game to watch with your friends (doesn't that go against what you cracked down on?) I don't care what maps or characters you have and it really goes to show that they don't give a flying f- anymore.

Nintendo wanted Samus in Fortnite as well as Epic Games but Nintendo wanted it exclusive to Switch (which isn't really possible given the nature of the game) but it goes to show that they're picky about what they choose to do and they can be. Back in the day, Kingdom Hearts had to fight to even get Mickey to appear and instead we got a 2 second silhouette and it was awesome. Now they're tossing him out like candy, yeah his copyright basically expired but then we have the violence factor. You shoot people...with guns...in Fortnite. You straight up murder people then dance over their corpses which would've been the pig's behind back then, every news station would be covering it saying that it's trying to corrupt children (those darn video games at it once again) and so Mickey isn't in a fighting game. But here we are. They censored Epic Mickey so that it wouldn't look too scary. But here we are. They've given up, they'll loan out to whoever offers the money because they're weak. I know it's hard but-

Get the old regime out and bring in a new brighter future, one not so corrupted by money and corporate ideals.

#fortnite #don't let them fool you #disney #gina carano #oh my goodness #moana 2 #what a coincidence

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olderthannetfic · 2 years

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A lot of the convo of Disney and marvel and jk Rowling talks about how hard it is to “bring them down” from their monopolies or cultural dominance. Some people are defeatist about it saying what does it matter if you reblog hp stuff and others say it does matter- your small efforts will add up and influence others.

I’m asking if you have any advice or tips on how to “resist” these cultural forces and company aggregates that keep growing. Because I see people here talking about how horrible marvel is and then I talk to people irl who are huge marvel or Disney fans. And it does not feel wrong to enjoy a movie and I’d never say to them oh well the thing you love? sucks on principle. even though there’s lots of valid criticism lobbied against marvel (I hear a lot of us military appeasement just to name one) and with Disney’s specific political actions and support of the don’t say gay bill.

But my hunch is that -like has been said many times here before- you can’t really control people and screaming at them to stop doing something isn’t going to work. Besides the story telling is not horrible. Some of the bests artists and storytellers work on these movies so yeah they are good. So

While easier said than done I like to try to support the people around me. If you live in a city, there might be local indie film productions you can finically support or film festivals you can attend. Is it worth the effort to get people watch more locally made or independent media? I’m asking because I feel this is something people have tried before and I’m wondering what success or problems they’ve had. And with your experience studying and as an editor- I’m wondering what specific insights you have with peoples “media diets” and habits, changing those and does it really even matter? So…

Would an effective response to media conglomerates dominating the cultural landscape, be to encourage people to support smaller productions?

Yes. Trying to actively support something else is nearly always more productive than trying to tear down a popular thing.

Among other reasons, small time creators (or, hell, small time websites, to combine this with another favorite topic of mine) only require a few people to care and pony up the dough. You need far fewer like-minded people to make this work than you'd need to topple Marvel.

Supporting indie media absolutely works to make there be indie media. Spending all of one's personal leisure time on that stuff can also have a significant effect on oneself. It really does feel different to exist in a world of media that feels like it's for you.

The time I spent basically only consuming "m/m romance" felt different. It made me embark on a career writing similar stuff. I also just felt better.

The "problem", to the extent that there is one, is that going for indie stuff means two things:

You have to do your own research about what exists, never mind what you should consume. The more indie it is, the more you'll have to dig to hear of it at all.

Juggernaut fandoms that have new fic for your OTP every day are very, very rare. They tend to only happen for the top ship or two from a piece of media with an audience size in the many millions.

Random queer people tired of everything being straight ditch mainstream media all the time. Fanfic readers do not. People who primarily make fanworks might, though it depends on your appetite for creating without a lot of kudos.

Basically, you have to treat the hunt for new media as part of the fun. And you have to be okay being the trailblazer, not the person who's served up fic on a plate.

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mikkomacko · 3 years

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Sweet As Honey 18

Hello everyone! Here she is! Thank you all so much for being so patient with me and this chapter. I hope it lives up to the hype and the wait lol. I'd also like to say that I will still be writing and finishing this series as well as my other in progress ones. However, I'm currently feeling like I'm not that interested in Harry right now and I feel like it's mostly all the drama and everything going on with him right now so updates will be slow. Also I've changed my theme to a Marvel x One Direction theme because I've decided to take one of my Bucky Barnes plot and actually publish it. I'll still post Harry because of course I love him but he won't be the main focus of this blog anymore.

Thanks for waiting and reading. Hope you enjoy the chapter! X

Harry's good under pressure. At least looking from the outside in, he is. It's a skills he's picked up from boxing. Always pretend you know what's going on. No surprises, no shocks. If he's in a fight and his opponent is stronger or faster than he originally thought, he doesn't show it. Acting like it was expected, like he planned it rattles others and helps him maintain his grace.

He keeps that same approach when it comes to interviews.

Liam meets him outside the gym, waving with a bright smile that Harry just smiles at, shocked to find his trainer in the parking garage rather than the ring.

"What's going on mate?" Harry greets, trying to step around him to get to the stairs but Liam halts him with a hand on his shoulder.

"Gotta reporter here who wants to chat with you about recovering from your concussion and reaching the finals."

His tone is laced with hesitance, lips pursed in suppressed grimace and Harry doesn't blame him. Liam knows how much Harry hates interviews. They're his least favorite part of the job. He's here to box and get paid, to provide for his family, not to tell the world every detail of his life.

"Oh," Harry mumbles, shrugging and stepping up to the door. "Alright. Only for a few minutes though, wanna get home a little early today."

If Liam is surprised by Harry's ease he doesn't show it. "Got something going on?"

Harry follows Liam inside, nodding to Mark at the front desk. "Y/n has just been exhausted lately and Arlo can't spend a second alone without screaming bloody murder. Just want to be there to make sure she's resting and Arlo's not being a pest."

"He's your son, of course he's being in a pest."

The comment leaves too much pride in Harry's chest for him to even care that Liam just insisted he himself is a pest. Besides, Harry knows he's clingy and a little too attached but that's just how his relationship with y/n is, and they love it.

In his private locker room,Harry finds the reporter, a young girl who can't be too far out of undergrad with dark hair and a bright red lips. She's sat on the bench, a notepad on her thigh and her phone resting next to it.

"Hello Mr. Styles." She greets, shaking his hand when he approaches her. "I'm Rebecca Weese."

Harry takes a seat next to her, nodding. "Nice to meet you. I don't have a lot of time today but I can answer a few of your questions if we can make it quick." He smiles guiltily, hoping to not come off as rude.

She nods, immediately glancing down at her notepad and crossing some things out. Harry assumes they're questions she's decided aren't important enough. "Is it ok if I record this? Just sound of course."

Again, he nods, fiddling with the strings of his hoodie as he waits for her to begin. Tapping at her phone, she places it between them to catch both voices and then scans her notes again.

"Correct me if I'm wrong but you've only been boxing for a few years, right?"

Harry shrugs. "I trained a lot when I was teenager, worked under Ted until he decided to bring me up to the pros. Was about 20 I think when that happened." He tries to stay vague, knowing he can't tell the public that his "training" was an illegal boxing ring.

"Five-Six years is a short amount of time to be included in a tournament like this one. Most contenders are well into their careers before being qualified to participate. What do you think has been the main factor in your success?"

Routine question, and he's got a routine answer. "I was fortunate enough to figure out early on that boxing is what I wanted to do and I think that helped out a lot. I also got a very good team behind me. My trainer, manager, my wife, they're all the main factors in my success. I'm very grateful to have them."

Rebecca smiles a bit, jotting down a few words. "Does your wife work in the industry?"

It's her casual tone, as if she were a friend just wanting to hear him brag about his lover that has him answering so honestly.

"No she works in design but I met her early in my career and she's always supported me. Takes care of me after bad matches and whatnot, always comes to my fights even if it means being on her feet for hours. Which isn't exactly her favorite thing at the moment with the baby-"

Harry stops, eyes widening a bit at what he's just revealed. Part of him wishes desperately that Rebecca didn't hear him but he knows that's impossible.

"I didn't know you're a father," she says kindly, sensing his panic. "Do you want to talk about it more or should I scratch that part?"

He doesn't know what makes him say it. A year ago he'd have fled the room if he were questioned about his family. Harry likes to keep them separate, to keep his kids away from his boxing. It's possibly a small part of him that's conditioned to keep his work a secret from his family even if he doesn't have to. But Rebecca's offer to drop the whole topic is what breaks him.

"S'ok," he says "I've got a son that's about a year old and another on the way."

Her eyes light up, beaming at him and he grins shyly but somehow proudly at the same time. "That's awesome. Congrats. I know your son's young but does he have any part in your career? Influence maybe?"

"He doesn't watch any of my fights or anything. Too young to be around violence like that but he does affect my fighting in a way. I used to go into boxing with just the mentality that I'm doing something I love, but now I've got the added success. A win means more support for my family and I want them to always have what they need so I've got sort of an edge there."

"Like having something to fight for?" She confirms, and Harry nods immediately.

"Yeah. I'd do anything for them and I think that makes me a bit dangerous in the ring."

No matter what, he'll always be fighting for them. Everything he does is for y/n and his boys.

The house smalls of tomato sauce and pasta when Harry walks in, mouth instantly watering and stomach rumbling. He had a light breakfast this morning before going to the gym and now that's he burnt off all that energy he reckons he could eat a horse. Dropping his keys on the table in the entryway, toeing off his sneakers, and dropping his gym bag to the floor, Harry makes a beeline for the kitchen. He's so caught up in wanting to eat he doesn't notice the TV playing a Disney movie or the two figures sprawled out on the couch until one of them is calling for him.

"Daddy!" Arlo's head pops up over the cushions, dimples sunk into his cheeks and eyes bright. Harry immediately changes course, coming up behind the couch and meeting Arlo's outstretched arms.

"'Ello bug," Harry greets, smacking a kiss to his cheek. Arlo coos happily, curling up against Harry's shoulder. Y/n is watching them with a small smile, a hand resting easily over the stretched fabric of his tee-shirt she's wearing. "And hello darling." He leans over the back of the couch to press a crooked kiss to her lips.

"Hi baby," she sits up, smiling dreamily at him. "How was the gym?"

Harry shrugs, adjusting Arlo on his hip. "Was good. I had an interview today about finals and....stuff." Her eyebrow quirks up at his hesitancy to continue.

"What stuff?"

Gnawing on his bottom lip, Harry drops his gaze to Arlo. "You, Arlo, the baby." She doesn't respond immediately and he knows it’s because she’s trying to analyze him. He's fairly private about his family, especially his children and the only reason he'd informed the world of Arlo was to get people off his back about leaving y/n, so he knows she's probably confused by his ease with talking about the new baby.

"How'd it go?" She asks, pushing herself up from the couch with a hand on her belly. Without hesitation Harry reaches out to place his free hand over hers, moving her with him towards the kitchen. "Where are we going?"

"M'starving darling," he says and his stomach grumbles in agreement, making Arlo gurgling back and nudge his foot into Harry's tummy. "But interview went well. Announced the pregnancy."

"You did?" She questions, perching herself on the counter stool with wide eyes. "Seems a bit early compared to Arlo's announcement."

Managing as best he can with one free hand, Harry retrieves a bowl from the cabinet and serves himself a heaping mountain of spaghetti. "Just came out if m'being honest," he shrugs, settling into the stool next to her with Arlo still glued to his lap. "'sides it's different this time. He was my first baby and I was scared."

He doesn't realize that she's fallen silent until he's slurping back noodles and she doesn't scold him. Curiously, Harry rotates just enough to look at her. Y/n is staring at him, eyes big and moony when he mumbles a suspicious "wha'?"

"You were scared?"

Swallowing down his food, he nods. Her intent gaze brings a blush to his cheeks and he has to drop his eyes to peer down at Arlo. "Y-yeah. Didn't know if he'd like me as his dad, ya know?"

Harry's never said those words out loud, now that he's come to think of it. Whenever something's pertained to Arlo, Harry was always the positive reinforcement, the one reassuring y/n about them stepping into parenthood. He never really told her how much it scared him because he didn't want to scare her.

"I-I didn't know that," she mumbles. "Why didn't you say anything?"

He shrugs, lifting his gaze from Arlo to y/n. "Because I wanted to be a good dad. Ya know, like the kind that can kill spiders and scare aware bad dreams.....Just wanted to be strong I guess."

He doesn't say it, but he knows she's picked up the fear he won't acknowledge. He doesn't want to be his dad. His father was great but the sad thing is, everything great about him was brought out by alcohol. Des needed that poison to combat his own fears and insecurities, and Harry doesn't want to be like that too. He doesn't want to leave his kids the same way he was left.

"Being scared doesn't make you weak Harry."

She leans over to press a tender kiss to his jaw, belly brushing against his side, and he thinks about those words for the remainder of the day.

Crouched down, Harry steers the shopping cart with one hand and guides Arlo along with the other one. By the way he's trudging along, Harry knows Arlo is getting tired of walking. It's good for him to practice though, so Harry leads him along for another few minutes before scooping him up in one arm.

"Did so well bug." Harry compliments, pecking Arlo's cheek. The toddler curls up into his chest, yawning. It's a bit difficult steering the cart with one hand but Harry manages, steadily making his way up and down each aisle. He gets baby cereal for Arlo, a couple bags of puffy hot Cheetos to stash in the cabinets, and he's stocking up on y/n's latest craving (spaghetti-o's and meatballs) when a familiar face rounds the corner.

Zayn is pushing a cart filled groceries, eyes scanning up and down the shelves and Harry curses under his breath. The last person he wants to see right now is Zayn. Last time they had a run in he said something that bothered y/n and Harry never wants anything to bother his girl.

In an attempt to hide, Harry pulls his hood up over his head, shrinking into his pullover and craning his neck to not make eye contact with his old friend. Grabbing a few cans of the fake pasta y/n is living off of, Harry sets them in the cart and quickly walks down the aisle. A man who looks a few years older than Harry moves towards him, stepping around Zayn and in front of Harry's cart.

"Excuse me," the man stops him, gaze dropping to the boy against his chest for half a second before regretfully meeting Harry's eyes. "m'so sorry to bother, didn't notice the little one-"

"It's fine." Harry cuts off, glancing at Zayn to make sure his back is still to them. It is and Harry relaxes a bit at that, but his curiosity grows. "How can I help you sir?"

The man smiles, grateful. "I just wanted to tell you that m'son and I are big fans and we're excited for your fight this weekend."

Harry knows he has fans, he's run into a few around the city but they're usually teens and kids that want an autograph. He's never had a grown man approach him about his career and it's odd. Flattering, but odd.

"Thanks man. I really appreciate your support." Harry says sincerely, smiling. The man nods in response, taking a step away from Harry. He moves to leave but stops last minute, turning back to Harry.

"Congrats on the baby news too." He says quickly, almost shy or embarrassed. Before Harry can even thank him, the man is rushing out a "have a good day" and then he's moving down the aisle.

Confused, Harry stands there for a moment trying to figure out what happened. He knew announcing the new baby would bring more attention to him in the media and he's not surprised that that man, who's clearly a fan, had already heard it. He is surprised that the man seemed almost scared to admit to Harry that he knows.

"Harry?"

Fuck.

He looks up, meeting the golden eyes that could only belong to Zayn. Harry doesn't even bother trying to smile at his old friend as he stands in front of Harry's cart. A lady maneuvers around them, murmuring a soft "excuse me sir." Harry scoots his cart over, smiling apologetically.

"How have you been man?"

Harry's gaze returns to it's impassive expression, glancing over Zayn's too-bright presence. "I've been good." Harry responds, moving Arlo to his other arm when he starts to lose feeling in his fingers. The movement draws Arlo out of his nap-like state, the toddler now noticing Zayn standing in front of them. Immediately his face scrunches into a look of annoyance.

If Zayn notices, he must not care because he smiles at Arlo, teeth dazzling. "That's good to hear. Congratulations on the baby, by the way! Saw the article up front. S'amazing!"

Article? Harry lips are just starting to form his question when his phone rings, the tune specific to y/n. "Sorry, gotta take this." Harry says in Zayn's direction, digging into his pocket and retrieving his phone. He hits answer before Zayn can even respond.

"Hi darling."

Harry wiggles Arlo into the basket. "Hi H. You still at the store?"

He pushes the cart down the aisle, not caring that he's left his old friend hanging. "Yeah I am. What's up"

The sound of a running faucet comes through the speaker. "Forgot to add yogurt bites to the list. Arlo ate the last of 'em last night and ya know how he is if he doesn't have any before bed."

Harry snorts, steering towards the baby food aisle. Arlo has fallen in love with yogurt bites and they've become his snack before bed. Harry thinks he shouldn't be having them every night and he'd tried to tell Arlo that two nights ago, but Arlo is a stubborn thing. He screamed his head off, ignored Harry's attempts at giving him fresh fruit instead, and then only calmed down after y/n nursed him.

"I'll grab 'em darling. No worries." He assures, tossing a couple bags of the bites into the cart. "Anything else?"

"Do we still have the old flower vases from our wedding in the garage?" She asks.

"Umm, I think so. You expecting flowers from a secret lover or something?" Harry jokes, eyes catching on a pack of bibs hanging in the aisle.

"Not unless you've got a trick up your sleeve Styles." She retorts.

He tosses a pack into the basket. "Buy you a whole flower shop if that's what ya want darling." Arlo grumbles from the baby seat of the cart, tiny fingers coming up to play with the rings on Harry's fingers that are locked around the steering bar.

"Don't worry about that, we've got enough flowers." Y/n laughs and he can hear her moving around the house. "Three bouquets just arrived with congratulations cards."

"What?"

"Guess the baby announcement was well accepted." She says. "We're getting lots of flowers for it."

Pushing towards the checkout, Harry frowns in confusion. "Got stopped by a fan today for the same thing. Can't believe it's such a big deal."

"Well you're more known now than when we were having Arlo." She reasons, and Harry hums his agreement. He passes the self checkouts, freezing when he spots numerous copies of his face on the ends of the aisle.

"Holy shit," he breathes, not even thinking about the innocent ears before him. Y/n gasps through the phone, scolding him for his language. "Sorry darling, s'just I'm bloody plastered all over the grocery store."

He reads over the cover of the sports magazine. It's got a big photo of him in the ring, gloves held up to his chin and jaw tight around his mouth guard. Next to it is a photo of him and y/n leaving a big fight awhile back. She's got her head down, hand snug in his as he leads her along. And written in bold yellows is "Harry Styles Expecting Baby #2 As He Prepares for Biggest Fight Yet!"

"They put me on the front page." He tells her, not bothering to flip open the article before he's quickly moving away from the display. "Why would they do that?"

When he did that interview, he thought it'd be a small, breezy section in the magazine. If he had known he'd be getting stopped in the grocery store and flowers sent to his house he wouldn't have said anything. As previously mentioned, he's a private guy, so having this detail projected in a way he wasn't warned about makes his stomach twist uncomfortably.

"It's alright Harry," y/n says reassuringly, knowing that he's become anxious at the publicity. "No harm done. It's just flowers bub and as long as we've got those vases in the garage, everyone will survive."

He chuckle weakly at her joke, picking an aisle so he can quickly checkout and go home. "Don't go digging around for them by yourself, don't need ya falling and getting hurt. I'll help ya when I get home."

"Aw my hero." She coos, and he knows she's teasing but it still makes him blush. God he loves her.

"Those bloody things are making my nose itch." Harry grumbles, aggressively rubbing the palm of his hand into his burning nostrils. He glares at the bouquet of peonies on the dresser, a gift from y/n's co-workers, and moves towards the bed.

Y/n is propped up against the headboard, a pair of his pajama bottoms on her legs but her shirt has been abandoned on the carpet by the bed. Arlo is attached to her hip, mouth latched to her nipple and she's stroking through his soft hair while he breastfeeds. Harry's heart throbs in his chest, warmed by the sight of his wife coddling their baby, and he's so fucking in love with her he's anxious to get Arlo into bed so he can have his way with her.

"I can't just throw them out, H." She sighs, pulling her gaze from the television to his pouty face. He huffs, running the damp towel in his hand through his hair one last time before haphazardly tossing it towards the closet. Kneeing his way up the bed, he curls into y/n's side and smiles when she tucks her arm around him.

"Stroke my hair too?" He mumbles, peering up with puppy eyes and she giggles before threading her fingers through his hair too. Arlo gurgles around a mouthful, bright green eyes opening to look at Harry. He worries for a moment that Arlo is going to get fussy and kick him away, but the toddler just blinks at him sleepily.

"Tha's ma boy." He coos fondly, squirming a hand over to pat Arlo's full tummy. Y/n giggles and continues to stroke his hair, Harry watching Arlo slowly be soothed to sleep. "Lemme get him to bed darling."

Grunting, he pushes himself up from the mattress and too his feet. Y/n transfers Arlo to his awaiting arms, swiping at the milk that dribbled out of his snoring lips and onto her skin. Harry leans down, pressing a kiss to the corner of her mouth.

"Wanna have a shag when I get back?"

A shocked laugh bursts out of her, Harry's face lighting up at the sound as his heart swells. He was trying to be a bit silly, not enough to have her eyes crinkling like that, but he's happy she finds him funny.

"Sure baby." She breathes, still grinning. His stomach flutters, excitement bubbling in his belly and he nods quickly before moving across the room.

Arlo stays cuddled into Harry's neck as he flicks on the nightlight in the nursery and adjusts the blankets in the crib. Theo watched Harry from his bed in the corner, sleepy puppy eyes following his every move. He lays Arlo down, gently shushing him when he store and tucks Bunny into his side. With a peck to his head and a quiet "good night bug," Harry partially shuts the bedroom door and rushes back into the bedroom.

Y/n has already kicked off her bottoms, leaving her naked on their sheets and Harry groans as he works to catch up with her. His shirt is playfully tossed at y/n's grinning face, Harry laughing as he wiggles out of his sweats. Naked as the day he was born, Harry jumps onto his knees at the bottom of the bed.

A laugh bubbles out of y/n when the whole bed shakes under his weight, clearly amused at how excited he is. She must be just as excited though because she quickly leans forward to cup his face, attaching their lips and bringing him back down to the pillows with her.

"Wanna be on top," he mutters into her mouth, ghosting his hand down her tummy and tickling his thumb over her clit. "f'that's ok?"

"Mmm," she hums, happily "too tired to top anyway."

Harry seals their lips together again, using his knees to spread her thighs a bit further apart for him. Her palms smooth down his sides and around to his back, a breathy moan interrupting their kiss courtesy of his fingers. Harry utilizes the chance to break away and snag a pillow from his side of the bed, urging her hips up by tapping the fluffy thing against her side. She lifts, and he settles it under her lower back and bum to prop her up. Luckily for him, he's had a lot of practice getting around a baby bump for a shag.

Settling between her thighs, Harry giggles when she wraps her legs around his hips and tugs him closer. His body hovers over hers, love-sick smiles a breath away from meeting each other, and he drags his fingers through her folds, groaning at how slick she's become.

"Don't even have to try anymore do I?" He teases with a wolfish smile, capturing her lips just as she rolls her eyes. Giggling, he leaves soft kisses across her cheek, heading towards the base of her jaw.

"S'the baby's fault honestly." She argues, her fingers disappearing into the damp locks sticking to the back of his neck.

He hums, smirking against her skin. "Is it?"

With a small tug she's pulling him back up to her mouth. "Yeah. Gets me revved up all the bloody time. I don't know what you're putting in there mister but it's exhausting."

Harry laughs quietly, nipping at her bottom lip. "Don't worry baby, I'm gonna take care of ya. S'my problem after all, isn't it?"

Y/n nods, biting back a grin as Harry grips his cock with the fingers that had previously been fondling her. Chest to chest, Harry smiles at the feeling of their stomachs pressed together as he guides the head of him into her slit.

The sigh that puffs out of her chest sends a zip of pleasure up his spine, as if she'd been partial without him and the pure relief of just having him in her is all she could ever want. Harry hums appreciatively, eyes fluttering shut as he basks in how warm and gooey she is for him. He'd almost forgotten how it felt to have her this desperate for him and his touch.

"Oh it's so good darling," he mumbles to her, dropping his head into the crook of her neck. He pulls his hips back, breath stuttering when he easily slips forward again.

Y/n moans softly, dropping one hand to the small of his back as if guiding him. "So so good H." She confirms in a whisper, her voice tickling his ear and he squirms with a small laugh at the sensation.

Harry's soft with his movements, cautious of the baby between them and the one sleeping down the hall. Even the kisses he places on her jaw and lips are tender, small brushes between their confirmations that he "feels so good" inside her and she was "made for being wrapped me huh?" And Harry thinks nothing ever been truer. Her arms were made to hold him, her hands were made for pulling him closer and closer, and her heart was made to completely consume his.

Y/n reaches her high before him, rolling her hips up to try and quicken his but he maintains his sensual thrusts, stroking her temple as she trembles and gasps, clinging to him in every way possible. There's something about how quick she falls apart for him when she's pregnant and how utterly earth shattering it is for her, that it completely obliterates any sense of stamina Harry's ever had. He couldn't care less when he follows shortly after, grinding down into her heat as his cock twitches and buries deep in her walls. She's the one stroking his temple this time, and he knows she's watching his eyes scrunch shut and his gaping mouth curl into a breathy laugh as he comes.

Maybe it's the lingering anxiety that washed over him at the grocery store, but when y/n kisses him and gently nudges him off of her so she can go pee, Harry's desperate as he grips her hand and pouts, practically begging when he asks "can I get back in ya after? Just to fall asleep darling?"

Of course she nods, brushing sweaty curls from his forehead to soothe him and just like that he already feels lighter. He never has to sorry with her, because they were made for loving each other.

"Oh fuck!"

"Would you stop being so loud! It's 8 in the morning!"

"Can't help it, darling."

Harry tightens his hold around y/n's thighs, dipping his tongue back into her slit and groaning loudly despite the warning she's already given him this morning. She tugs on his hair scoldingly, drawing a pained hiss out of him. Harry brings his teeth up to her clit, nibbling in retaliation. A pained hiss of her own leaves her lips, cut off by a soft moan as he soothes his tongue over the spot.

Grinding her hips up into his mouth, Harry can't help but push his own into the mattress and a deep groan escapes him as he does so. Huffing, y/n scolds him again for being too loud when they've got a sleeping child one room over.

"Stop yelling at me so I can make you cum." He purrs, lips brushing over her clit. Their eyes meet over the curves and dips of her body, Harry smirking when she raises a prodding eyebrow at him. He kisses her thigh just once, lapping his tongue through her slit and he's just reaching her most sensitive spot when the beginning stirs of Arlo waking up break through the baby monitor.

Simultaneous groans leave both their mouths, this time of frustration. Harry pouts, knocking his forehead on y/n's hip bone and shaking his head.

"I told you Styles." Y/n teases, stroking through his hair for a second. He can't even think of a rebuttal before Arlo is calling out softly for her, and she's pushing up from the bed to get dressed.

"Take care of that while I take care of this." She calls as she disappears through the door, snickering softly and leaving him there desperate for her. But then again, when is he not desperate for her?

Hey man, hope I'm not being a bother. I was just wondering if you wanted to go out for a drink Friday or something?

-Z

Harry stares at the message, wondering why Zayn would sign it when the Instagram handle is clearly him. He also wonders why the hell Zayn is trying to hang out with him now.

It's a sunny day, the air outside relatively warm for March so Harry slipped a sweater on Arlo and brought him out to the backyard to play. They're sat in the grass, Arlo between his legs as they teach Theo to play fetch. Arlo's gotten good at tossing the chew toy himself, so Harry used the free time to start clearing out the congratulations messages he's received on Instagram.

"What's the matter H?"

Harry locks his phone, tilting his head up and squinting into the sun as y/n stands over them. She's got a bowl of puffy hot Cheetos in her hand, cradling them as if they were a precious gem as she settles into the grass with them.

"Nothing," he mumbles, pecking her temple when she leans into his side. "just got a weird text from Zayn. He wants to hang out."

Crunching through a chip, she hums. "Did you know he lives here?"

She lifts up a Cheeto, offering it to him. Harry gladly takes it between his teeth, pulling it from her fingertips and crunching down on the puffy chip. Swallowing, he shakes his head.

"Ran into him at the store once around Valentine's Day," she says, eyes watching Arlo dig his stubby fingers into the dry grass. "Was trying to talk to me about you I think but your son threw a fit and I was too busy to care honestly."

"Really?" Harry asks, perking up at the idea of Arlo throwing a tantrum to keep people away from y/n. That's the only time he'll agree with such actions. "Taught him well then haven't I?"

Rolling her eyes, she elbows him. "If you're son grows up to be rude I'm going to kick your ass Harry Styles."

Laughing, he steals a chip from her, locking his phone and dropping it to the grass. Arlo, interested in the device, crawls over to pick it up.

"Wouldn't expect anything less darling." He says, reaching over to swipe his phone to the camera so Arlo can snap random pictures.

"What are you going to do about Zayn then?"

"Suppose I should see what he wants, yeah?"

Y/n shrugs but Harry can read the look on her face easily. She's always silently encouraged him to face things that need mending or fixing, and his past with Zayn is one of those things.

"S'done then," he laughs, pinching her side affectionately. "I'll figure out why he's so obsessed with me."

She laughs, throwing her head back and scrunching her nose in the way makes him want to stare at her forever. "Think it's that one he's obsessed with. Look how cute he is."

Harry follows her line of sight, smile growing at the sight of Arlo making faces at himself in Harry's camera.

So bloody cute.

"Are we gonna be besties? I think we're gonna be besties." Niall states, swinging an arm around y/n's shoulders. He's on his third beer of the night already and Harry hasn't even made it to the ring yet. Y/n just laughs, continuing to maneuver tape around Harry's fingers but he's not as kind.

Casting a glare at the Irish man, Harry calls out to Gemma. "Get your leprechaun off of my girl before I use him to warm up."

Niall isn't really phased by the words, only pouting softly at Harry's steel gaze but Gemma is quick to rush over and pull Niall up from the couch by his hand.

"Come on babe, let's go find our seats." She coos to him, sending Harry an apologetic smile. He waits for her and Niall to turn their backs before chuckling softly. Y/n pinches at his wrist.

"Be nice to Niall. I really like him."

"Oh you really like him, huh?" Harry huffs, nudging his knee against hers. She rolls her eyes, giggling when he slips his free hand around her waist and pulls her into his lap. "Please tell me how much you really like Niall darling." He requests, shoving his face in her neck and playfully biting at her throat and shoulder. Just as he'd expected, she giggles and squirms, Harry having to wrap her up in a bear hug to keep her from sliding right off his thigh.

"Harry! Stop!"

He laughs with her, moving up to bite at the apples of her cheeks and her nose, growling as if he were a rabid beast. His freshly taped knuckles ache under the tightness of the wrap as he grips her flailing legs but he ignores it in favor of listening to her laugh.

"I like you more! I swear!" She shouts between laughs, wiggling a hand free and gripping the back of his neck. Pleased with her words, Harry pants out a laugh before sealing his mouth to hers.

"Tha's good because I like you more than Niall too." He mumbles into her lips.

"You like me more than you like everyone." She chuckles, stroking her thumb along his jawline. Harry's eyes shine with delight, proud that she knows her place in his heart, but he still teases.

"Mmm almost darling. Quite like my son, ya know that?"

She rolls her eyes but looks at him fondly, pinching the meat of his cheek. "Cute," she murmurs, "now go get ready for your fight baby. Want everyone to see my husband's gonna be the national champion."

Her words bring a rush of blood to his cheeks (and his cock if he's being honest), but he nudges her onto the couch next to him. "Just need two more wins." He whispers in her ear, pecking her temple.

Just two more wins.

There's good fights and there's bad fights. Everyone knows that. But not everyone knows that there's good wins and bad wins. Harry's experienced a few of those bad ones. Wins that he probably shouldn't have gotten because he certain his opponent had landed more punches and the judges miscounted. Or it was clear the other fighter wasn't into it and let him win.

Harry thinks tonight is his worst win ever.

The fight had been good. Trinsky, tonight's opponent from New Jersey, was short and stocky but strong. Harry was quicker than him though so they'd gone back and forth for a few rounds. Nothing two rough, just enough punches to have bright red welts on his torso and an ache in his jaw.

He fought through it though, fueled by the sounds of y/n and Niall cheering for him. Win this fight and he's onto the championship match. So he went at it with all he had left, charging Trinsky just as the man knocked his fist into Harry's temple.

It felt like a lightning bolt of pain zapped through his brain, shaking his core and causing his feet to stumble. Trinsky slid to the right as Harry crashed into the ropes, blinking furiously as the room around him spun. He was still in a daze as his body moved on its own, quick enough to uppercut his left fist into Trinsky's chin. The man crumbled to the mat, out cold, and Harry's dizzy head brought him down as well.

There's cheering and an announcement of his name, declaring Harry the winner but he can't seem to focus on it. Trinsky is being moved from the ring by his team, Harry falling to his bum on the mat as he rips at the velcro of his gloves with his teeth.

The room is coming back into focus, someone is calling him from the side of the ring but he doesn't recognize the voice so it goes ignored. He gets his hands free, rubbing his fingers into the tender spot on his head and wincing. He needs to take some Advil and ice it.

Harry climbs to his feet, a bit disoriented as he ducks under the ropes to leave. He knows he's got a team here somewhere but his mind can't seem to recognize what they look like or how to find them.

"Man, what are you doing?"

He turns, confused to find two men watching him like he's grown a second head. Harry feels like he knows the warm brown eyes of the taller man but he's not sure from where. Smiling uncomfortably, he motions behind him.

"I n-need ice or something." He says, excusing himself with a shrug and turning back to the locker room. He doesn't like the way his stomach twists or how his chest is telling him he knows those men when he couldn't even tell you there names right now. His heart thunders in his chest, panic seeping in and he's desperate to find something or someone that'll just help him out.

"Harry baby," she says calmly, a hand rubbing up his bare back comfortingly. "you okay?"

Y/n appears at his side, head tilted so she can meet his nervous gaze. Almost immediately he latches onto her hand, shaking his head. Her eyebrows crease, lips frowning as she reaches to cup his cheek.

"What's going on H? What's the matter?"

"M'head hurts," he answers immediately. "I-I think I forgot my team."

A trembling breath leaves his lips, tears stinging behind his eyes when he sees the concern on his wife's face. She brushes her thumb over his temple, the one she knows got hit the hardest, and then brushes a sweaty strand of hair off his forehead to place a tender kiss there.

"Let's get you to the locker room babe."

He follows like a lost puppy, trailing behind her through the back hallway and into his locker room. Y/n closes the door behind him before anyone else can enter, twisting the lock. Harry sits in the closest chair, fiddling with the tape on his fingers as he tries to calm down.

"Do you want to talk to me bub?" Y/n asks quietly, pulling up a seat directly in front of him. He nods, lifting his gaze from his hands to her face.

"I don't know what happened. It's like I got hit in the head and everything got shook up." He explains, frowning. He hates the way this feels. Hates that his body is screaming at him to just remember but his brain refuses to accept the message. "I know them, I know I do but s'like their names and stuff are just gone."

Y/n inhales sharply, biting nervously at her bottom lip. Harry's not even sure what to say and that makes him feel so much worse. He doesn't even feel like he has a concussion, not really. Everything else is still there, still in the forefront of his mind. His wife, his boys, Anne and Gemma. And he faintly remembers sitting at bars with one of the men from his team, remembers crashing on his couch late at night. But the soul of those memories are gone.

"I'm gonna get you some painkillers and water okay babe? Then we'll figure out what to do."

He nods, smiling wetly when she kisses his forehead. Watching her move around the room to gather water and whatnot, Harry wills himself to just think. He knows these men, he's just gotta focus on it. A memory stands out, one of the three of them in a car on a road trip. His trainer is driving, his manager in the passenger seat and he knows this is a trip for a match. A recent match too because he remembers saying goodbye to Arlo and y/n, kissing her swollen belly before he went.

Y/n returns to him with a bottle of water and a couple pills, watching him cautiously as he squeezes his eyes shut and forces himself to just think. Recalling conversations from the car, remembering the screen in the front of the vehicle that reads Connected to Liam's iPhone. Liam. Almost instantly Nick's name floods his brain again and he feels his whole body tremble with relief.

Harry takes the medicine, gulping it down and slumping into his seat. "Nick and Liam," he finally murmurs, voice thick. "I couldn't remember darling. They were right in front of me and I couldn't remember their fucking names."

A silent tear trails down his cheek, Harry sniffling as y/n wipes it away with a tender touch he's only felt from her. "Its ok Harry. We'll figure out what happened. At least you remember now baby." She tried to comfort, but Harry's heart still aches.

"What if-" he peers up at her through wet eyelashes. "what if it had been you? Or Arlo? Or all three of you? What if I-"

He can't even finish the thought before he's shaking his head, more tears slipping down his cheeks and jaw. What would he have done if he'd looked at y/n and not remembered her name? Not remembered the beautiful son they created? Or the one she's growing now?

"It wasn't Harry," she stays sternly, cutting into his spiralling thoughts. "it wasn't and even if it did happen, it wouldn't change a thing. You're not getting rid of us."

Trying to smile, he nods and takes a deep breath. He trusts her, more than anyone, and he's never known someone that fights as much as she does. He knows, no matter what, that she'll always have his back.

#sweet as honey #harry styles #fanfic #fanfiction #fluff #one direction #harry styles au #dad harry #boxer harry #cute #smut #daddy harry styles #sweet as honey talk

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nocek · 3 years

Note

Don't spare us the long rant! We want to hear your thoughts!

Oh you are going to regret this ;P

So here goes my loooooooong angry rant about Taskmaster and also the Black Widow movie in general.

Let's start with my point of comparison. Captain America the Winter Soldier was a good movie. It's still in my top 3 Marvel movies as I'm sure is for many people. And statistically speaking everybody likes Bucky. He is like the most beloved side character right after Loki. I guess.

Anyway. My point is that Taskmaster and Winter Soldier have bit for bit the exact same building blocks: hypercompetent antagonist that is a serious threat to our hero who just can't win with in one on one combat. But then plot twist: our antagonist was just a victim and puppet without free will in hands of actual villain who is bland bureaucrat.

So why did Winter Soldier worked really really well and Taskmaster was just ehh.. ok?

Well the short answer is that catws was a much tighter movie that had clearer goal (and also that goal/theme was singular: good things get corrupted with time and sometimes you get to start over) compared to black widow which had to jump through too many hoops and still somehow managed it but it wasn't as graceful as it would be if they (as in executives) resigned from one or two hoops and flips and explosions.

And I'm omitting a BIG disadvantage of making a prequel movie about a character that they killed off in shitty way. Though that created one of extra hoops for them to jump through: quickly build up Yelena as a character.

And character build they did. Because srsly Yelena is awesome and I love her. BUT. That came at a price.

Lets compare to catws. The new character there is Sam (and kiiiiiiiinda also Natasha a bit but that's a topic for a different rant) who is nowhere near as well build as Yelena. At the beginning. Because he had time to be fleshed out and naturally grow in few different movies and then we got a deep dive in the Falcon and the Winter Soldier.

But Marvel can't give Yelena few movies because she will appear in Hawkguy an Hawkeye series and also Marvel is generally dividing their assets into: outer spaaaace, down to earth heros and magic stuff (aliens, androids and wizards ;P). But also they can only create so many things in a year.

So yeah. Yelena offtopic can be summarized that I love that we have her as we have her but it came at a cost of air time of the movie.

So comparing the movies again:

Catws had the theme of good things being corrupted with time. And the theme was underlined 3 times through Peggy, Bucky and then Shield/Hydra. Which are interconnected and also make nice scale from inner conflict of the main character to the outer conflict of the movie.

In Black Widow there is the topic of the past evil that never went away and is still taking away free will from people. And again we have it shown through 3 outlets: Yelena, Taskmaster and Black Widows. But there is also whole family subplot attached to Yelena and there is Red Room attached to Black Widows. So as you can see things are getting crowded. Which in turn make the theme a bit blurry.

I mean, sure, the Red Room should be the Shield equivalent. Even it could take smaller space because good Shield turns out to be evil Hydra is generally more time consuming to explain than Red Room bad. But still combining Red Room and Black Widows make things a bit crowded.

(There is a reason why the surprise subplot of there is more Winter Soldiers was in separate movie and was kinda handwaved and cut to minimum. But they couldn't do that here).

But it's time to stop my ranting about whole Black Widow movie and focus on comparing Taskmaster and Winter Soldier.

Because to be honest both are bare bones of character and more of an carte blanche in the movie. Both have barely any screen time yet there are colossal difference which stems out of:

first introduction: as I mentioned they are hypercompetent and unstoppable threat that you can't win with, you can only hope to run away (both done equally well)

programmable killing machine:

For Taskmaster we just get a scene with her watching other heroes fighting at the screen. For the sake of building up the mystery of character we think that "he" is just watching. Maybe learning or more likely just being creepy. The information about the chip and literal programming is given to us much later in the movie which makes this scene lose the power. idk how it will work on rewatch? Maybe better? Hopefully. right now there is too many new movies in cinemas to go for a rewatch and disney+ still isn't available here -.-

For Bucky we have literal torture scene. You just can't be more blunt than that. It also hammered the next point in.

there is human behind the mask:

Winter Soldier is introduced with full face mask which he gradually loses and then we have the big reveal of not only: that's a human but also that's a human our main hero cares about deeply.

With Taskmaster they fucked up it for chap plot twist. We are learning quite late that oh snap that's Antonia (that we don't really care about) and our main hero kinda feels guilty about her.

I think the big difference is what kind of character Steve and Nat are and also the way they reveal this secret. Steve actively recognizes Bucky by himself and is very openly shocked. Nat is passively told and shown that hey, this is Antonia. And there is no time in the movie for Nat (and for us) to be shocked because that's the 3rd act and we need time for explosions and stuff.

Besides, the problem is that all the big plot twist reveals are boring on rewatch (stil big props for Pacific Rim and giving us the monster reveal in like second minute of the movie, I will never not appreciate that).

Also on related shitty note. We the audience. Bucky is handsome and vulnerable and we can drool all over him (and oh man, we the fandom did a fair share of drooling). Antonia is disfigured and not sexualized in any way. Which I'm actually grateful for but there is no pretending that doesn't make a hell lot of difference. But that's a whole different, ugly and big topic I'm not remotely qualified to write about. I'm just angry ranting here.

they don't have free will:

For Winter Soldier we have amnesia + torture tropes which to be honest have been done over and over again and it shouldn't have worked as well as it worked. Bit it did. In context of Black Widow movie it worked because it was just one guy that actively broke through brainwashing with active help of the hero.

In Black Widow there is a lot of characters that are pasively "woken up" out of mind control over and over again by active protagonist. Unfortunately the repetition kinda cheapens it. Especially in comparison to main gut punch right in the feels scene in the other movie. Which is why it's not fair to compare the two.

So lets talk about lack of free will aspect itself. To be honest the mind control aspect in Black Widow was done really great from story perspective. Evil scientists perfected it to the point it being (bit handwavey but) completely impersonal but also completely dehumanizing to the subject. So I'm buying that it can be completely switched off in equally efficient and impersonal way. Even the way they explained it with Alexei the pig was great and terrifying... to a point. Because then kicked the main problem with this movie. Clearly some execs came and saw it and went whoa... that's too dark for pg13 blockbuster. Let's put some cheap jokes here. And it happens over and over again in this movie :S

humanizing flashback scene that ties them to main hero:

For Bucky, sure we had Captain America First Avenger but a movie needs to stand on it's own legs. That's why we have the flashback scene which shows us that Bucky cared about Steve. Leaving it at the narration in Smithsonian of "best friends since childhood" would be just telling us. And we needed to be shown and we needed a space for the "till the end of line" so it could come back and stab us right in the feels.

Also because we are ignoring previous movie Russos cleverly made us care about Winter Soldier because Steve cares about Winter Soldier. And we already know and like Steve so building up our main character gives us more mileage out of new bare bones character (because let's be honest, Winter Soldier is just that). Two birds one stone thing.

In Black Widow there is no such thing which IMHO is the main reason Taskmaster doesn't work. We just get information about cardboard cutout: insert cute little girl here (only told, not even shown actual cardboard) and all of the emotional connection to Natasha is: I know that my boss that I hate has a daughter, she got in the crossfire. Which means nobody cares.

All it would take is adding a short flashback scene. idk Dreykov is an asshole and doesn't care about Antonia but she is she cutest and most adorable little girl. She treats the Black Widows as older sisters. Hell if you want to make it more horrorish copy of the idea of Thor wanting to be a Valkyrie when he grows up or T'challa wanting to be a Dora Milaje. Little Antonia wants to be Black Widow when she grows up because they are badass and they are nice to her (and are also slightly confused by her) because she is nice to them and is only person that treats them as humans. Hell we could have short interaction between her and Nat. Just a smile between them would be enough.

You could get a lot of character buildup mileage out of such a short scene.

But it couldn't happen partially because the movie didn't have time for that but we didn't get that mostly because it would show us instead of telling that Nat killed a cute little innocent girl for her own personal gain. (well she thought she was destroying Red Room but mostly wanted to get away - vide she didn't check on Yelena or other widows. But I wouldn't hold that against her. It was put your oxygen mask first kind of situation. But still it would make her look bad)

Besides, that would take guts to actually show.

And technically they could have afforded to have that guts. That was last movie with Nat anyway. It would actually make this plotline about her feeling guilty about Dreykov's daughter and red in her ledger work. But well... It was last movie so they wanted to leave us with the most goodest and bleeding hartest and heartwarming mary sue version of Nat with just telling us without showing hey, she got dark past.

On the other hand if we had the rumored Endgame plotline of Nat running an orphanage. Damn that would tie to this plotline so well. We could tie the loose widows also. Dam we were robbed here I tell ya >.<

Ok I'm overdoing offtopic about Nat. Sorry

design

So yeah. Design wise Winter Soldier is like great. For Taskmaster, she sure looks cool but also kinda generic? If in 10 years you'd show me her and say it's antagonist from GI Joe or something I'll believe you :S (not touching the debate that in comics something something because unfortunately I don't know Taskmaster from comics. Although I hear that few recent ones were quite good so I'll check them out sooner or later)

snapping out of mind control

I mentioned before. It would be unfair and there is no point comparing main emotional scene of the movie versus means to an end that were repeated several times through a movie.

Natasha freeing Antonia even if she thought that Antonia will kill her because that would fair was great. What I'm annoyed is a cheap fakeout that went with that. It was just after the bombastic finale with explosions and all the cgi shit. Even without looking at the movie runtime it was obvious there will be no extra fight scene.

In catws it worked because the cgi pew pew extravaganza was a background noise and was part of a continuous fight. In BW helicarriers fell already, there was a second of dust settling and then Nat throws away the shield (uses that capsule). Tension just fell from highest place in a movie (quite literally lol), trying to rise it again for such a short moment just doesn't work.

But that's the general problem with Marvel movies. Bombastic CGI fest as grand finale that probably is "outsourced" and then actual director comes back and needs to end movie super quickly.

disappearing act at the end

So in catws there is mystery of what will Bucky do. We are given some hope since he dragged Steve out of river and visited the museum but thats all. I mean there is this annoying Marvel thing of skipping over the interesting ending of last movie and starting with next plot point. We were hoping for the grand roadtrip/hunt for Bucky but nope. We must run ahead with all the plotlines (same way I'm sure that the Spiderman is Peter Parker and he killed a guy thing will be already dealt with in the beginning of the next movie -.-) But that's bonus mini rant.

In BW they needed to wrap up to many plot lines too quickly so Antonia wakes up and that's all. We don't get a suggestion what she may do. The problem of the chip she still has installed is omitted. There is nothing. She just fucks off to lalaland with other Black Widows the end. Because we needed ending for Nat's actual family which was ok but also kinda rushed.

As I mentioned waaaay before (god, this rant is pretty long) too many hoops to jump through.

Which really sucks because if they added that one flashback scene just for Antonia and spared few more minutes for the overall ending it would work so much more better.

And I even know where they could have saved few minutes (besides the explosions thingies). The supply guy. One extra character in a movie with too many characters. In catws the supply problem (with wings) was solved with nbd shrug. If you wanted to show that Nat has her own web of contacts it should be more than one guy. IDK in Budapest there could be 10 second scene with neighbor saying hi nice to see you again we reinforced the walls after last time. In Norway we could see her visiting some special secret supply stash run by some rando before getting to the mobile home.

But oh she was on the run so that would be too many people. Then cut the people entirely. The shitty helicopter can be worked around with joke that I'm not on speaking terms with Stark rn and that's the best we can have on short notice.

Eh.. side rant again. Sorry.

So to wrap it up. I actually really would love to see what will happen with the loose Black Widows and Antonia because here they were really underdeveloped. And while widows were more of a group hero and we have Yelena as a representative so in a way it balances out but Taskmaster needed so little extra care to make her character so much better and I'm a tiiiiiiny bit salty about it.

#text post #long post #very long rant #black widow #black widow spoilers #black widow movie #black widow 2021 #taskmaster #antonia dreykov #i kinda doubt we will see her again #but one can hope #if anyone actually read through all of this congratz!#and thank you #let me hug you #(and I'm sorry it's so long)

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gthreepio · 3 years

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i’ve been thinking about the future of the mcu and realized there’s a LOT that i didn’t know/didn’t remember in terms of where things are going so i figured i’d sum it up incase anyone else was in the same boat!!

quick recap of (unresolved) mid-credit scenes:

doctor strange: mordo (a sorcerer that is one of strange’s mentors, who by the end of the movie becomes disillusioned with magic/the ancient one and quits) confronts pangborn (the paraplegic who healed himself with the mystic arts, who tells strange about mystic arts in the first place) and steals his magic because according to mordo, there are “too many sorcerers." of note, this guy is typically a villain in the comics but hasn’t been thus far...

gotg2: ayesha (leader of the sovereign, a golden skinned alien race obsessed with genetic purity), after spending most of the movie chasing the guardians for stealing some stuff, is revealed to have created an artificial being named “adam” which is presumably, adam warlock. (other stuff that is less relevant: kraglin appears to take up yondu’s mantle; the ravagers regroup and several old and obscure comic book characters are introduced [charlie-27, aleta, martinex, mainframe]; the watchers are watching things.)

far from home: j jonah jameson basically tells the whole world spider-man’s secret identity, and frames him for what happened with mysterio....making him public enemy #1. ALSO, turns out nick fury and maria hill in the movie were ACTUALLY the two skrulls from captain marvel (talos and soren) attempting to do their job, while the real fury (and presumably hill) is ... up in space on some spaceship!!!

wandavision: monica (who we can assume is photon) is called by “an old friend of [her] mother’s,” up in space, which presumably means fury, talos, or carol. ALSO, wanda sits in the middle of nowhere reading the darkhold and hears the voices of her children who.. by all accounts, should not exist.

aaaaand what we know about future movies (i’m not even going into the tv series.....):

black widow:

takes place after civil war

nat confronts a “dangerous conspiracy with ties to her past,” likely has to do with taskmaster who has apparently taken over the red room where nat was trained as an assassin

prominent new characters: yelena belova, who will take over the mantle of black widow after this; alexei shostakov aka red guardian, an ollllld marvel hero analogous to captain america except for the soviet union.

tony stark will make an appearance... SOBS

shang-chi and the legend of the ten rings:

shang-chi has never been seen in the mcu before, but he is, essentially, a superhero that is a master martial artist, and in some adaptations can also create duplicate (fake) versions of himself to confuse opponents

main villain will be the the mandarin who we have *sort of* seen before... he is the leader of a terrorist organization called “ten rings” whose main goal is to destroy world peace. brief history -- in iron man 1: one ten rings cell kidnaps tony stark and tries to force him to make weapons (he of course, makes his suit instead). stark and ten rings become enemies and fight a bunch. nat and nick fury fight them too. in iron man 3, the villain aldrich killian hires a dude to pretend to be the mandarin and claim responsibility for a bunch of stuff, but its not the ten rings or the mandarin at all. this makes the mandarin v mad and he has a dude kidnap the faker to punish him. they also briefly show up in ant-man, when a ten rings agent tries to buy the yellowjacket suit that darren cross is selling. BUT IN SHANG-CHI....... looks like we are FINALLY going to see the real mandarin after over a decade!!

the villain razor fist will also show up, he is lesser known... he has no superhuman powers but he has surgically replaced his hands (1 or 2, depending on the version) with a steel blade, and is highly skilled at hand to hand combat.

besides the presence of these characters, the only bit of plot we know is “shang-chi is drawn into the ten rings organization and forced to confront his past.” so... yeah. we don’t know much at all.

eternals:

quick explanation: the eternals are an immortal alien race who have been secretly living on earth for thousands of years. they were created by the celestials, who are most prominently in gotg2.

more entirely new characters!!! their names are: thena, who can form any weapon out of cosmic energy; gilgamesh, who can make a super strong exoskeleton out of cosmic energy; ikaris, who has superhuman strength, flies, and can project cosmic energy out his eyes; kingo, who can shoot cosmic energy projectiles from his hands; makkari, who creates sonic booms, has super speed, and is deaf; phastos, who has enhanced intelligence, and is also gay (and married with a kid!); ajak, who has healing powers; sprite, who can project illusions; sersi, who can manipulate matter; druig, who can mind control; and dane whitman (black knight), a human with a mystical sword.

regarding the plot... it seems the eternals have kind of dispersed, but have to come together again to fight the deviants, who are their “evil counterparts” (also created by the celestials, though i’m unclear on why). thena and gilgamesh have apparently been in exile, unclear why; sersi, who is posing as a museum curator, has apparently been in love with ikaris for centuries and it seems as if their love story may be central to the film; and kingo is a bollywood film star in his spare time. aaaaand that’s pretty much all we know.

directed by chloé zhao of nomadland fame!

spider-man no way home:

based on the post-credits scene in far from home, peter parker will now be known as spider-man to everyone. unclear if he’s going to be seen as a bad guy due to mysterio framing him, but i guess we’ll see!

jamie foxx is electro, and alfred molina is doctor octopus; which is VERY interesting considering they played these roles in other spider-man franchises, once again stirring up excitement for possible multiverse.

there have been *multiple* reports that andrew garfield, kirsten dunst, tobey maguire, and emma stone will be in the movie but tom holland has repeatedly denied this... so... who knows.

there are also rumors that matt murdock / daredevil (from netflix) will be in several scenes! not confirmed though.

MJ is still his girlfriend and i hope it stays that way!!

doctor strange will be featured in the movie, taking on the mentor role now that tony stark is gone :( this will be interesting as i.. haven’t really seen them interact much before. because of this inclusion some people speculate that the film may draw inspo from some comic storylines where peter’s secret identity is restored with magic.

doctor strange in the multiverse of madness:

scarlet witch is essentially co-starring!!! it’s going to be really interesting to see if they bring vision or the twins into this at all, though i’m not counting on it.

seems like mordo will be the main villain -- recall the ds1 post credits scene where he is apparently running around trying to steal people’s magic.

america chavez will make her debut!!!!!! i have no idea how this plays into anything but i am so excited!!

regarding the plot, all we really know is that strange has been researching the time stone, mordo messes with him, and this results in him accidentally unleashing “unspeakable evil.” presumably there will also be heavy involvement of the multiverse, and who knows what kind of craziness that will bring!!

initially was going to be directed by scott derrickson who did ds1; however he stepped down to being just EP due to “creative differences.” i am presuming this is because derrickson really wanted to make this more gothic and horror than disney was comfortable with. i REALLY hope they keep some of those elements though and don’t erase the idea entirely! anyway, it will be directed by sam raimi now (of evil dead and spiderman 2002 fame).

the film also reportedly ties in with the loki series (will loki show up!?) and spiderman 3 (which is obvious enough, given that strange is in that movie and those curious electro and doctor octopus castings...)

thor: love and thunder

directed by taika waititi again, hell yeah!!! and he has stated, the film will be “so over the top now in the very best way" and would make ragnarok look like a "run of the mill, very safe film" .... so.... oh god

so many great returning players!!! including.... valkyrie (now the king of new asgard), jane foster, lady sif, korg, star-lord, mantis, drax, nebula, and kraglin (takes up yondu’s mantle after he dies in gotg2)

in this movie, thor isn’t thor anymore.... it’s JANE!!! she gets cancer :( and is undergoing treatment while simultaneously being thor. i’m a little nervous how this will be handled, but i’m excited. (it’s based off an amazing comic series by jason aaron)

the big bad: gorr the god butcher, played by christian bale! the gist of it is, this dude HATES gods because nobody helped when his family was dying and in need. his weapon is “all-black the necrosword,” forged from the head of a celestial, and allows the user to create wings and fly at extreme speeds. honestly, he sounds cool as fuck.

valkyrie is going to be made canonically bisexual!!!

it will explore more of korg’s backstory, and also include... space sharks!?!?! an alien race from the comics.

taika has called the script “very romantic” so take that as you will

black panther 2

will again be directed by ryan coogler

not much is known at this point, does not have an official name

t’challa will NOT be recast (which i’m happy about) so..... honestly no idea what to expect for this one. i think we can probably expect shuri to have an expanded role. all we know so far is they will be “exploring the world of wakanda.” not clear to me how this is different from the upcoming wakanda D+ series.

tenoch huerta has reportedly been cast as a villain, but no one has any idea who. there’s also rumors that donald glover is in “informal talks” to play a role. note all of this is unconfirmed.

captain marvel 2

will be directed by nia da costa (candyman!) and written by megan mcdonnell, who is one of wandavision’s best writers!

will take place in the present day

will feature kamala khan / ms. marvel, monica rambeau / photon!!! this will be so interesting.... kamala is a huge fan of carol’s in the comics, she is her mentor/idol. the ms. marvel series will also resportedly lead into cm2. and monica, well, monica knew her when she was a little kid. wandavision implies that there’s some bad blood between carol and monica though, not sure why. maybe because carol left and never came back? (until endgame)

post-credits scene of wandavision appears to tie into this, having monica go up into space at the reqeust of her “mom’s old friend.” again, not clear who that is. this could also be a tie in to secret invasion though, so we’ll see. or both.

zawe ashton has been cast as an unknown villain... a lot of people are actually speculating that she may play rogue? which would be fascinating, as there’s a comic arc where rogue steals her powers and memories. BUT there’s still no confirmation that X-men exist in the MCU so for now i remain skeptical.

they are looking to cast a ‘john boyega’ or ‘michael b jordan’ type which makes me wonder if they are going to create a new character, a “younger” war machine to be her love interest? (note: carol and rhodey are a huge thing in comics!) carol obviously does not look her age but her and don cheadle.... that just doesn’t work. which is why i wonder.

ant-man and the wasp: quantumania

in addition to scott and hope, pretty much all the major players are returning including: luis, hank pym, janet van dyne

cassie lang has been recast with an actress 5 years older, which is really making me wonder if they are going to make her stinger in this movie! (aka one of the main young avengers)

the villain: kang the conqueror! this dude time travels. original name nate richards. in the comics, kang travels back in time to rescue his younger self (nate) from an attack that would help shape him towards a life of villainy. kang also gives him some fancy armor. his younger self actually is like, what the fuck dude? and renounces his destiny, becoming a hero. and he makes his armor look like iron man, calling himself iron lad. who is a young avenger. which also makes me wonder about cassie lang.

otherwise not much is known!

guardians of the galaxy vol. 3

james gunn is returning, i’m mixed about this...he really does *get* the guardians though.

based on the gotg2 post credits scene, i think we can assume adam warlock will be a HUGE part of this. there are multiple versions of him, some villainous and some heroic, but no idea how this is gonna turn out.

no word yet on whether thor will be involved, or if those ravagers they introduced will be involved.

fantastic four

will be directed by the spiderman guy, john watts.

otherwise we know literally nothing.

aaaaand that’s the roundup!

#mcu #marvel #black widow #shang chi and the legend of the ten rings #eternals #smnwh #spiderman: no way home #doctor strange in the multiverse of madness #dsitmom #thor: love and thunder #tlat #black panther 2 #captain marvel 2 #ant man and the wasp: quantumania #amatwq #guardians of the galaxy vol. 3 #gotg3 #fantastic four #mcu thoughts

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orionsangel86 · 3 years

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100% agree on the selfcest, like

Marvel don't have the balls

They're don't have gay people because they're afraid of backlash, you really think selfcest is the way they're going to go????

Things I wanna know:

WHERE IS B-15 MY BELOVED

They??? Kidnapped an CHILD??? how the fuck did a child step out of your ridiculously drawn boundaries??

Of course they were androids, can't be that easy to contact them. That basically means that Ravonne(?) was in charge. Get the truth out of her, Sylvie

Actually, does this mean that "Time Keepers" don't exist at all?? And this is all a play by a mortal Man™ to keep Order™? A Thanos 2.0?

Fuckin' KNEW pruning wasn't death. Like FIRST of all - pruning? Weird name and in Gardening doesn't it mean to cut away the extra leaves to allow new growth? That doesn't mean the cut part of the plant is dead

What do you think that place is? Also, can't believe they Wandavision and didn't bhage mid credit scenes until EP 4

Ahhh I've only just seen this ask and OOooh I have sooo many of the same thoughts here!

On the selfcest - I don't think using their lack of gay people is actually a great argument against them going for it. Remember that this is selfcest between a man and a woman (well, a male presenting and female presenting Loki anyway which means straight people get to look at them and consider it "normal")

I actually totally think Marvel WOULD choose selfcest between a male and female presenting Loki over any "gay stuff" because I just think Disney are that nasty.

Remember how in Supernatural The CW signed off on Dean textually showing sexual attraction to a DOG (which was very clearly shown to be a female dog) and yet threw a MASSIVE homophobic hissy fit when the show tried to imply he reciprocated Cas's gay feelings to the extent that they totally butchered and ruined the plot of the last two episodes of the show to cover up the gay?

These networks are more willing to support the concept of bestiality between male and female presenting different species than explicitly gay scenes between two consenting men (Looking at you Beauty and the Beast)

So yeah, I would totally believe that Disney would choose the path of "heterosexual appearing" selfcest over anything remotely gay

(yes I know that Loki being attracted to women doesn't make him heterosexual yes I know bierasure is a very real problem and as an actual real life bisexual person I am well aware of this but do NOT give Disney this pass okay.)

That being said, whilst I totally think Disney WOULD choose this route over say, canon romance between Loki and Mobius, I still don't think Loki and Silvie will be a thing. Mobius even called it out in the episode as being twisted and nasty (it IS guys even if you think it's in character for Loki, it's just weird and icky...) so I think it's a misdirect. Its basically this:

"I have feelings for you!"

"I have feelings for you too!"

Narrator: "The feeling was friendship, but neither of them had ever experienced it before."

Anyways, enough about the selfcest!

1. B-15 IS GONNA KICK ASS AND BE AMAZING

2. Oh I actually think there is gonna be a good explanation for that based on Ravonna's refusal to tell Sylvie what the reason was. (Still think maybe it has something to do with the fact that Sylvie isn't actually a Loki? (Please Disney, if you are going for the Loki/Sylvie love pairing route at LEAST reveal her to NOT be a Loki but the Enchantress instead! THAT would make sense!!!)) Otherwise it's probably going to be because she was a GOOD Loki. Like, a Loki who was raised with love and knew who she was and was growing up to make good choices and be a good person and that just didn't fit the timekeepers narrative (which actually makes the whole child abduction thing even worse...)

3. Yeah the time keepers being fake seemed a bit obvious to me, but I still don't think its Ravonna who is in charge. I think it's gonna be a wizard of Oz type situation where it's just some man with an over inflated ego in charge of the whole thing. I've heard rumours about a dude called Kang? But I don't know enough about the comics to really going into any further detail about that.

4. OMG that is such a great point about pruning. You prune plants to keep them neat and growing the way you want them to rather than leaving them to just grow crazy and chaotically the way nature intended. The point is that pruning is a form of control which is technically against nature. But you're right that the pruned pieces aren't dead technically, you can prune, propagate, and regrow.

I think that place is gonna be some sort of dumping ground for all pruned things, both pruned people, and the items on the timeline that were "reset". So you know how young Sylvie was playing with the toy ship? They took Sylvie, and "reset" the timeline which caused the toys to disappear. I think the toys will also be in this place that Loki is now in with all his alternate versions. It's gonna be like a weird pocket dimension or something.

I was so annoyed about that midcredit scene lol! I wasn't expecting it so just stopped watching when the credits first rolled and didn't know Loki came back at first! It was only when I saw people talking about it on here that I was like wait a sec... and went back and watched it! Urgh! What a sneaky trick!!! Lol!

Aahh this answer got long and rambly but please let me know what you think about all this! I am still really enjoying this show even with the icky selfcest implications and can't wait to see the next episode!

#loki #loki spoilers #mcu loki #loki theories #asks

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welcome-to-the-cafe · 3 years

Text

Shang-Chi (2021) Review Pt. 2

This one will be about the less character-relevant stuff, such as casting, props, settings, and design.

Easiest first: props and costumes.

A bit cool, a bit silly, and bit too "Chinese-themed".

The old Ten-Ring troops had normal armor for the time and age. The new Ten Ring troops looked like the Snake-Eyes fodder ninjas but with tassled helmets. Like I appreciate what they were going for, but...it look dumb dude. And what they were doing with only one hook sword? The electrified thing was cool, but y'all didn't use the bladed hand guard, the combo hook move, the spiked pommel...wasted potential smh. And then the electric arc crossbows....again I appreciate the idea, but that was silly, especially after we showed the Ten Rings sniper with a normal ass gun. Or, just go full sino-futurism and give me the chainsaw spiked club, the electrified monk's spade, taser three section staff.

The villager's clothes were too...saturated, and monochromatic. It kinda reminded me of Mulan (2020) actually, the white people's ancient Chinese clothing. In contrast, in the he TianLongBaBu wuxia series I've been watching, people dress in...normal earth tones. Oh also, too many fucking sandals, where are my black loafers and thick white socks, with rope bindings? Like the kind modern Shaolin monks wear?? The villager's weapons too. Only Xialing's was kind of interesting, the rest are vanilla staffs and sword+shield. Boooo. Where's the dragonscale fangtianhuaji? The dragonscale guandao? Ok I'm done. Just disappointed.

Wenwu's costumes were pure drip in every scene. Zero complaints.

Shang-Chi's letterman's jacket was my favorite costume to be honest. He should not have changed in the village. The final costume seemed a bit too...modern, but not quite to the level of the Black Panther suit. It just seemed like Western superhero top with a vaguely Chinese pattern on it. Or it looked kindof...southeast asian? Wish it had no sleeves.

Katy should've kept her Macau drip. The "traditional" robe just didn't look right.

Xialing looked the best in her inverse Bruce Lee colors crop top and sweats. Like damn.

Ying Li's robes' green is too saturated in my opinion, unnaturally. Same with Michelle Yeoh's character. Now that I think about it, I hardly ever see bright green in traditional Chinese clothes...or modern Chinese fashion. Her pristine white/biege wushu outfit is also meh for me.

Death Dealer's dark blue + yellow colors are quite striking, but a bit odd and out of place with the rest of the Ten Rings' getup. Perhaps it was intentional, since he's the elite trainer? I wish it was more modern, a la Snake Eyes' suit. I would also like to complain about his opera face makeup though; why only the top half? Is that even a real opera face design? It's kind of a dumb half-ass reference I think. Like, Noh masks are used all the time for creepy effect, why not Beijing Opera?

Next, CGI animals.

Morris the Hundun/Dijiang was cute, but I half expected him to suddenly go nuts and devour Slattery, since the Hundun is one of the primordial evil beasts. But Disney needs their marketable mascot. I even saw a Lego piece for him before the movie was released!

The trip through the other world was a bit too safari-like. Like wow, the Ninetails is just chilling by the road, and a herd of Qilin conveniently pass by. The execution of these creatures were fine, though the Qilin eyes were too "dead".

I don't have problems with the Lions' design, but they were completely unnecessary, and lowered the stakes for the final battle for me. Those two lions could literally tear apart all five of Wenwu's trucks in less than a minute.

I stated already, the big evil monster, the little soulsuckers, and the dragon are completely unnecessary to me. Even when I saw just the wood carving of the soulsucking bats, I felt disappointed. Xialing and Shangchi spent way too long riding the big dragon and not doing kungfu :/

Onto settings.

I just recently visited Bay Area! The hilliness of SF was nicely showed off by the bus fight.

Macao seemed well-grounded and normal for a modern Chinese metropolis. Was portrayed better than Tokyo was in Snake Eyes in my opinion. The bamboo scaffolding scene reminded me heavily of Rush Hour 2's Hong Kong fight, and I could hear Jackie Chan assuring us "don't worry, Chinese bamboo, very strong!".

The Ten Rings compound was...eh. No defining features to locate it anywhere real so whatever. But the interior was weirdly homey?

The Ta Lo village is what I really want to complain about: why they gotta throw Chinese people back to the Xia dynasty like that? Straw huts? Really? And there was a total of like 7 buildings there, across a tiny area. That is not a village, it's a medium-sized temple complex. Kung Fu Panda 3's hidden panda village was loads more impressive, with interesting geography. This was on a flat plane next to a pond. Combined with the costuming, it's like hello, it's hokey Western orientalism again.

Casting.

Tony Leung. Perfect. Outstanding. Phenomenal. Sexy as hell. I have recovered fully from Lust, Caution. I see on Tiktok that westerners are thirsting after him, and I am very satisfied. The "Killmonger-Loki" Effect is now the "Wenwu-Killmonger-Loki" Effect. I only wish he were younger, because I hate the "daddy" kink. Mr. Leung, you are a hero to Asian-American men. Thank you.

Awkwafina. Yeah she is pretty good as the unabashed ABC friend. But lately, I feel she has been over-used as the main Chinese-American actress. On some social media, I have seen Black users complain of her 'blaccent' and vow to boycott Shang-Chi in protest. I'm inclined to defend her, as it is probably what she grew up with, and the boycott feels like another attempt to draw moral hierarchical divisions between minorities. Similar sentiment is "yall didn't come out for Black Panther, why should we come out for Shang-Chi?". I don't have any data as to whether 'we' did come out for Black Panther, but I generally disapprove of POC factionalism.

Simu Liu. I'm glad that Westerners are thirsting over him too. I'm glad he's very enthusiastic and affable, and well-liked in the Asian-American community. He's us! And he got a shirtless scene! But the catch is...he doesn't fit the current Chinese standard for "hot guy actor".

From the majority angle: that's toxic af. He's hot enough, why are we being so picky with dumb Asian beauty standards? Will we ever properly support ourselves? Like damn, this is the first Asian-American lead in a goddamn Marvel movie, and this is how you treat him?? By the Heavens.

From the other angle: his eyes are small, his jaw kind of round, head kind of wide. Not the most masculine, but definitely not feminine. He's a normal Chinese-American dude. Chinese dude, Harbin, Heilongjiang born. Compare that to Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, Paul Rudd, Chris Pratt, Sebastian Stan, Chadwick Boseman, Anthony Mackie, etc. These are among the finest western specimens; why did the pick the Asian hero to be played by the 'normal-looking' dude? Was Jackson Wang not available? Or Ludi Lin? I personally have a suspicion that his appearance most fits the stereotypical look of an Asian man to Western audiences, and that's why he was cast.

He's received hate for this, from Reddit r/aznidentity, the sub that I frequent, which currently is cheering Shang-Chi's box-office success. That's toxic af, and must be heartbreaking for him. Unfortunately, it's part of the larger conflict of Western and Eastern media, representation, markets, and culture. And that's a big fish to wrangle in part 3.

#shang chi #simu liu #awkwafina #kevin watches #asian american #tony leung

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bewitching-elizabeth-olsen · 3 years

Text

Press: Streaming, With Only a Little Trepidation

“I’ve never had more fun on a job before,” says the WandaVision lead who spoke with the Ted Lasso star about their shows, the Scarlett Johansson lawsuit, and what happens to the theatrical moviegoing experience now.

In Reunited, Awards Insider hosts a conversation between two Emmy nominees who have collaborated on a previous project. Here, we speak with WandaVision star Elizabeth Olsen and Ted Lasso co-creator and star Jason Sudeikis, who previously starred in the 2017 film Kodachrome.

VANITY FAIR: Elizabeth Olsen and Jason Sudeikis met for the first time just before filming their 2017 indie Kodachrome, but they already had at least one thing in common: a “big old crush” on Ed Harris, as Olsen describes it. “He did not disappoint at all,” adds Sudeikis. “He stuck up for us. He cared about us. He cared about the movie.”

A guide to Hollywood’s biggest races

Now, the two have much more in common, as first-time Emmy nominees. Olsen is nominated for lead actress for her work as Wanda Maximoff in WandaVision, a Disney+ limited series that explores grief and loss, through a superhero story wrapped in a parody of TV sitcoms. Sudeikis earned four Emmy nominations for Apple TV+’s darling Ted Lasso, which he cocreated, cowrote, and stars in as Ted, a cheery American football coach who attempts to coach an English Premier League soccer team.

In early August, Olsen and Sudeikis reunited over Zoom to chat with Vanity Fair about transitioning these characters to TV, their views on the new streaming empires, and what they think of the lawsuit Scarlett Johansson recently brought against Disney regarding the strategy to stream Black Widow simultaneously with its theatrical release.

Vanity Fair: It’s been quite a few years since you shot Kodachrome. What do you remember about where you were on your trajectories at that time?

Elizabeth Olsen: Of life? It was when I was at a down trajectory.

Jason Sudeikis: Personally or professionally? I feel like from the outside, it only seems like you operate in one direction [motions upward].

Olsen: From a personal standpoint. So, I was excited to get to do a small movie, an intimate job that had some levity. And that was really nice. And I have a big old crush on Ed Harris and I still do.

Sudeikis: Yeah. To know that the director was like, “hey, we’re thinking about Jason Sudeikis for this role” and then Ed Harris stayed on, It was like, “all right, pleasant surprise. Pleasant surprise.”

Your current projects, WandaVision and Ted Lasso, may seem very different but do have one thing in common: they both feature characters that originated elsewhere. Wanda is obviously from the Marvel films and Jason you played Ted Lasso in commercials. Why did you feel these characters would work on a TV series?

Olsen: I got really comfortable in the Marvel movies, taking up my piece of the story and my piece of, how does my little arc work in this much larger arc with 30 other characters? And so the idea of all the focus being on me and Paul [Bettany] totally freaked me out. And that it was on television felt weird because these characters are superheroes and maybe they should be seen on big screens and not televisions. But the entire DNA of the show was meant for television. It was written for television. The arc has to be told through television. And from an actor’s point of view, it was something I’d never done. I’ve never done sitcom acting, let alone go through the decades with it.

And I’ve never had more fun on a job before. We got to go to work and just feel like an idiot all the time. And all of us, we’d be like hamming, hamming, hamming, and use each other as these barometers of “are we doing this too much? Is this now just a parody? Is this a joke? At what point are we supposed to dial it back?” And at one point I did, I think, a quadruple take, and that was the first time the director asked me to pull it back and just do a double take. So it was pretty incredible to get to expand on the character and this world, but do it from a totally different perspective. I’m so grateful for that job.

Sudeikis: Have you hosted SNL yet?

Olsen: God no!

Sudeikis: No? Well, I’m not going to agent you and be like, “if they ask, would you ever want to?” But, look, I know you’re funny. It was really fun to watch you do multi-cam sitcom acting. And then the genre thing, it made me be like, “oh, she would crush on SNL”. You’re always going to internalize stuff because you’re, in my opinion, very, very talented and very, very smart. So then even when you externalize things, like a quadruple take, it would be joyful to watch even in the attempt. Watching the show, it didn’t seem at all like an aberration or like you were putting it on. It felt well conceived and well thought out. And it almost made me wonder if the creator was aware of that or was it all just an act of faith on their part.

Olsen: It was a total act of faith. What they did is they took comedy actors who are really funny and gave them the more dramatic stuff. Because they thought that would balance out when we failed. And we’re like, “You guys are very smart for doing this.”

Sudeikis: Now, are you putting that on them or was that articulated to you day one?

Olsen: We talked about it. We were so open about it. We’re like, “this is very clever that you guys put some of the funniest actors in MCU in these dramatic parts.” But SNL, I watch it every Saturday when it’s live. I’m obsessed with SNL and that’s why I would never! It’s like the ocean. I respect the ocean so much and that’s why I don’t need to go in it.

Sudeikis: I don’t know. I think we’ll see. This is going to be like Charles Foster Kane’s declaration of principles. “I would never host SNL.” And then, “And your host, Elizabeth Olsen.”

Olsen: So tell me about Lasso: small to big.

Sudeikis: Me and my buddies, Joe [Kelly] and Brendan [Hunt], did those commercials in 2013, 2014, and we then sat down to talk about it in 2015. And it was kind of like, “okay, is it another set of commercials? Is it a movie?” I knew what the character was and we all grew up with great sports films, by Ron Shelton and Rudy and Hoosiers and things like that. But then also liked Nora Ephron, you know? We wanted to make something that had a little bit of romance. And romance may not be sexual, it’s also a platonic version of romance. And the story just sort of spooled out of us in a way that garnered a pilot episode and then a well-beat-out outline for a season. Because we were kind of modeling it after the British Office where it’d be like six episodes, six episodes, and then maybe an hour and a half special, like a movie type thing. Not wanting to take up too much space and not knowing how long it would go. And so it only could be a TV show, was the way it felt.

And so then it went away for a while because that was in 2015. And then lo and behold, it comes back around when I met Bill Lawrence for this other project. That one didn’t work out, but he was like, “Do you have anything?” I said, “Well, we have this.” And I remember having a whole bunch of stuff in this office, more work than I think he realized. He’s like, “Oh yeah, this is definitely, this is a whole thing. Okay. Wow. You guys have really thought this through.”

Olsen: Did you have a [writers] room or did you already write most of it?

Sudeikis: No, we definitely had a room. It was like I knew the chords, I knew the structure of things. We had a great room of 11 people for the first season. With hiring people, we just had good fortune. I didn’t know it was interesting at the time, but asking people during the interview process who their mentors were, who were the people that encouraged them, who made you think you could do this for a living—you can learn a lot about a person by listening to them talk about their mentors, their heroes.

Olsen: With the jokes, I feel like they’re so quick, but they’re so specific to people who watch sports and who knows sports. Well, not all of them, but a lot of the jokes are. Do you have a list of ones that you want to get in there or are these coming up in the room? Because it gets me as a big sports person.

Sudeikis: It really depends on it. There’s some ideas that I’d had for years and years that are just from old notebooks that I used to carry around when I worked on SNL before you would type things into a phone. And storylines and themes and characters that have just been ruminating in my head based on other ideas for either movies or sketches that didn’t make it. And then a big part of the room is that we have this collective consciousness that isn’t all sports.

And then with specific soccer jokes, we do try to include jokes that we call “two percenters” that only football fans would like. Just as our little tip of the cap because we wouldn’t be here without that group of people digging our shit back in the commercial days.

Your shows were on Disney+ and Apple TV+. Did you have any concerns about them being on streaming services, which were relatively new at the time, and finding an audience?

Sudeikis: It’d probably be more so if it was like Goodyear TV+, if it was some brand that didn’t already rule the world of entertainment and technology.

Olsen: I did a version of that with Facebook. And I didn’t like that experience. I loved my show [Sorry for Your Loss] and I loved everyone that I worked with. But the Facebook relationship was frustrating because of the lack of television experience and how the platform is organized. When we went to season two, we had a meeting that our show called for Facebook to have with us, so that we can give them our notes about their platform and why we think it’s really hard to find our show on their platform and how it’s congested. So I was anxious going into Disney+. But I knew it was Disney. And I think I was more anxious with the Marvel characters being on television than I was about the Disney+ element.

Sudeikis: Golly, I didn’t even consider that. And you’re absolutely right, because Facebook would be closer to Apple. Truth is we didn’t have a choice. We pitched it to a bunch of different places. They were the only ones that would open the door and say, “yeah, come in out of the rain, you can hang out in here. You can do your little show in here.” And so, the trepidation was alleviated by the fact that there was nowhere else open to us.

Olsen: Facebook and Apple I feel like aren’t that similar.

Sudeikis: No, but they hadn’t created content before.

Olsen: Well, Facebook now is [scaling back] scripted content.

Speaking of streaming, both of you have starred in big theatrical movies. Are either of you worried about the theatrical experience, in the way that COVID has changed how movies are being released at this point? We saw how that’s playing out with Scarlett Johansson’s recent lawsuit.

Olsen: I’m worried about a bunch of things. Not worried on Scarlett’s behalf. But I’m worried about small movies getting the opportunity to be seen in theaters. That was already a thing pre-COVID. I like going to the movies and I don’t necessarily want to see only an Oscar contender or a blockbuster. I would like to see art films and art house theaters. And so I do worry about that, and people having to keep these theaters alive. And I don’t know how financially that works for these theaters. I do hope that there’s some sort of solution that the larger companies are coming together to keep, at least in L.A. this is going to happen. But I do think it’s going to be how it kind of used to be when studios owned theaters. And I have a feeling that we might go back to that being the only way to keep them alive with such expensive real estate. But when it comes to actors and their earnings, I mean, that’s just, that’s just all contracts. So it’s either in the contract or it’s not. What about you? Are you worried about Scarlett?

Sudeikis: Of course. How could I not? She’s married to my comedy brother [SNL’s Colin Jost].

Olsen: I think she’s so tough and literally when I read that I was like, “good for you Scarlett.”

Sudeikis: Well, I mean, it is appropriately bad-ass and on brand. I think it’s also married to yes, the COVID of it all and success of the streaming sites. But also just technology. I mean this thing [points at his TV] is as good as any movie theater, and all that stuff is getting cheaper and cheaper. If you’re a family of five and you’re going out there and it’s a whole thing. And yet the communal experience, towards Lizzie’s point is, is one that you can’t replicate in home. You can’t replicate through social media. I think both of our shows have succeeded greatly on their own merit, but it’s certainly written further through people’s love of them socially. Which would have happened back in the day around a water cooler. And while that’s nice, it’s still not the same as sitting next to everybody and getting scared at the same time or cheering at the same time and laughing at the same time.

I do think though, if we just use anecdotally, Kodachrome as an example, more people probably have seen it because it got on Netflix than they would have in the theater. And the more that happens, the better. So it’s like there is that reach that as long as those streaming sites are still paying to make those little movies, they have the opportunity to be seen. And so it is this balance. I just hope that with that still comes creative autonomy, and we don’t lose sight of that.

What about the experience of making these shows will you take on to your next project and the one after that?

Olsen: Well, I definitely had a shake-up to use my full body as an actor. I had to create a character and voices. And just all the technical stuff that I have loved doing my whole life was just shook up a bit. And so I’m now really excited to do more of that and to feel a bit freer in building characters. And so that has really informed the next thing I’m working on now and preparing for. It’s just kind of put me back in my actory body in a really good way.

And hosting SNL.

Olsen: Of course, now I’ll host SNL because stage fright has nothing to do with that. I can do a monologue in front of people and make them laugh.

Sudeikis: Not a prerequisite. Having worked there for 10 years, not a prerequisite. Well, the tacky answer is it’d be tough not being the boss again. And I’m fucking flabbergasted that people have picked up so much what we set down for them. You know what I mean? From colleagues on the writing and acting side to just regular folks back home, people I’ve never even met. It’s thrilling. I have to try to make sense of that for myself. And I think a lot of it has to do with it being something so personal. And so that might be the thing to lean into.

Olsen: It’s interesting you say that because immediately three days after wrapping, I had to go into a film where we’re not in WandaVision land, obviously. I mean, they kind of are a muscle, these Marvel movies. Instead of going back to that routine of it, I tried to do what you’re saying. I was like, “okay, so what can I play with that I haven’t gotten to that’ll at least satisfy something inside me that I want to play with right now?”

Sudeikis: I don’t know when I’ll get to do that again, when I’ll do that next. Because yeah, it’s Lasso—

Olsen: Lasso forever.

Sudeikis: At least for a little bit longer.

Olsen: Is it what you said, three seasons and then a special?

Sudeikis: I mean, the special would have been the third season with the initial thing. Now you sound like you’re my agent or manager.

Olsen: Oh good, that’s what I came here for. That’s what I wanted to do.

Sudeikis: Who sent you? I know the end of this story. I mean, the fact that we have a third season could fucking blow it all and ruin what would people like so much of the first season. We might be in the middle of doing it now in the second season. I don’t know. We’re just doing it the same way we did it last time. So we’ll see. But yeah, that’s a big old, long winded question mark.

Olsen: Or an ellipsis.

Press: Streaming, With Only a Little Trepidation was originally published on Elizabeth Olsen Source • Your source for everything Elizabeth Olsen

#Elizabeth Olsen #WandaVision #Avengers #Scarlet Witch #Wanda Maximoff #Sorry For Your Loss #Avengers Infinity War #Avengers Age of Ultron #Captain America Civil War #Ingrid Goes West #Godzilla #Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness #Marvel #MCU #Candy Montgomery #Love and Death #Avengers Endgame

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lorenlily · 1 year

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hey, feb anon here

sorry for not messaging for a couple days, i meant to but kept being distracted and forgetting, sorry

yeah, i think that i might watch the new ant man movie cause i do like those ones, but overally marvel and disney+ just annoys me now, especially since everything i want to watch is on it and i don't have it (yes i may be slightly bitter, but no mind)

i really need to get round to watching the amazing spiderman movies, they seem really good.

oh i love the songs maisie has on the trying soundtrack, especially party and i want you to change. the list is also like one of the most comforting songs ever, i listen to it all the time when i'm feeling bad.

i think right now my favourite maisie song is details. i love the ones where she's just being really honest about not necessarily being in the right and being kinda mean and rude and abdigfahbab i just love the song

like yeah, i don't want to hear about the mixtapes, or the cigarettes she smokes, and i don't want to hear about the one time you met up in that park we'd always go, so i'll ignore her and she'll be really nice to me, and i know i'm being bitter and jealous and mean.

sorry i've gone on about maisie for too long now

OH WAIT, SHE ANNOUNCED THAT THE ALBUM NAME IS THE GOOD WITCH, AND SHE KEEPS USING TORNADO EMOJIS WHEN POSTING ABOUT THE ALBUM, SO I THINK THERE'S GONNA BE LOTS OF WIZARD OF OZ IMAGERY AND LYRICS AND YEAH I'M REALLY EXCITED

ok yeah, now i'm done with the chatter about maisie.

derry girls is amazing, i'm watching it as i'm writing this actually! if you haven't tried it yet then you really should, it's absolutely hilarious!!!!!

i have to get around to reading djats, it sounds really good.

ok, onto taylor. i appreciate the support for my top three, and it hurts my heart to see people hating on my beloved coney island and labyrinth. no taste, they have absoluteluy no taste.

i am most excited for speak now when it comes to rerecordings because it has some of her most intense songs, both lyrically and vocally, so hearing her grown up 33 year old voice when she's belting in haunted and dear john and mine and sparks fly is something i'm so excited for, not even to mention hearing a 33 year old taylor singing dear john and innocent and never grow up with 14 years to have spent looking back and growing up and learning. it'll just be amazing.

when it comes to vault tracks, funnily enough i think it's 1989. because we know now that she was struggling a lot with her mental health in that era, but she didn't really want to release songs about it or talk about it in the public eye like she does now, and the only song on that album that even gets close to adressing stuff like that is clean. but now, i think she will feel more comfortable talking about that and i think there will be a lot more emotionally intense songs, or just songs referencing those situations. like how in red tv we got things like nothing new and forever winter, that she never would have released in 2012.

also, by that time in her career she was a lot better about not having leaks occur, so we really have no clue about possible 1989 vault songs, unlike speak now or debut.

i haven't watched any of the movies or tv shows you said but i'll have to check some of them out. i'm really excited for maybe a trailer from pjo series as well though!!! i can't wait!!!!!! i think that you would write an amazing book!!!!!! but i get the whole not being able to actually get the ideas down on paper. i started writing a couple stories (ff) in 2021, and i haven't updated them since februrary of that year, which is slightly crazy, but yeah that's how long it's been.

omg, i just realized what day it is.

exactly two years ago yesterday, i was watching a gyoutube video where the woman making it went off on a tangent about how amazing and heartbreaking the song dear john was. i immediatly went and listened to the song, over and over, and then watched every reaction to that song on the internet. then i, over the next few months, listened to the entirety of taylor's discography. goddamn, i can't believe it's been two years, that's crazy.

good thing i did though, it's the reason i even know who you are and am sending this message.

anyways, wow that was a lot of rambling, i swear when i write these on a computer it just completely gets away from me and i end up writing a ridiculous amount

hey maybe you should try writing your stories in asks to your friends, i can vouch that it makes you write a ridiculous amount.

how are you doing today? and how was your valentines day? i hope it was good and i am sending you flowers and chocolates and little heart pillows and just general happiness.

so yeah, i hope all is good with you and this puts a smile on your face.

and hey, you are over halfway through februrary, and i am so incredibly proud of you <3

hiiiiiii

yep absolutely the amazing spiderman movies are my faves but prepare for a lot of tears in the second one (sorrry!)

i really love the list i just saw a video of her performing it when i was on tiktok and details omg i really love when songs are a little mean!! like high infidelity and skip that part by x ambassadors ft jensen mcrae (that one is really mean!)

the good witch is such a great name for an album and i really really really love the whole album cover for it! i'm very excited for it and the rest of the imagery and sound especially saying the songs sound like spells and hexes (ahhhh more mean songs pls!!)

coney island and labyrinth my beloveds <3 and omg i love how you found her through reaction videos there's so many now especially with more people listening to album tracks! dear john is still my favourite track 5 and until folklore/evermore and onwards, speak now has always had my favourite vocals from her albums and i can feel like speak now tv vocals could be so incredible especially her deeper tone on songs like last kiss and haunted and innocent and never grow up omg it's going to sound like an older sister singing it to you

i too am most excited for speak now tv (duh!) but 1989 has always had my favourite deluxe tracks so the vault i have high expectations and i didn't think about how it could have songs like forever winter (thats my favourite vault track rn) and i really hope sweeter than fiction gets a chance to be on 1989 tv (and safe and sound and eyes open get to be on speak now tv!!)

i hope you had a good day! did you take part in valentunes? that was really fun for me and how is it already mid feb??? that means you also got through it and i'm really happy you sent that first message <3

#i will definetly try writing more but rn im just on the struggle of getting a job #february anon <3 #what becomes of curious minds*

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fandom-sheep · 3 years

Text

Eret 11 MAY 21

Cat and DSMP Part 1/1

Cat! Goose!

Goose my beloved.

Eret’s streaming very late for me again. So I’m not staying the whole time.

Hello Elaina. Enjoy Goose.

Fundy! Kinda...

Fundy hearing the donations. LOL.

Fundy enters a stream and it starts to scuffed. Scuffed just follows Fundy wherever he goes.

A wild my beloved on the cube.

The Drista stairs.

Wait what. Why is the tower gone?

I have missed some lore.

Ah... it’s part of the nightmare thing.

Eret offering Fundy housing like a good almost adoptive parent.

Sneeze? OH WOW SNEEZE.

Sounds like Fundy about lost a lung. Good gracious.

The bargaining between these two.

Cat, Handsome, said cube was massive

You know what that works.

It’s hard to keep the audio right for Eret’s stream for my headphones. It’s either too quiet or the loudest my headphones can go and my family can hear it.

On stream explosions. Noice.

Wow youtooz. Not super cool. Permission is usually a good thing.

Eret keeps on sizzling.

Getting dirt for scaffolding. Going old fashioned Minecraft for this.

“Why is the Cube kinda hot” cue Eret losing faith in her chats sanity.

Cube go poof.

Oh. Red stone. That’s dangerous.

I like this song. Oh klahoma. Gorgeous song.

Love joy is such a fun band. I want to make a plushy of the cat.

It’s kinda sad that Eret can’t see themselves the way chat and their little fandom sees them. Most all of us think they look fabulous.

Not Arson. Just bombing. A bit of anarchy by the king.

Demolition. Now there’s the word.

Controlled ish demolition.

Ah I’ve almost saved enough channel points for water. Nice. I’m not going to redeem it I’m just going to keep hoarding the points.

Flame Arrow. Nice.

Eret cleaning up the SMP eye sours.

Watch me attempt to sleep to Eret here in an hour or so, but keep getting distracted.

Explosion time.

Someone get ready to clip it.

Bye Bye Cube. Let’s go.

Gotta get a song that fits the vibe.

Hayloft. Time to go poof.

Turning up my brightness just to watch this explosion in the best way possible.

Still wearing the red dress I see.

I hope the music isn’t too loud to get this part muted.

Drum roll...

Drum roll continues...

Drum roll still going...

THERE GOES THE CUBE!

That was so smooth and good looking!

Overall a very good explosion.

Just a little bit of a hole in the other building.

Twitch Pr-

Poor being’s so confused with his hair. Someone help them.

Twitch bleep.

Everyone attempting to give hair styling advice. Everyone’s trying to help the being.

That bird is majestic. I remember seeing that tiktok.

Animals just decided Eret was the animal whisperer.

Yes! Disney Princess Eret fanart! Someone make it, I shall reblog all of it.

Likes to hug cute animals and cute animals like being hugged by her. Nice.

It’s alright. Names are difficult. I have to like put name tags on people to learn who they are. That or name tags on their space (like on campers bunks and door decs on dorms)

It does feel very February. But I’m very ready for summer because that means I get to do my favorite job.

Hooray. I hit 15k points.

Eret trying to prove to us a ponytail won’t work. Like we aren’t going to hype them up no matter what.

Gotta heart in the chat. All Eret’s chat does is hearts and encourage. It’s a lovely place.

Oh Eret forgot his cat ear sub goal. It’s alright I know I forgot.

Pride is next month. Nice.

Oh. We’re almost halfway already. Why does the world spin so quickly?

We forgot a dirt tower. Whoops.

I would wear Eret merch. I like it when people release merch around Christmas. Then I can ask for it as a gift.

Oh it wasn’t a dirt tower.

Just looking at Elaina’s stream in the stream selection screen it like very cozy.

All the way up the Drista stairs.

Look it’s the museum!

Eret’s got most of the builds around there. The museum. The fortress. Nice.

Some things are too historical to remove. Somethings are historical because they are being removed.

Oh no. L’sandburg.

It’s taking over the summer home.

Ah the lore is coming. It just seemed to be too early.

Hello unofficial ranboo Raiders.

Foolish making the awesome tall thingy!

Foolish’s builds are so neat. I want to watch Foolish’s streams more. Maybe just in the background but I start wanting to delayed liveblog and that requires attention.

Oh the giant portal turned out well. Sorry that was the lady’s foolish stream I watched.

Shulkers. The forbidden mob.

Eret with just a pit in the desert filled with llamas. Bones. And discus.

The mansion has been finished?

Alright is better than bad. It’s alright to be alright.

Lucky being not getting tired. I got the Johnson and Johnson vaccine and I was so so tired. I also had just no appetite.

Eret doing an smp tour. And looking at foolish’s builds.

Flickering the switch on the rainbow beacons.

Eret just knowing where everything is.

Kinoko is super pretty. Just for the aesthetic value of the kingdom I appreciate it.

Yeet. Just defenestrated himself out the window.

Oh? Spectator fly over the smp?

That would be really neat to like. Watch in VR. I think I’ve only used VR maybe twice.

Pretty Rainbow beacons.

The nurse who gave me my vaccine hid the needle from me because I mentioned to her that I was afraid of needles. It wasn’t a big deal at all.

30 minutes till I attempt sleep. Woo.

Goose my beloved. Someone make the gif because I’m not quite sure how to make it.

Oh yeah. Goose in Marvel. I hear MCU and think Minecraft cinematic universe. Not marvel.

Ghibli is so nice. It really romanticize small moments of life.

Yeah the characters are all really supportive in Ghibli movies.

Someone subbed for nine months “that’s enough to make a child” -Eret

That mansion is like a maze. I’m so lost already.

Everyone encouraging Eret and telling her she looks pretty. Good.

Eret needs all the hype and encouragement.

Antarctic empties flag. Yeah it does have a similar color pallet.

Michelle! Hello!

Fortress work. Nice.

Do it. I’ll listen the Eret play other games.

I don’t usually watch game play for non Minecraft games. But I’ll listen to it all.

Hbomb and Eret living in the same city feels like two worlds that shouldn’t meet. But it’s awesome that they have.

TOS means against twitches terms of service. Nice. Glad to finally have an explanation of what that means.

Look at our handsome and pretty streamer. All the hype.

I keep turning down the stream to hear the show my mama has on because I’m curious about what happens.

Yeah. Backseat gaming can be annoying. That’s part of why I share my thoughts here just in case I do start backseat gaming.

Almost to the sub goal. Hooray!

Ooo food.

No no. I see where they are coming from. Eret does give a bit of cat bus vibes. I can’t explain it but the vibes are there.

Creeper causing issues at the fortress.

Ed Sheepran my beloved.

I should draw more ferrets. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe I’ll draw us doing stuffs.

Actually I kinda want to make a little animatic of some heels walking across the screen followed by a hoard of ferrets. I think it’ll look cool. But I need the artistic ability and the ability to not scream making that.

Woop. Ad time. Off to the void of where ever the ads game me.

OH THE NEW VOID LOOKS COOL!

Bread. Flowers. Ted. Crown. And of course Eret.

We V O I D and get our streamer bits.

Hush the chat is V O I D and the occasional emoji or emote.

The void being centered looks good. Maybe that’s just the symmetry speaking but it’s good.

Oh. We hear the being. The being in void mode. And spooky mode.

Chat just starts yelling corpse.

Hydration. I try to stay hydrated. But I fail often if I’m not doing something active.

Tree!

Casually makes and snags tree.

Eret does read chat often. It’s strange. And it is weird how often it ends up being you.

You can tell I’m a tumblr peep. I may say stuff in chat but I’m fully not expecting or wanting to be noticed by the streamer.

Others hitting darkness o’clock and saying goodnight.

It’s sleep to the stream hours y’all. Whoop.

I need to visit the parks out west. I’ve only really seen the eastern US ones. But I have been to the Great Smokey Mountain park which is gorgeous.

Eret thinking of his friends triggers when naming his cat.

Eret’s builds are so casually pretty. Not like Foolish’s which are intricately pretty. Not like Phil’s or Sam’s which are complicated pretty. All pretty. Just different breeds of pretty.

Alrighty. It’s sleepy hours for me. As much as I love Eret I want to read some fanfiction and daydream a bit before I head to sleep.

Have a good rest everyone and may all your coming meals be delicious.

Wait no is it our turn with goose?

OUR TURN WITH GOOSE!

Eret honey that’s the ceiling.

Cat stream. Cat stream.

Sleepy kitty. A cat cam would be good.

Yeah. That happens with cats. Especially strays.

Goose captured the computer mouse.

Goose straight up chose Eret and Elaina.

Goose really just chose not to leave.

Oh my stream connection is acting sad. But I want Goose content.

I want to draw Goose now.

Maybe I’ll do water color for Goose. I know I tried to do that with Boots (Fundy’s cat)

Hopefully there will be some Goose face screenshots I can see. Maybe I can see him well in the Tiktok.

Artists just violently refusing payment. Sounds about right. The MCYT artists just kinda go “yeah give credit and we cool”

Cowboy cat. Nice.

I want to paint Goose in the cowboy hat.

Hype train! That we are zooming.

Bucket sponge?

WATER BUCKET FROM WET SPONGE! Tiktok people giving all the cool info.

Go Goose. Catch the computer mouse and the screen mouse.

Just sitting here at 11:30 at night getting screen shots of Goose for painting purposes.

Goose please. Look at the camera babe.

My phone is dying. And I can’t charge it and type.

Alright the camera is off the cat. The cat is also blocking the screen.

But no cat on camera means I’m getting some sleep. If I do any of the projects I’ve mentioned I’ll let y’all know.

Have a good rest everyone.

#eret #dream smp #dsmp #dsmp eret #why must this being stream so late #goose the cat #erets cat #delayed liveblogging

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popculturebuffet · 4 years

Text

Amphibia Reviewcaps: Scavenger Hunt/ The Plantars Check In

KEITH DAVID IS HERE! KEITH DAVID IS HERE AND NOT IN SHADOWY STINGER BITS BUT FULL CHARACTER! And okay other stuff happened I guess. Anne deals with her insecurity over her girlfriend being way more smart and acomplished than her, then the Plantars meet King Keith David, followed by Sprig reinacting the plot of Home Alone 2 mixed with a bit of Blank Check. You know that forgetable disney movie about the white dumbass who uses his computer skillz to get rich and has to deal with the mob.. I assume. I really have no idea exactly what blank check was about and neither do you. KEITH DAVID, under the cut.

Scavenger Hunt

And with Marcy’s big intro out of the way we’re back to simplier problem of the week episodes, though this one does lead into the next which does have some solid plot progression, and the new setting and fresh injection of Marcy mean they do feel a bit newer after the road episodes. Like a good road trip after all that time you finally get to see the sights, enjoy the place and just relax. And also eat because your usally hungry when you first arrive, which is what the plantars and new addition Marcy are doing to start. Marcy’s treating, because she’s friends iwth the king and as we learn next episode the king gives his friends acess to the royal treasury because he’s a seemingly nice dude. Again, more on that in a minute. While Hop Pop marvels at Marcy’s smarts and analytics, a messag efrom the king arrives.. and yes I too have “A MESSAGE FROM THE KING A MESSAGE FROM THE KING’ from hamilton in my head right now.

Turns out the King likes to send Puzzle grams, basically sending marcy on scavenger hunts to tell her something because their both massive dorks. And it is taking ALL my willpower not to jump right ot the keith david of things, but for the sake of profesionalism I will stay here. So our party splits up: Marcy, Anne and Sprig go off to solve the puzzle and see the town while Hop Pop ends up staying because you can get free shit the more you eat, which yeah is a nice thing and all but is usually not worth what you spend. But it’s not his dime so fair enough. The king’s toilet’s are probably gold with gems and the softest seats in the land. I mean if I were king of the world I”d want the best toilet in the world. I’d also install free health care and other good stuff, but I’d expect a really nice crapper as one of the perks of the job.

Anyway the hop pop plot really is just him eating a lot to get free stuff and showing up at the end , so i’ll focus ont he main plot which is pretty standard: Anne is insecure about how smart Marcy is, and TRIES to out marcy her in solving the puzzle, while befrending various people: Resucing a girl’s cat/caterpillar from a tree, befreinding an old lady and doing her nails, and then bonding with the gnatcho cart lady.. which made me want nachos bad, who enocourage a dispondent anne to be herself and try anyway. But yeah Marcy suceeds instead, Anne gets depressed, then Anne tries TOO Hard on the last clue when Marcy is stuck and ends up in the sewer with the alligators.. which unlike real life sewer gators, were put there on purpose by marcy to eat garbage when she redid the sewer system.. because of course she did she’s the best. It’s a really nice gag. They escape the gator when the various people Anne helped form a chain, along with an exasperated hop pop and Polly. Then sprig blabs about Anne’s insecurity, and Marcy comforts her, pointing out that while she’s a genius and what not.. she dosen’t.. get people. Anne does, which.. I found a nice twist. The first thing she did,g etting the cat, made me think “oh their going to go with her physical skills”.. but instead in a nice twist that made me like this episode more, it’s her heart. And it’s not something they pulled out of thin air: While it hasn’t really come into play a lot this season, last season was all about Anne slowly connecting with the town and being suprisingly good with people.. she can be blunt, dosen’t think things through.. but she does have empathy, problem solving and a desire to genuinely help people who need it. It’s a hard trait to learn and it’s one she does with natural ease. It’s a nice bit of showing her character and what she’s good at. Also the message turns out to be “bring the plantars” which.. yeah the second the first clue was bring, even without next episodes description, I could’ve guessed. And they close the episode as all episodes should close.. feeding nachos to a sewer gator.

Final Thoughts I: As you could tell by how easily I sped through it, the episode was...eh. It’s not bad, but no episode of the series has been truly terrible. It honestly, and this kind of complaint is overused, feels like filler. And granted I rarely watch anime, I know cartoons work different.. but this episode feels like it’s just there to provide more Marcy before we focus primarily on the Plantars again, and before the plot turns them against her. Which isn’t a bad thing mind and she’s great as she was last week. The problem is Anne. Her feeling down about herself, while a normal human emotion.. just dosen’t jibe with her normal brand of overconfidence. It’s not entirely out of the blue for her not ot feel as smart as marcy, it’s just set up poorly. We could’ve easily used a flashback or something to the human world to help make it feel like a more longstanding issue, than one that just crops up because Polly said a thing after a full episode of her being totally fine with Marcy being way smarter than her. Even the intro has her entirely fine with it. It would’ve flowed better if she played off she was fine, but secretly was trying to one up her and did feel dumber versus that being spelled out so early, as it woudl’ve fit more with the character. So yeah this one’s more just forgetable, a stop gap between two plot important episodes. And I don’t mind catching our breath after the last episode given it was a huge one what with introducing a new major character and a new setting and having a lot of action set pieces, I just know the show can do that BETTER, as seen with HandY Anne following up , if a year after, from the emotionally draining season 1 finale, they just.. didn’t this time and it just flopped a bit, but still had enough nice moments and good bits to make it still enjoyable.

That’s something I do have to give the show credit on as I have been hard on it, as i’ve said reviwing more forgetable episodes is hard: Most shows don’t make it out of season 1 without at least one terrible episode. OK KO had “Let’s Not Be Skeletons”, Ducktales had “The Beagle Birthday Massacre” (And i’m a huge fan of Lena as a character, just to be clear, her debut episode was terrible for other reasons) , Steven Universe had Arcade Mania, Adventure Time had “Freak City” and Legend of Korra had “The Spirit of Compettiton”.. and really the whole love triangle plot but that’s a story for another day.. all of these are really..e xcept arcade mania that one’s just dull and pointless. But i’m not: My point is it’s still a really good sign the show hasn’t really flopped over in the span of two seasons, with even the annoying quarallers pass still having some really good stuff to it. I may be critical, because as a critic that’s my job no one pays me for, but I do love this show and want to make it clear it’s still excellent. I’d rather watch this episode again than any episode of “Hoops”.. seriously I have no interest in that show and I question why Jake Johnston thought signing on for it was a good idea. Then again, Keith David was in this

And this

And BOTH of these

So I can’t blame Jake for wanting an easy paycheck when Screen Legend Keith David has done far worse for one. Speaking of Keith David....

The Plantars Check In

IT’S TIME.

We’ve had a sample of keith david with the omnoius end from last week but now we get the full package. And i’ve made no secret how much I absolutley love Keith David or how excited I was to see him joint he cast. The main is a voice acting and regular acting legend. Sure he usually does bit parts, but he does the hell out of them.

The man also has a longer history in disney than I ever realized. While I knew he played Goliath and Dr. Facilier, I had no idea just how much minor voice work he’s done for disney over the decades, doing a LOT of minor roles during the 90′s and even vocing Mufasa in “House of Mouse”, subbing for James Earl Jones which.. yeah if anyone’s the next Jamers Earl Jones, it’s Keith. He’s the king of making a meal out of side rolls and on the ocasions he gets a big one he makes a damn buffet of it, as seen with Gargoyles and Community.

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So yeah, I love the guy and was excited for his first full apperance and pleasantly suprised. We open at what looks like a comibation of the temple of time and Hyrule Castle for Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and I swear that’s what their going for with the background music here. Anyways after Lady Oliva tries to keep things formal, and reveals King Andrias has been king for over a thousand years, which makes things even more interesting, he .. happily hops off the throne, gives the Plantars a friendly greeting and then a bear hug. I was expecting him to be stern yet nice, for now, but this is a nice change of pace and i’ts shown by the way Olvia acts towards this behavior, wishing he’d be proper because “Most unorthodox” and all that monocle popping nonsense, that this is normal for him. So it’s not ENTIRELY an act for their benefit. He is apparently nice to his immediate subjects, vistors and especially Marcy. It’s also lovely to see Keith David play such a diffrent character from his usual villian, stoic badass or hilarious grandpa rolls, instead playing a cheerful and boisterous king. He honestly reminds me a lot fo River from star vs the forces of evil. Which by the way I also love Alan Tuduk and regret not bringing him up in either review river’s been in so far.

Anyway, we then get some more plot stuff as he meets anne, and we get a nice bit of him doing the “thumb of approval” and marveling at anne’s awkawrd fistbump in response. But it’s down to buisness, he wants to send his loyal knight and new friend he just met home, but needs the box. While anne reveals she don’t got it, with Hop Pop acting nervous as he realizes “oh shit, maybe lying to my surrogate grandaughter about something this important when we’re ont he way to a place where people will naturally want ot see the thing, and STILL not telling her after meeting Marcy and knowing sh’ed want to know about it too has started to backfire!” And yeah while he has sympathetic motives, and clearly knows SOMETHING about the box, and I supsect King Keith David does too but give me a second, his not telling Anne what he did at any time is only going to make it harder to trust him later, especially if Marcy ends up betraying them. He also notices something I actually failed to notice , as did Anne: The colorful stones on the calamity box are drained of color. So the King’s going to have to reserach this for a bit, with Marcy helping obviously and since Anne’s usless at research, the king instead happily treats the plantars to a vacation on him while they sort thigns out: A stay at the nicest hotel in the city, on his dime, and acess to his royal credit card, which given he’s king of everything means he just gave them the unlimited funds code.

Before we move on, my thoughts on the king: He’s hard to read. I do think he’s genuinely that nice a person.. but he CLEARLY has a dark side, having subjugated the toads and the frogs, which had to have happened under him as he’s first in his line and both remember the status quo as only such. Hop Pop dosen’t even question the way things are or one god king ruling over all for over a thousand years. The question is did he do so because he didn’t know better, because he thought he had to, or because

I do n’t know what that’s from but expect me to be using it a LOT from now on. My point is it’s hard to tell what his game is here. He could be a cruel asshole masquerading as a fun loving king on the service to sugarcoat his shadier actions.. or he could be a well intentioned extermist, doing awful things for what he sees as the greater good and possibly having lost the plot, or his empathy over thousands of years. Or he genunley could have no idea what he’s planning is bad and see no harm in it due to a different set of morals, again due to being immortal. There’s a LOT of intresting directions they can go with this character and i’m curious to see just what sort of vilian, or possibly good guy all along though I doubt it, he will be and given both grime, more recently i’ll admit but still, and sasha have been complex villians instead of one dimensional assholes, the show will no doubt give us something spectacular. HOpefully i’m not tempting fate but if I am, screw it, i’m rolling those dice. This is going to be godo and I can’t wait. It’ll also be intresting to see if he genuinely values marcy or is putting on the good king act and puzzles and all that to manipulate her. After all we’ve seen with Sasha that she’s easily manipulated, as far as we can tell, and sees this all as a game.. it’d be easy enough to lead her along by playing int othe genre and her desires to get her to play his game the way he needs her to. Though it’s also a question of if Marcy will see it or back the wrong side... though she MIGHT. while she isn’t great with people, she does know games and half the time a benevolent ally will turn out to be a dick in sheeps clothing. Though i’m hoping that isn’t the case for Marcy. But we’ll see..

Anyways with the first third or so of the episode down, the Plantars Check in, TITLE DROP, and Polly, Anne and Hop Pop all put on comfy robes and relax, while Sprig being sprig wants to go exploring though hop pop refuses to leave him wiht the card because of course he does. And honestly having done a few road trips myself.. yeah usually when you get back to the hotel first you want to just relax and crash, maybe go out for dinner or something with your friends, which they already did ahead of time, and recharge before doing allt he fun vacation stuff. Though I also relate to sprig as I too have been in hotels with arcades and pools from time to time as a kid and a teen and wanted to go do the fun stuff while everyone’s tired. Thankfully I also liked to read or play my various game consoles, from the game boy advance up to the switch on my most recent vacations,so I understand his restlessness. The rest of the episode goes about how you’d expect, with Sprig taking the card once hteir asleep and adventuring around and getting into various hilarious one off gags via montage, before loosing the card and fighting over it with a Bellhop Named Belle, played byt he always wonderful and always talented Krstien Schal.. about two episodes late for the gravity falls homage but never too late to do some voice acting. Sprig gets the card thanks to futurama caffine bullet time, saves paige and then saves her from firing by talking like a rich kid asshole to save paiges job before collapsing and being woken by everyone else wanting to go do fun shit.

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Final Thoughts 2: This one was better. While again I sped through the recap section this time.. it was funny> While the plot was a simple: kid sneaks out and does something he’s not supposed to yet and gets into trouble and ironic ending and all that, it’s funny enough to be enjoyable, Kristin is game as always, and the gag of Sprig using the card to wave off the snooty man at the counter is great. While most of the meat of hte episode is with the king at the start, the rst of it is still an enjoyable come down episode after the plot heavy first third of this one and marcy at the gates and does the job way better thant he previous episode. While it doen’t have a lot of tie to character or what not, it dosen’t WASTE any either. I didn’t realize till this episode that while sprig certainly hasn’t been unterutlized, he really hasn’t had his own episode this season, sharing Quaraller’s Pass with poly and only having subplots in “A Caravan Named Desire” and “Marcy at the Gates”. Here he gets a plot to himself and while it does nothing for his overal character, it’s entertaining enough, with some great gags like the caffine bullet time, the aformentioned rich people gag and the hair bit being the best “Now to put on my hat!”. It just lets the character loose to have a fun side story. See I can dog on an episode for WASTING a good opprotunity, even if I understand the stress of production and what not.. but I won’t dog one for just having fun and letting a character have the limelight if it’s still entertaining which this was. The problem with say “Scavenger Hunt”, “The Ballad of Hopidiah Plantar”, “A Caravan Named Desire” and “The Ballad of Hopidiah Plantar” is that while their not BAD episodes, they had far more potential. This one knows it’s basically home alone 2 meets blank check, but actually entertaining, and justh as fun with it. Is it hte best episode ever? Probably not. But was it fun and a nice change of pace, as well as relatable to me and thus giving me a bit of the warm fuzzies, especially in this hellscape of our lord 2020? Absolutley. That does it for this week. if you liked this review i’ve reveiwed the rest of the season so far , just check the Disney tab on my blog, along with many other shows, and i’ll be covering the show weekly for the rest of the season, along with Ducktales when it comes back next month, so follow if you want more of that and random reblogs and such. You can also shoot me an ask if you have any things you want my opinon on, any episodes you want to request or you can direct message me to outright comission an episode of any aimated show for me to review for 5 bucks a review. Either way, till we meet again, bwahahahahaha.

#King Andrias #amphibia #keith david #anne boonchuy #hopidiah plantar #hop pop #sprig plantar #polly plantar #marcy wu #lady olivia #reviews #recaps #reviewcaps

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