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365days365movies · 3 years

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April 12, 2021: Mrs. Doubtfire (1992) (Recap)

Hey, Robin Williams. Been a while.

I’m sorry that I haven’t watched your movies for a while, and that I always skip your comedy stand-up when my phone’s on shuffle. I just...let me explain. Since I was a kid, you were one of my favorite entertainers. That might as well have started the day I was born, because...well, we share a birthday, fun fact. But it definitely continued with the first movie I ever saw in theatres.

While I don’t quite remember the first time I saw it, Aladdin was one of my favorite childhood movies, and I knew that you were the voice of the Genie from an early age. You might have actually been the first actor I ever knew by name. Which makes sense, because your stardom during the ‘90s was nearly unparalleled.

The next film I remember seeing (and hearing) you in was Ferngully: The Last Rainforest. That also starred Tim Curry, who would also be a major figure of my childhood. It also wasn’t the best movie, in hindsight, but it is the only time I’ve heard you rap since.

But eventually, I watched your forays into live-action, too. Jumanji, Hook, even the objectively bad Flubber, are all movies that I vividly remember watching during childhood. I was really excited for Flubber, even, and I LOVED Jumanji growing up. I liked Hook, too, but I appreciated that more as I got older.

Of course, during this time period, you also made less family-friendly films. The Fisher King, Good Will Hunting, Dead Poets Society, Good Morning Vietnam, and What Dreams May Come were all very successful, and cemented your reputation as an actor. I also haven’t seen any of them. In fact...I don’t think I’ve seen any of your dramatic roles, and that’s something that I’ll fix this year. Hell, in a few days, I’ll watch The Birdcage, another of your big hits of the ‘90s.

But why haven’t I seen them up to now? Well...I was going to watch these films, about seven years ago. But...I haven’t been able to bring myself to do it. Because it hurts. A lot.

I know that this is a downer, but my relationship with Robin Williams today is tainted by his tragic death. I was fucking BROKEN when his death was announced, and I really haven’t been able to watch him since. I’ve seen Aladdin recently, but that’s about all I could stand to watch. I mean, the guy shares a birthday with me! I’ve always loved his comedy stylings, and his improvisational skills are something I’ve internalized to a certain degree.

So, yeah. This one’s tough. But, it’s about time I moved on, and celebrated the man’s career for what it was: stellar. And that also brings up an important question, that some of you have probably asked by now:

HOW HAVE I MISSED MRS. DOUBTFIRE, WHAT THE FUCK

I KNOW I KNOW OK?

Look, I’m not entirely sure how I haven’t seen this movie, because I’m MORE than aware of it! I remember it airing during the ‘90s, my Dad AND girlfriend love this movie, and I know FOR A FACT that my family owned both the DVD AND THE VHS of this movie! So, how? HOW HAVE I NOT SEEN IT BY NOW?

I honestly have no idea, but let’s fix it now, huh? Yet one more man-dresses-as-woman movie this month! And no, I am not watching White Chicks...because I’ve already seen White Chicks. Also, it’s...problematic.

SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Recap

Daniel Hillard (Robin Williams) is a voice-actor, and a good one. Which, given that it’s Robin Williams, isn’t entirely inaccurate. He’s also a voice actor with a spine, as he morally objects to a scene in the cartoon that he’s performing for, in which the main character smokes. By the way, I’m 99% sure that this cartoon is animated by Chuck Jones, and it looks well-made.

Anyway, this leads to him quitting the cartoon altogether, and allows him to pick up his kids early from school. These kids are Lydia (Lisa Hykub), Chris (Matthew Lawrence), and Natalie (Mara Wilson), and it’s Chris’ 12th birthday. Daniel arranges a...surprisingly large party, given that it’s completely impromptu, and it comes with a petting zoo and complete trappings. However, it’s not a party of which his wife will approve.

This wife is Miranda (Sally Field), a successful architect and the breadwinner of the family. After getting a call from the neighbor about the party, she comes home and busts the outrageous party. And for the record, I’m entirely on Miranda’s side here. This party is INSANE, and very irresponsible, given the fact that Daniel currently has no job. And yeah, he’s a very loving father, and a good person, but...it’s too much.

Miranda feels the same, and after 14 years of frustration, she realizes that she no longer loves Daniel. In a genuinely sad scene, she tells him that she wants a divorce. And she goes through with it MUCH to Daniel’s detriment. He has no home, as he’s staying with his brother, Frank (Harvey Fierstein) and his partner Jack (Scott Capurro). He also still has no job, meaning that he has no way to provide for his children. This means that he has no ability to provide, and the judge awards Miranda full custody. Oof.

However, this is a conditional arrangement, as another hearing for joint custody will be held in 3 months, and if Daniel can get a home and job in that time, he has a chance. He performs a litany of voices and impressions with his court liason, Mrs. Sellner (Anne Haney), which amuses me, but not her, and he gets a job in order to be with his kids for more than one day a week.

Meanwhile, Miranda IMMEDIATELY starts dating fellow designer and old flame Stuart Dunmeyer (Pierce Brosnan), like, almost before Daniel leaves the house. He bids a heartfelt goodbye to his kids, with the promise that he’ll see them on Saturdays. And now begins the absolute hatred and petty bitchiness of Daniel and Miranda! Seriously, it’s...it’s fucking terrible, and it takes away from my sympathy from either side. I get that divorce is rough and ugly, but GODDAMN, neither of them perform the act with any form of tact or grace.

This is put on display during the kids’ visitation to Daniel’s semi-crappy new apartment, which doesn’t even seem that bad, to be honest. Miranda dropped them off late and picked them up early, as if to slowly starve Daniel of time with his kids, which is extraordinarily shitty of her, fuck me. Daniel’s not taking it well, understandably, but then does something...really dumb, when you think about it.

See, Miranda’s looking for a nanny, to help watch the kids and clean the house during the week. Daniel volunteers his services, which is actually a good idea, but Miranda says she’ll think about it, which we ALL know means no. I DO NOT like Miranda, even if I understand the initial reasons for the divorce. She’s being especially spiteful, and it’s not a good look.

Daniel’s stupid idea, though, is to change the phone number on the ad for the nanny, which Miranda shows him before she takes the kids. Instead, he calls her number, and pretends to be various terrible applicants, until finally supplying his own applicant: the completely fictional Euphegenia Doubtfire (Daniel Hillard).

Daniel plays Mrs. Doubtfire as an elderly British woman, and a seasoned nanny in her day. Which is why it’s weird to me that, when he does to Frank and Jack to help him make an elaborate disguise as Mrs. Doubtfire, that they go through various other impressions and get-ups. Which, yes, is goddamn hilarious, but also makes NO SENSE, given that they’ve already established her character to Miranda. Funny, but nonsensical.

But, regardless, Euphegenis Doubtfire comes into being, and introduces herself to Miranda and the kids. Mrs. Doubtfire is exactly what Miranda’s looking for, although the kids aren’t exactly overjoyed, ESPECIALLY the oldest, Lydia. Also, during this first meeting, Miranda openly bad-mouths Daniel in front of the kids, in just the WORST fuckin’ way. I genuinely dislike Miranda A LOT. Again, the divorce was certainly justified, but I REALLY don’t like her. Daniel loves his kids, and they’re HIS kids, TOO. Stop using them as weapons against him, OOOOOOOOOOOH I DON’T LIKE MIRANDA

Anyway, that evening, after she’s officially been hired by Miranda, Mrs. Doubtfire heads home, only to find court liason Mrs. Sellner waiting to speak with Daniel. After a litany of puns, and a humorous changing scene, Daniel accidentally throws the Mrs. Doubtfire mask out of the window, and is forced to improvise through equally humorous circumstances. Hence, the above meringue mask scene. Has anybody tried that, by the way? Could that work as a groundbreaking beauty technique? Or would the sugar just feed the skin bacteria and give you acne? Genuinely curious.

Now going between his job as Daniel and the nanny job as Doubtfire, Daniel’s not doing too badly for himself. The nanny job begins, and Mrs. Doubtfire IMMEDIATELY contrasts with Daniel, creating a disciplinarian atmosphere in place of Daniel’s formerly loosey-goosey attitude. Which is interesting, and it works! I mean, it’s not how I would parent, but it does work. Doubtfire makes the kids to their homework, rather than watch TV, and then attempts to make dinner. Instead, though, the dinner’s ruined, and Daniel orders takeout and makes it LOOK like homemade food. And it looks good, too! Daniel’s full of hidden talents.

After dinner, as Mrs. Doubtfire’s leaving, Lydia apologizes for backtalking her earlier, and thanks her for making her mom happy with everything she did that evening. he also says that she’s still a bit messed up about her dad being gone. And yeah, it’s sweet-but-sad.

Going forward (and in a montage set to Aerosmith’s Dude Looks Like a Lady), Mrs. Doubtfire takes care of the family, and Daniel even betters himself to become a better Mrs. Doubtfire. Which...to be honest, Daniel REALLY should’ve done this before. I get that he needed the pressure of losing the kids to do this, but...look, Daniel really wasn’t that responsible of a parent, and the fact that THIS is how he learns to be so is...not great. Like, here’s an example, OK: take Donald Trump.

Yeah, I know, what’s this politics doing in my peanut butter? And WOW, that reference is older than me, but anyway. Let’s say that, in two years, a new politician comes on the scene, and her name is Karyn Walldottir. She has somewhat centrist views, and behaves in a way that’s inclusive to the majority, and backs up her claims and promises with evidence (at least true enough for us to suspend our disbelief). This is, of course, Donald Trump disguised as a woman in order to gain custody of the United States of America again. Naturally.

Karyn Walldottir gets elected in 2024, and all of her policies are markedly different from Trump’s and Biden’s, but leaning closer to Biden in progressive standpoints (assuming that that worked for him come 2024). While Trump is doing this specifically to be president again, he ends up revising his personal policies, and being a better person and president for the country. A literal impossibility, I know. But suspend your disbelief to ask this question:

WHY THE FUCK WOULDN’T HE DO THAT IN THE FIRST PLACE? IT MAKES NO FUCKING SENSE!

OK, now that that dumbass (and mildly horrifying) thought process is concluded, let’s get back to Mrs. Doubtfire. In the process of Mrs. Doubtfire’s ingratiation with the family, Miranda’s been dating Stu, whom Mrs. Doubtfire subtly insults when they meet. And yeah, Daniel’s being a little petty here, but it makes a bit of sense at least.

That night, after an accidental intrusion by Chris when Mrs. Doubtfire is going to the bathroom, Daniel’s basically forced to tell Chris and Lydia his little secret, which Lydia’s happy about, but Chris is understandably weirded out about. But, they agree to keep the secret from their mom and younger sister.

At his OTHER job, delivering film reels from a TV station, he witnesses the filming of an extremely boring kids educational TV show, and comments as such to another man watching. As he quickly learns, this is the owner of the station, Jonathan Lundy (Robert Prosky), on whom Daniel makes a good impression.

In the meantime, Mrs. Doubtfire has a talk with Miranda about their love lives, real and fictional. Daniel realizes how badly Miranda had been suffering in their marriage, which she never told him because...well, he never seemed to take anything seriously. Which is entirely fair...but this is why Miranda’s a tricky-ass character. She’s got two sides: there’s the justified caring mother and strong woman, and there’s the PETTY ASSHOLE who genuinely doesn’t care about Daniel or his feelings AT ALL. Jesus.

And Stu...look, Stu is LITERALLY a Gary Stu, who’s mostly perfect. Sure, he’s not always been that way, but he definitely is now! He’s responsible, wealthy, in love with Miranda AND her kids. And yeah, at a country club that he’s a member of (OF COURSE he is), he privately badmouth Daniel in front of Mrs. Doubtfire, calling him a loser, and...yeah, he’s not really unjustified in that statement. Fact of the matter is, Stu is barely even a plot device.

Meanwhile, in Daniel’s day job, he finds himself alone in the studio, where the toy dinosaurs from the TV show are still sitting on the table. He plays with them, gives them voices, sings some songs, and impresses Mr. Lundy, who’s there in the shadows after all that. He’s impressed, and invites Daniel to dinner to talk about a potential future show at the network.

But then, it’s also Miranda’s birthday coming up, and Stu’s holding a dinner for her, to which Mrs. Doubtfire is invited. Trouble is, it’s at the OH FUCK IT. YOU know what this is. It’s at the same time and place as the Mr. Lund meeting yaddayaddayadda LOOK. We ALL know how this is going to end. It’s the GODDAMN LIAR REVEALED TROPE AGAIN. And here’s the thing:

I FUGGIN’ HAAAAAATE THE LIAR REVEALED TROPE

You know, that thing in movies (especially family movies of the ‘90s) where somebody starts off a situation with a lie, they get deeper and deeper into that lie, grow close to people under false pretenses, and then OH NO! THE LIAR IS REVEALED! And everybody’s angry and/or sad, the liar slumps off, defeated and broken, but then realizes the error of his ways, while everybody else realizes the same thing, and he comes back to vindicate himself, and is welcomed back with open arms. And it introduces unneeded tension AND I HAVE ALWAYS FUCKING HATED IT.

Let’s list the examples, shall we? A Bug’s Life, Aladdin, Mulan, The Road to El Dorado, Chicken Run, How to Train Your Dragon, Klaus, Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted, Megamind (SUBVERSIVE MY ASS), Over the Hedge, Rango, Toy Story, Steven Universe (the whole Pearl/Sardonyx arc, which went on for WAY too long), the list goes on and fucking on. And I GODDAMN HATE IT. Not to say it can’t be done well. Disney actually usually does a pretty good job with it, and Dreamworks uses it A LOT, but almost always pretty well. But sometimes...GOD. Either way, it’s still used FAR too fucking much. And look. Here’s another one. Joy.

Look, at this point...I will freely admit that I'm biased against this trope, but it’s also obvious where this is headed. Basically, Daniel switches back and forth between the dinner with the family, and the dinner with Mr. Lundy. With Mr. Lundy, he gets absolutely SMASHED. Great. Great decision, Daniel.

So, yeah, Mrs. Doubtfire’s also smashed, which is pretty goddamn apparent to them all. At this point, I’m wondering why Daniel, as Mrs. Doubtfire, didn’t just say she was sick as hell, and had to go home. Or, considering the fact that Daniel proposes her as a show idea regardless, the switch wasn’t even necessary! And that means that none of what’s about to happen, happens. Or, here’s a crazy thought, maybe Daniel shouldn’t have POISONED STU’S FOOD WITH CAYENNE PEPPER THAT HE’S ALLERGIC TO!

YEAH! Because that causes Stu to go into anaphylactic shock for a hot sec, causing him to choke. Mrs. Doubtfire does the right thing and gives him the Heimlich maneuver, and in the process, SURPRISE! IT’S BEEN DANIEL ALL ALONG! BUH BUH BUHHHHH DA DA DA DAAAAA DA

Yeah, so Miranda is understandably ENRAGED by this revelation, and it’s all over. Daniel represents himself in court at the custody hearing, but the judge deems his “lifestyle” dangerous for children. Which...yikes, Judge, that statement didn’t age well AT FUCKING ALL. But, given Daniel’s admitted stupidity with this whole idea, he’s not wrong about the dangerous part. But, I have to say, Daniel’s speech in his own defense is nice...although he also says he’s addicted to his children, so let’s throw a second yikes on there for good measure.

The speech moves Miranda...but not enough to prevent Daniel has his custody stripped away from him! GOD THEY BOTH SUUUUUUUUCK. Daniel’s a broken man, and Miranda and the kids are similarly broken without him and Mrs. Doubtfire. However...Daniel’s career isn’t broken AT ALL, as Mrs. Doubtfire is now a kid’s show host! Yeah! And she’s a hit! And again, it brings me to wonder why Daniel DIDN’T APPLY HIS OBVIOUS TALENTS LIKE THIS IN THE FIRST GODDAMN PLACE

Realizing that she made a mistake, she goes to the set during the filming of a show. She congratulates him on the show, and he replies by stating how broken he is now! Thanks, Miranda! Well, after an argument, and after Miranda sees how badly she’s messed up someone she used to care for, they come to an agreement: joint custody. FINALLY GODDAMN IT

And good, because I don’t want them back together. I have to give this film props for that: they acknowledge that these two are NOT good for each other, and they deliver a message in the end: families are families, no matter how they’re shaped. One mom, one dad, uncle or aunt, grandparents, adoption, two separated or divorced parents...oh, also, two dads or two moms. Yeah, that isn’t said in Mrs. Doubtfire’s final monologue, which is odd considering Daniel’s brother and his life partner...but it’s also kid’s TV in the ‘90s, so I guess that sadly makes sense. And with that, and their new family arrangement, Daniel takes his kids on an afternoon out, as himself.

...Look. That’s Mrs. Doubtfire, yaddayaddayadda LOOK. I don’t dislike this movie. In fact, here: have this mini-Review:

Cast and Acting - 9/10: Good, although Brosnan was a little stiff.

Plot and Writing - 5/10: It’s an idiot plot, what can I say? It’s actually based off of a book, which was a surprise to me, but it was adapted by Randi Mayem Singer and Leslie Dixon, and...eh. Still an idiot plot.

Directing and Cinematography - 8/10: It’s Chris Columbus, you get what you get. Definitely has that Home Alone flair to it.

Production and Art Design - 8/10: I mean, yeah, the Doubtfire disguise was good most of the time, but...I dunno, I could still tell it was Robin. But, still, it was good. Took 4 hours of makeup, fun fact.

Music and Editing - 8/10: Music by Howard Shore (ooh, Howard Shore!) was pretty nice, especially the ending theme. Editing by Raja Gosnell was...RAJA GOSNELL???

OH GOD. Yeah, OK, I see what happened here. Also, I didn’t know he was an editor! I just know him as the director of the Scooby-Doo films, Beverly Hills Chihuahua, The Smurfs films, Big Momma’s...

...OK, no, I am not doing Big Momma’s House OR the Madea movies. THE TROPE-BUCK STOPS HERE! I am moving on to something else! But, of course, I have to sum this up in a Review. See you there!

#mrs. doubtfire #mrs doubtfire #chris columbus #robin williams #sally field #pierce brosnan #harvey fierstein #robert prosky #mara wilson #comedy april #user365 #365days365movies #365 movie challenge #365 movies 365 days #365 Days 365 Movies #365 movies a year #moviegifs

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angelkurenai · 5 years

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Imagine having the ‘Wired Autocomplete Interview’ with Jake and seeing all the things people have googled about him and you, only to find more ways to flirt with him and tease him.

“Hello, I'm Jake Gyllenhaal.” the man smiled at the camera for the intro.

“And I'm (Y/n) (Y/l/n).” you introduced yourself the same way with a smile while adding “And we're doing a wired-”

“Autocomplete.” Jake added without you even having to look at him.

“Interview.” you ended, your smile getting even bigger when you heard Jake chuckle next to you, already knowing what was on his mind “This is like the perfect intro for us. You wouldn't even need to tell us, we complete each other's sentences on a daily basis like some-”

“Some old married couple. As Ryan says.” Jake completed your sentence once more with a nod of his head.

“Well, at least one of us is old enough, so-” you only shrugged, looking completely serious at the camera and without even having to glance at the blue-eyed man next to you, you knew he was giving you a look so in the end you burst in laughter.

“Ouch!” he placed a hand over his heart “My heart, no, my heart is bleeding! Ah they were not wrong when they said that love hurts.”

“Alright you drama queen, stop hanging out with Ryan and you'll be just fine.” you chuckled at his small act and he grinned as well “Now time for the interview!”

“We'd like you to answer this one question first, before you get the cards.” the person in charge said behind the camera and you nodded your head a bit “Have you ever googled your own name?”

“Googled your own name?” Jake pursed his lips nodding his head with a thoughtful look on his face “I think everybody has at some point, right?” he turned to look at you, comfortable in his chair as you still thought about it.

“Googled my own name. No.” you shook your head looking back at the camera “No I don't think I have googled my own name. Goggled Jake's name? Hell yeah! You bet!” you said so casually your made the blue-eyed man laugh in surprise “I spend hours upon hours googling this dude. So a warning: Half of the questions will be things I searched!”

“I'm-” he still couldn't even breathe properly because of all the laughter “I don't know if I want to ask whether you're joking or not.”

“Do I look like I'm joking, Gyllenhaal?” you raised an eyebrow at him smirking “What you don't want to know is the things I've googled.” you laughed “No, I'm kidding. I have googled your, I won't lie about that, but I think it was back when I was first getting started and I stumbled upon a movie of yours.”

“Oh, makes sense, yes.” he nodded his head “I'd admit I've done it too and it's how I became a huge fan but this will be out on the internet and Ryan won't let me hear the end of it, so... yeah.”

“Alright, we're good. We can get started now, here's the first card.”

“Oh you've played this game before, right? You were with Ryan too, weren't you?” you asked your co-star, taking hold of the first card.

“Yes, yes we have. You've seen it? How were we? I think I've completely forgotten.”

“Oh you-” you shrugged “You sucked.” you looked him seriously in the eyes “Just kidding. Kidding.” you chuckled “Alright... maybe I'm not. But hey, that's a good thing. How much worse can it be this time? Plus, I'm not Ryan and that makes everything 100 times better.”

“I guess it did show our- how do you say it? Our energy.”

“Yeah. That's for sure, I agree: 100% chaotic.” you shrugged, grinning casually while he looked hopelessly at the camera “Alright, onto the actual interview now cause this will get out of hand real soon.” you looked at the card “Oh I see it has your name. So I'll do yours and you do mine, yeah?”

“Sounds about good enough.” he nodded his head before you both looked at the card.

“Is Jake Gyllenhaal-” you pealed the first sticker “In the MCU?” you both nodded your heads as you spoke “Pretty easy. Yes, yes he is. He is Quentin Beck or better known as Mysterio or better known as that little shit in the new Spider-man movie you don't know if you want to love or hate.” you said matter-of-fact with a smirk, glancing at Jake when he laughed “Yeah I suppose you know what character I mean by now. Anyway, I remember I had to drag him to audition for the movie. I said either he auditions or he sleeps on the couch for the rest of the month.He complained like a little kid at first but really what other choice did he have? I could torture him even worse if I wanted to and he knows it. In the end he definitely enjoyed it, though. Don't deny it, Gyllenhaal.”

“I won't, really I won't.” he said when he recovered from his laughter “It was uhm a unique experience that you won't get to live every day, let me tell you, and the character himself is one that in many ways is similar to the kind of characters I want to portray and chose to portray. He is definitely a character to remember and one I will remember for a long time. Plus, we had so much fun on set that it made it all ten times more worth it.”

“Would you say you liked it that much as to play Quentin again?” you asked, leaning back in your chair.

“Oh yeah, yeah absolutely. I had such a great time, I think doing a Marvel movie as Quentin again would be lots of fun!”

“And then he got to be Quentin in a movie with Deadpool.” you looked at the camera with a grin “And regretted everything he said that day.”

“Don't give them any ideas! Don't!” he said with wide eyes, unable to hold back his laughter though.

“Ryan will be visiting Kevin very soon I predict.” you giggled “Oh that's a movie I'd pay millions to see. But since I can't have it now yet, let's see the next one. Is- Oh this one's tricky. Is-” you pealed the sticker “Oh (Y/n) (Y/l/n) the reason why Jake Gyllenhaal auditioned for 'Light between oceans'? Oh alright-” you laughed “First, how did you google such a thing? This is a whole sentence. And second, I want to hear it from you Gyllenhaal, this is an interesting one. Am I?” you smirked, looking back at Jake.

“Alright, so there's actually a story about this.” his laugh was less nervous than you expected “I did admit I had been a fan for years and of course Ryan knew it and he wouldn't miss a chance to try to point it out. So uhm the promotional tour for the movie 'Life' which I did with him around the same time was no more than a month right after our movie and as you might expect he had to mention it every time we had an interview. One time a question came up about 'Light between oceans' and, well, leave it to Ryan to say that I auditioned for it because I knew you'd be my costar. Which-” he laughed a bit “I have to admit it was true, but I didn't give him the satisfaction back then by saying that yes I wanted to work with you on project that much. And after that it sort of became a big thing, I think, hence the google search.”

“How come I haven't heard of that before? I mean what the hell, I could have used that to my advantage!” you grinned even though Jake shook his head next to you “I think I should keep up with the net more.”

“What about you? Why did you audition for the movie? I don't think we ever talked about that.”

“Oh for me it was even easier. I saw 'making out' and 'Jake Gyllenhaal' in one sentence and I was immediately like-” you snapped your fingers “I'm in!” you shrugged innocently, only to make Jake double in laughter “It was that easy for me. I didn't even care to find out about the plot. I think I remembered to read it about a day before filming started. Let's be honest, I'm just in it to make out with Jake, don't thin I even remember any of my lines now. I only went in to be able to kiss this guy and let me tell you I didn't regret it one bit.”

“That's-” Jake started but pressed his lips as he tried to fight his laughter, or even a smile, but much as he tried he was failing miserably “An interesting reason, I must admit. Certainly good to know.” he glanced at you from the corner of his eyes and you giggled shaking your head.

“Much as I'd like to ask-” you cleared your throat, looking back at the board “I think we're going to get a lot out of this interview so the next one: Is Jake Gyllenhaal... real?” you both snorted “Wow now this! This is something I've googled. You know what?” you glanced at Jake before looking straight at the camera “I don't even know. I keep asking myself the same thing all the time, still no answer. Some would argue, namely Ryan, but-”

“We all know what Ryan would say, so let's just skip that part.” Jake completed your sentence.

“Yes, let's.” you agreed “Ok the next one. Is Jake Gyllenhaal... an actor?” you snickered while Jake made a funny face “Wow someone out there is having some serious doubts about your entire existence buddy.”

“What's up with that? Why am I getting all these weird questions?” he looked at the camera, his voice coming out slightly high pitched “Yes, yes I am an actor... I think. Or at least I try to be, for five minutes. Once a week.”

You laughed as he snickered “Come on! Yes-” you turned to the camera “Yes he is, and an incredible one at that. Whatever Ryan Reynolds tells you after this is a lie because he is jealous and on the occasion a mean little shit. Let me tell you that all jokes aside and I'm 100% serious when I say Jake might as well be one of the best if not the best actor I've had the pleasure to work with in my entire life.”

“Wow, I think I'm going to cry.” he said a bit jokingly but you could also tell there was sincerity in his words “Nobody has ever been that nice to me since I was a baby.” but of course his words were still funny so you couldn't hold back a laugh.

“Alright let's move onto the next one because we've got so many cards left. Ok the last one: Is Jake Gyllenhaal... single? Wow straight to the point huh? Now this-”

“Did you- Did you google this?” he grinned and you laughed.

“Wouldn't you like to know huh?” you winked at him “No, see, I didn't need to. You guys out there though-” you smirked at the camera “You really wanna know huh?”

“I'd like to see you answer this one.” he eased back in his seat.

“Easy.” you shrugged casually before looking back at the camera “No. He's mine. Sorry.” your smile was far from innocent, especially as Jake burst into laughter next to you.

“Have something to say, Gyllenhaal?” you raised an eyebrow at him and he raised his arms in surrender.

“No, no I definitely don't. If you say so, who am I to say no?”

“Gad to hear that. So there you have it.” you grinned at the camera before getting rid of the first card “Onto the next one!”

“Oh it's going to be a long interview!”

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tomorrowsdrama · 4 years

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Updated Drama Finished/Drop/Watch list

So even though I haven’t been posting as much, I’ve still been watching quite a few dramas. To be honest, I think I might have burnt out on binging. When every other day is spent watching a drama for long periods of time, it kind of becomes monotonous. That’s probably the quarantine talking though.

Finished since my last drama update

Psychopath Diary - Love, love, love. What a fun drama to watch. The characters were so beyond dumb but that was the joke. Yoon Shi Yoon and Park Sung Hoon had amazing chemistry and their serial killer/amnesiac-confused-wannabe-killer-but-not-really romance was hilarious to watch.

Hot Stove League - Loved this drama. Didn’t really go in expecting much but was pleasantly surprised. It’s written in a way where even if you’re not into baseball, it’s still interesting. More than a sports drama, it’s an underdog/rag tag team kind of story. Each week it was fun to see how Nam Goong Min would outmaneuver the bad guys with his brains. There was no romance (even though they totally could have!) but still enjoyable. Nam Goong Min continues his streak of picking good projects.

Romantic Doctor Teacher Kim 1/2 - I finished both seasons and I’m not entirely sure why lol. This drama was nice enough and had some cute moments but didn’t leave much of an impression otherwise. But somehow there was also something about it that compelled me to keep watching until I finished. I guess that’s why both seasons had such high ratings. If I had to pick which series to recommend, I’d probably pick the first season. If you hate annoying hospital politics and unrealistic violations of proper medical procedures, stay away.

Live Up to Your Name - Very cute and romantic with a side of sageuk. Kim Nam Gil is hot. Kim Ah Joong is hot. Together they save people and have hot make outs. I think this was the drama that kind of lightened up Kim Nam Gil’s image. Before that he specialized in angsty characters who were usually set on revenge and/or died. I kind of wish he’d go back to those roles from time to time. Haha, predictable, I know.

Tell Me What You Saw - Watched this solely for Jang Hyuk. It’s the first serial killer/procedural I’ve watch from OCN but from what I can tell, it follows the usual pattern of other OCN dramas of the like. I’d describe this drama as just fine. If gory scenes aren’t your thing, probably stay away from this drama. Some of the murders in this drama were truly disturbing.

Hyena - First drama I ever recapped. I was interested in this drama purely because of the Ju Ji Hoon/Kim Hye Soo pairing and I was not disappointed by their chemistry. The story could have been improved and I would have liked more time spent on the relationship but overall, the flaws were not enough to detract from the good. I need JJH and KHS to do a romantic drama on a cable network like TVN so we can get all the makeouts we deserve. If you’re looking for a fast-paced fun drama and don’t care too much for plot, this is worth a watch. Some people may find Geum Ja incredibly unlikable in the first four episodes but it gets better after that I promise!

Story of Minglan - Omg, where do I even begin about how good this drama is? This was actually my second time watching this drama. I think I finished all 73 episodes in 4-5 days (kids, don’t try this at home). I can go on and on gushing about this drama. Actually, I think I might have to do a separate post to properly talk about how much I loved this drama. Anyway, if you like strong and smart heroines, period dramas, fully-fleshed out characters, and an otp completely devoted to each other with brains and brawn, this is for you. It’s 73 episodes at 45 minutes each but I swear it still doesn’t feel like enough.

99.9 keiji senmon bengoshi - my first jdrama in yeaaaaaars and probably a decade since I’ve seen one starring matsujun. Fun, easy to watch, legal procedural with matsujun playing against type as a oddball attorney. Also, reunion of matsujun and eikura nana who last starred together in a movie about twins falling in love (wow the early 2000s were a wild time). I think I finished this in two days. If Japanese humor or recurring wacky side characters/gags isn’t your thing, probably skip this.

Dropped

Diary of a Prosecutor - This was fine but a bit too slice of life for my current tastes. If humorous slice of life without much drama is your kind of thing, I’d recommend this.

Meow the Secret Boy - Dropped after episode 10. Yes, I know what you’re thinking. Why not just finish watching the last two episodes? I didn’t drop this drama because I disliked it or anything. I just felt like I didn’t need to continue watching. When I first heard about the premise it squicked me out to be honest. Cat? As lover? Buh? I had no intentions of watching but then gifs for the first episode looked promising so I ended up watching it after all. And it was cute and fluffy, with a touch of magical whimsy, which was what I needed at the time. But as the episodes continued, it really didn’t go anywhere. The characters were one-dimensional and story was as paint-by-the-numbers as you can get. I hear that the webtoon it was based on was even less developed which...I don’t know how that could be possible. Anyway, I peeked at the last 10 minutes of the final episode and well, that ending was a choice hahaha. Still, I think this drama is harmless and dumb fun. It’s not something you should take too seriously. I mean, the cat literally turns into Kim Myungsoo.

World of the Married - Oh boy. Wow. This drama. Another drama I initially had no interest in after I read about the premise. Another dark drama about cheating and divorce? No thank you. The world is grim enough as it is right now. But then I saw posts about the drama on tumblr and it looked more makjang than grim. Hey, sometimes makjang can be really fun to watch. And the ratings were pretty high so I thought, there must be something entertaining about it? So I watched the first 3 episodes fully and I admit, it was pretty addicting if not infuriating. After episode 3, they really ramped up the infuriating parts of the cheating husband and his mistress so I watched a lot of episodes 4-7 on fast forward. The over the top makjang was indeed fun. But then it was at episode 7 that I realized the female lead was kind of a terrible character too. She was just as obsessed with the husband as he was with her. I read up on Doctor Foster, which is what the drama is based on, and seems like the husband and wife are just going to continue being terrible to each other. Watch two terrible people obsessively try to ruin each other’s lives? No thank you, I’ll save myself the heartburn. It doesn’t help that every other post about this drama seems to be people being pissed at the characters hahaha.

Good Casting - I’m going to have to quit this after 4 episodes. I tried since it seemed like a fun premise but I just couldn’t. This is the third drama with Choi Kang Hee that I’ve had to quit and I think I just can’t gel with her acting style. I know the tone is supposed to be hokey/comedic and they’re supposed to be bumbling on purpose. However, my problem is that they’re just really, really, bad spies even when I think they’re not supposed to be.

Currently Watching

Ever Night - I have the last 11 episodes to finish and I’m kind of sad about it. I know there’s a second season but it just doesn’t seem like the same drama.

When My Love Blooms - A lovely drama about second chance at love with the always great Lee Bo Young and my hot tall ahjussi crush Yoo Ji Tae. It feels kind of like an old school jdrama in how quiet it is. Might be too slow for some people though. I can’t believe I dropped one drama about adultery just to unknowingly pick up another one hahaha.

Six Flying Dragons - I haven’t started yet but I will definitely start it soon! Bang Won came to me in my dream so I think it’s time I finally watched this drama after putting it off for so long.

Will Probably Binge Later

The King: Eternal Monarch - Although I like the week to week excitement of watching an airing drama, I think I will probably enjoy this best by binging it. People seem pretty divided about this drama but you know what? Lee Min Ho’s hotness helped me make it through The Heirs so I have faith that it will help get me through this as well. Some dramas you watch just so you can stare at hot people doing romantic things, ok?

Born Again - The plot seems pretty convoluted so I think this will benefit from binging and fast forwarding. @dangermousie seems to be enjoying it and our tastes align for the most part. Plus, have you seen how hot Jang Ki Yong looks? Unless the ending is completely horrible, I’ll probably binge this once it’s done.

The Untamed - I mean, gay epic wuxia love? Count me in! I’m trying to limit the number of dramas I watch so this will have to wait until I at least finish Ever Night.

#sbs hyena #hot stove league #live up to your name #psychopath diary #ever night #tell me what you saw #story of minglan #99.9 keiji senmon bengoshi #when my love blooms #romantic doctor teacher kim #six flying dragons #meow the secret boy #drama list #kdrama #cdrama #jdrama

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kingdomblade · 4 years

Text

Digimon Kizuna thoughts

All spoilers will be under the cut!

Fresh off of Tri when Kizuna was announced, I wrote up some hopes I had for this movie. Without looking back at that list, I'm pretty sure this movie managed to not hit any of the things I wanted off of that list - but I'm still walking away completely satisfied. The characters, the story, the setting all feel like completely natural progression from how I remember them, it manages to tell a compelling story in a fairly short movie, the animation and designs are drop dead gorgeous. It's clearly a labor or love and I'm thankful for everyone who worked on it. In some ways it leaves me wanting more - I'd love one more entry with the 02 group as a focus, and I think there would be a lot of value in an entry that focuses more on Digimon intigrated with the human world rather than yet another story about kids discovering Digimon. But if this is the last time we see these twelve in this form, what a way to go.

This is absolutely stream of consciousness writing while I’m on my second watch through of the day (In lieu of livetweeting - I’ll spare my followers that much lol). Is it rambling? Absolutely. It may or may not be of interest, but I thought it would be something fun to do regardless. If you decide to read, I hope you enjoy!

----

Tom Fahn’s Agumon is noticeably a bit lower pitched even compared to Tri, weather he can’t take his voice up as much or if it’s a different portrayal I’m not sure but it still fits him really well - Tentomon’s voice feel slightly different too. Funny enough Gabumon is somehow lighter and more childish than his original portrayal, but it also fits him well.

Both Tri and Kizuna have such a weird process to their casting - They got back actors that as far as I can tell haven’t done much if anything since their days on Digimon, they’ve gotten back actors for side characters with bit parts. They’ve hired new actors that seem to take the original voice into account and take their own spin on them, and then they hire actors with absolutely no regard for how the original sounded to the point that it just plain conflicts with the established character. It’s all over the place and it’s weird.

Johnny Yong Bosch's portrayal seems slightly different from Tri, maybe he's playing him slightly older, maybe it's the slightly different personality, maybe I'm imagining it. Something about it reminds me of Doug Erholtz's portrayal, which is an added bonus when JYB was already one of the best of the recasts. Minutes in and I'm completely sold on Nicholas Roye's Matt as well, it sounds like a natural progression from his Adventure voice.

In a vacuum Griffin Burns is a decent Davis, but he's one of the recasts that immersion breaking because not only does he sound nothing like Brian Donovan, but his take on Davis is higher pitch than Donovan's so it's impossible to hear him as older. The fact that Donovan was supposed to reprise his role is just salt on the wound. With the insane amount of delays that this dub got, they surely could have brought him back onboard... It's a shame that 2 our of 3 roles I've heard of Burns have been a replacement of another actor, hope he can get more roles where he can shine more. On the other hand, Bryce Papenbrook as Cody is brilliant casting coming from his 02 voice for what little we get to hear of him.

Yolei didn't sound to great in her video message, but by the time we see her in person her VA has gotten into the role and captures her really well. Hawkmon sounds fine enough, but I'm way more upset than I should be about Armadillomon's voice considering he doesn't have many lines. A recast was mandatory here, and 'medium-deep southern accent' should honestly be pretty easy to replicate but what we got was horrific. What casting director knew enough about the characters to know that Hawkmon had a British accent but not enough to know what an armadillo sounds like??

Mimi is just straight up Sakura now! I actually thought Kate Higgens would have made a great Yolei, kinda funny to see her here as Mimi now.

Not only did Agumon's "Polly want a cracker?" line slay me, but there's something about Tom Fahn's portrayal that really hits me, even though he's not even my favorite Digimon. It hasn't even been a long time since I've heard it - Tri wasn't that long ago, and I just rewatched Adventure/02 within the past few weeks, but hearing him made me a bit emotional, ha. Same thing happened with his first appearance in Tri, and that was after having seen it in Japanese and knowing what was going to happen!

The opening battle is like a complete screw-you to Tai's arc in Tri with Greymon smashing into buildings and Tai completely unfazed. I'm here for it, lol.

The remastered Digivolution sequences are nice but in true nostalgia fashion I kinda prefer the originals, haha.

Izzy's computer is counting down a 'time rimit'.

Agumon says something to the effect of “Aren’t I always hungry?“ and I don't feel like it’s a reference/jab at Tri, but it got a chuckle out of me anyway.

Tai's classmate is blatantly voiced by JYB too, ha.

Matt gives his location as 'inside the restaurant' when calling an ambulance which seems... not helpful. Love that Tai's reaction to a girl collapsing is a confused "Is she drunk?"

An article on Tai's phone is written in perfect English and he gets message from the name Izzy specifically so I'd assume this is a change for the US release. Subtitles would have been perfectly fine but it's a nice effort to keep immersion.

"The ol' Izz-master" I’m so, so glad they got Jeff Nimoy to write this script, bless Toei.

Only 4 of the Digidestined participating in the battle against the Digidestined is kinda disappointing until I realized that it was a throwback to Our War Game - TK and Izzy get to participate more this time around! As per usual Tentomon (Kabuterimon) manages to sneak in a hilarious line here.

'Lime Magazine' just doesn't have the same ring to it...

TAI'S MAGAZINES...

Tai calling Agumon 'little buddy' is the second scene to hit me right in the feels.

Matt is the only one to reach out to the 02 kids during the movie, I wonder if he felt guilty about what went down in Tri and kept in touch with them a bit more since.

Seeing Kari and TK tied up in a dark room like that is actually one of the more shocking scenes in the movie. That could have ended very differently if this was a different movie...

Meiko shows up for literally one scene with Meicoomon which has... interesting implications. This movie retroactively makes her more tragic as well, as even if she didn't sacrifice Meicoomon there's a chance their partnership would have dissolved anyway - almost a complete lose-lose, there was no way for them to be happy together.

Himekawa is also retroactively more tragic as it's possible she would have been able to see Tapirmon again here - one shows up in the crowd shot!

Honestly this is the movie Himekawa deserved - she was a really interesting character that got wasted and underused in Tri, and while Menoa parallels her in a lot of ways her stoicism just isn't as interesting and Hime's decent into madness was.

L'il Joe has black hair now?

I'm pretty sure Menoa doesn't say "Oh shit" but honestly I'm gonna pretend she does.

I mentioned on Twitter how Leomon doesn't die in this one because he never showed up, but there's one fighting an Eosmon in what I think is Osaka and he doesn't die, and GOOD ON HIM, HE BROKE THE CYCLE!

Omnimon having limbs sliced off got an audible gasp from me.

Matt ACTUALLY got to curse in this movie, character development!!

"Just one thing: Meow" I had to pause the movie, I lost it

Story wise, theme wise, character wise I get it, but mad Sora got screwed over in this movie. Would have been nice if 'To Sora' was included inside of the movie at least.

I still don't like Agu and Gabu's new evolutions, but they did feel really earned and a natural extension of the plot. What better way to spark an evolution than such a huge sacrifice? Izzy's perfectly timed 'prodigious' was the icing on the cake, coming at such a fitting emotional moment and possibly being the last time we'll hear it from Izzy.

When the Eosmon start disappearing all over the world there's a shot of an exhausted lone Numemon who had clearly held off the Eosmon with all the poop that is strewn about. THAT is the next story I want to see.

Unfortunately this movie is in the Tri School of Only Using Champion Level. It's actually pretty inexcusable that we we don't see WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon one more time, but even the other characters should have gone up to Ultimate if not Mega for one final sendoff. I wish we could have seen them truely fight as a team once more, even just for fanservice.

My strongest complaint with the movie itself is that it just kinda... ends. The ending is super emotional, but it just skips ahead afterwards and says 'things are going to be ok!' and ends. I would have liked to see the rest of the kids once more, seeing how they handle the fallout or how they might support Tai and Matt - or maybe a little about what Tai and Matt have taken away from this whole things. Just felt like we needed an extra couple of minutes.

Will we see these particular versions of these characters again? From what I can tell this movie did well in Japan and it’s trending pretty well on Amazon, so who knows. I hope if we do, it’s because the writers come up with an idea they really believe in and not just for the sake of a sequel. But if not, I’m definately greatful for what we have.

#Digimon #Digimon Adventure #Digimon Adventure Last Evolution Kizuna

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simsadventures · 4 years

Text

After All: Chapter 13: Is This Real?

Summary: Hannah is back and her intentions are scarier than ever before.

Warnings: angst (I cried writing it, I’m weak), swearing, no reader and Bucky in this one

Word Count: 2250

A/N: Go easy on me after you’ve read it, that’s all I have to say (haha *hides behind a couch, peeking nervously*). Anyway, wanna know what you all though about it, feedback is everything. And I would like to know what you guys hope for- happy ending or not? Love you all!!

Series Mastelist __ Masterlist

< Previous Chapter

Bucky’s mind was all over the place. There were many things he didn’t understand just yet. Firstly, how did Hannah get on the aircraft, or where were the rest of the agents that were supposed to be there with him. He just hoped she didn’t hurt them to get to him. He felt like he had enough of lives on his shirt and didn’t need to feel any more guilty, especially for somebody he knew and worked for. His mind also wandered towards you. If you were safe if Hannah didn’t manage to get to you first.

His heart skipped a beat just thinking about Hannah hurting you again, and this time maybe physically. He shook his head and tried to calm his anxious mind, knowing that you were in the safest place you could- with the rest of the team in almost a fortress. ¨

Hannah was just standing there, watching him intently. He didn’t understand what she was doing there. Sure, he was the reason she had to leave the compound and SHIELD, but she was transferred to the CIA, which was like the second-best option. And the very best option for her after what she’s done. Bucky thought she should be glad that Tony didn’t make sure nobody would ever employ her. So Bucky really dint get why she was now in the quinjet, obviously looking for trouble.

Bucky looked past her, trying to see if anyone of his team was there and if they were ok. What he didn’t see coming, was the three agents suddenly coming into the light and standing behind Hannah, their arms crossed over their chests, sinister looks on their faces. Bucky wasn’t scared of them, far from it, he just didn’t understand what the hell was going on.

He looked at all of them quizzically, waiting for someone to speak up and tell him what the actual fuck.

“Are you confused, sweet little Bucky?” Hannah asked sweetly and took a step forward, to which Bucky reacted by also taking a step forward. He would rather die than show her any weakness. Bucky started to realise that she was a sick bitch and that she is truly insane.

“What is going on?” Bucky all but growled at her, to which she only smiled again. He was getting sick of her, and they were standing there for less than a minute.

“Can’t an old friend come and say hi?” She smirked and took another step towards him, standing almost too close for comfort. Bucky inwardly shuddered at her closeness, cursing himself for ever letting her close, and for kissing her. He would vomit if he could.

“Cut the crap, Hannah. How about I open the door and you all willingly get out of this thing, before I send you flying.”

She chuckled at his reaction, cocking her head and smirking. “Oh, baby, when I’m done with you, you’ll be kissing my feet!” She hissed the last part and lurched at him. At the same time, the three agents of SHIELD, or whatever they were now anyway, ran towards him as well.

Bucky did quick math in his mind, the next few minutes eloping in front of his eyes like a movie. He knew how it would go down. While Hannah would keep him occupied in the front, the three guys would try to corner him and somehow catch his hands to stop him from resisting. But Bucky knew that no matter how strong a tape they would use, he would be able to rip it and continue to fight for his life.

He smirked as well, letting Hannah get one good punch, making her feel as if she had the upper hand. As he predicted, two of the guys tried to go around him to stand behind, but Bucky wouldn’t let them. While he kicked Hannah with all he had (girl or no girl, she was an enemy, and he didn’t give a fuck about her gender), and stood so that he was facing the two guys.

Punches were flying, Bucky could feel bones shattering under his blows, making the guys groan in pain, but the adrenalin didn’t let them stop. He saw Hannah lurching back at him, hitting him in the ribs, and trying to have a go at his face. But Bucky could see right through her, and he blocked her punches with his metal hand while giving a few good measured hits to her stomach.

The three of them were groaning, and Bucky suddenly realised that there used to be four. He quickly turned around and saw Micheal just standing there, watching. When he saw that Bucky turned his attention to him, he smirked and as if playfully made a sign to Bucky to come and get him.

Because Bucky was in the mode of fight, he didn’t hesitate and made a run towards him. Micheal didn’t budge. Bucky didn’t care, he wanted to have this over with, and so he raised his left hand to punch him, but at the same time, Michael raised his own hand, clenching something in it.

Before Bucky knew what was happening, the thing in the agent’s hand flashed and Bucky could suddenly feel his left metal hand twitching and growing numb to the point Bucky had no control over it.

It suddenly felt as if it weighed 100 pounds, and it fell to his side. Bucky looked at it shocked and tried to fight Michael with just one hand, but suddenly, the other three behind him came to life and jumped at him, bringing Bucky down with them.

He groaned and tried to fight them, but each of them grabbed one of his own limbs, probably knowing that his metal arm had quite some time before it came back to him. While the three men were kneeling on Bucky body, Hannah took his head into her hands to keep him in place and set on his chest.

“It’s a special little thing, isn’t it? One of the scientists we work for made this specifically for you, you should be honoured, baby!” She was now mocking him, he was sure of that. She didn’t let him even form a sentence, as she went on. “It destabilised the electric board in your arm and made it completely unworkable. Isn’t it great? You’re suddenly a very normal guy.”

Bucky scoffed, and despite the guy sitting on his right arm, he shook him off and punched Hannah square into her jaw. It took her off balance for a little bit, but shook the pain away, hissing at the guy holding Bucky to fucking do his job.

Bucky didn’t want to admit it, even to himself, but he started to feel really uneasy. They obviously came prepared, totally surpassing his expectations of the battle (he really didn’t think he’d be laying on his back with four people on top of him).

“You’re making me work for my money, for real, Bucky. When I got you as my mission, I thought it’d be walk in a park, considering my looks and charm, but you’re a tough cookie.” Bucky rolled his eyes at her remark with beauty and charm, knowing as much as she did that she obviously dint have any of it when she had to lie her ass off in front of him for him to open at least a little to her.

She saw what he did and smacked him hard across his face. “This is no time to be funny, asshole. I was so fucking happy when you finally started spending a little more time with me because I lied to you about that slut.” Bucky’s whole body convulsed, fighting against her words. He didn’t want her to even think about you.

“Don’t you dare talk about her like that.” He hissed at her.

She just smirked and made a long awww sound. “You’ve actually fallen for her, haven’t you? That’s so sweet, disgusting and sad, but sweet, sure. I thought I’d be done with you before you realised what was happening, but your little bitch just has to be everywhere, doesn’t she? I really thought I lost the chance to get you on our side, but, fortunately, I got one more chance. So, here we are. I hope you’re ready.” She smiled and fished for something in her back pocket.

—-

You were ecstatic. You knew Bucky was coming back in a few hours, and just the image of him there with you made your heart grow a little warmer. You didn’t even need to do anything with him (not that you didn’t want to and that it wasn’t one of the main things you’ve been thinking about while he was fighting the evil), but you would do with him just laying next to you. You missed the warmth his body emitted, especially when he was asleep. He was like your own personal furnace, and the nights without him were cold and lonely.

Though you knew you should be getting used to it, if your relationship should grow, because, after all, he was a soldier and there were still wars, he needed to be a part of. And he’d be gone for more than few days at a time, and just the image made your heart clench involuntarily.

While Bucky was gone, you tried to get as much work done as you could, knowing that when he came back, and if he came in the same mood he was leaving, you would want a few free days that the two of you could spend together.

When you asked Tony if it was ok, you expected some kind of fight, or at least a lot of muttering and him just being a child in general. But when you raised the question, Tony just nodded understandingly and told you that he understood and that you were a part of the team and didn’t need to ask for free days. You were glad that you didn’t need to fight him, and even happier he saw you as part of them. Not that you could fight, or anything like that, but it was nice to be seen and appreciated.

It was only two hours until you could hold Bucky again, and you thought about what to wear to make a pleasant surprise for him. You took a long bath, scented candles all around the bathtub, relaxing you even more thoroughly. You took your time putting on some make-up to look at least presentable, and also put on your newest lingerie, knowing Bucky would appreciate them once things started to be a little more heated up. Just the image made a shiver run down your spine. You couldn’t wait.

—-

Bucky’s eyes almost fell from their sockets the second he realised what Hannah, or whoever was her boss, planned for him. He was rolling on the ground, trying to shake those people off of him, or at least causing enough fuzz that he wouldn’t hear the damn words. But it was to no avail. Hannah laid the paper with the ten words on top of his chest and continued to hold his head. She smirked at him, the devil peaking from behind her irises.

(A/N: I looked up the translated version of those words because I don’t know a word in Russian and wouldn’t want to screw it up, imagine them in Russian, or don’t... I don’t know)

Longing

Bucky trashed harder, trying to compose himself and to survive this hell she was putting him through.

Rusted

Furnace

Bucky was screaming now, for his ears to hear anything else than those damn words. He almost forgot what it felt like when his own consciousness was slipping away, being replaced by something so cold, menacing. He wanted to run away, to you, at best, and just let you play with his hair and tell him that he’d be ok, just like you did when he had the nightmare. But fate had obviously different plans.

Daybreak

Seventeen

Benign

The Winter Soldier was now licking into his brain, the robot mode almost on. He tried to fight it as much as he could, if for nothing else, then at least for you. Because he was very much aware, he wouldn’t know you, and if you saw him like that, you’d never want him close to you. He’d lose in an instant, and Bucky was sure he couldn’t live without you.

Nine

He saw your face in front of him, smiling up at him, looking at him with the adoration in your eyes that was there lately. He smiled, absent-mindedly, remembering how your skin felt under his fingertips, how your laugh warmed him up inside. He prayed to whoever was listening to stop this, that he’s been through enough and that he doesn’t have it in him to go through all of that again. Knowing that there is something better waiting for him, for the first time in his life.

Homecoming

One

He could feel the Winter Soldier taking over, but not before Bucky gave your image one last goodbye, knowing that it’s probably the last time he ever saw you. He fell in love with you, and he didn’t even have the time to tell you.

Freight Car

With the last word being said, Bucky’s body went rigid and stopped resisting. Hannah smirked and looked at the person beneath her. The dead was done, and she couldn’t wait for what was to come.

/ Next Chapter >

After All:

@iheartsebastianstan @readermia @kolakube9 @ibookishqueen @thewintersoldierswifu @emogril @the-melancholyfeels @pinkleopardss @supervengerslock @the-soulofdevil @jessyballet @bxrnsfeyson @38leticia @sparkling-gayyyy @deansbbysblog @lustgardn @wantingtobekorra @backflip-into-a-garbage-can @thefifthmaraud3r

Bucky Taglist

@this-kitten-is-smitten @sebbbystaaan @paradisiacalsparks @crazybutconfidentaf @owlyannah @lassini

Marvel Taglist

@voltage-my2dlove @kneel-begyourpardon

Forever Tag:

@eileenalone @sasbb23 @p8tn0lish @coffeebooksandfandom @waiting4inspiration

If you’d like to be tagged comment/message/send an ask. If you like the story, please reblog :) any comments are appreciated, even the critical ones. Always a space to get better, so let me know what you guys think.

#bucky barnes #bucky #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes fanfiction #james bucky barnes #the winter soldier #the winter soldier fanfiction #soldier mode #the white wolf #avengers #avengers fanfiction #marvel #mcu #mcu fanfiction #multiple chapters #after all #angst #cliffhanger #tears

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norcumii · 4 years

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some musings on TCW season 7

One of the things that makes Tumblr difficult is that I really, REALLY don’t want to harsh anyone’s squee. I don’t want to be that person who sails in, sneers disdainfully at what people are enjoying, and then ambling out, having sucked as much joy out of the room as possible.

My brother used to do that about ANYTHING I was watching, and I still resent it. I don’t want to do that to anyone.

Meanwhile, I’ve reached my saturation point with Season 7 of clone wars, and in my own tired, perpetually exhausted way, I want to scream. Thus, kvetching under the cut. In all seriousness, if you’re enjoying Season 7, then please, PLEASE skip this rant. I sincerely hope you continue to enjoy and Season 7 continues to entertain.

I haven’t watched it: I’m practicing that much self care, at least. There’s been lots of meta and gifsets running around, so I’ve gotten enough second hand exposure – along with useful meandering through various wikis and such – that I feel able to comment about it.

It is indeed very cinematic, and I guess if you dig the art style, then it is a very good example of said art style. But from a broadstrokes perspective, the writing?

What an absolute screaming dumpsterfire.

The thing that finally pushed me from “meh” to “nope, gotta rant about this” was a fascinating piece of meta here, about how Maul is the prism character – the lens through which the story is told. Now, that’s my phrasing and not the OP’s, and again, I haven’t actually seen this so I’m taking a lot of things at face value.

It’s a fascinating approach, and makes the angst and despair that much sharper – especially if you apply this post about parallels to RotS, and let’s not forget the very impressive mocap for the lightsaber fight.

My question, however, is why the FUCK would you do that in the first place? (Not the mocap. That’s genuinely impressive.)

First off: you’re putting the audience in the same boat with the villain. Your lens character is the one who frames the story, who puts into perspective how one interprets events. In this case, that implies that what Ahsoka, Rex, and the rest of the clones are doing is in the antagonist's position, which might be part of the whole “nothing is true and nothing is false but everything is fucked” atmosphere that they seem to be trying to foster (see: Ahsoka’s arguments with Obi-Wan. GFFA has some good breakdowns as far as I can tell). So Maul is supposed to be the lynchpin of this story, either as the protagonist or the Sancho Panza to the protagonist.

That’s a damn weird take on this particular story. Is it about Mandalore? Is it about Ahsoka’s journey? Is it about Maul’s journey? Or are we trying for something meta about how it’s how Maul and Ahsoka’s journeys parallel each other’s, and how those contrast with Anakin’s?

Have you noticed yet who’s missing from this equation?

For a show that’s called “The Clone Wars,” there’s been astonishingly little clones involved in the broader plot. So let’s take a step back from this one issue and look at the season as a whole.

There’s been ten episodes so far this season, out of twelve total. Six of them have centered around Ahsoka. The other four have been about Rex and the Bad Batch. Now, let’s set aside the whole very valid debate about having so many female centric characters and stories is grand, and we need lots more. That’s a damn good point, and Star Wars as a whole needs better diversity on all fronts. Not the particular lens I’m looking through at the moment.

There’s been four of ten episodes about clones. In the final season of The Clone Wars. Yes, they show up in other episodes, but that’s not the focus.

Why would you do that?? We got five seasons already where the clones are more background noise with the occasional highlight (The Deserter, the Umbara Arc), and the entire freakin’ war has been named after them. Ok, so maybe that’s to some degree social commentary about how the Republic was viewing them – background noise against which the weird mythical Jedi shit really stood out – and the sixth season was more a hodgepodge of “we have THESE episodes nearly in the can, rush to finish them because this is important shit to get out the door to bridge from this series to the movies.”

They didn’t expect to have the chance to make this season. They could’ve done pretty much anything, since they didn’t even default to just using the episodes that WERE 70% done (if not more) and had been released into the wild as animatics.

So why pick these stories to tell? And moreover, why this way? Why not make the last hurrah that the crew could not have expected be something coherent and about the actual people that the damned show is named for?

Let’s play with hypotheticals, since kvetching without reasonable alternatives is considered uncouth these days. Let’s say one wants the Bad Batch “rescuing Echo” arc (and that it’s not agony porn. To be fair, I’m not sure if it IS agony porn, thus the presumption that it’s an arc to be had). Since we already spent SIX ENTIRE SEASONS beating home the point that clones are individuals and to be respected as such, rather than introducing new clones who are “aberrations” just to drive home hey, they’re clone versions of TF2 characters clone versions of terrible action movie heroes individuals, how about this?

Cody calls in the Bad Batch, a squad that gets sent into the worst situations and honestly, isn’t ever really expected to come out alive. They’re bad clones, you see. Their leader is probably a man named Dogma – he’s a Jedi killer, but damn loyal to the Republic. His second in command – not that either of them are happy about that – is Slick, a Brother Killer and all around asshole. The other two members of the squad are two deserters: Cut Lawquane, who was found and brought back to the army, and Boil, who was caught trying to leave after Umbara. They have a civilian support member, Suu Lawquane (a damn good sniper, and she now has armor as well as actual clothes).

Bring so many of Rex’s issues home to roost. Make that poor man question all his life choices. He’s still reeling from the whole chip arc and Fives’ death. Let him see what the Grand Army does with its too loyal soldiers, how Dogma did the right thing against orders and is now leading others into the meat grinder on the daily. Let him see what the Grand Army does to traitors, like Slick whose hands are red with the blood of his brothers – just like Rex’s, after Umbara. Cut, who left after too much death, and built a life. Boil, who lost so much, who had enough and just wanted to go find the one remnant of good things that he’d ever encountered in his short life.

They’ve got slave explosive implants somewhere – three because they’re flight risks, Dogma because – well, no one can say why, but it’s so. Let Slick shove Anakin’s nose into the fact that the Jedi are still leading a slave army, have Anakin have to confront that it’s not hyperbole anymore, not when the clones have chips in their heads and now these have slave implants they literally don’t know where.

Hell, have Anakin blow up at Cody over this, and perhaps Cody has to pull rank – establish on screen that he’s running so much of this damn war. He doesn’t like what’s been done with the Bad Batch either, but he can only put out so many fires, and keeping this from raging out of control is the best he can manage.

Let the audience see consequences. Let there be fallout as they go searching for Echo, and the Bad Batch’s various past issues bounce against the experiences of Rex and whoever’s along with him.

(For that matter, if you still want to tackle Mandalore and all that, have one of the soldiers going along with be Vaughn – get to know the man for a little bit. See how Random!Clone reacts to all this, not just Jesse and Kix. Someone without the history with any of these men. While we’re at it, Dogma had Kix in the firing line against Jesse. GIVE ME THE REACTIONS, DAMMIT! AND! And does Rex ever have to say to Dogma “you did the right thing, that Jedi needed to die”? How much does that blow EITHER of their minds?)

Show us travel time. Show us what it’s like for a bunch of soldiers to be stuck in a tin can flying through space along with an entire penal squad of brothers who spit in the face of what the GAR stands for – for reasons both good and bad. Show us what the years have done to Dogma and Slick, how Cut and Suu have adjusted from a life of growing things to having to murder things. How Boil just is done, and wants to head to Ryloth (hey, maybe Numa is currently living with her new sibs/cousins/friends/arch-rivals Shaeeah and Jek).

Then add poor Echo into that mix. Echo, who doesn’t quite know what he’s doing anymore, who was in the Citadel, then stuck in a nightmare of battle sims, and now in this new nightmare of a war that dragged on even longer – and no Fives.

Let us grieve along with him. Fives got a four episode arc (gee, I wonder why this season wanted to start with a four episode arc dealing with the last Domino >_>) where he fell, let us watch Echo’s rise and how he deals with all this.

Let him decide he wants to leave some of the more painful memories behind, how he can’t stay with Rex because it hurts too much, but at least now he’s got some fellow exiles to watch over.

Let the last we see of him be Echo using his new abilities to dismantle both the insidious little buzzing chip inside his and his team’s heads, along with the explosives they also have to bear. Fives died because of the chip, let Echo help others to live in spite of it.

Then slide the camera focus from Rex to Vaughn. Perhaps he gets assigned to go find the former Commander Tano (did he know her at all? Or had he just heard about her?). We could follow him across Coruscant, meeting various civilians who had Strange Encounters with that nice young Togruta. Maybe we get a fun montage: Vaughn questioning people, their various reactions, possibly as a nice voiceover to What Really Happened – that also gives a grand opportunity to get people’s impressions of the Jedi and their clone lackeys.

Then off to Mandalore, still from Vaughn’s perspective. Let us watch this poor man’s rise, as he has to be the metaphorical third wheel to The Team’s reunion. He’s the poor uncomfortable bastard in the room, but he’s a good man, loyal and skilled.

(Also, why could we not get the clones receiving patches or decals of Ahsoka’s markings, and play with that? Emphasize the clones’ individuality – some have it on their shoulder bells, some did the helmets, some have the design down the arm, along the leg – just...diversify, dammit!)

Have Vaughn keep up with Ashoka all the way through to the fight with Maul. Have him be hit, have him be disarmed for the fight – all he can do is witness it (for that matter, you can echo the Duel of the Fates, with Vaughn being in Qui-Gon’s position of dying on the floor).

Then let us see Order 66 from the clones’ perspectives. Show us the sieges, show us Bly and his squad following Aayla into the woods; show us Wolffe and the pack separating from Plo; show us Fox patrolling the Senate.

We’ve seen the Jedi die already. Show us the other side, if you insist on breaking our hearts, and show us how the clones go from good men to good soldiers.

Let me see Cody, let me see the aftermath on Utapau. Let me see Rex breaking, or refusing to break, or whatever it is that happens.

Let this season be about clones.

#star wars #season 7 #critical commentary #sass and murder show #the clone wars #character analysis #thinky thoughts #inappropriate feels about clones #meta #long post is long #writing #useless screaming #spoilers #SO MANY SPOILERS #just venting

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darkestwolfx · 4 years

Text

Power Play - Re-Review #41

Woah, I honestly didn’t expect to get this far! I know I haven’t been able to reply to everyone individually last week, but I’ve read every piece of feedback/comments that came my way. Seriously, thank you all so much for supporting this series, because else the Re-Review’s would have died out long ago! Anyhow, here we go;

Doesn’t thisstart make the episode just look lovely?

Attack of the giants! It’s like someone’s found and used a growth serum- oh no, we have to wait another two episode for that!

Honestly though the behind the scenes features for this episode did look pretty awesome.

But the actual episode is what we will now discuss.

Oh, lookie here, a problem! Send in the Thunderbirds (like with most episodes)!

“What’s going on down there?”

“I’m not the one in charge of the floodgates! You tell me.”

And what a response that was. Almost typical really.

“You’re going to have to close the floodgates manually.”

“Wait, something’s here. What is that thing? We need help!”

“This is International Rescue. Help is on the way.”

So we’ve got a dam that’s on the way down and some strange presence within it... interesting.

I can’t keep up with Brains and type so basically, it’s one of the largest dams in the world and it’s cracking!

“This will need all of us.”

Family outing!

I’m sorry to say it though, but did Scott wobble in his launch sequence? Seriously I’m hyper aware of it at the moment for some reason. I blame @tsarinatorment - stop putting ideas in my head! (I’m only kidding, please don’t stop). But I think you’ll find there was a wobble there.

Playing skipping rocks with Thunderbird Four? Seriously boys, hold off on the Gordon cruelty! After all, that’s the job of us fanfiction writers.

Interestingly, Alan was playing skipping rocks in the 2004 ‘Thunderbirds’ movie.

“I just have one question. If you drop me off, how are you going to get the pods out?”

“Glad you mentioned it. Better hold onto something.”

“Hey! What are you?”

“Ok, that was awesome, but a little more warning next time.”

“It was Alan’s idea. Sorry Gordo!”

Nicknames are back! And that little bit of music accompanying it was perfect! One of my favourite moments for sure!

At least Gordon was planning on going for a swim, unlike Scott here.

“What’s the next fastest way inside?”

“You’re looking for the auxiliary entrance to number six.”

“I wasn’t planning on going for a swim, John.”

“My scan say it should be dry.”

“Ok.”

The should gave it away for me.

“I wouldn’t want to be in here when someone turns on the tap.”

That for me was Scott really pushing his luck.

“Ur... guys, I think I’m about to take that swim after all.”

Well, you did push your luck.

“Meaning?”

“Something inside that turbine room is taking all the power!”

And who else could that be, but this guy.

“This means The Mechanic is here.”

And um, he’s still got that hacked link into their systems from ‘Up from the Depths’. Seriously, I thought Kayo was on that? Do a better job the second time around please?

“We need the GDF here and fast.”

“They’re arriving now.”

“You gone up against this Mechanic guy before, Captain? I hear he makes The Hood look soft.”

“The Mechanic will get what’s coming to him.”

Yes, I’m sure he will. Especially with the return of Captain Foster... Did anyone else worry at seeing her face?

“We’ve got nothing to fight these things with.”

“Speak for yourselves.”

Did anyone else feel the suspicion in that as well? I know ‘she’s’ a Captain, but the GDF wouldn’t only arm one person if they had the weaponry to fight The Mechanic. At least, my logic tells me they wouldn’t.

“I’m not waiting any longer. I need to get these people out of here.”

“Thanks. Scott Tracy, International Rescue.”

“Captain Foster. I got you covered, Tracy.”

Good deeds! Captain Foster helping with a rescue. That would’t normally be a new thing for the GDF.

“Looks like the GDF got some upgrades!”

Yeah, one person, Scott, and really did that not set alarm bells off? Who (other than Brains) is the only person we know capable of fighting The Mechanic? And um... who was wearing Captain Foster’s face the last time we saw him? I mean, there was of course every chance the real Captain Foster could have showed up and forced him to chance faces, but I think The Hood is more practical a thinker than that.

“No matter. I got what I came for.”

And that fact really does set off alarm bells. What does The Mechanic want super-super-super-super-super-super-super-super-super... imagine the rest- super-charged batteries for?

“So did I. We’re leaving!”

“I’ll take care of The Mechanic.”

“It’s not worth it. You don’t have to be a hero.”

“I’ll leave the hero business to you, Scott Tracy. My business is a very different kind. Unfinished.”

“The Hood!”

But, oh no, green is so not his colour!

It’s like Battle of the Bad Guys - I imagine that is actually much better than battle of the bands too...

And maybe a little bit like an episode of Eastenders..? I’ve honestly never watched it, but I’ve seen trailers in between other programs, and this first part of dialogue just seems like the sort of conversation that might appear in an episode. Let me know if you have seen it.

“You’ve been mascaraing as a GDF officer all this time just to find me?”

“I consider it a public service. Though I admit I expected more of a challenge when I did.”

“Now that I know what I’m dealing with I’ll make it one!”

After their ‘break up’ at the mid-point of Series Two, I suppose a scene like this was inevitable. The big thing is, however, we still don’t know entirely what set these two against each other. Okay, The Hood’s horrible insults might make it onto that list, and obviously we know there’s some kind of influence/control going on with that golden eye of his (nice little nod to TOS there, even though they’ve taken all the magic and wonder out of it by replacing it with ‘cybernetics’). Big reveals are on the way though!

“Sorry pal, but I don’t want to stick around for the light show if you know what I mean.”

“Brains, I need you to keep an eye on things here.”

“R.A.D.”

And here’s the big reveal I mentioned;

“You should have left well enough alone.”

“I never forgive and I never forget. But I have to give you credit, whatever you have planned has made me quite curious.”

“You haven’t figured it out yet? It was your idea.”

“Project Sentinel?”

“Sentinel?”

Sentinel you say, Brains? Sentinel was the original name of the US Navy ship which shot down Thunderbird Two in the TOS episode ‘Terror in New York City’.

“You must be joking. I decided that was far too extreme. Even for me!”

The Hood thinks something is too extreme for him to use even though he originally planned..? Interesting.

You see - this debate will be fully taken up in that other post I keep talking about, which will appear eventually - this is where my issues with The Hood’s ultimate ending in TAG come around. There’s a great bit of writing here, with two feuding bad guys, which I’m still completely believing. I can’t quite remember what I felt the first time I watched this episode, but having seen the final and knowing how The Hood’s big career speech turns out, this loses all potential power for me. Someone who was just out for revenge and always seemed to never have a conscience compared with the great Jeff Tracy doesn’t seem like the sort of guy who would say this.

Also, with the great revelations we get on The Mechanic, his reply also seems out of place to me now. Okay, we could claim it’s because The Hood’s control over him is driving him mad, but even so, the fact is that they’ve shown The Mechanic to be able to think of his own accord still and he’s had other opportunities to get The Hood which wouldn’t have involved endangering the planet. I don’t know, it just seems to me like someone crossed their wires when writing these characters, or just forgot to re-watch Series 2 before writing series 3..?

“I, on the other hand, have no such reservations. It would have been building it for you after all. Now there’s nothing to stop me picking up from where we left off.”

“Except for me!”

“He’s fighting The Hood in there, remember?”

“As if this day couldn’t get even more interesting.”

Yes, so let’s take a look at the rescue effort for the dam in detail;

“Virgil, are you sure you don’t want me to take the pod?”

“Not this time.”

Wait, Virgil’s willingly handing over Thunderbird Two? Get the record books out. And all because he wanted to inspect the damn personally... He really is a structural expert.

“It’s pulling me off the dam!”

“Bulls-eye!”

“Nice going, Alan.”

So Alan gets Scott’s aim as well? Seems a little unfair.

“It seems to be working. I just hope I don’t run out.”

We went a couple episodes without jinxing things, and so now we’re back at jinx central.

Meanwhile whilst Gordon is fighting mechas underwater whilst trying to attach cables to the damn, Virgil is sitting pretty here... until... down they both go!

“Fancy meeting you here.”

I think that’s pay back for the dropped landing earlier.

“Alan I sure hope you’re in position. Things are about to get wet!”

I’m guessing this wasn’t the ultimate end game plan though... You okay chilling down there?

“I’m ok. I think.”

Okay, we’ll just leave you there for a minute then, so that the battle of the bad guys scene can happen.

P.S. Look at poor little beached Thunderbird Four.

In fairness though, probably neither was this;

“This stuff washes off right?”

The fact that Gordon has asked that immediately gave me the answer.

No.

“Um, no, that’s the point.”

“Oh, ok, just checking.”

“You didn’t get any on Thunderbird Four, did you?”

“Let’s focus on the positives!”

Which means: yes.

“We can’t let him or The Mechanic leave with those power cells!”

“Seal off the area. Nothing gets in or out of here!”

And bye-bye goes The Mechanic.

Another job well done by the GDF!

Scott’s face as The Mechanic’s ship vanishes.

“Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to help Alan.”

“Why? What’s wrong with Alan?”

“Oh nothing.”

This Kayo and Scott exchange reminded me a little of conversations in TOS episodes ‘End of the Road’ and ‘Attack of the Alligators’ - you know where the big brother’s are doing the thing of wondering about the younger brother’s dating prospects.

And just a question, do we think that guy in the green shirt who came out to go fishing at the start of the episode has just been sat there watching the whole time? Because I do. Trainspotting? How about IR spotting?

So, humour aside, let’s explain what Project Sentinel is;

“What is it? Some kind of engine?”

“It’s a laser. The most powerful one I have ever seen. In the wrong hands it could be dangerous.”

This is a great episode, don’t mistake me on that. It’s got a nice rescue, balanced out with some smashing moments and a bit of bad guy brawling... but somehow, even though this episode is lighter, it’s not all fun and games. It’s a filler really, but it doesn’t portray itself in the typical way we usually see episodes of that type done. It pushes the plot forward just enough without giving away everything and ties up the remaining lose ends from ‘Escape Proof’. The comedy hits and it’s definitely less tense than some of those before it, but it’s still ultimately setting up some serious events to come and that always makes me a little worried.

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gaypasta · 5 years

Note

I was the one who sent #9, and I meant from the angst category! Sorry I’m ditzy

sorry this took so long! | REDDIE + “Please don’t lie to me again”

| (angst warning) | read on ao3 |

“Are you ok, short-stop?” Richie offered to take a grocery back out of Eddie’s hands. Richie had three in each - Eddie had two in each and a box of laundry detergent under his arm. No need for a second trip - especially not up six flights of stairs to their shitty apartment they pushed pennies together to afford for College.

“I’ve got it,” Eddie said as he dropped the detergent down a flight of stairs, “Shit.”

Richie took the two bags from Eddie’s left hand, “Don’t lie to me, now the stairwell smells of fucking lemongrass. ”

“You picked the scent, dumbass.” Eddie went back down the stairs to lift the box. Only a little had spilled out. Richie waited for him to catch up.

“It was the cheapest - maybe if you didn’t insist on buying your french cheeses then we could buy detergent that didn’t make me smell like an old lady.”

“Shut up, I don’t see you complaining when you’re drunk on Bud Light and stand at the refrigerator at three-am eating half a block of it.”

“Better than eating your shitty leftover cooking.”

“Hey!”

“How does this look?” Richie spun around, sticking his ass out and pulling faces like a posing teenager. This was the third outfit Richie had tried on and Eddie’s headache was already pulling at his face.

“Richie - it looks fine. They all look fine. You’re trying on different shades of blue shirts with the same pair of pants and the same jacket - you’re being dramatic.”

Richie turned around and looked in the mirror and examined himself. Eddie rubbed his face in his hands. The store was closing soon and he could feel the store workers glaring at them to buy their shit and move on.

“Maybe I need new glasses…”

“Oh my God.”

Richie threw a shirt at him - a slightly different hue of blue, “Hey! I need to look good, alright - this is my first gig.”

Eddie folded the shirt and said without thinking, “You always look good, Richie. Stop trying so hard.”

Richie skipped a beat and settled on the outfit, “Stop lying - you said I looked like a dumpster rat yesterday.”

“You had the same shirt on three days in a row. It was mildewing under the armpits.”

“And yet you still sucked my dick yesterday.”

Eddie made a disgusted face and left, “I’m driving home without you.”

Richie laughed and bought the clothes. He didn’t laugh so much when he walked to the parking lot to look for Eddie’s second-hand beat up Toyota.

Richie shook the orange bottle of pills from his languid stance at their bedroom door frame. A proper house, now. The days of their college apartment some five years in the past. The rattling caught Eddie’ ears and he looked up from the clothes he was folding - a pair of Richie’s ‘showbiz pants’ as he calls them. Eddie stilled.

“Eddie, what are these?” More rattling. Medicinal bullets, Eddie thinks.

“They’re nothing. Vitamins.” Eddie went back to folding. Now one of Richie’s plaid shirts.

“Doesn’t say they’re Vitamins on the label…” Richie hummed, sounding relaxed, “Says they’re something called phenaglo… fee-nah-gluh-.... Fill-na-glow- whatever it says.”

“Why are you looking through the medicine cabinet?” Eddie asks, knowing full well he had hidden them behind a box of disinfectant wipes - something Richie wouldn’t touch.

Richie dodged the question, “Says Experimental Treatment.”

“It’s nothing - I don’t know why you’re being like this.” Eddie finished folding Richie’s shirt and started on another - one of his ‘showbiz shirts’ - a nice shade of orange with a pattern of pineapples small enough not to be obnoxious. Eddie bought it for him a couple of months ago.

“If it’s nothing, why you bein’ so defensive?” An even tone, as though this was a conversation about something as mundane as asking Eddie what take-out he wants for dinner.

“I’m not being defensive.”

“Eddie. We were at your Mother’s funeral last month, you had a fucking breakdown and suddenly you’re taking what- some experimental medicine?”

The shirt creased in Eddie’s fist, “I didn’t have a breakdown - I was burying my fucking Mother.”

“Poor wording. You know you’re not sick, right Eds? There’s nothing wrong with you. Your Mom-”

“Whatever you’re gonna say next I’d suggest you’d think carefully about it,” Eddie seethed.

Richie did.

“Just tell me what they’re for. Please? Just don’t lie to me about shit like this - about anything.”

Eddie considered the softness in Richie’s voice and smoothed out the wrinkles of his shirt, “I’m allowed secrets, Richie.”

“Not about your health. Sickness and in Health, remember?” Richie chanced a smile and Eddie rolled his eyes.

“We’re not married, dickwad.”

“Eddie… I have something to ask you-” Eddie threw his stupid ‘showbiz shirt’ at him.

“I can’t believe they finally tied the knot,” Richie said, raising a glass to Mr. and Mrs.Hanscom from across the reception, “They’ve been dating forever.”

“Ten years isn’t that long,” Eddie takes a drink of his gin and tonic.

Richie gives him a strange look that makes his stomach knot.

“How long have we been dating?”

Eddie stared at him, not believing the sincerity of the question, “You don’t know?”

“Forgot.”

“No you didn’t - I know you didn’t.”

“After my sixteenth birthday?” Richie guessed.

“The day after your fifteenth.” Eddie corrected.

“Fifteen years.”

“Fourteen and a half. I’m going to go mingle.” Eddie left and Richie fingered the empty space on his ring finger.

Eddie hadn’t realised that he hadn’t seen Richie for the remainder of the night until Richie clapped a strong arm on his shoulder, “Hey, our Taxi’s here - we gotta go.”

Eddie - slightly less than sober with slightly more than a few empty glasses at his table smiled at him, “Oh! I haven’t seen you aaaaaall night… wow. Sorry - I was talking to Simon,” A man opposite Eddie, short-cropped blonde hair with ruddy, childish cheeks and a disingenuine smile, “He works with Ben - he draws buildings - isn’t that cool, Richie?” Eddie had yet to look Richie in the eyes.

“Yeah, buddy - super cool. Let’s get you home.” Richie pulled at Eddie and Eddie pushed at him, “Hey - c’mon Eds.”

“We were in the middle of a conversation.”

“Well… Simon here won’t mind if I take your stroppy little ass home, will he?” Richie looked pointedly, warningly at the man. Richie wasn’t jealous by nature - but this guy looked seedy all over.

“No, not at all.” He smiled at Eddie and Eddie smiled back. A type of smile Richie hadn’t seen in so long he’d forgotten that it had existed at all, “Do call me? I’d like to hear more about your views on the Donaghmore Disaster.”

“The what-now?”

Eddie looked at Richie a little irritated, “It’s a History thing - that show I record on the Discovery Channel that you always delete to make room for your dumb fuckin’ Seth Rogen movies.”

“Oh. Okay - it’s time to go.”

On the drive home, after an immeasurable silence, Richie looked over at Eddie - who was staring out the window with his head in his hand.

“You like Seth Rogen movies.”

Eddie didn’t so much as move a muscle, “No I don’t. I think they’re shit.”

“We watch them together.”

“Yeah.”

“You said you liked them.”

“I lied.”

“Why?”

Eddie didn’t respond. He shrugged and continued looking out the window.

A month since the wedding. A month and a day since they had last had sex.

Of course, they weren’t kids anymore - long past their early twenties and nightly sex - sometimes even once a week was exhausting enough - but a month? Never this long.

“Hey, Eds?”

Eddie looked at him - already exasperated, trying to look through reports he was doing for work, “What, Richie?”

Richie hid behind his coffee, “It’s been a month since we last had sex.”

“Okay?”

“Why is that?” He took a sip. It was cold.

“We’ve been busy.”

“We have?”

“Yes.” Eddie said sternly, eyebrows pursing together in annoyance. They did that more and more recently.

A pregnant pause.

Richie’s coffee was still cold. He drank it anyway.

“Don’t lie to me... are you sleeping with someone else?” He asked, jokingly of course, “Is it because I’ve gotten fat?”

Richie waited for a ‘yeah, they’re better than you’ or a ‘you’ve always been fat, Richie’ but it never came. What came instead was Eddie slamming his fist down on the kitchen table.

“How could you say that?! How the fuck could you say that to me? Just because I’m too busy at work to act as your fucking cum-dumpster doesn’t mean I’m cheating on you.”

“Eds - I was kidding-”

“I’m going out,” Eddie stood up, he didn’t even so much as push his chair back in before he was grabbing his keys, Richie suspected that if he hadn’t been wearing shoes - he wouldn’t have stopped to put any on.

“What - where are you going? It’s almost midnight, I’m sorry, alright-”

“Out.”

Eddie was gone. Coat hanging on the back of the kitchen chair. Wallet sitting beside the fruit bowl. He shouted a biting “Don’t wait up.”

He came home at 7am only to change and go to work. He didn’t shower when he came in and his hair was damp.

He didn’t give Richie a kiss goodbye.

They were watching TV. Some high-rated Netflix show that Eddie wanted to watch. It didn’t appeal much to Richie but he sat in his PJ’s with a bowl of Lucky Charms and watched it nonetheless.

Eddie’s phone rang from the chasm between the two. A brief flash of ‘Simon' before Eddie silenced the call and flipped it upside down.

An innocent question, the man from Ben and Beverly’s wedding long forgotten, “Who’s Simon?”

“No one. Work colleague,” Eddie folded his arms.

“At this time of night? It must be important - you should answer it,” A spoonful of cereal.

“It’s nothing.”

“Ah, new kid? Are you training another new kid?” Richie’s mind going back to this time last year - all the fresh-faced College kids not knowing their ass from their elbow and blowing up Eddie’s phone like he was their Mommy.

Eddie made a vague noise of agreement.

“Don’t lie - he’s younger and hotter than me, isn’t he?” Another mouth full of cereal - he didn’t swallow it before continuing, “How am I meant to compete with the youth?”

Eddie looked at him and crinkled his noise at Richie speaking with his mouth full. He took his phone from the sofa and left the living room without a word.

Richie finished his cereal and the show turned out to be quite good, actually.

He could hear Eddie laughing on the phone from the room next over.

“That’s the fourth Friday in a row you’ve stayed late,” Richie said as Eddie came through the door, hair ruffled and unkempt as it usually did after a stressful day at work. Richie moved his book so he could see his watch. The clock read ten, “This is the latest you’ve been.”

The smile and cheerful disposition plummeted off Eddie’s face, “What are you, my keeper?”

“No - I’m your husband.”

“You know I hate it when you say that shit.”

Richie paused, “What shit? That I’m your husband? I’ve always said that. We’ve been dating sixteen years - people always say we’re ‘practically a married couple’.”

Eddie mumbled something. Richie told him to speak up.

“Fifteen and half. Not sixteen.”

“Oh. Alright.”

Eddie shrugged off his jacked and Richie noticed his hair was damp.

“Why do you hate it when I say it?” Richie closed the book he had been reading.

“I don’t know - I just do,” Eddie wasn’t invested much in the conversation.

“Do you hate the thought of it that much?” Richie asked. He had said it many times before, in jest. There was little laughter in his voice now.

Eddie didn’t answer. He pretended he didn’t hear and walked to their bedroom. Richie knew he heard. He knew all too well that he had heard him.

When Richie followed him into the bedroom, Eddie slipped on a sleep shirt and Richie stilled. A plain black v-neck - too big to be Eddie’s and too small to be Richie’s - not that either of them wore v-necks anyway.

“It’s been four months since we’ve had sex, you know that?”

“I didn’t realise you were keeping track.”

“Whose shirt is that?”

“I don’t know - found it in the airing cupboard last week.”

It all came so easy, didn’t it? Effortlessly lying. It didn’t make Richie angry, or particularly sad, either. It just made him hurt. It made him sore all over.

“I know you’ve been cheating on me, you know that, right?”

A heavy, painful pause.

Eddie got under the covers.

“I hate it when you say shit like that, Richie.”

“Eddie.” Richie pressed.

“Go to sleep.”

“Eddie.”

Richie’s eyes - without his consent - had filled with water. This is it. Richie knew. This is sixteen - no - fifteen and a half years being detonated with Richie pressing the button. Richie waited, waited for Eddie to tell him, confess, end it, pack his shit and go. But it never came. It never would come, probably. Richie was like a piece of furniture to Eddie - stangent in his life but not quite old and broken to throw away just yet. Eddie was his sight and sound and now Richie was willingly going blind and deaf.

“Please don’t lie to me again,” His voice was thick and hard to hear. Eddie heard it. Eddie didn’t respond, “Eddie, just say it. Just say you’re gonna go. Please.”

“I’m not leaving you, Richie. How could I do that?”

Richie choked on a sob.

“Simon? That’s who it is? That guy from the fucking wedding?” It felt so long ago.

Eddie looked sad, but not guilty, “Yeah.”

“Why?”

“We were each other’s first boyfriend. We were fifteen. You can’t tell me you’ve never thought about what you missed.”

Richie wished Eddie would look at him, he missed Eddie’s eyes, “No.”

“You’re lying.”

Richie let out a cry at that, this is the third time Richie has cried infront of Eddie. Once when they were twenty-three and Richie got fired from a comedy gig that he had bet his career on. Twice when he was twenty-seven when his Father had passed away from liver cancer, and now when Eddie accused him of lying.

“I’ve never lied to you, Eds.”Eddie thought this over, thinking it was a ridiculous notion. It was true, the longer he thought. Richie had never lied to him. Not once.

Eddie texted Bill to come over ASAP.Eddie gave Richie a kiss for the first time in two weeks and three days.

Eddie lied for the last time and said, ��I love you, I’m sorry.”

Richie didn’t lie when he said, “I love you, I’m sorry, too.”

#*fic #reddie #reddie fic #yeah no this is sad like #dont read this sad #mine #Anonymous

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ofwizardsandmen · 4 years

Photo

Maybe

College AU

Maybe being more than just friends with isn’t as impossible as their insecurities made them believe every other day.

Pairing: Tara x Mark

Word count: 2k

The smell of freshly roasted coffee beans hits Tara’s nostrils as soon as she walks into M’s café. It’s early in the morning and the place is almost empty except for —obviously and as per usual— M, a girl in the far end corner of the shop and a middle-aged man standing by the cashier.

Tara takes her spot in her favorite table next to the wall and starts placing her stuff on the table when the entrance door flies open and a hooded figure trots in. A smile forms on Tara’s lips but vanishes when the man pushes the hood, revealing blond strands of hair. Huffing in disappointment, she pouts slightly and goes back to the task of taking her laptop off her vintage Dior mini travel bag. Yet, she’s interrupted once again when the blond guy greets her from the counter

“Hi, Tara, what can I serve you today?” Sungjae doesn’t say it, but Tara swears he feels tempted to ask what’s wrong with her face because she’s fully aware of how deadly pale and sick she looks this morning.

“A double espresso, please.” She says simply as she opens her laptop. “With a spoon of arsenic, if possible” She adds, making Sungjae and herself chuckle.

“Ugh, sorry. Still haven’t found a way to merge the coffee shop with a dark apothecary” M joins the conversation once the middle-aged man picks his coffee and walks out. “It’s just 8 am, it might not be that bad”

“Do you even know who my brother is-?” Tara begins and Sungjae groans at the simple mention of Tyler Lee

“Ok, correction” He interrupts “It can be that bad”

Tara nods in agreement and places her elbows on the table “It was and I truly believed it’d be better now that he’s a university student, but he’s worse” She lets out a deep sigh before she returns to her laptop and Sungjae moves to prepare her coffee, but M remains on the very same spot looking at her hesitantly, as though he wanted to say something, but he couldn’t push himself to.

Noticing his eyes on her, Tara contemplates the options. She could as well say nothing, move on and continue to feel miserable or she could talk to someone —M, for example—, get things off her chest and be miserable afterward.

“To the hell with it, I hate Tyler, he’s just so freaking immature and believes I’m some dumb teenager who doesn’t know what she’s doing or is stupid enough to let people take advantage of her.” Tara almost feels as though the heavy burden that stopped her from breathing properly has finally been released, but the feeling is short-lived once the memories of the previous night assault her thoughts for the umpteenth time that day. “And he is so rude. I am so embarrassed he’s my brother. Can I die so I don’t have to go to class?” She whines, burying her face in her hands.

“Wow, I didn’t know it was this bad” M meditates his words for a brief moment before going on “I wouldn’t know since I don’t have any sisters, but maybe he just feels responsible for whatever happens to you, so-“

“So he had to embarrass me in front of my-“ Another word is about to come off Tara’s lips, but she stops herself “my classmate”

A small knowing smile makes its way onto M’s lips, but Tara is already too engrossed in telling the story of how her brother made a scene after finding Mark in her apartment, to notice.

“I don’t know what he has in that perverted brain of his, but we were literally studying, we were doing the whole table full of books and cup of coffee in hand, and he still had the nerve to accuse Mark of planning and I quote him “take advantage of my innocence”. What am I? A 4-year-old?” Tara vents, huffing every once in a while to express her frustration. “Mark probably hates me now” she sighs this time “Tyler was awful to him, I wouldn’t blame him if he never wants to hang out with me again”

“Oh, come on, have you ever seen the way he-“ Sungjae stops mid-sentence and trying to act as casual as the slight blush on his face allows him to, he places the cup of coffee on the counter. “I mean, no. Why would you think that?”

“Because Mark was supposed to be here to finish our group assignment, like half of an hour ago and he’s nowhere to be seen, so-“

“He probably overslept” M interrupts this time as he places the coffee on Tara’s table.

“He’s never late,” Tara says matter-of-factly. “I even came late on purpose”

“Maybe he forgot?” Sungjae ventures from the cashier.

“Maybe he doesn’t want anything to do with someone who is treated like a little child by her idiotic brother?”

“Oh, come on Tara” M clicks his tongue reprovingly “Where’s your positive mindset?”

“Buried along with my will to live and my dignity,” Tara says after sipping from the cup of coffee. “And the chances to keep Mark as a friend”

“I don’t think Mark had taken him too seriously” M chuckles, holding back the desire to tell Tara that probably the last thing Mark wants is to keep her as a mere friend, but he would never ghost her for such dumb incident.

Not like he knows him a whole lot either, but judging by all the times he has seen them at the cafe together, it appears to him (and everybody really) that Mark has the biggest crush on Tara.

“It is painfully obvious how little you know Tyler and how much you trust people’s good intentions” Tara comments.

“No, I mean, he’s about to walk in” M says, pointing outside with his chin.

Seconds later Mark steps into the coffee shop rubbing his hands and shuddering the slightest bit. M mutters something under his breath that sounds a lot like “good luck” and walks away, leaving Tara to panic internally on her own.

The young woman pretends not to notice Mark’s presence and instead she fake reads something from the screen of her laptop.

“Hey” Mark skips a more cordial greeting, but Tara ignores it because she keeps pondering whether she should say something about what happened last night or not “I’m sorry I’m late, Jaehyun and I went to the gym and I really needed a shower,” he says touching his nape clumsily.

The thought of Mark being unable to look at her in the eyes briefly crosses her mind, but Tara doesn’t want to deal with the implications just now, so she forces herself to look up and plaster a smile on her face.

“Oh, it’s fine. I just got her-” Tara lies, but whatever she was planning to say next dies in her throat the moment she makes a double-take and notices Mark’s wet hair sticking to his forehead. ��Uh- shall we start working? We only have like two hours to finish Mr. Vincent’s paper and-“

“Well, yes I wanted to talk about it-“ Mark says, pulling a folder from his messenger bag and placing it on the table “I already completed it with the info you got yesterday. You can read it and make corrections if you wish.”

“Mark, you shouldn’t have-“ Tara doesn’t know if she’s reading the situation correctly, but it appears to her that Mark couldn’t bear the idea of working with her, so he decided to pull an all-nighter and avoid being stuck with her this morning. Frankly, it is understandable considering Tyler had threatened to “destroy his life” (whatever that meant) if he ever saw him near his sister again, but that doesn’t stop Tara from feeling a void in the chest.

“Oh, no, it’s fine. We all stayed up last night at the frat” Mark says, pulling an empty chair out the table.

Tara unconsciously bits the inside of her cheek before picking the cup of coffee and downing its content as Mark sits across.

The strong flavor of the espresso almost feels sweet when it hits Tara’s palate. Or probably it is in comparison to the bitter taste that Mark’s words have left in her mouth.

“Jungwoo has a big exam this morning and we wanted to show support.” Mark’s smile is so disheartening to watch that Tara distracts herself closing the laptop and taking her coin purse out of her pocket “I even started the assignment for the Modern British drama course.”

“That’s great,” She says insincerely, hoping to make a smooth transition that allows her to leave without rising suspicion.

“Maybe you can read it later and give me your feedback” Mark suggests hopefully, his eyes widening slightly behind the round reading glasses he’s wearing this morning.

“Sure, why not?” Tara slides her laptop back in the Dior bag. “Since the assignment is done, I think I might get going, I promised Enzo I’d help him to study for a test” She stands up with as much grace as she can muster, which truthfully is not a whole lot given the sleepless night she went through. “I’ll see you later, Mark.”

“Tara, wait!” Mark’s voice even makes the girl in the back turn to look at him, but it takes him a few seconds to register he has moved to grab Tara’s hand in an attempt to stop her from leaving. “I was hoping we could hang out.“ He says after clearing his throat "I mean, we’ve been studying non stop the past weeks and-“ Once he notices Tara’s face flushing, he slowly releases her hand. “I thought we could… maybe… catch the morning screening of Little Women”

Tara unsuccessfully attempts to hide the excitement when she listens to the last two words, but she’s already beaming when she nods her head eagerly and claims she’d love to and that she had been planning to watch the movie with Enzo over the weekend. Mark’s face falls a bit after hearing that name for the second time, but he ignores the jab of jealousy kicking him in the gut.

“By the way…” Tara begins once she sits back down. She hesitates for a brief moment but eventually gathers the courage to go on. “I’m sorry about last night. My brother… he can be a real jerk sometimes.” She makes a pause and corrects herself after realizing that ‘sometimes’ is a bit of an understatement. “Better said, most of the time and I’m so-”

“Don’t even say it” Mark says solemnly, his face growing serious and eyes boring into hers. “It really wasn’t your fault and I might understand where he was coming from. It was really late and it wasn’t right for me to be there.”

“Mark, you are my friend and we were studying, it was more than ok for you to be there. You did nothing wrong.”

“Yeah, right” Mark feels as though Tara had slapped him, but it is probably exactly the realization of being only a friend to her what makes him bold enough to say the next words “But what if he thought I wasn’t just a regular friend?”.

“It would still be off-limits for my brother to act like a jerk. In fact, if you were more than just a friend it would be even worse he treated you that way” Tara says the last sentence a bit too vehemently, making Mark smile widely.

He doesn’t add anything, but he thinks that perhaps Jaehyun and Johnny are not too mistaken when they affirm Tara wouldn’t say no if he asked her out.

Maybe being more than just friends with her isn’t as impossible as his insecurities made him believe every other day.

And maybe, just maybe, he is willing to put up with her brother and his meddling even if that means he will probably have to be on the receiving end of his wrath.

Maybe it all be worth if he gets to see Tara smiling brightly at him, like she is right now, every day.

#mark #story #tara #moodboard #otp #college au #oc #sungjae #m

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pastelbatfandoms · 4 years

Text

Pick 14 OC’s

1. Roxy (WWE) 2. Michelle (Riverdale) 3. Renee (The Flash) 4. Rika (NOES) 5. Carrie (Gotham) 6. Helena (AHS) 7. Rihannon (HP)

8. Amara (Marvel) 9. Meghana (Descendants) 10. Esme (Descendants) 11. Marianna (TW) 12. Suzanna (TWD) 13. Mandy (ST) 14. Ashlee (AVTED)

1. Would you rather date 5 or 12?

Suzanna. I feel like Carrie might kill me if I pissed her off....

2. A man wearing a thong and boxers on his head comes up to 8 and demands their money. Their reaction? Amara would taken aback and just look at the guy weird. “Earth has some strange customs.” She mutters as she hands him some Asgardian coins.

3. 6 comes home and finds that 2 has broken into their house and is stealing their possessions. What happens? Ah hell...literally. Michelle,I’d run.

4. Would 13 ever have sex with 9? lol their is no way they’d meet,but if they did I mean Meghana is a Demi God so probably.

5. What would 5 and 10’s lovechild look like? Well She or he would definitely have dark hair,and striking Romanesque features with bright eyes. In a word,stunning.

6. What would 7 never ever admit to the world? Other then not telling Muggles she’s a witch...I’m not sure.

7. Do you think that 1 is sexy/cute? um yes lol

8. Is 9 or 14 more likely to commit murder? Ashlee,I mean she kills Deadites all the time.

9. What is the last thing that 14 would ever wear? Anything too frilly and princess like.

10. Why would 13 hate 7? I have no idea...maybe jealous of her because one she knows magic and also she can have the men in her life at the same time!

11. Is 4 a virgin? No

12. What would 2 get 3 for their birthday? Michelle would probably get her a gift card to a Restaurant or a jewelry store.

13. Does 9 go to church? No,doesn’t exist in Auradon.

14. 12 and 1 go scuba diving. What happened? Skipping,because I have no idea.

15. Would 6 survive a zombie apocalypse?

Dang wish this question had been for 12...but Helena would be fine,chances are her Husband made The Apocalypse so....

16. Who’s taller, 4 or 14?

I think Rika.

17. 5 and 8 get in a fight. Who surrenders first?

The Carrion Crow vs The Valkyrie...That would be some battle! I can only seeing Carrie surrendering first because Amara has powers.

18. Does 13 trust 3 enough to drive with them during a heavy rainstorm in heavy traffic? yeah sure,just don’t let Mandy drive.

19. Could 8 ever win a swimsuit competition? YES

20. What scares 7 more than anything? Losing her loved one’s,especially to He who shall not named...

21. How long could you stand to be around 10? A good while,she’d be fun.

22. Your old high school enemy comes up to you on the street and punches you in the face. What would 13 do? Mandy would beat the crap out her.

23. What would 2 say/do when extremely drunk? I’m just going to put this gif here...Remember Michelle starts off with Jughead...

24. Would 1 ever crossdress? like wear a suit? Sure I guess.

25. 1, 8, and 14 are playing tug-of-war against 7, 9, and 12. Which side would win? Roxy,Amara,Ashlee VS Rihannon,Meghana and Suzanna.

If Amara couldn’t use her powers I’d say Meghana would win for her team because she is the daughter of Hercules.

26. 11 and 3 are arguing. Who resorts to violence first? Marianna she is a Wolf...Good luck Renee.

27. Does 9 or 4 have a worse temper? Meghana,She got pretty pissed after Hades broke up with her.

28. Who would you least want to meet in a dark alley, 14, 11, or 6? Helena,Definitely...

29. If 10 got drafted for the army, would they go for it or dodge the draft? She’d dodge it like a thief in the night ^_~

30. What is 13’s worst memory?

Billy’s death.

31. Why would the government be after 3? Because of her connection to Reverse Flash.

32. You run into 2 on a busy street? What is the first thing you notice about them?

Her Gothic attire

33. Would 11 ever get cosmetic surgery?

34. Does 5 love or hate themselves?

She does to an extent,but I feel like she regrets some of her past actions and who she associated with/dated.

35. 13 gets hit on by someone of their own gender? Their reaction?

Ok,I mean she’d be flattered but she doesn’t really swing that way. That I know of....

36. What is 14’s worst habit or addiction?

This might change,since I haven’t written her into a story yet. But I think Ashlee has a tendency to think she can go it alone,she’s very stubborn and doesn’t forgive easily either.

37. What kind of movie would 11 go see? An Action movie

38. Does 10 still live with their parents? Technically Esme lives at a boarding school,so no.

39. Does 6 dance?

Yes,usually to entice Michael or to entice someone to their side. Helena is also very good at swing dancing as well.

40. 3, 5, 12, and 14 are playing poker. Who is the most likely to cheat?

Carrie.

41. What would be the main thing standing between 1 and 10’s love?

the fact that there in 2 Different stories, Michelle is with Juggie and Esme is with Charming. Michelle would remind Esme too much of what she was trying to escape from the isle.

42. Is 2 or 4 more mature?

Rika,she is older.

43. Does 1 or 8 have a bigger ego?

Amara,though Roxy does know a thing or two about ego’s,dating wrestlers...

44. Would 12 rather drive a small, environmentally friendly car, or a huge Hummer with bad gas mileage? A hummer,because at that point it wouldn’t matter. A vehicle is a Vehicle in The Apocalypse,though she’d prefer a Motorcycle.

45. Does 6 care about their appearance? Yes,she’s spent years not being able to see it as a Ghost,so now she can be quite fussy at times. But given who she’s dated in the past that’s not surprising....

46. 5, 7, and 14 go into a haunted house. What happens?

Carrie wouldn’t be phased she’s seen worse,so has Ashlee but she hopes there’s no ACTUAL evil dead here,which would be what Rhiannon would try and find out.

47. 13 is walking along and gets pulled aside by a prostitute. Do they accept the offer? omg what is with these questions...poor Mandy lol honestly living where they do she’d probably be used to it,she’d just brush her off and walk away. She has Billy,she doesn’t need to PAY for it.

48. Does 10 have or want kids? No she’s too young,though I’m sure Chad will want an Heir at some point.

49. How will 13 probably die?

omg! Easy answer probably by a Demogorgon!

50. Why was 6 picked on at school?

Helena was actually...because she was different then the other kids,an orphan Witch,no one dared pick on her after she met Dandy though.

51. For what would 11 worship 4?

Marianna would look up to Rika because she’s “fought” a dream demon and survived,even though she’s only human.

52. 3 and 14 are running against each other for president. Who do you vote for?

Probably Renee she seems a bit more level headed then Ashlee but then Eobard might become Vice president...I suppose it’s better then Ash! lol

53. 1, 8, 12, and 14 gang up on 5. How long does 5 last?

Quite awhile and this must be when Carrie is bad again,otherwise Amara would have no reason to fight her.

54. Who would 11 rather take to the prom, 2 or 9?

Mari would take Shelle to the prom,she’s a bit more low key.

55. Would 7 ever wear a leopard-print miniskirt in public?

Maybe

56. Who has a more normal weight, 4 or 10?

I have no idea,I suppose Esme.

57. Why would 13 be arrested?

For Beating up someone or stealing or underage drinking/smoking.

58. 3, 6, and 11 go to the movies. What happens?

Renee would be watching it,Helena would be bored and Mari would try to enjoy it but would get irritated at the group of people talking to loud and kicking her seat,that she’d promptly get up and tell them off.

59. 13 is trying to escape from a burning building, but sees 1 trapped in the corner. Would they try and save 1?

Yes bad girl or not she’s still not going to leave someone to die.

60. 14 and 8 are exploring an abandoned tomb, when 14 suddenly falls through the floor and barely manages to avoid the spike traps. How would 8 save them?

With her powers,she’s levitate Ashlee back up.

61. Would 2 rather marry 6 or 14?

Probably Ashlee.

62. Does 10 smoke or drink?

:: Nope.

63. The house is about to explode, and 9 can only save 3 or 12. Who do they choose?

Suzanna...Hopefully Renee could get herself out or Thawne could come to her rescue.

64. Would 11 ever deal drugs?

:: No, never.

65. Did 13 graduate high school?

she’s still in school

66. 7 tries cooking a new icky looking dish and invites 4, 9, and 13 to dinner. Who eats the dish? Mandy,she don’t care. Its better then nothing,she’s not as picky as she used to be.

67. Would 3 ever pierce their tongue?

:: No

68. What about 9 annoys 14?

That she’s a God yet she can’t fix The Deadite problem...

69. Does 1 or 5 sleep more?

Roxy

70. Who does 14 like most out of 2, 8, and 12? Who do they like the least? Suzanna,they can relate to each other more,though I feel like Suzanna would be the mother figure,Amara would be the cool big sister and Michelle would be like Ashlee’s twin or BFF.

#oc tag #my ocs #riverdale #stranger things #ash vs evil dead #Nightmare on Elm Street #loki #the flash #the walking dead #wwe #gotham #ahs apocalypse #teen wolf #descendants #harry potter

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justoneday-namjoonii · 5 years

Text

Don’t Breathe | 2.5

»Genre: Hitman!au || Stalker!au ||

»Warnings: kidnapping, stalking, obsession, themes of potential Stockholm syndrome, mono-phobia, mature elements, manhandling, breakdowns, yandere (? i think ), he thinks it’s cute when she cries, eventually they fall in love, Disclaimer: I do not condone nor suggest stalking/kidnapping or anything of that nature, this is pure fiction ok, kidnappers and stalkers DON’T love you.

»Summary: He doesn’t get shaky hands, he never forgets his gloves and he never leaves a trail. He was told to get rid of everyone who witnessed the conversation between a gang lord and a politician, they were picked off, one by one. He found out a month ago, he missed one. A young writer who attended the event where the exchange took place. He has to kill her. Can he do it?

✤ pt.1 - pt.2 - pt. 2.5 - pt.3.0 - pt. 3.5 - pt. 4.0 - pt.4.5

A/n: ♥

Day 1

3:27 AM

It’s cold.

Even in the absence of your consciousness, you could feel you were in unfamiliar terrain. Your eyes fluttered open upon the chill that washed over you. You hesitantly sit up and promptly take in your surroundings. You move around a bit and quickly realize you aren’t on your soft bed anymore, there’s a blue mat under you and a blanket covering you loosely. Darkness somewhat skewed your sight, but you could comprehend that you were in a large, dark room with little light.

Where am I?

“Ah...” You hold your forehead when you feel a stabbing pain in the center of your forehead, something similar to a migraine.

Judging by the staircase across the room for from where you sat, it looked like a basement. You tried to stand, but you were brought back down by a harsh metal on your wrist – you were handcuffed to a pipe. You've been kidnapped. That’s the only explanation for your current predicament. Questions swarm in your mind, how did this happen? Who did this? And more importantly, why?

Though you try to remain calm, panic begins to settle in the pit of your stomach. You suddenly feel light-headed, chest tightening and heart pounding against your rib-cage. Tears threaten to leave your eyes but you wipe it away with your free hand. Keep yourself together Y/n, you don’t know for sure what’s happening so you shouldn’t jump to conclusions, right?

Footsteps.

You hear footsteps approaching the door at the top of the staircase and you subconsciously pull at your wrist. The door creaked and light trickled into onto you. There was a moment of silence before the individual began to make their way down the stairs. With every step, you felt your heart skip several beats and your breathing starts to increase at an alarming rate.

Just when you thought you could take seeing who your potential captor was, you were met with a chilling sight. A tall, dark figure made its way towards you with an ivory mask shielding his identity.

“W- Who are y- you?” You stutter, trying to stick to the wall behind you to keep as much distance of possible. Fear laced your words, “W-why am I here?...”

Whoever was behind that mask just stood there. Though his face was shielded, you could see his eyes, and they were piercing, glued on you. You swallow a lump in your throat, pulling against the cuffs and hoping it might get him to respond – it didn’t even faze him.

Instead, he got closer to you and that’s when you caught a glimpse of something in his hands. You prayed it wasn’t an object meant to harm you because you were in no position to fight him off, not with the cuffs keeping you at ground level. Why won’t he speak? Notwithstanding the fearful look on your face, he chose to sit in front of you. The proximity combined with complete silence made you very uneasy. He places something in front of you, a bottle?

“W- what is that?”

As if you hadn’t just asked him a question, the man stood to his feet and walked away.

“Hey! Why am I here!? Who are you!”

There was a pitiful strain on the edges of your voice, making you sound similar to a distressed doe. He ignored your cry’s as he made his way up the stairs and soon the door was slammed closed and you were left in the dark. Alone.

He sits at his computer, typing up an email to send to Choi. He did the job. The article won’t be published and you’re taken care of- Well, sort of. There’s no way anyone will be able to find you, he made sure there were no loose strings regarding his connection to you. Even if you were declared missing, it’s not likely anyone will know where to look for you. He knew your family lived in the countryside, so the chance of them tearing the city apart brick by brick to find you is slim. The police will have a hard time finding you too, they still haven’t been able to find the other targets he disposed of.

It’s extremely risky to keep a hostage, that’s what his colleagues say. Taehyung specializes in quick and clean jobs, rarely does he dabble in hostage holding, it’s just not his style. Originally, his plan wasn’t to hold you hostage but it just happened. The thought of killing you had left his mind the day he bumped into you that day—he thought, how could he take the life of someone who’d give to a stranger without hesitation? Kindness is hard to find when you do find it, why let it go? That was merely a wandering thought though, a figment of his daydreams per se.

This was his only option, he had to take you in order to keep you alive and now he has to figure out where to go from there. If he keeps you in the basement, the solitude might eventually get to you and he doesn’t know how you’ll react. You might try to escape, get violent, whatever it takes to regain your freedom. He’s seen cases where hostages turn to or against their captor, either seeking safety or revenge. It could get messy, if you push back even if that means hurting yourself for the sake of escape, he’ll be forced to take drastic measures.

Whatever it takes to keep you hidden.

Suzy arrived at the office, ready to send out your article but you were nowhere to be found. When she tried to call your cell, you didn’t pick up. She tried emailing you, even asking your colleagues if they’ve seen you. That article was scheduled to be published this morning, you were the one who wanted it that way.

Thinking you might’ve left your computer at your desk, she went and searched for it. It was nowhere to be found and neither was the physical copy. As a last result, she went to the writer's archive of the unfinished article she has access to as a supervisor.

Something was there, but it was deleted. Why would you delete it? You worked so hard on it, there’s no way you’d just throw it away.

That’s it, I’m going to her house.

“Take over while I step out, Aarav, I need to go check on something.”

And with that, she was in her car and following the GPS to the address on your employee mailing account. When she arrived at the quaint little apartment on Blue Blossom Rd she parked. But she noticed something, your car is parked outside—so you must be home. She made her way up the flight of stairs, feeling a bit relieved when she caught the sight of your apartment door. Maybe you just overslept, it happens to us all, she thought.

She knocked.

“Y/n? It’s Suzy,”

She didn’t hear a response; she knocked again.

“Y/n? It’s 7:30, your publication deadline is at 8. I saw your article was missing from your archive,” She cleared her throat, looking down at the doorknob in contemplation. “I was worried because-” She paused, an unsure expression on her face. “The door is unlocked...” She swallowed.

There’s only one way to find out if you’re in there so she proceeded to open the door, and she was met with a normal looking home, but with no one residing in it. “Y/n?” She ventured further into your home.

She peeked in what she presumed to be your bedroom, and your bed was made as if you never slept in it. Did she make it home last night? She was starting to get really worried now. Your keys were hanging up, your usual purse sat on a little recliner in your room, so that was evidence that you did make it home, but where are you now?

“Oh my God...”

She nearly had a heart attack when she saw what she saw. A necklace laid in the pathway to the door, but not just any necklace, you wouldn’t be caught dead without that necklace. It was a gift from your parents when you got your first job in the city, wherever you were, the necklace would be there too. She knelt down and held it in her hand, this is bad, very bad. You were one of the participants at the conference, you possess vital information that was about to go public and it’s not a coincidence that you go missing on the day of publication. This was planned by someone, premeditated, there’s no other reasonable explanation.

You were abducted by the same person responsible for all those missing people. Her only hope is that you’re still alive. She whipped out her cell phone, dialing a number in seconds before putting it to her ear.

911, what’s your emergency?

“I’d like to report a missing person.”

It’s sometime in the morning, probably around seven something since that’s when you naturally wake up.

It wasn’t a nightmare, nor was it a hallucination—you’re still on a cold basement floor, chained to a small pipe on the wall. How you managed to drift to sleep was a mystery to you, you were boiling with anger, fear, and just about any emotion, a person in your situation would feel. You hadn’t cried yet, you knew it would happen eventually, but you were in shock. You heard of things like this happening in movies or around the country in small towns, not once did you think you’d ever end up like this. You’re a kidnapee with not a soul aware of your abduction.

You stretched your legs a bit and your foot hit something when you looked to see what it was. It was a bowl of fruit and a now spilled glass of milk, the man must’ve brought it when you were asleep. He’s feeding you, you weren't sure if you were grateful or just creeped out. If he thought you were actually gonna consume anything he had to offer, he was sadly mistaken.

He stood in front of the mirror, brushing his teeth with sleepy eyes. Choi signed off on his assignment as complete sometime this morning, he’ll have to wait a few hours or days for the next job.

Last night, he went down to the basement and watched you while you slept. There were moments that he wanted to wake you up and maybe explain to you what was going on — that was just sympathy talking. Despite his bias towards you, you’re still a hostage and he has to keep that distance. His ideology on this is simple; if you stay here, you don’t die and he gets a little company in return.

It was around six when he brought the fruit and milk downstairs, assuming you ate, now would be a good time to get your dishes and see how you’re doing. Opting to keep his identity for a little longer, he grabbed the mask off of the desk and made his way to the basement door. He opened it slowly, taking his time when he finally decided to make his way down the stairs.

He’s coming, he’s coming, he’s coming—you shrink against the wall when you see the man at the end of the stairs.

For a moment, you two just stare at each other, dead silence and cold tension thick in the air. His eyes drift from you for a moment and land on the puddle of white liquid near you, and the bowl of fruit was untouched.

You couldn’t see it because of the mask, but his brows were furrowed.

“Was it an accident?...” He almost whispers that too low, but you heard him loud and clear.

You flinch when you finally hear him speak – his voice is so low and distinct, it actually catches you by surprise.

He’s suddenly kneeling down now, eyes looking eerily focused on you through the mask. When he repeats the question in a firmer tone, you nod sheepishly. He walks to the far side of the basement the area you tried not to look at, in fear your brain would start imagining things that weren’t there.

He brings a small towel and places it over the spill as if he were cleaning a mess made by a child, he said nothing to condemn you for it. What kind of kidnapper am I dealing with...

“Who-” You stutter and he doesn’t spare you a glance, “Who are you...w- why am I here?...” It was hard to sound confident in your speech when you so obviously have the lower hand, but still, you have to hold your ground. He doesn’t respond.

“Why won’t you answer me? I deserve to at least know why you brought me here.” You raise your voice a bit, pulling at the restraint on your wrist, balling your fist as tried to control your anger.

Only then does he stop tending to your accident, and he turns to you, you’re met with a porcelain mask. You wanted to rip that stupid mask off of his face. He grabs the bowl of fruit and places it in front of you.

“Eat.”

He stands to his feet and begins to walk away.

“Wait!” You cry, jerking forward as he grew farther,

“Please!-”

The door slammed shut and tears started to well up in your eyes. All you wanted to know was why, why? This man, this monster, he took you from your home in your sleep and put you in a basement, like an animal. How will anyone know where to look for you? Your family and friends wouldn’t have a clue. You don’t know how far you are away from home, you could be anywhere in the city – the country.

You looked at the bowl and your stomach growled at the sight of shiny red strawberries and blueberries. Some might find it foolish no to eat ― shoot, you’re starting to look foolish to your own self. An hour or so went by and your stomach was growling loudly—you were desperate. Hesitantly, you reached for the strawberry and bit it. It was sweeter than normal, almost addictingly sweet. You grabbed the bowl and start devouring it. By the time you were done, all that was left were strawberry stems. You laid back down, feeling cold and defeated, your life has dwindled down to its lowest point.

“Your client sent his thanks last night, it’s just a matter of time before the news cover dies down.”

Taehyung nods, eyes skimming over the file Choi had given to him just a few moments ago. It was a small job, nothing too difficult.

“So, how did you dispose of that stray target?”

Taehyung froze for a moment, Choi rarely cared about how the target was taken care of, as long as they were taken care of.

“I watched her for a while, just trying to find the right moment to act. I drugged her water.”

One side of your body is submerged in water, is this a nightmare?

You looked down and the entire basement floor was filling up with water, it was about 2 inches tall. Your eyes dart around the room, trying to see if someone was behind this, but there was no one, you were completely alone. Your pajamas are nearly soaked in the cold water, making you shiver and curl up to yourself.

Fear shoots to your chest all of a sudden and you start to panic—what if he’s trying to drown me? Or leave me chained up in freezing cold water to make me suffer? You’re in flight or flight mode now. In order to free yourself, you start to violently pull at the cuffs, effectively hurting yourself in the process, but you had to keep trying. The pipe was unmoving, even with you attempting to pull it from the wall with your other hand. Your strength was stunted, of course. There was something in the fruit, there had to be, that’s the only explanation for the throbbing headache that you had all of a sudden.

You grit your teeth, crying out when the constant yanking only made it harder to withstand your condition. In your struggle, you curse the day your captor was born. “Help! Somebody, please! Help!” Tears prick at your eyes and your voice threatens to crack. All you can do is scream for help and hope someone will come.

“Help!”

It’s late, he’s been researching and there’s nothing he wants to do more than get to sleep. When he entered his home, it was peaceful and quiet, just like always. After sitting his bag at the foot of his bed, he made his way to the kitchen to find something to snack on. As he scavenged through the fridge, he had a weird feeling, something is off. He slowly closed the refrigerator door and that’s when it hit him, you’re downstairs. He’s left you down there for more than 12 hours, no food or water. That’s not what he meant to do.

In a panic, he throws on the mask and barges down the door and he hears your cries louder.

“Someone help me- Please! Please, please...”

His heart nearly stops when he sees you. You’re sitting in about 4 inches of water, knees pressed to your chest, and balling your eyes out. You didn’t even look up at him, you were ballistic. He treads through the water and immediately drops to his knees in order to release you from the cuffs.

You looked up to see your captor and that makes you go off even more. “Don’t! Don’t t-touch me!”

You thrashed about as he came nearer to you. He disregarded your pleas and used the key in his pocket to open up the door He was thinking that the water was caused by a busted pipe or something.

He finally got the cuff off of you and hooked his arms under your legs and back, and lifted you up. Your soaking form tight in his arms, he walks you upstairs and takes you to a bathroom. With tears dry on your cheeks, you try to restrain yourself from shaking but it was unavoidable. When you looked up at him, you were struck with fear and you stayed completely silent as he gently sits you on the cold tiled floor.

He’s moving swiftly to get towels for you and you can’t help but notice how well-off this man is. From what you can see, this home is well over half a mill. Your captor is rich, at least you know that much.

He presses your shoulder with a large towel suddenly, seeing that you were shivering because of your clothing. “I know your cold, here you go...”

You jerk away from his touch. “Don’t touch me.”

“I have a change of clothes I took from your home.” He grabbed them off of the counter and sat them on the floor beside you.

“I’ll be right back, wash yourself up, and put your dirty close in that bag.” He exits the room, leaving the door slightly cracked. It would be foolish not to take this opportunity to get cleaned up, so you took it. You slowly stood to your feet and you winced, your lower body was sore from being on the ground for so many hours. You showered quickly and when you finished, you dried off even quicker. While you were slipping on the clean clothes, you had the brilliant idea to try and escape.

You peeked out of the bathroom door to make sure the coast was clear, nows my chance. You bolted out of the bathroom, with no shoes, and ran to look for the front door or any exit at that matter. The only light in the house was provided by the hood light above the stove, it was pretty dark aside from that. Your blood was pumping, the pure adrenaline had to be the only thing keeping you focused on looking for an escape.

Despite the soreness in your ankles and legs, you were determined to get out of here. You tiptoed to what you thought to be a front door, your heart felt like it was going to burst if you didn’t run out there.

Just as you reach for the doorknob, arms fasten around you and you’re being pulled back into hell.

“Let go of me! Let go!” You started screaming and thrashing about violently as he carried you back. “Someone help me! Help pl-” His clamps over your mouth and that only makes you louder. You curse into his hand and try your hardest to break out of his grip.

“Relax.” He hissed in your ear. He continues to carry you off into what looks like a spare room. He practically has to throw you down just so you don’t get up quickly and try to run.

“You need to calm down.” He stares down at you, the godforsaken mask still ever so present. “I won’t hurt you...”

“You fucking kidnapped me- I don’t know who you are or what I did to possess you to drug me take me from my home.” You begin to rise to your feet and he realizes that if you’re standing, that makes it easy for you to try to make a run for it. “You’re a monster!”

“Sit down.” He instructs suddenly, not that you’re going to listen to him anyway, he just thought he’d see if you’d budge. Again, you attempt to run from him, but that’s when he tackles you down and forces your stomach first to the ground.

“L-let me go-” He's trying to turn you over to get the cuffs behind your back but you trying to hit him. Through gritted teeth, he repeats the same words, telling you to ‘calm down.’

You kick and punch but he dodges all of it. “No! Get away from me!”

“Shh...” He keeps his grip tight.

He’s trying to make you tired.

He’s draped over you like a straightjacket, you can’t move easily and he’s prepared to stay like this until you comply. Oddly, after a moment's time, you turn your head to see his masked face, staring down at you with no intent to set you free right now.

“Are you calm now?” You nod, not giving him direct eye-contact. “Alright.” He releases you and sits on his knees. “I’ll need to keep you chained up because you-” Your hand abruptly darts out and you rip that mask off of his face. He slams you against the ground, his instinct to fight back got the best of him for a moment, he realized that when your face begins to scrunch up in discomfort.

“Y- you?...” You’ve seen this man. “You’re the man from the train station...” Tears begin to threaten to leave your eyes the more you stare at him. “W- Why?... Why are you doing this to me? What did I do to deserve this!?”

“You don’t need to know that right now.” He skillfully turns you on your stomach and cuffs your wrists together. “If you continue to resist me, I’ll be forced to make sure you stay weak. You haven’t had carbs for at least 24 hours, you’ve had two sedatives and I’m sure your headache is still there, you’re in no position to fight. So, do us both a favor and relax.” He gently lifts your upper body to sit you propped against the wall.

“Are you hungry?” He stands to his feet, and when you neglect to respond he just sighs. “I’ll bring you some food and explain why you’re here.” He leaves the room, closing the door behind him.

You wait for a moment, just until you don’t hear his footsteps, then you start to try and free your hands. The more you tried to loosen them, you realized that if you can squeeze your hand together tight enough, you can slip out of the confinements. You wince. “Ah-”

When the door suddenly opens, you stall your movements and do everything in your power to not look suspicious. As he enters the room, a bowl and your book bag in hands. Only now do you realize how surreal it is to be under the scrutiny of his gaze. He crouches down to sit not too far away from you, food, and water now in front of you. You watch as he pulls your computer and documents out of the bag.

“What-...” You were gonna finish that sentence but you decided not to.

He opened the laptop and started typing, how did he know your passcode?

He turns your computer around for you to see an empty document page.

“What is this?”

“Your article, I deleted it and destroyed the physical copy.”

“W-...Why would you do that? Why would you-”

“I was hired to make sure you didn’t get this information out to the public. My client didn’t want loose-lipped reporters exploiting him.”

“So you’re responsible for all of those missing people...Did you kill those innocent people?...” You felt a burn in your nose, hinting that angry tears might threaten to flow. “Did you!?”

He cuts his eyes to you, contemplating his answer. “My job is to get rid of the target and the evidence, by any means necessary. I was supposed to kill you, get rid of the evidence, and move on.”

“So why the hell am I here?”

“Well,” He takes a long pause, eyes drifting downward. “I didn’t want to kill you...I could’ve sold you to some out of country trafficker and you’d be off the map for good, but I decided not to.”

“Why?... So you could keep me here, for what? How long do you think you can keep me here without someone finding me? I have friends and family, they’ll be looking for me-”

“But there’s no connection between us, how will they know where to look for you?”

He’s right, where will they know to start? You don’t even know where you are, this could go a dozen ways. “What are you gonna do with me? Keep me chained up like an animal?”

He makes a thoughtful expression. “Well when you put it like that, it sounds awful.” He laughs before taking a more serious tone. “I’ll be honest with you, I became infatuated with you. I watched for so long just so I could get you at the right time, and when we bumped into each other at the train station and you gave me that little coupon...I don’t know, I’ve never interacted with a target before, I’m not supposed to. I thought, instead of killing you like my client requested, I’ll just keep you hidden from the world for as long as possible.” You wanted to vomit at what he was insinuating, you were absolutely disgusted.

“I’m not staying here. I will escape...And when I do, I’ll make sure you rot in prison for what you’re doing to me...” You hiss, venom laced in your threat.

He smirks, standing to his feet to gaze down at you.

“You say that now but when you’re here, for as long as I decide to leave you alone, and human interaction is near nonexistent, I’m sure your thoughts will be different, I think you’ll learn to like me eventually, that would make things easier on both of us.” He must be dreaming if he thinks you would ever like a man who would hold you hostage. He knelt down once more and to his surprise, when he scooped you up, you didn’t fight him. He placed you on the bed and turned you on your stomach and uncuffed you.

“I’m sure sleeping like that would be pretty uncomfortable,” You rubbed your wrists and scooted to the corner of the bed against the wall, “you can sleep here until I get the problem in the basement fixed. But I have a few rules for you,” He sat on the edge of the bed, cuffs still in his hands, “if you try to crawl out of that window tonight or at any time, you won’t eat for 3 days. If you try to pick the lock and escape at any time, no food for 3 days-”

“You’ll starve me if I try to do anything other than what you tell me, yes?” You quip.

“Would you rather me do something else? There are worse things to get you to learn your lesson.” By the timid look in your eye all of a sudden, he gathers that you have nothing else to say and stands up.

“Eat your food, I’ll come to check on you first thing in the morning.” He gets up. Instead of leaving, he leans in and rubs a finger on the underside of your jaw but you shy away. “Don’t be afraid, I won’t hurt you.”

He decides to cup your jaw and press his lips to your cheek, something he’s secretly wanted to do for a while now—your skin is really as soft as it seems. He’s pleasantly surprised by the fact that you didn’t fight back, but you were like a deer in the headlights. You curled into yourself, a nervous look in your sleepy eyes. “Get some sleep...”

When he shuts that door, your heart plummets into your stomach at the thought of your life from now on.

What does he plan to do with you?

580 notes · View notes

eliphante123 · 5 years

Text

Playing tw tag game w/ my oc

I haven't been tagged, yet but this looks fun. I've seen people post this from @edda-blattfe and they're pretty honest with their answers, so why not try it, myself. Also, I brought my oc to answer with me (I want to spice it up a bit) Taniya: happy to answer ^-^

~Dire Crowley appears before you~

Question 1: Welcome to Night Raven College! Did you enjoy the trip here?

Me: i don't know how did i get here but wow

Taniya: hmmm...yes and no

Me: why?

Taniya: if you were me, you know why -_-

Question 2: Wonderful! All students here must choose one of the seven dormitories to reside in during the school year. Which one do you choose? Why?

Me: I’m mostly interested in Ignihyde because of technologies and stuff

Taniya: look at my ears and tails, it’s obvious I’m from savanaclaw

Question 3: Now that you’re officially a student, what would you like to learn first?

Me: history about magic, I luv magic

Taniya: LEVITATION! SO I CAN USE IT TO CRUSH MY EMEMIES BY LIFTING A GIANT OBJECT AND THROW AT THEIR FACES!!! *gives out a cute evil laugh*

Me: 0_0'

Taniya: also I can easily get things from up high since that I'm short and I can easily clean my messy dorm room just like one of the movies *smiles*

Question 4: I’ll leave you to settle in now. Before I go, do you have any questions about the college?

Me: one question, *fangirling scream* why did you accept hot guys in your college?

Taniya: is there a potion for making me taller? 0w0

~Crowley out~

Taniya: hey! I’m talking here!

Question 5: Which dormitory leader are you excited to meet? Why?

Me: ALL BECAUSE THEY'RE SO HOT!!!

Taniya: I'm fine with everyone *whispers* except Leona and Azul

Question 6: Azul offers you the chance to fulfill your heart’s desire. What is it, and do you accept?

Taniya: don't you dare go near with that sea demon

Me: why? he's going to make my wish come true

Taniya: yeah but I'm warning you that guy is bad news

Me: just because you hate fish, doesn't mean you hate him, as well. Also, what about you? do you want something in your heart's desire?

Taniya: of course not! I won't make deals with someone who can impossibly grants people's wish and I still don't trust him, especially the twins

Question 7: Which of the boys are you friends with? Why?

Me: of course, Taniya!, ortho, ace, and kalim are cool to hangout

Taniya: most of my friends are Leona, Ruggie, Jack since we lived at the same dorm and the rest are ortho, idia, trey, kalim, lilia, and silver because they're ok to talk to

Taniya: aww

Me: ur welcome~

Question 8: C’mon, we all know everyone at the school is attractive. Is there someone (or more) you’re crushing on?

Me: WELL DUH! EVERY BOYS ARE ATTRACTIVE! and *looks at Taniya with a smirky face*

Taniya: what?

Me: is there someone you have a crush on?

Taniya: me? nah I'm not interested with guys

Me: ohohoh but there is and I know who~

Taniya: oh yeah tell me

Me: it’s obvious you two are like almost a couple but you just don’t realized it. He’s tall, cunning, handsome face and he's a third year

Taniya: dude every third year are tall, cunning, and handsome

Me: but you know him, right? you're always with him whenever he needs you *smiles*

Taniya: I’ve been hanging out with bunch of guys in my life and even if I do, none of them are my type but what you're refering to....

Me: *waiting for her to realize it’s Leona*

Taniya: hmm....nope doesn't ring my bell

Me: girl you need to learn more about love life

Taniya: no thanks

Question 9: The hallways are a terrifying place to be after hours. Who’s the last person you wanna be out there with?

Me: ready?

Taniya: ok

Me & Taniya: 1, 2, 3...GHOST!!!

Me: nailed it

Question 10: Would you rather listen to Jamil’s puns, work at the Mostro Cafe with Jade and Floyd, or clean the dungeons with Lilia?

Me: I'm fine with Jamil's puns

Taniya: I'll just go help cleaning the dungeon with Lilia

Question 11: Everyone loves karaoke night at the Cafe! Do you sing? If so, which song would be your go to?

Me: yeah I can sing but I don't know which song that fits me, I guess It'll Be Alright by Cody Francis

Taniya: I can sing as well and the song I would sing is Faster Car by Anders Lystell.....wait a minute! since when did the Cafe have karaoke?

Question 12: Riddle invites you to a tea party with the rest of Heartslabyul. Do you attend?

Me: yes, I love tea parties

Taniya: me too, so we don't have to get our heads cut

Me: oh yeah....

Question 13: Choose a champion!

Me: I know who's a champion

Taniya: same here

Both: ME!!! *looks at eachother*

Taniya: actually we're the champions

Question 14: Favorite headcanon(s)?

Me: I don't have a favorite but I like all of it

Taniya: canons x self-insert/oc's

Question 15: Unpopular opinion?

Both: nope/nada

Question 16: You forgot to send Maleus an invitation. Your survival plan?

Me: pretending I'm not invited either and next time, I will invite him to my "I'M SORRY FOR NOT INVITING YOU" party

Taniya: who's that?

Me: you know that horned guy that lives in the diasomnia and always been forgetten in every invitation.

Taniya: oh that guy, was he in the party, last week?

Me: idk but it's better to not mention about it to Maleus because he might gonna zap you with his spinning wheel staff like a grilled potato

Taniya: .....ok, I'm with your plan

Question 17: Be honest, would you trust Rook to shoot an apple off your head?

Me: ohhh yes, I want to see if he really shoot that apple

Taniya: no, I would probably be dead for 1.5 second -_-;

Question 18: Lilia, Ace, and Kalim invite you to hang out with them. Do you go?

Me: Absolutely

Taniya: eh why not

Question 19: Where is your favorite place to chill on campus?

Me: chilling at the Mostro Cafe while wearing my headphones on

Taniya: outside the campus roof or I could do parkour for fun

Me: ohh can I come?

Taniya: sure, if you know how to climb a high building before

Question 20: Ortho asks if you’ll help him drag Idia out of his room so he won’t skip class. How does that work out?

Me: I would convince him to go out because he’ll miss everything that is going on

Taniya: why not we use Idia’s unfinished vr headset then trick him that you, me, and ortho help fixing his vr and telling that we created an adventure virtual reality game called “NIGHT RAVEN SIMULATOR” for him, as a test subject, to practice interacting with other students. We just have to remove the lenses, make very convincing that everything is just a simulator/game, and lure him out from his room to attend his classes

Me: but what if he notice our trick?

Taniya: don’t worry I’ll tell the other students/teachers that we have to play along with his virtual fantasy and not let Idia to suspect anything and everything that is reality

Me: but what if it fail?

Taniya: *sighs* if it fails, well at least we can do is getting him to experience of going out for one last time

Taniya: at the end of class, we’ll send him back to his room and tell everyone never mentioned about our “getting idia out from his room” plan

Me: ok that really is too much work but that’s actually smart of you

Taniya: well it’s that least I can do to help a friend to boost his confidence

Me: aww *hugs her*

Question 21: Who would you rather train with, Jack, Sebek, or Ashton?

Me: is it alright to say none of them?

Taniya: training with Jack, ok but with Ashton, no way

Question 22: You’re locked up in Mr. S’s shoppe after hours, who’s with you?

Me: do I really have to pick? then ace and kamil, we’ll get in trouble in the morning

Taniya: Ruggie, I guess? he’ll help me find a potion that can grow my height

Question 23: Leona fell asleep…again. This time on top of you. You have potions in 15 minutes; what do you do?

Me: I don’t mind sleeping with him, he’s kind of cute and comfy to begin with

Taniya: I’ll gently push him off and draw his face with a permanent marker while he’s asleep. When he wakes up, I’ll pretend nothing happened until someone notice his face

Me: that’s kinda devious

Taniya: that’s what he get for sleeping on me

Question 24: Would you rather go on a magic carpet ride with Kalim, let Vil give you the Pomefiore spa treatment, or play on Azul’s grand piano (with his supervision)?

Me: magic carpet with kalim!

Taniya: a spa treatment would be nice

Me: why don’t you join us?

Taniya: you know I have aerophobia! I won’t go anywhere that involves flying

Me: *whispers* you’re no fun

Taniya: I heard that

Question 25: Grimm feels a little left out. Comfort him?

Me: yes, I’ll give him a stuffed mouse to play with

Taniya: I’ll bring him along with me on a journey

Me: ohh like what?

Taniya: as a dorm assistant, I’ll hire him as my helping buddy to do the work in my dormitory

Me: that’s nice

Ok that's all you want to see here and wow this is really long. For the tags, I bet almost everyone are already been tagged since I've been posting this kinda late so.... I guess @nerdgod555 , @ocean-water-tea , and @mint-sugar-1121 if anyone wants to do this game just go to @edda-blattfe and you can find that mention tw tag game. Hope u enjoy our crazy journey bye~

Taniya: good bye~ *waves her hand* ^-^

#twisted wonderland #oc #Taniya Kalisha #featuring me & my oc #man this is fing long

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serendair · 5 years

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Tag Game

Tagged by: @codenamed-bananafishThank you for tagging me :D

Rules: answer 21 questions and tag 21 people you want to get to know better

Nickname: None really, my family and friends call me by my given name. I tend to react when someone calls me “Seren” though considering that name follows me since forever through any game and online community I’ve been with :D

Zodiac: Scorpio

Height: 5″3″

Last movie I saw: oof...? I - don’t remember lol I don’t go to the movies that often. I did rewatch the Superman trilogy from the 70s with Christopher Reeve the other day because someone I follow reblogged a bunch of gifs ^^;

Favorite artists: Oh boy, where to start? There are so many. Famous artists of the past: Marc Chagall and Claude Monet. Beautiful use of colours and way of expressing themselves. I could sit forever getting lost in their pictures. Famous artists of today: Shaun Tan and Lorenzo Mattotti. Have you SEEN their work??? Amazing! Also: Marc Taro Holmes and Alvaro Castagnet who make wonderful watercolour art. Their grasp on the medium is stunning and I adore the ease in their works! Digital artists and members of the animation industry: Marco Bucci (That texture! Omg), Atsuya Uki (The expanse of his backgrounds, the expressions of his characters, the gestures, everything is so light and free, I could talk all day about it), @mocha708 (I don’t know their name sadly but their background artwork is breathtaking!) There are more but I keep it at this. Fanartists of the fandoms I follow: There are so many and I already feel horrible because I am sure I don’t name all that deserve to be named. Anyways, following no specific order I put them as they come to my head: e-mika (a recent discovery I found throgh a BF fanart and followed them for their beautiful art, just check them out, it’s impressive), fuwishi (found through YOI fanart, I adore their watercolour works a lot, everything is so harmonious and soft), aishakami (found through BF again I love her watercolour works and the way she uses colour, it’s so beautiful and glowing, also her digital art is adorable, I feel honoured to be followed back by her), Rayana aka rainbow09 (doing mostly digital art for the Digimon fandom but there occasionally are other things in between, I love her style so much, perspective, poses, expressions, her portrayal of some of my most favored characters is just so spot on it’s amazing, she’s an inspiration to me and one of the reasons I got back into drawing after a rather long hiatus and I am extremely proud to be able to call her a friend), yamacoya (also found through BF, has a very unique style that highly resonates with me - it’s so reduced yet really strong in expression, awesome). I could go on forever but I’ll stop here. As I said, there are so many and I feel bad for not naming them all but those came to mind first so I guess that’s alright?

Song stuck in my head: Black Sheep by Gin Wigmore (my dad recommended this song to me the other day and I can’t get it out of my head ever since, it’s so catchy and really good)

Other blogs: none - yet? (I keep considering splitting my blog by the fandoms I’m following but I’m overwhelmed just thinking about the maintanance so my poor followers have to deal with my randomness ^^; sorry guys!)

Do I get asks: sometimes :)

Following: 104

Amount of sleep: 8 - 10 hours if possible

Lucky number: 13

What I’m wearing: My go-to clothes aside from work are the jeans t-shirt chucks combo I’ve been rocking since my early teenage years. For work I’m expected to wear formal dresscode but loosen my leash and nothing stops me wearing my band shirts and chucks to a suit xD

Dream job: it used to be concept artist or animator but then life happened lol

Dream trip: Oh there’s more than one! The one I’m dreaming of for well over half of my life now would be Japan :) but there’s so many places I want to see. A backpacking trip through Great Britain. The Mayan Temples. Athens. Rome. And so many more ^^

Favorite food: Again so hard to name only one! I live in Bavaria and I love this regions food so so much. Kammbraten is amazing with Semmelknödel and Rotkraut. Or my mum’s Goulash is incredibly delicious. Or her Rouladen! God I love food xD to name something more internationally known I’d say Clam Chowder. I fell in love with that stuff the first time I went to Boston and I’m craving it madly. Oh and corn on the cob is always great! And Spaghetti! And Cherries - cherries are great. So are grapes. And I discovered Kaki fruits recently - yum!!! Did I mention that I love food? lol let’s skip ahead

Play any instruments: No :( but I want to learn to play the piano eventually

Languages: German, English, I was pretty acceptable in Spanish but that’s years and years ago. I think I can introduce myself still lol doesn’t count I guess

Favorite song: I really try not to write an essay about favourites again. It’s so situational. And this is hard to answer! I’ll pick Queen - Don’t Stop Me Now, this song always picks me up when I’m down or makes me dance through the room when I’m in a good mood, overall a great song!!!

Random fact: I’m really bad at answering questions like these with a normal answer, you either get a long ramble or a counter question to specify what exactly is being asked. I’m a nightmare for everyone trying to hold a conversation with me I’m afraid. This is kind of obvious though so...how about this: I used to raise butterflies when I was a kid. When they hatched my mum’s kitchen was full of fluttering colours :D

Describe yourself as aesthetic things: Ummm.....? Does a blank page count? I could tell you about the things I like but to describe myself as aesthetic things...? I don’t think I qualify to do so.

Tagging: Some of you are friends and some are followers of mine who I haven’t gotten the chance to get to know yet but I keep seeing your names in my push notifs and you somehow stick around despite my randomness. I hope it’s ok and I don’t bother you guys. I tend not to tag people to not be an annoyance but it would be nice to get to know (more about) you. Needless to say if you don’t feel like doing this I don’t blame you :D Anyways: @rainbow09 , @tai-grex , @nekog4y , @xsmokexflamesx , @ookamii-woof , @zeokawolfhusky , @lovecardpng , @lutyung , @ashjadelynxx , @darkangelofcourage , and of course everyone else who I didn’t tag but reads this and feels like doing it! If you do feel free to add me and let me know :D

#this has been sitting for a while in my inbox #i'm so sorry it took so long to pick it up #i started answering it and then i realized some questions do need actual thinking lol #then life took over with work and university and wips #yet here we are #again thank you for tagging #this was fun #:D #other #my own #tagged #I'm still clueless how to describe myself as aesthetics #this will have me thinking for a while #I really don't know...?#hmm...

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iohourtime · 5 years

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Think Note Vol. #63: GOOD DAY

Myojo 06.2018

(Translated from scans by MoMozzz32 on weibo. The photos are also from her account. Please let me know if there are any errors.)

From “Onichan*” to you, who I haven't seen yet. I want to meet you soon.

Busily going about every day, meeting the people you want to meet, or watching the movies you want to watch. If I can look back at the day and say “Today was a fun day!”, I feel that tomorrow will also be a GOOD DAY.

* Older brother

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Today's photoshoot for Myojo starts in the afternoon, so I went to the beauty salon in the morning and dyed my hair. Afterwards, I looked at myself with long-absent light brown hair… I got a bit confused (laughs). It happened that I made my appointment for the same time as my younger sister, so we bumped into each other at the salon! Well, since I was the one who recommended the place to my sister, there's always a chance for that… I came to this conclusion later on.

The drama “Momikeshite Fuyu~ Wakaga no Mondai Nakatta Koto Ni~” was finished, so lately, I was passing my time leisurely. The crank up happened 2 days before the broadcast of the last episode, and on that day, the first thing I did when I got home was to play games! I bought the software while we were filming but I was pretty proud that I didn't open the package in the past 2 months. So when I took the game out of the package, I finally met the cover art I’ve been dreaming of! “I’ve been dying to meet you~!!”, I said as I rubbed the game against my cheeks*, that was the first time I’ve done that (laughs).

* Gollum?!

I went out with members, I met with my family. On top of that, I was checking off all the things I couldn’t do while shooting the drama one at a time, so it's been fun every day. My sister and brother in law are about to have a baby, so lately, my mom, sister, and I are always going to check out baby things. When I first heard the news, I said, “the day has come for my own sibling to become a parent”, anyway, I was shocked. At first, my sister was also a bit confused. Miraculously though, as time passed, she looked more and more like a mother. I truly feel that she’s starting to make preparations to become a parent; from now till the day I meet the baby, I don’t think there is anything I love more! By the way, I don’t want to be called “ojisan” (uncle). That! Maybe “Ryo-ani” (Ryo-bro) or “onichan” (older brother) will work fine. I’ll take my sister’s kid to the toy store and aggressively fill the basket with whatever stuff I will buy for her*; my goal is to have her become more attached to me than my brother in law (laughs)!

* I don't know if he knew it's a girl at the time, but since we all know now, I'm using the female pronoun.

After I went to “Zoom in!! Saturday” for the PR for the drama’s finale, I immediately went to see “Sakamichi no Apollon” (Kids on the Slope), of which Chinen (Yuri) was the lead actor. “Since there will be lots of Chinen’s and (Nakagawa) Taishi’s fans, so won’t I be recognized?”, I originally thought, so to my surprise, there were a lot of seniors there, which was pretty nice. My thoughts upon finishing [the movie]… it was annoying that it was such a high quality film! Even though I was up since 4:30 am and was super sleepy, when the movie started, all [the tiredness] was blown away. The world view of the original manga was well presented, there were scenes that gave me goosebumps, and the music was amazing as well. “JUMP band’s keyboardist, Inoo-chan (Inoo Kei), are you OK? Aren’t you worried that Chinen might exceed you?”, I thought (laughs). If you still haven’t watched it, I absolutely want you to go see it.

I feel that these days of relaxation might continue*. However, one happy news is that the viewers of the drama said “We want to continue seeing the Kitazawa family”, and with Ozawa (Yoshiyuki)-san as the lead, we all started to say “we want to make Momikeshite ‘Haru’, ‘Natsu’, etc”. Speaking for myself, I want to skip over spring… Why would I say that? When my character, Shusaku, got the cold shoulder from his family, aren’t there many scenes of him rolling around in the grass? There is a large cherry blossom tree in that yard, and in spring, there are all sorts of caterpillars falling from it! For this reason, whichever summer, fall, or winter, it’ll be great to gather all the members together again.

* He was a bit prescient, huh? Or maybe they know their schedules roughly 6 months in advance.

“What will my next job be*?” - Ryosuke

*That will be Kiokuya, the horror human love story, coming to theatres in 2020!

#myojo #think note #yamada ryosuke #translations

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thefutureisplywoodbikes · 5 years

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The “My Top Films of 2018″ post positively no-one has been crying out for

Hi friends, it’s been a while. I’ve been meaning to do a little monthly film round up / review thing for a while now (A suggested enterprise that I should say I have received specific encouragement for) but it felt a bit weird starting in the middle of the year so maybe consider this a warm up for that. I HATE spoilers so rarely read any kind of detailed review for anything I feel inclined to see until after I’ve watched it, so the usual format here will be a sentence whether you should bother to go see a film, a few films that might have a similar feel of characteristics if you’re still undecided or looking for more of the same, and finally I might give some extra details or specific opinion. If you’re a spoiler pedant like me you might want to skip this last part but I imagine most of you will be OK.

As what follows are what I consider the best films of the year, it should be a given that I suggest you seek them out and watch them. If you can’t be arsed with or don’t want the details and discussion, of which there’s a lot below, skip down; I’ll put the list near the bottom, along with a selection of other highlights that didn’t make the cut.

Anyway, onto the business at hand. To qualify for my long-list films had to be new releases that I’ve seen in a cinema this year. I’ve not counted any Netflix or Amazon fare, or any classics, some of which obviously are some of the best films I’ve seen in the cinema this year, but you shouldn’t really need specific encouragement to go see Rear Window, Once Upon a Time In The West or The Apartment if you get the chance. I did have a solid 10, but had forgotten something important, so you’re getting a top 11 and a best of the rest section instead.

11 (also 10)

- You Were Never Really Here (Lynne Ramsay)

- A Woman’s Life (Stéphane Brizé)

Two very different films share 10th place. You Were Never Really Here is a bruising tale of a damaged person not so much seeking redemption as just getting by. Set in contemporary New York, it features a superb central performance from Joachin Phoenix and is beautifully shot by Lynne Ramsay. Has a similarly feel, in terms of the editing at least, to her earlier film We Need To Talk About Kevin. There was a lot of talk about this being a modern day Taxi Driver which is an understandable comparison given the subject matter but might unfairly raise expectations if you’re not careful; it isn’t and it isn’t trying to be. It does however have a bit of a Paul Schrader feel to it so if you enjoyed First Reformed this would be worth a look. Currently on Amazon Prime, if you’re not boycotting Bezos.

A Woman’s Life I saw pretty much solely on the strength of how much I liked Stéphane Brizé’s previous film, The Measure of A Man which covers similar territory to I, Daniel Blake but with considerably more subtlety and sharper focus and is for me more successful for it. An adaptation of Guy de Maupassant first novel, Une Vie, the story as the title suggests, takes you through the life of a woman in 19th Century France. It‘s a slow, measured and intelligent film, sympathetic, naturalistic and moving and slyly shines light on the inherent cruelty of the pervasive limitations of the patriarchal society of the time. Not sure what to recommend for comparison since it was early in the year I saw it and I don’t think I’ve seen much else like it. If you’re a fan of Bresson give it a look. If you enjoyed Jacques Rivette’s The Nun maybe. If you liked Barry Lyndon but think it needs toning down in terms of flair and mood. Tolstoy was a big fan of the novel if that floats your boat, Mostly I’d say watch Measure of a Man and maybe track this down if you liked that.

Let The Corpses Tan (Hélène Cattet, Bruno Forzani)

From the Brussel-based French duo behind Amer and The Strange Colour of Your Body’s Tears, if you’ve seen either of their earlier films you’ll have some idea of what you’re getting here. It’s not going to be to everyone’s tastes; if you want a straightforward plot, narrative resolution or ultimately to fully understand what the fuck is going on, you’re in the wrong place, but if you like the sound of a pristinely crafted and gorgeously shot amalgamation of spaghetti western and Poliziotteschi aesthetics, this is likely very much up your street. If you liked Mandy as a film that is effectively an homage to the mood a variety of 80′s films, I think this does similar for a different period more smoothly. If you’re not sold by now I’m not sure what else to say but you can watch it on Amazon Prime if you’re curious.

Lucky (John Carroll Lynch)

On paper this shouldn’t be as good as it is. Not a lot really happens. It’s competently shot but not visually exceptional. It would seem to unashamedly be a vehicle to showcase the enduring charm of Harry Dean Stanton in a role that I would be astonished if i were to discovery it wasn’t written specifically for him. And yet it’s HUGELY endearing. It’s sweet without ever approaching being mawkish or saccharine. Stanton is an irascible, charming and poignant delight as a man doing his best to defiantly maintain his independence while coming to terms with his encroaching mortality . David Lynch is less convincing as a man bereft after his tortoise has escaped from the garden, yet still it all kinda works and has context. If you’ve liked Harry Dean Stanton in anything else, but particularly Paris, Texas. You’ll likely enjoy this. If you’re a Twin Peaks geek, liked The Straight Story, St Vincent (As in the 2014 Bill Murray movie), Mystery Train or maybe even On Golden Pond you’ll likely be OK too.

Filmworker (Tony Zierra)

You’d be forgiven for not knowing who Leon Vitali, the subject of this film, is. Some of you with better memories may place him as the actor who portrayed Lord Bullingdon in Barry Lyndon, likely because at some point you’ve looked him up after watching his superb performance wondering whatever happened to him. What you’re unlikely to be aware of (unless you’ve already seen this) is his immense contribution to, and sacrifices for, the work of Stanley Kubrick, an ongoing commitment that will likely persist until his dying breath.

In awe of the auteur on the set of Barry Lyndon, he effectively abandoned his acting career at the moment it was set to take off, to work with Kubrick in whatever capacity he could, over time becoming his most trusted, and woefully overworked, assistant. There is a sense that this a tale of one man being exploited in another man’s ruthless pursuit of their vision, which in part it is, but Vitali’s devotion is effectively religious and so he commands more respect and admiration than pity for the extent he has given over his life to his passion. If you like Kubrick, have seen and loved any on his films at the cinema, on video, DVD or blu-ray you have a responsibility to see this, because it is extremely likely that Leon is the man who has personally checked the prints and colour gradings to ensure they are precisely as they should be. It should also be a reminder that there are hundreds of thousands of others unsung who’ve had a hand in making the films you love.

If you’re a film geek, serious cineaste or fan of any of Kubrick films but particularly the last four (Barry Lyndon, The Shining, Full Metal Jacket, Eyes Wide Shut), you should see this.

Lady Bird (Greta Gerwig)

At heart Lady Bird is a simple story, very well told. It has suitable faith in its script to keep things simple and in doing so delivers 95 breezily delightful minutes of cinema. I saw this immediately after having endured The Shape of Water (Superficial, predictable, indulgent, emotionally-manipulative dross, with some insultingly shallow politics shoe-horned in to bolster its credibility) so the contrast may have inflated my enjoyment but after that, this was a breath of fresh air. It has a lean, clever script flawlessly delivered by it’s stellar cast, led by primarily by the equally excellent Saoirse Ronan and Laurie Metcalf but also featuring Timotheé Chalamet and the reliably remarkable / remarkably reliable Lucas Hedges in supporting roles. The result is a film full of well-rounded, flawed and relatable characters. The depiction of teenagers seem particularly sharp; the traumas of negotiating the trials of burgeoning adulthood are treated sympathetically but you’re also shown achingly absurd moments of pretension that’ll likely spark a pang of amused recognition in anyone over 20.

If you liked 20th Century Women or Greta Gerwig’s other cinematic outings (I don’t think I’ve actually seen many others but it stands to reason.) you’ll likely get a kick out of this not really sure what else compares suitably.

It’s a nice film. Give it a go if you haven’t already.

Phantom Thread (Paul Thomas Anderson)

The latest offering from Paul Thomas Anderson, Phantom Thread is a curious creature and a bit of departure for the director, stylistically at least. On the surface a dry tale of a celebrated English tailor discovering a new muse and lover and the shifting of power and negotiation of compromises as their relationship develops, I’d say the real meat here is in the subtexts but I don’t want to prejudice your viewing with my half-baked theorising so I’ll say no more. Visually sumptuous, pristinely photographed and with a deliciously acerbic and quotably witty script, you also get a trio of marvellous performances from Daniel Day-Lewis, Leslie Manville and Vicky Krieps in the lead roles. A wry treat for all who like seductive subtlety at a steady pace and one that’s sure to benefit from repeat viewing. (I’ve yet to rewatch myself but am keen to and in the course of writing this list I’ve been compelled to bump it up a few spots and suspect it may well have faired better if I had)

If you’re a PTA fan you’ve likely already seen this but if you need specific prompting I’d say it’s closest in spirit to The Master, but it’s still more idiosyncratic among his output than similar to the others. If you like the barbed charm of the writing of the films of the British New Wave, or Pinter’s script for Losey’s The Servant you'll also likely find this worth your time.

Climax (Gaspar Noé)

Despite it's place here, I have a hard time recommending Climax. Watching it was possibly the most queasily unnerving experience I've ever had in a cinema, which is entirely it's intent.

Following the events that unfold one snowy evening at an isolated rehearsal hall where a group of dancers having a final night party fall victim to an LSD-spiked sangria, what starts out as a mesmerising display of dancing skill and exuberance slowly shifts into a hellish, decadent descent as innermost fears and desires surface and are enacted.

The film is technically spectacular, largely composed of a single twisting shot that woozily drifts among the action and skilfully approximates the helpless intoxication of the characters. Prior to this the film opens with a series of interviews with the dancers, shown on a tv flanked by videos and books, the theme of which would appear to be transgression in its various forms. It's a simple, smart device that foreshadows events to come but also lays out the story's influences and inspirations. The overall result is the sense that experience you receive has been carefully and precisely crafted, something all films obviously aim to do but that this actually delivers, extraordinarily well. Even when things slow and drag in the last 20 minutes (which they undeniably do) you feel like you're being made to endure the comedown of the preceding proceedings. It's not going to be for everyone and I'm not sure the visceral unease of seeing this in the cinema will translate to small screen viewing, but it's a brilliant affecting piece of cinema for those prepared to brave it.

If you didn't like Enter The Void, you're probably not going to like this but if you did, you probably will. The content isn't necessarily especially graphic but there's a sense of callous disregard and cruelty that made for uneasy viewing for me at least, similar to the darker moments of Henry Portrait of a Serial Killer or Man Bites Dog. You probably know by now if you're gonna watch it or not, so let's move on.

Utøya: July 22 (Erik Poppe)

Not to be confused with the Paul Greengrass Netflix film (Which went into production a year later than this then stole it’s working title) Utøya: July 22 is the second film on this list to centrally feature an extended tracking shot. This one was shot in one interrupted take and, much like Climax, is a harrowing film elevated by the directorial decisions that informed and shaped its creation.

Unfolding in real time the film shares the experience of Kaya, a teenage girl attending the summer camp on the Norwegian island of Utøya during the 2011 terrorist attack there. It’s a heartbreaking watch. Less generous reviews suggest it to be manipulative, others, which I am obviously moreso inclined to agree with, feel that the films choices place the victims in the forefront of the story and in doing so highlights failings within the usual handling of such events on film and more broadly in the media, failings which, while I haven’t seen it, I have heard the aforementioned Netflix film is guilty of. While the characters in this film are fictional, their stories are based on the testimonies of survivors and survivors were heavily consulted both during the writing of the script and the filming. The terrorist is not named and is only shown once in the distance which, given the intention of his murderous assault was to draw attention to himself and his toxic political views, is very effective at both resisting unwitting complicity in advancing these aims and preventing the victims and the horror of their experiences from being shifted into peripheral significance. They are not merely a notorious individuals tragic statistics and they, or any other victim of mass murder, should never be allowed to be seen in such terms. This film has been painstakingly and thoughtfully constructed to honour them and the gravitas of their suffering and is intelligent and powerful film that deserves far greater attention.

It feels somewhat ridiculous to offer comparative suggestions for this one; it’s not an enjoyable viewing experience, so if you’re not already moved to watch it maybe you shouldn’t bother. If you’re still undecided this does feature perhaps the most effective and emotionally involving uses of the single shot proximal viewpoint, a technique employed in a number of titles of recent years (Birdman, Victoria, The Revenant, Gravity etc.) that I’ve seen. It something which Son of Saul was celebrated for, where the intent was similarly a claustrophobic immersion, but which, in that instance, I found somewhat distracting. This succeeded for me where Son of Saul did not.

Cold War (Pawel Pawlikowski)

I still haven’t seen Pawlikowski’s previous film Ida but the strength of esteem that it garnered led me to see this without knowing anything about it. (And if you really want to enjoy it, you should skip the rest of this and do the same. Actually you should do that anyway, because I likely create an unreasonable high expectation by the end of this.)

The film covers a love story as it unfolds and transforms over the space of 20 years under the shadow of the Cold War. At various points the romance is frustrated either by the ubiquitous demands and expectations of the Soviet state apparatus or by the lovers diverging fates negotiating it. Given the tale is loosely based on the story of his own parents, one would be forgiven for fearing this might be a melodramatic tale of predictably plucky triumph, but the nuance and complexity of the central relationship, challenged as it is by not only external forces but internal conflicts, has a suitable quantity of bitterness and disappointment to feel like a truthful portrayal. It’s refreshingly unsentimental, as is the depiction of life under totalitarian rule and in some ways this is as much a film about the potential for lives to be crushed by oppressive regimes as it is about loves ability to resist them.

Also of note; the film is gorgeous. The black and white photography is pristine throughout and subtly shifts with the films location. The soundtrack comprises Eastern European folk and 50s Jazz and, with music forming a central role in the plot, the scenes where it features most heavily stand out and are at times breathtaking. The acting too is great with Joanna Kulig proving a particularly enchanting screen presence. It’s a manifoldly beautiful film.

If you still need persuading (though you really shouldn’t, because by this stage I’m just over-egging the pudding) if you liked Ida obviously this’ll be up your street, if you’re a Tarkovsky fan in general you’ll likely appreciate some of the framing and pacing here but if your especially fond of Ivan’s Childhood (And if you’re not you probably should be) the look and feel of this should prove particularly appealing.

Shoplifters (Hirokazu Kore-eda)

It’s unlikely that I’m alone in placing this at the top of my list. I don’t think I’ve spoken to anyone who hasn’t liked this film. Most have loved it. This is very rare. In fact, if you haven’t yet seen this, don’t bother reading further, just go see it in the cinema while you still have the chance. (I don’t want to hear any shit about spoilers or whinging about missing it.) If you’ve seen any of Kore-eda’s other recent films (with the possible exception of The Third Murder) you will have had some idea of what to expect with this. He is a master of tender, low-key tales of everyday life and the drama contained within. Our Little Sister was my first encounter with his work and was my favourite film of 2016. It features the intertwining lives of three sisters who live with their grandmother and the half-sister they effectively adopt when their estranged father dies. It’s a simple, wonderfully uplifting film that unceremoniously shows you the progressing lives of a loving family in rural Japan. After The Storm looks at another family, this time in Tokyo and more fractured and dysfunctional but still observed with compassion and though flawed, prove deeply sympathetic and relatable. In Shoplifters we are again presented with a family, this time a gathering of humble misfits and miscreants predominantly bonded by solidarity in the face of poverty, hardship and neglect. Their love for each other is evident in their actions but as the film progresses it is brought into question by figures of authority and more broadly a society that though unwilling to help them when in need is more than prepared to judge and condemn them regardless of their circumstances.

This is both an overtly political film and a deeply philosophical one but fundamentally it’s an achingly sensitive and compassionate drama. It brings to light rarely discussed economic disparity in Japan and the difficulties of those struggling to get by. It examines what constitutes a family and questions the value of traditional familial and societal bonds when they don’t encompass a duty of care. It lead you to reflect on you own fortunes compassion and morality. And it does all of this simply by presenting you with a group of characters with complex stories. Acts that might be considered otherwise outrageous are given suitable context to leave you entirely capable of empathising with the decisions to undertake them.

A devastatingly moving and humane film, this is beautifully shot, scripted, edited and brilliantly performed by a hugely talented cast. An irrefutable masterpiece. Must watch.

Right, below is a recap of the list then below that will be a list of notable highlights that made the long-list, for those of you not already bored shitless

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OK, welcome back slackers. Here’s the list.

10. - You Were Never Really Here (Lynne Ramsay)

- A Woman’s Life (Stéphane Brizé)

9. Let The Corpses Tan (Hélène Cattet, Bruno Forzani)

8. Lucky (John Carroll Lynch)

7. Filmworker (Tony Zierra)

6. Lady Bird (Greta Gerwig)

5. Phantom Thread (Paul Thomas Anderson)

4. Climax (Gaspar Noé)

3. Utøya: July 22 (Erik Poppe)

2. Cold War (Pawel Pawlikowski)

1. Shoplifters (Hirokazu Kore-eda)

And now for the best of the rest. You should maybe try to watch these before reading the details too

The Rider (Chloé Zhao)

This was unquestionable beautiful and does an excellent job of showing the limitations of investing in an outmoded code of masculinity, in this instance that of the cowboy. The amateur cast effectively play versions of themselves in the thinly disguised the story of lead actor Brady Jandreau’s struggles to adjust after a severe rodeo injury curtails his career and hopes. Why it’s not in my top 10: This is a cinematic love letter to Brady and while it’s effective in display the depth of the directors affection for him and his, admittedly very endearing, family, it’s less so as a means to convince you to share it’s viewpoint if, like me, you don’t share Chloe Zhao’s unquestioning sympathy from the outset. Questions about animal welfare, the validity of cowboy traditions, practices and iconography in the modern world and whether that imported culture dominating life on a Lakota reservation can ever be anything but a toxic cul-de-sac, all go unasked and unanswered.

The Wild Pear Tree (Nuri Bilge Ceylan)

This probably should be in my top ten. It’s absolutely spectacular. Beautifully naturalistic and expansive in scope and ambition. One regular customer at the cinema where I work said it authentically encapsulates the experiences of everyday Turkish life and so if that sounds up your street and you have a spare three and a bit hours to invest this is richly rewarding watch.

Why it’s not in my top 10: It’s just soooo long. It’s 188 minutes but feels like longer, which I’d actually say is a good thing because it covers so much ground at such a measured pace you’re surprised when it’s over that you’ve experienced so much in such a, relatively, short space of time. But it’s still exhausting. While lengthy discussions work within the context of the film their inclusion teeters on the brink of indulgence and the main character, a youthful and arrogant would-be intellectual, is frankly a bit of a dick, and that’s a long time to spend in the company of someone you don’t necessarily like. So in essence, while this is a masterpiece, it is a demanding one, and it’s because I found the physical experience of watching this to be more challenging than either enjoyable or invigorating that it slipped into the runners-up. Once Upon A Time in Anatolia, which I rewatched earlier this year, manages to cover similar territory but still leave you enlivened so I was hoping this might do the same.

Leave No Trace (Debra Granik)

A well-paced, great looking and emotive little drama featuring exceptional central performance from Thomasin McKenzie and the dependably compelling Ben Foster as a father and daughter living on the margins of society in contemporary America. Comparisons with with the work of Kelly Reichardt seem justified.

Why it’s not in my top 10: It’s a great film, I just personally think I saw at least 10 better ones this year. You might feel otherwise. (But you’d still be wrong)

The Miseducation of Cameron Post

I found this to be really sweet and engaging and similarly effective to Lady Bird in giving dignity and truth to the voices of youth. It felt a bit like a modern day update of a John Hughes film (but with the startling misogyny and casual racism excised obviously)

Why it’s not in my top 10: It’s good, but not that good.

Marlina the Murderer In Four Acts

Indonesian. Feminist. Western.

What more do you need to hear. A great little film that deserves a wider audience.

Why it’s not in my top 10: You’ve got the gist of this by now surely?

A Fantastic Woman

I think this did a really good job in highlighting the various forms of conspicuous everyday cruelty that hinder the lives of trans women and more broadly the harmful prejudices that nestle within normative society. The film is far from perfect and is not without it’s justifiable criticism; I have heard it said that this represents a CIS gendered persons idea of what trans experience is like rather than the reality and it is true that the central character is pretty much entirely defined by her victimhood rather this being a more nuanced portrait. So, yes, it’s maybe more than a little melodramatic but the central performance of Daniela Vega is i think still suitably engrossing to warrant your attention.

Why it’s not in my top 10: and nor are the films below

Faces / Places (Agnès Varda, JR)

This was a really lovely film. I tend to overuse the word charming (You’ll likely notice a bunch of equally overused synonyms of it where I’ve attempted to avoid doing so above.) but it’s really apt here. This is a delightfully playful look at the collaboration and friendship of it’s creators, filmmaking legend Agnes Varda and photographer/muralist JR as they travel around France making work. And that pretty much it. It’s smart, fun and funny but mostly it’s nice. Refreshingly and unashamedly pleasant.

This was one of 3 Agnès Varda films I saw in the cinema this year and I’m deeply disappointed both that I didn’t catch more but also that I’m so late in being introduced to her work. The other two I saw were Cleo From 5 to 7, a truly stunning piece of work that effortlessly makes many of it’s French New Wave contemporaries look painfully austere, and One Sings, The Other Doesn’t, whose first 5 minutes alone are so deliciously, guilefully political as to make this, and discovering Varda’s films in general, one of my highlights of the year.

While the ship has sailed for the folks of Manchester to catch the Gleaning Truths season, the lucky folk of London still have a chance to catch them all and suitable time to plan as they’re all showing in early 2019 at the Prince Charles Cinema. I heartily recommend you do so (or at the very least see Cleo From 5 to 7 then see how you go) Link here.

Lastly I want to mention a trio of horror films that stood out this year.

Hereditary was hokey, divisive and derivative of a bunch of late 70′s horror but had a great cast, some surprising twists and I found it to be a great deal of fun. Others did not. The choice is yours.

Mandy was a more maniacally entertaining treat, again derivative but as it’s effectively an adoring pastiche of 80′s genre films it can’t be judged too harshly on those terms. I still think Let The Corpses Tan covers similar territory better, but this has some spectacular visuals, a superb soundtrack and a gloriously unhinged Nicholas Cage to keep you amused along the way.

The new Halloween marked an entertaining return to for the long-suffering franchise and, pleasingly, a box office success but what I found most interesting about it were the sly touches in the screenplay that suggest changes may be afoot in Hollywood. The key protagonists are all women, they’re surrounded by a parade of shitty men who show themselves to be either abusive, untrustworthy or impotent when the time comes to face up to the embodiment of senseless murderous misogyny, Michael Myers. There was a similar vibe in Widows, and with both it was encouraging to see politics being injected into successful mainstream offerings. Lets hope it persist.

Celebrated films I haven’t seen that may be notably absent above:

I’ve heard good things about both Wajib and 120 BPM but haven’t seen them, so obviously can’t comment on them. Also I haven’t got around to watching Cuarón’s Roma yet. Or Sweet Country. I missed that one too.

Alternative facts

In the interest of fairness and balance and the spirit of sharing here’s an alternative top 10 from my learned colleagues at HOME: https://homemcr.org/article/top-10-films-of-2018-ushers-choice/

(Just because their reviews are more thorough and better written, it doesn’t make them right)

And a 2018 highlight podcast if you’re really keen:

https://homemcr.org/media/the-home-film-podcast-special-2018-round-up/

Things I’m looking forward to seeing next year:

The Favourite looks deliciously vicious and entirely up my street so I can’t wait to see that. Green Book I very much like the look of too and is an intriguing shift for Peter Farrelly that I hope pays off. I also have high hopes for If Beale Street Could Talk, like the sound of Destroyer, the look of Vice and am intrigued by Burning. Anyway that’s more than enough for now. I’m gonna go do something else. So should you. See you in the new year.

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