#once I figure out how to draw Sonic characters it’s OVER FOR ALL OF YOU /pos

[blueookashi]

I love her so much

#she may be overly aggressive and wants to kill Sonic but she’s also silly #surge the tenrec #literally my all time favorite Sonic character now I can’t stop thinking about her QKDJQK #once I figure out how to draw Sonic characters it’s OVER FOR ALL OF YOU /pos #yesIloveSurgAmyShhhhh

[loverboypercy]

Starline for the acrostic game? ~sunlight-ships

ACROSTIC F/O ASK GAME

thank uuu @sunlight-ships <33

S - Story - if you and them were in a fairytale, which story would you be and who would play which character?

tbh i already have an idea of sa/tbk red being morgan le fay - granted as much more of a "arthur/sonics silly wizard sibling that lives in the mountains" than their more traditional kind of personality.

i think it would be funny if we got to see eggs in that universe as some kinda evil king, w starline as his like advisor, trusted guard or smthin. then he gets seduced by a funny weirdo.

T - Teach - what skills of theirs would they teach you? what would you teach them?

uh, i mean. they had to start learning more hand-to-hand combat bcs thats what starline kinda does-

but in their like. actual relationship he'd try to get red into hacking and some of the more advanced robotic stuff but they either are Bad at it or just don't really care all that much.

however, i hc that he actually loves cooking/baking so thats something they get to do together and bond over ! he's also one of those Fancy mfers that have their tea like done in a specific way. buddy learns how to do that for him bcs sometimes he needs a lil pick-me-up

A - Art - do they draw or paint? what about any other kind of art? what’s their favorite style/subject/another artist who inspires them?

he admits to having a mild soft spot for aesthetics. he did design and paint his logo himself after all ! if he did end up making art it would probably be more the abstract kind. its a little pretentious but like. red thinks its cute.

he is not allowed to talk about his inspiration and why he wont stop drawing stylised cityscapes and theme parks.

R - Rainbow - what colors do you associate with them and why?

tbh that really nice magenta on his outfit and his eyes make me a lil <3 u kno. its a v pretty colour !

L - Language - what’s their love language? what’s yours?

being annoying /j

i think its pretty solidly set up from his canon appearances that he's an acts of service/gifts kinda guy ! red is also gifts but also quality time.

I - Image - show us a picture of them that gives you a lot of feelings. if they aren’t a visual character, describe your mental image of them!

i love everyones take on him but evans got a special little place in my heart. also his gay little earrings,, never forget what they took from us..

(i also really REALLY love his more monsterous/frankenstein-y concept art where he is Tall. but this post is already really LONG-)

N - Nostalgia - what’s your f/o’s favorite memory?

considering uh. how He Is and comments made off-handedly on ians podcast - i imagine his family wasnt. the best. there was always a disconnect there, and he never really felt like he fit in with them.

but theres one time. he built a little robot for his mother - a very simple and crude thing, something he'd be ashamed of now. but it made her smile and she ruffled his hair. its his most treasured memory, and he hates it.

a second is the first time red called him starlight unironically (it was a bit of a joke before they became actual friends/partners, red called it him once by accident and he got So Mad that they kept doing it). they were still just, very loosely, friends at that point. he was still figuring out what to do with himself, so red took him out to the chao garden with them that morning and had him help out a little. at one point they remarked:

"i don't know if you'll get it right, starlight. but i hope you do."

E - Emotion - is your f/o open with their feelings or do they keep them close to their chest?

starline is one of those people that just bottle and bottle and bottle until they explode - usually by having a breakdown and crying. sometimes he lets stuff slip but he tries so hard to desperately hold onto his cool and calculated persona that it just makes him slip more.

#iloveyou.ans #starlight💫.rom #long post #i kno ive been v jokey w this ship but like. i love this guy a lot #i want to explore this stuff bcs while i enjoy him as a villain i geniunely kinda want him to get better. away from all the teens he #traumatized ofc #its okay kids you dont have to redeem the bad guy this time ill just make him fall in love w me itll be fine dw

[chaosspear]

4, 5, and 20 for the ask game?

4. favorite thing to draw

OHHH SHADOW THE HEDGEHOG FOR SURE. something about the shapes that make him up are very fun to draw once you figure them out-- and ofc I have a lot of fun with the markings. I also REALLY enjoy making up outfit designs for characters and I love coloring irises a lot too, theres so many different ways to do it :)

5. least favorite thing to draw

lace. literally the most tedious and time consuming thing in the world and despite how often ive been faced with this foe, i STILL have not come up with a fast way to draw it. Yeah crystal textures and holographic textures are a close second, but at least theres fun in seeing it come together and it feels rewarding. lace may look good in the end but it just eats away so much of my time I can't even revel in that. idk if you remember the magnet drawing but the sheer amount of lace in that art made me want to explode.

and then i went through it all over again with ralsei miku a year and a half later because apparently i didnt learn a thing. dont draw lace.

20. a piece from this year that you’re really proud of

OHHHH THATS. REALLY TOUGH. I don't know how much ive actually drawn this year hold on.... I'm actually still really proud of that kris miku design from the beginning of the year--- i adore the outfit and all the little musical touches i added to the design-- that, and this art I drew of my fursona that was my first time tackling holographic clothing :) eats the colors

I really need to get inspired and get a big piece out this year.... you could say that sonic movie 2 paint i did would be that, but as good as it turned out, the composition itself makes me a little embarrassed ngl....

#ask game

[stardustshimmer]

*clicks pen*

So, my dearest buddy pal Stardust, I’ve got myself a couple questions for you!:

1

3

4

8

10

16, though with a little tweak or two to the question! We all know what fandoms you draw for, so I’m curious outside of that! Anything in particular you draw that has no association with a preestablished fandom?

and 24! (Not shameful per say, but anything in your artistic past that has you suffer internally when looking back at, but a nostalgic suffering nonetheless)

Okay, this is gonna be a long one!

1- I drew a lot when I was in elementary school, just typical drawings of my favorite characters from movies and shows I liked and doodles of me hanging out with family and such, in notebooks with pictures of puppies or kitties on them. Yknow, stuff a little kid would usually draw. But I dropped it for a while once I came to the sense that I really couldn't get better at it. I decided to take on art again once I reached middle school and saw how good my new friends were at drawing. But I dropped that too. I took up digital art only 2 or 3 years ago, and once I gained a love for video games, they've been my biggest drawing motivation ever since. So boom. stardustshimmer origin story.

2- Tumblr is the only art related site I ever signed up for, and it wasn't even my original intention to start posting art, but I'm glad I broke out of my little shell.

3- I still have my old elementary school notebook drawings from years ago, but I really don't feel like digging through my room for them (I'm not even at home as I'm typing this), so here's my first attempt at a digital drawing (you've seen this before I think, Chaos):

Not entirely terrible, but definitely not something I'm extremely proud of. Moving on-

4- I always try to make my art style expressive, cartoony, and squishy, something that'll make people go "omg that's so cute!" Also, you will rarely see me work with any other types of colors besides pastel or bright (neon???) ones.

8- My favorite piece? This is definitely up there for me:

I just love the way each character came out. Also the colors are, like, so edible. LOOK AT YOSHI. AAJSHDHDDHS.

10- What I like most about my art is just the way certain characters look when I draw them, especially when I give them a silly little expression. Also, poses are like, my main thing. I have to put a character in some kind of interesting pose, like I did with the work above for example. Sort of.

16- I don't think I've ever drawn for any other fandom besides Kirby or Mario, but I think I should expand further. I've drawn Amy Rose once, and I've had some people tell me Sonic characters would look great in my style, so I just have to give that a try sometime! A few other fandoms I have in mind are Deltarune, TADC (although I have actually made a few pieces for that, I just now remembered!) Pizza Tower, Animal Crossing, perhaps Rhythm Heaven?? The possibilities are endless. (I may or may not have misread that whole question idk-)

24- No, I don't think I have a "shameful art past," really. I never took art that seriously for me to want to do anything like trace or recolor things. Although I recall how I used to trace over random spongebob frames once I figured out how tracing worked. But that was just for fun. Other than that, not really.

THANK YOU FOR THE ASK I APPRECIATE IT. I love rambling.

#stardust's mystical mailbox

[spiritsonic]

Do you struggle at all drawing the robot Sonjc characters? Do you have any tips for drawing bots??

While it took me a long while to get used to the level of detail needed for most Sonic robots, the construction method I use is already pretty mechanical so that's not a problem.

If making them feel solid is the issue, I would recommend focusing on the basic shapes that make up the form; start with big things and work out. Take full advantage of reference material; tracing over official art to figure out how to break things down and study proportions can help a ton.

Once you have that down, you can start carving out the little details. With repetition, you'll memorize all the bits and bobs and it'll get easier. Of course, relying on shape construction too heavily can result in stiff posing so once you've familiarized yourself with a character, try starting with more dynamic gestures and warping the mechanical shapes to get something more lively.

#Drawing tips #This all applies to organic characters as well but it's even more obvious on robots

[theweedcrystal]

btw sonic adventures and sonic adventures 2, best sonic games hand down in terms of story telling! I'm just saying right now, I love how flushed out the characters are in Sonic adventure. They're all written very good. Same with sonic adventures 2. Sonic is the fun loving and humanity saving hedgehog, Tails is shown to be an actual hero and he has a great character arc, knuckles is the introverted warrior we know he is.. but I wanna touch on shadows character.

-

Let's talk about how SEGA has fucked over Shadows character.

-

Shadow the hedgehog is one of the most misrepresented Sonic characters ever, and a lot of people actually don't look into his character. Which is really interesting, he has a realistic worldview for what has happened to him. But he's also extremely confusing. For some they can't figure out if he's a rival for sonic, and anti-hero or just a plain villain. Most of the time when people think of Shadow they think of a violence fueled, angry edgelord. But that is wrong!

In Sonic adventure 2 he is painted as a darker character in contrast to the rest of the Sonic cast, but not overpainted to make him an edgelord.

I would like to bring up there is a cutscene where the bubbly character we all know as amy rose, a supposed love interest for sonic, goes up to Shadow and hugs him. It's a simple mistake on Amy's part, she wasn't looking and thought shadow was sonic. If you wasn't edge lord, he would have pushed or hit her while saying something like "don't touch me you freak!". Instead looks at her, giving her a side eye with a small smile.

I would also like to bring up the fact that he does have friendly undertones with Sonic in certain instances. He never acts very rash around him, and the supposed violence he shows is very limited. He never physically hurts sonic, or most of the time if does, once again it's very limited. He normally just passes him while holding a chaos emerald, saying something like "you fool!" Or something.

He never draws attention to a violent undertone with him, that shows that he can be friendly. Throughout the game it's shown that shadow grows softer towards sonic, in the fact that Sonic keeps surprising him throughout the entire game. Shadow is introduced to Sonic by saying that he is the ultimate life form. But, that later changes. For instance when Sonic got captured and escaped imprisonment using chaos control, with a fake chaos emerald. Shadows feelings can be shown when Sonic goes super Sonic and Shadow joins him to help. Shadow even exclaims that Sonic may be the ultimate life form, not him.

His violence fueled tendencies are actually a direct link to his backstory. After he was taken off ice, he realized that Maria had died. Shadow then decided to seek revenge on humanity for the death of Maria. When rouge asks Shadow if he's a clone, or if he's the actual shadow, he lays it no mind. He simply says that even if he wasn't the real shadow, that he was a clone, he was still going to keep his promise to Maria and that was the most real thing about him.

Shadow is used as a tool by robotnik's grandfather. Robotnik's grandfather created shadow, and after Maria's death he wanted to revenge on humanity. He altered shadows memory to where he would only seek revenge against humanity for Maria, basically turning him into a weapon. Amy Rose jogs his memory, and Shadow remembers that Maria wanted him to fight for humanity, not fight against humanity.

Immediately after remembering that Maria wanted him to fight for humanity, shadow did. He rushed in the battlefield, even sacrificed himself to do so.

This is all well and good!

And Sonic heroes, Shadow is revived! It is shown that his character does change, following the last games story arc for him. He doesn't recuperate back to his old beliefs, he keeps his promise to Maria. After Omega, a robot with a shit ton of guns, goes on a rampage, Shadow saves Rouge from him. That is Shadow's very first positive impression on rouge.

Throughout the course the game it's actually shown that shadow does warm up to Omega and Rouge, and finds them to be his closest friends. They have trouble expressing his feelings, but he does feel positively towards both of them!

Rouge and Shadow go from indifferent partners in crimes to very close friends, practically best friends at that

The relationship between Shadow and Sonic is also very positive. They remain on good terms, though they do banter and battle each other. But it's only through fun races that they do that

Though, Shadow has a big case of amnesia. He doesn't know who he is after being released from his pod which he remained in for 50 years in his past. In the end of Sonic heroes, it's shown that Shadow doesn't care about if he really is the true Shadow or not. He may have lost himself, but he just wants to be himself. Shadow's done being stuck in the past and he's ready to continue to with his life.

He's just a kid who shy, a kid who hangs out in small numbers and someone who may lose control sometimes.

But, then there's the spin-off game.. Shadow the hedgehog. And oh god, that's a fucking mess. I'll get into that next post!

#sonic the hedgehog #shadow the hedgehog #rouge the bat #sonic adventures #sonic adventures 2 #sonic heroes

[melzula]

Date Night

pairing: Zuko x Princess!reader

notes: you have no idea how excited I was when I saw this request in my inbox

request: Could you write a Fire Lilies blurb about Princess! Reader and Zuko watching the Ember Island's play about their adventure with Aang and the others?

~ part of the fire lilies series ~

When Sokka and Suki had revealed that the Ember Island Players were performing a play about your little group, you had actually been really excited to go. Constant training and preparation for Sozin’s comet was physically and emotionally draining, so a night at the theater with your friends was exactly what you all needed- even if your boyfriend wasn’t too thrilled about the prospect.

“C’mon, it’ll be fun! Think of it as a date night,” you try to convince him as the two of you take your seats

“Kind of hard to do that when it’s not just the two of us,” Zuko grumbles only for you to shush him, hugging onto his arm and snuggling up close to his side the moment the curtains draw. He lets out a small sigh and rolls his eyes as the train wreck of a play begins, but there’s a faint blush on his cheeks from how close you are. Despite how terrible he knows this is going to be, he does appreciate being your boyfriend again.

The play is really... something. Though it isn’t exactly what you expected, it’s still entertaining nonetheless. You were nearly brought to tears at the portrayal of Aang, laughing the hardest you ever have in your whole life. Things took a turn though once you and Zuko were introduced. You aren’t a fan of their distasteful take on Uncle Iroh, and Zuko isn’t too thrilled about their portrayal of himself either.

“They make me look totally stiff and humorless,” he complains.

“Actually, I think that actor’s pretty spot-on,” Katara teases smugly.

“How could you say that?!”

“Let’s forget about the Avatar and get massages,” actor Iroh then suggested.

“How could you say that?!” “Zuko” yelled in response, prompting your boyfriend to sink down in his seat with a frown. At that moment an actress emerged from the interior of the ship. She wore a tacky but very large dress with a poorly put together crown made of icicles, swooning at Zuko’s feet and kissing the ground he walked on; the actress was you.

“Oh, how I long to settle down in Ba Sing Se like the selfish, spoiled Princess I am!” She sighed dramatically. “I’m a dirty water rat that betrayed my people so I can follow my true love!”

You wanted to gag at how corny her acting was, but you also wanted to melt into the floor and hide forever at how embarrassing the portrayal was. You try to ignore the quizzical glances your friends send your way, choosing to shield your profile with your hand instead to save yourself from further embarrassment.

“Zuko, pay attention to me!” The Princess on stage whined only for Zuko to keep her at arm’s length.

“Nothing is more important to me than the Avatar!” Actor Zuko rebutted.

“You know, you’re a pretty bad boyfriend,” Sokka points out, and Zuko scowls.

“I wasn’t that bad... was I?” He asks guiltily.

“Umm... you had your moments,” you defend weakly, and Zuko deflates at your response.

“Even though you ignore me I will stay by your side because I’m desperate!” the Princess proclaimed, wrapping herself around Zuko. “And I won’t even use my water bending to help you restore your honor because I’m useless!”

“Oh, boy,” Toph laughs, “it’s like I’m actually there!”

“Still excited about the play?” Zuko whispers to you, and you merely grumble irately in response as you wrap yourself up in the lower half of his cloak.

It’s safe to say the majority of your group finds the play unbearable. From turning Aang into a whimsical immature child to making Katara overly dramatic and emotional, the performance butchers your characters in every way possible. You especially weren’t fond with the siege of the North segment where your selfishness and desperation for Zuko’s love were emphasized the most. They especially loved to highlight the fact that you paled in comparison to Yue as Princess, leaving a bitter taste in your mouth that lasted all the way to intermission.

“So far this intermission is the best part of the play,” Zuko grumbles from where he’s leaned against the railing. You sit by his feet on the stairs, angrily chewing on Sokka’s fire jerky.

“I’m not desperate,” you mutter through a stuffed mouth, “and I’m not selfish either. I’m a great Princess!”

“At least your actress kind of looks like you,” Aang argued. “I’m a woman!”

“Listen friends, it’s obvious that the playwright did his research,” Toph buts in. “I know it must hurt, but what you’re seeing up there on that stage is the truth.”

“Easy for you to say, you haven’t seen how they’re going to butcher your character yet,” you mumble.

Of course Toph ended up being the only member of your group to give her approval to the actor portraying her. You have to admit though, being played by a buff guy is pretty cool, but you could’ve done without the sonic scream. At this point, Zuko’s cloak is now yours as you worm your way underneath it to block out the sound.

“Oh, Zuko!” Actress you cries suddenly. “My mind is telling me that being with you is wrong, but my heart tells me that there’s still good in you! I want to settle down in Ba Sing Se with you and have weird, mutant bender babies!”

You nearly choke on your own spit at the thought of “mutant bender babies,” groaning as your friends begin to laugh. Zuko’s mind is still trying to process the word “babies.”

“My honor has prevented me from keeping you happy, so now I will succumb to your bewitching good looks and live in a dirty earth kingdom city to please you,” the Zuko on stage replies dramatically.

“Bewitching good looks?” Suki teases your blushing boyfriend with a raised brow.

Things start to get uncomfortable with the start of crystal cave scene.

“I’ve had eyes for you since the day you first captured me,” actress Katara swooned, causing both you and Aang to stiffen in your seats.

“I’m sorry, did you flirt with my boyfriend in the crystal caves?” You glare over at Katara before turning your angry gaze to Zuko. He smiles at you sheepishly, frowning when you remove yourself from his cloak and scoot a few inches away from him.

“Well brother, what’s it going to be? Your nation or a life of treachery?” Azula asked.

“Zuko, don’t do it!” The Princess cried. “I love you!”

“You’re a water rat and you’re annoying and also I don’t love you anymore!” The actor yelled in response. The actress playing you bursted into tears before turning them into a “powerful wave” that knocked Zuko off his feet.

“Is that really what happened?” Katara asked the two of you gently, both of you refusing to meet her gaze. He tries to reach for your hand to comfort you only for you to pull it away. It isn’t a pleasant memory to revisit, and seeing it played out for you again makes things tense.

The second intermission is even worse, though a little boy dressed as Aang does tell you that you’re so much prettier than the real Princess y/n, so that’s a plus. But the ending of the terrible, horrible, awful play leaves your group shaken. You can’t seem to stay mad at Zuko anymore, not after watching his “death” on stage.

“Oh, Zuko,” you murmur softly at the sight of him being consumed by the flames, and your boyfriend wraps a comforting arm around your figure in response. He’s equally just as shaken.

Your group is mostly silent as you leave the theater, Zuko and yourself trailing behind just slightly as you walk along the sand.

“Are you alright?” He asks gently.

“The other stuff I was mad about was stupid, and I know things are different now. But... watching you die?”

“I know,” he murmurs thoughtfully.

“Remind me never to go to another Ember Island play ever again,” you groan, smiling weakly as he drapes his cloak over your shoulders and presses a kiss to your cheek.

“Gladly.”

| tags: @oddment-niwit-blubber-tweak @thebluelcdy @royahllty @the-firebender-girl @coldlilheart @ilovespideyyy @titaniafire @dekahg @emberislandplayers s @kikaninchen-2 @sokkas--boomerang @eridanuswave @royahllty @lozzybowe @izzieserra @melacholy @music-geek19 @thia-aep @thyunnamed @kittenthekat1234567890 @haylaansmi @nataliahaslosthershit @coldlilheart @idkdude776 @aangsupremacy @thirstyforsometea @ihaveaproblem98 |

#zuko #zuko x reader #zuko imagine #prince zuko #prince zuko x reader #prince zuko imagine #zuko and the princess #avatar the last airbender #atla #atla x reader #fire lilies #princess reader #request

[gthreepio]

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

quick recap of (unresolved) mid-credit scenes:

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

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

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

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

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

black widow: 

takes place after civil war

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

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

tony stark will make an appearance... SOBS

shang-chi and the legend of the ten rings:

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

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

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

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

eternals: 

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

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

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

directed by chloé zhao of nomadland fame! 

spider-man no way home: 

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

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

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

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

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

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

doctor strange in the multiverse of madness: 

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

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

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

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

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

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

thor: love and thunder

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

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

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

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

valkyrie is going to be made canonically bisexual!!! 

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

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

black panther 2

will again be directed by ryan coogler

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

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

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

captain marvel 2

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

will take place in the present day 

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

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

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

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

ant-man and the wasp: quantumania 

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

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

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

otherwise not much is known! 

guardians of the galaxy vol. 3

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

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

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

fantastic four 

will be directed by the spiderman guy, john watts.

otherwise we know literally nothing.

aaaaand that’s the roundup! 

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

[em-writes-imagines]

study group: a social media au where you work at iroh’s boba tea shop with zuko, try to keep up with your college courses, and stir up an irresponsible amount of chaos with the gaang

prev. / part three / next

((author’s note: this update is a little bit different; instead of just screenshots, i’ve written out a scene for this one! hope you guys like it!!))

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

“HEYYYY THE PARTY’S FINALLY ARRIVED,” Sokka shouts the second you walk through the door, Zuko trailing behind.

“High schoolers are the worst,” Zuko grumbles under his breath, and you toss your bag to the floor with an exasperated sigh.

“But,” you force a smile, “we’re here now! What’s the plan for the night?”

“Wellll, I figured we’d start out with a good ol’ fashioned game of King’s Cup, if everyone’s down?” Sokka asks the group.

“Oh HELL yeah,” Toph runs off to the kitchen to start preparing drinks, and Katara calls after her,

“Don’t make mine too strong!”

“Yeah, yeah, I know how you like it, sugar queen.”

“Wait, is that Sonic?” you ask, watching the screen for a moment. With the amount of colors swirling around the screen and Jim Carrey playing Robotnik, you find yourself almost entranced by the wild image.

“Yeah! But, I guess now that you’re here, we should turn it off.” You can hear the pout in Aang’s voice as he speaks, and laugh before joining him on the couch.

“Nah, we can let it play a bit longer! This scene looks pretty climactic anywa— holy shit, did they just blow up the pyramid?’

“Oh, yeah, there’s this whole thing where Robotnik got one of Sonic’s quills, which apparently are capable of “infinite” power, whatever that means, and now he’s as fast as Sonic— oh! And they use rings to teleport to different places! That’s why they were in Egypt, Sonic was going to all the different landmarks he could remember to try and shake off Robotnik—”

“Aang, shh,” Sokka covers the younger boy’s mouth as one of the characters begins monologuing.

Zuko sits on the floor in front of the couch, leaning against the space between you and Aang. “That is… a lot.” His tone is a mixture of confusion and what sounds like a headache, causing you to laugh.

“Jeeze, Zuko, you don’t know about the deep Sonic lore??”

“I said, shush!!!”

“Yeah, jeeze (y/n),” Zuko mimics you, barely holding back a laugh, “don’t get in the way of Sokka and his one true love, Sonic the hedgehog.”

“Will you guys PLEASE keep it down??”

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

“You are the worst King’s Cup partner,” Zuko groans before taking another drink alongside you. “You have to keep your hand on the table.”

“I know, I know, it’s just— Katara made that rule eight rounds ago, that’s such a long time…” You draw the next card, laughing as you slap down a jack. “Aha! My rule is that Katara’s rule is GONE, no more hands on the table.”

The entire group lets out a sigh of relief, including Katara.

“Man, that rule SUCKED,” Sokka shouts, resulting in a shove from his sister.

“Hey, it’s not my fault you guys are dumb enough to keep falling it for it!”

While they continue to bicker, Aang shouts, “Seven!”

The rest of you point to the ceiling immediately, staring at the two siblings until Katara finally notices and raises her hand as well.

“No fair! Katara distracted me!”

“Rules are rules, Sokka,” Toph says, pointing at him with a laugh. “Now drink up!”

After finishing off the last of his drink, Sokka stands up, losing his balance for a few moments before righting himself.

“Where are you going?” Katara asks. “We’re in the middle of a game!”

“I need to find Appa!!!” he shouts as if it’s his life’s mission, sprinting off to Aang’s room, only to stop in the middle of the hallway. “…running...bad idea…”

“You know, for such a tough guy, he sure is a lightweight,” Zuko laughs, taking another drink.

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

When you wake up the next morning, you’re surprised to find you don’t have much of a headache. While you definitely remember most of the night, you know you overindulged yourself, making the memories a bit jumbled…

“Come on, you’ll thank me in the morning,” Zuko holds the bottle of water in front of you. “At least drink half of it.”

“But I wanna go to sleep…” you curl up around yourself in the recliner, covering your face to block out both the light and Zuko.

“I know,” he laughs under his breath, pulling your hand away from your face and placing the bottle in it. “Just drink this first, and then you can sleep in as late as you want.”

You groan, but sit up nonetheless. “What are you being so nice for?”

“Hungover (y/n) is no fun.” He walks away once he’s sure you’ll finish the water, lying across the couch. “Besides, we have a shift tomorrow afternoon, and I’d prefer it if you didn’t complain the whole time.”

“Like you don’t complain about every customer.”

“Is it complaining if we both agree?”

“…points were made. Those fucking kids that came in at close oh my GOD I was about to lose my mind.”

“And yet you still put on that customer service smile— ‘Welcome to the Jasmine Dragon! How can I help you today?’”

His impression makes you burst out laughing, “That is not what I sound like!”

He continues, “‘I totally care how your stupid day is going! Please, tell me all about your kid and your cat and your shitty job!’”

“I’m trying to get tips, Mr. ‘Look At Me Wrong and I’ll Grab That Decorative Sword Off The Wall and Fight You.’”

“Oh, so you’re telling me you’ve never wanted to do that? Not once?”

“…okay, honestly, it would be kind of badass to just flip over the counter like, ‘hyah!’” You swing your hand around lazily, pantomiming the sword toward Zuko.

“With that form?” he laughs. “Nothing badass about that.”

You let out a yawn before replying, “Yeah, like you know— wait… you do know all that stuff, huh.”

“Go to sleep, (y/n).”

Maybe it’s because you’re about to pass out, but you swear you can hear a smile in his voice.

Oh. So that’s what happened.

You immediately sit up and look over to the couch, blush rising to your cheeks. Thankfully, Zuko is still asleep, one arm resting across his face while the other dangles off the side of the couch. He looks… 

“Morning!” Katara calls out from the kitchen, thankfully cutting off your train of thought. “I’m making eggs, do you want some?”

The rumble of your stomach is answer enough, and you laugh as you reply, “Definitely!”

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

Taglist:

@samsmultifandomblogs

@kittyddandnyla

@thanosismybitxh

@lovemyself-persona

@zukochi

@yeehawnana

@astroninaaa​

@akariblue​

@welovediaaxx​

@jisnuq​

@anime-simp​

@scriptura-delirus​

@ella-solei​

@simply-stanning​

@darkskin-buttercup​

@duh-dobrik​

@jaeminsorbit​

@angelbabymed​

@heartheirwords​

@cece-lives-here​

@coldlilheart​

#prince zuko x reader #prince zuko imagine #zuko x reader #zuko imagine #zuko x you #avatar x reader #avatar imagine #atla imagine #atla x reader #atla social media au #zuko fluff #zuko scenario #avatar reader insert #zuko smau #i honestly have no idea how this ended up being over 1k words

[steve0discusses]

S4 Ep 39: Pharaoh Can Fly (Selectively)

Guys, they’re back

Best storyboarder is back, and the visual difference between last episode and this episode is like when your art teacher picks up your charcoal and just fixes everything wrong with your gesture drawings. It’s like...I mean look at this:

I just really love and appreciate how illustrative this storyboarder is. And I say just storyboarder because this had about the same budget as the last episode--there wasn’t that much actual animation as per usual. But, all of the scenes were drawn so well, like panels out of a good manga. They just...they always nail it when they’re at the helm and I don’t know why they’re on Yugioh, but bless this storyboarder.

Plot wise, everyone got pulled into the dragon by gooey tentacles that came out of it’s stomach, don’t think about it.

Meanwhile, all of the minibosses could communicate with them and beg for help, yes, even the same miniboss who may have dressed up like Pegasus and catfished Seto Kaiba.

(keep reading under the cut)

The whole process of getting absorbed into the Orichalcos demon was a whole lot of symbolism and it was...kinda gross. Also kinda sketch. Also, for Kaiba it is a neat little nod to S1 when he had a vision that his brother was absorbed into a dragon mass.

I don’t think that the makers of the show remember S1, but either they just really like goopy dragons, or it’s a coincidence or I dunno, on purpose? Probably a coincidence.

And like I made this joke and realized...what if they actually meant to make that parallel though? This is the America crossover season, and they have referenced America’s love of trickster rabbits before with Pegasus but do they know about Br’er rabbit in Japan? Do they know? It’s a pretty Americana Deep-cut, and I have no idea how common this folktale is outside of the states.

I see anime busting out absorbing goopy masses all the time so I’m gonna assume that there might be a Japanese folklore I don’t know about which uses a similar structure (although I’m also assuming it has an extremely different history and association ((which I won’t be going into because I don’t feel like putting a trigger warning on this recap)).)

And looking at Wikipedia, there’s people that think the original reference to moist, absorbing creatures could have even come from as far as India. Which is...fascinating to how it also developed in Africa, and then the Cherokee also made the same story independently and then it fused together here in the States to make it what was eventually made into a Disney movie that will never be released again--this is just a really old ass story, all in all, possibly like over a thousand years old.

And a FASCINATING google deep dive I won’t go into for obvious reasons but knock yourself out.

Also, lets get distracted for a sec and see how well this storyboarder drew a fitted jacket at that angle. Dear Lord, did they get reference for that or did their brain just already know that those folds would be there? You can even tell that Pharaoh has just a little bit of padding at his shoulders. Ugh. Guys this storyboarder is so freakin good at these little fitted jackets.

So, once Yugi and his friends are absorbed into the mass, where they should have died...and maybe some of them did, but I don’t know if I should add that to the Death Count because like...they could have held their breath in the amount of time they were stuck in there...maybe...Anyway, they are saved by being tossed into the figurative briar patch--by the souls all hanging out in the Leviathan’s stomach--which again makes me wonder...did they pull a folklore on us? Again, I have no idea.

Like a lot of the people in this dragon have been thorns in their side this entire season, they’ve all tried to kill them at one point--all the minibosses, Mai, Pegasus--but now they have decided to team up with Pharaoh (along with the rest of the human race) and offer whatever they can to free them from the grip of the gross dragon mass.

And like, the ending of the folk tale is that the thorny ass briar patch is also where the rabbit lives usually. It hurts everyone else, but the rabbit--the rabbit can deal with it. And likewise, Pharaoh is freakin dead. He’s at home here. He’s surrounded by spirit power, his friends and their friendship power, this is like his zone, and now he’s crazy powerful for it and will be for the rest of the episode.

And like Yami is a very trickster God (especially Season Zero Yami) so like...it does make sense that he would mirror a folk tale based on trickster Gods, even if it is by complete accident.

So Pharaoh imagines everyone’s tears as individual drops in a glass or something--it’s not a literal glass or anything--it’s just there because the only thing actually happening on screen was his hand hanging out of this dragon’s weird puss skin.

And he’s now a fully charged Sonic the Hedgehog and no longer needs Kaiba or Joey at all. Just gonna grab his God card demons and take charge of everything else from here on out.

By first exploding his buddies right the hell out of this lizard and across hundreds of feet of open ocean.

Joey decides to remind Kaiba that he lost the Battle City tournament.

Seto’s roast was actually in the show, PS. He is not super excited to be reminded that Yugi owns every card that he spent 2 seasons failing to get.

And then Pharaoh did something really, really...

...just really really wild.

OH OK.

YEAH JUST TAKE OFF.

GO AHEAD THERE’S NO REASON THIS WOULD BOTHER ME.

I mean he IS super powered right now but like...

Like...WTF?

4 SEASONS. 4 SEASONS I thought this guy was glued to Yugi like Peter Pan’s Shadow and apparently--he can bounce.

Can Pharaoh do this every time Yugi asks Tea out on a date and tries to instead make the ghost in his head do all the work now? Can Pharaoh just be like “NOPE” and then phase out of the house, leaving Yugi to actually do the hard stuff?

It really adds a level of complexity to their relationship if Yugi can get a room.

(If not a room for romance, but at the very least a room to poop in.)

OR has he been able to allow Yugi to wicked poop in peace this whole time, but the show just never felt like telling us because they felt like it wasn’t important (although it is crazy important)?

Either way I am just...floored at this character development.

Yami just let Yugi out of his sight for like...I want to say 8 full minutes. Just incredible amount of trust on Yami’s part. Incredible. Knowing Yugi’s track record, he should have died in those 8 minutes but...he was being babysat by both Kaiba and Joey.

So Yami summons the Gods and they shoot lasers--you kinda expect this sort of thing.

And this is...probably...the real reason why Dartz didn’t bother trying to attack Pharaoh 5,000 years ago.

I can still think it’s because of Bakura but like...this is probably the real reason. It felt pretty chump to just shoot a laser at the bastard. Pharaoh just had to be reminded that this is a thing he can just do. If he felt like it.

Which he never feels like doing, because he’s too busy watching Yugi’s every move, and getting distracted by High School shenanigans.

After this happens, the giant snake falls to the ocean, splitting into just sooooooo many ghosts.

Over 7.8 billion ghosts, if we’re to assume that this is most of the population on Earth.

(thinking the weird-o in the hat is probably a Duel Monsters card? The duel monsters were throwing themselves into the Leviathan at one point so this is probably like a dark magician boy or something...I just don’t get very attached to the monster cards so it was like...whatever. The cards die like constantly so who cares?)

It is a pretty set dressing. Like Christmas lights but...dead people.

We also find out that the lost family of our minibosses Alister and Raphael, have indeed spent the last many years inside the Leviathan stomach, which is pretty tragic. We get a bitter sweet conclusion to Alister and Raphael’s story--although it’s not a full on ending for either character. Their life still hella sucks, they are in therapy for basically forever.

Where is Gurimo?

I don’t know what sort of job or life these two are qualified to have now, but youknow...Marik’s boat probably has jobs available.

Hold up. Can we talk about the windows?

I know absolutely none of you care about this, but I do, not to be picky or condescending to an overworked art team, but because I just want to know what they were trying to aim for.

There’s an iron stained glass style windowpane thing going on and that’s what’s really getting me. Like...I know these guys were technologically advanced, but why did you use this WW2 background? What happened to Ancient Greece that you were doing before?

Like doing a super past with future tech is so cool to me--I love that sort of concept art. That’s going into like Black Panther stuff where you’re referencing the earliest stuff in Africa and then blending it with stuff beyond our science. But Atlantis is a real big shrug and a “listen we ran out of time and had to press print,” and it’s such a shame. It feels less cohesive than even when this show does Egypt.

And yo this show and how it draws ancient Egypt--I feel like I’ve already talked about that. I have a feeling I’m going to talk a lot more about it next season. I’ll get to it when we get to it. I’m hoping that they have more time and budget to actually DO Egypt for once. (I say knowing they won’t)

Like it’s one of those things where this isn’t a history show, like at all, and it’s very much a fantasy. I’m not going to be like those sewing people on youtube that get annoyed because their TV show doesn’t have handsewn stitching in their Victorian bodices they rented from the costume department from an LA discount warehouse. Because, yo, it’s TV, and I can stretch my own imagination because it’s acting. (although I confess, I watch every single one of those videos).

But...the potential, y’all...the potential.

Anyway, Dartz isn’t dead. He was just taking his toot sweet time getting down the steps of his Gazebo.

This is where things get very anime. I get this problem a lot with anime, I really do--and maybe it’s just me. But like...sometimes it feels like anime changes the rules during the boss fight.

That happens a lot, right? Where suddenly the final boss reveals something that like...should have been addressed way earlier? And he’s alive but you don’t get why?

Anyway, Pharaoh reacts by getting maybe way too attached to his newfound independence.

Which like...I can understand Tea forgetting that Yugi is one people that is two people all the time, but the writers as well?

And what’s kind of great about this scene is that Dartz does see Yugi as two people here. He doesn’t look at Yugi, he looks at both. When Pharaoh is like “Leave me, Yugi!” Dartz heard all of that.

Just kind of a neat thing that we finally have a dude that can just...see Pharaoh for what he is, but it probably won’t matter because there’s like only one more episode left of this season.

Anyway, Pharaoh and Dartz have a chat about where evil comes from...and like...it’s some Yugioh lore, all right.

So before the show decides to give us the Genesis on Yugioh and reveal where the evil of the Orichalcos comes from, or if all evil was created by Orichalcos itself (which is IMPLYING stuff about Orichalcos) the snake shuts him the hell up.

As it should. Leave that Pandora’s box freakin closed. That’s going into extended universe of Star Wars books territory (RIP.)

As an aside--pretty sure that Yugi is standing outside that tornado. Maybe it was just the editing of the episode but like...

Yo I’m pretty sure Yugi is just standing there. For the first time, it’s not his nuts getting roasted. Wow. Tables have turned so much since he was dead.

Anyway, here’s the link for new people so you can read these in order

https://steve0discusses.tumblr.com/tagged/yugioh/chrono

There’s only one left! We can do it! We can finish this season in 2020! And actually get back to recapping Full Metal Alchemist! ~~Woooo~~

Oh man that movie better still be on Netflix or I’ll have to buy it lolol.

#Yugioh #ygo #Yu-Gi-Oh #Yami Yugi #Yugi Muto #Seto Kaiba #Joey Wheeler #Dartz #Alister #Raphael #Valon #Mai Valentine #My favorite storyboarder #who deserves to be listed as a character in the show #ep 39 #S4 #recap #photo recap #episode recap

[aion-rsa]

Venom: Let There Be Carnage – The Comics History of the Symbiote Rivalry

https://ift.tt/3APMTrk

Something that impresses me with a superhero movie like Venom is when it doesn’t rush directly into the expected villain. When there are four different Fantastic Four movies, and they’re all about emphasizing Dr. Doom, it’s a breath of fresh air when, say, Man of Steel only makes an Easter egg reference to Lex Luthor instead of going directly for that confrontation. The MCU Spider-Man has yet to meet an Osborn, guys like Thanos and Darkseid started out as ominous benefactors, and the existence of Heath Ledger Joker was merely a cliffhanger tease in Batman Begins.

Much like how the Justice League movie decided to take its time by giving us Steppenwolf of all people, the first Venom movie had Carlton Drake (who hasn’t appeared in the comics since the early 9’0s) and Riot (the most forgettable of all of Venom’s comic children). By letting Venom build himself up on his own, flanked by some rather mundane villains, it gave more meaning to Cletus Kasady showing up in the post-credits. Carnage, Venom’s main villain, gets more fanfare by appearing in the sequel where our hero is fully formed.

Since Carnage’s first appearance in 1992, the idea has always been to make a darker, scarier Venom. Venom was a villain at the time, sure, but he was also on the border of becoming more. Outside of his personal delusions and anger issues, he still claimed that he wanted to help the innocent and punish the guilty. Even when he was able to accept that Spider-Man was good, they couldn’t co-exist due to their different natures as vigilantes. Carnage was simpler because he was full-on evil and had no potential for redemption. He was something so sinister and malevolent that both Spider-Man and Venom knew it was worth it to put aside their differences and take this creep down.

Venom: Let There Be Carnage has hyped Carnage up as being out of Venom’s league and that was the initial push of the character. Over time, the two became roughly equals as Carnage became the go-to bad guy for Venom to punch.

So let’s take a look at the history of Venom vs. Carnage. For the sake of simplicity, I’m going to define “Venom” and “Carnage” as characters wearing their respective symbiotes (excluding Peter Parker), or the symbiotes themselves. I’m not going to count Eddie Brock as Toxin, or Flash Thompson as Agent Anti-Venom or whatever.

Carnage’s Debut

Not counting cameos and build-up, Carnage’s first major appearance was in Amazing Spider-Man #361, starting off a three-parter. Spider-Man came to realize that he wasn’t enough to stop Carnage and he was going to need help. Specifically, he was going to need Venom. This was an awkward decision as Venom was at the time living his best life on an empty island, thinking that he had succeeded in killing Spider-Man.

Once Venom fully understood the situation, he accepted the temporary alliance. In the very first Venom vs. Carnage confrontation, Venom and Spider-Man tackled Carnage, got slammed into each other, then thrown into opposite walls. Carnage then caused a distraction by putting a baby in danger so he could escape. While he was dominant in that very brief scuffle, he still needed to run off, so I’m calling this a draw.

The handicap match continued into the last issue of the arc at a rock concert. In one-on-one exchanges, Carnage had Venom’s number, but Spider-Man was always there for the save. Spider-Man was able to use the sonics from the amplifiers to take out both of them. Technically a draw again, but it’s also a situation where Carnage regularly kicked the shit out of Venom and Venom only survived because he had help.

Maxium Carnage

Insert your Green Jelly cassettes and press play because it’s time for Carnage’s big ’90s crossover story. After the previous story’s popularity, Marvel decided to add more heroes, more villains, and make the whole thing a whopping 14 issues!

As Venom was a San Francisco vigilante at the time, he flew to New York to stop Carnage’s reign of terror. The first fight wasn’t even shown, as after the reveal that Carnage had Shriek and Doppelganger on his side, it cut away. A brutalized Venom was later found passing out while knocking on Peter and MJ’s door.

As Maximum Carnage was filled with so much filler and extra characters, there were various fight scenes of a group of heroes brawling with a group of villains. Venom and Carnage talked smack a lot, but nothing much ever really happened in terms of fighting. The story finally kicked into gear when Venom used a stolen sonic gun and blasted Carnage while Firestar assisted with her microwave blasts. This would have done the job, but Spider-Man got in the way and Shriek simply cut Cletus’ face open, causing his symbiote to respawn and bring him back to 100 percent health. Carnage and Shriek overwhelmed Venom and carried him off, along with the sonic gun.

Venom spent several issues being tortured until coming up with the plan to sneak some of the symbiote into the sonic gun so that Carnage would splatter Venom with more Venom. He punched Carnage down and escaped with gusto, hiding the fact that he was in no condition to fight.

It isn’t until the last issue that we FINALLY got a real Venom vs. Carnage fight. Venom was physically busted a bit, but Carnage was mentally busted. The heroes hit him with some MaGuffin device that caused him to be haunted by those who screwed him up in life. Venom pretty much just kicked Carnage’s ass around the city while Carnage tried in vain to escape. Every now and then, Spider-Man would appear and go, “B-b-but Eddie! Killing is wrong!” for the sake of giving Carnage a second wind.

Eventually, Venom punched Carnage so hard that Carnage’s brain ghosts went away. Knowing Carnage was more of a threat this way, Venom tackled him into a transformer. After the explosion, Cletus was knocked out and Venom got to weakly sneak away. Hey, good for him!

Venom: Carnage Unleashed

Venom was so popular that we got Carnage. Carnage’s initial storyline was so popular that we got Maximum Carnage. Maximum Carnage was so popular that we got a Maximum Carnage video game. Then we got Venom: Carnage Unleashed, a comic based on the popularity of the Maximum Carnage video game. It…wasn’t all too popular.

Still, it did give us the rarely used plot device that symbiotes can travel through phone lines and the internet! Symbiotes really are like pre-Crisis Superman where you can give them whatever power and people will just go with it no matter how ridiculous. As Carnage escaped from Ravencroft and commandeered a security tank, Venom eventually caught up with him and they had a fight on a runaway vehicle through traffic. Carnage eventually won when Venom got slammed by an oncoming train.

Their final battle here is a big pile of “That’s not how any of this works!” The two characters send symbiote tendrils into the internet, which were rendered on the Times Square big screen as the two brawled in cyberspace. Venom destroyed a nearby heatsink, which blasted both and knocked them out of the internet.

Carnage was ready for another go, but his kidnapped psychiatrist set him on fire and caused him to fall out a window. Venom reached through the phone lines and out the window to catch the falling Cletus because dying is WHAT HE WANTS. Which… no, that’s not true at all. Hell, even in Maximum Carnage, Cletus was freaked out about the possibility of dying.

Venom: On Trial

So there was a big Spider-Man/Scarlet Spider/Venom team-up called Planet of the Symbiotes that culminated in a 40-foot-tall Carnage, but there was never a specific Venom vs. Carnage moment, so I won’t go into it. Venom’s ’90s antihero run did have a storyline where Eddie was arrested and put on trial for all of his many crimes. Cletus Kasady was brought in as a star witness, which was an invitation for him to freak out and go on a killing rampage. I mean, seriously, guys. Come on. You should know better.

This story went all-in on Venom wrecking Carnage. Again, Spider-Man would interrupt and give Carnage a chance to turn things around. This time though, Venom decided to ride the wave by sneaking away while Spider-Man and Daredevil took on Carnage. Realizing that the two didn’t have a chance, Venom picked up a couple syringes filled with dopamine blocker and sprung into action. He smacked Carnage around, injected the blocker into his neck, and watched as the symbiote retracted into Cletus’ body.

Venom Triumphant

Howard Mackie wrote Spider-Man comics for a long while and he had an annoying tendency when it came to storytelling. He would come up with an interesting, if nonsensical, idea that would shake up the status quo, but instead of following up on that and using it to tell an actual story, he would just forget about it and move to the next idea that popped into his head. He was one of the main reasons why the Spider-Man Clone Saga was such a mess.

In the 10th issue of Peter Parker, Spider-Man, Venom broke into the prison where Carnage was being held. Despite the legion of heavily armed guards with flamethrowers and sonic guns, Venom killed them all so quickly that the artist didn’t even show it. Cletus, for some reason, figured Venom was trying to break him out of prison, but instead Venom was there to absorb the Carnage symbiote. Carnage barely put up a fight. Pieces of the symbiote were on him, but he didn’t fully transform or try to defend himself. Venom simply pulled the symbiote off of him and ate it, becoming stronger.

After this issue, there was barely any follow-up to this.

Venom vs. Carnage

This miniseries came out at a really weird time for those involved. Carnage was just a couple months away from being torn in half by the Sentry and being written out of comics for years. Venom was appearing in Marvel Knights Spider-Man where Eddie Brock got rid of the symbiote and it bounced around to different hosts until landing on Mac Gargan. Meanwhile there was a Venom ongoing that was more about a symbiote clone where Eddie Brock only appeared for a couple late issues.

In other words, in the Venom vs. Carnage miniseries by Peter Milligan and Clayton Crain, even the creative team had no idea who Venom’s host was supposed to be. Luckily, the story wasn’t about Venom or Carnage, but a new character who would quickly fall into obscurity anyway.

Venom and Carnage swung around New York City, giving the exposition. The Carnage symbiote was pregnant and Venom was explaining that there was nothing to do to stop the creature from going into labor. Venom was all about protecting the new spawn while Carnage wanted to destroy it, immediately. Carnage got the better of Venom by flinging him into the distance. Regardless, the explosive birth wore out Carnage so much that he could only plant the baby onto a nearby cop and escape to rest up.

When the two had a rematch, Venom was there to save the baby symbiote (Toxin) and its host (Pat Mulligan). As if getting revenge for that Carnage Unleashed story, Venom brought the fight to the subway and pushed Carnage into an oncoming train.

And… that’s really all the Venom vs. Carnage we get in Venom vs. Carnage! Once Venom sees that Toxin is a good guy and capable of kicking Carnage’s ass, he gets afraid of Toxin befriending Spider-Man and decides to team up with Carnage for once.

Carnage, USA

Carnage returned from his maiming at the hands of the Sentry, albeit without a bottom half. By then, a lot had happened with Venom. The symbiote was removed from Mac Gargan and joined with war hero Flash Thompson. Agent Venom went on to join the Secret Avengers.

Carnage, USA told the story of Cletus expanding his symbiote to overtake an entire town in the middle of nowhere. When various heroes went to oppose him, the Carnage symbiote ended up taking over Captain America, Wolverine, Hawkeye, and the Thing. When gaining a moment of clarity, Cap called in Agent Venom for help.

Read more

Movies

Venom 2 Trailer Breakdown – All the Marvel and Carnage References

By Gavin Jasper

Comics

Venom: Who is Carnage?

By Gavin Jasper

In their first meeting, Agent Venom easily took down Carnage with some explosive projectiles that came with sonic shrapnel. Then when getting ready for the kill – say it with me everyone – Spider-Man got in his face and went, “No! Don’t kill!” Carnage recovered, and overwhelmed Venom with his army of Carnage’d heroes. Then another obscure symbiote hero, Scorn, popped in to run Venom and Carnage over with a bulldozer and bring them into a facility that would blast their symbiotes off the hosts.

While Cletus and Flash had a fight based around the novelty that both were legless, the Venom symbiote latched onto a gorilla and ran for its life against an entire zoo full of animals with the Carnage symbiote. After almost being taken down by a Carnage lion (Spider-Man with the save), the gorilla returned to Flash and gave him the power to bring Cletus into custody.

As for the town-wide Carnage symbiote, most of it was taken out by an airstrike.

Minimum Carnage

Following up on Agent Venom, he had his own team-up arc with Scarlet Spider (Kaine) with the fun dynamic of a Venom who doesn’t want to kill and a Spider-Man who does. The two chased Carnage into the Microverse, where Carnage was able to create an army of symbiote clones. While Agent Venom was able to decapitate Carnage, the villain had attained some level of power where his body is more overall fluid and animated. In this case, Carnage could just reattach his head with no problem.

Although Flash had sedated his own symbiote and lacked the monstrous advantage, he was able to wipe out a bunch of the clones by amplifying his own inner sorrow outward through the Venom symbiote. Strangely, that’s not the first time Venom was able to do that. What’s left of Carnage slinked away, cackling.

Carnage and the clones returned to Earth and Voltron’d themselves into a giant Carnage. As Carnage tried to devour Agent Venom, Venom shoved a sonic grenade down Carnage’s throat and let the blast do the rest, taking out the enlarged Carnage symbiote almost completely. In the aftermath, Scarlet Spider jabbed one of his claws through Cletus’ eye and lobotomized him.

Venomverse

Venomverse is about a series of Venom hosts from different realities coming together to fight beings called Poisons. Under normal circumstances, Poisons are harmless. If one of them makes physical contact with a symbiote and its host, it transforms them into a nigh-unbeatable crystal-like creature with the Poison in control. By this point, Eddie Brock was Venom again and joined with all sorts of random symbiote heroes to the point that he came off as just a regular dude.

With their back against the wall, Eddie came up with an idea. They brought in Carnage from an alternate universe as a ringer. At first, Carnage fought against the Venoms, but they were reluctant to fight back. Once he saw the Poisons and understood that the Venoms wanted him to kill an army of twisted superheroes, he gladly joined their ranks. He just let them know that once he was done with the Poisons, he’d kill them next.

He ended up being a huge help, especially since the Poisons had a hard time bonding to the Carnage symbiote. Carnage died in an explosion fighting Poisons alongside Poison Deadpool (who was able to bypass his Poison’s mental control).

There was a sequel to this called Venomized where the Poisons returned and tried to invade Earth. They kidnapped Cletus, forced him to bond to an alternate universe Venom, and then bonded that to a Poison. While he was referred to as “Carnage” at times, the Carnage symbiote was never involved, so I’m going to skip this one.

But where was the Carnage symbiote during all of this?

The Red Goblin

At one point, Norman Osborn became the host for Carnage to give us a climactic villain to finish off Dan Slott’s lengthy run on Amazing Spider-Man. Knowing that Spider-Man was out of his league, J. Jonah Jameson decided to fight fire with fire by calling up Eddie Brock and blackmailing him into aiding Spider-Man. This led to a brief fight of Spider-Man, Venom, and repulsor-wielding Mary Jane against the Red Goblin.

Venom and Red Goblin brawled for a bit, but Red Goblin appeared to be immune to the usual symbiote weaknesses, so only Venom took damage. While he got some hits in, Eddie was too exhausted to continue. Instead he offered the symbiote to Spider-Man to give him the extra boost. This brief team-up allowed the two vigilante enemies to finally bury their lengthy rivalry.

Absolute Carnage

Now we get to Donny Cates’ bonkers run on Venom. Cletus had been resurrected and turned back into Carnage via a bunch of cultists who worshipped Knull, God of Symbiotes. Carnage then started going around eating the spines of those who were once host to a symbiote, getting stronger by the meal. Dark Carnage first fought Venom in a subway and easily overpowered him. Still, Venom got the win by grabbing onto the third rail while holding onto Dark Carnage. It was enough to knock Carnage loopy while Venom could get away and seek out help.

Venom and Spider-Man sought out Norman Osborn (who believed himself to be Cletus Kasady after the Red Goblin episode) and were ambushed by an army of inmates possessed by Carnage symbiotes. Overwhelmed, the two heroes broke through a wall and swung off into the night.

Venom got involved in another big fight against an army of Carnages and could have killed Osborn, but instead chose to save a wounded Mac Gargan nearby and brought him to safety. The Venom symbiote wasn’t happy with this and later left Eddie for Bruce Banner, giving us a fight between Venom Hulk and Dark Carnage. This turned out to be a dire choice, as Dark Carnage tore into Hulk’s brain, caused him to shrink back to Banner, then ate his spine. Carnage was stronger than ever.

Meanwhile, mad scientist the Maker had a machine that took the “symbiote codex” stuff Carnage was looking for out of former hosts without the nasty “tearing out their spinal column” part. Eddie unleashed the codex collection onto himself, turning him into a more powerful version of Venom. As he took on Cletus one last time, Carnage made note that Venom was screwed no matter what. Either Carnage killed and ate Eddie’s son Dylan or Eddie killed Carnage, which would wake up Knull and drive him to Earth.

Venom summoned the Necrosword to cut through Carnage, destroying him once and for all. For a time, at least.

Prelude to Knull

Wouldn’t you know it, killing Dark Carnage caused Eddie to absorb the Carnage symbiote into himself. Soon he was separated from Venom and stuck on an island while being bonded against his will to the Carnage symbiote. Dylan was able to remotely control the Venom symbiote and transformed it into a giant Venom T-rex. Like it wasn’t even bonding onto a dinosaur or anything. It was just the size and shape of a tyrannosaurus just because.

Eddie and Dylan had a dreamlike meeting in their minds while Carnage Eddie chopped down at the Venom dino. Eventually, the power of familial love was enough to overpower the Carnage symbiote and blow it up. Eddie rejoined with the Venom symbiote, and a little piece of Carnage latched onto a nearby shark to swim off and fight another day.

Okay, then! Phew! Going by every Venom vs. Carnage fight, I’ve judged them so that there have been six draws, eight victories for Carnage, and nine victories for Venom.

Congratulations, black ooze. Here’s hoping your red offspring doesn’t turn the tide at the box office.

Venom: Let There Be Carnage will be released in theaters on Oct. 1.

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

The post Venom: Let There Be Carnage – The Comics History of the Symbiote Rivalry appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3um8FAz

#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

[uzunehitori]

4, 9, 10 , 23 , 30, 31, 32, 36, 37, 39, 40,42 , 50

Okay, let's DO IT

4. Do you prefer painting or drawing?

I consider a lot of paintings as drawings and drawings as paintings, weirdly enough... I do like drawing though because painting can be a struggle sometimes.

9. What’s your current favorite show?

Because you mentioned YOI and it reminded me about the time I really could not stop oggling Yuri every scene of him just made me just stare so deeply in a trance... have not watched a lot of shows lately though... Taibani is pretty good!

10. What’s your go to comfort movie?

I got several from Monsters Inc. to Austin Powers to Cat in the hat to Shrek to Repo: Genetic Opera, they are really nice and comforting to watch sometimes. Chill and funny movies

23. What’s the last show you binge-watched?

Oh my god, the last show I binged-watched was with you ... Was Victorious is ALL I can remember and iCarly. Also that one terrible disney+ series with JOHN STAMOS.

30. Who’s your favorite fictional character currently?

Towa.... And Power & Denji! They really bring me a lot of joy and comfort as of late. There is a lot of characters I tend to just love all together like Kazuaki-kun, especially Kazuaki-kun!

31. What instantly come to mind when you hear the word “love”?

Shows like YOI and Sheith, and Ignoct really comes to my mind when it comes to "love"! They all have shown me different ways of love that are extremely connected and that is growing bonds between each other, as well as unconditional love and support... It's always such a massive comfort

32. What was your first fandom?

I would say Sonic, but I wasn't as deep as I was with Smash bros. Brawl because I was super into it more and for YEAARS on gaiaonline avi cosplaying as one of the fighters and interacted with a lot of the others that loved it and played online with them. Other fandoms that i think were "first" should stay in the dark however.

36. What was the first ship you obsessed over?

It's between Sonadow and FoxFalco... just between those two was the first ship I obsessed heavily over..

37. How old were you when Toxic by Britney Spears came out?

Big fan of Miss Britney Spears, I was 5 years old lmao... I think would listen to it non-stop when I was 6-7. I did not comprehend ANY of the lyrics what they meant, but was jamming to it on AOL Kids..

39. Tea or coffee?

Knowing that you live with me, I drink both... At times I refrain from drinking one of them, but I do love me some tea! I love tea a lot because love talking about the plants and herbs used to make them since you know I love plants.

40. Do you have any collections?

I used to collect bottle caps (Beer ones, sodas, you name it) and rocks... A WHOLE lot of rocks. Now I just collect buttons and figures! Current collection now is just out hatoful bird plushies!

42. Do you have any specific kind of style?

Hm... If in fashion, by default it's goth/lounging style. I like to wear a lot of long sleeves when I can, whether black or not... I do want to wear dress shirts when we are out more though, they are pretty comfy, but I like doing it in layers in which isn't weather friendly or me friendly because of weather. Also... Menhera.

50. What’s something from you loved your childhood that you still proudly like now?

What sticks to me the most is Persona and Yume nikki! The once obscured series Persona has become so big thanks to 4 and ESPECIALLY 5.. but I love just talking non-stop about Yume nikki since it's very much a part of my life and has helped me a lot even if it's just mere "pixel game with no plot than just collect effects", it's so much more than that to me. Plants and bugs (especially moths/Butterflies) are still my specialty enjoyment from my childhood!

#I would write down things regarding memento mori because that was very much my childhood interest and aspect even if I would be too young #More so mortuary work stuff #I think it's just fascinating #long post #ThanK YOU FOR SENDING SO MUCH #Sorry for answering these weird #We've been up for such a long while

[tenroseforeverandever]

31 Days of Ficmas #1: Snowed In

Rating: General Characters: Ninth Doctor; Rose Tyler Tags: Fluff; FWP (Fluff without Plot); mild Hurt/Comfort; mild Angst

Summary: Nine and Rose are trapped under an outcropping after nearly getting caught in an avalanche. Beware of fluffy fluffiness, in which Nine is softer than he’d like to admit.

Notes: So, this is the first in my 31 Days of Ficmas 2020 Series … but obviously, I’m late to the game, and given my track record, this may turn into the 10 Days of Ficmas, or even the 1 Day of Ficmas. We shall see...

Regardless, a huge thank-you to @doctorroseprompts for this year’s version of the annual Ficmas list and the Winter Fic Bingo!

My longer, multichapter WIPs were fighting me, so I decided to return to my comfort zone: ficlets. My intention is that each of these will not exceed 1000 words (by much!)

The title of this first instalment is the same as the prompt, Snowed In. I think it’s safe to say it also covers Day 7 and Day 28 prompts cold and shiver. I also hit several words on the Winter Fic Bingo: light, dark, heart, cozy, snow, and cocoa.

My wonderful betas are wonderful in every way! @rose--nebula, mrsbertucci, and @aintfraidanoghosts, I love you forever. Thank-you for taking the time to humour me!

Read also at: AO3; FF; TSP (when approved!)

~~~~~

Snowed In

“We’ll get out of this, yeah?” Rose shivered, whether from the chill of fear that stuttered in her heart or from the sheer cold that was slowly freezing her, head to toe, she didn’t know.  She supposed she was lucky to be alive. It was only thanks to the Doctor’s quick reflexes, dragging her through the hip-deep snow and under the rocky outcropping, that they had survived the plunging avalanche at all. She glared bitterly at the impenetrable wall of snow in front of her. “Doctor? We will get out, won’t we?” 

She peered through the darkness at him, where he stood silhouetted against the blue light from the sonic screwdriver, working to cobble together a distress beacon. Under the leather jacket, his shoulders stiffened, and he didn’t respond. 

After a long, dreadful silence, he spun around, a manic grin cutting across his face, eerie in the shadows cast by the sonic. “Oh, we’ve had worse, you and me. Look on the bright side: at least it isn’t a zombie-filled cellar in Cardiff…”

Rose choked on a sardonic chuckle.

“An’ can you feel that, Rose?” He licked his finger and held it up. “There’s a bit o’ air comin’ from somewhere deeper in, and we ‘ave all the water you could want. ‘S frozen, mind, but that’s easily sorted,” he flourished his screwdriver, “an’ I ‘ave at least a weeks’ worth of rations in my pockets, me.”

“Really?”

“Really!” He produced a banana from one of his pockets and tossed it to her. She fumbled it with numb fingers. 

“Ya don’t ‘ave any hot cups of cocoa in there, do ya?” she quipped as another shudder rushed through her. “I can barely feel my fingers anymore.” 

His mouth dropped open, a frown creasing his brow. “Why didn’t you tell me you were cold?” Panic tinged his words. “You stupid–”

“Oi, genius!” she snapped, then rolled her eyes. “Figured it was kinda obvious. You know, surrounded by literal tons of snow and ice…”

Suddenly he was at her side chafing her hands between his, apology in his blue eyes. “Rose, you shoulda told me. You funny little humans. I keep forgettin’ how fragile you are.”

“You were a bit busy, tryin’ to save us. Didn’t wanna bother ya.”

“You are not a bother, Rose Tyler… generally speakin’,” he finished with a shrug.

Rose shook her head and bit her tongue, having learned months ago to simply accept his backhanded compliments. 

“‘Ere you go, then…” He removed his jacket and draped it over her shoulders. It enveloped her in a pocket of warmth and the unique combination of scents (tea, engine grease, and something she couldn’t quite discern) that she had come to associate with “The Doctor”. She sighed in pleasure. 

“Now, we jus’ need…,” He jostled her a little as he rummaged in the left pocket of the jacket, “...aha!” 

Rose looked on in astonishment as he produced a kettle, a teapot (complete with tea cozy), a couple of mugs, some honey, and a full tin of teabags. She laughed out loud. “What? No biscuits?”

“Oi, you’re in no position to be picky! Beggars can’t be choosers, Rose. But, as luck would have it…,” he dug into the other pocket and pulled out a packet of Custard Creams, a cheeky glint in his eyes, “…I nicked these from your mum last time we visited.”

“Oi! She was goin’ mental, sure she had bought those.” 

He smirked. “Oh, I bet she was…” 

Rose swatted his arm. “So, where’d you filch all the rest of this stuff from, then?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know? Let’s jus’ say I always come prepared, an’ leave it at that, alright?” He offered her a smug smile. “Now, do you want some tea or are you jus’ gonna grouse all day?” 

“Oh, I could murder a cuppa!” She beamed at him. 

“Right then! I’ll jus’ heat up some of these rocks and set the kettle goin’.” He scooped some snow into the kettle and used the sonic to heat some nearby rocks he’d found that had a surface flat enough to rest the kettle on. “And as a bonus, the hot rocks will warm this place up. You’ll be properly toasty in no time!”

Rose shuffled closer to the rocks, basking in their warmth, and enjoying the soft, red glow that filled the little cavern. Once they had their mugs of hot, honeyed tea in hand, the Doctor sat beside her. “Feelin’ better, then?”

“So much better, ta! But you must be gettin’ cold, yeah? ‘Ere, we can share.” Despite his protests that he could maintain a normal body temperature under much more extreme circumstances, Rose set her mug down and wriggled out of her borrowed leather mantle, returning it to its rightful spot over the Doctor’s broad shoulders. Then ignoring his huff of dismay, she shrugged under the canopy of the jacket and nestled against his shoulder. 

After a few more moments of him griping and vacillating, Rose felt his arms wrap around her waist from behind, drawing her against him. “I really ought to be setting up that distress beacon,” he grumbled, “an’ getting you back to the TARDIS.”

She took another sip of tea and drowsily waved her hand at him. “Plenty of time for that, yeah. You said you have rations. ‘Sides, I just got warm. I don’t wanna move right now.” She smiled up at him beseechingly, and his eyes crinkled above a soft smile. 

“Oh, I s’pose it can wait, then… jus’ for a little while, mind.” His arms tightened around her and she could have sworn she felt him press a kiss to her crown.

Rose sighed in contentment as she drifted to sleep. The Doctor was right: they had been in much worse situations before, and sitting safe and warm, snuggled up with him in this impromptu little refuge wasn’t half bad. (Honestly, it was pretty wonderful!) There’d be time enough, later, to worry about finding a way out and back to the TARDIS. For now, she would just enjoy the moment.

#31 days of ficmas #doctorroseprompts #ficandchips #nine x rose #winter fic bingo #snowed in #fluff #mild hurt/comfort #mild angst #tenroseforeverandever's fic

[sonicringbond]

Sonic Ring Bond: The Journey - Scene 46

Finally here, the last scene of the Snowflake story. Was it any good? Did everyone like it? I hope so.

I started it off with such high aspirations and wanted to try and practice better with story structure, but I worry my need to world build and plot out mysteries to follow may have backfired. But everyone can let me know what you think after reading...

    To everyone’s surprise, Mote flew out from Draw’s coat and made a beeline for the red suit of armor. Or more accurately, red autogolem.

    With the yellow fairy presenting itself before it, the autogolem stopped and looked at it with a red glowing eye from within a tiny head that resembled something like an eagle beaked snake.

    “You…,” the autogolem spoke in a chill, metallic voice.

    “Mote!” Draw shouted after the fairy and the autogolem looked up at the group arriving at the giant crystal rose.

    “Or perhaps I am mistaken. This group seems unlikely to be one I would affiliate with you.”

    Rising to its full height, achieved by standing on the toes of its long, curved feet like appendages, the autogolem towered over Rosy and her friends at a meter and half in height. It appeared massively taller than it was though due to the tininess of its head. From each of its minute shoulder pads, an oar head-like piece of metal rose well past it head and furthered the autogolem’s illusion of height.

    “A Ring Mage, and a Yoluku Device. Truly you would not keep such company. Unless things have changed during my slumber.”

    Looking down at the fairy that glared up at it, the autogolem silently pondered its situation. Then it spoke two words that surprised Soinc. “Time Break.”

    Before anyone could react, the autogolem stood before Sonic, a saber in its right hand leveled under Sonic’s chin. Yet it was Sonic who spoke first, and with no sign of concern.

    “Now that’s a nifty little trick I haven’t seen in a while.”

    “Then you are familiar with the arts.”

    “Maybe a little,” Sonic confirmed, lifting his hand, and just barely not touching his pointer finger and thumb together in demonstration. But his playfulness did not linger, and a more serious demeanor settled on him. “Though I’m not fond of having a sword leveled at me either. Looking at you, I’d guess it normally isn’t your style.”

    So close now, it was easy to make out the clockwork workings beneath the autogolem’s delicate exterior. It reminded Sonic of something he’d seen once, and he smirked as he sought to confirm his guess.

    “You’re a knight, right? Like that Claymore the Purple guy? Last time I checked, knights don’t level their swords at the unarmed.”

    “Then Claymore is also woken. And you know him, mage?”

    “No. And I’m no mage. The name’s Sonic, Sonic the Hedgehog.”

    “I see. I am Saber. Saber the Red. A Sword Knight. My apologies, Sonic the       Hedgehog, but I have reasons of my own to be wary, woken from my sleep as I am.”

    Turning away from the group, Saber sheathed his sword into one of his shoulder pads, revealing the nature of their design. With the threat seemingly past, the group started to talk among each other. Except for Rosy who stepped after the autogolem.

    “Hey! What’s the big idea pointing a sword at Sonic!”

    “A medium, and marked by Yoluku,” Saber remarked and looked back over his shoulder. Rosy noticed he avoided direct eye contact, but she let him talk as she puffed up her cheeks. “Curious. What is it that Yoluku is playing at now?”

    “So, you know what Yolk is?” Rosy asked, her mispronunciation getting the autogolem to turn around.

    “You have been made Yoluku’s medium and cannot even…,” The limit of the autogolem’s range of emotions was yet unclear, but it trailed off and began to make a sound very much like laughter. “Hmhmhmhmhm…”

    “Hey! Don’t laugh at me!”

    “Let it go kid,” Sonic interrupted Rosy and put an arm between her and the autogolem. “We got what we came for and Mighty is looking pretty tired lugging that radio around everywhere.”

    “It’s really nothing at all–”

    “Play along would you Mighty,” Sonic held a hand up and whispered back at Mighty.

    “There is little reason to hide your intentions, mage,” Saber responded to Sonic’s attempts to cease engaging the autogolem. Seemingly unbothered and perhaps even amused, he resumed walking away from the group. “All of you, even the medium, are ignorant to what is going on. It is an amusing game that Yoluku plays at.

    “But I must know, medium,” Saber, paused and shifted his attention back to Rosy. “Inept as you appear–”

    “Hey!”

    “–Yoluku must have sent you for a reason. I would request you tell me.”

    “I don’t know. The cards weren’t clear, and it made you sound like a gift or something. I wasn’t expecting another talking golem.”

    “Another,” Saber asked eying the group suspiciously. “Curious that you did not mention Claymore. But I have little time if Yoluku has called for me. If we are to continue this exchange of knowledge, it is best we meet away from the hollows of this fading snowflake.”

    Advancing on the crystal rose that he had been stationary at before, Saber again drew his sword, and with a single motion split the massive rose in two.

    “What are you doing!” Rosy shouted out in surprise, but any answers forth coming were cut off by a sudden sneeze from Sonic.

    Rubbing his nose, Sonic made to run. “Time to go everyone!”

    ~I wasn’t expecting to suddenly have to leave. It’s a good thing everyone else could keep up. There wasn’t much reason for it that we could come up with for why everyone was possessed of speed matching Sonic’s, well except for Draw who had made a Ring Bond with Mote. But even the autogolem, Saber, seemed to have Sonic’s speed, or maybe was even faster.

    ~I’m sure Sonic would disagree. But, as the entire floating city began to collapse after Saber destroyed the crystal rose and we made it back to Blister’s airship, he was already waiting for us.~

    “So, it was by airship that you arrived. Curious, considering you are with a Ring Mage.”

    “I’d really appreciate it if you got off my ship,” Blister insisted. “I can’t even use my own autogolems with this golem hunter here.”

    Looking at Draw, Blister gave him an exasperated look and irritated the koala. Rosy gave Saber reason to pay attention to her however and asked him a question while the mouse and koala argued.

    “I don’t know how you got here ahead of us, but I’m glad you did so I can ask you what’s going on and why you destroyed that crystal rose? Is the whole city going to fall apart? What about the seed people?””

    “I figured a naïve medium such as yourself still had questions for me, but it was best to speak under Yoluku’s gaze.”

    “I don’t care about that creepy little planet up there, unless this Gear Star Ring in my eye is because of it!”

    “You fail to pronounce Yoluku and come up with your own names for the Yoluku Device. I am amused. But the Ring Mage with you surely must know the nature of the Yoluku Device.”

    “I already told you, I’m not a mage,” Sonic interjected on his own behalf. “But if you know something…”

    “It is best to let you play Yoluku’s game,” Saber laughed and leapt up with a burst of fire well above the ship. With a spin the autogolem’s arms transformed into a pair of wings and it flew off into the distant stormy clouds through which Yoluku watched them all.

    ~I don’t know what I expected when we went to that weird city in the sky. We were just looking for a Ring Radio for Blister, and maybe so we could get a better connection with Tails. I never expected to find Gill and Mighty. Or to see those weird seed people ghosts. And that knight, he was as weird as the city was creepy. And we didn’t even really talk. He woke up and left. Well, not without breaking what I think was holding the city together.

    ~As Blister’s ship pulled away into the clouds itself, the whole city crumbled away into dust. It was like a melting snowflake, just like Saber said it was, and only the Ring Radio we came seeking remained to prove we had this little adventure. And maybe that weird knight autogolem, wherever he flew off to.

    ~Just who were you? It would have been nice and so much less anticlimactic if we could have talked more…~

-|-

    In the city of Tower Point, Claymore the Purple stood watching Yoluku in the sky above the observatories that tipped a great deal of the towers from which the city earned its name. His arms were crossed, but he was sure he saw it, even as the red lightning bolt crack that arced across the sky from horizon to horizon surely obscured it.

    “So, you’ve woken then as well, traitor,” Claymore spoke to the sky at large. “Then perhaps it is time I seek out the rest of the order. Ho! It will be good to see them all after so long. Perhaps I can even find them all before the banquet.

    “No matter. As before, we will win Yoluku’s game and not let the seal fall.”

Scene 46 · CLEARED Snowflake, End

-----

So, that’s a wrap on Snowflake. It was a mystery at the start, and a lost mystery at the end. there were perhaps answers to everyone’s questions within, but new and seeming traitor of a Sword Knight, Saber the Red flew away. I wonder if this story really reached a climax, or if it just feels like the next stepping stone in the Journey. Regardless, as long as everyone enjoyed and is looking forward to what comes next, I’ll be happy! Thank you everyone!

-----

Special Thanks to Cutegirlmayra Story by @JoshTarwater/SonicFanJ Inspiring Song – Your Friendly Neighborhood Assassin ♥ – Tadayoshi Makino – FINAL FANTASY XV Original Soundtrack (Volume 2【2/2】)

Fair Use Disclaimer

Sonic the Hedgehog and all affiliated characters and logos are the express property and Copyright© of SEGA SAMMY HOLDINGS used without permission under Title 17 U.S.C Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976 in which allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. “Fair use” is use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be considered copyright infringement. The Sonic Ring Bond: The Journey alternate universe (AU) consumer written work of fiction is a non-profit transformative work primarily for personal use and can and will be taken down without warning or prior notice at the request of the copyright holder(s) should it not be recognized under “fair use”.

*Sonic Ring Bond logo created by DEE Art – twitter.com/daryliscute.

Sonic Ring Bond AU and Sonic Ring Bond: The Journey are the creation of Joshua David Tarwater/ynymbus/sonicfanj/@Joshtarwater and is to be, including all contents herein considered for all legal purposes the property of the Sonic the Hedgehog intellectual property (IP) and copyright owners, SEGA SAMMY HOLDINGS. All story contributors via prompt, suggestion, written scene, art, and all and every other contribution acknowledge that all contributed material is forfeit for legal purposes to SEGA SAMMY HOLDINGS upon official request from SEGA SAMMY HOLDINGS.

#sonic the hedgehog #sonic fan fiction #sonic au #sonic au series #sonic ring bond #the journey #classic amy #amy rose #rosy the rascal #au amy #amy redesign #mighty the armadillo #sonic oc #patch #draw the koala #mote the fairy #blister the mouse #saber the red #claymore the purple

[odysseywritings]

The Beat Goes On

(continued from here)

He replayed the guitar sound from earlier, with its mesmerizing ups and downs forming a spiral in his head. The red aura from the building’s inside merged with the playing, becoming faster and more aggressive on his already blistered fingers. He closed his eyes and made more lyrics about the place he saw before to recapture the essence.

Fire in a dark town

Yellow’s dying down

Red calling my name

Joining the sonic gam-

His mind-space cut off as he heard pounding electric hums from all around. Dorian woke to find a dark place illuminated by red lights scattered across the place. He saw a variety of humans- or at least things looking like humans-  wearing masks that were animal faces or outrageous expressions fitting for punks. No one had identical hair. Dorian could easily bump into someone with winged blond hair or a curtain of black hair. Their outfits were tattered, with shredded up clothes and dyed with bright pink and yellow designs all over.

The music playing was an echoing electric guitar surrounded by a cascading synth, with a cool yet dark melody keeping the clientele up and moving. Dorian stumbled round to find walls to cling to in an attempt to ground himself from this chaos. But there were no walls. Everyone was dancing in the middle of a desert full of rock formations that were used as platforms for party-goers to get attention. Red lights gave everyone a vibrant, hot-blooded feel that made Dorian shrink away. He cautiously moved back until he bumped into someone.

“Woah, easy,” a man with a warthog mask said. Though to Dorian, it moved enough to be the man’s face. “This ain’t a mosh. Heh, not yet anyway.”

“I’m just passing through,” Dorian said, feeling he shouldn’t be seen as naive. “Looking for someone. Red eyeliner, blue lips.”

The warthog man snorted with laughter. “You think I can tell anyone apart here? Good luck.

Dorian decided that fretting so much wouldn’t help him, so he payed more attention to the music. The sonic hums from before changed to more frantic synthesized energy, with heavy bass penetrating his heart. The drums, however, made him tap to the speedy beat. Its dynamic changed to a surprisingly jazzy vibe, and his compulsion to dance broke away any fear. Without realizing it, he danced closer to the enchanting sound as the song reverberated through his core.

Dorian didn’t even pay attention to the unique characters around him as he swung his legs around to the beat, catching the admiring claps of a few long-hairs and one fringe-hair. His energy seemed endless, and no bead of sweat was felt. Part of him worried if the warthog man injected him with something, but he put that to rest as the other animal-masked patrons cheered The final chorus of the song was signaling the end, but Dorian felt himself in a rapid trance until a familiar face bumped into him.

“Hey, watch-” her annoyed expression turned to worry. “What are you doing here? You didn’t take anything did you?”

Dorian shook his head.

“Alright, good. This place is for the experienced only. If you stay too long, the music takes over your senses.”

He was confused by what she meant. Dorian pried for more answers but his mouth closed before he spoke. The throbbing rhythm shook his heart as synthesizers and horns rattled his head. Joni’s face looked distorted somehow, as if make-up was disappearing. Yet her eyes stayed the same aside from yellowing.

Dorian glanced behind her to see the clientele look more beast-like, their masks becoming realistic parts. A deer-headed woman and a crocodile-headed man twisted around each other, forming a helix of flesh until they were featureless in all but brown and green silhouettes. To Joni’s right he saw a bird person pecking at a tiger headed one biting back, yet still caressing each other until they were a blob of yellow and orange.

He looked back to Joni forming beast-like features but he couldn’t decipher what exactly. She nudged him away from the music, slowly taking him away from this disturbing vision. The song’s audio died down as the audience cheered on, sounding and looking more human to Dorian’s relief. Joni sat him on a red rock to compose himself and rub the sweat off his matted head.

“What the hell did I just see,” he asked with a mix of anger and fear.

“Remember when I said to be careful about where you go,” she began, sitting next to him. “I haven’t seen you since the last time, so you really must be new. Music here is fine if you take it in doses. But if you go too far with it, it can really drive you crazy. After a while, you know which ones damage you the most. Until then, just be mindful of where you’re at.”

“All right, fine. It was just so different. I never heard it before and it was just drawing me in. It was a good rush! But what I saw was… It was enough to make me see better,”

“Good.” She paused for a moment. “Did you see anything strange with me?”

He was confused by her question. Was it rhetorical? Was it a diagnosis of how far down he went into delirium? He decided to tell a half-truth.

“No. Just that I saw you with less mascara.” He gave a chuckle, making her relaxed and thoughtful.

“And you’re still okay with that vision?”

“I think I’ll live,” he laughed, giving her a warm smile.

The privacy was cut off when they were greeted by the warthog man from before, his broad body looking intimidating as he walked over.

“Ah, so this is the someone who were looking for!” he chortled looking at Dorian before turning to Joni. “Say, you two know each other?”

“He’s just visiting, Steve,” Joni said. “This is Dorian.”

Steve took off his hog mask to reveal a man somewhere in his early 40s, with a bald scalp yet having long ginger hair down his back. “Pleasure to meet ya! Steve Fordham!”

Dorian shook the large man’s calloused hand. “Dorian Ivanyk.” A thought him and he turned to Joni. “I don’t think you ever told me your last name.”

“Oh,” she hesitated and stood up. “I don’t have one. It’s a long story, and we should be moving on anyway. We might as well introduce you to the other member of our band.”

Dorian felt strange about Joni’s avoidance, but he let it slide after hearing more news.

“You two are in a band? God, I’d never figure. Tell me about it.”

“We’ll go on about it while we walk,” Steve said, showing his mouth was missing some teeth. “Come on, then!”

The three traversed the red canyon until they merged into a muddy brown, flat area. Joni and Steve took turns explaining their meeting and the band’s origin. Joni mentioned being a hungry, young woman looking to make herself known and get money as a keyboardist but lacking experience. She met Steve drumming for a pub band that didn’t have much steam in them and they hit it off with percussive-heavy jams. Dorian was invested in this story, and he was humored by Steve’s rambling over rockstar-level stories.

“So we had this one guy, Johnny Fingers, who deserved his reputation on the guitar. But he was too good and got it in his head he could do wrong. So one day he has a groupie with him, and he’s young and eager, so of course they share a room in a motel we were staying in. But an hour in, we heard loud thuds and he’s screaming to high heaven. Later found out he was trying to use his axe for something in the bedroom. But all we know later was… well, let’s just say he wasn’t called Johnny Fingers anymore.”

Dorian laughed along with Steve at the incredible story, while Joni gave an amused if somewhat annoyed smirk at the boys’ talking and reactions. She was thankful she wouldn’t be the only woman once they met up with their bassist.

Dorian saw the landscape turn green before he realized it, turning the area into a radioactive desert. Many people in silver suits were carving chrome roads with tools resembling vacuum cleaners. The sounds were sporadic and reminded him of western-styled guitars by coincidence. Up in the sky he saw a large wheel that spun slowly, almost like it replaced the sun in this perpetually dark land. He wasn’t sure what it did, but it made a repeating metallic violin sound every so often. It all reminded him he was not home, and the intrigue was fighting his need for comfort.

“Don’t look so down,” Joni said, catching his silent conflict. “We’re not that far from where we need to go. It’ll be worth it, trust me.”

Dorian nodded. Keeping his mind away from his thoughts, he asked about the people on the roads.

“They’re doing construction work,” Steve chimed in, pointing at a sex-legged skeleton looking like a large rodent. “Every now and then, the wildlife comes crossing in from the west and either causes traffic crashes or tramples the crops. So these guys have to keep repairing the roads and spraying ‘em with repellent.”

“I see.” He didn’t really, but he went along with it. He then pointed up at the large wheel. “So that’s part of the plan, too.”

“Oh we don’t know what that is,” Joni said. “It’s been there since before Steve was born. It hasn’t tried to kill us, so we leave it alone.”

“Awesome.”

The trio traveled on, with Steve telling more stories, including one with a singer dropping unconscious on stage in the middle of a song. The bassist then had to prop him up while pretending they were performing duets. Dorian again got a kick out of it, while Joni groaned.

#writeblr #writers on tumblr #fantasy #music #My writing #tempo of adventure #njm

[ibelieveinahappilyeverafter]

Writing Commission - Where I Want To Be - Chapter Seven

Summary: Yamada Hizashi, better known as the Voice Hero Present Mic, is a busy man. He has classes and students to teach English to, an agency that always seemed to be in the middle of a disaster to help deal with, and a radio station that was one bad show away from being cancelled to run. He doesn’t have time for a bad day triggered by nightmares and fears and anxieties that just never seem to stop.

Luckily for him, his partners are Aizawa Shouta and Yagi Toshinori and neither of those two are very good at leaving Hizashi to suffer alone.

Fandom: Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia    

Relationship: Yamada Hizashi | Present Mic/Aizawa Shouta | Eraserhead, Yamada Hizashi | Present Mic/Yagi Toshinori | All Might, Aizawa Shouta | Eraserhead/Yagi Toshinori | All Might

Characters: Yamada Hizashi | Present Mic, Aizawa Shouta | Eraserhead, Yagi Toshinori | All Might

Rating: Teen Audiences

Word Count: 29,323

Transaction Amount: $200 (USD)

WARNINGS FOR: Past childhood abuse (both emotional and physical) and anxiety attacks verging on panic to PTSD episodes. Please read with caution if needed.

                                                ⁂

       Check out my writing commission information here!              Pledge to my Patreon to get exclusive content!                          Or buy me a coffee on Ko-Fi!

                                                ⁂

                                        Chapter Index

           <<1>> <<2>> <<3>> <<4>> <<5>> <<6>> <<7>> <<8>> <<9>>

                                               ⁂

The brief hour-long respite Toshinori had blessed Hizashi with had been just enough to keep him from trekking up to the roof of his agency and either jumping or throwing a couple of idiots off, but the hour had ended and Hizashi was once again contemplating either suicide or murder. He was leaning towards murder since no one would really fault him and, plus, Shouta and Toshinori would even be proud of him for picking that option out of the two! 

“Alright. Explain this to me again.” Because Hizashi, despite what people thought, could be patient and understanding. Even on his bad days he did his best to keep his own emotions in check and hear out the people he worked with when a problem occurred. “How did you end up setting one of the lower labs on fire?” 

Two support engineers, one support intern, and the director of the lab in question all exchanged looks with one another. The director clutched his clipboard as if he were about to break it in half due to fear and stress before he cleared his throat, “Well, sir, it’s actually a rather intriguing scientific act that caused the… commotion.” 

Hizashi resisted the urge to faceplant on his desk and instead cursed everyone in his agency for leaving him to deal with this mess. Typically, in cases like lab destruction, it would be dealt with by someone who actually worked in the support labs. The problem with that, however, was that that person was out sick and that left Hizashi, who understood how the support labs and the items inside worked, to deal with the problem.

Hizashi should have taken the day off sick, too. He should have just finished at school and then gone straight home, but no. He had to be stubborn and noble and care about his job. He was regretting his choices in life more and more with each passing second.

“Present Mic, sir.” The intern, a sweet little thing that looked equal parts nervous and excited with hair sticking up in all directions, gave an encouraging grin. “We actually managed to contain the fire to 67% of the lab, as well as keep all volatile projects safe and discover a quicker-burning fuel that gives a more intense burn for Wildfire. With a bit more tweaking, I have no doubt we could have a fuel that would burn through all three layers of skin, barring any quirk changes or effects, within 2.7 seconds!” 

Quiet for a long moment, Hizashi looked up at the lab director, who gave a weak, nervous smile before opening his mouth. He then must have realized that nothing he could say would help the situation because he then closed his mouth and gave an apologetic smile. Hizashi felt his headache, which had been coming in and out all day, give a throb of pain. 

“Alright. You,” Hizashi pointed to the director. “Write up a report of this and send it to whoever is in charge of your lab this week -- not me. Include the fact that not everything was destroyed and you’ve discovered something to better help Wildfire. That’ll take some of the heat off of you.” The only one to appreciate his joke with the intern, who gave a snort of startled laughter. 

“You two.” Hizashi pointed at the engineers, who straightened up nervously. “See what the damage was to everything and draw up a plan to deal with it. Don’t worry too much about cost right now but do what you can to minimize any losses. Try to reuse any supplies that didn’t end up too bad off in the fire, too. And you.” 

Hizashi stared at the intern, who gave him a cheerful, happy little grin. The kid was one of their only first-year interns who had been brought in as a special case and Hizashi could feel himself waver at the bright enthusiasm. Well, no one had said he was strong, really. “Excellent work today, but I want you to write up a one-page essay on fire and lab safety and hand it in to the lab director by your next workday. I also want you to send all the data you collected today to my email with everything you learned.” 

While he didn’t need the data, it would be interesting to see those numbers. Typically a fire that burned that hot and that fast only came about through quirks, so it would be interesting to see how far they could push the effectiveness of it. If they did a good enough job then they could have some support equipment that was on par with some of the quirks that came out of Endeavor’s agency, and it was always nice to knock him down a peg or two.

“Yes sir, Present Mic sir! I’ll even be sure to write two pages about the lab and fire safety!” The intern was out of the room like a shot, Hizashi feeling a twitch of a smile before one of the engineers cleared his throat. 

“Um, sir?” Oh. Oh, Hizashi did not like that tone. “One of the projects that was, uh, compromised today was meant to be Sonic Whip’s.” Ah. Right. Sonic Whip. One of the most terrifying women that Hizashi had ever had the displeasure to meet and who had a temper shorter than a deranged villain’s. “It was of a rather sensitive nature and… She’s expecting the first prototype tomorrow.” 

Hizashi resisted the urge to climb out his office window and escape, instead sucking in a calming breath and grabbing his phone before heading towards the door, “I just remembered I have a meeting.” It was a very important meeting, too; one with his face and a brick wall in the half-forgotten hidden lounge on the bottom floor of the agency.

Thankfully, Hizashi had long since mastered the art of looking like he was on his way to an important meeting, which meant no one tried to stop him as he marched himself through the agency and threw himself down on the first couch he saw in the empty lounge. It was dark, from no one having repaired the lights in a while, it was quiet, where it was tucked away into a back corner with thick walls, and it was always empty where everyone forgot to refill the fridge. It was heaven. 

At least, it was heaven until he heard someone collapse on the couch across from him, the sound of a grunt barely being finished before it turned into a surprised, “Yamada! I wouldn’t have thought you were in here with how quiet it was!” Oh, god, it was the only other person in the agency who could be as loud and cheerful as him. This was punishment. It had to be.

Inching his gaze to the side, Hizashi mourned the peace and quiet he had gotten for only a few short minutes as he looked at Shima Hikari, the hero known as Radiant; a light-quirk user that was no doubt going to make his light sensitivity even worse if she felt even the slightest uptick in excitement. She was looking far too cheerful considering her, and the sidekick Hizashi hadn’t even heard at first, looked like they were a few seconds away from hitting the ground in a puddle of exhaustion. 

Taking a moment to weigh the options between responding and ignoring her, Hizashi finally let out a sigh with a quiet, “Alright, you two?” 

“Peachy keen!” Shima chirped, crossing her legs and then looking over to her sidekick, who had her own legs thrown over one end of the couch and her head resting near Shima’s thigh. Poor kid looked exhausted and Hizashi took a moment to be grateful his own sidekick days were over. Sometimes, even if he truly hated to admit it, he’d rather take the paperwork over dealing with stupid villains and angry cops. “Isn’t that right, Stardust?” The kid gave a pathetic groan that sounded half exhausted and half pained. “That’s the spirit!”

“I think you’ve killed your sidekick,” Hizashi snorted, pushing himself up and biting the inside of his cheek to stop a groan at the throb in his head. “We’re supposed to be careful with those, you know. We only have a limited supply of them.”

Shima huffed, placing a hand against her chest, “Excuse you, I take the utmost care of my sidekicks, thank you very much. At least I don’t load them full of caffeine and sugar and energy drinks and hope they don’t die of exhaustion before the end of a patrol like you do.”

“And yet they love me anyways,” Hizashi snickered, readjusting himself against the couch as he flicked his eyes over the two again. They were both covered with dust and rubble, scratches across all visible parts of their skin. Stardust had one of her ankles tightly wrapped, and Shima had a bandage around her head, but neither of them looked too bad off. “Interesting patrol, then?” 

“Started with chasing a purse thief and then he led us all the way to a drug den where a deal was going on between some pretty important figures,” Shima snorted, pulling out her phone and starting to type on it at once. Hizashi couldn’t really blame her since his phone, and Shouta and Toshinori, were the only reasons he was no doubt still sane. “Seriously, though. You’re quiet as shit. What happened? Another lab blew up while you were stuck on report duty?” 

“Fire, actually,” Hizashi responded, watching with amusement as Shima’s head snapped up, eyes narrowed and studying him. They then widened with sympathy. Even Stardust, half-asleep as she was, made a noise that sounded sympathetic.

“Oh, fuck, I thought I was just joking.” Yeah, that’s what made it even worse, really. “Everyone alright? Any injuries?”

“No injuries, thankfully.” Hizashi collapsed back on the couch, groaning at the flash of pain in his back. “It’s not the worst lab disaster we’ve ever had but add that on top of everything else that’s been happening, and it’s been a long day.” Plus, his sensory overload, flashes of memory, and trauma were all acting up to make the day try and kill him once and for all. 

“We told you, right back at the beginning, to not take that job at U.A.,” Shima lectured, clicking her tongue against the roof of her mouth. “You already had a full-time job here and with that radio station of yours, and what did you do?” 

“I took the job at U.A.,” Hizashi mumbled, wincing as Shima repeated the words even louder. She truly was his punishment in life.

“You took the job at U.A.! Being a teacher is a lifestyle and you’re doing that with two other jobs! Which are also lifestyles!” Shima made a very dismissive tsking noise, Hizashi cracking an eye open to glare at her. “What? I’m right and you know it. Right, Stardust?” 

The kid cracked her eyes open, blearily staring between the two of them before looking back to Shima, “Sorry, Shima-san, but I refuse to take sides in an argument with pro-heroes when all three of us work in the same agency.”

Hizashi snorted, the serious tone of voice lifting his mood for a few moments, “Smart kid, Shima. She’s gonna be better than you one day.” 

Shima scoffed, beaming and radiating pride as she turned back to her phone, “Yeah, yeah. Oh, you might wanna go get your stuff and get ready to leave, by the way.” 

“What?” Why would he leave? Hizashi still had another two hours of his shift at the agency before he had to head over to the radio station. “Why would I-?”

A loud ping from his phone had Hizashi frowning before he was looking down at it, seeing an incoming message from one of the higher ups. It only took a quick scan of the message to see that he was, not-so-politely, being told that he was done for the day, already clocked out, and that his husband was on his way to pick him up so he could ‘get some goddamn rest.’ Shima gave a proud, beaming grin when Hizashi looked up at her. “You’re welcome!”

“I hate you?” Hizashi looked from her to his phone, feeling a shock of warmth at how much the people in his life cared for him. The fact he was already clocked out meant he legally couldn’t even try to get back on his computer and do anymore work for the day without getting into legal trouble. He was legally being told to get out and go get some rest. “Why are you so mean to me?” Which meant once he finished at the radio station he could go home and cuddle up with Shouta and Toshinori and let their warmth and safety drown out everything else.

“Aw, I see you as a friend, too,” Shima cooed, voice softer and quieter. When Hizashi glanced over, he saw she was petting at her sidekick’s head, the girl halfway to being asleep as she breathed softly. “Seriously, though, Yamada. I know what a rough day looks like, so just… take care of yourself, yeah?”

“Fuck,” Hizashi breathed out softly, pulling himself up with a groan. “I’m going to have to actually get you something decent for Christmas, aren’t I?” The ugly snort of laughter had Hizashi managing a larger smile as he shook his head. “Make sure to get some rest yourself, Shima.” 

“Just as long as you do, Yamada,” she winked, shooing him out so she could coddle her sidekick even more than she already did. Honestly, Hizashi was waiting for Shima to come in with adoption papers with how she was about that kid. 

It wasn’t until Hizashi was halfway to his office that his phone dinged again, this time a message from Shouta with a laughing emoji and a simple, ‘Got kicked out huh?’

‘I was politely told to get the fuck out and get some goddamn rest before I had a heart attack and would need to be replaced,’ Hizashi texted back, trying not to snort as Shouta sent a row of more laughing emojis. It was hilarious that everyone assumed Hizashi was the emoji abuser when Shouta’s texts typically contained an emoji with each line or sentence. ‘You don’t have to come get me.’

‘Too late. Already omw.’ Which meant Shouta had probably left to come and check on him just like Toshinori had even before he had been texted by Hizashi’s agency. ‘Get your things before they lock you out of your office workaholic.’

‘You have no rights to call me that considering your own work ethic.’ Hizashi sent a little emoji of his own before tucking his phone away and heading to get his things. Considering the type of people he worked with, he truly wouldn’t be surprised if they kicked him out before he could so much as grab his bag. They wouldn’t even feel bad about it, they would just laugh at him.

Thankfully, it didn’t take him long to gather the files he needed and head back down towards the lobby, everyone soundly ignoring him. It wasn’t the first time an agency wide message had been sent out to warn people that Hizashi was getting kicked out and, knowing him and his co-workers, it wouldn’t be the last. Hizashi hated and loved every last one of them. 

Hizashi was on the sidewalk when a pair of footsteps fell into step with his own, Hizashi feeling something in him soften and relax at Shouta’s quiet laugh, “Radiant was the one to kick you out, huh? How’d that feel?”

“Like the universe was throwing everything I’ve ever done back in my face,” Hizashi snorted, smiling when Shouta’s shoulder brushed against his own. “I could have finished my shift, you know. It’s not a patrol day.” 

“You could have,” Shouta agreed, looking at him with that look of his that was far too understanding. “But you don’t have to. You’re the one always yelling at me about teamwork and cooperation with others, after all, aren’t you?” 

“That’s because you try to take on two dozen human traffickers without any backup.” That had been far too nerve wracking of a night, in Hizashi’s opinion. Nemuri, at least, had shared in his suffering when Shouta had ended laid up in the hospital with a concussion and a broken wrist.

“Mm, you all were running late.” Ass, Hizashi thought to himself fondly. “I’d ask if we were going home, but…”

“Radio station,” Hizashi finished, closing his eyes for a moment. As much as he craved going home and finally resting, he still had work to do. He wouldn’t let a bad day ruin all the work he and everyone else he worked with at the station had been doing. Besides, it wasn’t a recording or live day, so there was at least that much. 

“You’re lucky you don’t need to record today,” Shouta snorted, reading Hizashi’s mind as he always did. “Alright. Let’s go, then.” Hizashi half-wanted to argue that Shouta didn’t need to come with him, but he knew it was a fight he wouldn’t win. 

Hizashi took a breath anyways, getting ready to gather up the energy he would need to ask about Toshinori, and dinner, and how the students were after Shouta had checked on the dorm. Stupidly, though, Hizashi forgot that he was talking to Shouta.

He hadn’t even gotten a word out before Shouta was talking again, firm enough to be heard, but soft enough to make it easy on his headache, “Toshinori made it home alright, by the way. He also started digging up American Sign Language books, but I decided I didn’t even want to ask since I knew I’d hear about it from you later. He’s also starting dinner. For a man who doesn’t eat food typically, he’s a better cook than I would have thought. 

“Oh, and I think the kid is gonna kill all the troublemakers in 1-A if they keep trying to kidnap him like they have been,” Shouta continued, Hizashi feeling tension drain out of him as he listened to the man’s voice. “They actually had him trapped in the dorms when I went to check on everything before Nemuri took over watch. He was taped to the chair and making at least two of them do handstands.”

Shouta didn’t stop for a moment, talking softly and damn near rambling as his steps kept time with Hizashi’s, not expecting him to say a single word back in response. It was a routine that was years old and familiar enough that Hizashi could let himself get lost in the words as Shouta led them along to where they needed to go. 

His eyes slipped shut for a moment, the phantom feeling of pressure around his throat and leather cutting into his skin damn near gone. He was still exhausted, and stretched thin, and felt like too much at once would put him right back where he had been, but… 

The day was almost over and he had Shouta by his side. As far as he was concerned, he would be just fine for a few more hours.

#bnha #boku no hero academia #where i want to be #allerasermic #mha #my hero academia #original #my writing