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loreleismusings99 · 4 months

Text

Two Body Problem

Ch 4

[Masterlist]

Qualifying exams are stressful. coming to terms with budding romantic feelings is somehow even more stressful. In which Mark and the reader critique each others' work and a surprising amount of sleep happens.

Thank you for reading! sorry this took so long to get out, I just graduated(can't believe I have a bachelor's degree now omg), and my life has been kind of a whirlwind lately, but I'm glad I was able to get this out. I don't think this is my strongest chapter, but I can move on to other parts of the story now this is done. As always, please let me know of ways I can improve this and if there's anything that should be fixed about this. Tysm, and I hope y'all are having a wonderful holiday season! Happy Perihelion Day!

also, y'all, I am running out of Matt Damon gifs to use for these so if you have any suggestions, please send them to me!

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God, my back hurts…

You shift under your blanket and grumble at the uncomfortably stiff structure that's currently cradling you. Cracking open an eye, you look around at your surroundings, becoming increasingly familiar as the clouds of sleep part and slowly return your senses to you. Why am I in the living room? Cracking open the other eye, you’re nearly blinded by the morning’s sunlight. Letting out a raspy “ugh…” at the unpleasant stimulus, you turn your head into your blanket again to shield your eyes from the offending ball of ionized hydrogen.

A new piece of sensory information halts your thoughts almost completely when you bury your face in your blanket though; notes of honey with an afterthought of what might be soil flood your senses, layered with something bergamot-y and a mystery spice that gives warmth to the smell. The smell reminds you of your night in the library, labs full of undergrads extracting caffeine from tea leaves, and office hours in the too-cramped grad office in the biosciences building. You remember a hand brushing yours as you both reach for the same homework packet, then mousy blond hair, striking green eyes, and a smattering of freckles.

The realization that your blanket smells like Mark hits you like a freight train and you're suddenly ripped from the clutches of sleep as he fills your senses. You try to find it within you, but you can’t quite locate the discomfort you thought you’d experience being confronted with Mark’s presence--however fleeting and ephemeral-- first thing in the morning. The feelings it stirs within you are… pleasant?? Being enveloped by the earthy scent is calming for whatever reason; like being held, wrapped in a profound sense of home and safety that you rarely have felt in your adult life. He must wear lavender… you think, trying to explain away the state you're in before drifting off again, sleeping in for the first time in a long while.

☆☆☆

“I'm sorry, you did what?!” Mark whirls around, his sandwich still clutched in his left hand while his right is holding his laptop in a precariously loose grip.

Colin rolls his eyes before responding to Mark's dramatic outburst. “Oh please, don't act so scandalized; that's a completely normal and average thing to ask--”

The door slamming at almost midnight tonight was certainly not on Colin’s bingo sheet for the evening’s events, but it was a harbinger of more unexpected happenings starting with Mark’s sour mood after returning from what should have been an enjoyable get-together with his colleagues in the bioengineering department.

“Sure, yes, normally, but they’re about the least average individual I’ve met up until this point in my life, Colin; you can’t just--” Colin has had a front-row seat to Mark’s gradual descent into denial for almost 6 months at this point. As Mark starts waxing poetic about how inviting you over to do moc quals presentations together would be the single worst decision Colin’s made, he remembers the night he came back from that mixer the two of you met in late spring earlier this year.

“The fucking audacity, how did they get this far being so unprofessional--” Mark tosses his bag onto their shared couch a mere foot away from where Colin was sitting writing up a first draft of the introduction for his thesis proposal on improving science communication with the general public while avoiding misleading sensationalism. Mark storms off into his room before poking his head out the door to say, “Did you know using a switch case to find the number of elements in an array is apparently--” Mark mimes air quotes “‘so clunky that it should be considered a syntax error’? Fucking hell…”

As Mark ducks back into his room grumbling, Colin responds with,“ Mark, I promise you I had no clue… and good evening, why do you look and sound like someone just told you agriculture and botany are the same thing?” Colin waits for Mark’s response as he stomps out of his room, having exchanged his business casual garb for his pajamas, and sulks into their kitchen.

“Oh, no reason. I just had the displeasure of getting publically ridiculed by a EE who wouldn’t know the difference between a spanner and a set of calipers, their head’s so fucking deep in electronics they don’t know how to communicate with other humans.” after grabbing a bottle of lemonade from the fridge, Mark collapses down on the chair to Colin’s left, pinching the bridge of his nose and squeezing his eyes shut.

He has it bad… Colin remembers thinking, as he does now, as he watches Mark run up his blood pressure, postulating about critiques you haven’t even had the chance to make on his quals paper and presentation yet. “Mark… Mark, listen.” Colin says to interrupt his wayward roommate’s self-sabotage. “It’s not that serious. They’re going to come over to get their paper looked at too--actually, they’re presenting the same day as you. They’re coming here with the same level of vulnerability as you. I don’t think they’ll go easy on you, but I don’t think they'd be cruel either.”

Colin waits a couple of seconds before asking,“... what’s their name?” Mark pauses and looks up at the ceiling with a faraway look in his eye before saying your name, calmly for the first time since he’s returned home for the evening. Colin and Mark sit in this pause before Mark continues, describing how you were a vision of confidence and poise in your sweater vest, oxfords, and slacks--likely due to unfounded pride, he added after snapping out of his momentary revere. It took everything in Colin’s power not to laugh in Mark’s face every time he tried to explain away every positive thing he noted about you, from your ‘surprising competence in biomechanical design to your managing to land a graduate assistantship in one of the best-funded bio-instrumentation labs in the department.

“How would you know? Hell, they were probably thrilled by the idea of getting to take me down a peg and ruin my faith in my thesis in the process--”

“Well, they certainly seemed eager, but likely not for the reason you think…” Colin responds absent-mindedly as he returns to prepping his presentation materials for their moc quals presentations.

Mark pauses in his nervous pacing and looks finally directly at Colin before asking, “What… exactly did they say? When you asked?”

“My, you’re awfully interested in the minutia of their reactions to you. I wonder why…” Colin postulates slyly, looking up from his computer and smirking.

It takes a few seconds of gear-turning in Mark's head before he finally picks up on what Colin is insinuating before the man in question lets out a guffaw and states, “Absolutely not. No. Impossible, inconceivable--”

“Explain yourself then; you've been emotionally constipated since the day you met them,” Colin crosses his arms before continuing, “You aren't very good at hiding the inner machinations of your head you know, it's written all over in how you act.”

“What I feel for them is probably the farthest thing from affection, they make me sick to my stomach--”

“You sure those aren't just butterflies?--”

“Can you please just answer my question?” Mark sighs in exasperation, and Colin lets out a chuckle before explaining how the events transpired.

“So, I found them in the lab--I think they were soldering something? Honestly, it's beyond what I was willing to ask about so I don't know, but I asked them how they were doing and if they're interested in doing moc quals with us--”

“How do you know where their lab is?”

“I majored in journalism, Mark--I have my methods, don't worry about it. Anyway, they perked up at the mention of moc quals and said that they're about to give their presentation on Friday and that they'd love to have extra practice presenting to people who would ask similar questions to what their committee would ask them. They even mentioned that, quote,‘ despite your likely lack of appreciation for their work, your opinions would be useful,’ end-quote.” Colin utters the last sentence with a chuckle.

Mark opens his mouth to say to retort before he's interrupted by a gentle knock at the door.

Mark looks up at the door and then frantically around the apartment, looking at the mess of dishes he had left from his dinner yesterday before uttering a soft “shit!”, tossing his computer onto the couch next to Colin, and holding his sandwich in his mouth as he picks up his dishes and runs them into the kitchen. “You didn’t say they’d be here now!!” Mark yells from behind the divider wall that separates the kitchen from the living/dining room area, hiding dirty dishes in a panicked frenzy as Colin gets up to let you in.

“You didn’t let me get that far before you started questioning me--Hi there, welcome in!” Colin calls over his shoulder before greeting you and stepping to the side of the open door to let you into his and Mark’s shared space.

“Hey, thanks for inviting… me…” You look around like this is the first time you've seen a room before saying“Wow, you two have a nice place” with what looks like a sparkle of awe in your eyes.

“Thanks,” Mark finally decides to pipe up after exiting the kitchen and leaning against the wall. “Sorry for the mess though, I didn't know we were going to have company.” Mark forces through a fake smile as he looks over to Colin with thinly veiled, panicked irritation.

“Ah, so the clutter and dirty dishes aren't a half-baked preparation strategy?” You jest, dawning a coy smirk before turning to Colin and asking, “Shoes on or off?”

Colin's barely able to get in an ‘either is fine’ before Mark rebuts with, “You wound me with how much you underestimate my very complex plan to distract you.” Colin almost sprains an ocular muscle rolling his eyes at Mark's attempt to play it cool after nearly having an aneurysm about you coming over as the man in question ducks back behind the false wall before saying, “I'm making Pizza Bagel Bites for us.” There's a short pause before Mark pokes his head around the wall to regard you again before asking, “Do you like Bagel Bites?”

“Yeah, Bagel Bites are fine.”

“Are you sure? I can make something else if you want; we also have hot pockets, an actual frozen pizza, and we might have some leftover soup from Thanksgiving too--”

You rest a hand on your hip and sit into it before asking, with a huff, “Mark, honestly l, anything is fine; are we going to do this or are you afraid my presentation's going to be better than yours?”

At this point, Colin has sat back down on their couch and is having the time of his life watching what's unfolding before him. He looks over to the kitchen where Mark is still hidden and listens as he hears a clamoring commotion of a pan being filled with frozen Bagel Bites and the furious beeps of the oven turning on to pre-heat before he rushes out of the kitchen, picks up his laptop, sits down, and opens it.

Mark dawns a haughty smirk and a competitive gleam sparks in his eyes as he says, typing away on his computer, “Oh, you have no idea the magnitude of scrutiny you've just unleashed upon your work…”

You let out a huff of a laugh before saying, “I expect nothing less” and opening up your laptop and sharing with the two of them your paper and presentation as the lot of you get started on your moc reviews.

The process is fairly simple: one of you presents while the other two act as your panel committee, asking questions, and making suggestions at the end of your presentation. Colin goes first, presenting his findings from his literature review of surveys and short-term studies of the efficacy of popular science news and the need for more long-term studies. This is something he's practiced hundreds of times, so the questions you throw at him aren't surprising--though, he is quite taken aback by how well-versed you are in pedagogical techniques in science communication and makes a note to pick your brain about your experience later.

You go next, Mark having half-offered half-volunteered you to go next, he's probably still trying to calm his nerves, Colin thinks as he watches Mark shift awkwardly in his seat while you stand from your spot on the couch next to him after setting up your presentation on your computer. Colin tries his best to focus on the lovely presentation on flexible electronics and their use in vitals monitoring, but he can’t help but be distracted by Mark's increasingly adorable investment in your presentation, actively listening and asking questions but with a faraway look in his eyes as he gazes at you with what can only be described as adoration as you passionately expound upon the process of medication release in implantable medical sensing devices. You finish your presentation and Mark enthusiastically jumps up to present last, evidently forgetting his nerves from earlier and diving straight into the complexities of irrigation and sustainable crop cultivation in extreme environments. Colin takes note of the understated excitement you exhibit at Mark's passion for his field, so reserved that he almost missed the way you attempted to block a blush and giggle at his peculiar use of casual, nearly comical lexicon in a presentation meant to convince the academics at the top of the botany ivory tower to give him a chance at becoming a professional scientist.

After presenting you all went over the notes you made on each other's presentations, discussing why certain word choice decisions were made, how each of you dealt with being confronted with A gap in your knowledge, et cetera. Mark was chewing on the end of a red pen while looking over the notes and suggestions you provided for his presentation before making a face and asking, “What’s wrong with my wording here? I think this is a perfectly valid term to describe nutrient uptake efficiency in--”

“Mark, do I need to tell you why you can’t say ‘slorp’ in a Ph.D. qualification oral exam?” You look up from your paper, now marked up with notes from Mark and Colin, and look pointedly at Mark, your mouth quirked into a poorly concealed smirk. Mark starts falling over his words trying to explain his reasoning--or lack thereof--while failing at holding back enthusiastic laughter.

Mark turns to Colin and asks, “Well, what do you think--do you see the academic value of using slorp in a presentation?”

Colin rests a hand gently on Mark’s shoulder before responding. “Mark, my dearest friend, I absolutely do not,” Colin says through bouts of laughter and it puts you in stitches next to Mark, laughing so hard that the only noise you can make is a high-pitched wheeze as you’re doubled over by your glee.

Mark dramatically clutches his shirt right over his heart and says, “Et tu, Brute??” before succumbing to his laughter.

☆☆☆

The empty chair to your right buzzes with the vibrations your restless leg sends through the floor as you await the panel's decision on whether or not you need to reconsider your place in the Ph.D. program. Every time you try to listen in on the conversation your advisor and mentors are having in the room behind you, Hana gently squeezes your hand to remind you to at least try not to obsess about your presentation. It's done now, the ball's in their court. All you can do now is wait and try not to send your blood pressure through the roof.

I think that went alright…you think, threading your fingers between Hana's in an attempt to ground yourself. I answered all of their questions correctly… I think. They didn't say so if I didn't; would they have done that? Fuck, what if they just decided to say nothing-

The door to Hana’s and your left opens suddenly to reveal your advisor, Dr. Ameer, poking his bald and bespectacled head out from behind the door before stepping out and standing to his full height, imposing from your current seated perspective.

He looks down at you for a moment before smiling proudly and holding out his hand. “Congratulations!” You take his hand and shake it feeling like the air got kicked out of your chest, only able to let out a breathless squeeze of a ‘thank you’ that your advisor lightly laughs at. “Excellent treatment of the current gap in the literature on the use of implantables for tissue regeneration for rehabilitative purposes in particular--it makes a great start to a thesis project.” He states, taking off his reading glasses.

You nod and say another “thank you,” stronger this time now that your tensed muscles have finally relaxed and Hana's got you wrapped up in a sideways hug. “I'll make sure to, uhm, send you my availability for the next week so we can discuss how I did and how I can improve. We should also start to discuss my thesis--where to start, what we're capable of doing, et cetera.”

“Absolutely. Don't forget to celebrate too, though. You work hard, you deserve the rest.” He says, sitting down in the chair to your right.

“Oh, don't worry about that,” Hana says, clapping you on the shoulder, “I'll make sure they have at least a little fun within the next 24 hours.”

“Thank you for your work keeping them sane.” Dr. Ameer says through a laugh.

“Is this an intervention?” you ask, looking back and forth at the two of them as they both guffaw at your bafflement.

“Alright,” Dr. Ameer starts, standing back up before saying, “Congratulations again, I'll see you on Monday.”

“Thank you, and see you then.” You respond, allowing yourself to finally smile with a gleam of pride in your eyes as he nods and walks off, presumably to his office.

You wait until you know he's out of earshot before bellowing out a, “Thank fucking God…” as Hana squeals, shaking your shoulders in pent-up excitement.

“Hey, don't act like you didn't nail it in there, I heard you, you were great!! Oozing confidence and academic splendor!” Hana responds, dramatically clutching a fist over her heart. “We have to celebrate properly tonight; maybe drinks and dinner at my place--”

“Please don't make it a big thing, it's not like I just defended my thesis,” you say through an exasperated sigh.

“Fine, but we're at least inviting over Colin and Mark--they just passed their quals too.”

An Incredulous and confused look twists your face when you ask, “How do you know? I thought they were presenting just now too?”

“Trivia night people have a group chat--here, look” Hana takes out her phone and shows you a text from Colin with a picture of him smiling with his arm around what looks like Mark, his head tilted back in relief while Colin ruffles his hair.

Your eyes linger on Mark's neck a little too long before you pull your gaze away and clear your throat, saying, “I see.”

“Hey,” Hana says, putting a hand on your shoulder, “we don't have to invite them, or anyone for that matter, especially if they'll make you uncomfortable.”

“No no, thank you, uhm, there's nothing wrong with that. If anything, I probably owe the two of them a thank you, we presented to each other and they both offered some awesome suggestions that I wouldn’t’ve thought of otherwise.”

Hana regards you silently for a moment, eyes narrowing before they widen in shock as she says, “No fucking way.”

“… What?”

“I mean, the two of you becoming civil with each other finally was to be expected, but I never would've thought--”

“Oh,” you say rolling your eyes as you go to stand up, “Okay, I see where this is going--”

“So I'm right then?” Hana grabs her bag and goes to follow you.

“Absolutely not.”

“You were just gazing longingly at Mark!”

“I do not gaze at him,” you wheeze out with a laugh as you push open the doors to the Tech building.

“Okay, so why did you just freeze right now? I refuse to believe it was a nondescript brain fart and you just so happened to zone out looking at Mark's trachea--” Hana finishes her sentence in a whisper to not attract the attention of the undergrads walking past them in the courtyard.

You whip around to look Hana in the eye as you whisper-yell, “What I feel for Mark is the farthest thing from attraction, I can't possibly think of a world where he would inspire anything other than disgust--”

“Denial is a river in Egypt, my friend, and we are in the midwest--”

“God, I can't believe you--” You whirl back around and start walking off in the direction of your apartment.

“I'm inviting them over, and be at mine by 5!!” Hana shouts at your retreating form and you throw up a thumbs up to show your acknowledgment.

Your mind wanders on your way back home; you remember eating a Pizza Bagel during your moc quals with Colin and Mark, the latter suddenly saying, “Wait! Hold still” causing you to freeze in your tracks and your eyes to widen into saucers, thinking a bug or something crawled onto you. He reaches over and gently swipes a thumb across the corner of your mouth before saying“ Rogue pizza sauce” before moving on to the next thing that caught his attention. You're still frozen in place, trying to process what just happened, when Mark absentmindedly licks the tomato sauce off his thumb like he forgot that that was just on your face and not his. Now, something like this usually wouldn’t surprise you--especially given Mark's tendency to forget the simplest of things--but for whatever reason your brain short-circuited; at a complete loss for words, for once in your life not a single thought crossed your mind--just complete radio silence and a faint fluttering feeling in your chest. You didn't notice it at the time, perhaps because you didn't want to, but that fluttering felt different than you expected. You wanted to feel a flush of anger wash over you at his invasion of your personal space but all you could muster was the nauseating fondness you felt that night he walked you home after trivia night.

This realization makes your face twist into a scowl. “Shit…” you say, burying your face deep into your coat.

When you enter Hana’s apartment building, the weight and warmth from your jacket and the building hallway make your skin prickle with sweat. You unzip your jacket and tug a little on your turtleneck’s collar before knocking on her door. A muffled “Hold on!” sounds from behind the door before Hana flings the door open a few seconds later. “Come on in!” she hurries you in while carrying a pan of what looks like an attempt at caramelizing… something?

You take off your shoes and place them on the small rack set up next to the front door before hanging up your coat next to Hana’s on a nearby coat hook. “What are you making?” you question, the medley of smells hitting your nose almost making your eyes water.

“Chicken parm--assuming I'm doing this right,” says over her shoulder while rushing back into her kitchenette, trying not to spill the contents of the very hot pot on her person.

“Hana, I'm not sure if you're supposed to caramelize anything in a chicken parmesan dish?” you follow her timidly into the kitchen, not entirely sure you want to bear witness to what she is concocting.

“You’ve gotta have more faith in my process,” Hana says confidently over her shoulder right before the pan on the stove in front of her bursts into flame. There's a brief scramble As the two of you try to put out the fire, eventually being left with a charred mess sitting in the pan with the two of you staring at it blankly.

“... Portillo's?”

“Yeah,” you respond with a light huff.

You're drying off and putting away dishes as Hana passes them to you after giving them a thorough scrubbing to get off the char from her attempt at cooking dinner. After about two minutes of this Hana puts down the dish she's working on and huffs before saying, “I'm putting on some music, any requests?”

You pause and think for a moment before answering, “Um… I don't know; What've you been listening to lately?”

“This is gonna sound kind of weird, but I've been on a bit of an ABBA kick lately.” She says, drying her hands off before retrieving her phone from the front pocket of her ‘That's not Burnt, that's Flavor’ apron.

“Knowing you, that's not weird at all.” You deadpan before the two of you let out a stream of giggles. Hana taps away at her phone for a couple of seconds, and Chiquitita starts playing from a speaker on the far side of the kitchen to your left. “Oo, that's a good one.”

“Darling, they're all good ones,” Hana says through a playful smirk, making you laugh. The rest of the otherwise boring task goes by much more slowly but more enjoyably with the two of you intermittently stopping to sing along at the top of your lungs with whatever song caught your collective attention, Hana occasionally using whatever cooking utensil was within her grasp as an impromptu fake-microphone. She's in the middle of a surprisingly impressive belt during Lay All Your Love on Me when a confident knocking echoes through the apartment. “Ope, is that them?” she inquires in a suddenly quieter voice with what you detect as a hint of bashfulness--possibly at the prospect of being heard through the door. She briefly checks her phone while you dry the last plate and put it away. “Yep!” she says before doffing her apron and nearly prancing to her front door.

You turn around and open up a cupboard to put away the plate you're holding, but as you reach up you feel a pair of eyes on your back. You close the cabinet door and whirl around only to be met with a pair of infuriatingly disarming green eyes. In your periphery, you can see Mark’s shoulders pitch up slightly before a toothy smile blooms across his face, catching you off guard with the sincerity of it. You clumsily return his smile before congratulating him before dawning a defensive smirk and saying, “I’m glad our corrections weren’t ignored” jokingly implying that was the only thing stopping him from failing.

A grimace distorts Mark’s smile before he opens his mouth to speak, pausing for a second before finally letting out a laugh and saying, “I was about to say that I had to because Botany isn’t exactly as easy as what you do, but saying something is only biomedical sensor engineering doesn’t exactly have the punch I ‘m looking for.” He and Colin take off their shoes and you and Mark close the distance between the two of you before he continues. “Glad to hear you passed too--what is that smell, is something burning?” Mark interrupts himself, halfway through crossing his arms when he finally catches a whiff of the residual char in the air from Hana’s cooking.

“That would be the aftermath of Hana’s attempt at cooking; don’t worry, we called Portillos as soon as the pan lit on fire.” You quickly add after seeing the color drain a bit from Mark’s cheeks.

You wonder if they’ve always been that rosy before he frantically looks between you and Hana and asks, “You lit a pan on fire?!”

“Only a little bit, we put it out quickly--the alarm didn’t even go off.” Hana dismisses Mark’s worry with a wave of her hand while walking over to her speaker to turn its volume down.

“That’s a shame, we could’ve roasted non-stick flavored marshmallows,” Colin jests from his spot at Hana’s kitchen island before she sticks her tongue out at him, sending the lot of you into a laughing fit. “Well, what do we want to do until the dogs get here?”

Hana pauses to think for a second before ducking to rifle through a set of board and card games she keeps under her living room speaker and reemerges with a small red box. “‘We’re Not Really Strangers’?” she punctuates her question by lightly shaking the box, “I’ve got a few packs mixed in here, so we shouldn’t get any repeats if we’re waiting a while.”

Colin responds in the affirmative before enthusiastically walking over to her couch and plopping down with a ‘whoomph.’ Mark shifts next to you before stating in an almost whisper, “This ought to be interesting.” The two of you look at each other and you scan his face, taking in the mirth evident in his lightly freckled face and you lightly nudge him with a wheeze of a laugh before walking over to get a seat at Hana’s coffee table.

How can one person be so fucking warm?? You internally hiss to yourself while sitting next to Mark. The two of you still have about an inch of separation between the two of you but even so, you feel like the warmth radiating off his body is smothering you in a calm you’re trying to steel yourself against. You’re sitting in a half-crisscross position with your leg resting on top of your foot now to make it harder for you to subconsciously inch closer to Mark to try to remedy the ever-present chill that usually plagues you--with what appears to be little success considering the two of you stared out on this couch with about 6 inches of space between the two of you. Mark guffaws heartily at Hana’s answer to the card Colin just pulled and you can feel the seat shake with his laughter, the proximity of his person to yours making your heart ache dully. This is miserable, I’m miserable, why is this happening, why me? Why him?? You wonder to yourself with a slightly pained smile and chuckle while Hana pulls a card from the pile in the center of the table.

“Let’s see--ough, I hate this one; ‘What are your plans for the future?’ survive this Ph.D.” Hana immediately answers with a wheeze of a laugh putting the card in the discard pile.

“Honestly, same--I’m just glad my quals are done so I can focus my time and energy on research,” Colin answers before taking a sip of his water and looking to Mark for his answer.

“Alright, are we talking about, like, the next five years or more of what my endgame is for what I want to do with my life? Because I wouldn’t be able to securely pin that down if my life depended on it.” Mark laughs after Hana tells him to say whatever he has an answer for. He pauses for a moment before continuing. “Well,” he begins, crossing his arms, looking up at the ceiling, and slightly adjusting his position, spreading his legs slightly; it takes every ounce of willpower in every atom of your body not to look down at his legs as he does so. “I’m planning on submitting to the NASA GSRP soon, so, assuming I get awarded it, I’ll be working more with botanists at Kennedy Space Center to develop cultivation experiments for the ARES missions--If they ever happen at all.” Mark finishes with a scoff, making you frown. With the tumultuous nature of how government is run, it's becoming increasingly difficult to gauge if there’ll be funding for ambitious space missions like the budding ARES program. Mark abruptly turns to you--itching to turn the attention away from himself--and asks, “What about you?”

You’re given pause by the way Mark abruptly changes the subject, but answer anyway. “Oh, um, I’m headed to Pasadena in the spring; I’m working with one of the engineers there on electronics for a Lunar water surveyor--seems like we’re both NASA-bound. You’ll have to tell me more about the project you’re submitting for, it seems interesting--we might even be able to collaborate a little bit, depending on how far my work on this surveyor goes.”

You end your answer with a coy smirk and for a flash of a second, you could've sworn you saw Mark’s eyes briefly cast downwards to your lips before rocketing back up to meet yours. No, that can’t be possible. God, I’m losing it-- you think to yourself before the man in question interrupts your internal agonizing. “Oh, so you think I’m good enough to get the fellowship?” He inquires with a jesting tone, ducking his head to look up at you through his eyelashes, his vermillion eyes scrutinizing you through the varying shades of blond and brown.

You look at him incredulously and answer before thinking better of voicing your knee-jerk reaction, “Of course; I wouldn’t expect anything less from you.” The realization of what you said hits you like a ton of bricks flying at you at Mach 1 as you see Mark’s cheeks flush. Again with the rosy cheeks? Did I make him uncomfortable? Was that too much? Shit, does he think I like him now? Fuck--

“Ah, well, I’ve got nothing to worry about then--if even you think I could do it.” Mark laughs and claps a hand on your shoulder, making you let out a huff and a chuckle in relief at his jovial tone, thinking you’ve narrowly escaped being found out.

“Alright, enough work talk--” Colin captures your attention after letting out a light chuckle and motions for you to pick up a card. “Your turn, Inspector Gadget.”

You lightly chortle before reaching over to pick a card up from the top of the pile of unused cards. “‘Do you think I’m a good kisser?’ Hana, I thought you said these were from the friendship pack???” The whole table bursts into laughter while Hana chokes out a confirmation that it is indeed from the friendship pack. “Alright, out with it, what are your verdicts?” you ask through an exasperated sigh.

“Honestly, I think you’d be a great kisser, remember when we visited Vanessa’s mom in Vegas and you somehow tied two cherry stems with your tongue? While drunk no less--” Hana interrupts herself with her own laughter as you choke on the water you’re drinking at the mention of that night.

“Fuck, I forgot about that!” you cough out. “If it means anything, I had to use my teeth for most of that--I was afraid I was going to swallow the things both times,” you confess with a chuckle.

“Yeah, I don’t know how good of an indicator that is; one of my exes also could tie a cherry stem with his tongue, but the first time we kissed he practically shoved his tongue down my throat.” Colin weighed in with a scoff before continuing, “What do you think Mark?”

Mark pauses for a moment and in that calm, you notice that he’s draped his arm over the seat cushion behind you. In an unexpected wave of wreckless confidence--at least, that’s what you’d call it--you decide to lean back into his arm, immediately relishing in how warm he is. He considers you for a moment, a surprised look on his face before answering, “Honestly I feel like you could go either way; either you’re a mind-numbingly great, or criminally terrible, no in-between” Hana and Colin break into a side-splitting laugh and you ask him to please explain what his reasoning is behind that answer. “You… you--” Mark interrupts his sentence with a breathy laugh, looking up and away from you before continuing. “Alright, look, you… have a lot of surprising things about you and they’re all, like extremes--”

“Yeah???” you interject, your face contorted into an incredulous smirk.

“Yes, let me finish--”

“Please do--”

“So, I think it would be one of those things that you’re, like, inexplicably good at for no fucking reason, or you’d exceed my expectations and be worse than I thought you’d be.” He finishes, barely able to hold back his chortles.

“And what exactly were your expectations?” you ask, feeling warmth flood your cheeks at the revelation that he’s thought about kissing you before. You try your best to stamp out those thoughts before your infuriatingly lovesick brain can indulge in them, thinking God, I’m hopeless. Mark pauses for a second, looking at you apprehensively. You can feel his arm shift on the cushion behind you as he agonizes about whether or not to tell you. “...Mark--”

“That you’d be kind of mid--” he admits with a grimace.

“WOW!” you exclaim, laughing like you just got the air punched out of you. “The amount of confidence you have in me is truly inspiring--is there anything you think I do well?”

“Piss me off--” The four of you lose your minds with laughter; you go to grip your leg to brace yourself against but accidentally slap your hand against Mark’s. The muscles in his leg tense and you freeze. You feel like you should--no, have to--move your hand but for whatever reason the signals your brain is sending to your arm are getting lost in transit, leaving your hand planted steadfastly on top of his quadricep. A spark of surprise flashes through his eyes for a moment before he moves his hand to grasp at yours, still resting on his leg. “You do that perfectly--”

“Fuck off,” you draw your hand out of his grasp, laughing to yourself and unable to look him in the eye.

☆☆☆

After your Portillos arrive you all dig in, opting to put your card game away in favor of watching a Seinfeld rerun while you all eat. Mark tries to focus on his hot dog to get the memory of how your hand felt on his leg out of his mind. I suppose that’s my fault for not noticing how close we were getting. Did they want that? Why did I want that?? Fuck, I hope I didn’t make them uncomfortable-- Mark takes a deep breath after swallowing a mouthful of hot dog to try to calm his racing thoughts. He feels a pair of eyes on him while he zones out watching the TV and turns his gaze in your direction. You stare back at him with an indiscernible expression before asking, “You okay?”

He smiles and nods, trying not to let his inner turmoil show, “Yeah, I’m good--just starting to get a little tired.” At least that much was true; the fatigue of the past couple weeks of preparation for his quals had decided to dump itself on him now that the adrenaline of the whole ordeal had dissipated. You hum and nod before patting him on the back, an alarmingly comforting gesture that Mark didn’t expect to appreciate as much as he did. The four of you continued to watch Seinfeld until he could feel his eyelids begin to droop. Shit, he thought, I can’t be this tired right now, I still need to get home-- His train of thought is interrupted when he feels you slump against his shoulder gently. He looks down at your now asleep form and huffs out a silent laugh, finding you asleep for a second time that week. He looks up to Colin and Hana, who both seem to be engrossed in the exploits of George and Jerry, before he decides to rest his eyes for a second as well, thinking there wasn’t any harm in taking a moment to rest for once. Mark nods off before he can hear Hana and Colin snicker to themselves.

===

tag list:

@oliviabelova , @anna-withnn

DM me to be added to the tag list!

#the martian #mark watney #andy weir #the martian(2015)#mark watney x reader #gn!reader #mark watney x gn!reader #academic rivals #self insert #no use of y/n #two body problem

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starlightshore · 4 months

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Howdy! I've got a handful of questions after watching the trailer for Angel's Lullaby and reading the write-up on Gamejolt:

Do you plan on the game being fully voice acted? Or were the VAs there just for the trailer?

I'm asking this in good faith, out of curiosity: where did you get "prin" as the gender-neutral form of prince/princess? Did you create the word yourself or did you find it somewhere? (If the latter, where? I reckon it could be a valuable resource)

Do I understand correctly that all this means the game will have multiple endings? And, if it's not a spoiler, will that include the possibility of saving Monsters from being trapped under Mt. Ebott?

Thanks in advance for the answers! And I can't believe that this White Human society from hundreds of years ago has better trans rights than modern times (or at least it seems to).

But also if I'm being honest I don't like the word "prin", it sounds incomplete somehow. I have come up with the word "princep" (PRIN-sepp) in my own projects as a different gender-neutral form, but maybe the only reason it sounds better to me is because I created it. Okay have a nice 2024 bye

Happy New Year! sorry I haven't gotten around to responding, my b!

let me try answering in order:

No voice acting in the game. I just wanted to connect the voice-acted animation segments and the gameplay, otherwise, the gameplay would feel a lot more "stiff" or "static" in comparison. This is a VERY text-heavy game so voice acting is completely unfeasible.

just from searching around for gender-neutral terms for a royal child. i personally like prin because it's simple and to the point. I expect people to have different opinions and preferences but I'll go with what I like haha

very much a spoiler. I'm actually doing a massive rethink on the game but what has been planned was that you'd get 2 main routes of the game: pacifist-monster and no-mercy-human. Not sure if that'll stay the same or not. 3A. Yeah, Mythosa Island is a lot more progressive but it's in part to not alienate the game for modern audiences and to un-ground the story a bit. Real History is dark and fucked up. I can critique it, but I want to keep it to a "video game" atmosphere. So we're not going to address things like Slavery, Racism, and Transphobia in an Undertale game. I'm not a historical expert and a lot of the history has been "gamified" by it being an isolated island originally ruled by monsters. A lot of stuff can be chalked up to: "This is a small portion of the human race (who are originally poor) and they've lived peacefully with monsters for 100 years. Their ideals are not going to reflect medieval Europe accurately."

very much so. I want to do commentary on museums and how art can be stolen/destroyed for the sake of the enjoyment of those who go to museums. like, I'm sure there's some good to museums, it's good to preserve history and teach it to others and seeing up and close can make a difference. but it needs to be ethically sourced. like we could do both, come on. How much of this is subtext vs. text will depend on how the team and I handle the tone. Like, I do want to talk on darker/serious topics but I don't want it to be too straightforward and break the video game immersion. ALL art is communication and thus has something to say -i just need to control how it says what I want it to say.

But thank you so much for the kind asks! Happy 2024 and beyond!

#personal stuff #sams replies #angels lullaby #angel's lullaby

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obiwan · 9 months

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would love to hear your thoughts on barbie and oppenheimer -- impossible task since they are so different but which one did you prefer? or what parts (plot, performances, length, story, styling, etc) did you like better? :):):):):):)

Well. I don't know if I'm the right person for this, because I'm a very average movie enjoyer. I'm nowhere near a cinephile, my movie critique is based on whether or not I enjoyed it lol (I also don't understand or care about the technical aspects, so sorry Nolan but I didn't watch it at a 70mm imax compatible theatre) but let me humour you, because BARBIE :)

Overall, I loved Barbie more than Oppenheimer but I knew this would happen, because these historic Nolan movies usually bore me (Dunkirk too, sorry 😅) and three hours for this movie was too much for me. With Barbie, it was a lot of fun, and it strikes such a nostalgia cord for me, because I grew up loving and playing with Barbies lol. The only thing with Barbie was - there was a tweet where Greta Gerwig said it's about growing up and how girls change, they're no longer joyful once they hit puberty and the world changes around them etc. - it had a different plot point than what I expected. To me it was more of a nod to the faults of the patriarchal system as opposed to a growing up story (though I guess, in a way Barbie does grow up) but either way, it was a lot of fun. Styling, the costumes, the decor, the set design was INCREDIBLE (for both movies really, but Barbie is soooo :) PINK 🥰).

I think performance wise, RDJ really stood out, they were all good, and I'm (once again) laughing at anyone who said Ryan Gosling doesn't resemble Ken (like. THAT IS THE POINT. DO YOU THINK THEY'RE DUMB)

In the end, Oppenheimer was a bit too long for me, I don't typically enjoy historic movies, but it had great actors (which is what made it watchable for me ngl), and Barbie was a lot of fun and great visuals while having an albeit bit of a cliche, but accurate plotline. If I were to see one of them again, I'd definitely go for Barbie.

#anonymous #answered #barbie #oppenheimer #spoilers #i mean not really but #yknow

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where-theres-smoak-2 · 3 months

Text

Percy Jackson Series Review (Spoilers for Whole Season 1!)

I finally watched the finale for the Percy Jackson series and figured I'll write a review for the whole season. Overall I think it was a good season, there were some really great moments and I think the cast did a really good of capturing the characters and the relationships from the books. However for me there were a few issues with the first season. So before getting into it, these are my own thoughts and opinions and there is a spoiler warning in effect from here on out, you have been warned. I'm going to start with my critiques first to get them out of the way and because I think its better to end on a good note. If you are someone who loved the show, believe it could do no wrong and don't want to hear any criticisms, feel free to skip over this section. For me personally though my critiques were enough of an issue for me that it did effect my enjoyment of the show at times which is why I want to talk about them, this wouldn't be an honest review if I didn't. But don't worry as long as my critique may be, my list of things I loved is even longer.

Critiques

Ok I'm sorry but I hated how whenever the heroes would show up at a monsters lair, eg medusa, the lotus casino and crusty's, they would instantly announce whose lair it was and how they trap their victims. To me this was just boring. In the books part of the fun was that they wouldn't immediately know but there would be little clues as to who they were dealing with. It added suspense, a sense of stakes and danger to those scenes in the book because you knew it was likely connected to a greek monster and you were waiting for the reveal, if you were a reader who knew greek mythology it was also fun to try and guess who the monster was before the reveal as well. But none of that was transferred over to the show. I have seen the argument made that well Sally taught Percy Greek Mythology in the series and Annabeth knows about Greek Mythology from camp so it makes more sense that they would know instantly and yeah doesn't stop it from being boring, sorry. For me I would rather something be suspenseful and exciting and have build up and have to adopt a bit of suspension of disbelief than have something that is technically realistic and makes sense and be boring, for me the worst crime a show can commit is to bore me. Besides them knowing Greek Mythology would be what allows them to figure it out just in the nick of time. After all the whole point is that these monsters have disguised themselves within the real world so that they can trick demi-gods etc, what would show these kids skills is them figuring out and defeating the monster just before they fall victim to them unlike the monsters other casualties. I guess what I am saying is there was a better way of showing that these kids were myth savvy and smart whilst still keeping the suspense and sense of danger. The way they did it made me feel like the characters were just hitting pause on the scene then going hold on let me just give the audience the cliff notes of this particular greek myth and then we'll get back to our regular scheduled viewing. It felt out of place, the dialogue was awkward to me and it was just the epitome of telling and not showing. The first time it happened I was a little disappointed but I shrugged it off, but as the season went on and it kept happening over and over I just got more frustrated with it, to the point that when Percy walked into Crusty's and announced 'I know who you are' I just rolled my eyes.

So the next criticism I have is the whole Lotus Casino scene. This scene was just a huge disappointment to me because once again it was boring. It started with our usual cliff notes break down of who the lotus people are and how they trap people with food (lotus flower) and then it was just them walking through the casino. Again in the book this scene is fun, the whole point of the casino is that it is so fun, so intoxicating that it distracts our heroes from their quest. They get taken in by it all and just become twelve year old kids, like that moment in the finale where Annabeth talks about how her dad wants to take her to Disneyland and Percy replies 'just be a kid' well the casino was supposed to be disneyland ok. It was supposed to be the fun place that every kid dreams of going and the place where a kid can just lose themselves in the fun and the wonder of it all. Instead in the show it was just lacklustre and underwhelming. Don't get me worng the scene with Hermes was amazing and I will talk about it more later, and I get the whole idea they were going with by having Annabeth and Percy not forget each other because they were together but Grover does forget because he was alone, I love that idea, it was a nice sentiment and good lesson but again I feel like it could have been done in a more exciting way. Percy and Annabeth could still have been distracted from the mission and had fun at the casion but maintained their memory of each other because they were together, they could have broken out of the 'spell' because they weren't alone and they could have had it so Grover finds it harder to break out of it because he was alone. Same message but whilst still keeping that sense of child like fun and wonder and excitement. I know many will hate me bringing the movies into it but in my opinion the movies did the casino scene better and I do wish the show had kept that level energy and excitement that the movie had in that scene, I do wonder though if part of the reason why they didn't go the route of showing the heroes having fun was because they didn't want there to be any comparison to the movie scene, like they wanted it to be so different that you wouldn't be able to make any connection between the two, but that's just me speculating.

Another thing is the whole deadline already passing change. Now the change itself I'm not upset by, I don't need the show to be an exact copy of the book and it was clearly set up to have that scene where Poseidon surrenders to save Percy, which I am definitely talking about that scene later in the things I loved part because that scene was just amazing. But my issue was first off the reaction of Percy and Annabeth when they realise how long they've been in the casino and they later learn that the deadline has passed. There is no sense of urgency or panic, they announce it like they are announcing a weather update, like oh we've wasted a load of time, we've missed the deadline, bummer. I just wish they had put a little more energy and urgency into that scene. Though to be clear I don't think this was an issue with the acting, as I said before I think the entire cast did an amazing job, but I do think there was an issue with direction and writing somewhere. Another issue I had with the passed deadline change is that we don't see the effect it has on the world. What I mean by that is in the books and I'm pretty sure the movie as well, it is made very clear what a war between the gods would look like to the human world, its natural disasters, storms, earthquakes, fires, tsunamis, you name it. In the books and movie, even though the deadline hasn't passed yet we see the effect of the gods merely preparing for war, it shows the stormy seas, the thunderclouds etc. But in the show nada, not even a grey cloud in sight.

Ok so those were my major criticisms, I know its a little long so apologies. The only other critiques I had were much less of an issue, I am a bit disappointed that Percy never spoke to the Zebra. It was a bit odd seeing as they mentioned the Zebra in the title of the episode, so I am not sure why they didn't include it, who knows maybe now that the show is on disney they thought Percy talking to horses and sea creatures was a little too disney princess and decided to remove it, again that's just speculation on my part, but I hope they do include it in season 2 if we get one, let percy jackson be a disney princess and talk to the flying ponies and fishes ok.

I also did feel like the pacing was sometimes a little off in places, it sometimes felt a bit rushed and like they could have added a little more context to some scenes even if it was just a couple of lines of dialogue, but these are very minor issues.

All The Best Bits.

Ok so now the criticism is out of the way lets focus on the good bits because there were plenty of them. First I want to start with the Greek Gods themselves because I really do think the show nailed them. I do think they tried to make them a bit more sympathetic in the show than they were in the books, because in the books it was very easy to hate them and it took a bit to warm up to them, as they were very dismissive and detached. Whereas in the show I think they found the perfect balance between showing their flaws when it comes to their children and in general but also adding some nuance and showing that they do care and love their children and they do struggle with having to stay away from them but also in showing how their absence effects their children. So first lets talk about Hermes.

Hermes

The scene between Annabeth, Percy and Hermes I think was one of my favourites of the season. I loved how when we first meet Hermes there's this fun, laid back feeling to him, he's just chilling in the casino with not a care in the world, but his entire demeanour changes the moment Luke is mentioned and you see how much of an emotional effect it is having on Hermes. The actor played that moment so so well, it really was great.

There was so many layers to that conversation between the three that made it so interesting to me. First it gives us some backstory on Luke and how the last time he saw Hermes they got into a fight but also how Hermes was warned to stay away but didn't listen and in the end made it worse for those he loves, then you've got the reveal that Poseidon was the one that warned Hermes to stay away and the reason why was because its too hard to watch your child suffer and not be able to do anything to stop it, which brings in the whole even gods feel powerless and how hard that is for a god to accept, that even they can't protect the ones they love and how that leads to the struggles of parenting. I mean the whole conversation was just layered with interesting topics and themes that you could spend hours picking apart. It genuinely made me feel so sorry for Hermes, which was new for me, because you could see what he was feeling, you weren't just hearing him say it, you could see how much he loves Luke, you could see how much it hurt him that his son hates him, you could see that he felt helpless to protect Luke and his mum, you could see the guilt he felt that every time he tried to help someone get to the underworld it always ended in them dying and you could see the fear that if his friends died Luke would only hate Hermes more.

I also loved that despite deliberately delaying them and saying he wouldn't help, he still does ultimately help them. He knew that Annabeth had picked his pocket and instead of stopping them he lets them take the car and leaves them instructions. I just really loved what they did with Hermes character and how much they did with his character in such a short scene.

Ares

Ares was another fun character, like he was surprisingly comical, I couldn't help but laugh when he started a fight on twitter and when he's describing the coming war between his father and uncle and he's practically got tears of joy in his eyes, like he is legit giddy at the idea and honestly does seem very in character for a god of war. But despite having those comical moments he was still threatening and terrifying when he needed to be, you still knew that this was a powerful being and that our heroes needed to tread carefully around him and that when he does threaten our heroes that threat is real.

The growing antagonism between Ares and Percy was also interesting to see, its very clear that Percy isn't a fan of Ares and that mutual dislike very quickly grows into hate between them. I loved that scene at the end of ep 5 when Percy says 'You think you know who I am but you don't. And if you're not careful you're going to find out.' It takes alot of guts to stand up to the literal god of war and I think this scene says alot about Percy's character and how he has this defiance and fight in him but also alot of bravery. Also this scene could have come across very silly and cheesy, its very difficult to have a 12 year old threaten a god and not have it come across as a bit ridiculous but I actually think they pulled it off and to me Percy seemed believable and intimidating in the moment.

I also think this scene leads really well to the fight between them on the beach at the end of the season. When Percy first suggests single combat, first blood wins, its understandable that Ares laughs at him. I mean when you look at it from Ares' pov he's an all powerful god of war and percy is 12. Of course Ares thinks the notion that this 12 year old, new demi-god could possible beat him and make good on his earlier threat, is utterly ludicrous. So Ares wasn't careful and then he found out. Course if you choose to fight a son of Poseidon on a beach right next to the ocean you deserve what's coming to you. But I still loved that moment when you've got little Percy being towered over by Ares, this tall muscular god, and then that wave just builds and towers over them both before it takes out Ares, allowing Percy to draw first blood whilst Ares is trying to regain his bearings. That was some top notch imagery right there, 10 out of 10.

Of course Ares doesn't take the defeat humbly and instead announces that Percy has made an enemy of him which honestly not an ideal situation for Percy to be on the bad side of the god of war, I do hope that doesn't have any consequences later on down the road, nah I'm sure it'll be fine, right.

Hephaestus

Another scene I really enjoyed was the scene between Annabeth and Hephaestus in the water park. Don't get me wrong I really loved the original scene in the book, it was actually one of my favourite book scenes and I loved how when all the cameras started recording Percy took a bow and said he hoped they (the gods) enjoyed the show. But I also really love this change they made with the golden chair. Not only did it add more greek mythology to the story it created that scene between Annabeth and Hephaestus. Like the scene with Hermes this scene told us alot about the gods and the kind of rules of that world. Annabeth says in her speech that its eat or be eaten, power and glory and nothing else matters. With just that one line we are painted a picture of a family and a world who backstab each and who only seem to care about how much power they can claim and how much glory they can gain. This ideology is also pushed onto the demigod children. You want your parent's attention well then you have to gain power and glory to get it and if you have to push others down or out of your way to do it then that's just the way it is and the way its meant to be.

You could see that Annabeth's speech really got to Hephaestus. When you think about his backstory, how he was thrown from mount Olympus by his own mother, how his wife is having an affair with his brother and they flaunt it in his face, how he tells Annabeth that despite what his brother may have said he is not a push over, its not surprising that Annabeth's words had an impact on him, he in particular has, quite literally, been injured by his own family and their ways, so it makes sense that he has sympathy for Annabeth. I think you can see this sympathy when he admits that he thought Athena had gone too far in her anger at Annabeth, I think he relates to Annabeth because he has seen her be rejected by her mother the same way he was rejected by his own mother. I also think the fact that he does show sympathy to Annabeth, that he does openly admit that some of the gods, himself included, don't like to be that way and the fact that he lets Percy go when Annabeth tells him that Percy is different, that he's better than that, all tells us alot about Hephaestus and makes him a sympathetic character. I am hoping to see more of him in future seasons and see where they take his character.

Hades

Hades was another one that was fun to watch. I mean you've got to admit he's a great host, he was very welcoming, he offered them snacks and beverages even threw in a few jokes to lighten the mood. He even waits politely for Percy to finish talking about how Hades and Ares stole the bolt before correcting him. I also found he was very relatable when he said that he wanted nothing to do with Zeus and Poseidon's drama over the bolt, my siblings also often get into dramas that I want no part in, Hades just wants to make an honest deal with Percy to get his helm back and then he'll happily return his mum.

What is really interesting though is that shift when he learns that Kronos is on the rise again. He becomes so afraid that he changes tact immediately and now feels like he needs the bolt to protect himself from Kronos. I feel like all these conversations the heroes have with each of the gods adds another layer to the gods. With Ares we learn that the gods like to backstab each other and claim power no matter what. With Hephaestus this is reinforced but we learn that not all of them want to be that way, with Hermes we learn that the gods can feel powerless, especially when it comes to watching their children struggle and with Hades we learn that even gods can fear. It also helps establish just how terrifying Kronos is that even the god of death is afraid of him.

But yeah, Hades was fun to watch, I think he often gets a bad rep in alot of modern media as being this evil villain but actually he's not in most greek myths, so its good that they show him here in a more nuanced light than just a villain, he just wants his helm back and when he does get it back he makes good on his promise and returns Sally. He's another character that I can't wait to see more of in future seasons.

Poseidon

They really teased us with Poseidon's character throughout the season, like we learned alot about him through other characters before we ever met him and it was interesting how Percy and his father's relationship grew even before they meet for the first time. To start with Percy is very understandably angry at his father, angry at his absence and believes that his father doesn't care about him or his mother. Despite that as we see from the way he is so determined to do well at capture the flag and win enough glory to get his father's attention that some part of him is still desperate for his father's approval and attention despite his anger at him. Things shift for Percy though after he falls from the arc and his father saves him and he has that conversation with the nymph or naiad where she relays a message from his father telling him he's there with him and that he's proud, that everything is going to be ok. Also this happens at a big moment for Percy because its the first time he realises that he can breath underwater. At the start of that underwater scene you can see how panicked he is and how he's desperately trying to pull his foot free, the fact that they paired that imagery with the voiceover saying how hard it is for his father to watch him struggle was really impactful, but this moment really shows the audience that Poseidon was not the uncaring and absent father we thought he was, he does care about his son, and in this moment when it wasn't possible to come himself he sent someone to speak for him, to reassure Percy that he was ok that he just needed to breath. For Percy this was the turning point for his relationship with his father and I think that was not just because his father saved him but because his father asked him to trust him and when Percy did he really was ok, he realised he could breathe underwater and was then able to get himself out of the water safely.

I think the fact that his father does care and is looking out for him and that it is hard for him to see Percy struggle is then further solidified when he speaks to Hermes, not only does Hermes repeat what the nymph said about Poseidon feeling powerless when watching Percy struggle but I think hearing the backstory of Luke and Hermes helped Percy understand how complicated the relationship between a demigod and their godly parent really is, helped him understand his father a bit more. I think it only made Percy more excited and eager to meet his dad though and we the audience were also excited that we'd finally get to see Poseidon, because they built that anticipation up over those first few episodes, just like Percy, we the audience were also disappointed when Poseidon isn't there because the Solstice passed.

Despite not physically being there though, the conversation between Percy and Nereid still told us alot about Poseidon as she was speaking his words, and I think it was very telling that the first thing Poseidon wants to tell his son is that its not his fault that he didn't get there before the deadline passed, that he was brave and strong and that Poseidon is still proud of him. I also love that even though he was released from his quest Percy is still determined to see the quest through and that Poseidon waits for him to make the choice himself and then gives him the pearls. I also love the change from the book where there are four pearls, I think they did this to show that Poseidon also cares about Sally.

Speaking of Sally, that flashback scene in ep 7 where she talks to Poseidon was so heartbreaking. Seeing her so broken and feeling like she is failing as a mother really pulls at your heartstrings but then when Poseidon does come he immediately reassures her. I also loved how when she says he doesn't want to know why she doesn't want Percy to go to camp, he still encourages her to tell him because he knows that she needs to get it off her chest and that she doesn't have anybody else to talk to. So even though it'll be painful for him to hear he still bears it for her sake, he allows her to talk it through and helps her come to a decision about their son's future. He doesn't get angry at her when she tells him that she wants Percy to know who he is before his family tries to tell him what they want him to be, he knows that she is right so instead he reassures her as best as he can and assures her that Percy will be stronger for it in the end because she, his mother, raised him well.

The moment when she asks him if he wants to talk to Percy just so he can hear his voice was another heart wrenching moment because its clear how much Poseidon longs to speak with his son. But then there is that rumble of thunder, almost like Zeus is warning him not to dare. But despite not speaking to him in that moment Poseidon says one day, when Percy knows who he is, where he belongs and what his true path is then he'll be right by his side. I think when he says this he is not just making this promise to Sally or to Percy, he's also promising himself it.

One little detail I did notice in this scene that kind of got at me though is that throughout their conversation Poseidon doesn't look at Sally once, it's like he can't bear too, she doesn't look at him either and its like its either too painful for them to make eye contact or like they feel its forbidden for them to look at each other. So instead Poseidon just stares either straight ahead or down at the bar, he doesn't look at her or at Percy. That is until Sally asks that question of does he want to talk to his son and that's when Poseidon looks over to Percy for the first time, he just can't help himself, he needs one glance and its such a simple gesture but in this context it is so emotional and moving, like honestly it was genius writing and the actors really sold it.

So now we are at my favourite scene in the season and that is the moment when Poseidon shows up to protect Percy from Zeus. This scene was just so amazing, like the significance of Poseidon surrendering to Zeus, it was more than just him surrendering the war and giving Zeus victory and glory, in that moment he was laying down his pride for the sake of his son. His son's life was more important to him than power or glory or pride and the significance of that moment is shown by Zeus' disbelief that Poseidon is doing this. For me I think it was a great emotional payoff and definitely worth them changing the plot so that the deadline had passed and that they were actually at war and not just preparing for it, allowing this surrender to happen. I think this moment also really proved to Percy that not only does his father love and care for him but that he is his father's top priority, that he really will do anything for him.

l also love how Poseidon calls Zeus out when he says Percy is forbidden and shouldn't exist, by pointing out that he had Thalia and like Thalia, Percy is a hero who will inspire others.

The conversation between Poseidon and Percy is also really moving, when Poseidon notes that obedience doesn't come naturally to Percy and that the sea doesn't like to be restrained I actually think he was proud to see those qualities in his son, that he very much does have the nature of the sea, like his father. The part when Percy asks if gods dream and if Poseidon ever dreams about Sally was very sweet and even though Poseidon doesn't say anything I think we all know what the answer is.

One thing that did strike me about the dynamic between Poseidon and Percy is that whenever Poseidon appears to Percy, whether that's through Nereid or himself directly, he is always there in a form of protection and reassurance. The first time when Percy falls from the arch, he physically protects him by saving him and then when Percy is panicking whilst trapped he reassures him, in ep 6 when Percy reaches the meeting place too late he protects him emotionally by reassuring him that its not his fault and then gives him the pearls as further protection to allow him to escape the underworld and then in the moment in the finale, he physically protects him from Zeus and also reassures him when Percy admits that he isn't obedient, adding the sir trying to be respectful because he's afraid his father might be upset with him, but Poseidon reassures him by saying that basically its the sea's nature to be untamed and Percy is of the sea. But yeah, I really do think that with Poseidon they really wanted to embody the idea of a Father's protection.

Zeus

Honestly we saw so little of Zeus that I don't have much to say. I think the actor did a good job of making him seem powerful, vengeful and terrifying. It was interesting that unlike Hades he seemed somewhat unbothered by the news that Kronos is trying to rise. I do think that this may have been a bit of a front though because Percy definitely hit a nerve with that line about Kronos coming to put Zeus back in his place and the whole your family only obey you out of fear not out of love.

The Luke Reveal

I'll be honest. I was a little worried about the reveal, having read the books I already knew that he was the true lightening thief and so knew the reveal was coming and my concern was that we hadn't really seen much of Luke or his friendship with Percy so I was a tad bit worried that the reveal wouldn't be all that impactful. But I am happy to say that I was wrong I actually think they did a really good job with the reveal and I would actually argue that it was better than even the book.

I am really glad that they added in the flashback scene of Luke helping Percy with his sword work in the beginning of the episode. Not only did it set up Percy defeating Ares but it also reminded the audience of that friendship between Luke and Percy. I very much got a sibling vibe from them, like Luke was an older brother that had taken Percy under his wing.

I feel like the way the wrote the reveal scene in the show added alot more nuance to it, in the books it was like yeah I betrayed you scorpion attack, but here it seems like both Luke and Percy are more conflicted. I believed Luke when he said that his actions weren't meant as a betrayal but a recruitment and that he was Percy's friend but that the god's were his enemy. It also seemed like Percy partly understood where Luke was coming from and hoped he could convince Luke to change his mind. The whole scene was very emotional and very tense and it went down hill fast after Percy mentioned Hermes and this brought out Luke's rage.

I think adding Annabeth to the scene and having her reveal herself when she did and announce that she heard everything, only heightened that tension and made it even more emotional. Now it wasn't just the betrayal Percy felt but we got to see the betrayal Annabeth felt. Also when Luke sees Annabeth, that look he gives her hits you right where it hurts and only adds to the heartbreak of it all, again the cast just did an amazing job, I don't have a single bad thing to say about any of their performances.

Another interesting detail in this scene though was the lighting. Because of the fireworks going off in the background it really did make some intriguing lighting choices. Like I noticed that as Percy is figuring out that Luke was the one who betrayed him, Luke was mostly lit in a red colour but around Percy the lightening was mostly greens, blues and that same golden colour that nereid glowed. Red associated with blood, war and danger and the blues, greens and golden colours associated with the sea. The changing lights also made it seem a little more creepy, like you are in one of those haunted mansion rides with flickering lights.

The Trio

The dynamic between the trio was also great to watch and to see grow as the season continued. I think each of them had their moments to shine and they worked really well off each other. I particularly loved seeing the friendship grow between Percy and Annabeth and seeing how close they became, their hugs were really cute and the comment made by Luke saying that they were like an old married couple was funny too and kinda accurate. I liked that at the beginning of the quest they were all kind of at odds with each other, Percy and Annabeth didn't particularly like each other and were very much strangers, Percy was still feeling a bit betrayed by Grover after the whole Nancy fountain thing and I think there was still tension between Grover and Annabeth because of Thalia. Having that tension at the beginning made it all the more satisfying to see them work through those issues and become stronger friends come the end of their quest.

Now some might think I am being negative about Grover here but I want to assure everyone that I mean this as a compliment not a slight but one thing that surprised me and that I thought was a great addition to his character is how manipulative and calculating Grover could be at times. And what I mean by that is like when he manipulated Ares into pretty much revealing that he was in on the theft of the lightening bolt, it was a really interesting side to Grover's character and honestly I hope we see more of that side of him in future seasons.

Another that I thought was interesting was Annabeth's relationship with her mother, especially as we never actually see Athena. It is clear that her mother's respect means alot to her and when her mother turns her back on her you can see that it really hurts her. I loved Annabeth's growth throughout the series, at the start she is very much chasing glory and wanting to go on a quest and prove herself, she's living the life the gods want her to live. But I think the more time she spends with Percy the more she sees that it shouldn't have to that way, which is why I love the moment when she chooses to stay after Percy is trapped in the chair and try to get him out, she chooses her friend over the glory she could win by completing the quest and over winning back her mother's approval.

Now when it comes to Percy I just think Walker really brought that character to life, I really cannot praise his performance enough. I loved his sass and his defiance and the fight he had. He had so many great moments throughout the season, I loved it whenever he stood up to the gods, like he knew no fear, they tried to say this is how its going to be and this is what you are going to do and he just said no, I'm going to do what is right, what my mother raised me to do and you're all going to have to deal with it. I mean its not necessarily the smartest move to speak back to god but I still admire his gumption.

Special Effects

I also really loved the visuals in the series, all the monsters looked great and I loved the aesthetic of camp, Olympus also looked amazing. The stand out for me though has to be Nereid. The glow and her seaweed hair, it just looked so beautiful and bewitching, so shout out the the special effects team.

There is probably so much more I could talk about, but this is getting really long so I am going to leave it here, my ask box is always open so if I missed anything feel free to message. Overall despite there being a couple of issues I think they could work on, I mostly really enjoyed the series and I really hope we get a season two, I'd definitely be interested in watching it.

#percy jackson #percy jackson spoilers #percy jackson series #percy jackson review

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1-up-chump · 7 months

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Hello, I share your indignation about the new part of MK. Everything was changed too much and strangely. Can you write down the moments you didn't like? For example, I’m not happy with this whole situation with Kuai Liang - Scorpion, Tarkata - a disease, Raiden - Liu Kang 2.0, Fujin - Raiden’s sister, who is Kung Lao’s lover, seriously?

I WILL STATE that i have not bothered to look at everything myself but hear from reliable sources of the basic information of the game so i cannot give a full and fair critique. And i will not give this game anymore attention than i already have given it since it is just NOT a mortal kombat game.

Lets talk about the reasons you listed bc i agree.

Kuai liang as scorpion and in role reversal:

I am not a fan of this even remotely being "canon" Although the idea should be explored by fans WHO UNDERSTAND BOTH KUAI LIANG AND HANZO HASASHI AS CHARACTERS ORIGINALLY. It completely disrespects hanzo as a character and erases his connection to scorpion being a "gimmick thing to slap onto someone" as a title rather than a personal journey of meaning. And kuai deserves more respect as well, originally being an assassin whose clan tried to "modernize" by removing free will of warriors to ensure obedience and make their spirits and talents disposable. Trying to fight against that. It seems ironic in the end his fate is nothing more than to be toyed with by this unoriginal and uninspiring "role swap au lolz"

The tarkatan race being a disease:

I shouldn't even have to clarify how fucked up this is. Right after in mk 11 we saw tarkatans just being another race living in outworld minding their own business, and kotal fucking up (kotal khan is a wasted character but thats for another post) so we got what was once a "bad guy evil race" to something better. AND THEN THEY FUCKED IT UP AGAIN like isnt that, at best, the most tone deaf shit after what happened in real life with a certain disease and people being uber racist??? And dont get me started on how they messed up mileena with that too. (God damn the writers fucking hate her just as much as kung lao)

Raiden role reversal:

Let me tell you as a raiden enjoyer i fucking HATE them making him a basic ass protag like they did with liu kang (i love liu but lately they just removed all personality from him) its so fucking uninspiring and boring as shit AND THEY MAKE HIM CHAMPION INSTEAD OF KUNG LAO???? THE ABSOLUTE DISRESPECT WHAT THE FUCK i love raiden but he doesn't deserve champion title, that belongs to KUNG motherfucking LAO.

Fujin being a sister????:

Listen i havent seen it but this is the dumbest ass shit i have ever seen in my entire life. As if they couldn't show how little they actually care about fujin......

And the shallow fans who care little about fujin other than a "pretty fuck toy to do teh yaois with uwu" which is also what they did to shang tsung now which is like YOU FOOLS! CARY HIROYUKI TAGAWA-SAMA IS RIGHT FUCKING THERE!!! YOU SEXUALIZE HIM WHEN HE'S AN OLD MAN TOO OR YOU'RE A COWARD AND A SHAM!

And then there's the absolute nothing plot that really shows they ran out of ideas and just slap together bullshit. The villains arent really villains and they suck, its just "stop evil shang tsung but hes not actually evil bc theres this other timeline-" ITS FUCKING LAZY AND PATHETIC WRITING it shows that they want to have it all just to appease fans to take their money. Thats it, thats all this story boils down to. A shoddy scam to bullshit a story to take people's money. I mean you cant even get shang tsung or marjory of fan desired characters without dlc and the base game is like 60-70 bucks like the fuck????

As a regular fighting game? Mid but enjoyable i guess. But as a mortal kombat game? No, thats not even mortal kombat thats just some dumbasses wattpad fanfic after they watched avengers endgame in their crusty batman shirt

I'll end this with a small side note: if my opinions offend, I'm sorry im passionate about a series that was a part of my childhood and made me appreciate Japanese and Chinese culture and kung fu cinema in general. Im sorry if the memories of playing a fun game and caring about the characters having strong bonds of friendship in a violent world designed to be a "kill or be killed" system and despite that choosing to do the right thing in their mind.

Sorry if i seem to be playing a different game bc i am.

Its mortal kombat: shaolin monks for the ps2

-gets head ripped off-

#plz play it its legit fun and stupid as hell #its not the best mk in terms of plot but its got so much love and soul into it #also play mk deadly alliance too its fun #rant #and watch the shitty defenders of the realm cartoon it has the best raiden and nightwolf is in it too #and watch the 95 movie NOW for the best raiden shang tsung and liu kang #and watch conquest if you want to stomach through late 90s tv cringe and for the best raiden ever in the history of ever

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destinyc1020 · 5 months

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Yeah yo Im done. Y'all too much for me. You cannot not even express an opinion without someone saying anti tom or anti uncharted. I played those games I enjoyed them and was excited for the film, and I didnt like the film b/c it can be better it lacked so much of what action films do and fails to capture the charms and wit of the game. Like instead of accusing me of being anti tom or anti uncharted like ask yourself what aspects of the film you liked, what things in the script worked for you, what about the CGI or character that you liked cause Im curious to hear your persepctives. All I keep hearing is its fun, silly or tom is shirtless okay cool is that it. So then tell me what parts of the film were fun or silly. I shared my grivances for the film, box office doesnt equate enjoyment. You can buy ticket for something and come away massively dissapointed. Like criticism is part of watching a movie. Friday night at freddys was successful and people loved it and at the same time people were also critiquing it saying how it could have been better and what was lacking despite being box office successful. Like I said tom has charisma and I wished the director utilized , its not even a bad take this is common complaint for the film.

Im sorry that this isnt a space for that conversation here. I regret being paet of tbis fandom, I literally just gonna focus on other things in my life. The convos here arent even worth it, so much more important things to focus on. But not liking something and then it being framed as me hating tom is silly when I never said tom is bad actor or dumb for picking uncharted or discredited the films box office success.

Anon, you're perfectly welcome to your own opinions on my blog. That doesn't mean that everyone will agree. 🤷🏾‍♀️

I just think that a lot of Tom fans (including myself), are just a little sick and tired of so-called fans constantly nitpicking about Tom, or every single project that he does.

It's one thing to be generally positive and list a few areas that you feel need improvement, vs having smthg to complain about regarding him and his career just about every single WEEK. 🥴 The latter just gets old. 😩

And honestly? I feel like he gets a lot of unnecessary pressure and complaining than needed.

Instead of fans being happy for a POSSIBLE new project for him, a lot of you all have been complaining about how you hated the first movie. 😭

I mean, you don't have to like every single movie your fave does, but isn't it easier to just watch the films you want to see and just ignore the ones you don't? 👀

Anyway, I think some fans are just a bit sensitive because of the unnecessary nitpicking.

If you're not an anti, then thank you for clarifying that for us.

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incomingalbatross · 5 months

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im definitely okay and im not going to cry about minna sundberg saying she can no longer wholeheartedly recommend "a redtails dream" and "stand still stay silent". two of my favorite comics of all time

Okay so first of all, sorry for not answering this sooner! I was traveling Thanksgiving weekend and then got dropped RIGHT back into the end of the semester.

Secondly... if it helps, I think I get where you're coming from, but I also think it's an understandable move from her while also not impairing my enjoyment of the comics.

Minna Sundberg (at least last I checked) is a relatively new Christian. She's judging her life and the world by an entirely new light, and I think it makes sense and is prudent for her to say "I'm not sure what I think of these from a Christian viewpoint." Because she knows that's not something she had in mind when creating them! They are not, in their making, Christian art. Add on that she probably has less objectivity on them than anyone, both because they're so close to her and because her own thoughts in creating them are part of the product for her... Yeah, I think it's reasonable and even prudent for her to disclaim them a bit.

At the same time, though, I WAS a Catholic when I first read her art. I discerned then, as far aside remember, that there was nothing inherently immoral in there, and certainly nothing harmful to me personally. So I can respect where she's coming from and honor her motives, while also saying that (sharing her motives) I've found that her concerns aren't a problem for me as a reader.

Oh, and just gonna answer the other Sundberg ask here, since I assume that's from you! I agree her post-conversion comic is... WILDLY different. And certainly unsubtle - she was doing explicitly Christian allegorical social commentary, any ONE of which is hard enough, especially at a first attempt!!

But even if it's not on the same storytelling level as her other comics (and, again, might be apples and oranges given the different goals), it's her working out some of that new convert zeal, which is nice to see - AND being Very Loudly Christian in an environment which I don't think was super friendly to that. I can't help supporting her in that, even if it's not quite my style. And certainly I don't want to critique it.

(of course, if you're NOT Christian, I imagine it would be a much more distressing change to watch. I guess all I could say then is to wish her well and be grateful for the art she made that you enjoyed - and maybe keep trying to understand her new art, if you're not comfortable parting ways with her.)

#asks #anon asks #I haven't looked at her stuff since... whenever I last posted about her #but I hope she's doing well!

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velkyr · 7 months

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for the fic writer asks :) 🤲🌻 💫

🤲what do YOU get out of writing?

I guess it's a couple of things! it's the best outlet I have - I'm not very good at art or much that's 'physically' creative, but writing is something I feel I can do decently, for the most part. that makes it more enjoyable for me as someone who is cursed by the need to chase All The Dopamine All The Time. plus like a lot of other folks, I find it as good a place as any to project/work through my own neuroses in the subtext (or sometimes just the text. it be like that).

as a secondary thing, I also get like... a sense of validation for my younger self out of it? when I was a kid I always had teachers pushing me to write, insisting I should go down the path of studying english lit, etc. it's hard to explain, it was half encouraging and half incredibly stifling; unhealthy levels of critique that other kids weren't getting, all that shit. (it's also the reason I type like this when my actual style of speaking is so much more informal, sorry not sorry.) it burned me out of the idea entirely.

I didn't write anything at all for 4+ years after I left school, and I'm still kinda working through the baggage of it. it's part of the reason I massively over-edit ig. but doing it in my free time now, just for me? it's a good feeling. it feels like a middle finger to that particular part of my life

🌻what makes you want to give up on writing? what makes you keep going?

oh a lot of stuff does lmao. mostly, it's when I get in a massive rut about one scene I'm trying to write. I struggle to write things out of chronological order because of how scattered my brain is at the best of times, so leaving the part I'm stuck on alone is nigh on impossible. the second biggest thing is when I get far too in my own head about how I'm going to translate my ideas into words. which is fairly often.

what keeps me going, I guess, is how much it bothers me leaving things unfinished. in other aspects of my life it happens all the time, and it always plays on my mind. this feels like one place where I can maybe control that outcome. and that's not to say I don't have plenty of abandoned wips lol, but particularly w my current fic, I'm motivated enough to see it through to the end.

💫 what is your favorite kind of comment/feedback?

is it a cop out to say All Of It. yeah it totally is lmao. tbh basically any comment is gonna brighten my day, but I love it most when people comment on my characterisation/character 'voice', so to speak. especially when that gets used as a jumping off point for people to do deeper interpretations of what I'm trying to say with that characterisation. like, godddd, I live for that shit! it's so validating 😭 makes me feel like I did something right

(ask game in question is here!)

#thank you j this was a fun set of questions <3 mwah #sorry not sorry for rambling so muchhhhh #writing.txt #asks

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karume-selfshipper · 3 months

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Dad Might Enjoyers Assemble!

I am here humbly requesting some feedback on the start of a Dad Might fic centered on my OC Inari Yagi.

For context:

She has a seriously OP quirk

The public knows she's All Might’s daughter

All Might is trying to be a good father but has a problem with staying at work too late

Inari used to spend her afterschool hours at All Might Tower, Nighteye's Agency, or Torino's apartment until post fall out when she began staying at home (though it is recent, starting at age 12)

Inari is Deku's age

Whenever All Might is at home he becomes the overbearingly supportive father trying to help and be part of Inari's life

He worries when he's at work but trusts that Inari will be able to defend herself/make the right decisions to get out of situations

Under the cut is the first little chunk of the story. Please give me some kind of feedback, criticism, and/or critique about whether it actually sounds about right for what I've outlined above. I will not give up the odd dynamic of work vs home because it is an integral part of the story (and how I interpret All Might as a father [not a father figure like with 1-A]). And I will be revising this as it is the roughest of first drafts.

Upon entering the new apartment, All Might expected to see his daughter wandering around. Possibly confused by the layout and attempting to get used to her new surroundings. That was his mental state at this point, when he could spare a few moments away from the office anyways. Taking up a teaching position at UA came with yet another major upheaval in his and her life. One that All Might wanted to make as easy as humanly possible, one that would undoubtedly be among their last serious moves for a while.

At least that’s what All Might hoped.

However, the apartment was uncomfortably silent. As tempted as All Might was to comb the area looking for her, the apartment looked perfectly in order. Door properly locked, nothing broken from what he could see. No signs of a struggle or even another soul in the house…

But what if that wasn’t an accident? What if she had been snatched before she even made it home?

Unable to calm his instincts, All Might pulled his phone from his pocket. He had to check for a message or a location…

Before he could spiral too far however, Inari walked out from around a hall corner; the laundry basket in her hands filled with school uniforms. The sense of calm she exuded calmed the older man, of course nothing had been wrong. She was merely looking for the washer, this was quite the large apartment complex after all. Reducing the time either of them would have to spend outside of it. Less chance of Inari specifically being in danger, particularly when he wasn't around.

She didn’t even look up as she passed All Might, unaware of the mental breakdown he nearly had. Focus on her task a bit too strong as she mentally listed out the other chores that had yet to be done. Not once registering his presence beyond a slight step around her father.

“Inari.” All Might reached out for her shoulder, “There you are. I was beginning to worry.”

That slightly blank expression was unsettling as Inari stared at her father, the tilting of her head being the only indication of her confusion, “I’m sorry. I’ve been a little preoccupied.”

“Ah yes, the layout of this neighborhood and apartment must be quite confusing.”

All Might could only raise an eyebrow as Inari shook her head slowly, “The dishes still need to be put away and-”

“You don’t need to worry about that Sweetpea.” He tried to smile, but it felt forced, as usual, “You should focus on your studies. Perhaps at the kitchen table, so I can lend a hand as needed. I wouldn't mind while I-”

“I already finished my studies.” She stated plainly, “Only chores left for today.”

The essence of being defeated didn’t sit well with All Might as he watched his daughter turn and continue her chores. He couldn’t have been out that long, right? It wasn’t that late… surely not. No, he just barely got home at… 6 p.m.

Sadly it really was quite late. Possibly too late to cook something. While he wanted to be the best of influences on his daughter, going out for one night wouldn’t hurt. Especially with how little time he can spend with her as is. Nothing wrong with that, even if he had to keep things undercover. His quirk had been all but used up today and doing anything but takeout would be difficult. There was always ordering in… But going out felt more like something a good parent should do.

At least, that’s what he wanted to do. Having somewhat followed Inari to the kitchen, on her way into the laundry room. Despite his lack of smell, All Might was left flabbergasted as Inari returned to pull something out of the oven.

How!? How was she already five moves ahead of him? He didn’t remember prepping anything this morning, or even setting something aside to be cooked. All Might couldn't even bring himself to question Inari, the number of times he'd attempted to gently tell her not to take over so much housework has never worked. Either she was far too stubborn, or he wasn't around enough.

“It’s almost done.” Inari sighed, sliding the pan back into the oven, “Just a few more minutes.”

All but ignoring her father, Inari went about her chores. Despite All Might’s attempted dismissal of her need to do them. What was left for All Might to do? Besides wander the apartment and try to learn its layout.

It annoyed All Might to no end as he laid in bed, fuming about how quickly his daughter seemed to adjust. Maybe it was easier due to how many times it has happened up until this point. Which only came with a worse feeling for the Hero. If he didn’t feel the need to uproot his child so often… would she be so forgiving of the circumstances?

#mha all might #all might mha #bnha all might #all might #all might x oc (relative)#all might's daughter #dad might #dadmight

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nick-close · 1 year

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i think a lot of current discussion and enjoyment of the fandom is s2 centered? so more s1 stuff is slightly less usual in the show now (despite still having a lot of references lol)

Nothing hurts more than the fact I spent like literally half an hour on a reply and the power went out as I went to post it- but fuck it! We try again. I’ll try to make it shorter this time. (I failed sorry.)

I totally understand that the current fandom is more s2 focused and want different things. But I don’t think that means it shouldn’t be viewed from a s1 lense. The first season set the foundation and appeal of the show as a comedy. Though I do think the fandom is genuinely a lot younger rn and focuses more on ships, character moments, story beats, etc- which is totally fine! I’m not trying to dismiss critiques or say these wants are stupid because of the younger fanbase- I was in this fandom since I was 15. I do think it plays into the wants and appeals of the show though.

And here’s really the thing. S1 is the basis of the show- it should’ve set the expectations for how the podcast goes. Where I think the divide comes from, is that the younger audience usually means people binged s1- rather than listen episodically. Binging it, you don’t have to wait between the stupid five footers and nonsense to get to character beats and emotions because you can just go and go and go to the next episode.

This is why I think people are so impatient in s2. I see people writing their own fanfiction ideas about how the next episode is going to go, spending 2 weeks building up an expectation that is never actually going to meet the show. If they were binging through this, I don’t think anyone would have this strong of a reaction to this episode because they’d just go to the next one to try and get what they want. People love the characters and plot so much they tend to forget the podcast has always been a rowdy comedy podcast at its core.

I actually think one of the reasons s2 struggles so much is because of the huge expectation to live up to the emotional beats of s1 without realizing the stupid moments are the reasons they WORK. You need Henry’s hippie jokes to make Oakvale hit. You need Glenn’s weed joke to Erin so it can come back at the trial. We make jokes about how ‘I’m crying over Glenn Close in Meth Bay lol!’ But that’s why the emotions hit so heavy. They are not SUPPOSED to be every episode.

The podcast is founded on the jokes and the stupid shit- if you want cool dnd shit.. like, this isn’t your podcast. That isn’t me gatekeeping or saying people can’t enjoy it if they come for those moments- but genuinely telling you to remember what you’re coming to. If you love the characters and the story, that’s great- but the comedy and bullshit episodes are always the core of the show for the story to build around. If you’re not gonna like them, that’s okay- but you will only disappoint yourself if you keep coming expecting something else.

You can watch it and hate these episodes. You can feel disappointed or upset something didn’t happen. That’s totally fine. But I really draw an issue with people viewing it as an error on the show’s end. Your personal preference not aligning with the show all the time is cool! But the show doesn’t pretend to be anything but stupid. It’s not bad storytelling to make the comedy show funny. The episode after the Grant Yeet scene, a huge part of it is them looking at Darryl’s shit in the toilet and getting eldritch trauma. You can’t really pick and choose Imo. But hey, do what you want, I’m just some guy! And ultimately if complaining is how you have fun (I get it, I love talking shit) then enjoy fandom however you like.

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ungaroyals · 11 months

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As an experienced (and talented) fanfic author: Do you have any advice for someone who is just starting to write? I'm really enjoying it but I'm also starting to struggle with self-doubt/anxiety/feelings of inferiority to other writers.

Oooft, it's weird to hear the word experienced attached to my fic writing career. It feels like yesterday I was hyperventilating at my computer while posting my first wilmon fic hahaha. And thank you for calling me talented, I appreciate that 🥺.

As far as advice goes, I'd honestly say the thing that helped me the most with the anxiety of posting, is to just not take yourself or writing too seriously. For me fanfic is a playground to try out different writing styles and techniques and stories that I might not feel super confident attaching my real name.

I also think by bringing less intensity in making sure everything I post is perfect, I've given myself permission to 'mess up' and feel okay about it. Which has ultimately made posting so much more enjoyable and less scary. I want to write books irl, so having fic writing as a (relatively) consequence free environment really helps take the anxiety away.

When it comes to feeling an inferiority to other writers, I'm afraid that's a battle I've yet to overcome. It's hard not compare yourself to other writers, especially when there are soooo many talented authors in this fandom. But a while back a friend of mine reminded me of this post (I tried to find the original post but I couldn't I'm sorry) and I always come back to it when I'm feeling a bit down.

Writing is hard and it's difficult not to take every critique to heart or to compare yourself to others. Just try to remember that everyone's writing journey is different, and the more you do it, the better you'll get. Hell, the other day I reread something I posted nearly 2 years ago and I have definitely improved (thank god lol). So I feel like as long as you can look back and appreciate the accomplishments you've made, even if it's posting your first fic, then you're succeeding no matter what anyone else is doing or writing. The hardest part is simply starting, and if you can do that, then you'll be taking the fandom by storm in no time 💜.

I hope this was a least a little helpful 😅

#writing advice #yr fanfic #yr fic writers

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paperstarwriters · 5 months

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hey i’m the anon who sent in that long critical ask to the queer characters blog; what discord harassment group is that other guy talking about 😭 sorry to use you as a go between, but multiple people can have the same criticisms of a piece of media. hello?? i haven’t interacted with the arcana fandom since i was in high school, i usually just block and move on if random people put it on my dash. if i sounded like i was upset or heated it’s because the arcana is like bordering on being a trigger for me lmfao but i don’t endorse harassment campaigns

anyway, in regards to the bird thing — it harkens back to the historical antisemitic jew nose/hawk nose imagery used prolifically by the nazis. and julian’s normal nose is already drawn rather large and hooked, and i’ve seen jewish arcana fans say that his design in general makes them uncomfortable, especially since this game is written/developed by goyim. red hair, sleepy eyes, hooked nose; all rather stereotypically caricature-esque features. also portia and the mother character whose name i forget fall into antisemitic design/personality stereotypes as well. uh i wish i could link you some academic articles or readings or something but i’m kind of worried tumblr is going to eat this ask if i keep leaving it idling in another tab LMFAO, if i can i really would like to dig up some actual texts about it, but um i’ve mostly just heard personal anecdotal evidence about the bird depictions being linked to antisemitism which is kind of hard to find and link as a credible source. but imo i don’t think it’s hard to link the whole bird motif thing to the antisemitic jew nose stereotype?

and to address the point of engaging with the fandom — i mean do what you want but i personally don’t really see any merit in the actual game when you strip away all the awful stuff, and to build a fandom around that and continue to promote/bring publicity to the game feels. icky. sort of like HP enjoyers, in that you can denounce the problematic aspects of it all you want, but you’re still banding around the dumpster fire and warming your hands on it, you know? maybe the new content brings more to the table, i left right about when the first three routes were ending, but. last i was there, idk what of the game/plot are left when you ignore all the shit.

anyway um finally i don’t mean any of this as like. attacking or harassing anyone. i don’t usually do things like this, usually i just block and move on, but (in regards to the queer character blog i sent the original ask to) my hackles sort of raised when i saw someone mention wanting to promote the game. people deserve to know what they’re getting into and i don’t want any poc/jewish people/abuse survivors/etc getting blindsided by the content in what markets itself to be a pretty fantasy otome game

Hello! thank you very, very much for the information! As for your questions and comments, the discord harassment group, I can only povide anacdodal points to this as I wasn't a part of the discord group, but I belive what happened was that someone had taken the position that shipping two characters was morally wrong—the ship between Asra and Julian specifically I belive, and they started a whole harassment campaign towards an individual who shipped the two of them together, but through an entirely new au exploring the uncertainty of a relatioinship without explicitly accusing one side or the other (again, anecdotal, I haven't exactly read that yet, so I can't exactly conform currently.) And while their point on the toxicity or racist undertones of the ship was likely well-founded, they went too far, accusing the person who shipped Asra and Julian to multiple other bad actions which were eventually revealed as false.

but yeah, 100% two people can have the same two critiques of a media and one can express those critiques in a more harmful way than the other.

As for the points about continuing to engage with the game I do agree that it can feel discomforting to continue to connect to media that has this many problematic issues, and while yes continuing to engage in bad media or bad pieces of work can be discomforting because of it's origin, there are still people who found a lot of worth and comfort certain aspects of the story. Personally I never engaged as much with Julian or Portia or their respective routes so I cannot say for certain, but in Muriel's route, the story is a little different thatn the initial three, and there are some clear gaps that can be explored more or simple traits that can be engaged with in a better light which can foster discussion rather than present a bad steryotype. Again, this may not be as easily applicable to Julian or Portia since they embody steryotypes and thus may require more adjustments in order to move beyond those steryotypes but it is still something to be considered.

Furthermore, at least part of why continuing to engage with fandoms like Harry potter may be discomfroting is that the problematic creators continuet to get revenue for their creation, Nyx hydra has since disbanded and while Dorian has put little effort into considering or developing awareness of these characters and their problems they at the very least were not the one to create the problematic traits of the characters. It is still a little bit of a questionable group but besides vibes, and the possibility of using ai art I cannot say anything for certian.

My arguements are not encouraging you by any means to re-join or re-engage with the fandom, it's mostly just an explanation as to why I'm still here or why other people may still be here too, but I do agree that people should be aware that there are many problems in the game concerning representation when engaging with it, especially since it presents itself as a seemingly inclusive game. If I were younger at the release of Muriel's ending, or if I played through Asra and Julian's route then, the representation of abuse could have been..... let's just say unhelpful for me. More than anything I don't want someone else who may be in an uncomfortable situation attempt to find solace in escapism only to end up feeling worse than before at the bad represetntation, or at the fandom regurgitating this bad representation rather than trying to dismantle or change it.

Anyways, I'm sorry for dragging you back into this discussion about the Arcana for a while, especially since you mentioned that it's triggering for you. I wish you well in enjoying your other fandoms, or other forms of media.

Thank you again though, for providing me this information on the issue of bird imagery and antisemetism, and thanks for also providing the info about Julian, Portia and Mazlinka and their steyrotypical representation I will take care with writing them if I ever chose to do so.

I do belive you were justified in your concern at promoting the game, but I also thank you for emphasizing that you didn't want to attack or harass anyone who does enjoy this content despite it's many problems and flaws.

#answering asks #Anonymous #the arcana #antisemitism #representation #julian devorak #portia devorak

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welcome-to-green-hills · 1 year

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I’m sorry to bother but, with questionable you mean problematic or just not good story wise ?

And if you can answer this, What is your opinion of Tails characterization from what you have seen ?

Thank you !

Hello-Hello, darlin’!

You’re not bothering me at all, I promise. I appreciate the questions and curiosity! Please know that I was not ignoring you. I wanted to make sure that my critiques were both diplomatic and fair. I’ve spent most of the day reviewing what I wrote and eliminating most of my biases to provide a fair answer. That, and I wanted to remove major spoilers. I am trying to accommodate to those who do follow me, but don’t have a Tumblr account with the ability to mute hashtags. I do hope that my feedback is suitable.

To be honest, the game wasn’t what I was expecting. The game drifted into a direction that I thought would happen and it... was executed in a manner that I wasn’t expecting. My main concern was storytelling. There absolutely was a few concepts that would’ve been jaw-dropping and awesome, but the chance to dive into the opportunity was missed. Does this make sense? The game itself is fantastic!

Down below are my points that I’d like to address about the game:

Concerns:

There is both over explanation and a lack of explanation for the game’s story. Sometimes the characters over explain topics that did not need to be discussed upon. (i.e., it could appear in a cutscene and then again through side quests and NPC interactions). The topics that did need further elaboration on were not discussed heavily upon.

The original concept that sold me on the game only appears for four, maybe six minutes tops. Fanart was right to a certain extent, but it only makes a small appearance. It’s never mentioned after the fourth island, nor caters to the story after that. It was briefly mentioned by the third island, but this was a topic that should have been addressed more in order to understand the reality of the situation. Don’t get me wrong, it’s an upsetting scene. I just wish that there was more to it. I think this moment would have had a much deeper meaning if Tails, AmyRose, and Knuckles were playable.

The three main islands were definitely the apple of Sonic Team’s eye. These were the most enjoyable. The last two island are one to be questioned, but do serve some purpose.

**Sonic Analysts and Sonic Historians are going to have a field day with piece together the lore and roles that the emeralds were used for.**

Some phrases and words choices that characters exchanged between one another were some things that I felt weren’t native to the character. It’s not necessarily out-of-character, it was more of me being in awe of it being a possibility. (I do apologize for being sour on this part. This is just my nitpicking. I really think that most people would like this new direction though).

The rising action of the story was interesting and did a great job with conveying a mysterious tone, but the climax and falling action left me feeling discouraged. The climax, falling action, and ending appeared to have an idea of what it could potentially do, but loose ends didn’t tie up all the way.

We do not learn what the true meaning of the symbol is in the game, it only implies what it could be with heavy speculation.

In order to understand most of the story, the player must play on “HARD” mode to unlock the most content. The “Normal/Easy” modes do not supply all of the details needed. I found this out through watch several Let’s Plays.

Cut-scenes are in place that I wish were playable parts instead.

The ending of this game felt like it was a concept that couldn’t tie every single string together. To me, the ending felt a bit underwhelming.

The game was purposely set up for a part two or a sort of continuation to the story. With the feedback that I’m seeing on many social media sites, I do not believe that this will happen.

I feel that this game, in a sense, is a soft-reboot. Much like what’s happened with the franchise’s existence in ten year increments, Sonic has had a small “reboot” to introduce a new generation of audience members to the material. My concern here is that rather than try and provide an introduction, the game uses its many years of lore to appeal to the older audience more with the assumption that newer audience members will understand Sonic history in their free time before playing Sonic Frontiers.

Alright, I’m done sharing my concerns (let’s be realistic, it’s ranting. I do apologize for being sour about this). and being a Negative-Nancy. I’m ready to pour my positive vibes into the mix and advertise the game!

Praise:

The music was FANTASTIC! Like many Sonic games in the past, the OST for the game has so much love and emotion if it! I do hope that the game wins an award for the music.

There is always something to do in the game. I know that many were not in favor of the open-field concept and that the world looked empty. I promise you that it’s full of things to do! The player has to engage with most--if not all--of the material in order to progress further into the game. As long as you do cyloops around signs and attack enemies, you’ll always have activities and side missions to do.

“The realistic environment does not work for Sonic.” I disagree! This works 100%! It’s part of the aesthetic of the game and a bit of storytelling. The realistic environments reminded me very much of Sonic Unleased.

The open world concept works. Please trust me on this. I would love to see more of this in future Sonic games!

“ThE gAmE wAs/LoOks RuShEd, ThE dEvS aRe LAZY!” Nerp! Not at all! You can definitely see the heart and soul in how the game was designed. It’s a beautiful game with many, many features. Developing a game and making it run is an art form. It’s shameful that one would be so bold to admit that gaming developers are lazy when it’s coming from someone that doesn’t have experience in the field. The game definitely wasn’t rushed, the problem was it’s storytelling.

“PoP-iNs! PoP-iNs, EvErYwHeRe!” Darlin’, this game is massive. Of course it will have pop-ins. From what I’ve seen so far, pop-ins do not affect game play.

“SaNiK sOuNdS OlD!” Yes, this is quite a change. However, Sonic is meant to sound older. I’ve shared in the past that it was a shock to me to hear him with a deeper voice. After watching the Let’s Plays, I promise that it works with the tone and direction of the game. It works.

It’s got an AWESOME balance of Sonic-esque styled art and anime styled art. It’s very evident in fighting styles and techniques.

Interactions with Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles is very meaningful. Interaction with Sonic and Tails was very brotherly and very sweet! Sonic and Tails’ interaction focused on courage, bravery, and the meaning of being a hero. Sonic and Amy’s interaction was charming, but there is talk about life, love, and ending. I feel that this one was the most realistic and genuine conversation that I’ve seen these two have in a long time. Sonic and Knuckles’ interactions discussed the topics of adventure, overcoming boundaries, and life’s purpose. (I think my favorite interaction was between Sonic and Knuckles the most)!

The lesson and messages that Sonic learns from his engagement with his friends are very heartwarming and quite inspiring. It’s a great reminder in the sense of how and why they are both family and friends. Sonic is inspiring.

Kocos. Love them. Would absolutely do anything for them. I’m claiming them all as my children. 😈

**Sonic Analysts and Sonic Historians are going to have a field day with piece together the lore and roles that the emeralds were used for.**

Big. Love that guy! Big’s in it, 100/10.

I think that a great many of you will enjoy the nods to older games, specifically Sonic 3 & Knuckles and Sonic Adventure 1.

Dr. Eggman and SAGE’s interaction with each other is charming. It took me back a bit, but reviewing the material again makes me happy. These two interacting actually helps deepen Eggman’s history/lore of the game’s canon. (Meaning that it’s might introduce and make connections to past Sonic games. Sonic Rush/Rivals fans, can I get a “Hell Yeah?”)

The mystery-like tone does a great job with conveying that it’s a mystery upon a mystery. Does that make sense?

The sense of adventure and excitement of exploration are absolutely there! The game does a great job at that.

The marketing for this game knew how to market this game. I’m so glad to see how many fans (old and new) are excited to buy this game!

Sticks the Badger and Tangle the Lemur are now canon in the main!verse (name mention only).

Sonic is, most definitely, a hero. No, I will not elaborate further. You need to play the game in order to understand what I mean.

I am very open for a part two/continuation of the game. In fact, I hope that this happens so I can engage more with the material.

Conclusion:

Before I end my rant, I’d like to leave off on one important note. This is all my opinion. It’s all just an opinion, not fact. I do not care what you do with my opinion. My opinion could be referenced, it could be tossed out of the window, it could even be set on fire. My opinion is just an opinion, I’m thankful that it’s not fact.

As you’ve noticed, I’ve spent a good chunk of this post apologizing for being an older fan. And I am. I’m sorry for being an older fan. I am an older fan that’s used to traditional characteristics in a Sonic game. I don’t believe that there’s anything wrong with a preference in mind, but it does cap a bit on open-mindedness. I’m used to playing Sonic games where the build up in story kept me on the edge and eager to see how everything ended. I mention this extra tidbit because of the need to go back to “roots.” In all of my years of being a part of this fandom, I’ve noticed that there is a call to go back to what worked originally. Meaning that we want the older gaming style seen in its Golden Years. (I leave the interpretation of what defines the Golden Years up to you, dear reader. Not everyone has the same time stamp). The point of Sonic is that we move forward. We never look back, we have no regrets. Sonic is meant to live an adventure and move onto the next. As much as I love the thrills and excitement in what I felt when I was younger and playing Sonic games, it’s time to move onward to newer adventures. The change is scary. It’s absolutely scary, but I promise you that the exploration into newer styles and game play with Sonic will only make me and you love the character even more in the future!

I will never say something horrible about writing or an individual’s ability to write. I come from a profession in the STEM field where I’m required to write creatively, analytically, and technically. I have to be able to write in may styles in order to convey my point. This does not make me an expert in writing creatively for entertainment purposes, this just means that I can recognize when someone needs a few pointers. I genuinely believe that this story could have been fantastic if worked a bit more.

Should you still buy the game?

✨❤️Abso—fucking—lutely!❤️✨

Experience it through your eyes and gameplay. Have fun with it! Go nuts! The whole point of a Sonic game is that you go on an adventure and bond with a spiky blue pineapple. If this is your very first Sonic game, then I encourage you to go in with an open mind. I want you to grow and love Sonic the same way as I did when I first played years ago. I really hope that you have fun. It’ll be worth the wait.

#Mystery anon #Off topic #Sonic Frontiers #The adventure doesn’t stop until y’all stop running!#sonic frontiers spoilers

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