#spoiler the natural disaster is Loki

[mostfacinorous]

Stoki Whumptober Day 27: Okay, who had natural disasters on their 2020 Bingo Card? [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26]

After giving thanks to their hosts-- and, Loki learned, Steve’s temporary employers, for he’d agreed to work in exchange for the room they’d used-- 

They were allowed to set off, though the hosts expressed their concerns for his health, and, especially the wife, expressed their pleasure in having Steve working. They tried to cajole another day’s stay out of them, and Steve looked to Loki, entirely ready to respond, but lOki, jealous and already aching for it, shook his head. 

“I’m afraid we’ve lingered longer than we should already; we’re expected, and running behind schedule.” 

None could argue with that, though Steve gave him a disappointed look, but he did not contradict his words. 

And so they parted ways with New Amsterdam and left the area, waiting until they were out of the developed parts and well into the woods to talk. 

“We could camp out here,” Steve opened with, obviously hopeful. 

“No, as I said, I am using too much of your life as it is, taking too much time from you. We go forward today.” 

Steve’s lips thinned into a near-frown. 

“I hate having to scrape you off the ground every time we do this.” He said, words tight. 

Loki stiffened. 

“I apologize for being such a burden.” He spat, feeling wounded. It felt like a judgement-- he ought to be better than this. The problem was, he agreed. This should not affect him so, and it felt like weakness, allowing the stone to wreck him so thoroughly. 

“Loki…” Steve said, his name sounding like a warning before a sigh came from Steve’s lips. “That’s not what I mean. You have to know that.”

Loki glanced away. 

“I know. I’m sorry.” 

He looked up to find Steve’s brow furrowed, his hands shoved into the pockets of his sweatpants.

“Look, I… appreciate, I guess, everything you’ve done. You’ve kept me alive, when you didn’t have to, you haven’t abandoned me, even though it would have been easier…”

“Steve, stop, please.” Loki was not above begging. “This grand statement, this admission you want to work up to… it’s born of reliance. It’s born of fear. I don’t want--” He bit the words off. 

He didn’t want to take advantage, and he didn’t want some sort of pity or gratitude attraction. 

He wanted Steve Rogers, heart and mind and all. Not a Steve who had decided he was in love simply because Loki meant safety and a way home. 

Loki shook his head and pulled out the stone.

“I intend to take us back to our present today.” He said quietly. “This has gone on long enough. We’ve played pretend long enough, don’t you think? Our lives await us, in our own time, our destinies will not stop just because we have stepped out of the time stream.” 

And he was certain Steve’s destiny would be far from his, or worse-- destined to be his end. They were so much the opposite of one another, Steve so good and he so wicked. This would not end the way he wanted it to. And even if Steve got what he wanted now… Loki was under no illusions. Steve would come to resent him the moment his head was on straight and the rest of their lives was before him. 

“What? Loki, I thought-- you said that could destroy you!” Steve protested, his hands coming up as he stepped forward, hands closing around Loki’s hand that was holding the stone. 

“Better than letting me destroy you.” Loki responded, just as earnest. 

He wrapped his other hand around Steve’s wrist, and gave him no more time to argue. 

“Hold on!” He warned, before letting the stone go-- opening himself to it as he had never done before. 

He focused his thoughts on when they’d come from, the attack on the tower, the confusion of that night, Steve’s body crashing into his as the stone was activated. He held on to Steve with all the strength he had, and felt himself screaming-- singing-- falling--

And when they landed, the ground shook, upsetting the world around them. He could hear tires screeching to a halt and people shouting, could hear sirens and loud music, the sounds of a city, interrupted and shocked by that fact. 

They were back, or very nearly. 

All around them, the electrical grid shuddered and began to fail, New York City’s famous lights shutting down one block at a time. 

“Fuck Twenty Twenty.”  He heard someone grumbling as they flicked on the lights on their cell phone.

Close enough, Loki decided. He felt the ground shaking around him and closed his eyes for a moment, before realizing he was still standing, still holding onto Steve. 

He opened his eyes and met Steve’s, taking in the shock on his face. 

Loki dropped his hands. 

“It seems I was right: it was easier to do a larger jump.” 

“Easier-- Loki, Manhattan is all but blacked out!” 

Loki flinched.

Of course-- he had put himself above all those affected by his decision. It was exactly what he’d warned Steve would happen if he gained control of the stone, after all. 

Loki held the fisted hand out, and when Steve didn’t respond in kind, he simply dropped the stone at his feet. 

“I am sorry.” He said, looking up again, and into Steve’s eyes. “I didn’t know it would happen. I didn’t mean any harm.” 

That summarized all of it, he supposed. The whole adventure, Steve’s feelings, his own, the power outage, their return. 

All at once, he’d had enough of feeling like a failure. Of feeling weak and destructive in turns, fated to do nothing but be a burden or cause harm.

He opened his mouth to say more, thought better of it, and turned on his heel, beginning to walk away. 

Steve, however, grabbed onto him. 

“Loki, what the hell?” He demanded, voice warm and close behind Loki’s ear just like it had been when they laid together. Even though they had never lain together. 

“Have I not caused enough damage, Steve?” He demanded, pulling back and out of his arms, steeling himself against the disappointment he would see in his face. 

But Steve didn’t look disappointed; he looked hurt, and confused, and… and angry. 

“What damage? This?” Steve gestured with one arm out at the darkened city beyond. “You could fix it if you wanted to. I know you could. And you should. But this isn’t-- power outages happen, this isn’t damage the way you mean… what else?” He looked lost, and Loki hated that look on him. 

“I don’t know, sending you rocketing backward through time, trapping you into a frozen wasteland, nearly getting you killed, forcing you to take care of me while I worked to fix my mistakes?” Loki spoke snidely. 

“You saved the stone from Doom, you saved me from freezing, you got us both back here, at great personal cost, you’ve protected me and risked your life over and over again, and you think-- what, that I’m going to resent you for it?” 

“I think so, yes. And your friends will see us together and decide I’ve done something to you, and they will turn against you for deigning to think fondly of me. You think I haven’t seen as much before, Steve? I have lived so many times your years, and I’ll live so many times more after you’re gone.” 

Loki did not hide the hurt in his voice, even as a storm began brewing. 

“So what, you won’t give me a chance, because other people in the past have fucked up? Because you’ve decided you know how this will end?” 

“And what point is there in my staying, hm? I can’t help Barnes with the stone, and now you’ve seen what will happen, you see the destruction that using it causes. You won’t let anyone else use it, either.” The wind was whipping around him now, and he felt his hair stinging at his cheeks the same way the tears he would not allow to fall stung his eyes.

“Stay for me.” Steve called over the wind, his voice calm and strong despite the chaos around them. “Make the choice to do the right thing. There’s hospitals out there-- people who rely on power to breathe, people who need to see to be safe. We should help, try and get everything back online--” 

Above them, a bolt of lightning hit a tall building, and from that point, several more bolts split off, arcing over the city and beginning to restore light to the darkened buildings all around it. It was unnatural, powerful, almost miraculous. The work of a god. Thor had arrived. 

Loki nodded at the feat, the lightning’s brightness still clinging to the dark of the sky, even as the ground below began to glow once more. 

“As you can see, I’m not needed. You will always have better options than I, Captain.” 

He turned away again and fled into the last remaining shreds of darkness, hoping to hide from the Odinson, the Avengers, and his own feelings, all at once. 

This time, Rogers did not chase after him. 

Loki didn’t know whether to be sad or bitter or grateful, about that.

#Stoki Whumptober2020 #Stoki #Capfrost #frostshield #steve rogers x loki #whumptober #that writing thing I do #spoiler the natural disaster is Loki

[stardustinthewind]

Me watching Loki ep 2 every time someone says “apocalypse”

#loki #loki spoilers #I believe the word you are looking for is natural disaster

[wp-blaze]

The Pure, Unadulterated Gospel

I want to get back to the basics, and be very plain, because I have been told that my articles are too long. This article is going to be a “remake” of “The solution to evil, The Good News”, and this time I want to give without any digression the pure message of the Gospel […]

[boozy-the-ghost]

Not feeling well and everyone I know is asleep...

#vent #my chest hurts #this started right after watching ep 2? #but i don't know if it's related? #maybe #i did enjoy the ep tho #just a little existential crisis inducing #and the natural disasters are kinda triggering #ok maybe it is related to the ep #oh i should tag #loki spoilers #fuck i just wanna go to sleep #its 4am #im nauseous

[thera-daydreams]

ᴛʜᴇ ꜱᴡᴇᴇᴛ ᴏʟᴅ ʟᴀᴅʏ ɪꜱ ᴀ ᴡɪᴛᴄʜ

ᗢ jujutsu kaisen x scarletwitch!reader ᗢ

02. gojo satoru

the overpowered manchild who loves to annoy everybody and splurge his excessive wealth on sugar instead of being an actual sugar daddy

Chapter Index & Synopsis

warning: will contain spoilers from the jjk manga and the latest mcu shows (particularly wandavision and loki, as well as doctor strange in the multiverse of madness). once again, this will contain heavy spoilers—you have been warned. for this chapter, since it's gojo, you can probably expect him being a crackhead who keeps following you around lol.

[EDIT] 6/17/2022, 2:43PM: Made some super minor edits after DSMOM2. ♡

(word count: 4,056)

(previous chapter)

Bothering and teasing Nanami was one of Gojo's favorite hobbies, so naturally, there would be times he would follow the blonde around in his free time just because it was his definition of fun (as the strongest jujutsu sorcerer, he seemingly had all the the time in the world even when it should be the exact opposite). He was a menace to society, and all that harassment to his stressed-out underclassman eventually led him to your treasure trove of a shop for sweet-tooths (teeth?) like him. Apparently, it was one of the best confectioneries in all of Tokyo.

A hidden gem in the outskirts of the city, so they said.

"Eh? Charmed Coffee & Confectionaries?" Satoru questioned his kouhai while they walked alongside each other. "Where is that?"

"You haven't heard of it?" Kento continued to move forward, not sparing the white-haired sorcerer a glance. "It's a tiny shop, but in my opinion, it serves the crème de la crème of food and sweets in the entirety of Tokyo."

Finally, the ex-salaryman looked over his childish colleague. "Just because the owner is a close friend of mine doesn't mean that I'm biased. Try her works yourself. You'll see."

"Ooooh, really? You rarely give compliments to anything, let alone anyone." The blindfolded man was surprised. "You sure it's the crème de la crème?" he asked, saying the last words in an exaggerated French accent.

So he did.

He was very skeptical at first given his ultra-high standards (clearly, he's just spoiled rich brat, lol). But after trying out each of your products on display—which Nanami himself personally recommended—he confirmed that you were indeed the best. Thus, like Nanami, he frequented the place much more now. Gojo wondered why he hadn't found out about this place sooner (well, it was located in the suburbia and was also a very small, simple home business). It wasn't anything big like most stuff in Tokyo.

Probably why he missed it.

Still, everything on your menu tasted glorious (yes, he actually took the time to try everything—the man had sugar cravings so big it was a wonder he didn't get tooth decay or diabetes). But whatever he ate, he felt like he was high. Him. A jujutsu sorcerer whose Domain Expansion was equivalent to an acid trip.

With his first bite of your red velvet brownies, Gojo practically saw his life flash before his eyes. That moment, he saw the rainy skies of Tokyo make way to reveal resplendently warm sunlight, impossibly blue skies, and pristine white cottony clouds. As he savored each moment, letting the sugary flavors be absorbed by each of his taste buds, he heard choirs of angels majestically singing hymns from whatever Bible they used, golden trumpets blaring all around him. He felt himself ascending into another dimension. Was this what heaven felt like? Looked like?

Screw his Infinite Void. This was the true secret of the universe which could only be unlocked by your immeasurably skilled hands. Your recipes were the answer to mankind’s everlasting question, “What is the meaning of life?”

That rat from Ratatouille ain’t got nothing on this. And Nanami wasn’t lying.

You fucking deserved a Nobel Peace Prize for what you’d just done. To Gojo Satoru, what you just created could cure any disease in the world, destroy all curses, and stop all natural disasters. It wasn’t him who needed the Limitless; it was your shop that deserved a limitless number of Michelin stars. He’d buy you all of it with all his money if you asked.

Was this what real happiness was? Your red velvet brownies? Your shop? Your masterful hands? If he could (actually, he can), he would hire you as his personal everyday chef.

In every conversation, the white-haired man insisted your place was the best he'd ever had the pleasure of visiting (though you believed he was only doing it to butter you up). Of course you were aware he was a loaded playboy who had a god-complex. Wasn't it obvious? You'd seen the brand of that baby blue dress shirt he wore and boy, you knew it was a luxury item just by the name alone.

It was a month's worth of income for Charmed Coffee & Confectionaries.

You always found it funny how this man was said to be the most powerful one in this world yet acted so much like a literal man-child. He told you he was a high school teacher during one of his visits, and you knew about him, alright.

Gojo Satoru, the strongest jujutsu sorcerer on this planet—born with the Limitless Technique and the Six Eyes. The first in his clan to be born with such promise after four hundred years. He held immense political power in the jujutsu world and could shift the balance with his decisions. The moment he was born, the whole jujutsu society was practically overturned. Cursed spirits even multiplied and evolved to a new level because of his presence.

Okay, you may have done a little stalking on the guy's history during your research on jujutsu.

It didn't make him any less irresponsible at times, unfortunately for you, the stressed-out Nanami who was often stuck with much of his paperwork, and the agitated Ijichi who usually had to drive him around.

ᗢ▪︎ᗢ

"Neh, neh, Y/N," Gojo began.

At first, he would use honorifics with you, but within a month—after visiting almost every day—he dropped them. You were glad, however, that he was comfortable enough with you to drop the honorifics (yet still treat you with the utmost respect). You'd read his mind before and practically felt his distaste of the jujutsu higher-ups and elders. "You know, you should really get an apprentice or something. It's so... empty here with you being the only employee."

Heh, just like your feelings.

Just kidding.

"Gosh, Satoru, do you really want this old woman to die so soon?" you teased as you served him his latte (with cute milk art that looked like a chibi version of him).

He sputtered indignantly.

"I'm not going anywhere, kiddo."

"Hey, that's not what I was saying!" he defended himself. "I'm just saying that maybe you need someone to help around in the bakery. I still wonder how you're able to manage the kitchen while being the cashier and the waitress at the same time."

That was fine. He had absolutely no idea, then, that your magic was doing its wonders in the kitchen right as he was speaking. Him. The strongest sorcerer. Maybe you were getting a little too good at hiding your powers. So much for trying to minimize your use in magic.

Once, Gojo bought a week's worth of sweets. Using your magic was very, very much reasonable at this point (especially when he started buying so much more often and emptying your monthly stocks of ingredients).

"Honey, if I wasn't doing everything," you told him, sipping your tea beside from beside him. "Everything would change. And those beloved brownies of yours would be ruined because only I know the secret recipe to making them so perfectly."

The blindfolded man thought about it. The first time you saw his blindfold, you were quite weirded out, but who were you to judge? You'd met a talking raccoon and a tree-like being before. A Hulk, too. A god of Asgard (well, two, actually).

"Eh, you're right. Whatever suits you, then," he shrugged. "Still, maybe at least hire someone to be a server? Or a cashier?"

You hummed, "I'll think about it. I doubt I can find someone who will match my, as you label it, multi-star world class service standards."

"Huh, you're absolutely right, Y/N!" Gojo exclaimed joyfully, wrapping his arms around your shoulders and squishing you. "I should quit my teaching job and be a server here! I know I could keep up with those multi-star world class standards. After that, you can tell me your secret recipe!"

You grunted, pushing him off of you and grumbling at the crumbs he left on your shirt. "Ew, get off of me! Ugh, as if."

He gaped. "Did you, a Boomer, just reference Cluele—"

"Yes. Yes, I did. And how many times do I have to tell you? No. I'll take the secret recipe with me until the day I die, hun."

God, you weren't really a boomer! You just... looked like one right now. Of course you've watched Clueless!

"Aw. Stingy." Oh well, at least he tried. He'll ask you again in a few weeks, anyway.

"Think about your students and how sad they'll be if they find out their teacher quit," you reminded him, pinching his arm.

"Heh. Inumaki, Panda, and Maki? Probably not. Maybe Yuuta."

"..."

"..."

"... From all the stories you tell me about them, you're right. You're as annoying to them as much as you are to me."

"You're as mean as Nanamin, Y/N!"

But both of you knew that he was always welcome in your shop. Why else would he keep coming back?

"Also, Gojo-kun, I wanted to ask you something."

"Yeah?" he said, munching on more brownies. How the heck was this guy not fat yet? He ate like, two boxes of brownies already. In one hour.

"How do you see with that blindfold over your eyes?"

You already knew the answer, but you wanted to see how he'd respond.

"It started when I was a child," he dramatically said, a hand over his forehead. "I was hit on the eyes and now, there's a terrible scar over it that I don't want anyone to see—"

Your nose scrunched up, "Liar. You told me the other day that your eyes are in pristine condition!"

He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "Ooh, I said that? Hehe. Oops."

"You're avoiding my question!"

ᗢ▪︎ᗢ

"Gojo-kun, are you sure you don't have to go somewhere else right now?" you asked him suspiciously, walking through the neighborhood beside him. The baked goods you needed to deliver were now in his arms. The blindfolded guy had appeared out of nowhere, carrying the deliveries for you.

It was a Wednesday morning. A school day. Didn't he have like, any jujutsu missions or students to teach?

"Nope!" he chirped happily, skipping in his step. That was already sus in itself. "I am absolutely not skipping my teaching classes to avoid an angry Maki because I stole her skirt and wore it!"

You sweat-dropped, staring at him incredulously, "Why... Why on earth would you even do that?"

"Because Panda and Inumaki-kun did it, too!" he replied as if it wasn't anything wrong, a spring in his step. He did a Sailor Moon pose in front of you. "Besides, I look good in a skirt, too!"

You sighed, trying to erase the image from your head, "Based from what you've told me about their personalities, I'm guessing that Okkotsu-kun was the only one sane enough to not join your stupid antics."

"Eeeeeeh, that boy is too gloomy for his own good. We've got to work on that."

Then suddenly, one of your neighbors—a ninety-year-old man—passed by you two, waving as he went on his morning jog.

"Ah, good morning, L/N-san! Wonderful weather we have today," he greeted, making you smile.

"You're right, Akihito-san! Stay safe!" you replied, waving back at him.

"I will!"

You resumed treading towards your destination, only to realize that your companion was no longer there beside you. "Eh? Gojo-kun?"

He was way behind you, simply gawking for a reason you didn't know, "You..."

Brows furrowing, you asked, "What? Did I drop something?"

"Y/N, who were you talking to?"

You halted in your tracks.

Oh.

Oh shit.

Akihito-san, one of the residents who lived near your shop, had passed away a week ago from a heart attack. You'd even attended the wake with his family, as well as the burial.

Seeing and talking to the spirits of dead people—souls in the astral plane—was an ability you'd gained while mastering your powers. Sometimes, you did it unconsciously while out doing errands since you'd usually be alone. You'd gotten so used to conversing with spirits (non-cursed ones, specifically, since they weren't necessarily malevolent beings that were terrified of you) that you forgot that today, someone was with you.

Jujutsu sorcerers may see cursed spirits, but they didn't see the spirits of dead people, did they?

So began the furious mental debate on whether or not to tell your Six-Eyed buddy about your... certain talent. Would it end badly if you were honest? Knowing Gojo, it would be a little unpredictable. Would he grow suspicious of you and put you on his hitlist? Or would he just be even more curious?

You caught a glimpse of his thoughts. It was the latter—he was just curious. Thank the heavens.

"Don't freak out, but I... uh... said hello to my dead neighbor's wandering ghost," you cleared your throat, mumbling the last part. How would he react this time?

In an instant, Satoru was inches right in front of you, jaw wide open in shock. "You see dead people's spirits!?"

You blinked, gently pushing his too-close face away, "Uh-huh. I do... amongst other things."

"Other things!?" he exclaimed, astounded.

"I guess you could say I'm psychic, in a way?" You tapped your chin, thinking about how you should explain it simply. "I can see spirits who haven't moved on to the afterlife and... um, other supernatural creatures?"

"Holy fuck, even I can't see the dead with my powers," Satoru suddenly stated before disappearing in thin air, leaving you in the dust. You stared at the space that was once an overgrown kid.

What the hell just happened?

Ten seconds later, he reappeared, carrying a small, blue and yellow, mushroom-looking creature with tiny wings.

"Do you see this, too?" Gojo prodded. You leaned forward, gazing down at the mini-monster in his hands.

"This little guy? Oh yeah, I see them all the time along with all the other stuff in the spiritual realm," you answered him truthfully. Your head tilted at the curse he was holding captive. "Usually, unlike the ghosts or other types of benevolent spirits, these guys are... eh, they seem quite... afraid of me. See?"

The moment your eyes made contact with the cursed spirit, it averted its eyes and began trembling in fear. It even scooted closer to Gojo (who was more dumbfounded). You tried poking the curse, but it only flinched and actually tried hiding in the crook of Gojo's elbow.

"Told you," you said.

"That's a first." Satoru lifted a tiny portion of his blindfold, allowing you to peek at his unbelievably ice blue eyes. Whoa, they really were pretty. "I've never met a cursed spirit so scared shitless of a civilian."

The bright smile on your face reappeared, "Don't worry, I knew you and Nanami-kun were... special the moment you entered my shop. I'm very sensitive to people's, uh, chis. Their energies, basically. You, Gojo-kun, have something quite strong, don't you?"

He was speechless.

"Yup. That explains everything and why you just did some sort of weird teleportation right before my very eyes," you quipped, placing your hands on your hips. "Now come on, Satoru! I don't care if you have weird teleportation abilities. We've got urgent deliveries to get to! Chop chop! No slacking on delivery day!"

"B-But—"

The world's strongest jujutsu sorcerer could only comply as you dragged him around from house to house (you still had to prevent him from stealing a bite of the various sweets—man, if he kept it up, you'd have to magic an entire dozen of cookies).

ᗢ▪︎ᗢ

By the time you two were done with the deliveries for the day, the sky was a bright yellow-orange, the sun about to set over the horizon. Both of you were sitting on the concrete stairs by a river. Of course, you let Gojo munch on a spare box of leftover macarons he charmed from one of the customers (you still couldn't believe he flirted with that newly-divorced lady a couple blocks from your shop just to get some free sweets).

Oh well, if it worked, it worked. And you got paid with a huge tip, too. What's an old woman to do except accept the money?

Outwardly, it was a comfortable silence, but as usual (and as per his personality), Gojo's mind was very loud. You tried to block it out, but bro, his thoughts were so freaking noisy you couldn't help but break the external silence instead so that you'd catch a break from his mental screaming.

"Must be lonely, the life of a jujutsu sorcerer." You grabbed the macaron he was about to eat. Instead of pouting, though, he stared at you quizzically. You popped the small treat in your mouth, chewing.

"How'd you know?" he asked.

You shrugged, "Word gets around in the spiritual world. Ghosts are quite the reliable source of the latest news and gossip, did you know that?" That wasn't exactly how you knew about jujutsu sorcerers, but your second statement was true. "Akihito-san from earlier is still waiting for his daughter from abroad to visit his grave. Only then will he move on into the afterlife."

Ghosts really did love to gossip.

"So have you always known that Nanami and I were jujutsu sorcerers?" Gojo inquired.

"Meh, actually no," you disclosed. "My spidey spirit senses could tell something was different about you compared to the other patrons of my shop, but I didn't know you guys were this jujutsu sorcerer thing until a year ago. Don't worry, I don't judge."

"You're not weirded out? Nanami has weird sword, I can teleport from place to place, you good with that?"

Your nose crinkled up, "Trust me, this old woman's seen far worse. Ever seen a talking raccoon and a living tree who are best friends?"

"... A what?"

"Thought so. The little tree's called himself Groot," you shared, remembering your reaction at first seeing it in the battlefield against Thanos. "The raccoon... or whatever he was, I'm not sure, was named Rocket."

If that wasn't the strangest thing Gojo had heard today. He'd seen a shit ton of weird curses, but a talking raccoon and a living tree? Nope.

"So you don't only talk to ghosts and see cursed spirits," Satoru began. "But you also have uh, weird friends, too."

"By weird friends, are you including yourself in that category?" you asked, amused.

He paused, "Touché. But can I meet them?"

"The living tree and the talking raccoon?"

"Uh-huh. I know a talking Panda, so that's gonna be interesting."

You burst out into laughter, "Sorry, but no can do. Rocket and Groot aren't here now. They're far, far away now. Like, light years away."

"Aw."

He had no clue you meant it literally. The millions of light years away statement. It was true!

"But since you know about jujutsu sorcerers, want me to tell you aaaaaall about what we do?! About jujutsu stuff? Ah! I should tell you about my students and their techniques!"

"Sure, why not?" You already knew a bunch of things from all the countless tomes and scrolls Tengen had generously provided you, but it wouldn't hurt to learn from the strongest jujutsu sorcerer himself, right? (You later on regretted it, having to sacrifice your sleep from hearing Gojo ramble on about everything you already knew until dawn came.)

ᗢ▪︎ᗢ

"... You spent the entire afternoon until dawn telling her about jujutsu!? Are you insane!?" Nanami scolded Gojo as he saw you by your shop's cashier area, sound asleep. He nearly shouted in shock, thinking you'd collapsed or something.

He came in at 6AM in the morning to buy some awesome bread of yours but had to encounter the biggest headache of his life hanging out in his favorite shop.

Talk about a day ruined.

The blindfolded man laughed sheepishly, a red velvet brownie in his hand.

"Ehehehe, she already kind of knows some of stuff, though. Did you know Y/N can talk to ghosts and can see curses, too? She even has a friend who's a talking raccoon! And a friend who's a living tree!" Gojo insisted, waving his hands and trying not to cower under the scary blonde's piercing stare.

"What?" It all came together now. Perhaps that was why you didn't ask him about what happened to him when he came to you all bleeding and injured many, many months ago.

"It's weird, right? I can't sense a single ounce of cursed energy from her with my Six Eyes and yet she's unbelievably sensitive to spiritual things! A freaking psychic who's more psychic than we are! Makes me wonder if she can sense cursed energy as well as us, too—hey, why'd you steal my brownie?"

Nanami scoffed, eating the brownie instead. "You don't deserve it after making her stay up all night."

Gojo gasped, "So mean, Nanamin."

"Stop calling me that. I'll beat you up."

"... Meanie."

You yawned, rousing from your slumber and rubbing your eyes. The commotion they were making was too loud. "... Huh? When did you get here, Kento-kun?"

"Just a few minutes ago. I was about to buy some bread but then—"

Before you knew it, a bawling Gojo was clinging onto your leg, "Y/N, Y/N! Nanamin's bullying me again! Help meeeeeeee!"

The ex-salaryman looked so offended it made you want to laugh. A vein popped on his temple, "I was not!"

"Yes, you were!" Satoru dramatically wailed.

"I was not, you idiot!" Nanami sighed, dragging a squirming chibi Gojo by the collar and formally bowing to you. "We apologize for the commotion, Y/N-san. We will leave now."

They began exiting the shop (well, Nanami was; Gojo was still trying to escape).

"Huh? Wait, you were going to buy some bread, right?!" you called out, quickly stuffing some bread into a big, brown paper bag. You chased after the two men, shoving the bag into Nanami's free hand. "Here. There you go."

"Ah, thank you, Y/N-san. But we really must go. Ijichi and Principal Yaga have been calling me since yesterday to find this guy right here."

Gojo pouted, crossing his arms childishly, "Hmph."

"Also, that female student of yours is still seething because you wore her skirt," Nanami added, mood a little less angry as he smelled the warm batch of banana bread in the paper bag you gave him.

Gojo paled. An angry Maki was a scary Maki; not a good Maki to deal with.

"Well then," you chuckled, waving them away. "Good luck with that, you two."

"Goodbye, Y/N-san," Nanami gave you a nod. Gojo still tried to wriggle out of Nanami's hold.

"Y/N, heeeeeeeeelp!"

You giggled, shouting as they became smaller in the distance, "Sorry, Satoru-kun! You've got to face the consequences of your actions now. Bye-bye!"

"Nooooooooooo!"

One hour later, Gojo Satoru was beside Inumaki Toge and Panda bowing their heads in forgiveness—kneeling, foreheads touching the floor—as a furious Maki shouted their ears off. In the corner, Nanami Kento watched in amusement, sharing his banana bread with the innocent first-year Okkotsu Yuuta who had nothing to do with his friends' earlier mischievousness.

"Mmmmmm! This is really tasty," Yuuta commented to the former businessman, liking the banana bread very much. "Where... Where'd you buy this, Nanami-san?"

"I can take you the bakery-café that sells them," Nanami casually offered, handing him more of the bountiful amount of banana bread you'd placed in the paper bag.

Yuuta's eyes widened in amazement, "A-Ah, thank you, Nanami-san."

"It's nothing," the blonde replied, enjoying Gojo's punishment. "The owner will be quite pleased to hear your feedback."

"She will?"

"Absolutely. I have a feeling she'll take a great liking to you."

Just like Yuuji all those years ago, when shy little Yuuta came to your shop, you loved and coddled him (and his first-year classmates) just as much. Although Gojo had showed you photos and told you about their personalities, meeting them in person was much better.

“Gojo, you didn’t tell me your students were such adorable cuties! Ah, you must be Maki! You’re so pretty and strong-looking, my dear. Oh! You must be Panda-kun and Inumaki-kun! What sweethearts! Do you guys want something to eat? I’ll make something straight away. Gosh, it’s been raining a lot, too. I’ll give you guys something to warm up your bodies. No one’s getting sick if I’m around!”

That afternoon, the shop was livelier than ever.

(next chapter.)

Author's Note: After that one Juju Stroll with Megumi being hit on, you can't tell me that Gojo's not a drama queen, istg. 🙄😒

Once more, hearts, comments, reblogs, interactions, and constructive criticism are super duper appreciated! If you wanna be tagged in the upcoming chapters, feel free to message me or comment. 🥰

taglist: @ibelievein2dmensupremacy @binibiningbabaylan @lovelyvillainess @vampireindistress @sparklingmallow @gummy-dummy @haleypearce @artemishunter18 @torasshu-sama @pastel-catto @nanamin-pointo @whoreuc @simpinsimpleton @sache41 @osiris1rhi @crzyinluve

#jujutsu kaisen #jjk #nanami kento #gojo satoru #fushiguro toji #ryomen sukuna #geto suguru #kamo choso #jujutsu kaisen x reader #jjk x reader #nanami x reader #gojo x reader #toji x reader #sukuna x reader #geto x reader #choso x reader #scarlet witch #x reader #thera.writes

[asgardwinter]

Uncovered

summary | Being responsible for all the TVA archives is an important job but sometimes the lack of adventure makes you bored. When you come in contact with a new variant the drama might make its way to your peaceful archives.

pairing | Loki x fem!Reader

warnings | LOKI SPOILERS, some fluff in the beginning but that’s it, not much of a happy ending for now.

word count | 3k

author’s note | I just want to thank the feedback on part one and I hope you all like this part two (I’m planning a third to come out by thursday after the end of the series). Forgive me if you find any minor mistakes. Requests are open, just send me an ask.

Feedback is always appreciated.

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You didn’t want to admit it but it was obvious you were waiting for Loki and Mobius to return from their theory test. Leaving your desk at the archive and taking much longer than necessary to deliver some papers around the building was a manner of keeping an eye on their return. So when you listened to one excited voice explaining about doomsdays you knew they were back.

“...in order for this theory to hold, the disasters have to be naturally-occurring, sudden, no warning, no survivors.” Mobius said as you walked towards them.

“How many could there be?” Loki asked.

“I don’t know.”

“A lot.” You answered, calling the attention of both of them.

“When did you appear?” Loki asked, shocked to not have seen you.

“Well, since I’m such an amazing person I’m offering my essential help.” You ignored Loki’s question and grinned at them.

“It’s clearly not because you’re bored?” Mobius laughed and you hit him lightly on the shoulder.

“I’ve already read all of the exciting files.” You confessed. “But I’m the one that knows more about them. I can help.” But then shot Mobius a playful glare. “And also entertain myself while doing it.”

“I knew it.”

You led the two of them to your place of work. Starting to grab boxes and folders full of files on natural disasters and placing them at their desk.

“Will you help us read two, savior of the timeline?” Mobius asked when you were walking away from them.

Ignoring the nickname you continue the walk to your desk, using a paper to write something with a red pen. “Just going to put a warning that I’m over there if needed.”

The next hours were filled with endless reading and sleepy eyes, to a moment Loki was snoring laying on the pile of papers. Mobius woke him up after some time.

“Come on, let’s take a walk.” He gestured for both of you to follow him.

“You two go, I’ll see if I let anything pass.” You said getting up from the chair. “Maybe bring me a coffee from the cafeteria?”

“Sure.”

Loki only rubbed his eyes and followed him. You didn’t like the way that variant was making you feel when next to you. Heart accelerated when he was close, warm cheeks, a bit of anger sometimes because of the offhanded comments. Nothing of that you were used too, but you assumed it was only the change of someone different around. It had to be.

Lost in the middle of the shelves, you were feeling different than normally. Having this purpose of searching for a dangerous variant was something you didn’t have quite often around the archive. But that Loki helping the TVA, the one that made you feel weird so frequently, was giving you ideas, and dangerous ones. Like the curiosity around the creation of TVA, the Time Keepers, the purpose you were created for. Questions locked in a dark place in your mind for a long time that now crawled to the surface.

You shook your head trying to put the thoughts in the right place and looked around the shelves filled with event files for anything that could’ve been slipped. The search was long forgotten when you bumped in the TVA worker files. Long and full stands with all the TVA operatives, their missions, numbers, names, occupations among other information.

It never looked right that Ravonna Renslayer’s file was between all the others, but looking intently into it was something you had promised yourself not to do. A line you swear not to cross. Now, reading the typewritten letters, you felt even more curious. Fingers tingling to grab the paper and drown into its words.

Ravonna had been quite irritated by your questions when you started at your job, advising you to stay quiet and accepting.

You did that, but you just didn’t feel like doing it anymore.

“What are you doing back here?” Loki’s voice startled you and you retrieved your hand that was caressing the file.

“Damn! Do you often scare people like this?”

“Only you.” He smirked as you rolled your eyes. “Doing something you’re not supposed to do?”

“If I told you I’d be betraying my cause.”

“Good excuse.” Loki laughed. You looked at your shoes, trying to get that weird and accelerated pace of your heart under control, the deja-vu only adding to the uneasy situation. “Do you really believe in the TVA?”

“What?”

“Do you believe in this eternal order? Protecting the past for the Time Keepers to write the future?”

“What else is there to believe? I’ve been created for this, managing the archive is literally my ‘glorious purpose’. If I don’t believe it, then what’s left?” The last part was only a whisper, almost unnoticed.

The silence was filling the air with an uncomfortable feeling.

“Do you often inquire people you don’t even know the name with existential questions? You asked as you walked back to the desk you were occupying.

Loki ran to follow you. “I’m sorry about that. May I ask your name or it's to late?”

As you turned around to face him, Loki bumped on you surprised by the sudden stop. He was anxious by the weird beginning with you and that hostile place that seemed to be made to challenge and put him on the edge.

“I’m LB173.” You answered shortly. “Even though I prefer you not to use it. These serial numbers are such a weird thing.” Both of you continued to walk.

“If I might say, someone like you deserved a real name.” Loki said with honesty. “A beautiful name, darling.”

Well, that had your head spinning for sure. Those weird and warm feelings in your chest only growing no matter how much your brain was shouting that it needed to stop.

“This is… really nice for you to say.” You whispered, hiding an enormous smile that threatened to spread.

“Oh! I forgot what I was going to say when I found you snooping through the archives you shouldn’t be looking at.” You shot him a warning glare but he didn’t even pay attention. “We found something to help in the search.”

…

In the end, when the Sacred Timeline was bombed, you knew a lot of things must have gone wrong.

When C-20 was declared dead you were sure things were worse than expected after so many nexus events. According to the archive delivered to you she died because of complications due the enchantment the variant played in her head. According to Mobius the situation was different, she was just dizzy but seemed fine, and you had no reason to doubt him.

B-15 was also acting weird to add to all of the chaos.

“Do you have anything on the powers of that variant? The one we’ve been hunting down all this time?” She asked you soon after returning from Roxxcart.

“I’m sorry to disappoint you, but we have nothing specific on it. We all only assumed she had the same powers as other varian Lokis.”

“Which are?”

“Illusions, projections, enchanting.” You listed some. “Those are the stronger points.”

Looking carefully at her, she was frightened by something. That wasn’t right. You thought the only things capable of scaring her were the Time Keepers themselves.

“Something happened out there, didn’t it?” You whispered to her, worried about what was going on. When she nodded slowly you decided to ask more. “What?”

“She planted something in my head. Happy memories from Earth. A life that is not mine even though it’s all I wish I had.” B-15 answered with shack breaths. “It’s confusing my head so much. It seems so real, I can remember the sensations, it’s not something that happens from a normal dream or illusion I think.”

“I’ll help you to figure it out. Research something that might help.” You squeezed her hand reassuringly. “I mean, I do have a lot of material around here. We’ll know what she did to you.”

Her laugh was low but sincere. A “beep” sounded through the ambient and she started moving fast to leave the archive. “It seems they found the variants.”

…

Deciding to wait for them to come back with the variants at your desk at the archive was not the best idea. You were afraid of what was happening, the only place you knew at the point of collapsing.

When you found out that the variants were being kept in the interrogation rooms you rushed to get there as soon as you could. Mobius was already interrogating Loki and you managed to listen to eighty percent of it from a hidden spot at the air ducts you had no idea how you got in. You could probably consider yourself a pioneer at spying on the TVA.

The words you heard from Loki during his talk with Mobius were too much. Two variants of the same being with intense feelings towards each other. The hurt in his voice when Mobius lied that she had been pruned. The hurt in your own heart with all that talk. The feeling of having the floor disappearing from under you to hear that you were kidnapped from the timeline and wiped out.

All the pieces would be at the right place. Those weird deja-vu moments you had, a feeling of loss sometimes. Maybe you weren’t erased right, those little parts of the old you were still trying to get free. By now you needed to leave that duct to form a decent rushed plan.

“What are you doing here?” Mobius asked as he stepped out of the room.

“You know, everyone is talking about them. Though I could see if there was any new information from the best analyst of the TVA.” You smiled sheepishly at him.

“You know, only more tricks. Seems it’s everything he can do.” He said bitterly. “The other variant’s name is Sylvie, though. Curiosity for you to feed the staff.”

“I’ll make sure it gets to them.” You replied, but your mind was far away from there.

“What are you planning?” Mobius inquired in a wary tone.

“I don’t know.” You said, the plan was not entirely formed in your head yet.

The truth is that the next step was getting to Loki and squeezing the information from him. You could be wrong, but you were starting to believe you could tell when the god of mischief was lying, which was quite useful.

You managed to steal the Tem Pad of some analyst from a similar rank to Mobius from his desk. Alan needed to stop leaving such important things unguarded when he left for lunch. But you knew the criminal rate was no issue around the TVA.

Passing the minute man was no problem too. They trusted you, they were completely tired, they were curious about the other variant and you brought them some information about the so-called Sylvie.

The moment the doors were closed you exhaled in relief and looked at the timer on your wrist. For a five minute plan that was perfect. Thanks to the free time around the archive you were quick to open a gate to the time loop and got in, seeing the exact time Lady Sif hit him really skilfully.

“How are you here?” He asked between the pain whines.

“Long story. Clearly not my greatest plan.” You said feeling a bit weird now that he looked attentive to you with those beautiful eyes. “I need answers. True answers.”

“You heard me talking.” Loki assumed and you nodded. “Do you believe me?”

“I want to.” you confessed. “I really do. If what you said is true it means I’m more than a keeper for a dusty archive. It means that I could have had people around me, family and friends. A life I truly chose and not one I was made especially for.”

“Why don’t you then?”

“I’m afraid. I kind of trust you, but…”

“Wait, you trust me?” Loki asked you confused.

“Don’t look at me like it’s insane!”

“I have to say, it sort of is.”

“Let me finish?” You blurted angrily and he nodded fast, shutting up to let you continue. “I’m scared, okay? I’m going to be honest, if you trust the other variant I believe in it. But this, the TVA, is everything I’ve ever known. Everything I’ve ever been. If you’re right it means it’s all a lie. Then what am I supposed to do?”

The silence was something hard to face with so many doubts, but it wasn’t actually uncomfortable. Loki was really listening to you, to your existential crisis, not only brushing them off and ordering you to stop thinking about it for your own sake like the people at the TVA.

“I’m sure you’ll find out. Aren’t you the savior of the timeline?” He joked and you rolled your eyes. “You are more than the TVA. You existed without it and it’s their fault you think you’re lost right now. Existence is chaos and no order should rule it, especially something created by three magic lizards.”

You smiled shyly at the god. “You know, you can be really good.”

“You law agents always get the wrong idea from me.” He joked.

A light popped in your head, warning you of something.

“We need to break out from here.” You said, a sense of purpose now settled. “And we need to save the other variant. This Time Keepers won’t be happy to see people breaking free from their hold, and if they know she’s the cause…”

“What are you doing here?” Mobius' voice came from the beginning of the corridor.

“Getting some answers.” You said simply.

“I knew you were planning something. You can’t hide that from me.” He turned to Loki with a serious face. “Do you care about this variant?”

“Sylvie? I’m not sure if ‘care’ is the right word.��

“Shut up.” Mobius snorted.

“I think we covered this back there.”

“Shut up!” The agent shouted. “Do you really think you deserve to be alone?” But Loki didn’t answer, he was looking at Mobius attentively but without a word. “Loki!”

“You told me to shut up.”

“Do you really think you deserve to be alone?”

The god looked at you with a hint of hope behind his eyes. “I don’t know.”

“Thank you better figure it out quick, because the nexus event the two of you caused, I think whatever the connection is, can bring this whole place down. So we better understand…”

“We?” Loki was genuinely confused.

“Yeah, we.” You liked that. Having people to back you up and to fight against a common enemy. “We are wrecking this place.”

“Do you swear she didn’t implant those memories in Hunter C-20?”

“Mobius, no. I believe her.”

“Do you believe her?” The question was directed to you this time.

“I do, Mobius. This is true.” You said. “There is too much evidence to not believe it. And more, I trust him.”

“So I just have to trust the words of two Lokis and a dumbass?” You rolled your eyes at the remark, but then winked at him.

“How about the word of a friend.” Loki said, managing to get a small smile from Mobius.

“You were right, about the TVA. You were right from the beginning. And if you wanna save her, you need to trust me. We all need to trust each other. Can we do that?”

“Yes.” Loki answered as you nodded with a small smile.

“Okay.” Mobius said, looking a bit lost but decided. “You could be whoever, whatever you wanna be, even someone good. I mean, just in case anyone ever told you different.”

You laughed, remembering the words spoken in the interrogatory. “Lovely moment but we need to go right now to save, they might know already.” You said and Mobius took the lead to leave the room.

No matter how tricked you felt, how much you missed something you didn't even remember, you smiled as the three of you walked out of the time lapse and inside the interrogation room.

That smile, however, disappeared the same time as you spotted Ravonna in the middle of the room surrounded by minute man.

“I think you have something of mine.” She said with a steady tone.

You didn’t know how easily everything could shatter in front of you until then.

“Yeah, I got all the way down there before I even realized I picked up yours.” Mobius tried to play it out. “What’s going on?”

She only continued to stare at him directly with a straight face. No emotions displayed.

“What’s the problem, Ravonna?”

You all realized there was no getting out from there. Without thinking you hand reached Loki’s, he grabbed it lightly, that small contact bringing at least a bit of comfort to you both.

“You know where I’d go if I could go anywhere?” Mobius asked rhetorically. “Wherever it is I’m really from. Yeah, wherever I had a life before the TVA came along. Maybe I had a jet ski. That’s what I’d like to do. Just riding around on my jet ski.”

“Prune him.” She said, this time you could see hurt in her eyes.

Mobius was pruned and tears filled your eyes. You knew it wasn't only you that was on the verge of crying, Loki was also wrecked by what you two witnessed. Ravonna’s attention turned to you.

“You know it too.” She stated with a hard look. “Prune her too.”

But when the minute man went to attack you your reflexes did the job and you swerved. And then again. One more time. And two more. You had no idea how you did that, the movements being so natural. But that was when someone got you by your back, and you felt the weirdest and quite painful feeling of your life.

The next thing you could recall was waking up to such a weird place and then looking to your side to find Mobius looking as lost as you.

“Where the hell are we?”

#loki x reader #loki odinson #loki laufeyson #loki series imagine #loki oneshot #loki fanfic #loki imagine #loki reader insert #loki x you #loki x female reader #marvel x reader #marvel imagine

[syllvane]

muscle memory pt. 3- sylvie x reader

a/n: i said i was going to post tomorrow but i couldn’t help myself. anyways, spoilers for episode 2 and 3 of loki, minor spoilers for the beginning of episode 3. final word count is 1.7k words!

read the previous part  read the next part   read the series  

“How is Loki doing?” You asked Mobius, walking with him to the mess hall.

“He’s doing great. Making real progress, I would say.”

“Didn’t you have to have a meeting with Renslayer this morning because of his actions?” You asked, raising your eyebrows. His face scrunched up for a second.

“It’s like every time he is making progress, he takes two steps back.”

“That sounds more believable. You still think he’s worth all the trouble though?”

Mobius sighed slightly. “I really do believe in him. It’s not just an issue of whether I believe in him though, it’s whether Ravonna and the Timekeepers do.”

“Oh, you’re on first name basis now, with Renslayer?” You turned and grinned at Mobius, who immediately flushed after realizing his mistake.

“Not a word of this to anyone.” He said strictly, although there was a smile on his face as well.

“Yeah, yeah.” You said, standing in line with Mobius as he ordered his lunch before sitting down at a two-seat table. “Ravonna and Mobius-”

“C-7.” Mobius said strictly, although you could tell he was partly amused by your antics.

You continued in the same quiet, sing-songy voice as before.

“-on a jet ski. K-I-S-S-I-N-G.”

Mobius finished taking a sip of his drink and then applauded quietly, so as to not draw attention.

“Has anyone ever told you that you truly have all the originality of a grade-schooler?”

Before you could answer, you were interrupted by a tall man with long dark hair speed walking over to where Mobius and you were sitting.

Although he seemed to be in a hurry, you could tell that he was sizing up everybody in the room, including yourself.

“I found- oh, sorry. Didn’t see you there. Would you mind moving so that me and my partner could discuss something?” He asked politely, even smiling.

You locked eyes with him, smiling back at him.

“I’m good, thanks. You can just pull up a chair.”

His smile wavered and he maintained eye contact for a couple of moments longer before breaking it, going to a different table and pulling over a chair.

(You ignored the pointed look Mobius shot at you, like he was asking you to be the bigger person here. Unfortunately for him, you had no such intentions.)

“Right. I know how the Variant is hiding.”

Mobius leaned back.

“Talk about burying the lead. How?”

Loki smiled slightly, this smile much different from his last- he was proud of himself.

“He’s hiding in apocalypses.” 

There was a moment of silence. You and Mobius exchanged a glance.

“Which one? There’s like a million all across history.” Mobius pointed out and Loki took a second to compose himself before starting his explanation.

You sat back as he explained his reasoning, watching with amusement as he put more salt and pepper into Mobius’ salad, handing him your own drink when he realized that Mobius’ drink was empty.

He gave you a nod of recognition and Mobius sent you another, even more exasperated glance as Loki poured your drink into the salad (although, in your opinion, seeing Loki grin like that made it worth it).

                                                             —— “How was Pompeii?” You asked, not even having to look up from the apocalypse case files to figure out that it was Loki who was approaching you.

He stopped for a minute, almost taken aback by your observation, before continuing and taking a seat in front of you.

“I was right, naturally.”

You scoffed slightly.

“Naturally.”

You looked up at him to find that his piercing eyes were already looking at you, almost curiously.

“You’re already sorting through the apocalypse files.”

“Naturally occurring disasters with no survivors, cross-referenced with the candy that Mobius picked up. You were confident that you were right so I figured I should start looking.”

Loki raised his eyebrows and smiled slightly.

“You’re smarter than you look. Could’ve saved me and Mobius some time.” 

“He forgot to cross-reference?”

He nodded, hesitating for a moment before he grabbed some of the files that you hadn’t started looking over yet.

You looked at him appreciatively, though he wasn’t looking at you anymore. 

The two of you sat there, looking at the case files in a comfortable silence for a couple of minutes before Mobius walked into your office as well.

“What’s this?” Mobius asked, taking a cursory glance at the file on top.

“Kablooie.” You said simply and Mobius sighed slightly, frustrated that he hadn’t thought of it.

He grabbed a couple of files as well, standing up as he started reading.

“I think I have something,” Loki said a couple of minutes later, splaying the case out on your desk so that everyone could see. “Class ten apocalypse. Alabama, 2050.”

You looked it over and even just with a cursory glance, you could tell that this is where the Variant was hiding- you looked over at Mobius and saw pride on his face.

“You’re gonna take my job if I’m not careful.”

“Now to pitch it to Renslayer.” You said and Mobius nodded, already halfway out of your office. He closed the door behind him and you looked at Loki. “I don’t think I’ve seen him this excited in a while. In fact, the last time I saw him this excited, I think we saw a jet ski on a mission.”

Loki smiled to himself, though the expression disappeared when he looked back at you.

“And what about you?”

“Hm?” You tilted your head slightly, caught off-guard by the question.

“What excites you?” 

You held his gaze for a couple of moments, feeling uncomfortable with how he looked at you, as if he knew something about you that you didn’t know about yourself. 

You finally looked away, standing up.

“We should go meet Mobius. We’ll be heading out as soon as he gets the approval.”

“You say this like it’s a sure thing.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen Renslayer say no to him. Come on.”

                                                          ——

The rain sounded a hundred times louder when you were listening to it hit the roof of the Roxxcart, so loud that you could barely hear the sound of your own voice above the noise.

“What are you doing here?” You asked, positioning your reset baton defensively. The man standing by the plants seemed to hesitate slightly, although he was still much too calm for this kind of weather.

“Hurricane sale. Azaleas are half-off.”

“Could that be you?” You asked Loki, your eyes never leaving the man. Although his eyes continued to look between you and Loki, his gaze lingered on you longer.

“I… mean… I would’ve worn a suit, but it could be.”

You took a couple steps towards the man and he backed up, looking at you pleadingly.

“I don’t want to do this.” He said quietly and you tilted your head slightly, confused.

You took another step towards him.

“What-”

He grabbed your arm and a warm feeling came over your body.

A woman’s voice in your head lulled you to sleep, promising to bring you home and then everything went dark.

…

“Sylv, why are you acting so weird?” You asked, taking another sip of wine.

The blonde woman across from you smiled, although you could tell that she was forcing it for your sake.

“Another one of my suitors came and visited me today.” She said. You made a face and she laughed slightly.

“Complete fools, every one of them.”

“Fools for being deeply in love with me?” She asked, raising an eyebrow, almost as if she was allowing herself to play the part for a couple of brief moments.

“No, I’m above self-flagellation. They’re fools for thinking that they could ever win your heart.”

She laughed.

“And why is that?”

You leaned back in your chair.

“I have it on very good account that someone already has it.” You said and Sylvie‘s smile faded and her gaze didn’t quite meet yours, almost as if her mind was preoccupied elsewhere.

She looked back at you, her look apologetic.

The scene around you grew distorted, nothing quite clear anymore.

“I’m sorry.”

Her words repeated everywhere around you like you were in an echo chamber rather than…

Rather than…

Where were you?

The blonde woman that had been there a moment ago disappeared and with her, everything else.

…

When you came to, Mobius was kneeling beside you, waiting for you to wake up.

“C-7… are you okay?” He asked slowly, looking at you with more concern than you think anyone else ever has.

You propped yourself up and you looked around wildly for Loki or for the blonde woman- Sylvie- who had been in your head.

“Where are they?” You asked and you hated how desperate your voice sounded.

“They escaped. Take it easy, the Variant did a number on-”

“Mobius, I have to find her.” You said, trying to stand up only to be overwhelmed with nausea and dizziness.

Mobius supported you, keeping you from falling back onto the ground.

“I know. And we will, but we have more pressing issues right now. Come on.”

You didn’t protest, knowing that you wouldn’t be able to convince Mobius even if you promised to get him a jet ski afterwards.

What you had to do now, you would do alone.

He helped you through the portal back to the TVA and the rest of your team followed, all of them being immediately assigned to different Nexus events that were happening simultaneously.

You, being injured, were given the pass to stay back at the TVA. 

You wondered if the Timekeepers knew what you were about to do, if they could’ve predicted it- after all, they were the ones who had made you, right?

You headed to the sector of the TVA where they issued TemPads, looking at the data of where all the TemPads were jumping to and from when you stumbled upon something odd- there was a TemPad that only had one jump registered in its entire history.

TVA to Lamentis-1, 2077.

Huh.

The Variant- Sylvie- whatever her name was, must’ve found out a way to stop the TemPad from feeding data into the system, but it must’ve reset when she jumped to the TVA.

You grabbed one of the TemPad’s that were out of commission for charging, unplugging it. 

It was low on battery, but it would have to do.

You opened a portal for yourself using the exact same coordinates and time that they had put in and without any hesitation, you walked through.

#sylvie laufeydottir x reader #sylvie x reader #mcu sylvie x reader #mcu sylvie #sylvie #loki series #loki laufeyson #mcu loki #loki #mobius m mobius #tva #tva!reader #time variance authority #marvel #marvel x reader #marvel imagines #marvel imagine #mcu x reader #mcu imagine #MCU

[ecoamerica]

Watch the 2024 American Climate Leadership Awards for High School Students now: https://youtu.be/5C-bb9PoRLc

The recording is now available on ecoAmerica's YouTube channel for viewers to be inspired by student climate leaders! Join Aishah-Nyeta Brown & Jerome Foster II and be inspired by student climate leaders as we recognize the High School Student finalists. Watch now to find out which student received the $25,000 grand prize and top recognition!

#ACLA24 #ACLA24HighSchoolStudents #youtube #youtube video #climate leaders #climate solutions #climate action #climate and environment #climate #climate change #climate and health #climate blog #climate justice #climate news #weather and climate #environmental news #environment #environmental awareness #environment and health #environmental #environmental issues #environmental education #environmental justice #environmental protection #environmental health #high school students #high school #youth #youth of america #school

[whispering-about-loki]

A Little theory regarding the Loki series

Warning! Image-heavy!

I am going to preface this by saying that this won’t happen. Well, maybe it won’t. Most of it won’t. Maybe some of it will. So SPOILER warning, in case it does. 

I’ll put some of my thought process in a note at the end.

---------

After Loki is arrested and brought before court to be charged for his part in certain time crimes, Mobius M. Mobius takes him “somewhere to talk”. He shows Loki snippets of how his life would have gone if he hadn’t skipped out with the Tesseract, then he tells him that he needs his help. Someone has been causing changes throughout history, making a myriad of variant timelines. Mobius believes that someone is taking advantage of their position in the TVA to cause this chaos; but his superiors refuse to believe that any of their ranks would behave in such a manner. So Mobius figures that if you want to handle chaos, you need to embrace chaos, and without consulting his superiors about it, he offers the God of Mischief a deal: help him find and bring back the rogue agent, and Loki will get his freedom. 

It is, of course, against the rules; but Mobius is willing to bend the rules a bit, if it means ending the time incidents. Loki agrees, thinking he will be able to use the situation to escape. But Mobius understands Loki’s thought process and warns him that if he strays from his assignment, he will be brought right back to the TVA. Loki being Loki, though, does try to skip out; but after he is zipped right back to the TVA a couple times, he doesn’t try it again.

Loki then does what he agreed to, slipping through time with Mobius and looking for the cause of the chaos. Disconcertingly, though, Loki’s power and strength begin to diminish, to the point where simple attacks he should have been able to easily counter are enough to take him down. Mobius says he doesn’t know why it is happening.

After a while Mobius's superiors suspect he is up to something, so he begins sending Loki out on his own, staying behind at the TVA to keep the others off his trail. Loki still doesn't like being in someone's "servant", and he resents being kept on such a tight temporal leash; but he continues reporting back to Mobius. While on assignments, Loki occasionally ends up preventing disasters that the “Agent of Chaos” had set in motion; though he also can’t help but make some “small” changes to the timeline, himself.

Mobius tells him to be more careful, or he might cause unforeseen effects. When Loki scoffs at this, Mobius asks him if he wants to see the world where he “won” the battle of New York. Mobius doesn’t wait for Loki’s answer, but immediately ships Loki off to an apocalyptic-looking New York City. When Loki gets there, the air is cold to the point where he can see his own breath, and it is utterly silent. A result, it appears, of not only the Chitauri attack, but of the bomb that the Humans used to try to wipe out the invading army. Apparently, the only ones that got wiped out were the Humans -- Avengers and all.

Loki wanders around the desolation for a while, until he is at last found by a roving group of ragged men. They seem to recognize him and he is brought to the leader of the city, who happens to be himself. Boss-Loki has gone a bit around the bend, though. He has been stuck in this place for years since the attack, and has carved himself out a little “kingdom” in the ruins, based in an old arcade. Our Loki is shocked and almost disgusted to see how far he has fallen. When Boss-Loki’s men turn on him because of this other Loki’s presence, though, our Loki gets caught up in the fighting. He calls out to Mobius that he has made his point, and to get him out of there.

Loki goes on doing his “job” then, being more careful with time. At long last, he finds a strange object at the scene of one of the chaotic events, and he brings it back to Mobius, who recognizes it as something he had taken from one of the young agent recruits, a girl named Sylvie. Mobius explains that some of the agents in the TVA are clones (like himself), but that some are recruited at a young age by the TVA because they show special abilities. Sometimes these recruitments occur from outside the main timeline, which is where they found Sylvie. Not only was she a gifted individual, but the TVA records showed that she should not have existed in the first place; so they took her in to train her, and also so that her presence would not disrupt the flow of time. 

Mobius and Loki go to confront her in her room, but she is gone. Mobius feels responsible because it was he that “recruited” Sylvie. Additionally, he knew that she had a habit of slipping through time on “joy rides” and coming back with souvenirs, which was strictly against the rules. She always seemed innocent, though, so he went easy on her about it. Hidden in a drawer in her room, they find other “souvenirs”, and Loki notes that some of them have Asgardian runes on them. Mobius says that Sylvie is human, according to her genetic code, so he doesn’t understand what she is doing with the runes. 

As they ponder the meaning of this, an alarm sounds in the TVA headquarters, and they know something terrible is happening in some variant timeline. They leave Sylvie’s room to try to get to the portals to take them to the time-incident; but on the way, some TVA agents try to stop them. They claim that Loki is the rogue element that has been causing all of the chaos, and that he needs to be “erased” as soon as possible. 

Mobius pretends to be on the agents' side, then sets them off-guard so Loki can get to the scene of chaos. After fighting his way through the Minutemen that are guarding the portals, Loki arrives when/where Sylvie is--at a quarry mine--the moon is shattered and the fragments are falling to the Earth. 

Loki runs to get to safety, and the ground opens up as the mine before him collapses, blocking him off from the now-adult Sylvie, who is staring up at the falling moon. She turns and looks at him just as the ground completely falls out from underneath him.

Suddenly the world around him stills and he lands hard on the ground. He struggles to his feet and looks up to see that everything has frozen around him. As he is standing there, gaping in disbelief, he turns and sees Sylvie standing beside him. She is wearing clothing very similar to his old Asgardian outfit, and she is smiling at the destruction and chaos before them.

“Hello, Father,” she says. “Have I made you proud?”

-------

-------

Notes: 

SPOILERS below.

My main thought was that since Cailey Fleming is listed as playing “Young Sylvie”, that would imply the presence of an older Sylvie. Otherwise, she would have been listed as “Sylvie”. Sylvie Lushton being the girl that Loki, in the comics, empowered and/or created, and who later became a version of Enchantress. 

That is who I think Sophia Di Martino is playing as an adult, rather than Lady Loki, like I used to think. Her hair is the wrong color to be Loki, for one thing; and she has been shown filming in the same location as Tom Hiddleston, who was wearing an Agent outfit at the time. I’m not gonna put the set photos here, but you know the ones... the pictures where she is wearing just about the same outfit as Loki has in the past. And we know that this character is the one that is causing the chaos, because in those set photos she is wearing a certain pair of boots and fingerless gloves, both of which are freeze-frame bonusses on the “mystery figure” in the trailer (when she drops the lantern and lifts her hands to her hood).

I’d also like to point out that she is wearing what appears to be a sword on her hip:

Anyway, I figure it goes something like this: 

Sylvie exists because another version of Loki had adopted her when he discovered that she had talents close to his own. He had begun training her how to use magic; but he was not so good a teacher as Frigga was, and the training was complicated by her wily and independent nature. Loki in that timeline died, though, leaving Sylvie alone. 

The TVA (specifically, Mobius) took her in, but because of her abilities, she was naturally able to slip through time, create illusions, age herself up and down, etc. Eventually, she decided she would “make her father proud” by sowing chaos. The thing is, she has grown stronger and more chaotic since Loki showed up at the TVA, because she has been inadvertently drawing his power and life force from him -- basically depowering him to charge herself up (c’mon... he gets laid out by a Roomba...). In fact, the draining of his life-force was what killed her “father” in her own timeline, though she didn’t know it.

Additionally (and on another note), the Loki series is said to be a “crime thriller” with sci-fi aspects; so while Loki tracking down a rogue time-agent seems to be a pretty straightforward idea, it could be given a nice twist at the end by having the rogue element not be an agent, but someone of Loki’s own making. And it would be one hell of a cliffhanger for the next season.

And... that���s all I got for now.

#loki #loki series #loki laufeyson #loki series spoilers #marvel

[taaroko]

Saw Eternals. Hoo boy.

This whole post is going to be spoilers, so begone if you don’t want them. I need to vent.

I was prepared to be pleasantly surprised by this movie. I’ve liked all the other new MCU content to come out in 2021, which I know isn’t a universal opinion by far. The title didn’t inspire much excitement, but I thought Guardians of the Galaxy and Ant-Man sounded extremely stupid and then I ended up loving them, so maybe Eternals was going to be a surprise hit for me too. 

Nope. I legitimately enjoy several of the MCU movies that a lot of people claim are bad, particularly Thor: The Dark World (Incredible Hulk, not so much). This is unequivocally the new bottom for me for the films, and overall I’d put it somewhere slightly above Inhumans and Punisher S2 but below Iron Fist S1. I did not like it. I wish I could swap the runtimes of Eternals and Venom: Let There Be Carnage. (Andy Serkis seems proud of how short his movie is, but those characters deserve the breathing room Eternals wasted.) 

The best thing about Eternals is probably the visual style. Their powers have a mostly unique look to them and their costumes are cool. It was interesting to look at. But visuals can’t carry the whole thing.

This movie is exceptionally bad at “show, don’t tell” when it comes to the plot. So much exposition that could’ve been conveyed through interesting visuals instead of an opening text crawl (which has no music behind it, making it feel much longer than it actually is) and a whole 10-minute scene where Arishem explains the twist (i.e. the Celestial life cycle). It sucks most of the drama and sense of betrayal out of it, especially when it still has to be re-explained to each additional character they find scattered across the world. Loki and even Captain Marvel are much better at showing that the organization presented as the long-trusted authority is actually bad.

I assume they opted for dry exposition instead of something cool to watch in order to make room for all the character building in such a large cast of new characters. It was mostly a bad trade, except for Gilgamesh and Thena, who I like, except they killed off one and failed to do much with the other’s interesting struggles, so that’s great. By the end I was barely invested in any of them, and it’s gonna be an uphill battle for whoever the heck Kit Harrington’s character is supposed to be in the larger MCU.

After all that exposition, there isn’t even good follow-through in the plot. Arishem says Tiamut needs billions of sentient beings as fuel to be born, but during the Emergence, it looks like it’s just gonna poke out of Earth’s crust like a baby chick, and the only reason that will be bad news for humans is because of the natural disasters that will result from it thrashing about to get free of the eggshells. The battle does not at all make it clear that Tiamut needed to gestate on a populated planet. This could’ve been a fabulous eldritch horror sequence where every human on Earth doubles over with a migraine at the same time, kinda like in X-2, worsening the more active Tiamut becomes. It would’ve made the stakes very visceral instead of relying entirely on Tiamut’s hugeness for that. 

The Deviants looked cool but end up feeling pretty wasted as a concept. As soon as the main one absorbed a second set of powers and gained the ability to speak, I was hoping that the Eternals were going to team up with them against Tiamut. Or at the very least that they’d find a way to wire the Deviants into the rest of the group when they pooled their energy to take Tiamut down. They do not, and all they do with the remaining Deviants is kill them in normal combat. Boo.

Before the movie came out, everyone was like “where were the Eternals when Thanos showed up?” and I was prepared for a good explanation to that. At first, I thought the movie delivered on that front, if little else, because they straight up state their reason for not interfering, which works because we later find out that the Eternals have been unwittingly working for beings that don’t care about saving lives. But then fridge logic kicks in and actually no, this explanation doesn’t work at all. The Celestials NEED big populations to be born! They would violently oppose Thanos’s goals purely for dietary reasons, even if they don’t care about the moral ones. It’s not even that the Eternals should’ve dealt with Thanos; Arishem should’ve personally squished him like a bug the first time he slaughtered half a planet’s population! And it might have made Thanos retroactively make more sense if his goal was to thwart the Celestials, but he specifically cited resource scarcity as the problem he wanted to address...which is a problem the Celestials claim to already be the solution for. By thwarting Celestials, Thanos is actually creating the resource scarcity problem. So this explanation ends up retroactively making Thanos make even less sense. 

While I didn’t dislike any of the main characters, there were only a few that I actually enjoyed watching. The main couple in particular is so boring, which is a serious problem when they end up being on opposite sides of the plot in the final battle. How hard would it have been to give them personalities so that their conflict would actually hurt to watch?

Ikaris flying into the sun could not have been more on the nose. I couldn’t believe they went there.

Kumail Nanjiani’s character and his cameraman/director friend were the most fun parts of the movie, but he isn’t in the entire final battle! Was that a COVID thing? Did he get stuck in another country so they had to write him out of that part for a lame reason? Because that kinda sucked. 

Bad, deeply uncomfortable call to have Sprite, the immortal child, be in love with Ikaris. I know they’re technically the same age but it’s super weird visually, and then her big speech about how hard it is to fit in on Earth gets horribly undercut by her getting bonked on the head the second she finishes talking. By a character whose survival was not explained, no less.

And finally, bold move, Marvel, to reference DC characters for the first time ever in your only movie that’s worse than some of the DCEU clunkers. I probably would’ve been making the comparison anyway since you’ve got a dude who flies and shoots lasers out of his eyes, but you invited the negative comparison by drawing attention to it. The Eternals are basically the Justice League but lame (while also trying to take credit for several different ancient pantheons). Ikaris is no Superman, but he’s not interesting enough to be Homelander either. Anywhere else, I would’ve liked the idea that kids in the MCU read DC comics and vice versa, but this was not a good place to get that going.

So yeah I’m just gonna headcanon that the Celestials are full of BS and don’t actually create galaxies. The big moral dilemma of the movie is absurd. Is it evil to kill an entire planet to birth a new galaxy full of planets more Celestials can destroy when they’re born, especially without telling that planet it’s going to happen? Um, yes. That’s basically the same argument as whether or not, as a doctor, if you discover that an expectant mother is 100% going to die if she carries the baby to term, is it wrong not to tell her that and just let it happen? YES. Only in the movie, the expectant mother is an entire planet that still doesn’t know it’s pregnant on delivery day. Why are we even having this debate? The people living on Earth right now are not responsible for preventing the eventual heat death of the universe by dying horribly. The Eternals dithering about it for the second half of the movie after the first half dragged so much was ridiculous. 

#dead dove do not eat #eternals spoilers #on the bright side nobody will ever be able to say The Dark World is the worst MCU movie again #TDW is a masterpiece compared to this mess #it even makes Incredible Hulk look good #this did not feel like it was made with passion

[ryoskuna]

dumb thought because I'm stuck in my brainrot but sukuna x reader except the reader is a loki variant

okay, first off, no such thing as a dumb thought. second of all, this would be excellent, although probably a great prompting of the reassessment of calling someone a god and actually being one, i.e. the actual reader as a loki variant. but this also makes me wonder, ya know how loki can do illusions? does loki variant!reader make an illusion of sukuna's og body and scare the shit out of the elders/locals?

like what could possibly go wrong about letting sukuna be tall again :)

also forgive me, i am a heathen who has only seen all of one episode of loki in its entirety (aka the first one), but i've gotten the spoilers from twitter, so I suppose it's fine? i also find this amusing because consider sukuna's curiosity of where cursed energy begins (if reader has it at all) and where their magic ends. or is their magic based on cursed energy or would it be classified as a type of cursed technique?

sukuna and his chaotic magic s/o... can we get the loki horns but as a brooch on like a blazer or something?? at least sukuna never has to run out of shirts I suppose when loki variant!reader can provide, but I mean now I'm thinking about loki variant!reader being very morally gray, and i don't know, just reader and sukuna's degrees of chaos sound pretty interesting to watch in my opinion

sukuna... the natural disaster... and loki variant!reader, being of mischief

#loki spoilers #just to be safe #leia answers. #bamboozled-corvid #sukuna x reader

[ao3feed-lokiangst]

The Familiar and the Strange

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/3f9ofZW

by fictionsparks

But there was something strange, something off, in his eyes.

“Take is easy…” Mobius began. “You’re an analyst, right? What division are you from?”

“What?”

Words: 5370, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Fandoms: Loki (TV 2021)

Rating: Not Rated

Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence

Categories: M/M

Characters: Loki (Marvel), Sylvie (Loki TV), Mobius M. Mobius, Hunter B-15 (Marvel), Thor (Marvel), Variant!Mobius

Relationships: Loki/Mobius M. Mobius, Loki & Mobius M. Mobius

Additional Tags: Post-Canon, Season/Series 01, Spoilers for season one, forgive me for what I do to variant!mobius, Blood and Violence, Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Physical Abuse, Apocalypse, Natural Disasters

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/3f9ofZW

#IFTTT #ao3feed #fanfic #loki #loki fanfic #loki fanfiction #marvel cinematic universe #angst

[wp-blaze]

The Pure, Unadulterated Gospel

I want to get back to the basics, and be very plain, because I have been told that my articles are too long. This article is going to be a “remake” of “The solution to evil, The Good News”, and this time I want to give without any digression the pure message of the Gospel […]

[aion-rsa]

Marvel’s Loki Episode 3: MCU Easter Eggs and References

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

This article contains Marvel’s Loki episode 3 spoilers.

Marvel’s Loki episode 3 is a big one. It’s the first episode of the series to spend the entirety of its runtime outside of the TVA offices, the first where we get to spend a substantial amount of time with the mysterious Sylvie, and the coolest visit to an extraterrestrial location we’ve had in the MCU since Avengers: Endgame.

It’s a big one, and there’s lots of cool MCU things you might have missed, or might not know about from the pages of Marvel Comics…and more!

Here’s what we found in Marvel’s Loki episode 3. 

Lamentis

The planet Lamentis was introduced in the pages of Annihilation: Conquest Prologue (the very story that established the modern incarnation of the Guardians of the Galaxy). It exists on the outer rim of the Kree empire and is filled with scavengers trying to gather scarce resources via force. The Phyla-Vell version of Quasar and Moondragon were there to help keep the peace, mainly protecting a sect of pacifist priests from those who would take their stuff.

But to be clear, the events of Loki episode 3 take place on Lamentis-1, a moon of Lamentis, and it’s the planet itself that is breaking up and crashing into the moon, not the other way around.

Interestingly, while the lighting choices for this episode were most definitely a very specific story choice (more on that in a minute), it’s also in keeping with the way Lamentis was colored in its only comic book appearance.

Sylvie, Lady Loki, The Enchantress

We don’t get a TON of clarity on the nature of Sophia Di Martino’s Loki variant, but despite her “Sylvie” name, the balance is tipping further in the direction of her being a true “Lady Loki” and not strictly the Sylvie Lushton version of Enchantress from Marvel Comics (we wrote more about this confusing distinction here).

That being said, she’s not NOT Sylvie/Enchantress, either! It seems that Sylvie is indeed a variant Loki (recent merchandise reveals have officially shown that she is “Sylvie Laufeydottir” (as opposed to “Loki Laufeyson”)  so that’s another sign that she’s truly a variant of our Loki. For some reason (probably a good one) she doesn’t want to be known as a Loki anymore, hence “Sylvie,” and she does use enchantments as a primary power, hence “Enchantress.”

So the answer here is still “yes” to any of these questions, but we’re leaning on the simplest explanation being the correct one: she’s a Loki variant, and in true MCU fashion they’re just mashing up other elements of mythology from the comics to make a cool new character.

There’s also some serious Moonlighting energy between the hedonistic Loki and the more serious and on-mission Sylvie all through this episode, but we’re wondering how many of you are even old enough to remember Moonlighting, and that is depressing. 

The Loki/Enchantress-appropriate green tie-dye that Sylvie is rocking in the bar “flashback” is pretty cool, but not an Easter egg. But maybe we should bring tie-dye back this summer.

Loki is Bisexual

The “bisexual lighting” that Lamentis is bathed in throughout the entirety of the episode is no accident, as it’s revealed that both Loki and Sylvie are bisexual. Loki director Kate Herron spoke briefly about this reveal on Twitter, as well:

From the moment I joined @LokiOfficial it was very important to me, and my goal, to acknowledge Loki was bisexual. It is a part of who he is and who I am too. I know this is a small step but I’m happy, and heart is so full, to say that this is now Canon in #mcu #Loki 💗💜💙 pic.twitter.com/lz3KJbewx8

— Kate Herron (@iamkateherron) June 23, 2021

As far as we can tell, in terms of the comics, Loki’s bisexuality first came up in Young Avengers #15. After saving the world and getting a bit of a pep talk from Prodigy, a late-teen incarnation of Loki hit on his teammate for the sake of celebration, but was ultimately turned down.

“My culture doesn’t really share your concept of sexual identity,” Loki said in that issue. “There are sexual acts, that’s it. I’m actually the patron god of certain popular ones, believe it or not.” (some very cursory research fails to confirm that last point, which would really be perfectly in keeping for Loki to lie about)

“Another!”

When partying up on the train, Loki smashes his empty glass and excitedly asks for another. This is exactly what his brother does in the first Thor movie after enjoying a cup of coffee at a diner. It’s an Asgardian custom!

The Songs

The song that opens the episode is “Demons” by Hayley Kiyoko, which also includes some potentially Loki-specific lines as “Please forgive me, I’ve got demons in my head, tryin’ to eat me, tryin’ to feed me lies until I’m dead.”

The song that closes the episode is “Dark Moon,” a 1957 country hit by Bonnie Guitar (there are other versions, including a rare one by Elvis Presley and a really cool one by Chris Isaak for the soundtrack of the very cool and underrated A Perfect World, but the version here is Bonnie’s). It’s a little on-the-nose with the events happening on Lamentis, but also features haunting lyrics that may hint at something more: “Mortals have dreams of love’s perfect schemes, but they don’t realize that love will sometimes bring a…Dark Moon.”

Does anyone know the name of the song that Loki sings while he’s “full?” If so, please let us know in the comments!

The TVA

The mobile devices that TVA agents use to navigate through timelines are given a name in this episode: TemPads. 

We get a couple more bits of important TVA context this episode. The first is that apparently the Time Keepers reside at the top floor accessible by a golden elevator in the TVA offices. When Hunter C-20 said she “gave up the location” of the Time Keepers last week, who could have expected the answer to be so simple?

Additionally, Sylvie reveals at episode’s end that all TVA employees had a life prior to joining the TVA. In fact, every TVA worker was at some point a Variant just like Loki and Sylvie. This directly contradicts Miss Minutes’ claim that the TVA employees were created by the Time Keepers to police the Sacred Timeline. This may mean that Mobius was also lying to Loki about the nature of TVA agents…UNLESS…in the comics, Mobius was one of many Mobiuses, because the TVA engaged in “managerial cloning” for their best representatives, while employing “freelancers” for other work. Perhaps Mobius was telling Loki his truth, while Sylvie’s theory about the Variants being conscripted into service as Minutemen is ALSO true.

During the end credits, there’s a collection of TVA file photos on a desk, showing Loki and Sylvie together. Apparently, they’re getting their images from their exploits from Lamentis-1, as one photo is specifically Loki as a train guard. Looks like these two aren’t as hidden from the authorities as they realized.

Miscellaneous Time Variants

Funny enough, the shot of Loki landing after being thrown out of the train is framed to look exactly like when Loki fell out of Doctor Strange’s portal in Thor: Ragnarok.

The two soldiers at the entrance to the train are called Corporal Hicks and Private Hudson which is a neat nod to Michael Biehn and Bill Paxton’s characters in Aliens!

The guards on Lamentis look kind of like they’re wearing Cobra uniforms, don’t they?

There’s a serious Snowpiercer vibe to that “rich folks getting on a train to escape a natural disaster/apocalypse while the poor are left to suffer and die.” Wait, that is actually a real life vibe, too.

If episode 2 was a police procedural, this episode is very much “peak TV,” right down to its use of an obscure needledrop to end the episode coming out of an elaborate “one take” action sequence. Daredevil no longer has a monopoly on those in Marvel TV, it would seem.

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

Spot something we missed? Let us know in the comments!

The post Marvel’s Loki Episode 3: MCU Easter Eggs and References appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3xLb0W9

#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

[thesffcorner]

Spider-Man: Far From Home

Spider-man: Far from Home is the second of the MCU Spider-man films, directed by John Watts. It follows Peter Parker, right after the events of Endgame, as he and his class go on a well deserved vacation to Europe. Peter wants to use the trip to woo MJ, which ends up taking a backseat when a series of elemental natural disasters hit the Earth, and Nick Fury needs Spider-man to help.

I wasn’t a huge fan of the original Marvel Spider-man film; I found the story overly complicated and underdeveloped, and while I enjoyed the individual components of the film, like Michael Keaton as Vulture, Tom Holland as Peter, and Peter’s friends, I found the overall film average at best. So I’m happy to report that this film is leagues better, and IMHO is the best Spider-man film we’ve gotten to date.

Let’s start with the plot: this film deals with a lot of elements, just like the first film did, but it does a much better job of integrating them, and giving them each enough time to develop and have an impact. Peter himself is dealing with a lot; he has just lost 5 years of his life, he lost his mentor and father figure, everyone expects him to step up and be the next Iron-man, while all he wants to do is take a vacation and be a teenager. One of the best aspects of Spider-man as a character is this push and pull between Peter struggling to do the right thing, and be the hero everyone needs him to be, and his desire to have a normal life, and this film really leans into this friction.

At the same time, the villain choice is beautifully executed by Jake Gyllenhall playing Misterio. As a kid, Misterio was one of my favorite Spider-man villains, along with Black Cat, Silver Sable and Venom, because he had such a cool backstory of being this special effects master who can perform amazing illusions with practical effects. This film updates his backstory and his powers, now leaning a lot more on technology and holograms.

The thing about Misterio, is that he’s not an A list villain; he’s a Vulture level threat, who’s been present in other series, but has mostly stayed in the Spider-man series, as a neighborhood level threat. Here both the film and the plot push him to be more extreme, and what they come up with is genuinely one of the most outright villainous and selfish characters the MCU has come up with.

There are many things to like about this film; the trailers seemed to imply this would be a more dower, serious film, but it really isn’t; it’s a comedy first, even though it does touch on some rather heavy subjects. The tone is perfectly set by the opening sequence which is an In Memoriam for the fallen Avengers and then talks about the fallout of the Blip (what a dumbass name, what was wrong with the Snap). It’s a scene reminiscent of the PE scene in the first Spider-man with Captain America and it was really funny.

The film is pretty good at taking advantage of the things it sets up; for example there are a lot of really funny bits involving the school trip, with Misterio and Nick Fury high-jacking portions of it, while the two high school teachers try to keep everything under control. The parts set in Venice really take advantage of the city as a setting, and I would like to say the same about Berlin and Prague, but unfortunately it seems like the filmmakers were less confident about those sections.

By far the best fight scene and the most creative sequence in the film is the one that takes place in Berlin, where Misterio just wails on Peter with one illusion after the next, and it’s incredibly well shot, paced and executed. One thing that’s been a common complaint about Marvel’s films, especially the bigger ones, is that they look drab and colorless and don’t fully take advantage of the superhero tropes, and this film is not like that. It understands Misterio not just as a character, but as an entity, and really uses his powers to the fullest advantage. The colors in the film are also great; this is the most colorful of the Marvel films set on Earth, and it was much appreciated.

One thing I was worried about here, which was also one of my main complaints in the first Spider-man, was that Peter would be a side character in his own film. The first Spider-man really pushed Tony to the forefront, and as a result, Peter just didn’t have enough time to develop on his own. That’s an important part of Peter’s character; that he has to deal with a lot of things alone, because there really isn’t anyone he can turn and talk to about being a superhero, and because he’s afraid of putting the people he loves in danger.

This film gets that right; Peter still has a support group, as May, Ned and Happy know who he is, but they don’t entirely understand what he’s going through. They all count on him being ok, and being strong and doing the right thing, without realizing that Peter is having a crisis of faith, now that Tony is gone. So I absolutely bought the relationship between him and Beck, as Beck really was this confident, collected man, who treats Peter like what he is; a confused teenager who desperately needs guidance. The whole film really focuses on Peter’s struggles to be the man everyone wants him to be, vs what he wants to be, and how being a superhero takes a toll on his life.

Nick Fury was another bit that I was afraid of, and it’s the one part that I’m still not sure what to think of. On the one hand, this is the closest Nick Fury has been to his comic counterpart in any of the films; on the other, a lot of the stuff he does in the film, doesn’t seem like stuff Nick Fury would do. There is an explanation for that, but it’s impossible to talk about without spoilers, so I’ll leave it for the end.

As for the rest of the characters, this film does a great job at giving everyone at least one funny moment. The teachers are great, the other classmates are great, I really enjoyed the rivalry between Brad and Peter, and especially the relationship between Betty and Ned. Ned is a criminally underrated character, and he had some of the funniest lines here. I also really like this version of MJ; she is as awkward if not more so than Peter, and I like that they are having her go into a journalist/detective route, seeing as she likes investigating and true crime.

Finally we have Beck, or Misterio. I already said that I loved the relationship between him and Peter; they had excellent chemistry, and the switch that Beck goes through was so well done by Gyllenhall. He could easily play both a Tony Stark type hero, as well as a Loki type villain, and the film compromises by letting him do both. It was the closest any of these villains have gotten to Alfred Molina’s amazing turn as Doc Ock.

Before I go, I briefly want to talk about the ending. So warning, SPOILERS. First off, why was all the stuff with J Jonah Jemison and Beck in the post credit scene? That was a really important sequence, and it completely changes the tone of the film! It sets up such a different status quo for Peter, that I am SHOCKED that they thought it was a good idea to leave it as a mid-roll scene! Also the fact that J K Simmons is back as Jemison, except now he’s an Alex Jones type/Rebel Media conspiracy theorist is a m a z i n g. Then we have the second post credit scene where we find out that Nick Fury was Talos the whole time, which would explain why he was acting so OOC the whole film, and why he was so easily manipulated by Beck. The real Nick Fury is off-world with the Skrulls, so is this a set-up for Secret Invasion? I guess we’ll have to see.

Overall, I really liked this film. It’s fun, it’s funny, it has some great characters, a great villain and some excellent cinematography. I would absolutely recommend it, even if you didn’t like the first Spider-man.

#spiderman #spiderman ffh #spiderman ffh review #moni talks #film review

[thoughts-of-loyalty]

Captain Marvel (2019) Review

So, I saw the Captain Marvel movie recently (on 3/9, as this’ll likely end up posted a bit late) and as the big movie that’s set to bridge the gap between Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, as well as the big-screen debut of Captain Marvel (not to mention the first Marvel female hero to get the limelight), there was a lot of excitement and hype built around this film.  Starring the titular Captain Marvel, real name Carol Danvers, and set in the 90s - before any film sans Captain America 1 - we’re given a look into the origins of the “Strongest Avenger,” the one Nick Fury sought to call upon at the end of Infinity War to fight against Thanos.

Full movie spoilers and my opinions below.

Synopsis: This film focuses on the origin story, so to say, of the future Carol Danvers/”Vers” (as she’s known among the Kree), in the adventure that sets her on the path to become the superheroine known as Captain Marvel.  Believing herself to be a part of the Kree due to memory loss, she is part of a group tasked with investigating the reported abduction of a Kree agent who was captured by the Skrulls (an alien species capable of mimicking the appearance of any human they view, one which is supplemented by their poorly-elaborated-upon talents at learning a lot about their targets).  Due to events beyond her control, she is separated from her Kree allies and ends up stranded on Earth.  Discovering details about her past life while there, she teams up with a young Nick Fury to discover the truth about her past and how intimately tied she is to the current Skrull-Kree conflict...

The Good:

The Visuals: To be sure, Captain Marvel - like all other big budget Marvel films - is a visual spectacle.  The CGI is very on-point for this film, the fight scenes are generally well handled, and it generally managed to capture the 90s look and vibes that the film is set in fairly well.  The Skrull are also made to look great for their big screen debut, with amazing work put into the transformation scenes, and Captain Marvel’s abilities are a visual delight.

Not Bogged Down by Continuity: One good thing about Captain Marvel in the relative sense is that it doesn’t bog itself down much with a desire to connect itself to the other films.  While some things will certainly make more sense in context of other movies (such as the importance of the power source everyone is fighting over and who exactly Phil Coulson is in relation to Nick Fury), the movie is self-contained enough that one can enjoy it without feeling they need to see everything Marvel-related prior to keep themselves informed.  This is in contrast to, say, Ant-Man 2 or Spider-Man, which require one to have seen Captain America: Civil War to understand all the ongoing character dynamics.

A Straightforward Story: Tying in to the above, but Captain Marvel never loses itself in trying to tell an overly-complex narrative with a million different plot-lines at once.  While there is certainly a twist or two to be had, the movie kept itself focused on the important characters and most of it’s attention was on Captain Marvel and her personal journey.  It told the story it wanted to tell and never did it veer into pointless sub-plots or give focus to truly meaningless characters.

A Lack of a Love Story: In what is something of personal gripe, I appreciate the complete lack of a romance story in this film.  A common criticism that has been directed at many other Marvel films was the inclusion of romance between the male lead and a major female character (usually inspired by one of the comic romances), usually to the detriment of the film as the romances were rather out of nowhere and had little purpose beyond just having one.  This film didn’t have any of that, and while one could make arguments or ship as shippers are wont to do, there was never a “These two are suddenly in love and kissing because there needs to be a romance” moment and I am glad.

The Cast is Well-Acted: A bit of a weird one, I suppose, but most of Captain Marvel’s cast is just as enjoyable to watch as any other Marvel movie’s cast.  I never felt a single cast member wasn’t giving the role their best, and while the dialogue could be cringe-worthy at times, it was only ever due to the script, not the actor/tress in the role.

A Good Message: It was made no secret that Captain Marvel would be a primarily feminist film and have messages about gender equality and women not needing the approval of men to be who they are.  And the film delivered it with only a minor heavy-handed approach.  The female characters were all competent and never eye-candy, but at the same time the movie never used the “machismo men who talk big but are actually pretty lame” trope other less-subtle movies used, all the characters were as competent as they were implied to be.  It was occasionally blunt during some portions of dialogue, but it never felt forced and it carried its message well.

The Bad

A Tonal Disaster: The movie was unfortunately bogged down by an overindulgence, so to say, on comedy.  Now, this in and of itself is not an issue, as Guardians of the Galaxy and Thor: Ragnarok can prove - a movie can be primarily comedic in nature but still have great stories and be serious when they need to (though one could argue both had tonal issues, I wouldn’t deny that).  That said, where this movie most falters is in how it tries to be primarily comedic at times where characters necessarily shouldn’t - for example, there’s a earlier on moment where Carol blasts open a door some time after Nick Fury had done secret spy stuff to open a prior one, making him incredulously ask why she hadn’t done so before and her responding she didn’t want to steal his thunder.  This is at a time when Carol knows there’s a time limit of sorts (the Kree are due to arrive in less than 20 hours to rescue her) and Carol is learning about events that may intimately involve her and her lost memory, but they let the cast wait around so they can have this joke.  This is around the point I started to worry for the movie, as well, because I could tell the movie would be willing to let it’s mood go to waste for a quick joke.

A return to basic villains: One common issue held with many of the earlier Marvel films was the very weak villains in their movies.  They could look cool or be menacing, but Loki was pretty was really the only one who was complex for the longest time.  It took until arguably either The Winter Soldier or Age of Ultron to buck this trend and give us memorable or complex villains.  This continued for most of Phase 3, with their villains being complex, sympathetic at times, or otherwise memorable presences.  Spoilers: the Skrulls were build up as that, but plot twist, the Skrulls aren’t the villains, the Kree are.  And the Kree do nothing to establish themselves as memorable villains - you could arguably have even forgotten two of them were main antagonists in the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie.  The only relatively memorable one is Yon-Rogg, Carol’s mentor, and the two spend so little time properly interacting after he’s revealed as a villain that any complexity he could have is never properly utilized.  For that matter...

The Supreme Intelligence is kinda pointless: Tying into how the Kree are an unfortunate return to basic villains, the Supreme Intelligence - the Artificial Intelligence ruler of the Kree - is an exemplar of this aspect of the Kree in this movie.  The Supreme Intelligence is something of a recurring presence in this movie (though I use that term lightly, given that it only appears before Carol for a grand total of five minutes if I’m being generous), and as the guiding force behind the Kree, it is technically the main antagonist of the film (Yon-Rogg is the most present of the Kree antagonists, but his actions are ultimately guided by the Supreme Intelligence).  As noted above, though, Carol and the Supreme Intelligence only spend about five minutes together, and only half of THAT time is spent as them on opposing sides, where it is little more than a generic overlord-emperor type, giving us a nothing driving force for the antagonists as a whole. Which is unfortunate, because...

The Kree are very underdeveloped in general: This is an issue because for a chunk of her life, after receiving amnesia, Carol considers the Kree her people and becomes part of a Kree task force.  While somewhat understandable that she’d be willing to stand against them as they’re responsible for her predicament in various capacities, the movie spends so little time developing the relationship between them and the other Kree.  Neither she nor the named Kree she battles seem to hold any strong emotion about coming to blows, to the point that they could have been replaced with a random Kree task force she never knew and nothing would have changed.  This goes double for both Korath and Ronan, who were incredibly flat villains in Guardians of the Galaxy - any hopes one might have had that they’d receive stronger characterization was misplaced, as they’re just as one-dimensional as before.

“Subverting Audience Expectations” ruins the Skrull: Many have (supposedly?) praised the Skrull for their role in the movie as a red herring antagonist who are actually sympathetic, with many bringing back the old praise of “This movie is great because it subverts audience expectations” that popped up during Star Wars: The Last Jedi.  I have a much longer rant about that, but that isn’t the issue I mean to address here.  And before anyone gets on my case, I have no desire to argue “the Skrull are ruined because they don’t follow their comic book selves;” the MCU is perfectly allowed to reimagine the Skrull as they desire, and if they wish to make the Skrull sympathetic, then that is their prerogative. In this case, the issue is that they’re so intent on making the Skrull red herrings that the Skrulls pre-reveal and post-reveal are essentially entirely different beings.  Before the reveal, Skrulls are making an proactive effort to discover what they need, capturing a Kree agent and luring Carol in with deception to read her mind and learn where to go, and when they get to Earth, they immediately install themselves so that they can best discover what they need to know - which isn’t necessarily bad, because that can still be played as sympathetic but willing to do whatever is necessary to get what they need to survive.  But post-reveal, the Skrull we knew as antagonists are almost entirely different beings - Talos and his “Science Guy” are almost comic relief after the truth is revealed, albeit with a few moments of competence (for a prime example of their newfound incompetence, it’s revealed the Skrull couldn’t find Wendy Lawson’s lab because their “science guy” didn’t realize the coordinates they were trying to figure out were directing them to space).  Talos in particular goes from “Leader of the Skrull remnant doing whatever is necessary to save his species and his family” to “Leader of the Skrulls who wants to save his people but never wanted to hurt anyone while doing it.”  Sure, Marvel subverted our expectations, but when your red herring is essentially two different characters before and after the reveal, it’s no wonder audiences ended up surprised.

Nick Fury backstory is now a joke: Now, this in and of itself isn’t an issue - there’s no rule stating Samuel L. Jackson NEEDS to be badass in every movie, or we can’t have a “Younger Nick Fury who is comedic due to being new to it all.”  Like I noted above, Nick Fury is generally competent - as are most characters in this film, even the Skrull post-reveal - and does well enough in his role in the film.  But there’s an elephant in the room: how Nick Fury lost his eye.  Namely, he lost his eye to Goose the Cat/Flerken after the cat decided is was being messed with and scratched his eye.  Yes, you read that right.  Nick Fury’s lost eye was due to him essentially getting scratched by an alien in cat form he pissed off.  And no, it wasn’t “rampaging alien form that hit him with a massive claw,” no, it’s “small house cat claw to the eye.” Now, if it isn’t clear why exactly it’s bad, let me explain it in a bit better detail.  This isn’t just an issue of “We wanted to subvert audience expectations, so Nick Fury lost his eye in a funny way because no one saw it coming” - though it still is that, too.  Rather, the issue here is that what happened here is now canon, and is retroactively canon for the whole of the MCU up to that point.  Nick Fury justifying why he hid secrets to Captain Freakin’ America as because “Last time I trusted someone, I lost an eye.” - that’s the story he tells everyone because he’s too embarrassed to admit the truth.  That big reveal at the end of the Winter Soldier, where he reveals he had a backup retinal scan of his scarred eye because he was just that prepared in case someone tried to lock him out of the S.H.I.E.L.D. systems by removing the retinal scan of his good eye?  Thank goodness he had that eye scarred by a cat, otherwise, there’s no way that plan would’ve had a chance of working later on.  Him calling Coulson, his most loyal supporter, “His good eye?”  Thank goodness a cat clawed out his eye so he could make it clear how much Coulson meant to him with that distinction. That’s the big gamble you take when you retroactively introduce a character’s backstory in a prequel - everything that happened there is now canon to everything since.  And now Nick Fury’s backstory in the MCU will forever be “He lost it to an annoyed cat,” because Captain Marvel decided that it was better to make a joke of it.

And now, for a minor gripe: This is a bit of a lesser example, but y’all recall what S.H.I.E.L.D. stands for?  Don’t recall off the top of your head?  You could rewatch Iron Man, because it tells you in recurring joke form - Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division.  Someone really should shorten that, right?  Something the characters note anytime the full name is brought up.  And at the end of the movie, Coulson tells Pepper - who is going to recite it by name - that it’s S.H.I.E.L.D. for short now. If only Coulson was around back in the 1990s, where Nick Fury makes reference to how he’s “Nick Fury, S.H.I.E.L.D.” and namedrops S.H.I.E.L.D. a few times. *ahem* Yeah, it’s a minor continuity error in the grand scheme of things, but it was something I figured should be mentioned because that was something that I noticed and wanted to bring up.

Final Verdict

Captain Marvel is a... competently-made movie.  And I’m really sorry to say it, but that’s the most I can say about it.  It’s well-made, well-acted, tells a simple enough story to understand that isn’t bogged down by continuity, and it has good messages in it’s narrative.  But it loses so much of itself due to having an inconsistent tone throughout, and it’s plot goes from decent to bog-standard around the time it decides to “Subvert audience expectations” and give us some of the most boring villains this side of the Phase 3 MCU films.

Would I recommend others to watch it?  Somewhat.  It’s not exactly incredibly essential viewing for the MCU and I don’t think it’s really all that good, but it’s not a terrible movie, I can understand why one would like it despite all it’s flaws (people can learn to overlook nearly everything), and it does add to the MCU enough that it is worth seeing if you want to see all the Marvel films.  But if you want a good female superhero film with a feminist message, you’re better off watching Wonder Woman.

And now, to address the elephant in the room pretty much every male who didn’t enjoy the film needs to deal with:”You didn’t like Captain Marvel because the main character was a woman and it had a pro-women message and you must hate feminism.”  It’s a comment that tends to get directed at males who don’t enjoy films with female protagonists, regardless of quality of the film (see: Ghostbusters) or reasons for disliking the film (albeit not without reason, to some degree - after all, those biased against something would be much harder on it than something they aren’t even if their flaws are much the same).  Not helping matters were that trolls DID review-bomb its Rotten Tomatoes score before it even had a full day under it’s belt - which the movie didn’t deserve, it should be judged on it’s own merits, not targeted by insecure men angry about there being a Marvel movie starring a female hero.

And I don’t expect to convince anyone who isn’t willing to believe me otherwise.  I can point to all the video games (Metroid, Portal, Resident Evil, etc) I love that star female protagonists, or that I considered the Wonder Woman film to be excellent, and it won’t convince anyone.  If you think I’m sexist garbage because I’m a male who didn’t like the film, my reasonings above or thoughts below won’t probably won’t convince you.

Here’s my views on this, however: Marvel had taken much too long to give us a movie primarily starring a female hero.  Marvel has many great female heroes, Captain Marvel included, and any one of them would have been as worthy of a film as a male counterpart.  The MCU dropped the ball repeatedly when it came to giving their female heroes films - Black Widow would’ve been great for a film but never got made and the omnipresence of Scarlet Johansson has made many people not care; Scarlet Witch got primarily confined to Avengers-focused films; The Wasp is very enjoyable but still has to share screentime and billing with Ant-Man; Gamora was probably the best and still those films still spent more time with Star-Lord, not to mention she was killed of in Infinity War without certainty of her return, leaving that “Third Guardians movie focused on her” up in the air.

We finally have a Marvel film that’s starring a female, and it’s primary message is about how feminism is important - and it’s good we’ve finally got one, but it took us until Phase 3 to finally get it and the film was marred by so many other issues I would struggle to call it good even with its positive qualities.  And that’s not the quality it deserved - not as a Marvel film, as a Captain Marvel film, or as a feminist film.  And anyone who would say “Who cares if it was not all that good, we’ve finally gotten a feminist superhero film from Marvel”?  You’re settling, and you shouldn’t.  What we deserved isn’t what we got, and by defending it, you’re essentially saying that Marvel can get away with low-quality movies so long as they can say “Sure, but fans were asking for this and we gave them what they wanted.”

You want a film with a female superhero protagonist that has a feminist message that is, above all else, good?  You should watch Wonder Woman.  And I know how there’s all the issues with the DCEU as a whole, or the rivalry between Marvel and DC fans and the former who wanted this movie to be good so they could be proud Marvel made a feminist hero film that was better than DC’s.  And kudos to you who support brand loyalty.  But DC did what Marvel didn’t for the longest time, and for all of the DCEU’s issues, Wonder Woman had very few issues on its own, and the issues that were present were very minor compared to everything it had going for it.  Wonder Woman was what Captain Marvel wanted to be, and what it ultimately failed to be.

#marvel #captain marvel #captain marvel (film) #marvel cinematic universe #captain marvel (2019) #negative #Fair warning to y'all #This is a post I'm really unsure about posting #I'm certain that there'll be those out for my blood #but all the same #I do feel strongly about this movie #My hype for Marvel movies has diminished recently but I did want to see this because it was billed as an important movie #And the friends I saw it with and I spent hours afterwards discussing this #So I wanted to speak my part in this regard

[wigwurq]

WIG REVIEW: AVENGERS - INFINITY WAR

OH GURL, I finally saw Infinity War! Yes, I’m a full week late to this party but y’all know I had to wait that long to see this with MoviePass. Was it worth the wait? Decidedly: no. I mean, it’s the Marvel Universe and and the wigs are always terrible! But the twist here is: SO WAS THE ENTIRE MOVIE. LET’S DISCUSS.

SO MANY SPOILERS AHEAD.

Straight up: this movie is about jewelry. The only other movie I have wasted so much time at that devoted so much time to jewelry was Titanic and it’s hard to say which movie I hated more? I guess still Titanic but I honestly don’t know. They are both really long, cost way too much money, and involved deaths that didn’t need to happen. So that’s the whole thing with Infinity War, right? We were promised that beloved (?) characters would die and they do but also NOT REALLY. BUCKLE UP FOR THE MOST EXHAUSTING RECAP OF NONSENSE EVER.

So blah blah blah Thanos is this intergalactic psychopath “played by” Josh Brolin but mainly played by a computer, as with most characters in the Marvel Universe. Anyway, he needs to get all 6 infinity stones to complete his blinged out Dr Claw from Inspector Gadget hand. 

That is basically the entire plot of the movie. Thanos is basically Liberace but slightly less gay and with no apparent piano playing abilities who I guess hates overpopulation and is a complete psychopath? You do the math on this one.

The movie starts exactly where my beloved Thor: Wignarock left off with Loki’s increasingly terrible Disaster Artist locks billowing in the space wind as Thanos demands some effing bling. Tessa Thompson is somehow not there because she has much more important things to do. Loki delivers some infinity stone he just had laying around someplace because sure and promptly dies (?) All deaths in this movie are highly questionable but this one seems possibly legit and I’m fine with it because this wig is terrible and Tom Hiddleston can do better. Same goes for Idris Elba who also dies (?).  I’m very happy that these two handsome men have been freed from the shackles of the Marvel Universe and the bad wigs that go with them. Thor and The Hulk are also there but are somehow spared by Thanos because his deal seems to be only killing HALF the good guys but only sometimes and don’t ask why because you certainly will get no answers. 

Moving on, the Hulk crashlands into Dr. Strange’s olde curiousity shoppe and gurl I can’t even with this lewk. I’m all for capes ALWAYS but this HAIR. There are many jokes about Dr. Strange being a wizard and he does look like a very bad magician always. Anyway he gets the 411 on this bling situation from the Hulk which is troubling since possesses some of that bling. It should be noted that the bling he possesses can alter time and space so you’d think the bling could just protect itself and everyone around it but I guess that is too logical for this movie? So instead he decides to go ask another mad genius with a goatee for help!

OMG GOOP IS BACK. HAHHAHAHAHHA. LOOK AT THIS EFFING WIG. 

YOU CAN SEE THE LINE OF THE WIG WITH HER REAL HAIR UNDERNEATH. Ok, I understand that building entire characters and planets out of computers is $$$ but for the characters that are played by people, could we maybe get a wig assist? MARVEL UNIVERSE FOR SHAME.

But this wig is not long for this Marvel Universe since Iron Man decides to form a goatee alliance with Dr. Strange because of course. Look at these weirdos! Side note: these are absolutely the kind of dudes who always go to see movies at Film Forum. Anyway, Robert Downey, Jr’s dye job alone is very upsetting but THOSE GLASSES. NO.

Anyway, the goatee alliance proves terrible at protecting NYC streets despite the fact that DR STRANGE’S NECKLACE CAN CHANGE TIME OMG JUST USE THE NECKLACE. Instead, Dr. Strange is beamed aboard a spaceship where he is given the worst acupuncture treatment this side of Hellraiser. 

Iron Man and Spider-Man somehow save the day by literally stealing a plotpoint from Aliens and then all three make a lot more stupid movie references while also completely failing at doing anything productive involving highly important timeshifting bling.

Meanwhile, somewhere in Scotland, a Transilvanian Witch and a robot twice her age with a flashlight in his forehead have found love outside a kebab shop. 

BUT NOT FOR LONG because WWII wet rag Chris Evans who inexplicably has given himself a butch makeover and ScarJo in the best hair she’s ever had in the Marvel Universe show up to tell them that they need to destroy said forehead flashlight because it’s one of the bling Thanos needs for his bling claw. This is where all logic really goes out the window. The Avengers refuse to sacrifice the “life” of Robot Paul Bettany for the good of, well, THE UNIVERSE so instead to go find help in extracting the bling AND saving a robot’s life in Wakanda because apparently the only capable person in this entire movie is our gurl Shuri.

Anyway, back in space, The Guardians of the Galaxy save Thor who has just been floating around half dead since Thanos left. This means that Chris Pratt and Chris Hemsworth meet face to face and they’re definitely the best looking and funniest in the Marvel Universe so fine. Still, Gamora’s upsetting Halloween Adventure wig continues to exist. Look at these guys looking at it. NO. Anyway, the Chris party is shortlived as Thor needs to go get a new hammer.

But who could make a new hammer? PETER DINKLAGE OF COURSE. The episodic nature of this movie already feels like a sci-fi version of Game of Thrones so why not? He’s the best part of that show and this movie, obvs. He plays a giant dwarf (?) created through highly questionable photoshop not unlike my #2 favorite character in Thor: Wignarock - that GIANT EFFING WOLF. Anyway, this is the best picture I can find of his insane mountain man wig which is very awful. Regardless, he makes Thor an axe with an assist from Groot and also an assist from Thor getting a really terrible sunburn to make it all happen. Whatever? OH: also that raccoon gives Thor a new eye which somehow matches his other eye. Bye, eyepatch!

Anyway, The Guardians go to see Benicio del Toro in his batshit crazy space wig which is so terrible as to maybe be amazing. He definitely has given Thanos some bling that alters reality and they fight and blah blah, Thanos ends up stealing away Gamora, aka his adoptive daughter but not before she tells Chris Pratt she loves him! Yay?

Oh but then in order to get the soul bling (which is not what I imagined), he DEFINITELY throws her off a cliff. But is she dead? DEATH IS NEVER CERTAIN ANYMORE BECAUSE OF THAT REALITY BLING SO EVERYTHING CAN BE CHANGED AND WHY ARE WE EVEN STILL WATCHING THIS NOW SINCE THERE ARE NO ACTUAL STAKES.

Anyway, Chris Pratt and co meet up with the goatee/Spider-Man party and everything devolves into “witty” repartee and terrible decision-making. Thanos shows up and that insect chick puts a spell on him but for some reason they don’t use this magic slumber to kill him, just to try to get his bling claw off and they fail because Chris Pratt can’t control his DAMN TEMPER BECAUSE GAMORA IS MAYBE DEAD BUT PROBABLY NOT SO JUST EFFING CHILL DUDE. Anyway, to save Iron Man, Dr. Strange ends up giving up his bling so Thanos only has one bling left to get...dun dun dun.

Back in Wakanda, Paul Bettany’s bling is being extracted by Shuri but meanwhile, they are totally under attack by some horrible space dogs because obvs. Fighting alongside Wakanda’s already awesome fighters are Chris Evans, ScarJo and the Winter Soldier hisself. GODDAMN THAT IS A TERRIBLE WIG. I mean, truly truly truly outrageously bad.

Also outrageously bad? The fact that all of Wakanda is under attack JUST TO SAVE ROBOT PAUL BETTANY. SO MANY INNOCENT WAKANDANS HAVE TO FIGHT AND ARE KILLED BECAUSE THEY DON’T WANT TO KILL A ROBOT AND WHY DID ANYONE IN WAKANDA AGREE TO THIS INSANE PLAN EVEN MICHONNE FROM THE WALKING DEAD. WHAT IN THE VERY HELL. It should also be noted that Black Panther is the only movie in the Marvel Universe that wurqs wig-wise so truly, this is all really plummeting their stock.

So Thor shows up and almost saves the day but then Thanos shows up and then everyone realizes that they have to just destroy this robot anyway to destroy the bling and this was all a huge and terrible waste of time because OBVIOUSLY.

This makes that Transilvanian witch in a horrible horrible horrible red wig that Robot Paul Bettany loves very very sad because somehow a witch is the only person who can destroy bling in this movie which is a plotpoint I appreciate but then she has to also destroy her robot lover but like: IT’S THE ONLY WAY WHY DIDN’T YOU JUST DO THAT BACK AT THE KEBAB SHOP. WHAT IN THE VERY HELL, AVENGERS?!

So then everyone just keeps fighting Thanos even though he is completely unstoppable but like...maybe just fighting him hand to hand will work? (It doesn’t work). Nothing works! Nothing wurqs! The Avengers are completely useless and Thanos just peaces out and then things get completely mindbogglingly stupid:

HALF THE POPULATION OF THE WORLD INCLUDING HALF OF THE AVENGERS JUST DISAPPEARS INTO SMOKE LIKE AN OFFBRAND EPISODE OF THE LEFTOVERS WHICH I’VE NEVER SEEN AND DEFINITELY WON’T NOW.

Huh? Yes, this was Thanos’s plan all along! But obviously, these deaths are not real! I can’t even tell you who got whisked away and who didn’t because one of the people blown away was Black Panther and THERE IS NO WAY IN HELL THEY ARE ACTUALLY KILLING OFF BLACK PANTHER. Also before he’s blown away, Dr. Strange says something about how this was the only way (after earlier doing like 14 million calculations) so clearly: they win in the end.

But not the end of THIS movie. No! No! The Marvel Universe refuses to be self contained to one movie. So the whole thing just...ends! For now! Like one big hanging chad of death until the next Avengers movie (A YEAR AWAY) when definitely everyone will live again. THE MARVEL UNIVERSE JUST MADE DEATH NOT A REALITY AND WASTED ALL OUR TIME IN THE PROCESS. There has not been a more ridiculous cliffhanger ending to a movie since The Empire Strikes Back and absolutely both endings are true garbage filmmaking THERE I SAID IT. 

At this point, I ask myself: HOW MANY DAYS HAVE I LOST TO THE MARVEL UNIVERSE? How many overlong movies have I watched to prepare for other overlong movies THAT DON’T HAVE AN ENDING? HOW DOES THIS CYCLE CONTINUE? WHEN WILL WE BE DONE? NEVER! BECAUSE WE’LL KEEP SEEING THEM BECAUSE WE DON’T VALUE OUR TIME AND BECAUSE WE’RE GARBAGE PEOPLE. THE END.

VERDICT: DOESN’T WURQ

#wigwurq #doesntwurq #avengers #infinitywar #avengersinfinitywar #chrispratt #chrishemsworth #robertdowneyjr #thor #ironman #guardiansofthegalaxy #spiderman #spider-man #marveluniverse #marvel #garbage #gamora #thanos #bling #clawfrominspectorgadget #liberace #drstrange #benedictcumerbatch #chrisevans #captainamerica #wintersoldier #paulbettany #beniciodeltoro #avengerwigs #peterdinklage

[ecoamerica]

Watch the 2024 American Climate Leadership Awards for High School Students now: https://youtu.be/5C-bb9PoRLc

The recording is now available on ecoAmerica's YouTube channel for viewers to be inspired by student climate leaders! Join Aishah-Nyeta Brown & Jerome Foster II and be inspired by student climate leaders as we recognize the High School Student finalists. Watch now to find out which student received the $25,000 grand prize and top recognition!

#ACLA24 #ACLA24HighSchoolStudents #youtube #youtube video #climate leaders #climate solutions #climate action #climate and environment #climate #climate change #climate and health #climate blog #climate justice #climate news #weather and climate #environmental news #environment #environmental awareness #environment and health #environmental #environmental issues #environmental education #environmental justice #environmental protection #environmental health #high school students #high school #youth #youth of america #school

[ao3feed-loki-tv]

by fictionsparks

But there was something strange, something off, in his eyes.

“Take is easy…” Mobius began. “You’re an analyst, right? What division are you from?”

“What?”

Words: 5370, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Fandoms: Loki (TV 2021)

Rating: Not Rated

Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence

Categories: M/M

Characters: Loki (Marvel), Sylvie (Loki TV), Mobius M. Mobius, Hunter B-15 (Marvel), Thor (Marvel), Variant!Mobius

Relationships: Loki/Mobius M. Mobius, Loki & Mobius M. Mobius

Additional Tags: Post-Canon, Season/Series 01, Spoilers for season one, forgive me for what I do to variant!mobius, Blood and Violence, Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Physical Abuse, Apocalypse, Natural Disasters

#IFTTT #ao3feed #Loki TV AO3 feed

[sqgworld]

Fen’Harel and the Trickster God

Okay, so this is an idea that has been floating around in my head for… over a year at this point, and I just feel like I have to share it, because it’s both been nagging at me – making me wonder whether I’m completely nuts for thinking these things – and… it makes me kinda giddy? Because it gives me a chance to talk about a topic I feel I know quite well and that I love: Norse mythology. So, you might be wondering why there’s an “and” in this thing’s title, and it will become immediately apparent when I say that this entire thing is gonna revolve around the parallels I have found between the representations of Fen’Harel (of Dragon Age (DA) fame) and Loki (emphatically not the one of Marvel fame, however) as they are presented in their respective mythologies.

Obviously, we’ve got the connection that they are both trickster gods – the elven word “harellan” directly means “trickster”, as I’m sure you know –, which is a good starting point, but the similarities go beyond that. Here we will more closely be looking at three major points of comparison: the lupine connotations they both have associated with them; the reported ability to walk freely among both sets of “deities” present within their mythological worlds; and their direct involvement in the end of the worlds of the people that they were said to preside over. If you know anything about Norse myth, I’m sure these points ring a few bells already, but if you still wanna hear more – or don’t do Norse and find yourself curious nonetheless –, then the details will be found under the cut below.

So, are we ready? Good, let’s begin!

The first point: lupine connotations. This one is obvious for Fen’Harel, the Dread Wolf, so that’s not where the questions are going to arise – heck, the “Elven language” Dragon Age Wiki even tells us that the word “fen” just straight up means wolf, a suspicion I had after I had noticed that we have two prominent figures in the DA verse that have that… prefix? in their names and are associated with wolves; Fen’Harel (no duh) and Fenris, the “little wolf”. And it’s with that second name that I first found a connection between DA and Norse myth – though back then it was more of a “hey! they named one of their characters after a prominent figure in the mythology! nice!” than any deeper thought – and where Loki finally comes into the picture. Again, those of you that know the mythos know where this is going, because while Loki might not directly have any lupine things associated with him, he has got a very prominent son that is most certainly lupine; the Fenris Wolf, or Fenrir, for those that prefer. I think you get the picture.

So, even the elven language has got a word ripped directly out of Norse mythology, that is used as the noun for the kind of animal that originally held the ripped name. Pretty cool stuff, if you ask me, but then again, I may just be a nerd.

Who am I kidding; I am absolutely a nerd.

Second point: blending in with both “deific” sets. I put “deities” and “deific” in quotation marks, because in the Norse case, one group is not really so much gods as very powerful nature spirits, but we’ll get back to that point. Anyone that has ever read a DA Codex Entry on Fen’Harel probably remember reading somewhere that he had the unique ability to walk amongst both the Creators – the good gods in the elven religion of DA, for those that don’t know – and the Forgotten Ones – the bad gods, to oversimplify – and be understood as one of them; the Creators thought he was one of their kind, the Forgotten Ones thought that he was one of them. Okay, so Loki? Well, to anyone that has ever had a dive into the Marvel version of Norse myth, I want you to throw what you think you know about this character out the window for a second – or do as I have done, and create a separate folder in your brain for “Nature Boy” and “Popsicle the Frost Thing” – yeah, and just take my word for this. Loki is the only one of the prominent Norse gods that has the distinction of being half Æsir – what most all the other gods in Asgard are – and half Jotun (though he is by no means the only of the gods to have Jotun parentage, so why he’s the only one that counts that way, I don’t know; polytheisms, I guess). Remember those strong nature spirits I mentioned just above? That’s what the Jotuns are (and this is why “Popsicle the Frost Thing” needs his own box); they wield all sorts of nature magic and are very powerful and, yes, the natural enemies of the Æsir. And what can Loki do because of his prominent mixed heritage? That’s right; walk amongst both groups like he belongs.

There is the underlying connotation in DA lore that Fen’Harel doesn’t truly belong with either the Creators or Forgotten Ones (at least the way I read it) and the same holds very true for Loki, who always seems to be on kind of thin ice (pun not intended) with both the groups he mingles with, but manages to maintain his status in both places both because of and in spite of his mixed heritage.

Okay, so last point: the ends of their respective worlds (which means spoilers for the Trespasser DLC, I guess? but not really). So, from way back in DA:O (Dragon Age: Origins) we know that Fen’Harel somehow managed to trick both the Creators and Forgotten Ones into searching for the ultimate weapons to destroy the other group with and then managed to trap them both in their respective realms. What we then learn in Trespasser is exactly what kinds of consequences that had for the world of the elves. Spoiler alert: it absolutely wrecked their entire shebang. Their empire fell, their lifespans got shortened – the so called “Quickening” – and the nasty humans were allowed to enslave the physically weaker elves, that were now also separated from the magic that their entire way of life depended upon. For the Norse counterpart, let’s talk Ragnarok! Because yes, it is literally all Loki’s fault. He’s the one that starts the whole thing – where the Fenris Wolf jumps up into the sky and eats the f***ing moon – and he fights in the final battle between the Æsir and the Jotuns. Spoiler: everyone dies! Well, not quite…

In fact, both of those “end of the world” scenarios aren’t complete disasters. Y’see, not everyone dies in either of those two occasions. Yes, Elvhenan collapses, but the elves still exist in the Dragon Age of Thedas; Ragnarok kills off almost everyone, but a few gods manage to survive the ordeal as well as a couple of humans, and they then go on to rebuild the worlds. And this is noticeable, because in most doomsday scenarios, it’s just the end of everything; nothing gets out alive, at least not on the “mortal plane”. The Norse end of the world, for all the gloominess and battlelust the rest of the mythology is known for, is oddly enough the one that is the most optimistic about the world, at the end of the day.

But that is moving more into comparing Norse mythology itself with the religion of the Dragon Age elves, which is a whole other affair, with lines not so clear cut as in this particular case study. Though a few quick tidbits I’d like to point out before I sign off completely from this mess I have made:

Both Fen’Harel and Loki have close ties with one of the two primary gods in their respective religions: Loki is Odin’s blood-brother, while Fen’Harel had a close, if somewhat undefined, relationship with Mythal

I once found a source that called Elgar’nan “the All-Father”, and at that point I just surrendered myself completely to the idea of Norse mythos having at least some kind of impact on the entire elven pantheon

Andruil is obviously supposed to be some sort of Artemis/Diana parallel – all of them being huntress gods –, though I know a lot less about Greco-Roman mythology, so I’m not exactly qualified to dive further into that particular subject

Right, well, this thing is now officially long enough to be handed in as an essay for my uni, so I think I’ll stop here. I hope this was at the very least interesting, if not enlightening and please feel free to tell me if there’s anything I missed or if you have had the same kind of ideas!

#dragon age #dragon age origins #dragon age ii #dragon age inquisition #DA lore #fen'harel #norse mythology #norse gods #loki (not marvel) #loki #trickster god #I refuse to believe other people have not thought about this already #but I'm gonna post this anyway #I am officially done #enjoy this if you feel so inclined #no one's forcing you to do anything