#there are various exciting plot things and stuff with shield

[pastafossa]

I’ve just started reading trt like just started on the kidnapping arc just started and I’m loving it, but do you think you could lay out a list of all the arcs that have happened up until now and which ones hurst the most? Just cause I’m a little squirmy when it comes to angst and I wanna know when to expect it :D

I can! Absolutely! I keep meaning to make an index one day I'll do that. I'll be a little vague for spoilers but still open about the angsty parts. I'll also put it behind a spoiler wall for anyone who doesn't want to see it!

Matt, seen here identifying the spoilers below that Keep Reading bar...

Kidnapping arc: right now you're on the kidnapping arc! Lots of cuddling and softness after that arc (ch12-13).

Devil-Hunt: fun chapters with their version of hide and seek (affectionately called Devil-Hunt) for ch14-15! No angst, only joy.

Old Friend Visit🌧️: Next bit of drama pops back up around ch16-19 with a visit from an old friend. Bit of angst, maybe 1-2 sad rainy clouds out of 5.

Matt Gets Slashed By Nobu And Then Argues With Foggy🌧️🌧️🌧️: general sadness as we touch on Matt getting shredded by Nobu canonically and his and Foggy's fight starting at ch20. That's always depressing (canonically 5 of 5 sad rainy clouds) but no worries, we comfort him through it. There's a little bit of him being, understandably, sad and miserable, so a bit of angst, but there's a lot of comfort and cuddling and such there too to balance it - and that weekend of caretaking ends around ch26.

Various Non-Angst Arcs: Basically comfort comfort, growing relationship, some plot stuff with SHIELD, dealing with canonical events, no major bad vibes. (Ch27-31)

Away Chapters🌧️🌧️🌧️🌧️: Next bit of angst has been, up until now, one of the rougher points to go through. You'll get your first hint of it starting at the end of Ch32. Buildup to Ch34 in which Reader/Jane... has to leave town for a very specific reason, and thus say goodbye for a bit. That leads us into the Away Chapters arc - what they're both up to, how they're both dealing with the separation, important plot events, etc. Fairly angsty and sad, but it's with the understanding (on both their parts) that the separation is temporary. Separation ends in Ch42 in a way that deserves fireworks!

Various Non-Angst Arcs: Lots of cuddling after that, dealing with the separation, and with any injuries that might have been gained, some plot stuff. Slight bit of angst having to do with our Mortal Enemy White Coat Asshole, but nothing major. Ch43-48.

Hypothermia arc: from ch49-52! Maybe 1 rainy cloudy? Not really though. Mostly just good god, matt, what the fuck.

Fuck-ton of Romance Arcs: Lots of romance-y things after this! Romance romance romance. Ch53-62!

Woops it looked like you almost died arc🌧️🌧️: Ch63-65 involves a short angsty, very close call and an argument about it arc, so some angst because Almost Died. Maybe 2-3 clouds. Def not 5 clouds though.

Devil-Hunt arc: More Devil-Hunt because it's fun. Zero clouds, only fun.

Buildup bits and pieces of angst 🌧️ to 🌧️🌧️🌧️: OK so this next arc's a little trickier since it's leading to a big reveal and I've set it up way ahead of time. This one involves pieces of angst slowly woven in and building up in between other more chill events - Starting around 68... what happened in Los Angeles with the fire, aaaaall of that is going to start creeping in and making itself known. You'll get, say, an angsty scene about it in Ch70 but only for the first section, while the rest of the chapter is not all that angsty. At first it's mostly woven in between other arcs - a Big Visit from a friend (Ch68-73)🌧️🌧️, dealing with some bounty hunters (ch76-78), some smut (ch78-79), and lots of Matt being very loving and soft and supportive in between. Short angsty moments range between 1 cloud and 3 clouds out of five.

You'll know you're getting close to the Angst Dive when Frank canonically shoots Matt between the eyes (Ch83🌧️🌧️) and he loses his hearing temporarily. We're gonna obviously have some comfort and caretaking and soft discussions (ch84-90) though before we get into the fire stuff, because Matt deserves it.

Los Angeles Fire Comes Out🌧️🌧️🌧️🌧️🌧️: Once you hit Ch91... We're gonna slowly begin our descent into true Five Cloud Angst territory. This is the arc we're in now so I can't say how many chapters it will take, although I'm estimating another 2-3 update cycles depending on how much time I have with moving. This will likely be our darkest, angsty-est section yet - there will be misunderstandings, miscommunication, a lot of Matt's insecurity and self-loathing unintentionally crashing together with Reader/Jane's guilt and insecurity. There will be tears, hurt, and some brokenness. I will promise, though, that the storm of it will be over by morning in the fic - so our lovely couple just has to get through one night and then things will get easier (there will be comfort, cuddling, emotional comfort smut, all the good stuff). A lot of readers are waiting until this section is done to read through it, so if you're looking to do the same, I'm tagging each of these angsty updates with raincloud emojis in the tumblr updates and in the chapter summaries! There will be a little sunshine symbol when we come out of it. <3 After that, you can expect softer things for a bit because I always try to give ya'll a bunch of happy breathing room between the heavy stuff. No perma-gloom here!

As for what's in the future... I know the angsty points that are coming, just not what chapters precisely! I try to add an angst warning but if you ever need to know if the current arc will be depressing or sad, feel free to ask and I'll let you know!

#ask response #the red thread #angst #the red thread spoilers #like not if you've read up until current obvs #but if you have *not* read and want to go in blind then yeah there's mildddd spoilers although I did my best #up until the 90s (I can't believe I can say that) the saddest section you're gonna have #is the Away Chapters #that arc is quite sad although I try to weave some less angsty stuff in #there are various exciting plot things and stuff with shield #AND A CAR CHASE #but yeah the sad is there #that would be on and off 4 clouds of sadness #The area we're in now is 5 clouds #although I guess even that's not as bad as it could be since I'm not killing anyone #(death is like idk 8 clouds and we will never see 8 clouds) #(breakup is idk 7 clouds maybe?) #(i need to create a cloud scale) #(except I am like the fujita scale of angst clouds) #(because i mostly measure the strength based on the aftermath) #(did I cry a little? Did I get a few comments saying they cried? 3 clouds!) #(i could call it the enhanced pasta scale like the enhanced fujita scale) #(where am i what am i doing) #(this got off track and now i'm in tag nebraska wtf)

[this-acuteneurosis]

Love your Don't Look Back, and I'm excited for the next arc. Just a reminder to take as much time as you need, don't feel the need to rush :) Y'know, I never noticed the whole potential romance that was going on untill I saw all the other asks referring to various ships. I guess what I wanted to say is I'm glad your fic doesn't really focus on that, but let's people make their own inferences. If people want to just read a really good political time travel what-if fic for star wars they can (1/2)

Thank you! I’ve worried off and on if people would be interested in the politics and economics as the main focus for the “fix it” portion of the fic. People have said really nice things, but I’m making a lot of stuff up as I go rather than borrowing from actual political plots from the limited EU material I’ve been exposed to. I’m never sure when I’ll hit the point where people are expecting one thing and I’ll do something different and they’ll jump ship.

That being said, the whole point of this fic originally was to make a space for a bunch of my favorite female characters to take a stab at actually saving the galaxy. You know, like, for the normal people. Who keep getting thrown around in the waves made by Skywalker/Force user messes. And to do it in a way that made sense to me. Because as cool as magic powers are, peace comes from hard work and compassion and involving people in their own freedom. And I wanted to capture that in this fic.

It’s actually something I think about a lot as an under-explored theme for the potential “use” of the Force. Like, if the Force is the connections between people and things, then people working together should beat out people working alone, creating a natural shield against the ideology of the Sith. Which is why Palpatine goes after the Jedi the way he does. By isolating them from he galaxy, each other, and their own ideals, he breaks the bonds between them, which are his biggest threat (and of course he does this to the Republic too). But even if someone like, oh, Padmé, managed to get enough people working together in concert against him, all Palpatine’s skill in the Force would be meaningless. Or something. Not sure how much this will surface in this fic, but it’s an idea that rolls around in my head a lot.

#Don't Look Back #politics #economics #random rant #head canon #the Force #Skywalkers #Leia Skywalker #Padmé Amidala #Shmi Skywalker #time travel fix it

[stranger-who-writes-fiction]

I had a whole list of stuff I liked about Supergirl Ep. 6x07 “Fear Knot” typed out and then accidentally hit the keyboard command for ‘select all’ and THEN accidentally hit ‘b’ so.

A list! That will...be much shorter than the original! Because I’m very tired and don’t wanna type it up all over again! XD

Spoilers!

Okay, rapid fire highlights, HERE WE GO!

Space Dad was the true MVP here! Just wonderful J’onn content throughout.

The Danvers Sisters hug! I wanted exactly one thing from this episode and that was it. 

Interesting BTS info revealed about the hug: Originally, it was supposed to be the main trio (Kara, J’onn, Alex) but they trimmed it down for time so it ended up being just a Danvers Sisters moment AND, AND! Chyler’s ‘I got you,’ such a LOVELY callback to the Pilot, was ad-libbed!

Fine. Just. Make me feel feelings, show. Geez.

The Tower is a MARTIAN SPACESHIP!

Alex, re: the Tower reveal - “I love Martian technology.”

Same, Alex. Same.

 The ENTIRE* GANG OF SUPERFRIENDS got meaty character bits that build on all of the stuff introduced in earlier episodes! 

*Save for M’gann, but I appreciated they at least had a line about how she was staying behind to hold down the fort. 

Anyways, back to character stuff, in particular! We see Kelly grapple with feeling out of her depth as the lone ‘normal’ one in a group of heroes/vigilantes, introduced in...was it 6x03? AND we see the set-up for GUARDIAN, WOO!

The thing I love about the Guardian mantle, for James and as we’ll no doubt see for Kelly, is that it’s about protecting people; their weapon of choice isn’t really a weapon at all, but a shield.

:D

J’onn and Alex’s stuff more directly ties into how they’ve been handling the ‘save Kara’ mission

Obviously Alex’s fears in particular speak to the larger, ongoing stuff about how so much of Alex’s identity is wrapped up in protecting Kara, but this mini-arc of seven episodes has sort of...laser focused that? A little?

This made a lot more sense in the first draft I swear. XD

And J’onn gets to come full circle with successfully completing the mission by being both a dad AND a strategic leader.

And then poor Nia is still struggling with insecurities regarding her dreaming powers, a thread that looks like it’ll carry over into the next set of episodes.

BRAINY AND THE BALLOONS????

J’onn:

The Lena portion...occurred!

Not really gonna comment on it beyond the very good sci-fi references they packed in there. Of course, we have the Alien 3 reference (which I've opted not to include b/c it’s a pretty gross image that could be upsetting if you’re not expecting it? Also I’m sure it’s all over twitter.)

But the Kelpie also had an Abyss vibe, IMO:

J’onn’s Space Dad montage was EXCELLENT.

J’onn: “NOT TODAY SATAN”

Oh, also, the red Phantom eyes and in-synch talking in Kelly’s fear vision was very creepy.

The different pairings of various characters was cool! I really liked Brainy and Kelly chatting.

And then poor Kara! 

AT HER LOWEST!

WITHOUT HOPE!

FEELING LIKE A DANGER AND A BURDEN TO HER LOVED ONES!

Oh, that meaty character work, we LOVE. TO. SEE. IT.

And shock of all shocks, it is PAPA ZOR?!?!?! WHO SNAPS HER OUT OF IT!??!?!?!

BUT! Papa Zor-El is only able to snap Kara out of it because HE HIMSELF was snapped out of his funk by Kara!

And like. I’ve seen the complaint that this relationship has not been built up enough for us to really care but...IDK. I’m a sucker for the moment where he like, gently touches her face and delivers that hope speech and

GUH! FEEEEEELINGS!!!!

And you know what? I’m glad. That Kara’s dad is not The Worst in this particular adaptation.

I mean. He’s done some incredibly sketchy things still, but. Not quite ‘experimenting on your own child, sending her to a foreign planet WITHOUT ANY CLOTHES and brainwashing her into murdering her cousin’ levels, you know?

“That’s my family. They’re really here.”

AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!

And then the hug! THE HUG! It’s so quick but it’s so good and I can’t WAIT. UNTIL AUGUST 24th! 

I also love that we got a teaser of the next episode?! That was awesome and wholly unexpected.

(OFFICE SHENANIGANS! AAHHHH LOOKS SO GOOD!)

Oh, also, Nyxly (Nixly??) lives! And catches a ride to Earth Prime, which I’m sure will go over well. XD

As always, some OVERALL THOUGHTS!

ROUND OF APPLAUSE FOR DAVID! An interesting but no doubt tricky episode to direct! It came together so nicely, though, and had some genuinely neat set-ups in terms of how they used the cast and set.

(Also round of applause for Chyler’s episode last week, totally forgot to give her props in my list. FOR SHAME. For shame.)

In terms of season 6 thus far as a whole...I’ve just really liked this front half, here.

The Supergirl folks have had to work around some incredibly challenging extenuating circumstances during the final season of their show--I mean. They didn’t have their LEAD ACTRESS until several months into filming! DURING A PANDEMIC!

And while...yeah, I’ll admit I found some of the exposition in various episodes to be. Trying? And still pretty packed because they’re juggling so many characters...that they’ve managed to have such nice character bits throughout is just. GOOD. IT’S VERY GOOD. I LIKE IT A LOT.

As I mentioned above, this mini-arc of seven episodes has done such a solid job of setting up and developing internal conflicts for the characters that are exacerbated by the external conflict that is Kara’s absence. Like, everything is pretty tight! And connected! There’s such a good through-line EVEN WITH the two time travel episodes!

(And, okay, I’ll indulge in one targeted bit of ‘c’mon fandom, really?’ - I’ve already seen complaints of, ‘I thought this show was about SUPERGIRL’ re: this particular episode and like...did you miss? The whole previous episode? That was such a nice Kara showcase? And I say again: LEAD ACTRESS. WAS UNAVAILABLE. AND HAD TO PLAY CATCH-UP. ALSO, PANDEMIC.)  

(And in fact, the whole Phantom Zone plot has been a BRILLIANT bit of efficient storytelling--you not only have an in-universe reason for your lack of a lead, but also, it creates this space for the other characters to really miss Kara.

I guess the way I would describe it is like...going back to Kara’s original death in Crisis--yeah, it sucked that she died, but the entire DC Universe came together to talk about how heroic and great she was. And in a final season? Of a show called Supergirl? If you can’t have your lead on screen, the NEXT BEST THING is to have the character’s presence really felt via the OTHER characters.

With stuff like, having her inspire them! And reflecting on what she means to them, as a friend and family member!

...Again, this made more sense in the original draft? XD)

...Anyways.

My only nitpicks: I miss Will! But understand why he hasn’t been around, from a story standpoint. Also, the dialogue in some of the earliest episodes didn’t always...gel? But these last three in particular have been much improved in that regard.

IDK if I’ll keep these li’l positivity lists going throughout the remainder of the last batch of episodes--the move to Tuesday night has been tough. XD But either way, SUPER (ha, ha) excited for the back half!

#SG post #long post #supergirl spoilers #supergirl season 6 spoilers #gif #gifs

[fizzingwizard]

Episode 30, the alleged halfway mark, at last!

I’m fresh out of jokes so let’s hop right into the review!

Pictured above: Characters who supposedly exist in this series

More under the cut as usual

So last week I listed the things episode 30 needed to do to make me not hate it. They were: 1) Sora had to stay with Taichi and be part of the action, 2) the other characters had to feature here and there to progress their storylines even if the main focus remained on Taichi, and 3) WarGreymon’s appearance needed to be dramatic.

Well... guess who didn’t get Bingo this episode -_____-’

I am... seriously... mind-boggled. This is bizarre. Yes, we all understand that evolutions just aren’t the big deal they were in 99 Adventure, BUT this episode DOES try to convince us that WarGreymon IS a big deal. It just fails at it spectacularly, in my opinion at least. As for the rest: Sora stays with Taichi, but he tells her to take the helpless Digimon to safety and then we don’t see her do anything but stand around waiting for Taichi. Most of the other characters don’t even get a cameo, let alone story progression. Taichi reflects on them briefly at one point but it’s unbelievably stupid. Only Koushirou has anything to do and he is STILL JUST STARING AT HIS COMPUTER.

My expectations for episode 30 weren’t super high, given the current storyline, but I’m honestly slackjawed by how BORING this episode was. They really seem to have decided to rest the entirety of the show on Taichi, and much though I love him, I just don’t think he CAN carry it by himself. Not only has he long been unbelievable as a grade school kid even for shonen anime standards, he doesn’t crack jokes, he doesn’t show personality... all he does is fight. Like, the show isn’t ALWAYS like this - I’ve legit enjoyed it a various times, and I know why - it was always when the team was together and we learned things about them and the fighting was balanced out. So I never know from one week to the next how I’m gonna feel about the new episode. But I do think this is the episode I hate the most to date. :/

We had a promising start with Garudamon still actively fighting several Megadramon at once, simultaneously barbecuing Sora.

Fortunately it’s magic so she’s not dead, nor has she fallen to death.

Taichi and MetalGreymon continue fighting the Allomon on the ground.

The mysterious Lopmon looks on with a judgmental glare, wondering why he isn’t currently being carried like a baby. Walking is hard, he wants to be carried. Taichi do your job

Taichi: cmon lopmon you have to learn to do things on your own

Lopmon: no I want to play video games

Taichi: well then I refuse to buy you any more games. if you want them you’ll have to get a job and earn the money

Lopmon: daaaad! youre ruining my life! uggh!

Koushirou keeps an eye on the misbehaving satellites.

Taichi and Sora debate what to do. It’s difficult to protect the forest Digimon while fighting at the same time, so Taichi tells Sora to bring them to safety while he fends off their enemies on his own. WHAT THE HELL IS THIS PLAN. Since it’s a shonen anime, I normally wouldn’t whine about this but... it was just last episode that we were shown Taich cannot cope with the combined attack of that many enemies at once on his own. He needed Sora’s help. Why he now thinks he can do it is a mystery.

Taichi can maybe handle the Allomon and Megadramon on his own, but last episode Tankmon also appeared, and this time, lo and behold, in comes Parrotmon. Sorry Taichi but you brought this on yourself.

Meanwhile Koushirou communicates with “someone from the Internet” and learns that the satellites are all rerouting to converge on the same location:

The freaking International Space Station!

Which will then surely explode! And cause lots of trouble both in space and on earth!

^Pictured: Koushirou’s “oh shit” face

^Pictured:MetalGreymon’s “oh shit” face

MetalGreymon proved to be weak to the lightning Parrotmon emits. If there’s a reason, they don’t explain, but I like the idea that he’s particularly weak to it because he’s a cyborg and the electricity disrupts his... circuits :P Then Parrotmon gets hit with a beam of dark energy and evolves!

Into Klosmon? Krosmon? IDK, IDC.

^Pictured: Taichi’s “oh shit” face

They get their butts handed to them. Taichi and Agumon fall unconscious. Rather than take the chance to deliver the finishing blow, Klosmon or whatever politely waits for them to wake up.

Taichi’s consciousness is swept into a white empty world...

where he finds the Crest of Courage looking weirdly sentient... or maybe that’s just me...

MetalGreymon just looks possessed

Taichi: Are you alive?

Agumon: Yeah... you okay?

Taichi: Yeah... uhh... well... sort of...

Not being dead = I’m still ok

So here’s where the episode really loses me... After visiting the blank world, Taichi is suddenly able to recall what happened after Devimon ate him.

This makes little sense since he seemed pretty KO’d at the time, but okay, find, he woke up long enough to see WarGreymon and now he’s remembering it, sure why not. But I hate that they did this whole “ohh he doesn’t remember!” thing and then solved it like this. Presto! Now he remembers! It’s maaaagic!

And as ADORABLE as the two of them holding hands like this and resolving to keep fighting is... I just can’t be impressed by a battle with Parrotmon. Or Klosmon or whatever it is now. There’s a reason most shows save dramatic moments and big epiphanies for battles that actually progress the storyline. It makes a much bigger impact. This just feels like someone saying “Woohoo it’s Tuesday!” and then you ask “what’s special about it, is it your birthday or something?” and they say “Nope I just felt like being excited that it’s Tuesday!”

I mean points for optimism and all but it doesn’t make a very good story.

Taichi helps Agumon walk x’D They are planning to keep fighting even like this.

And I get that the “never give up!” attitude is essential to the shonen anime protagonist, but when you literally can’t walk by yourself anymore, it’s important to take care of your health is ALSO an important message this show might consider teaching kids once in a while -.-”

In spite of his unsteady legs, Agumon’s still able to evolve again and powers up to fight Klosmon.

It uh... doesn’t go well.

The one cool thing here is the way Taichi sets about attempting to make MetalGreymon evolve. Although we already knew the children play an important role in evolving their partners, Taichi seems to really understand it now, and focuses deeply. It’s a much more active role than we’ve seen before - it seems like more than the usual “encouraging thoughts and emotional ties” spurring the evolution.

At least he’s still super cute.

So we have already seen the Crests many times, I knew that... but my theory was that, in order to reach the final evolutionary stage, they would need the help of the physical Crests. So that’s what I thought Mimi was doing with those crystals.

But Taichi is indeed about to call WarGreymon. So... I have no idea what use Mimi’s gonna find for those crystals x’D I suppose she’ll make herself and Palmon matching necklaces. Or sell them on the black market.

From her super safe hiding spot, Sora watches in awe, wishing she too were a real character on this show and not just an inconvenience as far as most of the writing staff are concerned

I love WarGreymon’s shield.

BAM. He appears. It’s dramatic. But only just.

WarGreymon defeats Klosmon and explodes the forest... Uhhh, weren’t we supposed to be protecting it?

Taichi and WarGreymon then join Sora and the forest Digimon and uh... that’s the episode.

Oh yeah, we get one more hint that Lopmon is more than just some random idiot. Lol. This episode hinted at Lopmon, reminded us that Hikari’s been abducted, and told us that the International Space Station might explode, and then addressed none of those.

The message on the bottom says that the next episode will be on January 10, meaning there will be no episode next week as per usual due to New Year’s holidays.

Next week’s episode:

Turns out Lopmon is one of the holy Digimon or something. Honestly not a surprise, I mean, it’s Lopmon. Should have occurred to me earlier.

Also we got what I think is our first named mention of Millenniumon and it looks like Hikari might find out somethig about him. So that’s cool. The rest of the episode seems to stick with Taichi and Sora’s group... The only thing I can say hopefully is that, since WarGreymon’s appeared, MetalGarurumon ought to be not too far off. So that should mean we at least get a Yamato-centric episode in the not too distant future.

Okay, a couple weeks ago I said I had some stuff to say but would wait till episode 30 to do it... so stop here if you don’t want to read me ranting :P It mostly amounts to what I complained about in the beginning: This season is just so hyper-focused on the fights and seems to treat the team aspect as an afterthought. Which makes no sense to me. Honestly, I don’t mind the excessive fighting - that’s common in shonen anime and grown up me can’t expect to be interested in the same stuff that interests 8 year old boys.

I don’t even mind the idea of Taichi’s role as main character getting an upgrade - like, in 99, he was the main character, but it was felt a lot less. Better balanced with the others’ roles, I mean. I think it’s totally okay to make Taichi a more central character and the plot focus in the new season - it wouldn’t be my choice, of course, but that doesn’t mean it’s inherently bad. But the way they’re going about it just doesn’t make sense to me. Even Taichi isn’t interesting half the time. He just fights.

Like I said before, this isn’t the way the show always is. There have been some highlights. I truly loved a few episodes, and the show does seem to have fallen into a pattern of being good for a while and then degrading into something like today’s episode. I don’t know why: budget? pandemic? or is this really, legitimately, what the show producers want to show kids? I guess, in the end, this show really may be about selling toys and selling toys only. (But, if that’s the case, I’m even more surprised that they don’t make a bigger deal about all the evolutions...)

A lot of things I liked the most happened in the very beginning - the first three episodes in particular. The characters interacted with each other. Their feelings and actions influenced each other. Fighting happened, a lot, but it wasn’t the only thing happening. I was pretty excited then. I didn’t expect to love this show like I love 99 - that’s just not possible, I’m too old and 99 is too special to me for me to trust my judgment - I was just happy to see the Adventure kids back and entertaining a new generation.

But since then it’s been a roller coaster with few highs and a lot of lows. Although it’s hard to imagine how the pandemic would have changed the storyline, episode 4 was where they paused the show for Japan’s lockdown-but-not-really, and once they picked back up the tone just seemed kind of different from the first three episodes. Not right away - I think the intro episodes for the rest of the team were pretty reminiscent of “Digimon Adventure” - but that makes sense, they had 4 ready to go and probably had made headway on the next few episodes before they closed down the studio. Anyway, that’s just a guess, since it seems like everything’s been affected by the pandemic, but with a few exceptions we have all been back to work more or less normally since June...

The thing is, there are lots of fighting shonen anime - tons of protagonists who never give up and never fall in spite of how hurt they get, and who get unlimited “evolutions” in return for their tenacity. That’s all fine. It’s the genre. But the thing is...! The thing is, those other shows, they all tend to have humor, to care at least marginally about character relationships, and understand that that’s how you build up a main character: just winning fights alone doesn’t cut it. So I just don’t know what to make of this new Adventure show. It’s FINE when the team is together. We get cool character moments and insights and even some joking around. But they KEEP SEPARATING THEM. This time they didn’t even have more than a single episode together before they were all split up again! I wonder if it’s because they’re having trouble getting all the voice actors in due to pandemic-related issues and budget issues etc. If so, HUGE bummer. Of all the years for Digimon Adventure to get a reboot... why did it have to be this miserable excuse for a year...

Le sigh.

But there’s nothing we can do about it. I’m just going to like what I like and hope for the best in the future. I really would love for the new Adventure to be popular with kids and keep that cast going. I don’t expect it to compete with the lids of Kinmetsu no Yaiba or anything. I just hope that, when we hit the final episode, we look back and say that the season was overall worth the reboot. I hate the thought of looking back and saying “well, that sure was dull.” It’s just an insult. 99 Adventure wasn’t the most unique storyline in the world, but it had a lot of uniqueness IN it, and what made it special was its treatment of the team and the child-partner relationships. The reboot doesn’t need to be exactly the same, but it shouldn’t be forgettable.

That’s why us being at the 30 episode mark concerns me. At this point we know how the show is paced and what’s it like. We can’t really argue that we just don’t know enough to make a judgmenet yet. It’s hard to believe things will suddenly change. If they do, assuming the change is for the better, I’ll be thrilled, but I’ll also feel sad that we missed out on so many chances for cool things to happen in the first half.

#digimon adventure 2020 #digimon adventure: #digimon adventure reboot #digi spoilers #digimon #fizz watches digimon 2020

[theguardianace]

Okay I have a slight idea but not, so I’m gonna ask you, the “Pokemon Mutual” what is Pokemon?

Oh I’m so glad you asked!!! There’s a lot to Pokemon- it’s primarily a Nintendo video game series, but also an anime, trading card game, and even manga! I’ve been talking about the anime series on here mostly, but I’ll start by giving you a rundown on the games.

The first Pokemon games, Red and Green, were released in Japan in the late 1990s. They come in pairs- Red and Green/Blue (it’s blue instead of green in the states), Gold and Silver, Ruby and Sapphire, Diamond and Pearl, Black and White, X and Y, Sun and Moon, and Sword and Shield (in that order). Each new game set explores a new region in the world of Pokemon, each introducing brand new Pokemon and mechanics. The original games started with 151 Pokemon, but now there are 898, and that doesn’t even count various forms they can take, like color variations, gender differences, and Mega Evolution! Each game starts with you, the trainer, choosing your very first starter Pokemon. You have a choice of three Pokemon- a grass, fire, or water type. Which ones you can choose depend on what region the game is in. Once you have your first Pokemon, you learn how to battle! Battles can be as complex or straightforward as you want them to be- you can go deep into stats and IVs, or just have fun and spam the same attack over and over. The most important thing to know in battles, in my opinion, is type advantages. There are 18 Pokemon types (like water, fire, grass, flying, etc), and a Pokemon can have either one or two types. Some types are super effective against another, and others are not very effective/have no effect. It’s basically a super complex game of rock-paper-scissors for type matchups haha. In battles, you take turns attacking one another until all the Pokemon on one team have been defeated. Battling is fun and all, but my favorite part is catching Pokemon! When you walk around, there is a chance a wild Pokemon will show up! You can battle the Pokemon to try and catch it, and if you’re successful, it can join your team! You can then battle other Pokemon and trainers to level up your Pokemon so they can grow stronger and potentially evolve! It’s kinda trans- they look cooler, are stronger, and get a new name! Most can, but not every Pokemon can evolve. The plot of the game is to travel through the region, level up your Pokemon, and challenge gyms. There are 8 gyms in a region, each specializing in a specific type of Pokemon. If you beat the gym, you get a badge and can move on to the next one. The goal is to beat all the gyms and advance to the Elite 4, and if you can beat them, challenge the Champion! The game is technically beat when you defeat the Champion, although you can always go back and do side quests and catch all the Pokemon. As you journey, there is also an evil team trying to do… something. You end up fighting them along the way, too. Usually, the evil teams want something to do with the Legendary Pokemon of the region. Legendary Pokemon are super cool and super strong, so when you do stop the evil team you can catch them usually!

I could go on about the game for ages, but I think I got the most important stuff in there. Now it’s time to talk about the anime! It’s a long running (and by long I mean 1100+ episodes and 23 seasons, plus 20+ movies and who knows how many specials) loose adaptation of the events of the game, with it’s own special flare. It follows Ash Ketchum and his partner Pikachu as they journey to become a Pokemon Master. I actually don’t know what a Pokemon Master is, but dream your little dream, buddy :) Ash and Pikachu travel through whatever region the most recent game is with a changing group of friends (although the current series is an exception. I’ll talk about that later). He challenges the gyms in the region, has fun with his friends, and travels around! There is an evil team that follows him around- Team Rocket. Jesse, James, and Meowth are the group that follows Ash, with the goal of capturing Pikachu to give to their boss. They pretend to be evil but at heart they’re really just a group of dramatic gay kids who need a better parental figure. Ash is simply a 10 year old kid with a heart of gold and no sense of self preservation, so it’s fun to watch him run around. It’s pretty wholesome most of the time! Some episodes hit like a bag of bricks though, like the one where the dog dies or Ash almost releases Pikachu.

The series I am watching is the currently airing one, Pokemon Journeys. It strays from the standard pattern of the anime in the fact that Ash isn’t actually traveling a new region. Rather, he’s visiting old regions with his friend, Goh. Goh wants to catch every single Pokemon, and then eventually Mew. Mew is a floating pink cat and also a legendary Pokemon. It’s cute! But also super rare. I love it because it’s fun, and Ash and Goh have a great dynamic.

As I mentioned earlier, there are well over a thousand episodes of this show. A lot of older fans like the original episodes, but I find them kinda meh. I personally like the newer animation and Pokemon, and original Ash was super annoying. If you want to maybe watch a series, I’d reccomend XY! It’s on Hulu. If that’s not something you have, Sun and Moon is my next go-to. It’s on Netflix! So is Journeys :)

Haha sorry this is so long! I got excited :) If you have any questions or want to learn about something else related to Pokemon, feel free to ask!

#ace answers an ask! #long post #ace watches pokÉmon

[miracvlovs]

✗✗✗   you see [ kaleb yıldırım ] around lately? yeah i heard that the [ cis male ] is up to no good. [ he / him ] has been here for [ five years ] now but they’re still pretty [ abrasive ] which is fine because they’re also [ debonair ] so it balances out. the [ twenty-eight ] year old [ hitman for hire ] actually looks like a lot like [ alperen duymaz ], don’t you think? it’s best to watch out, though, because it’s been said that they’re really into [ strong cigarettes & even stronger whiskey ].

hey, hello, hi, bonjour! s’up buttercups? ‘tis i, your friendly neighbourhood loser chrissie ( a.k.a an irish doofus who is utter plot trash and the actual WORST at keeping track with discord messages, oops ) and i’m super duper excited to be here among you fab human beings! anywho, this is my first kiddo kaleb and he is … how do you say … morally grey. basically his morals are very questionable in every aspect. but! on the plus side, he’s very talented and good at his job even if he is ruthless and callous, oop. he is … the worst and also lowkey messed up inside tbh so pls excuse his blunt and sarcastic nature. plot-wise i’m open to literally anything and everything so come at me with any ideas ya got! i’m always diggity down to spit ball ideas and form some dope connections so pls feel free to invade my ims or hmu on le cord ( chrissie.#9606 ) and we can brainstorm until our heart’s content! if ya wanna, go ahead and light that lil grey heart up red and i’ll shimmy my butt your way for all of the good stuff. anywho, let’s get down to the nitty-gritty, shall we?

fundamentals.

KALEB EMER YILDIRIM     —     twenty-eight, hitman for hire,   +   one snarky son of a gun   /   troubled dude with daddy issues   /   all issues tbh ! 

aesthetics   ➤   dried blood caked into the grooves of cut knuckles, the lingering scent of smoke and gasoline, silver slivers of past scarring, five o’clock shadow peppering a blunt jawline, discolourations of blue and purple decorating battered hands, a subtle smirk etched upon a devious countenance, calloused fingertips riddled with small paper cuts, dark circles under almost-black eyes, the noise of screeching tires in the middle of the night, a tall stature adorned in all-black attire, ghosts of bruises staining calloused skin green, a scuffed zippo lighter in a pack of marlboros containing only one cigarette, white shirts with the sleeves rolled up to the elbows, a sly grin under stormy dark eyes, a sniper on the roof of a deserted building, the roar of a car engine, & clenched, white-knuckled fists.

nicknames. kal.

date of birth. november third.

gender. cis male.

pronouns. he + him.

birthplace. manhattan, nyc.

orientation. bisexual + aromantic.

education. bachelor of music degree obtained from manhattan school of music.

spoken languages. can speak fluent english, turkish, spanish, & french.

negative traits. haughty, abrasive, enigmatic, cynical, temperamental, calculating, hedonistic, distant, sarcastic, & volatile.

positive traits. adept, diligent, charming, resilient, candid, adept, charming, audacious, determined, & resourceful.

strengths. efficient, energetic, self-confident, strong-willed, strategic thinker, charismatic, & inspiring.

weaknesses. stubborn, dominant, intolerant, impatient, arrogant, poor handling of emotions, cold, & ruthless.

talents. piano, retaining information, memory recall, lock-picking, carjacking, hand-to-hand combat, automobile knowledge, tracking people down, & excellent problem-solving abilities. 

physiology. dark brown eyes. dark brown hair. six feet, one inch tall. of a lean, broad stature with a straight posture and evident height. has a few silvery scars littered across his skin. has a few tattoos in a few less visible places. is ambidextrous.

psychology. scorpio zodiac. water element. slytherin house. entj-a. chaotic neutral. type eight enneagram. choleric temperament. interpersonal intelligence type. addicted to alcohol, tobacco, prescription drugs, cocaine, and cannabis. suffers from addiction and insomnia. his vices are lust, wrath and pride. his virtues are ... honestly, probably just diligence tbh.

background.

possible triggers   :   infidelity, divorce, alcoholism, drug abuse, cancer, death, car crash, funeral, blood, murder, suicide mention, gun mention, & various references to death and murder. 

a synopsis.   ah, here he is—my tol, troubled, grouchy son : ' ) don't u just adore ur resident trashy, snarky, but precious and sad fuckboi muse? bc i know I DO! anyways, before i digress, i'll cut to the chase. so, waaay before he blessed the universe with his presence, his mother ( who was originally from turkey ) moved to the states where she met one alexander hale. you can probably guess the rest: the pair married, they had children, everything seemed to be going swimmingly, yada yada. here’s a lil background: the hale family—a line of manhattan-born businessmen / lawyers / diplomats etc. they're dripping in wealth, not always as squeaky clean as they portray themselves as to be. kaleb’s dad was a douche, expected both of his sons to follow in his shadow and become lawyers, ran around behind his wife's back: the whole shoot and shebang of a classic a-hole. he always kind of ignored kaleb in favour of his eldest son joshua so kaleb kinda became hard-hearted and resentful due to the lack of his father's attention. skip a few years and he spied his dad cheating on his mother with his secretary though he refused to tell another soul for fear of any potential backlash. soon enough, his mother found this out for herself, their argument ruined his thirteenth birthday party then they divorced soon after. his mother fell off the wagon, became terminally ill—all while his father was remarrying and expecting a daughter with his secretary. it was a hella rough two years for kaleb. it got even worse. eventually, his mother passed away and his step-mother divorced his father to breeze off into the sunset with her new lover; leaving her daughter with her piss-poor excuse of a dad. at this point, kaleb was lonely and angry but adopted the role of his step-sister's protector, shielding her from their father's increasing substance abuse induced violence. just before his seventeenth birthday, his father died in a car crash. of course, he didn't entirely mourn the loss. almost immediately, he and his younger sister moved in with their elder brother who helped kaleb get into university. with dear ole dad out of the picture, he could finally pursue his interest and flair for music. after he graduated, he moved to santa ysabel with his brother and brother's family. in the beginning, things were going fine. yeah, sure, he was struggling for work and felt bad that his brother had to keep him afloat. normal stuff. then, one day, things quickly turned sour in his world. [ TRIGGER FOR GORE, BLOOD, SUICIDE MENTION, GUN MENTION, MURDER, DEATH ] he’d came home to find the locks on the doors busted, advancing into the house carefully only to find his brother’s lifeless corpse crumbled on the kitchen tiles: his throat and wrists slashed, posed as a suicide. of course, kaleb knew better. he knew his brother; knew he would never leave him or his family. upon further inspection of the house, he’d discovered the body of his wife upstairs: a bullet hole between her eyes. [ TRIGGER OVER ] the whole ordeal was enough to turn his stomach but once the sickness had subsided, all kaleb felt was a strong thirst for blood. sure, it was pretty damn stupid to try and seek revenge or whatnot ... but kaleb had always been one to let his heart guide his brain. anyways, time skip now to the moment he’d uncovered his brother’s entanglement with some dodgy loan shark, drug dealing criminals who were responsible for his murder. in the end, he’d hunted them down and eradicated them one by one, over a span of weeks. at first, he hated himself and what his desire for vengeance had turned him into but he kept going until he’d got them all: until he’d grown numb. truthfully, how he wound up taking lives for a living is beyond him. he woke up one day, found himself hired by some big-wig businessman who wanted rid of his business partner and et voilà, he was tangled up in the dark side of existence. i mean, was he blackmailed into doing his first paid hit? yes. but who can blame him? especially when they claimed to have intel regarding the sudden demise of a prominent figure in the criminal underbelly of the city, a.k.a his brother’s killer. it was a risk kaleb simply couldn’t take. he prefers to keep himself anonymous, hidden behind shadows, unsuspecting. death has become a job. nothing more. nothing less. it’s simply the algorithm of his existence: receive a dossier, take care of the target, get paid a hefty lump sum. and all just for enacting a stranger’s revenge in the blood of another. he moves like a deadly phantom, his footsteps light as a feather, whipping through the night like a bullet through a target’s skull. sartre claims that hell is other people. and if you were to stare into kaleb’s eyes—eyes eerily similar to having been cut from coal—you might just see hell and everyone in it staring right back at you. as nietzsche wrote: “ he who fights with monsters should be careful lest he thereby become a monster. and if thou gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will also gaze into thee. ”

random extras.

he has a lot of small scars over his body, most of which he can’t account for or has forgotten about.

owns and drives a black 1969 boss 429 mustang which he loves arguably more than he loves himself.

speaking of, he actually is full of self-hatred so don’t let the haughtiness fool you.

trusts nobody but himself and is loyal to nobody but himself.

has a lot of anger issues so often ends up taking part in underground fights.

he rates around a solid three on the kinsey scale.

is a distant person; closed-off emotionally and prefers to keep himself to himself.

when it comes to whether or not he is morally decent or an extremely bad person, he is somewhere in the middle of that spectrum.

he isn’t heartless but he isn’t exactly compassionate either.

kind of shady but knows how to pass himself as charming. 

has been thru sum shit n seen sum shit so he’s v messed up inside.

though he does have a soft spot for animals and children.

his marksmanship is impeccable.

he’s naturally gifted with firearms and his shot is always on point.

dark eyes and bruised knuckles are his ultimate aesthetic tbh.

actually really appreciates classical music, though he’ll never tell. blame it on his piano lessons from childhood.

speaking of piano, he’s low key gifted at playing although he rarely does these days.

has a very short fuse and can lose his temper quite easily.

he has a good heart and good intentions when it comes to those he actually cares about although he’ll never let this show.

favourite coping mechanism? isolation.

a bit of a lone wolf. he keeps people at arm’s length but acts in a way where people are under the illusion he’s their friend.

basically the tall, dark and handsome trope: ( most of the tall, dark and handsome men display aloof, cold and distant personality but they do have a gentle and caring side. )

is a little snarky and grumpy but if you manage to break this exterior, you’ll find he’s quite witty and easy going.

he got into fighting at a young age. it was the only way to try and learn how to defend himself against his father.

sleep?? he doesn’t know her.

tends to repress his emotions until he explodes.

healthy coping mechanisms?? he doesn’t know them either.

is prone to pushing the self destruct button.

you can find a pinterest board for him by clicking anywhere here.

#hey hi hello happy to be here !!! #this is my son kal n he's ... A LOT. #show this some luv n i'll come atcha for plots !!! #indulgence.intro

[visual-explorxtion]

A Date With Rebecca [Rebecca Chambers x Reader] - One Shot

Summary: Taking your favourite girl on a date. Go see her favourite movie, have a candlelit dinner, take a short stroll. What more can you ask for?

A/N: Looking for some wholesome Rebecca content? Then you’ve come to the right place. Originally, I’ve planned to make this 1.5k words or less but somehow I kept adding more and more details to the story. Is it a fluff fic? Yes. Is it filled with cliché plots? Also, yes. Sometimes, cliché stuff are pretty wholesome. Bonus content if you read the whole fic ;)

Word Count: 2.7K

Hairstyle? Check. Outfit? Check. Time? You peered up from your full-length mirror and glanced at the analogue clock on the wall. The ticking dish points to 6:15 pm. Perfect, you still got time before picking up your lovely date, Rebecca. You've planned a surprise date night for her for weeks now. Only up until recently, she finally agreed and cleared up her schedule. Joy would be an understatement to describe how you are feeling right now, nevertheless, joy is the only thing that's coursing through your body. Ping! The screen of your phone illuminated in blue, revealing a text sent by your date.

'Hey! I'm on my way to our meet up point. I'll see you in 10 minutes x :)'

The message made your heart melt into a pool of jello, she even left a little kiss and a smiley face at the end. This made you even more excited to meet her, the sooner the better. With no time to lose, you grab your old-fashion helmet from the console table, reviewing yourself one last time before exiting the apartment. Keys to your scooter in your fist, you stick it in the ignition and the little yellow hunk of junk sputter to life. You smile to yourself and pray that your only transportation doesn't fail on you tonight. Index finger double tapping on the oil gauge disk displaying petrol 3/4 of the way full, tucking your hair neatly inside the helmet then you set off.

Round the corner and through the bustling streets of downtown, you parked your bike just a couple of shops down from where you're meeting Rebecca. Every step you take seems like you're walking on air, the bounce in your steps lights up every way of your path, leading you right to her. There, she stands under the fairy lights- strung from one side of the patio to the other wrapping around the redwood columns- waiting for your arrival just outside of her favourite cafe, 'Dans le bleu'. From the moment she saw you, her sweet smile has taken over her perfectly shaped face and time slows down around you as you take in the impression of her. Her hair twinkles under the warm white glow, eyes crinkled as she beams; draped in a celadon green vintage flare dress, fitted waistband hugging against her slender waist, she is your angel at heart even if she denies it.

"Hey, you look beautiful tonight." you resist the urge to pull her into your arms even with the whole world watching.

"You don't look so bad yourself. Did you style your hair? It looks great." she praised. "Should we go to eat? I think Bleu just flipped to their bar menu and I'm kinda craving pasta right now."

"Actually...I have something else planned. It's only 6:30 and I think it's still kinda early for dinner, so I have something else planned instead." you smiled mischievously.

"Oh no. What deathly things have you got planned for me." Rebecca's face drained as you chuckled at her expression.

"I'm not telling you, it's a surprise." you flashed a smug grin. "Come on, we'll be late." You grabbed her hand and tangle your fingers with hers. The warmth of her palm radiates onto yours and you can feel the nervousness and sweat running through with each beat of her pulse. But all of that did not bother you. You held her hand tighter even with the sweat binding both hands, you love her too much that you just accept every part of her.

After 15 minutes of waltzing through the artificially lit avenue, you and Rebecca both arrived at an inconspicuous movie theatre. "The cinema? But it doesn't even look like it’s in business." Rebecca frown.

The cinema looks a little out of place compared to the rest of the street. The creamy white façade has witnessed the testimony of time and history, all cracked and shedding off little pieces. But, the neon sign still glows ominously in the shade of red, the building itself it's illuminated with a standalone rustic street lamp and a retro letterbox that's yellowing with age, only one film is showing in bold letters.

"...Roman Holiday? Oh my gosh! D-did you do this?" she's dying to know as curiosity shimmers from her eyes.

"I have my ways." you winked and she playfully slaps your arm to return the gesture.

Upon entering the building, the scenery was so drastically different that you'd almost thought you stepped back in time. Or walked into a Wes Anderson movie set. Your feet landed on the carpet that was once plush and fluffy, vermillion red and sunset orange shades of intricate patterns stretched across the main entrance. The ticket booth stands in the centre of the hall with a two-tier crystal chandelier hanging above on the high rise ceiling. The leather lounge chairs face one another on either side, beige wrinkles and creases etched onto the chestnut seats with time. The pair of you gradually take in the scenery but was soon greeted by the sweet and savoury scent of popcorn. Rebecca's eye lit up with delight.

"Wait here, I'll get us popcorn." Swiftly, you turned and Rebecca's gaze follows. She watches intently as you carry two bags full of popcorn from the kiosk. Her eyes widened in bewilderment. "I didn't know which one you want so I got both." you shrug as she shakes her head in disbelief.

"The film's about to start. Let's go."

You and Rebecca found your seats with ease, considering the fact that only a dozen of people are here for this movie, scattered across the theatre in various age groups, even though you'd thought about having this screening just for the two of you instead. The lights went dim, shading your eyes in pitch blackness, then the screen comes on. The unfamiliar brightness made you squint your eyes as you shield them and blinked several times to get used to the luminosity. Actors appear in black and white, the deliverance of dialogues flows through the auditorium but not to your ears. Your eyes admire Rebecca as she’s fixated on the film. Adoration and excitement glisten in her soul, just like stars, watching this film as if it's the first time. As the story continues to play, the protagonists tour the city of Rome on a scruffy moped, her arms around his waist, riding away in this romantic getaway. You held Rebecca's hand laying on the velvet armrest, a little shock sent up her arm and she looked at your conjoined hands then up to your rosy gaze. Someday, you'd hope to take her to Rome, under the ray of the summer sun, riding on the same vintage moped and reenact the same scene in front of our very own eyes.

"That was such a good film! I haven't had this much fun in so long, I almost forgot what it feels like." she giggles. "I bet I'm going to have a sweet dream tonight."

"You'd think our date ends here? Just after one movie?" you blinked. "Honey, I'm taking you out on a date, not a movie night. We can go anywhere and do anything you want, just say the word."

Rebecca paused. "Anything?"

"Anything," you answered.

Her stomach grumbles and she laughs. "I think the first thing I want is dinner."

You chuckled along. "I think so too. You said you want pasta, right? I know just the place."

Leaving the cinema with the night claiming the light, Rebecca's hand hasn't left yours since halfway through the film, nor does she have the intention to. Everything just felt natural, like puzzle pieces falling in the right place. As you lead the way, a darkened cobbled street came into view as both of you turn a corner, Rebecca couldn't shake off the feeling of uneasiness.

"A-are you sure this is the right way?" she stammers.

"Trust me. I am 100% sure," you reassure her.

"B-but what if-"

"Ah, we're here!" you voice made Rebecca jolt.

She peeked out from behind your right shoulder, quizzical by what she's seeing whilst tugging on your sleeve, she asked, "A hole in the wall? That was a bit anticlimactic..." a hint of disappointment seeps through.

"Dear, you shouldn't judge a book by its cover. I thought you taught me that." you tease. Her face pouts but you still find her cute no matter what.

You push the wooden front door which made a stifling groan. Inside, the little restaurant is rustic and oddly homey. Photographs hung on the wall, from monotones transitioning to technicolour, each photograph tells its own story and heartfelt emotions behind it. Your eyes scan each decoration as you move further into the place, bits and pieces collected from around the world and written messages left by visiting customers. The reserved table is located in a less crowded area behind a half wall, just overlooking the rest of the room, an ambience mood under the candlelit atmosphere. Quiet chit-chats and conversions turn to waves of laughter, feeling content in each other's company as dinner went by in a flash. Spending time with Rebecca is every second well spent.

"I hope you still got room for dessert."

"I think you're underestimating my stomach's capacity." she returns the jab.

Flipping between pages, indecisive, Rebecca bites her bottom lip as her finger scans through the list of desserts, unawarely emitting soft 'umm's and 'eh's from her lips, tinted with a glossy shade of chilli red. Trying hard not to laugh at her child-like indecisiveness caused by this inconvenience, to which her brows begun knitting together bit by bit, the corner of your lips can't help but slowly crawled upwards. All the dessert dilemma ended with her favourite, Baked Alaska. The snowy white miniature mountain engulfed in a sea of blue flames, it's a form of entertainment in the shape of a dessert. You and Rebecca filled your stomachs to the brim with food, thus, this concludes the dinner segment you have planned for her.

The touch of the summer breeze caressed your face under the starry night, footsteps in sync with one another as the night winds down with a stroll into empty, midnight street. Silence flows through the air, except for the distant sound of traffic and Rebecca's angelic voice. Shop windows reflect the pair of you, illuminated by neon lights, you wish this moment could last forever. Music could be heard from afar which prompted the curiosity within Rebecca as she ran ahead to listen to the tune more clearly. The playing tune came from a speaker located just outside of the entrance of the theatre. An all-time classic 'Singing in the Rain'. The cheerful melodic song takes the centre stage as the vacant street acts as their audience. Rebecca looks at you with devious gaze in her eyes. You have a bad feeling in your gut as you can almost see the thought that runs in her mind. You shook your head.

"Oh, come on! You promised that I can do anything I want. Please?"

She gave you those pleading puppy eyes, a critical hit to your heart. You battle with your internal self but the latter isn't any good with arguments. You sigh and agreed. Rebecca jumped up in celebration of her little victory and took you by your hand and lead you to the spotlight. Hands behind her back, tapping one foot out to her right; heel, toe, heel and step. Knowing your cue, you followed. With the opposite foot, she repeats the same moves, gliding in the opposite direction and you do the same. One foot at a time, she hops with airy steps with arms flutter at her sides as she glides her footwork in the figure of eight, in time with the beat. Pushing her foot out with pointed toes, her leg lightly sweeps across the concrete floor as she shifts her weight and twirls on the spot. Her matte satin dress spins in the same direction, the seams floats up in a graceful manner as it whirls around like a maypole but it's gravitational pull delays when Rebecca halts to an end with a croisé pose as the song fades.

Mesmerised by the sight of her dance, you stand on the spot and gawk with your jaw hanging wide. Before you can react with applause, she extends out a hand to ask for yours in return. You happily accepted her touch with the heat of your palm. Fingertips tenderly brushed against her shoulder blades and even the slightest touch her skin can make your heart race a thousand beats per minute. With her hand clasped on your waist, she takes the lead. The incandescent bulb echos in her emerald eyes, twinkling like stardusts; each step she takes, you follow along. Moving to the adagio rhythm, Elvis whispering softly about hopelessly falling in love with somebody, swaying side to side in front of the dazzling theatre with half the city fast asleep. You wish the city could watch as both of you dance in the moonlight, but you need no audience, as Rebecca is your whole world. Prompting her right hand, she twirls for you once more, making a long-lasting image imprinted into your memory. Hands delicately raising the edge of her skirt with the pinky finger extended out for emphasise, she dips into a curtsy bowed gracefully towards you and you do so returning the politeness also as graciously as possible.

All seriousness suddenly turns into a bellow of laughter filling up the darkness and drowning out the music. The hilarity persisted until both your stomach muscles ache with a fiery pain and eyes filled to the brink with tears of joy.

"Alright, lemme take you home."

She nodded with a soft smile, strolling together once more, hand in hand. Wasn't long until you looped back to where you've parked your transport. Rebecca eyes the yellow, barely-holding-it-together machinery with uncertainty.

"A...vespa. Can you please make sure I get home in one piece?" she jest.

"Hey! This baby is as safe as a house." you shift just out of earshot and murmur, "Don't listen to her, baby."

"You should get an electric one. You know, to help save the planet."

"Alright, alright...Dr Chambers." she huffs in response.

Tucking strands of hair back into you hat of safety, you popped open the seat, revealing yet another helmet. This one, a cream coloured shell lined with a retro red-blue stripe inspired by 60s aesthetic. You bought this weeks before the date and with the intention that she'll be the only designated passenger. Rebecca picks up the helmet and paused, eyes gazing attentively at it. Internally, you start to panic. Is it too much? Does she hate it? You swallowed hard; your lips quiver as you were about to speak, she cups your cheek as the warmth of her palm spreads before you could register it her lips are pressed onto yours, taking you in by astonishment. Your hands instinctively supported her waist as her body leaned against you on tiptoes, then she pulled away. The kiss only lasted a few seconds, but the lingering feeling felt forever. Still living in a daze, she calls out.

"Are you still going to drive me home?"

You snapped out of your daydream and found her already seated on the backside of the Vespa. Gleefully, you skipped your way to the driver's side, almost crashed landed onto the seat, still giggling stupidly to yourself. Sometimes, action speaks louder than words. And that kiss was all you needed. Ignition on, goggles strapped to your face, you yell;

"Hold on tight, babydoll."

The back tire squeals as you take off. Rebecca clutches your midriff for the sake of her life as you race into the twilight full of adrenaline. Engine roaring in the dead of the night amidst the summer wind streamlining around you, streetlights began to form in a strip of fluorescent lines. Her chin rests on your shoulder, squeezing you ever so tighter as the passing signs and billboards reflect off her visor, in shades of pink and purple hue, wondering if she's existing in a virtual dream state. Even though the music had already stopped playing for the both of you, this was once in a lifetime experience that you will remember for eternity.

-----

Bonus:

Love ya ☆

#who wouldn’t want to wake rebecca on a date? #like this girl is a literaly angel #the prettiest #and smart #i wanted to draw reader as a non-binary person #but i kinda imagined rebecca having a butch gf #or bf whatever #youncan be whatever you want #rebecca chambers #rebecca chambers x reader #resident evil #mirage tries her best to write a fanfic #and draw as well as #i do good? #this doodle is waaay too messy #quick doodles are my nemesis #⭐️.doc #fun fact: i was crowned the just dancing queen in my high school #no one can beat me at it #tho i don't know how to dance

[reconditarmonia]

Dear Fandom 5K Author

Hi! Thank you for writing for me! I’m reconditarmonia here and on AO3. I have anon messaging off, but mods can contact me with any questions.

Dragon Age | Fullmetal Alchemist | The Locked Tomb | Motherland: Fort Salem | Where the Sky is Silver and the Earth is Brass

General likes:

– Relationships that aren’t built on romance or attraction. They can be romantic or sexual as well, but my favorite ships are all ones where it would still be interesting or compelling if the romantic component never materialized.

– Loyalty kink! Trust, affectionate or loving use of titles, gestures of loyalty, replacing one’s situational or ethical judgment with someone else’s, risking oneself (physically or otherwise) for someone else, not doing so on their orders. Can be commander-subordinate or comrades-in-arms.

– Heists, or other stories where there’s a lot of planning and then we see how the plan goes.

– Femslash, complicated or intense relationships between women, and female-centric gen. Women doing “male” stuff (possibly while crossdressing).

– Stories whose emotional climax or resolution isn’t the sex scene, if there is one.

– Uniforms/costumes/clothing.

– Stories, history, and performance. What gets told and how, what doesn’t get told or written down, behavior in a society where everyone’s consuming media and aware of its tropes, how people create their personas and script their own lines.

General DNW: rape/dubcon, torture, other creative gore; unrequested AUs, including “same setting, different rules” AUs such as soulmates/soulbonds; PWP; food sex; embarrassment; focus on pregnancy; Christmas/Christian themes; infidelity; unrequested polyamory; focus on unrequested canon or non-canon ships; unrequested trans versions of characters.

Smut Likes: clothing, uniforms, sexual tension, breasts, manual sex, cunnilingus, grinding, informal d/s elements, intensity.

—

Fandom: Dragon Age

Character(s):

Group: Cassandra Pentaghast/Female Lavellan

Female Lavellan

Group: Charter & Rector

Genre(s):

Canon-Style Plot - Freeform

Action/Adventure

Worldbuilding

Established Relationship

Mystery/Procedural

I'm playing this game for the first time and loving Cassandra and Lavellan together so much. (I'm playing with a mod where I can romance her with a female PC!) Lavellan starts off as this confused and small and non-Andrastian prisoner who disagrees with Cassandra on so many things, but Cassandra puts so much trust and faith in her and so much on the line for her - even with Lavellans who are adamant that they're not chosen, they're just doing their best and they happen to be the ones in the position to make this choice. Cassandra is so proud to know her, and backs her up even when she disagrees with Lavellan's choices! The romance scene is really cute between two characters who are adults and have a day-to-day working relationship that isn't going to change, but are still just having fun with how charming it is in a way that builds on their friendship. Not to mention their battling together, of course - the ways they can protect each other and fight for each other's goals (and give Cassandra all the elven swords and shields), how worried they sound if the other one gets hurt...whoops, I found myself another loyalty kink ship.

I also just like playing as Lavellan generally, with how much of an outsider she feels (the "Dawn Will Come" scene is so alienating! it really works!) and how much of the game is about visiting the sites of past elven trauma and/or glory days.

My Lavellan uses the (default lol) name of Ellana, is a rift mage, sports a lovely buzzcut and vallaslin, has a lot of feelings about elf history (and visiting the Plains/Graves especially), believes in elven gods and doesn't care to pretend she's Andrastian, and besides Cass is closest friends with Solas, but don't feel that you have to write my specific PC - I'm excited to read about yours too!

But! I also love all the little hints about the work that Leliana's agents are doing, and their friendship (walking in on their card game at Caer Bronach is kind of delightful), and the letter from Rector's mother asking why he uses a code name for work (why are you ashamed of your name, Wilbur??) is one of my favorite in-universe documents. Slice-of-life or slice-of-mission with Charter and Rector would also make me really happy. Here again, just the closeness and trust and faith that these people have in one another is my jam.

Fandom-Specific DNW: Canon-typical levels of Cassandra's association with the Chantry and belief in the Maker/Andraste/the Herald shouldn't be taken to contravene my DNW of Christian themes, but I wouldn't want Satinalia fic or something focused on the Andrastian faith. Please don't put F!Lavellan in a different romance, even if we didn't match on the Cassandra ship.

—

Fandom: Fullmetal Alchemist

Character(s):

Group: Olivier Mira Armstrong/Maria Ross

Genre(s):

Action/Adventure

Canon-Style Plot - Freeform

Getting Together

I'll admit: I am a shallow, shallow person who loves the heartwarming and id-satisfying Briggs loyalty-kink complex (The watch! Buccaneer handing Olivier a clean pair of gloves after she kills Raven! Constant and deeply sincere saluting! Olivier’s explanation of why she wants Miles around and her lack of patience for anyone’s shit) but would like an f/f manifestation of it for actual shipping. Post-canon or AU where Maria is assigned to Briggs, or works for Olivier in Central? Does Maria foil a plot against Olivier, or Olivier save Maria's life in battle? Does Olivier order Maria into a firefight? Hit me.

Fandom-Specific DNW: Olivier/men, even mentioned.

—

Fandom: The Locked Tomb

Character(s):

Matthias Nonius

Genre(s):

Action/Adventure

Canon-Style Plot - Freeform

Fantasy

Nonius was one of my favorite new characters in Harrow the Ninth. His whole impossible arrival via evocation-by-poetry, battle with the Sleeper, and epic departure to fight the Beast made me very, very happy on levels I have trouble explaining. It was so heartwarming?! Because it was impossible, and because poetry won, and because they went off to do the best they could...I don't know, exactly. (Iiiii also just love that he's named for the Redwall mouse.) I'd love to read more about his life - being unprepossessing and very human but also paladin-like and really fucking good at being a swordsman, representing the Ninth House in slightly less decrepit times, his mysterious past with Gideon the First (and Pyrrha, sort of), however it happened that he died far from home in an unknown place and couldn't be recovered for burial, "chickenshits don't get beer"? Or, er, his afterlife - going to fight with Marta, Ortus, and Pro, re-encountering G1deon as allies...

—

Fandom: Motherland: Fort Salem

Character(s):

Group: Abigail Bellweather/Raelle Collar

Original Historical Witch Character(s)

Group: Sarah Alder & First Bellweather Ancestor

Genre(s):

Action/Adventure

Canon-Style Plot - Freeform

Mystery/Procedural

Worldbuilding

I fell hard for this show and Abigail/Raelle is the ship I’m most excited about - they get off to a bad start for all kinds of personal history reasons and have problems with each other, but when it gets down to the wire Abigail would do anything for Raelle and is very gung-ho about having Raelle’s unconventional but extremely powerful magic under her leadership, regardless of Raelle being a loose cannon. She told her she loved her!! <3 And by the end, Raelle also clearly knows what Abigail's going through (like when she talks her down in "Citydrop"), respects her leadership, and cares deeply about her and wants to protect her in return. I love that loyalty dynamic, and their competence as fighters/witches.

Physical combat, strength in general, magical strength, ability to work magic together, knowledge of the magical canon vs. out-of-the-box techniques...what parts of their skills and their bond could be challenged in the weird dimension that the end of season 1 leaves them in? Or when they get back home and new challenges await? (In my head, the decision not to send them to War College is not revoked; the unit becomes some kind of special-forces secret strike team rather than cannon fodder.) Maybe something where Raelle goes/has gone into a fight as a berserker-type for Abigail and then comes back to her, or where Abigail protects/has protected her soldier (her girl!! I love her protectiveness of Raelle towards the other cadets, imagine it in a battle!)? Or an arranged marriage AU where it's usual for witch soldiers to marry to combine their magic power or something...If including smut in the story, I'd especially be up for something d/s-y where the loyalty-kinky dynamic of Raelle being Abigail's weapon, at her command, is echoed in sex!

OR. The alternate history that the show has created is so interesting and I'm craving expansion of that through fic! Tell me about the Bellweather ancestor who was a slave and ended up powerful and influential enough to begin a dynasty, and how she met and was recruited by Alder. Or other enslaved witches, witches in the American Revolution or the Civil War, or the founding of Fort Salem and standardization of American military magic with its various influences, or Chinese or Jewish or Mexican immigrant witches who maybe came from different magic traditions and might have had to make the choice of whether or not to reveal that they had magic (if the system knows you because of your descent in the country?), serving their country but also binding their daughters and granddaughters forever.

Fandom-Specific DNW: Abigail/Adil (at all; if he's mentioned, please make them just friends), focus on Raelle/Scylla (dwelling on Raelle still having feelings for Scylla or on her getting over Scylla for Abigail; you don't need to retcon their having been together), Scylla bashing.

—

Fandom: Where the Sky is Silver and the Earth is Brass

Character(s):

Chaye Roznatovsky

Demon

Genre(s):

Fantasy

Canon-Style Plot - Freeform

Worldbuilding

Anything expanding on this story would make me really happy. Chaye’s years with the partisans, the comrades-in-arms she had and loved then and who else’s memory she holds or makes into a weapon, her journey to America, going by the surname of “no one.” The demon’s mirror world, its loss of that world (what exactly happened on the other side?) and its need to be where Jews are, demon Judaism? Or the future of both of them now that they’ve found each other!

Fandom-Specific DNW/Opt-In: DNW Chaye/demon. The premise of the story being what it is, I'm explicitly okay with antisemitism being a prominent feature of the story if you write something that covers either or both characters' backstory, but would prefer post-war antisemitism not to be a focus.

#dear author letters #dragon age #gideon the ninth #motherland: fort salem #fma

[popculturebuffet]

Jake Reviews Stuff: Steven Universe: The Answer

Happy pride everyone and naturally, it just wouldn’t feel like a celebration of pride in animation without one of the frontrunners of LBGTQ represintation in Children’s television, as well as quality in storytelling in general: Steven Universe.  Since your seeing this you probably know the gist but as my idol peter parker would say let’s do this one last time:  The story of Steven, a 14 year old, though he dosen’t look it, boy with a boundless amount of love, compassion and empathy,  lives in beach city with his borderline homeless dad , surrogate moms and surrogate until we find out they actually are kinda related sister: Garnet, a fusion of two gems in love and thus the sum total of both them and their feelings, Peal, an emotional but loving gem who grew from a servant to Rose’s right hand, sometimes lover, and confidant, and Amythest, a gem born long after the war that brought everyone else here who acts like a 20 something or teenager half the time. Steven soon finds himself fighting alongside themt o protect earth both from the monsters caused by the final battle of the war his mother fought to save earth from distruction and let her army live life how they choose, and the gem homeworld as it starts to take an intrest in earth again. And as the fight goes on Steven also starts to see just how flawed his family is and how much they haven’t moved on from his moms death and finds himself forced to help them past it while grappling with his mom’s terrible and complicated legacy, everyone expecitng him to basically be her, and what it means to be a  being that’s truly one of a kind.  I absolutley love the show: it’s not without flaws; Characters tend to be ingnored for seasons or episodes at a time,some arcs are really weirdly paced and the slice of life episodes can be jammed in the weirdest places. But the show’s strength: a devotion to having emotional resolution be even more important, and sometimes just as powerful animated and framed, than fighting, though the show’s fight scene’s are incredible, incredibly deep characters with fully fleshed out arcs and growth, and a love for tackling deep, heavy subjects through metaphor or even directly, taking on things such as gender identity, societal conformity, ptsd, grief, gender identity and many many more with grace and weight and helping kids with them in the process.  The show is also the frontrunner for LBGTQ+ representation in cartoons in the 2010′s. While other shows had bits nad pieces, series creator Rebecca Sugar was the one responsible for making Marcline and Princess Bubblegum ex-lovers and making it obvious as possible without saying it because standards were bullshit, Steven Unvierse decided to say fuck subtley and thus had PLENTY OF gay content: Garnet is a fusion of two women and the embodiment of their love and relationship, and when the two show up their very affectionate with one another to the point of bullcrap censorship in less tolerant countries such as india and russia, while Pearl out and out had a CENTURIES LONG romantic relationship with Steven’s mother who was explictly pansexual, and that’s just the main cast!  But I genuinely believe that it’s thanks to Steven Universe that children’s animation is as LBGTQ+ positive as it is now. SU wasn’t the first to have gay leads but it was one of the few kids shows with the balls and, at least in the us, network support to explictily have gay characters as some of the main cast, and I feel the show’s success softend execs at CN and other companies to let more representation too. Since SU”s airing, most CN shows have had gay content great and small, Nick has had gay parents and a bisexual lead, not to mention the korra ending kicking it all off, and Netflix has said hold my beer, having not only multiple gay main characters, but having the finale of she ra be built on a decleration of love between two women saving the universe and being the climax of the entire series.  Not that those crews likely still didn’t have to FIGHT for most of that, i’m not bilind and NOelle Stevenson has outright admitted she had to be sneaky about catradora for season 1 as to not get it shut down, but I feel SU”s sucess and Rebecca and crew’s own likely fights put the various studio goon’s reflector shields down and got more representation into children’s media. And that’s a wonderful thing.  So naturally the show was a lock for this month and for coverage here.. i’ts just given the show’s heavily seralized nature and the fact it dosen’t really have any long romantic story arcs. Sure ther’es plenty of romance, but it’s mostly either in the past or between an already married couple that’s also a person. The show’s arcs were more focused on worldbuilding and character building, which I do prefer and will be doing one in July.  But it did make it tricky to find an episode to spotlight the character I wanted to spotlight: Garnet Garnet is easily my faviorite character, with pearl a very close second: she has a great dynamic, is a decent if flawed mother and leader, and is also damn funny with her deadpanned reactions to things being utterly divine. As well as whatever the hell this is. 

The problem is I also wanted to spotlight the parts making up her: Ruby and Sapphire, their relationship etc as they themselves are fantastic and i’m 100% convinced were the inspriation for one mr mc skat kat and one paula abdul’s magnum opus in steven’s unvierse

The problem is most rupphire episodes are tangled in bigger arcs. They debuted at the end of the invasion arc, they had the baseball episdoe together shortly after another arc, and their wedding is tied up in the reveal rose was pink diamond and the reception is crashed by the climactic battle with Yellow and Blue that sets up the final arc of the whole series. But thankfully season two gave us The Answer to my problem.. ironically named the Answer, basically Garnet Year One as Garnet tells steven how she came to be, a story so beauitful they made a storybook out of it.. and it’s my honor to present it here after the cut. 

We open at the Barn... as a refresher at this point the Gems and Steven have been staying at Greg’s old family farm in order to have the  space and suplies to build a drill to stop the cluster from hatching and destroying earth, with Peridot reluctantly working with them. So as such Steven’s sleeping there when Garnet wakes her.. and in a notable departure for her it’s san’s shade, which shows her adorable excitment as she wakes Steven. Turns out it’s his birthday! And.. I don’t really begrudge the show for takin ga break for two episodes to celebrate it: besides being the only time steven went up a year, on screen, it was a nice break from the peridot/cluster storyline for a second, and this and the following episode are pretty great and both add a lot to the world as a whole. It’s why i don’t MIND when SU takes a break from the plot, as long as they do it for good reason. 

IN a great callback steven asks if garent’s going to tell him she’s a fusion, as Jailbreak revealed the reason she hadn’t yet is she was saving it for his birthday, which is a good joke and a great callback. Garnet cheerfully tells him know but has clearly found a backup: While steven knows she’s a fusion now.. she never told him how she came to be and how ruby and sapphire met after all.  So we journey back about 5000 years to, as we’d learn much later with the pink diamond reveal, the start of the gem war. Earth was to be the next great colony, as we’d learn next season for pink diamond, but something was in the way: The rebel rose quartz and her brutal right hand pearl were causing tons of distruption, so the rest of the diamonds had come to snuff out the rebellion personally.  So that’s where Ruby and Sapphire came in. Sapphire is a higher class gem, and befiting her caste is a precog, with Sapphires brought in to tell the diamonds the future so they can either make sure it happens or change it’s course. Garnet neaturally has this ablility too but vastly improved to see multiple timelines. She’s proper and distant.  Ruby meanwhile is a shy, if more intellgent then her peers grunt soldier. Rubies as we learned here are basically made in groups to fuse. To homeworld, Fusion is simply a tactic to create a slightly stronger gem out of three other gems, and basically creates one giant person. In Contrast up to this point the series has shown fusion as something important to the crystal gems and requriing more work: It requires all parties to be in sync to even happen much less stay together, and requires an emotional connection; Freindship, romance, kinship... whatever it is it’s needed to hold the fusion together. It’s part of what MAKES garnet so impressive: Garnet is a permafusion, only unfusing either when her two halves are needed. or when thier personal conflict is so great they CAN’T stay fused. It also means due to said emotional resonance and combining the best traits of two gems rather than creating just one big gem, that the crystal fusions we’ve seen are vastly more powerful and versitale.. evne if they dont’ speak much because Rebecca made the mistake of getting big artist to do the role and apparently refused to just you know.. recast? It’s something that always baffled me. There’s no shortage of talented poc performers who can sing out there.  Anyways, that’s part of what makes this intresting: up till now, we’d only seen one form of fusion.. we hadn’t seen what homeworld thought of it and used it for, and to the show’s credit it was hinted back during the return arc when Jasper called fusion a “tactic for making weak gems stronger”, since as far as homeworld used it, that’s what it was and it’s a stark contrast to the crystal gems harder to maintain but much more intresting and unique fusions. 

We’ll get more into this later. The two front rubies argue about whose going to punch people whie our ruby just points out the obvious: Their just going to fuse into a really big ruby and punch together. This gets her shoved into sapphire, which despite not being her fault gets gasps and monocle pops from the gems around them. And it’s about time I dug into the episodes unique animation style: instead of the usual, only a handful of characters, the rubies, sapphire, and later rose and pearl, are animated normally and even then, at least for the first half, are brightly lit in their primary colors, while the rest of the gems present are just barely animated sytlistic shadows. It’s a really intresting choice and a clever way to save on budget, while still looking gorgeous. 

Sapphire, while refusing Ruby’s help getting up, is understanding if monotone, but as w’eve seen in the present, tha’ts mostly just a side effect from seeing where everything’s going, and likely the reason garnet’s own emotional process is much like that; Stoic but willing to emote when necessary. Sapphire however has a reason for brushing her ruby off: the reason she was called here.. Blue Diamond.  This is intresting as it’s not only the first time we HEARD of blue, as before this we only heard of Yellow, who’d make her proper debut at the end of this season, but the first time we saw a diamond in any way shape of form. Sure we had murals and such, but given the lack of info about the diamonds this early on it was impossible to tell whow as who and the only giveway there was more than was diamond was the symbols: the era 1 symbols in temples and at the arena showing all 4, hinting at pink, and the modern one shown in jailbreak that was a triforce. We do only see Blue in a hood, covered by her palquin and her voice done by Garnet, but it’s still the first tiem we’d see any of the diamonds in any onscreen form. The Garnet voice is also notcable as every other voice in the flashabck, including characters who aren’t either part of garnet or the same gem type as part of her, is normal.. it’s only blue Garnet does a voice for.. and a clever way of covering for the fact they likely hadn’t cast her voice actress yet. It’s also notable for the introduction of Blue Pearl, who silently stands by her Diamond teh whole time.. it’s weird thinking back to the fact that this was the first time we’d really SEEN other versions of our main cast: other rubies and another pearl. Sure we knew they were all part of one type or another with the obvious exception of garnet.. but this episode is notable, and weird to think about giiven how many variants we see as the series goes on, for being the FIRST time we see this on screen. 

Sapphire reveals that while she, and two of her rubies, will poof the rebllion will end here, and Blue is releaved to here this, thanks sapphire and dismisses her. As Garnet explains, Sapphire had no issue with this as she simply saw her life as one straight line: No choice no, option: Fate would just come as it may. Sapphire also muses to Our Ruby on the fact that she finds this planet a wonderful place for a colony.. and that she wishes she could’ve seen more of it. While Our Ruby says theirs more time, Sapphire, while appricating the sentiment gently shoots it down.  This little moment is interuptted however as Rose shouts out, signaling her and Pearl’s arrival. The battle has begun. And I do like the clever use of storytelling here.. not in presetnation but in what we’d learn muchhhh later with the big reveal: To a first time watcher, we just thought that it was only rose and pearl for story purposes or it was a small attack. After all the rest of the characters we’d seen were just shadows, so I, and I presume many others just assumed the rest were off screen or failing that this was just a small strike. As we’d learn once we got the full story of Pink Diamond becoming rose.. it was indeed JUST them, and only them at the time. it’s probably why in the future sapphire saw the rebellion ended her: Pink while powerful had to reign it in as not to be found out and pearl, while as we see her is already utterly badass and an ace with a sword as she mows down Quartz soldiers, is still one gem going up against a literal army.  Another noticable thing, that hints at when this takes place is the fact that when Rose takes down the fused rubies, poofing two of them and leaving ours to flump to the ground.. she uses her fists. At this point her iconic sword is well established and it’s assumed it was just left out for artistic purpose.. but since we meet who made it next season with Bismuth, it’s another clever hint this is before there was a proper army. Bismuth wasn’t a gem yet so Rose/Pink just had her natural strength and shield to protect her, which wasn’t nothing, but the sword probably made it far easier to hold back. 

And thus we come to the moment of truth: Pearl has come back and is about to mow down sapphire.. when Ruby realizes just waht Sapphire meant and waht she’s about to do and thus.. the future changed. Ruby tackles her out of the way. And Garnet is born. 

I absolutley love Garnet’s cotton candy design, both as a sensible evolution, as this is a garnet formed in a moment of passion and accidently versus the one we see in the present or even in flashbacks: a person formed by choice and love and thus having a more stable form. Naturally, Rose and Pearl are baffled by this.. and it’s even more understandable.. as the above mentioned pink diamond origin episode explained.. they had never SEEN this kind of fusion before. While i’m sure this isn’t the first time this happend in gem history, any others were likely killed as soon as it were over or went into hiding as we saw with the off colors. And Pink being sheltered and Pearl being created for her, probalby simply never thought of something like this existing. But they also realize this never before seen to them miracle is their cue to skidoo and book it out of there.  Naturally Blue is pissed and the court are disgusted as the two defuse and both have about the same reacation. 

Before Blue can murder Ruby for you know, doing her fucking job, Sapphire ttakes her by the hand and books it off the sky arena and the two plummet to earth  while ruby screams no a lot. The foundation of any good relationship. 

They float down to earth.. because she’s Mary Poppins Ya’ll. Ruby reveals why she’s upset: Because as she sees it, there’s dozens of her. She’s not WORTH this. Sapphire has no reaction because for the first time, she has no idea what the future brings, what it means and the future she saw was just shattered. She’s frozen. 

Jokes aside I really love that pun. Ruby worries and quickly scoops her up bridal carry style and quickly finds the two a cave. In the cave the two light that flame get that and Ruby continues to freak out over what happened,  upset with her self that she’s supposed to save sapphire.. with Sapphire gently reassuring her “you already did.”  It’s also intresting as it shows even garnet, or at least half of her, had to go through what peridot did.. it went down a bit easier since exile happened right away, but Ruby still had to shake off the homeworld conceived notion that she was WRONG for saving sapphire simply because it lost them the fight and got them fused and all that. It’s also a nice metaphor for someone whose been told, for a nightmarish rainbow assortment of bullshit resaons, that being gay is wrong only to discover they are and having to realize there’s nothing wrong with who they are. 

After a breif flash the two finally talk about their fusion, with Sapphire being suprised considering she figured fusion wasn’t anything like they experinced.. only for Ruby to chime in that sh’es RIGHT: Their fusion wasn’t anything like Ruby’s normal “me but bigger’ fusion.. they lost htemselves.. and both clearly enjoyed it, expressing it through having a third eye for ruby and more than one for sapphi 

We then get the utterly adorable musical number: “Something Entirely New”Which takes the so far mildly subtle “This is like two people who had sex with the oppsite gender for the first time “ metaphor.. and just makes it texual as the song basically screams of two people talking over an unfamiliar sexual experince, but in a cute, well done, and intentionally awkward way that’s still approraite for the kids. it’s a real beautiful song and also shows the burgoning couple bond on earth. This is important as a previous episode had garent and out and out say that love takes time and work, accurate and that love at first sight simply dosen’t exist.. and we also see she practices waht she preaches as the montage does show some time past and even before that the two genuiely bonded. Sure they FUSED on the spur of the moment.. but actually loving each other took time and bonding. 

As the song ends, the two dance romantically,deciding to be Garnet for good as we get some nice callbacks to jailbreak: the two hum the tune to stronger than you, now revealed to be their song and spin similarilty to the way they have when they’ve fused, a nice callback that also add’s weight to those previous moments.. and thus two become one and Garnet is reborn. 

Garnet narrates as her past self gets used to her strange new form.. and just as she does she falls down a ditch. Eh could’ve been worse. 

Garnet finds herself face to sword with Pearl. Pearl backs off a bit once she realizes who their dealing with, and Garnet panickedly offers to unfuse.. only for Rose to enter. Garnet narrates them as Rose Quartz and her terrifying renegade pearl. 

Truly a force to be reckoned with. Rose dosen’t care about her own feelings though “What you feel is bound to be more intresting” It’s a good moment both because Garnet , up to this point hasn’t had to think about what they are or how they feel.. but more notably... no one but the two gems makingthem up ever cared, not before they were garnet and after all the homeworld gems wanted was to kill her. We also get a great line from garnet: “Why am I sure that i’d rather be this than anything else and that i’d rather do this than anything else i’m supposed to do? “  Rose’s response.. to give a giant grin while saying welcome to earth. As Garnet continues to question things, Rose tells her to never question this, never question what you are... which is a damn good message for a kids show to give out. The metaphor is crystal clear: no matter where you are on that beautiful lbgtq+ rainbow: NEVER be ashamed of who you are, never question it.. just enjoy it. Be who your meant to be and love that person. It’s a damn good message and one badly needed in a medium that for way too fucking long was SCARED to tell messages like this: Of sponsors, of foreign markets, and of idiots like one million moms. it took people like rebecca and her crew to say “fuck that”, to say that queer kids NEED these kinds of stories to know they aren’t alone, they are beautiful how they are. They shoudln’t have to wait to find out what they are.. is okay. And that’s beautiful. 

As Rose Tells Garnet that she is the answer, and as we cut back to the present, Steven asks what the answer is. Garnet simply answers: Love. And we close on one great exchange Steven: I knew it Garnet; (wistfully) So did I. 

Final Thoughts: While I remembered the episode being good, hence part of the reason I choose it I forgot just HOW great this episode was, especially post reveal. The art direction is goregous, shot like a fairy tail and rightfully so since this episode is told as one, the story is heartwarming and erica and charlene really act their hearts out as ruby and sapphire while Estelle kills it as both present garnet narrating and past garnet, a garnet ENTIRELY diffrent from what we’ve seen but acted beautifully. It’s espcially noticable since unlike the other two lead gems, we obviously wouldn’t see more garnets like we would amythests and pearls, so unlike her contepraries estelle really didn’t get to flex her vocal range as much playing alternate versions as the seasons went on, with this being the closest she got.  The episode is beautiful, has a wonderful message, and is just utterly charming and is agian why I DON’T mind that every su episode dosen’t advance the plot: Sometimes it dosen’t need to. And even so this one ended up being WAY more important than I remembered, introducing blue diamond and turning out to be MASSIVELY important once the reveal kicked it: For it was Garnet, and the love dthat forged her that changed Pink’s direction. Before the rebellion was simply a way to stop the occupation of earth and would’ve been snuffed out if not for ruby’s actions.. but seeing garnet, seeing how earth and being free from homeworld’s restraints could positvely impact someone.. it changed rose. Besides bringing her and Pearl together, it also made her realize just what her rebellion could bring to people and what a gem could be and even more how precious her future home was. By forming in an act of Love, garnet changed the entire future of gemkind. By staying that way she did so once more. And that’s beautifully. overall an underated, even by me, little masterwork with once again a damn fine message.  We’ll get back to SU soon enough, as I plan to cover the series first full arc as we meet peridot, and see into the souls of our heroines. But first Pride isn’t over yet, and I have one last card on the table as we todd it up a bit with my first look at bojack horseman. Like this if you enjoyed it, comments subscirbe etc etc and don’t be afraid to comission a review for 3 bucks, and until we meet agian, later days. 

#steven universe #garnet #ruby #sapphire #rupphire #pearl #rose quartz #pink diamond #blue diamond #the answer #fusion #review #lbtqia #lbtq+ #lbtqa #pride month #pride #reviews

[alternativewinxcontinuity]

For Winx Alt Con, are you planning to do season 4? If so, how will you handle the "magic returns to Earth" plot point?

I actually have notes up to season six for the Alt Con, getting them down in a coherent order is the problem ^.^

(I also have a few pages of hand written note for an alternative Alt Con which includes WOW in the timeline... kudos to the folks who picked up on the not at all subtle WOW reference already in the Alt Con)

How will I handle the Magic returns to Earth Plot Point?

Massive spoilers for season 3, 4, 5 and 6

Because at the rate I'm going, spoilers are kinder than making you all wait (also: this may no be any kind of coherent, because I am very tired and my coherency checker is still upset that I got her to watch one of my new hyper-focus Chinese Dramas. sorry about that.)

So the backstory goes that Morgana put Earth under quarantine before setting off a targeted Time Dilation field which shunted most magicals all fairies and the Black Circle out of sync with the rest of the Earth and left the planet in a perpetual state of magic drain that no one from off-world could explain.

It's not just the magic of the planet that gets drained though, the magical cores of every new magical on the planet also gets siphoned off leaving only children (whose cores haven't stabilised enough to be siphoned) and low level psychics (whose powers register as just-different-enough from magic to not be affected).(Also fairies who can shield themselves from siphoning, either by personal will and control, or by creating a shielded area in a weak spot in the siphoning spell. (yeah, I mean Eldora.))

This drain happens because the magic is powering the time dilation spell, which is why it was so important that Earth be put under quarantine.

Before the spell went of, Earth's Sea Gate (the magical doorway guarded by Selkies) was forced closed and effectively locked to stop any fluctuations that couldn't be accounted for by the absent fairies. It can only be opened 2 ways, one of those ways is if Morgana unlocks it, the second is if the lock is over written by a higher authority in the Sea Gate's 'system'.

Season 5 was... well it was season 5, I've stripped the majority of it out and used it to pad season 3, timeline now goes season 1, season 2, season 3&5, season 4, season 6. (the existence of season 7 & 8 in the Alt Con are still under consideration.)

Tritannus will be an add-on to Valtor's party, his mutation coming not from pollution, but the Mark of Valtor.

Tritannus is going to be trying to convince the Trix he can get them more power by taking the Throne (the one he was after in season 5) and he'll go off to do that. In his attempt to control its power he'll end up forcing all the Sea Gates open, causing magical disturbances throughout the Magical Dimension.

The Throne is the 'higher authority in the Sea Gate system' and the forced opening includes Earth's gate, and even once the forced open is terminated, the Earth gate will no longer be locked. The Selkies who guard it and would have taken care of the issue were caught up in the Time Dilation field, which means no one is there to realise the gate is effectively still leaking excess traces of magic into Earth's system, slowly (over the course of a few months) over loading the balance of the planet wide spell and causing it to fail section by section. (which is why different fairies are released at different times (possibly alongside other lost magical societies on Earth...))

Once the spell hits 'terminal failure' it just gives up entirely and stops trying to draw magic which means people whose cores had been drained their entire life, have suddenly got their stores of magical energy filling back up.

Now, the Sea Gate of Earth happens to be just off shore of Gardenia, which is why it feels the effects first, and why Bloom is able to feel the magic is very different there when she returns home for summer break.

Once magic is no longer being siphoned off, a lot of people are going to start realising they have magic, (Including one teenage girls who will go from 'intuitive and somewhat empathic' to 'oh shit I'm hearing the voice of a demon sealed in a book in an strange old lady's library and you know what? He seems trust worthy.') which means the fairies and magicals in charge of the various sects and societies that went under the time dilation spell have a few options:

go to war with the current ruling bodies and let hundreds, possibly thousands or millions of innocents die to take back their territories

or

start a bunch of blogs and youtube channels that show off their lives, (presented as a bunch of dedicated LARPers or something) and get people used to the idea of magic being a real thing slowly, while also giving people who are experiencing sudden magical abilities a way to recognise what's going on and an idea of who they should be looking for to help them. (slowly taking over the planet in a peaceful way by causing low key cultural change after low key cultural change until 'oh yeah, I can't believe there was a time when we forgot magic was real.')

TLDR:

Highly abridged cause and effect timeline of the Alt Con:Season 1: the Trix shunt Stella to Earth while she's teleporting so they can steal her stuff and get away with it, but fate introduces Bloom at just the right time, whose dormant Dragon Fire reacts to the presence of magic and activates in the place of Bloom's siphoned fairy magic. Bloom and Stella go to Magix where Bloom meets the Winx and becomes a fairy. The Trix steal the Dragon Flame and summon an Evil army which has a side effect of breaking the last remaining strands of a centuries old seal. Bloom awakens her fairy magic thanks to Daphne and saves the day.Season 2: The ancient seal destroyed by the Trix (by accident) releases Darkar who goes back to his attempt to gain the MacGuffin, through teamwork and grit, the day is saved and Darkar is as defeated as he gets. The Trix are sent to be imprisoned on Omega, an ice world at the edge of the Magical Dimension.Season 3/5: Icy breaks free of the ice coffin she's in before she loses too much strength and frees her sisters, while looking for a way off the planet, she discovers Valtor who was imprisoned on Omega before the Fall of Domino and should have been dead. While seriously weakened, he lives and manages to use the (why do they even have that? Oh right, it's a standard that came with the planet when it was created) sea gate to hack the sea gate system and open a portal to Andros.The Winx split the party and do various stuff, and try to combat Daphne's stalker evil wizard Valtor. When things look to be going the Winx's way, turn coat Tritannus approaches the Trix and offers to get them the power of the Infinite Ocean. While the Winx are defeating Valtor, Tritannus opens all the sea gates (including the locked Earth gate) and the Winx have to rush to stop him, which they do.Diaspro is banished from Eraklyon.Season *: The Winx enjoy normal school life at Alfea for the rest of the year, doing normal teen fairy things, Diaspro goes on a journey in the outer reaches of the Magical Dimension, magic slowly leaks into Earth through the no longer locked sea gate and breaks the archaic spell holding the fairies of Earth and the Wizards of the Black Circle out of time.Season 4: (Alfea summer break/end of year 1) the spell has broken, magic is returning to Earth, Bloom notices something amiss when she goes home for summer break and calls in back up. The group discover magic is returning and set up a shop called 'The Winx Club' to reintroduce the idea of real magic in a non-jarring way to Earth's population, using social media and material objects. Amidst the excitement of magic returning, and new fairies like local girl Roxy, the Winx hear about attacks straight out of their magical history books: fairy hunters. Doing what they can, the Winx try to find and stop the hunters, but run across various returning magical societies during their investigation and diplomacy with them. Earth's mightiest magicals team up and kick the Wizards of the Black Circle's asses.The slow reintegration of magical and non-magical Earth begins.Season 6: (Year 2 of Alfea) Former bestie of Bloom, Selena, has been hearing a voice from a book calling out to her for help, after another fight with Bloom and her 'new friends' Selena agrees to go along with her 'new friend' and attempts to free Acheron from the Legendarium

#just blog stuff #Winx Alternative Continuity #Winx Alt Con #winx #winx club #I got an Ask!

[beckzorz]

Out of Nowhere (6/21)

Pairing: Bucky Barnes/OFC Summary: An offhand comment at work draws Jesse Kaplan into the orbit of Bucky Barnes. Bucky’s excited at the prospect of normalcy, but there’s nothing normal about falling in love with the Winter Soldier. Words: 2702 A/N: The song for this chapter is “Chant in the Night” by Professor Cunningham And His Old School from The Rhythm Method. The plot thickens this chapter; buckle up!!! Hope you enjoy :3

PART 6: “CHANT IN THE NIGHT”

By the time Jesse got home from work on Monday, Bucky was due for lesson planning in less than fifteen minutes. The effects of Marilyn’s prolonged absence from the office were starting to take root. Between that and her own lingering anxiety about last Friday morning, Jesse had stayed late once again to finish everything on her plate. She hadn’t succeeded, but she had to get home to meet Bucky. Work would have to wait.

Jesse scurried around the apartment, trying to meet her guest-coming-over cleanliness standard. She cleaned the toilet—her skin crawled at the memory of dunking her arm—and did a hasty sweep of the bathroom and kitchen to pick up anything that had accumulated in the corners. Were the surfaces clear enough? The papers on the coffee table were in a single pile, and the top was just a shopping list—perfectly uninformative and bland. The counters were clean, with just a few dishes in the dishrack, but she ran her squeegee across the counter to get any crumbs in the sink.

The buzzer rang; Jesse froze with squeegee in hand. She quickly brushed the crumbs into the sink and ran to the buzzer unit on her wall.

“Hello?” she said into the speaker.

“It’s me.”

Bucky.

An unbidden smile appeared on her face as she pressed the button to let him in, and then she turned around and flinched. She still needed to do a few things—close Fran’s door, run the sink to get rid of the crumbs. A knock at the door came as she was closing her own bedroom door, and she dashed to turn off the sink before opening the door.

There he was. Bucky was typing something on his phone—a grammatical monstrosity of a text? She couldn’t tell. He was dressed similarly to that time at the coffee shop, with a baseball hat and a long shirt that didn’t quite disguise his musculature. Jesse tried not to stare. Fortunately, he finished typing in a moment. Bucky put his phone in his pocket and gave a tight smile.

“Sorry,” he said as he came inside. “It couldn’t wait.”

Jesse locked the door. “If it’s urgent, we can reschedule…”

“No, no.” Bucky crossed his arms and leaned against the partition wall between the kitchen and living room. His smile was lighter now. “Not that kind of urgent.”

“Good, I hope!” Jesse said. She bit the inside of her lip. She usually asked people to take off their shoes, but Bucky was wearing combat boots, of all things. Better not. “How are you?”

“Alive,” he said.

She snorted. “I feel that. Haven’t slept properly in days.”

“No?” Bucky tilted his head and fixed his eyes on hers. Worry wrinkled his brow. The concern written on his face sent a swoop through her; she swallowed.

“No,” Jesse repeated. She went to grab a cup of water; it wasn’t hot in the apartment, so why was she so warm? “Want something to drink?”

“I’m good. What’s up with your sleeping?”

Jesse fiddled in her freezer for ice cubes. Did she dare tell him about the scare last Thursday? She was pretty sure it was just a case of a distorted memory, but… No, no, Bucky didn’t need to hear about her problems. He never shared his with her. The least she could do was follow his lead.

“Just had some bad nights, I guess. I think I screwed my schedule up with all the late evenings.”

Bucky didn’t respond. Once she’d filled her cup, Jesse turned to look at him, but he’d left his perch by the wall. She made her way into the living room and saw Bucky inspecting the photo arrangement over the couch. He’d left his hat on the coffee table; she could see his whole face now, and he was frowning.

“Who is this?” He pointed to one of the many pictures with Fran.

“Oh, that’s my roommate. His photos have the gold frames. Mine are all silver.”

“Huh.” Bucky studied the photos for another minute, then turned to her with his face set with determination. “So what’s the plan?”

“Let me pull up what I’ve got, and we can go over it…”

Jesse grabbed her laptop and opened the document her college friend had sent. She talked Bucky through the different steps—warm-up, introduction, basic footwork, open position, closed position, dancing together, so on and so forth—and Jesse tested out various wordings for explaining the different motions and moves before typing it out in the lesson plan document. Bucky just typed, but he didn’t edit at all. Jesse looked over his work whenever he tilted the screen in her direction, but it was always solidly done. He must have had a lot of practice planning without making a sound.

It only took about an hour and a half to get through two lessons. Getting through the basics for total beginners didn’t exactly go at a clipping pace.

“Hopefully the kids are as enthusiastic as the ones from your other workshop,” Jesse said. She scratched the back of her neck. All the dance lessons she’d taken involved willing participants; plopping into a middle school to teach unsuspecting preteens wasn’t necessarily going to go so smoothly.

“Enthusiasm is catchy.” Bucky typed up his last comments. He shut the laptop and set it aside on the coffee table, then leaned his elbows on his knees and smiled ruefully at her. His eyes were bright, open. “You do a good job of it.”

Jesse snorted and propped her feet on the coffee table. “You haven’t seen me in front of a crowd.”

“I bet you could fake it,” he said.

“If I can, so could you,” she countered with a cheeky smile. “At least, I suspect so.”

“Yeah?” Bucky’s lips twitched, though he wasn’t smiling yet.

“I’ve seen you smile before,” she teased. “Properly, I mean.”

Bucky laughed out loud. Still grinning, Jesse surreptitiously studied the laugh lines on his face. For all his reserve, he was able to smile around her, and now laugh. How had she gotten so lucky? How many people could say they’d seen Bucky Barnes laugh because of them?

Not many.

He stood up and headed to the door, still chuckling. “We’ll find out when we get started,” he said. He unlocked the deadbolt and turned back to her. “Should we meet again before then?”

“Marilyn wanted at least five lesson plans set before we start,” Jesse told him.

“I’ll be out of town for at least part of the week,” Bucky said, his expression more serious than before.

“Okay.” Jesse’s heartbeat kicked up a notch, though she tried not to let it show. Out of town doing what? Did he have some work—dangerous work? Would he be okay? Would he come back? Or was he just going off to visit a friend? Did he have friends? She clenched her teeth against the avalanche of questions building in her brain. “How about next Sunday morning?”

He pulled out his phone again. “Should work. Here again?”

“Ye—no, we should take advantage of bagels,” Jesse decided. “There’s a great bagel place on Prospect Park West, two blocks south of the park.”

“Fine,” Bucky said. He pulled on his cap, shielding his eyes from her. “Ten okay?”

“Works for me.”

Bucky opened the door and tilted his head up to look her in the face without his hat obstructing his vision. He wasn’t smiling, but there was a softness in his blue eyes that set her heart beating fast. “Good luck sleeping.” He slipped out and shut the door.

Jesse sat on the arm of her couch and fell back onto the couch, feet dangling. All things considered, that had gone awfully well. She’d made him smile; she’d made him laugh. He’d looked more carefree in that moment, with his hair tucked back behind one ear and his eyes crinkling with genuine amusement, than anyone she’d ever seen. How could he consider anything he did normal? He was extraordinary, every step of the way.

—

    Today, 9:08 PM

itsadrian: i finally beat that game!!! jesse.kaplan: nice!! jesse.kaplan: did it have a good ending? itsadrian: surprisingly, yes itsadrian: i was def expecting some cop outs on the tough stuff, but nope itsadrian: they did a good jesse.kaplan: haha, good! itsadrian: what are you up to tonight? jesse.kaplan: picking up my takeout jesse.kaplan: I had a late meeting itsadrian: what for? jesse.kaplan: dancing stuff itsadrian: uh huh… itsadrian: with someone in particular? :P

—

Jesse couldn’t help the smile on her face as she stuffed her phone back in her purse. Adrian had the subtlety of a ton of bricks. Jesse wasn’t sure if she was smiling over fondness for Adrian or because of someone in particular, as Adrian had put it. Adrian usual made her smile, but so could Bucky, when he wasn’t awkward or frightening. Which was more and more, lately.

She crossed the street, and from there it was steps to the Chinese restaurant. Jesse went in and gave her name at the counter, but the cashier frowned at her.

“Someone picked that up already,” he said.

Jesse’s eyebrows went up. “What?”

“Sweet and sour chicken and veggie dumplings for Jesse?”

“Yes, that was for me,” Jesse said. “Steamed dumplings.” Her stomach growled, and the cashier winced.

“Someone picked that up a few minutes ago,” he said. “He knew the order, so I assumed… Even the steamed bit. One sec.”

He went back into the kitchen and started speaking Chinese to the chef. Jesse turned away, lips pursed and stomach panging. Of all the nights! She was already starving. And the news on the tv over the other wall was full of disturbing stories again.

    [ A Brooklyn woman has returned home after     [ five 5 days missing. Authorities report th

The cashier came back quickly, and Jesse turned away from the tv.

“We’ll get another order made up right away. So sorry,” the cashier said.

“Thanks,” Jesse said. She made her way to the counter and stools by the front window and perched there, frowning at the other patrons.

What the hell? This was bizarre. She’d been coming here at least once a month for the last year and a half, and nothing like this had ever happened before. She’d always called in an order, waltzed in fifteen minutes later, and picked it up. Boom, done. How had someone gotten their order mixed up with hers? Was there another Jesse out there with the same tastes?

No, that couldn’t be it. If that was the case, there would be a second order that she could take instead. Someone knew her order. Despite the heat of the restaurant, Jesse couldn’t help the chill that ran up her spine. She adjusted her gray dress over her leggings self-consciously. How could someone have known her order? She’d called in it at home—from her bedroom, no less.

Her stomach dropped; she rubbed her right arm, trying to get rid of the phantom feeling of wetness there. Did this have something to do with last Friday? She’d been working hard to convince herself the toilet and all the rest had been nothing, just a series of happenstances she’d brought about herself, but now… Now she was back to square one. She couldn’t figure a way for this to have been a coincidence, or anything else she could explain away. Her order was specific enough—steamed dumplings weren’t even on the menu! She’d asked for them special. How could someone have known that without listening in on her? Could they have read the receipt on her takeaway bag? She glanced behind the counter, but the completed orders were off in the kitchen with the orders obscured by a pile of unassembled boxes.

So. Someone was listening in on her. How? Something in her apartment, or just hacking the phone lines? If there had been a break-in last week, she knew which was more likely, but she was less and less certain of the truth. Nothing made any sense. Who would spy on a conversation just to steal some takeout? Or was this about something else?

Was this… about Bucky?

Jesse’s eyes prickled; she pressed her lips together and stared at the ceiling. God, let it not be about Bucky. She shuddered a little and pulled her phone from her purse. The blank screen stared up at her.

Should she text him? Call him, even? No, she couldn’t do that. They weren’t on calling terms. And if he wasn’t traveling, he was alone, enjoying some privacy. Jesse shoved her phone back in her purse and crossed her arms tight over her chest. She was supposed to be a normal thing in his life. He’d looked so pleased at the possibility. They’d toasted to it, together. If she couldn’t give him normalcy, what good was she?

Her stomach growled again. Jesse grimaced. She needed a plan, one that didn’t involve Bucky. She still had no idea where he lived, but she doubted he lived close enough to actually be of help. The closest police station was less than a mile away. She could go there—get an Uber, a cab, whatever came first.

But first, food.

She waited there for another five minutes, her whole body tense and her purse clutched tight on her lap. The place got a little busy at one point, and a stocky man bumped into her, poking her arm with his keys. He apologized, but Jesse just gave a tight smile and went to sit further away from the door.

When her food was finally ready, the cashier brought it out to her with a tense smile. “Sorry about that,” he said. “We threw in some egg rolls for free.”

A smile ghosted past Jesse’s lips as she took the stapled back from him. “Thank you so much,” she said. “Sorry for the confusion.”

Jesse slid off her chair and stumbled. The waiter grabbed her by the arm.

“Are you alright?” he asked, eyes wide.

“I’m fine, I’m fine,” she said quickly. She pulled away, stood up straight, and rolled each ankle. “Just sat still for too long! I’m calling a cab, so no worries.”

Jesse gingerly sat back down and called a cab line. She kept an eye out of the front window, though exhaustion was catching up with her fast. Her vision was beginning to blur, and her limbs were tired. She blinked rapidly and pinched her arm.

A cab pulled up to the restaurant, and Jesse perked up in relief. She slid carefully off the high stool and made her way outside. She tried to pull open the back door of the cab, but her hands were as compliant as wet rags. The driver turned in his seat to raise his eyebrows at her, and Jesse gave a harried, apologetic smile and tried again. This time even her wrists didn’t engage.

“Let me help.”

Jesse turned her head and blinked groggily up at the same stocky man who’d bumped into her a few minutes before. He put a hand on her elbow to move her a little out of the way, and Jesse sucked in a harsh breath. Keys? He hadn’t bumped into her with keys! He’d done something to her! She tried to pull away, but all her strength had seeped away. Keeping herself upright was almost more than she could manage, but she shook her arm as much as she could, heart racing.

“Dun touch me!” Jesse meant to shout, but her words were barely a groan.

The stocky man ignored her. He opened the door and maneuvered her inside, then slid in beside her. The moment he closed the door, the driver peeled away from the curb.

“No,” Jesse mumbled. Her vision was fading. She tried to fumble for the phone in her purse, but the stocky man beside her easily pulled both her bags out of her reach. He patted her shoulder consolingly as he worked the takeaway bag open. Jesse’s head drooped, and before her eyes slid shut she saw him pulling out an egg roll.

“Relax, Jesse,” he said. Jesse heard him take a crunchy bite and swallow. “Just relax.”

#bucky barnes fic #bucky barnes x ofc #winter soldier fic #winter soldier x ofc #bucky x ofc #becca writes #fictive february #the not for profit fic

[littlethingwithfeathers]

Fic writers meme!

I was tagged by the ever so lovely @mandysimo13! Cheers, darling!

Author Name: Birdie. I write under the handle HesterByrde

Fandoms You Write For: MCU, Agents of SHIELD, Hannibal, The Newsroom, and I’m in the process of writing something for HBO’s Chernobyl.

Where You Post: AO3 with links on Tumblr.

Most Popular One-Shot: Depends on how you count, I guess. There’s the first fic in my Steve/Natasha (eventually Steve/Nat/Bucky) series “Cover Me” which is most popular by hits. By Kudos, it’s “The Closest I Ever Gave” which is a Hannibal shaving-kink fic.

Most Popular Multi-Chapter Story:  Far and away (and honestly, quite surprisingly) it’s my Darcy/Eddie Brock/Venom fic “A Room for Rent in the Fourth Estate.”

Favorite Story You Wrote: God. It’s so hard to pick a favorite. Whatever I’m writing at the time is always my favorite, because if I feel like it’s publishable, then that means I feel proud of myself for having accomplished something. Like... I pulled off what I’m trying to do? If that makes any kind of sense? So yeah... Right now I guess I’m really pleased with the entirety of “Friendship is Unnecessary.” Because honestly, I wrote (and am still writing) that whole 200k+ word monster completely out of order and without any kind of plan in mind, and yet somehow I wound up with a lovely overarching theme, and character arcs and I planned absolutely positively none of it.

Story You Were Nervous to Post: There have been a couple... I wrote a Reylo fic called “Out for Stars” back kind of in the post-TLJ anti-Reylo zenith and I just felt really scared to post it since I didn’t want to deal with the hate. There was also a chapter in a Hannibal fic called “Whither Must I Wander” that was literally open heart surgery porn, and I was worried it might be too much? I still wonder if it was a bit much... but then again, this is the Hannibal fandom we’re talking about. And now I’m writing a fic for HBO’s Chernobyl, which I know the fandom is a little divided on the idea of writing fic for characters based on real people. And I totally get that... but I’m nearly 30k words in so I guess I’m committed. I just really hope that people use blacklisting and the little back key on their browser if they don’t want to read it instead of coming flaming at me.

How Do You Choose Your Titles:  Poetry and song lyrics mostly. But sometimes it’s just words that come to me. And often I’ll put a definition of the word at the start of the fic. 

Do You Outline: For the bigger stuff I’ll build an outline as I go. And sometimes for the smaller things I’ll sketch things out and put them in order, but not use a real outline.

How many of your stories are…

Complete: 62, counting an unpublished Hannibal fic for the upcoming Ravage Anthology, and my latest installment of “Friendship is Unnecessary” which is publishing on Monday!

In-Progress: 9. All at various stages. One is almost completely finished. A few are half done. And some are just sketchy little piles of words in my Google Docs that I occasionally feed with overwrought metaphors and shmoopy dialogue snippets.

Coming Soon: Next up is a “Friendship is Unnecessary” fic set during the five year gap in Avengers: Endgame. Angst and pining for EVERYONE! And I’m also hard at work on that Chernobyl fic, which is a little less than halfway finished.

Do You Accept Prompts: Not really. I’d like to be able to but... honestly go look at my writing updates. I can barely keep up with my own ideas and plot bunnies much less take on more from outside. But that doesn’t mean you can’t poke me with ideas. :)

Upcoming Story You Are Most Excited to Write: One thing I’ve got cooking on the back-burner is a Wanda/Vision fic that takes place post-Endgame... where they figure out how to bring Vision online without the Mind Stone, but he’s completely sans memory and personality. I’m also really excited about my Chernobyl fic, nervous as I am about publishing it. I’m playing with some really fun themes about human relationships and things that happen in crucible-situations. 

I tag... @eightieskat @meanderings0ul @ann3onymous and anyone else who wants to come play!

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 007: Costumes and Comforting White Rice

Previously on BnHA: Aizawa had everyone do fitness tests. Turns out superpowered children are very talented. Deku broke his finger.

Today on BnHA: COSTUMES. AND A GUY NAMED LUNCH RUSH

Notes: As always, all comments not prefaced by an ETA are my unspoiled reactions from my first readthrough of this chapter. I’ve read up through chapter 11 now, so any ETAs will reflect that.

so the title is “costume change”, ooh I’m intrigued

All Might is helpfully rehashing the shit that just went down in the last chapter in case we missed it or weren’t paying attention

basically “Deku fucked up his finger but it was actually somehow the coolest thing ever”

right away Izuku is still crying his gritted-teeth pain!tears, so the unbroken streak continues!

aw Ocha is really happy that he did well and now won’t get expelled

I think Bakugou is broken

[waves a hand in front of his face] you okay there pal. deep breaths. it’s going to be all right

and now he’s fucking launching himself at Deku, presumably with the intent to beat the living shit out of him, oh dear

but teacher’s not having that shit

OH MY GOD AN ACTUAL EXPLANATION FOR THE MAGIC SCARF

YEEES THIS IS HOW WE DO THINGS IN GROWN-UP MANGA! WE EXPLAIN OUR PLOT HOLES LIKE ADULTS

THIS IS SUCH A FUCKING RUSH GUYS

also these panels are hilarious

voop

god bless, the logical explanations for everything just keep on coming. now EH is explaining that the reason he always looks so fucking shake-and-baked is because he has to maintain eye contact in order for his powers to work. I love this, it explains so much. the goggles, the eye drops, the creepy intense staring. and it’s such a good handicap for what would otherwise be an insanely OP quirk

just. thank you jesus. thank you oprah winfrey. thank you tom cruise

do you know, so far I haven’t had a single plot thing to complain about in this entire manga series. (except maybe the whole “surrounding community somehow doesn’t notice the beach cleanup happening right under their noses for ten entire months” thing.) can they possibly keep this up?

“is your finger okay?” “yeah.” NO

HGUMNANAA A FLASHBACKKKKKK A BAKUDEKU FLASHBACK. HOLD ME. I NEED TO SIT DOWN

they’re so cute they’re so fucking cute. Izuku following him around fanboying about quirks. Baku saying Deku’s probably won’t be as cool as his. trampsing along through the woods catching bugs. using the nicknames

and now Baku is FREAKING THE FUCK OUT because he’s been the special one all this time and now Izu finally has a quirk too. like, he seems pissed off, but also strangely threatened. like he’s really nervous that Deku might all of a sudden outshine him. once again, I am speculating if there are possibly secret self-esteem issues. I know it’s too early to be theorizing and I’m just going to look like an idiot but I CAN’T HELP IT. Deku is so good and pure and kind and smart, like he has everything going for him, but because he didn’t have a quirk, Bakugou could always rest assured that he was still better! but now DEKU HAS A FUCKING QUIRK. that’s like the ONE thing he solidly had on him and now the gap is narrowing by the minute. hmm. hmmmmmmmmm

disclaimer, he’s probably just an asshole and I’m projecting character development onto him that doesn’t exist sob I know

BUT MAYBE NOT?????

anyway we’ve apparently seen all we needed to see of these tests, because Deku sums up the rest of it in a couple of summary bubbles. “after this we finished up and I hung in there but it sucked”

yay now the results. which sad son of a bitch gets kicked out I wonder. it’s occurred to me that it might not be anyone and EH might just have been fucking with them, but you never know

HAHAHA

[SLAMS HAND ON TABLE]

NOT TO TOOT MY OWN HORN BUT I CALLED IT AND I’M A FUCKING GENIUS. [drinks a glass of water too fast and chokes]

this motherfucker is such a troll

Izuku appears to be phasing into another dimension from the shock of this news. meanwhile this smug-looking girl with a ponytail standing next to him is all like “I already fucking knew”

you know what, smug ponytail girl, ANYONE can say that AFTER the big reveal. the real MVPs are the ones who saw it coming a whole entire page before it actually happened, so you can shove it okay

and now Eraser Head is saying “we’re done here”? but I want to see the rankings, damn it

(ETA: funny how in the anime he shows the rankings first thing and THEN all the rest of this goes down. somehow he’s an even bigger troll there.)

and he finally takes pity on Izuku and sends him to the nurse’s office. you really shouldn’t need a teacher’s permission to go see the nurse, but I guess it’s the thought that counts

and there we go! rankings. so Izu’s all the way down at the bottom. and surprisingly Bakugou is not quite at the top? AND WHAT’S THIS?

THIS IS A NAME I RECOGNIZE. THAT’S DISCOUNT ZUKO BY GEORGE 8D

please be introduced soon, I’m excited to meet you

no idea who that person is at the very top. but hey good for them

hey guys. guess who ships All Might/Aizawa ever since their rivalish history was established in the previous chapter. [points to self]

so this is good stuff

look at this shade being thrown back and forth. or rather, EH throwing shade and AM struggling to throw it back but he’s too much of a straight arrow for it to really work lmao. “april fool’s day was over a week ago”

also oh shit last year he threw out the whole damn bunch. those guys must have SUCKED

oh my god now All Might is smugly confirming that EH likes Izuku too

hey guys here’s a closeup of All Might’s reaction to this:

you like krabby patties don’t you squidward

my boy Izuku out here accumulating mentors like... something... that accumulates a lot

that’s right, he has TWO whole mentors. what a legend

I got really confused for a second when the following panel said Izu was going home after the first day. even though I know it’s not a boarding school, I somehow tricked myself into thinking it was for a sec

oh hey it’s Iida. he wants to know how Deku’s finger is

lol he didn’t remember being healed last time. thank you for that, information bubble

I’m serious, it’s not essential information but it helps the series to remain consistent with itself, and it shows that the mangaka so far is remembering even minor details like this, and I’m honestly really impressed

Horikoshi Kouhei is the author. just looked it up. I gotta remember that. Good job so far Horikoshi-sensei. also he’s apparently younger than me?? nice to know that some of us millennials are out there crushing it at least

oh snap Recovery Girl cautions him that if he keeps getting hurt he’ll eventually run out of stamina and die. wtf. is “stamina” really a finite resource like that? can’t he just get a good night’s sleep and replenish that shit

I’m genuinely wondering how long him not being able to control his powers is going to be an issue then. I’m starting to think not that long. at first I thought it would be a very slow process, because if he got too strong too quickly it would be bad for the story. but on further reflection, it’s really the other way around. there’s only so many times he can be the only guy without any powers and trying to figure out what to do before that shit gets really old. basically right now he’s TOO nerfed

“I thought Iida was scary but he’s actually just super-serious.” he’s very nice for a 40-year-old trying to hang out with a bunch of teenagers. I’m sure you two will be good friends

Ochako!

Iida’s calling her “Infinity Girl” since she threw the ball so high it registered as “infinity meters” on Aizawa’s scale. I wonder if this name will stick, cuz I like it

haha Ochako doesn’t know Izuku’s actual first name and calls him Deku. he was listed as “Izuku” on the results board, though. you could hardly fail to notice that, since he was in last place. she just wants to call him by the cute nickname. fucking sly move there

hmm apparently he doesn’t like the name Deku? or he’s just trying to play it cool with the Girl He Likes

(ETA: now I know the whole sad story of “Deku” and its various meanings. I wonder just how much work Horikoshi put into selecting this name and its kanji)

like he said, he fucking loves that name

“it’s like the Copernican Revolution” hahaha what. a quick Google search confirms that this was the whole shift from people thinking the sun revolved around the earth to realizing it was the other way around. I completely fail to understand what this has to do with the situation of Deku letting Ocha call him “Deku” because she thinks it’s cute. this metaphor is beyond my fucking grasp

(ETA: I must have been tired or something because it’s obviously just that he’s done a 180 from hating the name to embracing it. still a weird analogy but whatever.)

ohhhhhh here come the feels ready or not

SHIELDS UP. IT’S THE PURE, GENTLE HAPPINESS OF A BLOSSOMING SHOUNEN FRIENDSHIP. THE PROTAGONIST’S FIRST FRIENDS EVER. NO, I MUST BE STRONG, DAMN IT. DAMN ITT

oh what the fresh hell, All Might

first the training!! ten months! grueling!! then the entrance exam!! fighting a bunch of giant robots! not having the slightest clue about how to actually use his brand new powers! then the first day of school!! you think you’re finally safe, but NO we’re going to have a trial that may possibly expel you! but he somehow makes it past that too! surely he’s in the clear NOW, right? he has to be?? but nooo, the SECOND day of school, THAT’S when tHE REAL FUCKING TEST BEGINS, FUCK

WHAT THE FUCK IS THE THIRD DAY GOING TO BE. THE END OF THE WORLD?

lmao Mic teaching them English

lmaaaaao everyone is bored out of their fucking minds except fucking Izuku, that FUCKING NERD

the school chef is a sentient humanoid vacuum cleaner named Lunch Rush

nice try with that gimmick there Lunch Rush, but you’re no Best Fucking Jeanist

“the white rice is comforting, so I go with that!” fucking damn, Deku. maybe try branching out just a little

by the way, Izu is narrating all of this like it’s already an established routine, but isn’t it still just the second day? or was All Might just talking out of his ass before about that “real test”

omg

it’s All Might’s class. don’t tell me this was what he was talking about when he was going on about the “real test” fjksj

PROFESSOR LOCKHART. PROFESSOR GILDEROY LOCKHART IS THAT YOU

yet again they talk about how differently he’s drawn sob I can’t

everyone: [turns and winks at the camera] WE KNOW WE’RE CARTOOOONS

what is this pose

gri gri gri

“today’s activity is [holds up a card that says BATTLE] BATTLE”

UNIFOOOOOOORMS

I MEAN COSTUMES

YEEEES. I’VE SEEN DEKU’S COSTUME IN TUMBLR POSTS. I WANT TO SEE HIM WEAR IT YES PLEASE

HERE WE GO

-- PFFFFFFT

Bakugou looks... I’ll let you know when I stop laughing

Ochako looks like your standard Marvel heroine really but the two little buttons on her chest give it an extra dash of cuteness

Iida looks like a fucking super sentai with that helmet

Yuri on Ice, Mickey Mouse, Kermit the Frog, and Tall Guy with Pterodactyl Arms look fine, I guess

do not fucking tell me the chapter’s going to end before we actually see Izuku

...

the chapter ended before we actually saw Izuku

I’m going to kick you you stupid chapter

there isn’t even a bonus character bio at the end, it’s just a thing about all of Horikoshi’s assistants. good for them, I guess, I know they work fucking hard and they’re doing a good job so far

guess what I’m going to do. “read the next chapter.” yep

#bnha #boku no hero academia #makeste reads bnha #I want a miniseries all about the previous generation of u.a. #featuring the coming of age of all might best jeanist and lunch rush #and aizawa too I guess #lunch rush growing up with his quirk the power of lunch #'you can't be a superhero with lunch powers' everyone said #but he never gave up on his dreams goddammit

[britesparc]

Weekend Top Ten #499

Top Ten Everything Ever

Four hundred and ninety-nine. That’s how many weeks I’ve been doing this four. Four hundred and ninety-nine.

Next week is the big five-oh-oh and I’m doing something typically stupid, but I wanted to make it a real celebration. That means for the next three weeks you’re going to get some rather meaningful and special Tops Ten; lists that have been long in the making, or that are just bonkers-level awkward for me to do. Like this one.

I mean, I’ve ranked films, games, fictional guns, and robots that made me cry. How much longer can I do this for? How many more weeks am I going to put myself through this?

Give me a barrel with bottom unscrap’d.

There’s nowhere to go but up, ladies and germs, and so I present to you the list to end all lists. The most definitive list possible. A list of everything. A list of my favourite things in all of time and space. A list of the official best things ever.

I mean, what more is there to say? This covers everything. I’ve tried to avoid it being really specific to one film or one person. And, of course, it doesn’t include people I know in real life, or events that have happened to me. These are, in their own way, big, sweeping things; film series, franchises, bands, stories that have in their own way changed my life. Just the greatest things I’ve come across in my nearly 40 years on this planet.

And you can’t say fairer than that.

The Transformers comic: this should be obvious to anyone who knows me well, but there’s no greater influence in my life, in terms of storytelling or entertainment, than Transformers. And of all the variants branching off from the Prime Timeline (pun very much intended), it’s the comic that’s greatest. Whether it’s the melodrama of Simon Furman or the intricate plotting of James Roberts, I’ve been addicted to the Transformers comic for the vast majority of my life. It has fundamentally shaped how I consume fiction and the sorts of things I’m into. It’s also really changed how I write, and, in fact, the original Marvel run is at least partly responsible for the fact that I write at all. I drew Transformers comics as a kid. I planned out elaborate multi-issue arcs before I was a teenager. I wrote detailed synopses and snatches of scripts for Transformers movies that would never be made. And I robbed, wholesale, motifs and lines of dialogue for the original books and comics I was working on too. It changed my life. It’s not hyperbole to say Transformers is the single biggest piece of fiction I’ve ever touched. Till all are one indeed.

The films of Steven Spielberg, 1975-1982: Spielberg is my favourite filmmaker, but it felt a bit weird to just say “Steven!” as one of the entries here. So instead I’ve decided to hone in on his early career, despite the fact that knocks out one of the biggest influences of my life, Jurassic Park. But everything I love about Spielberg is in these movies. His skill with a camera, his love of light, his great eye for casting, his way with actors; I mean, Close Encounters, which I probably first saw aged about twelve, is just a microcosm of all my interests in my teens: aliens, government conspiracies, determined men going on a crazed quest, and above all a pervasive sense of hope and optimism. Spielberg’s craft is exemplary, but that’s also true of many of his peers. His flair for action scenes and love of spectacle is entertaining, but there are many directors of whom you could say the same. What I love about him – what keeps bringing me back to him – is his warmth and optimism, his belief in the best of us. Even in his darkest movies, in Schindler’s List and A.I. and Munich (which has one of the bleakest endings of his career), there’s still joy and warmth and something worthwhile and wholesome to fight for. And whilst Raiders is a thrill-ride and E.T. an emotional tour-de-force, all of his preoccupations are encapsulated in Jaws, a tense horror film, a buddy-comedy, an entertaining rollercoaster, an acting masterclass. But it’s still Jurassic Park that made me want to make a movie.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe: so when I was a kid I was reading Transformers and Ghostbusters and other Marvel-published adaptations, but not really any actual Marvel comics. However, as a result, I became very loosely familiar with who Iron Man and Doctor Strange were (and Spidey of course) through references and back-up strips, and that time Death’s Head fought Tony’s nephew Arno Stark. No, when I started reading “proper” comics – mainstream superhero stuff – it was DC. I loved Batman, so I bought Batman, and that was a gateway to the rest of the DCU. However, despite the successes of the various DC movie adaptations, it’s the MCU that really, really got its hooks into me. For one, they’re really good adaptations, well-cast, with some great set-pieces. But the interconnected stuff is what really sings. Not just the characters popping up in each others’ movies, or even the overall arc leading up the crossover events; no, it was the actual shared-ness of it, the way the destruction of SHIELD had an impact, or the Sokovia Accords, or Asgard, Skrulls, magic… everything has an impact, an effect. And sure, it’s incredibly good fun to follow the breadcrumbs and try to work out where things are heading. As we enter a new phase – literally and figuratively – I just can’t wait to find out what’s next.

Grant Morrison’s Batman: talking about interconnectivity, no one does it better – or weirder – than Morrison. His Batman arc – and I’m referring to the character not the title, as it spans multiple series and even, arguably, includes work he did on JLA years earlier – is a web of connected theories, images, themes, events, and references. What does the Zur-En-Arrh graffiti in Gotham mean, not just in the here-and-now, but also as a long-standing reference to decades of Batman’s past? The anticipation of uncovering the next breadcrumb, the excitement of deciphering the next reference; it was long-form storytelling as a form of existential theatre, and it was sublime. But he also did two things that have utterly changed my view of the character. On the meta level, he presented a Batman where everything was canon; the grim thirties Shadow-inspired vigilante, the goofy fifties space adventures, the hairy-chested love-god of the seventies… it all happened to one man over a span of about 15-20 years. Fair enough; that’s cool storytelling. But his idea that Batman was not a miserable, psychopathic loner, that he was not insane or struggling to cope or still traumatised by his parents’ death, that Bruce Wayne was a nice guy with friends and family, who’d used his pain as a weapon, who’d gotten past his rage and grief and turned all the negative stuff outwards. Batman was what was built from all that, and Batman allowed Bruce to grow. And what did he do? He found other lost children and saved their lives, allowing Dick Grayson to take over. Batman is a force for good, in a similar way to Superman in Morrison’s All-Star book, making people better by association. And his confrontation with Darkseid in Final Crisis is extraordinary; brilliant as-is, as a piece of comicbook badassery on the page, but the metatextual resonance it’s given – Batman as a good man versus the font of all evil, David versus Goliath, Theseus and the Minotaur – is brilliant. How it ties in to Morrison’s wider Bat-epic, the whole Black Glove stuff and the devil and time travel and the myth of Batman’s creation and all of it… and just the simple thing of Batman’s last act being shooting the embodiment of evil, saving a human life, and then saying “Gotcha,” before dying, is perfect. Perfect.

The Secret of Monkey Island and Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge: when I was little, I played Spectrum and C64 games at my cousins’ house. Then I got an Amiga – I think maybe I was ten? – and I started playing Amiga games. And it was fun and all, but then I read a review in Amiga Action, and my life changed. It was something called an “adventure game”, and it let you walk around chatting to people and interacting with the world, with great big colourful graphics and characters whose mouths moved when they spoke. And then I played it. My love of the medium and its possibilities was cemented then; and, fittingly, it was through the wordy, hilarious dialogue and comedy antics of a wannabe pirate who may, or may not, be selling these fine leather jackets. It’s not overstating things that my gaming tastes were defined by this game and its technically superior sequel. The quirky set-pieces, the weird puzzles, the playing with form (like when you “die” in Monkey 2), and the smart use of Lucasfilm in-jokery. The first game’s “How to Get Ahead in Navigating” gag/puzzle will live with me forever, as will the second game’s bonkers, nightmarish, beautifully constructed ending. As good as they were, none of the subsequent games could hold a candle to it, especially as the whole aesthetic changed into something much more cartoony. But these two? They’re my Big Whoop.

Star Wars: I imagine I know a lot of people in real life who would be surprised – nay, astounded – that I would list my ten favourite Things of all time, and yet Star Wars would not manage to break the Top Five. That’s because that as much as I love Star Wars – and I do, I really do – it didn’t hit me, didn’t speak to me, apart from one brief and weird moment in my late teens. It was games that made me fall in love, I think; games and toys. And, I have to confess, it was the prequels; the intricate digital visions of gleaming cities and impossibly acrobatic Jedi. I love the goofiness and ultra-seriousness of Lucas’ vision, sadly muddled now by the earthy chaos of the sequels. Star Wars is cool; for a while, it defined my idea of cool in cinema. An exciting sci-fi reimagining of ancient and endless myths, a confusing smorgasbord of weird stories and arcane philosophy. Plus spaceships and rapscallions and laser swords. So yes: whilst it was never my faith, so to speak, it’s still one of the coolest and most original pieces of fiction in my lifetime, and to this day there are very few things at all that I find more exciting and evocative than the thought of a Jedi pirouetting through the air with their ‘saber lit.

Middle-Earth, in print and film: one of my most vivid memories of childhood is my mum reading me The Hobbit (and also Macbeth, funnily enough). Then I bought myself my own copy, read it as a kid, read it again as a teenager, wrote (aged about 12 or 13) a sequel in which Gollum comes back to reclaim the ring. I remain to this day baffled that my teacher did not think to tell me that there actually was a sequel to The Hobbit. Eventually I did hear about it, watched the Ralph Bakshi version, and – when I read in Empire that it was gonna be a film and Sean Connery, of all people, was gonna be Gandalf – I thought it best to take the plunge. And I adored it. whilst there’s something about the lyrical simplicity of The Hobbit that I prefer, the depth and scope of The Lord of the Rings – and Tolkien’s subsequent, more disparate writing – that moves me on a profound level. It’s not just the epic nature of the work – the story itself, with its grandiose tales of heroism and adventure – but the sheer balls of the man to make such a thing, to craft wholesale an entire mythological ecosystem. And then the films! I can’t believe they managed to do that; it was pure lightning in a bottle, and we know that because they didn’t quite manage to do it a second time with the Hobbit movies. But all those glorious moments: “Fly, you fools”, “For Frodo”, “I can carry you”, “Go away and never come back” – bloody hell.

Empire magazine: it feels a bit weird, for some reason, citing a magazine as a Favourite Thing. It’s a magazine, a periodical, a journal; it tells you the news and recommends films. it’s not supposed to be part of the culture, part of the fabric of one’s being. But whilst you could debate whether criticism itself is culture, Empire definitely has a culture. It’s a club, nay, a family; something that has been entrenched in recent years through its podcasts and live shows. But for me it began as an education. I started reading it, really, to find out more about Jurassic Park (there we are again, the secret eleventh part of this list). But it went on, showing me more films and filmmakers, introducing me to esoteric industry concepts, broadening my horizons. I always liked film, but Empire made me love film. It reflected my tastes but then it enriched them, codified them, offered me new flavours. It was the first magazine to put Lord of the Rings on the cover; it celebrates Spielberg and the MCU; it had articles about The Greasy Strangler, for goodness’ sake. So much of what I love about film I learned from Empire over the last (nearly) thirty years, and so much of what I love about Empire now is because of what I learned. Bangily-bang.

Traveller’s Tales’ LEGO games: the games that did not make this list, I don’t know. Halo; man, I love Halo. Or what about classics like Lemmings, Worms, or SWOS? What about Mass Effect, Deus Ex, or Fable? What about Mario Kart, what about Civilization? They all deserved a place, really. But there’s something esoteric, timeless even, about the heights of the LEGO games. I remember playing a demo – on the first Xbox, I think – of the first LEGO Star Wars, and being blown away by the fact that, well, it was good. When the games started coming out on the 360 – Star Wars II, Batman, Indiana Jones – I was in the gloriously fortunate position of getting a lot of them for free at CITV, and I devoured them. The simple mechanics, the generous, forgiving gameplay, the satisfying tactile feel of smashing objects and collecting studs. There was something just so rewarding about playing them. And the fan-service! Giving you all those beloved characters, all those worlds, all those genuinely funny in-jokes, references, and cut-scenes. Plus they’re great to play with kids. Time went on, some games were better than others; I feel they reached their peak with the first LEGO Marvel Super-Heroes game, presenting us with an open world New York to play in and a collection of comic book characters that fitted the gameplay perfectly. Subsequent games have either put new restrictions on play, or given us more complicated stories and mechanics, or – really – just over-egged the pudding slightly. I’m really, really optimistic and excited for The Skywalker Saga, long overdue, and promising something of an overhaul. it began, really, with Star Wars; and I feel with Star Wars they’ll have their greatest hour.

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds: fun fact: finding the tenth spot on these lists is very hard. How about a brand I love, like Xbox, or the BBC, or even Disney? Or another writer or director – what about Aaron Sorkin? Or a TV show – Doctor Who, perhaps, or Star Trek? Or how about, oh I dunno, Shakespeare? I like him. But I’ve not talked about music, so let’s do that; we’ll go out on a number. I’m not a musical person; I didn’t grow up frequenting record shops or listening to mix tapes in my room. I liked songs, but mostly I came to music through film. That was even true with Nick Cave, who I first heard in an episode of The X-Files, and read about in the X-Files magazine. But he remains one of the few artists, The Bad Seeds one of the few bands, that I continue to seek out and listen to regularly (rather than just saying “Alexa, play nineties rock”). I love the different styles, from the distorted noise of the early, post-Birthday Party years through the sombre melodies of Nocturama. I love Cave’s lyricism; his evocation of myth, his use of imagery. I love how he manages to get phrases like “morally culpable” into a song. I love the humour as well as the tragedy, the references to things both real and mythological, the sadness and eloquence of it all. I love how so many of his songs are about sex but are also really moving and meaningful; how much of the music is infused with pain and sorrow but is also uplifting. The horrible evocations of Cave’s own abuse in Do You Love Me, through to the references to his son’s death in Girl in Amber. I love Cave’s voice. I don’t know if this has come through in this list, but something I really like is stuff that makes me cry but isn’t necessarily sad. I cry when I read Sandman, when he wins the Oldest Game by challenging the end of everything by becoming “hope”; I cry when Donna tells Josh, “if you were in the hospital I wouldn’t stop for red lights”; I cry when Steve Rogers jumps on that dummy grenade. I think it’s hope and heroism and love. And that’s something that I get constantly, mainlined, intravenous, from Nick Cave. As Morgan Freeman says in Seven, “The world is a fine place and worth fighting for – I agree with the second part.”

God, there’s so much stuff not listed here. So many things I love that I feel are core; no Pixar, no West Wing, no other filmmakers cited, really, apart from Spielberg. But ten’s not a big number, and I contain multitudes.

Thanks for reading.

#top ten #everything #499 #nine years #lists #my life

[glacierfront]

JULIE’S RP PLOTTING CHEAT-SHEET

Want new-and-exciting plots for your character? Long to reach out to more of your followers, but don’t know where to start? Fear not! Fill out this form and give your RP partners both present and future all the of juicyjumping off points they need to help you get your characters acquainted.

Be sure to tag the players whose characters YOU want more cues to interact with, and repost, don’t reblog!Feel free to add or remove sections as you see fit. Template here.

Mun name: syrinx! OOC Contact: through tumblr im is how i work best at first !

Who the heck is my muse anyway:

julie is a 22 year old person living in new york -- a musician who is trying to crack her way into the industry. she is also a mutant who can manipulate water and its various states.

Points of interest:

she works at a coffee shop, someplace that is tucked out of the way and yet still busy. sometimes she chills out in empty alleys and practices her abilities. she plays the flute, which can be heard in all neighboring apartments and outside the window if one is listening. 

What they’ve been up to recently:

in her sort of main arc, which i haven’t labelled yet, julie is just trying to live her life. she’s got lots of friends, and she’s dealing with the sort of. she’s thinking a lot about the chaos that plagues new york city and how normal it all seems, and how it shouldn’t be that way.

in the dead men feel no remorse arc, julie is dealing with the fact that one of her friends, barney barton (nobullseye), has died and come back to life, as a scary guy who is willing to break doors down to get his way.  

Where to find them:

she’s commonly found in  her coffee shop or at home, or at various classical concerts throughout the city. unfortunately, she is... boring... and doesn’t really stray too far from those areas. sometimes she chills at jo’s and roman’s, though! (ruinaa and illwriteatragedy)

Current plans:

i want her to start sort of getting into the vigilane/superpower/superhero business; she really likes to help people but has always sort of... been one to be a bystander, and i want to kind of push her into more of a helping role. eventually it would be nice if she could fight someone ? 

i am also super invested in her figuring out that she’s a stark child; this may not happen for a while but i’m determined to make it happen !!! planning for this is sort of on hold in lieu of other things, like me having no idea how to get this started......

Desired interactions:

i’m interested in people who can sort of push her into the direction i want wrt superheroism; maybe with ties to other superheros, or to shield, or to the brotherhood or the x-men. people who can maybe see julie doing something, or learn more about her as they get to know her, and go: hey. i have an opportunity for you i think you wouldn’t want to miss out on. :0

i also want antagonists for julie to fight ! sort of in the lowkey kind of gentle archnemesis sort of way; i don’t want super evil plots, but just ... you know ! stuff that julie might feel like she could get in the way of and stop ... like... maybe a theft ? or something ?

 i also want more sincerely close relationships with julie... so much of what she has now is sort of a blanket version of her friendship -- she’s very polite and doesn’t necessarily always say what she wants... but with people who she is truly comfortable with she can get real snarky and loud.

i think that what i want most of all is for julie to feel like she has an organic place in the world... like. it’s so easy for characters to feel like they sort of exist in the moment but nowhere else, but if there’s someplace our characters could interact frequently (and it doesn’t even have to be in a significant relaitonship sort of way; maybe julie just makes ur char’s coffee every day and has made it for the past 7 months) .. that would be pretty cool :0

Offered interactions:

if ur char is aggressive toward people, julie can fight them if they instigate a fight... 

she can make... coffee...

she’s really good at listening to problems (because she doesn’t care) but if your character is looking for advice... she might not be the best one (which might also be nice to write out JDFLKD)

if ur char is filthy rich and wants to throw money at someone, julie is a worthy candidate

also if ur char is very poor julie will try to share her wealth thru like... presents and stuff...

if ur char wants to learn flute she can teach for money !! pay her owo

Current open post/s:

i have none.....

Anything else?:

i reply very slowly.. but do not be alarmed for our character’s relationships transcend time and space and exist even tho i may not be writing things at the moment ! 

im also very shy... i want plots but get Nervous... pls love me anyway

Tagging:@daayaan @hellkitten @kombatangel @againsthedark @enlumaria

#*about. #*fact sheet. #ooc #i havent done this in a long time so.................. i figured !! i will do it again uwu

[aion-rsa]

Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales – Who is the Tinkerer?

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This November, Insomniac Games follows up its beloved Marvel’s Spider-Man game with Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, one of the big launch titles for the PlayStation 5. The game takes the second Ultimate Spider-Man and gives him his own adventure full of webslinging and high-flying. Hopefully, there will be a bagel toss in there somewhere.

While we’re excited to kick some ass as the star of Into the Spider-Verse, what is a superhero story without the villain? Peter Parker got to take on the Sinister Six while hinting at the Green Goblin and Venom on the horizon. So who will Miles get to tangle with?

In the new gameplay demo, we see that Miles is facing off against both Roxxon (Marvel’s go-to evil corporation) and an army of cyber-goons led by the Tinkerer.

The Tinkerer noticeably looks a lot like the incarnation of Ghost who appears in the film Ant-Man and the Wasp and the game Iron Man VR. Rather fitting, considering this is another villain design from the comics being gender-swapped into a new character.

In the comics, the Tinkerer (AKA the Terrible Tinkerer) is not only a man, but he’s also old enough to be a grandfather. He was also in Spider-Man: Homecoming as a much younger guy (played by Michael Chernus), so it’s not like radical redesigns are new to him. He was the guy making Vulture’s weapons, if you’re wondering.

And really, that’s what the Tinkerer is all about. He’s one of those unique Marvel fixtures who seems to exist for the sake of answering a question you might ask if you look deeply enough at how a superhero world works.

Who teaches all the costumed henchmen how to fight? The Taskmaster. Who makes all these swank costumes for the heroes and villains? Leo Zelinsky. Where do heroes go to get their injuries treated after their many, many fights? The Night Nurse.

And who’s behind the street-level villain tech? A lot of the time, it’s Phineas Mason, the Tinkerer.

The Early Days

The Tinkerer goes way, way back in Spider-Man lore. Created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, he made his first appearance in Amazing Spider-Man #2 back in 1963. That’s only the THIRD comic to have Spider-Man in it, keep in mind. He’s been around longer than Doctor Octopus and the Green Goblin.

Originally, the Tinkerer was a run-of-the-mill mad scientist type with a ridiculous plot that involved staging an alien invasion to spy on state officials. But then his escape hinted at the idea that he really was an alien all along! What a twist!

Marvel didn’t follow up on this for another 13 years when they finally revealed the guy was not an alien, and was instead just a run-of-the-mill mad scientist type all along. After losing to Spider-Man once again, the Tinkerer fell into the gimmick of being the guy you go to when you’re a low-level supervillain and you need an upgrade.

After all, Octavius and Osborn are evil geniuses who know how to put together robot arms and pumpkin bombs. What the hell is Constrictor going to do when his cyber coils are on the fritz? Beg Tony Stark? Mason was even the inventor of Grim Reaper’s absolutely kickass scythe-hand.

Secret War

The Tinkerer’s most high-profile appearance was in 2004’s Secret War, which acted as one of the major opening steps of Brian Michael Bendis’ lengthy run on the Avengers books (as well as introducing Agents of SHIELD’s Daily Johnson). The story involved Latverian Prime Minister Lucia von Bardas funding the Tinkerer and giving him assets to advance the tech of various supervillains like Scorpion, Goldbug, and the female Dr. Octopus from the old Spider-Man Clone Saga days.

The Latverian government was doing this to terrorize the United States, but Nick Fury couldn’t convince his higher-ups to do anything about it. Instead, Fury put together a superhero-based coup off the books and chose to mind-wipe everyone involved.

This blew up in his face in various ways.

As the video game Ultimate Alliance 2 acted as an adaptation of the Civil War comic, the first level was based on Secret War and gave us a Tinkerer boss fight.

Read more

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Spider-Man: Miles Morales Release Date and Gameplay Trailer Revealed by Sony

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His son Rick Mason, otherwise known as Agent, was a government operative and did cool James Bond stuff for the US. Despite being on opposite sides of the law, the two remained close. Unfortunately, Mason died. In the events of Civil War, Rick Mason’s own children perished. Seeing his family wiped out made the Tinkerer work ever so harder. The experience has turned him into a nihilist and he only wants the heroes and villains to increase the firepower until both sides have wiped each other off the map.

Ultimate Marvel Tankerer

In the Ultimate Universe, Tinkerer’s backstory is a little tangled, but does feel like it just might relate to what’s going on in Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales. While there was indeed an Ultimate Phineas Mason, he was an associate of Reed Richards who made a single appearance and was then practically forgotten about. So much for him.

A man named Elijah Stern instead became the Tinkerer. Stern worked for Roxxon, but was fired before he could make some major breakthroughs on his study of vibranium. Rather than taking his misfortune in stride, he instead started a war against Roxxon by upgrading the weaponry of some villains and having them attack the corporation’s higher-ups. While he had been recruited to work for SHIELD, Stern left and helped beef up the anti-Spider-Man team the Ultimate Six.

Stern met his end and the hands of Miles’ criminal uncle, the Prowler. We’ll see how much that ties into the upcoming video game adventure.

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But really, the most important thing about the Tinkerer is that he once rebuilt the Spider-Mobile. Please, oh please, oh please let us be able to drive the Spider-Mobile in one of these Insomniac games!

Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales is out on PS5 and PS4 on Nov. 12.

The post Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales – Who is the Tinkerer? appeared first on Den of Geek.

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