#Drop movie plot and cast

[ulkaralakbarova]

“Drop” (2025) Review – A Blind Date Turns into a Twisted Night of Terror

⭐⭐⭐⭐ Rating: 3.5 out of 5. There’s a peculiar kind of vulnerability that comes with a blind date — the uncertainty of who you’ll meet, what you’ll say, or where the night might lead. For some, it ends with a second date. For others, it’s a story to laugh about later. But for Violet Gates, the blind date in Drop becomes a fight for survival — one that unearths secrets, traumas, and a deeply…

[princeseerow]

has anyone ever written an animorphs x the goonies crossover

[ditzyrafe]

any plot but pleaaaase sub!rafe😼😼

— deepthroating bsf!rafe while watching a movie

warnings — sub!rafe x dom!reader dynamic, oral (male!rec), deepthroating, petnames (rafe calls reader ‘mommy’), lewd language

a/n — was gonna post this originally, but this ask is quite similar. enjoy <3

the flickering light of the tv casts long, dancing shadows across the living room. there's background noise playing from it, but it's all completely irrelevant to the tension coiling low in your belly. you're curled up beside rafe on the couch, his familiar warmth a comfort that's rapidly twisting into something else entirely. his jeans are slightly unbuttoned, a decision made moments ago under the guise of getting comfortable, but you both knew better.

"you're quiet," rafe murmurs, his voice low, eyes fixed on the screen, though you doubt he's really watching either. his hand rests on the cushion between you, fingers drumming nervously.

"just… distracted," you whisper back, your gaze dropping pointedly to the obvious bulge in his pants. he's been staring at you the entire night, and you've noticed. he's hard for you.

taking a breath, you shift, leaning down further, your hair cascading over his thigh like a curtain. his muscles tense beneath the denim, his hard-on totally noticable. he doesn't stop you. you brush your lips against the straining fabric first, a feather-light kiss, before unzipping his jeans. carefully, you guide his cock into the cool air. he's already thick, hard and leaking, pulsing with anticipation.

you hesitate only for a fraction of a second before taking the tip of him into your mouth. the initial taste is faint, clean saltiness. he draws a sharp breath, his hands gripping relentlessly into the couch beneath him. you close your lips around him, slicking him with your tongue, working slowly at first, getting used to his size. after a while, you take more of him in your mouth, feeling his thick girth at the back of your throat.

ignoring the slight burn, you push past the initial resistance, taking him deeper. the sensation is intense, borderline uncomfortable, that slight gag reflex kicking in before you swallow hard and push through it. you want all of him. you slide down his full length, the smooth head bumping against the back of your throat. your eyes water slightly from the pressure, but you hold him there, letting the sheer fullness of him fill you.

a low groan escapes rafe, muffled but undeniable. his fingers unconsciously find themselves gripping your hair, not pulling, but just there, anchoring himself. "jesus," he weakly groans, his head tipping back against the couch cushions, eyes squeezing shut as he feels you take him deeply.

you begin to move, a slow, deliberate slide up and down his shaft. it's not frantic, not yet. it's a deep, wet pressure, the friction slick and intimate. you focus on the sensation, the feeling of him against your tongue, the way his pulse hammers where your lips enclose the base. the sounds of the movie — a sudden gunshot, then hushed dialogue — feel utterly irrelevant compared to the sound of rafe's ragged breathing and the wet noises your mouth makes around his cock.

"shittt- right there, mommy," he manages to say, his hips giving a slight lift off the cushion, urging you on, his hands now gripping too tight. but he just can't help himself when your mouth feels this good.

"you gonna cum on my tongue, pretty boy...?"

taglist ; @13hischiers @rafesprecious @mayanqueenxx @dreewsepj @zoenighshade555 @feverg1rl @rafesgreasycurtainbangs @onxlyemery @yncoded @millie--billie @laniirackssss @slut4you @g3t2kn0w @kravitzwhore (join here) | divider creds ; @/anitalenia @/fairytopea

© written by ditzyrafe — do not steal or claim as ur own, stealing will result in me blocking u, any resemblance to any other story is simply coincidental!

[sl-ut]

streamer!ellie hcs

been thinking about gamer!ellie williams x fem!reader a little too much lately so here are some random ass hcs

part two | part three

she's a pretty big streamer on twitch, plays a lot of different games but she particularly likes rpgs bc she thinks they're the most fun kinds of streams to watch

she plays gta online (on nopixel ofc) A LOT

her rp character is definitely like a druglord or something lol

speaking of, total stoner

she usually smokes right before her streams to help her settle down (she gets kinda nervous before her streams)

she's up front about her drug use (just weed don't worry) w her fans, but definitely doesn't wanna smoke on stream bc she knows there are younger viewers watching

she streams at night, probably around 8:30-9pm AT THE EARLIEST

has a boss set up. she has an extra room in her apartment for streaming, has lots of fun little figurines and posters of her fav games/movies/artists, led lights (always set to either blue or red), and custom display, keyboard, and headset

off-topic, but she'd also an astrophysics major and is on the DEANS LIST??? our girl is so casually smart and doesn't even try that hard like

she's such a nerd, always been a big star wars, harry potter, and lotr fan since she was a kid

she casually drops the gf bomb on stream one day and the internet just about blows up

lesbian twitter died a little that day

she's kinda secretive about it tho, didn't even really mean to mention her gf (she hadn't even asked her to be her gf yet and she already publicly announced that she was off the market)

for plot purposes, i've always really liked the idea that y/n is also a public figure? maybe she's a small actor/singer or an influencer or something

y/n texted her during the stream saying "u got something u wanna ask me???"

ellie was trying so hard to not turn red and end the stream

a few days later, everyone's fav lowkey singer/actor/influencer happens to soft launch her new gf (everyone was a little sus but no one really assumed that it was ellie bc why would it be??? they've literally never interacted on the internet before?)

except what they don't know is that ellie had been really high one night and decided to shoot her shot, sending a risky dm on insta and almost pissing herself when she saw that she had actually responded

begins talking about the relationship more on stream

doesn't reveal who her gf is for a while tho, but when she gets a text from y/n asking for her help for a sec she'll just tell her chat that she'll be back bc she needs to "go help the missus"

such a loser fr

finally hard launches on y/n's bday, posting a photodump from the past few months that they've been together

lesbian twitter died again

two of the hottest internet gays off the market? oh no

but everyone really loves it

ellie likes when she brings her snacks or a drink during the stream, inviting her to sit on her lap and chat for a bit while they're waiting to join a server or something

she bought an additional gaming laptop so y/n could stream with her sometimes

ellie does random super loser stuff when this happens, like if they're playing gta she's taking her on a long car ride around the city bc she's roleplaying as y/n's sugar daddy

loves using her platform to hype up her gf's work

always reposting new songs or casting announcements that her gf is involved in, and loves being her date to big press events

omg i might have to make a little modern!ellie fic bc i love this smmmm

[notyournecromancer]

I totally adore you and have always loved everything you’ve recommended on any platform. I’ve only read marauders fics though and not sure anything can top Jegulus and Wolfstar for me. But I’m curious what the Drarry fuss is about. Do you have any advice on where to start? Something to get me into the characters everyone loves, like Blaise, Theo etc. And then I’ll go down the AFTG and Raven Boys rabbit holes! And probably never sleep again. Or be productive. Etc. But I’ll be happy.

SWEET SUFFERING JESUS i cannot TELL YOU how happy this makes me. DRARRY RECS INCOMING BELOVED!

first and foremost, i simply must tell you of the journey that is Led by Light of a Star Sweetly Gleaming which is the most GLORIOUS wolfstar - hear me out, the sequel to this is a Drarry, called Pages of You . These are by the most wonderful writer @wolfpants - I won't embarrass them by emotionally leaking all over the internet but fucking hear me out, babe, you're gonna wanna read every drop of Drarry they have to offer. While you're having a stalk, go and check out Terrible People and Everybody Hates a Tourist.

Next up, another favourite of mine: Draco Malfoy and The Mirror of Ecidyrue. this badboy is good if you fancy a canon retelling with some fantastic twists and fixes thrown in. each year gets better than the last and I think its such an interesting take on the whole thing.

Alright, another FABULOUS one with such a good little twist: Way Down We Go by @xiaq - a phenomenal writer whose original works you should also absolutely check out. This fic actually has Harry as a Werewolf which I absolutely convinced myself was a plot twist until I later went back and read the tags and realised it was there the whole time. LOVE this one. so good. side note - the supporting cast? unrivalled.

Okay here we have What We Pretend We Can't See by gyzym. this was lovely - I thought the characterisations were really spot on for canon adjacent/continuation. adored this.

Now for something a touch more whimsical, may I present you something unlike anything else I've ever read ever in life? It's called Running on Air by Eleventy7 (they are on tumblr I believe but for the life of me I cannot find their @) anyway. this is just the most stunning thing. it sort of plays out like a movie in front of you while you read it. its gentle and clever and thoughtful and intricate and just one of the most creative stories I've ever crossed paths with. i challenge you not to fall in love.

Here we have Is This The Place by the most gorgeous writer @januaryfirstreads - I promise you you aren't going to find someone who loves drarry like this writer does. and its so clear in every word she writes. This one of her's is lovely, so soft and full of the love of these characters, it does them justice in the most beautiful way.

Alright, if you know wolfstar you probably know @brigid-faye - and if you don't, all you need to know is that I trust brigid with my life. one thing about brigid? these characters are gonna be treated so well its gonna be hard to let go of 'em. here's a drarry brigid wrote a while back, its all the things her writing always has. which is to say, nothing you wanna miss. It's called Breeze (Move Me).

Okay, if you're a Red White and Royal Blue fan, the one and only itsgivingcamp has a FABULOUS ONE which you can find here: it's called Red, Green and Toil Too . now, I may perhaps be biased, but I happen to prefer this to the original. but like I said, maybe biased. but also, correct.

Alright, some classics. I may have read some of these or started them/downloaded them but I fear I've rambled on long enough. so here's the failsafe drarry recs to lead you down the right track:

Dwelling by Aideomai

The Devil's White Knight by Orphan_Account

Harry Potter and the Welcome to the World of Grey by sobsicles

Chasing Dragons by The_Sinking_Ship

and lastly i'm going to do the cheekiest of little self recs. i have a multi chap drarry that will one day be finished called Cold Coffee and a banter-driven little Christmas-themed one-shot named The Weather Outside.

anyway, there are so many bloody more. drarry is the most wonderful thing. its also (in my opinion) so disgracefully canon that it's hard to escape once you get into it. (like hello? the train scene?) so I wish you the best of luck on this journey.

you just come and give me a shout when you're ready to yell about AFTG and The Raven Cycle. I am here ready & waiting!

love you bye xoxoxoxo

[writeriguess]

i assume this is how we make requests but if not then oops.

can i request a katsuki bakugou x masc reader where they’re not dating but basically act like they are and one morning class A discover them cuddled up asleep on the couch?

like katsuki is asleep on top of reader and cuddling him. and reader gets embarrassed when he wakes up to see class A teasing them but also doesn’t wanna wake katsuki up so he plays with his hair or something!

if u don’t wanna do it that’s okay too i love ur work :)

Not Dating, My Ass

The dorms were quiet in the early morning, the usual chaos of Class 1-A still an hour or two away. Sunlight peeked through the curtains of the common room, casting soft golden light over the couch. On it, Katsuki Bakugou was sprawled across another body—specifically, you.

Your back was against the couch, one arm thrown over the blonde’s waist while his arms were locked tightly around you, his face buried in your chest. His weight pinned you down, and his body was pleasantly warm, his even breaths tickling your collarbone.

You didn’t even remember how you ended up like this. The last thing you recalled was watching a late-night movie with Bakugou—just the two of you, as usual. Somewhere between his grumbles about the "shitty romance plot" and your teasing jabs about how he was actually invested, exhaustion must have hit.

Now, you were stuck.

Your face burned when you finally became aware of how intimate this position was. Bakugou’s fingers were curled into the fabric of your hoodie, his legs tangled with yours. His breathing was slow and steady, completely at peace, which was a rare sight for someone as explosive as him.

But your moment of internal panic was short-lived.

“Oh my god.”

The voice cut through the silence like a gunshot.

Your stomach dropped.

You turned your head—big mistake. The entire Class 1-A was there, staring at the two of you, looking way too entertained for your liking.

Mina had her hands clasped together like she was witnessing the most adorable thing in existence, while Kaminari and Sero exchanged knowing grins. Kirishima looked like he was about to combust from excitement.

“Bro,” Kaminari whispered dramatically, “you guys are literally cuddling.”

“Not dating, huh?” Sero added, smirking.

You opened your mouth, scrambling for some sort of excuse, but no words came out. What were you supposed to say? No, we’re just really, really close friends who sleep on top of each other? That wasn’t going to fly.

Mina practically squealed. “I knew it! You guys act like a couple all the time, but this—this is solid proof! Cuddling in your sleep? Katsuki’s clinging to you, dude!”

You felt your whole body stiffen. You wanted to yell back, to deny it, but Bakugou was still asleep on top of you, completely unaware of the situation unfolding. And waking him up meant he’d see the audience currently enjoying this way too much.

So instead, you slowly, carefully, raised your hand and ran your fingers through his hair.

It was the only thing you could think of to keep yourself busy. His hair was surprisingly soft despite its spiky appearance, and when you scratched lightly at his scalp, he let out the softest, most content sigh you had ever heard from him.

Dead. You were dead.

Kirishima gasped like he was watching a romance movie climax. “Dude, you’re playing with his hair?”

You groaned, tilting your head back against the couch. “Can you guys not?”

“No, no, this is gold,” Kaminari whispered excitedly. “This is, like, life-changing information. I mean, look at him! He looks so peaceful! That’s, like, a rare Bakugou sighting!”

“Seriously,” Sero added, “this is some National Geographic level shit.”

You shot them a glare. “Shut up.”

Bakugou shifted slightly, nuzzling closer to your chest, and your breath hitched. Your heart pounded against your ribs.

If he woke up now and saw this… oh god.

Mina clasped her hands together. “You don’t want to wake him up, do you?” Her eyes sparkled mischievously.

“I—” You clenched your jaw, ears burning.

“Oh my god, you don’t!” She gasped, looking at the others. “Guys, he doesn’t wanna wake him up! That’s so cute!”

You gritted your teeth. “I hate all of you.”

“Bro, just admit it,” Kaminari grinned. “You like him.”

That made you flinch. Your fingers paused in his hair.

And that moment of hesitation was all they needed.

“AHA!” Mina pointed at you. “That reaction? That’s a crush reaction!”

Kirishima beamed. “It’s okay, man! We’re happy for you guys!”

“We’re not dating!” you hissed, though it was completely useless at this point.

“Not yet,” Sero muttered under his breath.

But the universe must have really hated you, because at that exact moment, Bakugou shifted again—this time letting out a low, sleepy grumble.

The entire room froze.

You felt the exact second his body tensed, his breathing changing as he began to wake up.

His fingers curled slightly into your hoodie before he suddenly went still. A long, painful silence stretched between you.

You didn’t dare move.

Then, with the slow inevitability of a natural disaster, Bakugou’s head lifted slightly, ruby-red eyes cracking open, still hazy with sleep. His face was barely inches from yours.

He blinked. Once. Twice. His brows furrowed.

Then he turned his head and finally noticed your very invested audience.

The whole room braced for impact.

Bakugou’s body went rigid. His arms were still locked around you, his legs still tangled with yours, his face still too damn close to yours.

You watched as realization dawned. His eyes slowly widened.

Nobody dared to breathe.

Then, all at once—

“WHAT THE FUCK?!”

Bakugou shot up so fast he nearly threw himself off the couch. You barely caught him, hands instinctively grabbing his shoulders before he could trip.

The class erupted into laughter.

“You guys looked so cute!” Mina teased, wiping a fake tear from her eye.

Kaminari was practically wheezing. “Bro, your face—holy shit, I wish I had my phone!”

Bakugou’s entire face exploded in red. He turned on you, eyes still wild from sleep. “What the hell were we doing?!”

You rubbed the back of your neck. “Uh… sleeping?”

His eye twitched.

Mina smirked. “More like cuddling.”

“Shut the hell up!” Bakugou snarled, voice cracking slightly.

You were about to jump in, to try and save whatever was left of your dignity, but then Bakugou whirled back to you, eyes narrowed.

“You!” He jabbed a finger at you. “Why the hell were you playing with my hair?!”

You felt your soul leave your body.

“Wha—I—I was panicking!”

“Oh, you were panicking?” Mina snickered.

“Yes!” you snapped. “Because I woke up and all of you were watching us like some weird reality TV show!”

Bakugou groaned loudly, dragging a hand down his face. “I’m gonna kill all of you.”

“Doubt it,” Sero grinned. “We’ve got too much blackmail now.”

Bakugou looked like he was about to lunge, but you quickly grabbed his arm, pulling him back before he started an all-out brawl.

“Come on, man,” you sighed, patting his shoulder. “Let’s just go before they make this worse.”

Bakugou grumbled under his breath but didn’t resist when you guided him toward the dorms. The class watched you go, still grinning like they just witnessed the greatest romance arc of the century.

As you reached the hallway, Bakugou huffed. “They’re never gonna let this go, are they?”

“Absolutely not,” you muttered.

He exhaled sharply, running a hand through his hair. “Whatever.” He shot you a side glance. “…You better not make it weird.”

You rolled your eyes but smiled slightly. “No promises.”

Bakugou scoffed. But as he walked beside you, his hand brushed against yours—just for a second.

And you weren’t sure, but you thought he looked a little less annoyed.

[hvkno]

ppl who complain about the gap in between st seasons make me SO MADD

(1) it takes ten months to film and ten months to do post production (and i'm sure pre-production happens from the end of a season to the beginning of filming)

(2) SEASON 3 DROPPED 2019. SEASON 4 2022. CAN YOU THINK OF A MAJOR EVENT THAT HAPPENED BETWEEN THESE TWO DATES????

(3) its insane they even managed to release season 4 in two years after they started filming (in feb 2020 nonetheless). they had to take a break until september 2020 when they resumed filming and with extreme precautions most likely past that, slowing filming down.

(4) THEN THE SAG-AFTRA STRIKE RIGHT AFTER S4 DROPS. that would have completely stopped production for months and months and at last season 5 STARTS filming in january 2024. it's the final season and there's a big cast so it took an extra couple months, but it finally wrapped in december.

(5) AND ABOUT FILMING! this is a PACKED cast that are BOOKED AND BUSY. if you think that this was finn's or winona's or millie's only project or THING happening, then you are WRONG. they are busy which makes filming harder.

(6) POST PRODUCTION is DIFFERENT FOR STRANGER THINGS. yeah, many of the shows from 2016 have wrapped by now. they did not break records in Netflix or include a science fiction plot that required lots of CGI, visual effects etc! plus do you THINK netflix is gonna let them slide with a half assed final product? ON THEIR FINAL SEASON TOO?

so yeah. expecting stranger things to pop out woth a new season every year is actually laughable. ESPECIALLY with the conditions the last few seasons have been under.

and this part is important: i think 2 hours is way too long for an episode. i wouldn't mind a season that's fifteen hours if it was split into reasonable episode times but movie length episodes is unreasonable. THAT BEING SAID, IM SICK OF PEOPLE THINKING THAT SHOWS ARE EASY TO PRODUCE.

[musashi]

Musing on Movie!Nessa's Future in Part 2

A lot of people simultaneously expressing confusion alongside their celebration of Nessarose finally being played by a wheelchair user, because her being able to walk in act 2 is obviously a huge plot point--the spell cast on the shoes is what turns them into the ruby slippers which establishes the continuity and leads to a bunch of other plot threads, etc etc.

This is obviously the reason a lot of people give for her being played by an able-bodied actress in the past, it's obviously a bullshit reason because a huge majority of wheelchair users are ambulatory and can walk and stand for varying periods of time just fine. So like. They could have still had an ambulatory wheelchair user playing her, but I digress: the point is she is played by Marissa Bode in the movie. A wheelchair user, hurray!

These are just the opinions of someone who is not a wheelchair user so take them with a grain of salt (and please speak up if you have your own stuff to say as a member of the community!) but from what I can see as someone who's been insane about Wicked for about 15 years now, the movie did a lot of good for Nessa's character. Previously, the ableism toward her was baked into the metanarrative itself, but it's now been moved to a more realistic place--the characters within the story.

Previously Nessa was treated with little agency or autonomy not only by the characters but by the people writing the story. Most notably of all, her chair is constantly being grabbed and wheeled around by other characters. The movie corrects this--she is very rarely wheeled around except by her father (and he is called out for his coddling/infantilizing of her by Elphaba within 2 minutes of their introduction) and the one time a stranger tries to do this in what reads even to me as a genuinely traumatizing and far too familiar scene for any wheelchair user to have to sit through, Elphaba immediately fucking goes apeshit and starts throwing fucking furniture. Nessa herself also tries to advocate for herself and tell the professor in question to stop kidnapping/assaulting her and is, again, realistically not listened to.

This last bit obviously happens in the stage musical too but Nessa's own agency is much less pronounced. The movie adds little things here and there to give her more of that agency--Elphaba's protectiveness is much less "I have to help and watch over my poor disabled sister" and much more "I have to make sure no one underestimates or takes advantage of her." Even the plot detail that Elphaba was not there to be her caretaker but just to drop her off and make sure she got settled in her dorm adds leaps and bounds to Nessa's autonomy. Her and Boq's shared look in the opening ceremonies where they both bond beforehand at their inability to see over the crowds' standing ovation. And of course, the dance scene, where he no longer wheels her out but instead beckons her to follow him!

These little details add up in ways that are, at least in my opinion, very meaningful. They also extend to the production itself--where the sets were made accessible for Marissa and she was even allowed to do her own stunts, in her wheelchair! That part in the beginning where Elphaba levitates her was her in a harness in her fucking chair and all. Dope as FUCK.

So I am mentioning all of this because I think the people working on this movie have shown that they are unafraid to make changes to Nessa to be more respectful to her agency. The ableism she faces, which is still plentiful, is framed as such instead of just casually brushed off & baked into the narrative. By making these small changes, Nessa is not just an unfortunate stereotype of a disabled woman, but a real and fleshed-out person who is dealing with the consequences of those exact stereotypes in the society she lives in. I really liked that! I don't know how others feel about it, but I thought it was very well-shifted.

All that said, 'curing' your disabled character is obviously, like, the biggest no-no of writing a disabled character. And that plot beat is a huge one in every version of Wicked... so far. But here's the thing. We have a shot of Dorothy wearing the slippers. And they... are silver.

Why. Are they silver.

And they are silver in all of Dorothy's small little cameos. Every single one. Even though this shot, which was used primarily for promotional material to draw people in like "Hey! Wizord of Oz! This is What The Refrance!" did not make the choice to even suggest that they should ever be red. One of the most important pieces of iconography, consciously and notably absent.

I genuinely don't think Nessa's going to have her disability taken away in part 2. With how much love to this part of her has been done to the retooling of her character, I do not think it is a stretch to assume that they will find a way to advance the plot without removing her disability. I believe this because that is the right thing to do for Nessa, to ascend her character, however you feel about it--she should stay in her chair. She deserves to continue on the way she is.

I realize this little change effects a lot. But after seeing part one, I am confident they can do it and do it well and replace what the change takes away with something just as good. I have so much faith in the direction of these movies. I really, truly believe it will happen and it will be good and satisfying and perfect.

It might still happen, sure--Marissa might get a stunt double, or CGI, or some other brand of movie magic. The shoes may still get enchanted and stay silver to pay homage to the original Oz books. But I can't help but consider that idea and keep asking myself... why. That makes so much less sense. Why not give movie audiences the red slippers, draw them in with the imagery, give them one more lion cub in the bike basket or Boq talking about how much he cries or poppies putting the whole class to sleep. Why not give us the ruby slippers when you... could.

I think because this is going to be a big, long awaited improvement. And I think it is hiding there in plain sight.

[queenendless]

ÆŁŁ ƏŸƏ§ ØŊ MƏ

A/n: This was gonna be for another series. But this idea popped up for this one instead.

Pairing: Seto Kaiba x Yami Yugi x F!Reader.

Self aware AU. Inspired by Cross Duel and Duel Links; especially plot wise. Other YGO sequel series mentioned. But mostly DM. Mainly on these two.

CW: Depression, dysphoria and dysmorphia implied, chronic ailments; based off my own issues. Brief swearing, blood, violence. But also fluff, hurt/comfort, and romance/dark romance.

You spend many a day into the late nights, wasting the hours away by watching whatever and every other thing to dash away the emptiness you have inside. Whether on the TV, your laptop, to even your phone, you get lost into the vibrant, upbeat, tear-jerking moments of your favorite media. Shows, movies, games and beyond.

Like an iconic anime on a trading card game.

Having gotten late to the party, you quickly fell for the series, the plot, and its cast. Most of all, the reincarnated Pharaoh and his fated rival for his life.

The appeal of a brand new game peaked your interest. More so a fan game. The mechanics of Duel Links paired with the 2D CG moving models of Cross Duel. An immersive app combining all the series.

While you weren't the best at such competitive games, you still found yourself enjoying the experience. With every series up to the present day. So many characters to unlock and many decks to make. You weren't good at memorizing names, though. But your top two would be your #1 priority.

Anything to help you get through the days. Your job less, disabled days. Cooped up in your room, blocking out the yelling and slamming doors and intrusive thoughts.

Focusing on their handsome faces and familiar voices kept you calm and elated as you always switched between the two throughout your playthrough.

"You're a long way from become a true duelist ... but I can see you have the interest and potential for it. Stick with me and I'll make it worth your while."

"Not to fret. Each battle helps you learn and improve. So long as I am at your side, you'll be amazed at how far you'll go. I'm looking forward to it."

Hearing their voices, seeing those beautiful faces, gave you such serotonin as you stay cooped up in your own little safe haven, escaping from the suffocating cracked home life into the YGO verse.

You spent the next few days grinding in this immersive game, your free time spent leveling up, collecting your favorite cards, and raising the trust level of your other liked favorites. Especially to see the interactions, crossovers, and more as you picked up their voices.

The surprising sight of tapping all over your screen to see their hair and attire rustle paired with such flushed alarmed expressions poking their faces.

"You've got a lot of nerve to mess with the President of Kaiba Corp ..." The sight of him flicking you followed by the immediate firm tap on your forehead made you yelp loudly, nearing dropping the phone. Seeing Seto's laughing face on screen made your strewn expression lighten. "Well deserved."

Yami's raised brow look made you look away in shame. "Pardon me, but I'm right here. There was no need for that." The firm poke to your cheek made you jump in alarm and drop your phone on your bed, gaping at Yami's chuckling face. "Now that was well called for."

It had been a week when that happened. The real world influence from the digital world held in your hand. Startled, alarmed, concerned you had to close the app and take a while to process your racing, anxious self. The app flickered from blue to red. Your phone screen glitches.

Escaping to your laptop proved fruitless. For seeing your lockscreen darken and distort yourself, only to show the cast walking and chatting along the metropolis setting of the game you just checked out of in alarm. A certain white trench coat wearing giant walked along the screen, only to stop and turn to face you. Frozen in place, you watched as he walked head on in, getting closer when he started speaking in his usual snide, sarcastic tone.

"(Username) huh? To tell the truth, Y/n sounds better to say. How do I know your name, you ask? From your account profile, obviously." The roll of those piercing blue eyes was in character. The low soft words that came after were not. "I didn't mean to scare you off earlier. I was actually starting to enjoy myself around you. You're tolerable, at best."

The tri colored star shaped head of his rival peaked out from the side, guilt laced in his features, when he came in fully. "He won't bite you, if that's your concern. But, I too apologize for alarming you. We mean you no harm, Y/n. Honest."

The uncertainty of this meta phenomenon taking place before you was mellowed out at the sight of THE rival pair acknowledging you. Pinching yourself hard to smacking your cheeks to make sure you weren't in lala land now.

Dopamine and endorphins came hand in hand as their eyes widened in astonishment at the way your entire expression lite up, covering your now squealing mouth, not wanting to draw unwanted attention from your folks, your lips curving peaking out beneath your hands. It's all real.

You spent the remainder of that night asking them anything and everything you ever wanted to tell them, curled up in bed, smiling dazedly, lost in the nostalgic fuzzy experience that is these self aware anime baes, bouncing off each other in prideful, sparky conversation. The corner of their eyes caught sight of you sound asleep, Yami smiling tenderly at the sight and Seto's eyes giving off the same aura.

The following week since that night, you felt more energized and motivated than you have in a long time. You were curious if any other fellow players experienced such a phenomenon. Being able to interact with them, actually talk to them outside the contrivances, even offline was a relief. Even your old dead TV was brought to life by the sights of the vibrant series setting; Domino City. Numbers, Dueltaining, Links, and beyond. The world of dueling was seemingly endless.

"Artificial intelligence is more real now than ever. Not to mention virtual reality. So it was only a matter of time. This game is experimental proof of that self awarness. Not all of us are that bright, though."

Joey's pinched face cameo over that comment didn't go unnoticed by as evidence by Seto's snide face. Mai dragging Joey off screen to see kisses literally flying off in the background had the CEO turn pink at the PDA.

"I'd rather glimpse into the real world to broaden my knowledge. Every single being that's connected to us gives us insight. Getting to know you Y/n has been the best experience in all of it."

Waving to Yugi, Jaden and Yusei driving recklessly on the latter's duel runner in the off distance made you crack out a laugh. The charmin smile Yami gave at the sight of your expression caught your eye, turning you a bashful pink, to which he deeply chuckled in kind.

But even you need a break every now and then. You have bad days. And by bad, it gets BAD. Constant styes or eye irritations. Circulation issues in the feet. Swollen ankles. Depression, stress and many intrusive thoughts becoming hyperactive in that tired scarred mind.

Demented suffocating folks. Dysfunctional argumentative drama. And you? Walled up in their corner, feeling years older than their actual age, self pity and self hate over this defective body. The thoughts of self made wounds made on every defective part of you brought on tears every time.

So, fights like the one you just experienced today brought tears, swelling, and the truth to light. Your own fault for believing your own flesh and blood would provide genuine professional help, for the body and mind. But all they can afford is gaslighting, dogpiling criticism. Slamming doors, holing up in your room and blasting tunes through your ear buds was your only affordable escapism.

Black, blue and red glitches overtake your phone. It all happened in such a blur. Layers of warmth swallowed you whole, brushing away those tears, as you felt your face pressed gently against such support, protectivness enveloping you.

"Now that's just bullshit. Everyone’s flawed. If you count me and my many attempts at dethroning my one and only rival myself as one, go right ahead. Point being, screw them. You're genuine. Flaws and all ... you're perfect."

"You should never feel ashamed of yourself or your appearance. You should feel comfortable in your own skin. Regardless of what others choose to believe, your own feelings matter the most. When I look at you, I see nothing but a goddess in my eyes."

Digital character gaining form in reality before you changed things. Just as soon as they were there, they were gone, leaving you fuzzy or better ... and for worse?

The rare times when you had to go out on trips or even taking walks by yourself around your area meant you waving your phone around, being their window into more of your life. Even giving a room tour meant them blushing at spotting chibi plushies of them on your nightstand; their egos rising at further proof of you being smitten with them.

Only when everyone else in your household went to bed would you go hogging up the living room couch and be on your laptop and phone to get lost in watching your movies, shows or whatever to lift your spirits. Yet these late night binges bring with them chronic headaches that would kick in during your all night bends, leaving you closing your eyes and falling sound asleep to drive off the pain on top of your flared up feet covered in cold compresses.

Your laptop flickered and buffered in distortions as whatever you were watching is halted as entities literally come out of your screen. Warmth brushed your flushed cheeks, rubbed your scalp to soothe your aches, rewarded by your hums of content, as murmurs of their names parted your lips, causing the seed of possessiveness to grow at such a rate.

"They don't deserve your tears. They don't even deserve you. None of them are worth it. Unlike them, you've always been deserving of greater and better things. And I'll make sure of it."

"Please dream sweet dears, my dear. It hurts me to see you like this. Things will get better ... they will be better ... you will not suffer alone anymore."

But all good things come to an end. And this was no exception. For there came that time when you were in so much agony, suffering to the point where you wanted the rest of your ignorant home to suffer with you. Eyes too Strained to open. Feet too swollen to walk. Even your neck and scalp were stiff in pain. Your own body fell apart and all you could do was cry in silence, stuck in bed, as you just wanted to be free of it all.

A cold storm raged outside, tipping things over the edge. Your phone vibrating and dinging with notifications were left unchecked. The various reports of disapperances over your fellow real life players and the like. The strong voices of your kings calling out to you were left unanswered as you were too still and quiet.

So they animated right out of your phone screen. The eye of Udjat glowing as the Pharaoh dealt the fatal blows. Thrown furniture exploding. Glass shattering. Ear shattering screams cut off midway. Gurgling cries of agony follow right after. Thumps hitting the floor. The tall shadow of his megalomaniac partner covered your frail weak body as he carefully took you in his arms. It was now or never.

"Seto, are you sure about this? Bringing an actual human over to our side is too risky. Her body will not survive it."

"Please. My next gen solid vision system is visionary. Finding you across dimensions, for example. Connecting others across time and space through dueling has broken boundaries. Linking the cerebrum of those that have accessed my side project app has allowed us to view everyones memories and knowledge of our counterparts in this world has expanded our reach. Sharing our energy with her shall give the strength she needs to cross over. And besides, you practically begged me to take her with us from the start."

"Don't tell me THE Seto Kaiba is jealous about sharing me with another now. As if dragging me out of the afterlife wasn't enough for you. Part of me is still wrapping around your experiment on cross dimensional expansion. Regardless if we're just avatar copies based on fiction, we're still alive. We're past the point of no return. I just hope Y/n will understand."

"Take me ... take me away from here ... please."

Your consent was the trigger. Crimson met solid hologram as their combined hold made you feel at peace at last, blue and golden energy seeping into you, falling fast asleep. The next time you woke up, all the pain left your body, replaced with such looseness. Such levity. Basking in the endless streams of code and ethereal light. The faces of many familiar characters standing about among those like you that now obtained their virtual anime counterparts.

Smothered in between such defined sturdy bodies to remind you of your situation, your heart hammered on in the blue eyed and violet eyed gazes of your two Kings gazing down at you with such fervor, pristine looking with no signs of crimson staining their attire, right before they both layered gentle kisses all over your face. Their sculpted veiny hands held each of yours, tracing your very real skin, squeezing them to assure you that this is all happening. Tears of joy filled your healthy e/c eyes and giggles filled their ears as the sight of you brimming with happiness made their own hearts tremble at the hold you have on them. And vice versa.

Reshaping the future of dueling outsides the confines of an app game takes so much work, you know. Gaining sentience and all that. And it means everything to them to have you there with them for their journey across the Yu-Gi-Oh! multiverse. Hand in hand in hand. For life. These two Kings have finally found their Queen.

"Welcome home."

[egophiliac]

Waittt, what did you mean with your last post?? I don't want to spoil myself so I'm waiting for the nightmare before christmas event to arrive on the eng server before diving deep into the wiki. But I HAVE to know; were there hints of Lilia joining in for a rerun or a sequel ??? Your big "OR IS IT???" filled me with way too much hope !! please tell me it wasn't a bit : (

there was a little teaser at the end that implied there'll be a sequel event, though we don't really know anything beyond that! I do think it's likely we'll get the other half of the cast in it, even if it's just wishful thinking on my part. 🤞🤞 NIGHTMARE SUITS FOR EVERYONE!!!!

as far as I know there's been no confirmation on whether it's going to be next year's Halloween event or a separate thing (the snow makes me think it'll be more Christmas-themed, or otherwise more related to the plot of the original movie) so. we're probably going to have to wait quite a while before we find out anything solid. :') they really do love just dropping these things on us and then watching us go absolutely wild with speculation while they watch like

[imaginesig]

Nepo Baby

Xolo Maridueña x Macchio!Reader

Ralph Macchio x Daughter!Reader

SMAU

I wanted to do a fic with dad Ralph Macchio, but I figured that alone wouldn't be interesting so I added Xolo as a romantic interest. Lowkey starts kinda crappy but gets better as the story evolves

I also kept his real kids out of this because I didn't feel comfortable including them

yn_macchio

liked by missmarymouser, Ralph_macchio, user42, and 928,029 others

yn_macchio: I ❤️ Nepotism

tagged: no one

Ralph_macchio you need to at least get a matching bandana if you're gonna post Karate Kid

yn_macchio set me up then

Ralph_macchio next time you come home it'll be waiting

user7 I love their relationship so much

user1 OMG A NEW SCRIPT!!

user2 Y/N ARE YOU JOINING COBRA KAI

user7 OMG PLEASE

user3 Daniel LaRusso mentioned‼️

user5 ugh hes so fine

misssmarymouser my fav nepo baby!!

yn_macchio 😘😘

user6 first using her dad for jobs and now likes 🙄

William_zabka Johnnys better

yn_macchio you're so right

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Twitter

yn_macchio

liked by thejacobbertran, user42, solo_mariduena, and 829,028 others

yn_macchio: bring your daughter to work day!!

tagged: ralph_macchio, william_zabka, thejacobbertrand, xolo_mariduena

william_zabka wonderful to have your energy on set today!

ralph_macchio she’s got the correct headband now everyone!!

Peytonlist when she makes dealing with those two idiotic bearable>>>

thejacobbertrand I’ll remember this

xolo_mariduena I’m hurt😔

yn_macchio I love you so much 🫶🫶 @/peytonlist

peytonlist 😘😘

thejacobbertrand NOW IM DEFINITELY REMEMBERING THIS

missmarymouser I GOT BEAT ON THE POST BY XOLO?? AND JACOB?? What happened to that cute selfie we took Y/n 😭

yn_macchio don’t worry it’ll be on a more ~aesthetic~ post

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xolo_mariduena

liked by user4, user092, yn_maccio, and 829,029 others

xolo_mariduena: that’s a wrap #cobrakaiseason5

Tagged: I’m not typing them all out

user1 IM SO EXCITED

user2 do we think Y/n is in this one??

user3 she did seem to allude to it recently

User4 I have some doubts because they’ve started posting each other more but Xolo didn’t include her here

User5 maybe it’s meant to be a secret and if he posted her the speculation would be confirmed

Netflix counting down the days now…

cobrakaiseries we are SO ready 👊👊

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ralph_macchio

liked by yn_macchio, William_zabka, user3, and 829,039 others

ralph_macchio: Happy premier to “Cobra Kai” season 5! Thank you to the worlds best daughter for being my red carpet date, with absolutely no alterer motives

Tagged: yn_macchio

yn_macchio brb crying on my flight back home, the baby pic has me emotional 😭

yn_macchio absolutely no other reason to attend a red carpet event with my super cool, super fun dad

ralph_macchio I’m watching you

user2 y/n what are you up to??

william_zabka it felt like yesterday I was being shown baby pics of you

Ralph_macchio and now we’re dropping her off to fly across the country

user1 “alterer motives” Ralph what are you on abt????

user3 y/n is plotting

xolo_mariduena

Liked by user42, user6, peytonlist, and 892,928 others

xolo_mariduena: “Cobra Kai” season 5 📸

Tagged: yn_macchio

Missmarymouser: it wasn’t even 3d where did those glasses come from 😭

yn_macchio shhhhhh🤫

xolo_mariduena don’t worry abt it

user1 anyone else think it’s weird the only other person he posted was Y/n

User2 right like girlie isn’t even in the cast😭

user3 do yall think something’s going on between them??

user4 OMG do you guys think this is what her dad was on abt on his post???

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yn_macchio

Liked by Ralph_macchio, xolo_mariduena, peytonlist, and 928,092 others

Yn_macchio the gig is up! What an experience working on my new show, “Callous, Retro, Wild,” has been! The trailer is out now! 🤠

Tagged: CRWoffical

user1 OMG

user3 IM IN LOVE WITH THE OLD WESTERN MOVIE VIBE

user4 and the pink overlay too!!

Xolo_mariduena damn girl 🫣🍑

yn_macchio the jeans do wonders

Ralph_macchio I’ll have Miguel written out right now I swear

tannerbuchananoffical THE EMOJIS WERE FOUL DUDE

user5 BAHAHAHA

Peytonlist I CANT WAIT

Missmarymouser this is so badass 👊👊

yn_macchio what an honor coming from you👏👏

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cobrakaiseries

Liked by user43, user93, user92, and 928,827 others

cobrakaiseries: and with that, the season 5 promo tour is over😭

Tagged: I’m not typing that all out

user1 I’m so sad😭😭

user2 I’m going to miss all the content

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xolo_mariduena

Liked by yn_macchio, thejacobbertrand, missmarymouser, and 928,892 others

xolo_mariduena: little tour of the concrete jungle

Tagged:

yn_macchio WHERE DREAMS ARE MADE OF

xolo_mariduena THERES NOTHING YOU CANT DO

User1 🤨🤨

thejacobbertrand Xolo can pull??

tannerbuchananoffical alert the public 🚨🚨

xolo_mariduena stfu both of you

missmarymouser WHO IS SHE

xolo_mariduena Idk 🤭

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twitter

Yn_macchio

Liked by cobrakaiseries, user92, user3, and 892,928 others

Yn_macchio: She’s nominated for her first Golden Globe 🤩 I’m so honored to be nominated for “Best Actress in a Television Series- Drama” and a huge congrats to the entire team of Cobra Kai for their nomination for “Best Television Series- Drama”

Tagged: no one

Cobrakaiseries Thank you and congrats to little Macchio 🥋🙌

yn_macchio 💋💋

Peytonlist PLEASE THE LAST PHOTO💀

yn_macchio listen if you don’t manically laugh in public upon being informed of your nomination did you even get nominated 🤔

Missmarymouser time for Cobra Kai and Callous, Retro, Wild to tear👏the👏Golden👏Globes👏up👏

yn_macchio we’re gonna eat it up

xolo_mariduena ahhh congrats 🫶🫶

yn_macchio thank youuuuu💋

tannerbuchananoffical 👀

thejacobbertran 👀

Peytonlist 👀

Missmarymouser 👀

gianni_decenzo 👀

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xolo_mariduena

liked by yn_maccio, user1, tannerbuchananoffical, and 829,823 others

xolo_mariduena: Just a couple of golden globe winners

Tagged: yn_macchio

Ralph_macchio the secrets out! Finally!! I can talk about you guys

yn_macchio ❤️❤️

Missmarymouser I had my suspicions but I’m still shocked

thejacobbertrand OH OH OH

tannerbuchananoffical ok brother

user1 THAT TWITTER PERSON WAS RIGHT

user2 OMG OMG OMG

user3 STOPPP

user4 what in the wattled has occurred today

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yn_macchio

liked by peytonlist, missmarymouser, user5, and 982,092 others

yn_macchio: I MET RYAN GOSLING (and won a golden globe (I would like to thank the academy (oh and my mans here too)))

tagged: Xolo_mariduena

user1 LMAO Y/N REALLY RUINED THE POST AESTHETIC JUST TO INCLUDE HER SELFIE WITH RYAN

user2 she’s so real for that

xolo_mariduena you’re telling me I snuck around for months, kept my big mouth shut, perfectly crafted a soft launch post, AND made what I’d argue was a pretty nice caption all for Ken to come along and take my spotlight

yn_macchio whoops🫣

xolo_mariduena WHOOPS??

thejacobbertrand how dare you put my boy last

yn_macchio 😐

peytonlist y/n you didn’t go to the academy

yn_macchio I know but people always say it so 🤷🏼‍♀️

ralph_macchio so you’re priorities are 1) Ryan Gosling 2) winning an award 3) thanking a school you didn’t attend for said award 4) your boyfriend

Yn_macchio yes.

ralph_macchio you know what? I like that order

Xolo_mariduena and here I thought you liked me Ralph

william_zabka the Macchios are no man’s peace

user3 this is the most chaotic Y/n thing ever 😭

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Ralph_macchio

Liked by yn_macchio, William_zabka, user5, and 822, 922 others

Ralph_macchio: I wanna brag on this awesome girl for a second. She has official won her first “big girl” award ever and boy did she deserve it! Watching you star in “Callous, Retro, Wild” was such a tear jerking experience. I remember when you were a toddler running around and pretending to be Daniel LaRusso (we definitely showed you Karate Kid way too young) and now you’re originating a role with such depth I can’t help but cry. I’m so proud of all the hard work you’ve put in, and I’m proud of your ability to pick a boyfriend. He may be an idiot but he’s a good one. I love you to the moon and back ❤️❤️

tagged: yn_macchio

yn_macchio aww dad you’re making me cry! I love you so much ❤️❤️

yn_macchio also don’t think that jab went unnoticed

Comments have been limited

[luxheroica]

the Detective Conan movies are genuinely so buckwild because a) they are considered anime-only, so nothing substantial can actually change the status quo, b) there is such a large cast of required characters who must show up and play a small part in the plot, and c) everything is dictated by the Rule of Cool. so at this point that you have subplots such as "a rich girl rides around in a helicopter (carrying military grade weaponry) trying to stop her crush from confessing his love to someone else", and "this group of children arrive to take a quiz, ride in a hot air balloon, and yeet a skateboard at our protagonist not to be seen in the movie again", and also "there's an ancient treasure that is maybe also a weapon that could have won WWII for the Japanese" and then it all wraps up with a swordfight on top of a flying plane and a character confessing his love to his crush which she doesn't hear because of a flashbang dropped by the aforementioned rich girl's butler out of their helicopter.

and then the credits roll and nothing has actually changed for the characters except in the last two minutes it's revealed that a character who has been dead for decades both in and out of canon is actually alive

and then it's also the highest grossing film in Japan

[ruby-red-inky-blue]

One thing that most fans of the show do is leap into conclusions that are not really implied anywhere or make any sense whatsoever, just so they can justify how “genius” the storytelling is. I kid you not, in most social media spaces they’re are lots of viral posts of people saying they saw the Kerri scene as a foreshadowing to Rogue One in the sense that he found a sister in Jyn (not that she’s actually Kerri but she’s a “representation” of her role on his life) which is not only dumb but also cheapens the narrative from both the show and the movie - not to mention this weird idea that women are all interchangeable and replaceable. But they can all pat themselves on the back to say how smart they are for “figuring it out”, while calling everyone else “media illiterate” with their full chests.

Oh God, the Kerri thing is so frustrating. I'm actually not super shocked that people who are desperate to like the show are making up stuff in their head about it. Because uh, let's look at the facts here:

Kerri is central to the opening of the show. A lot of people who barely cared about Cassian in R1 are basically introduced to him as "the guy who is looking for his lost sister". In a brothel, of course, because this isn't your dad's Star Wars! We look at all the ways in which the world is real and that means mostly implying nonconsensual sex with Latina women, apparently. Anyway.

Cassian is really intense about finding out her whereabouts in that scene. We see how he has made himself extremely unsafe to follow up this lead. This must be really important to him! Next, even as we mostly deal with the fallout of the cop killings, the show gives us a whole scene to introduce us to who Kerri is and why Cassian feels so badly about not having found her. Again, this must be really important to him!

And it's not just in the moral or interpersonal implications, by the way. It's also that we as the audience are introduced to Kerri with a scene that took a considerable part of the budget to film. Most people will not think about that consciously, but this still lets you assume "oh, this scene looks important!". It's in a completely new setting (jungle/forest setting. expensive to film. you have to lug all your equipment and cast and crew to the location). It's all-new, child actors in elaborate costume (for real, this looks expensive. filming with kids is notoriously expensive because of work-hour constraints, they had to cast all these kids, and make all those costumes and put them in make-up etc.). The planet has wide-shots with fully animated landscapes (again, looks expensive!). And then the planet has its own language. And all the child actors are speaking it. Someone got paid to create that language, and all these kids had to be taught that language, which I assume is paid work-time for them?

So, again. Wow, this girl must be really important to the plot of the show I've just started watching! ...nope.

Halfway through the first season, we get that one really strange line from Maarva, telling Cassian without any prompting not to look for his sister anymore, because she's for sure dead. I think all this was is a lazy fix when they realised at the end of the season they had completely forgotten about that whole plot line. But because it's so weird and sudden and we have been so primed to keep an eye out for this plotline, I straight up assumed she knew something she wasn't telling him, and this was going to become plot relevant. But no, Maarva dies off-screen and we never look back at Kerri this season. Huh.

There was a way to spin dropping this storyline completely, and they were clearly trying to go that route: Since they're so dead-set on telling us that losing Cassian Andor was a tragedy to the galaxy and he sacrificed all his potential on the altar of being a Force-sent messenger (in the strangest read on Rogue One's message I could have ever imagined), I think they were going for making Kerri's fate part of his tragic loss. Implying that, if only he had survived Scarif, he could have found his sister!

The trouble with that is that with the exception of the literal first scene, the show completely fails to convince me that Cassian is even trying to find her, or thinking about her at all after the first arc of the show. When he meets Luthen, we learn he was out of prison and out of the fight in his late teens. And yet, he makes a complete fool of himself when trying to find out about Kerri a decade later. This is not a man who has spent the past ten years doggedly searching for his sister! This is an idiot who got a lead for the first time and is fumbling it! And they clearly knew how to do visual shorthand of "Cassian is haunted by his little sister" - show her in brief flashbacks intermittently! But they immediately stop bothering to do that, so she disappears from his narrative completely. The only time someone brings her up is when Bix refers to her during a fight, to pay lip service to how he maybe feels like he failed to protect Kerri and is projecting on Bix. But that's such a stretch, because he was taken away from his sister against his will - yes, he may feel, irrationally, that it was still somehow his fault. There is a way to read him remembering her asking him to take her with him as that. But when you've invested so little time into it, that's a pretty big stretch and lot of telling instead of showing going on. And he doesn't even react to it!! He seems completely uninterested in the topic of his sister!

And then, maybe in the attempt to somehow turn their dangling thread into a tragic missed opportunity for Cassian, they briefly splice a shot of her into the final episode montage. But it fell completely flat for me. We haven't heard about Kerri in half a season. We have not seen evidence that Cassian has wasted a single thought on her in literal years. Why is he thinking of her now? What are we supposed to connect this to? Maybe saving Kleya made him think, well, at least I saved that one? If so, I genuinely don't like that, because it makes the case that Cassian sees all women in his life as vulnerable, exchangeable damsels whose fate depends on him saving them. Which could be an interesting character trait! I've actually used that in my own fic! But you can't suggest that at the end of your show and then move on - unless you think that's a correct view of the world and you, the writer, have nothing to add to it... almost like... you don't think of women as complex three-dimensional people...

Also, "Jyn reminds him of his sister" is a wild take. This woman is presented to him in shackles with a laundry list of crimes and has just knocked his buddy out with a shovel. She steals a gun from him and says the mission is only fair if she has equal means to murder him as he does her. Impossible to distinguish this from his angelic little sister, who we know absolutely nothing about except that she was cute and tiny and is probably dead! Then he watches Jyn be competent in both defending herself from imperial violence and dealing with extremist - both things that Kerri emphatically couldn't because she was a child, which is why he may feel like he is at fault for not protecting her. Then they have a difference of political and philosophical opinions. Pretty unlikely this reminded him of his pre-school-age sister? Then he's clearly shown being flustered and elated and affected by her physical presence in a way that I would find deeply concerning re: "spiritual sister".

(Look, we all know why a certain group of people is so adamant to connect Kerri and Jyn. They're trying to put Jyn in some kind of sibling category so that it becomes "gross" and "out of character" to imagine Cassian having a thing for her, because they feel that possibility would threaten their read on the character and his relationship with his ex.)

But the thing that is the most frustrating about dropping Kerri completely is that, again, they primed us to believe she and Kenari were going to be extremely important. They leaned on it hard in the promotion, too, about Cassian being "a migrant" or "a refugee" and all that lipservice to Mexico-US relations... and it went nowhere. It wasn't important at all. It wasn't a main part of the plot and we never saw it being a motivator for Cassian. And, what's worse - finding Kerri was the only thing we've ever seen Cassian do because he chose to. In the whole show. (One could maybe count rekindling his relationship with Bix, except... he did that off camera. We didn't see it. And when he did try to choose her, she didn't let him.) It's the one stated goal he had, it's how we are introduced to the character, and the show fucking forgot about it. That is terrible writing.

[groovyzombiellama]

Chemistry

Title: Chemistry

Requested? No.

Plot: You decide to try out as an actress and you move to LA, eventually landing a role opposite Nicholas Galitzine.

Words: 2243

---***---

You decide to give your dream a chance, to take the leap and head to LA, not knowing how many times you're gonna be rejected and have to start over, but confident enough in yourself that you can survive the rejections. Actors who get their first lead role after their first audition are rare, and you know that even sometimes the same actor will audition for the same role multiple times, just so the casting crew can solidify their choice, find their perfect casting to bring their characters to life. But you were ready, you felt ready and after finishing college and not being able to get a good job, you took the money you made at your odd jobs and other jobs you worked on and you were on the first plane to LA. You didn't have much, but it was a start, it would get you a hotel room for a few days, while you look for an apartment. The thought of one day actually getting the lead role in a movie or TV show filled you with immense joy, but even if you never do end up getting more than a minor role, or you end up having to go back home, you will still be happy that you tried, that you gave it all your could and didn't spend any more time simply sitting in your room, staring at posters of famous actors, wondering if you could make it.

Now you were gonna find out the answer to that question, and finally know if you had what it takes. You checked in to the hotel room, and freshened up, grabbing a newspaper from the foyer and immediately started looking for an apartment. You soon had a couple places circled, determined to check them out as soon as possible. Even if you don't end up as an actress, you could try and find another job there, after all, new places, new opportunities. A few days later, you'd already checked out a few of the places that you had circled. One was a lady that was kind at first, but hearing that you we're going to live in the apartment alone and you didn't have a husband, and weren't even in the works of finding one, she became rather rude to you, complaining about how there was so many women like you nowadays that didn't value the proper things and wanted your "independence".

Oh how you hated the face she made when she said that word in the most condescending tone you've ever heard. Another one was in a really bad neighbourhood, but you didn't even care about that, because all you'd be doing is heading to auditions and back, you wouldn't be bothering anyone, but the guy that was renting it had a sketchy vibe to him, even making a joke about always being able to come over in case you needed some "company", the implications really evident in the way he said that. And then another was a place almost rundown, filled with cockroachoes, and even rats, as one scurried across the floor as you entered the bedroom. Big nope on that one. So the next day, you decided to head to an audition. You didn't want to aim high and audition for the lead immediately, so you chose the script for a best friend character. You were super nervous about it, and that was probably the reason why they weren't so stoked to have you hired as the character. But you weren't going to give up. You went to another audition and another and another, eventually landing a role of an extra, with one line. Okay, that was a start, and you were excited about it.

Let's hope getting the apartment will also get sorted out. You were heading to more places you had circled, eventually coming to an agreement with a kind old lady for a studio apartment, close to the city center. You applied for a job at a nearby café, to be sure you'd be able to pay for the place if you don't get payed a lot for the role. At least you will have one credit under your name. You had landed another audition, only to be dropped a couple days later, due to as they say finding a better fit for the role. You were a bit sad about it, but trying not to let it deter you from pursuing further. Finally checking out of the hotel and moving to the small apartment, where the only separate room you had was the bathroom, you felt a bit more comfortable. You'd lived in studio apartments as a college student, so this was nothing new, and you didn't really expect to find anything large, nor did you need anything large. The most important thing to you was having a place to sleep, a place to eat and a place to shower. That was enough for you.

The day of shooting was approaching, and you were happy that you were gonna be there for even a day or two to say your line and to be a background extra for a few scenes too. Arriving at the specified location, you were directed where to go and when you got there, you realised who was shooting this movie. It was none other than your celebrity crush, Nicholas Galitzine. He was chatting with the director and the, what you assumed was, lead girl in the movie. He was chuckling at something that was said, and his smile made you stop in your tracks. You had his photo as your phone background and the background of your keyboard, specially photos of his smile, so seeing it in person was a whole new experience, and he was just as mesmerising as he was on camera. You had to quickly compose yourself and not stare at him for so long, and end up being perceived as a huge creep. So you stayed behind, as the background extra, and as the camera would no longer have you in frame, you would watch him act, smiling softly at his mannerisms and the way he looked, like he was born to be an actor.

Your big scene was approaching, where you were playing a bartender, that would be asking Nicholas' character what he wanted to drink and then making it and handing it to him, and you were genuinely nervous. Not just because you were going to be on screen, but because you are going to be on screen with him. You had a bit of experience as a mixologist, from working at a few bars, and so the crew didn't need to make the drink for you and just have you serve it, you knew exactly how to make it. Another thing you didn't even know was a dream of yours would come true. Not only were you a part of a scene with Nicholas, but also a part of a blooper, because he ended up spilling a bit of the drink on himself, making everyone on set laugh, including you, as you giggled at his adorable behaviour. He apologised to you for making you redo the scene, but you shook your head, not even remotely upset about it. After doing the scene again and the director yelling cut, Nicholas turned to you.

"You sure know how to make a drink. Where did you learn that?"

You smiled and told him about your background in mixology, the two of you sharing a couple of words, as you tried to calm your heart down, to make sure it doesn't burst out of your chest. He was not only near you, but talking to you, and you could see his lovely personality first hand. The director paused for a moment, seeing your exchange, the way your conversation flowed, and it got him thinking for a moment before approaching Nicholas to talk to him about another scene. It was true what they said, that Nicholas just naturally has chemistry with people. His co-star Anne Hathaway even said he could have chemistry with a lamp. And honestly you'd ve jealous of that lamp, but moving on, you were back to being a background extra for a few more scenes that day and a few tomorrow. The director couldn't seem to shake off a feeling he had seeing the interaction you had with Nicholas. He was trying to figure out if it was just Nicholas' natural chemistry and charm or if there was something else. He wanted to work with Nicholas again, but he was yet to find his female lead. Could you be that female lead?

As your part of the shooting wrapped up, you were approached and handed a few pages of a script and told that the director wanted you to try and audition for that role. You were extatic at the prospect of actually getting to go to that audition and you were so incredibly thankful to the director for even considering you and giving you a chance. You still had no idea you would be acting opposite to Nicholas if you got the part. You studied the script long and hard, trying your best to portray the emotions that were expected of you. You had panic attacks in college a lot, but you decided to try and not put so much pressure on yourself, and just do your best, and you if you succeed, you succeed, if not, you won't be mad at yourself, because you did your best. You arrived to the audition a few days later and you were told that if you got the part, filming wouldn't start until the end of the male leads previous project, but that they started looking for the female lead a but earlier. You did what was asked of you for the audition, and they told you they would give you a call. You were walking out of the audition room and saw a bunch of other girls who were auditioning for the same role, and you smiled at them, wishing them all luck, and you genuinely would be happy even if you didn't get the part and one of these other girls did.

About two weeks later, you were at work at the café as you got a call to come back and do another audition and that you'd be doing a chemistry testing also, since you were in the next round of auditioning. And so you arrived to the arranged address, did the audition, and they instructed you to stay outside the room as they wait for the male lead to arrive for the chemistry test. You were on your phone for a bit, as you heard a familiar British accent and lifted your head up to see none other than Nicholas Galitzine walking in. He smiled seeing you, and he actually recognised you from the set of his current project.

"So you're my new potential co-star? I'm happy for you getting the opportunity to do a lead."

He was so sweet, that it made you fall for him even more. He winked at you, which he definitely shouldn't have done to your poor heart and entered the room, where you were soon called in for the test. You were supposed to act out a scene together, the one you were given to rehearse. It was a breakup scene, and you had to get into that mindset, which was actually somewhat easy for you because you had this way of imagining scenarios as you read them and you imagined that scene multiple times in your head, so when it came time to do it opposite Nicholas, you already had the general idea of how it was supposed to go. And your crush on Nicholas definitely helped the feeling of not wanting to be apart from him, but having to.

"I know I can't ask you to wait for me-"

Nicholas started and you were supposed to come in next and cut him off.

"Then don't. Don't "ask me to wait". Just don't go."

Nicholas sighed, fully in character and approached you to lean his forehead against yours, making your heart skip a beat and your eyes admired his features as he spoke about how he had to do it, and then it was your turn to sigh, knowing that there was no way to get him to stay. The two of you went on with the scene, and you were so into the moment, that your tears flowed naturally, as he hugged your frame close to his chest, begging you not to cry, as he couldn't bear it. As the scene came to an end, the two of you untangle yourselves from each other and you wipe your tears, as Nicholas smiles at you. He genuinely thought you did a really good job and hoped that you'd be cast as his partner. And in the end you were. A week later you got the call to tell you that you got the part, all that was left was to rehearse and prepare as Nicholas wrapped up his previous project, and could work on this one. Being in the lead role and acting opposite of your celerity crush, it was your dream coming true. Nicholas is no longer going to be a crush you watch on screen, he was gonna become your friend, your co-star. Would he become more?

---***---

I am doing my best to try and get back into writing, I'm not sure this is any good, but I wanted to write about my favourite little british bean. This guys charm and wit and talent have truly captivated me, that I just had to put it into writing to stop thinking about him constantly. And I still continue to do so. It's a little something I did today on the bus to my college town. I'll try my best to get to my requests as soon as possible... Sorry for not being more active...

[magical-regical]

The Fifth Prince Swallows Poison!

- by Y. Ogiwara

A Vil Schoenheit x gn!Yuu fic.

Word count: 978

Imagine a Yuu who picks up writing. At first it was just a way to record everything that had happened, then it became a way to vent some frustrations.

They moved from journal entries into small 'what-if' scenarios scribbled during a boring lecture. The scenarios slowly linked together to form a coherent plot and suddenly they were three chapters into their first story.

They decide to publish it on an online platform under the name, 'Y. Ogiwara'. The story was a huge hit. In fact it was popular enough to warrant a physical release, suddenly everyone was itching to get a copy. The book spreads like wildfire around campus, especially among Pomefiore students. From there, it spread to students at RSA and eventually to people outside the Isle of Sages.

It gets so popular there's been talk about it getting a live action movie. Auditions were opened for various roles and although hundreds of people tried out, it was unanimously agreed upon that there was only one person who is fit to play the protagonist of this tale.

Vil Schoenheit sat at his desk, staring at the envelope that was sent to him this morning. He hadn't auditioned for anything but roles often came to him regardless. Although not many came in the form of a navy blue envelope sealed with gold wax.

"I suppose I shouldn't expect anything less from that author." He muttered to himself as he traced a perfectly manicured finger over the seal's insignia.

He's opened hundreds of audition results before. They all said the same thing. Why would this time be any different? He's read the original work.

A part of him considered skipping the theatrics, why bother opening the envelope at all? But as much as he loathes to play yet another jealous rival, he felt it his duty to ensure this adaptation was as faithful to its source material as possible. With a sigh he grabbed his letter opener and sliced through the wax.

'To Mr Vil Schoenheit,

We would like to offer you the starring role in the movie adaptation of the popular period fantasy novel 'The Fifth Prince Swallows Poison!' as the fifth prince, Florian Arundel.'

He dropped the letter as if it had burned him. Then quickly picked it up again, reading the line over and over to make sure it wasn't a mistake. Not only was he a main character, he was the protagonist.

After perusing the rest of the letter, he wasted no time emailing his manager to let the producers know he's accepting the role and start negotiating a contract.

On the day of the first day of the shoot, the director gathered all her actors.

"Before we start, I'd like to be transparent with you all. We've received many letters of concern about the faithfulness of this adaptation. I know a lot of you here today are also fans of 'The Fifth Prince Swallows Poison!' and may share these concerns. "

Vil didn't miss the way the director briefly glanced at him when mentioning fans of the show before she continued,

"To ease your worries, there's someone I'd like you to meet today." Then she picked up the walkie talkie clipped on to her belt, "You can come in now."

The sound of the studio doors closing caught everyone's attention. They all turned towards the source of the noise. Vil couldn't believe his eyes. Standing in the doorway, still in their uniform, was Ramshackle's prefect, Yuu.

The director smiled as she motioned Yuu to stand next to them.

"Everyone, I'd like you to meet Yuu Ogiwara, the author of 'The Fifth Prince Swallows Poison!' "

The room erupted into chatter, everyone was amazed and flabbergasted that the author of the sensational novel was so young.

The director laughed, "Quite marvelous, isn't it? I'll have you know, the set, script, and our choice of cast members had to be approved by our dear author before moving forward. We've also gotten special permission from Night Raven College to have them on set with us as much as possible. So rest assured, so let's all work hard to make this a movie with Yuu's seal of approval!"

Everyone cheered and dispersed to prepare for the shoot.

Vil was speechless. So many things just clicked into place for him. The protagonist's knowledge of poisons, their relentless pursuit of their passion, even the supporting characters. A crafty businessman, an heir who loves cake, and a knight with a dragon for a brother. Of course the 'Y' in 'Y. Ogiwara' stood for 'Yuu'. It was so obvious now.

"Potato." He walked up to Yuu who was reading through the day's agenda.

They smiled when they saw him, "Vil-san, what can I do for you?"

"Don't joke and be honest with me. Did you choose me for the role of the protagonist on purpose?"

He tried his best to ignore the pit in his stomach that grew with every second of silence that passed. After what felt like an eternity, Yuu nodded. His heart sank.

"Potato, although I appreciate the opportunity you've given me, you know how I feel about receiving something I haven't earned." he said.

Yuu looked surprised, "I didn't mean it like that. I only had the say in the final approval for the cast. I didn't take part in the actual selection process."

"The fact that Florian Arundel is very similar to you is neither here nor there." they added, a smirk creeping onto their face, "Besides, who says a 'villain' can't be the 'hero' of a story?"

Vil let out an exasperated sigh, sometimes he forgot how scheming Ramshackle's prefect could be.

"Thank you, Yuu. I'll perform so flawlessly you'd feel that Prince Florian himself was standing on the stage."

"I don't doubt it. After all, there's nobody like you, Vil Schoenheit, anywhere at all "

Omake:

"By the way, potato. How did you settle on 'Ogiwara' as your pen name?"

"It actually isn't a pen name at all. Ogiwara's my last name."

"I... wasn't aware you had a last name."

"Eh, it's not your fault. It's not like anyone else ever bothered to ask."

-END-

Divider by: @cafekitsune

[akajustmerry]

first of all I boycotted and continue to boycott captain america brave new world so pls don't tell me to watch it. second of all, what I'm about to say is obviously not the mcu's biggest crime in the grand scheme of things, but I have big thoughts so here it is anyway: there is actually no excuse or explanation for making Walker "Captain America" in Thunderbolts that doesn't boil down to anti-Black racism. And I mean that on both a narrative and production level. On a narrative level, Sam is also a "rogue agent" which was established in tfatws, and a veteran (literally first thing we learn about him). There's no plot point or character arch written for Walker that couldn't also fit Sam and even be more compelling with Sam there. One of the weakest points of thunderbolts is a lack of any significant established relationships or commonality (except for Yelena and her dad) between the characters, having Sam there balances this more and gives Bucky a more compelling reason to join the team at all. On a production level, it's nuts. Especially when the studio knew how much audience racism there was towards Sam: to further undermine him with the racist villain from his series (Walker) getting a whole movie where he "redemptively" becomes the "official" Captain America only encourages more racism directed at Sam, ESPECIALLY when you have even Bucky siding with the racist guy, going against everything established in tfatws. I know this is a tale as old as time at this point wrt Disney and Black characters. but Disney shouldn't cast Black people in these roles if they aren't going to a) protect them b) take them seriously or c) actually write culturally considerate and inclusive stories. Even if it's intended to be a commentary on anti-Blackness (which to be clear thunderbolts doesn't make that textually obvious enough for anyone to make that argument) it's done badly. You can't say "they're doing racism to critique racism" when there's no actual critique or pushback within the narrative against the racism. On a production level, it's truly crazy how the MCU has undermined Sam as Cap at every turn. He had to share his series with everyone's favourite white dude, he didn't get a movie for years, and when he did it was an ethical shitshow set up to fail. Not to mention, the incident at Comic con where Anthony Mackie was told ca;bnw would be Marvel's main event only for the trailer drop to be entirely overshadowed by the RDJ doctor doom announcement. And they announced Chris Evans return to the role before Sam had ever got his own film. I'm not asking anyone to feel sorry for millionaire actors or billion dollar companies funded by the military. However, it is very much worth considering how virulently and consistently anti-Black that studio is to this legacy character, and how these are for better and worse the biggest most watched films on Earth. That matters. Unfortunately, how the MCU portrays marginalised people matters because the reach of their impression in pop culture is unbearably massive. It is racist in every possible way how Sam's tenure as Captain America has been handled.