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shshshshshowrunner · 2 years ago

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(this takes place like two weeks ago)

Arthur Lester had scurried out of the cabin, headed into the woods, and marveled at the sights around him.

Or rather, he had marveled at John’s descriptions of the sights around them.

“The woods here are not sparse, nor are they dense– they are easily traveled, and remarkably natural. Some of the flora seems… at odds with other plants in here; it seems strange that all would have been able to survive, all at once, and yet… they are thriving.”

Arthur nodded. “Interesting… interesting. Are any of the branches… snapped? Any signs of tracks?”

“No, not that I can tell.”

“Well, further in, I suppose.”

John hmmed, and they ventured inward further still.

“Oh!” John said, with sudden delight. “Arthur, in front of you is a clearing. It is a verdant green, and there are flowers growing from the ground in vast carpets. Some are blue and some are black and white striped. In the center of the clearing there is an ivy covered stone tower of sorts, and the clearing is filled with thorny trees bearing fruits I have never seen. I'm not even sure they exist. And-”

“Yes?”

“There is a woman in the clearing, Arthur. She’s by some kind of pond, a sparkling blue. She stands with an air of regality, wearing a black cloak, and her hands are white as snow- Arthur, I think it’s the Showrunner.”

Arthur backed away hesitantly.

“John, what do you think we should do?” he hissed.

“I don’t know! She’s… dangerous. Yes, I– I think she’s been touched by some god… perhaps even two, though one seems like a very recent contract. And she’s been running a death match! I– I don’t know. She could be a valuable source of information…”

“...if she doesn’t kill us first.”

“She’s stopped moving. I think she’s heard us. Yes, she’s- she’s looking in our direction-”

“Hello?” The Showrunner called out.

“Shit.”

“Arthur, leave now, if you want to leave. Don’t just stand there! Arthur!”

He heard a shuffling noise, like someone stepping on a flowerbed.

“Hello? Can you hear me?”

“Arthur, she’s waving her hands around like that Stanley does.”

“Ah, I– I think that’s ASL.” Arthur muttered, taking a few hesitant steps back, “Is she… following us?”

“No. She’s stopped moving. She took one step forward, but now she looks hesitant and a little afraid, I think.”

“Is she alone?”

“As far as I can see. Xigbar is nowhere to be seen, and there aren’t any guards.”

“Good, good. Not that I’m suggesting… anything like that–” Arthur murmured, reaching for where he normally kept his gun.

“No. Especially after the execution.”

“Yes, it’d be foolish to… incite her anger.” Arthur said, moving his hand back away, and backing up. “How close is she?”

“She’s a good 20 feet away. She saw you reach for your firearm, Arthur, and she’s taken a step back. She’s glanced in the direction of the arena, Arthur.”

“Oh, ah, hello?” Arthur called out. “I mean you… no harm!”

“Do you?”

“At least for now. Again, best not to anger… higher powers.”

“Hmm.”

“...The same,” The Showrunner said, sounding hesitant. “Can I ask your name? I’m afraid I don’t recognise you.”

“Oh, ah–”

“Answer her.”

“Arthur. Arthur Lester.”

“Arthur Lester. I see,” She said.

“She’s put her hands behind her back like she’s clasping them.”

She continued, “You came in through the food form, yes?”

“Er, ah… I was inside of a pie?”

“She’s nodding.”

“That- Yes, that would be the food form, then,” her tone was respectful, if cautious.

“Then, yes. I entered through the… food form. Not, ah… intentionally.”

“Few do.” She said.

“Hah. Yes, well, I suppose… is there a way out, for entrants like… myself?”

“Arthur, what kind of question is that. Of course she’s not going to–”

“I could escort you out of the force field if you wished.” She said.

“You would?”

“Really?”

“Of course.” She said.

“She looks somewhat afraid of you, Arthur.��

A pause.

“By chance, do you have any idea who sent you in?” She asked.

“I… I think it might have been… an entity. From my time. Although, wouldn’t you know? I figured you had… some amount of control over my entrance, as I… haven’t been able to leave.”

“You haven’t been able to leave because the force field is designed to keep people in. It rarely fails in this regard,” she explained-

“She’s crossed her arms, Arthur.”

“Even for those who weren’t invited in the first place. I personally did not send for you. There was a sort of breach, an exploitation of the food form. As for entities, I know of a few within the force field.”

“...there’s beings of that sort… inside here? Are you… one of their kind?”

“There’s nothing about her that seems particularly… god-like. Just strange.”

“No. I’m not a goddess or anything of that sort. And as for the entities, I assure you they were thoroughly uninvited. I’ve ensured that neither of them will bring harm to anyone within the force field, however, if that’s a concern.”

“I… uh. What are these beings’ names, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“She’s tilted her head in a way that I feel implies curiosity.”

“Are you familiar with some?” She asked, the fear fading from her voice.

“I… er, yes, some. There are some names I know, and some books I… had… with more.”

“Fascinating.” She said, and after a moment continued, “The Master of Masters, for one. Is the name he gave. I wouldn’t worry too much about him, he doesn’t seem to want to cause much harm.”

“That’s… an odd name. More of a title than a name.”

“Yes, much like… you know. Him.” Arthur muttered, somewhat snidely.

“Hmpf.”

“Hm?” The Showrunner’s voice sounded.

“Nothing, nothing. Ah, that one is… unfamiliar to me.”

“I’d’ve figured. You don’t really look like a keyblade type. Well, then. Hm. I suppose there’s the Narrator, but, again, not much of a concern.” She said.

“Did you… these entities, how are you… assuaging them?”

“Xigdad has a little treehouse on the other side of the woods, and he has acce-”

“Xigdad?”

“Sorry, who?”

“She stopped moving suddenly, and has now covered her mouth with a hand. She’s keeping it there for a number of seconds.”

A few seconds passed.

“Arthur. She still hasn’t moved.”

“Are you… I’m sorry, is this a sensitive subject?”

He heard her sigh, the breath carrying a little laugh, “I’m- No. Sorry. Slip of the tongue. I meant the Master of Masters. I… refuse to call him that.”

Arthur’s voice fell low and hushed. “Sorry- I just- You’re… speaking to him directly? Are you in danger?”

“She’s placed her hand over her chest.”

“I know how… horrible… these entities can be… how they can… destroy people’s lives and tear them apart if they fall out of line… I’ve…” he took a breath. “How they can end up consuming your entire life.”

“Very well, Arthur, you’ve made your point.” John hissed with annoyance.

“I- I appreciate the concern.” The Showrunner said, sounding touched. “But the Master of Masters is not a danger to me.”

“She looked to a spot behind us, over in the trees. She mentioned he was staying in that direction.”

“Are you quite certain? Believe me, you can confide in me. I’d- I would be willing to help-“

“Arthur you can’t just-“

“–seeing as I’ve had some experience with his sort. Even managed to… survive a rather deadly one. I might be able to help you find a way out- away from him.If that’s… what you want. It’s a dangerous job for certain but I’ve managed things that are just as impossible before. I think we’d have a shot.”

“Arthur we need to make sure what is going on before we make any sort of promises like this.”

A pause.

“Her hand is over her mouth again.” John muttered.

“Please.” Arthur said, his voice gentle and earnest. “You can trust me.”

After a moment, she said, “The- the Master of Masters, he’s only here for Xigbar, really. I’m not- I’m not too concerned. His- his boyfriend, though.” She sighed.

“She paused- she’s glanced back over in that same direction again. She seems stiff.”

“His… boyfriend?”

“Ask her more about him. This could be important!”

Arthur cleared his throat. “Ah. Yes. His… boyfriend. He’s dating a… well, they are strange, aren’t they. Uh. Sorry, may I ask who that is? You don’t seem very comfortable with his presence.”

She huffed a sigh, “I… Alright, so you’re aware of the food form? Well, there were other breaches. I’m still not sure of the cause. And people just began… appearing in the woods. For the longest time, he wasn’t causing any trouble, I didn’t even know he was there. Still not quite sure what changed,” (“She’s frowning now.”) “I didn’t see him in person until I needed to return the Master of Masters’s coat to him-” (“she’s avoiding his name, Arthur.”) “He- he lent it to me after I found out about my da-” (“She froze.”) “...So Xigbar and I went into the woods to return it and he, like, comes down from the tree. Dripping blood and barefoot, like that’s normal-”

“Wait wait wait-” Arthur choked, holding up a hand. It couldn’t possibly-

“Arthur! That’s-“

“I know-“

“She seems- she seems confused.”

“I- I’m.” she said, “Are you alright?”

“Yes! Yes, sorry. Sorry.” He attempted to pull himself together, laughing awkwardly. “It’s nothing. May I erm.” He coughed. “Could I have his name, please?”

“She’s sort of… bouncing, in an uncomfortable way. She’s looking around the clearing.”

“Well…” she said, “I… I’m not- Hm. Question. By chance, if he knew that you knew his name- assume that we’re thinking of the same person- do you think that would cause him psychological harm? Yes or no.”

“Ex…excuse me?” Arthur asked. “What… what exactly do you mean by that? Some sort of torture, or… or, some sort of delirium??”

“I’m tiptoeing around the edges of an agreement here-”

“You made a deal with him?” Arthur said, feeling himself tense. He took a deep breath.

“It’s okay, Arthur. Keep going.”

“It wasn’t anything… extreme, was it?”

“No. Only that he couldn’t harm anyone who’d ever been in the force field in exchange for the assurance that I wouldn't harm him, as well as the ability to leave and enter at will.” She said plainly, “If he violates the terms of the agreement, he will be promptly removed from the force field and not allowed to return. I don’t think that’s exactly… extreme, is it? Now, do you think it would harm him if I told you who he was?”

“Ahh… that’s something of a relief.” He felt himself relax before shaking his head. “No? I don’t see why it would. So far he’s been more… well. More of a pest than anything. He’s said that he just wants to watch.”

“He said the same thing to me,” She said, “Now, I- I’m not sure if saying his name does anything, so I’m just going to- K-A-Y-N-E,” She spelled out.

“That fucking-“

“Of course.” Arthur sighed tiredly. “At this point I’m not sure if that’s a relief or not. His goals are… well, they aren’t the worst. I have… others out there that wish me more active harm– they would practically jump at the mere chance to draw and quarter me.” He let out a soft laugh, bringing a hand to his chest. “Kayne… I suspected his involvement. This sort of… ploy… seems his style. And as for his name- well. I don’t think it holds any power. I’ve used it in conversation a few times and he never just appeared when I did. When he wants to appear he just. Does so.”

“I see,” She said (“She’s clasped her hands behind her back.”), “Well, there are stronger wards around the cabin, but I’ll take your word for it.” Her voice was friendly.

“Well- for that I owe you my thanks.” He smiled, letting out another laugh. It was much warmer in his chest this time. “It’s about time that I’ve had some good luck in my favor.” He crouched down to the ground, pushing back his hair and shaking his head in disbelief. Quite good luck indeed. It wasn’t often he could let his guard down- at least to this extent.

“Are you hungry at all, Arthur?” She asked, her voice kind.

“Good luck indeed. You will need some food soon, won’t you?”John’s voice reverbed, with content and easy comfort. Arthur couldn’t help but chuckle endearingly at that too.

“Oh! Yes! Yes! Absolutely!” He lifted his head up towards her, beaming. “Famished actually- we almost never actually get good food.” God, he was so tired of lunchables.

“She’s paused. Arthur, she’s paused-”

“Hm,” she said, “Initially I was going to offer you some fruit from the orchard, but if that’s the case-” (“She’s looking towards the arena.”) “Would you be willing to follow me into the arena? Not the field, of course. There’s a food court with a variety of different restaurants inside the building.”

“Food…court…” he repeated in confusion, getting to his feet, “I don’t believe I’m familiar with that. But, at least, from what you’ve said, it sounds wonderful.”

“She’s smiling. It seems genuine.”

“A bunch of small restaurants all in one place, and you can order from any of them. Free, of course, you’re with me. Shall we go?”

“Oh! Yes! Yes,of course! After you!”

---

“The doors to the arena are about 15 steps from here. They’re double doors made from frosted glass. On either side, men in suits of armor can be seen. Kinsmen, Arthur. They have polearms. The Showrunner is pulling a- she’s stopping, Arthur, pause.”

He stopped walking.

“She’s on some kind of… glowing device, not unlike the tele-visions in the cabin. She’s pulling on a pair of white gloves, and tapping on the screen. The- look back at the door- the kinsmen, they’re leaving. Ask her if she did that.”

“Oh- I’m sorry, did you just do that?” He gestured behind them vaguely. “Send them away?”

“I did. You don’t… mind them leaving, do you? It’s just that they get so defensive,” she sort of huffed, “They had it their way, I’d be in the skybox eating saltines all day for the rest of forever. This way they won’t inquire about you too harshly-” little laugh, “-you should see the way they look at Xigbar, they hate him.”

Seeing anything would be a welcome surprise at this point.

“In that case, I appreciate it.” Arthur said, as he tucked his hands into his pockets. “But you said something about the… skybox was it? What’s that? If It’s not too much trouble, of course.”

“Oh, no, you’re completely fine,” she said, sounding genuine. (“She’s walking again, you’re about 7 steps away.”) “The skybox is a sort of reinforced glass room, high above the field part of the arena. It’s pretty secluded. From within it you can see the field.”

He heard five high pitched beeps in quick succession, and then a click, and the sound of a door swinging open.

“After you?” She said.

“I- uh-“

“Arthur. Walk forward. It’s straight ahead of you.”

“Right, right. Thank you.” He nodded, stepping into the room and obliging.

“We’re in a hallway. It looks to be 15 feet wide and equally as tall. It extends a considerable distance, terminating in a staircase. Off to one side are tall double doors, while on the other side there is an open sort of archway, a large one.”

“So,” The Showrunner said, the door closing behind them. “The food court is the large archway to the right. Follow me?”

“Yes, of course!” Arthur replied, admittingly relieved for the extra help. John seemed to appreciate the sentiment too.

“Oh, thank god. You must really seem lost. Like a confused puppy.” John said, laughing. If Arthur could make a remark at that without tipping off the Showrunner to the voice in his head,he would have.

Although, he was relatively sure his companion wasn’t wrong.

They walked down the hallway. The Showrunner’s footsteps clicked and echoed, then stopped.

“Just through here,” She said, walking in a direction he supposed was forward.

He followed, turning his head around to give John another good look at the area.

“The room is large. The floor appears to be some kind of tile, and in the center of the room there are tables of varying sizes with chairs surrounding them. On either side of the room, small restaurants line the walls. I don’t recognise them. There is a ‘Starbucks’, an ‘Outback’, and several others that don’t appear to have names.”

“Outback…” Arthur thought to himself aloud, “That’s the name for the Australian wilderness.”

“Mmhmm,” said the Showrunner, “They’ve got a little theme going on. It’s a steakhouse. I’m afraid I haven’t been to that one yet. Would you like to go there?”

“Oh, a steak sounds amazing right now. I don’t remember the last time I’ve had one of those.” He could feel his stomach growl in fierce agreement. That settled it. “That would be fantastic, Showrunner.”

“Showie, if you’re alright with that.”

“Oh! In that case, thank you Showie..” he smiled a bit, pleased to have gotten into her good graces so quickly.

“This way-” She started walking.

“Turn slightly to your left to move around the tables. You should be fine.”

Nodding, Arthur complied.

“A bit mo-“

“Shit-” he felt himself stumble as he tripped on the leg of a chair. He reached for a table, thankfully finding one quickly to stabilize himself.

“Arthur, for Christ’s sake you walked into a chair.”

No kidding.

“Ah.” He stood up straight, trying his best to play it off. “Sorry. Sorry. It’s been a long- well. Long few months actually.”

“You’re alright,” she said from somewhere off to his side, her voice gentle. “Once we’re around the chairs, it’s straight ahead.”

“She can tell that there’s something wrong. That you can’t see correctly at least.”

“Thank you.” He muttered, a bit embarrassed yet still genuine. Carefully, he rested his hand against the back of the chair that he had run into and moved to the left until he was no longer touching it at arms distance. Right. He started walking forward yet again.

They arrived at the outback without further incident. The clicking of Showie’s shoes was easy to follow, and it was admittedly a straight shot.

“Here we are,” she said cheerily.

“Mmm… it smells good.” And it did. The savory scents were already so tempting. His mouth was watering.

“The restaurant is dimly lit, and pictures of what I assume is Australia cover the walls. The floor is wooden. In the center of the room is a square shaped… bar, and booths line the walls. The restaurant is mostly empty, though some booths far in the back have men in them, two or three each, all looking very similar.”

He nodded his head in appreciation.

“So- where do you want to sit?” He asked. “Anywhere is good for me. I don't have a preference.”

“Just over here, I think,” She said, “I’ve always been partial to booths in the corner-” She clicked off to their right.

He followed the sound of her clicks, quietly thanking the tap of her shoes.

“She’s… subtly describing things.”

Arthur laughed softly. “Looks like you’re not alone in your job anymore, eh?” He murmured under his breath, just loud enough for only John to hear.

“Yes. well- it is an interesting change of pace. And yet you still managed to trip on a chair. Oh- also, you’ve reached the table.”

He sat down. The padded seats were comfortable.

He heard her sit down opposite him. He heard a sort of clinking noise as she apparently grabbed something from the table.

“There’s a menu directly in front of you.”

He picked it up.

“Generally,” She said, “The places in the food court are more grab-and-go and less sit down. This particular place is unique inside of the force field. It’s nice, though, I think.”

“At this point in my life I would have to agree. It’s nice whenever I’m just able to stop anywhere– even more so when I can have a proper meal.” He held open the menu, allowing John to read through the options. “And this place serves steak! That would be… so filling.”

“Got it.” John had picked up on his hint. Good.

She sighed a bit wistfully, “I’m afraid it’s been quite a while since I’ve tasted anything, really…”

“Oh!” He tilted his head up towards her voice. “If-if you want I could- I could describe it for you!”

“Oh, Arthur- yes!” John’s voice was excited, almost purring with anticipation. Arthur couldn’t help but smile.

“In fact, it would be an honor to. You’re not the only friend I have who has issues tasting.”

“A-Alright,” She sounded touched.

“Alright then! It’s settled!” He tilted his head back to the menu.

This was… perhaps the happiest he had been in a while. His chest was fluttering. He was safe in here with John- even with Kayne around. And he had a new friend- one that didn’t seem to have any ulterior motives… well. As far as he could tell. If she did… well.

He’d burn that bridge when he got to it. Eat it like an elephant. He could always ask John later about his thoughts on the day and the Showru- Showie. For now, he just wanted to enjoy good company and good food.

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keenmarvellover · 5 years ago

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kelyon · 4 years ago

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Seeing all your mermaid posts makes me think of Ariel in Golden Cuffs. Will she be making an appearance in Golden Rings? Is she in Storybrooke?

Ugggggggh, the ghost of an unwritten fic has come to haunt me!

No, but seriously.

After I finished Golden Cuffs, I did have a plan for a companion piece with Ariel and her true love Erika, called Diamond: A Golden Cuffs Story. I was planning on writing it over the break between Golden Cuffs and Golden Rings, while I was also putting out the other Golden Cuffs stories (Trio, Game, etc). But then I ran out of time on the break and this was the story that was easiest to set aside, so I started focusing on Golden Rings.

It was going to be a little two-chapter story where Belle and Rumple have separate conversations with Erika and Ariel. At this point Belle and Rumple are married and the curse hasn't happened, but they know its coming and they want to protect their friends.

Rumple talks to Erika about what it's like to love a woman who is, you know, a Disney Princess. I seriously considered making this OC a black lesbian who has spent a good deal of her life isolated and full of self-loathing (so she and Rumple have a lot in common). During the course of their talk, Erika cries while describing how much she loves Ariel. Rumple takes one of the tears and turns it into a diamond. He puts the diamond on a bit of gold thread and makes a ring. He tells Erika that if she tells Ariel what she told him and offers her the ring, Ariel will have legs for as long as she wears it.

In the second part, Belle and Ariel also talk. Belle talks to Ariel about marriage and commitment and leaving your old world to be with a romantic partner--how that's exciting and scary and it can be wonderful if you're with the right person. In the end, Belle gives Ariel a non-magical diamond ring. Still obsessed with human things, Ariel has a million questions about the ring--how was it made, why is it valuable, where do diamonds come from? Before Belle can answer, Ariel insists that Erika will know or they can find out together.

The story will end before the mutual proposal, but Belle and Rumple know what they've done. They hope it will be enough to give this couple a happy ending in the old world, and maybe a little protection in the new world.

My plan for them in Storybrooke is that they would be married, but it wouldn't be great. Under the curse, Ariel would be deaf (losing her hearing instead of her voice). In my initial daydreaming, I just have Rumple walking by them having an argument in ASL. (Well, Ariel would be furiously signing and Erika would stop her and slowly mouth the words "I can't understand you when you sign that fast." Then Ariel would roll her eyes and start signing very slowly and maybe using fingerspelling.) Rumple would pass them by and reflect that even the happiness he had tried to help flourish had turned into anguish in this cursed world.

Diamond might still happen. I'm a perennial sucker for WLW. And you can always imagine that Ariel and Erika are hanging around in the background of Golden Rings, waiting for their happy ending just like everyone else.

#wow that got long

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stereogeekspodcast · 4 years ago

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[Transcript] Season 2, Episode 4. Acting, Direction, Editing, Screenplay Nominations - Academy Awards 2021

The Academy Awards 2021 are here! Who's up for Best Acting, Best Supporting Actor, Direction, Film Editing, and Screenplay? Who do the Stereo Geeks think should win? We have so many thoughts about this year's Oscars, we can't even pick our favourites. Who do you think should win these categories?

(L-r) DANIEL KALUUYA as Chairman Fred Hampton, ASHTON SANDERS as Jimmy Palmer, ALGEE SMITH as Jake Winters, DOMINIQUE THORNE as Judy Harmon and LAKEITH STANFIELD as Bill O’Neal in Warner Bros. Pictures’ “JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release.

[Continuum by Audionautix plays]

Ron: Welcome to a new Stereo Geeks Special where we continue our coverage of the Oscars 2021. I'm Ron. Mon: And I'm Mon. Ron: Let's talk about the acting categories. Lead role (Male). We have Riz Ahmed for Sound of Metal. Chadwick Boseman, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. Anthony Hopkins for The Father. Gary Oldman, Mank. And Steven Yeun, Minari. Your pick?

Mon: Chadwick.

Ron: My pick, as well. I think this is the year for Chadwick.

Mon: Chadwick’s performance in the Ma Rainey film was compelling, outstanding. It's a real shame that he has not been here to bask in the recognition that he's got. He has swept most of the awards in this category. I'm really hoping that the Oscars don't let down his family. He deserves it.

Ron: Chadwick’s performance is a really strong point for the film. It's full of nuance, and really powerful storytelling. And I think the performance Chadwick put in was, in hindsight, made more powerful because of what we know he was actually going through. If you just look at the performance, it does really stand out. There are so many layers to his character, and that can only come out through a powerful acting performance. I feel like Chadwick could have won this category even if it wasn't a posthumous award.

Mon: I think so too. There's a lot of layers to this character, and he really gave it his all. It would have been outstanding irrespective of the year that this film came out, irrespective of the year that this performance was recognized.

Ron: I feel like it's also high time that Chadwick was recognized for his acting.

Mon: I mean, he's been good in everything that he's performed in. The fact that it has to be Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, it has to be a posthumous recognition, that's kinda sad. But he was always good. The legacy of his acting is gonna continue for a long time.

Ron: Absolutely. Talking about the other performances in this category, there are some hits and misses.

Mon: Yeah. I feel like with Gary Oldman in Mank, it’s probably one that we all expected. It's probably also the least exciting.

Ron: I felt like when I was watching Mank, I was watching Gary Oldman play a different version of his Winston Churchill.

Mon: Right? I felt the same way!

Ron: Okay, so it wasn't just me.

Mon: No, it wasn't, man. That was surprising to me because I feel like Gary Oldman is the kind of person who, when he plays a character, he really adds in so many different layers to it, gives each one a unique take, and this one just felt like, copy-paste.

Ron: Yeah, totally.

Mon: I don't think it helps that Mank, in general, is an underwhelming experience. And with the role, as well, I feel like we’ve seen, not only Gary Oldman do it before, but we've seen this kind of role before. The only thing I'll say is that it's not very obviously Oscar-baity, but it's exactly the kind that the Academy likes.

Ron: I actually think this is very obviously Oscar-baity.

Mon: Oh okay.

Ron: Yeah, totally. This is the exact kind of role that the Oscars love. This difficult man who is larger than life, who inspires and cuts down at the same time, that's exactly what the Oscars love. And that's why I actually hated Mank.

Mon: Yeah.

Ron: Because we have seen this character for aeons, there's nothing new here.

Mon: Yeah, absolutely, it's just change the setting, change the saturation point.

Ron: Absolutely. I would happily have swapped out Gary Oldman for Kingsley Ben-Adir in One Night in Miami.

Mon: That one still hurts me.

Ron: I just don't understand how he’s not in this list.

Mon: He's not in this list at all! That's what annoys me.

Ron: One Night in Miami has not got the noms that it deserves. And it's just driving me crazy.

Mon: The other performance which is definitely Oscar-baity is Anthony Hopkins in The Father.

Ron: Same problem that I had with Gary Oldman. Even in the huge, long career that Anthony Hopkins has had, this is not a good performance!

Mon: Right. There was only one scene where I felt like he'd kind of gone outside his comfort zone. There's this scene where he's meeting his caretaker for the first time, and he's sort of trying to impress her, and there's this natural vivacity that he brings, which I don't think I've seen in Anthony Hopkins, ever. And I love that.

Ron: Yes. Mon: And then it's completely ruined by that last scene. The acting in the last scene is so Oscar-baity. It is so ‘I am doing this so that I can definitely take home the little gold statue’. And it was the one scene that I hated so much because it was so put-on, it was so artificial.

Ron: But I felt like that about the whole movie. I felt, when I was watching this movie, that I was watching Anthony Hopkins.

Mon: Yeah, no, I agree with you on that. I agree with you, completely. And that's a problem because it didn't feel like a performance because it felt like he wasn't doing anything different. And I'm really disappointed because we know this guy can be better.

Ron: This is Anthony Hopkins.

Mon: I know! He puts in his all in a Marvel film. That's how good this guy is, and this film just feels like it's trying too hard and not reaching.

Ron: The play that The Father is based on, the performance was done by Frank Langella. And when I watched this, I was like, oh my god, Frank Langella would have been amazing in this.

Mon: That is so funny considering which role Frank Langella actually did play in the movies that have been nominated in this Academy Awards. Honestly, you could have put in a lot of veteran, white, old actors from Hollywood, they would have played that role the exact same way. Which is why I don't think it deserves a nomination or an award.

Ron: Yeah, agreed. Steven Yeun, Minari.

Mon: I think this was a surprise because a lot of people hadn't seen this film, And he's really known for being in The Walking Dead. You don't expect him to be nominated for the Oscars, but here he is.

Ron: It's such an understated performance. Like throughout the movie I could see myself in him. Which is why I'm really glad that he's got nominated because his Jacob is us.

Mon: Yeah, he's this foolhardy, obstinate kind of guy, but he's just so wistful, and I think I really like that because he's trying so hard, and he really believes in himself and in his dream. And you get all of that in Steven Yeun, just the way he carries himself, just the small little expressions that he makes. He doesn't even have to talk much, it's just him.

Ron: What I really loved about Steven Yeun’s performance was the scene where he is being a ‘dad’. And you know dads, they will be themselves, and then suddenly they will go into dad-mode. Where they’re like, you know what, something has happened and I need to be a ‘dad’ right now. And he is so, so good in that scene. And I was like, oh my god, stop being such a ‘dad’!

Mon: Exactly! Because the dad is putting on the performance of being a ‘dad’, and Steven Yeun is doing an excellent job of being that dad who's trying to be a ‘dad’. It's too good.

Ron: And that's why I'm really happy that he's been nominated because this is what acting is supposed to be.

Mon: It's supposed to be understated but also feel real.

Ron: In any other year, he would have been the top favorite in this category.

Mon: Yeah, I think so too.

Ron: It's just a really good performance.

Mon: Right. And to round it all off is Riz Ahmed from Sound of Metal. This is another very understated performance. There's nothing huge and flashy. It’s really just somebody who is coping with the circumstance that he cannot envisage. And he's really struggling, because his whole life, literally, his whole life, is going to change. It's really hard to rate this performance because it's so natural. It's so effortless. If you haven't seen Riz Ahmed in other stuff, you would think this is just him being him, but there are, of course, like differences to who he probably is as a person.

But I think the recognition of this award really goes to the fact that he put in so much work to make this role look as effortless as it does. He learned how to play the drums, he learned ASL, and both of those, he just does it so naturally in the film. And the performance would have been completely derailed had he not put in that effort of all those months, it would not have been a good performance.

Like when he’s drumming, like the first scene is him drumming, and you can see that it's him. It's not like in the shadows, it's not from the back, it's not like a stunt double. Nope, it's him. And you wouldn't connect with this character if you didn't see him front and center, with those drumsticks, banging on the drums, really like, into that music.

And even with the ASL. It's his language, and that's how you're supposed to feel because that is how the character is going to communicate. And I feel like it's such an important aspect that not only did he learn it, but now he's very keen on people learning how to sign because it is such a valuable language to learn. It was so good. It was so understated. It's hard for me to even say that he actually acted but, I mean we know he did. But’s it’s just so good, so natural.

Ron: I would compare Riz Ahmed’s acting in Sound of Metal to Natalie Portman in Black Swan. That ballet performance and how it made Nina was only possible because she'd done the work of learning ballet. That's the same thing here. The only reason why we believe everything that this character is doing and going through and evolving into is because Riz Ahmed put in all that effort. It comes across as so natural that you don't think you're actually watching an actor; you're watching a person. That's what great acting is.

Again, along with Steven Yeun, any other year, Riz Ahmed definitely would have won this category. But this year, it belongs to Chadwick Boseman. He should 100% get it. What a performance to leave as his legacy.

So, moving on to the ladies. We have Viola Davis from Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. Andra Day from The United States vs Billie Holiday. Vanessa Kirby, Pieces of a Woman. Frances McDormand from Nomadland. And Carey Mulligan for Promising Young Woman.

This is a slightly harder category I would say. From the other award shows, it seems that Andra Day might be the front runner here. Unfortunately, we couldn't get to see this movie. Apparently The United States vs Billie Holiday is not a good movie. I read some reviews and it seems to be very exploitative, rather than anything else? And it's literally coasting on Andra Day’s performance.

Mon: Apparently, she sang some of the songs in it?

Ron: Yes.

Mon: I'm excited for any newbie to get awards. And when I say newbie, I mean somebody who's getting recognition for the first time at a big award show like this. I would love to have seen her performance just to rate it against these other very powerful performances. Let's see how that turns out.

My personal favorite, of course, is Viola Davis. She has my whole heart. How performance as Ma Rainey was stunning.

Ron: From that opening scene in the tent, you forget that you're watching Viola Davis. Ma Rainey was such a personality, and the way Viola Davis just embodies that. This is a woman who, when she walks into a room, everybody stands aside so she can walk through.

Mon: Yeah. One of the things that I really like about films being on Netflix is that we do have the after-film show or the after-film interviews. And for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, they talked about bringing this film to life. It's a play and now it's film, and the research that they did, and they learned about this personality who we hadn’t heard about. And how Viola Davis and the makeup artists and the costume artists, they really tried to embody the way she looked in real life. Because with Ma Rainey, you know she's singing for a long time, it’s sweltering heat, that why she looks very greasy. Her makeup is running, but she's got this power and she doesn't care about the glamour, you know, she's got a voice, she is using that, and that's what's entertaining, and that's what's grasping the entire crowd. Viola Davis and her entire team, they really wanted to capture that, which is what they do. They do such a great job. Ma Rainey doesn't have to look like the quintessential, glamorous, polished artist that we’re so used to seeing, because she's working hard. She's got a job to do. You don't have time for all this stuff, so I really love that. And I'm pointing this out mostly because there was a little bit of backlash because of how Ma Rainey looks in the movie. Ron: Oh really.

Mon: Yeah, there were some people saying, oh, why does she have to look so tired and sweaty. Well, that was kind of the point, so that's why I'm pointing it out. It was a deliberate, intentional effort made by the creators for this film. And Viola Davis does an excellent job of encapsulating that presence and that feeling. I really love how you have this character, based on a real person, of course, but you have this character in an era where Black people really struggled to make their voices heard, get anything that they deserved. She's like the exact opposite. And I love how this film turns the tables on that. And it’s only possible because you have somebody with that presence of Viola Davis. I would love her to win this. I don't know if she will. Maybe somebody newer, like Andra Day, deserves it more. But yeah, I've got my heart set.

Ron: You haven't seen Pieces of a Woman, but I did. I think Vanessa Kirby does the job that she has to in this film. I just think that compared to everybody else on this list, I don't get it. We were talking about how Steven Yeun’s acting in Minari was very understated. Vanessa Kirby does the same thing and Pieces of a Woman but her understatedness is so understated that there is no emotion. And I don't think it's her fault. I think it's because of the direction that she was given as an actor.

Pieces of a Woman was not as good a film as I heard that it was, which was surprising to me. I don't expect histrionics all the time, but most of the time, I was like nothing is happening on the screen, and that just did not make sense to me because the writer of the film based this story on what happened to her. And her husband was actually the director of this film. I feel like they weren't on the same page, or something got lost in translation between screenplay and direction.

I think Kirby did a really good job maybe in the first like 30-35 minutes, and then after that, she was probably told just, you know, hold it back, hold it back, hold the emotion back, and she ended up doing that really well, but the final product ended up being bland. And that might also be because they tried to stuff in other bits into a story that didn't need it. What ended up happening was that her performance was overridden by other elements.

We both feel that Yeri Han from Minari should definitely have been nominated.

Mon: Yeri Han plays the wife character in Minari; she plays Monica. She could have easily been a flat character, the long-suffering wife who just does what her husband wants, who somehow survives for her kids, but she is so much more. You can see this person trying desperately to be the supportive glue of this family. You can see this person trying to strive for her own dreams, for her own ambitions, and keep it together. And it's all because of how well Yeri Han, again in an understated fashion, just carries this character. And it is a shame, a complete and utter shame, that she did not get picked as one of the nominations.

Ron: I found myself comparing Yeri Han and Vanessa Kirby so much when I was watching these two movies, and it really made me wonder what the criteria is for the Oscars to nominate people. Both of these are very understated roles, but Yeri Han the way she emotes an entire dialogue without saying a word. That's what I wanted from Vanessa Kirby. I did not get that. And there were these moments in Minari where I was like, this is how I would react. And that's exactly how she reacted. And I was like, oh man, that's the first time that's ever happened! How does that performance not get nominated. Mon: Yeah, I'm really disappointed.

Ron: I think the problem is that we are very used to the ‘wife’ in films. Yeri Han took that and turned it into a role. And I think part of the reason why Steven Yeun has been nominated, not just on the strength of his own performance, but on the strength of Yeri Han’s. Because had she been terrible, nobody would have noticed what was happening with Steven Yeun. It's the same thing that I see with Killing Eve. The only reason why we keep focusing on how good Jodie Comer is, is because Sandra Oh is brilliant. But she never gets nominated, it's always Jodie Comer. I really, really wanted to love Vanessa Kirby's performance. I read so much about how much work she did. It just didn't come across to me.

So, moving on. Frances McDormand, Nomadland. Understated, but the right kind of understated.

Mon: The thing with Frances McDormand is that she's so effortless and natural in her roles that sometimes you think that's exactly who she is as a person. But no, she's acting, and I love that about these roles that she takes. And especially the one that she plays in Nomadland, I think, had she gone melodramatic or larger than life or the other opposite like super-emotional or something, we would not have believed this character and we would not have enjoyed the journey that we were on with her. It's the fact that she's very put-together, but she's also trying very hard to hold it together, and that comes across throughout in every scene. That's what makes it so powerful. That's what makes it so natural and immersive to watch, and it's no wonder that she's been nominated.

Ron: Yeah, I think if Frances McDormand hadn’t been nominated for Nomadland, that would have been a travesty. Again, talking about Pieces of a Woman, you can see how important direction can be for an actor. Because Frances McDormand’s understatedness could have become super-bland, had she not had the director paving her path. And that's why we get a really, really powerful performance in this film. I mean, she pretty much carries the whole thing. She could have a really good chance of winning this. Mon: Yeah, I think so too. Ron: So on the opposite end of the spectrum, we have Carey Mulligan’s Promising Young Woman. This is a very different kind of performance, just in this category. She feels like this person that you don't want to hang out with for a multitude of reasons. I think we’ve seen Carey Mulligan in quite a few films, so this performance does stand out because it's very different from what she usually does. She's kind of like preppy, and peppy. That's not what you expect. She does a really good job, but there's also like so much tension in this one, which she manages to carry very, very well.

Mon: What I like about this film is that it throws you into the middle of this story. There's no preface, and it's important because the story structure is quite a novelty, and I like that. And because we're thrown into the middle of it, we learn more about her character throughout the film, which makes her performance even more captivating. Why is this person who is young and desirable, and honestly, should have the world at her feet, going around with such a sad frame of mind? Why is she carrying herself in this terribly dejected fashion? Well, we find out.

I would say that this performance isn't as understated as some of the others in both these categories. It definitely has its moment where somebody could have gone completely over the top, but it never does. Because a) the writing doesn't allow for it and, b) the role wouldn't work if we were on either spectrum of super-gleeful or super-emotional. It's really somebody who is carrying a hurt inside her that she cannot fix, and you really feel that.

The funny thing about this film is that you’re left feeling so sad by the end of it, because you really understand this kind of, almost this kind of depression, that this character is facing, and you really feel it through her performance. It's a surprisingly captivating performance despite not being the quintessential Oscar-baity kind of thing. I'm not sure she's gonna win though.

Ron: I wonder whether the Oscars will do something completely different and be like, in light of #MeToo, we're just going to give it to this film.

Mon: I didn’t think of that. It could be.

Ron: Like, it says a lot about why #MeToo even exists. So, who knows? I think this is a very tough category. Let's see what happens.

Mon: Yeah.

Ron: So, moving on to the supporting roles. For the men, we have Sacha Baron Cohen for The Trial of the Chicago Seven. Daniel Kaluuya for Judas and the Black Messiah. Leslie Odom Jr for One Night in Miami. Paul Raci from Sound of Metal. And bizarrely, LaKeith Stanfield for Judas and the Black Messiah, even though he's the lead role.

Mon: Yeah, I'm a bit surprised, as well.

Ron: Apparently, they did put his name forward for the lead role and for some reason the Oscars put him and Daniel Kaluuya in the same category.

Mon: Listen, people who have limited screen time have sometimes been in the lead role category, other people, who are pretty much carrying a film have ended up in the supporting category. I've never understood the Oscars and what the criteria for these things are. It's literally like Tic Tac Toe sometimes. I'm actually really disappointed that both Daniel and LaKeith are in the same category, because they are so, so strong. They really deserve to have been not competing against each other, and definitely should have been frontrunners in their own categories. I mean Kaluuya is brilliant, he's always brilliant.

Ron: He is particularly good as Fred Hampton. I was just like, wow this is insane.

Mon: Like, you feel the emotional core of the burden that he's carrying, but you're also like a little bit inspired, maybe even a little bit scared, by the power of his performance and the power of his stage presence. I feel like he was really passionate about this role, but he doesn't go over the top with it. I'm sure he did a lot of research on Fred Hampton and how he carried himself. But it doesn't come across as this very manufactured or artificial kind of performance. And it definitely doesn't feel like some kind of weird, reverential take on this character. Because sometimes, that's also a problem, especially when you're embodying somebody who was a real personality and a very important personality. Sometimes you feel like you should only look at the good things. No one was perfect. And so, you should always approach those people as human beings first, but also respect the legacy that they've left. And I think he does a good job with that.

Ron: Well the thing is that Daniel Kaluuya actually spent time with Fred Hampton’s wife to find out what his personality was from her perspective. Of course, there were tapes and things that he watched so that he could actually get the physicality of the character, and that's why I think that he is a frontrunner in this category. Because we've seen Daniel Kaluuya in a lot of things and the way he plays this person, you forget that it is Daniel Kaluuya. Like, he's done the kind of research that allows him to become a person without actually showing us that he's acting it.

Mon: Listen, I'm never going to forgive the Academy for ignoring his excellent performance in Widows. He was so good in that film. I don't know why this role made me think of him in Widows, but I think it's that intensity? He's brought a very similar kind of intensity and I'm glad this one has been recognized at least. I really hope it does walk off with the award because, yeah, this is too good.

Ron: Absolutely, I agree with that. LaKeith is the lead in this film. I still can’t understand what the Academy is thinking. He is so good in this performance. He is this tortured young man who is just taking it one day at a time because he has no clue what to do. He gets into one scrape after the other. He thinks he has an out, and it's not.

Mon: His character is between a rock and a hard place, and LaKeith plays that to the tee. Like you can really feel it, his desperation to be normal, his desperation to fit in, his desperation to get out, and you just really feel it.

Ron: The thing is that it's very difficult to play a role like this because a lot of people just think of him as the bad guy. But there are so many layers to even bad guys. And LaKeith does it really well. Like there are times when there are emotions on his face, and I'm just like, he's just told us so much. If he was nominated for this role any other year, he would have won this. But I really feel like it's going to be done Daniel Kaluuya’s year.

Mon: Yeah. I hope so, as compared to most of the others.

Ron: Let’s talk about Paul Raci in Sound of Metal.

Mon: This was a surprise, yeah?

Ron: It was. He has a very understated role. He kind of plays like a mentor, and it's almost easy for you to forget that this is a person acting a role in a film. But then there’s this one scene, which was so quietly done. I can imagine that same scene in movies being full of histrionics, and gestures, loud voices…

Mon: Standing up and waving!

Ron: And banging tables, right?

Mon: Right.

Ron: And Paul Raci just keeps the same tone, and it's like a dagger in your heart. I feel like the power of that scene, coupled with the fact that, up until that point we had seen the kind of person he was, that's the reason why he's in this category. Because the only reason why that scene works is because we spent all this time with him. We've heard his tone of voice, we know how he feels about the main character, about their community, and you know where he's coming from. So yeah, this is a surprise, but now when I think about it, it makes sense.

Mon: Agreed.

Ron: Sacha Baron Cohen in The Trial of the Chicago Seven.

Mon: I know that he did a lot of research on the person that he was playing.

Ron: Okay.

Mon: He was concerned about this character, because we’re talking about somebody who was a real-life personality and when we say personality, we mean a personality. I can see he’s trying. The problem is, I could not see anybody but Sasha Baron Cohen when I was watching the movie. It was Cohen with big hair. And that's all I could see. I could not see him being anybody else. Is it a direction problem, is it just the role? He was not the best thing that film had in it.

Compared to the other roles that we've seen, just in this category, it doesn't even reach like halfway there. And it's not for lack of trying. As I said, there's a lot of effort put into it. I've read that he did a lot of research, he watched the tapes, blah blah blah. He was concerned about it. His concerns were warranted.

Ron: I think that was my problem with this entire film. Everybody felt like they were acting. They were acting, very well, but they were acting. Just as you said, I couldn't get past the fact that I was watching Sacha Baron Cohen.

Mon: And especially when he's doing the stand up. It looks like it's Sacha Baron Cohen doing the stand-up and not Abbie Hoffman. And it's just such a problem.

Ron: It would be an unpleasant shock if he were to win.

Mon: I don't want him to win.

Ron: No.

Rounding off the category is Leslie Odom Jr. in One Night in Miami. Leslie Odom Jr plays Sam Cooke. I really liked his performance. I liked everybody’s performances in this movie. Everybody should have been nominated. This movie he should have been nominated. I’m angry that it wasn't but let's talk about Leslie Odom Jr.

Mon: That voice!

Ron: I know!

Mon: How can you argue when you have a voice like that?

Ron: Oh my gosh. He has such an amazing singing voice. And he uses it so well in this film.

Mon: That scene when he sings that song. We know this song, but still.

Ron: Oh my god.

Mon: And again, credit to the way the film is directed that it hits you so hard when he sings that song.

Ron: The Sam Cooke character that we get in this film, he's kind of bombarded with negativity. He's trying to do things a certain way, his friends don't quite agree with that, and you can understand where they're coming from, but you can also understand where he's coming from. We could have had the table-thumping, the standing up and making a statement. But what you get is the finger-pointing.

Mon: [laughs] And understated finger-pointing. Nobody raises their voices. And that's what I really liked about the performances in general. And, of course, it comes down to the direction, doesn't it? We could have had somebody who, because they're so passionate about their points of view, that they could have raised their voices, they could have been punching each other, hitting each other. There are a few moments like that, but they're also being civil because they are friends. And I think when you have that underlying foundation of the characters, then it changes how you come to that performance. And it really comes across in Odom Jr.

Ron: The other aspect of this film is that these people were not only real but they were pillars of the community. They changed the way America lived and breathed. That can get to your head. The fact that none of the performances were affected by that is testament to the actors. I think any of the actors could have easily been nominated. I'm happy that Leslie Odom Jr did get nominated because his performance relies so heavily on reacting to things around him, and it could have gone terribly wrong in another actor's hands. He manages to keep it together, and it ends up being so memorable. But I still think this category belongs to Daniel Kaluuya. Let's see what happens on the day, but that's what I think.

Mon: Agreed.

Ron: So, let's move on to Supporting Role (Female). We have Maria Bakalova from the sequel for Borat. Glenn Close in Hillbilly Elegy. Olivia Coleman in The Father. Amanda Seyfried in Mank. And Yuh-Jung Youn in Minari. I haven't seen two of the performances in this category so that's not going to help.

Mon: There's been a lot of love for Maria Bakalova. This is a comedic performance. The Oscars aren't huge on comedy, so that would be a surprise. Now with Glenn Close in Hillbilly Elegy, I have not seen this film, I have seen stills. She uglies it up, which means she's gonna win.

Ron: Really, you think so?

Mon: Yeah, absolutely. First of all, she's a veteran actor, she's already been nominated several times, she's a favorite among the Academy-goers. So, I'm just like this category is definitely gone.

Ron: I know the Academy really loves it when ladies ugly-up.

Mon: Yeah, because they don't give actual ugly ladies any roles. [laughs]

Ron: [laughs] Oh god, why is that so true?

Mon: Listen. This category is a tough one. You know why? Because I'm not convinced by most of these.

Ron: Yeah, this is true.

Mon: Olivia Colman? I mean come on, she just won for The Favorite, right? Okay, she's hamming it up. She's acting but it's really. Here, she's not doing much.

Ron: You see, this is my problem with everything to do with The Father. I did not feel like I was watching a person; I was watching Anthony Hopkins. I did not feel like I was watching his daughter; I felt like I was watching Olivia Coleman. How does that get nominated?

Mon: I don't have an answer to that. It's unconvincing.

Ron: And the same thing with Amanda Seyfried. Mank, anyway as a film, we had a lot of issues with it. I think Amanda Seyfried tried to do what she could with the role, but the entire time I was like, I'm watching Amanda Seyfried.

Mon: And also, it’s not something new, this kind of role, this kind of character. It's not something new. I think we just want something refreshing which, for the most part, the other categories have really captured. Seyfried in Mank is just…

Ron: Seyfried in Mank.

Mon: Yeah. I mean, I guess the only performance we’re really rooting for is Yuh-Jung Youn in Minari. Because she's so fun!

Ron: She is so great. I think it helps that the role is quite different. Like, you think of grandmothers in a particular kind of way, and she totally is not.

Mon: And that's the whole point. And that's what I really like because she sort of doubles down on being this unconventional grandmom, because ‘grandmom’ is not a category of humanity. She's a person.

Ron: I love how, when her grandchildren are like, what kind of grandmum are you, you can’t bake, you don't do this, you can’t do that and she's like, why does that make me not a grandmom? She just decides that she's going to be her version of a grandmum and if that means sitting down in front of the television and watching it, that's fine! But everybody just has to deal with it. I loved it! It was just such a natural and fun performance.

So, when things kinda go bad, you're so angry at the world, you're just like, please no, no, no, don't let this happen. She's such a wonderful person! And that's why I think she deserves to win because she got all my emotions going so much. As I said earlier, I am a sucker for a grandmum character, and she's so good. She put in an amazing performance that didn’t feel like a performance. I was like, this is my grandmum.

Mon: You’re right. Absolutely. Because how the grandmum is in the second half of the film as compared to the first half of the film, they're the same person, but you would not feel the impact of the second half, if you hadn't met her and gotten to know her in the first half. And again, that's down to the fact that we had this really powerful, but very natural, performance. It feels authentic, and that's the whole point of these awards, isn't it?

Ron: Yes.

Mon: It's to give it to the best people. Yuh-Jung Youn might just be the person.

Ron: She's our pick, for sure. I feel like Maria Bakalova just might win this.

Mon: Oh wow.

Ron: I think the Academy is trying to do things differently. They want to show that they're not, you know, staid, fuddy-duddies who only give serious films all the awards. So, they might be like, it's a comedy, let's give it to her. And also, there was all that stuff about Rudy Giuliani and stuff like that, which I think might just be a reason for them handing the award over to her.

Mon: Okay, that'd be really interesting to see.

Ron: Yeah. The two acting categories for ladies is really hard this time. I think the male categories are very obvious who the winner is. The ladies, no idea.

Mon: Don't prove us wrong.

Ron: Okay, so we just want to touch on directing and film editing. There is some overlap with the Best Picture category. I'm interested to hear your thoughts.

Mon: Honestly, I am so torn between Emerald Fennell and Chloe Zhao. This is the first year the Academy has given to women nominations for the directing category. Let's just remind you guys that this is the 93rd Academy Award. I think both those films are so accomplished, so different…

Ron: So necessary. Either one of them could win.

Mon: Yeah.

Ron: My concern is that because there are two ladies, they're going to be like, they're in a separate category, and the rest of the guys are in the category of their own.

Mon: And that's the default category, so we're actually going to only choose between the three of them. Yeah, I hope not. Because I feel like Chloe Zhao should get it simply because Nomadland actually deals with a topic that is very popular with American film goers, and she's given it a completely new veneer, which I like. So, maybe she is front runner for it.

Ron: I also feel like Nomadland is definitely very well accomplished. I say this because it's not a very easy film to make. They’re on the move; they’re showing these very different kinds of landscapes. We're also going into these very tight interiors. She managed to balance that out very well, while also giving the performances so much room to breathe.

For me my pick would actually be Nomadland.

Mon: Interesting.

Ron: Because Promising Young Woman, another very accomplished film. I think it has a very familiar narrative structure. There are some shots which, when I thought about later on, I was like, ‘it's interesting that she used that angle’, but Nomadland just feels very different.

Mon: The thing about Promising Young Woman, as excited as I am that it's been nominated for so many categories, especially in the directing category, it feels very commercial

Ron: Yes

Mon: And mainstream. Most of these Academy Award nominations are very artsy very indie, or at least they feel like that. So Promising Young Woman with the peppy vibe and the colors and stuff, I think might be too different for what the Academy really likes to think of as cinematic excellence.

Ron: That's a good point, and that might be a reason why it wins.

Mon: Oh, I hope so.

Ron: Yeah.

Mon: You know who I’m surprised is not on here—even though we're not the biggest fans of the film—The Father, directed by Florian Zeller. I am surprised Florian isn't here, you know why? Because, as I mentioned, cinematically, it has such brilliant technique that I'm surprised the Academy didn't recognize it. I mean one of the problems that we had with it was that it's so slick, which should have shoehorned it into this category, but it didn't.

Ron: But I think that's exactly what would have happened, it would have been shoehorned into this category. Because The Father didn't do anything that we haven't already seen a billion times before. I'm sorry, that's not a unique film at all. I'm glad it didn't get nominated.

Mon: I'm surprised that Minari has been nominated. Like Lee Isaac Chung, I would not have thought that he'd be here.

Ron: Why not? Mon: Well, it’s such a personal narrative. It's just so small.

Ron: Yeah.

Mon: The Academy just love something that is larger than life, even when it's something to do with farming, you know. There's no KKK running after these people, so, like, how did this film even get noticed by the Academy. I'm surprised. I'm surprised it's in any category, but the direction I'm really surprised.

Ron: I'm trying to give the Academy the benefit of the doubt. Maybe they're realizing that they've been kind of in one direction this whole time. So we're getting to see people like Emerald Fennell and Chloe Zhao and Lee Isaac Chung actually get nominated for these amazing accomplishments.

Mon: And these varied films.

Ron: Exactly. I think that Minari actually works so well because the direction is really good. He keeps it small. He doesn't aim for something too huge. We just follow this family. And that's why the final product is so good.

One thing I've never understood about the Academy, ever since their changed the Best Picture nomination number to 10, I don't know why the director category hasn't followed suit. It doesn't make any sense to me. Having said that, I am so glad that it's Minari, Nomadland and Promising Young Woman that ended up in this category. They deserve it. As far as I'm concerned, this category is between these three. These are the most innovative films in this category.

Mon: Which is exactly why David Fincher for Mank will win.

Ron: Don’t say that.

Mon: I’m sorry but we know that Hollywood loves films about Hollywood; the Academy loves to recognize films about Hollywood. This is a passion project, it's about a very controversial, personal story that many Academy Award board members are going to feel like it resonates with them...

Ron: Because they were there at the same time.

Mon: You're probably not wrong. I don't actually have any hope for anybody else in this category, I'm sorry, it's true.

Ron: But even amongst David Fincher’s work, this is not a good film.

Mon: Yeah, but tell the Academy that.

Ron: It’s so… blah. The shots are so blah. Everything we see in Mank you've seen a million times before.

Mon: I agree with you. It feels like it’s trying to be of the time that it is portraying, but at the same time, it never looks like it. Just putting a black and white filter on your film, and using the same shots that Orson Welles would have used does not make your film innovative and new.

But we just have to resign ourselves to the truth. Fincher is considered an auteur. So, he's likely to win.

Ron: As far as I'm concerned, auteurs are basically people who do the same thing over and over again. And that's what Mank feels like. You know who I would have really loved to see in this category? Regina King. I was watching One Night in Miami and the entire time I was like, “why didn't this get nominated?” It's not just the shots. It's the way she portrayed the story to us. And this is her first time directing a feature film, it doesn't feel like it. Honestly, I feel like this was the year that you should have been nominating all these people. Why is David Fincher here? I just don't think even in David Fincher’s oeuvre, Mank is not his best work.

Mon: Yeah, the only thing is with One Night in Miami, it's technically very brilliant, especially for a first-time director, but it does feel like a first-time director’s work. There is a safety in how it is created.

That being said, at least it doesn't feel like a play, which is what it's based on. But compared to the others which are nominated, I can see why Regina King was overlooked. Though the film really should have made it to the Best Pictures noms, at least.

Ron: So, Another Round by Thomas Vinterberg. See, this is the thing; how has he been nominated for directing, but his movie was not deemed good enough to be nominated for Best Picture? What is the criteria? Honestly, I just don't understand what is happening!

Because when I watch this film, it's actually very uncomfortable to watch because there's so much shakey cam.

Mon: Oh!

Ron: And I was just like, I know you're trying to set the mood that there's a lot of drinking happening here, but it's just making me feel disoriented, so I'm not enjoying this experience. I don't think he was doing anything that different. In my opinion, it is between Minari, Nomadland and Promising Young Woman because those three are the ones that really stand out in this category. And as far as I'm concerned Minari and Nomadland actually do something completely different. They are the innovators. I'm hoping for Chloe Zhao to win because Nomadland really stood out to me.

Mon: Let's quickly go over editing. This is a tough category to really understand from a lay person's point of view.

Ron: Yeah.

Mon: Because when editing is done well, you will not notice it.

Ron: Which is making me question so many entries in this editing category. Because The Father has editing that is so obvious.

Mon: I agree with you on that.

Ron: I was like, oh look, here's a cut. Oh look, here's a camera change. How is this nominated for film editing? That way, again, Nomadland, edited by Chloe Zhao—who did pretty much everything in this film, oh my gosh, how did she do it—has such good editing, because you don't notice it.

Mon: Yeah, you are on this journey with this character. You feel the land that she is traversing, you get to know the characters that she is meeting.

Ron: You feel that claustrophobia in her trailer, and how it differs from everything that’s happening around her. It's just such good editing because you don't notice anything. It's just an experience.

Mon: Yeah, there's like this moment where Frances McDormand’s character is like a few yards away from her nearest neighbor, who's also in a van, and she sees her neighbor put up a flag. And we don't really understand the significance of that flag till a few scenes later when Frances McDormand needs help and she’s knocking on this person’s door, and her neighbor goes, “didn’t you see the sign?”. You you realize the flag is basically supposed to say do not disturb. And I think that's where editing and direction comes in, because anywhere else you would be told, it would be signposted that yes, this flag is going up because she does not want to be disturbed, go away now. But here it’s backwards, and it's important for us to feel that way because the character may not have known what the flag is about. And we're in her shoes. That's the whole point. And that again addresses why this film has got as many nominations as it has. And why probably it should win.

Ron: Absolutely.

We also have Promising Young Woman here. I think the editing here is pretty commercial, it's not very different. It serves the purpose of narrating the story. So, in that sense, it's pretty technically sound.

Mon: Well, I think there's one scene which has won it the film editing nomination. We can't talk about it but in the hands of any other director, especially a male director, we would have seen that scene in a completely different way.

Ron: I actually think there are two things that have made it, editing-wise, so powerful. And the reason why it's been nominated. And in that scene, I think a lot of directors would have chosen to maybe cut. But here, the director gave her actors so much leeway to play out the scene that the editing, you don't notice it.

Mon: On the basis of just that scene that you just mentioned, I feel like this film should definitely sweep this award. Honestly, the power of that scene really comes across in the use of camera cuts, or the lack thereof.

Ron: Exactly. And that is actually one of the reasons why Promising Young Woman really works, because it knows when not to cut.

Sound of Metal.

Mon: I am truly surprised that it's in the film editing category. Are you?

Ron: I'm glad that it is, I think sound editing, it did a really great job, but I think it's really easy to focus on that aspect of the film, and forget that the actual film editing also makes the story and the sound more important. I'm going to compare it to Another Round where the editing is so jarring. And so obviously edited. I'm glad it's not in this category, but Sound of Metal doesn't do that. It moves the camera away and it cuts at certain points where the audience needs that extra information. I think the way it's edited works for this film, I don't think it's the kind of style that would work for everything else, but because it fits so well with this narrative, I think that's why it's been nominated.

Mon: Yeah, because I think with the film editing, as well as the sound editing, both of them combined, it helps you walk in the shoes of this character, which as you say, is only possible when it's a very personal, individual story like it is with Sound of Metal. I'm kind of glad it's got some technical noms. If nothing else, because we know it's a real long shot for the Best Picture award winner. It could get the technical awards.

What is the Trial of the Chicago 7 doing here?

Ron: I don't know.

Mon: I spent most of that film wondering where the sightlines were.

Ron: Yes.

Mon: Right?

Ron: Yeah.

Mon: There’s this scene where somebody is walking up a flag and the character is looking to the left, but the flag is in the center, and I'm like, “where are you standing?”

Ron: The sightlines weren’t the only problem. We have a chunk of this film taking place in a courtroom, and it felt like I was watching Law and Order. So what is the innovation here? Why has it been nominated?

You know what should have been nominated in both the directing and editing categories? Birds of Prey. Okay, look, we love this movie so we are a bit biased. But Cathy Yan did an amazing job. She should definitely have been in the directing category, and the editing the scene in Gotham PD, come on.

Mon: Well, there are two major reasons why Birds of Prey didn't get any nominations, though, I really feel like it should have. First of all, it's a very comic book-y film, and also structurally, the story is very nonlinear.

Ron: Let us put it out there that Suicide Squad won an Oscar.

Mon: I am currently speechless.

Ron: So, who do you think is going to win this? Honestly, I want Chloe Zhao to get everything.

Mon: Yeah, but I think The Father is going to win.

Ron: I think that would be a mistake.

Mon: It's going to happen.

Ron: So we're going to round off with the screenplay categories. In the adapted section we have the Borat sequel—please don’t make me say the whole name—The Father, Nomadland, One Night in Miami and The The White Tiger.

Mon: We haven't seen the Borat film so we cannot attest to its merits. This is a tough category.

Ron: Ok, so we have two films that are based on plays, The Father and One Night in Miami. I think that we’re both of the same mind that One Night in Miami is definitely superior as an adaptation of a play. The Father feels like a play on film. One Night in Miami feels like a film. So, if it's between those two, it should be One Night in Miami.

Mon: You're going to root for Nomadland, aren't you?

Ron: I am but I have to say, The The White Tiger was a really good adaptation. I thought that was a solid, solid screenplay. I'm actually really annoyed that it didn't get nominated in anything else. As far as I'm concerned, it should have been up for directing, it should have been up for Best Picture, it should have been up for Best Actor. How do these things not happen? I don't understand what the Academy does, really. Like, what is everybody sitting there doing?

Mon: Dude, the fact that a film based in India with Indian actors even got nominated for anything, is like a surprise—in a good way, I guess. It's a film that looks at the poverty and the caste system in India, without actually sensationalizing it or making it completely the norm. There are different kinds of Indians that you will meet in India, as we see in this film. And I'm just surprised that the Academy noticed that.

Ron: You know what irritates me? Slumdog Millionaire won everything, when it was a bad film. And it portrayed India in a really condescending light.

Mon: And considering it was based on a book which was hard-hitting, spoke about the issues that we face in India all the time, but had this sort of fun vibe to it, and Slumdog Millionaire was just an atrocity, as far as I'm concerned.

With The White Tiger, I was very resistant to watching it.

Ron: Me too.

Mon: But yes, while it does portray the abject poverty of sections of society—and it is a little bit scary how people on both sides can treat each other—it also has this updated 21st century mentality that we haven't seen in portrayals of India in Hollywood for a while.

Ron: This was a really good film. I am really irritated that it hasn't got the recognition that it has. I mean, Ava DuVernay was a producer on this, so… But what I loved about The White Tiger was that it didn't coast on the name Ava DuVernay. Everybody else put a lot of work into it.

Mon: And it also didn’t gratuitously show us, you know, the disgusting aspects of India. It also shows you the grandeur that is Delhi and Bangalore, while telling you that yes, there are people living in villages in absolute squalor.

Ron: But what I liked is that doesn't keep throwing that squalor in your face, because people live there. For heaven's sake, you can't just keep saying, “oh my god it's so disgusting”. No, no, this is how people live.

Mon: Respect that.

Ron: Exactly. So I'm irritated, but I really hope that it wins this category.

Mon: Yeah that would be nice, right?

Ron: Yes, I am rooting for Nomadland.

Mon: Why am I not surprised?

Ron: But I would happily let Ramin Bahrani win this for The White Tiger.

So, original screenplay. We have Judas and the Black Messiah, Minari, Promising Young Woman, Sound of Metal and Trial of the Chicago 7. One of these things is not like the others.

Mon: [Laughs]

Ron: I'm sorry, the fact that Aaron Sorkin continues to get recognized and nominated for his writing when he is a bad writer, just drives me up the wall.

Mon: It's sometimes hard to differentiate between entertaining writing, and good writing.

Ron: But is he even entertaining?

Mon: Some people find that banter entertaining.

Is this the subject matter that deserves this kind of banter, this kind of writing? No it doesn't. It requires a deft hand, it requires a respectful hand and we have mentioned this several times and we've talked about this, which is that it does not respect the horrible situation that the people in it were facing.

Ron: It should definitely not win this category.

Mon: It will win this category.

Ron: Oh gosh, your cynicism. I believe that the Academy is going to do things differently.

Mon: I'm a pragmatist and I don't believe that.

Ron: Parasite won last year. Parasite was the best film among all the nominees. There were a lot of other films that should have been nominated, we always are going to be angry about that, but Academy actually recognized how good Parasite was, and it gave it the awards that it deserved. Maybe, maybe, this is the change that we are seeing. And Trial of the Chicago 7, even though it's been nominated to make a certain group of people happy, it won't actually win.

Mon: Well, we will find out.

I think Judas and the Black Messiah has a really good chance here. I think partly because of Daniel Kaluuya’s performance and the fact that Best Picture should kind of belong to it. It just has a really strong story.

Mon: Yeah.

Ron: I know you had issues with the second act; I didn't have that. I feel like it managed to balance these really big, larger than life characters with a story that had you guessing. It was packed full of characters, like, it's very much the opposite of Sound of Metal and Minari which has very small pockets of characters. But Judas and the Black Messiah is much more sweeping, so many people and every single person matters, every single story within the story matters. And cohesively as a whole, the film works because the writing is so strong as well.

Mon: I 100% agree with you on that. I will say that when you Algee Smith men in a role, you give me more of him on screen.

Ron: [Laughing] Ok.

So, Minari.

Mon: I want this one to win.

Ron: Me too.

Mon: Because it's a very simple story. We discussed this when we talked about the film in the Best Picture category, there is a universality to the events of this film that reflects many of our journeys. And I think that's the power of this writing; you can kind of see yourself in different ways. You can see yourself in different characters from the kid to the grandma, right?

And I feel like sometimes the Academy does like these personal stories about the American Dream, which honestly Minari is doing in spades.

Ron: I also feel like the reason why Minari you could win this category is because, you know what I was saying about Pieces of a Woman and how it adds things to make it bigger than it really is. Minari never does that, it’s contained to this one family because even little things can seem big when it's your life and it's people who you love, and that's what a great story, that's what a great writer, does. So yeah, I think it might just win this category as well.

Mon: Well, I think it's funny that you mentioned that things are huge and important when it's somebody that you love, because that ties into Promising Young Woman.

Ron: I mean that entire film is about doing something for somebody that you love, and everything that they felt is amplified because of how you feel about them. But nobody else around you can even imagine it because it doesn't bother them. That person has nothing to do with them.

And I think that's why the writing in this film is quite strong, because it's through the lens of this one character. Of course, the performance that Carey Mulligan puts in does amplify just how terrible she is feeling, just how strong this loss is for her in comparison to how everybody else is actually reacting to it.

And it’s a really strong story because that tension, it’s not just well conveyed on the screen, it had to be there on the page.

It does help that the writing and directing is done by the same person. I think this year we've seen that quite a lot, even with Chloe Zhao, she did the producing, writing, editing, and directing for her film, Nomadland which is a really really accomplished, really powerful, cohesive and memorable product.

Nomadland is not the kind of movie that you and I would watch, and maybe not even enjoy it but this one, my god. And the same thing with Promising Young Woman, she wrote it, directed it, produced it, and you can see the final product.

Mon: It's the ability to translate exactly how you feel on the page to the screen. And I think so often you see that divide because the person who directs a movie, sometimes isn't in sync with the person who wrote it, and that really undercuts important subject matters.

Ron: This is my problem with Pieces of a Woman, and that's why Vanessa Kirby's performance, it's not that good. It just doesn't work because the people around her weren't working together, though I don't know why.

Mon: I'm partial to Promising Young Woman winning as well, because it's a topical issue, and it's well written, it's entertaining in a very scary fashion.

Ron: Exactly. I mean this is a suspense thriller about a topic that a lot of people have had to deal with, but it comes across as a film that is also entertaining, so it's actually a good one for this category.

So finally Sound of Metal.

Mon: This one surprised me.

Rob: The writing for Sound of Metal feels just like a person's story like they're going day by day. That can actually be really hard to write. Again like Minari, this doesn't try too hard, it doesn't go too far, it knows what its aim is, and it stays within that scope. I think the problem with things like The Trial of the Chicago Seven is that the scope was so huge that the final product is, well, it's just not very good, and it doesn't do justice to the characters, or the narrative.

Sound of Metal is exactly the opposite. It takes this one person, his journey, and it just runs with it. And the other thing is that, a lot of films feel like, you know, we shouldn’t be linear because that's cliched or it's been done. But Sound of Metal works so well because of its linear narrative; it doesn't keep going back and forth. You are taking this journey with this person. So yeah, I think it has a pretty good chance as well.

So, I think we want four of these films to win. [laughs] And we don’t care about Aaron Sorkin. I would say the Academy is trying. We have unexpected entries this year in the major categories, which is exciting. The diversity is there. There's room for so much more. But I think one of the biggest problems that the Academy has had this year is by trying to play it safe with certain choices. My hope is that the Academy voters will see the innovation of films like Judas and the Black Messiah, Minari, Promising Young Woman, Nomadland. Sound of Metal and really begin to usher in a whole different way of filmmaking, because we can't be something if we can't see it. We've seen it with Parasite, are we going to see it this year?

Who do you think should win these categories at the Academy Awards 2021? We'd love to hear from you.

You can find us on Twitter @Stereo_Geeks. Or send us an email [email protected]. We hope you enjoyed this episode. And see you next week!

Mon: The Stereo Geeks logo was created using Canva. The music for our podcast comes courtesy Audionautix.

[Continuum by Audionautix plays]

Transcription by Otter.ai, Ron, and Mon.

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thatfanficstuff · 5 years ago

Text

Nightingale’s Song - 8

Pairing: Bucky x OC

Warnings: mentions of torture.

A/N: This chapter covers several decades to get us to match the timeline from the rest of the series. Don’t worry. It’ll make sense.

***

Things shifted for Anna after that. Instead of the cell she’d grown used to, she was moved to a new one with glass walls. At least she’d had the illusion of privacy in the old one. Here she felt like an animal on display at the zoo.

Months passed with no sign of her Bucky. And in those months she learned to listen. She discovered purely by accident that one of the benefits of her ‘training’ was enhanced hearing. She practiced not responding to anything she heard. After all, how else would she discover what was happening.

She healed Bucky twice more in the short span of years that included the end of the war and the years immediately following. No. She’d healed the asset. Both times he examined her with cool precision and a small spark of familiarity. She’d said not a word to him. If she did, they’d only make the both of them suffer and she couldn’t watch them erase her Bucky again. It was too painful.

It was 1957 when they discussed experimenting to see if she could bring the asset’s memories back. They wanted him to remember her and then see just how much he would sacrifice to save her. There was no reason for it other than their own sick curiosity. God, she hated these men. She hated them and she would not do as they wished. Even if they killed her for it. Actually, she was counting on it.

The doctor arrived the next morning as usual. Sometimes he just spoke with her, others he would try some new concoction of another. And some days, if she angered him just enough, he’d kill her. She normally tried to avoid that, but not today.

“Good morning,” the doctor greeted and tilted his head as he studied her. “How are you today?”

“How do you suppose I am, Doctor?” She kept her tone tired, bored. Nothing pissed the good doctor off more than her indifference.

The man pursed his lips and ran his eyes over her. “I thought we were past this attitude problem of yours. You know I dislike it when you are rude.”

Anna licked her lips. “Well, I do so hate to be a disappointment.”

He stood promptly and straightened his coat. “Very well. Your defiance will cost you today. We were going to allow you to spend time with the asset. Instead, I have something else in store for you.”

Her eye twitched as she bit back her response. Whatever they had planned for her was better than them torturing Bucky. They’d done enough damage to him already. She’d prevent the little she was able.

At least that’s what she told herself. That was the plan. Until the door to her cell opened again and Bucky filled the doorway. She ran her eyes down the length of him, greedy for the sight of him. His hair was longer than when she’d last seen him though not by much. His expression was blank, dark with no sign of recognition. The man behind him barked an order and he strode across the floor in two long steps.

Before Anna could even process what was happening, the weapon that wore Bucky’s face raised his knife and sliced it across her throat. She gasped at the familiar sensation, gripped at her neck as blood poured from the wound. As she fell to the floor, pleading for help with her eyes. The man in front of her simply turned on his heel and walked out. The door shutting solidly behind him.

***

Anna healed. Of course, she did. She always healed. Except for her vocal cords it seemed. Perhaps, this was one experiment too many. Or perhaps, she just had nothing to say. Hydra couldn’t be sure and every tactic they tried to get her to speak failed miserably. They could only assume she wasn’t able.

The doctor was forbidden from any more experimentation. She was too valuable to risk losing apparently. She’d been moved to a small gray rectangle with one oval window in the door. They fed her, gave her things to read and dragged her out when someone needed to be healed. At some point they taught her sign language and even allowed her access to a computer, though she couldn’t do much with it besides play games.

And once they’d all but forgotten about her, it became much easier for her to train. To experiment with her abilities. She climbed the large pipes on the ceiling of her room. Her muscle tone stayed defined and strong even when she didn’t try. Another side effect. It only improved when she started doing the few exercises she could in the confined space. She learned to find the one conversation in a dozen she wanted to listen to and focus on only it.

As they moved her from country to country, she learned languages. But she never spoke, resorting to written words or the ASL she’d been taught. For the most part things were quiet as the years went by. There would be the occasional excitement but nothing major. Not until the day she heard the words Captain America decades after his plane crash. A crash he apparently survived. Anna’s heart raced. Steve was alive and so was Bucky as far as she knew. The Winter Soldier they called him. What a horrible name for a horrible weapon. She wondered if there was anything of her Bucky left in him.

The chatter didn’t stop. No longer did they talk only of Steve, but of his team—the Avengers. They were destroying Hydra bases all over the world and it was everything Anna could do to not respond to the news with jubilation. But she hadn’t let on that she could hear anything beyond her cell for all these years. She wasn’t about to start now.

Then one morning, she was awoken by an explosion. The Avengers had arrived. Anna pressed herself into the corner of her room as far as she could get from the door, just in case. She didn’t dare hope that they would find her. And if they didn’t then what would happen to her? From what she’d heard, they were leveling the bases they attacked. Would it even kill her if she was buried under tons of concrete and steel? She shuddered at the thought. It wasn’t something she particularly cared to find out the answer to.

Things had gone mostly quiet and Anna had started to lose hope. Maybe everyone else was dead and she’d just be left in here to starve. It was a horrible way to die. She’d done it once and didn’t care to repeat the experience. She closed her eyes to focus her hearing and picked up two sets of footsteps moving down the hall. They were clearing rooms and heading her way.

It was only minutes later a man peered through the window on her door and met her gaze. His eyes widened in surprise and then he disappeared. A moment later there was a small pop and the door swung open. A man dressed in black with a small bit of purple on the chest stepped into the room. He smiled softly and held up his hands, one of which held a bow. She could see the arrows peeking over his shoulder. “Hey. My name’s Clint. We’re here to help you.”

Anna tilted her head. Clint Barton. The archer. Hawkeye they called him. An Avenger. If he was here so was Steve.

“It’s okay. We’re not going to hurt you.” He was apparently taking her silence as uncertainty.

She placed a hand over her mouth then pointed at her throat.

“You can’t talk?” he asked.

She nodded and moved off the bed to stand. She stepped toward him, still unsure about trusting him completely.

“Come on, archer. We’ve got to go,” an accented voice said a woman appeared in the doorway behind Clint. “Oh, who’s this?” she asked when she caught sight of Anna.

“I’m not sure. She can’t talk so we haven’t gotten that far. Go set the charges, bird. We’ll be along in a moment.”

The woman nodded once and disappeared.

“Is there anything here you need?” Clint asked. “Medicine they give you or anything?”

Yeah, right. Anna wanted nothing they might have for her here. She shook her head again and reached out to take the hand he offered. As soon as his fingers wrapped around her hand, Anna heard steps that weren’t the soft step of his partner. She jerked him forward and shut the door to her cell, leaning against it. An explosion sounded in the hall, rocking her on her feet.

“What the hell?” Clint breathed as he pushed her aside and stepped into the hall to release an arrow. The sounds that followed told her he’d hit his target. “I guess a thank you is in order. Raven, are you good?”

“I’m fine, archer,” his partner answered from just down the hall.

Clint reached for Anna’s hand again and she moved back. He frowned and she pointed at his bow. He couldn’t shoot the bad guys with one hand. The woman huffed. “She’s smarter than you, Barton.”

“A lot of people are, Barton,” he responded and started down the hall. “Let’s get the hell out of here.”

Anna didn’t miss that they called each other Barton, so the partner was either his sister or his wife. The two of them kept her between them as they moved through the facility and outside. As soon as the sun hit her skin, Anna stumbled. Sunlight and fresh air were luxuries she’d had less than a handful of times during her entire imprisonment. The light blinded her and she squinted against it. Her eyes watered.

“Christ, how long has it been since she’s seen the sun, Clint?” Raven asked.

“I don’t know.” He sounded grim but before Anna could think about it too much, she was swept up in his arms. “Sorry, sweetheart. You can sunbathe later. Right now, we’ve got to get out of range of the explosives.”

Anna simply nodded and closed her eyes against the sting. It wasn’t long before he sat her down, cool metal beneath her feet. “You’re inside a plane. You can open your eyes again, it’s darker in here.”

“We’re on,” his partner yelled. “Get us out of here, Natasha.”

Clint led Anna to a seat just as another man appeared. He had dark hair, a goatee and half of a metal suit. He also had a long cut just over his brow. “What took you two so long?”

Clint stepped aside so the other man would have an unobstructed view of Anna. “We picked up a stray.”

The other man rolled his eyes. “You’re always picking up strays, Barton.” He strolled over, his metal encased feet clanging against the plane. Anna couldn’t shake the nagging sense of familiarity she got when she looked at him. He pushed some sort of button and the rest of the metal suit disappeared. He crouched in front of her, now in jeans and a t-shirt.

His gaze ran over her and she felt as though she was being measured, assessed.

“What did Hydra want with a pretty little thing like you?” he asked, though his tone sounded like he was talking to himself more than her.

“She can’t talk, Tony.” Clint took a seat across from her and his partner sat beside him. She leaned into his side and he wrapped an arm around her. Definitely his wife then.

Anna turned her attention back to the man in front of her.

“Is that true? You can’t talk?”

She nodded once.

He hummed in thought. “We’ll have Banner look you over when we get back to the tower. My name’s Tony Stark and you’re in good hands. They won’t hurt you anymore.”

Stark. Howard’s son. No wonder he looked familiar. They looked so much alike. She tore her eyes from him and looked around the plane. She didn’t see anyone else.

Tony sat beside her and patted her knee. “You’re safe. The only other person on board is Natasha and she’s flying us home. Everything will be all right now.”

Anna looked up at him and lifted her hand. Before Tony could even react, she touched his head. He grasped her wrist but hesitated before pushing her away. Warmth flowed from her to him and he frowned. She smiled and pulled her hand away.

“Uh, Tony,” Clint said and trailed off. His gaze darted between his friend and her. “She healed you.”

Tony’s brow furrowed and he lifted a hand to where the cut had been. He found nothing but the remnants of blood. “How?”

Anna gave him another smile and a shrug. Just wait until they saw everything she was capable of.

#bucky barnes x oc #bucky barnes fanfiction #avengers fanfiction #my mcu #nightingale's song

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what-even-is-thiss · 6 years ago

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I kinda want to stick the boys in an urban fantasy setting like the one I’ve been developing for a few years.

Virgil wasn’t born with magic but made friends with a witch and is now a warlock that specializes in rune magic. He knows how to perform blood magic too but only uses it for larger spells. In this universe real, effective witchcraft done through rituals can only be performed by people with a shattered soul. It’s a sort of consolation prize the universe gives them for having to live with the emotional pain that comes with that. Virgil’s soul was broken in increments throughout his childhood through extreme bullying that he never reported to his parents. Like with many other witches and warlocks learning ritual magic and finding a community saved his life. He can see the state of other people’s souls and read what kind of inherent magic they have at a glance.

He’s a student getting a doctorate in the hopes of becoming a research professor at a prominent university. He’s that graduate student that’s also teaching an into to chemistry class to mostly freshmen and walks in to every class one minute late and with a bunch of disorganized papers in hand. A lot of people are surprised he’s trying to become a professor, especially when they see the weird runes tattooed on his arm. “what do they mean?” they always ask. “Some old poem thing.” he always replies, leaving it at that.

His introduction to the underground community was slow because registering witches and warlocks is complicated. Technically they’re not supposed to exist but the government learned long ago they’re not going anywhere so they just have to accept them in if they manage to master their craft.

Logan is an A-class weapons master. A-class is the highest level of natural power one can posses and a weapons master is someone that can summon weapons and learn to master them far faster than any other human would be able to. They also have the ability to enchant or curse weapons. Logan would randomly accidentally curse knives by accident when he was a little kid and the government was monitoring him from a young age because something was detected when he was a baby. When his “little problem” as his mother called it showed up they had people knocking on their door basically the next day.

He’s been taught how to fight and be a killing machine since he was a little kid for two reasons. 1. All magical persons are guaranteed through international law an opportunity to receive mentoring and instruction in their abilities and how to control them and Logan’s abilities are basically only useful if you’re fighting or cursing your uncle’s hunting rifle. 2. Magical persons are actually usually in danger of being attacked or turned into the authorities because most people in the world don’t know magic exists or understand it and A-class persons are especially vulnerable because they don’t always have control over their abilities so able bodied A-class magic users are strongly encouraged to learn how to fight and defend themselves. Logan’s parents took this advice and basically let his mentor shape him into a fighting machine.

He doesn’t like it but he was coerced into joining the marines as a teenager and he didn’t see until he was in the thick of things how much he actually hates the cards that he was dealt in life. It was at about his fifth confirmed kill on a special mission with two other weapons masters that he realized he didn’t want to be there. He tends to not answer questions about all the scars he has. If he does he just claims to be accident prone.

His day job now is working as an editor for a prominent literary magazine. Unfortunately for him he’s still really infamous and his uncle’s hunting rifle still teleports to another room whenever a person with A- blood touches it. His ex-boyfriend broke up with him because he one time conjured a dagger in his sleep and injured both of them in the process. Because of how infamous he is in certain parts of the magical community there’s always someone that wants to blackmail him into helping them somehow. Logan usually ends up snuffing the problem out relatively quickly though. He’s made it very clear that he wants to continue spending his days sorting through poetry submissions and he’s willing to get a little more blood on his hands to make sure that it stays that way. His current interaction with the underground doesn’t go much further than the occasional veterans support group meeting and maybe a visit to the magical clinic to have his energy levels checked.

Patton is a C-level spell caster. Different from a witch or warlock, often called a wizard or sorcerer instead. C-class is the lowest level of magic where inherent abilities are able to be used reliably (rather than just in moments of extreme panic like with most humans) and spell casters are persons with undifferentiated magic that can be directed with helpful objects. Wands, jewelry, magical knives, whatever. Hands only magic is also taught but is less exact unless you put a lot of effort into your training. Patton did not put a lot of effort into his training.

Basically think of spell casters as jack of all trades master of none type of magic. They can do anything, just not super powerfully. They can summon fire, sure, but someone with fire specific magic would be able to easily burn down an entire building while they can maybe light a candle. The most powerful of them might be able to do a flamethrower for a few seconds.

Patton uses his magic for fun, mostly. He works at the magical community center and teaches an intro to history of magic class and a basic magical law course for adults that discover their powers late and parents of magical children. If anyone without an “in pass” (permission to access the underground and granted immunity from memory wipes) asks what his day job is, he teaches adult school. He speaks Spanish and ASL as well as English and just generally shows a lot of love and patience to people being thrown into this world. He’s a supporter of the movement to integrate magic into everyday life and expose it to the world but knows that’s probably not going to happen in his lifetime.

Sometimes his classes will get bored and he’ll ask if they want to see something he’s been practicing and then he’ll try a new spell he’s been practicing with his expensive looking watch that he uses as his casting device and sometimes he causes a power outage. Only sometimes though, as he will quickly remind his boss.

Roman is a B-class charmer. That is, a person with moderately powerful charm magic. He can influence people easily and make them ignore some of the bad things about him and focus on the parts that they like instead. As a rule charmers aren’t usually introduced to the underground or made aware of their status as a magical person unless a friend or family member fills out the paperwork to let them in on their secret or someone int heir immediate family turns out to be magical. The reason is that charming is by far the most common magical ability (they almost outnumber the entire magical population on their own) and can only learn to control their powers to a certain degree. And of course of a B or A-class charmer learns how to control their abilities more the potential of them becoming more dangerous skyrockets. Charmers that powerful are quite rare, but they can’t make an exception for them.

Roman found out that he has this charming ability because as it turns out, his adopted daughter has the ability to control plants. When the scary people with clipboards and neckties and weird looking guns on their hips came to his door to explain to him and his husband that magic is real they also brought up Roman’s own magic. When they explained how it worked suddenly Roman got a horrible feeling in his stomach. Suddenly his whole life made a lot more sense, and suddenly he felt sort of bad for making a career as an influencer (he makes Instagram videos and YouTube commentary videos and confession type stuff, sort of akin to Dan Howell’s old stuff). And understandably this has but a lot of questions between him and his husband and if his husband was influenced by this ability Roman didn’t know he had. He is really conflicted. On one hand, he has something to talk to his daughter about and he’s learning to control himself better and find other people that relate to him. On the other hand, he feels a bit bad whenever one of his videos goes viral now, his husband doesn’t like appearing in videos anymore, and there’s a weird rift int heir relationship they have to get over now.

I’m sure you’re wondering now how they all meet. Well, Virgil and Patton are old college roommates and Virgil is staying with him while he goes to grad school because graduate students make not a lot of money and as great as witchcraft is, it unfortunately can’t make money out of thin air.

Roman is taking Patton’s class with his husband. The husband stops going in the middle of the class and Patton senses something’s up. He invites Roman to have a friendly coffee and Roman ends up spilling everything that’s been going on and probably his coffee too.

Logan shows up at the university from time to time to go to poetry readings or talk with people in the literary community or see a lecture and Virgil catches a glimpse of him on one of his visits and thinks “Oh. An A-class with a cracked soul. That’s some valuable blood for potions and such.” and he proceeds to worm his way into Logan’s life to try and convince him to let him bottle some of his blood. Unfortunately for Virgil he ends up liking Logan so much that this request becomes more and more awkward sounding as time goes on and eventually he gives up on the idea. Logan deduces what he wanted when Virgil reveals that he’s a warlock and then shrugs and goes “I have plenty of scars already. What’s one more?” and then there’s a weird visit to Patton’s house where Roman and his husband are having an informal bit of couple’s therapy and Virgil is thinking about taking Logan int he back room to do some bloodletting which is being delayed because guests are here and Roman and Virgil hate each other immediately of course.

I could take all of this two ways. Magical friends living a weird everyday magical life and doing weird everyday shenanigans, or some weird dangerous event happens like someone killing off witches or Roman’s daughter getting kidnapped, forcing Logan out of retirement and Virgil into using some of those weird bottles of blood he’s been holding onto. Big or small. Who knows? Not me. This is just an outline for the au who knows if I’ll actually do anything with it

#sanders sides #roman said a thing #sanders sides au

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listoriented · 6 years ago

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Caesar 3

Ancient History

Ah, can you smell it? The dew on the grass? The vacuum in the office? It’s the games, they begin with a different letter now, so everything seems different. A completely superficial kind of different, sure, but that’s what we’re all about. And yet, C commences with perhaps the oldest (intact from manufacture date) game yet to hit the list, a game which also happens to be set two and a half millennia ago. Artificial newness meets two kinds of old in this heady, confusing stretch of an introductory paragraph.

Handily for me, I was just on a bit of a city-builder/management games kick last month, dabbling in Islanders, nodding my head at Surviving Mars, glancing nervously at Oxygen Not Included. Unhandily, these tooltip-heavy games could only skew my expectations wildly for the difficulty that was to come.

In the background this week, cake. Also The International, my annual re-engagement with Dota, at the same time as finals approaching for the ASL - a mini e-sports glut, basically, which I’m hoping to keep half an eye on while trying to crunch through a thing for uni. Oh bountiful electronic joy.

Where/When/Why: Caesar 3 is our first encounter with the expansive Humble Sierra Bundle, from August 2016. At the time I was playing the Batman games and starting to consider how much of a long-term problem ad-hoc adding thirty old adventure games to the library might one day be. But I wanted the Gabriel Knight games (they were faves of Charlie, my housemate at the time) so I did it anyway, dumping $15 on the whole lot.

Who/What: This third iteration of the Caesar series came out in 1998. The series was developed by Massachusetts-based Impressions Games, and is apparently considered to be part of a broader City Building series that included games set in ancient Greece and Egypt. Impressions went through a series of acquisitions and folded in 2004, though wikipedia suggests Tilted Mill (who are still operating, I think), are something of a successor in terms of employees and game style.

Prior experience: Though I'm pretty sure I would have enjoyed it as a kid, I don't think I've played any of the series before. AJ mentioned having repeatedly played a demo on his family's PowerMac 180 back in the 90's, so it's possible I encountered it then (both our families were Mac families, but his were the first to have colour). Roy also claims Caesar 2 was a game he grew up with, something of a replacement experience for Civilization. I more recently remembered Caesar 3 mentioned on 3MA's deep dive through the best strategy games of '98. But it's otherwise an unknown to me, and its apparent historical popularity and current familiarity to everyone else is weird and unexpected.

Veni Vidi VVVVVV: We begin with an isometric screen of grass, trees and rivers. This makes sense, because it was made in the 90s, back when life itself was still isometric. Actually before that we begin with a comfortably awful CG intro vid, giving us a rose-tinted overview of Rome's rise to power. I would expect/want nothing less. The campaign begins in tute mode, handing us the role of colony-planner during Rome's expansion in Italy in the 400 BCs - supposedly we answer to Caesar, even though IRL it’d be another few centuries until Julius Caesar happens and the name 'Caesar' becomes a term for ruler. Of course we're only pointing this out because we're a pedantic knob looking to fill some space, and we want you to know how smart we are, and we’re persisting in writing as though we are plural.

The first mission is tick-the-boxes easywork, but from there it gets tough quickly, withholding info in a way that just wouldn't fly two decades on. In the second I got stuck in a strange loop, constantly some hundred citizens short of the mission requirement and no understanding of how to break out. It seemed that even though I'd run out of arable land, my city wasn't making enough food due to a lack of labour, yet not having enough food also seemed to mean that more people wouldn't move to my town. It took me a few restarts to crack this threshold, with no real understanding of what I'd done differently other than build some extra granaries (did the game mean I was producing enough food, I just wasn't storing it properly?), and opting to not build a lot of the extra luxury buildings that became available suddenly halfway through. Rinse and repeat in the third mission, just with different problems on a larger scale, ad infinitum.

The game has an usually hectic cadence to it, for a city-builder. Things go wrong frequently, buildings collapse and burst into flames, people get sick, gods get angry because you forgot to build shrines to them, the months canter by, taking your denariis with them, and there's no functional pause so no way of stopping the ongoing collapse while you go hunting for problems or work out where the best place is to put this senate or farm or next row of houses. Little cartoony figures rush up and down the roads, moving goods around or putting out fires, something visually akin to an ants nest. The eponymous Caesar is constantly angry and disappointed because we haven't met his expectations. Everything is always on fire, for reasons that are not always clear.

If I was a little smarter at this point, I would have remembered that the internet, well, exists, and I would have gone looking for help a little earlier. One of the first tips this LP suggested was to bring the game speed down, which was something I didn’t even know I could do, because it’s an option tucked away in a menu rather than front and centre in the UI where, as a 21st century player of games, I usually expect it to be.

I've played Caesar 3 for four hours or so and I still feel like I'm a long way from understanding it. Every time I open it I make a new and important discovery about how things are meant to work, and then I feel like a fool for not realising this earlier. Progress is incremental, barely visible. Experienced players make Roman towns that look very different to mine. The systems are there, complex and surprisingly extensive but hidden, and the game doesn't seem to have much interest in making things easy. It's no bad thing that we expect games to be better at teaching us how to play them than we did in '98, just IMO. But it's a fun city-builder, if a somewhat stressful and difficult one for someone who grew up with the more forgiving Maxis variants, and in a parallel life I stick with it and learn a valuable lesson in patience and persistence, if not anything particularly useful about history.

next is Caesar 4

#game71 #caesar 3 #impressions games #city building series #city builder #strategy #isometric #1998 #games of 1998 #sierra entertainment #humble sierra bundle #ancient history #ancient rome

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cutiepasta-thewriter · 7 years ago

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Parent trap au

Peter has a semi-identical twin brother named Pierce. They have the same face but Peter has freckles and Pierce doesn't. Pierce also has dirty blond hair and Peter had chestnut brown hair. They both however have the same hazel doe eyes that held so much hope and innocence.

So they weren't perfect mirror twins but they were brothers and while Pierce was the bolder older brother he was also the dependent one. He was lost without Peter's calming presence. Peter was on the other hand lived on his twins shadow, he had no interest in changing that either.

Unfortunately when Pierce and his parents where driving to the air port there was a accident. Each of them where presumed dead and Peter he wasn't with them. The four year old was staying with his aunt and uncle because he caught the flu and couldn't go on the trip with his family.

Ironically, the family was going to cancel the trip and turn back instead because they couldn't really leave their son alone.

Their car was hit due to an officer redirecting traffic when they where making a turn around the corner. The result was not only both cars crashing but a third rear ending the first killing the Parkers on impact. The driver sandwiched in between bother cars was none other then Doctor Stephen Strange who later watched half conscious as paramedics pryed open a back door and pulled a bleeding child from the back seat.

I was impossible for the Doctor to forget the that night. He could only see the blood soaked boy being wrapped up carried off to one of the ambulances before they retrieved the mangled corpses of his family. Stephen did even know if the kid lived.

Surgery after surgery did nothing for the hotshot doctor. He had to find alternative practices in medicine. You know how that part of the story goes but what you don't know is that Stephen returned to the hospital to see what happened to the family he destroyed. He was thankful that the boy had actually survived but was shocked to find out that the boy was sent to foster care because they couldn't find a next of kin. The boy couldn't tell them either since they boy was not only mute but had amnesia. The accident had damaged the kid's brain quite a bit and while physically the boy can speak his brain can't connect the words to his mouth.

Nothing about the kid's parents could be found either. The record on them had been stripped clean, they didn't exist anymore.

So the nameless, mute, amnesiac child was staying at the hospital until they found a home for him after recovery.

The child was later adopted a few months later, by Stephen. The boy was renamed Sterling Strange. It meant valuable and pure in its modern form but its old English origins meant 'Little Star'.(Stephen read through twenty baby name books before finding the perfect match)

Stephen raised Sterling in the sanctum and was determined to teach him how to speak again and how to use ASL. Sign language was challenging since using his hands was hard for the warlock but he has Wong around to help.

Sterling knew about what happened to his family but never blamed Stephen for it. He loved his wizard dad and wouldn't change it for the world.

In New York a similar story was told as a Peter had adjusted to a life with out his parents and brother. On the anniversary of the accident his aunt and uncle cheered him up with tickets to the Stark expo. But like curse or a blessing it was attacked. Iron man himself had saved Peter's life and shielded him from the blasts. After it was all over Mr. Stark help him find his aunt and uncle.

Later that year there when financial troubles and they were faced with a hard decision. Peter was technically a foster child in the eyes of the state, mostly because they wanted him to have parents again and not just a aunt and uncle. This way May and Ben could also have a say in who Peter ended up with. They didn't want to lose their other nefew to a terrible family. Unfortunately they had to consider sending Peter to live in a different foster home for a bit until everything was sorted.

Peter was more then a little scared, he didn't want to be alone. So, in one of his weekly letters he sent to his hero Tony Stark he talked about what was wrong.

Tony unlike what you'd expect actually did read the letters. They were usually about what Lego sets the kid built or how good he did in class that day. The inventor kept the letters all over the house from his office desk to his work bench. Something about reading them always gave him the energy to go the extra mile. Heck, he even had a few of Peter's tests hung on his fridge.

So, the billionaire got involved. After many talks with the Parkers he knew they would never take money from him but they did agree to something else.

Soon enough Peter Parker became Peter Stark and May and Ben went back to working full time.

Tony learned that is wasn't going to be easy taking care of Peter.

The night of the accident Peter fever shot up quickly in his sleep. It caused a lot of damage to his respiratory system, it left Peter with bad asthma as well has a weakened immune system. There are some truly frightening times when Peter catches a cold and has a seizure. Thankfully Tony can afford the medical treatments and medications Peter needed to increase his immune response.

It was worst it of course Peter was the light of his life and he spoiled the kid as much as possible. He was a better father then his own as he watched star wars and help build robots with his son.

But then came that fateful day when the two boy where dropped off at camp. It was a camp for young upperclass geniuses. For children born and bred for greatness.

Tony cheated Peter's bag over and over again to make sure he had his inhaler. Peter watched as a bunch of kids stared as them. He hoped that no one at the camp treated him differently because of his last name. He hated being treated like some kind of celebrity by people his age because they always try to take advantage of him or talk behind his back.

On the other side of the drop off point Sterling and his father went over the rules. No magic, no fighting, no talking about magic, and play nice with the other kids. Sterling knew almost immediately that he was very different from the other kids. His robes where the first sign. In Kamar-Taj they were normal but he knew the outside world was a very different place. Stephen assured Sterling would be fine, as far as anyone could tell he was one of the foreign students from Nepal.

It was during a chess competition between cabins when the boys met. They where evenly matched the entire game until Sterling got bored and switched the rook and the bishop when no one was looking. Peter immediately called him out causing an argument.

This resulted into an all-out war between the boys. Peter would make fun of the blond's posh British accent when he was supposedly from india. Sterling believed Peter was a spoiled rich kid that couldn't take a joke.

Eventually the boys where forced to stay in a cabin together until they got along after a few too many pranks.

The boy eventually found out more and more about each other's pasts. Like that they were both adopted, they had the same birthday, and that both their parents died in a car crash. Peter admitted that he had a twin brother who died as well.

When Sterling signed/asked what he was like Peter shifted uncomfortably before saying his brother had blond hair and freckles like Sterling.

Sterling admitted that he lost his memory after the accident.

Peter thought for a moment before saying that his brother had a star shaped birth mark on the back of his neck. And upon inspection Sterling had it. Proof his bother was alive.

Sterling didn't know what to think. He wanted to know where he came from but he didn't know how to begin.

The boys came up with an admittedly stupid idea but two bottles of hair dye and a haircut later there they were.

The newly reunited twins wanted to see the other's life and this was their chance.

Sterling helped his brother learn sign language as well as how to navigate the sanctum. He also needed to tell Peter about magic and how to start using it. Thankfully, Sterling didn't know too much yet. Peter also needed to know how to speak in a British accent.

Peter laughed everytime he had to say telly instead of tv. It was also hilarious to see Sterling try to pronounce penguin.

On the other hand Peter had to teach his brother about New York and how to get around happy. He needed to make sure Rodney didn't catch on, he had the eyes of a hawk. Also Sterling needed to learn Italian since it was something he spoke exclusively with his dad and aunt when they where alone.

At the end of camp the boys had ended swapped places as they met their 'dads'.

For weeks they spent time getting to know their other parents.

Peter was in awe of the pure beauty of the sanctum and exploring the temples. Learning about relics and reading the ancient books in the library was insanely fascinating.

Sterling stared out at the city from the penthouse home. Looking down at the all the people going about their day was mesmerizeing. The city was alive and constantly moving and changing. Kamar-Taj seemed almost small in comparison.

Getting to know the fathers they had never met was another thing entirely.

Stephen worked tirelessly to help his son speak and when Peter who had no difficulty doing so did, the wizard had so much joy in his eyes.

The same went for Sterling as he had no trouble when it came to being active and had no need for an inhaler. Tony had lost hope of ever seeing his son run and play like a normal child but this was unbelievable.

Both boys felt guilty for what they where doing. They where tricking the people they cared about most and giving false hope to their guardians.

So they had to reveal themselves, the lies had to stop somewhere.

Stephen broke down when he heard the truth. He had no idea Sterling had a brother. He had not only orphaned two boys but he took one of them away. He should have tried harder to find his family. He shouldn't have separated them. He apologized over and over again as the boy hugged him. Peter didn't care what happened, he was just glad his brother had someone so caring in his life even if he wasn't in it.

"I should have help you too. He needed you more." Stephen whispered as he ran has hand through the boy's fake blond hair.

Tony had to hold back tears as he realized what this meant. He would listen to Peter's endless stories about his brother on nights he couldn't sleep or had nightmares about that night. Sometimes he really wished he could have just adopted both boys or at least have met Pierce. That way Peter could at have had someone else to grieve like he did. But to have that brother stand right in front of him m, it was a miracle. To know that Peter wasn't alone, it made things so much lighter.

"You look just like him. It's not a bad thing but I think I prefer your natural look." Tony said tears running down his face as he swiped the pale makeup off Sterling's nose so reveal a cluster of freckles underneath.

There came the time when both families had to switch their twins back but as soon as they met again the boy refused to be separated. They loved their fathers but they where brothers and they weren't going anywhere without the other.

The fathers had their hands tied so they had to work out a system.

At first the twin constantly changed houses but Stephen made a portal that linked the homes so everyone could come and go as they pleased. It resulted in what felt like one large home that didn't exist in a single place. The children got to explore a whole new world and the adults where at ease that they didn't lose theirs sons but gained another.

They co-parented like champs but Tony was still quick to spoil his twins. Stephen was still the fun dad though.

They became a happy family and yes they lived happily ever after.

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