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golbrocklovely · 9 months ago

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soulmates? // sam golbach

A/N: here's my first fic of 13 nights!! i've had this idea for so long, and i'm happy to finally make it into a fic. i really love a good enemies to lovers, and if you do, hopefully you'll like this one. let me know what you think and please enjoy !

prompt: fans knew you and sam bickered a lot, but what they didn't know is how much you truly hated one another. you decide to prank sam with a fake tarot reading, but end up finding out secrets about him and yourself. || sam golbach x fem!reader

trigger warning: angst, name calling, enemies-to-lovers, tarot/physic, cursing, semi fluffy ending?

word count: 3429

~~~~~~~~~~

I waved at the camera, beginning my intro, "Hey yall, welcome back to my channel. Today, I'm gonna be pulling a little prank on Sam with the help of someone very special."

"Hi guys!" Colby grinned.

"Thank you so much for being on my channel today, Colby." I glanced over at him, copying his smile.

He nodded, "Of course. Wouldn't miss it for the world."

"So today, I decided I'm gonna prank Sam, in a very unusual way." I stared mischievously into the camera, "I hired a psychic and she's gonna read our futures. That's what Sam thinks this video is gonna be about. But the catch is that she's gonna make it seem like me and Sam are destined to be together."

Colby chuckled, "Oh my God, that sounds so funny."

"I hope she goes all out. I'm talking 'you two are soulmates, you need to get together now', things like that. Just to really nail home that we are supposed to be together." And as you guys know, especially if you've watched me before, me and Sam don't exactly always get along.

“You guys do fight like an old married couple though.” He snickered.

“Of course you would know that feeling, Colby. You guys are basically already married.” I sassed.

"He really is my husband. But I’ll gladly share him with you.” He teased.

I playfully swatted at him, "Anyway, I wonder what Sam's reaction is gonna be to all of this."

"Fingers crossed he runs out of the psychic's place screaming bloody murder." Colby joked.

"Jesus, that would be dramatic." I mumbled more to myself than the camera, "I'm not that terrible."

"I don't think that way, but you know Sam does." He mentioned.

I lowered the camera, glaring at him for a second. "Colby, I can't keep that in the video."

“Well, cut those parts out." He suggested.

"Fine." I cleared my throat, pulling the camera back up, "Wow, that would be kinda crazy to see. Alright, now we wait for Sam to come, and I'll catch you guys up when he gets here."

"Do you honestly think this is a good idea?" Colby questioned, raising an eyebrow at me.

"Oh, it's probably a horrible idea. And Sam is gonna be deeply annoyed with me for a while, since we all swore off pranks. But I don't care. Last week he pissed me off at Sarah's party and this is his pay back." I huffed.

"I wonder how he's gonna actually react to this. He's never had his love reading done before." He stated, looking at the cars passing by.

I shrugged, "Neither have I. But knowing him he's gonna go down the route of 'none of this is real, she's lying' and then he'll find out it's a prank and laugh for the camera, but yell at me afterwards."

"You two love to fight and argue, that's for sure." He jested, smirking devilishly.

"What can I say? He knows how to get under my skin in just the right way. So I have to reciprocate it back." I replied, glancing at the street, waiting to see Sam's car pull up. He was running late.

"Why do you let him upset you so much, if you don't mind me asking?" Colby pushed lightly, his voice low.

"When I first collabed with you guys, I wanted to make a good first impression. And when we investigated, it seemed like Sam really liked me. Or at least tolerated me and respected me." I narrowed my eyes at the memory, sucking my teeth, "But to hear him badmouth me later directly to one of my friends while he was at a party drunk, it just became clear to me that he was fake. Or at least... around me he was."

He shook his head, "Sam's never been like that before. I don't know why he would do that to you."

"Well, all I know is that he thinks I'm arrogant and loud and that I act like I'm better than everyone. Which is fucking hysterical given the fact I hate myself." I deadpanned.

Colby's expression softened. "Don't say that."

I glanced at him quickly, "Sorry, I don't really hate myself that much, but you get what I mean. Well, jokes on him. Your fans love me, and have asked me back twice at this point."

He snorted. "You have no idea how much it pains him to hear the fans love you. It's honestly really fucking funny."

"If it continues to piss him off, then I'm glad." I jeered.

He pointed at the car behind us, peaking into the rearview mirror, "Speak of the devil..."

I unbuckled my seatbelt, slowly getting out of my car. I glared at his Tesla, stupid fucking car, and trudged over to him. Colby walked up to him, giving him a quick hug.

His car had a light sheen on it, clearly wet from a wash. "Was it really necessary to get your car detailed before my video?"

"Of course it was. Anything to delay this, the better." Sam replied, smiling.

"God, I regret asking you to be in the video. I should have just got Colby." I grunted.

Sam pulled open his car door, "I could leave right now. Trust me, I wouldn't mind."

"No. I want you here, just so I can continue to torture you." He rolled his eyes at me, shutting his door and alarming his car. I continued, "Hey, maybe the psychic can tell us how far up the stick is in your ass."

He feigned a grin, walking to me. "Maybe she can tell us why you constantly have a shit dating life."

"Well, you would know that very well, wouldn't you? Mister Unable-to-Commit." I sneered, stepping towards him.

Colby stood between us, "Children, please. Can we stop fighting and just film the intro with all three of us? We are gonna miss our appointment with the psychic."

"Fine. You ready?" I watched both boys nod, Sam rolling his eyes at me. I glared, turning my camera on, pausing, and then starting the fake intro. "Hey guys, today I'm here with Sam and Colby!"

The boys cheered, jumping around and acting like fools for a moment. Sam stepped towards me, yelling almost in my face. I did my best to not react, to only keep smiling.

"Wow, what an intro." I faked a laugh, trying to ignore the ringing in my ears. "So today we are at a psychic tarot reader and we are gonna get our fortunes read. Have you guys ever had that done before?"

"Yes, and boy did it tell us some bad things." Colby answered, smirking.

It hit me suddenly, one of Colby's past readings. I gasped, "Oh my God, I forgot about that!"

Sam chimed in, "Fake fan."

"Well, let's hope for some better futures then. Let's go!" I pointed at the door of the building, then turned the camera off. I smacked Sam's arm, a wince falling from his lips. "Did you really need to fucking say that? Or scream in my ear for that matter."

"What? It was just a joke." He rubbed his arm, his eyes intense, "Don't get your panties in a twist."

I crossed my arms, “I’ll make sure to send the bill from my otolaryngologist to you.”

“Don’t make up words, now.” He mocked.

I quipped, "That’s a real word, dumbass. God you are such a jerk, you know that?"

"A jerk?" He covered his heart, pretending to be wounded. "How will I ever sleep at night?"

I went to step to him, but Colby got in the way. "Don't. He's just fucking with you. Don't let him piss you off." Sam turned and walked inside. Colby lowered his voice, "Besides, you'll be getting him back soon enough."

"I know. This psychic better bring her A game." I grumbled.

We stepped inside, the scent of palo santo hitting me immediately. I felt a cozy feeling flood through me; the walls a lush deep purple velvet, the furniture in earthy and jewel tone colors. There were little trinkets and witchy things all around, some of which you could buy. I walked over to the crystal display, picking up a piece of amethyst.

"Do you honestly think crystals work?" Sam asked.

I hummed, "I'm not sure. But I like the pretty colors."

"Of course you do." He murmured.

My shoulders dropped as I spun to face him, "Have you ever considered not being mean to me?"

"I'm not being mean!" He whisper-yelled. "I'm just saying that you give off the vibe of someone that likes pretty things, including crystals."

"Oh... thanks, I guess." I looked him over, confused and annoyed. "You could have worded it differently, you know."

"Well, if you stopped assuming everything I say to you is me trying to be a dick, maybe we wouldn't be in this situation." He argued.

I place my hands on my hips, “Well if you would stop being a dick to me, I wouldn't think you're trying to always be mean."

He furrowed his brow, "Are you really still upset about-"

"Of course I am." I hissed.

He rolled his eyes, "You're sensitive."

"And you're a prick." I spat.

"Hello! Sorry for coming out a bit late. Was just finishing up my lunch. You guys must be," The psychic looked down at her paper, reading our names. "Colby, Y/N, and Samantha."

"Sam. It's Sam." He corrected.

She gazed down at the paper for a second, frowning. "Oh, my apologies. Must have been written out wrong."

"Must have..." He glared at me, and I smiled sweetly.

Colby politely stuck out his hand, "Thank you for having us. It's a pleasure to meet you..."

"Agatha Cerrony. But you can just call me Aggie," she giggled, shaking his hand. “Okay, so do you want to set up your camera, or how do you guys do it?"

"I was thinking one of us goes at a time, perhaps, and whoever isn't going will film. If that's okay with you?" I inquired, pulling out my camera.

"Of course. Whatever works for you. I will say though, I do recommend that anything too personal shouldn't be filmed, or posted, at the very least." She remarked.

"Yeah, I plan to condense all of our readings down into just some small little bites of info that fans will like to know and that we feel comfortable sharing." I explained, trying to sound serious enough so Sam wouldn't be too suspicious.

"Okay then, who wants to go first?" She asked, looking at all of us.

Colby raised his hand. She grinned excitedly, pointing him to one of the velvet stools in front of her desk. She went around, sat on the other side, and grabbed her tarot deck.

His reading went on for 20 minutes, going through multiple topics like his love life, his relationship with himself and his family, and what the future held for him and his career. I assumed that this part of the reading was true, given how easy going she was saying all of this. And since none of it sounded over the top or dramatic, it seemed pretty realistic.

Then it was Sam's turn. As Colby got up, he gave me a small wink. I choked back a giggle, keeping my face as stone cold as I could. The psychic shuffled the deck quickly, asking him what he wanted to talk about first.

"My career, please." Sam stated.

I rolled my eyes behind the camera, of course that's what he wants to talk about.

She placed three cards down, explaining that the next couple months were going to be full of success, much like Colby's reading. "However, there might be a hiccup in the future, so be cautious of new advisors or managers coming into play." Also, some of their biggest success was just a couple months down the line if they continued down this great path.

"So, keep a clear mind and focus," she reiterated. "What next?"

"How about your love life, Sam?" Colby suggested.

I beamed, "Yeah, that would be so cool to hear about."

Sam sighed, "Ehh, I don't really care-"

"Come on, Sam. Aren't you the least bit curious? You haven't had a gf in almost a year. That's almost unheard of for you." I jested.

He narrowed his eyes at me, "Thanks, Y/N."

Colby smirked. "Look I got mine read, and she's gonna get hers. Do yours."

Sam turned back to the psychic, shrugging nonchalantly. "Fine. Tell me about my future girlfriend. Or love life..."

Aggie nodded, shuffling the deck quickly. I grinned over at Colby, zooming in on the cards she pulled from the deck. "Well, these cards are telling me that while you have been single for a bit, you do seem to have feelings for someone, even if you don't like admitting to it."

Colby audibly gasped, "Wait what?"

"Oh... that's," Sam cleared his throat, "um, interesting."

"It feels like you hold yourself back a bit when it comes to this person." She placed a couple more cards down, pointing at the first one, "This card shows that while you do have feelings, you also are upset with this person. Or maybe, it's more of a back and forth with them. Sometimes you love them, sometimes you hate them. They frustrate you, but you also enjoy that frustration."

"Sounds like someone we know..." Colby whispered to me.

"Do you know who I could be talking about? Is there someone in your mind?" She queried.

Sam squirmed in his seat, shaking his head. "Um, n-no. I don't think so."

She squinted at him for a moment, "Okay..." Aggie pulled more cards from the top, nodding her head at them. "Oh, see. This explains some stuff to me."

His back stiffened, "What do they say?"

"So, you and this person go way back. And I mean, beyond this life. You guys knew each other eons ago. And there is some unresolved tension from a past life that has caused you guys to butt heads all the time." She answered, pointing at the cards.

He blinked. "The cards say all of that?"

She chuckled lightly, "Well, yes and no. I am also a psychic so I'm tapping into my spirit guides to help me explain some of the cards more."

Colby nudged Sam, "Dude, you've been crushing on someone? Why haven't you told me? Do I know her?"

Sam pffted, "I wouldn't say a crush-"

Aggie shuffled the cards again, placing three more down. "You both know her. She's someone you met recently, probably within the last couple months. A very strong energy comes from her, which is why sometimes you butt heads. She meets you with the same energy you give."

"Recently met... strong energy... that sounds like you, Y/N." Colby commented.

"What?! Don't say that." Sam exclaimed.

I faked a glare at Colby, "Yeah, don't start Colby."

Aggie collected all of the cards, "If you want, I can see if you guys have a connection."

Sam inhaled sharply, "I don't know."

"It would be good for the video." I whispered to him.

"You're not posting this unless it says we aren't a match." He scowled.

"Alright, relax Sam. I'm not gonna post it." I gave the camera to Colby, winking. I sat down next to Sam, watching him as he scooched his chair away from me.

Aggie shuffled, placing some cards down. "Oh, well that's interesting."

"What's that?" I asked.

"Well I did pull the Lovers card, but it's in reverse." She replied.

Sam questioned, his voice cold. "What's that mean?"

"There seems to be some form of an imbalance between you two. Something that should be talked about. And these cards right here," she pointed to the others, "show that there should be harmony between you two. Because if there was, you would be together. Whether as friends or more, depending on your choice. But there is something keeping this distance and frustration between you two."

"Wow, that's crazy." I pushed for more ‘answers’, loving the way Sam's face contorted in anger. "Am I the one he has a past life with?"

"Really, Y/N?" Sam whined.

"What? Relax, I highly doubt-" I started.

Aggie interrupted, placing another card down, "Yes. You two definitely knew each other in a past life. I personally believe you used to be husband and wife, just from what my spirit guides are telling me."

"I-I'm... What?" Sam stuttered.

"I think there is a lot of unresolved communication between you two, as appearing in this card." She held the card up, showing it towards the camera. "Now obviously, I don't know for certain what's going on inside your head, but if you want to fix things between you two, and I suggest you do, you have to talk to one another. Because from what I can see, you two would work well with one another. Possibly soulmates, if you believe in something like that. But only if you listen."

Sam stood up instantly. "Okay, I think I'm done with my reading."

"Aw, you scared we're soulmates?" I taunted.

"Don't you want to get your cards read? It's late." He retorted, his eyes not meeting mine.

"Well, since your love reading turned into my love reading, I guess I'll ask about my future or whatever." I shrugged happily.

Aggie shuffled the cards as I asked about my career and future friendships. I barely paid attention, figuring the video was already done anyway. I honestly deserve an Oscar for the way I was able to hold back my laughs. God, the look on Sam's face was priceless. He looked so pissed but also weirdly nervous.

Can't wait to make it the thumbnail.

"Is there anything else you would like to ask?" She questioned, collecting her cards.

"No, I think I'm all good here." I turned to Colby, smiling at the camera. "How about we'll regroup outside and talk about what went down then?"

Colby nodded, turning the camera off. "Sounds good to me."

Sam said nothing, walking over to the waiting room chairs with Colby. As they grew closer to each other, Sam spoke in hushed tones to him.

I turned back to Aggie, shaking her hand softly. "Hey, thank you so much for letting us film here. I really appreciate it. That whole bit about Sam and I being soulmates was really good."

She raised an eyebrow at me, "Bit? I'm not sure what you mean by that."

"Also, I know this is probably really weird to ask, but on the phone, you had a thick accent of some sort..." I explained, a bit confused, "It almost sounded French to me? Are you from there or-?"

"Oh! You must have been talking with Madeline," she laughed. "She's the owner of this place, I'm just one of her friends who does readings from time to time."

I hesitated, her words sinking in. "Um... wasn't she the one that was supposed to do the reading?"

"Yeah, did she forget to call you? She's sick, out with a cold," Aggie mentioned. "But I figured she wouldn't mind me doing your reading anyway. We've both been practicing tarot readers for 20 years."

"Uh.. Uh, did she tell you about what I wanted this reading to be about?" I stammered.

"Unfortunately she didn't write that out in her schedule, but you asked me during your session. Was there anything in particular you needed me to read for you? I can do another session real quick before the next group comes in." She suggested.

"No, no that's fine. Um, I-I..." I exhaled deeply, trying to calm myself. "So everything you just told me, about me and Sam and how in past lives we were together and that we would actually work out really well if we dated... that was all true?"

"That's what the cards said, yes. Along with my own personal psychic feelings," she admitted. "If you want I can give you some more resources and you can look the cards up on your own if you need some further explanation."

"Thank you, I appreciate that." I mumbled, barely listening to what she said.

As she gathered up some papers, jotting down some books for me to check out, I glanced over at Sam. He was still talking to Colby, but looking at me. His face was hard to read, but his eyes had this softness in them I hadn't ever seen before.

My heart skipped a beat as we locked eyes.

#sam golbach #sam golbach x reader #sam golbach fanfiction #sam golbach fanfic #sam golbach fic #sam golbach oneshot #sam golbach one shot #golbrocklovely's 13 nights of halloween #sam golbach angst #sam golbach fluff

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georgiapeach30513 · 1 year ago

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Your Mark On Me, Part 13

Summary: Steve softens and submits

Pairings: Steve Rogers X Reader

Rating: explicit

Warnings: explicit language, explicit sexual content, bit of a chase kink, teasing, unprotected sex, PIV sex, creampie, bathtime fun, D/s dynamics, breeding kink, bit of voyeurism, mean!Steve, 18+ ONLY

Word Count: 5.9K

Series Masterlist

*dividers created by @firefly-graphics

*edit by @nixakimbo

You give a final smile to Bucky and Shy, and hug to your former guard. Making sure to kneel down to rub on Shy’s belly, leaning to give the bump a kiss, “You take care of your mama, little Ember. I can’t wait to hold you. Thank you for a lovely day,” you stand back up, giving Shy another hug. “Your home is lovely.”

And with that Steve nods a head to both Bucky and Shy, leading you out to the car where he opens the door up for you. He can be sweet when he wants to. When he isn’t so brooding and all business. Trying to be create a persona that is quite different to the man you were starting to learn. Days like this made you realize that there is a lot more to Steve than meets the eye. He could be soft. Just with the right people.

You suppose that is probably the safest thing to do, be cautious. For him. You just loved people, and wanted them to know. Everyone needed words of confirmation from time to time. “She looks adorable pregnant.”

“So will you,” he answers, giving you a soft smile. He could be a bit confusing with his personality. Today you are getting the sweet Steve. It had to have been seeing Bucky again. Bucky leaving Steve’s business for good seems to have affected him. He realizes how things have shifted.

“Are you sad?” He keeps his eyes on the road, and his Adam’s apple bobs while he searches for the right words.

“That you have an IUD? Of course. But I’ll let you decide when I get to fill you full of me,” you roll your eyes as your hand naturally falls into his. He is so silly. Always going back to that, and not at all what you are thinking about.

”I meant about Bucky choosing Shy over…the business,” you hesitate to say over Steve. he didn’t necessarily choose Shy over him. But in a way he did. Bucky found something more important to him than what he had been doing for years. More important than being in the business with his best friend. The business risk didn’t outweigh his love for his fiance and future family.

Steve goes silent. His sharp eyes look out in front of the car, but never respond. It hurts him too much to think that Bucky would never be a part of this world for him. “I mean, having a child is a huge responsibility. It seems like Shy makes enough money to keep them afloat. And he seems to really be right at home with her. And their kitty. We should probably get a pet. I bet it was nice for her to have a pet when Bucky was out at odd hours of the night. Especially when he was with me. Heaven knows that man has seen so much of my body, and just what you do to me. Do you think she was ever jealous of that? Have you met Shy before today? Wait, no you said that was your first time meeting her. Bucky must really love her to want to protect her from your life.”

”Dovey,” his thumb draws shapes on your hand, and you turn to look at him. He is haunted about something. About his thoughts that never left him. There is no telling the things that he has seen in this life. “Baby, you need to breathe.”

“Where are you taking me?” This isn’t the way home. “Are we going out?” he shakes his head no, and you look at him with a pout. The facial expression does get a huff of a laugh. “Steve!”

“Does this road not look familiar?” No. It didn’t. But clearly it is supposed to. You sigh, waiting on him to hopefully answer. Your body leans more into him. Letting his warmth encapsulate your nerves. Trying to think of when you had been here, and then there is something that looks familiar.

“But…where is everything else?” It is the playground. Before there were swings, slides, monkey bars, but now the only thing left standing is the bars that Steve had set you on. “Steve?”

“I held onto this place for a long time,” he places the car into park, and while you give him your full attention, he just gazes out at the almost empty park. “I met her here for the first time,” he is taking way too long to tell a story, but for the sake of him not getting pissy at you, you wait on him. Even if you feel a pang of jealousy with the simple word of her.

“She was beautiful. I hadn’t fully grown into my body yet, but she still saw me. I told you I was bullied here, but I was slowly turning it into a drop off. It was overgrown, and kids didn’t come here anymore. But Peggy did. She stayed a bit too far away. Watching. Always watching me. I got a bit cocky, and came by more often. Bought the land, so it was my private property. Employed Bucky and Sam. And I kept getting bigger, and finally she came and talked to me.”

You don’t even know Peggy, but you hate her. It isn’t even jealousy, okay maybe a little bit. But it is mostly due to the fact there’s something so off in her behavior. She just watched him for months?

“She was a simple girl, just wanted some weed. And came by regularly to get it. And then I got the courage to ask her out. We were inseparable. I fell so hard, and so fast. I was telling that woman I loved her everyday. Bucky and Sam kept telling me there was something off with her. She didn't want to move in, but she stayed at my house a lot. Didn’t seem to have a job, but I kept her up anyways. And then — fuck,” he slams his hand onto the steering wheel, leaving you without his warmth.

“A squad came barging into my house throwing shit all around, and what do you know, Peggy was the one leading them. She’d lied the whole time. Undercover for what she felt was the next up and coming drug ring. Sam and Bucky were right, and smarter than that bitch. They cleaned out my house the night before. She was the one that shoved me to the floor, got me in a submissive position on my knees and demanded for me to tell her where the drugs were. I just smiled up at her. I spent a few weeks in jail. And come to find out later she actually is dating Rumlow. Maybe she’s going to bust him, too. Maybe she actually loves him, I don’t know. But I’ve never trusted another woman. Nor been put in that position again.”

It's your turn to go silent. You hated that bitch. How dare she even touch Steve. She got all that with him. All the love and words, and before you. It shouldn’t matter, but she broke him. And the realization of him holding her actions over you. She made him not trust women so much that he couldn’t even be honest with you.

”Until you,” your head slowly turns to look at him, and he’s never seemed so torn. His eyes are glossy, and face solemn, and all you want to do is hold him. “I got on my knees for you. I have left you in my home alone. I have entertained you for months, and I’ve done everything I said that I would never do again, and it’s all been for you. I can’t — Dovey, I’m sorry, I can't say those words you deserve to hear.”

You let out an air of breath that you aren’t aware you were holding, as you search his face. He is being as candid as he can, and his hurt from being used, and lied to still lingers. But he said you deserve to hear the words.

“Steve, I told you it was enough. I will hear those words from you, but what’s more important I feel those words from you. I see them. I didn’t know about what she did to you, but I know that every time you drop to your knees to put my shoes on, it is something that isn’t easy for you, and you’ve given that to me more than once.”

“All that I told her should have been for you.”

“It will be,” your hand cups his cheek, and you place a kiss on his face. Kissing away the single tear that rolls past his lash line. She might have gotten the words, but you get the actions. “Why did you have everything from the playground removed?”

“I didn’t,” his lips turn up into a smile, but he doesn't dare to look out at the former park. His dark lashes splay across his cheeks, keeping his eyes closed, choosing to feel this moment instead of just seeing it. “That piece of equipment doesn’t look familiar? That is the first place that I stared at the face of God. It holds a special meaning to me,” you roll your eyes, attempting to turn away from his silly self when he grabs at your face. Hand on your jaw, making you look at him. His fingers are steady but not too harsh.

His eyes open slowly, and you stare at his perfectly imperfect blue eyes with their bit of green lacing through the crystal blue, “Don’t look away from me when I’m talking to you, and being sweet.”

“You’re talking about my pussy.”

Steve gives you a boop to your nose and a too innocent smile for him, “I think you mean my pussy. At least that’s what you tell me every time I fuck into you. Are you saying I don’t own this pussy anymore,” the hand holding onto your jaw falls in between your thighs, and cups your covered mound. “I do love that you wear skirts. Do you realize how easy it would be to move these panties over and…hey!”

He yells after you as you jump out of the car. Looking back at him with a playful grin. “If it’s your pussy, come and claim it!” Squealing you run away from the giant tattooed man that stomps after you. He doesn’t even have to run with his long strides. But you don’t stop.

Bobbing and weaving on the mostly empty lot. Looking back at him laughing carelessly, and you see the first genuine smile spread across his angelic face. If it wasn’t for his chiseled body covered in ink, he’d look almost boy-like. You’re glad he didn’t tattoo his face. But right now in this moment, you see him for the man he was before his harsh world crashed over him.

Crinkles at the edge of his eyes that you love to kiss. You wished you could see those lines more often. They did seem to be making an appearance more often now. His lines on his face told a story, much like the tattoos and scars that stained his skin.

He reaches out a hand to grab you, but you dodge his advance. Doing a quick twirl before you sprint away, and turn to look at him, “Is that the best you got, Rogers?”

“Now, you’ve gone too far. Take that back!” You’re almost tempted to call him that again.

“Never, daddy!” He growls, wrapping his hand around your wrist, but you slip away. “Stevie, you really are losing your touch. AHH!” You screech when both his arms wrap around you. He pulls you so tight against his body it takes your breath away. You struggle to get away, not wanting this playful Steve to disappear just yet.

Struggling so hard that the two of you slam onto the ground in a fit of giggles, “What was it that you called me, Dovey?”

“Captain,” laughing when he rolls his eyes, and shakes his head no.

“You’re such a liar,” he crows, his teeth nibbling on your neck. Playfully biting you, while demanding you admit the names you called him. “Tell me, baby,” his voice turns labored. The playful chase already over as you wiggle around in his embrace.

His thumb hooks under the elastic of your panties. And he starts to jerk down the cotton. Lifting you up a bit to fully remove them. Legs being pushed apart by his wide body, and you pull at his button, trying to release the monster cock that is straining in these jeans. “Tell me first, and I’ll give you everything you want.”

Pushing aside your hand, he pulls himself out. You yip at the sight of his pretty little piercing coated in beads of precum. Gripping the base of his cock he pumps himself a few times before rubbing his tip through your drenched center. His squishy head barely pushing through your entrance, “I called you Rogers,” his hips thrust forward, leaving you blinded by the intense and immediate stretch.

Vision is blurry. Like a filter had been laid over the world around you, and all you see is him. All you feel is his weight lowering over top of you, and his arms caging you. The cold grass tickling your backside. Senses on overdrive because he gave so much of himself to you today.

“I called you — daddy,” you scream out as he fucks into you so hard and deep his tip kisses the edge of your cervix. The one name he told you not to call him, and you would pay for your indiscretions in pleasure. You are now aware of how you haven’t fully taken all of Steve from the way he is filling you up. A perfect fit indeed as you revel in having him so purely. His hips piston him deeper into your warmth than he’s ever been. Branding you in a different way than before. This is just for you and him.

”Fuck,” Steve grouses, a hand slides up to your neck. Keeping his eyes on yours as he adds a bit of pressure. He is fighting off saying what he really wants to say. Using your body to work through his emotions. Never looking to where the two of you connect, keeping both eyes trained on you.

The softest whimper explodes out of his chest as he holds your gaze, “You’re my best friend.”

His words contradict his sharp thrusts inside of you. “You are. I trust so few, but I trust you…the most,” you preen at his words. Mewling out his name, and circling your legs around him. Allowing your body to take every part of him. Soft words with harsh movements have your body floating and unable to focus.

“I love…love spending every day with you. I don’t want to miss a day,” he is getting there. Slowly. But he is. And judging by the sparks going through your body, you’re also almost there.

“You’re my best friend, too, Captain. Now finish me,” he rams into you. Hitting you in all the right spots until your eyes go crossed, and you roll them into the back of your head. “Steve!” you scream out as your body begins to tremble. There is nothing but the two of you out here in the middle of nowhere where Steve changed your life. And now you are also changing his life.

“My pussy sure does feel good,” he smirks at you. His body slams into you, and your back skids across the ground in the most delightful pleasured pain. You owned him. He is yours. And you will do everything to protect him. This stunted man is now yours to protect. He could hide and deny it, but he is yours.

“Your pussy is only for you.”

“Good,” he growls as you arch your back into him. Bringing yourself close to him. Your body stiffens up. Everything builds to the climax. Looking deep into his beautiful eyes, he nods, “Let go, Dovey,” and everything crashes down around Steve. Your velvety walls cling tight to his thick girth, and his sticky heat fills you up.

He lets your body sink to the ground slowly, and he smirks down at you. “You’re so pretty like this. Fucked hard and dumb, and filled to the brim of…”

“Steve Rogers,” you coo. You’d let this man do whatever he wanted to you. He is powerful, scary, intimidating, but to you he’s just your Captain.

“Let’s go home, sweetie. You need a bath. You have leaves in your hair,” he picks out a leaf, holding it up to prove the mess he made. “Plus you smell like dirt. Come on,” he slowly pulls himself out of you, flicking his eyes down to look at your spread legs. “When can we take that thing out of you?”

“Steve! I have only been having sex for a couple of months. Give me at least a year.”

”I love it when you whine, but a full year?” You nod, going to stand up. Wincing as you reach for your panties he really was deep. Body wobbling, and Steve holds you upright, but still keeps your panties out of your reach, and you stomp your foot. “If I have to wait a year, you have to ride back home with no panties.”

”Steve, your cum…”

“Yes, the thought of my cum leaking out of your cunt is part of the appeal of this arrangement,” exhaling quickly, you start walking away from him. “Oh, cutie, you acting like a brat and seeing that run down your leg is turning me on again.”

“Wash me clean, and you can have your pussy again.”

”I wasn’t going to ask,” he gulps, continuing to watch you walk away. You have been the best thing that’s happened to him. The best part of him. “But I’ll always ask for permission, Dovey,” he whispers, knowing you won’t hear him. “Because I love…hearing you beg.”

Steve’s hands squeeze on your foot, and he sighs when you can’t control the sounds that hum out of your mouth. “You’re the one causing those sounds,” your brow cocks up as you stare at him over the bubbles. “Can you be here with me all the time?”

“If you’ll let me suck on your clit underwater.”

You stare at him both confused and shocked. No way was he going under the water for such a thing, nor did you want his face between your legs right now. He starts to move his body from across the tub, closer to you, and you shake your head no.

“Do you doubt my abilities?”

“Not at all. I know you’d die in between my thighs and think it was the best death in the world. But I’d rather you not die,” or have him be where he was wanting his face be.

He blinks once slowly before getting even closer. Looking more like a predator than your boyfriend, “Steve, no!”

“Then sit on the ledge of the bathtub.”

“I’ll get cold.”

“Then dry off and I’ll feast on my pussy in the bed.”

“Can you give me a few more moments in here? Alone?” " He shakes his head no. “Why not?”

“Why the fuck do you want to stay in the tub?” Because you needed to. Did he not get you needed private time sometimes?

“I have something I need to do, and I don’t want you in here,” pursing his lips, he narrows his eyes while watching you. Making you uncomfortable with how hard he’s staring at you. “Stop! Get out, and give me just a moment.”

“What do you need to do that I can’t see?”

“Seriously?” He scoots a bit closer to you, and you push your foot up against his chest, holding him in place. All the while knowing that this would not keep him away from you, “What are you doing?”

“Going to suck on your clit,” like it is the most obvious answer in the world. Shaking your head no, Steve sighs. “You know I could lift you up and make you do whatever I want you to, so why don’t you explain to me what the problem is, and why you don’t want me to touch you right now?”

You take a long look at Steve, sighing before looking down at the bubbles. Steve had done so much to break down your walls. He had made you a completely different person, a stronger person. He had turned your world upside down. Had just been inside of you, but you don’t want his face down there.

“Dovey?”

“I need to shave,” Steve scoffs, trying to push his body towards you. “Steve, stop. I don’t want your face there.”

“Does it look like I care about a little bit of hair. Let me suck your clit.”

“No.”

“Even though you’re pissing me off, I do think I have found the perfect woman. Because you, my darling, don’t put up with my bullshit. How does it feel to be the only woman that has ever tamed Steve Rogers? Don’t,” the timbre of his voice lowers when you cross your arms across your chest.

He stares deep into your eyes as he gets a bit closer to you. Gaze never leaves yours, but he uses a hand to cup your mound. His fingers roll over your entrance as he tilts his head watching you, “It’s not that bad.”

“It is to me, and I haven’t even found the energy to get away from you to shave.”

“Since I’m such a menace to you, let me shave you,” it is a simple statement and said so easily, but the audacity of this man.

“No.”

“You’re being a brat.”

“It’s one of your favorite things about me.”

“I’m a bigger fan of my pussy. Let me shave you. I’ll get it how you like it because frankly, I don’t get a damn. But I also get to see the face of god,” he’s relentless. Ridiculous even. A menace for you. And the way his eyes flick all over your face, and he never once pushes past your entrance, just lazily taps his fingers on it. “It will be so fucking sexy.”

You’re doubtful of that. You also don’t trust that Steve won’t try to devour you, regardless of what you want. “I want to do it, Dove. I will bow down before you and shave every inch of you if that is what you want. I want to be in every part of your life. Even the parts that you find embarrassing. Because all I know is I get to spend even more time with my favorite girl. Please, Dovey. I’m begging you, please, let me shave your pussy.”

“I’ve never done this before,” you sigh, biting at your lip.

“Neither have I. You get another one of my firsts. Just…just sit on the edge of the tub. I’ll be careful,” he wouldn’t stop until you give him what he wants. And there’s something adorably sexy about him wanting to take care of you in the most intimate and simple way. You want him to.

Taking a deep breath you lift yourself onto the side of the tub. Spreading your legs slowly as Steve’s face beams up at you as his eyes drift all over your body. Watching as the suds coast down your soft curves. Consuming you with his eyes alone.

“This is not that bad. But let me take care of you,” he reaches for the razor and runs a smooth hand over your mound. His thumb teases along your clit, and you can’t help but whimper out his name. “Shh, don’t make that sound just yet, Dovey,” sudding up some soap, he spreads it over your skin. Making sure to coat every bit of your exposed skin with the foam, and his hands expertly move the razor over your supple body. Making sure to clean it after every pass.

Even though you know it is killing him, he never makes a lewd joke. He doesn’t slip a finger in, it’s like this is his job. It’s fascinating to watch him. He keeps looking up at you through those inky black lashes making sure you're grading his work. And when he’s not looking at you, his tongue pushes out the front of his mouth in concentration, and you commit this moment to your memory. He looks adorable.

He always does wheng a he’s not trying to be this hard drug lord. There’s a sweetness, and a loyalty to him. This need to control, but also a need to protect and take care of you. You position yourself to lean back more, and he growls, rolling his eyes to look up at you. “This isn’t funny. You’re already torturing me.”

“I enjoy the view,” this big bad drug lord was down on his knees, and just for you. Towering above you, or bowing before you. Submissive only for you, or your fearless dominating Captain. He was all yours.

“You’re a fucking tease, too,” Steve’s hand drops into the water, giving you a clear view of his hard and angry cock under the water. “You’re killing me.”

“I enjoy you from this angle.”

“You enjoy me worshiping you right at the face of god. You’re a sweet little tease. Has her pussy spread out deliciously before me, and making me shave you. Dove, the water isn’t fooling anyone,” you hum as he lets water drip over your body, washing away the remaining bubbles before he spreads your puffy lips out. Keeping you wide open before looking up at you.

“You’re dripping. Coated in that sweet honey because all you can think about is me fucking into you so hard and deep that my sweet little Dovey falls asleep, huh? Do you like me on my knees in front of you, and taking care of you in this way?” You answer by nodding your head. He knew you too well. You’d let him command you because you knew he had these sweet moments ready to remind you it isn’t just your cunt that keeps him obsessed.

“Dove, you’re no longer in the water, and I can’t attempt to deep sea suck on your clit.”

“You are ruining a sweet moment, Steven,” Steve adjusts to his knees, letting his heavy cock rub against your leg, and your legs spread even more, “Steve,” a whispered whine escapes your mouth, and you start going into that space where he controls your every thought and movement. Making everything about pleasing him because you get the utmost pleasure.

“I will try that one day. But you need to be fucked like my sweet little slut don’t you,” your head nods. A mess of words tumbles out of your mouth, and he stands up. Cock and piercing right at your face, and you whimper. Leaning forward you kiss the tip, sticking your tongue out to lick the vein on his cock. Looking up at him through your lashes when you tongue his slit.

“You sure do love Clarence, huh?”

“He loves me, too. Doesn’t he?”

“Clarence loves and adores you,” stepping out of the tub, he turns to you, lifting you up in his arms. He carries you into the bedroom, ripping open the curtains so you can see the woods and the moonlight creating silvery light into your room. Turning to the bed, he sets you on your knees.

“Put your head on the bed, and keep your eyes on me. You’ve teased me for too long,” you do as you're told, receiving a smile, and a soft slap to your pussy, “Such a good girl for me. As much as I love your fight, when you get in this space and will do anything just for this,” he spears into you with such a hard and deep thrust, your body scoots onto the bed.

Fingers cling to the sheets as Steve pulls himself out of you, “And what my Dovey wants,” another sharp thrust has you seeing stars. Stretched out, and that cool metal grazes over your cervix, “She gets,” gripping onto your hips he pounds into your depths.

Such frenzied movements. You aren’t sure if you have ever taken him so fully like this. So deep. So full. So aggressive in his movements. “And I…soon — soon you’ll have that thing removed and I will pump you so full of me that I start growing in your belly. You’ll be so filled with all of me. Something I have never done. You’ll get it all.”

His voice is gravely despite the words coming out of them. He means every bit of it. Making you understand and know that you are his world. Giving you all that he can, and more than he has to anyone else.

“I will do whatever it takes for you, Dovey. Anything to keep you safe. But you will always be mine. There will never be another. No one can ever treat you the way that I do. I own every part of you, all the way down to your soul. We’re bonded together. In this life and the next. I’m yours, but you’re mine. All of you. Every bit of your every being. It’s all mine. All. Mine.”

”It’s all yours,” you let out a scream of pleasure. Trying to get a grip on anything because the build up for the orgasm has you on edge. Your body tenses as euphoria builds up in your body. All the way deep into your soul. The most lewd, but also innocent form of being together. Searing himself throughout your body. And you didn’t even realize just how much you are burning yourself into his world. When he said anything, he meant it. You will always be his first thought.

No one has every had this much of Steve. And he would do whatever it took to keep you safe. The first and last thoughts on his mind are always you. Everything was just you. With your body almost flat on the bed now, he stabs into you, spurting his seed into your warmth and letting you milk him clean.

Losing a bit of himself in the moment, “God, I love…this,” he pants out. Watching your eyes close, and a derpy smile on your face. “I love it.”

You sleep so soundly. Can’t even feel Steve ghosting his lips over your worn body. You never complained about how much that he needs and uses you. You always just let him have whatever he wants. Even if you’re asleep he’s going to make sure that he spoils you with his touch. The only way he can show you how much he loves you, even if he can’t say it.

Not the way he sinks into you, but these moments. The ones where you’re softly snoring, and he’s staring over your body and painting your skin with his kisses like you are the most beautiful work of art. He wants to cover you in his — touch. He is working on it. He wants to give you what you need from him. He wants it more than he wants sleep. And one day he’ll find the way to give you all you deserve.

He didn’t bother closing the curtains and blinds. You love watching the woods outside to fall asleep. Saying that it makes you feel closer to him because it was just the two of you and the creatures.

He blinks, looking out into the distance when a flash of light catches his eye. Staring down onto the forest floor when he slings the blanket off him. Taking a moment to make sure you’re still asleep before he walks out the cabin. Teeth already clenched together as he marches down into the darkness.

Stopping when he squares up against a woman that once upon a time could have looked just like you. Her eyes lifeless as her sight moves from the bedroom window to Steve, “Didn’t bother to put a shirt on did you?”

He glares at her, snapping his fingers in her face when she looks back up at your sleeping form, “I need some money.”

“I told you I wasn’t giving you money,” his voice is quick and final, and she pouts up at him.

“She gets money.”

“Are you fucking serious right now?”

“Oh right, she lets you use her,” every conversation starts the same with her. Always money. Always he uses you. “Does she know?”

“That I paid for a fucking apartment and you trashed it, and got kicked out? No. I told her I would keep you safe. I don’t know what the fuck all that does because you can’t keep you goddamn nose clean. Let me see in between your fingers.”

“Fuck you!” Steve didn’t have to see. He could tell by the state of her, she’s no longer clean. A junkie that had nothing to lose and knew where he lived was dangerous.

“Why are you here, Lark? How did you know about our home?” She cocks up her eyebrow, looking Steve up and done before staring at his brand. “Yes, ours. How did you find this place?”

“I know people. Pussy gets you a lot of things. Ask my sister,” if she wasn’t a woman Steve would have backhand her.

“My patience is growing thin. What the fuck did you want,” she looks back up at your sleeping body, conflicted with emotions at how comfortable and unknowing you are. Did you even realize the shit Steve was into? Or did you just not care? The people that Steve employed? What they could do to you. “Lark!”

“Since you won’t give me money, we’re done here. I’m surprised you left her unattended. Did you remember to lock the door?” A more sinister person would smile, but Lark seems sad. Waiting for Steve to gasp before he bolts back towards the house. The door now wide open, and he sneaks around the room. Checking every dark corner before slinging the bedroom door open. You’re still asleep and none the wiser, but he can’t relax.

Needing to check the bathroom and closets, and keep turning back to you. Still relaxed and dreaming. Unaware of the turmoil that is going through his head at someone having the ability to hurt you. Didn’t even feel he had the right to crawl back in the bed beside you, or even hold you.

“Steve?” You whisper, turning in the bed to look at him. Blinking away the sleep in your eyes, “Baby, get back in bed. Can you close the curtains?”

“Yeah,” he says, telling himself the curtains will never be open again. Looking out into the woods, he wonders how Lark got here. Where she was at and where she was going. She was up to something. She wasn’t alone. He made promises to you to never hurt her, but if it comes between you and her, she will be eliminated.

“Take the sweatpants off, too,” you hated when he wears clothes to bed when you’re naked. As he tosses his pants to the side, they hit the dresser, knocking something into the floor. “The hamper, Steve.”

“Yes, ma’am,” his voice is quiet and solemn, and he doesn’t pay attention to the envelope that floats to the floor. “Let me set the alarm though.”

You’ll never be left unattended. He’d have you with him every second. You were all that mattered to him. “Mmm,” you moan, unaware of what transpired tonight. And even he wasn’t sure, but he would be soon.

Masterlist

Taglist: @tis-thedamn-season @marveloustaylortot @pono-pura-vida @peaches1958 @seitmai @smile1318 @andydrysdalerogers @cjand10 @midnightramyeoncravings @kmc1989 @theinheriteddutchess @annaallicce @feyfantome @jesevans @tittittoee @bananapiedreams @onclouds999 @darkserenity24 @abbatoirablaze @ashychangeling @identity2212 @mrsevans90 @weirdothatwritess @floralwsloki @thestralwriting @ambearsstuff @kandis-mom @hoodiesandicedcoffee @awhoreformoree @nyxbellabarnes @buckybarnesisdaddy @honeyhoneylovelylove

#your mark on me #steve rogers #soft!dark!steve rogers #steve rogers x reader #steve rogers x fem!reader #steve rogers x female reader #steve rogers x you #steve rogers y/n #steve rogers smut #steve rogers fanfiction #steve rogers fanfic #steve rogers fanfics #steve rogers fic #steve rogers fics #chris evans #chris evans character

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becauseimanicequeen · 11 months ago

Text

The Timelines in 4 Minutes

Since the Olympics are finally over, and I have three episodes of 4 Minutes to go on, I thought I would spend some time trying to figure out the timelines.

I'm someone who figures out what I want to say by writing it out, so this post will most likely be me "thinking out loud" and drawing conclusions as I go, and then, at the end, I'll have a clearer view of the timelines (hopefully).

(This is most likely going to be one long-ass post, so beware.)

Let's start with some initial notes before I dive into the fun stuff.

The contents of this post may be influenced by some of my theories (pre-premiere theories, episode 1, episode 2, episode 3), and I might come up with new ones as I write this post (they will be highlighted in purple so possible readers of this mammoth post can choose to ignore them if they want, lol), but my focus is primarily on the timelines themselves and, perhaps, on the passing of time throughout the episodes as well.

As I start this post, I believe there are 3 timelines (which are subject to change as I continue to write):

The present timeline, which is what starts off both the 1st and the 2nd episodes (these are events from the future from our current vantage point).

The 4-minute timeline, which is where Great changes things (I've previously called this the OOBE timeline, since I believe Great is having an out-of-body experience and is "reliving" his past).

Then there's a possible third timeline (I've previously thought it might've been the real past, which showed us events that actually happened in the past paralleled with the 4-minute timeline) but I'm most unsure about this one, so I'll just call it the 3rd timeline until my thoughts are more clear about it.

Now... Where the hell do I start?

Time

It might be a good idea to start with the clues that there are different timelines at play and then dive deeper into the episodes to figure out what's happening.

Besides the obvious clues that Great is sent back in time when he has his moments of the 4-minute phenomenon (4MP), there are other clues that different timelines are at play.

The first clue shows up in the Korn and Tonkla scene from the 1st episode and all the way through to the scene where Korn drops Great off at his place after their family dinner.

This is where I'll be crazy about the details (but I'm a hundred percent sure they matter, especially since this whole show is about time), but if we look at Korn's watch when he arrives at Tonkla's place, it says 7:15-ish pm.

Later, when Tonkla wants a second round, it says 8:55 pm.

Then they get interrupted because Korn's dad wants him home for dinner. They have their family dinner, and then, when Korn drops Great off at his condo after dinner, Korn's watch says 7:15-ish while the clock on Great's phone says 07:13.

(Great already has issues with time, which I believe is the effect of him having a cardiac arrest at 11:00 in the present, but the time anomaly in this particular sequence is different than Great seeing 11:00 and counting when he's alone.)

This whole sequence is meant to be the same day Great hit Manee with his car. All of them (even the dad and Great's mom) are wearing the same clothes they wore when introduced throughout that very same day. Yet, the times on the visible watches and clocks tell us something strange is going on.

(Could this just be me overanalyzing the watches and clocks? Sure. But the interesting thing is that the time is still consistent in the sequence with Korn and Tonkla. It would make sense that they talk, then fuck, and then lie there butt ass naked and cuddling for a total of 1 h 40 min. And, again, considering this show is about time, I trust that the creators have been meticulous about those details, even if it means changing the time on the watches and clocks for every new take if needed.)

Considering what I wrote above, I might start calling the 3rd timeline Tonkla's timeline, because I feel like it revolves around him.

Either way, I will focus on the 4-minute timeline and the third one in particular because I don't see a possible 4th one right now (I might by the end of this post, though, lol).

The question is, then, how we can determine which scenes belong to which timelines. I will get to that further below, because first...

Let’s look at some more details I’ve noticed.

Blurry Edges

One of those details is the dreamy, blurry edges (I'm sure there's a technical term for this, but I have no idea what that might be, I'm just guessing that they're adding it in post-production, but don't quote me on that). Much of the show has a dreamy feel overall, but I'm talking about the blurry edges in particular.

I've noticed blurry edges in the following scenes:

When Great feels iffy in the elevator (ep 1)

I'm pretty sure there's some of it happening in the scene when Tyme is treating Manee, both in the ER and in the OR during the surgery (ep 1)

At the family dinner when Great's mom tells him he should go see Manee at the hospital (ep 1)

When Great feels iffy at the hospital before his second 4MP (ep 1)

When Great is sitting in Title's car talking about where View is (ep 2)

I'm not sure about this one since it's hard to tell because it's dark, but it might be used in the scene where Title beats the shit out of Dome (ep 2)

When Great brings Dome into the hospital (ep 2)

When Korn is having a meeting with Fasai and her dad (ep 2)

When Great feels iffy and has his fourth 4MP at the basketball court (ep 3)

When Win reads through Tonkla's brother's social media posts and comments, which is a memory of him doing it (ep 3)

And I'm pretty sure we're getting more of this since there were scenes in the trailer that had those blurry edges as well, for example:

The pattern I'm seeing with these scenes (if we exclude the first scene in the elevator, Korn's meeting with Fasai, and Win's memories, the latter might've had blurry edges just because it was his memory, btw) is that each scene has something to do with Great's 4MP, before the rewind and/or after the rewind.

(Perhaps the reason for the blurry edges showing up in Korn's scene is because he's the possible third character that's having an OOBE. And if this theory is true, there's a possibility that there's yet another timeline/reality/perspective present that entwines with both Tonkla's and Great's timelines.)

There are also the tilting camera shots (mostly showing up in scenes with Great), which I might get into next week as I continue to build on this post.

But, what does all this with the blurry edges mean?

I have no fucking clue.

Perhaps it's just meant to show that things aren't what they seem. Perhaps it's meant to show which characters are experiencing OOBEs (Great, Tyme, and possibly Korn)? Perhaps it's meant to show moments that are affected by Great changing them through his 4MP? Again, I have no fucking clue, yet (but it might start to get clearer as we get more episodes).

So, moving on...

Different Realities/Parallel Worlds/POVs?

There is another aspect to this whole timelines discussion I'm having with myself that I want to bring up. And that's the clues I've found that support the possibility of different realities/parallel worlds/different point-of-views. I'm not sure what to call them, yet.

So, let's dive into the moments I'm referring to and try and figure it out.

The second time Great experiences his 4MP, he goes to the ER's front desk and we're shown the nurse's actual desk where there's a clock that we're supposed to focus on because it's telling us that time will do weird shit again.

The moment Great has been sent back in time (after being in Manee's room), he's standing in the same position, looking down at the clock on the desk, and realizes it's happened again (just like when he hit Manee). However, this time, the things on the desk are different.

The time on the clock is the same, but the mirror is in a different position, 75 has turned to 74 (I'm not sure what these numbers mean), 77F has turned to 76F (which I'm guessing are Fahrenheit degrees), and the pink, blue, and yellow papers are lying on top of the folder the second time around.

If Great was sent back in time to the exact moment he was in before he went to Manee's room, the things on the desk would've been in the same place, right? So, he might not even have been sent back to the reality he was in before this 4MP happened.

Another clue is the sunrise and the sunset artworks on the wall at the hospital. We often see them by the entryway:

Then, in the 2nd episode, it looks like at least the right one is hanging outside Manee's room (which we've seen isn't anywhere near the front desk since Great had to walk around a bend to get to her room in the first episode).

Could they have more than one of those artworks in the hospital? Sure. So, take this with a grain of salt.

(Btw, I find those artworks so fascinating because sunrises are usually cooler (more blueish) while sunsets are usually warmer (more red/orangeish). But from our perspective, looking at them straight on, the warmer artwork has the sun setting in the west while the cooler artwork has the sun rising in the east. And, since the eye in left-to-right reading cultures often automatically goes from left to right, it's interesting that the sunset comes first and then the sunrise. Perhaps it's to show that the world is turned upside down now that Great is having these weird experiences. Or perhaps it's to show that the time between the sunset and sunrise will be important for Great and Tyme since Great watches Tyme pass those artworks (from sunset to sunrise) the first time he has visions of them having sex. But, I digress...)

Another set of clues is in the scene with Great and Tyme sitting on the bleachers by the basketball court and Great has another 4MP in the third episode.

The first time we see this wide shot, there are 5 people (excluding Great and Tyme):

4 of them are wearing white shirts (one with a darker cardigan), and they sit on Great's side. One wears a blue shirt and sits on Tyme's side. This is where Great asks Tyme why he didn't call before coming to the University.

As they continue to talk (and the camera shot is closer to them), you can see the top of the head of a girl walking towards the bleachers. There's also another person walking by, waving, but he's walking right past them rather than towards the bleachers.

Then, as Great thanks Tyme for the Thai tea and gets up to leave, we get this wide shot. The only difference here is that the girl who walked towards the bleachers is now sitting next to her friend. That seems logical, right?

But, then Great has his rewind, and he comes back to the moment where Tyme reminds Great to get his wound treated. Great tells Tyme about his precognition and Tyme tells Great that he will consult with one of his doctor friends. Then, as Tyme stands up to leave, we get this wide shot:

The two girls at the bottom left are in the same position but the girls two steps above and to the far left are different, the boy and the girl next to them are new, and the boy with the white shirt to the right is the same boy that sat on Great's side previously.

Coincidence?

Well... After Tyme tells Great that he can call him Tyme rather than Doctor, and Great says that they should grab something to eat after he gets his wound treated, we get this shot:

Now we're back to the original two girls to the left, there are new boys wearing black on the bottom left, and the boy in blue is back again. That's a lot of moving around in such a short time.

The only things that stay consistent in all of the shots are the bags (except for one of them) and bottles.

So, what's going on? Is this another one of those things that happened at the hospital where Great was sent back to a reality where things were different from the reality he was in before the 4MP?

Is the show giving us different perspectives? For example, Great's perspective before his 4MP, Tyme's perspective when he says he'll talk to Den, and Great's perspective again when Tyme has left? That could work for the hospital example as well since it was from Great’s perspective before the 4MP but turned into Tyme’s after the 4MP as he asked the nurse at the front desk who the guy that bumped into him was.

Or is the show just underlining how strange everything is during the 4-minute timeline (and Great's possible OOBE)?

Well, the latter might not be it because clues like this don't just show up when Great is around.

In the first episode when Korn comes to Tonkla's place, Tonkla's laptop shows he has something blue and yellow on his screen:

Then the screen is black as if it's been turned off:

Later, when it cuts to them lying naked on the sofa, it's just white:

Also, notice how the small spotlight behind the desk is positioned differently and pointing in another direction on the desk than in the first image above.

Could it be that Tonkla simply used the laptop and moved the lamp between them having sex and lying there? Sure. Again, if we look at Korn's watch from the beginning of this whole sequence (7:15-ish pm) to when Tonkla wants a second round (8:55 pm), we know he had 1 h 40 min to rearrange things and do stuff on that laptop.

But, you know, unless the house is on fire, who would move from that spot on top their sugar daddy who is lying there deliciously naked? And especially to do some stuff on a laptop? Fuck technology (the not-so-good kind of fuck) and fuck your sugar daddy instead (the deliciously bad kind of fuck). We all know Tonkla wants to. But, I digress...

Take this detail with a grain of salt if you want to (or a whole fistful). For me, though, this shows that there's a possibility that changes and inconsistencies like this aren't just happening around Great. And (to my crazy mind, at least), that it might be two timelines showing up throughout this particular sequence between Korn and Tonkla.

24 Hour vs AM/PM Clock Settings

And on the topic of inconsistencies... Another thing I want to point out is the inconsistencies with the digital clocks when it comes to them being 24-hour clocks or set to the am/pm thing.

The hospital seems to have a 24-hour setting in some cases:

But not in others:

This could be in the morning, of course, and the darkness outside Manee's window might just be because of the thunder/lightning storm (but I still think it's night rather than morning).

And then we also have Great (who, to be fair, has a special relationship to time in this show), who sees 11:00/11:02 both in the morning and at night:

And the am/pm thing is on his phone when Korn drops him off:

Even though his phone seems to have the 24-hour setting:

More than once:

But, again, Great clearly has issues with time and clocks/watches. So, this might just be a way to show how confusing it is to him.

But, what if it isn't? What if it's an indication that several realities are entwining? (Okay, I feel like I'm going with the term "realities" when it comes to this.)

My Timelines So Far

So, what are my conclusions after watching the first 3 episodes?

At this point, I think there are 3 timelines:

The present timeline.

The 4-minute timeline.

The real past/Tonkla's timeline (which is meant to show us the real past events that happened, most of it from Tonkla's perspective).

Having Tonkla's timeline be the real past is possible considering the inconsistencies in time during the Korn and Tonkla scene and then the Korn and Great scene in the 1st episode.

And before someone says this doesn't make sense because of all the missed calls Korn has (if anyone is still reading this, lol)... Well, that's because Korn exists in both timelines and the scene when he looks at the missed calls in that bathroom in the 3rd episode:

Could be the 4-minute timeline rather than Tonkla's timeline (the real past). That could make sense because all we've seen of Tonkla since Korn told him off over the phone is him waiting by his phone for Korn to call.

We never saw Tonkla call Korn again after being told off.

On the flip side, if Korn is in the real past when he looks at those missed calls in episode 3, it would make sense that when he wants to call Tonkla while he's waiting for Great at the bar (in the 4-minute timeline), the icons on the top right of his phone are different from the phone he looked at in the bathroom:

(Am I getting too crazy about this? Yes. Do I care? No, because it's fun.)

Could he be using different phones? Yes. Could those icons change depending on where he is and what settings he's using? Sure (I'm not familiar with Samsung phones so I have no idea what most of those icons mean). But it could also mean that we're seeing Korn in different timelines in these two scenes, which makes it possible for Tonkla's timeline to show us the real past.

(I personally prefer the option that the scene with Korn looking at the missed calls is from Tonkla's timeline (the real past) while Korn almost calling Tonkla in the bar, and then smiling at his phone as he's going to the bathroom, is from the 4-minute timeline where Tonkla's brother (who I believe is Dome) hasn't been killed.)

Also, I think showing us the real past is a smart way to show us what leads up to Tonkla beating the shit out of someone.

(I believe that scene is from the real timeline, and whoever he's beating with that rock, might have an effect on the things that are happening right now. I'm not sure what kind of effect, though. Perhaps it's a possible third person experiencing an OOBE and "living" in the 4-minute timeline. Perhaps Great is going through this OOBE to prevent that murder from happening after he wakes up (if he ever does). I'm not sure at this point.)

So, that's where I'm at with the timelines after 3 episodes.

And, when it comes to the inconsistencies in certain scenes, the easy answer is that they are just meant to show that this whole 4-minute timeline is an inconsistent mess of (what I believe to be) Great's OOBE.

But, I would personally find it more interesting if these inconsistencies (like all the people around Great and Tyme changing in that scene at the basketball court) are evidence that there is more than one character experiencing an OOBE and that the inconsistencies shown are there because the characters have different perspectives of the events happening.

Now, I had planned to make a flowchart of the scenes in each episode divided into the three different timelines I've written about above. But, I want to get this post out before the 4th episode drops tomorrow, and I just don't have time to make the flowchart before that (or enough images left in this post to fit something like a flowchart in it before I hit the pesky limit). So I'll wait with that chart until next week instead (when I'll continue to build on this post in a reblog).

Waiting to create and post the flowchart until after the new episode tomorrow also gives me another episode to nerd out about. It's a win-win for me.

#ice queen holmes #4 minutes #4 minutes the series #thai ql #thai bl #thai series #my shit

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bookqueenrules · 13 days ago

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Why 11:05 Might Really Mean 2:18 and 18 Might Be Beth's Magic Number.

Big Ben is featured so prominently in the DD Season 3 promo just released that I knew the time on the clock must mean something important. I think there are multiple possibilities, and we won't know for sure until plays out, but I have some possible theories as to what it might mean. As always, I would love any feedback you have.

At first, I thought it might just symbolize season three. 1+1+the 1:00 second would equal three.

Then, I thought that each hand is one moment away from the 10 and the 2 which we all know was on the "Get Well" clock behind Beth at Grady. Possibly meaning that we are one season away from Beth's complete reemergence from being "gone" just like in Slabtown when we see the 10:10 or 10:2 clock.

However, I hit on something not quite so obvious but incredibly cool when I decided to watch 11x05 of the flagship!

In that episode we get our first real glimpse as to what life is like in the Commonwealth. There are THREE clocks shown prominently in the Commonwealth during that episode and guess what time each shows? 2:18!

The first is in Hornsby's Commonwealth video:

Then, there are TWO separate clocks shown during Miko's miraculous reunion after more than a decade with her brother, Tomi.

The Miko and Tomi reunion is not the only miraculous return in 11x05.

At the end of 11x05 it's a former Whisper that tells Carol and the others that he has seen Connie, though he doesn't know her name, alive.

The clocks pointing to 2:18 in 11x05 might have been pointing the resurrections of BOTH Rick and Beth. In fact, I wonder if the 2 might represent two characters returning and not Season 2? Tomi and word of Connie in the episode but the returns of the original "18 Miles Out" character, Rick and Beth, in the future.

I wonder Michonne was looking for Rick for 18 months before she found him? By the end of season 3 is should be somewhere around 18 months since Daryl originally left the Commonwealth looking for "something" before the time jump at the very end of the flagship.

Remember that season 2 only had 13 episodes, so there is no 2x18 episode, but 2x10 was called "18 Miles Out". It is a Beth/Rick episode where Beth tries to commit suicide, and Shane tries to kill Rick. So, both of them survive things that could have been fatal. In season 2's "18" episode.

In the DD spin-off we have seen 18 specifically called out more than once. I posted about it here along with speculation about how that number is connected to being not too far gone to return.

In DD season 1 there were 18 kids at the school in DD1x2.

There were 18 seconds before the walker broke free of its chains in DD1x3.

Most recently we saw the number 18 on the Rockaway Towing Truck in DC 2.

I wrote about his whole sequence being a Beth survival allegory here.

In case you may think the clock times are just random, here is one example. In episode 2x11, after checking on Beth, Herschel and Glenn talk. Hershel talks about Glenn being a father himself one day. Hershel then gives Glenn his watch as a sign of his approval of Maggie and Glen. Notice it says 6:20 or 6x4. It's in 6x4, when Maggie is searching for Glen, that she reveals to Aaron that she is pregnant making a Glen a father at 6x4.

When Glen takes the watch out just before his death fakeout in 6x3 what time does it show?

2:11 or 2x11 as a call back to the episode when he received it.

I saved the best for last!

So, which episode will be episode 18 of the Daryl Dixson spin-off?

Why 3x6 will EPISODE 18! Beth avoided death in "18 Miles Out" episode 2x10. At Grady she "resurrected" a second time with a pointing to 10 and 2 behind her in reverse of 2x10. Will her third "resurrection" be in the 18th episode?

I don't know, but I am hopefully that we will at least get a huge clue or hint by the end of that episode! It would definitely fulfill the "18 Miles Out" symbolism.

@atrumreginablue

#team delusional #bethyl #beth greene lives #twd daryl and beth #team defiance #beth is alive #beth is coming

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leoruby-draws · 9 months ago

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Finally, I can introduce Indigo aka Brainiac 8! Last one, and with this I've done 8 straight days of posting. Not the best week (pretty shitty tbh) but posting these helped take my mind off all that horrible shit. Hopefully it helped a little for you too.

A villain turned hero (then villain again) who comes from the future and tries to make the future belong to Brainiac! She'll be fulfilling the superman role in the group! Best of all, she has pink hair! Yes that's important (no its not lol)!! You know how long she's been in the drafts? Since more than a year ago!

In my last post, I was considering making a oc that would fulfill what I would like for my superman expy of the group but decided against having an oc for that, but ironically I did find a character who was pretty similar to her. The fact that she was actually a 'child' of Brainiac made her, in a way, more perfect for the role. A lot of the kids on the TrWh Outlaw team tend to be stuck on the border between good and bad, so Indigo will have company in that regard. I think at a later point she'll also start making friends with her outsider teammates from the comics as well, I've got a couple of drawings of them as well. I'll post them later tho.

Indigo's personality is split, because just like in the comics, she actually has two sides to her. A sweet, inquisitive, innocent but manufactured side and her 'real' personality, an evil monster bent on enacting Brainiac's plans. Her entrance is similar to the comics, she comes blasting in from the future to try to kill Donna. Unlike in canon, Indigo fails. Cyborg helps rewire her and Donna tries to figure where to place her. Donna then thinks of those Outlaw rascals making trouble everywhere and gets an idea...

Here was where I was working out her costume, I gave her a black dress cuz of her canon black outfit, but it felt kinda boring no matter what I added to it. So I changed it up. I also gave her a human disguise, for whenever she wants to blend in. I also tried to give her a name of sorts 'Aryrl Dox', tried to make it sound like Ariel but don't know if it works.

Also her hairstyle, I kinda styled it after Yukino from KareKano. Yukino was someone who tried to create a secondary facade to fool her classmates into thinking she was perfect. Her obsession for maintaining two different personas gave her a similarity to Indigo, so I thought it'd be funny to give her hairstyle to Indy.

Also with Indigo being the superman of the group, this means Jason/Vanessa/Indigo are the trinity of the TrWh Outlaws. Seems like Vanessa doesn't feel too comfortable around Indigo.

And Vanessa isn't the only who's uncomfortable around Indigo. Karen, Kara, and Brainiac 5 seem rather apprehensive about her. I said earlier that the story that introduces her is similar to canon, where Indy flies in from the future to kill Donna. Since this happens earlier in canon, the plot point from Graduation has to be different. My idea was to have it happen in a ceremony where the heroes(Justice League?) formally establish Steph's and Tim's hero teams (Jason's team mostly rejected doing this, much to Toni's chagrin). A lot of heroes were there so a lot of people saw the destruction Indy brought, so she's currently got a pretty bad reputation atm.

Also I made Indigo's outfit more similar looking to Supergirl's, perhaps its her way to make herself easier for others to accept her.

More Indy's and a little moment between her, Jason and Vanessa. I imagine they're closer to 13/14 here. You can also see me putting her in her canon hairstyle, maybe I should've stuck to it, much easier to draw tbh.

Also here's a bonus little comic under the read more:

A fun comic showing how Indigo comes blasting into the team's life, Donna can't help but find this all rather amusing. As for why is Donna introducing Indy to the team? Well I figured it would just be like her to want to help this child, even if that child tried to assassinated her. Doesn't every child deserve the chance to make friends and be happy? It's a major reason why I like making this au, giving lonely young heroes a more happier life.

A little bit of an epilogue here. It was very important to me that at one point Jason would meet a character that basically 'beats' the shit out of him and then would make him laugh. Basically a parallel to his own meeting with Bruce, at least one meeting like this had to happen! What better character than the girl who doesn't know what humor is yet? I think they're gonna be great friends, lets hope these happy times last forever...

And with that, my 8-day streak of posting is over!!! My poor poor hands, I think I'll skip next week honestly.

Well, I hope you enjoyed all of that, and I hope you all stay safe out there!!

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pushovermediacritic · 1 month ago

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The Land Before Time Liveblog 12

The Land Before Time XII: The Great Day of the Flyers

Last Time:

Littlefoot was small. Cera's dad met an old flame. Fraggle genocide.

This Time: Starting with this movie, I'm entering unexplored territory. If you don't count the TV show, which I might not cover, I haven't seen anything coming up, three whole movies I'm completely unfamiliar with.

I've heard dire portents of 13, but basically nothing about 12 and 14. Just based on the title of this one, I'm expecting Petrie focus.

The Universal logo is still not Pangaea.

Still pretty disappointing to me that they never play with the Universal logo, like it would be so cool if they-

Wait, what's happening?

YES!!! This running gag finally paid off! And they didn't just have the Universal logo be Pangaea from the start, they did a FAKE-OUT, having the Universal logo start normal and then reverse time INTO Pangaea!! That's SO GOOD!!!

I bet all of you who knew this was coming were just WAITING for this moment! Well, I can say this did not disappoint! I love when movies mess with the opening credits and logos, you're so used to just ignoring them that it's always jarring in a fun way.

I hope they re-use this opening for every future movie but I totally understand if they don't, because it would get repetitive and the fake-out wouldn't be surprising anymore.

Of course, this intro has to have the narrator talk. He talks about how the Earth has changed in dramatic ways, continents moving, becoming burning hot and freezing cold, species flourishing and dying.

Narrator: "Yes, the Earth is very different than it was in the days of the dinosaurs! But one thing that has remained the same since the time of the dinosaurs is the fact that everything is always changing."

From here, we transition to Littlefoot, Ducky, and Spike gazing up at the sky. They're searching for something in particular, but the movie isn't letting the audience in on what it is.

Ducky thinks she sees something, and Spike gets excited and bumps her off the ledge! Littlefoot stretches his neck down to catch her and when he pulls her up, she scolds Spike for scaring her and making her lose sight of what she was looking at. Littlefoot wonders where Cera is.

Littlefoot is voiced in this movie by Nick Price. I'm not familiar with any of the other things he's in. I haven't even seen that particular Peanuts cartoon where he played Schroeder. He hasn't gotten a lot of dialogue yet but so far, he seems to be doing a better job than Aaron Spann did last movie. Also, this is the first Land Before Time movie to be widescreen.

With Cera, she's glaring at an egg. Tria is also there and nuzzles it. Topsy (yup, I'm still using that name until "Topps" is actually mentioned by literally any character in-universe) walks in.

Tria wonders whether the baby will look more like her or him, and the two adults agree that they hope it looks more like Tria while giggling (odd that they'd agree on that, since Tria went on and on last movie about how handsome Topsy is).

Cera: *clears throat* "Is it okay if go meet Littlefoot and the others? We want to watch Petrie practice for the Day of the Flyers. ...I said 'I'm gonna go find my friends'!"

Tria: "Do you think it's cold? Do you think it needs more grass on top?"

Topsy: "No, it's fine!"

Tria: *sigh* "I think it's cold, c'mon!"

She leans over to rip up some grass and put it on top.

Topsy: "Tria, I don't-

Tria: "Topsy. Did you lay this egg?"

Topsy: "Um-mum-mum, nooo, but I was-"

Tria: "Than hush up and help me!" *Topsy grumbles but does it*

Cera: "So bye! I'm heading out to the Mysterious Beyond to see if I can get eaten by a Sharptooth!"

Topsy: "Okay, don't be late!"

Tria: "Have fun!"

Cera walks off, pouting, and now Tria thinks it's too warm.

Time-out! Topsy "married" Tria?! And got BIZAY! I was wondering if they were going to skirt around the implications, but no, they straight-up had Tria imply that she laid that egg. Props for going there. Hopefully whenever the egg hatches, the baby triceratops isn't as annoying as Dana and Dinah were.

Cera joins the others and she didn't miss anything. Right as she arrives, they see Petrie practicing. He's flying in a V-formation with 8 other young Pteranodons.

In case you can't recognize him, he's the one in the middle-right. They do some swoops and turns, Petrie following along perfectly, until he notices his friends watching and waves to them, which slows him down and makes him bump into the kid behind him! He flies forward and bumps into the Flyer in front of him, then falls onto the blue one, ultimately causing a huge pile-up and all 9 of them fall out of the sky!

They all crash to the ground, in various trees and bushes! One falls onto Ducky's mom's face. Petrie falls into a bush and has to yell to keep Mr. Clubtail from eating him with some leaves. Mr. Clubtail walks away grumbling, with another one landed on his tail. The Gang arrive as the group of Flyer kids gather, all glaring at Petrie. Petrie's mom flies in and the other Flyer kids are eager for the chewing out he's gonna get. But she's not mad, just disappointed. Which hurts even worse! Recognizing the situation has become awkward, The Gang leave.

That night, Littlefoot tells his Grandpa that Petrie was practicing with his brothers and sisters earlier, and Grandpa already heard about it from Mr. Clubtail. Wait, those ALL were Petrie's siblings? I assumed some of them were other Flyer's kids, Petrie usually has 4-5 siblings, not 8!

Littlefoot asks Grandpa why the Day of the Flyers is important. Grandpa explains that every herd has its own traditions, and the Day of the Flyers is a significant event because it marks a developmental milestone for young Flyers, showing they can fly with the herd. So it's a rite of passage, like a bar mitzvah. Littlefoot stomps his foot and says that it's not fair, Petrie can fly fine alone, his siblings just make him nervous. Grandpa reassures him that Petrie will do fine.

Over in Petrie's nest, his siblings are ganging up on him and shit-talking his flying abilities, saying that he does the opposite of what they do and he's hopeless. Seems inaccurate, he only messed up today because he got distracted waving to The Gang. Their mom comes over to break it up.

She makes them leave so she can talk to Petrie alone. She asks what the problem is, and Petrie doesn't know. She then asks Petrie if he'll be ready for the Day of the Flyers, and all he can promise is that he'll try his best. She reassures him that he always does, and bids him good-night. But after she leaves, Petrie's still in a sour mood.

Petrie: "They think me never do nothing right! Sometimes me wish me had a whole 'nother family..."

On that thought, Petrie goes to sleep while the camera ominously zooms out and music eerily reminiscent of the Lord of the Rings "Ring Theme" plays. Creepy.

Over with Cera, Topsy is kicking in his sleep, and Tria's too focused on the egg to sleep. Tria pokes Topsy to wake him up and demands that he move over so he doesn't roll over on the egg. Topsy protests, but does so, and Tria makes him scoot over further. Cera tells them good night, but they ignore her and Tria keeps telling him to move over even further and further. Topsy does and he falls off a ledge, to which Tria whispers "perfect".

Well. That's weird. Tria was a pretty thoughtful and kind character last movie, but with last scene and this one, her characterization has shifted dramatically. She's obviously being written as obsessed with making sure the egg is okay, but even with that excuse, she's just being written as straight-up mean. The last scene and this one feel like the writers watched some sitcoms and decided "nagging mean tiger mom with a put-upon emotionally detached husband" was a good dynamic to draw inspiration from.

Also, it's just inaccurate. We've literally found fossils of T-Rexs curled up around their eggs, we know that dinosaurs had the same instinct most other animals do to not roll over on their babies in their sleep. It's just a natural instinct. And the scene doesn't even make sense, Tria and Topsy were sleeping next to each other with the egg in front of them. It would be impossible for Topsy to roll over onto the egg.

The next day, Petrie is complaining to The Gang about what his siblings said to him last night. Ducky and Littlefoot assert that he IS a good Flyer, just by himself. Again, I don't know where they're getting this from, the problem earlier was him getting distracted, not flying in a group. They did a poor job establishing this.

Petrie: "That just it! Me good alone! N-Not so good with family..."

Cera: "Join the club... Huh?"

Okay, these faces are great, but I think they're a little bit of an overreaction. Like, what Cera said wasn't THAT dramatic. It reminds me of the group reaction shot in 2, but those faces were in response to Cera saying her dad told her not to play with other species. That's more of an appropriate reaction.

Littlefoot switches gears back to Petrie and tells him that the next time he's flying with them, he should remember how good at flying he is and that he can do anything! Petrie gets all hyped up on the idea that he can do anything, before deflating again with the admission that he hates flying through "sky puffies" (clouds), and isn't good at flying in the wind. Littlefoot points out that today is pretty windy, so Petrie should practice! Petrie takes off and makes some headway before being launched backward into some tall grass.

The others chase after him, but then hear a scream, which isn't Petrie! They poke their heads through some tall grass and Petrie runs out, petrified and pointing his finger forward, shivering uncontrollably! Ducky asks if it's a Sharptooth and Petrie shakes his head while still pointing. Grandpa and some other adults walk over, having heard the scream. The music builds to a dramatic crescendo as they all lean in to see whatever is hiding in the grass!

It's... it's... a weird little green bird-guy.

He's a Microraptor, which I actually mentioned last review as one of the smallest real dinosaurs, next to Aquilops. But unfortunately, he doesn't have one of the most iconic features of the Microraptor, that being their four wings.

Yup, Microraptors had wings on their back legs, too, and they were just as functional for flying.

The Microraptor walks out and timidly apologizes for scaring them. This only makes everyone more confused. He continues.

Microraptor: *clears throat* "Okay, I um, I guess you're all wondering why I asked you here, huh? Aheeee- hehe- well you're all wondering..." *he grins awkwardly*

Topsy: *walks in* "Alright, who's making all the racket? Huuuh?!"

Microraptor: "Ah, yeah that would be me, hi! I'm really sorry if you were disturbed. Eh, not that anyone's saying you're disturbed, least of all me! I mean, uh, you know, in the sense of being, uh, not all there you're- you're obviously all there, I mean just look at you, you're uh, hehehehe, ooo..." (he grins awkwardly)

Topsy: "I don't know who, or what, you are. But we don't like noise around here. Some of us are trying to hatch eggs!"

Microraptor: "OH!" *whispering* "I mean 'oh', I'm sorry lady, I didn't realize!"

Topsy: "Grrrrrr, not me!"

At that, Ducky cracks up laughing, but Cera glares at her and she shuts it. Topsy walks away, and the Microraptor warns him not to go that way. He ignores the warning and slides down a hill into a mud puddle. At this, EVERYONE starts laughing!

Ducky briefly stops out of fear, but resumes laughing when she sees Cera guffawing, too. Topsy gets up and glares at the Microraptor, growling. The Microraptor jumps into the mud on his own!

Topsy: "Just what we need: another weirdo!" *he leaves*

Grandpa: *walking away* "Ha ha ha ha! i just wish Grandma were here to see it!"

Damn, roasted his ass! That line of Grandpa's was clearly added late in development, too, since while he's saying that, his mouth isn't moving.

The Microraptor climbs out of the mud and Littlefoot asks why he did that.

Microraptor: "Saved him the trouble of pushing me in."

He shakes off the mud and asks where he is. Littlefoot answers the Great Valley and asks where he's from. He's not sure, he just kind of woke up here. And he's not sure how he got here, either. He says "they" call him Guido, but he's not sure who "they" are. And he doesn't have a herd, he's the only one like himself he's ever seen! Well, obviously because he has amnesia. Also, goodie, an amnesia plot...

The Gang are enamored with the concept of being the only one of your kind, especially Petrie. This leads into song 1 of the movie: One of a Kind.

But before I get into that, there's something I NEED to address about Guido. Just based on this one scene, I can tell that Guido's whole shtick is drawing from a VERY specific comedic stereotype. That being the "dweeby and nervous Jewish chatterbox". You know, like Mort in Family Guy or Kyle Schwartz from South Park. Guido doesn't have the accent, but the voice and mannerisms are an exact match. And if you know anything about those shows, you'd know that those characters aren't exactly a FAVORABLE comparison to make! As a Jew myself, I'm a little offended by Guido!!

Alright, that little rant out of the way, let's listen to One of a Kind.

youtube

It's kinda bad. I do like the structure of the song. It starts with Petrie and Cera complaining about their plots, then Littlefoot and Ducky reassure them, then Guido complains about being lonely, then The Gang accept Guido. However, it's poorly executed. The singing, lyrics, and musical flow are pretty annoying, actually.

And it has issues with canon. They're now fully and completely retconning Cera's siblings out of continuity. She had siblings in the first and second movies, but ever since movie 3, she suddenly became an only child. Except then 6 had an off-screen sibling who was old enough to have kids of their own and Cera had to babysit them, but that whole situation has never been referenced since.

And in this song, she complains about the new egg and wishes she could go back to being a single child, when it was literally a plot point in the first movie that Littlefoot was the only single child in the group. Even Spike got adopted into Ducky's family.

Also, the animation and choreography is really weird. Like, the faces are REALLY off-model in those shots where they're walking toward the camera, and the lip-synch varies from great to bad, sometimes even in the same verse! The song is lacking in creative or compelling visuals, Cera's verse is the only one that has anything interesting going on with the reflection and her on the rock. The last verse is just a copy of the "walking around the new kid" bit from You're One of Us Now.

Also, I'm not sure how old Guido is. He's got amnesia, so even he's probably not sure. And he's a Microraptor, he's supposed to be tiny. But it doesn't feel like he's written as a child, he feels like he's written as an adult. Specifically, as an adult stand-up comedian, and that makes his new friendship with The Gang feel weird. I wonder if they meant to get a famous guest voice actor for him, like Doc, Pterano, Thicknose, Bron, and Big Daddy had. But they couldn't get one, so they just said "fuck it, give him to Spike's VA" (yeah yeah, I know Rob Paulsen is a legend in his own right, but he's not a guest, he's voiced Spike in every movie but 1 and 6 and he also did Mo).

After One of a Kind, Littlefoot suggests that Guido might not be the only one. He's got kind of a long neck like Littlefoot and a sharp beak like Petrie, and maybe the weird stickly things on his head could fan out like Cera's frill. They take him to go see if anyone in the Great Valley is like him.

They talk in this scene like they've never seen anything like Guido and his feathers before, but they literally have. Remember Ichy from 4? Yeah, Guido is only a few steps removed from Ichy on the evolutionary tree. More bad continuity.

Later, Guido is on Grandpa's head and Grandpa explains they have long necks to eat the tenderest tree stars at the top of the trees (I thought it was to save the world during a solar eclipse?) Guido bites a leaf and tries to pull it off (I was doubting the "neurotic Jewish stereotype" read for a second, but he literally pulls while going "guuuuuu"). He pulls it off and flies backward down Grandpa's back and off his tail! Then he chokes on the leaf until Grandma whacks him on the back to make him cough it up! He is not a Longneck.

They try talking to Mr. Clubtail, who explains that he's got a bopper on his tail. When Guido asks what that is, he thwacks Guido with it!

They walk toward Topsy.

Topsy: "Don't even think about it."

They turn around and walk away from Topsy. Some good jokes here!

At the lake, Ducky shows him how to swim in the shallow end.

Guido: "Eh, oogh, I gotta tell ya, I got a real problem with swimming where I drink, yehh. Eh, I- it just doesn't seem right!"

Ducky: "Give it a try! You will be fine, yep yep yep!" *she leads him into the water*

Guido: "Ehhh, eh ehhh... Wait, wait! And you're sure there's nothing in there that bites?"

Ducky: "I am pretty sure."

Guido: *a shadow swims up next to Guido* "Bad answer! Nyehh-ehh-ehh-yee!"

He runs out of the water as the shadow surfaces, revealing a confused turtle. He runs into Spike and falls back, deciding that he's not a Swimmer.

I was finding it funny, but now I'm IMMEDIATELY getting sick of this bit. When Guido isn't talking or he's suffering slapstick, he's tolerable, but when he starts talking, it grates on my ears. This whole sequence is like a lamer version of the kids showing Chomper their specialties in You're One of Us Now, but where Chomper was cute and innocent, Guido is annoying and offensive!

From his position looking up, Guido sees Petrie practicing with his siblings in the V-formation. Petrie follows along fine, but then the leader decides to fly through a cloud and he panics, asking if they can just go around and then freaking out, yelling "roll" when they reach it! They collide with each other in the cloud, then all fall out!

Random Parasaurolophus: "Strange weather we're having today!"

This movie was written like a sitcom. Straight-up. It feels like it should have a laugh track.

Later, Petrie's sitting on a rock on a hill and Guido walks up to him, gasping and wheezing and panting the whole way. He's this close 🤏 to whining about needing his inhaler for his asthma (which shouldn't be something to laugh at, but it is a running gag with Kyle Schwartz in South Park). Guido says that everyone's looking for Petrie.

Petrie: "Me not know why. Me mess up everything! Me worst Flyer in Valley."

Guido: "Hey, come ooooon! Don't say things like that about yourself!"

Petrie: "Me not say it, brothers and sisters did!"

They're REALLY mad at him.

Guido: "Yeah. Eh, well, I thought that roll you did up there was really good! You know, I me- I mean, it was, it was excellent, beautiful, eve- spectacular!"

Petrie: "Good if me alone, maybe! But whole point of Day of Flyers is to fit in with others!"

WHAT ROLL?!?! Petrie yelled "roll" before he hit the cloud, but he didn't actually DO a roll, he just stalled in mid-air and the others crashed into him! Again, what they're saying happened and what ACTUALLY HAPPENED are completely different! Both times, Petrie has been told his issue is that he flies independently, but both times, the real issue was him getting distracted!

I swear, it's like the writers and animators are not on the same page here!

Petrie and Guido bond over not fitting in, and Petrie invites Guido to live with him. Not because he's a Flyer, no (it's not like the last feathered creature we met was a Flyer...), but just because they're both outsiders and could be friends over that. Then Littlefoot walks up and tells them that Tria's egg is about to hatch!

The entire Great Valley gathers for this special occasion! They didn't do that when a bunch of eggs hatched in 2, but every movie since then has ignored that happened. The egg hatches into a beautiful healthy (pink) baby Triceratops girl!

Tria and Topsy shed a few tears at how precious she is, and Tria introduces her to Cera, her sister. We see from the baby's POV as her eyes adjust for the first time and Cera smiling is the first face she sees clearly! Cera seems to like her, but then when the baby falls over, Tria and Topsy start cooing and fawning over her and Cera gets jealous again, walking away. Petrie calls the baby cute and Cera snaps at him!

Later, Petrie's mom is handing out berries to her kids for dinner. Petrie flies in.

Petrie's mom: "Well? Is it true? Does the Threehorn family have a new addition?"

Petrie: "Yeeeeaap! And uh, so do we!"

Petrie's mom (stunned): "Uh-huh. Petrie, I'm usually the one who makes that announcement."

Petrie: "Not this time! Everybody, meet Guidooooo!"

Lol at Petrie's mom's line.

Guido laboriously climbs up the wall into the nest, gasping and panting. Petrie's siblings are confused and surround him. They comment that he looks like a bunch of flowers, but doesn't smell like one. They painfully pluck a feather and ask what it is, and their mom tells them to quit crowding their guest. They walk over to Petrie.

Petrie's siblings (angry): "We've been wanting to talk to you, Petrie!" "Yeah, about what happened today!" "Yeah, you messed up again, Petrie!" "Yeah!" "Yeah, like you always do!" "Yeah, what's your problem, Petrie?!" "Yeah!" "Yeah!" "Yeah!" "Yeah!" "Yeah!"

Guido: "Hey hey, fellas, c'mon, give him a break! I mean, uh, of course he gets confused when he flies with you! Your rear ends look just like your faces so, uh, h-how can he tell which way to go?"

After a second of stunned silence, they all burst out laughing. Even mom laughs a bit before telling them to go to bed. One says that Guido's alright and slaps him on the back! Mom tells them to go to sleep, and that they're glad Guido could come visit (notice this is the second time she's firmly asserted that Guido is NOT a permanent resident, just a very welcome guest). Petrie and Guido lie down, and Guido promises to help Petrie practice before they go to sleep.

They DEFINITELY wrote this movie under the impression that Guido would be played by a celebrity comedian, like Adam Sandler. He keeps getting these weird stand-up comedy bits, and this one resolving the conflict between Petrie and his siblings felt particularly pander-y. Except they couldn't get a comedian to voice him so it's not pandering, it's just weird.

The next day, Tria is cooing at the baby, named Tricia (pronounced "Trisha"). Tria asks Cera if she can watch the baby while she leaves for a bit. Cera claims the cute shtick won't work on her, but when Tricia manages to stand up and looks all proud of herself, she wins Cera over. Tricia runs off into the grass, but Cera catches up to her and picks her up by her horn to carry her back. Tricia accidentally pokes Cera in the eye with her own horn!

Tria returns and Cera explains the situation, but Tria completely ignores Cera and focuses on praising Tricia for being able to run. While Cera's rubbing her eye, Topsy returns and they both start cooing over Tricia for running. Cera stomps off, angry, and Tricia watches her leave with concern.

Littlefoot and Ducky are eating leaves off a bush and talking about Guido's decision to live with Petrie. Ducky doesn't get why you'd choose to be a Flyer over a Swimmer, and while she's distracted, Spike walks up and eats the cluster of leaves in front of her. She gets mad at him (add it to the list), but then the ground starts shaking! It's just Cera, who runs in like a bat out of hell, trampling the bush! She asks where Ducky is, but Ducky's pinned under the bush. Littlefoot asks what's wrong and Cera starts ranting and stomping about her parents ignoring her, then Ducky asks her to move. She does.

Littlefoot: "Hey, listen. At least your dad's with you! And Tria seems really nice."

Good reference to Bron (interesting that Littlefoot seems to have some resentment there). Cera admits that's true, and that transitions into song 2 of the movie: Things Change.

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Sorry about the audio issue in the last third, that's not in the movie.

Aw man, I want to like this song. The singing is good, the lyrics are decent, and the message is great. Change is inevitable, it changes you without knowing it, and sometimes change is good. The visual metaphors are also good, with the dandelion, cloud shadow, reflection, frog family, and the butterflies emerging.

But oof, that animation. They STILL haven't gotten the hang of that walking-forward singing animation in a way that doesn't look fucked up. The dandelion blowing away looks terrible. Cera's eyes are BLUE for a section, and overall the art is weird and off. The animation issues are really distracting and actually hurt my overall score. Not too much, they drop the song from an 8/10 to a 7/10. But still.

At night, Guido is massaging Petrie's shoulders and hyping him up.

Guido: "Okay, now remember Petrie, you can do anything they can do, alright? I-its just a matter of doing it at the same time!"

Petrie: "Uh, yeah, same time."

Guido: "So, so just keep telling yourself, eh... ooh ooh: 'I fly along with all the rest, I'm going to pass my flying test!' Go- go ahead and say it!"

Petrie: "Me fly along with all the rest, me gonna pass the Flyer test! Like that?"

Guido: "Ehh, yeah, close enough."

Guido pats Petrie's head and his siblings set off. Petrie joins them in formation and Guido and Petrie's mom both let out one single tear of pride (okay, that's a good bit of visual comedy). They fly in formation without issue while triumphant "air force" music plays.

Then we get a montage of time passing. At night, Cera's family is sleeping, and she looks fondly at her baby sister. In daytime, Petrie's family are resting to eat in a tree, and Petrie throws a leaf down to Guido. He tries to bite the leaf, but then spits it out. Then he sees a worm on the leaf and eats that happily, grossing out some of Petrie's siblings. Cera plays with Tricia and bonds with her, then when Tria comes over, Cera hides behind a log. Everyone watches Petrie practicing and Guido runs over him before crashing into a log. Night, Tria wakes up and briefly panics when Tricia is gone, only to see her and Cera sleeping together.

I'm surprised the worm thing hadn't come up yet, Guido's a Microraptor, he's technically a Sharptooth.

The montage ends with Petrie and his siblings coming in for a landing, all in synch, one-by-one. They all celebrate what a good job they all did, including Petrie. The Day of the Flyers is tomorrow, so their mom tells them to get some sleep for the big day. Guido, feeling like he has nothing more to offer, stays behind, but some of the kids run back to pull him with them.

That night, everyone is sleeping in the nest, but Guido stands up and starts sleepwalking. He steps on Petrie, waking him up, and then sleepwalks out of the nest. Worried, Petrie runs to the edge but then is surprised to see Guido walking far away from the nest, not splatted on the ground at the base.

Petrie flies after Guido and starts following and calling for him. Littlefoot overhears Petrie's calls and wakes up to follow them. He asks Petrie what's happening and freaks Petrie out. They lose track of Guido briefly and then see him much further away, over a ledge.

Ducky wakes up from Spike's tossing, but then she gasps!

Good visual comedy, a dramatic shot of Guido walking forward menacingly over Spike's back, framed by the moon. I feel like this is a reference to some alien movie, but I can't quite remember which. Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind?

So, sleepwalking is definitely how Guido got to the Great Valley, though his amnesia is still in question.

Guido steps on Ducky's head to move on and then Petrie and Littlefoot walk up and tell her what's going on. Ducky is eager to go, and she wakes up Spike. Apparently Spike usually wakes up around this time of night anyway for a midnight snack (really? that hasn't been in any of the other movies). As they follow, Ducky explains her eagerness.

Ducky: "I know all about sleepwalking. My auntie sleepswims, and my momma says 'do not ever, never wake her up when she is doing it'."

Littlefoot: "Why not?"

Ducky: "That I do not know. But my momma is always right."

Littlefoot: "Then I guess we better not let him wake up."

Ducky: *gasp* "I will go get Cera! If we have an adventure and she is not here, she will be SO mad! And I do not like it when Cera gets mad, no no no!"

Ducky peels off from the group. A few things to note here, funny they're acknowledging Cera not liking when she's left out of an adventure, that was a big part of 10. We've never met Ducky's aunt, but I kinda want to. Also, there are a bunch of old folk tales about why you shouldn't wake sleepwalkers, that they could have a heart attack or suffer brain damage. That's all nonsense. You still shouldn't wake them, but it's just because they'll be very startled, maybe lashing out or tripping and faling over. Basically like waking up a person normally, but upright.

Later, Cera has joined them, and she's annoyed Ducky woke her up just to walk all over the Valley watching Guido walk all over the Valley. Guido sleepwalks toward a creek, and to prevent him from drowning, The Gang line up in the water for him to walk across them.

Guido walks toward a lava pit, but The Gang line up so that he walks up Littlefoot's tail, off Littlefoot's head to Cera's tail, then off Cera's head to Spike's tail, then off Spike's head, successfully... diverting him slightly to the right, around the lava pit. Seems like they could have just made him turn around. Guido keeps sleepwalking upward and Cera asks Ducky what will happen if they wake him up. Ducky's not sure, just something terrible.

Guido reaches the top of the mountain and there's a ravine on the other side. Littlefoot sees a huge fallen tree and directs The Gang to push it to make a bridge to cross, but it's covered in long branches, meaning they can only push it, not roll it. It starts rolling and scoops up all the kids in the branches before flying through the air off a ramp and landing conveniently in the exact right place of the ravine for Guido to walk across. After Guido passes, Petrie flies up to keep an eye on him while the rest try to climb up.

The Gang struggle to climb up, but their movement destabilizes the tree and it starts sinking! The kids scramble to cross before it falls and Littlefoot needs to do a big slow-motion leap to reach the edge as it falls out from under him! They pull him up and collapse in a heap, panting for air.

I wonder if this is the same ravine they easily jumped over at the start of 2.

Petrie: "Okay, you guys lie around enough already, Guido still walkin'!"

Cera: "One more word and you won't be walking! Not for a long time!

Petrie (nervous): "Hehehe, me only kidding! Take your time! 'Sides, me think he pretty safe now!"

Petrie looks over and screams, Guido has turned around and is sleepwalking back to the cliff! He clambers and flies forward, trying to catch him, but he's too late, Guido falls. And then something that should have been obvious but they seriously play as a huge twist happens. Guido spreads his wings and starts sleep-flying!

He flies up over them and they gaze upward, awestruck.

Cera: "Hey, you know what I just realized?"

Littlefoot: "What?"

Cera (angry): "We didn't have to do that whole tree thing after all!"

Littlefoot: "Hehe, sorry."

Petrie notices that Guido's flying over the Great Wall into the Mysterious Beyond. He wants to go after him, but Littlefoot reminds him that The Day of the Flyers is tomorrow, he might not make it in time. Petrie thinks it over, but decides saving a friend is most important.

Littlefoot: "We'll be right behind you!"

Cera: "We will?" *he glares at her* "Okay, okay, we will."

I feel like the series has been pretty inconsistent on Littlefoot and Cera's early characterization of "Littlefoot hesitates to start things and then has determination to finish them" and "Cera rushes into things but then hesitates when things get tough" recently, but this is a decent moment to show that. If we're counting this as "the point things get tough".

Guido glides into the Mysterious Beyond and crashes, then wakes up. He asks what's going on, and assumes this is a prank. Apparently there were no terrible consequences for Guido waking up while sleepwalking, so this whole thing was pointless. Then the "ground" starts shaking. Then it stands up.

Oh, cool, a Spinosaurus! Not anywhere near the water, so clearly this 2006 movie hadn't quite gotten the memo on them being semi-aquatic, like crocodiles. But still, one of my all-time favorite dinosaurs getting focus is nice!

Guido falls off and tries to run but then the Spinosaurus bites down! Okay, it ate him, adventure's over, Guido's dead, let's go back home! No, obviously he's not dead. He is inside the Spino's mouth, though, and he tickles its mouth from the inside with a feather, making the Spino laugh until he can jump out.

That was really fucking stupid.

Guido tries to shake off the saliva then runs for it, and the Spinosaurus gives chase! It's just about to catch him when Petrie swoops in to save him, grabbing Guido and flying up with him!

That's impressive, Petrie has consistently struggled to carry Ducky, and Guido's bigger than her. Then again, Petrie has also gotten a LOT of flying exercise recently, and Guido's probably built light, since he's a Flyer, too. Petrie mentions that he's surprisingly heavy, and Guido attributes it to being soaking wet with Sharptooth spit.

The Spino keeps chasing them, and Guido's too heavy for Petrie to get enough height to get out of reach! Petrie's getting tired bobbing and weaving! The rest of The Gang crest the mountain and hear a roar, then look down at the scene.

There's a front-on chasing shot (a lot of those recently), with really bad compositing, they mess up the Petrie and Guido layers, putting Guido's head behind Petrie's legs when Petrie's carrying him by his nape. Petrie asks Guido why he's not flying himself, and Guido retorts that he can't fly! Spike slips and collides with the other kids, knocking them down into the valley! The Spino shifts attention to chase the bigger kids! Petrie bonks the Sharptooth on its head with Guido to try and distract it, but that fails!

Littlefoot leads the gang through a pair of interlacing rocks. Petrie tells Guido to hold out his arms and leg! Wait, and legs? is Guido actually supposed to have the Microraptor's leg-wings, and they just forgot to include them in his design? The Spino roars at them before a bite, and its breath hits Guido's wings, pushing them forward through the rocks and getting the Spino stuck in them!

Petrie lands, exhausted. Littlefoot tells him those rocks won't last forever, and Petrie walks over to rest on his head. There's a weird comedy bit where Guido freaks out at a jaw of sharp teeth but it's actually a Sharptooth skeleton and he apologizes to it for getting mixed up. Cera picks him up, and the Gang run away while the Spino struggles with the rocks and roars in frustration.

Back at the nest, Petrie's mom wakes up and tells her kids to wake up for the big day. While stretching, they notice that Petrie is missing. The Gang have crossed over the Great Wall and are on their way back. Petrie's worried he'll be late, but Littlefoot reassures him that he's got time. Cera tells him to rest up.

Guido: "Oh, this is all my fault! Hey, if you hadn't come to rescue me you'd be home and rested and- and- and ready to go! And I STILL don't understand how I even got there!"

Littlefoot, Petrie, Cera, and Ducky: "YOU CAN FLY!"

Guido: "What? In my sleep?! Okay, how weird do you guys think I am?!"

Cera: "Don't get me started..."

Petrie's siblings are worried what they're going to do without Petrie, and their mom says they'll have to go without him. The Gang have reached the lava pool on the way back, and Petrie thinks it might be better this way if he misses it. Cera insists he's a great Flyer, and Ducky says he flies like nobody else. Petrie points out that's the problem, repeating that the whole point of the Day of Flyers is to be like everybody else. Guido chimes in.

Guido: "But but but-but maybe that's not the problem, m-maybe it's the solution! Eh look, if there's one thing I've had to learn it's that you can't worry about being like everybody else! You just have to be yourself. Just be Petrie, and you'll be fine!"

Where did this revelation come from? Guido was asleep most of the previous scenes, he hasn't even flown yet. The last time he was conscious, he was cheering and celebrating Petrie successfully flying in formation!

Petrie agrees, and they hear a screech. The three judges are flying in, meaning it's just about to start! Littlefoot tells Petrie to go now, they'll catch up in time to cheer for him.

Why are there judges? I thought this was like a bar mitzvah or quinceañera, not a competition.

Tricia also hears the judges screech and she follows them, while Tria and Topsy are still asleep. They take positions on a cliff and Petrie's mom talks to her kids about how they'll have to make due without Petrie. Petrie flies in, demanding to know who said he's not here! His siblings ask where he was and then impress the importance of flying like them. He says that he'll fly like him, and their mom seems intrigued before asserting he'll do fine. The sun rises, and with it, tons of young Flyers in the Valley take to the air.

I didn't know there were that many Flyers in the Great Valley. Usually, when we see crowd shots, it's just Petrie's family and one or two others.

Petrie's family takes off, too, and take formation. The Gang trudge back, very sleepy, but then they see all the Flyers in the sky and wonder which one's Petrie. The Gang cross the creek from before over some rocks, while Tricia plays nearby, staring upward. She trips on a root and almost starts crying, but then a dragonfly distracts her and she chases it.

Petrie's mom watches her children fly in formation with concern, as the judges look on.

I like their designs.

Petrie chants to himself.

Petrie (nervously): "Me fly along with all the rest, me gonna pass the flying test." *he gets more confident* "Me fly real good, me fly okay, me gonna do it Petrie's way!" *more confident* "Me fly real good, me fly okay, me gonna do it Petrie's way!!"

He flies out of formation high above the rest, doing a spin, then returns to the group without hitting them. They're still annoyed at him for messing around. Their mom wonders what he's up to. Littlefoot sees him and Ducky wonders what he's doing. He's doing figure-8 loops around the front of the V-formation, before returning to it seamlessly! Guido climbs up on a tree for a closer look.

When Petrie returns, his antics inspire one of his siblings to break from the group, too. They fly up and spin around like a top, and Petrie praises them when they return. Petrie does another loop, and one-by-one, each of Petrie's siblings break from formation to do one little trick, then return to their spot in formation, keeping the practiced synchronicity while adding spontaneity in controlled bursts! This leads into song 3 of the movie: Flip, Flap, and Fly.

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...goddammit, I am not immune to big showstopper musical numbers. This song rules! The closest comparison point I can think of is You Can't Stop The Beat from Hairspray, and that's high praise. In contrast to Things Change, the animation here is absolutely ridiculously good, constantly moving and shifting and escalating to the big finale!

The lyrics are a little repetitive, but there are enough breaks and solos to keep it feeling fresh. Especially with the judges, I'm so glad the judges weren't sticks in the mud, they're actually fun and encouraging. Which makes sense, they "judge" a children's rite of passage ceremony. It's not a serious competition, and it makes sense they'd be friendly and good with kids.

And the singing is great. Especially with the judges adding low and high pitched elements, they really add depth to the song's soundscape. And the message is great, Guido and the judges especially do a good job with their verses.

I was a bit concerned for the egg, but the song kept coming back to it as a throughline and the resolution there was pretty great with it hatching mid-song.

I'm not really a fan of Mo and the Tinysauruses, and while their cameos are short and fun, they're also confusing. The path from the Great Valley to Big Water involved like two waterfalls and a huge rock, how is Mo here? Also, a huge plot point of the last movie was that the Tinysaurus cave system was destroyed, how were they able to fly through it?

Whatever, that's a nitpick, the song is still fantastic.

As you can see, the song ends on Tricia. She's entranced by all the pretty Flyers in the sky. So entranced, that she doesn't look where she's going and falls into the river! She cries and screams as the current takes her downhill! Her cries wake up Tria and Topsy, who are still asleep even though they were clearly awake and watching during the song (bad continuity). The Gang hear her crying too, and Cera recognizes her little sister's voice and run off.

From his perch in the tree, Guido can see Tricia in the river. He wishes there was something he could do! He flashes back to everyone yelling at him that he can fly, and decides there's only one way to find out, before jumping out of the tree! He flails wildly before the wind catches his wings and he starts gliding. Petrie also hears Tricia crying and splits off from the group to dive down, not caring about finishing the show!

Guido dives down and grabs Tricia out of the water!... using his arms. Which have his wings on them that he needs to fly (a shame he doesn't have wings on his legs like a Microraptor should). He and Tricia immediately fall back in the water! They're being pulled by the current toward a massive waterfall! Guido tries to paddle with one arm, but it's not enough!

Right as they go over the ledge, Petrie dives down and grabs Guido's arm! He's strong enough to fly with both of them! Just barely! And he's slowly descending! So not quite strong enough! He yells for help and his siblings fly down to help, grabbing onto his wings in a V-formation and pulling up together!

You know, I think it'd be more effective if they were just grabbing different parts of Guido and Tricia and lifting, instead of putting all that stress on Petrie's shoulders.

Littlefoot and Cera run up to the bank of the river, and Tricia is so excited to see Cera that she accidentally wriggles out of Guido's arm! She falls, screaming, as Tria and Topsy also run up and gasp in horror! Cera manages to catch her on her face!

Tria celebrates that Tricia is safe and Topsy celebrates that Cera is a hero. Guido, Petrie, and all of Petrie's siblings float down to a satisfied and tired heap on the ground. Topsy thanks Petrie and Guido for saving Tricia. Guido puts his foot in his mouth.

Guido: "Well and-and thank you very much eh-huh, big guy! Eh, I mean, eh, I don't mean that you're, you know, like fat big, I mean that you're big, you're tall, I mean, well of course anybody is taller than me, you in particular, I mean hey, hey you got a nosebleed 'cause look how big you are, I mean ah-heh-heh, I- I really think I'd better go away, buh-bye, big gu- sir, oh!"

Guido exits stage right. Littlefoot points out that Petrie and his family didn't finish the Day of the Flyers, meaning they'll have to do it again. They're okay with that, since it was fun. Petrie's mom comes down and Petrie apologizes, but she's proud of them for knowing what's really important. And then she says that the Day of the Flyers will never be the same again, as the camera pulls back on a huge cloud of Flyer kids playing and swooping around in the sky!

Tricia gets distracted by a butterfly and follows it for a little bit before walking straight up to Cera.

Tricia: "Cewa!"

Her big sister and parents gasps with joy, and Cera nuzzles her.

The camera pulls out as the narrator explains that many changes occurred today and many more would come. Change is a part of life.

The end credits song is just an instrumental version of Flip, Flap, and Fly, not particularly noteworthy.

This was a bad movie that could have been great if it had a few more writing passes.

Like, I can't believe the Spinosaurus didn't come back, especially after Littlefoot literally said it would get out. And then the climax is based around Tricia being washed down a river and Spinosaurus is semi-aquatic, that should literally write itself!

The Spinosaurus is the most nothing Sharptooth encounter in the whole franchise. More nothing than the Sharptooth in 8, at least that Sharptooth got multiple scenes. This just gets one. Absolute waste of a Spinosaurus!

Similar to 11 and 8, this is a film where a huge part of the premise just DOESN'T WORK. Specifically, here it's no-one realizing Guido is a Flyer even though they've met Ichy before.

The whole "Guido sleepwalking" thing, despite being foreshadowed with his first appearance, feels like a cheap plot device to pad for time. It takes up 20 whole minutes of the film and accomplishes very little aside from filling the "adventure, crossing a chasm, Mysterious Beyond, and Sharptooth" quota. And they never answer the question of Guido's amnesia, they never go into his backstory. He just sleepflew here one day and that's it.

Overall, Guido is annoying, shallow, and offensive in the Jewish stereotype he embodies. If he wasn't a stereotype, he'd still be really annoying with how they obviously meant to cast a famous stand-up comedian to play him but couldn't get anyone. But because he's a walking stereotype, that makes him so much worse. He has good moments but they're few and far between, outweighed heavily by his bad and cringey moments.

On the other hand, the other new character: Tricia, is great. She's not NEARLY as annoying as Dana and Dinah. She occasionally gets into trouble, but it's usually very mild trouble, she doesn't mean to, and she's sensitive to when others are angry. She's also genuinely adorable, Nika Futterman did a fantastic job with the baby noises, and that little "Cewa" warmed my heart. Cera barely tolerated Dana and Dinah, but you can feel how much she loves Tricia.

Something I was disappointed by: they didn't even MENTION Pterano! With how Petrie-focused this film is, they should have at least mentioned him, considering how close he and Petrie were. Like maybe have Petrie's mom make a comment that Petrie is very similar to Pterano, they're both individualists who stand out from the crowd, and Pterano had issues with his Day of the Flyers, too. Something like that.

Pros: The Universal logo fake-out. One song is good, another is fantastic. Tricia is great. Petrie and Cera were both great in their own plots.

Cons: Guido offends me. Guido is unfunny, despite constantly making jokes. Guido's sleepwalking wasted 20 minutes. What Petrie's issue is, exactly, is inconsistent. Very bad continuity. Terrible Sharptooth, waste of a Spinosaurus. One song is bad. The writing for the first half is hackneyed and sitcom-y. The climax is tacked-on.

Score: This is a movie with highs and lows. But, frankly, it's a lot more lows than highs. And while some highs are REALLY high, some lows are REALLY low. I'm giving this one a 3/10, with a huge asterisk that it has some genuine 8-9/10 high moments.

The Land Before Time: 8/10 (hypothetical uncut version: 9/10)

The Great Valley Adventure: 8/10

The Time of the Great Giving: 7/10

Journey Through The Mists: 7/10

The Mysterious Island: 9/10

The Secret of Saurus Rock: 2/10

The Stone of Cold Fire: 10/10

The Big Freeze: 6/10

Journey To Big Water: 4/10

The Great Longneck Migration: 9/10

Invasion of the Tinysauruses: 2/10

The Great Day of the Flyers: 3/10

#the land before time #PMC watches TLBT #the land before time xii: the great day of the flyers #land before time

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1000plants · 6 months ago

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Under the Lonesome Moon 1/5

"New Moon"

Cowboy!Bucky Barnes x reader (male) Golden Era of cowboys - 1865s

Summary: Tired with the simple life of your little town, you can only hope the cowboys who’ve arrived will change it all.

Warnings- Mentions of death, violence, traumatized lil kid

Authors Note- Im so excited for this series!! School started back up and I have a lot of hours, but this will hopefully come out in a timely manner lol

Chapter 1/5

===============================================

“Kid! Hey, kid!” Tony called up into the barn. His voice echoed around because of the shitty acoustics of the ranshackled place. You could hear him huffing when you didn't answer right away.

Though the acoustics must be somewhat decent, his yelling reached your ears didn't it? You groaned at the unpleasant awakening. Laying up in the loft, the timber beams made your back ache with stiffness. Tony and Natasha had each offered you housing, a warm bed, and all other forms of stability, but you didn't take it.

Taking it meant you were stayin’. And you weren't stayin’.

“What?” You called back, voice rough with sleep. You sucked in a big breath, rubbing the sleep from your eyes and sitting up. The sun peaked through the slits of the roof. Golden strands that didn't fully reach the loft floor, Tony did a damn good job at building it all those years ago.

“Ms. Natasha wants to see you, Kid.” Tony said. You could hear the exasperated grin in his voice as he opened the barn doors fully. The low thud of the doors sliding open and hitting the end of the rails was the final wakeup call you needed. Most days you were better at getting yourself up and presentable, today wasn't one of those days.

You grabbed your raggedy jacket and dust off the hay on your pants as you stood. Glancing down at the barn floor, morning sun spilling in, it was about a 10 ft drop. You wiped your hands dry on your worn out jeans and grabbed the main pillar. It was a rough wood, but never seemed to give you splinters as you clambered down.

A bit of dirt billowed up as your feet firmly planted on the ground. Tony just nodded towards the bar down the road as he made his way to the wooden plow. It hadn't been running as smoothly as he wanted, apparently.

“You really should take her up on that offer,” Tony tells you, making his way over and dusting some of the remaining hay from your jacket. He looked sympathetic, smiling lightly and avoiding looking at the obvious hole in your elbow.

At your half confused expression, Tony continues, “The job, kid. You already work for pay, why not take her up on the free bed?” He grins and lays a solid slap on your back.

You grunt out and stumble a step forward, lopsidedly smiling back, “What? And leave this luxury?” You gesture up to the loft, old hay you had piled up to sleep on was just visible from the ground. Your hat was hung on a rusty nail on the pillar, your nicer shoes sat underneath.

“Barns not that comfortable!” Tony hollers at you with a chuckle as you make your way down the road. You don't reply, just turn back towards him and wave him off with an eyeroll.

It wasn't about comfort, not to you. There was a long while you did sleep in a real bed. One with nice sheets and a full pillow. When you had made your way to town 13 years ago, you had thought you'd stay forever. Plus, who was gonna make an orphaned 10 year old sleep outside?

Well… Mayor Nicolas “Fury” nearly made you.

In all fairness, he had good reason to worry you were bringing bandits with you.

This town was never your home, and it was odd to think that you had lived here longer than not. When you were little, maybe 9 or 10, your Pa’s farm was struggling. He and your Ma made the choice to sell it and try to move to the cities. There was some whispering about the railroads. A good chance for your Pa to put his strength to use and make some money. It would also have been a more stable future for you when you became old enough.

Walking down the beaten path to the bar, you glanced out at the landscape. The little town of Stanlow was easy to miss if you didn't know you were going to it. Surrounded by waves of hills, lush grasslands, and a river just around the bend, it was seen as a little oasis. That was probably why just about 500 people called it home. Tony had it best, you came to quickly learn, a family cattle farm that was closer to town than anyone else. All the other farmers and ranchers lived a quarter of a day's ride away- at best.

It was actually Tony who had brought you to town. According to others, he had been riding back from a friend's farm and saw a group of horses and men surrounding a covered wagon. When he had gotten much closer, the men were quick to grab their knapsacks and ride off.

He had worried it was a planned attack, and knowing Stanlow wasn't too far, he kept his guard up as he neared the wagon. The horse that was pullin’ the wagon had been spooked and ran a good hundred feet away and the wagon was on its side.

What he hadn't been expecting to see as the dust settled was a young boy hunched over a body. No, two bodies.

Depending on who you asked, the rest of the story is a bit fuzzy. Tony told you the story rarely, so you pieced it together from the drunkards and gossips who didn't care about if you knew or not. Tony had to basically drag you away from your Pa, who had gotten fatally shot by the bandits almost immediately. The only thing that coaxed you away from the only comfort you knew was your Ma, who wasn't gonna make it. Even 10-year-old you could see it in the way her face paled and the blood pooled in a dark red spot on her stomach. She knew about Stanlow, it was a town your family had skipped in order to shear some more time off their trip, and it was close enough that she trusted Tony to bring you there safely.

That was all you really remembered, too. Being pulled away from your Ma, crying so hard her face was a blur, hoisted up onto a horse and riding away. You cried yourself to sleep. Not waking up until the next day, in a large bed with an old quilt draped over you. The lights were low and a single candle was lit by the door.

It wasn't your house, it wasn't your bed, it wasn't even your Ma and Pa’s bed… so, you lashed out.

Initially you did, at least. The first day was spent with Fury, Ms. Natasha, and Tony trying to calm you down. It took Doctor Banner a few tries to sedate you enough so that they could get you food. Then after all that you clammed up. Hardly spoke a whisper, Ms. Natasha theorized you were mute from the shock.

Maybe you were, the first few months were really blurry for you. You never told them your name, so they just settled on calling you “The Kid” which got shortened to an affectionate “Kid”. You didn't remain the silent and scared little kid for long, though. You were like every other young boy in town, just less restrained. All the others had their parents to scold them, to give them a curfew, work to do. You didn't have that, and Ms. Natasha and Tony didn't feel it was their place to enforce it.

They didn't see you as their son and you didn't see them as your parents, but that didn't stop them from protecting you.

You got into a little too much trouble. Hitting balls around and breaking windowpanes, roughhousing a little too hard and getting into full on fights. Hell, even playing marbles and hide-and-seek made you into a little hellion.

A few nights in the sheriff's cell helped. A little. You weren't angry, as much as Doctor Banner and Mayor Fury thought. You had just too much energy. Tony helped mediate it by getting you working in his barn most days, then at night you'd clean Ms. Natasha's bar in return for a bed. Once you were 16, you started looking for a way out of town. Odd jobs, travelers with offers, even considered braving your way East to go to the factories and railroads your Pa had sought.

But no one would take you. Sure, a few people gave you some farmland work. You'd take care of horses, help during the harvests, but word got around fast that you couldn't stay out of trouble. Jobs washed up quickly. Ms. Natasha always had a soft spot for you. She offered you everything you could've wanted. You were great at the bar, personable and charming enough to sell the more expensive drinks, but it wasn't what you wanted. It was slow, a few fights here and there kept your interest, unfortunately those had to be trampled down quickly. If Fury had to get involved in a bar fight, you were screwed.

Speaking of… As you neared the bar, you waved hello to Ms. Natasha. She was a woman you were glad was always on your side. A no-nonsense attitude, firm tone, and the strongest liqueur around. All of it added up to a dangerous woman no man would doublecross. Looking back, the nights spent in the sheriff's cells might have not been to keep you in, but to keep her out.

She flashed you a bright smile, pushing open the double swinging doors to usher you inside. You did a small jog and murmured a soft thanks before stepping in. You lightly jumped around the squeaky floorboard that needed fixed, dragged a finger through the grime on a table yet to be clean, and made a mental checklist of the bottles that needed stocked- all while Ms. Natasha said:

“What took you so long? I haven't needed to send Tony to fetch ya in - god,” She puffed her cheeks and shook her head as she looked at the dirty table, “a damn long while.”

“Busy dreamin’ I guess,” You halfheartedly reply. Really you had no good reason, your internal body must've forgotten. Maybe the hay was comfier than you realized.

“Well, you can keep dreaming all you'd like,” She nods, giving you a slightly more stern look, “But there's a lot of cleaning up you've yet to do.”

You sheepishly smile at her as you dig behind the bar for some soap and a less-than-disgusting rag. Yeah… you kinda dropped the ball last night when it came to cleaning up. Rushing to get out ‘cause the moon had disappeared from the sky.

There was something cathartic about looking at a clear sky- no moon with infinite stars- while sitting on the barn roof. It was one of the very few times you truly felt like nothing was happening. The one time your brain stopped thinking and your body didn't ache to move. You wished you could bottle up that feeling and sell it- maybe that’d be your ticket out of here.

“Sorry Ms. Natasha,”

“Nat, Kid, you make me feel old when you say that.”

“Nat,” You correct yourself, standing to wet the rag. You both knew you would go back to the title soon, it was the only manners you seemed to have, “The sky looked pretty, couldn't miss it!”

She chuckled and shook her head, joining you in cleaning up and restocking the bar for later tonight.

“You kids and your daydreaming,” She mused with a smirk, nudging your arm and eliciting a half-hearted eyeroll from you.

But you weren't a kid. You were 20 god damn years old.

The rest of the afternoon went smoothly. You got the major problems all sorted: fixing a wobbly chair, refilling the water jugs in back, heading to Mayor Fury's office down the road for some paperwork- all things Ms. Natasha needed an extra hand for.

It was just an hour or so until the bar was fully in swing for the night. There was Old Jim in the back, nursing a cheap bottle of beer. That familiar ache came back to your chest when you saw Nat talking to him, consoling him over something, maybe encouraging a stronger drink.

Was that your future? Working everyday at the same thing? Befriending drunkards for some extra money before the richer drinkers came by?

Or were you an Old Jim.

Doing so little with yourself that you needed to wash away the ache with some cheap shit.

These thoughts only hurt harder the more you thought about them. So you shoved the feeling down to your toes and recentered your focus onto the bottles you were cleaning. Oh! And you needed to get some fruit from the shop, it would be good to add to some drinks. Or for the few who wanted to snack on those as well as the nuts and dried meat.

You hummed softly to yourself, turning to the window as the sun faded gently into the ground. A sharp orange that drowned out the little blades of grass. This was the type of view you would kill to have imprinted into your brain. The arc of one of the hills as it sliced through the sun, a cloud or two daring to break up the orange with the impending deep blue that quickly faded to black.

“Nat, where do you want the…” You started to ask, drying the last glass bottle, but the sight of four men on horses making their way straight for town stopped all trains of thought. You squinted at the sight, they looked like bandits. They rode horses like no one you'd ever seen before. But that's not what truly caught your attention, it was what seemed to be a gleaming metal arm, and a dark leather hat that made you starstruck.

“Kid!” Natasha scolded, hearing the shattering of glass from the broom closet. She huffed, turning with broom in hand to make you sweep it up. Her brows pinched together when she noticed you were pressed flush against the window. The broken bottle fully forgotten, the rag you had been holding slipped precariously out of your hands.

No, not bandits…

“Cowboys.” you breathed out, breath fogging the glass as a giddiness erupted in your veins.

This was it. Your way out.

#marvel #avengers #avengers x male reader #bucky barnes #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes x male reader #cowboy au #Golden Age of Cowboys #avengers x reader #UtLM

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agirlandherquill · 1 month ago

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writecamp - day 13, june 13th

welcome to day 13 campers!

the rules are as follows: choose a prompt (or as many of them as you like) from the list, write something and share your creation with the rest of writeblr, and share the game with others, because as we all know writing is a gift and it deserves to be shared! and of course, tag me in your responses because i cannot wait to see them!

as usual, the prompt list will be under the cut!

The Prompt List

Dialogue Prompts:

"Look. Now. What do you see?"

"You had your chances. I had mine."

"Why did you do this? Why me?"

"We... We were never done, because- We had never truly begun."

"If I promise you answers, will you let me end this?"

Setting Prompts:

A smoking forest

An echoing well

A blurry battle

A rocky beach

A broken building

Narration Prompts:

She cradled the bruised flower between her fingers, shielding it from the wind's fury.

He held out his hand, waiting, willing, and watched it be taken.

The path they chose was the wrong one, the only exit sealed itself off, leaving them in the dark.

When will we ever learn? Will it be too late by then?

A smiling death was the prettiest thing to paint.

Feeling Prompts:

The pressure of promises

The drain of disbelief

The hurt of horror

The bite of bitterness

The sweetness of savagery

all the best for day 13, you've all made such a brilliant start to the challenge, and i can't wait to see what you write!

~ A Girl and Her Quill

~ ~ ~

now for the tags! for writecamp, because i have a feeling there's going to be so many of you, i'm going to do tags a little bit differently and instead tag all you lovely campers in the comments! (to hopefully get around any tag limits/difficulties because we all know there's going to be problems, it's inevitable and i'm going to do my best to avoid any issues in that area) (the tag list will also be completed a short while after this post comes out seeing as i unfortunately cannot queue comments, but i'll get there in the end :) )

but of course, if you would like to be tagged in future daily challenges for writecamp, all you've got to do is interact with this post - it'll be monitored throughout the entirety of the challenge to ensure nobody who wants to be tagged misses out!

tag list temporary home whilst i'm away and relying on the queue <3

@caitlin-elias @17panicattacksinatrenchcoat @kitty-is-writing @detective-bird @seastarblue

@vesanal @foxgloves-garden @aalinaaaaaa @sharkblizzardblogs @the-ellia-west

@willtheweaver @365runesofthesystem @joeys-piano @nofuckingideawhatsgoingon

@njnetails @imbrisvastatio @write-with-will @jay-avian @sugar-phoenix

@aestatismors @strawberry022 @i-do-anything-but-write @seaglasswrites @kitkins13

@darkluminosity @askthebeliever @theaistired @thewritingautisticat @nightmaricwriter

@diabolical-blue @tildeathiwillwrite @keeping-writing-frosty @nothoughtsjustmhaandotherthings @glasshouses-and-stones

@theeccentricraven @deviljaythey @nyms-fanfic-corner @lyngracetalksnwritesnstuff @wildswrites

@terrifictoonman @carb0n-m0n0xide @kara-ltc @pepsiwriteswords @this-machine-runs-on-coffee

@inspirationallybored @fangedcinnamonroll @tiredpapergirl @watermelons-dont-grow-on-trees @3-2-whump

@succstosucculent @an-indecisive-nerd @evilwriter37 @cynic-and-chief @pulletandraptor

@oswinoswalddd @elluqien710 @pen-for-sword @helpmeimblorboing @moss-milquetoast

@angiesartstudio @xxsweetxdreamerxx @chaotic-titania @dreamingofstarslight

#writeblr #tag game #writecamp

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superhusbands4ever · 3 months ago

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My non-spoiler review of Thunderbolts* because I have a lot of thoughts as a long-time MCU fan and also not really anyone to talk to about it:

Firstly, I will say I did not go into this movie expecting it to be as good as it was. And I mean genuinely good, not just “good for a Marvel/superhero movie” good. It was a story that still felt grounded in reality the way that Phase I MCU did and that felt relatable. I went in with low expectations having been disappointed by the majority of post-Avengers: Endgame movies, but I was pleasantly surprised.

I love that the story was character and emotion driven, and had a message and a self-contained story on top of it actually having direct ramifications on future MCU projects and being impacted directly by events and character actions in past MCU projects. I did not expect this movie to be an emotionally impactful allegory for mental health. I was not expecting such a wonderfully powerful message about the self and how we view ourselves and our actions and our place in the world, despite our past or our mistakes. Honestly of the 13 movies that have come out since Avengers: Endgame (Jesus fuck), this is 1 of only 6 that successfully made me emotionally connected/invested in the story, and 1 of 4 that made me actually genuinely cry because of how the characters made me feel.

It’s just really nice to have a writer and director who understand the MCU movies were always meant to be emotionally driven and character driven stories first, and an interconnected universe second. That is something that I think a lot of phase 4 was missing. It was a lot of “we’re going to make a bunch of independent stories with something set up in the after credit scenes that will get characters from point A to point B and then we might maybe see the characters again or any ramifications of the movie in the next 10 years.” From Endgame to now, with the exception of a handful of movies, it felt very much like they were just throwing things at the wall to see what would stick.

But what makes Thunderbolts* unique is that you can see the through-line of the story. Like I said before, while it works as a self-contained story, it’s also an MCU movie where we see the direct results/impacts of past movies and we can see the way this will directly influence the MCU moving forward, especially in projects already announced. Unlike when Disney was trying to focus on Kang as the next big bad and everything felt disjointed, with Thunderbolts* you can see how this movie is going to impact everything from now until Avengers: Secret Wars and it’s in a way that makes sense. The same way you could tell just from watching Phase 1-3 movies how they would tie directly into Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame and Thanos as the major threat. The movie is subtly important for setting up the next phase of the MCU, but not so subtle that we can’t figure out what they’re trying to do.

And then on top of that, the actual like cinematography and direction choices in this movie are just so much better than a lot that we’ve seen from other movies, like Multiverse of Madness or Quantumania or Love and Thunder. The visual shots and aesthetics reminded of Captain America: The Winter Soldier-days of the MCU. Some shots looked like they could have been straight out of a comic book panel. The use of practical effects over CGI whenever they could get away with it ABSOLUTELY shows in the quality of not just the action sequences, but also the worldbuilding. It definitely felt like a pivoting moment for Disney’s handling of the MCU, and hopefully that is something that they continue sticking to.

Watching this movie genuinely gave me that feeling I used to get watching Iron Man or The First Avenger or Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 1. Thunderbolts* felt like a reminder of all of the things that made me love the MCU in the first place. I can only hope that they keep that direction up with Fantastic Four and Avengers: Doomsday.

#thunderbolts*#thunderbolts #mcu #marvel #bucky barnes #yelena belova #john walker #ava starr #bob

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intuitive-revelations · 3 months ago

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Semi-live/retrospective analysis of The Well!

Another semi-liveblog / semi analysis of episode 3! Again, I watched and wrote this early using the iPlayer release, but am posting when the BBC 1 airing ends. I'm scheduling it, so hopefully the football doesn't go long and knock it off-time.

As a warning, while comments are generally made in chronological order with the episode, note that I do come back and make edits in some cases based on later information, which may include spoilers. So maybe don't follow along with these comments while watching the episode for the first time (not that I expect anyone is doing that, but just in case)!

I love we're picking up right off from Lux with these costumes in the TARDIS. We could have had the Doctor and Belinda change first, but this sets us right up after the TARDIS left. Not that unusual for the first few episodes of a series, but I do like it when it happens.

"swatted by a giant moth" Kill the Moon thoughts intensify...

"and your mum will whistle at my behind" Interesting again to see how Fifteen is particularly aware of the power of attraction and how to manipulate it. I would say it feels a little iffy doing that with the first black Doctor (though I'm not black, so I don't want to get too carried away speaking about racial implications myself), but we have seen plenty of bits like this sexualising the Doctor with previous incarnations. See 9 and 10's relative flirtiness, 11 too, although while seemingly being less aware of it, with his relative asexuality (though I'd argue he still enjoys the game of it all, given his relationship with River etc., even if he's sometimes a bit less aware of when he's led someone on - Amy, Nefertiti, Marilyn etc.)

The return of Toxic! 20 years later!

A little silly the TARDIS had exactly the same (military?) uniforms. Couldn't we have had the orange spacesuits or something?

The crew not reacting to the Doctor and Bel straight away is a little weird, but I assume we're just at a point with the jump where there's no return and they need to pay attention.

My astrophysics nerd heart loves the spacescapes we're getting this era.

(Future comment: wait, does this mean Midnight is actually a Moon, based on the proximity of that ringed planet? Or at least a binary system? I really need to go back to that episode and see how things match up.)

Carbon 46 - I assume not "Carbon-46" right? That would be impossible. The number must have a different meaning than isotope - maybe the atomic configuration? (Future edit: YUP!)

A lot of specific numbers this series. Some of them stood out previously (e.g. that six-six-six-sixteen) but I'm not sure any mean anything. An interesting point to note though, given the later discussion of 13 being unlucky as an Earth superstition. Could be hinting at future significances.

"Hope is irrelevant." Interesting. We just had the Doctor discussing the idea of the TARDIS bringing hope last episode (very DotD, since I didn't say it before), so this may be starting to form a theme. Was there any discussion of hope in The Robot Revolution?

"It's not appropriate to call me 'babes'." This is obviously meant to be antagonistic, but honestly... hell yeah, speak back to your "higher-up".

Hmm... more emphasis on heart beats, here as a life sign. But not the Doctor's this time. I'm still adding it to the list though.

Yay, another deaf character!

Interesting choice to have part of the signed conversation untranslated. Was there any significance there? Also is this recognisable BSL/ASL? I think I recognised a bit, with the thank you, but don't know about the rest.

Nice also to have the Doctor be more confident at it, after some of Twelve's mistakes last time.

So everyone else went mad? I assume it was caused by something sound related then? But then why the mirrors?

"A nurse who can't sign? That's against the law." "Well, we have different laws. But you're right, it should be the law."

In retrospect, I like the detail that Aliss didn't react to the door opening! She was facing the other way, and of course she didn't hear it. I was wondering at first why she was so nonchalant to it opening.

Mercury... so another source of reflections?

"I can still lip-read."

Between Bel's struggling as a nurse and the Doctor's questions, I'm kinda struggling to buy that the crew will keep buying their authority. This is a common DW trope, so I'm not sure why I'm so sceptical this episode... (Future Edit: Given who the enemy is this episode, no wonder the writing has got me feeling so anxious about this! Genuinely quite a compliment to Angel Walfall, RTD, and the show crew on making me feel this way without even knowing why!)

The well itself gives strong "Satan Pit" vibes. Maybe this is why we didn't bring back the orange, as it would have felt too similar?

I like some of the world-building we're getting this episode, with regards to the 'wildlands' and entering the force as a teenager. Far more than we usually get for "generic interstellar space mission".

OH? So something has happened to Earth. Presumably not erased from time given last episode, but perhaps its future history has been, depending on what's happening in the present. I can't remember if I said this before, but this all feels surprisingly Lawrence Miles "Book of the World" so far (or just the stolen planets arc I guess), not that I'm saying it's more EU (or in this case, unofficial writing) cribbing, just a similar vibe with the mystery of Earth somehow being missing.

Interesting to have two explicitly human-like alien species this series already. Not as common in New Who compared to Classic. Feels a little bit of a shame we're not getting some prosthetics or something though, given that Disney+ money, to give a least a little bit of an alien appearance. That's always been why I've quite liked aliens like the Singers of Akhet, or the Drahvin (BTW RTD, can we can get the Drahvin back, pretty please?).

That jump scare took a couple repeats to see what happened. Something was behind Aliss. Is she possessed, or carrying something with her? Maybe something to do with that wound?

"What's that thing?" "Magic" lol (Another point for the Magic vs Science unravelling laws of rationality theme in this show, plus how the Doctor fits into it all)

Maybe I'm so sceptical of the authority thing because of this guy's (reasonable) doubts.

Feels quite Series 4. 'There's something on your back'

"But it's just a grey star now. Nothing special." "Well, a grey star is a star that's collapsed." Hm, a grey star isn't a thing. Is it meant to be a fading white dwarf (i.e. between a white dwarf and black dwarf?) or maybe a neutron star or something? Maybe something between a black hole and neutron star? That would better fit the "collapse" description.

"It was an Xtonic Star. But that's ancient history, 400,000 years ago." Wait, I know that star...

"Carbon 46" "And the definition of that is?" "Diamonds. This is a diamond mine. The entire surface of this planet was once made out of diamonds" WAIT I KNOW THAT PLANET...

Holy shit, so this is a Midnight sequel?! No wonder the sceptical tone felt so strong (also tbf I saw something comparing the episode to Midnight, but didn't realise how strong the connection was going to be!)

The monster perked when it heard the Doctor was an expert, didn't it...?

Oh, this soundtrack! With the trumpets blaring. Was that from Midnight or another episode? It sounds kinda Twelve era, but I expect I'm wrong. (Future edit: I checked, it's definitely from Midnight. It's part of the same named song on the Series 4 soundtrack.)

I wonder... if Earth's been destroyed/erased, were the events of that episode effected? How many of the Midnight passengers, if any, were actually human again? If none, maybe it's uneffected?

This is some interesting development for the Midnight entity. So it's some sort of 'perspective'-based creature, always behind the person it's attached to. Feels very Weeping Angel-like, though it's clearly not just a matter of sight. It seems to be linked to the direction Aliss is facing.

"It can't be behind from every angle." "Try telling it that" YESSS, non-euclidean creature, let's go.

A shame this episode kinda kills the "dying TARDIS" theory of it though. Though worth noting this is the same episode Belinda had the translation circuit introduced to her, which is key to that whole idea?

"If it was a clock face, then you die at midnight."... that's a little bit of a stretch... I get it from their perspective, but surely hands at 6 o'clock would be a better comparison?

Side note... did we ever find out when Midnight took place exactly? Right now, I assumed if was the 51st century, but I don't think that's canon. We know it was around 400,000 years ago at a point 500,000 years in the future. So it's a bit further forward than we thought. Actually halfway towards the 200,000 future of human empire era of Series 1 now I think about it, though still 100,000 years away so it's not significant.

Side note 2: 400,000 years isn't a very long for a star to die in? It's fictional granted, but I wonder what type of star Midnight's sun is meant to be. I guess it could have already been in its last days? But the process of dying is meant to be slow in most cases. It presumably would have to have been quite a big star, as the larger they are the quicker they burn out. This seemingly rules out the fading white dwarf theory, since it takes forever for that to happen (fun fact: we believe there isn't a single black dwarf in the universe yet!). A neutron star / black hole intermediary state is a bit more likely, which might place the star right around the Chandresekhar limit which JWST and other telescopes are searching for bodies around. That's still not that much more massive than the Sun though, so the star really must have already been old in Midnight.

"It has fun. Oh, it played games" Interesting. This fits, but gives the creature an even more malevolent feeling, than its learning state we saw (though it was clearly more malicious when it fully took over Sky and possessed the Doctor). The mention of games almost makes me think this will link back to the Pantheon or similar creatures in some way.

As if Midnight wasn't dangerous enough, now everyone's got guns.

Cassio you moron...

...though deliberately killing him via the creature is crazy! WTF Shaya

Is Aliss even still 'her'? If so, it seems to be a change in MO for the entity.

"Please don't turn your back on me." Oh, you know that was an "a-ha" moment at the writing desk!

"My old friend. You have waited 400,000 years. Who are you? Are you there? What are you?" Are we about to get something crazy?

"It knows my name." WHAT. LIKE, 'NAME' NAME? Now I want some to analyse those whisper and see if they can discern anything. If the whisper we hear here is what the Doctor's hearing, it almost sounds just like two or three syllables. Could just be "Doctor" but doesn't sound like it. Sounds closer to "Theta" if anything...

On the other hand, it's clearly more than what we hear, so there's not much to conclude. The Doctor reacts a LOT more while we hear nothing, so there might be some telepathic contact taking place too.

(Does that mean Series 4 now has three episodes in a row with characters who know the Doctor's name? River and the entity?)

"Oh yes, there it is." Ah, for a second we were seeing the Doctor get possessed again! Can you imagine if the Doctor turned and suddenly started acting like the released Sky did at the end of Midnight? I know some of y'all have theorised it could happen in a way involving the Master, but I would love to see Ncuti get a villainous moment, like the Cyberplanner or in 42 (speaking of which, there was a brief second I thought we were talking about that star earlier!).

Ha, I knew the Mercury was significant. So it destroyed the mirrors itself then? Quite "Little Nightmares"-y, plus I swear from something else too, but I can't remember.

"Mercury 16" Oh come on, that isn't an isotope either. I guess it must be some configuration of Mercury, based on the diamond thing (maybe this is why Mercury vapour isn't an issue when it gets spilled - though I suppose even if it was, both the soldiers and the Doctor and Bel have whatever they'd need to heal the exposure).

Oh, so is it attacking something behind it involuntary? Weird... If so, that might explain what happened to the cockpit in Midnight. But did anyone go behind Sky in that episode. Although actually, there have been a few points where it seemingly could have struck previously (e.g. as Cassio walked to the other side of the room and Aliss turned), so maybe there is some control to it? The rules are a bit unclear, but that comes with non-euclidity I guess.

It seems interestingly to be linked to the line of sight specifically? The Doctor told people not to look earlier, so maybe not looking at it when you're facing it is enough to be safe? That would explain the screaming before gettng thrown too. It's like some sort of defensive mechanism to hide and avoid being seen, which is apparently harmful even to itself - very Weeping Angel-like again. Like the entity only attacks when it can gurantee it can kill whatever sees it. But apparently its peripharies (e.g. over the shoulder) aren't so vital.

"I want to see it" How very Listen of you, Doctor. At least he only seems to get a glimpse in the shadows and isn't attacked the same way.

I didn't see it first time watching, but just realised they did actually reuse the orange spacesuit! Aliss wears it when they escort her out, though it's clearly been retouched in grey to serve as a miner's spacesuit. I wonder how many of those suits have actually been made and reused? Given it fits Aliss's actress, maybe this is one of the ones fitted for Jodie, Jenna, or Mandip?

I knew everyone just getting out felt a bit too easy...

Jesus, something tells me this is going to remind Belinda how dangerous this is again, after the relatively comfortably story last time. The Doctor's sacrificial play probably helped solidify her trust of him, but I don't think she'll be as carefree about sticking around as it looked like she was going to be.

Interesting no-one questions if Belinda nearly dying would be enough to move the entity to Shaya. (Future edit: knowing it didn't actually go to her shows how flimsy this really was. It's also a nice reminder that the thing is intelligent, and doesn't have rules it needs to follow. After all, why should it go to the killer? It probably only did so previously because they were the most convenient nearby body. Or actually, in retrospect, I guess that, like it looked for the most intelligent person in the room in Midnight, this time it's just looking for its safest way out. In the past, that's been sticking with whoever kills the previous host - "survival of the fittest", after all (not that that's what that phrase really means) - but here, it knows Shaya is ready to sacrifice herself, so there's no point leeching onto her. It also doesn't go with the Doctor, as this time he's too smart, and would catch and stop it. Belinda was a good try, but her odds now probably seem to low (plus maybe her being shot would have effected it too?). The better option is to pick someone else in the room: not a soldier - but the group's quieter nurse.

I feel like Shaya running away face forwards could have been done a bit more carefully, given she was almost throwing everyone behind her. (Future edit, again: given the final twist, this makes more sense...)

Also, she kinda comes across as another Doctor parallel doesn't she? Like with Mr Pye last episode, here "running across the galaxy" to bring hope (again that theme). Feels like the kinda thing that could be setting up the Doctor to sacrifice himself some way in the final episode this series.

This music as she sacrifices itself sounds familiar again? I'd assume from Midnight, but it sounds more like something from Girl in the Fireplace. A lot of repeated soundtracks this year so far. Mostly reasonable choices, but Amy's theme and the This is Gallifrey bit feel like they could be arbitrary choices. I hope Murray Gold put some thought into it and it's not more of a Time of the Doctor situation where they had limited recording time and had to reuse some themes (as much as I love the Long Song / Infinite Potential returning for Eleven's regeneration). I wonder if there's more subtle Midnight callbacks in this episode's soundtrack I missed? Whether there are or not, I will say I did love the soundtrack this episode, including the more original bits. (Future edit: Again, I checked this. I don't think it's actually Madame de Pompadour, which is what I was thinking. I think it's just a similar sounding theme, either original to this episode, or possibly unreleased from Midnight.)

Mrs Flood again. So the use of the vindicators IS important, including to whatever she's thinking. Again... is my theory that they're accidentally messing with Earth's position in the Web of Time correct?!

Actually defeating the Midnight entity (albeit not killing it), rather than just surviving felt a little bit of a shame, so it actually sucessfully getting out does boost this ending quite a bit! Now I just kinda hope we get a third story to complete the trilogy, as it's quite a cliffhanger. Maybe that could be the one to actually reveal more about it?

Ooh, the credits give the entity a name (or lack thereof) for crediting. "It Has No Name". It seems to be a male actor, maybe whoever did the glimpses of it on set? The whispers sounded more feminine to me.

Overall thoughts

I really liked this one, even if it was a bit of a disappointing follow-up. Definitely doesn't match up to Midnight in terms of the tension and anxiety, even if I was feeling it early on. Maybe more should have been done with Cassio's coup - we could have seen more and more whispers among the crew members over the story? The room most of the action takes place in is also way too big, so you don't get the same claustrophobia. That being said, between this and the entity's behaviour itself, I get you don't just want to do Midnight, but again. I still think it was a good and creepy story, but the comparison to Midnight kinda makes it look worse by comparison. We also don't get the same breakdown of the Doctor's character behaviour, though again I understand you can't just do the same thing again. It more just happens in the background here, mostly via Cassio. On the bright side, I'd argue we've gotten a similar breakdown of Fifteen from Belinda just a couple episodes ago, so I'm not too upset.

Meeting the entity again is cool though, especially with it seemingly recognising the Doctor. The implication that it learned the Doctor's name is a bit of a bombshell, even if it sadly didn't amount to anything. Its shows of force are neat, quite poltergeist-y, and matches up with the cockpit getting torn off in the previous episode, but overall it didn't really match the creepiness of that episode. I'm kinda shocked we never got a point of it mimicking someone again (can you imagine if it was doing so throughout, and when we got to the airlock Belinda suddenly started repeating people's words!). It seems a lot more physical rather than psychological / mental in this episode. On the otherhand, the MO change does kinda make sense. It's been 400,000 years after all - it was only really doing what it did in the first place to learn! Probably doesn't need to learn anything else at this point. Learning more about it, like its connection to perception, was pretty cool too.

I liked the characters in this episode - while some crew members were clearly more "redshirt"-y, a few of them like Cassio, Shaya and Mo stood out, as did Aliss. I really loved how you could feel the different communication barriers coming across through the episode, between the discussion of signing, the soldiers turning off their captions to speak without Aliss hearing (though, as she says, she can definitely lipread some of it) and the Doctor making an effort rather than just relying on the automatic captioning. The latter in particular feels like a bit of a relevant topic, given I've just recently seen "anti-DEI" talk turn to the idea of getting rid of interpretors and just having subtitles available. Again, I'm not audibly or visually impaired (just shortsighted), so I'm probably not the best person to talk about it, but there've been plenty of discussions especially on Tumblr on why this is a bad conclusion to come to.

One thing I'll say, less about the current episode and more in general - maybe this is just me, but do modern DW episodes tend to feel a bit underdeveloped? Not in terms of editing (though I'd argue some changes could have been made to the last few episodes, as much as I liked them) but in terms of plot pacing? It feels like a lot more happened in older episodes, whereas nowadays I check the time part way through and am surprised how close we are to the end - it sometimes feels like we could have done more with the concepts, scenery etc. Maybe it's just a matter of growing up and your attention span / information processing changing (if anything, I'm glad I seem to be going that way in terms of paying attention, rather than the opposite!). On the other hand, maybe this is evidence we need to bring back mid-season multi-parters, or at least the 50+ min episodes we got more of in Capaldi's run.

Ruby next week! I'm surprised it's a Ruby episode with the Doctor and Belinda actually on Earth, I thought it was going to be more of a Doctor-lite episode with her. When is it going to be set? I assume last year or something - too long for Bel to hang around on Earth? Also, "boyfriend", "pheromones", what is this, Torchwood?

#Doctor Who #Fifteenth Doctor #Belinda Chandra #The Well #DW Spoilers #Doctor Who Spoilers #DW Meta #DW Theory #made a small edit as I referred to RTD alone as the writer and forgot to include Sharma Angel Walfall. Added now.

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