#its had some editing and giving me time to edit empath and that shit ending is best really...

[elliot-orion]

Writing Update5/21/19

Word Count: 6876 total - 5671 for ATDADT and 1205 for the Empath

Favorite Line: “I already have those bragging rights, for one. You are far from the first Hero to stay in my bed. First one to stay the whole night though.” 

Update: Dusty is a player and a Bad BoyTM with one... okay five... okay maybe seven soft spots. Maybe a lot more, but like, listen... Basically, he looks like he could kill you, could actually kill you, but won’t because he’s really a cinnamon roll. (unless like, you hurt someone he loves in which case you are 100% going to be lit on fire)

Anyways, i haven’t had a 6000+ writing day in FOREVER and it feels SO GOOD to have another. god i missed this. It was productive too! today i finish the Empath! the ending sucks ass, but it’s an ending. I’m still not sure how and when i’ll post it. I mean, i know i will at some point and i know it’ll probably be dual here/wattpad, but like... if you want it nag me for it is what im saying bc otherwise i’ll keep putting it off forever. Same with wildfire. I need someone to nag me is what im saying here. Pleasssse. I also wrote a ton for ATDADT a novel this time (it’s actual document name, by the way), and it’s going really good and im really liking it and yea. It’s gunna need some work... a lot of work really... but i like it for now. It’ll need a rewrite for sure, but it’s really only draft one, since the shorts before were more of a vague outline for me than anything else. so yea. i’m still debating if i’ll put in the Sexy TimesTM, because Vincent is kinky and dont let him fool you into thinking he isn’t, and they do have lots of sexy times. BUT i also have it set up so i can not do that in this, and i might go that route... I’ll know its there tho... and like, im real not comfy writing that stuff really so it’d all be vagued at ANYWAYS, and the DHU is all pretty YA to NA rating, and that would turn this very heavily into R rated territory real quick, while the rest is all not adult lit stuff... you feel me? So yea, idk, i prob wont include it, but like. sexual sunday drabbles, all im saying. get ready yall. That’s about all i’ve got for now tho. yea. OH and i’ll do a last line tag right after this bc hoo boy its a funny one!!

[mrsgreenworld]

Sen Çal Kapımı Episode 14 aka The 5 Stages of Grief

This week brought us another SCK episode which was in one word just good. I had a lot of problems with and while watching the previous episode last week. There were so many questions to editing and the overall pace. I am no expert but even to my untrained eye the episode this week was easier and more pleasant to watch. However, for all the things I liked (which I will get to very soon) after rewatching the episode with the subs I am also left a bit disappointed. But let's start on the positive note.

The things I loved / liked:

☑️ Edser: even with this inevitable doom over their heads they're gorgeous, aren't they?

I love the consistency of the way they hold hands - palm to palm, entwining their fingers; not sure if this is the writers' decision or it was Kerem and Hande's acting choice or it's completely unconscious - whatever, it gives me all the feelings;

loved the gifts exchange and the choice of the gifts was so Edser; I know that Serkan's gift wasn't the most original or symbolic but it actually showed how attentive and attuned to Eda he is; he notices what she likes; a small moment when Eda said that there's nowhere she could wear such a dress and Serkan just easily responded with something like "We will find somewhere to go so you can wear this dress" - made me swoon 🥰 ; and then Eda's gift to Serkan - simple, may even seem silly and not functional but it's so Eda; because just like that world lamp it carries a meaning, it makes us and most importantly - Serkan - smile and laugh;

the next very important Edser moment is at the office terrace when Eda was planting flower seeds; I am not sure I got it right (feel free to correct me if you are a Turkish native speaker and I got lost in translation 🙂) but I think Eda said those were rose seeds; even if those were the seeds of some other flowers it's still very symbolic because flowers in general represent natural beauty and something devine; of course each individual flower has its unique meaning which can also differ depending on the colour (take roses for one: ⚪ roses mean purity and holiness, 💛 symbolise wisdom and joy while ❤️ roses are the representation of passion and sacrifice); roses in general symbolise God at work, the scent of these flowers makes us think about powerful sweetness of love, which is the essence of God; I think love is the first thing that comes to mind when we think about or see roses; so if Eda was indeed planting the seeds of roses it's very fitting because, as Eda said it herself, that very place is where everything started, where her and Serkan's love story began; plus these flowers have a very special and personal value - they represent Eda's connection with and love for her mom;

I loved seeing Eda open up to Serkan about her family, tell him her real last name... although it was bittersweet because we know how this conversation only served to cut Serkan more from the inside;

and speaking of Serkan - oh my god, the way he was looking at her in this episode 😭 we have seen a lovesick smitten look on him before but it's different now; it's painful longing; it's almost like he was committing her to his memory, wanted to imprint her looking at him with smiles and love ; because he believes that he doesn't deserve any of it and once she knows the truth she will never look at him the same way ever again;

I loved a bit of light-hearted moment between Edser in Serkan's office when they discussed evening plans and Eda suggested going to the cinema; Serkan's reaction - 👀; our boy is so social phobic 🙈😆; I love how Eda is showing him and teaching him these simple joys of life which he, unfortunately, never experienced;

and the cinema date itself - perfect; Serkan Bolat actually eating popcorn? - the planet must have gone off its axes🤣🤣🤣 Serkan asking Eda to put her head on his shoulder - swoon; his small kiss on her head - double swoon; him noticing her crying and trying to wipe away her tears - triple swoon; and finally - after the film, when he said that he would love to have the kind of machine they had seen in the film, the one that could erase bad memories, and he would love that for her, to relieve Eda from the pain of her past - I officially turned into a puddle on the floor after this;

I absolutely loved that throughout the episode Eda was very much attuned to Serkan; she immediately noticed that something was off about him; however, she wasn't pushy, she gave him space and time, she was waiting for him to talk to her when he was ready; her noticing his injured hand within the first millisecond and not believing him when tried to make up something involving Sirius - her stern "Are you really gonna feed me this crap?" look was priceless and his immediate surrender was even better 😏;

comments about Serkan's magic hands gave me all kinds of dirty thoughts 🙈😆🤣

and finally - Eda kissing Serkan's neck; it may seem a bit bold because, I think, neck kisses are considered a more sensual kind of kisses but Eda made it not about passion and desire, she managed to turn it into a show of her deep love instead and also forgiveness for Serkan's earlier outburst;

☑️ 5 stages of grief:

Call it a coincidence but just this week, on Monday, I posted a fic featuring future Edser where I actually wrote Serkan going through these stages. Fifi mentioned them as well in the episode. And finally - we got to see Serkan at very stage in this episode. Of course in reality it doesn't go like this - in just one or two days. If only that were true. But we all understand that we're dealing with fiction here so the process had to be accelerated.

As Meredith Grey once said: "There are five stages of grief. They look different on all of us. But there are always five".

1 - denial: we witnessed Serkan's denial after seeing the documents that his parents showed him; even Aydan said something like this to Alptekin: "He's just found out about it, of course he's going to try and deny it";

the moment in Serkan's office when he said to Eda that they should run away, disappear, just the two of them - another attempt at denying, it's him trying to ignore this; the cinema date - a small fleeting moment of escape where they could be a normal couple enjoying a movie together, eating popcorn and cuddling;

2 - anger: the very first scene with Serkan and his parents when they came to check on him - he lost his temper and yelled at them demanding that they bring him the damn files because he needed to see everything with his own eyes; in that very scene he almost broke a coffee table but ended up smashing the world lamp that Eda got him; let's talk about symbolism here for a moment - Serkan's whole world is smashed into pieces right now, just like this lamp;

another small depiction of his anger - after his date with Eda he slammed his first into the poor coffee table and did break it cutting his hand in the process;

his passive-aggressive behaviour towards Efe and finally losing it and snapping at Eda;

3 - bargaining: the conversation with Eda at the terrace in the office and asking about letting go of the past and if she had ever considered forgiving her grandmother; him trying to talk to her - he even wanted to do this when they went to the cinema; him trying to make up for his shitty behaviour and coming to her house with flowers and every intention of telling her the truth;

4 - depression: there were small snippets of it - when he broke the coffee table and didn't even flinch; when he was sitting on the counter in the office and telling Engin everything; him walking out of his office after the terrace conversation - you can see the heartbreak written all over his face; him mentioning to Engin that this secret was eating at him and how Eda's kindness and goodness were killing him;

5 - acceptance: the first step I think was made during that fight when Serkan said to Eda that "loneliness is better for someone like him anyway" and then just walked away; in that moment he seemed resigned to this fate - of being forever alone; then of course overhearing Eda and Ceren's talk about Eda's grandmother; and finally - the breakup scene where Serkan was completely resigned, he had realised and accepted that there's no winning for him in this situation and in his mind he had chosen the lesser of two evils;

I believe that we will see a bit more of Serkan's resigned acceptance next week but in this episode I think we walked through all of the stages;

☑️ Engin: love what a great friend he is - he immediately noticed that something was bothering Serkan; he patiently listened to Serkan (also loved that Serkan shared this with Engin instead of keeping all of it to himself), genuinely empathized and said how both Serkan and Eda didn't deserve this shit; I also love that Engin urged Serkan to be honest and tell Eda everything and pointed out that Eda deserved to know the truth;

love how he doesn't let Serkan get away with anything, just like in that scene in Serkan's office - after Serkan's fight with Eda, in the evening Engin finds Serkan in his office and when Serkan says "don't say anything" Engin is like "sorry, bro, but I will" and he did tell him that it was a shitty thing to do - saying all those things to Eda; but he also managed to remain understanding and wasn't pressuring Serkan too much or yelling at him that he had acted as an a*hole;

also loved Engin's silent support to Eda after Serkan's outburst;

while I don't really care about Engin's romantic entanglements with Pırıl the moment during brunch when he basically shut Pırıl up by feeding her something was really funny 😆;

☑️ The Girls: loved the scene where Eda tells the girls that Serkan was going to Italy with her and how he had already bought a house and rented an office there; their genuine happiness for her and their support of each other never seizes to amaze me;

the scene in the evening with all of the girls lying in a circle and telling how their day had gone - another testament to how beautiful this female gang is;

☑️ a series of smaller moments:

Eda hanging a new picture of Serkan on the wall and drawing a ❤️ on it with a red💄- this girl is so in love 😏😁;

Eda / Selin ripping Selin's wedding dress together - a great bonding moment;

Melek showing Selin her support at the brunch;

Aydan tending to and dressing Serkan's hand and telling him her own love story - a nice mother/son moment;

Seyfi spotting Serkan's picture and the star certificate in Eda's room - his genuine happiness for Edser gives me life, he definitely is the captain of this ship 🚢💟🕺🤝💪😎 ;

I love the list of Serkan's friends: Engin (he's numero uno because he's Yoda Diggle 🙈😆), Pırıl and Sirius (btw, where the hell is Sirius??? Mom & Dad are fighting again, you better drag your ass over here so you and Seyfi can help them make up)

The things I didn't like / was annoyed with:

🚩Selin: I am not saying she has no right to be angry with Ferit; what he did wasn't nice but she was ready to dump him any moment and I am sure had Serkan whistled at her while she was at the wedding table, she would have run to him then and there; so I think she should get off her high horse and stop being so freaking selfish; she has to take responsibility for her own actions and instead of demanding something from Ferit (like leaving the holding, not coming to the Art Life office) try apologizing to the man for being a bitch of cosmic proportions;

the cutting of the pictures scene - way to go girl if that's your kind of therapy; but the moment when she stumbled upon some pictures of herself and Serkan and left them untouched - god, give me a break; still being hang up on the man who clearly doesn't love you and probably never loved you, the man who, as you claimed yourself, you were never happy with... I don't know but it wouldn't have hurt if the writers had made her love and respect herself a bit more;

what's with that face after having overheard the conversation between the girls in the restroom? she looked as if she had heard them bad-mouthing her while there had been nothing negative said about her and the focus of the conversation had been on Ceren and Ferit;

🚩Ceren and Ferit: the thing with them has been developing kinda unevenly; while I enjoyed their first meeting and running into each other at the office in the previous episode, in this episode there was too much of them and the tone of their scenes almost gave me a whiplash; Ceren's passive-aggressive behaviour over the phone and near the office was just weird, the brunch interactions - awkward at first and then everything ended with Ceren being all sweet and supportive 👀;

🚩while I liked the scene where Selin and Eda were ripping Selin's wedding dress together and didn't like how they ended the scene: when Eda saw the pictures of Selin and Serkan together; I know it's not pleasant to see the pictures of the man you love with his ex while at the said ex's house after having helped her rip her wedding dress... but it's not a good enough reason to turn hostile and cold; and while Eda was not hostile, the look she gave Selin made me think I had forgotten to close the window in the room 🥶;

🚩 Aydan: I know that her heart-felt story was meant to make her likeable but it actually made me understand her even less; for a woman who was in love, who fell in love with someone who wasn't from a wealthy family - and to give Eda so much crap how she was not the right fit for their family; of course that was something she said at the very beginning, in the first episodes but it still annoys me;

and that unspoken advice that she kinda sorta gave to Serkan - really??? what kind of advice is that??? maybe I got it wrong but did she actually advice her son to just carry this burden on his own? did she mean it was okay to disappear into thin air without so much as a goodbye???👀🙄🤯

🚩 Pırıl and Engin: while their bowling date was kinda cute I didn't like Engin's comment about him wanting to boast in front of his friends that he finally "got the girl" so to speak; and Pırıl's initial reaction to bowling was a bit extra;

🚩Efe: liked his new hairstyle, the man looked smoaking hot🔥but☝️he is becoming more and more shady; it's like he's doing nothing wrong, he's being polite and friendly, learning things about the staff and organising brunch but it seems like he's trying too hard and there's something behind of all this; also - I see what you did there with Ferit and all that shares talk, very subtle 🧐🕵️;

There was nothing I hated but there's something I was disappointed with:

💔 Serkan not telling Eda the truth; I understand the motives and we saw the struggle and how he came to this difficult decision through all those stages of grief; however, I feel disappointed that the writers decided to go down this beaten path; I think I had a tiny sliver of hope that they would surprise us so I was sorry to see this story becoming predictable like many others; this won't, however, stop me from loving these imperfect characters and this imperfect show; sorry not sorry but "Deli gibi aşık oldum" 😊😍

[ijoinedtoomanyfandomsilosttrack]

i have decided to live blog my reactions to the new netflix winx saga bc i heard it's apparently bad?? currently all i know abt it was they replaced techna and flora and also theres white-washing and fatphobia?? idk anyway i'm starting with ep 1

thoughts:

its definitely not 'colorful magical girls' like the original cartoon was

"feckin' sheep"

OH ITS DEFINITELY NOT COLORFUL MAGICAL GIRLS WHAT THE HELL THAT WAS A FULL ON SHEEP (?) CORPSE YOOOO I WAS NOT EXPECTING THAT???? MAN IM NOT SCARED OF GORE BUT THAT CAUGHT ME OFF GUARD

big scary beast pog?

yeah,,, theres gore in there. rip farmer/shepherd dude

okay i have to give them credit for that pretty dope intro. its not the winx club theme but hey i kinda like it

ooooh this music is dope. time to add it to my spotify playlist

hmmm im assuming redhead girl is bloom?

girl with the plants is definitely flora (or whoever she is now)

blonde is deffo stella or smthin

girl with the headphones is musa i think

who's the dude?? i dont remember the names of the dudes in the original winx

Are they still using Bloom's backstory as like the princess (?) of a kingdom??

wAIT DO THEY STILL HAVE THEIR PETS?? LIKE BLOOM'S BUNNY??

"Wow. You are so lost. I'm impressed by your confidence in the face of complete ignorance. Issue is, you're overcommitted. I mean, you're essentially running." Did I somehow miss some backstory?? What is up with this dude what is going on??

man i dont like the blond dude?? what is going on?? i am confused??

i don't remember bloom's whole backstory but i think the show's still using it??

dude did a full 180

"Sorry, I'd be happy to--" "Mansplain it?" i would've loved this line more if bloom was a bit more petty than smiley

NEVERMIND SHE IS A LITTLE BIT PETTY HDJWKKEJG (edit: nope she's tryna flirt)

oh they have british accents but bloom is american

"Oh how very american of you." HSJDJKFKG

MAGIC RING WITH A PRETTY DESIGN POG

HAJDJFKKEKWJE OKAY SO FAR I REALLY LIKE STELLA???

transformation magic has been lost as they evolved?? thats definitely not foreshadowing for the winx's abilities /s

Hhhhh bloom probably committed arson /hj

Yeah she definitely committed arson (albeit accidentally)

can we get more characters in here? like ik bloom's the protag but please i need more characters

oop all the girls are dorm mates

"Lady of the Flies, don't be sexist" IK THIS WAS A JOKE BUT WHAT THE

OHHHHHHH AISHA POG!! Yeah yeah i remember her, her name back in the cartoon seemed to alternate(?) from Aisha and Layla!! She had the bubble powers!!

BLOOM'S A RAVENCLAW/SLYTHERIN POG

ah yes the classic magic is linked to emotion trope i love that!!

Oh flora's name is terra now okay. Not quite a fan of the name change, but hey

OH HER COUSIN'S NAME IS FLORA JGJFKKGKH

she's so chatty bc of nerves and yeah,, i can relate

headphone girl's eyes turned pinkish purple what?? she used magic??

Terra is me when talking to people

man headphone girl wasn't even talking to me and I got hit with that rsd

Okay i got the confirmation that headphone girl's name is musa alrighty

specialists?? what are those??

i dont like how this riv guy acts

i dont like how all of the guys act so far

yeah no i dislike most of the men who have had lines in the past 12 minutes

OHHHH BLOND DUDE'S NAME IS SKY

wait isn't he supposed to have long hair??

The teacher man is kinda scary

Oh so specialties are like soldiers or smthn

burned ones?? oh??

riv literally left the barrier to smoke?? bruh

the burned ones sounds so scary but man are the hollows from miss peregrines home for peculiar children are scarier

RIP riv this mf is gonna die

eeeeehh gross gore

mmmmm heres the fatphobia

beatrix doesn't give me good vibes

mmmmmm mom of the year award goes to bloom's mom. like ik ik youre worried but you didnt have to call your child a weird loner??? that shit hurts man (am i speaking from personal experience? mayhaps)

oh yay another sky and bloom interaction /s

i am begging this show to make one of the winx gay pleaseee

or bi

please just don't make all of them cishet

(who am i kidding,, they're all gonna end up in cishet relationships)

Are sky and stella exes??

bloom really found out that there aren't any people outside the barrier and dipped from the party even though it might be dangerous. mood

ooh pretty firefly thingies

yeah bloom deffo committed arson

arson pog

she's gonna straight up cause a forest fire

UH OH SHE CANT CONTROL IT

WATER FAIRY AISHA POG

Mmmm i dont like blooms parents

OH CHANGELING BLOOMS A CHANGELING

MMMMM MS DOWLING SUS VOTE HER OUT

I DONT LIKE RIV FUCK THAT GUY

FUCK OUTTA HERE WITH YOUR FATPHOBIA BITCH

yeah get his ass terra gET HIS ASS

Man alfea got that sweet cell signal

stella doesn't want bloom in alfea alrighty

musA IS A MIND FAIRY?? I THOUGHT SHE WAS A MUSIC ONE??

bruh stella i take whatever nice thing i said about you

man i miss my girl techna

give me my tech fairy back

"y'know you don't have to be okay." bitCH YOU CALLED HER A WEIRD LONER AND TOOK HER DOOR

mmmmm okay bloom's mom im giving you one more chance do not fuck it up

weird creepy building ew

oh its where she slept in

oop she gonna get jumped by burned ones

OOP SHE LOST THE RING

yeah fuck this im skipping i hate scenes like these

FUCK THE BURNED ONE TOOK THE RING

yeah sky and stella were exes

yeah no stella you gotta live the consequences of ur actions

Beatrix and riv are a duo that i do not need

terra is tryna reach out aw

oooh musa's an empath

oh okay ms. dowling isnt as sus anymore okay

who the hell is this rosalind character??

lmao watch her be bloom's bio mom

hooded character???? who are you???

OH GOD SHE'S A TRIX (?) like the one with the lightning powers

WAIT BEATRIX

FUCK

me: i've connected the dots

also me: you didn't connect them

FUCK SHES FREEIN THE BURNED ONE DAMNIT

FUCK I CALLED IT

final conclusion: so far i hate like half of all the characters in this show. the literal only people i trust is ms. dowling, terra, aisha, and the kid that riv picked on. everyone else i mildly dislike (stella) or can go fuck themselves (riv)

[hueynomure]

Summoning Disaster - Part Two: Pandora’s Piñata

In which two of my OCs end up in @fatal-blow 's Golden Verse. Set in an unspecified point before Defenders of Earth's prologue; You can find out more about the story on his wip page.

First part

Third part

Fourth part

Here extrapolations start to wear thin and I have to invent things whole cloth. I'm open to edit things to be more in line with canon if feasible. Also, my OCs come from a more high fantasy setting, so their power sets are rather broad if compared to the Defenders.

(the title of the first part was inspired by an Imagine Dragon's song, the second by an album by Diablo Swing Orchestra)

Edit: I'm going to tweak this piece to better reflect the canon.

* * * * *

Once the guards were dealt with, Amp’s team took in the scene.

Aside from the parts that had been blown off, the walls and roof of the large room were scarred irregularly, soot and cracks forming shapes that hurt the eye if looked at for too long. The bare concrete floor was more evenly charred, with clear spots where equipment – and people, judging by the lingering smell – had been incinerated, but the snaking lines of a very articulated summoning circle had been etched on it with mechanical precision. And at the very center of the room, a large grey sheet embroidered with small glimmering stones and multicolored threads, buzzing with power, was covering something hemispherical and about ten feet wide.

Amp felt Norman’s focus wander on the circle and the shapes on the walls. “Reaper?”

“Never seen a circle this complicated. And the walls… it’s like the explosion was trying to add to it,” he replied with a frown.

Someone cleared their voice. The team turned as one toward the center of the room.

“I had hoped for a more badass one-liner, to be honest, but points for the spooky I guess.” The husky voice coming from the hemisphere had some hiss to it, and suggested the owner was rather large.

“A literal shroud,” Reaper whispered, “makes sense.”

Amp nodded. “Odds are there’s another creature in there,” he whispered, and met Ethereous’ gaze. “Uncover and suppress them, slow as you like. Don’t display threats, everyone, but be ready for things to get messy.”

Ethereous nodded and cautiously approached the shroud. He grabbed a corner and looked back at Amp, who nodded. The shroud was thrown aside with a faint jingle. The hemisphere turned out to be a cage, its bars fixed directly in the floor, and inside it…

Amp blinked in silence, and the creature did the same to adjust their sight to the sudden light. The creature looked like… like a large, one-armed, muscular anthropomorphic dinosaur dressed up for a ren fair. Iron-grey scales, spiky head, crocodile-like eyes, long thick tail ending with an arrow-shaped bone, thick off-white tunic and leather bracer. Amp smothered his surprise to reboot his brain. The creature was alone, but kneeling off-center in the cage, as if giving space to an invisible companion.

The creature raised their snout to sniff around and grimaced in Ethereous’ direction. “Please stop that, this cage isn’t for show.” The lizard stretched its hand toward the bars – not in Ethereous’ direction, Amp noticed, they were just proving a point – and retracted it when a black flame sparked from the point where the lizard’s fingers were about to touch them. “And your magic’s stench is giving this shit a run for its money,” the lizard added gesturing at the cage.

The lizard was able to smell magic, apparently. Ethereous glanced back at Amp. Amp covertly gestured for him to back away and nodded, then noticed the lizard had followed Ethereous’ gaze and was staring at him in the eyes. Now Amp could feel the lizard, frustrated and excited and cautiously hopeful, and its hidden companion, curious and eerily calm. Red and blue. Amp slipped within the lizard to know more, finding a white-hot tangle of vicious anger kept on a short leash-

Amp reeled backwards, his head spinning. The lizard kept staring at him, tail swinging from side to side. He felt his team’s anxiety spike from far away, and blindly reached to keep it under control.

“Let’s keep our talents to each own, fellow Heartstoker.” The lizard sized up Reaper and Quantum. “I hope you didn’t come here just to kill assholes and taking turns to piss me off, I hoped for something more… I don’t know, civilized.”

Amp took a deep breath to clear his head. Another empath… they must have used that repressed fury to bludgeon him away somehow. He reached more subtly, feeling the lizard taming their own emotions. No reaction. The lizard had merely caught him off-guard, he just had to keep himself on the surface. The invisible companion showed no change. “Alright,” he sighed, “let’s be civilized. I’m Amp, who are you?” There was no reaction for the name in either creature.

“Sharaka. What’s your goal here?”

“Learning what the ‘assholes’ did in this room. Who’s your invisible friend there?”

“My name is Elphimas,” said a measured voice. “And I might be able to improve your understanding of what happened, though I do not know whether I should yet.”

“Amp, how are things around there?” Static. He felt slightly tenser than he should.

Amp covered his mouth with a hand. “Trying to figure out things. Anything wrong?”

“Not yet, but there are guys with weird armors that block sparks and light like nothing, they’re a pain in the ass.” The noise of a violent discharge, gunshots. “Bullets work fine though.”

“Roger that. Quantum, step back and watch over Static’s team.” Amp rolled his shoulders back and met Sharaka’s eyes again. “I apologize for my rudeness,” he said, voice dripping with sarcasm, “but I’m on a clock here. What do I have to do to get an explanation?”

“Letting us out of here would be a great start,” Sharaka replied.

“Cracking the crystal on the top of the cage should suffice. I suggest a ranged attack,” supplied Elphimas. Amp felt vague concern. “As a gesture of good faith, I can tell you we are not the beings the ritual was supposed to summon. Luckily for this plane, I might add.”

Amp took a few steps forward to get a better view of the crystal Elphimas was talking about. Fist-sized, with some black substance whirling within it. Would probably backfire if hit from short distance. “Two questions. One: how can I know you’re not going to attack us as soon as you’re free?”

“How can I know you’re not just going to put us in another fucking cage?” Sharaka snarled. “You look like tough guys and did nothing stupid. Two?”

“I don’t want you to leave you with the ‘assholes’. Will you play nice and come with us?” Amp tapped idly on his gun.

Sharaka sniffed the air. Hope and distrust spiked at once. Did she smell emotions too? “I have to get a few things back from them,” Sharaka objected after a long moment. “Then I’ll decide.”

“Retrieving her weapon in particular would be in both our groups’ interest,” added Elphimas.

“Why? And could you please fucking show yourself, Elphimas?”

A second kneeling figure appeared next to Sharaka. Elphimas looked human, and very… nondescript. Aside from the ren faire clothes, their skin was vaguely tan, their hair mud-brown and their dull eyes a mixture of grey, green and brown. Amp was rather sure it wasn’t their true appearance, but it was marginally better than speaking to thin air. Elphimas smoothed nonexistent creases in their clothes for a moment, hesitant, then jerked their head aside as if they had heard something. “Your teammates are probably going to give you the reason momentarily,” they said with another hint of concern.

The earth shook with a low rumble, and right on cue Static opened comms. “Now would be the right time for the cavalry, Amp! They’re so mad they’re dropping the building on us!” Amp felt the faint shadow of worry at the bottom of Static’s laughter. “More importantly, I’ve been cut off from the others.” Gunshots, crackling of electricity, silence. “Wouldn’t want to outshine them too badly, know what I mean?”

Sharaka’s tail slammed on the ground. She was literally fuming - Amp could see air trembling around her. “Bastards, that’s my weapon! I’ll kill them all!” She snarled and slammed her tail down again. “Get me out of here and you won’t find the ashes of those fuckers!”

“Sharaka’s weapon can destroy almost anything on contact if imbued with enough energy,” Elphimas explained.

Amp took his gun out as the image of a cornered Static filled him with cold fury. Let Sharaka rampage, he could handle her if push came to shove and worst case scenario they could leave her body behind. The crystal exploded in a column of black fire when he shot it. He opened comms with the rest of the Defenders. “Reaper and Ethereous will threaten Lab 2 to take pressure off diversion team. Windfall and Anyform, don’t let reinforcements come near Lab 1. Static, Adamantine, broadcast your locations, I’m coming. Link, prepare Lab 3 for demolition. Quantum, help Link and blind Lab 1.” A noise of straining metal made Amp turn back to the cage.

Sharaka’s first kick had bent the steel bars. The second opened a hole in the cage, which she casually widened with her hand until she could squeeze through. “Elphimas. Pack.” she hissed, and the next moment she took off at dead run, shattering the door as she sped through it.

Amp opened comms again. “If you see a humanoid lizard, get out of her way. Repeat: humanoid lizard, get out of the way. Elphimas, you’re coming with m-”

But the “human” had already disappeared. Amp looked for Elphimas’ mind nearby, with little hope. He allowed himself three precious seconds of anger before sharpening himself again.

[nobodysuspectsthebutterfly]

I didn't know you read Wild Cards. Can you give us some thoughts on the series?

I actually read Wild Cards long before I read ASOIAF. I’ve talked about it a few times, you can see my tag here. But sure, some thoughts:

Wild Cards got started in the mid-80s when a bunch of SF/F writers in New Mexico got together to play role-playing games. GRRM became the DM for a new game, based on a superhero RPG, and soon all these writers were developing characters and plots and worldbuilding and such. Eventually they realized while they were spending a lot of time working on writing, they weren’t actually making any money… so they decided to actually write up their superhero world as an anthology collection of short stories. This shared-world anthology idea wasn’t invented by them: Thieves’ World had been going (in fantasy) since the late 70s, another series of that type started in 1985, and it was something SF/F agents knew how to sell. Wild Cards also hit the zeitgeist of superhero deconstructionism (Alan Moore’s Watchmen and Frank Miller’s TDKR both came out in 1986), so it was picked up for a three-book contract by Bantam, with the first book (Wild Cards, naturally) published in 1987. GRRM was the editor (and creator/writer of several characters), and they got many other writers to contribute besides the ones in their RPG community, including greats like Roger Zelazny.

The world of Wild Cards is an alternate history where an alien bomb exploded over New York City in 1946, carrying a virus payload. This virus had a certain probability in how it affected people’s DNA, and info from the alien geneticist who’d defected to Earth (trying to stop his colleagues from experimenting on an innocent world) led it to be known as the wild card virus. Of those who were infected by the wild card, 90% died, their bodies wracked with horrible transformations (“drawing the black queen”). Of the survivors, 9 out of 10 lived transformed, usually into monstrous or freakish or just plain ugly creatures (“jokers”). And the rare 1%, the “aces”, still looked human… but gained superpowers. The virus spread across the world over time, infecting countries, changing history… and there are still unknown caches of the virus that can cause an outbreak at any time. Though mostly these days it’s transmitted genetically,  from wild cards who have kids (though many avoid doing so because of the 90% chance of black queen and 9% chance of jokerdom), or more often from latents, people who were infected and their DNA changed but who never had the trauma that would set off their transformation. (Other terms: “nats”, natural humans; “deuces”, aces with a fairly lame power; and there’s also the occasional joker-aces, people who look monstrous but also have some kind of superpower.)

Anyway! Enough backstory. I really do enjoy the series. I first picked it up around, hmm, 1990 I think? when I saw one of the books in the SF/F spinning book racks in the library and the cover drew me in. (I was hugely into X-Men at the time.) The library had all the other books available too, so I took ‘em home and was completely caught. It was adult (rather adult, beware triggers), often super dark with its “superheroes in the real world” themes to the point of lol edgy, some of the covers were ehh (though honestly the 2nd edition Bantam covers were not bad, thankfully I never saw the imho godawful UK covers)… but the worldbuilding, the plots, the characters, the writing… everything was just so very good. I fell in love with such characters as:

GRRM’s Tom Tudbury, “The Great and Powerful Turtle”, an overweight bullied nerd from New Jersey with hugely powerful telekinesis, who flies around in a turtle-shaped shell (originally a VW Beetle with armored plating)

Roger Zelazny’s Croyd Crenson, “The Sleeper”, who was a 14-year-old boy on Wild Card Day, came home from school (witnessing all the horrors) and fell asleep… and awoke weeks later, looking like an adult, with powers. Every time he sleeps, he becomes someone different, sometimes a joker, sometimes an ace… and he’s terrified of drawing the black queen, so after a time he’ll do anything to avoid sleep…

Melinda Snodgrass’s Prince Tisianne, “Dr. Tachyon”, the alien geneticist mentioned above, telepathic, exiled to Earth, serving his penance by trying to cure the virus, and all-time winner of the All-Comers Angst Contest (beating out Scott Summers and Tyrion and just about any manpain or real pain hero you can think of)

Victor Milan’s Mark Meadows, “Captain Trips”, a hippie biochemist who takes drugs and turns into other people for an hour. His “friends” include Jumpin’ Jack Flash, pyrokinetic; Aquarius, were-dolphin; Starshine, sun-powered enviromentalist; Moonchild, martial artist; and other alters that he can’t reach and doesn’t know he doesn’t want to. (One of my teenage marysues was one of Mark’s friends, Lucy, an interdimensional teleporter with kaleidoscope eyes.)

Gail Gerstner-Miller’s “Peregrine”, who has feathered wings and can fly (and is technically a joker because of the transformation, which includes hollow bones, but most people think she’s an ace because she’s beautiful), who became a model/actress and then a late-night talk show host, but sometimes fights with claw-gloves, and may be the mother of the messiah

Stephen Leigh’s “The Oddity”, who used to be three people living in a threesome until one morning they awoke merged into a single monstrous shifting being – he/she/they serve as the protector of Jokertown (a neighborhood in Manhattan that’s pretty much a joker ghetto)

GRRM’s Jay Ackroyd, “Popinjay”, a detective who can point at you and teleport you anywhere he can recall (but his powers aren’t why I love him, he’s just so great... actually I think that applies to all of the above but anyway)

And god, the villains: death’s glare Demise; Mackie Messer, who vibrates to phase through walls and tear people apart; the Puppetmaster, manipulative empath and US presidential candidate; Ti Malice, who possesses his “mounts” and makes them do whatever he wants for his pleasure; the Astronomer, cult leader; the Jumpers, a gang of youths who can leap into people’s bodies; Blaise, Dr. Tachyon’s grandson, mind-controlling sociopath… and so many more heroes and villains and regular people trying to do their best despite what the virus has done to them (or even nats, doing the same), I can’t remember but they’re all so good…

But after jumping between publishers, the series pretty much ended in 1995, with the 15th book. (Some weren’t anthologies, some were “mosaic novels” edited into one coherent story, and a few were solo authored.) There was a book in 2002 and another in 2006 (that I haven’t read) when they got a new publisher, but that didn’t work out. But then in 2008, Wild Cards got picked up by Tor, and began a brand new series (with gorgeous covers by Michael Komarck, who’s gone on to do covers for reprints of the original series), with Inside Straight, introducing new aces and jokers in a world of reality shows and social media. I somehow did not manage to pick up any of the new series until recently (I don’t know why, I think maybe some of the very dark and depressing later books burned me out a bit and I was wary?), but my gosh, it’s so fun.

I love GRRM’s Lohengrin (a German nerd who armors himself in light as a modern-day knight), Melinda Snodgrass’s sex-shifting teleporting spy, Stephen Leigh’s Drummer Boy (a six-armed joker-ace who’s used the drums on his chest to become a rock superstar), Caroline Spector’s Bubbles (transforms kinetic energy into body fat, and then fat into kinetic bubbles that can look pretty or hit very hard), and so many more. I really need to get the rest of the new series– I’ve been spoiled for it a bit because I read the Wild Cards short stories Tor has on their site, and I recently read Lowball, the 22nd book that came out in 2015 (and holy shit that ending), but books are expensive and I’ve been reading other things. Still, I need to fill in the gaps and I need to know what happens next, I should be getting the rest of the series. If this sounds interesting to you, you should too. :)

If you have any other questions, just let me know!

[irregodless]

okay readmore time

feel free to contact me to discuss theories or general plot

so this is gonna be hella segmented but just deal okay

my thoughts are never very organized so im just gonna talk about some disappointments and other stuff

why does homeworld have a court session for rose quartz i mean i get theyre bureaucrats suddenly but like. um? kinda feels silly. why would they give her a chance to defend herself? also have they advanced like humans? bc blue diamond sure af didnt give garnet a chance to plead a case when she fused ON ACCIDENT

that being said what happened to all the stuff about like moon goddesses and stuff. i wasnt really counting on the diamonds being like. actual goddess figures but i was kinda hoping for more than ceo bosses in pantsuits

where he hell is white diamond and why wasnt she present. was she out conquering new planets? the symbol represents her so she appears to still be around. so where is she? i honestly think its suspicious that shes not present. i figure given her color and gem placement she is a cold calculating unfeeling machine who is only concerned with purity, structure and justice. so like the anithesis of what steven fights for: feeling for each other, empathizing etc

kinda disappointed there were so few off-colors but maybe well find some more later

also kinda disappointed steven and lars didnt fuse but i mean maybe later. also there wasnt really a need to so far nor was it implied they would

why did everyone run away from rutile when they emerged? the fact they were not INSTANTLY captured and shattered for breaking the mold suggests that all the kindergartners ran too. now they might have been around MUCH LONGER AGO but to me that would mean imperfect gems were MORE COMMON to find. the gems dont seem to be too put off by strange appearances. im just saying its weird that they would all run from a defect gem. im not crying plot hole, im actually saying i think something ELSE happened to make them run away. not a mutated rutile.

i was kind of hoping to find a secret society of garnets of other rubies and sapphires who followed our garnets example lol. they couldve helped steven feel more at home or something

im kind of sad it wasnt set up more like a movie, but again it wasnt SUPPOSED to be. understand i can identify things i was expecting incorrectly and things im genuinely upset by. this was just my expectations being in the wrong place.

im also sad there isnt more of a prospect of there being like. a season of being stranded on homeworld. but now it feels like in the two years itll take for season 6 to show up till just be a bunch of “””filler””” where lars is just stranded on homeworld and not spoken about until a stevenbomb halfway through. id much rather learn about homeworld!!

we also got no new information about the war or homeworld, really!!!! :( not even a flashback

yellow diamond is guilty af. she didnt want to hold the trial and she was ESPECIALLY outraged by the “crazy theory” that she did it. also, im just sayin, eyeball ruby (the only known witness we know of atm) also couldnt tell that the jasper she had ALSO SEEN WITH HER ONE EYE AND LVOED SO MUCH was really amethyst. like she didnt even notice her chest gem OR her coloration. so i mean. the rose quartz that shattered pink COULD HAVE BEEN yellow or COULD HAVE BEEN a shapeshifted gem. esp since her sword isnt supposed to shatter. so someones murder mystery unravels by getting a core detail wrong. i still kind of like the theory of like. pink transferring her consciousness a la lars and steven to a rose and shattering herself so she wouldnt have to conquer and destroy. so our rose is actually pink diamond but in the body of a rose quartz (making steven still a rose quartz but not a pink diamond like his mom... ‘s personality. which is what matters over physical form. esp with gems. itd also make the rose is pink diamond theories hilarious true but also false lmao)

kind of disappointed in lions new origin story too! i think the pink pearl theories were interesting if not always positively RIDDLED with holes. (some people thought he was a gem monster but um we would have seen pearls gem on his tummy. and steven has pet his tummy MANY A TIME)

I KIND OF DONT LIKE THAT THE HAPPY ENDING WAS JUST STEVEN REUNITING WITH HIS FAMILY BUT LARS GETTIN FUCKED OFF LEFT ON HOMEWORLD LOL. i mean i know he told him to go and tell everone and stuff but its like. look everythings back to normal and theyre back together!! oh except lars who isnt alive and will live forever as an organic lich servant to steven but dont worry l m a o o o. i jsut didnt like that whole lars thing a lot in general... nor do i feel like turning pink instantly redeems him. not that i hated him. but i dont think turnign pink was the character development we needed.

WHERES TOPAZ IS SHE OKAY DID AQUAMARINE RAT HER OUT

DO ZIRCONS GET SHATTERED IF THEY LOSE A CASE

WOULD BLUE ZIRCON HAVE BEEN A PARIAH FOR DEFENDING ROSE QUARTZ DESPITE *HAVING TO*

YO BLUE DIAMOND EY WHAT UP LIKE LITERALLY WHATS GOING ON BLUE PLZ TELL ME IN THE DARK A LIL

plz tell me well get more homeworld adventures and lars will smuggle gems in his hair

are they going to send pumpkin to homeworld as rose or something and sacriice him lol (i actually just wanted to ask why he was relevant at all but then i imagined just like. replacing him with lars)

are the crystal gems gonna go to homeworld and start shit princess marco style teach those gems about rock and roll pearl!! liberate them form the oppressive THE MAN, AMETHYST

can i mention that while it was funny but also irrelevant to this special, i kinda didnt like the like. garnet just drawing herself “i like me” bit. like it was funny but also like. almost too off-focus and too self-absorbed for her character. i could imagine sardonyx doing that but not garnet. idk it was just a single silly gag but i didnt like it

are the zircons okay tho

but like seriously whats homeworld even like like whats going on. especially since they dont seem to have an actual culture (if gems dont know what jokes are i really cant imagine them having a purpsoe outside of militial. how does a civilization survive on being NOTHING but war machines?)

i kinda feel like were coming to the tip of excitement here i feel like theres very little more that can be done in the show. idk. like what happens next anyways

do i have any MORE questions or musings to ask/muse????? yes. but i cant think of any rn. so later. 

EDIT: so i was thinking and i wanted to ammend the lars things. he DEF had character development and it was DEF even before he turned pink. i think i felt that the only thing being addressed or taken away was that he was pink now? and i kinda dont like character development thats done like completely suddenly as a heelturn and is heretofore ooc. lars however was written WELL. he developed REALLY WELL AND I LOVE IT. there was just something at the time that made it seem like it was all about him turning pink that almost made me forget he literally saved everyone? and i realize him being left out of the happy ending was of his own accord and sacrifice it just kinda rubbed me the wrong way. just a personal thing i guess.