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saynotoshityouhate · 3 years

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For Science Ch. 4

Ch. 1 // Ch. 2 // Ch. 3

Word Count: 1012

Summary: Having finished your PhD, you were enjoying domestic life with your big green boyfriend until inspiration struck.

Tags: 99% fluff, 1% angst (Bruce is a little insecure)

After the success of your first date, you and Bruce were inseparable. You had a break between finishing your degree and starting your first job at the university, and you wanted to live it up before the pressures of research and teaching fell back on your shoulders. You basically moved into Bruce’s bungalow, enjoying the comfort of his home much more than your small apartment, as well as the wonderful company you shared there.

Domestic life with Bruce was perfect. You woke up in the morning held tightly to his chest, his broad arms holding you close, so close it was almost inescapable. His body heat kept you warm even on the coldest of nights and his gentle snoring was the perfect white noise for a deep slumber.

Bruce always remembered to set the coffee pot to automatically brew starting a few minutes after you woke up. He knew you weren’t functional before at least one cup of coffee, and the gesture never failed to make your heart swell as you smelled it brewing from bed. Wriggling out of his grasp, you dressed yourself in one of Bruce’s white undershirts. You’d never been one of those girls who could wear their boyfriend’s clothes - this was a perk of dating the Hulk!

After your first cup of coffee, Bruce finally made his appearance. Walking into the kitchen in just a pair of light blue boxers and his thick rimmed black glasses, he yawned loudly and dramatically. To anyone who didn’t know him, that would have sounded like a growl from a monster. But to you, you couldn’t help but giggle. Popping out of your chair, you padded over to greet him. Placing your hands on his broad chest, black chest hairs laced between your fingers, you popped up on your tiptoes and raised your chin to ask for a morning kiss. He wrapped one arm around your bottom and lifted you up easily, a squeak of surprise exiting your lips before they were taken between his.

Your lazy, work free days were spent together reading - Bruce, an academic journal, and you, a dramatic crime novel - or playing board games. You both had a competitive nature that made game nights exciting. You had a notepad with a tally of wins and losses on the dining room table at all times. Board games probably weren’t the best idea for someone with an anger issue, but you knew how to calm him down after a tough loss.

At night, after a delicious dinner whipped up by Chef Banner, you’d curl up on Bruce’s lap and watch a movie, usually only getting half way through before one of you fell asleep. On the nights you’d stay awake, you’d feed him pieces of popcorn as he played with your hair. Often you’d find yourself staring up at him, his green skin illuminated by the glow of the television screen, his clear eyes focused on the events playing themselves out on the film. He really was the most handsome man, even if you were the only one who could see it. When he caught you staring, he’d smile his signature wide grin and pull your face to his. He loved you so much.

Your first day as a real professor had finally come. You had picked out the perfect dress - it made you feel strong and confident and professional. You reached behind you to grab the zipper, but it fell just out of reach. “Hey babe!” You shouted, trying to get Bruce’s attention from the living room. He had been dressed and ready for almost an hour, patiently waiting to carpool to work together. You heard him walk through the house, finding you in the closet you had somehow made your own. “Wow,” Bruce sighed. “You look incredible.” He stood behind you, wrapping his arms around your front and kissing your cheek. Your face got hot with the compliment. “Thank you. But I can’t reach the zipper. Can you help me?” He laughed. “I’d rather not, but I know you don’t want to be late.” He placed a kiss at the top of your spine before reaching for the small, dainty zipper which sat at the base of your spine. Dragging it upwards, he reached a point at your hips where the zipper met resistance. He pulled harder, a look of concentration spread across his face. And then - a ripping noise.

You gasped, turning around so your back was to the mirror. Looking over your shoulder you saw the zipper had separated from the fabric, the delicate fibers frayed, a hole where there should not have been one. “Bruce!” You shrieked loudly. “What am I supposed to wear now?” You were panicking, rummaging through the dresses you had kept at his house, none as perfect as the one he had just ripped. “Y/n, I’m so sorry, I pulled too hard I…” he rubbed his hands over his face and started to breathe heavily. “I ruined everything, I’m so worthless, I can’t even help you with the smallest thing without ruining it, I don’t even know why you’re with me..” That comment drew your attention away from your panic. “Bruce, baby, it’s okay. You’re not worthless! You just don’t know your own strength -“ he cut you off. “No, what if I hurt you or what if he comes back…I…I can’t let that happen.” He turned and left, heading to the front door. You rushed after him. “Bruce! Stop!” It was too late - he had left, slamming the door behind him.

Seeing Bruce walk out that door, so discouraged and upset…it broke your heart. He had brought you so much joy and happiness over the last year. There had to be a way to show your appreciation, to get him to feel the support you felt from him. It was in that moment, in the silence of the living room, the room still vibrating from the roughly slammed front door, that you had an idea.

You were going to find a way to revert Bruce to his fully human form.

#bruce banner angst #bruce banner fluff #bruce banner x reader #bruce banner #professor banner #professor hulk x reader #professor hulk #professor banner x reader #marvel x reader #avenger x reader #saynotoshityouhate

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nepenthendline · 3 years

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S/O having an epileptic seizure - Tendou, Koganeawa, Tanaka, Goshiki, Sugawara and Aone

My medical degree coming in handy here lol, this technically counts as studying, right? Also I’m going to cover a range of different seizures and that they are aware of your epilepsy, so I hope that’s ok! These are all going to be mini drabbles!

I just want to say I don’t have much experience with epileptic seizures besides studying them, so I hope this is realistic enough, I put a lot of effort into it 💞💞

Request: idk how many characters you accept so i’m sorry if this is too many!! but could you do tendou, koganeawa, tanaka, goshiki, sugawara and aone with a s/o who has epilepsy and has a seizure when they’re hanging out? :)

Seizure types covered: Atonic, Complex Focal, Tonic, Tonic Clonic, Absence and Myclonic

Tendou - Atonic Seizure:

The two of you were sitting in his bed, cuddled up to each other while watching a show on his laptop. You had both spent all day studying so this time was for the two of you to relax together, pushing through the tiredness. His arms were loosely wrapped around you as you leaned on his shoulder, breathing his scent.

As his fingers were brushing over your skin, he felt your body stiffen suddenly, before going limp and falling forwards. Since he always paid close attention to you, he was able to quickly move the laptop out of the way, allowing your head to safely land in his lap. He knew you weren’t in pain, or that you would probably even remember this moment, but it still sent his heart racing every time he witnessed a seizure. Brushing your hair away from your face, he pulled the blanked closer, covering your body to keep you warm.

It was only a few moments before you opened your eyes again, blinking and looking around the room in confusion, but he was instantly there to comfort you.

“It’s alright, sweetheart, you’re safe. You can lay there for a little longer, ok?” He gently spoke, caressing your arm as you settled back into his touch, still trying to regain your senses.

“Sorry,” you mumbled, reaching out to pull the forgotten laptop closer and set your eyes back on the screen once more. He let out a light chuckle before speaking.

“Sh, you don’t need to apologise. Although, if you didn’t want to watch the show, you could have just said so,” he teased with a smirk, laughing as you swat his leg in protest.

Koganegawa - Tonic Seizure:

You didn’t know too much about playing volleyball, but Koganegawa always begged you to play with him, often resulting in you both throwing the ball back and forth with him showing off a great deal.

He was trying to teach you how to spike, setting the ball to you in different places as you did your best to jump high and slam it down. You’d miss multiple times, turning to him with a pout as he laughed, but he gave you a thumbs up and a ‘good job’ no matter how badly you did, all with a beaming smile on his face.

You were motivated to learn though, for him, and once again threw the ball up over his head, ready to set to you. After tossing the ball in the air, your body went stiff and your vision blackened as you fell backwards.

As his arms rose to direct the ball to you, he took a glance in your direction and saw you crumble to the floor. His quick reflexed kicked in, lunging towards you in an attempt to catch you with wide eyes and a pounding in his chest, although he didn’t reach fast enough as he heard the thud from your head making contact with the ground below. Before he could call out to you, your eyes slowly opened again, as you raised an arm to rub the back of your sore head.

“Are you ok? Are you hurt? Do I need to call someone?” He frantically asked, putting his arms around you, aiding you as you pulled yourself forward to sit up, groaning a little at the slight throbbing in your head.

“I’m fine, it’s ok, I just hit my head a little hard,” you reassure him, taking the hand that was held out in front of you to help you stand. Coming behind you, he, gently, moved your hair and checked over your head, letting out a sigh of relief when he saw no major damage. His hands dropped to your sides, holding you steady as he pecked the top of your head.

“Ah, you’re so brave. I’ll get you some ice cream on the way home, that always makes me feel better when I get hurt.”

Tanaka - Absence Seizure:

After a long day of walking around town, visiting different shops and eating at a cute cafe, you were on the train coming back home, settled closely to Tanaka as he held your hand tightly.

He was talking away about the tournaments the Karasuno team had coming up soon, discussing all the strong players they needed to face and telling you stories from their practices.

As he spoke, you couldn’t help but admire him, smiling away as you watched how passionately he talked, how his carved jaw moved and the way he eyes seemed so piercing. After every sentence or so, he’d give you a grin back, squeezing your hand as you nodded along with his story.

“You’ve seen what Hinata’s like though, he’s crazy, right?” He asked with a laugh, looking at you for your reaction, although he didn’t hear your voice reply to him, nor did he see your sweet smile. Your face had turned limp as you stared beside him, unaware of his focus on you. He stopped speaking, carefully watching over you and stroked the back of your hand with his thumb.

It was only a couple seconds before your eyes snapped back to his, opening your mouth before closing it again and swallowing, “sorry, could you repeat that?”

He simply gave you a smile and kissed your cheek, before carrying on with his story, where you trained your eyes and thoughts on him once more.

Goshiki - Myclonic Seizure

You often had to remind your boyfriend to study since his brain was filled with volleyball 99% of the time, so you tended to study together regularly during the week, allowing you to both get work done while also spending time with each other.

You sat across from him at the table, pen in hand as your eyes dragged over the textbook in front of you. Gazing over towards Goshiki, you giggled to yourself as his expression - his teeth had a firm grip on his lower lip, and his eyebrows where tightly knotted together as he stared down at the page, furiously scribbling answers, before crossing them out again. Reaching over, you brushed your fingers on his knuckles, grabbing his attention.

“Take it easy, do you need a hand with a question?” You asked, still trying to hold back your smile as his cheeks flushed a little.

“Uh, yeah. I don’t know how to solve this equation,” he muttered, pointing to a string of numbers and letters on the page. You were about to lean over to look, when your arm suddenly spasmed, launching your pen across the room, hitting the floor with a loud clunk. It continued to jolt a couple more times, before your body relaxed.

Goshiki looked at you with widened eyes, unsure of what to do. “A-are you ok?” He asked timidly, watching as you looked away.

“Yeah, m’fine,” you murmured, getting up to grab your pen, however he stood up first, placing a hand on your shoulder.

“It’s ok, I’ve got it,” he spoke, picking up the pen and passing it to you. Sitting back in his seat, he noticed the way you fiddled with your pen and kept your head down, avoiding looking his way.

Taking a deep breath, he reached forward and grabbed your hand. “You don’t need to worry about it, it doesn’t bother me at all.” His voice was quiet but you could tell he was genuine, especially by the squeeze of his warm hand on yours.

Sugawara - Complex Focal Seizure:

Lazy days were a common date for you two - spending your day huddled in each others arms watching movies, talking or playing games. You had both been craving cookies, so you made your way to the kitchen, shuffling through the cupboards for ingredients to bake your own.

Sugawara was in charge of handing you the ingredients as you stirred and sifted them into the bowl, dipping your finger in every now and then for a taste, giggling and ducking away as he tried to reprimand you.

“Ok, just the chocolate chips left,” he spoke, turning round to hand you the bag. As his eyes found you, you dropped the spoon, bringing your arm close to you and tightening your hand into a fist. Your other arm fell to your side, fiddling with the edge of your shirt as you looked ahead in a daze.

Gently, he placed the bag down and slowly walked towards you, calling your name quietly before allowing his hand to settle on your lower back as to not startle you. With his other hand on your hip, he brushed soothing circles on your skin while whispering to you, reminding you he was there and taking care of you.

As you started to come around, your body released its tension and you could feel his strong but delicate hold on you, keeping you steady.

“Let’s sit you down for a moment, you’re doing alright my love,” he spoke, guiding you towards the nearby chair and sitting you down. When you became aware enough to look at him, you found his crouched in front of you, holding your hands in his, massaging your cramped palms as he smiled up at you. “Are you doing ok?” He asked, concern showing in his voice despite his calm exterior. You gave him a nod, attempting to smile back at him in your, still, foggy state. He sat with you until you settled down and felt back to normal, before helping you get up and carry on with your backing, although, this time, keeping an eye on you a little more.

Aone - Tonic Clonic Seizure

Aone was sat on the sofa, flicking through the movies on the TV before finally settling on one to watch as you were in the kitchen preparing snacks. With the movie ready, he unravelled the blanket by his side, draping it over the seats and arranging the cushions ready for you both to snuggle up.

Footsteps became louder as you walked in, placing the bowl of popcorn and bags of treats on the side table next to your boyfriend, bending down to press a kiss on his cheek that left them tinged with warmth.

He lifted up the edge of the blanket, as if an invite for you to crawl in, holding out a hand to pull you closer. As you were about to walk round to him, your body tensed, your limps hardening before you fell to the ground. Aone quickly jumped out of his seat, catching you before you hit the floor and slowly lowered you down as your body shook.

With one hand softly brushing over your hair, the other tugged a cushion from the sofa, sliding it under your head for comfort. His face twisted, eyes sharp as he watched you jolting and heard the distressing sounds of you heavy breathing. The next few minutes seemed to last for hours as your body continued to shake, and it broke his heart that all he could do was watch by your side, wiping away the spit that trailed from your mouth.

Slowly, your body grew still and your breathing quietened down. You looked up at him with tiredness overcoming you, blinking slowly as your muscles relaxed. His large hands scooped under you, lifting you to lay on your side and allow your body to recover. His eyes only left you to grab the blanket from the sofa, before covering you and caressing your cheek with his finger as you calmed into a slumber. The movie was long forgotten as he sat by your side, watching over you and comforting you as you slept, not leaving for even a moment.

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rachelbethhines · 3 years

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Vintage Shows to Watch While You Wait for the Next Episode of WandaVision - The 60s

So the 60s is the era that Wandavision pulls most heavily from for it’s inspiration. So much so that one could make the argument that each of the first three episodes are all set in the 1960s. Episode one pulls from the early 60s with multiple Dick Van Dyke refences, episode two is very Bewitched inspired, and episode three is aesthetically very similar to The Brady Bunch which started in ‘69. As such it was hard to narrow down the list for this decade and I had to get creative in some ways.

1. The Andy Griffith Show (1960 - 1968)

The Andy Griffith Show gets kind of a bad rap now a days for being, supposedly, a conservative’s wet dream. People claiming it as such have apparently never actually seen the series. Oh yes, it’s very much set in white rural 60s America and will occasionally present the obliviously outdated joke, but the story of a widowed sheriff being the only sane man in a small town full of lovable lunatics, who prefers to solve his and others problems with negotiation and hair brained schemes as opposed to violence has far more in common with modern day Steven Universe than whatever genocidal fantasy fake rednecks have in their heads.

As the gif above shows Andy Griffith was very subtlety progressive for its time. Andy was a stanch pacifist, pro-gun control, treated drug addicts and prisoners with respect, and all the women he would date had careers, ect. and so on. It’s not a satire making any sort of grand political statements but the series had a moral center that was far more left than many realize.

But if it’s not a satire, then what type of comedy is it?

The Andy Griffith Show excels in what I like to call, ‘awkward comedy’. See everyone in Mayberry is far too nice to just come out and tell a character they’re making an ass of themselves, so therefore whoever is the idiot punching bag of the episode’s focus must slowly unravel as everyone looks on in helpless pity until said character realizes the folly of their ways and the townsfolk come together to make them feel happy and accepted once more. Wandavision takes this polite idyllic awkwardness and plays it up for horror instead of laughs.

2. The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961 - 1966)

The creators of Wandavision actually met with Dick Van Dyke himself to pick his brain and learn how sitcoms were made back then. Paul Bentley also took inspiration from Van Dyke in his performance of the sitcom version of Vision, while Olsen stated Mary Tylor Moore had a heavy influence on her character of Wanda. But more than just being a point of homage, The Dick Van Dyke Show was hugely influential in modernizing the family sitcom and breaking a lot of the unspoken traditions and ‘rules’ of the 50s television era. It’s also just really, really funny.

3.The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (1962 - 1965)

Bit of a cheat here. Alfred Hitchcock Presents actually started in 1955 as a half hour anthology show, but in ‘62 the show got a revamp and was extended into a full hour tv series. I knew I wanted The Twilight Zone to be covered in my episode one recap, but ‘The Master of Suspense’ couldn’t be forgotten. While The Twilight Zone reveled in the surreal and supernatural, Alfred Hitchcock pioneered the thriller genre and made real life seem dangerous, horrifying, and other worldly.

4. Doctor Who (1963 - present day) vs Star Trek (1966 - present day)

Just like how westerns dominated the air waves during the 50s, science fiction was the center of the cultural zeitgeist of the 60s. From Lost in Space to My Favorite Martian, space aliens and robots were everywhere. So naturally I had to name drop the two sci-fi juggernauts that still air to this today. If you thought that the rivalry between Star Wars and Star Trek was bad then you’ve never seen a chat full of Whovians and Trekkies duking it out over who is the better monster, the Borg or the Cyberman. But which one has the more influence over Wandavision?

Well Star Trek owes it’s existence to sitcoms. As with The Twilight Zone before it, Star Trek was produced by Desilu Productions and it’s co-founder and CEO, Lucille Ball, was the series biggest supporter behind the scenes, lobbying for it when it faced early cancelation. As with all things sitcomy, everything ties back to I Love Lucy in the end. However despite that little backstory, it would seem that the series has very little to do with Wandavision itself beyond being quintessentially American.

I would argue that Wandavision owes much to Doctor Who though. Arguably more so than any show mentioned in this retrospective. Time travel, alternate realities, trouble in quite suburbia, brainwashing, people coming back from the dead, ect... just about every trope you can find in Wandavision has also appeared in Doctor Who at some point. As a series that can go anywhere and do anything, Doctor Who was a pioneer of marrying genres in new and interesting ways.

5. Bewitched (1964 - 1972) and I Dream of Jeannie (1965 - 1970)

It’s hard to pick one series over another because they’re essentially the same show. A mortal man falls in love with a magical girl who upends their lives with magic filled hijinks as they try their best not to have their secret discovered by the rest of the world. And both have their fingerprints all over the DNA of Wandavision.

There’s only two core differences; Samantha and Jeannie have completely different personalities, with Sam being confident and knowledgeable and Jeannie being naïve and oblivious, along with their relationships with their respective men, Sam and Darrin being married and in love at the start of the series and Jeannie chasing after Tony in the beginning in a will they/won’t they affair, finally only getting together in the last season.

6. The Munsters (1964 - 1966) vs The Adams Family (1964 - 1966)

Fans of these two shows are forever sadden that there never was a crossover between them. Because they’d fit perfectly together. Both shows are about a surreal and macabre family living in American suburbia and disrupting the lives of their neighbors with their otherworldly hijinks. Sound familiar?

The main difference between the two shows is the way the characters viewed their placement in the world they inhabit.

The Munsters were always oblivious to the fact that didn’t fit in. They just automatically assumed everyone had the same personal tastes as them. Whenever they encountered anyone who behaved strangely around them they would write that person off as being the odd one rather than questioning themselves. As such the main cast was structured like a stereotypical sitcom family who just happened to be classic movie monsters.

The Addams were well aware that they were abnormal and they loved it! They lived life with in their own little world and didn’t care what anyone thought of them. As such the characters were far more colorful and quirky as individuals but there was little in the way of refences to other horror franchises beyond just a general love of the twisted and strange.

7. Green Acres (1965 - 1971) and the Rual-verse (1962 - 1971)

So the MCU is not the first franchise to bring viewers an interconnected universe to the small screen. Far from it, as sitcoms had been doing this for decades, starting with the ‘rualverse’. Beverly Hillbillies, Petticoat Junction, and Green Acres were all produced by the same company and were treated as spinoffs of each other, complete with crossovers and shared characters and sets.

Of the three, the last show, Green Acres, has the most in common with Wandavision. A well to do businessman and his lovely socialite wife settle down in small town America on a farm in order to get away from the stresses of city life, only to find new stresses in the country. Eva Gabor, herself a natural Hungarian, plays the character of Lisa as Hungarian making her one of the few non-native born Americans on tv screens during the cold war. Despite her posh nature and original protests to the move, Lisa assimilates to the rural life far easier than her husband, Oliver. Who, as the main comedic thread, can’t comprehend his new quirky neighbors’ odd and often illogical behavior.

8. Hogan’s Heroes (1965 - 1971) and Get Smart (1965 - 1969)

So as comic fans have been quick to point out, it’s looking like both A.I.M. (Hydra) and Sword (Shield) will be players in the story of Wandavision. To commemorate that here’s two shows to represent those opposing sides. Although in truth, neither series has anything else in common with each other but I need to condense things down someway.

In Hydra’s corner we got Hogan’s Heroes. A show all about taking down Nazis from within.

I love, love, love, ‘robin hood’ comedies where a group of con artists try week after to week to pull one over the establishment. The Phil Silvers Show, Mchale's Navy, and Top Cat, just to name a few examples are all childhood favorites of mine. However while those shows had a lot of morally ambiguous characters, Hogan’s Heroes has very clear cut good guys and bad guys, cause the bad guys are Nazis and the show relentless makes fun of the third reich as should we all. In fact I was watching Hogan’s Heroes while waiting for the GA run off election results. Fortunately my home state decided to kick out our own brand of Nazis this year.

For Shield, we got the ultimate spy spoof, Get Smart. Starring, Inspector Gadget himself, Don Adams, as the bumbling Maxwell Smart. Get Smart, is a hilarious send up of Cold War espionage but the real selling point of the show, imho, is Max and his co-worker 99′s relationship. You can cut the sexual tension in the air with a knife all while laughing your ass off.

9. Batman (1966 - 1968)

First was Superman and then came Batman. Yet while Superman was a serious action show, Batman was a straight up comedy. Showcasing that superheroes could indeed be funny.

Also shout out for Batman being the only show on this list to have an actual crossover with it’s competitor, The Green Hornet.

10. Julia (1968 - 1971)

Since episode two features the first appearances of Herb and Monica, let’s highlight the first black led sitcom since the cancelation of Amos ‘n Andy over a decade earlier. The show focuses on single mother and military nurse, Julia, as she tries to live her life without her recently decease husband, who was killed in Vietnam, as she tries to raise their six year old son on her own.

The series is cute. It’s more of a throw back to earlier family sitcoms where there’s no fantasy and life lessons are the name of the game. It’s the fact that the main character is a single black woman is what made the show so subversive and important at the time.

Runner Ups

There’s much good stuff in the 60s, so here’s some others that didn’t make the cut but I would recommend anyways.

Car 54, Where Are You? (1961 - 1963)

I call this the Brooklynn 99 of the 1960s. Bumbling but well meaning Officer Toody longs to do good in the world and help anyone in need, but often screws things up with his ill thought out schemes. He often drags his best friend and partner, the competent but anxiety riddled, Muldoon into his escapades.

Mr. Ed (1961 - 1966)

The grandfather of the sarcastic talking pet trope.

The Jetsons (1962 - 1963 and 1985 - 1987)

Hanna-Barbera often took popular sitcoms and just repackaged them as cartoons with a fantasy theme to them. The Jetsons has no singular show that it rips-off but is rather more a grab bag of sitcom tropes that feature, robots, computers, and flying cars.

The Outer Limits (1963 - 1965)

The Outer Limits was The Twilight Zone’s biggest competitor in terms of being a sic-fi/horror anthology series.

Gillian’s Island (1964 - 1967)

The only comparison to WandaVision I could think of was that this is a sitcom about people being trapped in one place. But by that point I was running out of room on the list. Still it’s one of the funniest shows on here.

So yeah, this took longer than expected cause there’s a lot, here. Hopefully the 70s will be easier. Which I’ll post on Friday.

#wandavision #sitcoms #1960s #dick van dyke #bewitched

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alccaddsccup · 3 years

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sickly sweet (part 2)

this is a continuation of my fic sickly sweet

( apologies for the wait, but i promise it’s worth it ❤️ )

ina x mc

warnings: fluff and a bit of steaminess

tag list: @ikingsley @swimmingshoebakerydreamer @kaitlynliaofanxx @kwaj115 @barnibumblr

lmk if you want to be added to the tag list!!

—————————

Ina was sat at her desk, marking essays with bleary eyes and a mountain of tissues beside her when someone knocked on her door

“Come in” Ina croaked. The door opened and in walked… a teddy bear???

No wait, it was just Bea carrying in a huge stuffed bear and a bunch of flowers

“Heeeeey professor, I thought I’d stop by and give you these” Bea deposited the oversized bear into one of the chairs and handed Ina the flowers with a bow

“Milady” Ina chuckled at Bea’s gentlemanly impersonation and took the flowers with a huge smile. For a second their fingers brushed but the moment was interrupted by Ina reaching for yet another tissue and sneezing quietly

“Your sneezes are real cute, y’know. You sound like a kitten or something” Ina pouted at Bea which only made her even more cute. Bea gazed at her adoringly and stroked her cheek with her thumb

“How are you holding up?” Bea asked

“Not too bad actually. You made such a great fuss when you were ill that I feared the worst for myself” Bea swatted her arm playfully

“Hey, I was really sick!”

“Hmm, of course you were” Ina grinned knowingly as she leant closer to Bea, who was leaning against her desk

“I’m sure it had nothing to do with you wanting me to take care of you”

“I didn’t ask you to come over”

“But you wanted me to” Ina challenged and Bea didn’t back down. The pair gazed at each other for a tense moment before Bea leaned down to kiss Ina slowly. The kiss was cut short, however, as Ina pulled away

“I don’t want you to get sick again”

“I won’t, I’m like 99 percent sure that I gave this bug to you in the first place”

“Ah yes, how generous of you”

“I’m real sorry about that Ina. That’s kinda why I bought you these flowers and Mr cuddles” Bea rubbed her neck gingerly as she gestured to the gigantic bear

“He’s called Mr cuddles? and he’s for me?” Ina got up and went over to where the bear was seated and snuggled into it. A childlike smile lit up her face as she sunk further into the stuffed animal

“Goodbye Bea, I won’t be needing you anymore”

“That’s no fair! Mr cuddles is here because I bought him” Bea joined Ina by the bear and playfully tried to tug her away from it. Ina didn’t resist and all of a sudden the pair were virtually nose to nose (despite ina’s short stature)

“hey”

“hey yourself” Ina replied as she draped her arms around Bea’s neck and rubbed noses with her

“Mr cuddles better not replace me, you know I’m the best at snuggling”

“Hmm, I don’t know Bea. You’ve got some pretty stiff competition” Bea pouted in feigned hurt and Ina chuckled as she kissed her cheek

“Look on the bright side, at least Mr cuddles frees you up for doing other things” Bea arched an eyebrow

“What kinds of other things?”

“Things…like…this” each word was accentuated by Ina kissing up Bea’s neck and placing a final kiss just below her earlobe before nibbling gently

“Hmm, I guess that’s not so bad” Bea turned her head to kiss Ina on her full lips and she eagerly returned the kiss.

The kiss quickly grew more intense as Bea traced Ina’s lower lip with her tongue. Ina opened her eager mouth to allow Bea entry, and the pair’s tongues twisted together. Bea trailed her hands down the professor’s back and pulled her impossibly closer. Ina moaned gently as she felt Bea knead the soft flesh of her backside but they separated after a few moments to allow Ina to catch her breath

“Thank you Bea, for all of this”

“It’s the least I could do” Bea offered Ina a bright smile before kissing her forehead

“Now I just need to figure out how to get Mr cuddles home!”

“C’mon, I’ll walk you to your car” Bea had already picked up the giant bear, the flowers and Ina’s briefcase. Ina tried not to swoon at how effortlessly Bea carried everything

“If you insist” Ina wrung her hands together, as if she wasn’t used to being empty handed, before opening her office door to allow Bea to exit.

The pair made their way to Ina’s car, chatting all the way about everything and nothing, until they finally reached their newest obstacle (how does one fit a giant bear into a tiny car???)

“Well, how are we going to do this?” Ina asked with an amused smile as she unlocked her car

“Here, hold this” Bea handed the flowers and the briefcase to her as she opened the backseat door and attempted to shove the bear into the back

“Be careful with him! Mr Cuddles is delicate” Bea grinned at Ina’s protectiveness over the stuffed animal before bending into the car to push the bear all the way in (more gently this time.) However, she failed to realise that she’d just given Ina a spectacular view of her backside who tried to pull her eyes away from the magnificent sight before her. As Bea straightened up, Ina averted her gaze and cleared her throat

“Thank you for your help Bea. I’ll make sure to drive home extra safe”

“I’m sure you will” Bea opened the driver’s side door for Ina with a pensive look on her face

“Ina?”

“Yes Bea?”

“What would you say if I offered to accompany you home and make you dinner?” Bea avoided Ina’s eyes as she asked, afraid that she would say no. The pause seemed to last forever as Ina weighed the pros and cons of Bea’s offer. She placed her hand onto Bea’s hand, which was still resting on the door, and rubbed small circles with her thumb

“I’d say that’s a wonderful idea” Bea couldn’t contain the happiness she felt and a wide grin broke out across her face

“Alright, awesome”

Bea closed Ina’s door once she was inside the car before getting into the passenger side and the pair made their way home

——————————————————————

“Bea, that was delicious!” Ina exclaimed as she placed down her fork on her completely empty plate

“What did you say that was again?”

“It was just spaghetti bolognese. Pasta, sauce and ground beef” Bea chuckled at Ina’s amazed expression before standing to clear their plates. Ina placed a hand on Bea’s arm

“No, please, allow me. You’ve already done so much” before Bea could protest, Ina had already taken the dishes from her and was loading them into the dishwasher

“Okay fine, I’m gonna pick a movie for us.”

“I thought you just wanted to make me dinner?” Bea was already flicking through the TV stations and getting comfortable on Ina’s sofa, with Mr cuddles sat besides her

“Too late!” she exclaimed gleefully, a cheeky grin on her face. Ina chuckled quietly at Bea; to have someone desire her company as much as Bea made her feel special. She joined her on the sofa, slotting herself between Bea and the bear. The pair weren’t quite touching, but even from this distance, they could both feel the warmth radiating from each other

“Ooooh, Shrek 2!” Ina laughed loudly at Bea’s childish choice

“We are not watching an animated children’s movie”

“But it’s the best of all the Shrek movies” Bea pouted at Ina and gave her the best puppy dog eyes she could muster. It seemed to do the trick as Ina rolled her eyes and relented

“Fine, we can watch it” Bea leaned in suddenly and kissed Ina gently on the cheek before turning to face the TV with wide eyes

“You’re the best” Ina smiled at Bea’s delight and made a mental note to watch all of the Shrek movies to see if the second one was truly the best (purely for research purposes, of course.)

She turned to watch the cartoon ogre and not even a few seconds into watching, she felt a hand rest on her thigh. She looked down at Bea’s hand then looked at her face, but Bea was completely transfixed by the movie. So she placed her own hand atop Bea’s and squeezed gently, Bea squeezed back but didn’t dare to take her eyes off the screen. She placed a tender kiss on Bea’s cheek before snuggling up to Bea and resting her head on her shoulder (Mr cuddles was snuggling Ina on the other side.) She struggled to keep herself awake as Bea was far too comfy and Ina was far too tired. After a few moments, she drifted off into a comfortable sleep, the sound of the movie fading into the background…

#playchoices #choices stories you play #choices #queen b #choices queen b #choices qb #professor ina kingsley #ina kingsley x mc #ina x mc #ina kingsley #professor kingsley

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jewels2876 · 3 years

Text

Always. - A LOKI finale synopsis

So I thought I could write something magical or be inspired by the Loki finale for @the-th-horniest-book-club as it's their last day of celebration.

And it hit me. I can't.

Here's what I can do: dissect this episode down to its heartbreaking ending because at the end I still have a million questions and it's gonna take a cartoon What If?, a Spiderman movie, maybe a Hawkeye show?, and a Dr. Strange movie to answer them all and I'll STILL have questions after that.

Consider for just a moment what happened to 2012 Loki when the TVA captured him way back in Episode One - what the hell did removing Loki do to the MCU timeline? Thor: The Dark World never happened. And no I don't mean you can pretend Marvel put it out there because they did, and it's one of the worst Marvel movies, there I said it. But if TWD didn't happen, what else could have been affected?

And with that disturbing thought we begin...

The opening credits HAVE AUDIO! Every tag line uttered as the characters flash on the screen, EVEN LOKI gets his "We have a Hulk" in. It is awesome; it is glorious; it is expected with EVERY Marvel creation going forward.

Loki and Sylvie should know better than to stare at a door; they always seem to open on their own when that happens. Miss Minutes pops up out of nowhere, scaring the bejesus out of 70% of people, the other 30% wanted to see her one last time. And she's not the same Miss Minutes we first met. She's edgy, she's less peppy, and she gives our duo an offer. Honestly, she should have known the result but 🤷🏻‍♀️

Ravonna is doing something in her office; if she's cleaning it's a piss poor job. Miss Minutes shows up and tells Ravonna she gave her what she needs. Ominous.

Back to Loki and Sylvie who finally meet "He Who Remains." Now we all know guys with names like "He Who Must Not Be Named" are bad news. Guys, to answer the question asked in the show, I'm a little disappointed. The disappointment lasts about five seconds... The office they get transported to reminds me IMMEDIATELY of a certain movie and certain buildings we've seen before (insert duh at this point because you too have seen every Marvel movie ever.)

****** Side note: anyone know if Tom takes his tea with only two sugars? No? Yes? Okay getting back to other things ******

At this point, we get back to Ravonna and her lack of cleaning when Mobius shows up with the pruner (it has to have a cooler name! side side note: nope just glowing batons) and we get a nice little flashback to Original Ravonna (maybe?)

****** 2nd side note: since when did everyone who's not a Russo brother start using OHIO for origin stories? Seriously, go watch Black Widow. I'll wait.******

Now back to Loki, Sylvie, and He Who Remains, hereto known as HWR, who pulls the same trick we saw in the first episode with the "read and sign" guy with the adorable kitten. HWR needs a kitten, a pet at the very least. "You can't get to the end until you've been changed by the journey." HWR s is winding up for a pitch and also summarizes the show too. Loki asks if it's a manipulation; HWR finds the word interesting and I do to. Here's why:

Odin manipulated Loki's abandonment to his advantage

Thanos put Loki under mind control and used him

This is the 2012 Loki as a reminder, so he hasn't been subjected to imprisonment on Asgard or the brotherly banter/squabbles he and Thor have escaping Asgard, nor “Get help” from Ragnarok so it should come as no shock that Loki looks angry. After all, Odin and Thanos kind of killed any hope in Loki of feeling wanted or needed. Aren’t father figures supposed to instill hope, instead of disgust? Yeah, I can answer that one but that’d be an entire other post.

Now we’re back to Ravonna and Mobius and they spat over who was more betrayed - news flash: it was Mobius. But Ravonna has to do for the digs. “Those variants?” “You threw it away for a couple of Lokis.” Mobius tries to reason with Ravonna, sounding exactly like Glenda and Elphaba from Wicked (his “together” is spot on Glenda!) Ravonna opens a portal looking for “free will” after giving Mobius one last beatdown.

And we’re back to Loki, Sylvie and HWR. HWR gives them a bit of his backstory; I have a suspicion he’s glossed over some of it (he admits being called a conqueror for cryin’ out loud!) He has a maniacal moment, standing on his desk, voice getting a little shrill and thin. He also admits he’s probably the saner of his variants (my words not his.) Then after his real-man-behind-the-curtain routine he makes them an offer. Take his place. Loki, who has been remarkably non verbal, asks why HWR would give up control. Good question from the guy who wants to be in control yet was meant to thrive on chaos he creates. If anyone is keeping score, questions have been asked but not a single ANSWER has been given! Sylvie isn’t believing a single word while our Loki’s wheels are turning.

****** 3rd side note: the acting has been PHENOMENAL this entire series. Forget what Marvel promised and didn’t deliver (fluid Loki) and a scene we’ll be getting to, Tom and company have been nothing short of an Emmy, which I expect next year.******

HWR finally gets fed up with Sylvie and tells her to grow up. Because she took her pruning personally. Now I’m not going to say she shouldn’t be upset about her pruning; Marvel made it A POINT of showing her playing, content on Asgard, when they took her. But HWR has a point. He’s offering an option that allows Loki and Sylvie to do whatever they feel is best and it’s the wrong time for Sylvie to get in her feelings. Of course 99% of us know that’s EXACTLY when feelings choose to surface.

Then something happens - we don’t know who or what did it. Was it Ravonna and her leaving? Did Ravonna meet someone we suspect? Was it Mobius? Miss Minutes? The agents? We may never know exactly but now HWR is actually in the dark. Mr. Know-It-All suddenly doesn’t know it all.

Sylvie thinks she has her opportunity to fulfil her quest but it’s our Loki who protects HWR. Loki doesn’t tell her she’s wrong or right, just to stop and THINK. And now we get a glimpse of 2018 Loki:

See the bigger picture

Let’s talk about it

I believe HWR

What fills the void of a dictator?

What if we unleash something worse than HWR?

Now here’s where Marvel gets an B+ in character development. They took the 2012 Loki hell bent on destroying Earth to rule it and gave him just enough growth to become the 2018 redeemed Loki ODINSON, willing to sacrifice himself to Thanos (even if he did think he wouldn’t die.) It’s not a perfect arc by any means, but Marvel got there and this is one thing I applaud.

Sylvie now thinks Loki is lying to her to get to a throne and is clearly upset they are not seeing eye to eye on this and another point to Marvel. Loki, for only seeing a few videos that Mobius showed him, still has more life experience in his SINGULAR moment with Thanos to know that there is ALWAYS something bigger, badder, WORSE around the corner and he does NOT want to make the wrong decision. Wow.

To trust or not to trust.

It’s a beautiful sword fight that HWR sits back and watches like it’s ESPN. The lighting is gorgeous behind the action and is leading up to my next OMG moment: STOP.

Loki asks Sylvie to stop, almost like a child. Like someone who knows exactly where the fight leads, where it goes, and where it ends. And he says as much to her as well. Sylvie feels like that person who just wants the fight to be over; she hunches into Tom’s space and the lighting suddenly stays green and blue. Guess who’s green? Guess who is blue?

This goes back to my Emmy mention. Even if it’s ONLY for technical work, it’s so deserving. Sylvie, in green, tired, emotional, struggling with something we aren’t supposed to know just yet. Loki, in blue, almost as if his Jotun form has taken over, strong, sensible, relatable, empathetic.

And then that damn kiss! Marvel missed another opportunity here. Two Lokis had the opportunity to show self-love, familial love, friendly love, ANYTHING BUT A DAMN KISS!!! I’m not saying they couldn’t have feelings for each other, but it NEVER has to be romantic just because it’s a guy and a girl. **dramatic sigh goes here**

Sylvie pushes Loki through a portal she has opened, then turns to stab HWR through the chest, as he predicted. HWR actually chuckles, which makes me wonder if he expected this exact turn of events. As if we’ll ever know for sure.

Of course the timeline is going nebular and we’re treated to a shot back to the TVA. Mobius and B-15 exchange words as they watch the timelines grow and grow. Loki is sitting on a couch at the TVA and decides he’s not done? You’re supposed to guess the motivation because everything seems normal at the TVA. Loki finds Mobius and B-15 and admits to everything. Loki calling HWR terrifying is terrifying all on is own. And this of course is where it ends.

The post credit scene is just a “Loki returns in Season Two.”

Guys, this season was a mixed bag. There was some good, there was some not so good; there were laughs and a couple of tears. But it also has me SO HYPED for what’s to come. More Loki, more Marvel content, more... everything, I hope!

#loki spoilers #loki tv spoilers #loki #sylvie

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whyqueerbaitingisbad · 3 years

Text

movies & shows

cracks knuckles* alright this is going to be more of a rant than an analysis because i’m basing this on both my research, but also how it felt to personally be baited by these shows. there are obviously more pieces of bad (almost every horror movie) and good ones but these are the ones i’ve watched.

please keep in mind that i am but one queer and everyone has different opinions.

Supernatural (CW) 2005

This show is 15 years old and just ended. From season 5 till 15, there has been tension between two of the lead characters. They were constantly shipped together and not only did the entire fandom know about this ship but so did almost all of Tumblr. On top of that, the actors and show runners knew about it as well. Which is why it makes it ridiculous that it was constantly pushed aside while the romantic coding kept happening, even after show runners dismissed it as being intentional. The Destiel (Dean x Cas) case has been going on for years, and as the show came to its end, many fans had hope. But N O P E. Instead, we got a love confession from Cas where Dean looked like he was near constipated and the Cas was killed and sent into a fiery place that was not hell but s u p e r h e l l.

… w hy.

Sherlock (BBC) 2010

Just like Supernatural, this show was renown on Tumblr for not only how good it was, but its hinting at a potential relationship between Sherlock Holmes and John Watson. But again, like Supernatural, the intentional tension between the two characters was denied by producers. This caused an uproar within the fandom, and even left some people believing that, after the last season aired, it had been a joke and the producers were hiding a “secret, unaired season” because they had felt so robbed by this show that had implied something and denied it.

The 100 (CW) 2014

We got lesbians. We got background gays. We were happy. Then, all of a sudden, one of them is killed for no reason. Did it advance the plot? No. Was she fighting and died in battle? lol no. She was doing literally nothing and got shot and died. And then the producers kept bringing her back once a season in the form of a ghost or illusion because why? Because she was a fan favourite queer character. ✨bury your gays and sparingly bring them back for profit anyone?✨

Voltron: Legendary Defender (Netflix) 2016

*deep breathe* This one is a special disaster. Not only was there romantic tension and romantically coded scenes for 7 seasons, but producers, voice actors and artists working on the show repeatedly said “don’t worry klance (Keith x Lance) shippers, you’ll be happy”

. … w h e r e??? You code one of their scenes with a sunset in the background while they talk about love and then one of them goes on a date with someone who has declined his advances for 7 seasons but now in season 8 decides to do a full 180. Not only that, but you announce at a Comic Con (a convention) that a character is gay and has a fiancé, only to kill off the fiancé and never make it explicit in the show except at the last second of the last episode where he marries a no name character.

Personally, i’d like to say a big fuck you to the show that strung me along for 2 years and never stopped saying we’d be happy to then pull the rug out from under us and call us crazy for thinking anything from the past 8 seasons was intentional.

Scooby-Doo (2002)

While not being outwardly queerbaiting, this movie’s filmmaker has just revealed some shocking news, which wasn’t at all shocking to the gays who had watched this movie over the years. In July of 2020, James Gunn, the filmmaker of Scooby-Doo, revealed in a podcast that, initially, Velma was explicitly gay in his script, but then the studio watered it down until it became nothing. This isn’t an example of baiting as much as it is changing a character’s initial design to “better fit an audience”. The worst part of all this is that with Velma’s character having been written with a l i t t l e queer subtext, people had been theorizing about if since the movie came out, but were always yelled at by the internet for “imagining something that isn’t there”. But now, even with it being said that the initial point was for her to be gay, people have no objections to still refusing to accept it. Why?? So we can’t get the subtext gays OR the confirmed gays?? Make it make sense.

Brooklyn 99 (NBC) 2013

To have the queer characters firstly introduced without mentioning their sexualities and have it brought up naturally was so goddamn nice to see, because no one does a big deal about it unless they ask for that. This show is amazing in general but the way they show their queer characters is *chefs kiss*.

She-ra and the Princesses of Power (Netflix) 2018

This. Show. My heart SOARS. It's just a remake of an old show so absolutely nothing was ever expected, but then it was sprinkled in and ENDED WITH A BANG. And it was so beautiful and real to see the struggle of two friends who care for each other and want to be together but have different visions of the world fall in love. And they also had characters with disabilities, a non-binary character and jUST SUCH A GOOD SHOW.

Kipo and The Age of Wonderbeasts (Netflix) 2020

This is a case where you go into it not expecting anything and are BLOWN AWAY by the bare minimum. And not because it’s bad!! It's mind blowing because this is the simple representation we need!! Not something over the top, but an every day relationship. It’s just two boys falling in love and going on dates and being nervous around each other, yet i was so stunned. Because it’s not shown enough. I should not be this excited over something that should be this normal. 10/10 though this show is so good for all kinds of representation.

Steven Universe (Cartoon Network) 2013

This show did so much for queer representation with its general message of loving everyone and loving who you want. Especially since it was aired on Cartoon Network, a channel for kids, it was able to help normalize something so looked down upon in some circles. It made it easy to watch for s o m e people because it's a cartoon but it's so beautiful to see these ladies so in love with each other, both platonically and romantically and we see them have a family dynamic that isn’t a “nuclear family”. Rebecca Sugar (creator) really said “lemme just break all stereotypes real quick”.

Adventure Time (Cartoon Network) 2010

It's the “knowing a fanbase shipped something so hard that the creators made it canon” for me. This relationship had been theorized by fans for years, but it had never been explicit in the show. When the finale episode came out and the two shared a kiss, it was a moment of celebration. The producer of the show said that it had not really been planned but when the episode was being made, the choice of what happened was given to one of the artists (bless your soul Hanna K. Nyströmthe). And as the show releases little bonus episodes, its latest was centered around Marceline and Bubblegum and their relationship. AND WE LOVE TO SEE OUR DOMESTIC LESBIANS BEING HAPPY AND IN LOVE.

Yuri on Ice!!! (anime) 2016

The fact that an A N I M E gave us a love story between two men is mind boggling and it makes me so happy!! Especially because it's a Japanese show and they’re very conservative about these things just makes it more emotional. The creators said they wanted to make the anime take place in a world where gay/straight isn’t a thing, it’s just love (ladies, you’re going to make me cry). So as the weekly episodes came out and fans start speculating, THEY GAVE US THE LAST FEW EPISODES FULL OF ROMANCE AND EMOTIONAL SCENES BETWEEN THE TWO AND THEN THEY GET R I N GS?!???!! You watch for the figure skating, you stay for the figure skaters that are in love.

Shadowhunters (Freeform) 2016

*insert me being frustrated that the actors are straight so we can move on from that disappointment*

This show really said “let’s name a whole episode after this couple because they deserve it”. But seriously, they gave us two characters whose entire plot does not center around their sexualities while still showing us the differences in a relationship between someone experienced and someone new at this. They were both powerful and amazing characters apart from each other, with their own story lines and goals but they loved each other so much omgs. SO MUCH.

It was so great to watch.

Love, Simon (2018)

There’s a lot of disagreement on whether this movie is good representation or not. However, we need to take into consideration that this was Hollywood’s first movie with a main character that was gay, where the story’s focus was on Simon’s love story. The biggest problem, for me at least, was that the actor playing Simon is a straight man and not queer. My problem is not with him, but the fact that there are other actors that are gay and that could have played Simon just as well. (the love interested was however played by a queer actor so ✨progress✨)

All in all, this movie does represent what a lot of queer kids have to go through: being outed at school, how they then come out, the bullying and doubt they go through.

The book is also really good.

Call Me By Your Name (2018)

This movie is so aesthetically pleasing and was able to capture the confusion and heartbreak felt by a boy who’s struggling with his own feelings towards a man. His inner conflict and joy and l o v e he feels but doesn’t know how to deal with is so well communicated through the screen and just breaks your heart because it feels so real.

But again, they could’ve gotten gay actors to play gay characters…

through having this list here, i want to show you that it’s not hard for creators to give good queer representation. the LGBTQ+ community isn’t asking for much, we just want to be well represented on screen as just a regular character, not some token queer kid there for the diversity points. having been exposed to so much queerbaiting and just not seeing any representation on screen, i always get over-excited when i see a queer character, and that’s not how it should be. it should be a normal thing, something you can find in most pieces of media, just like there’s a straight white cisgender person in everything.

and they seriously need to start casting queer actors for queer characters...

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makeupbychio · 4 years

Text

ily // C.H

pairing: Calum x Reader.

words: 2,3k.

warnings: fluff, a little bit of smut, swearing, spoilers about tv shows (Brooklyn 99 and Glee). English is not my first language.

a/n: I tried to do this genderless so I would love some feedback. Hope you like it, love y'all.

inspired by: a couple of shows that I watched during this quarantine.

It's a lovely and cozy night with Calum, whom cooked your favorite food and watching him during the process so dedicated to make it perfect like five stars restaurants made you looking at him with heart eyes the whole night. The tomato sauce was perfect and the pasta even more. You saw how he followed every single step of the recipe and refused you to help him.

After finishing dinner, you were enjoying red wine -the bottle is almost empty- and talking to him about everything and anything. He set the dining room with vanilla candles to make it more romantic. The warm lights lightly illuminating your faces was so charming.

Deeply inside you know that today it's been 4 months since you started dating, but Calum never brings topics like that or buys something every month and that's totally fine because you neither talk about it. He just surprises you with lovely details like this one in random days, not just when you have to celebrate something.

When he feels like it he does it. Sometimes he caught you off guard like that time he poured like two hundred sunflowers in your house just because, or when he bought you the coolest denim jacket when he was on tour and he said extra things like the jacket was made just for you. Or when he printed the pictures Andy took in a party you threw because he wanted to have them as memories not just in his phone. Also, you find cute when he is so excited to send you his playlists he does every month with his favorite songs -he also made a private playlist for you know, when you need privacy-.

Once finished dinner, you moved to the couch to start your nerd marathon of the shows you watch. He went to find a big blanket since it's cool outside due to the rain that's been going on for two days. He settled next to you and kissed your temple when you put your head on his chest and your hands on his ribcage.

"Come here, baby" Calum said wanting you closer.

"What's our mood today? Glee or Brooklyn 99?" you asked while you were concentrated on the TV screen searching for said shows.

“Both" you said at the same time. You explained how you can't wait to know what happens in the show. You agreed to watch Brooklyn 99 first and then Glee when you were cuddle in bed.

After finishing the Halloween heist chapter you were still laughing at Gina's funny surprises.

"Babe you would be the perfect Gina Linetti" Calum said when he stopped laughing.

"I'm going to take that as a really good compliment, what about you?" you asked him looking up to find his eyes.

"Hmm I don't know" Calum said confused. "We should take an online test to find out" he broke the cuddle position you both had in the couch to go find his computer.

"That's so Amy Santiago" you teased him while he was in another room. Then he came back showing you the electronic device.

He sat straight next to you again and searching for Buzzfeed quizzes related to the show.

"This one sounds pretty cool" he said focused on the screen and pointing the one he chose. While the link load slowly due to his weak WiFi signal you decided you will take the quiz first.

"K'" you said with the computer in your lap reading the questions and choosing the answers fast. "So this says I'm Gina Linetti externally and Amy Santiago internally". You read the caption under the results and it makes sense to you.

"I was right babe, now my turn" he said taking from you the computer. It was funny how he took this so seriously to the point he had his tongue out, a thing he does when he is working. Both of you kinda expected and not his results. "I'm Rosa Diaz externally and Jake Peralta internally".

"That's kinda sexy tho" you said biting your lip to refuse a giggle till you couldn't resist and start making fun of how bad ass but a puddle he is.

He stood up from the couch to lay against the wall with crossed arms looking at you how cute you looked all teasing him and also surprised with the results. "I can be the Jake Peralta to your Amy Santiago" he was now teasing you.

"Challenge accepted" you said before a moment of silence and Calum broke the ice.

"Oh gosh I love you so much" he said with all the emotion and then froze when he realized he said that out loud and not just inside his head. He waited for you to say something and as your surprised wide open eyes, he knew you weren't going to answer what he wanted.

"What?" you asked surprised, not to make him repeated the words but to confirm if it was reality.

"Don't worry, I'm going to take a shower before bed" he said quickly disappearing into the bathroom and took his shirt off. He felt so stupid, he tortured himself for a couple of minutes with thoughts like you don't feel the same way about him and how maybe that scared you and now you were going to run away. 'Stupid Cal' he said to himself before he decided to leave that for later.

In that short amount of minutes, in the other side of the room you were thinking about how he just threw the bomb at you with no warning. You felt bad that you didn't answer immediately, because you love him too but it was confusing how hours ago you were thinking about how he is not like that type of person to celebrate another month of your relationship or cheesy things but clearly he does. You thought how to fix this and your next move.

When you were about to knock the bathroom's door Calum surprised you opening it before your action. He was surprised too to find you inches apart from him.

"Jesus, y/n. Sorry, I thought you were still in the couch" he said when he stopped his rushing thoughts. "Are you okay?" asking if something happened or if you need something.

Calum was already with his shirt off and just with his jeans. You laid your fingers on his beautiful jaw to get him closer and kiss him.

"I love you too, Cal" you said looking up directly to his eyes, fingers still on his jaw and your lips barely touching his. You moved forward a little bit to get you both inside the bathroom so you can close the door. Your moves were slow and that made the intensity filled the room. You know, sexual tension.

You saw his sculpted tan back when he turned around to start the water. You bite your lip at the view. "Is Roy at home already?" you asked innocently him to be sure of something.

He laughed at you being cautious when multiple times before Roy definitely heard you both having sex. "I don't know, but that's cute from you to worry about my roommate's nightmares because of us" he was teasing you.

"Fuck you" you said realizing that the house is huge and that Roy's room is way far from where you were. So you can have an idea about how loud you have to be so he can hears you. Right now you don't care and at the same time hoping that Cal's roommate could be asleep.

You stepped closer to him and he couldn't resist it. It's not like he can't kiss you, he knows that he is allowed to that but he would kill for your kisses. He moved his head to reach your tinted cherry lips and started heating up rapidly the situation. He just cut the makeout session when you took off your shirt, then he removed the rest of his clothes to jump in into the shower. You bit your lip at the view and decided to join him so you took off your jeans too and stepped inside in underwear.

"Baby no! That combo is my fave" Calum said when your clothes got wet immediately because of the hot water. You laughed at his words like if he doesn't has a washing machine or a dryer. You laced your arms around his neck and kissed him under the water. "I've been holding this for a while and a lot of emotions and actions to show you how I feel but not anymore" he said and started to feel like he finally poured out what was stuck on his mind. "I wanted to tell you in a more romantic way than how I did it minutes ago watching Brooklyn 99, just pretend that we are outside under the rain so it could be more romantic like a Hollywood movie from the 50s" Calum said.

He rapidly interlaced both arms in the end of your back to keep your body close to his. You rested your arms around his neck and he went up a little bit with his hands to fight with your soaked bra and then took it off and throw it to the floor crossing the glass door. A cloud of steam was already formed because of the heat in the room.

Now just your panties were left but you were so focused tracing Calum's tattoos with your fingers while he admired you doing it. It gave him chills when you found his chest tattoo.

"I love your tattoo too, honey" he said with his hand moving down to the side of your left thigh where your tattoo is. Perfect time to lift you up and take off the last piece of clothes. Your legs around his waist and he got you holding you with his strong hands placed above your butt.

Calum laughed when you tried to hide your body. It was the first time you took a shower with him. But the only way to hide your body was pressing it harder against his.

From outside the shower your bodies seemed blurry because of the big amount of steam. That marks were erased when Calum lifted you up to hold your body against the wall, your legs were around his waist to give him better access.

Lust immediately filled your mind with the passionate kisses and how good felt when Cal pressed your body against the wall, still lifting you with his strong hands. God that hands and arms drive you crazy with his tattoos and notorious veins. Next he asked you for permission to fill your entrance, always making sure you were alright. You just nodded at him and he did it, your right arm so tight around the back of his neck and left hand holding against the glass leaving your handprint freshly.

You both failed at being quiet but the sound of water and the soundproofing walls gave you advantage. Words couldn't be found, just moans and kisses wherever you had access. Calum still holding you changed to another wall, now one hand holding you and the other pressed against the wall that gave him the balance and to keep pushing inside you.

"Calum, I'm close" you said whispering on his ear. He wanted to make you feel even better so he speed up his pace. The water was hitting Cal's back and was burning him with the marks you were leaving with your nails.

You tilted your head back when you reached your orgasm wanting to have your feet back on the floor and seconds later of friction he reached his edge too.

He pulled off and helped you to for real take a shower and clean the sweaty mess. Now the calm and tiredness hit you both once you left the bathroom ready to -do quite opposite like minutes ago- put comfy clothes and cuddle.

Calum dried your hair and you his. Once you put his baggy hoodie you jumped into the bed. You waited for him who was setting the heat for the house during the night.

While you watched Glee, with his head resting on your chest and stroking his curls, you thought about what he said earlier. Calum always sings the songs that he knows from the show and taps your skin gently at the beat of the music, and it's more than lovely to hear his beautiful voice.

“Babe, what did you mean when you said that you had been holding that for a while?” you asked him when the cast of the show ended the song they were performing. He looked up at you.

“Like a month ago we were watching Brooklyn 99 that chapter when Jake was in danger and Amy felt guilty because she never told him how she felt and that hit me” he spoke with all the honesty. You found that so cute and cheesy from him and it made sense to you because for a while he seemed that he wanted to say something important to you but you never asked or pushed him to do it.

You kissed his forehead and smiled at him. Before you both returned your attention to the show you said, “I love you”.

"I love you too" he said. "I think you would be a perfect Mercedes" he started again teasing you about the characters of the shows you watch together, you are going to get used to this.

You tried to break the closeness of his head in your chest because he knows that you don't have a beautiful talent and voice like Mercedes. "Ha ha very funny. So in that case you would be Sam?" you raised your brows at him because even when you love Sam, he's a player.

"I think we can only resolve this with a quizz" he said smirking at you.

#calum hood #ch #calum #calum hood blurb #calum blurb #ch blurb #calum x reader #calum hood x reader #ch x reader #5sos blurb #5 second of summer imagines #5 seconds of summer blurb #calum hood imagine #calum hood fic #calum hood fluff

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adenei · 3 years

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Auror 99 - Chapter 11

AO3 || FFN

Finalizing Plans

“Finally, we’re a step ahead of Gerteso!” Boyle said after Harry and Ron had explained everything.

“What do you think the plan should be?” Rosa asked. “The sooner we wrap this up, the better. Not that I haven’t enjoyed all this time with you all, but I’m itching to get on with a new case. Plus, Sarge is starting to go nuts relying on Scully and Hitchcock.” Rosa’s seriousness was interrupted by a brief laugh, as she was no doubt imagining Sarge and Gina losing their minds at the duo’s stupidity.

“We should be able to apprehend him tomorrow. I don’t think it’s a good idea to wait too long because he’s going to find out sooner or later that his brother’s records aren’t where he’s looking. He’s bound to check the immigration records in an upcoming visit,” Amy reasoned.

Hermione agreed. “I know you’re going to pull the, ‘you’re not an Auror, Hermione,’ card again, but I think Amy’s right. We can contact Kingsley and MACUSA to get permission to apprehend him. This needs to be done tomorrow.”

“If you’re careful, you may even be able to get him to rat out his brother, too. If he wants to take him down, this would be his last chance when he’s in custody,” Jake said.

“You know what, that’s actually a good idea,” Ron agreed. “Hermione, you, Rosa and Amy see what else you can find on Martini. We’re going to need a location for the MACUSA Aurors to bring him in. I think we can play the angle of getting Martini to come in and verify the suspect, so we don’t tip him off. That way we can give both of them the shock factor of seeing each other.”

“...Especially since it doesn’t sound like it’s going to be a cozy little reunion,” Charles said.

“Exactly. So how’s this? Harry and I will go meet with Kingsley to see if we can gain permission for a sting in the Wand Records office. Jake and Charles, you should go inform Holt of the plan. There’s only the one stairwell down from the lift. Hermione, we should station you with Rosa there, and then Jake, Charles, and Amy can be covering the main entrance to the Woolworth and the alley he disappears by, just in case.”

Everyone nodded and went their separate ways to gather a plan. It didn’t take long for Kingsley to respond to Harry and Ron. They took their time detailing everything they’d discovered and their idea for a capture.

“Are you sure it’s him?” Kingsley asked them.

“Positive,” Harry said. “Jake and Charles watched him drop the disguise or disillusionment charm in the alley before he disapparated. Jake confirmed.”

“But didn’t Ron obliviate him after their first meeting?” Kingsley asked skeptically. He and Holt didn’t know that their true identities had been revealed to the rest of the team.

Harry recovered quickly. “Yes, but we’ve since spotted him on surveillance, and have still photos to work off of. Charles was able to snap a few pictures on his phone, too.”

“Okay. I will check with MACUSA. Should I request backup?”

“That wouldn’t hurt in case he manages to get up the stairs or to the lift. As long as we get questioning rights first,” Harry agreed.

“I don’t think that will be an issue, especially if we’re aiding in bringing in The Cryptic.”

Ron nodded. “We’re hoping that we can get Gerteso to crack. We’ve got too much evidence to put forth with the Wizengamot to put him Azkaban for a long time. This could be his only chance to strike a plea to lessen the sentence. If he’s trying to take down his brother out of spite, he just might give away what he knows.”

Kingsley nodded. “I’ll meet with them and be back shortly. Do me a favor and check on Hermione’s status with the articles. I have a feeling MACUSA will want any evidence she’s collected with the other detectives,” he said just before he left the frame.

“I’ll go check if you don’t mind waiting?” Ron asked Harry.

Harry shooed him off as he sat on his bed, and Ron returned to the common area. “Any luck?” he asked them.

“Amy’s managed to find a list of all the names of orphans Martini has ‘taken in.’ None of the kids ever make it back to the Orphanage. I’m cross referencing the names to the list I have from the Ilvermorny database. Most of the names are matching those on this list,” Hermione explained. “Even if a child is not fully magical, their name still appears, and there’s an ‘S’ next to their name, presumably for squib.”

“I’m also looking up to see if any adoption records come up for these kids, or if there are any money transfers in an attempt to cover any of it up,” Rosa added.

“Good, good, Kingsley will appreciate the information,” Ron said.

“Oh, my God,” Amy exclaimed as Ron was about to head back to Harry.

Various forms of ‘what’ chorused from everyone, and even Harry popped his head out of the doorway to see what was going on.

“It’s not just Squib trafficking. I checked the names Hermione didn’t find a match for and some of these are high profile missing persons cases.” Amy looked at Rosa. “I need to call Jake.”

“No, wait. Let’s see what Kingsley says. We shouldn’t move too many units in. It might spook him, and that’s the last thing we want.” Amy nodded and Rosa looked like she wanted to argue, but Harry called him back.

“Kingsley just appeared in the portrait.” Ron moved quickly to join them.

“You have permission from MACUSA to set up the sting tomorrow. They’ll provide extra coverage, but not until after he enters. Once you have him in custody, I’ll join you for the investigation. The MACUSA Aurors are appreciative of any information you can give them on Martini. They’ve hit dead ends with the Squib trafficking ring for a while now. Make sure you bring any information about Martini tomorrow to be ready to hand over.”

“Yeah, about that. Apparently, he hasn’t just been taking squibs from the orphanage. Amy said there are some muggle missing person cases that some of the names and descriptions are matching. This is going to get messy.”

Kingsley was quiet as he thought about this new development. “I will discuss with Holt and see what he thinks. First and foremost, Martini is a wizard, and will need to be convicted as such. Of course, the matters are out of my hands, as this is strictly American territory, though I’m sure MACUSA will be willing to work with and see if they can help locate any of the muggles on that list.”

“Thanks, Kingsley.”

“You’re welcome. The last thing I need you to do is see what you can find for background on the Guarnieris. Any additional information will be helpful for questioning. We need as much of an upper hand as we can get. Hopefully, I will see you in person tomorrow.”

Harry and Ron said their goodbyes and made their way back to the rest of the team to get the information Kinglsey said they needed. The girls were just finishing up their research connected to Martini, and then the group of five grabbed some lunch before diving into a deep search of the Guarnieri name.

~o~

Unfortunately, their searches didn’t yield the detail they were hoping for. They did find out that Lorenzo and Leonardo Guarnieri grew up in London where they were orphaned at a young age. Apparently as Voldemort’s influence was rising at the beginning of the second wizarding war, there was a Death Eater attack on the orphanage. Bellatrix had intel that there were Muggleborns in the orphanage and Voldemort had ordered an attack on innocent children.

Leonardo and Lorenzo must have been separated during the attack, as the orphanage’s cook was credited with saving one of the boys, Lorenzo, who would one day become The Cryptic. It was clear from the articles that the cook had taken a keen interest in the Guarnieri twins, which caused Hermione to think that she, too, must have been a vampire, since why else would she take him to the Sanguinity. The article talked of the tragedy, and the cook had stated it broke both the boy’s and her heart because she was unable to go back and rescue Leonardo.

Hermione was then able to find more on Lorenzo from published Sanguine journals in Italy. After verifying his descent, the Sanguinity took him in and he studied under them until they shipped him off to join the New York division. He was only 23 at the time, and he moved his way up the ranks quickly. The former leader died suddenly when Lorenzo was 25, and he was chosen by the Sanguinity to take over. Ironically, this was around the same time Leonardo started working at Gringotts.

Ron and Harry were less successful in finding any information on Leonardo, which wasn’t surprising considering how he was able to pass through the system. Since he was presumed dead, Hogwarts never came for him when he turned eleven, and he only knew he was a wizard because the cook had discussed it with him and his brother. They found an article in a muggle newspaper about the mysterious orphanage attack that interviewed a lowly shopkeeper nearby, and it was Jake who noticed the small boy peeking out from behind a crate in the picture.

“There! That’s got to be him, right?” Jake pointed to the screen.

“Yes! That’s definitely him. You can see the resemblance to the boy in the other article,” Ron agreed.

After finding the article, they’d hit a dead end. The team felt a little down because of the lack of information, but Charles, ever the optimist, reminded them that “because you know his real identity, and his motive, and that’ll be enough to seal the deal.”

“Charles is right,” said Amy. “I think we’ve got enough for tomorrow, and the plan is ready to go. Who wants to binge more of the HP movies and try and relax the rest of the day?”

“That sounds good to me!” Hermione said eagerly.

“Do we really have to watch more?” Harry asked, not even bothering to hide his displeasure.

“The first one wasn’t terrible, mate,” Ron said. He could tell Hermione was anxious to see more, and if he was being honest, he was too.

Rosa opted to head back to the precinct to get some paperwork done for a bit while the rest of the team settled in on the couches. Charles had barely sat down when he realized they would need ample food to fuel their movie marathon. So, he ran out to get snacks and pick up sandwiches for everyone later. He insisted they start without him, since he’d seen them before. As the resident foodie of the group, he had taken it upon himself to give them the ultimate snack fest for their binging party.

Amy hit play and settled in a seat next to Jake, where Ron noticed she was sitting quite close to him and had to hide his smirk. He and Hermione shared a knowing look at the two of them, while Harry was watching the opening intently.

“Man, did Dobby really cause all that havoc at your Aunt and Uncle’s?” Jake asked.

Harry nodded. “Yeah. Hey, mate, thanks again for the rescue mission. Things were not looking good,” he turned and said to Ron, who simply smiled and nodded.

“One of the few times Fred and George actually worked with me and not against.”

They settled in for a while until the Ford Anglia made its second appearance and they watched the movie Harry and Ron fly into the Whomping Willow. Ron couldn't help but laugh at the scene. "Well, Hermione, you always wanted to know what happened when we weren't on the train. I'd say this is a pretty good reenactment!" Everyone laughed at Ron’s words.

Things were going well until the scene where Ron was puking up slugs. That wasn’t the issue. It was what movie Hermione had said. Hermione was beside herself when she looked at Amy and asked, “But, why did I get those lines? I had no idea what a Mudblood was!”

“Well, at least they got the slugs right,” Ron tried to remain optimistic.

Charles returned from his snack purchasing excursion just as the polyjuice potion scene was playing out. He was about to ask Hermione what it was like to be a cat, but Ron gave a firm shake of his head, indicating that it would be smarter to not ask the question.

Ron had to get up and walk out at the scene with all the spiders, mumbling something to the effects of, “I lived through it once, I don’t need to watch it again.”

Harry couldn’t help but take the mickey out of him a bit, saying that, “this Grint character’s facial expressions are brilliant, though! It’s almost like he shares the same fear.” Hermione tried to be sympathetic and not laugh, but she did admit it was funny.

“Oh, but Rupert Grint is terrified of spiders, too!” Amy confirmed.

They watched the remainder of the movie in relative quiet, and once it had finished, everyone turned to Hermione for her overall thoughts, while Amy got up to switch to the third movie.

“Well, aside from giving me several lines that I didn’t actually say, I suppose it wasn’t terrible,” Hermione said.

“It’s interesting how they interpret some of the events that happened,” Harry chimed in.

“Were they close, at least?” Amy asked.

“For the most part.” Harry didn’t care to go into much more detail than that.

“Was Lockhart similar to his character?” Amy asked.

Hermione nodded. “The actor did quite a good job with him actually.”

“Oh, please, Lockhart was more insufferable in real life. You liked him, so you shouldn’t be one to judge,” Ron cut in.

Hermione rolled her eyes. “That’s not-!”

“Don’t even try and deny it, Hermione,” Ron laughed. “It’s okay, I forgive your twelve year old self for your poor taste.”

“Oh, no!” Charles cut in, preventing Hermione from any defense she may have had from Ron’s statement.

“What? Did you forget the stuff for nachos?” Jake asked, looking alarmed as he glanced to the kitchen.

“No, I just realized I missed the slug scene!” Charles lamented.

Everyone stared at him, not really knowing what to say. Finally, Ron spoke up. “Er, was there something you wanted to know? Seeing as how I lived through it, I may be able to help..”

Jake groaned. “Wrong answer.”

Amy agreed. “Yeah, Ron, take it back while you still have the chance.”

Before Ron could ask why, Charles began shooting out a litany of questions. “What made you choose slugs to jinx with? What did they taste like? Was it like escargot? How would you rate the mouthfeel? I’ll need to do some research to see if slugs are actually a delicacy somewhere around the world…”

“Charles!” Jake snapped him back to reality. “Leave him alone. No one cares about slugs. Besides, we’re not supposed to know they exist, so you shouldn’t be questioning him about this.”

“It’s fine, Jakey, I’ll just say I did extensive research on it and the movie sparked the inspiration for the new blog article.”

“Charles, no one is going to want to read about the mouth feel of slugs on your blog. Just stick to rating obscure restaurants.” Amy said.

“I have so many questions…” Ron finally managed to say. “What is mouthfeel?”

“Oh, you see I write a food blog!”

“Yeah, I gathered that..”

“Mouthfeel is one of the twelve categories I rate a dish on. The inside of your cheeks are very sensitive, right? It's like the inside of your thighs except with a tongue-”

“Charles!” Jake and Amy both groaned.

“Alright, alright! Ron asked, so I answered. The slug thing just gave me an idea for my next blog if you wanted to share your experience.”

Ron didn’t know how to answer. He was twelve when it happened, and thankfully he hadn’t had to relive that particular moment. Thankfully, Amy came to his rescue.

“Okay, enough, I’m starting Prisoner of Azkaban. If you want snacks, go grab them now.”

“I’m going to get a drink,” Harry said.

Ron and Hermione looked worriedly at him. They knew he was probably apprehensive about seeing Sirius and Remus portrayed on screen. Amy said she’d wait until the end to ask any questions, and advised them all to do the same. Charles was banned from any questions related to food.

When their second movie of the day finished, Hermione looked at Amy. “Is this whole, me getting everyone else’s lines going to get worse?”

“Do you want the honest answer?” Amy asked through a grimace.

Hermione sighed. “As much as I still hate Rita for starting this whole thing by publishing the books, at least they were accurate. I’m starting to lose faith in these films.”

“Do you want to keep going?” Amy asked.

“Might as well.”

“Can we take a break and eat first?” Harry asked.

“I think that’s a good idea,” agreed Jake.

“Harry, if you don’t want to watch the next one, we’ll understand,” Hermione told him. It was bad enough seeing Sirius and Remus again, and watching Pettigrew get away, but now he’d have to watch the Triwizard Tournament, no doubt watching someone play Cedric die, and see the fake Moody’s deception. It was going to take a dark turn.

“I’ll be fine,” Harry said.

“You could call Ginny if you wanted,” Ron suggested.

“You know as well as I do we’re not supposed to contact anyone while on a mission,” Harry said. But the toll of having been away from her and his family for longer than a week was starting to weigh on him.

“Can you imagine what she’s going to say when we tell her?” Ron said. The trio all had a laugh at imagining Ginny’s reaction over the whole thing.

“Hey, I have a question,” Jake said as they sat down to eat. “How did you two not pick up on the whole time turner thing for an entire year?” He motioned to Harry and Ron.

“I did notice!” Ron defended. “That was actually close to how it happened. I’d notice her appear almost out of thin air in classes, but she’d always wave me off or ignore me when I’d ask.”

“I couldn’t tell you. We’ve been over this a million times,” Hermione scoffed.

“Well then, why didn’t you use it to catch up on sleep?” Jake asked.

Amy looked at him as if that was the dumbest question in the world. “Well, obviously she couldn’t. McGonagall told her she should only use it for attending all of her classes. You have to use it sparingly.”

“Yes, Ames, just because McGonagall says something, it’s Hogwarts law,” Jake shot sarcastically back at her.

“She’s not wrong,” Hermione clarified. “I was warned that if I used it too much I could run the risk of affecting the timeline, even if I wasn’t seen. Time turners are a funny thing, er, were. I didn’t want to risk messing with time too much. I was also fourteen and insistent that I could manage it all, too. Ron was the only one to make me see that I couldn’t actually manage it.” The three detectives nodded, though Jake didn’t seem satisfied with the answer.

“I don’t like how the actors who are playing Remus and Sirius and Snape are so old. They would have been in their thirties. We don’t look that old, do we?”

“No, I think it was more about securing acting prestige when they signed them. It’s not something I thought about, but you’re right,” Amy tried to explain. “Kind of like how they hired kids and had to hope their acting would hold up as they grew with the series.”

“Yes, well, I’m still holding out an opinion, but I’m not sure how well I like Emma Watson.”

“Just wait,” Charles said as he took a swig of his beer.

“What’s that-” Hermione started to say, but Amy cut her off as she jumped up and went over to the entertainment area.

“We should get started if we’re going to finish this at a reasonable hour.”

They cleaned up and settled in for one more movie that evening. Ron could tell that Hermione wanted to speak several times, and there were a few moments when Ron thought she was going to cut off the circulation in his leg at how hard she was squeezing.

The credits barely started rolling when Hermione let loose. “They completely cut out Winky and S.P.E.W.! Which completely changed Barty Crouch Jr.’s whole storyline! And why would they make Durmstrang all boys and Beauxbatons all girls? That’s complete rubbish! Oh, if Fleur were to see her portrayal here...it’s completely awful! They messed everything up.”

“Hermione, I know it was bad, but they kept the integrity of the main points,” Ron tried to calm her down. “Personally, I really enjoyed Movie Harry dribbling water all over himself as he gushed over Cho.” He burst into a fit of laughter that did manage a chuckle out of Hermione.

“Oi! That did not happen, so don’t you dare tell Ginny about it.” Harry warned.

“Won’t have to tell her anything mate, not if she sees it for herself.”

Harry groaned. “Well, I’m personally disappointed that your row didn’t happen in front of loads of people in the common room like it did after the Yule Ball. They really missed the mark on that one,” Harry shot back.

“Well, they certainly got your sour attitudes right,” Hermione told them both, “and the pig-headedness of your own row.”

“Yeah, well, that’s nothing compared to what’s coming in sixth year. Can’t wait to watch how they did that one,” Harry said. Ron and Hermione knew he didn’t really mean much by it, but they both still turned faintly red at the memory.

“Harry,” Amy tried as gently as she could to change the subject. “Is that actually what Voldemort looked like?”

Harry was silent for a moment. “Er, sort of. His face was much more snake-like, and his voice was more chilling than that. But the graveyard scene was accurate, minus Bertha Jorkins absence.”

Ron and Hermione were quiet. It was the one time they weren’t with Harry as they had to remain in the stands while he completed the final task.

“I still can’t believe Fudge just administered the Dementor’s Kiss on Crouch without bothering to hear his story,” Charles said, shaking his head.

“Yeah, well Fudge was bloody buggering-”

“Okay, Ron,” Hermione cut him off. Harry nodded in agreement at what Ron was about to say. “Maybe it’s time we turn in. We need our rest for tomorrow.”

Everyone agreed. “As much as I’m ready to catch this asshole, I’m not ready for this to end,” Jake admitted.

“Well, we’ve still got questioning and all that, so it’s not like we’re just going to disappear tomorrow or anything,” Ron reassured him.

“You aren’t going to obliviate us when this is all over, are you?” Rosa asked. She’d just walked in the door. “Oh good, movie night’s over.”

Jake, Charles and Amy all looked at the trio, waiting for the answer to the question only Rosa had been brave enough to ask. They knew with the Statute of Secrecy that they’d have to. The sympathetic looks emanating off of Harry, Ron and Hermione said it all.

#hp au #brooklyn 99 au #hp/b99 crossover

17 notes · View notes

ja-khajay · 3 years

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2020-2021 Animation Watch(ed)list

I haven’t posted about animation in a while that I remember, and I know a lot of my followers are into it as much as me so I decided to make a list of the animated movies and series I watched on the past year or so, coupled with my short, spoilerless take on them. Enjoy!

Organized by

Things I saw for the first time

Things I rewatched

Under a cut for the sake of your dashboards! PS: I have not added any images yet. If you are interested in knowing more about the visuals of these movies, I might make an old fashion ask-prompted imageset list.

Part One: Things I saw for the first time

The Bear’s Famous Invasion of Sicily

Movie, 2019, Italian/French

9/10, a delightful little movie with amazing visuals. It feels like an animated picture book.

One of those “plot is in the title” media! I had never heard of this before but was heavily recommended it by my family members, who all loved it! It’s a sweet story, nothing groundbreaking but the unique colorful visual style alone makes it worth it.

The Castle of Cagliostro

Movie, 1979, Japanese

10/10. Reminded me of all the books i loved reading as a child

I assume its because it’s so old and the art style and themes are so different that it gets little to no love compared to other Ghibli movies, which is a shame! It’s fun with an endearing cast and as always, great animation and music

Mushishi

Series, 2006, Japanese

10/10 three episodes in I knew it was going to be my favorite series ever

One of the few things I’ve seen I’ll describe as life-changing. It’s absolutely lovely but never toots its own horn about it. Humble, calming, emotional and surprisingly mature. It’s pretty impossible to binge due to how intense the experience is. I just want to walk in the forest now...

FMA: Brotherhood

Series, 2009, Japanese

6/10 Dissapointing adaptation of a classic story

I read the manga for this when I was in middle school and remembered loving it. The animated version does an ok job of presenting the characters and worldbuilding and has some nice action scenes but overall looks really damn cheap and just. Not very good. Seeing I already knew most of the plot I did not have the element of discovery that made me marvel so much reading the original. It’s still a nice series but I really recommend reading it instead.

Code Lyoko (s1+2)

Series, 2003, french

3/10. 1.5 being for the opening song alone

This show sucks ass if I hadn’t been watching this with my bestie I would have dropped it two episodes in. The art style is ugly the stories are always the same and the first season has a (later removed thank fucking god) LITERAL “erase any consequences” button as a plot device in every episode. If you watch it for one thing let it be the nostalgia factor of early 00s Vidya Game Plot

The Legend of Hei

Movie, 2019, Chinese

7/10. Impressive visuals and a poor story

I finally watched this, peer pressured by the load of gifsets on my dashboard! It’s a sweet movie with really impressive animation, sometimes a bit too flashy for my taste (the action sequences go so ham they become not very readable...) but the story was just ok? The setting is barely explained and you are instead bombarded with vague epicspeech about powers and stuff that made me fondly remember Kingdom Hearts lol but that asides it’s a really good time! I need to watch more Chinese movies the few I know are just delightfully off the shits in how they approach action and I love that

Hunter x Hunter

Series, 1999, Japanese

9/10. Superior to the recent one!

I first got introduced to the series via the 2011 one. Comparatively, the 99 series focuses way less on action and way more on the characters, which I love because that fits my personal preferences! Despite mediocre filler episodes and some weird slight pointless plot changes, what it changes from the original manga doesn’t have much of an impact on the characters. The animation quality isn’t always consistent including a huge art style change for an arc (???) but it’s overall pretty nice. The series really shines in the last arc it adapts.

Oban Star-racers

Series, 2006, Japanese/french

9/10 a lovely surprise

This series is completly obscure despite having been created by people famous for their other series (Cowboy Bebop, Code Lyoko that i can name) and it’s a crime! It’s a kids show but without being stupid about it who tells the story of an inter-planetary race. If you liked that one scene in the star wars prequels you know what I mean. It’s got surprisingly nice animation for a TV series, and some truly great character design. The art style is a bit unique in a not for everyone sense, but I didn’t mind it much. It’s also THE most offensively 2000s series i’ve seen in terms of visuals. y2k kids assemble

The Little Prince and the Eight-Headed Dragon

Movie, 1963, japanese

8/10. Classic fairytale format with incredible visuals

Watched this for the art style because I know it inspired Samurai Jack, and it delievered! I dont’ have much to say about this one, it’s a very simply film but it’s sweet. For my pirates out there if you want to find it in good quality with english subtitles it’s VERY hard to find. If you just want to see the looks of it, it’s on Youtube with portugese subs.

We now enter the Gobelins Shorts Zone....!

My Friend Who Glows In The Dark

10/10 makes me cry each time

Pure delight...great animation writing everything. A little short about death and friendship but not in the way you imagine!

Colza

9/10

Visual treat...homely and nice :) not far from a 10 but a 9 because nothing about it is that groundbreaking

Sundown

9/10

If you’ve ever been ten minutes from failing a group project because of a single dude you will REALLY enjoy this. Loved the colors and personality

T’as vendu mes rollers?

10/10

It’s SUCH a sweet little short I loved that one so much

Dix-huit kilomètres trois

10/10

Surprisingly well written dialog. Visuals are great but the humanity of the characters carries this to another level

Un diable dans la poche

9/10

Amazing visuals and the most tense/creepy of Gobelin shorts i’ve ever seen. Chilling

La bestia

8/10

I had some issues with the pacing. Interesting story and visuals choices but I was not fond of the art style

Goodbye Robin

5/10

Confusing but predictable. Both at once??? Yes!

Le retour des vagues

6/10

Cool animation stuff but felt pretty pointless

***

Part Two: Things I rewatched

Ruben Brandt: Collector

Movie, 2018, Hungarian

10/10. Underrated as hell

Watched this fully blind for the first time in an animated festival and rewatched it with friends. It’s a crime I never see anyone talking about it given the amount of whining I see about the lack of both adult animation and 2D movies? This film is a unique love letter to art in the form of a weird mix of charming crime story and psychological horror with amazing visuals. I recommend watching it blind and also buying it to show appreciation for how nice it is!!! WATCH THIS MOVIE...

Mononoke

Series, 2007, Japanese

10/10 Visual/storytelling masterpiece in the weird shit departement

If you can stomach intense stuff watch this. The visuals are incredibly unique and beautiful and under the jewel tones and art direction high takes it’s a really cool horror series. My only obstacle to enjoying it the first time I saw it was how dense it is - simply put, it’s so...culturally Japanese it’s not very accessible to me who doesn’t know anything about the culture? Watching it for the second time helped understanding the stories more!

Corto Maltese in Siberia

Movie, 2002, french

9/10 but really close to ten. A great adaptation!

I’m a huge fan of the original comic so I entered this a biiiittttt suspicious it would suck but it was a really pleasant surprise! It has all the wonder and charm of the original and the animation was surprisingly good for the little budget. If you’re not familiar with the series, it’s a sort of geopolitical action/adventure movie but with it’s own really poetic vibe to it. It’s almost impossible to find online but happens to be fully on YouTube so go ham I guess?

Redline

Movie, 2009, Japanese

10/10 cinema was invented for this, actually

Every review of this movie i’ve seen gives it five stars and starts by talking about how immensly stupid it is. I’m no different. It’s a masterpiece of escalating energy with the depth of a puddle and it fucking rules. It’s free on YouTube too so there really is no excuse to not watch it. Watched it for the first time on a huge cinema screen and despite this my second rewatch on my small laptop was as/even more enjoyable. If you watch this stoned with friends you might travel to another dimension

Spirited Away

Movie, 2001, Japan

10/10 deserves the love it gets

I watched this a single time as a kid and had little memory of it! I mean it’s Ghibli you know it’s going to be good as hell but this one rly shines in how colorful and detailed it is and in it’s world! It made me remember I had a huge crush on the dragonboy as a kid. I’m gay now

Kung-fu Panda (1&2)

Movie, Usa

10/10. KFP fucking rules

Honestly my favorite franchise of the whole disney/dreamworks/pixar hydra. It’s fun as hell, doesn’t skip a single beat and has amazing animation and character designs. If something is a good time I will not care if it’s deep or not and boy I fucking love these movies

Sinbad, Legend of the Seven Seas

Movie, 2003, Usa

5/10 Some great some really bad and overall generic

I tend to hate american cinema and this includes that era of animation I have no nostalgia for. Sinbad is in a weird place because I love adventure stories and the visuals of the movie absolutely deliver but it’s very predictable and TANKED by the addition of the female character, pushed in your face as “look we have woman!!!” despite her writing being misogynistic as hell lol. The evil goddess rules tho. This movie would have been a solid 9 if instead of the girl the two dudes had kissed

#j #animation #if you want links to these ill provide but not for the indie ones that arent free #i have no remorse p*rating disney or a movie thats over 50 but if its recent and underrated just legally get it!!!

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ayankun · 3 years

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WandaVision episode 6

FIRST OFF

Whenever I go back to pause things for clues, and find exactly what I’m looking for, I don’t feel justified, I feel that much more insane:

It’s really hard to make out, but I had an alright look at it on my folks’ QLED, and it’s definitely a flying saucer doing an alien abduction on what looks to be a person inside an old CRT TV (with some kind of robot head/boombox on top???) There are secret aliens in this show, you guys, the facts don’t lie.

HmmmMMMM I wonder if Agnes is as innocent as she looks:

Also, I didn’t see that she was wearing the brooch in this ep, and I was majorly disappointed in that.

Two things here:

No, that’s not a twins joke.

Another Moonmen Confirmed

I know green is his color or whatever, but that hat is literally 10 years ahead of its time

Also, I took the playing-DDR-at-home scenario at face value, and only on the first rewatch did I realize it was a very pointed turn-of-the-century reference. I am an Old.

There’s a good, subtle Rule of Threes in this ep. The Setup:

The Sokovian Halloween flashback works on so many levels. It’s so funny:

The fact that they went trick-or-treating at all

The “speaking Sokovian”

The treat being a fish

They have to share the fish

The concept that this event gave them an infectious disease

“You probably suppressed a lot of the trauma” -- it’s a good sitcom joke but. the trauma is the joke. The joke IS THE TRAUMA!!!

Elizabeth Olson is a dream with all her wonderful faces she has this ep.

Vision’s unsettling passive-aggression-sitcom-cooperation whiplash is WOW, consider me unsettled!!!!!! “Be. Good.” UGH.

(Just noticed one here, but there are a number of continuity errors in this episode, enough to be distracting later on, and is this a deliberate choice? Please let it be deliberate. I didn’t watch a whole lot of Malcolm in the Middle, is it known for its continuity errors?

)

“It’s their first Halloween.” LOLOLOL they are TEN YEARS OLD and this is their FIRST halloween I LOVE IT

DOUBLE RED HERRING CONFIRRRRRRRRMED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Agent Jimmy Woo accidentally identifying himself as the sassy best friend added 20 years to my life.

Found. FOUND. Not “created,” “manifested,” “willed into being using my insane witch powers.” Third Party Confirmed.

I like that it’s the 90s and we can swear on TV now. “Hell” “kick-ass” “damn it” “fu---dge”

I think the most biting part of Vision finding the whacked out folks is that the soundtrack just kind of ... ignores that anything’s wrong. Yeah, it’s kinda-spooky Halloween music, but it’s still 100% in-world kinda-spooky-sitcom-Halloween-episode music.

OKAY LET’S TALK ABOUT THE AD:

As a 90s child, let me tell you, this is a blisteringly accurate representation of children’s marketing from the period. The shark is wearing sunglasses AND he has a surfboard!!! And he’s selling you yogurt of all things!!!!! This is the supreme distillation of what being a child in the 90s was like.

How disappointed I am that they went with crab instead of lobster.

Heard it through the grapevine that this is a representative of Wanda’s imprisonment on the Raft. That happened in Civil War, right? So the next ad is The Snap? We’re running out of iconic decades, too. so, hold on, new thought.

90s: Civil War

00s: Infinity War

10s?????: Endgame???? or?????????

??: Whatever happened between Endgame and WandaVision, given that the ads are stepping forward through Wanda’s IRL life events!!

I don’t want to know how many episodes are planned/announced, but I don’t know what to expect from the format after they run out of decades from which to draw. Maybe there are only one or possibly two “sitcom” episodes left. Maybe after that it just breaks down and they can pick and choose from the worlds/styles we’ve already established. That’d be p neat. A very unique kind of chaos.

god she’s so cute

Okay, somebody explain to me Pietro. I honestly walked away from last week thinking he was just some townsperson chump, but then I was reminded that this is the Quicksilver actor from all those X-Mans movies I never watched, soooo people are saying Multiverse Confirmed? But, if this is X-Mans’ Pietro, then why did he die the same as MCU Pietro? Or is he literally MCU!Pietro’s corpse, given that he looked all dead same as when she saw Vision’s corpse? If MCU!Pietro, then why different face???

????????????????

Also I found him highly suspicious, what with all the questions he was asking. But the only sort of person who would truly want to know the answers to those questions would be someone who already had them ... so I think he was just asking on behalf of the audience, and the delivery was all wonked out.

Rule of Threes - The Reference:

Ok, real talk, whenever computers/networks/data/encryption/servers/mainframes et al come up in mainstream media, I just look away. I don’t need the kind of psychic damage that comes with such egregious mishandling of the topic.

That being said, does Hayward having eyes through the barrier mean that he could possibly be involved in getting it set up? Because look. If Hayward-after-Hayward’s-Villianous-Ends is one antagonizing force, then is there really room for the Third Party (Confirmed) antagonizing force that’s lurking in the negative space silhouette of the Inciting Incident? With Wanda as the Red Herring antagonizing force, that’s just. There’s just too many villains, alright? We gotta start merging these plotlines.

(then again, when I just said “eyes” I realize probably understanding the true nature of his new secret “CATARACT” project will clear a lot of things up. I’ll wait for enlightenment)

Agnes’ license plate in this episode is 0A1-B2C, which I think is a reference to the way reality is getting pared down to bare bones at the edge of town. Note that this is not the same license plate number as seen last ep.

ALSO, I drove home behind a NJ plate just an hour ago, and was staring at it for a long time, trying to fit it into the puzzle before A) realizing that this was Real Life and not part of the show and B) WTF is a NJ plate doing in front of me in California. In any case, I can confirm that NJ plates do not appear to have this number-letter repeating format.

So let’s talk Agnes.

Demonstrated knowledge of the situation in ways others haven’t (”There’s the star of the show” “kids, you can’t control ‘em”)

Shows up when needed most (explained as being Wanda’s doing, but is it)

When Wanda was having her babies, though, who was trustworthy enough to be summoned? Was it Agnes?

Wanted to babysit REAL BAD

Was in the opening credits framed possessively with the twins

Doesn’t appear to have an IRL identity according to Jimmy’s crime board

Keeps talking about her husband but we’ve never seen him. Highly unlikely that he’s real

Was the one to find Sparky “dead” - internet thinks she was lying to Wanda about how or possibly if he was dead (I’m trying not to read the theories, so idk exactly what the angle is there)

In an episode where everyone is wearing their original comic outfits, Agnes is dressed as (and laughs like!) a witch

She name-drops Wanda as the one controlling everyone; Norm (or the guy playing Norm) only said “she” and “her” -- meaning Agnes?

Naughty

So we’re 99% sure Agnes is Agatha Harkness, right? I never read no comics, so I’m taking the internet’s word for it, but from what I can tell, I think we must be right. If that’s the case, then I’m thinking it’s not impossible for her to be pulling some strings around here (giving Wanda a justification for her “that wasn’t me” doorbell ring, for example, and pulling a double red herring on the fact that she shows up whenever the narrative Wanda her nefarious scheme calls for it).

To devil’s advocate myself, though, we also have Monica’s word that it was Wanda in her mind, lessening the impact of Agnes falsely confirming what Norm only implied. Also she’d have to be acting for Vision’s sake (and ours) and, if so, then what did Vision’s brain-touch really do, and how did she know he’d find her there, and what did she intend as the result of that interaction etc etc.

If Wanda’s (or Wanda + Third Party Confirmed (Agnes??)’s) powers aren’t enough to sustain the simulation of life on the edges of town, how much worse is it going to be now that there is even more area to try to control???

I don’t know if this is strictly an intended read, but the idea of Halloween as a fun, scares-for-entertainment’s sake type holiday, the rounding off the edges of concepts like “skeletons and ghosts are what people are after they die, let’s decorate the town with them and have a good time” kind of is a haunting parallel to the nature of Wanda (et al) covering up the horrible truth of the situation with this happy-go-lucky sitcom glamour.

How much does one hate seeing Vision giving his life for the greater good (the greater good) for the second time? In other news, I think I’m seeing some specifically Mind Stone type energy-colors coming off of him, and very little Wanda type energy-colors. Third Party Confirmed.

Also, I was thinking from last week that perhaps Hayward’s Villainous Ends included capturing the reanimated Vision to be one of those Sentient Weapons his organization is all about, but I Do Not Think his reaction to seeing that sought-after prize disintegrate in front of his eyes really matches up with that theory. Again, will be patiently waiting for Jimmy to check his email to see what CATARACT is all about!

Rule of Threes - The Payoff:

Also, anyone ID the movie playing in the background?

Ok, final thought. I watched this about four times today, and on the big-ass TV at my parents’ house finally paused and got up close to see what that white shape is in the reflection. Thought it might be a skull, but, it’s worse.

These caps do not contain enough data to verify my claim, but I PROMISE YOU it’s a TV

A square old thing with a round screen and antenna on top.

I SWEAR to you, when I looked into the TV, into Wanda’s eyes, only to see the reflection of a TV, of her looking at me looking at her I had a visceral fear reaction. Like. LEGIT nauseous skin crawl.

(All the other episodes have ended with our POV as the fourth wall, from the general (or exact!!!) position their household TV is known to be.)

This is my favorite show Of All Time.

#WandaVision #1x06 #All-New Halloween Spooktacular!

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fizzingwizard · 4 years

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Yay it’s my favorite time of the week! Digimon Adventure:! Can’t believe we’re already at episode 16! This week somewhat recapped the mission we’ve been on for... 14 episdoes now x’D and I realized I forgot all kinds of shit. It’s so funny, when I was ten and watching Digimon Adventure I could remember everything, but now that I’m sadly an adult I can’t keep track of these high paced children’s shows!

(Supposedly they spoon feed kids stories so they can understand it more easily... but I gotta say I think I’m the one that needs the help, bahahaha)

ALSO... apparently there was an earthquake this morning! It was too north of me so I didn’t feel it (I was... also sleeping >-> so...) But it was right when the show started airing so the info came scrolling across the screen. At first it said

“Just in case, be careful of tsunami”

and like just three min or so later

“There is no need to worry about a tsunami due to this earthquake”

Phew! Also, Digimon causes earthquakes! Hide yo wife hide yo kids! Is that meme still current?? Does it matter???? I’m a millennial, boomers hate me, gen Z hates me, at least let me have my memes! XD

OK enough goofing off, on to what really matters, freaking Digimon man! This episode gave me tons of Taichi spam. Mmm my favorite kind of spam! But it also gave me avocado cheeseburger spam too!

So although I completely forgot about it, I was pretty excited for this ep when they allegedly return to the real world! Last week’s preview made it pretty obvious it was going to be either a fake reality or the evil Digimon had taken over the real world much more deeply than we realized. Fake reality made the most sense. But they tried to trip us up anyway! The opening shots are clear references to the famous episode 21 of 99 Adventure, although given that was the best animated episode of the entire show, this one just doesn’t do it justice.

He’s not sweating, the sun isn’t as intense... it just makes Fizz nostalgic

Finding them suddenly home, the kids are all pretty bewildered at first. Predictably, Mimi is the first to recover. What motivates her?

AVOCADO CHEESEBURGER! AVOCADO CHEESEBURGER!

From Burger Jack’s bahahahaha

Mimi starts excitedly listing all the things she wants to do now that they’re home. Aside from eat delicious burgers, she wants to take a shower, change clothes...

I’m like “Oh, so these kids HAVE been feeling the effects of how much traveling they’ve been doing!”

Seriously though why didn’t anyone comment on it before now?? In 99 Adventure most of the kids couldn’t shut up about the lack of basic necessities and creature comforts. It was really easy to feel how much they were struggling! Everyone in this series is so darn serious all the time. Sora even brought that big bag of emergency supplies but we only rarely see it get used.

Taichi and Koushirou are a little more wary, though they come across as mainly confused.

Mimi wants to go eat burgers right off, but Taichi convinces her they should go home first. “Oh yeah, I have parents” - Mimi, probably.

They get on a train. The Digimon are very cute. They finally notice that no one’s paying attention to them. It took 0.3 seconds for Tokyoites in ep 21 of 99 Adventure to start freaking out over Koromon, so this was a big clue if you somehow missed that there’s something not right.

On the other hand, for a world that is presumably an illusion created by some Digimon, it sure is, er...

... accurate in surprising ways, bahahaha

(no seriously did we NEED bikini girls?? did we NEED them? I know it’s everywhere on every train for all kinds of proucts but did we NEED them here)

(the TEEN 17 in particular is killing me)

Some gratuitous Taichi spam

Mimi lives in the affluent Shibuya area now so the kids split up to continue on home. I love Taichi called her ‘ojousama.’

Taichi wonders if Yamato and the others got home okay too. Koushirou wonders if whatever was causing the blackout has really been defeated. (Mimi’s theory is “Sora-san and the others must have done something about it!” Which I just liked because by naming her she identifies Sora as the one she feels closest to awww)

They won’t say it, but the truth is these two are kinda disappointed... lol

However they won’t be disappointed for long... because this midnight train really isn’t going anywhere. *wink* see what i did there

Mimi’s walk home has also turned into a labyrinth. Which is totally normal for Toyko subways really. Mimi gets so tired from walking that she starts hallucinating that Palmon’s head is in fact an avocado.

Girl you got a problem but no judging. I got the same problem.

AVOCADO BURGER!! Think of it in your heart and it will appear!

Now that’s not creepy at all.

Several episodes ago we learned that Mimi has never seen The Mummy. Apparently she’s never seen any horror movies at all, because she still approaches the counter to order her freaking burger even after seeing the cashier’s shadowy clearly evil visage.

YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR LITTLE GIRL

On finally realizing that this train can’t go anywhere but Shibuya, Taichi and Koushirou get off and reunite with Mimi, who has learned nothing and continues talking to people. The only possible result of this is...

... creepy eyes appearing and trying to EAT her

Mimi: “Taichi-san!!”

she could ask her partner for protection but Taichi’s around and he’s everyone’s big brother so

The cause of all this mischief turns out to be this creepy dude! He’s kind of cute!

Also rather larger and more solid than I anticipated!

Of course this nightmare won’t end so easily.

You know you’re in for it when the walls are covered in glowing red eyes. That uh, shoot laser beams at you.

Cyclops: Not lasers! Concussive optic rays!

It turns out there wasn’t just one creepy dude, there were many. I’ve found my Halloween costume!

Our heroes finally figure out that this world is not their real world when they come across these tetris people.

For someone who’s never watched a single scary movie, Mimi does an impressive white-girl-in-a-horror-flick face.

I know she’s not white I’m saying she’s good at impressions she should become a comedienne

Now that we know the blackout in Japan is still ongoing and causing all sorts of issues, we get our usual peek into what’s going on for the people of Tokyo. We get to see Hikari! She’s cool as a cucumber. Her mom’s freaking out and packing a suitcase. Her mom says “Hikari go get ready!” Hikari just says “Oh I’m ready anytime!”

Hikari: I’m not worried about anything, big brother’s taking care of it!

Awww we get to see Miko! And that looks like a cat carrier <3 Mom’s not leaving their furry friend behind in the dark while they evacuate to grandpa’s place in Ibaraki...

... She is apparently cool with leaving behind her only son though! X’D

The letter reads “Taichi, we’re going to Grandpa’s place in Ibaraki. Call me when you get home.” The arrow says “Address.”

Ibaraki is a bit over an hour from Tokyo (I used to live there!) so not too far and very easy to get to by train. Still... there’s a huge power outage, I can only assume Mom’s reason here really is evacuation and not just “seems like a great time to go on a visit!” but she doesn’t know where one of her kids is and she’s just like “eh no worries he’ll figure out his way home!” Does she KNOW her son is 11? Japanese kids use trains very independently but again, POWER OUTAGE. ONE HOUR+ AWAY.

I’m remembering episode 1 when Taichi was acting like such a Dad and his mom was totally on board. Apparently that is going to be a Thing in their family. Taichi is the kid in Home Alone. Scratch that, he’s like the pets in Homeward Bound X’D

Mimi is understandably disappointed that she doesn’t get to shower... I mean see her parents... I mean, eat a freaking avocado cheeseburger

But Palmon knows how to make her feel better. “We’ll come back here someday and eat avocado cheeseburgers together.”

Mimi: “Heck YEAH I’m psyched!! AVOCADO CHEESEBURGER!”

this show understands the only true way to a woman’s heart is through food.

Our heroes are surrounded by Homunculus from FMA.

They merge together forming the aptly named EYESMON!!! lmao

Look at freaking long Greymon’s cyborg arm is. Whut.

AtlurKabuterimon gets hit by a train buhaahaha. Somehow this was way funnier to me than Lilymon getting hit by a plane or buildings falling on MetalGreymon.

The kids are outnumbered when look who appears!

The three of them sitting on Zudomon is the cutest thing ever also I JUST NOTICED ZUDOMON’S DOLPHIN PATCH WHAT THE HECK HAS THAT ALWAYS BEEN THERE!??!?!?!!?

So this was the reunion ep after all! I’m a little disappointed just because I wanted something more dramatic.

What Fizz, illusion magic and homunculi plus exploding Shibuya isn’t dramatic enough for you?

I mean EMOTIONALLY dramatic. Like, someone should hug.

Oh well. This is the face Taichi makes when he sees Yamato. D’aww. I guess i’ll be satisfied with this.

Yamato gets them started on a plan and they all fight as a group!! But Koushirou’s realized that this Digimon, whatever it is, is what’s causing the blackout. They can’t properly defeat it...

... and it’s already the night of the third day. Soon their 72 hour window will be up. Then Ariel will turn back into a Mermaid and the Sea Witch wins :’<

We end with an ominous digivolution! Next week....

Orochimon!!! I love multi headed monsters.

More Taiyama action!!! Lookin a bit beat up but still cool!

OK so in sum this episode was pretty fun. I still feel like the writers for this season just don’t dig in deep enough to really make things come alive. They’re so concerned with battles that they miss moments for fun character interactions etc. And in the end, the whole of this episode can be recapped simply as “They discover the world they’re in is an illusion and they fight the bad guy.” However, we got a lot of fun with Mimi in particular, and though we didn’t get the kind of Taishiro teamwork my heart yearns for, at least we saw them sticking together and hashing things out.

I really do hope this show dials up the character relationships a bit soon though. We keep getting tidbits so it’s not like they don’t have things planned. It’s just a matter of execution. Anyway I’m happy to have the whole group (well as many as we’ve got so far) together again!

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

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sableu3 · 4 years

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Another fix-it drabble

Because I can’t stop writing these apparently. This one is 1.2k

Sorry, not sorry.

There are no overt spoilers in this, by the way. Tiny, tiny hints of spoilers for S7 finale but that’s it.

Second Chances

Sometimes she gets flashes, almost like premonitions, of what could have happened. She dreams of the ground even though she’s never been but these aren’t the kind of dreams she had as a kid, they aren’t how she has always imagined the ground. These are nightmares. They are filled with people who had survived on the ground for all these years. People who speak a different language that she seems to understand, that hunt and kill the people she’s with. They drain them of blood and shoot them with arrows and set off bombs and a wave of fire engulfs them all. She wakes up in a cold sweat and thinks of oxymorons. She goes back to sleep and dreams of a boy with dark curls and freckles. She dreams of hating him, respecting him, leading with him, trusting him, loving him. She dreams of missing him for years and getting him back. She dreams of war and a new world and judgment day. She dreams of second chances.

She doesn’t know what it all means until shes dragged from her cell and told they are being sent to the ground. It knocks the breath from her lungs and she barely notices the needle being shoved into her as her mothers face fades from her vision.

When she wakes up again she’s on the drop ship and it’s a scene straight from her nightmares. She honestly thinks she’s still asleep at first but everything is so much louder, the colors brighter. She can smell the sweat and fear on the bodies around her as Wells tries to talk to her. Jaha’s face appears on the screen and the speech flashes through her mind as he begins to speak. It’s the same.

She’s in a daze, numbed by the shock that this is all real, by the time they land. She doesn’t push to the front, she doesn’t call out a warning that the air could be toxic. When the kids rush out into the open air she doesn’t worry that they are on the wrong mountain, she knows they are, but she also knows that’s a good thing. What she does is find Bellamy. He’s smiling, watching his sister when she grabs hold of his jacket. He looks down at her with no recognition on his face and his eyebrow cocked up.

“I need to talk to you.”

He looks her over and sneers, “Yea? What about, Princess?”

There is contempt in his voice but she knew there would be. He doesn’t know her yet. It doesn’t change the fact that she needs him to believe her.

“Please.”

There must be enough fear and desperation in her face because he softens slightly and lets out a sigh.

“Fine. Lead the way.”

“There’s a river this way, we can talk there.”

He frowns for a moment before he scoffs, “How could you possibly-”

She cuts him off with a sharp tug and he grunts as he is pulled forward unexpectedly. As the sounds of the rambunctious kids fade he can hear the sound of trickling water. He looks at her sharply. There hasn’t been enough time for her to wander off to find this river and come back to grab him. He knows this but there is still doubt in his eyes.

She takes a deep breath and says, “Bellamy, I need you to listen and believe me because I’m scared and I can’t do this without you.”

He frowns in confusion and she lays it all out for him. She tells him of her dreams and what happened in them, how she thought they were just nightmares until they started coming true. She tells him everything she knows about the ground and the people who live here. She tells him there are bunkers she can lead him to, to prove it. She doesn’t have time to go into a lot of detail right now though because eventually they need to go back and make sure the kids are safe.

He’s still frowning as he asks her, “Why me? Out of all the kids here, you could have told Wells or any of the others. Why tell me?”

She looks up at him and bites her bottom lip, debating a moment, “Because in my dreams we lead together. Things always went better when we were together. I’m the head, but you’re the heart. I know right now you don’t want the ark to come down because your scared of what will happen to you.” He scoffs, all bravado, but she continues talking over him, “Bellamy, you didn’t kill Jaha. He survived, and I can make sure you get pardoned. The ark is dying, they are running out of oxygen. My father wanted to tell people, that’s why he was floated. That’s why they sent us down here, to see if Earth is survivable.”

His eyes widen as if her knowledge of his actions was the final piece needed for him to fully believe her. He swallows hard and looks away and she gives him a moment. “You’re sure? He’s alive?”

“I’m sure. If things keep following like they did in my dreams, my mom manages to save him. You aren’t a monster Bellamy. You never have been and you never will be. Your mom would be so proud of you for everything you accomplish.” She reassures him.

“How?” He asks suddenly, “How did you dream all of this? How do you know all of this? You act like you know me but-” He cuts himself off, running a hand through his hair in frustration.

She frowns and looks away, “I don’t know. And I don’t know you, it’s more like I know of you. It’s weird. I’ve seen it all play out, I know we become partners, best friends. I know how much we end up loving each other because I saw it but I- I didn’t feel it. I wasn’t part of it. It was like watching a movie, you feel for the characters but you aren’t them.”

When she looks back to see if he understands he’s staring at her with wide eyes. “We loved each other?” He asks in shock.

Her mouth drops open a bit and she blushes, “I…Sorry, I shouldn’t have- I only meant-” She stutters. She hadn’t been watching her words while trying to explain and now she tries to backtrack. “Look, it doesn’t matter. That might not even turn out the same since I’m trying to change things.” She waves her hand as if brushing it off and doesn’t notice his face darken, “I don’t expect- I mean I know you might not end up feeling that way this time. Let’s just see how it goes, okay? I mean, you were a bit of a playboy in the beginning of my dreams anyway and I-”

His laugh cuts her off and she glances at him to see him smirking at her. “I think your going to have to explain these dreams in more detail, Princess. It seems you left some things out.”

She blushes and huffs out a laugh, “Yea. Look, we need to get back and start setting up camp. There is so much to do but I’ll explain more later, okay?”

He looks easy and relaxed but she can still see the tightness of responsibility in his shoulders. “Sure. I’ve already been looking out for one teenager for sixteen years, what’s 99 more?”

“At least you won’t be alone this time. We’ll look out for them together.”

The contemplative look he gives her, the softness in his eyes and smile tugging at his lips makes her think things will go much better than in her dreams.

“Together.”

#the100 #fanfiction #drabble #bellarke #fix-it #mine

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jbbuckybarnes · 4 years

Text

Stranded in Manhattan

Description: You are stranded inside of the building your publishing agency is housed in. A snowstorm hit New York without warnings and you can’t leave for a few hours. What sounds like a boring afternoon ends up being quite the ride. Prompt: Stranded somewhere due to inclement weather (Seb x Reader) Length: 2,6k+ Warnings: Reader is written as someone with a skin tone that makes blushing visible. Just shoot me an ask if you want me to write something specific with a WoC reader. Always open for that.

M A S T E R L I S T

You had just finished your meeting for the next magazine. Writing articles for a lifestyle magazine was your favorite part of being a freelance writer. Well, not completely freelance. You were kind of part of the main team but not with a permanent contract. A look outside of the window had you roll your eyes and grumble. “You shouldn’t go outside for the next 2-3 hours. There is a warning out.” a female colleague outside of the meeting room looked at you. “Great. I’m just gonna draft my article in the foyer then,” you muttered before saying goodbye with a few kind words.

In the lobby of the building, there already were a lot of people waiting for the storm to calm down. There was only one couch left that wasn’t already occupied by at least one person and you let yourself fall onto the soft furniture with a small sigh. Laptop opened, the document opened and there you went writing the magazine article for next week already. At least you had WiFi in here and could research for your draft. Every ten minutes one or two new people came down in the elevator and sat down beside someone else. After an hour there were only 5 seats left in the entire lobby and you would probably be one of the next ones.

“Excuse me? Could I sit here?” you heard an oddly familiar voice and looked up. “Sure.” you smiled and pushed your bag to the side. There was a long moment of silence and you staring at your screen before you finally said something. “What were you here for?” you asked with a little smile and got one back. “My acting agency is here. Meeting.” he shrugged, “You?” “Publisher meeting with the magazine I write for,” you answered. “Sebastian.” he held out his hand. “I know. Y/N.” you smiled back at him. Contrary to your belief he didn’t change much after you told him you knew him. “Which magazine do you write for?” he asked curiously. “Flow magazine. Lifestyle, personal development, mindfulness. That kinda thing.” you blushed a little. It always made you nervous to talk about your job with people that weren’t writers. His natural cuteness didn’t help. “That’s cool. And what are you currently writing about?” he looked at your hands on the laptop that was half-closed. “Mindful Dating. It’s pretty weird to research and hard to not make it sound hippie.” you opened the laptop again to show that you had written half a page for your 2-3 page spread on the topic. “I assume it starts with mindfully picking the right person to ask out.” he chuckled and picked his water bottle from his backpack. “Actually starts with finding out what you even want and where to find it but that’s definitely a part of it.” you smiled a bit awkwardly. “This sounds so cool compared to my few pages of script that I currently have to get into.” he sent a shy smile back. “Does it become less fun to get into a character when you do it longer and professionally?” you ask to steer the conversation away from you. “Sometimes. Especially when I don’t have a lot of backstory for my character to get into.” he shrugged his shoulders. “I always loved doing plays in high school.” you looked away in thought about your high school years. “What did you have?” his head dipped to the side a little in curiosity. “Romeo & Juliette, Beauty & the Beast, some play local college students wrote and the last one was...Cinderella.” you counted them. “Any big roles?” he smiled with shimmering eyes. “I had the main role in the college student one.” you giggled. It was a really dumb play and your memories of it are really chaotic. “God, I’d love to see videos of that. You definitely seem like you could pull off a lot of different characters. I mean, the appearance.” he got a bit unsure at the end if he worded it right. You couldn’t help but giggle a little, “Yeah, could pull that black wig off better nowadays tho.” “Um, what plans did that blizzard ruin for you? Never asked,” he said with a one-sided smile while scratching his neck. “Not much. Wanted to go write in the library or meet a friend but that clearly won’t happen,” you shook your head looking outside of the window before your head went back to him, “You?” He played with the strings on his hoodie, “Technically the rest of my day was finally a free day. So only ruined my Netflix marathon.” He saw you smile when he looked up from the strings again, “Well, I have WiFi and this building probably has a more chill area. We technically COULD watch Netflix.” Another unsure smirk from him with an almost apologizing smile coming back from you made the short silence weirder than it needed to be. “Sure.” he shrugged. If somebody would’ve told you, that you would be in an empty meeting room with one of your Top 20 favorite actors, watching Netflix because you were snowed in, you would’ve flipped them off. You were both sitting on the table beside each other and had spread out the food and water you had with you. Weird circumstances called for weirder actions in response. The Netflix logo popped up, then your name with a Jessica Jones icon staring at you and after that the list of movies on your big list. “What do you wanna watch?” you looked up at him and he was already looking at you. “You can choose whatever you want. It’s your account.” he held his hands up. “Brooklyn 99 it is.” you nodded and clicked on the next episode you needed to watch. You were a few episodes in when you just needed to let go of the thought, that you had held prisoner in your head for two episodes. “You're the perfect mixture between Jake & Boyle,” you mumbled. “Definitely more Jake,” he mumbled back, his eyes darting to look at the smile that had formed on your lips. You didn’t notice. And then Jake came in with his legendary guitar scene full of screaming. “Jep, definitely more Jake.” you laughed. He lightly nudged you with a small laugh. You weren’t wrong. Another 2 episodes went by and you checked your phone for the time. It’s been 2 hours now. Maybe you could go soon. “Another one?” he asked with a big smile on his face. “Of course.” you put your phone away and jumped over the outro to the next episode.

“It’s been over two hours. Let me check the warnings in Manhattan.” you took your phone after another two episodes and stopped the show with the other hand. Your weather app was showing an orange warning instead of a red one. “Well, orange should be enough to get home, right?” you looked up at him. “Depends where you live.” he smiled one of those half smirk, half innocent smiles. “Queens,” you muttered. “That’s quite a long ride in that weather.” his right brow went up. “I definitely don’t wanna stay in this uncomfortable and way too air-conditioned building,” you said neutrally. “I live 4 blocks away and there is a café on the ground floor we could stay in.” now the smirk turned into a real smirk. “Are you flirting with me?” you raised your eyebrow. “Been trying for almost three hours. Thanks for noticing.” he laughed lightly and saw you get a little flustered. “Umm.” with a shy expression on your face you put the laptop into your bag. “Don’t leave me hanging here after I asked you for a date.” he pouted playfully. You opened your mouth at the mention of a date but closed it again after no sentence your brain formed came out. “Sure,” you said with the biggest blush on your face after a few seconds. With a smile on his face and you biting your lip you both stood up and slowly left the building through the lobby that was much emptier now. An arm found its way around you, making you flinch a little. “Did you always live in New York?” his voice was harder to hear with the big jacket on. “No, moved here from Y/C.” you answered and got a soft smile in response while you held the hood of your jacket to stay on in the wind. “God, I hate this weather.” you stomped in the snow on the sidewalk like a child having a tantrum. “You kinda look like you enjoy it though.” he laughed at your attempt at kicking the snow. “I love winter. I hate that it gets so ugly and depressing so fast. I’m just here for the snow.” you pointed your tongue at him. If he had voiced his feelings at that moment, he would’ve probably told you that he wanted to pick you up and carry you the rest of the way for you to stop complaining about the wind. “Do that again and you have that snow flying at you,” he said trying to pinch you. “Don’t you DARE!” you played into it. “Watch me do it.” he smiled picking up snow and you started running. “He’s fast, strong, had snowballs.” you quoted laughing and a snowball hit your back. “The Winter Soldier is coming for you.” he made himself bigger but had a snowball landing on his chest after a few seconds. You looked at him innocently and he blinked before running for you and catching you with a growl that made you squeak. “Help!” you said giggling at this absolute dork moment you just had. “Target acquired. Bringing it to drop off location,” he said near your ear and started giggling like an idiot with you. The bell of the café door had the waiter in the almost empty room look up at the both of you. “Hello, Sebastian.” the man smiled at the tall brunette beside you. “Hey, can you make us two hot chocolates and two pieces of the chocolate cake, please?” came back at the waiter. Having someone help you out with getting out of a jacket felt weird. You weren’t used to gestures like that anymore and mumbled a small “Thank you.” You sat down on one of the tables and he leaned forward with a, “I won.” “There never was a competition, Stan,” you said putting down your bag.

“Didn’t mean the snowball fight.” he winked and watched you blush. Before you could say anything mugs and plates were set down in front of you. “Tell me about yourself.” he gave you an encouraging smile and you started talking. About your creative roots, what else you wanted to become when you were younger and how you felt about the things you did now. Some sentences had a vague political orientation in it and your stances on social issues. “Sorry, I’m talking a lot.” you noticed yourself rambling and looked down at the half-eaten cake. “No, I like listening to you.” he picked up the mug. “I’d like to know more about you too.” you smiled with some confidence from what he just said. He started talking about what he was currently doing, his mother, a bit about his roots and what his future plans were. He was good at this whole talking on a date thing. “You like astronomy?” he asked out of the blue with his fork pointing at you. “Yeah.” you grinned. “What’s the coolest thing about it?” he asked. “Nebulas. And I recently learned about hot Jupiters. Super interesting.” you mentioned the article you recently found while researching for a personal project. “A woman of class, I see.” he chuckled before taking his last bite of the chocolate cake. “No, a woman of space,” you smirked and got warm laughter back. You checked the phone again. The warning was on red again and a look outside of the window checked out with it. He noticed your look outside, “You can stay at my apartment. If you...want.” he said a bit unsure himself. “Uuuh.” you didn’t really know how to answer this. “Not in a weird way.” he distanced himself a bit from the table into his seat. “I guess I wouldn’t have another choice, even if I wanted to say no.” your soft expression had him visibly relax. You stood up, he gave the waiter on the counter the money and then you both made your way to a pair of elevators. “This feels mildly awkward.” you spoke out what both of you felt. “Doesn’t have to.” he smiled, snapping out of it. The moment the elevator opened you snapped out of it too. You knew there wasn’t anything to be afraid of. Yes, this was weird because you just met him but the circumstances were not in your hand. He was respectful, and if he wasn’t you knew how to kick his ass. Everything was fine. Even with both of you not talking in the elevator there was still a comfortable silence. That was until fingers started searching for yours and capturing your hand in a gentle manner. It’s not that you didn’t want this but it was very unusual and sudden. Like everything else today. Sure, you didn’t mind holding hands with pretty much anyone you knew but this wasn’t just anybody. This was someone you just had a proper date with and that kinda had your brain go in circles. “Relax, I’m not trying to get you into my bed.” he gently nudged you and locked down at you with a soft smile. “Sorry, I’m just not used to this...normality.” you tried to find a word for it, immediately shaking your head a little at choosing this particular word for it. “Welcome. Make yourself comfortable.” he said while you walked past him holding the door open. “Nice couch.” you pointed at it. It was one of those expensive, big, soft ones that everybody secretly wanted. You let yourself fall on it. He let himself fall next to you after throwing his jacket and yours over a chair. “Almost too conveniently placed.” you squinted at him beside you. “Hey! Don’t judge!” he laughed. “Too late. I judged.” you giggled before noticing his stare. “What?” your brow went up. “Nothing.” his eyes went away from your eyes and lips and looked at the ceiling again. “What are we going to do the rest of the evening now?” you asked. “More Netflix?” he returned a question. “Fine. But I only accept documentaries.” you grinned. Of course, the documentary he put on was about space and you both just absorbed the information you got. You didn’t even notice the arm around you after a while or the gentle pull towards him that had you cuddled up by the end of the documentary. “You’re a sneaky little asshole.” you said sleepy. “Only with pretty women.” his hand went through your hair. You looked up at him “Thank you for making this day much less boring.” you smiled and caught him staring again. “Can I kiss you?” he whispered so close to your face, his hand going from your hair to your jaw. With rosy cheeks, you nodded and had soft lips on yours a moment later. A normal thing to happen after a date but you still weren’t used to it. The thumb going over your cheek got you out of the overthinking again. Right now, all you wanted to concentrate on was those soft lips and that slightly scratchy skin. The hand cupping your face, the arm pulling you closer and the tongue brushing against your lower lip. Everything is perfect right now, no need to overthink it.

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andcurioser · 5 years

Text

So. Let’s talk about Veronica Mars. *deeeeeeeep sigh*

Ok, friends. It’s been a goddamn whirlwind for me. I actually went to the Veronica Mars panel at Comic Con, which I thought was a highlight at the time. They screened the first episode before the panel, and I was all ready to report back to you all that it was real good and to get excited for the new season, but then Hulu had to go and drop the whole damn series during the CC panel, which was a STUPID thing to do (or, at the very least, an extremely stupid thing to announce to the panel at Comic Con - the exact people who would not be able to watch it until after Comic Con, putting them at risk for some really big fucking spoilers. It’s genuinely surprising to me how little the people who are in charge think about these things. If you want to do a surprise drop (which, why, but whatever), sure, go and do it, but definitely don’t announce it to a room full of people who can’t enjoy it and expect them to be excited??). But regardless. That was just a wtf moment. I was still filled with enthusiasm and excitement and happiness that this show was back and seemed to be in good form.

Oy.

Cut to Tuesday morning. I got back from Comic Con on Sunday night, and life goes on, so of course I hadn’t watched 8 hours of TV by Tuesday at 7AM. Which is precisely when my dear friend, whom I adore, but who is apparently an idiot, texted me about how terrible that VM ending was and how upset she was. Now, because I’m a good friend and I know what she likes and we’ve discussed VM at length, it took me all of four seconds to know the gist of what happens in the end. I didn’t know the how or why, but I certainly knew the what. Cue fun spikes of anxiety and random bursts of rage, because what the fuck. Truly, what the fuck. But I placed my certainty at 99% and hopelessly clung to the 1% chance that I was wrong, knowing full well that I wasn’t. This obviously completely stymied any excitement I had for the show, and I dragged my heels for a full month before finally finishing the goddamn show just to get it over with. And now we’re here.

I’ve had a month to ready myself for what I knew was coming. It was both a blessing and a curse, since while it pretty thoroughly ruined my good time, it also meant that I wasn’t totally blindsided by that ending. And man, I would have been blindsided, because there was Z E R O reason for that. None. And now I’ve read all the articles in which Rob Thomas tries to explain his reasons, and they’re all nonsense. Absolute idiocy. All I see is a guy who always, always resented the fans for loving a character he didn’t want us to, who tried and tried to redirect us to one of his preferred creations without success, and just when I thought he’d finally accepted defeat, he pulls the most nonsensical of fuckery just to finally win the battle. Fuck you, RT, forever and always. I can’t fucking believe that I allowed myself to think you’d finally seen the light. What a ridiculous fool I was for giving him the benefit of the doubt.

Since I knew what was coming, I could look for the signs all throughout the season. So I searched for foreshadowing, or at least a narrative through-line. And let me tell you: there isn’t one. The season finally, rightfully seems to address Veronica’s deep-set trauma and trust issues but treats them like a problem and not a secret superpower, and it seemed like the show might expect Veronica to grow up along with the viewers who’ve aged 15 years since the first season? I was excited to finally have Veronica be the problem in a relationship, frankly. It was hinted at with Piz, but glossed over because there was only so much time in the movie, but it was realistic for her to have some trouble adjusting to a long-term, committed relationship, and I was excited to see that journey! I thought it was such an interesting path to go down, watching Veronica grapple with what she wants (or maybe just thinks she wants) vs. what she’s always known, or thought she knows. Lots of stuff there! Good stuff! And you get all the way to the end, when she’s finally decided to try. It isn’t fixed, it isn’t perfectly, she’s definitely got a long way to go, but she’s taken a few tentative steps into an uncertain future. And all of a sudden, quite literally, boom. It’s all gone.

Listen. I was never going to be a fan of getting rid of Logan. However they chose to do it, it would always feel wrong. I have never trusted Rob Thomas to handle Logan well, because he’s always had this undercurrent of anger in every interview I’ve read, this frustration that people love and respond to Logan when he wanted them to love Duncan! Then Piz! Then anyone else! His creations took on a life of their own, and RT hated it. RT was one of the ultimate examples of writers/show runners who were simply watching a completely different show than the rest of us. I could never understand how he wrote such interesting stuff for Logan but didn’t want us to root for him. It never made any sense. But I didn’t think he would sabotage his own show this thoroughly.

Because here’s the thing: I was never going to like him getting rid of Logan, but I could have understood it. I could have gone along with it if it had been done right. Frankly, the way it was building, it wouldn’t have been a surprise, nor would it even have been a bad choice, to have Logan break up with Veronica at the end of the season. And if RT couldn’t handle Veronica not being the aggressor, fine, make Veronica do it. She decides she isn’t willing to put in the work to change that Logan needs from her, and she ends it. Fine. Could work, at least for a few seasons. Let her deal with the loss, knowing it was something she chose, and see how it affects her priorities as she continues on. Certainly could be interesting!

You know what isn’t interesting? This. This is the only - the ONLY - plotline that’s a watered down repeat of a previous story. Veronica Mars, traumatized and hardened by the shocking loss of someone close to her? Quite literally, been there, done that. I know RT has been trying to recapture the magic of season one for every season and iteration since, but just repeating the storyline? Really, really missing the mark. There isn’t anything new that can be added to this. We’ve done this. This will only ever be a pale imitation, a tacked-on sequel hitting the same beats with less force. Lilly was a fantastic inciting incident that yielded a tight, well-thought-out season arc. But why would we want to start over 15 years later? What’s to be gained from this? Literally ANY other ending would have yielded multiple storytelling options, branching out with so many possibilities on where the characters could go. This is the only one that simply slams doors shut.

The few supporters of this ending I’ve seen around the interwebs keep saying things like “this show wouldn’t work if Veronica was happy!” Hell, Rob Thomas is saying the same thing. And to that idiocy, I can only say 1. of course it would, if you write it well, dumbass, and 2. if you think Veronica getting married immediately = happiness, well, what the hell show were you watching? The marriage, much as it could represent a step forward, was still VERY CLEARLY a huge, impulsive jump that was more a reaction than a measured decision. And that was something I was looking forward to seeing. Fresh off of a near-death experience and a renewed assurance of her love for Logan, Veronica marries him thinking that’s the end of their troubles, only to realize that it’s just another complication. Now Veronica has to deal with the new experience of having no quick exit strategy. All the problems they had throughout the season still exist, thinly covered by the veil of newlywed bliss, and she has to reconcile her happiness with her frustration and uncertainty. Logan still disappears at the drop of a hat because of his job. She still puts herself in danger for the case and uses loved ones and acquaintances alike to her full advantage. They hide things from each other. They love fiercely, they trust the other with their own lives but can’t trust each other to take care of themselves. Doesn’t this sound like a complicated, tumultuous relationship full of narrative possibilities?

Well, forget it, because why break new ground when you could retread old storylines? Yeah, that’s what we all want. Great job, RT. So smart.

Something that keeps bothering me is that if RT didn’t want Logan around as the happy husband at home but didn’t want to write more relationship drama between them? He already had the perfect excuse to ship Logan off for entire seasons at a time. Look, Logan’s deployed, oh no, he can’t even skype, he’s undercover! Cool, problem solved. No more Logan, but in a way that still maintains possibilities for the future should we want them. Ideal. Again, options. All you want are places for your narrative to go. Multiple roads it could take so it doesn’t become predictable.

This is predictable. This is boring. This is trite. Our heroes, struck down in their highest moment of happiness. Holy fuck, it’s dull. It doesn’t feel edgy. It feels derivative, a tired rehash of a narrative structure that should have gone out of vogue ten years ago. The whole thing just exhausts me at this point.

And I’ve read Rob Thomas’s justification for why he did it. They’re all flimsy, but if he wants to go do a Sherlock-style, Ms. Marple mystery series, flitting in and out as he pleases, fine. It won’t be the worst show in the world. Veronica’s still a fun and interesting character, and I’ll always enjoy watching her. But removing her from Neptune, and more importantly, removing her from all of her meaningful relationships, takes away what made this show special. The new version RT is pitching could be fun enough. But it’ll still be just one in a long, long line of mystery shows that don’t have much claim to my emotional investment. I might watch, but I’ll forget about it the second it’s over. It certainly won’t be the kind of show with a fanbase that will still be interested in watching more 15 years from now. Rob Thomas won’t be getting one of those again.

So yeah, that’s that. I have much more to say, but really I just wanted to get this rant out so I can put it all behind me. I learned long ago that I can’t trust shows and showrunners, and it’s a lesson I learned partly, if significantly, from Rob Thomas. I suppose it’s on me for letting my guard down, but I guess my hope got grandfathered in from an age when I didn’t immediately mistrust the things that were supposed to make me happy. I’ll know better next time.

#veronica mars #veronica mars spoilers #just in case #so i'll just be here selectively ignoring canon because frankly i know better #the ending was so stupid and tacked on that it's honestly pretty easy to ignore #mostly i'm just fired up about a showrunner mistreating his fanbase so badly after they've stuck with him through so much #just a baffling misuse of the support he was so lucky to still have #so i'll be cherry-picking the parts of s4 i liked with one hand and flipping rob thomas off forever with the other

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