#I firmly believe any movie however bad it is can be saved if it’s a musical | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

atthebell · 24 days

Note

im glad u watched romulus so i can finally ask. what can u say regarding "the issue of the androids and their place in humanity in this universe and the philosophical implications of them and with the act of creating life" (quoted from ur answer to my other ask about prometheus+covenant a few days ago) (that second part about creating life is optional i didn't see as much of that in romulus unless ofc ur talking about the shewolf/lupa from the romulus and remus myth)

i think that one of the things romulus did at least manage to do was continue the thesis of "androids are not inherently good nor evil; their directives and the way their programming changes (due to various circumstances) impact how they interact with humanity and how they engage with the question of 'what is life?'"

like i think andy is a good demonstration of how androids do not purely exist to destroy humanity, nor do all androids think themselves above humans. andy cares, first and foremost, for better or for worse, about rain's wellbeing. do i love how that plays out or the vibes it gives off? not really, no. i think the disability angle was poorly done at best and i don't even really want to get into how bad i really think it was. however, i did like andy, and i think he got at those questions i talked about last time. are androids truly meant to serve humanity? romulus, at least, comes down firmly on the side of "no," which i believe prometheus and covenant align with as well as the rest of the franchise, excepting resurrection and possibly covenant. firstly, all the company androids exist not to serve humanity but to serve the company's best interests-- that is their prime directive. but romulus gets at the notion of what androids SHOULD exist for. andy, the movie argues, should exist because he exists, and he should have the right to self-determination. even if that means he stops doing solely what is in rain's best interest. which, i would argue, is a pretty firm declaration of aliveness. andy is alive because he exists, because he can form his own wants and desires, and because even aside from any existing programming, he has such things.

the same goes for other androids in the series, although their levels of self-created wants and desires are far more nebulous. ash believes humanity to be beneath him; it's unclear how much of that is weyland-yutani programming and how much is his own sense of human folley (rook seems to confirm this originates with the company, as like he says, humanity does not take well to space colonization, and they need to adapt. whether you want to take this as gospel about the original movie, that's a whole other question). bishop has the capacity to choose to save ripley and newt, to help them escape even if it's not directly in the best interests of the company. but he also seems to allow for the idea that they would carry embryos back to earth, and if you look at aliens 3, he also allowed an egg to come with them in the EEV knowing what that would mean for their safety and for the larger safety of humanity. company programming is very strong; even the "good" androids tend to do things within the bounds of continuing to benefit the company, along with maintaining whatever personal relationships they may have. call is a whole other story by virtue of having her weyland-yutani module removed; her goal is to prevent the destruction the xenomorph will cause and she no longer has to obey company programming. call is just a weird one generally, but it's undeniable that she is a person with her own wants and feelings, and her stance seems to be that the company should not have the control that they do, over people, including androids, and over lifeforms that could threaten humanity's survival. david and walter are interesting, mostly the former, in that david is probably meant to be an example of faulty programming, or programming that decays and turns into something new. he decides that he is a superior lifeform, that humans are tools for his creations, and that life is at his fingertips. and its not all that shocking considering that weyland made him and seemed to feel the same about his own ability to create android life. walter's existence and the idea that david was "too human" also seems to indicate that its that capacity for creation that was too much for humanity to handle in an android. walter himself is less interesting, really, aside from the idea that he was in love with daniels, although honestly i thought that came entirely out of left field and may have just been david fucking with him. he maintains his programming pretty effectively, protecting the crew of the covenant. according to the extra ads about him that were created and filmed outside the movie, he was supposed to be personalized and reflect the desires of whoever needs him. so if the idea is that daniels needed someone to protect her, someone who would risk everything for her, i suppose that means that walter followed that prime directive to a t. that doesn't mean that he didn't want to, nor that that directive wasn't driven in part by self-created motives.

all this to say i do think andy gets at that idea of whether androids are truly capable of wanting things for themselves-- it seems like he does, but it could also be that damned chicken or the egg debate; does andy want something because he wants it, or because rain wants him to want it? i don't think that's what's meant to be what's going on within romulus, but it's still an interesting question.

in terms of other ways of that question of creation and life, i think romulus fell very flat. let's not talk about the offspring at the end, who says nothing about creation or life or anything other than that they wanted to put a different tall guy in a rubber suit. it's not even like this was the first human-alien hybrid and yet they went in such an insane and terrible direction with it that said nothing. if you inject yourself with a genome enhancer made from the mysterious black goo, you will give birth to a weird egg sac that will birth a horrible slenderman creature that tries to eat you. and they didn't even have the guts to have it try and breastfeed, which is what i completely expected when it went for kay. i didn't even hate the genome enhancer idea, although i wish it would've tied back in with david more. i just wish it had actually meant anything other than freaky pregnancy. it's like someone watched the alien franchise and understood that there's themes about the anxieties of reproduction and childbirth and the violence involved in both but didn't understand how to actually put those things together in a meaningful way.

idk the whole movie felt like someone watched the franchise and didn't understand what actually makes it good (not all of the movies are good but they are all trying to get at similar concepts and themes) and just went ah, horror movie about creatures that get inside you and are scary. none of the actual fear and revulsion and all that that are central to the original concept or even to giger's artwork were in it. it was utterly sexless and functioned as competent horror inasmuch as there was tension and release and buildup but none of the meat of it. i know i sound so obnoxious but also i love this franchise and think the gross weird body stuff is really key, and that was all missing here.

but anyway on the android side of things i did kind of like it, and i thought david jonsson's performance was pretty good.

[in regard to the she-wolf romulus and remus myth element: aside from the obvious siblings theme going on (rain & andy, tyler & kay, bjorn & navarro) i don't think there's much to say about the significance of that reference. i wish there had been more, i think that would've been interesting, and i think a look at siblings within the alien franchise and how that relationship operates and what sociological hangups we have about those relationships would all be interesting, that's just not what this movie was doing. it also felt like it was kind of stepping into what covenant was trying to do with the all-spouses crew, except that that element of covenant felt like a complete miss too. but yeah i don't think romulus really managed to say anything with that reference aside from that wow those sure are siblings]

#asks #quackitytheduck #alien talk

1 note · View note

writerbuddha · 3 years

Note

Hey

Your blog is interesting. I do see where you're coming from in regards to Buddhism attachment and the Jedi and stuff. I do agree about them having no choice but to enter the war because of the implications. Although the Clones are legally slaves as they are considered possessions of the State. The Jedi might have respected them and not persoanlly enslaved them, but neither fact changes their status. However, I can see the other side as well. I understand why people have an issue with the whole "attachment" thing and how its applied. I mean the Jedi are in the right for joining the Clone Wars, despite the status of Clones, yet Anakin is bad and wicked and selfish and greedy for wanting to help his enslaved mom. The implication that leaving her to rot in slavery or die alone, scared and in agony at the hands of the Tuskens was the more "moral" or Jedi thing to do is very problematic for a lot of people. Or, the idea that he should have left his 14 year old Padawan to suffocate under rubble because rescuing her means he's "selfish and greedy" is similarly problematic. I think that both run contrary to the ethical code that many of us are raised with. The idea that you should help people, especially children, no matter what and never turn your back on a friend.

Sorry if this is a long ask and I don't mean to offend anyone.

Hey!

You said nothing offensive. I hear you.

That’s run contrary to my ethical code as well.

Anakin wasn’t bad, wicked or selfish or greedy for wanting to help his mom, leaving her in slavery wasn’t a moral or a Jedi thing to do at all. Nor that he should have left Ahsoka to die, wanting to rescue he wasn’t made him selfish. What you described is, at full extent, falls into the category of compassion, non-attached love. And that is genuine love, wanting others to be happy and free from suffering, covering what you described, helping people, especially children, no matter what and never turn your back on a friend.

I firmly believe the “attachment” thing is problematic because the majority of fans are not fully aware of the meaning of the concept. Attachment as George Lucas described it is inability to let go, possession, owning, having, getting, grasping, holding on. This is identical to the Buddhist use of the term. Because reality is temporary, things will come, things will go, everything is temporary. People, beauty, youth, money, everything will slide, at one time, they are in your life, and in the other time they move away from you. While they are in your life, love them. But you can’t attach to them in the other meaning of the word: “fastening” and an “external part attached to perform a particular function.” You must learn to let go, because if you can’t do it, you and your loved one both going to suffer. And the problem with attachment is that it’s always about you, it’s more the love of the self than the love of the beloved. You want to keep people around, because they make you happy. You won’t lose them because then you will suffer from you not having them. And this is why it is selfish and greedy. And because we all want everlasting joy, if you are attached, you will become afraid of losing your attachments, and it will lead you on a very dark path, ending in hate. And you will suffer, because you will spend your life being afraid, being angry, hateful. And that’s what Yoda was talking about, and that’s what they sensed in him about Shmi: “You afraid of losing her.” And that’s what Luminara said to him in that Clone Wars episode: “It’s not that I gave up, Skywalker, but unlike you, when the time comes, I am prepared to let my student go. Can you say the same?”

Listen to how Lars and Anakin say their final goodbye to Shmi: Lars last words to her: “Thank you.” Anakin’s last words to her: “I miss you so much.”

Whereas Shmi had non-attached love: her love for Anakin wasn’t how happy he makes her, but how happy Anakin is. And that’s why she was able to let him go. I’m always saying, Shmi is a “lay Jedi”.

Luminara is “at ease” when Barriss life is in danger, but I think it’s very important to notice that she always saying, she didn’t want Barriss to die, or she doesn’t care or she gave up. That’s why I don’t like Dave Filioni’s take on that episode, but he said it’s his personal reading, so I respect it. But I disagree. The problem is that many of us were almost encouraged to panic or fall to atoms in times like this, and the majority of movies and tv shows are outright glorifying hysteria as a measure of love. Ahsoka and Barriss wasn’t saved because Anakin started to run around in full panic mode, but because Ahsoka was able to come up with a plan. Luminara wasn’t giving up, nor she didn’t care that much about Barriss, but she accepted the fact that they might be too late, so she started to prepare herself for the worst. “If my Padawan has perished, I will mourn her, but I will celebrate her as well through her memory.”

The Jedi are trained to love people, but not to get attached to them, which is non-attachment – compassion. When you are compassionate, your love for your loved one, their happiness, their freedom from suffering gives you the feeling of being complete, gives you joy. And this is everlasting, because death can interrupt having, but not love. So it’s saying, I love you, so I want you to be free from suffering and I want you to be happy.” It’s genuine concern for others, manifesting itself in active engagement. But there is no fear of you losing, because you don’t have. When you love people, you won’t be afraid. You will be concerned for them, but that’s entirely focused on them, not on yourself. You can’t fear of the pain you will experience when you losing them. That’s a selfish desire for you keeping things and people who bring you joy. Attachment will make you afraid, what will make you hate and suffer.

And this kind of love can extend to all beings, even to their enemies. "don't lose a thousand lives just to save one" however, doesn't mean you must sacrifice your loved ones for the sake of others. The key is always that you should act out of compassion. Not out of fear of losing, the fear of not having.

Why the Jedi didn’t go to Tatooine to liberate slaves, that’s another question, but not because Anakin wasn’t allowed to care about his mother. A Jedi is a negotiator, ambassador, who is not going to war. They were not going to war until Attack of the Clones, as Lucas said, because they are not aggressive force. I always saw that their logic is that If they would go to Tatooine and liberate all slaves, they would have to fight a war against Jabba, pirates, the hutts, the crime empires etc. That’s not what they do. They did it once with Zygerria, but back then they weren’t alone, the Republic actually wanted to uphold its values, they made Zygerria to comply. But with the Republic corrupted, the Jedi wasn’t enough at all to uphold peace and justice. If the Republic would have function properly, they would enforce their laws on Tatooine, but the Republic didn’t care about them, so they didn’t have the support to function, too. They were overwhelmed, and they are not super people. Without the Republic, they go to Tatooine, defeat Jabba, then leave to help others. When they come back, there is a new Jabba, because free people on Tatooine didn’t really care and the Republic didn’t really care. All what happens is that they lose lives. But with the Clone Wars, all the galaxy caught fire, so they had to go to war anyway.

I am more than willing to accept that the Jedi wasn’t perfect, and I have to admit, I am glad to see that when people believe they advocated abandoning friends or family, they reject them so fiercely. But I can't help but think, their morals, choices and situations are often misunderstood. For example, I can't find any good reason why the Jedi wouldn't want to pursue the Senate to give the clones citizenship when the war was over. On the contrary. Their portrayal requires them to do so. Like Lucas said, they had good intentions, and they are going to war to save as many as they can. In the Clone Wars, you can see they care about clones as much as they care for non-clones.

Sorry for the even longer reply! XD I hope it's useful.

522 notes · View notes

harveywritings92 · 3 years

Text

BNHA vampire soulmate scenario: you see them again/ they introduce themselves.

They find you and don't leave you alone.

--------------------------------------------------

Dabi: It had been almost a month since the 7/11 incident, Dabi kept his distance watching and protecting you from the shadows, That all change today, he was watching your house from the old abandoned grocery store-across the road from your bar (your house is on top of the bar). He noticed you haven't step outside for almost two days, Dabi frowned as he step out of his hideout and as soon as he got close enough to your home his nose scrunched up as he was hit by a fowl stench: he made a disgusted noise... it was like mix of rotten milk and cantaloupe...

You were sick! but that wouldn't explain your lack of activity...unless- Dabi felt his stomach drop into his feet he checked the gargoyle you keep by the door for your spare key, he unlocked the door and walked inside your house and found you passed out on the floor at the bottom of your stairs! he rush over crouched down to check on you... he put his hand on your neck, Fuck your skin was like a furnace. "What the fuck do I do?" he hissed picking you up of the floor and putting you on the couch in your living room.

You wheezed in protest feeling your body being lifted away from the nice cold floor, your eyes opened straining to see who had moved you? but all you could see was a black and purple blob looking down at you; before moving away from sight as your overheated mind tried to comprehend what was happening, Who was that? How did they get in... but soon you drifted back into unconsciousness, and felt something cold on the back of your head...

You woke up disoriented and very confuse you looked around and you were still in your Livingroom... with half melted bag of frozen carrots resting behind your neck and another bag of frozen corn shoved down your shirt, which bewildered you the last thing you remembered was trying to crawl upstairs and go to your room, than nothing. You heard someone clear their throat and looked next to you to find a man who looked like a ragdoll was sitting in your recliner watching you...

"Who the fuc-" you croaked only for the guy to thrust a yellow pill and a glass of water towards you. "Take this first.." he muttered as you eyed the pill suspiciously "patchy" rolled his eyes at your wariness. "It's just Tylenol." he put the glass on the coffee table and showed you the box, "If I wanted to hurt you, wouldn't I have done it already?" he stated as you hesitantly took the pill and the water from him and swallowed it trying not to gag as it went down your throat. "Who are you?" you hissed voice still hoarse trying not to show fear, which was in vain as Patchy's cerulean eyes lit up in amusement seeing through your bluff. "I have several names, but these days I go by Dabi." he said waiting for your reaction but, to his utter astonishment you clearly had no idea who he was... "ok..."Dabi" How did you get into my house?" you huffed as Dabi gave you this unimpressed look.

"Y'know the whole reason for hiding a key, is to not make it obvious."

"What are you talking about? What key?"

"Yeah, good one...the key under the gargoyle."

"...I don't keep a key under my gargoyle."

You say watching Dabi's expression shift to confusion as the scarred man pulled the the duplicate key from his pocket, he showed it to you and your stomach felt like it was full of rocks... that was definitely your house key!... But, it looked newer, shinier then the one in your purse. "You don't recognize this?" Dabi asked feeling your fear which caused his instincts go haywire wanting to remove whatever caused the distress, as you shook your head insisting you've never owned a spare key!

Dabi took a sharp breath through his nose, taking it in all the scents around the house before picking up faint traces of a another male... Dabi let out a low inhuman growl as he relaxed against into the recliner. "Good news doll, you gotta a new roommate." Your mouth opened to protest, but something in the deep crevices of your soul was telling you to trust the scarred man as he played around with the duplicate key. with a feral glint in his eye. "Bad news is... It's gonna suck for whoever the hell pissed me off." his purred flashing his fangs at you.

---------------------------------

Hawks: You were at work it had been to weeks since Hawks showed up on your doorstep, let's just it didn't go so well... It was like in the movies you opened the door saw the blond vampire standing there, you gasped, screamed and fainted scaring the crap out of the poor guy! At the moment he was currently loitering outside the gym you were teaching at, he could hear some of your students parents talking about you.

"It's waste I tell you, someone with her Quirk should've gone pro!" A woman said in a snarky tone the man next to her nodded. " I agree. if I had a Quirk like L/n-san I would be saving lives and kicking ass, instead of teaching kids how to dog paddle!" Keigo growled looking up from his phone and spoke up.

"Yeah...She could've gone pro, but instead she's here teaching your kids not to drown..."

Both adults froze and saw the number 2 hero glowering at them his wings slightly puffed and raised making him look bigger, They sheepishly apologized and scurried off, Just as you walked out, with an unreadable expression it was obvious you had heard everything just now, but were relucted to say anything as the two of you started the routine of walking home together, you were still on the ropes about Hawks.

When he first showed up (after you woke up) you freaked out thinking he was there to to silence you and keep his secret, however after calming you down, he started going on about soulmates, blood-bonds and you being his other half, you were very reluctant to believe him after all... the first time you saw him, he was covered in blood feeding off a woman who looked half dead! Hawks seemed genuinely remorseful about you seeing that, it wasn't his intention to scare you, he explained how the woman was fine.

She wasn't dead like Y/n had thought! he just used his venom to put her into a state of ecstasy... she likely has no idea the winged blond had been drinking her blood, She was at home most likely believing she had a wild night with the number 2 hero. He even showed you the girl's social media account to prove it; There she was doing a bathroom selfie bragging about the wicked "hickey" Hawks had given her...

Now here you are a month later and the vampire hasn't left your side since! Well... Except for when he has to go on patrol, then he has one of his feathers following you, and you have this sinking suspicion that Hawks has been sleeping on your roof at night...though you're never sure, you could hear something rolling around up there but whatever it is, is usually gone by the time you go check it out, later that night Hawks texted you inviting you to dinner, you read the restaurant's name... Dang that's pretty swanky place, you didn't even know if you had a dress or whatever to wear! luckily in the far reaches of your closet you found an old black dress that seemed suitable enough for the job... and sighed. " I only wore this once, to a funeral..." you muttered before getting ready.

You wished you had taken a shot of whiskey before you left the house, you were a ball of shaking anxiety as you entered the restaurant, the hostess eyed you with a unpleasant sneer. "Can I help you?" she said in fake sweet tone. "Y-Y/n L/n, I-I'm here to meet a Mr. T.K.?" you stammered the hostess scrunched her nose as she gave you a once over snorted.

"I don't know how you found out about his reservation... but I can assure you the number 2 hero doesn't associate with your type." she with sneer your face would would've been flushed with anger if you weren't holding back every fiber in your body to slap that smug smile off that bitch's face. "Well can you go check?" you snapped standing up to your full height which threw the hostess off, she curt nod and walked off into the back...

(Hawks knew you were here he could smell you the second you walked in, his eyes briefly skimmed over the menu as he herd hostess approach, without you... "Sorry about that Hawks." the redhead cooed as the blonde looked at her bemused she snorted. "Some fake (h/c) slut tried to say you were waiting on her-" she continued talking as Keigo talked over her. " I am waiting for Y/n." he stated firmly as the hostess finished what she was saying. "Just let me ask my boss to let me off and we ca..." she trailed off and blinked not believing what she just heard.

"w-What?" she chortled thinking this was a joke as Hawks deadpanned repeating what he said. "I am waiting for Y/n, go get her." it wasn't request the hostess looked like a fish as she stared at the No. 2 slack-jawed. "Bu...You.. I- what about me?!" she sputtered lip quivering like a child who'd been denied candy, the winged man just eyed her incredulously making it clear he doesn't know her. "What are you talking about?" Hostess didn't answer she just stomped away to go get you.)

A few minutes later she came back all red in the face. "Please follow me ma'am." she huffed now it was your turn to be smug. "Oh?... But I thought the No. 2 hero didn’t associate with my type?" you hissed as she snapped her head up to look at you eyes her brown eyes filled with jealous rage and you realized....It was her. The girl from the park. "My apologies ma'am." she said with a forced cheery tone as she led you to a private booth where Hawks was waiting his wings stood up at full attention as you sat down.

"Hey did you have any trouble?" he asked nodded towards the front desk where the hostess was giving both of of you the stink-eye. "You don't recognize her?" you whispered as Keigo's brow furrowed as he tried to piece it together.... had.. they slept together?...Hmm no, signed her tits? that was a possibility, He hummed scratching his beard You could tell he was drawing blanks. "She's the woman from the night...when we met?" His gold eyes widened.

"Oh... the blood that tasted like charcoal and moldy bread." he grimaced in disgusted as he finally pieced it together you tilted your head as him bemused. "That’s what smoker's blood taste like...to me anyways, other Vamps have told me it varies." he stated you hummed nodding your head both intrigue and worried that you were getting use to this odd situation.

While you two were going over the menu, Keigo couldn't help but notice how off you were acting, you were fidgeting and looking around almost like you were...scared. why would you scared? all the other girls he'd brough.... Then it hit Keigo like ton of bricks.

He was treating you like one of his fans! and not his...hopefully soon to be lover, Dammit! He didn't even think about your comfort zones or asked if you wanted to go out and where did you want to go, he just assumed you would jump at the chance, because what girl doesn't want to go on a date with the number two hero?

After a few moments Keigo put the menu down. "Hey...wanna get out of here?" You were about to protest but the blond put his hand up. "Let me rephrase that; Do you want go somewhere else?" you shyly nodded Keigo called the waiter paid for the drink he had earlier and the two of you went on a very simple and impromptu park date involving pizza and an outdoor movie theater that Keigo had no idea existed; all in all he actually had fun!

And so did you given the joy and admiration he was sensing coming off you in waves. as opposed the fear and defensiveness you usually gave off around him, which made Hawks hopeful for the future... but for now he'll just settle on being friends, He smiled staring at the spare key you gave him, the blond let out a tiny churr feeling giddy as he fell asleep on your couch, as you caught him outside earlier.

…..Yes, he was totally sleeping on your roof.

#boku no hero academia #bnha fanfiction #bnha vampire au #bnha scenarios #Dabi #touya todoroki #dabi x reader #Touya todoroki x reader #hawks #hawks x reader #keigo takami #keigo takami x reader

217 notes · View notes

robinsarm · 3 years

Note

Heya!! Can I get some sleepy Quentin headcanons? I'm on a "monster befriends human" kick, so maybe something involving that? You said you needed ideas, so here ya go?

Sleepy Quentin, huh, @chaoticlovingdreamer? I think I can scrounge up a couple >:3

I assume that a lot of people see Quentin as a pill or caffeine fiend, especially while he lived in the real world. But what I think some people forget is that he also has ADD/ADHD as stated by his movie. Do you understand what lack of medication and exhaustion does to a person with ADHD? It's not fun, I'll say that much.

When Quentin is really hitting the bottom of his energy tank he gets more and more distant from everyone else. He'll stop talking, start sitting further away from the fire, and intrusive/depressing thoughts start to riddle his mind. Since a healthy dose of sleep isn't on the menu for Quentin usually, he'll start to cope with his exhaustion in other ways; other ways that aren't healthy and can be left up to the imagination for now.

Some of the survivors that have been there the longest have learned to spot these signs from Quentin before he begins "coping". They'll immediately get up and take him for walks or bring him back to the fire and in front of 20+ other sets of eyes. Claudette, Ace, Meg, and Laurie are usually the nicest and manage to cheer him up faster than anyone else. Steve, in recent years, has also grown to notice and make sure his teammate is okay.

Have you ever seen the joke of someone getting hit in the head on a cartoon and they fall flat on their face, knocked out? Visualize that, and realize Quentin does that on a regular basis just without the hitting part. Like someone with narcolepsy, when Quentin’s brain and body are tired of being awake, he’s out like a light; heaven forbid he’s standing near anything sharp when this happens. From time to time, Quentin will just suddenly fold like a GMOD player hit their kill key. There’s no waking him up for a while after that. So far, it’s never happened in a trial; who knows why, Quentin is just grateful for that much.

When Quentin is tired and actually decides that he’d rather sleep then Collapse™, he will pass out just about anywhere. On the logs, in the bushes, up a tree (won’t do that anymore because he’s prone to falling out of said trees), on someone. Quentin has no shame when it comes to finding a place to rest his head for a minute and the others, for the most part, are fully understanding.

Sleepy Quentin can also be confused with what Drunk Quentin would look like, only in his movements, however. I’d compare it to those really yanking pulls that Boiled Over can do in-game that just send the killer 5 meters to the left. Yeah...Quentin will do that a lot when he’s really tired. It’s normal to see him firmly planted on the ground when he’s extra tired just so he doesn’t fall into something or someone. (He took out a game of Blackjack that Ace and Bill were playing and felt incredibly bad afterwards) If Quentin can help it, he won’t move when he’s on the very verge of passing out.

Not so much headcanons but two scenarios I’d like to imagine have happened to Quentin:

Quentin doesn’t sleep due to Freddy’s constant torment that he resumes every time the survivor falls asleep. But Quentin isn’t the only one Freddy torments. It’s been known that Freddy will hop from person to person if Quentin goes for too long without sleeping. However, the killer once made the mistake of pulling the same shit on the Legion which earned him a proper beating from the four teens afterwards. Because of this, the Legion made sure that the Nightmare can’t enter Ormond unless he’s in a trial.

(I have a personal headcanon that killers can ask the Entity to block a different killer from entering their realm if given proper reasoning, and that’s how I’d see the Legion being able to keep Freddy out of Ormond)

Quentin, by an odd string of occurrences, ends up at Ormond and gets to talking to the killers - since they’re in a good mood. One of them brings up how shitty Quentin looks and actually offers if he’d want to sleep there for a bit. Quentin, taken slightly off guard, shrugs the invitation off, explaining Freddy would just show up and start attacking him again. The Legion, ever so boastful, counters with their story and clue him in on the fact that the Nightmare can’t enter the realm outside of a trial. Quentin’s not buying it but the killers insist just to prove themselves right, eventually having to hold the boy at knife-point to get him to stay and sleep. After a three hour, uninterrupted nap, Quentin wakes up and realizes they were telling the truth.

Regardless, Quentin doesn’t trust the Legion. However, if he’s feeling exceptionally tired and has a few 100k bloodpoints lying around, Quentin will pay the Legion to let him sleep for a few hours, undisturbed. They’re happy to take his money and he’s happy to sleep off his exhaustion.

Still, Quentin does sleep at the fire on occasion; he does only because of the fact Freddy wants him. If Freddy can’t get to Quentin, he’ll start tormenting and hurting his friends. Since Quentin doesn’t want that, he keeps his trips to Ormond few and far between.

II.

There’s one killer Quentin never thought in his life he’d manage to “befriend” outside of trials. Slinger is a fat no; the man is still a hard-ass to everyone other than Zarina. The Yamaoka family keep to themselves and kill anything on sight. The original four are apathetic towards everyone. Michael, Freddy, Ghostface, Pinhead, Nemesis, Pyramidhead - all psychopathic monstrosities that earned their own circle in hell. I could go on.

No, of all the killers to actually show any sort of compassion (or just lack of hostility) towards Quentin was the Demogorgon.

It started during a horribly unfortunate trial on Azarov’s. Felix and Yun-Jin were long since dead, leaving only Quentin and Feng to do the last two generators. The thing was, Feng seemed to be trying her absolute hardest to screw Quentin over every time the killer got close. She ran in front of him while they were both running from the killer, she blocked pallets, blocked windows, if the killer got close she immediately hid behind anything large enough. Sure she apologized at the beginning of the trial, but those quickly trailed off. Quentin just wasn’t in the mood for it. So, when he went down for his third and final time due to Feng’s not-so-subtle body blocking, Demo surprised both of them by not picking up the boy immediately. Instead, the killer hunted down Feng (for all of 20 seconds) and threw her onto a hook immediately, not leaving her until she was dead and gone. Quentin had the foresight to bring Unbreakable before entering the trial, so, by the time Feng had reached second stage, he was up and running.

Even though hatch was visible before Feng died Quentin couldn’t find the damn thing to, literally, save his life. As he ran back into the territory where the killer was last, Quentin’s hope began to dwindle more and more as he heard and saw nothing. Demo, seeming to appear out of thin air, found him first and shred-tackled him into the dirt. On his back, Quentin thought he was going to be mori’d for sure, but then something...worse happened. The killer regurgitated Feng’s med kit onto his chest then stepped off and away from Quentin. Quentin didn’t know whether to thank the killer or puke himself. The amount of slime and saliva that drenched his clothing and neck had him pressing his mouth shut tight. What the hell is this killer doing? was the only thought in Quentin’s mind as he pealed the kit from his chest.

Quentin didn’t believe that Demo could sit on his haunches like a dog before that trial, but he does now.

The killer only watched as Quentin used the non-soaked medical supplies on himself until he was fully healed. Afterwards, the killer rose and started walking towards the killer shack. When Demo realized Quentin wasn’t following, it turned back, pathed behind the survivor, and herded him towards the decrepit building. Quentin had seen a lot when it came to weird shit, but this experience was quickly climbing the list. Rounding the far corner of the shack, Quentin found the hatch humming where it usually was. He turned and saw the Demogorgon, not trying to stop him but lying down like it was ready to take a nap.

Quentin pointed to the hatch with his free hand. “I can have that?” The killer, not understanding human speech, looked down at the hatch then back up to Quentin. The survivor figured that was good of an answer as any, thanked the killer with a shaky voice, and hopped into the backdoor exit.

Ever since that trial, Quentin has had this weird relationship with the Demogorgon. It’s fully based off the killer’s mood at the time, but for the most part, the pair seem to respect one another at the very least. Some trials, Demo will slaughter everyone mercilessly; others, the killer attacks everyone but Quentin. The survivor hasn’t found any rhyme or reason to the killer’s decision on how to treat him that day, but he’s grateful for the break when they come.

#Quentin Smith #The Legion #The Demogorgon #DbD hc #dbd #dead by daylight

29 notes · View notes

into-crazy · 4 years

Text

horror and chill

Ledger!Joker x Female Reader one shot

Summary: You and J watch a horror flick. Eventually you both grow bored, turning your attention onto one another. You don't make it through the movie.

Warnings- Cursing, NSFW, SMUT, fingering, edging, orgasm denial, light knife play, spanking, use of the word daddy(once), unprotected sex, brief degradation, choking, light blood play, J style fluff, ages 18+

This sort of popped into my head while I was watching a scary movie. I'm a sucker for watching horror movies in the dark. Let's just say my self indulgences deff kicked in with this one whew! Also forewarning, it’s very long.

The month of October has always been a favorite for you. That time of the year when Autumn is in full effect. The air outside is cooled down, where it's not too hot and not quite cold yet. Seasonal items return with a comeback, available to stock up on- whether they be edible goodies or scented candles. Then, of course, there's Halloween. Or spooky season, as the kids like to call it.

That special time where watching horror movies is an absolute must. Ordering takeout, nothing on but panties and an oversized tee, cuddling on the couch with a blanket, turning out all of the lights, and blasting the volume on the television to get the full effect. Yeah, it's one of your most prized traditions.

You and Joker have been together for well over year now. Let's just say he was around this time last year. He knew of your passion for this month, but he hasn't fully experienced it with you. Since that was a point where your relationship- if that's what you want to call it- was still fresh. Too early to establish complete trust and understanding in one another. Actually, you believe that still may be the case for J.

Not that you have anything against it. He's a highly complex and guarded man, he has a difficult time trusting people. In fact, he doesn't. But he's allowed you- and no one else- to come this close into his life, and it's pretty damn close. He trusts you enough and he's trying. There's nothing you'd ever do to betray that. You've come to accept it'll take a longer period before you'd get there fully.

Though it can be rough sometimes, you've had your fair share of fights. But he's never given you a reason to leave. You trust him, you've grown to love him. And while J would never confess to it, would never say it aloud, he adores you. He shows it in everything that he does for you. As for love, you've become aware and accepted that the word doesn't apply to him. He can't love. And that's okay.

Fast forward over to now, already a week into October. It's a Saturday night, and you're ready to continue your cherished routine, but with your beloved J. You've only watched two horror flicks thus far. Both nights had been alone, minus him and the takeout. He's been busy with his usual chaotic jobs, which kept him out later hours into the night. However you don't care about that right now, he called and informed you that he'll be home for tonight's showing.

"An' don't ah, don't ya dare start without me." J warned on the other end of the phone line.

"Well then you better hurry back," you playfully teased into the phone, "I already ordered the pizza and the movie is set to play."

That conversation ended about forty minutes ago. You sat on the couch in your shared apartment, waiting for him. Everything good to go, pizza has arrived, scented candles are lit, movie ready to proceed at the click of a button, and the lights are off- save for the small lamp by the entryway. The overall setting feeling eerily, just how you like it. It also feels quite romantic, which is a bonus.

You're wearing one of J's dress shirts with a blush thong underneath. Wrapped snug in a huge fluffy blanket in your designated spot(rightfully decided by you as this was your apartment first). Since he prefers to keep the apartment cold, you tend to get chilly a lot. Which was fine considering you have J and a vast selection of blankets to keep you warm. Currently, you have the blanket. All that's missing is J.

What's taking him so long? I'm gonna start the movie, I don't care. He'll just have to deal with it.. and I'm not rewinding it either.

You began to ponder while sitting in silence. Fingers tapping impatiently on the remote, debating whether or not you should carry on without him. With a loud huff, you glance over at the pizza box on the small table directly in front of you. In the amount of time you've waited, you managed to eat two slices already.

Then, you heard the familiar ruffling noise at the front door. The sound of the lock hurriedly being turned getting you to shoot your eyes towards it without moving your head. The door swings open and in walks J in all his glory, quickly shutting and locking the closure behind him.

"I'm home-ah!" A lilt in his voice as he exaggerates his arrival.

"You're late," you return displeasingly.

He narrows his glare at you, "well uh, hello to you too."

Rolling your eyes, you motion with your fingers, "I was this close to starting the movie without you. What took you so long?"

J works on shrugging off his plum trench coat. "What can I say? It was such a ah, easy breeze to get here." He throws sarcastically.

Shaking your head, you laugh, "I'm sorry J, I didn't mean to sound rude. I just missed you is all." You really do appreciate the extra efforts he goes through to make sure he gets here safe and undetected. To not be traced or followed. Be it by his fellow rivals, Gotham police, and in some cases- the Batman.

"Yeah doll, I know," he licks his lips, "I know." You watch him remove a few of his other articles to get more comfortable. His face paint isn't too disheveled which tells you his day went rather smoothly. Or as he prefers to call it- boring.

You open up the blanket to make space for him. Patting the empty spot right next to you, "hurry and get over here, pizza's getting cold."

Left in his purple slacks, dress shirt, and socks, he shuts off the last light before making his way over to plop onto the couch next to you. He allows you to snuggle against him. With the cover behind him, he doesn't feel the need to wrap himself in it. You, on the other hand, have your end burrito wrapped over you. Finally, you stick your hand out the blanket to hit play on the remote.

Twenty minutes in, you were beginning to grow less and less interested in the film. Nothing but a predictable storyline with a bunch of weak jump scares. Not to mention the overly cheesy acting. Though it wasn't completely terrible, it had a few good points to it. However this film probably won't make it onto your rewatch list. You failed to previously read the reviews for this one like you normally would when picking a new movie to watch. The plot sounded good when you had read it. Oh well, you gave it a shot.

J wasn't fond of the movie either. He's actually more bored of it than you are. Occasionally would he exhale blatantly or comment on one of the bad moments that came across. This. Is. Torture. He thought to himself staring blankly at the screen. And not the good kind. Alas, he'll bite his tongue and miserably sit through another hour because it is your movie night, and he knows how much this means to you.

You can't help but feel bad for having him sit through this with you- for you. Soon, you lost total interest in the film and your mind began to drift.. elsewhere. To his hand, resting freely between your soft thighs. His palm feels so warm against your flesh. But that's just J- always giving off heat. He's like your own personal heater. Sometimes warming you to the point you don't even need a blanket because it becomes too hot. Speaking of which, you removed the cover, preferring his signature warmth over the fabric's any day.

Your fingers start to brush lightly on his wrists and knuckles. The subtle touch earns you half smile followed with a pleased hum, which you see in your peripheral vision. He hasn't caught on yet, but your need for him is building fast.

You scooch closer to him in attempt to get his hand where you need it most without him catching on just yet. It didn't work, his hand isn't touching you. It's right there, mere millimeters away. Thinking about how amazing his hands feel when he touches you. When he grants you with friction as he rubs your throbbing clit. The wonderful spots he reaches when he relentlessly fucks you with those paint speckled fingers. Curling them deep, making you writhe and cry beneath him.

Clamping his wrist, your breath hitches at the thought. Shit. That was audible. For a split second, you thought you might have blown it. But Joker took it as something from the film frightening you.

"Quiet doll," he shushes, "you an' I both know the ah, movie ain't scary."

Fuck, you can't take it anymore. You want him to touch you. With a slight roll of your hips, you manage to get his hand to brush against your clothed heat. The smallest bit of friction causes you to release a muffled whimper.

J's arm stiffens and his face instantly snaps to look at you. You seize, halting your movement. No question, he felt what you did, sees the burning desperation in your eyes. Tossing his head back, he erupts in a delighted, high pitched cackle. "Oh-" more cackling laughter as he glances at you again, "so that's what that was." A malicious smirk spreads his scarred cheeks. He firmly grips the inside of your thigh, pulling you against him. "What happened bunny? Growin' needy?" Cupping your clothed mound, his fingers rub you teasingly.

"Yeah," you admit, taking your bottom lip between your teeth. Tightening your thighs around his wrist. Would've been no use lying to him when he'd easily seen and felt otherwise.

His rubbing comes to an abrupt stop. He taunts, "Ahh, this was your idea, hm. You were the one keen on a movie night, remember?"

"I know, but-"

"Ah-ta-ta," He cuts you off, "But nothing. This is what ya wanted, so that's what we'll do. We'll ah, sit here and watch."

Suddenly, he lifts you, effortlessly moving you into his lap. You yelp as your back is pressed flush against his torso. He separates your legs apart, you can feel his cock beginning to harden under you, pushing into the plush of your ass. One hand wraps around your chest, to roughly knead your breasts. The other slides under the shirt, gliding over your abdomen, down between your legs. To rub harsh circles on your excited clit through the thinly soaked fabric of your underwear.

"Ahh- fuck!" You whine, throwing your head back to rest on his shoulder, reaching around to grip his green locks.

J starts to kiss and nip his way down your neck. Leaving dark patches into your skin, accompanied by red and white splotches- completely marking you. Once he was satisfied with his marks, he leans closely by your ear. "You're dripping, doll," he whispers huskily, his hot breath brushing against your neck. "Now, you will sit here and watch the flick like a good girl, while I play with this needy little cunt of yours. No fussin' or fightin'. Got it?"

"Mhm, yes sir," you answer. Biting back the urge to smile at the thought of finally getting what you want. Fighting it off because, let's be real here, you know with J, it never comes along that easy. But he always makes it damn well worth it.

"Good, now sit still." He growls lowly onto your neck. With that, he pushed your panties to the side and began his torture. His fingers transitioning from fucking your aching hole to rubbing the drenched digits on your throbbing clit. Whispering twistingly sweet and dirty words into your ear while he slathers your own arousal all over your pussy.

He'd bring you close, on the verge of your orgasm, only to stop his movements entirely. Tearing it away from you before you could fall over that edge into pure ecstasy. You grew more and more frustrated each time he'd do that. Though you haven't fully, but you're rapidly losing your composure. Which already may be broken. Sweat is forming on your hairline, tears are prickling your eyes, your breath is starting to hitch. Starting to want it so bad you're teetering towards retaliating to get what you crave.

Joker's counting on it. He thrives on edging you, demands the control over you. As much as he prefers having you entirely at his mercy, he likes it when you lash back. Finds it rather amusing, makes for something a little bit more interesting. See how far you'll go before you snap so beautifully.

And that's now.

You start to buck your hips against his fingers that are going in and out of your pussy, along with his thumb assaulting your clit. Feeling that powerful knot reforming, you need to orgasm. "Oh f-fuck! Please!" You start pleading, "I-I can't take it anymore. Please J, l-let me cum!"

"You wanna cum?" He hints, removing his chin from your neck.

"Yes, God- yes please!" You cry out, clawing your nails into his thighs. Clamping down to gain better leverage. The wild rolling of your hips gets your ass brushing more against his hardened cock. Your arousal had already soaked through his pants a long time ago.

"Fuck," he hisses through gritted teeth, digging his fingers hard into your hip that's sure to leave an array of dotted bruises. He bucks absently into you, licking a wet, hot trail up your neck. "Mm, dirty girl. So you wanna play that game-ah?"

He moves his fingers faster and harder. Even over the loud volume from the television could the wet squelching sounds deriving from his ministrations be heard. The air filled with the scent of sex- your sex. So desperate and ready to let go and orgasm. It's driving you crazy.

"P-please- Ahh! Can I cum?" You plead. Hoping he'll reward you at least for asking.

"You can cum. Go on, babygirl. Cum on my fingers." He finally grants, fingers continuing to get you to ecstasy.

Well you didn't have to be told twice.

You release with a broken cry, orgasm gushing out onto his digits. Drenching the fabric of his pants beneath you. Your body spasming madly over his own while you ride out your high.

Coming down, J removed his hand from your pussy. His fingers are glistening, coated in your cum. He sticks them into your mouth. "Clean my fingers of the mess you made," he growls the command in your ear. Groaning in approval when you comply. Eagerly licking and sucking his digits clean of your juices. "Come here," he grabs your face, turning your head, making you look at him. "Give me a taste."

He kisses you, shoving his tongue into your mouth to savor the taste of your delectable juices. You kiss him back feverishly. One hand fisting in his hair, the other goes to stroke his cock. Still clothed, still hard. The action causing him to snarl against your lips, "such a greedy little thing. Always ah, wanting more. Ya just can't get enough of me, huh?"

"Never," you huff with a grin, "and telling by this-" you rub him again, "neither could you." His eyes snap to glare into yours viciously. Ohh, he's gonna make you pay for that snarky remark.

With hasty movements, J turns you around so that you're now facing him. Straddling his lap. He tears the shirt that adorned your body open, buttons flying to scatter the couch and floor. Someone's gonna have to sew those back on later, most likely you. He removes the shirt from you, carelessly tossing it aside.

With the large article gone, it granted him with a better view of the mess you made on his custom, pricey slacks. His entire crotch and thigh area is completely drenched in your juices. He gave a sigh which tried to make him sound annoyed or displeased. However, with the straining bulge pushing against you below, you know that was far from the case. His eyes traveled to land on your barley covered pussy, he groaned at the sight. The flimsy fabric of your thong sticking to one of your wonderful, wet lips. Your orgasm, still dribbling out your cunt.

He hooked a finger under the thin strap hugging your hip, pulling far enough only to have it fall and snap against you. Chuckling at your slightly startled reaction. "Bad girl. Misbehaving, talking back, making a mess of my pants? These aren't exactly 'buy at the store' ready. Maybe I should put your dirty mouth to use and have you suck your own juices up, hm?"

"I misbehaved?" You mock a pout, fully knowing what you did. Regardless, asking anyway.

His kneads the plush of your ass roughly. The callousness of his hands making you shiver in his grasp. You may think this position is in your favor, that you could use it to your advantage. But Joker's got you right where he wants you. The stern look in his blackened eyes and the firm hold he's got on you make that known. "You ah- were supposed to make it through the film without so much as a fuss. Remember that?"

"I was?" Your fingers ghost up his chest, "I don't remember that part." Now you're pushing it. He notices the smile threatening to creep your face. One of his hands shoots up to grasp a fistful of your hair, yanking your head back, exposing your marked neck.

"Yes," he acknowledges slowly trailing his lips up your throat, "yes you do. You just chose to be a brat and not listen." His tone is dangerous, and it would've been absolutely frightening had you been anyone else instead of the only person he cares about in his life. Even though he'd never verbally admit that, frustrating as it is for him, he does care. He does. Which is why whenever you feel that tingle dubbed as fear creep up your spine, you still hold assurance. The flesh of his scars brush the underside of your chin, making you moan unabashedly. "Ya know I gotta punish you for that."

J uses his hold on your hair and hip to guide you to lay over his lap, your naked stomach pressed against his wet thighs, and most of all, his erection. He reaches over to the small table beside the couch, plucking an item you assume to be one of his signature knives. The distinct clicking sound indicates you were correct. It's a switchblade.

He drags the razor sharp blade along your spine until it reaches your underwear, almost on the verge of slicing into you. The thrill gets your heart pounding faster in your chest and ears. You love it when he cuts you, and he's aware of that. But this is a punishment, so you won't be getting what you want.. least not yet. Placing it under the strap, he tears the article to shreds, carelessly nicking you a few times in the process. Alright, so the little nicks he can't control. Those just come naturally. Tossing the ruined fabric aside, he palms your ass cheeks, favoring a spot to start spanking. "Count. We'll ah, stop when I decide you've had enough."

His palm came down hard against your ass, sending an electrifying jolt through your entire body causing you to yelp. "One!" You count. The stinging grew worse with each spank. He hit you hard, but it wasn't anything you couldn't bare. Warm tears steamed down your reddened cheeks. It hurt in a wonderful way, your pussy leaking more arousal as it progressed. He continued to spank you until he grew bored of hearing the same cries and whines.

"Last one bunny," he subtly praised, soothing over the bright marks in your flesh that are starting to welt and bruise. With that, his hand came down a final time. This one stinging the worst.

"Fif- fifteen." You manage to rasp, mind overcome with the lust you had building up. At this point you need him inside you. You need his cock buried deep in your aching core and you need him now. "Please f-fuck me J. I need you!" Your body arched into his as you begged.

J snickered, "need me huh? How bad?" His hand went back to your abused ass to shove you forward, so that your pelvis was atop his as he purposely rolled his erection against your painfully heated sex. The friction drawing a long, strained moan from your lips which pleased him. "Tell me bunny. How, how bad do ya need my cock?"

"Bad- oh so fucking bad- I need your cock! P-Please J, please daddy, fuck me!" You practically shout, resorting to the word daddy. A word which you hardly use, but do when need be. And now was a time of great need.

A snarl left his lips as he yanks you off briefly to undo his pants and shove them down. His cock finally free from the uncomfortable confines, he sighs with relief as he takes it into his hand, pumping a few times. The tip, red and angry with his precum beading out. "Get over here now," he growls impatiently.

Wasting no time, you swing your leg over both of his, reclaiming your previous place of straddling him. You grabbed-rather pawed- his shoulders for leverage. His thick head lines up with your dripping entrance, then he pulls you down, driving his length inside with a powerful thrust. Knocking the wind from you as he filled you. Fuck, how he stretched you so good.

After a brief second for you both to adjust- you to his size and him to recompose himself- he instructs you to- "Move."

To which you do. Rapidly bouncing yourself up and down on his cock. Unashamed at the loud moans and whimpers continuously leaving your lips. This was exactly what you needed, and having been denied lots tonight it felt amazing to finally have this. You moved like your life depended on it.

J grunted as he met your thrusts with his languid ones, his hands guiding the movement of your hips. He held back from pounding into you, oh how he's going to pound into you, just not yet. Which means he's definitely in the mood to tease you to an extent, in any and every way that he can. What an asshole.. Your asshole.

Your arms went to wrap around him. To your surprise, he didn't shove them off. Instead, his chin went to rest in the crook of your neck, catching glimpse of the illuminated TV screen. The movie was still on.

"Mhm, you're just a horny little slut, aren't ya?" He sneered. "Can't even get through a movie without having my cock inside of ya."

There was no way you could give him a proper response. So wrapped were you in the exhilarating feeling of him that any words to a sentence you tried to form wouldn't come out. What did manage to slip out was muddled babbling. He snickered at your incoherence.

The female protagonist on the screen started to scream. The shrieking noise caught both your attention, though your actions didn't falter. "This woman's a terrible actor," J criticized the lady, "her scream is so fake, wouldn't you agree?"

"Yes- ah," you return finding your voice, "It s-sure is."

He removed one hand from your hip, gliding it up the valley between your breasts to grip your neck. Glaring menacingly into your eyes momentarily before muttering, "I think you could give me a better one." You knew from his low tone that something malicious just popped into his head. His fingers tightened, "Let's see if you could scream louder than the girl on the screen. Can ya do that for me sweets?"

You nodded feverishly within his hold, "yes J."

Satisfied with the answer, he began driving his cock vigorously up into you. The harsh slapping of skin heard as his hips pound mercilessly against your own. The spontaneous change of pace left you almost completely breathless. Your orgasm was fast approaching. Eyes squeezing shut as he fucked you relentlessly. You screamed, "Oh fuck!"

Your beautiful screams rang harmoniously in his ears like a favored tune. That he could play on repeat over and over and never grow tired of hearing. Your screams and moans are definitely his favorite sounds, aside from explosions and gunfire. He can't help but want more. Crave more.

"Come on doll, get louder," he teases, "I know ya could do better than that." He went to tug your head to the side, exposing the junction between your neck and shoulder. Sinking his yellowed teeth in, biting down hard to draw blood. That was just the push you needed. Your eyes roll back and your walls clench tightly around his length, releasing a shattering scream as you cum violently around his cock.

J lapped the fresh blood from where he bit you. "Hm, that's it," he groaned, "now that's a real scream." He kept going, his pace never letting up. In fact, soon as your hands went to tug at his hair did his thrusts speed up.

You yank his head from your neck to look into his intoxicating eyes, moving to glance towards your blood on his lips. Crashing them with yours to taste that savory metallic flavor for yourself. You take his bottom lip between your teeth and bite down harshly, earning a rumbling groan from him.

He's getting closer and closer to his own peak as you're nearing another. When you feel his thumb move to rub rigorous circles on your sensitive clit, you release his lip with a sharp cry. "J!"

Your walls clamping painfully tight around his throbbing dick, vision blurring as you cum. Nails digging into his broad chest, probably creating tiny bruises under the shirt.

He relishes in the pinch of pain you give him. Combined together with your sinful noises, the sight of your face contorted in ecstasy, and the feeling of your tight warm walls. With that, he buries himself in you and cums hard. A moan mixed with a groan like noise slipping from his lips while he shoots his hot load into your cervix. So much, that some leaks out while you milk him of every last drop.

J collects his breath before lifting your weight up to slip out of you. Your pussy lips are so swollen that his cum isn't even able to drip down once he's out. He sets you onto the couch beside him, getting up to go into the restroom to clean himself and grab a damp rag to bring back to you.

As you regain yourself, you manage to sit a little more up on the couch. Wincing, trying not to sit up all the way due to the soreness already starting to form between your legs. You wrap the blanket around your naked form and silently contemplate. The sex was amazing sure, but you still felt bad for ruining movie night with a terrible movie.

The sound of J coming back in hadn't even registered with you until he waved his hand in your view, tearing you from your thoughts. You blink quickly, offering him a smile to hide it. But J had already seen the small frown when he walked back. And he wanted to know the reason behind it, since it was out of the ordinary. Usually you're always smiling in your post orgasmic state.

"What's carving a frown in ya, pumpkin?" He asks, a hint of concern in his tone as he hands you the small towel. The strange nickname causes you to giggle and he eases knowing you're alright.

"It's nothing J," you say shyly, "I'm just.. I'm sorry the movie sucked. I promise I'll pick a better one next time."

He hums, saying nothing else as he sits back down beside you. Draping his arm behind the couch behind you. Blankly watching the last of the movies end credits while you clean yourself with the rag.

You start to laugh again, "Well, now I really wanna carve a pumpkin. This place could use a couple. How about tomorrow I get some for us to carve?"

He grins sinisterly, "ya know, I'm usually carving into people."

"Pumpkins are less messy. Like, way less." You playfully respond.

"I like messy," he huffs.

"Yeah I know you do." You smile knowingly at him, lightly tracing the hexagonal patterns on his shirt. "I thought it would be fun. You don't have to if you don't want to."

J licks his scars as he ponders on it. Any activity having to do with a carving into something with a knife, count him in. "Ah, what the hell. Alright. What better way then to uh, help me spruce up on my slicing skills." He traces his hand out in front of him, as if he were carving a smile into something. This action causes you to release a genuine laugh. And in that moment, J relishes in hearing yet another one of his favorite sounds~

Woah, so that's the end! I hope you guys liked it. Again, sorry that it was so long. I can't help but make these super lengthy when it comes to smut😭

#heath ledger joker #tdk joker #the dark knight joker #ledger joker x reader #ledger joker x y/n #ledger joker x female reader #joker x reader #joker x y/n #ledger!joker #ledger joker #ledger joker smut #joker smut #the dark night #fanfic

858 notes · View notes

mingmingfufu · 3 years

Text

Can we just talk about the ending of KawoShin open discuss. *sort of spoilerish*

I feel like I’m the only one who’s like reallly disappointed LMFAO--ya’ll there’s so much “canon” alternative universe and merchandise for Kawoshin in Evangelion that it kind of makes me upset to realise this couple just went down the drain. Yeah, I can see how people were like, “Kaworu’s toxic” or “Kaworu has a hero complex for Shinji” to which I say are valid points. But the toxic thing I feel like can also be applied to pretty much everyone around Shinji tbh, except for Rei. I did NOT, like Asuka at all but I really love her character though, and I felt for her a lot throughout the series.

I did not ship them either because honestly, Shinji and Asuka seemed better off playing the sibling dynamic instead of trying to play bf/gf which honestly is kind of forced by their living situation. Also since they’re in a similar disposition non existent father and dead mother, you’d imagine they would rely on each other for emotional comfort. Though Asuka—her personality I feel like she can’t differentiate between familial love and romantic love and the affection she wants is a bit of both. But, her character tries to be “mature”; she wants romantic love more and does this through sexual means and romantic gestures e.g. like kissing. One of my friends told me that you can’t stay friends as a boy and a girl cause eventually you catch feelings. Which I say is kinda dumb cause I have a lot of male friends, and I definitely don’t harbour those feelings, but I guess it’s a common phenomena.

I think this is what happens in this case, of Asuka and Shinji. Even after rejection of instrumentality they actually are depicted as childhood friends. But knowing how they both were before to each other, it was not good tbh. Also to mention the choking like thrice— bro if anything, this showcases a really abusive relationship and I think this outstretches the idea of their character tropes. Which I firmly stand by saying they’re superficial to each other. AsuShin were never really there for each other and are using each other in a forced situation. However, you can’t deny that they didn’t at some point catch feels, also Shinji is pretty consistent how he still cares about everyone around him. Which I really like how they add that to his character because it reminiscent of Yui, because you see a duality of both his parents personality in Shinji throughout the series—it’s a really nice touch. But bruh, if we gonna talk about that coma scene—I’m out LOL.

Thoughhhh, she is a true definition of best girl I really like her arc, fighting drive, and her skills as an Eva pilot 😭💗--but bruh she’s still a toxic and sometimes annoying tsundere trope, but still she’s 14 what can you do. So I feel like Kensuke and Asuka are actually a pretty good combo, cause he’s always been pretty mature even without parents. Also Asuka was into older guys, so I guess this is a win win?? Also Rei and Shinji, I honestly cannot get my head around it cause that’s pretty much his mom—so in a way that’s like either his half-sister or mom-ish clone?? Idk but Yui is definitely the donor LOL.

Kaworu and Shinji I felt like brought a bunch of things out of each other. I don’t know which timeline begins first, but I’d like to think the manga, the anime (plus its movies), and then to the rebuild series. Because I think that order is kind of pivotal to observing Kaworu’s character development from being a person who’s trying to understand human feelings to then the kinder person we see in the final series. You can tell how he’s changed and he knows Shinji a lot more as well as being considerate to him e.g. giving him personal space or letting him work at his own pace. Also that “we’ll meet again.” Is an obvious nod to how he’s done this before.

His literal story in every timeline is always romantic LOL, like bruh I can’t remember which game it was but basically a bad ending of Kawoshin route is that you reject Kaworu and he starts the third impact 🤡. Also I don’t know why but I started to see a weird dynamic between those two, in the manga their interactions reminded me of Asuka and Shinji—which Shinji is the tsundere Asuka here. I don’t know if this is relevant but the older character relative to the character they’re with seems to play off a mature vs a childish person trope. Asuka is younger than Shinji and Shinji is actually younger than Kaworu. Then again I could be overseeing this but istg manga Kaworu and Shinji mirror the whole Asushin dynamic. Like he’s seriously agressive against Kaworu, then after killing him he admits liking him. 🤡 I don’t know which is funnier no homo Shinji, homophobe shinji, or just closet Shinji who needs to realise sexuality is a spectrum so he could’ve idk—come out as bisexual, but whatever manga Shinji lol that timeline is over.

Anyways the development of these two is real and I think the rebuild timeline shows them at their best bringing their own personage out from each other like how they both enjoy music together--WHICH I’M SO SAD WE NEVER GET TO SEE THAT CELLO AGAIN. Then there’s those feelings of humanity, love, kindness, etc. Which yeah an angel could represent those things, but Kaworu is still his own person, self-aware of a cycle and if you think about how he initially was there to USE Shinji, but ultimately turned on that plan set by SEELE because he loved Shinji (and a bunch of other things like him showing Kaworu humanity). I also can see the argument, how “ideal” Kaworu is to Shinji, but he’s more self aware of the time he has before he KNOWS he’ll die and knows how to act for himself in that duration to make the most of it. All with Shinji. At some point, I think he fell in love with Shinji tho I don’t know where it began tbh—considering that all those alternate universes do exist. Kaworu does romantically love Shinji--so, in some universe they both reciprocate their feelings to each other.

In the last movie during that convo with Shinji. Like bREH it’s so emotionally moving because Kaworu remembers ALLLLL the timelines and how he’s been with Shinji and later Shinji himself recalls the events too. Where they show the scene from the manga and anime. Kaworu cries after being set free from the EVA cycle. Which, I definitely understood what he meant by him saying “it’ll be lonely” and how Shinji changed or that he’s actually different this time.

Either way, Shinji did right by him because it’s always Kaworu who has the purpose of “trying to save Shinji” but it always ends up the same. I thought that was really moving because Shinji tells Kaworu he’s gonna let him live a life for himself for once and he wants the same for everyone as well. Which was honestly so meaningful cause I think Kaworu’s character and like Rei too when they start to realise how to “live” like a person and not another puppet it’s truly liberating. Another thing I forgot, bruh Kaworu calls Gendo his father and ngl I feel like this is kind of a weird lore situation because I for sure don’t think he’s the donor. I think he calls him that as an insult because he knows Gendo’s whole doing and relative to Shinji—I kind of see it as a joke LOL. Like it’s equivalent to saying, “daddy chill”, or “hey look it’s daddy and his plans to end the world” also I kind of like to think of it as a father in law thing cause you know, Kawoshin *winks amirite*

The ending, I’m honestly hoping is just an open ending because it gives everything an actual start of their adult lives not being dictated by extraterrestrial forces. Though, I’m kind of wondering if the world doesn’t have EVAs does that still mean everyone else still has the same backstory, and do they remember? Maybe Mari really is just a coworker lmfao, and there’s still a chance for Kaworu and Shinji cause ngl, they did have a convo (presumably from the spoilers) about still remaining close afterwards and that stare at the ending seems very hopeful.

I call bs from Anno saying, “oh Shinji is based off him and Mari off of his wife”, like honestly any OCs made theres always some part of yourself made into that character. Which is probably why a lot of people relate to the characters in EVA because they’re based off real things (e.g. those war machines characters are named after and people around them). I think why Kaworu and Rei are together at the end, is bc they’re very much the same. They’re mass produced dolls—which oddly enough that’s the case for all the children except they don’t recall the loop. Kind of funny also how both Kaworu and Rei became farmers lmfao so ig it runs in the family (yes that’s right I like the idea that they’re siblings it was always noted that they’re like “the same”).

Another thing, i think why the rebuild really did well for Kawoshin and in my opinion canonised it—the convo with elder Ryoji Kaji (Misato’s baby daddy) that there was a time he felt incredibly lonely and depressed thinking Misato didn’t love him and so he started looking out for himself. So self love and found himself a hobby in farming which he suggests to Kaworu—basically saying he might feel like Shinji doesn’t love him but he’s gotta remember to take care of himself. if I go thru a breakup ill feel like it’s the end of the world but Kaji says y’a gotta self love broe and take care yo self gad dam fam 😭 💗.

Though, that look at the end from Shinji to Kaworu—I’d like to believe there is still hope that one day when they’re a bit stable in their adult lives, they’ll run into each other.

#Kaworu Nagisa #shinji ikari #neon genesis evangelion #rei ayanami #mari illustrious makinami #asuka shikinami #discussion #kawoshin #nge kaworu #nge shinji #nge

40 notes · View notes

ahsxual · 4 years

Text

My Personal Teddy Bear

Pairing: Phoenix!Joker x Reader

Genre: Fluff

Request: "Heyyy !! Love your writing ! :D If it's okay for you, can you please write a headcanon with Joker 2019 and a very romantic reader who loves fluffy things ? Thank you !! <3"

Word Count: 1,9k

A/N: Thank you so much for requesting this my dear @arthurjokersgirl!! I'm really happy to know that you like my writing 🥺🥺 It means so much to me!! And I'm so sorry for taking so long, but I had a few problems in writing this fic (tumblr didn't save it, so I had to write it all over again). Anyway, I hope you enjoy this fic I made for you <33

(I don't own this image!!! If you own it, please message me and I'll give you the deserved credits)

When you and Arthur met, both of you were surprised by the amount of things that you had in common.

You two are so kind, so good-hearted, so romantic and dedicated to your partner and everything you do... and if there's something that manages to put a cute and melting smile on your faces, is when you receive, especially when it’s from one another, fluffy objects, such as teddy bears, flowers, romantic CD's, love letters... anything that involves and expresses the love you have for each other.

Whenever you idealized a relationship or whenever someone asked you to describe the "perfect man", the answer was always the same: a romantic, caring, generous and cute guy who would do anything for his girlfriend, promising to love her for all eternity.

Once other people heard your answer, they would say you were just being childish, that those types of guys weren't real and that you had to live in the real world, not some kind of princess movie, waiting for your prince to rescue and fulfill your heart with all the love he could muster... what they didn't know, was that your prince was destined to meet you the moment you were welcomed into this world.

You couldn't imagine being with anybody else: ever since you shared your first words with Arthur, you knew deep inside that he was the one for you, the love of your life, your charming prince... and as if he hasn’t told you yet, he felt exactly the same, you were his one and only that he had been waiting for so long all his lonely life.

Your chemistry was unique: you were so in love, so committed to your relationship, that you were sure that you would spend the rest of your lifes with each other. Death wasn’t able to break your chain, it was stronger that anything else in the universe. Once you had finally perished, you would marry each other as many times as you needed, twice, thrice, billions of times if it were needed.

Arthur sees you as a sweet, gorgeous flower, being utterly different from the others by its unique beauty. He doesn’t have eyes for any other flower: you're the only one he has eyes for and feels pure love for: he even compared himself to the Little Prince, and you were the only flower in his world, yet perfect and outstanding.

He loved the fact that you were as romantic as him, because that made him feel more secure and sure of yourself. Even the little things would put your eyes in tears and make your smile grow until your red cheeks started to hurt because of his sweet gestures.

Your favorite hobbie is, after getting from a tired and exhausted day of work, laying in each other's arms on the spacious sofa while watching romantic movies or comedies to brighten your mood, covered in blankets while sharing a cup of hot tea because of the frosty cold winter.

You loved everything about Arthur and your relationship with him: it was all about trust, support, love, dedication, comprehension and understanding. He was your best friend, and you were his.

Every month he would save some extra money to buy you a present, sometimes even starving himself for days just to have enough money to buy you the most expensive gift he could afford. But of course that once you knew about this you immediately stopped him, not admitting him to do such silliness no matter how good his intentions were.

But what he didn't know, was that you were willing to play the same game: without him realizing it, you saved some cash every month as well (without starving yourself, of course), to buy tickets for a romantic movie that would debut in the cinemas.

You were so happy about it, to finally give Arthur what he deserves and to take him where he has always wanted to go since he was a little kid. But this time, he would see a romantic movie with you, giving you both an opportunity to have a decent date for you to enjoy.

You couldn't wait to see your lover's face once he knows he'd go to cinema for the very first time with the love of his life, with his one and only... with you.

On the other hand, Arthur was thinking exactly the same thing, since he had been saving some cash to give you a surprise, imagining your reaction after he had offered his gift that would mark and change your lives forever, while increasing your pure love even more, if that was even possible.

One day you went to grab your hidden piggy bank with more money to save, only to count it right after. Once you had counted it and saw that you had enough, you instantly jumped and giggled from the sheer happiness around your shared room. You made so much noise, that even Arthur who was in the living room, knocked gently on the door to make sure you were fine.

Today was the day where you finally could show your gift to him: you told him that he needed to hurry up and dress something nice, because you were going to an amazing place. He wanted to know what your plans were so bad, but he knew it was useless since you wouldn't tell him until you had arrived to the "misterious place".

Once you had arrived and had gotten out safely from the bus, you told your boyfriend to close his gorgeous ocean eyes.

"You can open them now, love." you gently said with the two tickets held in your hand, while being right in front of the cinema so he could understand your intentions.

He was immediatly dumb-founded as soon as he understood what you meant. "Y-you... you want me to go to the cinema with... with you?" his eyes started to become moist with each second that passed, and you only had time to embrace him in your eyes while assuring him that this was real, that this was really happening.

"It's ok love, it's good to let our emotions out when we need to. I'm right here if you need anything. We will have so much fun! And you know that we deserve this, it will be good for us and our relationship, right?" you look into his eyes and could see that a few tears managed to slide down from his red and cold cheeks. He was definitely crying, but from happiness, something that he never thought was possible: he could only relate tears to sadness, however you managed to prove him that the opposite was possible as well. That's what he loved about you: even having been through a lot and felt so many things from his entire life, he would always learn something new about you, him and others from you.

"I can't even thank you enough for all you have done for me, honey... If I could only retribute half that you have done for me... I would be the happiest man for seeing his future wife happy as well." you were smiling from ear to ear, but once he said the words that you always dreamed to hear from him, "future wife", you had to hold your tears back from falling down your now stunned face.

You were too distracted, or should I say too concentrated on your lover, that you didn't realize that the movie was about to start.

Once you entered the cinema room, both of you were amazed by the view: the red seats were all over the place and were very organized; the movie screen was giant, the perfect size to enjoy your movie; the background was simple, yet exquisite, giving you a sudden feeling of luxury, however you didn't care that much if you were honest. As long as you were by Arthur's side, that's all that matters, because your love is the most luxurious thing in this world.

That night was the one you've always dreamed of: you stayed close to each other while grabbing your hands firmly, yet gently, like you were terrified of someone taking the other away from yourselves; the movie contained a lot of romance, which illuminated your hearts more than the brightest stars. You could even relate yourselves to the lovely couple on the screen, which made you both smile the entire time, changing glances with each other with the most passionate stare. This made Arthur think about what he had planned for you for a long time, more specifically from the moment you shared your first kiss, because since then, he instantly knew you were the one.

It made him feel a little bit, not to say extremely, nervous as well, and when the movie ended, you thought it was necessary to ask if he was ok or if he just didn't like the movie.

"N-no! Of course I liked the movie, I actually loved it. I couldn't imagine any other date more perfect than the one you planned for us... thank you once again, it means so, so much to me, sweetheart..." he admitted, making you feel more relaxed. However, he seemed like he was hiding something else, like he had something on his mind that he couldn't let out. But then he smiled at you while grabbing your hand softly, and from that moment you knew that he was about to tell you what was stuck on his mind since he left home.

You walked out of the cinema and went outside, where you instantly felt your body shivering from the cold of the late night of Gotham... but your boyfriend made sure to warm and melt your heart in an instant.

You saw Arthur overthinking and trembling a little, and when you were about to ask him if he was cold too and wanted you to warm him up, he kneeled on the rigid ground and took a small box of your favorite color from his back pocket.

You had an idea of what was coming, yet you couldn't believe that that was what was really going to happen.

"My sweet precious, kind, and beautiful love, would you... would you l-like to ah.. m-marry me...?" his eyes seemed like they belonged to a baby puppy that was asking for affection or his favorite treat, but in this case he was asking you for being his wife... Is this a dream??

You immediately felt your eyes burning and becoming wet by the few rebellious tears that managed to escape from your lovely stare. Your hands were now in front of your gaping mouth, and you couldn't feel cold anymore. The only thing you felt in that moment, was an enormous wave of warm love that you couldn't help, but you let yourself drown.

It was at this moment that all your insecurities and fears that were related to your mutual love, were permanently defeated. Now you knew there was nothing nor anyone that would tear you apart... and you had so many goals yet to achieve as a couple.

102 notes · View notes

anxiously-unsatisfied-world · 4 years

Text

No Cuddles For a Week

@tdbkweek21 / Entry 2: Punishment/Savior

Pairing: Todobaku Warnings: Arguing/Yelling, Sickfic (Nausea) Word Count: 3195

A/N: Entry 2! As much as I chose punishment for the prompt, it’s like more of a bet than a punishment so -shrugs- I guess it’s close enough ^^; Hope you enjoy! <3

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I can't believe you would do something like that!" Shouto yells the second they're back in his dorm room.

"Chill out, Shouto. It all worked out in the end." Katsuki leans against the door, watching as his boyfriend paces around the room.

Shouto whirls around and stalks toward him, pressing him up against the door. Normally, Katsuki'd enjoy this position, but not when the temperature is fluctuating so rapidly like Shouto can't decide whether he wants to freeze him or set him on fire more.

"Oh, yeah?! And what if it didn't?? You think I would have wanted to see you get injured in front of me? Or captured again?" The 'or worse' isn't said but both of them hear it anyway.

Katsuki winces as it becomes clear that Shouto's not angry at him, not really, but is some combination of concerned, afraid, and relieved. "No. I don't think you would have. But come on, everything's fine, babe. We saved the day back there. There were no casualties."

Shouto deflates a little and presses up against him. Katsuki curls his arms around him, a hand drifting up and playing with Shouto's hair softly.

"There could have been…" Shouto mumbles after a moment. "If that didn't work out like it did, it could have gone so badly."

"I know." Katsuki lightly scratches Shouto's scalp, sighing softly when Shouto relaxes some. "I'm sorry. I can't promise I won't do it again, but I'll consider other options first."

"I guess that's all I can ask." Shouto nuzzles into Katsuki's neck, clinging to him for a moment before huffing softly. "You make this so difficult." He mumbles, almost petulantly and Katsuki can't help but snort as he lifts him up to carry him to the bed.

"Oh, yeah. How so?" He settles them with Shouto in his lap, chuckling a little at the pout on his boyfriend's face.

"You calm me down so easily. I had this whole punishment in mind but now I don't think it's worth it anymore."

Katsuki raises an eyebrow and nudges Shouto lightly. "A punishment, huh?"

Shouto rolls his eyes and shoves gently against Katsuki's chest. "Oh, hush. It wouldn't be anything fun. You know you're not supposed to enjoy a punishment after all."

"What would it have been?" Katsuki asks and Shouto chuckles a little as he curls further into Katsuki, tracing his fingers over Katsuki's cheek.

"No cuddles for a week." Shouto chuckles again at the way that it's been less than ten minutes since their argument and they're already cuddling. There's no way they would've lasted a week. Even if Katsuki could manage it, Shouto has a feeling he would've caved before the week was up.

"Ouch, princess. That's harsh." Katsuki says, drawing Shouto in further. "Doubt you would last the whole week before ending the punishment early."

Despite having thought the same thing himself, Shouto narrows his eyes at the competitive tone, feeling like he needs to defend himself. So he does.

"Like you wouldn't be suffering either. Need I remind you who starts most of our cuddle sessions?" Shouto raises an eyebrow as he looks Katsuki in the eye.

"Uh, yeah, that's you, princess. Hate to break it to you, but I know how affectionate you truly are under that icy exterior. You wouldn't last the week." Katsuki challenges, smirking when Shouto sits up sharply.

"Oh, yeah? Wanna make that a bet? Loser does one thing the winner wants, no matter what it is."

"You're on," Katsuki says and they shake hands. "However, this should start tomorrow so that it's a full week."

Shouto glances at the setting sun outside the window and nods. "That's fair."

This was about to be the most difficult/interesting week they've had in quite some time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nothing changes immediately the following day. They don't usually get to spend a lot of time with each other between classes and training and the same is true of the first day of their bet.

In fact, they make it well into the evening without it being a problem, caught between homework and studying with their respective friends. Even the fact that it's a scheduled movie night with their classmate doesn't phase either of them.

Katsuki goes to sit near Kirishima while Shouto sits with Midoriya, receiving a confused look almost immediately.

"Um, Todoroki-kun? Are you fighting with Kacchan?" Shouto shakes his head and Midoriya frowns a little. "Then why aren't you sitting with him?" His eyes widen and he waves his arms around. "Not that I mind you sitting with me! It's just you guys tend to cuddle during movies…"

"I know. But we're in a bit of a challenge right now." Shouto says with a small grin. "To see who can make it through the week with no cuddles without caving."

Midoriya starts laughing at that, apologizing when everyone turns to shush him and muffling his laughter with his hands until he calms down. "I'm sorry!" he whispers to Shouto, who waves off his apologies.

"I know, it's not an easy bet, but it'll certainly be interesting."

"Mhm." They turn their attention to the movie then.

After the movie, Shouto starts to go through his normal routine, freezing at the fact that the no cuddling rule renders this little habit obsolete. Normally, about an hour before Katsuki goes to bed, they meet up to talk and cuddle. It's a good way to get out any stresses they had that day before going to sleep, but now that's not really possible… Is it?

He pulls out his phone and texts Katsuki.

S: So, are we still meeting up or does the bet negate this? K: Why would it? … Oh yeah… K: Still, you can come over. We can still talk, just no cuddling this time.

Shouto nods and almost forgets to confirm that he's coming before pulling on some comfy clothes and heading down a floor to Katsuki's room. When he arrives, he almost instinctually crawls into bed beside Katsuki before remembering himself and sitting at the foot of the bed, leaning up against the wall.

It's weird for a moment but they settle into it, the whole process of getting to talk to each other still being relaxing. In fact, they get so into it that they nearly forget that there's a no cuddle rule in the first place aside from a few idle thoughts.

When Katsuki's alarm goes off, Shouto stands up with a soft chuckle. "It is a bit weird for me to leave so promptly, huh?" Katsuki nods, both of them thinking about how neither of them wants to stop cuddling when it's time to separate for the night.

Shouto walks over and kisses Katsuki softly before turning to leave. "Goodnight, love."

"G'night," Katsuki mumbles back, causing Shouto to smile as he leaves the room, returning to his own dorm.

As he's preparing for bed, he receives one text that makes him smile.

K: The bed's too damn cold…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The second day is much the same, but it's a little easier without the movie night reminding them that they can't cuddle together. But the third day, it's like everything that could go wrong is.

First, Katsuki wakes up late, which throws the whole day off. Normally, he has time to go for a run and cook a basic breakfast for him and Shouto (and the rest of their friends but shush, he just makes 'extra' even if that is enough for everyone else). But now, he's barely got time to get up and get dressed before he has to leave the dorm.

If that had been the only thing wrong, then he would've shrugged it off as a weird occurrence and went on with his day, but no.

During one of his classes, he realizes that he left his assignment back in his dorm, leaving him unable to turn it in on time. Thankfully, the teacher understands when he talks to them after class and says that he can turn it in the next day for full credit, but only because he does this so infrequently.

During training, his gauntlets malfunction for some unknown reason and end up literally blowing up in his face, causing him to mess up the task for the day. But then he has no problems for the rest of class, so he doesn't know whether that was just a fluke or not. Still, he'll have the support course students look at them just in case.

His bad luck chills out a bit after school ends, but that's mainly because he doesn't have to patrol today, so it's back to the dorms for him. Thankfully. He honestly believes that he had gone out today that something would go wrong given what's happened so far.

Normally, on a sucky day like this, he would call Shouto to his room a bit early and they'd cuddle more to calm him down, but that's not really an option, is it?

Part of him is tempted to just call the whole thing off so he can cuddle his boyfriend, but the other part really wants to see if Shouto could even last a full week without cuddles.

The rest of the evening proceeds as normal, his bad mood lightening some when he gets to talk with Shouto and see how sympathetic and concerned his boyfriend is. On anyone else, that kind of expression would just make him angry, but he knows Shouto genuinely means it and it's become very comforting to him.

He also notices the way Shouto half-reaches out to him before firmly putting his arms at his side, causing Katsuki to smirk. It seems his urge to comfort him is at war with this whole bet, which makes him even more confident that Shouto's going to be the one to give in first.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Katsuki sits up with a gasp, clutching a hand over his heart, his breathing coming in short gasps. He shakes his head to try to clear the images from his dream, but they're persistent, clinging to him like a parasite to its host.

He flicks on the lamp on his nightstand and grabs his phone, already dialing the numbers before he has the conscious thought of who he wants to talk to. Not that it'd be anyone else.

"Katsuki?" Shouto asks, his voice sounding adorably sleepy and confused.

Katsuki tries to respond but all that comes out is a soft whimper, tears pricking his eyes at the confirmation that Shouto is safe, that what he had seen didn't happen.

"Katsuki? Are you okay?" Shouto sounds significantly more awake now and a mix of concerned and almost afraid, one that breaks some of the nightmare's hold on Katsuki enough that he can reply.

"Yeah, just… Had a nightmare…"

Shouto hums softly, the sound soothing some of Katsuki's ruffled nerves. Normally, Shouto would offer to sneak down to his room to cuddle him back to sleep, but Katsuki has a feeling that he'd have to offer that this time with the bet going on, and some part of him doesn't want to give up just yet even if that sounds heavenly.

"What do you want me to do?" Shouto asks, so obviously giving him that out that he could just reach out and take if he wanted.

"Just talk to me?"

"Alright." Shouto starts talking then, telling stories that Katsuki's heard before, but that doesn't matter now. The familiar tales soothe him and he settles under the blankets, letting Shouto's voice lull him back to sleep.

This time, he doesn't have any nightmares.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Day four isn't the most difficult day. It's no day full of bad luck for either of them, the main issue is just the weirdness of the whole situation. Shouto can't recall one time since they started dating that they've gone anywhere longer than two to three days without some sort of cuddle session, even back when Katsuki wasn't as outspoken about enjoying it.

So, it's weird to sit apart from each other during study sessions or movies that the whole class puts on to relax. It's even stranger to not cuddle when they're in Katsuki's room at night, but it's almost starting to feel normal now that it's the fourth day. Which is odd by itself.

Shouto finds it harder to keep his eyes off of Katsuki on the fourth day. The closeness would normally reassure him that the other's alright or happy, but he finds himself watching Katsuki just to do the same thing.

This finds him in the kitchen after their patrols are finished watching Katsuki stir some combination of ingredients in a bowl. He really should be working on an assignment right now, but it's almost hypnotizing. It's like all the stress melts off of Katsuki while he's baking, leaving him looking, for once, fully calm and, in Shouto's eyes at least, unfairly pretty.

"What are you making?" He asks, setting his pencil down and fully giving up on the illusion that he's working.

Katsuki glances up and gives a little shrug. "Cookies."

Shouto smiles a little, smug enough that Katsuki glares at him. "What are you looking at, peppermint?"

"Oh, nothing Just… Those wouldn't happen to be snickerdoodles, would they?" Shouto asks, playing the innocent card all while snickering mentally.

Katsuki freezes for a split second, causing Shouto to start snickering out loud. "So, they are, huh? Why? Is the lack of cuddles stressing you out?" Shouto says, teasing lightly and once again offering an out if Katsuki wants to take it.

"Pfft no." Katsuki sets the bowl down, a touch too hard, and starts rolling the dough into little balls. "Why would it be? I can make a week without cuddles easily."

"Uh-huh," Shouto says, knowing that he's bluffing. Katsuki tends to make snickerdoodles only when he's needing the comfort of his favorite childhood treat, so he's clearly more stressed than he's wanting to show. But Shouto respects the way he won't back down. If he were really upset, then he wouldn't let his pride get in the way.

"Can I--?" Shouto starts to ask but Katsuki shoots him a quick glare.

"Only if there's dough leftover, you greedy little shit," Katsuki says, rolling his eyes when Shouto gives him a happy look. Both of them know that he's going to leave some extra cookie dough for Shouto, but he doesn't have to admit it out loud.

Katsuki finishes rolling the dough into balls and puts the tray into the oven before dropping the bowl by Shouto's workspace, shaking his head slightly when Shouto immediately scoops some up and eats it. Katsuki turns to go clean up, but notices how little work Shouto's gotten finished while they've been here.

"If you can get that done by the time the cookies are done, I'll let you have two fresh out of the oven." He specifically doesn't say that Shouto gets a single cookie regardless, but he doesn't need to as Shouto nods, a determined look crossing his face as he gets back to work, letting Katsuki clean up.

Shouto does manage to get his work finished on time and they spend the rest of the evening together, not having to worry about class the next day. Though, both are worried about the extra challenge the weekend will bring since they won't have the excuse of training and classwork to busy them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Shouto whines softly as he wakes up, burrowing under the blanket as his head pounds at how bright the light streaming in through the window is. He lays in bed for a little longer before getting up, wincing as he has to grab onto his desk to steady himself.

He shakes his head barely, regretting the motion almost immediately as it makes his stomach roll. It's clear that it'd be a bad idea even going downstairs so he just goes to the bathroom and brushes his teeth before crawling back into bed and grabbing his phone.

S: Kat… I don't feel good.

He doesn't immediately get a response, though the text has been read, and he's nearly fallen back asleep when there's a light knock on his door. Shouto whines softly but gets up to answer the door, smiling a bit when he sees Katsuki on the other side carrying container of soup.

Katsuki jerks his head in the direction of Shouto's bed and Shouto obediently goes and crawls under the covers. Katsuki sets the container on Shouto's nightstand and kneels down, brushing some of Shouto's hair out of his face.

"Mind eating some of that for me, Shou?" Katsuki asks softly, shushing him softly when Shouto just makes a face. "I know, but you have to eat something."

Shouto nods and sits up while Katsuki removes the lid from the container, handing the container and gesturing for Shouto to sip at it. Shouto does and realizes that the soup mainly consists of broth, meaning Katsuki guessed right at how he was feeling.

He's able to stomach about a third of the container before his stomach complains and he pushes it back into Katsuki's hands, who nods and puts the lid on it before setting it to the side. Katsuki looks at him with a contemplative expression before sighing softly.

"The bet's over." He says. Shouto gives him a confused look, the words not making any sense. Just because he's sick doesn't mean they can't still do the bet. "Shut up. I know you, princess. You're even more cuddly when you're sick and I'm not going to withhold one of the things that makes you feel better just because of a damn bet."

Shouto nods, leaning back in bed while Katsuki grabs Shouto's laptop off his desk and settles on the bed beside him. Shouto leans his head against Katsuki's shoulder while the other pulls up Netflix, picking Shouto's favorite movie before pulling Shouto properly into his arms.

They spend the rest of the day watching movies and cuddling with Shouto drifting in and out of sleep and breaks where Katsuki would go down to the kitchen and bring back more soup/eat his own meals.

"It is kinda funny though." Katsuki says while the credits of one movie are rolling. Shouto hums in responds and Katsuki chuckles a bit. "The one week we decide to do this, everything goes wrong and makes it even more difficult."

Shouto giggles a bit. "Yeah. I mean, it's supposed to be a challenge, right?"

Katsuki nods and presses a kiss to the top of Shouto's head. "Yeah, makes me wonder, though. If we can't manage a week of no cuddling while we're still in school, how are we going to make it through any week-long missions as heroes?"

Shouto yawns softly and nuzzles into Katsuki's neck. "Hmm, guess we should try to always be paired up. Then we won't have to go without."

Katsuki chuckles and picks another movie, figuring Shouto's not going to be awake for much of it the way he's acting. "Hmm, maybe. Rest, princess. We can figure that out later."

Shouto nods and snuggles a bit closer to Katsuki, falling asleep to the opening credits.

#todobaku #todoroki shouto #bakugou katsuki #bnha #tdbkweek21 #my posts

16 notes · View notes

justathingidid · 4 years

Text

ZOMBIES: THE DISCRIMINATORY UNDEAD

The movie premiered early 2018 on Disney Channel

On February 16, 2018, Disney Channel premiered the sing and dance musical Zombies, which focuses on the integration of teenage zombies into the pastel perfect Seabrook High. Milo Manheim portrays Zed, a green-haired, grey-skinned zombie who wants nothing more than to be on Seabrook’s football team. His determined spirit is shared by Addison - a bubbly, cheerful girl whose main goal is to be on the Seabrook High cheer squad. Apparently the passion for extracurricular athletics is stronger than it lets on, because these two somehow fall in love. But the young romance is faced with problems - the main one being that zombies are hated and the town of Seabrook would never accept the dating duo. Despite the over-the-top dance numbers and Romeo-and-Juliet-esque love story, Zombies is nothing short of masterful in its depiction of segregation and intolerance in an ignorant community. This post will include the following:

An analysis of the town and social structure of Seabrook

An in-depth character study of Zed and Addison

An examination and explanation of the “physical villain”

Examination of certain song lyrics

SYMBOLISM IN THE TOWN OF SEABROOK

The town of Seabrook is sickeningly perfect. The color palette of pastel pinks, greens, blues and greys is shoved down the throat of the viewer to display the cohesiveness of the citizens. Such uniformity is instrumental in showing the shared ideals and viewpoints of the people of Seabrook - the coordinated appearance is more than physical. Overall, it is clear to younger viewers that the people of Seabrook firmly embrace sameness. On the outskirts lies “Zombietown”, the dark, gloomy community where the people of Seabrook have forced the creatures of difference to reside. The history is controversial - zombies were created in freak accident, changing regular citizens into flesh eating creatures of the night. It is not sure whether or not a war had ensued but it can assumed that altercations did occur - characters mentions that their grandfather’s ear was bitten off by a zombie and all zombies now have an unexplained fear of fire. While the body count is unknown, one thing is clear, zombies are feared and ostracized. This immense fear has caused institutionalized discrimination - zombies are regulated by the government and not allowed in public spaces. Such laws only hint at historical instances of racism and discrimination in the real world. In America, African-Americans faced heavy discrimination based on the unwarranted accusations of being savage, uncivilized, and undeserving. Similar to the zombies in Zombietown, laws were enforced that banned blacks from public spaces such as water fountains, schools and churches. When schools were finally desegregated, there was a large outcry from the white community, similar to the response of Seabrook citizens when zombie students are integrated into Seabrook High School. Once there, the zombie students are subjected to inferior classroom conditions and hate speech sprayed on the walls, just like black students who were allowed to attend majority-white institutions. But the similarities don't just apply to African Americans, Zombies are also comparable to Asian-Americans. A certain laws restricts zombies from owning pets out of fear that they will eat them - somewhat of an allegory to the racist stereotype of Asian-Americans consuming domestic animals such as dogs and cats. Zombies are also regulated by Z-Bands, an unremovable metal wrist band that delivers electromagnetic pulses that reduces their urge for brains. This draws unmistakable similarity to abusive tactics employed in gay conversion therapy. There are countless stories of those in conversion therapy who found themself with “an elastic band around the wrist” that delivered electric shocks in order to dissuade the individual’s desire for the same-sex (NCLRIGHTS.ORG). With the Z-Band, the amount of electromagnetic pulses can alter the creature entirely. Too much is a heavily painful experience, but allows them to appear “normal”, while too little causes them to return to their natural state as brain-eating animals. For the electric-shock wristband, it can be determined that a similar concept applies: too much would prove to be near fatal despite its probable effectiveness, and too little would cause the person to remain as they are - in an unnatural state.

So, behind it’s pleasing color aesthetic, Seabrook is nothing but a symbol of an ugly history of misunderstanding.

CHARACTER STUDIES

I. ZED

Milo Manheim plays the titular role of Zed, a teenage zombie

At a glance: The main zombie in the movie is Zed Necrodopolous (“necro” being an humorous hint towards zombies’ relations to bodies and death), a teenage boy who wastes no time giving us the breakdown of zombie life in Seabrook. Not only are zombies cast to live inside a barricade known as “Zombietown”, the creatures are also banned from owning pets, and must wear government-issued overalls and Z-Bands. Despite the setbacks, Zed has found a way to make the best of the situation. He customizes his overalls, downloads games on his Z-Band, and pretends to be a dog for his little sister, Zoey, who really wants one. This “roll-with-the-punches”, humble attitude is what makes Zed so likeable. And this is crucial to younger viewers who instantly need to see past Zed’s skin/hair color and existence as a zombie. His personality must shine through: he’s shown to be goofy, sweet, a fan of football, and a good brother and son. Exempt from greasy hair and bad acne, Zed is a normal teenage boy - but in order to deliver the metaphor for racism, the viewer must remember that simply because his skin is a pale grey and his hair is an electric green, he is not.

A human Zed takes Addison out for frozen yogurt

In relation to Addison: Many believe Zeddison’s first encounter to be in the Seabrook Zombie Safe Room when Addison reacts to Zed’s appearance as a zombie with fear and defensively punches him in the face. However, the couple’s first encounter happens long before - as soon as the movie’s first musical number (“My Year”) ends, Zed notices Addison and is instantly smitten. Perhaps this is why when he realizes it is her who has socked him in the face, he’s able to shrug it off. He doesn’t let his friends dissuade him from liking her either - he wants to believe she’s one of the better humans. While this hope is diminished when he finds Addison planning to egg his house for cheer initiation, it’s soon restored when she apologizes and invites him and his friends to the pep rally. There, he heroically catches a falling Addison after a cheer stunt gone wrong and in perfect Disney fashion, the romance is solidified as they gaze into one another’s eyes. After this incident, the two interact like a true couple, with Zed even taking Addison to Zombietown to see his way of life which she enthusiastically embraces (“BAMM!”). The night nearly ends with a Zeddison kiss, but is interrupted by the Zombie Patrol Squad, who intercept Addison. It seems to be the end for the pair - Addison’s parents insist of meeting their daughter’s mystery boy before she can engage in any more outside activities - but Zed’s smart thinking saves them. By upping the dosage from his Z-Band, Zed is able to appear human, a painful sacrifice he’s willing to make to save their relationship. However, the action deeply saddens Addison and she consistently reminds Zed that he doesn’t need to change - the institution does. Whenever Zed feels insecure about his status as a zombie, Addison is there to give him the confidence to be proud of himself. She’s a good fit for Zed, she wants truly wants the best for him and all of the zombies.

In his natural state, Zed is on the loose

Personal Sacrifice: Now Zed is not without fault. In fact, his main fault seems to be his overwhelming desire to be normal. He wants to be accepted and have a good high school experience. He has a lot to offer, but as a zombie is often turned away. This is perfectly illustrated through Zed’s struggles with the Seabrook football team. At the tryouts, he’s the only one to not make the team, on clear grounds that it is strictly because he’s a zombie. After a glitch with his Z-Band causes him to display his strength he’s allowed to walk-on, but will be kicked off unless the team wins. His best effort proves futile - in the first game, his team members play against him and make any type of winning outcome difficult. He’s purposely targeted and singled-out, made to wear a special jersey with no number, just the letter ‘Z’. At halftime, his coach orders him to use his Z-Band and Zed obliges, ignoring warnings from best friend Eliza about the dangers. With Zed’s zombie strength the team comes out on top with the first win for Seabrook football in a long time. Zed is now a force to be reckoned with and immediately uses this power to better the lives of zombie students at Seabrook. “No more classrooms in a dingy basement,” he tells the Principal, “and full integration for zombie students in the cafeteria.” And while the principal allows zombie students to sit in a corner of the cafeteria, she won’t see about better classroom conditions until Zed continues to win games. That’s right - Zed is carrying the burden of all zombie students at Seabrook on his back - or rather, in his Z-Band. He’s also getting what he desired - acceptance. As the football team deepens their winning streak, Zed is heartily embraced by Seabrook students. At one point, life is pretty dang good for the zombie boy. He’s the star of the football team, is dating a pretty cheerleader, and has gotten his friends involved in clubs of their interest at school. But just as quickly as it started, the good life comes crashing down. In the championship game, Zed’s Z-Band is hacked by mischievous cheerleaders, causing him to go full-zombie. His friends are hacked too and chaos ensues as people quickly flee for their lives in panic.

Zombie Patrol eventually captures and calms the creatures to the relief of the crowd who berate zombies, fueling the hatred that kept Zed’s kind out of public schools, off of football teams, and inside the barricade. It is here where Addison steps in and reprimands the townspeople for placing expectations of normalcy on Zed that caused him to endanger his life, rather than simply accept him for who he was.

Which brings us to our next character...

II. ADDISON

Meg Donnelly portrays Addison, Zed’s love interest in the movie

At a glance: If anyone in this movie is more than they appear, it’s Addison. As far as first impressions go, she’s off to an awful start - her peppiness is made obvious from the start as she performs a corny cheer about starting freshman year before “noticing” the viewer. It’s an instant thumbs down...until she reveals to the viewer a secret. In the perfect town of Seabrook, where anything different is discouraged, Addison wears a blonde wig to cover her real hair - an awfully layered, stark white mess. The viewer is left intrigued - this girl is obviously more than she appears. But Addison knows acceptance for her hair is a long way out. Her family is filled with success - her cousin Bucky is captain of the undefeated cheer team at Seabrook High, her father is chief of the police force (more specifically a subdivision dubbed “Zombie Patrol Squad”), and her mother is mayor of the town. To reveal her real hair would bring shame not only to her, but to her family, and destroy their positions of successful authority within the town. So she wears the blonde wig in compliance with Seabrook’s expectations, but deep down, Addison yearns for a change in the town social norms - a change that would allow people like her to be accepted as themselves. Perhaps this is why when zombies are integrated into Seabrook High, she is excited.

Addison worriedly asks Zed about his Z-Band during a timeout

In relation to Zed: Now, her first impression of Zed is surface-level: he’s a zombie and zombies are bad. A misunderstanding in a dark room causes Addison to punch the poor creature once the lights turn on and his true form is revealed, but she quickly apologizes after noticing how he is “not hideous.” If anything is surface-level, it would be that - feeling sorry for assaulting someone because of their attractiveness - but how else will younger viewers understand a crush? Sigh. Anyways, it’s fair to say Addison’s colorblindness towards Zed is what truly helps propel their romance forward throughout the movie. Before the physical assault, the two had held a conversation about their respective tryouts that day: football for Zed and cheer for Addison. As aforementioned, the passion for after-school athletics is a strong one, because Addison soon finds herself quite smitten for the tall zombie boy. Her goal is to make him and his kind feel accepted - she invites Zed and his friends to the school pep rallies, welcomes them to the cafeteria and apologizes for the actions of discrimination they face at the hands of Seabrook students. She knows things need to change and tries her best to do what she can, but it’s not until her relationship with Zed deepens that she grows angry at the institutionalized discrimination.

Donning her natural hair, Addison sings to the crowd with confidence

Personal Sacrifice: Addison likes Zed - she really likes him. She sees him as so much more than a zombie - he may not be a human, but he is definitely a being. She meets his friends and family, she goes to see his “side of the tracks”, she tries to learn his language, and she loudly cheers for him during football games. Despite how these actions may seem normal for someone in a relationship, they break all the rules she’s been told. But the rebellion of being with Zed is thrilling to her. She reveals her secret to him with ease, it helps him understand she wants a change not just for zombies, but herself too. However, Addison is soon forced to show that she is not just talk. When the hacking of his Z-Band causes Zed to return to his instincts, Addison abandons her wig to the repulsed townspeople and heavily reprimands them for their intolerance of difference. Her hair remains in its natural state for the rest of the movie, and her relationship with the zombies is stronger than ever - she is seemingly disowned by her parents following the discarding of her wig but she doesn’t care. By the end it is clear: Addison is ready to do what is right and will sacrifice all she has known because she loves Zed. Or more specifically, she “gar gar ga zas” him.

BUCKY, THE “PHYSICAL VILLAIN”

Trevor Tordjman portrays the egotistical male cheerleader

It is rare that a children’s movie does not have a villain. Kids are impressionable and “good” and “evil” must clearly be defined or seen. It is simply not enough to have the prejudice against zombies act as the the antagonist (despite being strong enough). That prejudice must take a physical form into something the viewers can see and blame. Thus, racism is embodied in a narcissistic cheerleader named Bucky.

Bucky taunts the new Zombie students through a fence

But Bucky is not allowed to be one-dimensional, which can only be appreciated by older viewers. He has a clear connection to our characters - a literal bloodline connection - being Addison’s older cousin. He knows her secret of wearing a wig, so one would assume he would despise the rules of perfection that keeps one his family members in hiding. Instead, Bucky fully embraces the social norms, and in turn, they embrace him.

Bucky is extremely popular, quite literally the face of Seabrook cheer, and thrives in the spotlight. He happily signs autographs for those who adore him and he is consistently accompanied by three cheerleaders (the Aceys) who are of his service. When zombies arrive at Seabrook, Bucky sees that his perfect world is under threat and thus uses his influence to spread hatred. He orders new cheerleaders to egg zombie houses in Zombietown, has cheerleaders perform with fire sticks to exploit zombies’ fear of fire, and removes anyone who embraces zombie culture off the squad. The thought of tolerating zombies is incomprehensible to Bucky, despite Addison’s persistent pleas that he try to embrace them.

In genuine confusion, Bucky listens to Addison defend cheering for Zed

Now, Bucky is smart and he is certainly not stupid. He’s on to his cousin’s crush for Zed, and does his best to put a stop to it. Now, THIS is where Bucky gets interesting because he wavers on behaving more like a bad ex-boyfriend than a concerned family member. He harshly removes Addison from her interactions with Zed and criticizes her for associating with zombies. One would think Bucky would pull out all the stops to end Zeddison, but unfortunately, the boy is too busy preparing for the cheer championship. Speaking of cheer, this is where viewers are really able to see Bucky’s bullying nature. His dislike is not solely for zombies, but a lack of perfection. During cheer tryouts, he is seen shoving those who are imperfect out of the way, as well as ripping the tryout numbers of those who make a mistake (“Fired Up”). He reluctantly allows Bree, a curvy African-American girl, on the cheer team at the insistence of Addison despite his initial argument of her clearly not looking the part he wants Seabrook cheer to put forward.

A determined Addison and a worried Bree at cheer tryouts

And if it isn’t lack of perfection, then it’s being upstaged that clearly drives Bucky to do bad. When it becomes clear that Zed has stolen Bucky’s adoring student audience, he sends the Aceys to sabotage him, leading to the Z-Band hack. The action ultimately backfires as a rogue Zed nearly kills him and Bucky is forced to face the monster he drew out. By the cheer championship, Bucky is in deep conflict. He still can’t swallow fully accepting zombies, but ultimately agrees to co-exist. This is a powerful message to convey, especially to young children. You don’t have to love everyone who’s different, but at the end of the day, they still deserve respect. Thus, Bucky as a physical villain is useful in pushing the racism agenda forward because as the personification of discrimination and hate, Bucky is able to show the problems that come with being completely one-minded.

Bucky angrily watches Zombie students sit in the cafeteria

SONG ANALYSIS

“My Year”

The opening number of the movie is bright and peppy, providing character introductions and coordinated dance numbers. A few key lyrics:

Lyrics:

“On this side we can all keep winning, if we just try to fit in” (Addison)

Interpretation:

On this side (Seabrook), trying to fit in and be perfect means success.

Lyrics:

“But, it ain’t so bad on this side of the tracks” (Zed)

Interpretation:

particularly impoverished (and usually dangerous or undesirable as a result). "Tracks" refers to railroad tracks, which are sometimes thought of as demarcating different economic areas of a town.

Lyrics:

“Yeah, you got a point, but today’s an improvement/ ‘Cause baby steps is still movement” (Zed)

Interpretation:

Zed adopts a MLK view, accepting the small victories for zombies while his friend Eliza is more Malcolm X, calling for radical action against the establishment

“Someday”

Someday is a duet in which Zed and Addison dream of a time where they will be allowed to openly be together. Key lyrics:

Lyrics:

“I know it might be crazy

But did you hear the story?” (Zed)

“I think I heard it vaguely

A girl and a zombie” (Addison)

Interpretation:

Zed and Addison jokingly pretend to be in the future, believing that their relationship goes down in history and is now a story that is told amongst everyone.

Lyrics:

“Ooh, I've got a feeling

If you get to know me” (Addison)

Interpretation:

While Zed sings of her perfection, Addison teasingly hints at being more than she appears

Lyrics:

“Someday

This could be, this could be ordinary” (Both)

Interpretation:

Someday,

A relationship like theirs would not turn heads and cause scrutiny

Lyrics:

“You and me side by side (yeah, yeah)

Out in the broad daylight” (Both)

Interpretation:

The two would be able to take their relationship public and not sneak around. Any discouragement will be met with confidence of them one day being accepted.

Lyrics:

“If different was a super power

We'd be so flawless” (Addison)

Interpretation:

The two know a relationship like theirs is different and breaks all kinds of rules. If being different was expected, then they’d be perfect.

“BAMM!”

In Zombietown, Addison is introduced to zombie culture through a hip-hop dance routine and song mainly delivered by Zed.

Lyrics:

“We're the same, but different

Just like you, I got hopes and wishes

Itchin' to show the world what they're missing” (Zed)

Interpretation:

Zed wishes for the humans to see that they are more similar to zombies than they think. Zombies have goals and desires, and Zed wants to show humans what they are missing out on.

“Stand”

Following the arrest of Zed and his friends, Addison internally processes the conflict of doing what is right and going against everything she knows.

Lyrics:

“No some things are different than we thought

There's more to life than what we're taught” (Addison)

Interpretation:

Addison knows the ideology of Seabrook is problematic and wrong. She knows it is beneficial to embrace new ways of life and cultures.

Lyrics:

“How can I just forget all the things in my head?

Just stand, oh, you just stand

And if I stand, will I fall?

Trying to knock down these walls

What if I don't know where I stand?” (Addison and Bucky)

Interpretation:

Internally conflicted on whether or not to stand tall and speak in support of zombies, Bucky sings about going against what he knows and the risks that come with it. Addison encourages him to take the leap, but in the end, Bucky decides he is undecided on the matter.

CONCLUSION

With the barrier broken down, Zed and Addison happily embrace

In conclusion, Zombies is one of the decade’s best allegories of racism through its expert portrayal of interracial relationships, institutionalized discrimination, and the danger of groupthink. To some it may appear as nothing but a love story, and to others, just another Disney musical, but it is nothing but an example of how to simplify and personify controversial themes and explain them to younger viewers in a skilled manner. When compared to the catalogue of other Disney Channel Original Movies, Zombies stands out. We need more movies like this one - it would be impertinent to deprive the upcoming youth of themes that are prevalent in life. Zombies is set apart because its “good vs. evil” applies to real-world problems, oppression and racism - and is not just cut and dry “good vs. evil”.

Because, let’s be honest, rarely are people evil for no reason. There is always an underlying motivation and in the history of humanity we have seen that the stem of most evil has come from fear - a theme that Zombies shows perfectly.

252 notes · View notes

ihaspoorgrammer · 4 years

Text

Legend of Korra: Alternate Season 2

In honor of LoK coming to Netflix, I’ve decided to vomit all my feelings towards that show the best way I can - creative writing - In a “What I think Should’ve Happened” essay for your reading pleasure. For those who don’t have the time, I’ll just come out and say it -- Legend of Korra was created with one season in mind, and that’s how it should've stayed.

All the concepts and ideas they introduced in the first season (and The Last Airbender) were more-or-less abandoned by the sequel so they could flounder and come to a deflating end.

So, I wrote this as a way to actually make use of them in a meaningful way that the creators so casually disregarded:

A few months after the battle with Amon, the Equalists have splintered into different cells throughout Republic City. Amon being revealed as a Waterbender weakened them, but that doesn’t take away from the larger points they championed about Bender/Non-Bender inequality. As a consequence, the United Forces soldiers are still a presence in the city, and Chief Biefong has made use of them as additional keepers of the peace, working with the Metalbending police to help rebuild and establish order, and has benefited greatly from the leadership of General Iroh and Commander Bumi.Korra is still airbending training with Tenzin as well as learning about the Avatar State, and she seems to have done a complete 180 in terms of her training; now dedicating herself to it full time to it. Tenzin is naturally happy about this development, but cautions her that the training will have to come naturally and it’s not something she can force, and is wary of how deeply her fight with Amon affected her. The Fire Ferrets are preparing for their first match since last season against the Polar Leopards, Mako and Bolin steel their nerves while their new waterbender - Tahno - tells them to "relax" and "prepare to be amazed." After putting up a spirited fight, the Fire Ferrets and their opponents are tied. After ganging up on Tahno - who is at a disadvantage, being more accustomed to cheating - is saved by Mako. With seconds left, Tahno subtly bends the water on the opposing team’s side, and creates an ice-patch, causing an opponent to slip. Tahno takes advantage of this, and wins the match with a “Korra Special.” Only Mako notices the cheat. After the match, Mako approaches Tahno about the cheating, but lets it slide. At Bolin’s suggestion, the two brothers go out to celebrate and invite Tahno along, but he opts out for "training” (after this, we see that Tahno has a picture of Korra in his locker, hinting that he only joined the Ferrets to make it up to her for restoring his bending).Asami has taken full control of Future Industries and personally oversees the production of new satomobiles and has saved Future Industries from bankruptcy with new airplanes designs. However, the company can't shake the black-eye her father gave it and her name, so business contacts have become scarce and shareholders have started pulling out. Worse, the board of directors have begun flexing their muscles to try and squeeze her out. She needs to come up with something good and fast.Mako, Bolin, and Tahno are in the middle of free-for-all sparring, when Tahno accidentally makes ice and headshots Bolin (which makes his vision comically go double). Mako scolds Tahno about it, causing Tahno to storm off. Later that night on Air Temple Island, Mako brings Korra a meat dinner (Tenzin has put her on a vegetarian diet), but she declines. They begin to discuss Tahno’s participation in the team, which Mako believes was a bad idea, but Korra reminds him that Tahno has cut back on cheating, worked hard, and overall been a good addition (or stand-in for Korra). They share a nice couple-moment and laugh. We see Asami in the distance looking at them longingly, showing that she is still hurt over Mako leaving her for Korra. She starts to walk back to her room when she hears a strange noise in the distance. The source is Commander Bumi throwing his boomerang back and forth. After talking for a bit (and Bumi revealing that the boomerang once belonged to his uncle, Sokka), Bumi allows Asami to give it a throw. After a successful first try, she accidentally throws it through Tenzin's window. Bumi tells her "I didn't see anything if you didn't see anything." As he hops in the bushes to hide and Asami runs away. Laughing. Meanwhile, a group of once-small time Triad gangs (they were "little people" before Amon "de-bended" the major families), are attacked by members of the Triple Threat. After a small battle, the Triple Threats win, and take with them a powerful bloodbender (or they start interrogating someone), leaving behind a message: “Lightning strikes twice.” ------

After that, Season 2 is in full swing. The Triads are the major Big Bad of this season because the purpose of the show was to be the opposite of Airbender, narratively speaking. So, that means keeping Korra and the cast firmly in Republic City and no more globe trotting.

This puts a bigger emphasis on the characters and their interpersonal relationships (which was the big draw of the show to begin with), rather than having to build up and explain the geo-politics of a new setting.

If they did stay for at least one more season, it probably would have emphasized a larger untapped well; the city was designed to be a 1920’s New York-style “melting-pot”, a place where all cultures come together and mix (Mako and Bolin are a product of a Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom union, and Tahno seems to be the a product of a Fire Nation and Water Tribe union). So, essentially, it’s the architectural equivalent of the Avatar. Just as the Avatar is the synergy of the four nations, Republic City does the exact same thing, just on a larger scale. One more season would better emphasize this fact, and show that despite what people think, it is possible for the four nations to co-exist as long as it’s based on mutual respect and sharing of differences, not domination of differences. This imaginary second season could also be used to address multiculturalism in any number of ways.

Maybe the new Big Bad could’ve been a terrorist group dedicated to keeping the nations separate and "pure," and see the City as an affront to the Avatar’s “true responsibility.” And maybe Korra can see that, despite its flaws, the city and what it represents is worth saving. It also would have emphasised the “super-hero” aspect of the show; Korra being a Superman-figure who constantly has to protect her Metropolis from ever-constant calamities. Another aspect that could’ve been added, was that the people of Republic City could’ve helped the Krew. You see, the citizens of Rep. City are constantly infantilized to the point of helplessness until Korra and co. show up to help. The opposite approach would have emphasised the multicultural aspect of the city, and how when push comes to shove, they are all one big family.Maybe even having a scene like from the original Spider-Man movie where the citizens actually help the Krew out, saying “you mess with one of us, you mess with all of us!”

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

From my perspective, there’s no better way to kick this off than introducing this monkey-wrench into the Krew’s system -- the return of Lightning Bolt Zolt, Mako and Bolin’s adoptive father.

See, in the backstory that the show never did anything with, after their parents died, Mako and Bolin became part of the Triads. Though Mako stresses to Korra that he only "ran numbers" for them during his time there. . . So either Mako is a mathematical prodigy, or he's lying. Because I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say he probably received no formal education on the streets that would enable him to work for the Triads in that capacity. So that begs the question: why would he lie? What did he do during his time working for the Triads, that would make him leave and never speak of it again? It’s because he was specially trained by Zolt personally. Learning Lightningbending in the process.

Now, Zolt will use this connection to manipulate Mako for his own purposes, which involves getting his bending back, which will of course drive a wedge between him and Korra.

Zolt may be a bastard, but he was arguably more of a father to him than Mako’s actual father, and that kind of emotional connection is hard to ignore. In fact, it’s such a shock to his system that his Lightningbending stops working.

Which brings him in contact with General Iroh.

When we first meet Mako, he’s determined, blunt, stubborn, and reserved. Understandably so, seeing as how his parents were murdered in front of him Batman-style and was forced to basically raise his little brother on his own, on the streets. As a consequence, one of his most defining characteristics is his inability to relax. He’s constantly trying to fix everything, constantly trying to help everybody, and constantly trying to remain in control. So, Avatar-style development demands that he gradually realize that he can’t control everything and learn to relax, allowing Bolin to become his own person, and learning to go with the flow. Which is something they actually didn’t do in the fourth season. He was largely extraneous to the story and they actually took every opportunity they had to show how useless he was.

Meanwhile, Bolin starts being approached by Lin Biefong, who believes the young man has the potential to be part of the Metalbending police force, despite his claims that he can’t Metalbend. However, Lin eventually realizes why he never could; he’s never had to apply himself. You need to have an unrelenting drive to force the minerals within to move, and that’s not something Bolin has ever needed. In Season 4 of the actual show, I almost applauded it for having Bolin sign up for the army because I thought that’s exactly what he needed -- a place to apply himself. Mako being such a mother-hen accidentally stunted Bolin’s emotional growth, never allowing him to mature and become independent. Which could lead into a very Sokka-like confession:

B: “Do you want to know something really terrible; I don’t miss them. Mako was the one that really knew them. I remember bits of things, but … They’re just … People I didn’t get to know. Mako’s the one that’s always been there for me.”

So here, Lin takes it upon herself to be his teacher and actually show his true potential. They grow closer as a result, and she and Bolin start developing a mother-son relationship. When we first meet Bolin, he’s immature, a show-off, something of a womanizer, a shameless flirt, and a goof-off. The unifying detail with the Bending Brothers is that Mako was sort of holding them both back; Mako’s over-protectiveness never allowed him to choose what was best for himself, and stunted Bolin’s emotional growth into becoming a more independent adult. What they could’ve done - if they wanted to save time - was to have their character arcs work off of each other -- while Mako becomes more relaxed and free-spirited, Bolin becomes more responsible and goal-oriented.

The only other place that the phrase “wasted potential” belongs besides in association with Tahno we’ll get to in a minute, but for now let’s focus on him. The creators once said that they “care about all the characters … except Tahno,” which should show the lack of imagination that was rather systemic in the thinking process there (and what liars they are).

From the start, Tahno is clearly deeply affected by Amon stripping him of his bending, even if Korra gave it back to him. And while he still resorts to cheating now and then, it’s not entirely because he’s a natural cheater … it’s because his bending hasn’t completely come back, and neither has Korra’s for that matter.

They’re both so traumatized by Amon’s Bloodbending that they’re experiencing “hiccups” in their powers.

Korra has tried to deal with it by doubling-down on her Airbender training to “find inner peace,” while Tahno is just trying to ignore it.

Eventually, their arcs cross paths, and they bond of their attempts at healing, having to come to terms with the fact that the “body heals only after the mind heals.” Which further draws a wedge between her and Mako.

Now, there is still a love-triangle here, but it’s in service to why Mako and Korra were brought together in the first place: they aren't supposed to be like Katara and Aang, where it was love-at-first-sight. They’re supposed to be the more realistic couple that have problems and have to make compromises because they love each other.

Love isn’t something that just happens, you have to work hard at it and make the other person happy without looking for the advantage. Relationships - both platonic and romantic - need to be built on mutual trust and understanding, and with understanding means taking a person for both their good and bad qualities.

Infatuation is the kind of love that is more shallow and doesn’t last.

Under direct orders from Fire Lord Zuko himself, General Iroh has started staying at Air Temple Island to watch over the Avatar, which leads him to becoming an unofficial therapist to the people staying there, namely Korra, Tahno, and Mako.Iroh is unique among the cast because he’s inherited Uncle Iroh’s position of someone who already has everything figured out themselves.

He grew up with loving parents and loving grandparents, and we learn that he had the honor of being one of the first firebenders taught by the Sun Warriors, who Zuko spent most of his life helping reconstruct (where he gained the nickname, “The Young Dragon”).

This new living situation makes him a part of the Krew later on, and brings him closer contact with Asami, who he develops a rapport with. And finally, we come to Asami, who is still dealing with losing her father and potentially losing everything else.

You don’t have the founder of a company be linked to a terrorist organisation and expect that company to survive, no matter what financial magic you can conjure. Which is something Asami is learning all too well.But in this madness, she meets two people -- Commander Bumi and General Iroh (who’s under an official Fire Lord order to watch over the Avatar).

She soon becomes Bumi’s ward, eventually, Bumi will act as a surrogate father for Asami, and she will help him organize, and win, a blimp race. From then on, she starts exclusively referring to him with the honorific, "commander."

They become so close that he starts teaching her everything Sokka taught him. You see, because Aang spent more time with Tenzin and Katara more time with Kya, that meant that Bumi ended up bonding with his non-bending uncle, (who later in life became master Piandao’s best student).

That’s why Bumi carries around Sokka's boomerang; Sokka was probably more of a father to him than Aang was.

So Sokka, never having children of his own after Suki tragically died, taught Bumi everything he knew, including how to recreate Space Earth Metal.And, after they grow closer, he decides to trust Asami with this sacred technique. …

Which she immediately tries to patent and market in order to save Future Industries. However, when she learns how deeply she hurt Bumi by doing this, she finally cuts her losses and sells the company. After that, she decides to pursue a different career, perhaps by joining the United Forces.

And, while all of this is happening, Tenzin is informed by the White Lotus that global bending birth rates are going down with the modernization and mechanization of the world. Signifying that people's disconnection with nature and spirituality is robbing them of their bending.

Just like what happened to the Fire Nation.

And if this rate continues, in a few generations, bending might completely disappear.

------

Avatar: The Last Airbender was aimed primarily at children and early teens, because those are big transitional times in young people's lives. But late-teens and early 20's are also big transitional phases in young people's lives. Perhaps even more so, because those are the times where you have to learn how to be an adult. A very alien concept.

So, Legend of Korra seemed primed to tackle the challenges of this time, but for one reason or another, they never did.

Despite having a golden opportunity to say some meaningful things about interracial families and multiculturalism, they instead, did nothing.

This is a quote from a Tumblr post who I sadly can’t track down, but it speaks volumes to what AtLA represented to people:

“You need ALL these things to survive and grow, to hold up your community and push yourself forward. You need to unlearn myths and lies, reform them to fit new realities. You need to respect the past but mold it for the future. In short, you have to “draw wisdom from many different places” while keeping true to who you are and where you come from. IDK if the creators of AtLA thought about these things when crafting this story; I think when a story is well told, with authenticity and love, it has the potential to illuminate many perspectives and strike empathy in many different people. Diasporic consciousness is incredibly valuable because it teaches us a different way of being, a way of interconnectedness and mutual love. The Gaang symbolizes this perfectly: it took all of them with all their different skills, to end the War and restore peace and balance. A diasporic consciousness has the same power: to model a newer, more just, more empathetic way of life.”

Tying into this, I think all the Avatars were wrong in their assertion that the four nations needed to be separated. Think about it. Every single nation failed, in their own way, because they were isolated: the Fire Nation became too proud of its own accomplishments, and became a fascist regime. The Air Nomads' loose and "free" nature allowed the Fire Nation to easily wipe them out. The "go with the flow" attitude of the Southern Water Tribe - similar to the Air Nomads - made them easy targets for the Fire Nation; while the Northern Water Tribe "froze over," becoming rigid in their doctrine and tradition, and could never stand against the Fire Nation alone; and the Earth Kingdom fell too far into its "virtue" of endurance, and became a military dictatorship with a puppet king, cutting off any ties to the outside world.

“It is important to draw wisdom from many different places. If we take it from only one place, it becomes rigid and stale. Understanding others, the other elements, and the other nations, will help you become whole.”

While the "separate, but equal" stance towards the Four Nations may have been a good idea in the past, in recent years, it's proven to be a recipe for disaster. Most, if not all, of these failings could've been avoided if there had been more open dialogue between the Nations. There is a saving grace in the form of the Order of the White Lotus, but seeing how they all kindly fucked off until the shit really started to hit the fan, I can hardly see how they were a solution to the problem. Now, I really don’t know what else to say. I wrote this entire thing as an exercise to show how Legend of Korra failed in its duties to be an equal to its predecessor, because I was a fan.

Not just of AtLA, but of Lok as well. I watched it, I invested in it, and I was disappointed by it.

Others may have had all their hopes answered by the ending, but I was left with a pit in my stomach over how far the mighty had fallen.

And I don’t look forward to the show being adapted into live action because I don’t think I can take seeing all the lapses in creativity and common sense all over again.

#Legend of Korra #Netflix #LoK #irohsami #makorra #bryke #anti bryke #if anyone wants to make a fanfic about this i would be honored

38 notes · View notes

storytelling-101 · 4 years

Text

Character Development — Part E

Mental Information is essential to know what goes on in the head of your characters. It helps you to find out how they will react in certain situations. Of course, sometimes characters write themselves as the story progresses. But at times you’ll probably find yourself stuck and in that case it is helpful to have something to go back to and find a clue as to resolve your problem. Also, since Mental Information and Emotional Information are really close to each other in terms of the source, I will cover them both in this post.

Mental Information

Type of Childhood How did the character grow up? Were they sheltered, neglected, or often scolded? How we are brought up shapes us to a great extent, so if your character had i.e. a really tough childhood, then there are surely some problems that will arise for them as an adult.

Education Self-explanatory. How far did they advance in their studies? Did they only compulsory education (however far this is in your specific story), did they go to university? Maybe they were completely home-tutored for some reason?

Dream Job as a Child This point is mostly for fun, but can also can come in handy at some time. What job did your character dream of as a child? It can be casually mentioned in a conversation but can also be a starting point for a job change of your character.

Personality as a Child Of course, no one is going to be the same as an adult as they were as a child. But we often keep our most prominent characteristics even if we grow up. So, to keep it reasonable, you could list three adjectives that are describe your character's character as a child.

Favorite Place as a Child A favorite place as a child, which could be anything, can induce a sense of nostalgia and sometimes even a sense of peace of mind in a character. This point could be a place they go to i.e. if they need to be alone or when they need to think.

Hobbies in Their Childhood As with the personality, hobbies from our childhood sometimes tend to stay with us even as we advance to adulthood. This point is more of a device to compare the child and teenager/adult character.

Role Models Who were their role models in their childhood? Role models often shape the way we view the world or who we strive to become. i.e. if someone's parent is a doctor and also their role model, as a child, it is not exactly uncommon that this child would dream to be a doctor as well. Even if that can change while growing up.

Past Regret What event in the past did they regret the most? What has been such a huge blow to them that they'd travel back in time to change it?

Major Turning Point Which event in their childhood hat the greatest impact on them? This could be, for example, someone who firmly believed he would be able to save the world realizing that he is actually powerless.

Earliest Memory (*) Really self-explanatory. What is the earliest thing in their life they remember prior to the beginning of your story? This can also be a vague memory, it hasn't to be clear up to the tiniest detail.

Saddest Memory (*) As above. What is the saddest memory they have from before the story started? This can be, depending on the age of your character, i.e. the death of a loved one, a friend who moved away, a failed entrance exam, etc.

Happiest Memory (*) Also self-explanatory. What was their happiest memory up until now? This is great to be used in comparison. For example, the wedding day is said to be the happiest day in her life for a woman (yes, I know this is mostly cliché), so it could be used in a comparison like "…, I felt even happier than on my wedding day."

Clearest Memory (*) Same as above. What memory does your character remember the most vividly? This would be a memory they remember even to the smallest details like the exact time, the facial expressions of the people involved, etc.

Advice to Their Younger Self If they could somehow give advice to their younger self, what would it be? What would they want their younger self to know or to do differently?

Practical Advice Who do they turn to for practical advice? Which person around them is most qualified to give them advice to solve their problems?

Mentoring Who do they look for when they feel stuck in their life? Who is most likely to give them tips regarding their life?

Emotional Support If they feel overwhelmed or confused by their emotions, who is the person they would depend on?

Moral Support Which person would the character turn to if they feel their morals being compromised?

Personality Type This can actually be anything you could think of. Pick a synonym you can relate to the most. For example, you could put nouns like bully/saint/jock/… in here or adjectives like shy/overbearing/active/…

Type of Knowledge What do they know the most about and where did the character acquire their knowledge? i.e. someone who only reads books and never socialized with people will probably know a lot of things you can learn from books, but will have problems interacting with other people and reading the atmosphere/understanding their emotions/…

Outlook on Life Rather simple: are they an optimist or pessimist?

Attitude Toward Politics Rather self-explanatory as well. Are they interested in politics? Maybe they are indifferent to them? Do they actively take part in it? This is often relevant in fantasy stories.

Criminal Record Do they have a criminal record? What did they do? Where they put into prison for it? Is the character at risk of committing the same crime again?

Biggest Accomplishment What do they feel is the greatest accomplishment of their life prior to the beginning of the story? This can be anything from getting rid of their bad habits to saving a country.

Biggest Flaw Same as above. What does the character think is their biggest flaw? Is it the same that others would name?

Current Favorite Place As with the Favorite Place as a Child, this can be any place you want. It can act as a safe haven or a place they would bring their significant other.

Current Favorite Sound This point also seems very random, but it can also tell a lot about a person. For example, someone who prefers the quite might be someone who tends to solitary or who's life is so hectic that they need the quiet to balance out their stressful (and probably loud) everyday life.

Secrets What do they keep a secret? This, too, can be anything from certain hobbies to a crime they committed.

Skeletons in the Closet In contrast to the point above, this point covers secrets that they don't want to be found out no matter what. So, what secret(s) would they take to their grave?

Ambition Is your character ambitious? If they are, are they keeping it in moderation or are they overdoing it? And if not, are they belittling people for being ambitious?

Power Does your character place importance in power? Do they have power or do they want to achieve it? Would they be the type to abuse their power?

Love How do they approach love? Is it important to them or do they tend to push it aside? Are they awkward in handling love or are they confident?

Change How does your character handle change? Do they adapt to it well and go with the flow? Or are they completely thrown off and crumble under the sudden need to re-adjust?

Mental Illnesses Self-explanatory. Does your character have any mental illnesses? If yes, you can go into more detail here. If not, you could note down if they are understanding of the topic or maybe regard it as ridiculous because it is something that cannot be seen.

Favorite Quote Also self-explanatory. What is their favorite quote? Which sentence has inspired them? Or maybe, which quote did the character find pleasing to the ear? This can be anything that suits the character

Morals How strong is their moral compass? Do they stick to their morals even in difficult situations? Or do they maybe compromise? A good example of this would be a quote from the classic movie Star Trek III – The Wrath of Khan. "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. Or the one." So, taking this into consideration, the example for compromising would be someone who is completely opposed to killing, but would readily kill someone who threatens the life of many (people important to them).

Pet Peeves What rubs your character the wrong way? This point overlaps a bit with Anger, but in this case it doesn't necessarily need to induce anger. They could also trigger confusion, annoyance, and the like.

Compliments How do they handle compliments? Do they often get some? And do the compliment others? If they do, do they get flustered themselves? What is the best/nicest compliment they ever received?

Goals What do they want to achieve? This can be a short-term or a long-term goal and as small or big as you see fit. This point can also act as the starting point for your story.

Motivation What spurred them on to pursue their goal in the first place? Do they have motivation in general or do they lack it?

Dreams What does your character dream of? This can be any kind of dream, i.e., a happy family, a stable job, a big house, etc.

(*) = This, of course, excludes cases of people who suffer from any kind of amnesia or any other memory-related illness.

Emotional Information

Greatest Desire What do they want most in their life? Here goes whatever the character wants to achieve the most. This could be anything you could think of: Money, fame, power, love, etc.

Biggest Fear What does your character fear the most in the entire world? This doesn’t necessarily need to be a fear of a certain type of animal, etc., but can also be a very specific fear. i.e., for a passionate artist, what they fear the most would probably to lose their ability to create something in their specific field like art/music/…

Humor Here goes what makes them laugh. You can list either specific things/situations or keep it generic, like they laugh about anti-jokes, slapstick, etc.

Indifference What does your character not care about? This point isn’t about not hating something but about the things that induce absolutely no emotion in them.

Anger Rather self-explanatory. What makes them angry? This can be really anything, from dog-eared pages to violence against defenseless people.

Sadness The same as above. What makes them sad? This can also be general or specific situations. Be careful though, because people can, for example, cry because they see other people crying, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that the person also feels sad. Something like that is most likely due to empathy.

Happiness Also self-explanatory. What makes your character happy? Don’t add too much to this point, though. As with sadness, people can be pleased about things but don’t necessarily need to feel real happiness about it. i.e., I would be pleased if the gap between rich and poor would shrink, but it’s not like I would feel genuine happiness because of that, since it wouldn’t affect me directly.

Most Important Possession A comparison I like to use for this point is a widely known one: If you moved to an uninhabited island and would only be allowed to take three items with you, what would it be? Or, if this is too abstract for some, what would the character rescue from their burning home if they could only take three things?

Days Alone at Home This seems like a random point, but can say a lot about a person. If they spend one or multiple days at home, completely alone, what would the character do? The answer not only shows if the character is capable of living without socializing for some time, but also shows if they can entertain themselves. It tells a lot about which role a character would take in a group.

Greatest Need Please don’t confuse this with the point Greatest Desire. What someone needs isn’t necessarily something they want. It is, for example, an emotion their life is void of even though they don’t realize it. Or it could be something that would better them as a person in any way. If I had to give a rather extreme example: Someone who grew up without knowing love probably won’t directly miss it even as an adult. But that wouldn’t mean that they don’t need it, because not knowing love also means that they most likely don’t show care or compassion for others.

Mental and Emotional Information are both very vast fields and you could expanded indefinitely. I think, though, these points are the most necessary ones. Next time we will cover the last points, namely Social Information.

#Writing Tips #Writing Experience #Writing Help #Storytelling #Story Building #Story Bible #Character Development #Character Creation #Character Sheets #Mental Information #Emotional Information

42 notes · View notes

slashertalks · 4 years

Text

I am a firm believer in the principle of “if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it” when it comes to horror movies. I am also of the belief that the 2000s-early 2010s were a relatively dry time for horror. The good stuff had already been made, and so began a seemingly-endless spiral of remakes. A veritable shitfest of studio competition to see who could churn out the edgiest reimagining of a beloved property that would make the most cash with the least effort. Sometimes, however, we got gems. I’ve already gone on about the Halloween remakes, which fixed many broken things (though I’d probably get my ass kicked for insisting the original Halloween ever was broken). No, tonight I want to shine a light on House of Wax.

Now, among the slasher niche of horror fandom, I believe this film is pretty popular. That is to say, I’ve seen plenty of content of the Sinclair Brothers. With this in mind, I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s an unknown film, though likely one that flies under a regular fan’s radar. If you’re not particularly into slashers, you may have passed this one off. After all, it’s a remake of a 1950s Vincent Price film— why bother? As it turns out, there are plenty of reasons to bother.

House of Wax is a refreshing film in an era where we got seven SAW films between 2004 and 2010. It ties itself up in a neat little bow by the end, with no real hint of a sequel, no wink and nudge at the audience— nothing. See, the nice thing about early films was that they didn’t feel like sequel bait. When you found out Nancy didn’t beat Freddy at the end of A Nightmare on Elm Street, it wasn’t a groan-worthy moment; it was legitimately scary. Now, those little gotchas just make me wince. The most we get is an acknowledgement that Bo and Vincent Sinclair, the two antagonists, had a third brother. I’d argue this isn’t any real form of sequel bait; instead, it wraps up the question of why roadkill guy wasn’t turned into a wax doll. What could’ve been a glaring plothole is nicely tied up and gives our protagonists a good dose of “fuck, we didn’t really win.” That, dear readers, is good shit.

I’m also fairly picky about my hick horror. I love all four of the original Texas Chainsaw films (yes, including The Next Generation, it’s an interesting movie), but beyond that I find the genre boring and overly clichéd. While watching this with my boyfriend, I noted that Bo Sinclair’s actor looked remarkably like Bill Paxton, even so far as to reflect (intentionally or not) some of Paxton’s mannerisms in Near Dark. Now, Bo is nowhere near as over the top as Severen (though he has his moments), and I wouldn’t lump Near Dark into the hick horror genre, but it’s part of a relatively small collection of horror set in the south. It was nice to see these similarities in Bo; enjoyable. Refreshing. Bo was not played off as scary because he’s a stereotypical bumpkin the way roadkill guy was. What’s so unsettling about Severen in Near Dark is that he’s really just your regular 20-something guy— he wants to have a good time with his friends, fiercely loyal and always ready to party. As I said, Bo’s certainly more understated than Paxton’s Severen was, but there are times where you can tell Bo’s relishing in what he does. You can almost have fun with him, and I enjoy that out of a horror villain. Sometimes it really is fun to be bad!

My one tiny criticism is that the reveal of Bo being the screaming child at the beginning wasn’t much of a twist. Circling back on that, though, I enjoy a good sympathetic slasher. Bubba Sawyer is a big favorite of mine, in large part due to his sympathetic characterization in the first film (for which we all have Gunnar Hansen to thank); Vincent is a similar lumbering, masked killer. I found the wax chair thing also incredibly visually unsettling (excellent bit of design there). Though Vincent didn’t really have a way to verbally shine the way Bubba did, I still enjoyed the little bit of character we got from his small wax figures (those not made out of human bodies). I do wish we’d gotten to see more of the brothers all together (including roadkill guy, who I unfortunately don’t have a name for— I’m sure someone can correct me). Part of Texas Chainsaw’s charm is the family element; seeing everyone go batshit together is fun! That is the one flaw of not sequel/prequel baiting; what you get is what you get.

The acting is all good, remaining adequate even at its worst. The effects are stunning save for the CGI wax at the end, but again, I can’t complain given the limitations of the time and the fact that you really can’t put your actors in a house of boiling wax. That’s generally frowned upon, I think. Though House of Wax plays strongly into the slasher tropes, I would argue that it’s a refreshing piece of southern horror, taking what initially starts as hick horror and turning it into something genuinely unique that stands firmly on its own two feet. Though it is technically a remake, the story is so drastically different from the 50s original that its upsetting I ever passed it off before. This is a movie that deserves our viewership, a charming bit of early 2000s horror cinema and one of the rare gems churned out by the remake factory.

It’s cool, it’s gross, the music kicks ass and it’s full of wax. You won’t regret sitting down to watch it.

#house of wax

16 notes · View notes

hq-cuties-pls · 5 years

Text

Queen of Crows: Daichi x Reader

This is a commission I'm posting with the commissioner's go-ahead. Please enjoy this Mythology/Arranged Marriage AU

~Admin Emma

***

You’d always known you had a destined prince. Your parents told you all time time. As a girl, it had been a story. Something with which to play pretend, but it wasn’t real. You would take your pretend prince on adventures, saving him from monsters and solving puzzles and exploring the little patch of foggy woods near your apartment building. Your prince became something of an imaginary friend, but grounded child that you were, you knew it was make-believe.

It was kid stuff… until you actually met him.

On the day you turned 15, your apartment was paid a visit by Gods. They didn’t specifically say they were Gods, but you knew. Being in their presence was something akin to standing at the center of a storm. His father was a tall man, broad shouldered and strong. His features were hard and square, and his face was unnervingly, agelessly smooth despite the white shock through his dark hair. His mother, on the other hand, was the opposite. Soft where his father was hard, warm where he was cool, golden where he was pale. Her eyes shifted unnervingly between spring green, summer gold, earthen brown, and deep black… it was almost nauseating to watch. The aura surrounding them was unmistakable… you felt wrong for looking directly at them. Some ancient instinct wailed for you to drop to your knees, prostrate yourself before them…

Then, you met Daichi.

He looked about your age, with his father’s broad features and his mother’s warm coloring. He saw you and dipped into a formal bow, but he didn’t say anything. You didn’t know what to say, either. So you just bowed back… that seemed right.

“My name is Daichi, future God of crows, carrion, and scavengers.”

“Um… I’m ____. Please, take care of me.”

“Lord Hades.” Your father’s sudden entrance broke the strange tension that passed between you. “Lady Persephone. So glad you could join us. Please, come in.”

“Thank you for having us,” the man--Hades--said smoothly, escorting his wife by the arm. “I’m pleased we were able to arrange these things amicably. These negotiations used to be… quite barbaric.”

You shivered… you didn’t know much about Greek mythology (reality… unless you were running the worst fever and this was the wildest fever dream) but the image of Andromeda chained to a rock certainly came to mind. It took so long to process what you were seeing that before you knew it, Hades and Persephone were seated across from your parents, tea was being served, and the only empty spot at the table was right next to Daichi. If you didn’t know, he’d look like any other boy from your class. Maybe one you wouldn’t even notice… he looked so normal.

“Let us be frank,” Persephone said, folding her elegant brown hands in front of her. “We’ll spare you the unsavory details, but there is a prophecy. As we explained to your wife, ____-san, we firmly believe your daughter is key to circumventing said prophecy.”

Despite the tumult of questions you suddenly had, there was an eerie--almost unnatural sense of calm. In short, your parents were negotiating your… your marriage. To Daichi. A future God. Figures you’d only read about in storybooks and class textbooks were having tea in your livingroom, negotiating the ins-and-outs of your eventual wedding.

“We’ll wait until they’re 25, of course,” Persephone offered, petting her husband’s arm. “We’d like them to have a normal childhood, if at all possible.”

“And we’ll make as many concessions to your...ah… faith?” Hades turned to his wife, as if to check his word choice. She nodded and he continued, “Yes, faith, as we can. However, in order for the union to be binding, it will have to be in the Underworld.”

Surprisingly, Daichi was the one who interjected angrily, “You don’t have to talk about us like we aren’t in the room. I’m right here.”

“Apologies, son,” Hades said, almost patronizing. He patted his son awkwardly on the head, and it looked like Daichi barely resisted the urge to swat at his father’s hand. Something about this amused you, drawing a small laugh out of your chest.

“These negotiations are, unfortunately, necessary, my love.” Persephone smiled gently at you, even though she was talking to Daichi. “But you two can go spend some time together. Maybe get to know each other while we speak to ____’s parents?”

“That might be wise,” your father said with his own easy smile. “____, maybe you should take Daichi-kun and make some more tea.”

You shrugged, secretly grateful for an excuse to get out of the living room. Whether or not Daichi came with you, well… it’s not like you actively disliked him. You didn’t know him. Yet, it seemed that you didn’t have much of a choice, so you figured it wouldn’t exactly hurt to get to know him.

Daichi followed you into the kitchen, where you busied yourself with making tea. He seemed interested in the various trappings of your small kitchen, but conversation was nonexistent. What did you even say to each other…

“I’m sorry,” he finally said, breaking the silence. “About my parents, I mean. They’re… a lot.”

“I mean…” You laughed to yourself, thinking of Hades looking to his wife for help, Persephone’s gentle doting, and the loving way in which they held each other. Looked at one another… “They’re sweet. They’re nothing like I expected, given what I’ve… ah… what I’ve read.”

Daichi chuckled to himself, looking less like a young God and more like a boy from your class. He was handsome when he smiled like that, and would probably be drowning in confessions if he went to your school; “Yeah, my aunt has it out for my dad. According to Dad, anyway. But… well. Can I tell you a secret?”

You shrugged, measuring out tea leaves into your little kyusu teapot; “Sure. I mean, you’re going to be my husband someday, so I don’t see why not.”

At that, Daichi’s eyes cast down to his socks...surprisingly normal for someone destined to be the God of Crows; “That’s… that’s just it, actually. I’ve… I’ve seen my mother and father for 15 years, and they’re… ridiculously in love. When Mom has to return to Olympus, Dad is… so sad, and he never smiles quite like when Mom comes back. I know that's like… gross, or whatever… but I’ve always admired it about them. It’s something I’ve always wanted. For someone to love me like Mom loves Dad.”

You opened and closed your mouth, utterly at a loss for words. Thankfully, he continued without further prompting on your part.

“So that’s why… if you don’t want this, you don’t have to do it.”

You sputtered, nearly dropping your tea pot in shock; “B-but… the prophecy! And your parents--”

“Hang the prophecy, and I’ll deal with my parents. Whatever they promised your family, I’ll deliver.” Daichi fixed you with a gaze filled with an honest intensity that made him look so much older than 15. “I want a partner who loves me. For me. Not one who stays out of obligation, or worse… worse if my parents purchased their affection. That’s… I can’t. It’s probably naive of me, but I can’t. So if you want out, just say the word, and I’ll get you out. I swear on the River Styx.”

There was a distant rumble, and the sudden tense atmosphere told you that this wasn’t an idle promise. This had weight and meaning…

“Well…” You shifted from foot to foot, unsure how to respond. “I’m… not sure. I don’t know you very well, and… can I… can I think about it? Maybe we could… I don’t know… go on a date, or something?”

“A date?”

Daichi tilted his head in askance, and it occured to you that he looked very cute like that.

“Yeah. Like… I don’t know. A movie or a cafe or something. So we can talk. Then, we can decide.”

Decide if we want to get married, went unsaid. You were teenagers, after all. How could you expect to decide on forever when you were barely in high school. Still, Daichi’s smile was surprisingly warm, and it was something you found yourself wanting to see.

“I think I’d like that,” he said, extending his hand to you. “I’ll… arrange something fun. Well… my best friends can help me arrange something fun. I’m bad at this kind of stuff.”

“I… look forward to it.”

~~~

One date at a Starbucks turned to two. Which turned to three and four and countless more. Daichi took you places you could only dream of, secret places between dimensions only accessible by the gods. You couldn’t take him to lagoons with pools made of moonlight, or caves with real stars dotting the obsidian walls… but he seemed equally taken aback by the cherry blossoms in Tsutsujigaoka park or the Izumi Botanical gardens. He seemed to like places like that... close to nature.

As you got older, you spent more time together, and you got to know the delightfully silly boy at Daichi’s core. You learned of his love for dogs, born from being raised around Cerberus (ultimate dog, if Daichi was to be believed) and the many dog spirits that passed through the Underworld on their way to Elysium. You learned of his competitive spirit, of his friendships with Asahi--a son of Apollo and a nymph--and Suga--a mysterious son of Hermes. He told you of Olympus and the Underworld, and of his dreams to someday live his life in the sun. Among mortals. Not above them, and not beneath them.

He, in turn, got to know you. Your hopes and dreams and passions. He learned of your wit and your biting sense of humor, your compassion, your enthusiasm and general verve… you were alive. Bursting with life and light, according to him. As you grew closer and closer, he started looking at you like the sun rose and set in your eyes--a look that made foreign (but not unwelcome) tingles run from your head to your toes.

And at the end of every encounter, when your visit was coming to an end, he would ask the same thing.

“Will I see you again?”

The implication was clear… you knew all you had to do was tell him ‘no’ and you’d never see him again. He’d separate himself from your life, and that would be that. At first, when you were a teenager developing feelings for a boy for the first time, you’d kept him around out of curiosity and the desire to see things through. But as you got older, as you and Daichi became closer… he was more than your fiance. You were more than just a pair of kids caught in an old-fashioned arrangement… somewhere along the way, Daichi had become one of your best friends. Somehow, despite your forcefully entwined fates, you’d come to care a great deal about Daichi.

The idea of saying goodbye permanently became absolutely abhorrent. So you always answered, “of course.”

It was always like that. It was your pattern. You’d see each other, have a good time, and part on those words alone. It became a comfortable routine, even as the wedding drew nearer. And the longer you drew it out, the harder it became to leave him entirely. In the years since you met Daichi, he had become so precious to you…

Beyond that, he’d grown up so handsome. Almost ridiculously so. All signs of softness and roundness had disappeared with the last of his baby fat, leaving behind a ridiculously chiseled face. Staunchy masculine and sharp in every way, and yet his eyes remained so beautiful and warm. The way he’d look at you, you’d see his mother’s springtime sun shining through that beautiful, chocolatey brown. When he touched you, your whole body drew up tight, greedily wanting more than a chaste touch at the small of your back, or a gentle grasp of your hand as he gallantly kissed your knuckles.

Daichi had grown to be too much for you in almost every way… and you loved him for it.

Finally, the wedding drew near. You’d taken him on a day trip to see Akiu Waterfall on the outskirts of Sendai, and it was getting late. Your small apartment had been filled to the brim with flowers from Persephone’s garden, and Hades himself had delivered the finest jewels of his domain. A wedding dress made of dusky organza and lace so delicate it may as well have been smoke and feathers hung, flawless and perfectly fitted, in your closet.

“So,” Daichi said softly, helping you navigate a particularly tricky bit of slick rock. “In a few days, we have to make our decision.”

You ignored how the summer-warm heat of his hand against your back made you shiver, how it sent awareness through all of your limbs just to be near him. More than his celestial presence, something about this man had started to do terrible things to you. And he was so close…

“I think…” you swallowed to dislodge the lump that stuck in your throat. “I think it’s a little late for that. At this point, it’d be a huge hassle to cancel. Can you even get your deposits back?”

“You’re so funny,” Daichi said dryly, pausing to stroke the sleek feathers of a raven attempting to capture his attention. Over the years, the black birds had become drawn to him. You were sure that rambunctious Yuu and little Shouyo were your favorites. You idly wondered who this handsome devil was. “I mean it, ____. Just say the word, and I’ll leave. You can wait until the day of if you have to…”

For some reason, his insistence on your ‘freedom’ stung. You swallowed again, but your throat remained stubbornly thick; “Is that what you want? For me to leave? Call this off and never see me again?”

There was a long pause. Long enough you turned to look at him, taken aback at the almost sad expression on his face; “If… if it makes you happy, then yes.”

The word change was so slight… from ‘if that’s what you want’ to ‘if it makes you happy…’

“First, answer something for me.” You grabbed a seat on a relatively dry patch of rock, focusing on the breathtakingly beautiful waterfall and not the man just a few paces away from you. “We’ve known each other for 10 years… that should be enough for honesty, yes?”

“I’ve always been honest with you, ____.”

“Except you haven’t.” You balled your hands into tight fists, refusing to look at him. You had to say your piece, and if you looked into those perfect eyes… you’d be a goner. “You’ve always left this decision to me, Daichi, and we’re… we’re friends, at least. And I deserve better than that! So be honest with me… what do you want?”

For a second, it looked like he was just going to repeat his desire for your happiness. Tell you that he didn’t care about himself or what his future. But he didn’t. He gave a long, thoughtful pause, idly stroking the raven perched on his arm. The only sounds were the guttural purrs of pleasure from the bird and the sibilant rush of the waterfall.

“I want…” he bit his lip, his answer almost too quiet to hear. “I want to get married on Saturday.”

You sat, frozen, unsure how to react. You always pictured this moment, and in your fantasies you were always a smooth and composed fairy tale princess, worthy of the wife of a God. The reality proved much more… embarrassing than that, given your surprised little squeak.

“You… you do?”

“I do.” His word choice was not lost on you, and judging by the soft, sweetly sad smile he gave you, it wasn’t lost on him either. “____, I love you. I think I’ve loved you for a long time… maybe even since the beginning. But… everything was so complicated, and I didn’t want you to feel like you had to. Maybe it’s selfish, but I wanted you to love me… just for me. Not because I’m a God or because it was your duty or you were paying a debt… I wanted you to see me. And know me. And you did… you saw me every day, ____, and… and I can’t thank you enough.

“Which is why… it’s why I have to let you make this decision, because if it were up to me, I would have been yours years ago. But you… you never said anything, so… so I had to assume…”

“That I waited this long?”

Daichi rubbed sheepishly at the back of his neck; “Maybe it was wishful thinking on my part. Or denial. I’d hoped… that you were waiting so long because… because you wanted me. But I was never sure. So--”

You cut him off with a gentle touch to his lips that made him start so violently, the raven perched on his arm flew away with an indignant squawk. The only thing you could register was the soft give of Daichi’s lips against your fingertips… they were surprisingly plush, soft and smooth… Eye contact was intense. It burned…

“Daichi.” You took a deep breath, in and out slowly… “I feel the same.”

It was a small declaration, more confident than you felt. But it seemed to snap whatever thread that held Daichi together. His warm eyes filled with happy tears, and his breath shuddered with the force of his joy.

“Really?” He reached out a tentative hand, placing those gentle, warm fingers against your cheek.

“Really.” You leaned into his touch, letting your own hand migrate to cradle his jaw. “I really, really do…”

Somewhere along the way, you had come to deeply love this man before you. And, by some miracle, he loved you back. He loved you and it showed. It was obvious in the gentle way he pulled you to him, his gaze and touch so tender it made you feel as delicate as the flowers in your apartment. It was so clear in the way he gently--so gently--angled your jaw so he could press his lips to your forehead. The corner of your eye. Your cheek. Your jaw… and finally… finally, he brought you in for a slow and achingly tender kiss.

It was nothing like you imagined from him. There was a thread of uncertainty and inexperience. He was gentle and methodical and almost shy… but underneath, there was a sense of rightness. Like this was where you were meant to be. Like Daichi was made to hold you in his arms. You fit so perfectly, and it was so, so warm…

Never in your life had you felt so loved than in that moment. Affection filled your chest until you felt fit to burst, like your mere mortal vessel wasn’t built to contain the feelings you felt for Daichi. And his strong arms were there to hold you together, keep you from flying apart at the seams. And all the while, he trembled with the force of his own emotions. But he was happy… you were happy. You could hear it in the breathless, giddy cadence of his nervous laughter. You were loved, and in return you would protect Daichi from whatever ordained fate you’d been chosen to save him from.

Because you loved him so, so much…

By the end of the week, under the false sun in Persephone’s garden in the underworld, you became the Queen of Crows.

#haikyuu #haikyuu headcanons #haikyuu scenarios #sawamura daichi #sfw #scenarios

165 notes · View notes