#I mean raiden is still a very different Guy all together | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

kisses4lao · 11 months

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no bc i’ve been daydreaming about raiden and kung lao for weeks now pls feed me or i will go insane i am in love with them (btw if u do poly kung lao and raiden will reader get a cool hat too?)

You bet your sweet ass y/n is getting a cool hat.

This is y/ns cool hat. If you don't like it go fuck yourself

Tw/cw: sorry babe the hats stay on during sex. Poly kung lao and Raiden x reader relationship, AFAB reader, praise, piv, threesome, hcs of how they'd fuck it's cute, sfw hcs mixed in there too, I ain't writing allat ‼️‼️‼️

Not proofread fuck you

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Sfw

They'd both be such caring lovers but in their own way. Like, if they both had a free night they'd take you out to dinner. They see your relationship as much more than sexual and they have frequent conversations about it too.

What I mean by that is when they're on missions together, they'll just talk about you. Make conversation about how amazing you are to them. Truth be told, you brought their friendship much closer

A few months after you guys decided to be in a poly relationship, you all decided to move in together

Kung Lao and Raiden would often try and sleep in as much as possible, hoping you'd wake up on your own before they'd have to leave for training

The way you guys would usually sleep together is Kung Lao would sleep behind you, arms around your waist, while Raiden would sleep in front of you, hugging into your chest

You'd often cook for them because they'd get home late. Everytime you did, they'd be so grateful, saying praise after praise about how amazing you are and how much they love your cooking

If you ended up passing out before they got home, they'd both dress you in pajamas and just go to bed like normal

Sometimes though, Liu Kang would give them days off from training, and when he does, they both spend all their time with you

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Nsfw

Because of Raiden being the chosen protector of earthrealm, Kung Lao would often times come back earlier than he did

Because of this, Kung Lao would have to satisfy your needs by himself

Him and Raiden have pretty high libidos, however, Raiden is much more shy about it. While Kung Lao is upfront and initiates most of the time, Raiden is scared mainly just to touch you

He doesn't have much control over his electro abilities and so he's scared he may use them on you. After some time though, mainly after you're all in the same house, he starts to trust himself more

He's still shy about initiating sex, though. Most of the time he feels like he's bugging you

Kung Lao is horny all the time. He'll take you anywhere, anytime. His pace is usually medium to fast with a lot of passion. He loves hugging and kissing you during sex and he loves hearing you

Raiden is the same way, though he likes to go at a medium pace. He likes to draw out both of your orgasms so it feels more rewarding in the end. His hands usually stroke the inside of your thighs as he lets light sparks of electricity come out

On the rare occasion Raiden gets home early, he immediately wants to make love to you. He'll find you in the house somewhere, usually in your shared room reading, and he'll sit at the end of the bed begging you to let him pleasure you

This is usually what happens with Kung Lao too, except he just puts your book down and starts kissing you while placing himself between your thighs

Because both of them have very similar styles on how they make love, they often try their hardest to tag team

When they do, your pleasure is more important than anything else. They'd do anything for you in these moments. They like trying out different positions but they usually just do double penetration in the same hole

They spend a lot of time preparing you for this as to not hurt you. Raiden usually eats you out while Kung Lao plays with your nipples and sings praises

When they do finally penetrate, it's a very slow pace. They're both talking you though it and telling you how good you're doing, Raiden massaging your thighs while Kung Lao kisses your neck and shoulders, resting his hand on your tummy

These moments are extremely important to Kung Lao and Raiden. They find everything about you so amazing and being able to share that with each other enhances the experience. Even after sex with just one of them they talk about it to each other. They just want to make you feel good and hope you're okay

Their aftercare is also extremely gentle. Raiden will usually do the cleaning as Kung Lao gets food and water for all of you

Most of the time you guys usually take showers or baths together. One of them holds you still while the other one cleans you. Most of the time after these threesomes, you're extremely tired and can barely hold yourself up. They think it's cute and they sometimes cuddle you in the bath as well.

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A/n: I need them biblically

#mk1 #mortal kombat smut #mortal kombat x reader #mk smut #mk x reader #raiden mk1 #mk raiden #kung lao mortal kombat #raiden x reader #raiden smut #raiden mortal kombat #kung lao x reader #kung lao smut

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laismoura-art · 2 months

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Hello!! I want to ask you something, do you have thoughts about how Kuairumi wedding would animate? Because I'm so rooting for them and I can't even wait to see them together 😩♥️💛✨

Hi Meme!!

Thanks for the ask! I'm honoured that you, @orbitinytheworld and @thedragonholder want to hear my thoughts on this wedding!

Dragon already blessed us with her thoughts and it made my day that she used my take on Harumi's clan as inspo!

You guys are all amazing and I feel so flattered right now!!🥹💕

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Now for starters, I hope I don't offend anyone by saying that I am sooooo glad their wedding won't be looking like this:

Cause look, it might be just my hating on S1 Invasions, but I truly think this wedding looks like shit.💀

From the (non-existent) decoration to the wedding gowns, everything looks so plain and boring, there's no colour, texture, volume or personality, there's NOTHING here that screams Kuai and Harumi! I hope I'm not offending anyone with this, but from the bottom of my heart, I HATE how this wedding looks🤦🏾‍♀️

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With that out of the way:

Let's talk about the new wedding!

For once, we got our first official look on the brand new Fire Gardens and NOW WE'RE TALKING!

Seriously, just look at it!

I don't know if that's it's normal look of if it has been specially decorated for the wedding, but either way, it's great!

Look at the scorpion tails on the roof! The fabrics hanging, the rug, the lanterns and textured floor!

Look at all the golden pieces and candles surrounded by flowers! THE FREAKING FLOWEEEEERS!!!

Oh! And these statues! Can we talk about them? These are just like the statues found on the Wu Shi Academy, and I SO hope they are of the Elder Gods! Cause then it means we are one step closer to the Order of Cetrion! :O

We also got to see Kuai's gown too!

SO MUCH BETTER! It has texture, depth, details, and it actually feels like Kuai Liang (I mean, the Invasions gown even got people mistaking him for Bi-Han :P)

I still feel it's a bit too simple for his grand day, but it has potential (plus, I strongly believe he had some extra layers on that he discarded once he had to engage in combat)

We are yet to see Harumi (;-;) but Kuai's new vest does make me hopeful!

And look, you may argue that the Invasions gowns were traditional japanese/chinese gowns, but this kinda leads me to my next issue:

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Kuai and Harumi are fictional characters from fictional clans and are more than allowed to have fictional lore!

Heck! I'll give you some of my own lore right now, so bare with me!

Kuai descends from dragons and Cryomancy and Pyromancy are different outcomes from a same source of power! Meanwhile Harumi is a warrior of Cetrion and her clan protects nature!

Imagine what you can draw from it!

Kuai gets to wear a gown with texture that resembles scales and an overcoat that resembles wings! Harumi wears a dress with a white to light pink gradient, on the overcoat a beautiful hand-painted landscape of a cherry blossom forest and her hair adorned with golden pins and flowers!

Her bouquet made by Kuai to show he's finally learning flower language after years struggling with it!

Kuai: *hands Harumi a bouquet of tansy*

Harumi, teasing: Are you declaring war against me?

Kuai: wHAT???

I want more lore! And more unique traditions! Clothing, dances, rituals, food!

Be creative, NRS!

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Back to Canon again.

First of all, I got to see Shirai Ryu warriors (Raiden included) and Wu Shi warriors fighting the Cyber Girls. Very cool, very nice!

Now where are Harumi's warriors??

I find it hard to believe they weren't invited! So where are they? What do they look alike?

Please tell me they are all women and they don't all dress black with a singular piece of coloured fabric to tell them apart.

NRS, you were more creative than that... right? (ಠ_ಠ)

Also, you did invite the Umgadi, right NRS? Cause Harumi was one of them and now Kuai is their ally.

Kuai invited his allies, the Wu Shi. So Harumi invited her allies, the Umgadi. Correct?

Tanya is Harumi's old friend and now is her maid of honour, yes?

Yeah, thought so! Don't you guys love when NRS is creative? I sure do!😊

Now, to wrap this all up!

@thedragonholder suggested in her post that Bi-Han secretly attended the wedding and that ended up with him being caught by Titan Havik!

I absolutely LOVED that idea! But allow me to add:

What if Bi-Han told Cyrax and Sektor he was going to the wedding but he never got there cause Havik intercepted him first?

He never got too warn the girls and they think the Shirai Ryu had him captured the moment they spot him!

And that's why they decided to invade the wedding!

One big misunderstanding, it's on brand for MK, really :P

Kuai and Harumi manage to prove they got nothing to do with Bi-Han’s disappearance and begrudgingly they decide to help look for him because "he's a jerk and I'm still mad at him, but if he's really in danger than I won't just stand here and let him get hurt😑"

And that's how the whole adventure starts for them!

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Sooooo, yeah! Those are my thoughts so far! I really enjoyed brainstorm it all and I hope you enjoy reading it all just as much!

Gang, any thoughts, additions and theories? Please I'd love to talk more about it!!👀💙🩷

@mikka-minns @madamealtruist @moody-bloos

#the shirai ryu is looking great #i already loved their hazbin hotel vibes #but now their looks had me SOLD #kuai liang #harumi shirai #kuairumi #kuairumi wedding #shirai ryu #mk1 #mk1 khaos reigns #order of cetrion #umgadi girls au #and also some canon #as a treat

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qdbs-writes · 1 year

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okay, i can't wait anymore, time to break down the new mortal kombat trailer

youtube

Putting my mad theories and obvious spoilers for the ending and dlc for MK11 under read more because i would never subject any of this to you all unwillingly.

So it looks like Netherrealm have fully committed to establishing a new setting for the Mortal Kombat universe, which probably means a lot of the canon is going to be rewritten or otherwise changed.

So far in this trailer: Fire/Time/Lightning God Liu Kang, Kitana, Mileena, Scorpion, Sub Zero and Shang Tsung are confirmed. Shang Tsung appears to be a preorder exclusive, which is shitty because this trailer makes him out to be one of, if not the big bad.

Two people who look like Kung Lao are seen with Liu Kang throughout the trailer, however they have different hats.

so first thing is we have this hat, remind you of anything?

i think this is our boy kung lao, its missing the iconic blade, but we might see that change in the game

as for this guy ^, his hat reminded me an awful lot of Raiden's hat that we see at the end of MK 11 DLC

if this is Raiden, then it's probably going to be a return of mortal Raiden who now acts as an advisor to Fire/Time God Liu Kang. But it'll be nice to see all three of them together if that's the case, and i can't wait to see how their personalities have adapted in the new power dynamic. now that im looking at the outfits, the hat diagnosis makes more sense

Based on the Kitana and Mileena carriage scene, Outworld has a new oasis-esque look, or we might be getting a look at Edenia. But what is INTERESTING is the colour of the carriage! The carriage is PURPLE, which at first made me think that in this new timeline Mileena might be princess of Outworld instead of Kitana (Liu Kang maybe designed it that way to make their relationship less stressful?), BUT!

THE PURPLE ON THE CARRIAGE DOESN'T MATCH MILEENA! You can just about see in this screenshot (you'll have to click for higher resolution cuz tumblr hates anything above 64 bits), but Mileena's theme is more magenta, whereas the inside of the carriage (which matches the outside) is PURPLE. Who do we know associated with Outworld and the colour purple?

Our favourite retcon! This probably doesn't confirm Sindel showing up but it does strongly imply that Mileena and Kitana are riding in a carriage made for their mum! Which is a cute little nod to past canon and may indicate that Sindel has died again? or is otherwise not present, whether or not she might be a revenant is yet unknown.

Scorpion and Sub Zero seem to be allies again, which means we should get more of the friendship they had in MK11. They also appear to be in a tea shop (new au fucking sorted), and possibly in the Shirai-Ryu base? they are very matchy-matchy so this may be a hint to them fully teaming up?

also the eclipse/portal shit we see matches the fire portals we've already seen in the MK11 DLC, which implies that timeline fuckery is still occurring somehow and appears to be the main source of conflict in MK1.

phew, anyway that's all i have for now. if anyone wants to join me in theorising or mad speculation, please feel free to reblog and add on, im really interested in what other people think!

#mortal kombat #mortal kombat 1 #mk1 #mortal kombat 11 #mortal kombat speculation #mortal kombat 1 trailer #liu kang #scorpion #sub zero #mileena #kitana #kung lao #raiden #sindel #qdbs speaks #qdbs speculates wildly #Youtube

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taimonromance · 1 year

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My gay top Willy Fog characters

So, I'm not going to lie, I'm very gay, gay, gay and gay again. I was born to be gay, so it's not surprising to read something like this from me. Maybe this post is a bit ridiculous, but I really wanted to make it and anyway this fandom is dead and no one will read these stupid thoughts XD

So, meet the top Willy Fog characters that I find attractive!

8) Rowan

The position of a man is not the first thing I look at, but I have to admit that his position as a commissar is one of the reasons I like him. I've always been drawn to the aesthetic of police chiefs (or something like that) and given that Sullivan mentioned him first as someone who does a bank robbery investigation, that means he's quite famous and does a good job. He's also just a fat cat, which automatically makes him adorable. And men with mustaches have always been my weakness, so…

7) Dix

Continuing the theme with the police, I had no right not to mention Dix for the most obvious reasons. To be honest, he is not my preference in men (he is not fat or muscular), but his personality and attitude in a way interest me. I believe that he did nothing wrong and was just doing his job and it was not his fault that the bank employee confused Fog with a random lion. And I find it funny the way he gets aggressive (seriously, Dix is a very meme character) and gets irritated with a lot of things, I'm similar to him in that, so I don't blame him. Either way, Dix deserves a better ending and I hope he's doing well now. Can I give him a chocolate bar, please? :_)

6) Corn

Looks like someone's looking at a person's profession again, right? :)

Guys, he is a brigadier and this position is also very important, in particular for the British army! And when I first heard about it, I thought that he would be a very strict man who would help the gang with his high physical fitness, but in the end it turned out that he was just a cute cinnamon bun that also needs protection and this is very cute! But I can agree that it spoils the impression of him as a brigadier. And it is worth noting that he is the only minor character who was in the Fog's gang, albeit temporarily.

5) Sullivan

We're all gangsta as long as the villains don't come into play, right?

Ironically, in real life, my personality is similar to his (yes, I am the kind of person who behaves very differently in real life and on the Internet) except that I do not send mercenaries to eliminate my enemies XD. I totally understand his envy and DO NOT judge him for trying to be better than Fog, people just have to go through the same emotions to understand him. And Sullivan's passion and his composure in decisions only fuels interest in him, making him an attractive person for me. And the scene where he made a bet with Fog and included other members of the club in this game is one of my favorites. But anyway, he's still a terrible person (I say hi to Oscar lol) and his actions are illegal. However, I want to say that we could hate the whole world together, but I doubt that he is interested in poor computer students, but I will wait until he changes his mind 😢

4) Raiden (a.k.a. Akita)

JUST LOOK AT HIM! DO I NEED TO SAY SOMETHING?! HE IS THE HOTTEST CHARACTER OF THIS SERIES! Ahem… well… he's a stern, bossy, muscular dog who always says what he thinks. Honesty is what I appreciate in people, even if they say it rudely, like Raiden does. And yes, in my headcanons, he is a former samurai, but now hiding under the fake name "Akita" and working as a circus boss, but due to his incompetence in this matter, he does not do very well. We can only wish him good luck with his stuff and progress in his work ^^

3) Parsi

Parsi is the most kawaii character on this show and I want to say that I often look for his images on the covers and other official media. He is someone who i wants to protect at the cost of my life, he is incredibly kind, friendly, honest and loyal. Imagine he didn't sleep for two days to find Koa! I don't know how his family feels about him, but if I were them, I would be proud of this boy. It is also worth noting that Parsi is not weak and cowardly, as is often the case with characters like him, Parsi can defend his position and fight back, as well as show his annoyance towards others, as was the case with Dix and Bully. And I hope he rested well after what happened. I just want to hug him and call him the most affectionate words, and also cook something for him, I think Parsi got hungry after this events :(

2) Andrey

Guys, he's Russian, like me! While watching the series, I was waiting for at least some mention of Russia and Andrey's appearance in one of the final episodes was like a gift for me! By the way, I noticed him in the intro of the show and I had to wait quite a many episodes to find out who this mysterious bear was, but fortunately, my expectation was fully satisfied. And all my Russian friends who watched the series told me that "they could show a good-natured Russian, but they showed some kind of jerk" but I do not agree with them, I think that Andrey is one of the best Russian characters in foreign media. I find him quite hot in terms of appearance and personality, he is fat and yet very strong, unlike the American bear who talks more than he does (his name is Mr. Bullman, right?…). Andrei is also quite smart and he clearly explained why Fog's decision was risky for the ship and for those who sail on it (because the ship could burn down). And then Andrey got a lot of money and even got more, considering that the metal frame of the ship remained with him, so… I'm glad that this man got what he wanted! We love you Andrey!

Extra place) Rigodon

Unfortunately, he is not in my gay top, but I just had to mention him, so consider this a warm-up for the first place in this top. sigh Rigodon is the best character in this series and that's a fact. I'm not surprised that all my friends who watched this show because of me told me that they really like this character. (just so you know, it's…. um… 4 people, which is saying a lot). Rigodon is the true protagonist, we see his formation, the change of life principles, how he morally matures from a poor circus performer into a real devoted fighter who is ready to crush literally anyone who threatens their gang. It was he who saved the princess, fought the Transfer, did not let Fog's honor be offended in front of Dix and that American cowboy. He has the most necessary qualities that are needed to survive in this world and I believe that Fog greatly underestimate the potential of his servant.

1) Willy Fog

Oh my god, what a surprise that the main character took first place in this list :D

Willy Fog is the most controversial character in my entire history of being in different fandoms … the fact is that initially when I watched this series … I'm ashamed to admit it, but I hated him because I considered him a Mary Sue, who everyone loves for no reason. But… there is something about him that can enchant you and I too fell under his spell and declare that I AM HIS NUMBER ONE FAN >:(

There is some mystery in him that romanticizes his image in my eyes. I love every single thing about him: his voice (in the Russian dub, his voice in the English dub is not so good), his looks, the mane, his clothes, his personality, intelligence, erudition and calmness. I always saw this trip as… an update for him? He just wanted to see something new and get the emotions that he so lacked in everyday life. But even at the end, after the series, I was left with a lot of questions, like what happened to his relatives? why does he have no friends, despite being very famous? it's all really very mysterious and… it's very inspiring to me as a writer and creative person. But… I understand that I will never be good for a man like him. but I still love him.

It was an amazing trip, thanks for taking us with you, Willy.

Thank you for giving me new emotions that you received too.

(I also really want to paint his nails!)

#around the world in eighty days #around the world in 80 days #around the world with willy fog #willy fog

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whatifxwereyou · 3 years

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The Oncoming Storm Part 13: Worry

Liu Kang x Reader and Kung Lao x Reader (gonna do both, two paths!)

Liu Kang knows exactly what he's doing. Like, exactly what he's doing. Send help. Plz. Next update on Thursday! Gonna go for the double again this weekend. Thank you, as always, for reading! Appreciate you guys!!

Part 12 Part 14 Chapter Index

Meditation brought you no peace. Even as you laid down, you knew you couldn’t sleep. In moments like this you would normally wander about the temple to take your mind off your racing thoughts. But you were exhausted, and the idea of walking around was unappealing, to say the last. You needed rest but your brain wouldn’t allow it. It’d been cruel to you all day long. Maybe you should go and find Chen and see if she still wanted to meet up with some of her friends and have a drink. You could joke and have a drink under the watchful eye of someone who would take care of you if it made you sick. Then again, if you found Chen, then you would also be teased. That and she would expect to hear how your afternoon with Kung Lao had gone. You still weren’t sure how it’d gone so discussing it seemed out of the question.

Chen wanted you to make the kind of mistakes that you had been incredibly careful to avoid since your early twenties.

Avoiding that dangerous train of thought, you returned to your afternoon with Kung Lao. He’d been weird. Reflective and pushy, but still kind and confident in you in ways you had never expected. You couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed that you’d done so poorly. Your confidence had been shattered. It would come back, you were sure, but the vision you’d had and the fact that you’d hurt Liu Kang had really set you back. You were grateful, in hindsight, that Kung Lao had forced you to push beyond your limits.

Before you’d had no limits and since that night, you’d given yourself limits without realizing.

“Ugh.” You got up and pulled the top drawer of your desk open to find the small and delicate flower that Kung Lao had given to you. Seated on the edge of your bed, you admired the wilting and precious thing. It wouldn’t live for much longer, but it didn’t make it any less beautiful. You’d forgotten what it had looked like while alive over the years and the reminder was nostalgic and touching.

What had Kung Lao been doing today? Yes, you knew you were practicing, and he was encouraging you to push beyond you limitations but there was something else beneath that. A motive. You couldn’t say that he hadn’t been himself because the Kung Lao you knew had been ten years old. Still, he’d been weird for half the session. Besides that, you were certain that he’d considered kissing you several times and had hesitated- waited for you to make that leap. You had thought about it, of course, how couldn’t you? But it was different when you considered you had both thought it.

You set the flower on the wide windowsill, watching the wind slightly jostled the withering petals.

What did any of it mean? What were your heart and brain doing? They certainly weren’t working together.

Liu Kang had kissed you.

You brushed your fingers over your lower lip and shivered at the memory. It had been more than a kiss; it had been world-shattering. Okay, maybe you were being dramatic. But it had made everything else disappear. Nothing else had mattered. Not your vision. Not the mark on your back. Nothing.

Even though you’d been terrified and exhausted when it’d happened, it had been perfect. Even thinking about it made your chest ache.

You hadn’t seen him since then.

You’d spent so much of your time together that it almost felt like withdrawal to not see him for that long. Reaching again for the flower, you moved to your desk, afraid that the wind would blow the precious thing away. You rested the flower atop the journal.

You needed sleep but your brain wouldn’t turn off.

You hoped that Liu was okay. That in whatever way you had attacked him, you hadn’t done any damage. You wouldn’t be able to forgive yourself if you had. You also hoped that Kung Lao was okay. His behavior had worried you. You didn’t have the words to ask him what was going on. You had, in fact, asked him exactly that and he’d had no answer for you. He’d been evasive and you didn’t know him well enough to know if that was normal behavior for him. Maybe feelings made him uncomfortable. They certainly made you uncomfortable.

You recalled that even as kids he’d avoided uncomfortable conversations with humor. Back then, you’d done the same. Other than that, you hadn’t been able to shut him up. He’d told you everything under the sun that he could think to say. You smiled at the memory but shook it away as quickly as it had come. You had to get it out of your head that they were the same person. Yes, they were but there were twenty years of distance between them. He was different and so were you. He’d died and you had grown to love his memory.

You remembered him in reverence, but you had to put that aside if you had any hope of knowing the man that he’d grown to be.

Before you knew it, you were waking up to the sound of a knock on your door. Your back ached and your arm had gone numb from falling asleep on top of it. Wiping your eyes of sleep, you sat upright and scooted back in your chair. There was a second knock on the door, a polite and soft knock. You stood and half-expected to find a monk checking in on you. Instead, you found Liu Kang. He seemed tired. The sky was dark beyond the window in the hall behind him. You’d slept through the evening.

He greeted you with a nod instead of words. From the look of his thoughtful eyes, he seemed to have a lot on his mind. “Is everything okay, Liu?” You had a thousand other questions to ask him. Was he okay? Where had he been? Did you hurt him? How had you attacked him? You wanted to ask him what that moment between you had meant but you pushed that all aside. For now, the one question would do. The other answers would come with patience.

“Yes, everything’s fine.” He smiled as if realizing that he had worried you by not doing so. “I wanted to see you, that’s all.”

“Oh.” That was sweet, was what you wanted to say, but you didn’t.

“Can I come in?” He gestured toward the room and you stepped aside to allow him entry. He walked into the room and sat on the edge of your bed. You closed the door behind you and then joined him. “I’m sorry that it’s been so long.”

“Oh? Don’t be. It’s okay. I know that you have a lot of responsibilities here.” You smiled. It really had been some time, but you understood that he was busy. At least the distance hadn’t been in your head.

“I’ve been doing some research through the archives for Raiden. It’s been busy and tedious work. Trust me, I would have rather been here.”

“Research? About anything fun?” You brightened up, hoping to get him to talk about his day. He had listened to you many times and you were happy to repay the favor. Liu Kang averted his eyes and his prayer beads shifted nervously from his wrist and into his palm. His index finger tapped against the beads and your stomach dropped.

“Not so much fun, but interesting.”

“Oh. It’s about me. The research was about me.”

“Yes,” Liu turned to face you. “About what you’re experiencing. Nothing personal.”

“Well, did you find anything?” You wanted him to be honest with you even if what he’d found wasn’t what you wanted to hear. Liu softened. Sometimes it seemed to you that he could read your mind.

“No. In truth, it’s difficult to say what we’re looking for. We need to know more about what you’re experiencing and that could be…”

“Uncomfortable.”

“Invasive. Seers are rare, Y/N, but many have stayed in Raiden’s Temple over the years. I mostly went through files of old predictions and afflictions suffered around the same time. Nothing lined up of any note. I didn’t honestly think that it would, but we had to check.” Liu Kang tried to catch your gaze, but you kept your eyes turned downward. “Raiden wants to see what you saw using his magic if you’re up to it. I’m not sure when, I just know that it’ll be soon.”

“Oh, yeah, of course. If he thinks that it’ll help and can do some good then, that’s fine. A little discomfort isn’t going to kill me.” You smiled but it faltered. The gravity of the things you’d left unsaid was weighing you both down.

“Y/N?” He turned toward you as if he had something important planned to say but you stiffened up. You didn’t want his pity or his worry.

“I miss studying with you.” You interrupted. It wasn’t what you had wanted to say but he seemed to understand your meaning. You missed him. “Everything seems so complicated now. Part of me is missing those first few weeks, even as sick as I had been.”

“We can’t live in the past, Y/N.” He rested his hand on your cheek and urged your gaze up to his. You held your breath. His fingers brushed from your cheek, over the line of your jaw, beneath your ear, and then down beneath your chin. “When you said that you suffered an illness in your childhood, you didn’t mean that you were sick, did you?” You stiffened up. Of all the things you’d expected to talk about with Liu Kang that night, it hadn’t been that. You supposed it was important.

“I…” His hand was still on your chin and as you opened your mouth to speak his hand moved with you. He searched your face and then carefully dropped his hand. You were grateful that he had. The overstimulation had been insane. The air between you when you were that close was so thick that it was often difficult to breathe, nonetheless talk. With his hands on you, it was only that much worse. “Yeah, that’s… I was still sick, but it was because I saw things. So, if what you’re asking is if this was the first time that I saw something like that? Then no. When I was a kid, it came on very suddenly.”

“Same symptoms? The clotting? Passing out?”

“Yeah. It was something I dealt with then but when I turned twelve it went away and… I haven’t thought about it in years before this.” You felt suddenly nervous. His face was flooded with concern and he was the one to now avoid your eyes. Your stomach twisted into knots made of guilt and frustration.

“Were you not going to tell me? Or… anyone? The doctors in the infirmary had no idea.”

“I’m sorry.” You couldn’t avoid the blame. It hadn’t been on purpose. You would have brought it up if you had thought it were a possibility. “I hadn’t thought about in so long that when I started having issues here? I didn’t think of it immediately. When Kung Lao’s hat tore up my side? Yeah, it briefly crossed my mind. But Liu, listen.” You scooted closer to him, closing the small gap between you. You took his hand where the beads were wrapped around his palm and held it between both of yours. “I’m sorry.”

“You don’t owe me an apology, Y/N.”

“Yes, I do.” You insisted. “It was stupid and selfish of me. It’s going to sound silly, but I felt that by saying something about it, it would be like willing it into existence.” You let go of his hand and felt your chest ache with guilt. “And yet… here we are. And here it is. Back. I should have said something. I just kept hoping that it was anything else.”

“Words only have so much power,” he whispered.

“For three years of my life, Liu, I saw things beyond my control, beyond predictability. It made me so sick that I thought I would never recover. I couldn’t go to school; my parents wouldn’t even let me stay at home anymore. I felt hopeless. Powerless. I was foolish to think that not saying anything would change the truth and I’m sorry.”

“I’m not upset with you, Y/N. I’m just worried.” He urged you again to look up at him, finger hooked again under your chin. Worry was still very much present in his eyes, but so was determination. That was better than just the one. “You aren’t powerless. And you aren’t a child. You’re strong. No one is sending you away. You’re not alone anymore.” He urged his hand over your jaw and rested it against your cheek. It was warm and you couldn’t resist leaning into his touch. “You have me.”

“I do.” You closed your eyes. Each of his fingers were placed with purpose, his thumb carefully brushing over your cheek. “And Kung Lao.”

“And Kung Lao.” Liu said so with a sigh. You caught his gaze. There were volumes he didn’t say but you couldn’t argue that he had secrets. You had a thousand things you weren’t saying either. Things that you weren’t ready to say. Maybe he felt the same way. You almost asked him what was happening. Should you be putting a stop to this closeness? Or to Kung Lao’s obvious flirtation? Should you focus on figuring out what the tug between you meant or sorting out your mixed-up feelings for Kung Lao? Instead, you stayed lost in his eyes and savored the touch of his strong hand on your cheek.

Before you said anything you had to at least sort out your thoughts. It wouldn’t be fair to put that on Liu to decide for you. you had no idea what was happening in your head or your heart and now with the added trauma of your childhood illness returning more dangerous than ever, you owed it to them both to figure it out yourself.

“Y/N?” He asked with some concern in his voice. His other hand rested on your other cheek and his dark eyes searched yours with worry. His eyes traced over your face and returned to your gaze. You exhaled, not realizing that you had been holding your breath. You really had to stop getting lost in your head like that, especially since Liu Kang no longer seemed shy about touching you. You rested your hand over his on your cheek. Your hands were dwarfed in comparison.

“Are you okay, Liu?”

He laughed in surprise and his worry faded. “Me? Really?”

“Yes, you!” You took one of his hands away from your cheek and grasped it with both of yours again.

“I’m fine, Y/N. You spaced out and I’m starting to worry that the blood loss may be worse than we thought.” He teased, his heart-shaped lips curving into a smile.

“I heard you tell Raiden that my arcana attacked you.”

“It did.” His smile didn’t fade. He almost seemed proud of it. “Knocked me clear across the pit. Nearly lost consciousness.”

“What?” Your stomach dropped.

“Yes, but I’m fine, Y/N. It was mostly impressive.” He smiled reassuringly but you were still horrified that you’d hurt him so terribly without knowing. “Don’t look at me like that. I’m fine, really.”

“Did you get it looked at? Are you sure that you’re okay? I can’t believe that I attacked you.”

“I did, of course. It would be hypocritical of me not to. It’s just a bruise, I promise.” He assured you. “And I don’t think you were attacking me, Y/N. I think that whatever you experienced, your arcana was trying to protect you from it. Raiden thinks that it’s whatever shadow that has been cast over your gift. Your arcana lashes out to keep you safe, but it cannot attack a shadow, so it attacked me.”

“Just a bruise? You promise?”

“Yes, I promise. I’ll give you proof if you need it. You were really this worried about me?”

“Yeah, well, a little bit.” You were a terrible liar and Liu cocked an eyebrow in amusement that you’d even tried to lie. You’d been dwelling on his well-being since you’d heard him tell Raiden. “Fine, it’s been eating me alive. Happy?”

“I’m perfectly fine, Y/N.” He touched your cheek again and then sat upright and untied the red sash around his middle. You turned your gaze away from his hands immediately. He set the sash aside and pulled open his shirt so that you could see the purple and blue bruising on his stomach, spreading over his side and under his arm. You covered your mouth and gasped in horror. You’d done that? He laughed in surprise at the look on your face. “No! It’s fine, Y/N, this was supposed to comfort you, not make it worse. It doesn’t even hurt.”

“Liu, that’s the biggest bruise I’ve ever seen.” You almost touched it but then retracted your hand. You didn’t want to make it worse. Instead, you peered around him to see how far it extended over his side. He lifted his arm to show you. It stopped there, thankfully. Liu Kang then grasped your hand and very gently placed it against the bruising over his ribcage. Your breath caught in the back of your throat. He didn’t even flinch.

“It’s fine, really. It’s not as bad as it looks.” He stiffened up and watched your fingers. You brushed them just over the outside of the bruise, tracing the shape of it over his muscles. Then you pulled your hand back and held it close to your chest. Gently caressing his muscles was something you definitely didn’t mean to do but you had done it. Your heart was practically beating through your chest. There was that overstimulation again. You’d hurt Liu Kang, so much so that he had the ugliest bruise you had ever seen on another human being, even in old action movies. Then he had basically stripped just to show you that he was okay. Then, you’d kind of felt him up, fascinated by the bruise and his physique. He hadn’t been shy about his body, so it probably didn’t bother him. He’d made it quite clear that he was comfortable shirtless. “Y/N, I’m fine. Don’t beat yourself up over it.”

“I could have killed you.”

“Not easily.” Liu smiled and you looked aside, embarrassed. “Really. I only showed you to try and relieve your worry. If it had done any real damage then my ribs would be broken, Y/N. It’s superficial. I wouldn’t tell you that I was fine if I didn’t mean it.”

“You’re sure?”

“Trust me, Y/N.”

You did. You trusted him and so you would convince yourself that, while you had attacked him, he really was okay. You owed that to him. “Okay, Liu. I’m still sorry that I hurt you, but I trust you to know your own limits.”

“Y/N, if I hadn’t been there then who knows what would have happened to you? A little bruise is worth that.” He left his shirt hanging open and then gestured to the desk, but you interrupted him.

“That is not a little bruise. It is, in fact, the biggest bruise that I have ever seen in my whole life and I was a martial arts teacher before this.”

“It’s fine. I promise.” He laughed and grabbed the book and journal they’d been writing in. You caught sight of the flower falling to the side. “Are you up for studying? Or… does that seem trivial in comparison?”

“No!” You said too quickly and then laughed at yourself. “Honestly, I was thinking earlier how much I’ve missed it. So, I would like that. Very much.” It did seem a little trivial but not in a bad way. It was a good and simple thing to do. A simple grounding thing amongst all the complicated nonsense.

“I’m glad.” He seemed relieved and slipped further back on your bed, resting his back against the wall just below the window. You scooted back to join him, taking the journal from his hands. He opened the book and read from where you’d left off, stopping every so often to describe something with more clarity or to share a story. You asked questions when appropriate and every so often you made a terrible joke and stopped to laugh and share a personal story of your own. You took notes but mostly held the journal in your lap and listened. His careful, calm, and kind voice was familiar and comforting and you had missed it.

You shivered and Liu took the blanket from the bottom of your bed and draped it over your legs and his own. He scooted just a tad closer to you and much to your surprise, he slipped his arm right around your shoulder, hand brushing over your other arm to warm you. He knew exactly what he was doing, and you smiled but avoided his eyes that were boring a hole into you all the while. He returned to reading quickly, arm still around you, hand on your shoulder, thumb gently caressing your skin.

You rested your head on his shoulder and listened, abandoning your quest to take notes in the journal. His voice reverberated through his body and into yours and it gave you the shivers again.

“Are you okay?” He whispered, resting a finger on the page to mark his spot. You lifted your head from his shoulder and offered him a sleepy nod. He was already close, but his eyes searched your face, and he drew ever closer. His fingers brushed over your jaw and down the side of your neck. You held your breath as he seemed to consider words and then abandon them. Instead, he returned your tired nod. You caught his gaze on your lips, his own parting just slightly, the corners tugging into a soft smile before he turned back to the book.

Oh yeah, he definitely knew what he was doing but you didn’t mind it either. He went back to reading, pushing half of the book into your lap as he did. You held the left corner of the book for him on instinct. You’d read books this way with your sister, but never with anyone who made your heart race the way Liu Kang did.

You closed your eyes to focus only on the melody of his voice but drifted instead to sleep.

#liu kang x reader #liu kang #mk liu kang #mortal kombat movie #mortal kombat 2021 #liu kang/reader #liu kang/you #liu kang x you #kung lao x reader #kung lao/you #kung lao #mk kung lao #fluff #romance #angst #slow burn #fanfic #fanfiction #send help

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shaolin-spin-doctor · 3 years

Text

a Very Heated Battle of The Realms review

No spoilers:

It was bad. Really bad.

Scorpion's Revenge wasn't a masterpiece by any means, but it was good enough to get me hyped for this movie. Eye-catching style, outstanding animation and an interesting enough story to get you hooked despite its overall lack of depth - if the first installment could have all these things, surely the sequel would improve on them and be even better, right? Right????

Wrong.

This movie sucks. Sure, the first few minutes are entertaining, if pretty uninspired, CageBlade is cute, and the Subzero / Scorpion subplot in and of itself is actually pretty decent, but it fails in pretty much every other aspect - most of the characters are barely even... well, characters, the plot feels all over the place, the fights are short and uninteresting, the animation is lackluster... And the ending. Oh my god, the ending. I want to know who in their right mind looked at that and said "yep, seems about right!". The rest of the movie had been whatever-ish, but it completely lost me at that point. Some Annihilation level bullshit, I'm telling you.

All in all... Only watch this movie if you want some background noise, are drunk with a couple of friends, want to see some mindless violence for an hour and 20 minutes, or are a subscorp shipper and can ignore everything else in favor of their scenes. If you aren't in any of those categories, please spare yourself the headache and don't even look at it. Forget it exists. It's not worth it, not one bit.

As a side note that has nothing to do with the base movie itself, if you're a Spanish speaker and are thinking of watching the Latin American dub... Don't. Please don't. The audio mixing is disgusting and whoever directed the voice actors didn't even try, so everyone's bored and unenthusiastic all the time and it really just makes an already unimpressive experience worse. If you really need to watch this, do it in English for your own sake.

Spoilers:

LISTEN. I swear this has nothing to do with Lao getting murdered. Y'all know I was fully prepared for it to happen, and was not surprised at all when his was the most brutal death in the entire movie. In fact, I was actually kind of excited (sad, too. but still excited), since the whole thing up until that point had been a complete drag and I was sincerely hoping we'd get some actual action from it. Sadly, it was not the case, and instead Liu Kang got a Dragon Ball Super level powerup... and whatever the FUCK the ending was. Legitimately, I screamed when he turned into a dragon - I wanted it to happen, but in a BADASS way, like the games, y'know? Instead we got... that, and I think my father said it best when he described his presence as a "dying asthmatic shrimp". aND SHINNOK?? WHAT THE FUCK?? I fully believed his appearance was gonna be setup for a subsequent movie, ESPECIALLY when Shao Kahn grabbed Kitana - i thought he was gonna kill her at first, and then we'd have the main group of revenants (sans Liu Kang) for Shinnok to call upon, and I was kind of hopeful that perhaps they would explore them better in the future and give us the Legends version of mkx or something like that - but he ended up just. being a Big Evil Monster. His defeat was so stupid, too?? Idek man I can't even begin to describe how dumb and nonsensical and pathetic the whole ending was. Legitimately one of the worst endings for any movie I've ever seen in my entire life, not even kidding.

L/iutana came out of NOWHERE. I adore this ship with my life, but it was so poorly set up i was left absolutely flabbergasted when they kissed. What the fuck? Cageblade was okay because of the setup in the previous movie and the little development the two had in this one, but L/iutana was just. God. Legitimately. If you aren't even going to bother writing a romance in a slightly believable way or give it any development, why bother writing it at all????

Speaking of Liu, I don't know about you, but I didn't connect with him at all here???? See, he's supposed to be the protagonist, but he gets barely any development and his spotlight is constantly being stolen by Scorpion and Subzero. Yes, I know he's just as flat in the original games and he's only began developing his own personality fairly recently, but you had so much potential for him, both as a person and with the potential lore attached to him. Why did the Tarkatans kill his family? Why did he get a random powerup and managed to lift Shang Tsung's "curse" (which, by the way, was completely pointless), which only Raiden was supposed to be able to heal? The only thing I liked about him was his chemistry with Raiden, who is also one of the only few highlights of this movie for me, and everything else... Nothing, really. Hell, he doesn't even talk to Kung Lao ONCE. For a man he's supposed to consider his brother, you'd think they'd have at least a single scene of them together - at least as a way to display their bond, if the writers really didn't want to give them any real character traits aside from "good guys with pure hearts" - but no. That's partly why Lao's death didn't carry any weight - yes, it didn't lead to anything, but it hadn't been set up at all, either. Same with Stryker. He was just a guy who happened to get involved, said two lines, and then died. He had no real relationship with anyone in the group, so his death was completely unimportant, and really, if he had just vanished, just like those rain clouds that appeared to soak Liu after Raiden's death for like 2 seconds before going away without a trace right in the next sequence, I probably wouldn't have even noticed.

Really, he, Lao and Smoke might as well have been cut, and it wouldn't have made any difference. It's sad.

All in all... I didn't like this movie at all, except for a very few things here and there. I know it's supposed to be Mortal Kombat, and people are always gonna defend it by saying the story doesn't matter, but... Why shouldn't it? Why can't we have a good Mortal Kombat story with better thought out plotlines and characters? And if we can't have that, why can't we at least have coherent fights? This movie had a lot of potential, and it was just tossed out the window. I'll be salty about this for a while.

#i could go on and on about it but it's getting late so I'll just leave it at that #Mortal Kombat #chat in the hat #If you liked it. I'm happy for you!! It's great to hear that you were able to find enjoyment in it #but personally. nah man

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whatamidoingwithmylifeman · 3 years

Text

MK 11 Nozomi vs Canon intro fight dialogues part 1

Hey o, finally got part one of the Nozomi intro fight dialogues done. Same rules for the replaced guest character apply like the first time.

tw/cw: small implications of abuse and trauma

@yuvononik

enjoy below the cut

Barka vs Nozomi

Baraka: You took Shariah away!

Nozomi: She was left for dead! I saved her!

Baraka: Why should I trust what Quan Chi’s spawn says?

Baraka: You are not welcome here in Outworld, Nozomi

Nozomi: I think your Kahn would beg to differ.

Baraka: Kitana doesn’t speak for Tarkata!

Baraka: I know your dirty tricks, Goddess

Nozomi: Comparing me to that bastard necromancer isn’t a reliable source of information.

Baraka: Your personality and eyes are the near image of him!

Cassie vs Nozomi

Cassie: You don’t dress too fancy for a Goddess

Nozomi: Why should I? I’m only a Demi Goddess

Cassie: Stop the presses. We have a humble God.

Cassie: Wait so you’re like Kronika’s granddaughter?

Nozomi: She must not know I exist!

Cassie: Don’t you think it’s a little too late for that?

Cassie: You’re with the good guys, right?

Nozomi: As long as the “good guys” don’t hurt my children, then yes.

Cassie: Give me names, and I’ll make it an official SF order to bring no harm to them.

Cetrion vs Nozomi

Cetrion: My sweet niece, have you come back?

Nozomi: To try and close void again

Cetrion: Ah. So you aren’t going to stay

Cetrion: What does your mother say of your proposal?

Nozomi: As long as Rain makes me happy, then she’s fine with it.

Cetrion: Well if she’s fine with it..

Cetrion: The One Being calls to you.

Nozomi: Oh no! Not again!

Cetrion: Again? What do you mean again?

D’vorah vs Nozomi

D’vorah: The lost world’s demi-goddess

Nozomi: Not really lost if I never intended for it to be found

D’vorah: Kronika will merge it with this one in the new timeline.

D’vorah: Why refuse Kronika’s offer?

Nozomi: Kind of hard to accept someone's offer when you're being held prisoner in a cave

D’vorah: You should not blame Kronika for the One Being's rashness.

D’vorah: This one does not fear you.

Nozomi: Good for you? Look I really don’t care.

D’vorah: Not the reaction this one was expecting

Erron vs Nozomi

Erron: You and Rain sure are quite the match.

Nozomi: What do you mean, Black?

Erron: Two demi-gods with daddy issues.

Erron: You really ripped Kotal a new one.

Nozomi: There are two types of people I can’t stand. Argus and liars.

Erron: Give me one good reason to pray to you.

Erron: Y'all really have it in for Argus, don’t you?

Nozomi: If you don’t want to do so, then don’t.

Erron: You’re not good at this god thing are you?

Frost vs Nozomi

Frost: Since Michiko’s my mom, does that make you my platonic grandma?

Nozomi: Stardust Frost, I’m not old!

Frost: Aren’t you ageless?

Frost: What can you offer me Nozomi?

Nozomi: Love. Safety. Revenge.

Frost: I already get love and safety from mom and Reiki. But about the revenge thing.

Frost: Mom warn you about me?

Nozomi: Yeah. She said not to keep you up past 9, otherwise you get really cranky.

Frost: Very funny, grandma!

Fujin vs Nozomi

Fujin: You’re the one helping Michiko in her quest for vengeance!?

Nozomi: I am the Goddess of Revenge.

Fujin: You have another goal in mind. What is it?

Fujin: Nozomi… is there a reason you weren't there in the fight against Kronika?

Nozomi: No reason you need to worry about

Fujin: Nozomi, talk to me.

Fujin: Raiden cares a great deal about you.

Nozomi: Even after helping Michiko in her quest for vengeance?

Fujin: He understands why. He doesn’t blame you or Michiko.

Geras vs Nozomi

Geras: Nozomi, creator of the world below

Nozomi: And what of it?

Geras: Creationism was always your destiny

Geras: The One Being, The Morai, and The Reapers

Nozomi: Enough with the trying to make me remember that life!

Geras: I am sorry you had to meet him like that again.

Geras: Kronika will give you anything you wish.

Nozomi: She didn't seem to care about me when I was trapped beneath the sea of blood

Geras: Even Kronika cannot oppose the One Being

Jacqui vs Nozomi

Jacqui: Where’s your mom?

Nozomi: She said she had some family matters to attend to

Jacqui: Shouldn’t you be with her?

Jacqui: Kronika might not be finished

Nozomi: Lucky for us, I got my mom on our side

Jacqui: So is she gonna be our secret weapon?

Jacqui: Haven’t seen you since you found your dad’s decapitated body

Nozomi: Out of all the deaths I have witnessed, why did that one bother me the most?

Jacqui: I’m sure your dad’s out there somewhere.

Jade vs Nozomi

Jade: I found your mother’s temple

Nozomi: So Michiko has told me

Jade: Your mother was quite the informant

Jade: Will you help Kitana Kahn?

Nozomi: I don’t think I’m the right Goddess to ask

Jade: Then who do you suggest?

Jade: Are you really Raiden's daughter?

Nozomi: Platonically I am.

Jade: Platonically?

Jax vs Nozomi

Jax: I hear you’re related to Kronika, Shinnok, and Cetrion

Nozomi: Unfortunately, yes, and yes

Jax: Family get togethers must be a nightmare

Jax: You’re a weapon of mass destruction

Nozomi: I lose my shit once, and everyone calls me unstable

Jax: You lost your shit more than once Nozomi

Jax: I hope your union with Rain straightens him out

Nozomi: There’s no point in the union if I’m going back to my world.

Jax: Have you talked to him about this?

Johnny vs Nozomi

Johnny: I’m confused. Is Quan Chi or Rai-dude your dad?

Nozomi: Biologically or?

Johnny: With as protective as Raiden is of you, I'm going to assume it's Raiden.

Johnny: Earthrealm’s savior has arrived!

Nozomi: Oh, what a pleasure it is to meet the famed Johnny Cage.

Johnny: Finally! Some recognition.

Johnny: You control lighting!?

Nozomi: ehh, sort of.

Johnny: Are you sure you aren’t Raiden’s daughter biologically?

Kabal vs Nozomi

Kabal: Nozomi? What kind of name is that?

Nozomi: It means hope.

Kabal: That all? Could’ve sworn it meant more

Kabal: What deal did Kristy make with you?

Nozomi: Who said she made one with me?

Kabal: Bullshit! Kristy wouldn’t lie to me!

Kabal: You can bring people back from the dead?

Nozomi: Yes. Why?

Kabal: Do you make em revenants like your dad?

Kano vs Nozomi

Kano: Heard you were the Devil of Deals.

Nozomi: And Debts! Name your price.

Kano: Now we’re talking!

Kano: Well color me gobsmacked. You and Rain?

Nozomi: What of it?

Kano: Kind of thought it’d be you and that old sorcerer

Kano: What are you here for sheila?

Nozomi: Has nobody ever taught you not to cross a devil?

Kano: Guess yer about to teach me that lesson?

Kitana vs Nozomi

Kitana: If it wasn’t for you.. Mother would still be..

Nozomi: A corrupt, money grubbing, backstabber that lies through her teeth?

Kitana: Thank you so much for your help Nozomi.

Kitana: My revenant and Liu’s is really attached to you huh?

Nozomi: I blame my dad.

Kitana: Well that, and Liu Kang himself thinks of you as his sister.

Kitana: Are you leaving soon?

Nozomi: Once the portal’s fixed.

Kitana: Liu Kang and I will miss you

Kollector vs Nozomi

Kollector: Are you also a collector, Nozomi?

Nozomi: Yeah. Of debts.

Kollector: You and I would make great business partners

Kollector: What is Shariah’s status?

Nozomi: Her wounds are healing tremendously. Nyx is keeping her company.

Kollector: If that Saurian tries anything with her..

Kollector: How is it Mileena, Tanaya, Skarlet, Nyx, and Phantos get to see Shariah, but I can’t?

Nozomi: She requested them. And I know they wouldn’t try to take anything from my world.

Kollector: So she’s still mad at me?

Kotal Kahn vs Nozomi

Kotal Kahn: So you're the Nozomi Raiden has bragged on so much.

Nozomi: Leave it up to dad to be the embarrassing one.

Kotal Kahn: Dad? I did not know Raiden had a daughter.

Kotal Kahn: Is Shariah doing alright?

Nozomi: Didn't think you'd care.

Kotal Kahn: She helped Jade free me.

Kotal Kahn: Do you also practice the dark arts?

Nozomi: I practice all sorts of magic. Wanna see a card trick?

Kotal Kahn: Your character slips my mind day by day.

Kung Lao vs Nozomi

Kung Lao: My hat tricks, your card magic.

Nozomi: Together we’d make great great entertainment for a kid’s birthday party.

Kung Lao: Or anybody’s in general!

Kung Lao: You dated Shang Tsung?

Nozomi: Yes?

Kung Lao: Hate to break it to you Nozomi, but Rain’s not an upgrade.

Kung Lao: Are you going to leave once the void is sealed?

Nozomi: It’s what I intended to do from the start

Kung Lao: You’re the best sister ever. Please don’t go.

Liu Kang vs Nozomi

Liu Kang: Madam Nozomi.

Nozomi: Liu, you know you can just call me Nozomi

Liu Kang: Well I haven’t seen you in so long, I feared you’d think me a stranger

Liu Kang: You have poor taste in partners.

Nozomi: Oh? What are you, some expert?

Liu Kang: You met Kitana. I rest my case.

Liu Kang: Are you really going to leave us once the void is sealed?

Nozomi: That was my plan from the start, Liu Kang.

Liu Kang: You’re my favorite sister. Please don’t leave.

Mileena vs Nozomi

Mileena: How’s Shariah doing?

Nozomi: You and Tanya just saw her!

Mileena: That was an hour ago! I need a new update now!

Mileena: I’m glad it is you who Rain will wed.

Nozomi: Why?

Mileena: You make him the happiest!

Mileena: Tell me, does my sister actually like me?

Nozomi: She worries for you and Tanya everyday

Mileena: You mean it?

Nightwolf vs Nozomi

Nightwolf: Why do you hate that spot in the Netherrealm anyway?

Nozomi: Something bad happened there.

Nightwolf: Great Spirit Nozomi, are you alright?

Nightwolf: You’ve met the Great Spirit before.

Nozomi: No, she's met the Great Spirit

Nightwolf: You are her Nozomi.

Nightwolf: Raiden spoke a great deal of you.

Nozomi: Oh? Enlighten me?

Nightwolf: Like a father bragging about his daughter.

Noob Saibot vs Nozomi

Noob Saibot: Quan Chi spoke a great deal of you, daughter of Fuyuka.

Nozomi: I doubt it.

Noob Saibot: He’d sang your praises to everyone in the Netherrealm.

Noob Saibot: Tell me why Michiko hates me.

Nozomi: I don’t think she hates you, Bi Han.

Noob Saibot: I have seen that rage in her eyes before. There is no mistaking it

Noob Saibot: As Quan Chi’s daughter, you will take over the Brotherhood of Shadow.

Nozomi: Shouldn’t that technically go to Melantha instead of me?

Noob Saibot: Shinnok’s daughter has chosen to stay in Orderrealm.

Raiden vs Nozomi

Raiden: Out of all the gods, you led Michiko against Flamus and I?

Nozomi: You and Flamus need to atone for what you did to the Karasugawas!

Raiden: I cannot blame your anger or hers.

Raiden: I hope Rain will be a good husband to you.

Nozomi: He was my best friend and greatest boyfriend.

Raiden: Should he hurt you, lighting will strike more than twice.

Raiden: Are you going to leave?

Nozomi: Once the void gets closed again.

Raiden: You know there are a lot of people here that will miss you Nozomi.

Rain vs Nozomi

Rain: Nozomi are you really going back to the world below?

Nozomi: You can come with me Rain!

Rain: But wouldn’t it be better here?

Rain: Is it true you do not have followers my cosmic queen?

Nozomi: I have no need or want for them, love.

Rain: All the realms should worship you and your generous beauty.

Rain: I don’t feel comfortable with you going to Orderrealm alone

Nozomi: I’m just visiting my cousin Rain.

Rain: Melantha isn’t the problem. It’s Hotaru

Scorpion vs Nozomi

Scorpion: So you’re the reason for Michiko’s wrath against the gods!!

Nozomi: I am the Goddess of Revenge! Why does everyone forget that?

Scorpion: Because that is not the impression you give Goddess.

Scorpion: Tell me, why does Michiko hate me?

Nozomi: She’s just afraid Reiki would leave her for you.

Scorpion: Reiki leaving a wonderful woman like Michiko? That’s impossible.

Scorpion: I am sorry for acting so hastily back then.

Nozomi: Because of you, we almost didn’t find Charu!

Scorpion: Hurting anyone else was never my intention.

Shang Tsung vs Nozomi

Shang Tsung: We’ve danced this dance a thousand times.

Nozomi: And yet you still miss the steps.

Shang Tsung: Forgive me, I’m still learning.

Shang Tsung: You and the Edinan demigod?

Nozomi: Rain was my friend for as long as you were.

Shang Tsung: Should we hurt you, his soul will be mine.

Shang Tsung: I’ll miss you when you leave.

Nozomi: You’re usually not this direct Shang.

Shang Tsung: I have no need to be elusive with you.

Shao Kahn vs Nozomi

Shao Kahn: That sword will be mine!

Nozomi: I’d like to see you try and take it!

Shao Kahn: I’ll enjoy cutting you up with it when I do.

Shao Kahn: You took Sindel away!

Nozomi: She never loved you in the first place.

Shao Kahn: You’ll pay with your life!

Shao Kahn: It’s a shame your mother isn’t here

Nozomi: Mother doesn’t need to waste her time with you.

Shao Kahn: A shame she won’t get to see her precious daughter die!

Sheeva vs Nozomi

Sheeva: Thanks to you Sindel is reunited with her daughters.

Nozomi: I know what it’s like to live so long without a mother.

Sheeva: I hope you and your mother get a chance to catch up.

Sheeva: How is Shariah doing?

Nozomi: Her wounds are healing tremendously!

Sheeva: That is good to hear.

Sheeva: So you are also a devil?

Nozomi: Of deals and debts.

Sheeva: How many are in your debt?

Sindel vs Nozomi

Sindel: I thank you for waking me from my corruption

Nozomi: It wasn’t an easy task.

Sindel: I imagine it was not

Sindel: If you are to wed an Edinan then it would be wise to do so in Edenia.

Nozomi: Queen Sindel, I’m not staying long

Sindel: Please stay in this world with all of us Nozomi.

Sindel: How is she?

Nozomi: Shariah is healing pretty quickly.

Sindel: Shao Kahn will pay for this.

Skarlet vs Nozomi

Skarlet: So you’re the famous blood-bender?

Nozomi: You’re the Skarlet Michiko has mentioned?

Skarlet: How have we not befriended each other already?

Skarlet: My sister, how is she?

Nozomi: Shariah is healing well.

Skarlet: I shall visit her soon.

Skarlet: If Reiko bothers you again, I’ll deal with him

Nozomi: I might have to take you up on that offer

Skarlet: I’ll bloodbend him til he breaks in two.

Sonya vs Nozomi

Sonya: Did you honestly make a deal with Kano?

Nozomi: Heard he was a crosser. Thought I’d teach him a lesson

Sonya: You are some sadist.

Sonya: What’s Kronika’s deal with you?

Nozomi: She thinks being nice to me will make up for what her husband did.

Sonya: I didn't know she was married.

Sonya: From the way Raiden spoke about you, he seemed really proud.

Nozomi: So I’ve been told.

Sonya: You should stick around, for his sake.

Sub-Zero vs Nozomi

Sub-Zero: So you are the one who saved Michiko all those years ago?

Nozomi: She was so scared when I found her.

Sub-Zero: Did she ever tell you why?

Sub-Zero: Is Michiko going back with you?

Nozomi: That is for her to decide

Sub-Zero: So that is a no?

Sub-Zero: You control all the elements?

Nozomi: Their khaotic forms.

Sub-Zero: What are you Nozomi?

Shinnok vs Nozomi

Shinnok: My dearest niece, it’s good to see you again

Nozomi: I’m only here to seal up the void Shinnok

Shinnok: Won’t you stay?

Shinnok: So you’re marrying Rain?

Nozomi: Yup.

Shinnok: He will know death should he bring you harm.

Shinnok: Nozomi, your father has told me this isn't the first time you have been held captive in my realm

Nozomi: I don't want to talk about the first time.

Shinnok: Nozomi. Who else hurt you?

Quan Chi vs Nozomi

Quan Chi: Starlight. You and your mother’s return fills me with such joy.

Nozomi: Didn’t think you really cared.

Quan Chi: When you left, I nearly died again.

Quan Chi: My daughter, are you not happy to see me?

Nozomi: Your return could mean Isaac’s return!

Quan Chi: Nozomi, what did he do to you?

Quan Chi: If Rain hurts you, I will see to it he is tortured beyond death.

Nozomi: You’re actually accepting of the engagement?

Quan Chi: I trust your judgement.

Hotaru vs Nozomi

Hotaru: Madam Nozomi.

Nozomi: General Hotaru.

Hotaru: Here to see Lady Melantha I presume?

Hotaru: Nozomi, I love Melantha. I’m not going to hurt her.

Nozomi: One mark on her, and your soul won’t live another life.

Hotaru: You have my word.

Hotaru: Melantha wept when she heard you were going to leave.

Nozomi: I have no reason to stay.

Hotaru: Leave, and I will hunt you down and kill you for making my beloved Venus cry.

Reiko vs Nozomi

Reiko: If it isn’t the gorgeous blood bender.

Nozomi: An engaged blood bender, Reiko.

Reiko: Not for long.

Reiko: Honestly, why settle for that demigod?

Nozomi: Cause he isn’t a scheming little shit!

Reiko: That tongue is sharp. I like it.

Reiko: May I have this dance?

Nozomi: You can have a seat.

Reiko: Only if you take one on my lap.

Meat vs Nozomi

Meat: Is Shariah here?

Nozomi: Yes she’s healing- son is that you?

Meat: I want to see her. Then we’ll talk.

Meat: Are you mad at me for leaving?

Nozomi: I just want to hold you again.

Meat: Your hugs were my favorite.

Meat: No flesh please. I don’t want any.

Nozomi: Anything, just please don’t leave again.

Meat: Then you stay too.

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weekendwarriorblog · 3 years

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The Weekend Warrior 4/23/21: MORTAL KOMBAT, DEMON SLAYER, TOGETHER TOGETHER, STREET GANG, SISTERS WITH TRANSISTORS

Ugh. Trying to maintain this column as a weekly entity during the final few weeks of the longest Oscar season ever has been really hard, and I’m not sure that will change once the Oscars are over either, because I look at the number of movies being released both theatrically and streaming over the next few weeks, and it makes my head hurt. Sorry for the kvetching, it just is what it is.

There are two big theatrical releases this weekend, Warner Bros’ MORTAL KOMBAT and DEMON SLAYER THE MOVIE: MUGEN TRAIN from FUNImation Entertainment, both which have already been released internationally. I also probably won’t be able to watch or review either before this column gets posted.

Mortal Kombat seems like the easiest sell being that it’s based on the popular Midway Games video game franchise introduced in the early ‘90s that led to a series of films, books, comics and you name it. It was a very popular fighting game that had over a dozen iterations including one in which MK characters fought against DC superheroes.

The very first Mortal Kombat movies opened in 1995, right amidst MK-mania, and it was directed by one Paul W.S. Anderson, his very first movie in a long line of video game-related movies, including a number of Resident Evil and the recent Monster Hunter. There are a lot of people who love those games, and yes, even people who love that and other movies, but to others, who may have been too old to get into the games when they came out, the whole thing about different fighters fighting each other just looks kind of studio. Even though I’m interested to see what producer James Wan brings to this reboot, I just don’t have much interest otherwise.

Unfortunately, and this is pretty daunting, Warner Bros. wasn’t sending out screeners to critics until Wednesday with a review embargo for Thursday night at 7pm, which is never a good sign, and yet, it continues Warner Bros. continuing the trend of being one of the only studios that screeners EVERY movie to film critics rather than just making them pay to see it on Thursday night or Friday. I hope to watch it and maybe add something Thursday night, time-permitting. Not sure you heard but the Oscars are Sunday.

As far as box office, Mortal Kombat opens on Friday but also premieres on HBO Max, and I’m not sure there will be as much urge to see MK on the largest screen possible, as there was with Godzilla vs. Kong. Because of that, I think the cap for this one over the three-day weekend is about $10 million but not much more and probably more frontloaded to Friday than we’ve seen in some time.

Mini-Review: As you can imagine from my statement above, I don’t hold the Mortal Kombat games or other iterations in any particular high esteem, so I’m basically jumping into this movie, directed by Simon McQuoid, just as a movie and not necessarily as a video game movie.

It starts off promising enough like a samurai movie with a flashback where we watch Hiroyuki Sanada’s hero sees his wife and son be killed by Joe Taslim’s character that will later become Sub-Zero. The general principle seems to be that there’s a world where people from other worlds fight each other to gain complete control. The hero is Lewis Tan’s MMA fighter Cole Young, presumably a popular character from the game? He is also soon attacked by Sub-Zero presumably because he’s marked with a dragon tattoo that deems him a champion of these fights, but he needs to find someone named Sonya Blade (Jessica McNamee) to help him get to the “Mortal Kombat.” At the same time, he meets the movie’s most entertaining character, Kane,

played by Australian actor Josh Lawson, mainly because he swears constantly and cracks wise -- he’s a bit like Wolverine, actually, and he’s actually the best part of the movie.

Otherwise, everyone and everything is always so deadly serious that everyone else we meet just doesn’t have much impact, because frankly, none of these names or characters mean jack shit to me. Sure, some of them sound vaguely familiar but I was more interested in the great Asian actors who turn up including Tadanobu Asano’s Lord Raiden, who is gonna claim Earth if its champions lose at Mortal Kombat. And Sub-Zero basically just shows up and tries to kill everyone.

As with far too many action movies, the action itself is great, the writing and acting not so much.

As it goes along, things become more epic and fantasy-driven but that also makes the dialogue seem even worse. Similarly, the fight choreography is pretty great, but the movie still leans way too heavily on visual FX to keep it more interesting for anyone not too interested in MMA… like myself. When all else fails, they can show off Sub-Zero’s cool ice powers every chance possible as well as the other’s powers, but some of them (like Lord Raiden) just made me think of this as a rip-off of the great Big Trouble in Little China.

The thing is I’m not a fan of the video game nor of MMA, so Mortal Kombat really doesn’t have much to offer me. The whole thing just seems very silly, just like almost everything from the ‘90s. (How’s THAT for a bad take?)

That said, I thought the final battle was great, and I enjoyed some of the gorier aspects of the fights, too, and it all leads to my favorite part, which is the three-way fight between Cole, Sub-Zero, and… actually I’m not sure if it’s a spoiler or not, but it’s a pretty cool fight that almost makes up for some of the dumber characters introduced earlier on. (LIke that guy with four arms. I know he’s a character in the games, but I didn’t even care enough to look up his name.)

It’s perfectly fine that they decided to go Rated R with the movie since most of the nostalgia for this movie and franchise will be towards older guys, but at times, the CG blood is so hinky it feels like the decision to go R-rated was made well after it was filmed.

Even though I went in with the lowest of expectations, I still found most of Mortal Kombat kinda trite and boring, maybe something I’d appreciate more as a teenager but not so much as a grown adult. But what do you expect for a movie based on a video game that’s just a bunch of “cool fights”?

Rating: 5.5/10

And yet, Demon Slayer could be the surprise breakout of the weekend, considering the theatrical success FUNimation has had with theatrical releases of the My Hero Academia movies into theaters in 2018 and 2020, and the hugely successful Dragon Ball Super: Brolly, which grossed $31 million domestically after a surprise $20.2 million in its first five days in roughly 1,200 movies. In fact, it made $7 million its opening Wednesday in January 2019, and FUNimation is hoping that Demon Slayer will have a similar success by opening it for a single day (Thursday) in IMAX theaters before Mortal Kombat takes over on Friday.

Demon Slayer has already grossed $383.7 million internationally compared to Mortal Kombat’s $10.7 million, and you cannot ignore the huge popularity that anime has seen over the past few decades. In fact, a bunch of screenings for Demon Slayer in NYC have already sold out, although you have to bear in mind that these are 25% capacity theaters. Even so, I still think this can make $4 to 5 million on Thursday and another $7 to 8 million over the weekend, depending on the number of theaters. Yes, it will be quite frontloaded, and I’m not sure what the cap is on theaters and how that will affect how it does over the weekend, but expect a big Thursday and a more moderate weekend but one that might give both Mortal Kombat and Godzilla vs. Kong a run for the top of the box office.

Also hitting theaters before streaming on Netflix (on April 30) is THE MITCHELLS VS. THE MACHINES, the new animated movie produced by Chris Miller and Philip Lord, following their Oscar win for Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. It’s a little weird to open a new animated movies, presumably in select theaters, when such a hugely anticipated animated movie like Demon Slayer is opening, but Netflix won’t

The movie itself is directed by Michael Rianda and Jeff Rowe, and it involves a family named the Mitchells, whose eldest daughter Katie (voiced by Abbi Jacobson) is leaving home for college, so her father (voiced by Danny McBride) decides that he’s going to drive her there and use it as the chance for a cross-country family trip. Meanwhile, it’s set up how the world becomes overrun with robots when a tech giant creates a new personal assistant.

I wasn’t sure whether I’d like this even though I’m generally a fan of all of Lord/Miller’s animated movies including both Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs movies. It took me a little time to get into the family and the general premise. In some ways it reminded me of Edgar Wright’s The World’s End where it’s trying to merge these two disparate genres, but when they actually merge, it just doesn’t work as well as it may have seemed on paper. That worry is soon expunged, because Rianda finds ways to integrate the two ideas over time.

On the trip, the Mitchells run into their perfect family neighbors, the Poseys -- voiced by Krissy Teigen, John Legend and Charlyne Yi -- and you’d think they might be a bigger part of the movie then they actually are. I’m not sure I would have liked doing the family-vs.-family thing so soon after last year’s Croods movie, but I did love the dynamics of the Mitchells being a very relatable imperfect family with Danny McBride being particularly great voicing the family patriarch. It even has a really touching Pixar’s Up moment of Katie’s father watching old home movies of them together when she was younger.

In general, the filmmakers have assembled a pretty amazing voice cast that includes Conan O’Brien, Olivia Colman, Fred Armisen and Beck Bennett. Actually the weirdest voice choice is Katie’s younger brother Aaron, voiced by Rianda himself, and it sounds like a strange older man trying to be a kid, so it doesn’t work as well as others.

What I genuinely liked about Mitchells vs. the Machines is that it doesn’t go out of its way to talk down to overly sensitive kiddies or skimp on the action while also including elements that parents will enjoy as well, and to me, that’s the ideal of a family film.

While some might feel that The Mitchells vs. the Machines is fairly standard animated fare, it ends up being a fun cross between National Lampoon’s Vacation (cleaned up for the kiddies) with Will Smith’s I, Robot, actually, and yet, it somehow does work. It’s a shame that it’s really not getting a theatrical release except to be awards-eligible.

Next, we have two really great movies I saw at Sundance this year and really enjoyed immensely…

So as I mentioned, I first saw Nikole Beckwith’s TOGETHER TOGETHER (Bleecker Street), starring Ed Helms and Patti Harrison, at Sundance, and it was one of my favorite movies there with Helms playing a middle-aged single guy named Matt, who hires the much-younger Anna (Harrison) to be his surrogate, because he wants a baby. It’s a tough relationship thrown together due to each of their respective necessities.

Part of what drives the movie is how different Matt and Anna are, him being quite inappropriate with his suggestions and requests but not really having a working knowledge of female anatomy, pregnancy, delivery etc, but being really eager to raise a child and having the money that Anna clearly does not.

While I was familiar with Helms from The Office, The Hangover, etc. I really didn’t know Patti Harrison at all. Apparently, she’s a stand-up comic who hasn’t done a ton of acting, comedic or otherwise. That’s pretty amazing when you watch this movie and see her dry sardonic wit playing well against Helms’ generally lovable doofus. What I also didn’t realize and frankly, I don’t really see this as something even worth mentioning, is that she’s a trans woman playing a clearly CIS part, and she kills it. I certainly wouldn’t have known nor did it really affect my enjoyment of the movie, yet it still seems like such a brave statement on the part of the director and Harrison herself. The thing is that Harrison isn't just a terrific actress in her own right, but she brings out aspects of Helms that I never thought I would ever possibly see. (If it isn't obvious, I'm not the biggest fan of Helms.)

The movie has a great sense of humor, as it gets the most out of this awkward duo and then throws so many great supporting actors into the cast around them that it’s almost impossible not to enjoy the laughs. There’s the testy Sonogram tech, played by Sufe Bradshaw from Veep, who tries to maintain her composure and bite her tongue, but you can tell she’s having none of it. Others who show up, including Tig Notero, Norah Dunn and Fred Melamed. Just when you least expect it, Anna Conkle from Pen15, shows up as one of those delivery gurus that make the two of them feel even more awkward.

What’s nice is that this never turns into the typical meet cute rom-com that some might be expecting, as Beckwith’s film is more about friendship and companionship and being there for another, and the lack of that romantic spark even as chemistry develops between them is what makes this film so enjoyably unique. Beckwith’s sense of humor combined with her dynamic duo stars makes Together Together the best comedy about pregnancy probably since Knocked Up.

Another great Sundance movie and actually one of my two favorite recent documentaries AND one of the best movies I’ve seen this year is… you know what? I haven’t done this for a while so this is this week’s “CHOSEN ONE”!! (Fanfare)

(Photo courtesy: Robert Fuhring/Courtesy Sesame Workshop)

Marilyn (Mad Hot Ballroom) Agrilo’s STREET GANG: HOW WE GOT TO SESAME STREET (Screen Media/HBO Documentaries) is a fantastic doc about the long-running and popular PBS kids show that’s every bit as good as Morgan Neville’s Mr. Rogers doc, Won’t You Be My Neighbor? Which was robbed of an Oscar nomination a few years back.

Let me make something clear on the day I’m writing this, April 21, 2021, that this is my favorite movie of the year, the only one I’ve already given a 10/10, and the end of the year might come around, and I have a feeling it will still be my #1.

You see, I was raised a Sesame Street kid. It’s not like I didn’t read or play outside or not get the attention of my parents or family, but there was so much of my happy, young life that I could attribute to my time watching Sesame Street, and when you watch Marily Agrilo’s amazing doc, it all comes rushing back. There is stuff in this movie that I haven’t seen in maybe 50 years but that I clearly remember laughing at, and there’s stuff that got into the mind of a young Ed that influenced my love of humor and music and just outright insanity. Sure, I loved The Muppet Show, too, but it was a different experience, so to watch a movie about the show with all sorts of stuff I had never seen or knew, that’s what makes Street Gang such a brilliant documentary, and easily one of the best we’ll see this year. Of that I have no doubt.

From the very origins of the show with Joan Cooney developing a show that will be entertaining and educational to the kids being plopped down in front of the TV in the ‘60s and ‘70s, so they can learn something, it’s just 1:46 of straight-up wonderment.

Besides getting to see a lot of the beloved actors/characters from the show and many of the surviving players like Carol Spinney aka Big Bird/Oscar, you can see how this show tried to create something that wasn’t just constantly advertising to young minds.

More than anything, the show is a love letter to the bromance between Jim Henson and Frank Oz, and you get to see so many of their bits and outtakes that make their Muppets like Burt and Ernie and Grover and, of course, Kermit, so beloved by kids that even cynical adults like myself would revert childhood just thinking about them. Then on top of that there’s the wonderful music and songs of Christopher Cerf and Joe Raposo and others, songs that would permeate the mainstream populace and be remembered for decades.

The movie is just a tribute to the joy of childhood and learning to love and sing and dance and just have fun and not worry about the world. I’m not sure if kids these days have anything like that.

It also gets quite sad, and I’m not embarrassed to say that in the sequence that covers the death of Mr. Hooper, I was outright bawling, and a few minutes later, when Jim Henson dies in 1990, I completely lost it. That’s how much this show meant to me and to so many people over the decades, and Brava to Ms. Agrilo for creating just the perfect document to everything that Sesame Street brought to so many people’s lives. This is easily the best documentary this year, and woe be to any Academy that doesn’t remember it at year’s end.

The other fantastic doc out this week, though I actually got to see it last year, is Lisa Rovner’s SISTERS WITH TRANSISTORS (Metrograph Pictures), which will play at the Metrograph, both on demand and part of its Digital Live Screenings (available to join for just $5 a month!). This is an endlessly fascinating doc that looks at the women of electronic music and the early days of synthesizers and synthesis and some of the female pioneers. It’s narrated by Laurie Anderson, which couldn’t be the more perfect combination.

The movie covers the likes of Suzanne Cianni; Forbidden Planet composers Louis and Bebe Barron, who created the first all-electronic score for that movie; the amazing Wendy Carlos, who electronically scored one of my favorite movies of all time, Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange; Delia Derbyshire, who was also the subject of Caroline Catz’s short, Delia Derbyshire: The Myths and Legendary Tapes, which tragically, I missed when it premiered at the SXSW Film Festival in March. Derbyshire was also famous for creating the iconic theme to “Doctor Who” while working at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop in the '60s. Others who appear in the movie, either via archival footage or more recent interviews are Pauline Oliveros and Laurie Spiegel, who I was less familiar with.

The point is that as someone who was a fantastic for electronic music and synthesizers from a very early age and for someone who feels he’s very familiar with all angles of music, I learned a lot from watching Rovner’s film, and I enjoyed it just as much a second time, because the footage assembled proves what amazing work these women were doing and rarely if ever getting the credit for what they brought to electronic music, something that still resonates with the kids today who love things like EDM.

An endlessly fascinating film with so much great music and footage, Sisters with Transistors can be watched exclusively through the Metrograph’s Live Screening series, so don’t miss it!

Hitting Shudder this week is Chris Baugh’s BOYS FROM COUNTY HELL (Shudder), which I didn’t get a chance to watch before writing this week’s column, but Shudder in general has been knocking it out of the park with the amazing horror movies it’s been releasing on a weekly basis. This one involves a quarelling father and son on a road who must survive the night when they awaken an ancient Irish vampire.

Also hitting theaters and streamers and digital this week:

THE MARIJUANA CONSPIRACY (Samuel Goldwyn Films)

MY WONDERFUL WANDA (Zeitgeist Films)

WET SEASON (Strand Releasing)

CRESTONE (Utopia)

VANQUISH (Lionsgate)

BLOODTHIRSTY (Brainstorm)

SASQUATCH (Hulu)

SHADOW AND BONE (Netflix)

And that wraps up this week. Next week? No idea… I know there’s stuff coming out but I probably won’t think about it until after THE OSCARS!!!! On Sunday.

#movies #mortalkombat #demonslayer #weekendwarrior #reviews #sisters with transistors #togethertogether #mitchellsvsmachines #streaming

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wonderfulworldofmichaelford · 5 years

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Psycho Analysis: Senator Armstrong

(WARNING! This analysis contains MAJOR SPOILERS! Hell, just knowing Armstrong is the ultimate final boss is kind of a spoiler.)

The Metal Gear series is known for quite a few things: ridiculous over-the-top characters, complex and entertaining villains, awesome boss battles, and just generally being absolutely insane while also being very philosophical and deep. Now imagine, if you will, if all of those things congealed together into a single character. That, my friends, is Senator Armstrong, the final boss of Metal Gear Rising and easily one of the greatest characters in the entire franchise. He only has the cutscenes prior to his boss fight to establish himself, but I guarantee that you will never forget this man after you’ve beaten him.

Actor: Armstrong is portrayed by Alastair Duncan, who you may know as Alfred Pennyworth from The Batman, Mimir from the 2018 God of War, or Councilor Sparatus from Mass Effect. To say he does an incredible job is an understatement; his performance is easily the most hilariously quotable one in a franchise where nearly every single character is hilariously quotable.

Motivation/Goals: For a villain who comes almost entirely out of nowhere, he sure does deliver a very well thought out speech about his true motives:

"'I have a dream.' That one day every person in this nation will control their own destiny. A nation of the truly free, dammit. A nation of action, not words, ruled by strength, not committee! Where the law changes to suit the individual, not the other way around. Where power and justice are back where they belong: in the hands of the people! Where every man is free to think — to act — for himself! Fuck all these limp-dick lawyers and chickenshit bureaucrats. Fuck this 24-hour Internet spew of trivia and celebrity bullshit! Fuck American pride! Fuck the media! FUCK ALL OF IT! America is diseased. Rotten to the core. There's no saving it — we need to pull it out by the roots. Wipe the slate clean. BURN IT DOWN! And from the ashes a new America will be born. Evolved, but untamed! The weak will be purged and the strongest will thrive — free to live as they see fit, they'll make America great again! ... In my new America, people will die and kill for what they BELIEVE! Not for money. not for oil! Not for what they're told is right. Every man will be free to fight his own wars!"

Now, for those who don’t quite understand, let me explain: Armstrong wishes to end war as a business and create a Social Darwinist utopia, where all the citizens of America fight their own battles and the strong survive while the weak perish. From a certain point of view, his arguments actually do make sense, and considering America, and by extension the world, were until recently controlled by the whims of the Patriot AI, it’s not hard to see where he’s coming from. For what it’s worth, he very much despises the Patriots; in fact, Armstrong is ideologically quite similar to fellow Patriot-hating politician George Sears, AKA Solidus Snake, who coincidentally Raiden also fought. Hell, much like Solidus, Armstrong also has some connection to the creation of child soldiers.

Of course, it needs to be noted that while Armstrong definitely makes a good case, he is also a bonafide anti-villain. For those who need clarification, TVTropes describes an anti-villain as “a character with heroic goals, personality traits, and/or virtues who is ultimately villainous. Their desired ends are mostly good, but their means of getting there are evil. Alternatively, their desired ends are evil, but on a personal level they are far more ethical or moral than most villains and they thus use fairly benign means to achieve it, and can be heroic on occasion. They could also be someone or something whose desired ends or means are not necessarily ‘evil’ at all, but their actions simply conflict with that of whoever seems to be the protagonist.” While he does have good intentions and seems to genuinely want to better his country, the fact he resorts to terrorist actions, child soldiers, and ridiculous levels of violence makes him clearly the bad guy.

Personality: Armstrong’s personality is very, very intense. He is a man capable of delivering the most impassioned, honest speeches you will ever hear from a politician… and according to him, he doesn’t even write his own speeches! He is loud, he’s brash, he’s proud, he curses up a storm, but he also has lines he won’t cross and shows nothing but respect for those he fights, and when he beats Sam in the DLC storyline and when Raiden defeats him, he has nothing but respect for the men. It’s honestly impressive how they could cram so much nuanced personality into a man that is maybe onscreen for twenty minutes tops.

Final Fate: Of course, as is the fate of any politician who thinks he can beat Raiden, he is not only killed, but has his heart ripped out by Raiden and crushed in his hands.

Best Scene: The entirety of his speech to Raiden, where he explains his entire plan. Mostly for the fact that Raiden is likely as stunned by all of this as any first-time player.

Best Quote: Literally everything out of this man’s mouth is golden; there’s a reason he’s one of the most quoted, meme-worthy characters in one of the most quotable, meme-worthy games of all time. But credit where credit is due, his immortal words to Raiden as he kicks him like a football and apparently rips a hole in the fourth wall that lets in the cheering of a stadium crowd stand out:

“Don’t fuck with this senator!”

Final Thoughts & Score: Let’s get this out of the way right off the bat: Armstrong is an easy 10/10. But why is that? Well, beyond his personality, which basically consumes your attention, there’s a lot of symbolism to his final match with Raiden.

Firstly, there is the fact his philosophy is very similar to Raiden’s mentor’s philosophy. Much like Solid Snake, Armstrong sees a world where soldiers fight and die for causes they don’t believe in, and citizens being suppressed by meaningless, trivial garbage. The philosophies fork from there: Snake wished for a world of peace, where there would be no need for fighting anymore, while Armstrong wishes for a world of freedom, where all people choose to fight the battles that they want, where they decide what is worth fighting for and what isn’t. Armstrong knows he could never end all war; he just wants those who put their lives at stake to be doing it for good reasons, and not to line the pockets of bureaucrats. As Raiden carries on Snake’s philosophy in his own way, this is sort of a test of Armstrong’s ideologies, to see whose vision is truly worth upholding in this world.

This brings us into the symbolism of the fight itself, which is set up like a political debate, though of course one tailored to Armstrong’s “Might Makes Right” philosophy. Armstrong is running for president in 2020, so is it not fitting that he defend his viewpoints the way he believes they ought to be defended as the final great debate on the way to the presidency? There’s also the inherent symbolism in the weak vs. the strong, with Raiden representing all the long-suffering American people and Armstrong representing the politicians who prey on the weak. He is still a politician, and his philosophy outright values the strong over the weak, so Raiden is something for a voice for the voiceless, a hero to fight for those who cannot fight for themselves. Raiden in the battle represents what true strength should be: a tool of justice, used to protect those who cannot protect themselves, while Armstrong of course represents his own philosophies.

And of course, there is the fact that in the end, Armstrong s very much the shadow archetype to Raiden, a dark reflection of what he could be. As you may have noted, ultimately Raiden and Armstrong’s philosophies aren’t entirely different from each other. This is even pointed out in the song that plays over his battle, the epic “It Has To Be This Way.” The lyrics are as follows:

Standing here, I realize

You were just like me, trying to make history.

But who's to judge the right from wrong?

When our guard is down, I think we'll both agree

That violence breeds violence,

But in the end it has to be this way.

I've carved my own path, you've followed your wrath,

But maybe we're both the same.

The world has turned, and so many have burned,

But nobody is to blame.

Yet staring across this barren wasted land

I feel new life will be born beneath the bloodstained sand.

Beneath the bloodstained sand!

Armstrong isn’t just brilliant because he’s a hardcore badass whose every line is quotable and who is souped up on NANOMACHINES, SON! Armstrong is brilliant because of how he symbolically contrasts Raiden’s own philosophy and, even if he is ultimately defeated, has passed on some of his philosophy to Raiden in a way. Did Raiden not prove his philosophy was the correct one by killing Armstrong? Did Raiden not just fight for what he believed in, fought a war to prove the superiority of what he believed in?

Alongside Ocelot, the antagonizing forces of the Metal Gear series just didn’t get better than this.

#Psycho Analysis #Senator Armstrong #Metal Gear Rising #Revengeance #Spoilers #Speelers

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the-stars-shine-with-me · 4 years

Text

“That’s a lot of glaze lilies. You attending another funeral already, (Y/n)?”

She raises an eyebrow and shakes her head. “Very funny! No, these are for Zhongli. He asked me to get him some for the parlor... probably because he’s still adjusting to not having much mora.”

Childe thumbs the jade he just purchased between his fingers. “Oh really? Why are you still running errands for him? He’s not one of the seven anymore you know.”

“Uh, well, that’s true but we’re still friends.” She says, frowning. He follows her with a casual gait as she leads the way across the boardwalk, her heels making a satisfying click as they hit the wood. “It’s not like what happened changes nothing, and I didn’t appreciate him making a pawn out of me either, but his intentions were good so...”

She finishes with a shrug. Something about her easy, casual forgiveness of Zhongli bothers him. It had taken weeks, and the arrival of his adorable younger brother, for him to win back just the ability to talk to her without getting glared at.

They climb the stairs up to the main city and she doesn’t elaborate. Fuck it.

“What about me?” He finally asks.

“What about you?” She parrots back, airily enough that he can tell he’s going to hit a nerve.

“Are we still friends?”

“... It’s nice that you care for your family, like I do. But you summoned a whale on top of me. Tartaglia.”

“Aw come on, I know you had fun fighting me.” The heat of battle always got him excited, but between him and her there had been something different, a kind of thrilling, charged tension that had nothing to do with the electricity in the air, or the usual demonic energy that thrummed inside when he used Foul Legacy. And he knew he saw it mirrored in her own eyes as they had exchanged blows. “I was never going to use lethal force, I told you that. Not my style. So you never were really in any danger from me.”

(Y/n) scoffs, and stops mid step to pivot on her foot and extend the blue flowers to point in his face like a sword. “You are so...! Don’t forget that you lost that fight, Tartaglia. But yes, despite you giving me a really hard time that day, the vast depths of my kind heart have found the space to forgive you, for now.”

“Th-“

She cuts him off before he can say anything else, shaking the closed blue buds pointedly. “-But that does not mean you’re the type of friend I’d buy flowers for.”

He gives her a brief, closed eyed smile and gently flicks the flowers away from him. A shadow passes over his face. “But you’ll buy them for Zhongli. He was the one who orchestrated this entire little play, including me. Why does he get a pass? Do you like him?”

“What?!? No!” (Y/n) puffs up angrily and stalks up the stairs faster. Childe has no problem keeping pace right at her side, even if she wanted to shake him off. “And even if I did, so what?”

She’s blushing. The prospect of her, liking Zhongli, is flustering her. Childe all of a sudden really wants to fucking burn those flowers to a crisp.

“I would be disappointed.” He says.

“I don’t care about what you think.” She says, refusing to look at him. “... Why would it matter to you who I like anyways?”

“I just thought you had higher standards.”

“Higher standards?” (Y/n) asks incredulously. Zhongli is a god, immortal adeptus even without his gnosis. How could her standard be higher than a god. “Like who?”

Me. He wants to say. But he doesn’t.

“I wonder. Anyway, I’ll leave you to it. I have important stuff I need to do.” Childe says. It’s true. He is an important, capable, busy person.

“Yeah, fine, whatever. Bye.” It’s irritating how she shoos him off as if he’s a bug, but he holds his head high as he takes his leave.

Curse Signora. It was probably her idea to have the Tsaritsa trick him in the first place. What he wouldn’t give to have been the one to pry the gnosis from Zhongli’s hands instead.

~~~

(Y/n) is frustrated. As if her conflicted relationship with the eleventh Fatui harbringer wasn’t confusing enough, she had to deal with all these... hormones, on top of it.

She’d been attracted to him the moment she saw him, but it hadn’t been like this. It hadn’t been like this until after their battle at the Golden House. Something about them had changed during that battle. She had been scared, but also excited, and the feeling had only risen as they had crossed blades and thrown everything they had at each other.

It was a exhilarating catharsis, she had enjoyed giving that battle everything she had, not having to hold back at all. And then he’d grown twice his size, turned all dark and sharp, and dangerous... the curiousity of what his face looked like behind that full mask was haunting her.

Normally she would just imagine some nice things and touch herself in private when tending to her occasional libido. But ever since the battle, she’d been horny every night, and in the morning when she woke up. Imagining him pinning her down, dominating her, and even worse than that: touching her, kissing her, hugging her, petting her, praising her.

(Y/n) had a huge crush on the guy who had singlehandedly almost destroyed the entire harbor city and gleefully thrown her through the floor. He was dangerous, but she wanted to be special and precious to him. She couldn’t think of a worse person to want as a boyfriend.

Childe was right. She really did have low standards.

The fact that she acknowledged that didn’t mean she wasn’t about to buy a glass phallus from Ying’er’s secret shop and spend the night spoiling herself to amorous thoughts of him in the privacy of the four walls of an inn tonight rather than out camping on the ground.

“Here you are darling. Don’t forget to use the contents of the bottle first, okay?” Ying’er hands her a pretty, discreet purple silk bag that skillfully hides the shape of the objects inside.

“I won’t. Thanks.” She says, trying not blush at the woman’s ever-suggestive tone as she pays for the goods with a pouch of mora.

The night air is pleasantly cool against the bare nape of her neck, but she doesn’t linger on her way to the inn. It would be so embarrassing to be caught with items like these by somebody, especially someone who knows her. Being careful not to get caught always makes her feel like someone is watching her, including now, as she walks briskly through the streets of Liyue.

She tucks the bag further into her side, hiding most of it with her arm. (Y/n) is almost to the inn building when she catches sight of something that makes her come to a grinding halt. Ahead of her, standing underneath the awning of the building right next to her inn, is Tartaglia, chatting amicably with another masked Fatui as a piece of paper exchanges hands between them.

There’s no way she can reach the door without him seeing her. Frozen to the ground, she’s got just seconds before he spots her. She shifts the bag to the other side opposite him, and covers it with her arm as much as possible.

She unfreezes herself and makes to walk past. If she doesn’t look at him, maybe he won’t look at her. Maybe he is so preoccupied with his business that he won’t even notice her.

“(Y/n)!”

Fuck.

Her steps falter just a bit. It would be too much to pretend like she hadn’t heard him, right?

“Hey, (Y/n)!”

She closes her eyes with a groan and reluctantly turns and makes her way over to him.

“Hello, Childe.” She says warily, eyeing him and his associate.

Childe raises an eyebrow. “Feeling prickly tonight, huh? Well not for long, I have good news for you. Have a look at this.”

He hands her an envelope with a closed eyed smile, looking very cheerful. It’s already opened, and she steps back a little bit to let the light of the nearby street lantern illuminate the piece of paper she unfolds.

It’s a ticket for a boat ride to Inazuma. The vessel is Fatui, and departs in two weeks from now.

“No way.” She says as she reads it. “I thought the country was blocked...?”

“It is, to most.” Tartaglia says with a smirk. “But when it comes to the Fatui, we have diplomatic connections with almost everyone that allow for a bit of nudging room, even under these circumstances.”

He gives a look to his subordinate and they vanish into the shadows.

“Wow.” She can’t believe it. “You’re... giving this to me?”

“Mmhm. Happy birthday.”

It’s not her birthday. He just knew she was trying to get to Inazuma to meet Raiden, the electro archon of the seven, for information about Aether.

“... Thank you. But how did you get this?”

“Haha. If you wanna talk details, we are gonna need to find someplace private.”

She does want to know, but he’s looking in the direction of Northland Bank, and there are several people in there she does not want getting an eyeful of her scandalous cargo.

“... I’m actually staying at Lotus Cloud Inn tonight.” She says, gesturing at the building beside them. “If that’s private enough for your clandestine needs.”

He visibly brightens at this prospect. “Sure, that’s perfect.”

She tucks the ticket back into the safety of the envelope and walks over to the Inn doors, rolling her eyes when he tosses his scarf over his shoulder as they push the door open and head inside. Her room is in the top floor, and she endures his radiant expression in awkward silence as they ascend on the wooden lift.

Fishing the metal room key out of her pocket, she lets him go inside first before closing and locking the door behind them and pocketing the key.

He’s already comfortably seated on the plush flower-patterned setée by the time she turns back around. As nonchalantly as possible, she tosses the purple silk bag of unmentionables in the corner where her the rest of her things lay in a pile. Tries not to cringe as the glass of the two objects clinks together as it lands.

She quickly takes a seat on the edge of the bed opposite from the setée. “So, just to be clear, there’s no blood money involved in this, right?”

Tartaglia smiles and tilts his head. “No. It’s just a diplomatic envoy, like I said.”

“Just had to ask. Fatui diplomacy can be a bit extreme. So, what will my Fatui crewmates be up to in Inazuma after we dock? I’d rather not ruin my reputation the second I arrive like I did here, especially since the archon is apparently so paranoid she’s confiscating visions.”

“Nothing that will reflect poorly on you. Don’t worry about it.”

(Y/n) crosses her arms. “You’re not gonna tell me?”

“Not unless you join the ranks of the Fatui.” He says, lacing his hands together behind his head and leaning back.

(Y/n) cringes. “And work for Signora? I’d sooner willingly injest rat poison.” Just thinking about what she did to Venti makes a flash of rage boil in her chest.

He laughs. “That’s right, I almost forgot about the sheer tension I felt between you two back at the bank with Zhongli. I was confused about why it felt more like you wanted to fight her than me. Kind of insulted actually.”

“Don’t be. She is the second highest person on my personal shitlist. If I didn’t think it would be two or three against one, I probably would have fought her.” (Y/n) says dangerously.

“Well working for the Fatui doesn’t mean you’d have to answer to La Signora. There’s ten other harbringers you know, myself included. I wouldn’t begrudge someone as capable as you a job.”

“Thanks but no thanks.” She says. Everything is backseat until she finds Aether. The Fatui are too shady about what they are doing for her to even consider that.

Childe shrugs like he didn’t really expect anything to come of it anyway.

“So, what’s in the bag? Perfume?”

(Y/n) stiffens. “Nothing. None of your business.”

Tartaglia raises an eyebrow and lowers his arms to lean forward. “Come now, don’t be like that. I can’t disclose confidential information, but I’ll tell you anything else.”

“... Well anyways, thanks for the ticket, it was really nice of you to get that for me.”

He doesn’t respond, eyeing the bag now. (Y/n) tenses. She stares at him in silence, daring him to move.

He chuckles darkly. “What’s this? (Y/n) keeping her own secrets... something embarrassing perhaps? Or from a lover?”

She growls low in her throat, warning him to drop it.

“Tell you what. I’ll exchange a secret for a secret. Show me what’s in the bag and I’ll tell you something about our plans in Inazuma.”

(Y/n) can’t believe this. But of course she’s gonna take the deal, her dignity is a small price to pay for a chance to get on the inside of some Fatui intel.

“... If you go back on this deal, I will personally see to it that your pinky and your tongue freeze off.”

Childe just holds out a hand palm up and waits.

(Y/n) trudges reluctantly over to the bag and picks it up. Grimacing in embarrassment, she places it in his outstretched hand and covers her face.

He opens it slowly, smug bastard. The pleased expression all but drops from his face when he sees what it is, though, almost comically. (Y/n) groans and hides her blush as he holds up the clear glass phallus.

“Who gave you this?” His voice is like splintered ice.

“... Nobody. I bought it myself.”

“Our deal is void if you lie.” He says, not believing her for some reason.

She’s flushed so red it reaches her shoulders. “It’s true!” She snaps, snatching it out of his hands. “I don’t have a some secret lover. If I did, I wouldn’t have been so frustrated lately.”

His icy expression melts at her admission, and he leans forward into her personal space. “Is that so? If you want, I can help you with that.”

(Y/n) blinks. “... No thanks, sparring once a week is enough for me.”

“Not sparring.” He says, and taps his finger against the glass of the phallus. “I mean as a substitute for this.”

(Y/n) swallows hard, but shakes her head. There’s a metal band around the fourth finger of one of his gloved hands. “I don’t want to incur anybody’s wrath.”

“You mean this?” He looks very pleased at her words, taking the ring off to play with it for a moment before slipping it back on. “It’s just cosmetic. There’s no beloved of mine that would come hunt you down.”

The relief on her face is probably palpable, because he’s grinning like a cat as he stands and takes hold of her hand, lifting it to his mouth to press a soft kiss to the top.

“I’m also.... not interested in anything casual.” She says nervously.

“What a coincidence.” He says, flipping her hand over to kiss her palm. “Neither am I.”

“So then...”

“I like you very, very much (Y/n)” He kisses her wrist, feeling thud of her racing pulse there.

“Really?” Its too good to be true.

“I thought you knew. I thought you liked Zhongli.” He says, and gets a little more aggressive, brushing her hair back to kiss at her ear.

“Not Zhongli.” She says, melting into the attention. “That day, it was you who stole something from me.”

“I distinctly remember not getting the satisfaction of stealing anything at all on that day, though?” He says, but his tone is light. He gets the insinuation that she returns his feelings.

(Y/n) grunts. “As if... that, wasn’t enough, you also stole my peace of mind.”

“Ah.” He strokes at the back of her hair soothingly. “So that’s why you needed this toy. Poor thing.”

“Don’t you feel sorry for me?” She looks up at him with shiny, hopeful eyes. It’s fucking cute.

“Very. Allow me to shower you with some overdue attention.”

Childe cups both her cheeks in his hands and leans in to kiss her. He takes his time, getting his fill of her, and she chases his lips whenever he pulls back like she can’t get enough of him.

Wicked thoughts of staking his claim on her fill his mind, and he presses a last soothing kiss to her greedy lips before pushing aside her head to find a suitably visible spot on her neck. He nuzzles in and takes his teeth over it before sucking it dark red. It forms an upside down teardrop shape, and inspiration hits him as he sucks again right next to it, ignoring how (Y/n) squirms impatiently.

The resulting mark forms an unmistakeable heart. No doubt it will form the prettiest bruise. Now, no one will look at her and think her free game. Not even Zhongli.

Apparently all out of patience, Lumine takes grip of his shoulders and walks them back a bit before shoving him bodily into the bed.

“Hey!” He protests, “Don’t be so rough with me, beautiful, or I’ll start being rough back.”

“Sorry.” She says, but doesn’t sound it. Climbing up, (Y/n) places herself comfortably in the top center of the bed, golden hair like a crown above her on the white pillows. She holds out both arms invitingly.

Childe doesn’t waste time climbing on top of her and pressing her down into the pillows. She drags his face down to hers for more kisses.

Kisses turn to a makeout session. She starts rubbing herself against his leg and makeout session turns into heavy petting. His jacket and shirt come off. Her skirt is up around her waist and breasts pulled out of her dress. His pants are unbuckled and his fly is down, allowing his hard-on to poke out a tent in his underwear that she is currently feeling up shamelessly with a naughty hand.

It feels good, and he tells her so as he takes both of her pink little nipples and pinches them and tugs forward. Her horny face is so cute, and he decides he’s in the mood for a show.

“Show me how you were going to masturbate with that toy you bought. Then I can show you just how much better I can make you feel with the real thing.”

“What?” She pouts. “What’s the point of that when you’re here?”

“Exactly.” He gets up and retrieves it for her, placing it insistently by her hips. “This way I can show you the difference, back to back.”

“This is ridiculous.” She huffs, but she humors him anyway, taking off the rest of her clothes and peeking at him shyly as she shimmies her hips to remove her panties.

She starts out awkwardly, the embarrassment of his watchful gaze making her hands tremble. But she’s so pent up that eventually she just closes her eyes while she rubs herself, and relaxes. She presses at and toys with her clit for several minutes, before shuddering and pressing the rounded tip of the glass phallus against her wet opening, snuggling down further into the pillows self comfortingly as she gently pushes it in, inch by inch. She leaves it there when it’s about halfway in and then resumes circling her clit.

That’s when the moaning starts. (Y/n) is lost in her fantasy: him and her in the golden house, but instead her loss, by surrender. The victor in his demon form, twice the size of a normal man, pinning her with one hand and wrecking her pussy with a large purple-black cock. Whenever she squirms he slaps her ass hard, pale globes red with large handprints. She imagines herself clenching on him, creaming herself to a cruel pinch of her clit between gloved claws. She does her best to mimic it with her own fingers.

“Shit (Y/n).” Childe’s voice is raw with arousal. “What are you thinking about?”

She opens hazy golden eyes and if it was possible, there’d be hearts in her pupils. “Same thing I always think about.” Him.

(Yn/n) pushes the phallus in further now, quickly circling her clit with her other hand. She lifts her hips up off the bed, straining as she feels the pressure in her clench tighter and threaten to snap. Her voice trembles in increasingly higher moans, and she imagines demon Tartaglia pressing her face into the ground and shoving his dick in all the way. She’s seconds away from cumming when her hand is slapped away from her sex and the dildo pulled all the way out.

(Y/n) yelps and gives Childe a scandalized look of shock.

“Sorry babe, but if you want an orgasm, it’s gonna be on me, not some inferior toy dick.”

She goes to smack at him angrily, but he catches her hands and playfully uses her momentum to pin her. But her protests quiet as he uses the position to grind his length, bare now, against her pussy, relishing in the wet velvet drag against her sensitive nub.

(Y/n) moans and bucks up against him for more. He entertains a few smacks to her clit with his dick, and then leans forward to kiss her senseless. When they break for air, his blonde lover fixes him with a glare.

“You’re going to regret teasing me, lover boy.”

“No, I don’t think I will.” He says, and grasps one of her legs and places it over his shoulder as he pushes himself inside.

It’s wet and warm and oh so tight inside her, and she makes this deeply satisfied sigh that has him wondering just how long she’s been frustrated, combatting her attraction to him.

He sets a languid pace, thumbing her clit. (Y/n) rolls her hips to meet him. It’s a sensual fuck that has them both addicted.

“You feel so good.” (Y/n) whispers, eyes half closed and cheeks flushed with pleasure.

Childe can’t help smiling at that.

“I could get used to this. You’re the most beautiful I’ve seen you yet.” He strokes her skin above where her womb is, wishing for a moment he could see himself inside her. “Or maybe not, if you still have the wherewithal to speak.”

Without warning, he pulls out and flips her onto her stomach, and pulls her onto her knees. She shivers as he trails a hand down her spine, pushing down until he reaches her neck, fists a hand in her hair, and shoves her face into the pillows.

He thrusts into her from behind, setting a brutal pace as he pulls her hips back onto him so hard that it makes a slap as her ass meets the skin of his thighs. She moans in surprise, squealing when he bottoms out with each sharp thrust. He’s so deep he can feel the head of his dick repeatedly kiss her cervix. The intense position reminds (Y/n) of her fantasy, and doesn’t last long before she is crying out into the pillows. Her legs start to shake and her walls give a hard squeeze as all of the pent up tension concentrates and bursts, pleasure overloading her brain.

“So good.” She moans out weakly in the throes of orgasm. There’s something unhinged about his expression as he fucks her through the aftershocks, and she realizes that he fully intends to make this a competition about stamina too.

He paints her back white with cum a few minutes after her second climax, but stops only to wipe up the mess before he’s back nestled snugly within her walls, just as hard. He really is determined to win, despite her being the frustrated one in the first place.

He dicks her down two more pegs before he’s satisfied, pulling out to finish on her stomach this time with a low moan and grunt of exertion.

They just lie on their backs for several minutes, catching their breath.

Eventually, he gets up and finds something else to clean off her stomach with, but then he’s back to laying on his back beside her, pressing adoring kisses to her hand.

“You... are crazy. That was insane.” (Y/n) finally says.

He laughs breathlessly. “That’s not the first time I’ve been called that. So long as I scratched your itch, I hope, my dear?”

“Like a feral cat to a scratching post.” She says dramatically, but turns to kiss him on the cheek. “I’ve accepted the fact that you will be the death of me anyways.”

“Hey, that’s my line.”

“Don’t make me revoke my status as Mrs. Tartaglia when I’m over here drowning in post-coital endorphins, sir.”

“Fine, fine. Can never catch a break around here, jeez.”

“Just wait until Paimon finds out we’re dating.”

“Oh. Yeah. Good point.”

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alienspawnwrites · 4 years

Text

Laying Hands: Chapter 5

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It was two weeks before the Avengers were called back out into the field. Althea had been fixing herself a snack when J.A.R.V.I.S. got her attention.

"Miss Thea, Mr. Stark requests your presence in conference room B."

She didn't utilize the A.I. butler often, but she had grown used to the disembodied voice. She no longer found it weird to carry on a conversation with the thin air. "Should I go right now, or can I finish my sandwich?"

"Mr. Stark conveyed urgency, though I'm sure you can take your food with you if you prefer."

In the end, Althea chose to leave her half-finished snack behind, taking one last hurried bite.

When she exited the elevator into the lounge, she was surprised to find the rest of the Avengers congregated in the room, already deep in conversation. Even Loki was there, half-hidden in the shadows, looking bored as per usual.

"..so straight forward, then: go in, get the weapons, get out?", Clint asked.

"And as always, find out anything we can about their next moves," Steve nodded.

"Fury says this place is locked up pretty tight. That means we're going to need your friend along for the ride, Bruce." Tony looked pointedly at the scientist, who merely sighed in acquiescence.

"Suit up and meet back here. Wheels up in fifteen." Steve dismissed them before heading out to change into his own crime-fighting costume. He nodded to Althea as he passed.

Natasha, Clint, and Bruce followed him out, the later muttering something about 'brand new pants' under his breath. Tony, Thor, and Loki remained behind. Althea looked at Tony in confusion.

"What's going on? What did I miss?"

"We got a mission, kid. The guys upstairs have new information about a stronghold out in Eastern Europe. Looks like your friends Hydra."

"They're not my friends," she countered under her breath.

"Yeah, well, hopefully, they don't have any more sheepish "assets" hidden in this one. I'm running out of spare rooms."

"Am I coming with you?" She tried to imagine riding into battle alongside the likes of Iron Man, Captain America, and the others. The idea petrified her.

"You? Or no, you're not going anywhere," Tony replied, shaking his head at the ridiculousness of her idea. "I just wanted to let you know we were popping out for a bit. Didn't want you to worry."

"Fret not. We will return shortly, no doubt victorious," Thor exclaimed in a booming voice, swinging his hammer for emphasis, clearly excited for the opportunity to do some fighting outside of the training room.

"Actually, Raiden, you're sitting this one out." Thor looked at Tony in disbelief. "Cap doesn't want her left alone with this one." Tony jabbed a thumb in Loki's direction, eliciting a scoff from the dark prince. "Not until we know she can handle herself."

For a moment it looked like Thor would argue, but after an exasperated look at Tony, he dropped his hammer to his side dejectedly.

A few minutes later the team reassembled and made their way out to the helipad. Althea watched with wonderment as they boarded the Quinjet. After a fortnight playing roommate to the team of superheroes, she had almost forgotten what an intimidating force they were. From the window she watched the jet as it flew off into the distance, following it until it disappeared over the horizon.

Thor turned to Loki. "Well brother, what say we take advantage of the empty training grounds?"

"You know I still can't believe you two are related," Thea said, looking away from the window to take her remaining companions. Again she was struck by the differences between the two men.

"Adopted," they muttered in unison. The corners of Loki's mouth turned up slightly in a rueful smirk, but Thor looked unphased by their accidental harmony.

"Fine," Loki sighed, turning to leave the lounge, "there isn't anything better to do anyway." He shot Thea a pointed look before disappearing down the hall. Thor ignored the taunt entirely.

"Would you care to join us, Lady Thea?" Thor had apparently taken to Tony's nickname for her, though he still insisted on calling her "lady".

"I'd rather stay here if it's all the same," she responded. She still hadn't gotten over her last time watching Thor spar. The wide window seat and full bookshelves of the lounge seemed far more appealing than watching the two brothers try their hardest to injure one another.

"Very well. We shall be back soon," he smiled. He leaned in to whisper gruffly, "I do not expect it will take long to best my brother. Loki is a capable fighter, but I believe I have learned to see through his tricks." With a good-humored wink, he followed Loki down the hall.

Althea scanned the spines of the largest bookcase, eventually settling on a worn copy of The Count of Monte Cristo. She was soon thoroughly absorbed in the tragic tale of Edmund Dantès, oblivious to the fading light as the day wore on. When it had grown too dim to read, she set the book down and turned her attention out the window, watching as dusk approached the glittering skyline as she pondered the similarities between Dumas's tragic hero and her own life.

The sun had all but set when Loki returned to the lounge, collapsing onto one of the couches in the sunken living area. He had yet to voluntarily occupy the same room as Althea, and she reasoned he hadn't noticed her sitting in the now darkened corner of the room. She took advantage of the chance to observe him with his guard down, careful not to move suddenly lest she scare him off.

He sat sprawled across the seat, long limbs thrown wide in every direction. His eyes were closed and his head tilted back, revealing the pale length of his neck. Sweat gleamed on his forehead and his chest rose and fell rapidly with each breath. His bout with Thor had clearly left him exhausted. Wearily he wiped the perspiration from his face with the sleeve of his green tunic, a satisfied smile playing across his thin lips. The grin disappeared the moment he opened his eyes and noticed Althea studying him.

To her surprise, he didn't immediately get up to leave, instead matching her watchful gaze with one of aggravation.

"How long have you been there, mortal?" He sounded as worn out as he looked, barely managing to inject his usual venom into the question.

"Long enough," Althea replied. She felt emboldened, having caught him in such an expended state. She rose from her seat, taking a few steps in his direction. "Looks like Thor really kicked your ass."

"Looks can be deceiving. Indeed, if you went down to the training grounds now, it would look as though my idiot brother and I were still fighting." Althea remembered the clone Loki had conjured the first time they met. Apparently, he used his ability for avoidance in battle as well as in social situations. She wondered if this one of the tricks Thor believed he had caught on to. "I assure you I had the match well in hand," he added, smiling confidently.

"If that's so, why did you run away?", she asked, sitting down beside him, unable to help but point out the flawed logic in his explanation.

He shot her a withering look. "Because," he sighed, "I prefer to leave once something becomes boring or tedious. Take, for example, this exchange." He moved to stand, bracing his weight on his arms as he rose. As he rose he sucked in a breath through gritted teeth, obviously in pain.

Althea stood with him, concerned. "You're hurt." She looked him over for injury, eventually discovering a sizeable cut on his left arm that had escaped her notice. In the dim room, the flowing blood blended in the deep emerald of his shirt.

"It's nothing," Loki insisted. He made to shift the injury away from her but was too slow.

Without thinking, Althea had reached out to touch his wounded arm. As soon as her fingertips made contact with his torn skin, her hand began to glow; a steady white light emanating from her palm. She withdrew the offending hand quickly, but it was too late. Loki watched in awe as the skin of his arm stitched itself together, the laceration disappearing before his very eyes. Soon the damage had disappeared completely, the tear in his sleeve and the stain of his blood the only indications that the injury had occurred at all.

"What did you do?" he breathed. He looked to Althea for an explanation, but she had turned away from him. Forcefully, he grabbed her shoulder and spun her around, ready to demand an answer, and froze. She stood grasping her arm, a pained look on her face as she avoided his gaze. Between her fingers, fresh blood flowed freely. Cautiously, curiously, he reached for her hand. Althea choked back a small sob as he peeled her fingers away. There, cutting deep into her flesh, was a fresh gash, a perfect mirror to the one that had just disappeared from his own arm. In a matter of seconds, it too began to heal. The flow of blood slowed as the wound closed, eventually vanishing and leaving smooth, unbroken skin behind.

Loki looked back and forth between his own arm and Althea's, trying to work through what he had just witnessed. "What are you?" he questioned, his voice barely above a whisper.

"Loki, I..."

Althea was interrupted by Thor, who strode into the room breathing heavily.

"You fooled me again, brother. Though you must admit I had you on the ropes for a great deal of our match. How long have you..." Thor trailed off as he took in the sight before him. His eyes darted between Loki and Althea, pausing on the troubling amount of blood that covered both of their limbs. "What in the nine realms is going on here?"

Loki met Althea's gaze, his blue-green eyes glittering, before answering his brother's concern. "Something very interesting."

#loki #loki fanfic #loki fic #loki (marvel)#loki x oc #loki x ofc #loki x original female character #slow burn #slow build #romance #angst #marvel #MCU fic #mcu

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firebirdsdaughter · 4 years

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I'm honestly not too shocked that Aruto is going to work together Gai now. He always rubbed me the wrong way when it came to his views about Humagears, esp his reaction to Raiden & Subaru. That was a huge red flag for me. Also, if he's really so concerned about the well-being of Humagears, then he should offer counseling for the destroyed & revived Humagears to deal with the trauma. But I guess that would be too much to ask. As long as they serve humans who cares about Humagears' feelings.

I def agree w/ you, he’s rubbed me the wrong way in many of the same ways.

It’s hard to believe he sees HumaGear as people when he’s all pleased w/ Raiden talking about how he’ll be decommissioned soon and even calling the two of them ‘just like real brothers.’

You know, like he keeps saying Horobi is ‘trying to be like Jin’s father.’

And don’t even get me started on ‘a caring brother can’t be a spy,’ ‘if only you had been different,’ ‘why did you hurt Izu?’ ‘I’ve never treated them differently’…

AUGH.

To me, Aruto’s ‘dream’ can be summed up in a line from a song that was cut from Frozen (ya’ll thought I’d forgotten about this, didn’t you, but no) that goes ‘It’ll be just like it was, except for we’ll be best friends.’

This got long, so I’m cutting it here. Or. I’m trying to.

He doesn’t see HumaGear as equal to people, he just wants them to stay right where they are, and ‘be happy’ there. ‘Good’ HumaGear are the ones whose development is convenient for humans. Raiden was ‘good’ when he saw no problem dying bc his ‘purpose was served,’ Naki was ‘good’ when they just wanted to support other HumaGear’s dreams as long as they were steered towards HumaGear w/ dreams of benefiting humanity, Jin is ‘good’ now bc he’s not trying to get HumaGear away from serving humans anymore and is also willing to kill his own father or due himself to do something that will benefit humans. The morality of the show has always been very much centred around humans, how HumaGear benefit humans, and HumaGear are expected to be these perfect little angels who exist to help humans and never think of themselves. Horobi is ‘bad’ bc he has resentment towards humans and has been so deeply under the Ark’s control for so long that he can’t think outside of her (esp not after being possessed) so obviously he doesn’t ‘want’ to be ‘change.’

I said it in the tags of my other post, but there’s something wrong w/ the picture when you’re holding a literally mind controlled AI who hasn’t had any concept of free will or self thought in his entire life aside from small snatches that were quickly stomped out, more accountable than a human w/ full autonomy and knowledge and power who deliberately did things that caused death and harm (and shot someone in the head). It’s not a good message. I’m supposed to feel bad for Gai bc he’s ‘sad,’ but Horobi deserves to die? I’m sorry, what?

The message has very much been ‘humans are special special and HumaGear are expendable/need to be carefully moulded into a ‘singularity’ that’s at the least convenient for humans.’ ‘Good’ HumaGear aspire only to properly serve their humans, to be like them, they are pure and angelic creatures who never feel anything ‘negative,’ and if they do, they need to be purged.

I could rant myself in circles about this for ages. I think for me, the really glaring example is Aruto’s treatment of Jin, a relationship that could have been an interesting learning experience for both of them (though, honestly, I was also hoping to see Fuwa also help Aruto realise the issues w/ his attitude, bc as he started coming down from his prejudice and aggression, Fuwa actually treated HumaGear more like equals than Aruto did, one of the many things I loved about him and Horobi as a pair), but instead ends up being a glaring example of Aruto’s… Whatever.

So Horobi has his first moment of clarity and genuinely fears for Jin, so the Ark steps in and ‘tells’ him to protect his son, so he does and it hurt, and Jin is hysterical. Izu proceeds to walk right up to the still-transformed, clearly emotionally volatile and very uninjured Jin, and announce w/ a smile that Horobi has been defeated. Jin, hysterical and lost, reacts in the only way he knows how, violently, which she should have bloody seen coming, wth. But then, Aruto is demanding to know ‘why did you hurt Izu’ like she did nothing wrong and Jin just attacked her randomly (which was a thing that could have happened and would have made his emotions make mire sense, Jin lashing out at Izu as ‘revenge’ for Horobi), and then Jin gets treated like the total bad guy. Then, on top of that, Aruto finds out during the fight that Jin doesn’t actually know what’s going on, he’s just been raised into this. Instead of immediately trying to change tactics and reason w/ him, Aruto just spews his ‘I want HumaGear and humans to smile together’ line (what does that even mean?), and when Jin rejects that, Aruto just… Gives up and says ‘if only you had been different.’ doesn’t try to prompt Jin to think about what Jin wants, what Jin is feeling, doesn’t bother to try to find out why Jin is so hysterical. It gets even worse when he quickly gains the firepower advantage and learns that Izu will be totally fine, but he still doesn’t bother trying anything else. He just kills Jin, bc… What? Jin didn’t immediately bow to his ‘love’ for HumaGear? Of course once sentence wasn’t gonna do it, he just watched humans kill his father! Aruto didn’t need to kill Jin at all, it would have been easy to disable him—alternatively, if they really wanted Jin to go down there, there were ways to do it that didn’t make it come off as Aruto quickly erasing a HumaGear for having any negative feelings or resentment towards humans, esp when you follow it w/ a scene of him and Izu being all pleased about other HumaGear ‘behaving’ themselves, and then never mention Jin again.

Fast forward, and when Jin comes back talking about wanting to free HumaGear from humans… Aruto actually asks him what he wants, finally? Then Aruto gets the boot from Hiden and decides to go to Jin for help. This should be a turning point where Jin get to properly confront Aruto about what happened and Aruto reflects on what he did, but no. Jin gets to shout a little, but then Aruto claims he never treated humans and HumaGear differently and says ‘I watched my HumaGear dad die’ and Jin just… Says nothing? doesn’t shoot back w/, ‘so did I, humans killed him.’ Then they get interrupted and Jin runs off… Only to… Rescue Izu later? But then after he does he… Grabs her hand and runs away and tries to convince her to be free? After… Literally buying his father time to reconnect to the Ark? And this is Izu? Who he stabbed? Okay… Anyway, then we have more stuff w/ poor connotations of Jin saying he ‘learned something’ from Aruto killing him and Izu ‘choosing’ to keep being Aruto’s secretary like a ‘good’ little HumaGear (her liking him and wanting to stay on his side would be one thing, but this… Esp w/ him claiming that he thought she should choose, going by his later insistence that Jin can’t take G-Pen bc he’s a human’s ‘partner’), and only then does he take a bullet for her. This apparently means something to Jin, although I feel like the implications of ‘she’s worth protecting bc she decided to keep serving humans and I killed you bc you didn’t want to do that’ should not have been lost on him (also wtf did Jin start caring about Izu?). The we have the next ep w/ aforementioned G-Pen incident which for some reason Aruto defending another HumaGear choosing to serve humans makes Jin decide to ‘believe in his dream’ or whatever. But then later the Raiden scene makes it seem like Jin was playing along bc that conversation w/ Horobi about HumaGear needing guidance to break free gave him an idea or something, I dunno, but naturally Aruto reacts like this is some huge betrayal, despite the fact that they hardly have any relationship—okay, so this friendship is something Aruto made up in his head, given his character, and apparent assumptions that all HumaGear actually adore humans, that makes sense. That could work. But then episode thirty fucking six happens. Jin apparently cares more for Yaiba, a human he’s barely interacted w/ who had yet to show any sign of no longer considering HumaGear to be tools, who had previously represented all the things Jin hated about them, then his own father. Acts all protective of her, throws himself in as a shield for her, moons about while she’s in the hospital. Then we learn he decided he trusted her (?????) enough to conspire w/ her to… Use his own father as a sacrifice to kill the Ark. Aruto seems to be more worried about Horobi, but merely yells a bit about how Horobi should ‘remember who he is by now.’ Come ep 37, Jin fucking takes a hit for miss perfect HumaGear Izu (note: aside from her grabbing the idiot ball in ep 15, my annoyance w/ Izu isn’t really something she as a character has done, it’s the way they’ve written her as the ‘pinnacle of ‘good’ HumaGear for her devotion to her human’), and tells Aruto to leave. Now that Jin is behaving in a way that benefits/is convenient for humans, though, Aruto is a like ‘oh, we totally were best buds, I was right!’ and is so worried and distressed about him, forgetting Horobi (who is so ‘bad’ for not being able to break through more than a decade of mind control! forget him, Jin must be saved!). Then we have that incredibly forced scene in 38 where Aruto tries to ‘get through to Jin’ and Jin ‘breaks through the Ark’s control bc of Aruto’ (see my draft horse pack on a shetland pony analogy) and ‘tells Aruto to kill him!’ which continues in to this ep. In which we also have… Gai. Who Aruto quickly puts effort into ‘reasoning w/’ and ‘showing the light’ bc ‘oh no he had a bad childhood’… Okay, but… You killed Jin for that, and he literally didn’t understand what he was doing. Gai had full autonomy and knowledge of his actions. People were hurt bc of both of their actions, but it’s Gai who gets a big speech and Jin who gets blown up. I said it back when it happened. If Jin had been human? I bet they would have made Aruto approach that much differently.

The fact that Aruto is willing to do all that for Gai but killed Jin, and only now considers Jin worth any effort bc Jin is behaving in a way that benefits/is convenient for humans even at the expense of HumaGear (being willing to sacrifice Horobi, even himself, to stop the Ark, while that goal is technically ultimately noble, the context gives a bad connotation), and not trying to talk HumaGear out of being subservient to humans and telling them to think for themselves, or wanting to revive a HumaGear that Aruto was content to leave deactivated bc he didn’t have a ‘use’… But Horobi only gets a few shouts and then ditched bc he ‘won’t listen’… Leaves a really bad impression.

#Anonymous #Asks #Firebird Salt #Spoilers #wow #I'm #I'm so sorry #apparently I just…#really needed to go off #sorry about that

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whatifxwereyou · 3 years

Text

The Oncoming Storm Part 18: Nemuri Hime

Liu Kang x Reader and Kung Lao x Reader (gonna do both, two paths!)

Kung Lao gets serious. But forgets to tell you all the important things. Boy, he's good at talking. Lol. Hope you guys are still loving the Lao time! Liu will be back soonish. Planned out his whole part last night and then the future. Question! Are you guys READY for the choice or do you want it drawn out more? Also, for the future of this tumblr, is anyone interested in oc x reader stuff? I have so many ideas that I have never shared Lol. Anyway, thanks for reading. Much love. Update Sunday!

Part 17 Part 19 Chapter Index

“They’re going to have someone in there keeping an eye out now.” Kung Lao kicked a loose stone on the walkway, arms folded over his chest. “So much for that idea.”

“For now. We weren’t getting anywhere anyway.” You were still in wonder that any of that had happened. It felt like a fever dream. Your whole life kind of felt like a fever dream now. “Maybe I was wrong. Maybe it isn’t in there. I tried to trust the vision and my gut, but it led us in circles. Nothing looked the same as it did back then.”

“Why would it lead you there otherwise? Maybe this shrine has changed more over the years than we thought.”

“You think so?” You furrowed your brow. He had pushed you like you’d been doing something wrong for a small moment inside the shrine but there he was, preaching his belief in you. It’d been easy to escape the frustration of not knowing where you were going with all that had happened in the shrine, but it was back in full force now. You were grateful to Kung Lao for not making it weird, but it was also a little weird to act like it hadn’t happened. You had a feeling that he knew exactly what he was doing.

“I trust your gut, Y/N.” He shrugged as if it were nothing. That was nice. You weren’t sure anyone trusted you those days so to hear it put so plainly as if it were no big deal was wonderful. “Let’s take a walk and rethink our strategy.” Together you walked around the shrine and along the path slowly, making your way toward the volcanic cauldrons.

Some were surrounded by posts and signs, expressing what they represented and why the water was the way that it was, but you didn’t stop to try and read any of them. Many of the cauldrons had small statues lined up surrounding their edge, placed there for prayer. You didn’t speak much. It seemed that rethinking your strategy was mostly just thinking. You were okay with that. Your head was still buzzing.

It was important to try and clear the fog from your mind. Between the disorientation of this place being so different from the vision in your head and then everything with Kung Lao, you were dizzy. You stopped before one of the cauldrons and Kung Lao read the sign above it.

“One of the hells of Mount Osore…” He was not good at silence, it turned out. He hadn’t been when you were younger either. You’d asked him once back then and he’d said silence was too loud. The dizziness became a buzzing, and the buzzing became darkness. You thought that you’d drifted to sleep to the hum of Kung Lao’s voice.

When you opened your eyes again, you gasped for breath. Your lungs were on fire, as though you had been deprived of oxygen for too long, as if invisible hands had reached into your chest and grasped your lungs to force all the air out. You lost your footing and stumbled forward but before you fell, Kung Lao had his arms around your middle and was pulling you back to him with a forceful yank. You lost your balance and collapsed into him, grasping his arms in surprise with a yelp. He held you upright.

“What the hell, Y/N? You can’t just do that!” He scolded. You gasped to refill your sore lungs and the ache began to fade. You weren’t where you’d been when you’d been listening to Kung Lao but you recognized the place immediately. It was the lake of blood from your vision. You turned in his arms to apologize but the words didn’t come. How did that happen? How had it happened? His expression went from frustration to concern quickly. You wanted to ask what happened, you wanted to ask him how you’d gotten there, but in your mind’s eye, you could see your body falling into that pool and the horned creature staring over you as you drowned beneath the red water.

You shuddered and covered your mouth. Maybe Raiden was right. It hadn’t felt like there was a shadow hanging over you until then when your body had moved beyond your control.

“Y/N, did you hear me?”

“What happened? What are you talking about? What did I do?” The words came out extremely fast, all at once almost. Bless Kung Lao for understanding a word of it.

“I was reading about that cauldron over there.” He gestured down the path. It seemed so distant now but that was the last thing you remembered. “And you walked away. I followed you and you stepped up and just went to jump right in. Right into the blood lake. Didn’t respond to me when I called you.” He tried to joke but there was an underlying concern that neither one of you could shake. “If you wanted to take a dip, Y/N, then you just had to say so. There’s those bathhouses.”

“No, no Kung Lao. I… I’m confused, that’s all. I don’t remember coming here. I closed my eyes to listen to you talk.” His low and deep voice was soothing, but you wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of knowing that right now. “Then I felt like I was falling, and I couldn’t breathe. Then you and… here we are.” You gestured to his arms that still held you and you felt his fingers sink a bit further into the clothing at your waist as if that would protect you somehow.

“You really don’t remember walking up to the creepy blood lake and almost throwing yourself in?” His face was flooded with concern. You shook your head no. “Okay.”

“You believe me?”

“Of course I do, Y/N. You’re white as a ghost. Why would you lie about something like that? Also, you’re terrible at lying.”

“Thank you?” You couldn’t decide if that was a dig or not.

“Okay.” He exhaled and you watched his face contort as his tongue ran over his teeth. “In that case no more wandering away from me. You stay with me at all times. Got it? We tell Raiden as soon as we can.”

“Okay except that I don’t remember wandering away from you, Kung Lao. You were reading and then…”

“What do you think caused this?”

“I don’t know. I really don’t. Honestly, afterward I saw this part in my vision. I’d been choking on ink but in my head, I was drowning.” You pointed toward the red volcanic cauldron. “In there. And I could see that creature. He was watching me. I… I thought it was just my brain interpreting the ink in my throat but… what if… Raiden’s right?”

“You doubted that Raiden was right?”

“This has been a lot, Kung Lao. Accepting it all at face value is difficult.” You responded somewhat defensively.

Kung Lao finally let you go and turned away. He pulled off his hat, pushed back his hair, and then cursed. That would have been funny had you not still been coping with almost drowning because your body had decided to try to kill you. “Okay. We’ll deal with that as we go. I’m changing the subject now because I’m not sure how to process what you just did without talking to Raiden.”

“Smart. Avoiding the problem. Like it.” You were happy to go back to thinking about literally anything else. Up until now you’d handled all this nonsense with relative poise. You’d like to keep it that way.

“Let’s discuss strategy. What do you remember from your vision about the room where this artifact is supposed to be?”

“There was a well. The creature placed something inside of it and I heard this horrible ringing in my head. It was… sad?” It was difficult to describe a ringing as having emotion, but it had been sad. You’d had the distinct feeling that it was sad.

“Back up. What about the well? There was no well in that room. In fact, the whole shrine is elevated. There was a step down in the back for dining, maybe? Could the well have been in that area?”

“I think the floor of the shrine used to be level with the ground. Maybe they built over it? I read that it was abandoned here for some time.”

“That’s a very distinct possibility. Great. Now we get to desecrate a holy place. Loving this more by the second.”

“Or we can hope there’s a hatch above the old well or a way to get beneath the shrine without destroying it.”

“There are way too many people here for us to search that thoroughly without being caught.”

“You’re right. We need privacy.”

“And I’m all out of excuses, honestly.”

“The excuse you came up with earlier only really works the one time before it becomes incredibly suspicious.” You felt your face flush despite yourself. Kung Lao stood just behind you and bent over to be closer. You could feel the smirk on his face.

“You kissed me back so… didn’t feel like much of a lie.” He made a kissy sound near your ear and you tilted away and swatted at him.

“Stay focused, Kung Lao! So, we spend the rest of the day and then pretend to leave ahead of everyone. Then we can sneak in after the monks are at rest, right? Hopefully, we find an easy way to get to where we need to go.”

“That’s as good a plan as any.” Kung Lao began to lead you away from the volcanic cauldrons and you were grateful. The air was thicker there and, quite honestly, the more distance between you and the blood lake the better. “And if we’re caught tearing up the floor of the shrine in the middle of the night, then I’m pretty sure that no amount of making out will get us out of it without getting into trouble.”

“If we’re caught then we could try to be honest about it like I wanted to be in the first place.” You stuck your tongue out at him. “You could try it every so often. It works.”

“Wow.” Kung Lao sounded truly insulted but also laughed as if surprised you had the audacity. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“Let’s just talk like adults for a few seconds. I’m not that little girl that you teased all the time. You don’t have to come up with crazy fake-date schemes. Hell, I’m surprised that you didn’t say we could only afford one room at this point.”

“Oh.” He straightened his posture and furrowed his brow. You nodded as if to confirm that he was far more obvious than he thought he was. “Does it really bother you?”

“Bother is a strong word, Kung Lao. Sometimes you’re just… all over the place. You go from pushing me too hard to not listening to me to having unwavering faith in me. Sometimes in a span of like ten minutes. I don’t mind the teasing, honestly, but it’s difficult to focus when I can’t tell what’s going on with you.”

“Okay.” He puffed up his cheeks as he thought and then exhaled deeply. “So, I don’t quite know how to act around you.” You were genuinely surprised that he was speaking so candidly. You’d expected him to laugh it off and move on. He didn’t.

“Why? I only expect you to be yourself.”

“I know. That’s not on you. I’ve had a lot on my mind.”

“You don’t always act like there’s a whole lot going on in there.”

“Wow.” He winced.

“Sorry, it was easy. I get it though. I have a lot on my mind too, but you are all over the place since you got back. You tease me like we’re kids, then you flirt with me like we’re very much not kids, then you push me when I tell you that I can’t be pushed anymore. It is a rollercoaster spending time with you.”

“I guess I didn’t realize I was so all over the place.” He laughed and you walked together again. The further you were from the cauldrons the better you felt. “It’s funny. I’m still a little shocked that you’re here with me. Little Y/N. My Y/N. Weirder than that is that you are the person I found peace in when I returned home to clear my mind. I never thought I’d see you again. I can’t believe I didn’t recognize you.” He avoided your eyes, and you got the chills but refused to shake them off. Him speaking so fondly of you in such a serious tone was freaking you out. These were things that you probably should have talked about far sooner. Instead, it felt as though he’d gone into some weird unspoken competition with Liu Kang for your attention. It wasn’t a competition. You just wanted to talk to him. “Your hair threw me off, I think. You didn’t keep it white. Same face now that I know. Cheeks aren’t so chubby anymore, though.” He pinched your cheek playfully and you scrunched up your face and swatted his hand away.

“I… didn’t recognize you either and you came into my store at least a dozen times over the last couple years. And the dojo just as many. I remember you fondly. You were always very kind with the students. And you look way different, I mean I can still see it, but you had these… dimples as a kid.” You poked the sides of your mouth. “They were so deep then. You still have them but they’re much more subtle.” It was funny. Something about his honesty cleared the air at least for the time being. “Also, I thought you were dead. So, I never considered I’d see you again.”

“You would have been crazy to have guessed it was me.”

“Sometimes I think that I have gone completely crazy and I’m in a hospital somewhere. That this is all an elaborate fantasy that my mind has conjured up to help cope with my madness.”

“I could see that.”

“What? The wild improbability of the truth?”

“No. You being in a nuthouse somewhere.”

You laughed and shoved his shoulder. He nudged you in return. “Some things don’t change, I guess.”

“I defaulted to sarcasm with you. Being together reminds me of when life was simpler. It’s easy to joke and get carried away but I understand that there is also distance with time and age and that this is extremely complicated. And that we haven’t talked about it. Talking about this kind of stuff makes me feel… uncomfortable.”

“What? No. I couldn’t tell.” You walked peacefully along the stone path. Across the way the monks were giving a demonstration and others were setting up tables for a meal near the white beach.

“Can I confess something?” He led you off the stone and down onto the white sand that bordered the beautiful, but absolutely artificial looking, lake. He offered you his hand to help you down and you took it. He didn’t let go of it as you walked together. Fun new game again: fake date or Kung Lao being affectionate? Your brain hated this game. Your heart hated it even more.

“That depends. Is it appropriate to say? Will I smack you when you make this confession? Will you be getting smacked and are you ready to risk being smacked?”

“Maybe. It’s hard to gauge how grown-up Y/N will react to most things.”

“Go ahead, Kung Lao. I’ll try not to smack you but no promises.”

“I uh…” He hesitated and then let go of your hand in favor of grasping the air in front of him as if trying to reach for the words to say what was on his mind. “I hate that you have the dragon mark.” You stopped in your tracks and Kung Lao stopped with you. Of all the things you’d expected, it hadn’t been that.

“What?”

“Yeah. Little Y/N. The girl with the gift, mom called you. You had enough problems. Now you’re here. A warrior chosen to fight for earthrealm alongside me and a bunch of other misfits with the same mark. Lost your home. Your life.”

“I could see your logic, Kung Lao, but I’m tough.” Your heart was racing again. Was this serious conversation better or worse than the rollercoaster ride that was Kung Lao? You couldn’t decide.

“Yeah, Liu showed me the bruises you’d left on him. I was a little impressed. However, you, just moments ago I might add, unconsciously almost drowned yourself in a lake of blood. Went completely gray, weren’t breathing, just walked over and almost threw yourself in.”

“Yeah, that is concerning.” He was right. The dragon marking and your arcana had awoken things within you that were beyond anyone’s control, especially yours. You were scared. You couldn’t imagine how it had to have felt to be watching it happen to someone you cared about. “You know, Lao, it’s probably not actually blood. I’d guess it’s algae making the water red…” You tried to joke but it was a feeble attempt. Kung Lao didn’t even smile.

“That’s not the point.”

You stepped in front of him and offered him a tired and forced smile. “I don’t regret where I’ve wound up, Kung Lao.” It was your turn to speak honestly. To say things that you’d meant to say and had been afraid to say for a long time. You’d kept waiting for the ‘right time’ but the time would never be right. “I’m terrified.” You searched around them just to make sure no one was close enough to overhear. “I killed people, Kung Lao. I never thought I’d be capable of such a thing. My dojo? My shop? They’re gone. I probably won’t see my family ever again or any of the people I associated with home. That life is gone. It scares me. Everything I knew is… being unlearned and relearned. At the same time? I feel like this is where I’m meant to be.”

“Yeah. You didn’t really get to process much of that, did you? Just went straight to studying and training with Liu Kang.” Kung Lao sounded almost bitter. You hadn’t thought about it that way. Liu Kang had been a beacon of comfort to you but was that healthy? Maybe some of what had escalated your whatever-it-was you were had something to do with your sudden lack of control. You were attracted to him, sure, in a crazy way even, but you were also vulnerable. Maybe the attachment between you had gone from big to huge because of it. You felt guilty. Liu. Oh, no. You’d kissed Kung Lao. Not just kissed him but kissed him. Things were instantly that much more complicated and messy. You had to talk to Liu. You had to sort out your thoughts. You had to do the same with Kung Lao. But you didn’t know how and just kept kissing them. It wasn’t like you’d ever been good at romance.

“It’s been difficult. But also surreal. Easy to forget some of it.”

“I get it. Really, I do. Because I’m not done confessing things yet.” He still sounded uncomfortable but urged his hand to your back and continued your walk. “I’m also super grateful that you have the dragon mark.��

“Well, that’s conflicting as hell. I’m having a hard time processing that.”

“I never would have gotten to know who you were or get to know you again at all without the mark. It’s brought me closure, in a way. I never thought I’d see you again.” You walked in silence and you felt your eyes burn just enough with tears that you thought talking was a mistake. You breathed through the sudden urge to cry until it faded.

“I’d like to state for the record, that you being this serious is freaking me out a little.”

“It’s been known to happen now and again.” He bowed his head politely to you after tucking his hat beneath his arm. “I’m sorry that I’ve been weird since I got back.”

“It’s okay, Kung Lao. This has been difficult.”

“Y/N?” He started, as though he had something important to say. He hesitated then exhaled and replaced his hat back on his head, tucking the strap under his chin. “Let’s keep walking.” He turned away and did just that as though he’d said nothing at all. There was clearly something on his mind that must have been difficult to share. You caught up to him.

“What aren’t you saying?”

He turned to you and searched your face with a glint of worry that faded so fast you weren’t sure if you’d imagined it or not. Then he smiled.

“I’m starving. That’s what I’m not saying. The sun is going to set anytime now and they’re setting up food so we should grab some.” He started back across the sand. You grasped his hand and pulled him back. That was not what he’d struggled to say.

“Lao, really. You can talk to me.”

“I know, Y/N.” He smiled so you let go of his hand. Whatever it was, he wasn’t ready to talk about it and who were you to say he should be? “Let’s get some food. You’re still gray so I’d like to see you eat.” If nothing else, he at least seemed less all over the place. What were you going to do? You didn’t know so you couldn’t think about it right now. You’d take everything one step at a time. It was all you could do.

#kung lao #kung lao x reader #mk kung lao #max huang #mortal kombat 2021 #mortal kombat movie #liu kang x reader #love triangle #liu kang #ludi lin #romance #angst #drama #intrigue #action #fantasy #fanfiction #mk liu kang

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fromthewifecage · 5 years

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Ok love let’s get personal 😏 tell me what made you fall for Johnny! His gorgeous body? Charming personality? Award winning (ha!) smile? I want all the wonderful (smutty 😏) details you’ve got!

What started it? 2 words. Linden Ashby.

And I mean it. I saw Mortal Kombat at the cinema (and LOVED it) and of course I couldn’t help but immediately fall in love with this Johnny. I’d played MK before then, even had the very first version on the Master System (so old it didn’t even have enough memory to cope with all the fighters so they cut KANO from it *cries*). He was the perfect mixture of hot and hilarious and he (along with Cary and Christophe Lambert) made the film for me. I honestly adore the film and will happily watch it now. We ignore the 2nd film (yeah, replace Linden Ashby with a random and then kill Johnny after 5 seconds?! That’s going to get me on side, wankers.)

After the film I went back to playing the games and Raiden (“the man with the hat” as my Mum calls him) was always my main (mixed in with some Noob and Smoke). After MK Trilogy I missed out on MK until 9 was released, and yeah, Johnny was alright, he’s funny as hell, but after his chapter he becomes a punching bag :( and I was happy blowing kisses at Raiden.

Then we get to MKX and we meet MY Johnny. Andrew Bowen’s voice is hot as hell and he is SUCH a good voice actor, without him I wouldn’t love Johnny nearly as much. Honestly, his voice does very naughty things to me, very good naughty things (in my knickers). Johnny makes MKX, he starts the thing off and if I play it or watch it through on Youtube when I get a hankering, then I always want more of him. I am a greedy slut.

I think the kharacter design is hot. I wasn’t sure of his Special Forces look to start, and when I play MKX I use either his Ninja Mime skin or his topless kostue (again, slut) and wish they’d gone for something more, well, more Johnny. Yes he’d wear the kombat trousers and vest on missions, but the guy takes care of himself and would have adopted “Treat yo self’ as one of his main mottos, so he’d wear more klassic stuff (if you zoom in on his tux shirt he has his own little JC logos on it , amazing detailing, so he has a clothing line and he’s wear that, all sexy designer looks) when not working. I absolutely ADORE the tux look in MK11, he looks incredible in it. (And oh yessss they’ve rolled up the sleeves to show off his forearms. Anyone looks good doing that, any gender, and age, any size, anyone, instantly boosts your hotness.)

The storyline of MKX where he gets together with Sonya is totally believable. If you watch Maximilian Dood play the Johnny vs Shinnok chapter on Youtube when Johnny says “She called me Johnny” Max will say something like “Oh don’t go get charming on me Johnny, you’re making me like you.” And that is exactly what Johnny’s doing, he’s charming the knickers off Sonya and everyone playing the game. Instant love. You totally see why Sonya falls for him, cos you’d be mad not to.Then you meet Older!Johnny and he’s still utterly hilarious, but now he’s more charming, less of a douche, has the sexy salt and pepper hair, still shows off the tattoo, and I wanted him even more. His obvious adoration for Cassie makes my knickers evaporate. I don’t have/want kids, but if I did a Sonya and ended up pregnant with his kiddo, you know that he'd just be the absolute best Dad.

How they treat his split from Sonya is pretty realistic. The comics show that Sonya kept with her career, and Johnny was a stay at home Dad (obviously still doing his films), and that Sonya wouldn’t take time away from her job caused the family to break up. Again, as a non kid person myself I can totally see Sonya’s side. But I can also see Johnny’s and Cassie’s (and isn’t this just forgotten in MK11?! BULLSHIT.)

Johnny interacting with Kenshi is fantastic (yeah, I totally ship it), and with Kuai (yeah, I totally ship it) and with Raiden (yeah, I totally ship it). (The “I’m guessing it’s not your first time in cuffs. What’s your safe word?” to Quan Chi with Kenshi sniggering is HILARIOUS. As is “Oh sorry ma’am, didn’t see you there” to Shinnok.

I LOVE HIM.)

Now onto MK11. Yeah, he’s GORGEOUS. His face model Colin Ryan is hot as hell (thank you NRS) and thank the Elder Gods they kept Andrew Bowen as his v/a. I’d have gone on a one woman riot if they’d changed him.

Thankfully he is mostly hilarious, and we get to feel his sadness when Sonya dies and he comforts Cassie. The bond between him and his loved ones is beautiful. His fatalities are my favourites (OMG that leer he does at the end of his ventriloquist act is knicker-ruiningly hot. GOD DAMN!)

Young Johnny is an absolute dick until he does that face at Sonya bandaging him up at the end, and we see Older!Johnny start to emerge. He’s a good boy really, his Dad just fucked him up and made him think he had to be a prick.

His clothes. So they kept with the SF styling for Older!Johnny, and it’s still not great. He looks great in it, but he’d look great in a bin bag. I am SO glad they brought out the tux, (I have already squealed on about that, but fuck me it’s amaaaaaaazing) and I LOVE the Ninja Mime kostume. The younger outfits are great too with topless being the icing on the cake. The vests are great, the colours are great, the sunglasses are great.

The non sleezeball intros are hilarious, as are his taunts (the Mime one is especially brilliant, as is the fuck you one!) I love him playing with the toy Johnny, the splits, the autograph (I imagine he’s writing that on my tits).

The bad MK11 stuff: Yeah, MK11 isn’t the best. I honestly can’t buy him and Sonya back together after how their marriage ended. He may have forgiven her, but that would never stop him feeling like she hurt Cassie, and Cassie is his everything, and you just wouldn’t get past that. Sure you could keep the peace, be civil, but feeling his child was abandoned by the other parent is not something that would ever be pushed aside. I think NRS made a huge error in getting them back together, it was obviously to heighten the emotion of Sonya’s death, and that’s pretty pathetic writing on NRS’s part.

Johnny’s intros have him behaving pretty appallingly towards the majority of the female kombatants. There was no need for him to be so sleazy. Sure Younger!Johnny is a sleazy prick, but he’s a ridiculously famous movie star, he can get anyone he wants, why have him sound like a slimeball desperate for pussy? It’s done so badly, ugh. And the non distinction between Older and Younger!Johnny is sheer laziness by NRS. Not hard to make different intros for different variations. Same goes for how they fucked up the revenant skins, kharacters will state they aren’t revenants when they have a revenant skin. Fucking terrible by NRS.

Also I am greedy and wanted more of him in the story, buuuuuut that is appallingly greedy, especially when Kabal, Erron and Bi-Han got 5 fucking seconds of FUCKING BULLSHIT.

And also, what the fuck is up with Johnny’s ending with rehab? Where did that come from? Sure he’s a film star but he never seemed drunk or high or owt so WTF? Sadly I would bet money that they put that in to try to lesson the ‘Sonya fucked up the family’ and shift the blame to Johnny. Go fuck yourselves NRS, go on, go fuck yourselves.

So what is it that makes me love Johnny? The humour and Older!Johnny’s personality, hands down. Make me laugh and I am a very happy woman. Add in muscles and a smile that could kill me?

I LOVE HIM.

Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.

(Ok and I had this ridiculous daydream once about Older!Johnny getting a part in a Tarantino film, and it totally revitalising his career (just like John Travolta) and making everyone sit up and go “Whoa, I didn’t know he could actually act”. Ridiculous I know.)

#Johnny Cage #I Got Caged #John Carlton #He's SO Pretty #Mortal Kombat #Mortal Kombat Asks

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floatingcatacombs · 5 years

Text

In Praise of the Blonde Twink who May or May Not be a Trans Girl

12 Days of Aniblogging, Day 3

There’s been something in the air recently. Last year, the New York Times’ fashion magazine published an article titled “Welcome to the Age of the Twink”, a 600-word LGBT hitpiece arguing that a new wave of “art twinks” are redefining what it means to be an ideal male. The author argues that the term “twink” is being broadened past just gay culture and we should slap it on every slim attractive straight white dude that we see in order to overturn toxic masculinity. Because there’s nothing more revolutionary than, er, fairly conventional western beauty standards.

The internet promptly responded by shitting on the author’s brazen attempt to export twinkness to the straight world. I too think it’s an awful take, but I get the feeling there was a satirical bend to the article that got edited out or otherwise miscommunicated. After all, the author is a gay man; why would he misrepresent and diminish his own community like that?

The broadening and appropriation of LGBT terminology is a touchy subject, so I’ll save it for another day. If taking gay terminology and morphing it into new definitions is en vogue nowadays, I’m happy to join ranks with Nick Haramis and add new meanings to “twink”. Let’s talk about twinks as Schrodinger’s trans girls.

Unfortunately, I have a type when it comes to media, and it’s twinks who I can project transness onto if I desire it. These characters are beacons of androgyny, male-at-birth characters with some connection to femininity via their appearance or their actions. Often, this connection is left unclear by the end of their series, leaving plenty of room for me to imagine “OK so they’re totally gonna be a girl for real now”. This archetype has proven a very useful crutch for me over the years. For so long, media about cis femininity was too intimidating and distant for me to even dream of consuming. During that time, I read lots of manga and played lots of games starring androgynes, allowing myself to project onto them as well as project their character onto girlhood. (see where this leads by transitive property?) Also, a lot of them were blonde (I’m not gonna read into this! My hair is closer to brown tho). With that out of the way, let me rip my heart open and highlight some of those twinks that I’ve latched so strongly onto throughout the years.

Kuranosuke from Princess Jellyfish

I’ve written a whole writeup on Kuranosuke, so if you’ve read that you should know where I’m coming from! Kuranosuke is graced with natural femininity and a desire to perform it, and lands himself into a situation where he must pass on a daily basis while designing fashion for the girls of the Amars house. Kuranosuke’s crossdressing is both effortless and extremely laborious, but it always pays off.

Kaito from Himegoto: Juukyuusai no Seifuku

Himegoto is one of the messiest mangas I’ve ever read. Three characters spiral around each other while desperately trying to negotiate their orientations, gender presentations, and livelihoods with each other and with themselves. Kaito is the standout for me – a ‘guy’ who crossdresses in a desperate attempt to ‘mirror’ his ideal image of femininity. Kaito radiates extremely eggy energies, and it’s increasingly obvious as the plot goes on that all his justification is elaborate smoke and mirrors for his desire to simply be a woman. He begins by projecting his feminine ideals onto his tomboyish friend, but by the end of the manga it all comes collapsing back onto himself. The epilogue leaves it rather ambiguous, but one can only hope that Kaito figured it all out by then.

Alucard from Castlevania: Symphony of the Night

Symphony of the Night is one of my favorite Castlevanias and maybe games of all time. I’ve always been in love with its hand-in-hand elegance and jankiness. Unlike Kaito and Kuranosuke, we’re going to have to stretch out of the canon to justify this placement, but I assure you it will be worth it. In Symphony of the Night, Alucard is a tall deep-voiced bishounen and that’s that. However, the eva problems classic “YOUR ASSHOLE DAD’S CASTLE IS BACK AGAIN” adds a sickening new twist onto the game: what if Alucard wanted to be a woman? This article retraces the full plot and route of SOTN, adding extra backstory and inner thoughts showing Alucard’s visceral bodily discomfort and twisted-up jealousy towards the female monsters of the castle. Eventually, she takes those terrifying first steps towards accepting oneself as a woman. It’s one of the most effective recontextualizations of a piece of media that I’ve ever read, and I’m not afraid to admit that it reassured and helped me with my own transition a few months down the line. Plus, the idea of Alucard But A Girl is somewhere near my ideal aesthetic.

Ryo Asuka from Devilman

--devilman spoilers--

Ryo is a bit of an oddity. A total weirdo, he doesn’t particularly demonstrate femininity throughout most of the series beyond just being kind of fluffy and cute in the 80s OVAs. However, this all changes in some of the final chapters, when Ryo is revealed to be Satan in disguise. Though every Devilman adaptation has a very different artstyle, Satan’s designed has remained the same: an androgynous fallen angel possessing both breasts and a penis. There’s a lot of associations and implications to unpack there, but I’m not going to do that in this article! While it doesn’t necessarily recontextualize Ryo’s human existence, he sure still is a twink with some Gender happening around him.

Venus from We Know The Devil

Ok, this one’s just a girl! No questions about it! Someone get her some hugs and a bottle of estradiol, stat!

Honorable Mentions:

Raiden from Metal Gear Solid 2

As much as I love slapping the “GIRL” label onto any blonde twink I can find, Raiden’s MGS2 arc of intense emasculation works way better if he's actually a guy. If there’s any further gender stuff happening with Raiden, it’s actually to be found in MGS4 and Metal Gear Rising, in which Raiden sheds his twinkish flesh to become a way more masc cyborg ninja. As The Cyborg Manifesto teaches us, cyborgs are one hell of a post-gender tool. Honestly, reading Raiden as FTM may work way better than parsing him as a trans girl, I just don’t have the specific background and ability to do that headcanon justice.

Lio Fotia from Promare

Promare was maybe the first time I saw a blonde twink character and didn’t immediately think it might be better if they were a girl. Amidst all its discussions of immigration, racism, and climate change, Promare finds time to be real gay, in a delightfully masc4fem way. Together, Lio and Galo stretch the full spectrum of male presentation, and I wouldn’t want to take that away from them.

So that’s that! I hope you enjoyed the lineup of twinks who are dear to my heart, and maybe learned a thing or two from my ramble at the start.

#12 days of anime #12daysofanime #twink

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