#I was reluctant to post this because it will still show up in search results for MissingNo but oh well

[anomalymon]

[Essay] MissingNo Therian: An Exploration in Identity, Labels, and the Fictotherian Experience

We've seen a few posts of people wanting more personal essays in the community, so I thought I would write this and crosspost it to Tumblr. -Rex

I am a MissingNo. My exact form is one that's been fluid throughout my life, with Kabutops and Aerodactyl fossil forms having preference, but occasionally switching to the Lavender Town Ghost. I identify as a Pokemon therian or Poketherian for my species - or fictotherian for a broad term. This identification is one which can confuse people - after all, therianthropy is more traditionally associated with animals, and I identify as Pokemon that isn't real. My species only exists in four games that are well over two decades old and is a failsafe the game spits out. Why should I identify as a therian? Despite how strange it can seem, I still prefer therian over other labels such as otherkin and fictionkin. My therian identity is deeply intertwined with my hyperempathy, created by a bias of my animality, comes from viewing a MissingNo as a type of animal, and from experiencing common therian traits.

Therian over otherkin, fictionkin, or fictive

Some may be saying "why don't you call yourself fictionkin?" or even "Isn't otherkin for mythical species, while therian is for earthen species?" To address the later point, there have been better written essays dispelling this. I would highly recommend Therian: Dispelling the Earthen Animal Myth by The River System for a well written and researched essay.

To address the former point, it is personal preference. I did use "otherkin" for years and still do identify as both otherkin and fictionkin, but the term "therian" is more in alignment to how I experience identity. I am an animal, I experience shifts, and I experience instincts.

I don't perceive MissingNo as sapient on the level of elves or some dragons. For me, being a MissingNo is also a "real" thing, as tangible as a dog, bird, or dragon. I don't consider myself glitchkin despite being a glitch, nor conceptkin. I am like the theriomythics who label themselves for being an animalstic gryphon or phoenix.

When it comes Fictionkin and fictive, to me they can be too focused on identifying yourself in the framework of being a character, which I'm not. I'm not a creepypasta character anymore than one of the Hypno species would be. I still do identify as fictional - I can comfortably identify as "fictherian" or my preference "fictotherian" (Which comes from "fictotype". I believe I started this term usage - since when I started using it, I could find no results to it, but I did use it in forum posts, Discord servers, and other methods).

Fictive falls under a similar problem - but with slightly more alienation. While the term is open to me, my identity history makes me feel out of place in a community of walk-ins and introjects when it was one that developed later in life.

How I became a MissingNo and the grip of hyperempathy

My identity as a MissingNo came later in life. I began existing in my system as a canine pup - which I know from behaviors and mannerisms that I later connected to me in the present, and genuinely expressing feeling like a dog as a child. Years later, I identified this species as a manned wolf.

Then at around the age of ten, my identity shifted to a glitch Pokemon. What at least contributed to it was developing a special interest in Glitch Pokemon around this time. This combined with our natural hyper-empathy and perhaps being conceptum to subconsciously alter my identity over time.

These interpretations can cause me to be out of place. While I still love glitch Pokemon and I am fascinated by them, I rarely find anyone who also has an intense interest and fascination while having this level of hyperempathy - even if I encounter others who have some alterhuman or even gender or sexuality connection to glitch Pokemon. Almost uncontrollably do I see glitch Pokemon as genuine Pokemon. I might grow attached to certain Pokemon in the way I would a pet.

The overall psychological influence means that this identity comes down to personal interpretations and personification. I'm not a natural animal and you cannot read about me in a textbook or find any bits of lore within the games, but rather, I am an animal that came from the mind of a mentally ill person.

MissingNo the animal

What defines "animal" varies. Humans are biologically animals and primates, but not all humans identify with those terms, with some taking offense to it. To someone with hyperempathy, a stuffed animal may be as much of an animal as a living one, or even a car might be a type of animal to certain minds. This connection is what makes me feel a MissingNo can be a type of animal.

Additionally, Pokemon are their world's equivalent of animals, and this is how most of my system views Pokemon due to one of our deepest parallel life connections being a humanlike Mewtwo. This sentiment is also one I've seen many Poketherians have. In the world of our origin, we are animals. For another essay on a similar experience, I'd highly recommend "The Fire Burns Bright" by Jasper, an Alolan Marrowak therian.

Within the contexts of the games and many interpretations - including my own - MissingNo is also a bird. It is one of few Pokemon which use this glitch beta typing. Being a bird can be equally as much a part of it and I'd consider birds as a paralleltype and one where I may confidently call myself a bird. Albeit a very odd bird.

The wolf and animal bias in my core

In addition to the bird of the MissingNo, the manned wolf at my heart is still important to my identity. It's in between otherhearted and therian on a sliding scale, and I identify it more as manned wolf-hearted for convenience, but it's closer to "kinth". I don't know why I am or was a manned wolf, but it doesn't quite matter to me either way. What matters is that there is the manned wolf.

To me it feels as if despite my core being or "soul", my mind became a MissingNo while the core remained the same. To my soul, a MissingNo is a type of dog. Then, to my mind, a manned wolf is a type of Pokemon. Both of these identities came about and exist in harmony rather than opposition.

Another comparison that the heart and soul makes is being "feral". Glitch entities in video games to me are almost like an animal which can't be domesticated. They may act fine, but every so often you'll encounter something that reminds you that at their core, they're wild. MissingNo still scrambles sprites and Hall of Fame data - and you can't have a "normal" experience with it. MissingNo is to Pokemon as a wolf is to a dog.

The instincts that made me tear apart playsets when playing house pretending to be a dog are still present in the instincts that make me want to tear apart meat when I eat it.

The Experience of a MissingNo Animal

I fit into many traditional therianthropy experiences and unto a hybrid canine/avian experience - just perhaps with more twists towards the bizarre.

I am a contherian when it comes to mental shifting and almost always feeling like an animal. However, I do experience phantom shifts. I get the sensations of skeletal fangs, claws, and a body that's far heavier and taller than my tiny, human form. Though the bizarre comes when during these shifts, I don't feel like I have skin and much of my body feels transparent, I feel like I should be able to stick my hand through my lower jaw.

I feel the sense of freedom and flight when I ride a bike downhill. For a few minutes when I bike, I can imagine myself flying. I sit in rivers and ponds among the wading birds feeling like I belong. I treat the chicks and chickens we raise like a part of my flock.

I still want to hunt. Sometimes I need to fight my instincts to recognize chicks as flockmates and not food. I like to eat wildly and I like to taste blood and fat in my food. When I eat, I feel like like the blood should dribble through my skinless jaw bone. Skeletal claws should be typing this essay instead of fleshy human fingers.

Conclusion

I am an animal, and despite doubts, I am a therian.

This label fits my experiences better than the alternatives. I don't feel as much alienation or out of place compared to other communities even though my species isn't an "animal" in the traditional sense. Hyperempathy has created this experience for me in that I feel more comfortable saying I am an animal than I am from fiction.

My center being is animal and always has been, it's just how its presented through my life has shifted. The animal instincts have only developed as my species has.

It is my hope that more unusual therians might come forth and be encouraged to examine their experiences - and for both earthen therians and potential theriomythics or fictotherians to explore what exactly "animal" means to them. I want others to also examine where their mind's biases may lead them, how that can impact their identity, and use it to feel more at peace in what the heart wants.

[myresellerhome]

How to Convert WooCommerce Visitors into Customers

Do you need help converting WooCommerce store traffic into customers? You have company. Understanding customer behaviour, user experience, and marketing methods is essential to turning casual browsers into loyal purchasers. Online store operators must understand conversion to stay ahead in a competitive e-commerce market.

This essay examines the psychology of online shopping and offers tips for turning idle window browsers into committed customers. From product page optimization to convincing content and clever calls to action, we'll reveal proven strategies to enhance conversion rates and catapult your WooCommerce business to lasting success. Prepare to discover how to convert reluctant visitors into loyal clients!

1. Make eCommerce landing pages that your customers can connect with.

First, you need a live landing page so that your customers can find you. To make a landing page, you need to make sure you do it right first.

It would help if you had built search tools into your site that make it easy for people to find what they need.

Test two or more versions of it to find out which goods to show.

Use powerful popups like lightboxes.

Also, suggest items to users based on what they've looked at, bought, and what they often buy together.

Make it easy for people to find their way around your site, and use a good WooCommerce theme.

The ABC of getting more conversions says that making an eCommerce site with exciting design and content is the first thing you should do to get more sales and end users.

2. Make sure your web store is safe.

People can now tell the difference between safe websites and ones that aren't. I am also trying to figure out how to do business online. Because of this, making sure your customers are safe is a must for any eCommerce business.

Also, keep in mind that your online store holds private data about your customers, such as their credit card numbers, addresses, and other personal information.

To stay out of trouble, make sure your WooCommerce store is safe from threats and hackers with an SSL certificate, that the plugins are constantly updated to the latest versions, that you have good backups, that the website is password protected, and that only trusted people can get to it.

3. Use standard and appealing videos and pictures of your products

Texts get less attention than pictures do. Just as important is making sure your web store has the correct number and types of images. Visitors will feel good when they see pictures that are of good quality and accurate. When you show actual photos of the things, you're selling instead of fake pictures you found online, you make it easier for people to trust you enough to buy.

4. Exciting product descriptions will help your WooCommerce store make more sales.

Including pictures and precise, exact, and thorough product descriptions that match the item is the right thing to do. There is an excellent chance for you to make more sales on the WooCommerce Store.

Your product descriptions and comments are what clear up any questions the visitor still has about the product that need to be answered by the pictures alone. That's how you turn site viewers into buyers!

In other words, make it unique enough to get people thinking.

5. Make it clear how refunds work.

Customers will trust your goods more if you have a clear return and exchange policy. They can return or exchange an item for something that fits their needs if they are unhappy with what they bought. This promise brings in more sales and results on its own.

But be careful, and don't just talk about it. Your word must be kept!

6. Use push notifications to let people know about your content.

If you want to let your audience know when you post new blogs, tutorials, or even items on your WooCommerce store, push notifications are an excellent way to do it. This is helpful, especially when you have a new sale or offer that will help you get more sales.

Even the most significant content marketing platforms use Subscribe2 because it works well for push alerts and works with WordPress as well.

But be careful not to send too many too often!

7. Make checkout simple

23% of users will abandon their shopping cart if they must register. It's crucial to streamline WooCommerce checkout for customers.

Registering while checking out turns customers off and abandons carts. Registration requirements dampen shoppers' enthusiasm for the purchase. How can your users finish the deal without feeling restrained and become subscribers?

Along with a well-designed website, provide guest checkout for new customers. This is easy with WooCommerce settings. This functionality lets customers add items to their cart, pay, leave, and become registered automatically. A user can alter the auto-generated dummy password.

Use social logins for flexibility. Shoppers cannot register again on your site, and all data is taken from their social profiles. It guarantees speed and dependability! The WooCommerce Social Login addon supports this feature.

Third, use anti-virus and anti-spam certificates and logos on your checkout page to boost e-transaction credibility. Add SSL-encrypted connections for site and transaction security.

Finally, avoid unexpected shipping expenditures. Show delivery costs on product pages or with prices, but make it apparent.

8. Talk to people in real-time through Live Chat

With a solid and easy customer service team, it's easier to run an e-commerce business. In either case, users will have questions and issues about whether you sell digital or physical goods. And these need your attention. People won't always be able to fill out a contact form, and people won't sometimes want to wait for a response. Live chats are helpful for customers and help solve problems faster.

Live chats are an excellent way to find out what your customers want, need, and are having trouble with. They need to be able to talk back and forth, send help document links, share their screens, and do other things quickly. Forums and help forms don't give you instant access to your customer service and support staff. This makes customer service better and makes people more loyal. People who come to your site will also have more chances to become paid customers. Because of this, live talks are necessary to get leads and make customers happy.

It's also an excellent tool to get more done with fewer people and spend less money than calling.

9. Make your coupons more appealing and easier to find.

It's just as essential to get more people to visit your WooCommerce store and buy things as it is to get more people to look at your coupons and offers. 

You can get it done with a few apps. You can add a new section to your site that promotes the coupon in a way that makes it stand out from the rest of the content. For example, "Special Birthday Offer: Get 30% off all of our products! Use Coupon Code Birthday30." Make sure that when people click on it, it takes them to the correct sale link.

One good option is OptinMonster, which has lots of cool features that can help you get more leads, such as drag-and-drop forms, animation and audio-powered messages, mobile-friendly popups, floating bars, and more. The answer is to make changes to your site so that it gets more visitors to sign up for your newsletter. The best part is that you can pick and choose the visuals and features you need for your ads and change them to fit your needs.

Also, use reporting tools to keep track of the people who count and bring in the right people at the right time. You could do your A/B testing to get more conversions, make your campaigns more relevant to each person, and use analytics to make your plan better.

10. Choose content made by users

Users can also create content that draws more people to your site and helps you get more leads. These are open to everyone and show blogs, tweets, audio, video, audio, visuals, testimonials, and anything else that friends and people who work for free on your site have added. So, user-generated content is a free way to get people to visit your store.

User-generated content (UGC) puts your users first and shows that you care about them. It's an excellent way to stay in touch, learn about new things, and change what people like. Having happy users join together over topics and trends that are related to your business also helps build a community. You can also keep up with your guests and customers and find out what they like and don't like about your store, as well as what they're looking forward to.

Boost sales on WooCommerce.

With the WP User Frontend plugin for WordPress, you can make custom post types, registration forms, and guest posts. You can also control privacy in more complex ways and give your users the ability to change on the front end. That way, people who visit and use your WooCommerce store will be able to interact with it more. And you didn't even have to go into your screen! This way, you can build trust in and recognition for your business without spending any money.

11. Put yourself out there.

Even if your website and goods are great, if your customer service is better, you will probably get more unhappy visitors who will not buy anything.

One thing that makes you stand out is the way you help your customers. People who are just looking around will buy something if they get quick answers to their questions and sound advice from your customer service reps.

Also, a customer who is angry or upset will feel heard and cared for there. They might even buy from you again and spread the word about your shop.

So work on your customer service, and you'll see a rise in sales and keep more of the customers you already have.

Make a Contact Us page that is easy for people to find, add help forms, live chats, email, and phone support, and test all of them to see which ones work best for your business.

Conclusion

Converting WooCommerce traffic into buyers involves strategy and focus. Businesses can convert visitors into customers by improving the user experience, providing relevant information, and using social proof. Understanding the target audience's wants and interests and tailoring the purchasing experience is crucial. Retargeting and tailored recommendations can boost conversion rates. Businesses can streamline visitor-to-loyal customer conversion by regularly assessing data and making improvements. Start using these tactics immediately to increase WooCommerce conversion rates!

Janet Watson MyResellerHome MyResellerhome.com We offer experienced web hosting services that are customized to your specific requirements.

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[beewolfwrites]

Hello! I'm not sure if you're taking requests rn BUT if you can could you do reader x chishiya where reader bought one those japanese diy food kit boxes where you're suppose to create a mini version of a food but this time its kind of candy? If you don't know what they are you can search it up. So, what if reader has to beg chishiya to help them with the kit but he just ends up reading the instructions to the reader and watches reader struggle. That's all, take youre time. I love your writing btw!<3

Hi! Sorry this took a short while! This was an adorable idea. I had no idea about those Japanese mini food kits, but after Googling them, they look so fun!

I haven't put out a post or anything, but yes, I'm happy to take requests! There are a couple lined up at the moment, so it's a fun change from writing chapters.

Thank you for such a fun prompt :D

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

The time had already struck 10am, but there was still no sign of the delivery man. Glancing at the clock on the mantlepiece, you paced back and forth playing with the keys in your hand. Chishiya paid no mind. He was sitting on the couch, scrutinising a book on spinal surgery techniques like he often was. Well, he wouldn’t be for long. Not if you could help it. With next-day delivery, your dream of an ideal weekend with him was finally coming into fruition.

If only the delivery man would arrive.

10:02am.

You peeked through the curtains. Nothing. Not even a van.

10:04am.

A car rolled on by, and you looked out of the window to no avail. The keys tinkled between your palms as you bounced them around.

10.06am.

Chishiya finally set down his book. ‘Whatever it is you’re doing, stop doing it.’

‘I’m waiting for a parcel. I paid extra for it to be delivered by ten.’

‘It’s only six minutes late. What have you been wasting money on this time?’

‘You’ll find out when it gets here.’ You beamed at him. It was a smile that promised cuteness, cuddles and bonding time. All the things he hated with a passion.

Chishiya’s eyes narrowed. He tossed the hardback onto the coffee table just as a van door slammed outside. You bolted to the window and pulled back the curtain. The delivery man was walking up the drive, carrying a small brown package.

‘It’s here!’

Leaping past Chishiya, you ran to the door and fumbled around finding the right key to unlock it. Once you managed to get it open, you grinned at the delivery man and held your parcel close like a prize. It was finally here. Your dream weekend with Chishiya.

When you re-entered the living room, he was leaning back, eyes closed in exasperation. Now that simply wouldn’t do. You waited silently by the arm of the couch to show him the online treasure you’d found. Only, he didn’t move.

‘Whatever it is,’ he said, ‘I don’t want any part in it.’

‘Come on,’ you insisted, now pulling at his sleeve.

‘Let me rest.’

‘Please! I want to make this with you.’

One eye slid open. ‘Make?’

The moment the word left his lips, you knew you’d caught his interest. ‘It’s something we can do together.’

‘Fine,’ he said, sighing as he got up. No matter how reluctant he seemed, he wouldn’t go this far if he wasn’t at least a little curious.

He followed you into the kitchen where you grabbed a knife and started hacking into the box. Chishiya folded his arms, resting against the countertop. If he wasn’t unimpressed before, he certainly was when you pulled out a Popin’ Cookin’ Candy Lunch Box kit.

‘That’s what you bought?’ He eyed the kit like it belonged in the gutter. ‘I hope you used your own money.’

‘It’ll be fun,’ you promised. ‘I’ll let you make whichever ones you want.’

He prodded the box with one finger, before turning his nose up at the bubble font. ‘I’ll leave this to you.’

He started to head back into the living room, but you clutched his elbow to keep him from leaving. ’Please Chishiya! You don’t have to do anything. I’ll do the actual food making, even if you just read the instructions.’

He pursed his lips as he weighed up his options. ‘Just the instructions,’ he agreed. ‘You’re lucky I have nothing better to do.’

Yes! The perfect couples activity was in sight. Excited, you rubbed your hands together and motioned him over to the box on the counter. It was like trying to tempt an unenthusiastic cat. He merely looked at you as though you were wasting his precious time.

But that wasn’t going to stop you from having fun.

Opening up the Lunch Box kit, you tore into the wrapper packaging inside, finding a bundle of sachets and a blue spoon, all sitting in a grooved plastic tray shaped with different moulds. It was… well, not quite what you were expecting. You’d only really heard of these kits online, but you’d never actually watched other people make them. Chishiya picked up the packaging and scanned the small print on the sides.

‘You need scissors,’ he said.

‘Hold on a second.’ You were too busy scrutinising the sachets. ‘What am I supposed to do with these?’

The sachets were snatched out of your hand as Chishiya dumped them back on the counter. ‘Forget those for now. You’re supposed to cut into the tray.’

He reached into the cutlery draw and pulled out a pair of kitchen scissors. However, what Chishiya didn’t tell you was that you were only supposed to cut off the corner of the tray to measure water in. Now, surrounded by several pieces of plastic, you were beginning to wonder if this was a sabotage tactic.

He regarded the mess you’d made with a wry smile. ‘Well, I don’t believe I told you to cut up the entire tray.’

‘You didn’t tell me anything at all,’ you snapped.

‘Hmm. I’m not sure I like that attitude.’

You sighed, prodding the remains before you. ‘Sorry. I just… at least the moulds are still usable, kind of.’

As it stood, they were technically usable, but that didn’t mean they were easy to use. Following Chishiya’s vague instructions, you managed to mix tiny amounts of water with the powders to form candy shaped like a panda, a rice-ball, broccoli, fried chicken and even an octopus.

But with the tray reduced to pieces, the structure holding up the moulds had gone, meaning none of the powder mixtures settled evenly. So far, the octopus candy had dribbled over the sides, giving it a little too many tentacles. Half of the panda’s face was smudged. And the broccoli was missing half of its head.

You stared at the resulting lunch box, painfully aware of Chishiya smiling sardonically over your shoulder at the abomination you’d created.

‘Why does it look so sad?’

‘Because it is,’ was the reply. He placed a hand on top of your head. ‘You tried.’

If it weren’t for the pitiful state of the lunch box, you would’ve been more angry at him for his unhelpfulness. But there wasn’t a shred of anger in you. More than anything, you felt underwhelmed. The vision of the two of you trying something a little different together had been dashed.

‘Hm?’ The hand on your head jiggled as he tried to snap you out of your trance. ‘This was what you wanted, wasn’t it?’

Your shoulders slumped as the mini rice-ball toppled over. It just looked so… so disappointing. ‘I only wanted us to do something fun.’

He hummed in consideration. You could feel him mulling over his words, and right when you half-expected him to pull yet another joke, he looked at his watch.

‘It’s already lunchtime,’ he remarked. ‘There’s a new cafe not too far from here. It may be busy but they might have a table.’

Wait - did that mean?

As he began to walk out of the kitchen, you threw your arms around his waist, squeezing him from behind. ‘Chishiya! You’d really take us to lunch?’

‘Us?’

And just like that, the moment was gone.

‘I’m going out to lunch.’ He gestured to the mess you’d made. ‘I believe yours is over there.’

With a signature smirk, he detached himself from your arms and left to get his coat. You stood there, blinking in horror at the prospect of eating that sad little lunch box, before running after him to grab your shoes.

‘Chishiya! Don’t you dare!’

[marmarparadoxa]

Hange Zoë - understanding and inquisitiveness

I want to dedicate this post to an Hange character analysis and I think that the one above is one the first yet one the most representative moments in which we get to know Hange.

This is set in chapter 25, and it shows us an Eren’s memory of the month that he has spent with Levi squad, prior to the mission in which they encounter the Female Titan. During this period, Hange, assisted by Levi, sets out to start experimenting on Eren and his titan transformations. As opposed to the others’ concern and reluctance to experiment, we see her firmly stating the importance of doing it. “If there’s something we don’t know, we should find out. It’s absolutely worth putting our lives on the line.” I think that it is one of the greatest quotes from SNK and one of the most representative of the spirit of the Survey Corps. Up to this moment, we have seen a lot of soldiers willing to give their lives and dedicate their hearts in order to reconquer humanity’s freedom. In order to do that, they are ready to kill the bulk of titans, risking their lives out of the walls. However, none of them has appeared to be interested in understanding who and what actually the enemy is. They just continue to slicing titans napes. And then there’s Hange. Contrary to the other members of the Survey Corps, her focus is not restricted to kill the titans. She tries to look at things from a different point of view. She tries to really understand the nature of the enemy, and the truth about their world, she doesn’t think that just slicing titans napes is enough. She tries to understand what they are actually facing, because she understands that this way is their best chance to succeed and to win the battle against the titans. When no one else does, she put all of her efforts to gain the necessary knowledge, even if at first sight these efforts don’t seem to bring an immediate result, even if the other SC soldiers don’t support her and don’t understand the importance of this (except of course for Erwin, Moblit and Levi). I think that just this is so admirable. She is the one who really tries to augment their knowledge, even just a little bit, in order to improve their situation.

Hange’s ability to analyze things and her scientific way of thinking

Hange is able to look into what stands in front of her, and she analyzes it like no one else can. She notices that, considering their size, titans couldn’t stand and move like they do. She points out how Eren titan’s body came up from nothing, and she formulates hypothesis about that. She conducts various experiments on the titans they manage to capture, even dangerous ones, even others when she actually tortures them, but still (!) empathizes with them, as shown by her suffering expression in inflicting them so much pain. 

However, she does all of it, because all of the knowledge they can gain from those methodically conducted experiments could bring them a little bit closer toward the discovery of the truth about the titans, and, extensively, the truth about this world. She has really a scientific way a thinking: she gathers facts and data, she makes hypothesis and tries to elaborate theories that can scientifically, rationally explain those data, and then she always elaborates new experiments, always furthering their understanding of things, always gathering new data. All of the little observations that she has made, all the theories and possible explanations with which she came out, then, lead her to wonder about the nature of their reality. She has questioned the nature of their phenomenal understanding of the world, she hypothesizes that the true nature of things could be something ontologically different from what they experience and think to know about the world.

As the story continues, they discover a lot of things. The walls are made up of giant titans with their endured skin. Hange, together with Armin, is the one who actually hypothesizes it, and also comes to verify it, picking up a shard of the hardened skin of the Female Titan, having noticed that it is not evaporating, and a fragment of the walls, and analyzing them in order to compare them with a microscope, up to discover that they have the same physical structure.

Then, they discover the true nature of titans, their human nature, and again Hange is the one who realizes that: putting together what they know about the situation and Ragako village, she comes up with that and makes the harsh, astonishing conclusion. However, I think that this has come not totally as a novelty for Hanji. What makes me think this is, first of all, her approach to titans during her experiments. She gives them a name, and she talks with them (not only for experimental purposes). She cries and screams when she conducts pain experiments on them. It is like Hange, without even realizing it (or maybe being fully aware of what she was doing?) has always treated them as they were conscious creatures. And of course she knows that at least one titan has shown sign of intelligence, namely speaking intelligible words and showing sign of remorse for having killed a human, as we see in the Ilse’s Notebook OVA. And then the quote about the difference between what we see and what actually exists. It is possible that Hange may have sensed that titans are not the mindless creatures came up from nothing that they seem, that they could be something really different.

I was also astonished by her sharpness when she suggests what is actually inside titans napes, how she is immediately able to link the human origin of titans with their weak point and explain that so well.

There are many other times in which her insights, or better hypothesis, have informed the SC how to resolve seemingly obscure situations, as for example when she suggested to Erwin and the rest of the SC that Reiner and Bertholdt, escaped with Eren and Ymir, had probably reached the nearest Titan forest in order to rest, or when she hypothesized that, given the strange and suspicious story of the Reiss chapel, kidnapped Eren and Historia might have been conducted there, so Levi gives the order of heading to the chapel, trusting Hange’s judgement.

Also, she is the one who, having rediscovered the technology which has been hidden till then by the the First Interior Squad, devised new weapons that significantly improve the survival chance and power of attack of the SC, namely the “Executioner from Hell” and the “Thunder Spear”, suggesting that she has also notable engineering creativity.

Hence, there are a lot of things and victories of the Survey Corps that wouldn’t have been possible without the bright contribute of Hange’s intellect and intuitions. Her ability to analyze and make deductions from the data they have, applied to battle and titan issues have lead them to resolve complex situations many times. She is indeed the character with the highest score in intelligence in the SNK universe (together with Zeke), with a 11/10 (source Attack on Titan guidebook):

Her infinite curiosity and love of knowledge

For the sake of humanity, in order to reconquer the freedom that they have lost, she has always devoted herself to apply her bright mind to the SC cause. However, what I really love about her is her genuine curiosity and inquisitiveness in understanding what she sees and in discover new things about the world that she shows in every moment of her life, above what is needed in terms of battle strategies and titan issues. She is so curious and amazed by every discovery that she could make.

She’s in love with the process of discovering new things.

In the Smartpass interview, she said that, if humanity will be finally liberated from titans, she would like to research vegetation outside the walls, or study about humanity’s past.

In the SNK Short story The Library That’s Covered In Dust, while the other soldiers are resting, we see her merrily searching through the books of the library of the old castle where the SC soldiers are taking shelter from the rain, and then starting wondering, expressing her thoughts to Levi, about those ancient manuscripts written in letters they can’t read, and how they suggest the existence of an extinct civilization. It amuses me that, while the other soldiers are just taking rest during the mission, Hange instead is all caught up in searching books and making speculations about what they may contain and extinct civilizations.

Another precious moment is when they finally arrive at the sea. I just love how, at the very first encounter with the ocean, Hange’s just being Hange: she notices sea cucumbers in the water and, despite the concerned Levi’s warning, she grabs them, because she just can’t help herself xD:

Then, about one year later, for the first time the SC encounters Marleyans, and also gets to know Yelena and Onyankopon. Hence Onyankopon, in order to prepare them to build a port for the arrive of other Marleyans, and improve Paradis technology, which has remained backward due to their isolation from the rest of the world, starts to explain what a port and all of the other things are, and this is Hange’s reaction:

She immediately realizes what a port is and how they can use it, even before Onyankopon has time to say it. +

She is just so amazed for all the new things that they are learning. Despite the burden of being the new commander and all the responsibilities that come with that, she still manages to get excited and her enthusiasm is so precious. Of course, she knows how important it is for them, the Paradis people, to know the outside world, if they want to start a communication with it and be prepared for any outcome it may have (and we know how things went...).

She truly acknowledges the importance of understanding things, and how it is not possible to live in this world if one doesn’t try to comprehend it, a way of thinking that the Survey Corps has always embodied, but also if people don’t allow others to know and understand who they are:

I think that Hange’s way of thinking truly represent, in her special way, what the spirit of the Survey Corps has always been about: to research, explore the outside world and gain knowledge, try to understand things (and let others understand you). This is what, eventually, will make you free in this world.

(This post wasn’t meant to be a comprehensive analysis, I had rather focused on Hange’s intellect and on her curious, bright, rational, scientific yet full of empathy and intuition approach to the world. I think that this is one of her most distinctive traits, and one of the reasons why I love her so much).

Bonus:

Happy Hange greeting a car (she’s such a cutie ^^)

[seasonschange-butpeopledont]

Everyday Heroes

Pairing: Marcus Moreno x F!Reader

Warnings: A few curse words, an explosion, implied injury, depressed reader, minor character death, grief, and a bit of pining

Word Count: 3,364

Author’s Note: This got out of hand and apparently I only know how to write hopeless pining. Do we agree that Marcus gives off Clark Kent vibes or am I alone in this?

Summary: The three times you discovered Marcus Moreno was a hero. 

Taglist Form - Masterlist

When you’d left the house that morning, the heels you wore had seemed like a great idea. 

You were headed in for your first day at your new job and you wanted to make a good impression by wearing what you perceived to be your most professional outfit. You’d made it to the coffee shop down the street from your apartment with minimal difficulty, though you were certain to have blisters on your feet by the end of the day. Thankfully, your receptionist position meant that you would spend the majority of your day more or less chained to the front desk, answering phones, taking messages, scheduling appointments, and greeting visitors. 

You didn’t know much about Vil-Tech. You’d googled them before your first interview, of course- you weren’t a total idiot and you’d never dare show up unprepared, especially when you needed this job so badly- but your search had yielded only a few results. Most of what you’d found had been articles from the newspaper. The researchers at the lab had, apparently, recently had some success in clean energy technology. Protons, neutrons, particle accelerators, electromagnetic fields… You knew nothing about it, really, but it sounded impressive. And clean energy had to be good, right? When they’d hired you, it hadn’t seemed like a big deal that you knew next to nothing about the company itself. They were only looking for a receptionist, after all, not a scientist. If they’d wanted you to know exactly what was going on in the floors above you, you were sure that they would have let you know. 

With your coffee in hand, you made your way towards the Vil-Tech building. All in all, it seemed like the universe was on your side this morning. You’d woken up early enough to make yourself look decent. Your favorite barista had made your coffee just the way you liked it, and it even looked like you would be early for work. 

And then it all seemed to happen in slow motion. 

The upper half of your body was already moving forward, even as the heel of your shoe remained firmly wedged in the sidewalk crack. You felt the coffee sloshing around in the stainless steel travel mug in your hands, threatening to douse your crisp white blouse in the steaming beverage. You blindly threw your hand out in front of you, bracing yourself to hit the concrete and thinking to yourself that this was just one of those days when this might as well happen. 

But the harsh impact you’d prepared yourself for never came. 

It had taken you a moment to process that someone had caught you. Someone with impeccable reflexes, it seemed, as not only had they rescued you from taking a humiliating fall in the middle of a busy sidewalk, but they also managed to save your coffee without spilling a drop. To say that you were impressed by the feat was an understatement.

But when you looked up at your savior, you were damn near speechless. 

“Are you okay?” He asked, his dark eyes finding yours from beneath his black-framed glasses. And, other than the approximately thirty-seven heart attacks you’d had in the span of 2.5 seconds only moments before, you found yourself nodding in confirmation. 

“I’m fine. I… Thank you,” You breathed out, a warm, tingly feeling spreading out from your chest and right down to your toes. Gods, he had the most beautiful eyes you’d ever seen. He appeared to be somewhere in his mid-forties, and wore a leather jacket with his slacks and tie, a combination you’d never quite seen before, but decided suited him quite well. 

“Are you sure? You look a little dizzy,” He noted. His arm was still around your waist, and you were grateful for it, because you didn’t quite trust the integrity of your knees at the moment.

After a few moments, which had exceeded the socially acceptable amount of time to moon over a stranger while clutching their remarkably toned biceps for dear life by a long-shot, your brain finally seemed to catch up to the rest of you, and promptly flooded your thoughts with embarrassment. You released your death-grip on his arms immediately, trying to maintain your dignity as you yanked your heel from the concrete crevice in a distinctly unladylike manor. All the while, the handsome stranger remained right there, dutifully holding your coffee and trying his best to hide the amusement in his eyes with a polite smile. 

Taking a deep breath and smoothing out your outfit, you nodded at him once again. “I’m fine,” You said in what you hoped was your most composed voice. He promptly handed you your coffee, and you swore you felt electricity when his fingers brushed against yours. 

“Glad to hear it,” He remarked, “That would have been a nasty fall.” 

“Nice save, Clark,” You joked, attempting your most charming smile. Were you flirting? Could you even consider this flirting?

“Clark?” He repeated, his eyebrows raised in curiosity. 

“You know, Clark Kent… with the glasses and... lightning-fast reflexes… saving me from an incredibly embarrassing moment?” You explained weakly. It wasn’t as if you’d never spoken to an attractive man before, but it seemed that the universe was decidedly not on your side this morning after all.

“Superman?” Another smile found its way to his face. He seemed flattered by your comment. “My daughter loves those comics.” At the mention of his daughter, your eyes quickly darted down to his left hand. There was no wedding ring there, but it was clear that there had been one there in the past. 

“Well, your daughter has excellent taste. And we could all use a few more heroes in our lives, right?” You sighed wistfully, before adding, “Thank you, by the way.” 

“It was no big deal,” He assured you. “I’m always happy to help a pretty lady in need.” 

You laughed quietly at the last part, finding the cheesiness of it adorable. You weren’t quite sure why you were still lingering on the street corner, except that you couldn’t quite bring yourself to walk away just yet. He seemed equally as reluctant to part from you, both of you grinning shyly at one another as you soaked in the meet-cute moment. Right up until his eyes fell to the ID badge clipped to your bag, that is. 

“Is that a Vil-Tech badge?”

There was a hint of disappointment in his tone that you couldn’t quite assign a cause for. It wasn’t the question you were expecting. You’d expected him to ask your name, or maybe offer you his, but you could practically see the gears turning in his head by now, so you humored him.

“Yep,” You confirmed. “It's my first day. I’m just a receptionist, though…” 

He nodded slowly, his eyebrows pinching together. He didn’t even try to hide his frown. What was it about Vil-Tech that seemed to bother him so much?

“I’m really sorry, but I’m running late for work,” He said finally, nodding in the direction you had just come from. He turned his attention back to you, his eyes staring into yours as he spoke with the utmost seriousness. “Good luck on your first day, and… Look after yourself, okay? Vil-Tech might not be what you think it is.” 

And with that, he brushed past you, seemingly in quite a hurry as he disappeared into the crowd and left you standing there, disappointment sinking deep into your bones. 

You didn’t even get his name. 

***

You didn’t see him again for a month. 

Not that you often thought about him or his dreamy eyes and ridiculously charming smile or his strong arms around your waist. And definitely not that you sometimes idly wondered where he was and how his day was going while you were grocery shopping or stuck at the laundromat. 

Okay, maybe you did. 

Maybe you went to that same coffee shop every week day, hoping that you might bump into him again. 

And maybe you sometimes imagined those eyes staring into yours and arms around you in situations where you weren’t making a complete fool of yourself. 

You felt silly for being that girl. The one who falls hopelessly in love with strangers you pass on the streets, with anyone who thinks that anyone who so much as holds the door open for you could be your true love. You were a grown up, for goodness sake. You weren’t supposed to believe in that kind of thing anymore. 

But it was those ridiculous daydreams you found yourself caught up in when a team of Heroics stormed into Vil-Tech on a Tuesday afternoon. 

“I apologize, sir, but Dr. Pershing is out of the office today…” You sighed, listening to the supplier ramble on and on about the importance of Dr. Pershing returning his call. You had already scribbled the message down, along with his name and phone number. “Yes, I’ll be sure to give him the message.” It was difficult to hide the exasperation in your tone. 

“That’s what you said the last time,” The man snapped. “Pershing didn’t return my calls for a week. I don’t know why they can’t hire someone who knows how to take a message properly. God knows they’ve got the money for it.” 

You tapped the tip of your pen against the notepad on your desk, feeling a lump beginning to form in your throat. “I apologize, Mr. Wells. I’ll make sure that Dr. Pershing gets your message as soon as he returns.” 

“You’d better,” He grumbled, before the line went dead. 

You let out a slow breath, easing yourself back from the edge of tears. It had been like this all morning. The scientists in the building were off at a conference for the week, leaving you behind to copy down messages and field angry phone calls. 

Stan, the elderly security guard, if you could call him that, offered you a sympathetic smile from his post by the door. You returned it weakly.

Closing your eyes, you tried to think of something else. Brown eyes, charming smile, strong arms. You repeated it like a mantra. Electricity. The feeling of safety. That warm, fluttering feeling in your stomach, and a rush of calm. 

When you opened your eyes again, you found Stan staring slack-jawed as the Heroics sprinted into the building, announcing to you, Stan, and the maintenance staff that you all needed to clear the building immediately. They offered no explanation for their frantic demands, but when a guy in spandex and a cape tells you to go, you go. You were sure that, whatever it was, you’d be able to catch the reason for the strange event on the news later that evening. You’d watched them destroy city hall enough times from the comfort of your living room to be sure that you wanted out of this building as soon as possible. 

But, given that this was your first call-the-Heroics-level emergency, it seems that your idea of immediacy was a bit different from theirs. In the time that it had taken you to grab your jacket, shove your laptop in your purse, and sling the bag over your shoulder, you had already been tackled to the ground by some idiot in a tactical vest. 

You don’t remember much about the explosion. 

You’d later learn that Vil-Tech Labs dealt in more than just technological innovation. The research they’d been conducting while locked away in the uppermost floors of the building, all of that gibberish involving the off-site particle accelerator you’d read about, was both sinister and invaluable. Rather than letting the Heroics get their hands on their files to uncover their plans and stop them from being set in motion, they’d decided to set off an explosion in their own goddamn building. And thanks to that ‘idiot in a tactical vest’, you were one of the only survivors. 

But in the meantime, while you were lying on your back in the middle of the lobby feeling like you’d been hit by a train, you were clueless about the nefarious action of the company you’d spent the last month working for. The only thing you could seem to focus on was the pain in your head from where you’d smacked it against the tile flooring, and the weight of the fully grown man on top of you that was currently restricting your breathing. 

You must have hit your head even harder than you thought, because there was no way in hell the man who’d been starring in all of your daydreams for months was here, now, on top of you, with katanas strapped to his back. You refused to accept that as a reality. Would he even remember you? Why would he? Apparently, the man you’d developed a  stupid little crush on was a superhero. He probably helped people all of the time and you were just another-

“What the fuck?” You finally hissed, gasping for air. The air was smokey and it stung your eyes and nose when you inhaled. 

His breathing hitched slightly when you looked up at him, the look of fear clear on your face. “You okay?” He asked, still hovering above you as he pushed himself up on his elbows, careful to avoid the shattered glass that now seemed to cover every flat surface in sight. 

“I’m… reasonably certain I’m not dead,” You replied, an edge of panic in your voice, which was a bit shakier than you would have liked. “What’s happening? I don’t- I don’t understand- Where is Stan-” You coughed, your lungs burning. 

You idly wondered how long you had before the building started to collapse, its structural integrity surely compromised by the explosion. Of all the ways you could die, being buried alive was up there with the ones you dreaded the most. Your growing panic must have been obvious. 

“Hey, calm down,” He reassured you. “I’m going to get you out of here. You’re going to be just fine.” 

The room was still spinning when you felt yourself being scooped up into his arms, the edges of your vision growing more and more fuzzy with each breath you took. 

“We have got to stop meeting like this, Clark” You murmured. You swear you feel, rather than hear, a laugh rumble in his chest just before the world goes dark. Maybe he did remember you after all. 

***

It’s only a little more than a week later, long after you’ve woken up in the hospital and been discharged, that you find yourself sitting in the coffee shop down the street. It’s a Thursday morning, and you’re staring blankly into your vanilla latte. 

You aren’t sure why you’re up so early. The doctors had ordered you to take it easy, and it’s not like you had a job to go to anymore. You could have slept in, made your own coffee at home, and stayed curled up on your couch watching Netflix and hiding from the rest of the world like you had been for the past week. You felt horrible that you’d been associated with a place like Vil-Tech. You should have known that something was off about the place, but you’d never realized it, never bothered to look into anything when things seemed off. You felt so stupid for it now. Were you just as bad as the rest of them? Sure, all you’d done was answer phones for them, but…

Stan, your only friend at Vil-Tech, the kind man who had shared half of his sandwich at lunch with you more times than you could count and always had a smile for you when he greeted you in the mornings, had never made it out of the building. You supposed that you should consider yourself lucky that the Heroics had saved you, but the loss of your friend and the knowledge that Vil-Tech was certainly not what you thought it was, had shaken you. 

You’d felt different when you woke up this morning. Like, maybe, leaving your apartment and getting some fresh air wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.

Your favorite barista had smiled sympathetically when you walked through the doors. You must have looked as bad as you felt. Considering you hadn’t showered since you’d gotten home from the hospital, you were sure that you were quite a sight. 

“Good morning!” She greeted, mustering up her cheeriest demeanor for you. “The usual, right?”

You nodded, not quite making eye contact as you handed her your card to pay. She quickly waved you off. 

“It’s on the house today, hon. And I insist that you take this chocolate chip muffin. I’ll make you feel better.” 

Your heart ached at her kindness, the act almost forcing tears in your eyes once again. That was the thing that you realized over the past few days. The Heroics were great, but there were plenty of everyday heroes out there as well. Sometimes it was Ashely the Barista, who scribbles a smiley face and a compliment on your cup on the mornings that seem particularly rough. Sometimes it was Stan the Security Guard, who offers to teach you sudoku on your lunch breaks. And sometimes it was a stranger you passed on the street, who catches you when you fall. 

You sat down at a table in the corner of the coffee shop, your vanilla latte and chocolate chip muffin sat out in front of you, untouched for the moment. You didn’t usually sit down to have your coffee, but you had nowhere to be today, and you were finding that you appreciated not being alone for a while. 

You heard the bells above the door jingle, signaling that a new customer had entered the shop. You looked up to see a man with dark hair and a familiar leather jacket walking towards the barista to place his order. You listened closely as he gave his name for his order, though you’d heard it plenty of times on the news this week. A smile tugged at the corners of your lips for the first time in over a week.

Marcus Moreno, your own personal Superman. 

You hadn’t meant to stare, but it was undeniably strange to see the man who had saved you not once, but twice, doing something as mundane as making his morning coffee run. After he paid, he turned towards the groupings of tables and chairs, searching for a place to sit while he waited for his drink to be ready. When his eyes landed on you, you raised your hand in a small wave. You were nervous about how he’d react to seeing you here. You had no doubt that he recognized you this time.

You weren’t exactly sure what the protocol was for meeting a real-life superhero again after they had saved your life. Were you supposed to pretend not to know each other? Should you have paid for his coffee? Did you make a public declaration to name your first born child after him?

To your surprise, he simply smiled back at you with the most heart-stopping, breathtaking smile you’d ever seen in your life, and returned your wave. It was as simple as that, you thought. Marcus Moreno, the superhero with katanas at this back and a team of Heroics at his side, the closest thing to Superman you’d ever met, was impressive. But Marcus Moreno, the helpful man with a kind, beautiful smile and warm, friendly eyes, whose mere existence had never failed to cheer you up? He was magnificent. An everyday hero, indeed. 

He made this way through the crowd and over to your table, gesturing to the seat across from you as if to ask for your permission to sit down. You nodded, feeling a sense of warmth blossoming in your chest. The same way you’d felt when you saw him for the first time. The same feeling that you’d been dreaming about for months. 

Hope, you realized. 

“Hi,” He greeted. “I, uh, I never caught your name. I’m Marcus Moreno.” 

As you gave him your name, you decided that maybe you could start by just saying thank you. 

General Taglist: @theravenreads @marshmallowtraver @computeringturtle @adikaofmandalore @pascalisthepunkest

Marcus Moreno Taglist: @xjaywritesx​

[blackmaylovesfries]

‘95line - No one is alone anymore

Words: 1731

Sinopse: Seventeen Hybrid AU - Because Seungcheol passed so much time far from civilization, he was bound to be sick at some point. Fortunately, now he had you and two cat hybrids that wouldn’t let him heal alone.

Notices: Mention of sickness. Not so good English. I’m BAAAACK!! Read the end, please!

Solo stories’ destiny // Buy me a Coffee

Masterpost

INTRODUCTION / Next

Seungcheol was feeling his nose a little congested. His head was a little light and his body seemed a little heavy. He didn’t think much about it and got up to help with the morning routine of the big house. He woke up before his roommates, used the bathroom and soon was downstairs with some of the younger hybrids that would go to the center with you that day.

After a month with all 13 of them plus you living together, everyone was pretty used to some sort of routine. They would take turns of who was going with you to the center during the day and who would stay to take care of the house. On your free days, you all would just lazy around the house, which means a lot of cuddles and fights.

That day, Sheungcheol wasn’t scheduled to go to the center but he still got up early to help the ones who would go. You were finishing your breakfast when he arrived at the kitchen, all the other boys were searching for their things and preparing to leave. He smiled at you but something felt off about it… His face was a little red, actually, really red, like he was super hot at the moment.

“Coups?” The nickname was given by Hoshi, on the first day the bear hybrid went with him to the center. “Are you feeling okay?” You got up from the chair, still with a toast in one hand, and got closer to him. You acted before he answered and put your hand on his forehead. “Oh, heavens! You’re burning, Cheol!”

---

Jeonghan and Joshua took their time to wake up. They had a lazy day as they liked to call the days at home, so no need to wake up super early or anything like that. The feline hybrids were almost ready to start the day when Jun invaded the room.

“Good morning to you too, Junhui.” Jeonghan’s voice wasn’t acid as it was when he first arrived but it wasn’t all that comfortable. “What’s the rush?” Although the older feline wanted to tease the younger, as soon as he saw Jun catching Cheol’s blanket and his neatly folded pajamas, both lazy hybrids became alert.

“Y/n asked me to grab Coups-hyung’s things, it seems that he’s not feeling good today.” The younger one paused just to say that and went running down the stairs again. Frowning, the 95’twins quickly followed. They arrived at the living room on the first floor at the same time a car could be heard near the entrance of the house.

“Vernon, get Moonbyul here asap. Seungkwan, make sure he changes and stays seated. Jun, get those two off the kitchen and calm them down, we don’t need more noise. Woozi, please, get everyone that should be ready to leave today, I want them ready to go with Moon when she’s done here.”

The hybrids named by the tiny human soon were in movement. The 96’line that were called moved as they were used to the military tone on the girl’s voice, while the 98’ just hesitated for a second before running to do what she said. Joshua and Jeonghan were momentarily lost but the girl didn’t give them time to daze.

“Sorry, guys, did Jun wake you two up?” Her tone was warmer and softer while looking at them. After the duo denied with their heads, she explained the situation. “Coups seems to have caught a cold. He’s burning up so I called a doctor from the center to do a check up on him. I’ll have to ask you guys to have patience today, okay?”

“Sure, sure…” Joshua’s voice was small as he examined the roommate changing shirts near the huge sofa. “We… Is there anything we can do to help him?” Both felines were fronwing a little. The girl smiled and responded with a sweet voice.

“Let’s wait for the doctor’s verdict.”

---

Moonbyul was fast to exame Seungcheol. It was a reaction resulting from the change of environment… Well, you couldn’t say that it surprised you but it sure did to the boys. To provide a good rest to the oldest, you decided to send everyone to the center with Moonbyul, having her promise to come back at night to both bring them back and check Cheol’s condition.

Joshua and Jeonghan insisted on staying with you to take care of the oldest. You could see that they were really worried and didn’t refute them. You and the two healthy hybrids made Seungcheol lay at his bed and the hybrids decided to cook some porridge for him. You laughed discreetly and showed them where the recipes were.

“Okay, how about I tell you a story now? To help you sleep?” You smiled as you changed the wet towel from Cheol’s forehead. The hybrid had been complaining about disrupting everyone’s routine since the doctor said it was better for the others not to have too much contact with him until he’s feeling a little better.

“I’m fine, (Y/n). You don’t need to watch over me, I’ll be okay. You can do your job, I know you have a lot of work even not going to the center… I’m sorry…” His voice was raspy and your heart ached for him. You reached your hand and brushed his hair back.

“You have nothing to be sorry for, Coups. When I took you in, we had an agreement that I would take care of you and you of me until the end.” You smiled as your hand caressed his hair. “You know? My mother used to sing to me when I was sick… After she passed, my father didn’t know how to sing so he started to tell me stories about his missions, sugarcoating it, of course, so I could sleep.”

“You… I’m sorry, (Y/n)...” You let out a laugh.

“Don’t worry. After he also passed, JayB and the others took good care of me. Their storytelling skills aren’t that good, the singing is amazing though. Also, I’m not sad about it anymore.” You stopped to think. “Hm… How about I tell you the time me and the team went to our first mission in Japan?”

As you noticed that the bear hybrid had already gone to the dream realm, you got up and left the room. You went directly to the kitchen, where the other two were and hadn’t come out for a long time. When you got there, the scene you saw made you laugh, but just a little so you didn’t scare them back to their combative shell.

“What are you two doing?” Your voice made both felines who were staring at the stove turn their eyes to you. There was no action happening in the kitchen, no ingredients nor anything that indicate that they were cooking. Looking embarrassed for a change, Joshua nugged at Jeonghan, indicating you with his head. The other sighed.

“We were never allowed to cook before… We don’t know how to do it.” His voice was low, almost as he was reluctant to tell you about this. As it was a weakness.

“Oh, you guys should have told me ealy. I’ll teach you. A simple porridge even I can do it.” You smiled as you started to take things out to do the meal. “Come, let’s do it together, Cheol’ll be really happy when he sees it.” You turned to the boys and shove a pan in their hands.

“You’re doing it differently from the recipe.” Joshua approached you at the stove and looked between what you’re cooking and the book in his hand. You laughed.

“I’m doing my father’s recipe. He would do it all the time when our hybrids got sick. We would do it together every single time while they lived with us.” You paused a little. “You know how to read?”

“Well, that was rude.” Jeonghan commented from his seat at the counter.

“No, that’s not what I mean…”

“Don’t worry, I’m not offended.” Joshua made a hand gesture. “I learned with the older hybrids… The owner doesn't know. Anyway, where did the hybrids go then? And your father?”

“Oh, we had three or four living with us at the moment. My father went on a mission and it didn’t go well, you can imagine what happened. I was 16, almost 17 at the time. Whatever, when my father passed, the hybrids at home asked to be transferred to centers and protected villages since they didn’t want to stay at this house without my parents anymore.”

“And they just abandoned you like this?” Jeonghan was frowning.

“They couldn’t help, could they? When a hybrid bonds with a human like that, they can’t forget the link even after the human died… I couldn’t force them to stay and make them suffer just so I could not be alone, right?” You smiled at him. “I was already almost an adult, there was no need to cry over loneliness. It doesn’t matter anymore, both parts are happy enough now.”

“You’re right. It doesn’t matter anymore because we’re here now and you’re not alone in this big house.” The matter of fact tone on Jeonghan’s voice made you freeze for a moment before letting out a laugh.

“Hm, that sounds just right.” Joshua nodded.

---

When Seungcheol woke up again, his head and nose were feeling much better, just as his fever seemed to have decreased. But… For some strange reason… His arms seemed to be heavier than the rest of his body. He then opened his eyes and saw his two roommates… Laying on his arms, one in each side.

“They were waiting for you to wake up and taste the porridge we made together for you.” A girl was near the door, with a huge plate on her hands. She smiled as she tip-toed inside the room and to the table in front of his bed.

“It seems that I took too long to wake… I’m sor…”

“You really should stop saying sorry, Cheol, you’re almost worse than Mingyu sometimes.” The bear hybrid wanted to refute or say something but before he could, the front door was opened with such a force that you two could hear from the room. Soon shouts calling you and Coups disturbed the two sleeping hybrids. You smiled. “We’re not alone, Coups, not anymore.”

Hello everyone! How are you?? I hope everyone is okay and healthy! 

First of all I would like to say thank you for sticking with me and my story! I hope you all like the directio I’m taking and I promise to not stop posting anymore. The schedule for this story will be twice a week starting today. Again, thank you so much for not giving up on me!

Tag: @mimisxs​ ; @moonmin-miya​ ; @naminalati​ ; @woohoney​ ; @littleheartsays ; @amber-thumbs​ ; @skylions-den​ ; @snowballbear​ ; @restless_nights_thoughts - I tried to tag everyone, but there are two that didn’t work, sorry!!

[gb-patch]

Ask Answers: January 5th, 2021

How exactly can we get the option to gift cove a bracelet at the start of step 3? I really only get that option with having a ponytail-black shirt-black pants-no accessories cove but i dont know the specific requirements for the option to show up

Cove’s gotta wear a bracelet in Step 2. If he doesn’t it means him liking bracelets isn’t a very long-standing trait and so the MC wouldn’t think to get him one as a gift.

I am very sorry if this was asked before but I have noticed "Our Life: Beginnings and Always" and "Our Like: Now and Forever." Did I miss something? Is "N&F" going to be a sequel or DLC? Are we going to see a geriatric Cove? (haha) Thank you in advance for the reply. ^_^ 

Our Life: Now & Forever is a new game in the franchise, but it’s not a sequel. It’ll have a new cast, new story, and new setting. It will still have all the best features of the original game and be about creating your own character/growing up from childhood!

Is there a specific reason why Cove gets so flustered and has to jump out if bed and walk it off when they share a bed in step 3? It seems a bit over the top for something they've already done twice! Once with the late night visit when Cove finds out his mom is coming and once in the RV.

Is just because they are older and the implications are different, even though the crush was already there in the RV/latenight visit scenes? Or did I miss something that made Cove more reluctant or more apprehensive towards sharing a bed/touching?

Sharing a bed with the person he likes/love is different for him at eighteen than it is at thirteen. Some things get easier when you grow up, like he’s more comfortable sharing food, but some things get harder/more complicated to him. Sharing a bed is one of those for Cove. It feels a lot more intimate and meaningful as time goes on, rather than less of a big deal.

Hello! First, I wanted to thank you and congratulate you for this amazing game. I enjoyed every single second! In a year full of stress, this was a little cozy light. Do you have any plans to make it available for other languages? Thank you again 💕 

Thank you! I’m afraid the game is still in pretty active development so we can’t consider translating the script in it’s semi-incomplete form. And we’re not a big enough company that we can promise translations will definitely come when the game is done, unfortunately. We can see what things are like when all the words are truly set, though.

Did Cove's name come from that Cove restaurant on Holden beach? Whenever I search up his name I always get those results haha 

No, haha. His first name was based on his character and the game’s theme, his last name is a reference to something of a personal joke.

Will the NSFW DLC have CGs too?

Yep!

So, to start off, I need to thank you guys, from the bottom of my heart, for creating Cove Holden. I want every single one of my MCs to be able to get engaged and married to that precious angel, so I was wondering how transitioning into step 4 using save files will work? Will I be able to load up a save file saved right before the end credits after step 3, or will I need to load one from before the transition section after step 3? I’m sorry if this has already been answered somewhere, but if it has, I haven’t been able to find it. Thank you!!!!!! 

Thank you very much c:. You’ll be able to load any save file, unless it was taken as the credits were actually rolling, and the Step 4 epilogue will simply start going once you’ve played through whatever was left of the main game and seen the credits. There are rare cases where a save file breaks between updates, but generally continuing where you left off should work for people.

Hi! I absolutely adore our life, and I was wondering is there a way to have Shiloh remember the MC and Lizzie in step 3?

I’m glad you like it! Sadly, no matter what you do Shiloh will act the same in that scene.

Hi! I'm the Australian that asked about ever including an Aussie VA, do you have any future plans for Our Life 2 or any other games to include an Aussie character and VA? 

Right now we don’t have any guaranteed future Aussie roles. But we don’t have fully developed character lists for our upcoming games yet, so that may still change.

Will OL2 also follow the tradition of "Blonde Adult That We Cannot Date"? 👀

Haha, maybe. There isn’t one right now, however we still have a lot of side characters to plan.

Hey, are the houses in the game furnished based on items in the Sims 4? I’ve noticed some similarities, but I’m not sure if it’s just a coincidence. (If it is, that’d make me building it in TS4 MUCH easier...)

For me, I use real world pictures as references as well as text notes. I loved Sims 2 when I was young but haven’t gotten into a new Sims game since. I don’t believe the artist checks Sims 4 when creating their work, though it’s not impossible. Maybe they do.

is it possible to still get your name in the voiced dlc [I'm not sure how you would do it, is it from patreon ??] or is it too late ?? 

Currently there’s no way to get your name voiced. But we are looking into opening up a method for that one more time later this year. You can keep an eye out for that!

Will we be able to ask Derek out to the dance if we get his DLC? Not a Derek fan but I'm planning to surprise my friend with this 

Yeah. Taking Derek to the dance is part of his DLC.

Hi! I have a question I've been curious about, if you're comfortable with answering! If Cove and the MC remain just friends into Step 4/MC dates one of the other guys, will Cove canonically be in a relationship with/interested in somebody else at that point or shortly after? Thank you!

He won’t. There’s not really anyone in his school, and certainly not the neighborhood he grows up in, that he’d be into other than the MC. As a pretty newly independent adult he hasn’t had enough time to truly find a special someone in Step 4. It takes a while for him to make that kind of move, haha. It’s totally fine to headcanon that sometime after Step 4 he finds love with someone else, but it won’t happen in-game.

i just wanted to share this cute little playlist that i made about cove! https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5wM7GNiJh5eRqhvLBperfQ?si=4FocdBsNTpeF053yOwaLSA

Cool! Thanks for sharing it with us.

No, no, no create longer ask answers please. 😌

The ask answers are not too long. If anything I'm greedy and wish they were longer... I'm already subbed to your guys patreon and I still can't get enough 👀 I'm in love with you guys 

Will you post more of those long form ask posts? I love them 🥰

Haha, thank you for these messages. I’m glad you’re enjoying the content.

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Thank you very much for all the questions! Also, if you prefer to just see the main posts without all the asks/reblogs, feel free to follow our side account instead: GB Patch Updates Blog

[modern-inheritance]

Tell us your silliest Eragon and Arya head canons!

Hell yeah I can! Some of these are gonna be used for stories later, and may not be as silly as you might have wanted, but it’s mostly a collection of the weirdest and whackiest stuff I can remember putting down as canon for the MIC Eragon and Arya.

Eragon:

Eragon was not terribly prone to mischief as a child, but would often get dared by Roran or other children to do things and would give in. He was well known as a crackshot with anything, including his slingshot as a boy, and frequently these dares would involve Eragon hiding somewhere and using his insane aim to knock things out of peoples hands or set off natural Rube Goldberg machines.

When Eragon first went into the Spine when he was about 8 years old it scared the hell out of everyone. Search parties were formed but they couldn’t go past the outer edges of the forest due to superstition. Marian, Garrow’s wife, eventually grabbed Garrow by the ear and literally dragged him into the woods, after which the reluctant villagers followed. Eragon showed up perfectly unharmed at Brom’s house later, chattering excitedly about all the wildlife and cool new spots he had found.

This uncanny ability made some people think Eragon was a changeling for a while. He was teased about it mercilessly until Brom scared the hell out of the other kids. Brom was considered the authority on all things weird and magical, and when he firmly said that Eragon was nothing but human, the adults took his word as well. No one spoke of it after that.

When in his early teens and exploring deeper into the Spine than ever before, Eragon encountered a lost Urgal child. As Urgal children actually look remarkably human, Eragon just assumed the girl was a part of the fabled lost tribes of the Spine. He used his tracking skills to follow her original path back to her village, but when she ran into one of the huts and never came back out, he headed home. He mentioned it to Brom once, the old man sternly told him to never go back, and had all his ‘why’ questions shut down hard.

Even though he’s gotten used to his newfound elvish strength, Eragon still occasionally breaks things.

A combined headcanon for Eragon and Saphira: When one of them sneezes, the other also sneezes immediately after.

His favorite breakfast food is peanut butter and banana pancakes.

Sloan has a general dislike for him not only because of his frequent trips to the Spine, but also because Eragon once puked in his shop.

Eragon knows general ways to do women’s hair! When Marian was ill he would often help brush her hair for her and braid it. He eventually started asking Katrina and Elain for tips on how to do different styles, as he saw how happy it made his Aunt. He occasionally braids Arya’s hair for her, first using it as a way to help her get used to having people sitting behind her again, and later just for fun. Post-war, once word got around, the young girls and even the longer haired boys of the Rider school sometimes run up to him asking for help with their hair, which he gladly obliges.

Until first in Teirm and then later with the Varden and in Du Weldenvarden, Eragon wasn’t exposed to much in the way of tropical and subtropical fruit. When Arya managed to barter some kiwi at Tronjheim’s market and handed one off to Eragon, he yelled and almost dropped it because it felt, in his words, “Like a shaved horse nut.”

Saphira thought this was hilarious. She also fuckin’ loves kiwi.

Brom originally had vital organ protecting wards around Eragon as a toddler, but removed them as the kid grew. Not because he didn’t need them, but because Eragon had long ago proved to be a mix of the situationally unluckiest while results-luckiest person alive. He could be chased off a cliff by bees but would get up and walk away with just a bunch of bruises and a twisted ankle.

Eragon hated learning to swim. Like, clinging on to Garrow’s arm wailing at the top of his lungs.

Arya:

Is the accidental source of a ghost story in the Surdan borderlands. During the continued border skirmishes that were Arya’s first taste of combat, during the night she would get bored, sneak out of camp, cross the no mans land, and pilfer weapons and gun emplacements to bring back. Because no alarms were ever raised, no one was ever seen, and these thefts occasionally happened when the guarding Broddring soldiers backs were turned for just a few moments, the Broddring men began whispering about a pilfering poltergeist. Arya didn’t even know about this until decades later, when a young Surdan infantryman complained to her about his post at the border, claiming it was haunted and told the stories of .50 cals going missing.

These infiltration runs eventually became sabotage runs to destroy or disable artillery. And yes, I was influenced by this. 

Like Eragon relearning his strength after his transformation, Arya was very much not used to the more fragile makeup of human made items. Men in her group would often say ‘be gentle’ when passing her stuff like mugs or plates in the mess. Some people still do simply because they grew up around others doing so. 

Can move a dwarvish tank with her bare hands, and has on several occasions. There is a story behind this that several people on tumblr know the gist of, but I’ve never been able to tack it down well enough to write. But a team building/proving exercise during bootcamp to move a disabled tank a few feet turned into Arya and the other recruits she was with pushing the whole thing back into the repair shop. Some of the guys disabled the brakes, a couple climbed in to help steer (like you would with a car in neutral) after Arya pried the hatch open, and the rest posted on the corners of the tank to yell directions to her. The drill master had been kind of a dick to Arya because he didn’t trust elves (and generally didn’t want women in any of his squads) and Arya was sick of it. This was the result.

Arya sometimes acts as a drill instructor for Varden recruits. She, Glenwing and Fäolin were also frequently used as the ‘looks can be deceiving’ example for newbies when they were available. This usually involved games of ‘Go pick the elf up. Can’t? Alright let's see the elf do it. As you can see, this elf can pick you up and lift you off your feet one handed and not break a sweat. These elves are friendly, and will generally not throw you. Forsworn elves are not friendly. They will throw you.’ and other shows of speed, strength, agility and supernatural skills.

Arya occasionally works as a bartender at Coop’s bar. Her favorite drink involves grape soda.

Electroswing dancing? Electroswing dancing. 

Uses the elvish phrase ‘growing a pine tree’ instead of the more classic human phrase of ‘pushing up daisies.’

Was 100% not understanding that Fäolin was interested in her for a long time, while also not realizing she was interested in him. Clueless demiromantic/demisexual.

Very distantly related to Glenwing.

Naturally knows nearly every way to make Islanzadí’s eyebrow twitch in irritation.

OFC there’s more than these but it’s what I’ve got for now! Thanks for the ask!! Send mooore!!!

[oxiosa]

You’ve asked me this before but because of that post I will now uno reverse card and ask for more of YOUR hcs about trouble kid Martin and stepmom Chiara, pretty please 🙏

Your wish is my command~

I imagine the first time they met was completely accidental and very awkward on Chiara’s side. She had been dating Antonio for a few weeks when he invited her over to his place, and maybe they were getting a little too cosy on the couch when the front door opened and a fucking kid came in. Chiara was shocked, to put in mildly, but the kid barely spared them a look and an unimpressed “what’s up” before walking past them. Chiara turned to Antonio silently asking for an explanation. Oh yeah, Antonio had forgotten to mention! He has a son :D

As months went by and things with Antonio got serious, I think Chiara was the one to insist on properly meeting Martín. She had meet him by passing in a rather awkward situation but Antonio had never introduced them. So they decide to organise dinner at Antonio’s place.

Tincho was neither impressed or interested on meeting Chiara. She seem a little better than the young women his father usually went for, but he knew she wouldn’t last – none of the others had. So he pretty much didn’t bother. I imagine Chiara prepared a very nice dinner so they could start all over with the right foot, and Martín pretty much went “Nah, pass. I already have plans, I’m going to Sebas’ place” and ditched them. Which of course didn’t leave the best of impressions.

I think Chiara was surprised to learn how young Martín was. Tincho always was a tall kid which made him look a little older than he already was. Also, with the way Antonio had spoken of him and the freedom and independence he gave the kid she was expecting a teen.

When Antonio and Chiara got married, she moved in and the nightmare begun :)

She was the one to put order in the house. Antonio kinda had the life of a young bachelor; he spent most of his time at work, came home late, didn’t have much work for house work. Martincito, being a kid, wasn’t very helpful either (quite the opposite), so it was pretty messy. Not just in dirty, but also as in “there’s barely food in the fridge, no one is taking out the trash, no one did the dishes, there are piles and piles of dirty clothes by the washing machine, the junk mail keeps piling up, etc etc”. She was not living in a dump, so upon her arrival things had to change.

One of the many things that had to change was Martín’s lack of respect. She had a very harsh approach at first that didn’t work out at all. She was very aggressive and abrasive at first, which only pushed Martín further away; the more she pressed on him, the more he rebelled against her. She made it her mission to put some order and respect in this house, set a bunch of rules Martín didn’t follow nor appreciate. It kinda turned into a cold war in which Chiara set rules, Tincho broke them, and she took away his privileges. She went through his things, confiscated shit, locked the front door and windows. I even imagine she went as far as taking Tincho’s bedroom door’s key and handle so he couldn’t shut himself in. All sort of shit that only aggravated wild Martín. To him, she was the Evil Stepmother.

I think Chiara didn’t have the whole picture when she moved in and started handling Martín. She had Antonio’s side of the story in which there was no issue, so Martín seemed like a nightmare of a stepson for no reason whatsoever. Antonio was a nice sweet guy, she couldn’t imagine why his son was terrible except that maybe he was a spawn of the devil. But as time progressed, she got to see first-hand how Tincho was pretty much raising himself and she begun to understand the source of his anger. I think the realisation hit close to her heart; Chiara had lived something similar, she had been a lonely neglected child angry at the world as well. She knew how Martín felt, saw herself mirrored in him, so it became personal. At first it had been about teaching this brat about respect and authority, but now it was about making it right by this kid. She felt a need to show him love and care and to give him the attention he needed, to teach him in return there were rules and an authority he needed respect so he could grow to be a better person.

She became very invested on getting closer to Tincho. She tried a different approach, tried to be smarter about it. She was still stern and harsh, but instead of butting heads with Martín she decided to remain a wall; she didn’t actively push against him, but she didn’t bulge either. She didn’t force Martín back into his place like she had tried before, instead she let him figure out on his own that there was no way past her and her rules - even if that took him slamming his head into her wall a thousand times. It was about waiting until Tinchito tired himself out and learnt to listen. It was not easy, but it had better results. Whenever Martín did as was expected of him, she rewarded him returning the privileges she had taken one by one. The peak of the rewards was her trust: she basically challenged Tinchito not to let her down, to show her he could be a good boy and play by the rules.

Martín was far more receptive to this approach, if a little distrustful at first, as if he thought she was luring him into a trap. He was not used to an adult keeping tabs on him, least of an adult asking about his day, interest, etc. He was a little hard to win, but at the end of the day he craved the attention Chiara was offering.

As I said on the post that started all these, Chiara signed him into rugby. Tincho was very reluctant at first, and the only way to get him to go was by bribing him. Chiara watches the whole thing: she sat by the bleachers with the posture of a lady and calmly observed as her stepson got turned into mush. Once it was over and Tinchito returned to her, exhausted and in pain and covered in mud, she invited him some well-earned ice cream (it kinda became their thing). I think this was one of the main milestones for Tinchito’s taming. It gave him an outlet to his energy, it gave him a team and sense of belonging, and it also taught him values, as it happens with sports. This made him a lot easier to handle, which resulted in a smoother reception to the boundaries Chiara set.

I really like the hc that she taught him how to cook. I imagine one day she caught Tincho cooking some lunch and was very much unimpressed. She asked what he normally cooked when his dad wasn’t home (aka most of the time), and she basically had to sit down upon learning this kid has been living of frozen food re-heated in the oven and pasta and junk food and the sort of thing a kid would pick for dinner if left to their devices. She threw whatever shitty frozen thing Martín was making and cooked for him, demanding he paid careful attention.

Chiara is the only one who has ever seen Martín show his true feeling about Antonio, the only one who has seen him cry about it. Maybe it was during some event Antonio missed; Chiara was there, saw the way Martín’s eyes searched for his dad and how his face fell when she told him he couldn’t make it in time. Martín tried to shrug it off, told her it was ok, he was used to it and anyways Tincho liked Chiara better, the two of them had more fun together without Antonio, all of this while his eyes filled up with tears and his smile trembled. She hugged him, let him sob like a baby on her chest while she petted his hair and kissed his crown.

She was also the one who forced Antonio to be around for his son. When she married him, she wanted to make a home and that included having Antonio in the picture. She didn’t always succeeded, but she tried.

And well then there's the one we already said: she spotted right away Tinchito's eye trailed after other boys rather than girls, also was the one who installed some sense of fashion once he was over his awkward teenage phase.

And those are kinda the ones I have, I wouldn’t mind if anyone wanted to add some more :D

[365days365movies]

April 9, 2021: Some Like It Hot (1959) (Recap: Part Two)

I’m considering a historical post for Marilyn Monroe...

After all, the life and tragic death of Norma Jean Baker is interesting, and I enjoy educating myself about film history and its greatest figures and stars...but I dunno. This isn’t really a starring vehicle for her, and I’d be better off doing a Tony Curtis or Jack Lemmon retrospective. But...I’ll make that decision by the time I get to the Review. We’ll see, is what I’m saying. If anybody actually specifically wants me to make that as a post, let me know! Maybe I’ll do it regardless.

But OK, let’s get into the movie once more! I’m enjoying the shenanigans in this picture, so let’s see more of them! First part is right here!

Recap (2/2)

On the beach, the girls are all having a good time, “Daphne” included, when Sugar suddenly runs into a mysterious man wearing a stereotypical rich person sailing outfit. This is, of course, Joe, but he introduces himself as “Junior”, the heir to the Shell Oil company, and owner of a yacht. And yeah...Sugar’s fooled and Sugar’s hooked. She invites him to come to his show that night, and he says that he’ll try to come.

This is to Jerry’s frustration, as he immediately recognizes Joe (obviously), and tries to expose his trickery to Sugar by going back to their room to tell “Josephine” about the whole thing. But SOMEHOW, Joe’s able to sneak back in and jump into the bath, suit and tie on. Dude’s slick. Sugar leaves, and an irritated Joe gets ready to fight Jerry. But just then, the phone rings, and it’s that naughty boy Osgood (HIS WORDS NOT MINE), who invites “Daphne” onto his yacht after the show that night. Opportunity.

Joe hatches a plan, with the reluctant help of Jerry, who’ll keep Osgood occupied as Daphne. Meanwhile, he’ll sneak onto the yacht as Junior, and pass it off as his own yacht for Sugar’s benefit (and his own, obviously). With the plan in place, the performance goes on that night. And that GIF of Marilyn doing a shrug that I keep using? It comes from this song right here, which serves as Sugar’s leitmotif throughout the film. And...it’s Marilyn Monroe, and it’s also that DRESS, and it’s my teenage crush on Monroe coming back WITH A FUCKING VENGEANCE, and...it’s also a catchy song, not gonna lie. 

Using flowers given to “Daphne” by King Simp Osgood, and a pre-written note, he tells Sugar to meet him that night on the yacht. After the performance, both Sugar and Joe make their way to the docks, and Joe commanders Osgood’s motorboat to get to the yacht, posing with his fake-ass accent all the while. Seriously, either she’s rolling rocks on her Sense Motive checks, or he’s just throwing away natural 20s on Bluff checks. It’s ridiculous.

On the yacht, Joe bluffs some more (equally terribly), and notes that they’re alone on the boat. However, he claims that he’s both impotent and unable to fall in love, emotionally and physically. This is a result of psychological trauma from his Princeton girlfriend falling off of a cliff in the Grand Canyon, just as they were about to kiss for the first time. Jesus Christ, the fact that this is working so well is astonishing. Sugar tries to cure him through multiple kisses, and he responds with very little reaction, the clever devil. Which is particularly difficult as she basically attempts to seduce him. And it’s Marilyn Monroe, so...I mean come on.

Meanwhile, poor, POOR Jerry is forced to dance at a local Cuba dance hall with Osgood, who’s frustrated by “Daphne’s” constant attempts to lead. Nice touch there! The humorous interludes of their dancing interject Sugar and Junior’s make out sessions, which are VERY against the goddamn Hays Code. And eventually, Jerry actually seems to start enjoying his dance with Osgood, and they actually close the place down until morning! Huh. That leaves Osgood none the wiser, as they leave the yacht just as he’s arriving.

Joe goes back to their room, where Jerry’s still dancing the tango, and he has an announcement: he’s engaged! To Osgood! What? I mean, that’s a set-up for some SERIOUS trust issues down the line, but...huh! For 1959, that’s surprisingly progressive...sort of. Jerry’s SPECIFICALLY in this to marry a millionaire and get a quick divorce and alimony payments every month. Huh. I mean, it’s slimy, but at least he’s open-minded. Osgood even gave him a bracelet absolutely covered in diamonds.

Sugar comes in to tell “Josephine” and “Daphne” about her night with “Junior”, and everybody’s happy (I mean, not Jerry, but he’s OK). Shame if something happened, like the arrival of the mobsters trying to kill Joe and Jerry.

So, the mobsters trying to kill Joe and Jerry arrive, under the pretenses of being “Friends of Italian Opera”, and are in search of the two witnesses of the garage massacre. Detective Mulligan is also in search of them, and is in Florida alongside Spats and his men. The two narrowly escape them in an elevator, then immediately go to pack their shit and GO!

But Jerry doesn’t want to leave Osgood so unceremoniously, and Joe feels the same way about Sugar. Over the phone, he manages to get ahold of Sugar as “Junior”, and tells her that he must leave unexpectedly, and that he’s to marry an oil heiress in Venezuela. This crushes Sugar, understandably, but he also gives her Osgood’s diamond bracelet! Aw, poor Jerry.

Poor Sugar, too. As said previously, she’s crushed, and she goes to Josephine and Daphne’s room to get some bourbon. “Josephine” tells her that she’ll move on in time, but she replies that that’s impossible, given that there’s a Shell gas station on every corner. Fuckin’ OUCH. 

Things get even worse when the two leave their rooms via the window, only to be spotted by Spats and his men, and are this time recognized, due to Jerry leaving his gunshot bass on the porch where they can see it. They attempt once again to escape, changing costume to resemble a bellhop and an old man in a wheelchair, but get recognized and chased, until they wind up under a table in a banquet hall where the “Friends of Italian Opera” are meeting.

Led by Little Bonaparte (Nehemiah Persoff), the members are, of course, all members of the mafia. Bonaparte is greatly angered by the massacre, as Toothpick Charlie was a friend of his. Through a comically over-the-top mobster speech, he basically telegraphs that we wants Spats dead. And when they bring a big cake out to celebrate Spats’ birthday (which isn’t for another four months), a mobster springs out of the cake, and kills the entire Chicago mob assembled, all with Joe and Jerry still under the table in front of them.

After the deaths of the mobsters, Joe and Jerry take their chance to escape, while Mulligan comes in to investigate these deaths. Our musician duo manages once again to escape, performing a quick change act and turning back into Josephine and Daphne. They make a plan to escape via Osgood’s yacht (as the mobsters are watching the roads and airports), and Jerry makes the call. Joe then hears the siren call of Sugar, singing a lamenting song in the lounge with the band.

Watching over this sad song, Joe laments his actions, and makes his way down to the stage, still disguised as Josephine. And he just kisses her, right on stage. Which...fuck me, this movie takes place in 1929? THE SCANDAL!!! But that’s quickly diffused when Sugar AND the mobsters recognize Josephine (and Junior) as Joe, and Joe takes off in hot pursuit.

Both Josephine and Daphne manage to escape yet one more time, and make their way to the docks with Osgood. And chasing after them is Sugar, in love with Joe after all that, and the two come together in a loving embrace. Meanwhile, in the front of the boat, Osgood and Jerry have...well, the only thing I already knew from this movie, and arguably the most famous ending to a comedy film ever made. Go ahead and watch it, because I’d rather not spoil it.

That was...a very funny film! Is it the absolute funniest film ever made? I don’t think it is personally, but it’s definitely in my top 10! I’ll analyze Some Like It Hot more soon enough, in the Review! See you then!

[something-fanfiction-ie]

Dream Analysis

Pairing: Spencer Reid x Reader

Warnings: vomiting, detailed crime discussion, mentions of sexual assault (to victim, not reader)

A/N: THIS IS PART ONE TO A POSSIBLE THREE PART IMAGINE. It’s based on a request. I’ll answer the request after I post this. Uhm, as always, make sure to like, comment, share, and send me asks! I am but a humble writer in need of validation. Thank you for giving my last Spencer Reid post lots of love, it helped me to motivate myself enough to write this one. I hope you enjoy! (Also, this would be a season five Spencer. Like, just after he stops using his cane. (But also that cane, ugh. He such a little old man and I love it. Jesus this Man™.))

—

The dream started with a kiss.

One of those movie kisses where the rain is soaked in your clothes but you can’t feel the cold for the heat coming from the body pressed so close to you that you can feel his heart beat through your shirt.

His hands are splayed on either side of your face, and while everything about the kiss is rough and passionate, like he can’t get enough of kissing you, his hands are gentle. When he pulls away, it’s with great reluctance. You try to follow his mouth with your own, desperate for more, but you stop when he chuckles.

“I’ve played this over and over in my mind but I’ve never thought I would actually be here, kissing you.” You reach up to push a wet curl from his forehead only for the image to change.

You’re still just as close to the man in front of you, your hand is still raised to push back his hair, but there are tears in his eyes now. They’ve spilled over his cheeks and puddled into the floor. The tears come up to your ankles and fill the room wall to wall, the water is so clear that you can see each individual fleck of gray in the marble flooring. Tiny fish dance around your toes, thousands darting back and forth between you and the man.

“Spencer, why are you crying?” You step around the fish nibbling at your ankles, finally pushing back the lock of hair that curls on his forehead. But Spencer is gone, and in his place is a little boy with the same curls and big brown eyes.

“I broke my glasses, but I didn’t mean to.” He says, tears pouring from his eyes. The room continues to fill up, the water just as clear as before. You wipe the water from his cheeks, giving what you hope is a gentle smile. His glasses, broken just as he said, have sunk to the floor.

“That’s okay. Let’s just find your mommy and daddy, I’m sure they’re looking for you. Do you know where they are?” This isn’t something new for you, you deal with a lot more kids then you would like in your line of work. Usually missing from their parents or in extremely dangerous situations.

“They don’t know where I am.” You rub his tiny arms in your hands, looking around the otherwise empty room for anyone. It’s only you and the little boy, and then just a quickly it’s only you. You’re floating in the water now, but you aren’t afraid.

Maybe there is more to the dream, maybe there isn’t, but when you wake up that’s all you remember.

The sun doesn’t even filter through the window when you open your eyes for the day, the clock on your nightstand reading 5:40 in the morning. Behind you, your fiancé has wrapped you into his chest with an arm draped over your side. His breath fans across the back of your neck and his hair tickles your shoulder.

You could stay like this all day long, cacooned into the arms of the man you love, except the paranoia that hits you is like a truck and you physically can’t restrain yourself from going to check on your daughter.

As quietly as possible, you slip from his arms, being careful not to make a sound as you slip off the mattress and across the floor. The door creaks on its hinges and Spencer stirs, his hand opening and closing at the empty spot like he was trying to find you.

When you finally make it into the nursery, you relax at the complete normalcy of the surroundings. No smashed or open windows, no lights left on, no one hiding behind doors or under cribs. Just your five month old baby asleep in the corner of her crib, the small stuffed bunny Spencer bought from the hospital gift shop is tucked under one of her chubby arms.

When you reach out to smooth a tuft of her feathery soft hair back into place, she stirs just a little and you freeze. You love her more than life itself, but if she could just stay asleep for now that would be spectacular.

“We’re going to have a hard time getting rid of that stuffed animal when she gets older, aren’t we?” You heard him coming from the creak of your bedroom door, not even bothering to turn around as you directed the question over your shoulder. Spencer comes to stand beside you, his hands gripping the top of the crib as you both watch your daughter sleep.

“Yes, but on the plus side, studies show that children with comfort objects are less shy and more focused than children without them. Even more so, children with comfort objects are more adventurous and independent because it helps them to go outside of their comfort zones without their parents.” You lean your head on his shoulder, content to stay like this forever.

“We’re not weird for watching her sleep?” He places a kiss to your temple, a smile tugging at his lips as your daughter reaches up to rub at her tiny ear.

“It’s common practice among parents.” One of his hands slips behind you to rub circles into your lower back. You’re not sure how long you stay like that until you peak a glance at the clock on her dresser. You and Spencer have to be at work in about an hour.

Lifting your head, you playfully pat his butt before making your way to the bathroom in your bedroom.

“Meet me in the shower?” You keep your voice pitched low, looking over your shoulder and winking mischievously.

“Actually, most sex-related injuries take place during shower sex. Penile fractures, sprained ankles, there are even reports of broken ribs.” The door to the nursery clicks shut as you step through your bedroom door, not even bothering to grab an outfit before heading to the bathroom.

Spencer stands in the doorway, his shoulder leaned against the frame as you begin fiddling with the water faucet. You make sure to keep the temperature cooler than you normally would, Spencer doesn’t like the water too hot.

“So you’re telling me that you’re going to pass on our first chance to have sex since about two weeks ago because you’re afraid you might slip?” Turning to face him, you grab the hem of you nightshirt, a t-shirt he got from Caltech but never wears, and pull it up and over your head. The morning air in the bathroom nips at your skin and goosebumps form.

His eyes darken, his tongue sweeping across his lips before he steps into the bathroom. He pulls you to him by hooking his thumbs into the waistband of your underwear, burying his head into the crook of your neck. You didn’t bother with a bra at night.

“No, I’m just saying you’re worth the risk.” He practically growls into the soft skin connecting your neck and shoulder, his lips hot as they suck a hickey there. Hungrily, he makes quick work of his own clothes, stumbling with you into the water stream and pulling the shower curtain close behind him.

Suffice to say, you and Spencer were just a little late to work. What with your morning shower sex that, funnily enough, resulted in you slipping and hitting your head on the wall, and rushing your daughter to the nanny’s, coupled with early morning D.C. traffic, it wasn’t really a surprise.

“Sorry, sorry.” Your head throbs as you guiltily follow Spencer into the conference room, taking your seat between Garcia and Prentiss. Hotch watches you both with eyes narrowed in disapproval.

“I’m pretty sure I’ve said before that I only let tardiness slide once. I won’t say it again.” Spencer looks at you from across the table, and the man actually has the balls to wink at you in front of everyone on the team. Now they will all know that any excuse you try to come up with will all be a lie to cover up your sex life.

Sure, they already know you sleep together, for heaven’s sake you have a five month old baby together. But they didn’t need to know that you had shower sex in the morning before coming to work.

JJ clears her throat, a small smile on her face as she turns back to the screen and continues with the case briefing. Her smile fades with every passing second, each murder being splashed across the screen with every gory detail enhanced for your eyes to see.

“Every victim is a girl between the ages of sixteen and nineteen, with brown hair and blue eyes. Each bearing signs of a sexual assault, their hands cut off and a cross cut into their foreheads post mortem.” Your stomach rolls around uneasily, your chest constricting with every picture.

You make it through the entire brief without barfing. You waste no time in grabbing your go bag and calling the nanny to let her know to drop Graeson at your mother’s tonight.

The flight to small town Texas isn’t long, but the whole way your head pounds and your stomach does flips. You wave off Spencer’s worry, chalking it up to plane sickness.

“I just need a nap, I’ll be fine.” You squeeze his hand reassuringly, leaning back and closing your eyes against the nausea that rolls through you. Your fiancé shuffles a little in his seat, squeezing your hand back to get your attention.

“You hit your head this morning, pretty hard. I mean, it woke up Graeson. What if you have a concussion?” His voice is a whisper, his eyes searching for any other symptoms of a concussion. You shake your head, sure that a concussion is not your issue.

“I’m almost certain that I don’t have a concussion, Spence. It’s been hours, I remember everything, my pupils aren’t dialated, right?,” He nods, looking deep into your eyes like he could x-ray the inside of your head that way, “I don’t feel dizzy, and I’m not even tired. I just think a nap will help. I’m okay.”

“Well do you feel sick?” He lifts the back of his hand to your forehead, his knuckles cool against your skin.

It’s funny that, even just checking you for a fever, his touch is enough to heat your cheeks. You try to swallow the urge to jump his bones when you think about this morning. Pre-slipping and hitting your head.

Spencer’s lips twitch when he catches the look in your eyes, trying to focus on your fever and not the sudden blush on your cheeks coupled with the dialation of your pupils. He knows it isn’t a concussion that caused that based solely on the fact that you shift in your seat to press your thighs together.

“Somebody keep an eye on the bathroom, they might try and join the mile high club.” Morgan teases from the couch, a smirk pulling at his cheeks. You send a mischievous smirk of your own his way as Spencer pulls his hand back into his lap.

“We did that before I got pregnant, Morgan.” Prentiss laughs, JJ smiles in amusement, and Hotch is quick to enter the conversation and cease the inappropriate teasing. He assures Morgan that no one will have or has had ‘relations’ (as he so gracefully phrases it) on the jet.

You lean back into your seat again, hoping for the love of God that you don’t have a concussion and that you’ll make it to Texas without throwing up. Spencer sits beside you, pretending to read. You know he is only pretending because every time you open your eyes, he still has his finger under the same paragraph. He doesn’t even bother to flip the pages for effect.

By the time you make it to Texas, the plane jostling you around as it makes contact with the runway, bile is starting to build in your mouth.

Hotch goes over where everyone is going one more time, collecting his things as the ride smooths. You and Prentiss have been assigned to the morgue to see the latest victim, seventeen year old Hillary Gutsham. Although looking at a mutilated teenager does not sound like the best idea while you’re fighting nausea, you don’t protest.

Rossi and Morgan are sent to the house of the last victim, and Reid and JJ are dispatched to the police station to set up the evidence board and get a geographical profile started.

“My favorite.” Spencer mumbles sarcastically against your temple as he presses a kiss to your head, giving you another once over before you part ways. “Tell Prentiss if you feel sick at any time. Maybe even have the ME double check you for a concussion.”

“I’m not having the medical examiner see if I have a concussion, Spencer. I’m fine. I’ll see you later.” Not even ten minutes later, Prentiss is holding your hair as you spill your guts onto the side of the highway.

“Are you sure you aren’t sick?” She asks once you’re back on the road, glancing over at you at the same time that she takes a turn the GPS won’t stop screaming at her to take. It says you’re another five minutes away from the morgue.

The voice seems to grate against the very nerve that throbs in your head, and finally you’ve had enough of it. You shuffle around in your bag for some ibuprofen and practically moan with relief when you find it in the bottom corner. Two clear blue pills sitting side by side in plastic and tin foil packing.

“If it isn’t motion sickness then I probably just have a really bad migraine. I used to get them bad when I was a kid, don’t let Spencer get in your head. He worries too much.” You swallow the pill dry, unwilling to wait for a pit stop at a gas station or even the now three minute wait to the morgue before getting a drink to take it.

Emily doesn’t argue, trusting that you know your own body better than she does. She does, however, lean forward and turn the volume on the GPS down. You can’t help but think how much you love her for it.

At the morgue it’s quiet. The lack of car horns, massive truck engines, and overall clamor of the road is like music to your ears.

A older lady named Dr. Hardy, the ME, leads you back as she discusses her findings with Emily. You mostly just listen, going over scenarios and theories in your head as they speak. It isn’t until Dr. Hardy reveals a new bit of information that your ears perk up.

“I did find signs of sexual assault along with some semen, both of which didn’t come as a surprise after the last five victims I autopsied from your case, however, I did find out that she was fifteen weeks pregnant. I had a DNA test run on the embryo and the semenial fluid but they weren’t a match.” At the same time, Dr. Hardy lifts the white sheet from her body.

The girl underneath is young and pretty, the only thing marring her beauty would be the deeply cut cross centered on her forehead. You don’t look to the hands, knowing that they won’t be there, instead you turn the new information over and over in your head.

You gasp.

“What? What are you thinking?” Prentiss and Dr. Hardy both look at you with curious eyes, unaware that the revelation you have just made is not about the case at all. You clear your throat, shoving the thought as deep as you can so as to not let it affect your work.

“I, uhm, she’s just so young... to be a mom.” Prentiss furrows her brows because she knows you’re lying. You know she’s going to let you get away with it when they smooth back into place.

“There’s only a nine year difference between you and her, (Y/L/N).”

“Nine years is more than people like to admit.” You look away from the girl on the table, wanting to be finished already. Prentiss doesn’t start saying her goodbyes for another fourty-five minutes.

She pesters you the whole way to the police station, but gives up when you exit the car and make a beeline for Spencer. The nausea is back, your headache gone, and your nerves are so tightly wound that you feel like you can hear the rushing of your blood in your ears.

If you were right, it had been nearly two months since your last period. But surely you would have noticed long before now if you were two months pregnant? Right? You’ve been pregnant before, infact you had done it just five months ago.

The bile rises like a wave in your mouth and you swing toward the bathroom, hand flying to your mouth just in case you don’t make it to the toilet. What help would your hand be if you throw up?

Thankfully, you make it to the toilet before you have to find out, throwing up everything but your stomach during your time in the precincts lovely restroom. The tile is just the right amount of cold to help the reality set in as you lean back against the stall door.

“Please let me have a concussion, please let me have a concussion.”

[smcc212]

Softer

(A sequel to “Painless”)

Pairings- Thomas Shelby x son, Shelby family x Shelby!reader(you get it)

Word count- 1,319

Warnings- Mostly fluff, Tommy being a cute dad, bullying, self-harm

A/N- So... a little bit ago I saw a post that inspired me to write “Painless”, and today I saw that @zerosinner (the person that made the post that inspired me) wanted more peaky blinders x kid reader, so I wrote this. Also, as the original post called for some fluff, this is fluffer. Hope you enjoy!

About a month had pasted since the incident between Liam and John’s feral army. Tommy was reluctant to trust anyone that went near Liam, as usual, but especially now. His heart still hurt whenever he thought about Liam letting people hurt him. He was glad, however, that he’d stopped, and that he had two really great friends.

As bad as it sounds, he didn’t like the kids when he first met them. He couldn’t help but worry that they could be the same as the kids that bullied his sweet boy. But they weren’t. It took Tommy far too long to realise, but he did.

Liam was outside playing with Ashley and Brendon, Tommy was watching them from his office window when three other kids showed up. Tommy had seen them before when he’d taken Liam to school. Knowing Liam said only Ashley and Brendon were nice to him at school, made Tommy head out to see what was happening.

“You’re just a freak!”

“Yeah, what are you? Some government experiment?”

“A failed one!”

Tommy felt anger flood his veins when he heard what the kids were saying. He was just about to step when-

“Hey! Leave him alone, you’re just jealous,” The girl, Ashley, said.

“Why would we be jealous of a freak, huh?” One of the other kids retorted.

“Because-“ The boy, Brendon, began. “-you know no matter who tries to fight him, he’ll always win. That’s why you call him names, ‘cause you know he’d kick all of your asses!” The three kids-arseholes, Tommy decided- looked between each other before fleeing. A smile tugged at Tommy face.

“You okay, Lee?” Ashley asked, placing her hands on Liam’s shoulders.

“Yeah, thanks guys.” Ashley and Brendon enveloped Liam in tight hug. Liam tried to hugged them both back. Tommy’s heart warmed as he looked at the three of them. It’s one thing to have lots of friends, most people can do that without a problem, but to have two friends that care so deeply for you? Only some people are lucky enough to have that.

Tommy’s thoughts were interrupted when he felt a small hand tugging on his trousers. He looked down to see the his boy.

“Yes, Liam?” Liam let go of his trousers.

“When’s dinner?”

“In-“ Tommy looked at his watch. “-Fifteen minutes, Why?”

“Ashley needs to go home, can I walk her?” The boy pleaded with his father through his eyes. “Please? I want to make sure she gets home safe.”

“How about this, we’ll both walk her home, eh?”

“Okay!” Liam run across the street to tell his friends, Tommy followed slowly after him.

They took the long way to Ashley’s house as it passed by Brendon’s. Liam and Ashley hugged the boy tightly before continuing on their way. Tommy was certain that nothing could make him happier today, but he was wrong.

Liam had a problem whenever he needed to rub his eyes, he couldn’t tell when he was putting to much pressure on them. When Tommy noticed Liam was rubbing his eyes too hard, he was, again, about the step in and, again, Ashley beat him to it. She gently grabbed his wrists and pulled them away from his face.

“You’re being too rough, Lee,” She spoke softly. Liam looked down at his feet, embarrassed. “It’s okay, Lee. Sometimes, when I’m drawing, I forget to take my pencil off the paper and end up ruining my drawing. Everyone does things like that.” When Liam looked up he a slight smile on his face. Ashley clearly didn’t think that it was a good enough smile, as she started making silly faces and didn’t stop until Liam was laughing uncontrollably. She beamed at her best friend, continuing to walk to her house.

Just as before, the two hugged and bid each other farewell. Tommy felt his heart warming even more as he heard Ashley warning Liam to “not do anything stupid” when she wasn’t there. After Liam agreed to her terms, Tommy and Liam headed home.

“You okay? I heard what those kids said.” Tommy spoke up after a few minutes.

“Yeah, I’m getting used to it,” Liam replied. That wasn’t the answer Tommy wanted to hear. He didn’t want his son “getting used” to people bullying him.

“Do you want me to talk to them?” He offered but Liam shook his head.

“Nah, it’s fine. Plus, Brendon’s right, if they do try to fight me or something, I’ll win.” Liam giggled.

“Liam, that’s not funny. If someone’s trying to fight you, you come to me, okay?” Liam nodded, biting his lip to try and stop laughing. “Good.”

“Oops...” Liam murmured, quietly.

“What did you do now, eh?” Tommy asked but didn’t stop walking. The way Liam sounded then, was the same as when he spilled a glass of water or something, so Tommy thought nothing of it.

“I bit my lip too hard.” Without thinking, Tommy picking the boy up, placing him on his hip so he could get to the house faster to deal with it. He gave Liam his handkerchief, telling him to put it on his lip, and hurried home.

“Where the bloody hell have you two been, eh?” Polly snapped. everyone else was sitting at the table, waiting for Tommy and Liam before they ate. “You were supposed to be here at-“

“Yeah, well, Liam wanted to walk his friends home, and now he’s bitten through his lip. So dinner is going to have to wait, okay?” Tommy snapped through gritted teeth.

“Bloody hell.” Polly took Liam out of Tommy’s arms so he could get the needle and thread ready, and placed him on the counter.

“How did you manage that, Lee loo?” Ada asked, trying to smile reassuringly at him, but it was hard when his lip was gushing of blood.

“I bit my lip too hard. I was trying to stop laughing,” He mumbled.

“You’ve got to be more carefully, little man,” John spoke up, ruffling his hair.

“Right, Liam, stay still. This won’t take long, okay?” Tommy said as he thread the needle he’d just sanitised.

“Okay, dad.” Tommy carefully took hold of Liam’s lip; he didn’t want to make the wound any worse than it already was. There was a slight upside to Liam not being able to feel pain. He couldn’t feel it when he needed stitches. Tommy carefully stitched his lip up. It always hurt when he had to do this.

As a baby Liam would bite his hands and mouth constantly. The doctor down the road was a close family friend as a result of being there all the time. It was hard enough seeing his boy needing stitches, but it was ten times harder when he did it himself. Tommy was positive it would never get easier, especially knowing the boy didn’t mean to do it.

“There. All stitched up. Just don’t bit your lip anytime soon, okay?” Tommy said, standing up and ruffling Liam’s hair.

“Okay, thank you, dad!” Liam beamed up at him.

“You’re welcome, Lee. Now, dinner.”

After dinner, Tommy gave Liam a bath before putting him to bed. After searching for Peter, a teddy of a horse that Polly got Liam for Christmas, Tommy tucking him in and started to leave.

But the soft “Dad?” That Liam murmured stopped him.

“Yeah, Lee?”

“Can you read me a story? A happy one?” Liam’s voice was strangely timid, but Tommy just nodded and grabbed Liam’s favourite book and started reading. No one would ever believe that Tommy Shelby sat and read stories, doing voices for all the characters to make his son laugh, but he did. Whenever his boy wanted him to.

As the story came to a close, Liam cuddled into Peter letting out an adorable yawn.

“Goodnight, Lee,” Tommy said softly, placing a kiss on his forehead.

“Night, dad, love you.”

“I love you too, my boy.”

[animatedminds]

Let’s Get Dangerous Review!

It’s dangerous. In a good way. <cue dramatic music> Okay, obviously there’s more thoughts than just that. I’ve been waiting for it for weeks, and it arrived just as awesome as I hoped. For the first time, let’s give my full movie style review to the double length Ducktales special: “Let’s Get Dangerous.”

The spoilers are open and widely discussed, so maybe don’t look past the following image if you haven’t seen the episode yet.

To note, I’m not entirely convinced that this was actually meant to be a pilot. It definitely does introduce a new status quo for the Darkwing trio of characters (minus Honker for now, here’s hoping they haven’t forgotten him), but it’s also a very remote story that still tries to take place within the context of Ducktales’ universe, so it really depends on what they choose to do.

But let’s just get down to it.

First off, as I mentioned in my earlier post… Taurus Bulba. He was maybe the biggest and most eye-catching aspect of the first part of the episode, as one of the few elements we hadn’t already seen yet, and his reputation as a really, really bad guy has quite preceded him. As I may have gushed somewhat about, he’s one of the best parts of the special.

James Monroe Inglehart, for those living away from the Disney scene for a decade, is an actor and voice actor most famous for being the original Genie on Broadway’s Aladdin. A grand, bombastic presence, he generally plays characters who - much like the genie himself - a big, jolly, kind but maybe a little mischievous souls that take the attention of a room and brighten up the characters’ day - like Lance, in Tangled the Series. The most interesting thing about Bulba is that Inglehart brings that exact same energy to the role, and so Bulba keep that jollity and lofty personality in a package that becomes increasingly less nice as the story goes on. As someone who keenly remembers Taurus Bulba as cruel monster willing to hurt kids and capable of crushing Darkwing like nobody’s business, the contrast was immediately fun to watch - and I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop.

In this story, Bulba is recast from a crime lord intending to use a super weapon go on an endless plundering spree to a FOWL scientist with a respectable reputation who intends to use a super weapon to take over the world, and the transition goes off fairly well. The end result is a pretty standard mix of superhero fight and Bond plot, as Bulba ends up holed up in his lab with his squadron of elite supervillain minions - all plundered a particular fictional universe - with the heroes having to break in / escape from his captivity and stop him before he destroys everything. It’s very Silver Age, with Bulba in the role of maniacal villain, and he’s contrasted very well with Bradford - who is as always an antagonist who prides himself on pragmatism. This contrast leads to some great moments: Bradford’s increasing frustration with the cavalier attitude of both the heroes and the villains gives him the best stint of characterization he’s had since the beginning of the season - he basically spends the whole episode arguing with everyone about how badly thought out their actions are, while also badly hiding his own secrets.

The Fearsome Five (of which Quackerjack is voices by his original actor) are great to see, though used minimally. If you’re expecting to see classic show dynamics between the villains and Darkwing, that’s not really what they’re used for. Mostly, they’re minions with personality, and they’re more there to establish both to the audience and to Drake the character himself that he is ready to take on really big threats even with his lack of superpowers.

But enough about the villains, on to the heroes!

A couple episodes ago, with the Halloween episode, I criticized that story for not balancing its A and B plot all that well. This episode does not have that problem. The story is actually maybe about three fifths Darkwing’s story, and the rest of it is Scrooge and the nephews as they figure out what Bulba is up to independently of Darkwing and try to stop him themselves. It’s somewhat similar to Timephoon, where they’re there constantly and are doing their own bid to solve the story but the focus isn’t primarily on them. Instead, we have some of the best “HDL actually matter to the story” bits of the show, where they escape Bulba’s prison on their own and lead Bradford out, all the while slowly figuring out that something is shady about the guy. Meanwhile, Scrooge gets stuck in the original Ducktales universe’s most memed scene, which was a fun gag (but not the best gag - that would be the one and only Bonkers D. Bobcat as the Harvey Bullock-style cop in the Darkwing show).

Which I suppose can lead to a digression about the mad science bit here. The alternate universes here are… interesting. I always pay special attention to how things like time travel or other dimensions or alternate universes work in a series, and this one reminds me the most - I think - of DC’s Dark Multiverse: a collection of universes that are both explicitly fictional but made real because people created them. Ultimately, it’s less as if the OG Darkwing universe exists independently of the Ducktales universe and more that the in-universe Darkwing show as a world based off of it that the characters can reach into. I wish the episode had delved into that more, and now you’ve got people trying to use it to look for more establishment of OG Darkwing elements (though I was fine with it being separate, perceiving anything else as rather needlessly inexplicable), but ultimately that is not specifically what the episode is about, and is kept rather separate.

So what is the episode about? Like you didn’t already know…

As always, Gosalyn Waddlemeyer is a little girl whose grandfather was done away with by Taurus Bulba, and who falls into Darkwing’s lap over the course of his adventure with him. Here, her grandfather is (possibly) still alive, just lost in the ether a la Gravity Falls’ Grunkle Ford. And like the mighty glazed McGuffin, Darkwing’s goal in the episode is less strictly defeating Bulba as it is helping her get her grandfather and her home back. Gosalyn here is self-sufficient and action oriented (it may be my inner Brooklyn 99 fan talking, but I loved Stephanie Beatriz as her, and kind of wish she had gotten a wider range of lines), taking on her own crusade against Bulba until she realizes she can go to Darkwing for help, and is constantly trying to pull him into the fight - even while he is reluctant, and no matter what the danger - so that they can win and she can get justice. But in the end, she has to accept that they might not be able to.

As a longtime Batman fan, I immediately recognized a plethora of Robin references with Gosalyn. She’s a kid who’s family was taken from her by a villain, given a surrogate home by the hero - like Dick Grayson. She’s a street tough who originally met the hero committing a crime, and who is both skeptical of his heroism and heavily critical of his flaws - like Jason Todd. And she’s a young genius with a lot of scientific knowledge, tech skills and common sense - just like Tim Drake. There’s even elements of Carrie Kelley or Terry McGinnis there, in her determined if not gung-ho approach to heroism despite her circumstances and the hermit-like behavior of the hero.

And in the end, this is a fairly apt comparison, because Gosalyn essentially ends the story more as a Robin figure than previously, now as Darkwing’s more of a ward and official sidekick alongside Launchpad. The story does not, to note, involve her being adopted by Drake or becoming Gosalyn Mallard. Indeed, they don’t really end up having that sort of relationship. They’re distant and don’t really know how to relate to one another, and not about to broach the subject of family except in distant terms. There’s ultimately far less emphasis than before on Gosalyn and Drake being similar and hitting it off on a personal level, or even really Drake keying into Gosalyn’s potential and spirit as a person vs an element in his adventure. Throughout the story he regards her as a victim to be saved, then ultimately as an ally with potential to be respected, and in the end he gives her an offer to take up the mantle along side him while they search for her family… which ultimately creates something very different.

For people expecting something a little more akin to the implications the show made with Gyro and BOYD, Gosalyn here. The implication that they could be a family is brought up by Launchpad, but neither Drake nor Gosalyn are really there at the end of the story - I want to say they’re not there yet, but the way the story goes gives off the impression that the dynamic duo dichotomy is the relationship for the two the writing is most comfortable giving them.

Again, I’m a longtime Batman fan, so I understand and appreciate the nod. It gives them a really cool status quo that’s distinct from what came before it. Still, the strong father/daughter relationship between the two was very much the heart and soul of the original show, an endearing quality that created the character traits we love about both characters, and ultimately one of the primary characteristics that set the Darkwing family apart even from most comic book superhero stars - so even if they made something great out of it, it’s a shame to see Ducktales ultimately keep that relationship at arms’ length.

But that’s less a criticism and more just something I wish they had chosen to do differently - and it makes sense for the 2017 team’s take on Darkwing, which has always been more focused on “irrepressible hero who doesn’t give up” - a pluckie rookie growing into his competence - than “former fool whose great potential is unleashed through the people around him.” The latter is there, sometimes, but it’s not prominent. Original Darkwing was a man made better by his daughter, while the modern Darkwing doesn’t quite need that to find the hero within.

The only (and I mean only) criticism I have is the way the characters kind of jump around in how they respond to things. Drake wanting more crime, and then freaking out when super crime shows up and it’s way more than he thought he can handle is fine, and is one of the better character bits in the special. It being unclear whether Drake is against fighting supervillains because he thinks they’re too powerful vs because he doesn’t want to risk Gosalyn’s safety is another thing, though - it seems the show intended to imply the latter but forgot to include the line somewhere, so it’s not inferred until later and Drake suddenly benching Gos towards the end lacks set-up.

For her part, Gosalyn is suddenly and quickly afraid to fight for a brief moment so Launchpad can inspire her to face impossible odds, even though it was hardly the first time she had done so in the special. The ending I think wanted the characters to be somewhere that the rest of the special hadn’t gotten them to yet. But it’s all good - it ends well, so all’s well. Best gag of the episode, btw? Fenton, who is awful at keeping his secret identity secret, has hooked up Darkwing with his own hi-tech hero lair. Darkwing, despite supposedly being a detective (or at least an actor playing a detective), ends up as one of the two or three people remaining on Earth who hasn’t figured out that Fenton is Gizmoduck. Darkwing considers himself good friends with Fenton, despite hating Gizmoduck. It’s actually very funny.

It’s as of now unclear what is coming up for Darkwing. We know the St. Canard characters are going to factor in more as the FOWL plot progresses, and this episode kicks that plot into high gear - the characters now know about FOWL and their intentions, and are preparing themselves for a far more dangerous fight than usual. In short, with the midseason comes the renewed focus on the primary plot of the season, as per the usual. Like I said before, while I’m not as on board as most with the idea that this was a pilot, St. Canard was definitely established here - with series regular Zan Owlson as it’s new mayor, and a general aesthetic and set of protagonists. It wouldn’t be remiss for a future episode this season to take place there (though we know Negaduck isn’t happening this season).

The new few episodes, however, are focused more on the quest for Finch’s treasures and FOWL, so that’s going to have to wait for a while. We’ve been promised, as I recall, an episode that brings all the kids together (unless that’s part of the finale), which is nice - I may have mentioned before that the best episodes of the series have been the ones that put the kids (who are the characters with the most focus throughout its run) together and let all their personalities run through an adventure together - and with the cast growing somewhat constantly, it’s nice to know that no one is being forgotten.

Either way, I give the episode a great deal of recommendation - I only had a couple things that bothered me, and a few wishes for different choices, and ultimately I’m planning on watching it a ton of times just like I did the first Darkwing episode. From a classic Darkwing fan, and in the words of Bat-Mite, it’s a different intepretation to be sure, but not at all one without merit.

So thanks to Frank Angones, Matt Youngberg and the Ducktales crew! I hope my virtual thumbs up reaches them somehow, but either way, it was a good day to be dangerous.

[misstrashchan]

So just as a heads up, this is a continuation of this post about which of Smirke's 14 Fears from the Magnus Archives team RWBY+Pyrrha would be aligned with and @im-the-king-of-the-ocean asking my thoughts on Winter, Ozpin and Oscar (sorry it took so long to get back to this! I've had it sitting in my drafts for a while)

Winter: The Slaughter

Winter as an Avatar of the Slaughter is something I hadn't thought of but it actually fits insanely well. The Slaughter does often bring up the question of whether anger and violence is just senseless and mindless, or following orders followed by rationalisation; or if we're entirely conscious of the choices we're making, and which is worse, which is something that Winter's arc has been dealing with A LOT. In how she follows Ironwood's orders and has to rationalise his actions to justify her own and her "choices", like how she explains to Weiss how she accepts her role as the Winter Maiden being her destiny, though it was something Ironwood groomed her into and how she tries to explain to Penny why they have to internalise however they might feel about abandoning Mantle and trust Ironwood.

There's the element of anger which you bring up, and Winter's relationship with anger is interesting to me to think about, because she seems very much afraid in indulging that emotion, or any emotion, and because of the military industrial complex and her abusive controlling upbringing, leads to a lot of emotional suppression and refusal to think on those feelings or deal with them in any healthy way. Which of course leads to everything boiling over, and there's this. Rage, an passionate fury that's boiling inside her. But I wouldn't say it's something she thinks she needs or enjoys right now, quite the opposite. (the idea of being afraid of being hurt, of needing to have control of her situation and to throw back her hurt of the world fits more with Cinder than Winter in my mind, and I think Melanie's relationship with anger and needing it reminds me a lot more of Yang. It justified her need for it and fed into it, and Melanie liked that, she wanted it, but for Winter her anger is something she's ashamed of, something to be locked away)

But I actually do think with where her arc is headed that thinks she will come to indulge in that feeling more. The one time we see her have an angry outburst expressing her true feelings is at Jaques at his dinner party, and she scolds and shames herself for allowing herself to get angry, that it was childish and immature. To which Penny disagrees, saying she thought she was just speaking from the heart. But Winter believes that to precisely be the problem. She cannot allow herself to think, or feel just for herself,  because that terrifies her. So she only allows herself to follow orders. Again, similar to a lot of the Slaughter statement givers who were soldiers in wars of some kind and become numb to the atrocities they are made to commit, the sensless violence of it all, but her choice to accept her lack of agency and self worth still makes her complicit and is still a conscious decision on her part. This sort of meandered and I'm not sure if it made any sense but yes, I hadn't thought of it but the Slaughter actually fits Winter really well for a lot of reasons. And I think we will see her Go Feral in the near future, the thing she's most afraid of, showing how she really feels, and oh boi all that confusion, emotional repression, the lingering bitterness and jealousy towards Penny being the Winter Maiden, and projected feelings of thinking of leaving or betraying Ironwood she's been having and her conflicted feelings pushed onto Weiss, who betrayed and left first, just a whole over boiling pot that's a mess of emotions manifesting as Big Feral Winter Feelings. 

Ozpin:

The Eye, Ceaseless Watcher, Beholding/The Vast, the Falling Titan, Awful Deep

Ohohohoho Ozpin. I can't tell you how many times I've listened to TMA 151 imagining Ozpin as Simon Fairchild or vice versa. Simon's VA was told that his character had to give off the impression that he might offer you a plate of cookies or fling you off a cliff and when I heard that my mind immediately jumped to Ozpin back in v1. And Ozpin's VA said that if he didn't have the weight of the world on his shoulders, he'd be a lot more chaotic and fun. And that's the thing with Ozpin though, is that he wants to be Simon Fairchild, so so badly. I think he wants people to see him as that kind of person too. But in reality, he's stuck being Jonathan Sims. (The Ceaseless Watcher's/God of Light's Special Little Boy assdkjhkk) Oz is 100% an Eye Avatar. Fair warning, like with Ruby and the End, I have a lot of Big Feelings with this one. 

I see where you're coming from, but the thing with being an Avatar of the Vast is being so overwhelmed by the expanse and eternity of everything that you just accept your own insignificance as well as everyone else's, hence why they rarely form attachments or work with others. It's a very nihilistic perspective that it's Avatars tend to be very hedonistic as a result, we're all insignificant, nothing matters, let's just do whatever we want and try to have a good time, who cares what happens. And I do think Oz is Vast aligned, since he encourages the people around him, and tries himself, to enjoy the little things and have fun when he can, since he knows Salem is unstoppable and everything could go to shit at any given moment. And yknow. Him enjoying flinging students off of cliffs during initiation a bit too much.

 But Ozpin cares so much about humanity. He desperately wants to believe, and tries to, in humanity, and tries for them. He's been fighting so hard for so long, and believes humanity is worth fighting for (even if he has trouble actually having faith and believing in them). Everything matters to him. He agonises over every choice he makes and impact that has, takes on so much responsibility on himself, is so guilt ridden that he admits to making "more mistakes than any man, woman or child on this planet" that he practically paralyses himself with indecision and guilt. He’s also someone who has been shown to be paranoid, (his reluctance to fully trust the people around him out of constant wariness that he may be betrayed) and afraid of being perceived for who he truly is and having his secrets exposed, which are all very Eye related fears. Ozpin’s very much in this position in which he is the one who knows everything, who passively watches and waits and knows, from up high in his tower. “Oh please, your god is nothing! The Eye, Beholding, Ceaseless Watcher, whatever you call it, that’s all it does, it watches and knows, sitting bulbous and comfortable in the ignorance of infinite knowledge.” (TMA 89) In the Lost Fable, he believed he needed to be the one to know everything (think to how he only trusted himself to hold onto the relic of knowledge, believing it to be “his burden to bear” and was desperate to take it back from Ruby) and as shown in his past lives, sought after Jinn’s knowledge in the belief that knowledge would help him in his cause, only for the ultimatum of the answer in “Salem can’t be killed” to break him and make him lose all hope of doing anything more than maintaining a perpetual stalemate. In the words of his speech in vol1, in which is a very good example of Ozpin desperately needing to practice what he preaches; 

 “I'll...keep this brief. You have travelled here today in search of knowledge--to hone your craft and acquire new skills. And when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose – direction. You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step”  (RWBY 1x03) 

There’s also like. A lot of Eye statements, particularly those relating to Jonathan, that relate heavily to Ozpin and his character, including this one:

“And at last, the Archivist looks up. At last, he looks into the eye that sees all, and knows all, and clutches at the secret terrors of your heart. The Ceaseless Watcher of all that is, and all that was; the voracious, infinite hunger that tears at his soul, invoking him to discover, to observe, to experience all, and everything, and forever. It stares into him, and it stares out of him, and he is falling into the devouring eternity of its pupil. He wants to cry out in horror, but he cannot. 

He. Is. Whole. 

And still he does not wake. Wandering his slim collection of gifted nightmares, passing the grey and lifeless remains of severed dreams he can no longer watch, he waits- but not for long- before they can all begin again”

Like if that doesn’t describe Oz’s endless reincarnation and merging, becoming “whole”, and living all these lives is discovering, observing and “experiencing all and forever” then I don’t know what does. And then there’s the last statement we had before the s5 break, also an Eye one, revolving around the “Minister” which also gives off major Oz vibes:

God, the children. They won’t stop looking, won’t stop following him with their piteous, desperate gaze that speaks so loudly his knees feel like they will buckle. ‘Help us.’He will. Of course he will. He wants to. He hasn’t lied to them, he really hasn’t. He used to be one of them, he remembers what it can be like. He is there to speak for them. And if necessary, he will join them again. The minister grips his black leather briefcase closely to his chest, bile rising in his throat at the sudden jolt of fear that races through his veins. Where did that come from? Is he afraid of it, returning, of that sharp stab of hunger, the shivering of a cold you can’t escape? Or is he afraid that should it come to that, they will see him as a deceiver?” 

“On his side of the arena the shouts should be sharper, more angry, but their tone and pitch are such as to merge seamlessly with the others. There are no golden stakes on this side pinning down his would-be comrades. But the minister must be careful not to look too closely, or else he might see how many of his allies are fused to their own chairs, on which they have sat comfortable for so long"

"His eyes drift away, through the walls to the crowd outside. Their baying cries for justice cannot be heard in here. If any whisper should make it through, it is utterly destroyed in the deafening shouting that surrounds him. But he cannot forget their eyes, watching him, piercing him with their wounded humanity.” 

Another thing is that one of Ozpin’s allusions aside from the Wizard of Oz is Odin, and Raven and Qrow are meant to be his Huginn and Muninn, two Ravens that act as his “eyes” spying and gathering information for him. If you look at Raven and Qrow’s emblem, they have a left and right bird’s eye respectively, with Oz’s gear emblem inside the eye. In v4, Salem, upon hearing that Tyrian poisoned Qrow, says “the last eye is blinded” as in,the belief that with Raven having left Oz and Qrow now dying, Oz would have no more eyes to “see” with. You also have Jonah Magnus, whose corpse is missing his eyes, but is able to watch through the eyes of the Archive employees. That and the whole body hopping host thing is a little similar in concept (and Peter Lukas mentions near the end of s4 that if Elias died, Jonah would have chosen Jon as his new host which is just. Terrifying). There's a lot of other little things too, like Oz in the first three volumes is usually shown watching events like the iniitiation, the fight at the docks, and the vytal festival through his cameras in his office, a passive observer rather than someone who is actively involved. And Yang at the end of v6, when Oscar tells them about Oz saving him, says "so he's just been watching is that whole time?" The underlying tone suggesting that he could've come back at any tike but chose to watch them instead, through Oscar, and everyone looking at him like that's pretty weird or creepy (except Ruby tho, because she's Ruby)

I feel like I could go on, but this is probably waaaaay too long, so, in summary, Oz serves the Eye, is basically a perfect candidate for the Archivist, and is also Vast aligned, and in different circumstances would have totally been a great Vast Avatar. 

Oscar: The Spider, the Web, Mother of Puppets

Oscar. Was. HARD.

This lil shit is part of the reason it took so long to make this post. Because see, with other characters the most obvious indicators would be their semblances (which are often manifestations of coping mechanisms for their personal fears or trauma) or songs (which delve deeper into their characters), or have very specific fears that I can focus in on as to how that factors into their arc. But Oscar? He doesn't have a semblance. His whole THING is that he's scared. All the time. His song is called Fear for Pete's sake. Now, he is Oz's reincarnation, and Oscar does also share a fair few things in common with the Archivist and his character arc, (Elias's plan and the whole plot of the first four seasons was that he was trying to align Jon by having him touched by ALL the fears, aka, to fill Jon with fear of everything, so that he became a walking living record of fear) he persistently calls out people's BS and takes issue with people withholding information, also similar to Yang (who I firmly believe is Eye aligned). So like. Eye, right? But that just... doesn't properly fit Oscar. He's not Ozpin. The Stranger, then, becoming a stranger to yourself, perhaps? That is something Oscar's afraid of, right?

"Everything changes when you see a stranger, feel proud or betrayed" (Fear)

But Oscar is growing more confident in his own identity and figuring out who he is. He’s not becoming Oz, he's becoming his own person. And even if he was becoming Oz, Oz is hardly a Stranger to Oscar. The merge, from how it's described in the show, seems more similar to how the Distortion functioned, except Oscar and Oz don't fit into most of the Distortion's themes.

I was sort of uncertain, and I wanted to wait and see till I was more certain of where Oscar's arc was headed this volume, since he's being pushed to his limits and wanted to see how he acted and what choices he made. At the start, because of how he was regretting all the choices he'd made previously, and was telling Oz how badly he didn't want the merge to happen, I was speculating about the possibility of him being manipulated by Salem and Grimm!Oscar happening, which might fall him into the Corruption, but no.

Oscar is the Web.

It fits with his fear of being controlled, of his will not being his own, and like Jonathan, who was marked and scared for life by his encounter with the Web as a child, it is his greatest fear. Only, where Jon was so afraid of the Web he sought the Eye as his refuge, believing it would keep him safe, Oscar realises that can be used to his advantage. (Which actually makes him more like Anabella Cane, which is. Hilarious) He's trying to do what Salem does, focus in on people's weaknesses and fears and dig at them, manipulate and push them, divide them, only like, steering them into the opposite direction than Salem. He's trying to use the fact that people see him as Oz to his advantage and trying to manipulate their impression of him. He's just got this very sneaky, cunning and pragmatic streak in him that people overlook because he's also incredibly kind and just. Good. But those qualities very much scream "Web" to me the more I've dwelled on it.

[paintedrecs]

For the fandom talk meme thingy: C (not trying to start drama I swear), I, K, R, and X. =D

C - A ship you have never liked and probably never will.

Hmmm, there are a few ways of answering this. One is by listing all my NOTPs, which would be excessively long and ultimately boring because it essentially boils down to “anyone else with either member of my OTP.” I monoship my primary pairings, so I’m pretty strict on what I do and do not like. 

(With the way fandom is now, I should clarify that NOTP means that I personally do not like a ship and I therefore go out of my way to avoid it - by muting terms, carefully filtering tags and search results, curating my own space, etc. It doesn’t mean I think the ship is badwrong or that anyone else should stop shipping it. It just means I do not ever want to see it.)

This feels a little less specific on that front, though, maybe more just: people like this and I’m meh about it?

So Allydia comes to mind. I don’t hate it, and if the Sterek’s good enough I’ll still read a fic with them as a background pairing, but I don’t ever like it as a romantic ship. While I ship Lydia with lots of different characters, including Cora, I’ve always seen Allison as straight, so I suppose that’s part of it? And I love Lydia & Allison as bffs - I see them as entirely platonic, like Scott & Stiles, so introducing romance just doesn’t work for me.

Another one is Sheriff Stilinski/Peter Hale. I...I don’t understand it. Unlike the last answer, this background pairing will prevent me from reading a Sterek-central fic.

I - Has Tumblr caused you to stop liking any fandoms, if so, which and why?

This turned into a complicated and kind of roundabout answer, so I’m putting the rest of the questions under a long-post cut!

I stopped frequenting tumblr for two main reasons:

that whole weird purge thing that made me think everyone was leaving, so I just gave up, which might’ve been premature cause it seems like folks are still going strong on here

the emergence of antis, specifically within the Voltron fandom (although they’re everywhere at this point)

There’s a saying in fandom now: 

“Why is the younger fandom generation like this?!??” “Tumblr raised them.”

For me, for years, tumblr was a really wonderful space where I had a lot of great conversations and read very thoughtful threads that helped me to learn some important things about myself, other people, and a world much wider than my own.

But I was an adult when I joined this site, and it really does seem like there’s a whole new crop of kids who have no actual context for ideas like social justice, the need for canonical representation in our media, and a lot of other things that eventually got folded into a big ball of disconnected rhetoric that they now fling as hard as they can at the heads of fandom creators who are committing the ultimate sin of creating content for ships they don’t like.

It’s late, and I don’t feel like getting into a whole Essay Rant about all that.

So on an entirely personal level, I quit running appreciatejack (my Check Please/zimbits/Jack Zimmermann blog) because someone sent me really vile hate for daring to ship Shiro/Keith from Voltron (two unrelated adults in a cartoon). It’s why I turned my ask boxes/anon/chats off on most of my blogs, and then eventually just...got tired of running them.

When I started up appreciatederek, I got a couple asks from people who wanted to know if it was going to be multiship or just Sterek, and when I said it was Sterek, they presumably went off to find other things they were into, because I never heard from them again. Y’know, the reasonable reaction. And then the rest of it was wonderful: finding content for it, and getting responses from people who enjoyed that content.

I thought appreciateshiro would be similar, but it was all so messy from the very start. The Sheith tag was FULL of hate. I was initially checking it every day, trying to find artists and writers and gif-makers to reblog and encourage and support, like I’d done in Sterek fandom, but instead I’d spend literal hours blocking people who came into that tag just to talk about how much they hated the ship.

Every day, I’d look for content for my OTP, and every day I’d come away from it angry and sad and frustrated. I never seemed to run out of people to block. And they never, ever seemed to run out of hate.

It was exhausting. It made me reluctant to go on tumblr at all. And eventually I just...sorta stopped.

So the answer to this question is more, I guess, “fandom made me stop liking tumblr, and in the process I stopped liking most fandoms.”

I’m sure you can kinda tell from the fandoms I’m currently the most invested in.

I love Sterek, and I will always love Sterek. Part of that’s the ship itself, of course, and part is because I had an incredible fandom experience with it. People within this fandom are still really great - always so welcoming and super excited about new content, even so many years on.

Otherwise, my current fandoms are kiiiiinda tiny:

Xanatowen (Gargoyles), which currently consists of exactly 2 people and 12 fics (3 of which are mine).

Trevorcard (Castlevania), which only has ~200 fics on AO3.

Taibani (Tiger & Bunny), which is an oldish fandom with only ~600 fics on AO3.

Remember, I came from a fandom that has SIXTY THOUSAND fics.

So while I feel very lonely and very sad about the low content levels in these fandoms, they’ve also given me the space to let go of some of my fandom hurt & anger and remember what it’s like to just...peacefully love something. I really miss just loving things and talking about loving those things and searching for other people who also love those things without running into....thousands upon thousands of people who HATE that you love that thing.

(Until I wrote all that out just now, I actually hadn’t realized how much this had still been hanging over me, or why I was so hesitant to come back to “reclaim” a space I’d once been super active and happy in. Essay over! Next questions.)

K - What character has your favorite development arc/the best development arc?

Answered here!

R - Which friendship/platonic relationship is your favorite in fandom?

Answered here! 

X - A trope which you are almost certain to love in any fandom.

Found family. This is probably a big part of why Sterek was my first real fandom, because the idea of Pack makes it incredibly natural to build out relationships beyond just the central romantic pairing. 

It doesn’t have to be a werewolf thing, though. I’m honestly not hugely fond of the whole puppy piles concept - I’m less interested in “biological urges make characters literally physically all snuggle up together in bed” than I am in the actual build of the friendships, and the concept of choosing people who will become the family you’ve been missing for whatever reason.

Maybe it’s reconnecting with biological family, or maybe it’s discovering that your friends have been filling that space for you all along, without you even fully realizing it. (The concept of “home” is another big one for me. Home is where your heart is etc etc.)

And hey! Now I can pull back in another question from earlier: about “pairings” that I might not have initially considered. As I suspected, I do have more! Mostly platonic.

For instance: Derek and Sheriff Stilinski becoming bffs. I thiiiink I can probably tie my ABSOLUTE LOVE of this concept back to HalfFizzbin’s can't be hateful, gotta be grateful. And then Cupboard Love really has to be the source of ALL my alive!Hales feels, which also includes folding Stiles into their family.

Fic is largely responsible for building out Derek’s relationship with Boyd, Erica, Isaac, his sisters...making them into an actual pack and friends and family in the way the show never bothered. And frankly while I don’t like canon!Scott at all at this point, I love his friendship with Stiles in fics, and I absolutely believe Stiles and Lydia would be amazing friends once he got past his crush on her. I’d point to another fic here, owlpostagain’s will to follow through, as the ultimate source for major Team Human feels.

So yeah. I’m always going to be drawn to stories about family, in whatever form that takes, particularly if it’s one that’s a little bit off the normal white-picket-fence path.

In Tiger & Bunny, it’s Barnaby joining the Kaburagi family, and learning how to be a dad and a friend to his new husband’s daughter.

In Gargoyles, I’m completely obsessed with the (canonical!) idea of a family that consists of a man, his wife, their son, and the chaotically loyal fae babysitter/tutor/third parent. It is not a stretch to tweak this the tiiiiiiniest bit to turn it into a nontraditional family structure of a man, his wife, his son, and his fae boyfriend. Honestly.

In Castlevania, the fic that made me sob my eyes out at one point does something the show would absolutely never. It gives Alucard the time to rebuild his physical home while befriending the people in the little town that crops up around it. It’s about Trevor and Alucard falling in love, but it’s also about them making a place for themselves in a world where that kind of comfort and stability and friendship is so badly needed.

I think we all kinda need that in our world right now. So I love being able to find it in fic, for the characters who’ve grown to mean something to me.

[sweetsummerchildofmine]

Catra vs Zuko - or, how Catra got the redemption arc we never dared to dream for Azula

Ok so since She-Ra’s finished and ATLA’s back on Netflix and everyone’s having a super fun time comparing the two, here’s a long rant about redemption arcs that absolutely no one asked for.

[spoiler warning for both obviously??]

So Prince Zuko is still, correctly, held up as the redemption arc ideal.

Look at this boy of course he is.

As an excellent recent post I can’t currently find why don’t I ever tag things reminds us, the great thing about Zuko is that we always want to see him redeemed. Even though he starts out with bad hair and a bad attitude and on the wrong side, he’s a main character and a sympathetic one.

Iroh is introduced as a wise and lovable uncle to us all, so if he believes in his nephew, then so do we.

But it’s not all about how Iroh sees him. As this brilliant video from Melina Pendulum that I’m essentially just riffing on here rightly points out, Zuko always has a strict code of honour. He generally believes he’s doing the right thing, that the Fire Nation is doing the right thing, and that he can and must make a difference in the world… and is kind of a huge dufus. Now that’s getting a lot less Catra and a lot more…

In a lot of ways, Zuko is wayyy more of an Adora than he is a Catra. As another post that I can’t fucking find points out, it would have been incredible and hilarious if Zuko had somehow turned out to be the Avatar he was searching for all along. Mostly, I’m thinking that if a magical destiny and a new support group hit Zuko square in the face in the early ATLA episodes, we might have got something like the instant turnabout arc that Adora got. But Zuko didn’t get a magic sword – he had to figure out the evil of the Fire Nation slowly, coming to the final understanding that he couldn’t continue fighting for it, not even when it meant giving up all the love and prestige he’d ever sought in his life.

But much as Adora left the hoard and had to unlearn a lotttttt, she hadn’t exactly done anything bad out in the field yet. It’s Catra that’s our redemption arc poster-girl here. Because she actually causes a lot of innocent deaths and nearly destroyed the world but hey nobody’s perfect.

Like Zuko, Catra is introduced as one of our main characters, and she’s even more of an instantly loveable one than he is. She’s not an honourable follower of rules – that’s hammered home in her first scene - 

- but she’s relatable. She’s in love with her best friend, she struggles to take things seriously, mostly as a defense mechanism, and she’s bitter about the fact that she’ll never be anything but second best. When it comes to Adora, despite her jealousy and teasing, she’d do almost anything to protect her. This is something we see throughout season 1, right up until The Promise – the friends might be at odds, but she doesn’t want to see Adora hurt. Especially not if that hurt is coming from their childhood abuser.

So many people have written about the great ways both shows handle the trauma of child abuse and how it won’t necessarily look the same across a family, so I’m not gonna go hard on that. But as a recap – Zuko literally walks around with half his face badly burned off because he embarrassed/disappointed his warlord father. Thanks to a lifetime of negative reinforcement Catra believes herself to be worthless, and she’s noticeably twitchy whenever someone touches her unexpectedly. Growing up with Adora, Catra was the scapegoat kid, taking on most of the blame for all their perceived failures (and giving Adora her intense responsibility complex and belief that everything is somehow her fault yay).

It’s a less clear-cut dynamic for Zuko and Azula – partly helped by the fact that we never get much of Azula’s POV. 

..she’s kinda Catra without the benefit of narrative sympathy. 

Where SPOP never stops reminding us that Catra is a vulnerable, lonely, insecure teenager beneath it all, ATLA barely ever lets us glimpse it in Azula. And maybe it’s not really there yet.

When Catra gives her infallible villain speeches, we know that’s not all there is to her, and the narrative pokes fun at the heroes for believing she’s really that cool or unstoppable or evil.

The joke is…. That’s not Catra. But for most of ATLA we have no reason to question it in Azula.

When Catra has her breakdown after getting everything she ever wanted, but with no loyal friend left at her side, it’s Azula she most resembles. We get our madness, our lashing out, our losing it publicly. But unlike with Azula, Catra is able to learn and grow from that. Because unlike Azula, Catra has always been a prioritised main character, whose feelings constantly help drive the plot.

For Azula, this moment was a private one for the audience. It let us know how much her friends’ abandonment had affected her, and gave us an excuse for her approaching defeat.

The ATLA writers did have a plan for Azula’s arc from there, which involved Zuko being pivotal for her and every day I remember it existed I want to die a little –

"Azula loved Zuko, more than anyone save her father. She also felt competitive with him for their parents’ attention of course, but since she had alienated herself from her mother, she focused her energy on pleasing dad… which of course meant acting in more and more intense and possibly evil ways. By the end of the series, of course, her loss of her friends shatters the part of her identity that she could somehow control affection and love through intimidation. As a result she spirals… I did however intend to leave a kernel of humanity, and had we made a season 4 Azula would have completely bottomed and we would have explored the possibility of a path to redemption. True story!"

-       Aaron Ehasz

This is uhhhhhhhh...

...this is Catra’s story. She just gets to hit that rock bottom and has that hand up held out to her.

- but it’s pointless to speculate about how well or meaningfully the ATLA team would have handled this particular redemption arc because they didn’t get the episodes for it. Azula’s story ends with her, the new Fire Lord’s insane little sister, defeated and locked up to stop her hurting anyone else. yes I know the comics exist I am not gonna talk about the comics.  

No adult ever seems to worry about Azula. Not even Iroh expresses belief that she’d ever be better than she was acting. Which seems… unfair, considering his infinite patience for Zuko, and the fact that he himself was the biggest most effective bad guy the series never saw up until his son’s death.

So back to the Zuko/Catra comparison. Although Catra starts out reluctant to do much damage to Adora and therefore the rebellion hopes she represents as She-Ra, and Zuko starts the series at his most inflexible and serious, they follow a similar journey. Both reach a point where they’re allowed a period of happiness, and the audience hopes that if they do rejoin the war it might be for the good team.

Hurt and discarded by the hoard for daring to show sympathy towards a prisoner, Catra’s sent out into the Crimson Wastes on a fool’s errands, with only her loyal, loving only friend beside her, urging her to choose happiness, to choose herself.

Catra definitely has more fun in the Crimson waste than she does throughout most of the show.

Zuko too, when he lets himself ease into his customer service job, starts to smile. He goes on a DATE, he mellows out, he has fun being a vigilante on his own terms, he’s making his Uncle proud.

But they can’t choose it, because they’ve been forced into it. They need to get the thing they think they want first before they can decide to give that up. So when the chance to return triumphant to their old life falls into their laps, it’s too big a temptation to give up.

And though they want similar things – prestige and respect as part of a colonialist war machine – their motivations for wanting them are completely different.

Our good boy Zuko believes he’s a good boy. He has that strict code of honour and he never wants to let anyone forget that that’s what he’s all about. It’s not until he’s subject to the cruel effects of the Fire Nation himself that he understands how wrong it is. Until then he believes the Fire Nation is in the right, and needs to be proven that they’re not – again, Adora vibes.

Catra, again, does not care about honour. She’s all about trickery. No one needs to convince her she’s the villain of the tale – she’s fully self-aware of that.

And the thing is……. She thinks she deserves to be bad, that they all do, but her especially.

This isn’t an angsty revelation for Catra. This is something she did on purpose as vengeance on a world she feels has only ever hurt her. She genuinely feels that hurting people is all she’s ever been good for, that the best one good thing she could do would be to make the ultimate sacrifice and take herself off the chessboard.

Zuko has never had to doubt that he mattered. His choices always mean something, and if he’s ever in danger of forgetting the truth or weight of that, his uncle is always there to offer love and patience and council.

Zuko’s issue isn’t that no one ever tried to get him to try harder or be better – it’s that so many different people tell him this that he doesn’t know which version of better is right.

Catra’s never had anything resembling a loving and guiding parental presence in her life. No one really holds her accountable to her actions until that rad time when Adora punches her in the face.

The first time Catra sees that there’s an option to deal with bad mistakes that isn’t just giving up and doubling down is when she sees Glimmer work to fix hers.

No one was ever going to stand patiently and unconditionally by Catra’s side. Adora couldn’t (rightly). Catra always kept Scorpia as much at arms length as she was able to, because she knew that one day she’d go too far and lose her. (and she does! again, rightly.) And of course though Shadow Weaver briefly fakes being the caring parent she never was, she’s in this for herself.

Catra didn’t need to be told she was fighting on the wrong side – she knew that - what she needed to learn was that she was loved, so that she could believe that she was worth making herself something better.

She needed to know that there was an option to turn back and stop slipping further down the villainy slope.

Family drama aside, Zuko grew up loved and in luxury. He grew up used to hugs, presents and fancy things. Up until season 2, he goes around with his own warship, his own room, and no one to answer to. Catra has none of that she’s hoping to get back to, or to win.

No matter how high Catra’s star rises in the hoard, the closest she ever gets to luxury is in Adora’s dream vision for them. Unlike most of SPOP’s female leads, Catra is no Princess. Not only has she never known parental love and support, she’s spent her whole young life as a child soldier, training to be a weapon. Adora and Catra have never eaten cake, or petted a horse. They’ve never not worn some kind of uniform. They’re used to bunk beds and a sky grey with ugly fumes.

The most we ever see Catra get for herself is a slight addition to her outfit. There’s no fine clothes or room or food for the chief strategist of the hoard – she’s just a cog in the same machine. It’s control and protection Catra’s chasing – not materialistic gain.

She doesn’t even want power– she just wants to be respected and safe and trusted.

On ATLA -  as brilliantly pointed out here  – Zuko gets his big moments with Aang, Sokka and Katara, but not with Toph. I do think that was because there was nothing personal he needed to make amends to her over (recent assassination attempt aside), but more practically it was about the others needing to learn to trust Zuko. Yes, Zuko needed to make amends but we don’t actually see much of that in season 3 - what we do see is the Gaang learning to trust him.

The Best Friend Squad basically trusts Catra immediately. Unlike the Gaang with Zuko, they’re not worried that Catra’s about to betray them- she’s already made the ultimate sacrifice for them, and has no bargaining power with Prime. Where Zuko was a new friend when they did make him one, Catra was already everything to Adora and that’s not news. Glimmer and Bow love Adora, and they know she needs Catra.

Catra’s redemption is important for her story, but it’s not what our heroes need from her. Before she can have a chance to be redeemed, she needs to be rescued. Save the cat indeed.

Again, it comes back to the fact that Zuko had things back in the Fire Nation to give up, but by the end of things with Catra, she has no one, and she’s a brainwashed pawn. Unlike Zuko, who they worry might betray them again for the family, girlfriend and title he left behind, the BFS have no reason not to trust Catra.

There is nothing for her to flip to. She’s on their side because she has nowhere to go.

Zuko approaches the Gaang, seeing in them his new and only path to honour – the Best Friend Squad go out and get Catra, because she’s part of the hero’s prize.

To even make himself tolerable for the Gaang, never mind a prize, Zuko needed to change – to let his pride turn to humility, to let his prickly lone wolf act die. But Catra needed to mostly stay who she is – a tactical genius, a suspicious rebel who’s “never listened to anyone in her life” who is desperately, selfishly in love with Adora, our painfully self-sacrificing hero.

Zuko, unlike Catra, basically trusts his new friends, because he chose them. He’s known them on some level for years, and is prepared to take any punishment they feel he’s earned. But Catra spends most of the immediate time after her rescue terrified that someone’s about to enact revenge on her – she needs to learn to trust them.

There was no reason it HAD to be Zuko who taught the avatar fire-bending other than it making a nice narrative circle with his family history and because we’re already invested in his development. But to save She-ra and Etheria, it had to be Catra. Because only Catra was the thing Adora selfishly wanted for herself – only Catra loved her completely as Adora first, She-Ra second.

So what fuelled the fire of this messy disjointed rant was seeing a lot of people claim that no redemption arc since Zuko’s has been written so successfully.

Certainly, Zuko gets forced to reckon with his actions and make an active choice to do the right thing and make amends. Our heroes don’t all immediately forgive him and the narrative doesn’t imply that they should. I can see how, with less episodes interacting with the group (but really only just) Catra can be seen as “getting off easily”.

In getting into arguments about redemption at all I think we’ve got to look at justice and forgiveness. Justice is good and important to seek in a story for kids about writing the wrongs of an unjust war. But justice should be about the people who have been wronged getting what they need, not about punishing the character who wronged them. No single character that’s been wronged owes the one who hurt them their forgiveness - but if they give it, what then?

In the same way Aang letting the Fire Lord live had nothing to do with Ozai, and everything to do with Aang and what he’d be comfortable with as a pacifistic child, Catra doesn’t have control over the fact that the people she’s spent seasons scheming against or hurting are instantly prepared to put that behind them.

On a morals front? Sure, it’s good to let kids know that when you fuck up and act like a bad guy that you work to earn redemption from those you’ve harmed. But it’s also an entertainment show. And what we want to see as an audience for our wayward heroes is the reconciliation with the person who loves them the most, that they let down most personally - the closest the two of them have to loving family. For Zuko that’s Iroh. For Catra it’s Adora.

Zuko meets Iroh last, so when they do hug it out, we’ve watched him change and grow a lot - it feels earned. But Adora is the first one Catra sees - who doesn’t even ask her to change yet, just to keep fighting, to live.

“That’s how she would have gotten out, and changed. With the faith and love of someone she had hurt, but who stuck by her anyway. Just as he had been saved by faith and love from someone he had hurt, but who stuck by him.”

-          Aaron Ehasz on Azula and Zuko 

I might wish we’d gotten more episodes of She-Ra for Catra to interact with the whole crew and make amends, forming individual bonds just like Zuko was allowed to do, but I’m so grateful, that, unlike in Azula’s case, we got those episodes at all.

Noelle said in a recent interview when asked about whether Adora had gotten over the whole believing-her-worth-was-based-on-what-she-could-do-for-others thing that it probably wasn’t something she’d fully worked through yet. But she’d started working on it. At the end of the show, Catra hasn’t finished with her issues either – so maybe the bulk of any real amends she needs to make are still to come.

Zuko does get a more complete “redemption” but his journey was always different to Catra’s, and in many ways much more like Adora’s. The very nature of Catra’s story is about questioning how much she needed redemption in the first place, or at least, how much more than the rest of them. Scorpia, Entrapta, Hordak’s a whole other ball-game, Adora, Glimmer, Huntara, Lonnie, Rogelio and Kyle were all involved in doing bad, and some of them got the time to strive to make up for it. Catra’s redemptive moment doesn’t just come right after she just got everything she ever worked for and hates it – it’s when Glimmer, someone she arguably did the most to hurt, is also at her lowest.

SPOP may give us less of an epilogue, but there’s a certainty now that the hoard is gone. The Fire Nation very much does not go away, and only limited attempts at reparations are made. So yeah, maybe Zuko gets a harder time before getting crowned the new Fire Lord, but Catra gets no prize out of her redemption. Just life, and the knowledge that Adora loves her.

None of these characters make for exact mirrors of each other that are easy to compare. Their creators were telling different stories and She-Ra had that all-important gay agenda to work in. To preserve that, Noelle Stevenson’s talked in multiple interviews about them having to make Catra and Adora’s romance central to allowing both their plotlines and the endgame for the show to function.

(Though as correctly noted here I’m not saying that it wouldn’t have improved things if Avatar had felt like pushing for that)

I’m not gonna lie – I have not always been a ride-or-die crewmember on the good ship catradora. I mean I was here for it, I saw and loved and hated Buffy season 3, I knew what was missing in my life, but maybe I just hadn’t seen enough stories like theirs work out in either fiction or real life before and didn’t dare to hope it would all work out ok.

And tbh the crew crafted such wonderful characters I was in a very comfy multishipping place as a viewer for most of the show. (as late as 5x03 I was still yelling that glitter/catra and scorpia/adora were both underrated ships which deserved way more screentime.)

Again, really not the best person to say it without a load more research, but neither show is perfect, especially as it comes to exploring colonialism through fantasy worlds. But I think it’s definitely wrong that Avatar which has a lottttt of well-documented criticism against it is held up on a pedestal as the only way for characters like Zuko or Catra to make amends. Also, because no other story is hopefully ever going to be telling the exact same story for its world or characters. She-Ra certainly wasn’t. And that’s a good thing!!

So Zuko had to learn he was wrong about everything and give up the life he’d been dreaming of for so long. The thing Catra needed to be proved wrong about to allow her to change wasn’t morals. It was her belief that -