#Penguin Our Hero

[morallyinept]

Adrift With You - A Frankie Morales Series - Chapter 17

Summary: Heading away on a work re-location, Frankie embarks on a flight, but unbeknownst to him, his life is about to change forever. For starters, he will need to fight for it; harder than he's ever fought for anything else before.

Marooned on an isolated island in the middle of the ocean, still recovering from an addiction, his chances of survival are bleak; but he’s not alone on the island, and soon he’s running towards a different kind of life - a life with fellow survivor, Jude, fighting right beside him every step of the way.

And if they can both survive the island together, they can survive anything, right?

Pairing: Frankie Morales x OFC Jude

Chapter word count: 6.5k

SERIES MASTERLIST | MAIN MASTERLIST

☝🏻See Series Masterlist for full smut warnings & triggers in this story. Chapters that contain smut or triggers will be highlighted in the chapter notes below. 👇🏻

Chapter notes: Frankie and Jude arrive home to their respective families, and begin to face the realities of their separation.

Enjoy! 🖤

Chapter 16

You’ll be surprised to know that the odds of surviving a plane crash are pretty much in your favour; despite the fact I killed everyone off in this story except for our Delta hero and his heroine.

Around ninety-five point seven per cent in your favour to be precise. However, the doomed flight eight-sixteen defied those perky odds when the engine caught fire and the plane plummeted out of the sky and crash landed into the ocean, nose first. 

The survival rate was hampered by several factors: the storm, the pilots being unable to regain control of the aircraft, and the fact that the plane hit the water at such a speed that it broke apart upon impact. 

There were no other survivors; the plane’s black box was never found. A search party ensued of course as soon as the plane didn’t arrive at its intended destination, but the searches were only conducted in and around the immediate area where the plane was last spotted on radar. The point of its disappearance was just past the tip of South Africa, having been tumbling off course as it was crash landing, towards the Kerguelen Islands; a group of islands in French Southern and Antarctic lands.

The original destination for flight eight-sixteen was Madagascar - Jude’s choice for a sunny getaway and Frankie’s work taking him there for a fresh start. To relax and unwind and do some lemur spotting whilst getting over their respective break-ups and life kicking them in the mutual grits. 

A distance of two thousand, four hundred and forty-eight miles separates Madagascar and the Kerguelen Islands. And a distance of one thousand, three hundred and thirty-four miles from Cape Town on the tip of South Africa to the Prince Edward Islands. 

The islands are for the most part uninhabited, except for a native colony of penguins. However to the north east of the islands, there are further tinier islands that are also uninhabited and isolated, and this is where our two survivors ultimately washed up. 

The climate around the islands is predominantly warm with generous helpings of rain and it’s for this reason that Frankie and Jude were able to survive and collect water on a regular basis, although sometimes dangerously sparing. Sheer dumb luck in brute honesty, I mean, they could have crash landed anywhere, right?

Of course this knowledge now seems useless and pointless to them because every day on that island was a constant battle for survival and no amount of facts or ‘you were lucky you landed where you did’ spiel is going to change that harrowing thought. 

The flight back home to The States was as anxious as they come. Stepping foot onto that plane was one of the bravest things they both had encountered and achieved. And the pair didn’t let go of each other’s hands at all, occasionally squeezing tight when the plane would dip or jolt from turbulence; their hearts trying to make a dash for it and their bowels equally bracing for carnage in their seats. 

The flight from Cape Town to New York’s JFK was approximately twenty-one hours with a stop-over in Amsterdam for a re-fuel. They sat in business class, with that extra leg room for Frankie of course, and Jude marvelled at the space, courtesy of the US Embassy.

The luxury and the service came with a bright bleached smile, whilst Frankie admired and watched Jude as though she were a caged animal being let loose for the first time. 

They had no physical luggage aside from a tiny carry-on with a spare pair of clothes each, their phone chargers and a small amount of cash that Benny had wired Frankie through the help of a local bank; other than that, they just had their new passports, out of date iPhones and each other. 

Jake had arranged for a security escort to meet them at the airport and to drive them to their Air Bn’b in the city, close enough to Jude’s parent’s house. 

They eventually dozed off together, Jude’s head resting on Frankie’s bony shoulder and his head on top of hers, clutching tightly onto one another’s hand still, even in their drowsy state. 

The plane touched down at JFK and it was raining out; a grey sky greeted them, seemingly following them home from the island, and despite it, it was good to be finally on firm ground that wasn’t sand.

They waited to exit the plane under instruction from their escort, after the flurry of the other passengers who paid no mind to them at all, and in no real rush to face the inevitable - Jude’s stomach was already in knots. 

They went through border control, handing over their passports for inspection and scrutiny with Frankie taking his cap off to reveal his long, overgrown locks to the officer.

They both were in dire need of a haircut amongst other things, but Frankie was kinda rocking this shaggy grown out look and even attempted a man bun. 

“You look like a pretentious dick, take it out,” Jude had said to him, laughing, when he modelled it for her back in the hotel room in Cape Town.

“It was the look I was going for.” He’d mused to her.

Just outside the arrivals hall on the other side of passport control, an officer is holding up a plaque with Frankie’s last name printed over it, and they both approach them cautiously. 

“Captain Morales, I presume?” The officer enquires. He’s flanked by several other border patrol and burly military officers, and their escort from the consulate in Cape Town hands over their documents.

“Just Frankie,” Frankie greets as the man offers his hand to shake it.

“We’re here to escort you both through arrivals and get you home. It’s a little crazy out there. Everyone is glad you’re both home safely.”

Jude can hear the ruckus already - an animated fracas of chatter and excitement. The sounds of camera shutters are already going off and flashes of lights pulse down the entrance hall. 

“You ready?” Frankie asks her, tightening his grip on her hand.

She smiles. “No.”

Frankie takes his cap off and places it on her head, pulling the visor down over her face.

The officers flank them in an arrowhead formation, closing the gaps on the sides whilst two officers head up the front. 

“Just keep your head down, hermosa,” Frankie says, and squeezes her hand. “It’ll soon be over.”

They begin to walk in unison and it’s like they’re walking in beat to the rhythm of her heart, slowly getting faster and faster as they break through the automatic doors into arrivals and into a deluge of carnage. 

The crowds start clapping and cheering. The terminal is a whirlwind of noise and motion, a stark contrast to the quiet isolation of the island.

“FRANCISCO! JUDE! OVER HERE! FRANCISCO!” 

The crowds are cordoned off with barriers and police officers lining the route. A plethora of journalists and paparazzi flank them, following through the crowds, and a glitter of flashing lights blind them both as they push on forward with the military officers surrounding them. 

“Francisco, how do you feel about being rescued?”

“What's the first thing you’re going to do now you’re back?”

The questions come rapid fire and are yelled through the gaps of the officers, each one more intrusive than the last. 

“How did you become a couple?”

“Do you have anything to say about the Airline? Are you going to sue?”

Frankie tightens his grip on Jude’s hand, drawing strength from their connection. He can feel her trembling, and he knows she’s just as overwhelmed as he is. 

The cacophony is deafening and Jude feels Frankie squeeze back onto her hand tightly before he pulls her inwards, wrapping his arm around her shoulder and she buries her face into his armpit and squeezes her eyes closed, wishing it was over.

“Keep moving,” one of the soldiers instructs, his voice firm but reassuring. “We’ve got you covered.”

They push through the throng, the military personnel forming a protective barrier around them. The crowd is relentless, cameras flashing in their faces, microphones thrust forward in the hope of catching a soundbite.

Frankie tries to keep his focus ahead, his hand pressed up against the shoulder of one of the army guys so as not to get separated, but the sheer volume of attention is staggering. 

“How does it feel to be back on American soil?”

“What was the hardest part of your ordeal?”

“Can you tell us what you remember about the crash?”

The noise seems to die out a little as they exit the terminal and are practically manhandled into a large car with tinted windows, which speeds off as soon as the doors are slammed shut. Jude clocks a few wayward journalists taking photos of the car and running after it. 

The car heads out of the airport, picking up speed as it hits the freeway and she finally breathes.

“You guys okay back there?” The soldier who greeted them turns in the front passenger seat to face them. 

They both nod with eyes wide and frightened. 

“You okay?” Frankie asks her, still moulded tightly under his arm.

“Yeah. Just a little overwhelmed. That was insane!” Jude whispers back to him. 

“Yeah, fuckin’ crazy…” Frankie murmurs.

They’re dropped off with their documents and the soldier informs them he’ll be back tomorrow to escort Frankie to the airport and drop Jude at her parents.

Once inside the safe confines of the Air Bn’b, which is a little apartment, with a double bed and bath tub big enough for them both, they both sit back in the hot bubbly water as Frankie cradles Jude against his chest after washing her hair and listening to her humming and singing her favourite songs. He automatically braids it and she smiles at him over her shoulder.

“Habit,” he replies as she runs her hand down the tight weaves of the braid. He leans forward and kisses her shoulder.

After making a small meal, which they barely manage to eat, they lay in bed together, their limbs knotted and entwined as they kiss and touch and stain their skin with one another. 

“I’m going to miss you so much,” Jude says to him as the room darkens around them.

“I won’t stay away long.” Frankie confirms.

“Take as much time as you need. Your family will want to spend time with you.”

“It’s gonna be weird not waking up with you in my arms.” Frankie admits after a while of lying there with her and feeling her warm body against his. He takes a deep breath, forcing himself to remain calm.

“I know. We’ve not spent a day apart for over a whole year.” 

He nods against her head, his chin butting it slightly. “Mm,” he agrees.

“Will you call me when you land?”

“Of course. I’ll call you every day, at least five hundred times.” He smirks into her hair.

“Maybe not five hundred… four hundred and ninety-nine will do just fine.” Jude giggles.

They both laugh and he pulls her closer, breathing out through a stretch and a yawn.

“Are you sleepy?” She asks him.

“A little.” He replies through a small sigh. “Been a long day.”

She kisses his forehead delicately, resting against his head as he shuts his eyes. 

Frankie opens them momentarily and strokes her face. “Do you have bad dreams?”

“About the island?” Jude asks him.

“Yeah.” He admits timidly.

She nods. “I used to have this nightmare while we were there, that a helicopter came and rescued you, but it left me behind. I could see you flying off in the distance and waving at me. I was running so fast but then you disappeared.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” Frankie reaffirms to her. 

“I know. It was just a bad dream, right?”

“Right.” He says. His breath smells sweet in her face, scented from the mint of his toothpaste. “I’m coming right back to you, okay?” He promises.

“I know.” Jude says. “Get some sleep, you’ve got another flight again tomorrow.”

He kisses her gently. “Duerme bien, sin pesadillas, hermosa.” (Sleep well, no nightmares, beautiful)

His fingers dance upon her bare skin in the early morning fuzz of the light, and every single touch, even the lightest of touches, makes Jude’s body convulse and react in a way that she never thought possible.

Her body is communicating with him, becoming fluent in his language whilst receiving every part of Frankie that he offers so freely.

His big hands engulf her body, sweeping across the surface of her warm skin and soothing her. Frankie kisses her lips and down her chin, sucking on it before he sweeps under her jaw towards her collarbone. 

Licking her nipple and awakening it from a swollen, puffy areola in the warmth of a new day being born across the Big Apple, that flows in from the open window, she hums out deliciously as she stretches around him. He pulls it further into his mouth as her back arches, enjoying the feel of his wet tongue running over it and leaving cool, wet tracks. 

“Mmm...” She whines softly into the air with her eyes closed.

Frankie nips it gently making her squeal. He smiles around the hardening bud as he smooches on it gently, carrying on his journey down her body.

His unruly curls tickle against her skin, long and feeling coarse and wiry from being dried out by saltwater and constant sun exposure. Jude runs her hand through it, sweeping it out of the way so she can see those lips and the disruption they cause. 

He kisses down her stomach, hooking his fingers into the elastic of her panties and pulls them down over her hips. Frankie has her spread with his whopping hands separating her thighs and pushing them up as makes out with her pussy. Kissing and dipping his adept tongue into her wet folds to taste her as he goes. The clicks of his kisses sounding out are all around her as the flicks and darts of his tongue delve deeper each time he licks her out. 

Jude reaches down, raking her fingers through his locks as he looks up at her - those piercing, dark eyes swirling with infecting poison; his lips mashing against her cunt and his tongue flicking over her clit as he sucks around it. 

His fingers massage the inner meat of her thighs, gripping and rubbing as he feasts on her, making her body squirm as the tingly pressure on her clit mounts. 

“Frankie...” She gasps out as his delicious gnawing begins to intensify and make her toes curl.

She scratches harder at the back of his skull, him grunting into her at the feel of it - those fingers twisting around his hair and tugging as they become knotted in his scalp, sending prickles flooding down his back. 

His cock is rock hard, being crushed between his body and the mattress as Jude writhes against his face. He sucks her fleshy lips, popping and squelching out of his greedy mouth before he’ll lick them up again and suckle some more, unable to get enough of her. 

“Oh fuck!” She sighs out, her eyes closed and tumbling.

She gyrates her hips around, rocking against his tongue to get the best of him, feeling that pulsing and glitter begin to blind her vision.

“Mmm, don’t stop.” She writhes more intensely now, hearing his gasps around her folds as her legs twitch and her thighs shake uncontrollably. Tasting those wet, fleshy ribbons as he licks up and down, up and down on a repeating cycle that makes her soar. 

Her gasps are getting louder, her back arching higher in a dangerous contorted curve as she pants and groans, fisting inside of his hair ferociously that she could almost tear it out.

Her body shakes, rippling as she cries out, reaching down with scrambled, frantic hands and gripping onto his arms as the veins in her neck strain, her eyes roll into the back of her head and her pussy contracts and explodes all over his mouth. 

“FRANKIE!”

Frankie sucks harder on her clit, pinching it between his teeth deliberately as she bucks and pulses; her head thrown back into the pillows, the room feeling like it’s spinning faster around her. 

She’s out of breath as he licks up and down, planting kisses and his lips knock against her clit, buzzing and making her thighs jolt from the shock of the sensitivity that now crowns it. 

He smooches against it delicately, looking up at her and holding her eyes. He kisses the inside of her thigh, nuzzling into it.

Jude beckons him to her and like a slave to his heart and cock alike, he willingly follows. He slowly begins to crawl up her body towards her face. His cock sweeps against the inside of her apex and he’s solid and heavy against it. Precum smears across her skin and feels cooling in the morning breeze. 

He leans over her on his arms as he pushes his hips into hers, slipping comfortably inside of her wet, slick hole again as she gasps out for him, her head lifting off the pillow to meet his plush inviting lips. 

The island has stripped everything superficial, leaving only raw unfiltered connection, this bond that can’t be broken. Every glance, every touch speaks volumes of shared pain, survival and resilience. It isn't just about love, it's about understanding. They had seen each other at their lowest, held each other through heart-wrenching despair and found strength in their unity.

Words are often unnecessary now; a simple look can convey the deepest of emotions. Her hand slips into his, fingers interlacing with a familiarity that feels ancient, as if they've known each other for lifetimes.

His hand swoops around the back of her head and holds her, keeping her close to him as Frankie slides in and out of her, working up a tantalising rhythm that makes his lips part, his breath coating her face. Deep, indomitable strokes make Jude feel every inch of him -  make her remember him. 

Frankie curls his fingers around her throat gently, stroking the skin there with his thumb and feeling her groans vibrate against his palm as he kisses down the side of her face, a slew of kisses planted under her jawline. 

He flashes back to the countless nights when the fear and hope had danced on the edge of their consciousness, where dreams of rescue seemed distant and elusive. It was during those moments their connection had solidified, becoming an unbreakable anchor in a sea of uncertainty. She was always there, holding him up; her eyes reflecting the hues of the setting sun and sparkling off the ocean waves at him. 

He feels it, feels the emotion surge over him and he buries his face into her neck, squeezing away the tears as he scrunches his eyes shut. Frankie can feel her legs tightening around his waist, hanging onto him and taking him so deep into her.

“We made it, I love you. We made it… I love you.” She chants through her gasps and cries. 

His head lolls a little, like he can’t handle it any more. His body feeling weak and out of breath and losing his stamina fast. Gasping so hard his throat runs dry and no noise will flow out of it anymore; just those inhaled croaked whispers of oxygen steaming past his teeth. 

Jude whimpers as he presses his forehead against hers, his hips still bucking into her deeply; the slick feel of his cock sliding in and out of her with ease, her walls contracting and tightening around him. Gasping out loudly in unified melodies as they swallow each kiss, panting as their bodies slide across one another’s. 

“Come for me,” she hears him grunt through his gasps as the slapping of his cock inside her soaked pussy relentlessly hammers. 

Squeezing into his skin with her fingers as her body trembles and shakes, she releases, feeling wondrously dizzy.

Frankie slows, winding his hips into her so she can feel him deeply. They stare into one another’s eyes, holding that gaze as they pant and soar together. He cradles her closer to him as he kisses her, feeling how good she feels around him. She squeezes and her body aches, aches for him to never stop. 

Her hands are in his hair again, scratching around his scalp and making his head tingle and pulse. 

“I love you,” Jude whispers to him and he groans out in response, his body starts to fly. 

“I love you, hermosa,” Frankie replies as he mashes his lips to hers and grunts out in a deep, husked whine as he comes deeply inside her, his cock twitching and seeing stars behind his eyelids as she cradles him in her arms. 

“We made it.” He pants.

“We made it.” She sighs. 

As soon as she knocks on the door, Jude’s engulfed by her parents who won’t let her go out of their strangling grip.

Her mother clutches hold of her as if she might disappear again and her father’s tears betray his own usually composed exterior. The three of them cry all over each other, for what seems like hours on the porch, as Frankie hovers awkwardly until he’s dragged into the throes of it. 

He’s plied with copious amounts of coffee, feeling sick to his stomach, whilst they listen horrified and aghast at their tales of sheer grit on the island. 

They don’t divulge too much, but it’s enough to render her mother to tears again and her father to shake Frankie’s hand for saving his daughter.

“Actually, she saved me. She’s got bigger balls than I do.” Frankie chuckles, and her father pats him on the back approvingly. 

“I like him,” her father says to Jude approvingly.

But hovering over the reunion is the agonising moment when Frankie and Jude will have to part and it's in the looks they give one another as her parents talk and engage with them. It’s in the sinking feeling in Frankie’s gut and the acrid taste at the back of Jude’s throat. 

Watching him pull away in the car, waving to her through the window with that giant palm, is like her heart has been ripped out of her chest.

His departure, even if only temporary, leaves a hollow ache. An unsettling thought creeping in about how she can navigate being here without him. She knows she can't.

They had been inseparable for so long, facing every challenge together and now they had to do this one alone. She tries to offer him a smile with her wave, but it doesn't reach her eyes, and she can barely hold on. She wraps her arms around herself trying to stave off the chill despite it being a warm day. Without him, the world is bleak and cold and scary. 

Her mother comforts her as best as she can when Jude bursts into tears as the car disappears around the bend in the road at the bottom of the street, but all she does is retreat to her old room that has been left untouched and climbs into bed, crying until she falls into a stunted sleep. 

The thought of him being mere inches away from her, let alone nearly a seventeen hour drive away in Florida, is shattering. The absence of Frankie is already felt the moment he’d let go of her hand and she would have given anything at that point to be back with him and in his arms.

Frankie’s flight back to Florida was delayed by a few hours, in a typical prolonged agony. You’d think as the writer of this tale I’d give the poor guy a break, right? 

When it touches down eventually at Pensacola International Airport, there is no wild fracas to greet him like at JFK. It’s hauntingly quiet, no journalists, and leaves Frankie on edge a little as he stalks through arrivals on alert. Benny meets him in the terminal. 

The sight of his old friend and comrade brings a flood of emotions. Benny’s face breaks into a wide, stupid grin, his arms opening out. 

“I can’t fuckin’ believe it, you son of a bitch!” Benny hollers, his voice choked with happiness and relief, as he hugs the fuck out of Frankie, and for a while doesn’t let go.

Frankie smiles ghostly back at him with pink, chapped lips and tired, droopy eyes.

“C’mon, let’s get you home, Fish.”

On the ride back to Benny's place, Frankie’s quiet, contemplative and staring out the window at the familiar surroundings of Pensacola. The late afternoon sun casts a warm glow over the city, highlighting the palms swaying gently in the breeze.

They pass by the old coffee shop where he and Eddie used to go after the NA meetings and talk about his feelings and cravings. It still has the same faded awning and the neon “open” sign flickering in the window. Frankie can almost taste the bitter, cheap coffee and hear Eddie’s encouraging words again, but the memories feel like they belong to someone else. 

“You okay, man?” Benny asks him as he winds his hand round the steering wheel, eyeing Frankie carefully. The car turns into a familiar residential street and he realises Benny still has the same apartment. 

“Just weird, you know?” Frankie says, squinting in the sunlight through the window.

“Yeah. You came back from the fuckin’ dead. If that isn’t weird I don’t know what the fuck is, right?” Benny says with a smile draped in disbelief.

In some ways it’s like he had died on that island. Frankie knows a piece of him is still there, still trapped and unable to escape; his feet lodged in the sand that refuses to let go, and without Jude here beside him, he’s daunted at the prospect of truly living again.

A weird feeling considering, before the island, he'd felt dead in some ways too.

Benny explained that he had immediately called all Frankie’s family to inform them all that Frankie was very much alive and well, and was coming home. They had all cried, celebrated and struggled to wrap their heads around it of course, with so many unanswered questions at how he managed to defy all the odds.

“What happened to my apartment in the end?” Frankie queries.

They pull up at a stoplight, and Frankie’s gaze settles on a group of teenagers hanging out in front of the convenience store. They look so young and full of life and potential, even if they aren’t doing anything with it. He remembers being that age, full of dreams and plans to join the military and make something of himself. Now, after everything, those dreams feel so naive and distant. 

Benny scratches over his head. “It was sold. We thought you... Well, you know.”

Frankie nods and bites down on his lip.

“You can stay here with me until you find somewhere else. I got you a pull out cot.”

“What about my stuff?”

“Maybe your parents kept some of it, I dunno. The rest is gone, man. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be.” Frankie replies. “It makes sense.”

“You thought about what you’ll need to do, call the bank, shit like that?” Benny asks him. They drive down a quieter neighbourhood, the sidewalk packed full of parked cars. 

“Yeah. I’ll do it this week, maybe tomorrow.” Frankie shrugs. 

Benny nods, turning the car onto the driveway and he kills the engine. “I got you, Fish. Anything you need.”

“Thanks, man. I appreciate it.” Frankie smiles. 

As Benny leads Frankie up to the door, he feels a weariness settle over him. All he wants to do is find a quiet corner and sleep, to escape the overwhelming swirl of emotions and noise. The journey home, the media attention, the fact that he's left Jude in New York without him, is all too much. 

But as they step inside, all those thoughts of sleep are immediately squashed as a cacophony of voices yell out in surprise and greet him. 

Faces from his family and friends all blur as they mingle and crowd him, the sound echoing off the walls of sobs and sighs of relief. Pats on the back, hugs into full bosoms. Benny looks a little sheepishly at Frankie and shrugs. 

“They all wanted to be here,” he simply says, and Frankie can’t summon the strength to be mad at him for it, he’s just too exhausted. 

So he allows himself to be passed around, gripping everyone tight in his arms. Banners and balloons are floating around and the apartment, cramped and small as it is, is filled to the brim with cheers, laughter and the smell of freshly baked food.

He spots Will and freezes. The two men stand facing one another for a moment, the weight of everything they’ve been through during the worst of Frankie’s addiction hanging between them. Then Will steps forward, pulling Frankie into a tight hug and he sags against his friend. 

“It’s good to see you, Fish.” Will says into his shoulder. “You look like shit, but it’s damn good to see you.”

He stands there stunned. Frankie hadn’t expected this and although he’s pleased and relieved to see everyone too, he’s not sure if he can handle it all right now.

He looks around the room and at what feels like millions of pairs of enquiring eyes swarming him, lips moving with questions that are repeated and he doesn't hear them all, not fully. It goes on like this for what feels like hours; a tidal wave of gushed hugs, strong drinks being passed around the room in celebration of Frankie’s arrival home and tears from almost everyone. 

Phones are ringing off the hook with relatives, friends and well-wishers all keen to speak to him that can't be there, and pass on their love and support. Being pulled this way and that into their arms and shoulders.

He feels like a bumper car, wandering aimlessly around the apartment, bashing into everyone who he comes across, and being pulled into conversations that are on a continual loop about how he managed to survive on the island and come home to them all. 

The repetitiveness is exhausting him and overwhelming him in equal measure; it’s akin to being thrust into a plethora of screams and screeches, a black hole of braying deafening pitches, each desperate to reach out and touch him. To tug him here, there and everywhere and to get a piece of him, no matter how small or miniscule.

Around nine PM, Benny clocks the anxious look blooming on Frankie’s face crammed into the furthest end of the couch and seeming incredibly small inside it. 

“You alright?” Benny asks him as he spots Frankie leaning on the sink in the kitchen with his eyes closed a few minutes later.

“Just tired,” Frankie replies. "It's a lot."

“Yeah. I get it. Everyone’s amped. Maybe it was a bit much having everyone here at once.” He admits. 

“No, it’s cool. I wanted to see ’em. I’ve fuckin’ missed ‘em all.” Although it may have been better in small, contained doses - his head is hammering. “Thanks, man.” Frankie replies, stifling a yawn from escaping with the back of his hand.

“You going to call her?” Benny asks, as he notices Frankie checking his phone again.

Frankie nods and clears his throat, blushing.

“What’s she like?” Benny asks. 

“Fuckin’ amazing,” Frankie replies looking at him with sincere, watery eyes. “If she hadn't been there, I’d be dead for real.”

“What are you fuckin’ talking to me for then, call her.” Benny says and claps Frankie so hard on the back it winds him a little with the force. “I’ll get everyone going. You look like you might crash.”

He smiles as Benny heads off into the lounge and Frankie lets himself out of the back door into the small, overgrown garden. He dials Jude’s number and it rings a few times before she answers.

“Hey you,” comes her voice down the phone. It sounds relieved and he feels like he finally breathes for the first time since he left her.

“Hi, how are you?” Frankie asks, smiling as he speaks. “I’m sorry. I’m not interrupting you, am I?”

“Don’t ever say sorry for calling me,” Jude says, and he can hear her smiling. “You okay, you sound tired?”

“Yeah, I arrived to a surprise party. Wasn't expecting that. Everyone’s here.”

“I bet that’s nice.”

“Yeah… yeah.” He scratches at the back of his head. 

“Or not?” Jude queries and he smiles at how well she can read him, even without seeing him. 

“Just a bit much to take in. Tiring, but great.” He says.

They’re quiet on the phone and both laugh at the same time.

“I fuckin’ miss you,” Frankie says to her, the ache in his voice palpable.

“I wish you were here right now, I can’t sleep without you.”

“Yeah, I’m not gonna sleep much either.”

“What are you doing tomorrow?” She enquires. 

“I gotta go see my lawyer, talk to the bank, convince them I’m not dead so they give me my money back,” he chuckles. 

“Yeah, me too. Fucking sucks dying, right?”

“I need a haircut.” Frankie chirps, running his hand through his long tresses that are down to his shoulders.

“Oh, me too. But, I’m going to miss your mop head.” She muses.

“I’m going to miss braiding your hair.” 

“I won’t get it cut too short then.”

“Good,” he replies smiling as he wanders around the garden. He slings his free hand into his pocket.

There’s another silence between them.

“I want you here with me,” Frankie admits to her.

“I wish I was so badly right now.”

“I’m tempted to fly back to you.” Frankie admits, already trying to work it out in his head. 

“I know, but your family needs you. And so does mine for a little bit.” She explains. “My mom is a mess.”

“Yeah,” Frankie replies, his back sagging a little.

“Have you watched the news yet?”

“No.”

“We’re on it. They got us at the airport.” Jude explains. “The news just keeps showing it over and over… feels really surreal.”

“Figures. They’ll wanna talk to us at some point.” Frankie explains, sniffing in deep.

“I know.” The tone in her voice is flat.

“We can wait, okay? Do it when we’re ready.”

“I just wanna kiss you right now.” Jude whines. 

“Fuck, Jude. Stop it, or I will get on that fuckin’ plane.” Frankie warns, feeling the ache inside his gut and loins alike.

“I need you, Frankie. I’ll always need you. You know that right?”

Frankie smiles as he stops walking around the garden. “I love you,” he says to her down the phone.

“I love you, more.” She says to him and he chuckles. 

“Don’t fight me on this.” He smirks.

His name is called from somewhere in the house. 

“I gotta go.” 

“Go back to your family.”

“Call you tomorrow?”

“Can’t wait.” Jude smiles down the phone.

“Fish!” his voice is called again, and after hanging up and taking a calming deep breath, Frankie wanders back inside. He searches for the voice calling him and is met with a concerned look on Benny’s face. 

“I didn’t know she was coming, man.”  

Frankie spots Will, nursing a beer and laughing at something a woman who stands beside him says. She drops her wrist from his shoulder and the whole room goes silent except for the familiar tinny jangle of bracelets that have always adorned her wrist. 

He watches in slow motion as Carla’s eyes land on him, widening a little and a small smile turns her lips upwards at him. A wave of her palm and then she’s walking over to him, and Frankie’s rooted to the spot. Unable to move or hear anything except the clattering beats of his blood pulsing in his ears. 

“Frankie,” she murmurs softly. 

He simply nods at her and tries to force a smile he knows he should give her. There was a time he smiled for her a lot. He remembers the early days, the memories stuffing themselves in between his ears, even if he doesn't want them to right now. The laughter they shared, the plans they made. They had fallen in love so quickly, so frivolously.

There were memories of lazy Sunday mornings in bed, spontaneous road trips and the way she used to look at him like he was her whole world. But then there were lies, secrets and shame. Frankie tries to forget them and bury them deep because that was a different Frankie, it had to be.

He remembers the lies he told her about his addiction, the late nights when he promised he was working, but was actually out scoring coke. He remembers her worried eyes, her pleas for him to get help, her face coming into a fuzzy view at the hospital when he woke up after the overdose.

He remembers his stubborn denial and digging his heels in. The fights, the arguments and the day he finally caved and told her he was done. And then he’d gotten on that damned plane. Leaving her and their history and pain behind and thrown up in the air, and it’s all here now, confronting him like a tidal wave, and he’s drowning right in front of her.

“When I heard the news, I-” She trails off unsure of what to say, and again, he just simply nods. “I’m glad you’re okay.”

“Thanks, it's uh… it's good to see you.” Frankie says.

And it is, in some bittersweet way; she looks good, healthy. A sheen in her eyes and a tan on her skin. They stand there for a moment, the silence stretching out between them. 

“Listen, I… it’s not the right time, but we need to talk.” Carla says, offering a weak smile to him. 

“Talk about what?” Frankie asks.

He feels the weight of their shared past hanging around them, thick in the cool conditioned air in Benny’s apartment. She looks at him, a mixture of sadness and relief in her eyes. And something else he can’t quite put his finger on, guilt perhaps?  

“I’m sorry,” Frankie says, his own guilt pressing hard on the back of his tongue. 

She baulks clearly not expecting it. 

“For everything… For lying to you. For hurting you.” He says. And he is, part of him will always be sorry for it.

She reaches out, touching his arm gently, and he flinches. 

“I know, Frankie. I just… I wish things had been different.” 

His legs feel weak as he stands there before her, offering her an apology that’s long overdue, and yet hearing the words flow out of his mouth doesn't do it justice somehow. 

“There’s something I need to tell you.” Carla says, her voice trembling. “After we broke up… I didn't know how to tell you, and then you were gone, and it got so messy and I didn’t know what to do-”

“Carla-” 

She takes a deep breath, meeting his concerned gaze. “Frankie, you’re…”

“What? What is it?” His mind races with a thousand thoughts and scenarios, but the one he doesn’t expect is the one she ultimately breaks him with. 

She speaks again, the wobble in her voice sounding the words out clear and unmistakeable. “Frankie, you’re a father.”

To be continued...

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Thank you for taking the time to read my story; it really means so much to me. I'd love to know your thoughts, and I'd really appreciate a re-blog so others can enjoy this story too. Thank you so much 🖤

MAIN MASTERLIST

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@76bookworm76

[frogaroundandfindout]

Random highly specific dick grayson fanfics I’ve been craving

An exhausted 18/19 yr old Dick finding Jason trying to steal the wheels off of Nightbird (his car) and instead of reprimanding him he just launches into a really proud rant about his car and how much work he put into her and god kid you got a good eye for parts. I just replaced the tires with ones where the rubber self heals. And none of that commercial crap either, actual self healing rubber that could get a bullet shot through it and still close up a second later. Oh and did you notice the seats? Just polished the leather on em! Go on sit, sit! Comfy, huh? You wanna get a bite to eat? Cool. I think bat burger’s hero-meal comes with a bat-mobile toy. Not as cool as my lovely lady of course, but close enough. Jason is absolutely baffled. This is Nightwing? The one all those new gangs that moved from bludhaven decided facing was worse than fighting for territory in the narrows? Fleeing unsuccessfully might be add considering Nightwing’s presence in gotham. He was so…nice? In that weird slightly off putting way that most of the real good people he knows have.

Dick and Damian both longing for the days where it was just them: Batman and Robin. The best. Dick having a whole moment where he curls around nearly completed adoption papers and sobs because Damian was his. For a year Damian was his to protect, his to guide, his to love. But now they aren’t even in the same city and barely go on patrols together let alone have movie nights cuddled up on the couch (it’s only reasonable Richard. Penguins huddle to conserve body heat). And Damian in the manor staring blankly at his drawing of gotham that Bruce hung up in his office. He didn’t make it for him. He made it for Richard. But what was he supposed to do when Father saw a piece dedicated to “dad” while Damian was flipping through his sketchbook? Tell him it was actually for his oldest son instead of him? Tell him that sometimes Damian wishes bruce never came back so that Richard didn’t have step back from them?

Dick who cooks tons of different cultural dishes within the same meal (like rice and curry served at the same time as sushi and fried plantains) and when questioned about it he’s just like ???? That’s what my mom used to do??? We lived in so many different places it felt weird limiting our food to one culture per meal.

Dick being like Garfield Logan’s big brother long before Jason comes into the mix. Gar frequently turning into a baby elephant just because it makes dick coo over him more than any form. Even a kitten!

[desultory-novice]

"Apologies" AU - Masterpost

"Before Popstar, Adeleine lived on 'Shiver Star,' the embittered residents' nickname for the frozen husk of old Earth they were left on after the migration. But she isn't sad, for she has a best friend in her older brother. And he would give up anything to protect her...."

Characters: Adeleine, Noir (loosely based on unused Dark Matter design) / Dark Matter Swordsman, Gooey, King Dedede, others...

-

Note that this "comic" started as a well-received one shot that proceeded to grow into a series. As a result, it's very experimental. Expect random inconsistencies and continual artstyle shifts.

Bolded text are the newest posts

[Apologies AU] -Shiver Star- “Apologies”  “One Sneeze”   (illust) “Summer”   “A Walk in the Snow”   “The Swordsman”  “Wonderful Gift”  (illust) “Damnation”  “Salvation”  “Unstoppable”  “Brightest Star”

-Dream Land 2- “Sibling Reunion” “Big Brother Instincts” “Unsung Hero”  “The Perfect Vessel” “To Protect” “Matter Over Mind” "Darkened Skies" (illust) “Last Will” “Ego”

-Side Stories- "Freeze" "A Cold Hell" "No Friends"

"Honestly, it was all worth it"

"Never Never Land"

-

[Noir Fontaine - Initial Ref Sheet] [Noir Fontaine - Kirby OC Tourney Profile]

-

[White-Haired Noir] “Dark Matter Painter”  (gift art - how this whole idea started...) "Have You Ever Killed Before?" (reblog sketch - W.Noir is born...) "Why Did You Stop Me...?" (reblog text + sketch - W.Noir in Kirby 64)

“You’re a good knight!” (illust - W.Noir and Ribbon) “The Body Remembers” (illust - W.Noir's scars) "Knight Costume" (sketch - W.Noir and Meta Knight) "My Trauma" (sketch - W.Noir and Meta Knight)

"Like Brother Like Sister" (comic, white-haired Noir origin) "Each From His or Her Own World" (comic, one of various endings)

"Three Challenges Noir Had to Face and One Meta Knight Did" (fanfic - W.Noir and Meta Knight in Planet Robobot) "Cold Air" (fanfic - W.Noir and Meta Knight's first meeting)

"The Little Prince" (illust - Adult W.Noir) "Brighter Skies" (Sketch - Adult W.Noir and Kirby)

[Snowflakes Timeline - cw: body horror + bad end] "I'll Never Leave You" - Script + Sketch "...Zero Three..." - Sketch + Script + Illust "Melted Snow" - Script + Fictional Boss Fight "Null v0.3" - Sketch + Silliness

[Extras - Art (canonincal)] “Ugly Scarf”   (illust - our first look at Noir) "It'll All Make Sense Soon, Right?" (illust - Noir + Adeleine) "You Won't Win..." (illust - Noir's last moments) “Was I A Good Brother...?” (illust + text - storycrafting for Noir) “That’s…Funny…”  (illust - Adeleine's notebook) "Blue Penguin Scarves" (illust - Dedede and Noir's Scarf)

"Happy Birthday!" (sketch - Adeleine and Noir)

[Extras - Art (non-canon)] “Full Regalia” (illust - Dark Matter Blade “Gijinka”)  "No Hands Club" (sketch - incredibly short MariPav Crossover) "Looking Over You" (sketch - Angel Noir he's not dead yet!!) "Hell Branch x Apologies" / 2 / 3 (sketch - unexpected crossover!?!) "Games You Play When..." (sketch - the siblings + Steven meme) "Family Wedding?!" (sketch - the siblings + Raquelle/Rimura) "Adeleine meets Dark Matter Painter" (sketch comic) "Noir meets White-Haired Noir" (sketch comic) "Hell Branch x Apologies Returns!" (sketch comic) (Leads to same post as "...AGAIN" below)

"Ending D" (illust - Everyone dies...) "Sempai Noir" (illust - Adeleine draws Noir) "sEmPaI bLaDe" (illust - Gooey draws Noir)

[Extras - Scripts] “Vestige” (script - Susie + Adeleine) "Evil Science" (script - Meta Knight + Susie) "W.Noir and Taranza + Adeleine and Magolor" (scripts) "...AGAIN." (script - Noir in Dream Land 3) (Leads to same post as Hell Branch Returns" above) "Why Does Life Suck?" (more Hell Branch crossover)

"Re_Birthday" (script/sketch - Noir reflects as Adeleine mourns)

[Extras - Asks] "Warning Sign?" (text) "W.Noir and Meta Knight" (text) "What was Gooey...?" (text) "Adeleine, Noir, and 'bullies'" (text) "Noir as Dream Land 3's Dark Matter" (text) "Dark Matter Painter's Light" (reblog; White-Haired Noir lore) "Why hell though?" (text)

[Shiver Siblings Takeover] (For one weekend, I let Adeleine and Noir "answer" any asks about them. White-Haired Noir shows up too. Somewhat non-canon, but surprisingly connected?!?)

Please Send Positive Thoughts to... Which Kirby Adventure... [w/ Sketch] If You Had a Wish-Granting Clock... Food and Warm Clothes Arrive... [w/ Sketch] A Crystal Ball to See the Future - Noir... [Comic] A Crystal Ball to See the Future - W. Noir [Comic] Have You Been to the Forgotten Land... [Comic] (This ^ one is canon to W.Noir btw!) So Zan Roasted Your Sister Online... A Conversation (?) With Marx [Comic] Thanks for the Fun Weekend [w/ Sketch]

[the1entirecircus]

Violent Apprentices

MEANWHILE in the bat cave, our heroes talk about their periling issues...

Flash (Barry Allen): ...and now he's back from the dead, and while he isn't killing as many people as before, he is still hurting people to extreme!

Batman: And did August have this level of violence before he became Godspeed?

Flash: No, August was like any other officer in the CCPD. Which is saying something, we have one of the nicer police forces in the country. (That's just a headcanon. Yes ACAB, but these bastards are nice)

Batman: The way you're describing him reminds me of one my old protege. Jason Todd.

Flash: The Red Hood?

Batman: Yes. Except, Jason learned the hard way of why he shouldn't kill. Although he did return to using guns.

Flash: Really? That's seems very...reductive.

Batman: Yeah, I was surprised too.

Flash: Heh, imagine if they met. Wouldn't that be terrific.

Batman: Don't make me laugh, Barry. It would be the end of the world if that happened.

Flash: Yeah it would...

*Meanwhile in a more crime-orientated area of Central City, danger was afoot as the Red Hood monitored Penguin and Captain Cold and The Rogues.*

Penguin: As you can see here, we have the latest equipment in subzero freezing based weaponry. Perfect for handling those pesky speedsters! Wank!

Captain Cold: How much for the freeze grenades?

Red Hood: Snart, they're free if you really wanted them.

*All weapon were aimed at the anti-hero, ready to fire.*

Penguin: RED HOOD?! You followed me all the way here!

Red Hood, with both of his guns brought out: Yeah, because you're not supposed to be here. Now pack things up, and waddle your ass back to Blackgate before I make.

Captain Cold: I don't think you're the one to talk here. Me, my buds and sis take on the Flash every day. A guy who looks like he came from Mortal Kombat and carries guns doesn't scare us.

Red Hood: Really? Well, I've fought Mr. Freeze before. You're just a watered down copy.

Captain Cold: Oh you are so...*a look of fear strikes Cold's face*...MIRROR MASTER NOW!

*Mirror Master rapidly fired his mirror gun at the equipment the Penguin had presented. Penguin squaked both from fury and surprise. He cursed at Captain Cold as he and the Rogues teleported away in a flash of light. But then came a brighter light. A white blinding light. Screams from Penguin's men followed as the light zoomed around the area. Red Hood reached for something in his utility belt but stopped when the white blur caught and picked up Penguin.*

Penguin: What are you??

*The man in the white and gold costume resembling the Flash's uniform pulled the crime lord closer.*

"I am Godspeed"

Red Hood: Put the crime lord down!

*Godspeed glared at Red Hood and the guns he pointed at him with. The masked vigilante tossed Penguin aside and approached the Gothamite. Red Hood pointed at Penguin.*

Red Hood: Go anywhere, and I will make you a legless bird, got it?

Godspeed: I can stop a pullet the second it leaves a gun, who do you think you are?

Red Hood: I'm Red Hood, I usually work in Gotham City.

Godspeed: Red Hood...the crime lord?

Red Hood: For a time, now I just do vigilante work against Gotham's elites. Basically what batman did before the crazies arrived.

*Red Hood walked over and cuffed Penguin.*

Red Hood: I'm starved, wanna grab some Big Belly Burger?

Godspeed: ...why not?

---

*our Anti-heroes munched and chewed on their burgers as they discussed their various adventures as masked vigilantes while sitting in a big belly burger.*

Red Hood: Are you sure you didn't hear of me? Because I had similar reasoning when I fought Batman. Although it was focused on just killing the Joker.

Godspeed: That was 100% my idea, I had no intentions of copying your actions. I also fully intended on killing everyone in the Flash's rogues gallery. But I did emphasize Reverse Flash because he killed Flash's mom. I honestly thought Flash would agree with me. I feel dumb for thinking that now, and for wanting to kill those people.

Red Hood: Mutual feelings, except I'll never feel bad for trying to kill Joker. That fucker has it coming.

Godspeed: How is he still alive? I know the Gotham justice system is bad, but I didn't think it was that terrible?

Red Hood: It is shit, but he just keeps coming back. Rumor has it, he's immortal. I don't believe it though. I think he was just a guy who wanted attention.

Godspeed: That makes more sense to me. He does seem like an attention whore. Reverse Flash is similar in my opinion. Except he specifically wants the attention from Flash. I mean he did kill my brother just to help motivate me into being Godspeed so that I would be enemies with the Flash.

Red Hood: He killed your brother? Joker killed my mom the same day he killed me! Well, he used a bomb, but still.

Godspeed: Joker killed you? Reverse Flash killed me!

Red Hood: That is so coincidentally strange!

Godspeed: I know!

"Oh you have got to be kidding me..."

*Both vigilantes look and see Barry Allen in his civilian clothing*

Red Hood: (Whispering) Is that...?

Godspeed: (whispers back) Yup. (speaks normally) What? Never seen two vigilantes eating at Big Belly Burger?

Red Hood: They do it all the time in Bat Burger over in Gotham.

Barry: ...I'm tired.

---

Flash: (while running through Central City) And so they're just talking about how similar they are. I think they're friends now.

Batman: (in the bat cave listening to the communication link) I'm not surprised, Red Hood was following a lead that Penguin was going to give new weapons to the Rogues.

Flash: Oh...wait what?!

[what-even-is-thiss]

Hey do you have any literature recommendations for people who want to broaden their knowledge on the classics and Greek/Roman myths without taking university courses?

So like for people (such as myself) who have read Bullfinch's Myths of Greece and Rome and Edith Hamilton's Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes but want to deepen their knowledge and maybe go to intermediate level type stuff. Or whatever the level above the mentioned literature is.

Well those two books are quite old and skip over quite a few things. Both are very important to our culture, historically, but I'd recommend reading through some more modern popular retellings like Stephen Fry's Mythos series if you're looking for pure entertainment and a dummy's guide to Greek myths.

The Penguin Dictionary of Classical Mythology is a useful reference book if you have difficulty keeping track of all these names and whatnot. It's just a reference book but you know. Having a reference book handy is quite useful. I personally prefer reference books when it comes to checking stuff when I'm doing mythology things anyways. They're generally more organized than the internet.

If you're looking for entertaining retellings of less popular myths, I'd actually recommend going to videos and podcasts for that. YouTubers like MonarchsFactory, Overly Sarcastic Productions, Jake Doubleyoo, and Mythology & Fiction Explained are all people who do a lot of research themselves on the myths they retell and I would recommend all of them to basically anybody. As far as podcasts go, Mythology & Fiction Explained has a podcast version and Let's Talk About Myths, Baby! is a very informative podcast that talks about sources for the myths and has interviews with experts on the subjects. It's also a podcast that is specifically Greco-Roman based.

As far as doing slightly more in-depth research, I cannot recommend theoi.com enough. I really can't. It has overviews of the most common myths, it has pages about god and hero cults, it cites it's sources and has an online library of translated texts. It's just really good. Go clicking around it for a while. It's a lot of fun if you're into that sort of thing.

As far as primary sources for myths go, there's a few places you could start. The Iliad, perhaps. The most recent English translation is by Caroline Alexander but I personally prefer Stanley Lombardo's translation. The Odyssey is a more accessible read in my opinion if you're not used to reading epic poetry. Emily Wilson's translation is especially accessible, written in iambic pentameter and generally replicating Homer's simple conversational language.

The third traditional entrance into the epic cycle of the surviving literature is the Aeneid. The newest translation of that is by Shadi Bartsch, which is pretty good, but it reads more like prose than poetry. Would still highly recommend it though. Robert Fitzgerald's translation is also good.

If you wanna get fancy you can read the Post-Homerica which attempts to bridge the gap between the Iliad and the Odyssey. It's not often read but it's one of the latest pagan sources we have from people who still practiced ancient Greek religion.

If you want a collection of short stories from ancient times, Ovid's your guy. Metamorphosis is specifically Roman and specifically Ovid's fanfiction, but it's also a valid primary resource and Ovid generally views women as people. What a concept!

Though I think the absolute best overview from ancient times itself is The Library aka Biblioteca by pseudo-apollodorus. Doesn't matter what translation you get. The prose is simple to the point where it's difficult to screw it up. Not artistic at all. It is, quite simply, a guy from ancient times trying to write down the mythological history of the world as he knew it. It has a bunch of summaries of myths in it, and most modern printings also have a table of contents so you can essentially use it as a reference book or a cheat sheet. I love it.

The Homeric Hymns weren't actually written by Homer but that's what they're called anyways. They're a lovely bit of poetry because, well, they were originally hymns. They've got some of the earliest full tellings of the Hades and Persephone story and the birth of Hermes in them. They also provide an insight into how ancient people who were most devoted to these gods viewed them. Go read the Homeric Hymns. They're lovely. You can buy the Michael Crudden translation or you can read a public domain translation online. I don't care. Just read them.

If you're into tedious lists, the next place I'd recommend you go after you read all the fun stuff is Hesiod's Theogony. Hesiod, the red pill douchebag of the ancient world, decided he was gonna write down the genealogy of all the Greek gods. That means lists. I'm not exaggerating. Be prepared for a lot of lists. But this work also has the earliest and one of the most complete versions of the story of Pandora, the creation of humans, and the most popular version of the Greek creation myth. So, it's very useful. If you can take all the lists.

The Argonautica aka the voyage of the argo by Apollonius of Rhodes, is also here. That is also a thing you can read. About the golden fleece and whatnot. And Jason. You know Jason. We all hate Jason.

Greek theatre also provides a good overview of specific myths. The three theben plays, Medea, the Bacche, etc. We've only got thirty-something surviving plays in their entirety so like... look up the list. Find one that looks interesting. Read it. Find a performance of it online, maybe. They're good.

If you want to dive into the mythology as a religion that was practiced, Greek Religion by Walter Burkurt and Ancient Greek Cults: A Guide by Jennifer Larson are pretty good books on the topic and often used as textbooks in college courses.

If you wanna get meta and get a feel for what the general public today thinks about Greek myths and what the average person that's sort of knowledgeable about Greek myths knows, the books you already mentioned are good. That's what people usually read. In addition to those, most people's intro to Greek myths generally involves The Complete World of Greek Mythology by Richard Buxton, D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths by Ingri and Edgar Parin d’Aulaire, or The Percy Jackson series.

I've been flipping through the big stacks of mythology books I keep on my table trying to remember if I've forgotten anything but I don't think I have so, yeah. Hope this helps. There's no correct starting point here. Once you get started there's a nearly endless void of complications and scholarship you can fall down that you'll never reach the bottom of. This post is basically just a guide to the tip of the iceberg.

[bestanimatedmovie]

Tumblr's favorite animated movie, Round 1!

Classification round | Round 2 | Round 3 | Round 4

Round 1:

Results overview

A Monster in Paris vs Sailor Moon R: The Movie

A Silent Voice vs Shaun the Sheep Movie

A Troll in Central Park vs Rugrats in Paris: The Movie

Asterix: The Mansions of the Gods vs Lu Over the Wall

Astro Boy vs Ferdinand

Azur and Asmar: The Princes' Quest vs Puella Magi Madoka Magica the Movie Part III: Rebellion

Barbie & the Diamond Castle vs The Great Mouse Detective

Barbie and the Magic of Pegasus vs My Little Pony: Equestria Girls

Barbie as the Princess and the Pauper vs Revolutionary Girl Utena: The Adolescence of Utena

Barbie Princess Charm School vs Turning Red

Batman and Mr. Freeze: SubZero vs Robots

Batman Ninja vs Barbie Fairy Secret

Belle vs 101 Dalmatians

Birdboy: The Forgotten Children vs The Princess and the Goblin

Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie vs All Dogs go to Heaven

Chicken Run vs Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

Cinderella III: A Twist in Time vs Green Snake

Despicable me vs Wreck-it-Ralph

Fantastic Mr Fox vs Wendell & Wild

Fantastic Planet vs Anomalisa

Gnomeo & Juliet vs Ernest & Celestine

Home on the Range vs A Goofy Movie

Hoodwinked! vs Lupin the Third: The Castle of Cagliostro

Ice Age vs WALL-E

In This Corner of the World vs We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story

Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem vs The Tale of John and Marie

Isle of Dogs vs Weathering with You

James and the Giant Peach vs Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind

Klaus vs Summer Wars

Kubo and the Two Strings vs Bambi

Liz and the Blue Bird vs Tekkonkinkreet

Madagascar vs Encanto 

Mary and Max vs The Sea Beast

Monsters vs Aliens vs Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit

My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Rainbow Rocks vs Night Is Short, Walk on Girl

Night on the Galactic Railroad vs Metropolis

One Piece: Baron Omatsuri and the Secret Island vs Star☆Twinkle Precure the Movie: Wish Upon a Song of Stars

Paprika vs The Secret of Kells

ParaNorman vs Suzume

Penguins of Madagascar vs The Sword in the Stone

Persepolis vs The Garden of Words

Phineas and Ferb: The Movie: Across the 2nd Dimension vs Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus

Planet Hulk vs Zombillenium

Pocahontas vs The Tale of the Princess Kaguya

Pokémon Heroes vs Professor Layton and the Eternal Diva

Porco Rosso vs Meet the Robinsons

Quest for Camelot vs Digimon Adventure: Our War Game

Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas vs The Nightmare Before Christmas

Spookley the Square Pumpkin vs Kirikou and the Sorceress

Tales of the Night vs Stormy Night

Tehran Taboo vs Emesis Blue

The Adventures of Tintin vs Bee Movie

The Book of Life vs The Aristocats

The Boy and the Beast vs Waltz with Bashir

The Brave Little Toaster vs Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker

The Breadwinner vs Millennium Actress

The Congress vs The Legend of Hei

The Fabulous Baron Munchausen vs Ringing Bell

The Jungle Book vs Wolf Children

The LEGO Batman Movie vs Kung Fu Panda 2

The Lego Ninjago Movie vs Barbie in the 12 Dancing Princesses

The Lion King II: Simba's Pride vs Watership Down

The Little Prince vs Loving Vincent

The Pagemaster vs Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade

The Phantom Tollbooth vs The Sorcerer's Apprentice

The Secret World of Arrietty vs 9

The Thief and the Cobbler vs Felidae

The Wind Rises vs Brother Bear

Tokyo Godfathers vs 5 Centimeters per Second

Trolls World Tour vs Promare

Unicorn Wars vs Batman: Gotham by Gaslight

Whisper of the Heart vs Batman: Under the Red Hood

[batboyblog]

people are like "omg why can't people just boycott the blood libel transphobia game?!" as if South Park isn't on it's 400th season Harley Quinn got renewed after Penguin the hooked nosed villain literally handed out bags of money at a bar mitzvah (and another Jewish character tried to burn our hero's body in a pizza oven...) like we can go on but 90% of the time if a piece of media is antisemitic it's only the Jews who notice and say anything and are told to shut up (I'm sure someone will comment on this that South Park hates everyone is its all good)

[secondgenerationnerd]

Since the post was popular lemme add a few more things Mar’i has said in interviews to convince people her family aren’t all vigilantes:

“Uncle Duke is the one sane person in our family, of course he’s not a vigilante.”

“I heard Grampa’s knees crack getting out of his favorite arm chair. I doubt he’d be able to keep up with Penguin let alone Poison Ivy.”

“Auntie Cassie and Auntie Stephy have two little boys at home. The only mystery they solve most days is ‘is this stain chocolate or poop?’ And let me tell you how 9 out of 10 of those mysteries end.”

“What do you mean ‘there’s no way someone like Barbara Gordon could be a hero?’ Because she’s a wheelchair user? She might not be gallivanting around in bright green spandex shorts, but she is my hero and has been since I came to Earth.”

“My dad’s idea of an ‘adventurous night’ looks more like trying out a new restaurant, putting on a face mask, and watching reality TV. Oh I’m right there with him! Just because I’m borderline indestructible doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy drama.”

“Superboy and Robin are just friends, despite the clear sexual tension between them. I adore working with them both, even if they should just kiss already.” (Fully talking about her own boyfriend and uncle, knowing that a lot of people ship them. Jon and Damian think it’s hilarious)

“My younger cousins are 6, 5, 4, 3, and 2. They haven’t even registered that I’m a hero, I’m just Riri who takes them flying. Safely I should add, but I’m still the coolest person in the family. That being said, if people thought my aunts and uncles were a handful, just wait for my cousins.” (Only names her cousins if given permission from their parents, she’s very protective of them.)

“Grampa took in my father in his early 20’s. He could barely get Dad off the chandelier, but yeah, could totally get him focused enough to fight crime.”

“Uncle Jason might be grumpy but he’s secretly a giant nerd. He’s one of the biggest reasons I can speak English as well as I do. How could he be any kind of vigilante?”

[legobiwan]

So I was prompted to write my own take on the Luigi jailbreak scenario via someone's tags :D I'll probably cross-post this to ao3 sometime later today.

I've definitely taken a more comedic bent with my interpretation, which I feel is in more in line with what the movie will be like. But there's some smidgens of angst. And a fair amount of silliness. And yes, the brothers will reunite at the end :)

And so, I give you, "Jailbreak." A comedy in two parts.

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

“Speech! Speech! Speech!”

“I’m not really much of a speech-giver…” Luigi protests as the Penguin King’s burly aide pushes him towards the center of the gathered escapees. 

The chamber, or the evil rotunda, as Luigi thinks of it, is a circular room punched through the middle, a series of chains descending from a large, wooden crank set high in the rafters. Bits of armor and weaponry are strewn about the floor, spears and hammers and something resembling a megaphone that shoots fire, which was definitely the first thing Luigi clipped to his belt after they had thrown the remaining guards into the pit. The interior design can only be described as ghoulish, stone busts of various Koopas, as he had learned they were called, inflicting violence on various species - penguins, birds, some kind of mushroom people, and a green, happy-looking lizard wearing boots and a saddle. 

The Penguin aide continues to push him bodily through the throng, which is smushed together near the entrance doors, careful to keep far, far away from the menacing cavity in the middle of the room. Luigi takes stock of the strange group, wondering how in the hell he went from checking out a warehouse leak in Flushing to shimmying up a chain dangling over a pit of lava to knocking out an armed, sentient turtle with a well-placed pitch of one of those ghastly busts.

“Gathered friends,” the aide begins, having caught the attention of the murmuring group. “Fellow penguins, goombas, birdos, and…” he trails off, glancing over at Luma, who gives a high-pitched, broken giggle, the effect of which is like nails drawn across a chalkboard. The penguin’s expression crumples into folds of distaste. “And psychotic star…things…”

“Weeeee!” Luma exclaims helpfully, bounding across the ceiling rafters, setting the chains off into a chorus of tortured groans.

The aide clears his throat. “Yes, well. As I was saying. We’re gathered here today - or tonight. Or maybe this afternoon. You know, it’s honestly hard to know being stuck in the bowels of a lava castle…” Off to the side, the Penguin King is making cutting gestures across his throat. 

“It’s two thirty-seven!” one of the Goombas calls from the back.

“Afternoon, then! That’s lunchtime!” a Birdo exclaims from the other side of the room.

“I could eat!”

“Me, too. Think they have any turnips down here?”

“Weeeee!”

The aide slaps a fin to his forehead with a deep sigh. “Can we please focus here?” he yells over the growing din. Luigi chews on his lower lip, fingering the trigger of the fire gun hanging from his belt. This is the ragtag group of rebels he's supposed to be leading to the gates of the Lava Castle?

He’s definitely going to die here.

“As I was saying,” the aide begins again, deepening his voice into a royal solemnity. “In our darkest hour - “

“It’s still two thirty-seven, Mr. Penguin!”

“In our darkest lightest hour,” the aide hisses. “A hero arrived from another world. Beaten but not defeated, he liberated us from our imprisonment with his courage, intelligence, and most importantly, his opposable thumbs. And now, this hero will lead us to storm the gates of the Koopa Castle and aid us in smiting our enemies to take back what is ours!”

“Friends, I give you - “ the penguin flings his fins open, whacking the Luigi in the shin. 

“Our hero - Loogi!”

The crowd erupts in a high-pitched cheer, raising an assortment of cobbled-together weapons over their small heads. Even the ridiculous, toothy Goombas are hopping up and down, chanting Loogi! Loogi! Loogi!

Luigi pulls at his collar, giving the odd gathering the kind of half-smile, half-grimace he usually reserved for school pictures and his brother’s cooking. 

“Uhhhhh…..” Luigi begins when the clamor dies down. He gives a small wave in all directions, adding, “Hi?”

Fifty or so pairs of eyes, and some other appendages he couldn’t even begin to name, stare at him wide-eyed, expectant. He wonders if they see him as some kind of action hero, or trained assassin, or even a mercenary soldier of fortune, like that one movie he and his brother watched all the time back in Bensonurst.

What the hell is he supposed to say? He’s a mechanical engineer-turned-plumber from Brooklyn, a street kid and a science geek, not some kind of war hero. Not to mention, he still doesn’t know where the hell he is, surrounded by talking penguins, birds with cannons for mouths, and whatever those weird little Goombas are supposed to be.

Luigi clenches his jaw.

He thinks it’s been about three days since he was dropped unceremoniously into whatever incarnation of hell this place is supposed to be. And in that time, he’s been chased by skeletons and tied up by a bunch of miniature red monks with gasmasks. He’s had his moustache hairs plucked out by a giant, firebreathing turtle bent on taking over whatever world this was. He’s been magically levitated and thrown about by a dinosaur wizard in a goofy hat. And to top it all off, to put the crap cherry on the crap cake, he was tossed into a cage like some old lady’s pet bird and dropped over a pit of freakin’ lava. 

Screw speeches. I want Bowser’s kneecaps.

“You guys want a speech?” Luigi growls, tightening his grip on the gigantic hammer in his hand. “Here’s your damn speech.” Luigi raises his weapon over his head, yelling, “Let’s kick some Koopa ass!”

A raucous cheer rises from the gathered motley group, Luma zooming around the chamber, shouting “Meat for the grinder! Meat for the grinder!” between fits of maniacal laughter. The penguins dance awkwardly, their weapons twice as large as they are and Luigi hopes what they lack in stature they can make up for with enthusiasm. Off to the side, the collection of Goombas bounce up and down. Without any discernible arms or hands, Luigi has no clue what help the Goombas could be, but who knows? Maybe they can bite somebody with those fangs.

He has no plan, no knowledge of where he is, and he prays to every deity he can name that his brother is safe, that whatever world he got pulled into is treating him better than this one has Luigi. But watching the ragtag group celebrate in front of him, he feels something akin to hope.

For the first time in three days, Luigi smiles. 

Maybe, just maybe, he can be a hero after all. 

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

Epilogue

“Watch to your left, Loogi!”

Luigi spins, hurtling his hammer at a charging spiny-shelled Koopa, sending him flying into the general fracas of the first floor antechamber. Towards the middle of the room, Penguins and Birdos and little mushroom people armed with spears are battling it out with Bowser’s minions, shell, fur, and feather flying as his ragtag band of rebels pokes and swats and, in some cases, bodily hurl themselves at the gathered Koopa forces. 

Luigi sprints to retrieve his hammer, intent on throwing himself into the fray when the large double-doors to the throne room boom open in a rush of blinding, white light. It takes Luigi a minute for his eyes to adjust, so long has he been trapped in the gloomy castle chambers. There’s something coming from the light, some kind of shadow hurtling forward. Luigi squints, raising his hammer above his head, ready to strike at whatever newest enemy he'll be certain to pound into the ground.

“Luigi?” An all-too familiar voice yelps from across the chamber. “What in the - “ his brother stammers, rushing towards him, stopping short a few feet away. “Why the hell do you look like Duke Murdock?”

Luigi smashes his hammer down on one of those stupid skeletons, sending splinters everywhere. He turns to his brother, suddenly very aware of his tattered overalls, his soot-stained cap, the dark bags beneath his eyes. "What do you mean?” Luigi counters. “It's a great movie!"

"That's not the point, meatball head! What are you doing?" Mario gestures at the wild chaos unfolding between the escapees and the Koopa troops.

"I'm trying to run a rebellion here, big bro. You could stop standing there and help, you know."

"A rebellion, I - " Mario chuckles, jogging to his brother's side. "Why am I not surprised?"

With the arrival of Mario and his allies, the melee turns decidedly against the Koopas, who, sensing victory slipping through their claws, launch one last offensive of spikes and shells. Luigi and his brother get to work, slamming, punching, and pounding their enemies. It strikes Luigi that Mario looks like he knows what he’s doing, almost as if he’s had some kind of combat training, like he's the one trying to be Duke Murdock. He’s about to ask his brother about it when Mario stops, pulling, of all things, a flower from his overalls.

“Have you gone insane?” Luigi yells.

But he’s left speechless as his brother is enveloped by two quick flashes of light, his overalls changing from blue to white. Luigi's jaw drops open. He has seen a lot of weird crap in the last few days but his brother, performing real magic?

What is this place?

A moment later, Mario winds up, as if he were pitching for his high school baseball team again, letting loose a series of fireballs from his palm, which barrel into the Koopa forces, sending them flying like a set of ten-pins.

"Holy hell, bro!" Luigi exclaims. "You have got to teach me how to do that!"

"Oh no," Mario rockets another flaming missile towards a group of Spinys. "You remember the flambé incident that one Valentine's Day." Luigi groans, slamming his hammer into one of those gas mask monks who kidnapped him. "And the Benson burner in high school." Luigi groans again. "And the fuel injector in the van - "

"That one was not my fault!" Luigi exclaims over the whine of a spiky projectile which whizzes past his head, knocking his cap to the ground.

Mario’s eyes widen as he pulls Luigi towards him, spinning him around so they’re back-to-back.

"You're not going near fire," Mario says over his shoulder.

Too bad his fire gun gave out three levels ago, Luigi thinks, slashing his hammer into the gut of a large Koopa Trooper.

"Electricity, then," Luigi says as he makes a second parry with the hammer. The Koopa Trooper falls back, grunting.

"Wait, what?" Mario shoots him a look, throwing another fireball into the fray.

"Electricity. If you can shoot fireballs, I get to shoot electricity."

Mario gives an aggrieved sigh.

"I - no. First of all, that's not even possible. Second of all, no. And third of all…” Mario trails off, his features softening. The battle is on its last legs, penguins and mushrooms giving chase to a small group of Koopa stragglers, who scurry towards the nearest exit. 

Mario turns, taking Luigi by his shoulders. 

“You're taking this all really well, Luigi."

Luigi gives a wan smile, gaze finding the floor. "Bro, I've led a prison escape gang consisting of penguins, walking mushrooms, and one really messed-up star. We broke out from cages hanging over a pit of lava, stole weapons, and have fought our way up here ever since."

He doesn’t mention being chased through a nightmare hellscape by a pack of hungry skeletons. Doesn’t mention being kidnapped, hands bound, led by a rope through the Dark Land to meet almost certain death. He doesn’t mention the moustache. 

His brother doesn’t need to know about all of that. It’s enough - more than enough - that he’s here. 

Luigi’s chest tightens. "Nothing short of ghosts is going to surprise me at this point, bro," he laughs. It’s a wet, croaky sound.

Mario stares at his brother for a moment. All at once, he grabs Luigi, enveloping his brother in a fierce hug. 

"Pasta brain,” Mario whispers, ragged, into Luigi's shoulder.

The tension from the last few days - the constant alert, the self-preservation, the seemingly never-ending threat of death - it all seeps away in the safety of his brother’s arms. So what if they’re marooned on some other world, other universe, far away from anything resembling Brooklyn? He’s got Mario and that’s all he needs.

"Pizza breath," Luigi replies softly.

Mario grips him tighter. "I'm so, so glad you're safe, bro."

I've missed you so much. Luigi returns the hug with equal intensity. "Me, too, Mario."

[jerktournament]

ROUND TWO - Herbert P. Bear (Club Penguin) VS Bakugou (My Hero Academia)

!!! PROPAGANDA BELOW !!!

BAKUGOU: "We all know him. We all have our feelings about him. The jerk who grew a heart of gold. (Or at least polished it up a bit)"

HERBERT: "operation blackout would have been NOTHING without him (mostly because he caused it). he has a SOLAR LASER. this polar bear is an ass who literally harnessed the power of the sun and froze the top members of the elite penguin force (a group of penguin special agents) and his best friend is an equally villainous crab"

[whalehouse1]

The sad thing about the flaws in the writing of Batman characters by character:

Batman: Bruce Wayne erasure, edge lord writers who like toxic masculinity and no concept of Bruce’s money as plot.

Dick: His sexualization being used as a joke and nowadays making him a dumb blond stereotype.

Jason: Edgelord writing.

Barbara: Keeping her young and a deeply unsettling thought process of feminism where she is actively being toxic to Dick and just is nasty to Cass and Steph (pre-Batgirls I hope she is better to them in that).

Tim: His writers keep trying to make him relatable by making him chauvinistic, misogynistic, and when they do something interesting it’s either hollow (Sum of Our Parts) or seems like it belongs in an Else World (Red Robin and Gun Batman).

Stephanie: Gets treated like she’s useless.

Cass: Took an extremely nuanced character and reduced her to the pretty Chinese girl who doesn’t speak stereotype which is horrific.

Damian: Trying to mass market him with manga and romance, magic is here for some reason and with the looming potential of his origin being part of the upcoming movie, potentially the destruction of Talia’s reputation again. Have fun with that one Talia fans…

Duke: He doesn’t get written about.

Joker: DC puts him in more stuff than necessary and it dilutes him.

Harley Quinn: Fundamental misunderstanding of her character and the same stupid blondification they give to Dick.

Poison Ivy: The most misanthropic villain is an anti-hero and like Tim is only defined by her relationship (I hope the new Ivy series focuses on her but I haven’t had a chance to read it yet).

Riddler: Lazy in the thought process which you cannot be with him.

Scarecrow/Mad Hatter: Always a lackey, never the rogue.

Killer Croc/Bane: You know they do have brains right? Sure Croc is dumber, but Hannibal Lectoring him to make him scarier doesn’t work when everything is cannibalism and doesn’t fit his history or personality at all.

Two-Face/Catwoman/Penguin: No notes you’re not going too bad with them imo atm.

[intrstellarhearts]

✰ the dead poets society ice skating headcanons!

a/n: i tried to find the least heartbreaking "dead poets society winter" image, so PLEASE DON'T BE SAD EVERYONE! THEY'RE ALL OK IN THIS HEADCANON SET I PROMISE :)

✰✰✰✰✰

the idea came to neil in a dream.

swirling snow had cleared to show a frozen lake... THE lake he often spent his time at when it was nice outside, and he just knew.

he had to get the dead poet's society to go ice skating.

it would be tough; he wasn't completely sure how he would even get ice skates. and yet, neil perry was determined that this was what needed to happen.

it was a whole operation too!

meeks and pitts were the perfect men for the job of securing the ice skates.

the two of them were so in tune with each other that they could get in & get out of the storage closet near the gym.

plus pitts has really long arms (at least in my opinion) so he could reach in and grab the skates if they were in a super tight spot.

they were able to get in, take seven pairs of skates, and run out with no consequences.

mission one accomplished.

then there was the issue of figuring out if the lake was actually frozen or not.

though cameron said it was dangerous numerous times, he was dragged outside anyway to watch what was to unfold.

it was on this particularly frigid day that one charlie dalton put on his swim trunks and goggles underneath his heavy winter coat and ventured out onto the lake to see if it could hold his weight.

knox was supposedly ready to retrieve charlie if he fell, but that little shrimp probably couldn't even lift an apple off the ground.

oops

anyways, cameron was ACTUALLY ready, despite him also being less than ripped.

but hey, it's the thought that counts.

lucky for our favorite boys, charlie didn't fall though the ice that day.

in fact, even when he slipped and fell onto the lake, the thick layer didn't so much as crack.

i think we can all visualize neil perry's woops and smile when he realized his plan was actually going to work.

after dinner that night, when the stars were just beginning to show themselves, a small yet steady bit of snow began to fall from the sky.

welton was so peaceful in the winter.

and that peace was interrupted by seven excitable boys jumping around and throwing snowballs at each other.

choruses of laughter followed by shushing repeated numerous times through the long walk to the lake.

they're all bundled up, hats and gloves illuminating red cheeks & noses.

but there is a sort of spotlight on our hero, todd anderson, who has chosen to wear not one, not two, not three, not four (bear with me here), not five, not six, but SEVEN layers of clothing.

there are two pairs of pants, an undershirt, two long sleeve shirts, a sweatshirt, and a jacket.

neil has to keep his arm around him, for he literally can't see where he's going.

charlie keeps running around behind him and smacking the back of his jacket as hard as he can; and todd can't feel a thing.

at least he's warm!

skating proves to be a bit of a challenge. it's not like an ice rink where you can hold on to the side walls.

they have to hold on to each other.

what's this? ah yes. stephen meeks and gerard pitts are strangely very talented at skating, and have already moved quite far from the others, who are having an... interesting time.

cameron is quite a good skater as well, though he occasionally stops with his hands out, moments from a faceplant.

charlie dalton skates like a penguin walks; unsteadily, yet it somehow works. he attempts to spin, and in a cruel twist from the icy winds, falls and slides a few feet before sticking his gloved hand up in a "thumbs up" gesture.

knox overstreet is trying to be elegant, and yet looks more like he is walking, jerkily trying to navigate the slippery surface.

and here is neil perry, our mastermind of this whole trip, trying to convince todd anderson to step onto the ice.

it's not that todd doesn't want to skate. of COURSE he does. he knows that neil wanted nothing more than to do this, and he wouldn't want to ruin it.

but for some reason, he just can't seem to get up the nerve to skate.

he is ambushed quickly by a fleeting memory of his brother jeffrey, gliding across the ice when they were both much younger. he thinks of how he wanted so badly to be like him.

and so, with neil perry's hand in his, todd anderson's skate makes contact with the ice.

it takes a moment, (it always does), and yet he knows that his friends are by his side, ready to catch him.

he looks over to see neil perry's ecstatic face, that smile brightening the darkness of the night. he then sees it change, neil's mouth is an "o" shape as he fumbles to reach for todd, but neil is too late, and he is falling.

but funnily enough, instead of the yelp he expected, he finds himself laughing.

his body lands on the ice, but his head in the snow. crisis averted.

and as he lifts himself, clinging to neil for support, our hero realizes he's not afraid of falling anymore.

[datcloudboi]

List of Films Turning 10 Years Old in 2024

The Amazing Spider-Man 2

American Sniper

Annie (the remake starring Jamie Foxx)

As Above, So Below

The Babadook (we stan a gay icon)

Batman: Assault on Arkham (a direct continuation of the Batman: Arkham games)

Big Eyes

Big Hero 6

Birdman (won the Best Picture Oscar for this year)

The Book of Life

The Boxtrolls

Boyhood (filmed over the course of 12 years)

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Chef

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

Dead Snow 2: Red vs. Dead

Dear White People (the basis for the TV series on Netflix, and made by the same guy)

Dracula Untold (this was Universal’s second attempt at launching the Dark Universe)

The Drop (a crime drama starring Tom Hardy)

Edge of Tomorrow/Live Die Repeat

The Equalizer

Exodus: Gods and Kings (a biblical epic directed by Ridley Scott)

The Expendables 3

The Fault in Our Stars

Foxcatcher

Fury (the war movie with Brad Pitt and Shia LaBeouf)

Get on Up (the James Brown biopic starring Chadwick Boseman)

Godzilla (the 1st film in the MonsterVerse)

Gone Girl

The Grand Budapest Hotel

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1

The Guest

Hercules (the one starring The Rock)

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (did you guys know the working title for this movie was “The Hobbit: There and Back Again”?)

How to Train Your Dragon 2

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1

If I Stay

The Imitation Game (the movie where Benedict Cumberbatch plays Alan Turing)

Inherent Vice

Interstellar

The Interview (the movie that almost caused World War 3)

Into the Woods

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit

Jodorowsky's Dune (a documentary about the Dune movie that we never got)

Joe (one of Nic Cage's best movies)

John Wick (the 1st one)

Kill the Messenger

Left Behind (one of Nic Cage's worst movies)

The Lego Movie

Life After Beth

Lucy ((the “humans only use 10% of their brain” movie. Which has since been proven false. Source: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/do-people-only-use-10-percent-of-their-brains/ )

Maleficent

The Maze Runner

A Million Ways to Die in the Weset

Mr. Peabody and Sherman

Muppets Most Wanted

Need for Speed (Aaron Paul's first project after "Breaking Bad" ended)

Neighbors

Night of the Museum: Secret of the Tomb (the third one. Also one of Robin Williams’ last movies)

Nightcrawler

Noah (a biblical epic directed by Darren Aronofsky)

Non-Stop

The Nut Job

Obvious Child

Oculus (one of the 1st projects from Mike Flanagan)

Ouija

Paddington

Penguins of Madagascar

The Purge: Anarchy

The Raid 2

RoboCop (the reboot that was actually decent)

Selma

Sharknado 2

Sin City: A Dame to Kill For

Son of Batman

St. Vincent

The Taking of Deborah Logan

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (the one produced by Michael Bay. It’s also the one where the Turtles look like aliens)

The Theory of Everything (the movie where Eddie Redmayne plays Stephen Hawking)

Third Person

300: Rise of an Empire

Transformers: Age of Extinction

Tusk

22 Jump Street

Veronica Mars (the film continuation of the TV show)

A Walk Among the Tombstones

What If? (a rom-com starring Daniel Radcliffe)

What We Do in the Shadows (the film that was the basis for the TV show)

When Marnie Was There

Whiplash

X-Men: Days of Future Past

[rose-tea-and-strawberries]

Actually, I've been wanting to hear about what Yuu was doing during the House of Villains event. (That was my very first introduction to the House of Mouse) @sandbees wrote a brief scenario about that.

Obviously, Yuu won't get kicked out, but boy is it awkward for her. Wait til her classmates hear about this.

It's our house now,

It's our house now.

It's the fact you can't ignore.

Shut the windows. Lock the doors!

- smol me blasting this every Halloween to drive my parents crazy

So the villains do the whole take over thing where they prove how evil and not-boring they are (still can't believe that they were being bullied and peer pressured by a parrot). Since they can't kick out their favourite staff member, she's making sure the chaos isn't too crazy.

Also side note but Yuu wears a vampire costume to match with Mickey and Minnie because I said so.

When the whole 'kicking the staff out scene' happens they make sure to keep Yuu contained in an area so she can't stop them/escape. IDK maybe the hyenas and Pain and Panic lock her in the kitchen when the lights go out and let her out when they're done.

Yuu: *finally bursts out of the kitchen to the main area and sees all of the staff gone, Horace is tied up in the control room and the villains are singing and doing a conga line around the hall* What the-

I like to think that the heroes are like "oh no, those villains are holding poor Yuu hostage. We must save her." While she's just sitting at a table drinking tea with the Queen of Hearts, Queen Grimhilde and Maleficent and having a pleasant conversation.

The Great Seven see this as a perfect opportunity to do more matchmaking. When's a better time to talk about their twisted counterparts when than when Yuu literally can't escape the conversation.

As much as she wants to comfort and hang out with the heroes (poor Piglet has been shaking under the table for the past ten minutes) she knows that she has to do damage control before Mickey gets back. At least she's got the penguin waiters and Fantasia brooms to help her. Plus the nicer henchmen like Mr Smee and Kronk are making sure that she's all right. As much as villains like Kaa and Shere Khan want to scare her, everyone knows that she's off limits (she's even got frickin Chernabog and the Horned King on her side. How does she do it?!)

Besides everyone has seen what she's been through. This little coup is nothing compared overblots and NRC life in general - she can handle herself just fine.

It would help though if she wasn't being pulled from her work every five minutes because a different villain wants to talk to her. They all want her to join in with the chaos and villainy and maybe prove to those do-gooder heroes that she likes them more but she's just like "guys, it's a school night."

When Mickey does save the day, she's there cheering him on with everyone else (sorry not sorry, Jafar. The Fab Five are like her family and you did lock them out onto the streets). Also can we talk about how Aladdin was a real MVP during that episode because he's going to be so smug hearing Yuu praise him for throwing them the lamp.

Also when the other customers are freed (I know that some of the heroes were still in the HoM whilst others were locked out) you bet, they're all going to have one big group hug and they're going to check if Yuu is okay.

When she recounts all of this to her friends they're like: The Great Seven sort of kidnapped you?

Yuu: Yeah but Mickey gave me a raise so it's cool. Also he can deflect fireballs.

@adrianasunderworld Any thoughts?

[black-rose-events]

Book it 📗

Based on this thread inspired by a prompt by @auratusaria and its continuations by @freefallingup13 and Spectre aka @world-of-fire-and-flight!

[ID: Pingu the penguin angrily sticking a pink heart on a card, with top text "When your favorite author turns out to be your nemesis" and bottom text "but you still need them to write the next installment" end ID]

Hero's jaw dropped, "It was you? All along?"

"Surprised?"

"Obviously! I told yo— I told Author Name my fan theories! My OTPs, my NOTPs!" They couldn't believe it. They were talking to their favorite author all along? They gasped! "I told you about my AUs and fanfics and fanart!"

"And as fun and validating all of that was, I also found your fandom blog by the way," Hero visibly paled, "and I loved reading every single one of your fanfics, not to mention your insightful analyses and theories. I also adore the incorrect quotes you make, very in-character. And since we're airing out dirty laundry, then, to be entirely honest, the only reason your OTP is canon right now is because I wanted to see if you'd be distracted enough at our next fight. And you were!"

"But- but- they were endgame from the start!"

"Nope! I never intended that! They were supposed to be friends, nothing more."

"But all the clues! The foreshadowing!"

"All in that shipper brain of yours, Hero. But I will be taking the credit, of course. And for all the theories and ideas I had thought up all along and you were just 'right' about."

"I'll pummel you!"

"Not if you want your OTP alive, dearie."

"But-"

"Sorry, Hero. But here," they took out a thick hardcover from their duffel bag, "Here's the next book. Hasn't hit the shelves yet."

The crime-fighter reached for the book, a mix of suspicion and giddiness. It was weird. Their favorite author was their nemesis? What's next? Their online friend is Supervillain? Well, they do both like the color blue... Hmmm...

"Earth to Hero?"

"Huh? Yeah, yeah." They took the book.

"Open it. To the dedication."

Hero did. It said,

To my favorite fan. You're my hero.

And it was signed by the author.

When Hero looked up, Villain was gone. And so was the priceless antique typewriter. Stolen from right under Hero's nose. Just like their heart.

---Fin---

A/N: SO. I feel mean about Villain taking all the credit sooooooo they own up to everything eventually and give Hero their due credit :)

Also... Spectre's totally shipping this hero and villain!!! I never intended it! They talked me into it!!! They're a shipper! Their secret's out! MWAHAHAHAHA 😈 /lh Love ya, fellow villain! Even if you are a sucker for an adorable hero :)

[bestanimatedmovie]

Welcome to Revenge of the Underrated!

Some of you asked me to put a "haven't watched both" to be more fair to the more unknown movies, but I've seen other tournaments doing this and I think it limits too much who can participate in the polls. So what I decided to do is a double elimination!

What does that mean? That means a movie has to lose twice to be eliminated. In other words, there will be a sorts of losers bracket that'll be part of main bracket. I'm undecided on whether to do this for only one round or the whole bracket, as it would make the tournament very long. Do let me know if you have any opinion about it.

Anyway, Revenge of the Underrated, Round 1:

Miss Hokusai vs Happily N'Ever After

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children vs Tiger and Bunny: The Rising

Ballerina vs Book Girl

On-Gaku: Our Sound vs Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Eternal The Movie Part 1

Cats don't Dance vs The Flight of Dragons

Dragon Ball Z: Cooler's Revenge vs The Girl Without Hands

The Twelve Tasks of Asterix vs Flatland: The Film

Felidae vs Pokemon the Movie: The Power of Us

An American Tail: Fievel Goes West vs Unico in the Island of Magic

Rock and Rule vs Rock-A-Doodle

The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning vs Freddie as F.R.0.7

The Plague Dogs vs The Magic Riddle

Pokemon Heroes vs The Pebble and the Penguin

Strange Magic vs Sea Prince and the Fire Child

Help! I'm a Fish vs Red Shoes and the Seven Dwarfs

16.Azur and Asmar: The Prince's Quest vs Rainbow Brite and the Star Stealer

17.Titan A.E. vs Ico, the Brave Horse

18.The Adventures of Mark Twain vs A Troll in Central Park

19.The Case of Hana and Alice vs Once Upon a Forest

20.Underdogs vs Long Way North

21.Mars Needs Moms vs The Twelve Months

22.Phineas and Ferb: The Movie: Candace Against the Universe vs Blinky Bill

23.Robot Carnival vs Revue Starlight: The Movie

24.One Piece: Baron Omatsuri and the Secret Island vs Winx Club: The Secret of the Lost Kingdom

25.Ruben Brandt, Collector vs Samurai Jack: The Premiere Movie

26.Lupin III: The First vs Pippi Longstocking

27.The Three Caballeros vs The Legend of Manxmouse

28.Princes and Princesses vs The Snow Queen

29.A Letter to Momo vs Seven Days War

30.The Wild Thornberrys Movie vs The Rabbi's Cat

31.Night on the Galactic Railroad vs The Boy who Wanted to be a Bear

32.The Swan Princess vs Planetarian: Hoshi no Hito

33.Patema Inverted vs Bartok the Magnificent

34.Next Gen vs Padak

35.Asterix: The Mansions of the Gods vs Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland

36.Thumbelina vs Catnapped!

37.Early Man vs Rainbow Magic: Return to Rainspell Island

38.Junk Head vs Hey Arnold! The Jungle Movie

39.Charlotte's Web (1973) vs The Princess and the Goblin

40.Shaun the Sheep Movie vs Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius

41. Redline vs Balto

42. The Addams Family vs Inu-Oh

43. Epic vs Mary and the Witch's Flower

44.The Girl Who Leapt Through Time vs Vivo

45.Barbie: Princess Charm School vs Kronk''s New Groove

46.Waking Life vs The Transformers: The Movie

47.Barbie in the Nutcracker vs Barbie as Rapunzel

48.Pokemon: The First Movie - Mewtwo Strikes Back vs Cool World

49.The Land Before Time vs When the Wind Blows

50.The Secret of NIMH vs Summer Wars

51.The Black Cauldron vs All Dogs go to Heaven

52.The Red Turtle vs FernGully: The Last Rainforest

53.Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas vs Ron's Gone Wrong

54.The Boxtrolls vs Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade

55.Arthur Christmas vs One Piece Film Red

56.Barbie of Swan Lake vs The Rescuers Down Under

57.Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole vs Secret of the Wings

58.The Castle of Cagliostro vs Pokemon: The Movie 2000

59.Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust vs Arthur and the Invisibles

60.Tinker Bell vs Barbie as the Island Princess

61.Mind Game vs Tekkonkinkreet

62.The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh vs Dragon Ball Super: Broly

63.Mirai vs Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero

64.The Lion King II: Simba's Pride vs Scooby-Doo! and the Cyber Chase