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glenngaylord · 2 years

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All That Baz - Film Review: Babylon ★★★★

Quite frequently, new filmmakers will, as I like to say, chew off more than they can bite, trying to throw in every idea they’ve ever had over the 20+ years they’ve waited for their shot. They direct as if they’ll never get the chance to do so again, resulting in an excessive filmgoing experience. Damien Chazelle, who has already had his turn at bat with Whiplash, La La Land and First Man, has written and directed his latest, Babylon, as if it was his first. Perhaps he felt the sensory overload of his first three films seemed a little slight, so he thought he’d turn things up to Baz Luhrmann levels of “too much is never enough” with his 3+ hour epic about the depravity of 1920’s Hollywood. I suspect I’ll be in the minority on this one, but I loved every ridiculous, over-the-top minute of this trope-filled, hot mess in much the same way I enjoyed Ken Russell’s Tommy and yes, Lurhmann’s Moulin Rouge. It wouldn’t feel off-base to call this the over-stimulated cousin to Everything Everywhere All At Once.

Take the bare bones structure of the forgotten 1975 Merchant/Ivory dud, The Wild Party, add mountains of cocaine, orgies, a powerful and original look at blackface, and many references to films by Paul Thomas Anderson and you’ll get just the slightest hint of what this movie has to offer. Back when Los Angeles looked like a combination of orange grove fields and desert, the film opens on our hero, Manny Torres (Diego Calva), a Spanish immigrant hired to transport an elephant up the hill to a lavish Bel Air party. In a scene highly reminiscent of the backwards truck sequence in Licorice Pizza, Manny impresses the powers-that-be enough to land an invitation to the evening’s festivities. There, he’ll meet an A-list crowd virtually guaranteed to serve as an entree to his film career ambitions. He fatefully meets Nellie LaRoy (Margot Robbie), a newbie from Jersey who’s already a star in her own mind even before her first audition. It’s love and other drugs at first sight as they bond over a Scarface-level mound of nose candy. Manny also impresses fading silent star Jack Conrad (Brad Pitt) enough to open doors for him, while Nellie lands a film role after another starlet meets her end in a Fatty Arbuckle-like tragedy.

The story follows these crazy kids, along with dozens of others in a way similar to Robert Altman’s classic Nashville but never loses sight of our central pair. Chief among the huge cast are Jovan Adepo’s Sidney Palmer, a talented Black jazz trumpeter at the party who rises to movie stardom but encounters racism at almost every turn, Lady Fay Zhu (Li Jun Li) as a tuxedo clad Morocco-era Marlene Dietrich type of chanteuse who acts as a sapphic Greek chorus to the proceedings, and Jean Smart as an unnecessarily English-accented Hedda Hopper-esque gossip columnist named Elinor St. John.

The film follows our characters through the advent of talking pictures and beyond, and in one bravura sequence, we watch the repetitive yet hilarious struggles of a film crew attempting to get a single successful take using the then-novel concept of microphones planted on the ceiling. Olivia Hamilton, in a deft turn as the slightly butch Dorothy Arzner-style helmer and P.J. Byrne as her increasingly flummoxed Assistant Director really sell each agonizing moment with Robbie serving up a perfect Jean Hagen from Singin’ In The Rain homage. Her honking voice instantly putting her at odds with the Mid-Atlantic accents favored at the time. That Arzner herself created the boom microphone out of a similar situation doesn’t get showcased here, but this memorable scene could stand as its own masterful short film.

Same goes for many set pieces in the film, including a supremely creepy Tobey Maguire taking us into the bowels of hell, a scene which would not look out of place in a David Lynch movie. I also loved the scene in which Margot Robbie feebly attempts to seem “classy” to impress the people who run the town. To say the moment spirals out of control would not be accurate since the entire film is one big spiral.

Many will throw their hands up at it. I get it. Robbie’s character is pretty much one note, oh, but what a note! She gives it her all by tearing up the screen, inhaling said torn-up screen, and vomiting it back out all over your face. She’s like Cabaret’s Sally Bowles but ballsier and, pardon the pun, she bowled me over. Chazelle doesn’t have the same cinematic vocabulary of a Baz Lurhmann, so many of the stylized moments get repeated endlessly, such as the zoom ins and outs of Sidney Palmer’s trumpet. I was sick of it already just from watching the trailer. I also wish filmmakers would stop with the close-ups of people watching films in awe. Even Sam Mendes employs the same trope in his new Empire Of Light. Cinema Paradiso and Purple Rose Of Cairo did it so beautifully over 30 years ago, so let’s give that a rest, please and thank you. It doesn’t take a genius to know what to expect when one character walks off camera for what’s supposed to be a shocking moment, because we’ve seen it a thousand times before.

Still, if you connect with this overstuffed epic, gems abound. Diego Calva spends much of the film observing the action silently, but when he takes charge in the second half, you won’t find a more soulful, aching performance this year. Pitt appears to have entered his middle-aged coasting through it phase of his career, much like Robert Redford did after a certain point, but he still knows how to keep things fun and light while still providing some dark undercurrents. Smart, despite that accent, gets a choice monologue late in the film which expertly illustrates the depressing themes in such a gorgeously calculated way. Adepo shines in a big moment in which he’s faced with a difficult choice and just try taking your eyes off Li Jun Li’s brief but stunning work. Rory Scovel, so good on Physical, brings an offbeat, fresh energy to the film as The Count, an Agent of Chaos who hilariously shrugs it all off.

Technically, this film astounds. Between Cinematographer Linus Sandgren, Costume Designer Mary Zophres, Production Designer Florencia Martin, Editor Tom Cross and especially Justin Hurwitz and his blisteringly propulsive score, you will always have something great to see and hear. By the time the film ended, I felt exhausted with the feeling that I had watched every movie ever made. Some inclusions, such as Avatar (!!!???!!!) seemed odd, although the synchronicity of the timing, with its sequel on hitting theaters, makes Chazelle seem more brand aware than I had thought. Yes, it’s all a little too much, but this loving homage to Hollywood exposes the festering slime barely under the surface while still managing to make all of us want to sit in a theater, the lights of the projector beaming just so, and go all Nicole Kidman in her AMC ad as we look at the screen in awe.

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wantonglances · 3 years

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the scene in CCA where Char confronts Gyunei is unnecessarily funny. Gyunei pretends it wasn’t him who told Quess about Lalah, Char knowing damn well it was and coming for his head, Char still trusting Gyunei with their guy talk™ even though he helped Quess give him the emotional equivalent of whiplash, then Char ending their conversation like “Nanai lets me cry into her bosom when I feel bad, so don’t ruin this for me.”

#Gyunei is so funny for thinking that Char actually liked Quess #you silly little man; he likes using ppl #char aznable #quess paraya #gyunei guss #char’s counterattack #cca #gundam cca

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thedevilsdom · 3 years

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should’ve behaved

Mammon’s usually such a good boy! It’s a shame that he’s gotta make a mistake at some point or another

A request for MC/Mammon with vibrators, punishment, overstim, and aftercare. Technically Male MC but it doesn’t really come up

~1.9k words

Mammon had been a bad boy.

He usually does his best to be your good boy, wanting nothing more than to please you and earn your rewards and praise, but you’d just been edging him for so long! What else was he supposed to do? His hands had zipped down from where he kept them behind his back to his dick so he could finish himself off, and the very second his orgasmic high left him, he felt the dread set in instead.

His eyes are wide as he looks down between his cum covered fingers and up at you. You’ve got a stern look on your face that lets him know what’s in store for him and he shivers in anticipation and fear.

“Hm.” You cross your arms and he whimpers. He knows that you’d never be unnecessarily cruel to him, you’d never hurt him to the point where he’d be questioning if you still love him, but he’s well aware that there’s going to be at least some punishment.

“-M sorry,” He shrinks under your gaze.

“I know you are, I know,” You pet his hair. “Lay down on the floor, on your tummy.”

There’s a thud as he drops down on his knees and immediately positions himself on the tiled floor just as you want him. You kneel down and position him, moving his body until he’s laid half on his side and half on his front, with one leg bent to keep him like that. His still hard cock is resting on the smooth floor, drooling precum. You leave for a second to grab what you’ll need, speaking as you come back.

“Tell me everything you did wrong, pup.”

“I- ah- I moved my hands from where they were supposed to be,” He says. With that you slide a cock ring down his length. “I touched myself without your permission.” You put a pair of nipple clamps on him, relishing his little yelp. “And I c-came without your permission.” With that final confession, you spread his ass cheeks and push a lubed up vibrator into his hole.

“Nice and honest, puppy.” You give him a little spank and you slowly stroke down his back. “Just for that I won’t be too rough. Okay?”

“Yes, Master.” His heated body is trembling. If he had a tail it’d be between his legs.

“Good.” The vibe in his ass gets powered on first, then the vibrating ring around his cock, then you sit cross legged in front of him so you can reach forward to the thin chain that connects the nipple clamps. His watery eyes can’t help but look between your legs as you sit, and he’s grateful that this display is having at least some effect on you.

The vibrations start out weak, but in just a couple seconds you ramp them up and he’s suddenly very aware of how oversensitive he still is from having just cum earlier. His eyes go wide and he yelps, trying to squirm away, but you keep holding the clamps’ chain, keeping him where he is. As he writhes, his slick cock slides against the tiles, the cool pressure only feeling overwhelming on his hot skin, and the vibrator in his ass keeps brushing against his prostate.

“Mas-ah!” Tears already start to brim in his eyes. He can’t stop his body from trying to move away from the sensation, but it only makes you tug on the nipple clamps and his cock move against the tiles. “Oh fuck fuck fuck!”

“What, pup? Don’t like it?” You give the clamps another harsh tug. “You shouldn’t have been naughty. You knew what you were doing was wrong and you still did it. This is your punishment, so take it.” As mean and cold as your words are, you know he’s got the safeword, and you would stop the instant it’s said. Yet, he doesn’t say it, so you continue.

“It’s so much,” He squeaks, interrupted by whines and whimpers. “Ple-please, need- need you-“ His head feels like it’s floating off his body. He doesn’t care that your touch would feel like molten lava on his skin, he needs you to touch him, pet him, hold him, anything.

It’s been only about half a minute since you started, but Mammon’s a mess. There’s drool where he’s got his face pressed to the floor, his poor, abused cock is deeply flushed and throbbing, his hands form fists behind his back. You feel sorry for him.

“Cum again and you can be done.”

He sobs against the ground and weakly thrusts his hips. The feeling against his sensitive skin is almost too much, but he knows that he needs to push himself over the edge for this torture to end.

“Cum, gonna- gonna, ‘m cumming! Nnngh!” With a low whine, his orgasm washes over him and he shudders, cock giving pitiful little drops of white against the dark tiles. Immediately you go and turn the vibes off, then gently remove the clamps from his sore chest. You let him rest like that for a moment, panting and warm on the floor, your hand gently placed on his bicep to ground him. Once you think he’s ready, you slowly, carefully, take the vibes off of him and set them aside, ignoring his whining complaint at the oversensitivity.

He looks like a mess. Drool on his cheek, the beginnings of tears in his eyes, a shine of sweat across his body. You feel a sick sense of pride inside you, knowing that you made him be this way.

“Oh, my little pet, come here.” You open your arms and he eagerly- though shakily and slowly- clambers his way into your lap. He fits himself against you as best he can. One of your hands comes up to rest on the back of his head, cradling it against your shoulder, while the other holds him across the back. “You did so good for me, you’re always so good for me.”

He tilts his head, turning his face to your neck, and shifts into his demon form. You begin to preen and care for him wings, feeling him shiver as he comes back to his body.

“Come take a bath.” You say. Your voice is soft, and it’s taken on more notes of care and compassion than you’d had in the scene, but you keep just enough sternness that it still registers as an order from his dominant. You’re not looking to give him whiplash from jumping out of a scene too soon. He nods, mindful of his horns as he pulls back from you, taking your hand as you walk him over to the bathroom connected to the room. You plug the tub and get the water running.

“I’ll be right back, I’m going to go get some stuff for this.”

You’re fleet footed as you move back to the room and grab the things you need, heading back with them in your arms. A pack of cookies, a bottle of water, and some bubble bath soap. You come back to find Mammon with his hands in the warm water filling up the tub as his body is wracked with shivers.

“Come on, let’s get you in there.” You feel a little bad for taking your eyes off of him long enough for him to get chilly, but you know that he’s fine. You help him into the bath and he immediately sighs at the warmth, relaxing into it until just the top half of his face is above the water. He looked at you with puppy dog eyes, requesting something despite not wanting to move his lips out from under the warm water to actually ask. Though, you know exactly what he wants.

You remove the remainder of your clothing and slip into the tub, situating yourself behind him. He immediately leans back into your warm chest, a low, demonic trill resonating from him like a purr. You gently splash water across the parts of his body that aren’t under it and you pour the bubble soap into the bath, allowing it to foam. Gently, caringly, you clean his body. You hadn’t done any impact play tonight, so there are no wounds to take care of, but you still check him over for any injuries.

“Anything hurt?” You say, hands massaging down his body.

“Just a little sore, ‘s all. Usual stuff.” He was hesitant to move up enough out of the water to speak, but he knew that you wanted an answer. Almost immediately after, he sinks back down into the comforting warmth.

“Good, let me know if anything feels off.” You begin to wash his hair. You move delicately as you wash his hair and pay careful attention to his wings and horns, slowly coaxing him out of the scene until you’re both on equal ground. Though, you still turn him down when he wants to return the favor of being washed, citing that he should just relax after such a scene.

“It makes me happy to take care of you, Mams.” You say with a smile as you work some shampoo into your own hair. You don’t spend nearly as much time cleaning yourself as you did cleaning him, just simply doing your usual shower routine. He waits idly by, eyeing you as you wash yourself. His wings dip passively into the water, casually swishing about in the foam.

“What are you looking so hard at?” You giggle. His eyes track the bubbles that cascade down your body as you wash the shampoo out of your hair. Mammon instantly huffs and pouts, stuttering out a few syllables as he tries to think of a response.

“Can a demon not keep an eye on his treasure?” He says, resolute in believing that that was somehow a correct and convincing answer.

“I don’t mind you watching, baby, you don’t have to be embarrassed.” Reaching out, you take one of his hands in your own and place it at the side of your waist, physically giving him permission to touch and hold you. You finish cleaning yourself up, noting that- while he’d moved off of you so that you could wash up your own body- Mammon has been scooting closer and closer to you the whole time. You rinse the both of you off, then get out of the bath and unplug the drain. You towel dry Mammon off first, laughing at the way he bats his wings to get the water off of them, before moving to dry yourself off next.

Next comes the pajamas. After finding out a while ago that Mammon usually just slept in an old shirt and boxer briefs, you’d gotten him some actual pajamas to wear. You hand them over to him. They’re the softest, comfiest set of pajamas you could find, and they’re extra comforting after a scene. He puts them on himself and waits for you to get dressed before following you out into the bedroom once again.

He’s in bed the first chance he gets, slipping under the covers and waiting for you, looking up at you with those puppy dog eyes. Naturally, you relent and get in with him, allowing him to pull you close.

“Was that all good, Mams?” You ask as you wrap your arms around him.

“I can’t think of any complaints.” His words are already slurring with the pull of sleep.

“We can talk in the morning.” You pet his hair, “Good night, baby.” He nuzzles into you, nearly hiding his whole face against you. You can feel his dopey smile against your skin.

“G’night, MC.”

Want to request something? Send a request to my inbox, or support me on kofi!

#mammon #obey me #omswd #obey me shall we date #shall we date obey me #my writing

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clanwarrior-tumbly · 4 years

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Hi I’m requesting hcs of Kyoko, Makoto, Byakuya, and Sakura with a s/o whose the Ultimate Detective but also really lazy. They could solve every case in 5-10 minutes but they’d rather take a nap or follow their s/o around not putting any real effort into analyzing the body or evidence. The only time anyone gets useful information out of them is when they casually mention a vital piece of evidence or midway through the trail, but somehow they always know who the killer is. Thank you!

Kyoko

With not one, but two Ultimate Detectives in the house, everyone would think murders could be solved lickety-split.

But...it’s Kyoko who ends up doing most of the work.

She’s analyzing a body while you’re just standing by, looking at your lavender-haired gf with hearts in your eyes.

“So while the Monokuma File only mentions these wounds..the fatal wound is....[y/n]? You should be investigating, too.”

“Huh..oh, uh..I’m done already. I’m gonna go take a nap before the next trial.”

Fast-forward to said trial and you’re kinda dozing off, not contributing much to the debates.

But then everyone in the room gets whiplash as you casually show off a vital piece of evidence that not even Kyoko considered.

“It’s this, and from that...we can suspect ____ is the killer.”

You don’t hesitate to accuse someone, knowing that revealing the truth was important if the innocent wanted to survive.

And shockingly enough, you’re always right.

Kyoko is impressed every time, though she figures it’s your intuition at work.

She’s more than willing to defend you if someone gets angry at your accusation. You aren't one to underestimate.

Makoto

“No need to think too much, sweetheart. I already know how it all went down.”

“S-Seriously?!! You do??”

Mind = Blown.

The way you casually mention important evidence that connects the dots throws Makoto off every single time.

With you by his side, trials aren't unnecessarily long.

"Makoto is the killer!"

"...wow, and I thought I was lazy. But let me tell you exactly why that's wrong."

Oh, and you're always defending him from blatant accusations, which he is eternally grateful for.

He truly believes you’re the Ultimate Ultimate Detective.

Your laziness and tendency to neglect investigating crime scenes confuses him sometimes.

But he got used to it.

He just feels lucky you're there to help him fill in the blanks when trying to piece everything together.

Byakuya

He’s actually very impressed with you.

Of course, he might boast about you being the smartest one in the room.

Only to blink in confusion as you shrug off his statements.

Everyone expected you to be as stuck-up as your boyfriend is. But you never are.

You simply figure out things quickly just so you can go take a nap.

You're not that narcissistic about your talent, either. Even when Byakuya remarks you shouldn't take it for granted.

Again, you say it’s not a big deal.

You get a few lectures here and there about your laziness.

Though..it’s hard for his words to have any impact on you, since you can effortlessly solve murders.

It lowkey infuriates him bc surely your laziness would get in the way. It had to.

But it never does.

Sakura

She’s amazed when you manage to figure things out quickest.

Despite you never leaving her side when she’s guarding a crime scene.

“Aren’t you going to investigate?”

“Already did..say wanna ditch Mondo and go relax in the sauna?”

In trials, she’s kinda skeptical when you point out evidence or the killer’s identity early on.

“Now hold on, [y/n]..we should carefully explore other opti-”

But you turn out correct every time, and she’s stunned.

Your intuitive skills are truly remarkable.

And your tendency to doze off is kinda cute.

As she’s usually the one carrying you in her arms while you sleep.

She feels like you don’t give yourself enough credit for saving everyone's lives during the trials.

#clanask #anonymous #danganronpa x reader #thh #kyoko kirigiri #kyoko kirigiri x reader #makoto naegi #makoto naegi x reader #byakuya togami #byakuya togami x reader #sakura ogami #sakura ogami x reader #headcanons

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disco-tea · 4 years

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Who The Hell Is Harold Jenkins?

I don’t know how many people actually care about this because most people hate Leonard and honestly they are justified because he’s incredibly manipulative and twisted. But, he’s honestly pretty well written, and since I don’t like to let good writing go unappreciated I guess I’m going to write a meta about him.

The thing that was first striking to me about Leonard was that the hints of the type of character he is were very subtle but they also weren’t. He seems sweet at first but all the warning signs are there and there’s a general creepy vibe that he switches to at the drop of a hat, which I gotta give the actor props for because the first time I watched I got whiplash at certain scenes. So great work there. And it’s kind of sinister rewatching it because, it seems like a meetcute with an awkward guy who understands Vanya and her situation, but it’s actually Leonard telling Vanya everything she wants to hear.

But here’s the thing, there are moments where I feel genuinely bad for him. I don’t nessesarly sympathize with his actions, but I do fell bad for him during the flashback scene. And I don’t think that’s a bad thing because we as the audience are supposed to. It’s what makes him multidimensional and not just a flat character. It’s what makes him human. Because while he is past a point of no return now, what he was back then was a little kid that we had to watch repeatedly get beat by his drunk father. He was miserable and desperate and vulnerable so he latched onto the Umbrella Academy kids because they shared his birthday and he desperately wanted to feel connected to someone. I think he was incredibly lonely and felt isolated because you’ll notice “one is the loneliest number” plays during his flashback. And perhaps, if we’re getting introspective, it might have been alluring to imagine that his abusive dad wasn’t actually his dad. Additionally, I don’t think it would be out of the question to assume that Harold’s dad blamed him for his mother dying in childbirth.

So, moving on to the next point, while the actions that led to Harold getting thrown off the Academy property might just seem like a crazy super fan at first, it’s actually a lot sadder if you take a closer look. We see Harold get a pretty bad beating because he got distracted and didn’t get his dad a beer fast enough. In the next scene, he is scraped and bruised and crying as he sews his Umbrella Academy uniform from scraps and cardboard. So just to summerize here; Harold recives a nasty beating from his dad, so he makes an academy uniform of his own to present himself in, goes to Reginald’s house with a suitcase and tells him about his birthday and all but begs him to take him in. “No, please...I came all this way. Please don’t make me go back.” Basically, it wasn’t so much that Harold was a crazed fan that lost it when he got rebuffed, it was that he was a suffering kid who was begging for help and instead got belittled and physically (and unnecessarily) shoved away by somebody he admired and thought could help him.

And ultimately, it just further sets the stage for the apocalypse because now Reginald has created the fuse to the bomb. Harold is another skeleton in Reginald’s closet. Another monster that he helped make.

The other thing I like about Harold’s story is, it’s a reminder that even the most basic act of kindness or humanity could have changed everything. Imagine if Reginald hadn’t been Reginald and had been gentle and kind to Harold? Imagine if instead of giving a “you never will have power” speech to a desperate and powerless kid Reginald had dropped down to his level and gently explained things to him. Imagine if he had instead given him some sort of reassurance or kind words to hold onto. It could’ve changed the course of his entire life. Or better yet, imagine if Reginald had taken a long enough look at him to realize he was bruised and beaten. Even if he didn’t take him in, he could’ve helped him out of the situation he was in and gotten him to a better home and given him the help he needed. But he didn’t. He was cold and heartless and Harold became another causality of his negligence.

So while, yes, Leonard is irrevocably a Bad Guy who does horrible things, (and I’m going to draw a distinction between Harold and Leonard, because I think Leonard is passed the point of no return, but Harold wasn’t) he is also a person and that’s what makes him interesting and complicated and scary. It doesn’t in any way excuse what he did to Vanya, but it shows that in the beginning he was just like the rest of them and that their situations were very similar.

Now, circuling back to the music that plays in the background. (One, by Three Dog Night.) I can’t help wonder about its overall implications. I think it’s very interesting that they chose this song for Harold, when there’s a character named Number One who was left alone on the moon right there. Now, the lyrics fit Harold’s situation (“no is the saddest experience you'll ever know”) but still. It’s almost as though it’s implying that the thing that’s sets him apart from the rest of the kids is that he has always been alone. They all were subjected to pretty awful abuse as children, but the difference between them and Harold is that he never had anyone who actually loved him. Never had anyone close to him who showed him *how* to be a good person. So perhaps, it raises the question; if the siblings hadn’t had each other or Grace at all in any capacity, if they hadn’t had anything to ground them, anybody to love and be loved by, could they have ended up on a path maybe not exactly like Harold’s, but perhaps equally as negative? Who’s to say.

But in conclusion, I think Harold’s story is a tragedy and a cautionary tale. He didn’t have to be the bad guy, he didn’t have to be Leonard, he could have been saved. Had he gotten help. Had he gotten love. But he didn’t, and that is what made all the difference.

#harold jenkins #leonard peabody #umbrella academy #character analysis

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mlm-writer · 4 years

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Hands (Vernon x M!Reader)

Pairing: Choi Hansol/Vernon x Male Reader (TRANS-FRIENDLY) Rating: PG Words: 634 Summary: You’re painfully awkward to the point of accidentally flirting while just trying to be nice to strangers. It makes your boyfriend a little jealous. Note: This is a repost. It was originally posted on @lgbt-kpopimagines, but that blog died. Reposting to get everything properly in my masterlist. Tags: painfully awkward (I feel second-hand embarrassment. that’s how awkward), jealousy and unnecessarily marking your territory

I smiled at the girl behind the counter as she repeated the exact order. “That’s a lot of food for just yourself,'' she joked as she prepared the machine to take my card. I could see her looking up to me through her long lashes, a shy smile playing on her lips.

“With fourteen guys, a lot of food is necessary. You know how it is,” I joked back with a beaming smile. When she took my card, her slender fingers brushed over mine. I grew a little awkward by the sudden touch, but I felt better about it, when I saw the girl’s cheeks turn a bright pink. Still, there was an awkward silence and I could not even stand a regular silence, let alone an awkward one. Therefore, I had to blurt out the first thing coming to mind. “You have really soft hands.”

The girl looked at me with wide eyes. “Oh thank you!” She didn’t miss a beat, she was loud as if she had just seen a ghost. I had to admit it was not my smoothest moment, but that was just unnecessary shock. “You have soft hands too,” she added a little less loudly. I thanked her too, but not without stuttering at least twice. Somehow, we ended up talking about each other’s hands, while we waited for the food being prepared. I had totally forgotten about my boyfriend waiting a few meters behind me.

When we were running out of things to say about hands, I felt my own being grasped rather tightly. “I love your hands so much, sweetheart.” I almost got a whiplash from how fast I turned my head. My vision was greeted with my boyfriend’s cute face, but he was not really smiling nor looking at me. He stared straight at the girl, as he kissed my hand. When he finally looked at me, he was smiling with his eyes. “Do you love my hands too? I think you do. You hold my hands all the time.”

As if things between me and the girl behind the counter weren’t awkward enough, my boyfriend had to come in and make it impossibly awkward. Hansol kept talking, so at least there was no more awkward silence, but the endearments in public and small touches were just as embarrassing. When the food finally came, I was glad we could get out of there and go back to the dorm.

“You were really causing a scene there,” I huffed as I handed him half of the bags, as soon as we were outside. He tried to take the other ones too, but I wouldn’t let him.

“Then next time, don’t flirt.” Hansol’s arms swung a little, making me nervous with the heavy bags in them. I could already imagine the plastic ripping and rice spilling all over the sidewalk.

I laughed. “I was not flirting!” I exclaimed as I walked closer to him, so our shoulders bumped together. “I was just trying to be nice.” Suddenly, Hansol stood in front of me. Our chests were touching with how close we were. He looked at me with a droopy smile and leaned in for a kiss. I leaned forward as well, closing my eyes, so my focus singled out to the gentle touch of our lips meeting under the night sky.

“You are nice without trying,” he whispered. With every word from his lips, I could feel his hot breath hitting my mouth. I opened my eyes to see his smiles complementing mine. He was trying to act cool; I could tell, but even under dim street lights, the pink dusting his cheeks did not escape me. “Come on, nice guy, before the food gets cold,” he said, locking his arm around mine, before continuing the walk back.

#svt #svt x you #svt x reader #svt x male reader #seventeen x you #Seventeen #seventeen x reader #vernon #vernon x male reader #vernon x reader #hansol chwe #choi hansol #kpop #kpop scenario #gay kpop #kpop scenarios #kpop imagine

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queenerdloser · 3 years

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okay i finally (finally!) finished gr*duation after what felt like three hundred years and i have many thoughts that i just.. want to get down to process my own very VERY mixed feelings on this season

overall it was a fun romp at the end with some highly enjoyable goofs. i enjoy fitz maplecourt so much & relished griffin being able to do a character. the firbolg lives in my heart. argo is great.

that said, the plot was, overall, messy as shit, considering at the end i still had very little clear idea of a) what exactly order/chaos wanted to achieve and b) why the fuck they were even doing what they were doing. we spent all that time on a hog heist that, in the end, had... very little to do with what was going on at the time. (would the narrative have been significantly changed without the hog heist? if, instead, hog hadn’t responded due to their internal greed/indifference - something that’s already been established in world and isn’t a stretch to imagine - and thus had the exact same ramifications and end result as the heist gave us? like don’t get me wrong, the heist has some of my favorite goofs in it, but it’s essentially like six episodes of nonsense that, in the end, has almost nothing to do with the main plot & whose end goal could have been summed up in the finale.) the whiplash of suddenly taking gray on as an ally to we’re heisting hog for reasons to actually the real threat was the demons at the castle attacking now for reasons is... bad plot. (look at how many times i have to say ‘reasons’ bc there’s no real in-universe or external force that explains why something is happening at that specific time.)

i haven’t listened to the final ttazz about grad but it kind of felt like travis just gave up on his narrative arc and this sloppy plot mess is what we have left. like, okay order/chaos is a cool concept but what were they actually trying to achieve? why could order just be booted out of their shared body and why didn’t they just do that instead of having that whole climatic battle? why both using fitzroy at all for anything if they could always just take over the world with demons? why did we have all these characters allied together if in the end we were going to op the three pc and have them fight basically one-on-one with order? why did the commodore suddenly and inexplicably switch sides after working with the boys literally like three episodes ago other than to shoehorn in a conclusion to argo’s arc that, ultimately, fell short bc it was so utterly anti-climatic?

and like!!! maybe some of these questions were answered but none of them to an extent that felt grounded enough in the narrative that they made sense, lingered, or didn’t feel like a macguffin to cover a sudden plot twist or plot hole. a lot of plot felt sacrificed for cool concepts and fun character twists and i get that, but when all you have is cool concepts and fun character twists, there’s no real foundation for it to rest on.

i AM going to compare to amnesty bc i do think amnesty is the strongest arc plot-wise of the three major seasons of taz. balance recovers in the back half but the first three parts are very loosely connected to the major plot and then there’s that huge info dump in crystal kingdom so like - it’s also messy there, even though it manages to make it work in a way that graduation doesn’t. but amnesty is tightly plotted from the beginning - there’s a clear trajectory, foreshadowing built in, characters have actual arcs that make sense, most of the major villains and antagonists have motivations that make sense and even the act three twist is something that’s reasonably built in from the beginning. even if it wasn’t ALL planned (such as billy the goat’s involvement) it’s clear that new elements were worked into an already existing framework with an eye towards cohesiveness. i know people complain about the main three not being “together” enough or “friendly” enough with each other (as if that’s all that matters in a good story lmao) but i also think that amnesty has the strongest character arcs of the three seasons because we do see all three major characters start in one place and end up somewhere radically different, make movements in cohesive and reasonable ways, and change in a way that is not off-the-wall or just for a fun twist.

graduation... doesn’t really do that. the main three are a fun time but in the epilogue i was genuinely struggling to get why fitz decided to suddenly be a lawyer or why the firbolg, who has never shown any interest in having a name before that moment (quite the opposite, really) is suddenly emotional over having a name. argo, who has spent all of his time honoring his mother, decides to... run a cruise ship? and even leaving aside the epilogues, these characters... don’t really have an arc. argo is the closest and even his emotional narrative falls flat bc the commodore’s ending is so anti-climatic and bc, other than the trial scene, he and the commodore largely don’t interact. if the commodore had played a larger part in the actual narrative maybe it would have felt less like an aborted attempt at an arc but. he didn’t. fitz also has an attempt at an arc but it also falls flat bc so much of fitz has remained unchanged from when we first meet him. he’s a little more empathetic and better at magic, but how has fitz really changed since the first episode?

(tangent: thinking again about justin having to ask why the firbolg was doing what he was doing during that whole dog-is-the-headmaster reveal portion, to the point of asking travis point-blank why his character was doing the things he was doing. thinking again of how travis just told the boys point-blank that this side character they couldn’t even remember the name of was their best friend. and then again about how that “best friend” just like... fucking disappeared from the narrative after that, never to be seen or heard from again until the epilogue twenty episodes later for two brief seconds. in fact pretty much every character except rainier just disappears from the narrative at a certain point and i’m pretty sure it’s in reaction to the complaints about the numerous characters - but the answer to those complaints wasn’t to just mysteriously cut everyone else from the narrative without warning or reason laksfsafjlfj. what happened to that one villain posh guy from the first episodes???? what about the accounting owl teacher??????)

this is just my rambly processing of grad bc i’m trying to figure out what about it fell so dramatically flat for me that it was a literal slog to get through most of it even though i found the characters themselves delightful and enjoyed the mcelroy goofs as much as ever. and i think the thing is... for some listeners, the most important thing is going to be the interaction with the players or the goofs or how friendly and found family-ish the main group is with each other. which is great and fine! but for me, a good story or good character arcs or something well thought-out and plotted out is always going to be more engaging, no matter how much i like the found family or how much i like the goofs. it’s why i struggled to get why people complained so bitterly about amnesty - who cares if the main three are always together or getting along really well or being friends if they’re having interesting, satisfying character arcs and personal growth set in an interesting, dynamic plot? in graduation, that foundation is just missing and i’m sure part of it was due to the unnecessarily vitriolic backlash against travis (that’s enough to steal anyone’s thunder) but also just like... an underdeveloped plot in an overdeveloped world, a trap so many authors have fallen into. (like travis can describe in minute detail the inner workings of hog that are only applicable for about five episodes but chaos/order’s motivations are largely handwaved despite them being the central antagonists for the entire season.)

anyway. once again, great goofs. i would die for fitzroy maplecourt. but i can’t imagine ever listening to the whole thing again or even more than a couple of episodes here or there (ironically of the hog heist, which, despite how unnecessary it was, was a fun romp and had some of my favorite moments. so, you know. sometimes unnecessary is still good lmao).

#also if literally anyone says that it's all bc of travis' adhd or w/e One More Time i will lose it #look i also have adhd and i am still capable of writing a cohesive plot okay??? having mental illness does not #somehow prevent you from being able to write a cohesive and well-thought-out story #i do think he got some very unnecessary backlash and a lot of the problems in gr*d were also present in early balance #the difference is that balance... balanced out eventually and grew stronger #whereas gr*d collapsed in on itself and became a mess plot-wise #and even tho i enjoyed the characters i felt no real emotional investment in their arcs bc their arcs were... not really arcs #anyway i dont regret listening to it BUT it was a slog & i dont think i'll ever really relisten #taz

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choicesenthusiast · 4 years

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Open Heart 2, Ch. 14 AKA Oh, Hey, Our LIs!

What happened this week:

Our favourite hospital may or may not be in even deeper financial trouble due to Esme’s oopsie last chapter, but while she’s away being interrogated giving her report, we can move on to one of the 3957 other plots for this chapter.

You and Bryce (who has been given permission to perform a hemicorporectomy, good for him!) meet Sienna and Mitch in the caf, where full grown big-brain medical professional adults tease him and call him Puddle after Sienna told him to stop slacking off the other day.

Help Raf with his physical therapy, and discover that not all of his body parts have been entirely affected by the toxin, if you know what I mean. Now imagine if the trainer walked back in early. They only had thirty minutes after all.

Jackie’s been wallowing in a little too much self-pity for selling out to Panacea, so take her out to lunch to cheer her up. Eat the sushi, then plot her imaginary revenge plan to eat the rich. It involves Cough Syrup, except Uno Reverse style where it gives you a cough instead. She gets points for creativity but I’m deducting some points because apparently she’s not into cantaloupe. That’s the true crime.

The diagnostics team takes a trip to the local ski mountain to diagnose a woman who’s been in a ski accident. Unfortunately, a storm outside prevents you from returning to the hospital that night.

Ethan takes advantage of the opportunity, inviting you to stay with him, which comes off as really romantic or creepy, but either way, very unlike him. After imagining what life would be like if you weren’t doctors, have a round of the good old two-person in-bed snow shoveling. Seems like he’s really starting to open up to the idea of a proper relationship.

Back at the hospital the next day, Bryce shows up late to his very important surgery because of a misbehaving Keiki. Remember her? Bryce’s runaway sister? She lives up to the title, because after misunderstanding Bryce talking about their parents’ mistakes, she runs, or more like drives, away from the hospital in Bryce’s car. Find her in a planetarium and have a heart-to-heart with the two of them, as a “friend” apparently, according to Bryce. More like heart-to-heart-breaking-in-half.

Our ski patient is our patient because her son illegally medicated her. Seems to be an ongoing trend in Edenbrook.

Jackie knows a way to get rid of Declan’s nasty clutch on the hospitals, and it involves Vegas. Now the last time we were in Vegas we went on a wild goose chase for a tiara in a briefcase, so what could be worse than that?

Thoughts:

Seeing all 4 LIs get diamond scenes gave me whiplash and was not good for everyone’s in-game bank account. But this is progress! We’re touching up more of the subplots! Still to be covered: what’ll happen to Esme? What’ll happen to the hospitals? What of Aurora’s plan to merge? How’s Kyra been doing?

The residents bullying Mitch out of the hospital was not cool? Like, he definitely deserved Sienna’s callout but the grown adults name-calling was a little immature. One would think that they trust in Sienna to call him out again if his behaviour doesn’t change instead of unnecessarily poking at him to stay in line.

Apparently everyone got Ethan’s request to stay no matter if you’ve been romancing him or not? He used to be my LI so I thought it was just because of that but that is super creepy if you haven’t been interested at all.

I will not complain. Given OH2’s track record, this chapter was actually really good. Unfortunately this also sparked up some of the old LI discourse and toxicity, so maybe that’s why it took me so long to complete. I didn’t want another headache. Also, I hope you don’t mind that this is 4 days late. Been really busy and tired lately.

#this week on choices #playchoices #choices stories you play #open heart

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ragnarachael · 4 years

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And So, All Yours

Pairing: Loki x Asgardian!Reader

Word Count: 5.9k

Summary: You didn't believe the ball was anything important, even if you were forced by Odin to take "royal etiquette" classes. However, nearing the end of the night, you find out just exactly what all of the fuss was about.

Author’s Ramblings: welcome to what i’ve been working on for a literal month and a half! we’ve got soft loki, (almost) ballroom dancing, hot and heavy loki (only for like a fraction of a second tho,, i got some loki smut in my docs i’m working on so who knows how long that’ll take between me doing my requests) this fic has it ALL BABY. i spent so much time on this which is why you see how long it is. i cannot yearn for loki properly if there’s no 5k fic in my docs. don’t ask about my loki wips unless u want whiplash.

Warnings: suggestive scenes! i mention arousal a lot, but there’s no explicit sex scenes! just the tension, because loki can’t help himself.

P A R T O N E (you are here)

MASTERLIST ! FEEDBACK ! AO3 LINK !

You didn’t suspect that after courting a prince for a multitude of years would mean taking “proper” classes to attend a ball. You had been to balls with your family and Loki's family before, including the time you've been with Loki and even before officially becoming lovers.

And yet, you had been in so called “classes” learning proper etiquette of a royal ball for the past week thanks to Odin's orders.

This meant that any of your free time had been taken up by learning how to ballroom dance, proper dining etiquette, and even getting fitted for a new gown. You'd trade all this nonsense you've already learned to spend time with your lover.

You just wanted to see Loki. That’s all you wanted—well, rather craved—at the end of the week. However, you knew Loki must have things to do to properly prepare for the ball, if Odin was forcing you to take these so called courses.

You tried focusing on the things you were being taught and that thankfully made the days leading up to the ball come faster than you could have imagined at the beginning of the week. Before you could even stop and think about how you'd finally get to see Loki, you were getting pulled into your long, emerald gown whilst your hair was being braided into intricate designs and makeup was being applied to your face. The handmaidens were going over what you had learned as you sat in front of the golden vanity in the room you had in the palace that Frigga had assigned you to stay in for the week.

It all started to become incessant chatter in your ears as your mind began to pull elsewhere, starting to realize that you're seeing Loki for the first time. What would he be wearing? Would he be seated next to you at the dining table? Would he try to pull any tricks contrary to his training he's been given at the same time as you?

"My lady, are you paying attention?"

"Y-Yes!" You exclaimed abruptly, making eye contact with one of the handmaidens through the mirror. "Yes, I am. My apologies."

"You're thinking of Prince Loki, aren't you?"

You let out a defeated sigh as you nodded, closing your eyes as you felt the other handmaidens position hairpins to hold your hair in certain spots.

"I don't think it would be foolish if I were to say yes."

The handmaidens let out kind laughter as you felt your face heat up even more due to your apparent embarrassment about the situation. You're unsure as to why you're so shy about admitting to missing Loki, as you've never been shy about it before.

You assume it's because of the amount of time you've been apart.

The handmaidens were reassuring with your embarrassment and made any shyness dissipate through vigorating conversation. They were kind and had answered questions you had about the evening you were preparing to face, including what Loki was to be wearing. You had been told it was formal attire for all and not just the women unlike the last, which made you believe that it was an actual celebratory ball and not some sort of peace treaty.

It made most of your nervousness ease off of your bare shoulders as the final touches to your appearance were made, continuing to making light conversation with the handmaidens before sending them out once their work was done to allow them get ready for the ball, now alone in your quarters for the first time this evening.

You looked at yourself in the mirror, staying seated in front of the pearlescent vanity that matched most of the heavily gold accented room, realizing just how much more... regal you looked. It was a huge difference from your everyday attire when you went to tend to royal duties as often as Loki almost always did.

It was almost as if you really were princess of Asgard, even if you hadn't married into the family.

"You have always been royalty to me, my love."

Your head whipped around at the sound of your lover's voice behind you, a grin replacing your pursed lips you had while you sat and examined yourself in the mirror. "Loki?"

He had a matching grin as he wore a forest green tunic that had gold accents—much like your dress—accompanied by a plunging neckline which allowed your eyes to trail down to view some of his broad chest. You didn't hesitate to bite your lip for a moment before remembering you're wearing lipstick and quickly release your bottom lip from your teeth as to not ruin any of the work that had been put into your appearance.

Loki didn't seem to notice and said your name back lovingly before you took a moment to unfold yourself from the comfort of the chair in front of the vanity and rush the best you could into his awaiting arms.

However, the second you found yourself hugging him tightly, you realized how abnormally warm he felt under your touch. A little... fizzy even. As if his skin were buzzing like a glass of freshly poured sparkling mead, or as if Thor shocked him once more. Almost as if he was falling ill. Regardless, you were confused. You had seen him cast illusions before, but you've never touched him in that form, so you were unable to deny that possibility from your mind.

There had been one night when you were close to touching him in that form. But that was cut short.

"Conjuring illusions, my love. Not sick," Loki started after hearing your thoughts of concern, pulling away from you so he could tilt your chin up with a hand to let him catch your eyes with his, "I had to find some way to see you. I've been deprived of you for far too long."

His words made your face heat up as you scanned his face, noticing that there had been a slight green glow around the top of his head. He felt so real under your touch, but he was still buzzing.

"Couldn't you get in trouble—"

"Darling, I've done this many a time, and you're worried if I'll get caught?" Loki couldn't hide his chuckle at that point and moved the hand that was on your chin to cup one of your cheeks. "You truly underestimate the God of Mischief."

"The last time this happened, Frigga had banished me from our quarters for a week, need I remind you," you replied with as much confidence you could muster. Loki’s face starts to heat up slightly, most likely recalling the events of that night. His hand moved from your cheek as he started to shift his body slightly into a defensive stance, arms falling to his sides.

"I told you I was testing the spell out—"

"I'm joking, my dear," you giggled out, moving your hands from their place around his waist to hold his face. "Let's change the subject, shall we?"

Loki seemed to lose his stance on the topic before taking a moment to properly take in your appearance, clearing his throat.

"You look ravishing."

It only took a moment to hear the change of tone in Loki's voice, and you could feel heat pooling in your belly in that instance, your legs wishing to press together for very little desired relief. Even when he's an illusion, Loki still found ways to make you yearn for more intimate activities.

You opened your mouth to say something as you watched Loki's illusion falter under your hands, no longer feeling his cheekbones your hands were resting on. His head turned over his shoulder which sent your hands breaking through the illusion's structure with a small hissing noise.

Quickly, you moved your hands away from where his face once was as Loki sighed and turned his attention back to you, his touch seeming to ghost over your hips.

"I'm afraid we'll have to continue this later, darling." Loki saw your pout and couldn't help but give you a soft smile before running a buzzing thumb over your lower lip. "I love you."

Your pout was quick to turn back into a giddy smile. After saying what was over a thousand I love you's, you never tired of hearing it. "I love you more. Stay out of trouble."

"Now where is the fun in that, love?" Loki questioned teasingly before pressing a quick, tingling kiss to your forehead before finally disappearing in a flash of green. Your heart clenched momentarily in sadness, wishing you had more time to converse with Loki before the night's activities.

One week was far too long to be without your lover, and you prayed that you'd never have to go through this again without good reason.

Sighing softly as you looked in the direction where Loki once stood, starting to pace as you waited for your guards to collect you and escort you to the ballroom floor.

From what you recalled from your handmaidens, you were to have your arrival announced. Something about that screamed Loki's doing, considering you assumed the ball was just a personal affair that most Asgardians were invited to. Another part of you actually started to fancy the idea of this ball being a treaty of some kind, for you had no clue as to why else your arrival would be announced.

More things to ask Loki once you see him in the ballroom.

It felt like years as you continued waiting for the guards. You touched up some of your makeup unnecessarily as well as look at the elaborate hair pins that were pushed into your hair, noticing how they sparkled under the lighting of the room as you adored the gold shimmering at every turn of your head. Part of you was curious where Loki was and what he was doing currently. Perhaps he was engaging with some Asgardians in conversation. Or, maybe he was conversing with his mother at the dining table while guests filed in.

Or, possibly he was trying to find Thor so he could cause some mischief before Odin could find out.

"Norns, this man.." You happily mumbled to yourself. Just thinking about Loki was making you flustered. And you were still just waiting to be taken to the main ballroom. Your hands gently covered your face as you took a moment to breathe and collect your thoughts.

Soon enough, your patience was rewarded as your usual guards that accompanied you on palace grounds came to guide you to the ballroom after you instructed them to give you a moment for one last look over at your appearance after sliding your shoes onto your feet.

Seeing yourself in Loki's colors gave you the confidence boost you needed before you turned to the door that led out to the thoroughly decorated halls of the palace, calling out for your guards kindly as your doors shut behind you.

"Gentlemen," you greeted with a smile, "how are you this evening?"

Völund and Áleifr greeted you just as warmly, falling into step with you as you continued conversing with them.

Your anxiousness only started to slowly grow as you made your way down long halls to get through the palace to the ballroom the ball was to take place in. This wasn't your first time having your arrival announced in total, but for a ball, it was a first.

To Asgardian customs, it was as if you were being recognized officially as a part of the royal family. That made your anxious feelings only tighten your chest. Would the Asgardian people accept you? Most already have since you and Loki had announced your courtship ages ago, but you did see glares some local women had given you when they saw you on Loki's arm. You already have taken on royal duties as well--but not as many as a princess should, in your opinion. Loki always disagreed—as he was the one you did most tasks with—as well as Frigga, but you still felt as if you could do more for your people of Asgard.

You wanted to do more. They deserved it.

"Milady, are you ready?" Völund asked as you stopped walking before the archway that led to the staircase that was to commence your announcement. You couldn't help but peek out into the ballroom, only to be blown away by how full it looked.

You were quick to pull back from the edge, taking a deep breath. At least the entirety of Asgard was doing to watch you come out from behind this wall and walk down the very same steps Frigga and Odin had walked just mere minutes ago with Loki and Thor trailing just after them. How were you to do it alone? Part of you felt disdain for the rules that Odin had in place, for if they weren't stopping you, you would demand to make your arrival with Loki so you didn't worry so much about everything that could possibly go wrong as you descended from the stairs.

"Prince Loki said he would not mind waiting at the last steps, ma'am," Áleifr added kindly, noticing your breathing had started to quicken from your burst of anxiety. You didn't hesitate to ask if he could get the message to Loki that you would like him to be there when you start, knowing that your panic would be minimal to none the second you see him.

Áleifr was quick to walk out onto the steps and converse with the other guards that were stationed just around the other side of the walls you hid behind before he returned, one of the other guards walking down the steps at what seemed like a fast pace.

Völund started a gentle conversation with you while Áleifr kept watch for any other guards or drunk Asgardians who tried to roam around the palace. In the midst of this, you tried to bring back your cool and collected façade that left you on the journey to the ballroom doors.

It took a few moments to get everything back under control as you felt your fingers start to toy with some of the rings the handmaidens adorned your hands with as accent pieces for your outfit. You thanked Völund profusely for his help, starting to ask questions about his family to keep your mind focused on something other than the things that were coursing through your mind.

Áleifr was quick to check for the guard he had sent to get Loki out on the steps once more, conversing with him once he had jogged back up the steps for a moment before returning where you and Völund waited.

"Is he waiting?"

"He's just finished conversation with the Queen and should be arriving momentarily, milady."

"Then we will wait for his arrival, if that is alright."

Völund and Áleifr voiced their agreement as you continued to try and make calm conversation to get your mind off of the crowd of your people enjoying their time at a royal ball.

You were twisting a ring on your middle finger for the fifth time when Áleifr had been informed of Loki's arrival at the bottom of the staircase. Your hands were quick to separate and fall back to your sides like you had practiced on your second day of your so-called classes, lifting up the skirt of your dress slightly to avoid stepping on the fabric as you moved a bit faster than you should have.

The sounds of the ballroom were silenced as Odin was heard talking loudly. You didn't bother to try and make out what was being said as you held your head high, walking out into the center of the archway with Völund and Áleifr just behind you at your sides. You hoped you seemed composed and not as if you just took a moment panicking about the amount of people you were hopefully not to make a fool of yourself in front of.

The smile you had was completely genuine as you heard the Asgardian people applaud you as you took your time going down the first few steps before your eyes caught Loki's. The look he gave you made it feel as if it were just the two of you in the whole room. It urged you to speed up a bit more as you came down the steps, completely drowning out the applause and trying to focus on not tripping as you kept your eyes locked with Loki's.

Eventually your hand extended to land in Loki's as you finished the final steps of the main staircase, the crowd cheering a bit louder as you did a final bow before Loki pulled you in for a quick kiss that made your face heat up into a blush.

"Odin will have your head," you teased through clenched teeth as you smiled and waved, Loki doing the same as he started to guide you to the main ballroom floor after thanking your guards for taking care of you. Loki let out a genuine laugh, letting his fingers lace through your own.

"I would love to see him try," he replied as the crowd finally started to quiet down back to a low hum. Just how it was before your arrival. "Are you alright?"

"Yes," you confirmed softly, starting to stand a bit closer to Loki's side as his hand slipped from yours to wrap around your waist so he could hold you to him as you traveled together through the main floor. "I just saw how many people were in attendance and... lost my head for a moment."

Loki stopped guiding you for a moment to look at your face to be sure you weren't lying before pressing a swift kiss to your temple as his grip tightened momentarily. "I'm sorry, darling. If Odin allowed it, I would—"

"I know, my love. I understand. I'm fine now, no need to burden yourself with worry any longer," you said, taking a moment to glance up and scold at him as his face seemed skeptical. "I am fine, Loki."

"If there is any moment tonight where you need a moment to collect yourself—"

"I won't hesitate to tell you." You finished Loki's sentence with ease, letting out a soft laugh. "Are you aware of how adorable you can be when you worry?"

Loki rolled his eyes fondly as the two of you started to move through the crowd again, "do tell."

Your laughter grew with his reaction, your heart starting to pick up speed once his laughter started to quietly cut through yours.

The ball was less intimidating now that you had Loki at your side, striking up conversations occasionally with some of the people you walked by as you made your way back to the large dining table that the two of you were required to sit at with the rest of the family.

Dinner went smooth. As smooth as it could with Loki and Thor sitting together, which amused you and Frigga to no end. The two of them had a good relationship, but there had still been tension that had to be resolved by a third party. You still thought that Loki should have sat next to you for the entirety of the dinner, but you didn't want to voice that opinion anywhere near Odin.

The second dinner was done, Loki was quick to whisk you away onto the ballroom floor to dance to the music that was playing. You couldn't hold back the laughter that was bubbling at your throat from your lover's sudden excitement. "Slow down, Loki! We have all night!"

Loki slowed his stride for you, but continued guiding you to one of the empty halls that was connected to the ballroom.

So you weren't going to dance, then.

It felt as if you were both teens again, sneaking around the halls of the palace during important happenings of which you were both required to attend. But of course, instead, you both opted for taking solitude in empty halls, closets, even rooms to spend time alone together. Thanks to this, guards have easily caught you and Loki in many compromising positions over the years.

Part of you wanted to protest his actions in this moment due to your current training you had drilled into your mind for the past week, but another part of you didn’t care. You missed Loki. And the ball was already dull enough, so you’d happily let him shove you into a closet if it meant enjoying yourself for the first time in a week.

Loki shocked you by making a sharp turn into another hallway, and pulled you from your thoughts by pinning you to the wall and slamming his lips to yours in a heated kiss. You gasped against his lips, letting your head lean forward into his hands that moved to cup your cheeks, finally savouring his touch.

You had forgotten how soft Loki’s lips were. They were sweeter than normal, even. Perhaps that was thanks to the mead you both had drunk during dinner, though. You let out a little huff of a moan as he nipped at your lower lip, taking the chance to lick them apart.

Your hands found their home on Loki’s sides, gripping the fabric under your fingertips tightly as he started to pull away from the kiss, your shared breaths heavy.

Loki let out a breathless chuckle as he pressed one last kiss to your lips, resting his forehead on yours as your noses gently bumped together. Your smile was the most genuine it had been in the past week, and you felt dizzy just from this interaction alone.

“Hopefully no guards saw that,” you teased breathlessly, letting out a giggle yourself. Loki let out another laugh before closing his eyes as he kept his forehead pressed to yours.

“Nothing they haven’t seen before, darling.”

“Mmm.” Your eyes looked over your lovers face for a moment, no traces of worry or annoyance from the evening to be seen. Just love. Endless amounts of love. “At least it wasn’t like the last time—”

Loki’s eyes opened quickly, his gaze boring into yours as he tried to be threatening, “do not bring up the ball from four months ago. Mother is still cross with me for that.”

“As she should! I should be cross with you for ruining one of my favorite gowns!”

The both of you looked at each other, your body still pressed into the wall thanks to Loki crowding you into the marble of the palace. After a few moments of staring, you started to break into giggles again.

“You must admit,” Loki said through his laughter, “you looked even better with the gown off—”

“That does not change the fact it was my favorite, Loki,” you scolded playfully, letting out a long sigh to catch your breath, grinning like a madwoman as you watched Loki smile down at you fondly. “I missed you.”

“And I missed you, my love.”

You didn’t hesitate to take his hands from your cheeks before intertwining your fingers with his. “Next time there is to be a ball, please try to convince Odin I am far more educated than he believes. I don’t think I could take a week away from you again.”

Loki took a deep breath through his nose in that moment, pulling his forehead from your own to press a kiss to the skin.

“I tried to reason with him. You know how he can be,” Loki replied with a tone of sadness. “But, that matters not. We’re together now, and that is all that matters.”

Your grin never faltered as Loki spoke, leaning up on your toes to press a chaste kiss to his lips.

“It looks to be you’re right, my prince.”

Loki gave a boyish smile before leaning in for a longer kiss before the two of you started to catch up. The conversation flowed easily between the two of you, despite Loki’s close proximity. Occasionally, the both of you froze, hearing footsteps coming from the main hall that you had originally been dragged down by your lover.

Thankfully, the two of you remained undisturbed as you talked about your week without the other.

As most of your conversations with Loki do, it started to take a turn in a more... intimate way. Loki started to press gentle kisses to the bare skin of your neck as you prattled on about your useless lesson about posture you had taken earlier in the week. His hands started to roam across the fabric of your dress—his excuse being that he’d wanted to feel the fabric properly, never having seen anything like it before—and his body was being pressed into yours just a bit more than it usually would be if you were engaging in casual conversation.

“The teacher had been quite rude, the more I think about it—“ You cut yourself off with a breathy gasp as you felt Loki nip at the sensitive skin of your collarbone. You wanted to scold him for even considering the idea of marking up your skin.

But you felt warmth wash over you at the idea of being marked for everyone to see.

“Do carry on, darling,” Loki muttered gently as he looked up at you, lips barely touching the spot he’d just nipped at. You took your bottom lip between your teeth as you watched Loki smirk wickedly up at you before going back to your collarbone.

You tried to continue stumbling through your story, little moans cutting through some of your words every once in a while thanks to Loki’s roaming hands and skilled mouth.

“L-Loki..” You felt him finally pull away to admire his work as you tried to avoid the throbbing heat that was starting to grow between your legs. “I would not like to be caught without a gown again.”

Loki couldn’t help but let out a deep chuckle at your words, his hands lightly resting on your backside as he moved back to his full height. You could most definitely detect a deeper, more dark tone under that laughter that screamed mischief.

“Darling, if I were to disrobe you again, it would be in the comfort of our chambers. No guards will see what is mine again.”

His words made you take in a deep breath, trying to seem unaffected how he just openly called you his. You didn’t think that after a week without his silver-tongue you’d have this much of an effect from it. You took your lip between your teeth again as you were quick to secure your arms around his neck to try and draw him closer to you.

After clearing your throat, you gathered as much courage you had in the moment to speak as seductive as you could. “What’s stopping you from taking me to our chambers, then?”

Loki opened his mouth to reply, his eyes darkened with lust before you both heard guards coming down the hall. They were quietly conversing between each other, and you could both hear Loki’s name on their lips. In sync, you and Loki turned your heads to the opening that led into the hall you two had come from originally, both trying to listen in.

If you weren’t so on edge from the sudden possibility of getting interrupted with Loki, you’d laugh at how in sync you two were.

“They’re coming this way,” Loki mumbled quickly. His hands moved from your bottom then, turning your head back to look at his face and cupping your cheeks in his palms. Your eyes ran over his face, noticing a determined look etched in his features as your face started to heat up under his touch.

“Loki,” you whispered suddenly as the footsteps of the guards came closer, “what are you doing?”

He hushed you swiftly, closing his eyes as you felt your body starting to tingle. Your grip was tightening around him as you shut his eyes under the assumption that maybe if you did it, whatever he was doing would work better. Either way, Loki didn’t seem to mind as the metallic footsteps finally stopped in front of the hall Loki had dragged you in to pin you into the wall.

“Prince Loki!” One guard called out suddenly, which caused you to flinch from the sudden loudness of his voice. You could hear the footsteps move directly behind Loki, sounding as if he were shifting on each foot. You assumed that meant he was looking into the crevasses of the hall to find the two of you.

It was at this moment you realized Loki was using his magic to conceal the two of you against the wall so you wouldn’t be found. The other guard let out a huff.

“Let’s just try the next hall. Odin will have our heads if we don’t find ‘im.”

The first guard grunted out of annoyance, most probably because of his task he was assigned, and started to walk out of the hall. “The prince better not be where I think he may be.”

The second guard let out a booming laugh, a soft clank being heard, “We can finally stop worryin’ about it after tonight. You ‘member he told us that the plan they’ve been workin’ on is happening tonight.”

You tried to listen to their conversation the best you could before their voices faded down the hall. Both you and Loki let out a sigh of relief at the same time while you opened your eyes to look at Loki.

He had his face contorted in what looked like worry.

“Plan? What plan?” You questioned softly, letting one of your hands slowly slip into Loki’s hair to toy with the strands while he kept his eyes closed. Loki’s forehead stayed pressed to yours as he stayed silent.

“It.. It’s nothing for you to focus on, dearest,” Loki finally said, nervousness lacing his tone as his eyes finally opened to look into yours. “I have it under control.”

You rose a brow skeptically, moving your hand that was in his hair to slip to his cheek, watching him lean into your touch as his hands fell to rest on your shoulders. “Do you, my love? You are aware I’m willing to help you at any given moment, correct?”

“Yes,” he replied, keeping his eyes trained on your own as he turned his head and pressed a kiss to your palm without any hesitation. “I am aware. I’ve handled far worse.”

You knew he was trying to make you laugh with that sentence. You cracked a smile just so he could feel pleased before moving his head back up so you could press a kiss to his lips. When you pulled away, he tried to chase you back into another. That made you giggle quietly before moving your hand that was on his cheek to his mouth to cover it.

“We can continue what we started later. Odin needs you for something.”

Loki didn’t hesitate to let out a huff against your palm before grabbing your wrist and sliding his fingers between your own. “Must we? We’re not too far from our chambers—”

“Loki.”

“—and you know I can certainly be quick—”

“Loki!” You exclaimed with a soft laugh, trying to cover his mouth with your other free hand only to have that one be caught with Loki’s as well. He laughed with you as his fingers laced between each of yours tightly, running the pad of his thumb over the decorative rings that adorned your fingers. You noticed how his thumb lingered on the empty spot of your ring finger.

“Fine. Later,” Loki relented as he looked down at your hands with a growing smile. “I do hope you can be patient.”

“Can you?” You replied, snorting fondly. Loki let out a scoff of a laugh before giving you a quick peck on the lips. You smiled at the affection before Loki finally stopped crowding you against the wall, let go of one hand to help you fix anything of your appearance that was out of place before he started to guide you from the hall you had hid in.

In the silence, you let your thoughts linger until you came to a sudden stop. Loki stopped just as you did, turning his head around to look at you over his shoulder. He spoke your name softly with concern as you asked the first question that came to the forefront of your mind.

“What is this ball for?”

Loki’s body turned to face you again, his head tiling in confusion. “I beg your pardon?”

“Usually,” you started, clearing your throat as you were reminded of your posture. You fought back a grimace and stood a little straighter, tilting your head up. You most certainly didn’t miss Loki’s eyes traveled down the length of your neck most probably to look at the mark he left on your collar bone, “I can tell what ball it is by who’s in attendance, but all of Asgard seems to be in the ballroom and I can’t place as to why that is.”

His eyes trailed back up to your face, confusion leaving his face as he blinked a few times to process what you were asking. Loki’s hand momentarily tightened around your own before taking a deep breath.

“It’s their anniversary!” Loki replied suddenly, almost as if he himself had forgotten. “My mother and father’s, that is. ”

You cocked your head to the side, your brows furrowing. “Really?”

“Yes!” Loki exclaimed, a wide grin coming to his face at the blink of an eye. “Another amazing thousand years as Asgard’s rulers.”

Something in you could tell Loki had been lying. It was a new instinct you were trying to work on. It made you sound callous, not trusting your lover, but he only lied to you when he deemed it absolutely necessary. It drove you wild when all you wanted to do was help, even if there was a battle to be had, and Loki just left you in the dark.

“Why didn’t Frigga tell me at dinner?”

“She doesn’t like to make a big show about things, darling. You know this. She probably thought you had already known,” Loki explained gently. “You were with your handmaidens all day anyway, it’s a fair thought.”

You thought about it for a moment before realizing Loki was right. You had only started to talk with people who weren’t your assigned handmaidens once your guards had retrieved you from your room you had gotten ready in. Loki was giving you a knowing look when you let out a huff of annoyance.

You hated when he was right about certain things.

“Fair thought indeed,” you grumbled, starting to take the lead after giving Loki’s arm a tug when you rounded the corner of the hall, “let’s get you to Odin so he can chew your head off.”

Loki only let out a fond laugh, not hesitating to walk next to you happily as he pressed a kiss to your temple. You couldn’t help a smile come onto your face to break your annoyed expression as you were met with the empty halls you had rushed down mere minutes ago, Loki’s hand casually slipping from your grip to curl low around your hips to guide you back to the ballroom.

#loki odinson #loki laufeyson #loki x reader #loki drabble #loki imagine #loki layfeyson x reader #loki odison x reader #marvel #marvel imagine #marvel writer #loki fluff #loki #loki fanfic #loki fandom #loki laufeyson imagine #loki odinson imagine #rachael writes #ASAY

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yiangchen · 4 years

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You know your recent anti-beggo post got me thinking of something. Forgiveness doesn't have anything to do with other people. It has everything to do with yourself. You can make a conscious choice of just being like i forgive you, even if there is no open communication with the other person or understanding. I wish Bellamy's journey was like "i wont give you another second of my power by beign enrage over you" but nah what we got instead was him being in a relationship with such woman (cont)

Part 2: And so none of this makes sense. Like we really could have had Bellamy learning to forgive for his own sake. 6+ years in space with nothing to do but live with your own thoughts and feelings and anger and grief. We could have had such an amazing Storyline and Journey for Bellamy, but because he chose to date Eggo now we are just left with more questions then answers. Cuz forgiving them without their involvement and DATING your trauma are two different things. Like wtf...

Yeah, I get that you can forgive without the other person opening up, but I feel like that’s only in situations where you either already know the person you’re forgiving or you just naturally understand them.

Think about Bellarke. They had only known each about two weeks when Clarke offered him forgiveness under the tree, and maybe this isn’t the best example because Bellamy was open with her in this scene, but even if he hadn’t opened up, she still had already begun to understand him. Even though she was at odds with him and even though he was an asshole, she knew why. She saw right through his facade. She knew he was all talk. She knew everything he did was for his sister. She just knew him, right from the start.

And that’s a huge part of the reason why she offered him forgiveness. She already understood him.

With B/echo though, there is no understanding. Their relationship starts with her spitting in his face just for being a Sky Person. Then he saves her, so she saves him, but when he needs her most, she abandons him, and in s3, she exploits his trust and gets his gf and like 48 of his people killed, and so on and so on. It’s just betrayal after betrayal after betrayal right up until Bellamy nearly chokes her to death for cheating in the conclave and trying to kill his sister for the second time. There is zero understanding. She is a threat to the people he loves, and he tries to eliminate that threat, no hesitation.

Now, Bellamy is really perceptive and he knows what to say to people to motivate them. We know this from all his speeches. So when E/cho is about to kill herself at the end of the season, he does understand her enough to figure out what he needs to tell her to get her to come with them. After she got Gina killed, she told him she was sorry, but that she was following orders, and Bellamy remembered that. E/cho follows orders. She needs to feel needed. And Bellamy played on that and told her they have a better chance of surviving with her on the Ring with them.

It doesn’t mean he really understands her though. There are so many reasons that a person needs to feel needed. At this point, he has no idea why she ever felt the need to follow Nia. And he even says to her he doesn’t trust her and probably never will.

So, to go from that to them in a relationship, gives you whiplash. Bellamy has a big heart, so it makes sense that he would give her a chance, but it doesn’t make sense that he could ever forgive her enough to become good friends, let alone boyfriend and girlfriend, without truly knowing her past and how it made her feel the need to follow Nia’s orders.

He only understood her on a surface level, and since we know that she lied to him about her past, their connection never went deeper than that. So, we’re just expected to believe that Bellamy fell in love with someone that he hardly knows or truly connects with. I guess it kind of makes sense since Bellamy is a romantic and he wants to convince himself that she’s everything she’s not since he can’t have what he really wants (one Clarke Griffin), but if Bellarke never happens, and Bellamy never finds out who E/cho actually is and that she hasn’t changed, then any chance of this all making sense goes out the window.

Also, even if Jason somehow does follow through, it still doesn’t excuse the shitty writing decision of putting these two together after a six year time jump and keeping them together so unnecessarily long just to keep Bellamy and Clarke apart. It’s lazy writing. And Bellamy (and Bob) deserves so much better.

Also, “dating your trauma” FUCKING SENT ME. I highkey agree with everything you said about all the wasted potential, but I’ve gotten used to it. Jason fucks over Bellamy a lot because of his obsession with E/cho (and TT tbh).

#bellamy blake #antiecho #antibecho #bellarke #i love soulmates #the 100

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kingofthewilderwest · 5 years

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How do you feel about Avocato being brought back?

I’m divided.

On one side, I’m not a fan of characters dying and being brought back to life. There’s exceptions - I love what ME2 did. But this trope has heavy risks. It often creates contorted plots, reverses meaningful emotional moments, cheapens ALL deaths in a show (someone can always live again, right?), introduces haphazard retconning, and adds unrealistic elements I find difficult to accept in-universe.

In the case of Avocato, I can accept bringing him back once. Maaaaaaybe it slightly cheapens his death and the emotions that come with Little Cato losing him. At the same time, milking Avocato’s return right can produce interesting results. And I couldn’t help but love the scene where Little Cato shoots his father’s body STRAIGHT IN THE CHEST. I could get behind Avocato being resurrected for that emotional whiplash. Good moment. Fuck yeah. The writing teases at hope - that our characters can earn the impossible back through hard work - only for it to lash back and fuck them over in the worst ways.

But they didn’t let that plot device lie. They brought Avocato back a second time, which I feel is OVER-milking the trope. It starts to feel unnecessarily contorted and not emotionally meaningful. Sure, you could say the shot didn’t “kill him” a second time, but it’s still a death fakeout and return. It’s the same concept. And it grows fatiguing to keep repeating the same thing.

And at the end of it all, Avocato is restored to his normal self… no bad guy, no memory loss, no possession, no nothing. All of that ridiculous emotional whiplash we got gets reversed for him living again. And I’m not a fan of that. I feel like that cheapens the prior death scenes and angst.

ON THE OTHER HAND….

There’s potential with S2′s end. Bringing Avocato back has interesting implication for S3. We got the original team back together! Quinn, Avocato, Gary. The gang’s all here, yo. That can be very rewarding in a story. Hell, even going back to Mass Effect… it was gratifying to assemble your original Normandy team, lose them and make a new team in ME2, and then return for a final gungho adventure with some of your original crew again in ME3. So I’m hoping that Final Space can move forward and use Avocato’s return for something worthwhile in that sense.

So like. I’m not grumpy with what they’ve done. I can constructively analyze it, but I’ve accepted the plot as is, too. I’m chill. I’m having fun with Final Space and they’ve continued to give me fun.

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gottagobuycheese · 4 years

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Tag Thingy

Thanks @silent--sonata for indulging my terrible sleeping habits XD

(fyi this will probably be unnecessarily long and rambly, so it’s going under a cut (EDIT: whelp the song list got a little out of hand, I’d apologize if I were even remotely sorry))

Rules: Answer 17 questions & tag 17 people you want to get to know better

Nickname: Cheese (or Lactose Wedge, or Dairy Product of Unspecified Origin and Purpose)

Zodiac Sign: Gemini!

Height: 160.5 cm/5′3″ (Bubbles I refuse to believe you’re actually that much taller than me)

Hogwarts house: Somewhere between Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff allegedly, both of which I’d be honored to get sorted into, but honestly I’d just be stoked to get sorted at all

Last thing I googled: I think it was something along the lines of “how to speed up audio playback in GarageBand,” but but my train of thought was derailed before I actually looked at any of the results so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ (and on a related note, thanks again for the magical audio editing @imperiousheiress!)

Song stuck in my head: The end credits to Legacy of the Wizard (which is SUCH a jam, thank you for enlightening me @jessicafish) Following and followers: 227 (goodness just looking at that number is stress-inducing) and...104?! When the HECK did you all get here??? I think just last summer I was happily floating about in the 50′s. Anyways, to anyone I have not said hello, hello! Hope you enjoy your stay, and I am sincerely sorry if you expected Quality Original Content, or even just regularly scheduled other people’s content. Sadly, neither of these things tend to happen here.

Amount I sleep: During the school year it’s usually anywhere between 30 minutes and 6 hours (DON’T EVEN START BUBBLES YOU HAVE NO RIGHT), usually landing in the 3/4 hour ranges if I’m smart about it, but now that I am on Unofficial Break, it’s usually at least around 6 hours (except today was 3 because Avatar is an excellent show and the weirdos in this house have regularly scheduled breakfast at 9-something every morning). Sadly my sleep schedule can only be forced to tolerate normalcy for so long before careening back in the other direction, so we’ll see if this is just a blip or if we’re back to normal mid-Atlantic Ocean hours!

Lucky number(s): I wouldn’t say these are necessarily favorite numbers, but I do like 2 and 9. But come to think of it, second attempts at Official Things do tend to go better for me than first attempts, so maybe there’s some merit there after all! Dream Job: Don’t think I’m really cut out for dreaming anymore, haha (unless you are a theoretical future employer in which case I am Extremely Full of Ambition and Passion). The bed-adjacent metaphor has been made, and not to brag, but I can sleep on pretty much any surface. Currently studying my Not Favorite aspect of STEM (was there ever a favorite or did I just like being good at things sometimes) and learning how to People™ properly (and also learning a gazillion convoluted drug names like what the heck dude, did you just fall asleep on your typewriter coming up with these), so I’ll take whatever place hires me and pays me enough not to depend on my parents for everything, I suppose. In an ideal world, that would entail a job where I could make friends, and even more importantly, a job where my shortcomings would not cause Massive and Irreparable Harm, but I don’t think this line of work really meshes with that last one, so I guess I’ll either have to get my shit together™ extremely soon or fake my death, adopt an alias, and flee to a completely new place with no ties whatsoever before trying to get another, less high stakes job.

(Though I guess, less cynically, I like helping people well enough? And stories are fun! Maybe there could’ve been something with that. Not that there still can’t be, mind, but there’s still a long way to go between Here and There)

Wearing: Black shorts. Navy t-shirt. Brown some-specific-kind-of-jacket-I-forgot-the-name-of jacket. Is it summer? Is it fall? Am I in middle school? Who can say, but they are COMFY so sadly I have no cares to give

Favourite song(s): way way WAY too many to list here, and I do not have them all organized in a handy playlist separately, but to name a few (and these are not necessarily the MOST favorite okay, it doesn’t mean I don’t love stuff not on this list, it means you can’t force me to pick between my children and I am going to find at least one quick thing from a few things I like before I need to hit post and go back to looking like I’m being studious, and also things I think you should listen to right now, but for everything I’ve linked assuming I mean the whole OST), here’s a spam of links in no particular order:

LoZ Wind Waker - The Great Sea (aka the epitome of optimism)

Undertale - NGAHHH!! (I was about to link more but then I realized it’d be the whole soundtrack lol)

LoZ Breath of the Wild - Hateno Village (Night)

A:tLA - Peace (bad call BAD CALL NOW I HAVE EMOTIONS)

Legend of Korra - Final Scene/Ending Theme (MISTAKES WERE MADE MISTAKES WERE MADE)

Kung Fu Panda - Oogway Ascends (I feel like I’m taking you on a whole little album journey now XD)

PMD: Explorers of Sky - Dialga’s Fight to the Finish (aka the Gotta Shower Fast song)

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Pursuit ~ Cornered (aka the HURRY UP AND PACK UR SHIT YOUR FLIGHT LEAVES IN THREE HOURS song)

Apollo Justice: A New Trial Is In Session (very underrated soundtrack imo) and also Apollo Justice: Telling the Truth (because these two are very closely associated in my head and it’s getting harder and harder to narrow things down so maybe I should stop lol)

Your Name: Katawaredoki (in which I am forcibly thrown heart first into the bedroom of my second apartment at approximately 12-something A.M.)

Digimon Adventure 01: Butterfly (MASSIVE 90′s childhood anime feels, and also Last Summer Before Everything Went to Shit feels (on a general scale I mean, not personal))

Pokémon: Lugia’s Song multitrack cover by Jordan Moore (would that I could have a talent of that musical talent)

Pokémon the First Movie: Tears of Life (great now I’m on a Pokémon music spiral GUESS IT’S CHILDHOOD NOSTALGIA HOURS NOW)

PMD: Blue Rescue Team - Farewell and Run Away/Fugitives (you CANNOT make me choose between these guys okay, my brain WILL explode, and whoops now I want to link the whole ost)

Palette by A Dear Friend (wink wonk)

Pokémon: Alpha Sapphire - Fortree City (wow talk about mood whiplash)

Detective Conan: Main Theme (I can’t find the specific version since there are so many, but it’s a Good Theme)

Super Smash Bros.: Brawl - Opening Theme

Pokémon Colosseum - Relic Forest

Song for Lindsay by Andrew Boysen Jr. (oh great now it’s time for marching band feelings I guess)

Mt. Everest by Rossano Galante

Deltarune - Field of Hopes and Dreams and A Town Called Hometown (orchestrated) (aka the Lots of Work To Do song) and You Can Always Come Home and Don’t Forget (hey guess what I wrote a bunch of fake extra verses for) (also it looks my pathetic attempts at narrowing things down are getting even more pathetic so I’ll wrap up soon XD)

Guild Wars 2 - Fear Not This Night (never actually played this myself but my friend got me addicted to the music)

Lord of the Rings - May It Be (Enya) (aaaand now I miss choir, THANKS BUBBLES)

Lion King - Can You Feel the Love Tonight (Multilingual) by Travys Kim (aka how I remembered how fun these things are)

Original Song by Anonymous

(The urge to add all the other songs I’m not adding is so strong but I’ve got so much work to do so just assume I mean all Nintendo music from any game I’ve played, all Ghibli movie music, every musical I’ve ever heard, and even more)

Random fact:

Apparently as early as the 17th century, you could guess that a child would have a shortened life span if their foreheads tasted salty. Yes, there is a specific reason, and yes, you may already know what it is, and thankfully no, that life span projection no longer holds true, assuming access to Modern Medicine!

Favourite Authors: Okay I have not read enough various books of enough various authors to be able to answer this, so I’m just gonna go with a few books instead. They are not necessarily all-time favorites, but I enjoyed reading them very much at the time and more often than not go back to them for comfort reads: The Martian, any of first three Harry Potter books, and The Rise of Kiyoshi. (That last one’s not really a comfort read but I am drowning in Loving Kiyoshi juice so here we are)

Favourite Animal Noises: Certain kinds of birds (UNLESS it’s some ungodly hour of the morning and you’re trying to sleep)? Ooh, and crickets!

Aesthetic: A slob, but like...a comfy slob. An incredibly disorganized hermit who is happy to mill about in the uncontrolled entropy. (Are we talking about what aesthetic I give off, or what I like to look at, visually? Because I like space, and water, and mountains, and forests, and forests ON mountains, OOH and forests on mountains at night where you can see space, perhaps reflected in a body of water. Or just water, idk. Different things are pretty to look at at different times)

WELL THAT ONLY TOOK FOREVER SORRY FOR THE OBSCENE LENGTH

@pachelbelsheadcanon @averybritishbumblebee @shingeki-no-korra @sailorlock @yeswevegotavideo @soultheta @queenerdloser @ifeelbetterer @rogueofdragons @peppervl @amadness2method @mutalune and anybody else who wants to do this! This isn’t seventeen, and I don’t know if any of you have already done it/been tagged, but I hear people moving around upstairs so that means this break is over XD. And ABSOLUTELY no pressure to actually do this, this is pretty much just me wishing you well! (and YOU of course, my dear reader! I hope everything’s going all right, or if it’s not, that it does soon)

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minaminokyoko · 5 years

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Maleficent: Mistress of Evil--A Spoilertastic Review

Disney: *shuffling through records* Hey, Hollywood.

Hollywood: *drunkenly burps, throws empty beer can behind the couch* Yup?

Disney: What’s that really well written, well acted, beautifully shot, feminist movie we made with Angelina Jolie that one time?

Hollywood: Oh, the broad with the wings and the horns? Maleficent.

Disney: Yeah, yeah, her. Do something else with her.

Hollywood: Wait, you don’t want to give it to her? *points to Talent, who is sitting at the table typing* Or her? *points to Effort, who is in the kitchen baking souffle* I mean, they’re the ones who made the first one.

Disney: Nah, you got this. Go for it.

Hollywood: Alright. *farts and a script falls out of his ass* Here you go.

Disney: Thanks, fam.

*END SCENE*

In case you can’t tell, I’m extremely disappointed in Maleficent: Mistress of Evil.

Overall Grade: C-

As always, spoilers below.

Pros:

-Probably the only reason a few straggling fans are showing up to Maleficent II is finding out that the legendary Michelle Pfeiffer was cast as the evil queen. She is just as smug and cold and awful as she seemed in the trailer, so kudos. They don’t share enough screen time, but Mal vs. Ingrith at that dinner table was some of the shadiest, pettiest shit I’ve ever seen. Ingrith is That Bitch. You really wanted her to have a harsher fate considering the monstrous shit that she does in this movie.

-Though they are seriously few and far between, I did like the tiny domestic moments we got from Diaval and Maleficent. I’m sad to say that the hype was once again wrong. They were teasing that perhaps Diaval and Mal would get a little more of a romantic spin, but either it was cut for time or they changed their minds. Diaval and Mal are apart the entire movie. It’s the worst. However, the bits we do get of them in the beginning, like him giving her the bad news and her trying out her smile in front of him and her telling him he missed her was nothing short of adorable. I especially loved it when they were served bird and Mal gives him that mean little side-eye. It feels very comfortable and domestic, and less like they’re mistress and servant and a little bit more like the mother and father pair that they actually are. I’m just sad there is so few scenes of them together.

-Expanding Mal’s backstory has very mixed results, but the bits we do see and understand aren’t half bad. The phoenix thing is way under-explained, but it is a neat concept that the dark fae came from a single source. It was also a believable story that they were hunted to near extinction, especially during this era of time when white people were at their most fucking ridiculous killing every new people they found on every fucking continent they found them on. It made sense they hid from them and wanted revenge, since we pretty much see that the humans for the most part are utter shitheads anyway. I also loved the diversity of the dark fae, coming from all continents and all peoples. Nothing drives me crazier than the idea that all fantasy creatures should look like pale white folks. This was very nice to see.

-At least Diaval didn’t die. I was afraid of that since bad sequels often kill someone you like just to “raise the stakes.”

-Tying the cursed spindle into the sequel isn’t half-bad an idea. It’s kind of neat that it’s how Aurora ends up discovering the truth.

Cons:

-Fucking everything else in this movie, basically, is a negative point. Goddammit. Why did they squander all this fucking talent?

-Having Mal, Diaval, and Aurora separated the entire time is the first huge mistake. I was hoping from the trailer that Mal getting hurt and finding her own kind was something that happens in the second act. Nope. First act. Fucking hell. All the reasons why Maleficent was a great movie was the dynamic between these characters and the development of their relationships. It was so easy to love them. They were a family. They had struggles and they all put in effort and they won the day. And then this movie happened. Mal and Diaval first and foremost were done dirty, especially since behind the scenes they had been teasing that maybe the hints of romance between them might finally get a brief spotlight, but no. Didn’t happen. Either it was cut for time or they changed their minds. Then Aurora just blindly believing that Mal cursed the king despite knowing her mother for fucking five plus years, not counting how Mal raised her from afar, just massively pisses me off. Aurora has shown no signs of wanting to just be a normal girl. She loves her mother faithfully and it feels very OOC for her to just instantly assume the worst, especially since she should know things about magic by now and would have heard that Mal has to verbally curse someone, not just with a gesture of magic.

-Almost every part of this story has our leads being passive as hell. I hate passive stories and I hate passive characters. Remember, a good story is one in which your protagonists affect the plot and the outcome and each other. This movie is borderline boring. It’s so much of people looking out the window at the sky and fretting and being moody. All of our characters just sit around for two goddamn hours barely doing a thing until the war at the end, as if the movie is just waiting for itself to end. It’s such a fucking shame considering how many creative, engrossing scenes are in the first film. The first film perfectly paced the character development with the three main leads alongside the action. I loved seeing Diaval’s different forms. The action was fantastic and the story was deeply personal. Everything built towards the end goal of showing the full scope of who Mal is as both the hero and the villain. Here, it’s just miscommunication. That’s it. It’s so stupidly basic and it doesn’t do anything but open the door for her backstory. It’s such a lazy method to introduce them. There were much better ways to go about it and I’m sad that none of our beloved three barely does anything over the course of the movie.

-The tone is all over the fucking place. I actually would not recommend this movie for kids. It’s much too harsh for the little ones when we reach the war in the third act. It’s unnecessarily cruel to a bunch of characters. It even has the nerve to outright KILL one of the three fairy godmothers with little to no reverence for what a big fucking deal that should be. It’s a nasty, unpleasant feeling when she dies and when the other moorfolk and the dark fae die as well. And yet some of these scenes have slapped together “wah-wah-wah” moments, like the evil queen simply being turned into a goat. Ha-ha. Yeah. There are dozens of soldiers and innocent townsfolk and fairies dead. But she’s a just a goat. Sure. That’s not a whiplash of a fucking tone at all. What the hell is the matter with this movie? How dare you actually kill a fairy godmother. And it was one of a few stupid sacrifices while we’re at it. I mean, Magical Negro Fae went full Piccolo standing in front of Mal when all he had to do was yank her out of the way. Same for the big tree fae who died. Not to mention the fact that the giant tree fae just had to walk over to that fucking pipe organ and snap that stupid redhead’s neck, easy peasy, in three seconds. Problem solved. Fuck this movie for showing such flagrant deaths for innocent characters.

Oh, excuse me, one second.

*grabs Hollywood by the ear, shoves him into a chair, and breaks his nose*

Hollywood: OW! WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!

Me: IF YOU PUT ONE MORE GODDAMN FUCKING MAGICAL NEGRO INTO ANOTHER MOTHERFUCKING MOVIE IN 2019 OR BEYOND, I’MMA FUCKING KILL YOU.

-Magical Negro Fae makes me want to kill something. I’m tired, y’all. I’m tired of writers in Hollywood continually making wise black characters teach white people life lessons and then promptly die to advance their story. Go to hell. All of you who keep writing this wretched cliché go straight to hell. Do not pass go. Do not collect $200. Take your ass to hell and rot in the lake of fire. Stop. Fucking. Doing. This. To. Black. Characters. You. Fucking. Assholes.

-It feels like there is a movie between the first Maleficent and this one that we missed. Seriously, the characters spout backstory that sounds interesting and important, but it’s off-screen, and we’re constantly fighting to understand something that the characters clearly do. Show, don’t tell. Show me Aurora and Philip being in love. Show me Aurora’s longing for Philip and Mal to get along. Show me Mal wondering about her heritage and feeling like an outcast. Show me the dark fae’s backstory. Show me Lickspittle being forced into betraying his own kind. I cannot connect with these characters if you do not give me a reason to do it like you did in the first film.

-Is it just me or did Hollywood deadass steal a whole bunch of this from the Gargoyles animated series? I’m just saying. Go back and watch that and then watch this and tell me it’s not similar.

-Nitpick: God, Disney, I am so tired of you filming all your live action movies on one sound stage with zero practical effects and zero sets. Yes, we can tell the fucking difference when you film everything indoors and there’s no sets. Can we go back to actually giving a shit about how movies look?

-Nitpick: There’s plotholes everywhere. I already mentioned how the tree fae could have ended that church massacre in a total of 3 seconds, if that. Where have the dark fae been? Why did they just act that one time with those mercs stealing the moorfolk? What was Lickspittle actually doing to the trapped fairies? We never see him experiment on them or anything. How did Magical Negro Fae see Mal fall in total darkness? Was he just hovering around the area? Why? They seem very far away from their stronghold, so how did he see her and why have they never attempted contact with her before even though they apparently know the moors very well? I could go on like this for some time.

-Angelina Jolie is given very little material to work with and it’s depressing considering how emotionally attached I became to Mal in the first movie. Her struggle was so sympathetic and her reaction to Stefan’s cowardice and cruelty was arguably justified. Here, she’s not having some kind of revelation about herself. It’s cookie cutter right and wrong. It’s very little struggle. She’s not barely doing anything for long periods of time and it’s honestly boring and disappointing as hell considering what a force of nature she is in personality and in abilities. They took all the zest and spice out of her. She’s a hollow, empty version of herself here and it’s probably the most insulting thing of all.

-Nitpick: The title is a big fat lie. Mal does not turn evil or become evil. She swats some fools around at the end, but that’s all. I hate misleading titles.

Overall, the word to describe this movie is unnecessary. It’s not bad, but it is nowhere near good at all. It reduces all its characters into passive roles in a dull story that tries to make up for it by heavily loading the ending with very distasteful, cruel war scenes that are frankly too harsh for children. It’s not asking any deep, sympathetic questions from its audience. It’s just spinning its wheels, mostly. If you’re curious, sure, go ahead and rent it. I would warn you from paying full theater price since it adds almost nothing to something that was frankly perfect the way it was already. I went in with low expectations and while the movie didn’t go below them, it was still a letdown. Mostly because I wanted some Maleval scenes to wake up the tiny, dormant fandom, and I highly doubt this is going to do that.

Sigh. You deserved better, Mal. At least we’ll always have the first movie.

Kyo out.

#maleficent #maleficent: mistress of evil #maleficent II #mistress of evil #angelina jolie #michelle pfeiffer #movie review #film review #review #spoilers #spoiler alert

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bestkage · 5 years

Note

Could you post the rest of that wip that had Hinata asking what canoodling meant?

Yeah! It’s a kagesuga WIP! I’m on mobile and I don’t know how to do a read more on mobile so sorry for the long post!!

The squeak of rubber soled sneakers on hardwood floors would someday make Suga unnecessarily nostalgic in the near future. When he’s sitting in a lecture hall with a pen between his teeth and his chin pressed against the reddening palm of his hand- but for now he revels in the sound as he takes a swig from his water bottle. The water is lukewarm and doesn’t do much for his red cheeks and chest but he doesn’t mind it, twisting the cap closed and placing it on the bench next to Kiyoko-san.

“Sugawara-san,” She says, framed eyes never straying for the clipboard in her small hands. “You’re doing well this year.” She voices and Suga can feel his cheeks growing warm.

“Ah-” He smiles bashfully, “Not by much.” He says and Kiyoko gives a small smile.

“I think Kageyama-kun’s been influencing you to become better.” She says, tapping her pen against the beauty mark under her lip.

“You’d have to have no desire to play to not watch Kageyama play and not want to take notes.” Suga laughs, stretching his arms over his head to relieve tension building in his lower back. Kiyoko nods in agreeance, circling something on her clipboard. “What’re doing over there?” He asks after sparing a glance to Daichi (who’s yet again chiding Hinata and Kageyama for bickering loudly) before taking a seat next to the team manager.

“It’s supposed to be a surprise,” She smiles, “I’m planning a team trip. Nekomata-sensei actually invited us to a trip to his family’s onsen. Apparently it's a team tradition.”

“We could use a trip to an onsen.” Suga sighs. The rigorous training the team had been subjected to since Ukai became their coach was starting to wear on his muscles. He would give his entire right arm to submerge in the warm, healing waters of an onsen. “If you need help with anything, I don’t how much help I could be but I’m here.”

“Thank you, Suga.” She smiles, meeting his eyes this time. “Just keep it a secret until I know for sure.”

“My lips are sealed.” Suga promises with an arch of his eyebrow.

“Oi, get back on the court and stop canoodling with Shimizu-san.” A looming voice says from the court and Suga narrows his gaze on Daichi.

“If anyone canoodles with Kiyoko-san, it's me.” Tanaka declares, thumb pressed to his puffed out chest.

“What’s ‘canoodle’ mean?” Hinata questions from the net.

“Canned soup.” Kageyama says and Hinata nods content.

From the corner of his eye, he sees Tsukishima place his face into his palm and wants to follow in suit.

Clean up is often prone to warrior screams from Kageyama and Hinata racing mop brooms across the court but today, Kageyama had taken up net duty with Suga himself- their fingers taking down the net with ease from doing so a multitude of times. Suga’s got the net folded up, pressed against his chest with the antennas nestled under his arm as Kageyama walks beside him with two poles under each arm. He still doesn’t understand how the first year single handedly shoulders the weight of both poles without dragging them against the floor but he guesses that due to the definition in the boy’s arms. Suga’s no stranger to ogling toned muscles peeking out of volleyball jerseys but it’s the first time he’s considered his kouhai’s. Kageyama’s got sturdy, well defined arms and toned calves that makes Suga want to put in more effort on leg day. When he thinks about it, he’s peered across the locker room sometimes, his eyes catching the way Kageyama’s back muscles move under his tanned skin as he pulled his jersey over his head, all the way to the small of his back where defined lines led to the the clefts of his ass and Suga’s mind stops functioning at that point. He can feel the shells of his ears warming considerably.

Was he seriously just reminiscing in the movements of his kouhai’s body? Simple yet shameful answer to that question: yes, yes he was.

“Sugawara-senpai?” Kageyama’s voice piques and Suga startles out of his thoughts, a sheepish smile spreading across his face as if to cancel out the maroon that’s colored his face. Kageyama’s holding the equipment room door open with his back, his head tilted slightly and Suga notes how thick his neck is- follows the chords down to his collarbones peeking out from under his jersey and he vaguely wonders if Kageyama’s easy to bruise. “Senpai?”

“Sorry!” Suga yelps, nearly dropping the net in his arms as he hustles past his kouhai into the equipment room. He sets the net in its place, flush still prominent amongst his cheeks as he hears Kageyama’s steps behind him. The room is dim and it's the perfect setting for one of those BL manga makeout scenes and he wonders what it would be like to kiss Kageyama. That sends a shiver up from the base of his spine that tingle in his abdomen before hitting his brain, making him stand prostraight too fast giving him whiplash.

“Sugawara-senpai,” That voice calls again and Suga finds his palms growing sweaty.

“Yes?” He questions, his voice an undignified and shame filled squeak.

“How can I link up with the second and third years better? My tosses to them still need a little more work.”

Suga blinks, part of slightly (sure) disappointed (devastated) Kageyama wasn’t confessing his undying love and kabe-don’ing him against the concrete wall of the equipment room.

“You’ve just got to get to know them better.” Suga says, finally reassuming his position of a resourceful senpai and not a lusting creep. “I think you’ll have time to do that in the near future.” He adds, stepping out of the dim room and into the harsh, fluorescent light of the gymnasium.

“I don’t think I know how to get to know someone.” Kageyama admits and he’s got color burning at the tips of his ears and it's so precious and Suga is a pervert.

“Just ask questions. They don’t really have to be volleyball related. You would be surprised by the things you could learn about the way someone plays by how they go through everyday life.” He smiles, stepping out of the way so Kageyama can latch the door closed. “Like, Hinata, for example. He relies on instinct and only thinks where its due. Sometimes.”

Kageyama snorts “dumbass” under his breath and Suga rolls his eyes fondly, changing course to the locker room.

They’re silent during the short walk and Kageyama holds the door open with his foot for Suga.

Noya’s in the middle of boasting about a new receiving technique he’s conjured, Tanaka and Hinata eagerly listening with stars in their eyes. Tsukishima’s already fully dressed, Yamaguchi hurriedly stepping his school slacks probably in fear Tsukishima will leave him behind if he takes any longer.

Everything goes as it usually does after practice, they get meatbuns from Ukai’s store and loiter to converse in front of the shop. Its then Kageyama steps up to him, half a curry bun in his fingers.

“Thank you, Sugawara-senpai for the advice.” He says with a slight bow and Suga waves his hand dismissively.

“It’s nothing. You can always come to me with questions. It's what a senpai’s for.” He grins and it's then that he notices Kageyama’s wobbly kinda-sorta smile. If it were an arrow, it would’ve pierced Suga right through the heart and probably set him on fire.

“Bakayama, canoodle doesn’t mean canned soup!” Hinata careens, swiftly knocking Suga from his trance and he backs away to join Daichi’s side.

Suga walks with Daichi and Asahi until they part ways at their separate streets with small waves and teasing words.

Suga says hi to his mother, half listens when she says something about his father coming home late and dinner should be ready after he showers.

Suga’s in bed with his headphones in his ears, something slow with electric guitar riffs when Kageyama comes to mind again. It started by reflecting on the day’s practice and somehow wandered to the wobbly smile on his kouhai’s lips.

It’s then he realizes it not just physical attraction he’s dealing with here.

He’s got a crush on Kageyama.

And not a small one but a big one that blooms the more he thinks about how endearing Kageyama is no matter how much he tries to smother it and himself with the pillow he’s currently stuffing into his face and silently yelling into.

#my fics #wip #kagesuga #haikyuu!!#hope this is alright!#if ya wanna this finished #lemme know #sugawara koushi #kageyama tobio

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