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mrpenguinpants · 4 years

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Genshin: Roommate HCs [V1]

To be honest, I just wanted to ramble some more and let my brainworms take over. This is sorta late but Happy Valentine’s everyone! I was gonna post this earlier but this honestly took me a long time to write so I moved it to today.

Once again, this is 90% crack 10% content. Seriously, as much as I love writing this non-serious fics. Why do you people like this?

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Based off my ramblings with Keqing anon: Link

Genshin: Holding Hands [V1]

Genshin: When you’re cold [V1]

Genshin: University AU [V1]

Genshin: Royalty AU [V1]

[Masterlist]

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[taglist] <- if you want to be added, please read this first.

@youaskedfurret @diaxfeliz @wintergreen-aix @kaechu @thegayrubberducky @lovelykittycatmeow @yuunoagivesmelife @dokidokisama @rokipersonal@minakohasmanyhusbandos @strwbrry-lia @tigerpriestess @yuu-yuukurotsuki @hanniejji @mikeysbike @unionwitch @musekala @sunnshiii @stanzastic @akaasea @xoneaboveallx @adoring-ghost @asheseiler @childelover @dilucsz @dai-tsukki-desu @thicmitten @nonniechan @htnicayh @genshins1mpact

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Diluc

What? Diluc has a roommate? Did you blackmail him in living with you? Is that even possible? Did you throw yourself in front of his car because you needed someone to pay for your student loans and the easiest way was to file a lawsuit? In this economy no one would blame you. Diluc seems like such the self-isolated character that would murder his roommate in cold blood but in reality, he act’s detached from the world because he forgot how to socialize and he’s desperately trying to cover it up without choking. That or he’s trying to learn how to astral project. If he could drink away the pain he would but instead he buys 20 packs of grape Kool-Aid and injects it into his veins.

Does not and will not ever have a normal sleeping schedule. You’ll wake up to him working, come back home to him working, and will sleep to him still working. His daily dose of Vitamin D is from the brightness of his screen rather than the sun and he’s filter feeding at this point. It’s concerning. He’s going to crumble and he’s bringing the world down with him. Through the power of tax evasion. But as soon as he needs to walk out into society, he pulls movie magic and looks like perfection. It’s both physically and mentally disgusting.

He’s actually is a really nice roommate to have just so long as you give him space. Great cook and knows to clean up after himself. Though he does have crash and burn days where’s he’s completely out of commission. You could set the entire apartment on fire and he would sleep through it. The entire two weeks are dedicated to zombie eye marathons and then he’ll suddenly collapse and sleep for 46 hours straight. When he wakes up from his hibernation he’s the most groggy and nonsensical person. His life blood is coffee because you keep hiding the 5 hour energy away from him because, you know, life is enjoyable and those cancer bottles will actually kill him.

“University sucks our money out of our bodies faster than our will to live.”

Beidou [Happy Birthday Queen 💕]

Despite her appearance, she’s actually really strong and it scares the piss out of you when you’re doing something or scrolling through your phone mindlessly and you suddenly get your spine re-arranged when she slaps you on the back to ask what you’re doing. Likewise, when she hoists you up and throws you over her shoulder so you come with her on her 3am convivence store raids for alcohol. It’s either you change now or else we’re walking out of the apartment in your t-shirt and no pants self. She can and will carry you under her arm that way. It’s both incredibly attractive and horrifying at the same time.

She’s really friendly and a great talker if you’re alright with her “I must hold you in my arms, fresh prince of bel air style”. It doesn’t matter if you’re taller than her, she’s doing it. She does however, get in a bit of trouble from her rowdiness and you often get noise complaints but Beidou just passes them off to Ningguang and everything is fixed. She has ovaries of steel when neighbors rather confront her personally and she’s ready to 1v1 in the parking lot. You’re trying to desperately hold onto her shirt to stop her from pile driving your neighbors for the third time this week but she’s too strong.

She’s constant party until we die attitude and suffers the hangover in the morning. It’s actually really funny to catch her in her hangover moods because whatever filter Beidou had, which is none, is gone. She really takes “cursing like a sailor” or the next level and the amount of creativity she comes up with is actually impressive. She can be a bit messy but she’s really likeable and always down to go anywhere with you as long as you’ll do the same. It’s a very ride together, we die together situation. You’re my best friend, you’re dying with me. I’ll see you in hell.

“Imma T pose over my dad and then crash the car into the parking garage.”

Kaeya

Kaeya on the surface seems like such a chill roommate. And he is for the most part. But he’s such an ass. Your things are his things, no questions asked. If you just bought a really nice sweater or you had leftover food, that’s his now. He’s innocent until proven guilty even if he’s literally holding your lunch. The pure amount of bullshit he can spit out to convince you that no, he did not pull the fire alarm because he wanted an excuse for not going to work, puts him on Shakespeare level. He’s also very pretty, way too pretty, sir can you share some of your genes?

But aside from that, he’s actually super dependable. You forgot something at home? Sure, he has nothing better to do so he can bring them for you. We’re missing eggs? No problem, he’s just by the store. You’re 95% sure that he just wants to be cheeky and make you thank him for 20 minutes before he actually hands you what you asked for. It’s better for you if you never tell him anything you’re afraid of because Kaeya has no social cues, or more like he throws them out the window, and he’s probably a psychopath.

He’s incredibly private of his room and things despite his attitude towards yours. You’re convinced he either has a secret lab or that’s where he’s storing the bodies. I was the good guy but due to unfortunate circumstances, I need to stab a bitch. But he’s a really good serious talker for those 3am, because everything happens at 3am, talks about life and the meaning of the universe. It absolutely wrecks your sleep schedule but some of the things you talk about are the most crackhead things like what’s the lowest amount of money someone would have to pay you to walk outside without clothes? It’s a legitimate question.

“Never before have I been so offended with something I 100% agree with.”

Jean

Okay, what world did you save in a past life to live with his absolutely wonderful woman? Mother Teresa take a load off, take a seat. You have nothing to worry about. She’ll bring home little treats back home and it’s the most wholesome thing ever?? Is this what love and affection feels like? We’ve been starved for so long. She says it’s not a big deal and anyone would do it BUT THE MOMENT SOMEONE BUYS FOOD FOR YOU. IT’S A MAGICAL MOMENT. They are forever stuck in your will until proven otherwise. An absolute ray of sunshine that must be protected.

She does get super busy so you don’t often see each other or get to hang out as much. She’s a bit of a workaholic but a lot more easier to talk her into taking a break. She’s also a pretty decent cook but she prefers baking and jesus christ, girl can you calm down? Be still my beating heart, I’ve been smitten. Has mother hen vibes that you’re not sure if she’s your roommate or if she adopted you into her family. It’s time to start a petition for the Jean protection squad. Given the opportunity, I would aggressively hold your hand.

She’s always open to whatever you want to do. Any recommendations or things that you like she will try out at least once despite her busy schedule. She’s lowkey lonely because work consumes her so any time you want to hang out or do something together, she jumps on it like she’s feral. She get’s a bit shy to ask if she can join in on your plans because she doesn’t want to bother you or intrude no matter how many times you tell her that’s okay, she still get’s a bit iffy about it. Please save this girl before she trips. In your arms. Platonically. Just kidding haha. Unless?

“I can’t wait to see you happy and not hating everyone again haha.”

Childe

First impressions of Childe were great, until he opened his mouth and you realized how much of a two brain cell child(e) he was. He has two braincells because they constantly have to 1v1 in his brain. He’s lived with a lot of siblings so he has no social awareness or concept of privacy that you’re lucky if you come home and he’s half-dressed. It doesn’t matter if you’re 2 weeks older than him, he’s going to call you 82 years old and why your bones aren’t being fossilized at this point. He’s such a little shit, this fucker licks the yogurt lid peel.

He get’s really restless when he’s stuck under house arrest, because apparently 1v1ing in the parking lot of a Wendy’s is illegal for some reason, so he makes dying whale noises until he get’s to go outside again. But he’s actually a really wholesome guy, probably because of his younger siblings, that he’ll sometimes get you something because you seemed down and it’s such whiplash? Who is this man and where did he come from? You’re starting to have a change of heart before he tells you that he got banned from the library for accidently punching the school’s computer. How you “accidently” punch something you have no idea but Childe always comes home with some sort of injury. Maybe he’s just incredibly clumsy. For your sanity, you’re going to go with that.

He’s actually so uncultured that it’s crippling. You can’t blame him too much considering his upbringing and it’s great that he’s so interested in learning new things but...child no...It makes you want to take your spine out of your ass and rip it like a Beyblade. Watching him take chopsticks and stab his food like it’s marshmallows makes you want to fall into a blackhole and let the chair consume you.

“I, too, fantasize about beating the living shit out of people.”

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Is this another tag yourself game cause I resonate with Diluc. I’m crying in insomnia. As much as I enjoy writing these fics I absolutely hate tagging them. I remember I used to have a tag anon but that was back when I wrote for bnha.

Valentine’s Day was fun tho. I had a drinking game with friends as we played league then ended it off with a movie night.

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carriagelamp · 4 years

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Art of Aardman

I found myself a cheap copy of the Shaun the Sheep movie, so I was rewatching a bunch of Aardman films earlier this month and decided to hunt down some books too. For anyone that doesn’t know, Aardman is a British stop-motion studio that does fantastic work like Wallace and Gromit, Shaun the Sheep, Chicken Run, Early Man… tons of cool stuff. They’re always quirky and funny and warm-hearted. This was just a very nice art book for anyone that’s a fan of Aardman stop motion and wants to see a bit extra; it shows some cool concept art and blows up the neat details in Aardman work, especially in their intricate stuff like The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists!

Asterix and the Picts (Asterix and the Chariot Race, and How Obelix Fell Into The Magic Potion)

I decided to try a couple of the new Asterix comics that were done by the new team, just to see if they stand up to the old ones (that and How Obelix Fell Into The Magic Potion cause I’d never read that one before). They were pretty decent! Asterix and the Picts was my favourite of the two though I wouldn’t say either are going to contest for my favourite Asterix comic... but still! The art looks good and the stories felt like what I would expect, they made for a pleasant couple evenings of reading especially since it’s been so long since I’ve read a new Asterix comic. If you’ve never read Asterix it’s one of the biggest name French comic series in North America, as far as I know and very worth the read. It’s about a single Gaulish village that’s holding out against the invading Romans through sheer force of will, slapstick hijinks, and a magical super-strength potion brewed by their druid. Lots of fantastic visuals and cute wordplay, even in the English translations.

Bear

I found out about this bastion of Canadian literature via tumblr post that was losing its collective mind over the fact that some bizarre bear-based erotica novella somehow won the most prestigious literary prize available in Canada. Since I too found this hilarious and unspeakably bizarre I had to give it a read, obviously. And yes, the flat surface level summary is... a librarian moves out into rural Ontario and falls in love with a literal for-real not-supernatural-not-a-joke bear. And I have to say… it is actually worthy of an award, which I was not expecting given that I was there for a laugh. It has beautiful writing, and the subtextual story is pretty interesting… it kind of makes me think of The Haunting of Hill House actually in terms of themes. (Womanhood, personhood, independence, autonomy partially achieved through escaping the male gaze by claiming non-human lovers... listen if I were still in university I would right a paper comparing the two novels).

I dunno man, it’s fucking weird. Actually a well-written book, but sure is about a woman falling in love with a literal bear. Give it a read if you want something bonkers but like… high-brow bonkers.

Hunger Pangs: True Love Bites

Best book I have read in like… a while. A long while. I am not a fast reader, and I consumed 90% of this book over a weekend. It’s not at all like Terry Pratchett, but at the same time it scratched an itch for me that I haven’t had satisfied since Pratchett’s death. A very clever, hilariously funny poly romance between a disabled werewolf, an anxious vampire lord, and an incredibly powerful woman, with heaps of social satire, political commentary, and sinister undertones. The whole thing reads a bit like fanfiction and I say that in the most flattering way possible -- it is so easy to jump right in and be immediately taken over by the characters and the world and the plot, you never feel like you’re fighting to engage even though the world-building is fascinating and expansive. It welcomes you in right away, it was the book equivalent of a quilt and a hug which is something I sorely needed with all this pandemic bullshit. If you read any of the books on this list, go read that one while I sit here in pain waiting for the sequel.

Kid Paddle

I watched the cartoon of Kid Paddle as a kid and was thinking about it recently, so I decided to hunt down some of the original comics online. They’re fun and weird, with a cute art style and fantastic monsters designs. (My favourites are always about Kid either daydreaming or playing games that involve Midam’s weird warty troll creatures. It’s like a cross between Calvin and Hobbes and Foxtrot with the fun sort of quirks that I love in Belgian comics. Unfortunately, unlike Asterix, I’ve only come across these ones in French, but if you can read French it’s totally worth popping over to The Internet Archive and reading the ones they have available.

The Last Firehawk: The Golden Temple

The lastest Firehawk book. Despite being written for quite young readers, I did enjoy the early books in this series quite a bit. They’re about a young owl and squirrel who found an egg for a magical species that was believed to be extinct. With the newly hatched firehawk, the three of them head off on a mission to find an ancient firehawk magic that could save the entire forest. Very basic adventure story but a good intro to the tropes for children. Unfortunately the quality really feels like it drops with each subsequent book; this will probably be the last one I bother reading.

Lumberjanes: The Moon Is Up

I honestly think I enjoy these Lumberjanes novels even more than the comics just because it really gives time to delve into each story and examine how the camper are really thinking and feeling about everything. (Also I’m always weak for novelizations of anything.) The Moon Is Up is a book that focuses more on Jo, and takes place during the camp’s much anticipated Galaxy Wars, a competition between cabins that goes over several days. While the campers prepare for these challenges though, they also run into a strange little creature with a penchant for cheese and theft. Roanoke cabin needs to keep ahead in Galaxy Wars and somehow deal with the fearsome Moon Pirates that a closing in...

Lumberjanes v4 (Out Of Time)

One of the Lumberjanes comics, a cool, girl-focused, queer comic series. Honestly, this is just a fun series that I never got as into as I should have. My advice is honestly to skip book one because it gets better as it continues, and I’ve really been enjoying the later books now that I’ve given it another go. It follows five campers at Miss Qiunzella Thiskwin Penniquiqul Thistle Crumpet’s Camp for Hardcore Lady Types (Jo, April, Molly, Mal, and Ripley) as they handle all sorts of challenges, from friendship to crushes, camp activities to supernatural horrors, getting badges to not being brutally killed. Great if you liked the vibe of Gravity Falls but want it to be queer-er.

Mooncakes

Another queer graphic novel, but unfortunately not a very good one. It really looked appealing and I had high hopes, but the book itself really didn’t hold up… I actually couldn’t even finish it, the plot was just too… non-existent. The art is fairly mediocre once you actually look at it, especially backgrounds, and it feels very… placid. Not much conflict or excitement or even a very compelling reason to keep reading. If you just want a soft queer supernatural you may get more mileage out of it than me, but it didn’t really do it for me. There’s better queer graphic novels out there.

New Boy In Town

One of the worst books I have ever read. My girlfriend had ordered a very different book online but through a frankly stupendous error was sent this 1980s pulp romance instead. Absolutely nauseating on levels I couldn’t even begin to enumerate here. Naturally we read the whole thing out loud. Probably took us 10 times longer to finish than it warranted because I had to stop every two sentences to lose my mind. If you like bad decisions, baffling hetero courting rituals, built-in cultural Christianity without actually calling it that, and gold panning then boy howdy is this the book for you.

(seriously, you better have patience for gold-panning if you attempt this one, because I sure learn that I don’t)

Piggies

This was a picture book I enjoyed as a kid and had a reason to reread recently. Honestly it’s just very cute and simple, and the art is completely mesmerizing. Wonderful if you know a young child that would enjoy a simple goofy boardbook.

Shaun the Sheep: Tales From Mossy Bottom

Related to my Aardman fascination earlier this month. I tried reading a varieties of Shaun the Sheep books — most of which are mediocre at best — but the Tales From Mossy Bottom Farm series is genuinely good. Just chapter books, of course, but the illustrations match the series’ concept art and each story feels like it could have jumped directly out of an episode. They’re just cute and feel-good! Kinda like Footrot Flats but more for kids, and from the sheep’s perspective moreso than the dog’s.

#aardman animation #shaun the sheep #lumberjanes #kid paddle #asterix #the last firehawk #hunger pangs: true love bites #marian engel #bear #canadian literature #canlit #queer lit #book review #book reviews #chatter

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lollytea · 3 years

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Girl Talk

(ngl I hate this sm. I wrote this fic yesterday, the file corrupted and i lost everything, had a breakdown, rewrote everything the next day because I am obnoxiously stubborn. Anyways Hunter and Luz content. Bon Appetit?)

(READ ON AO3)

“Okay, but what am I even supposed to say to her? Oh! Maybe I could write down some jokes on the back of my glyph slips in case things get awkward. Wait, no, I don't want her to think I'm not taking this seriously. I don't need to be goofy all the time just to hang out with her. I need her to know that I'm serious about her and this whole...romantic thing. And I know she gets upset when she thinks I'm making fun of her so...”

“Alright, so, get this. It says here that there was once this old witch who lived on the outskirts of Latissa and his whole thing was experimenting by mixing paints and magic together. Apparently the stuff he created was like....super powerful.”

“I mean, she said she likes me 'cause I'm goofy and funny and lovable and...and...and I'm sure there's other adjectives I could use but I'm drawing a blank here. So, who am I to deprive her of what she signed up for? But I can't just....ugh, I can't even think right!”

“It doesn't have a lot of info on his specific technique but I'm sure if we did some more research, we could successfully replicate his experiments. We're pretty good at figuring stuff out. Woah, wait. I wonder what would happen if we created glyphs with this paint....maybe it would enhance the spell's level of power. Oh, that would be so cool!”

Luz stopped pacing, the floorboards practically burning after she thoroughly wore down the surface with her frantic footsteps. She set a hand on her hip and turned a withering look on her guest.

“Call me coocoo but I don't think you're listening to a word I say.”

Hunter lifted his head to blink up at her, chewing on the end of a pen. He was sitting cross-legged on the floor, boxed in by towers of Eda's Wild Magic books.

There was a glassy look in his eye, as if he was trying to get his bearings after being abruptly yanked out of an alternate dimension.

He had been, in a way. Luz was inclined to call it “Booksville.”

When Luz first met Hunter, this sort of stuff was a big, huge No-No for him. She could've invited him to take a look at any one of those books, packed with information on that obsession of his and of course, he'd be crazy with intrigue but he would hesitate. If he even opened the book at all, he'd card through the pages with an almost jumpy sense of caution, as if the paper itself would sting his fingers.

Well, that ship had certainly sailed. It had taken him a while to get fully comfortable but nowadays, Hunter didn't ask twice before digging into the contents of Eda's books, soaking up every tidbit of every sentence until he had exhausted every page.

He had even brought his own index flags to mark his favorite passages. He had gone on a little rant earlier about how Eda was an outright maniac for dog-earring the page corners.

Luz made a mental note to never show him the state of her Azura books. He would probably cry.

Hunter had become so lost in the Wild Magic sauce, he didn't even seem to care about the fact that he was not supposed to be here.

Of course, Eda didn't mind that he was here. That is to say, Luz didn't technically tell her he was here. She and King were currently out, being menaces to society and all that fun stuff, as they usually were before Luz would sneak Hunter in.

So, to be fair, Eda had never specifically said that Luz was not allowed to let The Golden Guard of the Emperor's coven into their home.

It was probably fine, right?

Yeah, it was probably fine that Luz had been hiding The Golden Guard of the Emperor's coven in her bedroom like some kind of forbidden pet.

Speaking of forbidden pets, that precious red cardinal of his was perched like a Christmas decoration atop his shoulder. That little rascal did wonders for Hunter. He seemed so much cuter than he was when there was an adorable little palisman snuggling up to him.

Once Hunter had processed what Luz said to him, his features screwed up tight. He was offended.

“Whadd'ya mean I'm not listening? I bet you can't repeat anything I was just talking about.”

“Ugh! Yeah, Hunter, I heard you. Paints! You wanna start painting as a hobby and let me just tell you, I fully support your budding creativety and will hype up your work with my entire heart but please. Right now I am having a full blown Amity Calamity!”

“Yeah, okay, that is not what I was talking about. Also, I get that you're freaking out n' all but....what do you expect me to do about it?” He threw his hands about wildly, at a complete loss. “Man, I don't know anything about that stuff,”

“I don't knowww....” Luz groaned. “I just....ugggghhh.” She buried her head in her hands, ruffling her hair into oblivion, like it would miraculously stimulate her brain cells into action. It released some pent up frustration, at least. “I wish it was easier for us to just talk about girls together.”

Hunter perked up. “Talk about girls? Are you kidding? Of course we can talk about girls, dummy!”

“Wait, really?” Luz asked, taken aback by this apparent development.

“Yeah, for sure. One sec,” Buzzing with eagerness, Hunter dove into his stacks of books, emerging seconds later with a worn, dust encrusted volume. It was so ancient, the title had faded away but Hunter still put his finger to where the big letters should be.

“Notable Female Witches of The Savage Ages,” He rattled off delightedly. “They were considered the mothers of Wild Magic. Their style of spell was really quite advanced, see they--”

Despite her frayed nerves, Luz sill managed a weak laugh.

As insufferable as he could be sometimes, she really did like this nerd a lot.

“Okay, Hunter. Buddy,” She said gently. “This stuff sounds really cool and I wanna hear all about it at some point buuuut....when I say girls, I mean...y'know. Amity specifically.”

“Oh. Right. Yeah.”

Hunter's face fell with disappointment but he was quick to snap back into a look of cool indifference. He shut the book in his lap with a soft thump, set it aside and turned his full attention to Luz.

“Sooooo...” he began awkwardly, scratching at his ear. It could not be more obvious that Hunter wanted nothing to do with this discussion. But Luz appreciated that he was trying. “Girlfriend problems, huh? Shoot.”

Luz's cheeks darkened. “Heh. 'Girlfriend'. Yeah, that's...uh...” She was suddenly very inconvenienced by the existence of her own hands so she clasped them together tight to keep herself from fidgeting. “That is.....a word for Amity.”

Hunter frowned, puzzled. “Okaaaay? So, what's the issue?”

“Ohhhhhh, boy.” An ironic, long suffering smile stretched across her face. “Let me just tell you that there is a lot goin' on up here, pal.” Luz tapped her finger against her temple. “So if I'm gonna give you the full unabridged version--”

“You could summarize it.”

“You know I don't know how to do that.”

“Yeah, I know.” Hunter sighed. “Figured it was worth a shot. Okay, let's hear it.”

“Alright but this is gonna be a lot so I suggest you strap yourself in,”

Luz sucked in a deep inhale, with full intent to let the entire flood of thoughts cascade out her mouth.

Hunter's eyes snapped to the floor, like he was actually looking for a safety harness to attach himself to. Then he seemed to realize that was ridiculous, as he scowled to himself. Little Rascal chirped and he irritably mumbled something under his breath in response.

And then Luz took off.

“Alright, so!” She announced, clapping her hands together. “So me and Amity have known each other fooooor...a while now? Yeah, it's been a while. And we've been pretty good friends ever since and then one day, she rescued me from her scary mom and she had this black flowing cape and her voice went all low and then suddenly, huh. Doki doki, y'know?” She thumped a fist against her chest. “I was gettin' all feelings-y up in here,”.

“And then a little later I figured out that we were both feeling kinda feelings-y and I was all like,” She mimed a brain explosion. “Pshww....”

“Pshww....” Hunter repeated quietly, testing out the little sound effect on his tongue. “Doki...doki....?”

“Yeah. Exactly. Doki doki. Pshww.” Luz nodded, as if he had made a valuable contribution. “So, now we're both here in the same boat, fully shish kebab-ed by Cupid's arrow.”

“Hold up. What language are you speaking?”

“And things are....great? Nice? Sorta hard to believe but stuff actually happens. We hold hands a few times, we...” The volume of her voice dropped to a bashful murmur. “we kiss a few times. There was so many beautiful, amazing romance-y moments that happened, just like in movies, y'know?”

“Movies....?” Hunter's bewildered stare turned from Luz to the bird on his shoulder, as if he was going to get any further clarification from either of them.

“Right! But here's the thing. It sorta feels like all that stuff just went by in a blur. I don't even know how I did any of that. The hand holding, the smooches the....ugh! It was like I was on autopilot or something and now I have no idea how to operate. Now, no matter how hard I try to get the vibe right, I can recreate those moments. So now it's starting to feel like...I don't know how to do anything!”

Luz's arms were whizzing around like an out of control windmill.

“I mean, Sure, Amity takes the lead sometimes but I can't make her carry this entire....relationship? Flirtationship? Whatever it is that's happening here! I gotta act or something! But I've been thinking about it waaaay too much. I never know the right time to hold her hand, I never know if she wants me to tell her she looks cute or if now maybe isn't the right time or...it's awkward, okay?! I've been making it awkward 'cause I don't know what to do! I-I don't even know for sure if we're dating! We've never talked about it!”

The last sentence came out as a squeak and Luz realized she had used up all her oxygen and needed to take a breather.

Hunter had not said a word but Luz did not know what to make of that dissecting stare of his, that studied her with a mixture of confusion and fascination. Like she was some kind of peculiar animal. A flushed, panting, peculiar animal.

“So.” He said finally, holding his palm out for Little Rascal to migrate from his shoulder to his hands. “Why don't you talk about it?”

He asked like it was the obvious solution. Luz was a little irked by it, but she kept her patience.

“Oh, Hunter. Sweet Hunter.” She heaved an exhausted sigh. “It is not that simple.”

He still didn't seem to understand. “Well, why not?”

“'Cause it's--.....Uh.” Luz trailed off, twirling her wrist around as if expecting to snatch an eloquent articulation out of thin air.

“Okay. Lemme put it like this. Amity is....really special. To me. Sometimes I still can't believe that she's real and she's friends with me and she likes me and....whew.” She pressed her fingertips to her cheek, surprised by the warmth. Even thinking that sort of stuff prompted a blush or two but it seemed saying it out loud made her face scalding.

“Anyway, now that we're going through....this, everything feels so much more....fragile?” Her voice rose in pitch, uncertain if 'Fragile' was even a suitable word to describe her feelings. It was just a vague, wishy-washy concept to describe.

“Like I feel like I could break it all so easy, just by....” Wait, she knew. She had figured out her handle on this.

“Just by being me.” She felt an ache just by admitting it, but it was the truth. Luz exhaled unsteadily to compose herself, clasping her fists tight into the fabric of her shorts and she continued...calmly.

“I can't risk doing anything that's gonna push her or make her uncomfortable or scare her away or...y'know, ruin this.” She held up her palms with a heavy shrug. “I-I don't have a plan and it would be way too reckless to wing it. Who knows what would come out of my mouth? She tells me a billion times that my weirdness is what she likes about me but...it can just as easily be the thing she hates if I overdo. I can't overdo it.

Luz was expecting Hunter to look at her like she was dumb again, but surprisingly, he nodded. A slow, thoughtful nod, as he absentmindedly scratched Little Rascal under the chin.

As the silence filled a little longer, she was starting to believe he had nothing else to add, which was fine. She had wanted to rant her heart out but realistically, she couldn't imagine Hunter having any advice for her. This wasn't exactly his area of expertise.

“Hey, Luz.” He said at last, voice surprisingly breezy. “You know those books that you really like? Uhh, with the nice witch Azuzu or whatever,”

“It's the Good Witch Azura!” Luz snapped, hands flying to her hips. “And I know you just pretended to not know her name. You're just trying to be cool.”

“Yeah, yeah.” The corner of Hunter's lip tweaked upwards. “And wasn't there that other witch that you liked to pretend was Azura's girlfriend?

Luz scoffed, finding it utterly unbelievable that this obnoxious little man had the audacity to be so dismissive towards her favorite book series, when she had been sweet enough to smuggle him in here.

“She was not her 'Girlfriend', she was her 'Soulmate' and if you even listened to me talk about it, you would know that. For your information, her name was Hecate and she began as Azura's rival but over the course of the series, they developed a beautiful, unbreakable bond that was jam packed with heavy romantic subtext. I mean, even their declaration of their eternal friendship in Book Five, which was really emotionally poignant by the way, reads so much like a love confession, it's a crime. And it's like...Ladies! Just kiss already!”

“Okay. Right. Sure. I understood some of that.”

“I mean, I guess I've read a ton of Heczura fanfics to tide me over. It's hard to find a fic where they don't kiss. Hold on, you know what fanfiction is, right?”

“Yeah.” The light in Hunter's eyes dimmed. “You made me sit through that three hour long slideshow presentation, remember?”

“Oh, right,” Luz popped a finger gun. “That was fun,”

It was fun, but a lot of work. Hunter was pouting over losing a measly three hours of his time. Well, newsflash, nerd, Luz spent two weeks working on that. Nobody is getting their hours back.

“And what usually happens in those fanfictions?” Asked Hunter, propping his chin up with his hand, as Little Rascal hopped over to a pile of books. “How do they end?”

“I told you, they kiss. A lot of the time they look deeply into each others eye and talk about how they complete each other like two halves of one heart. And y'know, moments of miscellaneous fluff.”

“Uh huh. Interesting,” He mused, tapping his pen against his bottom lip.

Luz knew Hunter could be a little...eccentric but was he really analyzing fanfiction right now? Where did the sudden interest come from?”

“So, uh, besides Azura and Hecate, are there any other...boats(?) that you--”

“Ships.” Luz corrected him.

Hunter snapped his fingers. “Right. Ships. Basically love stories that you really like.”

“We talkin' canon or non canon?”

Hunter squinted at her, lost. Seems somebody was not taking enough notes during the slideshow presentation. “Both? A-all...?”

“Oh, well, there's a bunch.”

Luz had no intention of listing every single ship that had captured her heart. They would be here all week.

“I've spent my whole life reading books, watching movies and anime and--”

“Anime...?”

“Hunter, please!” Luz squeaked as calmly as she possibly could, but she could not deny that she had started to vibrate. “You have no idea how excited you just made me at the thought of teaching you about anime but I'd need to dedicate a whole day to that 'cause I need to meet Amity soon and I'm still sorta in crisis mode. So, let's stay on topic.”

Her brow furrowed. “Whatever the heck the topic is! Why are we talking about ships, Huntifer?”

He waved off her question. “Okay but how does the story usually end for all your ships? The book ones, the anime ones, all of them,”

“We've been over this with the fanfiction discussion. They kiss, Hunter. Geez, you want a diagram or something?”

“But what else?” He prompted.

“What do you mean 'What else?'”

Now this was just getting ridiculous.

“They kiss!” Luz said with a huge amount of emphasis. “And again, miscellaneous fluff. They'll do stuff like pick each other up and swing around, hold hands and....walk off into the sunset, y'know?” She waved off all that extra padding as unimportant to the conversation. (Though Luz did really enjoy miscellaneous fluff.)

“Well yeaaaah,” Hunter was giving off vibes of a grade school teacher who gave her little nudges in the correct direction but ultimately wanted her to figure out the right answer herself. She wished he could just give it to her because honestly, she didn't know where this any of this was going.

“But when exactly do they ask each other if they're dating?”

“Whaa?” Well, that settled it. He had paid no attention to the slideshow whatsoever. “Nah, nah, they don't do stuff like that. They don't have to 'cause they're already perfect for each other. All they gotta do is look into each others' eyes and they just...” Luz shrugged, feeling lightness bubble in her chest at the very thought. She had a feeling her smile looked pretty dopey. “They just know.”

“Right. And why don't you and Amity just know?”

The bubbles burst and the lightness turned to dead weight.

The question speared through Luz's gut. Her entire body went rigid.

She had known but...

She had been trying not to...

Not to think about it.

Because if she thought about it, she knew she'd cry.

But there is was. A culmination of every coil of underlying dread that had been gradually writhing in her stomach in a monster of anxiety, summarized in a short and sweet collection of simplistic little words.

Luz did not just know when it came to Amity. She was constantly taking shots in the dark. That is, if she was even brave enough to take a shot at all.

The two of them together were not as seamlessly synchronized as couples in love were supposed to be.

Her throat stung.

Her vision went cloudy with blotted tears but she managed to catch Hunter's stony expression break into one of sheer panic.

“Wh-- Luz! Hey!” He yelped, scrambling to pick himself up from the floor. He nearly tripped over his books as he stood and hurried over to close the distance between them. He made to reach out to her but his hand stopped, just as it was about to brush against her shoulder. It hovered there for a moment, fingers curling and uncurling with uncertainty.

“Luz, listen, I wasn't....I-I mean, what I meant was...uhh. C-c'mon, cut it out!” Hunter's voice crackled with desperation and despite crying her eyes out, Luz felt the watery chuckle at the back of her throat.

“Aww, does crying make the Golden Guard uncomfy?” She tried to tease but her words came out all wobbly.

In fairness to the poor guy, it probably did. Luz couldn't imagine that dealing with tears in a delicate matter, was ever something he would need to handle in his line of work.

For all she knew, this was his first time having to comfort someone like this.

“You don't get to make jokes and cry at the same time. You gotta pick one.” Hunter snipped, but his tone was not nearly as cutting as usual. Luz was almost tempted to call it soft.

Clearing her eyes with the heel of her hands, she finally felt that warm touch on her shoulder, and then another rest against her upper arm.

Somehow the gentleness cracked all her remaining composure and she dissolved into ragged sobs.

Hunter did not speak nor did he let go out her until she got every tear out of her system. He waited patiently, tracing circles with his thumb into her skin.

Eventually, her sniffles fell silent and her eyes no longer blurred. She took a deep breath and the following exhale was shaky but manageable.

“Are you....good?” He asked cautiously.

Luz nodded.

Hunter removed his hands so carefully, you'd think doing so would cause her physical pain. He must have heard once that people were more prone to being hurt when they were already upset and assumed it was literal.

“Do you really think that...Amity and I....” Luz's voice was low and quiet but her jaw was set tight. She refused to let her words be whimpered. She looked up, meeting Hunter's eyes. “Aren't right for each other?”

“What? No! No, no, no,” Hunter looked positively alarmed at the accusation. “Luz th-that's not even remotely what I meant by that.”

“Well, then I guess you accidentally hit the nail on the head.” Luz managed a strained, bitter little smile. “'Cause it's true.”

“Luz, c'mon,” Hunter groaned, exasperated. “Don't talk like that, you've got it mixed up.”

“No.” Said Luz, tone quiet, polite yet strikingly obstinate. “You were right, Hunter.”

For someone who loved being right, he didn't seem thrilled at all.

“When it comes to Amity, I don't just know. I don't always know what she's thinking or what she wants from me. After all this time, I-I shouldn't still be trying to figure her out,”

Luz wanted to figure her out. Every time she was in her orbit, she wanted nothing more to turn over every last piece of that girl and find every hidden gem.

But now, it like she was barricaded. Something was keeping her from moving forward, from discovering Amity.

“I mean, we've kissed.” The memories of Amity were turning more and more bittersweet by the second “I told her I loved her! We had our happy ending already! A-at least I thought it was a happy ending. But we're not acting like people who are made for each other are meant to act!”

“How do you even know how people who are meant for each other are meant to act?!” Hunter demanded, as though it wouldn't reach Luz's skull unless he raised his voice. “In all the love stories you've read, it always ends with a kiss, doesn't it?”

“And--”

“And miscellaneous fluff. Yeah, I get it.” Hunter shooed the detail away before clearing his throat.

“Point is, they never talk about what comes after. You don't read about all those awkward talks where they decide if they're dating or not and talks about what they're okay with and what they're not. It always just cuts to the perfect, shiny romantic stuff, all tied up with a bow and because of that,” He clutched Luz by the shoulders.”You don't know how to move forward in a relationship 'cause you've never had a frame of reference to help you along.”

“Hey, that's not true!” She tore away from Hunter's grip. “I'll have you know that I imagine my favorite ships as couples all the time,”

“Yeah and lemme guess,” He droned, setting a hand on his hip and launching into a mockingly saccharine tone of voice. “They understand each other soooo well all the time, they can practically read each others' mind and everything is smooth sailing and peachy all the time.”

“Yeah, duh.” Luz didn't quite what he was making fun of. “That's what being a ship is all about.”

“Okay, fine, maybe, but I cannot stress this enough,” He ran his fingers through his hair before making a cutting gesture with the side of his hand, directed at Luz. “You are not a ship.”

“Well, yeah, obviously. I'm only one--”

“I mean that the two of you aren't a ship! Listen to me, you're not Azura and Hecate. You're Luz and Amity. You're real people. You've got like a million different emotions and they're messy and crazy and you don't understand most of them.”

“Okay, Hunter, I get it, I'm a hot mess. You don't have to rub it in.”

“We're all hot messes, Luz!” He exploded. “Every single one of us. 'Cause we're real and not book characters.” He was pacing back and forth now as he ranted and raved, gesticulating like a madman.

“We gotta handle all the awkward conversations that don't fit into books. You gotta talk to real people to get them and you can talk to them for years and years but you're never gonna entirely understand them. In your love stories, it's all kisses and happy endings and it's shiny and sparkly and perfect and nerds like you Eat. It.Up!”

Hunter emphasized his point by poking Luz's forehead, shocking a startled laugh out of her. As wound up as he was, the noise surprised him too.

Her laugh was contagious and soon the room was silent, expect for the sound of quiet, breathy giggles.

One of the knots in Luz's stomach had untangled itself. Hunter did make a point that she could understand. Yeah, okay, maybe she had been a little too wrapped up in fiction to successfully navigate through her own life. Luz had never been the most logical person so it was comforting for a levelheaded counter-argument to whatever was currently inflaming her anxiety.

Obviously, this didn't fix everything. Now, she understood why this wasn't easy but that didn't mean she magically knew where to go from here.

Once the shadow of Luz's smile had finally faded away, she looked up and studied Hunter for a long while. Her gaze may have been a bit intense as nervousness began to creep into his features.

“H-hey. Uh. Sorry if I was a little too--”

“Huntifer, I think you might be on to something with this one,”

He blinked at her before brightening with relief, shrugging it off. “Oh. Yeah, maybe. I dunno, I guess it's worth some thought.

Astonishing how Hunter could switch from the cockiest, most obnoxious kid in the Boiling Isles to a remarkably humble guy. Maybe it depended on context. Or he was just embarrassed that he sorta lost control of himself in his impatience.

Luz nodded. “I'd say a lot of thought. But..I think things are still gonna be awkward. With Amity. I still don't know how I'm supposed to talk this stuff through with her.”

Hunter snorted, loosely folding his arms over chest and resting his weight on one hip. And just like that, with that simple change of posture, he looked full of himself again “You wanna know a secret that's probably not much of a secret?”

He beckoned Luz to lean in closer and said in a stage whisper. “Amity probably doesn't know either.”

Huh. Yeah, Luz knew that. She knew that at the back of her mind but...she hadn't really thought about it much. She was a little too preoccupied with her own inexperience.

Hunter's lofty grin softened. “So, it's a good thing neither of you are doing it alone, right? Don't you think you could figure out how together?”

Figure out how together....

The realization sank from the surface of her mind, and everything was processing very fast then suddenly, everything clicked.

Amity.

Luz knew Amity. Luz trusted Amity. Luz loved Amity. If there was any person Luz believed would stumble alongside her through things they didn't quite understand yet, it was Amity. And it occurred to her that Luz would help Amity in return without hesitation.

With enough notches and trimming and smoothing edges, if they worked through this together, Luz and Amity could click too. Maybe not perfectly, not for a while just yet.

But enough that they could make each other happy.

A swing of confidence so strong flooded Luz's system, she swore she nearly collapsed. She felt the grin tugging at her mouth.

She could try. She could absolutely try. They could both try.

“Is...that a yes?” Hunter asked, gauging her expression.

Luz nodded so speedily, it made her head hurt. But then she realized something else and she turned a very specific look on Hunter.

But before he could ask if she was about to attack him, she held up two fingers on each hand and then placed them on either side of her head so they jutted out just behind her ears.

“Man, I don't know anything about that stuff,” Said Luz, in what she believed to be an uncanny imitation of Hunter's voice.

He frowned. “What are the theatrics for?”

“You lied to me!” Luz was delighted.

“I-I didn't lie!” He loudly objected, pointed ears scorching bright pink. “That was just common sense, you doofus. You know, that thing you lack.”

“You know, that thing you lack.” Luz parroted, swinging her hips from side to side. Once again, her impression remained flawless.

“Don't do that!”

“Don't do that!

“Stop, you weirdo!”

At the peak of riled up, Hunter floundered for a retort that Luz wouldn't shoot back at him with childish mimicking. But then he cracked and wound up sticking his tongue out at her.

Luz simply mirrored him and Hunter huffed indignantly, turning on his heel and stomping back towards his books.

He had barely made a few steps when Luz lunged at him from behind, draping her long, lanky arms around his shoulders.

“Wha—Hey! Get off!” He squawked, struggling to pry her off him as Luz squished her cheek against his.

“Huntifer~” She singsonged. “Can you please calm down for two seconds and let me say thanks already?”

Hunter knotted his arms and his scowl didn't soften but Luz didn't miss how he stopped trying to squirm out of her grip.

“Even though you were kinda rambly and all over the place, what you said helped. It helped a lot. I know this is something I can handle and I know that 'cause of you. Thanks, nerd.”

She waited patiently until she felt his shoulders loosen. And then he glanced back at her and there was a smile. A small, tight, subtle smile but it was good enough for Luz.

And then with a burst of adrenaline, she gripped him tighter and planted a big, wet raspberry on his cheek.

Predictably, Hunter blew his top. He screeched furiously and his hands went wild to push her off but Luz was stronger than she looked. And so help her, she would give Hunter this affection or die trying.

Dying trying did not seem unlikely, actually. Hunter had told her once before that if he ever murdered her, it would probably be her own fault. Luz could not argue with that.

“That is so gross!” He griped, once Luz had finally released him.

“You're gross~” She chirped, practically bouncing on the balls of her feet.

Hunter wiped the spit off his cheek with his palm before looking up at Luz with narrowed eyes

Luz did not have time to brace herself and suddenly she was tackled to the ground. She kicked and she screamed as Hunter dragged his disgusting wet hand across her face.

“GrossGrossGrossGrossGrossGrossGroooooss!”

Hunter cackled maniacally the whole time.

They carried on like rowdy toddlers for a while until Luz had to go meet Amity, leaving Hunter and his palisman to themselves.

It was too weird to admit out loud but he was disappointed that she was gone. Hanging out with her like this wasn't that bad. Talking with her, arguing with her, wrestling with her. It all made Hunter feel....so much like a kid.

Something that he had realized recently was that he still liked being a kid.

In spite of the doom and gloom of white of gold, of the clawed scars in his shoulder, of the spear that grazed his hair, a spark of childishness remained in Hunter that had never been entirely snuffed out.

It wasn't until he met Luz that he began actively trying to keep that spark alive.

The sun had long since fallen asleep by the time Luz returned and the moon was pooling in the sky. A little after sun down, he heard the downstairs door slam shut and the loud exuberant voice of The Owl Lady boomed from the floorboards beneath him. By the sound of it, she was celebrating a successful day's work. Hunter wondered what she and the cute little demon had managed to steal today.

His snoozing palisman was tucked snug in the crook of his neck, a pleasant warmth against his skin. It was a good idea to keep the bird close. If someone other than Luz came barreling into the room, he'd better have his staff on hand to magically conceal himself.

But once an hour passed and the chatter of the witch and the demon below gradually faded into loud snoring, Hunter presumed they had passed out on the couch. For the time being, he should be fine.

Hunter hoped that creepy owl tube thing wouldn't rat them out. Fortunately, Luz had promised that Hooty was willing to take a bribe but unfortunately, gossip spread fast in the Boiling Isles. Now The Golden Guard had a reputation for being a lunatic who visited the night market several times, buying dead mice in bulk.

He snorted to himself, combing through 'From Bones to Fire: A Study of Wild Magic Volume 2'. Everything he went through just to get his hands on knowledge.

Well, also to be young with Luz.

Yet another hour passed and somehow, being surrounded by his own obsession, Hunter got a little overstimulated. To give his brain a rest, he was now flipping through some tattered old magazine that Luz brought with her from the human realm. Some of the articles were practically gibberish to him but overall, it was okay. He learned he was a Scorpio. He didn't know what that entailed but it sounded cool.

He nearly jumped out of his skin as Luz burst into the room, announcing her return.

Startled, his palisman flew into a fluster, cheeping like crazy before it settled down atop his head. Hunter, meanwhile, had flung the magazine away so fast, it was like it had contaminated him, and snatched up the closest book to pretend he was reading it the whole time.

Thankfully, Luz didn't notice.

“Hey there, Little Rascal,” She cooed, prancing across the room and plopping down next to Hunter. “And hey, you little bookworm, you.”

“Bookworm?” Hunter knocked his shoulder against hers. “You looking for a fight, kid?”

“Whaaaat? Hunter, you wound me, I was just....Ohhh, my bad. I always forget that our bookworms and your bookworms are two waaaay different things.” She paused thoughtfully before shaking her head. “Actually, I don't retract anything. You look like a bookworm.”

“Yeah, well, you smell like a selkidomus.” Hunter smirked.

“Hey!” Luz bumped their shoulders. “Can you blame me? I've had one heck of a day with lots of nervous sweating!”

He was surprised that got him laughing but that tended to happen around her.

“So, how'd it go?” Hunter asked, even though he already knew the answer.

Luz's beam was as bright as a dozen of her light spells. The corner of her lip was twitching, as if she wanted to smile wider but it was physically impossible.

“We're dating.” She stated, no more than a whisper.

It obvious since the moment she entered the room, far bouncier and bubblier than usual but Hunter still grinned.

He had expected her to scream it from the rooftops, to grind his ribcage into powder with the force of her hug, to set off a riot of firework glyphs, spelling it out in lights.

No matter how she could have chosen to tell him, he would have been just as giddy as she was.

And yet, despite the lack of fanfare, somehow, it still felt so much like Luz. Though he knew that in the morning, she would tell the entire Boiling Isles, right here, right now, only Hunter knew. Something about that felt nice.

But the quiet serene scene was momentarily ruptured when Hunter spotted Luz re-adjusting herself out of the corner of his eye and he was immediately on high alert. Another raspberry, he could sense it.

“Luz, don't you d--”

It wasn't a raspberry.

The feather-light peck against his cheek was gone before he fully processed it, as Luz drew away with that big stupid smile still plastered on her face.

Hunter blinked away the surprise, looking to her with a raised eyebrow.

“What's that look for? In this family, we give each other hugs and kisses~”

He felt his lip quirk upwards as he scoffed, turning away with a shake of his head.

“That was so gross.”

“You're gross.”

“For real, it was even more gross than the raspberry.”

Luz burst into giggles and Hunter could understand why everything was suddenly a million times funnier to her. She will still fizzling with that giddiness that Amity had kissed into her and now it was all spilling out.

To be honest, listening to a teenage girl gush and squeal about her girlfriend did not seem like something Hunter would ever willingly subject himself to.

But this was Luz. His friend, Luz.

He lightly pinched the pudge of her cheek. “Heeeey. You wanna tell me all about it, don't you?”

Luz snapped her head over to gawk at him, astonished. And then the excitement took hold and her hands started flapping and she looked about ready to explode with delight. Her mouth was already flying open to give every solitary detail of her evening with Amity Blight.

But then she stopped, a crease forming on her brow. He caught that unreadable look she gave him and the way her eyes skimmed over the books that scattered the floor around them.

“Hmmm.” She stroked her chin with an over dramatic 'thinking' face. “Y'know what? I'll think I'll keep it all to myself.”

“Oh, really~?” Grinned Hunter. “I can only imagine all the romantic schmaltzy sickening stuff that occurred tonight. Miscellaneous fluff, right?”

Judging by the blood that stained her cheekbones, he must have been correct.

“Hey, Hunter.” She said quietly, resting her weight against his side. “You've been lost in your books for hours now. Would you mind telling me all about the most interesting you read about today? Reading myself is fine but it's way better to hear all about it from a bona fide nerd.”

Frankly, it was embarrassing how fast the giddiness practically electrocuted him and suddenly he found himself rambling. He rambled until his voice gave up but it didn't bother him at all because it was just Luz.

Luz hung on every word he said.

#the owl house #toh #luz nozeda #the golden guard #toh Hunter #lumity

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docholligay · 3 years

Note

Not trying to convince you to watch Perfect Blue as I havent seen it either, just want to give some context that the tonedeaf person missed. I have seen several posts that showed how Black Swan copied a few scenes from Perfect Blue frame by frame. There was an allegation that the BS director claimed he got permission from PB director but he actually didn't. I never looked into it since I didnt follow them but that is why this subject is tense in some anime community.

Okay so I wanted to be very thoughtful before I answered this, because I undersold myself a little bit in the off the cuff last post--I was on my phone and freshly annoyed at the memory.

But first, I want to admit to some bias in this topic, and it's not the bias you think! The bias is: I very much like several media properties that have come out of Japan. But.

I Fucking HATE the "anime community." I cannot at all deal with their weird sense of Japanese supremacy, and their intense desire to suck off Japan so hard it blows out the back of their head like a .44. People snackin on pocky in their anime t-shirts talking about how they're learning Japanese because Tokyo is THE DREAM and oh my gosh I would LOVE to live in Japan, they annoy the shit out of me, often! It is possible to learn Japanese like a normal person, but often the people I come across in this ~line of work~ are NOT those people. Japan is a major colonial and imperialist world power in the east and I have no idea why so many Westerners stan for it SO DRAMATICALLY, so when I am talking about this issue, I am bringing ALL of my baggage with that to the table. The jump to call an anime version of an idea superior raises my hackles immediately. And I want to call that out as a specific bias of mine!

That being said. I am not a normal denizen of the internet, I guess? When I see a claim, if it sparks something in me, I try to actually chase it down.

I undersold myself when I said, "I went to the wikipedia and read the plot" though that DID happen, and that, honestly, WAS enough. I went on a deep dive on this issue, and frankly I know the plot of Perfect Blue so well at this point that Jetty was trying to remember what she says into the mirror at the end, and I supplied it immediately. I have read every breakdown, considered the issue from every side.

Cut because this ended up being super long

There is a word I think y'all would REALLY benefit from learning, because I think that so many of these conversations would benefit from it, and I legitimately feel y'all do not know it!

The word is: Derivative

Black Swan is no reasonable way a copy of Perfect Blue. None. Zero. Zilch. To say that it is means you have not seen one or the other of the works. But if someone said, "I found it overly derivative for my tastes" that would be fine!

All derivative means, to simplify the literary term, is that it draws upon earlier works. I think it would be fair to call Black Swan derivative of Perfect Blue, though I maintain that the idea of double lives and personalities, the Jekyll and Hyde this, is old as the fucking tides, and I do not find Perfect Blue to be ~shockingly original~ or whatever (which doesn't mean it can't be good, or even excellent. Again, I'm very frustrated it all came down this way because I think I would have liked Perfect Blue QUITE a lot.)

It's interesting and important to note: Aronofsky OWNS the American rights to Perfect Blue. He PAID for them. If he just wanted to remake the movie, he ABSOLUTELY could have done that. Because he PAID for the privilege. He did in fact "get permission" because he paid for it with fucking cash.

Aronofsky is a huge fan of Kon and has never made any bones about it. He contributed to a tribute book of Kon's work. They've met and "expressed admiration for" each other's work. (I read that article in translation from the Japanese, so its sketchy, but I got the gist) This is the actual quote what Aronofsky said re: the similarities:

"Not really, there are similarities between the films, but it wasn’t influenced by it. It really came out of Swan Lake the Ballet, we wanted to dramatize the ballet, that’s why it’s kind of up here and down there, because ballet is big and small in lots of ways."

There are ABSOLUTELY individual SECONDS, SECONDS LONG scenes that mirror Perfect Blue, but the STORY does not. I have no FUCKING idea how you can read the cliff notes versions of both and be like, 'Oh yeah that's the same story." So if we want to get into a discussion/argument about theft versus homage, that's great and all, but it comes down to Aronofsky lifting visual moments from Kon in the same way other directors lift from Kubrick or Welles or whoever they happen to be obsessed with. It's a thing directors do.

The similarities between the two are surface level. They deal with entirely different takes on the central idea of of pressure and womanhood. Black Swan is "A rip off of" Perfect Blue as much as every magical girl show is a "rip off" of Sailor Moon. See how that's unfair and overly reductionist? But its five girls in color coded outfits and one of them is chosen LOL RIPOFF but its fine because anime is life.

Also, uhhhhh....Aronofsky didn't fucking write the story. Heinz did. He is the writer. Aronofsky optioned it because clearly these kinds of stories are His Thing. His idea to make this kind of movie came from a screenplay he optioned called The Understudy, that also had the idea of the double personality, and the stage. IS everyone on earth just cribbing from Kon? Or is this just maybe a thing that's staggeringly common in horror stories?

Really, the loser here is me because I could have had "two cakes!" but now every fucking time I think of Perfect Blue I realize how much I hate the way people interact with anime, and wonder how many delightful things do I miss out on because people refuse to be Be Normal.

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kiwi-bitchez · 5 years

Text

Not a Toy

Peter Parker x Avenger!Reader

Everyone is over 18 here!

Warnings: smut, sex toys, fingering, lowkey squirting, sexy times, confessions, fluff

Word count: 6.7k

Summary: Peter is working on a secret project and starts acting strange when you ask him about it. How do you explain to your best friend that you are engineering your spider suit to have vibrating fingers? And how are you supposed to react when she offers to be your test subject?

Lazy days at the compound were not to be taken for granted. Between the high regiment training schedule, international travel, press conferences, and team meetings, it felt like you rarely had a minute to yourself. So when a day popped up where you could relax for a minute, you took full advantage.

That was the problem though, you didn’t know how to relax. Your body naturally woke you up at the crack of dawn and you instinctively went on a morning run. What was wrong with you. Every time you sat down to “relax” you felt restless, searching around for something productive to do.

Noon rolls around and you give up on your attempts of a relaxing day. You peek your head into the lab to see who’s working. You promised yourself you would leave Peter alone today, that you’d let him enjoy his day off too. Screw that. Your best friend was the only person you knew who was more attention-deficit than yourself, he was probably just as restless.

It was a little strange at first when he had joined the team. You were skeptical of someone so young, even though he was six months older than you. You had tried to give him the cold shoulder, to let him know that this job wasn’t going to be easy. You caved within a day. He was just so nice and funny, how could you not grow to love him. Like him. Friends. Like.

The two of you had quickly grown dependent on one another for company, as everyone else on the team was a little older and less inclined to participate in movie marathons and pancake nights. You would be lying if you said you didn’t have a little crush on Peter. A little, tiny, minuscule crush on him that was easily repressed into the deepest parts of you and squashed down. Until he smiled and the corners of his eyes crinkled or when he’d grab your hand to drag you off somewhere. Not so easy to squash then.

You were too aware of the consequences though, and there was no way he would ever feel the same. So you were content with being his friend, with spending every minute you could with him.

So you decide to bother him. Looks like he wasn’t able to relax on his day off either and decided to work on something in the lab. You slip through the door and shuffle your way over to him. He had headphones on, and his tongue was poking out of the corner of his mouth in concentration.

He was deep in the zone, so much that he didn’t notice you approach the bench and slip into the seat across from him. Resting your chin on your hand you watched attentively as he worked on his project. Laptop open next to him with wires tangled all around, he was toying with the hand-piece of his spider suit. The hand was on a stand in front of him and he was poking at it with tools, occasionally going to his laptop to make some changes.

“What’cha doing,” you finally ask, making him jump back. You laugh a little at his reaction, finding it funny how deep in concentration he could get.

He starts to scramble around, moving wires and closing his computer. He seemed nervous, and was frantically pushing his tools around, but not actually accomplishing anything.

“Huh, uhhhh, um, I’m just, nothing, I’m just working,” his voice was on edge and he continued to fiddle around with the things on his desk.

“Okay weirdo,” you move around the table to sit at the stool next to him, “Doing some upgrades?”

“Uh, yeah, yeah , upgrades,” he continued clearing the table and moving his tools.

“Damn, okay if it’s a big secret then I guess I’ll leave. Didn’t mean to bother you,” you felt bad, as he seemed really flustered by your presence.

“Nono, you aren’t bothing me,” his eyes were still wide with panic, “It’s just, uhhh, I’m just working on something.”

“I can see that,” you say sarcastically, “I just wanted to come see what you’re up to. I can't manage to relax, if you can believe it.”

“Me either, decided to do some work on the suit,” he was still acting shifty.

“What are you doing?” you ask with genuine interest, “I feel like we just did suit upgrades the other week, what more could you be adding?”

“Ummm, I just,” his face was bright red and he shifted his weight back and forth from leg to leg.

“Okay Parker what’s your deal,” you turn to him, “you are acting so strange. Hiding something from me?”

“No, not hiding anything,” his words came out a little too quick.

“Okay, show me what you’re doing then,” you teased him a little, knowing he was uncomfortable and you could pull at his strings.

He let out an exasperated sigh and ran his hands through his hair and over his face a few times.

“Just, umm, improving dexterity.”

“You’re a bad liar you know,” you moved closer to the spider hand on the table, “I would have believed that if your voice didn’t crack.”

“Okay please promise you won’t make fun of me?”

“Oh Peter, you know I can’t promise that.”

“Please, I’ll show you but you can’t be mean to me about it,” his voice was higher than usual, clearly concerned.

“I guess…” you laugh a little, “What the fuck could you be doing that’s so embarrassing?”

“Okay,” he let out a deep sigh and turned to you, “so have you ever thought about how the tech we use could be applied to non-superhero uses?”

It was like he was starting a pitch, everything was always so formal with him. You lean back in your seat and smirk a little.

“I guess,” you shrug.

“Like our toaster here,” he talks with his hands in a way that makes your heart smile, you shake off the feeling and nod attentively, “you know how it always toasts your bread perfectly? That’s because Tony fixed it, set the levels to always get the perfect level of toast.”

You were still completely unsure where he was going with this.

“So I was thinking about my suit and the different non-super uses for it,” his voice was slowing. He was stalling, trying to find the right words to describe this to you.

“Um, so one day there was a little glitch in my suit and it got a little...shaky, and we fixed it right away, no problem, but I kept thinking about how the...shaking could be useful.”

“Shaking?” You were not having any of this, “what the fuck are you talking about Peter.”

“Ugh, okay, this is the part you can’t be mean about.”

You nod with your hands up defensively.

“I’m messing around with the levels on the hand of my suit because that one day it started vibrating. And I thought that a vibrating hand would probably be a good sex toy. And the tech we have here is probably way better than anything they have out there. Like if we can make perfect toast, why can’t we make the perfect dildo, ya know?”

It was taking every ounce of strength you had to not burst out laughing. You bit your lip and nodded at him, trying to uphold your promise.

“So I umm, I’ve just been messing around with the different things I can program my suit to do, the different...vibrations I guess.”

He wouldn’t make eye contact with you. He just moved back over to his seat and twisted the hand so that you would have a batter view.

Opening his laptop back up and pulling open the lines of coding, he highlights a section and hits enter. The hand of his suit promptly begins to shift, the fingers buzzing aggressively.

“So you….turned the fingers of your spider suit into vibrators?” your tone was somewhere in between shock and giggles.

“Hey, no judgment, you promised!”

You bring your hand up to your mouth, making the “lips are zipped” motion but keeping the smirk you had plastered to your face.

“So they aren’t just vibrators,” his voice dipped back into science mode, “that’s what it originally started out as, but I’ve found I can make them do lots of things. Different speeds and pressures, like any other high-quality sex toy.”

Moving to a different part of the code he highlights a section and hits enter again, this time the fingers rippled and bumps appeared, giving the surface a moving texture. He showed you how the fingers of his suit could twist and roll and curl.

“I can see on your face that you're judging me, and I need you to not tell anyone else about this, because as mean as you’re gonna be, I can handle it. But I can not handle Tony or Sam finding out about this. Please.”

You felt bad for how nervous he was, and that you had crashed his secret session in the first place, but you were actually quite impressed with his invention.

“My lips are sealed, I swear,” you brought up a pinky, as was custom between the two of you, and hooked it around his.

“It’s my day off, so this doesn’t really count as spider man lab work, you know? I’m just messing around, this isn’t actually anything serious, I was just curious to see…” his face was still flushed red with embarrassment.

“Hey, you don’t have to explain yourself to me,” you try to sound reassuring but it comes out more as a chuckle, “I actually think this is really clever.”

“Really?” The red of his face was starting to subside to pink.

“Yeah, but…” your face scrunched up a little, “do you usually fuck girls while wearing your spiderman suit?”

“Oh god, no,” you were a little relieved to hear, “no, that would be so unprofessional. Spider-man doesn’t use his powers or his charm to pick up girls, never.”

“You leave that all to Peter Parker?” You joke.

“Oh yeah, he really does a great job in that department for me,” his sarcasm meeting your own.

You give him a little shrug. Peter could get it if he just opened his eyes. Almost every girl he met basically threw herself at him, he just never seemed to pick up on it. You were kind of glad for his blindness, as he wasn’t constantly flirting back with every girl he spoke to, but the blindness was also a curse as he never noticed how you were right there.

“So what’s your plan with this? If you’re not actually gonna use it on some spiderman fan-girl,” you ask.

“I don’t know, haven’t really thought that far ahead. Make a prototype that’s not spider printed and send it to some sex toy company maybe. But then I bet it would be so expensive, and I wouldn’t want to make a product that’s inaccessible.”

You closed your eyes and laughed to yourself for a moment.

“Well, whatever your plan is, you definitely need to change some things before this gets used,” you move around to the opposite side of him, taking the computer mouse from his stiff hand.

You highlight the first section of the code and hit enter, causing the hand to buzz to life.

“So this,” you move your hand to lightly touch the fingertips of the suit’s hand, “is way too powerful. You might think that more is better, but I promise you this will buzz her clit right off.”

Peters face was back to that signature beet red.

You change a few lines of the code and hit enter again, softening the buzz.

“This is much better, you don’t want it to hurt.”

“Um, thanks,” he mumbles.

“I wouldn’t expect you to know about the nuances of vibrating sex toys, Peter. This is why I am graciously offering my feminine perspective on this fucked up project of yours.”

“Hey! You promised to be nice!”

“I am! Who else is gonna tell you what a good vibrator feels like.”

“I didn’t think you would be so well versed in the subject,” he took a jab at you, you deserved it.

“I’m just as painfully single as you, dildo-fingers, I gotta get it somewhere and god knows we’re all to busy to go get it organically,” you joke back, “But I can’t quite say I have experience with any toy quite like this…” you continue to mess around with the controls, testing out the different modes.

“Would you try it?” the question slipped out of him before he could fully assess the ramifications of his request.

“Would I try it?” You flatly repeat back, also taking a second to process, “ummm, I guess so?” It came out more as a question than an answer.

“I mean, you don’t have to,” he was quick to retract his offer, “I just don’t really have a way of testing it out myself, accurately anyways.”

“I’ll try it,” you were a bit more confident in your answer this time.

“See, umm, you would… You really don’t have to, because it would have to be on my hand,” he explained frantically, “the suit, would have to be on my hand…”

“Oh,” it was your turn to go red, “I mean, if it were for scientific research purposes…”

His eyes went a little wide, the two of you staring at each other blankly.

“If we are going to start a sex toy empire I think we need to have a strong, active working relationship,” you said with a tinge of sarcasm, but also with underlying seriousness, “and if it’s for science then I am willing to be your test subject.”

“You know this is just something I was fucking around with, it’s not a big deal. I can scrap the whole project…” he was searching your face for a sign, trying to detect if you were being serious or not.

“I think it’s a good idea,” you shrugged, “Why not? Ya know?”

“Why not…” his brain was racing with reasons why not, because you were his best friend, because he was in love with you. Because this would mean seeing you in a very compromising position that he had definitely not imagined before…, “Yeah, why not.”

“When do you think it will be ready?”

“Now. It’s ready now,” Peter answers a little too quickly, unable to mask his nerves.

“That’s good,” you were avoiding eye contact, “Probably best that we do this today, cuz everyone is doing their own thing, you know? Like you said, probably best if Tony and the rest of them don’t find out about this”

“Right, right,” he was fiddling with all the wires on the desk again, “so…you want to do this now? Like, right now?”

“Yeah, I guess so,” you tried desperately to meet his eyes, “You’re the scientist here, how do you think we should go about this? Scientific method?”

You were trying to lighten the mood, but neither one of you could ignore the thick tension that had settled between you. You were both walking on eggshells, not wanting to say anything that would blow this all up, accidentally reveal how much you wanted this.

“Well I guess you could just go about how you usually would with any other sex toy…I’ll just be attached to the other end. I won’t even look, I can wear a blindfold and headphones or something, give you some privacy.”

“I think that would make it more weird,” you said honestly, “plus, I need you present to collect the research, observation and whatnot.”

“You want me… to observe you,” he was anxiously chewing on his lip, almost to the point of drawing blood.

“Yeah, I’ll talk you through it and give you feedback, and you can…observe.”

“My room or yours?” he focused all his energy on clearing his head, on trying to not act awkward about what was about to happen.

“Hmm?” you were a little lost in your own head, also trying to act casual, but failing miserably.

“Um, location? Where do you want to do this? That will be comfortable?” he started to unplug the wires and clean up his tools.

“My room I guess, if we want accurate results it should be in a place that I’m used to.”

He felt his breath catch in his throat at the thought of you touching yourself in your bed. The same place the two of you had watched movies and played scrabble, the same bed he would take naps in when you were gone.

You shift uncomfortably in your seat while he cleans up, closing his laptop and returning the tools to their proper storage. Why the fuck were you doing this? Why did you think this was a good idea? Too late to turn back now, you thought, put on a brave face and see this though, deal with the consequences later.

“Ready?” Peter asks, sounding like he was speaking to both you and himself. The truthful answer from both of you was no, but you nod your head and hop up to meet him in the doorway.

The walk up to your room was quiet, he shuffled a few feet behind you, unsure what to say or do to diffuse the tension. There had never been a moment of silence like this since you met, you were always cracking jokes and laughing together, why was this so different. He knew why it was different.

Both of you knew deep down that after this, things wouldn't be the same. You were pretending like this was just a silly project, a fun experiment between the two of you, but you knew better than that. He would never look at you the same way again, and you knew it.

You open your door and usher Peter into your room as you had done a thousand times before. You had been right, this was the perfect opportunity, most everyone was out for the day. You were the only people on the entire floor of the building. This could be a contained incident that stayed a secret, just between you and Peter.

“Okay,” you jump back onto your mattress, trying to hide the shaky feeling in your stomach, “so I’m thinking that I’ll just get naked and lay here, and you can work your magic with your fancy hand.”

“Yeah, okay,” Peter turned around to give you privacy while you undressed, a little ironic considering he would be seeing you fully naked in only a matter of seconds. He placed the new device on and let his spider suit wrap around his body.

“Oh, you’re gonna wear the whole suit?” You ask mid-taking your pants off.

“Uhh, I haven’t programmed it to be separate, it’s just a part of the whole-body piece right now. I can go change it if this is gonna be weird.

“It’s probably gonna be weird either way, so just leave it on,” you were glad his back was to you, as you were furiously blushing. You had always stolen glances of Peter when he was in his spider suit, the way it clung so tightly to his perfect body.

“So I’m thinking that we need something to compare this to, like a control group, so you should use whatever vibrator you already own for a little bit, and then we can use this and you can tell me the difference,” Peter was trying to be as professional as possible, this was for science, after all.

“Okay,” your voice was shrunken into your throat, “You can sit at the end of the bed if you want.”

You could feel his eyes burn into you as he turned around. No amount of overthinking could have prepared you for what it felt like to be seen by him in this state. You didn’t try to cover yourself up, you didn’t try to hide, you just sat there.

You broke the moment by turning over to your bedside table, giving him a moment to shake off the initial shock and move over to his spot on the bed. You grab your wand vibrator from its pouch in your drawer and flip back over onto your back.

“You can, um, watch porn or whatever you usually do to…” he tried to avert his gaze as you propped yourself up on your pillows.

“Oh, no, I usually don’t,” you spread your legs a little, giving him just the slightest view of your already wet slit. He felt a deep pit form in his stomach at the sight, you were already wet.

“Is this a bad idea? You can tell me if you want to stop,” you let him know.

He shakes his head rapidly, still unable to tear his eyes from your center, “We’ve made it this far, how weirder could it get.”

You laugh a little, before turning on your wand to the lowest setting. The faint buzz cut through the thick silence of the room. You let your head fall back onto the pillow as you run the vibrator up and down. You close your eyes and try to pretend that you were alone in your room, that Peter wasn’t only feet away from you, watching you. His presence, although foreign, was only fueling your experience. The way you could feel his eyes on you, even with yours squeezed shut, made you clench around nothing.

“Do you want me to finish?” your voice came out as more of a moan than you had intended, causing his dick to twitch underneath his suit, “To compare? Or should I save it?”

He heard your voice, but was barely listening to your questions. His left brain kicked back into gear, remembering that this was an experiment.

“How many can you usually do?” his voice was far too formal for the situation, but he couldn’t help it.

“A few, three on a good day” you reply, once again your voice came out breathy and weak.

“Okay, umm, yeah you can finish once with this one and then we can try the hand.”

You turned the setting up a notch, causing your back to arch a little. You let your free hand come up to palm at one of your breasts, your head still thrown back onto the pillow. A moan from the back of your throat slipped out unintentionally, but feeling his weight shift closer to you at the end of the bed only encouraged you to let out another.

“Fuck, Peter, I’m close,” you cried out. Hearing his name come from you in this context made his cock strain and grow impossibly harder. He felt the urge to rub himself through the material of his suit, but wondered if that would cross the line. Although you were naked and sprawled out before him, the two of you hadn’t discussed anything about him, so he decided against it and let the uncomfortable rod between his legs pulse with lust, untouched.

His mouth dropped open a little at the same time yours did, unblinking as he watched you writhe under the wand, hips rolling against it as your legs started to shake a little. Before he could even take it all in, you were sitting up, vibrator turned off and returning to its place in your drawer.

“Okay so that was the control,” you fixed your messy hair and repositioned yourself on the bed, “Hey, Peter,” you snapped in his face, “that was the control.”

“Oh, yeah, mhm that was the control,” he shook his head and blinked his eyes hard a few times.

“Okay so however you want to do this…” you laid back down, “I’m pretty wet from that last one so you should be able to slip a finger in no problem.”

Your voice dipped upwards on the last word you said, as two of Peter’s suited fingers plunged straight into your pussy.

“Fuck,” your body jerked up a little, your breathing became heavy very quickly. He watched you intently as he twisted his two digits around inside of you, finding the spot you liked them curled up at.

“I’m gonna turn the vibrations on now, is that okay?” he tried to steady his voice.

“Mmmmmm,” you moaned, unable to keep your hips from rolling slightly against his hand, “yeah, I’m ready.”

He pressed down on the wrist of his suit, turning the vibrations onto the setting you had fixed earlier. At that exact moment, Peter knew he was done for. The long, gravely moan that started in your chest and made its way past your perfect lips was something he would remember forever. He knew he would never be able to watch porn again, that he would always compare everything to this moment, to the way you sounded, to the way you looked underneath his touch.

“Oh my god, Peter,” your words snapped him out of his daze, “this is so much better, fuck, so much better.”

He continued to move his fingers up inside of you as he slowly brought the pad of his thumb up to your clit. He had programmed it to be slightly different than the vibrations in his center two fingers, but to match rhythm.

He was observing you. Observing how your eyes rolled into the back of your head when he pressed down slightly harder, the way your hips bucked up when he stalled his movements. Observing the way your hair fell around your face, observing the perfect oh your beautiful lips made. Observing the butterflies fluttering in his stomach and the rapid beat of his heart as he watched you. Observing you. For science.

He noticed the way your walls pulsed around his fingers as he switched the vibrations to the next setting. The hums and whimpering noises you were making were driving him crazy. You let your head lift from its thrown back position and meet his gaze. His eyes were dark, and lust-filled, and incredibly focused. The tip of his tongue poked out between his lips in the same way it had when he was in the lab.

His thumb started to rub tight circles around your clit, matching the vibrations coming from the suit. You had never felt something quite like this, the growing heat in your lower stomach was throbbing against his hand. You noticed that every time you said his name, his fingers curled up a bit harder into you, you used this to your advantage.

You let out a whimper of his name as you felt your high quickly approaching. He was so fixated on your body, taking in every sound that passed your lips and every shudder, every small movement. He was determined to make you feel good, to hear his name mixed with your needy moans.

He let his free hand grip your hip, pushing you flat to the mattress, stilling your movements. Fucking his fingers up into you harder you press against his cold touch, arching your body into him. Even though it was only his palm, covered by his suit, his touch seared into your skin. The action pushed you closer.

Peter could barely register you screaming out his name as you came from the blood pounding in his ears. You ground your hips into his thumb, his fingers pushing perfectly into you as you clenched around them.

“Peter, you’re making me come, fuck- I’m-” you bit your lip to stifle your moans as your hips continued to roll forward. Watching you come undone around his fingers caused a wet patch to quickly form in Peter’s suit, leaving a barely noticeable stain on his leg.

The small tremors inside you quickly rose to an earthquake, crashing harshly around you. His fingers continued to work inside you through your high, knowing right when to slow his movements and still his vibrating fingers inside you, letting you clench around them as you caught your breath. He removed his thumb from your clit and leaned back to look at you.

Your back finally gave out from its permanent arched position as you relaxed back down onto the sheets. Your eyes flutter open to find his already looking at you.

“Peter, Peter, oh my god,” your voice could barely rise above a whisper, “that was… that was so fucking good.”

“You liked it?” he asked genuinely, starting to circle his fingers inside you again, causing you to twitch, “think you can come again?”

“Again?” your hoarse voice raised up.

“You told me you could give me three,” the tone of his voice alone was enough to get you there. The fact that he said your orgasms were “for him,” it was the truth and you were glad that he knew it.

“Fuck, it won't take much if you keep-” your words were cut off by a short gasp, your hips lifted ever so slightly off the mattress and your head fell back. He pushed his fingers flat and deep into you, turning up the vibrations another setting.

His opposite hand was rubbing soft circles on your outer thigh, moving in tandem with your hips that bucked forward. Your moans were desperate and whiny, your clit still sensitive from your last orgasm.

As soon as he ran his thumb up through your folds, gathering your wetness and pressing softly onto your overstimulated nub, you couldn’t feel anything other than the waves of pleasure that rippled through your body.

Your body was set on fire, your senses were dialed to eleven. You could swear you heard him mutter under his breath, “that’s it beautiful, come for me again,” and “you look so fucking perfect like this.” But with the state your mind was in, you couldn’t be sure.

Your body tightens and tightens, threatening to snap at any moment. You couldn’t help but reach out and grasp his arm, the smooth material of his suit under your grasp as you clung to him for support.

“Please,” you begged, “fuck, Peter, please don’t stop.”

He changed the setting up to something that was a perfect mix of vibrations and rotation, his fingers snaking in a motion that had you seeing stars, his thumb still pressed against your clit as the movement beneath the surface of his suit continued to turn and spin for your pleasure.

The grip on his arm wasn’t enough, so you bring both hands to his shoulders, angling them down to you so you could hold onto them. You bury your head into his neck, feeling the solid texture of his suit against your forehead.

Your body seized up as you hit your third high, mouth gaping open and letting out deep, frantic breaths. Your thighs lock around his hand like a vice grip and your contracting walls frenzy around him.

While the first orgasm he had given you had rolled over you in waves, this one flipped your stomach up into your chest like the initial drop of a roller coaster. You could feel jolts of pleasure wash over your entire body, your legs grew numb, your nipples stiffened, all the air was sucked from your lungs.

You could hardly register what was happening to you until you started coming down, your oversensitive body collapsing without warning. He retracted his fingers from you, making you whimper at the loss. When your lower half returned to its place on the bed, you notice an unusually large wet patch.

“Holy shit, did I…”

“Yeah,” he laughed a little, “that good?”

“Fuck,” you threw your head back, hand meeting your forehead to wipe some of the sweat away, “that’s never happened to me.”

“Really?” his voice was soft.

“Really, really… sorry, I guess.”

“Are you kidding,” he moved back to the end of the bed, “that was fucking hot.”

Your face grew warm at his compliment. You shouldn’t feel so flustered considering what had just happened, but his words sat heavily in your chest.

“Umm, so the spider hand is definitely better than anything available on the market, that much I can tell you for sure. You can put that in your data.”

You fully flop back onto your bed, wanting nothing more than for him to join you. Your body felt limp and heavy, like you had just run a marathon or been hit by a train.

You watched through hooded eyes as he pressed the spider in the center of his suit and slipped it off to put his clothes back on. His back was turned to you, but the view you got of his shoulder muscles could have set you off for another orgasm…if he offered.

“I’m gonna let you rest, you seem pretty beat,” he chuckled as he flipped your lights off, “I’m glad you liked it.”

You couldn’t even think through what had just happened before you fell into a deep, much-needed sleep. Your body would need a day or two to fully recover, and you would need far longer than that to mentally recover from letting your best friend slash secret crush finger fuck the shit out of you in his superhero uniform. Fuck.

The next day you felt like you were walking on a tightrope. When you see Peter, what should you say? What should you do? “Hey buddy thanks for the amazing sex, let's do it again sometime?” You wash your face with ice-cold water to prepare yourself for the day, you knew it wouldn’t be that easy.

You tried to go about your day normally. Morning run, then breakfast, then some light training. You couldn’t ignore the faint soreness between your legs, reminding you of yesterday. You manage to go a few hours without running into Peter until the group all met to discuss some upcoming events.

You could hardly focus on what was being said, you could only stare at Peter across the table, quickly looking down or away when he noticed you staring. You were going to need to come up with a better plan than avoiding him.

You resume your normal spot across from him at lunch and strike up a conversation as normal. He plays along but you can tell he is feeling the same way as you. All through your mind ran thoughts of “what if he regrets it,” what if he didn’t like it,” “what if he doesn’t like me.”

The two of you keep up the charade for three days. Tiptoeing around each other and playing it up when you were together. You even managed to do your normal Wednesday movie night without too much awkward tension, but not none.

By the fourth day, it was all too much. You weren’t willing to sacrifice your friendship with Peter for anything, but at this point, you needed to get this all out and in the open. You were tired of holding your breath.

Sitting back on his bed, reading a book casually while he typed furiously away on his laptop, you decided that now would be as good a time as any.

“Your stupid spider hand sex-toy has completely ruined everything for me,” you start off jokingly, this being the first time either of you had mentioned it, “honestly, I can’t even get myself off anymore.”

Peter whips his head around, swiveling towards you in his desk chair, “that wasn’t my intention.”

“I guess it’s a compliment to you if anything,” you were trying to keep the conversation light.

“I did make some changes to the coding…”

“Changes? I promise you, Peter, nothing about that needed to be changed.”

“Well,” his hand came up to the back of his neck, “I figured out how to detach the hand from the rest of the suit, so it functions as an independent unit.”

Your eyes went a little wide. You cocked your head to the side, giving him a look through squinted eyes.

“So, I could make a copy, for you… if you want.”

“I don’t know, Peter,” here you go, it’s now or never, “I just don’t think it would be the same.”

His adam’s apple bobbed in his throat as he harshly swallowed.

“I think I want to try it again,” you sit up on the bed, “as long as you want to.”

You knew that you were taking a risk. What if you had read this whole situation wrong? Maybe you could play it off as a joke or something, find a way to make things normal between you two again…

“Yes,” he responds with a nod, “I…would very much like to do that again. For science or whatever, you can test the new product.”

This was the final leap, you stood up from your spot on the bed and walked over to him. “I don’t want to do it for science, Peter,” you stood in front of where he sat, “I just…want to do it with you.”

You searched deep in his eyes for a reaction, hoping he knew what you meant. The seconds of silence were killing you, but before you could backtrack, start to explain yourself or cover it up with a joke, he wraps his strong hands around your waist and pulls you into his lap.

“Not for science?” he asks, hands firmly planted on your sides. You slowly lean in, pressing your chest flat to his, feeling his body heat radiate onto you. Looking up through your lashes you meet his gaze, not finding any indication that he wanted you to stop.

You had imagined kissing your best friend a million times. Dramatically in the rain, under the mistletoe, softly in the morning, quickly as a goodbye before he left, every day you had thought about kissing him. You never quite imagined being propped up in a swivel desk chair, and you never quite imagined that he would have already seen you naked beforehand, but this wasn’t imaginary, this was happening.

Your lips parted and met his, the space between you wonderfully dwindling away to nothing. You felt like your heart was in your throat as your lips slipped together easily, as if you had done it a thousand times before. Your hands tentatively move up to the sides of his face, cupping his smiling cheeks.

You grin into the kiss too, unable to stop yourself. You want to pull away to look at him, to tell him how you feel, but you couldn’t help but lean back in for more, the feeling of his lips tingled on yours as you pulled away.

“Is this…” he whispered to you, “is this just because you found out that my spider suit can be used as the world’s best vibrator? Or…do you actually like me?”

Your heart ached at his question, hoping he already knew the answer and was just asking to be precautionary, in that signature Peter Parker way.

“Peter,” your forehead was pressed to his, fingers now running through his hair, “I’ve wanted to do this for so long, I’ve liked you for so long, you have no idea. When we were joking around the other day about you using the suit on me, I thought it would be my only chance to get close to you, because I didn’t think you’d ever see me that way. It was stupid and I should have told you first. But I want you to know now, that I’m so in love with you it hurts.”

His lips frantically met yours, kissing you almost as if he wouldn’t get the chance to again. Wrapping you tightly in his arms he lifts you up and gently sets you down on the bed, laying you back to your original position. He kisses down the corner of your mouth to your cheek, and then your jaw.

“Y/n,” he holds himself up over you, “I’ve been in love with you for as long as I can remember.”

You sit up to meet his lips, holding his face close to yours. You shift back, letting him join you on the bed. You wrap your legs around his midsection and flip him over so you were straddling him, on top.

“So,” you say in between sucking spots down his neck, “about using that hand on me again...”

#spiderman smut #spider man smut #peter parker smut #peter parker fanfiction #peter parker fanfic #spider man fanfiction #spiderman fanfic #smut #marvel smut #marvel fanfiction

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loregoddess · 3 years

Note

Ib and Ff7

FF7 is under the cut bc I Had Some Thoughts about it, and I am so sorry.

Ib:

Favorite thing about that game: I was NOT expecting to end up as emotionally invested as I got after like, a handful of minutes playing it? Like it's a little indie rpg maker game and yet it's honestly one of the most impactful games I've ever played.

Least favorite thing about that game: The motion controls are a bit wonky which like, small indie rpg maker game mechanics are to blame, but it made getting out of the mini-maze hell when I was on my "I have to save Garry" run.

Favorite character in that game: Garry, I've never gotten so attached to a fictional character in such a short amount of time only to be BETRAYED by my own choices, resulting in him being dead and in a painting for my first ending.

Would I recommend it? Why? Yes yes yes, it's free, it's fun, and it only takes like, 30 minutes to play.

Free space to go off about something! Despite Mary being the antagonist and responsible for Garry's death in several endings, I do feel a bit bad for her and wish there was an ending where Ib could like, save both Garry and Mary. It doesn't make much sense for the overall mood of the story, but still.

Rating out of 10: 9/10, good game overall, strong narrative, slightly wonky controls, excellent soundtrack, endearing aesthetics.

FF7:

Favorite thing about that game: It has a really interesting plot and cast of characters, and just a really strong narrative overall. Getting into all the extended compilation stuff was easy because the initial game experience left me wanting to explore more. The Remake does a really good job integrating a lot of this extended lore into...whatever the Remake's narrative is trying to do.

Least favorite thing about that game: The fandom--Okay, for real though, in the original game I hated Aerith's death. Like, yes, from a story perspective as the player because she was one of my favorite characters, but I actually think that was strong writing for the narrative development. What I mean is that mechanically it was a hideous decision because it leaves this gaping hole in the game. Maybe the player was using her and now has to try and get a character they weren't used to using up to level speed with Cloud and whoever else they were using for their main battle party, and that's just frustrating from a player perspective, but also when she leaves she takes everything except the materia she was carrying with her and the player looses access to that entirely for the rest of the game, but can still purchase her staffs and stuff from in-game vendors? Like, knowing this now what's the point of using her at all for the first part of the game? There's literally no point in leveling her up when I could use the exp for someone else, and there's no reason to buy her any good equipment because her most powerful staff is in the last dungeon you can use her in and you could give her any throwaway bracelet because you're going to lose it anyway. It literally makes no sense from a mechanic standpoint and I hate it because the original game's mechanics are already wonky (although that wasn't entirely rare for that era's jrpgs) but then just having this mechanical gap appear halfway through the game just messes things up even more. The original FF7 game has a lot going on in it, but because there's so much I feel it lacks the sort of polish it could have had, and I especially feel that Aerith's death just made the lackluster mechanics feel more insulting. However, the Remake has so far done a fair job of balancing the party mechanics so that even if the writers do decide to kill off Aerith again, I don't think there will be the mechanical gap that the original game suffered from because the Remake is much more mechanically balanced and well-designed.

Favorite character in that game: Aerith and Tifa, even when I was playing through the original game with it's really wonky writing (or localization, maybe), I just liked them a lot. Aerith breaks a lot of the "jrpg squishy healer girl narrative's heart" tropes I've come to expect, and Tifa had a lot of depth stemming from all that was going on in her personal character arc, and I really appreciated the writing for both. The Remake's kept the momentum and added even more details that make me love these two even more. Special mention goes to Nanaki (Red XIII) because would it wouldn't be a game series I've been obsessed with if I didn't love one of the characters the main writing team loves to ignore.

Would I recommend it? Why? Y...yes? I mean, sort of. Like my very long rant shows, I'm not actually a fan of the mechanics of the original game, and that's saying a lot since I actually love a lot of old game's for their wonky mechanics. But like, I had a hard time figuring out the internal logic and battle systems, and I'm still not even sure what healing magic scales off of right now, or the most effective use of materia and other items to their maximum effect, which is something I usually pride myself for knowing in jrpgs. The story is really interesting, but there's also a lot of plot gaps that sometimes get explored in extended lore but were never hinted at in the original narrative (like, when I found out that Tseng and Rufus not only survived their "this character very much just got killed on screen" deaths, but got quasi-redemption arcs, I was so, so confused). Also the general pacing is really weird, like the Midgar section sets up the Turks as being Really Serious antagonists, but then they just. End up being comic relief for the rest of the game, and slightly annoying boss fights. Rufus gives this really dramatic speech about how he's going to be a tyrant who rules by fear and then spends the rest of the game Not Doing That, instead chasing after Sephiroth and failing and then dying but not really dying bc as I noted, that got retconned. Hojo is literally one of the most evil characters in the story and the root of almost every issue, but you also get directions from him on a beach surrounded by girls in sexy (for PS1 era graphics) swimsuits, and it's like, why? So like, the original is decent and has a lot of interesting points, and the ost is amazing, but the mechanics are wonky and the actual plot flow is...weird. So like, if you just want to know the story, watch a playthrough, but if you want the challenge of the wacky mechanics (which I know damn well people have figured out and made incredibly strong end-game teams), then go ahead and play it yourself. As for the Remake, I would suggest at least watching the original game to get to know the narrative to better understand how the Remake is changing the direction of the story, but also like, I'd recommend it just because it's plain fun, the mechanics are pretty easy to pick up, the ost is still amazing, and the narrative is even more rich. I would suggest a handful of things from the extended compilation works to better enjoy some of the Remake additions (i.e. the novel where Kyrie and Leslie first appeared as characters, they're both actually super amazing and the Remake only skims the surface with them), but like, it's not necessary for the overall enjoyment of the Remake.

Free space to go off about something! I've gone off about enough already, but I would suggest avoiding the fandom if you're interesting in getting into the game because there's so much petty arguing over shipping nonsense and what is or isn't canon, like, it's not the most toxic fandom I've ever seen but it's not what I'd call fun either. Would fully recommend the entire compilation though, I really loved all the novels/short stories, and even just watching playthroughs of the games related to FF7 was so much fun and added so much depth to the world and characters. Would recommend Advent Children, but only after playing/watching the original game and reading at least On a Way To a Smile (and additionally reading The Kids Are Alright for the Complete version of the movie) because nothing in the movie makes any damned sense otherwise.

Rating out of 10: Original game is 6/10, and the Remake is 9/10

#I am so sorry the second section is so long #I even cut parts from it to try and sound less petty about things but I have Many Thoughts #ask meme #lookerdewitt #I still don't have an ask tag

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jostenneil · 4 years

Note

I recently read Balancing Toy and Cross Game because of you and I loved both! They were so good at depicting mundane life and packing emotion in subtle ways. Could you recommend some slice of life manga?

this makes me so happy, omg! 😭 i’m really glad you enjoyed them, i love the slice of life genre so much for how it’s used as a medium. i’m going to recommend some other titles here, but i think yamakawa aiji and mitsuru adachi’s other works are definitely worth checking out as well!

sangatsu no lion (manga/anime) - this may be one of the more obvious recent choices within the genre, but i think it’s with very good reason! chica umino has the slice of life genre down to a science. the story primarily follows rei, a shogi prodigy who has recently started to live alone due to tensions he felt he was creating within his adoptive family. he’s very lonely and depressed due to what he felt was an invasive experience on his own part, so a lot of the narrative follows him being reached out to by other people and him learning to ask for help rather than keeping all of his struggles to himself. there’s a lot of complex emotions and trauma tied into the narrative, but they’re often depicted against very simple situational backdrops, so it feels like you’re walking through ordinary people’s lives but in a way that’s deeply relatable. i believe the anime is on netflix so that’s very convenient as well, and i think it does a beautiful job of conveying a lot of the imagery that’s so crucial to depicting the ideas contained within the story. i would definitely recommend chica umino’s other primary work, honey and clover, for similar reasons as well, but i recommended that in my shoujo recs post already so i won’t rehash that here

azumanga daioh (anime/manga) - i’m not sure how to describe this series. it follows a group of teenage girls (and a few of their teachers) as they navigate three years of high school. and that would sound like an at least semi-serious endeavor, except it isn’t really on the surface. the series operates as a progression of chronological one shots centered on different gags and nonsensical situations, and it makes for comedy that i think has remained pretty timeless despite the series being nearly two decades old. the anime is great, both the sub and dub are phenomenal, and the manga is written in the form of those comic strips you used to read as a kid on sundays. it’s just super simple, lightheartedly funny, and surprisingly heartfelt when it wants to be due to the relationships you see illustrated between the girls. i would recommend kiyohiko azuma’s other primary work, yostuba&!, for similarly lighthearted and funny material. also, these are some of my favorite scenes from the anime

ojamajo doremi (anime) - this falls more into the shoujo category, esp since the mcs are witches who navigate a witching world, but i think it operates by slice of life parameters because of the way the story is told. ojamajo has received a lot of praise for its timelessness due to the relatability of its multiple scenarios to people of all ages and backgrounds. most simply put, it starts as a show about a girl who accidentally becomes contracted to a witch and so becomes a witch-in-training herself. doremi gets into all sorts of ridiculous messes and has to solve them not just through use of her powers but also just per normal problem solving skills. there’s narratives about friendships, relationships with our family and our teachers, growing up, learning to accept different kinds of people, etc. and similarly to azumanga, tho it initially feels like a purely one shot set-up, the plot and development of the characters builds in a way that’s subtle but also pleasingly noticeable. it’s just super down to earth and kind and funny, and there’s even a movie that came out last year (i believe?) to celebrate the twentieth anniversary, which made its main characters be girls who had grown up watching ojamajo and were now seeking out their own adventures as they grew up. i think that’s really sweet

horimiya (manga/anime) - this is perfect to get into right now bc the anime just started airing! it follows a pair of students, hori and miyamura, who come to find out about each other living “double lives”. hori hides the fact that she goes home everyday to take care of her house and her brother bc her parents are always at work, and miyamura looks like an otaku bc of the way he dresses but is actually just a normal guy with some tattoos and piercings. they coincidentally cross paths one day and are made privy to each other’s “secret” lifestyles, so a friendship and eventually a romantic relationship strikes up between them. the nice thing about the manga is that not a lot of time is spent on getting them into the relationship. you actually see them as a couple for most of it, doing couple-y things, engaging in couple-y conversation, having couple-y squabbles. there’s also a cast of characters outside of these two who deal with their own day-to-day issues and such, so overall it’s a nice casual read about people and how they interact. i wouldn’t say it ever gets angsty (at least not that i’ve read so far) but it’s nonetheless very enjoyable for its straightforwardness and simplicity

bokura ga ita (manga/anime) - i haven’t watched this in a long time so my memories are somewhat hazy, but i think this features one of my favorite explorations of grief in a shoujo manga. it starts with nanami, a high school freshman who hopes to make new friends but is also put-off by the most popular boy in school, yano, bc of his superficial attitude. yano is actually still emotionally recovering from the death of his girlfriend the year prior. she died in a car accident and was with her ex-boyfriend at the time, so yano assumed she was cheating on him, and instead of properly processing the event, he pretends to act like he doesn’t care. he and nanami grow close over the course of the narrative, but there are a lot of levels to yano’s trauma and grief that keep them apart in various ways. it’s very much true to that era of romance manga in the sense of all of the ridiculous drama and love lines, but i think it’s really weighted because so much of that drama stems from real trauma and characters’ issues with depression, etc. if you loved nana or paradise kiss, i think you would enjoy it. also, if memory serves, i believe the anime covers only half of the story, prior to a major time skip

i didn’t want to feature any repeats, so i’m going to direct you to my shounen recs post for some more stuff i love from the slice of life genre as well. in particular, i think silver spoon and sket dance are great for that (as is oofuri, but it’s also a sports series very detailed with its sports lore, so idk if you’d be interested in that). and while i haven’t read the following personally, these are some trusted recs that i’ve either been meaning to read or got from friends: mushishi, oyasumi punpun, barakamon, nichijou, beck. i hope this all helps!

#sangatsu no lion #azumanga daioh #ojamajo doremi #horimiya #bokura ga ita #slice of life is fun bc it overlaps with a lot of genres #so you can consume a really broad range of content #i think (hope) that the specific recs i gave all have different appeals so i hope you end up enjoying any one of them!#mine:recs

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thdorkmagnet · 5 years

Text

Movie Night

Just a quick fluffy Starco idea I had for Valentine’s Day, taking place in my “Light of the Sun and Stars” universe. This is also kinda a prequal to this. Hope you enjoy!

“Is it ready?!” a very excited voice squeaked from inside Star's room, followed by an infectious giggle.

“Hold on, Marco, it's still booting up,” came the joyful reply, as Star Butterfly watched her mirror screen slowly turning on, a loading bar currently the one thing occupying the bright screen. She held up the small remote that was supposed to somehow connect to her mirror and allow her to surf through the Mirror webs options from a short distance away. Star had her doubts about this though, sure she had heard rumors about humans being able to do this back on Earth but that was just one of those myths, like the superstitious Bigfoot... or indoor plumbing. Still, when Ferguson had personally given her one of Pixtopia's patented new technology to test out, she hadn't said no... though that was partially because Marco had snatched it out of the chubby king's hand faster than lightening, examining the device with his typical childlike wonder. So yeah, long story short, she had accepted Ferguson's gift without a word, anything to make her boyfriend happy.

And now was the perfect time to test the device out, the best night of the entire week: date night! Or “Friendship Thursdays” as the two sometimes called it. Regardless, Star was glad they had decided to form a regular routine of spending time together, life could get so hectic sometimes with her new commission up and going but knowing she had this to look forward to every week, kept her going and Star was sure Marco felt that way, too.

This week, the two had decided to just spend a quiet evening in Star's room, marathoning a bunch of movies and just enjoying some time alone, just the two of them. And everything was already prepared, snacks were made by Marco (Star was impressed, he was getting really good at cooking), the two were in their fluffiest and most comfortable pajamas they owned (Star in her pink bunny onesie and Marco in matching blue dog onesie), and they had even made a small pile of blankets and pillows, ready for the two to sink into and lose themselves to its warm embrace. That was if Star could ever get this stupid remote to work right!

She frowned, staring at the blinking red light on the device in confusion, turning to Marco (and ignoring how absolutely adorable he looked in his pjs) as she asked, “Did Ferguson say it's on when the light is blue or red?”

Marco shrugged. “He didn't say either, actually,” the boy replied thoughtfully. “Here let me look it up,” he added, before pulling out the small slip of paper Ferguson had given them, which was apparently supposed to be their instructions but Marco was having trouble deciphering the multiple diagrams that coated the paper, cocking his head to the side as he tried to read the tiny print on the sheet. “Um, I think if it turns blue your connected.”

Both teens eyes switched to the remote that was still brightly flashing red and the girl let out a frustrated groan. “Ugh, stupid remote! Why won't you work?!” She then slammed it down on her desk, crossing her arms in frustration before saying to the boy, “Let's just try something else, okay? This things clearly just a piece of junk.”

But that was when the remote miraculously decided to light up blue and the mirror screen's image switched to that of a selection screen, waiting for their input. The two turned back to the remote in both shock and awe, the two leaning closer and closer to it until their eyes were level with the desk. “It worked,” Marco whispered.

“Huh, how about that?” Star said still in slight disbelief, before locking eyes with Marco.

The boy just shrugged again. “Guess it just needed a little force?”

“Well whatever happened, it's working now,” Star said, picking the remote up off the desk, waving it around in her hands while saying dramatically, “So let date night officially begin!”

“Yeah!” Marco screamed, before immediately running over and plopping down onto the soft pile of cushions, his body looking small amidst the depths of fluff he was currently drowning in and Star couldn't help but gush over how cute her boyfriend looked in that moment. She quickly joined him, the couple's arms touching as they leaned in close to one another, soaking in the other's presence. “Okay, so what are we watching first?” Marco asked giddily, his eyes shining as they stared over at the magic mirror.

Star stared at her bestie for a moment in silence, taking in his joy and enthusiasm before he eventually turned to her with a look of surprise on his face. “Star?” he asked, wondering why she had frozen up like that. “Is everything okay?”

Star shook her head, giving him a loving smile which made her hearts glow a little bit brighter. “Yeah, I was just thinking that you should decide what we watch,” she explained before holding the remote out for him to take.

The boy's eyes widened, staring down at the remote with hesitation and awe, acting as if she was bestowing some ancient relic or great power onto him, instead of just some device that made searching through her magic mirror possible. He looked up at her and then back to the remote and then back to her, as if making sure it was alright. “Really?” he finally breathed out, his eyes shimmering like Star's namesake.

The girl nodded, holding in her giggle. “Of course, Marco,” she said flirtingly. “I trust you.”

That caused the boy to blush beat red and grin ear to ear, as he finally accepted the small device, his eyes examining the smooth surface in wonderment. Star just watched his every movement in fascination and love, finding her Marco's every action infinitely more entertaining than any movie. Finally, though the boy snapped to his sense, as he actually trying to figure out how to work this strange, new device, squinting in intense concentration, determined not to mess up his task. Luckily, these buttons were labeled which made it easy to figure out, the boy (fairly) confidently pressing buttons on the remote, his eyes on the screen as he scrolled through their list of options.

Okay, what to watch? He thought to himself, his eyes never leaving the screen as he read the titles of the many movies there. But the sheer number of names quickly overwhelmed him and he decided to switch instead to list of movie genres to help make it easier. Let's see... dramas? No pass. Animal movies? No way, the last one of those he had watched had left him in tears for weeks after the dog died at the end. Horror? Marco shuddered. Definitely no! Action? The boy paused, before clicking on this file, curious to see if they had what he was looking for. And after less than a minute of scrolling the boy's eyes lit up with joy as he spotted a whole list of Mackie Hand movies. He had seen one of two of them before with the girls and had quickly fallen in love with these movies. They were incredible and action-packed and just everything he ever wanted out of a movie! And now there were so many to choose from. “How about one of these?” he asked his girlfriend, hoping she would approve of his pick.

Star turned her attention onto the screen, giving it a quizzical look. “'Hand to Hand', 'The Spy Who Punched Me', 'Talk to the Hand',” she read, before turning to her boyfriend with a raised brow. “What are all of these?”

“They're Mackie Hand movies,” Marco explained. But seeing her look of confusion, quickly added, “Y'know Star, the super cool Earth fighter from that one movie we watched where he punched a shark out of the water-”

“Ahhh,” Star said, nodding her head now. “Right, almost forgot about that.” She gave her boyfriend a loving smile as she said, “Well I'm up for whatever you want.”

Marco grinned goofily, before selecting the first movie on the list, placing the remote to his side before settling down closer to Star, the two cuddling close as the opening scene of the movie started up, their cheekmarks glowing bright with both anticipation and joy at just being able to spend time together.

…

A little while later, the two were snacking on popcorn as they watched Mackie Hand quickly defending himself from thirty angry thugs, the karate master making quick work of his opponents without even breaking a sweat. “Wow, he's so amazing,” Marco muttered in awe, snuggling a little bit closer to Star, his head now resting on her shoulder and her arm wrapped around his waist.

“Yeah, this is pretty good,” Star agreed, surprised by how much she was enjoying herself. I mean, sure spending time with Marco was always a plus but the movie was actually surprisingly entertaining in its own right, finding it pretty exciting as the main character beat down hordes of opponents with nothing but his bare fists. It was a bit cheesy but it kinda gave it a very unique style that made it a fun watch.

“You will never defeat me, Mackie Hand!” the one-dimensional villain of this movie said, pointing an accusing finger at the title character. “I will soon have the power crystal and will turn the whole world into a new ice age!” He then laughed evilly as cheesy, movie villains tended to do but Mackie Hand didn't even flinch before saying triumphantly, “Not today, Ice King!” The hero then jumped at his opponent, shouting at the top of his lungs, “Tiiiigggger Kick!” before smashing his foot hard into his enemies gut, the man falling back, gasping for breath and clutching his stomach.

“Ugh, you. Have. Defeated. Me.” the man said before falling unconscious, Mackie Hand now standing triumphantly over him.

“Looks like I just put your plans, on ice,” Mackie Hand said, causing Marco to burst out into laughter. Then the credits began scrolling onto the screen and the young couple shared a look, Marco asking, “So next one?”

“Go for it.”

…

“Yeah, get 'em Mackie!” Star screamed, pumping her fists into the air as she watched the action movie hero, deep in a brawl with a highly trained ninja assassin, narrowly dodging the swinging katana in the fiend's hands.

“Take him down!” Marco cheered alongside his girlfriend, equally as excited by the fight as his blond bestie. But the two gasped as they saw the villain of this movie holding Mackie Hand's love interest over the edge of the building, the woman releasing a loud scream and fighting to escape the roped bound around her. “Oh no Maria!” the two screamed as one, clutching onto each other with fear.

“Oh no Maria, my love!” Mackie Hand exclaimed.

“Give up now, Hand,” the villain sneered. “Or your love dies!”

“No, I will never surrender to the likes of you!” Mackie screamed, before leaping forward and swiftly knocking his opponent out before jumping off the building and catching the woman out of mid-air, landing gracefully landing on the ground with her in his arms.

The two teens cheered, hugging each other tight as they watched Mackie Hand making out with the love of his life. “Awww,” the two cooed as one, their cheeks squished up against one another.

…

Marco was now almost in Star's lap, the girl's arms wrapped around him, as he watched in fear as his hero stood in front of an alleyway, where a group of ninja watched him, just out of sight. All of them held a pair of ninja stars ready to be rid of their opponent before he even knew what was coming. “Don't do it, Mackie,” Marco whispered, his body shaking in fear. “It's a trap.”

Star just smiled at her boyfriend's cuteness but kept her eyes on the screen. The man slowly began walking down the alley and Marco's shaking grew worse, his eyes in capable of growing any wider.

That was when a pair of ninja jumped out of the shadows out of nowhere, flying toward Mackie Hand, swords raised in strike, and Marco screamed, jumping in surprise as he was now fully in Star's lap, his arms wrapped around her neck and his legs tucked up to his chest.

Star tried to hold back her giggle at the boy's adorable reaction but failed to, laughing to herself as she held the boy in a tight, comforting embrace, Marco's eyes never leaving the screen as he watched Mackie Hand make quick work of his opponents.

…

“Come on! Come on!” Marco screamed, leaning forward in anticipation as he watched his favorite character of all time trying and failing to fight off his opponent, nothing working at all to stop him not even his famous 'Tiger Kick' capable of breaking through his enemie's massive armor. He was in a rough spot, probably the roughest he had ever been in and Marco couldn't help but bit his lip in fear that his hero wasn't going to make it through. Star was busy eating the remains of their popcorn, her eyes shimmering with intrigue but otherwise staying pretty calm. After all, she doubted they would kill off Mackie Hand, it just didn't seem likely.

Finally in one last desperate attack, Mackie Hand charged forward with a loud yell, drawing his fist back before slamming it hard into his opponent the guy going flying backward, before the screen was consumed by a massive explosion, the karate master standing in a dramatic pose as the bright flash of flames rained down around him. Marco screamed and flew to his feet, knocking Star's popcorn over in his haste and sending it flying. But Star didn't notice nor care, laughing her head off as her bestie began cheering and jumping around the room, doing little fist pumps and imitating the action hero with his own weak little punches. “Aw, man that was so awesome! Mackie Hand is the best!”

“Hang on, Marco, there's still more,” the girl managed to choke out around fists of laughter and the boy gasped before falling back onto the pile of cushions, his eyes already shimmering with joy and his cheek marks spinning with excitement. “Play it, play it!” he screamed.

And Star did just that.

…

The sun was beginning to rise on Mewni, signaling a new day, as the sleepy Mewmans slowly began to awaken and go about their day. Jackie and Janna walked side by side through the hallway, heading toward Star's room, as the skater asked her friend , “So how do you think date night went?”

“Well considering all the screaming and cheering I could hear from my room, I would say pretty well,” the creepy teen replied.

Jackie rolled her eyes. “You could not hear if from our room. You just snuck out and listened in again, didn't you?” the skater asked accusingly.

Janna shrugged, not denying it. “Maybe,” was all she replied, before adding, “But they were pretty loud.”

“What do you think they were watching?” Jackie asked curiously.

“I don't know, let's ask them,” Janna said, the two now at their friends door. They slowly cracked it open, sticking their heads inside, taking in the scene before them. The magic mirror was still on, a scene of some muscular guy punching people playing on the screen. And sprawled out on a pile of pillows and blankets were Star and Marco, the two curled up around each other in a comfortable and protective embrace, cuddling each other with looks of pure joy on their faces.

Jackie and Janna smiled and shared a look, before closing the door, leaving the two alone to finish the rest of their date in peace.

#Star vs #Star vs AU #My Writing #Light of the Sun and Stars #Starco #Valentine's

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cromulentbookreview · 4 years

Text

It Came Out of the Sky!

Oh, it came out of the sky, landed just a little south of Moline /

Jody fell out of his tractor, couldn't believe what he seen /

Laid on the ground and shook, fearin' for his life /

Then he ran all the way to town screamin' it came out of the sky /

Well, a crowd gathered 'round and a scientist said it was marsh gas...

Uhm.. And by that Creedence Clearwater Revival reference I mean: The Other Side of the Sky by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner!

Nimh lives on the surface of a flooded world full of ruins of an ancient, long dead civilization. Long ago, all but one of the gods fled the surface in favor of the sky. The living god who remained behind is fated to save the people of the surface...eventually.

Eventually.

Nimh - full name Nimhara - is the 42nd incarnation of the Divine One, aka the living god. She’s basically the Dalai Lama, if the Dalai Lama was allowed to be reincarnated in any gender. But being worshiped by the people as a living goddess has it’s downsides: Nimh is forbidden from touching anyone, ever. Seriously, ever.

The who “no touching anyone, ever” thing is pretty intense. She even has to provide herself with her own medical care! God forbid she ever need to remove her own appendix. Or: what happens if she falls, cracks her skull and renders herself unconscious? How can she give herself medical care if she’s out of it? Magic? I mean, maybe. Nimh’s world definitely has magic. Nimh, being Divine, should have manifested some magical aspect soon after becoming the goddess - her predecessor, the 41st incarnation, had a talent for healing magic. Unfortunately, it’s been 10 years since Nimh was called to be the Divine One, and she’s shown no sign of manifesting her aspect. And people are beginning to talk: there’s a whole group, known as the Graycloaks for their chosen color, who believe that Nimh isn’t even the Divine One and have made it their mission to remove her from power. So she’s got enemies on one side, and the massive weight of people’s expectations on the other - if she’s an incarnation of the divine, then surely she must be able to do something to help her people? Perhaps something to stop the roving clouds of rogue magic called mist that go around wreaking havoc?

Nimh wants to prove herself. She wants to help people. But mostly she’s lonely as hell and just wants a hug. Which she can’t have because of the whole “no touching the divine” thing. Just to reiterate:

The only other living being Nimh can touch is the bindle cat - a giant orange floof whom she rescued as a kitten. The bindle cat doesn’t have a name - he’s just the bindle cat because, according to Nimh “You do not name a cat. He is a cat; he keeps his name to himself.” True story.

The bindle cat, an approximation.

Anyway, the bindle cat is Nimh’s best friend, constant companion and literally everyone’s favorite character in the whole book.

Anyway! When we first meet Nimh, she’s sneaking out under the nose of the high priest Daoman to go on a secret pilgrimage that she hopes will help manifest her aspect. Only just as she’s about to leave, she sees a light falling from the sky and chases after it...

North is a prince of Alciel, a technologically advanced kingdom in the sky. His ancestors fled the world below ages ago, and now, the people in the clouds are convinced the surface is dead, incapable of supporting life. The people of Alciel live in a world with all sorts of fun tech, like Apple watches - uhm, I mean, chronos - fancy trains, airplanes, DNA locks on doors...honestly, Alciel seems pretty great. Only there’s one problem: the archipelago of sky islands that comprise Alciel seem to be sinking. It’s been so long since the people of Alciel have fled to the sky that people don’t really remember or understand what exactly makes their sky islands stay, well, in the sky. While the adults around him engage in sinking denialism, North is convinced the only way to save themselves is to put together an expedition to the surface. After all, they came from the surface thousands of years ago - maybe the answer to keeping themselves afloat is down there? Everyone dismisses North’s idea - the surface is uninhabitable, there’s no way to get down there and back again, blah blah blah. But North has a solution - he and his friends built their own plane.

Sounds legit.

This, of course, doesn’t impress the adults, especially North’s moms who are both like “absolutely not” because seriously, no way are they letting their son, the kingdom’s sole heir, fly around in something he built and possibly get himself killed. They tell him to destroy the plane and forget about the whole thing.

And North, being a good son, obeyed his mothers’ demand, decommissioned his plane and lived happily ever after. The end.

Pfft, no. North, being a teenager, decides that he will prove to everyone that it’s possible to fly to and from the surface by flying his experimental plane around. Because a teenager flying around a plane he and his friends built sounds super safe and will definitely end well.

It does not end well. But not because North isn’t good at plane building - he’s actually great at it, but as he’s flying, his plane catches fire, which is never a good sign. North had only intended to fly around Alciel, just to show off that he could, but now he’s heading toward the surface much faster than he’d planned.

Meanwhile, on the surface, Nimh sees a star falling from the sky and, thinking its the sign she’s been waiting for, decides to chase it. It lands in a salt flat rendered reflective by a couple of inches of water (think Salar de Uyuni - this whole segment has some fantastic, Ghibli-esque imagery). Only, it’s not a falling star - it’s a person.

North emerges, somewhat unscathed, from the wreckage of his plane and realizes what happened - someone has deliberately cut through his supply lines. Someone wanted him to crash. Now he’s stuck on the surface and his Apple watch has no signal. He has no way to get home or any way to let his family and friends know that he’s still alive.

But, lucky for him, after fighting off some wild boars, he meets a strange girl called Nimh, who offers to help him by taking him back to her temple in the city. North’s mind is pretty much blown: not only are there people on the surface, they have cities. They have religion. It’s the opposite of everything he’s ever been taught. Nimh’s a bit odd, but as she’s nice enough, North follows her anyway...

Nimh, meanwhile, is ecstatic: she thinks North may be part of a larger prophecy that will help save the world. He came from the sky, after all, where the gods live. And - bonus! - he has no idea who she is. He looks at her and doesn’t see a goddess who can never, ever, ever, ever be touched, he just sees another person, something Nimh has never experienced.

Only once Nimh and North get back to Nimh’s camp, they find that all her friends have been murdered. North is like “what the -?” and Nimh is all “uh, yeah we should probably run for it” and thus begins the whole adventure that makes up The Other Side of the Sky and holy crap, I absolutely love it. I love everything about it - the Ghibli-esque imagery, the romance, the adventure, the kitty sidekick. Oh God the kitty sidekick! Apparently, North’s kingdom in the sky doesn’t have cats. He’s never seen a cat before. HE DOESN’T KNOW WHAT A CAT IS, PEOPLE, THIS IS NOT A DRILL.

He should watch The Cat Returns.

Anyway, The Other Side of the Sky is gorgeous, impossible to stop reading, romantic, exciting and addictive as hell. Like a Ghibli movie, this book was exactly the sort of thing I needed to forget the outside world for a little while. It’s easy to picture the whole story as an anime. Just picture North and Nimh as Pazu and Sheeta from Castle in the Sky! It works, I swear.

Sometimes we need the beautiful pastels of a Ghibli movie to warm our hearts when everything is terrible. The Other Side of the Sky is the book equivalent of one of those movies. The only downside is that it’s the first book in a series, and it ends on a cliffhanger that can and will make it feel as though your heart has been removed from your body. Or that you’ve been turned into a cat and are now being forced by a crazed Tim Curry-voiced cat king to marry the cat prince. Something like that. Either way, I will be waiting as patiently as I possibly can for the sequel.

Is it ready yet? Is it ready yet? Meow. Meow. Meeeowwwwww. Pay attention to meeeee.

RECOMMENDED FOR: Anyone in need of the book-equivalent of a Hayao Miyazaki movie that’s also the first book in a series; anyone fond of an exciting, action-packed YA romance.

NOT RECOMMENDED FOR: People who have something against fun, joy, or cats; anyone who doesn’t like YA (seriously, why read YA if you don’t like it?) anyone who thinks Studio Ghibli movies are just for children (watch Grave of the Fireflies, and tell me with a straight face that it’s a kids movie. Children should NOT watch that movie!)

RATING: 5/5

TOTALLY UNBIASED FANGIRL RATING: 500,000,000 / 5

ANTICIPATION LEVEL FOR SEQUEL: Olympus Mons

RELEASE DATE: Not soon enough September 8, 2020.

GHIBLI RATING:

CAT RATING:

#theothersideofthesky #the other side of the sky #amie kaufman #meagan spooner #ya fantasy #young adult fantasy #ya fiction #studio ghibli #nimh #north #alciel #castle in the sky #the cat returns

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name-me-regret · 4 years

Text

Till I Touch The Sky - 3/9

Till I Touch The Sky Chapter Three: The Dark Side

Summary: The man with the ugly aura is just part of his dream. He isn’t real...

Read on AO3.

FANFICTION MASTER POST

- ~ - ~ - ~ - ~

”Looking for heaven under the sky, you and I Barely alive Beautiful words from angels that fall when they fly Sold us a lie

Running from the shadow lost in the night Gotta be brave and have no fear Fighting for the fire wait for the light Gotta be brave 'cause I need you here

In the darkness In the darkness I will find you...”

~The Darkness - Built By Titan - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~

May 31, 2015, Sunday

Peter took a deep breath, trying to calm himself even if he didn’t know why he was so nervous, because May already knew about him. When he was twelve he had started to become interested in boys as well as girls, he’d asked May if he was bad. There were a lot of people that said that being attracted to the same sex was a sin, and it meant you were evil and would go to hell.

May had sat him down and calmly explained that he was not bad, that he was the kindest and smartest person she’d ever met. She’d told him that it didn’t matter what gender he liked, as long as he was happy. That she wouldn’t love him any less if he brought a boy home instead of a girl; she’d accept him no matter what.

So, she knew about him being Bisexual, and that’s why he didn’t know why he was nervous about asking her if they could go to the Pride Parade on the 25th. It was entitled ‘Fight For Love’, which was a very fitting name in his opinion. Those of the LGBT+ community had had to fight on whom they could love for a long time, and even these days, they were still fighting.

This was the second June that he would be out to May, since he had come out to her two years ago, just before Ben had been killed (it was still painful for him to think of that) in October. They’d been mourning him during Pride month last year. He wasn’t over it, since he didn’t think it was possible to be over the death of the man that had raised Peter from when he’d been four years old.

However, he felt like he could be more him, and thought that going to his first Pride parade was the first step. He wouldn’t go to extremes or anything like that, but he did want to be able to go and see what it was like. Also, maybe starting small like wearing a Bi pin starting tomorrow would be nice. He’d already researched his colors and he found that he liked the combination of magenta, lavender and royal blue that made up his Pride flag.

Now, he just had to tell May, who would need to go with him since he was underage and the prospect of going to a Parade that usually had thousands attend was frightening. So, he needed her to come with him, but just them, since Christopher didn’t know about his sexuality. He wasn’t sure he wanted him to know anyways, since they weren’t friends and Peter certainly didn’t consider him family.

“Um, May,” he started hesitantly.

The woman lifted her head from where she was currently reading a book. It was one of her rare days off on a Sunday and they’d spent a lazy day at the apartment, only leaving when they went to buy Thai food. Peter had gone to finish the last of his homework and she’d cracked open a much loved novel. He’d taken a quick shower afterwards and slipped on some pajama pants and one of Ben’s old shirts, getting ready for their movie night as the sky started to darken.

“Yes, honey?” she said, a slightly nostalgic smile lifting her lips when she noticed the too large shirt he was wearing. When they’d moved there, most of Ben’s stuff had been put away in storage, but Peter had kept several of his clothes like shirts, some pajamas, a jacket or two and an old blue hoodie from Ben’s Academy days.

“So, I wanted... to ask you something,” he said, shuffling in place. He hadn’t moved from the mouth of the hallway that led to their rooms and the bathroom. “You know that tomorrow’s Pride Month.”

May paused and her head lifted as a thoughtful expression went over her face. “Oh yeah,” she said, nodding once. “I can’t believe it’s already June. It’s almost the end of the school year.”

“Right,” Peter said, cutting her off before they went off topic. She looked at him again. “So, I was wondering... if it would alright...” He paused and bit his lip, hesitant. What if he was asking too much? May was straight and maybe it wasn’t right to ask her to take him to the parade.

He flinched when he felt a touch on his face, and realized that May had gotten up and walked over when Peter had trailed off. “What is it, sweetie? You know you can tell or ask me anything.”

Peter inhaled and decided to just bite the bullet. “Can you take me to the Pride Parade?”

“Oh,” she said and then, “sure.” Just like that. “Did you want to get a flag for it? Maybe Chris can come...”

“He... he doesn’t know, right?”

May shook her head. “Of course not. It’s up to you if you want to tell him.”

“I don’t want him to know,” he said quickly. “I just... want it to be the two of us, please?”

The woman smiled and nodded, smoothing back his hair. “That’s fine, honey. It can be just me and you then. So, about that flag...?”

Peter merely grinned at her.

- ~ - ~ - ~ - ~

June 4, 2015, Thursday

Peter was super excited for today, since it was an intern day, which had quickly become his favorite time of the week. He still had school the next day, which was a bummer since he always felt like he needed the weekend to recover from that exciting two hours. However, Mr. Stark (“Call me Tony, kid.”) was always busy on Friday, so Thursday were intern days. The only good thing about it was that tomorrow was the last day of classes before summer break started, and then he’d be at the lab during the week (he was given time off between the week if he asked), and have Saturday and Sunday off.

Mr. Stark didn’t work personally with him, but that’s the day he went to inspect the intern labs, so that’s when Peter was there. He couldn’t make much progress in two hours one day out of the week, but he had shown some improvement. Perhaps when school started back up he’d be able to come twice a week instead of the usual one day. Well, after the madness of start of term was over, since the first week was always the hardest, especially since it would be Peter’s Freshman year of High School.

He left the school building ten minutes early, having given permission to do so due to his internship. Peter was glad for it, since that way he didn’t get stuck in the crush of students as everyone left school, trying to get out as quick as possible to catch either the bus, get to the line of cars of their waiting parents, or to catch their train.

When he arrived at the station, he barely made it onto his train before the door closed, breathing heavily. He clutched his backpack and sat down in one of the only seats available. The mother and her little girl next to him edged away from Peter because he was wearing a breathing mask. He was wearing it since the air in the subway was pretty bad that he knew without it, he’d have an asthma attack.

“I have asthma,” he said in a muffled voice to her, motioning to the mask. “It’s hard to breathe down here without it.”

She still hadn’t scooted back as she turned away from him, looking like Peter had told her he had an infectious disease instead of asthma. Well, he guessed he couldn’t blame her, since it was still spring and the probability of getting the flu was still possible. It’d be worse for him if he got it, so he was the one that should be scooting away. Luckily his other side had the door, and that way he could get out quickly and not get stuck in the crowd. It’d be a relief that others would avoid getting too close to him due to mask, thinking he was sick.

He arrived at the tower without any more problems, glad that there was a side entrance that was used for employees. Peter didn’t want to go through the front since he would likely be forced to take his mask off. His asthma was getting worse, and his constantly inflamed airways making it very difficult to breathe. He’d been thinking that constantly wearing a mask would help, but that would mean adding disposable masks to their shopping list and he refused to be more of a burden to his aunt. It was bad enough that he had to always be hospitalized, making May miss work (since Medicaid paid for most of his hospital bills), and he didn’t want to add to her worries.

He swiped his card and set his hand on the panel next to the elevator, the doors opening up after the panel lit up as it scanned his hand print. Peter stepped inside and sighed when it was empty, although he was under no illusion that it would stay like that by the time he reached the intern’s lab, which was on the 17th floor. The floors 17 through 36, and the higher one got, the higher their level was. That’s why Peter was on the 17th floor, since he’d just started and in this particular building, he was the only high school intern.

He stepped off the elevator and breathed a bit easier, even pulling down his mask so it only rested over his mouth. The air in the building was purified, which is why the windows didn’t open. They had emergency exits in place, of course, and emergency power. A city wide power outage wouldn’t affect them though, since Stark Tower was connected to its own personal power grid.

“Hey, Pete!” Jacob called out. He was a dark skinned, black haired 21 year old college intern that was in his third year at ESU. He was in charge of the low level teams of interns on the 17th floor, their supervisor, if you will. Jacob was a really nice guy and didn’t put him down for being the only high school intern (still middle school, but would be in his Freshman year of high school next year) among the rest of the other interns.

Peter sat at his desk, the surface covered in pieces of electronics from the things he was working on. He’d already finished the smaller version of the web-shooter and the patent had finally come through last week. It’d already started to sell, exclusively to hospitals at the moment, but he was hoping that they’d soon be put in standard first aid kits sold over the counter.

It was a half an hour after he’d gotten there that Tony Stark appeared, and it was always the case. Peter didn’t want to think that he was the reason for this, but he almost always came to his desk last and thus spent the most time with him. The other interns had started to get jealous of the attention, but at the first sign of them bullying him, Jacob had shut it down hard. He’d even reported one that tried to change his chemicals out and she’d lost her internship.

The others hadn’t gone that far, so when they finally warmed up to him, Peter had given them all. He generally liked the others, who tended to treat him like their kid brother. It was more true for Jacob, who actually had little siblings, one of which was Peter’s age.

“Heya, Pete,” Mr. Stark said as he wandered over to his desk after he’d looked over Andrea’s project, praising her as she preened with a grin. Andrea was the youngest after Peter and was smart as a whip. “Did you make any progress on your robot?”

“Yeah,” he exclaimed, clearing his throat as he felt a tickle. “So, I’ve finally managed to stop it from glitching...” Tony nodded as he finished explaining his advancements, and Peter gave credit to Jacob that had helped him with the programming. He was the best when it came to software, while Peter was more inclined toward hardware, and chemistry and biology. The teenager was very proud of his project, and he wondered if Mr. Stark would allow his friend Ned to come help him with the rest. While he appreciated Jacob’s help, he had to look out for the rest of the interns and couldn’t just concentrate on Peter. He’d ask him before he left, since it was almost summer and didn’t think it’d be a problem for him to come with him maybe once a week.

“That’s some good work, kid,” Tony said, hand ruffling his hair. Just before he walked off he pulled out something from his pocket and tossed it to him, Peter fumbling with it for a moment before he was finally able to catch it between his arm and his chest. The adolescent held it up and was surprised when he saw it was a Stark Industries portable nebulizer, which had come out last week. It was super affordable compared to others on the market, but even then it was out of their price range.

Peter had the machine at the house, which Christopher had gotten them at a really affordable price. So, there was no need for a portable one, even if he felt like he might soon need one as his health worsened.

“What is this?” Peter asked, even if he knew what it was. He just didn’t understand why he was giving this to him.

“I hear a rattling when you breathe,” he said, motioning to the nebulizer. “Your aunt signed the medical release for us to treat you in case you get sick while doing your internship duties. Just let Jacob know if you need more medicine and he’ll let me or Pepper know you need a refill.”

Peter looked at the nebulizer, which was something he was sure wouldn’t have been available to him if it wasn’t due to his internship; because of Mr. Stark. It was different to when Chris had helped them get the BiPAP machine. They had been grateful for the discounted price, but the man had seemed to made it seem like he’d done them a huge favor. Maybe Peter was being biased because he didn’t like this man that was dating his aunt, but he didn’t have to make it seem like he was rubbing it in, that only he could possibly have gotten them the machine at such a good price, and they should be grateful. A kind act wasn’t meant to be thrown in someone’s face.

As for Mr. Stark, he made it seem like it wasn’t a big deal, likely knowing Peter would get embarrassed due to his family’s financial situation. Besides, he wasn’t the only one he helped, since he’d seen the man help out the other interns in that offhand way so as not to put anyone on the spot that might be struggling. The man might not seem like it, but he cared a lot about his interns and their general well-being.

He knew he was just one of his interns, but he couldn’t help but think that the man did it for him more than the others. Mr. Stark always ruffled his hair, brought him healthy snacks (the others got chips and sodas, junk food), and before he left he asked if he needed a ride home. He’d never accepted cause he was embarrassed, but appreciated the offer.

Maybe he just looked out for him cause he was the youngest intern there. That had to be it.

- ~ - ~ - ~ - ~

June 07, 2015, Sunday

“Remember to put on your breathing treatment before you go to bed,” his aunt said as she rushed to the door, wearing her scrubs as she grabbed her purse and a light jacket since it got a bit chilly during the nights in the hospital.

Peter nodded with a grimace. He’d really grown to hate using the BiPAP machine during the night. Usually it was only three or four hours, but lately his breathing had gotten so bad that he had to wear it all night. That usually resulted in severe dry mouth, a friction burn from the straps of the mask, and he’d started to get headaches that were probably caused by sinus pressure. It kept getting worse everyday, especially his breathing. There was no logical reason as to why it had gotten so bad, and Christopher had even checked the BiPAP and said that neither the machine nor the mask were faulty.

The man ran a startup medical supply company, so he knew all about the machine Peter used, and he said it was fine. So, for now they and their doctor were stumped as to why his asthma was getting so bad. Maybe it was just his shitty body and health, or perhaps it was something else.

“Yeah, alright. Have a good night,” he told his aunt, walking with her to the door. She kissed his forehead goodnight and he closed the door, but left the chain off for when she came home in the morning in case he was still asleep. It was six now, so she should be back by 6:30AM, 7AM at the latest.

Peter groaned as he stretched and plopped down on the couch, pulling out his phone and texted Ned. After a while, they started playing a game together and Peter groaned when he lost. Ned was always the one that was better at gaming than he was. He was yawning a moment later, hand lifted to his mouth as his eyes watered from the force of his yawn.

Well, Peter guessed it was time for bed.

He’d showered earlier that day, and read ahead for the upcoming school year since he’d already finished his summer homework. So, all that was left was to brush his teeth and get in bed. All the lights in the apartment had been turned off except for the light over the stove. His door was usually closed, since he was a hormonal teenager after all, and he needed his privacy. Now that his aunt wasn’t there, he decided to leave it open so there was no need to turn on his fan as the AC in the living room would blow cool air into his room during the night.

Usually, it wasn’t a good idea for the room to be too cold, since he had allergies on top of asthma, which made for a bad combination if he got a sinus cold. So, he usually had to keep his room at about 75 degrees Fahrenheit (24 Celsius), which was still too warm for him. By leaving his door open there would be enough cool air coming in to cool him off, but not cause him any problems.

He looked at the BiPAP machine and frowned, wondering if he could get away with not using it for a single night. He’d had to use it almost every night this week, and frankly, he was sick of it, quite literally some nights. It coated his entire mouth, nose and throat, and no amount of mouthwash could get rid of the taste.

It was gone by the end of the day, but hated not being able to taste his breakfast and dinner. Sometimes it was so bad he even lost his appetite, and he was already too skinny as it was to be missing meals. So, his mind made up, he decided to forgo the treatment just for tonight. He would hate lying to his aunt, but he was just tired of treatments and medicines with no improvement to his health.

He was alone tonight, May having decided he was old enough to not need a babysitter (Finally!). Besides, it wasn’t too warm for being June, and the AC in the living room wasn’t up too high. Peter was sure he’d be alright with not doing his treatment, that woke him up most nights to be violently sick. He wanted to get just one night of uninterrupted sleep.

Peter sighed in content as he snuggled under his blanket, closing his eyes. As he drifted off, he hoped he had a nice dream. He’d been having some bizarre ones lately.

Peter groaned when he opened his eyes and found himself standing next to his bed, looking at himself sleeping peacefully. He wasn’t sure why he kept having this dream, but as he moved out of the room through the wall by choice this time, he guessed he could understand. As he was now, he felt no pain or shortness of breath, like he was untethered from his sickly body. Peter felt strong as he longed to be in real life, with no asthma to hold him back.

Besides, he could go anywhere, but made sure not to accidentally see someone getting dressed or showering again. It might be a dream, but even then, he didn’t want to be a pervert. Mostly, he stuck with going in people’s living rooms to see how they lived (or how his mind assumed they lived in his dream). Peter was just glad he had gotten the hang of actual walking instead of floating around out of control all the time, passing through the walls and people.

He paused in the hallway when he thought he heard something, but as always, everything not in his immediate area was super fuzzy and dark. As for people, they were almost colorless in skin tone as well as their clothes, but around them would be a faint colorful glow. His knowledge of fantasy and supernatural movies gave him the knowledge to know that these were auras. Although, since this was a dream, he wasn’t sure if it applied here.

Peter heard something again down the hallway, like something jiggling and that was followed by the sound of wood splintering. He walked closer with more bravado than Peter would have felt in real life. The area got brighter as he approached the window at the end of the hallway, which led onto the fire escape on that side.

A man seemed to morph from the shadows, but it was just the room getting brighter now that he was in this area. Peter didn’t recognize this man, who was pushing open the window and climbing inside, not even bothering to close it again. His aura was ugly to look at, a mix of red and purple with streaks of black in it, and he had an air of danger to him. Peter might have been afraid of the man, but he wasn’t even looking at him, looked right through him when he lifted his gaze. That’s right, no one could see him in his dreams. He was always only an observer.

When he started walking toward him, Peter scrambled out of his way, since the teenager didn’t want to go through him. Whenever a person walked through Peter, or he went through another person, he was bombarded with mental images (he assumed they were fragments of memories), thoughts, and feelings all jumbled up. It was like someone shoved them violently into his head between his eyes.

It was not a pleasant experience (and the headache he woke up with was always explained away as an affect of the medicine that manifested in the dream), and he definitely wanted to avoid what that kind of aura would do to him. Peter knew it was a dream, but the idea of touching that ugly aura was frightening to him, that it might even hurt for real.

For lack of a better thing to do, since there didn’t seem to be anyone else around, he followed the menacing man. ‘So, I haven’t seen you around here before, Mister Stranger. I’d know, since I’ve visited almost everyone on this floor at least twice. I’m not a creep though, just curious, and I always stay in the living room. Well, unless there’s no one at home, which isn’t common because I always seem to come around after everyone is asleep.’

He stopped his babbling when the man stopped at the Jones’s apartment door. ‘Oh, do you know the twins? Hailey and Riley are like, super pretty. They’re a year older than me. I think they go to the public high... hey, what are you doing?’ The man had tried the door and when he found it locked, he took out a small tool kit which he was now using on the lock. ‘Are... you picking the lock like those spy movies?! Are you a spy, Mister Stranger?’

His smile and excitement vanished when he pushed it open, and when the chain on the inside stopped it, the man gave an animalistic snarl and kicked the door open. It slammed into the wall violently as the chain was ripped off the wooden door frame. The man stepped into the apartment, and Peter panicked and flung himself at the man. He screamed as he went through him and got a bombardment of hate, anger, and murder! from the man. The fragments of memories were of a woman cowering away from him, protecting two small children. He recognized them all; Hailey, Riley and Miss Jones.

Peter was flung away, falling so fast that he was sure he was going to die.

The fourteen year old gasped as he shot up in bed, one hand clutching his head that was splitting open with a headache, and the other flung off the blanket. Peter scrambled out of bed, his chest tight and he was unable to breathe. Even then, he staggered out of his room and to the front door, his heart a frantic tattoo inside his rib cage as he threw open the door of his apartment.

Peter knew it was a dream, was sure of it, but he had to make sure. He had to know they were safe, or he wouldn’t be able to sleep.

He stumbled down the hallway as the door of his apartment closed behind him, knees buckling beneath him and his lungs burning as the room spun. Peter lifted his head when he was almost there and was horrified to see the Jones’s apartment door wide open. He gasped in air that could barely pass through his swollen airway, his eyesight darkening around the edges. Peter heard a muffled scream, a call for help as he stood there, struggling to breathe.

‘No, this can’t be real!’

They’re in danger!

‘They were all dreams! It can’t be real!’

They’re in danger!

‘It was... real. All of it had been real.’

THEY’RE IN DANGER!

Peter forced himself to take three more steps, reaching for the fire alarm and pulling it down. As the shrill sound of the alarm started up, Peter collapsed face down on the floor. Just before unconsciousness took him, the man with the ugly aura from his dream ran out of the broken-in apartment.

Then everything else around Peter went dark just like in his dream that wasn’t really a dream, ceasing to exist.-

#Till I Touch The Sky #Peter Parker #May Parker #Tony Stark #Things That Go Knock In The Night series #fanfiction #myfanfiction #name-me-regret #regret writes #regret fanfiction

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inkdrinkershadowsinger · 5 years

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Thoughts/Background on Chamber of Secrets

There simply cannot be neighborhoods like this, where there are miles upon miles of cookie cutter homes that stretch out into the horizon. Does anyone know if this is a real shot? Or did they multiply the houses like they do to extras in a battle scene?

I never noticed that this photo album is this detailed. There is a little J and L on either side of James and Lily’s photo here. Hagrid is an artist.

It’s on every page? Was this supposed to be something that Hagrid found from Godric’s Hollow? How did he get something so specific? Or is that rumor true that Hagrid owled Lily and James friend’s and Remus, who had been left things like this when there was no one else left to claim them, got it off his bookshelf and sent it to his best friends’ son?

I like how Harry’s room progressively becomes more his own. Look at it in this movie, the walls are bare, everything is relatively tame and plain verses in Order of The Phoenix, when Harry’s room has distinctly more decoration.

Those pink candlesticks are ghastly.

Harry, my darling, you have been getting letters it is merely a well meaning house elf who has stopped them. I wonder what everyone else thought about Harry’s silence? Especially Hermione. Did she think for even a moment that Harry and Ron had decided that they didn’t want to be her friend at all? Ron isn’t much of a writer, and Harry wasn’t responding. I don’t want to know what kind of a mind fuck that must have been to 12 year old Hermione who had just got home from “magic school”, and none of her new “friends” were responding to her letters.

We have heard that theory that James is Harry and Sirius is Ron, etc. But Dudley is Petunia. Dudley and Harry were raised in the same house, closer than cousins because of location alone. But whereas Petunia never got over the resentment that she felt towards Harry in book seven Dudley was more concerned for Harry’s well-being when they were leaving for the safe house then I think Petunia ever was if Lily ever mentioned how hard and dangerous things were getting during the First Wizarding World. Dudley received some characterization and growth where Petunia never bothered.

Harry sounds so sarcastic when he says that.

Dang! Every time Harry leaves his room he has to see a pencil drawing of Dudley’s face? The Dursley’s cruelty knows no bounds.

All of this decoration, and the shelf are missing from the first scene with Harry in this movie.

Harry is just like, “Fuck it all.”

But he’s got manners galore.

At this point, Harry has never seen a house elf. He has no idea what a house elf does. He has no idea why one would be in his bedroom. He has no idea that this even is a house elf? Why is he so calm? This could be a blood thirsty toga wearing creature that they only study in seventh year, and yet, Harry is all but like, “Can I take your coat, sir?”

And now he’s crying, (those could have been lethal gas releasing nerve agents), and now he’s hitting himself (gearing up for attack.) Oh, Harry, number one at defense my arse.

And their champagne flutes are pink? You can’t buy taste.

Those people look so offended like, “You have a cat? How common.”

I know that the fanon is that wizarding children all heard bedtime stories about Harry Potter, but Dobby is proof that other beings also heard about Harry’s triumph over the Dark Lord.

Who painted that picture on Harry’s wardrobe? Dean Thomas, fanon artist. Or does Harry Potter have latent creative talent? Or can you buy these out of the Hogwart’s catalog? Lol

Dobby is like, “Oh, shit, I should not have said that.”

This is where Harry’s Gryffindor really shows because he could just lie to Dobby, but he doesn’t. It’s that Gryffindor honesty.

The man is just like, “Oh, look, cake. Neither of them even looks angry.

Vernon bowered Niall Horan’s hat for this scene.

Harry sleeps with the scrapbook right by his bed. Someone shoot me.

I love that to Ron, Fred, and George that this is a completely normal thing for them to be doing. None of them look nervous about flying a car in a Muggle neighborhood. Destruction of property? Who gives a fuck? They are just like, we have to do what we have to do for our bud. Just a regular drive around.

Hedwig is very annoyed at being called a pigeon.

Ron knows to appreciate the simple things. Tell you mate Happy Birthday, no werid shows of masculinity here.

I love the Burrow. I love the position of the Burrow. I love that they are surrounded by land and a little pond. I love that it is secluded, and that it looks pieced together.

The inside of the Burrow is stunning. You have the Farm House sink. The detailed windows. The hardwood surfaces. The eclectic but perfectly fitting furniture. It would be considered chic to many a Muggle. And that DOOR, that opens up, and then also opens out. The extra space above that little cubbie. Fireplace. Hand, or magic, knitted blankets.

There is a wooden orange cat, a la, Crookshanks on the fireplace there.

Ginny is me.

He says, “Morning Weasleys.” Like they are a clan. He could totally use that tone and call them all to action.

I feel like Mrs. Weasley could sound more disappointed here. I feel like she is kind of annoyed, but also kind of interested in their little stunts as well.

The stainglass windows, the open placement for the dishes, like this house is amazing!

“Dumbledore must know that you’re here.” So, the headmaster is the one who can keep track of the placement of certain students and their whereabouts, or is this simply a case where Mrs. Figg informed Dumbledore that Harry had taken off. Can you imagine that letter? Like, “Super sorry, Professor Dumbledore, but it seems as if Number Four Pivet Drive has been attacked by three red haired boys in a flying car. The red haired youngsters seemed to be on quite friendly terms with Mr. Potter however, as they helped them into the flying vehicle. Just thought that I should mention it.

Sincerely,

Arabella Figg

So, does Appartition take a lot out of a witch or wizard? Why don’t Mr. and Mrs. Weasley just apparate all the kids to the Diagon Alley? Is there such a thing as flooing by twos or threes? Because that would also be useful. Are there many fireplaces lining Diagon Alley like the tones that are shown in seven part one in the Ministry? Where to they floo into? Just one of the thousands of questions that need answers, Mrs. Rowling.

There is a gilded head of an elephant behind Harry’s head before Harry examines closely a cabinet that seems to follow a very tight skull aesthetic for maximum creep.

On the top shelf, there seems to be a lamp? A magical one?

More skulls. The hand of glory, that is mentioned in the books. And then a vase full of eye balls. This place is a health hazard. I know the wizarding world lacks mental health professionals, but you’re telling me they don’t have health inspectors?

Harry looks like he has been covered in spiderwebs. When was the last time that Floo was used?

Who are these random people just immediately accosting a twelve year old boy?

They pass a book seller. Knowledge is the root of all power.

The sign in front says from top to bottom: Quality. Value. Ease. Style. Then I think, Variety.

Hermione is internally shrugging because of course her ride or die new friend is covered in ash and has broken glasses. Of course, he is.

The girl behind them as they walk away looks back at them like, “Oh, Harry Potter.”

The fashion and lighting in this movie went from drab and seventeen hundreds to really flamboyant and really stylish with bright colors. I love that the dashes of color really followed them into the other films. Even Prisoner of Azkaban with its more muted color scheme is still vibrant.

The front page that reads: Gilderoy Lockhart gives Wizarding Wolrd Hero Hygiene Tips. Ash free for the cameras, always.

They are literally crammed into the bottom floor of this shop, and Draco Malfoy has an excellent view from above?

Ginny’s got some balls. Love her. All the boys are silent, and she just ain’t taking no shit.

Like Lucius, it is not okay to fondle people’s foreheads, you creepy mother f-er.

Hermione is a bad bitch. Like she knows how dangerous magic can be know, and yet, she doesn’t back down from this grown wizard.

They are all dirty. What happened to scourgify? Or were they scouring grate after grate trying to find Harry, and just didn’t have time after the relief of finding him? Literally, no one else is dirty.

Ginny’s trunk has a Hogwart’s emblem. And we all know the Weasley’s use hand me down items. Whose trunk does she have?

Like Ronald, this is not logical. Dang! I know y’all aint in Ravenclaw, but you are twelve years old. This is basic.

“Your hands all sweaty.” This is no time to be a snob, Harry.

So, did the car fail because they hit Hogwart’s wards? That would seem logical for its sudden failure.

It could also be why the Womping Willow attacked the car so viscously. It may have sensed that this car doesn’t belong to the grounds, and thus, could potentially be a threat. So, it tried to dislodge and pulverize the threat.

Pete, you rat bastard.

This car knows its way around Hogwarts? Or did some of the sentient magic that is in Hogwarts take over the car, and that is why it saved Harry and Ron when they were in the forest with the acromantulas.

To make things more environmentally friendly. The Daily Prophet should have a self updating paper, that changes with each news day. People can still buy the others, if they want to keep them for posterity, but I mean, come on, save the planet.

I feel like this is just a flashback for Snape. James getting away with everything and now Harry.

And Ron, is just so used to getting caught out by Mrs. Weasley, that he just instantly thinks that he is going home.

The look on Snape’s face is so sad here. Will no one ever take this man’s side?

I like this overhead view of the greenhouses. I like the idea too, that there are several levels of greenhouses. The ones that we see in this movie are close to the castle and are set for first and second years, but then the Greenhouses that we see in Half Blood Prince are set away a bit from the castle for the upper years. And some are just for Professor Sprout.

There are little dragon statues on top of the greenhouses. That’s a bit ironic.

Do you think that those large pot like things hanging from the ceiling are

Like, how common is getting petrified, that this would be in second year school book. Also, why were they being grown in the first place if there uses were so rare.

Headcanon that Neville truly developed an interest in Herbology when he fainted that year. He went back to see what work he missed, and Professor Sprout was just straight battling some giant carnivorous plant, and just kicking the fertilizer out of it, and Neville helps her. Then she shows him something else, and something else, and talks about all the things that plants can do, and what they are capable of achieving. “But that’s normally a lesson I reserve for the older years.” But Neville doesn’t want to wait, he wants to do it now. He goes back to the common room with several borrowed books from Professor Sprout, and he is never the same again.

We are legit just going to leave a student lying on the ground. Are we? The wizarding world is really survival of the fittest.

There is a studious Ravenclaw behind them there, reading away.

Neville still has flashbacks to be honest.

When the wizarding world doesn’t have cell phones to yell at or embarrass your children with, you hit them with a howler. Respect.

This DADA room is surrounded with pictures of Lockhart. All the frames along the side of the room are pictures of Lockhart. Bless this man.

This painting of Lockhart is painting a picture of Lockhart.

He bought those Cornish Pixies on the Wizarding Web.

Is that a skeleton of a hippogriff handing above them there?

Even the pixies have had it with Lockhart’s shit books.

The painting Lockhart runs out of the way as well.

Hermione is a baddie.

Hogwarts is so beautiful.

Flint, Wood is tired of your shit.

Hermione and Ron smell trouble, and are like, “I’m going to get me some of that.” Because Gryffindors.

Clap back Hermione.

I love that in the book everyone reacts to what Draco calls Hermione. I wish they would have included that a bit more in the movie.

Ron must have learned that from somewhere, but instead of someone helping him, they just laugh.

This interaction here with Hagrid and Hermione always melts my heart. I like to think that Hagrid is one of the reasons that Hermione worked so hard later in life for the protection and promotion of creature rights. Hagrid being a half giant.

Hagrid is number one. Let’s be real.

Where can I get this level of staged photograph when I go to the Wizarding World in May?

Lockhart is like, “Dang, the fame is already getting to this one. What a shame.”

Harry hears someone threatening to murder people, and of course, he runs right to them.

If Tom Riddle had a giant, most likely extremely hard to kill snake, why didn’t he just try to ride it on out of Hogwarts, take over Diagon and flatten everything? Why didn’t he come back for it during the first wizarding world?

Ron is not down with spiders, and neither am I.

Look, this may be a controversial opinion, but I love Mrs. Norris, and I think that her and Filch are cute and are not to be messed with.

Let’s be real, Filch has been hearing for a solid year from Snape about how Harry Potter is such a little shit. That rage has got to come from somewhere.

Ron, Hermione, and Harry thinking that they were just about to sneak off. Dumbledore is like, “Bitch, please.”

Hermione, Harry, and Ron: “Is Snape taking up for us….actu….oh, wait, of course not.”

I feel so bad for Filch here. That cat is probably the only thing in the whole world that he actually loves.

McGonagall has a large number of zoo like cages in her classroom as well. Her classroom is also very symmetrical, from the two blackboards, to the candles in the front of the room.

Draco and Goyle are reluctantly impressed.

That is the beautiful thing about libraries. There is an unlimited amount of information available at any point in time.

I’m glad that there is at least one adult in the common space for the students. Is that supposed to be Madam Pince? Or a helpful teaching assistant? We all know that the teachers at Hogwarts have an intense work load.

Why is there a spider depicted on the woman’s head in this book?

I just imagine that every time that Harry is in the air that Ron and Hermione experience quite a lot of anxiety.

I can just hear Lucius in the stands saying, “We do not show off for such people.” When the snitch is right beside Draco’s head.

I feel that Lucius grew into being a good father when the threat of his family became a reality. I think before he judged Draco by too harsh means because things were always rather simple in his mind. He thought he was the best, and Draco should be too. But he was humbled, and became a better father because of it.

Dobby strictly uses the word, “Enslavement” here. That word makes what Hermione does with Spew seem less radical.

The table is decorated with the phases of the moon.

Snape rises from the crowd like a ghost.

How on Earth did Lockhart get Snape to agree to do this? He had to have accosted him in the staffroom or during a meeting when Snape couldn’t get away.

“Severus, I really think it would be a great idea. We could really give the kids something exciting, riveting, and imaginative.” It is only when McGonagall tells him that he could probably get Lockhart on his perfectly pictured arse a few times that Snape considers it, and eventually concedes.

The most iconic Drarry line ever. “Scared, Potter?” “You wish.”

Can conjured things kill people? Or are they just charms? Is the pain temporary, or a real solid thing that can seriously damage?

Is this study hall?

Harry Potter has the crappiest luck ever.

Some of the headmasters and headmistresses seem to be still. I like the idea that all of the professors that get promoted to that level get to be immortalized whether they would like to put apart of them inside of a portrait or not.

I really like the idea of Dumbledore as a scholar and an academic, so I really like that they show all of his scrolls and books.

I feel like Fawkes dying and then being rebirthed among the flames is a really poignant thing for Harry to experience at this stage in his life. This image of the phoenix dying, but still having life probably stuck with Harry and it might have been something that he thought about when he was preparing to walk into the forest in book seven.

Hagrid has got Harry’s back, and I love it. He is a really good friend.

This image of the Black Lake frozen over, and the students being pulled across it’s icy surface is stunning.

Hermione was training to join MI6 before she got her Hogwarts letter, and no one can tell me differently.

Are flying treats that common that Crabbe and Goyle are just like, “Dead on.” It must have been a cute thing that there house elves did for them when they were children, levitating treats or toys in the air for them to grab. Or their parents showing them magic and giving them treats at the same time. Otherwise, how would they have ever thought, “You know what? Excellent and safe idea to eat these random treats.”

Harry literally doesn’t know here which one is Crabbe and which one is Goyle.

The Slytherin common room looks way more lush then the Gryffindor common room. I feel like you can see really clearly into the Black Lake there, and since it is frozen over, the light that you see is light blue instead of green. I mean, look at how big there common room is. It looks like they have a designated study area and everything.

Draco, don’t be the stereotype of rich boys who steal. Just don’t.

Myrtle is not to be fucked with, bro.

A young Tom Riddle for sure got this one year for Christmas at Wool’s orphanage before the war started, and things got so tight that they couldn’t even afford three meals a day. Then, like everything in his past, he transferred these basic Muggles things to something more extraordinary, like him.

Tom Riddle in this movie is a hottie. Like, y’all can’t even fight me because there is no denying his killer beauty….get it?

Okay, so are we thinking that during this flashback that Tom’s soul piece is not only aware that Harry is watching a scene from his life, but is also, acting out the part of himself? He is the director and the lead, so to say.

I like this sequence because it shows more insight into who Tom Riddle is, and where the fear of death started to come from. I wish that Rowling would have made this connection more thoroughly for the viewers of the movies. A single mention of there being too many bombs, or a lot of fighting by Tom here when he is talking with Dumbledore would have provided some more insight into this character.

Ginny knows how to do some damage. I think it would have been easier for them to figure out. Girls can get up boy’s dorms, but boys cannot get up to girl’s dorms. It would have had to have been a Gyrffindor. The common room couldn’t have been completely empty. Hermioen could have fact checked this, and figured out who had wrecked their dorm.

Look at those game plans back there. I just envision, Oliver Wood drawing frantically on the blackboard wild circles that simulate flying motions, but he goes too quickly for everyone else to understand what he’s saying, and thus, the only one who knows the plan is Wood, himself.

Did they show Colin’s friends his frozen body? Or Penelope and Justin’s? Not one person in this school thinks of the potentially traumatizing circumstances that they are putting these kids through.

It is popular fanon that McGonagall and Riddle went to school together. From this perspective, it would be doubly as traumatizing for her to hear that the school could be closing again.

Ron is me. I ain’t messing with no mother flipping spiders.

Ron is no help in this scenario. Absolutley none.

Harry replacing Hermoine’s flowers, and thus subtly telling the viewers how much time has elapsed.

Harry is wickedly smart. He is also very logical which I think attributes a lot to that sarcastic personality that he has.

McGonagall has some Slytherin in her for sure. She went from worried to blasting Lockhart in 2.5.

Lockhart packed up really quickly. It was almost like he….. had….experience…leaving…quickly.

I wonder if Lockhart’s victims ever got any retribution after he wound up in St. Mungos. It’s almost certain that his sales went up when he got admitted to the hospital just because of the public’s sheer curiosity and gossip mongering.

Salazar Slytherin was one slick mother f-er. “I’m going to hide my chamber in the bathroom.”

I can just imagine Riddle not having a lot of time in between OWLS and what not, and taking the easy way out and opening the Chamber whenever he could just to chuck down dead rabbits and chickens. Forays into the Forbidden Forest were many for Tom’s minions back then.

Honestly, Lockhart, Harry probably wouldn’t mind if you took a few of his less than pleasurable memories.

Tom Riddle also has that innate need to be polite even though he’s about to stab someone just like Harry does. Or is this a British thing?

I love how the villains in these movies say, “Potter.”

That does not look like the hole that they came down? It looks like Fawkes took them up another exit.

Why is Dumbledore trusting Hagrid’s release papers from the wizarding world’s worst prisons to a twelve year old? To a twelve year old Ron Weasley at that.

It looks like Dumbledore has a crystal ball by his desk. Trying his hand at divination? Or is that how he keeps track of all the students? I need to know what headmaster powers enable him to do all of these things.

Jason Isaacs is super fine. I can even deal with the wig. In fact, the wig makes it better.

It looks like Dumbledore’s office is located outside of the courtyard which makes the scene in Order of the Phoenix when Fred and George are comforting that boy all the more poignant.

#Harry Potter #Chamber of secrets #Harry Potter thoughts #Harry Potter movie thoughts

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chvrrybaby · 5 years

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*itzy vc* hey hey hey ! ( i see that i’m icy ) what’s up, i’m diana, i’m nineteen, and i’m ur resident girl group stan. i reside in the est timezone & go by the pronouns she/her. now, finally introducing ... loona !! jk, her name is blair & u can learn abt her under the cut ! my discord is lana del rey is coming <3#5522 ( stream her new album august 30th ), so feel free to message me there or through tumblr im’s if u prefer that ! otherwise, i’ll come to u <3

— kim doyeon. she/her. cis female. | was that blair ryu i just saw in the hideaway lobby ? i hear the nineteen year old spends most of their time working as a sugar baby/studying classic literature and women’s studies, but i’ve always just seen them writing in her dream journal. they live in 5A and i often see them in the halls. they always give me a vibe of loosely curled hair, cherry lip gloss, the lingering scent of vanilla in the air.

( 𝑩𝑨𝑪𝑲𝑮𝑹𝑶𝑼𝑵𝑫. )

born on october 5th, 1999 ( this is literally a day before my bday ooc but anyway ajkdhsjdh ) in rochester, new york, blair’s first impression of the world was a crisp autumn day

she was her parents first and only child. her mother was an elementary school teacher, while her father worked at a nearby power plant in ontario

the family never made too much money, but they were able to get by, at least at first

she had a fairly happy childhood, though it was a lonely one. her father was always working odd hours, and with her mother gone during the day, she spent most of her time with a babysitter and the family golden retriever

eventually, she herself started going to school. she immediately excelled in the english department and fell in love with reading. blair realized early on how much she enjoyed escaping reality with a novel, immersing herself in a story so exciting compared to her dull life

almost everything was fine until her high school years. aside from the fact that she never had a present father figure, she was closer to her mom and still loved by both of her parents. however, when her high school years came around, her father lost his job

her father was the families main provider, and her mothers salary alone would not be enough to take care of the entire family. while he searched for another job, they had to give away the family golden retriever to one of blair’s aunts because they couldn’t afford the extra cost :(

on top of losing her beloved pet, the loss of her father’s job prompting the family to pick up and move their entire life

already in the midst of high school, blair had to leave her life as she knew it behind. the family moved to statesboro, georgia, and her father found a job at the nearby power plant

the transition to life in georgia was not easy for blair. though she didn’t exactly have trouble making friends, she didn’t feel like she could truly connect with anyone

once again, blair turned to losing herself in a book to pass the time

shortly after the move to georgia, her parents experienced some difficulties within their marriage. they ended up separating, and blair spent the remainder of her high school years living with each of them for half of the time

she did not mind her parents separating, as she knew it was for the best. however, her father found a girlfriend fairly quickly, and blair would eventually find out her father had been having an affair

her father spent most of his free time with his new girlfriend and her family. blair was upset at how he prioritized his the new people in his life over her when he was barely ever around for her growing up

meanwhile, her mother was having trouble adjusting to being alone, so she moved back to new york to live with her sister

blair stayed behind in georgia to finish high school, but knew she wanted to go elsewhere for college. she wanted to get as far away from her father and his new life as possible

once blair turned eighteen, she began to sell pictures for money. she wanted to earn as much as possible so she could afford to go away for university. she created an alias and began to sell pictures and videos of her feet. eventually, she expanded her horizons once she realized how much money she could earn

she never went as far as sleeping with her clients, but she would go on dates with them and spend the days with them to earn more money ( kind of like ludovica/chiara in the italian show baby on netflix minus sleeping w them )

she dated a few people throughout her high school years, and began to more “seriously” date a guy during her senior year in high school, though she knew the relationship wouldn’t last. despite appearing as a more serious relationship, to her, it wasn’t really anything of the sort, and she mostly wanted a relationship for senior prom and other trivialities

after senior year ended and she had accepted admission into uni in seattle, she basically cut ties with everyone in georgia aksdjskdjh she said good bye forever ! rip poor unnamed boyfriend he didn’t see it coming ...

her father also did not see it coming because she didn’t even tell him where she applied. but at the same time, did he ask ? no :/

once she left for uni, her relationship with her father became very very estranged. she still speaks to her mom on a pretty regular basis, but even then, she has a whole secret life and doesn’t feel particular close to either of them sjkdfhskdjh

and that’s that for background !

( 𝑷𝑬𝑹𝑺𝑶𝑵𝑨𝑳𝑰𝑻𝒀. )

blair is a libra sun leo moon ( rising sign & other placements tbd )

she is definitely a friendly/sociable person. she can be pretty outgoing and loves to be around people. idk her mbti yet but she is def an extrovert ! ( she does tend to keep her feelings to herself tho )

despite her friendly demeanor, she does have a fiery spirit. if u wrong her she will hold a grudge against u until it gets settled/sorted. she can be more on the mean side when she’s upset, but even then she does not have a bad heart at all

when it comes to relationships, blair is all over the place. she can be very flirty/charismatic and is constantly hopping from one relationship to the next. she hasn’t quite been able to settle down, but it is possible. she kind of thinks being in a real relationship means losing her freedom, because that’s kind of what she saw happen with her parents, so she doesn’t really want to be tied down to someone in fear of losing herself in a way. does this make sense ? maybe ? ok !

blair has a fairly strong sense of self, but she’s still very young so she’s still growing and changing. she is the type of person to know what she wants and go after it ( yes, even with ppl ! ). she will stop at nothinggg to get what she wants ( oop ). u could say she loves the chase, but kind of gets bored afterwards unless u have more to offer !

omg she literally loves 2 be the center of attention. i mean, who doesn’t love attention ? but blair takes it 2 another level. she gets all :( if she’s being ignored or isn’t receiving enough attention

kind of bouncing off the whole attention thing, blair loves a good party ! she’s young and here for a good time. she def loves to drink at parties and stuff even tho she isn’t legal here in the us, why should that stop her am i right ? when it comes to drugs, she’s a veryyy casual user and doesn’t do anything crazy. a social weed smoker n will do pills here and there

being a libra sun with a leo moon, i think it’s safe to say she can be a bit dramatic at times ( i mean, as a libra sun with a leo venus i am not one 2 judge xx ). she reads 2 much and watches 2 many movies like ajkdhsjkhd life rly isn’t that serious but she can b a lil overdramatic sometimes whew ! we told u this was melodrama ... lorde stans make some noise !

blair’s fav books are anything by jane austen and les liaisons dangereuses by pierre choderlos de laclos, aka the book cruel intentions was based on ( which happens 2 be one of her fav movies )

shows she loves: gossip girl ( she shares a name w blair so she probably used 2 call herself queen b in high school or something ), desperate housewives ( no wonder this binch is so dramatic ), big little lies, pretty little liars ( the early seasons only ), the netflix show baby, and buffy the vampire slayer

movies she loves: clueless, almost famous, thoroughbreds, moulin rouge, palo alto, marie antoinette, coyote ugly, american beauty, cruel intentions, and valley of the dolls ( to name a few )

her fav colors are pink, red, and white !

u can find her pinterest board here.

she is bisexual babey !!

( 𝑾𝑨𝑵𝑻𝑬𝑫 𝑪𝑶𝑵𝑵𝑬𝑪𝑻𝑰𝑶𝑵𝑺. )

party buddies - this is pretty basic and self explanatory, but someone blair can go out and have fun with. their friendship might be more surface level, or started that way at least, but it’s possible they’re closer friends ( maybe she opened up under the influence and it brought them closer aksdhsdjh drunk blair def would )

ex-fling/gf/bf - blair relationship hops, so she could have quite a few of these. we can plot it however, there can b feelings there, they can hate each other, of they can be just friends now, u name it !

unrequited crush - ur character could have feelings for blair, but maybe she doesn’t feel them back or is unaware that they like her. this could develop into her eventually having feelings for ur muse or not, whatever we want ! OR blair could def have a crush on someone who does not like her back. maybe that person is super non-committal, or they simply do not like her back. we could plot this out however <3

current fling/friends w benefits - someone she is currently seeing/sleeping with. could be no strings attached, or there could b some feelings there. maybe they don’t want to make it anything serious, or maybe they’re ready to take it to the next level. maybe one person is ready to go further, and the other isn’t.

enemies w benefits - imagine the tension!!! they started out hating each other, but ended up hooking up. maybe it was a one time thing, or maybe they can’t stop going back to each other. i think it would b cool if they kept it a secret, they don’t want anyone else to know. this could develop in soooo many ways !

ex-friends - someone she used to consider a close friend, but they had a falling out for whatever reason n maybe they hate each other now. maybe they want to re-kindle their friendship but don’t know how

sibling-like friendship - someone she sees like a sibling. they’re there for each other and look out for one another, always have each other’s backs. being an only child and not really close to her parents, blair would love a friend that she could basically call family !

dynamic duo - basically like her current best friend. this person is prob one of the closest people to her and knows her very well ! they could b a power duo, always looking out for each other

take care - someone who kind of looks after her ?? maybe when she parties a lil too hard and drinks a lil too much, someone who kind of takes care of her n makes sure shes ok ! they would be someone she trusts a lottttt

confidant - someone who confides in her or someone she confides in, or they confide in each other. they don’t necessarily have to be the closest friends ever, but they get along, trust each other, and maybe they talk more in private

rivals - they hate each other for whatever reason. maybe it’s jealousy or their personalities just clash, but for whatever reason they do not get along. i love a good enemies plot. they can just b nasty to each other !!! maybe they bring out a really bad side to blair that most ppl dont see. someone who makes her act like blair waldorf ( i’m def kidding abt the blair waldorf part )

bad influence - blair isn’t a goody-two-shoes by any means, but doesn’t really do anything crazy, so i’d luvv for someone to kind of influence her to do shit she normally wouldn’t on her own

these are all the plot ideas i can think of for now, but i’ll prob make a plots page later on and add more stuff !

so this is everything !! this has taken me longer than it should have but i’m finally done whew,,, cheers 2 me <3 anyway i would absolutely luv to plot, so feel free to hit me up on discord or tumblr im’s, or i can also come to u ! i’m so excited to get started <333 i’m gonna b logging off now most likely, since it’s 3 am my time, but i’ll be back in the morning

#hide.intro #✧.° ░ 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒏𝒂 ╱ ooc.#i finally did it !!!!#pls someone tell me ur proud of me... <3

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drnucleus · 6 years

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I don’t know what to expect from IX. I’m really hoping it is endgame and they don’t just drop the romance angle, but it’s also kind of what I’m expecting? Like I don’t expect follow-through from it, even though I would love it if it happened

Hi Nonnie,

I totally get it. I understand that completely. Do I think it’s endgame? Yes.

However am I going into IX with any expectations? NOPE. I’m a fandom granny. No seriously I have lived through so many fandoms that I simply go in with no expectations. That way if what I think might happen if even in some small way happens then I will be super happy and overjoyed and if it doesn’t I am usually able to divorce myself from my disappointment and respect the creator’s vision.

As a writer and someone who was professionally trained to do so, I know that creators have a vision. They have an endgame in mind. And they drop breadcrumbs about it from the beginning and if you’re clever enough to see them you usually can figure out any story.

This is why I ruin police procedurals for my mom. My dad and I made a game of it watching Law and Order as a kid growing up (and I mean OG Law and Order with Det. Lenny Briscoe). Whomever could figure out who committed the murder first won. We used to keep a running tally. My dad was really good at it, but when I got really into reading and started reading mystery novels and horror novels and other stories that rely heavily on mystery boxes I started getting better at it. We also watched Law and Order because my two actor 2nd cousins have been guest stars as defense lawyers idk how many times but that’s neither here nor there.

And tbh ESB’s twist of Vader as Luke’s father came as such a shock because IDK if even Lucas really knew he was going to do it until he did it. Luckily the story was vague enough in ANH that a throw away line about certain points of view was enough to close what could have been a crippling plot hole.

My mom is an OG Star wars fan. Mostly bc she loves the pew pew and the lightsaber battles, and secondly because Harrison Ford is a very handsome and talented man (tbh my first crush was Han Solo and second was Indy).

My mom was there when everyone was UP IN ARMS about Leia and Luke kissing. And how that was SOOOOOO going to be endgame. Which originally Lucas had intended that Leia would be a love interest for Luke and that the twin sister would be revealed in 7, 8 and 9 someday. However during writing ROTJ and filming ESB he decided to really hone in on Leia and Han’s chemistry (granted Irving was directing then) but he made the narrative choice to make Leia the sister and Han her love interest. It simultaneously elevated Leia’s narrative importance and made her the leading lady of her own story on equal footing to her equally powerful twin brother instead of just being Luke’s sidekick love interest.

Even when I was a KID and I saw ESB it always kind of made me laugh that Leia’s response to Han goading her about liking him was to smack lips with the only other humanoid male in the room just to prove how NOT smitten she was with Han. (AND if that doesn’t make her simultaneously Padme and Anakin’s child I don’t know what will convince you otherwise).

TPM came out when was was 13 and a half which will be 20 yrs ago next May - HOLY FUCK. And I’ve been an avid reader since I could read so I had gobbled up countless numbers of books by then. I was in the theater with my parents and legit held my hand up over Ian’s eyes and gasped and tugged on my mom’s sleeve.

“Mom that’s THE EMPEROR” and she was like “No honey he’s just a senator who’s now chancellor of the republic”

And this was still in the age of Dial-up internet and no IMDB. So I did my own digging and found our VHS copies of the OT and looked at the cast listing at the end of the movie. And saw the same name playing the Emperor as the man playing Senator-Chancellor Sheev Palpatine. Now the movies in the OT never actually say the Emperor’s real name. He’s just the shadowy, scary Emperor with lightning bolts shooting out of his hands. So like we knew in TPM that Palpy was going to become the emperor. Now say what you will about the Prequels but Lucas did do a fair bit of narrative arc planning with it than what he threw together with the OT.

He knew we had to meet Anakin as a boy, see him as a caring and compassionate individual who is uniquely gifted in the Force. And that had circumstances been different he would have probably been the paragon force sensitive and balanced the force. However due to realistic flaws of all characters, good and bad alike, including flaws within Anakin’s character himself he falls prey to the darkside and it’s temptations and then becomes the very thing he feared.

Tbh next to TLJ, ROTS is right up there with ESB as my favorite in the saga. Sure the dialogue is wooden and clunky. Lucas is not a dialogue director. He’s a vision director. He has a scene in his mind, and he wants it played like that. Which is fine. He also came from a school of thought in the 1970s where sci-fi was pure camp and overdramatic. His style never really changed. The OT is so lauded because he didn’t direct all of them. He had other people come in and he had script doctoring and his first wife in the editing room taking his vision and turning it into a cohesive narrative. We seem to forget that Lucas was a young dude right out of film school when he made ANH. He barely knew how to string a narrative together and the early cuts of ANH were terrible and nowhere near what people saw in the theater. Don’t believe me? Google “how star wars was saved in the editing room” it’s a remarkable story about how Lucas’s first wife and principal editor basically made ANH into an actual story instead of a mish mash of ideas that it was before. The prequels had Lucas at the helm for all three. Yes by then he had gotten a hold of narratively what he wanted to convey, but he still didn’t always convey it in the most efficient ways.

But there are moments in the prequels that I’m stunned by their perfection. “This is how liberty dies? With thunderous applause.” as Padme watches in horror as the Republic becomes an empire before her eyes. It’s perfect to convey the horror she feels and her disgust at what the thing she’s fought for so long to just crumble and slip away.

Or the entirety of the Anakin v. Obi Wan Mustafar battle. Visually STUNNING, and heartbreaking. You can feel how much neither of them want to fight the other but how they both are so entrenched in their now opposite ideologies that they know they have to fight.

I’ve also been a fan of JJ’s for a long time.

Sure he loves mystery boxes but he usually makes the answer SO obvious that most people ignore it.

Like on Lost which I never actually watched save for maybe a few episodes, it’s pretty clear that something metaphysical is going on in that island with the crash. And there are clues dating back to the pilot as to what happened in the finale.

In TFA we’re introduced to Rey. We’re given a mystery box of who is Rey and why is she important and who is her family. But we’re also given the answer. She’s no one. And that’s why she’s important. She is no one. She doesn’t need to have this huge galactic sized legacy on her shoulders to be important, to be special. SHE IS NO ONE. And that’s why the Force chose her as its vessel.

Reason why is that she’s narratively the perfect foil for her counterpart Ben Solo/Kylo Ren. He has all that legacy and weight on his shoulders. They’re equals in power in strength, in light and darkness. They are complete equals. And TFA was all about establishing that fact. Now TLJ was all about deepening that initial connection. To get them both to scratch beneath the surface of one another, and get under one another’s skin. In doing so Ben learned that Rey just wants to belong, to be loved and have a place in the galaxy. And Rey, she learned that Ben is just as lonely, but has rejected his birthright because he felt rejected and abandoned by those who should have unconditionally loved and protected him from Snoke (which granted OT Trio tried but they def didn’t have great parenting examples either sooooo).

Now as an adult Ben is bitter, full of resentment and rage because the people he should have been able to count on fucked up royally. And I love that. I resonate with it because of my own experiences as an abuse survivor too. But even more so because it makes Han, Leia and Luke less perfect legends and more human. It makes them real and relatable that they tried to do everything right by their kiddo but ended up fucking him up. Luke’s betrayal itself was the least shocking part of TLJ tbh. Like does no one remember him going ABSOLUTELY banana balls insane when Vader threatened Leia in ROTJ?

That kind of Skywalker level extra doesn’t just go away with age.

And yeah Ben needed someone in the fam to be like “so kid, um, lets talk about this.” No one in the OT Trio is good at talking about their feelings. Luke tries to control his by just not dealing with it - the kind of thing you’d expect from a “pray the depression away” type. Leia ignores it and bottles that shit until it comes out as thinly veiled anger. And Han is the most ridiculous of the three with his constant hot and cold routine throughout ESB.

The ST is yes about the failures of the OT trio, the failures of the Jedi and the Sith. But it’s also a story about the force and it’s two chosen vessels. A girl from nowhere and the last scion of the Skywalker line. The fact that their connections in TLJ are coded as sexual awakenings is very indicative of where I think this is all going to go. The Force is basically the Skywalker Patriarch if we’re going on the whole immaculate conception with Shmi. And Ben fell from his path for years now thanks to the other Skywalkers falling from the path and inadvertently pushing him down the rabbit hole with Snoke, manipulating everything like a master of puppets.

JJ himself even said he was upset that he didn’t get to direct TLJ because he loved Rian’s script so much.

I have faith we’re going to get a hell of a finish to the 9 film Skywalker saga. With Reylo as endgame or not I think we’re going to get something truly satisfying that links all 9 movies together in a way that will have meta writers writing for years to come about all the parallels and thematic Leitmotifs within the narrative as a whole that encompasses technically 4 generations of Skywalkers (Shmi, Anakin, Luke/Leia, and Ben).

When Ben killed Han in TFA and you get that focused in shot of Adam’s face as the weight of what he just did HITS him and his eyes widen and his lips part, you see the exact moment he shatters his soul realizing that he just seriously fucked up. I leaned over to my best friend that night in the midnight showing and said “do you smell redemption arc?” and I’ve been on that train from day one.

If he were truly irredeemable he wouldn’t have split his spirit to the bone by killing his father. He wouldn’t have cared to try to convince Rey to be her teacher in the middle of their battle. He wouldn’t care that Rey stares at him like she did that night and call him a monster. A real monster wouldn’t care at being called one. And is so very shook and pained by that moniker with his lower lip quiver and his eyes red rimmed. If he were truly irredeemable he wouldn’t have killed his master just to save the girl, he’d have just usurped power and shrugged her off instead of trying to convince her to stay with him. He wouldn’t have addressed her fear and insecurity of being nothing and no one while shaking his head and saying “but not to me”. If he were truly a monster he would have pulled the damn trigger when his had the bridge of the Raddus in his sights but couldn’t because he felt his mother’s love for him even after everything he’s done.

Has he done terrible things? YES. He definitely has. But he has the equal potential for amazing things as much as he has for the terrible things he’s done. And I for one will be happy to see him begin to even slightly embrace that potential by the end of ep 9. Reylo or no Reylo I’m sure I’m going to be happy with ep 9. There’s no way Adam and so many other brilliant actors would have signed on without at least knowing where this is all gonna go. Adam himself was hesitant to take on the burden of SW but was convinced to do so because of the complexity of Ben’s character. That to me says we’re getting something amazing in ep9. And I can’t wait.

#ask drnucleus #sw talk #drnucleus writes things #Anonymous

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ettadunham · 5 years

Text

A Buffy rewatch 2x05 Reptile Boy

aka adulting and frat boys

Welcome to this dailyish text post series where I will rewatch an episode of Buffy and point out / hyperfocus on one detail in it in 10-3k words. Mostly. The rules are arbitrary.

And today’s episode managed to heighten the show’s ever present metaphor of Buffy fighting toxic masculinity and rape culture by adding some super disturbing and way too real moments to its supernatural spin. There’s also the question of adulthood vs. maturity, Willow’s totally not jealous, and Angel is starting to be aware of some... stuff.

Let’s start with our ‘gay watch’ which may or may not become a regular segment on these posts, and appreciate this exchange:

Buffy: I'm not going with Angel. I'm going with... Ye gods. Cordelia. Willow: Cordelia?! Did I sound a little jealous just then, 'cause I'm not really... Cordelia?!

Now, that being said, during my previous experiences with the show, I definitely noticed a pattern of Willow being jealous / hostile towards other prominent people in the Scoobies’ lives - specifically towards other female characters. It happens with all of Xander’s love interests, sure, but also with Faith (so basically... Buffy’s love interest), and it appears to point to a fear of being replaced / abandoned more than anything. Probably more on that later.

The Buffy/Cordelia train has definitely left the station at this point though. Like who is Cordy kidding (other than herself) - she just wants to hang out with Buffy. And maybe her friends...

Speaking of said friends, I had to include the above screencap, especially after I saw someone once pointing out the way Xander makes a fabulous braid on his end and Buffy is just fumbling and looking confused at Willow’s hair. I really love these little bits and exchanges on the show, it often builds character and establishes dynamics in unexpected ways. Right now for instance we can clearly see that Buffy never had a little sister whose hair she’d braid as a kid.

...Also more on that later.

But I also want to fold this onto my talk about maturity and adulthood. because of the context of this scene. Apparently the Scoobies are all out of money and don’t really have anywhere to go out as a result - so they’re staying at home, watching a Bollywood movie together instead.

Later on the episode this will be juxtaposed with the whole aspirational idea of going to a frat party, and doing ‘adult’ things like drinking and hooking up with your (slightly older young adult) date; as well as the dull repetitiveness and responsibility of having an obligation that other people rely on you to do. And yet, that scene at the beginning - staying at home watching movies because you’re too broke to do anything else - is actually the most adult experience I could think of.

And I guess that’s sort of the point. Adulthood is much more mundane than what we imagine in high school it to be; while college can be this weird Twilight Zone where you can not only suddenly do all the ‘adult’ things, but potentially have the freedom to do so as well. Especially if you live in a country where higher education is easily affordable and not in some dystopian landscape where apparently only the richest can focus on their studies and not their part-time jobs .

Speaking of dystopian societies that the American culture appears to be to me - what’s it with these fraternity clubs? And why are they so weirdly gender-specific? And why are Americans so obsessed with the idea of ‘legacy’ students? ‘My father and grandfather attended this same college and were part of this same fraternity club’ who the fuck cares, Chris, it’s college, not a cigar club.

You guys are weird. Like we have hazing rituals for freshmen and all these weird parties going down in dorms, but the whole structure of fraternities just seem to give way too much space to up the notch on the worst aspects of college life. Of course my exposure to it is admittedly only through pop culture, but it really does look like a cult from here, ngl.

Anyway, the point is that college is the part of your life where you can be legally an adult, but you don’t need to have the level of maturity that that entails quite yet. Which is basically the polar opposite of where Buffy is at this point - someone who hasn’t yet entered the age of adulthood, but has all these obligations and responsibilities that demand a certain level of maturity from her that goes well beyond her years.

There are two particularly insidious scenes in this episode, one where Obnoxious Frat Guy offers a drink to Buffy that she refuses to which he says: “It’s okay, I wasn’t into adult things at your age either.” And then on the other end of the spectrum, we’ll have Nice Frat Guy talk about how “mature” he thinks Buffy is. So when he offers a drink she finally ends up accepting, because she’s tired of being ‘mature’.

In both cases, these guys are being manipulative and predatory (especially given how the drinks are spiked... I know, this episode gets way too real). Obnoxious Frat Guy is trying to be condescending, and reaffirm the high schooler idea of conflating adulthood with doing ‘adult things’. Nice Frat Guy however is being more subtle in his approach and appeals to Buffy’s sense of being burdened by her responsibilities - if she’s already so mature and has to deal with so many adult themes, she might as well do some of the ‘adult things’, right? She’s earned the right to loosen up in the ‘adult way’ a bit... right?

And then she gets drugged and chained up in a basement because no girl can ever let her guard down in this society. As Buffy says, she went to one frat party and had one drink, and this is what happened. I do kinda wish that Giles’ reaction to that wasn’t just that “let that be a lesson” line, and instead offered a reassurance that this wasn’t on her. But he also promises to put less pressure on her in the future, and he’ll have a great line to Buffy later in the season that makes me want to cry even now, and that evens those scales for me.

Given how the show often deals in caricatures when portraying characters like these frat guys, I also kinda appreciate that Nice Frat Guy actually seemed like... well, a nice guy (but also, a Nice Guy). I mean, as the audience it was easy to see through his manipulative bullshit act but I could also understand why Buffy liked him and was able to trust him somewhat. (This will happen in s4 again, although with much less rapeyness and much more general doucheness.)

This episode also seemed to have heard my 2x02 rant and it kind of addresses my concerns of Angel seeing Buffy as a “kid”. Their conversations here basically leave out the whole vampire pretense, and skip right into what’s this really about... sex. As the older one in their relationship, Angel seems to have come to the understanding, that it’s his responsibility to put an end to things before they get too far. Apart from the obvious age difference thing as well as Buffy being underaged that I touched upon previously, there’s also just the idea that Buffy may not be ready yet. And I do kinda respect Angel for finally acknowledging that.

Again - there’s this idea of adulthood vs. maturity. And how the latter is often recognizing the difference between being able or wanting to do something vs. whether or not you should do it. Being in the moment vs. considering the consequences of your actions.

When I previously talked about their relationship, I mentioned how I saw Buffy being the slayer tilt the power dynamic between them toward her, and making me more prone to get on board with them together. This episode however starts bringing the older guy / high school girl aspect closer to the surface. Even if we look at vampires as beings in some sort of arrested development, Angel was still in his early 20s when he was initially turned - which is just enough to make this a little murky.

I guess no wonder that them eventually going down that road will lead to disaster... But more on that later.

Or not. It’s a lot to sort out and maybe I’ll just want to talk about something nice and cozy like Oz instead.

Let someone else deal with all the heavy stuff.

#buffy rewatch 2k19 #btvs talk #btvs

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