#anti maria

[dayscrazed]

Friends AU Chapter 3 Posted!

When Alex and Michael steal some alone time, Maria finds out. She plots with Liz and Max to mess with them to try to force them to admit their relationship. Maria mirrors Phoebe; Liz mirrors Rachel; Max mirrors Joey (Alex and Michael are Monica and Chandler)

[thedumbginger]

It's so strange that no one on here is talking about how the intro to marvels secret invasion was created entirely by ai. This is the first time a major studio has done this. Just think of how big the MCU is. Think of how many people watch these shows and will be inspired by the opening and create their 'own' shows and openers consisting of stolen artwork. AI is taking the place of actual human artists. It isn't a what if anymore. It's real.

And it's completely terrifying.

[xshrimpcake]

a sleepover

[peggingeddiediaz]

Hello, I know I’ve been gone for a while, but I received a lot of hate for not staning a side character and I had to take a break. Now though, I don’t care.

The obsession with BuckTommy as a couple is pretty much fetishization and misogyny bc I'm 100% sure that if Tommy had been a female love interest, his stans wouldn't have been so obsessed with the relationship and would’ve hated every single thing he did last season.

Buck’s coming out as bi should be the focus, but as always, such an important storyline gets reduced to a rushed relationship and a obsession for a side character with not enough background to fill a napkin.

Buck being bi doesn't mean he has to end with the first guy he kisses or that people have to like whatever he has going with Tommy, especially when he’s had so little development that his characterization is whatever head canon you guys gaslight yourself into and think that makes him the best gay character ever. Y’all really went insane over those cameos.

I don’t think you guys really care about good, well crafted, quality narrative representation of queer relationships, you only care about flaunting around your canon surface level ship. It’s pretty obvious why a lot of Bucktommy blogs used to be Buddie accounts in the months prior. It’s bc y’all only cared about Buck messing around with any guy he could find. A white man specifically.

The negativity towards Buck and Eddie skyrocketed from "They won't be canon, Eddie is straight" to the absolute extreme with "Why not just have Eddie die so Tommy and Buck can raise Chris?" The increase in blatant racism using shipping as a cover is incredibly sad.

A lot of you had no issue with Tommy, a white man randomly appearing again being revealed to be queer or Buck’s coming out but the idea of Eddie, a mexican man with catholic guilt and failed relationships with women, is too insane to happen somehow. And let’s not get into the “theories” about how Eddie, a latino man, is gonna side with Gerrard’s racism because of a mustache but Tommy’s active bigotry towards Chim and Hen during season 2 should be ignored because “he changed”. I wonder WHITE that is...?

[tomboymikayla]

What sucks about the Sonic franchise is that people only seem to like it when the franchise isn't being itself

Sonic Colors is liked by non Sonic Fans because it's kiddy and lighthearted and not dark and edgy like the 2000s games, which is considered cringe to them and the only time people "like" the 2000s games is when they're talking about those obnoxious Snapcube dubs which they's been spamming for 4 years now

New Fans also praise the current voice cast, which sucks because a majority them don't fit the characters

New Fans also praise how Ian Flynn writes the characters, which also sucks because Flynn's version of the characters don't act like the actual Sonic Characters, (Sonic considering himself as a hero, Tails being Jimmy Neutron, Amy chooses to keep her feelings for Sonic secret and having Tarot Cards be her whole personality, Shadow being an edgy dick, etc) but the New Fans keep insisting that the new versions are better

Also to this day, misconceptions about the franchise and 90s boomers who refuse to let go of the US Lore still persist:

His name is Eggman, not Robotnik

Sonic lives on Earth, not Mobius

Sonic is not obsessed with Chili Dogs

Amy is not a stalker

Sonic has never fucking said "Gotta Go Fast"

Shadow is not an edgelord

People thinking the cartoons and movies are canon

People thinking the Snapcube Dub is canon

Majority of the characters are teens (For some reason people think every Sonic character is a grown adult, even characters like Charmy and Tails)

Also a lot of people seem to forget that the franchise was niche/hated during the 2010s, people didn't give a flying fuck about Sonic and even if they did, they brought it up just to shit on it, it was especially worse when Forces and the Ugly Sonic design came out, everything about Sonic in the 2010s was mocking it, nonstop memes and people saying the franchise only works in 2D (What's worse is that Sonic Mania indirectly proved them right)/was never good, etc

Sonic hate is a lot less common nowadays due to the movies, (mocking Sonic 06 is still brought up to this day tho), however i feel like most of it is people pretending to like Sonic, majority of Sonic praise nowadays comes from the Movies or Frontiers's vocal tracks (because of Kellen Quinn), it also goes back to my previous point with people liking the mischaracterised versions of the characters better

The big two Sonic content coming out this year are Sonic x Shadow Generations and Sonic Movie 3, which has a lot of people hyped because of Shadow the Hedgehog, but it also goes back to my previous point of people pretending to like Sonic, Shadow was heavily disliked by critics and the general audience for being a "edgelord" and looking like a Deviantart OC, so why are people switching up now?

Also from a majority of reactions I've seen, they'll say shit like "Shadow has always been my favorite character" but they don't even know his backstory and when see Black Doom, Maria or Gerald, they go "Who is this!?" (Or make an obnoxious Snapcube joke), I've even seen people ask for Silver, who is a character who was more hated than Shadow and know less about, I doubt they even know he's from the future

All this shit makes me scared that by the time both of these come out, that I'm gonna have to gatekeep the fuck out of this franchise, which is something don't wanna have to do, I just wanna live in a world where the franchise isn't a laughing stock and people actually the franchise unironically

[robopoe]

MORE OF THIS AU LORE (YES ITS A STEVEN UNIVERSE REFERENCE LMFAO)

For this specific Moebius version of Shadow, the two things I altered about og Shadow's story would be 1. the intention of his creation and 2. the relationship he has with Maria.

Anti Shadow was created with the sole intention of being Anti Maria's friend and a cure, not secretly a weapon of mass destruction. He is extra silly and only wishes to cheer the sick girl up (which he fails at most of the time). Anti Shadow has very poor control of his powers and strength, but he idealizes himself to be a hero regardless. He has many insecurities he overcompensates with a harmful savior complex.

Anti Maria in this world suffers from the same illness as prime Mobius' Maria, but her outlook on life and the work her grandfather does is much more cynical. She finds the research into the parasitic Wisp race creepy, and Anti Shadow's overbearing personality puts her off tremendously. She is NOT evil, but their relationship is not healthy for either of them. The lack of love within Anti Shadow's early developmental years makes him far less stable than og Shadow, a fact Scourge would exploit if they were to encounter...

[whereshadowslive]

Because one thing has become clear to me: you can cope with all the horror as long as you simply duck thinking about it – but it will kill you if you try to come to terms with it.

— Erich Maria Remarque, All Quiet on the Western Front

[chickenparm]

it's that time of year again for everyone to tell the Salvation Army to go fuck themselves

[natashas-stark]

just saw an edit of one of my gf’s and i am so gay. shifting tonight so i can see her.

[lasseling]

Maria Bartiromo Warns of Powerful ‘Cabal’ Trying to Stop Trump

Fox Business anchor Maria Bartiromo has warned that there’s a “small cabal” of powerful elites in the corporate media and Hollywood who are actively working to stop President Donald Trump being re-elected.

[whereshadowslive]

I'm still sitting here and you are still lying there, and there are so many things we should say to each other, but we shall never be able to.

— Erich Maria Remarque, All Quiet on the Western Front

[marcmarcmomarc]

If there’s one thing I don’t like about RWBY: Beyond, it was the choice to make it fully voice-acted. While I do absolutely love what we were given, it’s really obvious that CRWBY was working with whatever resources they had left, and were unable to get many of the show’s voice actors back before Rooster Teeth shut down, so they couldn’t make many stories for the miniseries.

So, what I think would have made for a good RWBY: Beyond episode is @pmpknsoup’s post featuring Ruby and Robyn that I’ve brought up too many times on this blog.

This will be the third time I touch on that post, but I can’t promise that it will be the last.

Feel free to comment or reblog how you think this would have gone.

———————————————————————————-

(In Theodore’s office in Shade Academy at early evening, Team RWBY and Jaune Arc face the main members of the Remnant Alliance, consisting of Team JNPR plus Oscar Pine/Ozpin and Emerald Sustrai, Team STRQ, the Ace-Ops, the Happy Huntresses, Winter Schnee, Team SSSNN, Team CFVY, Whitley Schnee, Willow Schnee, Klein Sieben, Maria Calavera, Dr. Pietro Polendina, Ghira Belladonna, Kali Belladonna, Ilia Amitola, Bartholomew Oobleck, Peter Port, Glynda Goodwitch, Theodore, Xanthe Rumpole, and Zwei.)

RUBY: Listen. Thanks, everyone, for your patience.

RUBY: It took a while to figure out how to tell you, and I know being left in the dark about our whereabouts over the remainder of the winter, the whole spring, and the summer has left you anxious, but now, I’ve decided it’s time to reveal what’s been going on. Robyn, I’ll need your Semblance to prove all of this correct.

ROBYN: Uh, okay.

(Robyn steps away from the group, removes her glove, and joins hands with Ruby. Her Semblance turns on and glows green with every piece of information Ruby gives.)

ROBYN: So, you guys didn’t make it out of the pocket dimension before it collapsed. Where did you guys fall to?

RUBY: Well, after I fell, I regained consciousness on a beach surrounded by giant seashells. I tried to hone in on a giant tree, but just ended up looping in circles. Eventually, I had to stop, then found a mouse trying to pull a plant out of the ground. I pulled the plant, which turned out to be a cheese plant, out for the mouse, and fed it to them. After the mouse revealed that they could talk, I named them Little, and they decided to stay by my side as I tried to get home. Then we found Weiss and Blake captured in vines by a whole village of talking mice. It didn’t take much convincing to get them to let them go. Then we went to look for Yang and found a creepy Grimm-looking creature moving jerkily. And I mean very creepy. (IMITATING JABBERWALKER) “Stalking. Searching. Waiting. Listening.” (NORMAL VOICE) Then Yang came barreling out, already fighting the creature while missing her arm. Then Blake realized we were in our favorite childhood fairy tale, The Girl Who Fell Through the World.

(Confusion and wonder all around. “That fairy tale?” “The Ever After?” “It’s real?”)

OSCAR: That fairy tale actually happened? And the Ever After is real?

RUBY: Which meant the creepy Grimm-like creature was the Jabberwalker from that story. Also, Weiss had a very hard time wrapping her head around the Ever After’s absurdities.

(Weiss blushes with embarrassment.)

WEISS: I did not.

RUBY: Our hands are glowing green, Weiss. Robyn’s Semblance never fails. Then we went to the village in the King’s Acre to barter with the Jinxy Peddler, who had stolen Yang’s arm. Well, they don’t “steal”, they just “take things others aren’t looking at”. Fair is fair, right, Little?

ROBYN: Sounds like a legitimate businessperson.

WEISS: Right?

EMERALD: Wait, you guys met the Jinxy Peddler?

VELVET: Was he cute?

WEISS: Cute? He was adorable!

RUBY: And, despite being older than he was in the book, his strategy was the same, selling treasures that are really other items in disguise. If my memory serves me right, he had a yellow scepter, a pink rabbit statue, and a marionette-like doll. Toy soldiers won the scepter, and we only got it back from them because Little tried stealing the marionette, exposing Jinxy’s treasures as fakes. The rabbit statue was another mouse, the scepter was Yang’s arm, and the marionette was one of Penny’s Floating Array swords. The soldiers followed us to arrest us for stealing Yang’s arm, or “royal property”, before I traded Penny’s sword, and told them she was the greatest warrior to ever live. “She was touched by magic, and she gave her life for thousands. She took a message of hope to the stars, and she saw the world through better eyes.”

(The gang gets emotional, especially Winter and Pietro, who are comforted by their loved ones.)

RUBY: The soldiers escorted us to the Crimson Castle for the birthday of who we thought was the Red King, but turned out to be the Red Prince, who was more of a spoiled brat than Weiss was at Beacon.

YANG: (nudging Weiss) Heh-heh.

RUBY: We challenged him to a game of chess, where he shrunk the girls to the size of chess pawns. Not that it hindered their performance against the Prince’s pawns. When we revealed that we’re humans and beat him, he threw a tantrum and wanted us beheaded, and the Curious Cat rescued us.

(More interested chatter. Nora Valkyrie gets giddy.)

NORA: The Curious Cat?!

REN: Were they as chatty as the book made them out to be?

RUBY: Mm-hm. Not to mention easily distracted. Anyway, they took us to look for ingredients for a Growgurt Parfait in the Garden’s Acre, and we told them our life story, but because we kept getting distracted with our internal conflicts, we kept losing them over and over again. After the third time, when they asked me how I’m supposed to save the world now that Salem has two out of four Relics and that Atlas is gone, we met an herbalist, a caterpillar named Herb who seemed to be asking us questions to figure out what medicine he needed to make to help us. Looking back, he was being reasonable, as too little medicine is useless, but too much medicine is toxic. Eventually, Herb just decided to smoke a hookah for a bit and drugged us with leaves that made us see our past selves tempting us to “go back”. To be free. To be simple. To be whole. To be different. The other girls rejected and had already accepted their failures as something to learn from, but I almost gave in, before the Cat stopped me, then got Herb swallowed by a hole in the ground.

(The gang chatters in moods ranging from confusion to nervousness.)

TAI: Whoa, whoa, whoa. Back up. You guys did drugs?

QROW: Don’t let alcoholism be next, girls.

RUBY: Anyway, the Cat led us to a market to keep looking for the Parfait ingredients. Along the way, they told us about a process that occurs when an Afteran is no longer doing their assigned role, triggered by them losing their ways, wearing out, doubting themselves, or even just finishing their assigned tasks, upon which they are taken to the Great Tree and repurposed into someone or something else with a new identity, personality, and role. Their memories are erased in the process, but the heart very rarely forgets. They don’t die. They ascend.

(Such a concept catches the interest of the gang.)

REMNANT ALLIANCE: Ooh.

EMERALD: Talk about a potential existential crisis.

RUBY: Hence why there was no Red King when we got to the Castle. He lost his game and ascended into the brat we encountered. And the hole that swallowed Herb was him starting his own Ascension. Anyway, after we arrived at the market and got all of the Parfait ingredients, the market was attacked by Jabberwalkers using Neopolitan’s Semblance. Yeah, Neopolitan fell with us, too.

(Nora, Ren, Oscar, and Emerald grow worried.)

REN: Uh-oh.

TAI: Neopolitan? Who’s that?

RUBY: Remember Roman Torchwick, the criminal from Vale? Neo was his partner. She held me responsible for his death at the Fall of Beacon and wanted me dead to avenge him. She expressed herself through gestures and facial expressions because she couldn’t talk.

RAVEN: Was she that chick I saved Yang from on the train on Mountain Glenn?

RUBY: Yep. Then I disposed of her by opening her umbrella on an Atlas airship in the sky during the Fall of Beacon. Apparently she survived that fall without any of those Grimm surrounding us eating her.

OSCAR: Team JNPR and I last fought her right after Ironwood declared us fugitives.

RUBY: Then she fought us in the pocket dimension between here and Solitas. Heck, she was the reason Yang, Blake, and I fell. Anyway, we made the Growgurt Parfait and the girls grew back to normal size just as we got assistance from the Rusted Knight riding his white rabbit.

WHITLEY: Did Weiss go goo-goo eyes the second she laid eyes on him? She had a crush on him when she was younger.

BLAKE: I think everyone had a crush on the Rusted Knight at some point.

RUBY: Well, things didn’t help when he turned out to be a grown-up Jaune with longer hair and a beard, who grabbed a fruit that sent him back in time twenty years right after he landed.

(The gang gasps at the new knowledge of the Rusted Knight being not only Jaune, of all people, but Jaune thrown backwards in time, grown older, and living without his friends for so long.)

NORA: Oh, my Gods! Jaune!

JAUNE: I was stuck there isolated from other human contact, too.

YANG: Weiss certainly loved how mature he was.

RUBY: And the white rabbit was a jackalope Jaune named Juniper.

NORA: After his team? Aww!

RUBY: Then Jaune told us his perspective on the Tree, that he believed it was death, that Alyx backstabbed her brother Lewis, the author of the fairy tale, who wrote the story the way he wished it happened, and that the Cat couldn’t be trusted. Before long, we got caught in a “punderstorm”, which creates a physical manifestation of a mental or emotional problem. Jaune, Weiss, Juniper, and I were sent to metaphorical and literal crossroads, while Yang and Blake were sent to two broken, wooden, rickety bridges connected to a giant pillar that they could only make more planks to advance toward if they were honest about their feelings for each other. Yeah, Yang and Blake are girlfriends now.

(As Yang and Blake blush at each other, everyone’s hearts melt, all proud for the Bees.)

REMNANT ALLIANCE: Aww!

NORA: See, Ren? I told you there was more going on!

KALI: Our baby girl found love?

TAI: With my sunny little dragon?

RAVEN: Wow. She really is your daughter, Tai.

TAI: What’s that supposed to mean?

RAVEN: A tall, muscular, boisterous blonde who tells bad jokes pining after a brooding dark-haired beauty? A tale as old as time.

RUBY: Then the Cat bailed on us after mistaking us for selfishly using them to get home, and once the storm passed, Jaune let us spend the night in his house in the Origami Acre, then he introduced us the next morning to a village of paper stars called the Paper Pleasers. They seemed very dumb and clumsy at first, because of the daily disasters they were causing, but, at the end of the day, were very hospitable. He also named them after all of us. On Jaune’s to-do list, I saw Ren, Ruby, Oscar, Nora, Neptune, and Pyrrha.

(Not a word is spoken as everyone exchanges concerned and uncomfortable looks with each other.)

RUBY: Anyway, a Paper Pleaser told us they kept causing disasters because they wanted to ascend, because their purpose was long since finished, but Jaune was stopping them because of his belief that the tree was death. They told us that the Tree isn’t death, but resurrection, rebuilding, and rebirth. Then Neo’s Jabberwalkers attacked, and while we were distracted, the Paper Pleasers finally managed to off themselves by destroying the koi pond dam and drowning in the flood, then when the girls asked me to help comfort Jaune, I blew up at them for caring more about everyone else’s feelings or getting home, taking my mental health for granted and ignoring my problems…

(Everyone leans in anxiously. Things are getting even more interesting, but not in a good way.)

(Weiss, Blake, Yang, and Jaune exchange looks of guilt.)

RUBY: …then I ran away, came across the Abandoned Acre, and entered a mansion, where Neo had made clone illusions of Roman Torchwick, Penny, Pyrrha, Professor Lionheart, Clover, Ozpin, and Ironwood, and used them to physically and psychologically abuse me, beating me up ruthlessly and blaming me for their deaths, and when the chaos was over, I felt no will to live or be myself anymore, not helped by Torchwick’s question: “Do you really think you can stand to watch more of your friends fall? Or are you ready to admit the truth, that the world would just be better off without you?”

(The gang regards Ruby with sorrow over her being trampled by her trauma. Ozpin can be heard sniffling.)

RUBY: Then Neo offered me tea made from leaves from the Tree intended to wipe me from existence. The Cat blasted her away, but then turned out to be evil and tried to possess me, while revealing that they had been trying to wear me down the whole time, then Neo fought them off and stomped Little to death, then I finally gave in, drank the tea, offing myself, and got swallowed by the Tree.

YANG: (tearing up) Oh, Rubes.

RUBY: Then I met a Blacksmith, who I also found at the market, or, rather, she found me, and then she presented me with a choice to either change my identity or be myself. I saw my mom’s weapon and was treated to a vision of the night she left with Raven on another one of Ozpin’s secret missions and never came back.

(Tai turns accusingly at Raven.)

TAI: Raven?

YANG: She lied? She left with you?

RAVEN: Yeah… Hey, like I said to her, “First time for everything.”

(The gang gives her a look.)

RAVEN: Really? Sheesh. Tough crowd.

HARE: (to Ruby) Wait. What did you say your mother’s name was again?

RUBY: Summer.

HARE: (muttering) So, her uncle is Qrow, her father is Taiyang, and her sister’s mother is Raven. All are members of Team STRQ. Summer, Summer, Summer… (out loud) Summer Rose, the leader of Team STRQ, was your mother?

REMNANT ALLIANCE: (walla) Summer?…Summer Rose?…The previous silver-eyed Huntress?…That’s Summer Rose’s daughter?

RUBY: Yeah. And then, I finally remembered my mom’s words, “I love you just the way you are,” chose to be myself, and came back to help the girls fight the Cat. And we won.

(Cheers and applause all around.)

RUBY: And then Neo killed the Cat by using the Jabberwalkers to eat them. By the way, Jabberwalkers are the only creatures to prevent Ascension if they eat Afterans.

BLAKE: On my count, there were a whopping five of them.

REMNANT ALLIANCE: (walla) Five?…Five of them?…Five Jabberwalkers?

SUN: Talk about overkill.

ELM: (after doing the multiplication math in her head) That’s gotta be over ninety teeth!

RUBY: And, according to the girls, Neo was possessed by the Cat, and she chose to accept Torchwick’s death and undergo her own Ascension. Oh, and Little ascended, too, into who we called Somewhat, and succeeded Jaune as the protector of the Ever After. By then, we had made it to the Tree by coming to terms with the truth, we’ll never be perfect, that even the most skilled Huntsmen and Huntresses have failed, and we walked through the door back home, landed inside the plane of the Tree, and met the Blacksmith again at her workshop. When we noticed two statues of the Brother Gods, she told us their backstory. That the Ever After was overfilled with plants and dangerous wildlife in its primordial years, but the Brothers were created to clear it out. Then they created the Afterans as well as the different acres for them to live in. They designed new creations that would replace them in maintaining the Ever After. This was how the Cat was created. They later created the Jabberwalker as a form of destruction. However, the two disagreed on whether it disrupted the balance or not and began to wage war.

OSCAR AND OZPIN: (both scoff) What else is new?

RUBY: The Blacksmith told us how balance isn’t supposed to be two opposing forces locked in battle; balance is an ecosystem, an organism, and a living thing, thus balance isn’t restored with force or manipulation, it’s restored naturally, requiring love and patience to see it through to the end. The Gods got to Remnant because the Ever After created a door to a “greater beyond” for them, so they can leave and experiment in creating new worlds as much as they like.

NORA: (snickering) So the Tree basically said, “You think you have life sorted out? Then get out of my house”?

RUBY: Pretty much.

(Everyone laughs at the Brother Gods basically being “kicked out of the house” by their “mom”. Some Gods they are.)

YANG: Oh, my Gods, that’s such a hilarious way of looking at it. Thanks, Nora.

RUBY: Anyway, the Blacksmith told us that we impacted the Ever After significantly, just like Somewhat, Alyx, and Lewis, and that the Cat caused a bad impact. Then she de-aged Jaune, but let him keep his memories, which explains the white streak in his hair, and made us a portal in the desert on the outskirts of the city, and now you’re all caught up.

(Ruby lets go of Robyn’s hand. The freedom fighter rejoins the rest of the Alliance.)

RUBY: So, I’m happy to announce that I’m not giving up the fight to save the world anytime soon. No longer will we be putting the entire burden of the world’s safety on one individual, for we are Team Remnant, led by us, Team RWBY!

REMNANT ALLIANCE: (walla) Yes!…Great!…Alright!…Thank goodness!…Welcome back, Ruby!…Good to have you back, kid!…Way to go, Ruby!…That’s my girl!

YANG: We’re so proud of you, Ruby.

RUBY: Thanks, guys. You and your support mean the world to me. And I’m just as proud to call you guys family. All of you.

(Everyone looks at Ruby with warmed hearts.)

———————————————————————————-

Starring the voices of:

Lindsay Jones as Ruby Rose

Cristina Vee as Robyn Hill

Aaron Dismuke as Oscar Pine

Kara Eberle as Weiss Schnee

Katie Newville as Emerald Sustrai

Caiti Ward as Velvet Scarlatina

Barbara Dunkelman as Yang Xiao Long

Samantha Ireland as Nora Valkyrie

Neath Oum as Lie Ren

Burnie Burns as Taiyang Xiao Long

Jason Liebrecht as Qrow Branwen

Anna Hullum as Raven Branwen

Howard Wang as Whitley Schnee

Arryn Zech as Blake Belladonna

Miles Luna as Jaune Arc

Tara Platt as Kali Belladonna

Anairis Quiñones as Harriet Bree

Michael Jones as Sun Wukong

Dawn M. Bennett as Elm Ederne

Shannon McCormick as Professor Ozpin

Additional Voices:

Sena Bryer as May Marigold

Ashley Burns as Coco Adel

Tiana Camacho as Glynda Goodwitch

Cam Clarke as Bartholomew Oobleck

Michele Everheart as Fiona Thyme

Dave Fennoy as Dr. Pietro Polendina

Gavin Free as Scarlet David

Caitlin Glass as Willow Schnee

Mick Lauer as Marrow Amin

Cherami Leigh as Ilia Amitola

Marissa Lenti as Joanna Greenleaf

Joe MacDonald as Yatsuhashi Daichi

Aaron Marquis as Nolan Porfirio

Elizabeth Maxwell as Winter Schnee

Max Mittelman as Fox Alistair

Josh Ornelas as Sage Ayana

Anthony Sardinha as Peter Port

Kerry Shawcross as Neptune Vasilias

Keith Silverstein as Professor Theodore

Melissa Sternenberg as Maria Calavera

J. Michael Tatum as Klein Sieben

Kent Williams as Ghira Belladonna

Anne Yatco as Xanthe Rumpole

“One Day More” section here.

Moodboard index here.

[melina-mellow]

Look, I get what they were trying to go for with the whole commentary about how AI "art" is imperfect, soulless and uncanny imitations of real art just like how Skrulls are imperfect, soulless and uncanny imitations of the humans they copy.

But we should still call this shit out. Cause if we let a company as big and influential as Disney/Marvel get away with (despite the intentions) then others will see this as a green sign to pursue AI in their works.

Like, I get the thought process they went through... but you seriously cannot tell me human artists could not have produced the same result a thousand times better than AI.

[pastelwitchling]

Hello, I love your stories so much! Would you be willing to do one where Michael realizes that when Alex called the incident of 2x06 hell he actually meant it and that he really didn't enjoy it? Thank you!

Disclaimer: very anti-M*ria DeL*ca

tw: mentions of r*pe

***

Michael started to notice it about two weeks after coming back from their honeymoon.

Alex had come to meet him at the junkyard, and Michael had made a teasing remark about sneaking into the airstream for some of their old fun. He’d meant it as a joke, but Alex had flinched and taken a step back, as though afraid Michael would drag him inside. Michael had been about to ask if he was okay, but just then Dallas had come back and asked if they wanted to step inside for a cup of tea and some lunch. Michael had waited to see that same reaction, but Alex only smiled, relieved, and happily accepted.

Michael had thought he’d just imagined that scared look on his face, but then it came again the next night when he’d suggested getting a drink at the Wild Pony. Alex had nodded and agreed to go, everything seemed fine, until Michael had mentioned that Maria had these cocktail shrimps she wanted them to try.

Alex froze. “Er, Maria’s going to be there tonight?”

“Yeah?” Michael said while adjusting his collar, “So, do you want to grab dinner first, or –”

“Actually,” he cut him off, “I’ve been having a lot of stomach pain lately, so I – I think I should pass on the drinks tonight.”

Michael frowned, coming up to him and putting a hand on his belly, his other hand on his brow. “What, you’re sick?”

“No no,” he shook his head, covering Michael’s hand on his stomach with his own, “nothing like that, it must just be an acid thing. Y-You should go, have fun.”

Michael’s shoulders fell. “Well, I don’t want to go if you’re not going. Hey, why don’t we just stay in and I can make us some dinner instead? Something good for your stomach.”

He didn’t realize how nervous Alex’s smile looked until it softened. He’d been worried that Alex was uneasy about Michael being near Maria, but they’d talked about that, hadn’t they? Michael knew how much Alex hated it when he and Maria were alone or too close, and after everything that had happened, he wanted to ease his fears. But Alex had even told Michael to go by himself, so what else was going on?

Finally, that Sunday morning, Michael knew he had to say something. He and Alex liked to have breakfast together on Sundays since it was the one day they were both free from work, and they usually talked about anything and everything during that time. Even though it was their laziest morning, meant to establish some peace after a busy week, nothing was ever off-limits. Mostly because each of them knew they had the other to lean against and take comfort from if anything got too heavy.

That was why, when Michael asked, “What’s the worst thing that’s ever happened to you?” he did it with a bite of pancake in his mouth.

Alex smiled, amused, and wiped a dollop of maple syrup from the corner of his lips before bringing it up to his mouth to suck clean. “You already know,” he said vaguely. “What about you?”

Michael took a second to focus after that display, and cleared his throat. “Caulfield,” he said without hesitation. Then, to keep himself from thinking about it too much, he pointed his fork at Alex, eyes narrowed. “And that’s not fair, you have to actually tell me yours.”

“I did tell you mine,” he chuckled, though it sounded quieter to Michael’s ears. “I told you when it happened.”

Michael’s brows furrowed, thinking hard, even as Alex was clearly trying to move past the conversation.

“More whipped cream?” he offered.

“When was this?” Michael asked, undeterred. “You told me when it happened, was I there?”

“Yeah, you were there,” Alex said with a hint of his old smile, but the way his voice turned quieter and quieter was starting to get alarming. Michael sat up straighter, waiting expectantly. Alex sighed. “That night in the trailer? With . . . Maria? I told you it was a circle of hell.”

“Yeah, but,” Michael rolled his eyes, “seriously though.”

Alex raised a brow, the amusement in his eyes dimmed. “Seriously though.”

“No,” he smiled, even as his brows furrowed, “no, that . . . you were joking. You were . . . you were joking then, right? I mean, you wanted to be there –”

“Well, maybe I didn’t feel like I was allowed to not be there,” he said with an edge that Michael had not expected, but which had his heart plummeting into his stomach anyway.

“You . . . what?”

“Nothing,” he said, already grabbing plates and turning away. “Nothing, I’m sorry.”

“Hey, hey,” Michael grabbed him around his waist, hauling him back in. “Don’t apologize to me. There’s nothing off-limits, remember? I just . . .” his mind was racing and dread was coiling in his stomach and he felt sick. “Alex . . . did you stay that night . . . because you thought you had to?”

Alex looked away, exhaustion etched into his features. This had clearly been weighing on him for years. Years, Michael thought with horror.

“I’d just been stabbed,” he said. “She was my only ride there. You were already looking for any excuse to avoid me. I . . . I trusted her. I thought she would take me back, and then I thought you would just . . .” he shook his head, blushing, “I don’t know, protect me from it or something, but none of that happened and I was just stuck there. And I thought that if I said no anyway, that if I left and tried to walk back, you would never look at me again.” His smile was small, but there was nothing humorous or amused about it. “Hell was every time she touched me. Every time she touched you. Hell was waking up the next morning and trying to convince myself that my best friend hadn’t raped me.”

His smile falling, he stepped out of Michael’s hold and returned to the sink. Michael sat there, in shock, staring at Alex’s back as he continued to wash dishes like he hadn’t just told Michael that he’d felt sexually assaulted, that Michael had been part of it, that Michael had allowed it.

He remembered that night well, thought of it often, of all the things he would’ve done differently. But he always imagined taking Alex in his arms, confessing that he was all he wanted, that Maria should leave because the only person he wanted to see touching Alex was him. He remembered his jealousy, his desire to possess Alex, his need to make him feel as good as possible so that his eyes never wandered to anyone else, even after he left. He’d wanted to make him feel good enough that Alex wouldn’t mind waiting for him.

He hadn’t given a second to think how Alex had felt having no other option. Now that he thought through that night, half of it filled with regret that there had been anyone else with them, he couldn’t remember one instance when he’d offered to drive Alex home, to take him to the hospital, even to loan him his phone to call anyone else.

Alex had been trapped there, and Michael had helped attack him.

A tear rolled down his cheek, and when Alex turned back around to grab the empty cups, he stilled. Quickly setting the glass down, he came back to Michael and cupped his jaw. “Why are you crying?” he breathed. “Michael, it’s okay, it was years ago, I – I’ve forgiven her –”

“Did she know?” he demanded. “Did she know what I meant to you? How it felt when a woman touched you?”

Alex swallowed. “Guerin –”

“Did she know?”

His husband glanced down, and Michael got his answer. “We’d talked about it earlier that day. She said she used to have a crush on me –”

“So she forced herself on you, and used me to keep you there,” Michael breathed, his hands vibrating. Then he realized that it was the entire house that was vibrating.

“Michael,” Alex wrapped his arms around his shoulders to steady himself, looking around, “you’re making the ground shake, stop it, you’ll bring the whole house down!”

“I’m gonna bring her damn bar down,” Michael growled. “I’m gonna make her sorry she ever put a finger on you, and then I’m gonna spend the rest of my life begging for your forgiveness –”

“Stop stop stop,” Alex hugged him tight, slipping a hand into his hair and tugging hard enough on the roots to yank Michael out of his angry haze. “Please calm down. For me, Michael, for me.”

It was Alex’s plea, his voice, his hands on Michael, his heart hammering against Michael’s chest. Distantly, he felt the earth still beneath him, but he couldn’t keep himself from shaking. He hugged Alex’s waist slowly, staring through the window over his shoulder, unseeing.

“You’re never going to talk to her again,” he said in a hollow, low voice.

Alex hesitated. “Michael –”

“She talked about that night afterwards like it was funny,” he whispered. “She doesn’t even think she did anything wrong. You’re never talking to that bitch again.”

Alex said nothing a moment, but he seemed to sense that Michael wasn’t going to allow any other response because he just nodded.

“She’s never going to touch you,” he went on. “She’s never going to say your name, and if she even looks in your direction, I’ll destroy the Wild Pony and set it on fire.”

“Michael,” he gasped.

“She raped you, Alex, and she knew she was doing it!” he snapped, squeezing Alex to him. “You’re never going near her again. Tell me you’re never going near her again.”

Alex sighed against his shoulder. “Okay, my pretty cowboy. I’ll do whatever you want. Just please calm down.”

Michael didn’t calm down. He couldn’t, not until he was holding Alex in a bruising grip, undoubtedly making it impossible for him to breathe, but he couldn’t get himself to let go. The way Alex had looked at him that night, it came back to him now. Not just with longing and yearning, mirroring his own feelings, but something else that he was now recognizing as fear. He’d been waiting for Michael to save him.

Michael swore then he would never fail Alex again.

“I’m so sorry, Alex.”

Alex melted against him. He’d had years to get over this, but Michael could feel the way the last of his resentment about it dissipated the longer he held him. He wished more than anything that he’d really listened to Alex then, when he’d told Michael how he felt and expected the man he loved to care. So much could’ve been different.

“Thanks, Michael,” Alex murmured against his neck, “but you’re all mine now. I don’t care about anything else.”

***

This was very cathartic for me. Villains are villains, folks, whether they're played by women or not :)

Happy Malex Monday ❤️

[romanovsonelastdance]

Maria Nikolaevna, 1910: Original vs 1920s reprint.

[artistsonthelam]

Im Westen nichts Neues / All Quiet on the Western Front (2022) // (my tweets)