#he got a fair amount of screen time but he deserves more

[thisbuildinghasfeelings]

Redemption Week Tag Game

Thank you for tagging me @lemonlyman-dotcom @ladytessa74 and @lonestar-s5countdown!

(1) Which 911 Lone Star character redemption moment is your favorite? (Feel free to interpret “redemption” as loosely as you like. This can include moments of forgiveness, moments characters proved themselves, moments characters learned from their mistakes, etc.)

As I wrote about here, I particularly love Owen's moments of redemption as he works to be a better father.

I also adore any and every moment where TK and Carlos overcome issues and grow as a couple. My favorite examples of that are 3x13 when Carlos calls Cooper and 4x12 when Carlos brings TK their lizard son.

(2) Is there a character you think deserved more of an on screen redemption moment than we got in the show?

I would have really liked to see more of this for Gabriel and his relationship with Carlos. Of course, the fact that they didn't quite manage to fully repair their relationship makes his death all the more tragic. I'm holding out hope that we'll still manage to dig into their relationship even a tiny bit more in season 5 as Carlos solves the murder.

(3) Is there a recurring (or even one-time guest) “villain” that you would like to see return with a redemption arc? Or if not, is there a “villain” you absolutely would not want to see get a redemption?

@ladytessa74 said Lorraine, and that's a great one, even though it wouldn't technically be a return. Really I just want more information about her!

I also wouldn't mind seeing Pearce again. It could be interesting to see how things could progress after the brief alliance that formed when he and Tommy had a common enemy in Paragon. I don't think Pearce will ever see eye to eye with the 126, so I think it could be really interesting to see an extension of that alliance. Maybe a situation where they were forced to work together towards a common goal.

(4) Are there any unresolved conflicts from the first four seasons that you wish were reconciled on screen?

My least favorite episode is 4x03 mostly because Carlos acts towards TK in a way that I think deserved an apology but we didn't get one. Just one little apology would have made the whole thing so much better for me! I have ultimately made my peace with it and imagined the necessary apologies myself, but seeing one on screen would have made things a lot easier.

(5) Which main character would you like to have a more developed backstory?

The character with the least backstory is definitely Nancy. I would love to see her get more developed! With a seemingly packed 12 episode season 5, I'm not sure how much hope I'm holding out for that, but I hope we'll at least get something.

However, I also want so much more Carlos. I know he's gotten a fair amount the last couple seasons, but there's a lot more I'd like to see. I particularly want to delve deeper into his relationship with his father. With Carlos solving his father's murder, I think it would be the perfect time to give us more of that!

I haven't kept close track of who's already done this, so I will leave an open tag and--apologies and just ignore it if you've already done this and I'm tagging you--

@pimento-playing-hopscotch @paperstorm @reyesstrand @reasonandfaithinharmony @the-126-family

@alrightbuckaroo @carlos-in-glasses @carlos-tk @chicgeekgirl89 @strandnreyes

@herefortarlos @nancys-braids @goodways @firstprince-history-huh

@she-walked-away @mrs-corrections-78 @happilylovingchaos @sapphic--kiwi

[that-nerd-who-writes-fanfiction]

Okay, if you were asked who are in Merlin BBC that you can see based on canon that are gay/bi/pan/demi, which characters are they? Why?

I’m just gonna note that I’m not attached to any sexuality headcanon because people are going to have different opinions and it seems daft to lose more than half the fan content (art, fics, etc) just because of a headcanon. I’ll read more or less anything, I play around with queer themes in my writing fairly regularly and multiship everyone in the show, sometimes with characters from other fandoms too, but these are the sexualities I’ve written most of for each character otherwise this would be way too long.

And I know I’m assigning modern understandings of sexuality to medieval characters, but it’s a show with dragons and magic, also capes, a French castle, and whatever the hell that chainmail was so I think I can be excused for my historical inaccuracy.

Merlin: either gay or bi with a a preference for men. I could never get myself to really like Freya in the show, she wasn’t bad and I didn’t hate her, I usually just forget about her because it was one episode so I didn’t have enough time to get attached. She deserved more screen time and I love what the fandom has done with her character, but I usually see her where Merlin’s shipped with someone else so I honestly forget their romance exists most of the time. Other than that, I usually see him shipped with knights or Arthur or if he’s shipped with another woman, it’s someone who didn’t get enough screen time to get attached, or a mergwenthur (is that their ship name?) poly relationship.

Arthur: bi and demi. He needs time to like someone, canonically only started wearing a shirt after he got married but he walked around his chambers naked when it was just Merlin/no sexual implications in a servant of two masters. I’ve done deep dive character analysis into that and what it says for their trust of one another if anyone’s interested. It goes into them being platonic but acting like a couple and why meant so much for me to see as a kid and also why I think that proves their relationship is more than words can fully encapsulate. Also he’s had crushes on men and women so bi just fits.

Gwen: bi with a preference for men, she and Morgana had chemistry and I ship them pre season 3 but after that, not so much. Also had crushes on Lancelot, Merlin and married Arthur. They’re an adorable couple, honestly I love them. I don’t really have much else to say.

Morgana: aroace lesbian. Just my favourite headcanon, I like that she never had a canon relationship but she definitely had chemistry with Gwen. They’re just sweet together. I don’t know, mostly just vibes and my desire for more aroace rep.

Lancelot: bi with a preference for women. Gwen and Merlin. Yeah, that’s pretty much all I have to say. I just love that he’s such a great guy, I don’t think there’s anything more to it than two crushes in canon and vibes. I’ve written him as unlabelled or queer a fair amount, it really just depends.

Leon: Romance and sex averse aroace. Again, I just want representation and think he’s cool. I’ve seen him shipped with others, but I tend to default to aroace Leon in my own works more than anything else. Occasionally I’ll give him a qpr but it just depends on what I’m writing.

Gwaine: aromatic pansexual, he likes flirting but I think the idea of a permanent long term relationship would be “the one to tie him down” and it never entirely fits right. I’ve seen him shipped with Percival, I love that but usually if I’m writing it, I’ll have them in a qpr. I think he definitely feels low levels of romantic attraction but not enough to want a romantic relationship with someone, he loves so much, just not in the traditional ways and writing aroallo Gwaine is always super fun.

Elyan: I headcanon Elyan as trans masc but I don’t think I’ve got any specific headcanons for his sexuality. I’ve probably written him straight slightly more than anything else, but it’s a close tie between writing him straight and bi. It never usually comes up, so maybe just unlabelled or queer. I don’t know, he’s just Elyan. That’s all really.

Percival: I know in canon he had a wife and kids, I write him as being gay more than anything else, but my main headcanon tends to be that he’s bi or pan. Purely based on vibes but if it’s not relevant to the plot, I won’t bother mentioning it.

[izunias-meme-hole]

Since you’ve been doing a fair amount of Batman posting, mind if you list your favorite members of the Gotham Rouges?

Okay. I’ll list about 10 of my faves, though we’ll be counting backwards here.

Also I'll be listing the variations of my faves whom I like the most to make things clearer.

Number 10. Poison Ivy (B:TAS) - If we're talking about character alone, this is the blueprint for literally every present day version of Poison Ivy, however this specific incarnation of the character has aged pretty well. She's every bit the dangerous eco-warrior that she makes herself out to be and will gladly turn someone into a tree for bulldozing a forest, but there is still a level of humanity to her character much like half the villains in the show.

Number 9. Mr. Freeze (B:TAS & Batman Beyond) - I feel like this is a "to the surprise of absolutely nobody" moment, but come on! Mr. Freeze here not only was made into a more tragic character compared to his early comic counterpart, but he actually had a whole arc across the entirety of B:TAS which ended at Batman Beyond. Victor Fries was a scientist trying to save his wife, Nora, from a rare disease, so he put her into a cryopod to preserve her until he found a cure. Then he and Nora were almost killed, but Nora was still kept on ice, while Victor got turned into a literal cold hearted monster. Even after Nora was finally cured, Victor was forever unable to be with her due to his own condition worsening to the point where he was just a head in a jar, angry with the world. A couple of decades later, and he is given a new body by the Wayne Powers CEO, Derek Powers, and while things were finally going well at first and Victor was reforming as soon as he had the chance, things went horribly wrong again, resulting in Victor dying as Mr. Freeze. I may have missed some details here, but yeah that's a summary of this sad ice man.

Number 8. Dr. Crane/Scarecrow (Nolan Trilogy) - Crane wasn't a big villain in the grand scheme of the trilogy, but my god Cillian Murphy does a great job with the character. Like I wish that his supervillain outfit wasn't just a bag over his face, but Scarecrow manages to be quite the dangerous loon with a mask of sanity in Batman Begins, an active member of the underworld in The Dark Knight, and the guy actively sending folks to their deaths in The Dark Knight Rises. Could we have had more of him? Yes. Did he use up his screen time well? Absolutely. Though his fear toxin could've been infinitely wilder.

Number 7. The Phantasm (B:TAS but movie) - The Phantasm is the literal best darker counterpart to Batman a lot of levels.

Number 6. Harley Quinn (B:TAS yet again) - The minor side villainess turned breakout character of the show. If anyone has seen B:TAS and then seen the rest of the media she's in, then you know why this is the best version of her. A good amount of things about the character being based around her actress (R.I.P Arleen Sorkin), her interactions with half the cast, Peak HarIvy content, the best representation of how bad her situation with her abusive ex was, and the perfect mixture between being a not-so-great-person and a precious lil' thing who deserves better.

Number 5. Harvey Dent, Two-Face, & The Judge (B:TAS) - The first well developed Two-Face, and the definitive. I mean he was never a bad villain, but the character was never utilized to the fullest like he was in B:TAS. Harvey Dent was a good guy with an other half that was the literal manifestation of his bottled up anger, an anger that turned into something else entirely after the left side of his face got blown off. Now Harvey and his other half start their own crusade to eradicate organized crime by taking it over from within. In other words, Two-Face here wanted to originally wanted to achieve something good through something bad, and yes a lot of it is due to a fair coin flip. However Harvey began to disagree with some of the shit his other half was getting up to, and as a result developed a third personality that was so separate from both himself and Two-Face that it tried killing both of them and, by extension, himself. This third entity would end up being The Judge, a ruthless, wraith-like vigilante with a judge's attire. So after being detained in Arkham for good, all three Harvey's are literally stuck with each other, and in a spin-off comic set directly after that whole situation with The Judge, Two-Face was given another double headed coin that would constantly come up on the "good side," and spent a lot of time dismantling his criminal enterprise, before doing (another) suicide attempt. This take on Two-Face was something else.

Number 4. Oswald Cobblepot (Gotham) - If I were to list everything that this smug snake has done, along with some of the shit that happened to him, we'd be here all day. However, this is the most well characterized iteration of The Penguin that we've ever had, in my humble opinion.

Number 3. Catwoman (Batman Returns) - I'm dying on this hill gentlemen. Despite not being... anything like her comic counterpart, outside of name, confidence, etc, Michelle Pfeiffer's Selina is something great in her own right.

Number 2. The Riddler (The Batman 2022) - Turning the Riddler into a a catholic, terrorist, cult leader that looked up to a young and angry Year-Two Batman, while also keeping the core elements of his character the same is something I'll never stop praising. He's still intelligent, he's still creative, he's still on the verge of breakdowns when his ego is badly damaged, etc.

Number 1. The Joker (B:TAS & Batman Beyond) - This is a "to the surprise to absolutely nobody" moment, though in this case I cannot be blamed. B:TAS understood the assignment and provided the definitive iteration of The Joker, completely inspired by his early comic appearances and some elements from Jack Nicholson's take on the character. An ex-mafiosi turned Clown Prince of Crime that lives to only spread misery across Gotham in the most creative way possible with a smile on his face. That was the idea that Paul Dini and Bruce Timm ran with when conceptualizing this bastard, and they just explored the concept for all its worth. Not only that, but this was the first time that Mark Hamill ever voiced this bastard, and it was just perfect casting. Overall, nostalgia got me to re-examine this take on the character, and I can easily say that without a doubt, this is the best Joker.

[lover-of-skellies]

What about Fresh Sans?? lmao

Fresh gets a smooch-ability rating of 4. There's a fair amount of risks involved because he's so unpredictable, but if you want a more in depth explanation on the rating itself, you can find it below the cut

1) How dangerous is Fresh's mouth? His teeth aren't sharp or jagged at all by any means and they're flat, so one would assume his mouth is safe. Parasite aside, I'm giving his mouth itself a 2 for safety. I will talk about the parasite too, but it'll be in another section

2) Would Fresh bite? If he felt like being a heathen, then yes, I'm convinced he would. It completely depends on the circumstances and if he wants to get a reaction out of you. Is he aggressive? Well, we've seen how he interacts with others in Underverse. While it seems playful and lighthearted, everything he does happens for a reason. He's got ulterior motives and things you don't know about going through his head, and if he thought he needed to be aggressive for whatever reason, he's more than willing and capable of doing so. All things considered, he gets no points for this

3) Are there any health hazards to the smoocher? If you remember the fact that he's a weird little parasite that hijacks people's bodies, then yes, that in and of itself poses a threat to the smoochers wellbeing. Due to how having your mouth too close to his for too long could lead to your body being hijacked and him being an untrustworthy little turd, he gets 0 points for this one

4) Does he have a sympathetic backstory? From what I understand, he's literally just this weird parasite who popped into existence at one point, and decided to make it everyone else's problem. So no, his backstory isn't very sympathetic. He doesn't even have the capacity to feel guilt or sadness over what he does to people; he can only mimic those feelings based on what he's seen and read, which makes his entire story even less sympathetic. I love him, but I'm forced to give 0 points again

5) Does he deserve a smooch? Body hijacking, blatant lying, occasional manipulation and tampering with other people's things, then harassing others for the lolz already make him undeserving (to me), but the cherry on top is his gremlin behavior. While it's funny to watch it happen to other people, you probably wouldn't enjoy it very much if it happened to you, repeatedly, without rhyme or reason, and at random times without warning. 0 points, once again

6) Is Fresh cute or cool? His colorful outfits are pretty eye bleeding and his particular dialect and way of speaking is obnoxious at best, and completely incomprehensible and infuriating at worst. He's not necessarily a cutesy character, and his design gives me a headache to look at with all the clashing colors and neons, but I do love it, oddly enough. I have no idea why, either. His design is a very distinct one and its entirely unique to him, and he's very entertaining and spontaneous. While I wouldn't wanna deal with him myself, I do enjoy reading things or looking at art or other media that he's in. So for this, I'll give 2 coolness points

Fresh's smooch-ability rating is 4. If it's your first time meeting him, you'll be getting a smooch either way. If you've already met him, then a smooch would either make him mentally blue screen for a moment, before he cracks some kind of weird joke about it or not-so-subtley tells you not to do it again. If it goes horribly wrong at any point, you could be really badly hurt or lose your body to a purple starfish looking parasite. That risk doesn't really seem worth it to me, but hey, it's on you if you wanna take the gamble and plant a smooch on him

[thisdiscontentedwinter]

I did not watch this movie (TW) and I will not be doing so. did they really have alot more swearing in the movie than the tv show? and did they have a whole lot of cameos to make up for the fact that they did not have their important characters? there seemed to be alot of characters. this is all based on the gifs I've seen. thanks!

DW: There was a fair amount of swearing, which honestly just made me laugh, because I realised how unnatural it was for them all to have not sworn in the show. Werewolves are a thing? I’m gonna drop more than a few f-bombs. 

And yes, there were way too many characters and cameos, which meant that nobody actually got the screen time they deserved. For example, Mason and Liam, who are BFFs, didn’t say a word to each other! You guys know I love Peter, but what was the point of him being there? He didn’t even wolf out at the end when it was werewolves vs nogitsune. Jackson was another totally unnecessary addition. He was just there to look good and be snarky, same as Peter. Which they both did fantastically, naturally, but they didn’t add anything to the plot. 

And then you take Hikari -- a character we knew nothing about at the beginning of the movie, and we still know nothing about at the end. She was just there to be a plot device, which is a huge disservice because she actually has a lot of potential. But like everything in Teen Wolf, that potential was wasted.  

The whole thing was just way too crowded. 

[kchasm]

Ryu Number Chart Update: Call of Juarez: Gunslinger

Call of Juarez: Gunslinger is the fourth game in the Call of Juarez series, all but unrelated to the first two installments and thankfully unrelated to the third (let's us not talk about the third). This game features Silas Greaves, an aging gunman and bounty hunter in 1910 Abiline, Kansas who's got some recollections to regale a handful of saloongoers about, the majority of which have to do with wandering the Wild West and putting lead in people who perhaps deserve to have a bit more lead in them. Mind, Greaves isn't exactly what you'd call a Reliable Narrator... but he's not an Unreliable Narrator, either.

Gunslinger plays with the story-in-a-story narrative in a few pretty neat ways. As the player character stalks through a brightly lit swamp, one Greaves' listeners notes that the weather must have been nice, to which Greaves responds that no, it was foggy—and the environment immediately becomes so. Paths open up for the player character to follow as Greaves mentions them. More than once, Greaves gets distracted, causing the story (i.e. gameplay) he's narrating to change, or, on one occasion, spin into worrying surreality. The best example, I think, is when one of the characters sat at the saloon says he knows how the tale goes, providing narration and scenario for the player to shoot through FPSly, only for Greaves to tell him that that's not how it went at all; this is how it went—and then you play through that.

(So yeah, this technically means that all of the stages are Greaves' recollections and tales, which means they're technically not happening during the game's narrative which is wholly set at the saloon—if they ever happened at all, is another issue—but seeing as no significant amount of gameplay occurs outside of his narrative, and at least some of the stuff Really Did Happen—including various non-Greaves bits throughout the game—I'm going to call on the Code Name: S.T.E.A.M. precedent here and count it while circumnavigating the best I can in the future around using this game for characters that only appeared in Greaves' recollections. If you have any objections, these objections are completely fair and valid and you can stop reading this post now.)

(Hey, you're still here! Aces.)

One element that differentiates Gunslinger from previous entries in the series is the number of historical Wild West figures who show up in Greaves' tales. As the game notes, it wasn't unusual for dime novels to turn real-life gunhandlers into celebrities and folkheroes, if it wasn't those slingers doing the selling themselves—and Greaves, for all the low regard he's got for those novels, is selling a heck of a story. The very first stage, in fact, involves his brief and ill-fated team-up with Billy the Kid.

And yes, all the Big Names get intro screens like this. It's awesome.

Caveat: Henry Plummer's appearance in Greaves' story is especially suspect, on account of that it places him in after 1882, about a score of years after the real-life Plummer was given an awfully tawdry corded necklace and instructed to hang around. Too anachronistic to count, then?

Maybe. I dunno if it changes anything, but (and this is completely baseless speculation, so don't you dare copy-paste me like I'm some voice of expertise) to me, it almost feels like a mistake from outside the game. A point for this hypothesis: There's a character from the saloon who's prone to interjection whenever he thinks Greaves' story has gotten a little too far off reality, and while he does pipe up during the Plummer matter, all he says is that Greaves got the location wrong, which you'd think would barely qualify as peccadillo next to the whole time thing.

But no, everyone's perfectly fine with the time thing, which suggests that it isn't an error—not within the game, at least. Ever read Umney's Last Case? It's a short story. Stephen King.

... But hey, maybe Greaves really is just making the entire Plummer business up, and that specifically is the reason it's chronologically out of whack. It's more than implied at the end of the game that Greaves has—at least at one point during the whole game—stretched some truth, somewhere, but the where and when and how much and how important go cheerily unanswered.

Also, Plummer has an appearance on-screen during a not-directly-related-to-Greaves bit where they explain who he is For The Benefit Of The Player, which means it doesn't matter whether Greaves is making anything up or not, which means this whole multiparagraph massacre was for the benefit of nothing.

I waste your time! I waste all of your time!

Anyway, Ryu Numbers:

Wait, sorry, Dwight D. Eisenhower? Like the American president Dwight D. Eisenhower? Mr. I-Like-Ike?

Yeah, there's a reason the framing device bits happen in Abilene, Kansas, of all places. Eisenhower—born 1890—grew up there, before going to West Point in 1911. Before the Wild West era finally sunset, Wild Bill Hickok himself, in the early 1870's, served as marshal of the city. Tradition states that the Abilene of that time was a town of wickedness and criminality, which Hickok did his utmost to restore to lawfulness almost singlehandedly in the face of repeated attempts at assassination. And yes, there was a shootout in the Old West style, with the grievances petty but the consequences violent and lethal.

The truth, of course, is a lot more complicated (and a lot more interesting—see Robert Dykstra's 1961 paper in American Studies, "Wild Bill Hickok in Abilene"), but it wouldn't be wrong to say that Eisenhower grew up with the specter of the Old West hanging around.

... Which feels wrong, doesn't it? Talking about the Wild West and Eisenhower in anything like the same era. But the American Civil War only ended in 1865 (which means we haven't even gotten a bicentennialsworth of not-enslaving-not-imprisoned-people, incidentally), which is where a whole lot of the Wild West's big names owe their production (gotta take out that trauma somewhere). And then Manifest Destiny and genocide (all the genocide) and the Homestead Acts, and paved roads and the automobile (and in the opening cutscene, Silas Greaves' horse panics when the car nearly runs them over), and then it's World War I and an uncountable number of fresh-faced American boys are going to Europe to die face-down in the mud.

That's 1917. That's only just over fifty years.

Horse ebooks was right. Everything happens so much.

(For future reference, the characters who you can almost definitely count as showing up even if Greaves is pulling the maximum amount of bunk are Billy the Kid, Curly Bill Brocius, Johnny Ringo, Old Man Clanton, Henry Plummer—anachronism or otherwise—John Wesley Hardin, Bob Dalton, Grat Dalton, Emmett Dalton, Bill Powers—or however you'd prefer to spell him—Dick Broadwell—Bob, Grat, and those last two appear in Ben's recollection of the Dalton Gang, their bodies laid out in reference to an actual photograph that was taken—Jim Reed—that portion of Greaves' story is confirmed true—Jesse James, Frank James, Butch Cassidy, the Sundance Kid, and of course, Dwight D. Eisenhower.)

[pikahlua]

And here I am, a non bkdk and a Bakugou fan who keeps wondering what's the fuss about Deku anyways. Hori is self inserting on to Deku and making his favorite girls like him, Bakugou deserves a better story than to be involved in Hori's self insert shenanigans.

I mean, there is a fair amount to be said for the self-insert angle, but I don't think self-inserts need necessarily be disparaged. I don't think it's fair to call Izuku a 100% self-insert anyways, just that he has flavors of it. He's got flavors of the Japanese every-man, too, for instance. And they're all tropes worthy of analysis for their effects on the story, some effects good and some bad.

That said, Izuku's status as the protagonist, unfortunately for him, locks him into a certain timeline progression where his growth must coincide with the length of the story. That means other characters like Katsuki will learn life lessons Izuku is not allowed to explicitly learn until the story's end, and that certainly unintentionally detracts from Izuku's...esteem.

But I must object to the notion that Katsuki deserves a better story. I am a Katsuki fan first and foremost, but for that very reason I must insist that his character needs Izuku just as much if not more than Izuku needs him. They thrive as characters best when they're on-screen together. They are each the impetus for the other's growth. They are the foil characters that allow us to contrast and understand the other in each scenario. I do think Katsuki has an easier time holding up a scene by himself than Izuku does, but gosh so much of the story in which they are removed from each other's presence ends up pretty boring in my opinion.

But anyone who has read my blog description already knows that's my opinion, so...

[sashannarcy]

About Sasha and Marcy being plot devices... Sasha carried the war plot and everyone see it like a good thing, almost nobody wants to know more about her. Marcy carried the lore plot and a bunch of people say it's bad and that Marcy deserved more screen time. I saw someone saying that Marcy as King about Sashanne in THT is her being used as a plot device, you can say the same for Sasha asking about Marcy's life but people just don't care about her

YEAH. YES. YEAH. both Marcy and Sasha work incredibly well as plot device characters because this isn't their story after all, but the problem comes from way too many people thinking Marcy is a saint who deserved to be the main protag. meanwhile Sasha was directly antagonistic for half the show so when he's used for plot reasons it's fine, but when Marcy (WHO WAS STILL ANTAGONISTIC!!! IT'S JUST VERY SUBTLE!!) is used for plot reasons it's bad writing. I think Marcy and Sasha got a completely fair amount of screen time given their positions in the wider story like I think people literally just forget Amphibia is not the Marcy Wu show

[solesommerso]

I would just like to request that you continue at some point to post more Zoe/ Street Werewolf au because I loved the first chapter. Thank you for all the hard work you put into your writing.

an alpha red || zoe powell & jim street

|| continuation from this moodboard post

|| tags : werewolves/supernatural au, alpha!street, background case, swearing, luca bashing but it’s not too bad

-

They work the case together, a simple drug bust that Zoe’s seen a million times from her brief time in narcotics. She had to move departments when the smells of everything started to give her pounding headaches, she switched to undercover work after that, much more her style. She’s always worked alone and doesn’t have many good experiences with a partner, but Street flows with her easily, they don’t run into any problems as they try and nail down guy who ran from their initial raid. Street tells her they’ll be done with the case soon, that he has faith in her skills, it’s refreshing to be lifted up by someone rather than put down.

Zoe wishes the rest of swat could be like that. Nobody else in the building seems to understand any of Powells actions or even what she’s trying to say, she’s critiqued on practically every move she makes, whether she means to be doing something wrong or not.

Luca’s the worst of it. Hicks and Hondo have loosened up a fair amount, but Luca can’t let go of the few stunts she pulled before she became an official swat officer. It’s annoying. Street must pick up on it when Luca walks in the room, his nose twitches and his eyes glance at Zoe for a split second too long.

“Did you guys get anything?” The storage unit they rummaged through was a big waste of time as all it was filled with was old childhood memorabilia from the main suspects past, all baseball caps, and funny enough, werewolf books. Street and Zoe both blissfully ignored those though, Powell only taking a minute to chuckle to herself at how badly written they were, well, from a real life werewolf perspective anyways.

“Nothing. What about you and Deac? Anything from the banks?” Luca shakes his head with a sigh, not even sparing a glance to Zoe as he starts to type away on the tablet he has in hand.

“Someone has to know where he went.” It just had to be the main suspect escaping from the raid, none of his “friends” are giving any information up either.

Zoe wishes she could grill them like she would when undercover, sure it was unethical and will probably send her to hell when she dies, but it was effective and her supervisors always looked the other way when her suspects came in with a black eye or bloodied lip. She never took it too far, never pushed someone that didn’t deserve it, and the bastards sitting in holding right now definitely deserve it. But that was before she was bit, she’s not sure if she has enough control to not take things too far now. Maybe Street can help with it.

“Hey we got a lead!” Hondos voice cuts through the room, Tan behind him with one of those smiles Zoe’s noticed he gets when he figured something out. Victor helped Luca train the recruits quite a few times so Zoe’s more familiar with him, he’s quiet but nice, the least prodding of the trainers she had to listen to all day.

“So, we know Blake’s parents are dead and have been dead, but Tan found an old house they all used to live at. It was bought under his mothers maiden name that’s why we didn’t catch it before.” The map of where the house is pops up on the screen, it’s on the outskirts of the city and far off from any other homes nearby, perfect place for a fugitive to hide.

“What are we waiting for?” Luca questions with more impatient than even Zoe herself, and she’s been waiting for this shift for months now.

“Hicks is getting the warrant then we roll out.”

“Is she coming?” The bitterness takes Zoe off guard, sure she knows Luca doesn’t like her but they had no issues this morning at the first raid.

The room stops with not even a breath being heard after Luca speaks. Street looks ready to snap and Hondos blinking in confusion so many times Powell suspects he’s never seen Luca be so outright hostile towards someone. She wills herself away from saying anything back, she could argue but todays supposed to be good, it needs to be, it’s her first real day on swat and she’s determined to make it good. The wolf in her is more hurt than her human side, she can feel the whimper pushing at her throat, the question of what she did to him, what’s warranted this all.

“Of course she’s coming, she’s been working the case all day.” Street’s tone is level and has none of the anger Zoe expected to hear considering his face being locked tight with irritation. Luca sputters a moment, twisting his lips, almost in disgust. She feels herself instinctively shrink down, she could get up in his face and start to yell, but that’s not what today is about. She just has to keep reminding herself of that.

“She was sloppy in the field this morning.” A beat passes before Streets arms go over his chest, his jaw somehow clenching harder, it has to be uncomfortable by this point.

“No she wasn’t, I was with her the whole time and she was fine.” There’s a look shared between Deacon and Tan, letting Zoe know this must happen more often than she assumed.

“Her footing was off going into the house.” It wasn’t, she knows it wasn’t. She made sure of it.

“Seriously? You want to bench her because of her footing being off? Get over yourself Luca.” Powell gasps small in surprise, both because having someone stand up for her is new, and because the sass Street just used was both shocking and iconic, she wonders if he gets like this a lot.

“It’s a valid reason!”

“Okay that’s enough, Powell isn’t getting benched and if her footing is off you can help her practice.” Hondo finally cuts in, shaking his head and rubbing a hand over his face before Hicks comes barreling in telling them to roll out.

Zoe lets Luca leave first, staying in her place behind Street but noting that his shoulders are still tense. Guilt twists in her gut, she’s already causing fucking problems, Street shouldn’t have to fight her battles or deal with any of this. He’s only ever been nice to her.

“Hey you didn’t have to do that.” She stops him just for a second, a hand on his shoulder that softens his pissed off expression.

“Your footing wasn’t off and you deserve to see this case to the end.” He says simply, as though it’s not the nicest thing she’s heard since moving to La.

“Thanks. Luca uh- doesn’t like me that much.” Her hand drops from Streets shoulder to rub at the back of her neck subconsciously, she hates already having someone dislike her. She’s never been one for trusting people or having many friends, but people usually tolerate her, assume she’s just quiet and shy, recognize that she’s smart and a good cop, that her being a loner doesn’t affect how good she is at her job. They don’t see her as fuck-up like Luca paints her.

“Well he should get over himself.” Streets eyes flash red, a bright red, an alpha red.

Zoe instinctively steps back and lowers her shoulders, she’s never met an alpha before, she’s read about them and how much power they hold but having one right in front of her is unreal. She’s never even met another wolf period, she doesn’t know what to do. But then Street blinks and the red is gone, almost looking regretful but she’s unable to read into it as Hondo’s pulling them to Black Betty.

[yesterdanereviews]

Three Supermen in Santo Domingo (1986)

Film review #551

Director: Italo Martinenghi

SYNOPSIS: FBI agent Brad Scott is once again required to team up with the international thieves known as “The Supermen,” this time they travel to Santo Domingo in South America to disrupt a money counterfeiting operation by some local crime gangs.

THOUGHTS/ANALYSIS: Three Supermen in Santo Domingo is a 1986 film and the final instalment in the Three Supermen series of films. The plot is fairly typical and familiar to those who have watched any of the other films: an FBI agent has to team up with the international thieves known as “The Supermen,” this time travelling to Santo Domingo to stop a counterfeiting operation run by a local gang. There’s no time travelling or outlandish elements in this film; it’s just a simple crimefighting, slapstick bit of fun, although obviously the supermen still have their bulletproof suits, that villains never quite work out that they could just shoot them in their uncovered heads. There’s a variety of action scenes (which consist of a fair amount of speeding up and reversing footage instead of actual stunts), and setups involving disguises, and elaborate plans, but nothing too exciting.

As always, the film revolves around the three supermen, and once again, they are played by different actors; all with the exception of one, Sal Borgese, who has been playing the mute superman since the second film (in the ones which you could consider “canon” anyway). The names of the characters also change quite a lot, and this time it seems like they’ve just resorted to calling Sal’s character Sal. The other two actors change every film, and this time the change is quite apparent, as they are obviously a lot younger than Sal. One of them is Stefano Martinenghi, who is the son of the director, and clearly only got the role because of this: he doesn’t really fit the role of the charming, cheeky lead. The actor playing the role of FBI agent Brad Scott also doesn’t really work because he seems way too young, and typically the role goes to someone who is older and more straight-laced, to balance with the supermen’s goofiness. There are glimmers of that personality, but not much. The rest of the cast aren’t really worth mentioning, as the villains don’t really stand out, and the supporting cast barely exist on screen.

It’s perhaps worth mentioning at this point that this film series has been going on for nearly twenty years at the time this film was made; and there is no reason for it to have done so. The original was a cheap b-movie that spoofed sci-fi and spy films that were popular in 1967, but had a somewhat interesting twist by having professional acrobats play the lead roles, which led to some fun action scenes and well-choregraphed fights. The first film, while nothing more than a typical b-movie, did everything it really needed to, but for some reason it became a series that went on to satirise other types of films, such as Westerns, cold war plots, martial arts films, and even got a Turkish rip-off version...which further still, somewhat fused with the Turkish rip-off scene when production of the films moved to Turkey. The whole production of this series is all over the place, but I suppose credit should be given to the films somewhat adapting to changing to cultural trends. Three Supermen in Santo Domingo doesn’t really offer anything special in this regard though, and while it keeps things simple, it definitely feels like a format that is well past its sell-by date in 1986, and since this is the final film in the series, the makers probably knew this too. Definitely deserves credit for going for twenty years, but its last hurrah is uneventful.

[swashbuckling-chicken]

In all seriousness I like Steddie too, but it does bother me that Eddie gets so much attention as a character introduced in S4 but Argyle and his ships get overlooked by and large even though he's pretty fun too. I really vibe with his and Jonathan's relationship. I can't help but feel like if he was white, fans would be obsessed with him.

(After writing this I realize it is a lot longer than I meant it to be and it has all probably been said before and better, but here are my thoughts. Also keep in mind that my view is a bit limited because I mostly stay within my web of mutuals, all of whom are very positive and respectful, because I know that the wider fandom is a minefield.)

Anon, I do agree with you. I have a lot to say about this.

Before anything, I would like to point out that the cali crew didnt get nearly their deserved amount of screen time and the writers didn’t even bother to give Argyle a last name, so the writing and production wasn’t setting him up for success, whereas Eddie was basically destined to become extremely popular (he's just the kind of person that fandom loves). None of this is an excuse for any disrespect but I do think this is something to point out that it’s not surprising that fandom that seems to be overlooking argyle when his own writers aren't even giving him the care he deserves (though this is obviously not the only reason for a lot of the shit out there).

And yes absolutely this fandom does have a problem with not prioritizing characters of color, and flocking to any conventionally attractive white guy, including problematic racist abusers (looking at everyone in love with billy and sleeping on Lucas). And yes, this also includes Eddie’s quick rise in popularity over argyle, who was introduced in the same season (from what I've seen, chrissy is more popular than argyle with some people, despite only being in one episode).

St*ddie was very predictable in its rise in popularity (I much preferred when it was like 4 gay people yelling “OH MY GOD STEVES WEARING HIS JACKET” that was honestly st*ddie’s best era and the only one I really participated in). It’s two attractive white guys, which automatically means they’ll be shipped, and on top of that they actually do have chemistry, so even better. Like jargyle, ronance also has a much smaller fan base than st*ddie, since it’s a wlw ship (but that also does have a lovely community and does have a fair amount of supporters because of the fruity four. Jargyle has an even smaller fan base than them I just wanted to point out there are some similarities, also jargyle ronance solidarity). I do like to reblog jargyle things to spread that ship and because I know some of my mutuals love that ship so Id like them to see that stuff. Also it’s just a solid ship I genuinely believe that they just make out occasionally also just the vibes. Anon, I’m not entirely sure what you want me to say here but those are my feelings on the fandom and the ship, I hope you got something out of it and thank you for coming to my ted talk :)

tldr:

[snailsandpuppy-dogtails]

5 Day Ficlit Countdown

Day 5!  It's tonight it's tonight it's tonight! 😄 WC: 1,806 Mama Said Saturday morning. She laid in bed, sheets tangling more and more with every restless flip. Her pillow was lumpy and flat, her mattress, dull fists sucker punching and pushing at her. But she couldn't get up. Didn't want to get up. All she wanted to do was sleep the day away. If she could ignore it, it would be like it never happened, a bad dream. She could sleep it into the void. But sleep wouldn't come, sheet restraints rough and unwelcoming. This bed was awful. This bed was lonely. With a dejected glare to the clock, she untwined herself. No use. Penelope got up and showered, pushing the fragments of an overheard conversation from her mind. It wasn't meant for her ears anyway, it was a private conversation between Matt and Luke. Squeezing bodywash on to a poof she tried to think of anything else; what to eat, what to wear, what to do today.

Flipping through her closet only made her mad, everything leading back to him, all of her cute and low cut a reminder of comments he'd made and looks that he'd given. With a frustrated flick she settled for some leggings and a cardigan. Despite her efforts, breakfast found her in tears. Hot angry drops rolled down her cheeks blurring the hashbrowns in front of her. Anger. Frustration. Sadness. Not at him, though part of her wondered why he hadn't really put up a fight, but he'd done nothing wrong. He only did what she asked. She was mad at herself. He was one of the best people she'd ever met. Loyal, loving, beautiful, and kind. And she was terrified. Terrified of his love. Terrified of living without it. She threw the potatoes away, gulping down hot black tea. Ragged sobs slowed, the tears subsided. A moment of weakness. Self pity. That's all it was. With a flop she landed in the soft velvet puff of her armchair and opened up her laptop. Coding. Coding would distract her. With Sergio curled up around her head, she lost herself in creating better platforms and safer networks most of the day, tv playing in the background. Or at least she tried to...every hour she'd pick up her phone, flipping the screen to face her, finger hovering... desperately wanting to text, him to call him, to hear his voice and picture his face bright and smiling. But she didn't like his smile the last time they talked. Rueful, sad. Her finger would curl, phone going back down. She wouldn't text him. She needed to leave him alone. It wasn't fair. By nightfall her thoughts had become all consuming, no amount of warm purring cat, soothing tea, or string of code could keep the inevitable off her mind. That he had a date. She was probably beautiful. I mean, of course she was, it was Luke, beautiful women flocked to him. And she was probably super nice and smart and just...amazing. He had a knack for finding women like that. And he'd take her out and eat and they'd talk and laugh and they'd dance and then he'd get dessert for them and tell her how she was the sweetest part of his night all stupid and cheesy and...

She threw her phone to the plush white shag carpet and face planted on her bed, fists balling the comforter. Stupid fucking Newbie. Her body slid to the ground with a groan. Finding her phone, Penelope gave in. It was late, but it wouldn't be too late. God, she was such a jerk.

His phone chimed, Luke, presenting shirts to Roxy, tossed them on the bed next to her and checked the text. Penelope: Don't do it.

Penelope. Of course he'd get a text from her right now. He'd been thinking about her all day, thinking about his date, how half hearted this whole situation was. He hadn't told her about it, but she knew everything...she probably knew, the group was small and gossip traveled fast. Newbie: Do what?

Her heart clenched. Don't make this harder. Though she probably deserved it. Deserved worse. Penelope: I heard you and Matt the other day...Don't go out with her.

Luke sighed. It wasn't a secret, he just didn't think she needed to hear it from him. He wasn't really looking forward to the date, if he was being honest. It was a "get back out there" kind of thing, something he needed to do to help get her off his mind. She was nice, she was, categorically, hot, she was clever...but she wasn't who he wanted. Who he wanted had told him... it didn't matter what she'd told him, because this text said otherwise. Newbie: Why not?

She was full of nerves, blood pulsing cold through her. Why was this so hard with him? Penelope: You know why.

He huffed out a bitter laugh, but his chest fluttered with warmth. Hope. Newbie: Penelope, I'm gonna need you to tell me Penelope: Come over. He glanced at his watch, He could do that, there was still time. And if this was...nothing, he could still go out. Opting for his sweater instead, he gave Roxy a kiss and left for Penelope's, wallet and keys tucked into his pocket. It was twenty minutes to her place from his, the longest twenty minutes she'd experienced up to this point. She paced wondering if she'd made a mistake. If he was mad. How could she explain herself? It'd been three weeks. And now, when he was trying to move on she claws him back in? She shouldn't be doing it. It was wrong, unfair...They each needed time. The knock made her jump and she nearly tripped springing to reach the door. She winced at the sight of him. He was wearing her favorite sweater, the one that pulled across his chest and hugged his biceps and set off the bit of silver in his curls, looking all handsome and put-together while she stood there in leggings. Upon entering, Luke hugged her briefly, tentatively. Not long enough...not tight enough. She let go, opening her eyes meeting his, then darting away, the counter, the floor, anywhere but those dark pools. "So...." he prompted, stuffing his hands in his pockets and rocking slightly. This was so awkward. He was obviously irritated. But she couldn't do it. It wouldn't come out. "Sooooo do you want something to drink?" That was a safe place to start, right? "Penelope-" his voice was flat. Ok, he wanted to get straight to it. Taking a deep breath, she fluttered away, insistent, mumbling "I need something to drink..." Oh no. Not this. They were not avoiding it. Not after he all but ditched a perfectly lovely person to come here. He stepped after her, "Penelope! If you have nothing to say, then..." his eyebrows were raised and his mouth was a small line. A picture of expectant displeasure. An expression that read 'what's the point?' He wasn't really going to leave...he wanted to. Wanted to be able to...She was the one who wanted to explore other options, she wanted to break up. Him seeing other people was obviously going to be a part of that. He loved her, wanted her, but he wasn't going to wait around forever single until she decided she wanted him too. He'd done enough of that already. She spun around, hand catching the curve of his jacket. If she couldn't do it she needed to let him go, but that's not why she texted him. "No. Ok. Fine. Luke...I don't want you to see other people." She looked up at him, tears threatening to spill over. There was a storm tumbling inside her. How could she be so cruel? How could she be certain it was safe with him? That she was safe with him? Her lip trembled looking up into eyes soft and loving. Luke took hold of her hand, wrapping it in both of his, fingertips soothing wrist, gaze unbroken. His voice as gentle as his touch, "Yeah, I kinda got that. But, Chica, you were the one who wanted this... Did that change? You know I'm not going to push you, but you know it's not fair..." Penelope ripped her hand from his carding it through her hair, taking a step back. "I KNOW! OK I know! And...And I don't want you to see anyone." She looked back up, hands again gripping his jacket, holding on to a safe bit of him, her confession finally slipping out lightly, "I don't want to see anyone. I just want...I just want you, Luke...but it's hard trusting...it's hard getting used to..." He'd reached for her elbows, holding her there, grounding her in this moment with him, eyes rooting her to the floor.

“To what?” he asked. Was he too clingy? Had he moved too fast? They could live in different houses for the rest of their lives for all he cared, so long as she was his. They could work out a solution...

It was too much, he was too much. His eyes, the intensity that she saw there. The permanency. She'd been loved before, cared for, but never like this. She looked down to her hands pulling and playing with the zipper edges, smoothing them “Being someone that someone else cares for...usually, that's my job. But then you came in all big and tough and brave and caring and...and...saving Reid, and saving JJ, and” her voice grew small, "and helping Elizabeth...and me. Your love is so big, and so deep," she sobbed a laugh, "Stop it. Stop smiling. That's not an euphemism...I feel...I feel like I need a life raft just being near you." He chuckled, relieved, arms moving to enshroud her. Penelope shoved at him, emotions boiling and bubbling and bursting out of her, seeking a physical release. She shoved and shoved and shoved until his heels hit the wall, Luke laughing and moving backward until he couldn't. His hands grabbed hers, but they flew from his grip, tangling in his hair, mouths colliding with force, leg slipping up, hooking, bringing him impossibly closer. Her lips moved to his jaw, and he huffed out his own confession between panted breath and stinging kisses "Penelope-, I've always- cared for you."

They were devouring one another, starving and feasting, he lifted her up and turned, her back slamming against the wall. She cried out but he swallowed the sound with a forceful kiss. Penelope bucked her hips grinding into him. Pulling back, he let go looking at her, dazed, "I'll always care for you. Penelope, I love you." Slowly, he let her slip back to the floor, bodies entwined, light kisses scattering across her neck and ear. Breath catching, and body sinking, she held his head to her, petting and clawing, sighing at his lips behind her ear, "I think you should cancel that date now."

This is it! The final day before CME! Maya, @penelopeminded asked for "Don't go on that date." "Why?" "You know why." "Say it." and “It’s hard to get used to...” “what is?” “Being someone that someone cares for...” with a little angst, so I hope I pulled it off satisfactorily!  😊 This was fun! Thank you to everyone who shared asks/ prompt requests, without you it would have been boring  💞

[mengyao]

4 for strike dear mistress, 12, 17, 22 for fowd, and 46!

4. What detail in strike, dear mistress are you really proud of?

oh jeez. there are a fair amount in there tbh, since it was me trying to cram all of my headcanons about JC pertinent to foowd that couldn't come across naturally via NHS POV into one piece of PWP, but i liked getting to dwell a bit on JC's whole concept of marriage and how miserable he imagines it must be if it's not with someone he's already actively in love with… If he did put effort into looking for candidates, he can’t imagine anyone angling their daughters at him for any reason besides his name and position. Not with his reputation. He’s not compelled by the prospect of being politely—or impolitely—tolerated under his own fucking roof. He remembers his parents. How difficult it is to share a life. he's not even really wrong because i can't imagine that marrying some random 20 year old at this point in time would be emotionally fulfilling for him lol. he's framing it in this scene as being about his Perverse Sexual Desires but that's not really the issue… tfw you got promoted to authority figure as a teen but you're a baby brother to the core :( and you just want someone to genuinely like you for you, not just respect and defer to you out of social obligation :(

12. Are there any tropes you used to dislike but have grown on you?

i think the opposite experience is more common for me lmao but i'm sure this has happened before. let me think. hnmmmmm i'm still very picky about amnesia fics but kitsch's bingqiu amnesia fic you are who you love outsold!

17. What highly specific AU do you want to read or write even though you might be the only person to appreciate it?

[shaky deep breath] Beefleaf. Madoka Magica. Fusion,

i litchjerally don't have more details about this concept than a very vague moodboard about um. girls who become witches (who pretend they're girls). cosmic entropy. does this make shi wudu kyubey or is kyubey jun wu? who can say. this is all part of my compulsion to assign all of my faves with "homura akemi vibes" regardless of if this is a real thing that they have

22. Who is your favorite character in flight of a one-winged dove and why?

[rihanna mario tweet voice] nie huaisang baby! nie fucking huaisang!!!!!

the reasons i love nhs (and foowd nhs specifically) are manifold so i shant elaborate on them here besides to say that for me personally, the characters i feel the most affection for are the ones who have a lot of problems that they didn't create but then who go on to create a bunch more problems for themselves and others, and you understand why they did so and they probably think they had no choice but it's like hmmmmmmmmm girl but did you really. did you really,

i like to pity my favs. just a bit. but also i want them to be happy whether or not they deserve it. you know how it is

46. Do you prefer writing on your phone or on a computer (or something else)? Do you think where you write affects the way you write?

i hate writing on my phone because it's so un-ergonomic and i have an on-and-off repetitive stress injury so i try to minimize the amount of typing i do on there BUT i do find that i often make different connections or get different ideas about how to write things when i'm on a phone, just because you're physically looking at the words in a different way, they end up arranged on the screen differently, etc… the "shape" changes… you can see much less words at a time vs. opening up a page on a computer screen… so i often do nitpicky little line edits on my phone, especially if i'm just reading a draft/wip file over idly on the train or before falling asleep etc (both of which i do a lot.)

my desktop computer in my room is where i do either my best or my worst writing, because i either get super in the zone or i'm sitting there totally distracted by everything else i can do on my computer/in my bedroom and have no sense of the external accountability that i'd have in a public place, or even out at the desk in the living room where my roommates can pass back and forth (i'm pretty good at writing deranged stuff in a small font stonefacedly which is the only way this is able to work)

[perexcri]

Stancy is Officially out as my fav poly Jancy ship,😌 esp after this new fic of yours, which made me wiggle around like a delighted little sea slug.

Honestly, Nancy deserves to smoke some weed and admire her bf with Argyle. When’s the last time she’s gotten a break like this tbh?? Ever??

Jonathan Byers, simp extraordinaire for his gf and bf(f). (This fantastic dynamic feels a little bit like how I feel Merlin/Arthur/Gwen would have been if bbc hadn’t been Cowards(tm).) also…\o/ shotgunning shotgunning shotgunning sho—

Also, the undercurrent of Ow in regards to Jonathan’s Extreme amount of trauma? you somehow managed to thread a bit of Pain into this lovely interaction. (“He’s sick of being domestic–he just wants to be a teenager!” & “I’m fine,” he lies, and it’s an easy one to roll off of his tongue. He’d been doing it all his life.” &!!!! V much!!!!! “Secondary parent, half-mother and half-father, always up in the morning to make breakfast for his little brother, and always relegated to haunting the back of classrooms and the edges of hallways–the creep and the weirdo.” Crying screaming on the floor eating my phone bye). (Also also Jon doubting that Will needs him anymore, nonoo oh dear no he does need u I promise. Crying yelling throwing up curling into a ball. He’s always gonna need his big bro and Jon doubting that is sending off death flags which are oh dear 😭)

Argyle is just. Such a good, kind guy, and good for Jon and Nancy. Like a soothing lotion/sun screen on the burn that is their horrific lives.

“Jonathan and Nancy both stare at Argyle’s mouth, watch it catch against the joint.” 🤭hohoho honestly making me ship Both of them equally w Argyle,

“My fair little Wheeler” orz on the floor bye

If there is not at least One (1) interaction between the three of them in s5 that is even a quarter as good as this one, honestly I’m throwing tomatoes at the Duffers’ houses.

Anyway, lovely wonderful fic!! Hope you are having a good week and thank you for improving mine🥰

VEEEEE i'm glad you liked the Jarncy fic hehehe. i know it's not my typical wheelhouse, but it was so fun to write, so it's nice to hear you enjoyed it!! :D tbh the biggest compliment i was hoping for from this fic was hearing at least one person say they ship it a little more than Stoncy after reading it, so you have fulfilled my wish 😌 (no hate to Stoncy ofc lol)

LITERALLY let Nancy Wheeler smoke weed. or just something - she's going through it just as much as anybody else, and i think she deserves a chance to relax 😩

and you're so right about Merlin and you should say it louder

yeah we can't have anything nice around here without a little pain right :) idk Jonathan is a very personal character for me because i grew up as the eldest in a single-mother household, so there's a lot about his position in life that i relate to too much, hence the angst bleeding over a little into this fic. maybe someday i'll post that other Jonathan one shot i wrote! it's got plenty more of some of the stuff discussed in this one 🙃

and yeah him and Will :') listen the most surprising thing about this fic for me was realizing that, in this scenario, Jonathan would actually be in a very similar position as Mike. furthermore, I think Jonathan struggles with being needed like Mike, too. i think Mike's is more wanting to be needed and getting sidelined while Jonathan's is more having been needed for so much of his life that he doesn't know what his life would look like without being needed. and that definitely showed here :') my poor dude i want to give him a hug

...but that's what Argyle's for, right? GAH i thought the same thing that you said!! i think there's something appealing about having Jonathan and Nancy, who are both really tightly-wound and damaged by The Horrors, buddying up with Argyle, who's pretty mellow and chill (as long as he doesn't like, you know, have to bury a guy in the desert lol). i thought his character would be a good contrast for both of them, and i'm glad that came across :D

Vee i am once again saying that i am so glad you liked this fic :] i knew it was gonna be a kinda niche thing and wasn't sure how it would go over, but tbh, just hearing that you liked it makes me smile :] also this one really challenged me just for its subject matter and working with different characters, so it ended up being personally rewarding? listen i know people really liked irresistible, but it didn't particularly challenge me in any way and subsequently i didn't end up liking it as much as some of my other fics,,,like it was fun and all, but i didn't feel really connected to it. this one, though, made me feel a lot better!! it was fun to try something new and challenge myself!!

i'm definitely gonna be writing more byler next tho lol. i promise i've got stuff i'm working on. i just gotta get my shrimp brain organized 🍤

this has gotten so long :') anyway Vee it is always lovely to hear from you, so honestly, thank you for improving my week :] i hope the rest of your week goes well!! 💜

(also i'm still staring at your aftry art btw 💐💐💐)

[electricprincess96]

Last Of Us Ep5 might be some of the worst television I've ever watched. I take back everything I said about Ep 2 and 3 give me the long unnecessary flashbacks with Bill and Frank at least it was shot well cause holyfuck the directing in this Ep is actually so bad and the choices with story were actually nonsensical.

Horrible Villain, zero screen presence and I don't care if her actress might get pissy on Twitter about this but her character was just bad and did not deserve the amount of respect all these much more competent people seemed to be giving her.

I hate that the plot of this episode was just a rerun of Part 2s plot and the directing was bad like the episode was too dark and the way the scenes with the infected was shot is so bad I was getting flashbacks to Game of Thrones The Long Night Episode and that is not a compliment in any way. In fact I actually think the Long Night was better shot some of the directing decisions were comical honestly.

BUT... I liked Sam, I felt bad for this poor kid, didn't have a fucking clue what was going on for most of this episode cause no one thought to stop and explain much of anything to him. Henry was a bit of a dumbass with no idea what he was doing but OK fair enough considering the situation.

Also why are the infected now just acting like the fucking Wights from Game of Thrones? Sprouting out of the ground and not following any of the previously established logic. Also why did they just all turn around and go in the other direction at the end? Like that makes no sense.

I never got the impression they really captured the blossoming friendship between Ellie and Sam or Joel and Henry. They were just people they met and they didn't give them time to really get to know each other because they gave too much time to the stupid unnecessary villain. Overall because they gave these characters so little time their deaths didn't impact me nearly as much.

Also Joel can't find the time to bury Bill and Frank, two people he's known for years in show canon and but he'll bury Henry and Sam two people he's known like a day maximum.

Also Ellie is still just not as likeable as game Ellie.

I'm going to just say it, I'd rather sit through Season 8 of Game of Thrones again because at least the action scenes were still shot well even if the plot was garbage whereas the action scenes in this episode were utter garbage and they gave me so little time with these characters that I just couldn't care by the end.

[xojinnie]

callback

SELF-PARA ; jinnie calls her father back with an answer.

     it had been a while since that dreaded conversation and jinnie had spent most of it not knowing what to do. shouldn’t it be easy to tell her appa no ? he didn’t have a right to ask her for anything. he’d left her and their family high and dry nearly two decades ago. they struggled because of his choices. it wasn’t fair that he got to pretend like none of that happened. still, she never did well with telling people no — even when they deserved one. her empathy often times made her too complacent. depending on who was judging her, her kindness could be seen as a strength or a weakness.

     her hands trembled as she dialed back the unfamiliar number, exhaling sharply as the phone began to ring. no amount of rehearsal could prepare her for this conversation. even after talks with her family and loved ones over what to do, the brunette wasn’t sure what words would end up spilling out of her mouth once her father answered the—

     “ yunjin-ah. you finally called back. ”

     jinnie’s grip tightened on the phone, trying to contest with the sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. her father’s voice should fill her with joy but instead, a gnawing anxiety chewed away at her on the inside. 

     “  yes, appa. ”

     “ good. i knew you wouldn’t abandon me. ”

    the word abandon made her flinch. is that what she was doing if she gave the man the answer she really wanted to give him ? would he really see it as forsaking him ? for a moment, she was at a lost for words, all too afraid to speak and say the wrong thing. jinnie didn’t want to hurt anyone, especially her own father. but a part of her kept nagging away that what would really be hurting him would be to enable his behavior without consequences.

     “ i’d never abandon you. ” her voice cracked on the short sentence. if she spoke for too long, she felt like she was going to cry.

     “ of course you wouldn’t. my little sunflower. always the sweetest of us all. your brother and sister could learn from you. ”

     jinnie bristled at that. she would accept attacks on her character with a bow of her head, but it upset her way more coming towards her loved ones. jihoon and sunhi didn’t have a single thing to learn from her. if anything, she had been the one who always learned from them: how to treat others with respect, how to survive in school, how to stand up for herself. . .

    ( she hardly ever abided by the last one. she’d always been too afraid to. but there was always a first time for everything. )

     “ i’ve decided. . . to not give you the money. ” jinnie breathed out.

     the silence that followed was so chilling. she had to glance at the screen to make sure her father hadn’t hung up. he hadn’t. but for one solid minute, he didn’t utter a word. she’d never done well with too much quiet. the urge to fill it with words, laughter, anything took over her. 

     “ are you still there ? ” he’d asked her that once before, and now it was her turn.

     no response came, and that only made her more anxious.

     “ i-i just don’t feel comfortable doing so. ” he said he was sick, but her family reminded her that he was a habitual liar. he’d never gotten help for his gambling addiction or need for alcohol. it was too much of a risk to give him that kind of money. especially when her father had the tendency to do more harm then help to himself. “ please understand, appa. ”

     still, no words were spoken. jinnie blinked back tears, chest tightening the more the silence went on. she was finding it harder to breathe.

     “ i’m sorry. ” why are you apologizing ? you did nothing wrong. that would have been the response if this was one of her loved ones on the phone. it wasn’t, though. her father was a practical stranger to her. jinnie doubted if he knew anything about her. he didn’t know her favorite meal or what movie she watched when she was sad. he wasn’t aware of her sensitivities and discomforts. she wanted him to know. god, she wished for that more than anything. however, the truth was clear in that moment. . . he’d left before he could ever understand her.

     he’d abandoned her. not the other way around.

     “ maybe we should get together to talk properly. this doesn’t feel right to do over the phone— ”

     click. 

     the phone was lowered from her ear, wide sad eyes staring down at her lock screen in disbelief. him hanging up on her felt so abrupt, like it couldn’t be the end. almost immediately, jinnie dialed his number back. the continuous ringing droned on and on in her ear like sinister music. all she wanted was to hear his voice again, even if it was just to scold her. but she simply got an automated voicemail message.

     so, she hung up and tried again. and again and again. five times, jinnie dialed her father’s number back, listening to the same monotonous ringing and robotic voice with tears in her eyes. each time, she felt more and more desperate to get ahold of him but no answer ever came. the man had seemingly disappeared out of her life just as easily as he’d reentered. it shouldn’t have shocked her, or hurt her as much as she did — but she wouldn’t have been her if she didn’t feel the depths of her emotions.

     in that moment, jinnie felt the same as she did when she was four years old. waiting at the door for her father to return. 

     of course, he never did.

     and now as she listened to the phone ring on and on, jinnie realized that he never really would.