#i go to watch another part of the overall series first (in this case bc of the pokemon website's rotation bullshit with gens 2-6)

[flameunquenched]

a'ight. let's talk about the netflix adaptation of avatar: the last airbender.

SPOILERS PRESENT THROUGHOUT UNDER THE CUT.

this covers eps 1-4 bc i need a break for food and stuff lmfao.

so i like probably many others went in braced with the expectation of it being...well, like a certain movie that we all like to pretend does not exist. i had seen some things, which i discussed on another post, that worried me greatly. i would consider myself an atla superfan; it was a huge part of my childhood and i can remember sitting on the floor of the living room watching sozin's comet with my brother as the finale aired for that first time. so while i was excited for the idea of a live action version, having been badly burned by the movie, i was wary.

i am pleasantly surprised to say that, other than some flaws that i will discuss, it actually was...good?

i was very concerned about the removal of sozin's comet, given how integral it is to the story. sure, you do have actors who will be aging, as it is gonna take at least probably 6 years for the whole story to wrap up. this is, of course, assuming that netflix does not yeet it after s2 as they so love to do. seeing that it was present in episode 1 was...a little confusing considering what i had read. but i'm glad that it was there.

seeing sozin himself was awesome tbh. i think that he is a really interesting character and i honestly would be thrilled to have an entire series dedicated to him and roku, with their friendship and the trials they suffered together as firelord and avatar respectively. that was always one of my favorite episodes in s3 because of the deep introspection we got and the history of those two characters. but uh yeah when he just casually burned that earthbender to death, yeah. that was kinda the first sign that this was not going to be an adaptation geared towards children.

which i guess does make sense, doesn't it? after all, those of us like myself who grew up with avatar are no longer children but instead grown adults with children of our own in some case. it's an adaptation: it has to adapt to the times.

seeing the actual genocide of the air nomads was...a lot. that is one thing i will say that the live action had over the cartoon; it is hard to show death in a cartoon intended for children which means that, in a way, it is harder to fully realize the gravity of the situation. by showing it, by showing the deaths of men, women, and children, you as the viewer get the chance to better understand what was actually lost. i think it was easier to see them not just as characters but as people.

i'll admit that the cursing threw me for a loop, lol. it was just strange to casually hear "ass" being used in the realm of atla. but, again, this comes back to the need for accepting the aging audience.

i know there had been some discussion of aging katara to 16 and de-aging sokka to 14. if that was done, there was no sign of it. i had also had concerns about the removal of sokka's sexism but, honestly, i genuinely feel like the story was made much stronger for the lack of it. i liked the replacement of his 'dad left me in charge, i'm the leader, this is all my responsibility' sooo much more because it made more sense, especially when the revelations from the episode called spirited away came to light. it worked. and it worked in a way that lent gravity to the situation rather than the rather comedic ties that the original sexism offered.

i think in terms of sheer characterization, sokka was probably the strongest overall. i feel like his actor really got the character. katara had a problem of, at times, feeling too flat, as well as lacking some of the passion that i felt the cartoon allowed her to have.

aang's actor did really well, i will say. my friend thought that he did not quite convey the joyfulness that cartoon aang had but, having had a few hours to think about that, i think that might have been purposefully done. the adaptation was, again, not aimed at young kids. it makes sense that aang should feel, especially based on his discussions with the other avatars and other central characters, more serious and concerned about the general state of the world. a century is a long time to be away and i liked the way they showed the struggle he had with the fact that his entire people were gone. he really was the last airbender and the adaptation made me feel that. sure, it came at the cost of some of that youthful joyfulness, but i think it was a fair trade overall.

i loved gran gran doing the initial intro lines with kyoshi doing the actual intro. gran gran doing it made it feel like a story, a legend, that had been told for decades.

something else i enjoyed was the way that the adaptation handled integrating in other plotlines. getting to see ozai and azula, as well as mai and ty lee, in the fire nation capital city was really interesting. to me, it was a reminder that even when other characters are focused on other things, there are always things happening. the fake out of azula being a spy for her father for rebellions was fantastic and i think a key to the beginning of her characterization as a whole. i will admit i had some concerns about azula but her actress was incredible. absolutely incredible.

sokka's chemistry with suki was SIZZLING. like that entire bit was just so good. them fighting together and training together was just. urgh. it was so good.

now a character i will say i strongly prefer in the cartoon over the live action was zhao. i felt like his actor was...just trying too hard. maybe it's because jason isaacs just has a villainous voice but the cartoon always felt scarier to me. zhao in the live action felt...cartoonish and silly. almost like his actor was not taking it seriously, if that makes sense? that was disappointing to me. zhao was meant to be the first real antagonist of the series, a villain we could really hate and root for his downfall. instead, he just sort felt cartoonish and cheezy to me. i'm not sure if that was a direction choice or just the actor failing to understand the character but that was one of my chief complaints overall.

on the opposite end, iroh was so good. let's all be real here for a moment: there was no way, no way in hell, that a live action iroh was gonna be better than the cartoon. it was not gonna happen. iroh in the original was peak character and they were never gonna recreate him. but they didn't need to! they didn't need to because the live action iroh was just so good. he brought the same sort of laid back, calm serenity that the original iroh did without feeling like a carbon copy - or worse, a caricature - of him. i loved absolutely everything about iroh.

i wanna talk about the funeral scene in e4 but i also don't wanna talk about the funeral scene in e4 because it made me BAWL LIKE AN ACTUAL BABY Y'ALL I WENT FROM PERFECTLY FINE TO TEARS STREAMING DOWN MY FACE SOBBING BROKENLY IN .2 SECONDS. as soon as i recognized the music that was it i was done, i was gone, almost had to pause to get myself back under control. it was bad.

i really liked how they did jet. it was a little strange for that to all be taking place in omashu but i understand the necessity of pulling everything down to fewer locations.

speaking of, to address something i spoke of at some length in another post, one of my key concerns upon learning that there was not going to be the 'running around to different locations' plots was that team avatar and by extension, us the audience, would miss out on seeing the effects of a century long war. i am very happy to say that those concerns were not valid. i actually think the live action did a better job of communicating those effects in a way that was truly shocking. think about bumi, for example. a character who in the show is, really, a sort of comedy break became instead a character who felt real, felt serious, and felt like he was bruised all over by the war that he has been fighting. i was on the fence a lot about that plot change, where bumi was sort of dark and gritty, but the more i have thought about it, the more i realize that it makes sense. a hundred years is a long time to battle an enemy that, frankly, is better equipped than you. is it any wonder that he was so angry at aang, even if that anger was misplaced? i don't really think so.

i am going to stop here, get some food, shower, and discuss the last 4 episodes a little later bc this is already unbelievably long lmao.

please feel free to let me know what you thought of it!!

[meowstix]

How did you first get into Beyblade?

so like, when i was like WAY younger i caught some of metal saga. i only have vague memories but i remember storm pegasus i remember a few characters and most importantly i remember Yep! That's Beyblade!

so like cut to like. winter 2021 and i'm thinking about that show i have such vague memories of and i'm like "hey. when summer comes around i should go and watch this show, not just metal saga but like as a whole" and when summer finally DID come around after what honestly felt like fuckin forever, i did kinda forget for a bit but around mid-late june i got to it! and here i am now

[awigglycultist]

Pt 2 of The Guide: Hatchetfield (also made by Starkid but it felt like this should be its own category). Every story in the Hatchetfield series takes place in different timeline I say this so your not confused by certain things that happen to characters in one story not having happened in another. There a few stories that do actually take place in the same time line but I'll mention it when that's the case. Pretty much everyone loves Hatchetfield series, it's basically a whole fandom on its own. I could talk about it and theories on it forever. It's all horror comedy.

The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals (TGWDLM). The first of the Hatchetfield series. Now, SK actually wrote Nerdy Prudes Must Die (NPMD), then Black Friday, then TGWDLM but TGWDLM was released first bc it was the easiest to make and the best to introduce ppl into the world and they made it be good as a stand alone in case it didn't do well and therefore not make the rest of the series. And it totally does work well as a stand alone. Even though I think Twisted is the best SK musical, this one is actually my favorite. It's really great, hilarious, awesome music, everything's great, and it was the first musical of theirs I watched, its original and not parody and I love the characters. Have you heard the audios "please god I just want a black coffee!" or "were about the same age how come I didn't know you in high school?" "you probably went to hatchetfield high I went to sycamore" because this is where those came from.

Summary: This borning office worker named Paul hates musicals and has a crush on a barista, Emma. A meteor hits their town and a zombie apocalypse starts, but it's no normal zombie apocalypse. Everyone is taken over and becomes sorta an alien and they're all become apart of this musical hive mind breaking into song and dance and getting others to become apart of the hive mind. Paul, his coworkers, and the barista now have try and survive this apotheosis. Trailer

Black Friday (BF). It's about the wonderful totally beloved American holiday Black Friday. Alot of ppl don't see it as that funny but personally I think it's pretty funny? Yeah it doesn't have the most jokes but all of the jokes that are in there are very funny. It is overall meant to be more serious though so.

Summary: A new toy comes out, called a Tickle Me Wiggly, that everyone wants to get for their kid. Tom Houston wants to get it to help try and help mend his relationship his son Tim bc Tom's wife/Tim's mom died the year before and Tom sees it as his fault. Tom meets his old high school girlfriend Becky and their love begins to rekindle. Lex works at the store Toy Zone and she want to get herself, her boyfriend, Ethan, and her younger sister, Hannah, out of Hatchetfield as soon as possible. Everyone starts fighting over the toy, going far to get the toy, even the president of the US has to get involved. The characters I mentioned all attempt to survive through the day. And it turns out there's more behind the toy than just a cute ball of fluff. Trailer

The next few summaries are probably gonna sound neater and are also gonna be shorter. This is cause I for the most part just took the summaries SK gave for them and just like ever so slightly changed them. Nightmare Time (NMT) are script readings, but they still have songs in them. Also yes some of the links for the stories lead to the same video, don't worry, this is because every episode of NMT season 1 had two stories in it. There's two trailers I'm gonna give you for season 1. Here's the first one. And here's the second.

The Hatchetfield Ape-Man (THAM). Absolutely hilarious and ridiculous, there is a few more serious moments but over and just super goofy.

Summary: Lucy has been searching for the Hatchetfield Ape-Man for many years and nearly gives up when she finds out Professor Hidgens has discovered the Ape-Man.

Watcher World (WW). More serious, one of my faves of NMT and a lot of ppl's faves of NMT.

Summary: Bill and Alice go to local theme park Watcher World for a day of daddy daughter fun! They don't get along well. And the theme park is no help and there's some dark secret going on in there too.

Forever and Always (F&A). Good mix of silly and serious leaning a bit towards silly. Has everyone's faves Paul and Emma. It's an extremely interesting story imo.

Summary: Paul and Emma are getting married! Except Emma has a dark secret that comes to light and their relationship may become in danger.

Time Bastard (TB). My personal NMT fave but that's probably partially cause I'm werid. Also a good mix of silly and serious leaning a bit more towards serious. This and F&A take place in the same timeline.

Summary: Ted accidentally discovers time travel and things go a little wild and he messes a lot of stuff up.

Jane's A Car (JAC). More sillyness. It's, not as a goofy as THAM but still very silly. Ppl kinda overlook this one and yeah it's not my fave but the reason it's overlooked is really mainly bc there's a particular scene that's. Very goofy and inappropriate and silly. And everyone latched onto the insanity of that scene and kinda ignored the rest.

Summary: Tom gets his old car back, the car his wife died in, and it turns out, she's haunting the car.

The Witch In The Web (WITW). The most serious of NMT1. Lots of lore. Great.

Summary: Hannah's been having nightmares of an evil witch and her "imaginary" friend Webby goes missing. She gets the help of her social worker and his friend who has powers.

All of NMT2 takes place in the same timeline together, some eps are more connected than others, some just make references, but they do all take place in the same time and for the part all right about the same time. Again some of the links lead to the same video because some of the episodes had two stories in them. Trailer

Honey Queen (HQ). This is a really fun one, it's just terrible ppl doing terrible things. Very fun.

Summary: It's time for Hatchetfield's annual Honey Festival, and therefore also the Honey Queen Pageant. The rich Linda Monroe and a barista Zoey Chambers both enter the Pageant. Linda wants her dad's attention and Zoey wants to get out of Hatchetfield. They are each other's biggest competition, and they both want it bad and will do anything they can to win. But theres also some secrets happening with Pageant.

Perky's Buds (PB). A lot of ppl don't like this one. It's not my fave but I do really love the villain and there's lots of funny lines, it's kinda a stoner comedy mixed with horror comedy, also got some important lore.

Summary: Emma finally has gotten her dream pot farm. Unfortunately for her Nighthawks keep eating her weed and her neighbours aren't happy about her farm. So she and her farm hand now must defend their farm.

Abstinence Camp (AC). I love this one and love the characters. It's fairly inappropriate but it's still great. It's also got the two best songs of the season.

Summary: Nerdy Prude Grace somewhat accidentally starts a rumor about the mayor's daughter, Steph, being pregnant, which lands her in Abstinence Camp, along with Grace who goes there for fun, and along with nerdy but not so prudey Pete who doesn't want to be there ethier. At camp there's some odd consulers and theres a legend of a supposed killer lerking in the woods.

Daddy. Yes that is the full title of the story. It's a goofy one but there's lore. It's similar to JAC where the funny name kinds overshadows the story. But it has two of best actors as the main characters and they work so well together. It also will make you feel a lot of sympathy for a character who before this you'll have not seen a lot of but will probably hate before this.

Summary: Frank, the owner of Toyzone, is running out business thanks to online buying. Then he gets to together with his best customer's mom who is rich. But turns out this family has a secret. There's a reason their last name is Young. And being a dad isn't that fun.

Killer Track (KT). This is a very sad one. You will be completely emotionally destroyed. I love it. Everyone loves it. Everyone's sad thanks to it.

Summary: A song that kills people after being listened too. It's a classic fake hoax. Except this time it's real. Rose meets a strange guy and who has her listen to the song. As time runs out and she gets closer to death she seeks help from a certain social worker and witchy woman. But times running out for the town too and they need to stop the song for being heard by anyone else.

Yellow Jacket (YJ). MMM SO MUCH LORE AND ANGST/SADNESS IN THIS ONE TOO! Very good everyone loves this one a ton, including me ofc.

Summary: After Hannah has accident in ship class her, Lex and Ethan find themselves in a lot of debt. Luckily for them Hannah has a gift, a power, and after a man sees what she can he brings her and Ethan to a deadly competition for her to join, and its high paying. But will Hannah be able to survive?

Nerdy Prudes Must Die (NPMD). I think this is the funniest Hatchetfield show and I love the character so much and the music is some of the best starkid music imo.

Summary: When the biggest losers at Hatchetfield High unwittingly complete an ancient, evil ritual, they unleash an all- powerful, angry spirit with a grudge against nerds. That’s when Stephanie Lauter, Grace Chasity, and a cast of social rejects must fight to save themselves and nerdy prudes everywhere. But can any of them survive the fury of a bully from beyond the grave? Trailer

Summary: the starlight theatre wanted to produce a show made by an aspiring local writer, and they ended up choosing Professor Hidgens and his show Workin' Boys, but suggest he make some changes to the show. Trailer.

Workin' Boys. You can buy tickets to the Hatchetfield Halloween Party to see this. It's so cool to see something in Hatchetfield filmed like this. Jeff does a great job at playing Hidgens and the whole short film is really fun.

[batarangsoundsdumb]

guess fucking what? my inbox is so fucking full right now i'm unloading all of this shit in one post.

For the 11th gotham memes: gothamites react to bruce being jacked in a tiktok he made with kids, like super yoked, ripped as hell

fucking hilarious thanks. i think i did it in one meme post, but i genuinely don't remember which one

i dunno which of the batfam would do this but one time i was sleeping over at a friends house and ended up on the floor bc the bed was so very small and i just stayed there because the rug was soft

that's a drunk jason move i don't know what to tell you

tim and jason are "i listen to pop punk" solidarity. whenever jason highjacks the batmobile theyll go on long ass car rides blaring mcr and paramore and then never talk about it again

as they should!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! tim: no jason it's my turn using the aux cord i gotta put on my jams jason: don't you dare put on weird shit tim: don't worry, you're gonna love this *plays fearless (taylor's version)

hear me out hear me out, red hood stans 🤝 nightwing stans t h i g h s

holy shit yes.

SNL au: Bruce breaks character when pretending to superman and says something like "I'm not superman! You've seen his gps!! It's from 2001!!!" @sabeanybabe

superman flies past the snl building the next day just to say 'actually it's from 2005, i'm not a heathen'

does your back hurt from carrying the batfam fandom

it hurts more from the exotic rock collection i keep in my backpack, but thanks for the concern.

I love your posts by why would you always leave the best parts in the tags?

as a treat for the people that check the tags ;) (and also because i'm committed to the short post aesthetic)

somehow your playlist was everything i never knew i needed. i mean it. this is my new favorite playlist.

and don't you dare get a new favourite playlist!

babe ur stoner tim playlist is exactly too perfect, earth is literally blessed by ur existence

babe thanks so much! i love my stoner tim playlist because it's just my usual playlist but people think it's an artistic choice that i put taylor swift and britney spears in there, when it's just what i unironically like listening to

JANDKSKDK BILLY RAY CYRUS ON THE STONER TIM PLAYLIST I LOVE IT IT

again it's not even an ironic choice, i know every single word and i genuinely like the song

The last chapter of Fundamentals of Casework has me crying at work. Thanks I love it @dudelookitsalesbian

oh babe, i'm sorry, but also, not sorry i love chapter 4 so much it's my lovechild with the 'mental illness' tag

soooo....stumbled on your tumblr by some stroke of fate??? read your DC fanfic first. which is PHENOMENAL btw. then found all the batmemes; the funniest thing EVER bc everyone forgets about regular old gothamites. kept scrolling and your blog pops up as recommended. clicked on the ao3 for shits and giggles and waddaya know?!?!? it's YOU!!! you're LEGEND!!!! ever seen that meme? it's a video of a cat that got into a baseball field and the two announcers get really invested in his escape attempt and start giving a play by play of the cat instead of the game. memeable moment: "GREAT stuff from the Cat!!!"

i seriously think about this ask every single day and it's so fucking funny to me that i've never seen the meme you're referencing, but i still find myself going 'GREAT stuff from the Cat!!!' whenever i see something funny. but wow i'm glad you liked this steaming pile of garbage

Fav dc character overall? And fav batfamily character?

don't ask me to pick between the loves of my life, but i can tell you i've cried about every single batfamily member and also wally west (my beloved)

What's your opinion on fans having a problem with batfam being "too big"? And some even claim that batfam is just "Bruce Alfred Dick Damian" and the rest of them are just "friends and allies" (source: reddit) Personally, I like batfam because of this reason but idk

stupid. a family can never be too big. i'm not that big a fan of like huge batfam stuff with everybody from every single universe, because as much as it's funny for bruce to have like 30 kids, it just feels a little too OOC for me.

This is the best tag I've seen involving the batfam, thanks for thinking of it

This is canon now @nctxrejects

lmao yeah i think at that point alfred has had to sit through like at least a dozen coming out talks and just has a pride flag collection in the attic that he pulls out whenever a kid comes out

idk why batfam hits different as compared to any other superhero family

bc it's found family and usually the other superhero families are almost all genetically related in one way or another

I don't know if you watch the umbrella academy but I saw your last post about batcest and saw the similarities. But the thing is (although I think it's weird) in TUA, they addressed it by saying "they were raised as weapons, not siblings" or something along those lines, which is simply not the case with batfam.

yeah i watched tua but i also thought it was ridiculous and they still treated each other as siblings so i didn't like the luthor/allison thing, and am glad they stopped doing that shit bc it fucking sucked.

Hot take: Batcest shippers are the same people who believe adopted siblings are not actual siblings

smoking hot take: batcest shippers are the people who watch 'my sister got stuck in the washing machine' porn

Duke was adopted by Bruce?

not technically no, but do i, tumblr user batarangsoundsdumb, look like i care?

True story but I had to change my freaking name because it used to be "Damien" and most people would go "OH LIKE DAMIAN WAYNE" like please I'm just tryna live

true story, but i don't actually think of damian when i hear the name damian, literally the first thing that pops up is damian darkh like bruh what?

apparently dc comics company supported comic stores by giving out new titles and stuff during the beginning of the pandemic to help them run and I just think that's wholesome

ah yeah that's so fucking cool, still don't like dc, the company, because this world is a capitalist hellhole and we're all owned by warner brothers or disney with no in between.

ayo looking at tumblr head canons and finding out bruce is actually a terrible father is a punch in the gut

lmao yes, in like 50% of comics bruce is a terrible father and it gives me whiplash

oooh I just saw the jason todd vs winter soldier post and the real question is: batman vs iron man

while iron man has like hundreds of cases of armor, batman could throw out an emp and have the guy dropping out of the sky in 2 seconds.

dickfast = fastdick = quickdick = quickie

magnum hot take

hey bata(?) just thought I'd let you know I have copied the obnoxious emoji and Billy Ray post for use on simping men going forth

thank you 😘🌷 (@spacebarsidecar)

why would you do that to your followers???? i get why i did it, but why would you???

what is scarecrow made the nightwing funko pop himself, like those diy-ers that paint over other ones

oh god no, horrible take, horrible take, that's a disgusting thought oh no

I see your HC that Bruce and Oliver fucked and raise you this: Dick and Roy ALSO fucked

yes they did and it was a horrible moment for jason to find out dick has fucked both of his best friends

"at this rate bruce adds like 1 child to his family every decade or so" Duke is introduced in 2013, Damian as Damian, not as an unnamed child, in 2006. And he is already 14 years old, Robins rarely remain Robins after 16 😬 It looks like a new Robin and Batkid will appear in a couple of years

i mean i can't wait? but somebody will probably die first tho, we're due for another major character death. my money's on either cass or duke this time.

BRO you're so right all of your Bruce's ex headcanons are amazing but they aren't ships, that's kinda wild. Like I don't want any peeks into how their relationship was I just want to see everyone make fun of them

lmao YES it's just i love bruce being a slut, like good for him.

I am in love with your posts your honour thank you

omg thanks are we like,, gonna kiss now?

The justice league needs to have a meeting to discuss how many of their members/partners have slept with bruce. Because through a combination of cannon & fannon (if DC wasn’t homophobic) we have AT LEAST: 1) clark 2) lois 3) oliver 4) dinah 5) john

Thats not counting villains or random civilians @dudelookitsalesbian

yes yes yes, they'll have a yearly meeting about how many of their collective exes could be out for revenge and batman's list just keeps getting longer.

tim was like "i'm drake now" and everyone was like ahh so your fursona is a dragon and tim was like pffffft no. ducks.

and what about it?

when steph's fighting livewire and she zaps her with lighting and nothing happens and then they both just. stand there awkwardly for a second and talk. yeah i couldn't stop laughing at that batgirl steph is the BEST

oh yeah that was fucking hilarious and i think it would be so cool and sexy of dc to give steph a little comic series,,, as a treat

Hi I absolutely adore all of yours "Bruce and Oliver very badly pretending they didn't fuck each other" memes

lmao i do too

I need you to know that “Bruce Wayne had frosted tips” is one of my favorite Bruce takes of all time it’s so galaxy brained. you’re right and you should say it

he also painted his hair blonde once when he was travelling and in conclusion, this is why he's being blackmailed by the gotham gazette.

you know my thing about gordon being branded as the only good cop in gotham is its a load of shit like arguably he's a good person and not working to screw people over or anything but the fact that he also works w. batman makes him a shit cop. like yea batman is better than the mob but its still illegal its still an abuse of power he just not making bank

babe, all cops are bad cops. (but yeah youre absolutely right, working with vigilantes makes you a shit cop, but also working against vigilantes just makes you an asshole cop yanno?)

ruh roh i think i’m about to add “so not yeehaw” every time i don’t like something

that's a very good vocabulary upgrade

somehow i feel like steph already knew. like babs obviously knew but i feel like bruce got high/drunk in front of steph and started telling his boarding school stories and steph was just like “oh you fucked up i’m never gonna forget this”

steph and bruce have weird uncle/rebellious niece dynamic and they just hang out sometimes and bruce will be like 'i once broke my arm when i tripped over a hedge when i was drunk so oliver drove me to the hospital on an electric scooter' and steph will just have to sit there with that knowledge in her head.

Hello I just wanted to tell you you are So right in all your steph opinions bc she is, in fact amazing and I think that's very sexy of you. Ps. Your Bruce/Oliver fic is hilarious

babe, thank you so much and yes steph is amazing and i love her and she deserves the world and she's the best member of the batfam hands down. also thanks

In Supersons we see a couple of kids that are implied to be Damian and Jon's children and the boy has laser eyes and can fly, so I asume he's not adopted. The girl, who calls Bruce grandpa, can also fly, btw. So it's canon (probably by accident) that Jon can have kids and he must have married one of Bruce's kids. (I'm hoping for Damian, mostly because any other of his children would be waaaaaaaaaaaaay too old.) @artemisa97

lmao that was probably an accident seeing as jon is a 17 year old superhero in the year 3000 (by the jonas brothers)

You know, I'm a die hard fan of your memes, but I gotta say one thing: if Gothamites actually took gas mask everywhere with them, then the Scarecrow would just be a weird dude in a weird costume, and not a villain oh so scary. DC really should just takes notes from you.

bold of you to assume there's no gothamite anti-maskers

How does it feel being the funniest person on this app?

horrible, next question.

I can't listen to Green Day or Billy Joel without thinking of your post about how Bruce got arrested at a Billy Joel concert @nightwings-kid

yeah that's your mistake, i on the other hand can't enjoy billy joel without thinking about the glee rendition of 'uptown girl'

I've FINALLY been watching the Batman animated series and I gotta say, after watching "the gray ghost" I am CONVINCED that Batman is a closeted super hero geek who was 100% freaking out the first time he met Superman and is just REALLY good at hiding it.

superman: so what do you do in your free time? batman, thinking about the superman fanfiction he's writing on the batcomputer: i have no free time

bruce and oliver be like boyfriends to co-workers 401k (do the justice leagues get 401ks??? not that bruce and ollie would need them, but-)

lmao yes just 400 thousand words of bruce realising 'oh dip oliver is such a fucking dumbass' (also i don't know what a 401 k is but i assume they don't?)

Gothamites would totally boo superman as he saves Gotham while batman is out. @meenje

he's like 'okay think about that next time you want to be saved from an alien octopus'

I just took long break from dc comics and I come back to see ric grayson ??

i think it's very cool and sexy of dc to see dick and just think 'you know what? let's just give him a traumatic brain injury' and then didn't develop his character in any real way

SPEAKING OF RIC GRAYSON, gothamites making confused memes out of ric grayson is much needed

'dick grayson is my taxi driver? can anyone explain what the fuck happened he looks like an italian plumber?'

i hate to say it but batfam are def "marvel characters" in that sense they are characters who are human but become superheroes unlike most dc characters who are gods trying to be human maybe this is why I like batfam

fair enough

[aethersea]

you know what, I never do these things, but actually I’ve decided I would like to get to know people better! I would like to partake of the mortifying ordeal! I would like to talk about myself for a bit!

ok for the next...let’s say five days I will answer any of these things that people tag me in, or any random personal questions you plop in my ask box. I don’t have an ask meme on hand but just....pick one you’ve seen recently, or make up questions of your own, and I’ll answer. (the answer might be ‘nope that’s private’ but I will answer.) (@ the anon who asked for book recs - I see you, I’ve been thinking of books all day, I’m going to give you SUCH a long answer, I hope you don’t regret your choices bc it WILL be full of gushing)

alright, let’s go!

🌻 Tag 9 people you want to get to know better

Tagged by @booksandchainmail​

Last Song: I’m currently listening to “Falcon in the Dive” from the Scarlet Pimpernel musical on loop. I watched one or two Scarlet Pimpernel movies when I was just barely too young to fully get what was going on, and the story’s held an odd but deep-seated place in my heart ever since. A few years ago I found out there’s a musical and most of the songs are pretty stellar (go listen to “Madame Guillotine” if you like big ensemble broadway numbers, it’s a banger, the bit where he cries out for God has been running through my mind on and off for a few days now haha not like that’s topical or anything), so every once in a while I spend a few days listening to them a lot.

Sometime last year I read the actual book, and got super into the whole concept of the Scarlet Pimpernel for a while. I plotted out Pimpernel aus for several fandoms, I read the entire wikipedia article, and I went looking for bootlegs of the musical. I didn’t find one, but I did find a full radioplay-style recording of the script, complete with full musical numbers, and listened to it like a podcast.

Reader, I was so disappointed. The play adds some scenes, bc a lot of the dramatic tension of the novel comes from internal conflict and that doesn’t stage super well, and the very first scene of this play – a play written in the NINETIES – features our dashing hero rescuing some aristocrats from a French prison, and then saying to the person in the next cell, who begs for rescue but is not an aristocrat, “We have enough of your kind in England.”

Enough! of your KIND! What in the merry frickety HECK my dudes!! The book has some rather unfortunate™ takes but it is from 1905, it’s regrettable but sadly to be expected. This play is from 1997. It has NO excuse. This scene wasn’t even in the book! What! the heck!

I was so disheartened that I lost my excitement for the play, and a couple songs later I stopped listening. It occurred to me just a few days ago that you could actually stage that ironically, with the person in the cell giving the audience a “can you believe this” look, and then the rest of the play could feature assorted non-aristocratic ensemble members constantly looking at the audience like they’re on The Office. And hey, maybe that’s what they did, or something similar – maybe that was never meant to be taken as a cleanly heroic stance, and the play deals with it in a complex way. It’s possible. I wouldn’t know. Kinda doubt it though, based on song lyrics.

Favorite Color: red, probably

Last Movie: I watched that new lesbian christmas movie with my family for christmas, the one with kirsten stewart and the guy from schitt’s creek. it’s very sweet and good and kinda sad, and I really enjoyed it. it also incidentally has the best gay best friend trope in probably anything ever, bc it’s not a trope (I didn’t realize until several hours after watching that it technically fits), it’s just a guy who is the protagonist’s best friend, and they’re just all gay, and then when he Gives Relationship Advice as a gay best friend always does, it’s advice about how to deal with your partner’s hangups around coming out.

actually every part of the gay best friend trope becomes better when they’re just best friends who are both gay. the big dramatic gestures (in this case, driving some ungodly distance in the snow on no notice) go from “haha how kooky” to “queer man will do anything he needs to to rescue his queer friend from an isolating & potentially triggering situation”. the relationship advice isn’t “honey you deserve some self-respect, treat yourself”, it’s a deeply sincere reminder of the vulnerability that is shared across almost everyone’s queer experience, and look I could ramble about this for a long time before reaching a coherent point but I’m INTO IT, okay? I’m into it.

Last Show: you want me to remember what show I last finished???? impossible, cannot be done, it was a long time ago and the adhd has eaten everything that happened before last week. here, instead I’ll tell you about another movie I watched, late at night with my mom in cozy companionship just a couple days ago. it’s called Quigley Down Under and it’s about a cowboy who goes to Australia and kills a bunch of racists, 10/10 would watch again. it’s from 1990 but it feels much older, with the music choices and the cinematography of a 70s Western. the cowboy is great, honorable and fearless and kind, but the breakaway star of this movie for me is the woman who attaches herself to his side and refuses to leave. her name is Cora, and she’s crazy, in the sense that she’s not altogether tethered to reality, but this never for a second diminishes her agency. she’s fierce and clever and compassionate, and she basically never does anything she doesn’t want to in the whole movie. her arc is about overcoming trauma by taking charge of her own fear and facing it head-on, she is never belittled or dismissed by the narrative or the protagonist, and look she’s just so cool. I love her. she’s so vibrantly alive. her story could probably have been handled with a bit more nuance, but honestly for the 90s it’s pretty great. I’m no expert, but I found nothing objectionable in it, just a bit of heavy-handedness.

anyway the theme of the movie is that racism is evil and racists deserve to be shot, and this too could have been handled better (not a single aboriginal character speaks a single line of english in this movie), but it follows through on that message in every way, while still being a fun kinda campy cowboy movie. overall a very good time.

Currently Watching: started showing my sister Hilda the other day, and she’s liking it! I love that show, it’s so incredibly cute. can’t wait to see season 2

Currently Reading: lmao I wish. lately the brain has firmly rejected all attempts to read anything of any length. currently pending, bc I was halfway through them when my brain stalled out, are tano’s fic What Does Kill You Can Make You Stronger, Too, a Toby Daye book - I think it was The Brightest Fell, I got like half a chapter in and haven’t picked it up in over a month, the Locked Tomb series, and probably a few other things too. ooh! also a book called Making Sex by thomas laqueur, which is my fancy academic reading that I’ve been doing in short bursts for the past year or two when I feel fancy and academic. it’s about the development of the concept of biological sex and of gender in Western society, and it’s fascinating. has among other things introduced me to the idea that until quite recently, fathers were a matter of faith. the mother? yeah, you can watch the baby pop out, we all know who the mother is. but the father? how can you know? how can you really know? we have paternity tests these days, but for all of human history up until now, we've just had to take fatherhood on faith. (not to mention we didn’t even know what fathers were contributing to the production of a fetus. clearly it was something, since you can’t get pregnant without a penis getting involved, but we have literally not known what until the past few decades. and that is wild. it has colored ALL of human history, all of our conceptions of society and family and kinship and gender, all of it, and it hadn’t even occurred to me until it was spelled out for me in this book, and it’s just......wow.

Salty, sweet or savory: for christmas my sister and I made seven different types of cookie, most of them involving chocolate somehow.

Craving: no bc I ate so many cookies. unless sleep counts. or maybe pringles, it’s been many moons since last I had a potato chip and I miss them.

Coffee or Tea: no thank you

Tagging: @coloursisee, @krchy-tuna, @sam-j-squirrel, @xzienne, @mirandatam, @viciousmaukeries, @sepulchritude, @elidyce, and @navigatorsnorth bc it’s been a while since we’ve talked, and I’m super hyped that you’re married now. v happy for you!

[fleshkiss]

eeep not to bother you again, but in the spirit of the dr 10th anniversary i wanted to ask what dr moment stuck out to you the most! ✨✨

waaaa hello!!💕 you’re not a bother at all and omg happy dr 10th anniversary! thank you so much for asking, that’s so sweet and a nice way to look back on the games awww ;u; but hmmm.... that’s a good question.... NDRV3 moments def come to mind first but that might be bc that title is my fave as well as the latest one in the series haha,,,, aaaA i’m so indecisive asgdhjsdjs but the dr moments that stuck out to me do happen to be spoilery so i’ll leave my answer under the cut just in case! ✨

for V3, there’s definitely a few memories i have playing the game that i still look back on but if i had to choose, i think it’s like a tie between the last trial and chapter four’s trial?? i will die on the hill that V3′s ending is actually good and is not a f**k you to the fans and that yes it is actually a love letter to everyone who has enjoyed the series! i thought the execution of getting the message of fiction still being able to have an impact on reality across was really well done and super beautiful! ;u; saihara’s speech at the end really reached my heart and like he said, who cares if it’s fiction? the emotions you’ve felt for the characters in V3... throughout the series even!! it was still real and it’s true, no? you share the happy moments with the cast, you experience sadness at the loss of a character you liked... it doesn’t make it any less invalidating that these characters hold special value to players just because they’re fictional! also i’m a sucker for developers using the actual gameplay mechanics itself as a storytelling tool to get an idea across or make a twist and V3 does that!!! as for chapter four.... there’s so much i want to talk about but long story short, that trial was such an emotional rollercoaster lmao... ch4 in V3 was the first time i ever cried in the danganronpa games it was just so much... _(:3」∠)_ i’ve heard some ppl have the opinion that the killer in the chapter was pretty predictable and that’s fair! but if i can put my two cents, i thought bc there’s a sense that you sort of already know who it is that makes the confirmation and truth more heartbreaking?? you having an idea who it is stews for so long during the trial so seeing the characters sad and not wanting to accept it is kind of hard to watch especially when ouma confesses everything and they would still rather prefer the supreme leader to be the killer... ;;; i also really really love gonta and ouma’s dynamic and friendship so seeing the hurt they both experienced and how much they truly care for one another before gonta was executed was the breaking point for me lol from a story telling perspectivE THERE’S ALSO LIKE!!!! A LOT OF DETAILS WITH HOW THE TRIAL IS SHOT W THE CAMERA THAT I REALLY APPRECIATE!! there’s a part where ouma is saying something significant and how the camera pans out it’s like he’s talking to the audience too!! this also might be reaching lmao but gonta’s crying sprite has like such special attention to the eyes and there’s a parT where gonta is crying and begging saihara that him being the killer can’t be true and saihara tries to say something but he has to look awaY and stays silent and i thought that was kinda like?!?! a nod back to his fear of looking ppl in the eyes when faced w the truth resurfacing again!?!?! idk but the timing of it was really spot on i think and painful uuuu THERE”S A LOT GOING ON IN CHAPTER FOUR i feel like there can be multiple essays written about different things going on in that chapter alone lmao

overall, V3 is a game where if i could wipe my memory to experience it all for the first time again, i definitely would in a heart beat lol

SORRY I WENT OFF ABOUT V3 but if you were asking about the og danganronpa, i read it during the somethingawful forum days so i technically haven’t played it myself but from reading it, sometimes i still think about how spooky the bad ending is!!! it’s just super creepy like i get the heebee jeebees thinking about it lol BUT ON A MORE LIGHTHEARTED MEMORY LOL i thought the good ending and last trial was really good! the message of hope and them getting out was super nice... might not be the intention but it holds sentimental personal value to me since i read it during a time i felt trapped and in a dark place so as cheesy as it is, it also gave me hope and to not give up too! danganronpa as entertainingly whacky as it is has so many wonderful messages that i still carry in my heart so the series means a lot to me! ;u;<333 sorry i ended up talking a lot but thank you for asking and for reading if you made it this far! happy dr 10th anniversary!!💕💕💕

[wetalkinboutbooks]

New Year, New Review 🤩

A Sky Beyond the Storm by Sabaa Tahir

Summary: The long-imprisoned jinn are on the attack, wreaking bloody havoc in villages and cities alike. But for the Nightbringer, vengeance on his human foes is just the beginning.

At his side, Commandant Keris Veturia declares herself Empress, and calls for the heads of any and all who defy her rule. At the top of the list? The Blood Shrike and her remaining family.

Laia of Serra, now allied with the Blood Shrike, struggles to recover from the loss of the two people most important to her. Determined to stop the approaching apocalypse, she throws herself into the destruction of the Nightbringer. In the process, she awakens an ancient power that could lead her to victory--or to an unimaginable doom.

And deep in the Waiting Place, the Soul Catcher seeks only to forget the life--and love--he left behind. Yet doing so means ignoring the trail of murder left by the Nightbringer and his jinn. To uphold his oath and protect the human world from the supernatural, the Soul Catcher must look beyond the borders of his own land. He must take on a mission that could save--or destroy--all that he knows. (Taken from Goodreads)

Our Ratings:  

 → Geena:  ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

 → Kae: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Overall: The final instalment of the Ember Quartet had us crying in the metaphorical club. It’s exciting, terrifying, and probably the horniest book in the series and we loved it!

~Spoiler-full discussion below~

The Good:

→ Elias and Laia

Geena: In the final instalment of the Ember quartet, Sabaa deprives us of an Elias POV and slaps us with the Soulcatcher instead… He’s very much an ‘emotions are bad’ type of dude, the opposite of Elias who always had so many… but both of them are so angsty? The Soulcatcher really likes to beat up trees when his memories from when he was Elias resurface which was so emo to me. Despite being possessed by Mauth he is also such a coward, especially around Laia, because Elias’ feelings for Laia scare him and every single time he is like *running emoji*. We were surprised that Sabaa let him remain the soulcatcher for so long, every chapter I was like ‘Okay, maybe this is where Elias breaks through…’ but no.. Elias remained buried UNTIL their night in the cabin… the Soulcatcher was like ‘k I’m out’ but ONLY for ONE NIGHT and that still makes me scream.. The Soulcatcher was like ‘you kids are too horny for me, I’m gonna take a nap for a bit and let Elias take over bc Jesus.’ 

Despite it all, the Soulcatcher’s chapters were enjoyable albeit painful because this man was so duty bound, like even Elias wasn’t that dedicated when he was a Mask. But near the end, when we finally get the chapter that starts with Elias…. Ngl I cried a little, and immediately wanted to reread the whole series (I feel like Sabaa did this on purpose to torture us). I want to fight Sabaa though, like she did an amazing job showing how Elias’ conscious and the Soulcatcher’s conscious were constantly fighting one another, and how Elias’ memories of the people he loved ultimately fuelled the Soulcatcher’s actions… even though the Soulcatcher was like ‘I’m doing this for the ghosts’ like okay… no ghost told you to keep protecting and kissing Laia but you still did it…  

Kae: Okay, so Geena summed up my boy Ilyaas pretty damn well. Also, we LOVE HIS ETHNIC NAME IN THIS HOUSE. But um, YES. Elias was a sad boy ™ the whole time while fighting his emotions and ultimately losing. It was so PAINFUL as a reader, seeing all of  his chapters except the ONE say ‘Soulcatcher’. But when it finally said ELIAS again, I too, started to cry. Because he was BACK. 

You can all thank the power of Laia’s determination to seduce Elias back to himself, because our girl was NOT giving up. She said ‘you gonna get this coochie, dammit’ and in the cabin, Elias was like ‘well i’ll be damned. I sure as hell am. I am BACK BAYBEEEEE’

Geena: Sabaa Tahir said horny rights like ksjdnfdsjknfsdk

Kae: AUFVAHLHVKJ. BUT YES. In the end, love won. And so did sex because everyone was doin it or TRYING to do it. I guess when the world is ending, you only get one last time to uhh…. Have a good time. So they made sure they did lmao 

Now, let’s get into Laia. 

Laia. My sweet little cupcake. My mug of tea with too much honey. This girl has been through literal hell and back, and yet, she kept going. She NEVER gave up. Laia woke up in book 4 like ‘Today i will commit crimes. Helene and I crave violence’ and they both just started kicking ASS and I LOVED THAT. I was really happy to see the progression of Laia and Helen’s friendship and how they genuinely grew to like one another and see each other as besties. They both deserved a girl friend and I’m glad they found a friendship within each other. 

Laia is the bravest character in this damn book. She went from poor scholar, to slave, to hero and she was brave because she had to be. Laia is strong and took on their entire world. She had help, but she did a lot of it alone and that takes some real guts. She is the most genuine, sweetest, bravest girl and I love her. <3 

Laia also single handedly brought the Ilyaas back from his Soulcatcher shit. During this whole book she was just like ‘You know what? I think I’mma go mess with Elias’ emo ass today to see if I can get him to kiss me or something’ THEN SHE PROCEEDED TO SHOW UP AT THIS MANS HOUSE (realm or whatever) BUTTASS NEKKID. And he saw her and immediately flew the hell out of there it was TOO MUCH and he LIKED IT but couldn’t admit it. 

Geena: You know what I love about that whole scene was like earlier she was like ‘He’s a lost cause idc’ and then Darin was like ‘Elias wouldn’t give up on you if that happened’ and Laia was like ‘you’re right, he would show up stark naked and try to seduce me back to my body’ and she did just that...

Kae: SHE DID. SHE SHOWED UP AND SHOWED OUT! Like, her entire mission was to bring Elias back while also planning on taking down the Nightbringer. But she was straight up like ‘okay but not before i get my man back through SEDUCTION’. Ugh, the mango scene?  Superb. 

Geena: Laia is hands down one of my favourite book characters to exist. Her journey from the first book being a scared girl with a missing brother, to being the face of a revolution… like the GROWTH. Like Kae mentioned, she and Helene end up as BESTIIEESSSS, and I was surprised at how natural they seemed. Because we went from them hating each other to close friends, but despite not seeing their development, it came off so natural? So, I loved that! 

Kae covered Laia’s character pretty thoroughly, she was both a horndog and a bad bitch. Like this girl has pretended to be a Slave for the Commandment to travelling a desert by herself and facing off a squad of Jinn… In retrospect, Laia is a unique case, she’s allowed to be kind and caring and doesn’t have to be a fighter type to be strong. She’s not the chosen one, which this book made clear, it could’ve been anyone to fight the Nightbringer… but only Laia was strong enough to love him AND defy him. And I just love her a lot… she was very much an anime protagonist with the power of love, family, and friendship… anyways I love her and that’s all I have to say

→ Helene 

Geena: The way I ended up liking and rooting for Helene this book? Came out of left field. To be honest, in previous books I didn’t feel much for her other than ‘stop chasing after Elias and Laia pls.’ But this book I wanted her to win, especially with the fight against the germanic-esque invaders. She goes through substantial development, no longer seeing Scholars as slaves and taking their opinions seriously.. Like Laia, Musa, and Darin were all a part of her crew. A stark difference from Book 1 Helene, who thought Scholars only had one role in the world and that was slaves. 

Helene… like Laia… really has the Ember equivalent of hot girl summer with Harper… all the time she spends denying it she is like *jumps on him the chance she gets*. The bath scene… Helene’s power was turning her tortuer into her MAN… But also Sabaa said that ‘yes she has changed, but she has to repent for her sins’ and that’s why Helene is basically left alone at the end (save for Laia, Elias, and Musa). 

Kae: So not gonna lie, I never actually disliked Helene. I saw her as the flawed character she was in the beginning. During her cat and mouse chase with Elias and Laia in the beginning, she would piss me OFF because like, that’s your BEST FRIEEEEEND. JUST STAAAAHP. But also, it was him or her and her family's death, so I get it. But I always saw potential in her to be better. And thank GOODNESS she went through all that character development. Because she was a damn menace in the beginning. 

Also like Geena mentioned; Helly and Harper finally hooking up? I swear the heavens opened up in that moment because EVERYONE could feel their tension. LIKE JUST DO IT ALREADY. You can’t fight love, baybeeee

Watching Helly grow as a person was really rewarding as a reader. Like Geena said, she went from hating scholars to being like ‘hmm, maybe my opinions are shitty?’ and straight up changed.  I also feel for her because she lost her ENTIRE family and like, honestly? I would’ve given up. BUT SHE DIDN’T. She’s a literal fighter, bred for this shit. So she FOUGHT. And I was really scared she was gonna get murked because y’all know Keris’ tiny evil ass doesn’t have a chill button. And when they were fighting? I was like LAWD PLS DON’T  TAKE HELLY. But instead he took Harper *upside down smiley face* SO THAT WAS FUCKED UP AND I WASN’T READY FOR IT. But a piece of me knew it was coming. 

The Bad:   

→ Darin and Harper

Geena: As Kae mentioned… Harper kicked the can in this book :’( His eventual fall came from loving and caring for Helene too much, which left him open and gave Keris the chance to stab him. Harper was basically Helene’s heart outside her body, and when he went down so did Helene. I had had a feeling when Book 3 ended that Harper wouldn’t make it, but I WASN’T HAPPY ABOUT BEING RIGHT FOR ONCE… Harper had finally met his brother (Elias) and hadn’t even had a chance to meet the real Elias and talk to him about their father or other sibling stuff. LIKE OF ALL CHARACTER DEATHS… AND THERE WAS A LOT… The other one that came out of left field was fucking Darin of Serra… DARIN… THE ONE DUDE WE SPENT TWO WHOLE BOOKS SAVING… DEAD WITH A SNAP OF HIS NECK!! I WAS SO MAD

LIKE SABAA HAD US THINKING HE WAS GONNA BE SAFE, SHE GAVE HIM A LIL GIRLFRIEND AND EVERYTHING BUT THEN SHE GOES.. AND KILLS HIM?? JUST LIKE THAT?? Then we had to read the scenes where Elias helps both Darin and Harper pass over into the afterlife and I was just *cries angrily* 

Kae: Well, THAT was sad. Have you ever just like, felt your heart break into a million tiny irreparable pieces? That’s how I felt when Darin and Harper died. Because like, they were both trying to save the women they loved. Darin to Laia, (foolishly so against the Nightbringer) but I would do it for my little sister too. And Harper with Helene against evilass Keris. Dude, that shit just sucked. It hurt to read. It hurt to imagine the girls feeling the pain of their deaths. They were both such good men. And DARIIIN. 

Darin didn’t have to go out like that, man. It was such a harsh death. No last words. It was just over and his body was just gone. I wish Laia would’ve been able to talk with him at The Waiting Place at least one last time. But it is what it is. I hated to see both of them go. Especially since Darin pretty much sparked this whole series. 

Sure, Laia, Helene, and Elias were the main characters. But Darin was the spark that started the fire. And he didn’t even get to see it’s flames extinguished. 

Geena: He was the ember in the ashes… literally like Sabaa uses that for Elias and Laia but it applies to Darin the most

Kae: LITCHRALLY gonna get teary eyed over here. Our boys deserved better :( 

Conclusion 

Geena: This was not at all a disappointing end to the series we’ve followed closely for so long. The different plot points and character arcs were tied up nicely, and Sabaa Tahir showed us once again why she’s one of the best fantasy writers on this side of the Milky Way. We didn’t even bother including a ‘The Ugly’ section because we loved it too much ksfmsd. The only qualm I’d have with the end was the empire remaining, Helene recognized the Scholars as equals but centuries of pain isn’t easily forgotten you know? SO THAT’S WHY I THINK WE DESERVE A SEQUEL SERIES… BUT I DIGRESS… OVERALL, I loved this book and the ending for all the characters ESPECIALLY FOR OUR GIRL LAIA <3

Kae: YES. I AGREE 100% WITH GEENA. It was such a beautiful end to the series. Sabaa is  GENIUS and her storytelling is phenomenal. I loved every little surprise she’s hidden in all of the books. ESPECIALLY WITH COOK BEING ALIVE? I DIDN’T SEE THAT SHIT COMING AT ALL. LIKE HOLY SHIT? So Laia had some remaining family afterall, and I think that’s very sweet. I’m really sad to see the series be over with and Geena and I are both *~HOPIIIING~* for an epilogue or some little crumbs or SOMETHING with the gang and how their lives ended up into middle adulthood or something. 

Geena: I would literally take a single paragraph… Ms. Tahir…. Blease…

Kae: But yes, in conclusion, Laia has a heart of gold and we LOVE HER. She’s brave and strong and smart, and was the only one out of THOUSANDS to stick for herself and defy the Nightbringer, and save the whole world. Helene has come a long way and she developed beautifully as a character. And Elias. Ohhh, Ilyaas. His continued self sacrifice and bravery and love still helped him live in the end and I think that’s beautiful. 

[abri-chan]

Sure the youtuber is Cosmonaut Variety Hour and the video is titled "Why I Don't Like Jojo's Bizarre Adventure". (I don't care if someone doesn't like Jojo, I mean everyone's taste is different; but when you've claimed to have read a series and then claim stuff about it that is straight up wrong, well it makes me question more than just your reading comprehension skills.)

I will check it out rn, and come back to edit my answer.

Edit:

(will write more once I finish it cuz I need to sleep)

First this is from an account that mostly vlogs of why he doesn't like things, so idk what I expected.

I feel he is right with regards to part 3 being weak, I definitely found part 2 more interesting bc Joseph was cool and it was all about wits. I kinda agree with his arguments on Jotaro being cool when used sparingly, and how it used to be the case secondary characters got no backstory and thus the reader didn't have to care. I don't agree with the tropes he thinks JoJo characters belong to--he makes it too simplistic. Secco is not a crazy guy who wants to kill people (he really just does what Cioccolata says bc he's his dog), and even the crazies in JoJo are more different than they are similar: try comparing Dio to Melone to Kira. (He gave like 3 character buckets... so prepare to have your faves all in the coward or crazy categories)

But I'm seeing he starts equating part 3 to all JoJo parts, and actually going forward, starting with part 5 a lot of those issues were fixed. Part 5 starts having character development for non-main characters (I've always said part 3 was a waste of characters and should have gotten at least a VA take).

Another thing, and to his credit he mentions it's a subjective review, the guy seems to like more realistic/relatable anime/manga. He said he really liked Josuke and part 4, which is basically slice of life. You can't even disagree with him, bc JoJo is liked by those that want the over the top flashy characters and are in for the wacky aspect of it, narrative or logic be damned. So it's really, if that's what he dislikes, he won't like the core of JoJo. (Or be one of those fans that only like part 1 best bc they like that realistic and familiar setup it has, and hate Stone Ocean bc it's where it goes bizarre bizarre--and won't even touch part 8 I'm guessing)

People should not equate why he doesn't like jojo to why JoJo is bad... There are things that everyone loves and I find to have merit that I hate, but I guess people are reading him as he's reviewing JoJo, instead of ranting on it. Again the frame he's applying to JoJo is him wanting realistic characters or relatable situations, and that's not JoJo my dudes. An actual review would have to have some objective measures, the good, the bad at the very least, and usually more specific complaints than just "part 3 was bloated, and characters bland, and that's my issue with JoJos" the leap here when there's 5 more parts???

Collorary, comments trying to persuade him are attacking this from the wrong angle: it's not if jojo has merits or not, it's "I have a framework of what stories I find interesting, so the more jojo deviates from it, the less I will like it. It's a sum of errors from my baseline and that's big for JoJo." This would be someone trying to persuade me the Notebook is a good movie where my framework/baseline is SF/horror/weird-fiction/at the very least action?, it's not going to match well and I probably won't enjoy it. (I probably would enjoy Titanic more though than the Notebook though).

Okay he pulled a digibro on part 5, cuz he really hated it which it's funny bc it fixed the issues part 3 have... So the storyline I agree it is a mess, and then again JoJo doesn't have good storylines: it's either very basic plots or just a string of cool episodes put together (compare to Monster), except maybe part 7... But the cool part about JoJo is the flashy characters and bizarre fights---you know the*bizarre* as the title suggests... He just hates the bizarre in JoJo, and you can't argue with that. (As a part 5 fan I don't agree Giorno is the worst JoJo, Johnny is 👀) I have a lot of the arguments for Giorno, it felt the rest of characters had more stakes in the game... But storywise I feel it has some good aspects: while part 4 had a more cohesiveness overall plot, part5 is where side characters started getting development. I also don't think this guy gets it that Araki meant out-of-Japan JoJo parts to be exotic; it's the Rose of Versailles effect where people got enamoured with France bc it was foreign... So it is meant to be unrealistic... (Plot holes in VA are not specific to VA, all parts suffer from those...)

He didn't even read part 6 bc he was exhausted. Okay, so the verdict is, he has some fair points on JoJo, like the storyline and plot being a mess, and fights being cluttered in manga form (why I'm waiting for part 6 to do justice in animation to fights), and that for half of JoJo side characters got no develop. But the gist of the issue is that he doesn't like the thing for which JoJo fascinates people, that is the bizarre... And that's a taste thing, you either like it or you don't--you can't even be wrong here. I really love the creativity of powers and nonsense JoJo has, the local instead of the general plot if you will. (And that the characters eventually grew flashy to the point you can get their personality in a few episodes they show up, but I suppose that is minor.)

(okay done with the video... you can't force people to watch jojo if they don't like the weirdness of it. also is all his twich jojo bros? like tumblr fans mostly write xReader insert my dude. Honestly he likes neverland and I can't--i hated that anime)

[diteach]

2020 in review

I was tagged by @apeironaxiomaton to look back at 2020 and pretty much to try and not hate it so much! Thank you!!

Also I’m stealing the idea of putting everything under a cut, which I have never done in my life (and probably should start doing) bc it makes things neat as heck. Almost none of these are in a particular order.

Top 5 movies I saw this year:

Volevo Nascondermi by Giorgio Diritti - this movie is REALLY good AND I have good memories tied to the protagonist for Reasons I’m gonna cry bye (a shame that I’ve only watched this other excellent movie starring Elio Germano tonight bc it should be on this list)

Emma (2020)

The King’s Speech

Spirited Away or Porco Rosso - I had watched the first before and never the second so I think the fairer choice would be Porco Rosso but I’m not entirely convinced of it

The Wolf of Wall Street - look, I simply have a weak spot for stories that are so absurd they can be nothing but real (see “the other Elio Germano movie”)

Top 5 TV shows I watched this year:

Murdoch Mysteries - it will stay engraved in the first place of EVERY chart in saecula saeculorum and NO nothing can take its place I don’t care

Peaky Blinders

Alias Grace - which I was sure was a movie? I was so shocked to discover it isn’t like was it really six hours long what the

The Queen’s Gambit

Suburra: Blood on Rome - “The series was developed by Daniele Cesarano and Barbara Petronio for Netflix, making it its first Italian-language original television series.” I’ll be honest, some bits were a little bit hmm-inducing. Not the best tv series I’ve ever seen, but it managed to be fun and easy to watch. Suspenseful even!

Top 5 Songs:

So there’s a reason why Spotify said I’m an octogenarian this year and for as much as I complain about it... it’s right... Spotify’s right. And it will only get worse, I’m afraid. All the songs are from the same playlist which was my most listened to (and is the most interesting to share imo). I swear I have listened to other, newer things as well.

Shake That Thing by The Abe Lyman’s California Orchestra

Night Hawk Blues by The Coon-Sander’s Nighthawk Original Orchestra

Where the Sweet Forget-Me-Nots Remember by Merle Johnston and His Ceco Couriers (I’ve loved these flowers since I was a kid it was so nice to find a song with them in the title!!)

Dew Dew Dewey Day by Nat Shilkret

The Panic is On by Mezz Mezzrow And His Swing Band

Top 5 Books I Read This Year:

so this is embarrassing,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,I “bought” an insane amount of books and read a grand total of...like...t w o. It was actually like four and some short stories (which I hated and are therefore banished from the good boy list) so I’m gonna list my silly little titles and make my silly little comments about them all. From “””””best””””” to “worst” we have:

The Adventures of a Modest Man by Robert W. Chambers - I literally cannot shut up about this book and, yes, it is the one tied to this illustration, about which I equally cannot shut up about. It’s so horrible that it makes a 360 and comes back as good, but not before hitting you with a cardboard tube for a laugh and subsequently stabbing you in the kidneys just because it can. I think we can confidently state that we are in the “I didn’t say it was good, I said I liked it” realm. I have so many questions about this book. Why was it written? Was it taking itself seriously? Was it commissioned by someone? Why is it so gay but only if you know that the author is a man? Maybe it’s a parody? Was it an experiment made by the author to test his own skill? I know jack about literature, unfortunately, so grain of salt here but it made me feel strong feels. Not that I could identify any of them if you asked, but they’re definitely there.

Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats by T.S. Eliot - I’m counting this in bc what is a book if not a patchwork of silly little paragraphs anyway so yes, we have a collection of poems. Not only do I know jack about literature; as a matter of fact, I know jack about poetry as well! All I’m gonna say is: I like cute things, I like cats, the poems were cute AND about cats. I really liked it! I often find myself going back and reading again specific parts just for the delight it is to read them out loud! I also may or may not have named the cats you can adopt in Stardew Valley after some of Eliot’s cats. The movie Cats (2019) did one good thing: making me read this.

How You Can Keep Fit by Rudolph Valentino - Yes, that is correct. A book on fitness written (in English!) by silent movie superstar Rodolfo Valentino. It is less than 100 pages on real, actual exercises that the reader can replicate in the comfort of their own house with little to no equipment. With a sprinkle of old timey manly manner of speaking, a few anecdotes from the author’s childhood in ye merry Italian countryside, a dusting of precious advice against ice-cream, and a dash of genuine intrigue for these newly discovered “vitamins” everyone is talking about. Overall a fascinating read that I treasure dearly! Valentino also wrote a book of poems, which I am absolutely thrilled to read this year.

For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway - Hmm.. I have mixed feelings about this one. Whenever the original language of a book is English, I instinctively want to read it in that language. Because I can! And because that way I get to read exactly what the author wrote. If it was another language, I’d get a translation, make peace with the fact that selling my soul to acquire perfect knowledge of all things is morally questionable, and call it a day. Problem: I’m a sucker for old books. And old books I did find indeed. There were three books by Hemingway for sale, very pretty, and for an almost symbolic price too so I bought them. They are Italian translations from the late 50s and my plan was to go through one in Italian, one in English, and after that, decide in which language to read the last one. I believe it was a mistake for me to start with Italian in Hemingway’s case. He’s known for having a very, VERY peculiar style that is integral to how the novels are perceived and I feel like I've robbed myself of literal peace of mind. For as much as I found the story interesting, I could not ignore the voice in the back of my head that kept wondering “was it necessary to render it like this?”. It did make me feel feels and think thoughts, but honestly? It was partially for the wrong reasons imo. It’s one of those books you should read at least once in your life, I guess, so I’m definitely glad I did it! Surprisingly, it captured me more than I expected and trapped me into its little world. I could clearly imagine the scenes in my head, which hadn’t happened in years! I’m really excited to move on to the next two books and finally be able to say if I appreciate his style or not.

Top 5 positive things that happened to me in 2020:

Visited Rome and took a stroll around on my own (sort of) for the first time in my life. I had never seen it at night :) Right after that I celebrated my birthday and got some cute gifts, including sweets that were sent all the way from Australia!!

Managed to buy my mom a gift, which is possibly the only real Accomplishment of 2020.

Took a bizarre trip this summer (I know, guilty) and fell in love with Slovenia

Discovering I like textile arts kinda gave me hope for myself and for the future. I say kinda for I dare not think concretely of anything too positive lest it should be prematurely taken from me. I shan’t elaborate. It is what it is.

Therapy!!!

The last few months of 2020 really hit me hard whereas in the beginning nothing was too bad so it was nice to see the list growing and growing! So many tiny good things happened and it’s worth to cling onto them. I’m tagging @sonicysuchillydog, @nurmilintunen, @alfonzone and anyone else who’d like to participate!! “Tell them I sent you” lol. Guys.............if you don’t feel like going thru your 2020 feel free to ignore bc......I get it............................

[mxmeiyun]

Doctor Who season overviews

My friend is embarking on the wonderful journey of watching of “Doctor Who” and asked me for a rundown of what episodes she absolutely has to watch, my favorites, and ones that can be skipped. I thought I’d share them here in case anyone else was interested. Also I’m curious what anyone else’s thoughts on some must-view episodes.

(Will be updating as my friend reaches each season.)

Series 1

Definitely watch 1 because it’s where everything starts and you start to get a vibe for how the show goes. A fantastic place to start, if you will.

2 is a fun one with a plethora of aliens. If you’ve seen gifs of the Doctor jamming to “Toxic” by Brittany Spears, this is where that’s from.

3 is the first “historical” episode of the revival. Ok episode overall. Has ghosts and a bit an unintentional easter egg for future episodes/series.

4-5 are a bit silly but also I think have some good characterization of the Doctor and why sometimes he needs a friend to keep him in check.

6 introduces you to a classic DW alien so you should watch it.

7 is good to watch because it sort of sets up some stuff for the finale but I also find the guest characters kinda annoying.

8 is good if you want to learn more about Rose and that becomes more important to later stories and the next season.

9-10 is an all around fan favorite (certainly one of mine) and introduces a re-occurring fan favorite character. The reason why gas masks will forever make me uneasy.

11 follows up after the events of 4-5 (all three could be skipped if you want to go along faster).

12-13 are the finale and should be watched.

Series 2

0 (the Christmas special) is the first one with David Tennant as the Doctor, a muse-watch in my books. (Also, some things happen that become very important in later stories but I won’t say more because spoilers.) Introduces a new important character and re-introduces something

1 has cat people.

2 is a fun one and has an easter egg of sorts for future stories/characters but isn't necessary for major plot line. It’s one of the ones I like to rewatch.

3 sees the return of an old fan favorite companion from Old Who (before this still ongoing revival).

4 is skippable unless you like some fancy French aesthetic or are into automatons.

5-6 you should watch. Re-introduction of another classic Who monster.

7 is kinda weird.

8-9 are a good, kinda creepy story. Sees the introduction of the Ood, which are one of my dad’s personal favorites, who will also pop up later.

10 is literally one of the dumbest eps ever.

11 I literally don’t remember at all but the internet tells me it involves a small child, and Doctor Who does have some good, creepy episodes playing on stereotypical childhood fears.

12-13 are the two part finale so you definitely have to watch those. Prepare for some serious emotions, though.

Series 3

0 (Christmas special) introduces Donna Noble. Must watch, but I won’t say why.

1 introduces the new companion. Also introduces a kind of goofy alien that will pop up again.

2 is a fun one with Shakespeare and witches.

3 sees a return to New New York on New Earth (same setting as 2x01). Should watch because of [spoilers redacted] at the end. (Hint: think of who mysteriously disappeared in that previous episode.)

4-5, as the titles suggest, feature Daleks and imo all Dalek episodes should be watched.

6 is ok. Honestly kind of predictable plot-line.

7 is also ok. Not particularly memorable, but it is the first episode written by Chris Chibnall, who took over as show-runner for Series 11 (first season with Jodie Whittaker, the first female Doctor).

8-9 is a two-parter and is a fan and personal favorite.

10 is unusual because the main characters are not actually the Doctor and Martha, but this is another much-loved episode. Also introduces one of my favorite and most scary (imo) aliens.

11, 12, and 13 all kind of go together. Sees the re-introduction of an important character from the show’s original run. All pretty memorable and Martha is a total badass.

Series 4 (tl;dr: watch all of this series)

0 (Christmas special; you get the drill) is a good one. Sometimes there are episodes where the Doctor meets someone where you just know they’d be a fantastic companion.

1 is a must-see because [spoilers redacted].

2 is another must-see. It’s a solid episode of Who, is yet another good example of why the Doctor shouldn’t travel alone, and as a fun fact, we see two actors who will pop up in later series.

3, as the title implies, sees the return of the Ood! Watch this for some foreshadowing.

4-5 we see a new-to-New-Who alien who is another one that will come to pop up again over time. Honestly the plot and guest characters follow some predictable tropes BUT we also get to see some of [redacted]’s family, which is always good fun.

6 I think is only an okay episode. But meeting the “Doctor’s daughter” (not a spoilers bc its the episode title) is kinda fun. And I think it gives us some interesting insight into companions post their travels with the Doctor. 

Also, weird DW fun fact: David Tennant and the actress who plays his daughter is the real-life daughter of actor Peter Davison, who played the Fifth Doctor back in Classic Who, are now married with kids.

7 isn’t integral to any major plot lines, but it’s no doubt a fun one, especially if you like murder mysteries or Agatha Christie.

8-9 are another must-see two fan and personal favorites for many reasons why, but I can’t go into because spoilers! Some good spooky eps that are really downright chilling at times, but not completely without some good comic bits. Love watching this with friends who are watching it for the first time.

10 does an excellent job of being creepy, which is good if you’re into it, but you can skip it if not.

11 is a good one with a timey-wimey plot. Also yay because [spoilers]!

12-13 are an excellent two-part series finale and that’s all I can say.

The Specials (mini series between Series 4 & 5)

1 is good if you like Cybermen

2 has a spunky one-off companion who is a lot of fun

3 is creepy af

4-5 are a must-watch two-parter. If you liked the Series 4 finale (and let’s be real, how could you not), you’ll enjoy this. Also, it’s the last episodes with Russel T. Davies as show-runner.

Series 5

1 introduces the new Eleventh Doctor and their companion, so definitely have to watch that. (Side note: fish fingers and custard is a weird combination but, speaking from personal experience, it’s not terrible.)

2 is a good one with debatable ethical questions and some good insight into the Doctor.

3 is another Dalek episode, but it’s only okay as far as Dalek episodes go. It’s a historical one, if you like those. Fun fact: it’s written by Mark Gatiss, a collaborator of new show-runner Stephen Moffat and guest star from “The Lazarus Experiment.”

4-5 you have to see because spoilers. But it’s very good. Also, has some plot points that are related to the overall story of the Ponds.

6 you get the gist from the title and honestly it’s not terribly exciting. Some fun bits about the new group’s dynamic.

7 is a pretty weird one tbh but should be watched we get companion character development.

8-9 introduces some fun characters that will pop up again every now and then and has a very important plot point. (Fun fact: this one takes place in the year 2020!)

10 is one of the more emotionally-driven episodes and deals with mental health. One of many fan favorites.

11 is lighter fanfare after some honestly pretty heavy episodes that precede it. Not really important to the overall plot, but it’s a fun comedic one. 

12-13 are the finale, so obviously definitely watch that. Gets a little timey-wimey.

Series 6

0 is fine, as the Christmas specials go. I’m a little tired of the “man makes it his purpose in life to save his dying love who is kind of helpless in her own story” but the ending’s alright.

1-2 set the stage for the whole series, so those have to be watched.

3 has pirates, which is fun but not necessary to the main story line.

4 has such an intriguing title, so how could you not watch it? Will we finally find out if River and the Doctor are married? Spoilers.

5-6 are key plot points. Love a good doppelgänger.

7 follows immediately after 6, so I can’t say much about it.

8 is a pretty weird one but hold on to your butts for a wild ride.

9 is a properly spooky one. Like, actually low-key terrifying. But not related to the main plot line.

10 is emotionally painful but in a good way.

11 is another creepy one that plays on common fears. Inspired by some Greek mythology, which is fun.

12-13 are the two-part finale, so you know the drill.

Series 7, part I

0 is another only-okay Christmas special. They’re just not as fun as they once were, in my opinion.

1 you have to watch for plot reasons. It’s a good one because [spoilers redacted].

2 is pretty much what it sounds like. We are now also accompanied by Rory’s father, which is pretty amusing. Sees the return of a previously-met alien species. (Fun fact: one of the guest stars is David Bradley from, among other things, the Harry Potter movies.)

3 has some fun moral quandaries.

4 is fun because we see the Doctor having a go at normal Earth life, as well as thee return of some familiar arguably badass faces.

5 is a must-see for plot reasons (and the return of one of my favorite on-again-off-again companions).

Series 7, part II (don’t read below if you haven’t finished part I)

5.5 you have to watch and is a sort of mid-season Christmas special. Sees the return of an Old Who monster as well as several New Who faces.

6 follows up the events of the above special, so you have to see that, too.

7 is good because gives some backstory to Clara.

8 sees the return of another Old Who alien, whose species will pop up later in New Who. I didn’t particularly like nor dislike this one.

9 is a ghost story, which we haven’t really seen in Who for a while. It’s ok.

10 is also only ok but you should watch it for overall plot points.

11 we see the return of the Paternoster Gang, who I find quite amusing, but otherwise I didn’t really like this episode. It’s a little gross.

12 is written by Neil Gaiman so you should watch it. It’s also only fine, but better in my opinion than most of the other episodes in this part of the series.

13 is the series finale and has a rather intriguing title and wraps up this half of the series’ major story arc. Honestly I’m not a fan but you should watch it anyway.

Series 8

1 sees the return of the Paternoster Gang and more dinosaurs, but is also the first episode of the new Doctor and as such should be watched. Also have to keep an eye out at the end for some important scenes.

2 introduces a friend of Clara’s and reintroduces the Daleks but with a bit of a weird twist. Not super key to any main plot lines.

3 is pretty much what the title says it is. “Robot of Sherwood.” It’s meh.

4 is a little timey-wimey and develops some intercharacter relationships but overall isn’t exactly mandatory viewing.

5 is a robbery heist with some sci-fi twists. It’s alright.

In 6 we see Clara trying (and failing) to compartmentalize her life with the Doctor and her regular human on Earth life. It’s decent and there’s a snippet at the end that hints at some overarching plots.

7 tries to make some arguments about ethics but isn’t too convincing. The plot’s kinda fun, though.

8 is another one where the title, “Mummy on the Orient Express” pretty much sums it up. It does have a couple small throwbacks to older New Who seasons.

9 isn’t key to major plot lines but it’s a decent and kind of spooky episode.

10′s kinda dumb but has some weak environmental messaging.

11-12 wrap up the season’s major plot lines.

Series 9

0 is like a Christmas-themed reworking of a previous episode but I won’t say which one because spoilers.

1-2 are a pretty strong two-part season opener, I think. We see the return of some of the Doctor’s oldest friends/enemies.

3-4 are a properly timey-wimey, fairly creepy story. It’s a good one that honestly I wouldn’t want to watch by myself late at night with the house to myself.

5-6 are also timey-wimey AND introduce a character played by Maisie Williams (of “Game of Thrones” fame) who is actually pretty complex for a female character created by Stephen Moffat.

7-8 sees the return of, no surprise here, the Zygones. And also UNIT and Osgood, who is fan service personified but I’m ok with that.

9, in a way, is about the evils of capitalism but in space!

10 is important for plot. (Sees the return of some new old friends.)

11-12 has some good timey-wimeyness and a healthy dose of angst. (Also, the ending is gay and you can’t convince me otherwise.) It’s frustrating, but in an understandable way? I guess?

[datleggy]

a list of every anime i love/recommend, accumulated over the last 10+ years

1. NATSUME YUUJINCHOU 

SUMMARY/REVIEW: 

The main character is a teenage boy named Natsume, whose parents died when he was too young to remember them properly. He’s passed around random relatives homes, but because he can see yokai (spirits), he’s ostracized by classmates and his foster families (ALL HIS CHILDHOOD FLASHBACKS ARE SO FUCKING SAD) and eventually very distant relatives (an older couple who never had kids of their own and have so much goddamn love to give D:!!!) take Natsume in, and the story basically starts from there. 

It’s a very heart-warming story following Natsume’s new life in this new town, accepting his ability to see yokai, forging new relationships in the form of friends and family, and even with the yokai themselves. 

This is honestly probably my favorite anime/manga period, because it’s so sad but so cathartic and you watch as the main character grows and learns to trust those around him, and finally gets the unconditional love he’s always deserved, not to MENTION THE FACT THAT THEY DO A WHOLE EP WHERE NATSUME IS TURNED BACK INTO A LITTLE KID AND IT IS SOOOO GOOD OMG

Plus for those of you who enjoy whump, this show has a decent amount of it. Mainly emotional whump, but also some episodes where Natsume is injured or sick--as well as I believe one where his companion (the chubby cat on his shoulder who’s actually a pretty badass yokai) gets shot with an arrow and is down for the count. 

10/10 would and have watched again. 

2. KODOCHA NO OMOCHA 

SUMMARY/REVIEW:  The main character is a sixth grader named Sana. She’s a gifted actress on a t.v. show everyone likes and she’s silly and fun, very intuitive and surprisingly empathetic for a child. 

Her main problem is in school, where Akito, who she deems the leader of her class’ wolf pack of rowdy rude boys, lets them terrorize not just the teacher, but all the girls in class, as well. 

I don’t really want to give a lot away, so I’ll just state the obvious. This anime/manga is shoujo, which means that it does focus on a romantic relationship throughout the series. Mainly the one between Sana and Akito. Sana is absolutely oblivious about her own feelings, while Akito is a stubborn little shit. 

I remember watching this at like, age 12 maybe? And I really enjoyed it because (although I do enjoy your typical silly doesn’t take itself too seriously slice of life shoujo) this particular anime, while super funny and light hearted at times, was also really dramatic and even kinda dark, which was surprising considering the characters ages and the general kid-friendly vibe (especially the opening for the anime). 

3. DETECTIVE CONAN

SUMMARY/REVIEW:  Our main character is initially Shinichi Kudo, teenage detective, who’s on a date with childhood sweetheart Ran (whose father also happens to a detective but like....not a good one lmao), when his nosy ass self decides to go and check out some shady business and gets “poisoned”. 

The poison he’s given is intended to kill him, but what it actually does is turn him back into a child. And now, as Conan Edogawa, (who’s 7 but like....we just supposed to believe all these cops and detectives on the force are cool with a seven year old wee lil babe on these really gruesome ass crime scenes??? lmaoooo) we follow him on his adventures as he solves crimes and tries to solve the biggest mystery of all, his own! 

I absolutely LOVE this anime/manga, even though I’ll be honest, there is SO MUCH FILLER, but I like the characters enough that I really don’t mind. The show is at least 900+ episodes in at this point, and there are a total of 26 movies so far, last time I checked. 

Also, the show is a whump fangirls’ dream come true. The main character is thrown out of windows, balconies, shot at, and in one occasion actually shot, he’s had broken bones, sprains, almost been blown up or drowned/burned, been sick, and oh, his occasional transformations from child to teenager are incredibly painful. 

This show is probably at fault for my love of whump, since it was one of my first animes at like, age 9. smh. 

4. THE DEVIL IS A PART-TIMER!

REVIEW:

I’m not even going to summarize this one. The title does it for me. This is truly one of the funniest animes I’ve ever seen. Motherfuckin Satan works at a McDonalds part time and it is the BEST. 

Technically I would count this show as a kind of harem, but only because there are like three main girl characters after the overlord Satan himself. I usually dislike harem type animes but the way this is done is sooooo good I couldn’t resist. 

I would watch a million filler episodes of Satan trying to solve problems at his minimum wage job tbh. I love every single character, I love the plot, I love everything about this anime! In terms of comedy (with the occasional plot driven serious moments) this is IT bro. 

5. BLACK BUTLER

SUMMARY/REVIEW: 

The main character is Ciel Phantomhive (roughly 14 years old). His parents are killed, his house is burned to ashes, and he’s kidnapped (around age 9 or 10 I believe) and abused. During this abuse Ciel calls upon a demon to free him and help him get revenge on those who harmed the Phantomhive household, which is where Sebastian, one “hell of a good butler” comes in. 

We then follow Ciel and Sebastian on their path of vengeance, and along the way we meet Ciel’s human servants, three very clumsy and seemingly bad at their given tasks characters (i love them all), and some of his extended relatives and connections. 

My favorite thing about Black Butler is the art, both in the anime and manga. Everything is so detailed and pretty! 

The characters are interesting, the plot is dark but they manage to make most of the series overall pretty light-hearted and funny in general. Though of course there are chapters/parts of the series that get really grim (which duh, the whole thing focuses on revenge so...) 

I have to say, the arc I enjoyed the most has to be the movie, Black Butler: Book Of the Atlantic. It is beautifully drawn and sooooooo entertaining. 

6. INUYASHA 

SUMMARY/REVIEW: 

Our main characters are Inuyasha, a half-demon, who’s been in a sort of spiritually binding coma for the last few decades, and fourteen year old Kagome, who falls into an old well in her family’s shrine and finds herself being transported into another time period. 

Together, she and Inuyasha travel across the lands in the feudal era to find the scattered shards of the shikon jewel, a powerful jewel which grants anyone who possesses it ultimate power. 

I was too young to stay up and watch Inuyasha on adult swim, so my mom would tape the show on a VCR for me to watch the next day after school--yes, I’m old old. lmaoooo I ADORE this show. 

It’s so good! It’s got everything! A tortured lil half-demon with a sad past who’s stubborn and rude but got a good heart! A fierce and equally as stubborn main protagonist, who’s whole ass family knows exactly where she goes off to??? and are supportive af????? like???? her mama packs her and her squad of demon/exorcist/demon hunter pals bentos?!?! lmao i love it. 

The characters are awesome and funny and likable as all heck, and of course they all have their sad backstory, but like, unlike some animes (lookin at YOU Naruto) they don’t go mega overboard on it, at least not without some plot behind the episode. 

7. YU YU HAKUSHO 

SUMMARY/REVIEW: 

Before I even start in on the summary, ya’ll should watch this soley bc of the cute ass 90′s style animation alone. LOOK AT ALL THAT SHINY HAIR!

ANYWAY. Main character is teenage hooligan and overall cutie pie Yusuke! He gets struck by a car and fucking DIES in the first episode after shoving a little boy out of the way, only to end up in the spirit world where the head honcho up there (who looks like a wee baby) tells him “Oh shit, didn’t expect you to like, actually do anything self-sacrificing EVER so like, you’re not on our list of people who were supposed to die today...” 

And uh, I don’t wanna give anything away, so I’m just gonna say that if you haven’t seen this anime yet, you definitely should! It’s hilarious and dramatic, the fight scenes are very well done, all the side characters, who eventually become main characters are a blessing (specifically Hiei, who’ve I’ve had a crush on since I was 12) and the ending is a satisfying one, which you can’t really say for a lot of media. 

8. CHRONO CRUSADE 

SUMMARY/REVIEW: 

I still get weepy when I think of this anime, so all I’ll say is it’s about a badass demon slaying nurse and her demon companion and some very tragic shit. 

It’s a great anime overall, especially if you like crying yourself to sleep at night :) 

9. GHOST HUNT

SUMMARY/REVIEW: 

The main character is high school student Mai, who is hired by Naru, the head of a Shibuya psychic research, and together, with a group of questionable exorcists/psychics, they encounter paranormal phenomenons and some outright scary shit. 

I’m not really a fan of the horror genre tbh but I do like mystery, and the series deals with that quite a bit. They deal with each case for several episodes so nothing feels too rushed. 

The series is really fun in a creepy, wtf is that way. I recommend the manga, only because it’s more detailed in terms of plot than the anime. 

10. ASSASSINATION CLASSROOM 

SUMMARY/REVIEW: 

I didn’t really make this list in any particular order but if I had to say, Assassination Classroom and Natsume Yuujinchou probably tie for BEST ANIME PERIOD! 

This anime is about a weird ass “alien” creature, no one knows where it came from or why tf it’s here on earth, all they know is that in one year it’s threatened to blow the world up. 

His only request to the government is that they let him become a teacher for Class E, the worst class of Kunugigaoka Junior High School, and he will stay put, so that they can attempt an assassination on him during this one year period. 

AND LISTEN! I am a shallow hoe, so I literally never would have read this manga or watched the series had I not been roaming Barnes and Noble one day with my S.O. and picked it up to read as a JOKE! 

I was hooked after the first chapter and I am soooooooo glad I picked this manga up, bc it is absolutely not the type I would normally go for, cover art wise. I finally, after many many years, learned not to judge a book by its cover bc LORD this anime is so goddamn good, you don’t understand! Like, I’ve watched it so many times and still laugh at the same parts, cry at the same parts, am proud af at the same parts! like, this anime is an instant classic and should definitely be more popular than it is. 

assassination classroom and natsume yuujinchou????? MASTERPIECES! 

[joneswuzhere]

in anticipation of episode 4.14, i watched ‘how to get away with murder’ s1

here’s my thoughts on how rd might be playing out an homage to the show, and on what these parallels might suggest to expect from the whole ‘jughead dies’ plot

below are complete spoilers for ‘how to get away with murder’ s1, a few spoilers for s2 and s3. and also. spoilers for donna tartt’s ‘the secret history.’ cool ok here we go

- first. we’re abbreviating the title to htg

- second. htg’s plot is pretty convoluted and out-of-order, so it’s hard to mention one thing without having to explain four other things. riverdale’s format is so chill in comparison. i apologize for repetition and confusing timeline discussion

- also, maybe u watched this show! or maybe u want to. or maybe ur impatient and just here for riverdale lol. i’m not going to make u scroll through a whole plot summary of htg’s first season. BUT i did write one up here if that’s something u want to read. it will probably make the following easier to understand, but i’ll do my best to make it accessible without that

- third. like i said, my goal here is finding potential parallels and, based on that, speculating on what rd is doing with this plot. i have no conclusions but i do have some thoughts and maybe you do too

- ok the basics of htg:

- this show is the visual inspiration for rd’s flash forward hook, as well as for the murder cover up in the woods.

- the show structure is: a main timeline, intercut occasionally with flash forwards to a murder that happens at the midseason point. similar to rd

- a difference: in rd, the flashes jump to different points over a period of days - burning their clothes, the search party, body identification, then the arrests, the line up, and then back to the ‘death’ scene. in htg, all the flashes jump to different points during one particular night, and only deal with the groups effort to dispose of the body and evidence.

- where was i. oh, but there’s 2 murders in htg. murder #1 happened before the series start point. in the main timeline, the investigation into murder #1 builds up to the midseason climax that results in murder #2 (the one the group is covering up).

- after the timeline has caught up to the midseason murder, then the flash forwards are replaced with flash backs that begin to reveal past details about murder #1.

- so right away, what stands out to me is the possibility that, once the main timeline catches up to whatever happens to jughead in the woods, rd will continue to follow this format. but what would rd flash back to? hang on,

- the genre here is inverted detective story, where instead of finding out someone was killed and following along to find out who did it,, you learn right away who’s doing the murdering and how. the mystery lies in whether they’ll get away with it and/or what led up to that point.

- in htg, murder #1 is a regular mystery, and murder #2 is inverted. in rd, jughead’s death is an inverted mystery, and there’s several other regular mysteries/deaths: chipping’s suspicious suicide, the old generation of the quill & skull society, + the missing kids that jughead and betty are investigating

- so it may transpire that we see flashbacks to those missing students, like moose or the stonewall 5. or maybe context on why chipping jumped, what dupont said to him. or a glimpse into fpj1′s time at stonewall. i’m spitballing

- hm a note on genre here: maybe there’s a conversation to be had about inverted murder mysteries and perfect murders (recall, the theme dupont assigned for the class). like, crime fiction specifically told through the perspective of getting away with it. (a perfect murder is specifically a murder that resists all explanation. no suspects, no evidence)

- ok. the first half of htg s1 is the lead up to the night of murder #2. the second half of the season focuses on how participating in and covering up a murder is affecting the people involved. grief, guilt, anxiety, nightmares. strain and changes in their relationships with each other, friends, and family. again, perhaps we’ll see rd focus on this in a similar way.

- hey btw, does that sound a little familiar to u? it might if you read the secret history. we already know this book is one of the influences behind rd’s s4 plot, but i was surprised at how much overlap is apparent between htg’s plot and the book plot. i made a chart about it lmao. more on that later

- what else fits into a parallel between rd and htg?

- some similarities between characters. htg has a group of law students from privileged backgrounds who are super competitive with each other, similar to the stonewall kids. and there’s the one outsider student who gets into the class last minute, is far less privileged, and who has a tragic past and a head for snooping and investigation.

- there’s a student/teacher affair that gets violent. it goes down pretty much the opposite of in rd; the girl gets pregnant, is totally in love, suggests the affair should be revealed to the teacher’s wife, and then she goes missing and turns up dead (murder #1)

- also, unlike rd where we have only donna’s word, in htg the affair is confirmed, and revealed through a bunch of evidence - dick pics on phones and postmortem pregnancy results, etc

- some other minor details from the show that the rd writers may have reflected upon:

- a window jumper suicide. circumstances very not the same tho

- a blink-and-miss-it scene with a dog named mr. chips, which is the nickname of the film character who rd’s mr. chipping is probably named after (goodbye mr. chips)

- also, ok. the 2 murders story is the show’s long A plot, but each episode also has a short B plot in the form of court cases that annalise and her group of student/interns work on. (btw lead character annalise is a criminal defense lawyer & law professor). details worth mentioning from some of these subplots:

- there’s a case involving cult brainwashing. a former devotee is charged with something terroristic with a bomb she did years ago, idk. annalise has her visit her old cult leader in prison to ask him to help her by testifying that he forced her to participate. this backfires - she falls back under his sway, he escapes custody during the trial, and they run away together, abandoning the family she made after leaving the cult

- in this ep the patty hearst trial is mentioned - the difficulty of trying to legally prove someone acted under duress, or prove they were brainwashed. and how trying to claim both at the same time is a terrible legal defense

- in another case, a woman is charged with murdering her housemaid while sleepwalking. she resists help from annalise bc she feels so guilty. the woman says ‘can u imagine waking up to realize that you killed somebody you loved? that’s what i did.’ except she didn’t; they figure out she was being framed by the real killer, her husband, who was jealous bc he thought he was the only one sleeping with the maid but he found out his teen son was too. yikes

- there is so much cheating in this show smh. anyway,

- these subplots are interesting to compare to rd, but sort of trivial in terms of htg’s overall plot. so what happens in the A plot after murder #2?

- a catch-up if u skipped the plot summary: annalise keating, lawyer, professor, is the central character. she’s direct, takes no shit, and puts up an emotionally impervious wall that keeps almost everyone out. but it’s also apparent from ep1 that she’s really suffering - her marriage is falling apart, she’s cheating and finds out her husband, sam, is too. they agree to repair things and sam seems to be making a big effort, but she keeps catching him in lies that point toward murder #1.

- in the latter half of the season, while she’s helping make sure the kids get away with murder #2 (they accidentally kill sam while pursuing him as the murder suspect), annalise’s grieving process is a focus. there’s an emphasis on her appearance as her armor, guarding her complicated grief over the trauma of her loss and the destruction of her trust. her cold exterior is both a protection and, at the same time, a point of suspicion for police, lawyers, and public who wonder how she can be so unaffected. meanwhile, in private, she has a total breakdown.

- this builds from a parallel that’s played with throughout the season - annalise’s control of her image vs hiding or confronting the truth. like, at one point, it’s evening, she wipes off all her makeup and pulls off her wig, then turns barefaced to her husband and asks him bluntly for the truth, why she caught him in a huge lie. and the flip side, later walking around with her whole look in place, as if nothing is wrong, is part of her effort to cover up the murder.

- i bring this up bc it reminds me of something that (the brilliant, the illuminating) @bettycooperoutfitwatch​ talked about in her 4.05 post, regarding That Sweater.

- in this post, at the flash forward arrest scene, she points out ‘it’s betty cooper in disguise as betty cooper.’ which, like. i’m floored by this observation

- the persona betty originally created to conform to her parents’ unattainable expectations of perfection and normality, now (not for the first time) dialed up and re-purposed to try to disperse suspicion???? love this

- annalise and betty are very Not alike as characters. but it seems that betty, like annalise, will be involved in the murder of her loved one. i’m interested to see if rd will follow htg’s emphasis on emotional turmoil and pretense in the aftermath of trying to get away with something horrible

- oh but that reminds me, i promised a chart

- i haven’t read the secret history and i have no desire to, but i foraged enough details to be able to point out some bare bones similarities going on here. it’s important to include this bc, at the moment, it complicates any attempt to figure out which, if either, inverted murder plot rd might be paralleling at any time.

- in other words, all my speculations here about htg parallels might be worthless bc i might be looking at the wrong text. it’s cool, i think that makes it more fun

- book spoilers in here. sorry it’s small, u can try to zoom in here

- please feel free to jump in with corrections or more details if you’ve read the book

- [update as of 2/25: i’m reading the fuckin book after all, so i may make another post with an updated chart at some point. maybe]

- last thing. in htg, the inverted mystery (whether or not the kids get away with it) is resolved by annalise planting evidence that frames someone else (whom she chooses bc she’s confident she can get him safely out of the charges). the bottom line there is: someone innocent is framed for murder #2.

- and then a new development - one kid involved in murder #2 freaks out and may decide to turn the others in - leads to a 3rd death. hm (post s4 update: that’s jonathan i guess)

- actually no, the real last thing. wikipedia says there’s a subplot in htg s2 that involves blackmailing annalise and others with uhhhh creepy surveillance videos of them, some that incriminate them in murder #2.

- and then, in s3, drawn out over another series of flash forwards, there’s a character death reveal... of the guy who’s most in parallel to jughead.... lmao. and speak nothing of s6. so like, there’s definitely potential for more or continuing parallels here

- i kind of hope not though, bc i don’t have it in me to watch more of this show. it’s Very high strung, i can’t deal with it (post s4 update: no i never watched any more of this show but yes, that was all definitely used by rd)

- bonus: wait do u want some of my opinions on the actual show?? favorite characters: annalise, bonnie, and oliver. i liked the fast pace but the constant tension stressed me out. also, not enough lesbians; i kept expecting bonnie and annalise to kiss. the guy who plays wes.... not a very good actor, is he? viola davis though: amazing. that’s all. watch if u like stress. sorry i spoiled everything

[seasaltmemories]

Devil’s Line Review/Analysis

This is gonna be a different beast to tackle for a few reasons A) I actually started this once before and dropped it, B) For a proper analysis I’m gonna have to dive into spoilers, and C) I technically haven’t finished the entire series, as the last volume of the manga isn’t translated (and I will only talk about the manga here) I say this all so you’ll be gentle with me as I pop from subject to subject

To start let’s get that summary:

Tsukasa, a college student, is rescued from an attack by a devil, one of many vampires that can blend in among the human population. Anzai, her savior, is a half-devil who exploits his supernatural gifts as a member of a shadowy police task force that specializes in devil-related crime in Tokyo. As Anzai continues to keep guard over Tsukasa, the two quickly forge a tentative bond—one that Anzai fears will test his iron-clad rule of never drinking human blood …

So I feel like expectations play a lot into how you receive this story and what you want to get out of it.  My first time going in I was told it was a dark fantasy series, and then what I got in the 7 or 8 chapters I read was a lot of faffing about of will they won’t they with the external plot only appearing to be there to drive the main couple together, so I got bored and dropped it

This time I went in not only knowing there would be a lot of romance, but also personally more in the mood for vampire stuff, and kinda meeting it where it was allowed me to see it grow into more interesting ways

The beginning isn’t bad, but I think it is best appreciated when you know up front this is 50% romance and 50% thriller, both genres are equally important to the narrative, but rather than starting out with that ratio, the beginning focuses entirely on Tsukasa’s and Anzai’s blossoming romance, from there a greater plot concerning devils begins to unfold, and then the two really begin to work in sync to prop both sides up

Bc once the ball starts rolling, the plot becomes a high-speed mystery concerning secret conspiracies and questions of who you can trust, what started out simple gets more information added on that complicates matters as you begin to question your own judgement, still what keeps the plot from becoming a jumbled mess is the fact at the heart of the story is always Tsukasa and Anzai, it gives the narrative focus that I’ve see few things series have

I should also mention my first impressions of the romance being shaken bc I am so used to series having couples who are love at first sight yet waste the entire time actually getting together until the end, and while these two basically also have love at first sight and take a while to actually get together, they get together in an overall timely manner, and their relationship is allowed to grow and evolve in very mature ways, not just sexually but also emotionally, a lot of their arc together is learning about how to communicate what they want to the other and as their relationship grows, their strength as individual characters grow as well

Now I’m gonna get into some spoilers, but what turned the series from simply fun into can’t put down is the timeskip

A lot of the elements that I enjoyed were being done before the time skip, but I feel like the skip is what allowed it to reach new heights it just kept hovering up at

Bc slowly as we start from Tsukasa and Anzai, the world expands, first to his colleagues, then to their enemies until it is a large but never burgeoning cast of connections, and the way they keep it all together is that it is grounded by lot of casual little moments to see people just be people, no matter their relation to the protagonists, we are consistently shown the humanity of almost everyone we come in contact with, and as a result it is hard to not fall in love with people who had previously tried to murder your faves (and might still currently be doing so)  and after the timeskip we just get hit with back to back side stories of the cast each going through their own internal problems, while still keeping to focus on Tsukasa and Anzai

Another thing that helps is that the worldbuilding concerning devil’s is extremely well-done, again it starts out simple “they see blood, then transform into monsters, sexual lust is connected to their bloodlust” but not only do we learn devil’s themselves, but a lot about what it means for a world to have a population like this, for example we get a detailed look into the tech created to help devil’s have safe sex with human partners and while it can be easy to poke fun at such specific details, by the end of the series it really does feel like an actual genetic disorder rather than some supernatural stuff with a sciency explanation tacked on

A moment that really made me stop and realize “oh the person behind this must know stuff besides story-telling” was when after and educational lecture about devils, the speaker admitted privately that the model used to describe them was problematic in that it demonized certain sects of devils, like wow, it was a quick moment, but a story showing the struggles of nuanced activism? Then we not only touch upon exploration of devil’s through a social science lens, but the overall philosophy that gets brought up on how to deal with institutional bigotry is interesting (this will be endgame spoilers so if you want to skip this, scroll down until you see bolded words again)

In two separate cases, we see two queer women involved in institutions get asked to do something unethical, both decide that if they refuse then they’ll get fired and someone else will simply take their place, and their goal then becomes to work through the system until they make it to the top and can start openly resisting

The effectiveness of these strategies is intriguing to dig through, the first is a researcher breeding devil/human children to study, (many of the participants being convicts) and from her actions we see her try and inform those involved to the best of her abilities and get their consent, and when possible, try to use couples who are already together, any information that would put individuals at risk of being chosen for illegal experimentation, she destroys, when she becomes the head researcher, she changes the program to rely completely on studying the children of already formed devil/human couples who come to them willingly

The second is asked to head the conspiracy of wiping out all devils, when ironically she is a devil herself, and so what they do is essentially play their part until they’ve amassed enough power to eventually stage a coup, until they can get an insider to be the prime minister to publicly reveal to the world, the conspiracy and have vocal support of devil rights, not only does this plan depend on the actual killing of innocents and riling up actual bigotry, but it also attracts actual cold-blooded killers and violent bigots which complicate matters, and for all their effort, the prime minister gets assassinated right during his big speech 

As I mentioned their is still one volume left untranslated so I don’t know how it will add on to this, (most of the plot lines got wrapped up so I can’t see many major developments happening beyond wrapping up character plot threads) but they’re some juicy thematic questions to chew on as well, which is always a treat

Returning to some general strengths of the series, there really is a genuine sex-positive stance, I say that specifically bc it isn’t just simply exploring themes of sex, but also the way it does so, as mentioned above, there is a lot of baggage around devil’s and their sexual relationships, but a lot of what the characters have to learn is that such desires are normal and not some great abomination, just something they have to be responsible about, no one is shamed for communicating what they want/like, especially women, where multiple female characters are in fact openly encouraged to communicate to their partners that they are interested in sex, and from their we watch multiple couples (including a m/m one) work out what they want, in one neither is interested in romance, but is ok with a friends with benefit thing, two have the male participant be unsure of their feelings and so they work in their comfort zone (one likes physical touch and kissing, another they only hug) the m/m couple not only get screen-time of struggling with the “are you gay, I want to show interest but not get perceived as a creep” deal, but one admits to being repulsed by sex, and they still work out a romantic relationship

And the most surprising amount part of this, is that there is no unnecessary titillation, the eternal question of what is over-sexualization and all can get confusing and tiring, so I won’t define a specific threshold here or say this is the only way to tell such stories about sex, but first you don’t got any unrealistic body proportions on anyone or any creepy shots, everyone is fully clothed and dressed normally for the non-sexy bits, and while we do get a sex scene, it is pretty non-graphic (you got boobs and that is all that it on screen) so there really isn’t any confusing moments like in other stories I’ve experienced where I have to wonder if the framing contradicts its message 

I could go on, but the strength of the story lies within at the end of the day being about normal people just trying to live their lives, it really does seem to capture the essence of what it means to be human effortlessly, and I am just immediately charmed and ready to follow Ryo Handa in whatever other projects she does

[soundofseventeen]

If We Were A Movie (Kim Mingyu)

Hi babes! So Erin and I geeked out bc we finally reached 400 followers!!! We cried a bit and really thank you guys for everything! It’s not possible without y’all! Enough rambling. -Bee

“Another win for the ever-talented Kim Mingyu.” You raised your hand for a high five which he eagerly slapped. “Stop being such a good actor or we’ll probably have to build you a separate room for all your wins.”

“It’s luck,” he shrugged modestly. “And my ridiculously good looks.”

“Who are you if not your own biggest fan? Okay, so there’s an after party going on if you wanna go or we clear the rest of the night to get you to start packing because need I remind you that you leave for this next movie in five days.” You unlocked your phone and rambled off the rest of his schedule, each time grinning wider than the last until his laughs betrayed him and you looked up at him in confusion. “What?”

“Do you ever get a day off?” He shook his head. “I think you’re more concerned about this coming month than I am.” He took out his own phone and compared it to yours. “Jeez, you’re more of an overqualified agent than my assistant. Wait, I have a physical the day after tomorrow? Since when?” He gestured you to start walking to his dressing room so he could change.

“Since you agreed to the role three months back.” You shrugged. “Maybe if you paid more attention, then you’d know.”

“But not even my agent knows-”

“Your agent’s job is to make sure you book your roles and you don’t risk it, hence your lack of scandals. I’m just here to make sure you keep yourself alive and well because your fans will probably kill me.”

“I knew I didn’t just hire you for your cute looks.” He closed the door in your face, giving him the last laugh.

You pounded on the door, laughing. “You hired me because you needed a friend!” Well from what he’s told you at least.

He opened it, sticking his head out. “And you’re a good one at that. Now please let me get dressed so I can go to this party while you enjoy your night off.”

“Hey, unblock me while you’re at it you coward!”

*

You threw the shirt along with the rest of the rejected pieces of clothing. You weren’t expecting to be invited along to all sorts of parties and social gatherings (that was more Mingyu’s scene) but because you were constantly by his side, it’d make sense for you to dress the part in case it happened. All your casual and formal clothing had been packed in different suitcases (and as low maintenance as you were, you liked messing with him because he could honestly pack like it was the end of the world...well it didn’t help that his stylist Xu Minghao tailored his wardrobe to perfection and often made it a point to show it off, subtly of course.)

You checked the time, surprised to see it was a quarter to two (and that Mingyu had refollowed on every social media account he previously blocked you on but it was otherwise fairly quiet from his end.) If you didn’t get any sleep soon, you’d be too tired for your day to yourself. You’d made plans to do something by yourself whether it be a haircut, buy new clothes, or maybe even get yourself that book you were eyeing; you just wanted some quality time with yourself and if you didn’t start that now, it’d be...awhile. You left your pile of clothes right where they were, just in case they’d be better looking in the morning. You washed the makeup and dirt away from your face as you changed into your most comfortable pyjamas (which you were too lazy to do so hours ago), hearing the kettle whistling, signaling that your water was ready for your nighttime tea. You’d managed to pour yourself a cup before you got an incoming call from Mingyu. “Hello?”

“Y/N MY LOVELY ASSISTANT,” He bellowed from his end of the receiver and you had to turn down the volume despite the fact it was on speaker because he was that loud when he had a little too much alcohol in his system. “CAN. YOU. HEAR. ME.” You turned it down as low as it could go. “OH NO. OH NO. OH NO. GUYS I LOST Y/N.”

You laughed. “Mingyu I’m right here in the kitchen, getting ready to sleep. Are you home yet?”

“YOU’RE AT MY HOME. WITHOUT ME? HOW DO YOU HAVE MY KEYS? DID I LEAVE THEM IN YOUR CAR AGAIN?”

“Go home and get some sleep please. Call me in the morning.”

“I LOVE YOU BUDDY.”

“Me too pal. Me too.”

*

You watched in irritated amusement as Mingyu and his costar hung out behind the scenes as the subplot progressed onscreen, peering over at you occasionally just to make sure you hadn’t abandoned him completely, but also making sure he could see you in case he needed you to save him, not that he needed it. You knew one of his personal rules was to not date who he worked with, but this one seemed to bend the rules a bit. So far, they’ve had dinner after hours, went shopping a couple of times and even had Mingyu blow off parts of his day that you had planned for him to get done. All in all, you were amazed at it all. He was fighting it and fighting it well but you also knew you had to give him some kind of hell for it. After all, he’s missed several meetings even if they weren’t all that important; it was just mostly scheduling fanmeets, interviews and just anything to give his upcoming movie publicity. (The fans might’ve done that enough though.) They were called back to the main screen not much later with you telling him it was the final shot of the day and you’d meet him back in your hotel room, so while they were getting ready for the big climax, you used that as an excuse to grab breakfast/lunch/dinner.

You’d been there since early in the morning, only snacking on pretzels and whatever what was put out on the table and if you didn’t get food in your system soon, you were sure you’d pass out from lack of nutrition. (As it was, you were cranky and your headache wasn’t helping.) Fast food was, unfortunately your only option, so you grudgingly ordered your meal (and another for the ever ravenous boy because he’d cause a mini scene until you relented so you spared yourself the guilt trip early.)

Getting to your suite, you set everything on the counter, kicked off your shoes and turned on the TV, getting some rest before eating. (Being an assistant was more tiring than you let on. Mingyu tried his hardest to make it easy for you, treating more like an equal rather than someone who was constantly waiting on his orders. You very rarely saw his diva side, which he used only when cast and crew were both assholes not only to him, but to you. He admired your efficiency, occasionally buying you a card saying he appreciated what you did for him, and your friendly demeanor even when you were put in the worst circumstances. It was only at home and your you time when he released the frustrations.) You hadn’t even known that you had fallen asleep until you felt someone shaking your shoulder telling you to wake up. You opened your eyes to find Mingyu looking at you with slight concern and you waved him off, standing up and stretching. “I didn’t hear you knocking.”

“I just got home and I was wondering if you wanted to grab a bite and go for ice cream afterward but I can see you got dinner covered and you look too tired to...get up again.” Which was true. You fell back on the couch which had made him pause his sentence. He shook his head and instead brought the bags of burgers and fries to you, taking a spot next to you. He passed you your order (which had grown cold) and changed the channel, growing more unsatisfied with every show he skipped. He finally stopped when he saw one of his old movies, wordlessly asking you if you were okay with it and you just shrugged. He smiled to himself, turning the volume up and finally taking a bite of his burger.

It was his first lead role, having just finished a television series as a supporting character (Jeon Wonwoo’s no less), which had you questioning why he had wanted to hire you of all people. He had seen you at a cafe and over the course of watching you carefully organizing your notes, taking various phone calls (because in this day, everyone preferred standard texting and email), and overall meticulously and painstakingly writing out your agenda for the week, right down to being able to pencil in a nap, he introduced himself to you. Of course you were starstruck and even a little afraid; of course you had a crush on him because of course you religiously had watched his show and were -unsurprisingly- counting down the day until you had a moment to watch his debut as a lead, not a side character. You first thought it was all a joke, some prank that was waiting to happen because of a date you had rejected a few days prior. Even when he reassured you that the offer was legit, you were skeptical because you were a student, not someone who had experience scheduling people’s life into your notebooks and keeping them busy.

He convinced you though, and as he got bigger, so did your paycheck, enabling you to pay off your debts and continuing your schooling online. He was happy with your choice because it meant he could spend time with someone around his age, and not lose his roots of being a young adult, trying to get parts of his life together. He didn’t tell you this sober but one night that he had too much to drink, he called you, emotions and alcohol impairing his speech but being able to thank you for being in his life and that the real reason he hired you was because he wanted someone to call a friend and remain faithful and not let fame get to his head. Thinking about that now, made you feel warm and fuzzy inside, despite shivering from your cold drink sliding down your throat. “I’m glad you hired me,” you commented to no one in particular, but you know he needed to hear it sometimes.

“Even though I scared the shit out of you?”

You mulled it over just a bit. He only reason he had come off as intimidating as he did was because of his height. He towered over you and you were initially afraid that if you rejected his offer, he would do something, so you fearfully agreed. Needless to say, he was as scary as a housefly. “Even then.”

He smiled in your direction. “Me too.” And just like that, his own eyes closed, the long day washing over him as he fell asleep, the burger half eaten on his lap.

*

The movie, needless to say, was a complete success, breaking his previous record and going straight to #1 at the box office on opening weekend alone. It helped with all the time he spent with his costar outside of the filming sets and with whatever you were able to book whether it had been planned from the get go or some strings his agent had helped pull as well as charity events.

Kim Mingyu had a certain boyish charm to him that had eyes on him constantly and the more he was seen in public, the better. His biggest asset, ironically enough was his clumsiness. Most, if not all, of his fans related to him due to clips you constantly uploaded to social media of him dropping things, falling from his bed, him forgetting about that last step at the top of the stairs which because you were busy recording, often had him tripping over it and taking you down with him.

Any dating rumors were squashed as quickly as they surfaced, which intrigued his fans as well as his costar’s and many quickly integrated, shipping them and discussing conspiracy theories that proved they were secretly together.

It was a funny thing seeing them fighting amongst the fans that were convinced it was you dating Mingyu. I mean, with all the time you spent together and all the times you’ve blocked each other and going live about it, it did seem rather likely. You yourself almost believed it, but you knew better and how well he maintained his professionalism with everyone. In all the time you’ve worked for him, he’s been in one steady relationship with someone when he went back to his hometown after his big break and was outed. It was apparently quite the scandal. Your quick thinking gave him time off and how to address the situation when the time came but that you knew of there was someone else a little before you were hired.

It seemed he brought back the zombie trend with his latest blockbuster because in the weeks that followed, you saw a lot of makeup tutorials that resembled the undead and official merch were popping up everywhere. You showed them all to Mingyu who never ceased to be awestruck and sometimes even dumbfounded because he was just doing his job: being someone else while maintaining his own personality.

His latest success meant a lot more interviews which was fine with you both until you had to leave him for a week because of a termite infestation that occurred in your apartment complex and while the bad news was that it was condemned, you were able to throw your belongings in a storage unit and you decided to deal with that after Mingyu took time off. During that time, you had a realization of just how much time you spent together. It was strange looking a few feet away from you and not seeing the six foot human within eyesight and sometimes you could swear that you heard his voice somewhere. You missed him terribly, you’d admit that much. It was one thing when y’all had vacation time and purposely silenced your work phone but it was another thing to constantly be checking on his replacement to make sure he was on schedule and you followed up with Mingyu himself because he knew how you could be. His favorite phrase seemed to be, “There was a little hitch...kidding!”, followed by his predictable events before ending with a subtle whine of when you were coming back which had him counting down the days, even though yougave him a wrong estimate.

The day you were due to come back, you were running late, leaving you frustrated because you had planned to surprise him over breakfast, but because life and delays, you didn’t get to him until late afternoon. According to the day’s schedule, he was at a fan meet, so you hightailed it to the venue and arrived, skid marks all but visible as you flew in. His replacement assistant looked relieved seeing you back, adjusting the headphone/microphone set that allowed you to hear what Mingyu and his fans were discussing in record time. You caught a lot of questions of why he looked so bummed and if everything was okay, and you could imagine him smiling as he assured everyone he was fine. He was not fine; he didn’t have you, according to everyone.

So you went up onstage to where he was at, putting a finger to your lips to hint at everyone waiting for him to remain silent. Because he was the star, he was at the very end, so it was quite a trek in your opinion at least, turning off your headset so the feedback wouldn’t give you away. You were behind him as a preteen fan finally reached him, trying to hold in her giddiness at seeing you two together. You waved her and her grin widened. “H-hi.” She held out a picture of him for him to sign. “C-Can I ask you a question?”

Mingyu nodded, the already preparing himself for his own generic answer as he autographed the photo. “Fire away.”

“Would you consider yourself brave like your character?” She eyed you when you put your hand over your mouth to hide your snort. Mingyu was about as brave as Winnie the Pooh going after heffalumps. It was you who often had to kill the spider to stop him from burning the place down. (No, you actually stopped by his place once to see him dousing his kitchen table with gasoline.) He’s even said he was staying with you once the apocalypse happened. (He was convinced it was inevitable.)

It still surprised you when he shook his head. “My character can do things I can only dream of like leading people and saving them and telling them what they need to hear. I can’t even say something without being afraid of what someone is gonna tell me…”

“Can I ask you something else?” She whispered this so low you almost missed it had Mingyu not nodded.

“If you could say something without fear...without consequence, what would it be?”

Smart kid, you figured, in both the question and the way she said it. It was a question that had you pondering.

Mingyu also seemed caught offguard by it, racking his brain to see how he could answer. Finally he spoke. “I guess I’d tell someone I’m close to how much I love them.”

“What’s stopping you Oppa?”

“A lot of things, I guess.” Her eyes widened and when they flickered to you, you shook your head, and used it as the opportunity to announce your presence by grabbing his shoulders and making him jump. You were really curious about who he was talking about, but that wasn’t your business.

“Yah, you punk,” he scolded you, “you were supposed to be here two days ago.” He broke out into his signature grin. “I missed you.”

“And they're here to see you,” you gestured towards his steadily growing line that had their phones out, recording the little interaction. You backed away slowly as he returned to his adoring fans, hearing everything they said, smiling at some of the comments and laughing when you heard something particularly funny (mostly when they mentioned him looking cheery because of a certain someone cough cough you.) Once the event was over, he rushed over to engulf you in a well deserved hug because in Mingyu time, a week was the equivalent of two years. You wrinkled your nose. “You’re gross and sweaty. Go shower and change your clothes. I’m gonna help everyone pick up.”

“But I wanna take you out to dinner. I haven’t seen you in a week. My shower can wait. ”

“I’m not going near you until you’re clean,” you pointed out. You folded a few chairs and took them to their place. “Why are you still here? Go.”

*

You felt like you could use the shower, but at least you felt useful. The crew thanked you tenfold and bid you a great evening as they retired for the day. You were happy to report to Mingyu (once he got out that is) that this was his last thing for awhile so he could finally go on that vacation he was planning, which sucked on your part because you just got back and you were already gonna separate again. And not to mention the house hunt you were about to go on. You walked back to where the dressing rooms were, hoping to rush the actor.

He was already waiting by one of the front doors, leaning against it. You walked up to him and he surprised you by meeting you halfway, saying nothing. He ran a hand through his damp hair, studying you, a very un-Mingyu like thing to do.

“Hey,” you greeted him shyly. “You ready to get going?”

He walked up to you slowly, a rather bashful smile appearing on his face, giving him the look a child who’s about to ask if he could have ice cream before bed, and expecting a no in return. “I...just have to do something first.” He bit the inside of his lip, exhaling slowly, gaining courage before taking your face in his hands and kissing you hesitantly, slowly, carefully, but reluctantly pulling away to assess your reaction, foreheads touching. You remembered what he had said to the young fan earlier, blanking out on what to tell him. The only logical reaction was to stare at him puzzled, and he chuckled, despite it not going how he quite imagined it, his voice sounding deep and labored. “I talked to a fan earlier, before you got there, and she asked me if I could do something and not be scared and she asked why I hadn’t done it yet…”

“Me?” You cut him off.

“You heard?”

“I caught a few of your conversations but I thought you’d had enough of everyone asking why you were sad. I didn’t think…” You exhaled. “Why me?”

“Why not you? Everything you do for me...to pushing me so I’m on top of it, to assure me I’m doing all I can, to just making sure I’m not overworking myself, and-and even with how much time we spend together...how can I not pick you?”

“It’s my job. I’m supposed to do all of that.”

“Y/N, not even my agent knows what I’m supposed to do until she has orders from you that it’s been okayed from physicians to trainers to nutritionists. I...I don’t know anyone else that would go that far. I’m pretty sure you even know when I’m about to get sick because sometimes I get a hint of something medicinal in my drinks.”

It was hard to look away from him, especially when his gaze was unwavering and he was as close to you as he was. You cared about him and his wellbeing; it was obvious enough when you let him get an extra hour or two of sleep instead of rushing him out the door to get from point A to point B, and when you cut off his sugar supply when he’s had enough; you even squeezed time in with his old friends because he worked hard, sometimes too hard. You tenderly brushed his hair from his face. “Me?” you repeated incredulously.

He nodded, looking as sure as he felt. “You.” He finally allowed himself to smile. “I just...I really love you.”

Your heart pounded at his confession. He had thousands, if not, millions of admirers worldwide, a dream to everyone who had known or met him, and his own heart...was yours. You hadn’t expected your eyes to shut to keep the tears in, but they did and it was your turn to exhale. “Mingyu.” You paused. “This isn’t just something because I just came back, isn’t it?”

“I missed you the whole time you were gone,” he confessed. “But it was also more than that. Every time you’re not around, it’s hard for me to focus and get everything done. It’s like part of me is missing and it’s dumb because I know you’re always here, but I’m afraid that one day you’re gonna go somewhere and not come back and the only thing I’ll have to remember you by is a text saying you’re sorry.” He shook his head at the thought, his confidence deflating because you hadn’t said anything to accept or reject him.

“Kim Mingyu, I think I’d at least tell you in person because really? A text?” You smiled at your half assed attempt to make him laugh, but you poked his cheek upward. “I-I couldn’t leave you even if I wanted to. We’ve done too much together as it is...and it’d be a shame to not know what could be between us.”

He perked up at that. “I...you mean that?”

“Oh my god Mingyu! Just ask me out or I swear-” He cut you off with another kiss, this one longer and more passionate and full of happiness that radiated onto you.

[y-not-loki]

Managed | Loki L.

A/N: Ay, Cat is back again with a piece for @anxieteandbiscuits and @spiderrrling‘s 1k writing challenge!!!! CONGRATULATIONS TO BOTH OF YOU, YOU’RE BOTH AMAZING PEOPLE AND I LOVE YOU. Note for this piece: It won’t really make any sense unless you’ve read the first piece in this ‘series’. It’s called Mischief. (the ‘series’ is going to have four parts bc I just felt like it)

Warnings: Swearing and violence (I mean, it’s a mission, it kinda needs violence and blood and death).

Word Count: 3 213 (it’s so pitifully short T^T)

Blurb: Right after a Nerf war, the Avengers, (Y/N) and Loki are called in for a mission. Another Hydra base had been located and they needed some help.

Prompt: “Why didn’t you run away? Why did you have to come back for me?”

Holding a hand up behind her, and making Loki pause in his tracks, (Y/N) leveled her Nerf gun at the back of Steve’s head. He was currently whispering to Bucky, who glanced over Steve’s shoulder in time to see a foam pellet hit Steve in the back of the head and a rubber knife hit Bucky square in the forehead.

“Steve and Bucky have been eliminated, could they please report to the community living room until further notice.” F.R.I.D.A.Y.’s voice came from above, and Bucky groaned. Steve pat him on the shoulder and guided them towards the stairwell. During Nerf wars and these little simulation drills, the lights would dim, communication would go down and the elevator wouldn’t work.

And windows also refused to open. F.R.I.D.A.Y. wouldn’t open things for you, and only showed signs of still being online when she told the people who had been eliminated to go to the community living room.

So far, Tony, Bruce, Steve, Bucky, and Thor had been eliminated. Tony, Bruce and Thor had been a team, Steve and Bucky another team, Natasha and Clint a team and Loki, (Y/N) and Wanda a team.

Only Natasha and Clint to go and then this hell would finally be over. They hadn’t slept or ate for nearly 23 hours now. Tony and Bruce had basically given up, going back down to the labs to pack up and turn in because Steve was starting to send people to bed. Because we need to be fed and alert in case a mission comes in. Sure, Steve, how will the message get through, the Nerf Wars Protocol was activated. Because we still need to take care of our own health for the better of the world. FINE Stevie baby, go get your beauty sleep and let the mysterious (not-so-mysterious) forces of hair-health comb your hair into perfection before you wake up.

(Y/N) glanced around the corner and had enough time to grab Loki and reach for Wanda before she phased into In-Between and a tiny foam pellet hit the wall where she was. She phased a hand back into reality and grabbed Wanda, pulling her into the In-Between and shaking off the headache from sleep deprivation and dehydration, as well as the usage of her abilities now, that was coming on. Letting go of Wanda’s hand to massage her temples, (Y/N) watched as Nat and Clint dropped down from the ceiling and spread out, looking for them.

Wanda nodded silently at (Y/N) and (Y/N) phased her back into the Real. Hitting Natasha in the back with a foam pellet from the spares she had in her pockets to use as bullets when added with her telekinesis, she leaped to avoid the foam dagger Clint threw at her in response as Nat grumbled and walked towards the living room to get some food and water before going off to do Black Widow stuff.

No one knew if she slept or not, simply because she wasn’t in her room half the night and the other half would be spent trying to figure out how she disabled F.R.I.D.A.Y. in such a specific area that F.R.I.D.A.Y. couldn’t even tell if she had gone into her room that night.

It was annoying to say the least.

But not for (Y/N), and now Loki, because she could just phase through the wall. Even then, she tried not to prank Natasha too harshly, because who knew what Natasha could do to get her back.

Usually it was something small, like harmlessly dying her water red, or putting a sticker on her clothes while she slept. The sticker would end up on her forehead if (Y/N) was feeling bold and Natasha was showing the tiny signs of amusement at (Y/N)’s actions that meant that she’d let her off easy if (Y/N) tried to prank her.

(Y/N) and Loki had moved behind Clint and just as Clint was about to shoot a foam arrow at her with the toy bow that Tony had rigged up for safety and so that Clint didn’t whine, Loki phased back into the Real and ‘slit’ Clint’s throat with a rubber knife.

The second that the lights came back on, the alarm went off, red replacing white and blaring noises replacing the deafening silence.

(Y/N) flinched as her headache doubled in pain, and Loki glanced down at her, pressing a cool hand to her forehead. Energy immediately flooded her veins with a cold shock, and the floor lurched underneath her feet, causing her knees to buckle, before everything steadied and she had more energy than she would have with a full night’s sleep and a caffeinated coffee. (Loki’s prank was still in action; there was no caffeinated coffee anywhere in the Compound) “Thanks Lokes.” She whispered, smiling up at where he was a few seconds ago. Loki had disappeared, most likely to change into his battle-wear in peace, and she in turn, phased into the In-Between to retrieve her supersuit for the mission.

The blaring noises tapered off, and Fury’s voice came on over the noise. “Avengers, you must start taking some responsibility, keep your goddamn communication tech online at all times, there has been a Hydra base uncovered and we need you to destroy it immediately, before they realise we’ve found them. Honestly… those little fu-” the message was cut off suddenly, and (Y/N) shook her head, smirking. Classic Fury with the name calling, and classic Tony with the cutting-people-in-power-off.

(Y/N) decided to take the quick route from the little suit-up room by phasing into the In-Between and leaping up to the roof and helicarrier in two bounds. Travel was strange in the In-Between. (she may or may not have made a stop at Clint’s secret Girl Scout Mint and Choc Chip Cookie stash in the vents that she’d found an hour ago during the Nerf War)

Reappearing beside where Captain America was talking to the pilot, Phil Coulson, she gave both men a shock, before snickering and sauntering over to sit next to Bucky. Loki was yet to arrive, and had a strange aversion to flight, so he’d be taking as long as he needed. After the first time she tried to stay behind to keep him company, he’d refused to stay longer than the last person. He usually took a minute after the last person, before teleporting into the designated ‘Loki Area’. The only people allowed in the Loki Area were (Y/N) and Loki, and any offenders would be either punished on the spot or have a nasty surprise waiting for them the next morning.

Thor was the only repeated offender. The occasional slightly-drunk-and/or-sleep-deprived Tony would accidentally find his way in and then jump out.

Sometimes he wouldn’t and Loki would start scheming.

“Bucky, Bucky, Bucky, Bucky.” (Y/N) shook his metal arm and he rolled his eyes, pulling his eyes away from Steve and to (Y/N)’s face.

“What is it, sweetheart?” He asked, looking (overall) bored.

(Y/N) pointed at his hair, asking a Very Important Question, “Can I braid your hair?” in a Very Serious Manner.

Bucky sighed, before nodding and sitting so his back was to her. She started by grabbing one strand from his right side-fringe, and braiding it backwards towards the middle of his head, then grabbed a strand of hair from the his left side-fringe, braiding it back to the middle of Bucky’s head. Typing both off with a spare hair tie (she always had five on her at all times because they were surprising good weapons and useful) (and she liked to braid Loki’s hair, when he was around, and if he wasn’t, she’d braid Bucky’s hair), (Y/N) continued the pattern until Loki arrived (which was a few minutes, so she got maybe two rows, halfway through her third), before Loki teleported in next to her.

Making sure they were fastened properly, she turned around and hugged her boyfriend. “LOKIIIIIIIIII.” She dragged out the end of his name, and Loki looked mildly concerned.

“Who gave her sugar?”

“Meeeeeeee.” (Y/N) grinned, leaning her head on Loki’s shoulder. “I needed the energy.”

“Yes, but I already gave you a boost. Besides, where’d you get the sugar from?”

“You don’t need to know, Lokes.” She waved him off and played with his hair, running her blunted nails across his scalp gently and threading her fingers through his silky locks. He sighed and leant into her touch, the tension in his shoulders, which was barely visible to anyone who didn’t know him well enough, disappeared slowly, like water slipping through a cracked bowl.

(Y/N) hummed as Loki lay his head in her lap. “You’re beautiful, y’know. Very pretty.” She murmured, tracing her fingertips down his face, slowly over his cheekbones, then quickly to his chin, before slipping up to the edge of his lips, which were quirking upwards, even if his eyes were closed. “A very pretty boi.” She ran her fingers back up the edges of his face, and laced them in his hair again.

Somehow, his hair was the softest on the team. And it wasn’t as greasy as it seemed.

He kept his eyes closed the rest of the ride, and (Y/N) let her imagination run wild, thinking up new technique combinations she could try at this next fight, and trying not to think about the lives she could (would) take. They didn’t move from the Loki Area, and (Y/N) didn’t stop running her fingers through their hair.

The silence was comfortable and neither felt the need to break such a precious time. The preparation for battle was important. You had to be in the right mindset, be feeling the right emotions, and have the right amount of energy.

Because you could break down at any time in the battle if you weren’t emotionally ready. Because you could become a liability in the battle if you didn’t have the energy. Because you could bring the entire team down with negativity if you weren’t in the right mindset.

Because the team had to work together, in sync, with the right amount of strength, to win any and all battles they face.

They touched down and went towards the exits, meeting Fury there as planned.

It was a quick infiltrate and destroy mission, he had said. Get in, plant the bombs, get the data, get out, he had said.

(Y/N) had no clue how she got in such a situation.

She had done everything according to plan; she’d gone into the base through the In-Between and taken note of how many soldiers there were, and how many scientists, how many test subjects, civilians, how many of everything.

So how in the Nine Realms, did she get here?!

Well, here was in a long corridor, with locked rooms and guards at one end, and guards civilians, and innocents at the other.

And she was alone.

The guards hefted their guns up, and in one smooth motion, (Y/N) pulled out and extended a long baton, a long pole, that she swung around quickly to deflect any bullets that would come her way.

Then there was the running. She didn’t bother quietening her steps, instead letting them pound and echo in the metal corridor. The pings of bullets hitting the metal baton were almost comical, and the bangs of the gunshot were deafening, but she persisted, 5… 4… 3… metres away.

Leaping, she batted the gun of one man away, and as the men turned their guns towards her, seemingly in slow motion as she sped up, she disappeared into the In-Between seconds before they started shooting, so the bullets flew through her and hit their own.

Four down, three to go.

She phased back into the Real, slowing down long enough to hit the gunman on her right with the baton in the head, then continued spinning to hit the one on her left.

Shaking her head and pausing for a split second, she didn’t notice the bullet ripping through her shoulder until it was too late.

A blood-curdling scream could be heard, and she didn’t realise it was hers until she could feel her throat feel like sandpaper was rubbing against the sensitive walls.

The ground lurched underneath her, and colourful spots danced around in her vision.

And the pain. The pain that pulsed in her shoulder, it felt as if her arm had been ripped off, but it was only a small bullet.

There was a grim chuckle behind her as she lay face down on the floor, breaths shaky and painful, and grip on the baton weak.

“There’s nothing you can do to stop me from killing these children now, Cheshire.” He snarled, pulling her up from the back of her suit. “And I’m gonna make you watch every single one of them die because of you.” His voice was strange. Everything was strange.

But she knew something. There was gonna be an angry Loki, and it was all that she could do but hope that he would avenge their deaths.

She was just starting to nod off, her mind feeling numb as her shoulder pulsed with pain, the agony washing over her entire body causing all her nerves to spark, whilst all her muscles turned to putty.

Wasn’t the first time she’d been shot, but you don’t really build up resistance to bullets either.

This was the first time she’d been shot in the torso, though.

And it was not fun.

A sharp pain coming from her shoulder shook her back into wakefulness, the wonderful numbness of her mind shaken away. “Can you hear me, Cheshire?” There were a few curses, and what felt like fingers pressed into the wound on her shoulder.

A broken shriek pushed its way out of her shuddering lungs, through her sore throat, and fell from her lips.

She could vaguely hear the others panicking in the comms, but couldn’t hear anything over the man’s maniacal laugh.

She didn’t think you could die from a shot in the shoulder, but from what she could feel, death was already prodding at her soul. And it was not fun.

Huh, maybe she was bleeding out.

Honestly, she thought that she’d be more hysterical upon death, maybe sobbing or crying or saying goodbye as quickly as she could, but her mind was hazy, and her thoughts slightly stranger than usual.

“(Y/N)!” A familiar voice called out, a voice close enough (physically and emotionally) to shake her out of her blood-loss trance. There were grunts and the sound of bone crunching against metal, as well as whimpers and begs of mercy.

Heh, Loki didn’t know the meaning of mercy when his love was involved, and honestly, he didn’t care at that moment there were innocents and children watching, all he cared about was that his (Y/N) was dying and this scum was the cause of her pain. Of her agony. And if he didn’t dispose of his life soon, her death.

Seconds later, (Y/N) felt hands over her body, cool familiar hands. At least she hoped so, and even if she believed it wasn’t Loki who had won the fight, his panicked mumblings were the only sound to fill the hallway, so she was sure he had won.

“Come on, come on, come on, come on (Y/N), you’re strong, please be alive.” Loki muttered, voice cracking at the end. Letting out a shuddering breath, (Y/N)’s dry lips parted, and her eyes cracked open as a flood of Loki’s magic swept over her body in a familiar scanning spell that he always ran after a battle.

Then the cool-feeling magic focused on the bullet wound in her shoulder, stopping the bleeding, and somehow replenishing some of her blood supply. “(Y/N).” She could see the relief on his face as clear as day, even though he was only a blurry, dark shape. She could feel the relief roll off him and the way he moved; slightly shaky, but calmer. “I’m going to pick you up and teleport you out of here on the count of three.” Oh gods, (Y/N) thought, teleporting was never fun, but then again, it wasn’t like I have any other choice. She could hypothetically phase them into the In-Between, but then again, she might lose consciousness, and then they’d just be stuck in the In-Between.

“Three.” Loki hefted her up, holding her bridal style, and she couldn’t help the whimper that fought its way past her broken throat and through the daze.

“Two.” She felt his long, cool fingers brush a strand of hair out of her face, and leant into the touch, without opening her eyes.

“One.” The stomach-rolling sensation fell over her, and it felt like her shoulder was on fire, and the wound was aggravated further. Something similar to a scream wrought her throat dry and she couldn’t help but let the tears fall, streaming down her face as Loki pulled her out of the battle.

“(Y/N).” She peeked one eye open, she must have blacked out through the teleportation, because Loki was standing over her, and she could feel blankets around her. “I….” Loki swallowed, and her sight was clearer now, she could see the worry lines across his forehead appear. Raising her uninjured arm, she swept the tears away as Loki leant in for a kiss. Pulling back, he gave her a sad smile. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” (Y/N) took a deep breath in and out, testing the pain of the injury to see if she could continue speaking, before frowning. Loki looked concerned about her frown, and as he opened his mouth to voice his concern she whispered her question, “Why didn’t you run away? Why did you have to come back for me?” She remembered the innocents, the children, the families, the teenagers, the bystanders who had been kidnapped and probably tortured and experimented upon. “Why didn’t you just take the people and run?”

Loki looked angry for a moment, before he saw how she flinched and smoothed his facial expressions over. “You are my girlfriend, and I love you. That asshole hurt you and I had to kill him for you.” (Y/N) rolled her eyes at his whole over-protective boyfriend thing and hooked her uninjured arm around his neck and pulled him down slowly for a kiss, giving him enough time to pull away if needed.

Of course, he moved faster than she anticipated, and pressed a kiss against her lips, needy and hard, as if he wanted to make sure she was there, that she was alive and still with him.

He pulled away slowly, almost regretfully, but left his head pressed against her forehead.

“I’m still here. I will never leave you, Loki.”

Loki didn’t tell her that was a lie.

He didn’t tell her that his built-in lie detectors went off as soon as she started speaking.

He didn’t tell her how his heart broke when he felt that.

He didn’t tell her why his eyes suddenly started leaking.

Because today, today he just managed to get to her.

And one day, he wouldn’t be able to.

One day he wouldn’t be able to save her, he wouldn’t be able to get there in time, he wouldn’t be able to hold her again.

He didn’t need to tell her. She knew.

Tag list: @drakesfiance 

[archiveofolives]

tagged by @captainmrvels, tyvm!! here's the funny thing tho: i don't watch tv shows anymore :D sometime between 2014 and now, i decided it was no use pretending and completely stopped trying to catch up with the episodes i'd missed so i'm just going to sort of retrofit this questionnaire to make it applicable to me! i hope that's ok ❤️❤️❤️

Pick 5 shows fandoms, then answer the following questions (don’t cheat!)

marvel (oh i just realized the avengers have a cartoon series!)

ff7 (errr movie and oav?)

ace attorney (it has an anime! does that count)

star wars (eh)

his dark materials (hey this one at least has a tv show coming out soon)

1. Who is your favorite character in 2?

it's this guy cloud strife, you may have heard of him from my blog lmao

2. Who is your favorite in 1?

WE ARE LOKI ON MAIN FOR A REASON, BABY

3. What’s your favorite episode of 4?

HA this one worked like a charm. ummm probably episode 7 bc that made me feel Things and i loved rewatching it as compared to the others. altho if we bring in every other movie in-between, it's obviously rogue one. BUT i DO have a special place in my heart for episode 1! i've been a star wars fan since i was a kid thanks to my dad but i was obsessed with episode 1, it really pushed all the right buttons for me. like i wouldn't call it a solid movie next to episode 7 but man is it a classic!

4. what’s your favorite season of 5?

i think i will love every season when they do come out but book-wise, i think you can't beat the level of wonder of northern lights/golden compass, depending on which edition your bookstores sold. my REAL absolute favorite tho has got to be once upon a time in the north bc the leads are basc my two favorite characters lmao

5. Who’s your favorite couple in 3?

OH MAN mia fey and godot! i'm such a trash for tragic relationships and i think they looked very handsome together!

6. Who’s your favorite couple in 2?

cloud and aerith—my home ship since 20 years ago and the reason, i think, a lot of my ships tend to be on the tragic side >.>;; but i just love the tropes they're hitting, you know? and then how their colors and characters complement each other, i think they're a very attractive couple

7. Least favorite episode movie of 1?

movie bc it's easier than the comics lmao. but probably dr strange? icn say it's civil war bc it has spider-man, black panther and ant-man which for me are the only things really worth seeing in there but dr strange doesn't really even have that much of a hook for me to begin with. i wouldn't have gone and seen it if not bc of my team who wanted to see it for our team building excursion lol

8. Favorite episode of 5?

find me anything with lee scoresby in it baby!!!

9. Favorite season installment of 2?

i think i will forever be devoted to the classic polygon game, the one that started it all, y'know? but i'm really excited for the remake and i really enjoyed ff7ac/c! i also have not played the other games in the compilation bc money and time lmao (says the woman who just spent 12 hours on the game yesterday like some high schooler >.>;;; i just got aerith's great gospel and i already miss her ;_;)

10. How long have you watched 1?

i have been a clown since 2012

11. How did you become interested in 3?

we got a ds lite!! and then everyone kept raving about the phoenix wright game so my sister got it for us and then one day, i just decided to watch and help her play the third case and now, it's part of how we bond. we've always solved cases together ever since, they're much easier and less creepier that way

12. Favorite actor in 4?

oh wow, another lucky hit! ummm ewan mcgregor? i was a huge fan of his obi-wan kenobi like, icn remember calling other characters my favorite after his obi-wan anymore. so i'm really excited he's going to reprise the role, finally!!

13. Which do you prefer, 1, 2, or 5?

oh god, probably 2?? bc between the three of them, ff7 has had the biggest influence in my life. like seriously, the reason i'm in my job rn is bc of it—i went to college to take up computer science bc i wanted to make games like ff7 lmao but that didn't work out bc calculus is the worst. STILL it pushed me to the right direction of being in stem!

14. Which have you seen more episodes new releases of, 1 or 3?

i'm gonna have to say 1 for the obvious reason that they've released more movies than 3 has released games bc they're the products of an entertainment tycoon, you know? while with 3, there's still a part of it that still feels like a passion project and i haven't seen the anime yet lmao.

15. If you could be anyone from 4 who would you be?

i'd be a rebel. when i was a kid, i wanted to be a jedi, tho, lol

16. Would a crossover between 3 and 4 work?

ACE ATTORNEY IN SPACE. SPACE ATTORNEY AHAHAHAHAHA. i mean WHY NOT, you've got coruscant, you've got imperial sympathizers sowing discontent to lead to the first order (i think), you've got other separatists while we're at it, smuggling, bounty hunting, the fall of the jedi order. especially after rotj, i can imagine how active the courtrooms were with the war criminals and the petty ones taking advantage of the shift of government. the feys are obviously of the force, the von karmas could be a family linked to sympathizers, maybe nick is even attuned to the force which is why mia singled him out! it's easy to work out the whole thing ❤️

17. Pair two characters in 1 who would make an unlikely but strangely ok couple.

but marvel is already doing that job for me lmao. ummmm jane and roz solomon? but it's not unlikely bc they ARE friends and roz was the first person jane confided to about being thor. really icn think of anything off the top of my head, i'm not a shippy kind of person unless the canon lays it out before me and i get convinced. which, in itself, is rare.

18. Overall which show franchise has a better storyline, 1 or 3?

3, hands down. i'd much rather miss more movies of 1 than new releases of 3. it's in the quality of the storytelling, y'know? which isn't to say i loved all games lol i mean honestly, if you ask me? i'd tell you apollo justice is a huge au.

19. Which has better theme music, 2 or 4?

OH THIS IS A GOOD QUESTION. you're asking me who did it better, john williams or nobuo uematsu??? damn, they're both solid composers with amazingly timeless pieces but from my biased point of view, you can't beat nobuo uematsu. his work on final fantasy as compared to williams' work on star wars is more varied and he freaking makes MIDI sound like an orchestra!! and, he was the fucking soundtrack of my childhood. i was SO lucky to have been raised in a generation where he still did the music to all final fantasy games.

tagging: OH NO I DON'T KNOW WHO TO TAG DDDD: ummm @summoneryuna watches lots of shows, right??? @egregiousderp but with anime?? @safarikalamari just bc???? lmao idfk