#i honestly could have kept going throughout the rest of the movie

[bingoboingobongo]

givens

Pairing: Simon “Ghost” Riley (Call of Duty) x Reader

Warnings: none

Summary: There are few givens in life, one is that Ghost will always wake up before you, and that he will always fall in love with you.

A/N: buhruh this was supposed to be an imagine about gingerbread cookies so how did we get to a gingerbreadless drabble so fluffy it will rot your teeth (i wrote this in like 30 mins not beta read we die like men).

There were things in life that always happened, no matter what. They were givens; undeniable truths that simply couldn’t be disputed. According to Benjamin Franklin, they meant death and taxes. According to Ghost, they meant that he would always wake up before you, and that he would always fall in love with you.

Honestly, Ghost wasn’t sure how his body always managed to wake him up before you. You were so delightful to sleep with, to wrap his arms around, to hold and caress and savor. You relaxed every tense muscle in his body, calmed every nerve. You were the only person he felt truly safe around; the only person he would let himself actually fall asleep next to.

He slept on missions, of course, but he never woke up truly rested, and he never really fell completely asleep either. He always had an ear listening for anything strange, one hand gripped around the handle of a knife. But with you, he could truly and completely shut down. He didn’t have to stay on constant alert, worried that someone would betray him. With you, he could let his walls down, he could be vulnerable, he could finally feel. He always slept so well whenever he was with you. He woke up, usually filled with a painful but satisfying soreness throughout his body, and he felt unbelievably well-rested. 

There was something about you that just flipped a certain switch in his brain. You turned off his need to be constantly alert, he could sleep deeply, he could sleep for hours. But even then, every morning when he woke up, he would look over and you would still be sleeping. It happened every single time he slept with you. He could wake up at midnight, at five in the morning, at one in the afternoon, and you would still be there by his side, sleeping contentedly.

He didn’t mind it though, because those quiet moments before you woke up were some of his favorites of the entire day. That twilight world where he could roll over and smile at the way you were tangled in the sheets or pull himself closer to you and wrap his arms and legs around you. When he could just breathe in the scent of your laundry detergent and shampoo and delight in the steady rhythm of your heartbeat. 

He didn’t even know how it was possible for you to fill him with so much emotion, and yet, every morning when he turned to stare at your sleeping form, he could feel his chest swell with pride and adoration that you were here, with him of all people. You, who could have chosen anybody else, who could have laughed in his face when he asked if you wanted to get drinks alone, you chose him. You chose to sleep with him, and wake up with him, and stay with him. 

It felt like some cheesy time-loop movie, the way Ghost kept falling in love with you. Every morning he saw you by his side he could feel his heart tumbling further and further, leaving him breathless and love-struck. It happened every morning, like clockwork. Even if you guys had had a fight the night before, even if you hadn’t talked to him in days, especially when you hadn’t talked to him in days. 

That was why it was so difficult for him to get mad at you, even when you did reckless things. When you lived life like the world was going to protect you, when you assumed that the next day was always promised, when you told him how great it would be to grow old and die together. On one hand, it was so clear to him how wrong you were. The world never protected people, the next day was never promised, and the chances of him being able to grow old with you decreased every time he picked up a gun. 

But on the other hand, how could he ruin that for you? How could he take your rose-colored world and shatter it with a few simple words? And so for a while, he would torment himself, battling over whether he should tell you or not. But then you would go to sleep, and the next day he would roll over and see how beautiful you looked sleeping next to him, and he would forget about everything. And how could he not? When he saw you, it’s as if every function in his brain except for pure love and gratitude was shut off. He couldn’t think rationally when he was with you, and honestly? He didn’t want to.

He loved you more than anything in the world. He would do anything for you, kill anyone for you. He would let you live in your rose-colored world where you grew old and died together, because he knew the truth was so much worse. And besides, what would even happen if he did tell you the truth? Would you leave him? Would you find someone else who wouldn’t die on the field? 

In a way, you were right, he supposed. Even if he was killed in action, Ghost knew he could never leave you. Even in death he would still be by your side, watching and admiring, unbeknownst to you. But that wasn’t enough, he needed to be able to feel you, to touch you, to smell you. He needed to feel how warm you were and know that it was because you were alive, because there was blood flowing through your veins. And he needed you to know that he was alive, and by your side, because he couldn’t imagine how drab life would be if he could never wake up and see you sleeping next to him.

And so, for the sake of his own twilight world — his world where he was safe and secure, and all rational thought was discarded as he fell in love with you over and over again — he let you stay in your rose-colored one, because if there were any givens in life, it was that he would always wake up before you, and he would always fall in love with you.

[dangerouslyclose]

Kiss Me- I.N

Pairing: I.N x fem!reader

Genre: Song Fic, Fluff

TW: None (let me know if there is something I missed)

Word Count: 1k

Song: Kiss Me by Ed Sheeran

“Do you remember when we first met?” Innie asked while pulling you closer under the covers. The movie playing in the background for your weekly movie night, long forgotten. You hummed in response, Innie pulling you from the edge of sleep. “I was so in awe when I first saw you I thought I was going to pass out. Chan hyung had to hold me up.” 

You giggled, “no way is that true.” 

“I swear!” Innie said, pulling back so he could look down into your eyes. There was a burning sincerity in them. “I saw you from across the room and my jaw literally dropped. I had never seen anyone so stunning in my life!”

“You’ve never looked in a mirror then,” you laughed out. 

Jeongin let out a loud laugh, “okay, that was good. But seriously, I was enchanted the moment I saw you. I knew that I would regret it for the rest of my life if I didn’t go over and talk to you. Then I finally looked at who you were with.”

You cringed at the memory, “That was literally the worst date I had ever been on. My friend had set me up on a blind date and I honestly don’t know where she found that creep.”

“I kept looking over at you throughout dinner and even though I had never met you before I watched you progressively get more and more uncomfortable. It was like I had known you my whole life and knew all of your small tells. I could tell by the way you kept twisting the ring on your finger that you were anxious.” Jeongin twisted the ring on your finger. “I could tell by the way you kept tucking the hair behind your ear that you were uncomfortable.” He tucked a stray hair behind your ear. “I could tell by the way you kept awkwardly laughing and then biting your lip that you were uneasy.” He leaned down and placed a quick kiss on your lips. “But when I saw the way your eyes kept shifting to the exit, I knew I had to do something.” He sighed and brought you closer, placing your head onto his chest.

You relaxed into his chest and listened to his steady heartbeat. You smiled, “I was so thankful you came over. I honestly was about to fake a heart attack or something.”

 “Man, I would have loved to see that,” Innie chuckled, causing your head to bounce with his chest. You lightly smacked his chest, causing him to laugh more. “I don’t know where the courage came from. I am usually shy and quiet, but in that moment my body acted before I knew what I was doing.”

You lifted your head to look into his eyes with a grin, doing your best Innie impression, “come with me if you want to live.” Reaching your hand out to him like he did almost six months ago. You both burst out laughing. 

After the laughter died down Jeongin smiled, “I didn’t know what to say. It worked though didn’t it?”

“I think at that moment you could have said anything and I would have gone with you,” you chuckled. “You could have just grabbed my arm and pulled me out of there and I would still have thanked you. Then we went and got ice cream and I was even more thankful for your comfort.”

“Chan hyung was so mad I left without a word. Then I didn’t go back until later and got scolded. But man, it was worth it.” Jeongin smiled down at you.

You laid your head back down onto his chest. “I hated that date, but I am so glad I went. It was fate that you were at the same restaurant that day. Actually I have a confession to make,” you say and bury your face farther into his chest, feeling your ears heat up. “I actually think of that night as our first date.” 

Jeongin brought your face from his chest and up to his lips. He ghosted his lips over yours, “Baby, I do too.” He finally kissed your lips, flipping so you were under him and he hovered over you. He gently bit at your bottom lip, his way of asking to deepen the kiss. You opened your mouth allowing his tongue to slip in. Your tongues and lips moving in sync like they were made to do this. Once the need for air became too much he pulled back and put his forehead on yours. “I love you, Y/N.” Your eyes gently opened to see him already staring into yours. It was the first time either of you had said the L word. Your eyes started to water and Jeongin began to panic, he sat up and brought you along with him. “Hey, it’s okay. You don’t have to say it back. I just want to let you know how I feel. I’m sorry. Is it too soon? It’s too soon. I fucked everything up didn’t I?”

You threw yourself on top of him, pushing you both back down onto the bed, with him under you now straddling his waist. You attacked his face with kisses, “I love you too, Innie.” You said each word between kisses. “I am crying because I am overwhelmed with how much love I have for you. I have never felt this way before and didn’t know how to express it, but now I do,” you smiled.  

His eyes started to water too, “God, I love you so much.” He brought your lips back to his for another soft, sweet kiss. “I loved you from the moment I saw you in that restaurant.”

“I loved you from the moment you came over and took my hand,” you smiled down at him. You saw nothing but love in his eyes and you hoped that yours were expressing all the emotions you wanted. “Never let go of my hand, Innie. Promise?”

He brought your hand up to his lips, kissing your palm “I promise.” 

[chocolatebageltje]

I've just finished watching the Fear Street trilogy and I'm. I am living for these movies omg they've been spinning in my head like a hamster in a wheel for the past few days. They're so good, I haven't had a movie that kept me so fully engaged all throughout in a while and especially the sound design is what does it for me. I will be watching them all over again soon just to see if I didn't pick up on some things that were concluded later. Despite being a pretty rounded whole I'd almost wish they'd make more sequels about the individual Shadyside killers just to get more content out of the universe. The series is going into my favorite movie catalog for sure.

Also, I deadass need someone to do a thorough character analysis on Nick Goode specifically lol. @ me if you're that person bc I need to DISCUSS. (Spoilers below)

I found him sus on so many occasions throughout the series but every time I ended up letting my guard down regardless because he was just portrayed as so likable to me?? After he turned his back on Ziggy at the end of part 2 I felt he might've known something and that it was a dick move, but I also kinda felt that there might've been a good reason for it and that he'd get a redemption arc. But BOI that turned out...different. Deadass though, as evil as he ended up being, I kinda felt there had been some shreds of good left in there as well, just heavily overpowered by all of the rest.

Idk if this is supposed to be the actual meaning of it but, to me it seemed that as it was said the Goode's were able to get whatever they wanted through the deal with the devil, Nick desperately wanted Ziggy survive her injuries and so she did. (Like deadass the chick got stabbed big time how tf does one survive that??) And if that was the case, that they could technically wish for whatever they wanted, couldn't he technically also wish for Ziggy to stick with him regardless? But that could blow his cover so... But when they met again at the mall, I found his expression quite hard to read. I felt maybe he had a moment of guilt maybe? Feelings coming back to the surface? But then he deadass tried to human sacrifice her right after so even if so it was pretty meaningless in the end 💀 Maybe his ego was just too big to be fully real with himself? Am I giving this man too much credit?

Also what I found interesting is that it seemed like the dudes could pick the name of the sacrificed person themselves. Did they just pick at random given the killers ended up so random or was it deliberate in some way? Would they know when it'd happen? (Bc if so it'd be kinda stupid of Nick to choose Tommy, the boyfriend of the sister of the girl he crushed on, with a camp coming up where said girls both would be at. 😂)

I'll probably have more to rant about after I get some sleep, but his character was something that I found particularly interesting. Every character honestly was so layered to me with both bad and good perspectives to them and how they behaved. I'm gonna stop so this won't become endless lol, but pls tap in if you too want to gush about these movies!

[thtdamfangirl4]

I feel the same way you did about the movie. I was eating up the promo, I lost sleep last night because I was so excited, and I was happy while watching it (I cried several times) but by the time the credits started to roll i just started seeing all of it's flaws and I just got so sad. I've been a fan of this book for the last 2 years. This book is so important to me in so many ways and I'm so sad that the movie didn't make me feel the same way the book did. I think it was because they advertised it to be heavily inspired by the book when it really wasn't. I know I'll rewatch it a few more times but it just feels bland and empty and I'm lowkey angry bc i do see Taylor and Nick as Alex and Henry and I ADORED Zahra but I could honestly go so far to say that I hate it and I'm angry that I feel that way. I don't want to be the person that goes "the book is better 🤓👆" because i know that people outside the book fandom are going to eat it up but it is and i feel betrayed bc they kept saying it was for us but it just doesn't feel like it (sorry for this long ass message literally no one else in my life cares about this story bsbsjsgsj)

Don’t apologize because I DO CARE about this story more than anything else and I agree! Personally, I was stop and start throughout the movie, I’d love a scene because it captured Alex and Henry, and then I’d hate the next because it bore no resemblance to something I loved. The moments when it was good, it was GOOD, but to me that almost just highlights the flaws because you know they were capable of executing this story well and there were moments when the script and direction just flat out chose to do otherwise.

Like, they did the texts and phone calls so well and then ignored the emails almost entirely??? Your format was RIGHT THERE.

They allowed Alex and Henry and Ellen and Zahra to embody their characters, but Nora, Pez, and Bea had no smidgen of their personalities? No fault to the actors, but where were the characters I fell in love with? Nora is a human supercomputer and she’s queer and proud. Pez is flashy and absurd and Henry’s best friend and I think I heard him speak MAXIMUM two lines??? Bea was the perfect princess younger sister and I HATED IT.

Thinking on it, I cry at least like 8 times each time I reread (which has been countless times), and while I found myself in tears last night watching the movie, it was rarely for any of the reasons I might have thought. I think this first watch served as an immunization of sorts, and hopefully the next time I watch it I can immerse myself into it more fully rather than feeling like my watch is taken up by Noticing.

Anyway; i agree with you completely and I’m glad you’re getting to share your feelings. This story was and IS so so SO important to me, and I’m sad that it isn’t shown on the screen. There’s too much gone. And I don’t get WHY. I don’t get how anyone could look at that book and think they could do it justice in 2 hours. I don’t get why you take source material you love enough to adapt it and then pick out only certain parts like you’re a picky eater at a buffet.

I especially don’t get why you would treat so much of this story with care and love and discard the rest. The entire team of people who worked on this film had it in them, and just were only given the freedom to give it their all for a fraction of the total story.

Now this is long, too, sorry.

I hope we both grow into enjoying it as a separate entity, but until then, I think it’s okay to feel our feelings in a respectful manner.

[ivysangel]

drop the mean girls review! my friend wants to go see it and i need to know how much to mentally prepare myself

sunnie (@fic-over-cannon)

Okay, so I need to preface this by saying I'm a huge Mean Girls fan. I've seen the movie dozens of times. I've seen the show on Broadway once and left the theater begging my mom to take me again, and then I cried when the show closed before I could see it again. I've also seen the Mean Girls sequel on multiple occasions (unfortunately). I'm also a fashion lover, music lover, and the enjoyer of some tasteful political incorrectness in a movie like...Mean Girls (2004). I'm not a movie buff or an expert critic, but I am a girl who has spent hours putting Rachel McAdams’ Regina George on mood boards and listening to Taylor Louderman's performance of 'Someone Gets Hurt' from the Mean Girls Original Broadway Cast Recording. With all of that being said, here's my review.

(proceed with caution: spoilers and supreme level hating, cw: mentions of weight)

First of all, the pacing just felt kind of off? I think it's because there were so few scenes set outside of the high school, and I think that has something to do with them cutting 9 songs from the original soundtrack and even the ones they kept; some were still cut short. Which took away some of the best parts of the movie. For instance, Gretchen's part in 'Meet the Plastics' was one of the most memorable parts of the soundtrack, and it was cut down to the one introductory line that wasn't even delivered by her, Karen's part, too. How are you going to call the song 'Meet the Plastics' and only have Regina sing it? I'd also like to mention that in the original song, there's a line that Regina sings, she says, "I never weigh more than 115," and they change it to "that filter you use looks just like me." now, there are two explanations for this, first, they wanted to keep it going with the social media theme which runs rampant throughout the entire movie or they wanted to be mindful of what they put in the movie considering the audience consists heavily of women and young girls. However, there is so so so much emphasis on Regina's weight during the entire rest of the movie (like, I honestly feel more than normal, but I'm not sure) that if it is the latter, it just completely defeats the purpose of removing that line, so I'm really hoping it's the former.

Cady can't sing, or at least I just found her voice, so...not good? Something about it just wasn't giving nuh uh. She also wasn't a convincing mean girl, a convincing socially awkward, not-aware teen girl who had been homeschooled her whole life? Yeah, she nailed that, but a MEAN girl, nope, not convincing at all. This is also where the pacing was off to me. I felt like she was a mean girl for 0.5 minutes, and that, paired with the fact that she just wasn't convincingly mean? Didn't really do it for me.

They also made most of the insults more palatable? Which was fine at times. Like yeah, you should probably refrain from saying slurs in the big year of 2024, but trading social suicide for "socially ruinous," What the hell? How old are we? I just think it's a little funny bc the word suicide isn't okay (apparently), but Kevin G performing a song where he talks about how he basically uses geometry to be good at sex is more appropriate? Like, I don't know what the thought process was, how they decided on what was getting put on the chopping block and what wasn't.

Also, Gretchen gets a solo, and ik it's in the musical, but it feels so incredibly out of place in the movie, like SO out of place. Also, Gretchen is Latina, apparently? Which isn't a problem in the slightest, but it's just mentioned once and never referenced again ever...like at all...not even in passing. They threw in the "this was a gift from my abuelito" for brownie points and called it a day.

Cristopher Briney is one of the most unattractive men I've seen in a while, which is why it's so hard to see so many close-up shots of his face since he's supposed to be the super heart throbby Aaron Samuels that these girls are fighting over. "Cady, tell him his hair looks sexy pushed back." he has a prematurely receding hairline; let's keep the hair down while he still has it. Also, he has no singing lines in the movie, which is so...bc he has them in the original musical. The ending of the original version of 'Someone Gets Hurt' is sung by both him and Regina. Like you hired an ugly man who can't sing to play the sexy heartthrob in a musical? Oh ok.

The fashion was so genuinely terrible. I was mortified. MORTIFIED, I TELL YOU. Regina making fun of other people while she was walking around in #those outfits. I can't even begin to describe what she was wearing half the time, but it was so bad. Ironically, the outfit she wore when she was shunned was like??? one of the more palatable ones, along with her prom dress and the outfit she wore during the burn book scene, which was a nod to Rachel McAdams' Regina George (that was cute). But the outfit she was first shown in...those ugly fucking shoes???? The furry black sweater and highlighter green pants???? What the fuck is going on!!! Everyone was dressed head to toe in shein and cider, and it was obvious. I think the problem with a lot of remakes these days is they develop costumes using trends from a specific era of social media, but those trends so quickly go out of style. Micro trends are the reason why shows and movies set in high school almost never hit the nail on the head, that and the fact that they use influencers as guidelines for how teenagers act when most of us are normalish? idk that's a whole different convo.

i kinda tuned in and out after the gym scene, like idk man i was just mad at that point. I guess I should list some redeeming qualities now?

Tim Meadows reprising his role as Principal Duvall was amazing ofc; his comedic timing is great, and kudos to him for acting through one classic, one flop, and one box office banger that should've been kept in the drafts. Avantika is beautiful, stunning, amazing!! There was nothing about her acting as Karen that really did it for me, but I love her so bad I can't hate on her. Reneé Papp is a fantastic singer like who's surprised? No one? Exactly. They also got Megan Thee Stallion and Chris Olsen to make cameos in tiktoks during the movie, which was funny. It had its good moments, but I really just think for me personally, as an enjoyer of both the original movie and the original musical adaptation, this fell so so so flat. Of course, my opinion doesn't reflect the opinions of everyone, and you may very well love it!! I do definitely urge you to listen to the original versions of 'Meet the Plastics' and 'Someone Gets Hurt' because those are so very good; also, Auli'i Cravalho's rendition of 'Revenge Party' was very good, and I really like Jaquel Spivey as Damian.

Anyway, that's it!

update: forgot to mention the extremely obvious product placement and the way they changed one of the lines in revenge party from “what’s regina doing, what’s regina wearing, is she dating aaron” to “what’s regina doing, what’s regina wearing, is she texting aaron” which is totally harmless but it irked me so bad bc they’re trying sooooo hard to be with the times or whatever and it just ??? like !!! they’re trying TOO hard bc dating was perfectly fine in the context of the plot that’s why it was put there in the first place!!!!

another update: more pros, principal duvall still has a hand injury (funny i like it) AND TINA FEY REPRISING HER ROLE!!! BIG PRO!!! also there’s literally a whole song in the og musical dedicated to the plastics realizing they’re sentient beings that don’t have to rely on regina…and they just cut that out lol? also listen to the og revenge party bc there’s a whole bit where regina cheats on aaron and it’s wildly different in that version (it was better and funnier too) but like i said…they made the movie more palatable.

[thedestructionofgrace]

Some thoughts on the teen wolf movie:

Overall I quite liked the movie, I feel a bit embarrassed saying that after seeing what everyone else thinks about it but I can’t help it lol. I’m not gonna lie I do think there’s both a lot pros and cons to it, so here’s my thoughts on it:

To start off I really loved the time jump it just made sense to me and I love seeing how the character’s ages were now closer to the actors ages instead of them still being in their teen years or early twenties. I didn’t know that was going to happen so I was pleasantly surprised by that. Knowing that Scott still worked with animals and deaton was so sweet to me, Lydia being a fucking was boss was just *chefs kiss* The Hale’s having a family business, awesome. Honestly just having a good portion of the characters back on screen was awesome to me lmao, didn’t realise how much I missed teen wolf til I watched it.

The beginning of the movie was pretty awesome, I never thought that they would open it up to Liam in japan, he’s speaking Japanese and serving customers at a restaurant, this indicates that’s he’s been there a while. Hikari had a cool intro alongside Liam, it’s obvious she’s a badass and you get to see small bits of that throughout the movie. this could’ve been a really good opportunity to create a new strong Asian woman/character that people like me (I’m part Asian) could relate to but instead of making her completely different and new, the writer/s took all of Kira’s traits (Kitsune, sword etc.) and dumped it onto hikari, which to me felt really lazy and probably racist which doesn’t surprise me considering how they treated Arden Cho (go watch partner track on Netflix!!). It’s also obvious that there’s a relationship between hikari and Liam which was also left unexplored because after the intro they were both sidelined throughout the rest of the movie which is really annoying. I’m also a shipper of Liam and Theo as I know others are 👀but honestly for whatever reason, even after only having Liam and hikari for like five minutes I do actually think they’re cute together and if we got to see more of that, I would totally watch it.

I love how malia is still the same when it comes to her thoughts and honesty 😂 glad they didn’t change that too much about her. MALIA AND PARRISH!!!?? I never would’ve guessed they be a thing and I’m not mad about them either, I mean they were pretty hot together but I did find it a bit random and unnecessary.

Derek hale has a son and his name is Eli, I think all The Hale family members seem to have really cool names, don’t ask me why I’m focused on that, I just am lol. Seeing derek have a new family considering he lost all of his other loved ones and his pack got killed made me really happy, I think it’s a logical way to grow his character since we’ve already kind of seen him as a brother and mentor type figure to Scott. genuinely thought we’d only ever see him have kids in fanfics but now it’s canon and I can’t believe it. I am surprised at his death, I was scared earlier on when his neck was bleeding so it was even more devastating when he actually did end up dying later. Tyler did a great job playing Derek and I’m really glad the could get him back for the movie. Derek keeping stiles jeep and fixing it up just gave me all the sterek feels. And the fact that Eli grew up on stories of all the characters 😫

Eli Hale is easily one of the top three best things in this movie for me, he’s a perfect addition and the fact he has so much stiles in him just makes me appreciate his character even more. Maybe they wrote him that way on purpose to fill in for stiles/Dylan but that doesn’t bother me either cos I thought he was introduced really well. I love how they kept stiles part of the movie through Eli with his personality and his obsession with stiles jeep whichleads me to the relationship between Noah and Eli which I freaking adored. I honestly wish after dereks death that Noah would be the one to take in Eli instead of Allison and Scott. I think it would have been better for Scott to just be his mentor and alpha and keep that separate from being a father figure which Noah already kind of is (that’s how I see it anyway). Also Allison tried to kill Eli, so unless Eli’s forgiven her it doesn’t really make sense for them to be a family.

Scott to me felt like the character who changed the least out of all of them which is not a bad thing. I said earlier that I love how he stuck with deaton and dogs, you could see throughout the show his passion for it and I love that that hasn’t changed as he’s gotten older. although after seeing him in the whole firefighting situation at the start, I honestly could see him as a firefighter. He’s got super strength and hearing, like he’d be great at it. I’m glad they wrote it so him and malia were already broken up before Allison came back because I don’t think I could watch malias heart get broken by Scott still being in love with Allison. I thought the reunion between Scott and malia was really funny.

Allison is back!!! The shot where she’s walking and the two cars explode in the background was 🔥🔥 She was a pretty good bad guy, especially going after Eli and Derek because she was ruthless about it which reminded me of how Chris argent was at the start of the series when it came to Scott and Derek since he was pretty ruthless with them too. it was so creepy the way the nogitsune used her especially by pretending to be her mom which made me GASP 😮. And it was super heartbreaking that she didn’t have her memories too. When Scott told her he was still in love with her 😍 the looks they gave each other right after he said that, threw me back to the earlier seasons, it was really cute.

JR bourne did such a good job with chris’ reaction regarding Allison being back. He’s had such great character growth throughout the series and he’s just even more badass in the movie. Also when he was swearing 😏🔥 wish we got to see more of him and Melissa, I’m assuming they’re still together since there was a small hug between them after everything was over but it’s not enough for me lol I need more, I loved them in the show. Another person on tumblr (can’t remember their username sorry!!) said they finally got Melissa a weapon!! and I had the exact same thought, she’s awesome.

Peter had the most Peter hale entrance to the movie and I loved it, I still think he’s an asshole tho lol. Also that scene when they were at the cliff and he’s on his hands and knees sniffing at the ground was really funny to me.

They could not have had mason and Liam further away from eachother throughout the entire movie like wtf, not even a little acknowledgement like a hug between them or anything. With mason being a deputy, I thought made sense because he had the brains and the whole problem solving thing similar to stiles so him being a cop and using his researching abilities etc to solve crimes and seeing him work with Parrish and the sheriff was cool to me since they weren’t really characters that interacted in the show… but if we’re being political I’m not sure if it makes sense since he’s young and black and I’m not sure if he’d buy into the whole “if you want to change the system, you have to be part of it” kind of thing, I don’t know if I’m reaching or reading too much into that but let me know what you guys think about it cos I’m not sure 😅

Lydia, oh Lydia. I love you. She’s a powerful woman, she’s got her own office, she’s all fancy, I love it I love it. Having to imagine her having nightmares of stiles being dead is horrible!! Like why couldn’t he just be on a special assignment some where as an fbi agent so he couldn’t be back to help them. Them not being together after everything is really sad and I’m just grateful they didn’t kill him offscreen. Anyway back to Lydia, when she screamed Allison it gave me chills and took me back to the earlier seasons too, glad to see they got a reunion hug between them. I love how she towed Jackson around with her and he still kept his attitude 😂 I laughed when he was talking about Ethan

Adrian harris, when he revealed himself I was genuinely shocked because I totally thought he died in the show so that was a pretty good plot twist to me, and the fact that he got dragged to eichen house!!! Lol you deserve it asshole.

I think the nogitsune was a good choice of villain to bring back, he’s creepy and manipulative and the fact that Scott’s bite managed to give him werewolf powers!!?? I didn’t see that coming at all!! I thought it was really cool like him turning into a werewolf was like the next level of him being a villian. Everytime the oni we’re on screen, the synchronicity between them had me on edge, watching the gang take them down was really cool, when Derek, Scott and Eli lined up to go after the nogitsune I cheered 😁 just seeing them together with all there different eye colours, I just thought it was really freaking cool.

Throughout the movie I was thinking that if they wanted to kill the nogitsune they’d have to kill Allison too since they’re like connected or Allison would sacrifice herself and die again and I’m glad that wasn’t the case. When Allison had to shoot Scott with the arrows I really thought they’d kill him off and Eli would end up being the next generation kind of thing which is sort of what happened only Derek ended up sacrificing himself instead of Scott dying 😫 if I am being honest with you I think I could make peace with Scott dying if it meant Derek being able to raise his son. The shot with Eli at the end really gives me hope for spin-offs in the future which I would definitely watch but I’m not sure others would be inclined to agree with me. I think the movie was kind of choppy and think that if it was made into limited/mini series like somewhere between 4-8 episodes then it would flow a lot better and would be a lot more appealing to most folks, characters would get better screen time between them, we could get flashbacks (I mean there’s a 15year time jump, stuff has happened!), proper funeral for Derek, I don’t know…I think they could’ve made it work for a tv show. Let me know what you guys think about it in the comments 😊

Edit, some extra notes after reading other users posts:

Liam has a beard and he looked real freaking good

I never realised Derek turned back into in alpha 😫 ugh that’s so awesome, I just noticed it in a gifset someone posted!!!!

Has Allison aged the way everyone else has?

Loved when Jackson took over and put together Lydia’s drawing, it makes sense to me that he’s the one to figure it out since they’re still close friends, I bet stiles would be the one to put it together if he’d been there

Feel like it’s inappropriate to think about this since it was a eulogy/funeral scene, but omg everyone looked super hot in their outfits - Chris in a turtleneck, Allison in a suit and skirt, Noah in the black suit, Melissa and Lydia’s dresses, Peters suit was next level of course… just they looked really good ok 😫😍

Eli is a lacrosse player and it reminded me of Scott and stiles when they were first on the team 😊 it was hilarious when coach made Scott get back into the game even tho he’s and adult

[thetylercxle]

Moulin Rouge!

5/5 (Spoilers)

First things first I’m gonna address my bias. I am an absolute sucker for musicals, and I honestly have yet to see one I haven’t liked. (If there is a really bad one I should watch please let me know)

This film however, knocks it out of the park in every aspect. There wasn’t a single moment in this where I wasn’t interested of what’s going on.

I could go forever listing all of the good things about this, but I think I only need to say a couple things.

Firstly, I adore how Moulin Rouge! looks. I am a huge fan of the Victorian aesthetic, and they do it in a way that is interesting and more importantly fun to look at. From the set design to the costumes and everything else, the vibrancy of it grabs at me throughout.

Secondly, the casting was incredible. Kidman and McGregor are great leads, and the rest of the cast felt like they were really in their roles and convinced me that they are these characters rather than someone playing them. Also, as expected everyone has extreme talent when it comes to singing, and the mixing together of all these wildly different voices came together in a beautiful medley of sound.

Third, the wackiness of this kept me in. I absolutely love that it isn’t afraid to be zany and over the top, and I don’t think the movie would have worked without it. The zaniness is easily one of my favorite parts of the film.

Fourth, despite being comprised largely of covers, none of the songs felt like covers. Each song had its own character and unique spin that kept me listening. They also did really well blending the songs with the dialogue; it was seamless.

Last is my favorite detail, and what truly puts it at a 5/5. In one of the beginning scenes they do a musical number essentially telling the entire story of the film in a few minutes. I noticed it was very obvious foreshadowing. Normally I don’t think I would care for the movie telling me the whole plot of itself at the beginning, but this did it in such a fun way. Most of all as I kept watching, I found myself more and more into a story that I already knew the ending of. I think that’s something that is really hard to pull off, and they did it very well. I didn’t care that I knew how it would turn out,l and how they would get there because it was so interesting to see the story unfolding, and exciting to realize what part of the story I’m at.

There’s so much more that I like about this film, but I’d rather recommend watching it if you haven’t already seen it. If you have, watch it again. I’ve watched a good amount of musicals, and after my first watch of this one it’s at least top 5, if not top 3 for my favorite. I could not recommend this more.

[rivalsforlife]

OKAY. First of the painfully bloated Jackson Hobbit Trilogy down, over three separate sittings because I was a) stuck at the university downloading a file for my first sitting b) so exhausted from my big trip I had to fall asleep halfway through the second sitting.

And I didn’t even watch the extended edition. 

anyways as I recall this was the best of the trilogy though it’s already showing some heavy flaws. I often hear that like the main thing holding Jackson back was all the production drama, which I don’t doubt didn’t help, but lots of the issues I had are also some of the issues I have with his adaptations of the LOTR movies just taken to an extreme. probably because there’s so much more space to fill when you have to make three hobbit movies so why NOT add in a bunch of extra action scenes and battles. whatever was going on with thorin almost dying at the end is like the “aragorn falling off a cliff on the way to helm’s deep” thing amplified.

anyways time to sort through my notes.

The Stuff I Like:

- When they finally get to the beginning of the novel and have the conversation with Bilbo and Gandalf practically word-for-word? That was nice.

- They kept in the “That’s What Bilbo Baggins Hates” song which I’d forgotten about and was fun, and of course “Misty Mountains” works well and I liked hearing that as kind of the dwarves adventure theme thing throughout the movie.

- Okay a change I Did like was the additional focus on the dwarves and why they follow Thorin, and also distinguishing more between the dwarves when in the books it was kind of like... “Thorin is the king. Fili and Kili are young and interchangeable. Dori is the Hobbit babysitter. Bombur is fat. The rest of the guys are there.” Even though Dori as the Hobbit Babysitter got removed. Anyways stuff from the appendices like Azanulbizar as additional flavoring was I think a good addition. the “there is one I could follow... there is one I could call King” with all the dwarves looking to Thorin with respect was nice.

- Namedrops: Ungoliant! and also the origin of Golf, which is the funniest thing.

- The trivia section of this brought up that Orcrist belonged to Ecthelion which was honestly the highlight of the whole movie-watching experience for me! Because I don’t recall that ever being actually confirmed but it is my headcanon. Glad to see the representation for guys who stab a balrog with a spike on their helmets and backflip it into a fountain, killing the guy that killed one of my favorites in the silm. shoutout to ecthelion wish you got to come back too. you would have Handled it.

- All the Gollum Stuff was great. Both the riddles in the dark scene and the moment of pity. 

- The addition of Bilbo talking about home, and how since the dwarves lost their homes he wants to help them, was I think really good. probably could’ve ended the movie there. but then. well. we’ll get there.

The “I Think You Had Good Intentions, I Just Don’t Like How This Was Executed” Stuff:

- oh man way more elaboration on appendices stuff than I think is necessary to the point that we’re cutting away from the book for long stretches of time. And I mean I always love bringing up more lore stuff! But it really makes the movie lose its focus. 

- troll scene again gets extra battles in it instead of the dwarves coming in one by one and getting put into sacks. It also cuts out bilbo when asked if there was anyone else going “Yes! I mean no!” which I get why they did it but I did like that line. It also doesn’t have Gandalf mimicking the trolls to make them argue amongst themselves, though Bilbo taking on a sort of similar role is alright!

- I feel like when you’re in Rivendell you have the opportunity to add in little background easter eggs but they don’t deliver there’s just a bunch of weird statues of elf women standing there looking pretty. The closest thing they’ve got is what could be a Feanorian star but doesn’t quite look like it. I may be spoiled from rings of power which for all the criticisms at least does give me lots to look at and go “ooh silm reference”

- I Like Seeing Galadriel And Elrond. Every scene with them is enriched with the knowledge that Galadriel is his mother-in-law. I just really do think they take up a little too much time - some background for why Gandalf leaves later isn’t something I think is a bad addition but it just gets a little too much at times. 

- Saruman’s comment of “I would think I’m talking to myself for all the attention he paid” reminded me a lot of my grandma talking about my grandpa. which is some new perspective on the guy.

- Some of the Gandalf-Bilbo stuff later is a little. like when Gandalf is telling Bilbo it’s important to know when to spare a life feels a little Too Much. also his comment to Galadriel about why he picked Bilbo like “perhaps it is because I am afraid... and he gives me courage.” why? he hasn’t met bilbo in years? it didn’t make any sense to me. though I get what they’re trying to do here.

The Stuff I Don’t Like:

- Radagast with the bird poop caked onto his face and the sled pulled by rabbits is what made my dad quit the Hobbit movies after the first one, and thus spared him from the rest, so I guess I can thank radagast for that. but not much else.

- They just have a casual afternoon sprint from the troll dungeon to rivendell for... some reason. 

- anyways rivendell. there was no tra-la-la-lally-ing so what is the point of anything! and the elves were a little too stoic? they’re apparently vegetarians and playing peaceful songs? who are you guys trying to fool. I’ve read the Silmarillion. I know you guys are crazy.

- Elrond was out fighting orcs which felt a little odd to me. Probably because he’s normally a healer and supposedly in a time of peace, so I don’t see why he’d be going out himself to do this? It seems like more of an Elladan and Elrohir thing -- and, like, if you’re going to transplant Radagast from LOTR to the Hobbit you may as well do the same for the twins.

- Since I have been thinking so much about Galadriel and portraying Galadriel in adaptations lately I can probably say I don’t like what they do in later movies. but the main thing that bothered me here is that she has this moment where she’s talking to Gandalf and she just fucking vanishes like she can teleport or something?

- unnecessary action scene for the storm giants or whatever they are. why are they there. what are they doing. why. 

- of course the goblins and orcs being seemingly different species when they’re supposed to be the same thing gets a point here

- legolas shield surfing down the stairs is OUT the entire company surfing down a mountain on a crumbling wooden platform is IN

- The Main Issue is this whole Orc Revenge Plot thing though. no idea what’s going on here so it’s going to get several little bullet points. It’s kind of weird like I get you want a bit more setup than until the battle of the five armies part where Gandalf is like “oh btw bolg is here. you know the guy whose father you killed” but. why azog specifically? why does it have to constantly derail the plot from the beginning? I feel like having the namedrop of Azog (or probably Bolg) by the Great Goblin would be enough setup for now instead of several different fight sequences with the orcs that don’t need to be there.

- okay like first of all when they run out of the mountain and gandalf’s like “the daylight will save us from the goblins”. in the books the goblins continue to fight them and that’s why they’re there for the out of the frying pan and into the fire part. but instead the daylight I guess stops them but... not Azog and co? Why are they seemingly immune to sunlight? They aren’t Uruk-hai?

- So the last part is the worst and here’s where there’s multiple points. First: throughout most of the movie they have Thorin generally willing to put himself in danger for various members of his Company, including Bilbo when he nearly fell off the mountainside, and saving him from the trolls, and such. But then when they’re all falling off the tree he just abandons them to go after Azog. which may be a “blinded by revenge thing” but I don’t love it. everyone watching him as he goes look just as confused as I was.

- and ever since I heard it was the ringwraith theme they use when Thorin goes after Azog it’s been bugging me a ton.

- Azog is like “leave that one [thorin] to me” but then about five minutes later “you there random orc bring me his head” HE CAN’T EVEN DO IT HIMSELF?

- Bilbo tackles an orc which is. weird. but only THEN do the rest of the company rush in to help out Thorin. What were they doing all this time? Some of them were falling off the cliff or whatever, but those that later charged the orcs sure took their time so Bilbo could have his Big Hero Moment he really does not need

- Eagles being summoned by Gandalf and then leaving without him giving so much as a “thank you” made the Eagles seem more like a taxi service than anything. 

- anyways the Leap Of Bilbo (which is what I want to call it now. Bilbo’s Six Foot Vertical Leap, Beren-Style) gains Thorin’s respect, which doesn’t really happen until like after the barrels. and I do think it hurts their relationship development. Thorin respects Bilbo Now for the Leap Of Bilbo, and then I guess just continues to respect him a ton when Bilbo does canonical cool stuff, and then turns on him in the third movie. I think him just beginning to recognize Bilbo at the end of this (with the “you don’t have a home, so I’ll help you take it back if I can” speech, and recognizing he isn’t going to run away) and then really starting to respect him after the Mirkwood stuff would be a bit more natural.

- the Leap Of Bilbo makes him instantly thorin’s favorite when he wakes up he goes “the halfling...?” dude your people were falling off cliffs. you’re making no attempt to resist the fanfiction that’s going to come of this.

Anyways I think that’s everything I took notes on. I can already see where the problems are going to come in. and it’s just going to get worse from here. thanks for bearing with me.

[anniesocsandgeneralstore]

M here! Here are the AU’s I have come up with today!

The Princess Bride

When Jake Met Ronnie aka When Harry Met Sally

Pirates AU- spin-off of Pirates of the Caribbean: Jake is Will, Ronnie is Elizabeth

Indiana Jones

Kim Possible (maybe)???

Childhood pen pals

Strong Disney Princess: Ronnie saves herself; Jake is there for moral support

The Holiday

While You Were Sleeping

OOOOHHHH MY GOD OH MY GOD OKAY LEMME GATHER MY THOUGHTS FOR EACH OF THESE HOLY SHITE

new aus hot off the presses folks let's get it

1 The Princess Bride AU

like fuck dude that movie slaps so hard

and Jake as the Westley type with the ripped-open shirt after the ROUS attack?? that's some good stuff right there

i feel like this may be an au though where a lot of the original characters stay the same cause they really are just so classic and i just can't bring myself to replace them. as much as i love the other pilots.

the other daggers can just be friends within the castle or something

2 When Jake Met Ronnie AU

i've never seen when harry met sally, but you explained the general plot to me M and honestly it works

i feel like i don't have much to say since i haven't seen the movie lol but you know what's up M

3 Pirate AU

MOTHER FUCKIN PIRATE AU

this another one of my weird ass hyperfixactions, i own so many books on pirates

am I allowed to take this idea I had for a different fandom and change the characters? I mean it's my idea I should be able to right??

So Ronnie as a pirate captain, the other daggers besides maybe Javy, being her crew

Jake as the Commodore with the British royal navy who gets captured by her

something something adventure something something falling in love

but i also could see working JAKE being the pirate captain with the dagger crew and Ronnie is just a passenger on another ship that he takes and he takes her captive for ransom from her wealthy brother

i could see, and enjoy, it going either way

which do people like better??

4 Indiana Jones AU

mmm mmm Professor Jake Seresin in the anthropology department with the glasses and the tweed vests and the escaping out his window to avoid office hours

like of course he's the stud of the whole campus just look at him

i am in FUCKING LOVE WITH IT

i don't know if i would want to follow a movie plot exactly

so maybe he could go on a different adventure (perhaps looking for The Hand of Midas? or Excalibur?)

and maybe ronnie is the one who goes to Jake for help because her brother was tasked with looking for one of these things, finding it before the Nazi's do or whatever, but he's gone missing

they fall in love along the way, get into danger, she probably gets captured or something, they find brad, find and lose the treasure all the span of twenty minutes and bada bing bada boom

5 Kim Possible AU

yeah.....not sure how I feel about this one either lol

by design jake is too cocky to play a ron stoppable type, it just doesn't fit him at all

can see it as a couples costume though lol

6 Childhood Pen Pals AU

oh now this is interesting

everything is basically the same, so regular au but just like a bit to the left

maybe they started being pen pals through the navy when they were kids, a way to connect kids who have a parent who died in service

they sent their first letters and replies begrudgingly, at the insistence of their mothers

but pretty soon their back and forth was natural and consistent throughout the rest of their childhoods and even into their teenage years

they definitely developed crushes on one another, sent pictures back and forth. but they were too scared to exchange phone numbers or anything like that. this, with the letters, felt sacred.

but then jake went off to the academy and his replies took longer and longer, and suddenly they just stopped

ronnie knew it was going to happen eventually. but it still hurt. she moved on, but kept every letter and picture he sent in a box she moved from house to house because she just couldn't find it in her to throw them out

but then she finds herself in fighter town, working at a crusty bar, and some young aviator walks in and he looks vaguely familiar. she sees the last name Seresin pinned to his khaki uniform and her stomach drops

no fuckin way

oh my god this concept is making me lose my whole mind. cause they know so much about each other!! in such an intimate way!! in a way that a lot of people probably didn't. they grew up together in a way, within those letters.

excuse me as pace around my apartment thinking about this good lord

7 Disney Princess AU

this kinda already feels like the Fantasy AU i've already established

so i don't really know what to add to this lol

8 The Holiday

okay ive never seen the holiday, but i looked at the wiki plot synopsis so here is my best attempt

Ronnie and Jake's sister swap houses for the holidays

I'm not gonna focus on what happens to Jake's sister...she also finds a boo while staying in Ronnie's house it's chill idk

but i love the idea of Jake coming to his sister's house drunk off his ass to find some other woman there and they both decide to just fuck. that's so funny to me. and so on brand for those two horn dogs

but other than that i am unsure on anything else

like should jake be a widower with two daughters like the movie? should they get snowed in after the drunk sex and fall in love with some sweet forced proximity? do they just keep running into each other during her stay?

it's cute but ya know how it is

9 While You Were Sleeping AU

while you were sleeping is such a weird ass movie but i love it

i guess Jake's gotta have a brother in order for this to work (Jensen Ackles anybody?)

i still want this set in Cali, just because that is where Ronnie belongs in all honesty lol, so maybe she works at a surf shop/surfing instructor place and Jake's brother frequents

he gets into some accident and Ronnie takes him to the hospital, musing to herself about marrying him one day

according to movie jake's family shows up, they think she's his fiance, yadda yadda she falls in love with jake instead

her and brother almost get married but she can't go through with it

she ends up with jake instead

in this jake would come from a big family, and it's something that ronnie has always wanted since she only has brad

Thank you so much for sending this in my sweet M 💕

[satelliteduster]

what horror movie did you watch?

skinamarink! went with a friend (and through his finesse we actually ended up getting in for free; he likes to save vouchers) and man i honestly adored the film. it's much more interpretative than linear/clear cut, which made the movie a treat to try and pick apart during its runtime; it did a fantastic job of keeping up the suspense the entire film, dipping more and more into buildup than release (which still just kept me on edge as the movie kept going on) and the almost voyeuristic view of the characters that we get throughout the entire film made me feel just as uneasy as the characters: like i was somehow doing something i wasn't supposed to do and now im trapped in this nightmare just like the rest of them.

i will admit. i have EXACTLY TWO complaints about the film as a whole. but im not saying em here >:3

this is also a really funny note but there were multiple parts of the movie i found myself very giggly and smiley and i think that's just because i enjoyed the experience more than i was terrified. there's one part of the movie where i could just Feel my friend and other audience members getting annoyed but i was trying to stifle a laugh simply Because of that annoyance. clown blood in my veins

AND. ILL BE HONEST. i understand now why this movie has been so disliked by the more vocal audience members. it's not a "typical" horror movie with a clear linear structure, threat and stakes. everything is implied and every shot has a hidden layer beneath it that you've gotta be patient with and pay attention to if you wanna enjoy it. and i pretty much try and do that with every movie, so i actually ended up liking it for that aspect. i actually told one of my coworkers last night, "if i wasn't me, i'd probably have been bored as shit watching this movie."

last hilarious note. the theater was next to barren. maybe 10, 20 ppl scattered around a huge theater. in the middle of the movie, i notice a dude near the front, fucking around on his phone. a couple minutes later, he gets up and leaves the theater. a woman who i Presume was his girlfriend stays for maybe another Minute before leaving as well. and that's all.

tl;dr really good film, it truly was an experiment in "how terrifying can a film be if it's replete with suspense and symbolism and (mostly.) lacking in jumpscares and clear threat?" and frankly i think it almost completely succeeded. 90%. a-, maybe b+.

anyway hi anon hope you're having a good day <3 sorry for the encyclopedic response

[sasuhinasno1fan]

Good luck bracelet - Adrien AUGreste Day 28

It took a bit of thinking to come up with an idea but I decided to go with this. I also love how Adrien as Bast Luck would gossip about his boyfriend in the middle of fights, leaving a certain spotted hero a blushing mess. I'll admit, I'm not in love with the chapter, but hopefully you guys like it. This was also supposed to be up yesterday technically, whoops. Lucky Charm

“Why not get him a spa day? You can afford that right? Or maybe do it at home?” Vixen said as she and Bast Luck dodged an attack from an Akuma.

“Guys? Really?” Scarlet Bug called, face flushed, probably from the battle and Tigresse laughing at something. “Focus!”

Bast Luck didn’t really know why he was yelling that to them, they were all basically acting as bait while Venom and Tarasq got the Mouse holder from wherever she was. He and Vixen were the only ones who didn’t know her identity, which was kind of helpful in a way. They were also waiting for Ryuko to show up. She was a semi-permanent addition, just because the 3-element thing was useful in fights.

Adrien would of rathered Pegasus be involved but apparently, he wasn’t going to be available for the month, which, rude. Adrien had his own things to deal with. Exams were coming up and his own boyfriend had an upcoming audition for a prestigious university with an amazing music program. Since he’d been homeschooled all throughout lycée, his audition was late, which made him nervous.

Adrien was also happy that whatever had been making Luka really worried seemed to be taken care of. All he knew was that his grandfather’s uncle came and was helping him with whatever it was, actually teaching him and Juleka what to do and giving him chances to be a normal teenager. Luka had more stuff to deal with that, but he seemed lighter and less stressed, so that was all Adrien cared about. It was the audition that worried him now though.

“Anyway, spa? You said you want him to relax right?” Vixen continued, putting her flute to her lips to create an illusion of the rest of the temporary holders seeming to fall from the sky. The current Akuma was a little kid who had been wanting to be a hero, so the appearance of the rest of Team Paris kept them distracted while they waited. The akuma was hiding in an item that was hard to get so they needed Venom to use Persuasion and Multimouse to get the item so Bast Luck could use Cataclysm. It sounded like a heavily involved plan for what sounded like a simple thing but it was actually incredibly hard to get. All six of them had been struggling and the Lucky Charm basically spelled it out for them, hence the involved plan.

“Yeah, but I don’t know. feels like something to do after it’s over, to keep him from overthinking about the audition.”

With the audition coming up, Adrien wanted to do something to help Luka so when realising how long the battle was going to take, he just asked the others for advice. Well, not Scarlet Bug. He’d immediately gone red for some reason and honestly, Tigresse hadn’t stopped laughing since. Venom and Tarasq had suggested movie night before heading out before Vixen gave her suggestion.

“Well, do you think he’ll be ok?”

Bast Luck nodded. “he’s an amazing performer, so I know he’ll do well there. He’s just been dealing with a lot and I know he feels like he hasn’t practised enough or that he’s ready. I just-”

He was interrupted by a wave of water jumping over them, tossing the Akuma in the air, just as Venom appeared over them. after that it was a mess of catching the controlled akuma, getting said item and destroying it. with a captured and purified butterfly and ladybugs cleaning up the mess they’d made, they all watched Scarlet Bug create a magical charm from his yoyo and hand it to the little kid. That’s when it clicked.

“Oh my god. Scarlet, you’re a genius!” Scarlet Bug looked very confused as Bast started to back away. “I have to go. I need supplies and call my friend. Bye!” he said, taking off.

“The fu-?”

The little child gasped and pointed at Scarlet Bug. “You said a bad word!”

“And I will buy you ice cream if you don’t tell your parents about that ok?”

Pictures of a very guilty looking Scarlet Bug would be online later, all while he watched the kid devour their ice cream, but Adrien wouldn’t see that for hours. He had supplies to get and he needed Marinette to answer her phone. Or Nathaniel, since he was good at picking colours too, but someone, anyone, pick up their phone!

_____________

Nino thankfully was available, though he had to bring Noel. Noel was being his normal picky self, wanting to go home, but Adrien managed to distract him by telling him about flower crowns and how difficult it was to make. He didn’t believe him and stuck to the flower wall to pull flowers out while they checked out the bead aisle not too far.

“A charm bracelet?” Nino asked, looking over his shoulder to check on his brother.

“Well, I’m trying to make a copy of the lucky charm Marinette has. The one she hangs from her bag during exam days?”

“Oh, the one with the different beads. Why not just ask her to make one?” Nino suggested.

Adrien shook his head. “I want to do this for him. Issue is, Luka’s not the type to wear something that dangles very far on his person, so it doesn’t get caught in his bike. So, it’ll definitely be more bracelet.”

“He wears so many of them. do they have good luck charms in Italy you could give him?”

“Yeah. It’s called cornetto, or the horn. It’s kinda the most popular one, other than ladybugs. I already have an extra one my nonna gave me, and she loves Luka, so she’d be happy to know he has it.” Adrien pulled up a picture on his phone to show Nino.

“It looks like tiger tooth. They bring joy, which I guess also works. Horseshoe and four leave clover mainly bring luck.”

Adrien hummed, looking over his shoulder at Noel who was making his way back with his large bundle of flowers. “Is blue too predictable?”

“Is it bad saying it’s hard to see him in other colours? I mean, other than black and white. Red seems overly bright for him. Unless it’s how Scarlet Bug wears his costume, that I think Luka can pull off. Though…I don’t know, I can also see him in pink oddly enough, or that might just be me seeing Rose dress Juleka up in pink a lot.”

Nino wasn’t wrong. There was a bit of overlap in colours having meaning between France and Italy, so honestly, he couldn’t go wrong. He grabbed a few choices before looking at the charms. He found ones that matched the style or colour of the horn his nonna gave him when Marinette finally called him back.

“You have to watch Noel later right?” he asked, kicking Noel off at the news of being left behind. He knew already, he was just being difficult. “I have him and can bring him if you let me use your jewellery making stuff. I need someone to tell me if it looks ok.”

“Why are we making jewellery?”

“Because I want to give Luka a good luck charm. And I bought stuff for flower crowns for Noel so he can be distracted.”

“In that case, sure. but if it looks really nice, I want you to help me make a mock up to sell on my store after vacation starts.”

Luka wiped his violin down. he’d been practising all afternoon, the callous on his fingers were aching. He took a big breath as he glanced at the calendar hanging between his and Juleka’s rooms. Auditions were soon. He had the grades and everything else, he just had to nail this audition and he’d be getting into his dream university. He’d be doing in person school for the first time in nearly 8 years, but he was hooping all the time spent with Juleka’s class and just his general life would make it an easy transition. Thankfully, the school also offered online classes, it would just take longer to graduate, but the option was still there. He just wanted this audition to go well. Su-Han had been doing his job as Guardian, working at Fu’s old message parlour, so he was allowed to focus on the audition.

“I wonder what Adrien decided to do.” Tikki teased, letting out a squeak as Luka closed the compartment where he kept his supplies and the small weighted stuffed cow he always kept in there, where Tikki had been resting. “Hey!”

He got red remembering how Adrien had been gossiping with the other holders for ideas, in the middle of a battle. Sure, it was just to play keep away while Nathaniel and Marc went to go get Marinette but still. Juleka had been no help, truly taking Plagg’s teaching and just stood there, laughing. He almost wanted to ring her neck, but he was too busy trying not to get overly red and give himself away. While Adrien was a good Cat Holder, having his boyfriend on the team had its drawbacks. He just hoped Juleka got the same when they eventually called in Rose to become a holder.

He let go so Tikki could get out when he heard footsteps. Tikki darted up his jacket, making him squirm as Adrien came in.

“Hi!”

“Hey.” He said, sticking a hand down his jacket to make more room for Tikki. Thankfully it wasn’t one of the weirder positions Adrien had found him in. “What are you doing here?”

“I wanted to give you something, as a good luck charm for the audition.” Adrien pulled out a box from his bomber jacket and Luka was brought back to the day Adrien gave him their matching rings. “I hope you like it.”

Bast Luck had never finished the conversation and the nosy part of him had been curious what Adrien decided to give him. He opened the box and sitting on cotton fluff was a bracelet. It had blue and green beads that changed and meeting in the middle was a row of white beads. Separating them where 5 charms. The one in the middle was a red tiger’s tooth and on either side was a ladybug, a horse shoe, a four-leaf clover and a black cat.

“I didn’t choose green for me. On the Italian flag, it represents hope and freedom. Blue for intelligence and calm and white for purity. Can’t have enough of that with Hawkmoth around. Oh, also, this is called cornetto, it’s the most well know good luck charm in Italy. Nino says it means hope in France.”

“Tiger’s tooth, yeah. Why Ladybug and Bast Luck, unless it’s supposed to be Catseye?”

“No,” Adrien shook his head. “Ladybugs are also a symbol of good luck and unlike most western ideologies, black cats are also good luck. But if it helps to think of it as extra protection against Hawkmoth, then by all means.

Luka smiled and rested his violin in its case so he could put the bracelet on. it mixed in with the others he wore and he knew when he had to remove them for the audition, Adrien’s, plus the ones his mother and sister gave him on other occasions would be the only ones sitting under his button up.

“It’s perfect. Thank you. but you didn’t have to give me this.” he got up, took Adrien’s face and kissed him, smiling down at the dazed look he got. “I’ve got you.”

After Adrien had made him red all afternoon, watching the diplomate’s son flush red so quickly felt like retribution.

“Why are you like this?” he whined as he hide his face in Luka’s neck, Luka wrapping his arms around Adrien’s waist.

“What could you possibly mean?” he joked. “Hey, thank you though. I do love it. our rings would have reminded me of your support too.”

“I know, I just wanted you to have a dedicated good luck charm, like the one Marinette has. I thought the bracelet would also work for any charms your mom might have. You can’t tell me the Captain has brought out a few.”

“She has. My sweet boyfriend, thinking of all the things. What am I going to give you as a good luck charm?”

Adrien pulled away and tugged Luka down to kiss him. “I’ve got you.”

Ok, he deserved that.

[channeleven]

Reviewing Twilight Zone Intros

I’m not gonna act like I’m the biggest fan of Twilight Zone, hell you may get lucky and find me bashing on the original for some contrarian cred, I’m an edgelord. I’d like to thank @tacomasterstudios for inspiring me to do this, I can have something to write about while I’m attempting to get another project off the ground, and this is my way to show I’m not particularly dead.

Twilight Zone, probably needs no introduction, chances are you see plenty of it during SyFy’s annual marathons, same applies to the four revivals it received. Whether or not Twilight Zone is the greatest show evar...rar..., it’s undeniable it was incredibly influential, it was not gonna die out that easily.

Twilight Zone had four iterations throughout its history, the original from the 60s, the first revival from the 80s, the second revival from the 2000s and the most recent one from the 2010s. Not counting the movie adaptation because I do not want to give John Landis the satisfaction of a compliment, may he join Donald Sutherland on a romantic sleigh ride when hell hath froze over.

Because each version was created during different decades, naturally they would either take on elements that suit their respective eras, if not attempt to capture the mystique of the original, but it always starts at the opening. The opening sequence spells out the nature of each version, what the era was like, and what ensuing episodes would entail. Rather than rank them, I’m gonna review each one, and evaluate their merits and follies.

The 60s

Because there’re multiple intros from different seasons, I’m only going to single out a few, if not lump them together.

The 60s version made use of a simple tune with creepy visuals. While this seems like a basic stylistic choice, as far as I know, The Twilight Zone had to work with a particularly small budget, sometimes it is easy to notice fake sets or you can pick up on it through small locales. The intros I remember most are the floating door and random objects floating around, which is the most ambitious in my opinion, the one where the camera moves through fog and happens upon a light in a swimming pool, or the moon, can’t be sure, but most of all, it’s that spinning vortex that I remember most.

While by today’s standards these intros seem lackluster, as a kid in the 60s, back when the most you get in terms of horror were mysteries or whatever the hell Inner Sanctum was, this broke the mold and reflected the producers making the most of an otherwise tight budget, with the rest being saved by excellent writing and the crem de la crem con leche, Rod Serling setting up the creepy element further.

As a side note, Twilight Zone itself wasn’t a straight up horror series, at most cautionary tales with science-fiction elements most of the time, so the mystery element is in full swing with these.

To sum up, the 60s intro reflected technical standpoints at the time, what you can do when you make the most of the budget and setting up the very theme of your program, and that’s what helped it stand the test of time.

The 80s

The first revival of Twilight Zone kept to its roots as a collection of mysterious cautionary tales, but featured the incorporation of straight up horror most of the time. I honestly really love the 80s version, especially for a slice of some good ol’ 80s cheese. Of course, when it comes to stuff like peculiar dialog and plots of most episodes, you could never get that from the opening sequence, which is the next step in the show’s evolution.

Back in the 60s, you rarely got shows that sought to creep viewers out. The 80s made use of more refined visual tricks, optical illusions, subtle creepy imagery and bizarre music that one, not only suits the creepy vibe of the intro, but two, was composed by Grateful Dead.

I like how they threw in Rod Serling very briefly, though he is gone, his soul lingers clearly, and we even get a little of the original theme close to the end. This intro suited the more horror-themed lean the revival was going for, while keeping to its roots and once again showing some impressive technical apt. It’s the kind of weird that Twilight Zone was built upon.

Channeleven’s Pointless Actor Trivia

In the show’s last season, the production budget was cut and episodes were filmed in Canada. In one episode, the voice of Luna from DiC Entertainment’s dub of Sailor moon, Jill Frappier, appeared in one episode of Twilight Zone’s final season.

The 2000s

Okay, the second revival is fairly divisive, but at the very least it’s fairly even with people, some like it, some don’t. Personally, I like this one, I saw more episodes than I thought I would so that should say something.

The intro however divides a lot of people, and back then I didn’t handle it well, I was like “fuck everyone and their memories.”, but I’ve grown, let’s get into this with a rational mindset.

On one hand, yes, it seems incredibly edgy. Like the 80s version which was composed by Grateful Dead, the second revival was composed by a band. Well, technically its frontman, Jonathan Davis of Korn. I guess Trent Reznor was out sick that day, and this was the nearing the twilight years of nu metal.

On the other hand, if you’re not into the composed music, this is actually a solid tribute to not only the original intro, but the 80s as well. It uses references to the 60s version such as the swirly vortex and the floating stopwatch, zooming across an open terrain (at least last I remember with a Twilight Zone intro of old), going through fog and being in space like the previous version. Hell, we even get the familiar creepy piano tune toward the end, albeit recomposed, but hey so was the 80s version to an extent.

Basically, we get hallmarks from the 60s intro, both direct references and scenes redone to reflect where technology was at during that point, while maintaining the atmosphere of the visual oddities of the 80s version without directly stealing it. Some of you may hate this version, but I think it has a lot of merit to it, and represented the era it came from.

The 60s relied on cautionary tales executed with an otherwise minimal budget, the 80s kept to that montra while adhering to its brand of cheese while occasionally delving into horror, the 2000s reflected an otherwise dour period of uncertainty, especially after an event I cannot name because people would meme the hell out of it I’m sure. The 2000s version has episodes that are otherwise dated, but because those episodes were meant to refer to events at the time, it seems they had no choice.

The second revival intro is a perfect summation of the period it came out in, while having its own merits.

But, if you’re still not convinced, never fear because there’s another version of it.

If you’re a stickler for the 60s version, this is more in line with what you may expect, that is something that sets the tone while maintaining a sense of timelessness, combined with the merits of the more commonly known intro of this revival.

So hopefully, all is well and dandy.

Channeleven’s Pointless Actor Trivia

The second revival of Twilight Zone is a literal treasure trove of actors you may recognize from other stuff. For instance, we not only had George Costanza for one episode, but we had Newman in another. Linda Cardellini (Freaks and Geeks and Gravity Falls) was in one episode, so was Usher in another, Wallace Langham (Andy French; Mission Hill) in one of my favorite episodes from this revival, and interesting fact, Jeffrey Coombs was in this one, he was also in an episode of the 80s revival.

But perhaps the biggest one of them all, they got Bill Mumy to reprise his role as Anthony Fremont, while getting Mumy’s IRL daughter Liliana Mumy to play Anthony’s daughter in a sequel to the classic episode It’s a Good Life. Liliana is known nowadays for playing Leni Loud, but has also played Human Kimberly in Catscratch and Panini in Chowder.

Whatever shit you may give for the second revival, the writers did care for the source material, they just had to adhere to what that era’s flavor and attitude was at this point. There is merit, whether you want to believe me or not.

The 2010s

Background

Let’s be real, the third revival of the Twilight Zone isn’t very good. I did a review of it way back when, but here’re some highlights. I’m aware Rod Serling was fairly liberal, and most episodes of the 60s iteration had some subtle socio political commentary. But the key word here is, subtle. You can interpret episodes any way you wish, and that’s what gave this version such staying power, anyone could enjoy it no matter what way they lean.

I’m not gonna act like Jordan Peele doesn’t adhere to liberal views, he based his directing career on it, but there’s the thing, he has demonstrated some good apt at horror, especially so since he started out as a comedy actor, so that just makes this revival’s faults more detestable.

I’ll admit, I was kinda hyped about this show when it was announced, the Super Bowl ad was incredibly well done, with the all important swirly vortex, and yes I kinda expected the show to tackle some socio political commentary, I just never expected it to be so on the nose that it only becomes enjoyable to those who eat that up every day of the week.

You all probably didn’t even realize that this version died after two seasons, if anyone cared about it then, it probably wasn’t for long, as there was no one who sought to keep it going when CBS All Access became Paramount+.

But now the Intro

Wherever you stand with the previous revivals, I give them credit for trying something unique, while paying homage to the original. They have their own identities that reflect the nature of the period and represented what each version was going for. 

The third revival went for a more direct representation of the 60s version, a more, blatant direct representation, like a sorta recreation, complete with the floating door, an intern walking through a hallway with a bodycam, a few marbles in space, and basically a direct copy of the more familiar title cap of the 60s version, all with an otherwise derivative theme without its own flavor, even Jonathan Davis’ version wins out in that regard.

Let’s go back into technical elements. The original version, once again, made use of a limited budget and especially limited technical scope. The 80s version pushed their technical skills to the limit in order to convey a legitimately creepy feel. The 2000s version went all out on special effects while paying homage to the original, yet doing something unique as well.

Here, it’s all just a bunch of half-hearted effects, it’s like the 60s if they had access to Adobe After Effects, it doesn’t try to do anything unique, it’s just cooking up something overly familiar and calling it a day, which is funny because a lot of the episodes can be boiled down to modern socio-politics, thus dating the episodes if we were to ever go the other direction.

Above all, this is the weakest intro of the bunch, all it wants to do is be familiar rather than go for something unique and interesting. Jordan Peele fancies himself as the new Rod Serling, clearly, and was probably upset that Forest Whitaker beat him to the punch on a first.

Overall

It’s not easy to rate these, because they all do something unique, well, three of the four, and I run the risk of repeating myself. But perhaps now you have either grown more respect for the second revival, had renewed interest in all of the above, or some other thing.

I’m not Rod Serling. Goodbye.

[imalifegen89]

The Fracture - A Hardy Boys Fanfiction

In the end, there was a hard lesson to be learned. The Trust, once broken, was one of the hardest things to fix. Even if it was, it would never be the same again.

Hello,

This is my first fanfiction attempt on the famous and much beloved, Hardy Boys series.

First of all, this is a Nancy-Drew-Free zone. Sorry, not sorry.

I'm mostly focused on the brothers and their relationship throughout the story. Unfortunately, I won't be using the other characters such as Callie, Iola, Chet, Biff, Vanessa or any of the others. Original characters will come and go as the story reaches its conclusion. The Hardys' parents and the basic back story (until Iola's death) are kept intact, but after that, I have diverted from canon to headcanon. The brothers are 29 and 30 in this story and have characteristics to portray their adult lives and careers, although their fundamental personalities and quirks remain unchanged.

The story is a sci-fi thriller and is set in the near future. The world-building in this story was inspired by a list of movies and TV series: "Intelligence (TV series -2014), Johnny Mnemonic (Movie 1995) and Electric Dreams (Movie 1984).

Enjoy!

Prologue - Two Years Ago Monday - 10:45 

In Transit

“Frank Hardy?”

“Yes?”

“Son, this is Admiral Hawkins of USS Saratoga…”

For the life of him, Frank Hardy could not recall the rest of the conversation he had with his brother’s commanding officer only three hours ago. There were bits and pieces of words and phrases tumbling around in his brain, refusing to fall into coherent thoughts that would refresh the stark terror he had felt listening to the grave voice of the Flag Officer. 

Words and phrases such as, wounded in action, critical, transferred to port for urgent medical care, brain surgery…would advise you to visit if at all possible, son. 

The clusters of clouds passed at speed as he stared out of the small round window of the jet as it cruised at a sedate 800km/h to get him to a private airfield in Dresden, east Germany. It wasn’t honestly his doing - how he ended up in a private jet flying to Germany. He closed his eyes and sighed, taking a moment to be grateful for Alexis, his beautiful, brilliant wife who had been there with him when he had received the news.

“Frank, give him a bit more workout, he can take it.” 

Lexi’s voice drifted over from the hardware room she had just plugged in the supercomputer’s latest overall system update. This was the final tweak before her people finally handed over the entire system and its rights to his people. Frank smiled and added a few more commands with curt gestures of his gloved hand, enjoying the way the computer responded to his complex demands.

“Okay,” Riley Quinn - Ex Army Ranger Gunnery Sergeant turned agent - smirked from her perch on the table outside the holosphere. “I’m not going to comment on what that would sound like without the context. But Lexi, honestly, the things on this funny screen are already so fast it looks like the sphere’s gonna take off to space anytime now,” she said as Lexi walked out of the room to come stand near Frank’s second in command. “You want your man to speed it up more?”

“How else would I know the latest upgrade is working, my dear?”

“You guys are crazy.”

“If by that you mean, brilliant and sexy, You’d be right.”

Frank listened to their banter as the system finished the final test runs and diagnostics on what he had just put it through. He felt another proud grin break over his face as he stared at the final set of statistics that stared placidly back at him from the screen.

“Huh,” he said. “Would you look at that?”

Lexi joined him on the raised platform and wrapped an arm around his waist. “Did you doubt me?”

“Not even for a second.” He dropped a kiss on her head that reached just under his chin.

His mobile ran then, cutting off Riley’s fake coughing and Lexi’s giggles. It was a withheld number, and he answered because calls like that were normal in his line of work.

“Hello?”

“Is this Frank Hardy?”

“Yes”

“Son, this is Admiral Hawkins of USS Saratoga…”

The next thing he knew, Lexi was shaking his shoulder gently while Riley peered at him, her gaze worried. 

“Frank, who was it?” Lexi demanded, her brows furrowed in a frown and her voice full of concern.”

Frank looked up and blinked. He still had the phone clenched in his fist. He blinked some more, trying to get the static in his mind cleared to answer her question. He knew he was in shock, in a state of suspended reality, to stay away from facing the facts that was going to terrorize him, hurt him to the core.

“It’s, uh, it’s Joe,” he heard his voice through a haze. He sounded dull to his own ears. “I mean, that was his CO. He, um, he got hurt during a raiding operation–”

“Where is he stationed?” That was Quinn. The ex-soldier in her already knew where this was going.

“Saratoga,” Frank mumbled.

That was apparently all Lexi needed from Frank. She entered a few rapid commands to the system as Frank watched, numb, detached and somehow seated on a chair next to the platform. Within a short moment, she had Joe’s initial medical records, x-rays, blood work and test printed and scanned, along with a full explanation of what it all meant. It never even occurred to him to question the legalities of her searches and the data retrievals.

By the time she was done, Frank was aware enough to see the colour drain on her face as she understood the exact condition his younger brother was in.

“Lexi–”

She looked up and took a deep breath. Frank knew that she would never hide anything from him. She always chose honesty, despite how painful it was sometimes. “It’s bad.”

Frank felt whatever air that was left in his lungs leaving in a rush. He deflated, slumping in on himself. The admiral’s somber words echoed in his mind, creating horrifying images of his brother; hurt, bleeding, unconscious…dying. 

And Frank wasn’t there. Frank hadn’t been by his side for seven goddamn years.

Now, his brother might just be lost to him, forever.

A painful sob tore out of him before he could stop it. He bit on his fist savagely and closed his eyes, refusing to let the tears out. If he did, he might not be able to stop it.

There was nothing he could do to stop the shivers that wracked his entire frame as he sat, lost, in that chair though.

“Frank, baby, listen,” her hand on his shoulder was warm and her tone was gentle. “I know you want to get to him as soon as possible, but please, I think you should contact Aaron first.”

It took him a long moment to understand what she was saying. Aaron Burkhardt was a mutual friend. They met him during their time at MIT. He was involved with them in three projects regarding supercomputer processors and software developments. Frank remembered how that veritable genius used to joke with them, saying that electronic brains fascinated him just as much as the real ones.

He was now one of the world's leading innovative neurosurgeons, based in Dresden.

Lexi’s suggestion, however, confused him. What he needed was to get to his brother right now. “Why?”

“Because Joe’s condition is critical,” Lexi explained patiently. “And based on the injuries mentioned on these records, I think you - your brother - is going to need his help.”

The copies of all the medical reports were there in his briefcase that rested on the seat next to him. He hadn’t looked at any of them yet. Looking at Joe's condition depicted in an emotionless set of numbers, chemicals and harsh medical terms felt wrong somehow, before the chance to actually see him. It was an illogical thing to do, he was well aware, and Frank was nothing but logical and practical to the core.

Except, it all changed drastically when it came to the matters of his brother.

He still recalled the first serious argument they’ve ever had, all those years ago, when Joe had announced his intentions for the first time.

“What do you mean you aren’t going to college?” Frank repeated, bewildered, thinking he had heard it wrong.

“I’m enlisting,” Joe said, stretching his tall frame across Frank’s bed.

Things had been hard, messed up for some time now. After eight months since Iola’s sudden, cruel and needless death, things were finally starting to fall back into their usual rhythm. They had just gotten back from their first case after the break they took from everything, only yesterday. It had been a resounding success too, and an entire ring of cyber criminals were now cooling their heels in a county prison in France. Not bad for two private detectives returning to their game after months of hiatus. Joe had been happy, and Frank had seen the pale, sickly complexion of his brother's face acquiring a healthy tan during the time they spent chasing those hackers. He had seen the haunted look in dull, blue eyes getting replaced by a gleam that didn't bode well for law breakers. He had finally seen his brother getting better. 

Or so he had assumed.

What he was hearing now, told him that his assumptions should have been exactly the opposite.

“Have you lost your mind? Tell me this is a joke!” His question and the demand came out louder and sharper than he intended.

“It's really not,” Joe’s reply was quiet as he fixed his gaze on the ceiling, avoiding Frank’s incredulous expression. “I’ve been thinking about it for a long time, and my application’s already been accepted.”

Joe’s admission did nothing to calm the anger that started to boil in Frank. He rarely let his emotions get the best of him like that. But this was Joe - his brother, his best friend - who could effortlessly make Frank’s carefully crafted logical mindset fly out of the window. And now, he was telling Frank that he was just…abandoning him like it was nothing.

“You already-” Frank had to cut himself off and unclench his teeth so he could speak properly. “Joe, what the hell? That’s not the plan,” he shook his head, still wondering whether this was a sick joke his brother was playing, despite his denial. “The plan was to go to college, and then Uni, to get our degrees in criminology and–”

“Frank,” it was Joe’s turn to cut him off. He sounded so calm and in control. It was as if they had switched personalities. The thought made him want to laugh hysterically. “Brother, that’s always been your plan, not mine. I'm sorry you thought I was just going to follow you along–”

This was crazy. Why was he only hearing this now? “Joe I don't get it,” he said, the project he was working on forgotten as he had his chair turned towards his bed fully to face his brother. “How come you never spoke about this before?” 

“It never came up.”

Frank took a few moments to breathe slowly and study his brother. Joe was still sprawled on his bed and avoiding eye contact. There was a certain weariness about him and that look of defeat, that sense of infinite grief was back, wrapped around his brother like a heavy cloak.

“Is this about Iola?” Frank asked softly, carefully. There were still a lot of landmines in that conversation realm that Frank did not want to trip, further upsetting his brother. As it happened, his good intentions were not enough to keep him from doing exactly that.

“What?” Joe was startled enough to turn fully towards Frank, finally looking at him. “No.”

The instant denial sounded genuine enough. He would have accepted Joe’s word for what it was at any other time. But, since Iola’s death, there was a state of discord between them. That made him badly miscalculate his response.

“Are you sure?” Frank asked, his skepticism evident in his tone. “Or is this you using military service, of all things, as a way to run away from all the memories?” He saw the way Joe flinched at hearing that, the way his eyes flashed, hurt. But he couldn’t stop. “That you aren’t using that as a distraction from what happened? Is this your choice to find a way to feel better?”

Joe stared at him for a long moment, and except for that initial flash of hurt, there were no other emotions in his blank expression. It was too late for Frank to take back what came out of his mouth. He kind of didn’t want to, because, damn it, he was hurt too. 

“No, Frank,” When he finally broke the silence, his voice was still quiet. But there was a hard edge to his tone that he had never aimed at Frank before. “I’m not joining the navy, signing up to put my life on the line, along with the lives of people around me, as my feel-good form of therapy, so fuck you.” 

Fair. Frank knew he deserved that. “Joe,” he said, shaking his head. “No. I’m sorry. That’s not what I meant–”

“Whatever,” Joe said, getting up from his bed, clearly done talking about it. “How you feel about my choice is not going to change my mind. It’s done. Just thought you might wanna know.”

Admittedly, Frank had handled that wrong. He had known that the moment Joe had left his room without saying anything further. It had taken some time, but Frank had spoken to Joe after that a few times, and had managed to apologize in earnest. Joe in turn, had revealed that he hadn’t wanted to make him upset by telling him his plans, which had happened anyway.  

They never truly let any grudges grow between them, not for long. Sure, they fought and argued, but at the end of the day, they always managed to talk things out, forgive each other and move on. 

They were brothers and they trusted each other. That always came first.

Frank went to college as he planned. He threw himself at any and all academic pursuits he could to fill the time. His bid for MIT was accepted easily where he spent the next four years earning his masters in the field that fascinated him the most: software engineering and supercomputing. After that, his projects and thesis regarding the practical uses of his fields with regards to global surveillance and data gathering caught the interest of a certain agency that specialised in exactly that.

At the age of 28, Frank was now one of the youngest agents in the Central Intelligence Agency who had the command and control of his own branch, Global Signal Intelligence. Which was a fancy way of saying he had permission to run electronic eyes and ears all over the world. Even better, he had the chance to bring his own precious tool he had helped to create for the job.

He even met the love of his love, Alexis Wayland during that time. She got a job at Hewlett Packard Enterprise soon after the concept of ‘Spearhead’ turned into reality. The programme was rechristened as HPE Cray XX351a/Spearhead by their sponsors at the final stage before it was procured by Frank’s current employer.  

While Frank found his way into the spying business, Joe went on to the service as he said he would, taking to the disciplined life of a sailor like a duck to water. Years went by as he finished his training specialising as an Engineer’s mate, three tours in three ships followed by a bid at the Officer Candidate Training School and then the rigorous requirements and training of BUD/S. 

This was his brother’s seventh year in the navy, last two as a Lieutenant of one of their finest special operators, a SEAL.

But, what happened to him only forty eight hours ago might just be the end of all he worked so hard to achieve during all those years. He might lose his life.

Which was why Frank was on his way to Aaron Burkhardt. Lexi had made a quick call and the surgeon had promised to meet him at the airport. He would take a look at Joe’s records and they would make their visit to the hospital together. Frank didn’t know what he had done to deserve friends like that, the ones who would drop everything in their lives to come to his and his brother’s aid. He is immensely grateful nevertheless for the fact that he did.

……..

They were kindly but firmly told that they weren’t allowed to see the patient just yet, his condition was still unstable and was under constant supervision. Frank was sure they got as much information they could, including a copy of Joe’s recent chart, only due to the charming, yet insisting presence of the towering neurosurgeon.

“They just confirmed what I told you when I saw the records, Frank,” Aaron said, dropping heavily onto the seat next to Frank in the waiting area.  “He hasn’t woken up yet, not even once. And the swelling shows no sign of going down. It doesn't look good.”

Frank could only nod at his friend's words. He wasn't sure he could get any words out without dissolving into sobs. He kept breathing deeply and evenly, his gaze fixed on a spot on the tiled floor of the waiting area of the intensive care unit.  

“They won’t let anyone in to see him. Not yet.”

“Is there anything we can do here, Aaron?” Frank asked after a long while. He couldn’t just wait here to be told that his brother had passed without even having the chance to see him at least. He just couldn’t.

“There is,” Aaron said, slowly, carefully, making Frank turn his gaze towards his friend fully. “But, only if you have the right to make decisions as his power of attorney.”

“I do,” Frank said, curious as to why his friend sounded…reluctant.

“You do?” Aaron repeated, with a raised brow. “Not the navy? I thought the military usually took the lead in cases of injuries on duty.”

“They do,” Frank explained. “But they couldn’t treat him in the cruiser and they couldn’t arrange a transit home in his condition. The moment they transferred him to port, the authority regarding his medical decisions fell to me.”

“That's a good call on his part,” Aaron nodded. “To have it arranged to be you.”

“It was one of my conditions,” Frank admitted with a wry smile. “He agreed just to make me back off,”

“He’s lucky to have a brother like you.”

“It’s mutual,” Frank sighed. “Tell me what my options are here, Aaron.”

Instead of answering, his friend stood up and gathered his jacket. “We are going to find a place to stay the night and then I'm taking you back to Dresden tomorrow first thing in the morning,” he said, confusing Frank.

“Aaron–”

“I know you'd rather be near him,” He cut Frank's protest off gently. “But, right now, you can't help him. What can potentially help him is in my office, and I can't talk about it here.”

The enigmatic man didn’t divulge anything further than that cryptic comment no matter how much Frank nagged and cajoled. As promised, he did find two suites for them at The Fontenay to spend the night in luxury. The next day, they left the hotel after an early breakfast in a rental, and made it to the Gustav University Medical Centre where Aaron Burkhardt led the neurosurgery department.

………..

“I understand that the concept falls somewhere in the ethically grey area,” Aaron sipped his coffee and broke the silence as Frank stared at the screen on his friend’s laptop. “Not because there’s any question whether it works, because it does. Just that it hasn't been approved for the next stage in clinical trials yet.”

Frank blinked, looking up at his friend. He knew that the confidence he displayed wasn’t arrogance. He was only stating a fact. Aaron Burkhardt was a bona fide genius in dual fields and this thing that stared back at him - this concept that went beyond anything he had ever even imagined - had the potential ability to save his brother's life. It boggled his mind that this invention was a branching ripple of the concept of the project that now resided back in the basement of the Central Intelligence Agency.

“Tell me more.” Frank whispered, grabbing onto the silver of hope his friend presented with both his hands.

“The chip uses the same data storing concept of Spearhead,” Aaron explained. “The programming meshes into biosynthetic hardware. Now, this new base can be used without an issue, it went through the final approvals just last year,” he said excitedly, warming up to the subject. “The problem is with bonding organic matter and synthetics with the programming itself. This design of mine lets the chip connect to the brain and even grow to become a part of it. I know it sounds fantastical but it works.”

“Let me see if I got this,” Frank muttered. “You want to implant a microchip in my brother’s brain?”

“Exactly,” the neurosurgeon beamed. “There's still so many hidden abilities of the human brain and chemicals. We learn something new every day just by studying it. It is actually capable of integrating with an external storage device such as this to save itself. Survival instinct at its finest.” 

“How is this going to help him survive losing a chuck of his brain?” 

It was the first time he put words to the extent of Joe’s injuries. He had to swallow hard to keep back the bile he could feel burning his throat. Now that the words were out, all his fears about Joe came rushing back to the surface, reminding him that he was on the verge of losing his brother for good.

“We can replace the parts he lost due to head trauma with the chip, Frank,” his friend said gently. “It’s organic parts are capable of adapting and expanding its mass. The injury left space inside his skull for it to grow and I can develop it into a point to speed up the process even. Within six months, his brain functions will be restored back to a guaranteed 98.9%. If it worked.”

“If it worked,” Frank repeated numbly. He was having a hard time wrapping his head around what his friend was telling him.

“There’s always the chance that the body would reject the new addition.” 

“What else could go wrong here, Aaron?” Frank pressed. His friend was talking about a wholly new level of brain surgery. And, as was the case with any new invention, it was bound to have a plethora of bugs, mistakes and side effects. “Give me all of it.”

“Well, he might experience some memory loss,” Aaron said. “The chip can complete his brain but it can't retrieve lost data. He might have side effects such as headaches or seizures, which would become apparent within the first month of the implant. But those can be corrected with minor surgeries and adjusting the programming of the processors.” 

Frank waited for the rest of it. But Aaron kept drinking his coffee, staring at Frank expectantly. 

“That's it?”

Frank’s utter incredulity made him smirk. “I’m a genius after all, Frank. You didn't think I would design something faulty, did you?”

Frank couldn't believe that that was all there was to it. It sounded almost too good to be true. At this point, the legalities didn't even make an appearance in his thought process. All he cared about was saving Joe’s life.

“But what's the catch?” he demanded. “Because this all sounds too good to be true.”

“Yes, the catch,” his friend shrugged, still smiling. “There are several. For one, it’s not approved yet, so it's illegal,” he sounded remarkably calm about it, as if it was a negligible concern. “The second, the board of directors of Gustav, HPE and GTN are still negotiating about the property rights, because my design involves all three of them coming together to make it work–”

“GTN?”

“Yeah, they own the biosynthetic base I have to use for the chip,” he explained.

“How long is it going to take for you to make it?”

“Oh, it was already made about five months ago,” Aaron said. “There's three of them in storage, I've been running tests, improving the overall efficiency of it all this time.”

“But you just said–”

“The talks are about the shares and market prices and profits, Frank,” said Aaron. “They know it works. It’s the new revolution of the field of brain surgery. But they are not doctors. They are not concerned about the brilliance of the concept or the number of lives we could save. They are all about the money.”

Frank could understand that. His own project would have had the same issues if it weren’t for the extensive and largely undisclosed budget of his agency. 

“So how are we going to make this happen in reality if we did decide to do it?”

“Well, I was thinking you could transfer your brother here. I could take over as his primary care physician and then do a surgery for the implant. Then I’d keep him here on an extended stay to make sure everything works as they should.”

He made it sound so simple. Frank still couldn't even begin to comprehend the process. 

“I’m not… I can't even–” he tried to put words to his disbelief and failed. 

“It’s overwhelming, I know,” Aaron nodded. “And the biggest catch would be the secrecy. If we go through with it, only you and I can ever know about it,” he admitted. “Not even Joe can know. We can just let it be known that the genius saved the day again because I'm that good,”

“And humble about it too,” Frank muttered, shaking his head.

Aaron chuckled. “I can even make it spin that I did some innovative grey matter grafting,” he shrugged, closing his laptop back. “The chip will be integrated into his brain within the first twelve days and it won't be visible to any scans. So you don't have to worry about it being found. And the other thing is, I’ll be able to keep everything under wraps until such time. That’s about it.”

“What’s it to you?” It was a valid question. His friend’s suggestion could very well end up in costing him his medical license. Or worse, he could end up in prison. Their friendship went way back and Frank trusted him. But he just couldn’t believe that  Aaron would gamble his career and life away just to help Frank’s dying brother out.

“Why, Frank,” Aaron said with another proud smile. There was a predatory gleam in his green eyes that wasn’t there a moment ago. “I want the very thing any inventor wants to witness. That’s the moment their invention comes to life before their eyes.”

Now that Frank could believe. That confidence and self satisfaction he could clearly see in his friend's expression was genuine. He had seen it a few times during their shared time back in the university days.

“I know you're going to have to think it through,” Aaron said, breaking the silence that had fallen between them while Frank contemplated the unbelievable offer. 

“It's a big decision and it's harder because you're making it for your brother, not yourself. But right now, your brother’s scale is leaning towards death, and this is a shot at life we could give him.”

Put like that, it seemed like the easiest decision he had ever made in his life. Except, did it really give him the right to play God - or let his friend play God - to potentially alter his brother’s life like that? He truly did not know. 

“Yeah,” he murmured softly. “But at what cost, Aaron?”

“It’s up to you to decide my friend,” he replied just as quietly. “Because your brother can’t speak for himself right now.”

Wasn’t that the crux of the matter? Joe wasn’t in any position to do anything for himself. He was in a coma, lying on a bed in an intensive care unit with a number of machines hooked up to him to keep him alive.

Frank thought about the entire thing for the rest of the day, lying flat on his back on the bed in his hotel room, staring at a dusty ceiling. No matter how many reasons and justifications he mentally listed in pro and con columns, he couldn’t make up his mind.

The thought of doing nothing and letting his brother succumb to his injuries paralyzed him with terror. He could not imagine living in a world without his other half. Even the slightest contemplation of the idea made his heartbeat pick up the speed in an uneven rhythm. What Aaron gave him was a chance. One last throw of dice. If it worked as advertised, not only would his brother live, but he would be able to continue as before, without any permanent debilitating after effects. If it didn’t, it wasn’t as if they could have made his condition worse. Joe was already teetering at the extreme edge of life anyway.

But, he was equally scared of the ramifications he would have to face down the line if this miracle worked. He wasn’t even bothered about the legality of it. He would gladly take the blame and punishment for it if it meant that Joe got to walk out of this alive at the end of the day. What scared him was what Joe would say or feel if he ever found out. Would he be appalled? Would he demand the implant be taken off? Would it change him in some fundamental way or his personality? Would he be fine with it?

Then again, according to Aaron, this was going to have to be a secret that Frank took with him to his grave if they decided to go ahead. So the chances of Joe finding out about it were almost non-existent.

In the end, none of his reasoning, trepidations or fears didn't matter. The call he received from the General Hospital in Hamburg late that night, made the decision for him.

[theforgottenmcrmy]

“Talk to me, Goose.”

I love Rooster just as much as the next gal, but I think it’d be a little remiss to not pay some proper respect to the OG Bradshaw man who started it all.

Part 2 can be found here.

[iichaeyj]

hello I really like your reactions they are so soft and I have been thinking of one… I don't know if you could write a Headcanon when they invite their crush or girlfriend on a Movie Date (as if their partner was one of the silent spectators when watching the plot or in kissing scenes covering up or excusing to go to the bathroom, maybe a partner who likes movie combos and stuff) 🙈 please?

how txt reacts to you when you ignore them at the movies . . . ♡

PAIRING: txt x gn!reader

GENRE: fluff; angst (? not rlly)

WARNINGS: none

WORD COUNT: 1.1k

A/N: i wasn't sure if i understood your request at first, but hopefully this is what you wanted! ty for the request!!

YEONJUN

tbh i think he'd watch you more than the movie

like he'd plan to watch something with you as a cute little date

and you guys planned to just watch the movie and have a casual night

but he literally can't stop looking at you

like he'd try and pay attention, but he couldn't when you were right next to him!!

and he'd definitely try to get you to look at him, too

like if you're focusing on the movie, he'd let out small sighs and shift in his seat in order to grab your attention

and if he picked out a romantic movie

he'd be staring so hard at you everytime something cute happens

like if the main couple kisses, he'd fully expect you to kiss him, too

and if you don't, he'd get all disappointed and upset as he looks back at the screen

like he just looks like a mad puppy

now once you get out of the movie, he'd be angrily crossing his arms at you

and you're probably like ??

you thought the movie was fun, so you didn't understand why he was so grumpy

you'd probably have to bother him until he tells you why he's upset

and you have to hold his hand and shower him with kisses in order to make up for it <3

SOOBIN

ngl i think soobin would focus on the movie

like he'd sit there with his popcorn and genuinely watch it

but he would also like to make little comments throughout it

and when you don't really acknowledge him the first few times, then he would probably try to talk more

he's so confused though cause why weren't you talking to him?? weren't you guys on a date????

and if it was a romantic movie, he'd definitely try and hold your hand

and let's say you accidentally moved it at that exact time

he'd be so ????????

were you upset at him?? what did he do??

if yeonjun's a mad puppy, soobin's a sad bunny

in all honestly, you just really really like the movie

soobin would then probably just watch the movie, glancing between the screen and you

and as soon as the movie ends, he's rushing to get you alone somewhere so that he can talk to you

and when you just ask him how the movie was

he gets even more confused

he thought you were mad??

so when you clear up the misunderstanding, he just pouts and hugs you

"i thought you were mad! i was so scared!"

he doesn't let you go for the rest of the night <3

BEOMGYU

now beomgyu

i think it rlly depends on the movie (regarding whether he'd pay attention or not)

so let's say it's a romantic movie he isn't too interested in

he'd definitely be the type to tease you throughout the movie

like everytime the couple kisses, he'd whisper something like

"i wanna kiss you like that"

just to get a reaction out of you

but you're a movie fanatic so you don't really say much, barely looking away from the screen

like yeonjun, he'd sorta huff and cross his arms

but he also doesn't like giving up

so he keeps teasing you, his comments becoming more frequent and his hands touching yours more often

but of course, you just casually pat his arm once in a while and don't even look at him

so now he's confused

he thinks about it for a good 10 minutes, but he really hasn't done anything to upset you

and when you get up abruptly at the end of the film to get out, he starts trailing after you

he then confronts you, asking why you were upset

and now you're confused

and when he asks why you kept ignoring him, you have to explain that you weren't

he'd probably drag it out, though, once he knew you weren't really upset

he'd go around shouting that you didn't love him

he only calms down after you give him a kiss <3

TAEHYUN

okay honestly i don't even think he'd really notice

like taehyun could watch the movie in silence if he wanted to

so let's just say that you kept leaving during the kissing scenes (like it suggests in the request)

he's very observative so he'd probably notice

he'd wonder if he accidentally did something to upset you or make you uncomfortable

so when you come back, he just stares at you for 5 minutes

that's when he decides to try and make some conversation, unsure of why you kept leaving during all the romantic parts of the film

and you don't pay much attention to him, the film exciting you

so when you don't respond, he just sorta starts worrying

cause he could've sworn he did nothing

he goes into everything he's done within the last week, trying to draw some sort of conclusion

and he's decided that it was either because he forgot to text you good morning last tuesday or because he ate your last macaron yesterday

(not saying you're like extremely fragile or anything but my man taehyun's stressing rn and he really needs some kind of answer to soothe his worries)

so when you're both out of the theater, he just suddenly says

"i know you really like strawberry flavor macarons, i'm sorry"

and you are confused ofc

you say that you just really needed to go to the bathroom

and so he's now extremely embarrassed, sorta muttering an "oh" and avoiding eye contact with you

but kiss his cheek and everything will be alright <3

HUENINGKAI

he just gets really easily distracted

so if you two go on a date together to the movie theaters, he'd probably get bored less than halfway through and try to talk to you

he'd make funny little comments about the characters and scenes, laughing to himself

but if you don't really respond, he sorta deflates and he now feels awkward :(

he likes when you laugh with him

so it felt extremely awkward when you just didn't reply to him

he sorta stays silent for the rest of the film, looking between you and the movie

he's just pouting as he tries to pay attention to the movie

but he's also lowkey an overthinker

so now he's wondering if you were upset or not

and when the movie ends, he sorta goes up to you slowly and asks if everything's okay

and he just looks like a broken puppy :(

so ofc you're concerned and have to reassure him you're not

and he just looks so sad that you have to hug him and pat his head/back

and ofc you didn't mean to ignore him, so you spend the rest of the night holding hands and laughing together <3

[yelenasdiary]

Hailee Steinfeld x reader! actress : Reader is in a Marvel movie and plays Kate's love interest and while they're on a break, and whenever Jeremy and Florence catch the two doing a couple thing, they poke fun both for that. She plays Tony Stark's daughter.

Couple Things

Pairing: Hailee Steinfeld x Reader (Platonic to Lovers) 

Summary: You grew closer to Hailee from being on set of the new Marvel movie. 

Fluff | 0.8K | Mentions of drinking |

AC: I recently heard that Kate Bishop is returning for phase 5!! I’m so excited to see more Kate!! 

Never did you think that your acting career would lead you to play a role in the MCU let along get to work alongside some of your favourite actors and actresses. When your manager contacted you about playing the role of Tony Stark’s eldest daughter, you jumped at the chance to audition. Only after getting the role were, you informed that you’d also be playing Kate Bishop’s love interest. Your heart skipped a beat for a moment when you were introduced to Hailee who you loved in Dickinson. 

Over the course of filming, you grew closer to Hailee and learnt a lot from her. You also grew close to your other cast members such as Jeremy Renner, Florence Pugh, Robert Downey Jr, Scarlett Johansson, Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evens, Elizabeth Olsen, the list goes on. You felt like you’d just found this big family that were so welcoming, warm and taught you a lot more than you knew. 

During the filming breaks, you found yourself hanging out more and more with Hailee. Table readings always ended up in laughing fits between you and Hailee and whenever you were both free from events outside work the two of you would practice lines together at her house or yours. Playing Kate Bishop’s love interest quickly became one of your favourite roles you’ve done. Hailee made it fun, comfortable, and honestly, how could she not? She’s beautiful. 

“Here comes the work wives!” Florence joked as the two of you entered the restaurant. The cast and crew were throwing a welcome back to filming party for the second season of Hawkeye. “Are you jealous Pugh?” you chuckled as you took your seat next to Hailee. “I can’t believe you actually stole her from me!” Florence replied with a laugh. 

The Bishova fans adored Florence and Hailee’s characters on Hawkeye which made you slightly nervous for this second season to air and having to see their reacting to beloved Kate Bishop not date Yelena. “Hey, don’t take it out on her, you know I still love you” Hailee pitched in on the joke. 

Throughout dinner, everybody took notice on how close you and Hailee had gotten over the break. You both shared each other’s food, picking at it more like it. The two of you shared a large cocktail, Hailee would have her arm resting on the back of your chair throughout the night keeping you close to her. As the night went on, the more drinks were drunk, and the more laughs were shared around the table.  

“Did you both know there was a slight change in script last week?” Jeremy asked looking over at you and Kate. “No?” you looked slightly confused, “first I’m hearing of it” Hailee replied. 

“Oh, well, I guess you’ll have to wait until next week” he threw you both a wink which confused you both but laughed it off and enjoyed the rest of the night. Florence and Jeremy kept making jokes at the two of you looking more like a couple rather than close friends, but it didn’t faze you both as you both just went along to tease them back. 

The following week, you were in your trailer going over the new script when there was a knock at your door. “Hails, what’s up” you smiled, letting her into your small trailer. 

“I just sawt the slight change that Jeremy was talking about, have you seen it?” she asked with a smile. You shook your head, “no I’m only the 5th page” you chuckled, “is it juicy?” you added. “Look at page 107” Hailee looked down at the script in your hand. 

Flicking through the script you saw what she was talking about. “Well, then” you looked at her with a soft smile, “are you comfortable with that?” she asked. “Yeah, of course, it’s no big deal” you replied. “Awesome, I just wanted to make sure” 

----

You thought it wasn’t going to be a big deal, but the scene was all you could think about until it was time to film, the director called action and your nerves got worse. 

~Scene~

“Kate, I don’t care about what my father thinks” you stepped closer to Hailee, “if he loves me, he’ll understand” you added. 

“Is this really want you want?” 

“More than anything”

Your heart skipped a beat when Hailee’s softly and warm hands cupped your face, she gave you the softest smile before pressing her lips on yours for the camera men to capture. 

~

Unscripted, your hands found Hailee’s waist. The director called cut but neither of you pulled away, you pulled her closer and deepened the on-screen kiss. Hailee smiled against your lips when you both stopped for air, “tell me you felt that” she spoke earning an instant nod from you, “you have no idea” you returned the smile. “Good” Hailee whispered before kissing you once more. 

“Pugh! Check this out” Jeremy watched as you and Hailee wouldn’t get enough of each other. “About damn time” Florence chuckled when she saw you both pull away from the second kiss. 

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