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moosecow · 2 years

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UNPOPULAR OPINION TIME!

Ten things I wish would just DIE already…

10. Miraculous Ladybug

Before you sharpen your pitchforks! Hear me out! I actually REALLY like this show…but GOD It is the BIGGEST tease I have EVER seen! Marinette and Adrien should have gotten together at the end of the first season, and maybe we could have explored their relationship, given them more depth? Raised the stakes instead of the CONANT. ENDLESS. FILLER. Of absolute nothing that is this show. We all know they’re going to get together, just rip the bandaid and let us move on. I’ve never seen a show jerk its fan base around so much!

9. Avatar the Last Air Bender

Again, I LOVE THIS SHOW, SO, SO MUCH! But I can tell that they’re now turning this into a cash cow. I don’t want to see another avatar show, especially after what they did with Legend of Korra. What made Avatar so special was that, yes there was a lot going on in their world, but it never stopped focusing on the core cast, their development, their relationships, and their reactions to the world they live in. Korra just gave us more and more characters instead of focusing on the ones we had, and it lost me with its overcomplicated plot, and I fear legend of Genji, AND the live action remake (which already has alarm bells going up because it’s live action and when has worked out well?) Can we just…revive an old gem on Nickelodeon? Or make something new and substantial instead of relying on SpongeBob reruns?

8. Dragon Ball

Yes, another show I like! But MAN! How many power-ups can we go through before it gets old! Even ASH finally reached his goal in pokemon! There’s so much content here, and I’m grateful for that! I don’t mind more games and merchandise, but enough of the show! It’s clear that only Goku and Vegeta are the only characters capable of beating the big enemy, and no one cares much for the younger characters taking over. But at this point their not that interesting. ESPECIALLY Goku. He’s just a guy that likes fighting. Vegeta was more interesting with his reformed villain arc, but he is constantly overshadowed by his dumber super-saiyen. It feels like they’ve exhausted all their stories….

7. Velma

I’m gonna barf. Seriously, all people do is complain about this show. Can we just, STOP? Review bombing it, complaining about it, making reaction videos to it, is just…feeding it at this point. If all of us hate so much! So many shows that deserved to be watched and enjoyed were completely ignored and faded away from the public consciousness, but not this one, at least, not yet. I see video and video about it! Ignore it. Let it die like it’s supposed to! And now I will never mention it again, and neither should you!

6. Marvel

It’s not so much as I want this franchise to die…more like…I think we need a break! It’s been like 20 years of non stop Marvel and I feel like we already peaked with the Avengers Endgame. Besides Moon Knight and Wakanda Forever, all I’ve seen is general dislike of all the new stuff coming out. I know that Disney is a big conglomerate and they’re going to milk this thing for all it’s worth…but wouldn’t people enjoy it more if you let it simmer for a bit, let the ideas come back after some rest, and then get back into it?

5. 13 Reasons Why

This show should have stayed a book! Oh. My. God. As someone that struggles with mental illness, watching this get sensationalized and reduced to nothing more then teenage angst for badly written teenage characters is so gross! I don’t have much to say about it. It just makes me so angry! How do people actually like this and continue to watch and recommend it? It’s basically the same as every other “dramatic” teen show out there, but uses suicide as a hook to draw people in, which is so disrespectful! You want a show that is more mature then this and actually handles mental illness well? Watch BoJack Horseman.

4. Grey’s Anatomy

I don’t care about the relationships in this show. I don’t who broke up with who, who died, who couldn’t have a kid, who cheated on who. I cared more, in the first season at least, when they were just young surgeons, and they were dealing with the struggles of that. BUT MAN! This show quickly became a soap opera! I mean what did I expect from an ABC show. Just end it already! If you want a good show about doctor’s that focuses on their personal growth and the difficulties of the job watch House, or better yet, watch Scrubs.

3. Kingdom Hearts

This hurts. This hurts. So. Much. GOD! I love these games…but I REALLY hate the direction they’re going. KH3 was such a red flag! The story was complicated enough with time travel, the whole foretellers things, how we keep adding characters instead of focusing on the core Destiny Islands Trio, how Kairi is basically a plot device where, EVEN IN HER OWN GAME, she has to be rescued by Sora. And now, KH4 is on its way and Nomura is basically turning it into versus 13….I don’t even know anymore. Things were getting real dumb in Dream Drop Distance. I’m just going to pretend thee series ended at KH2, where the emotions were there and the story wasn’t derailed and removed of all the charm it had…Either end it…or do something actually good with it, because at this point, it’s just getting ridiculous. And this is coming from someone that loves this series with every fiber of their being.

2. Stranger Things

Yeah, Netflix will cancel actually interesting things like Inside Job, Dead End National Park, I’m not okay with this, Sense 8, and introduce stupid ideas such as removing password sharing (EVEN AFTER RAISING THE PRICE BECAUSE PEOPLE WERE PASSWORD SHARING) but they will keep things like Cuties and…this show. At this point, Stranger Things is a shadow of its former self. Not only are there no stakes, because everyone has plot armor, but it’s basically just teenage drama at this point. Remember how in Season 1, the demagorgan was actually scary? Remember how going into the upside down had health consequences? The characters just walk around now without a problem. But this show is just drama filled enough to keep the attention of the masses without actually having any substance. It makes me sad that it followed the pattern of the first season being the most interesting season and then everything going down hill from there. How did THIS show, of all shows…make me not care? What could be worse then this?

Well…

#1. Harry Potter Series

I loved this as a kid. I read this thing so many times…but now…I’m past it, and JK is just. A. Terrible. Terrible. Person…the fact that it doesn’t end with her words, that she actively gives money and supports hate groups, kind ruins the messages I learned in HP. As a kid, I thought part of the point was to be inclusive, and to make life better for people that are mistreated by the mainstream. But no. Not only were the last few movies terrible, but Rowling keeps digging that hole. Even if I wanted to, I just can’t enjoy it anymore. So, even if not everyone will. I’m going to let it die. We need another book series to inspire a generation…I just can’t with this anymore…

#harry potter #jk rowling #stranger things #Alta #avatar the last airbender #dragon ball #kingdom hearts #grey’s anatomy #13 reasons why #marvel #Disney #netflix #velma show #velma #miraculous ladybug #unpopular opinion #unpopular take #so many great shows are cancelled while garbage gets pushed forward #or great shows get beaten down into cash cows…

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classic80sand90smovieloves2 · 3 years

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Meeting and Dating Casper McFadden

(Not my gif)(Requested by anonymous)

- Moving into a new home was never easy. Oftentimes, it meant packing up everything you owned, leaving a bunch of good memories behind, and traveling across the country to a new town where you’d have to make all new friends and renovate old fixtures.

- But there was something about your new house that made it both easier and harder to live in: the fact that it was haunted.

- Obviously your family didn’t find out about the ghosts until after they’d signed the papers and even if they were warned about it, they probably wouldn’t have believed the realtor, but none of that mattered now. Now you were stuck in a old house with a bunch of spirits, stuck until your parents save up enough money to move again.

- So what made the manor easier to live in, you may ask. Well, the fact that it came with a friend….

- You and Casper meet the day you move into the Whipstaff Manor. You’re wandering around, exploring the home and trying to figure out which room you want to live in, unaware that there’s a specter following you.

- The minute Casper sees you, he’s head over tail. You make his undead little heart race and have him second guessing his every action. Which is the main reason it makes him a while to formally introduce himself, he’s too scared that he’ll ruin his first impression.

- Sadly for him, his first impression still doesn’t go over well, regardless of how much he practiced.

- In his defense, it wasn’t anything that he did, it was more the fact that you were suddenly face to face with a phantom. Anyone would have freaked out in response to that, and they would have freaked out to any ghost as well; no matter how friendly.

- So, like the rational young woman that you are, you scream and take off like a rocket, dashing out of the room and down the hall to find a more secure and safe looking room to hide in until your parents get back from the store.

- He follows behind, attempting to calm you down and feeling downright awful for scaring you. Once you’ve locked yourself away into a broom closet, he gives you a minute to breathe before he calls out to you, telling you that he’s sorry and trying to coax you out so that you can talk.

- It takes you another minute to be convinced and to trust him when he says he isn’t gonna hurt you, but eventually, you do brace yourself and open the door.

- Once you do, you find that he really isn’t as scary as you’d originally though he was. In fact, he was actually sort of cute; in a cartoony sort of way, and he’s friendly to boot; so you wind up feeling a bit silly for being so frightened of him. And after you begin to think like that, the two of you begin to develop a close friendship.

- While his uncles might be incredibly obnoxious and annoying, you can’t deny that you enjoy having the ghostly presences in your home; especially when school roles around and you find yourself feeling like an alien with no one to turn to. You might not have any living friends in your town but you at least have a few see through ones at home that ensure you’re not completely alone.

- But, compared to your primarily platonic feelings, Caspers feelings for you were a lot more complicated. He valued your friendship and enjoyed having you as a pal, but he also had more romantic feelings towards you. In simpler terms: he’d had a massive crush on you from the moment you walked in.

- And though he’d have loved to confess his feelings and see if you felt the same, he knew that it was practically impossible for the two of you to be together; at least until you’d died …or until he was alive again!

- The minute he remembers the Lazurus he immediately erupts into a fit of excitement and joy. If you could get it to work, he could be alive again and the two of you could be together for the rest of your lives, either as friends or as something more, he honestly didn’t care which; though he hoped it was the second one.

- So he tells you about the invention and the two of you get to work. You take the wild trip down to his fathers lab, search around until you find what you’re looking for, load the contraption up with it’s necessary elixir, and pull the levers with bated breath.

- You don’t know what you’d expected to walk out of the machine but it certainly wasn’t this. Perfectly done blond hair, shining blue eyes, and a face that made you suddenly flustered to be in your best friends presence. He looked like a Disney prince and you were captivated.

“How do I look?” He asked nervously.

“Perfect,” you responded a little too quickly. “I mean, human, normal …living.”

- His face broke out into a smile and he threw his arms around you, pulling you into a tight hug. The action caught you off guard and made your heart race but you didn’t mind in the slightest.

- Once you’d finished hugging, he pulled away slowly and you found yourselves locking eyes. His gaze flickered to your lips and before you knew it, the two of you were leaning forward and sharing a kiss.

- His uncles may or may not have interrupted you but the “damage” was already done. You were just as hooked on him as he was on you and neither of you could be happier.

- Casper loves pda. He loves being able to actually touch you and be out in public and show the whole town that the two of you are together; even though half of them are confused as to who he is.

- He touches you and holds you close whenever he can. He’s waited to do it since the moment he met you and now that you’re together; and he isn’t ice cold and only semi-solid, he enjoys every little ounce of affection he can provide and obtain.

- Handholding.

- Cheek kisses.

- Long, soft kisses. They’re sort of a contrast to his usual hyper behavior, which is why, if you ever need him to calm him down and focus, all you have to do is ask for a kiss or make it obvious that that’s what you’re going to do. He skids to a stop and happily complies as he gives you an adorable little smile.

- Pet names aren’t really his thing but he does call you by fun nicknames that he’s come up with; usually a shorter or longer version of your name.

- Cuddling is a must with Casper. He absolutely loves it, no matter how the two of you do it. Sometimes you’ll lay on his chest, other times you’ll spoon, and other times you’ll face each other on the bed and talk until one of you dozes off.

- Speaking of: he definitely watches you sleep every now and again, which sounds far more creepy than it actually is. Like, you’ll be talking late at night and you’ll fall asleep and he’ll just look at your peaceful face for a while.

- If we’re going with the assumption that Casper maintains some of the aspects of being a ghost, I think it’s safe to say that he’s occasionally at least a little cooler than a normal human, which makes him the perfect companion for hot days.

- Being carried and flown around.

- Sometimes; especially prior to him being in the Lazurus, he forgets that you’re not a ghost and gets you into some uncomfortable situations. And after he turns human again, he definitely has to get used to not being able to go through walls and have things go through him when they’re thrown or fall.

- Testing out exactly what he’s still capable of doing and if there’s any limits to his new life. Is he perfectly normal? Does he have ghostly powers? Do the effects occasionally wear off during certain times or seasons? It’s all stuff you have to figure out.

- For a while after he’s brought back to life, he spends all day experiencing everything he missed when he was still alive. All the smells, sights, and touches; he runs around like Jack Skellington while you sit back and watch with a smile.

- Going to the mall. It’s one of his favorite places to visit, he just loves the entire atmosphere of the place; especially since he wasn’t really able to go and enjoy everything about it before he turned human again.

- Tv dates.

- Playing different games with each other. Board games, pirates, video games, you name it, he’ll do it.

- Sitting on top of the lighthouse with him.

- Enjoying the view from outside of the manor. You have the perfect view of the ocean from your garden so the two of you can always throw a blanket down and stare out at the sea together.

- Just goofing off with each other. Running around the house together, sliding down the stairwell, having him push you in a chair down the halls, etc. You’ve got a huge house to mess around in, why not take advantage of it?

- Dancing together. He told you he was a good dancer.

- Late night conversations. You can always talk to him about anything you want or need to.

- Catching him watching you a lot. He always has such a loving gaze when he’s looking at you, just seeing his face when he’s watching you do something or speak is reassurance that he really cares about you.

- Always having a warm and excited greeting when you return home from school. He also probably occasionally goes with you or at least walks you there or visits during lunch.

- He loves making surprises for you. Throwing you little parties or coming up with different ways to make you smile or cheer you up after school or whenever he can see that you’re feeling down is one of his favorite hobbies.

- He wants to be with you like 25/7 so don’t be surprised if he’s constantly bothering you with his presence. It’s a good thing you love him because if you didn’t he’d become very annoying, very quickly.

- Him just appearing at random is commonplace so your parents and you definitely have to take some time to get used to it. I mean he lives in your house and now that he’s human again, it’s definitely a bit easier than when he was a ghost, but still.

- Getting chairs pulled out and doors opened for you. He likes being a gentleman.

- Him cooking for you. He definitely tries to impress you with his skills and all the inventions he uses; and he just likes doing something nice like that for you.

- Discovering all his dads inventions and letting him tell you about them. It’s really quite fascinating to see how they all work and how excited he gets while showing you how to use them.

- I have a feeling that he doesn’t like winter; for obvious reasons, and whenever it comes around, all he wants to do is stay inside with you and do indoor activities. If you were to want to go out, it’d take you a while to persuade him and even if you did; or were only going out by yourself, he’d spend forever bundling you up and making up a bunch of rules to keep you safe.

- Probably dealing with his ghostly self every now and again. I have a feeling that the Lazurus machines effects occasionally wear off for a little while from time to time so while he’s alive most of the time, you do have moments of spooky transparency as well.

- Pranking each other and other people. He might be a sweetheart but he also has a bit of a mischievous streak.

- Him always wanting to show you whatever cool thing he sees, does, finds, or hears about. Just being able to share things with you makes him happy.

- Listening to his stories from when he was alive or the decades he wasn’t.

- Fixing up his room for him and hanging out up there with all his toys.

- Being gifted some of his mothers things. Dresses, jewelry, stuff like that.

- His uncles bothering the two of you. They’re constantly harassing and teasing you; just try to pay them no mind.

- Standing up for him when his uncles are being more awful than usual.

- He might be the only person you can really bond with in your town, considering the fact that whenever you have anybody over, they’re almost always harassed by his uncles and scared away. Which Casper may or may not be sort of happy about.

- Casper gets jealous pretty easily. Anytime another guy takes interest in you, he always feels the need to mock them behind their backs or be passive aggressively not so friendly whenever they approach you when you’re out with him. It’s best to not bring up guys in your class unless it’s obvious that they only like you as a friend; but even then he’d wonder why you need friends (even if they’re girls) other than him.

- He’s sort of overprotective of you. He just got his life back so he certainly doesn’t want anything bad happening and putting yours in danger.

- He absolutely hates fighting so whenever the two of you have an argument, he’s always quick to try and settle it and apologize; even if he doesn’t really think he’s done anything wrong.

- Saying “I love you” isn’t really his forte. He prefers saying and doing other things to show you that he does.

- The two of you sort of just have to go with the flow and see where your relationship takes you. You don’t know how exactly the rest of his “life” will go so you just try to enjoy the present and what you have right now.

#casper mcfadden imagine #casper mcfadden headcanon #casper mcfadden imagines #casper mcfadden headcanons #casper 1995 #casper imagine #casper imagines #casper headcanons #casper headcanon #90s movie imagine #90s movie imagines #90s movie headcanons #90s movie headcanon

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caramelcal · 3 years

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corrupted love.

summary: calum’s girlfriend finds out about gang!cal’s occupation in a not-so-friend way.

request: “ Hi!!! I’ve never done this so I’m a bit scared but I saw you were in search of gang/criminal aus and let’s give it a go. Could you do one with Cal getting into a fight unaware y/n was watching and unintentionally scaring her and he works trying to get her back and regaining her trust. If it’s alright, if not I completely understand I also just wanted to say I really love your writing. I’m so hooked on Fool For You it’s unreal and I cant wait for the update!! Pls and thx :) x “ IM SO SORRY I JUST REALIZED THAT YOU ASKED FOR THIS TO BE AN X READER AND I DONE AN X OC (i can redo it if you want so that it isn’t specified, i just prefer to as i can play around with their appearance and personality a little more but i will 100% redo it if you want me to)

word count: 2.7k

a/n: apologies, i am working on other fics but i got a sudden burst of inspo for this one. enjoy lovelies x

also...y’all wanting parts after this where they reconcile?

Her soft giggles sounded throughout the room, face lit up by only the tv her eyes were trained on, a wide but beautiful smile spread right across her face. She sat between his legs, hands in his as he softly trailed patterns on her palms.

She was solely paying attention to the tv, a random movie that Calum knew she would like, playing. He was right, mind you, she hadn’t taken her eyes away from the screen since he had pressed play, too captivated by the cartoon. However, Calum hadn’t been watching because he hadn’t taken her eyes off of her.

He pressed a soft kiss at her temple, lips trailing gently down the side of her face as she leaned closer towards him, her back against his stomach as she snuggled against him. The smile didn’t leave her face, in fact, it hardly ever did. Melanie, -or Mel as she insisted everyone called her-, was a smiley girl, much more than him. She was happy, carefree, like an angel; his angel.

Calum had never been one for romantic relationships. He was far too busy for that, but as soon as he caught eyes on Mel he knew he wanted her. He wasn’t sure what came over him, maybe it was the smile, or her carefree attitude, or the way she was so eager to help everyone in that small Disney store that she worked in. He just knew.

She was so different from him but they worked so well together. Or, at least, that’s what Calum liked to tell himself. He liked to ignore the fact that he kept so many secrets from her. It’s to keep her safe, he would tell himself but he knew that wasn’t the only reason. It was the impending fear that she would hate him, even if there wasn’t a cell in her body that could ever muster a disliking to anyone, especially him.

So he blocked out all of the thoughts. All of the ones that told him he had to tell her before she found out in a way he didn’t want her to, or before it became too late.

When the credits started to roll of the movie, Mel turned around in Calum’s lap, brown eyes meeting his as she stared up at him, kissing his lips before smiling at him. Calum stared back down at her, struggling to keep the smile off of his face as his hands held her securely by her hips.

“What’s goin’ on?” Calum questioned at the look he gave her, almost expectant as if she was waiting for him to do something.

“Movies finished.”

“I know,” Calum nodded his head at her statement, lifting a hand to brush a curl out of her face, “Pick another one.”

“I want you to pick one out. One of your movies.”

Calum went silent for a moment as she shifted back around to face the large flat-screen TV that took up a large chunk of the wall. It was significantly larger than the one that was in her and her roommate’s apartment, not that she lived there much anymore anyway.

It looked very expensive, and it was, but she never questioned it, just figuring that Calum had saved up a lot for it. Calum’s apartment was decently extravagant, but not completely in-your-face rich. Melanie had asked him on their first date what he did for a job, and although he said a bartender, which probably wouldn’t pay for all of the stuff he had, he had never done anything that would make her suspicious that he was lying.

Or maybe she was just too trusting of people.

“Alright,” Calum nodded his head as she passed the tv remote to him, “What about a gang movie? I like those.”

His eyes were trained on her face, and even though she tried to hide it, he saw the way her face clenched up slightly. His heart clenched and he started to stutter lightly, “O-Or we could watch an action film? Superheroes? I like those too. Probably more than gang movies if I’m being honest.”

“Cal.” She cut him off softly, rubbing his arm as she leaned against him, “If you wanna watch a gang movie we can watch one. I wanna see the type of stuff you like.”

The funny thing was, even though she didn’t know about the particularly dark part of his life, she knew everything else. She knew more about him than he ever cared to share with anyone. The only people that could probably rival her knowledge would be the three boys that he had known since he was a child.

“Ok,” He let out a breath of air as he clicked on one of his favorite films, holding her flushed against his chest as he tried his best to not get nervous. It was strange, how nervous he got over something as dumb as a movie with his favorite person.

Calum, admittedly, didn’t really watch the movie. He was far too bothered by the small flinches that Melanie made every time something gory or violent happened, the way that sometimes she turned around to hide in Calum’s chest, completely oblivious that the man she was using to hide from the violence was as violent as they come.

“Didn’t enjoy that much, did you baby?” Calum tried to joke lightly, trying to ease his own nerves with a joke as he looked at the girl who hugged against him. She wasn’t scared by any means, too calmed by being in her lover’s arms, but she knew she certainly wasn’t a big fan of stuff like that.

“Uhm,” She hesitated, trying to find the right words to say as a deep chuckle emitted from Calum’s chest, his hand gently running over her messy curls.

“It’s okay if you didn’t, Mel. I know you don’t like violence much.”

“Violence doesn’t solve anything. It just creates more issues and people get hurt,” She mumbled lightly as she looked up at Calum, who flashed her a tight-lipped smile.

If only she knew, he thought bitterly. If only she knew just how much violence that he caused, how many punches he threw, how many people had been sent into the hospital or even to the bottom of the river because of him. If only she knew about the crimson-stained clothes that he threw away just before she arrived that night, just in case she found it. He didn’t want that.

He didn’t want her to view him as the monster that he knew he was.

“How about we go make something?”

“Like cookies?”

He sent her a lopsided grin as he spoke, knowing from the way that her eyes lit up that cookies were going to be the only thing on her mind until they made some. Who was he to deny the gorgeous girl with the beaming smile on her face her cookies? “Why not?”

Her hand held tightly onto the whisk as she tried her best to whisk the mixture, sitting up on the counter with Calum watching her intently with a smile on his face. He could see as her arm went tired from the constant, intense whisking but she didn’t say anything, continuing to try and whisk it by herself.

“You want help there, baby?”

Her brown eyes glanced up at him, sending him a bashful smile as she rapidly held the bowl out to him, “Please.”

His arms, which had been crossed over his chest grabbed onto the bowl as he kicked himself away from the counter and closer towards the girl, muscles flexing as he began to whisk the mixture. She watched him with a small smile, admiring how he looked so perfect in a simple black t-shirt and trousers.

He was perfect. To her, he was anyway.

Soon enough, the cookies were unevenly spread out on the baking tray, due to Mel being distracted to stop Calum from eating the raw mixture. Every time that he tried, she would swat his hand with the spatula, and it was surprisingly sore for such a light hit with such an unthreatening object. They were popped in the oven -which they had forgotten to preheat- and left the two to chat, and for Calum to steal kisses in between their words.

He stood between her legs as Melanie sat up on the counter, his hands on either of her thighs, smiles on both of their faces.

“I love you, Cal,” Melanie whispered quietly, leaning in to softly press her lips against Calum’s, hands tangling in his t-shirt, playing with the soft fabric.

“I love you, Mel.”

It was beginning to become too late to tell her.

It was almost as if Calum had this switch. A switch from where he went from being so happy and love-y with his girl, to an aggressive douchebag. Calum, if he wanted to be, could be cold, detached, and an ultimately scary human being. He was like that with most, and in fact, he was sure the only person he hadn’t been like that with was the person he loved most.

At this current point in time, while his fist was colliding with a bruised and bloody boy, one that had very stupidly crossed the gang, he didn’t think of Melanie. It had to be the first time all day that he didn’t.

The boy in front of him was younger than him, by a few years, it seemed. Maybe eighteen, nineteen. This wouldn’t be the first time that Calum has had to deal with kids, unfortunately. Most of them far too dumb to realize what they were getting into. This one, however, he didn’t feel much remorse for since they had knowingly been spying on the gang, to feed back the information to someone. Calum needed to find out who.

“What’re they givin’ you, Kid? How many punches to the face before you start talking?” Calum aggressively called out, grabbing the beaten kid by the collar of his shirt, pulling him towards Calum slightly, making him look the gang member right in the eyes.

The boy limply turned his head to the side, spitting out the blood that was in his mouth before he looked back at the Maori boy, mouth parting as he began to talk, coming out in a rasp, “You’re Calum Hood, right?”

“What’s it to you, Kid?” Calum spat out aggressively. He was well-known, he knew that, especially amongst that world. Of course, the kid knew who he was.

The younger boy chuckled lightly, teeth showing off the red stain that Calum had made them, “My sister really is an idiot, isn’t she?”

“Your sister got you in this mess?”

“No, but she did get into a mess,” Calum stared down at the boy, eyebrows furrowed and getting more and more annoyed by the second when he couldn’t fully decipher the boy’s words. The boy scoffed as well as he could before mumbling, “God, Mel, you’re so stupid sometimes I swear.”

It was barely a mumble, but Calum had heard her name as clear as day, eyes widening slightly in disbelief.

“What?” Calum spat out, hand curling further into a fist as he stared down at the boy for asking.

“You might not know me, Calum. But you know my sister,” The boy drawled out, a sickening smirk somehow coming onto his face, despite how bloody, bruised, and swollen it was. The boy wasn’t dangerous, far from it actually, but right now he had the upper hand against Calum, “Melanie, her name is. Fairly acquainted are you not? It’d be awkward if you weren’t, to be honest.”

That’s when it clicked, Calum’s brown eyes ghosting over the boy’s beaten face, and it became so obvious. The curls, the distinct freckles...Even though the boy was beaten, he could still see the clear similarities between the boy he had just beaten up to the girl he loved with every fiber of his being.

“What the hell do you want?” Calum said with gritted teeth, hand tightening around the boy’s collar once again.

“What do I want?” Melanie’s brother asked, “I want you to turn around, Calum.”

Calum couldn’t help the defeat he felt when he did. All the anguish, grief, and guilt rising to the surface when he saw her standing there, staring at him with tears thick in her wide eyes and a terrified expression on her face.

“Mel...” He took a step forward, but she took a step back, profusely shaking her head.

“Don’t...Don’t come near me!” She had her eyes screwed shut, back up against the door behind her as she choked on her words.

She was terrified; something Calum never wanted her to be. He had vowed to himself that he would save her from every single fear she faced but this time he couldn’t. He couldn’t save her because he was her fear.

Melanie was scared of Calum.

“Flynn?” The girl called out to her brother, eyes briefly drifting over to him before flicking back over to Calum, making sure he stayed where he was. Flynn looked at his sister, the sight of his beaten face staring back at her making her feel sick, “Go outside. Please.”

At the sound of her broken plead, Calum felt like his heart had shattered in half. The gang member, in all of his life, had never felt so much pain, so helpless in his entire life. All because of one girl.

“Melanie...Baby, please, let me explain,” Calum didn’t take another step forward, scared that it would cause Melanie to run away or to cower away from him.

“How could you do this to him?” She asked, looking up at him with tears falling down her soft cheeks. All Calum wanted to do was hold her close and kiss her tears away, to comfort her but he couldn’t. When he didn’t reply, she pushed further, “How could you do this to me?”

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry Mel, please understand-” Calum broke down, tears pouring out of his eyes, “I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

“You’re a monster, Calum.”

Melanie had never felt more betrayed. She trusted Calum, with her life. She trusted him to make her feel safe; to keep the monsters in the world away from her. But he was the biggest monster she had ever met.

Their love, which she had thought of like a fairytale, a pure, white, fruitful love that she had cherished with every part of her existence, was destroyed. Every piece of comfort she had ever felt with the boy slowly crumbling and slipping through her fingers. She loved Calum, but she couldn’t love the monster he was hiding beneath.

Melanie leaving him in the warehouse left a hole in his heart, he had never felt so weighed down in his entire life. After everything he had been through, every person he had punched, every person he had killed, it had never brought him so much emotion. Melanie was his weakness.

He leaned against the wall of his apartment as he kicked his shoes off, blood now nowhere to be seen on his body. Michael, god forgive him, had found Calum in the warehouse after Melanie had left, and had cleaned Calum up. Calum couldn’t even think about Melanie’s brother’s blood staining his clothes, the guilt and pain eating him alive.

Coming home certainly didn’t help.

It was void of her warmth and all of her things. The apartment was empty of their love like she had never even existed in his life. The only thing that even hinted towards her existence was the keys that sat on the kitchen counter and the note. A piece of paper that had clearly been ripped out of her favorite Disney notebook.

‘here’s your keys back’ it read in her loopy handwriting, sealed with a mostly-dried tear that had fallen from her own eyes as she wrote.

Calum had never felt more alone in his entire life. How could he ever have allowed himself to corrupt such a pure love with his tainted heart?

#calum hood #calum hood x oc #calum hood x reader #calum hood x you #calum hood x y/n #gang!calum hood x reader #gang!calum hood #gang!calum hood x oc #gang!calum hood x y/n #criminal!calum hood x reader #criminal au #gang au #gang!sos

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experiment-000 · 4 years

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My Top 10 Ships of 2020

It's been a weird year but I've seen other people doing this. Plus this year I've been way more into gen fics (love a bit of found family especially in clone wars and marvel) than anything shippy. So I genuinely don't know what imma put on here aside from two ships for sure. Sorry this post is super long idk how to do the below the cut thing and I've had this app for 5 years...

10) Viktor Nikiforov and Yuuri Katsuki - Yuri!!! On Ice

It was a real toss up between this, supercorp, kanera and wolfstar cos they're all very integral ships to my fan heart but this son because of the Yuri on Ice fandom's rebirth this year. I've never stopped shipping this, never stopped reading fanfic of them for any extended period of time, they're still my most bookmarked ship on ao3 (although I think now star wars - all media types may have overtaken them for fandom). They were one of the first things I watched where the queer ship I loved became canon and I can't wait for the film (and hopefully someday a season 2). Heck I even made my mum watch Yuri on Ice with me so I think that says it all.

9) Edelgard Von Hresvelg and female Byleth - Fire Emblem: Three Houses

My first fire emblem game was fates when I was like 14 (and finally gay awake lol). I was so disappointed that I had to be with a guy character because the only female option was kinda creepy and also I wouldn't get the character of kana. So when three houses came out I was so happy because finally there were beautiful incredible female characters my female byleth could romance (I'm so sorry mlm you deserved so much more than you got). I got the game as soon as it came out (had to search a lot of shops let me tell you) and started on black eagles. I was actually kinda disappointed back in 2019. I didn't like the explore the monastery bit (still find it kinda tedious) and the battle mechanics weren't quite the same as fates (no pairing up?! Aka my main battle technique for protecting the weaker units). So I got like 20 hours in and put it down. Came back to it in lockdown and finally finished it! I'm so proud of myself I virtually never finish games. And I fully fell in love with the useless lesbian edelgard in the process. When I started back playing in 2020 I was like eh I wish I'd picked a different character to romance (like shes an emperor that's morally very shady) but then the romance stuff started with edelgard and I fell the heck in love.

8) Cory Matthews and Shawn Hunter (and Topanga Lawrence) - Boy Meets World

Disney+ was released in the UK this year and I finally got the opportunity to watch boy meets world in its best quality (aka not on YouTube). I watched it back when I was like 12 or 13 and it's such a nostalgic show for me. Watching it again I still absolutely adore it (and my bi ass was low-key crushing on Shawn especially in chick like me - I'm 18 btw and I got so scared for a sec but rider strong was 18 when chick like me came out so it's fine woah). And of course now I see the possibilities of the beautiful Cory and Shawn relationship like they were so bromance it was basically romance and throw in topanga it's the perfect ot3 (but I'm also fine with just Cory and Shawn or just Cory and Topanga). Read some good fanfic for them this year. My favourite was one about Shawn stealing makeup and stuff and exploring gender (need more fics like this I'm biiii).

7) Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes - Marvel Cinematic Universe

I rewatched all the MCU films this year too. And got really into Peter parker whump and irondad. Plus my eternal obsession with identity and relationship reveals of course led me from Spiderman identity reveals (and found family cuteness) to stucky coming out. Especially when it involves the internet and social media. Not my favourite ship but it's been significant to my year due to the sheer amount of marvel stuff I've read.

6) Satine Kryze and Obi Wan Kenobi - Star Wars

I rewatched clone wars in prep for season 7 and wow Satine's death was sad and sudden. She first appeared in S2 E13 I think and just the sheer sexual tension of their bickering. "The sarcasm of a soldier. The delusion of a dreamer." Just ugnnhhh my bi ass can't take much more of this. And Anakin just sipping his wine in the background grinning. And I fully believe korkie is a Kenobi.

5) Commander Cody and Obi Wan Kenobi - Star Wars

I am very much an Obi wan multishipper. I don't really have a favourite but I fully believe he was with satine and Quinlan in his life. I don't think be would've actually done anything with Cody because of the whole superior officer thing. And this probably isn't even my favourite Obi wan ship - that honour probably goes to quinobi or obitine. However the most popular ships in the fandom are codywan, quiobi and obikin. No offence to anyone who ships these they're just personally not to my taste, but I can't stand quiobi, and obikin I find only slightly more tolerable and I think that's just because there's so much obikin content so if I like the concept of a fic that happens to be obikin I'll read it. I'm just not a fan of the mentor/student relationships. So I generally favoured the codywan fics when there was shipping involved meaning I read a lot of them this year. Needed that nice fix it content post season 7.

4) Zuko and Katara - Avatar: the Last Airbender

Again I am a multishipper I have nothing against zukka it's cute. But I'm a zutara shipper first and foremost because when I first watched avatar I was like 13 and denying my gayness and gayness in general so I shipped the straight things and the straight things only. Most of these ships I stopped shipping - dramione, spuffy, some my little pony ones which we don't talk about. Zutara stayed. (I have nothing against any of the things I used to ship I just stopped shipping them so much/shipped new things more). I've continuously shipped zutara since I first watched avatar even if I didn't necessarily spend that much time on it it has always been here as one of my favourite ships. It has such good fanfic I swear including my favourite ever fanfic from any fandom - love thy enemy. Plus like the black games (reread this for the millionth time this year), a delicate subterfuge (which I read for the first time this year and damn it's so good) and so many more. With the avatar resurgence this year I haven't actually rewatched avatar aside from my normal random episode every now and then when I feel like it. But there's been a lot of avatar on my dash from people I follow getting into it and people I followed for avatar returning so naturally I returned to the fandom and read quite a lot of fanfic. I also read just a lot of avatar gen fics which were great at the whole found family thing I've been so obsessed with this year.

3) Catra and Adora - She Ra and the Princesses of Power

Catradora is canon! They kissed! What more is there to say. Arguably they should've been top but I never shipped them that much since I was always very much a multishipper when it came to she ra so yes I was very happy it became canon because we actually won for once but also I've never read much fanfic for them etc. But they are very much a dynamic I love and watching she ra all again in prep for season 5 I really enjoyed the build up of their relationship. The other two only go above because Buffy is my favourite show ever and damn there's some good fuffy fanfic and Aphra and Tolvan is both fresh in my mind and star wars owns me. Would love some catradora fic recs btw if anyone has them tho.

2) Buffy Summers and Faith Lehane - Buffy the Vampire Slayer

I didn't realise it was last year that I got super into them but according to my ao3 bookmarks it was lol. 2020 I swear it's lasted an eternity. I got into them about a month before lockdown (which feels like another lifetime). I've loved Buffy since I first watched it when I was 13. It's arguably still my favourite TV show. I've been through a lot of ships for Buffy - bangel to spuffy and now fuffy. I still think angel and her were a beautiful ship back in season 2 and especially in the angel episode I will remember you. But faith and Buffy had so much chemistry in season 3 - she would've been a fresh start for Buffy and the amount of fix it fics I read I swear. My favourite has to be one where they met in LA during Anne and how that changed everything feat Buffy's internal homophobia.

1) Cheili Lona Aphra and Magna Tolvan - Star Wars

I read Darth Vader (2015) and Doctor Aphra (2016) for the first time at the end of 2020 (got a comic subscription which has served me very well already I've nearly finished the star wars canon comics). Just to see canon queer ladies in star wars was so magical for me as a queer lady. I didn't think star wars would be so overt yet as to have a queer kiss in canon (even if it's in the comics) and especially not with the main character of arguably their main comic series. Now we just gotta hope that we'll get it in live action someday soon. They weren't the ship I consumed the most content of in 2020 but they were the highlight of my 2020 because star wars did that and I finally found out about it

Honourable mentions: Vivian and Elle - Legally Blonde, Candace and Vanessa - Phineas and Ferb, Stevie and Alex - Wizards of Waverly Place, Xander and Spike - Buffy the Vampire Slayer (I actually don't ship this but damn some authors are good - this was the ship that made me realise I don't need to like a ship if the author is good enough to write it well), Eli Vanto and Mitth'raw'nuruodo - Star Wars (started reading the books last year but finished this year and only started with fanfic this year), Villanelle and Eve - Killing Eve, Kanan and Hera - Star Wars, Barriss and Ahsoka - Star Wars, Remus and Sirius - Harry Potter, Kara and Lena - Supergirl (let's hope this becomes canon next year!) (Those last four are ones I've shipped forever some of my og ships but nothing particularly big has happened for me this year with them so)

I got Disney+ this year so rewatched a fair few things from my youth and though hey my obsession with that character may have been a little gay.

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popculturebuffet · 4 years

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Sparkshortstravaganza! (Commissioned by WeirdKev27)

Well this was a needed kick in the pants. When I first heard of the Sparkshorts program I was excited. As a kid I loved PIxar, as an adult I love pixar and as an old man dealing with the loss of his partner floating away in my balloon house, i’ll still love pixar. So the idea of a program focused on giving new fresh talent the room to do whatever they wanted and make content that would be on Disney Plus, a platform BADLY bereft of original animation? It was a dream come true and the first one I saw Kitbull is easily a masterpiece and something that I can vividly recall every part of to this day, which for my terrible short term memory recalling EVERYTHING is a rare feat few works have achived. But given I have a REALLY bad habit of letting things I want to watch sit there if I don’t jump on them immediately.. I let it sit there and didn’t touch any of the shorts and mostly forgot about the program until now. Until Kev, my patron and the only person paying for reviews at the moment, though others are more than welcome wink wonk, just decided what the heck and to test out comissioning shorts picked these ones because why not. And given I had been dragging my feet and reading the descriptions found creative and suprisingly heavy premises... I was fully on board And better late than never because along with Soul this program has EASILY restored my faith in the company after Onward really disapointed. Granted they’ve done worse, while there are pixar films I haven’t seen I need to like Coco or Cars 3, I’ve vowed NEVER to watch Cars 2 unless I have to and that vow has served me well so far. The shorts here are as a whole beautifully animated, have a ton of wonderful concepts and even the two weaker ones are still gorgeous to look at and a decent watch regardless and both come from a very well meaning place with a very well meant message. So yeah i’m thankful for this comission and to show you why let’s go through every Sparkshorts so far and see why their so awesome.. after some background of course.

Sparkshorts, for the uniniated, is a program by pixar where animators are given six months and a limited budget to create a film based on personal experince. The program was designed to test out new ways of animating, directing and creating and to find a creative “spark” in it’s employees. Thus each film feels unique, has it’s own style.. and is utterly charming. I’ll be looking at them chronologically as while this wasn’t my watch order, I feel it’s a bit neater that way. I’ve already taken long enough to get to watching these, let’s open these films up and see what makes them tick shall we?

Purl: An Adorable Yarn Ball Vs Toxic Masculinity Purl.. was better the more I thought about it. The first short released, it DOES have a good message and killer animation. The film takes place at B.R.O., a dude broey brockerage firm that’s painfully relasitic both in how broey it is and in how it looks. That’s to contrast our heroine: Purl, an adorable ball of yarn who just wants to be accepted but is instead ignored by the rest of the company till she changes herself up, donning a suit like her co workers she badly wants to fit in with and adopting their wolf of wallstreet esque douchebaggery. She finally gets accepted.. but ends up shedding her new self to help another Yarn Ball starting up. Director Kristen Lester drew from personal experince, starting work at animation in a mostly male dominated workplace and thus having to adapt and only letting the femine side she’d repressed out when she moved to working at pixar, which had more female employees. The film DOES have a good message about toxic workplaces and toxic masulinty and learning the personal story did raise it a few notches as it made it clear to me that what SEEMED like an over exageration.. was probably just a light exageration given the kind of bro antics we’ve heard about at companies like Ubisoft. So while I didn’t like the film much at first honestly.. it’s over the top because it NEEDS to be because even though it’s 2021.. some idiots STILL don’t get it and kids are better off learning it now so it’ll hopefully stick when their entering the workforce. So we’ll get more people like perl willing to make a change and stick up for those like her and less dude bros. Still a decent and clever short with Perl’s bro form looking really neat and the animation on her in general is really fucking gorgeous. All in all not the best of these but still pretty good and while a bit thick on the message.. it kinda has to be.

Smash And Grab: A Jaunty Ride to Freedom

This was a really fun one. Directed by Brian Larson and inspried by his need for a break from routine this follows two robots, the titular smash and grab who are designed to well.. smash and grab coal-like energy things for a train and have for years and years. The two long to high five, but can’t because their hooked to tubes so they can’t escape. But one day Smash looks out the window and not only sees fellow robots living a better life.. but a way to power him and his buddy/love intrest? I mean bromance or romance, either way it works. Point is our heroes escape, and have to fight security. It’s just a really damn fun and creative movie. While robots wanting a better life isn’t new, the crisp art deco animation, breakneck pace, fun gags and heartwearming relationship between the two bots is just charming as hell. It’s just a fun ride the whole way through with a lot of heart and creativity with the two’s way they throw coal to one another used to take out the guards, and all together just some really good set pieces. Easily one of my faviorites here and that’s a high water mark to pass.

Kitbull: Tiny Orphan Kitty + Big Abused Doggo = Best Friends

As I said this is the only one of these I saw before today and as I said it’s stuck with me. I love dogs. I have one of my own named Yoshi whose just a sweet boy. So i’ve always loved ALL DOGS.. and was thus horrified years ago when I learned about the stigma Bulldogs get. Seen as “agressive’ and “Mean’ and victious.. when really a lot of them, including my grandpa’s own pitbull when I was little, are just loveable as any other dogs. And having also known a former fighting dog my friend owned, if a much smaller min pin rather than a pitbull, who by the time I met him had become the sweetest dog you’d ever meet.. yeah.. don’t mistreat a dog just because some assholes force it to fight to the death because their sick, horrible, ghastly human beings.. if they can even be CALLED human beings after doing that to these poor animals. My point is it’s nice to have a short about such a needed subject. Director Rosana Sullivan actually had the idea for the short for years and intended to do it as a side project, but when the program cropped up she moved it to pixar and the result is one of the most popular and easily one of the best of an already bright bunch, brought on by her love of animals and working in a shelter. It’s also one of Pixar’s first 2d animated projects and proves their just as good at that as cgi. It’s the touching story of a kitty whose alone in the world and initally mistrustful and hissy at a big dog she finds and is naturally scared of.. until she grows to bond with the dog, realizing much like a LOT of fucking people need to that pitbulls.. are just dogs and often victims of circumstance and the poor, sweet pooch who just wants his owner to love him.. is instead thrown into a fighting pit, nearly killed and forced to make a daring escape with their new forever friends help. It’s through this wonderful, heartrending friendship that the dog finds freedom and the cat.. finds them both a home, no longer running from people but instead making sure they both get a person. It’s often brutal at times, with the scene of the dog being forced to fight being one of the most striking: while we thankfully don’t see the action, we HEAR IT, as does the poor kitty, and we see the aftermath: a friendly harmless dog thrown out into the cold just because it dosen’t WANT to fight. It’s just really heartrending stuff that makes the happy ending all the better. It’s also gorgeiously animated which I mentioned but i’ll say it again; the animation here is GOREGOUS, unqiue and stunning. Go watch this if you haven’t.

Float: This is Why Krakoa Exists

This.. has easily been the hardest to review of the bunch. While ALL of these stories are very personal, very inclusive and very intresting, this one.. is a bit rougher than most of them and hits REALLY close to home. See this one was built out of director Bobby Rubio’s experinces raising his son who has autisim.

It’s about a dad who discovers his infant son can float... and thus gets stares of fear or judgment from eveyrone around him slowly getting broken down by this. So he makes a HORRIBLE judgment call and rather than just accept some people are assholes, weighs his son’s backpack down with stones despite him hating it then drags him away when he ends up floating off, before screaming at the poor kid WHY CAN’T YOU BE DIFFRENT.. He DOES instantly regret this and the ending is genuinely touching as the father finally accepts his son is different and throws him into the air while on a swing, letting his son soar as he always should’ve. It is a beautifully animated and well meant film and the filipino representation is truly great: Rubio originally was going to have the characters as white but his fellow animators convinced him to go for represntation and be true to himself and honestly in a time when disney itself has had to be fought to get queer representation most of the time, it’s nice that pixar at least is a part of it that throughly encourages representation and will gladly put diversity and representation over any bullshit “risk factors”. That being said.. while this was a decent short with a very well intentioned message and it clearly connected with a lot of people.. it wasn’t for me and I say this as someone who has autisim. As someone who has worn down people’s patince and been starred at by a freak for something I was way too young to properly deal with. I’ve been in this Kid’s shoes.

And that’s the problem: The metaphor dosen’t really work for me. While auitism CAN have some benifits and I wouldn’t be any other way i’d be lying if I said it was easy having trouble commuincating, constnatly misreading people, constnatly worrying if someone’s going to like you, and hyperfocusing on a problem instead of being able to set it and forget it for a bit to my own detriment. There’s other problems and not ALL of my issues come from anxiety disorder: I also have anxiety and depression. They just bleed badly INTO said autisim sometimes, as it’s hard to effectively combat anxiety sometimes when your mind won’t let you.

What i’m saying is... there aren’t any FAULTS in his powers. See i’m a fan of x-men, so I can only see this boy as a mutant, and yes I know they usually manfifest at puberty but there have been exceptions so don’t at me.. and one of them who has no real downsides other than the unfair stigma of being a mutant. He’s more like storm, who can control the elements and whose power only enhances her life nad lesss like say Rogue, who looks normal.. but can’t touch anyone without knocking them out at best or horribly abosrbing them into her head at worst. There’s no downside other than the fact people judge him and his dad is a dick about it. And the dad part is hard because I get what Rubio is going for: parents make mistakes, parents mess up and their only human even if they should embrace their kids anyway. That’s a good message and one I support.. I just think Rubio was way TOO hard on himself and thus made his stand in into an unlikeable asshole, one whose more concerned with how everyone ELSE thinks and does the horribly abusive action of basically tying his son’s wings down so he can’t fly. He mans well, it’s so his son dosen’t float off.. but instead of finding a way to help him and work with him on it.. he just stuffs rocks in his back and forces the kid to be miserable so other people can be happy. It just goes way too far in the other direction to work. As I said I think it’s the guy being too hard on himself, manifesting his worst moments with his kids and his biggest regrets and making himself into a very hard to like character because he has trouble forgviing himself for how he acted. So I want to say if you ever read this bobby while I wasn’t hte biggest fan of your film.. I do wholly support you and your son.. and the fact you made an entire FILM just to show your sturggle and show people there not alone was a beautiful act. You are not a bad person , we all make mistakes and we’re all just human. You are a good man Bobby Rubio. I may of not liked your metaphor... but your message is beautiful.

Wind: Immigration by Way of Rocket Science

Thankfully moving on.. this one is tied with Kitbull for my faviorite. It has a truly intriguing premise, a great metaphor, stunning animation, and is just really moving, gripping and fun to watch. This one was by Edwin Chang, and as is usualy by now, it was built on personal experince.. but not his. It was built on the fact his father was an immigrant who had to leave his mother, Chang’s grandmother, behind to a better life. She rejoined them eventually but it left an impact on his father and thus serves as the core of this story. And honestly knowing that only STRENGTHENS an already impresssive sci fi short. It’s the story of a boy, apparently named Ellis so i’ll use that, and his grandmother who live in a bizzare, hauntingly beautifuly stygian sinkhole that has floating rocks and debris. The two spend their day farming potatoes and grabbing whatever they can to hopefully make their way out. But it becomes clear to young Ellis after they find a plane his grandmother wants HIM to go alone and escape and is willing to sacrifice herself.. and ends up having to trick the boy into thinking sh’es going along in order to get him to do what he needs to surivive and thrive. It’s a truly gut wrenching story as even when she seems to have found a way for them both to leave.. it’s very clear she’s simply training him with all the welding tools and what not so he has skills to make it out there on his own in the unknown. So he can live without her.. but more importantly.. so he CAN LIVE. Away from the darkness, not having to scrape and to surivive and hopefully find something better out there. While the old parental figure sacrifciing thsmelves so the youngun can start hteir journey isn’t new.. it’s the unique, beautiful and haunting setting and the emotoin, conveyed only through the utterly beautiful animation that make this story feel fresh, along with it’s great metaphor. This short is just haunting, beauitful and really damn sad, and I only dont’ have all that much to say because it’s all in the visuals. The only thing I have left is like all of these really, watch it. But especailly this one.

Loop: Enough Said

This is part of the reason I didn’t like Float all that much. Loop is just.. way better at conveying the experinces of having auitism. While Renee is a more severe case than me I can relate to what kicks off the film: Renee, usually paired with an adult at the camp she at, is forcibley paired with a chatty boy named Marcus. While Marcus is eager to go home and has no idea how to interact with the two the two genuinely bond, with Marcus slowly getting into Renee’s world. The key scene for this and the one that clinches the film is Renee waving her hands over the reeeds in the water, throughly enjoying it with marcus not getting it.. till he tries himself. Director Erica Milsom, whose worked with autistic children and picked this medium entriely because i’ts perfect for a non verbal character and is one that can tackle heavy issues like this in a way to help people understan, really wanted to counter most depections of severe autisim, paticuarlly sensory issues. While we see the good in them instead of JUST her freaking out or being overwhelemed: how her sounds and the things she feels truly relax her and how she really DOES enjoy nature and is perfectly at home there. It’s just a beautiful way to show this disablility is not ALL bad, as many works tend to focus soley on the drawbacks. While I had my issues with Float part of it was it had too much good.. but Loop is superior at this simply because it shows both with unflinching honesty: The beauty of something that calms and relaxes your brain or a touch or sensation that just FEEELS really good, things that while again i’m not on the same level as Renee.. I can still fully relate to. But what puts it over float besides not having a messy metaphor is it DOES show the issues that come with it.. but does so WELL and with nuance. It shows how isolating autisim can be, especially for someone like Renee who can’t talk, how people are sometimes freaked out by you and don’t know how to interact with you and how adults can MEAN WELL, and the counsler setting them off was a good idea in the end... but can also be misguided and not fully know how to handle you without overwhelming you. It shows just how bad a panic attack can be, how you can just.. shut down and drive away. It was easily the sequence that hit the hartest and resonated the most as I’ve had those, and i’ve just shut down with no one able to reach me.. and it makes it all the more touching as Marcus eventually realizes how to handle things, and gives her space despite the setting son and the peril of being stranded.. because he realizes she needs it and offers to simply be there when she’s ready. It’s a touching, wonderful gesture, capped by him giving her a reed.. and the two heading home finally udnerstanding one another.This one is very close to wind in my heart and I think I found even more love for it writing this review and realizing just how much it hit me. And that ain’t bad.

Out: Be Proud of Who You Are.. with the help of a gay cosmic space cat

Speaking of hitting close to home and really resonating with me, we have Pixar’s first short with a gay main character, with his sexuality being the center of this. And as a bi person who had struggle accepting his sexuality let alone telling anyone, even when you know someoen will likely accept you.. this naturally hit hard. I took some time to realize I was bi, and when I did I was terrified of telling my mom, despite her being loving, supportive and just wonderful, same with my brother. Both fully accepted me as I figured and had no issue with it, esepcially sine my romantic history is nearly non existant anyways, but I related to our hero Greg’s fears of coming out to his parents despite them being utterly wonderful, well meaning people. It’s hard to come out, it’s hard to admit that about yourself, and it’s hard knowing you may not be accepted or things may change. I had an even harder time coming out to my dad, who I fully expected being a trump supporter and having said “if gay marriage is leagal I should be able to marry my cat”, to not support me and to loose him.. and was proud and suprised when nope, he was utterly supportive and happy for me.. if a bit awkward with the “be careful with sex” advice.. to someone whose had none and may never will due to being awkward as shit. But he meant well and the point is I really related to this, and it’s easily one of the best coming out stories of this kind, tied handily with Schitt’s Creek’s episode about Patrick coming out to his parents that dealt with the same theme. And naturally given the nature of these shorts it was a story close to Stephen Clay Hunter’s heart, as he group up a gay nerd in the 80′s a time when homophobia was even worse and representation was near non-existent. So when given the shot he wanted to make something for a young him, something they can look at and point to and tha’ts me. And the behind the scenes short for this one sold just how... big this felt for him. To draw two men in love and embrcing, to see guys mo capping that. To see someone LIKE him on screen. It shows just how important representation is and how dumb it is it took 20 goddamn years at pixar for them to get gay.

The short itsel is delightful as we open with a gay space cat and dog appearing in a rainbow. The Cat and Dog are watching Greg, a nice young man whose moving out of his small town with his boyfriend Manuel.. only to panic when his parents who he hasn’t come out to show up to help move and try and hide the one photo he has of them. And despite Manuel seeing it as a very easy thing to do to come out.. it’s not for Greg. He knows it’s hard and a scene of him practicing shows the poor guy breaking down at the thought of telling them despite getting every indicatio their nice people. It’s then the whole Space Cat thing comes in as the cat enchanted Greg’s dog’s collar, so when greg puts it on as a jest, it’s a body swap! So naturally we get tons of REALLY well animated shenanigans as Greg has to get his body back. Seriously the animation here is gorgeous with director Hunter choosing the painted on , impercet style to give it a storybook feel which fits the story perfectly.. seriously if Disney hasn’t made a story book of this do so.. and if they won’t someone on etsy do it because Etsy is apparently where the merch companies should be making happens.

The point is it’s fun, furious and leads to some great gags.. and then we get the emotional punch to the godnand as Greg bites his mom’s hand in order to prevent her finding a photo of him and his boyfriend. He instnatly regrets it, and breaking the photo in the process and goes to comfort her.. and we get easily the most emotinal, most beautiful part of it as Greg finds out his mom is hurt as she can clearly tell he’s keeping her at arms length and dosen’t want to loose him.. and she’s known all along he was gay.. just like the Schitts Creek example it’s clear she’s hurt a bit her son is scared to tell her but just wants him to be happy. So with a brilliant use of a squeaky toy greg switches back.. and comes out, with his dad warmly hugging miguel when he introduces himn and the space dog crying. Just a beautiful, charming, fun, and gorgeously animated short with some badly needed representation.

Also... one last note. This isn’t related to the short.. but Disney, who once again proves they can’t be progressive without stabbing themselves in the foot and no I will not stop giving out about this. This time’s especailly bad as while Out was heavily promoted.. the descripton DOSEN’T mention it having Pixar’s first gay lead and goes out of it’s way to hide Greg being gay despite the fact the short dosen’t and his being in the closet is the whole conflict of the short. And the not mnentiong the first gay lead thing is noticable because Loop DID rightly point out it was their first non verbal proganist. You can’t.. brag about being progressive about one thing and then try to hide your being progressive about another you idiots. Plus the “pleasing the bible belt” ship has sailed and left port. Ducktales is gay as hell with Penny being gay, even if Disney won’t let her just come out and say it, the crew still had her say it as much as they could, Violet’s dad’s being gay, Della being bi and Webby and Lena being as close to a couple you can get without disney screaming at them no. Andi Mack is fully avaliable on D+ as well.. well okay not fully because the dad turned out to be a pedophile, but still a series with a fully gay character is out there. And finally Owl House got TONS of press for having a bi progatanist and having her love intrest be a girl. Even if Dana Terrance had to FIGHT for that, and rightly so good on her, the point is you have queer characters already. The groups that hate you for that aren’t going to magically stop hating you because you hide the fact a short anyone can see from minute one is very , beautifully gay, I mean it starts with a very swishy space cat emerging from a rainbow atop a pink dog. COME ON. I only have a few words left for disney..

Okay whew, one more and we’re out of here.

Burrow: It’s Okay to Ask for Help and To Bang a Willing Salamander This was the first one I watched today. In hindsight had I properly researched the shorts and realized how heavy they were I probably would’ve saved this one for later to help balance out the deep feels of some of these. While Burrow is VERY VERY good, as all these shorts have been even Float, it’s subject matter is a lot lighter. I mean so far we’ve had stories about toxic masculinity, animal abuse, issues accepting your child is diffrent, sacrficing yourself so your loved one can have a better life, autisim and coming out of the closet. Even Smash and Grab which is light and breezy.. still has a disney death, and is still about a heroic rush to freedom from slavery whenyou think about it. This one.. is about an insecure bunny whose afraid to ask for help and ends up learning to get it while ending up plumiting through a bunch of comedic set pieces. It’s basically if Winnie the Pooh and Bugs Bunny had a baby comedy wise, it has the warm feeling of pooh art wise, a storybook quality tha’ts utterly adoring.. but director Madeline Sharafan specifccally wanted the animators to take after chuck jones, using lots of great expressions and reactions. It has a real classic theatrical screwball comedy vibe and given The Looney Tunes, Droopy, and Tom and Jerry mean the world to me and i’m glad nto reocnnect with 2/3 thanks to HBO Max.. I fucking loved it.

Burrow is still a personal story and is based on Sharifan’s experinces having trouble colaberating, wanting something to be fully baked before showing it off, something I agian relate to. She often hid from the others and refused to show her work until it was done while everyone else was happy to help. And as the previously used to slam disney hard with something they own Hickman Era of X-men has shown.. colaboration is just better and more freeing. By having friends and colleuge s to bounce off of you refine ideas, see how people react to them and grow a bit and that’s what the shorts about.

The plot is easily the simpliest of these: A young bunny wants to build her dream burrow but gets self concious when she runs into a friendly mole and rat living next door to where she wants to build and keeps digging to find both privacy and her own place.. and instead ends up digging into various shenangians and other burrows from frogs, to hedgehogs to most memorably some Salmanders taking a sauna.. and in the best and most ‘how the fuck did they get away with this bit of it”, one of the salamanders ends up .. gladly removing his town and being liike “You wanna do this? I mean I got an hour free” And i’m just saying while now wasn’t the time and the offer was a little awkward i’d go for it if I was her. I mean at least ask him out for coffee later. He seems nice enough if low on boundries. Then ride him until the morning light girl, ride it. She also finds the Demon Bear from New Mutants at one point.. so that’s where he retried to after danny kicked his ass again. Neat.

But eventually our heroione digs herself too deep and ends up hitting water before finding a

Who sees her crumpled plans and then does the stygian call of the badger to call all the other animals to help and after they escape the flood, the bunny finally realizes their good people and lets them see the plans. So we end on our heroine and her new friends and possible salamander lover helping her settle in as she finallyg ets the home she wanted, complete with disco. I mean every home should have a disco. If I didn’t have a ceeling fan i’d have a disco ball.. and I still want one just to set somewhere or hang away from the fan . Let me dream dammit. Overally a fun, hilarious, mad dash short with a good message and a good note to go out on.

Final Thoughts: Overall.. the Sparkshorts program is fucking spectacular, a great way to let some of Pixar’s staff get into the directors chair and really shine, and a way to tackle issues that they may not be able to get greenlit into a full film. Lushily animated, well produced, Pixar has announced MORE are coming and I cannot wait. Thank you kev for comissioning this, and thank you all for reading. If your new and liked this review, follow this blog as I talk disney all the time: when they come back i’ll be doing regular coverage of Amphibia, Ducktales and the Owl House as new episodes come out every week, and i’m currently doing a retropsective on the three cablleros kev also paid for, with the finale of it, an episode by episode look at the legend of the three cablleros, starting this week. I’m also covering LIfe and times of scrooge mcduck (though infrequently for a bit), and finishing up a look at darkwing duck’s just us justice ducks, started with looks at all the players involved and finshing next week with the episode itself. So if any of that sounds good to you, check out the archives, but goodbye, goodbye, goodbye for now.

#sparkshorts #pixar #disney #disney plus #disney+#purl #kitbull #out #wind #loop #burrow #LBGTQ+#lbgt #lbgtq #float #smash and grab #robots

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carewyncromwell · 3 years

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FFWF!

Seeing as I finally plunged into the first part of your Rakepick ficlet and can’t wait to read the second part later, how do you design scenes and as graphic and action filled as incorporated there? What’s the writing process?

Much love to my favourite writer, you never fail to make me want to write better myself 💛💚

I need to reply to your comment on the Good!Rakepick AU fully (because seriously, MY HEART IS SO FULL, you are too wonderful to me, chere 😭), but in the meantime...

When I made up stories as a kid, the visual component always came first for me. When I started writing stuff down as a preteen, I even wrote in screenplay form, rather than in prose, so I tend to see the events of my stories in my head before figuring out the words to try to describe those images to someone else. I'm afraid it's something that's kind of second-nature to me, so I don't know how much advice I can give, but I'll try to break it down in a way that makes sense.

For me, I'm a rather visual learner. Everyone has their own style of learning, whether it involves watching/reading something (visual), listening to someone talk about something (auditory), or by physically doing something (kinetic), and I think that quality can also extend to how your brain interprets, translates, and internalizes information in general instead of just in the classroom.

If you're a visual learner like I am, then taking that time to visualize your settings and characters might make it easier to write a scene that other people can follow.

If you're an auditory learner, maybe speaking the scenes out loud can help. I actually do this too, using the auditory element to help me visualize the characters and check the scene's pacing. ASMR videos on Youtube could also help you place yourself in a certain location: I used one for the first time while writing my Disneyland-centric story TrueMagic, and it ended up helping me visualize the environment better and even inspired some details I included in the description of the location too.

If you're a kinetic learner, perhaps acting out the scene physically or being in an environment kind of like what you're trying to get across can help. I'm not really a kinetic learner, but there's one scene I wrote for Lack of Lamb Sauce that had to feel very physical and raw, so I actually waited until my apartment was empty and all the windows and doors were closed and then went into the living room and proceeded to physically mime and act out this one scene I was writing, lashing my arm out with an imaginary wand and screaming, as I tried to place myself in this character's shoes. Having that physical exhaustion in my limbs and tapping into those intense emotions by lashing out at no one actually helped me visualize that particular scene better so I could write it.

My interest in theater arts and film sort of helps in all three of these cases. Visually, I imagine the blocking of a scene the way a director might for a play, TV show, or movie; I try to hear how the characters deliver their lines in my head; and then like an actor, it's sometimes helpful to actually do what the characters are doing or otherwise "get into character" by dressing the part or immersing yourself in the environment.

When dealing with fight scenes in particular, in the real world, stage or film combat is often referred to as "fight choreography," and the word "choreography" is important, because like a dance, there is a rhythm to it. It's good to narrow down how the fight starts and ends and what the combatants on each side want (which should have some point of conflict). Then one can focus on pacing, starting simple and then growing more complex and raising the stakes bit by bit. For the first part of the Good!Rakepick AU, this thought process could work thusly --

The fight starts because Rakepick attacks; Tulip, Tonks, Liz, and Barnaby fight back; and Ismelda, Diego, and Chiara and later Carewyn, Talbott, Bill, and Ben come to help them.

The fight ends because Carewyn refuses to give Rakepick what she wants and Jacob arrives to violently disarm Rakepick.

Carewyn's goal throughout the scene is to protect her friends. Most of Carewyn's friends' goal throughout the scene is to prevent Rakepick from accessing the Vault and capture her. Chiara's goal throughout the scene is to heal Barnaby and the others.

Rakepick's goal throughout the scene is to push Carewyn far enough that she kills her. This directly opposes what the others want because the Circle of Khanna capturing Rakepick would make it so she can't make Carewyn do what she wants and paragon Carewyn would only purposefully hurt Rakepick if her loved ones were in mortal danger.

I remember one of the filmmakers behind Disney's Aladdin (the real animated one, for the record) once talking about how the climax between Aladdin and Jafar "raised the stakes" so well by showing Aladdin and the others come up with possible solutions, only for each one to be counteracted, therefore taking more and more options for success off the table and making things worse and worse every minute. Aladdin tries to snatch the lamp -- Jafar spots him reflected in Jasmine's crown. Aladdin tries to hold Jafar back while Jasmine runs to grab the lamp -- Jafar traps Jasmine in a giant hourglass that's slowly filling up with sand. Abu tries to grab the lamp -- he's turned into a wind-up toy. Carpet tries to grab it -- they get magically unwound. Aladdin tries again to grab it -- Jafar brings down a cage of swords around it. Aladdin grabs a sword and prepares to fight -- Jafar breathes fire and turns into a giant snake...and so on and so forth. In the part of the Good!Rakepick AU you read, something similar happens with Rakepick and the Circle of Khanna. Talbott and Carewyn arrive to help, with Talbott landing a blow on Rakepick and Carewyn helping Chiara get to Barnaby and the others -- Rakepick lands a curse on Diego that physically tortures him. Tonks tries to retalliate -- Rakepick casts a circle of flames around Tonks, Chiara, Barnaby, Tulip, and Liz to trap them. Talbott, Bill, Ben, and Carewyn all try to fight back individually -- Rakepick blocks their spells and enchants the statues to contain Talbott and Ben. Bill and Carewyn team up and actually end up giving Rakepick some trouble -- Rakepick picks them apart and makes Carewyn panic by trapping her BFF in an enchanted sinkhole she can't pull him out of...and so on.

I hope this both makes sense and is helpful? 😅

Fanfic Writer Friday!

#ask me #fanfic writer friday #personal #analysis #now you see why i have the tag 'oh boy here i go' on my home blog

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tessagracerichards · 3 years

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I saw [TESSA RICHARDS] at a coffee shop in [MANHATTAN] today. I forgot how much [SHE] looks like [ZOEY DEUTCH]. They are a [TWENTY-SIX] year old [CHILD LIFE SPECIALIST] who’s been in NYC for [THREE YEARS] now. Every time we run into each other, they are always [TENDERHEARTED AND NURTURING] but I’ve heard people say they can also be [BLUNT AND GUARDED]. [SHE IS LOVE BY PARACHUTE] reminds me of them every time it comes on the radio. — [saxon, she/her, 26, cst]

Out Of Character

Hello hello bbies! I am Saxon and this is the absolute labor of my love Tessa, please love her even though she doesn’t deserve it! I am very open to connections, ideas and plotting so please, please, please do not hesitate to hit me up if you want to conjure something up with my disaster child!

Also please forgive the mess that is this intro and her Pinterest, she’s been around for years so things have built up and gotten chaotic over time. I really told myself I would shorten her intro but I didn’t manage much, please look away.

Basic Information

Full Name: Tessa Grace Richards.

Nickname(s): Tess, Tessie.

Date of Birth: November 10th, 1994.

Gender: Cisfemale.

Pronouns: She/Her.

Orientation: Heterosexual.

Language(s) Spoken: English, Sign, Spanish.

Background

So Tessa was born to an unwed couple who were in their mid 30′s at the time, her mom thought the two of them were hopelessly in love until Tessa was four and dude just dipped? Her mom came home one day and all his stuff was gone, no note or anything, he emptied their account and they haven’t ever heard from him since.

Her mom is an absolute saint of a woman however (think Lorelai from Gilmore Girls meets Donna Sheridan from Mamma Mia), just an absolute quirky angel of a woman who definitely took in and helped abandoned animals but was also the place all the kids in town knew they could go if they had shitty parents/living situations or just a bad day and they needed a safe place to go? So obviously she stepped up and took down all dudes pictures and just raised Tessa like the single boss she is.

Tessa grew up into like an angel of a kid but oh buddy was she a chaotic one. Total tomboy, full of insane energy and personality, always on the move and exploring and doing things she shouldn’t be. Definitely the type to show up back at home as the suns going down just covered in dirt and bumps and bruises. 100% knocked her own baby teeth out from falling and slamming her face and had two front silver teeth as a little kid.

She was never very girly and because she grew up in this southern town that was just full of very critical asshole kids from more well-off families than her own was, particularly the girls who were very prissy, she definitely ended up clicking more with boys and quickly became ‘one of the guys’. Like undoubtedly had an all male friend group and was definitely the girl that girlfriends would be paranoid about while all the dudes were like confused as to how their girls were jealous because Tessa was just like another guy/little sibling, there was no interest on either end.

Has slight anger management issues? Like she’s chill but when she blows up man does she blow up. Pushed a girl down a flight of stairs at school after she made a remark about a friend, the family pressed charges and Tessa had to go to anger management classes and serve community service hours. She also got kicked out of school and just decided not to go back, went online and just got her GED at seventeen instead.

She realized her hometown didn’t have much to offer her and it wasn’t where she belonged, nor was she ready for college, so she took what money she had saved and instead purchased a sprinter van and began road tripping around the U.S.

At some point along the way, dumbass met a boy that wormed his way into her heart and it was a kind of a slightly unstable relationship because she would try and push away from him and her feelings but he always drew her back? Already has a shitty relationship with love after her father and two not ideal high school romances. Dude tried though and even proposed after like months of them being together and she panicked and ran but still he drew her back and they agreed that they should chill with the idea of engagement/marriage? There was always another girl in the picture though and even though he assured her that his feelings were with her, his actions often seemed to show otherwise.

After yet another break, the two ended up sleeping together but she definitely realized that he wasn’t in love with her at all/anymore so she saved herself the conversation and just dipped before he woke up and ran, spent a solid week just out partying/drinking and ended up sleeping with some stranger and then ended up pregnant with no clue as to which guy was the baby’s father. Whether fortunately or unfortunately, it was the one night stand’s who decided he had no interest in being around.

Obviously she knew she needed to change her course and focus on becoming a mother and setting up a future for herself and her child, but not being financially independent enough, she reached out to a lifelong friend who allowed her to move in and began to figure out school.

She’s always been a big fan of kids (worked for a daycare after school, got involved with a charity that worked with orphans/orphanages while traveling) and so she decided that she wanted to be a child life specialist and is still in school but also working an internship with Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital.

Ended up having a little girl named Addison (Addi), this child is her whole world and she’s definitely the mom that posts about their kid too much on social media but she’s just turned Tessa’s life around and helped her mature in ways she wouldn’t have without her and she just loves her kid more than anything/anyone else.

Personality

A dork? Literally the biggest dork, the dorkiest of dorks, just a whole friggen dork. This child rambles like you wouldn’t believe and her mouth 100% works faster than her brain so like you never know what to expect but she’s just a happy, friendly, sarcastic little bean with social anxiety and a heart of gold tbh.

Also an aggressive lil’ lady though, like 12/10 chance she’ll throw hands if you want to fuck with or say something about the people she loves.

A chaotic soul as well like down to party and have a good time and will definitely drink a dude under the table, definitely broke her ribs two summers in a row from a drinking game because this child doesn’t know when to slow down or chill out, she’s just trying to live.

But also the mom friend? Like even before becoming a mom, she’s used to taking care of people and making sure everyone’s good like? 100% convinced her friends to do dumb shit as a teenager and then turned around and tended to their wounds. Also if you’re in her house and it’s meal time, you’re eating. It’s not an option, like sit and eat dinner and tell me about your day.

Emotional as hell, like definitely cries during commercials and Disney movies, but like if you’re trying to tap into her serious emotions she’s gonna shut that shit down. She keeps people locked out tbh and just jokes about the serious shit in her life if she does talk about it.

Desired Connections

Friends; could have lived in/visited Texas and met when she was younger, met while she was traveling, met through her charity work or just after her/them having moved to New York recently.

Exes; so her most recent ex is off limits because it’s based off a real connection but like either of her exes from high school? The first one (cheated on her) would have had to have lived in Texas for some time but the latter (only with her on a bet to see how long it would take to get in her pants, she broke dude’s nose when she found out) could have been visiting friends/family for a summer? If anyone has a character that works for these I’m down for the drama.

Hookups; Tessa is very weird about hookups/one night stands so this is a little limited but my girl definitely needs a few.

Half siblings; so Tessa’s dad basically bailed when she was little - maybe he had another family? He could have had a kid before her who he also bailed on, could have started a family during the same time or after, he could have stayed there for them or bailed on them as well? They could know about Tessa, or neither could know about the other? Tessa pry wouldn’t know about them because she made it a point to never bother searching for this man let alone any family but literally I’m down for whatever other ideas you’ve got on this one!

Patients; if anyone has any younger siblings or kids of their own that perhaps Tessa helped or is currently helping take care of through her internship? She does everything from work in the hospital to house calls and works with both the medical and therapeutic aspects of things.

#villageintro

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imsorrymom124 · 4 years

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Then there were two part 2

Hey, so the reaction i got from my first fic on here was insane, i appreciate everyone who liked it so i’m gonna write a part two :) so if you haven’t read part one : https://imsorrymom124.tumblr.com/post/617434984657092608/then-there-were-two

T/W: Language n stuff, drugs, panic attack, and mentions of abuse

It was almost 12 by time you woke up from your all-nighter with JJ on the beach, you were exhausted but couldn’t help but smile. You sat up and noticed your dad was at the door

“Late night last night, huh?” he said looking at his watch.

“Oh yeah, I was just uh- reading this really good book.” You say grabbing the nearest book to show you weren’t lying.

Your dad narrows his eyes in suspicion and you realize you were holding your little sister’s copy of Diary of a wimpy kid.

“I thought you were a bit more advanced than that, Y/N.” Your dad seemed amused that you were lying, you didn’t do anything that was overly bad or illegal so your parents trusted you.

“A walk down memory lane never hurt anyone!” you shout as you run to the bathroom to take a quick shower, to get the sand and thoughts of JJ off you.

~~~~~

You were eating a very late breakfast when you got a text from kie saying to get your ass in gear and come to John B’s for movie day. You had forgotten that you were supposed to watch a combination of disney and action movies with your friends (you can guess who picked which genre).

You finish your cereal and run outside to your bicycle and hop on to start riding to the house when you notice something up ahead. You hear an engine revving and you knew instantly it was Rafe. You felt your heart sink into your stomach, Rafe was the absolute last person you wanted to see right now. He pulled into your driveway and shut off the engine.

“Looking good Y/N.” He leered at you. You rolled your eyes at his attempt of flirting. You cannot believe you had dated him, he was a douchebag through and through.

“Listen Rafe, I don’t have time for this right now I have places to be.” You said while you begin to pedal away. He grabbed onto the handlebars and stepped in front of you.

“You can’t ignore me forever, you know what we had was the best thing you’re ever gonna get. I’m not a bad guy, Y/N.” He said.

“I don’t want whatever you call what we had back, Rafe. You were controlling and manipulative, you never trusted me.”

He pushed back his and angrily sighed.

“How could i trust you? You were always off with those dirty pogues!” He yelled.

“Those “dirty pogues” are my friends, and I don’t appreciate you insulting them anymore now than I did when we were together.” You said calmly.

He suddenly grabbed your wrists and got close to your face.

“You don’t know what you’re saying right now Y/N, you’re being irrational.” He whispered in your ear.

“Rafe, let go of me.” You said, barely audible, the panic and fear taking over your body.

“I don’t want to hurt you, but you’re forcing my hand.”

You pulled free of his grasp and pedalled like hell as far away from him as fast as you could.

“You can’t do this to me! You are worthless pogue trash!” Rafe yelled as you got further and further away.

~~~

You arrived at John B’s house and threw your bike away as you felt your heart race faster and faster. You put your hand on your knees and tried to steady your breathing, but your mind was running a mile a minute as Rafe’s threats and screams echoed. I just need to calm down, calm down! you thought as your eyes started to fill up with tears.

“Y/N?” you heard a familiar voice call out

Shit, JJ

You wipe your eyes and take a shaky breath.

“H-hey JJ.” You say, still trying to calm yourself down.

“What’s wrong?” He asks, his eyes filled with concern.

“It’s nothing, I was just um, chased by a big dog, nearly lost my life.” You try to joke, a weak laugh escaping your lips. JJ doesn’t seem so convinced.

“You know, you can talk to me. As much as you’re there for me, I want you to know I’m there for you too.” He said stepping closer.

You know JJ would do anything for his friends, that’s just how he was. But, if you told him Rafe had confronted you and the things he said to you... JJ would kill him.

“I know JJ, just not now.”

He seemed to understand that, he nodded his head and pulled you into a hug. Nothing felt more comforting than being in his arms. You heard the door open behind you and you both jumped apart.

“You guys gonna stand there all day or are we going to do this movie marathon?” John B yelled out from his porch.

You and JJ walked into the house and saw Pope, Kie and Sarah sitting in the living room, they all greeted you and you heard popcorn popping in the kitchen.

“Y/N, you’ve been M.I.A all morning. Where have you been?” Kiara asks.

You and JJ look at each other and you put on a smile and reply,

“Late night last night, slept in.”

JJ looks down, knowing that was true but it wasn’t the reason you were late.

Nemo begins to play on the screen and you try to take your mind off Rafe and his words.

~~~

Somewhere in the middle of Terminator, you fell asleep and didn’t realize you had let your head fall onto JJ’s shoulder. You woke up to him shaking you lightly and whispering your name.

You open your eyes and once you realize what was happening you jumped up.

“Woah, where’s the fire Y/L/N?” JJ says while laughing.

“S-sorry i just was...” You trail off as you realize how late it was. You checked your phone and saw that it was 2 a.m and you had five missed calls from your dad and two from your mom.

“Shit! Oh fuck. Fuck!” You exclaim as you try and gather your bearings.

“What’s wrong?” JJ asks.

“I’m dead, I was supposed be home two hours ago!”

“Here, I’ll garb the keys to John B’s van and I will take you home.” He said, jumping up from the couch.

You hopped in the van and JJ came running out and got into the driver’s seat. You two drove in silence for a minute when JJ cleared his throat.

“I know it’s not my place, but I know that whatever happened today really messed you up. And, I can’t help but worry about you. So when you’re ready to tell me you can.”

He placed his hand on your thigh, which normally you would think was a move but you knew he was just trying to comfort you. You felt your eyes well up with tears as the memory of Rafe crossed your mind.

“It’s just...Rafe.” You manage to get out.

“Did he hurt you? I’ll kill him I swear to god I will-” JJ starts ranting before you interrupt.

“No, no he didn’t hurt me JJ. He just... scared me.”

JJ looks at you with those big blue eyes and you can feel the empathy has for you. You put your hand on top of his, and manage a smile.

“I have a big blonde guard dog to keep me safe, I’m okay.”

JJ seemed to calm down after that statement, even laughed a bit. You realize he was holding your hand, your heart fluttered.

“If he ever does anything to you, I want to know so I can kick his ass. It doesn’t matter if you think I shouldn’t but I have to.” He says protectively.

You pull into your driveway and JJ shuts off the engine. Some old cassette is playing from the radio and you braced yourself for the hell you would have to face inside.

“Your parents won’t actually kill you, they will yell and stuff but they know you’re pretty much a model daughter.” JJ says to relieve some of your stress

“Being seen with me won’t help your case though.” he jokes.

“The wild JJ Maybank has been cohorting with Y/N Y/L/N? What are we going to do with her?” You mock.

He feigns hurt and you tussle his hair.

“Hey! Hands off the merchandise!” JJ says while grabbing your wrists.

You giggle and then the car goes quiet. JJ is looking at you the same way he did on the beach, and suddenly you look at his lips. He brings your hands down and starts to lean in, your heart was beating out of your chest. You can feel his breath on your lips and you are mere inches away when you hear a door slam in front of you.

“Get the hell away from my daughter!” You hear your dad yell, as you jump back from JJ in shock.

God, why? You thought as you watched your dad approach the van.

You jump out of the car and try to ease the rage that your dad is about to inflict on JJ.

“Dad, stop. We didn’t do anything, JJ is my friend!” You plead, standing between him and the van.

“I wasn’t born yesterday, I know exactly what was happening. You’re out all night and now this boy is trying to get in your pants on my own damn property!” He bellowed.

JJ stepped out of the van with his hands up like he was about to be arrested.

“I’m so sorry Mr.Y/L/N, I was just trying to get her home and this won’t happen again.”

“You’re damn right this won’t happen again, I don’t want you anywhere near her again!” Your dad yelled as he started to drag you inside.

“Dad no, you don’t understand it wasn’t his fault!” you tried to reason, but it was no use.

You turn back and see JJ looks more crushed than you have ever seen him. And that was the last thing you saw before the door was slammed in front of your face.

#jj maybank #jj outer banks #jj maybank imagine #jj x y/n #outer banks #outerbanks fanfic #fanfic #john b outer banks #kiara outer banks

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ghostofbrock · 4 years

Text

I’m drunk, remember when you needed me?

never in a million years did mattia think he would have to be the strict parent yet there he was grounding luke for getting into trouble at school. mattia always thought that he was going to be the fun parent, the parent that his kid could tell anything to and bond so easily with.

luke’s school called both of his parents which haven’t spoken or seen each other since the little intervention at the cosentino household. they only talked through text which was mainly about the kids schedules and stuff like that, nothing else.

sara and mattia stood outside of the school with luke, talking about what his punishment should be and what it not should be. as usual mattia wasn’t cooperating with sara’s suggestions and didn’t listen to anything she had to say.

“he can’t control his actions sometimes, mattia! you know that so don’t be so harsh on him.” sara clenched her jaw. “but he knows better! and he’s getting too old for that ADHD excuse, sara. you can’t always blame that for his behavior!” mattia raised his voice at her.

“for fucks sake, mattia, the doctor even said the ADHD is the reason he has bad behavior and can’t control it sometimes!” she reminds him. “we have to be there for him when he struggles with it, mattia. not punish him.” sara adds making mattia roll his at her.

“it doesn’t even matter anymore, sara. you’re leaving in a few days so you won’t even be here most of the time.” mattia scoffed at her and folds his arm over his chest. “you’re right. so tonight i’m taking the kids and i’m not taking them back to your place until the day i leave. so for right now luke is coming with me.” she holds luke’s hand and smirks at mattia who had steam practically coming out of his ears.

“like hell he is!” mattia tries grabbing luke but he moves away from mattia’s grip. “you can’t do this. we had an agreement, sara.” mattia sighs in annoyance. “mattia, calm down you’re acting like it’s the end of the world.” sara rolls her eyes.

it feels like it since we aren’t together anymore.

he thought to himself.

“you sure you want to go with your mom?” mattia asked his son with a stern look. luke looks up at his dad and nods, slowly going behind sara to hide from mattia who was starting to scare him.

“what a momma’s boy.” mattia mumbles to himself.

“fine. you two have fun doing whatever you guys do when i’m not around.” mattia gave them a sarcastic smile before harshly giving luke’s backpack to sara. he walks off, pulling his hair as he does so and walks to his jeep.

sara and luke walk to her car, hand in hand. once they get into the car, the eleven year old breaks down.

“i-i’m sorry, mommy. i didn’t mean to upset you.” he sobs as she wraps her arm around him. “no, baby. you didn’t upset me. your dad did.” sara sighs as she messes with her son’s hair to sooth him. “don’t ever think that i’m upset because of you.” she adds and kisses his little head.

“i don’t like living with him anymore. i feel trapped.” he confesses. “why?” sara asked. “he’s so strict and mean. i don’t like him like this. i miss how things used to be.” his words were breaking sara’s heart.

she had no idea her baby was feeling this way. usually her kids tell her everything, but now it feels like they can’t tell her anything because they’re either scared or just don’t want to worry her.

she also wanted to defend mattia since luke called him mean which wasn’t true at all. mattia is and will never be a “mean dad”. he’s just strict so his kids won’t end up in the streets in the future and wants what’s best for his kids. they’re too young to understand him but eventually will understand him when they have their own kids.

she brushed off what luke said and changed the subject.

“let’s grab some mcdonald’s for lunch and then head to my house, yeah?” she asked making a little smile appear on his face. “as long as i get a happy meal then i’ll be fine.” he remarks making her chuckle before starting her car.

they got their food from mcdonald’s and went to her house after. they ate, watched movies and luke showed sara some dances he learned from dance class.

“not to brag or anything, but i’m learning some of those tik tok dances dad did when he was younger.” luke laughs as he places his hands on his hips. “so you gonna show me or what, lukey?” she asks with a laugh.

the next thing you know he’s doing the renegade and sara’s dying laughing on her couch while her son does the renegade better than mattia, alejandro and kairi did.

“okay, you’ve officially got it in the bag.” she smirks at him while he turns a shade of pink on his checks. “now i think it’s time to pick up your brothers and sister, yeah? maybe we should build a blanket fort and order some pizza and watch some disney movies tonight.” sara suggests with a warm smile.

“you really are the fun parent.” luke comments before putting his shoes and jacket on. it was almost five o’clock when sara arrived at mattia’s house where her kids were waiting for her on the porch with huge smiles on their faces. mattia had a frown whilst leaning against a pillar with his arms folded over his chest. he stood up, telling the kids to go ahead and kissed them each goodbye before they went with their mom and drove off with her.

mattia let out a sigh before turning in his heels and walking back into his house. he went into his kitchen and opened his pantry to see what he would make for himself for dinner. he observed all the food yet he wasn’t one bit the hungriest. he thought to himself for a moment, he reached into the pantry and moved the box of cereals at the top out of the way to show bottles of liquor in the way back that he had hidden there.

for the record, mattia hadn’t had an once of alcohol in his system for almost a year thanks to his sponsor he met at a rehab center once he and sara split. mattia was supposed to throw out every bottle of alcohol he had in his household and he did for a while. then when he’d have little get togethers with his close friends or his parents and younger brother, they’d bring liquor or wine as some sort of offering or gift for the little gathering. mattia kept them out of sight and hid them where his kids or anyone else wouldn’t find them besides himself.

he was pulled out of his thoughts by his phone ringing in the island in the kitchen. he puts the cereals back on the top shelf quickly and closes the pantry before getting his phone and answering it.

“hey bitch ass, me and kairi got permission to go out tonight and we were wondering if you wanted come with us?” alejandro’s voice came from the other side of the phone. “where?” mattia asked with a sigh. “that new bar they opened up like two months ago. robert said that it’s pretty good and they play all of the throw backs. so me and kai wanted to try it out.” alejandro explained.

at the moment, mattia really didn’t want to go out, he wanted to be left alone. that’s how he’s been feeling lately, the need of wanting to feel alone. he feels like he deserves it as a form of punishment to himself for what he did to sara and what he told her. the hate for himself grew ever since the day he kissed her which was something he needed.

“you still there?” alejandro asked when mattia wasn’t responding and got lost in his own thoughts. “uh yeah, sorry i zoned out for a minute. but yeah, i’ll go with you guys. just send me the addy.” mattia said as he cleared his throat after. “great. see you there.” alejandro responded before hanging up.

mattia changed out of his sweats and into some jeans and a polo shirt before leaving his house. he pulled up to the bar and went inside looking for his best friends.

“over here!” kairi’s voice yelled was heard from the other side of the bar where he and alejandro were sitting at. mattia walked over to them with a small grin.

“this place is kind of a vibe.” mattia lightly laughed as he looked around the bar. there was color changing lights on the ceiling, a glass counter at the bar, posters of movies that came out in the early 2010’s and of music artists from 20 years ago. it was definitely something that looked like it came straight out of the 2010’s. either way it was mainly for people from that generation.

“it really is. i feel old.” alejandro laughs. “anyways, let’s get this night started yeah?” alejandro smirks at his best friends. “first round is on me.” he adds.

“dude, you know i don’t drink anymore.” mattia says through gritted teeth. “and i’m not forcing you to. i’ll get you a water if you’d like.” he winks at mattia before walking off to go get some drinks.

“how does it feel to not have one once of jack daniels in your system, tia?” kairi asks as a joke. “oh shut up, kai.” he rolls his eyes playfully in response. as the night went on and the good times occurred, about two or three hours the trio had been at the bar, a familiar face come into the bar looking pretty and lonely.

mattia nor his best friends payed attention to anyone at the bar since they were just there for each other and wanted a good time with the boys, that’s all it was going to be.

so when the boys broke out into laughter at the table they were sitting at, a few people glanced at them but not for long. however, this particular girl stayed staring at the three before she realized who they were. she drowned the shot she just bought minutes prior before walking over to them with a smile filled with confidence.

“oh my god, hey guys.” they all snapped their heads to face her. she wore a yellow tube top with a white mini skirt with her hair curled. “oh hey, kristina.” mattia said slightly awkward. kairi and alejandro immediately felt the tension between kristina and mattia and were going to find out why as soon as she leaves.

“you know her?” alejandro asks. “yeah. she’s ellie’s cheer coach.” matti explained making alejandro and kairi glance at each other. “what are you guys doing here?” she asked with a warm smile.

“it’s boys night.” kairi answers before taking a sip of his beer. “which means it’s just for the boys so... bye.” kairi said rudely which caught mattia off guard.

“bro, don’t be rude. she’s really chill.” mattia defended her which made ale and kairi even more curious in why mattia was defending a girl who wasn’t his wife, mother or daughter.

“pull up a seat. you can sit with us so none of these creeps will think you’re alone and vulnerable.” mattia told kristina with a smile which made her blush. meanwhile alejandro and kairi got even more pissed since it really was boys night and they wanted to spend time with each other. plus, alejandro and kairi are still with their wives and if the paparazzi were to barge in and take photos of them with kristina then their wives would kill them, literally.

“it’s really weird seeing you guys together in person. i remember i used to be obsessed with all of you when i was a teenager.” kristina comments. “really? why?” kairi asked which made mattia shoot him a glare.

“who was your favorite?” alejandro asked out of curiosity and took a sip of his beer. “at first it was you, alejandro. then i lost interest for some reason and went to mattia’s lane.” alejandro chocked on his beer. “wrong pipe.” he managed to say as he coughed.

“well you made the right choice. i am more handsome than these two.” mattia jokes making kristina laugh with a blush on her cheeks. kairi rolled his eyes and alejandro shook his head at how.... flirty the two were being towards each other.

“mattia, can i talk to you for a second?” kairi asked his best friend. “why? if you have to say something then say it out-“ kairi didn’t let mattia finish his sentence and instead he got up from his seat and dragged mattia away and took him outside of the bar.

“what in heaven’s sake wrong with you?” he yelled at mattia which caught him off guard. “chill out. i have no clue what you’re talking about.” mattia laughed but stopped when kairi shoves him.

“yo, what the hell?” mattia asked.

“why are you flirting with her? you two fucking on the low or what?” kairi asked in frustration. “what? hell no.” mattia answers immediately.

“she’s just a friend, kai. you’re being dramatic.” mattia rolled his eyes. “me? dramatic. i’m trying to help you, mattia!” kairi yelled.

“help me? what do you mean, help me!?” mattia raised his voice, panting as well.

“i’m trying to help you save your marriage because apparently you don’t give a shit about it! you walk around here like nothing is wrong, when it is! your family is falling apart and you don’t even know it! i hate to be the one to tell you this, bro, but if you don’t fix things with sara and your kids then you’re going to lose everything that you’ve worked so fucking hard for! and if you keep this shit up with not only kristina but with other women then i don’t want to hang around you anymore. sara’s not only your wife but she also a sister to me and alejandro. she plays a huge part in all of our lives yet you’re willing to let it go for some chick who doesn’t even know your middle name. seeing you with someone else besides sara feels like i’m betraying her. she’s been through so much and the fact that you’re not there anymore to comfort her sucks. and i get it, you guys might not get along anymore but deep down i know you two miss each other so damn much. i can tell you still love her and she loves you too. she’s the only girl who’s given you the chance to have a family of your own and more, why let that all go, mattia?”.

kairi pretty much lashed out at mattia which caught him off guard. reality had just hit mattia once again like a lacrosse stick to the head. mattia grabbed kairi’s arm before speaking.

“mind your own business. the shit that goes on in my life has nothing to do with you so stay out of it.” mattia was being stubborn which made kairi let out an annoyed sigh.

“you know what, bro? i’m done. i’m done trying to be a good friend to you and your family. i’m leaving.” kairi scoffed at his best friend and shrugged him off. he then walked away and got to his car. and if things couldn’t get worse, alejandro barged out of the bar with a stern face. he shot mattia a death glare before walking passed him and to his car.

mattia stood there and watched them drive away before going into the bar again. kristina was still sitting at the table where the boys were sitting at minutes prior. she sat there awkwardly but then it all washed away when mattia sat back down next to her.

“what happened?” kristina asked as she placed her hand on his shoulder. “nothing. it’s not important.” mattia answered lowly. “well in that case, let me buy you a drink?” she smirks at him.

mattia wasn’t thinking anymore at this point. he needed closure and wasn’t getting it so he nodded because he didn’t want to feel things anymore and that’s what the alcohol always provided him.

it always took the pain away.

the two chatted and shared a few beers together until mattia realized how late it was getting. he definitely was drunk but he could care less. he up from his stool but was pushed down by kristina.

“come onnn, just a little longer.” she slurred and licked her lips. “naw, i-i can’t. i have to get home.” mattia rubs his temples and moves away from her grip. “mattia, baby, just one last drink and i’ll take you home.” she got closer to him and whispered in his ear. he got goosebumps down his spine but not the good kind. it felt wrong to him, even though he was drunk he wasn’t wasted enough sleep with her.

besides, he couldn’t do that to his sara.

“no. i appreciate the company but i want to go home.” he forced himself to say and let out a burp right after. she then tried grabbing his hand and placing it on her ass but he immediately moved his hand and pushed her away harshly.

“what the fuck is wrong with you? i have a wife!” he raised his voice at her making a few people turn their direction then looked away. “a wife that doesn’t love you anymore? yeah, she’s a keeper.” kristina laughs at him for being pathetic about sara’s love for him.

“she’s a worthless whore, mattia. when are you going to realize that?” she added with a scoff. mattia apparently become a little bit more sober once he heard what she said about his wife which boiled his blood.

“the only whore i know is you, kristina. sara is the best thing that has ever happened to me in my entire life, she’s more of a woman than you’ll ever be. and if i hear you say another bad thing about her then i won’t hesitate to tell your boss that you tried sleeping with one of your cheerleader’s parent. got it?” he said through gritted teeth and with smoke coming out of his ears because of how mad he was.

there was no way he was going to let anyone talk bad about sara, together or not. he wouldn’t let that slide.

all kristina did was nodded and whimpered when mattia let go of her harshly.

mattia doesn’t know how but somehow he drove safely to sara’s house. the whole way there he couldn’t stop thinking about her. about how much he needed her right now because he had no clue what to do. his best friends are mad at him and are willing to end their friendship if he doesn’t get things together and some girl tried hitting on him. not only that, he touched her which made him feel disgusted with himself.

the kids were in bed, the blanket fort was cleaned up and put away for the next time they built it again, sara was cleaning her dinning room table which had empty boxes of pizza and empty cups that once held juice for her kids during dinner.

she heard a knock at her door which scared her since it was now passed midnight and no one in their right mind would be out this late. she walked towards her front door and checked the peephole to see a drunk mattia at her doorstep. she did a double take and checked again because she thought she was going crazy. once she realized that she wasn’t going crazy and that he was actually waiting for her to open the door she mentally prepared herself for anything that could happen.

she opened the door slowly, he looked up at her and his vision blurred with the tears that were dwelling in his eyes the moment he saw her.

“mattia, what are you doing here?” she asked softly. he didn’t answer her, he simply walked into the house and plopped down on her couch. usually, sara would’ve snapped at him for coming into her house and acting like he owned the place but no, she didn’t snap. instead, she went to sit next to him and observed his drunk state.

“i thought you weren’t drinking anymore.” she said quietly. he took a sip of his beer before speaking to her.

“i wasn’t until i needed something to take the pain away.” he answered but before she could respond he spoke again. “i promise this will be the only time i drink again. i’ve just been having a hard time getting through this.” he gestured is hands between them.

“why’d you come then?” she asked.

“because i needed to see you.” he answered bluntly. “i needed to see you so i could at least feel the tiniest amount of comfort.” his voice cracked slightly. her jaw dropped and she didn’t know what to say. she wasn’t expecting him to say that as all, how was she supposed to respond?

they sat in silence for a moment before drunk mattia spoke again.

“i’m drunk, remember when you needed me?” he turns to face her but she was already staring at him with tears in her eyes. he hated seeing her cry, it hurt him a lot to see her like this.

“don’t cry, baby. you’re too beautiful to be crying.” he leans over and wipes her tears away with his thumb. “too beautiful.” he repeats as he wipes her tears.

“i’m sorry for doing this to us. i promise i’ll fix it.” he adds and looks into her eyes. “we’re gonna get through this.” he moves a strand of her hair behind her ear gently. he looks at her like she’s his entire world and she is. always has been and always will be.

he pulled her into him and held her as she cried into his chest. they didn’t talk at all once she stopped crying. they fell asleep together on the couch, mattia holding her close as if she was going to slip away from him. holding her close as if he was protecting her from the monsters of the world.

for the first time in months, they slept with ease. plus, sara didn’t have a nightmare.

and when she woke up in the morning, he was gone.

#mattia polibio #mattiapolbioxreader #fanfic #movies #aesthetic #tiktok #njboys

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kylesvariouslistsandstuff · 1 year

Text

Quick Word on the Strike

Say it ain't so... A little over 15 years after the WGA strike of late 2007-early 2008, we have now entered *another* strike.

Whenever I'm not espousing animation opinions and hyperfixations on here, I'm actually writing stories and making comics.

It takes "writers" to tell the story, visually, among many other kinds of artists who get the short end of the stick in this capitalist hellscape. The strike is really exposing where people fall on this whole issue, and the utter indifference and even outright contempt some have towards the people that work their collective bums off to make your entertainment in the first place.

A lot of that is why I've really dialed back how I used to be online about animated features that I didn't think were up to my expectations. It's easy to rag on writers for... Well... Writing, that you don't think works. Most of the time, from my perspective and just simply listening to what filmmakers have to say, it's people making decisions that they think are the right ones at the right time, not knowing if they'll land some 1-2 years later. You certainly won't get that kind of honesty and perceived human mistakes with *AI*... I shudder at the current techbro circlejerking of this nonsense, and the consequences it could have on us artists, writers, and creatives... And we were already seeing some bleak stuff unfold in the industry pre and post-outbreak eras of COVID-19.

And especially in animation, too... What with mergers outright killing projects and whole studios (Disney shuttering Blue Sky in early 2021, and nearly killing NIMONA), favorites, and other completed things being thrown into a black hole - never to be seen again because they're now "tax write-offs". I don't care if that's how the business works, okay, it's inherently garbage that someone's hard work... Something someone worked years and years on... Can't be seen by the public because of green paper and abstract phony concepts. When a work of art is made, it's for the whole entire world, and that's all kinds of wrong to me. Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav is essentially the poster-boy for this kind of thing, having done this to FINAL SPACE, a largely finished BATGIRL movie, and an entirely-completed SCOOB! prequel called HOLIDAY HAUNT. No work of media should have to be locked away in perpetuity, or in even some cases, erased from existence.

Which is why I also try to appreciate everything that actually *does* get out into the world, even if it's not to my liking. I notice some animation fans here and there vent their not-unfounded frustrations on things that aren't to blame. "Oh come on, and yet BIG MOUTH gets another season?" That's still a show that keeps people employed, and keeps roofs over their heads, food on their tables. Animators, writers, artists, etc. aren't living in posh mansions. They're always on the line...

(I realize BIG MOUTH is ending after its 8th season, but you get the idea, right?)

So... We shall see what this all means for live-action stuff going ahead, considering the big hit a lot of tentpole movies and TV shows took during the 2007-08 strike. The strike is often cited as the reason something like QUANTUM OF SOLACE underwhelmed, or why TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN got such terrible reception in comparison to the first film (which got a more middling reception). As for animation writers, they already have it rough, so I can only imagine what kind of toll this will take on the crews and their projects going forward... But one thing's for certain, it's absurd that these conglomerate CEOs get richer and the writers have to strike in order to make things somewhat right. They deserve so much better. Don't give me that "it's how it goes" mumbojumbo, that's just an excuse to be okay with stuff that needs to be changed. Such indifference is the source of many other problems in this world...

Not to sound melodramatic, but human creativity is a beautiful thing to me... and often times, the business side of it gets too big for its britches and ruins what should be a universal thing, the universal language of telling stories. And that people have to turn that creativity and love of making art into something that merely keeps them alive. Barely, so... Yeah, it's all kinda messed up when you step back and look at it clearly for a second...

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liorasophie · 5 years

Text

All my thoughts on Aladdin 2019 Live Action Remake

I'll never give up on the animated version, it's my favorite movie of all time. But this was an absolute gift, I loved it so much. All the feels. Must rewatch.🤩

TL:DR version:

Aladdin - hot

Jafar - hot

Jasmine - hottt

Arabian Nights - hotter than hot (in a lot of good ways)

5 stars. Go see it in the theater.

**Spoilers ahead***

Cultural Updates

==============

PASSING THE BECHDEL TEST

People sometimes try to shrug off why movies fail Bechdel by saying that they are era appropriate. News flash: women have existed for a very long time. A story passes Bechdel because the artist made a decision that women are an important part of it, and the roles they play are valuable. Adding Dalia's character gave Jasmine a friend, which makes her much more of her own person, rather than "a prize to be won." The women are suddenly their own people and not just props.

PASSING POC BECHDEL TEST

Hats off to Disney for making the effort to cast this movie authentically. I've heard a few gripes about Naomi Scott as Jasmine being Indian, when the story is about the Middle East. Peeps, I live in the Middle East and I have to say that the most authentic representation of our region is not in a cast where everyone is one single ethnicity - rather the diverse cast represents this part of the world much more accurately. The Middle East is an ethnically heterogeneous place. It actually makes more sense to me that they are not all the same.

#representationmatters

It was nice to see the removal of the disturbing lyrics from the original, although I don't think I can ever unhear "where they cut off your ear if they don't like your face." Also, to be fair, "Barbaric but hey, it's home," is both not politically correct and also a kind of endearing and accurate statement about the Middle East.

"Friday Salaam" This is a cute gesture but I'm not sure Islam's Friday and Christianity's Sunday are entirely comparable. It would be nice to hear from someone who knows if "Friday Salaam" means anything.

Jasmine 1992 calls the Sultan "Father," and in the LAR she calls him "Baba," which is the Arabic would for Dad.

Characters

=========

GENIE

Don't go in expecting Will Smith to be Robin Williams. Those are impossible shoes to fill. Will Smith knew this going into the role. I Loved how he put himself into the genie, giving it a hip hop twist. The genie's story ending is also much more satisfying than the animation.

The live action movie emphasized the relationship between Aladdin and the Genie much more than the animated version, not that it wasn't there, just not as much. It felt to me like Aladdin/Genie was actually the central relationship of the film, following the classic boy-meets-girl formula where Aladdin/Jasmine doesn't.

The live-action genie has a clear race and gender, as opposed to animated genie, who is just blue. This makes it stronger to see drag!genie and flamboyant!genie and black!genie.

JAFAR

Jafar getting a backstory and more rational, human motives deepened our understanding of the villain and made his motives much more clear and realistic. It also made him wanting to marry the princess a much less cringey scene to watch - I just think his reasons made more sense than in the animation.

Marwan Kenzari's Jafar is not the distastefully feminized Jafar of the animation, which perpetuates negative stereotypes about feminine men. Nope. Hot Jafar completely drops this aspect of the beloved villain. However - we lost the Prince Ali Reprise in the remake - I wonder if singing!Jafar is too feminine?

Jafar calling the Sultan "Baba" :)

The relationship between Jasmine and Jafar is also much more appealing and makes much more sense in the LAR. It even makes me wonder if they have any kind of unresolved courtship. Why wouldn't he have just tried to go for it if he could become Sultan that way? Why doesn't Jafar try to hypnotize Jasmine? He knows he can't, which means he has tried it before, or doesn't consider her a significant threat (more likely.) But why wouldn't he just try to marry her? He wanted to be Sultan, seems like an easy fix. There must be a reason they never just opted for that. How does Jasmine think of Jafar?

"Baba" - Is Jafar a lovechild of the Sultan with a servant, thereby being born into poverty even though he could have been born for the throne? This would also make him and Jasmine siblings. I should check the book.

ALADDIN

LOVE LOVE LOVE Mena Massoud's embodiment of Aladdin as much more humble/embarrassed by all the attention even as Prince Ali - The animated character kind of magically became cocky and I don't like that as much in comparison.

Aladdin is such a good listener. Wow. What a guy. Not just this, also his awareness of other people's needs (although this came to light in the animation.)

It's much more obvious this time what makes him "a diamond in the rough."

It doesn't seem era appropriate or even possible at all that Aladdin would just totally believe Jasmine should be the Sultan if it's never been done in 1000 years. And yet, this portrayal of Aladdin as a woke 3rd-wave feminist is adorable and inspiring and a much more suitable partner for ambitious Jasmine, as well as a better role model for men and boys. Love it.

Note that Aladdin describes Jasmine to the genie as: 1) smart 2) kind 3) so beautiful. In that order. This is true for the animation as well but I never noticed it until the LAR.

Aladdin and Jasmine's courtship is a most appealing love story. They listen to each other, they understand each other deeply. Aladdin is such a good listener! And it's only when he starts to lose himself in the power rush that the genie gets upset with him. Aladdin has no ego, he just wants to hang out with Jasmine because he likes her. He sees other people around him. He's sensitive to others' needs. He's good with animals. And Jasmine really is not a prize to be won. Her journey towards winning over Aladdin is just because she likes him and wants to be with him. Of her own merit she wants to be Sultan and has the wisdom and leadership skills to go with it.

JASMINE

Jasmine's character actually having ambition and getting to show her leadership abilities takes Jasmine as the iconic feminist Disney princess to the next level.

"Speechless" is the new third-wave anthem. It resonates with #metoo vibes, speaking out against injustice and refusing to just look pretty and stay silent. It also speaks to breaking traditions like religious practices and men's leadership just because that's what has always been done.

Then again, the animation is not so era appropriate either - I don't think it's era appropriate for Jasmine to even think she could have a chance of marrying for love - or for the idea to cross her mind in the first place. Love and marriage were not mixed until much later.

In the animation, when Jasmine choose Prince Ali, her father then declares that he will become Sultan. Aladdin's facial expressions reflect that he is not prepared for this. Did he not know that this would be a package deal with courting the princess? Like what did he think was going to happen? Still, I felt the lack of his leadership experience in that declaration, and that doesn't resolve at the end. The remake patches up this hole perfectly. Aladdin is not prepared for leading a country, but Jasmine is, and this comes to light beautifully. It's not just a nice feminist twist, it's a much better solution.

IAGO

Iago wasn't funny at all. Disappointment. His lines in the original are the most quotable of all time. This part was missing for me.

=========

VISUALS

Other Stuff

The glittery colorful costumes! The set! It's beautiful. I loved all the things that looked similar to the animation but were updated and look better in the LAR.

MUSIC

The new score, sounds much more authentic, I could actually hear the traditional Arabic drumming patterns in some of the songs, in a much more prominent way than the original. (Although the new score still has that western-disney twist on it holding it back from sounding 100% authentic.)

FINALLY

The LAR is not as scary as the animated version. This is a good thing.

Even during the underwater scene, I was more confident that Aladdin would survive because the dialogue had hinted at it. I didn't miss the snake-crush scene or the hourglass in the finale.

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koganphrancis · 5 years

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I hesitated to make any kind of post about Episode 8 because I know that by the next episode/end of the season so much of what happened will be a big stinking pile of moot points-hell, by the end of the episode so much of what had gone on was already moot, but maybe typing some thoughts out will prove cathartic.

Okay, so without context, Ian’s proposal was pretty sweet and exactly what Mickey deserves to be told-”I want you because I love you and I trust you and that means the world.” Too bad we can’t be sure that Ian meant it-it really didn’t sit well with me at all that he had that “you’re a Gallagher-you lie” conversation with Lip. Was it supposed to apply to this too? (and see? I’ve already broken my “without context” attempt)

But, anyway, watching it the first time I couldn’t help but see the Aladdin scene, and damn it, Mickey deserves to be treated like a Disney prince!

But, ugh, out of all the contrivances they could’ve thrown in each other’s way on the path to the altar. What the show came up with is spiderweb thin at making any sense, complete with gaping holes. Why, if Ian’s so good at reading Mickey, did he not see that Mickey was delightedly surprised at hearing that Paula was dead? Why were they both so convinced the other did it? They weren’t given a scripted reason to believe it-it was just the very heavy lifting of (especially) Noel and Cameron that made their “discussion” about it even remotely watchable. But even casting all that aside-whatever testimony either of them could’ve given wouldn’t have implicated the other anyway. All Mickey would be able to say, if asked directly about Ian’s whereabouts-IF he still thought the murder had taken place the night before (getting dizzy trying to follow the spin of their web? I am)-was that he assumed he was at home but didn’t know. Ian would only be able to say Mickey wasn’t at his house till late. No prosecutor would take that to court-not knowing where someone is when a crime’s being committed isn’t anything close to proof that they did the crime. And the only way the cops would know they both said they wanted her dead, which again, isn’t proof that they acted on it, is if they offered that up themselves. Ian and Mickey and their various relations have had enough experience with cops to know you don’t do anything but answer questions, and sometimes not even that-if it can’t be proven, they’d know to keep their mouths shut. The show makes me tired.

Back to the diner-Mickey is so upset when Ian first “proposes”-he clearly hates the idea Ian only wants to do it as a legal loophole maneuver. Ian not only talks him into it, he does so by convincing Mickey they’d be marrying for love and the moment Mickey says, “I do” numbnuts Ian ought to realize it’s written in stone. (I’ve seen some online chatter that Ian had every right to change his mind at the courthouse and in my opinion that’s just not true-the diner, when Mickey was giving him every opportunity not to commit, was the time for Ian to back out. Not, once again, right at the finish line.)

And I know we’ll never know and I should just file this in the same place I’ve had to put Ian’s “larger concerns” line-but I wish the show would give a minimum of effort and please try to show us how Ian went from insisting “not for me” when S3 Mickey tried to say marriage is just a piece of paper to scoffing at Mickey at the end of S5 when he paraphrased wedding vows to now, when Ian said, “Fuck no” when point-blank asked if he was going to marry Mickey and to Ian tearing the rug out from Mickey’s feet right when they were called up to be married. I’m sorry, I’m not buying the Monica and Frank thing-from what the show has told and shown us, the entirety of Ian’s life they never lived as a married couple. Hurricane Monica would intermittently drop into their lives and wreak havoc, but there’s no stories about her sticking around very long or her and Frank ever acting like husband and wife. Ian can’t be thinking marriage to Mickey would be like that for them. So, give him a reason and share it with the audience. Not to mention, tell us what Ian’s S3 definition of marriage was.

On to the courthouse. Another reason Ian seemingly “fooled” Mickey was because of the kiss he lays on Mickey-if he was entertaining second thoughts, it sure didn’t look like it here.

Mickey wasn’t expecting it, but he was thrilled to pieces to get it-how did Ian turn on a dime-or, if he wasn’t feeling it, why did he do kiss him at all? I ask that last because when I was watching the episode, even if I didn’t know what’s planned for future episodes, I would’ve caught the look on Ian’s face that was very reminiscent of his face at the bank near the Mexican border as soon as he turned away from the kiss.

And look at poor Mickey! So full of love and hope for their future! Never knowing Ian’s about to fuck it all up-again.

And then the punch-what I really REALLY hated about it (past the obvious “no one should ever be hit” policy we should all live by) was that it gave the Mickey critics (coughhaterscough) more ammunition to say what an abusive thug he is and poor little Ian deserves better-as if there’s anyone in the entire history of fiction better than Mickey for him. But, the more times I’ve watched the scenes, the more I get why Mickey did it. Ian asked him a question, and he let him know what it felt like to have Ian rip his heart out and show it to him still beating in his hand for at least the fourth or fifth time.

I’m sure it did feel like a punch to the face :( And Ian did say he wanted to know how Mickey felt, so now he knows. (Plus they had to write in Ian’s busted leg, but that could’ve been done in a much better way. I’m not in the “Ian could’ve tripped down the stairs chasing Mickey” camp, because that wouldn’t explain their break up-in character, Mickey would’ve stayed by Ian’s side if he was hurt doing something like that. I think a better way would’ve been to have Ian get drunk on his meds since the show insists on showing him drinking, and had him back in his little twin bed, passed out and alone. Lip comes in from the RV to take a shit in the Gallagher’s downstairs toilet-since the show insisted on making that stuff canon-and sees knocked over empty beer bottles and a nearly empty bottle of Jack Daniels open on the kitchen table when he gets out of the bathroom. He goes upstairs and finds Ian-after checking the room with the accordion door-and rolls him over so if he pukes he won’t choke to death. Ian sort of comes to and tells Lip he fucked up yet again with Mickey and he doesn’t think he’ll be coming back this time, so Ian should go to Terry’s and tell him how much he loves him. Lip talks him out of that, knowing the last thing Ian’s ready for is a face to face with Terry, and tells him to wait till morning, and preferably when Terry’s not at home. Ian agrees and passes out again, so Lip leaves. The show ends and in the mid credits, Ian’s shown lying on the bed where we left him, but his eyes pop open when he hears a door downstairs being open and shut. He goes to go down the front staircase but drunkenly trips and busts his leg. Shameless throws some of their signature “comedy” at us by having Frank stagger up the stairs-it was he who came in the door-to where Ian’s writhing in pain and blearily look at Ian’s covered leg that has an outline of a bone poking out his sweatpants. “No sense in hurting yourself here, there’s no money in it,” Frank says, as he continues up the stairs past Ian. “Drag yourself to the train stop and say you fell on those stairs. You can sue the city, the CTA, the stair manufacturer...” Frank’s voice drifts off and the credits resume.

One last thing-as the season continues and Ian and Mickey have done no more than share a few closed-mouth kisses, I can’t help but wonder if they’ll continue with them seeing barely more action than another classic couple. I truly begin to despair of seeing them in bed-I bet the wedding ep ends with them driving off-no honeymoon :/

(gif credits: Diner-kirbyhope, Kiss-mlminmedia, Post kiss-mickeygifs, Courthouse stairs-gallaghersdaily)

#Spoiler #I guess-for anyone on here that's avoided the wedding news till now #S10 Episode 8 #The writing is still erratic and nonsensical and not that I expect it to be anything else by now #I just don't get why they insist on continuing #They've gone from plot points being obliterated in show to show to scene to scene #Slow the fuck down and explain some shit!#The more the season goes on the more I resent all the wasted time they didn't use Noel and Cameron #From the episodes Noel wasn't in to the deleted scenes to the total waste of time scenes like the medical waste bin and warden visit #Shameless should refund at least part of my Showtime subscription

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tywvin-archive · 6 years

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tagged by: @hailderek & @casterlys, thanks <3

rules: bold what you prefer & tag 10 people

1. coffee or tea 2. early bird or night owl 3. chocolate or vanilla 4. spring or fall 5. silver or gold 6. pop or alternative 7. freckles or dimples 8. snakes or sharks 9. mountains or fields 10. thunderstorm or lightning 11. egyptian or greek mythology 12. ivory or scarlet 13. flute or lyre ( support the local stuff ) 14. eyes or lips 15. witch or fairy 16. opal or diamond 17. butterflies or honeybees 18. macarons or eclairs 19. typewritten or handwritten letters 20. secret garden or secret library 21. rooftop or balcony 22. spicy or mild 23. opera or ballet 24. london or paris 25. vincent van gogh or claude monet 26. denim or leather 27. potions or spells 28. ocean or desert 29. mermaid or siren 30. masquerade ball or cocktail party

tagging: @lilttlebird, @kleopatrar, @ohbiwankenohbi, @helenstroy, @daeneryn

ship tag;

rules: answer these 10 questions and tag 10 people

tagged by: @hailderek, thanks for tagging me and sorry for taking so long </3

tagging: @hermnione, @lsaks, @ohbiwankenohbi, @lahnister

ultimate otp: mclennon ( the beatles ) i’m sorry man i’m over my ‘shipping real people’ phase but

a ship you’ll always love: joyce x jim ( stranger things )

current obsession: kaz x inej ( six of crows )

a ship you never thought you’d like: kaz x inej ( six of crows ) ironically enough

a ship you liked but don’t like anymore: nancy x jonathan ( stranger things )

a ship you think should be canon: han x lando ( star wars ) i’m sorry but that would be such a power couple? like wow

a canon ship you hate: han x qira & ned x catelyn ( game of thrones )

a ship you’ve been shipping for years: mclennon

a ship everyone loves but you don’t care about: robb x thalisa ( game of thrones )

favourite rarepair: asha x ellaria ( game of thrones ) tho i don’t think this is a rarepair but it’s the only one i could think of

tagged by: @hailderek thank youuuu <3

rules: answer the questions (which you can change if you don’t feel like answering certain questions) and then tag 20 followers you want to get to know better!

1. Nickname? ele /ehleh/ lmao i guess idk how to translate it phonetically tbh

2. Gender? male

3. Star sign? capricorn

4. Height? 1,62/1,63 // around 5′3″ i think

5. Sexuality? bi

6. Hogwarts house? slytherin

7. Favorite animal? dolphins and bees

8. Average hours spent sleeping? 5 hours

9. Dogs or cats? cats but i also love dogs

10. Number of blankets you sleep with? 1 atm

11. What’s your dream trip? greek islands & south america

12. What’s your dream job? writer astronaut rip

13. When did you make this account? two months ago

14. How many followers do you have? 267

15. How many pets do you have? i have a wonderful, fat dog

16. Favourite party theme? idk? any kind of party

17. Favourite ice cream flavor? i don’t like ice cream but pistacchio

18. How often do you read? whenever i can, i try to have reading sessions every week but exams take up most of my time & i often only read at night

19. Favourite study locations? my bedroom, the library haven’t gone there in ages

20. Who do you stan? carrie fisher !!! and carl sagan i’d talk about people who are not dead yet but i used to stan morgan freeman and my heart has been crushed so i’m keeping my mouth shout until i’m sure my faves can’t do bad shit anymore :)

Now tag some of your followers! @kleopatrar, @daeneryn, @lilttlebird, @kleopatrar, @remuslpun

tagged by @remuslpun thank you so much!

rules: answer all the questions, add one of your own and tag as many people as there are questions // not tagging anyone because i’m sure i’m annoying as hell when i tag y’all in everything

tagging: x

1. coke or pepsi: coke 2. disney or dreamworks: disney 3. coffee or tea: both! 4. books or movies: books i think 5. windows or mac: i’d love to say mac but windows because i haven’t had a mac yet 6. dc or marvel: marvel 7. x-box or playstation: i think playstation bc there are more games i like for it but i don’t really play tbh 8. dragon age or mass effect: w h a t t h e f c u k 9. night owl or early riser: night owl 10. cards or chess: cards i don’t know how to play chess 11. chocolate or vanilla: chocolate 12. vans or converse: both but vans >>>> 13. Lavellan, Trevelyan, Cadash, or Adaar: what is this ??? what is thsi,,, 14. fluff or angst: BOTH, b o t h, both!!!! 15. beach or forest: forest because dysphoria :) 16. dogs or cats: cats but both tbh 17. clear skies or rain: rain, STORMS, T H U N D E R 18. cooking or eating out: eating out because my cooking skills are reeeeally bad 19. spicy food or mild food: mild food but i also like some spicy? it’s just that i’m way too white so sometimes it gets me fucked up 20. halloween/samhain or solstice/yule/christmas: christmas 21. would you rather forever be a little too cold or a little too hot: a little too cold 22. if you could have any superpower, what would it be?: body morphing/transformation because of my trans ass :) 23. animation or live action: animation coco come to me 24. paragon or renegade: renegade 25. baths or showers: baths but i shower bc we need to save the planet man 26. team cap or team ironman: team ironman <3 27: fantasy or sci-fi: b o t h 28. do you have three or four favourite quotes, if so what are they: “if i’m worth something later, i’m worth something know - for wheat is wheat, even if people think it’s a grass in the beginning” - vincent van gogh which is my favourite quote of all time

29. netflix or youtube: youtube bc i don’t have netflix lmao

30. Harry Potter or Percy Jackson: harry potter 31. when you feel accomplished: what :))) is that :)) 32. star wars or star trek: star wars!!!! han my love <3 33. paperback or hardback: hardback because of the aesthetic but paperback because i feel like i’m in the 80s ??? idk 34. horror or rom-com: neither,,, give me cartoons you cowards 35. tv shows or movies: i love both why would you make me choose? 36. spotify or pandora: spotify 37. zootopia or inside out: i haven’t watched zootopia so inside out 38. favourite book: the song of achilles / lord of the flies 39. favourite flower: p o p p i e s 40. what field of study are you in (or aspire to be in): linguistics (spanish & classics) 41. song lyric you really love?: “i wanna get lost in your rock’n’roll and drift away” by dobie gray 42. what’s your MBTI type?: infp but i’ve been told i look more like an enfp 43. fave movie: mulan??? moana??? coco??? how do you dare make me choose 44. favourite tv show(s): i used to love castle and sherlock and right now i’m getting into b99 but my favourite will always be game of thrones sorry not sorry + i watch a lot of spanish original series 45. what fictional world is your favourite? narnia & westeros 46. favourite mythological figure? achilles my heart and icarus

47. who’s your all-time favourite fictional character? tywin lannister, love of my life

48: if you could spend an entire day with a weasley, who would you pick? molly weasley tbh, what kind of question is that

49: what movie or book would you want to be the main character of? asoiaf BUT i don’t want to die i just want to ride dragons

thanks for tagging me! i don’t expect anybody to read up to this point but if you have, i hope you have an amazing day!

#🏷: tag games

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