#i will not actually but it is actually fascinating how the colors swap around depending on what direction they're affiliated with

[sakuracyanide]

gestures at pgsm zoisite.

in this essay i will explain how pgsm zoisite switches the colors & coding of the direction he's associated with from north to east and why that is fascinating -

[mysteryshoptls]

SSR Trey Clover Outdoor Wear Voice Lines

When Summoned: Camp, hm... Can't say I have the skills for this, but I'll do my best to not cause any problems.

Summon Line: Outdoor outfits are stain resistant, and are easy to move around in on the mountain trails. Guess it'll look bad on me if I'm not useful while wearing this.

Groooovy!!: I originally thought I'd take it easy here, but I'd rather not change clubs. Guess I'll have to get a little more serious.

Home: This might be the safest choice.

Swap Looks: I need to give it my all.

Home Idle 1: I didn't realize just how difficult it'd be to cook outdoors... This makes me so much more thankful for kitchens.

Home Idle 2: Apparently, the same plant can end up looking different depending on the soil it's planted in. That could be interesting to research further.

Home Idle 3: I find this kind of casual look to be pretty comfortable. I'd rather like more muted colors if I were to wear something like this every day, though.

Home Idle - Login: This is way more intense than the camping trips I've taken with my family. I'll have to make sure I don't slow everyone else down...

Home Idle - Groovy: Oh, good timing. Help me carry these dishes. Of course, there's some for you and grim too.

Home Tap 1: Before we left, Rook gave me a lesson on how to walk on the mountain trails. Thanks to him, I've been able to keep from stumbling.

Home Tap 2: I'm sure I don't need to worry or anything, but I get so nervous watching Ortho. He's so inquisitive that he keeps wanting to take a closer look at everything he can.

Home Tap 3: I didn't think they'd take away our smartphones... I bet that was really rough for Cater. I'm actually pretty okay with not handling my phone for a few days, though.

Home Tap 4: In the science club, everyone researches their own interests. And so I get to listen to a lot of fascinating discussions from them all.

Home Tap 5: The food was burnt? Sorry, my bad. I'm not really used to the camping cookware. You can overlook it this time, right?

Home Tap - Groovy: You want to take a picture of me? You're the record keeper, so just do as you like. …It's more nerve-wracking if you know you're being watched, you know?

Duo: [TREY]: Jade, we gotta make this count! [JADE]: Of course, Trey-san.

Requested by Anonymous.

[incorrect-pokespe-quotes]

Clearing Out the Askbox

I never thought about this before but I can absolutely vibe with this-- powerful kickass Suicune ladies for the goddamn WIN

Rest under the cut!

YES YES YES!!!! He has the colors, he has the vibe, he has the mysterious parentage... Kusaka make it happen

They do make the perfect middle children: They’re in a transition period between arcs, are seriously underappreciated, and forgotten by just about everyone! /s

Tbh I don’t think the setting up RSE in GSC would be possible bc the volumes for GSC were already out by the time the end of RSE came out and iirc it got cut somewhat short? I could be misremembering but I wanna say there was some weird publication mishap that made him have to do what he did with Celebi and the snappy ending... could be wrong tho. Also I wish he just didn’t kill them in the first place? Having them be seriously injured has the same / close enough emotional impact without a weird Celebi copout. Also I don’t trust Kusaka to write grief well in the span of like.... 4 chapters, maybe less. As for the aircar swap thing: thank you!! It wouldn’t really work in canon, but I think it’s a fun little what-if

Depends on the arc, but in general I think the tone of the game’s music fits relatively well with everything. Sorry that’s a lame answer :(

Red is a paragon whose simple and heroic nature make him the ideal first protagonist.  Green is the ideal foil, and though he tends to warp based on the plot and characters around him, every arc he’s in is improved by his appearance.  Blue is a very complex and fascinating example of how trauma can change people, but her potential was squashed by FRLG.  Yellow is the perfect example of Kusaka’s creativity and everything that makes spe great.  Gold is the first and only absolute bastard of a protag and really balances out the rest of his seniors.  SIlver probably has the best depiction of trauma in the series and has a subtle arc that stretches for 10 years of material, which works in his favor and makes him one of the most cohesive of the seniors.  Crystal was introduced at a terrible time (though imo that’s not Kusaka’s fault) and has suffered from botched inclusion in arcs ever since, which blows bc she’s awesome.  Ruby is a mess both in-universe and in terms of writing, but god this poor child cannot catch a break.  Sapphire... honey I’m so sorry.  Emerald got the best glow-up between original and remakes of any character thus far and is possibly the most outlandish character Kusaka has (and I love him for it) Diamond is kinda boring as a solo protagonist but really shines within the trio.  Pearl is seriously underappreciated for the arc he went through during DP, but unfortunately as soon as that arc finished he sorta lost relevance... impearltance if you will.  Platinum has a relatively common character arc for her archetype but gosh if she ain’t the cutest lil rich bitch you’ve ever seen.  Black is the shonen hero done in the best way possible.  White barely got anything in BW and then B2W2 have her so much, which is the exact opposite of every other character in the series.  Lack is an asshole who learns nothing but managed to still have the biggest turnaround of fandom opinion in spe probably ever.  I can’t remember much about Whitley other than “she’s baby” so let’s go with that.  X is way less “soft boy” than people claim he is, though tbh the snappy brooding dexholder is something we’ve been needing for a while.  Y is the most leader oriented dexholder we’ve been in a while and quite possibly the first one to be based on the player character, but despite that she still gets a taste of FDS in the finale.  Sun and Moon are wasted potential personified and I will forever be bitter about how two of spe’s most interesting characters got fucked over so badly by the plot.  I can’t describe Sou or Schilly because we’re only 1 volume and it’s impossible to predict where their arcs are headed. 

I was gonna say “what the hell are you talking about” but then you explained it in specord and it actually makes perfect sense. He reminds me of that one Gen Z “nothing matters” meme

[kn1feinthec0ffee]

in too deep (part 3)- jules

jules x reader

warnings: language, anxiety, creepiness, some violence, homophobia, overall just weird vibes (if you’ve seen the movie you know what i’m talking about)

TW: MENTIONS OF NON-CON (please don’t read if you’re triggered by this!! this was the bit of the story i had to change for the story to make sense since i swapped mickey’s gender. it doesn’t actually happen, but if the threat triggers you, do NOT READ!!!)

notes: i’m gonna try and keep this one shorter bc writing long chapters stresses me out

also! i’m writing this based on a pdf of the original script for the movie, so some dialogue may be different, or it may be my own creation because believe it or not, there are times that i do in fact possess creativity!!

you woke up with a jolt, dreams of the strangest variety plaguing your subconscious. you reached up to touch your pounding head- well, at least you would’ve if it wasn’t restrained. 

  “what the hell?” you tugged on the handcuffs, quickly realizing your legs were tied down, too, rendering you completely immobile. upon discovering this, you began to panic, breaking out in a cold sweat as you called out for your security blanket. “jules! jules!” 

  “she’s not gonna hear you. she’s down in the basement with sweetiepie.” gloria said calmly as she entered the room. 

not impressed with her answer, you questioned her. “what are you gonna do to her?” 

  “my, my. you asked about her safety before even questioning yours! the bond the two of you share must be stronger than i thought.” she mused, looking down at your panicked expression. “your belle is safe and sound, don’t worry. but if you want to see her again, you’re going to have to cooperate.”

  “cooperate? what the fuck are you gonna do to me?” you wrenched at your restraints, your heart rate beginning to pick up sufficiently. you depended on jules more than any other person in your life, and without her, you began to quickly unravel. 

  “just sit tight, all will be revealed soon enough.” gloria stated with an eerie smile. you hated how calm she was, it made you feel like she knew something you didn’t. “would you like to see some photos of my son?”

was she serious? look at some photos of her son? all you wanted was their car! how did you end up in this mess? the sudden aggravation caused you to lose your composure. 

  “no, i don’t wanna see any pictures of your fucking son! i wanna get my girlfriend and that fucking kid and get the fuck out of here!” you screamed. “i wanna get the fuck away from you and your crazy ass husband! i wa-” your sudden outburst was cut off by a firm slap, giving you little time to react before gloria had you in a chokehold.

  “you keep your damn mouth shut! you won’t refer to anyone in this family like that under my roof!” you spat in her face, taking in a wheezing breath as she let go of you to wipe her face. her sudden anger morphed into what you assumed was her signature brand of unnerving calmness. 

  “you wanted to know what i’m going to do to you? i’ll tell you.” she smiled creepily. “you see, george and i have wanted our own children for the longest time, but that’s just not what the good lord had planned for us. so think of yourself as a vessel for us. an oven for our bun, if you will.”

your jaw dropped, the color in your face draining as your eyes widened in shock. “fuck! what the fuck? that’s so fucking fucked up! you’re not gonna fucking touch me, you bitch!” you couldn’t catch your breath, your chest heaving with every intake of air. 

gloria got up to leave, her long skirt spinning with a flourish as she made her way to the bedroom door. “d-don’t f-fucking leave,” you wheezed as she exited the room, slamming the door behind her.

  “jules!” you shouted. “jules, please fucking help me,” you whimpered, shutting your eyes in defeat.

-------------------------------

time ticked by slowly, your arms and shoulders starting to ache as they were held in the same position. you tried to reposition them to get some relief, but none came. 

suddenly, you heard the door click open, your eyes flitting up hopefully. gloria entered with a grin on her painted lips, making her way towards you. 

while you were in the room by yourself, you had used the time wisely to come up with what would hopefully be a successful escape plan. you looked up at her with your best puppy dog eyes. “gloria, can we talk?” 

  “absolutely. what’s on your mind?” it was creepy how quickly she seemed to get over your defiance from earlier, but you pushed the thought from your mind. 

  “well, honestly, your proposal.” you began. “i know how i acted the other day was totally uncalled for, and i’ve reconsidered.”

  “well, you didn’t really have much of a choice, sweetheart, but i’m glad you feel that way.” she stroked a hand over your stomach, making you feel physically sick. “is there anything else?”

  “yeah, there is. can we start now? i wanna start these happy nine months as soon as i can.” you faked a smile, the words coming out of your mouth churning your insides. 

  “well yes, i guess that could be arranged,” she moved to get up and you panicked, your plan quickly setting out of motion. 

  “wait!” you exclaimed. “can you uncuff me? i don’t think it would really be enjoyable if i was tied down like i am now.”

she looked skeptical, but sat down next to you anyways. “give me one good reason you wouldn’t be trying to escape as soon as i untied you.”

  “well, i’ve had a change of heart.” no i haven’t. “i’ve considered it, and i think you’re right.” no you’re not. “i think this experience would be really beneficial to me,” no it wouldn’t. “especially if i wasn’t chained to the bed the whole time.” definitely not.

  “it seems that you’ve really put some thought into this, i’m very proud of you.” gloria crooned. she sat on the side of the mattress, working on uncuffing your hands from the bedposts. as soon as both your hands were free, you took a tight grip of her hair and used your body weight to launch her off of you and onto the floor. she cried out, clutching her head as you worked at the ropes around your ankles. 

  “you psycho fucking bitch!” you cursed at her. “i’m getting my girlfriend and that fucking kid and we’re getting the fuck out of here!” once your legs were finally free, you took off, running down the stairs as the damsel called out for her husband. 

you raced towards the door, prying at the handle, when a gunshot goes off right next to your head. you jumped in fear, raising your hands in defense to see george at the top of the staircase, wielding your pistol. 

  “exactly what in the hell do you think you’re doing? get your ass up here!” he shouted, waving the weapon threateningly. when you stood frozen in your tracks, he spoke again. “i’m a crack shot, kid. i missed you on purpose that time. now get on up here.” 

you grudgingly headed up the stairs, keeping your wide eyes facing straight ahead. you heard gloria sobbing in the other room, sounding as distraught as ever, and you knew you were in for it. “who the hell raised you like that? you of all people making a woman cry like that.”

  “i’d blow your brains out if i thought you had any,” george sighed. “well, i’ll tell you one thing; you’re a bit too spry for my liking.” 

suddenly, he pulled the trigger, and the bullet ripped through the meat of your thigh. you screamed in agony, clutching the wound as you cried out. “fuck! what the fuck? you just fucking shot me!”

he acted like it was nothing, simply tossing a towel at you to stop the bleeding. “quit your whinin’, ya sally. we’ll get you bandaged up.”

----------------------------

  “don’t make me put another bullet in ‘ya. just behave, goddammit!” george growled as he dragged you down the basement stairs. through your hazy vision, you were able to make out jules handcuffed to a pole not too far away from the girl. he drops you to the floor, yanking your hands behind your back and cuffing them next to jules’. 

  “y/n!” jules called out, a happy yet worried smile making its way onto her lips. her gaze landed on your leg, her eyes widening when she saw the bloody wrappings. “oh my god! you motherfucker, what did you do to her?”

  “what are you blind? i shot her.” george stated matter-of-factly. “now you two keep quiet down here. keep an eye on ‘em, sweetiepie.” he looked over to the girl before heading upstairs.

  “fuck, i’m so happy you’re alive, baby! i heard those gunshots go off and i was so scared i was gonna lose you! are you okay?” jules blurted out, trying to turn towards you. 

  “it hurts so fucking bad, but i’m okay.” you panted, breathing labored. you wriggled your arms, pulling on the cuffs frustratingly. 

  “can you pick it?” jules asks hopefully. your heavy eyes darted around the basement, searching for something in arm’s reach small enough to fit in the keyhole. 

  “i don’t have anything to pick it with.” you huffed, leaning your head back against the pole as tears of frustration brimmed your eyes. “shit!”

you peeled your eyes open to look around the room once more, eyes landing on sweetiepie as she stared back at you in fascination. you had had enough of this little girl; she was the reason you were in this whole mess. if she just would’ve fucking cooperated, the three of you could be outta here and on the route to florida. “oh, i’m so glad you’re here, i didn’t get the chance to say fuck you!”

jules nudged you with her elbow, as if to discourage you from swearing at the child. “leave her alone, she feels bad. she didn’t know what she was doing.”

  “how the hell do you know? she talked?” you asked in confusion at her statement. 

  “i don’t know, i just do.” jules shrugged. sweetiepie had resumed playing with her toys once more, the little princess dolly riding away on the heroic stallion’s back. you sighed at the seemingly hopeless situation, letting your eyes fall shut. 

this was gonna be a long night. 

***************************

okay so an itty bitty change of plans: if this ended where it was originally supposed to, it would be really long and kinda unsatisfying (to me at least), so i’m splitting this into two chapters. 

which means that instead of a 5-part series, this will be 6 parts! it just makes more sense to me that way. 

anyway, i hope you guys enjoy!! i really had fun writing this part!

tags: @emmyrosee​ @flowers-in-your-hayr​​ @willyourecognisemee​ @bill-skarsgard-owns-my-ass​

[monsters-demons-and-ai-oh-my]

McDonald's! McDonald's!

I actual posted this a few days ago on AO3 but I’ve been lazy about posting it here, I thought I’d try writing something a little more comedic in tone than what I usually write (even though it has angst by nature of when the story is set).

AO3 Link

Post 13x01 - On the way back to the bunker the Winchesters stop for dinner at a McDonald’s with the day-old Jack. The nonsense you’d expect ensues.

Sam felt like a cosmic joke.

Not in the general constant way that came from his life being an actual, honest to goodness, vastly pre-planned since de-railed cosmic joke, but in the way that he could imagine Chuck standing on a stage in a c-list comic club pitching his current predicament in a nervous voice to a tough crowd.

"So, uh... two brothers and Lucifer's newborn son who just happens to look like a… I-don’t-even-know-what-ager, are on a road trip…"

Sam almost snorted and rubbed at his eyes tiredly, if he was laughing at that he was, well and truly sleep-deprived. It had been a very long very draining forty odd hours filled with loss and death and… and all the other shit their lives entailed, he wanted nothing more than to eat something and pass out.

Dean looked exactly the same as he had when they entered the car hours earlier, staring straight ahead, dead quiet, not even one of his old tapes crooning from the speakers.

And Jack…

Sam glanced behind him expecting to see the boy still sitting stiffly watching both men, but was surprised to see him face squished against the window, eyes closed and breathing deeply, out like a light.

So Nephilim slept...

It dawned on Sam they didn't know the first thing about the kid. Despite what age the boy appeared it was still terrifying to have someone's hours old child depend on you for safety and survival when you had no idea what their needs were.

Was he hungry too? Did Nephilim eat? Sam almost smacked himself. He and Dean could deal with skipping a meal or two to make good time on the road, but it was just wrong to make a kid go hungry.

"Dean?" his brother ignored him staring out at the dark road.

Sam, sighed, "It's been hours, do you… do you want to swap places?"

Dean almost never wanted to switch but it was enough to make Dean raise his eyebrows and get his attention.

"I'm fine," he said gruffly.

"You're not... ready for a break?" Sam said carefully.

Dean shot him a look, "we stopped for a piss break like an hour ago, your bladder isn't that small."

Sam huffed he guessed he'd have to spell it out, "look, Dean, we’ve been running ragged for two days straight, the only calories you’ve consumed was a friggin’ big gulp, and we have a kid in the back seat, we need food, we need sleep…”

Dean shot his brother a sharp look probably about to make another rude comment about said kid, but Sam shot the look right back.

He knew his brother was in a bad place, hell he was in a bad place, he felt like as soon as he let himself think about Cas or Mom or even freaking Crowley he’d fall apart but that didn’t mean he was okay with Dean taking everything out on him, or Jack.

Dean sighed.

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

Sam couldn’t talk his brother into stopping for the night but he did at least manage to convince Dean to stop somewhere for food.

Judging by the enthusiastic nodding Jack gave when Sam asked if he was hungry, Nephilim, unlike the angelic side of their family tree, did in fact eat.

The only place nearby that was open at half-past ten was a twenty-four-hour McDonald's off the highway.

They decided to actually go inside the restaurant for once since it was nearly empty and no one working the late shift would ask questions about two strange men carting around what looked like a perpetually confused college freshman.

And anyway it didn’t matter how old Jack looked there was no way Dean was letting a twenty-hour-old kid eat in Baby.

Sam made sure Jack's coat was closed enough to hide the bloody hole in his before they headed inside. Dean told the kid to sit down and not do anything in one of the corner booths as they went to actually get the food, but Jack didn't seem to mind, he just keep looking around with a kind of cautious curiosity.

Like all fluorescent lighting and brightly colored window cling ads were the most fascinating things he’d ever laid eyes on.

It made Sam's mouth twitch upward despite everything.

"Do you think the Anti-Christ eats McNuggets?" Dean said bluntly.

Sam shot him a look, "kids like them so it's probably a fair bet, yeah…"

"You're not his nanny Sam, until we..." Dean lowered his voice to a whisper, "until we figure out how to deal with… it, I'm not going to play house or get attached, and you should probably do the same…'

Sam bit back a response that he wasn't planning to let Dean kill a kid who at this point had done nothing wrong, how he thought Jack could be the only way they’d get their mother back. He knew after everything that had happened that if Dean killed the newborn Nephilim it would push him over an edge he wouldn't come back from.

But now… wasn't the time.

Sam wasn’t ready to say it and Dean certainly wasn’t ready to hear it.

“That’s still no reason to... Dean?” Sam snorted as Dean ignored him and walked up to the counter to address the bored-looking teen behind the cash register.

“Sam?” a quiet voice made him jump a foot in the air.

“Jack…” Sam breathed heart racing, “you, you scared me.”

“Sorry,” the boy said sheepishly, fiddling with his hands.

“Did you need something?”

Jack’s eyebrows furrowed looking deep in concentration for a moment before looking up with a satisfied smile.

“No.”

Of course not…

“Hey hey… I thought I told you to stay at the table,” Dean pointed a handful of straws at Jack accusatorially.

“I got bored.”

“You got…?” Dean snorted, “Whatever, I don’t care, just go back and sit on your ass until we bring the food over.”

Now Sam was annoyed, “you ordered for me?”

“Yeah, don’t give me that look, you always get the same thing anyway.”

“Excuse me sir…” the bored teenager blinked wearily at them, “what dipping sauce did you want with the nuggets?”

Both brothers looked instinctively towards Jack who just looked confused, “Sauce?”

We’ve got, Barbeque, Sweet and Sour, Signature Sauce, Ranch…” the teen trailed off at the blank look on Jack’s face.

They sighed and clearly having stopped giving a fuck by this time of night reached below the counter and plunked two multicolored fistfuls of sauces onto their tray.

Jack’s eyes went wide, “Thank you, you’re very nice!”

“Go nuts kid," they sighed going back about their business yelling at someone behind the counter about a lack of fresh fries..

Jack beamed at the brothers, Dean rolled his eyes looking like he was about to say something but Sam interrupted grabbing two cups from the tray and pulling the boy away before Dean could say something snarky and crush his enthusiasm.

"Since Dean said he has the food," Sam handed the confused Nephilim a paper cup, "I've got a new job for you…"

Jack followed Sam like a duckling over to the drink machine holding his cup gingerly with both hands and just… staring.

Sam felt incredibly awkward doing a simple task with a rapt audience.

"You just…" Sam gestured for a moment then sighed going through the process of filling his cup with ice figuring it would be better to just show the boy.

He got lemonade as it seemed to be the only option that didn't have a thousand grams of sugar and dye and felt oddly accomplished as Jack watched him work the machine with awe.

He carefully finished capping the cup and putting in the straw, and then found himself almost pushed away in Jack’s eagerness to apply his new skill.

Jack painstakingly and carefully filled the cup with ice and then peered at all the spigots looking mildly overwhelmed.

"Just pick what looks good to you buddy," Sam found himself saying amused.

Jack nodded seriously, at this point in the less than a day of what made up his entire life on Earth it was probably very important to him.

He eventually settled on some strangely flavored Sprite with a bright green and orange label smiling triumphantly at Sam as he managed to start the machine.

It took all of four seconds for Jack’s triumph to turn to horror as the soda neared the top of the cup and then proceeded to fizz over.

Oh right… newborns know nothing about carbonation...

Before Sam had a chance to react Jack panicked and in his hurry to pull the cup away managed to slosh a good bit of it over his hands and part of his jacket cuffs.

"Whoa whoa, hold on," Sam reached out to steady the cup and Jack stepped back with his dripping sleeves held out in front of him.

"I… I'm sorry, did…"Jack looked forlornly up at him, "did I do that?"

"Did you…" Sam blinked perplexed, "Oh no no, no that wasn't… the machine is supposed to add bubbles to some stuff. I really should have warned you… um."

The boy stared at him, wet hands still stuck out awkwardly.

"There should be a bathroom you…" Sam sighed setting down both drinks and gently guiding him in that direction, "you'll need to wash your hands before they get all sticky, do you know how to…"

Jack blinked and said as if it was obvious, "mom taught me how to wash my hands."

Ah yes, the mysterious Nephilim fetus telepathy Jack had mentioned before.

"Right yes, go… do that, and I'll wait for you at the table, okay?"

Jack nodded and headed off to the bathroom arms still stuck out. And Sam dealt with the drinks and went to guard the table while thanking Kelly up in heaven.

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

"Where the hell’s the kid?" Dean said when he arrived with their tray of sauces and food.

"Bathroom, there was uh… a mishap with the soda machine," Sam said sheepishly.

Dean put down the tray with a little more force than necessary and looked around wildly, like he was half ready to draw his gun..

"Seriously?" Sam deadpanned, "dude, would you just chill, he's not going to open up a hell gate in the men’s room."

"You were supposed to watch him," Dean said accusatorily.

"Half of creation wants him dead and we're literally the only living people he knows, where would he even go?'

"You're really buying this lost puppy routine Sam?"

"Ah yes, because we all have such devious plans when we're a day old," Sam muttered dryly.

Dean rolled his eyes, "You know that’s not the same. And this is exactly what I'm talking about Sam, he already has you under his thumb."

"He's a kid not a prisoner, and I'm not going to treat him like one when he hasn’t actually done anything."

"Because waiting until he kills someone is a great idea,”Dean muttered darkly unwrapping his Big Mac and taking a pointed bite.

Sam ignored him, snatching a few of Dean's fries petulantly.

"Really?" Dean huffed with his mouth full, "eat your own food…"

Sam blinked innocently, "I wanted fries, you got me salad, you should’ve asked."

Dean rolled his eyes and Sam snorted a laugh pulling his actual meal off the tray.

"How long has that kid been gone anyway?"

"Uh, ten minutes…?" Sam said sheepishly.

Dean paused, "to wash his hands?"

"It's fine," Sam said, coating his salad with dressing, definitely not concerned.

Dean looked about ready to leap up and make sure Jack hadn't teleported off to destroy Chicago, but thankfully about then the kid finally emerged.

"What took you so long?" Dean asked, annoyed when he reached the table.

"It… it was different than at the house," Jack said playing with his hands nervously, “there were two sinks…”

Dean and Sam both looked at each other in confusion, Sam shrugged, maybe it was a kid thing?

"It's fine, just come sit down," Sam brushed it off patting the seat beside him Jack took it, still eyeing Dean a little warily.

Dean grabbed his fries and did his best to move them out of Sam's reach then pushed the tray with the rest of the food towards Jack.

"Here, McNuggets, fries, eat," Dean said gruffly.

Sam handed Jack his drink he’d salvaged with a little less roughness, the boy thanked him and everything lapsed into awkward silence.

Sam cleared his throat, “so um… I was thinking, in the morning we need to stop at a thrift store or something.”

“Yeah, why?” Dean asked, preoccupied with his food.

“For Jack,” Sam explained, “he only has the one set of clothes, and his shirt already has a big bloody hole in it.”

“Just lend him some of your clothes if it bothers you so much,” Dean balked.

Sam snorted at the image “We’re not exactly the same size, he’d be swimming in them, and besides Jack doesn’t even own his own underwear.”

Dean rolled his eyes, “there’s no point in buying a bunch of crap he’s probably never going to get the chance to-” Dean paused distracted.

He reached over to grab the sauce Jack was struggling to open and tore off the top, “you pull the tab,” he said gruffly.

Jack gave a small unsure smile and went about more cautiously opening more of the sauce packets, “Is your house close by?” he asked hopefully.

“It’s not a house, it’s a bunker…” Dean said bluntly, his voice softened to normal after catching Sam’s glaring at him, “And no, it’ll take a few more days..”

Jack shoulders drooped for a moment before he sighed softly, shook himself and got back to contentedly opening and lining up one of every sauce in a big arc.

Maybe the long hours on the road were tiring him out to… Sam made a note to find something for the kid to do besides nap and sit in awkward silence over the next few days.

“Is it a very big place?” Jack asked after a minute.

“Just eat your McNuggets,” Dean sighed.

Jack looked sheepish but, seeming satisfied with his rainbow of sauces, finally opened his box of chicken nuggets and took one out eyeing it a little warily.

“They’re good I promise,” Sam prompted him gently.

Jack nodded seriously and finally took a cautious bite.

The kid’s eyes lit up and he looked up at Sam, a big smile quickly spreading across his face as he chewed..

Sam was unable to stop himself from smiling back.

"They're good!" Jack declared happily.

Sam chuckled and stabbed a fork into his own food ignoring the look he could feel Dean giving him. “Bite me Dean,” Sam thought. Good things in their life were too rare not to smile at a kid’s obvious joy.

Jack hummed happily to himself as he sampled his fries next but he again ran into a bit of snag when it came to his drink, he put his mouth over the end of his straw-like he saw Sam and Dean do, but then paused and looked perplexed. He pulling the straw out of his mouth and then tried again, still clearly not getting anything. He huffed and pressed his lips together in frustration.

Sam noticed and cleared his throat to get the boy’s attention telegraphed the process for Jack to follow, being sure to make a loud enough slurping noise that the boy realized what he had done wrong despite the disturbed look it earned him from Dean.

It was worth it to see the lightbulb go off in Jack’s head and the pleased mildly overwhelmed look on the boy’s face when he got his first taste of pop.

"Sam," Jack said a little sheepishly after a minute, dipping one of his nuggets in barbeque sauce, "can I ask you a question?"

“Shoot”

Jack’s eyebrows furrowed.

Sam kicked himself mentally, “I mean, yeah, sure, of course, ask away.”

Jack nodded, still looking a little confused, “Um, my mom she taught me a lot of things, but I keep finding new things that I don’t… get?”

It made sense, Kelly only had, what?, a few short months? Weeks? Who knew how short of a window between when a Nephilim gained awareness and when they were actually born to teach her son all she could. And while Sam sent a thankful prayer up to heaven for her positive influence (and for her teaching Jack things that would be incredibly awkward to have to teach to a kid that looked Jack’s physical age) he doubted things like why McDonald’s workers wore weird topless hats made the cut.

“Like what?” Sam prompted him gently.

"Like…" Jack looked a little unsure, "why there were two different sinks in the bathroom."

Sam opened and closed his mouth, the answer felt so obvious he had to be missing something, "what do you mean?"

"Well one was normal and had a handle though it didn’t stay turned on," he described, "but the other one,” Jack looked a little uncomfortable, “ It turned on whenever it looked at me…"

Dean nearly choked on his drink.

“When it… looked at you?” Sam asked carefully as Dean hacked up a lung.

Jack nodded looking mildly concerned towards Dean, “Um… yes, and the paper towels did the same thing and so did… what I think was soap?”

“What you think was soap?” Dean said incredulously, clearing his throat.

Jack nodded, “the sink with the handle had a regular bar of soap, but it was in a cage that I couldn’t see how to open to open it so I used the foam stuff the machine by the other sink spat at me.”

Dean’s mouth opened and closed then he buried his face in his hands.

“Um… Well I think the foam was probably soap…” Sam blinked deciding to ignore the i ndecipherable cage part, “and the sink, it… it wasn’t watching you… or spitting at you, the sink and stuff like that just have a little machine inside that makes them turn on whenever something blocks the light. It can’t actually see you.”

“Oh…” Jack looked equal parts relieved and disappointed, he shrugged again seemingly satisfied and went back to happily testing sauces.

“Soooo evil,” Sam muttered in Dean’s general direction making his brother roll his eyes and ignore him in favor of his burger.

Jack for his part seemed nonplussed continuing to experiment with his fries and nugget pulling various faces.

He paused after a moment looking genuinely confused, pushing a bright orange sauce in Sam's general direction and pointing carefully with one finger, “this one it makes my tongue feel…” he screwed up his brow, “stingy?”

Sam borrowed one of Jack’s fries to test it himself, “Buffalo sauce, it's spicy…” he explained gently.

“Spicy…” Jack tried the word in his mouth.

“Do you not like it?” Sam asked.

“I don’t…” Jack tilted his head slightly in thought making Sam’s chest feel heavy, reminding him for all the world of Cas.

“I don’t think I want to feel like anything else is attacking me today…” Jack said tapping a McNugget pensively against its box.

Sam smiled sadly, “I don’t blame you.”

"Do you like spicy things?" Jack asked him curiously.

"I guess, sometimes," Sam said offhandedly turning back to his own salad

Sam heard faint rustling and looked up to see Jack holding out the partially eaten sauce to him expectantly.

"Oh um… thank you," Sam took it sheepishly, not having the heart to tell the kid he had no use for it on his salad.

Jack smiled satisfied going back to his own food.

"Okay," Dean announced after a few more minutes balling up his trash, "we should probably get going…"

“We just..” Sam muttered through a mouth full of salad pausing halfway through to swallow, ( he didn’t want to be teaching Jack bad habits early ) “We just got here.”

“You’re almost done eating anyway, and he’s…”

Jack looked owlishly up from where he was casually dipping a single Mcnugget in every one of his sauces.

Dean blinked incredulously at Jack for a long moment, “anyway… we have a lot of ground to cover and we need to get moving. You remember what happened back at the police station, until we find some way to ward the kid or get back to the bunker sitting still is painting a big blinking target on our back.”

Sam sighed but knew his brother was right, “okay, fine but we can’t wait five more minutes...?”

Dean rubbed tiredly at his face, “Whatever, I’m going to the john before we leave, you can deal with... that.”

Dean got up from the table muttering something that looked suspiciously like, “two sinks?” under his breath.

Sam wished Dean would at least stop talking about Jack like an object to his face.

He turned towards the boy and did a double-take.

“Jack stop, don’t do that you’ll choke.”

Jack stopped trying to hurry by stuffing multiple McNuggets into his mouth at once looking like a sheepish chipmunk.

“I’m not going to take them away from you Jack,” Sam told him gently.

Jack chewed and swallowed before answering earnestly (making Sam feel like he’d made at least one positive foster parent decision and wasn’t completely failing Cas) “I know… but if Dean’s right, I don’t want anyone here to get hurt like at the police station…”

Sam wished he wasn’t so physically and emotionally exhausted so he could come up with a good way to convince the kid that what happened wasn’t his fault but for now he settled on just distracting Jack by asking him what was his favorite out of his sauce rainbow.

Jack’s eyes lit up and he launched into his explanation as he finished up his nuggets and shared his fries with Sam. Sweet and Sour, Honey Mustard, Barbeque, his favorites were all the sweetest sauces to no one’s shock. Still, with the literally and figuratively hellish 48 hours Sam had had, having Jack go on and on pleased with something simple was a nice distraction for the older man to.

Sam nodded along with a soft smile, Jack helping him clean up the table when they finished, continuing to chatter like he was determined to test every adjective he’d learned up to that point to describe his most recent culinary experience.

“And I don’t know what zesty means but that one tasted very confused,” Jack waved and gave the tired late-shift worker a cheerful, “goodbye,” as they made their way out to the Impala sitting on the back bumper to wait for Dean.

“Do you think there’s McDonald’s up in heaven where my mom is?” Jack asked Sam innocently still sipping his drink.

It hurt to hear the kid ask that, but Sam was thankful Jack had at least chosen the least painful recently deceased person to ask Sam about.

“I don’t know, heaven… it’s a place where people can relive their best memories, and I didn’t know your mother well enough to say,” Sam answered honestly.

Jack nodded solemnly but then gave Sam a cheerful smile, “I think if I was in heaven, there would definitely be a McDonald’s there, this place is wonderful.”

It was such a bizarrely bittersweet thing to say, but before Sam had a chance to respond the door to the McDonalds swung open with more force than necessary and Dean stepped out staring at Jack with a look of abject horror on his face.

“Please, please tell me you DID NOT wash your hands in the urinal!”

[calligraphist-artemisia]

Across Time and Space (Chapter 1)

Summary: Sequel to I’ll Take Her Place.  Slav is showing off a piece of experimental equipment, when it malfunctions and blasts Katie and Keithir to another universe. At the same time, it drags Pidge and Keith over into theirs, effectively swapping places. With their fate resting in the hands of Slav, will they be able to get back home? Or are they stuck to live the rest of their lives in the wrong universe?

Also posted on AO3 and fanfiction.net under the username “kishirokitsune”.

Chapter 1

After eight years of marriage, Katie didn't need their bond as paladins to tell when Keithir was frustrated by something. She tried to hide her amusement as he sighed, glaring at the back of Slav's head as he rambled on about something he called a “trans-reality extrapolater”. (She honestly wasn't sure what Slav was talking about anymore. Sometimes it was best to just smile and nod.)

Katie gently nudged Keithir's arm to get his attention and then mouthed the word “sorry”.

He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, then leaned down to kiss the top of her head. Some of his frustration ebbed away, but not enough to keep it from his voice as he addressed Slav. “Is there a point to any of this?”

The tiny, eccentric genius turned and gave Keithir a withering stare. “I was just about to explain it and then you interrupted!”

“Sorry, Slav,” Katie apologized placatingly. “We just have some plans that we're eager to get to, is all. This is our first vacation alone together in a few years.”

Slav begrudgingly accepted that as a worthy answer. “Then I'll be brief. This device will allow us a glimpse into other realities! I've gotten it to work a number of times for me so far, though never the same one twice. You see, its all highly dependent on numerous variables like weather patterns, star placement, what food you've eaten, time of day, humidity, how many times you flip the blue switch, the color of your socks...”

They let Slav ramble on for a moment and then Katie cleared her throat.

“You're saying that there's no way to pick the exact reality that you get to see,” she said, redirecting him back to the topic.

“Precisely!” Slav agreed. “It's all very fascinating and I'm sure with a few more tests, I'll have it figured out in no time! So, do you want to try?”

Katie hesitated. “Are you sure it's safe?”

“Are you saying you doubt my technological achievement?”

Yes. Katie kept that thought to herself. “Of course not, Slav. If you say it works, then it works. What do we need to do?”

Slav brightened and directed the pair to each grip one of the handles. After a moment of consideration, he flipped a few switches and twisted one of the knobs. The machine hummed to life, vibrating strangely, but Slav didn't look alarmed or worried, so Katie figured that was what it was meant to do.

“Now what?” Keithir asked warily.

Slav was about to respond when the machine emitted a popping noise and a visible spark shot out of the top. He scuttled backwards with a quiet, “oh no.”

That was the last thing Katie heard before everything went dark.

Pidge groaned as she started to wake up. Strange, considering she couldn't remember falling asleep. What was the last thing she remembered?

Something about Lotor giving up information? No, that wasn't right. Well, it wasn't wrong, but it didn't have anything to do with what she had been doing. That was Allura and Shiro; they were drilling Lotor for inside information. She was sure that Hunk was stress baking after everything that happened on Naxzela and Lance was... off doing Lance things? (Of everyone, Lance proved to be the hardest for her to predict. She assumed wherever he was and whatever he was doing, he found it relaxing.)

Pidge winced as she sat up, fighting a rush of disorientation. She reflexively reached up to adjust her glasses, but her fingers only met skin. Frowning, she looked around for them, only to find someone unexpected laying on the floor near her, slowly coming to.

“Keith!” She crawled over to him and helped him sit up, her brow furrowed in concern. “Are you alright? When did you get here?”

Keith blinked as he looked around and took in his surroundings. “Is this the Castle of Lions? How did I get here? I was just at the Blade headquarters! Kolivan called me in to--” He abruptly snapped his mouth shut and looked away from her. “Pidge, what's going on?”

“I wish I knew,” Pidge responded honestly. She forced herself to her feet, wobbling a bit as the disorientation returned. It faded quickly and she held out a hand to help Keith up. “Maybe there's something wrong with the Castle again. I bet Coran would know.”

With Pidge's help, Keith unsteadily got to his feet as well. One thing was for sure, their equilibrium had been messed up by something – likely whatever knocked them out and teleported Keith all the way from Blade headquarters. They needed to find the cause and make sure it wouldn't happen again.

“Do you think he's on the bridge?” Keith asked.

Pidge nodded. “That's the most likely place.”

They set off from the room, but didn't get far before a small figure scampered down the hall toward them. Slav froze at the sight of them and then wailed, reaching up to grip at his tufts of hair with two of his eight hands. “Oh no, it's even worse than I thought!”

Pidge gaped at him. “Slav?!”

“What the hell is going on?” Keith demanded.

Slav was too busy having a melt down to be of any use to them. Keith and Pidge likely would have ignored him and moved on to find someone who was actually helpful, except at that exact moment, Allura and Shiro rounded the corner, both looking frazzled.

And with them they brought a whole new round of questions.

Keith stared at Shiro, opening and closing his mouth for a moment, before blurting out: “What happened to your hair?”

Pidge was a little more focused on the very Altean toddler in Allura's arms. She lifted a hand to her head, already feeling the start of a migraine as her brain worked overtime to try and comprehend everything that was happening.

Allura and Shiro exchanged alarmed glances as they took in the situation. They seemed to come to an agreement through eye contact alone and then Allura was urging Slav to calm down and breathe, while Shiro walked forward to handle Pidge and Keith.

“I think it'd be better if we go someplace quiet until we figure out what's going on,” Shiro told them. “Follow me.”

Keith took a step forward, paused to make sure Pidge was coming too, and then they obediently followed Shiro to another room, both hoping he had the answers they needed.

Tears dripped down Katie's face as she knelt with her head bowed over the nearest trash bin, hoping her stomach would settle after its last wave of nausea. “I'm going to kill Slav,” she grumbled to herself.

She didn't know what the machine was supposed to do, but she doubted that knocking her out and teleporting her to a different part of the Castle of Lions was it. Her head spun and her stomach rebelled after such treatment. Worse than that, Keithir wasn't with her and she could no longer feel him through the bond they shared, which meant he was either still unconscious or had been teleported very far away.

Katie sat back and rubbed her eyes dry, no longer feeling as though she needed to throw up again. Just in case, she took a few extra doboshes to rest before getting up and starting her search for Slav.

He was probably right where she last saw him, heading into a full blown panic over the possibility of killing the crown prince of Daibazaal and his wife with his new invention, something the Galra would not take lightly.

She's feel bad for him, but a more vindictive part of her thought he deserved to panic.

Katie reached the room without running into anyone else, which was a little odd, to say the least. There was always someone around, even when they were using the Castle in her spaceship form, but they weren't due for a journey for another few phoebs!  Despite that, it wasn't until she reached the room where she last saw Slav that he began to think something was seriously wrong.

The room was completely empty. There was also a fine layer of dust coating everything, indicating that it had been quite some time since anyone was there.

Katie swallowed and backed away. She once again tried to reach Keithir through their bond, but there was nothing. With her anxiety rising, she tried to communicate with the Green Lion.

Nothing.

Katie spun on her heel and ran for the bridge. There was no time to stop and slow down, to consider the implications of what was happening. The bridge was the center of the Castle of Lions and she knew that by accessing the system there, she would be able to figure out exactly what was going on and where – or when – she was.

She kept an eye out for anyone else as she ran, but as before there was no one.

It was unsettling.

The bridge doors easily parted for her, sliding open as she approached, and it was there that she was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief. Standing at the helm was the ever reliable form of Coran.

“Coran, thank the stars,” Katie breathed, hurrying over to him. “There's something really weird go-- why are we in space?” She finally slowed down to look around.

It was only Coran on the bridge. Another checkmark on her list of really weird things. And he was looking at her as though she'd grown a second head.

“Pidge?” he asked, his voice raising in alarm.

Katie took a half-step back. “Y-yes? Who else would I be, Coran?”

“But you can't be!” Coran protested, shaking his head. “You're too old to be Pidge! Who are you really?”

Katie had a sinking suspicion that she knew what was going on. And on the one hand, knowing that she was dealing with time travel brought her one step closer to not having a mental breakdown, but on the other it meant she wouldn't be able to relax until she found a way to fix things.

She took a deep breath. “Coran, it's really me. You can check! Ask me something that only I would know and I'll answer.”

Coran stared at her for a moment, his surprise hardening into suspicion.

“Coran, please. I know it sounds crazy, but I think Slav accidentally built some kind of time machine and it sent me back in time to this moment,” Katie explained, hoping he'd believe her.

He had to.

Why wouldn't he?

“I have all of the paladins ranked in order of something. What is it?” Coran asked.

“Height,” Katie responded promptly. “I'm number five.”

Coran hummed thoughtfully. “How about a harder one? I once arranged a quest for the five of you to complete. What was the goal of that quest?”

The one gave Katie pause. He'd set up a number of bizarre training exercises over the years, but it had to specifically be one after she and Keithir found the Red Lion. Unless he was counting Allura as one of the five? She had been with them for the only one she'd consider labeling a “quest”. Katie would just have to go for it and hope she was right.

“You told us there were special planets for us to train on, but all along it was to beat the monster born from the Yalexian pearl.”

“You're missing some of the details there, but close enough,” Coran agreed after a moment.

Katie exhaled softly in relief. It was hard to remember everything after so many years had passed. She'd have to hope the rest of his questions didn't rely on knowing some passing detail.

“Last question! If you're from the future, how many years does it take for us to defeat the Galra empire?”

“What?” Katie asked, flabbergasted. “That's a joke, right, Coran? We're not... we're not at war with Daibazaal. We've never been at war with them. They're our allies. Why would we...?”

With every word she spoke, Katie's dread grew. Coran wasn't smiling. The sheer wrongness of everything returned tenfold, along with a violent wave of nausea.

She took a step back, shaking her head. “No. No, this isn't right.”

Coran began walking towards her, holding his hands out in a reassuring manner, but there was something in his eyes that spoke the opposite.

Katie swallowed her queasiness and ran, thought she didn't get far. The moment she set foot past the doors, she collided with a broad chest.

“Pidge?” Shiro asked, bewildered.

“Catch her!” Coran cried out.

Katie's heartbeat was thunderous to her ears as she tried to side-step Shiro, but he was too fast. Even while taken off-guard by the sight of her and Coran's strange command, he still managed to grab her by the arm and hold her in place.

“Coran, what's going on?” Allura's voice floated down to them as she approached. “Who is-? Wait, is that Pidge?”

Katie ineffectively tried to yank her arm from Shiro's hold, but he only tightened his grip. “Please, I can explain,” she begged, twisting to face Coran. “I swear, I'm not here to hurt anyone. If you would just let me explain, maybe we can make sense of this!”

Coran's suspicion lessened as he looked at her, his gaze softening. “Perhaps it would be best if we put you down in one of the cells for now. You did just tell me that you believe we're allies with Daibazaal.”

Allura gasped sharply.

Katie nodded once and then bowed her head, refusing to let them see her cry. She'd been so relieved when she found Coran, but all she felt at that moment was terrified and alone.

Wherever she'd ended up, it certainly wasn't the past.

Keithir, she thought desperately. Where are you? Please be safe.

She sniffled as Shiro and Allura escorted her down to the Castle's holding cells. Tears prickled at her eyes.

I'm scared.

[aion-rsa]

The Suicide Squad: Margot Robbie On the Enduring Appeal of Harley Quinn

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

A shortened version of this interview appeared as part of Den of Geek magazine’s The Suicide Squad cover feature.

Margot Robbie is not only a breakout star of the DC Extended Universe, but broader Hollywood. The Australian actress moves seamlessly between the blockbuster superhero franchise world and Academy Award-nominated indies like I, Tonya, while also taking greater creative control behind the scenes through her film and TV production company LuckyChap Entertainment. As Robbie prepares for the August release of DC’s R-rated war movie epic The Suicide Squad, Den of Geek talks to the actress about working with director James Gunn, what it’s like to film with pyrotechnics, and why she’s still having fun playing charismatically chaotic antihero Harley Quinn.

Den of Geek: You’ve said before in interviews that you have to like the character to be able to play them. What do you like about Harley Quinn?

Margot Robbie: It’s been so fun and so interesting to play her in three different iterations, under a different director each time, because I really find that people gravitate towards different characteristics of her. And there is so much to her, and there’s a lot of great fun qualities, and there’s a lot of bad qualities that are also very fascinating to play with. 

It’s interesting, depending on who’s writing her or who’s directing her. People want to explore different aspects of the character, which is great for me because I want to explore every aspect of her. The three different movies—Suicide Squad, Birds of Prey, and now The Suicide Squad—have been their own adventures, kind of like when you pick up a comic book. Depending on who your author is, it’s a different adventure.

There has been an interesting progression from when she was in a relationship with Mr. J in the first film, to newly being broken up and trying to be OK on her own and finding herself in Birds of Prey and now in The Suicide Squad. She’s single and ready to mingle and exploring love in different places. That side was particularly fun in this movie. 

I often think of Harley as being like a kid on a playground, where if she’s the only kid on a playground, she’s not going to have that much fun, but if you just throw in a ton of other kids, it’s going to be mayhem. And so she’s always the most fun when surrounded by a whole new group of people. In this movie, there’s a huge ensemble cast, and that just means so many different characters for her to interact with, which was so, so fun for me.

I think the things I love about playing her is exactly that: that you see a very different side to her, depending on who she’s with at the time and who she’s interacting with. And she’s just psychotic and fun and cheeky and morally ambiguous, and I get to do and say all of the things that I would never get to do and say in real life.

For the first Suicide Squad film, you drew character inspiration from Harley in Batman: The Animated Series, and Karen Hill from Goodfellas. Did you use those as well? Or were there different touchstones for this film?

Because James is such a comic book lover, this iteration of Harley was the closest to the Suicide Squad comics. I’ve actually been craving some of those iterations of Harley I’d read and loved so much, so I was keen for someone to explore that.

I feel like I’ve known her for so long now that she’s gone a bit beyond touchstones and she’s pretty fully formed in my mind. And now it’s just about exploring, like I said, different iterations of the comics and their storylines a little closer.

What is Harley’s aesthetic in The Suicide Squad?

For her, she’s going into work. This is mission mode, so she puts on her mission outfit. Then the movie takes an unexpected turn, and she gets put into another outfit [the red dress seen in the trailer], not of her choosing. But happily for us and audience members, it’s very much in the Harley color palette, being such a vibrant red color and the black boots. Everything was kind of crafted within her traditional color palette from the comics.

But yeah, very different aesthetic to Birds of Prey, because she’s in a very different mindset. She’s in mission mode here. Whereas in Birds of Prey, she was an absolute mess. She didn’t know what she was doing with her life and I think trying to overcompensate that she’s feeling OK with what she wore, which meant she was wearing a ton of different things all at once in Birds of Prey, which I loved.

Were the costumes comfortable?

They were pretty comfy. To be honest, being in flat shoes for a lot of this film was … that was a new thing. To do Harley fight scenes in boots, like combat boots, was a dream. It’s really hard to do months and months of stunts in high heels. So yeah, that definitely contributes to the comfort factor. 

You’ve learned some very impressive skills, not only in this franchise, but in other roles you’ve had. Was there anything new you learned for this movie?

We had a lot of pretty intense fights. We shot one big, long Harley fight sequence. We shot it in a couple of days, which was kind of insane and really, really fun. I’m trying to think if there’s anything that was specifically new. This might sound weird, but I did a lot more kicking in her fight choreography than I’d done before. And also, I think you see in the … Oh, God, it’s hard. I don’t know what you see in the trailer, so I don’t want to give something away, but I have a different weapon that I’m wielding in the film a lot more.

I’ve seen a bazooka, a spear and a gun.

Yeah. So the spear was definitely … that’s kind of a new, fun weapon. I mean, interestingly enough, when it comes to fight choreography and stunt training, you’re not actually learning anything too different from a baseball bat to a spear to a mallet. You kind of are doing a similar sort of training process, and then you just swap out the weapon and make some slight adjustments. But yeah, there was a new weapon, and that was very fun.

The movie uses a lot of pyrotechnics. What was it like to film those scenes?

As you can tell from the trailer, there’s just a lot of huge stunts and a lot of pyrotechnics … and it was absolutely phenomenal to witness firsthand and to be running through all that. I had things literally blowing up a foot away from me. I had this specific course to run on the beach and real explosions going off everywhere. My adrenaline was through the roof, and it was just so much fun. I told James, “Guys always get to do this in movies and girls never get to. I finally felt like I got to have my war moment just then, and it was so cool.”

Going off of that, every year during Oscar season, there’s discussion around possibly making a category for stunt performance. Is that something you have an opinion on?

I spend a lot of time stunt training and doing stunts in film. I love stunts and I know a lot of stunt performers. My brother’s a stunt performer, so I have just huge admiration and respect for the art form in itself and what they do and what they contribute to a film. So yeah, I do feel like it deserves a little more recognition. It’s a bit above my pay grade to say what the Oscars do or do not do, but it would be awesome.

I think in the 1960s there was a stuntman who won an Oscar. I’m going to look this up…

Can you talk about what James Gunn brought to this world and story?

I can’t think of another director that can execute so perfectly at such a large scale. This film was humongous…I don’t know how else to explain it, but the fact that he can orchestrate something that big and still have such a specific tone and his specific kind of DNA through it, it’s pretty amazing.

It doesn’t become some big homogenized mess of big explosions. There are so many massive action beats [and] they pack an emotional punch at the same time….It’s an entirely different skillset to orchestrate something that big and still have it feel emotional and grounded and surprising. I can’t think of someone who does it as good as he does at that scale.

By the way, I was Googling while I was waffling on, too. The stuntman was Yakima Canutt. Brilliant, brilliant name. Yakima Canutt was a stunt performer and he got the Academy honorary award for achievement for the stunt man in 1967. To be honest, I just love his name.

It’s a great name.

Greatest name.

The Suicide Squad opens on Aug. 6 in theaters and HBO Max. We’ll have more from our interview with Margot Robbie soon!

Check out more on The Suicide Squad in the latest issue of Den of Geek!

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[soinfluencerfestival-blog]

History Of Books

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[samanthasroberts]

50 Thoughtful Last Minute Christmas Gifts For Procrastinators 

http://bit.ly/2Eq5KzI

Cataloged in Holidays

50 Thoughtful Last Minute Christmas Gifts For Procrastinators 

January Nelson Updated December 11, 2018

If you still haven’t finished your holiday shopping, you should think about buying these last-minute gifts suggested by Ask Reddit.

1. Mason jar + equal parts granulated sugar and veg oil + either a few drops of essential oil OR some lemon zest OR vanilla extract = boutique grade body scrub.

2. Buy tickets online for a upcoming play, dinner & show, concert, game, etc. Print out page of ticket confirmation and put it in a nice Christmas card envelope. It’s an awesome gift because people tend to love it more than clothing or other junk you usually give. And if you’re parents are like mine, they barely take the initiative to go to these type of events themselves or don’t even know about them. Experience > material goods.

3. Run to the grocery store, pick up chocolate morsels, butter, and cream.

Takes about five hours to make 200 chocolate truffles. Easy to make them different flavors as well. (Orange, Bailey’s Irish Cream, and Cinnamon Honey are the good with milk chocolate. Peppermint, Khalua, and Matcha are good with dark chocolate. Peppermint and matcha are fantastic with white chocolate.)

4. At least for men, my go-to is always a beard or personal grooming kit. It’s likely something that they wouldn’t buy themselves, and many haven’t felt the exhilaration of a peppermint shampoo. Men deserve a little pampering and self care too!

5. I think mugs make a good last minute gift because they’re available at most stores, pretty cheap for a gift, and will actually be used by the recipient.

6. Socks. High-end, badass, toasty warm (if you live where it gets cold) socks. Smartwool/Darn Tough/etc.. They may “meh” at it early on, but will thank you later. Maybe even very later, but it’ll be appreciated (a lot) eventually.

7. Most people I know don’t have bluetooth hook ups in their car, FM Transmitters are absolutely fantastic, they’re relatively cheap and life changers for folks that like to listen to music while driving, Probably $15 and under.

One of those copper chef/gotham steel type skillets. They’re fantastic, less than $20, endless use.

8. Cookie/brownie mix in a mason jar with instructions on a card and a bow.

Or a visa gift card.

9. Fancy pasta, fancy jarred sauce, nice block of parm cheese, in a serving bowl with a kitchen towel. You can do this as expensively or as cheaply as you want.

I also loved a book called The Fortune Cookie Chronicles by Jennifer 8 Lee (basically, a woman exploring Chinese food in the USA as well as her own Chinese roots, and the history of fortune cookies… really fascinating). She talks a lot about soy sauce in that book, so I’ve given that book with a bottle of “real” soy sauce many times. I love sharing things I love with other people, so that’s a gift I love to give.

10. Subscription box. Like coffee? Subscription box. Board games? Subscription box. Make up? Subscription box. Ties or socks or yarn or hot sauce or tea or beer or wine or Japanese candy or marvel or harry porter or fitness? Subscription mother-fuckin box.

11. Go to the dollar store and grab some over the hand oven mitts, then head to the grocery store and get cake & brownie mixes, hand write the baking directions on a decorated index card or slip of paper. Personalize each one with a message or somesuch. Bam.

12. If it’s someone you’re fairly close to, print out a photo of the two of you and put it in a frame. It feels thoughtful, but can also be done in less than an hour and is cheap.

13. Depends how well I know them, or if I’ve used the same trick before – but it’s probably a cast iron skillet. Costs $20 for a good one (rhymes with dodge), and I always get thanked for it, like a year later.

14. Aldi.

A million calories of chocolate for about twenty quid.

Enough to distribute to everyone.

15. Here is what I do every year.

I go buy gift certificates for my favorite restaurants, and gift cards from Best Buy. I then put them in Christmas cards with no name on them.

I keep some in the house and some in my car.

If someone gives me a gift, I say “Wait a minute, I have something for you too” and go get the card. I quickly write their name on it and hand it to them.

Its worked out perfectly for me for years. I give everyone that gives me something, and if I end up with extra gift certificates or gift cards, I just use them on myself.

16. I make them an elaborate Christmas card with an etymology of their name. It’s always a hit and has more meaning than a gift card.

17. Good pair of headphones.

18. I make very good gingerbread cookies and decorate them very elaborately, like I’ll draw a portrait of them in frosting or I draw a cartoon character they like. Im pretty good at it.

19. Chia pet. So many varieties. ‘Ironic’ gift for those recipients, awesome gift for the others.

Either way you are a hero!

20. Those soft-ass blankets you find in any store around Christmas time. And then I buy one more for me. Every goddamn year

21. For girls: anything from Anthropologie. They have a great gifts and the quality/craftsmanship is decent. That and they gift wrap beautifully for free! I use this for last minute birthday gifts quite often and it always impresses.

For guy: gift cards or booze. Guys appreciate utility.

22. Nail place… Women will go wild over a free mani-pedi.

23. A bottle of their favorite spirits, or for non-drinkers/kids, a book.

24. BOOKS!

There is a book on literally any topic ever.

Fan of Formula 1? Book.

Fan of Jujitsu? Book.

Like economic news? Book.

Porn? Book.

Lonely? Book.

Want to improve yourself? Book.

And you can get books everywhere. Online, in store, thrift stores, little free libraries, everywhere.

25. Houseplants!

I usually have lots of spiderplant babies and keep a few small pots on hand. Great for all occasions.

26. Those Hickory Farms meat and cheese gift boxes.

27. For a family – Get a tin bucket of gourmet holiday popcorn (caramel / chocolate flavored popcorn) to share.

For a dude – Get a bottle of fancy champagne or other booze like whisky or bourbon.

For anyone younger than 30 – Get an Amazon gift card.

For a kid – Give them a $50 dollar bill. They likely never handle money and if they do, the $50 looks so much better than the $20. Easy way to become the cool uncle.

For a girl – Get them a gift certificate to a local salon, a big blanket, or fun warm socks (not regular socks but those nicer holiday woven socks).

For your mom – Get her an ornament that has sentimental value, or, go to the mall (who does that anymore) and get them to hand paint an ornament on the spot with the family name & year on it.

For your dad – Get him NFL or NBA tickets.

28. Things that are consumable… everyone has way too many junk trinkets just because someone felt they had to buy something.

Ground coffee from a local coffee shop (if you know the person has a grinder, get whole bean, but not everyone does). They usually have fun Christmas flavors this time of year.

A bottle of dry wine or champagne.

Nice candles (go for ones that are soy based and have lids) or liquid hand soap.

29. Who wants lottery tickets?!?!?!

30. If we’re talking non-money gifts you know what’s a great go to? TJ Maxx. They are just a hodgepodge of random stuff and they have bailed me out so much when it comes to gift giving because with all the things they have you are bound to find something for everyone.

31. Home made egg nog, Irish cream, or Kahlúa. Most people will love one of the three, they are easy to make, made by hand, affordable, and our gifts that go away.

32. I’d bake a bunch of stuff or make fancy looking caramel apples. If I give people food, they seem to be satisfied.

33. I’ll do a blanket/candle/bottle of wine/nice beer and fudge,

OR a movie/board game and stop by the dollar store for a shower caddy, fill it with popcorn, movie candies, etc if it’s for a family. Do a caddy and filler per family member.

34. Starbucks gift card. Everyone loves Starbucks.

35. Lego. Lego for the nephew, lego for dad, lego for mom, lego for granny, lego for EVERYONE!

36. Spicery subscription for three months. Print out the confirmation and chuck it in an envelope. I’ve gifted this twice and both recipients said that they never wanted any other present from me – just for that subscription to repeat.

37. If it’s last minute, I tried to go to a clothing store I know they have clothes from. Throughout the year I’ll ask “bro, nice jacket, where’d you get it?” Then I remember their spot and get them a gift card.

Then to cover my ass cause some people are weird about gift cards I say “I saw a _____ while shopping but I couldn’t remember your size/didn’t know what color you’d like/etc.”

38. Magazine subscriptions. The New Yorker. Times Literary Supplement. New Scientist. Private Eye. Done them all.

39. Mom – Candles and epsom salts.

Brother – Steam/eShop card, or go to a second hand store and find a game I think he’d like.

Dad – Itunes Gift Card or some kind of sports paraphernalia.

Girlfriend – something that reminds me of her, or that I think she’d love (last Christmas it was a pair of socks that said ,”I’m a delicate fucking flower”).

40. I buy ten copies of the best book I’ve read all year and wrap em in newspaper.

Proof of success: I do this every year

41. A brick of batteries. Everybody needs batteries, nobody will say no to batteries, and they will think of you when they are in a pinch and realize you got them a BRICK of batteries.

Great practical gift.

42. Throw blankets from the 24-hour drugstore. They’re $15 and nice enough that I use them myself. This is also my go-to for any gift swap at the office/with people I don’t know super well.

43. Pictures! Take a picture of something the receiver will like, or find one you might already have, throw it in a cheap frame and WABANG

44. Go to CVS and get a gift card (they have Amazon, iTunes, random others). Swing buy a restaurant and grab a gift card for that place. Last ditch, don’t have time to get a hard copy of a gift card- just buy one online that you can email.

45. Luxury kitchen stuff.

There’s a great kitchen & dinnerware shop within walking distance of my home. I can get pretty dinnerware, flatware, glasses and linens in a range of styles, and they have durable, high quality cookware for the more practically minded people. It’s my go to gift-shop, because everyone eats.

46. Lava Lamp!

No one has one.

They’re 20$

Oh, and it’s neat.

47. I’d bring them all to a restaurant and pay for their meal-> easy way to make a party and present at the same time without having to worry about what to buy them since they can order themselves what they want

48. Pharmacies always have cheap last minute crap like travel manicure kits and hot sauce samplers.

49. You get a box of chocolate! You get a box of chocolate! And you get a box of chocolate! Everyone gets a box of chocolate!!!

50. Cash, candy, and/or alcohol.

0

Image Credit: Anthony Tran

is cataloged in Last Minute Gifts, Presents

What if kindness was cool?

What if you could live a life that would make YOU jealous? What if you could make just one person’s day better with a few simple words of encouragement?  is a book of inspirational words that will keep you fighting and ask you never to give up on life, yourself, or others. Open a page to start your day, frame a page that inspires you to keep living, share a page with a friend who needs support, or leave one behind for a complete stranger to brighten their day.

Join The Kindness Revolution

Source: http://allofbeer.com/50-thoughtful-last-minute-christmas-gifts-for-procrastinators/

from All of Beer https://allofbeer.wordpress.com/2019/04/22/50-thoughtful-last-minute-christmas-gifts-for-procrastinators/

[adambstingus]

50 Thoughtful Last Minute Christmas Gifts For Procrastinators 

http://bit.ly/2Eq5KzI

Cataloged in Holidays

50 Thoughtful Last Minute Christmas Gifts For Procrastinators 

January Nelson Updated December 11, 2018

If you still haven’t finished your holiday shopping, you should think about buying these last-minute gifts suggested by Ask Reddit.

1. Mason jar + equal parts granulated sugar and veg oil + either a few drops of essential oil OR some lemon zest OR vanilla extract = boutique grade body scrub.

2. Buy tickets online for a upcoming play, dinner & show, concert, game, etc. Print out page of ticket confirmation and put it in a nice Christmas card envelope. It’s an awesome gift because people tend to love it more than clothing or other junk you usually give. And if you’re parents are like mine, they barely take the initiative to go to these type of events themselves or don’t even know about them. Experience > material goods.

3. Run to the grocery store, pick up chocolate morsels, butter, and cream.

Takes about five hours to make 200 chocolate truffles. Easy to make them different flavors as well. (Orange, Bailey’s Irish Cream, and Cinnamon Honey are the good with milk chocolate. Peppermint, Khalua, and Matcha are good with dark chocolate. Peppermint and matcha are fantastic with white chocolate.)

4. At least for men, my go-to is always a beard or personal grooming kit. It’s likely something that they wouldn’t buy themselves, and many haven’t felt the exhilaration of a peppermint shampoo. Men deserve a little pampering and self care too!

5. I think mugs make a good last minute gift because they’re available at most stores, pretty cheap for a gift, and will actually be used by the recipient.

6. Socks. High-end, badass, toasty warm (if you live where it gets cold) socks. Smartwool/Darn Tough/etc.. They may “meh” at it early on, but will thank you later. Maybe even very later, but it’ll be appreciated (a lot) eventually.

7. Most people I know don’t have bluetooth hook ups in their car, FM Transmitters are absolutely fantastic, they’re relatively cheap and life changers for folks that like to listen to music while driving, Probably $15 and under.

One of those copper chef/gotham steel type skillets. They’re fantastic, less than $20, endless use.

8. Cookie/brownie mix in a mason jar with instructions on a card and a bow.

Or a visa gift card.

9. Fancy pasta, fancy jarred sauce, nice block of parm cheese, in a serving bowl with a kitchen towel. You can do this as expensively or as cheaply as you want.

I also loved a book called The Fortune Cookie Chronicles by Jennifer 8 Lee (basically, a woman exploring Chinese food in the USA as well as her own Chinese roots, and the history of fortune cookies… really fascinating). She talks a lot about soy sauce in that book, so I’ve given that book with a bottle of “real” soy sauce many times. I love sharing things I love with other people, so that’s a gift I love to give.

10. Subscription box. Like coffee? Subscription box. Board games? Subscription box. Make up? Subscription box. Ties or socks or yarn or hot sauce or tea or beer or wine or Japanese candy or marvel or harry porter or fitness? Subscription mother-fuckin box.

11. Go to the dollar store and grab some over the hand oven mitts, then head to the grocery store and get cake & brownie mixes, hand write the baking directions on a decorated index card or slip of paper. Personalize each one with a message or somesuch. Bam.

12. If it’s someone you’re fairly close to, print out a photo of the two of you and put it in a frame. It feels thoughtful, but can also be done in less than an hour and is cheap.

13. Depends how well I know them, or if I’ve used the same trick before – but it’s probably a cast iron skillet. Costs $20 for a good one (rhymes with dodge), and I always get thanked for it, like a year later.

14. Aldi.

A million calories of chocolate for about twenty quid.

Enough to distribute to everyone.

15. Here is what I do every year.

I go buy gift certificates for my favorite restaurants, and gift cards from Best Buy. I then put them in Christmas cards with no name on them.

I keep some in the house and some in my car.

If someone gives me a gift, I say “Wait a minute, I have something for you too” and go get the card. I quickly write their name on it and hand it to them.

Its worked out perfectly for me for years. I give everyone that gives me something, and if I end up with extra gift certificates or gift cards, I just use them on myself.

16. I make them an elaborate Christmas card with an etymology of their name. It’s always a hit and has more meaning than a gift card.

17. Good pair of headphones.

18. I make very good gingerbread cookies and decorate them very elaborately, like I’ll draw a portrait of them in frosting or I draw a cartoon character they like. Im pretty good at it.

19. Chia pet. So many varieties. ‘Ironic’ gift for those recipients, awesome gift for the others.

Either way you are a hero!

20. Those soft-ass blankets you find in any store around Christmas time. And then I buy one more for me. Every goddamn year

21. For girls: anything from Anthropologie. They have a great gifts and the quality/craftsmanship is decent. That and they gift wrap beautifully for free! I use this for last minute birthday gifts quite often and it always impresses.

For guy: gift cards or booze. Guys appreciate utility.

22. Nail place… Women will go wild over a free mani-pedi.

23. A bottle of their favorite spirits, or for non-drinkers/kids, a book.

24. BOOKS!

There is a book on literally any topic ever.

Fan of Formula 1? Book.

Fan of Jujitsu? Book.

Like economic news? Book.

Porn? Book.

Lonely? Book.

Want to improve yourself? Book.

And you can get books everywhere. Online, in store, thrift stores, little free libraries, everywhere.

25. Houseplants!

I usually have lots of spiderplant babies and keep a few small pots on hand. Great for all occasions.

26. Those Hickory Farms meat and cheese gift boxes.

27. For a family – Get a tin bucket of gourmet holiday popcorn (caramel / chocolate flavored popcorn) to share.

For a dude – Get a bottle of fancy champagne or other booze like whisky or bourbon.

For anyone younger than 30 – Get an Amazon gift card.

For a kid – Give them a $50 dollar bill. They likely never handle money and if they do, the $50 looks so much better than the $20. Easy way to become the cool uncle.

For a girl – Get them a gift certificate to a local salon, a big blanket, or fun warm socks (not regular socks but those nicer holiday woven socks).

For your mom – Get her an ornament that has sentimental value, or, go to the mall (who does that anymore) and get them to hand paint an ornament on the spot with the family name & year on it.

For your dad – Get him NFL or NBA tickets.

28. Things that are consumable… everyone has way too many junk trinkets just because someone felt they had to buy something.

Ground coffee from a local coffee shop (if you know the person has a grinder, get whole bean, but not everyone does). They usually have fun Christmas flavors this time of year.

A bottle of dry wine or champagne.

Nice candles (go for ones that are soy based and have lids) or liquid hand soap.

29. Who wants lottery tickets?!?!?!

30. If we’re talking non-money gifts you know what’s a great go to? TJ Maxx. They are just a hodgepodge of random stuff and they have bailed me out so much when it comes to gift giving because with all the things they have you are bound to find something for everyone.

31. Home made egg nog, Irish cream, or Kahlúa. Most people will love one of the three, they are easy to make, made by hand, affordable, and our gifts that go away.

32. I’d bake a bunch of stuff or make fancy looking caramel apples. If I give people food, they seem to be satisfied.

33. I’ll do a blanket/candle/bottle of wine/nice beer and fudge,

OR a movie/board game and stop by the dollar store for a shower caddy, fill it with popcorn, movie candies, etc if it’s for a family. Do a caddy and filler per family member.

34. Starbucks gift card. Everyone loves Starbucks.

35. Lego. Lego for the nephew, lego for dad, lego for mom, lego for granny, lego for EVERYONE!

36. Spicery subscription for three months. Print out the confirmation and chuck it in an envelope. I’ve gifted this twice and both recipients said that they never wanted any other present from me – just for that subscription to repeat.

37. If it’s last minute, I tried to go to a clothing store I know they have clothes from. Throughout the year I’ll ask “bro, nice jacket, where’d you get it?” Then I remember their spot and get them a gift card.

Then to cover my ass cause some people are weird about gift cards I say “I saw a _____ while shopping but I couldn’t remember your size/didn’t know what color you’d like/etc.”

38. Magazine subscriptions. The New Yorker. Times Literary Supplement. New Scientist. Private Eye. Done them all.

39. Mom – Candles and epsom salts.

Brother – Steam/eShop card, or go to a second hand store and find a game I think he’d like.

Dad – Itunes Gift Card or some kind of sports paraphernalia.

Girlfriend – something that reminds me of her, or that I think she’d love (last Christmas it was a pair of socks that said ,”I’m a delicate fucking flower”).

40. I buy ten copies of the best book I’ve read all year and wrap em in newspaper.

Proof of success: I do this every year

41. A brick of batteries. Everybody needs batteries, nobody will say no to batteries, and they will think of you when they are in a pinch and realize you got them a BRICK of batteries.

Great practical gift.

42. Throw blankets from the 24-hour drugstore. They’re $15 and nice enough that I use them myself. This is also my go-to for any gift swap at the office/with people I don’t know super well.

43. Pictures! Take a picture of something the receiver will like, or find one you might already have, throw it in a cheap frame and WABANG

44. Go to CVS and get a gift card (they have Amazon, iTunes, random others). Swing buy a restaurant and grab a gift card for that place. Last ditch, don’t have time to get a hard copy of a gift card- just buy one online that you can email.

45. Luxury kitchen stuff.

There’s a great kitchen & dinnerware shop within walking distance of my home. I can get pretty dinnerware, flatware, glasses and linens in a range of styles, and they have durable, high quality cookware for the more practically minded people. It’s my go to gift-shop, because everyone eats.

46. Lava Lamp!

No one has one.

They’re 20$

Oh, and it’s neat.

47. I’d bring them all to a restaurant and pay for their meal-> easy way to make a party and present at the same time without having to worry about what to buy them since they can order themselves what they want

48. Pharmacies always have cheap last minute crap like travel manicure kits and hot sauce samplers.

49. You get a box of chocolate! You get a box of chocolate! And you get a box of chocolate! Everyone gets a box of chocolate!!!

50. Cash, candy, and/or alcohol.

0

Image Credit: Anthony Tran

is cataloged in Last Minute Gifts, Presents

What if kindness was cool?

What if you could live a life that would make YOU jealous? What if you could make just one person’s day better with a few simple words of encouragement?  is a book of inspirational words that will keep you fighting and ask you never to give up on life, yourself, or others. Open a page to start your day, frame a page that inspires you to keep living, share a page with a friend who needs support, or leave one behind for a complete stranger to brighten their day.

Join The Kindness Revolution

from All Of Beer http://allofbeer.com/50-thoughtful-last-minute-christmas-gifts-for-procrastinators/ from All of Beer https://allofbeercom.tumblr.com/post/184356935077

[allofbeercom]

50 Thoughtful Last Minute Christmas Gifts For Procrastinators 

http://bit.ly/2Eq5KzI

Cataloged in Holidays

50 Thoughtful Last Minute Christmas Gifts For Procrastinators 

January Nelson Updated December 11, 2018

If you still haven’t finished your holiday shopping, you should think about buying these last-minute gifts suggested by Ask Reddit.

1. Mason jar + equal parts granulated sugar and veg oil + either a few drops of essential oil OR some lemon zest OR vanilla extract = boutique grade body scrub.

2. Buy tickets online for a upcoming play, dinner & show, concert, game, etc. Print out page of ticket confirmation and put it in a nice Christmas card envelope. It’s an awesome gift because people tend to love it more than clothing or other junk you usually give. And if you’re parents are like mine, they barely take the initiative to go to these type of events themselves or don’t even know about them. Experience > material goods.

3. Run to the grocery store, pick up chocolate morsels, butter, and cream.

Takes about five hours to make 200 chocolate truffles. Easy to make them different flavors as well. (Orange, Bailey’s Irish Cream, and Cinnamon Honey are the good with milk chocolate. Peppermint, Khalua, and Matcha are good with dark chocolate. Peppermint and matcha are fantastic with white chocolate.)

4. At least for men, my go-to is always a beard or personal grooming kit. It’s likely something that they wouldn’t buy themselves, and many haven’t felt the exhilaration of a peppermint shampoo. Men deserve a little pampering and self care too!

5. I think mugs make a good last minute gift because they’re available at most stores, pretty cheap for a gift, and will actually be used by the recipient.

6. Socks. High-end, badass, toasty warm (if you live where it gets cold) socks. Smartwool/Darn Tough/etc.. They may “meh” at it early on, but will thank you later. Maybe even very later, but it’ll be appreciated (a lot) eventually.

7. Most people I know don’t have bluetooth hook ups in their car, FM Transmitters are absolutely fantastic, they’re relatively cheap and life changers for folks that like to listen to music while driving, Probably $15 and under.

One of those copper chef/gotham steel type skillets. They’re fantastic, less than $20, endless use.

8. Cookie/brownie mix in a mason jar with instructions on a card and a bow.

Or a visa gift card.

9. Fancy pasta, fancy jarred sauce, nice block of parm cheese, in a serving bowl with a kitchen towel. You can do this as expensively or as cheaply as you want.

I also loved a book called The Fortune Cookie Chronicles by Jennifer 8 Lee (basically, a woman exploring Chinese food in the USA as well as her own Chinese roots, and the history of fortune cookies… really fascinating). She talks a lot about soy sauce in that book, so I’ve given that book with a bottle of “real” soy sauce many times. I love sharing things I love with other people, so that’s a gift I love to give.

10. Subscription box. Like coffee? Subscription box. Board games? Subscription box. Make up? Subscription box. Ties or socks or yarn or hot sauce or tea or beer or wine or Japanese candy or marvel or harry porter or fitness? Subscription mother-fuckin box.

11. Go to the dollar store and grab some over the hand oven mitts, then head to the grocery store and get cake & brownie mixes, hand write the baking directions on a decorated index card or slip of paper. Personalize each one with a message or somesuch. Bam.

12. If it’s someone you’re fairly close to, print out a photo of the two of you and put it in a frame. It feels thoughtful, but can also be done in less than an hour and is cheap.

13. Depends how well I know them, or if I’ve used the same trick before – but it’s probably a cast iron skillet. Costs $20 for a good one (rhymes with dodge), and I always get thanked for it, like a year later.

14. Aldi.

A million calories of chocolate for about twenty quid.

Enough to distribute to everyone.

15. Here is what I do every year.

I go buy gift certificates for my favorite restaurants, and gift cards from Best Buy. I then put them in Christmas cards with no name on them.

I keep some in the house and some in my car.

If someone gives me a gift, I say “Wait a minute, I have something for you too” and go get the card. I quickly write their name on it and hand it to them.

Its worked out perfectly for me for years. I give everyone that gives me something, and if I end up with extra gift certificates or gift cards, I just use them on myself.

16. I make them an elaborate Christmas card with an etymology of their name. It’s always a hit and has more meaning than a gift card.

17. Good pair of headphones.

18. I make very good gingerbread cookies and decorate them very elaborately, like I’ll draw a portrait of them in frosting or I draw a cartoon character they like. Im pretty good at it.

19. Chia pet. So many varieties. ‘Ironic’ gift for those recipients, awesome gift for the others.

Either way you are a hero!

20. Those soft-ass blankets you find in any store around Christmas time. And then I buy one more for me. Every goddamn year

21. For girls: anything from Anthropologie. They have a great gifts and the quality/craftsmanship is decent. That and they gift wrap beautifully for free! I use this for last minute birthday gifts quite often and it always impresses.

For guy: gift cards or booze. Guys appreciate utility.

22. Nail place… Women will go wild over a free mani-pedi.

23. A bottle of their favorite spirits, or for non-drinkers/kids, a book.

24. BOOKS!

There is a book on literally any topic ever.

Fan of Formula 1? Book.

Fan of Jujitsu? Book.

Like economic news? Book.

Porn? Book.

Lonely? Book.

Want to improve yourself? Book.

And you can get books everywhere. Online, in store, thrift stores, little free libraries, everywhere.

25. Houseplants!

I usually have lots of spiderplant babies and keep a few small pots on hand. Great for all occasions.

26. Those Hickory Farms meat and cheese gift boxes.

27. For a family – Get a tin bucket of gourmet holiday popcorn (caramel / chocolate flavored popcorn) to share.

For a dude – Get a bottle of fancy champagne or other booze like whisky or bourbon.

For anyone younger than 30 – Get an Amazon gift card.

For a kid – Give them a $50 dollar bill. They likely never handle money and if they do, the $50 looks so much better than the $20. Easy way to become the cool uncle.

For a girl – Get them a gift certificate to a local salon, a big blanket, or fun warm socks (not regular socks but those nicer holiday woven socks).

For your mom – Get her an ornament that has sentimental value, or, go to the mall (who does that anymore) and get them to hand paint an ornament on the spot with the family name & year on it.

For your dad – Get him NFL or NBA tickets.

28. Things that are consumable… everyone has way too many junk trinkets just because someone felt they had to buy something.

Ground coffee from a local coffee shop (if you know the person has a grinder, get whole bean, but not everyone does). They usually have fun Christmas flavors this time of year.

A bottle of dry wine or champagne.

Nice candles (go for ones that are soy based and have lids) or liquid hand soap.

29. Who wants lottery tickets?!?!?!

30. If we’re talking non-money gifts you know what’s a great go to? TJ Maxx. They are just a hodgepodge of random stuff and they have bailed me out so much when it comes to gift giving because with all the things they have you are bound to find something for everyone.

31. Home made egg nog, Irish cream, or Kahlúa. Most people will love one of the three, they are easy to make, made by hand, affordable, and our gifts that go away.

32. I’d bake a bunch of stuff or make fancy looking caramel apples. If I give people food, they seem to be satisfied.

33. I’ll do a blanket/candle/bottle of wine/nice beer and fudge,

OR a movie/board game and stop by the dollar store for a shower caddy, fill it with popcorn, movie candies, etc if it’s for a family. Do a caddy and filler per family member.

34. Starbucks gift card. Everyone loves Starbucks.

35. Lego. Lego for the nephew, lego for dad, lego for mom, lego for granny, lego for EVERYONE!

36. Spicery subscription for three months. Print out the confirmation and chuck it in an envelope. I’ve gifted this twice and both recipients said that they never wanted any other present from me – just for that subscription to repeat.

37. If it’s last minute, I tried to go to a clothing store I know they have clothes from. Throughout the year I’ll ask “bro, nice jacket, where’d you get it?” Then I remember their spot and get them a gift card.

Then to cover my ass cause some people are weird about gift cards I say “I saw a _____ while shopping but I couldn’t remember your size/didn’t know what color you’d like/etc.”

38. Magazine subscriptions. The New Yorker. Times Literary Supplement. New Scientist. Private Eye. Done them all.

39. Mom – Candles and epsom salts.

Brother – Steam/eShop card, or go to a second hand store and find a game I think he’d like.

Dad – Itunes Gift Card or some kind of sports paraphernalia.

Girlfriend – something that reminds me of her, or that I think she’d love (last Christmas it was a pair of socks that said ,”I’m a delicate fucking flower”).

40. I buy ten copies of the best book I’ve read all year and wrap em in newspaper.

Proof of success: I do this every year

41. A brick of batteries. Everybody needs batteries, nobody will say no to batteries, and they will think of you when they are in a pinch and realize you got them a BRICK of batteries.

Great practical gift.

42. Throw blankets from the 24-hour drugstore. They’re $15 and nice enough that I use them myself. This is also my go-to for any gift swap at the office/with people I don’t know super well.

43. Pictures! Take a picture of something the receiver will like, or find one you might already have, throw it in a cheap frame and WABANG

44. Go to CVS and get a gift card (they have Amazon, iTunes, random others). Swing buy a restaurant and grab a gift card for that place. Last ditch, don’t have time to get a hard copy of a gift card- just buy one online that you can email.

45. Luxury kitchen stuff.

There’s a great kitchen & dinnerware shop within walking distance of my home. I can get pretty dinnerware, flatware, glasses and linens in a range of styles, and they have durable, high quality cookware for the more practically minded people. It’s my go to gift-shop, because everyone eats.

46. Lava Lamp!

No one has one.

They’re 20$

Oh, and it’s neat.

47. I’d bring them all to a restaurant and pay for their meal-> easy way to make a party and present at the same time without having to worry about what to buy them since they can order themselves what they want

48. Pharmacies always have cheap last minute crap like travel manicure kits and hot sauce samplers.

49. You get a box of chocolate! You get a box of chocolate! And you get a box of chocolate! Everyone gets a box of chocolate!!!

50. Cash, candy, and/or alcohol.

0

Image Credit: Anthony Tran

is cataloged in Last Minute Gifts, Presents

What if kindness was cool?

What if you could live a life that would make YOU jealous? What if you could make just one person’s day better with a few simple words of encouragement?  is a book of inspirational words that will keep you fighting and ask you never to give up on life, yourself, or others. Open a page to start your day, frame a page that inspires you to keep living, share a page with a friend who needs support, or leave one behind for a complete stranger to brighten their day.

Join The Kindness Revolution

from All Of Beer http://allofbeer.com/50-thoughtful-last-minute-christmas-gifts-for-procrastinators/

[chronotopes]

Hello I would like to hear more of your thoughts behind what makes characters feel like OCs because this, like what makes something feel like a fanfic (a feeling I often seek out on purpose!) is a subject of fascination, and you have good thoughts about writing!

a) omg thank you so much

b) yikes all right i’ll try

c) this turned into a giant wall of text i’m so sorry. the tl;dr of it is that fanfiction and original fiction are both Good but they’re also Different for reasons of why the audience is reading the work in the first place. 

more under the cut. way more than anybody asked for. 

the thing is i always feel like i come off as an elitist when i say these kinds of things, and i genuinely don’t mean to. like… my concept is that fanfic is great and i also seek out things that Feel Like Fanfic, i just also feel like . okay. 

part one: when it’s good (aka the bit you actually asked me about)

the writing styles and the approaches to material of fanfic and original fiction are different. like i feel like.. not in a bad way at all, fanfic is a more emotional medium. if it’s good i’d call it “emotionally honest” - you see a lot more h/c in fic for instance, if it’s bad it’s more “emotionally exploitative” but it’s emotional either way. that’s the main tenet, and it’s something i like seeing in origfic to a certain degree! and fanfic also places a great deal of emphasis on characters we know and love - how they meet how they like each other how they banter what it would be like if they were monster truck drivers etc 

fanfiction, imo, often serves to fill the gaps the audience sees in fiction with regards to this kind of stuff. hurt, comfort, human interaction, recovery from trauma that canon might have glossed over. which is all great! 

all this in itself is great to have in original fiction, and also has existed in original fiction. i read an advance reader’s copy of this book called ‘a gentleman’s guide to vice and virtue’ a few months back, and it Felt Like A Fanfic™… in the sense that it had a great deal of upfront emotional honesty, wacky hijinx, gay romance, and representation in a period setting. do i think the book had some flaws in terms of character voice that fanfic also shares? quite possibly. was it a good book, in my opinion? hell yes! 

so.. part 2: when it’s bad

i think that when i say something “felt like a fanfic” in a bad way, i mean that it’s very… image-oriented, i guess? like there’s a 2014 tumblr vibe that is “long list of aus that are really cute/funny when you read them on paper” and then it depends entirely on execution. some fics that come from prompt lists like that are great. but i think there’s something in the essence of reading a post that’s like “au where enjolras and grantaire are bird people and grantaire always polishes enjolras’ feathers” and then writing a fic based on that 

that works for fanfic, bc fanfic goes off of characters that already exist within a coherent plot, but does not so much work for original fiction. like this sounds weird to say, because of course most original fiction is based on an idea, but i find that when a concept is executed in original fiction just because it sounds funny, or endearing, or differs from the Established Order of fiction in some meaningful way.. there’s not a lot of substance contained within it. 

and i guess there’s a certain approach to characters/style that works in fanfic but doesn’t work in origfic? this is easiest to use with a personal example, but - from late 2014 to late 2016, everything ! everything i wrote had the same structure, revolved around the same dynamic of two pretty teenagers with names and hair colors swapped, and featured some kind of exciting fantasy gimmick and a poorly-executed tumblr-y social commentary. “but katia, maybe you were just a bad writer back then,” i remind myself, and like: fair, but i think a great deal of the habits i picked up back then came from surrounding myself to too far of an extent with fanfiction “culture”, so to speak. 

in conclusion

 i guess my central thesis when i make these kinds of salty posts is that fanfiction conventions are great within fanfiction, but it’s always a good idea to think critically about what contexts/audiences/purposes fanfic has that separates it from original fiction. the two writing styles - at least in the ya world - have been sliding closer together over the past couple of years. (i found a book about fake dating while volunteering at the library! hetero fake dating.) some of that’s good, some of that’s harmless, but some of it, i think , kind of counteracts the level of texture and thought that goes into original fiction. 

an alternative way to look at it, though, is that good fiction always exists, and is usually influenced by the conventions of the time, and bad fiction is also impacted by trends. bad ya fiction existed in 2007 and it exists now… i just think bad ya fiction in 2017 has a bit more in common with bad fanfiction now than it did then. 

so like. fanfiction good, but also fanfiction and original fiction are demonstrably different with regards to purpose context audience and therefore their writing styles, so it’s a good idea for writers of fiction to think about that. and i’m only so adamant about this because it’s something i had to figure out.

[easilymakermoney]

Huawei P30 hands-on overview

Let’s get this out of the way in which now. If you happen to’re in any respect eager about taking the easiest photographs with the very newest smartphone, you’ll want to purchase the Huawei P30 Professional. Huawei has promised to maneuver the smartphone images sport ahead for a number of years, and the infant steps have turn into strides with the P30 Professional. The digital camera is sort of brain-meltingly succesful.

The alongside the P30 Professional is the usual P30, and in contrast to Samsung, Huawei has cut up its smaller and bigger telephones in a extra substantial trend, eradicating the Time-of-Flight (TOF) digital camera and the 5 instances optical and 10 instances hybrid zoom system utterly out of the P30, together with alterations to the digital camera lenses, and different options too. It’s very a lot a stripped out P30 Professional.

A triple-camera array

Does this make the P30 a nasty telephone? No, it would make it cheaper, and let’s face it — a triple-lens digital camera with three instances optical zoom and 5 instances hybrid zoom isn’t one thing to disregard, particularly when it has been engineered with Leica.

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Traits

The digital camera array is ready inside a digital camera bump within the rear prime left nook on the again, and consists of a 40-megapixel, f/1.Eight aperture SuperSpectrum lens, a 16-megapixel extremely wide-angle lens, and an Eight-megapixel telephoto lens with a three instances optical zoom and an f/2.four aperture. Solely the telephoto lens has optical image-stabilization to stop blurry photographs.

A triple-lens digital camera with three instances optical zoom and 5 instances hybrid zoom isn’t one thing to disregard.

Questioning what SuperSpectrum is? It’s Huawei’s title for its RYYB coloration filter, which takes the inexperienced parts away from an RGGB filter and replaces them with yellow. Huawei claims this enables the digital camera to gather 40-percent extra gentle than earlier than, and extra gentle means extra element, and higher finish outcomes. In a quick take a look at, in solely dim indoor situations, the images the P30 took have been what I’d count on from a Huawei P-Sequence telephone. It’s in outside and in diversified lighting situations that I count on to see SuperSpectrum make a distinction.

The P30’s digital camera misses out on the TOF digital camera that’s out there within the P30 Professional. It will have an effect on portrait mode, some extra options — comparable to an A.I.-assisted measurement instrument — and a few particular results. It might additionally change low-light efficiency.

The three instances optical zoom seems good although, with beautiful element, and no apparent lack of high quality. And the wide-angle lens is simply as enjoyable to mess around with. Whereas the digital camera system shouldn’t be as creatively enabling because the P30 Professional, it’s greater than sufficient for most individuals.

Design, display screen, and colours

Maintain the P30 in your hand and its compact dimensions are instantly felt. It’s not small, but when the 6.47-inch P30 Professional is off-puttingly massive, the P30 could really feel proper at dwelling.

How concerning the design? Each the P30 and P30 Professional take design parts from the Mate 20 and the P20, such because the tapered edges and the vertically stacked digital camera lenses. Whereas this doesn’t make them unattractive, it doesn’t make them fairly as eye-catching. The P20 stood out due to the lens array, as did the Mate 20 Professional. The P30 has misplaced a few of that uniqueness.

Jualian Chokkattu/Digital Traits

It’s nearly rescued by the colours. The white and black fashions shall be forgotten, and even the Huawei Aurora hue shall be handed over for one of many new colours — a crazily shiny orange and pink referred to as Amber Dawn, in addition to a blue and silver gradient referred to as Respiration Crystal. Amber dawn is insane, a surprising burning pink that merely can’t be ignored. Respiration Crystal is extra delicate, and extra pearlescent. It’ll be exhausting to decide on.

Each the P30 and P30 Professional take design parts from the Mate 20 and the P20.

The 6.1-inch OLED display screen has the identical decision and 19.5:9 facet ratio, and it’s very shiny, with excellent coloration and definition. Nonetheless, it did look just a little washed out because the brightness reached most, and never one thing we’d need to have a look at for very lengthy. The mannequin I examined could not have had ultimate software program, and there are numerous changes you can make to vary the display screen’s efficiency.

The physique itself has a few notable design highlights. The highest and backside panels are clean and flat, a whole change from the rounded Mate 20 Professional, and most different telephones out there immediately. It’s adequately subtle that you just gained’t discover until searching for it, and it might have an attention-grabbing impact on in-hand consolation, particularly for typing on the virtually bezel-less display screen. There’s a small bezel on the underside, however the fingerprint sensor has been moved into the display screen, so it’s not as pronounced because the Mate 20.

Fingerprint sensor, speaker, and efficiency

In-display fingerprint sensors have been a disappointment, to the purpose the place I turned the system off on the Mate 20 Professional lately, and relied on face unlock to safe the telephone. Rapidly registering our fingerprint on a P30 Professional revealed enhancements appear to have been made. It was dependable, which is most vital, and suitably speedy too.

It has been shifted nearer to the underside of the telephone for ergonomics, however we’re undecided if it will assist with one-hand unlocks. But when it really works persistently, it’ll be a significant step ahead. It’s not an ultrasonic sensor just like the one fitted to the Galaxy S10 Plus, although.

The opposite factor to notice on the display screen is the speaker has been eliminated, and positioned beneath the display screen. Bizarrely, Huawei calls this an “electromagnetic levitation” unit, and the rationale why is that it’s magnetically suspended within the physique. Sound is produced by display screen vibrations, that are heard when your ear is pressed in opposition to it. We’ve seen techniques prefer it earlier than — the unique Xiaomi Mi Combine for instance — and whereas technically thrilling, loads can rely upon the place your ear is positioned as to how efficient it’s. I’ve not tried this on the P30 but.

Efficiency comes from the Kirin 980 processor, and Huawei’s EMUI 9.1 software program is positioned over Android 9.zero Pie, leading to an expertise that’s nearly as good because the Mate 20 Professional in our brief time with the telephone. Huawei has not highlighted any substantial adjustments to EMUI, and I didn’t spot something main — though the digital camera app did appear to reply sooner, particularly swapping between lenses and zoom ranges.

It has teased some thrilling new options although, with the craziest being unlocking and beginning sure keyless Audi automobiles utilizing solely your P30. You might want to personal the stated Audi first, clearly.

Conclusion

What else do you miss out on by shopping for the P30 as a substitute of the P30 Professional? It has an IP53 water- and dust-resistance score, which is fundamental in comparison with the IP68 physique of the P30 Professional. The battery is smaller with a three,650mAh capability, in comparison with the four,200mAh within the P30 Professional. It doesn’t have the 40W SuperCharge system, or wi-fi charging both. It does have a headphone jack on the underside of the telephone although, which is one thing the P30 Professional doesn’t.

The P20 turned out to be a stable, fascinating telephone and I’ve little question the P30 would be the identical.

On the time of writing, it’s unclear how less expensive the P30 shall be in comparison with the P30 Professional. There are a number of real causes to pick the P30 Professional over the P30, and until the smaller telephone is less expensive, you’d be higher served shopping for the telephone with the higher digital camera and extra options.

There’s some sturdy competitors on the market too, from the Galaxy S10e to the iPhone XR, plus one other drawback for the P30 would be the Mate 20 Professional. It has been round lengthy sufficient for the worth to drop, and remains to be greater than succesful immediately, with options the P30 doesn’t have together with wi-fi charging. In case your intention is to save cash on a brand new Huawei telephone, it ought to be one other consideration.

It might sound like we’re being harsh on the P30 right here. Reality is, the Mate 20 turned out to be a stable, fascinating telephone and I’ve little question the P30 would be the identical. The difficulty is, the P30 Professional is such a step ahead, and the competitors is so sturdy, the P30 actually must impress once I spend extra time with it.

from Easily Maker Money https://easilymakermoney.com/2019/03/26/huawei-p30-hands-on-overview/

[aion-rsa]

Mortal Kombat: Sub-Zero and Scorpion’s Rivalry Explained

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Whether you’re a longtime Mortal Kombat fan or someone who is mostly just interested in the upcoming film’s status as one of the first proper blockbusters of 2021, you’re probably at least aware of the feud between the series’ resident ninjas: Sub-Zero and Scorpion. It’s a battle that almost transcends the already legendary franchise and has entered the public pop-culture consciousness in a way that makes many almost subconsciously think “rivals” whenever they see the two characters.

While the truth is that nearly everything about Sub-Zero and Scorpion makes them natural rivals, only those who have dared dive into the details of this series’ mind-blowing lore know the fascinating story that has fueled this franchise feud. While filmmakers everywhere have rarely struggled to find reasons for two ninjas to fight each other, the story of Sub-Zero and Scorpion’s rivalry goes so much deeper than two warriors battling to see who is best.

We’ll stop short of recounting every event in this twisted tale that takes place across multiple timelines, but if you’re just wondering why Sub-Zero and Scorpion can’t seem to get along despite shopping at the same stores, then here’s a brief look at the history of a rivalry that ranks among the best in fighting game history.

Scorpion and Sub-Zero Were Rivals From the Start

Before we dive into the lore aspects of the Sub-Zero/Scorpion rivalry, it should be noted that their feud was no accident or one of those things that just happened as the games evolved. It was actually one of those rare pieces of long-lasting lore that was pretty much planned from the start.

The story goes that Mortal Kombat co-creator John Tobias started reading a book called “China’s Ninja Connection” not long before the initial work on what would become Mortal Kombat began. The book tells the story of a clan of thieves and assassins in China that it claims essentially inspired the popular idea of the Japanese ninja. Fascinated by that concept, Tobias sketched a ninja warrior modeled after the story’s clan and lead characters. That fighter would go on to become Sub-Zero.

As Tobias revealed years later, he soon became aware that the cultural and historical claims in that book’s narrative were heavily disputed. As such, he decided to add a second ninja character to the game but that one would be of Japanese origins. That character eventually became Scorpion. 

The rivalry between those two fighters would be sealed by the MK team’s decision to rely on palette swaps for some of the game’s characters in order to ensure they didn’t need to come up with entirely new designs for every fighter. As such, Sub-Zero and Scorpion were given largely similar looks but aesthetically opposing colors (blue and orange). For a generation of MK fans, the fact that these two characters looked similar but wore different colors was actually their first indication that they were rivals.

Quan Chi’s Task Fuels the Sub-Zero/Scorpion Rivalry

In the spirit of their real-life origin stories, Sub-Zero and Scorpion were written to be members of opposing ninja clans in the MK universe. Sub-Zero (real name Bi-Han) belonged to the Lin Kuei clan and Scorpion (real name Hanzo Hasashi) pledged himself to the Shirai Ryu clan. Essentially, the two were natural rivals in the franchise’s universe before they even actually met. 

However, their rivalry wouldn’t properly begin until the sorcerer Quan Chi commissioned the Lin Kuei and Shirai Ryu clans to help him find an ancient artifact that he planned to use to resurrect his master, Shinnok. Naturally, the clans sent Sub-Zero and Scorpion as their respective representatives on this task.

As you can probably guess, Sub-Zero and Scorpion met while trying to complete their assignments and, despite the number of things they clearly had in common, decided to battle rather than strike a meaningful and lasting friendship that certainly could have saved everyone a lot of trouble down the line.  

Sub-Zero Kills Scorpion

Sub-Zero would end up winning the first battle between him and Scorpion, but it should be pointed out that Sub-Zero had the undeniably useful ability to manipulate ice at that time while Scorpion was just a renowned warrior that possessed mostly human (though certainly enhanced) abilities. 

Not content with merely beating Scorpion in battle, Sub-Zero decided to kill Scorpion and end this feud before it could go any further. I don’t think it’s a spoiler to say that his plan would go on to fail spectacularly.

Scorpion’s hard times wouldn’t end in death. As part of his “payment” to the Lin Kuei, Quan Chi wiped out the Shirai Ryu clan, which naturally included Scorpion’s family. In any other universe, such a flawless victory (see what we did there?) would make it easy to proclaim Sub-Zero the winner of this feud. However, this whole situation would soon take a strange turn. 

Scorpion’s Resurrection and New Powers

In sudden need of allies after his initial plans go wrong, Quan Chi runs across the spirit of Hanzo Hasashi in the Netherrealm and offers to resurrect him if he agrees to serve as his personal assassin. To ensure that Hasashi feels properly motivated to seek vengeance against Sub-Zero, Quan Chi conjures an image of Sub-Zero leading the assault against Scorpion’s clan and killing his family. In reality, that was all Quan Chi’s doing. 

Nevertheless, Hasashi buys into the lie, is resurrected as Scorpion, and even gains some supernatural fire-based powers that would not only go on to define his early in-game fatality and special moves but would add another way for players to clearly distinguish him from Sub-Zero (fire vs. ice).

Scorpion is asked to enter the Mortal Kombat tournament depicted in the first game as Sub-Zero has also joined the tournament on an assignment for the Lin Kuei. Scorpion gets the better of Sub-Zero this time around and kills the ninja during their next battle. In what you’re probably realizing is quickly becoming a recurring theme, the death of Sub-Zero does not end this rivalry. 

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Sub-Zero is Reborn as Noob Saibot

Since resurrection is kind of his thing, Quan Chi decides to bring Bi-Han back to life (kind of) and turn him into the soulless warrior known as Noob Saibot. Initially, Noob Saibot was mostly interested in taking his ruthless aggression out on the residents and rulers of the Netherrealm. He quickly established himself as one of the underworld’s most fearsome forces.

Interestingly, the entire Noob Saibot character was created as a joke by Ed Boon who wanted to add another secret character to MK2 that even Tobias didn’t know existed until the development of MK3 was underway. That’s particularly hilarious when you realize that Noob Saibot’s name is a reverse play on Boon and Tobias’ names. 

Saibot would become a bigger player in MK lore later on, but he certainly wasn’t initially intended to be the reincarnation of Bi-Han, and Scorpion’s rivalry with Sub-Zero didn’t immediately detour into battles against Noob Saibot. Instead, the Scorpion/Sub-Zero rivalry would properly continue with the emergence of Bai-Han’s brother, Kuai Liang.

Scorpion and Kuai Liang’s Feud and Alliance

After Scorpion murdered Sub-Zero in the MK tournament, Bi-Han’s brother Kuai Liang decided to abandon his own codename (the admittedly awesome “Tundra”) and assume the Sub-Zero moniker as he searched for his brother’s killer. 

Scorpion sees the new Sub-Zero during the MK2 tournament, thinks “new Sub-Zero, who dis?” and proceeds to battle the frozen warrior in the usual manner. Scorpion gets the upper hand, but he soon realizes that this isn’t the same Sub-Zero that he still believes killed his family. We’ll dive into the difficult job of reporting what happens next in a bit, but for the moment, let’s just say that the two actually form a kind of bond that grows into an alliance.

Quan Chi is having approximately none of that and (in one version of this story) works his magic to make Scorpion believe that Kuai Liang was involved in the massacre of Scorpion’s family as well. Scorpion nearly kills Kuai Liang, but Quan Chi steps in to finish the job himself. In the process, he can’t help but do a full James Bond villain monologue by revealing that he was responsible for the pair’s rivalry this whole time. While he tries to banish Scorpion before killing Sub-Zero, Scorpion is able to overcome Quan Chi and manages to drag him into the Netherrealm before the sorcerer is able to murder Sub-Zero. 

From here, things start to get a little weird.

Sub-Zero and Scorpion Settle Their Rivalry Across Multiple Timelines

There are several versions of what happens next (and even slightly before). Which one matters most depends on which game you’re talking about, which timeline you subscribe to, and how you choose to process a whole lot of multiverse shenanigans. 

To make things as simple as possible, there’s a version of this story in which Scorpion eventually dies in the Netherrealm while hunting Quan Chi. However, this ending is non-canonical and rarely refered to as anything more than a fascinating aside. 

There’s also a sequence of events that sees Scorpion escape the Netherrealm, become a servant to the Elder Gods, and eventually try to destroy those gods after they resurrect his clan as undead creatures. In that scenario, an enraged Scorpion is eventually killed by Sub-Zero. 

2011’s Mortal Kombat (which famously reworked the timelines as part of a massive series’ story retelling effort), suggests that Scorpion and Kuai Liang only battle after Raiden is unable to prevent Scorpion from killing Bi-Han. However, Scorpion is eventually sent to the Neatherrealm before he can kill Kuai Liang. In that game’s Sub-Zero ending, we see Kuai Liang learn what happened to Scorpion’s family and how Quai Chi’s deception is largely responsible for their rivalry. He shares that information with Scorpion, and the pair form an alliance. 

While Mortal Kombat X would play with that ending a bit by portraying the now-united Kuai Liang and Scorpion as specters, their humanity is eventually restored, and Scorpion is finally able to decapitate Quan Chi and claim the vengeance he sought after all these years. 

Without diving too deep into the insane bits of lore that make up later MK games, Sub-Zero (Kuai Liang) and Scorpion continue their alliance and rarely battle in the series’ stories outside of those aforementioned timeline shenanigans that sometimes see alternate versions of themselves (as well as their kin) continue their war against each other for various reasons. 

Ultimately, though, Sub-Zero and Scorpion’s rivalry began as a natural feud fuelled by lies and outside influences. It essentially ended when Sub-Zero’s brother and Hanzo Hasashi realized they had common enemies and decided to unite for the common good. 

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Given that the upcoming Mortal Kombat movie features the Bi-Han version of Sub-Zero, though, fans can expect that film to further the most classic version of this rivalry and the one that you probably think of when you imagine Sub-Zero and Scorpion battling. What happens next remains to be seen. 

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