#it kinda felt like they were just throwing plot twists for the sake of throwing plot twists | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

amysteryspot · 2 years

Text

Lies in the dark - Thomas Shelby x Reader/Uncharacterized OC

Summary: Cecilia learns the hard way all the joy and misery that is loving Thomas Shelby.

Fandom: Peaky Blinders

Pairing: Thomas Shelby x Female reader (named)/Uncharacterized OC; Tommy x Greta

Warnings: pre-war; mild smut; mentions of abortion; cheating; swearing; drinking; smoking; mentions of illness and death; obviously not canon compliant.

English is not my first language and this wasn’t beta’d or proofread.

Word Count: 4687 (or so I’ve heard)

A/N: This was written for @thesoldiersminute 3k celebration (congrats again babes) ‘cause when I saw the “Is there anything you love so much, you’d protect it, no matter the cost, the damage it did to you?” immediately I screamed: TOMMY AND CECILIA. So here we are.

1. This is a prequel of “All the blood I lost with you”, but I believe it can be read as a standalone.

2. Please, PLEASE, read the warnings with caution and don’t read it if you think one of the topics will trigger you.

3. For the sake of my sanity the reader is named but uncharacterized, so if you want to replace the names, you can use the InteractiveFics Chrome extension [You’ll have to replace “Cecilia” - “Cellie” and “Clark”).

4. The explanation to why I decided to name her is only to add some depth into the story by linking her name with the actual plot of the fic. Cecilia means “blind”, in most places you search for it. I like the idea that Cecilia is blinded by her love for Tommy, like Polly said about him and Grace in the first series. As for Clarke, it means “clerk” or “priest”. It kinda makes sense to me that Tommy never lets go of her because she is his “priestess”, the one he always comes back for absolution. He doesn’t believe in God but he believes in her, in some twisted, cruel way.

5. The song from which the title was taken is “Lies in the dark” by Tove Lo (and I’m totally ignoring the fact that the song is related to Fifty shades of gray).

◄ THOMAS SHELBY MASTERLIST | GENERAL MASTERLIST ►

“Where’s Tommy?”

“Good day for you too, love,” John mocked, kissing Cecilia on the cheek, making her smile. “He’s at the Jurossi’s.”

Cecilia’s smile faltered as she averted her gaze from John, stared at the wall and swallowed the lump in her throat.

It felt like going back in time, at times she didn’t have to ask for Tommy, he would just find her. Until Greta.

She remembered the first time the lines between what they meant to each other got blurred.

The memory of that night was still alive in her memory as if it had happened yesterday. How he kissed her so sweetly and so full of hunger at the same time. How thoughtful he was in touching her, kissing her and reassuring her all the time. How right it felt when they were finally joined together as one. She woke up in his bed to find a red rose on his bedside table, only to run straight into Polly as she walked down the stairs with a grin on her lips.

After that, it became a habit, like second nature. He would search for her at any given opportunity, kissing and touching her until all she could think about was him. Spend the night in her room after climbing through her window. Sometimes in his room, they always tried to keep themselves quiet, speaking in rushed words, concealing moans and gasps by pressing their mouths into each other’s skin. Fucking on the floor so they didn’t have to bother with the bed springs making too much noise.

Yet, Cecilia wasn’t the only one. She never was. Tommy had girls throwing themselves at him the whole time. In the beginning, it was just them, and she almost believed that something would bloom out of whatever the hell they had. Soon she learned that it wasn’t enough for him. She wasn’t enough for him.

Tommy never cared about hiding the girls he fucked about with. His brothers and friends teased him about it and he only smirked, telling them to shut up, but he never denied it. Not with her. Their little escapades were always meticulously calculated so nobody would see them together in a compromising position. Of course, Cecilia was at the Shelbys all the time and she was, indeed, Tommy’s friend, he never made a move to acknowledge their relationship. On the contrary, he was keen on keeping it hidden. Cecilia would always be Tommy’s dirty secret.

She still had the moment realisation dawned upon her.

For the first time in weeks, Cecilia was relieved from her duties as an older sister to have some time to herself.

The sky was grey, it was probably going to rain soon, but she didn’t mind. Cecilia smiled as she made her way to the Cut, having already checked that Tommy wasn’t home or at Charlie’s yard. If he wasn’t looking for trouble somewhere with his brothers, there was only one place he would be.

She must have been too distracted in her own little world not to notice the giggles and moans coming from the place she once thought was just hers and Tommy’s.

It was as if she couldn’t breathe, feeling her legs weakened by the sight of Tommy with his pants hanging at his knees, Greta’s legs wrapped around his waist as he thrust into her. Cecilia was stuck in her place as if her legs didn’t want to work. All she wanted was to run away from the place that once felt like her safe heaven but now had been violated.

Cecilia was panting, her heart racing a mile a minute at the thought of one of them seeing her there, but they were too lost in pleasure to notice her.

That night was the first time she got drunk. Trying to drown her sorrows and forget the scene that played on repeat inside her head every time she closed her eyes.

John found her on the stables at Charlie’s yard, laying on the hay, soaking wet from the heavy and unrelenting rain. He didn’t ask her anything, just helped her up and carried her to Martha’s home, sneaking her into his girlfriend's room because he knew that the last place Cecilia needed to be was the Shelby home.

Tommy introduced Greta to his family the next week, Cecilia happened to be there, dragged by Ada to help her sew some clothes. His smile fell when their eyes met. For a moment, Cecilia thought she recognized a hint of regret in his cold gaze, but in the end, she knew it was just fear that she would say something about whatever the hell they had going on between them for the past couple of years.

For some reason, Cecilia never said anything. She just watched Tommy being so happy and enthralled with Greta from afar, until the day he sneaked into her bed again, keeping his hold on her like a vice.

“Is Polly…” she started, but John cut her out before she could finish.

“Yes, in the kitchen.”

John didn’t let go of her—he knew, always did. He was her friend, he knew her, knew about the whole mess the affair between her and Tommy was.

“Thank you.”

Cecilia finally met his gaze. Neither of them was sure about what she was thanking him for—telling her that Polly was home? Never telling anyone about how she always welcomed Tommy in her bed even if her heart shattered every time she woke up alone? Or for letting her cry on his shoulder when the pain his brother caused her was too much?

John only nodded, holding her gaze for another moment before placing a kiss on her forehead and going out the door.

She took a deep breath, composing herself before heading to the kitchen.

“Morning, Pol.”

“Morning, sweetheart,” Polly greeted, a spiral of smoke coming from her lips as she offered the cigarette to Cecilia.

She accepted it, pulling up a chair and sitting down in it, inhaling the smoke and letting it settle on her lungs for a moment before exhaling, passing the cigarette back to Polly.

“Where’s everyone,” Cecilia asked, looking around to the oddly empty kitchen. “I’ve never seen this house so quiet at this hour.”

Polly scoffed, “Ada and Finn are still sleeping, Arthur spent the night God knows where ‘cause he never made it home. John just left, as you saw and Tommy…”

“At the Jurossi’s,” Cecilia finished the sentence to her, accepting the cigarette that was offered to her again, and looking away from Polly. “John told me at the door.”

She occupies herself with the smoke to prevent the words to spill out of her mouth and making a bigger mess of something that was already fucked up.

However, by the way Polly’s eyes were fixed on hers when she passed her cigarette back, Cecilia knew that she had been caught red-handed.

Polly hummed. “He came home last night, dragged from the Jurossis’ house by Freddie. Kitty came to fetch him at dawn ‘cause Greta got worse.”

Cecilia said nothing, just slouched back on the chair, her gaze falling to her hands resting at the table. Her heart was already so broken that Cecilia didn’t even know if there was anything to break yet or if there was just dust inside her chest.

What could she possibly say? That she felt sorry for Tommy and the Jurossi family? Or that she would pray for Greta’s soul? Maybe that she was sorry for the girl who was gonna die so young?

Polly stood up to put the kettle on the stove, rummaging around to start breakfast.

Cecilia was sorry for Greta, her family, and Tommy, but she couldn’t help the anger and the jealousy from running through her veins. She felt guilty. Guilty for everything. For giving herself up to Tommy in ways that she would never be able to get back. For letting him keep her as a dirty secret, someone he could use whenever he wanted and would never betray him. Because she wouldn’t. Even after all the things he put her through, Cecilia was sure that she didn’t have it in her. Guilty about hating Greta for stealing everything from her—her lover, her friend, her safe haven, her happiness.

Guilty for blaming everyone but the person who was really guilty about it all.

“Is there anything you love so much, you’d protect it, no matter the cost, the damage it did to you?”

The words left Cecilia’s mouth before she could stop them and suddenly she couldn’t breathe. Not until Polly turns around to face her.

“Sorry, I shouldn’t have said that. Don’t know what is wrong with me. I’m just out of sorts today.”

There was a moment of silence that seemed to prolong for a lifetime, even though it had been less than a minute.

“It’s him, isn’t it?”

“Pol, I don’t know what…”

“Yes, you do know,” Polly said firmly, leaning against the countertop. “Tommy is… difficult to understand, sometimes. He does what he does, the way he does, to protect the family, those he loves. But sometimes he doesn’t go about it the right way.”

Polly sighs, pouring some tea into a cup and bringing it to Cecilia, sitting down to look at her.

“You deserve better than him.” The statement was clear and honest. No glint of regret or shame in Polly’s eyes.

Cecilia opened her mouth to speak, but Polly silenced her before any words came out of her lips.

“He knows that. Tommy hurts you because he thinks you deserve better and this is the only way he sees to push you away.”

“And this makes it all okay,” Cecilia asked, her voice sounding a little louder than she intended and laced with bitterness. “He thinks that I deserve better—good old me, who spends more than half of her time taking care of her younger siblings, trying to find little jobs that can bring some more money home, that is as much of an outcast as he is. If I deserve better, why is he with Greta?”

Polly stared at her, taken aback by the words.

“Sometimes men think with their cocks.”

“Yeah, Tommy does that just alright,” Cecilia scoffed. “The only thing is, he goes around fucking half of Small Heat just to crawl back in my bed.”

By the look Polly gave her, the information was nothing but new. Cecilia wasn’t surprised, Polly always seemed to know everything.

Cecilia sighs and then asks, “Everybody knows?”

“Doubt it,” Polly answered, lighting another cigarette, “I just know him too much.” She exhaled and passed the fag to Cecilia, adding, “and you as well.”

Sighing, Cecilia smoked, resting her forehead in her hands after passing the cigarette back to Polly.

“John knows.”

Polly hummed. “Yeah, figured as much.”

Minutes passed before Polly talked again.

“I just don’t understand one thing.”

Cecilia looked up at her, frowning and waiting for whatever Polly wanted to say.

“Why do you let him do that to you?”

Gobsmacked, Cecilia forgot how to breathe for a moment.

Why did she let Tommy do that to her?

The Clarks weren’t that much different from the Shelbys, like most of the people living on the outskirts of Birmingham.

Her father worked at the factory, spent a good amount of his money on drinks, gambling and whores, and for that reason, Cecilia and her mother did their best to bring some more money home to feed and clothe her younger siblings. The beatings weren’t as constant as what used to be at the Shelby’s household when Arthur Sr was around, but the struggles were pretty much the same.

Tommy was one of the first people that showed her some kindness. Cecilia remembers the day some boys from her class tripped her onto the muddy floor, making her fall forward on her hands and knees to prevent her face from hitting the ground. It was Tommy that ran from the other side of the street, scaring the boys away and helping her get back on her feet. He collected her books and brought her to 6 Watery Lane, where his mother took care of her bleeding hands and knees.

She had no chance after that. They became fast friends, John was the same age as her, Ada liked having another girl around and before Cecilia could notice, all the Clark children were as close as it gets with the Shelby children.

Cecilia’s parents didn’t love each other. Well, her father didn’t love her mother. The same with Arthur Shelby Sr and Anastacia. There was no kindness or affection between them, so she never knew the difference.

Her love for Tommy stayed a secret until after Finn was born and Arthur Sr left, leaving behind his children and wife to struggle alone. It was the final straw for Anastacia, and suddenly the Shelby children only had each other.

The burden of helping to provide for his family took its toll on Tommy, he was often snappy and angry. Not with her though. She always listened to him ramble about his struggles and Cecilia did her best to soothe his pain.

Somewhere along the way soothing his pain included falling into bed with him.

The reasons behind why she let him do that to her, why she let him crawl back into her bed for crumbs of his affection, weren’t clear to Cecilia until that moment. Sitting with Polly in the kitchen of the Shelby home, a cup of tea getting cold in front of her, the cigarette burning in between her fingers—Cecilia craved affection. Tommy just happened to be the first person outside of her family that showed he cared for her without asking anything in exchange. So she clings to him, believing she would never find anyone to willingly do for her what Tommy did.

And it was too late now. Too late for Cecilia to escape his grasp on her because she loved him. She loved him with all of her body and her soul and it was as if she belonged to him since the night they made love for the first time.

That day Cecilia accepted her fate—she would never be able to free herself from Thomas Shelby.

Greta died that night.

She was buried the next afternoon when a little glimpse of sun blessed Small Heat.

Cecilia was there. She never got close to Tommy though, choosing to stay behind, looking at him from afar as he grieved another woman.

There wasn’t much to do that day. Her father was away for a couple of days under the pretence of working and her mother had taken her siblings to see their grandparents. Cecilia stayed behind, wanting some peace and quiet for once.

It shouldn’t have been a surprise when Tommy appeared at her door, soaking wet from the heavy rain falling from the skies, barely giving her time to register that it was him before pulling her to his body and attaching their lips.

He wasn’t gentle that night. They crashed against each other in a mess of limbs as they fumbled through their clothes on the way to Cecilia’s bedroom.

The following morning, she woke up sore and ashamed to an empty bed.

Nothing changed after that, or so it seemed. Tommy still sought her out when he felt the need to, Cecilia still let him use her as he pleased. Rumour had it that he wasn’t walking around fucking a different woman every night. Cecilia tried to push the hope that it was, indeed, truth, aside. He was mourning Greta, after all.

Then why didn’t he stop coming back for her?

Familiarity, she thought. Cecilia was fairly sure that even when he was rough with her, they shared more intimacy between them than any other woman that had fucked him.

When things got back to a sense of normalcy again, the news about the war was unleashed all over the country.

She knew what was coming. Her father had been drafted along with many of his coworkers, so when Cecilia set foot on the 6 Watery Lane to Polly screaming while tears ran free down her cheeks, no explanation was needed.

Nevertheless, she searched for Tommy, if it was for confirmation or to find some solace Cecilia didn’t know. Their gazes met and, for a moment, Cecilia wished she had stayed home instead of going there.

She tried to ignore the swirl of emotions raging inside of her, walking to Polly to try and calm her down, the same as she had done with her mother. Polly didn’t fight her for long, soon they were both sitting around the table, with Cecilia rubbing a hand at the older woman’s back, trying to soothe her sobs, unable to shed tears of her own.

At the end of the day, Cecilia just wanted a place where she could be alone with her thoughts. A couple of minutes of silence to try and tame her emotions, to recollect herself to face what was to come. The news of the war had been hard, but Cecilia knew that what came with it would be a lot harder to deal with.

Her first choice would be the hiding spot by the canal, but the mere thought of it made her insides churn and her heart ache. Cecilia’s feet got her to Charlie’s yard, instead, where she occupied herself with petting and talking with the horses.

“Was looking for you at our usual spot.”

Cecilia’s hand froze, tangled in Thunder’s mane.

“It hadn’t been mine for a long while,” she harshly remarked.

By the way he looked at her, Cecilia could only imagine what was going around inside his head.

She didn’t know if Tommy was aware that she knew all along that he brought Greta to the place they used to meet. Not once, or twice, but every time they got together, hiding from Greta’s parents.

Cecilia believed he wasn’t dense to the point of thinking she didn’t know it, not even that Tommy didn’t know she would be hurt by it, maybe he only thought she would never confront him about it.

Tommy stood there, frozen, while she busied herself in threading her fingers through Thunder’s mane again. The horse nuzzled its head against her shoulder, making her let out a soft laugh.

She felt the heat of Tommy’s body before his hands came up around her. He spoke to the horse in a hushed tone, in his ancestor’s language, and Cecilia asked herself if the words were directed at the animal or her.

Thunder backed away from her, going further inside of its bay. It was then that Tommy turned her around to face him, keeping her close by hugging her waist tightly against his body. Cecilia had no choice but to look him in the eyes, resting her hands on his chest.

He covered one of her hands in his, guiding it to rest against his heart.

“Here,” he said in a hushed tone, “this is your spot, no other place matters.”

Cecilia scoffed, “If I didn’t know how much you care about your family I would doubt that there’s even a heart beating inside your chest.”

Furrowing his brows, Tommy asked, “What’s gotten to you?”

Shaking her head, Cecilia tried to break free from his arms, but he was stronger and her defences were already failing. Tommy pulled her against him again, rough fingers carefully lifting her chin so they could look each other in the eye.

Was it worth it to fight with him right now? Greta was dead, Tommy would be gone in a week and the damage had already been done. It wasn’t like he was the only one to blame for it, Polly was right in pointing out that Cecilia never refused or questioned him.

“What is it,” Tommy asked again, voice soft as a caress, as he brought her hand back over his heart, while the other rested against her cheek.

“Nothing,” she answered, closing her eyes and leaning in his touch, choosing, yet again, not to fight him.

“Hey, hey, look at me.”

She did as he said, rewarded with a loving smile, that made one of her own bloom on her face.

“That’s it,” he breathed, “that’s my girl.”

Except that she wasn't.

They made love the night before he was supposed to board the train away from Small Heat and be shipped to an unknown place.

He was relentless, making her come again, and again, and again, as if he was on a mission to ensure she wouldn’t forget him. It was useless, Tommy had already ruined her the moment Cecilia gave herself to him.

When morning came, Cecilia turned around in her bed, staring at the ceiling. Her father was leaving, between Cecilia, her mother and siblings, there were six mouths to feed. She couldn’t decide what was worse, seeing her father go away or being left behind to deal with problems that were bigger than her.

Her mother was a crying mess, half of her siblings were too young to understand what was happening, and Cecilia couldn’t find it in her another tear to shed. She hugged her father and swallowed the lump in her throat as he pressed a kiss to her cheek, musing over the fact that she probably would miss him that much.

Arthur was the first of the Shelby brothers to reach out for her, hugging her a little tighter than he usually would. Of the three brothers he was the one that was less close to her, and yet, he would always have her back when needed. They shared a kind smile as Cecilia told him to take care, to which he nodded.

Without giving her time to think, John came next, literally sweeping her off her feet, arms holding her tightly by the waist. When he put her down, Cecilia cradled his face between her hands.

“Will you keep an eye on her,” he asked, voice breaking as he tried not to show how worried he was about leaving his wife and children behind.

“Yeah,” she nodded, “yes, I’ll keep an eye on them and you take care of yourself to come back in one piece for them.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he joked, smirking back at her, making a tiny smile appear on her lips, before walking away.

It took only a second for her to feel the heat of a familiar body behind hers. Tommy manoeuvred her around so they would see each other eye to eye.

“Won't you give me a kiss goodbye,” he asked, a playful smirk on his lips.

Cecilia sighed, tiredly. “Thought we only did that in secret.”

His smile fell and one of his hands made its way to rest at the nape of her neck, thumb gently caressing her jaw, as his other hand kept her close to him by holding her waist in a tight grip.

“Don’t be like that, Cellie, eh.” His icy blue eyes stared back at her, a glimpse of worry on his features. “You’re the most important person in my life. I’ll come back to you and we’ll sort it out, okay?”

Tommy cradled her face, not letting her look away from him when Cecilia gave him no reaction.

“I promise.”

Sighing, Cecilia said, “Don’t make promises you don’t intend to keep.”

Cecilia wasn’t sure if he understood all she was pouring down on such a simple sentence, but by the look in his eyes, she was fairly sure that he did.

All of his beautiful words, vows whispered against her skin, promises that flowed sweetly from his lips that Tommy probably never had the intention to fulfil. Years and years of her youth devoted to him, wasted on him.

His lips found hers as the sound of the whistle signalled the last call to board. She couldn’t help but melt into it a little bit, her hands holding his wrists as the moment slipped through their fingers.

Out of breath, Tommy bumped his nose on hers, looking her in the eyes and whispering, “We’ll sort it out.”

His hands ghosted against her skin until he reluctantly let go of her hand.

Cecilia watched him go, only shedding a tear when she couldn’t see him anymore.

Unbeknown to her, Tommy did his best to watch her until the train was so far away that her silhouette couldn’t be recognized anymore, wondering if he had finally pushed her too far this time.

Everything was new and at the same time not. Without most of the men in town, the woman had to learn how to take charge of everything in order to survive. Between her siblings and Martha’s children, they had a handful to deal with, not to mention little Finn and Ada.

Polly took the reins of the betting shop and Cecilia started working there with her. Cecilia’s mother mostly took care of the children, cooking and cleaning for Clarks and Shelbys alike.

When Cecilia thought that things might have settled for a while, her worst fear came true.

Chest heaving and eyes closed, Cecilia rests her head against the back wall of the betting shop, trying to calm down her raging stomach. It was the third time she had thrown up that day and at that point, she didn’t know what to do anymore.

She heard the door open and close, a moment of silence hanging in the air before Polly finally spoke,

“Tell me it isn’t what I think it is.”

Straightening herself, Cecilia looked back at Polly, taking a deep breath to try and steady herself.

“I sure hope it isn’t.”

She had been fighting against the odds for about a week, but there were not many options to explain why Cecilia didn’t bleed this month, feeling ill all the time, not being able to keep anything down and starting to lose weight.

“Then it is,” Polly sighed, then took a deep breath, looking at Cecilia, “Do you know what you want to do?”

“I can’t keep it,” Cecilia spilt, breath uneven.

She recognized the look in Polly’s eyes but she couldn’t let herself think too much or she would change her mind.

“Think about it, there is no going back from this.”

“I can’t, Polly,” shocked. “I can’t do this alone and certainly not in the middle of all of this. We’re struggling enough as it is, Martha’s already expecting another baby, and I’m unmarried. I’m not even engaged, there is no claim on me, you know what this baby will be.”

A bastard.

Cecilia couldn’t bring herself to say the word, but it wasn’t needed, Polly knew.

“A little bit of him and a little bit of you, Cecilia,” Polly reminded her.

“Would he even want this baby, Polly,” she asked, tears falling down her cheeks. “What guarantee I have that he will come back and want this baby. If he’s coming back at all. Maybe he would’ve wanted it gone anyway.”

“Write to him, then,” Polly argued, but Cecilia only shook her head.

“No, this is women’s business, and I’ll take care of it myself.”

Polly held her as she cried, laying in Tommy’s bed, bleeding after getting rid of their child. Cecilia knew it was the best decision, the only possible decision, but it still hurt.

A little bit of him and a little bit of you.

Maybe she wouldn’t have the chance of having his child again. Or at all, Cecilia knew about a couple of women that couldn’t get pregnant anymore after the procedure. What would he think about it when he came back? Would he blame her? Ressent her?

“You can’t tell him, Polly,” Cecilia pleaded, propping herself up just enough to look at her. “He will never know about it.”

“Cellie…”

“If Tommy comes back, you won’t tell him. Promise me.”

Polly stared back at her, teary-eyed.

“I promise.”

Letting out a breath in relief, Cecilia let her head fall into Polly’s lap again. This mourning was something she would go through alone.

Taglist: @tommydoesntpayforsuits @ilovemanypeople @mikeys-thighs @nerdy4itall @internalmess3 @caelys @annisse @lyarr24 @theshelbyclan @datewithgianni @freyagallileaevans @lauren-raines-x @skinny-bitch-juice @leeroysdancer @eliseline @katmoonz @pxstellumx @misselsbells06 @alreadybroken-ts

(I've tagged everyone that was on the Tommy list, including the ones who are only interested on reader inserts fics because of the specifics of this one. If you don't want to be tagged in similar situations, please send me a message).

Wanna be tagged? Click here.

#thomas shelby x reader #tommy shelby x reader #thomas shelby imagine #tommy shelby imagine #thomas shelby x oc #tommy shelby x oc #thomas shelby #tommy shelby #peaky blinders #peaky blinders imagine #uncharacterized OC #mystery writings #amysteryspot

169 notes · View notes

draftingteacups · 2 years

Note

I have a question for one of the what if scenario for those TWST special events. How would Soni deal with the situation in the Fairy Gala that affects their AC in their dorm along with the others? In which that Leona would eventually learned that she’s a new Kalos Champion and Grand Duchess title?

Note: Since this is a Twisted Wonderland Event, this is considered non-canon for the sake of keeping the timelines neat. Thus, I'm still sticking to the released Episodes that we have so far in JP version (Episodes 1-6). Please enjoy the ask!

I can see that the Fairy types would be invited, mostly because I think the fairies are so diverse that they converse about the different fairies that live around the place, thus they invite the Fairy Pokémon. Not to mention, the fairies can sense Soni is kinda weird and fae-ish, so they invite her too and she's like "Cool, can't wait."

What Soni didn't expect was for the Fairy Gala to happen at NRC and throw her AC out of wack like why.

Crowley: "Does anyone have any idea of why the fairies would do something like this?!"

Soni realizes that it's most likely the fairies because the timing is too coincidental and it's just her luck that it turned out like this.

Grim: "Yeah, it's the Fairy Gala thing! My henchman got invited along with her Pokemon too."

Thus Soni has a direct in and they can go into the Gala, but they still needed a distraction, so that part of the plot goes on.

When Vil and Crewel show up at her Dorm, she legit just wished that Grim kept his mouth shut. I can imagine Soni getting something very fairy-like because of being Blessed and thus Crewel grills Soni for all her world's most elegant and exotic Pokemon for inspiration, which leads to Vil doing the same to her.

I can see Soni having a twist between Parfait's Sleeping Atop Flowers outfit and the boy's outfits, but with golden leaves to match them and their theme as well as matching gloves to hide the marks on her arm. She has a circlet that's reminiscent of something like a headdress that resembles her own Championship crown in rainbow colors with flowers on it like Parfait's outfit. She's even got a fan.

When they get revealed in their outfits, Soni felt a little nostalgic at the whole fairy theme as that had been her Granny's Pokemon Type and she actually grew up around the concept of fairies whenever her Granny came to Kalos or when her dad told her of stories from Galar. She does feel a little awkward about wearing it since it's been a long time since she's worn something like it.

If keeping it with the original ask, Leona realizes that "Wait, she's from another world?" as she's been barraged by the two fashionistas but no one answers him.

As the lessons on elegance happen, Soni does so because Soni just gets flashbacks to her own training for nobility and her soul is just ☠️☠️☠️ the entire time. Soni, in the meantime, informs the Fairy types who were a little miffed at the changes of the temperature in the school about the problem and they had no qualms about assisting them in this time, so they had even more help.

The others wonder how the heck she managed to pick it up that quickly and she says, "Well, being a Grand Duchess makes you go through terrible training on etiquette and I don't use it in most situations, but this isn't most situations."

Dior is going to be Soni's main Fairy type companion because Dior really fits the theme of Exotic while Soni's literally from another world, so she is exotic as can be really.

If Soni wanted to be a distraction, she could join the event and perform her own thing, which would be extra helpful in the long-run. That was their Part 2 if they needed to be.

As the others gained help from a little Tinker fairy to understand them, Soni was greeted as though she was royalty- and she technically was. Her own presence drew in the attention of the other fairies who were curious about her and the ornaments that decorated her.

It took hours upon hours for the others to work on their routine and they nailed it. Soni was still and proper, but the entire time that she was upright, she was feeling tense from having to sit in her seat. When the others were finished and Ruggie did the deed, Soni put on a performance that ensured that he could escape.

Then the sprinklers came on.

Soni decided to work with Leona on telling the fairies on what she wanted and let out her Champion tone.

Soni: "Do you understand that this environment around me is unknown to me?" *opens up a fan and flutters it in her hand* "I wish that you accommodate me more carefully, little fairy. Things are never easy when dealing with those of a different sort, especially the fae, mm?"

Leona: "Exactly, do you want to upset someone as delicate as her? Even more so, I need special water to drink. If it's too warm, I won't drink it."

Soni pulls out a sharp smile at his words and her aura just makes the poor little fairy between them tremble: "Oho, indeed."

Suddenly, Dior sneaks Ruggie out via Teleport and they all escape looking like the world was finally coming back to normal. Leona's impressed that Soni pulled that off and Soni smacks him with her fan for thinking that she's delicate.

When Vil and Crewel talk about putting them in the biggest fashion show in Twisted Wonderland, Soni immediately gets flashbacks to Valerie's constant barrages of telling Soni to join her on the runway and just Teleports herself out of there like nope Good-bye!

#ask #twisted wonderland event #fairy gala #twisted wonderland x pokemon #twisted wonderland #pokemon au #soni monet #pokemon trainer oc #what if #leona kingscholar #ruggie bucchi #kalim al asim #jamil viper #non canon

36 notes · View notes

bigskydreaming · 2 years

Text

Yeah I’m probably gonna pass on that one as I’m just not a huge fan of Zdarsky and I don’t think he’s a good fit for a Batbook personally, though I totally get WHY he was put on one. He’s very much known for his comics about street-level superheroes combined with larger-spanning storylines like Daredevil, Devil’s Reign, etc, and I just....don’t think he’s actually that good at them. Like that’s his niche, but its like....eh I don’t necessarily think it should be. Most of his plot points tend to be taken directly from stories that influence him with very little variation, just adapted into a new setting or scenario without actually using the story to examine any new angles that the previous influencing story didn’t already cover.

Like to be fair, he’s definitely come up with some unexpected plot twists in various stories that have huge potential repercussions, like the way Fisk used the Purple Man’s powers to remember Daredevil’s real identity....but even in these cases I think he has a tendency to just use a twist for one specific out-of-narrative purpose and he never does anything with the wider repercussions of them beyond just his singular reason for introducing the twist. Which can be really frustrating but is also more of just a personal gripe, thinking ‘why are you focusing on this aspect of your twist when there’s so much more to explore in that aspect over there’ kinda thing.

But personally my biggest issue with him - and biggest concern with him on a core Batbook - is he’s one of those writers who absolutely has no problem making characters behave in any way no matter how implausible for the sake of igniting story conflict. I haaaaate that shit, but that was like, basically the entire premise of his Fantastic Four/X-Men crossover. Everyone was heavy-handed as fuck in that mini, throwing around their egos and acting in ways barely any of them have ever acted anywhere else, all for the sake of brewing a conflict between Reed and Xavier that just felt really contrived and unnecessary because like....I didn’t believe it. And there’s so many ways to pit those particular characters against each other and come up with reasons they’d be on opposite sides....hell, its been done a number of times before. But this just....was weak and with no attempt at subtlety or cohesive characterization. The characters were just jerked around the four issues like puppets he was trying to configure in just the right way to make them all fight fight fight, and it was like......these particular characters have WAY too much history of being really tight actually, for me to buy any of them behaving this way.

And I do worry that it’ll be more of the same in his Batman book, especially in terms of the family dynamics, and the few issues I’ve read of his Urban Legends and Black and White don’t reassure me on that, so I’m mostly like.....kinda just hoping that he keeps it concentrated around just Bruce and Tim and doesn’t bring the rest of the family into too many stories because I feel OOC conflict is almost destined to follow at that point.

10 notes · View notes

whatsupmrstark · 3 years

Text

Bare

Peter parker x stark! Reader (aged up peter ofc)

Summary: a fun day at the compound leads to getting caught by your less than approving dad

warnings: smut with lots of plot have fun

Everyday felt like a never ending date. But in a good way.

You and peter have been together for a while, 10 months to be exact. And nobody knew, well nobody means the avengers your friends and... okay so everyone knows except your dad and happy but hey! Don’t judge the mans scary about his kid. Not that you were scared but more of Peters sake.

The affair started about a year ago, you hung out when he stayed at the compound. He was the only person there under the age of 30 and you two hit it off. Then days at the lab together and so on. You begged your dad to transfer you to midtown and after almost two months of begging and throwing tantrums he agreed, under the pretense you had all your classes with peter and we’ll that was just a bonus.

So then from there you kissed a kiss turned into kisses and dating and homecoming and now your here 10 months later cuddled up against him in the most not obvious way watching a movie with your dad and the rest of your family.

“Nat I swear to god your telling me you wouldn’t fuck him” Wanda whispers sneaking a peak at vision,making sure he hadn’t heard,before focusing back on the movie. You and peter hadn’t stopped your incessant tapping, yes you learned Morse code as an avenger study but you always put it to use in times like this.

He finished pressing out I love you to the skin on your back. A little smile played on your faces as you sat up more in your seat, “hey dad will you go get me more popcorn?” You looked down at him he was a row in front of you in the makeshift theater. And for a stark we all know what “makeshift” means he just nodded grabbing your bowl “Hey me too” Bucky laughed extending his arm to hand his bowl.

Hold up let me explain the seating.

In the front row was nat, Wanda, your dad, and Bruce all huddled together as the scary can and will kill you if they’re angry tier

Then middle row you on the end seat peter next to you and Bucky and Steve on his other side -the soft kid at heart tier

And the third row had vision, Sam and Thor the undecided, we got in to late to pick a good spot tier?

Tony enjoyed culturally enriching the group of misfits and had on a Risky business and sandlot marathon. Right now your halfway through sandlot and halfway through your pantience to go the fuck to bed.

Leaning over into Peters ear you whispered “can you sleep in my room tonight?” He nodded before turning to whisper back “how am I gonna do that, what if mr. stark comes in” you rolled your eyes and kissed him softly, you guys weren’t fans of pda but it was just a peck

“He won’t just come by after everyone’s sleep and I’ll lock the door” it was a good enough answer because he nodded before turning back to the movie just as tony came down the isle handing you both bowls of popcorn, hot buttery and fresh just how you liked it.

By the time the movie ended it was almost 12 and everyone was off to sleep, except tony, he headed down to the lab to work on something and you headed off to take a shower.

Post shower and ready to drag yourself into bed you looked up at the ceiling fighting sleep when you heard your door creak, Peters eyes darting around the dark room till they landed on your stiff body “hey are you awake” you nodded stupidly “yeah I’m up” you twisted around in the sheets, scooting over so he could have get half the bed, “is my dad asleep?”

He just shrugged as he climbed into the bed “Friday where’s tony” you asked aloud, one of your favorite parts of the new update was tracking where you all were in the compound. “Mr.stark is in suite�� you just shook your head a little “safe and clear” peter sighed resting into the bed comfortablely, “I can’t believe you own Spider-Man pants” you giggle looking at him Choice of pajamas

You two talked for a while about nothing and everything as you usually did, you fell asleep and peter just watched for a while, you’re tense expression dwindle away drooling on his chest as you curled up tighter against him. It wasn’t long until sleep over came him and he too slept long and hard.

When you woke up, you rushed peter out and back to his room stealing kisses and feeling the adrenaline of doing what you’re not supposed to.

And this continued for a week, a full week of blissful domestic sleeping, the best sleep of your life. Cuddled into your boyfriends body and completely aware of your maybe consequences.

Friday night you sat around the dinner table. “Not for you to take this the wrong way but when is May getting back peter?” Sams question has everyone’s eyes on the two of you, trying to his the fact your holding hands under the table “she’s supposed to get back Monday-I’m excited I haven’t seen her in forever” Sam just nodded to the answer going back to his mash potatoes.

After dinner you all gathered in the living room to play some games laughing and fights and boards flipping halfway through a game of life. “Yknow Thor maybe you should have six sets of twins” everyone laughed at the joke seeing his two cars trailing behind another. “Haha, you and peter are probably the only ones here who will have kids” Wanda blurted and you wanted to dissolve. Of course tony hadn’t taken that the wrong way but everyone kinda shut up. The game ended with vision being victorious and everyone went their separate ways.

Peter was the next to slip up, on Saturday night you were doing what you usually did, watching a horrible reality show on Netflix about nothing but sex and bikinis and girls with awful fake tans. Bucky, who luckily always found a way to spend time with you on saturdays, was really invested though he’d never admit. “I really really thought brad and Angela were gonna get together by the end of that episode” you laughed at his commentary.

Bucky was sitting criss cross on the floor between your legs as you sat on the couch “Bucky I swear your hairs gonna look.. fantastic” you chuckled as you braided another section “are you sure you don’t want Rasta beads on the front” he scoffed eyes still trained on the tv in front of him “no sam would laugh at me and Steve would probably make me take them out” you leaned to the side and forward to look at him smirking and continuing with trained hands at the clusterfuck of braids in his hair

“I think when you take these out your hairs gonna be like beach wavy” taking a comb and brushing out another section “like micheals hair?” You sometimes forget he’s not up to date on all the technical girl stuff “yeah micheals hair makes him like 10 times hotter”

“Who’s hot?” You practically jumped out your skin, Bucky got startled and went into defense “Peter what the fuck, you don’t sneak up on people like that!” You slung an arm over the back of the couch to hit him but he just laughed and swung over to sit next to you. “Another trash reality show marathon” he laughed as he watched the show along with you.

As more time passed you stopped paying attention to peter, when you finished buckys hair you leaned back and curled into the blanket. Watching peter now, he never really got into these show like you and Bucky, you didn’t even get into these shows like Bucky.

And then you felt the little pang of jealousy you got when a girl tried something with peter, he was obviously always uninterested in anyone but you. “Did you just look at her ass?” Peter broke his gaze from the tv and fixated on you “what?” Buckys eyes left the tv too looking between the two of you on the couch opposite to him, mouth full of frosted mini wheats straight from the box.

“You totally just checked that new contestant out, stared at her ass!” He laughed and the got serious once he realized you werent joking. “Babe.. you’re kidding right?.. I really didn’t even look and–“

“What’s all this babe stuff peter” both of you stopped shellshock and turning your heads to look at your dad fridge open as he rooted through it “it’s- uh.. yeah- hey mr. stark” you wanted to laugh and piss yourself at the same time.

“It’s some new slang stuff tony, Yknow how the kids are today” Bucky covered for you as he got up to put his Wheaties away “I’m gonna head to bed kid don’t watch it without me” he winked as he turned around shooting finger guns at tony- “goodnight buck” you all chimed at the same time

“Jinx”

“Double jinx”

“Triple jinx” you all harmonized like a well oiled machine, your dad let out a deep chuckle as he stirred his fresh coffee

“Okay cut it out, since you don’t look busy why not come help me in the lab kid” you both looked up excited and tony looked at you a little sad, “we can work on your new suit” you just let your smile fade and nodded

You three walked down the hall together in complete silence “so dad, this is like the seventh?- seventh right peter?- super spidey suit and I’ve yet to see mark one of iron girl” peter nodded to your predictions statement and tony just rubbed his temple as he picked up the speed and hurried to the lab peter going too. You stopped at your bedroom door “I’m still gonna be asking for it in the morning” you shouted at them and tony just looked at you down the hall smiling at his little girl.

You stopped at struck a quick pose “I am iron man” you mocked his voice, you could see the skin around his eyes crinkle when he laughed just as the elevator door shut them from view. And you headed into your room.

Not a few hours later peter snuck into your room, you paused the movie you were watching and looked at him as he slumped into your bed half sleep already “Yknow I had to call your dad babe for the past 3 hours because he didn’t believe it was slang”

“Hey you’re the one slipping up not me- and god please never call me babe again I already am my father” he chuckled against the pillow his face was smushed in “cmere baby I wanna cuddle” you rolled your eyes and clicked off your tv “Peter any form of babe- not even bae- is acceptable anymore, get creative”

Then came Sunday- the day known to be wasted away worrying about everything you have to do and getting none of it done.

Soon after checking if tony was in his suite you texted peter

You:Come over peter

Peter parker:The last time you texted me that... 😏

you:Just get your ass over here I want to cuddle

You didn’t hear him till your door pushed open and he came into the room. He sauntered over and kissed you. “Hey” he smiled pulling away “hi” , “so what do you wanna do tonight” he asked sitting on the edge of your bed.

You pulled your legs into a cross cross position sitting up against the headboard, “I don’t know, wanna make out?” He just smiled at the brashness murmuring a soft ‘yeah’ as he climbed foreword kissing you. Soft kisses turning into strong ones and you were laid down peter over top of you savoring every second.

“Y/n..” before the words left his lips you’d already felt his hard on press on your thigh for a second. “Are you okay if we..” you asked, usually when you guys did it it was at Peters house and this was new territory.

Peters eyes locked with yours, your peaceful demeanor soothed his anxietied state. He started kissing you again grinding against you this time. Your hands that were draped around his neck ran through his hair finding purchase on the back of his head. You loved being close to him just as much as he did you. The heavy weight of his body against yours made you relax, you felt safe.

Your kiss moved to his neck sucking a small bright red spot that’d be gone by morning you tapped at his side to turn over and you two did just that, resting on his abdomen before scooting down, kissing at his collar bones that peaked beneath the shirt.

You tugged at the top, pulling it up and over his head before just scooting it off the bed. “As much as I’ve seen you peter, I miss you so much” he had the most blissful look in his face. Completely content. Lips a bright shade of pink tucked into a smile. You went back to kissing all down his chest admiring every part of your boyfriend.

“I love you” you smiled and pick your head up to look at him “you what?” He never wanted to pull you down on top of him more “you heard me”

“I love you more peter” you punctuated the statement pulling your sleep shirt over your head. “Can I-“ you gestured to his shorts tucking your index fingers into the waistband of his boxers “yeah” his throaty response stung at your ears.

You pulled both the offending items of clothing off his hard cock sprang up and rested back against his abdomen while you dropped the clothes off the bed. Hands landing on his thighs, gently patting and rubbing the muscular legs you adored.

You pressed down on him leaning forward to kiss him before going back down hand wrapping around him, his head fell back on the pillow already. You pumped him slowly kissing at his v line admiring your work as Peters breath shortened.

You licked your lips before wrapping them around the tip, sucking slowly, tongue twirling over his slit tasting his oozing Precum leisurely taking more of him into your mouth. “Fuck, y/n” Peters hand slipped into your hair. He wasn’t a head pusher but he liked to rest his hand and feel your movements, something to ground him and not get lost in his senses.

You kept bobbing he let out faint noises of moans. “Y/n I can’t be quiet you know that” voice strained and quiet

You lifted off him, a bit of spit had dribbled out your mouth, a slick string of mixed bodily fluids attached you to him. “Hey, FRIDAY put on sound control. Block the whole room out” you spoke fast. “Yes miss stark” the response made you happy.

“What the frick is that” you looked at him massaging his thighs again before stroking his cock. “We had to add an update because I play music too loud for people to sleep. It’s just in my room” you smiled at him and he gracefully laid back to his resting position

You returned to your previous activity’s sucking harder. He didn’t hold back letting out all the beautiful sounds he knew you loved to hear. “That’s it baby” hands returning to your hair as his hips threatened To jut out. You took a hand down petting and rubbing his balls coaxing his first orgasm out.

Peter groaned hard, not expecting to cum so quickly his hot load shooting in your mouth, swallowing quickly and pumping him through his high. Scooching up to rest above him he pulled you into a heated kiss, stomach hot and body aching, wishing to be touched. He pushed at your shorts sliding them down your thighs as much a he could. You lifted one knee at a time trying to get the clothing off. Somewhere in that your tits ended up in his face as he watched you struggle “babe” he chuckled watching you wiggle around in attempt to remove your clothes.

You looked up at his face, he was smiling tenderly post laugh and you just gave up sitting down on your bottom to pull them off your ankles, taking the time to take off your underwear. “I could’ve helped” he fake pouted running a hand from your calf to your knee then up to your thigh as he moved over top of you.

Peter kissed your neck giving warm wet kisses down your chest. He flicked at your nipples before wrapping his lips around one sucking generously eliciting vague sounds of pleasure from your mouth. Your legs wrapped around his mid section, Peters body slotted perfect in the space between your legs. You leaned your head back bumping into the headboard as his tongue swirled and lapped at the bud “ow” hands slipping to hold the spot.

He pulled away fast “are you okay?” Full of concern “yea yea just keep going” you burned in embarrassment as he smiled back, nothing ever seemed to go as smoothly and as sexily as you imagined. Peter leaned back down sucking the other abandoned peak into his mouth, he picked up on the tongue swirl you’d done to him earlier. Caressing at your hip, you looked down seeing his back muscles flex in the dim light coming through your window. “God you’re so sexy” words slipping past your lips in pleasure.

You could feel the smile against your chest as he continued hand sliding between your body’s to your aching core, nimble fingers dancing in all the right places to make you sweat. “Peter” the soft moan of his name had him jumping. Finally letting his fingers glide though your folds, wet and eager.

His head descended kissing down your stomach before placing soft kisses across your hips, legs parting when his three middle fingers rubbed at your clit, fluid and steady movement supplying just the right amount of gratification to leave you dizzy.

Your hips raised involuntary, one of his hands come up to push you back down.

He pulled his fingers away from you, a soft whimper at the loss of the stimulation he provided. “Peter-“ you’re voice was hoarse and whiny as you looked at him so badly wanting him to do something,anything.

“Peter please just fuck me” you could feel the air that left his mouth hit your thigh when he let out a chuckle, your body was hot all over and all you wanted was him. Peter craned over you kissing you more his knee coming between your thighs as you went to shut them.

When you two parted you leaned over to get a condom turning back to peter, sitting on his haunches between your parted legs, his hand wrapped around his cock as you opened the foil packet.

Almost as soon as you’d discarded the packet peter had the condom on and pulled you back to the bed kissing down your neck and shoulder “I love you y/n” hot messy words as he kissed your knuckles fingers interlocking as he held your hand.

You looked down between you two taking the one free hand you had to guide him in, sighs of practical relief left both of you as he slowly sunk in. Your free hand is just now as interlocked as the other, the back of your hands pressed into the sheets Peters nails digging into the fabric below as he started to move his hips.

He groaned so softly “fuck” he kept the slow pace he’d started, wanting you to fully adjust. “Please go faster” your breathy voice that theatened to moan was enough for him to increase his pace. Both your breathing and the sound of you bed creaking filled your ears.

Your legs wrapped around his hips, a loud moan left your lips as he hit the spot he’d been looking for adjusting to hit it with every thrust. Peters lips felt warm and wet when he bit on your shoulder removing a hand from your grasp to hike your leg up. “Fuck you’re so tight” he sounded breathless.

You bit your lip “let me ride you” he continued thrusting and then stopped abruptly “and it’s not even my birthday?” He smiled coyly pulling out as you two switched positions, Peters hands reaching out and greedily grabbing your thighs. You flipped your hair around getting it out your face grabbing onto his shoulders and raising your hips off his lap as he helped himself running his tip along your slit the rubber glistened even more “go ahead sit on it like a good girl” if you weren’t so ready to cum you’d have blushed but he knew just how to egg you on.

Lowering down onto him felt like being impaled in the best way possible “fuck” starting with a grinding motion and starting to rock up and down, the bed squeaking even louder. Peter brought his hand down to rub your clit, going over in a back and forth motion, your hips bucked up to him and a loud moan ripped through you “fuck peter don’t stop” he knew just how to bring you to the edge.

You bounced faster on him his fingers working magic “peter- fuck I’m so close- can I please cum?” He nodded one hand on your waist to help guide you “cum on my cock baby” you whimpered at his words before cumming hard around him clenching down and eyes rolling back “holy shit” you breathed out against the skin of his neck as you his in the crook, body slumped and leaned forward. He was still hard and ready inside you “use me Pete” you whispered in his ear kissing his sweet spot.

Peters hands ventured at your waist rubbing the skin before he grabbed handfuls if you hips his fingers dug into the skin of your ass as he gripped hard, picking your body up and moving you up and down him- god what his super strength could do “who’s is this huh?” He asked as you pulled your head out of hiding moaning a ‘yours’ as he moved your body all on his own. power and Dominance in every movement

You were a mess- your cum coated his cock as it pulled against your sensitive walls “pete- I cant just-“ you whimpered out as he just dropped you down on himself over and over. the sound of you body colliding back with his rang in your ears and you bit your lip to hold back a moan “cmere baby” Peter thumb cradled your chin as he pulled you in for a wet hot kiss, you’re eyes felt sewn shut you were breathing heavily through your nose as you let him in swallowing his groan as he thrusted up slowly the short quick movements seem to hit ever spot you could imagine in such little time “peter let’s- holy fuck- let’s switch” you pulled off his face and he nodded, hand firm gripping himself to pull out and flip you two over.

His warm hands held on to the expanse of your back before just tipping you straight off his lap onto your back, instead of into your pillows you now looked up and seen your footboard as peter smiled down at you before kissing your neck, soft wet open mouth kisses full of every tender moment his actions might have lacked.

Your hands came down around his neck one dancing across the tender skin from your previous attacks, the other gliding through his hair and grabbing at the bit on the nape of his neck- “Peter” you moaned breathlessly

Peters hands had found its ways to your thighs as he kneeled over your body. Fingers leaving impressions from grabbing at you. He sounded just as breathless as he pulled off you admiring the mark he left- soft red and swollen soon to be dark and purple. He lifted your legs and moved you around, adjusting to an easier position.

“Tell me you want it- tell me you want me as much as I want you” his face was red and hot, he still looked so soft and nice sittting above you “fuck- peter I want you” you grabbed his hand lacing your fingers just as he did before. He moved his hips easily finding his place sliding in so perfectly “it’s like you were made for me”groaning he commented. the silence that surrounded you both felt so comforting and empty- filled by every noise made in the room. The light bed rocking, gasps and groans as he quickened- the skin on skin contact decimating into a tune you’d hum the next day.

As he moved longer and stronger he let go of your hand pushing his into the bed propping himself up as he rocked into you. Your legs wrapped around his pert ass, his toes digging deep to keep traction on the soft sheet. “Fuck y/n” he breathed through gritted teeth

“Peter I’m so close- are you with me”

He nodded biting his lip, looking down to where you wrapped around him so perfectly “I’m right behind you”

He let the consistency of his movement out the window, he was hitting deep and hard and fast. “Peter-“ you grabbed his bicep “cum in me” he locked eyes with you if he wasn’t so caught up in making the two of you finish he would have had a kid in a candy store expression. Instead he quickly pulled out taking the condom off and sinking back in, soaking in the feeling of his bare cock in you, everything he’d imagined and more. But he could barely ground himself at the moment he had to focus on the rough feeling of raw knees pressing into mattress.

Everywhere you touched left fire, every noise you made sounded like birds chirping on a Sunday morning, everytime he looking at your face eyes shut in pleasure holding your self back, waiting for him.

It was all too much “y/n— holy shit— I’m gonna cum” he moaned hips twitching and eyes rolling as he came feeling the relief of the tension in his stomach as his coil snapped. Jutting in and out a few times relishing in the feeling of you, hot, wet, messy and tight. Feeling you pulsate after you came.

He collapsed on top of you, dick buried deep, chests heaving against one another, your legs wrapped right around him. You could hear him swallow deep in his throat as he let out another deep breath. “Holy shit best one yet” he groaned feeling your chuckle vibrate against his ribs. You ran idle hands through his hair, regaining from your own orgasm.

You two sat like this for a minute until he got enough and pulled away “god damn” he muttered just enough under his breath to not be heard. Pulling out slowly not wanting to go, admiring everything he’d been able to do. “I feel sticky” you locked eyes as you both looked down

“I can’t believe you let me do that” he fell over next to you on the bed, you scooted over to give him more room. “You deserve it, plus I’m on birth control now”

“Your what!?” He smiled and practically giggled picking his head up to look at you.

You just nodded “I said I had cramps” you elaborated. He just kept breathing an arm sneaking down to play with your hand “we should tell them”

You sat up looking down at him “if we tell we can’t do things like this” you frowned

“Am I just a secret to you?” He didn’t sound accusing, he sounded sad.

Pity and guilt filled your chest. “It’s not like that and you know it- I just wanna-“ you readjusted your searing and looked him in the eyes

“Stealing moments like these make it worth it for me, but tommorow I’ll shout from the rooftops I’m in love with peter Benjamin parker, dad be damned”

“Dad be damned” he chanted, bright toothy smile in place

“Scream it now, sound proof and all” he gestured around the room

You shut your eyes and shook your head,

“IM IN LOVE WITH PETER PARKER” you shouted

“Cmere let’s get you cleaned up” peter groaned, sitting up and taking you with him on his way off the bed

Afterwords you two laid in bed “do you know what time it is” you mumbled against his side as you curled up against him

“Snack time?, please I want grapes” Peter brushed some hair out of your face as you groaned

“I don’t think I can get up I’m so tired” you looked up with a pout sitting up onto your forearms, cradling your head. “... but if you give me a piggy back ride” you smiled and he leaned in kissing your forehead, soft lips pressed against the sweat soaked skin.

“Deal.. but I want one on the way back”

You immediately furrowed your brows and he chuckled “I’m kidding, I’m kidding... unless”

“Shut up” you laughed at him leaning off the bed to pick up the discarded clothes from earlier. Tossing his shirt and shorts over and sitting up to put on your shirt the two of you got up

You piggy backed all the way to the kitchen, being as quiet as you could.

It was complete silence, you could hear the flick of the light switch, overhead lights shutting on and illuminating the common area.

“Do you think Sam ate all my grapes?, I swear to god I’m this close to making tony call a meeting” he turned to like at you as you jumped onto the counter just shrugging.

When the fridge door opened it lit up his face, the led glow compared to the light created by Tony’s green initiative was nothing.

“And what would the queen of stark industry, miss y/n stark like to snack?” He joked with you turning and flashing an award winning smile

You shrugged hopping up to open a cabinet. You found the worst best snack In the world. The peanut butter and jelly two in one and a spoon. Breakfast of champions.

Peter watched you crack the jar open leaning against the island and popping a grape in his mouth. “I don’t know how you eat that” he laughed “I mean how psycho do you have to be to eat a pb&j minus the bread” you rolled your eyes “for one- it is good- your just a baby about trying new things and two— did you just call me psycho?” You hopped back into your place on the counter watching him with murder eyes as he flushed with color. “I kid” he shrugged.

You two giggled and talked. eventually you closed the lid on your jar and he zipped the packaging of him grapes and you were on his back once more.

You immediately fell into bed shrugging off your shirt “were still cuddling I hope you know” you looked at peter as he took of his shirt and shorts. He met your eyeline a little smile on his face “and who am I to deny you cuddles?” He joked around before falling immediately silent. You had lifted your hips and slid your underwear off under the covers, thinking nothing too much of it before just throwing them on the ground.

But peter couldn’t help but feel a slight excitement. He never really said anything but he like the idea of the two of you sleeping naked. He doesn’t really know why. So he just went over the foot of your bed, adjusting into his spot on your bed. you flipped to be facing him just as he threw his boxers across the room. “You’re a mess peter” you mumbled scooching in closer to him, holding him across the abdomen and laying your head flat on his chest.

Peter liked the feeling of your skin against his, it was soothing almost therapeutic. You were quick to sleep so he just laid there in the dark playing with your hair and listing to your breathing. It wasn’t much longer till he too fell asleep.

—

Early bird gets the worm was Steve’s thing. And apparently he thought the best course of action was shock. So he started with tony.

It took him a while but he eventually got tony to wake from his sleep. “What the hell are you doing Rogers”

Steven would just plaster on a bright smile “up and at em tony we’ve got big plans today” of course your father just grumbled and tried to turn back over. After a few minutes of Steve poking him he huffed and got out of bed.

Then they even to Bucky. Steve has this one down pack. Growing up the only way nicks mom could get him up on time was.... a wet willie. As much as Steve hated to pull this card he was more excited to have a productive day with the team. Something they haven’t had in a while

With Bucky awake they divided and conquered. Wanda, vision, Sam, Clint, thor, and Bruce were all quick wakes.

Now all nine of them stood outside of Natasha’s door. “I’m not doing it” Sam spoke up. An immediate uproar of ‘not it’ fell from the group. Steve eventually sighed and took the job of waking her up. Much to his surprise she was already up and in workout clothes. “Morning” she addressed Steve as he entered her room seeing the small flock of avengers .who were watching like this was the next best thing, scatter in the hallway.

Then that left you and peter.

It was bright early and seven am when you woke up with peter laying almost across your body. You had to push with a bit too much strength to get up, head groggy and eyes fuzzy.

upon standing You immediately felt the tingle between your legs that , from last experience, would go away to a dull ache in a hour or so. Hobbling into the bathroom you peed, washing your hands and splashing cold water against your warm skin. You had picked up your toothbrush when you heard footsteps of impending doom coming down the hall. “Oh no- oh shit” you mumbled dropping your toothbrush on the counter. Just as you got out the bathroom taking a side glance to peter who was passed out with the sheets and blankets pushed down his naked body past his thighs, only the knee down covered. “Peter” you whisper screamed. He stayed plum asleep no wiser to the world around him as you scrambled to find a shirt- any shirt- which happened to be Peters.

The soft knock on your door made you heart rate pick up. Peter twisted his head to the side but didn’t even wake up a little. “Y/n” you heard your dads voice. You almost shit yourself when the door handle moved. You looked at the lock in pure horror in the split second between the handle twisting and the door opening.

Peter forgot to lock the door after getting a snack. Peter forgot to lock the door. Your dad is coming through that door. Peter is completely asleep. Peter is completely asleep completely naked and completely exposed.

Fuck

You could hear tony shush all the avengers just as the door cracked open. He assumed you were asleep it being so early and all. When he opened the door and saw you, you froze in place. “Good you’re already up” Steve spoke up behind him.

At the same time Bucky Sam and nat rushed down the hall “peter isn’t in his room. Where could he be?”

Your eyes flashed quickly between your entire family standing in your doorway. Down to your fathers koala slippers and then up to his eyes, bright and cheery despite the obvious exhaustion he hid so well. By now his eyes had a chance to give you a one over. You were flushed and looked jittery and nervous. Then his eyes hit your bed.

And all hell broke loose.

“WHAT THE FUCK”

That one woke peter up.

“Dad” you tried to keep your voice calm

Peter frantically pulled the sheet up then the blanket all the way to his neck.

“UH— Mr.Stark I-Um fuck” he swallowed hard. His stomach was in his throat and he felt increasingly more uncomfy as the other avengers watched from the door.

Tony clasped his hands together and took a deep breath “peter I’m gonna ask this one time- and I don’t want you to lie” he spoke pointing his finger at him barely wanting to open his eyes after the sight he just had to absorb.

“Yes sir- mr. stark- sir” you had to close you eyes and shake your head. Peter was his mentee and, hell if you didn’t know any better you’d think your dad liked peter more, the most peter would get is a slap on the wrist and be on with it.

But here was peter parker acting like your dad would blast him down in the next ten seconds if he misspoke. “Okay-okay- why IN THE HELL are you NAKED in MY daughters bed?” Tony finally looked at the boys face. He was covered in a shade of red he’d never seen.

“Dad” tony whipped his head to you almost having forgotten you were right there. “You’re not speaking for him” he turned attention back to flustered, scared shitless, bare naked peter. “If I have to ask again, what the fuck is going on peter- for the love of god just say it”

“I’m in love with your daughter” peter whispered. You smiled and I love you too wasn’t practical in this situation but you mouthed it to him anyway.

Tony let out the deepest most exhausted sigh you’ve heard leave him in years and just shook his head “I can’t deal nor process this right now. So I’m going to go to my room and take a nap and I want to see you both as soon as I’m up” he turned and pushed past the rest of the power rangers to get out mumbling things under his breath your glad you couldn’t understand.

You turned and looked at nat who was hitting Sam who was trying not to laugh. “But mr.stark I’m in love with her” he mocked Peters voice. And you rolled your eyes. “I have no words” you looked him dead in the eyes. “And if you pick on peter about this again I’ll tell my dad you knew the whole time” Sam shut up quick and you slammed your door shut.

Peter let out a sight of relief sitting up in your bed. “Holy shit y/n tony knows”

You got into the bed handing him his boxers. “I couldn’t even care less right now I need another four hours sleep”

Peter laughed and curled up into a cuddle with you. “You’re just like your fucking dad”

#Tom Holland #Peter Parker #Peter Parker smut #Tom Holland smut #avengers #stark!reader

172 notes · View notes

harringtonstudios · 4 years

Text

bail. (part II)

plot: the morning after. part 1!

A/N: SMUT!!!! i don’t think i’ve ever written a part two as fast, thank you all for your encouragement. hope u enjoy :)

taglist: @iamdorka @no-shxt-sherl @bakerkells @findingmyth @rosegoldrichie @mayaslifeinabox @itjustkindahappenedreally @hnbtx @backoftheroomandnotbelonging

Unlocking your hotel door for the first time this morning felt like a relief. Thanking the hotel manager, you shut the door, slumping against the back of it. Your phone was dead, you had the worst headache in the world, and things had gotten a little more complicated with Colson than you had ever wanted.

Crouching on the floor for a second, you let out a long breath. Thinking through all the things you had to do today before leaving Portland, you walked over to your unmade bed from the night before. Plugging in your phone, you moved aside the sheets, starfishing across the mattress.

In a few hours, you were supposed to be driving everyone to Washington. Your dad was expecting all four of you at his house by dinner and you knew that once your phone charged up, his texts would come flooding in.

You didn’t particularly want to address the whole situation with Colson. It was obvious last night that you weren’t the only one with some type of feelings, especially with the way his eyes had constantly tried to focus on your own. There was something there, and even though confronting it would be the mature thing to do, you kinda just wanted to curl up into a ball and push it all away.

Mentally, you composed a list of reasons why you couldn’t talk to Colson about your feelings.

He’s Rook’s best friend. Rookie basically idolizes him and you would just be getting in the way of their friendship.

You two were supposed to hate each other. That’s how it had been since the moment you met.

He was such a dickhead.

Granted, the last reason wasn’t great, but everything else made sense. Closing your eyes, you made a decision. Your weird crush on Colson needed to end, for both you and your brother’s sake.

Your phone dinged to life and started buzzing almost immediately. Reaching over, you saw your dad’s name flash. You picked up the phone call, smiling to get your tone of voice back to normal.

“Hey dad!” you cheerily greeted, wincing a little at how excited you sounded.

“Y/N, baby. Where are you guys? I’ve been trying to reach you all morning,” he responded, and you could hear the chaos behind him as he crashed around the kitchen.

“We’re just getting breakfast. Can’t drive on an empty stomach,” you lied, gritting your teeth as your voice cracked.

“Breakfast? Honey, it’s 2pm. You haven’t left yet? Is everything okay?” he rambled and you could hear the nervous tone laced in his words.

“Yeah, the guys just had a late night. You know them,” you muttered, brain racing at the fact that it was already mid-day.

“Well, drive fast sweetheart. We’re all waiting for you,” he stated before saying his goodbyes.

Hanging up, you swung your legs around, getting off the bed. Throwing all your belongings into the rolling suitcase you’d brought, you cleaned up. Grabbing the key from the table this time, you dragged your stuff out before walking down the hall to Rook’s room.

“ROOKIE!!! UP,” you shouted, banging on the door. You heard a crash in the room, and you hammered even more, trying to get his attention. The door cracked open, and Rook stood there, eye looking even worse than it had last night.

“Oh fuck,” you mumbled before pushing his door open. His room was decently clean and he was still in the same clothes as last night.

“Get changed, brush your teeth, I’ll pack your shit up,” you pointed towards the bathroom, eager to get this show on the road.

Within a few minutes, you had partially covered his black eye with a light layer of foundation. Throwing him your sunglasses, you handed him both your suitcases.

“Can you go wake up Slim? Make sure he has all his shit in order, then go put everything in the car,” you ordered as he groaned.

“Why can’t you deal with Slim?” he asked, shuffling out of the room.

“You deserve it for making me deal with this fuckery,” you responded, blowing a kiss before closing his hotel door behind you.

Running into the staircase, you walked up to the fifth floor. You were ready to take charge today, brushing away any sense of feelings that may have come out last night.

You had taken Colson’s key last night, just in case something had happened with your room. Keying in, he was still slumped on the bed. You spared him a single glance before getting to work. Shoving things into his backpack, you moved around the room, making sure you weren’t leaving anything out.

After fully packing, you turned towards the bed. Hands on your hips, you thought of the best way to wake him up. After a second, you leaned down a little, nudging his shoulder.

“Hey, get up,” you muttered, shoving him a little rougher. He stirred in his sleep, mumbling something as he moved his limbs around. You gave him a final hard push and he grabbed your arm.

“I’m fucking up,” he grumbled and you twisted your arm. He softened his grip, letting you pull away.

“Good. I put all your shit away, can you change? We needed to be on the road like an hour ago,” you explained, moving back towards the door.

He lazily got up, moving to the edge of the bed before murmuring, “Did you stay here the whole night?” His morning voice was in full effect, and you bit your lip, avoiding him.

“You’re just not gonna answer?” he asked again, and you sighed before saying, “No, I didn’t. Now, if you don’t mind I’m gonna go set up the car.”

Leaving the room, you stood outside the door. You couldn’t just ignore him the whole time, and if you were being honest, you’d rather answer his questions now than later in front of everyone. You hesitated and before you could change your mind, you opened the door again, walking back in.

Colson was standing in the middle of the room, wearing nothing but his boxers and a pair of socks. “Y/N, shit, fuck,” he shouted, reaching something to cover his body with.

Usually, he wouldn’t care, walking around half-naked was his thing. But this time, he was scrambling around trying to hide the evident hard-on he had.

You blushed, realizing that maybe you shouldn’t have just busted in.

“You needed something?” he questioned, pitch a little higher than before. He was holding his stupid, white shirt from last night over his dick and you let out a little laugh.

“Glad you find this funny,” he grumbled, throwing his shirt on the desk. You’d already seen his strained boxers, there was no point in covering anything. You closed the door, moving a little closer to him.

“Not funny,” you said, smiling as he furiously pulled out clothes from his backpack. His eyebrows were furrowing and you could see his frown line as he threw his wardrobe out. Shirts flew up, and within seconds, the room was just as messy as before.

“I just packed those, c’mon,” you scoffed, moving right into his space. Reaching for his backpack, you put your hands around his wrists, stopping his movement. He paused, and you waited for a second before making eye contact.

His pupils were dilated, eyes blacker than blue. It took your breath away, knowing that he wanted this more than you thought he did. His pulse was strong against your fingers, thudding in the silence.

“Fuck, Y/N,” he whispered, breaking eye contact. He hung his head down and you bit your lip, all thoughts flying out of your mind at the sound of your name in his voice. Squeezing his wrists a little harder, you leaned in, kissing his forehead.

He lifted his head and you dropped his wrists, moving to be right in front of him. Cupping his face, you pulled him closer, pushing your lips together. He kissed right back, warm heat enveloping your mouth.

Immediately, he pushed you back a little, until your back was straight against the desk. Putting his arms on either side of your body, he moved closer until you could feel his body against yours. He was so warm, radiating heat and you let out a little moan as his dick brushed against your belly.

At the sound of you, he kissed you even harder. You bit at his lip, trying to get a reaction out of him. Moving your arms to lace them behind his shoulders, you scratched at the base of his neck. At the feeling of your nails on his skin, he cursed, breaking the kiss apart to take a breath.

He was panting and you could feel his dick twitch slightly.

“Holy shit,” you breathed out.

He looked back at you, smirking before getting back to your lips. This time, you opened your mouth wider, letting his tongue slip in.

One of his hands came down, landing at your hip. Gripping it tightly, he grinded his hips, letting you feel every inch of his dick.

“Yeah? You want this,” he muttered, voice low and husky. Your eyes fluttered and then, you were pushing him back. He stood there, and you looked at his body, chest rising and falling as he moved his hair out of his face.

“Fuck it,” you whispered, mostly to yourself before pulling on his hand.

“You have ten minutes. Make me come,” you shot at him, moving to the bed. He looked up at you, eyes wide before regaining his composure.

“Is that a challenge?” he whispered, hands already under your shirt, reaching to pull it off. You nodded and then he was taking off your t-shirt, slightly pushing you down on the bed.

Hovering on top, he kissed your neck, one of his hands dipping behind you. Skilled fingers unclasped your bra and he moved it off before looking up at you.

“Challenge accepted,” he rumbled out and you could feel how wet you were, just at his words.

Moving down your body, his tongue lapped over your nipples twice, warming them before he bit down on one of them. Pulling one nipple between his teeth, you let out a moan, hands going down to his unruly hair. He moved to the other one, biting down again before leaning up to blow cold air on it. The sensation was so different and you arched a little.

“Y/N,” he mumbled and you felt heat start to build at his use of your name. He kissed right between your chest, before putting your nipple in his mouth again.

Sucking it slowly, he used his hand to play with the other one, pinching the nub in between his fingers. Rolling it slightly, he bit the other one a little and the pleasure started pooling.

Looking down at him, you pushed his hair up, trying to catch his eye. Realizing what you wanted, he looked up at you, tongue swirling around your nipple. His eyes met yours and you felt your mouth fall open. He waited a second before moaning with you still in his mouth, and you suddenly felt yourself fall right off the edge.

Moaning out loud, you felt your core pulse as he continued to play with you. You tugged at his hair, pulling him up so that you could kiss him, panting into his mouth.

No one had ever made you feel like that just with their mouth and you were a little surprised, not sure if it was Colson or the unresolved sexual tension both of you had.

Moving back a little, he looked down at you, arms on either side of your head. Smiling he whispered, “I win.”

You laughed at his cockiness, pushing him to fall on the bed. Grabbing your bra, you clasped it back on, feeling the tenderness of your chest. Pulling your shirt on, you patted at the warmth on your face, willing it to go away. You knew that all day, you would feel Colson’s fucking mouth sucking and biting at your boobs.

Looking down at him, you smiled. He was flushed, arms tucked under his head. Casually looking at his boxers, you saw that his hard-on was gone, a stain blooming against the material.

“Did I do that?” you whispered, leaning down to kiss him once, chaste.

“Mmhm,” he responded, letting his forehead touch yours.

“I win,” you shouted, sitting back up, throwing your arms in the air as a victory.

“You’re so fucking annoying,” he scolded, smiling as he looked up at you. There was no hint of anger in his voice and you felt yourself smile back, knowing that the meaning behind his insults had changed.

Your phone went off and you slowly got off the bed before seeing your dad’s caller ID flash on the screen.

“Shit, Colson change!” you yelled, scrambling to pick up the phone.

“Yeah, Dad. We’re on the road, just a few hours away,” you lied, trying to stop a laugh as Colson started shoving things back in his backpack.

Maybe you had ruined everything by letting your desire take over, but at this moment all you could see was the red of Colson’s cheeks and his smile as he looked over at you, flashing a thumbs up as he zipped his bag close and things just felt good.

830 notes · View notes

varietysworld · 4 years

Text

right then so I just finished crooked kingdom and I have a lot of thoughts and feelings about the grishaverse generally so I'm going to share them here now

First off, let's talk about the shadow and bone trilogy.

Enjoyed v much, the lore, the powers, the plot, all of it was just so enticing and different and it was rly interesting

Not gonna lie wish that some of the characters had more depth (@mal)

But alina was a powerful girl trying her best to protect the people she loved. Loved her a lot

PLOT TWISTS IN EVERY BOOK. literally everytime I went "OF COURSE. HOW DID I NOT SEE THIS COMING"

Super dramatic and emotional and complicated and interesting and just loved Leigh's writing style and narration and the

NIKOLAIIIIIIII love him so freaking much, and genya!! Toya and Tamar and David and jshdskhfx

loved/hated darkling, LOVED alina, LOVED nikolai, accepted mal, ending made me go 🥺

Not gonna say I loved the ending, but it was cute and made me happy. They're happy so I'm happy. Not much else to say haha

Now, let's talk about six of crows

The CHARACTER DEPTH. GIRL. Like every single one of them had a deep emotional story and were complicated people. I loved the characters in alina's story but everyone in six of crows was just,,,,wow

DIVERSITY!! In color, abilities, size, everything just, so so good

KAZ TERRIFIES ME CONSTANTLY BUT HE'S REALLY J A BIG SOFTIE AND WANTS THE BEST FOR PEOPLE AROUND HIM AND 🥺 and the the revenge he needed and relieved just, wow

Inej and nina and Mattias and jesper and Wylan and kaz and their friendships and bonds to each other and dhjsshhddhfusjja

Honestly Leigh couldve split the story into 3 books but I'm so glad she didn't bc the fast pace of both books works so well

ugh. I'm sad its over but happy too

I don't wanna say it was better than the other ones but... I kinda liked it more? Idk but the dulogy just felt more complex?? I enjoyed the Grisha trilogy a lot but I think I enjoyed the dulogy more. Maybe I just like heists and thievery more lmao

Overall both were v good and enjoyable series :)

Alright, now about that Netflix adaptation...

I'm kinda scared. Like the last update they had introduced the cast, but the cast shown was from both series. So does that mean they're gonna try combining the stories?

I think Jesper was canonically darker and Nina was canonically bigger but i could be wrong. I mean getting semi-accurate rep and casting is good step so

After the ATLA dissapointment im a little worried that netflix might drop the complexities and emotional sides of characters to add more "sex, drugs, and romance" into the plot which is... bladgshdys

I have a feeling they're gonna try to throw some kind of a love triangle in there or make Kaz not have issues touching people or make nina and kaz have romantic interest in each other or hfjsusjajfjdhdf

idk im worried theyre gonna drift from the plot for the sake of ✨drama✨ we'll see

Anywho, I'm highly reccomend these series and I enjoyed them alot. The grishaverse is complicated and interesting and enjoyable and yeah! I'm happy to be here :)))

#the grisha trilogy #alina starkov #grishaverse #shadow and bone #six of crows #crooked kindgom

14 notes · View notes

theluckiestwitchathogwarts · 5 years

Text

Heartbreaker

I definitely squealed with excitement. Hella plot progression, hella fluff and oh my god its so cute!! Out now on AO3 and FFnet or below the cut!!

(also enjoy my HC that Snotlout is terrified of heights)

After a horrible night’s sleep, tossing and turning over her brother’s words, Ruffnut decided to ditch training and have fun. She made her way to Snotlout’s house, and pounded her fist against the door as the sun broke over the horizon.

“Shut up, shut up, what do-” Snotlout, rubbing his eyes, finally glanced at Ruffnut and froze.

The sunlight shone upon her face, giving her the glow of a warrior in Valhalla. His eyes widened by a fraction and the corners of his lips lifted into a smile as she gushed about something, barely listening to her words.

“Oi! Did you hear me?”

He shook himself from his daze and lowered his eyes, mumbling, “You’re so beautiful.”

“What was that?”

“Oh, um, just that you woke me up and I didn’t hear you.”

“Oh. Alright. Well, let’s go flying today, like right now. Go change.”

Rubbing his eyes again, Snotlout went back inside and shut the door. Ruffnut sat on the stairs of the Jorgenson house porch and leant her chin on her hand, propping her elbow up on her knee.

Beautiful...

She supposed she wasn’t hideous, but she couldn’t quite point out the features that made her beautiful, not like Astrid with her flaxen hair that moved like silk, and her icy blue eyes holding the wisdom of all the gods combined, and the way she captivates a room just with a glance and-

“You wanna go now?”

She turned her head to stare up at Snotlout.

“You think I’m beautiful?”

His eyes widened, the skin on his cheekbones blushing ever so slightly, before he shrugged and said, “Who doesn’t?”

She stood up, staring at him with an eyebrow raised before lowering her gaze and turning, saying somewhat dejectedly, “Let’s just go.”

“Aren’t we going to get Tuff and your dragon?”

“Nah, I just wanna ride with you today. I’m kinda fighting with him again.”

“Are you okay? Do you want to talk about it?” She felt his hand hovering over her shoulder, hesitating before lowering it, but shrugged it off. He didn’t say anything, but she could feel his hurt.

“Maybe some other time.”

Hookfang had heard their voices coming closer and was ready to go, even bouncing from side to side after quickly eating the breakfast Snotlout tossed to him. Snotlout opened the gate and the Nightmare tore through it, his wing knocking Ruffnut into him. Ruffnut wobbled backwards, almost hitting the ground before strong arms wrapped around her middle.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Thanks.” Her flat tone told Snotlout that she was done talking for a while, so he jumped up into Hookfang’s saddle and held a hand out for her to mount behind him. She took it, wrapping both arms around his waist and lacing her fingers in with his.

“Ruffnut, I kinda need both hands to steer...”

“Right...” She let go of his hand, sliding it down slightly to give his arm room to move and leant her cheek against his back.

Once they were high enough over Berk, Snotlout glanced back at her and, with a soft smile, placed a hand over her thigh. Ruffnut looked up, saying, “Don’t you need that to steer?”

“We’re high enough now, and Hooky wouldn’t do something stupid while you’re here.”

As Hookfang levelled out, she replied, “You wanna see something stupid?”

“What-”

She scooted back along the dragon’s long neck, placed her helmet behind her on his back, crossed her legs and swung over the side, reaching for the clouds below her. Snotlout, looking back at her in confusion, paled the moment she took her helmet off and, flailing, reached an arm back trying to grab her.

“WOOOOOOOO!!!”

“What the Hel are you doing?! Get back up here Ruffnut!” Snotlout’s voice was a mix of fear and impressed, but Ruffnut wasn’t done.

“I don’t think I’m strong enough!” Ruffnut called back teasingly.

“Argh!” With one arm on his dragon’s horn, he reached down to grab her arm and pull it back up before she pulled him down with her.

“What- AHHHHH!!”

Just in time, he crossed his legs and wrapped one arm around Hookfang’s neck and the other clutching his helmet. Thankfully, for his sake, he had let go of Hookfang’s horn in time.

“WHAT ARE WE DOING, RUFF?”

“What, don’t guys like you like to have a little fun?”

“THIS IS SO DANGEROUS!!”

“Same thing! Hookfang, can you drop by the nearest sea stack so we can get up again?”

Hookfang, beady eyes alert, dove below the clouds again and quickly found a large sea stack where he gently lowered them.

“Odin, Ruff, don’t do that again! That was-”

“Exhilarating? Yeah it was!”

Snotlout stood up, shaking, and wrapped his arms around Ruffnut.

“You terrify me, please don’t do that again.”

“Aw c’mon, it wasn’t that bad. What are you, afraid of falling?”

“I’m not scared of anything, I’m a Jorgenson!”

“Then why is hanging from Hookfang’s neck flying in the arena any different to out here? You know he’ll catch you either way.”

She placed her hands on his shoulders, pushing him away gently to look at him, but he couldn’t meet her eyes.

“Why don’t I help you get over this fear? You’ll have a lot more fun if you do.”

“I’m not scared but...” He took a deep breath. “Sure.” He looked up at her, almost in awe of... everything. She’s so brave, too brave. I’m not worthy of her, I never was...

It wasn’t until her nose was almost touching his and he could feel her breath ghosting over his face that his thoughts stopped, and he heard her ask, “Can I...?”

Without answering, he met her lips gently, almost asking her if it’s what she really wants, to which she deepened it in reply. His arms that were wrapped around her now gently curled her waist and her hands lovingly cupped his cheeks.

Gods, I think I’m in love with him.

________________________________

And so their routine started. Everyday, Ruffnut would go to wake up Snotlout just before dawn and they would fly out around their sea stack. The first day, Snotlout tried to back out of flying upside down with her, until she was already twisted underneath Hookfang and tried to grab her arm again. The next day, he placed his helmet between Hookfang’s horns and crossed his legs so tight Hookfang decided to throw the helmet off, making Snotlout scream and go after it, Ruffnut still hanging by her legs and screaming in delight. Day three proved to be better for him, as Snotlout turned around in the saddle to face Ruffnut and helped her hands as she swung them both downwards. He bit back a scream, clenching her hands as tight as he could and held his eyes shut. Over the wind rushing in his ears, he heard Ruffnut scream, “You’re doing it!” before kissing him hard and pulling back as he tried to deepen it, forgetting where he was.

His eyes flew open and all he could see below him was the open sky, clouds dancing with the sun and the water shining, dotted with sea stacks. Next to Ruffnut, it was the most beautiful sight he’d seen.

Gods, I’m in love with her.

After working on Snotlout’s fear, they would settle on their rock in the sea stack and have breakfast before heading back to Berk and starting their work. Snotlout would sneak some bread and cheese from the kitchen and Ruffnut cooked whatever meat she could find, also packing a canteen of water for them to share. Occasionally they would arrive home late, but all Tuffnut did was smile, making Ruffnut uneasy.

Ruffnut realised she had to make a choice soon. At this point, she’s playing her brother more than Snotlout, if she’s playing him at all at this point. Only a week later did the heartbreaker become heart broken.

Buy me a hot chocolate?

#writing #fic #heartbreaker #how to be a heartbreaker #marina #diamonds #httyd #how to train your dragon #ruffnut #snotlout #tuffnut #fishlegs #hiccup #astrid #rufflout

17 notes · View notes

sol1056 · 5 years

Text

multipart ask on Keith

I would honestly love your thoughts on Keith’s character development, specifically him leaving for the Blades in S4. Personally I’ve always been on a fence with how they wrote Keith’s character after that. For one, he started as a lone wolf and I always thought they would subvert that along the way with more character interactions and team building episodes like in S1, but apparently S4 throws all of that away. I thought him forcibly being the leader of voltron would be a great opportunity for development but Shiro takes his place in the black lion and Keith just leaves.

It really didn't help with all the signs pointing as him as the true leader of voltron when he barely even interacted with the team personally (except for shiro) after that point. To top it all off his “maturation” was a two year time skip montage with his mom and he suddenly became level headed and ready to fly Black. So when he finally returns and become the leader of voltron it felt a bit underwhelming and hollow. To be honest I also find his interaction with the team afterwards kinda out of character [...]

I just wanted to hear from a writers perspective if Keith leaving was a good idea for his character in general. He had some really good scenes in his time with the Blades but i personally think in exchange it took way too much [away from] his development with the others. I also wonder if it's even possible [to execute well] leaving for the Blades and then becoming the leader of Voltron.

Here’s a general rule: avoid leaving any of your protagonists at a bus stop.

A few chapters is already pushing it; the equivalent of 1.5 seasons is out of the question for all but the most superlative of writers. I’ve met superlative, and believe me, no one on the VLD staff qualifies. If they did, they wouldn’t have been writing for VLD in the first place.

The start of S4 will forever baffle me. Had S3/S4 been broadcast as a complete season, I might’ve assumed there was a technical error, and would’ve tweeted at Netflix and not returned to watch until I got word this really was the midpoint episode. No warning, no foreshadowing, not even a peep out of Keith, and suddenly he’s working with the Blades.

In an ensemble cast, the point is that it’s an ensemble; you don’t forget one of your core cast at the bus stop while the story-bus trundles on. If Keith were meant as a protagonist, then sidelining him for 1.5 seasons is an even worse crime. If the intent of the story, thematically, is 'stronger together’, shoving one of them out of the picture is pretty much the antithesis.

This is not to say you can’t do it; in hindsight, I think the clone should’ve been shelved and the real Shiro returned at the end of S3/S4. But that comes with the assumption that a) the team would struggle a great deal more in his absence, b) prompting development that would create a new dynamic once Shiro returned, and c) that Shiro himself would change in some degree, from/during his absence: one that, by definition, that would need to be complete.

In other words, if you’re going to remove a protagonist, two things must happen. One, they must be removed, which Keith wasn’t. The story checks in on him irregularly, and each time, he's treading water while the story moves on. Two, the absence must become a driver: in a sense, the absence is a presence of what’s missing, and regaining the character must be paramount.

VLD put minor effort into recognizing the impact of Shiro’s absence, limited mostly to the torture-porn of watching Keith isolated in (and by) grief. It couldn’t even be bothered to do that much, when it was Keith’s turn to fall off the team. No one missed him, no one needed him. The result was a clear message there was nothing Keith brought to the team that couldn’t be done by someone else. There was no presence in his absence.

Consider the few scenes in S4-S6 with anything of Keith. His storyline did nothing to push the main story forward. In S4, the Blades are focused on tracking a new quintessence, a subplot that discovers nothing, provides no twists, and goes nowhere. In S5, despite Keith being with the Blades, the two groups have dropped communication to such degree that neither is aware of the other’s participation in the Kral Zera.

If you’re determined to leave a protagonist in another castle, for heaven’s sake, use that distance to allow them to continue to impact the main storyline. Make their absence into a working presence that can link the two groups; the complete radio silence just underlines how meaningless the story considers Keith, in the overall plot.

In that light, Kolivan’s left-field decision for Keith to extract Krolia feels like VLD was grasping at straws, trying to find something to occupy Keith. Worse, that mission contradicts S4: the quintessence is no longer blue, no longer notable for its energy levels, and no longer transported to secret bases in massive quantities by major warships. It’s back to the usual maroon, carried on small cargo ships in limited quantities, and now a dangerous substance with questionable side-effects.

In a nutshell, VLD left Keith mired in pointless actions with no bearing on the rest of the characters (hello, suicide attempt never mentioned again). Late S5, VLD realized it needed to get a move on, if Keith was to get an upgrade. So it took the easy way out: an overload of exposition flashbacks that neatly evaded any emotional beats between Keith and Krolia. VLD had no idea how to get Keith from point A to around point K, so it settled for just telling us Keith had grown up. On a space whale.

Had we been given a better reason (or any reason) for Keith joining the Blades, had we been given a hefty sub-plot for Keith that led him back to the team in an organic fashion (or at least dovetailed with the main throughline), had the story used those seasons to show us Keith learning with the Blades in a way he couldn’t or wouldn’t with the team... well, for one thing, it’d still contradict the ‘found family’ and ‘stronger together’ themes, since it’d be even more clear that Keith was stronger elsewhere.

But setting that aside, at the very least, Keith wouldn’t have returned feeling he’d gotten a personality transplant. We would’ve seen his progression, such that any given point along the way would’ve been recognizably Keith, even if the starting and ending points were almost a one-eighty. It’s called character development; most stories do it as a matter of course.

I’m left concluding that the creators genuinely don’t grasp that characters will change per their experiences. It’s a crucial element in storytelling, because characters are the core of any story. If you can’t figure out what would make a character choose A this time and B next time, you’re failing on one of the most fundamental aspects of characterization. In fact, you’re missing the entire point of a story: character choices are the plot.

I do have to take exception to ‘signs pointing to [Keith] as the true leader.’ I’ve posted before about the mentor trope, and how Shiro’s S1/S2 arc contradicts Keith as Black Paladin. I suggest you read those before coming at me with the assumption VLD did any of the work required to establish Keith's leadership as inevitable.

It’s possible to have someone strike out on their own, learn valuable lessons, and return grown-up and able to handle the situation they’d originally fled. It’d be a very different story, though, one that isn’t focused on a titular robot, but on a single protagonist’s journey. It’d also be a story that has nothing to do with ‘stronger together,’ as the movement away (to learn) and back (to reclaim) means the protagonist only became stronger when they weren’t with the rest.

Keith taking command of Black in S6 should feel like a victory in terms of his arc: where once he’d recoiled, now he steps forward. But since we never saw how or why his perspective changed about leadership, all it would’ve taken is a subtle shift in Yeun’s delivery and we could be talking instead about how Keith returned and was still in his ‘you want me to lead, this is how I lead’ pique.

Shiro’s return creates another turning point where the question would be logically raised, and it’s almost as though (once again) there’s an episode or two we didn’t get. It’d be reasonable for someone to raise the question of whether the team now swaps again. Yet no one does, and we’re supposed to expect Keith --- who waved the little ‘Shiro is Black’ banner far more and for far longer than any other character --- is now content to command Black, with no need to even broach the topic.

That’s a radically different perspective Keith shows in S7 onward, and it’s a problem created by the lack of development for Keith, in S4-S6. In the course of a single episode, we literally went from Keith being his slightly out-of-his-emotional-depth awkward self, to someone clear-eyed and commanding almost to the point of arrogance. It’s not helped when his original characterization returns for the duration of his fight with Shiro --- only to blip out again as soon as Keith returns to the team.

And forcing that abrupt shift on Keith’s part meant the rest of the story (and the characters) got shoved around into their respective places and out of shape, as well. Stories are made of characters, and characters are dominos. You knock one over, and it has a cascade effect. Changing Keith from the character we knew to someone else wearing his face could not happen in isolation, and every character around him suffered as well.

Like Shiro and Lance, Keith had major potential to be a groundbreaking character. He was introduced as the kind of independent, socially awkward, spitfire character usually pushed to the forefront in American media, yet S1/S2 gave him a solid place as Shiro’s greatest supporter. Keith had all the makings of a hero we rarely see: someone who truly believes the title of leader is beside the point, that the team is what matters.

I’m used to Gundam, which almost always strives for a resting place of five (or four) protagonists standing shoulder-to-shoulder. There might be one among their ranks who gets the central position, but the narrative is firmly consistent that should the team lose any one person, it would fall apart. There’s no need to ever tell us the team is ‘stronger together,’ we can see that lesson play out, over and over, whenever the team is divided, split up, or loses someone.

AtLA followed a similar pattern; by the end, it’s obvious the strengths each person brings to the final battle. There’s no question that every single one is crucial for victory; there’s no point where someone leaves and there’s not immediate and significant impact on the remaining characters’ successes. Sure, Sokka may not be able to bend like the rest of them, but without his brains, they’d be sunk. Katara, Toph, and Zuko might not be able to bend every element, but if any one of them isn’t there, the team is going down. Aang may command the central position, but he can’t do it all on his own.

While AtLA shone in having characters who visually broke the mold of our usual white-dominated, male-dominated American cartoons, it also broke away from the lead hero + band of intrepid (but far less capable) sidekicks. Like Gundam, it presented a group of characters who grew into a true team. The pictures might show Aang in the middle, but every one else contributes an equal amount, in their own way.

VLD had the makings in its first two seasons to go that route. But its EPs wanted dark and edgy, a perspective too cynical to embrace the optimism inherent in a team-based story. Sure, their deconstruction of VLD’s S1/S2 trope-subversions brought the story to a point where Keith was declared the definitive top guy, the true Black Paladin, head of the paladins.

Thing is, pushing Keith into that position required altering his personality beyond all recognition, destroying the team dynamic, and gutting any chance of recognizing the other characters as equally integral to team success. In effect, making Keith the de facto leader required destroying the team: and what’s the point of leadership, then?

#vld #voltron #characterization #character arcs #analysis #sol thinks about stuff

122 notes · View notes

destiny-smasher · 5 years

Text

Game of Thrones is over

We all learned a very valuable lesson recently, didn't we? Writing endings is hard. And I mean, seriously. It is for longer stories. Probably part of why it's apparently been, what, seven or eight years since a book has come out and Song of Ice and Fire still ain't done? Anyway, yea. Game of Thrones, as a TV show, has been pretty dang important and influential over the course of its eight year run. I feel like TV as a medium and how we collectively/culturally look at it has changed in part because of this show. It hasn't been without its faults, but for most of its run I'd say it's one of the best TV shows I've ever seen, certainly. Too bad the culmination/conclusion is so deflating.

It's not AS BAD as other endings to big popular things I guess? But yea, yeesh, oof. You can kinda tell right when they ran out of material to draw directly from and started having to make stuff up, and I think that's part of the problem -- it feels like where this all concludes doesn't line up with where the rest of the story was building toward. You know, kind of like the original Fullmetal Alchemist. The ending isn't everything, of course, but when it's a story of this nature, the ending is a LOT. And GoT betrays so much of what it built up, seemingly for no real reason. Nothing of substance. One of the series' strengths has been subverting expectations -- leading us to THINK we know what will happen, only for the opposite to. However, when GoT was at its best, these "twists" often weren't "twists" so much as "aw fuck that's totally what's gonna happen and it'll suck"

Events like The Red Wedding work so well not because of shock value and also not because of subversion or dark/grittiness, but because they MAKE SENSE and line up with the core theming, are built up toward both across the whole story and within the specific episode. I've spent a lot of time watching video essays on GoT this past week and the finale felt like it went out of its way to quote or reference previous episodes as if to try and convince the audience "no look this makes sense see?" when it...was just all too sudden. The IDEAS of the last season COULD have worked. But here's the problems. - it's not really subversive anymore when you've already subverted things too many times, it's just pointlessly mean - changes in personality/motives/behavior need to feel gradually built up to feel earned

- when your entire story is focused primarily on interwoven character arcs, you kinda shoot yourself in both feet and can't walk anywhere now when you throw half of those arcs in the garbage and then just shrug at another quarter of them. - when you set your story in a world with magic and fantasy and lore and keep alluding to backstory and keep us oriented on supernatural/mystical characters at the center of plot stuff but then never contextualize any of that it turns characters into mcguffins. So main takeaways: - don't follow a character around for a long period of time as if they are important if you're ultimately gonna just act like they're not important, GIVE THEM SOMETHING TO ACCOMPLISH and use their success/failure to SAY something

- don't write things intended to produce shock value for its own sake; write things that align with what the messages of your story are; sometimes that means subverting expectations but things need to feel organic and consistent or they won't feel rewarding/earned

(rewarding/earned =/= GOOD, descents into madness, tragedy, loss, these can all feel painful but also rewarding/earned depending on their execution and purpose)

- whether you're a gardener or an architect, develop a conclusion that focuses on what the purpose of telling your story IS. With Game of Thrones concluded, I can say I had quite a ride. Some of its characters are some of the best I've seen in any fictional work. Some of its moments are the best I've ever seen in film. But here, at the end, I can't say I feel terribly edified. I feel emptiness but not in the way I feel when I finish a story I want more of. I feel emptiness in a sense of "yall threw away so much quality shit in the trash, why??"

I have finished this story and even WHILE the characters LITERALLY say aloud what the writers think are the big takeaways, the main themes, I don't...really BUY it. I don't feel like having journeyed past the earlier seasons of the stories has enhanced those themes. I'm glad they finished a long, complicated story. I'm glad the cast and crew were so great. I feel bad for them to have worked so hard only for so many threads to end in such...weird, flat, unrewarding or even pointless ways. That may be "realistic" but real life is fleshed out

'no one is really happy, which I suppose makes for great compromise.' Too bad that doesn't really make for great storytelling, because storytelling isn't the same as real life, or politics. Compromise is sometimes great in stories but it needs to be with purpose/focus.

Anyway, this is all to say, endings are hard, Valar Morghulis, do your best while you're here, I guess.

#Game of Thrones #GOT

20 notes · View notes

bynewtscamander · 5 years

Text

The Crimes of Grindelwald Review (Spoiler heavy!!)

Alright I’ll start off with a basic (post writing it: it is not basic whoops) plot synopsis for those of you nosy people who want to know what’s up before seeing the movie, or for those who can’t afford to go the movies, etc.

So basically Grindelwald escapes from prison by enchanting Abernathy and switching places with him via polyjuice potion (?) that’s my assumption just cause a spell would probably be too much work given the circumstances. He heads off to Paris and kills a family and takes over their house. He’s there with some french woman who is basically his henchman, the bellatrix to his voldemort. Newt is in London as the British Ministry has forbidden him to travel outside the country. He’s there taking care of all his creatures in his house with the help of his assistant Bunty. Queenie and a love enchanted Jacob show up and talk with Newt. Newt lifts the spell on Jacob that Queenie put, and J&Q fight and Queenie heads off to Paris where Tina is stationed as an auror looking for Credence. Cut to Tina at the magic circus (located in the diagon alley of Paris) snooping about where we learn Credence is basically the circus janitor and is in love with human form Nagini. Shows happening, Nagini transforms, and behind the scenes Credence release a bunch of creatures to cause havoc so he and Nagini can escape. They dissaperate I think. The circus packs up and moves on to who knows where. Tina runs off to investigate stuff and runs into this other guy who’s also there looking for Credence. They have a talk at a street cafe. Jacob and Newt use a portkey to go to Paris and head to the Paris diagon. Newt uses a spell to see what happened there and they follow a feather to find the guy Tina was with so they can find Tina. They meet up with said guy outside of the street cafe and have a talk. Queenie is on her own and looking for Jacob. She gets discouraged and sits on a street corner sad and french bellatrix shows up and talks with her. Newt and Jacob find Tina and they all end up getting locked in a cell by the other auror guy. He passes out and Pickett picks the lock and they escape easy peasy. Newt was told by Dumbledore really early in the movie to go to a safe house in Paris so that’s where Newt and Jacob and Tina go and they bring the auror guy to help him. They get some info from his and Tina runs off and Jacob urges Newt to follow. Jacob watches the auror, who made an unbreakable vow, while he recovers from some magical parasite. He falls asleep and wakes up and finds out Nick Flamel lives there, and the auror guy makes a break for it. Nick shows Jacob a crystal ball and he sees Q and runs off to find her. In the meantime Q was talked into following Grindelwald so she and Jacob can get married in his new “utopian” society. Meanwhile Credence and Nagini are looking for his birth mother and Grindelwald is trying to recruit him. They don’t find her. The British Ministry is keeping close eyes on Dumbledore since they know he’s in major kahoots with Newt. Flashbacks to Leta and Newt at school. Small subplot is that some gossip magazine printed that Leta and Newt were now engaged but it’s actually Theseus and Leta. Back to the main plot, Newt and Tina break into the Paris Ministry to find records of the LeStrange family. Newt uses polyjuice to become Theseus. They get in and are looking for the records and have a moment in the record library. No kissing, just a moment. Leta comes in also looking for her records. They aren’t there. Leta, Tina, and Newt fight off some ministry guard cats and head off to where the records were moved. Now we’re at the LeStrange tomb where Grindelwald has summoned his followers. Auror guy is there and ends up running into Leta, Credence, Nagini, and possibly Newt and Tina (I can’t remember exactly). They explain the LeStrange background. Leta and auror guy are brother and sister. Ther mother was enchanted away from their father by another man. She falls “in love” with him and marries him and dies after giving birth to Leta who I can’t remember now if she was half-sister to auror guy or full sister. Guy who enchanted their mother remarries and have another kid. Non blood related to auror guy and possibly Leta if she was from og parents. Credence is their brother, sort of. When going to America, Leta and “C” were on a ship and “C” kept crying so she, as a child, switched him out with another baby to get some rest. Ship goes under and “C” dies being believed to be another womans baby. That womans baby survives and is apparently the Credence we know and love. So not related in anyway. Wack. Now the Grindelwald meeting has started and Jacob finds Q there and Tina is there to spy and everyone else joins in and Theseus and his aurors are there to keep an eye on stuff. Grindelwald makes his speech, calls out aurors he knows are there, they come forward and one (planted I believe) lashes out and kills a follower of Grindelwalds. More talking and then Grindelwald tells his followers to go. Most do but obvs Newt, Tina, Queenie, Jacob, Theseus, Leta, Grindelwald, french bellatrix, Credence, Nagini, and possibly Leta’s brother are still there. Grindelwald uses fire to weed out those not loyal. Queenie and Credence both join Grindelwald. Big fight with the fire and Leta sacrifices herself so everyone else can escape. They run into Nick Flamel and they do some more fighting of the fire to save Paris. They go to Hogwarts and Dumbledore gets cleared of suspicion and it is revealed that he and Grindelwald made a magical blood pact (basically an unbreakable vow) to never right each other. Ministry wants Dumbledore to fight cause he’s the only one who can match Grindelwald. Now cut to remote mountains in Austria where Grindelwald and Queenie are discussing Credence. Grindelwald talks to him and it is revealed that he is apparently the 4th Dumbledore sibling? And this bird he was taking care of is turned into Fawkes. I think that’s everything major.

I definitely forgot stuff and I’m sure some stuff is wrong, I’m writing this 3ish hours after seeing the movie so it is still pretty fresh but I obviously cannot remember nearly 2.5 hours of content.

Time for my thoughts and opinions and impressions.

So Grindelwald’s escape. They mention something while he’s in the cell that they cut out his tongue. Later when we find out that Grindel was actually Abernathy he has like a forked tongue so idk if that’s what they meant by cutting it out?? Also I wasn’t a fan of the total demotation of Abernathy as GW henchman. Like I know he wasn’t very nice in the 1st movie but come on. Btw they were moving him from British prison to French cause he committed crimes both places. The French ambassador dude has like this whole moment where he’s fighting this creature and GW and then gets thrown from the flying carriage and almost dies on impact of the water. Then he’s just floating around and never mentioned again.

I also wanted to know if the family GW killed to take over their house was muggle or not. minor thing. french bellatrix kills like a 2 year old baby they found in the house after killing his parents and I know they’re the bad guys but like it was kinda messed up.

Newt’s house was dope and everything I expected it would be. His assistant, Bunty, has a crush on him, but he’s too invested in Tina and the animals to care. This is never addressed again. She is never mentioned again after this scene. So I thought it was dumb that her character was even involved and has the crush sub plot. Like either stick with it or make the assistant even more of a throw away character.

So when Q shows up with J she’s like we’re getting married yay. A few minutes into their reunion with Newt he can tell something is up. He realizes that J is under a love enchantment and urges Q to lift it but she’s all like no no no. I just didn’t understand why she even enchanted him in the first place? Like yes he was against marrying her based on the fact that he didn’t want her to go to prison but like was it necessary to enchant him? idk it just felt stupid and childish and tbh Q is a more developed character than the ditzy blonde who wants to get married. I guess it more just rubbed me the wrong way.

So J and Q have a fight where J is like “I dont want to marry you cause I dont want you going jail” which is a totally legitimate reason and like I cant think that there would be any significant benefits to it, i think the big thing for them would be calling each other husband and wife but tbh they could do that anyway so i just thought it made Q seem like a resilient woman who only wants a man to call her own, which like I said earlier, she’s so not. She’s an accomplished legilimens and I feel like her character got a little side lined this movie. So anyway after this fight she heads off to find Tina in Paris.

So the magic circus was super dope, definitely an aspect of the wizarding world I was excited to see. I think they could’ve spent a little more time showing it off and all that cause it was more just a setting to introduce Nagini and what Credence had been up to since the last movie.

The Nagini Credence romance didn’t really bother me, it’s kind of whatever and good for Credence for caring about someone and having someone care about him and stick by him.

Nagini herself is a whole nother ball game. I was mad dude. I still am. I think it’s one of the stupidest plot twists ever. Cause she’s basically from bloodline that is destined to turn into snakes forever and change every night and then at some point dont change back. It seemed kinda just thrown in there and for god’s sake we didn’t need some deep backstory for Nagini. I liked that she was just a snake cause it made sense for voldemort cause it’s like his closest companion isnt even human, that’s how crazy he is. So like I also dont know if he knew she was a person or what. it poses too many questions for the canon. She had a cool costume design though so i guess thats good.

The other creatures at the circus were cool too cause it was neat to see a different side to animal keeping that we didnt in the first movie. All chained up for show and from all over the world. I really liked the big cat/dragon creature (im not looking up names rn so as not to break my stream of conciousness too much). Like im a big cat person and im a big dragon person so it was super cute and when newt used the toy for it i was like awwww.

Side note, Newt when he’s shown at home taking care of his creatures jumps into the water without taking off his shirt and i was hoping this movie for a more indepth dealing with his scars but alas there was none.

I think I would’ve also liked to see more of paris diagon just cause all we get is the circus glimpse and the glimpse when newt and jacob go there and you dont get to really see any shops or stuff.

The scene where newt uses the revelio spell thats all gold and uses the niffler was great, really liked that, i thought it was super pretty and showed they werent shoving aside the beasts despite it being a more wizard driven plot this time.

After they meet up with auror guy and are thrown in jail with tina the auror guy passes out after making some little speech about how they were trapped. I dont even think he took their wands or if he did it wasnt shown or made note of. like a minute after theyve been trapped auror guy passes out. they super easily escape with Pickett picking the lock (my guess now is pick-it was the play for his name, well done, cute). So that plot point was barely a plot point.

When they all go to the safe house we find out that auror guy has some sort of water creature parasite in his eye. its gross and tentacally. newt removes it with literal normal tweezers. all it does is make auror guy need to rest for a few hours. once again, barely a plot point.

Auror guy is also revealed to have the marks of an unbreakable vow, now, correct me if I’m wrong as I’ve only seen the movie once a couple days ago now, but i literally cannot recall what it was for? like idk why have a character make an unbreakable vow, something that was crazy important in book 6, and then make it seem like it wasn’t a big deal or like whatever it was wasn’t significant enough.

So anyway, he escapes while jacob is supposed to be watching him and falls asleep on the job. Then he meets Nick Flamel who I enjoyed being in the movie as it was a good nod to the 1st book. He was a funny character but also very powerful and important. I appreciated that he did look super old cause I think they could’ve easily tried to “sex him up” by making him this banging hot young immortal guy. They didn’t and honestly I prefer it that way.

Now the crystal ball thing, was Nick Flamel a seer? Once again, may be wrong but I thought like only seers or people gifted with some form of the sight could use them? and like flamel was seeing and showing some intense visions that were very graphic and well formed so it didnt seem like he was a casual. Thats neither here nor there i just thought it was an interesting thing going on.

So now we’re with queenie who is being persuaded by GW to join him so she and jacob can get married. I mean that’s consistent with her character this movie but it does make her seem a bit weak willed. I feel like she should’ve known something was up by using her legilimency to try and poke around with gw or french bellatrix. Obvs they’ve probably trained with occlumency but i think lack of hearing those thoughts would’ve been a big red flag. maybe queenie was too emotional or distraught or whatever to think of it? Seemed like a bit of an oversight. Gahh i just wish they’d shown her resisting a bit more so she didnt seemed weak willed and we could also get a better look into just how convincing gw was.

So Nagini and Credence have located where his birth mother lived in Paris but when they go there all they find is this half (elf? i think) woman who was Credence’s nanny basically. She basically reveals his mother is dead and credence is very distraught. The one of gw henchmen (who also works for the british ministry) sneaks into the house and kills the nanny in front of credence. Side note, i did like how they showed avada kedavra in a more casual setting because it shows how merciless gw was with it. I felt like with voldemort even though he was merciless and used it a lot, there was still this big dramatic focus on it. I think the casualness added to the morbid atmosphere being presented.

So credence obvs goes all obscurial on the dude and blows up the house basically and is bombarding him with debris while he’s using a shield charm. The dude dissapperates in the end and credence goes back to being his normal self. And then I think later on at this house gw goes to him and talks him into joining him fully.

So cut to hogwarts for dumbledore. He’s teaching defense and “dueling” some kid. This kid turns out to be an ancestor of cormac mclaggen which I thought was a nice little easter egg kind of thing cause the kid gets his ass handed to him by dumbledore. So in the middle of this lesson ministry officials show up and they’re like kiddos get out. then a woman only referred to as mcgonagall (since I know there’s been some discourse about that in reference to her birth date and age and whether it’s minerva or not. tbh i did always think mm was the sameish age as dumbledore but i also do believe in sticking with the harry potter canon as it’s more concrete and developed than the fantastic beasts) she herds them out so the ministry can talk.

The robes for the 20s hogwarts students were dope btw and im so mad that they i guess went out of fashion cause like the subtle ribbon sleeves and the navy blue and red plaid skirts and the focus on sweaters was sick, really really liked that.

So the ministry is like “so newts in paris and we know it was u” and dumbledore is like “whaaaat, who knew” and plays innocent and whatever. So then the ministry gives him unlinked cuffs that can track what spells he’s casting which i thought was an interesting concept and im wondering if that’s going to be used more for law enforcement and if it was more of an old fashioned thing and thats not used during hp era? i just thought they were cool and clever.

So while this is going on Leta is poking around reminiscing about hogwarts and she was obvs a slytherin and was like jinxing kids and was very unpopular and she finds newt in this hidden nook while hiding from bullies. newt is taking care of some grindylows and a baby crow and some other creatures i couldn’t identify.

They become friends and newt takes out on this island on the black lake and shows her this tree he likes and then we cut back to present day where Leta is looking at graffiti under a desk that says n+l so she had real feelings for him at some point that were probably not returned or newt was too naive to notice. fairly on brand tbh.

Leta’s outfit for this is like a long sleeved loosish satin dress, maroon, with like a cape on that back and while i wish, for every movie tbh, that wizards always wore robes, I thought it was a nice little nod to them being magical and having different fashions.

The gossip magazine subplot was actually so stupid and I wish they hadn’t included it because it makes Tina, who believed it, seem stupid and she’s not. She’s a well trusted auror now and there’s no way should would believe a stupid gossip magazine without doing proper research.

I appreciated the little moment she and newt had upon clearing this up in the records hall. I would still have liked a kiss or something a little more considering everything but I’m not dying for one.

Blah blah blah ministry fight, the familiars used to guard the ministry were cool and i did like their design, however, i am a big cat person so i can see if some people disagree.

Gw uses this really sick method of conjuring like these huge, light, pieces of fabric that cover the buildings of paris in order to summon his followers. Im assuming they were invisible to muggles but this isn’t addressed however no one except the wizards bats at eye at them.

So now we’re at the lestrange tomb which is big and fancy and all that. So now there’s the whole credence origin reveal/lestrange background. Auror guy shows up and is like you’re my sister and credence is our brother and i was just like hmmm because leta and auror guy are both black and credence is white so how does that work.

The plot behind it is so complicated and weird holy heck. Basically auror guys parents fall in love and have him and are wealthy and all this stuff. Lestrange man falls in love with auror guys mother and imperios her to live with him and love him. Now i cant remember if leta was by both auror guys parents or if she was from lestrange and his mother. either way his mother dies giving birth to leta who is brought up, kinda, by lestrange. He remarries to another white woman and they have a baby who is in some way related to leta and auror guy. The baby’s name is corvus which idk, its weird. So eventually leta and corvus get sent to america with the half elf woman from earlier on this ship. Corvus doesn’t stop crying so leta sneaks out and temporarily (she intended) switches him with another womans baby. The ship begins to sink and thus they never get switched back and corvus officially goes down with the ship. Leta, fake corvus, and elf woman are on a lifeboat that tips and not corvus is see falling into the depths and either leta or the elf woman is seen swimming for him. It was super unclear to me whether or not they actually saved him because they must have if credence is there but like it was super unclear and im not sure.

I also dont understand then how credence ended up being adopted and leta ends up back in britain and goes to hogwarts and all that jazz. maybe it will be cleared up in the next movie but that part of the plot gets all fuzzy and unexplained.

I personally haaaaatttteeed this explanation. I may be reading into too deeply but it seems like they were just trying to make an excuse as to how the lestrange family went from a totally different race to another in like 50ish years (assuming bellatrix was born around the 60s). It also just felt like this crazy plot twist to be a crazy plot twist, nothing more. I also want to now go back and look at the black family tree and see how much info on the lestranges i can glean from that. I just think it would be interesting to see how much stuff has differed there.

So now its the followers of gw meeting. There’s several hundred to a couple thousand wizards there and legit they all look like emos. gothic emos. it’s easy to pick queenie out in her multicolored plaid jacket. I just thought that was funny that the demographic for his followers was emo wizards.

So blah blah blah speech about how the muggles are others but how gw doesn’t hate them or anything, something apologetic like that. lots of wwII imagery used to say like here’s what the muggles are gonna do if we dont take action. I think they were trying to push the hitler comparison here. Not a fan of that cause that “trope” or whatever needs to die. feels like we glorify hitler too much as the end all be all of evil in the world and history. that’s more of a personal thing for me, like the guy is gonna live forever in infamy and we as a society have pushed that and used it every which way. he needs to die out as a figure, especially with all the horrible stuff happening in the world today.

So back to way less serious stuff, to show the wwII visions gw literally takes a fat rip off a skull bong that french bellatrix is holding and blows out the smoke which forms into the images. I started laughing out loud in the theater because of this and it majorly lowered the seriousness of the rest of the movie for me.

So after all this gw knows theseus and the aurors are there and like calls em out to come down and like they cant actually do anything to the followers cause listening to someone speak is apparently not illegal even if the person speaking is like #1 escaped criminal of the wizarding world.

And then basically out of nowhere one of the aurors kills a woman, a guy who i believe to be a plant, unsure if the woman was, but it def wasnt real. So gw goes over to her body and is like “look at how sad this is, followers, please leave this place and do stuff,” and they all disapparate. so now its gw, french bellatrix, queenie, jacob, newt, credence, nagini, tina, and theseus and his aurors. (now that im thinking about it i cant recall what became of auror guy)

Gw summons some blue flames in a circle around himself that only loyal followers can pass through. all the non-theseus aurors get consumed by the flames either by charging or gw manipulating it to engulf them. So then one by one gw starts trying to convince people to join him, in the end queenie joins him much to the dismay of jacob. unsure how i feel about this, it’s an interesting duality but god i wish it wasnt queenie again. and then much to naginis dismay credence joins. gw tries to get leta to join. she wont. he lashes out at everyone with the fire but leta holds it off and theseus is like “no ill do it, escape” and leta is like “im doing it and you need to go” they (newt and theseus) linger long enough for leta to be consumed but they manage to escape dramatically.

Once outside the tomb in the graveyard they see flamel who is like “if we dont do something the whole city is gonna burn” so they all stick their wands into the ground and create a ring of fire to encase the evil blue flames and they work super hard at holding it off and they do and thats the big epic ending fight scene. it looked really cool but explaining it it seems kinda lame lol.

So now that paris is saved they all go to hogwarts and are standing on the bridge and have newt alone go talk to dumbledore and he shows his this heart charm thing which has 2 drops of blood in the center. dumbledore explains that in their youth they made a magical blood pact (basically an unbreakable vow in a different form) to not fight each other. Newt is like well can you un do it cause you’re the only dude who can defeat him and dumbledore is like i’ll see what i can do. he also gets his magic tracking cuffs off.

We get to see the mirror of erised again which was cool and i really liked seeing dumbledore stand in front of his for the first time as we all know the “sock” line about it from him. he sees gw, so no surprise there. more of a nice little easter egg moment more than anything.

Then we’re in austria in the mountains. Gw and queenie are talking about how credence is and how to get through to him and then gw walks in and starts talking to him. Gw explains that he is aurelius dumbledore. so wtf. I have big problems with this as dumbledores history is pretty clearly eplained and im pretty sure his parents werent around long after arianna so how did they have another kid? how did they lose him? is he older or younger than arianna? and if we go off the lestrange story wouldnt that make the woman who leta switched the babies on mrs. dumbledore? i also really hated this bit and i want to see how they clean it up in the next movie cause yiiiiikes is it bad. super unnecessary and kinda messed up and weird.

After this gw gives credence his first wand and turns this little bird that credence had been looking after into fawkes (assumed from earlier movie context clues etc). Which is also confusing cause like uhhh can someone actually turn a bird into a phoenix? is that even possible? was the bird secretly a phoenix this whole time? and if so why was gw able to make it grow up so fast? weird shit there.

So anyway that was my long, rambly, opinionated, all over the place, too extra, very informal and grammatically atrocious review of Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. Maybe things will come to me later and I’ll add on but this is what I’ve got floating around in my head 2 days post movie.

It was by no means a bad movie, the cinematography was great, the acting was great, I loved the characters so much. The beasts were new and exciting. My biggest gripes lie with some of the plot points brought up.

7/10 final score I guess.

#the crimes of grindelwald #fantastic beasts #fbtcog #tcog #tcog review #tcog spoilers

51 notes · View notes

areyouscarletcold · 5 years

Note

So how did you feel about flash and lot? Bc I’m seeing a lot of mixed opinions from everyone in general but you def seem angry? Not that that’s a bad thing ofc!!

Well, Nonnie, I’d rather not start any discourse (besides, I’m not gonna say anything that hasn’t already been said from more eloquent sources on certain matters).

But…

I have feelings.

I tried to make this brief and concise, which I utterly failed at doing, so I put this under the cut in case no one wants to see me yelling. And I didn’t even go into detail for some things so be grateful for that kjashdf

Shockingly, I liked Flash a lot more than Legends this week. To an extent, that is.

Maybe it was just because I was so hyped for the musical ep that once I realized how the cultural appropriation was going to fit in (and tbh I was caught up in the “wow, the gals look so pretty!” aspect before it sank in, and that is entirely my fault), I was a little worried about how everything would play out. Not to mention the whole discourse lately involving certain ships and characters.

Basically, for me it boiled down to less of a dislike toward characters/ships - because really, be nice to each other no matter whether you like canon or not rn IT ISNT THAT HARD - and had to do with how the writers handled the whole episode for LoT. Everything felt very rushed and messy in the last ten minutes to me, and a few things said in the interviews prior to the ep rubbed me the wrong way even if they weren’t intentional, and I’m honestly a little surprised more people liked this ep than not.

Because yes, LoT is meant to be wild and off the rails, but some things felt just thrown in, in my opinion (i.e. the Heyworld bit - do y’all….not realize the implications of this because it isn’t aw, my dad wanted to make an amusement park to bond with me and I’m kinda angry that the writers didn’t address that and forgave him for that reason in the end) or just never resolved (i.e. did we ever find out if Jane Austen writes again?? I’m assuming so because it’s Legends and time is probably fixed yayyyyyy but like…there were so many damn plotlines I couldn’t keep track of them this ep).

Legends has felt weird to me since they’ve come back from their midseason break, mostly for the sharp turn they’ve taken in plot - which is not necessarily bad! It’s just… Some of this feels like a plot twist for the sake of a plot twist. Or throwing in a new element out of nowhere with no prior build-up.

That being said, I did like the fact that the women got to shine and I’ve never seen any scene where women get to talk about sex (or sex dreams I suppose) in a way that isn’t stigmatized, they all supported one another and cheered each other on and it was nice to see actual bonding over a taboo subject like that. Oh, and Darhkatom was well done this episode, in my opinion.

As for Flash…

To put it bluntly, while I enjoyed seeing Nora’s past and getting that explanation (even if we all know she didn’t come back just to see Barry, but okay, writers), I’m fucking pissed.

Do I think what happened in the end was out of character? I don’t think it was too much of a reach, no. Barry’s done shitty stuff before see: season 3 and I get that he was mad and felt betrayed though can I just say that I find the whole drama over Thawne simultaneously frustrating and hilarious because it’s not like they haven’t worked with him BEFORE and the reason she worked with him didn’t even turn out to be a big deal in the end so….

Do I think that what he did was uncalled for? Abso-fucking-lutely, Nonnie.

Other people will explain this better than me, since a lot of people are just as angry as I am, but the main things that struck me the moment this happened were the fact that

1. Iris got no say in this shit and this should not have been an impulse decision. It does not matter how angry or hurt you are, you do not take that out on your daughter and you do not alienate your wife when she is actively trying to listen and get all the facts on the situation and wants to fix her strained relationship with said daughter in the future.

2. Asking to have a moment alone with your daughter and giving her tentative hope that maybe you can patch things up, right before shouting at her and breaking her emotionally before tossing her back to the future with no proper goodbye even though this would have a clear effect on both Iris and Nora and THIS IS THE LAST TIME YOU ARE GOING. TO. FUCKING. SEE. HER. AND THIS WILL BE HER LAST MEMORY OF YOU, SANS THE VIDEO CALL, WHICH APPARENTLY DOESN’T MATTER BECAUSE THIS REALLY MAKES HER QUESTION YOUR LOVE FOR HER, HUH, BARTHOLOMEW?

As someone who’s experienced similar situations with their own father via emotional/verbal abuse very similar to this and the whole throwing their daughter into a form of “time out” as if what she has to say doesn’t matter ordeal and no I am not saying Barry is abusive, so don’t even come at me with that, this hit me hard and I’ve been pissed at this show before, but that last scene with Barry and Nora (even with Thawne, because you’re about to get what you deserve is callous for someone being tortured and about to be executed, even if he’s a manipulative sonuvabitch) hurt and while I’m all for Barry being flawed and angry and getting to show that if Iris doesn’t talk him down and explain what the fuck was wrong with that choice since he clearly didn’t, I will.

All I’m saying is that this better not have excusable consequences. Barry gets a free pass all the time for behaving irrationally when it comes to being emotional, and while I obviously love his character, the fact that we’re going to have to see this writing decision play out over several episodes enrages me (especially with that one episode summary of Barry struggles to reconcile with his daughter’s actions still - HONEY if anything it should be THE OPPOSITE WAY AROUND, regardless of the fact that your mom’s murderer just taught your daughter how to use her powers, even if it was a bad decision on her part and yes, she does need to make up for that).

In short, I thought the Flash had a better narrative arc than Legends and was disappointed by the latter’s episode, but I have a ton of issues as a writer and a person who’s been in similar shoes to Nora WA in the Flash ep.

#emotional abuse tw #death tw #torture tw #call rants #and i mean REALLY RANTS #tagging these just in case #anti the flash #anti barry allen #anti legends of tomorrow #anon #i'd apologize for this but i've been sitting on this since monday night and i have a shit ton more to say but i'm not doing it here #not on this hellsite

4 notes · View notes

elizabethrobertajones · 6 years

Text

13x18 watching notes

Hi sorry I’m late I was knitting a very long scarf in a farmhouse in the middle of nowhere for a week :D

I just got home, I have tea, and I guess I am doing this

FYI I am closer in relation to a slime jelly than a human being right now

my expectations from 3 days ago were optimistically that this plays into Buckleming's strong spots and with proper care and management perhaps a decent-ish episode could be wrangled out of them if we make the allowance we're non-negotiably watching one of their episodes to start with...

That was the shortest recap Buckleming have probably ever had and it speaks to one of the strengths of this season in a way: the main problems were set in 12x23 and all they need to do is find a way to un-do them and have been making on and off progress all season. With Wayward Sisters and Scoobynatural we had to put a few brakes on it but for the sake of really entertaining side projects, and on the other side of Scoobynatural we can supposedly coast to the end. And so, we get the last spell ingredients in the very next episode and off we go, and what's left is the set up going into this, of a relatively pared down, personal story and like season 8 almost entirely motivated by what Sam and Dean WANT to do and what they are willing to do to achieve that, rather than by having some urgent problem they tangle with on and off.

I hope that the last run of episodes to the end can play out in whatever way it likes, because right now there is very little nonsense from this season that actually matters towards the main plot that isn't directly in play...

though the recap didn't mention Michael or Lucifer and we'd be so lucky if Buckleming didn't write them :P

they didn't use the apocalypse AU set but went for an outdoors version of the world... Nuclear winter maybe?? It seems like the angels and demons have a specific battlefield and in 13x14 we saw the woods where Bobby had a camp... I think this world might be in a terrible state but the natural world at least might be untouched, where it didn't have too much human influence... Who knows.

Have to explain the Vancouver snow somehow anyways :P

Ketch is still beat up looking from his fight with Asmodeus although I don't even want to match his injury level now vs what was supposedly a few hours ago at most where Asmodeus was kicking the snot out of him in a rib-breaking sort of way. The light here also has made Dean look exceptionally attractive even by his standards.

In any case Ketch is wavering along a fine line of am i here to steal jack for power or save Mary because I still have a confusing boner for her in my heart or am I just here to save myself and be a dick... the usual kind of thing. I am assuming they're gonna play at least a degree of redemption with him but it makes it interesting in reverse to Jack that it teases he may go dark but he's ultimately a sweetie... Ketch is a dick through and through but they can tease the different paths he might take. From Buckleming's POV, redeeming him before he inevitably will be killed off again might be a sense of completing his story. I remain grumbly and annoyed he's back at all, and there are some boringly predictable paths he may take so I kind of hope he doesn't, or that the final writing of him falls to some other writer.

Still. This may or may not be a first chance to kill him off and "justify" bringing him back...

"She will kill you... again."

Uhoh, angels. I feel like we might be about to meet a surprise face here... i suppose among either the angels or the humans, because any one of these angels could be a named character from seasons 4-12 brought back on a whim - including up to AU!Cas doing his job. And then the humans have their heads in bags

well it's not the first 2 humans

oh look the smaller human with the long red hair was the small human with the long red hair.

Welp.

Look, this literally does not erase a single thing that they did in 10x21 and they can NOT buy that back, but at the same time I am glad on a wider level to see her again. I wish it was not Buckleming because I just can't trust them to be doing this for any reason other than people were angry and they are throwing peanuts at us and I have 0 expectation they'll have a progressive agenda or write Charlie particularly interestingly or well.

But if it puts her back into the story and she doesn't die...

I should ask Mittens that actually :P

Okay, Mittens confirms I do not have to watch her die again.

Anyway. I doubt lessons are really learned on their end in their specific minds, which is all I actually want. I mean, Charlie could stay dead if we got a "we're sorry and we finally understand the problem and we were dicks but we'll try better" from Buckleming, and I feel like this is just literally beyond their capability with what we know about them vs fan interaction, and I doubt Dabb could twist their arms on that and have anything meaningful sink in. And so I will accept surface level that it's nice to see her again in some form but I don't have to like or forgive BL for doing this, and I can fully mistrust their motives, but like... whatever

Mary and Charlie have met, which means me writing shippy fic about them once upon a time kinda pays off.

I mean, that also implies she's a friend of Bobby's which is kinda sad because they only crossed paths in 7x20 and he broke her arm.

Also wait, as well, Buckleming brought back AU!Kevin, another character they killed and was really crappy because boo killing off the show's meagre representation and especially more meagre representation among main-ish secondary characters (i.e. anyone who has at least 2-3 episodes, on this show :P)

In that case it was a LOT more like they were doing it because it was a part of the plot, as with Benny, but Charlie was wildly egregious, and Eileen just plain infuriating and recent enough it felt clear that they had NOT learned their lesson and really had no intention of doing so. Bringing back both Charlie and Kevin means, honestly, that I can practically see the peanuts they're hurling at us with the intention of shutting us up.

Anyway yay Cas n Sam hang out times

"And Misha Collins" flashes up on the screen, superimposed over Cas.

my lizard brain: "Oh good, Cas is in this episode"

i tired

At this point, Cas and Sam bickering over Dean as siblings and brothers in law is just... so completely commonplace it slips my mind to comment on it, whereas once upon a time I would have been wildly excited just to see it, the fact of their dynamic is deliciously cemented, and I'm just happy they're hanging out now :P

I still think Sam might have had better luck reminding Gabriel of the FUN things he did to them rather than the heroic tragic supposed death which was really just, well... whatever it was, if this is the real Gabriel

Why do I feel like Sam giving him his grace is a bad idea?

Also... why has he got it on a bandana in a serving dish? Is this just because it's kinda vaguely funny, or because it was making a low whistling noise the entire time and he covered it up because it was starting to set his teeth on edge? I mean, like... what is going on here... I'm just using the cues they give us :P

Let the choo choo in

Cas learned a lot about how to handle infants when he was reading up on what to do about raising Jack. It's almost sad he doesn't have a baby to mess around with. I just spent a week with a baby and spent most of it trying to make him say "Marmoset" as his first word.

It's also wildly distracting in a hilarious way from wondering WHY Gabriel is so scared of supposedly his own grace. Maybe being what he once was, or becoming something he doesn't want to be.

Cas did the exact same thing when Crowley was trying to make him eat Adina's grace, although in that case Crowley was like omg shut up I already killed her, and you need to go save Dean for the both of us so just do it and die later, asshole, and Cas opened up with the right motivation. Choo choo.

Anyway you would freaking think SAMUEL AND CASTIEL WINCHESTER of all people would NOT try and force a foreign powerful substance into someone else's mouth when they didn't seem to want it

Jo!! Hey babe, how's running Heaven going?

Well, she has to manage this dumbass so not well, apparently. There's presumably only so much she can get out of it when he just wants to play solitaire or "strip poker" with her... (playing with himself vs playing with someone else... is it a metaphor for him just sitting in his room jerking it while she does all the work? :P) but anyways... i love the image of his stupid pointy throne like hurr blurr look at me I run heaven and she's got a practical comfy chair next to it to sit and like... actually run heaven :P

Her "out" sounds like she was definitely off doing whatever she could, and both of them are reading/pretending the other was doing nothing, while Lucifer was BLATANTLY doing nothing and has no interest in doing it, while she needs the symbol of being attached to him to get what SHE needs, aka actual power and ruling Heaven, and clearly has run into a problem she can't deal with, without having Lucifer standing next to her.

You know, like how they say to bring a man when you go car shopping because you'll get a better deal and not get ripped off

mittensmorgul side note: EVEN HEAVEN'S COLDEST ROOM HAS A SOFA BUT NOT THE DEAN CAVE #MadAboutIt

elizabethrobertajones You know that was the very next thing I was going to type

Lucifer uses Dumas to neg Jo about how she should be happy to be his "first lady" of Heaven, focusing on the me me me me side of the problem, grumbling about their relationship and how she's nagging him as a way of her showing disrespect etc

In this case I think Buckleming MAY be hitting the right note, maybe even on the side of too heavily, of Lucifer as the useless entitled male and Jo as the smart competent woman with her shit together... I mean, to the point where I'm ASSUMING we're on Jo's side but it might be one of those things where they literally do think it's funny to make her nag lucifer and they're on his side but I'm so wildly feminist compared to them that I literally can not read this scene from any side but rooting for her first, Dumas second, literally any other angel who might walk through the door third, and finally and firmly last, Lucifer

I mean, Lucifer is literally draining Jo for power and is presumably at this point completely dependant on her since they may be doing a drug metaphor again, especially an implication that angel grace is addictive, re: Asmodeus (and what a nice throwback to Cas and how strong he was to resist it with all his heart when it was destroying him but also to say how TOXIC being an angel really is, perhaps also re: where we're going with Gabriel)... And yet he still claims Dumas rules in his favour when she answers neutrally, showing him choosing to make a wilfully wrong interpretation to back up what he wants to see. Aka this is not a metaphor for anyone in power right now and throwing around the word "first lady" in this scene means nothing? :P

Dumas tries to remind Lucifer that he said he could make angels and he's like no go away and get Jack.. reeeally starting to doubt that he can do it

lol "your father created. you inherited"

Sister Jo is amazing and also I think I witnessed Buckleming shitting on Trump for a whole scene and I'm actually kind of amazed and horrified we agree on an extremely broad and obvious political issue

Asmodeus has those balls you spin around to strengthen your hand... on the other hand hehe he's playing with balls

we're going from the all-white heaven throne room with the asshole devil sitting on it, to the dark hell throne room with the all-white angel grace addicted demon sitting on it. This is actually a reasonably good scene transition and in general so far this episode has been weirdly well paced to the 9 minute mark at least, with a well-placed title card reveal, a how are sam n cas scene after and then the 2 sides of thrones one after the other, showing how the seats of power are doing right now...

not sure how long this LASTS but good editing may one day save us from the Buckleming nonsense if someone would just be sterner with it. There's so much in their episodes I could chop out...

Also, Asmodeus is getting more interesting, twitchy and fidgeting now he's in withdrawal, and well aware that the grace was the only thing making him remotely a power player.

lol @ dean letting branches hit Ketch as they go

in fact I'm headcanoning that he turned around and noticed him missing because he didn't hear the satisfying "thwap" of another thorn hitting him in the face and had to look to see what happened

oh, nothing dramatic, just Ketch being a drama queen. Anyway, it was more of an incentive to start that argument than them just getting into it at random while walking so... kudos for introducing a scene with more than "we are talking about this now because we are"

Dean leads with that they're looking for Charlie because she's seen Mary, then she's seen Jack, and "we need her" - a clear practical motivation. Ketch counters that there is a different, personal reason to want her saved. A use your words correctly moment.

Aaand now Dean's been shot by a slaver... the AU is fun

Oh, this is a different bedroom set with no stairs, probably so they could ruin it by painting all over it. I wonder if Gabriel manifested this, because idk if they'd have left him the resources :P

"It's his story, starting with his death" - a nice person translated some of it and found it WAS Bible verses relating to Gabriel, but the question is that this is going to tell us something different. The set people write a different story than the script, especially as there's no bible verse for 5x18 :P

Oh good, so even if Gabriel isn't speaking, we're getting his words, in a way, including with snark about how Lucifer has half his brains, which in 5x18 seemed debatable that he might be whiny but did actually have a big old apocalypse going, but by now with Lucifer reduced to rubble in terms of being actually frightening, effective, or driven, all the archangels are diminished one way or another, including Gabriel himself. But his words betray the personality underneath lives on and is around and maybe retrievable, as there is snark within this writing, even if outwardly, Gabriel is a mess.

I mean.

I type this as someone who is so tired I can't speak without getting every sentence backwards and I have half-lidded eyes, am utterly depleted to the point I can barely walk, but inwardly, typey typey chatty chatty and I can still get much more advanced words out if I don't have to move anything other than my fingers and no running the words through the mouth. I am essentially borderline catatonic yet inwardly full of words and snark :P

(I just travelled like 150 miles today after a week of touristing and these things don't stack well with chronic fatigue)

Also to get this read, we need lots of close ups of Cas's hands touchy touchy... I like this. Cas likes to touchy touchy and we get to see close ups of his hands. Everyone wins

and by everyone i mean don't imagine cas reading dean's face like this

"Gabriel was gone, and suddenly, I was free - no obligation to God, or Heaven, or mankind."

("And so I did what anyone would do. I moved to Monte Carlo and shacked up with pornstars.")

The first line - epic. The second... lol. Gabriel's tastes have been compared to Dean's since we met the Trickster - they even bonded a lil over his sense of humour and the babes he conjured for Dean in the final confrontation. I was musing on some reverse verse art and realised angel!Dean written with no hang ups would be remarkably like fanon!Gabe, which just put me even more off Sabriel. In any case there was always a direct line between him and Dean. Of course, Dean literally has also crossed off his bucket list sleeping with a favourite porn star, so though chronologically it seems Gabriel got there first, it's another Dean trait being handed to him.

But on the other hand... back to the serious line... he DOES have hang ups, and he has the same angel hang ups that Cas does. This is the comparison of what they did after the apocalypse, and the diverging paths they were on. Cas felt this obligation to God and Heaven which played an overall part in his downfall in season 6 - 6x20 hammering home that he's waiting for God to tell him no before he does the thing, and in that moment of despair of missing the sign, he goes and does it. Cas has been struggling with this a long time and this is another thing along with the Sister Jo storyline and the stuff she said to Lucifer in 13x13 about feeling human, that picks up where we were in season 10 with Cas and the human arc and so on, and how he relates to being an angel. The sense of burden and obligation, his restraint from doing stuff like naffing off to hook up always obvious because we had Balthazar in 6x03 advising him to do what he had done, and what now we know for sure Gabriel was busy doing in the same time, only much better at staying under the radar about it.

Cas has never faked his death but he has died time and time again and each time he rises once more with an obligation and duty... and this time he's determined to work out WHY he was brought back, but see also rambles in 13x14 re: no you dummy you were brought back because your family loves you and wants you around, not because you HAVE to do anything, so stop running around trying to find that purpose and do what you want because you want to do it.

... but you know, do Dean instead of pornstars

"He goes on and on about pornstars"

*Sam looks utterly grossed out* "Cas, please..."

Cas is a good egg, he and Sam don't need to know the deets so he skips over an entire wall

what's with Lucifer's suit? I know I'm supposed to be all fashion meta-y but honestly all I got is "it's boring and black and with the sunglasses he's obviously a douche and evil but is he supposed to look like one of the MIB?"

mittensmorgul He's playing that other Lucifer, the one who moved to LA to solve crimes? Maybe?

elizabethrobertajones ooh is that a thing? :P hahahaha

mittensmorgul either that, or my first thought was heck he thinks he's one of the Blues Brothers "We're on a mission from God."

elizabethrobertajones yeah it looks a lot like that their whole thing was - originally - to do something to help a priest, right? I only watched half the movie

mittensmorgul YEP

mittensmorgul well it was an orphanage they were raised in that they were trying to save, run by Sister Mary Stigmata

elizabethrobertajones anyway I never watched enough to know if they were truly misguided or did something good and their nonsense was just them being nonsensical :P like, I know they were raising chaos but did they do it? you said "trying" to save >.>

mittensmorgul yeah, all sorts of wacky circumstances try to prevent them from putting on a fundraiser concert to save the orphanage (including the police, neo-nazis... all sorts of "evil") but the end of the movie is the concert, and they save the day Let the Good Times Roll as it were (Lucifer, however, failed to pull the trick off and gave up)

elizabethrobertajones yay :D so the reference could be that he's trying to do good like they are but continues to be a total fail whale

He tries to listen to prayers, and after like 3 seconds decides it's awful and he hates it when it's just people "whining" and begging for help - this is an ongoing part of his comparison to human!Cas, when Cas went to the church and dealt with faith from the other end, being the petitioner instead (having already been God at this point :P). The Buckleming vs faith stuff is a surprisingly good and consistent thing, and other notable moments are Dean's confession in season 10 and Amara being affronted by the Church in season 11.

Lucifer tunes in on a random exorcism instead, probably because he thinks it's more fun.

Poor random demon (Anthony?)... that would ruin your day.

I mean, technically he did exorcise the girl...

Probably should have just claimed to be God, not Lucifer. If you wanted to impress them. Now it just looks like these priests have a bigger problem on their hands...

Yep that went about as well as it could go. You need to stop... melting people..

oh what do I care

Anyway Lucifer has no self control because tantrumy child blah blah blah

I took a break to catch my mum up on 13x17 and wow it really rubs it home how Heaven and Hell are being manned by performing buffoons with none of the skills to do the job. Asmodeus is a loser and not even juicing himself up has made him anything more this season, summed up best in an episode where he's entirely absent and Cas's response to being imprisoned is weary eye rolling... and Lucifer is just playing at being his dad, while continuing on the path of revealing his temperament to make it impossible for him to rule effectively...

lol Ketch is so out of the game: "these... I don't even recognise" *Dean opens his gun to reveal the angel killing bullets*

You gotta play to keep up

"You don't look good."

"Well, you're not my type either."

Dean remembers last season, huh? He is pretty on the ball about not getting seduced that time and knows Ketch would do it at the drop of a hat to get what he wants from Dean.

see also: top bunk and Dean agreeing subtext from last episode

basically: Dean is still a small amount vulnerable to Ketch's seduction depending on his leverage, despite everything Dean knows about him, and that's enough to put up the barrier. Especially when he's hurt.

Oh no, Ketch asking Dean what's up with Charlie anyways and guesses "she broke your heart" and Dean symbolically collapses.

Literally what happens to Dean between 10x21 and 10x22

... okay metaphorically

I mean platonic heart breaking

I find it literally impossible not to mentally insert the feeling that Ketch killed Charlie in another lifetime and doesn't remember it and Dean is struggling with that, but Ketch genuinely has no idea, but he has become such an avatar of Buckleming nonsense in my head that I can not disengage him from the concept of dead Charlie - because also MAGDA poor lil duckie - and as such I feel a sort of all-purpose Buckleming rage directed at both the concept of Charlie's death and Ketch speaking on their behalf, which ends up in a very weird cross-purposes where I am struggling to read the story accurately, which is to say, that Ketch is genuinely innocent and just being annoying, rather than actually responsible.

Don't watch stuff this tired, kids

And, of course, immediately after establishing that Dean is somewhat vulnerable to Ketch's seductions, he swoons and Ketch comes running to check his temperature and open his clothes to check his wound

#manly bonding in the woods

guys, this is what Ketch WANTED to engineer in 12x14 but couldn't get his shit together to be human enough to actually do the things that turn Dean on

like... heal him

*cough*

Not saying that there's a serious danger Dean will be seduced. However, Dean wounded in the woods for the sake of Ketch taking care of him is a fan fic concept and as contrived homoeroticism as the #manly sweat lodge episode with Cole.

"How's it look, mom?"

You guys have the most fucked up thing ever and I refuse to engage and you can't make me

Is cas healing gabriel or reading his mind aka more invasive stuff

oh good, he is trying to heal Gabriel despite thinking it's impossible. He's trying to "jolt his mind into thinking straight"

I am curious about how we have no Sam n Cas elsewhere aside from the one argument. We've had several scenes with them now, enough to see the pattern that they appear to be focussed on Gabriel more like they are the side characters to his return, but being used to explore it and we are just getting them mostly as actors to his recovery, rather than their own feelings about what it means for him to be back and if they trust his story and so on

Sam looks distressed that Cas thinks that they can't bring Gabriel back to himself. Considering they have the grace they need to open the portal, it seems he genuinely does feel bad for the guy, and even if he didn't die on their behalf and buggered off to live the high life after telling them how to sort the apocalypse out from afar, he did enough that Sam feels genuinely grateful to him.

It's also possible that he's dealt with Dean enough to see right through his shit, and of course there's plenty of parallels to trauma Sam has been though. Gabriel looks like the version of Sam in 6x22 who remembered Hell, and that's more than enough for Sam to sympathise, especially with the bonding scene with him and Rowena in 13x12. All told, there's enough here to say Sam is deeply invested in the SUBTEXT if you know the character history

just... idk... I would prefer some Sam n Cas talk about it away from Gabriel to get more of a sense of it, and I hope that scene is coming but I'm worried it won't

Ketch seems to still be determined to fix Dean

Mmmhm.

Sorry that was a "if I had energy I would be rolling on the floor laughing at the #manly healing in the woods camera angles, like I did with 10x15, but as it is I have no energy so a raised eyebrow and low "i see you" noise in my throat will do" comment

We now also have a back and forth at least here with healing Dean and trying to get through to Gabriel. Sam is alone with him now. I think this is where we will see that speech from the promos.

Sam shuts out Cas as a purely symbolic gesture

dude can hear through walls and if the last time you two were chilling in the bunker for an episode is any indication, SEE through them too

side note: see also 9x11 for Dean x Crowley and Crowley's play at seduction, including the gross fatherly overtones to go with it

With context, Sam starting from the point that Gabriel has to dig himself out of the hole seems to reference 6x22 even more directly. He sees where Gabriel is and he's got direct experience from having his psyche broken and going catatonic. This room is playing the part of the panic room - the Bunker now can split between dungeon and bedrooms depending on how people relate to the Winchesters. Gabriel can be kept here instead of in the dungeon because they deem him good. Sam being kept in the panic room was for his own sake, but it still seemed sort of imprison-y, but then, also paralleled 4x22.

Anyways.

"You think it's safer inside. No more torture, no more pain. No more... expectations."

Look, Sam, it's lovely of you, but you are one rare cookie who voluntarily clambered over your broken wall and took back all the fucked up parts of yourself to be whole again

Oh boy now Sam is talking about how he's nothing like his dad and family and the whole comparison between the two of them that appeared when Gabriel was revealed as more than the Trickster. How they both ran away from their lives.

Sam's colour palette in his plaid exactly matches the walls and the writing on them

"And then my family needed me" (Dad's on a hunting trip...) "and this is my life. No matter how many times I try to fight it, this is what I was put here to do"

Like Cas, he has sought meaning in a "why meeeeee" way, and come to conclude, through more natural deduction than most have at hand due to their high connection to the cosmos, that where they are and what they're doing is their divinely ordained purpose

interestingly, in 13x05 Dean was told this about himself, and he's the only one we know for sure IS supposed to still be doing a job, per the cosmos, while Cas and Sam both have decided for themselves that it is what they're supposed to be doing. With dramatic irony, we know Cas is wrong due to 13x03, but Sam's is entirely more complicated and an entire essay on his character and where he is now in relation to his job and family and whether he feels obligated etc, but at the end of the day, I feel like this shows both that he is mostly content to do this - but always historically more likely to say it's because it's what Dean does and without Dean he wouldn't be doing it (see also: dad's on a hunting trip) but this always leaves open the concept that Sam still feels like at his core he's not entirely built for this life and there's a lil part of him that is still oriented towards normality, that he still has an itch that might follow him to his grave about living a somewhat normal life.

As I have talked about this a lot I will stop here, but in any case, technically nothing new, but Sam phrasing some stuff that I have analysed about him a lot and it's always nice to hear your ideas repeated on screen :D

"Sure, hookers and monte carlo sounds great" dude, sam. PORN STARS. not hookers. Have some respect, man!

Trust Gabriel to set it up so Sam's big emotional speech needs that interjection. Always fucking with him :D

Sam's getting to the speech about making the world a better place and being needed - the need/want thing is very interesting in this context that Sam has reached out to Gabriel via not wanting to help, having a sense of wanting to be elsewhere and wanting to be free, but then saying they NEED to save the world and make it a better place, and that there are external pressures like family that NEED them there.

It makes Dean's "need" in 8x17 SO horrifically personal in context it makes me weep

since I didn't write down a sneaking suspicion it was Charlie in time, I am taking the big cookie for calling Gabriel's first words, after being so freaking annoyed about not knowing them last episode, and waiting to see what they'd be this episode... "Porn stars. They were porn stars, Sam."

I mean, thematically, use the right words, but also hahahaha I totally got Gabriel's line and intent down perfectly :D

Anyway. Big cookie because last episode I was chattering about how either they'd be epic, or they'd be ridiculous, and we got ridiculous: after the Trickster lost his voice, the only way it could come back was being left an opening to say "porn stars" as his first words back.

I'm so happy

eeeep the Bunker doesn't seem to be built to contain archangel nonsense

or Buckleming forgot

who knows

maybe Asmodeus got the same confusing 20 mile radius as everyone else... he's gonna go stand in a corn field and look around like "... where are you?"

Dean full on sweet potatoes face plants

Ketch is still bothering him about Charlie which is still making me feel like he murdered her in a past life and symbolically he fkin did and I think on some deep down metafuckery level Dean knows that.

Ketch tries to suggest AU Charlie would tell the angels what they want to know and Dean's like, I know my Queen, she would never in a million billion universes do that. She's a Good Egg.

"Charlie was like family. She was a sister to me. She did more for me and Sam than I could ever say. And she was butchered by these fucking writers, and we couldn't get there in time. And I - "

Dean knows he failed her, just like he failed Kevin. He should rescue AU Kevin while they're at it.

Yeah yeah show me the bathtub, you're not fuckin tugging these heart strings, you're tugging the "I will punch you in the face" strings

Then Ketch is all full of regret about people he didn't TRY to save. "Duty, and all that." Asmodeus really broke him, but he broke him in the direction that Ketch was ALREADY broken by the BMoL, and Ketch clearly is adrift and seeking a different path - there's something about his story which is not Cas-like but still has a shade of it - he has fallen from his organisation in dishonour, but he didn't even do that right, he just failed to be as big a dick as he could have been, was killed by people who righteously were pissed off with him, and when he popped back up he went undercover and sold his services to a high bidder, to distract from his lack of purpose, only to realise he did have some sense of morality after all, even if it had initially enormous lines like "oh shit, literal lucifer" rather than nuances, but now he is reflecting on what at the time was duty and now seems failure - his Lily Sunder moments, but again... knowing he was a dick literally right up until just now when he's suddenly turning his life around.

And blah about analysing him much more. Watching 13x17 in the middle of this episode has been confusing about my Ketchmodeus resistance/feelings, as I am now genuinely curious about them and the part they play in this story, even if intellectually I'm like "Blaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah" to the entire concept.

"Well, you do suck."

Glad Dean is here to keep us on the right track, re: cool motive still murder :P

"Perhaps rescuing this Charlie will wash some of the stain off my hands."

look, Dabb, whoever, thanks but really, I am good over here loathing Buckleming. Get them to write a signed and sealed letter to prove they are behind this and mean it, and maybe I'll accept it as a meta commentary from their mouths. In the mean time, yes, this can be a line for the greater show, but these 2 writers are not getting sympathy without me being certain they mean it.

Dean bumps Ketch on the shoulder, all friendly like. Welp. He's dead. It was a punch, not a pat. Gentle, but.

Heee, Charlie (Celeste?) saying "Bite me"

tbh I should call her Celeste. I have no idea what name she's been using but Charlie was just an alter ego and I KNOW she was born Celeste Middleton if I don't know anything else about her. Charlie is really only a name she uses because Sam n Dean know it and care about her as Charlie

Anyway, it's the "fuck off" club

Okay, seems Asmodeus asked around/looked in Crowley's diary and found out where Sam n Dean live, and what "within 20 miles of Lebanon, Kansas" generally means when some fuckery is afoot, and just phoned Sam up rather than go right there.

Importantly, Sam has been chatting to Asmodeus for the entire time minus a week in the Bad Place AU between 13x07 and 13x13 as he was carrying the bulk of the communications with "Cas"

Also, yellow eyed demons are kinda scary, especially when you don't have a Colt and have an entire life time trauma caused by the bro of this guy

Oh pfft Lucifer is in this episode.

Oh! Sister Jo! Hi!!!! <3

She's sitting on the sofa and making me feel sulky about sofas and their general existence around here.

Asmodeus was also sitting with his feet up and had a pattern on the sole of his shoes which looks superficially similar to Jo's.

woaaaaah whaaaaaat Lucifer LIED about being able to make angels and give 'em back their wings??????????????

So yeah Sister Jo just narrowed her eyes and she's either gonna rip his throat out now or plan bloody murder by the end of the season :P

She's ripping out his throat. Wonderful. Tell it like it is *loads of clapping hands emojis*

GET OFF HER YOU BRUTE

"and now you don't have me" *storms off*

I love her

I can't believe Charlie is using Charlie Bradbury in this AU as well. I mean, I totally can. I wonder if Buckleming even know she's called Celeste :P

I'm still wondering if that angel with all the speaking lines who got away is AU!Cas

"We've got to get you out of here"

"Who the hell are you?"

... Dean you have so many cool lines but you're not being written by Robbie Thomspon, so "no time" will do I suppose

Sam n Cas wandering around the Bunker with the warding failing... uhoh

Cas really does seem to be here because he's in this episode, so far, although the support is nice for Sam I am still feeling like they aren't cashing in on the Sam n Cas dynamic, so even if it's them fighting together, I'd love to see it. I like that they have a comfortable relationship but, and big butt, it's like if there's no ongoing plot between the two of them, Buckleming really can't or won't think of anything for them to say to each other that isn't 100% about the plot.

Honestly there should be a metric where in episodes with Sam n Cas they talk about something other than Dean or the plot, which even Buckleming do pass and others fail - like the crappy car exchange in 11x03. But, like. Should be a regular function of if they're in an episode together in the same scenes, they can at least, like... exchange pleasantries.

I wonder if we can see the warding because Cas can see it or if Sam can too. I'm headcanoning Cas POV unless proven otherwise

I am pretty sure I just saw Cas get knocked on his back and in the very next shot be back on his feet and fighting, which means we got both the cas on his back tickbox and also proof it only happens when he's in a bad mood where he stays down??

Asmodeus wanders in like sorry they didn't design the warding for me.

come on, buddy. that's a "I walked out the demon trap because it's boring if I stay in here" line

Interestingly the writing does seem to be genuinely interested in Gabriel being traumatised and showing clearly that Asmodeus is the abuser, so idk if that's a wider picture thing or what because Buckleming kinda suck at considering how people, you know... feel... about things... but it's actually making the entire dynamic entirely more interesting

in any case, I really hope this scene ends with Gabriel saving them thanks to the grace and a lil TLC to help him remember himself but that that's not the end of his Asmodeus fear - which goes to show that even a weak shitty demon can be truly scary when he uses his power to abuse and we can't just say Gabriel is way more powerful than him, why is he scared of him, rather than devaluing it this way... who knows

Anyway. COME ON GABRIEL *cheering wildly despite my initial disappointment in his return* I guess I'm all in now... he's here and I said they'd fuckin make me root for him because I still like Gabriel even if I don't like that he's here right now :P

He looked terrifying while he still had the cuts on his lips and the glowing eyes.

Now he clean!

And he got fluffy wings!

*random power ball throwing bullshit*

*Gabriel like nah*

YAY Asmodeus is dead and it was an extremely satisfying and personally vindicating for Gabriel immolation!

*immediately and permanently stops caring about him as a character*

Bleh, I was wondering about the bit at the start with Charlie deflecting at the maybe maybe not AU Cas angel on the bridge but now she's wondering if Dean n our Charlie were a couple and Dean's like oh no she was into chicks and Charlie's like cool I like her, but does that imply AU Charlie is straight? I mean, in 7x20 she couldn't flirt with the security guard even in a fake way to save her life, but I was hoping the earlier thing was just to show she was tougher in this world.

Bleeeeeh

Charlie has met Mary, who should theoretically be as many years younger than her as Mary is to Dean, as Charlie is the same age as Dean. No wonder she's baffled.

Oh thank god someone stopped Buckleming using Sam n Cas to recap the entire plot of the season so far to Gabriel

I wonder what Gabriel even thinks about it when he drops off the map for 8 years and as soon as he's back, Sam and Cas are like, so. Uh. Michael vs Lucifer and some other shit?

I mean obviously he's leaving, but in a wider meta sense, of, like, do these guys ever stop? The real Michael isn't even around so they get an AU one to bother them!

Cas using the "turn your back on your father's creation" line is weak, but deliberately so, I think. Cas cares very little about anything in terms of Chuck and what he wants and does. Using it on Gabriel is a thin hope that he still cares for the principles he seemed to care about, or that he had searched for God as well as he admitted in 5x08, so perhaps, just a little, it might still sway him to think of it in these terms.

Cas has no conviction on that front, because what has Chuck ever done for him as far as Cas feels, so he can't really use that line on Gabriel and mean it

woah what a surprise, without the weird Ketchmodeus thing going on any more Ketch just wants to stay in the AU who ever would have guessed he likes it here better than cool original flavour earth

He really is banking on Charlie being as good as she's reported to be if he's planning on wandering into a camp with Mary in it like yo I'm here to help

I do like tough!Charlie, though if she's straight!Charlie, I've just gotta hope that growing up in the AU, she never got a chance to learn to be comfortable with herself in that same way and oh noes maybe Mary can help................

Dean doesn't want to lose Charlie again, but he has also to deal with the fact she has Charlie's face but she's not his Charlie, just another Good Egg with her face.

Holy crap he gave his iconic gun to Charlie

TFW catching each other up

...

why do I feel like Dean would be the one to get Gabriel to fight now Sam and Cas totally struck out? I guess there's another Gabriel episode coming up soon soon soon, which will presumably sort this out.

Ah whoops, you need more angel grace, huh?

...I shouldn't tease Sam, as this all sinks in he's looking increasingly upset and I think Cas needs to prop him up right now because last time this happened he nearly turned into a miserable puddle of defeat on the floor

Okay don't yell Dean, we're all stressed and this was all out of everyone's hands... you all made the best decisions in the moment

I feel genuinely uncomfortable with that realisation, especially to think that no one dropped the Buckleming idiot ball and they're using genuine unfortunate circumstances to create the tension whaaaaaaaaat

Dean's reaaaaaaally not doing well either. Cas needs to prop him up too.

In his case, maybe a bubble bath.

Mostly cuz he's really grubby, though.

This is also the first time in a while that they haven't wandered through the Buckleming script looking kinda perturbed, but Jensen is acting his freaking socks off.

Where did this material all come from? I said this set up might play to their strengths and avoid their weaknesses but this is uncomfortably not-terrible.

Also LOVING this shot of Dean with Sam and Cas over his shoulders

Dean better not be thinking of hurting Gabriel just to go back though.

I mean, it's urgent, but... like...

what is Jack up to right now? He and Bobby and Mary are not just sitting on their thumbs.

Next episode is another unholy Rowena & Yockey team up, right? Or is that 20?

Oh gosh we're so near the end of the season.

I'm so tired.

night night.

#13x18 #season 13 spoilers #...#I mean kinda silly when Lizbob is the last one to watch the episode but I tag it anyway out of habit #my stuff

93 notes · View notes

yukahoo · 6 years

Text

Singularity - Visual parallels

Well, once you start it's hard to give it up.

What follows is a mainly visual comparative essay of some of the main parallels in V's Singularity intro MV and other BU videos. It's not a proper film analysis since I'm not really attempting to explain anything about Taehyung's storyline or how Singularity might fit into it all.

To be frank I just don't know enough of TH's story to feel confident in making any claims about it. Also, the song and MV should be enjoyed for their own sake as well, not just reduced into a simple puzzle piece in the BU grand narrative. So even though I point out some parallels and possible references, please don't think I'm trying to say the MV is only about those things.

So, unlike the Euphoria SF that seemed to call back to the HYYH series, I think Singularity has reminded most fans more of the Wings concept. The song is very similar to V's Wings solo Stigma, both in style and theme. The MV as well seems to play as an echo to the era.

Some simple examples of visual parallels. The Wings tour tailer:

Japanese version of Blood, Sweat & Tears.

Images of broken glass and breaking ice:

There are also some visual parallels to certain members that may or may not be intentional. Jimin:

Jungkook:

J-Hope:

J-Hope is an interesting link to consider since his and V's relationship was particularly adversarial in the Wings concept. Without getting too deep into it, J-Hope appeared as some kind of guard against the evil V represented. In the BS&T MV J-Hope seems to have failed to stop V but in the Japanese version the setup was turned on its head with J-Hope quite cruelly throwing darts at a seemingly wholly incapacitated V.

But, as stated above I just don't know enough about TH's story to give good commentary here. It's impossible for me to say if the colour references highlighted above mean something. But considering how close to each other the two music videos were shot I doubt the production team was completely unaware of the similarities.

Another member that could be expected to be alluded is Jin. Not only did the main narrative of BS&T circle around the two but their conflict that we still know so little about seems to be at the core of the group's friendship falling apart in the "real-life". But to be honest there isn't much that caught my eye on that front.

Once again, the possible parallel might just be a coincidence but I do find the comparison interesting. The room with Jin is sleek, monochrome and minimalist. The room V is standing in is the complete opposite: It is overflowing, baroque, decadent, decaying... I find the thought of the two men mirroring each other on both sides of the water’s surface interesting but honestly there isn’t really anything in the video to suggest that is the case.

This particular room with the weird, rectangular pool of water is the most intriguing set in the Singularity MV which otherwise was more on the bare side when it came to sets and props. There is a lot going on there but I'm not going to be attempting any theories about it.

A few things that did catch my eye though. One was the static-y analog TV hanging in the corner of the room which continues the pattern of weird technological mishmash mentioned in my Euphoria analysis.

Also we seem to have acquired yet another flower theme for this era. Previously and running parallel to each other we have had reoccurring references to lilies, peonies, wildflowers, small petals in general, the whole smeraldo plot twist, etc. This time the room seems to be full of roses (I assume, I'm really not a botanist). Stylistically, colour-wise and in their abundance they seem to line up with the bed of flowers that appeared in the Love Yourself tour poster.

Of course the flowers in the MV seem to be dying which puts the whole tour poster in quite an unsettling light.

When I first saw the MV, this room really reminded me of the Japanese version of Run but later realised it kinda works as a reference to Taehyung’s hideout place from the beginning of the Prologue SF (last seen in the Euphoria SF) as well.

I've always felt like the Japanese MV was the first trial run for symbolic storytelling in the BU and serves in some ways as an undiluted look at the essence of each member in the narrative. Or at least how the production team saw them back then. That said I never really got why V was filmed in such a weird, watery room and I'm still not convinced I understand it now.

But the parallel for me at least is obvious. Not only due to the water but because of the subtle colour reference, the writings/newsletters on the wall, the messiness of the room and the overall claustrophobic feel of a too-cramped space.

For the most part this new MV seems to ignore the "real-life" or HYYH side of the BU narrative. That includes the total absence of any obvious references to Namjoon who we know to be a central character in Taehyung's story. Still, considering the Serendipity MV and its lack of obvious connection to the narrative as well this is not very surprising. After all it is supposed to be the intro to the new album.

Still, there seems to be one small visual reference to the original Run MV too:

The MV ends with a pretty straightforward allusion to what seems to be a central theme of the upcoming album, i.e. the mask. Wearing masks was mentioned in the Highlight Reels, in KBS's end-of-the-year gayo as well as BTS’s performance intro at the Melon Music Awards. The overall message seems to encourage taking the mask off yet here V ends up putting it on. Easier said than done I guess.

The single black tear that falls from the eye of the mask is obviously something that many have traced back to the Wings era. The falling of colourful tears was an oft-repeated motif, significance of which never really got explained. Both JM and JK had it before as well as the black-winged statue widely assumed to represent V in the BS&T MV.

For me the tear that came to my mind first is the one falling from JM's eye in the Wings tour trailer. Not only because of the colour but there is only one tear. Also something in JM's pale, unmoving face kinda reminds me of a mask as well.

But perhaps an even stronger association for me is actually Jin's cracking face in that very same video.

Getting rid of the mask might be what we are aiming for in the Love Yourself era as a whole but I don’t think we are going to achieve that goal until the end of series. So assuming everything we think we know about the structure of the LY series and Jin’s role in the HYYH narrative, it would be perfectly symmetrical for him to be the one who will in the end provide us with the Answer.

#singularity #taehyung #bts v #bts #bts theory #jimin #jungkook #j-hope #jin #wings #Blood Sweat & Tears #bangtan universe

38 notes · View notes

delcanprobably · 3 years

Text

Assassin’s Creed II Review

i finished assassin’s creed ii (2) and now i will write a thing about it

visuals and gameplay (which i normally wouldn’t group together but for this game it makes sense)

It’s from the era where everything is a desaturated shade of murky brown or sewerage green but once you get past that, it’s really a beautiful game. I think some areas get less desaturated as you play, but that might’ve just been time of day or me getting used to it. Having finished the game, I’ve reached the point where I’m not taken out of it by the visuals, and I actually appreciate the views a lot. I certainly liked it early on, but it took a while before I took it in that much. I feel that everything fits together really well, hard to explain exactly, but it’s just very solid and quite immersive. I didn’t learn the map very well, there are landmarks, but most of the cities are so samey that they don’t have many memorable areas. They’re distinct from each other, but internally, they feel pretty much the same wherever you are. It’s probably historically accurate, but it sometimes feels like you’re just running through what might as well be a procedurally generated series of tiled rooves. Overall though, the world looks good and serves the parkour system pretty well, and that’s what’s important. The parkour system gives the whole freedom thing but is also a bit unpredictable at times. It doesn’t magnet you into things as perfectly as newer games do, so I pretty regularly missed jumps (though I do kinda suck on a controller). It’s especially frustrating when you’re trying to do a leap of faith (super high jump into a hay bale indicated by a flock of birds and birdseed) and you somehow miss, like 99% of the time you go in, but if you don’t you make a complete fool of yourself. I started checking some of the less obvious ones, which kind of defeats the point of the whole system. NPCs are fairly primitive (maybe good for the time considering the crowd density?) but for whatever reason, I found that in tandem with the world, it was enough to be pretty immersive. In typical Ubisoft fashion, the world tries to be immersive while also being very gamey, as in there are all these consistent, familiar setups that you learn and can use as tools. Of course, this does mean in missions you sometimes find many conveniently placed solutions nearby, but rarely was it annoyingly blatant, and it kind of fueled the whole badass thing. The main thing that took me out is that there are a bunch of bugs. Visible spawn-ins (a couple of times I sprinted full pelt into a squad that spawned like a metre in front of me), parkour bugs, odd NPC behaviour etc., are pretty prevalent. It’s not Cyberpunk 1468, but it’s pretty meh. Money is fucking dumb. For the first hourish you’re barely able to afford anything. Then you get access to a town that generates shit-tonnes of money for you, and then you start getting thousands of florins when you so much as cough impressively and money becomes an entirely empty system. It’s honestly kind of comical. It’s good because you don’t have to worry about a stupid economy system, but it’s also obviously a bit dumb. I see what they went for, like you’re meant to build up this place to have a higher value and generate more money that you can then spend upgrading it and stuff, but I was more than comfortable with the amount of money I was getting in when I’d done like 10% of the upgrades. Oh, and then there’s this retarded system where you can buy artworks to add value to your base, but you never see them, they don’t add much value, and they’re really cheap. So honestly they’re just kind of there for the sake of being there, and near the end I started just going to the town’s art shops and bought all their artworks with the billions of florins I’d saved up. Also, to max out your base’s value, you have to buy every armour piece, even if it’s weaker than the one you’re up to (and the best armour is unlocked in the story anyway). And you can’t change which armour/weapons you have equipped without going back to your base. Not that it matters because it’s so easy that it doesn’t matter what you have equipped, more on that later. The classic issue that’s plagued AC forever is the repetitive fetch-questy bullshit missions, and yes they are there, but they honestly didn’t annoy me much at all. There are probably less than one for every story mission, so it honestly becomes a nice way to break it up. The exception is the assassinations, but they’re basically just cool bonus missions. You can do them whenever you want, and they have the gameplay of the main assassination missions. So they’re almost like missions distilled to their best bits without much backstory or polish. Oh yeah, and then there are the towers, but they’re kind of fun. You have to figure out how to get to the top (usually relatively straight-forward), the parkour to get up can be pretty fun, and then you get a nice view at the end. Honestly enjoyed them a lot for what it’s worth.

A major problem I had is that the game is just too damn easy. Yes, it’s meant to be a badass simulator to some extent but even if you don’t touch the controller for a whole fight, by the end of the game it’d take several minutes for enemies to knock your health down close to zero and then you have a gazillion health potions that start you all over again. More and more I felt very little risk in anything, and if I failed to do a cool plan for an assassination, then it usually wouldn’t matter and I’d be better off just going with it than I would waiting to die to try again. Fights with a small group are fun and break things up but it becomes a chore quickly and you start running away just out from fear of boredom. The best moments for difficulty were the forced stealth sections where you can’t get caught, but the problem with those were that if a guard becomes alerted then you instantly lose, even if they went from zero to alerted as you fall into an air assassination. The most fun with stealth outside those missions was the slim margin moments where you kill a guy just barely before they alert everyone, but you can’t even do that in stealth only missions. The ‘hidden in plain sight’ approach to stealth is pretty neat though so I’ll give it that.

It’s action-stealth but very action-oriented. It isn’t like a stealth game that you can jankily do some action stuff in, it’s easy to do things guns-blazing and a bit awkward but possible to be stealthy. I usually took the route of staying relatively hidden until I was in a good spot to assassinate my target and then got them and ran off, and I’m pretty sure this is how they want you to play based on the trailers and such. Coming with the easiness thing is that there are so many ways to kill people. You have a radial menu with around eight different weapons, and I can tell you that I used only three - two of which have quick access on the d-pad - outside of some very specific cases. I could’ve finished the game with just the hidden blade, sword, and throwing knives. It’s honestly absurd, for instance, there’s a knife that does less damage than your sword and is maybe slightly faster(?) Not only do you rarely need something between the sword and hidden blade, but there’s also no quick button for it on the d-pad, so it just never gets used. The excessive number of weapons include a couple that are meant to be tools for stealth, but it’s such a faf to go into the menu and select them that I rarely could be bothered.

story and stuff idk The story was pretty great, but I think some people exaggerate it a bit. Yes, the writing is pretty good, and Ezio is a great protagonist as far as video games go. What compelled me the most in the story was uncovering the conspiracy, not the characters’ story arcs. Even then, I got a bit lost halfway through. That’s not to say the characters are bad, they’re A-tier as far as video games go, but there’s no interesting development or real emotional thing behind anyone other than Ezio, and even then, it’s a kind of. He has some character development, but it’s pretty much done in the first third of the game. I will say I definitely cared a lot and was never annoyed by the story, and that’s rare for me. There are some dumb plot points when you think about them for a bit though, and there’s a retarded twist near the end. There’s the standard moral ambiguity thing you get in video games though. You learn about how you need to respect who you kill and only kill people for the common good and blah blah, but then you regularly kill half a dozen guards to go pick up a few hundred florins out of a box. And then there’s the fact guards instantly get sus if you’re on the rooftops (fair enough), which gives you an incentive just to kill them so that you can keep using the more fun method of travel. Whatever though, video games be video games. (story spoiler for people who have never played assassin’s creed, skip the italic bit if you wanna avoid) Oh yeah, the modern-day bits. Almost felt like there weren’t enough, to be honest. Like, I’m more interested in Ezio’s story, but there is so little closure in the modern-day stuff. Felt a tad underdone. The conclusion of the game gives a pretty intriguing ending for the like the lore of the modern-day story, but it leaves a lot of questions unanswered for both Desmond and Ezio’s story, and honestly, overall, it kind of feels like a massive cock tease for the rest of the Ezio trilogy. The last level is here and there. Very out of place and comes out of nowhere, but also pretty epic I guess. The final boss is pretty meh though; they’ve built a system where it’s impossible to make it actually difficult, so it’s basically just another fight.

Small note: the DLC is basically two extra chapters before the final chapter. So you end up hitting that, and you get voice lines that are kinda confusing (cause they’re written like you’ve finished the game and come back), and then you have that thing where you can tell that it’s DLC and not the main game. Kinda takes steam out of the tension built up to the second-last chapter of the main game, but whatever. The DLC itself is pretty great, but I’d maybe not be saying that if I’d explicitly paid for them and it wasn’t just included with the PC version. Oh yeah, there’s one mission that I loved the premise of but hated in practice, and it’s pretty much the peak mission in the whole game (it’s even the one depicted in the trailer). Basically (major game spoilers, minor story spoilers, skip the whole paragraph), you have to win a series of games at a carnival to get a ticket into a party hosted by your target. Once you’re in, the guards start to catch on, and you have to blend in while they swarm the party. Then your target shows up on a boat for a speech, and you have to kill him, preferably without having the entire city guards notice you. So conceptually, that’s pretty sick really. But there are so many issues with it that completely took me out of it. First, the carnival games. Instead of being bothered to program a whole new system to make this make any sense, you just have to “win” all of the games, two of which are basically just standard side-quests where you’re just competing against a clock or not dying. It completely took me out how the whole concept doesn’t make any sense, like you only get the ticket if you *win* all the games? What if you came second in one? I’m competing against no one though, so there is no second. It just makes zero logical sense. Then there’s the party. It’s pretty good up until the bit where you actually have to assassinate the guy. A character you’re with suggests that you don’t swim across, and instead you shoot him with the gun you just unlocked and do it in time with the fireworks that are going off, so that no one notices, and it’s given in that typical video game character giving gameplay directions kinda way. Great, except the fireworks are just a background sound, and there’s no difference whether you time it right or not. Also, guards get alerted the second you start charging up your shot if you’re not entirely hidden, so it doesn’t even matter. You still get the guards chasing you if you do the suggested method. However, I realised that there was a convenient tower nearby and thought maybe I was meant to sneak to the side of the party and climb the tower and “snipe” him! But no, because the game doesn’t let you target him from that high up. As far as I could figure out, there’s no particularly elegant way of taking him out, especially not without getting the guards on you. It was just so unsatisfying to have this great setup, probably the best in the game, but have it feel rushed and broken. Other than that I rarely had a problem with the story missions, other than the standard few “oh great a tailing mission” moments, but come on man, that’s such wasted potential. [spoilers over]

conclusion What I loved about this game was the atmosphere and jumping around exploring 15th century Italy. That’s followed by the aforementioned badass simulatorage and some aspects of the story. There was very little about this game that I proper disliked other than what I’ve mentioned. It’s an easy game to get lost in, and it’s not as stupid long as most open-world games, so if you’re a little interested, it can’t hurt to give it a shot, I guess. You have to appreciate exploring worlds a lot though, which I do. Zero challenge, so avoid like the plague if that’s an issue. If you want an actual stealth game in a similar setting with far more choice and challenge, you want Dishonored (which imo is the better game, but it’s a different type of game). This game is more jumping around buildings and taking in the world, and oh yeah also you’re meant to be a sneaky assassin. Also would highly recommend using a controller. Avoid playing the Xbox 360 version on backwards compatibility though, because I did that, and apparently, it’s a common problem for your entire save to get wiped at one specific bit. How d’you reckon I found that out? Thankfully, my old PC save was at the right point. Also, Ubisoft protected sexual predators for years :). Thanks for listening to my TEDx Seatle talk.

0 notes