#jade best victorious character so real ( i loved her ) | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

herunholymajesty · 3 months

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ᅠᅠThis a semi canon portrayal of Jade West, from the Nickelodeon show Victorious, in her current age, since it's been a decade from the finale of Victorious and I have been roleplaying her since it aired. High school SLs will not be written, unless it is a flashback, because my muse for this character has surpassed this era.

I am not Liz Gillies, nor do I claim to be her or the fictional character of Jade West. This is just a roleplay/ parody account, for entertainment purposes only.

Multiverse but singleship, and welcome to interact with everyone.

The writer is definitely of age, she/her. A working woman as you can imagine, so usually the schedule varies. Please don't pressure me for replies.

Spanish and English will be used, but the writer wasn't born speaking any of the above, she's Greek. So if you see any mistakes, you are more than welcome to correct me kindly. I love to learn.

Consent and connection is key. Please don't force smut on my character if she clearly isn't interested. I can't believe I have to say this.

Also, since the writer is very much an adult and of course, there are definitely many sensitive themes handled with care, here, viewer discretion is adviced.

Minors, please do not interact.

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𝐁𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲:

𝕾𝖊𝖑𝖋 𝖕𝖆𝖎𝖉, 𝖘𝖊𝖑𝖋 𝖒𝖆𝖉𝖊, 𝖇𝖎𝖑𝖑𝖎𝖔𝖓𝖆𝖎𝖗𝖊.

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ᅠᅠㅤ Jade West, neé Jadelyn August West, was born on the 26th of July, 1996.

The result of the lethal combination of John and Pamela West was this fiery Leo, whose story is definitely not fairytale.

Let's take it from the start.

John and Pamela were involved in a marriage of convenience (Pamela left her true love to marry John, so that she could have commodities) that would also forge an alliance between two of the most acknowledged families in the circles of the illegal in New York. The newly weds moved to LA to cover up their tracks and there, Jade was born. Only to be violently separated from her mother, when John divorced and kicked his wife out, taking every penny from her and faking her death, only to marry the real love of his life, with whom he has had an affair for years, a couple of months later.

As a result, Jade grew up without a motherly figure, under the crumbs of nonexistent affection of her father and step mother. Jade grew up amongst questionable people, making questionable choices, only to gain a little bit of attention from her father, who clearly showed his

preference for the various children he had with her step mother, whom he adored, much to Jade's dismay.

"He just wants to hang out with his new wife and her yappy little dog."

Whenever Jade brought up her mom, she was dismissed, or often times punished for it, as "that belonged to the past".

She spent a lonely, miserable childhood, doing none of the common things kids her age did. And an even more miserable adolescence, where she rebelled against everything, in every aspect. She changed her looks, threatened to reveal their dirty little

secrets if they didn't let her change schools from the preppy college to Hollywood Arts, she completely disobeyed everyone and got into trouble constantly. The only rocks in these hard years, were her then boyfriend Beck and Cat Valentine. Her best friend.

On the day of her

eighteenth birthday, she received a letter from an anonymous source that apparently was her mother. Not only was she not dead, but also wrote to inform her daughter about the whole truth. All of her father's schemes and plots and of course, she warned her. That if she wanted to stay alive and well, she should never look for her.

The girl confronted her father, and of course, was forced to make a choice. Threatened into it. And she did. She was going to find her mother, which infuriated West and the same night, he kicked her out of the house, in the streets, with no prospects.

And of course, to worsen things, he made sure he would close all of the doors for his daughter so that she wouldn't be able to find a job. Until she managed to become a dancer in an ominous club. Years and years trying to make end's meat. With one goal in mind. Finding her mother. She spent most of her miniscule salary, paying detectives. Until one day, she crossed paths with one the people that marked her life.

Dante Van Kirk, prince and now king of Averna, who had escaped his country, unwilling to follow his mother's wishes. They met and it was instant hatred that turned into a deep, passionate love. They were together for years. He encouraged Jade to get unto university, to follow her dreams, to begin a career.

Until his mother made sure to fake his death and make him disappear for years, being in a hospital in the middle of nowhere, amnesiac and in a coma. (However, it was relieved that he was in on the plan, aswell, later on. )

The queen mother also made sure that the offspring that Jade carried without knowing was never born, leaving her with hardly any chances of being able to conceive again without treatments.

Jade however, made it. She graduated from the university, having studied economics, marketing and administration, she got the kick starter of her horror movie running, and the film was a hit, instantly catapulting her into fame and more acting roles. And with the money that she earned, she turned a little online fashion blog that she was administrating in her free time, into an empire. The empire known today as "RUNWAY". Of course the name was inspired by the movie we all imagine.

That way she established herself as one of the most successful women of her age and of the decade and as a respected self made entrepreneur and fashion mogul.

About a year and a half ago, Dante was found, supposedly and his "widow" was notified that she had

another chance to live the fairytale. But you see, things are never the same. A whole year of relationship, in which Jade did everything for Dante to remember and when he did, his mother was always in the middle of everything, attempting various times against Jade's life. The love became a habit, the habit an obligation and it seems that love gave its place to the survival of the strongest and convenience. Jade and Dante got married to spite the queen mother and basically prevent the man from marrying his own cousin and divorced exactly two weeks after, leaving only one good thing behind. Lauren.

Jade actually made it. After all those years of treatment and all that money, she was actually pregnant. She made it. Dante returned to Averna and actually became king, the queen mother, thanks to Jade's aid was

actually punished for her crimes and ended up in prison and a healthy, happy baby was brought into this world, almost nine months after the divorce. Lauren.

In retrospect, after numerous attempts against Jade, Dante ended up six feet under, right next to his victims, because nothing is what it seems, leaving Averna headless.

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( Dante Van Kirk finding out he is getting arrested for his crimes, instead of getting married by force to Jade West. )

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ᅠᅠ 𝐀 𝐅𝐀𝐈𝐑𝐘𝐓𝐀𝐋𝐄? ᅠᅠ

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ᅠᅠA few days after the divorce papers were finally out, Jade met William (Liam) Smith, in the most random way. From working together, to a insufferable enemy, to a passionate lover, to a family. He was the person that assisted Jade in protecting Lauren since the beginning.

That brought them closer and slowly but surely they fell in love. The relationship lasted almost two years, but the differences in the upbringing and Jade's tumultuous life, separated them, leading to the divorce, six months after their marriage. Two different words that clashed, brought an abrupt ending to what seemed to be a fairytale life.ᅠᅠᅠᅠ

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ᅠᅠ 𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲:

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Narcissistic, her ego is above and beyond everything and she can do no wrong, grumpy, bossy, judgmental, easily irritated, with an eyebrow constantly arched because they apparently have their own personality. Manipulative, excellent liar, very good with the press. Every single thing she hates she is traumatized by. Doesn't trust or love easily, but when she does, she gives it the world and even more. She doesn't love often, but when she does, the world is very little compared to what she can offer. Shows her soft side only to very few. Elegant and soft spoken when the occasion requires it, but vulgar and loud when someone needs to see her dark side. She left the goth image behind, in her teenage years, because now all the wrath is just internalized. Strict, horrible boss, tender friend and caring lover and mother, even if she never expected to be one. Fair and brutally honest, craving the joy and the affection she was never given. ᅠᅠ

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ᅠᅠ 𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝

𝐨𝐟 𝐉𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐖𝐞𝐬𝐭...

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ᅠᅠ Y ahora en español...

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ᅠᅠEsta es una representación semi canon de Jade West, de la serie de Nickelodeon Victorious, en su edad actual, ya que ha pasado una década desde el final de Victorious. Ya adulta, no se escribirán SL de Hollywood Arts, a menos que sea un flashback, porque la representación de este personaje ha superado esta época.

No soy Liz Gillies, ni pretendo ser ella o el personaje ficticio de Jade West. Esto es sólo un roleplay / cuenta de parodia, sólo para fines de entretenimiento.

Multiverso pero singleship, y dispuesta a interactuar con todo el mundo. La user es definitivamente mayor de edad. Esta mujer trabaja como un perro, por lo que normalmente el horario varía. Por favor, no me presionen para obtener respuestas.

Se usará español e inglés, pero la user no nació hablando ninguno de los anteriores, es griega, así que si ven algún error, bienvenidos sean a corregirlo amablemente. Repito, amablemente.

La clave es el consentimiento y la conexión. Por favor, no fuercen sexrol con mi personaje si ella claramente no está interesada. No puedo creer que tenga que decir esto.

Además, ya que se tratarán varios temas sensibles con cuidado en una que otra trama, aquí, se recomienda la discreción del espectador.

Users menores de edad, por favor, no interactúen.

¡Gracias por llegar hasta aquí!ᅠᅠ

Jade West, neé Jadelyn August West, nació el 26 de julio de 1996.

El resultado de la combinación letal de John y Pamela West fue esta ardiente Leo, cuya historia definitivamente no es de cuento de hadas.

John y Pamela se vieron envueltos en un matrimonio de conveniencia (Pamela dejó al amor de su vida, para poder tener todos los lujos que le faltaban) que forjaría una alianza entre dos de las familias más reconocidas en los círculos ilegales de Nueva York. Los recién casados se trasladaron a Los Ángeles para ocultar sus huellas y allí nació Jade. Sólo para ser separada violentamente de su madre, cuando John se divorció y echó a su mujer, quitándole hasta el último centavo y fingiendo su muerte, sólo para casarse un par de meses después con el verdadero amor de su vida, con quien ha tenido una aventura durante años.

Como resultado, Jade creció sin una figura materna, bajo las migajas del inexistente afecto de su padre y su madrastra. Jade creció entre gente cuestionable, tomando decisiones cuestionables, sólo para ganar un poco de atención de su padre, que mostraba claramente su preferencia por los varios hijos que tuvo con su madrastra, a la que adoraba, para consternación de Jade.

"Sólo quiere pasar el rato con su nueva esposa y su perrita chillona".

Cada vez que Jade sacaba a relucir el tema de su madre, era descartada, o a menudo castigada por ello, ya que "eso pertenecía al pasado".

Pasó una infancia solitaria y miserable, sin hacer nada de lo que hacían los niños de su edad. Y una adolescencia aún más miserable, en la que se revelaba contra todo, en todos los aspectos. Cambió de aspecto, amenazó con revelar sus pequeños y sucios secretos si no la dejaban cambiar de colegio, para irse de este "lleno de pijos" al Hollywood Arts, desobedeció completamente a todo el mundo y se metió en líos constantemente. Las únicas personas que le brindan estabilidad en estos duros años, fueron su entonces novio Beck y Cat Valentine. Su mejor amiga.

Cómo cambian las cosas... Hoy, ella diría que sus pilares más estables son su hermana biologica Trina, (sí, aparentemente Holly la tuvo con West y no con David Vega) y Micky, que el destino les unió en la fiesta de una amiga común, hace años.

El día de su decimoctavo cumpleaños, recibió una carta de una fuente anónima que aparentemente era su madre. No sólo no estaba muerta, sino que además escribía para informar a su hija de toda la verdad. Todos los planes y complots de su padre y, por supuesto, le advirtió. Que si quería seguir viva y sana, no debía buscarla nunca.

La chica se enfrentó a su padre y, por supuesto, se vio obligada a tomar una decisión. Amenazada. Y lo hizo. Iba a buscar a su madre, lo que enfureció a West y esa misma noche, él la echó de casa, a la calle, sin ni nisiquiera dejarla recoger sus cosas.

Y claro, para empeorar las cosas, se aseguró de cerrarle todas las puertas a su hija para que no pudiera encontrar trabajo. Hasta que consiguió ser bailarina en un club de ominoso. Años y años intentando sacar dos centavos para por lo menos, poder comer. Con un único objetivo en mente. Encontrar a su madre. Gastó la mayor parte de su minúsculo sueldo, pagando a detectives. ¿Y qué entendió? Su madre la odió hasta su último aliento y se aseguró de decírselo.

Hasta que un día, se cruzó con una de las personas que marcaron su vida. Dante Van Kirk, príncipe y ahora rey de Averna, que había escapado de su país, no dispuesto a seguir los deseos de su madre. Se conocieron y fue un odio instantáneo que se convirtió en un amor profundo y apasionado. Estuvieron juntos durante años. Él animó a Jade a ir a la universidad, a seguir sus sueños, a empezar una carrera.

Hasta que su madre se aseguró de fingir su muerte y hacerlo desaparecer durante años, estando en un hospital en medio de la nada, amnésico y en coma. (Al final se reveló que él también estaba metido en este plan, literalmente siguiendo las ordenes de su madre. )

Sin embargo, Jade lo consiguió.

Se graduó en la universidad, habiendo estudiado economía, marketing y administración, se puso a grabar su película de terror, y la película fue un éxito, catapultándola instantáneamente a la fama y a más papeles de actriz. Y con el dinero que ganó, convirtió un pequeño blog de moda online que administraba en su tiempo libre, en un imperio. El imperio conocido hoy como "RUNWAY MAGAZINE". Por supuesto, el nombre se inspiró en la película que todos imaginamos.

De este modo, se consolidó como una de las mujeres con más éxito de su edad y de la década y como una respetada empresaria y magnate de la moda.

Hace año y medio, Dante fue encontrado, supuestamente, y su "viuda" recibió la notificación de que tenía otra oportunidad de vivir el cuento de hadas de nuevo. Pero las cosas nunca vuelven a ser como antes. Un año entero de relación, en el que Jade hizo de todo para que Dante se acordara y cuando lo hizo, su madre siempre estuvo en medio de todo, atentando varias veces contra la vida de Jade. El amor se convirtió en un costumbre, conveniencia, la la costumbre en una obligación y parece que el amor cedió su lugar a la supervivencia del más fuerte.

Jade y Dante se casaron para fastidiar a la reina madre y básicamente impedir que el hombre se casara con su propia prima y se divorciaron exactamente dos semanas después, dejando sólo una cosa buena. Lauren.

Jade realmente lo logró. Después de todos esos años de tratamiento y todo ese dinero, estaba realmente embarazada. Lo logró.

(Y un tiempo más tarde, el rey de Averna, acabó en el ataud, después de varios intentos fallidos de acabar con la vida de Jade, tomando por fin su merecido.)

Pocos días después de que se publicaran los papeles del divorcio, Jade conoció a su segundo marido, de la forma más rara. Pasaron de trabajar juntos, a enemigos insufribles, a amantes apasionados. a familia. Él fue la persona que ayudó a Jade a proteger a Lauren desde el principio.

Eso los acercó y, poco a poco, se fueron enamorando. El amor les duró casi dos años, pero las diferencias de estilo de vida y la diferencia de ritmos, de crecimiento, la oscuridad y la luz, poco a poco fueron alejando la pareja que medio año después de la boda, se divorció.

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ᅠᅠ 𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐝𝐚𝐝:

Narcisista, su ego está por encima de todo y no puede hacer nada mal, gruñona, mandona, criticona, se irrita fácilmente, con una ceja constantemente arqueada porque aparentemente sus cejas tienen personalidad propia. Manipuladora, excelente mentirosa, muy buena con la prensa.

Cada cosa que odia, es un trauma que no se sanó.

No confía ni ama con facilidad, pero cuando lo hace, le da el mundo e incluso más. Muestra su lado blando sólo a muy pocos. Elegante y suave cuando la ocasión lo requiere, pero vulgar y ruidosa cuando alguien necesita ver su ado amargo.

Dejó atrás la imagen "de gótica frustrada" como la llamaban, en su adolescencia, porque ahora toda la ira la tiene interiorizada. Jefa estricta y horrible, amiga tierna y amante cariñosa.

Una madre ejemplar, aunque nunca esperó serlo. Justa y brutalmente honesta, anhela la alegría y el afecto que nunca le dieron.

Conocedora de los negocios y extremadamente inteligente, es capaz de mover montañas con una sola frase. Mujer de de hierro y mirada en el cielo.

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𝐁𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐝𝐨𝐬 𝐚𝐥 𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐨

𝐝𝐞 𝐉𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐖𝐞𝐬𝐭...

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ᅠᅠAt twenty three years old,

𝑱𝒂𝒅𝒆𝒍𝒚𝒏 𝑨𝒖𝒈𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝑾𝒆𝒔𝒕, became 𝒕𝒉𝒆

𝒆𝒎𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒇𝒂𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒐𝒏, and she rose

quickly, ruthlessly through the

ranks of the magazine world.

𝑱𝒂𝒅𝒆'𝒔 𝒎𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒛𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅.

ᅠᅠ𝒘𝒘𝒘𝒘.𝒃𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒅𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒖𝒏𝒘𝒂𝒚.𝒄𝒐𝒎

Originally created May 21st, 2018 by Jade West, as a fashion blog, with its first post being a constructive review of the outfits in that years MET GALA, followed by uploaded sketches designed by West herself, and suggestions about what some of them could have been, corrections, additions, adjustments as well as suggestions.

That first post was very well acclaimed, catapulting it directly into what we would call "being viral" today. West claims it was just a side hobby to distract her from personal events and the stress of her newly started career as a horror movie actress. But until the end of the same year, not only did her first horror movie become a complete banger, but also the blog was becoming more and more acclaimed and recognized, leading her to expand the variety of the subjects treated on it, slowly turning it into an actual online magazine and changing the blog's url to just "Runway".

West claims that seeing the joy this brought her and the acceptance of her work, she sat down and calculated her hits and misses, after her first large paycheck from the profits of her horror movie. And then, it was.. As she says that «she took the risk of her life, it was win everything or fail miserably. It was all a bet. Or it would work, or I would lose the...first huge paycheck of my acting career trying to pursue a dream that would never come.

But apparently luck favors those who gamble and in fact, on November of 2019, the offices of Runway Magazine were finally opening their doors, in Los Angeles.

The first physical copy was sold in December of 2019, with its renovating Christmas edition, that was apparently anticipated by the readers of the digital version.

Apparently, West won the bet, smart enough to know that the public was not looking for something that would

resemble all the rest. And this is precisely why the breeze of fresh air that the eccentric and renovating ideas it presented captivated the public eye.

You could say that it includes everything you would expect from a typical fashion spread, just... A little bit more modern, out of the norm, leaving the past and its stereotypes behind, giving a fresh point of view to what we call fashion and well being.

And this is how 𝑹𝑼𝑵𝑾𝑨𝒀 𝑴𝑨𝑮𝑨𝒁𝑰𝑵𝑬 was born, from the ashes of the decadent and obsolete.

By December 2020, it sent West flying to the top, recognized as one of the youngest visionaries of the world, aged barely twenty three. She had managed to go from crawling her way to the top, to stomping on every single critic of her job one expensive heeled step at a time.

The magazine, that began only with offices in the United States, managed to expand all over the world, with its latest department being the one of France, inaugurated by West herself, in May of 2023.

The magazine's success and the fact that West has kept creative control of

all departments all over the world, managed to land her plenty of award nominations, victories and titles. Amongst those, notorious is the fact that she was featured in

𝑭𝒐𝒓𝒃𝒆𝒔 𝒎𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒛𝒊𝒏𝒆'𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝑨𝒎𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒂'𝒔 𝑹𝒊𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝑺𝒆𝒍𝒇-𝑴𝒂𝒅𝒆 𝑾𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒏 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟐 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟑, achievement she claimed was «well deserved, as she went from starving, to actually being able to take care of herself and many more families all over the world.

When asked about this success, West claims that it is only «a lot of hard work and just a tiny pinch of good luck. »

𝑹𝑼𝑵𝑾𝑨𝒀 𝑴𝑨𝑮𝑨𝒁𝑰𝑵𝑬, can still be found both in digital, but also phyisical form, winning the bet of actually achieving the goal of selling physical copies like fresh bread, in the day and age of such advanced technology.

sources:

1. 𝒉𝒕𝒕𝒑𝒔://𝒆𝒏.𝒎.𝒘𝒊𝒌𝒊𝒑𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒂.𝒐𝒓𝒈/𝒘𝒊𝒌𝒊/𝒓𝒖𝒏𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒎𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒛𝒊𝒏𝒆

2. 𝒉𝒕𝒕𝒑𝒔://𝒆𝒏.𝒎.𝒘𝒊𝒌𝒊𝒑𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒂.𝒐𝒓𝒈/𝒘𝒊𝒌𝒊/𝑱𝒂𝒅𝒆𝑾𝒆𝒔𝒕

𝒘𝒘𝒘𝒘.𝒃𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒅𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒖𝒏𝒘𝒂𝒚.𝒄𝒐𝒎

Creado originalmente el 21 de mayo de 2018 por Jade West, como un blog de moda, siendo su primer post una crítica constructiva de los atuendos de la MET GALA de ese año, seguido de bocetos subidos diseñados por la propia West, y sugerencias sobre lo que podrían haber sido algunos de ellos, correcciones, añadidos, ajustes, etc.

Ese primer post fue muy aclamado, catapultándolo directamente a lo que hoy llamaríamos "ser viral". West afirma que sólo era un pasatiempo secundario para distraerse de sus acontecimientos personales y del estrés de su recién iniciada carrera como actriz de películas de terror. Pero hasta finales de ese mismo año, no sólo su primera película de terror se convirtió en todo un éxito, sino que además el blog era cada vez más aclamado y reconocido, lo que la llevó a ampliar la variedad de los temas tratados en él, convirtiéndolo poco a poco en una auténtica revista online y cambiando la url del blog a simplemente "Runway".

West afirma que, al ver la alegría que esto le producía y la aceptación de su trabajo y su éxito, se sentó a calcular sus aciertos y errores, tras su primer gran sueldo procedente de los beneficios de su película de terror. Y entonces, así fue. Como ella misma dice, "corrió el riesgo de su vida, era ganarlo todo o fracasar estrepitosamente. Todo era una apuesta. O funcionaba, o perdería el......primer gran sueldo de mi carrera como actriz intentando perseguir un sueño que nunca llegaría."

Pero, al parecer, la suerte favorece a los audaces y, de hecho, en noviembre de 2019, las oficinas de Runway Magazine abrían por fin sus puertas, en Los Ángeles.

El primer ejemplar físico se vendió en diciembre de 2019, con su renovadora edición navideña, que al parecer fue anticipada por los lectores de la versión digital.

Al parecer, West ganó la apuesta, lo suficientemente inteligente como para saber que el público no buscaba algo que se pareciera a todo lo demás. Y precisamente por eso, la brisa de aire fresco que supusieron las ideas excéntricas y renovadoras que presentó cautivó al público.

Se podría decir que incluye todo lo que cabría esperar de una típica difusión de moda, sólo que... Un poco más modernizado, fuera de la norma, dejando atrás el pasado y sus estereotipos, dando un punto de vista fresco a lo que llamamos moda y bienestar.

Y así es como nació 𝑹𝑼𝑵𝑾𝑨𝒀 𝑴𝑨𝑮𝑨𝒁𝑰𝑵𝑬, de las cenizas de lo decadente y obsoleto.

En diciembre de 2020, envió a West a lo más alto, reconocida como uno de las visionarias más jóvenes del mundo, con apenas veintitrés años. Había conseguido pasar de arrastrarse hasta la cima, a pisotear todas y cada una de las críticas de su trabajo, paso a paso con sus tacones caros.

La revista, que empezó sólo con oficinas en Estados Unidos, consiguió expandirse por todo el mundo, siendo su último departamento el de Francia, inaugurado por la propia West, en mayo de 2023.

El éxito de la revista y el hecho de que West haya mantenido el control creativo de todos los departamentos en todo el mundo le han valido numerosas nominaciones a premios, victorias y títulos. Entre ellos, es notorio el hecho de que apareció en

𝑭𝒐𝒓𝒃𝒆𝒔 𝒎𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒛𝒊𝒏𝒆'𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝑨𝒎𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒂'𝒔 𝑹𝒊𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝑺𝒆𝒍𝒇- 𝑴𝒂𝒅𝒆 𝑾𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒏 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟐 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟑, logro que, según ella, era "bien merecido, ya que pasó de morirse de hambre a poder cuidar de sí misma y de muchas más familias en todo el mundo."

Cuando se le pregunta por este éxito, West afirma que es sólo "mucho trabajo duro y sólo una pizca de buena suerte".

𝑹𝑼𝑵𝑾𝑨𝒀 𝑴𝑨𝑮𝑨𝒁𝑰𝑵𝑬, aún puede encontrarse tanto en formato digital, como físico, ganando la apuesta de conseguir realmente el objetivo de vender copias físicas como pan fresco, en los tiempos de una tecnología tan avanzada.

fuentes:

1. 𝒉𝒕𝒕𝒑𝒔://𝒆𝒏.𝒎.𝒘𝒊𝒌𝒊𝒑𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒂.𝒐𝒓𝒈/𝒘𝒊𝒌𝒊/𝒓𝒖𝒏𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒎𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒛𝒊𝒏𝒆

2. 𝒉𝒕𝒕𝒑𝒔://𝒆𝒏.𝒎.𝒘𝒊𝒌𝒊𝒑𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒂.𝒐𝒓𝒈/𝒘𝒊𝒌𝒊/𝑱𝒂𝒅𝒆𝑾𝒆𝒔𝒕

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me-uglypretty · 2 years

Note

NONONONO THANK YOU but also like how dare you cause i haven’t been able to watch anymore until now and it’s all i’ve legit been able to think about

but yeah no the suspense is for real and i totally get what you’re saying! there’s definitely not been a superhero based type of show (that comes to my mind atm) with this type of suspense! it’s always about the suspense of if the hero will make it or who finds out about the hero type of vibe, but the suspense of this show is more thriller like vibes for sure. the quality of the show is so good too! i’m very confused as to why this show didn’t have more hype when it aired!?!?

(omg wait major throwback- but runaways is giving me the same vibes as a nickelodeon show called house of anubis! it was a small silly little show that barely anyone knew of but i ate that shit up and the suspense vibes from that kids show was insanely good)

ANYWAYS, yes! molly needs to be protected at all costs!! if anyone messes with her they’ll have to go through me first! ! ! !

((is it ever truly a friends to lovers arc if there isn’t anything problematic happening though? especially if it’s happening in the marvel universe ? ex: fitzsimmons from agents of shield))

(((OMG I WILL GLADLY GIVE ALL THE INPUTS IM SO FREAKING EXCITED NOW AND THAT’D BE COOL IF YOU REWATCHED IT TOO BUT YOU ALSO DON’T HAVE TOO IF YOU DONT WANT TO, NO PRESSURE ik rewatching shows takes up a lot of time cause i tend to do that)))

((((lol thanks! nicknames are a forte of mine if i do say so myself, if you don’t believe me just ask my pets and their million names))))

(((((wow, sorry that was very long)))))

((((((also be prepared for more in of the put from yours truly))))))

(((((((okay one last thing i promise, how are we feeling about the parentheses? is it annoying? should i do bullet points instead?)))))))

~ input runaway anon

THE SHOW WAS SLEPT ON! IT DIDN’T GET ENOUGH PROMO OR ACKNOWLEDGEMENT EVEN WHEN THE LEAD IS LITERALLY A GLOWING LESBIAN??? All my fav show ends up being underrated or cancelled. Am I cursed with loving shows like that or characters who ends up d wording??? Maybe.

(HOUSE OF ANUBIS??? YOU MEAN *COVERS ONE EYE WITH HAND*??? i used to watch that show every night like I NEEDED TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS and did that sign like it was normal. I get what you’re saying, but the difference between the two…like I know I would be cracking my head if I ever rewatch house of anubis, and just complain about all the things that didn’t make sense but still eat it up)

((For me, it all started with Jade and Tori from Victorious like they were the founding mothers of the lgbtq+ to me, or just mostly the writers who wrote fan fictions about them. marvel are cowards is all I say to the amount of things they ignore))

(((I’VE JUST STARTED REWATCHING AGENT OF CARTER CAUSE I’M MISSING HER HOURS but I’m gonna go rewatch runaways soon cause I’ve been missing smol Nico and tall glowing Karolina and the best part of the show that I'm not sure you've seen yet??)))

((((YOUR INPUTS ARE IMPORTANT, INPUT RUNAWAY ANON! And I have lots of nicknames for my pets too. Give all your emotions in any way easy for you!! I’m just here to go cap locks with you and scream about runaways or anything else like why does the good show and character always end))))

#me-uglypretty answers #input runaway anon

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sapphoooe · 4 years

Text

Home (Jade West x R)

Gif/Pic Credit to original maker/editor

Jade West x Reader

Summary: (request) "may i request reader & jade in bed waking up and finding their home in each other, just a lotta fluff pls? Thx I love ur writing 💕"

Warnings/Info: all characters are at least 18, Kisses, a LOT of fluff, past mild smut? if you can call it that?

A/N: Soooo I remember getting an Ask some time ago, if I write smut and since I'm pretty new at this stuff, (I tried it /baby steps) I can't promise, if I'm ever going to write like real smut, but I'll try my best for u guys sooo yea. Hope you still like it Anon✌🏼💕

Also I hope everyone of you is okay💕 with all the shit that's happening.

Y/F/N = your friends name (or just put one of the victorious friends names in there)

Y/N = your name

Y/N/N = your nickname

Y/L/N = your last name

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

You're waking up just as the sun is rising and the most beautiful woman you've ever seen is wrapped up in your arms.

You kiss her forehead and Jade sighs in her sleep, shifting closer to you.

You groan internally. You need to go help your friend soon, because you promised them days ago (so it's technically your own fault), but if this – this amazing woman – is the one preventing you from leaving the warmth of the blankets and the warmth of her naked body heat?

Then you know, that you fell pretty hard for her.

You watch the growing sunlight dance across Jade’s sleeping face and you run your fingers over her bare shoulder, back, hips, ass and thigh, which is hitched up over your stomach so she’s literally half on top of you.

“Such a softie, I love you” You whisper and kiss Jade’s hair.

You don’t know how long you watch Jade sleep or how long you wonder what you ever did to deserve this kind of happiness.

“You’re staring at me, Y/L/N” Jade croaks eventually, without opening her eyes, her smile growing and her voice thick with sleep.

“No, I’m not” You smile softly and Jade cracks her eyes open, shifting groggily so her body is fully on top of yours.

“You were babe, no point denying it.” As she plants sleepy kisses on your face and on your neck.

“No point?” You ask, running your hands up and down Jade’s body.

“No, babe” her mouth hoovering against your throat, kissing it gently as you crane your head back and groan softly. “I can sense it. I’m just that good”

“That good, you say?”

“Mhhm. And I can also sense that you're going to be late to help Y/F/N”

“An accurate assessment, gorgeous”

Jade swoons and you kiss her.

“So here’s what we do” She proposes between soft kisses. “You go out for whatever Y/F/N needs help with and when you get back, I’ll have coffee/tea and pancakes and much fresher breath than I currently have.”

You chuckle and kiss her deeper.

“But I’ll miss you if I go” you protest and Jade smiles and rolls off of you.

“Noooo babee” You jokingly whine and Jade mercifully rolls back halfway to kiss you again.

“And you promised to help babe. Just miss me for an hour and come back to coffee/tea and breakfast and me wearing nothing but one of your flannels/shirts, how's that?”

You try to pull Jade back towards you and she lets out a small laugh/giggle and dodges before getting twisted up in the covers, surrendering happily to your touch.

“Okay?”

“Alright” you confirm and Jade kisses you again.

“Was that a promise?” you ask and Jade tilts her head as she looks up at you, her eyes filled with so much love.

“Was what a promise, Y/N/N?”

“To only be wearing one of my flannels/shirts when I get back.”

Jade bites her lip and you're practically filled with desire.

“Looks like you should hurry back and find out.”

It takes several kisses (okay more like A LOT), to get you dressed and out the door and Jade sighs into the silence when you leave.

She’s never had this before – this domesticity, this intimacy, this happiness – and she never wants to lose it.

She takes her time in the shower, remembering each place you touched her, licked her, kissed her, bit down gently – and at her request, not so gently – into her skin last night, each place you had worshipped her and cared for her.

As promised, she slips into one of your flannels/shirts as she makes breakfast. Humming along the radio the entire time.

Soon enough, the scents of coffee/tea and your favorite breakfast fill the entire apartment and by the time you get back, everything is set and Jade’s hair is still a bit damp and your racing heart stops at the sight of it all.

Because before?

Before, your apartment was just that: an apartment. A place to store things, a place to sleep, a place to eat, a place to function.

And now?

“What, no burned toast this morning?” you joke and Jade chuckles and shakes her head as she presses a kiss onto your cheek.

“I love you too, Y/N/N”

And you beam happily and you kiss her and you pour every emotion you have into it, because she's home.

Now? It's finally home.

#jade west x y/n #jade west x reader #jade west x you #jade west imagine #jade west #victorious

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tvandenneagram · 4 years

Note

Hi! I was wondering if you are planning on ever typing The 100 characters

Hi, Anon

We’ve been asked for The 100 a few times, so we’ve decided to a quick-typings of the characters. We’ve only seen some of the early seasons and read a bit about their characters and personality, so we’ve tried to do the best we can with what we know.

NOTE: We will be doing some of the other characters in another post, this is Part 1.

Clarke Griffin: 1w2

Clarke is principled, responsible and self-sacrificing. Clarke has shown time and time again that she believes in saving everybody. She has a strong belief in the greater good and wants to do the ‘right thing.’ Clarke usually thinks before acting, but has been shown to act impulsively in certain situations. Sometimes her moral compass can make her make decisions based on absolutes that can lead to extreme consequences.

Clarke is very idealistic and tries to avoid hurting others if she can. For example, she stops the other Delinquents from killing Anya (their enemy) because it isn’t necessary. However, she does sometimes torture others, especially if she feels it is a necessary evil or if she is persuaded by Bellamy.

1s can become jaded and selfish when they are in the unhealthy levels, which we see with Clarke. After the aftermath of the Second Nuclear Apocalypse, Clarke becomes singularly interested in protecting Madi. Clarke begins to lose her own humanity and begins acting in self-interest, rather than for the greater good. Clarke shows her wing 2 as she is more people-oriented and emotional than a 1w9 would be.

Quotes

“This isn’t about saving my people. It’s about saving the human race.”

“I bear it, so they don't have too.”

"While we're on the subject, why is it that everyone thinks me wanting Jasper to not die is a bad thing? Like I'm such a downer. I can be fun."

“I tried... I tried to be the good guy.”

“Maybe life should be about more than just surviving. Don't we deserve better than that?”

Lexa: cp6w5

This may be a bit of a controversial take on Lexa’s type, as I’ve seen her typed as both an 8 and a 1. However, I think Lexa’s main motivations are to fulfil her duties as Heda and to keep her people safe. Lexa is a very strong and fierce leader, but I think she has to take on these traits to gain respect from her people. 6s and 8s both have a real emphasis on ‘survival’ which is really prominent in Lexa’s character.

Lexa is protective, dutiful, strong and loyal. She is a fierce leader that isn’t afraid to go against the traditions of her people for peace. Lexa doesn’t like hurting people and when she is forced to punish people, she tries to choose the most human punishment. She doesn’t use her power for her own interests or vengeance, as she only punishes people to gain justice for her people. Lexa also doesn’t like conflict and is seen as trying to bring peace to the factions, despite the wishes of those around her.

Lexa was not always closed-off to love and did not always believe love is a weakness. This is due to her relationship with Costia as she blames herself for her death because she couldn’t keep her safe. Hence, Lexa emotionally closes herself off from love under the guise of it being a weakness. This changes when she meets Clarke as she begins to let her guard down a little bit more and allows herself to be vulnerable with Clarke. In her relationship with Clarke, Lexa realises that she is worthy of love and that it is not a vulnerability. Lexa has a wing 5 as she is more emotionally reserved and introverted than a wing 7 would be.

Quotes

"My mistakes? Azgeda cut off Costia's head and delivered it to my bed, and still I let them into my alliance! I am more than capable of separating feelings from duty!"

“I know how hard that is for you. You think our ways are harsh, but that's how we survive.”

“Blood must have blood.”

“Victory stands on the back of sacrifice.”

“Some on my side say that's not enough. They wanted the murderer to suffer as our tradition demands. But they do not know that your suffering will be worse. What you did tonight will haunt you until the end of your days.”

Bellamy Blake: cp6w7

Bellamy is protective, assertive and responsible. Due to his childhood and his relationship with Octavia, Bellamy has always had a focus on seeking safety for himself and his family. Bellamy has a take-charge attitude and isn’t above bending the rules to survive. He is also very loyal to those he loves, and will go to great lengths to protect and help them.

As leader, Bellamy becomes controlling and begins acting in self-interest, rather than for the people. However, he realises his actions are wrong and does feel guilt over the consequences of his actions. Bellamy also did help the Delinquents survive and adapt to the conditions.

Bellamy seems to want to find meaning and something to believe in, which is common for 6s. For example, he accepts the simplistic view that the Sky People are the ‘good guys’ and the Grounder are the ‘bad guys.’ Likewise, after being trapped in Etheria, he becomes very loyal to the Disciple’s cause. This can happen to 6s when they are in the unhealthy levels, as they begin to develop an ‘us against them’ mentality and become obsessed with belief systems. Bellamy shows his wing 7 as he is more expressive than a wing 5.

Quotes

“Who we are, and who we need to be to survive are very different things.”

“I was so angry at you for leaving. I don’t want to feel that way anymore.”

"We all have things to answer for things that shouldn't be forgiven but are. because we did them for our people -- our family."

“I’m not leaving my friends! I can’t do that again.”

“Fears are fears. Slay your demons when you’re awake, they won’t be there to get you in your sleep.”

Raven Reyes: 5w6

Raven was a bit hard to type as she has traits of 1, 5, 6 and 8. I was mostly between 1w9 and 5w6 as she is very concerned with doing the right thing. However, I settled on 5w6 as I think she is more motivated by gaining knowledge so she can be a useful member of the Delinquents.

Raven is intelligent, resourceful and judgmental. Raven is a very useful member of the Delinquents due to her strong intellect. She is also very tough and will not hesitate to do what needs to be done. Sometimes, Raven can be a bit unemotional and seems to use her wit and sarcasm as a defence mechanism. However, as the series progresses we can see the emotional toll her actions has taken on her.

5s are able to separate their emotions and fears from the task at hand, which we see with Raven. Raven is very mentally strong and is able to overcome many setbacks. She is also not afraid to speak her mind, especially if she thinks she knows more than the others. Raven shows her wing 6 as she is more practical and person-oriented than a 5w4.

Quotes

"It's not your blood that defines you. It's your heart."

"I can barely walk, and my shoulder's killing me. But, my brain is all kind of awesome."

"Well, my mom was AWOL most of my life. When she did show up, it was empty-handed. Pretty sure she had me just to trade in my rations for moonshine."

"Everywhere you go, death follows. You always want to save everyone. What you don't realize is you're the one we need saving from."

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aussiearrow · 3 years

Text

New Beginnings - T.Ishimori / T.Taylor

A/N: So when @bitterendbrutalizer , started to write TMHWMP. I started to think about how I wanted to know more about Torrance and Taiji so here we are. This was in no way meant to be a fic in it's own, or this long. But it's something that's for sure. Enjoy?

Just a little long background on how Torrance met Taiji. Other characters from TNA/Impact, NJPW, etc. And of course Nellie and Torrance from Take My Hands, Wreck My Plans.

When Torrance walked through the door of TNA early 2015, her blonde hair in loose curls, she spent most of her career on the indie scene but never truly branched out until she crossed paths with Shaun better known to the wrestling fans as none other than Eli Drake, the you'll hear him long before you see him obnoxious jerk from Maryland. And his character wasn't much different either.

The moment she stepped into managements office they told her she was the perfect fit for either joining The Beautiful People or be apart of the Dollhouse either way it excited Torrance. Those were two of the top groups in women's wrestling to date and to even be considered was a major thing for her.

But it was all quickly folded when Shaun said that he wanted a change soon, and that change was to turn himself into one of TNA's top heels, but in order for his gimmick to work he felt like he needed to make a lot of changes. Most of which he said would make him out to be someone all of the ladies wanted, and all the guys were jealous of but that was still months away. But with him bringing that up and saying he knows the perfect person, one the fans didn't see yet before scratched all plans that she was originally brought in for.

"Soon." Tanga would tell her, but soon wasn't quick enough. It wasn't right now out there with Angelina, Velvet, And Madison. Or Marti, Jade, Taryn, and newly introduced Rebel. Torrance knew she was basically watching her part but through someone else. It was almost like being in Hollywood where you're watching someone else shine in the part you auditioned for.

"At least you get out when soon is up." Torrance would often tell Tanga than Drew or Shaun would walk around the corner.

It was no secret that Tanga was unhappy and had only signed on for a short time and had no plans on continuing instead he would often tell Torrance about joining his brother in Japan which seemed to put a huge smile on her face. Torrance often dreamed about what wrestling in Japan would feel like so when she met Tama at one point when he came to visit, she bombarded him with a list of questions and learned some of the slang.

"What do you do here?" Tama would ask her.

"Sit around and wait for my storyline to start." Torrance would say but when Tama was about to say more in his way things would quickly stop once Tanga shot him a ' we talked about this' kind of look.

On July 25th, 2015 Shaun had finally pulled the trigger and cost his former partner Drew Galloway a match against Ethan Carter III. It w as finally time to insert Torrance into the story as she helped Eli get a victory against Drew on August 5th.

Torrance embraced her role as a heel and Shaun's manager of some sort. Only wrestling on occasion but she tried to tell herself she was happy because not only was she employed in her dream job but she was doing it with the love of her life.

Or who she thought was the love of her life. Torrance got caught in one too many times of people coming up to her in the locker room and telling her how single Shaun acts when she isn't around, jokes on them when she saw it happen in front of her quite a few times too. This went on until she stopped going into the dressing room and instead stayed in Shaun's. Because you couldn’t get told bad things if you weren’t around to hear it, right?

Moments like these lead to pretty heavy arguments in the morning but Shaun had a way of saying that they were filming stuff for his gimmick or that a fan had gotten to close at a club and he couldn’t be rude. Which often caused Torrance to laugh. But it somehow always worked that andTorrance like the way she felt when they made up. Shaun Just had a certain way that she never once complained about.

When impact started to work with GWF there was a lot of new people from their roster coming into Impact. Shaun decided that tag team wrestling is where him and Chris needed to be.

But first I had to sit and watch as L.A.X won the titles, Santana and Ortiz becoming fast friends of Torrance’s much to the dislike of Shaun. It started to turn it into something that she didn’t have an idea. Yeah, when Chris joined she knew Shaun was looking to have him be his back up and boy did they ever get along. Torrance seemingly avoided it at all cost. Not knowing just exactly what was brewing.

It wasn’t until Slammiversary XV on July 2, 2017 when Torrance watched in rooted for Santana and Ortiz to keep their titles she was nervous and was waiting by the TV closest to the ranch so she can see her boys either way the match went for what felt like forever as L.A.X. emerged victorious. They all hooted and hollered when they made their way back as twins ran to give them both a hug.

“I’m so proud of you guys. “ Torrance said as they returned her hug.” Are you guys okay?” She said when she pulled away double checking that they were indeed okay.

" We're fine. We're not the ones you should be checking on." Santana said with a laugh.

Torrance playfully rolled her eyes as the 3 other teams finally came into view, Torrance's eyes wandered a little and they all indeed seem like they went through something. But a certain pair of eyes caught hers a smile making her way onto his lips which she returned.

"Let's go, our turn to finally show what a real tag team can do." Shaun said as he and Chris came into view.

"Dude, we've been doing this together for years, you guys became a team weeks ago. Get some credibility and maybe we'll let you have a shot." Ortiz said.

Torrance saw the smile disappear quickly from the guys face instead it was replaced by an unreadable expression as her gaze turned to Ortiz and Shaun as she placed a hand on Shaun's chest and led him to the ramp.

That night as Torrance listened to Shaun and Chris go on and on about how if it wasn't for Santana and Ortiz getting in their head before the match things would have went completely different. All Torrance could think of was the guy that she saw before it all happened. The way his smile seemingly reached his eyes, with such kindness that she wasn't used to seeing in this business especially not with Shaun around.

From that day she talked to both Santana and Ortiz, " So who was that one guy you guys had that match against? The one from Noah?"

"Torrance got a thing for Marufugi?" Ortiz said as Torrance made a face.

"No, I don't." Torrance said as they laughed.

"What he meant to say is Torr got a thing for Ishimori."

"Torr doesn't have a thing for anyone but her boyfriend. Who she's been with for a few years." Torrance said as she quickly came to Eli's defense.

"Chill Torr, we know were just joking. His name is Taiji Ishimori we only know a little about him. Damn good wrestler seems to be a pretty nice guy outside of the ring. Friendly, Priscilla said he wanted to go over the spot they had in the match at least 100 times so he felt confident enough the wouldn't hurt her."

"Oh." Torrance said.

"Oh? I mean we can introduce you two if you want. Just don't pull a Eli on yourself." Santana said.

Torrance knew he meant it as a joke but she also knew how much truth was hidden in that.

It was months later when Torrance finally saw Taiji again at Bound For Glory on November 5, 2017. She considered them to be rather friendly as when he was there before Santana and Ortiz introduced the two. Hitting it off the best they could with Shaun being around. But she didn't know where Taiji stood when he found out that Shaun and Torrance were a thing. She didn't mean for things to get flirty between the two but stolen glances became much more when he would ask her to dance that one time he actually got Torrance to go out with the roster.

Shaun on the other hand was happy Torrance was dragged away by her friends as a certain Brunette had found her way onto his lap. Just as Taiji pulled Torrance in she laughed.

Taiji smiled," You know I don't know much about the way girls are in the states but I'm pretty sure you've been flirting with me since we met."

Torrance's eyes went wide," Flirting? No,no. I just wanted to make sure you were having fun."

"I am, only when you're around. And that's a shame cause I was definitely flirting with you."

Now Torrance knew that she was definitely flirting back with him, in fact she knew on occasion that she had even started it. Taiji had a way of making her feel things she never felt especially in her relationship with Shaun. Which is why she never really mentioned him in that way, and Torrance knew that lately it hadn't been that well known to anyone except Chris and her friends of L.A.X. Tanga kept in touch too but he never asked how Shaun was doing. He like Santana and Ortiz were waiting for the day when Torrance would say she dumped Shaun.

"Hey Torr, I know this isn't the time or the place but you got to come here. Your boyfriend seems to have forgotten an important part. And I don't trust Santana walking over there." Priscilla had said when she placed a hand on Torrance's arm.

"Boyfriend?" Taiji said as she looked at Torrance letting her go.

"Yeah the complete douchebag known as Shaun aka Eli Dra-" Priscilla began to say as Torrance cut her off.

"Can we not? Please." Taiji just stood there with eyebrows raised as Torrance made her way through the crowd and over to where Santana had now become fully aware of some sort of situation and picked Shaun up by his collar from his spot on the chair and was saying something that she couldn't quite make out just yet.

"Woah hey what's going on?" Torrance said as she made her way over to the two.

"This prick apparently can't remember he has a girlfriend who is only a couple feet away from him that he could be trying to mack on, but no instead chooses someone else. Like this is all some sort of game to him."

"You're just mad that it ain't you, kid. It could be but you're still playing at the kids table." Shaun said as he freed himself from Santana's grasp with a dirty look.

"Really? That's what you have to say to all of this?" Torrance said.

"We'll talk at home, in private." Shaun said as he gathered his stuff and muttered something that Torrance couldn't quite catch but it sounded something along the lines of his night being ruined.

But they never did talk about it that night, when Torrance brought it up the second the door closed his lips attached to her neck as she sat at the counter.

"You're really going to listen to Santana over me?" Shaun would say as his arms snaked up her sides," You know how he gets when we're in the same room."

Torrance was still unsure but she convinced herself based on the fact that Santana indeed have all the things in the world to say about Shaun whenever he stepped in the ring especially ever since their feud on Impact when Shaun and Scott took the tag team titles only to drop them to go on his chase for his own singles title.

Torrance sighed," I know I just wish he didn't go and say something like that completely out in the open in front of the whole roster."

"That's how him and Ortiz are, you know that. Now what do you say we find something else to do until morning since our lovely night out became an early night in." Shaun said as he made sure to continue to capitalize on every little weak spot that he knew Torrance had. So by the time he was finished talking Torrance barely remembered why she was even questioning him in the first place.

But that was before and this was now. Bound for Glory. It was all set to be a big night for Shaun but Torrance was finding it rather hard to swallow her pride and act happy for him when things in their personal lives were at their end. Their very end. And when Torrance told Impact about how she didn't want to be near Shaun.

To which they responded with that she could suck it up or leave. She chose to leave after Bound for Glory was done. Torrance watched early on as Taiji defeated Tyson, She hasn't talked to him since everything that happened at the club. She would try to look his way but almost all of them went unnoticed by her at least when she looked that was.

She had only told her close friends that tonight was her last night as tonight was also Gail Kim's last impact wrestling match. Maybe it was for the better, she didn't want the attention on her.

She barely left the locker room as her phone started to ring, as she looked down to see Tanga's name on her screen.

"Hey, how are you?" Torrance said.

"Really? You're asking me that? You're the one who dumped an asshole and is now leaving a company in the same week." Tanga said.

"I'm ready to leave already but I have a few more hours still."

"Where's Santana and Ortiz? Or Taiji?"

"Santana and Ortiz are filming something but Taiji I haven't talked to him for a few weeks."

"And why not? He was becoming a good friend, it wasn't Shaun was it?"

"I mean not exactly. He didn't know me and him were a thing, and things may have went a little to far if you will."

"A little far? Did you and Taiji have a thing?"

"No, no I didn't think so at least. I mean things didn't feel friendly but it never crossed that line."

"Did you want it too?" Tanga said as all Torrance could do was stay quiet, mainly because she couldn't even begin to think about any of that, cause she knew parts of her did want it too. Almost every part.

"Hey I have to go get ready, but I'll see you very soon."

"Ah! So you have thought about it." Tanga said with a laugh.

"Yeah, yeah. Don't get ahead of yourself. It wasn't your words that encouraged me."

"You're right the amount of times you drooled when I told you about Japan definitely didn't do anything to persuade your decision. Maybe it was Taiji telling you about it?"

"Bye Tanga." Torrance said as she hung up as Tanga laughed.

Torrance went about her night, never really running into anyone before she watched Taiji win his match in under 5 minutes. He was truly coming a long way. She'd be lying if she said that being able to see Taiji in the ring would be something she'd seriously miss, but even more so him out of it.

When it was finally time for her to go out, she gave Santana and Ortiz one last look and they gave her encouraging smiles. Just one last thing you have to fake here tonight and than that's it. By tomorrow the news will read that her and Impact have parted ways than she'll be on the closest flight out of here to start her new life in Japan, as a part of the Bullet Club for the time being.

As Shaun's hand was raised in victory as he captured the Impact Global Championship, it took everything in Torrance not to break down cause it was something that she had watched him work hard for but even more so something their little group worked so hard for as well. Shaun respected her space throughout the whole celebration as they headed into the back. Most people congratulated Shaun as Torrance made her way through the crowd and went right over to Santana and Ortiz.

"We're gonna miss you Torr." They said as they wrapped their arms around her tightly.

"I'm going to miss you guys so much too." Torrance said as she pulled away from them," We'll see each other again soon. And I'll call once I figure out the time zone situation."

"Yeah we love you but not enough to answer your call at 3 in the morning just because you wanted to say hi." Ortiz said with a laugh as Torrance gasped in fake offense.

"You wouldn't take my call at 3 in the morning?"

"If you just want to say hi, absolutely not." Santana said.

"But what if I miss you guys too much?"

"Than we'll return the call at a decent hour." Ortiz said as they all laughed.

"So it's true?" Torrance heard from behind them, she knew that voice, she missed it the last couple of days.

As Torrance turned her head to see Taiji standing there as Santana and Ortiz let her go and walked a little bit away.

"Uh yeah, wait depending on what it is you're talking about."

"You're leaving." He said as she nodded," Why?"

"I want to wrestle not be eye candy, and I won't get that here."

"And you picked Japan?"

"How did you?- " Taiji pointed behind Torrance as she turned to see Ortiz looking away and Santana smiling and offering a small wave as Torrance gave him a look before looking at Taiji again.

"Well that explains that." She said as Taiji nodded," I leave in the morning."

"No celebration with everyone?" He asked with raised eyebrows.

"Not into drinking nor do I have anything to celebrate with him."

"But that's your boyfriend."

"Was, big keyword there he was my boyfriend."

"Oh, not a fan of going to Japan?"

"No just not a fan of being faithful." Torrance said as as unreadable expression came across Taiji's face.

"I'm sorry." He finally said.

"Don't be I'm not. Long overdue. New Beginnings, can't wait."

"Yeah, new beginnings." Taiji said with a smile.

Torrance wanted to bring up what happened but she figured it wouldn't matter too much. She would be off to Japan to start a new life while he was here doing great things in the states.

But what Torrance didn't know was that wouldn't be the last time she saw Taiji like she thought. She would see him again when she was working alongside Bullet Club and making a name for herself.

Tama started relentlessly teasing her, more so than usual she should have said when they started teasing about a certain someone making his return to New Japan very soon.

"You know him extremely well." Tama said.

"Oh now it's extremely well? Before it was just I've seen him before." Torrance said with a roll of her eyes.

Tanga laughed," You seriously haven't seen anything relating to Impact since you left have you?"

"Out of sight, out of mind. You know I stayed off social media especially when Shaun decided to state his opinion on why I left in the first place." Torrance said with a shrug.

"Plus our girl here has been busting her ass off for that championship." Chase said as she smiled.

She was really at the highest point in her career and it was something she could say it was finally all for her. She was happy to just be wrestling bust as she trained with the guys, even she couldn't that her ability was getting better.

So when she was told that she was going into the championship picture and at the end would be facing Toni and Kagetsu at Stardom Shining Stars in a little over a month.

"Just a little over a month to go." Torrance said.

"And as of tonight you'll have a new member to celebrate with." Tama said with that signature smug look on his face.

"Don't say that we all know she'll only celebrate with him at that point."

"You guys are seriously going to make me wait if it's this big of a deal?"

"Well maybe you should pay attention to socials more." Tama said," Owens don't let her get spoilers, I'll be back." Tama said as he left the room.

Torrance was nervous as she watched Tama enter the ring followed by a man in a mask slide in behind Will. Tama told Will to get his ass up before the attack started. Torrance had to admit there was something familiar about the way this person moved.

Once the attack stopped and Tama stood next to the man as he talked about how much luck Will has had lately and how it was going to change as Bullet Club had an idea for bringing someone new in who would turn the gold into a diamond. Tama said," What I present to you, Bone Solider... Taiji Ishimori."

Everything else felt like it was all slow motion to Torrance, like how did this happen? As Tama began to lead him to the back it would be a good half hour or so until they were back here. Torrance thought of leaving but her feet stayed planted where she was.

"Come on, we're going to meet them." Tanga said as he put a hand on her shoulder.

"I think I'm good I'll wait right here."

'No, you're going with us. Tama has told Taiji all about what you've been up too. He's excited to see you, said it's been quite the year or so." Tanga said and before she could disagree her body betrayed her as it followed the guys out and over to where Tama and Taiji were talking to the cameras.

"Well, well, well look who it is." Tama said as he looked the group," I believe most of you have met Taiji if not this is Ishimori, our newest member."

He didn't seem to notice that Torrance was also there but she felt eyes on her as Chase pushed her forward a bit," Torrance here has something to say."

"Oh she does now?" Tama grinned at her," Well? Go ahead, floor is yours."

"Welcome home?" Torrance said as she offered him a smile.

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

It didn't take long for Torrance and Taiji to get back to the way things were. The flirting picked up and this time there wasn't anything attached to either of them so it was freely. Torrance had also started to go out with them a lot more when Taiji would invite her.

" You guys seriously need to start inviting new girls. I hate being the only one."

"I'm sure there will be a lot more coming around with Taiji here, and someone else we have joining in the next few months." Chase said as Tama laughed.

"That's funny, new guy maybe but Taiji with Torr around?" Tanga said.

"We're right here guys." Torrance said as they walked in.

"Are they wrong though?" Taiji asked.

"As far as what I heard the question was mainly about you."

"I'm not looking for anyone." Taiji said as Torrance nodded as she turned around to find a table," Else that is." But she acted like she didn't hear it.

It made Torrance nervous, getting close to another wrestler again. Something she swore to herself she'd never do after Shaun. But as they sat together in a booth Torrance felt herself slipping from that thought as Taiji looked at her," Care to dance?"

Torrance nodded," Sure, figured I owed you one so come on." Torrance said as she slipped out of the booth.

Once Taiji grabbed her hand she knew she was gone but that she was going to try her hardest to hold out until she knew it was good for her. As the two made their way to the dance floor.

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

On June 9th, 2018 Torrance seemingly went to hell and back in a losing effort, she was sore pretty much something was broken or badly bruised as she made her way backstage, she made very little comments until she turned the corner to go to the locker room, she almost didn't notice the figure standing outside as a few of the other girls stood talking away.

Torrance made her way through the little crowd, as the figure turned towards her and gently caught her arm," Torr."

The crowd seemingly stood back and stared at the two in confusion, they knew she had been friends with members of the Bullet Club, and worked/trained with them but the fact that one of them were there right now seemingly crossing a line that hasn't even been drawn besides by a few girls in the locker room, "Taiji, what are you doing here?"

"I wanted to come and see your match live, than I saw everything so I had to come back and see you." He said as he wrapped her up in a hug," You did really good."

Torrance knew of the audience but the hug was a lot of what she needed in that moment and he at least deserved a hug back for showing up here the way that he did," Thank you it means a lot."

"Go get ready, we'll go somewhere to celebrate the fact we're both losers." Taiji said as they laughed.

"Raincheck, I feel like I got hit by a train." Torrance said as she let go of the hug.

"Okay sounds good, I'll still walk you out. Take your time." Taiji said as Torrance nodded and smiled at him as he got called away.

Taiji walked her out that night and even took the cab ride home with her as he gave her another hug and watched as she made her way inside.

"So it's true." Torrance just about jumped when she heard the voice she turned to see Bea standing there.

"What's true?"

"You've been banging Taiji since he came back?" She said with a laugh.

"Far from it, we've been friends since Impact."

"Oh so it's been longer than that, so did he use you to get into Bullet Club? Or was it the other way around?"

"Bea, cut the shit. We both know I haven't even gone on a date since being here."

"That we know of you don't tell us anything really is that why you and Shaun broke up got a little too close to a mid carder when you weren't wanted out at the ring?" Bea said as Torrance sighed.

"Whatever you say Bea, you and I both know what happened. If you still have a problem in the morning than we can talk but for now I'm going to sleep." She said as she went into her room and closed the door.

But it was always an issue with Bea, it went on for months until Torrance finally told Taiji and the rest of the guys.

"Why is it such an issue that they think you're hooking up with Taiji?" Jay asked.

"It's the way she's saying things that are the problem." Torrance said as she sighed," And than she has everyone else starting it now whenever I get anything that's good."

"Welcome to Bullet Club by the way Jay when we aren't kicking ass in the ring and out we're going through a big never ending game of she likes him but won't date him because he's a wrestler due to the last guy she dated who was admittedly an asshole yet she gets offended when people call her out for things when it comes to Taiji." Tama said as he sat back with a laugh.

"Oh fuck off Tama." Torrance said as she headed out the door. Truthfully she was getting overwhelmed by the amount of people coming at her at the house and it starting to just really get on her nerves. So when Tama started saying that when he knew what was going on just rubbed her the wrong way.

"Torrance, wait up." Taiji said.

"I'll talk to you tomorrow. I'm going home before everyone else gets there I think I heard enough today."

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about actually." Taiji caught up to her.

"Torrance turned to him," What?"

"How about you move in with me? I have a spare room you can have." Taiji said as he looked with hopeful eyes.

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

Her first initial night with Taiji just so happened to be New Year Eve, where they both decided that after a long day they were just going to get some food and head back to the apartment. It was hard not to be in a good mood when you walked the streets of Tokyo. It was also hard not to be coupley when everyone surrounding you was in such a high spirit.

When they made their way into the apartment and sat on the couch, both refusing to get out of their outfits, Torrance had to admit she liked the way this dress made her look. And it was the first time she actually had a reason to wear it out.

Taiji was the first to bring up relationships as he asked why she hadn't had one since being in Japan, " I don't know , most of the time I'm just surrounded by wrestlers and - "

"And you don't want to date or hook up with wrestlers."

"Yeah, for the most part. I know that's kind of impossible not too."

"So what you're saying is someone caught your eye?" Taiji said as he re entered the living room.

"Yes well no, I don't know. I feel like he's been around so he had it for awhile like a long while so it's kind of hard to keep denying it."

"He's a lucky guy."

What about you like Chase said Bullet Club is pulling more girls around now more than ever as there's more than one single guy. While Jay entertained a few you haven't." Torrance said," And don't say no one asked cause they have. I've seen them ask. Especially when you would come to stardom."

"None of them were what I wanted." Taiji said with a shrug.

"So you got a type."

Taiji was going to respond when a countdown started to go into the new year, Torrance watched as everything went from silence to almost a beautiful bliss.

"You ever have a new years kiss Taiji?"

"No, I'm sure you have though."

"Actually no, every new year my ex seemed to never be around."

"Let's change that right now." Taiji said," That's if you don't mind."

"No, I don't but who would we-" Before Torrance could even finish her sentence Taiji planted a kiss that took her a minute to respond too but once she did there was no stopping her or Taiji now.

*********

That night didn't end with just kissing, most like all of the other nights after that too. She never did get to see the spare room as both of them found an excuse to spend just one more night together.

It went on for months like this, none of them saying anything to anyone but most of their friends figuring it out by the way they acted around each other. But when they would ask it would just be a quick " no" or a change of subject.

That was until Taiji started bringing around his new tag team partner, Riley aka El Phantasmo. Things got rather interesting. Torrance didn't think of herself as a jealous person not even in the slightest but sometimes Riley would make comments about how Taiji needs to capitalize on a few girls that threw themselves at him. Those kinds of things made her squirm but she stayed quiet, not wanting to put Taiji in a spot that would make him uncomfortable.

"What's your deal Torr? You've been staring at Taiji like you either want to kill him or jump his bones for the last couple of minutes now." Torrance sighed as she looked at Nellie her newest friend. And finally another to put up with Bullet Club's shit.

"I've just been thinking a lot."

"About Taiji?" Nellie said as she looked at her friend. This wasn't the first time they talked about this. Most of the time they also talked about Nellie and Riley's situation.

Torrance never understood why Riley was hellbent on telling Taiji about hooking up with girls. Meanwhile he swore up and down that he was interested in getting to know the ladies in Japan, but the second Nellie walked through the door he was right there following her around. And from what Nellie told Torrance it wasn't the first time they hooked up either. They said that was over with but Torrance and Taiji both knew better when they would leave together.

After all it was easy to hide your own hookup when you knew your friends were doing the same. Or so Torrance thought.

"Earth to Torrance, are you sure everything is good?" Nellie said.

"Yeah, I just- what if I finally dyed my hair?"

"Seriously? That's what has you all out of whack today?"

"Well, it's been on my mind a lot. I think a pink color would look good."

"It would, you should do it." Torrance heard from beside her as Taiji took a seat next to her with a smile.

Torrance turned and smiled at him," You think so?" As both went in their own conversation as Nellie and Riley looked at each other with a shrug.

"When you two are done ignoring us, how about joining Nellie and I at the bar? The usual spot?" Riley said as Torrance looked at Riley and Nellie who were now standing and ultimately waiting on them.

"Yeah, yeah we know." Taiji said as he stood, followed by Torrance.

It wasn't long before Riley was making the comments, it was almost like he knew how much it bothered Torrance. Who always tried to ignore it but lately it was getting harder and harder. She was trying to distract herself by talking to Nellie about upcoming shows.

"What about that one? She's been eyeing you all night." Riley said.

Torrance tried to turn away a little more as Riley just continued on," I bet if you buy her a drink she'll right into you."

Nellie watched in amusement as Torrance rolled her eyes," Seriously guys? Is that all you ever talk about?"

"Woah, hey. Nellie is right maybe we're trying to help the wrong friend get laid." Riley said with his arms raised.

"I'm more than okay thank you very much." Torrance said.

"Are you sure about that?" Nellie asked trying to hide the smile.

"Really? You two?" Torrance said as she looked at Nellie who shrugged," You know what? Fine. I just can't keep sitting here and listening to Riley go on and on about how Taiji needs to get laid cause I think he has been multiple times this week alone."

" Oh really? And how would you know about that unless?" Riley looked between the two of them as Nellie couldn't get enough of the scene playing out in front of her.

"Oh please don't act so surprised." Torrance said as she stood up," Now if you'll excuse us you wanting to go out the last two nights has really put a damper on things. So if Taiji agrees maybe we can go home early and as Riley likes to say get laid."

" I'm always down for you." Taiji said as he stood up and grabbed her hand.

"Wait home?" Riley said as he looked at Nellie who shrugged and seemed just as surprise as she was.

"I really didn't expect that I just thought we were finally going to learn they've been banging this whole time." Nellie said.

"Bye guys." Torrance said as Taiji began leading her out the door. Little did she know that was the best thing to happen to them of course they'd never let Riley or Nellie know that.

And the rest is a story for another time.

#njpw fanfiction #njpw fanfic #taiji ishimori fanfic

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hawkinsschoolcounselor · 4 years

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Why I stop short of hope

I’ve found that I tend to reel myself in when discussing Mike and Will. I will argue in favor of the legitimacy of the signs and foreshadowing. I will passionate argue about the strength and closeness of their bond. I will point out how the show has gone to great lengths to depict their friendship as being unique and special compared to other relationships on the show. I’ll bring up how all of Mike’s story arcs have involved Will from the start. I’ll write a long post on how hard it would be for Will to grow up gay in a time before the internet. That last one in particular is currently my most popular post, surpassing others in likes and reblogs by far. They give people hope, or, at least, I like to think they do.

Then, sometimes almost immediately, I will turn around and counter myself. I’ll say how there’s alternate explanations. I’ll say that we’re seeing what we want to see. I’ll say that Stranger Things has heavily marketed the show around Mike and El, as unhealthy a relationship as it is. I’ll say that they barely ever mention anything about Mike and Will. I’ll mention how El was originally supposed to die for good in Season 1, but they decided to bring her back in an increased role. I’ll argue that it’s likely that they’re setting Will up to be gay, but that his feelings will be unrequited. This has made people sad, even mad at times. How can I be so positive about this on one hand and yet so negative on the other hand? How can I be so pessimistic about something I so firmly see evidence for? It’s because that’s how I’ve been conditioned. Buckle up, you’re all about to get an insight into hawkinsschoolcounselor’s life.

I was born in 1982. For reference, this would make me about a couple years younger than Holly Wheeler. My early childhood was in the 80s, and this is what drew me to Stranger Things in the first place. I came of age in the 90s, which, despite only being a few years later, was a radically different time in some aspects, but alike in so many others. What I didn’t know yet back then was that around 1997 I would realize I’m bisexual. It was not an easy admission to make.

I’m not from a particularly religious family, but we were all raised Catholic, which included attending a Catholic elementary school through the 8th grade. My hometown wasn’t exactly a small town like Hawkins, in fact it was a suburb of a major eastern US city. Still, there was little talk of homosexuality. I really knew next to nothing of it for the longest time. There were insults and references that I barely understood, even into my early adolescence. I laughed at the Blue Oyster Bar scenes in the Police Academy movies, not realizing that gay bars were a real thing. That gay people were real people. Gay people were played for laughs, at best, in the 80s.

The 90s brought a bit of a larger perspective, both for me and the country as a whole. Cable TV and the blossoming internet resulted in a wider range of ideas being available. However, LGBT representation in the media had not really gotten better. In fact, they arguably got worse. The 90s seemed to be the decade of gay tragedy. Now gay characters seemed to be shown for something other than cheap laughs at times, but they very rarely got anything resembling a happy ending. Some more progressive shows were somewhat sympathetic to gay issues, but even then they were played for laughs to be “palatable” to a mainstream audience. Movies and TV shows often depicted gay characters committing suicide or being beaten/murdered. Gay panic was a big thing then, both in media and real life. Then came October 1998.

Matthew Shepard was a young guy, early 20s. He met a couple of other young guys while at a bar. The men offered him a ride home. Matthew Shepard never made it home. A cyclist found him bound to a fence. He didn’t survive The men were arrested for his murder, and the “gay panic” defense was used. Everything that was seen on TV was now very real. I was 16. I had maybe only acknowledged my own sexuality for about a year at this point, and very few people even knew. The fear was real. This could happen to me.

This was a time where I needed hope, but there was little to be found. For every Birdcage, there was a Philadelphia. Even then, Birdcage’s comedy often came on the back of gay stereotypes, and Armand and Albert’s relationship isn’t really depicted as healthy. The message I was receiving through my formative years was that gay people don’t get happy endings. Granted, representation in the media has gotten so much better, but, at least for me, it’s too little, too late. I’m old and jaded. Years of internalized homophobia and fear have left me cynical. One of the reasons I took up counseling was to help young people get through difficult times without losing their hope like I did. I don’t enjoy being this way, but the damage is done. I am so sorry if anything I’ve posted or said in a private chat has made people feel that I want them to give up hope. Please, have the hope that I find it so difficult to hold on to.

I want so badly for Mike and Will to be happy together. It would almost seem like a personal victory, like everything that I went through would have been worth it. I can nearly feel my younger self brightening at the very thought that two boys, especially in the 80s, can find love and be happy. But that same younger self is terrified at another sad ending, or, possibly worse, another example of gay-baiting. But, please, don’t let my fear of hope, of disappointment, ruin your own hope. I do believe it’s a good thing to have a devil’s advocate, but if I’m ruining anyone’s good time then I don’t deserve to be here.

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captain-danwilds · 4 years

Text

Too Broken for A Fox: Janie Smalls

I know I have a bad habit of falling for minor characters, but my heart just aches for Janie Smalls. It’s probably because she’s the Fox with the trauma most similar to mine that even though we know next to nothing about her, I have lots of feelings about Janie Smalls. (And yeah there’s potentially triggering things so mind the tags. Recovery Focus, but still proceed with caution)

It’s easy for her teammates to think everything’s fine.

Their captain is going to be playing for a division 1 school.

It’s Palmetto so only barely division 1, but still.

Janie actually smiles when Coach Wilmer announces the recruitment to them.

And they can count the number of times she’s smiled on one hand.

But even as Janie prepares for graduation, prepares for the life she’s worked for since she was eight and first picked up a racket, she knows she’s not fine.

It starts slowly at first.

Picking scabs before they’re healed, pressing bruises, driving less cautiously, rubbing the scars on her thigh from sophomore year.

She knows she should be happy. She’s got everything she could ever hope for.

But that’s it really, what is supposed to happen now? What happens when you’ve spent half your life working to get to this point (and the other half not believing you’d live this long anyway?)

The future is vast and intimidating.

“But it’s happy change.” Her mother whispers as she’s smooths down Janie’s hair. “Aren’t you excited?”

The pit growing in her stomach doesn’t feel like excitement.

Exy is an escape.

It’s always been an escape.

The Fairview Royals have been how she outran her troubles, outlived the thoughts in her head.

Because if she can just keep scoring, she’s worth something.

But then the season ends and she’s no longer a Royal and not yet a Fox.

Then they find her bleeding.

And she’s too broken to be a Fox.

Too broken to do anything really. Because what does she have left if she doesn’t have Exy?

The team sends a card and Janie only barely resists tearing it to shreds.

She rolls her eyes at the goal keeper’s pretty words about how Janie will get through this, but she adds Renee’s number to her phone anyway.

There’s a sick sort of joy in the pit of her stomach when she hears about Seth Gordon’s overdose.

She isn’t the only one who couldn’t handle it, handle living.

I mean objectively she knows. It’s not like she was in the hospital alone, didn’t attend group therapy alone.

But this is different.

Her suicide attempt had been called typical of a Fox on every platform that followed College Exy (and quite a few that didn’t.)

Seth’s death completely overshadows it.

She wasn’t really a Fox yet. He played for four years.

Janie’s no longer the face of too broken to make it.

She should probably hate Neil Josten for taking her spot.

For coming out of nowhere, Arizona with one year of experience on a team that didn’t even make playoffs, and taking her spot.

Her therapist thinks she’s being very mature that she doesn’t.

It’s easy to shrug the complement away. It’s not like she can use it when she hasn’t been allowed on a court in months.

But she sees herself in how Josten plays.

In those moments she steals when the nurses think she isn’t there to watch games in case it triggers her.

They have very different styles, his built on speed and instinct, hers on precision.

It’s the desperation that ties them together.

The way the court is the only thing that seems worth living for.

The slight madness in his eyes that says I play Exy or I’m nothing.

She’s nothing now.

But she’s learning how to be something.

Even if it makes her feel like she’s breaking apart all over again.

Still she sits in therapy, colors an almost comical amount of pictures, blows bubbles just to be able to destroy something that isn’t herself.

And things get better.

When the foxes make the spring playoff season, she smiles a genuine smile that makes one of her favorite nurse’s cry.

After she’s out of the hospital and the constant vigilance of her mother’s concerned eyes, Janie goes back to her high school Exy court.

One of the younger players lets her in after practice and doesn’t ask too many questions.

She just sits in the middle of the court. There’s no one around, but the memory of the sheer energy on game day is enough.

It’s not the first time Janie cries about exy and it won’t be the last, but there’s no longer a jaded feeling in the pit of her stomach.

She wants to be better, to live, and that’s so much bigger than just Exy.

Janie has other things to live for now. Things that make her heart jump more than scoring on a particular skilled opponent.

But she still loves Exy.

So Janie picks up her racket again and bounces the ball off of the Rec Center wall between therapy sessions.

As she lifts weights or goes on runs, Janie tells herself it’s because the doctors recommended it, not because she feels the need to whip her body back into shape after months of trying to only get through the day even if that meant never leaving bed.

She just wants to feel like her body’s her own again.

And her body, the small voice in Janie’s head whispers, is meant to carry her through an Exy game and shove away even the largest of backliners.

Her friends and parents purposely avoid talking about the Foxes even as the new rookie causes trouble left and right or Kevin Day nonchalantly creates the largest conspiracy the sport has ever seen. They don’t know she has all their news alerts set up on her phone.

When the Foxes make the finals, Janie is the one to announce it to them by covering the house in an obnoxious amount of orange paper paw prints.

And when they win, she cries.

Maybe they think that she’s mourning the fact that she should have been there, should have been part of the underdog team that finally brought the Ravens down.

But she isn’t.

It’s more the fact that they did it. The foxes beat the unbeatable.

And for the first time in forever, Janie Smalls feels like a Fox.

Her victory isn’t touted over the news, isn’t the topic of podcasts and already slated to be next decade’s feel good sports movie.

But Janie’s alive and she’s determined to be for a long time. And for a long time, that felt unimaginable.

Janie calls Renee to offer her congratulations. Even after all this time, she kept the number. It’s a small thing, showing joy for the girl who had faith in her when few did.

Janie doesn’t expect their conversation to mean much.

Doesn’t expect it to continue for months.

Or for Renee to casually slip in how the ERC expects Coach Wymack to drastically increase the size of the team.

It feels like a sign Janie didn’t even know she was waiting for.

She doesn’t tell Renee when she films a practice session with her best friend and sends it in with doctor’s notes.

Or the voicemail she leaves in the middle of the night on Wymack’s phone because she doesn’t think she can state her case if he’s actually listening in real time.

“You wanted me once. And I’ve only gotten better since then. You’d be a fool to pass me over now Coach.”

Maybe she’s convincing. Maybe they’re desperate.

Maybe it’s just because Coach Wymack believes in giving more chances than what anyone else wanted to give you.

But the following year, Janie Smalls is officially a Fox.

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lasignoramain · 3 years

Text

Aere Perennius

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warning: No Warnings Apply

Pairing: Beidou/Ningguang

Characters: Ningguang, Beidou, Keqing

Additional Tags: Mentioned Ganyu, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, One Shot, Romance, Soft Ningguang, at least towards children, beidou’s a smug little shit, as she should be, kind of sexual implications at the end, it’s more saucy than sexual, just a little spice, this could’ve been slowburn but i don’t have the energy for that srry, Not Beta Read, we die like timmie’s birds, kind of a character study of ningguang, bcus she owns my ass

Summary: Never has Beidou ever said Ningguang's name in all their time they've known each other. Not that it mattered to Ningguang— the pirate's choice to refrain from ever referring to Ningguang with her name was perfectly fine to her. After all, even if Beidou was her soulmate, nothing about their relationship would change. What is between her and Beidou is purely business.

Unless Ningguang lets Beidou past all of the walls she's built around her heart, but it's not like that could ever happen, right?

... Right?

Word Count: 2434

Read under the bar, or on AO3! Feedback always appreciated!

Liyue, the city of contracts. A beautiful place full of merchants selling their wares, children playing near the harbor, the sound of a storyteller weaving his own world as he speaks, captivating his audience. The Millileth standing valiantly at their posts— some of them, at least. Liyue is so peaceful that many of the military forces stationed around the city dare to slack off.

If they shirk their duties for too long, however, another guard might whisper to them as a warning, "Be careful, the Tianquan might be watching you! Who knows what she might do if she sees the Millileth not taking their duties seriously?!"

That gets them to straighten quickly. Ningguang always chuckles when they don't notice her playing with a few children in Liyue's harbor, promising them sweet treats in return for any rumors they've heard recently. The sight of the Tianquan of the Liyue Qixing gleefully entertaining the children of her city always brings a smile to the older generation's lips, and Ningguang benefits in more ways than one.

She learns of every secret there is from her eyes and ears, and also further earns the trust of the people of Liyue.

Hearing some of the youngest children refer to her as "jiejie Ningguang" is heartwarming, as well. Not that she'll ever admit that to anyone, no matter if they're in her inner circle or otherwise. That's something only Ningguang will ever know, and she will take it to her grave, lest someone tries to use it as blackmail against her.

At that, a certain smug captain comes to mind.

"Jiejie," Beidou had teased Ningguang under her breath once, while they were deep into a game of Liyue Millennial. It'd taken the Tianquan by surprise, though she quickly regained her composure, smoothly gaining yet another victory against the Captain of the Crux. "Damn, I really thought that tactic would work in my favor. You're truly unperturbed by everything, eh, jiejie?"

"I am interested in your ability to read people so easily, Captain. Such a skill would be of use to me," Ningguang deflected with ease, though her eye did twitch at Beidou referring to her as jiejie yet again.

Which Beidou noticed, of course. Thereafter, whenever they were in the Jade Chamber, Beidou would refer to her as "jiejie of Liyue's Qixing."

(The first time Ganyu heard Beidou call Ningguang jiejie, she looked as if all of the blood had drained from her body, and she would faint on the spot.)

(When Keqing was present for one of their meetings, the speed at which the tip of her blade was pointed at Beidou's throat was impressive.)

Never has Beidou ever said Ningguang's name in all their time they've known each other. Not that it matters to Ningguang— the pirate's choice to refrain from ever referring to Ningguang with her name is perfectly fine to her. After all, even if Beidou is her soulmate, nothing about their relationship would change. What is between her and Beidou is purely business.

They barely get along, too— Beidou's blatant disregard for the rules that Ningguang has so painstakingly put into place for the well-being of Liyue's citizens always rubs the Tianquan the wrong way. She's learned that nothing will persuade Beidou to act in Ningguang's best interest in that regard, however, so she's adapted in order to keep their relationship— and its transactions— as stable as possible.

Whenever Beidou has something to report, she comes to the Jade Chamber, raring and ready to go for yet another game of Liyue Millennial against Ningguang. She also brings a hefty sum of Mora for the fines that need paid for— even though she brings Ningguang worthwhile information, the Tianquan isn't about to play favorites and reduce the cost of Beidou's rule-breaking streak.

So they converse in the colorless rooms of the Jade Chamber, names never uttered.

"I don't think I've ever seen you smile before, jiejie," Beidou jabbed another time as she placed a few cards down on the Liyue Millennial board and took two to replace them, "except for when you're surrounded by the little ones by the harbor."

Ningguang hummed, watching Beidou's every move with an analytical gaze. "I've surely smiled once or twice while you've been in my presence—"

"I meant a genuine smile, jiejie. Not those ones you've practiced for diplomats and business partners," Beidou interrupted, clicking her tongue when she gets a bad die roll. "Those smiles never reach your eyes. They don't soften like they do when one of those rascals tugs on your qipao and asks you, 'how was work, jiejie?'" She increased the pitch of her voice while moving her pieces on the board. "I swear, they're your only soft spot. Everywhere else, your aura is completely different."

With one brow raised, Ningguang leaned forward. "And what is my aura everywhere else, exactly?"

Lips pursed in thought, Beidou grabbed another die and rolled it. "You still hold that same elegance when you're at the harbor, but it's... colder. You're careful, calculating— just like you are right now. Though," Beidou grinned, "I'm starting to think I'm getting through to you. Sometimes, a few seconds after I call you jiejie, your eyes soften and your lips quirk just a little bit, like you're thinking about those kids. When I get you to smile for real, I'll call that a win."

Beidou lost that game of Liyue Millennial as well, and she'd gifted Ningguang an antique vase— "Someone else in the crew said it was aquamarine, and I remember you mentioning that the rest of your vases are supposed to be blue. Thought this one of a kind antique would fit in nicely with the rest of your things." While she'd scoffed at the time, Ningguang keeps the vase on a bookshelf in her main office. Whenever Beidou visits for their meetings, she looks at it and smiles. Something in that reaction warms something in Ningguang, as well.

During her next visit to Liyue Harbor, she'd realized that Beidou was right— the children who refer to her as their big sister might catch a genuine quirk of her lips, or even a giggle at their silly antics. The way their eyes sparkle like the stars when they manage to bring Ningguang the smallest ounce of joy...

If only they knew how warm Ningguang feels inside to see how happy they are to see her. When they get upset after she doesn't visit for too long for their tastes, the puff of their cheeks while they pout, "Where have you been, jiejie Ningguang," while the youngest ones wrap around Ningguang's legs.

"I'm not letting go!" As if she must take them to the Jade Chamber with her, so that she'll never be away from them for too long ever again. It's a part of her schedule to visit the children by the harbor, but the occasional addition to her calendar impedes on her time to spend her hard-earned Mora on the kids she adores so much.

She's informed her circle that meeting with the children takes a higher priority than they'd think— after all, her little ducklings keep Ningguang at the top of everything that occurs in Liyue. Without them, she wouldn't be half as successful as she is today.

"You have a soft spot for those little rascals at the harbor, don't you, jiejie?"

"Who wouldn't? Their innocence is quite charming. I give them sweets, and they—"

"Oh, bull. Don't use the transactional benefits as an excuse; you love those kids, and they love you. That's why they don't want to let you go. To them, you're family."

Family.

Hm.

Ningguang had brushed the comment off, deflecting by asking Beidou to continue her report for that meeting, but she could feel her cheeks warm at the thought of every child that's clung to her, every little sibling who grins up at her while their arms are wrapped around her waist. Holding her in a tight embrace, hoping that, this time, their jiejie stays for good this time.

Ah, Beidou. Putting these sort of thoughts into Ningguang's mind— what a terrible woman.

But the ache in Ningguang's heart for those children who love her so may be even worse than the seeds sowed by Captain Beidou, whose right eye glows with more wisdom and mirth than she lets on, even in Ningguang's grayscale world.

Month's into their partnership— where they've learned to tolerate each other, poke fun at each other— curiosity claws at Ningguang's mind. A woman like Beidou must have met her soulmate by now, in all of her travels—

"I haven't."

Ningguang raises a brow, tilting her head slightly to the side. "Truly? That comes as a surprise, to me. You've gone to almost every corner of Teyvat, yet not a single flash of color from any man or woman uttering your name?"

Beidou shakes her head with an amused smile. She leans forward, rolling one of the many die involved in Liyue Millennium, before moving onto the next. "Perhaps my soulmate is a stubborn one. Someone who would rather have their name spoken first before their own."

At that, a puff of laughter escapes from Ningguang's lips. "Is that so? A shame, then— I presume your soulmate's beauty would be quite breathtaking with the colors that the people of Liyue have described to me for years," she replies, watching as Beidou moves one piece upon another, rough, calloused hands making sure not to jostle the board. "Still, wouldn't you be considered stubborn as well?"

A wicked grin graces Beidou's lips as she looks up at Ningguang. "Of course. Don't you know that pirates are the most stubborn folk out there, jiejie?"

Suppressing the need to roll her eyes, Ningguang leans forward to start her turn when Beidou leans back. "I suppose I'm starting to learn, thanks to certain company," she murmurs, glancing up at Beidou while two die roll.

"You're welcome, then," the captain responds, bowing gracefully just as Ningguang's dice land.

High numbers. Not optimal, but she'll be able to bounce back if her next roll is low.

When it isn't, Beidou whistles. "Uh oh. Things aren't looking to good for you this time around. Would be a shame if I finally won this game of yours," she chuckles, carefully watching Ningguang for any signs of irritation.

"It certainly would be a shame; though, don't put all your eggs in one basket," Ningguang replies coolly, continuing her turn while strategizing how she would bounce back and claim victory once more.

But it wouldn't be fun if you're the only one who wins, a voice in the back of Ningguang's head whispers. What would happen if you let Beidou win? She's certainly improved at Liyue Millennium compared to the first time you asked her to play against you. Make it look effortless, planned by the Archons that you were meant to lose today.

Tempting. Perhaps, in the shock of her victory, Beidou would finally say Ningguang's name—

As if.

Still, as the game continues, Ningguang's turns seem bent on keeping her in the clutches of misfortune. Beidou's barely ahead of Ningguang, however, since the Tianquan never lets something as silly as "bad luck" hold her back. Even if she's meant to lose, Ningguang will still put up a fight.

It's a close game full of tension, and the sharp jabs at each other eventually dwindle, as both participants hone all their focus into strategizing, grasping victory at the last turn—

"AH! I—"

She won.

Beidou jumps up from her seat with a whoop, hollering and cheering. Ningguang's stupefied, analyzing the entire game in her head to figure out just where it all went wrong.

"How about that?! I won against the Tianquan! Honestly, Ningguang—"

See?

Ningguang guessed that Beidou's hair was dark brown, but nothing could've prepared her for the color of her eye. A deep ruby that almost seemed like it was sparkling in Beidou's current glee, her gold earring jingling as she pumps her fist in the air. The red of her eye was tied in with the rest of her outfit— red eyepatch, red qipao dress with gold and black accents. Even the claymore leaning on the wall matched her outfit—

"—I really thought you made this game impossible to win against you—"

Scanning the rest of her office, Ningguang notes that everything was as she requested to a T, the cedar wood, and the vase from Beidou is an aquamarine color with an iridescent shine. The screens behind Ningguang's desk are painted with emerald and gold—

"Ningguang?"

Right.

"My felicitations," Ningguang stands from her chair, walking around the large table to stand in front of Beidou. "It seems it wasn't in the cards for me to gain yet another victory against you," she leans in, a smile on her lips as she whispers, "Beidou."

She watches as Beidou's eyes widen, pupils shrinking at the sudden change from black and white to an explosion of color; though, the only thing she sees at first is Ningguang. Her gazes flickers from Ningguang's eyes to her hair to her lips— that gets a laugh from the Tianquan— before Beidou closes the space between them, stopping just before their lips touch.

"Can I...?"

The realization of it all hits Ningguang like a wave yet again, and the pieces all start to click together. There was no need for her to continue amusing Beidou with games of Liyue Millennial, to speak of trivial matters, casual talk when what they were supposed to have should've been simply business. Something transactional— Mora passing from one hand, while information passes from another.

Yet, just as Ningguang had with the children at the harbor, she'd softened. While Beidou is one to disregard the rules, never would she stab the Tianquan behind the back, not when the people hold them both in high regards.

Still, Ningguang smirks, lifting her hand to cover Beidou's mouth with two fingers. "Careful, Captain Beidou. Don't let one small victory get to your head. Perhaps the next time you manage to win against me."

Ningguang is glad that she refrained from wearing her gloves, as she watches— feels— Beidou's tongue press and push her fingers apart, grinning like the cat that got the canary. Her face warms too quickly for Ningguang to suppress the embarrassment and compose herself.

"I'd count that," Beidou starts as she pulls away from Ningguang's hand, "as a victory."

When Keqing passes Ningguang's office silently and sees the Tianquan and the Captain of the Crux embracing each other tightly, she rolls her eyes before walking past.

"Finally."

#genshin impact #genshin impact fanfiction #genshin impact fanfic #genshin fanfic #genshin impact beidou #genshin beidou #beidou #captain beidou #genshin impact ningguang #genshin ningguang #ningguang

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autumnblogs · 3 years

Text

Day 68: Reunion

https://homestuck.com/story/7457

Just because Vriska is happy to take credit for everyone’s shit being in order doesn’t really mean all the credit realistically belongs to her.

Which isn’t to say she gets none of the credit; her willingness to time-travel (which Dave is presumably still hung up on) and her ability to put Jade to sleep definitely helped things not go straight to shit.

More after the break.

https://homestuck.com/story/7458

Vriska’s presence, while tactically necessary for victory, sucks practically all the air out of the room. Almost no one else can get a word in edgewise. While she’s around post-retcon, practically everyone else is reduced to a secondary character in any conversation with her. Luckily, she doesn’t stick around long - just exactly long enough to be useful.

https://homestuck.com/story/7459

The Scourge Sisters are complicated characters.

Terezi spends a lot of this conversation hedging. It seems like, however well-intentioned and “necessary” Terezi’s choice to save Vriska’s life might have been for the greater good, the story passes very little judgement one way or the other on her whether that was right.

On the one hand, it’s the thing that Terezi did choose, and it seems appropriate that if she were going to use her power to reverse an action, it should be to reverse a choice that she made.

On the other hand... Vriska shows us that reasoning may not necessarily be sufficient, or redemptive - and indeed, while Terezi’s decision does repair things for just about everyone else... it doesn’t actually make things too much better for her in the end.

She spends a lot of time hedging throughout this conversation, using qualifiers like, Might, and I Think, and I Say - she wants to avoid directly contradicting Vriska, and there’s something deeply disconcerting about it.

Choosing not to kill Vriska may have spared her the burden of that on her conscience, but it ultimately doesn’t seem to have spared her confidence.

https://homestuck.com/story/7460

I’ve always felt like there’s an eeriness to the way the characters act here, and I feel like part of why they might feel so fake is they feel like they’ve almost kind of... reset to pre-Act 6 characterizations? The broad-strokes characterization we got from the Vriskagram leaves little for us to work with in terms of imagining their new inner lives, and because so much of Homestuck operates literally on the narrative layer, any development that we didn’t see didn’t happen; it’s completely inconsequential.

And with the characters all interacting in this no-stakes environment, they feel less like Homestuck characters, and uncomfortably more like Sitcom Characters - static, a set of self-referential character traits.

They’re still the same people - that’s the nature of the Ultimate Self - but they don’t feel like it. Or at the very least, they don’t feel like it while they’re on the Lilypad here.

Let’s see where we go.

https://homestuck.com/story/7480

John is weirdly amicable with Vriska considering the terms that they parted on the last time that they spoke - especially considering he overtly resisted the idea of giving Vriska the Ring of Life to bring her back from the dead.

Perhaps the rush at seeing all of his friends happy and alive is enough to wash that over.

https://homestuck.com/story/7487

A few things from this conversation;

The first thing is that in spite of immediately, loudly, and insistently proclaiming that he is now real as a motherfucker can be, Dave immediately starts qualifying, and explaining himself in verbal essay form the moment his own emotions are actually what’s being examined.

He directly identifies the idea of living up to an ideal of masculinity with the idea of heroism, so that’s points for my Caliborn essay, hah!

https://homestuck.com/story/7488

As predicted by Homosuck, Dave and Karkat’s relationship isn’t just turbulent, it’s anime turbulent! Hot and cold, tsundere even.

https://homestuck.com/story/7491

The parallel between Dave’s bicurious thoughts (and almost certain bisexuality) and John entertaining Black Emotions for Terezi is a weird way to do that, but I guess nobody ever accused Homestuck of being a normal work of fiction.

https://homestuck.com/story/7493

It’s nice for Rose to finally reach a place of some comfort in her storyline; a place where she can be rigorously self-critical without succumbing to pessimism and despair.

It’s nice. That’s all.

https://homestuck.com/story/7497

Jake also engaging in some rigorous self-critique, and what with his status as the Page of Hope, I don’t believe that in the long term, he will succumb to pessimism and despair either.

No sir - I think that whatever other somewhat bastardy things Jake may be, he is not, at the end of the day, a loser.

https://homestuck.com/story/7499

The great irony here, is we know of course that Vriska is wrong. Tavros is wrong too to just flatter Jake. He needs support; he needs help. He doesn’t need to give up either by falling prey to Vriska’s pessimism, or to Tavros’s false confidence.

https://homestuck.com/story/7500

I think it’s really interesting that what Vriska makes this all about is the fact that she blinded Terezi, and not that she crippled Tavros. There’s always been a degree to which, outside of her adversarial courtship with Tavros, she just doesn’t really treat him like a person - she treats him like an object of gratification, or a project, or collateral in her relationship with someone else, but never legitimately as a peer. The fact that she murdered Aradia and crippled Tavros doesn’t even factor into her self-estimation (especially now that she has resurrected Tavros as a sprite.)

https://homestuck.com/story/7501

Remarkably, Vriska actually has some good fucking advice for someone else for once. I don’t think that anyone should be comfortable with their flaws - what is legitimately a flaw is what estranges us from other people, causes us to hurt them, and ourselves. CERTAINLY no one should be as comfortable with them as Vriska is with herself.

But humans are all intrinsically flawed, it’s not something we can grow past, at least not in this life. Perfection is not something that can be attained to. But living with other human beings, being able to survive with them means being able to be comfortable now with our flaws, but with their flaws. I think that’s probably the meaning of forgiveness. Knowing that other people will hurt us, and deciding we can be down with that.

https://homestuck.com/story/7502

Roxy and Dave are adorable, enough said.

I like Dave’s description of his floppy imaginary men - comparing them to puppets, and the way he describes them railing against the confines of their virtual prison feels like a really obvious metaphor for exactly what the characters of Homestuck are busy doing.

https://homestuck.com/story/7504

I think someone - maybe even Andrew - has stated that the entire point of Rose’s quest is to alienate her from it. It’s like Baby’s First Character Arc - personal growth all wrapped up in bright pastels. Exactly the sort of thing that would piss off a challenge-seeking young lady like Rose.

The point of Rose’s rejection of her quest is that there are not arbitrary loops someone has to jump through in order to earn personhood. Or as Dave puts it in a moment, “we don’t have arcs.”

https://homestuck.com/story/7509

There’s an eerie extent to which, as friendly as she is with Vriska, Kanaya seems almost to talk about her as a dead woman walking. Even talk to her as a dead woman walking.

She has a certain emotional distance to her - fond of her, but not attached, even resigned to Vriska being the way she is. It’s like small-talk between people who used to know each other. I get the impression less that Kanaya is being friendly with Vriska, and more that... she’s being nice to each Vriska, rather than genuinely friendly.

Maybe it’s because she is moving forward into the future with people that she loves, while Vriska...

Vriska is living in the past; preoccupied with her own past misdeeds (to some extent or another), preoccupied with Lord English’s narrative, and her need to be the one who destroys him

https://homestuck.com/story/7513

It only occurred to me at this very moment to talk about John and Jake’s shared love of terrible movies; and the way in which they both model themselves off of their movie heroes.

https://homestuck.com/story/7514

John’s warm positivity toward Jake is... honestly, one of the best things in the comic. I’m sad we don’t get to see more of Jake’s character arc, and I’ve always thought it was kind of a crime that Homestuck just leaves him here, more or less.

Reunion done, we’ll pause here for the night, and continue tomorrow. Fairly short episode tonight, but in terms of the amount of text, that was a lot of reading, so I forgive myself.

See you tomorrow for some strategizing, and some more problems and feelings.

For now, Cam signing off, Alive and thanks to you guys, not Alone.

#commentary #liveblogging

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themattress · 3 years

Text

Holy Shit!

https://imgur.com/gallery/WKkli

https://imgur.com/gallery/j9OQylb

Beyond the proof that the guy who uploaded this is involved with Bad Robot that he provided at the end of his second post, these definitely seem legit because the first post was in 2018, before The Rise of Skywalker came out, yet the treatment contains some blatant concepts that ended up finding there way into that movie that I have a hard time believing anyone but J.J himself could have come up with (plus, the rest of the plot is very J.J-like, as I’ll get into.)

So these definitely seem to be the discarded Episode VIII and IX treatments. Thoughts?

- Luke’s reasons for coming to Ahch-To definitely seem more in line with TFA than in TLJ, seeing as if he wanted to just “go there to die” he wouldn’t have left a freaking map to the place behind, plus it seemed off that someone disillusioned with the Jedi ways would go to the site of the first Jedi Temple to begin with. His portrayal also matches what we saw at the end of TFA (seeming to be in mourning for Han), and fits the “kind but sad” description from the script. And far from cutting himself off from the Force, Luke has been influencing it from afar as part of his grand plan, explaining Rey’s vision when she touched his lightsaber.

- Luke has a wife and kids! Sadly for EU fans, the wife is not Mara Jade.

- It was Luke’s influence via the Force that explained the things Rey could do that fans deemed her a Mary Sue for, plus some other things that weren’t so routinely noted such as the remarkable coincidence that she and Finn just happened to run into Han and Chewie right after obtaining the Millennium Falcon. Not sure how well this would have gone down...

- Saccrum, Snoke’s home planet, is literally Exogol. Secret ancient Sith planet that is nigh impenetrable to all non-Sith, site of the final battle and (as we’ll soon learn) where Snoke is repeatedly cloned and where Palpatine is resurrected by Sith alchemists...it’s fucking Exogol.

- I recall concept art for Kylo Ren’s partly metallic face floating around.

- Dathan Naut seems cool, but she never really amounts to much.

- So it seems J.J Abrams and Lawrence Kasdan’s vision for the Sequel Trilogy always seemed to boil down to “All the generations of Jedi vs. all the generations of Sith reaching a climactic battle, with Skywalker vs. Palpatine at the heart of it, and the Palpatine who becomes a Skywalker as the key to victory.” That idea was always where they were going.

- Jedi/Sith Holocrons were always gonna be a thing, which is why Rebels worked them in.

- Live-action Ahsoka was also always an objective, it seems, and I bet the way they wrote her out in Rebels’ “Twilight of the Apprentice” was to potentially serve as a lead-in for her appearance in the Sequel Trilogy. But because that never came to pass, they brought her back toward the end of the series and set her on the new trajectory that she’s currently on. Honestly, I think that’s for the better, Ahsoka wouldn’t have really fit in the main film series.

- Not big on this Cfi-Xi character, she mainly seems to be here to “no homo” C-3PO. And her main role relating to the Sith Planet ended up played just fine by C-3PO in TROS anyway.

- BB-8 had the kind of fake-out death they ended up giving to Chewie.

- Wow, so Hux was supposed to die in Episode VIII and Phasma in Episode IX originally. Funny how that got totally flipped backward in the versions we actually ended up getting.

- OK, this “family time” that Rey’s getting is precious. It’s sad we didn’t get to see this.

- Hoo boy, “this is the bad ass Luke Skywalker we’ve been waiting for!” Really? Et tu, J.J and Kasdan? In light of the recent showing by Luke in The Mandalorian, I again question why this portrayal of the character is so widely beloved by fans when it has little to no basis in the OT.

- Rey vs. Kylo Ren in a raging ocean backdrop; here in Episode VIII rather than IX. Similarly, it’s a duel that Kylo clearly has in the bag, but a fluke in the Force allows Rey to survive, although I much prefer the fluke we got to the one this treatment proposes because....

- Goddamn it, J.J. You’re doing the time travel / time paradox shit again? Were Lost, Fringe and Star Trek not enough for you to explore that concept in? This is the biggest part of these treatment drafts that rubs me the wrong way, it’s just so needlessly convoluted and cliche.

- Also, yet another Mystery Box in Luke’s severed hand on Saccrum.

- No Jedi Leia in that flashback? Yeah, I can see why Kathleen Kennedy rejected this.

- Btw, Rian Johnson wasn’t the only one who was going to turn Luke into an asshole failure, it seems. Making this highly risky plan with Ben and not letting his parents know about it? Dick!

- Snoke is the one who destroys Luke’s academy, not Kylo Ren. And he does so as he is dying; another clue-in that there’s more to Snoke than it seems given that he’s still around.

- Lando would have been in Episode IX anyway, albeit still running Cloud City.

- The idea for this Episode IX is that the Skywalkers are a Jedi dynasty that long predated Anakin (Shmi being a descendant of it), and the Palpatines were their Sith enemies. Sheev Palpatine also would have died his first death generations ago and was being constantly resurrected via clone bodies made on Saccrum ever since, so the one that Anakin killed wasn’t the original; Palpatine can’t be stopped unless Saccrum is destroyed. While not as convoluted as the time paradox shit, I appreciate the simpler route they ended up taking.

- J.J and Kasdan always wanted Rey’s father to be a defective Palpatine clone.

- There was never a planned origin for Snoke in these treatments; wherever he came from the bottom line was that Palpatine brought him onto his side by promising to share his key to immortality (constant cloned bodies made on Sacccrum) with him. Again, this ended up being simplified into Snoke just being a whole-sale creation of Palpatine’s from the very beginning.

- Since these are treatments, the “love” part of the dynamic between Rey and Kylo Ren is highly underdeveloped and would likely have been fleshed out in screenwriting. The end result, with the deprogramming vision of Rey and Darth Vader, sounds pretty effective though, but I think I much prefer the Leia death / vision of Han version that we ended up with.

- LOL, the “droid way of making love”. I want to see this idea repurposed someday.

- That’s an interesting twist on Alderaan, although it really doesn’t amount to anything given that the planet Leia grew up on and called home still got destroyed by the Death Star.

- “Magic blood”, another J.J-ism. Again, I much prefer the simpler version TROS gave us.

- The climax’s structure is basically the same as in TROS, with Rey (and others) heading to the Sith planet from Ahch-To and then Leia’s Resistance forces going there from their base, with Rey and Ben facing Palpatine. The biggest differences is that we also have Luke vs. Snoke and Finn vs. Phasma battles going on, in addition to a Jedi vs. Sith ground battle.

- Yeah, I don’t really care for how Phasma’s death is handled: making her hideously scarred and treating her sympathetically don’t sit right with me. Rian Johnson did it better, IMO.

- No red stormtroopers here, but there are red Tie Fighters.

- Ben still gives his life to save Rey, albeit in a less literal manner.

- Palpatine still wants Rey to ascend to the Sith throne and rule by his side. Also: “he loves the smell of burning hair, it reminds him of home”!? Wow, that’s dark in what it’s implying...

- OK, so while not a Jedi, Leia is the Big Damn Hero in the end. That makes sense.

- WTF? Rey straight-up kills Palpatine with Sith lightning!? Yeah, that definitely wasn’t ever gong to fly with Lucasfilm, since it totally contradicts ROTJ’s message! It was inevitable that we’d end up with the more correct “Rey deflects Palpatine’s own Sith lightning back at him”.

- “Rey Skywalker” is the end point for the story here as well, but it ending on Tatooine is so much more emotional than ending it on Alderaan Prime, a place that only just now exists.

My final impression is that we probably could have had the best version of the Sequel Trilogy possible IF the right corrections were made when adapting these treatments into real screenplays, such as axing the more convoluted and pointlessly fanservice-y elements and making different choices for a few of the characters (Rey, Kylo Ren, C-3PO, Phasma, etc...also something more substantial for Poe since they clearly had no idea what to do with him). However, it was also an impossibility for it to ever happen due to many different factors, the biggest of which being Carrie Fisher’s passing in 2016. So as it stands, I am still satisfied with the version we got and am especially happy that J.J returned for TROS to provide the end of the Skywalker Saga with some of his original (mercifully fine-tuned and simplified) ideas.

#Star Wars #J.J Abrams #What Could Have Been #Opinion #Analysis

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thewebcomicsreview · 5 years

Note

Can you maybe contextualize the Homestuck epilogue for someone who has never read Homestuck but is curious what all the hullabaloo is about?

It’s 200,000 words following 8,000 pages of comic, so I’m not sure if I can really explain it “simply”, but I’ll do my best. *ahem*

Spoilers, obviously.

tl;dr;, by the way, I actually really liked it. But I can see why a lot of people didn’t.

So, I can, have, and will rant about the myriad of reasons everyone hated the ending, but for the sake of context let’s only focus on the main ones:

1. The climax of the story was meant to be “John masters his powers, goes back in time, and undoes a lot of the terrible things that happen”. This didn’t at all feel like a climax, so everyone expected a “real” climax and was confused when we didn’t get one. Worse, because the solution to, say, Rose’s alcoholism was that John changed things so that she never started drinking, it felt less like characters overcoming their struggles and more like the characters we loved being replaced with alternate, better versions, and we never saw how things went for the “real” characters (John’s main change, preventing Vriska’s death in Act 5, invalidates something like 15% of the entire comic!).

2. Because the climax fell so flat and the big bad wasn’t defeated (and because [S] Collide ended with the music turning all sinister), everyone went in to Act 7 expecting one last huge twist. But while we were given enough information to figure out the basic gist of how Lord English was defeated, we don’t actually see it.The above screenshot, of Caliborn powering up into his Final Form, comes in the last fifty seconds of Homestuck.

So, that’s kind of the context of the ending. Everyone went in expecting like a full act, was wildly confused that Act 7 was a victory lap, and then we all kind of figured out eventually what Hussie was going for and we were like “Oh. Okay” in a monotone. So, everyone hoped for the epilogue to “fix” the plot, but the plot wasn’t so much broken as it was badly told.

Phew. Okay, now lets talk about the epilogue.

So, John is given the choice of whether to actually go back into the comic and kill the bad guy or not, represented as a choice of eating meat or candy for lunch. The canon, alpha timeline choice is to kill Lord English (”meat”), and the choice to stay behind and leave a time loop/plot thread unclosed (”Candy”) creates a doomed timeline. Doomed timelines in Homestuck exist as physical bubbles you can fly to, so the two “timelines” are really physical places in Paradox Space. There are three such location in the epilogue

1. The “meat” timeline, which is the actual “canon” alpha timeline with no unbroken time loops, where most of the Meat Epilogue takes place. It takes place in the normal universe

2. The furthest ring, a void above and around all timeline bubbles where John fights Lord English. This is normally where all the doomed timelines are, but they are getting sucked into a black hole that’s sweeping out all the “irrelevant” stuff

Nepetaquest 2019 was never meant to be

3. The “candy” timeline, which is doomed, irrelevant, and thus sucked into the black hole. The whole thing looks like this

The reason I’m explaining all this is because the two epilogues are actually one epilogue, and one affects the other such that you need to read them both.

In the Candy timeline, Dirk immediately realizes that he’s no longer canon/alpha, and immediately kills himself. Rose and Kanaya are happily married and adopt a troll. Roxy goes all stepford wife and decides all she really wants is to crank out babies with John. John is all “you seem to be wildly out of character for reasons that won’t be explained but okay”. Jade, Dave, and Karkat have a miserable polyamorous relationship where the boys don’t admit they want to each other’s dicks but are willing to settle on Jade’s furry knotted dog penis, which she apparently grew after becoming a dog girl in [S] Cascade

Pictured: The exact moment in Homestuck that Jade Harley grew canine genitalia. I had a print of this artwork and I’ll never look at it quite the same again

There’s relationship drama, but the most important part is Jane, who is now TrumpHitler for basically no reason,. She marries Jake but Gamzee cucks him and, well

There’s a scene of Jake talking to Jade and thinking about maybe murdering a baby while his wife has rape-play sex with a clown in the next room. We don’t have time to unpack all that, because Jane is also TrumpHitler now, and sets out to commit a literal holocaust on all the Trolls for….um…..well for no reason. She’s just evil now. Jade’s corpse crashes from the sky, which is a shock to everyone, most of all Jade. Then Aradia and Sollux show up and Jane’s corpse comes to life as a god and everyone kind of just….nods…..and ignores it. The JadeCorpse is possessed by a version of Calliope who’s basically God, whom Aradia serves. Calliope explains that nothing in this timeline matters and it would normally just dissolve but she’s keeping it around because letting everyone dissolve into nothing when you can stop it seems like kind of a bitch thing to do and also she needs somewhere for Lord English’s body to land. Everything in Candyland gets as comically terrible as possible, full-on civil war. John has an existential crises about being irrelevent but gets over it, and Calliope finally finds Lord English and eats him, gaining the power to escape the black hole. Somewhere all this Dave meets up with Barack Obama (??!!?!?!) who is a god (!!!!!!!!!!!) that fucked Dave’s bro (!efefiebnfuewf) and merges all Daves together into one Ultimate Dave that he puts in a robot. Davebot, Aradia, and Calliope all leave the black hole and close the door behind them such that nothing inside (which includes the “canon” Vriska and every single alternate Timeline that existed or will ever exist) can ever get out to interfere with the canon timeline ever again.

Also 16-year-old Vriska fucks 40-year-old Gamzee and is so embarrassed about it that she kills him.

Feel free to take a break here

==>

In the Meat timeline, Dirk has ascended and god from God-Like-Thor to God-Like-God, and can now manipulate the story in a fourth-wall breaking way that’s effectively nigh-omniscience and mind control. He’s also evil now, but that makes more sense then Jane being Hitler.

John recruits the pre-retcon versions of Dave, Rose, and Jade, who with John are the closest thing to the “original” versions of the main four that Homestuck is gonna give us at this point. They fight Lord English and successfully boot him into the black hole, but all die in the process. John is mortally wounded but survives long enough to bang Terezi in the back of his dad’s car and get them both home (said car ends up in Candyland, where Candy John finds it and recognizes Terezi’s cum because thanks Hussie). Jade lives long enough that she could get to Earth C herself, but this version of Jade doesn’t even know about Earth C and decides to die via black hole. Dirk tries to stop this, but Calliope, who is more powerful than Dirk, pulls her in

It is indeed to late, and OG! Jade gets sucked into the black hole, crashes into Candyland, and leaves behind a fresh corpse for Calliope to control and all the people in Candyland to be weirdly blase over because deep down they know their world doesn’t matter. Having control over this Jade lets her possess the alpha Jade in Meatworld, which in turn lets her influence things there. She and Dirk fight about who gets to be president of earth (which doesn’t seem important unless you read Candy and know what president Jane will do), and Dirk manages to tranquilize Jade and keep Calliope from affecting anything else.

Jane becomes president of Earth and starts off and the path of becoming God Empress of Mankind. John dies, and we get more than a hint that Dirk killed him for being insufficiently grateful of their paradise planet

With things on Earth taken care of, Dirk mind controls Rose into become his (sex?) slave, and mind controls Kanaya into thinking that’s cool. He tells Terezi (who he can’t control, since Mind is her power) that if she comes with they can maybe revive John, and they all home into a spaceship and fuck off to a new planet. Dirk is the new Lord English, Jane is the new Condesce, and Rose -now a dreambot - is the new Handmaid. And Terezi is….also there. They find a new M-Class planet and set up to evolve some life there for a Sburb game. On earth, now of of range of Dirk’s mind control, everyone realizes that him kidnapping Rose was actually kind of fucked up, and they hop a spaceship to chase after them, with Jade-possessed Calliope giving them advice.

And that’s the epilogue! Dirk has kidnapped Rose and become unto god, and is setting up a nefarious plan we don’t know the details of, and a the heroes are racing to stop him. Good night everybody!

I’m assuming there’s going to be an Epilogue Epilogue, because this was just a straight-up cliffhanger, and I’ll guess I’ll see when I think when that happens or when it becomes clear that won’t happen.

Hopefully that was easy enough to follow, I did my best.

#homestuck #sirksome #homestuck epilogue #homestuck spoilers

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dalekofchaos · 5 years

Text

The Luke Skywalker that was wasted and the Luke fans deserved.

For the last two years I have shown my displeasure with how Luke Skywalker and I still hate it. Let’s talk why I hate it and why I think it could have been better

What the hell was with Luke Skywalker in The Last Jedi?

Why did Rian Johnson and Kathleen Kennedy depict him as a grumpy, pathetic hermit and a weak failure? Don't give me that crap about 'b-b-b-b-but he did a Force Projection and that's hard'. You can't shit on a character for 99% of the movie and consider his depiction as worthy because he did something useful for the remaining 1%.

Lucasfilm and associates prior to Disney's acquisition of the franchise spent 40 YEARS building the character of Luke Skywalker through the movies, comics and novels. The Star Wars fandom has spent 40 YEARS delving into the lore of the Star Wars universe and its characters. Why would Rian and Kathleen go in the opposite direction with his character? They went as far as making him a depressed, hopeless loser when the very essence of his being is hope. "How did the most optimistic, hopeful character in the galaxy turn into this hermit? ... A Jedi is optimistic, a Jedi has tenacity, he never gives up" - A quote from Luke Skywalker himself: Mark Hamill. When Luke Skywalker himself voices serious concern about the depiction of Luke Skywalker, Rian and Kathleen should have immediately started over.

The annihilation of Luke Skywalker's character was intentional. It's preposterous to suggest that they accidentally ruined one of cinemas greatest hero's. This was a planned character assassination.

Why was Mark Hamill exempt from the marketing of The Force Awakens and forced to stand on a mountain with no lines?

Why was Luke given nothing for The Force Awakens and anytime Mark went to JJ with his great ideas for Luke, JJ just smiled and patted him on the back just to shut him up?

Why did Luke toss the Lightsaber? The Lightsaber of his father, the lightsaber that Obi-Wan gave to him, and the Lightsaber he lost on Bespin after losing his hand to Vader. Such an emotional connection to Luke, he casually tosses it in such a stupid, cold and unemotional matter. Why not allow Luke an emotional reaction to holding this particular lightsaber again after all these years? Why is a sight gag preferable in this situation? Even if Luke being a bitter, detached old man is essential to TLJ, that’s still no reason not to pay even the slightest respect to everything that lightsaber represents from the original trilogy.

Why is Luke not allowed to show emotion, grief or empathy for the death of Han Solo? His best friend, his brother, Leia’s love and the father of his nephew?

Why does Luke not care that his sister’s life and The Resistance is in danger? Why was he willing to abandon his sister in her time of need?

Why does Luke and Chewie never have a moment of forgiveness and reconciliation?

Why was Luke made to fail as a Jedi Master? Luke should have changed the Jedi for the better as he did in Legends. Luke did not negate his emotions, but found a synthesis between both. Luke definitely showed that selfless love and compassion don’t lead to the dark side. Anakin is the Last Jedi of the old order, not Luke. Luke became the first of the New Jedi realizing that attachment made him stronger not weaker. For the new Jedi were attached to the entire universe through the Force. This is why Luke reformed the Jedi for the better.

Why was Han and Leia made to fail as parents and leaders in the NR and Resistance? Why were Luke, Han and Leia’s achievements and victories made invalid?

Why was it necessary to show Luke drink from a giant alien tit? Oh yes, we can show that, but we can’t show Luke mourn for the loss of his best friend 😒

Why did Luke not teach Rey ANYTHING? He did not impart wisdom to Rey at all in the entire movie. They did not have a great master/apprentice relationship, despite it being advertised that their relationship was the beating heart of the movie! That was a giant lie and false advertisement!

Why does Luke give up on the Jedi. Jedi do not give up. You might say that Yoda and Obi-Wan also gave up. But for those two, the Sith took over the galaxy, they had to go into hiding to protect and guide Luke and Leia. Obi-Wan wanted to save Leia and guide Luke. Yoda always wanted to train Leia as a Jedi and bring Anakin back to the light. He was reluctant to train Luke but he still did his duty as a Jedi Master. They did not just give up and wanted to die and they did not betray their characters at all.

Why would Luke Skywalker even think of killing his nephew in his sleep? Why would he even think of igniting the Lightsaber? Luke Skywalker would not even think of trying to kill his nephew in his sleep. Luke decided the Jedi and Sith were both wrong and believed that his father was still good and he was right in saving him. He would try to talk to Ben and try to pull him back to the light. His sister brought Ben there for protection and guidance. Even if that did fail, you did not need to make Luke attempt to murder him. You did not need to make Luke, Leia and Han at fault for Kylo Ren. Kylo is a grown ass man, he is responsible for his own actions. Kylo was going to murder the Jedi and younglings regardless, he already fell to the dark side. No one is responsible for Kylo’s actions but Kylo Ren.

Why does Luke just give up? Luke Skywalker is a beacon of hope and optimism and love against all odds, and the fact that that was twisted into being depicted as some foolish youth naivety, and that the only way to make him “human” was to retract all that and make him a bitter, jaded man is so fucking disgusting. Even more disgusting is in TLJ novelization had him dreaming of never leaving Tatooine and having him live under the Empire’s dominance. He does not even care that his sister’s life and the Resistance she is leading is in danger. He doesn’t connect with Rey on any meaningful level, doesn’t impart wisdom or knowledge, and never reasserts himself as the powerful Jedi he once was. A brief physical duel against Rey ends with her as the undisputed victor, completely killing his deserved mythos and her potential character arc in one fell swoop. It’s clear in that moment that he has nothing to teach her, and nothing to contribute to the overall narrative. The boundless potential that seemed poised to explode at the end of The Force Awakens fizzles here but never ignites. And without any training at all, Rey defeats Luke Skywalker and Luke acts all cowardly and begs her to leave. He does buy The Resistance time and saves his sister, but it was ultimately pointless. He wasn’t even there and he dies pointlessly. What we got was not Luke Skywalker. Luke Skywalker is hope and optimism. Luke Skywalker is showing that no matter what, compassion, faith and love will always prevail. Luke is the hero that inspired an entire generations to aspire to be better, aspire to be heroes. Luke is what we wanted to see and what we got was not Luke Skywalker. Luke is someone who thought Doctor Aphra was a good person, she proves him wrong but he still had that hope for her. Luke believed that Darth Vader of all people still had good in him and was willing to die and he was able to reach his father. In Battlefront II’s Story, Luke saves Del Meeko because he asked and he offered Del a better life, a choice. Inferno Squad has committed atrocities in the name of the Empire, yet Luke still gave Del Meeko a chance. Canon Luke Skywalker is a kind hearted hero who will never run from a fight or knowingly leave a loved one in danger and will even save his enemy. This is Luke Skywalker. Luke is compassionate, adores his family, would never leave them. The Luke Skywalker I knew would never even think about killing his nephew in his sleep when there is always another way. Luke believes in the light and was willing to die to save his father. Darth Vader committed atrocities for decades, Luke still believed there was good in him. He would never give up on his family nor would he even consider killing his own nephew in his sleep just because he sensed darkness there. He would never abandon his sister at death’s door when she needed him most. The Hero’s Journey that he was following was ignored completely and he just gave up and wanted to die. And he dies instead of reuniting with Leia properly. Mark Hamill wanted Luke to live until Episode IX where he would pass on what he learned to Rey. No big battle with Snoke, no passing on, instead Luke dies and all we’re getting is force ghost Luke. Luke Skywalker was a hero to an entire generation. Luke was the true heart of Star Wars. His was the journey we followed from idealistic farm boy dreaming of adventure, to reluctant warrior, and finally to savior of the entire galaxy. The original trilogy built him up, and The Last Jedi finally broke him down. I for one mourn my hero’s passing.

Why is Yoda the one to convince Luke to return? It should have been Anakin

Why does Luke not appear for real and have a real genuine moment with Leia? The final moment between Luke and Leia was ultimately pointless when you realize Luke wasn’t even there, it was just a projection?

Why did Luke not have a worthy final showdown and showing his power as a Jedi Master instead of disappearing and not being anything more than a distraction? Why did he die without passing anything on to the next generation?

These were supposed to be, or should have been completely replaced with extremely powerful moments with emotional weight. These moments should have been mandatory. Yet the creators didn't deliver.

THE LUKE SKYWALKER THAT WE DESERVED

What a missed opportunity. I mean, look at this artwork. There's such potential for greatness and compare that to the steaming pile of shit Rian Johnson / Kathleen Kennedy served in The Last Jedi.

What we should have got to see of Luke in the Sequel Trilogy

First and foremost, the same Luke Skywalker who actually exists in the Star Wars universe.

His Jedi Academy and respectful showcase of Ancient Jedi artefacts.

A mention of a close relationship of his students and most importantly to Ben and how Snoke turned him against Luke and the Jedi

Flashbacks to training his own Ben and his padawans and scenes of Luke training Rey

Reuniting with Han, or at least mourning his death.

Have Luke tell Rey he left the map behind so Leia can find him when the time is right, he did not give up, but he realized Leia sent him someone he can train and give guidance to. Luke and Rey indeed are the beating heart of this story

Lifting his old X-Wing out of the water and flying to the Supremacy to face Snoke and his nephew and to save Leia.

Luke and Rey together fight the Praetorian Guards. Luke faces Snoke, while Rey faces Kylo. Luke kills Snoke, while Kylo wins the fiight against Rey and cuts her hand off

Physically appearing, a beautiful reunion with Leia that has meaning with Luke actually being there

A true moment and showdown against The First Order and Kylo Ren. Kylo Ren orders every ship to fire on Luke. All the AT-M6’s all firing but to everyone’s surprise, all blasts have no effect via protection of the force. Luke wipes the salt off his robes and with a simple wave of his hand, brings the walkers, transports and Kylo’s shuttle down, one by one. Kylo descends from his crushed shuttle, throwing a tantrum and preparing preparing to kill his uncle. We have a real lightsaber battle between Luke and Kylo. Luke has his green lightsaber. Their blades clash. The battle is emotional and raw. Luke is there. The dialogue is emotional and impactful. Despite all that his nephew has done, Luke asks him to return. Kylo refuses, he embraces who he is and that he is the new Vader. Luke will retort “oh Ben, you are no Vader.” Luke is toying with Kylo, similar to how Vader toyed with him on Bespin. Luke and Kylo’s exchange remains the same. “I failed you Ben, I’m sorry.” “I’m sure you are! The Resistance is dead. The war is over, and when I kill you, I will have killed the last Jedi.” “Amazing. Every word of what you just said was wrong. The Rebellion is reborn today. The war is just beginning. And I will not be the last Jedi.” Kylo will lunge at Luke with all his anger with the intention to kill his uncle, but luke dodges and cuts Kylo’s hand off. Luke gives his “see you around kid” but Luke does not die, he leaves to board his X-Wing. Leaving the new Supreme Leader and The First Order a mess

Luke passes on what he knows to the next generation. Hope has returned. Rey has given Luke’s faith and hope back. The Rebellion is alive. Luke will not be the Last Jedi. Brother and sister reunited and the Resistance stronger for it. Master and apprentice together once more. Smiles and tears and happy to see each other again. Rey, Luke and Leia together. Both siblings holding their hands together on Rey’s hand. Telling her “We have everything we need. It ends how it begins With Rey grabbing the Lightsaber Rey extended to Luke. Tears in Rey’s eyes. The Millennium Falcon and Luke’s X-wing take off side by side into into lightspeed.

The next movie would be about Luke training and preparing the next generation of Jedi. Rey, Finn, Poe, Rose and Jannah, the new Jedi, The Skywalkers. As they stand to face Kylo, Palpatine and The First Order. Luke will sacrifice himself to give his students a chance to destroy The Emperor once and for all

The thing that perplexes me is that both the casual moviegoers and hardcore fans would have loved a depiction of Luke more akin to Legends. Yet Disney chose a depiction of Luke which casuals are indifferent to and the hardcore fans absolutely fucking hate. Why? Why not show the character which majority would love? There's nothing to hate about a powerful and wise legendary hero, while there's everything to hate about some broken hermit that gave up on his family and friends and doing what’s right who reflects nothing of what we've been lead to believe about his character by the creators of Star Wars itself for 40 years.

What a waste of potential. What a slap in the face to George Lucas, Luke Skywalker and the entire SW legacy. I cannot believe the sheer amount of disrespect shown by Disney, Lucasfilm, Kathleen Kennedy, JJ Abrams and Rian Johnson. Luke deserved better.

Mark Hamill tried to warn us

youtube

#Star Wars #Luke Skywalker #Anti Rian Johnson #Anti Lucasfilm #Anti TLJ

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fyeahwildfire · 5 years

Text

Spirit Bound

Chapter 3

Summary: You stand among the other Mortal Kombat contestants and witness two matches against the one and only Johnny Cage, the struggling Hollywood action movie star who wants his fame back.

Pairing: Mortal Kombat x reader; Bucky x reader (later)

Warning: Swearing,

Character Powers: Telepathy and telekinesis

A/N: Gifs used down below. I love this outfit from League of Legends-Akali, so I used it for Reader’s kombat outfit.

Moments later…

You, Lui Kang, and Raiden stood together amongst the other participants. Shang Tsung walks out with Jade and Kitana following behind.

“Kombatants. I am Shang Tsung. In the coming days each of you will fight. Some are here of their own volition. Others were brought here by chance.” He extended his arms.

You look among the other participants and notice the three Lin Kuei members. You remember your mother once telling you, you had two half-brother’s in the Lin Kuei. The one noticeably dressed in blue caught you staring, his eyes scan over you. You turn away as your attention is brought back to Shang Tsung.

“You participate in the most important mortal kombat in history. This tournament, the tenth after nine Outworld victories will determine Earthrealms fate. If you defeat all of your opponents, you will face one final challenge. Me.”

You can hear Johnny Cage mock Shang Tsung, “That old geezer is the final challenge. They might as well give me the belt right now. They do have belts right.”

Shang Tsung clears his throat and Johnny is surprised to see him standing beside him.

“What? How did you…”

“Appearances can be deceiving.” Shang Tsung floats back to his stage. “Our first Kombatant will be Mr. Cage.”

“Yeah.” Johnny steps onto the floor, he’s fully ready to take on anyone. He wants to prove to skeptical movie critics and the public that he is not a fake. “That’s right. That’s right. Who’s it gonna be?”

“Reptile.” Shang Tsung calls for Johnny’s opponent.

From atop the roof, a green hideous humanoid reptilian creature appears and jumps onto the floor. The monks clap as he does so.

“Nice stunt.” Johnny speaks with awe.

“Begin.” Shang Tsung orders.

Both Johnny and Reptile battle each other for a good 15 minutes. You’re impressed that Johnny is able to hold his own. Johnny lands one last blow and knocks Reptile down on his back.

“He got caged.” Johnny stands over Reptile and smiles. “That’s it. Oh yeah. I’m so pretty.” Johnny walks up to the other competitors and with confidence he says, “I’m taking you down. I’m taking you down. I’m taking you out. I’m taking you out and I’m taking you out…for dinner.”

Sonya scoffs with disgust and looks away. You can’t help but find it a bit humorous. After all, he was her soulmate.

You chance another glance at Sub-Zero and find one of his companions whispering into his ear. He nods but his eyes don’t move from you.

“Now, for your second challenge Mr. Cage.” Shang Tsung speaks from his spot. “Baraka!”

You look up to see a fucking ugly monster with razor-sharp teeth that no doubt could do some major damage. Baraka lets out a monstrous roar and jumps onto the floor.

Johnny nods his head, “Hmm okay, nice makeup but is it really necessary.”

Baraka unsheathes his retractable metal blades from his forearm.

“Woah.” Johnny leans forward to get a better glimpse at the blades.

“They will taste your flesh.” Baraka threatens.

While the two battle each other, you lean over to Lui Kang and whisper, “What the fuck is that thing?”

“Baraka is a Tarkatan. He and his people are mutant crossbreeds of Netherrealm demons and Outworlders. They are notorious cannibals and are feared for their barbarous nature.” Lui Kang whispers back, he immediately notices Sub-zero’s eyes on you. He becomes a bit defensive and stands closer to you. He narrows his eyes almost threatening.

“Oh, okay so best to steer clear of that one then.”

“Yes, in fact it’s best to steer clear of most of these competitors. Some are known to be very dangerous.”

You smirk and tilt your head to look into his eyes, “You talking about the blue Lin Kuei over there?”

He nods, “Yes, he hasn’t taken his eyes off of you. I’m just concerned.”

“Oh, I know he hasn’t. His name is Bi-Han and he is my half-brother.”

Lui Kang is shocked, “He is?”

You nod while you look back to the fight between Baraka and Johnny. “Lord Raiden knows. Don’t you?”

“Yes. Your mother was once married to sub-zero’s father, together they had two children. Bi-Han and his younger brother Kuai Liang.” Raiden’s eyes remained locked on the fight.

“What happened?” Lui Kang asked curiously.

“He took her sons away and had them join the Lin Kuei.” You reply with resentment.

Before Lui Kang could ask more questions, the fight between Johnny and Baraka finished with Johnny taking the win.

“Man I love those blades.” Johnny speaks with awe, he bends over to look at Baraka. “My producer has got to meet you. We’re doing Tommy scissor fists…”

“Congratulations, Mr. Cage. Now finish him.” Shang Tsung interrupts and orders Johnny to kill Baraka.

“Finish him? Yeah right.”

“Kill him!” Shang Tsung orders.

Johnny looks among the other competitors and find that they don’t have a problem with killing. In fact, they are just waiting for him to get it done with.

“Woah. Woah. Wait a second. I’m not gonna kill anyone.”

You and Lui Kang smile, then look over at Raiden, who also holds a smile on his face as it wasn’t known to spare your enemies during Mortal Kombat tournament. Despite being an egotistical asshole, Johnny wasn’t that bad.

“Very well, the tournament will resume at dawn.” Shang Tsung announces and turns to leave.

The monks rise from their positions and turn to leave as well.

“What that’s it? Really?” Johnny shrugs and turns around to find Sonya. “Now, where did that hottie go?”

The three of you approach Johnny, before he can take off to find Sonya and flirt some more with her. She’ll probably kick his ass in the process.

You look around to find where Bi-Han went. Since you were a child you had always been curious to know what your other half-brothers were like. You didn’t exactly search for them in the future, but since he was there you just found yourself curious. If things went smoothly here, then maybe when you get back you can seek out your two brother’s.

“You fought well.” Raiden tells Johnny.

“Thanks, nice hat and...” Johnny lowers his sunglasses to get a glimpse of you. He practically ogles upon seeing you dress in your green outfit. It fit you in all the right places and showed off your nice toned legs. “…nice outfit babe.”

“You should be more respectful of Lord Raiden and Lady Y/N. Raiden is Earthrealms protector and God of Thunder…”

“Look, I don’t know what kind of role playing you guys are into, but count me out.” Johnny interrupts Lui Kang as his eyes search for the blonde.

“This tournament is more than a chance at personal glory, we are fighting for the very survival of Earthrealm.”

“What are you talking about?” Johnny looks over Lui Kang’s shoulder and sees you slowly walking off. He sees the way your hips sway and he has to stop himself from looking. He had his eyes on Sonya, but there was no denying that you were hot.

“You’re last opponent was Tarkatan, he was born with those blades.” Raiden tries to explain.

“Yeah, those things are real.” Johnny looks over his shoulder to see an unconscious Baraka being hauled away.

“He represents Outworld, had you lost the emperor Shao Kahn would have come one step closer to physically absorbing our world into his.”

“Outworld, right.” Johnny shakes his head not believing either of them.

“The elder gods created the Mortal Kombat tournament, to give Earthrealm a chance to defend itself. But if we lose this time Shao Kahn will conqueror all.”

“Dun Dun Dun. Look guys I’m an actor. I save the world for the cameras. If this emperor is really a threat call the military. Me. I’ve got a date with a blonde.” Johnny walks off to go in search for his soulmate Sonya.

“What do you see in him?” Lui Kang asks Raiden as he looks behind to see you were gone.

“He is a hero, Lui Kang. Though he may not know it.”

“She’s gone! Where do you think she ran off too?” Lui Kang searched among the people trying to find you. He hadn’t heard you leave. How long had you been gone? With a bunch of murderers and assassins he feared for your safety.

“She may be after Sub-Zero.”

As soon as you part from Lui Kang and Raiden, you immediately sensed someone thoughts. The person was hidden away, you could sense he was injured. Instead of searching for Bi-Han you decide to help this person. You follow his thoughts leading to a secret part of the island, the dungeon. You carefully walk inside and find a man leaning against the cell. Slowly, you move closer towards his cell.

“Hello, Jax.” You whispered, placing you hand on the cell bar.

He looked up, “How? How do you know my name?”

“I’m telepathic. I’m here to help.” You examine the cell trying to assess its weak points.

“Run, girl, run…save yourself.” He grunted in pain, his head leaning against the bars.

“Yeah, I don’t run.” You whirl around the moment you hear Sonya’s voice coming from across the dungeon. She was not at all being quite. You could hear the sound of her boots scrapping against the ground.

“Jax! Jax! You in here?” Sonya looked around the creepy dungeon and found you standing next to Jax. “Oh my god. What did they do to you?”

You sensed Shang Tsung coming with two other bodyguards. “Shit, he’s coming.”

“Who’s coming?” Sonya was confused.

“Run, Sonya. Take the girl with you. Run.”

“Miss Blade! You do not disappoint! I have been expecting you.” Shang Tsung continues to walk closer and notices you standing there as well. His eyes widen slightly as he takes you in. His eyes travel to your eyes and all the way down to your green outfit. It’s in that moment where he decides he wanted you for himself. “Who might you be?”

Sonya stands in front of you to protect you. “Let him go! We’re not part of your tournament!”

“On the contrary. You are very much a contestant. You will face Sub-Zero, of the Lin Kuei clan of assassins.” Shang Tsung smiles proudly and puts his hands behind his back.

You see glaciers forming into a man, ice shards break to reveal Sub-Zero. He quickly gets into his fighting stance. Sonya moves forward and takes her stance as well.

“Now you will feel death’s cold embrace.” Sub-Zero’s attention is diverted when he sees you standing beside Jax’s cell. For a moment you sense his uncertainty, but it quickly disappears.

With Sonya fighting against Sub-Zero, you take the time to telepathically call Raiden for help seeing as Sonya and Jax were going to need his help. After nearly 30 minutes, Sonya finally manages to defeat Sub-Zero.

“Done! We’re leaving!” Sonya notices Raiden appearing out of lightning, though she pays him no attention as Shang Tsung steps closer. “Stand in my way and I’ll kick you’re…”

“A challenge?” Shang Tsung smiles.

From right where you are standing you can see Raiden having a vision. You take a peek and see Lui Kang defeating Shang Tsung. “No. You will not be the one to challenge Shang Tsung.” Raiden holds his hand out to prevent Sonya from attacking.

“You want some too? Fine by me.” Sonya attacks Raiden.

Sonya is an impressive fighter but you could clearly see Raiden was holding back, he had no intention on hurting Sonya.

“Give us some cover, Raiden. I’ll help Sonya free Jax.” You telepathically told him.

Sonya kicks Raiden and sends him to the ground, she stalks him and is about to punch him when he speaks, “Shield your eyes.”

“What?”

“Shield your eyes.” Raiden’s eyes spark and soon the entire room is lit with a bright light.

“Jax get back.” With everyone covering their eyes, you take the opportunity to use your telekinesis to pry open the bars.

Sonya walks back over to you and Jax, she puts his arm over her shoulders. “Jax, come on! We’re outta here!”

“Bout time…Nice job kid.” You follow behind them to make sure they get out safely.

Outside the dungeon, Jax struggles to move as his wounds are to grave. You decide to put his other arm around your shoulders. A big guy like him, well he was too heavy for Sonya to carry all alone.

“Come on, Jax! Move it! That’s an order.”

“Oh…so you’re in charge now?” Jax breathes heavily.

Sonya talks into her wrist com, “Special Forces Command, this is Sonya Blade! Where’s that evac?”

“Blade, they are en route…coming to you.”

You and Sonya set Jax down gently on the ground. You look around seeing a shrine and a fountain in the background.

“Affirmative! Almost home, soldier.” Sonya looks up to you. “You’re coming back with us kid. It’s not safe, here.”

You hated being called a kid. You were 20 for crying out loud. You sigh, “I can’t.”

“Why?” Jax winced as he looked at you.

“Because I was sent by the Elder Gods to help Raiden and Earthrealm warriors.”

“By order of Shang Tsung, no one leaves this island.” Kitana comes out from the shadows with Jade following beside her.

“I don’t have time for this. Outta my way.” Sonya groans and rises to her feet to face them.

You join her side and get into a fighting stance to face off against Jade. Jade wastes no time in heading towards you. She makes the mistake in underestimating you. You jump up and place both your hands on her shoulder. You flip over her shoulders and come down to a crouch, where you swipe your leg underneath hers. Jade falls on her back.

She looks up in disbelief. You just laid her on her back and you really hadn’t done anything. She pulls out her bo staff and whirls it around with expertise. From the corner of her eyes, she sees Kitana struggling to hold her own against Sonya. She tries to swipe at you, only for you to dodge by performing a sideways flip.

Jade looks at you completely angry that you’re taunting her. You aren’t even fighting back. She sends a flurry of punch and kicks towards you. You attempt to dodge every single one. But when she lands a punch to your face. You grit your teeth and look her in the eye. You were pissed. You were no longer going to hold back.

You throw a series of punches, uppercuts, lowercuts, and hooks. You even incorporate some kicks. Jade tries to dodge every single one of your hits but when you jump into the air and hit her with a flying punch. She is sent stumbling backwards. She looks up to see you illuminate yourself with a green telekinetic energy.

“Oh Shit.” She thought to herself.

You green energy comes out like streams as it wraps around Jade. Making her unable to move. She looks into your eyes and sees your irises are green. You perform a roundhouse kick that has been amplified by your telekinetic energy. Jade is sent backwards flying straight into Kitana.

“We sure don’t need any more surprises like them.” Sonya walked past you to get to Jax. “How you holding up?” Sonya kneels.

“I’m fine.”

“Liar. After I get you to base. I’m coming back. Kano’s still here somewhere.”

“Your obsession with him is gonna get you killed, Sonya.” Jax tilts his head, he wants his best friend to see reason. He doesn’t want her to get hurt.

“I trusted him.”

“Yeah, we all did.”

“But I was the one he used.” Her voice is filled with guilt and regret.

“I think your ride is here.” You look over your shoulder and smile.

Sonya smiles and waves her hands as she rises onto her feet. You sense something wrong. You hear Shang Tsung’s evil mind. He wants to destroy the helicopter to prevent them from leaving. But before you could use your telekinesis to shield the helicopter, Shang Tsung had used his magic to throw a fireball. The helicopter crashes down.

“No. Damn you.” Sonya looks over to see Shang Tsung smiling wickedly.

“You have a challenger. Kano.”

Kano puffs his chest out and walks towards Sonya. “Pretty boy isn’t gonna save you this time.”

You move over to stand protectively in front of Jax, while Sonya dealt with Kano. Your hands glow with telekinetic energy. You need to be ready in case if Sonya was defeated. You weren’t going to let anything happen to this man. He had been through enough.

The fight between Sonya and Kano lasts for about 15 minutes with Sonya being victorious. She looms over his unconscious body, “You’re coming with me.” She takes a step towards Kano only to be stopped by fire.

“Kano is not your prisoner.” Shang Tsung diffused the flames in his hands.

“At least help Jax. He needs a medic!”

Shang Tsung laughs wickedly, he sidesteps her and walks away. Kano, Kitana, and Jade follow after him.

“There they are!” Johnny approaches with Raiden and Lui Kang. “Sonya! You all right? Hey, looks like you found him. S’up, Sarge?”

“He’s a ma… Hey, what are you doing?” Sonya notices Raiden walking towards you and Jax.

You move to the side to allow him to heal Jax. “It’s alright, Sonya. Raiden won’t hurt Jax. He merely seeks to help.”

Raiden uses powers to heal all of Jax’s wounds. Sonya is still finding it hard to believe as she tries to interfere. However, Johnny holds her by the arm and tells her Raiden is an ally.

Jax smiles, he feels like a new man. “That’s amazing.”

“Told ya! Turn out he’s a god!”

You extend your hand out to help Jax back onto his feet. Afterwards, you move to Lui Kang’s side, where you see him shake his head.

“What?”

“You left without telling us… you could have been hurt.”

You raise your brow. Did he really think that low of you? That you couldn’t fend for yourself. That you were a damsel in distress, who needed saving. You narrow your eyes and fold your arms across your chest. Turning away from him, you see Sonya thank Raiden.

“I can take care of myself, thank you.” Before you can leave, Lui Kang grabs you’re arm.

Lui Kang didn’t mean to offend you. He just sort of clung to you, he couldn’t help that he was worried for your well-being. After all, this place wasn’t safe for anyone. Also, no woman had ever made him feel the way you did and the mere thought of you being hurt by assassins and criminals. No he couldn’t bear that thought.

“Forgive me, Lady Y/N.” He spoke softly. “I did not mean to offend you.”

“The Elder Gods sent me here to help. They wouldn’t have sent me if I didn’t know how to fend for myself. You get that right.” It was the only logical explanation you could give.

Lui Kang nodded his head, “Yes, I do. I am truly sorry. Please, forgive me.”

For a few seconds you remain silent, but then you smile. “I forgive you, but you must do one thing.”

“Anything. Just ask.” Lui Kang smiled, happy that you were no longer mad at him.

“Do not call me Lady Y/n. It sounds weird. Just call me Y/n.”

“Very well, Y/N.”

Right after, you and Lui Kang walk over to the others, who have gather around Raiden.

“I have foreseen event’s, like memories of my future. They lead me to believe that you are all connected to Earthrealm’s fate.”

“What have you foreseen?” Lui Kang asks curiously.

“In my visions, Shao Kahn becomes invincible. He destroys all life in Earthrealm. We will all die.” Raiden looks over to see you looking down. “The Elder Gods have provided us with a second chance, they have sent Lady Y/N to help guide us.”

Johnny looks over, “No offense, but how can she help?”

You look up and narrow your eyes. Lui Kang takes a step back. He had made the same mistake before and immediately regretted it. Sonya’s hand go to her hips and the look on her face, says she wants to hit Johnny for offending you.

“Well, for starters she can kick your ass.” Sonya glares at Johnny.

“Yeah, like she did with those two girls back there.” Jax folded his arms, to keep himself from hitting the actor. “Say kid, what was that green glow? Never seen anything like that before.”

You smirk, “That green glow is telekinetic energy. I was born with the abilities of telepathy and telekinesis.”

Oh shit! She can read minds, fuck. Johnny thought.

You smirk, Oh I can do more than read minds. I can control and manipulate minds. I can perform neuropsychic surgery to heal or damage a mind. My telepathic ability is far too advance for a simple minded actor like yourself.

Johnny swallows and stutters, “So…uh…these visions of yours…”

“I believe these flashes are a guide to defeating Shao Kahn. But disrupting the flow of time can have serious consequences.”

You shake your head, “Or your visions could be a warning. Perhaps, the events you see have already transpired.”

“Hmm, that may be possible.” Raiden thought this over. If that was the case then he couldn’t rely on his visions, but there was also a possibility you could be wrong.

“Then what now?” Johnny asked.

“The Elder Gods showed me the fate of the fallen Earthrealm warriors. At the end, Raiden is the last to defend Earthrealm, but he is defeated by Shao Kahn. They believe I can help change your fate and save the future of our people. But I don’t know how. All I know is we have to choose wisely.”

Lui Kang places his hand on your shoulder, he doesn’t need telepathy to see you were doubting yourself. The fate of humanity lied on your shoulders. Just like him you were burden with a glorious purpose. All will be well. The Elder Gods chose you wisely. You will help us succeed in defeating Shao Kahn.

Thank you. You’re words are comforting. You smiled.

“Alright, Raiden. We are with you and Y/N.”

#mortal kombat x reader #lui kang x reader #raiden x reader #sonya x reader #jax x reader #johnny cage x reader #kitana x reader #jade x reader #bi-han x reader

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myevilmouse · 4 years

Text

In Defense of The Rise of Skywalker

Or...how I learned to stop hating and enjoy a movie

Spoilers and random thoughts below the cut.

I hate the abomination that was/is The Last Jedi. Let’s get that out of the way. I’ve already explained the hundreds of reasons why, the biggest and most unforgivable being the character assassination of Luke “I call him Jake” Skywalker and the invalidation of every victory of the OT. I resent this making people lump me into a “gatekeeper” sect, or accuse me of racism (Rose was annoying and ruined Finn’s heroism, jeopardizing hundreds of lives for her own selfish reasons without building up a convincing romance and blah blah etc). It has nothing to do with her gender, race, or anything. It has to do with poor character development and inconsistent motivations/messages.

I’m also not a huge fan of The Force Awakens, mainly for its lack of originality and the treatment of Han/Leia, but otherwise I thought it was OK. I liked Finn, wanted him to become a Jedi, found Poe to be a worthy heir to our antihero mold. Rey left me indifferent and Kylo Ren was a temper-tantrum throwing teenager, but anyway...

Let’s keep that as background/context and not get bogged down.

Since they announced the title of this movie, I have been livid with rage. How dare they use my man’s name to sell their disgusting imitation of a beloved universe? I was certain, ever since it was announced, that Rey would take Luke’s surname, despite having treated him so horribly in TLJ, despite having done nothing to earn it, despite having spent far more time with Leia, so if anything a Solo/Organa family name would make more sense. It was just to sell tickets and I was furious.

I read all the spoilers. Worst fears: confirmed. I looked at leaked photos. I raged over the inanity of the plot and the sad conclusion to the Skywalker Saga, which in my mind will always end with ROTJ.

Still, I love Mark Hamill, and I decided to treat this film as a MH film. The completist in me required theatrical viewing. Rare to get our man in a cinematic release. So I went, ready to hate watch, prepared to dull the bitterness and betrayal with wine.

But….JJ Abrams directed a fix it fic. And it’s good. This film not just address the real injustices and horrible story decisions of TLJ, but also addresses some of the major problems of TFA too.

I tried to go in with an open mind, but obviously I had many preconceived notions, and already knew almost every single story point and character beat. I was ready to roll around in my hate and slam the abomination. I want to emphasize that I am one of those people that was COMPLETELY prepared to hate EVERYTHING about this.

There are flaws.

But there is so much that is great.

I really really liked it.

No one is more shocked than I at my own reaction. I was ready/willing/wanting/primed to hate everything about this. Please keep that in mind. Hahah and no one is paying me to write this post 😉

I decided to write this because I also read all the negative critical reviews online from the pro critics yelling FAN SERVICE. And I’m like…damn straight? Ever since George Lucas made Han shoot second, fandom has understood that we understand this franchise better than film executives. We aren’t concerned with adding an extra dewback or improving special effects. We love these films the way we first experienced them, and they cannot and should not be “improved” to the ultimate detriment of the brand.

I’m here to tell you that the critics are not being fair. The spoilers on reddit were true, but the movie works. Let’s accept, before we go further, that Abrams couldn’t entirely rewrite the mess that he stepped into/helped create. So I can’t defend the fact that Finn isn’t a Jedi yet or the mess that is the new Rebellion/failure of the old. I, like many fans, wish we had been given a different/better story from the beginning. Sadly, we were not.

That is something we don’t have to accept (I certainly don’t consider these films “canon” in my mind—Mara Jade forever!) but let’s approach this film in the spirit it seems to be intended: An attempt to address the very valid criticisms loudly voiced about the others in the trilogy, with the caveat that we are stuck with TFA and TLJ no matter how much we hate them.

First, the music is amazing, as we all knew it would be. The acting is stellar.

Some of the things Abrams “fixed:”

“Rey is perfect/Mary Sue/good at everything”. There is a conscious effort in this film to show her training, with Leia as her Master. There is a good scene foreshadowing her final struggle, where she strains to hear the voices of Jedi past and fails. There are several signs that she is not a Jedi yet, including how Palpatine talks about her, and perhaps my favorite, when she tells Leia she hasn’t earned Luke’s lightsaber.

Me: Damn straight you haven’t.

And Leia AGREES, keeping Luke’s weapon because Rey isn’t ready for it. She’s still learning.

Further proof of her non-Jedi status, when Rey is killed, she doesn’t join the Force. She is a corpse. On the other hand, Ben Solo, once redeemed, disappears as we would expect a good Jedi to do. A clear distinction between the two of them.

And speaking of Leia:

Leia’s character: TFA and TLJ Leia is weak and sends other people to fight, whereas our brave Princess from the OT is volunteering for suicide missions, grabbing weapons from the hands of her rescuers, and running into danger for a good cause. It always bothered me that she didn’t go after Kylo herself (or with Han). In this, we see her as a Jedi Master, training Rey, with her own lightsaber. Leia is once more a badass, true to her character. A legitimate Jedi who also joins the Force (although not sure why it took her so long post-mortem, that was weird).

Luke’s character: Hello, I am A LUKE FANATIC. The biggest sin of TFA and especially TLJ was this idea of Luke hiding out and becoming the disgusting, pessimistic coward he was shown to be. Abrams ignores this pretty much entirely, starting with the revelation that Luke was actually going on missions with Lando to hunt for a Sith artifact to help the Rebellion. Luke kept notes, he was busy and ACTIVE. He wasn’t giving up; he was leaving a trail to help anyone who followed. The best ‘fuck you’ in the whole movie was Luke catching Anakin’s lightsaber when Rey throws it away. The ultimate rejection of his TLJ characterization.

Luke’s conversation with Rey echoes very much the ROTJ “you must confront Vader” conversation. There are many echoes of ROTJ but given the restrictions on what we are working with, I accepted this parallel. Much like Luke had to face his unfortunate inheritance, so must Rey. It’s not terribly original, but these films aren’t.

I also loved the simple line “I was wrong” when Rey asks why he did what he did in TLJ. This to me is simply “Rian Johnson was wrong/The Last Jedi was wrong.” There is no excuse that is acceptable, but this is a filmmaker acknowledging an injustice, and I appreciated it. (Did I mention these films are not canon for me? They aren’t, just giving credit for this attempt.)

Han’s character: I hated SO MUCH how they turned Han into a failure in TFA. A buffoon, not even a good smuggler anymore, a failure as a father, a husband. When I heard he was going to be in this I was like HUH? But this “memory” of his father that Kylo Ren sees after Rey heals him and departs, after he’s lost his mother, is another attempt to redeem the injustice to Han’s character. Han is the one in the movie who brings Kylo Ren back to the Light, not Rey. It is a very short scene, but effective. The acting is poignant, with the “Dad” working for me. Maybe I’m a softie. But I appreciated this brief proof that Han Solo, in the end, didn’t suck as a father, and ultimately, even as a hallucination, inspired the love that saved his son.

Chewbacca got a medal: I said Abrams was fixing things in the sequels, but I admit I was choked up to see this fixit from A New Hope. Finally Chewie gets the medal he is LONG overdue.

Team dynamic with the new characters: Finally we understand why these people care about each other. They go on shared adventures, they have banter (and some good jokes, not the stupid bathos of TLJ), and there is finally some sense of camaraderie that was discarded in TLJ. There are several references to Rey’s “new family,” clearly referring to this band of Rebels, and it was far more compelling than in earlier films.

Finn’s Force Sensitivity: I, like many, desperately wanted Finn to be a Jedi. Since TFA, it seemed inevitable! I loved how he used the lightsaber, how he seemed to have Force abilities (that were never really explored). TLJ ignored that potential completely, sidelining him on that stupid Canto Bight quest and pulling him away from Rey. There are so many signs that he is destined to be a Jedi in this film, I was thrilled to see them. Knowing things without explanation, doing amazing things, sensing things, trusting his feelings, it’s another ‘fuck you’ in my opinion, to RJ for ignoring this former stormtrooper’s destiny in favor of overblown set pieces and pointless CGI theatrics. When he says, towards the end “I can feel it,” I wanted to fist pump. YOU GO BE A JEDI FINN! THE FORCE IS WITH YOU. Personally, I would have loved for Finn to be the main protagonist of all three films, but I appreciate us getting what we got, since we can’t get what we want.

Stuff that worked:

The Wedge cameo: Yeah.

Lando: Wonderful. His dialogue, especially at the beginning, does a lot to fix our view of Luke.

Kylo’s redemption: See above re: Han. I’ve seen a lot of criticism about the kiss. I get the whole “female character’s purpose is to validate the evolution of the male” criticism, but I want to point out a couple things about this. First of all, it’s not a “Reylo” kiss. Kylo is gone. This is well after Kylo is redeemed. He’s been of the Light for a while before this, it’s clearly Ben at this point. It’s also obvious Rey knows that, and like Luke forgave Vader for his abuse, she forgives Ben Solo for his. So I understand also the criticism that is making people puke about Rey kissing her abuser, but again, Luke sheds tears for the father he loves, who maimed and traumatized him. Star Wars is about redemption and forgiveness that accompanies it, and I don’t have the same issue with this. If she kissed KYLO without him being redeemed before he died, for example, I would be disgusted. This is not that.

The cinematography/pacing/story: So many critics and the spoilers made it sound like this was a convoluted mess. I went to see it with a non-native English speaker and neither of us had any trouble following the plot. Yeah, a lot happens, but it all is linear and consistent within the film.

The humor/dialogue: Felt way more Star Wars-y and better placed than the last two films.

The Jedi Helping Rey: As much as I thought I would hate this, it was really well done, largely, I think, due to the foreshadowing during her earlier training. When Palpatine says all the Sith live in him and we know what she’s gonna say but it still works SO WELL. I was rooting for her and I’ve never been a huge fan. But at that climactic moment, I was a believer.

Major flaws

Of course there are some. For me the most major:

A Jedi Strikes Not In Anger: In every single lightsaber battle (pretty sure, I only saw the film once), Rey is the first to strike. She always seems to be fighting from anger and with negative emotion. This is not at all Jedi-esque and I found it particularly jarring in her duels with Kylo Ren. This bothered me more than almost anything else in the film because it is never addressed. She fights ANGRY and she fights FEARFUL and then somehow when she’s supposed to strike down Palpatine, she has it in her to resist. This, above all else, makes me not like her as the “heir to the Jedi”. I thought it was a real problem, and makes her ultimate evolution at the finale less convincing.

Rey Skywalker: I get why they did it, but I stand by my earlier thoughts regarding taking the Solo or Organa name. I have nothing against adopted families. And I found it SLIGHTLY more palpable because since the Emperor refers to Ben as “the last Skywalker” and then since he transfers his entire life force into her, you can argue that she has “Skywalker” literally in her spirit now. OK fine. But I still don’t really think she earned it. She came CLOSER than I thought she would and I didn’t ultimately want to burn down the cinema as I expected I would want to.

Force Resurrection: No. Just no. This changes so much and makes so much of the earlier films moot. Why wouldn’t Anakin just resurrect Padme? Don’t get me started.

Other random new Force things: Like Force Ghosts touching shit. Yeah I know Obi Wan sat on the tree in Dagobah, I know, but we keep learning new and more powerful Force shit each film. Teleportation of objects (that lightsaber?!), astral projection, rapid healing, and now playing catch with your ghost friends. I get they are important to the story but it feels lazy. But my exception here was Luke catching the saber because FUCK YOU RJ. 😊

Redemption=Death: I wanted Kylo Ren to die for his sins too, but I recognize this strange thing we have going on in the GFFA that if a baddie goes good they die. It’s the equivalent of the horror movie “fuck and the killer gets you” trope. I didn’t necessarily mind Ben dying, but it seemed … lazy.

The final shot: It was a mistake to even touch this iconic moment. It wasn’t earned. Make your own legend/iconic moment and leave my farmboy his.

Something no one can fix: The sucky destinies of Luke Jake, Han, and Leia. They didn’t live happy lives, they didn’t see the end of tyranny, they all died with only the hope of success. I will never forgive the attempted destruction of the legacy of the OT (attempted cause it’s still how it all ends in my world), this disregard of the triumph of the Rebellion over the Empire, and I will never believe that the New Republic failed so completely and miserably. Bring on the EU/Legends and forget this shit.

Final thought: I went to this expecting the cinematic equivalent of a back alley abortion and instead I got what felt like an apology. An entertaining and polished and sincere apology. We deserved better, and I think the people who made this film realized that and did their best. TROS had to wrap up something that was divisive and imperfect and misguided, and tried as hard as it could, in my opinion, given what they were working with.

It was a good movie. Ambitious, with flaws, but I am glad I saw it, and I hope you will be too. <3 May the Force be with you.

#tros spoilers #the rise of skywalker spoilers #ix spoilers #my thoughts

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mathes0n · 5 years

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Do ya think you could give me a rundown of what happens in the epiloges so I don't have to slog through it same way you did (bless you by the way, I really can't imagine what wasting a whole day on homestuck of all things is like)

I tried my best!!! I may have skipped some details here and there but these were what I remembered the most

TW for…. Suicide, themes of fascism, themes of sex, mentions of transphobia and just… general Homestuck Bullshit

MEAT:

John agrees to go fix canon or w/e, he goes back and collects teenage versions of Rose, Dave, Jade, Jane, Dirk, Jake and Roxy; they’re all teens and he keeps calling them “kids” and thats kinda cute

Adult John + 7 teenagers go to fight Caliborn; Caliborn locks the beta kids in the homestuck juju box thing (which was foreshadowed in earlier homestuck i fucking THINK??)

The beta kids are then suddenly teleported into the final battle against Lord English, in which he kills everyone but John

Davepeta sacrifices themself to force Lord English into the black hole

Also Lord English bites John and he’s dying I guess and floating towards the black hole

Terezi finds him and they both find sanctuary in a car thats also floating around. Also they have sex here

They both teleport to Earth C where John then immediately DIES

B PLOT: Jane is running for president of the world, to which everyone insists that this is a bad idea because Hussie spun a wheel and decided that she was Facist now

Karkat worries that she’ll regulate troll reproduction, and Dave convinces him to run for president against her

There’s also some like unresolved tension between Dave and Karkat, Jade tries to get the three of them to date but she comes across as pushy and weird and WILDLY out of character! But it goes nowhere in the end

It’s a race to find endorsements! Jane has Dirk helping her with her campaign, Roxy and Calliope (who are dating and nonbinary! Woo hoo!) choose to stay neutral

Jake is also like super famous and also has a reputation for sleeping around? Anyways both sides of this ~Political Intrigue~ know that getting his endorsement would basically entail victory

Jane invites him over and they end up making out until Jake gets nervous and leaves, its very weirdly sexually charged and does Nothing For This Meaty Story

Dave and Karkat manage to convince Jake to endorse Karkat; but during the endorsement speech, Jake suddenly blurts his love for Dirk Strider and starts endorsing Jane

Which leads to…

C PLOT: Dirk and Alt!Calliope are fighting over the narrative of the story

Dirk is also weirdly transphobic about Roxy

Rose is like… dying? And Dirk is trying to convince her to become her Ultimate Self or some shit??? This results in Dirk essentially kidnapping Rose and making Kanaya Freak Out

Dirk’s narrative control forces Jake to confess his love for Dirk and endorse Jane, so thats great

Dirk also tries to use his narrative control powers to force Dave and Karkat into confessing their love for each other, but Dave fights off his control and kisses Karkat on his OWN terms, which, if ignoring the weird Dirk shit, is actually pretty valid

This all ends with Dirk shrugging Jake off and taking Rose on a spaceship far away, prompting the rest of the cast to prepare a rescue mission

PRETTY WEIRD RIGHT?

WELL NOW ITS TIME FOOOOR

CANDY:

John decides not to go fix canon, Roxy gets really happy about this and almost immediately decides that they’re in love w him and starts dating him, Calliope is noticeably upset by this

(Also Roxy’s gender stuff isn’t rlly addressed in Candy but I’m just gonna stick with they/them)

Also Calliope insists that John bring Gamzee to Earth C. Gamzee is now here and no one is happy about it

There’s still weird stuff between Jade, Dave and Karkat, what with Jade still trying to get the three of them to date; this results in Jade dating Dave and Jade having a kismesis with Karkat, and Dave and Karkat not having a relationship despite the ~obvious love between them~. It’s repeatedly mentioned that the relationship dynamic is unhealthy. Nothing is done about it

SPEEEEEAAAAAAAKING OF UNHEALTHY RELATIONSHIP DYNAMICS

Jane goes to visit Jake and they get drunk and sleep together and then Jane manipulates him into a relationship? I’ve seen posts making Jake out to be the bad guy because of this

Anyways for some real fucked up shit uuuuh……………….Dirk commits suicide

GRAPHICALLY

Because John didn’t choose to do the plot important thing?

It’s fucked up as all hell

At the funeral, Roxy and John decide to get married

OH also this entire time John and Terezi have been in communication and John’s acting like its a scandalous thing? It’s weird

Also Gamzee somehow becomes Jane’s kismesis and its weird its fucking weird man I won’t get into it but i feel like half the trigger tags could apply to this relationship alone

Anyways Jane is still exhibiting fascist tendencies and is trying to moderate troll birthrate. Everyone but like Karkat and Kanaya (and Rose to an extent) act like this isnt a big deal

ANYWAYS THEN THERE’S KIDS

John and Roxy have a son named Harry Anderson Egbert

Jane and Jake have a son named Tavros (aka Tavros2)

Rose and Kanaya adopt a troll girl and name her Vriska (aka Vriska3) because FUUUUCK me

Jane and Gamzee are like… abusive towards Jake and Tavros2

Also Aradia shows up!!! She doesn’t do much regarding this bullshit plot but honestly thats the best possible outcome. She doesn’t deserve to get involved in all of this

John tries to kidnap Tavros2 to save him from Jane and Gamzee’s abuse, but gets caught and it all backfires and everyone hates John now

Also it’s implied that Terezi dies

TEN YEARS PASS

NOW HERE’S WHERE THINGS GET REAL FUCKED

Jane has decided that Trolls Have No Rights and is actively trying to stop them

Jane is basically the overlord of the world now and enforces like… curfews n shit

Karkat fucked off and is leading the Troll Rebellion and thats a bit metal I’ll give him that (he gets an eyepatch and everything)

Roxy and John have divorced by this point

Also various ghosts have been raining from the sky? That’s also happening

Also Harry Anderson and Vriska3 start a romantic relationship and HOLD ON A SECOND

Harry Anderson is Roxy’s kid and Vriska3 is Rose’s kid HELLO??? And don’t even argue “Oh but Vriska3 was adopted-” NO FUCK THAT HELLO???????

Civil war breaks out between the Trolls and basically everyone else who now works for Jane

Alive Vriska falls from the sky, immediately sees Gamzee and tries to kill him, he then tries to

Tries to

Tries to suck her toes

Shes wearign boots but hes lickin em

They then make out

I know I’m being really specific in this part but like you all have to understand that I had to read this with my own human eyes

Frankly I don’t entirely remember how Candy ends I basically blacked out after the above part happened

John reconciles with Roxy and Harry Anderson, Alive Vriska and Vriska3 chat and I end up liking Vriska3 more than i EVER liked actual Vriska. I think Dave dies??????

Sorry if this isn’t the best descriptor, I was kind of losing my mind as I wrote this because I still can’t wrap my head around ANY of these plot points

Imo I GUESS I hate Meat less because the John stuff was… okay for the most part. Also certain relationships and characters (like Dave+Karkat and Roxy+Calliope) were treated a bit better. But they’re both overall so, so bad

This honest to god feels like a Hate Letter written to the fanbase. Even if it was “intentionally bad”, that doesn’t make it good suddenly!! It was a spit in the face and a horrible experience and it honestly felt super pathetic. Hussie and his squad of incest-writing authors deserve the criticism this horrible epilogue will get them

#upd8 spoilers #homestuck #suicide -#fascism -#transphobia -#im just.... so tired #at least...... at least aradias parts were ok.....#a beacon....#Anonymous

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