#kinda tired tbh I have my own war to worry about

[tonya-the-chicken]

I have this feeling like everyone pretends that russo-ukrainian conflict is extremely complex when it's simple as heck while simultaneously pretending israeli-palestinian conflict is extremely simple when it's complex

[electriclocean]

Pansy Parkinson x Female muggle! reader HC

This is my first time writing in Tumblr! English is not my first language, apologize for any grammatical errors.

Warning: my English, a few swear words 

Word count: 1.3k 

I kinda changed the timeline so it fits

- It was after the war. Pansy moved in with Draco, Blaise, and Theo in a 3 bedroom apartment in a small city near London. 

- The first week in the muggle world had been chaotic. They had a hard time adjusting. The four of them really tried to not use any magic at first, even in the apartment, but gave up after a few days. They agreed to use magic only in the apartment.

- The first few weeks were hard for them. Nightmares almost every night, they find it very hard to sleep some nights. They hardly went out, only going out to buy food or groceries.

- After 2 months not going out, Pansy was the first to start going out, she got tired of the boys bickering every time.

- She found a small coffee shop near the apartment, wondering how the hell did she not noticed it before. The place was small, but comfy. It’s not really crowded so she likes it.

- That’s where she met you. You are a part timer at the shop, working as the cashier. 

- After the third time, you were quick to remember Pansy’s order. It’s always the same order.

- “The usual, right? Hot mocha latte?”

- You saw her almost everyday after that. Pansy stayed for an hour or so. Sometimes looking around the shop (she’s looking at you), sometimes she brought a book with her.

- Thus she started making small talks with you every time she orders. A simple “how are you today?”, “how’s your day?”, “how’s your drink?”.

- The small talks turn into a new friendship, if the store isn’t really crowded, you would sit with her. Other times, you ask her to meet you after work so you two can talk more freely.

- Pansy becomes more fond of you. She tried to not fall for you, but she did anyway.

- The new feeling made her panic. “I can’t fall for her. What if she thinks I’m weird?”

- “Who thinks you’re weird?”

- Draco was the first to notice. He noticed she stopped going out and sometimes zoning out. He’s the one who heard about it.

- “There’s a girl, and I think- I think I fancy her.” “Well, what’re you waiting for? Go for it.”

- She explained many reasons why she shouldn’t fancy her. “She can’t! What will people think about dating a girl? What if she realizes that I’m not good? What if she hates me?”

- Draco didn’t listen and ended up dragging her to the coffee shop where you work. “Talk to her, for Merlin’s sake!”

- You saw Pansy coming in with someone. A boy. A handsome one, really. But you weren’t interested in the boy. After talking to Pansy, you realize that you like her, but not as a friend. 

- So when Pansy steps in with that blonde boy beside her, holding her hand, your heart shattered. Obviously she’s not interested in girls.

- “What can I get you?” Your voice was cold, very different than the usual cheery voice.

- Pansy noticed it too. After telling hers and Draco’s order, she decided to ask. “Are you alright?”

- “Fine.” “Really? You know you can talk to me, Y/N-”

- “Of course I’m not fine! The girl I like is standing in front of me with her rich looking blonde handsome boyfriend!” You cut her off without thinking. After saying it, you quickly close your mouth, cursing in your head.

- Pansy standing there, eyes wide, not really believing what she just heard. “You- you like me-?” 

- You just nod. Draco was the first to break off the silence, laughing.

- “Go on! Tell her, Pans. I am so gonna tell this to the other, the Pansy Parkinson froze like a deer caught in headlights-”

- “I like you too, Y/N. A lot actually.” She was smiling shyly, her usual confident self was nowhere to be seen. 

- After that, the two of you started dating. Pansy would wait until your shift is over.

- Pansy sleeping over your place. You teach her how to cook, or make coffee.

- The first time you saw her dark mark was when she lent you her hoodie.

- "Pans, what is that?" She tried to explain it, but ended up having a panic attack.

- You didn't want to invade her privacy, so you just help her calm down and change the topic.

- Next day, she asks you to stay over at her place, "the boys are annoying. They keep asking me to bring you."

- It's really noisy when the two of you enter the apartment. Theo was yelling curses at Draco, Draco asking Blaise for backup, while Blaise just sips his tea, watching them.

- "Merlin's beard, what the fuck is going on here?"

- "Malfoy here said I cheat! I never cheat!" "So the card just changed the color itself!?" They were playing UNO. Which was supposed to be a friendly game (lies.)

- The boys haven't noticed your presence. Theo takes out his wand, the cards in Draco's hand change colors, "revelio! See I didn't cheat! You were the one who cheated!"

- "Nott, you dumbass!" followed by Pansy' purse on Theo's head.

- That's when they realized you were there. Watching Theo use his wand.

- "Y/N this is-" "Is that real!?"

- Pansy nod, closing her eyes. Now here's the part where you will leave her because you probably think they're all crazy people or into some cult.

- "Do it again." "What?" "Please, I wanna see it," you gave them the best puppy eyes you could give.

- "You don't think we're crazy?" "Why the hell would I think that? Just do it again, please?"

- To say you were shocked was an understatement. But they didn't expect you to be this enthusiastic. You were clapping like a child, asking Theo to do more spells, while the others stared at you, shocked by your response.

- After some time, you felt someone tug your jumper. Pansy was staring at you with puppy eyes, "you won't leave me, right?"

- "Oh, darling why would I do that?" "I didn't tell you anything about this-" 

- You assure her you won’t leave her. Lots of light kisses on her face.

- The boys adored you, loving your reaction when they use magic around you. (we can talk about the boys next time, now it's pansy’ time)

- Lots of cuddles with Pansy. Watching movies together, cuddling, with a blanket draped over the two of you. Sometimes you’re the big spoon, sometimes Pansy is. 

- Good morning kisses! Pansy loves kissing your face, your nose, your eyes, your cheeks, everywhere!

- Pansy still get nightmares from the war, sometimes nightmares that you left her after knowing her past. 

- You reassure her everything is fine. You only know that there was a war in their world, but you didn’t know the details. 

- Making hot chocolates when she had a nightmare. Then cuddling again. Sometimes you sing lullabies.

- Pansy told you all about her past one night, even though you insist that you don’t need to know. 

- You hug her tightly, kissing her dark mark, “this doesn’t change anything between us. It’s all in the past, what matters is you changed into a better person now. I still and will always love you.” 

- After that, the two of you become more inseparable. 

- “Parkinson, can you not stare at me as if I’m gonna steal your girlfriend?” “Shut up Nott, go search another girl, or boy, whichever you prefer.”

- This girl spoils you rotten. Seriously. “That jumper is cute,” the next day that jumper will be yours. Dinner date every weekend. At a fancy restaurant. Pansy buying you dresses, jewelry. 

- She told you not to worry about money, since she’s the heiress of one of the sacred 28 families.  “Is it wrong to spoil your own girlfriend?” “No, but this is too expensive, you know-” “Do you not like it?” “I love it, but you shouldn’t spend too much money on me. Who knows we need it in the future.”

- Yeah, she doesn’t listen to you. Still bring you gifts, taking you to fancy dinners.

- She’s definitely top in bed. It’s obvious tbh. (I can’t write smut, I only read lol)

- Just imagine dating the Slytherin princess. (ms pansy pls date me)

[kaori-flowers]

It's literally 2:49 AM as of now and idk what i wrote tbh. I can't remember the plot i was going dor and im feally tired so enjoy :)

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"Oh! I forgot to tell you Dream is coming today!"

Tommy froze as soon as those words came out of Wilbur's mouth. His jaw tightened and he finished stacking the wood he collected. Then he cracked his knuckles and walked to his tent, pushing it open and crawling inside. Wilbur frowned a little and finished putting the flowers down. He walked over to the tent and crouched down, looking in at Tommy. Tommy crawled in the samll bed he made and pulled the blankets around himself. He closed his eyes despite not being tired at all, but he didn't want to see or even hear Dream.

"Are you alright Tommy? Do you need some blue?"

Wilbur was concerned for his, still alive, little brother. Although he didn't quite understand why Tommy was so upset, he still tried to be a supportive brother. Tommy was grateful that Wilbur hadn't fully abandoned him yet, but at the same time he wanted him to go away.

"No Wilbur. I am just feeling sick, and going to take a nap."

Tommy was lying of course. He just didn't want to be around Dream, at all, ever again. He despised him completely for separating him and Tubbo. Although Tommy was beginning to think everything was his fault and he deserved this. He was beginning to think he deserved all of this. He just wanted to wilt away.

"Alright! I will finish up the garden and bring you back some food!"

Wilbur said cheerfully, walking away from the tent. Tommy curled up in a ball on the uncomfortable floor of the tent. Then he wrapped the blanket around himself, pulling it over his head. He closed his eyes and gently put his hand over them, breathing lightly. He laid there in silence, listening to his own breathing and the birds chirping in the nearby trees. It was slightly calming but he couldn't sleep. He was dreading the arrival of Dream, but already planned to 'be asleep' when he does actually arrive. Wilbur occasionally checked on him to see that Tommy barley moved. Wilbur continued to leave him alone, but stacked his chest with food he collected. He also continued working on the garden as Tommy continued to hide under the blanket in the tent. Time passed slowly and Tommy felt like every second was a year. He was felt bored and impatient while he laid under the blankets, but couldn't sleep and didn't want to get up. He didn't want to get up, and leave the tent knowing Dream was coming and would probably be here soon.

"Where's Tommy?"

Soon was an understatement. Then again Tommy was unsure how much time actually passed, he laid there for so long. Wilbur waved and smiled at Dream, holding out a flower to him.

"Hello Dream! Tommy is asleep in the tent. He doesn't feel good, please do not disturb him!"

Wilbur said politely but yet it still somehow managed to sound like a threat. Dream glanced at the tent, wondering if Tommy had gotten sick. He looked back at Wilbur and smiled softly, back at him. Then Dream looked around slowly taking in what has been done around here. He noticed the two small stacks of wood and sticks, as well as a small little container made out of rocks and dirt. He opened it and looked in to see raw chicken and fish. Some of it looked rotten, and smelled bad. He cringed a little and shut it, walking over to the tent. He glanced in to look at Tommy. Tommy was still curled up under the blanket in a ball. Under the blanket Tommy still had his eyes closed, but kept listening. Dream decided to leave him alone, giving him the benefit of the doubt.

"Has he been eating normally? Drinking normally?"

Dream did in fact have concern for Tommy's health, because he knew how hurt Tubbo would be if he died. Tubbo would blame Dream, which technically it is his fault. Dream is the one who made Tubbo exile Tommy. But still Tubbo would blame dream, hate him, even resent him, and most likely cut off all ties with him. Tubbo would turn his back on Dream and show him no compassion at all. The only thing Dream would get from Tubbo would be war. Or flat out murder. Imprisonment.

"Um yeah kinda. He's been drinking a lot, I don't watch him but im sure he eats just fine."

Wilbur did watch Tommy though. Wilbur hovered over Tommy every time he got up from the bed. Wilbur knew and saw everything that Tommy did. Wilbur didn't trust Dream with important information about his younger brother. Even with memory loss Wilbur felt there was something off with this situation. He decided against being honest with Dream. It's not like Dream would be able to tell anyways.

"Do you guys need more food? More blankets?"

Dream was trying to be nice, offering the few things that would keep Tommy alive. So if he did die Wilbur would be his witness that he tried to give them up. Although Wilbur wouldn't let Tommy die. Wilbur was all Tommy had left and he knew that. He knew that Tommy needed him now more than ever, and wouldn't let anything happen to him. Wilbur was working on bringing his stuff from his regular home over to Tommy's tent. Mostly books so Tommy wouldn't be so bored and lonely.

"No."

Wilbur replied dully before going back to work on the garden. Wilbur found very few seeds and decided to plant them in hopes food for Tommy would grow. As Wilbur worked on the garden not far from the tent, Dream made an actual chest. A big enough one where they could store useful things in there. He transferred the good food over to the chest before scrapping the shit chest and rotten food. Tommy was a little annoyed that Wilbur declined extra blankets, because he was cold. Even though Wilbur was dead, Tommy wasn't yet. Tommy mentally rolled his eyes and did his best to keep in place. He occasionally rolled over, and stretched out his legs but didn't get up. He didn't want to get up, hearing dream's voice was enough to give him a headache.

"Alright Wilbur, let me know when Tommy gets up. Also let me know if he gets even more sick. I'll be back tomorrow."

Dream gave up and got back in his boat, pushing off from the island. Wilbur got up from the garden and dusted his hands off. He waved and watched, waiting patiently for Dream to disappear out of sight. Once he was gone Wilbur walked over to the tent and gently cleared his throat.

"He is gone now Tommy."

"Thank you Wilbur...."

Tommy barely moved again, worrying Wilbur a little. He gently set some blue in the tent next to Tommy before backing off. Tommy looked at it and it got darker blue. He rolled his eyes and rolled over in the tent, gently grabbing the compass. He softly rubbed the marks in it and gently rubbed his thumb over Tubbo's name that was carved in it. He closed his eyes and gently pulled it to his chest.

The next few days Wilbur politely told Tommy every time Dream was going to show up. Which Tommy was grateful for, and managed to program his sleeo schedule with Dream's visits. It made Dream a little worried that Tommy was sick, and getting worse. Wilbur provided no help to Dream and gave him plain answers. Although it only lasted a few more days before Dream caved and tried waking him up. Mainly because he was worried Tommy was dying.

"Hey long time no see."

"Go away."

Tommy rolled away from Dream as soon as he saw his face, covering himself back up with the blanket. Dream yanked it off him, making him shiver and shake from the cold wind that blew in the tent. It made Dream feel a little bit bad, but didn't give the blanket back.

"Come on Tommy. I wanna see you up and moving, lets go."

Tommy rolled his eyes and removed the pillow from under his head. He put it on top of his head and curled up in a ball, cold without his blanket. That Dream had.....

"Tommy-"

"Go away. Don't you have a husband to be with? And friends to chat up? Leave me alone. This is my little place so stop invading me and go away!"

Tommy snapped at him, his voice rough and tired. Dream stood up and tossed the blanket to him, still feeling worried. His voice was different than what it had usually been. Dream knew that Tubbo would kill him if anything bad happened to Tommy. So Dream needed to figure something out and fast. Meanwhile Tommy grabbed the blanket and wrapped himself up. The blanket was thin and small but it kept him a little warm at least. It was all Tommy had so it worked for now....

[pfreadsandwrites]

hi! i absolutely adore your writing it’s genuinely the most in character stuff i’ve ever read!! i’ve been thinking about this for a bit and i was wondering what you think kakashi’s response would be to being home alone when his kid gets sick (s/o is like at work or a mission or something) and this is like not a request or anything i’m just curious what you think!

 Ahhh thank you so much that’s so kind!!! Made my day haha. And thanks for asking about this, thinking about this really got me into a writing kind of mood so I hope this day will be productive in that sense lmao. 

Hmmm let’s see.

Well first off Kakashi’s going to be out of his comfort zone a little bit. Things like this are usually his s/o’s arena. He’s a lil more typical dad in that he’s not so confident in his own ability to like, do the hands-on parenting? Don’t get me wrong, he’s not gonna leave it all to his s/o where possible, but the caretaker/nurturer stuff doesn’t come naturally to him at all. He’s like a ‘fun dad’ in that his kids love hanging out with him, he’s just chill and funny and everyone has a great time, but he might be the more serious/levelheaded parent when they need disciplining or when he has to be, and he’s good at teaching them lessons and making sure they’re safe and he’s a great provider and protector and all that but when it comes to more day to day caring for their children he’s just a little out of his element. He slowly learns more, and he absolutely does it when it’s needed from him and does not want to leave it all to his s/o, but this is really going to be strongly their arena. Also, during most of the series he’s a super heavy active-duty jounin and pretty much Konoha’s most in-demand one, and after that, he’s Hokage. So it comes down to time and the fact that everybody requires so much of him. Like, he doesn’t neglect his kids, and is pretty good at working his life around them, but he would straight up not be able to do most of the hands-on day to day care just logistically, whether it came super naturally to him or not. 

  Plus, the contrast is a little crazy for him. Like, assassination? Can do it in his sleep. Wars? He’s more familiar than he should be. S-rank missions? Pfft, whatever. Running the village? It’s going well. Taking care of tiny humans that he helped create? Wtf this is so difficult omg where his s/o how could they leave him in the dark like this it is one of the scariest things he’s ever had to do, what the hell is he doing he doesn’t know. Which is why having a s/o that will be try to hand-hold him through it is so important.

So when the s/o is away for some reason, and Kakashi has to take care of his sick child, it’s just a little nerve-wracking. I mean, assuming the kid is a few years old by this point, he’s definitely familiar with caretaking basics, but he probably does rely on his s/o, and maybe he hasn’t realised how much until they’re gone lmao. But still, I think he’d be alright. Won’t be like ‘oh my baby i’ll do this and this and this for you I’m sorry you’re sick 😢’ and keep fussing over the kid but he’ll definitely keep a watch over them. He’s not necessarily overly sympathetic with his kid, just very matter-of-fact, like oh dear, you’re sick, guess you have to stay in bed. Like he’s not too worried about them being sick unless they get really bad. Will be strict when he has to, like if the kid decides they want to do something they’re not supposed to, like Idk, start trying to practice ninjutsu or something or wanna eat candy or whatever that’s not going to happen. And he’ll show up with chicken soup or something and medicine etc. . Can imagine if it’s like something pill like, like paracetamol (half-dose, he has some common sense) and him just handing it over to his kid and his kid being like ‘Dad Idk how to swallow a pill’ and Kakashi just has a wow moment cuz he didn’t even clock that that’s a thing kids struggle with cuz he was doing all that by himself by that age, it’s like little things like that that kinda make him think wow how can someone like me be doing this. But you know, he’s chill, he gets over it pretty fast.  

But I think it’s funny to imagine the kid being like ‘Mom does it like this...’ when Kakashi is tucking them in or giving them food or something, or “when’s Mom coming back?” or “I miss Mommy” and Kakashi’s all yeah you and me both kid ack. Generally, he doesn’t doesn’t do anything stupid and ticks all the boxes though he’s reluctant to get a little too close because he can’t afford to get sick as well? So RIP if contagious kiddy Hatake want some comfort cuddles, might trick them into cuddling a clone or a pillow that smells like him or he might just give in, at which point the kid decides that their mom’s hugs are better in these kinds of situations anyway. But I can imagine Kakashi would enjoy the time with the kid, like just lazily watching some of their favourite movies with them while the kid is all wrapped up in blankets etc and he can use the time to not work and have a good excuse, and also he just likes hanging out with the kid even if being sick makes them quieter than usual (that might be good tbh), it’s pretty nice. 

Still though, taking care of his kid takes a lot out of him even if it doesn’t seem like he’s doing much. Like it’s just not natural to him and he’s kinda mentally exhausted wondering if he’s doing everything right and thinking he’s kind of a fuck-up. He’s not as bad as he thinks, and he knows that to some degree, but it’s all just so tiring. When the s/o finally comes back he’s all like oh thank God. And they’re like everything seems fine??? And yes but that’s not the point lmao. And he’s not one to forget or take his s/o for granted, but it definitely reaffirms in his mind how important they are and how lucky he is to have them. 

Though it’s way more funny to imagine Kakashi getting sick from the kid too despite his best efforts and his s/o coming home to not one, but two sick babies to look after lmao. Kakashi being sick is funny cuz though at first he wouldn’t be super happy to being taken care of i can just imagine him being like, such a typical man-flu sufferer and turning into a such a baby lmao.

Like specifically what I thought about was the kid having chickenpox, and Kakashi somehow never having that as a kid, and getting it from them and yeah the s/o just comes home to just a nightmare lmao or maybe Kakashi wearing mittens holding his mitten wearing daughter or something while he’s trying to read her a book to distract them both

I hope I answered your question lol! This was fun to think about and thanks again for the kind words :)

[smallestclowninthecircus]

Season 3 notes popping off

due to my desire to not completely fail all my classes this year i made myself slow down significantly while listening to this season, and the fact that the other person i'm listening along with had to catch up. We've managed to convert several other people to start listening and its pretty great.

ep 81: what does it even mean to be chosen by one of them? And if he was chosen by the eye. we know Gertrude wasnt? Because she cut the eyes out of the magazines?

ep 82: elias lmao. I understand why people like him so much bahshdhdk i thought he was gonna snitch on Jon but he didnt so he's fine. Ok but how do we think he knew all that stuff. Idk probably just institute connections. I love the fact that the recorder just wants to record stuff randomly bjahsjdhd. Elias feels a lot like Michael in the sense that he knows more than he should and talks in a way that implies he just wants to wait and see how things play out for his own benefit. I understand him knowing the things that happened but his description of her emotions implies something paranormal. Maybe he's connected to one of the entities. Which one I cannot guess.

ep 83: did a file get delivered randomly to the place he's staying at? Probably elias lmao. He thinks the mannequin is related to the stranger. Idk I would believe it.

ep 84: worms? I know he says earth worms but idk. Again? Is she making gordon golems out of trash? Martin popping off. You can tell the statements get to him more that they get to Jon. How come martin is so mad about it? I want to assume he just doesnt want her to get stuck there but idk. Jude Perry. The calliope organ. Jon heard a circus in one of the last episodes

ep 89: he's talking to perry? Like jude Perry? He says ... God? Is that what it is? Lmao. The Desolation. Jon is tired of ppl being vague and not telling him stuff lmao. Oh God Jon is so confused. Compel her? Is she assuming he has some kind of power? Does he have powers? Hmm. im agreeing with jon here please jesus christ why does everyone have to be so cryptic. Just say what you mean. "maybe you get an itchy eye" bahasjkdfklsjdf girl what. Agnes saved her? Oh this is the girl from the cafe story? So theres the Cult of the Lightless Flame? They worship whatever entity this is? The Desolation? Why do they all seem like they sorta worship her then? Is Gretchen gonna die oh god. fuckin michael. a different michael aaah. i see. dont do it shes gonna burn you. sir. please. sir dont you dare do- WHAT DID I SAY what did you think was gonna happen hhh.

ep 90: try to make it less obvious you're trying to get fired big T. Elias that doesnt sound like the most healthy thing to do. oh dear is this gonna be triggering for me. uuuuuh. uuuuuuuuuh. doesnt seem like it ok gonna keep listening. Jared. hmmmmm. Ok we've seen Keay and hotner or whatever his name was.

ep 91: Michael Crew. Oh is this the lightning scar guy. Mister jon sir did you just die. No? God everyone is so fuckin cryptic. Say normal things please. They all just like to go on about pain and agony and j e s u s c h r i s t we get it you got hurted by whatever thing. So theyre avatars? question mark? Jude Perry is an avatar of The Desolation? hhhh fractals. thats a spiral thing innit. Yup. messing with your perceptions. God they all talk about feeding their god and feeding that which feeds them and. hh what does that meann. Leave big J. please. uh oh. is it daisy? how come he has the web lighter still? the tape recorder just turns on sometimes you know how it is. So he can compel people? not that he knows it obviously but. a bit wack. powers go brr i guess? If the eye just wants knowledge i guess he feeds it by getting the statements? b/c i doubt it wants him to murder ppl or whatever.

ep 92: elias you all knowing fuck what do you know. (i guess all given what i just said) Lukas. Heard of them before. Mordecai Lukas. Loneliness. The lonely even. Jonah Magnus. Elias ur sounding like a bit of a dickhead rn. lmao jon's just like "i dont care" elias what is ur deal. Why does he want to tie her in. ohh i see. lmao theyre all just like "elias why" The Unknowing lol seems very much like something the eye wouldnt like. lol elias is gettin all philosophical. what does it really mean to be human. this still doesnt answer why gertrude wanted to destroy the archives tho.

ep 93: bahsjdfh he seems so dead inside rip. awww admiral. i love him already. ghh breacon and hope. purple mold. doesnt sound like anything we've seen so far. I think the funniest explanation for breacon and hope is that they dont actually serve the stranger they just kinda happen to be a random neutral party that cart around random spooky entity related stuff. ooooh. when we hear the slight static of the tape recorder it's cuz he's compelling ppl.

ep 94: the end! listen man they were all just grayed up for 4/13.

ep 95: the end also? death but also savagery/ animalistic shit. aww martin. lmao becerra. she's just been chillin in the corner.

ep 96: return to sender. haha minecraft go brr. prediction: breacon and hope? yup there we go. jon why is there an echo. are you in a stairwell? is he gonna eat it- yup. how did i call it. unsure abt what theyre talking about but ok. they kidnapped someone? Sarah Baldwin. ooooh that guy.

ok im just putting this here so i have notes for when nicholas gets to this part. It seems like (from jon's conversation with jude perry) that the desolation and the eye are kinda at odds with eachother? like i guess not directly but it seems like they dont really vibe? so how could be with both. Cuz if he has the heat powers and shit then we know he's an avatar of the desolation. but then why does he have so much eye imagery. also he got burned intentionally? like jude did when she went on her monologue about the feeling of burning? but then why did he wear the eye pendant. it stops him from being burned all the way which seems like he's not fully accepting the fire or whatever.

Nooooo I lost like a bunch of my notes rip. I keep forgetting to save.

Ep 104: tim gives a coherent statement without jon even being there. Ugh. Fucking robert smirk. Dont like him. Joey. Dont recognize the name. The show must go on. Clown. The spooky circus?

ep 105: total war... shogun 2? jon is just understanding languages again. "if i understood mandarin or cantonese" are you sure you dont big man?

ep 106: havent we heard this one already? mans in space? oh no this is just another episode in space. fairchild... uuuh. cant remember. oh! this is related to that! this is one of the ppl from the other side. sounds like a Vast thing. oh he's the one that the dude saw? but that guy didnt have a face... she's sorta like jon. wanting to dismiss the statements. lmao i love the workplace gossip. ace jon for the win! oh cmon elias dont be a dick. sunny meadows or whatever. thats the place we heard about.

ep 107: oh great is it jude perry again. Third Degree. bahahsdkfj she was arrested. sorry but imagining this old british lady getting arrested is funny. she was trying to resurrect him. using the skin book. he's not feeling well. jon take a nap. i wonder if this is what happens when he uses his powers too much. He gets into The Zone when he reads statements lol. didn't we have a burning train car in anothre statement? is it julia fairchild? bahahahs "kidnapped. Again." poor jon honestly. julia... about her dad. daughter of the murder shed guy? hunting like your dad liked to hunt or normal people hunting. oh hunting vampires!

ep 108: melanie has been suffering. poor martin peter lukas why do you have to be like this. can he not just use the front door? does he have to bother the ppl doing statements?

ep 109: how come he cut her off? kinda rude tbh. its either jon's influence or there was smth he didnt want her saying. is it gerard on the table? this sounds kinda like smth from one of the university episodes. is it the closed eye on the hand? yup. he's like one of the students! if the thing listening in is elias then... he can do that without the tape recorder yknow. plus who's to say it wont just turn itself on again

110: who wants to bet its a leitner?

111: Lukas related to The Lonely. I used to not like Gerard that much but i like him more now. but i thought there were 15? ohhh thats right isnt flesh newer? gerry for the win honestly. finally telling jon things.

112: lol "again" no one ever tells any of these ppl anything. tim and basira are just out of the loop constantly. music, like the war episodes. The hunt or the slaughter? probably the hunt. so Daisy is related to the hunt right? basira likes the reading, she's doing fine at the institute. daisy's getting worried...

113: it just turned on randomly. what is it lol. explossives! oh boy. why do they always assume he turned it on intentionally. melanie youre not making me like you that much. which entity is this about i cant tell. lol he was disappointed it was just the end. The title Breathing Room made me think it was gonna be about the buried but i guess not. So many of these entities deal with death but the end is one that deals in just death. it has no need for fancy deaths, just death is enough

114: more hilltop road statements? the tree. oh boy. ok the tree has 8 arms obviously theres the spider parallels. was she taken into an alternate universe? oh no. jon tries to phrase things so he's not asking questions. thats honestly good. "sometimes i was kidnapped" oh dear. they got gertrude. daisy ur so odd lmao. who wants to bet they dont know the tape recorder's running?

115: silaca? or whatever? antique man? meat grinder... related to the meat is meat episode? oh wow. they buy antiques from him. maybe dont antagonize this creature which can kill you?

116: lol theyre all just so done with elias. music? is it like the one band that if you hear them you die or wtvr. oh its chess? i am very much confused. mmm stranger go brr. gorilla skin? oh shit the dance. woah. this is so good. this is so gender. the words are wonderful. "you can just say tim" lmao trying to fool elias never feels like a good idea.

117: except elias lmaoo. oh shit. leitner getting some use for once idk. bruuh poor melanie she has been thru so much shit. martin you can just say youre worried about jon. lol he's so accurate in his jon impression. lol who was that. was that daisy? lmaoo. oop hi tim. oh god i hope tim doesnt die. i feel like i wouldve heard about that? but im not sure. destroying the source of knowledge is gonna be hard for jon. yay jon! you did a good thing. let him rest.

118: go off martin lmao. awww poor martin. oh god the tape gets that squealy quality and its awful.

119: woah. lots of things happening. uhh. POP OFF TIM!!

120: lmao elias giving a statement about jon's dreams lol. damn jon doesnt even get his own dreams? has to stay Watching even when he's asleep? f in the chat this man goes thru so much shit. oh boy its peter. lol martin my beloved. idk i dont trust peter.

[haleigh-sloth]

What do you think of the notion that Hori might be ending the series earlier than expected because he knows Bones and Shueisha/Jump are franchising the hell out of MHA, what with 6 more movies still in the pipeline and an ever-increasing amount of spin-off mangas, all of which he'll feel compelled (or be heavily pressured) into creating tie-in side content for alongside writing the main manga? Or am I overestimating the impact this side stuff actually has on Hori's workflow?

Well first, I don’t think this is sooner than expected really. He said he had intended for the final act to be five volumes, but obviously miscalculated lol. But regardless that tells us he’s serious about ending it now. He’s been trying to end it. In fact, I think it’s possible he’s been trying to end it for a while:

The title here seems kind of finale-ish. It’s only volume 11 (Kamino arc chapters). This kind of matches up with his original intent on not doing villain profiles at first, but then the story “evolving beyond that”. He’s changed his mind a bunch, but I think he’s wanted to get close to the ending for a while now. But the war arc didn’t leave off on the note he wanted, because it couldn’t. So here we are, watching him try to wrap all of that up.

So, I think BNHA needs to end. Like soon. But I’ll get to that. What I’m more interested in knowing is exactly how much input does the author have into the spin off content, light novels, movies, etc. I know they ✨say✨ that Hori has to give the final stamp of approval before things are published. But does he? Like does he read through it all before saying he approves? I’m certain he does some of it, or maybe little parts of everything, but all of it? I ask because it seems that the man can’t even get a firm grip on his own main story line. The editor is ruining all kinds of stuff with his own input, so why should I believe the side content is actually thoroughly run through Hori and that he has the final say? Also, with that impossible schedule I just don’t know how that would be possible. I mean yes you can make time for anything, but there is a LOT of side content coming out constantly. So idk, I’m skeptical of that. I’m also skeptical because it’s interesting how there is NO side content for the villains. And I’m not saying “the villains are better so we deserve content for them 😤😤”, I’m saying that they are legitimate characters with prominent parts in the story so it just makes me wonder if Hori himself doesn’t want to risk certain characters of his getting misrepresented in side content that isn’t written by him.

So branching off of that, I do feel that it’s a bit soon to see just how fast we’re barreling to the ending. But it’s possible that maybe he is ending it sooner than what the story led us to believe in order I preserve the main story he created. Meaning, the sooner he ends it, the less chance of another fucking movie interjecting.

But aside from that, I feel that he’s ending it simply because it needs to end. Like, I’ve never understood why people want stories to just keep on going forever. I get not wanting to leave the world of the story, and that’s where the side content comes in (if you’re into those, I’m typically not). But I’ll never understand people wanting a story to be ruined by being drug out just for the sake of getting new content. Also, if it wasn’t obvious—Hori is reaching his limit. It’s obvious with the sudden breaks he’s taking. Scheduled breaks? Normal. But suddenly not making the deadline because of his health? That’s pretty unacceptable tbh. Not on HIS part, but on the people demanding him to work non stop til he drops dead. Idk how he makes a chapter a week. I really really don’t. But it’s also obvious in the story. The writing is getting incredibly lazy. The last chapter felt like straight up advertisement, and idk where we’re going with this American hero lady. But everything else from that is just being so sloppily handled. He’s tired.

I would much rather him end it sooner than later so that his drive to actually give us a good ending doesn’t die out. Like at a certain point, I’d be worried he’d stop caring about the ending altogether. Luckily, I think he cares a great amount. I also think he really likes his villain characters a lot more than he lets on in interviews and stuff. It’s obvious in the story. So I do think he is going to try to nail the ending for every character, but I’m lowering my expectations for the nitty gritty details on the path to that ending.

Idk that you’re overestimating the impact it has on his workflow, because if he really REALLY does give the final stamp of approval before all that side stuff is published, then wow. What a fucking work schedule. And I thought I had it rough working in CPS. Lol. But I personally am skeptical of just how much input he gives into Team Up Missions and Vigilantes. Vigilantes is it’s own thing entirely and I can’t imagine him basically overlooking two separate mangas. Team Up Missions is just about the kids (if I remember correctly? I don’t read it so idk for super sure) so it’s not hard to make content for them. They’re easy. Lol. The light novels, I feel is a little more realistic for him to have a say in those since those are released way more sparsely than the other content. Those, I believe he looks over. Everything else I’m kinda “hmmmm idk”.

But anyway, I think it’s ending because it freaking needs to. That being said I do hope he’ll give like, little surprise epilogue chapters later down the line. Like how is Shigaraki doing? Toga? How are Touya and Shouto with their family, how are Midoriya and Bakugo doing as heroes, stuff like that. But like….a bit of time after it ends. Kinda how Takaya did with the extra fruits basket stuff. Just surprise us here and there lol. Unrelated, but I hope Hori writes something else later. Only this time with everything he wants and because he’s already become wildly successful, he won’t need to adhere to editors if he doesn’t want to. I feel like if he had free reign of his story, he’d make something really really good. And I hope he makes something later with all the elements he wants. But before that—REST. Lol.

[theaspers]

let me count the ways

pairing: lucifer/thea (yes, this is an official lucea fic, alice)

a/n: yknow when you’ve been working on something for so long you just get kinda sick and tired of it? yeah, that’s me with this fic but pls accept this very sappy, very cheesy, very messy fic anw. i wrote this with thea in mind but tbh, i feel like you could probably pop your own ocs in there if they go by she/her.

she’s all too dangerous like this, lucifer thinks. eyes that twinkle with mischief, the slow flutter of heavy eyelashes, and fingers that are entirely too curious for their own good. she’s all too dangerous and there is work to do - piles and piles of them, scattered haphazardly across his desk and tucked away in his bag and more to come, he’s certain - and he knows if he gives in, it will be the start of the end.

and yet, knowing all of this, he still does very little in the way of stopping her from sliding into his lap and straddling him. his fingers instinctively come up to rest on the curve of her hips, steadying her as she makes herself comfortable. he's getting soft, unbelievably so, and his cheeks warm uncomfortably at the thought. still, there’s no part of him that wishes to be anything but indulgent. if only for this moment, he tells himself, just this once.

(but it’s far from the first time and he doubts it will be the last.)

“have you finished your work?” he asks but it's nothing more than a courtesy, something like a lousy deflection from his part, something to fill the increasingly charged air with. he continues with a reminder that there is still work for him to do - important work - and a long list of chores to see to and countless responsibilities to attend to, but it’s hard to rationalise much of anything when she’s settled herself on his lap.

it’s all for naught, however, because his words do little in deterring her. truthfully, he has long stopped expecting for her to answer in moments like these - there’s no changing her mind at all once she has it set on something. to put up a semblance of self-restraint would do him well still, if only to comfort himself.  

her eyes locked with his, warm and golden, she cups his face with the lightest of touches and asks, “more important than me?”

no, lucifer wants to say, never. but he’s sent mum at the gravity of his own thoughts, the heaviness of the truth behind them, the weight of his world and her world and the one that separates the both of them in the gaps between his words. at his silence, a smile curls on her face, a pleased hum rumbling in her chest. he doesn’t need to say them, it seems, rarely ever has to with her. in a way that very few people have, she understands him.

“oh, lucifer,” she croons, voice laced with a quiet wonder. as misplaced as the sentiment might be, his name has never fitted anywhere more perfectly than it does on her lips. it’s getting increasingly difficult to deny her much of anything and this instance is no different. now nothing else is more important than this, not his work or his chores or his other responsibilities. his mind races instead with all the things he would like to do to her in this moment - and perhaps, briefly, all the things he would like to be done to him - but all of it revolves around her, her, her.

he tilts his head slightly, heart lurching at the amount of affection that rolls off of her in overwhelming waves. there is an unspeakable amount of trust that lies in her every action, and that he lets her is a testament of his own. it’s well-deserved, he thinks, they’ve come quite far to have moments like this and he’s well within his rights to enjoy it.

warmth settles in the pit of his stomach like heavy rocks at the thought, foreign and familiar at the same time, and it only intensifies when she leans down to press a kiss on his temple, movement slow and tender. she places one on the tip of his nose next, and then another on the corner of his lips.

“lucifer.” she whispers again, and it’s something like a quiet plea this time around, a silent question, like she’s asking for his permission to continue. with a nod, he lets her. indulgent as ever, he chides himself, but that is where that line of thought ends.

pleased, she continues her ministrations, nuzzling a small spot under his ear before leaving a quick little kiss behind. one kiss turns into two into three, quick and light, and in their wake, tiny little nips down his jaw, further down his neck. each one sends a sharp jolt down his spine, has him sucking in a sharp intake of air, has him digging his fingers harder into her side. but it’s not hard to miss the way she spends a beat longer over his pulse point, her heavy exhale, the way she nuzzles into his shoulder - tiny little actions that squeezes at his heart.

when she pulls away, there is fondness on her face, heavy around her eyes and especially in her smile. and it’s good, makes him feel softer and softer, because the moments where she wears it are far and few in between but it’s always when he’s around and it makes him feel special, somehow. reassured and settled in the skin that he’d taken so long to get used to. he gives her side a light squeeze, musters up a small little smile in return that she receives with another pleased hum.

“you love me,” she says, matter-of-factly. there’s delight in her voice, as gentle and as subtle as it is, and a part of him preens at it. good. if there’s anyone that should deserve to feel that way, it should be her.

heat creeps back up his cheeks not a second later at her words but there are no lies within them. he’s said it before, and just like all those times, there is no amount of uncertainty in his voice when he tells her, “i do love you.”

“good.” she answers, nodding resolutely. if he had been anything other than attuned to her, he would have missed the tiny contortions of her face, the tiny changes in her expression, how incredibly pleased she is at the fact.

despite common belief, he’s never had the best of restraints. certainly not when it comes to her so there is little surprise between the two of them when he cups the back of her head and pulls her close, pulls her into a kiss that is as soft and fragile as he feels at the moment. everything inside him churns and rolls like tumultuous waves when she melts into it, into him.

her lips are a breath away from his own, brushing against him when she speaks next, “pretty. my pretty lucifer.”

and oh, does his heart sing. there are untold tales and history unwritten in him, peace and war, stories of strength and power and pride - he is a kingdom of his own measure, and yet he is easily brought down by just a few earnest words from a human. unbelievable. she shakes with quiet laughter when he turns to avoid her gaze, his cheeks no doubt flushed considering how warm they felt.

and somehow, this is what it always comes to: she presses praises into his skin, makes him feel so good and it’s as if he is simultaneously deserving and undeserving of it all. he’s overcome with emotions and every time a complaint rises at the back of his throat, as if she knows where his thoughts often go, she swallows it all down with another kiss.

“look at me,” she says when she’s finally satisfied with her doting, just the slightest hints of an order behind them and it makes him burn pleasantly, “please.”

and lucifer’s long past the point of denying her anything. when he does, his breath catches in his throat and it takes so much out of him to just stay still, to keep in place and to be good for her. slowly, deliberately, she brings his gloved hand to her lips. slowly, deliberately, she tugs on each tip with her teeth. slowly, deliberately, like she’s not the cause of the raging inferno inside of him.

all the while, she keeps her eyes locked with his, keeps all his attention and all his breaths with her. her fingertips dip into the cuff of his gloves, blunt fingernails scraping against the inner side of his wrist. she does not break eye-contact and he does not dare to look away. not that he could. he could never look away for some reason, does not wish to look away.

his glove disappears behind her quickly enough, and he spends about a second worrying over where it lands before the thought dissipates completely by an overwhelming curiosity of where this moment will go and a pressing need to see it play out completely.

her fingers curl around his wrist firmly as she turns her attention to his digits. her lips brush against the tops of his knuckles first, gentle but steady. the next few are quick to follow, the pads of each of his fingers, the inner side of his wrist and one on his open palm. she kisses the scars that mar his hand, raised skin and ugly bumps, laves even the smallest ones with rapt attention.

he releases a breath that he didn’t even realise he had been holding in, a minor tremble, a tiny hitch that he hopes escapes her notice. it’s an undeniably tender moment, and despite the heat rolling in his abdomen, it feels as if he’s gone ahead and cut himself in half and bared his soul to her. each kiss is petal-soft, and it’s like she’s kissing away all the grief and heartbreak and pain that his hands have ever felt, all that he’s ever been the root of. each touch replaces all the bitterness and cold of his hands, of his heart, with spring warmth, gentle rays of the sun and soft winds that brings forth this quiet happiness with it.

she meets his eyes again, and he feels the curl of her smile against the skin of his hand as she nuzzles into his palm. the fire in his stomach returns with the eager force of an untameable blaze. he wants to wipe the smugness away but pride has always looked riveting in the corners of her lips. still, it has no business being there, no business making him feel the way it does - desperate, and so incredibly depraved, always constantly on the brink of wanting to spoil her with his love and affection but also corrupt her in the most sinful of ways.

she’s too much, he thinks, in moments like these ones especially. too indulgent. indulges him as much as he indulges her, and that’s way too often. he drinks in how she looks right now, eyes dark as they searched his face, lips curled in a wicked smile, flushed and flustered as if this hadn’t been her plan all along. it’s a quiet but fierce challenge - she’s daring him to make the next move. nothing but trouble, she was. but he’s nothing if not audacious.

[ks-caster]

Beth Liveblogs Black Widow

Bought that premium access on Disney+ so I can have the privilege of pausing for snacks and using subtitles as needed - so let’s go! 

Beth’s Spoiler-Free Review: Overall I thoroughly enjoyed the movie - the plot was compelling, the characters were likable, and the stunts were really excellent. I felt like hair and makeup dropped the ball on realism multiple times which I was sad about, because how she looks seems to be pretty important to Nat so I expected it to be done well in her movie. 

I did not like the way they framed the tail end (denouement - obviously because this movie is mid-series we know how it ends to an extent) - I felt like the connect-up to Infinity War was lackluster, especially compared to how enjoyable and dynamic the rest of the film was.

Spoilery live-reactions are under the cut. Click at own risk! Feel free to rebagel with your own impressions, thoughts, jokes and rebuttals!

The movie begins with a young Nat with blue dyed hair and visible roots, showing her natural red. Do you know how hard it is to get natural red out of hair, enough to make it blue and not green? And I’m supposed to believe that a middle-school age girl in 1995 Ohio had access to these chemicals? I’ll give her the white hair in IW/Endgame because she’s an adult with a lot of experience as a spy altering her appearance. But as a child? In the 90s? While her family is apparently in hiding? Sus.

The scene with Alexei laying on the on the wing while Nat learns to fly? AMAZING stunts. Amazing. AND someone in an action movie is finally smart enough to shoot the tires.

Nice skills on young Nat, getting the gun. Since we know from Endgame that Nat’s father is named Ivan, we know that Alexei isn’t really her dad. She also refers to presumably the red room as going “back.” Was she lent out to these agents to legitimize their family?

-0-

Nice knife moves, Yelena - I love the hand switch.

Ooooh so she was being mind controlled and the red stuff freed her? Interesting.

-0-

Nat is in Norway - visit Thor! He’d love to have you. (I’m mixing up my timeline, aren’t I?)

Supplies Dude whose name I didn’t catch refers to the Avengers breakup as a divorce - I kinda love it. It’s accurate!

BUDAPEST omg are we finally going to get the story?? Are we??

Box dye? I’m supposed to believe she got all that red out of her hair with flippin’ Loreal? Really? And that toner isn’t even the color she ultimately went - it’s too yellow. Sus.

-0-

Oop, looks like Nat got caught up in Yelena’s desertion.

Do not give Nat your metal frisbee, robocop - she’s been around Steve long enough that she knows how to use it.

I laughed out loud when she did the string him up thing with the cables - literal spider move, I love it!

Mystery box is empty - classic bait and switch.

-0-

BUDAPEST - WE ARE IN BUDAPEST - IT’S HAPPENING PEOPLE

Nat closing the door behind her is a small thing but I appreciate it - no sneaking up behind her.

When Yelena throws Nat in the kitchen and her feet hit the door and she spins before she hits the ground? That was a helluva stunt.

Oooooh honey. No body left to check is ALWAYS movie code for they lived.

Dreykov’s daughter? Another hint from Avengers 2012? C’mon, movie.

Riding the chimney down? Another incredible stunt. 

Dreykov can scan his soldiers’ bodies and terminate them if they’re too damaged to keep fighting? Big yikes. With Nat where she is character development wise, the stakes are now much higher because if she injures an opponent they may be killed remotely.

“Do you want me to chase him down and un-steal it?”

The car door under the bike was an excellent stunt - as was the car going into the subway. Though I’ve never seen a subway entrance big enough to admit a car.

Who hasn’t wanted to slide down the middle to avoid the crowded escalators lol.

Yelena making fun of Nat’s sexy poses I am LIVING omg.

Running water for wounds. RUNNING WATER. NOT ALCOHOL. The vodka goes on the INSIDE for the pain - the running water cleans the OUTSIDE. If there’s a convenience store then there’s a bathroom, with running water. Cleansing with something like alcohol is a LAST RESORT and you do not look like you’re at that point resource-wise. I thought these ladies were supposed to be highly trained in all of the things?

“Could be fun though.” “I saw where he put the keys” “Top drawer green cabinet.” I love their chaos.

Yelena’s vest and its pockets and the resulting conversation are positively majestic.

“You are sensitive.” “You’re a very annoying person.”

-0-

Do! Not! Move! Around! Like! That! While! Getting! A! Tattoo!!!! That poor artist was trying his best and Alexei just...

Ooooh was Red Guardian like Captain Russia? Interesting.

“Just don’t make a scene.” “You made a scene didn’t you.”

David Harbor running up that wall and then wiping out after the guard shocks him... I really loved that stunt, especially since they don’t show him being all super cut - he’s a big guy! He’s allowed to have fat over his muscles and still be a strong dude! I love it.

“Such a poser.” Girl, you need to meet Loki - he does a lot of hair flips too lol.

The sibling energy between the girls during the rescue!!!

“Whooooooa... this would be a cool way to die.” Yelena, I’m not necessarily disagreeing with you but get your head in the game girl.

Poor Alexei - he never gets to do the dramatic escape from *inside* of the aircraft.

Hang on, no ovaries? So all of these women are now in immediate, surgically-induced menopause? The uterus part makes sense if the intent was to prevent them from getting pregnant if they have sex during a mission, but, what, they gotta be on estrogen supplements for the rest of their lives? That’s just really poor planning. Like it was hilarious the way Yelena went into the biology of it to make Alexei uncomfortable, but that really doesn’t make sense to do to your superhero kids. It’s just bad science.

Love that Yelena keeps her vest even after she changes into her matching white flight suit. That vest better make it to the end of the movie.

-0-

“Honey, we’re home.” I 100% expected her to shoot him on sight tbh. it would have been funny.

Alexei squeezing into the uniform is such a post-pandemic feel. Also all of the fancy braids at that table; I see where Natasha got her propensity for them.

Animal cruelty warning, ugh. Poor piggy Alexei.

Oooh the photo album and Natasha remembered staging the pictures; they’re emotional for her but in a different way.

I wonder if robocop’s shield is actually Alexei’s.

The singing between Alexei and Yelena was a really beautiful moment because it was neither auto-tuned-good nor hilariously bad - it felt really real, especially the way Yelena’s so choked up she can barely make sounds come out.

Uh-oh, mama has one of those monitor your vitals and kill your ass suits. The suits I understand - the eyeliner though... when and why did she do her makeup?? That’s not really the thing that comes to mind for me when I’m getting ready to do something athletic, like say kidnapping my supersoldier fake family.

“This is a much less cool way to die.” Also WTF why would they do that. Wouldn’t it be easier to get the information out of her while her brain is still attached to, y’know, her mouth??

CLEVER CLEVER CLEVER they switched outfits and faces ooooooh like mother like daughter.

The door opening as Alexei is leaning against it dramatically bahahahaha

I love the plan. I’m thoroughly weirded out that Melina has a red wig just lying around that perfectly immitates Natasha though. 

“Yelena, it’s mama. You have a two-inch blade in your belt.”

Oh. My. God.

Antonia.

A pheromone lock preventing them from hurting them if they’re close enough to smell him - I like it. It’s clever and new.

Bahahaha poser! You posed I saw you! Still love the vest.

Natasha is really good at manipulating people’s emotions to get what she wants - I mean, scary good. So if she’s provoking Dreykov into beating her up, there’s a reason. 

“Using the only resource the world has too much of - girls.” Kill him. 

-0-

When I say I whooped out loud... SEVERING THE NERVE. Thank you for your cooperation. YAAAAAAS QUEEN.

-0-

“Slight change of plans - we are going into a controlled crash.” The way she said that was just so mom-like omg!

-0-

The grenade as a delivery system was super smart - but yikes what if she’d mistimed it and blew Natasha up? Also, after the beating she took and how hard she had to wack her own face into the desk to sever her olfactory nerve and the amout of blood we saw her leave behind from doing that, her face should be a LOT more messed up, come on makeup department.

“Get as far away from here as possible.” And then keep going because General I-Collect-Supersoldiers-Like-Stamps Ross is about to turn up at your location looking for trouble and he’d snap you ladies up like there’s a fire sale and you’re going out of stock.

This crash doesn’t look all that controlled, Melina. I’m starting to suspect that most of the widows won’t live long enough to make their own decisions...

All of the aerial stunts were amaaaaaazing - the way Nat slowed herself by sliding down the panels so Antonia could catch up with her and she could deploy her parachute... 

The vest survived the movie!!!

Fuuuuuck Ross is showing up and he sucks and I hate him and I’m super worried that he’s gonna take the vest from Nat if he takes her into custody. Please don’t let her lose the vest. 

Okay, there is now zero reason for Nat to stay behind. They have an aircraft. She had plenty of time to just board it and leave?

-0-

Okay okay okay Ross did not get her and did not take the vest. But am I supposed to believe she bleached her hair, toned it blonde, and then re-bleached and re-toned it to silver? Who does that? That would be terrible for her hair. Her scalp would be burned all to hell from the amount of chemicals needed to not only get all that red out but THEN get the blonde toner out. Y’know what color silver toner is? Blue/purple. Y’know what happens when you mix that with yellow? Green. And not a nice green either (I speak from experience). No. Her hair at the end of the movie? Cancelled. 

-0-

SHE GOT THE DOG!!!

Oh, ouch. Big ouch. I hurt like a lot now. This is so not an okay way to end the -

...

Countess I-Forgot-Your-Name-Already?

Oh no. Oh no. That’s worse. That’s a lot worse. We are now setting up the Hawkeye series and I while I’m horrified that this was how they ended the film, I gotta say that’s going to make for some wonderful angst in that series on both Clint and Yelena’s parts and I am here for it!

OVERALL IMPRESSION

I really, really enjoyed this movie, I thought the story was compelling, the stunts were really excellent, and I liked the character dynamics and the twist

I did not like the ending - it just sort of fell off quickly and didn’t feel satisfying after an otherwise really fun movie. I also take issue with the hair and makeup as shown among the characters, as seen in my several rants to that effect.

I would have liked to have seen a few more childhood/training flashbacks, and absolutely would have loved a cameo from Jeremy Renner (not just his voice) and to see him and Nat meeting and him giving her the whole dad speech that he does so well - bonus points if she could have then quoted him to Yelena or Antonia, showing the way that multiple people had a formative effect on her (an answer to the “The Avengers aren’t really your family either” comment).

[cjwallflower]

Marvel Gender Headcanons

because i doubt some of these people are cis

Peter: 

i claim this man for the trans community

he realised he was trans at around present time (15-16 years old)

he knows his family and friends will accept him

he’s still N E R V O U S

but he still wants to be true to his identity

so he wears the trans flag colours!!

Ned obvs catches on, but doesn’t say anything

Tony’s the first one Peter comes out to, bc i’m soft and irondad owns my heart

Tony gets him a spider suit with a binder built in

Peter is absolutely the kind of trans guy who forgets to take off his binder (i’m not projecting what do you mean)

he comes out to his aunt May next, and she breaks out the scissors

the other eventually figure it out, and they accept him immediately

Peter: Hey Clint?

Clint: Yo

Peter: I’m trans

Clint: *takes a gulp of his soda* wig

Peter: ???

they love him though let’s be real

Natasha Punches A Transphobe

someone calls Peter a tr*nny 

Natasha sends them on a one way trip to space :)

Peter absolutely decides to go on T

and he is a handsome!! boy!!

he eventually tells Ned and MJ, and they accept him too

Ned buys him a trans flag

NED BUYS HIM A TRANS FLAG

by the time they’re graduating high school, Peter passes as cis very well

Tony:

i’m claiming Tony as trans too

i promise there’s other gender identities here jdsfhkhsdfkjh

Tony came out in the 80s of all times

we know Howard

it didn’t go over well

Maria didn’t say much about it, but Howard was actively against it

Tony didn’t care at all

he literally snuck out and got a fake ID so he could start on T

Tony was almost 18 at that point, but he still used Howard’s money

just to piss him off

well Howard ended up dying like 3 years later

Maria survived because fuck you

but Tony never ended up getting any surgeries because he ended up getting busy with the company

he just didn’t have time, with all the recovery that goes into it

he’s still on T though!!

mans has tiddies and a beard, the boomers get confused

he tends to keep it more private though

Pepper knows, how could she not?

Pepper is the sole reason Tony survived to adulthood lbr

Peter found out accidentally

Tony got oil on a shirt while fixing one of his machines, and Peter walked in while he had it off

he saw the binder and boyyy was that a surprise

but it totally explained how Tony already knew so much about supporting Peter in his transition

the problem with being an ADHD workaholic?? 

hyperfocusing

when Tony hyperfocuses, he forgets to take off his binder

Jarvis: Sir, you need to take off your binder

Tony: Gimme like five more minutes, I need to finish this

Jarvis: Sir, it’s been 38 hours??

Tony: *already moving onto the next task* What’s your point?

his ribs are so fucked

Pepper and Peter remind him too

my boy is a mess

Thor:

this is solely because my nb loml claimed thor as nb and it’s super fucking valid

i love you babe 🥺

so Thor learned about different genders from Loki

and also from Peter tbh

but Thor LOVED the idea of being in between

it just made him really happy!!

he started using those labels a lot, even though he didn’t know much about what they meant

being on Earth more, he started to learn more about them

mostly because they replaced cops at pride (Peter’s idea)

so Thor decided to learn more

he knew he liked boys, that wasn’t uncommon on Asgard

gender expression was very open, but that blurred the lines a lot for him

when he got to non-binary, it clicked

“oh that sounds like me”

“THATS ME”

he was excited he’d figured it out

his immediate instinct?

he went to tell Loki

the only problem was Loki was asleep

“LOKI LOKI LOKI-”

“what do you wANT-”

“I’M NON-LIBRARY!!”

“WHAT THE FUCK DOES THAT MEAN-”

it took like ten minutes for Loki to figure out what he meant

Loki was tired give him a break

he just kinda pushed Thor’s face away and went back to sleep

they talked about it again in the morning

after Loki got some coffee he was more receptive

“I accept you, just please stop waking me up at 2 am”

Thor’s just trying his best

he doesn’t know how to be non-binary though

(there is no right way to be enby though)

so Loki tried a few example sentences using they/them pronouns

Thor LOVED it

so now Thor wanted to use they/them pronouns

Loki isn’t a brain cell by any means

but he sure feels like one sometimes

and he’s tired of it

ANYWAYS

Thor announced it to everyone they saw

some people heard it multiple times

“GUYS I’M NON-BINARY!! :D”

they were happy for their thude

and Thor wore an enby flag to their first pride!!

now the protector of the lesbians says non-library rights

Loki:

Loki basically always knew he was genderfluid

it just seemed really obvious to him?

he realised he wasn’t cis when he was 7

he transformed into a girl for fun 

and she was like “oh i like this-”

so she experimented with that

and she fucking loved all of them

so she turned back into a boy and went to Frigga

that’s how he found out about the word genderfluid

so he basically just grew up shapeshifting as much as he wanted

when they eventually went to earth, Loki couldn’t shapeshift as much

after he was redeemed, he still needed to be recognisable so they wouldn’t think he was to pull a fast one on them

he was uncomfy 

Loki stays in his room a lot

he just really doesn’t wanna deal with it

he still shapeshifts in private!

Thor ends up being the one to catch on

but he kinda knows that Loki won’t talk to him

so he sends in the spider child!

Loki and Peter have a pretty close bond

so on one of the nights they hang out, it’s a she/her day

and Loki just kinda snapped and went on a bit of a rant

and she ended up coming out to Peter

Loki totally didn’t end up crying what do you mean

she just needs a hug

obvs Peter was accepting

he gave her that hug don’t worry

this was all on a rooftop eating bad street food jhshkfhjfkhkd

he did ask if he could tell the others, and Loki reluctantly agreed

yeah, the others felt kinda bad

so they ended up compromising!!

Loki could shapeshift, but not into other people 

and she could wear whatever she wanted

they also gave her bracelets so she could express her pronouns

its a long road

and it takes a long time to build trust

but Loki really does appreciate Thor and Peter’s efforts

Bucky:

trans enby rights. send tweet

let’s jump back to 1930s

Bucky was transitioning before the war

he had the surgeries and was on T

Steve was the only one who really knew 

it was right when HRT was starting to become a thing

he was one of the first people to try it

and it worked pretty well!

Bucky passed easily after ~2 years on T

but then he died

RIP Bucky :(

when he comes back as a Hydra agent, they use T supplements to make his body stronger

“Jokes on you, I like that shit”

yeah no the others end up rescuing him from there

but Bucky still takes T

everyone is a bit worried about it

they think he’s still under Hydra’s control

Steve has to explain it (with Bucky’s permission)

but Bucky really starts feeling a disconnect with being a male

it’s mostly due to the trauma from Hydra

he knows he’s not a girl anymore

but he hates the idea of being a boy now

so he has no idea what he is

he ends up drawing the parallel between himself and Thor

but Bucky still sees some masculinity in Thor, which confuses him a LOT

Bucky’s always confused lbr

so he ends up finding the term Agender

and he understands it!! and likes it!!

he’s too nervous to tell the others, so he writes sentences using they/them pronouns

“Their name is Bucky Barnes”

“Bucky is tired, they need a nap”

“Bucky’s best friend is Steve. They’ve known Steve since the beginning”

Bucky is WAY happier with they/them pronouns

the problem is they don’t know how to communicate that

even to Steve, they’re just nervous

Steve ends up finding the paper, which now has over 100 sentences

so the next time they’re alone, Steve brings it up, and after a little bit of avoiding answering, Bucky tells him about it

Steve is super accepting 🥺

“Do you want me to tell the others for you?”

“Yes please, I have no idea what I’m doing-”

“I don’t think any of us do”

so Steve lets the others know, and they start using they/them pronouns

Bucky’s IMMEDIATELY so much happier

i just think they’re neat-

MJ:

MJ isn’t cis, fuck you

MJ is a demigirl

and no one even figured it out for the longest time

she kinda groups herself on the more non-binary side

Peter finds out because someone calls her by they/them pronouns

“MJ?? Are you?? Non-binary??”

“Nope”

“Are you still a girl??” 

“Nope”

after like 20 mins Peter figures it out

and boy is he confused

“Why didn’t you just say it?”

“I couldn’t. Gotta keep ‘em on their toes”

“Who??”

“:)”

the M in MJ stands for mystery

anyways!!

she switches from lesbian to the term Trixic (NBLW)

MJ goes to pride with Peter and Ned that year

MJ gets a girlfriend there!!

she comes out to her girlfriend upfront. she doesn’t feel like waiting

yeah she gets intense

she gets it from her moms

who can blame her

MJ sometimes wears a binder

she wore one on the first day of school, because Peter was nervous about being out (he’d come out over the summer)

MJ will punch transphobes and homophobes

even just for fun tbh

but she won’t do it immediately

she heard someone make a comment about Ned and his boyfriend and waited a few days

and then came out of nowhere

B O N K

the douchebag kinda knew why though 

in conclusion, MJ is elite

[opera-simplified]

Opera Simplified #1: Don Carlo(s)

Don Carlos (Don Carlo)

Opera Simplified #1

The Basics:

Music: Giuseppe Verdi

Libretto: Joseph Méry and Camille du Locle

Premiere: March 11, 1867; Salle le Peletier (Opéra national de Paris); Paris, France

Based on: Friedrich Schiller’s 1787 play Don Carlos, Infant von Spainen (Don Carlos, Infante of Spain)

Setting: Various locations in France and Spain; the late 1550s-early 1560s.

Characters:

Don Carlos (Don Carlo), Infante of Spain- tenor

Élisabeth de Valois (Elisabetta di Valois), Princess of France and Carlos’ fiancée- soprano

Philippe II (Filippo II), King of Spain and Carlos’ father- bass

Rodrigue (Rodrigo), Marquis de Posa- baritone

Princess Éboli, a Spanish noblewoman- mezzo-soprano

The Grand Inquisitor, head of the Spanish Inquisition- bass

A Monk- bass

Count Lerma, a Spanish nobleman- tenor

Thibault (Tebaldo), Élisabeth’s page- soprano

A celestial voice- soprano

Countess d’Aremberg, a lady-in-waiting to Élisabeth- silent

A royal herald- tenor

Note: This Opera Simplified will use the Italian names (which appear in the parentheses above), as this opera is performed much more often in Italian than French, even though the opera was originally written in French as a French grand opéra.

Requested by: @monotonous-minutia. (Also, thank you for reading over this!)

The Opera:

Act I:

Late winter of 1559, in the forest outside the Fontainebleau palace in southwestern France. A group of French woodcutters, their families, and other poor people are sitting around trying to keep warm.

**The People: WINTER SUCKS IT’S SO DARN COLD LIFE SUCKS 

A Woodcutter: Don’t worry! When peace comes, everything will be better!

The People: YEAH BUT WHEN WILL THIS STUPID WAR EVER END***

*Hunting horns sound in the distance.*

HEY THE ROYAL COURT IS COMING THROUGH WE HOPE THEY HAVE HAPPINESS AND SUCCESS AND STUFF

The Hunters: C’mon, let’s go get the deer before they run off too far away for us to get them!

*Elisabetta di Valois enters with Tebaldo and a group of servants.*

The People: OH MY GOD IT’S PRINCESS ELISABETTA SHE’S SO NICE MAYBE SHE CAN HELP US

Elisabetta: Friends, how can I help you today?

The Women: Nothing for us, but do you see her?

*They indicate one of their own.*

She lost her husband, her two sons are off at war, she has nothing and no one…

Elisabetta: Say no more. Here, take this gold chain…

*She takes off a gold chain and hands it to the woman.*

Everyone, keep heart! A Spanish envoy is coming to talk about a peace treaty, and I’m confident that this war will end soon and France will see bright days again.****

The People: YAAAAAAY WE LOVE YOU ELISABETTA MAY GOD BLESS YOU

*She greets everyone and then leaves with her retinue. As they leave, Don Carlo shows up and hides among the trees.*

The Hunters: C’mon, let’s go get the deer before they run off too far away for us to get them!

The People: Once we have peace, everything will be okay again…

*They gradually leave. Once they’re gone, Carlo comes out of his hiding place.*

Carlo: Wow, Fontainebleau really is a huge forest…but it was here I saw Elisabetta for the first time just now…AND I’M IN LOVE! This was so worth leaving Spain in disguise and having Dad get very mad at me!

*Horns and footsteps sound in the distance.*

Oh, wow, the court’s still here even though it’s getting kinda late…

Tebaldo (from offstage): HEY PEOPLE COME HERE WE KINDA NEED HELP

Carlo: Who’s there?

*Tebaldo enters with Elisabetta.*

whaaaaaaaaaaat it’s Elisabetta again YAAAAAAAAAY

Tebaldo: I CAN’T FIND THE WAY BACK I’M SO SORRY ELISABETTA IT’S GETTING DARK AND COLD LET ME HELP YOU

Elisabetta: Thanks, I am kinda tired…

Carlo: Hello!

*He bows before Elisabetta.*

Tebaldo: uhhhhhhhhhhh who are you

Carlo: A stranger, a Spaniard, and I won’t say anything more.

Elisabetta: Oh, so you’re with Count Lerma, that Spanish ambassador?

Carlo: ...yeah. I’ll help you if you need.

Tebaldo: HEY ELISABETTA I CAN SEE THE PALACE FROM HERE LEMME RUN AND GET SOME PEOPLE TO BRING YOU BACK

wait actually I can’t just leave you alone with this strange guy what if he tries to hurt you or do something to you

Elisabetta: IT’S OKAY I TRUST SPANISH HONOR BECAUSE I KNOW THE SPANISH ARE REALLY BIG ON HONOR AND STUFF WHICH WILL TOTALLY NEVER BE A PROBLEM FOR ME SO THIS GUY AND I SHOULD BE OKAY DON’T WORRY ABOUT ME

*Tebaldo bows and leaves. Carlo himself suddenly kneels before Elisabetta.*

What are you doing?

*Carlo lights a small pile of branches on fire to create some warmth for himself and Elisabetta.*

Carlo: Well, we’re all stuck outside, especially considering there’s a war going on right now, so we might as well light some fires, and have light, and stay warm, and maybe even have peace and love…

Elisabetta: Speaking of which, do you think they’ll sign the treaty tonight?

Carlo: Of course! And then they’ll announce your marriage to Don Carlo of Spain—

Elisabetta: Let’s talk about him! Here’s the thing: I’m leaving my home, my whole life up until now behind forever to marry this guy because my father and God want me to, and tbh I’m a little afraid. Like what if I get homesick? Or if he doesn’t love me?

Carlo: I know this much: he wants to serve you forever and he already loves you.

Elisabetta: Whoo, good, I was worried. That makes me feel a lot better about going to Spain.

Carlo: You have no reason to worry; he really, really loves you.

Elisabetta: Why do I feel so weird about you saying this?

…Wait. Who are you?

Carlo: A messenger to the man himself.

*He hands her a small box.*

He asked me to give you this portrait of himself.

Elisabetta: *examining the box* I feel like I shouldn’t open this…but I really want to see him!

*She opens the box and looks at the portrait, then at Carlo, and then back and forth for a bit until she realizes. *

OH MY GOD YOU’RE DON CARLO?!?!?!?!

Carlo: *fainting at her feet* I am… and I really do love you!

Elisabetta and Carlo: YAAAAAY WE’RE IN LOVE AND GOD WANTS US HAPPY SO WE’RE GONNA GET MARRIED EVENTUALLY

*A cannon shot. The faraway palace lights up.*

Elisabetta: That was…

Carlo: IT’S THE CANNON THE PEACE TREATY HAS BEEN SIGNED *****

Elisabetta and Carlo: OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH THAT’S AWESOME PEACE WILL BE SO GREAT AND THE WORLD WILL BE REBORN ALSO WE MADE A VOW HERE FOR FOREVER AND WE’LL OFFICIALLY BE MAKING VOWS SOON IN FRONT OF EVERYONE AND GOD WOOHOO

*Tebaldo, several other pages and valets, Count Lerma, the Countess d’Aremberg, and a bunch of other people show up. Tebaldo approaches Elisabetta, bows, and kisses the hem of her dress.*

Tebaldo: My sweet Elisabetta pleeeeeeeeeeeeeease take me with you when you go to Spain because I may or may not have a crush on you and really you’re just so awesome

Elisabetta: Of course! You can get up now, you don’t have to be so formal.

Tebaldo: Okay, cool. Now for the news. I salute you, Elisabetta, future Queen of Spain—

Elisabetta: Thanks. I appreciate that.

Tebaldo: —and wife of King Filippo II.

Elisabetta: WAAAAAAAAAAAAAIT A SEC I’m supposed to be marrying Don Carlo those were the terms of the peace treaty we already talked about this

Tebaldo: uh that changed you’re marrying Filippo now

Carlo: WAIT WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Elisabetta: WHAT THE— wait I can’t finish that statement 

well that’s it we’re done for my life is officially ruined but I’ll try to stick it out and keep my head up and fight fate anyway

Carlo: THAT’S IT WE’RE DONE FOR MY LIFE IS OFFICIALLY RUINED AND I’LL JUST HAVE TO BE DEPRESSED FOREVER NOW

Everyone Else: YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY SPAIN’S GONNA HAVE AN AWESOME NEW QUEEN AND PEACE IS GONNA BE SO LIT

Elisabetta and Carlo: well our amazing lovely golden dream just got ripped to shreds and now all we have is sorrow

Count Lerma: My lady, your father wants you to marry Filippo as the price to end this war. However, Filippo wants the choice to be yours and yours alone. So, are you going to say yes to the dress? ******

The Women: PLEASE SAY YES HAVE MER—

Count Lerma: Shut up. It’s her choice.

Elisabetta: You say it’s my choice, but what choice do I have? If I say “no”, then the war will go on, and more innocent lives will be destroyed…

Count Lerma: Your answer?

Elisabetta: ...Yes.

The People: YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY GOD BLESS YOU ELISABETTA

Elisabetta and Carlo: this is horrible I feel like I’m dying

Everyone Else: WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH ELISABETTA YAAAAAAAAY HONOR AND GLORY TO OUR NEW QUEEN 

*Count Lerma leads Elisabetta to a litter and helps her get in. Everyone falls in line behind the litter and heads to the palace, merrily singing all the while.*

Carlo: MY LIFE IS OVER AND I WANT TO FREAKING DIE

Notes

Act II:

Scene 1:

An unspecified amount of time later, at a cloister in the monastery of San Yuste, with the tomb of Emperor Charles V. It is dawn. The monks are chanting, as one prays before the tomb.

Monks: Charles V is nothing but ashes, and his soul now trembles before God…

A Monk: CHARLES THOUGHT HE WAS SO COOL AND THAT HE COULD RULE EVERYTHING BUT IN HIS PRIDE HE FORGOT ABOUT GOD AND WAS THUS STRUCK DOWN SO LET THAT BE A LESSON TO Y’ALL

God, presumably from somewhere: ooooooooooooor it could mean that he was human and he died like every human does. just a thought. **

The Monk: WHAT WAS THAT ALSO GOD HAVE MERCY ON HIM

*Day dawns, all the monks leave, and Carlo enters, looking like he’s had...a very rough time of it.*

Carlo: I’VE BEEN HAVING SUCH A ROUGH TIME OF IT AND I CAME HERE TO FIND PEACE BUT IT’S NOT EXACTLY WORKING OUT

The Monk: We may try to find peace here, but even then suffering is always with us because we can only find peace in heaven…

Carlo: WAIT THAT SOUNDED LIKE MY GRANDPA AND HE LOOKED LIKE MY GRANDPA BUT MY GRANDPA’S DEAD I MUST BE REALLY LOSING IT

The Monk: We can only find peace in heaven…

*He leaves.*

Carlo: ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh why do I have so many problems

*Rodrigo, Marquis di Posa, Carlo’s…”best friend” according to most people, enters.* ***

Rodrigo: CARLO IT’S YOU I HAVEN’T SEEN YOU IN SO LONG

Carlo: OMG IT’S YOU RODRIGO LEMME HUG YOU

Rodrigo: I CAN’T BELIEVE I’M SEEING YOU AGAIN

Carlo: HEAVEN HAS SENT YOU TO ME

Rodrigo: MY BELOVED PRINCE

Carlo: MY CONSOLING ANGEL

Rodrigo: ALL THE HUGS okay look also the Flemish people need someone to save them and you should do it but wait are you OKAY CARLO YOU LOOK LIKE YOU’RE HAVING A ROUGH TIME OF IT SHARE YOUR PAIN WITH ME ****

Carlo: MY SAVIOR MY BROTHER LET ME CRY ON YOU

Rodrigo: POUR OUT YOUR TORMENT AND OPEN UP TO ME

Carlo: ...You really sure you want to know?

Rodrigo: Always.

Carlo: Very well. I love...and it’s a sinful love...Elisabetta!

Rodrigo: YOU’RE IN LOVE WITH YOUR STEPMOM?! (and you weren’t talking about me?!)

Carlo: nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo Rodrigo are you abandoning me too???

Rodrigo: no no no it’s okay I still love you and since you’re suffering it’s my sole job to help you seriously I STILL LOVE YOU also has the King found out yet

Carlo: Surprisingly, no.

Rodrigo: Good. Then ask him to let you control Flanders. Kill two birds with one stone: help the Flemish and stop thinking about your stepmom.

Carlo: Will do.

*A bell tolls in the distance.*

Rodrigo: Hey, uh, the King and Queen will be here in just a little bit.

Carlo: ELISABETTA AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Rodrigo: CARLO PLEASE CALM DOWN but seriously stay by me and let me strengthen you and let God too because you have big things to do and I am fully confident in you

Carlo and Rodrigo: GOD YOU GAVE US HOPE AND LOVE SO GIVE US THE DRIVE TO FIGHT FOR FREEDOM ALSO WE VOW TO LIVE AND DIE TOGETHER AND WE’LL BE UNITED FOREVER

Rodrigo: Hey Carlo, don’t look now but—

*Filippo and Elisabetta enter with a bunch of monks.*

Carlo: AHHHHHHHHHH IT’S ELISABETTA I CAN’T EVEN SEE HER WITHOUT FREAKING OUT

Rodrigo: —they’re here. Have courage!

*Filippo and Elisabetta kneel at the tomb and then proceed offstage with the monks. While that is going on:*

Monks: Charles V is nothing but ashes, and his soul now trembles before God…

Carlo: I’ve lost her and she’s my dad’s wife now noooooooooooooooooooooooooo why does life have to suck so much

Rodrigo: hey hey stay by me your heart will be stronger that way

The Monk: GOD FORGIVE HIM

Carlo and Rodrigo: WE’LL LIVE AND DIE TOGETHER AND OUR LAST BREATH WILL BE A CRY FOR LIBERTY

*They embrace and then leave the monastery.*

Notes

Scene 2:

Later the same day, in a garden outside the monastery. Several ladies of the court and Tebaldo are hanging out and enjoying the day.

Ladies of the Court: it’s very hot out because duh it’s Spain and it’s hot but luckily there are a bunch of trees and some nice wind here

Tebaldo: IT’S SO PRETTY OUT HERE AND I LOVE IT

Ladies and Tebaldo: yaaaaaaaaaaay hanging out outside is fun

*Princess Éboli enters.*

Éboli: hey everyone since we can’t go inside the monastery and we have to wait out here for a long time would you all like to sing with me?

Ladies: YES YES YES ANYTHING FOR YOU ÉBOLI

Éboli: Cool! Hey, Tebaldo, since you’re so awesome at the mandolin why don’t you pull it out and play that one song about the veil?

Ladies and Tebaldo: YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY

Éboli: SO this one time there was a Moorish king who was hanging out in a garden one night and he saw a pretty veiled woman and was like “hey baby you should be my new wife because I’m tired of my current one” lalalalala

Éboli, Tebaldo, and the Ladies: let’s weave some veils so we can find love at night lalalalala

Éboli: and THEN the king was like “oh hey you should take off your veil and let me see who you are and then we can be SUCH a great power couple” and then she did and IT WAS THE QUEEN AND HE WAS SO HUMILIATED AND IT WAS THE BEST THING EVER lalalalala

Éboli, Tebaldo, and the Ladies: the moral of the story is that wearing a veil at night is conducive to love so let’s all weave some veils lalalalala **

*Elisabetta enters from the monastery.*

Everyone: Your Majesty!

Éboli: She always seems so sad…

Elisabetta: I wish I could be as happy as all of them were…

Tebaldo: HEY THE MARQUIS DI POSA IS COMING HERE

Everyone Else: yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay

*Rodrigo enters and goes over to Elisabetta.*

Rodrigo: Your Majesty, when I was in Paris, your mother gave me this letter for you.

*He hands her the letter along with a note.*

see that note please read that note because it’s very important and I’m asking you in the name of God so PLEASE read it okay I think I need to distract Éboli now so byyyyyyyyyyyyyye

Éboli: so what’s new in France, you cute thing?

Rodrigo: Everyone’s talking about this super-awesome jousting tournament. They say the King of France will be there! ***

Elisabetta: Should I read it? Should I not read it? Would reading it be infidelity? I mean, God knows I would never willfully commit adultery...fine. Read it.

“If you ever loved me, please trust the man who brought this note. -Carlo” that’s it?

Éboli: soooooooooooooooooooo are all the French ladies as pretty as everyone says they are?

Rodrigo: I think you’re lowkey flirting with me and I’m not sure how to handle it so I’m just gonna say that you’re one of the most beautiful and gracious ladies I’ve ever met and the ladies of France would do well to be as lovely as you

Elisabetta: Okay, Rodrigo, I’m pleased with you so I’ll give you one favor card to use at any time.

Rodrigo: Can I use it now on behalf of someone else?

Elisabetta: ...sure, I guess, you little self-sacrificer. 

Éboli: Oh come on, why are you using it for someone else if you’re so worthy?

Elisabetta and Éboli: Who’s it for?

Rodrigo: Look: we all love Carlo, right?

Éboli: ...in what sense?

Rodrigo: You know what I mean. ;)

Éboli: CALLED IT so you’re the Gay Best Friend

Rodrigo: yeah. What’s it matter?

Éboli: I may or may not have had a bet going on it. ****

Rodrigo: ANYWAY we all love Carlo and he’s suffering and if he had a private meeting with you that would REALLY HELP

Éboli: y’know, one day I saw him while I was with Elisabetta and he started freaking out when he saw us so that OBVIOUSLY means he loves me but he keeps trying to hide it and idk why

Elisabetta: I feel like I’m gonna diiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiie

Rodrigo: PLEASE HELP CARLO

Elisabetta: Very well. Everyone out. Send Carlo in.

*Everyone else leaves and Carlo enters.*

Carlo: I need to ask my Queen for one thing. Please intercede with the King on my behalf and get him to allow me to go to Flanders because I cannot stand it here.

Elisabetta: I can arrange that, my son.

Carlo: nooooooooooooooooooooo don’t call me that because it reminds me that we were happy for one day and then everything shattered

At least you could say SOMETHING but noooooooooooooooooooooo you’re like cold dead marble

Elisabetta: look buddy I’m just following my duty and honor 

Carlo: just LISTENING to your voice makes me happy

Elisabetta: Carlo, I would love to be beside you more than anything…

Carlo: YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY YOU STILL CARE ABOUT ME ISABELLA I WOULD DIE AT YOUR FEET *****

*He faints.*

Elisabetta: HEAVEN HELP HIM BECAUSE OTHERWISE HE’S GONNA DIE IN MY ARMS

Carlo (delirious): ELISABETTA EVERYTHING IS BECOMING BEAUTIFUL AGAIN IT’S YOU MY LOVE

Elisabetta: OMG HE’S DYING

Carlo: WHY DO I HAVE TO COME BACK TO REALITY

Elisabetta: CARLO CAN YOU HEAR ME CARLO

Carlo: EVEN IF GOD HIMSELF WERE TO STRIKE ME DOWN I LOVE YOU AND I’VE FORGOTTEN EVERYTHING ELSE

Elisabetta: FINE THEN GO KILL YOUR FATHER AND THEN YOU CAN MARRY ME WHILE COVERED IN HIS BLOOD

Carlo: WHAT NO I MUST BE CURSED

*He flees.*

Elisabetta: ...thank God.

*Tebaldo runs in.*

Tebaldo: ELISABETTA WE’RE ABOUT TO HAVE A MAJOR PROBLEM THE KING IS HERE I DON’T WANT ANYTHING BAD TO HAPPEN TO YOU BUT—

*Filippo enters with Rodrigo, Éboli, and a bunch of other court people.*

Filippo: THERE IS A RULE THAT SAYS AT LEAST ONE LADY-IN-WAITING MUST BE WITH THE QUEEN AT ALL TIMES BECAUSE I SAID SO SO WHO BROKE THE RULES

*The Countess d’Aremberg steps forward.*

 You are going back to France tomorrow.

People of the Court: THAT’S A HUGE INSULT TO THE QUEEN

Elisabetta: Hey, listen to me. I know you’re getting banished but please don’t start crying on me, okay? You’re still with me in my heart and I still love you and you getting banished doesn’t change that one. bit. When you go back, my heart will go with you too.

*She gives her a ring.*

I’m not proposing, but this is still a token of how much I love and admire you. Take it, and whatever you do, do NOT tell anyone about how badly they’re treating me here. I wouldn’t want them to worry about me.

Filippo: Humph. What an actress.

Rodrigo and the Court People: SHE’S SO WONDERFUL

*Everyone starts to leave except Filippo, but as Rodrigo is about to go:*

Filippo: You, Rodrigo, stay.

*Rodrigo doubles back.*

Why have you never asked to see me? You’re a loyal man and I’d be more than happy to see you if you asked.

Rodrigo: Well, no offense, but I’m not much into following others’ caprice and what could I possibly need? I’m perfectly fine as is.

Filippo: A bold one, I see! I can forgive that...but not always. Anyway, you’re a soldier, and an outstanding one, I’ve heard. Don’t you want to fight?

Rodrigo: When Spain needs a fighter, I will fight.

Filippo: I know. So the big question is: what can I do for you?

Rodrigo: For me? Nothing. For others…

Filippo: wait wait wait. “For others?” what kind of self-sacrificer are you?

Rodrigo: If you’re not too angry, I’ll tell you.

Filippo: Very well. Speak freely.

Rodrigo: I just came back from Flanders, and you know as well as I that Flanders is a beautiful place. Well, it was. Now it’s horrible. I MEAN ORPHANS ARE WANDERING THE STREETS AND CHILDREN ARE BEING KILLED AND EVERYTHING’S ON FIRE AND THE RIVERS ARE RUNNING RED WITH BLOOD and thank GOD I’m able to tell you about all this because who else will?

Filippo: Look, blood is the price for peace! We can’t have the Flemish trying to rebel with their newfangled delusions of independence and their Protestantism and whatever the kids are all into nowadays. This will all lead to a brighter future.

Rodrigo: ...You really think that will work?

Filippo: It already works in Spain! Everyone here is faithful to God and to me, and they’re doing just fine. I’m offering the same terms to Flanders and it’s not my fault they’re not accepting the peace.

Rodrigo: A HORRIBLE PEACE THE PEACE OF THE TOMB

*Music: DUUUUUUUUUUUUUN-DUNNN-DUNNN-DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUN-DUUUUUUUUUUN. Closeup on Filippo at this point optional.* ******

My King, may history never say of you: “He was a Nero!”

*And then Rodrigo really goes off.*

So this is the peace you want to give the world? A peace where soldiers and priests are pitiless murderers? A peace where so many people are dying that everyone curses you? Look, you have the power to redeem it all and become the best king ever: all you have to do is give them freedom. GIVE THEM FREEDOM

Filippo: Oh...you strange dreamer. You’re young and idealistic, you have no idea. If you did, you would change your mind. Don’t worry, though, I will not hold this against you; I’ll simply forget everything you said. But beware the Grand Inquisitor. He will not be so forgiving.

Rodrigo: But—

Filippo: You still have not asked me for anything? Let me ask you for something: I want to have you by my side, which may entail...several different things.

Rodrigo: With all due respect, my answer remains the same: I’m fine as is.

Filippo: NO YOU’RE TOO PROUD AND YOU’VE SEEN MY VULNERABILITY AND MY ANGUISH BECAUSE MY SON IS A DISAPPOINTMENT AND I’M PRETTY SURE MY WIFE AND HIM ARE HAVING AN INCESTUOUS AFFAIR *******

Rodrigo: WHAT NO THEY WOULD NEVER ESPECIALLY NOT CARLO HE IS PURE

Filippo: I need you to find out what’s going on. Effective immediately, I grant you free access to the Queen at all times. I’m placing my heart in your hands.

Rodrigo: uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh what’s happening what about Carlo WAIT I COULD USE THIS TO MAYBE CHANGE HIS MIND ABOUT FLANDERS

Filippo: I hope that you can help me find peace…I’ve been looking for a man for a long time, and now I found him in you...

Rodrigo: THIS IS MY CHANCE THERE IS HOPE

Filippo: It’s worth saying one more time: Beware the Grand Inquisitor!

*He extends his hand to Rodrigo, who kneels and kisses it.*

Rodrigo: My King!

Notes

Act III:

Scene 1:

The gardens of the royal palace in Madrid, shortly before midnight. There is a party going on in the distance.

Partygoers: WOOHOO WE LOVE PARTIES WE WANNA PARTY ALL NIGHT LONG AND MAKE DAY NEVER COME WOOHOO

*Elisabetta and Éboli walk in together.*

Elisabetta: I mean, I love parties as much as the next person, but I’m just super worn-out and I kinda want to go pray instead.

Éboli: but parties are fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuun and everyone’s gonna be theeeeeeeeeeere

Elisabetta: And they’re expecting me, but I don’t want to go. Here, take all these accessories, take that veil, put it all on, and...perfect! They’ll never know it’s you instead of me. Have fun okay bye now

*She goes back into the palace.*

Éboli: ooh, playing queen for a night will be fun! WAIT while I’m wearing this veil I should get Carlo to come meet me in the gardens and ask him if he likes me this plan is FOOLPROOF

*She writes a note and gives it to a passing page.*

THIS WILL BE THE BEST NIGHT EVEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEER **

*She leaves.*

*At this point, the party continues with a ballet about the legend of La Peregrina as entertainment for the party guests.* ***

*Carlo enters, holding Éboli’s note— but the note is unsigned.*

Carlo: “Meet me at midnight in the royal garden under the laurels near the fountain.” Okay, I may not be the smartest person in the world, but it’s midnight, and I’m in the right place, so… ELISABETTA AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I GET TO SEE HER AGAIN I AM SO HAPPY

*Éboli enters in the disguise she got from Elisabetta. Carlo immediately mistakes her for Elisabetta.*

IT’S YOU I’M SO HAPPY TO SEE YOU I LOVE YOU SO MUCH

Éboli: so he DOES LOVE ME THIS IS THE BEST NIGHT EVER

Carlo: LET’S FORGET EVERYTHING I LOVE YOU

*Éboli unveils herself.*

wait WHAT oh God no it’s not the Queen!

Éboli: ...are you okay? wait...do you not trust me? look you can trust me I know people are trying to plot against you

Carlo: I KNOW THAT THAT’S NOT THE PROBLEM HERE

Éboli: y’know, I heard your dad and Rodrigo talking about you

Carlo: you WHAT my dad with RODRIGO

Éboli: I CAN SAVE YOU I LOVE YOU

Carlo: Look, you are very nice and I’m thankful for your help but I’m afraid this is all just a strange dream—

Éboli: A DREAM?!?!?!?!?! Wait, so you didn’t know this was me, so you’re not actually in love with me, which means—

OH MY GOD YOU’RE IN LOVE WITH THE QUEEN WHAT THE FUCK

Carlo: god DAMN it PLEASE HAVE MERCY

*Rodrigo runs in because...he happened to be taking a walk or something I guess.*

Rodrigo: HEY STOP IT HE’S CRAZY Carlo I’m saying that for your own good I know you’re probably not actually crazy

Éboli: I KNOW EVERYTHING SO HE’S SCREWED

Rodrigo: what do you MEAN

Éboli: Let me put it this way: I know all his cards. I also know all your cards: you are the king’s favorite. However, neither of you know mine. 

Rodrigo: but what do you MEAN by all this

Éboli: Nothing, just that Carlo’s fate is now entirely in my hands.

Rodrigo: WHY DID YOU COME HERE

Éboli: I’M NOT TELLING

Rodrigo: BUT CARLO IS INNOCENT AND SO GOD WILL DEFEND HIM AND SMITE THE LIVING HELL OUT OF YOU

Éboli: FINE SMITE AWAY but may I remind you that hell hath no fury like a woman scorned

Carlo: I’M SO STUPID I’VE RUINED ELISABETTA’S LIFE and also possibly my own but it was a huge mess anyway so yeah ONLY GOD CAN BE MY JUDGE NOW

Éboli: OH I SEE HOW IT IS ELISABETTA WANTED TO ACT ALL HOLY AND STUFF TO HIDE THE FACT THAT SHE’S HAVING AN AFFAIR 

Rodrigo: YOU HAVE CROSSED A LINE AND I WILL KILL YOU FOR IT

Carlo: RODRIGO DON’T

Rodrigo: I THOUGHT I WAS SUPPOSED TO BE THE ONE TELLING YOU DON’T

Carlo: RODRIGO DON’T

Éboli: I’M WAITING FOR YOU TO KILL ME

Rodrigo: HOW ABOUT NOPE

Éboli: WHY NOT

Rodrigo: because I’m going to leave all this up to God because that’s my only hope at this point

Éboli: I WILL HAVE MY REVENGE AND THE EARTH WILL SWALLOW YOU UP ALIVE CARLO

Rodrigo: IF YOU TELL THEN GOD HIMSELF WILL SMITE YOU

Carlo: SHE KNOWS EVERYTHING

Éboli: THIS IS THE WORST DAY EVER

*She leaves.*

Rodrigo: hey Carlo if you have any important papers about Flanders on you give them to me I need them for something

Carlo: ...to you? to the confidant of the King?

Rodrigo: you really suspect me? ME? your boyfriend?

Carlo: NO I LOVE YOU AND YOU ARE MY ONLY HOPE HOW COULD I HAVE EVER DOUBTED YOU HERE TAKE THEM ALL

*He gives his papers to Rodrigo.*

Rodrigo: MY DEAR CARLO THANK YOU SO MUCH 

Carlo: I ABANDON MYSELF TO YOU

*They fall into each other’s arms.*

Scene 2:

The following day, in the square before the Church of Our Lady of Atocha in Madrid. Preparations are being made for an auto-da-fé. Guards are trying to hold the people back as bells ring everywhere.****

People: WHAT A DAY WHAT A DAY FOR AN AUTO-DA-FÉ WHAT A SUNNY SUMMER SKY WHAT A DAY WHAT A DAY FOR AN AUTO-DA-FÉ IT’S A LOVELY DAY FOR DRINKING AND FOR WATCHING PEO— wait never mind that’s the wrong auto-da-fé song start over *****

TODAY IS AWESOME BECAUSE WE GET TO CELEBRATE FILIPPO WHO IS THE GREATEST KING EVER AND WE ALL LOVE HIM AND THE WORLD TREMBLES BEFORE HIM AND ALSO WE LOVE GETTING TO BURN PEOPLE

*A bunch of monks lead those condemned by the Inquisition as heretics across the square.*

Monks: TODAY IS THE FATAL DAY WHERE THE HERETICS WILL DIE ACCORDING TO GOD’S JUST WILL but God will maaaaaaaaaaaybe forgive them if they repent of their heresy

People: YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY

*An extremely long royal procession, including Elisabetta and Rodrigo, crosses the square towards the church.*

Royal Herald: OPEN UP CHURCH DOORS WE WANT TO SEE THE KING

People: WHAT HE SAID

*The doors open and Filippo leaves the church.*

Filippo: I PROMISED AS YOUR KING TO KILL ALL THE HERETICS AND I INTEND TO DO SO BECAUSE I’M NOT LIKE SOME LEADERS WHO FAIL TO KEEP THEIR PROMISES AND ARE SOFT ON CRIME

People: YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY

*Carlo leads in six Flemish deputies, who kneel before the King.*

Elisabetta: OH SHOOT HE’S HERE

Rodrigo: uhhhhhhhhh what is he doing

Filippo: ...who are these people?

Carlo: They are representatives of Flanders and Brabant. ******

Flemish Deputies: Your Majesty, we may be suffering immensely, but we’re still here and we’re still a concern, so if you have ever received mercy, then please pass it along to us because all the Flemish people are suffering and maybe you could save us with God’s help!

Filippo: YOU ARE TRAITOROUS TO YOUR GOD AND KING SO NO GUARDS TAKE THEM AWAY

Monks: YEAH THEY HAVE NO FAITH IN GOD AND THEY DESERVE WHAT’S COMING TO THEM

Everyone Else: please be merciful and spare them have pity they’re suffering and dying

Carlo: DAD IT’S TIME THAT I LEARNED TO RULE BECAUSE I’M JUST SITTING AROUND HERE AND DOING NOTHING USEFUL SO IF I’M SUPPOSED TO RULE THE WHOLE SPANISH EMPIRE SOMEDAY THEN I MIGHT AS WELL HAVE SOME PRACTICE SO GIVE ME BRABANT AND FLANDERS

Filippo: ...do you think I’m so dumb as to actually do that?! YOU’RE JUST GOING TO LEAD THE FLEMISH REBELLION AND TRY TO KILL ME WITH THE SWORD I GIVE YOU

Carlo: ONLY GOD KNOWS WHETHER THAT’S ACTUALLY GOING TO HAPPEN

Elisabetta and Rodrigo: uh oh he’s done for

Carlo: I SWEAR BEFORE GOD THAT I WILL SAVE THE FLEMISH PEOPLE

*He draws his sword on Filippo.*

Everyone Else: WHAT THE ACTUAL HELL HE’S LOST HIS MIND

Filippo: DISARM HIM

*Awkward silence.*

I SAID SOMEONE DISARM HIM

Carlo: WHO WILL DARE DISARM ME

*Crickets.*

Filippo: IS NO ONE GOING TO DISARM HIM

*He takes the Captain of the Guard’s sword.*

FINE MEXICAN STANDOFF THEN

*Crickets.*

FOR THE LAST TIME SOMEONE DISARM HIM

Rodrigo: for God’s sake CARLO GIVE ME YOUR SWORD (I’m trying to save your life here)

Carlo: You? Rodrigo?

*He gives Rodrigo his sword. Rodrigo in turn gives it to Filippo.*

Everyone Else: ...oh shit. That was the twist of the year.

Filippo: Marquis, I now promote you to Duke!

*He dubs Rodrigo.*

NOW LET’S GO CELEBRATE

*Everyone goes to their places to watch the burning of the heretics.*

People: YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY EVERYONE LOVES FILIPPO except those Flemish people who are about to get burned but we don’t talk about them YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY

Monks: TIME TO GO BURN SOME HERETICS

A Celestial Voice: You poor souls, come, come to heaven and find peace with God! *******

Deputies: GOD WHY AREN’T YOU DOING SOME SORT OF MIRACLE TO STOP THIS THEY CLAIM THEY’RE DOING THIS IN YOUR NAME

*The pyre is lit.*

The Voice: Though you have been condemned as heretics on earth, come and be forgiven!

Deputies: THESE FLAMES DO NOT COME FROM GOD

Filippo, Monks, and People: GLORY TO GOD ********

*The flames rise.*

Notes

Act IV:

Scene 1:

Shortly before dawn the following day, in Filippo II’s study. Filippo is alone, lost in thought. 

Filippo: She never loved me...never has, never will...I still remember seeing her when she arrived, and she took one look at me and my white hair and her face fell...no, she does not love me!

HEY CELLO COULD YOU SHUT UP FOR A SEC I’M ALREADY HAVING TROUBLE SLEEPING AS IS

Solo Cellist In The Pit: but this is my big momeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeent

Filippo: NO IT’S MINE AND I CAN’T SLEEP SO SHUT UP

*The cellist obliges and Filippo looks around.*

Where am I? wait...I’ve been up all night, it’s almost morning, the candles have almost burned out, just like my days slowly dwindling...dear God, I can’t sleep…

When my life has reached its evening, I’ll sleep forever, in my tomb, in the Escorial, I’ll sleep forever...alone… **

If only I could read human hearts like God could, that would give me peace, but if I sleep, then I could be betrayed and not know it and I could lose everything!

No, she has never loved me, she does not love me, she never will love me!

*Count Lerma and two Dominican friars lead in the Grand Inquisitor.*

Count Lerma: THE GRAND INQUISITOR IS HERE

Filippo: ...Dammit.

Grand Inquisitor: Am I before the King?

Filippo: Yes, thanks for coming, Father. I have a major problem: Carlo is rebelling against me.

Grand Inquisitor: So what are you gonna do about it?

Filippo: I don’t know; part of me just wants to let him go but part of me wants to…

Grand Inquisitor: Wants to…?

Filippo: Question: If I ordered Carlo’s execution, would you absolve me?

Grand Inquisitor: Yes.

Filippo; BUT I’M A CHRISTIAN HOW CAN I ORDER THE DEATH OF MY OWN CHILD EVEN FOR MY EMPIRE’S SAKE

Grand Inquisitor: ...You forgetting about Jesus?

Filippo: BUT THAT WAS ALMOST 1600 YEARS AGO

Grand Inquisitor: THAT DOESN’T MATTER

Filippo: BUT EVEN THOUGH WE’RE NOT ON GREAT TERMS AS A DAD I STILL LOVE MY SON CAN I JUST DENY THAT

Grand Inquisitor: Everything falls silent before faith.

Filippo: Very well.

Grand Inquisitor: Any other questions?

Filippo: No.

Grand Inquisitor: I’ll talk, then. Long story short: if you thought Carlo was bad, then you’ll be even more appalled to discover that a man, a close companion of yours, one you trusted, is ruining you and our country. And I have foolishly allowed it!

Filippo: But but but I’ve found a man!

Grand Inquisitor: What do you need a man for? No man is your equal!

Filippo: SHUT UP PRIEST ***

Grand Inquisitor: You’re trying to break apart the whole Catholic world! Normally, I’d condemn you for it, but I will relent on one condition: give us the Marquis di Posa.

Filippo: NEVER

Grand Inquisitor: FINE THEN I’LL HAND YOU OVER TO THE INQUISITION

Filippo: SHUT UP

Grand Inquisitor: WHY AM I EVEN HERE

Filippo: FINE DO WHAT YOU WANT but seriously I just want us to have peace please forget all this

Grand Inquisitor: Perhaps…

*He is led out.*

Filippo: So the throne must always give way to the altar!

*Elisabetta runs in, frantic.*

Elisabetta: JUSTICE I DEMAND JUSTICE AND I HAVE FULL FAITH IN YOU TO GIVE IT everyone here is treating me horribly and to TOP IT ALL OFF THE BOX WHERE I KEEP MY JEWELS AND OTHER PRECIOUS ITEMS HAS BEEN STOLEN

Filippo: Your jewelry box? You mean...this box?

*He reveals a box sitting on his table.*

Elisabetta: oh GOD no

Filippo: Open it.

Elisabetta: No.

Filippo: FINE THEN I WILL

*He breaks it open.*

Elisabetta: death in 3...2…

Filippo: YOU KEEP CARLO’S PICTURE IN HERE DO YOU HEAR WHAT I’M SAYING

Elisabetta: Loud and clear.

Filippo: You keep it...with your precious items?

Elisabetta: Yes.

Filippo: You DARE TO ADMIT THIS?!

Elisabetta: Yes! What do I have to hide? He was once my fiancé, and he gave me his portrait then, so what? Now I’m your wife, and I’m loyal to you. And you dare to insult and doubt me! Me! A princess of France, now the queen of Spain, me!

Filippo: HOW DARE YOU TO SPEAK TO ME SO BOLDLY YOU THINK I’M WEAK AND THAT YOU CAN DEFY ME BUT I’LL SHOW YOU AND EVERYBODY ELSE

Elisabetta: What did I do?

Filippo: If you have betrayed me, I swear to holy God above, I WILL HAVE BLOOD

Elisabetta: I pity you.

Filippo: Ha! Pity...FROM AN ADULTEROUS WIFE

*Elisabetta screams and faints.*

SOMEONE HELP THE QUEEN

*Rodrigo and Éboli immediately run in.* ****

Éboli: OH GOD WHAT HAVE I DONE

Rodrigo: You rule half the world. Are you the only person you cannot control?

Filippo: I shouldn’t have suspected her I fucked up and I’m very ashamed of myself now thanks whatever demon made me think this

Éboli: I RUINED HER LIFE I CAUSED THIS HORRIBLE THING I BETRAYED HER I FEEL AWFUL

Filippo: Looks like she was loyal all this time…

Rodrigo: Now I need to take action because someone needs to; a man needs to die for Spain to be saved, and so that man will be me.

Elisabetta (waking up): ...where am I? Everyone’s abandoned me...Mama, I just want to see you again...I’m a stranger here and all my hope in this world is gone… *****

Éboli: IF I CAN’T FIND FORGIVENESS ON EARTH OR IN HEAVEN FOR WHAT I’VE DONE I’LL JUST DIE BECAUSE WHAT I DID TO HER WAS ABSOLUTELY HORRIBLE

*Filippo and Rodrigo leave. Éboli throws herself at Elisabetta’s feet.*

FORGIVE ME ELISABETTA I DID SOMETHING HORRIBLE

Elisabetta: Why are you...what did you do?

Éboli: I FEEL HORRIBLE YOU ARE SUCH A GOOD PERSON AND I DID SOMETHING AWFUL TO YOU BECAUSE I GUESS I’M JUST A HORRIBLE PERSON 

...I was the one who took the box and gave it to Filippo.

Elisabetta: You?

Éboli: YES ME I ACCUSED YOU BECAUSE I WAS SO PISSED OFF THAT CARLO LOVED YOU INSTEAD OF ME BECAUSE I REALLY LOVE CARLO BUT HE REJECTED ME

Elisabetta: You love him? It’s okay. Get up, you don’t need to beg for forgiveness at my feet.

Éboli: No...it gets much worse.

Elisabetta: What do you mean?

Éboli: PLEASE FORGIVE ME

okay so the thing is, I ruined everything even more because I accused you of committing adultery, but the truth is...I had an affair...with the King.

*Elisabetta (understandably) reels at this, but suppresses that and turns back to Éboli.*

Elisabetta: I gave you a crucifix once. Give it back.

*Éboli does so.*

You have twenty-four hours to choose between a convent and exile. Either way, I want you out of my court so I will never see you again. Be happy. Farewell.

*She leaves.*

Éboli: NO I’M NEVER GOING TO SEE HER AGAIN I MAJORLY FUCKED UP

MY BEAUTY YOU ARE SUCH A FATAL AND CRUEL GIFT FROM HEAVEN AND THE ULTIMATE SOURCE OF ALL MY PROBLEMS SO I CURSE YOU BECAUSE NOW ALL I CAN DO IS SUFFER AND I’LL NEVER BE ABLE TO FIX THIS

Elisabetta, my queen, I ruined you because I was so selfish and I’ll regret this for the rest of my life so I’ll just go into a convent and hide all my pain and suffering…

*She sees Carlo’s death warrant on the desk.*

OH GOD CARLO’S GOING TO BE EXECUTED TOMORROW NO NO NO wait WAIT A SECOND I HAVE ONE DAY LEFT HERE THERE IS HOPE THANK GOD I CAN AT THE VERY LEAST SAVE HIM BECAUSE I STILL LOVE HIM AND I HAVE ONE BLESSED DAY AND I WILL USE THAT DAY TO SAVE HIM

*She runs out.*

Notes

Scene 2:

Later the same day, in a nearby prison where Carlo is being held. He is sitting with his head in his hands. Rodrigo enters and talks briefly to the guards, who all leave.

Rodrigo: Carlo, it’s me.

Carlo: Thanks for coming to visit Carlo in prison.

Rodrigo: Stop referring to yourself in the third person, my dear Carlo.

Carlo: I’m useless for saving Flanders. I’m useless for EVERYTHING.

Rodrigo: NO YOU’RE NOT I LOVE YOU SO MUCH LET ME EMBRACE YOU I HAVE SAVED YOU

Carlo: How?

Rodrigo: I need to say farewell. Carlo, as much as it hurts to say this, and it’s a lot, we can never see each other again here below because my days have come to an end but I hope that we can see each other again and love each other when we are both with God...

Why are you crying? I’m happy to die for you!

Carlo: Why do you keep talking about death?

Rodrigo: WE DON’T HAVE MUCH TIME look the thing is I cleared your name and now they all think that I’m the one leading the rebellion

Carlo: Ha! Who’d ever believe that?

Rodrigo: Well, they have twenty of your papers found in my possession— **

Carlo: wait THAT’S WHY YOU ASKED ME FOR THE PAPERS?!?!?! Goddammit I AM SO STUPID

Rodrigo: shhhhhhhhh anyway that was more than enough proof and now there’s a price on my head

*A man in clerical garb and an assassin walk in (and no, this is not the start of a bar joke) and point out Rodrigo to each other.*

Carlo: I’LL TELL FILIPPO EVERYTHING HE’LL HAVE TO LET YOU GO

Rodrigo: No! It’s all up to you now; you must save Flanders and give it new life, and I must die for you.

*The assassin shoots Rodrigo at that moment.*

Carlo: OH MY GOD IT’S DEATH but...for whom? ***

Rodrigo: ...for me. The King’s revenge is swift. Listen.

Tomorrow, Elisabetta will be waiting for you at San Yuste. She knows everything and she will help you get out...I’m getting weak, Carlo, give me your hand!

I will die, but I’m happy because I’ve been able to save you and perhaps even by doing that save Spain! I’m so happy...but don’t forget me, Carlo, do not forget me! You were destined to reign and I to die for you!

No...no...the ground is giving way...I’m dying...Carlo...give me your hand...save Flanders...I love you, Carlo!...farewell...ah…

*He dies. Carlo collapses on his body as Filippo enters with his retinue.*

Filippo: HEY CARLO HERE’S YOUR SWORD BACK BECAUSE I GUESS YOU’RE NOT THE TRAITOR AFTER ALL

Carlo: STAY AWAY GOD HAS COVERED YOUR FOREHEAD WITH THIS INNOCENT MAN’S BLOOD

Filippo: MY SON—

Carlo: I’M NOT YOUR SON ANYMORE CHOOSE ONE FROM THESE MURDERERS BECAUSE YOU MURDERED THIS MAN WHO LOVED ME AND SACRIFICED HIS LIFE FOR ME IN SPITE OF EVERYTHING AND WE HAD ETERNAL UNBREAKABLE BONDS BETWEEN US AND MY KINGDOM IS WITH HIM

****Filippo: I might as well die because I killed the one good man God created in this world...me! I killed him! I loved him, he revealed a new world to me, and I threw him into the tomb! 

Courtiers: Why should we go on living? 

Carlo: MY LOVE SUPPORT ME AND LET ME BE THE HERO YOU ALWAYS WANTED ME TO BE AND LET ME HAVE SOME HELP FROM GOD OR AT LEAST PUT ME NEXT TO YOU IN THE TOMB ****

*The prison’s alarm bell sounds.*

People (outside): GET ‘EM WE WILL STRIKE ANYONE WHO OPPOSES US DOWN INCLUDING THE KING

Count Lerma: THE PEOPLE ARE RIOTING THEY WANT THE INFANTE

Filippo: OPEN THE PRISON GATES

Courtiers: WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING

Filippo: did I STUTTER

*The crowd pours in.*

People: WE WANT THE INFANTE AND IF YOU DON’T GIVE IN WE’LL KILL YOU

*Éboli runs in, disguised as a page.*

Éboli: CARLO GO NOW

*Carlo escapes as Elisabetta enters.*

LOOK ELISABETTA I STARTED THIS WHOLE RIOT TO SAVE CARLO BECAUSE I LOVE HIM anyway I’m going to a convent now farewell forever

Elisabetta: oh my GOD WHAT IS HAPPENING

Filippo: YOU ALL WANT THE INFANTE YOU CAN HAVE HIM

*The Grand Inquisitor enters.* 

Grand Inquisitor: SACRILEGE ABSOLUTE SACRILEGE

The People: oh SHIT

Grand Inquisitor: BOW DOWN BEFORE THE KING WHOM GOD PROTECTS

*Everyone else kneels.*

People: Dear Lord, forgive us…

Filippo and the Grand Inquisitor: GLORY TO GOD

Lerma, the Courtiers, and the People: Long live the King!

*Éboli collapses at Elisabetta’s feet. Elisabetta holds out her hands to her in a sign of forgiveness.* *****

Notes

Act V:

The following night, back before the tomb of Charles V at the monastery of San Yuste. Elisabetta enters, kneels at the tomb, and begins to pray.*

Elisabetta: I don’t know if you can hear me up there, Charles, but you knew the utter meaninglessness of all the vanities of the world and now you sleep so peacefully...so if souls still weep in heaven, then weep for me and bring my tears to God…

Oh boy, Carlo’s coming here...he must leave and I must watch over him from afar like I told Rodrigo I would...he must go find his glorious destiny while I can only wait to die…

France! My beautiful home...and Fontainebleau, the one place in the world where I was happy, where God heard my eternal vow of love, and that eternity lasted only a day…as for Spain, if Carlo should ever pass through these gardens again, may he hear songs of our love…

Farewell dreams, farewell hopes and illusions, farewell lost love, farewell youth, my heart only has one desire now: the peace of death!

Charles, if you’re still listening after all this, bring my tears to God!

*Carlo enters.*

Carlo: IT’S YOU

Elisabetta: I ask one thing of you: forget me and live.

Carlo: I want to be strong, but love…

Elisabetta: Think about Rodrigo! He didn’t just sacrifice himself for ideas, he sacrificed himself for Flanders and more importantly, for you!

Carlo: When I get to Flanders, I want to build a monument to him!

Elisabetta: Heaven will smile upon him!

Carlo: It once smiled upon me too and then vanished! But no more of that: I see all the horrors in Flanders he once talked about, and I see the people reaching out to me, begging me to help them...and I will help them!

Elisabetta: Yes, you will be a hero! Go, go save them with all my love and support behind you!

Carlo: You know, before today, nothing could have pulled me away from you, but now honor has triumphed and I feel so much stronger in my mind and my heart! Even though I may hold you, I still want to go to Flanders, and I will, and I will save the Flemish!

You’re crying?

Elisabetta: Just because I admire you and you are a hero. But you see, we will see each other again in a better world, and there we’ll finally be able to love each other and be happy as God wanted us to but we never got to…

Carlo: We’ll be happy as God wanted us to…

Elisabetta: But for now, we must say farewell.

Carlo: Farewell, Mother!

Elisabetta: Farewell, my son!

Carlo and Elisabetta: Farewell forever!

*Filippo suddenly enters with his retinue and the Grand Inquisitor and grabs Elisabetta’s arm.*

Filippo: YES FAREWELL FOREVER YOU’VE REALLY GONE AND DONE IT AND NOW I WANT A DOUBLE SACRIFICE AND I WILL DO MY DUTY

Grand Inquisitor: SO WILL THE INQUISITION

Elisabetta: OH GOD NO

Carlo: GOD WILL AVENGE ME AND SHATTER THIS TRIBUNAL OF BLOOD

*Suddenly, the tomb opens and the Monk reemerges.*

The Monk: We may try to find peace here but even then suffering is always with us because we can only find peace in heaven…

Grand Inquisitor: WAIT THAT’S CHARLES V’S VOICE

Filippo: OH GOD IT’S MY FATHER

Elisabetta: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

*The Monk drags Carlo into the tomb.* **

Notes

The End

I hope you enjoyed this! PLEASE leave any and all suggestions in the comments, my messages, and/or my inbox! Thank you!

[venusofthehardsells]

Dreamgirl [part 4]

ReaderxBucky Barnes [part 3] Summary: Bucky tries to adjust to his new life in the Avengers compound. One day he meets a girl who might be everything he needs in order to move on, but is his past really that far away? Warnings for this chapter: typical self-hate, not much else this time tbh, (general series warnings include noncon, violence, mental illness, feels probably) A/N: I can’t believe I let you wait this long for a chapter with this little content. Ungh. Like I already said, I have nothing to say for myself. My writing process is about as fast the plot. I’ll try harder to update more, and if you’re still following this story, just know it really means a lot to me!

When Bucky wakes up it’s three am and Steve is still there, fast asleep next to him. Steve’s arm is resting protectively over Bucky and both of Bucky’s hands are holding onto Steve’s T-shirt, the fabric close to ripping in his unyielding grip. He soften his hold a little and looks up to study Steve’s face.

Despite the serum keeping him young, there are a few lines adorning the face of America’s golden boy that weren’t there during the war. They’re faint and few but this close there’s no doubt. The worry has managed to leave its mark on him and Bucky feels his stomach clench itself into a hard little ball. How many of those fine lines have he caused?

Then again, how many lines separate this weary ghost from the bright young man he used to be?

Steve’s presence has had a good influence on him. The last few hours of sleep have been quiet and heavy. He can’t remember the last time he slept so soundly, but he’s sure it was one of those other rare occasions when he was so far gone in his nightmares, Steve had slept in his bed too.

Bucky is pried from his sleep-heavy thoughts when his stomach growls painfully and he vaguely realises he hasn’t eaten anything the entire day. Well, he’s paying for it now.

A headache is forming behind his eyes and his chest feels as though it’s going to implode into the void of his empty stomach if he doesn’t get some food in him fast. The way his throat is beginning to constrict is almost nauseating. He’s always had a healthy appetite and has often gone hungry, both in his youth and during HYDRA missions, but whatever Dr Zola did to him made him less affected by such things as hunger when he was the Asset. It was as if his mind didn’t fully acknowledge the needs of his body. 

Now, however, the combination of his enhanced biology and not being brainwashed makes the hunger close to crippling.

It feels safe and nice to lie with both of Steve’s arms around him, Bucky realises when he shifts a little, and he almost doesn’t want to leave the bed. Steve mumbles something in his sleep and manages to hug Bucky closer so he’s flush with Steve’s entire body, face squashed against his chest.

“Ftoovh,” he tries and rolls his eyes at the muffled sound that’s all he’s capable of producing without chewing on Steve’s shirt. With a bit more determination, he gets his arms in between them and pushes Steve in the chest, harder than he would a normal person, but not hard enough to hurt.

Apparently, the push is still more powerful than he calculated.

With a yelp, Steve rolls off the bed and crashes into the nightstand that goes tumbling towards the opposite wall. Bucky winces, but is on his feet in a second to get Steve up from the floor.

“Fuck, ‘m sorry, Steve,” he mumbles, feeling his cheeks burn. Steve thankfully looks more shocked than hurt and there’s a redness spreading along his cheekbones, too.

“No, it’s… I’m fine, it’s… everything’s fine, yeah.” He nods as if to accentuate the point and it calms Bucky a bit. Then Steve frowns ever so slightly. “Are you okay?”

Bucky shrugs.

“Just hungry,” he says, trying to sound casual. His stomach betrays him by practically groaning just then and the corners of Steve’s lips twitch. Bucky scoffs. “Fine, starving. Do you think there’s anything left of that dinner I slept through?”

Thinking back on the nightmare, he wishes he had gone down to eat instead. Maybe it wouldn’t have been that bad then. It’s wishful thinking of course, but it helps. Admitting that the nightmares are beyond his control is still too grim a reality.

“Oh, there’s plenty we can reheat. Come on.”

Not long after, they’re both sitting in the empty compound kitchen, steaming dishes of a spicy casserole in front of them. It’s the best thing Bucky can remember eating in a long time and he’s through his second helping by the time Steve finishes up his first, significantly smaller one.

“This is real damn delicious,” Bucky comments, gulping down a glass of water like it’s going out of fashion. He’s only just starting to feel better now that he’s got at least two meals’ worth of warm food in him. “Stark hire a cook or something?”

“No,” Steve smiles and scoops another portion onto Bucky’s plate. “Wanda made it. Traditional Sokovian stew, spent forever on it. She put a ton of spices in I’ve never even heard of, but you gotta admit she knew what she was doing.”

“Sure did.” Bucky is a little hesitant about the next bite. There’s something in the taste that he can’t quite place. A warmth, a lingering feeling of… something.

The spices remind him of when he was on the run, of the place he had settled at in Europe before Steve and that SWAT team had torn it apart. Many times during the evenings, the hot smells of food had drifted through the floor and walls from the other flats around him and made him think of the almost forgotten joy of a home cooked meal. 

Homely, he realises. This kind of food tastes of a home, something safe and familiar that he hasn’t had in a very long time.

“It would mean a lot to her if you told her you liked it.” Steve looks intently at him as he says it and Bucky looks down out of reflex. Can’t look Steve in the eyes when he talks like that.

“Okay,” he mumbles with a light shrug of his shoulders, but Steve isn’t done.

“She says you’re avoiding her,” he begins carefully and Bucky sighs, which makes him pause. “What?”

“I’m kinda avoiding everyone in case you haven’t noticed.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t.” Bucky is staring at him now. Steve’s face is turning slightly pink, but he goes on. “Might be good for you to talk to someone other than me. Not everyone hates you, you know.”

The words feel like a punch to the gut and it takes a second for Bucky to figure out why.

It’s the non-sugar coated truth and Steve hasn’t softened his voice the way he sometimes tend to do when it comes to touchy subjects, hell, the way he did a second ago. 

It’s also a surprise.

He has tried over and over to appeal to his logical self with the reasonable assumption that even if Stark and Fury and very likely also Natasha hate him, the others have no reason to. Yet somehow, he realises that he didn’t actually believe it until now. Steve’s words make a splinter of hope ache in his chest.

“You sure?,” he murmurs, raising an eyebrow at his friend who just hums affirmatively and takes another bite of stew.

“Of course I’m sure. There’s still a person behind all that brooding and scowling somewhere. The others know it too. They know it wasn’t your fault.”

“What?”

“Everything that happened to you.” Instead of sending him a pitying look, Steve just shrugs and for a second, Bucky is sure his friend has lost his mind. “Just think about it. I’m not saying you should invite Tony for a fishing trip, just maybe, I don’t know, show up for dinner. Compliment the chef, even if it’s Clint. You know, engage a little more.”

Bucky grinds his teeth behind closed lips.

He engaged with the pretty girl in the coffee shop and now he’s already having bad dreams about her dying. It’s not that he doesn’t want a little more human contact, really. But he wonders if Steve would have suggested it if he knew how many times he had starred in one of Bucky’s bloodcurdling nightmares.

“I’ll try,” he gets out, poking at the remains of stew on his plate with his fork.

“Good.” Steve doesn’t push him further and he’s grateful for it. They finish the meal in silence.

When they get up to put the dishes away and head back to sleep, the soft light of the predawn is beginning to settle outside. Bucky figures he can squeeze in a few hours before heading out for his daily run. He hopes the food and the talk with Steve will make the nightmares stay away for a while.

Otherwise, there’s always the park, and the coffee shop, and the girl…

He finds himself halfway tempted to ask Steve if he wants to go with him for his morning run. They always spar and work out together at nine, but until now, running has been Bucky’s own thing, the only routine he performs in solitude that doesn’t make him feel, well, alone. When he runs, he just exists. No pressure.

Bucky never gets to ask. Steve’s SHIELD pager pings and just like that, the strained tension between them is as thick as it was in the afternoon.

Steve looks at the little device and groans.

“Jesus, Fury…,” he mumbles, rubbing his eyes that have already begun to droop a little again. “Four in the fucking morning.”

“Mission?,” Bucky asks without looking at him.

“Must be. Better be fucking important.” Steve always swears more when he’s tired, slurs the curses into his other words so they’re a part of a sentence-long word and almost not there at all. Bucky hasn’t been on any missions or to any publicity events with Steve since the forties, but he imagines it’s very far from the image everyone is trying to pin on him. It occurs to him not for the first time that his friend is struggling to hold onto his identity just as much as Bucky is. It’s no mean feat considering all the world’s eyes are always on Captain America, the glorified ideal, but hardly ever considers Steve Rogers, the real person wearing the uniform. 

“Hey. Watch yourself out there,” Bucky cautions just when Steve is about to leave. He sends a half smile with the warning to make it sound more casual. Steve grins wearily.

“I will. Careful with the sentiment though, people might start to think you care.”

Bucky scuffs and rolls his eyes.

“Don’t worry, pal, I think everyone knows by now I only care about you.” He shrugs and pats Steve on the shoulder. “I’ll see you when you get back.”

He turns and leaves before Steve can come up with some well-meant words of concern to make Bucky feel like even more of a burden than he already does and trudges back to his room.

It takes him a while of tossing and turning to realise that he's not going to get any more sleep now that Steve is gone. The bed doesn't feel comfortable at all, just vast and empty. He tries to fold the scarcely used duvet into a sort of substitute for another body for him to hold onto, but it still doesn't feel right.

Annoyed with himself, he finally gets up and automatically puts on a pair of black sweatpants from his stack of identical black sweatpants, along with a grey T-shirt and a hoodie. Bucky swallows when he looks at himself in the mirror and realises that this has become as much of a uniform as all his heavy tactical HYDRA gear used to be. Dark sweatpants, dark T-shirt, dark hoodie. Nothing to make him stand out in a crowd or mark him as an individual. 

It suddenly occurs to him that he has been wearing a uniform practically his entire life. He struggles to recall what it was like to wake up and putting thought into what to wear. He must have done it at some point, he knows that much at least. Back in the thirties, even if his family hadn't had two nickels to rub together on a good day, much less anything near the frankly insane amount of clothes people these days seemed to own, he knows there was at least something vaguely resembling choices. There had been a pair of pants, he remembers after wringing his brain, a pair that had been slightly nicer than his everyday ones and which he only wore on Sundays or when he was taking out a girl. They had belonged to his father before he died and Bucky had naturally inherited them, along with some shirts and a tie he rarely had reason to wear. None of it had been made for him, so his mother had had to adjust the clothes the best she could. The pants had still been a little too tight around his thighs, but they meant he didn't have to wear his often dirty work slacks on dates.

It wasn't much, but it had been different. Hell, everything had been different.

He glances down at his black sweatpants now and bites his lip. He'll have to do something about this feeling somehow. The longer he contemplates this new, unintentional uniform, the clearer the Asset appears in his mind. For a second, he almost swears his dark metal hand looks silver again. Then he blinks and the vibranium fingers are back to normal.

Good lord, he can't wait to get that coffee today.

He runs his usual route in the infant daylight, still trying to shake off the nightmare. It doesn’t feel as bad as it has on other mornings, the food and sleep and the talk with Steve has helped. The coffee will definitely help. And moving his legs, albeit mindlessly, that is helping right now, but what Bucky really wants is to see her. Just to make sure she is okay.

The coffee shop is still closed when he reaches it, so he turns back to do another round in the park. Even though it isn’t physically taxing for him, his heart is thundering a hundred miles a minute. What if she isn’t going to be there?, a little, unwelcome voice whispers in the back of his mind. What if you really killed her?

Bucky almost scoffs at himself. There is no way. It was just a nightmare. One of the worst ones he’s had in a while, yes, but still… If he had somehow brought her into the compound, everyone would know. Steve, Stark, Fury, the entire government probably gets daily reports on what he does. Same thing if he had left to go somewhere else. Besides, he never went anywhere or did anything yesterday after getting back, he’s sure of it. He wasn’t anywhere near her, it was just a dream.

Even so, he can’t stop overthinking every single impossible scenario in which he might have hurt her without being aware of it and his heart is sure as hell not slowing down no matter how many calming breaths he tries to take. He needs to see her.

With his bottom lip caught beneath his teeth, he shoots his watch a look and groans when he realises he's still nearly half an hour early. It's going to be some of the longest minutes of his life. Bucky quickly decides he hasn't got that kind of patience, not with how his stupid heart is trying to beat him into a panic anyway. Instead of waiting, he goes back to the place he first saw her, the park entrance. From there, he tries to remember which direction she came from. If he can just see her on her way to work, he knows he'll feel better.

It doesn't take him long to scour the surrounding streets and eliminate the ones that lead to business and shopping districts. It's a guess, but if she had the money to fund one of the few apartments there, she wouldn't have to work in a café. She must live further away.

For a minute, Bucky considers all the tactical and strategic training he's gone through in his days in captivity with HYDRA, but absolutely nothing that can help him out comes to mind. The park is surrounded by too many tall buildings for him to properly see the streets if he were to seek higher ground and he doesn't have any sort of tech except his phone which won't do him any good.

All he really can do is to keep running and try not to get stuck inside his head. Like yesterday, Bucky tries to focus on the movements of his body and the feeling of muscles clenching and unclenching in his legs with every stride. It's something his therapist has told him to do when he needs to calm down, trying to create more awareness of his body and thereby divert his thoughts from any upsetting or stressful factor. Normally, it's good advice, but right now, his body is a part of the problem.

Before his sweaty palms and too shallow breaths end up filling too much in his mind, Bucky forces himself to observe some other detail, any detail.

He settles for the great, big nothing in front of him.

The air.

It’s not the crisp, crystal clear air he loved about the Wakandan sunrises where he would be the only one up and awake to enjoy the quiet, one deep, fresh breath at a time. But it’s still nicer in here, in the park, than outside on the streets. Bucky is not overly fond of the polluted city. He used to be a city boy, sure enough, but that was a long time ago. Whenever he dares imagine himself somewhere else than the compound these days, it’s almost always some version of the hut he had in Wakanda. Most times, it’s the same hut all the way down to the straw roof and spotted goats. Other times, he imagines a small cabin in the woods next to a lake or a faraway little stone cottage surrounded by grassy hills and sheep.

No matter where he sees himself settle though, it’s always somewhere remote with unspoiled air. Sometimes, Steve is with him, and they both look as if the war never happened, but this morning, it isn’t Steve sitting next to him in front of his little imaginary hut.

It's her.

And she's not wearing her work uniform, but a bright yellow dress that matches her nail polish. She has bare, dirty feet and wild flowers in her hair. She smiles when he approaches. He sits down next to her and kisses her cheek. She offers him a strawberry from the basket next to her, freshly picked from their little garden. He prefers to lick the taste from her lips and mouth instead. It's just the two of them there.

His heart soars at the dreamscape for a moment, but plummets just as far when he involuntarily remembers his nightmare again and suddenly, the scene runs red with blood.

Bucky wills himself back to reality and casts another desperate look at his watch.

Less than three minutes.

He wills himself to take the last part of his route at a slow jog despite every fibre in him screaming that he run like hell. When he once again stands in front of the coffee shop, he's about ready to kick down the doors, but right then, the lock clicks, the handle turns and there she stands. Exactly as beautiful as yesterday, if not more.

She looks up at him in surprise, then a smile spreads on her face.

"James," she says happily and Bucky's heartbeat melts into a rhythm of steady calm.

Tags will be added in reblog

[mckittyarts]

hey guys sorry about the couple of days i wasn’t posting!! this thing took a little longer than i thought-- but yeah! i’ve seen other artists draw their own interpretations of all the incarnations of Links, and i finally decided to draw the versions i’ve made up together with a friend of mine all in one place! get a load of these fools

tumblr wouldn’t let me post these in rows without them getting super blurry so there’s gonna be closeups, headcanons, etc under the cut

Time (Ocarina of Time/Majora’s Mask):  - post-majora’s mask but he still has the scars from oot(dont ask me how idk either)  - Really Fucked up. Very Strange Grandpa  - despite actually having had the years to grow up this time he still acts like a kid  - idk i can’t really describe him but he’s just been through so much stress his only remaining emotion is essentially just “:)”  - he’s gone back to hyrule and is just kinda wandering around he got those two shoulder pads as a gift and they’re based off of the ones he has as a ghost  - the gauntlets are redesigned golden gauntlets only because i forgot what they looked like  - he’s missing his right eye from a wolfos and lost his finger when Ganon slapped his sword out of his hand also he has goron tattoos on his shoulders  - headcanon that he’s Zelda’s twin brother but they just never were told about it

Sky (Skyward Sword):  - he’s got Sleepy Bitch Disease  - just wants to rest...... please let him Sleep For Once  - he gets very snappy and Rude, especially when he’s tired but he’s pretty patient and sweet around people he’s fond of  - headcanon that he has some form of asthma(because in game hes like constantly gasping for air)  - after the events of his game hes just Tuckered Out and just wants to sleep for the rest of his life  - i didn’t really give him any redesigns, just let him keep his skyloft outfit  - his scars are from demise and ghirahim(jerks)

Twi (Twilight Princess):  - COUNTRY BOYYYY I LOVE YOUU  - furry boy go awooo  - amazing with animals and kids but doesn’t really cope too well in social situations because he gets Nervous  - GAY. I WONT ACCEPT ANY OTHER ANSWER  - headcanon that he’s the direct descendant of Time  - goes back to his Farming Ways after the War and just chills with the rest of Ordon village  - most of his scars are from those stupid Ghost Rats but he also has some others from Ganondorf

Wild (Breath of the Wild):  - ‘scuse me everyone certified ROWDY BOY comin through  - he seems very normal from a distance but as soon as you get close to him you will realize that you just found a Raccoon  - *sees anything* oh! yum!  - really, really loves cooking and is actually really good at it even if his ingredients come from questionable locations  - headcanon that along with every other memory he lost, he also forgot most of what was pressuring him before his Death and is now completely unhinged and will not stop for anyones social standards  - he has a couple scars from being blasted by guardians but honestly most of his other ones are because he just really loves rolling down mountainsides

Warrior (Hyrule Warriors):  - hh,,, Anxious boy :(  - he just really wants approval and he damn well deserves it  - when he first got appointed as the hero of whatever and got the master sword he was honestly starting to get a bit cocky  - but then Cia Promptly ripped all of that confidence and Rude Boy Behaviour out of him and he became :( again  - he could speak beforehand but he got an injury during the battles and is now rendered practically mute  - has a couple major scars underneath his scarf/tunic but he managed to keep his face mostly unscathed somehow

Albi (A Link Between Worlds/Tri Force Heroes):  - Shy,,,, doesnt like Attention  - honestly just wants to be left alone but since he’ss the hero of whatever people just Gave Him Too Much Love  - broke down and is now Fashionable  - sometimes likes to sew or paint  - headcanon that he’s colourblind(tritanopia)  - those little marks on his skin are little “wall cracks” from merging too often  - has a few scars but no important ones tbh

Minish (The Minish Cap):  - small and Super Mad About It  - he’s extremely quiet and only really ever talks if he’s mad or asked a question  - and even then he says as few words as he can possibly muster  - really dedicated blacksmith and is pretty good at his job despite his age  - still hangs out with Zelda a whole lot theyre still Best Friends  - the scar is from his fight with Vaati and he got an undershirt with a collar to hide it a bit because he feels a bit self conscious about it :(

Engi (Spirit Tracks):  - BABY BOY. BABY  - fuckin LOVES trains. he would Probably Die without them. still an engineer  - completely polite and sweet, calls you sir and stutters a whole lot  - also likes to fidget when he doesn’t have anything to do with his hands  - secretly completely RIPPED and could probably break you in half if he just weren’t such a sweetheart  - missing tooth from Byrne smacking him in the face with his Metal Hand and constantly has scratches but thats just cuz hes clumsy  - headcanon that he’s the grandson of Wind  - another headcanon that he can see ghosts since he was the only one who could see Zelda when she got absolutely annihilated 

Wind (The Wind Waker/Phantom Hourglass):  - SHIP AHOY BITCHES  - absolutely Stupid. goddamn Fool, complete and utter buffoon  - tends to be a bit direct and a little too honest but as i said before. complete Dumbass  - ADORES to tease and poke fun as long as no one gets hurt  - swears like a sailor and IS a sailor. Its All Connected  - has a crooked nose because SOMEONE launched him at a wall that one time. Also from that explosion that launched him into that other wall that other time  - all his little jewelry things are treasures he found along the way

Alti (A Link To The Past/Oracle of Seasons/Ages/Link’s Awakening): - oof this boi has been through So Much - just so tired of this shit.......... wants a break already - has pink hair because nintendo cant convince me otherwise and also has black roots because that’s his hair colour in the gameboy games - still misses everyone from the wind fish’s dream :( also idk know if he ever came back from the ocean tbh - honestly i know jack shit about any of his games so,,, sorry my boy

Classic (The Legend of Zelda/The Adventure of Link): - the boy who started it all!!! god i love him so - honestly don’t really know much about him either,,, and honestly i dont think there is a lot to know the classic games are pretty plotless - but i like to imagine he’s like every Good Protagonist trope but none of the other links appreciate it a whole lot - “dont worry guys i believe we can do this! :)” cut to the whole group throwing trash at him - also gave him sectoral heterochromia to match the way his eyes look in the first game’s sprites

[bluepluto03]

mcu spiderman rewrite/au i may or may not do

ok so first quick disclaimer! i do not hate the mcu spider man movies in any way!! i actually enjoy them quite a bit and have seen homecoming like 4 times! and i absolutely adore all the actors in the movies, especially tom, zendaya, and jacob 

but the problem w/ the mcu spiderman movies is,,, they’re just not spiderman. at least from a writing/thematic perspective, which sucks bc so much other stuff about them is great! like tom holland is the perfect peter parker, which is why it seems so close to being right, but with the way the script is actually written... it’s just. not spider-man. 

i feel the need to explain all this/my problems w/ the movies b4 i get into the actuall au idea/plot, so please bear with me for a sec

for context, I’ve loved spiderman my whole life. i’d watch the cartoons when i was younger, and then went back and watched them all again when i was a bit older and figured out how to pirate stuff lol. i didn’t really know how to get into the comics, so i just kinda read wikis and got second-hand info from fanfics and the other movies

to me, spiderman, (at least, peter parker spiderman,) was always about like... a kid, who saw the world was broken and fixed it because he could. he had the power to fix stuff, so he did. 

as a kid w/ mental illness and a not so great home life... that was something really really important to me. to see another kid out there, who’s been through some shit, but finally has the power to make stuff better, so he is! and it would make me think, maybe i can change stuff for the better, someday, if i just get my chance

but,,,,, the problem is mcu peter parker isn’t that. 

instead of becoming spiderman bc he knows there’s bad in the world and wants to fix it, suddenly his motivation is impressing tony stark?? and don’t get me wrong i don’t hate tony, but the way they wrote his and peter’s relationship basically trapped peter. he could no longer be his own hero, bc he was tony’s successor. and that's never who peter parker’s spiderman was?? he was never a follower, he was a trendsetter. he didn’t become spiderman for approval, hell he had dozens of newspapers constantly slandering him. 

honestly the following in someone else’s footsteps thing was always a miles morales thing. he had to step up to the plate and fill the shoes of a spiderman who had already existed for years and was beloved by the whole city. obviously thats not all he is and simplifying his character to that is incredibly obtuse, but i bring it up bc tbh alot of stuff w/ mcu peter parker is just straight-up ripped off from miles morales. like how peter now goes to a fancy private school, is no longer poor (which is a huge thing w/ peter parker’s character in like every other incarnation), has a living father figure, and is bffs w/ ned, who is a straight-up rip off of miles’s best friend ganke. (for the record tho i adore ned and jacob i’m def keeping him in my rewrite,,,, also i’m glad he’s in the movie bc having a plus sized poc protagonist thats not constantly mocked is incredible) 

so, i’m complaining about all this stuff lol but ur probably wondering how exactly how i wanna fix it lol,,,, 

first, give peter an arc thats more than just..... i want tony to believe in me. my idea for that is basically a type of thing where he learns to rely on others! bc like... peter isn’t good at working w/ others lol, he’d much rather do it all himself so no one else gets hurt. (like in the andrew garfield movies where he just,,,, webs his gf to a car so she can’t run into danger lmao) 

the plot would start at a similar ish position to homecoming, though tony never recruits peter for civil war. tbh not sure if it even happened but we’ll disscuss that later

peter’s been spiderman for a few months, after a trip to oscorp left him w/ a radioactive spider bite. currently no one knows about it, and he’s doing a pretty ok job of dealing w/ everything on his own. until he takes down a big bad, lets say rhino for now, and gains a ton of publicity. after stooping a hudge disaster he’s suddenly in the limelight, and catches the attention of one norman osborn, aka the green goblin 

now, quick sidenote. green goblin is genreally seen as pretty goofy, but there are comic versions of him that are legit terrifying. if im being honest i didn’t even know about that version until i read aloneintherains fic birds eating other birds so ig thats kinda ish how i’m imagining this version of norman? though alot more composed, like the man who could someday turn into that 

so norman becomes intrested in my boy peter, and starts sending ppl after him. possibly the sinister 6, but uhh maybe not bc tbh i think this “rewrite” needs to be split into 2 “movies”/works and i might wanna save that for the hypothetical pt2 (btw if i write this it won’t b for a while cause i got other stuff going on but ig if ppl are intrested i might write some snippits/make more content for it) 

so basically the main plot is peter dealing w/ all these big bads on his own, doing ok at first but later getting really fucked up, and eventually revealing himself to ned and mj which ends up being the only way he can save the day in the end. by relying on others! yay!! 

thats it for the main plot, but don’t worry y’all we got other stuff going on too lmao 

so, for one. my boy peter is realizing he has a crush and just,,,, freaking tf out. (i have yet to decide if it’s on ned or mj. or both. sue me) the crush isn’t definitely resolved in p1, but i imagine there’d be some cute thing of him suddenly realizing and freaking out and almost revealing his powers. 

thing 2! tony stark! he is still in here, and still a mentor to peter, but in a pretty drastically different way. one, he doesn't know about peter being spiderman. he doesn't even suspect it lmao. he just gets involved bc of.... some sort of reason bc peter is so smart. do i know why just yet? no. does it matter? probably but i’m writing this pretty late after i had school all day so i’m too tired to care 

bc tony basically gives peter a real internship/mentorship type thing, peter now has access to all this tech!! and all these funds!! fucking lit!! so he changes from his pajama suit to the fancy one, tho he actually built it!! which i feel like him making his suit is a really big really important part of his character. so it doesn't really have all those random things tony added, tho peter might add stuff himself. he gets Karan as a like assistant ai as part of his internship but she never gets put into the suit

for the fist part tony plays a super minor role but like,,,, the first part is about osborn taking an intrest in him, and him confiding in ned and mj. the second part norman is become progressively more dangorus and peter has to fight him and stuff, kinda proving he is strong enough to be spiderman/be trusted to the whole world, beyond just ned and mj. also him actually getting together w/ either one or both of them bc...... bc i want that. 

oh btw idk if tony finds out or not in p2? if he does it’s either at the end or in a scene like the one w/ may bc like. please imagine the shenanigans of peter and ned (who both have high intellegence but low wisdom) in tony’s lab, obviously trying to hide the fact that peter’s spiderman. like he walks in on them and peter looks all frumpy bc he’s been trying to change real fast, and ned’s shirt is messed up bc he just stuffed the mask down the front of it, and mj is just. chilling behing them. so tony just like assumes stuff and is like....aight.... have fun.... 

oh btw the last big change that i didn’t really have anyway to insert natrually into this,,,, so remember how i said ned was kinda a ripoff of ganke? well, the writers claim he’s a “composite character” so i figured, why not give him traits from other famous spiderman side character so he actually is a composite character! 

so like,,,, throughout p1 it’s referenced that ned has a kinda dickish estranged ish dad that he hates and his mom doesn't really like but kinda forces him too... theres some mentions of his dad wanting him to transfer to a private school and being kinda rich, bur he dosen’t want to bc he knows his dad is a total dickead,,,, anyway end of the movie we find out norman osborn is ned’s dad, and ned hates him even fucking more bc it’s like bitch?? u tried to get my (maybe) bf murdered?? tf?? and its lowkey bc he can’t reveal peter’s id, but then in p2 after norman takes matters into his own hands and tries to kill peter on his own ned just fucking yells at him while the man is in jail and is like fuck u lmao 

soooo thats my really messy au idea!! i’m really tired sorry if this is hard to understand or rude! for the record i have nothing against the ppl who adore these movie’s, i just think they could be better! 

[bxstiae]

⚜ ; [ BOTW / OTHERWORLDS.2  ]     WORLDBUILDING │ VERSE

Honestly, i was trying to write a reply for @wildshero​ & then i thought maybe.... i should let people know a few things about Twilight Princess Link in the setting of Breath of the Wild. I feel like it would just be better for people to know a bit more about the verse since it’s actually one or my more favourite verses imo. but first allow me to refresh everybody on what i have for the verse.

let it be know that i will differentiate between the links for the rest of the post as the following: Wild = BOTW Link Twilight = TP Link

NAME: Twilight, Wolfie   SPECIES: wolf   HEIGHT: 4’3”   ‘ IS A LITTLE SHIT ’ Summoned as a wolf by Wild Child. He has to deal with his antics without rest or until he is returned back to his home world. Until then, the Link of this world must deal with the Cheeky Hero-Beast. Nobody said he had to play nice.

Another tidbit, i will always, ALWAYS RP Twilight in a post, TP state when he is in BOTW. Meaning that he already accomplished his role as the saviour of hyrule & things are at a somewhat normal state for everybody. he is currently looking for ways to look for midna & often times runs into random ‘twilight portals’ that are still in his world. these portals are like the normal portals you use in TP, however these are a bit different because they react when 2 things happen. 1: when twilight’s twili shard is nearby & 2: something ‘else’ happens that causes the portal to activate. that something else -- for BOTW purposes -- is when Wild uses the sheikah slate. consider these portals though more like random rifts in twilight’s world. sometimes he can’t even see them. 

one this is for certain though: when he teleports -- only his body is taken. his master sword of his world is not taken with him. so the chances of him turning back into a human are very slim UNLESS he touches or tries to hold the master sword in wild’s world. Also another thing: twili magic works very differently in wild’s world. sometimes twilight -- if he wants to stay close to wild, is able to WILL himself to teleport to wild. but if he stays too far from wild for an extended period of time, he will be teleported back to his own world. he legit cannot stay alone in the wild’s world because it’s not his world. the thing that is keeping him there is the sheikah slate. so obviously if he’s not around it for a long time then he will naturally go home.

anyway, everything else will be under a read more because it talks about twilight’s relationship with wild & so on.

Honestly though, THIS POST made me really think about how Twilight would consider Wild as. if Wild was just a child to him, or if he considered him more as an equal. I feel like it would be the former tbh. THIS OTHER POST kind of proves a bit into that theory as well. Twilight obviously knows a lot more than Wild does & not just because Wild lost his memory. 

Wild, in many ways, is still ‘young’ in the aspect that he hasn’t taken down ganon like how Twilight has. Twilight has fought many things, took down the Demon King himself, & lost a beloved friend while also losing part of his humanity as well. he’s only in his early 20s & he suffers from survivor’s guilt and its trying to mend a broken/betrayed heart. 

am i ignoring that wild has amnesia? no. i am not. wild himself has gone through hardships, i will not lie about that. he almost lost to ganon. the other champions have all died. & zelda is keeping ganon at bay. but he doesn’t know what it is like to have fufilled the prophecy in his world. at least not like how twilight has. 

I brought it up in another post about it, but essentially twilight feels empty after the defeat of ganon. not only that, but he also feels used. now that ganon is gone, he.... doesn’t know what to do with himself. & his friend destroyed the only known why to visit her. so yes, he... feels shattered. his heart weighs so heavy because after such a long journey, he can’t just move on. it’s like everything was stripped from him & he’s back to ‘just being plain old link: ranch hand of ordon village. 

so yea, wild IS a child compared to twilight. his antics are all over the place -- wild is incredibly fickle. he feels like he’s dealing with the ordon children all over again. yet at the same time its just like the ordon children. he wants to help wild. he wants to protect him. in a way, he wants to prevent wild from having the same fate as him. yes he KNOWS what it feels like to be empty. wild is not empty, just because he doesn’t have any memories doesn’t mean that he is empty. wild is just lost. twilight wants to help him, & yet he doesn’t want to rush anything. 

there was a post that discussed the personality of wild but i can’t find it. but it has to deal with the japanese version. ( another reason why i hate the english translations ) in the japanese versions, all the entries in the sheikah slate are LINK’S entries. its like link is keeping a diary to HELP him remember. so in wild’s case with twilight, its THE SAME THING. 

the problem is that the more he remembers, the most intense they are. mainly because pieces of the memories are now wielding together. they aren’t just random fragments. the puzzles pieces are now fitting together. but you try to remember everything too fast? it can be incredibly devastating & more harmful than helpful. twilight recognises this. he knows this because lanaryu did that to him when he was given the vision. it can be harmful to one’s mental health especially if you aren’t prepared. it can lead you down a dark path & you can end up doubting yourself. 

so if wild is rushing in trying to remember everything, it can hurt him. it could make him more reckless because he is simply more determined to win. just imagine this: somebody lashes out in anger after finding something out. you aren’t thinking, you are acting out on anger -- on emotion. it’s the worst thing to do especially in war. you HAVE to be calculating, especially with ganon. you cannot fight ganon with anger & pain. GANON IS THE EPITOME of those emotions. you will only be predictable & naturally, fighting anger with anger doesn’t work out. link will die because ganon is stronger than link mentally in this aspect. wild cannot go in blindly: he doens’t have zelda this time to give him another chance.

& yes, twilight KNOWS all of this. you are the only one who knows you the best. for twilight, he knows wild in a sense that wild is another incarnation of himself. twilight has also met the hero’s shade as well to know that there are several things that always get reborn with the hero of courage. one is that every link is reckless in some way, shape, or form. they have to be! they are the hero of courage; fear is not supposed to be in their blood. i say fear isn’t suppose to be, but anxiety still can be. any link can still hold some sort of doubt &/or self-blame. it’s a given. they are all heroes after all. they are not perfect, & they are expected so much. but each link can take it in differently. though i digress. my main point is that every single link is reckless. ( yes, even twilight, one of the more calculating heroes of courage is also reckless, it’s in his blood )

so yea, twilight worries for wild. he should. but anyway. that doesn’t mean twilight won’t be a little asshole to wild. as much as wild has his antics, so does twilight. wild often times does some really stupid shit, so naturally twilight would too. just to annoy him. call him petty if you want, but twilight is just a tired boy.

please let it be known that while twilgiht is an asshole sometimes, he is VERY protective of wild! he would consider him a best friend ( eventually ) and a companion! Wild does, in fact, fill the voidness in twilight's heart, and while he may be annoyed with him 80% of the time, he still cares for him. a lot. 

uh.... some other things to consider too. twilight would not hesitate to pick up the master sword if wild is severely injured. while he may transform back as a human, he still is a swordsman at heart, and if he’s canine body cannot defend wild, then so be it, twilight would transform to his normal state & risk his life for wild. he will always be better & stronger with a sword than his beast form anyway.

while twilight calls wild ‘link’, wild does actually call him twilight! or twi for short. wild gave him the nickname for a few reasons. 

1: his fur & the patterns in it. twilight’s fur is not just one brown, its a mix of brown that kinda resembles that mix of yellow-orange found literally at dusk/twilight. 2: twilight is actually most solemn & quiet at the twilight hours. wild can tell that he’s a bit distance during this time as if he’s thinking about something or rather, something is on his mind. 3: the twili magic that causes him to warp is obiously very twilight-esque. aside from the legends passed down, wild would most likley recognise this as twilight magic -- especially when they find midna’s helmet. because it only confirms that the legends are true: that twilight magic exists & that twilight has something to deal with it. 4: the sheikah slate actually registers twilight as twilight instead of link -- even if he were to be in his human form, the piece of technology considers him as that. besides, if twilight were to ever transform ( mind you he probably wouldn’t unless forced to ), twilight would say that his name is twilight. 

does wild know that twilight is him but from another time? honestly, i don’t know.it’s up for debate. i probably could go either way to by honest, but i think my natural instinct is to say that no, wild does not realise that twilight is him but from another time. but that’s my 2 cents on the subject.

also: other names wild calls twilight is puppers, bud, & wolf/wolfie. twilight PREFERS twilight though, he feels a bit sentimental and happy when he’s called that. & it is ABSOLUTELY noticeable cause twilight will wag his tail when he is called twilight. don’t judge him.

more to come when i think of anything else.

[cherrymoonvol6]

i think... i’ve been thinking way too much about steve in endgame and i really need to put this somewhere so i stop ranting about this to no one in my bedroom at 3 am.

i don’t think it was purposefully done but i did see some sort of parallels between steve and tony’s arcs in this movie (and tbh i don’t think steve has any sort of arc in this movie but eh, i will talk about that later). because in both times they get lucky and have the prospect of living a happy life without having to worry about the rest of the world.

in tony’s case, i think it works perfectly. tony has gone through so much character development during the whole mcu, from being motivated by selfishness to fear to guilt. but even without looking into the mcu, what he chooses to do plays so well into his arc in this movie. at the start of endgame we see him as a tired man who doesn’t want to work with the avengers anymore because of their incapability of doing what he wants to do the most, which is put an armor around the world and protect as much people as they can. great continuity, given his decision making progress in civil war and also including the fact that he’s lost his surrogate son.

so what happens with tony in endgame? when we learn about what he’s done in the past five years we see he has retired, he has a family and is living his dream that he teased in both age of ultron and infinity war (live on the outskirts with pepper and have a child of his own). and the movie tells us explicitly: tony got lucky. he has pepper, he has happy, he has rhodey, he has morgan. but turns out the avengers come to him because they found a way to make everything right and tony is the only one able to help them. and he says no, because he doesn’t want to lose what he’s got, the life he has built on these five years. and once tony figures out the time heist and realizes he can help, he says to pepper, he could throw all of that in a box into the lake and pepper tells him, “would you be able to rest?”. and because we know who tony is, this man who above everything wants to make this world a safe place from every threat possible in outer space, we know what the answer is.

steve, on the other hand, is faced with this choice at the end of the movie. we can already see him realizing what the possibilities of time travel mean to him when he sees peggy through the blinds in the 70s: he’s gotten lucky, too. they win the war and everyone comes back, and he gets to live his life the way he wants it. but it’s too late for anyone to talk him out of it, to ask him if he’ll be able to rest, live in a world where he KNOWS peggy works for a corrupted organization and hydra is still alive and well and his best friend, the one he used to shock his younger self earlier in the movie, is a brainwashed murderous assasain.

i think what i’ve really tried to do since i watched the movie again like a month ago is try to see this from every angle possible, to fit their personalities and motivations into each decision... and i still have trouble with steve, the man who fought for everything that’s right and could do it all day, the man who stood up alone with a broken shield to face the biggest army in the universe because that was the right thing to do, choosing to leave the timeline where he’s won all the battles and go back to a simpler time that is no longer simple.

and i think the russos really tried to foreshadow his decision, with the returning of The Compass™ and the little bit of steve looking at peggy in 1970, speechless. and all memes aside it’s not a batshit crazy idea for steve to go back to a safe place on his mind, a mental place where thing were more black and white and he was just a guy who wanted to fight bullies, and go back to peggy. it’s not a crazy idea and it really talks to us about how deeply affected steve is from the events of the last movie. but honestly... just pushing these whole “oh boohoo i miss peggy so much :( i would love to see her again :(” thing is very out of nowhere considering the person that steve is, after all that’s happened.

in tfa we meet steve, this guy who just wants to fight for what’s right because that’s who he is, a guy who needs to prove himself, his honesty and his soul, to the people who doubt he’ll be enough to stop hydra. but in many senses he doesn’t have any sort of arc in this movie (not that he needs to, the plot is enough for it to work). he starts as a guy who does what he thinks he’s right, and ends up as a guy who does what he thinks it’s right. the same thing happens with avengers and i think it works pretty well, because both movies do a well job in establishing steve as a character, and then leave room for further movies to play into that. and tws does that spectacularly, putting him obeying orders from a corrupted organization and what happens when steve, who fights for what he deems good, realizes he’s been working for hydra all this time? it’s an excellent way to destroy his worldview and realize that there’s more greys into this world and what’s good and bad. aou also puts him on a similar place, with ultron saying he’s a man out of time and the vision (ha) of peggy telling him to imagine a world without war... which he can’t. a movie that explicitly ends up telling us that steve is a different man than the guy he was on tfa, and he doesn’t want what clint has, what tony wants. they put a nice little bow on his development in civil war, with him rightfully being against following orders from an organization, and at the end of the movie telling tony that he puts his faith on individuals and not organizations.

so you would think this would go the other way. you would think steve will finally learn to live on this world after being here for twelve years, after building relationships and shattering his worldview and creating a new one, you would think he’s up for living in this world that he’s helped building, in some way. you would think when you watch the start of endgame and see steve telling natasha he doesn’t move on that his arc will be about finally moving on!!!

but then it doesn’t happen.

and i get that the russos wanted to give steve the ending he deserves, that they love the character and want him to finally be happy and be in the place he belongs. and i really don’t want to hop in this terrible tumblr trend of shredding to pieces this movie because you didn’t like some aspects of it, because it’s genuinely great and given its plot and concept it shouldn’t even work at ALL and the mcu is the most consistently good movie franchise we’ve ever gotten, but i can’t get behind that. because how come tony’s ending wraps up perfectly his arc while having weighty consequences for him and the people he loves, and they couldn’t do the same for cap?

and they could’ve do that. yeah, have steve looking at the compass before taking on a villain that has absolutely nothing to do with peggy or her death or ANYTHING related to his past, i don’t care, it’s a nice reminder that steve comes from a different time and he’s trying to stay grounded on the better times when everything has gone wrong. but you could’ve reminded us that steve also lost people during the snap. you could’ve reminded us during the same scene in which steve whines about peggy to gay joe russo that these conversational therapy groups were sam’s thing, and he’s following his steps, and sam MATTERS to him (instead of just being like “hey sam you’re kinda a helluva guy here take my shield you’re cap now” while sam couldn’t have proven he’s fitted for being the next cap during the movie because he’s been dead for the first two acts and we’ve barely seen him on the third). have steve empathize with natasha’s worry and sadness over what clint has become through him mentioning bucky and that bucky MATTERS to him (instead of bucky being used as a tool to win a fight against his younger self). have steve meet bucky and sam, talk to them during the big fight, hell, anything with them.

you don’t get to use tony as the reason for steve to finally make the decision to go back, when tony ended up doing the exact opposite of what he told steve: he joined the fight because that’s what he is, a man who can not rest until everyone is safe. and steve’s character has way more reasons to realize that going back to a woman who he met when he was a naive, goody-two-shoes guy that he absolutely isn’t anymore isn’t the best thing to do.

it could’ve been great, have steve be a man who doesn’t know how to live in this world and doesn’t want to move on, finally learning how to let go from the past and have his happy ending in a world that is no longer strange to him, but his world. but that possibility is now erased from the mcu and i’ll forever be bitter for that.